A/N: Sorry for the delay between the last update and this one. It may not seem like it, but this chapter (and the next) have been done for a little bit but what it came down to was that I kept changing things here and there, some big and some small. What I'm beginning to realize now is that this story has a lot more potential for depth than what I originally thought and ending the story next chapter like I had planned to wouldn't really do the material up to now justice. As such, I'm cutting this chapter off earlier than originally planned and will continue on from there. Expect the next update Friday and as always enjoy!

Zoro's head was dunked under a canister of water. A few minutes passed and, as with the other times it had been done, the swordsman started throttling around violently in an attempt to resurface his head for air. After what seemed like an eternity of him struggling, Zoro finally went limp and immediately afterwards had his head removed from the water.

He gasped for air violently, trying to suck in as much of the terribly needed oxygen that he'd been getting deprived of for the past hour. The men holding him were much less considerate this time and Zoro only had time enough for a couple of breaths before they threw his head into the water again. To his credit, despite the wretched condition his body was in, three marines were required to hold him down while they dunked him.

Zoro didn't struggle at first, trying to calm himself down and outlast their judgment. If he could sit still long enough, the marines holding him would wonder if he had actually drowned, pulling his head out of the water as to prevent such an occurrence. He told himself this, as he had every single time before, and yet as the time dragged on and the oxygen in his lungs dwindled, self preservation kicked in and no amount of focus or discipline could change the fact that he was drowning.

It took less time than before for Zoro to wildly fight those holding him down, water sloshing out of the side of the pan with each marine grunting in exertion at holding the swordsman down.

"Up."

Following their commander's orders, the three marines lifted Zoro up and held him above the pan of water.

The commander, apparently named Daron as Zoro had overheard, leered down at the swordsman.

"Had enough yet? We can stop anytime that you want." He strolled around the green haired pirate mockingly. "Of course, you know what would happen if we were to stop, don't you?"

Zoro said nothing in response, more focused on catching his breath while he could.

"That pretty broad of yours will take your place, tenfold."

Zoro's eye twitched at the last statement. "There's something I need to tell you," he managed to get out.

"Oh? And what is that?"

Zoro smiled a faint smile. "I'm a little thirsty, think you could help me out?"

Daron frowned. "If that's what you want."

Zoro's head was thrust under the water again.

The dunking continued on for another half of an hour, neither party talking during it and it confirmed what Zoro had already begun to accept.

The only objective of the torturing was to break him.

Rather than ask him questions about his crew or other pertinent information, Daron instead questioned Zoro's determination and endurance. The swordsman figured that Daron assumed he wouldn't talk if asked, which he wouldn't no matter how high the stakes, but the lack of any effort at obtaining information was a tell tale sign that it wasn't what the marine captain was after.

As his head was taken out of the pan one last time, Zoro realized that they were extremely effective at what they set out to do. The past couple of days had been absolutely ruthless and the green haired swordsman didn't know how much longer he would be able to endure. To that end, he didn't even know how many days had come and gone since there was no way of telling how much time passed inside the building. If he were to assume that they'd given him affable time to rest, which he highly doubted, then he and Robin had been in captivity for close to four days.

Every day since the first the torture had lasted longer and became a bit more intense. Daron had begun to look increasingly perturbed lately and even though Zoro suspected the man still greatly enjoyed what he was doing he couldn't help but feel the marine was becoming more and more anxious. Perhaps he was worried someone he didn't want to would find out, or perhaps it was something better for the swordsman. Maybe Luffy and the others were getting close to finding them and he felt pressured to end things before that happened.

If there was only one thing that Zoro could respect about the captain, it was that he was devoted to his word. The man could simply have the two pirates in his grasp executed and be done with them, however he'd told Zoro no such thing would happen until the swordsman gave in. Zoro had a hunch the marine was trying to speed things up.

"Stand up," Daron's haughty voice commanded the swordsman.

Zoro looked at him blankly. The three marines that held him down before now surrounded him but otherwise left the swordsman alone. He was sitting on his legs pathetically and could hardly muster the strength to move them. Standing up was simply out of the question.

Daron's eyes narrowed at the swordsman. "I said, stand up." His voice, while not rising in volume, echoed a stern tone.

Zoro looked down at his legs before returning the gaze to Daron, dumbfounded. Of all people, the captain should know that he asked the impossible.

A fist slammed into the swordsman's cheek and threw him to the ground in a heap. For what seemed the hundredth time Zoro tasted warm blood in his mouth. He welled up the blood in his mouth before spitting it onto the ground, picking himself up with his arms and looking angrily at Daron afterwards.

The husky marine did not look amused.

"I don't think you're quite getting it. Stand up."

Zoro didn't move.

"Is that defiance I'm seeing? Don't forget you're our prisoner, Demon Cutter; you do as we say. If not, I'm going to have to teach you a lesson."

"By what, beating me some more?" Zoro scoffed at the marine. "Like that's going to do anything."

"Who said anything about beating you?" Daron sneered.

Zoro's defiant look disappeared.

"Finally sinking in, huh? You've got it; I'll give your punishment to her if you continue to be so uncooperative. Now, as I've already told you, STAND!"

Zoro tried pushing himself up onto his legs but felt them instantly buckle under his weight. He tried a second time, this time more quickly and forcefully, and ended up falling to the ground on his side. His legs throbbed in agony.

"I SAID STAND, DAMN YOU!"

Daron kicked Zoro in the stomach. The swordsman coughed out and clutched his stomach. The marine captain drew his leg back in preparation for a follow up kick before Zoro started moving on his own again.

Taking more care to keep his balance, Zoro slowly raised himself off of the ground and put increasing amounts of weight on his legs. At first they wobbled violently under the strain, but after a minute or so they grew used to it and found renewed strength from places Zoro didn't know existed. He was going to do it, he was going to stand up on his own and keep his balance.

A thought suddenly occurred to the swordsman. If he could stand after everything he'd been through, what else could he do? It'd taken three marines to hold him down so it wasn't like he was completely helpless, and it was only those three plus Daron inside of the room. There had been no Den Den Mushis recording anything, either, since it seemed a lot of what Daron carried out wasn't something he wanted others to know about. All Zoro had to do was catch the four men by surprise and incapacitate them. Daron probably had keys that would unlock Robin's cuffs and with her still in good shape she'd be more than enough to get them out of there once the Kairoseki cuffs were no longer restraining her powers.

Before he could act on the thought, and just before he made it to a fully standing position, something smashed into the back of his left leg, throwing it out painfully from under him and he fell to the ground, worse off than before.

"I said stand up, or were you not listening?" Daron's tone had changed from earlier. It was more sinister, more tantalizing.

It dawned on the swordsman that Daron wasn't going to let him stand back up. The whole point was to give Zoro a false sense of hope that he could somehow overpower his captors and escape before immediately crushing that hope. He briefly considered stopping his attempts since to continue trying was a waste of strength that he would desperately need in the near future.

"If you stop trying, I'll kill her," Daron interjected, probably knowing what was going through the green haired swordsman's head. It wasn't an empty threat.

No longer having a choice, Zoro struggled to get on his feet. As with before, any time his struggle came close to achieving success Daron would kick out his leg, knocking the swordsman back to the ground before he could acquiesce the marine's demands.

This continued until Zoro no longer had the strength to even lift himself up with his arms. As he came crashing down to the ground for a final time, every muscle in his body throbbed in unrelenting agony. Breathing alone was a strain. His eyes were half open and he was barely hanging on to consciousness.

"Stand." Daron loomed over the swordsman, looking down at him passively.

Zoro couldn't even muster the strength to say anything. All he could manage to do was take sharp, jagged breaths. His eyes were glossed over, seeing but not focusing.

"Guess we're done with that, then." Daron looked at his men and gestured to the swordsman by his feet. "Do as you wish. Afterwards chain him back up. Richter, come find me when you're bringing our prisoner back to his holding area."

The man known as Richter stood attention, saluting the captain. "Yes sir."

The marine captain began walking towards the exit of the room to attend to other matters. He turned back before his men got started, the three encroaching on the swordsman. "Remember, don't kill him. We've still got more to do."

Robin weakly opened her eyes after waking up from a nap she'd finally been able to take. It was monumentally difficult to even consider getting some sleep, especially with what was happening to Zoro, but she forced herself to in the highly unlikely chance she was somehow freed of her restraints. It would do her and her companion no good if she was freed and had no strength to take full advantage of it.

Even though she somehow managed to make herself sleep, it had only totaled to a couple of hours in the few days they'd been kept here. Since she wasn't being distracted by hellish treatment like Zoro was, she was able to keep a decent track of time. They'd been in captivity for somewhere in between two to three days and she'd only seen the swordsman for a fraction of them.

Any time he was brought in, the green haired swordsman looked like a husk of a person, barely resembling the man she had gotten to know over the time she'd been sailing under the Straw Hat emblem. She knew he was still in there, but for how long she did not. Every time he was brought back he either slept or pretended to, choosing to grind the chains restricting his arms against their metal holsters rather than talk to her.

He hadn't spoken a word to her since their first discussion once they were shackled to the wall, something that bothered her greatly. She could understand when he was sleeping, but why pretend to sleep when he wasn't? Was he that afraid of talking to her about their situation; that ashamed? It irked her that he didn't even have to courtesy to talk to her after what he had done, selfishly taking on her punishment as well as his own.

Robin bit her lip. It had been her that had gotten the two pirates caught! Her and her alone! Why should Zoro suffer when it was her fault? Why had he baited the captain to give everything to him? It wasn't fair. She should be the one suffering, not Zoro.

It wasn't fair.

Robin's attention shifted to the sound of metal slamming against stone as the cell door was thrown open. Two men dragged a limp figure along the ground by his legs and it wasn't difficult to figure out it was Zoro. His arms lay slack behind him and it looked like it was all the man could do to breathe. Robin stared grimly at the men carelessly dragging her nakama across the ground. If she got freed… no… when she got freed, she would make sure that they regretted ever becoming a marine.

The two men shackled Zoro to the wall by his arms before leaving him alone to dangle helplessly. Afterwards they turned to the door and Robin followed their gaze to see their captain. He was walking towards her, being led by another marine the archeologist had begun to recognize by the crooked nose he wore on his face. Robin didn't know any of the men's names and didn't particularly care to, their faces were burned into her memory and she wouldn't forget them any time soon.

"Quite a sour look you're sporting there," the captain chided as he walked to the raven haired archeologist's front. "Something the matter?"

Robin chose to remain silent, instead saying everything she could have wanted to through her vehement glare.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the captain continued, raising his hands in a defensive gesture. "No need to be so cross, Nico Robin. Besides, you really shouldn't show such an unseemly look on a face as pretty as yours."

Robin didn't change the stare, if anything it got worse.

The captain reached up with his right arm before backhanding the raven haired woman across the face. The blow caught her entirely off guard and her head swung to the side.

"I told you to not look at me like that."

Robin felt something running down her right cheek and realized that it was blood. Her face stung bitterly, mostly at the spot she'd been hit, directly under her eye on the cheekbone. The backhand had probably split open her cheek against the bone but she couldn't be certain since her arms were restricted.

The marine captain looked disappointedly at Zoro and then back to Robin before turning back towards the exit.

"Too bad he's out cold. I still have to punish him for his earlier insolence but with him out like that what good will it do? Let's go, men."

The man walked out with the two who had carried Zoro in following close behind. The one with the crooked nose, however, paused at the exit and turned back to look at the raven haired archeologist. His eyes fervently looked over the archeologist's body and she shivered under his stare. It looked like he was contemplating something before a voice called him from the room.

Finally alone, Robin looked over at Zoro and saw him hanging still from his restraints. She saw his stomach expand and retract raggedly and that meant that at the very least he was still breathing. A few minutes passed before Robin heard an all too familiar noise coming from the swordsman's direction. The sound of a chain grinding against metal.

"I know you're not asleep, Zoro. You aren't fooling me." Robin looked sternly at the man chained next to her.

After a pause, Zoro responded, "It's not you I'm trying to fool."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Then why haven't you said anything?"

"Because you haven't either, I figured you didn't want to talk."

Robin bit her tongue. It made sense, it wasn't that he was trying to avoid her; it was that she hadn't had the courage to talk to him. Zoro wasn't exactly the talkative type, so she should have known he wouldn't be the one to start a conversation. She'd been thinking about the situation in the wrong light the entire time and she berated herself for it.

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Don't be coy, Zoro. You know damn well what I'm asking."

The swordsman paused, opening his eyes before staring blankly at the ground.

"Because I told everyone that we'd be ok, that I'd protect you. I'm just keeping that promise."

Robin scowled. "So it's because of some backhanded reason of pride then? Are you fucking serious?"

Zoro looked at her startled, caught by surprise at her outburst.

"What kind of excuse is that? Do you want them to write on your tombstone 'Died Honorably'? Because they are going to kill you at this rate; and for what? Pride? Honor? I honestly thought you had an actual reason as to why and instead you pull that out of your ass? Aren't we supposed to be working together as nakama to overcome anything in our path? You taking this all on yourself isn't going to do a damned thing in the long run! Where does it lead you? Nowhere. What does it give you? Nothing. All it means is that you're dead and gone and that you're leaving us… leaving me…"

Tears started falling down the archeologist's face. Zoro opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off before he could get a word in.

"It's bullshit and you know it."

Silence again. This time it was broken by the green haired swordsman.

"I'd be lying if I said pride and honor didn't have anything to do with it… but there's something more to it also." Zoro looked calmly at the archeologist, his look unwavering. "I'm not really sure what it is, but the thought of seeing you hurt is more unacceptable to me than it is doing this to you. Maybe it's just me being selfish… I don't know."

His eyes moved over to her cut. "Also, sorry… about your face."

"Huh?" Robin asked, confused.

"I was awake the whole time but couldn't do anything…" He paused to catch his breath, breathing heavily. "If they knew I was conscious they would have done worse."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Because of the insolence he mentioned?"

"Sorta. They made it so I couldn't do what they said. Probably didn't expect things to go this far…"

Nothing else was said for a few minutes, the only audible noise being Zoro's strained breathing and the scraping of his binds. The noise once again piqued the archeologist's interest.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"You know…" Robin gestured with her head at Zoro's shackles. "That."

"Oh…" Zoro looked up at the chains and then at the door, scanning the entire room to make sure nobody was there. "I'm trying to grind them down so I can break loose. They haven't been clasping my legs and I was almost able to stand earlier, so maybe I can break free and get the jump on them. Daron probably has a key to your cuffs so then once you're free we'll be a lot better off."

Robin guessed that Daron was the one in charge. "What makes you think Daron has the key? Have you seen it?"

Zoro chuckled morbidly, something that disturbed the archeologist more than she'd have liked it to. "No, but what else do we have to go on?"

The last statement was probably why the laugh bothered her so much. Both knew that the hope of them escaping now was very slim, Zoro had simply expressed it.