Chapter III: Judgment of Master

Freezing cold was what the crew first felt when they walked through the door. It was a room, without any sort of lighting beside a single bulb hanging from the ceiling by a thread. It provided both light and warmth to this place, but in ridiculously small amounts. It might as well not be there, since it would be the same with or without it. Looking around them the Strawhats realized it was a basement of sorts, or at least a large hall. There were no windows but they could tell by the presence of a musty and dank air that they were in fact deep underground.

" I believe that the number on the door signifies Kenshi-san's age in the particular memory the door opens to. This time it was an eight."

"Hopefully that doesn't mean things are worse than before, right ?"

"I do not know, Doctor-san, but I can only hope that they are not."

Banging is what they heard, the sound making them jump slightly in fright. It was the sort of banging that is done metal hits flesh. Everyone was looking around trying to spot the origin of the sound. But they were on guard, remembering the events shown to them in the last memory. They were in no hurry to see dead bodies dumped all around them. It left them shuddering just to think about it lest they see something like that again.

Screams could be heard echoing in the dark corridor, the male voice resonating from the stone walls, inching into every nook and cranny. The screams seemed like they had been going on for hours. The Strawhats broke down and covered their ears to block the worst of the sounds. They broke into a run towards the end of the corridor and burst through the door, only to stop dead at the sight that welcomed them.

A big muscled man stood shirtless and blood stained in front of a sobbing Zoro. The green haired child was naked, spread eagle upon the cold stone wall, handcuffs adorning his wrists to hold him in place. He was helpless to the man behind him. Said man had obviously thought long and hard on how he wanted to hurt Zoro, how to make him suffer. He decided on the conventional approach, he was using a large bull whip, the strands separated at the end and spiked with deadly barbs to grab and tear at flesh. Zoro's back was in ribbons, he had been whipped over a hundred times, each one swung with the full power of the man's strength, each one taking flesh and muscle with it, ripping them from their fleshy confines. Zoro whimpers one last time then succumbed to unconsciousness.

The crew was horrified .How could anyone do something like this to a child ? It was unthinkable…it was disgusting. Hey were all prepared to kill the man in front of them, but they knew they could not hurt a memory. This man was just an image of something that had happened a long time ago…but heaven forsake he cross their path…he will die.

"Why did the memory not end… I mean Zoro is unconscious…so?"

"I believe we are meant to keep on watching, Navigator-san."

The man gazed at the bloody nearly skinless back before him and felt a sadistic smile creep up his facial features. The blonde muscled man's hackles rose and a deep growl reverberated through the dungeon and caused Zoro to whimper in his sleep. The older one looked at the bloody torture device in his hand and threw it across the room with disgust, it clanged against the wall, this satisfied him and his face became impartial.

The Strawhat crew watched with repressed revulsion as the blonde man walked towards theirs nakama, but theirs expression changed to one of confusion when said blonde removed the manacles from around the young child's hands, releasing him from the wall. Without the support the boy slumped limply to the ground, smearing dirt and blood on his chest and face. The impact to the floor caused Zoro to awaken slightly, enough to groan and roll over on his back, not realizing until too late his mistake. A scream of agony echoed on the walls of the dungeon and caused the outside viewers to flinch in surprise. The blond man watched, an expression of intense interest on his face as the boy writhed and groaned on the floor in pain from the wounds he had inflicted upon him. With a movement too quick for the crew to follow the older man knelt next to the injured boy and carefully helped him to sit up and get his wounds out of harm's way. Gentle fingers wiped the blood trickling from the corner of the boy's mouth, he purposefully made eye contact with the boy and licked the blood slowly off of his fingers. Zoro's eyes filled with hate and a slight spark of fear.

"Why do you not just end it Master?" his voice cracked from screaming and he cleared his throat, only to double over and cough up blood on the already crimson stained stone beneath him.

Said man raised an eyebrow at the question and slowly raised a finger to pick at his sharp teeth in thought. His eyes roamed the broken figure of Zoro and finally focused on his chest as if seeing through the skin and bone to the throbbing organ beneath.

"You want me to plunge my fingers through your skin here," He drew one long fingernail over the flesh that contained Zoro's heart. "and pluck your still beating heart from your flesh, so that I may end your suffering? Is that what you are asking of me?" Master's fingers traced designs in the blood on the boy's chest. Zoro shivered at the contact and turned his head away from the piercing blue eyes of his torturer.

"Do you think that I would actually fall for that? I can see the fear in your eyes and the hope in your heart and I know that you have thought many things of me but you have never been humiliated by me. I'm not ending anything Little Zoro-chan and you know the best part? There is nothing you can do to stop me. Welcome to Hell Zoro, I hope with all of my heart that you do not enjoy your stay." Master's smile grew even larger and his fangs flashed in the fire light in the room.

Using the little strength he possessed the young child leaned forward and spat blood in Master's face. A growl of anger and revulsion echoed through the cave and a wet slap was heard in the dungeon as the older man's temper broke and backhanded the beaten boy in front of him. Master felt bones break and blood smear his hands as his hand connected with skin. Groans of pain echoed in the chamber as the green haired boy tried to breathe through his mouth.

"I'm going to leave you here and let you wonder when I will be back and let you wonder what I have thought of to make you suffer the next time I see you." With those parting words The Master walked out of the dungeon The sobbing started when the door closed and all light was lost to the young Zoro.

Author' note: Sorry for the delay…but I had a total lack of ideas. By the way this is the first time I wrote a scene with torture and abuse so I don't know if it's good or not. Please review and tell me.