Chapter 9 Welcome to Marineford

Zoro stared at the night sky through the windows of the crow's nest. The incident from earlier still fresh in his mind. He had barely been able to hide his blush and bleeding nose when Luffy had come out half naked, he had knocked out the ero-cook, Brook and Usopp had collapsed and Franky looked away. Chopper had seen Luffy before due to the fact that he was the doctor.

The image came to his mind again and he closed his eyes to try not to think about it. Maybe the blond was right, maybe he was a pervert. Dear Kami-sama did he just think that? Man, he really needed to stop hanging around the man. Luffy surely seemed unaffected by the whole incident. Nami was pissed about it while Robin had simply chuckled at the teen.

He sighed and looked out the window again. Just because he slept most of the day, he was the one stuck keeping watch at night. At least the crow's nest was inside. He wouldn't have to worry about the weather affecting him as long as he stayed in it.

The tournament popped up in his head and what it would be like. Would it be an outright death match, or would they really be playing this game that was said. He wasn't exactly sure. His father had called him in when he had been training. The man was watching TV when the commercial came on. Zoro had watched in silence and only one thing had come to his mind as he watched: Luffy would kill to go to this.

He had been right. But that was given. Everyone else had thought the same thing. They were already mentally preparing themselves for their captain's spazzing out of the thought of this adventure. He had to admit however that it was interesting. The thought of going against such strong opponents made a shiver of excitement run through him.

He heard footsteps as someone began to climb up to the room. Was Nami giving him a break and sending the cook to be the guard? He doubted it. When the door opened, a small tanned hand came out. It then revealed the head of his girlfriend.

Luffy jumped into the room and quickly closed the door. She walked over to Zoro and sat next to him on the sofa. Zoro was surprised at seeing her up there and about at the hour it was. Luffy leaned against Zoro and took in his scent.

"Hello." She said. Zoro was sure she was on the verge of falling asleep. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled the smaller girl closer. Luffy snuggled closer and wrapped an arm around the front of his waist.

Small warmth came to Zoro's cheeks and Luffy looked up at him. A small pleasant smile was on her lips. Zoro became hypnotized by the look and continued to stare. Luffy didn't say anything, just looked at him with half opened eyes.

"We going on an adventure and we going to win it all." She said sleepily. Zoro noted her slurring words and knew that she wasn't going to last much longer.

"Go to sleep Luffy," he said stroking her hair gently. "We are going to be arriving soon and we don't know what's going to happen."

"I do." Luffy said happily looking at him.

"And what is that?" Zoro asked as if he was asking a small kid.

"We going to kick their asses. They show up and pick a fight, we kick their asses." Luffy said with a very drunken expression.

"How much grog did you have?" Zoro asked her smelling the toxin on her breath.

"Only two or three." Luffy said giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Bottles?"

"Barrels." Luffy corrected sliding down onto Zoro's shoulder. The man sighed and looked at her directly in the eye.

"Got to sleep." He ordered her again.

Luffy booed but her eyes closed as she rested on his shoulder. The green haired man could hear her mumble something about being a jerk and this made him chuckle a bit.

After making sure that the teen wouldn't slide down, Zoro continued to do his look out job and watched the ocean as it moved up and down.

The next morning brought the island into view. The post was pointing to it and they were drawing closer. Nami decided to go over rules since they had no clue what they were getting into.

"We need to stick together no matter what. Understand?" she said particularly to the youngest members of the group. Chopper nodded while Usopp and Luffy booed.

The orange haired teen sighed and everyone went about their business. It would still take them a while to get to the island, so they decided to relax until then.

Usopp had spotted someone looking at them so the place knew that they were arriving. He also saw many other ships including the one belonging to Whitebeard. Nami thought it was weird that the ship had gotten there before them, but didn't question the way of the sea.

When they drew closer to the port, they saw people there to greet them. Another group was also docking. Luffy hopped of the figure head of Sunny Go and looked at the island happily.

The large island had a town on two sides and a layered plaza with the gallows at the top. A very large building was behind that with dojo style roofing. A grin was plastered on the boy's face. The men walked up to them and bowed as the rest of the crew came off the ship.

"Don't worry, your ship will be in our care." One said looking at the group with particular interest.

"Touch her and you die." Franky clearly stated before following the rest to the plaza. The man he had spoken to gulped in fear from the tone that the man had used on him.

The other captain from the ship that had docked near the straw hats sneered at the kids. His eyes stared down at them from behind a rather large nose. He looked the boy over and then noticed the straw hat placed on his head.

"Oi, gaki." He called to the black haired boy. Luffy looked over, used to being called a brat by now. The clown looked at the small rookie with a grin.

"That hat, where did you get it?" the man asked with small irritation in his voice.

"From my dad." Luffy said casually before continuing his climb up the slope to the top of the slope.

"Oh, okay… WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOUR DAD!" the clown began to spazz out and jumped in front of the boy. Well at least his top half did.

"Like I said, my dad gave me this hat when I was little, now get out of my face, big nose." Luffy said shoving pass the man.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BIG NOSE!"

Luffy turned to the screaming figure and gave him a sly grin before saying: "you" and ordering her crew to run. They obliged with complaints from Nami.

They all bolted as the pirate crew behind them continued their chase. They all separated and hid between the buildings and people. Luffy easily scaled one of the buildings and started jumping across them. This drew attention to him and the clown came after him. Luffy jumped to another building and noticed something familiar.

Without any hesitation the teen jumped off the building and began to run towards the figure. She stopped and said hi, completely forgetting her pursuer. The rest of her caught up to her and also said hello to the red-haired captain. Usopp smiled at his father.

Buggy finally caught up to the boy and stopped when he saw who the boy was talking to.

"Dammit Shanks, what the hell is a bastard like you doing here?" the clown said shoving past the boy and putting his face into the man's.

Luffy punched the clown sending him out of his dad's face and to the ground. "Don't you dare talk bad about Shanks." He said glaring at the pirate with pure hatred. The clown looked back at him.

"What the hell does it have to do with you!" he asked the brat and Luffy shoved his face into the man's.

"I don't like it when people make fun of Shanks." Luffy didn't call Shanks his dad knowing that here it was to be kept a secret. Along with other things.

Shanks got the two to calm down and Buggy went back to his crew pissed and determined to kill the straw hated brat. Luffy was grinning as they walked to the large building at the center of the island.

"You really have a way of making enemies." Zoro commented as they walked through the doors.

They stopped and looked at the dojo style interior and large ceilings. Luffy began to shine when he saw a large bell and wanted to wring it. Nami held him back saying that it was meant for a ritual and not for play. That made Luffy upset, but he ignored it.

Chopper took a couple of steps forward and began to feel rather small in the place. Many pirates were already there and looking at them. Though it felt more as if they were looking at the red-haired man and his crew rather than a small group of rookies.

Nonetheless, they were attracting some attention. He recognized the man called Krieg who was glaring at Luffy as well. Along with other pirate groups they had met before, the small reindeer became scared as he saw ones that he didn't want to meet.

The small thing clinged onto Zoro and the teen put his hand on the pour things hat hoping that it would calm him down. Zoro knew that Chopper has brave, it was just his shyness at first meets that made him afraid. Luffy grinned and they walked forward. Passing pirates easily and without fear.

Some looked the crew and who was leading them and scoffed the boy off. He was a scrawny runt in their eyes. In his crew's, Luffy was a man who was also a monster. Some crews tried to taunt them and see if Luffy would pick a fight, but the boy in the straw hat kept on his grin and found them an empty table.

They all sat and just stayed where they were. Zoro kept his swords at his waist while Sanji lit a cigarette. Luffy complained about being hungry but then remembered that he had packed senbi and pulled a bag out to eat. A group walked up behind the group.

Zoro narrowed his eyes at eh killing intent that the group were giving off. It wasn't strong or anything but it did tell them that they were going to give them a hard time. Luffy turned his head with a senbi half eaten hanging out of his mouth. He looked up at the group but did nothing.

"This table is meant for our captain." A one with a pink haired buzz cut said licking his sword. Luffy swallowed the cracker and looked around.

"He ain't here though." Luffy said licking the crumbs from the corners of his mouth.

"Shut up." One said firing his gun at the boy's head. Luffy fell face first onto the table.

He quickly sat up and glared at the man with the still smoking gun. "Don't go randomly shooting people in the head; that scared the shit out of me!" he said angrily.

"No, that was supposed to do a little more than scare you." The man said fear written on his face.

"I don't care anymore. This is our table so shoo." Nami said waving her hand at them. The men looked at her angrily but then hearts popped into their eyes as they saw the two women.

"We'll forget this if you let us have the girls." The one at eh head said eyeing Nami happily. The girl seemed creeped out and backed up as he licked his lips.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Nami punched him in the jaw sending him flying into a fountain that was in the lobby. People looked at the the broken piece that was now spraying water on them and then at the table where the ruckus was.

"Nice punch." Luffy said smiling at his navigator. He then looked at the rest of the group who were looking at their fallen leader. "Anyone else?"

The group straightened up and shook their heads before bolting away scared. Luffy laughed as they ran away with their unconscious friend. Nami sighed knowing that it would back at them and be annoying later.

Luffy went back to eating and nothing else happened. Other pirates ignored the group while others looked upon them with some interest. The crew themselves began to talk amongst themselves. The room became quiet when someone walked to the balcony above them.

They couldn't see hi face clearly do to the shadow covering the top floor. He was fairly tall however and you could tell that he had a good build on him.

"I would like to thank you all for coming here today." The voice said clearly for everyone to hear. Luffy looked up at him and noticed another figure behind him.

"The tournament will commence starting tomorrow." He said looking down upon the groups with slight interest. He continued his speech when no one talked. "The games will be decided by a spin. All crews will participate and no exceptions will be made. I wish you luck."

With that he disappeared and the room became noisy again. Most were discussing the next day with eagerness and over confidence. Zoro could feel heavy fear and dread as well float through the room. Some were nervous wrecks wondering about the 'games' that they were going to play.

"I doubt it will be Go." Usopp said joking with the captain who laughed at the joke. Robin chuckled at the two and then looked at the first mate.

"Is something wrong Swordsman-san?" she asked him politely.

"No," Zoro said looking at the groups, "Just a feeling."

"What kind?" Robin said with a concerned tone. The swordsman was good at picking up things that were unwanted or dangerous to the group.

"Like something is going to happen and that all we can do is sit and watch."


Da Da DAAAHH Okay I will stop the stupid noise making because I am probably going to be hit for that. *ducks down*

Well, I hope you like it. I've been bored lately so if they seem kinda dull, please tell me.