Chapter 2: Readying up (or just causing a ruckus), is there even a difference
Zoro woke up much earlier then everybody, as that was his usual mo, and this morning was no different to any other morning as in nobody else was up and it was still dark outside. So he decided to go for a walk and have a drink of the sake that he had hidden him.
And as he exited the ballroom he ran into somebody, "Hello Mr. Roronoa" Ozpin said to the young man.
Zoro wiped the drops of sake of his mouth, "Yo, you're that headmaster guy right?".
Ozpin nodded "Yes I am the headmaster of this academy and you're going to be a student, am I correct?".
Zoro shrugged, feeling a weird vibe the older man in front of him "More or less".
Ozpin looked at Zoro feeling something off about his presence, "You're up a bit early don't you think and should you be drinking that?" he said pointing to Zoro's sake bottle.
"I only sleep for like three hours a day" Zoro answered impassively.
"and what about the alcohol, Mr. Roronoa?" Ozpin inquired.
Zoro just took another swig and then looked the older man in the face, "Here's the thing, I enjoy drinking sake and unlike alcoholics, I know how much I can handle".
"You're a very strange man, Roronoa Zoro" Ozpin said eyeing Zoro back, "I sense something is off about you and your friends, but I can't figure out what".
"If you're worried about anything, don't be" Zoro answered, "My friends and I were given a chance here, and we're not going to waste" Zoro finished elaborating.
Ozpin turned to face the path next to them and motioned the student to follow him, "And what if you and you're friends do not end up in the same team" he asked.
Zoro followed him down the path "It doesn't matter if we aren't together, but no matter we will stick by each other's sides".
"And what if you had to fight each other?" Ozpin asked him.
Zoro scoffed "We're all strong in our own ways, if we had to fight each other so be it, but there's a difference between that and hurting each other".
Ozpin looked up at the last remnants of the night dissipating to make way for the morning "And what would that difference be?".
"Fighting teaches you something, it allows for you to grow and I'm not just talking about physical fighting, but when it comes to hurting somebody none of us could ever condone that, ever" Zoro then stopped. "Unless somebody deserved it, of course" he added on.
Ozpin noticed Zoro had stopped and he turned to face the man "So you're okay with revenge?".
Zoro's eyes widened and scowled "We've all lost others we care about and if anything were to happen to what we have left…, let's just say you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it".
"Well then, I guess I should be lucky that you all are on our side?" Ozpin retorted.
Zoro nodded in agreement before asking "Hey would you be able to take me back to the hall, I have to get the others up, otherwise some of them will probably sleep in".
Ozpin grinned "Yes I think that would be the wisest thing to do, given one of your major weaknesses".
Zoro's eyes darkened slightly "and that would be?".
"Your complete lack of a sense of direction Mr. Roronoa, it was written on your application form and I couldn't believe it until I saw what you had managed to achieve yesterday" Ozpin answered.
"I don't get lost, the world just shifts about me, that's all!" Zoro explained.
Ozpin just nodded his head "No problem, now if you will follow me, I will lead you back to the hall".
Zoro smirked "Lead the way".
After about two hours of Ozpin having to literally drag Zoro in the right direction, they eventually made it back to the hall and after calming himself down from wanting to throw the young man in, Ozpin sent him in and within about a moment Zoro had fallen back asleep.
"Strange fellow, very strange fellow, I wonder if…." Ozpin stated, "Hmph, never mind, I will just deal with that later", and he walked off into the bright light that was starting to be created by the sunrise.
(The Ballroom, two (or more) hours later)
Luffy was the first one to wake up (at a normal time), he turned to see that both Chopper and Sanji were still asleep, but he did see that Zoro was awake leaning against a wall, so he walked over to talk to his nakama.
"Yo, Zoro, morning" Luffy said rubbing his eyes.
Zoro turned to see his captain approaching him "Morning Luffy, you ready?".
Luffy's eyes clouded over for a second due to him actually having to use his brain and then he answered, "I don't think anybody's ready".
Zoro looked at him with a pondering glance, "Do you mean everybody in this room, or do you mean 'us'?".
Luffy walked over and sat against the wall Zoro was leaning against "I mean 'us'".
Zoro nodded "So you think we're probably not ready yet".
"We were made younger, I know we can't do the exact same things we could do when we were older, and even though we had some time to train, we still need to get stronger" Luffy elaborated.
Zoro scoffed at Luffy's words "It's not that we're weaker, we're just younger", he then turned to look at their friends who were still unconscious alongside a majority of the other first years "Luffy we have time to get stronger, we were given a chance at something and although I regret the things that happened we can't dwell on the past or compare ourselves to something that doesn't exist anymore".
As a couple more students started to wake, Luffy continued "So, because we were another chance that means we should abandon everything".
Zoro shook his head "You dumbass, that's not what I mean at all", he then smacked Luffy's head causing it to wobble "All I mean is that you're trying to compare yourself to something that doesn't exist anymore, you need to focus on the now".
Luffy nodded in understanding "So if you're focusing on the now, what has become of your dream?".
Zoro smirked "I still made a promise to be the greatest swordsman in the world, and even if I'm in a different world I'm not going to go back on it, but I think it might be a bit longer of a task this time".
"Why is that?", Luffy perplexed.
"I'm going to have to take on everybody that even wields a sword and prove to them that there is somebody above them" Zoro said with steely determination.
"Ha, so the swordsman's dream has been made even more arduous" Sanji said walking over to the guys and sitting in the window frame next to them.
"What's it to you pervert?" Zoro snapped.
Sanji smugly shrugged "Nothing".
Luffy then looked to the chef "What about you Sanji, I know you wanted to find the all blue, what are you going to do now that it doesn't exist anymore?".
Sanji put a cigarette into his mouth and lit it "Even though it was something that I truly dreamed of, I realised something while I was training", he then exhaled a puff of smoke "There is something I need to make sure of, or to be more exact there is somebody I want to find".
Luffy looked puzzled "You want to find somebody?".
Zoro just smirked, "As if the chef could ever find anyone".
"Shut up Mosshead, there's somebody I need to find in this world and something I have to make sure of" Sanji said seething with rage.
Luffy looked to Sanji, then to Zoro (giving him a glance of calm down) and then back to Sanji "So who is this person you're looking for Sanji?".
"I couldn't tell you guys even if I wanted to, all I can say is that the ghost guy told me somebody I care about was also saved, I was given their name, but I can't say it until I actually see them with my own eyes" Sanji explained after exhaling a bit more smoke.
Although he was annoyed Luffy reluctantly nodded in acceptance of Sanji's answer, and Zoro just frowned in annoyance at the Chef's words (even though he could tell he was telling the truth).
"Excuse me" Sanji turned to see the white haired girl he had seen yesterday standing before him.
And immediately his soul set ablaze "Hello, my dear Weiss, what is it that I can help you with?".
Weiss flustered a bit at how she was referred to by the blonde man in front of her and then she asked her question "You shouldn't be smoking inside an enclosed space like this, also you shouldn't be allowed to smoke at all".
Sanji looked at her trying to think of an answer that would not offend the young woman, but before he could say anything Zoro spoke up.
"Even though Curly-brow is an ass, I had a talk with the headmaster of the school and he's fine with our habits, because it's not like we're doing it to purpose to offend anyone" Zoro said while taking a swig from his sake bottle and wiping his mouth looking Weiss directly in the eyes the whole time.
Weiss could only be shocked at the display in front of her "So you're hooligans, is that it, do either of you even know what damage excessive amounts of either of those" she pointed to Sanji's cigarette and Zoro's bottle "could do to you?".
Both Zoro and Sanji shrugged, "You do not have to worry about me or that idiot, Miss Schnee, we are quite capable of taking care of ourselves" Sanji said bowing to the young heiress.
"Who are you calling an idiot dartboard" Zoro retorted grabbing for his swords, which he didn't actually current have.
"I'm calling you the idiot, and what kind of pathetic excuse of swordsman doesn't have keep his swords on him, you're really pathetic" Sanji stated while he stared angrily at Zoro.
Luffy then threw his arms around Zoro and Sanji and pushed them away from each other "Guy's you gotta calm down a bit, although I'd admit it would be hilarious to see you two fight it out, I don't want to be kicked out a place for once".
Both Zoro and Sanji ceased their fidgeting in their captain's arms and instead developed shocked expressions on their faces at the sudden maturity of Luffy.
"What did you just say Luffy" they both said in unison.
Luffy looked at the both of them "I don't want to be kicked out of this place".
A sense of dread started to envelop Sanji and Zoro as they realised they're captain was the one who took up the responsibility of detaining them, and as soon as that happened they both relaxed, got out of Luffy's arms and sat on the floor questioning their life choices.
Weiss could only stare at the spectacle that had taken place before her, "What was that?!".
Luffy sat back on the ground and looked up at her, "What was what?".
"How did your arms stretch and why did your friends go from willing to kill each other to then being on the ground immediately depressed?!" Weiss explained.
Luffy looked at her with a puzzled looked, then put his hands together on his head, "Oh that, yeah let me explain, I'm a rubber person".
Weiss looked at him quizzically "What do you mean by you're a rubber person?".
Luffy smiled and grabbed his face stretching it to exaggerated proportions "My whole body is rubber, I can stretch it anyway that I want, and also I'm immune to blunt damage and also apparently lighting".
Weiss just stared, "Okay so even if that's is all true, how are you immune to lighting".
Chopper then walked up alongside her "He means lightning and electricity".
Weiss nodded, "Okay that would make sense if he was actually made of rubber, but I've never heard of a semblance that does that".
"That's because I actually ate 'hmph'" Chopper immediately put a heavy point hand around Luffy's mouth.
"Sorry, what he means is that…." Chopper stopped seeing that Weiss was holding up a finger signalling him to be quiet.
Weiss stared at Chopper with a slight bit of interest, "You're a faunus aren't you?" Chopper nodded, "You seem pretty sure of yourself don't you think for somebody of your background, I mean at least regular faunus can pretend to look like regular human's" Weiss stated.
Luffy angrily stared at Weiss (his mouth still being covered by Chopper's hand) thinking that she had just insulted his friend, but before he could say anything Chopper shifted to Brain point and walked over to Weiss.
Chopper looked up at the heiress and she stared down at him confused "What gives you the right to say something like that?" Chopper yelled (waking up a couple of students).
Weiss stared at him for a bit longer before answering shaking her hands in a defensive manner "I was simply stating a fact, I did not mean to offend you, but in regards to other faunus they usually go out of their way to try and appear similar to humans", and then she looked down at Chopper "But I must ask, why would any faunus choose to look in a way that could influence how faunus are looked at by humans".
Chopper's eyes turned red (the rest of his friends had chosen to sit down and let him handle the situation he was in) and he retorted, "It's not my fault I'm like this, what gives you the right to talk in such a condescending manner to somebody you don't even know".
Weiss blinked at Chopper realising he was standing up to her, and then she started to talk without actually thinking about what she was saying "What gives me the right, is that most of your species are violent creatures and although they want to be treated the same, they still act in a way that's different", Weiss then covered her mouth in shock at what she had just said.
Chopper then shifted to Arm Point "What's wrong with acting different to others, why does everybody have to be the same?".
Weiss looked at the towering figure in front of her (who had only just a second ago been less than half her height) her mind full of shame "I… Um… Ummmm".
Chopper then reverted back to Brain Point, "Even though you obviously are full of yourself I will still answer the questions that you probably have on your mind, and before you ask I'm doing this because it is respectful", he then sat down "Luffy has a weird semblance that mutated his body in a way that he can't turn it off, so yeah he is quite literally rubber".
Weiss turned from the figure that had just instilled fear into her to quickly glance at the rubber person who was fixing her with a glare and then back to Chopper.
Chopper then continued "I was a reindeer faunus, but my semblance mutated my human and animal parts together at a very young age, and in that mutation I also gained access to a variety of forms that have certain different mixes of reindeer and human".
Weiss stared at the apparent faunus trying to process the information she had heard "Very well, I thank you for answering my questions", she then turned to Sanji and Zoro "Please at least refrain from indulging your habits so much", and then she looked back down at Chopper and bowed her head before running off.
Chopper sighed and then walked back to his friends, "I hope that I don't end up with somebody like that as my partner, I mean I don't want to be rude, but I get the feeling that she is just a horrible person in general".
Sanji looked at him and shook his head, "There has to be a reason for her to act like that"
"Shut up cook, you're just saying that because she's a woman, if it was a man you would have said that he deserved to die or something" Zoro said reacting to Sanji's response.
Luffy seeing that another fight was about to break out quickly grabbed his friends and squished all of them together "It's fine guys, everybody can say what they want", and then his mouth then started to water and his stomach started to growl "Now let's go get some food, I'm starving".
The rest of them just sighed and walked off with Luffy in tow headed for the food area.
Breakfast was a total shitshow, a couple of people had tried to eat Chopper, Sanji had flirted with nearly every female first year student, Zoro pissed off nearly every male first year student by showing them up in the muscle department and Luffy a had somehow nearly pissed off every student that had even tried to get a bit of food. Honestly they were lucky they had gotten out of there as soon as they could.
But as the the four of them left the dining room, a couple of people (who hadn't been pissed off in one way or another) smirked, chuckled, laughed or pondered (In Weiss's case) at the apparent recklessness and destructiveness that the four young man were capable of.
And no problems had occurred in the locker room as the four of them quickly got ready and ran to the meeting spot for the beginning of the initiation, although some students did see some stuff happen almost immediately as the four of them left; Zoro had run off after an object that had been kicked into the sky by Sanji, and Sanji ran after him pissed about something (although it was kinda becoming the norm that those two would fight). Luffy had basically taken his whole locker with him because he had forgotten how to open it. And Chopper had accidentally gotten caught on the locker Luffy was carrying.
(Around 30 minutes later, Beacon Cliff)
It had taken Luffy almost thirty minutes to actually get his locker open, and in that time Zoro had reclaimed his sheath which Sanji had kicked into a giant tree, Sanji tried to knock down said tree while Zoro was climbing it and Chopper had gotten thrown when Luffy opened his locker into the same tree Zoro was climbing, all in all things could have gone much worse.
Nearly everybody else had finally arrived at the area to just see the complete catastrophe that been caused by the four boys and those who actually knew them just sighed and walked past the half cut-down tree (that was a bit on fire), the remains of a locker and a couple of giant holes.
Both Luffy and Zoro had fallen asleep on their platforms, while Sanji and Chopper were just standing on theirs waiting for the others to arrive. Blake was the first to say something to them.
"Oh hey, it's you guys" She said with a hint of sarcasm.
Chopper looked up to her while popping a chewing a couple more rumble balls "Hi Blake".
Sanji turned to see the girl and he was instantly smitten, "Hello miss Blake, we haven't formally met yet, but I am Sanji, I am humbled to make your acquaintance!".
Blake turned to him and retorted "Hello Sanji Vinsmoke".
And Sanji's face faltered as he fell to his knees banging the floor while muttering some sort of incoherent rabble.
Blake turned back to Chopper "So judging by the fact that you guys were the first here, I can guess that you caused that mess back there", she said pointing her thumb behind her.
Chopper shakily nodded "and then that professor guy showed up and made us stand apart from each other on these platforms lest we cause more damage".
Blake smirked "You guys can't be that bad together?".
"It's not that we're bad together, it's just that we all tend to relax and act like ourselves when in the company of each other" Chopper answered.
Blake then sat down on the ground in front of him, "Since we have a little bit of time, would you mind if I ask you a question?", to which Chopper shrugged.
"What are those little candies you keep eating, are they like medicine or something, your friends looked a bit concerned when you kept eating them yesterday?" Blake inquired.
Chopper sighed "I'm probably going to have to explain them eventually anyway", he then took a deep breath "These are called rumble balls", he said holding out one of the balls "They fluctuated my 'ability' in ways that could make me various mutations of reindeer and human".
Blake looked at him, "They could?" she questioned.
Chopper shifted to Arm Point, "After using the Rumble Ball for so long my body started to develop it naturally and so I don't usually need it to transform into my other forms anymore".
Blake stared at the now very buff reindeer person in front of her "Usually?".
"Well, I did have this other form that I could achieve if I took the rumble ball, I called it "Monster Point"" Chopper stated, "but after a bit more experimentation I don't even need the rumble ball to access the form, but unfortunately it has a time limit".
Blake turned away from and faced the Emerald forest that was in front of them "So you purposefully experimented on yourself, not caring about what would happen to yourself".
Chopper sadly smiled "I barely had anyone that cared about me anyway, I just resigned myself to studying my abilities".
Blake looked sadly at him, "But what about them" she said pointing to the still unconscious Luffy and Zoro, and Sanji who had started to flirt with another girl.
Chopper changed to Jump point and hunched over a little "I didn't meet them until I was fifteen, but before that, I had only one person left who I could count as a friend and she taught me everything that I know".
"Who was she, if you don't mind me asking", Blake humbly inquired.
"Her name was Doctrine and she taught me everything that I know about medicine" Chopper answered.
"What do you mean medicine?" Blake perplexedly asked.
Chopper looked at her and blushed a little bit "Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention, I'm a trained doctor".
"You're a doctor, but you're only seventeen" Blake said.
Chopper waved her off "I have heightened intelligence which I put to learning medicine from Doctrine after….", his voice then trailed off.
Blake could sense that Chopper had just been about to say something that deeply affected him, so she dropped the subject, "But if you're a doctor, why are you here training to be a hunter?".
Chopper's eyes darkened "My friends are all I have left, I would follow them anywhere and we all want to see each other's dreams come true, (even if some of us won't admit it)" he said glancing at Zoro and Sanji.
"What's your dream?" Blake asked him.
Chopper shifted back to Brain Point "I want to find a cure for every disease".
"Hmph, that's a pretty elaborate dream, don't you think, you little faunus", a particularly smug voice said to Chopper's left.
Chopper turned to see an orange haired boy looking down at him(both metaphorically and physically), "So, I don't care, I going to do it and if I die while doing it, so be it" Chopper said facing the boy with same steely determination as the rest of his nakama.
"So the animal's fine with dying, ha-ha, what are you doing at this school then" the boy retorted.
Chopper then shifted to Heavy Point and dwarfed the guy in front of him, "I am Tony Tony Chopper, I deserve the same respect as anyone, you have no right to judge anyone just based off of a physical difference whatever-your-name was".
Cardin faced the giant of a human-reindeer hybrid in front of him with a smug façade (inside he was slightly peeing his pants) "My name's Cardin Winchester, and what makes you think you can just talk back to me".
A black fiery sword suddenly appeared at Cardin's neck to the surprise of nearly everybody who was there, and Zoro started to speak "What makes you think you can talk to him like that, that 'animal' is more of a man than you and if you want to live I would suggest you stop badmouthing him".
Cardin turned to face the man with the sword and he gulped, "It was just a joke, I didn't mean anything, please don't hurt me".
Everybody (minus one or two people that weren't there yet) turned to Zoro to see what he was going to say next.
Zoro instead of saying something immediately sheathed Shusui into it's sheath (the only one he had on him) and he glanced to Chopper, "I wouldn't worry about me hurting you, I would be more worried about being the one who would make Chopper angry".
Chopper looked at Cardin shifted to Arm Point, smacked his fist's together producing an audible 'crash' sound and then shifted back to Brain Point.
Blake watched as Cardin just went silent and stood up straight on his platform, and she could only smile at the sight she had just seen.
Zoro was about to speak and then Ozpin walked back over (after the last few stragglers had got to the area) and started to speak (Yang quickly knocked Zoro and Luffy awake) "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest".
And then Glynda came walking over and continued the speech, "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumours about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today".
There were a couple of "ohhhhhs" and "crap's" heard from the students as well as a significant indescribable annoyed sound coming from Luffy.
Glynda then went on about something about the teammates reaming the same for the whole four years and then something about it being best to find somebody you work well with.
Luffy just groaned at this ("Who cares, it's gonna be fun either way, it'd be boring if you actually get stuck with somebody you work perfectly with").
Zoro just smirked ("What's the bet that we somehow get put together").
Chopper just shuddered ("Crap I don't want to do this anymore, if those three monsters were to be put in a team together that would mean the end for everyone").
And Sanji's eyes turned to hearts ("I hope I end up in team with just girls, that would be the greatest thing ever").
Glynda then continued "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years".
Luffy could sense that Ruby (who was near him) was instantly depressed at hearing that but he just chuckled and quietly spoke "I hope I get somebody cool for my partner".
And both Sanji and Zoro had the same thought about each other ("I'd better not get that shithead as my partner!").
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die" Ozpin then added.
This just made Sanji, Luffy and Zoro grin in excitement, while Chopper just nervously cried.
"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene" Ozpin continued, "You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will reguard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" he then finished talking.
The Strawhats (minus a slightly nervous Chopper) saw another blond put his hand up to ask a question but the headmaster ignored him completely.
"Good! Now, take your positions" Ozpin exclaimed.
Chopper although he was nervous, understood what was about to happen so he shifted to Jump Point, Luffy smirked and activated second gear (to the confusion of nearly everybody else), Zoro equipped all of his swords and activated them (everybody also stared at how he handled his swords), and Sanji just lit a cigarette.
Chopper was the first of the four to be flung, and due to the added leg strength of Jump Point he got flung a bit higher into the air than everybody else before him and as he soared through the sky he could only smile.
Sanji was the next to be flung but as soon as he was flung into the sky he started to jump on the air, and everybody else just looked at Zoro and Luffy, and the two of them shrugged, "He can sort of fly" Luffy stated.
Zoro was the next to be flung and as went through the air he started to smirk and jump on the air as well, everybody then turned to Luffy, and he looked at them with the same puzzled look "Okay, I didn't know he could also fly".
And then it was Luffy's turn and as soon as his platform activated he disappeared and a dot suddenly appeared in the sky almost a second a later.
As Ruby and Yang were shot off next Ozpin turned to Glynda and pondered "They're really weird , aren't they?".
Glynda just looked at him annoyed "That just means they're going to be even more of a hassle for me, doesn't it?".
Ozpin looked at her smugly and sipped his mug before turning to the blonde haired boy who's turn it was next, and the boy just started blabbering about how he was going to land, and what could happen if it went wrong and then before he even knew it the boy was also flung into the sky.
Ozpin just stared at all the students he had just flung off into the sky and he smiled "This could be very interesting", and then he took one more sip of his mug before walking off with Glynda to prepare for when the students returned.
Ehhh, I'll eventually get around to making the students interact more, I mean I don't even understand how to interact with other people, I've just been winging it. XD XD
I'm loving writing this story and I hope to continue it for a while, and I would appreciate any constructive criticism because I've only been writing story's for a little bit and I would appreciate any insight into how to write certain characters or events.
And that's all, peace out!