Wow this is a long author's note…Anyway, chapter three is complete! :D I'm glad that you liked this enough to continue reading, and if you didn't like it—though I'm not really sure why you're still reading—I hope that you start liking it. Thanks to those who reviewed or thought about reviewing, I appreciate it.
On another note, this chapter may be the last update until summer, because it is the last chapter that is completely written and edited to my liking. I will, however, do my best to work on it before summer, I just can't make any promises. I know that this is a horrible place to leave you hanging, and I apologize. If I DO make you wait until the summer, then I'll do a double-update or something. I don't know, I may end up updating next week XD
The last traces of the tree-shaking blast vanished from the air, leaving the area around him completely silent, save for the squawking of startled birds. He couldn't even begin to imagine what could have caused a noise such as that, but he did know that there was no way it wasn't made by a person. So, despite the warning bells that were going off in his mind, screaming for him to go the other way, Zoro found himself breaking into a run.
It was no secret from which way the noise had come—his ears were still ringing. And, judging from the volume of the noise, it was close as well. He pushed through the trees and shrubs, wondering from what and where the noise had come from all the while.
It had sounded, to him, like an explosion—a very large gunshot, to be exact. He leaped over a fallen log, dodging under a branch as he did so. Though he waited for the noise to come again, he heard nothing but the sound of his feet hitting the earth and the branches tearing at his arms and clothing.
When he'd first begun running, it had seemed as though he were entirely alone in the middle of the wilderness. The trees towered over him, and grew so thickly that he couldn't see farther than twenty feet in any direction before a trunk blocked his vision.
But almost as soon as he had run off into the trees they'd started to thin out, and, after running a decent ways, they cleared out entirely, revealing the Grand Line's equivalent of a border town, similar to the one that he'd passed through on the other side of the Rift.
He stood on the top of a hill overlooking the town from a slight height advantage. It was large—surprisingly so—and surrounded by a large amount of clearing on every side of the town. This, he presumed, had originally been to protect the town from guerilla warfare from within the trees, but after a few decades and a severe increase in security, it had begun to serve more as a natural city-limit. It was simply void space that could have—if given the opportunity—eventually proved it's worth when the town wanted to expand.
Unfortunately, it was reverting back to its original security purposes, since the chances of the town expanding had all but dropped to zero. Zoro scanned the clearing, as well as what he could see of the town, but didn't see anything that might have caused the noise.
There was another side of the town that he couldn't see, however, so he decided to venture into the streets to search.
As he began to make his way down the sloping landscape and into the clearing, it occurred that the people that made the noise may not be friendly. Even after not seeing another person for months, Zoro wasn't stupid enough to blindly trust whoever it was in the town to not attack him outright.
Uneasiness washed over him and he crossed the clearing as quickly as possible. He was an easy target out in the open like this, and every one of his senses went into overdrive, taking in everything in his surroundings as a potential threat. Even after he'd ducked into the shelter that the houses on the outside of the town offered, he didn't begin to let his guard down.
From the hill, Zoro had been able to see everything to the left of his vantage point, so when he reached the road, Zoro turned right, making sure to stick to the houses as best he could so that he didn't draw too much attention to himself.
Odds were, the person—or people—who had made that noise weren't aware that they had company. If they turned out to be a threat, as long as Zoro kept his wits about him, there was a perfectly good opportunity for the swordsman to simply turn around and run away. As much as he hated the idea of fleeing, he also knew that there was a chance it would be necessary.
And if he was forced to fight, he wanted to element of surprise on his side.
As he walked down the street, Zoro became aware of the sound of voices. Multiple voices, all talking, laughing, or yelling. There was one definite voice that that stuck out to him. It was loud and demanding, carrying over all the others easily. It was screeching orders, demanding that its allies picked up the pace. The more he listened, the more on edge he grew. There was something about the voices—the entire situation—that pushed his fight-or-flight instincts into overdrive.
Suddenly, the overwhelming urge to get inside and out of sight overtook him. Zoro took a step back, crossing onto the porch of the nearest house and ducking inside the open front door, shutting it behind him. Just as he stepped inside and out of sight, a pair of men emerged from the house next door. Both of them were carrying bags packed full, and, more noticeably, a pair of swords at their side.
Zoro watched them through the door's only window as they passed by him. His eyes narrowed as pieces of their conversation drifted through the door.
"The Boss is so stingy! All I wanted to do was set off the cannon once, and he sends me off to collect from the houses!"
The second shifted the bag on his shoulders. "Be happy he didn't kill you outright, you dumbass. No one touches the Boss's stuff."
"Yeah, well, I still can't wait till he blows up this whole damn town. It's gonna be great!" The first cheered, pumping a fist into the air. Zoro frowned at the words. These two didn't look all that threatening—they would both be rather unassuming if not for their flamboyant dress and the scabbards at their hips.
"Hey—" Zoro ducked behind the wall as one of their heads turned towards him. "Didn't we just check that house?" Shit!
He backed away from the door, ducking low. Zoro crossed the threshold and moved farther into the room. The sun was beginning to set, which cast shadows on the walls, making it even easier to hide.
"Yeah, so?"
"The door's closed."
The other paused, catching on to his partner's drift. "Well, maybe the wind closed it." From outside, Zoro could hear the sound of footsteps on the porch. "We should check, just in case… The Boss'd have our hides!" He laughed as he pulled the door open and stepped inside, followed by his partner. Zoro froze, watching them both from behind a tall table in the corner, daring either of them to notice him.
They both dropped their bags by the door and walked in, pulling the door shut behind them—probably to prevent him from sneaking past them and outside. He noticed how much older the second speaker was. He also noticed that the odd marks on their faces were actually face paint, if not tattoos.
"Hold on, I'll check upstairs." The older said. "You watch the door." He disappeared from view, and the room grew extremely quiet. Zoro held his breath for fear of being heard because, despite the fact that he was positive he could handle the brat in the doorway, he certainly didn't want to draw too much attention to himself, or make enemies with anyone who had a cannon.
There was some thumping around upstairs, and then the younger went out of view as well. For one long moment, Zoro actually thought that he hadn't been noticed, but then the younger came into view again. Their eyes locked, and in the time it took for him to find his voice to cry out for his friend, Zoro had crossed the short distance between them and drawn two of his swords.
With one swift movement he knocked the kids back against the wall, holding the blade of his swords tight against his throat; he turned to smash the hilt of another into the nose of his ally's face.
He fell unceremoniously to the ground and the younger let out a squeak as he slumped near their feet. Zoro locked eyes with him, almost feeling bad as the kid—he couldn't have been older than fifteen—squeezed his eyes shut in terror.
"Who are you?" Zoro asked. The voice sounded strange and unfamiliar, even to him. It had been much too long since he'd spoken to anyone. The other shook his head slightly, too scared to speak. Zoro sighed and removed the sword from his throat, pointing it instead at his chest. "Don't make me repeat myself."
"W-we're rioters." He squeaked.
Damn, he'd figured that was going to be the answer, but he'd been sincerely hoping that they weren't rioters. He hated rioters. They were rowdy and reckless, without concern for anyone but themselves, always itching for a fight. Zoro frowned and stepped away, sheathing his swords.
"Get out of here. I don't wanna hurt you, and you don't want me to either." He snapped. At first the kid didn't move, but when he realized that he was actually being given a chance at freedom, he took a tentative step toward the door.
Don't be an idiot… Zoro thought, as the kid walked closer to him; He noticed the hand that snuck to his scabbard and sighed inwardly.
As soon as he was within range, the kid drew his sword and turned to attack Zoro head-on. In a matter of moments it was clattering across floor. Zoro watched passively as the kid crumpled to the ground before walking over to their bags.
"Be happy, I used the back of my sword." He mumbled, drawing up the first bag to look through its contents. When he pulled the drawstring open, the last thing he'd expected to see was gold, but the bag was filled with it. Jewelry, silverware, and a number of other precious items were stuffed into the bag. A quick examination of the second revealed the same.
Zoro scoffed and threw it down again. Gold was worthless, dead weight. Anyone who would raid houses for gold was the worst kind of fool in Zoro's book. They were stuck in the past, when precious metals were precious and wealth or status mattered.
Zoro frowned, and adjusted his katana before turning to make sure that neither of the men behind him would be getting back up again. The last thing he wanted was for one of them to go reporting to their boss before he had the chance to get far, far away.
Outside, the voices, which had previously been inaudible from inside the house, grew to an excited roar. Zoro's head snapped up and a hand flew to his swords; his first thought was that he'd been discovered, but, after a few moments, no one appeared on the streets. He reasoned that there was no way that he'd been found out, as he was almost certain that no one but the two unconscious men behind him had seen him. He walked to the window on the door, peering out.
Besides, the voices seemed excited, and maybe encouraging, but not angry. Whatever it was that was causing the excitement could also serve as the perfect means for his escape.
He grabbed the doorknob and stepped outside, moving to turn back the way that he'd entered the town, but the sound of the cheering crowd grew clearer as he stepped outside, and, over the sound of uproarious laughter, and incoherent screams, he could also make out, rather clearly, the monotonous chanting of two words over and over again in growing anticipation.
Kill him.
Hah, this is either a terrible place to end this one, or a great place, and I'm not really sure which…. Oh well, please review and tell me what you think!