Author's Note: Okay, I've been pretty good about posting timely for a while, right? But the price has been that my exam studying time is going down the drain!! Sorry, but this is going to be the last chapter for a couple of weeks! bows frantically SORRY!!!

Disclaimer: Don't own it

Chapter Ten: Battles Raging On

The two Robins stared at Nami and Luffy.

"Damn, which one's the real Robin?" Nami muttered.

Luffy crossed his arms and stared alternately between the two Robins with a frown on his face. Nami glanced at him. "What are you doing? Can you tell the difference?"

He just stood there like that as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. Nami actually looked at him this time. He's onto something…she thought.

Suddenly Luffy raised a hand. Everyone tensed… this was sure to be it… but he waved it in the air. "It's no good, I really can't tell which one's the real one."

Nami hit him on the head. "MORON! THEN SAY SO IN THE FIRST PLACE!!"

The two Robins sweatdropped as a Nami and Luffy disappeared inside a dust cloud.

Robin One said to Robin Two, "Oi… are these guys like this all the time?"

Robin Two smiled. "Yes, so it seems."

Nami didn't notice the conversation: she was too busy attacking Luffy in a fit of fury. Luffy didn't either: he was too busy trying to protect himself.

Finally, the dust cloud died. Nami wiped her brow and looked at the two Robins. "Okay, we need to figure this out somehow…"

"Just ask them questions," Luffy said, standing up and dusting himself off. "If one of 'em can't answer a question, then that means they aren't the real Robin!"

Nami stared at Luffy in shock. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking at her face.

"Did you… Luffy, did you actually figure that out all by yourself?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

Nami recovered from the shock and faced the two Robins. "Yosh, let's see if this works. Robins! What is Luffy's favorite food?"

"Meat," they both replied simultaneously.

"Um… what do I love more than anything?"

"Money," they both answered.

Robin One smiled to herself. That's a good plan, and it might have worked if the power of the Devil's Fruit also didn't give me a heightened ability of mimicry.

Robin Two calmly answered the questions, figuring something out.

"FOOD FIGHT!!" Karaage roared. He threw meatballs at Sanji. The blonde cook dodged, but what he wasn't expecting was for the meatballs to explode on contact.

"What the hell…" he muttered. Karaage laughed.

"Surprised? These meatballs are very popular at lunchtimes here!" Sanji glanced at the hole in the wall caused by the meatballs and narrowed his eyes.

"Don't let your guard down!" Karaage roared, punching Sanji into the wall again. "Jeez, what were you looking at anyways? Those are just my Special Meatballs. Served with tomato sauce and noodles!"

Karaage whipped out a plate and prepared a serving of spaghetti as Sanji picked himself up. The blonde cook watched Karaage carefully. "Would you like to try some of it?" Karaage asked.

"Not at the moment… no," Sanji replied.

Karaage grinned evilly. "Oh, but you'll have to. You have no choice!" he yelled, throwing the plate of spaghetti at Sanji. Sanji tried to dodge it, but it suddenly changed course in midair and followed him, landing on his back. The meatballs exploded.

Karaage laughed as smoke filled the room. "HA! I told you, you had to try my special course!" he laughed. As the smoke cleared, Sanji's form, badly burned, appeared in the wall. "That finished him off, did it?" the bigger man mused.

The fish bounced up and down a little as Karaage wiped off his hands. "Well c'mon Sakana. Let's go see if any of the others need help." He started walking out of the room when he heard a sound behind him. Turning, he spotted Sanji standing up. "Oh, you can still stand, can you?"

"Like hell something like that will kill me."

Karaage spat on the floor. "Guess you need another serving of spaghetti then, don't you?" he asked, whipping up another plate. He threw it at Sanji. "Enjoy your meal!" he yelled.

Sanji raised a foot and took the explosion on the sole of his shoe. The polished shoe dripped tomato sauce. Sanji fixed the man with a death glare. "You're going to get it now," he growled.

Chopper went into some sort of transformation frenzy, trying to dodge all the arrows that Abura was shooting at him. Usopp was alternately hiding behind Chopper and running around the room, screaming.

"Ah, just stay still already!" Abura yelled in frustration.

"L-like hell we're going to do that!!" Usopp shouted, dodging an arrow that imbedded itself into the wall behind him.

"What's with these arrows?!" Chopper realized. "They can cut stone!!"

Abura grinned. "It's a special material. I call it Ichiban Flayer. It's a material specifically made…" Abura's face darkened. "… for silent assassination."

Chopper and Usopp's eyes widened. "A-assassination?!" Chopper picked up an arrow and examined the tip curiously.

The pudgy man's face lit up. "Yes!" he crooned. "Isn't it wonderful!? It's made to slice your flesh and cut your heart open before you even kn-"

"You're wrong!" Chopper yelled.

Usopp looked at Chopper in confusion. The reindeer's hands were balled into fists, and his teeth were clenched. "I… I just recognized that material." His face darkened, and his eyes were murderous.

"Chopper! Calm down!"

"'Calm down'? No! That material comes from DRUM ISLAND. It was supposed to help in surgical operations to make the patient feel less pain! It… It's… IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE USED FO KILLING!!"

Abura laughed. "Who says such idiotic things like that?! Knives are made to cut! It doesn't matter what!"

"SHUT UP!" Chopper roared. "I'll… I'll NEVER forgive people like you who abuse medical technology like that!!"

Usopp stared in astonishment. "Chopper…"

Abura grinned. "Looks like I'll start having to go serious on you guys." He started disappearing from their vision. "Power of the Toku Toku no Mi (Hide Hide Fruit)… activate!!"

"It doesn't matter where you go!" Usopp yelled, loading a small lead ball into his slingshot. "NAMAIIBOSHI!!" he yelled, firing it right between Abura's eyes. It flew straight through.

"Unfortunately, you only hit my after-image," came his voice from every direction. "Now you have to guess where I am… before you die by my arrows."

Zoro ran down the stairs, breathing hard. It wasn't really the run itself that was making him breathe hard, but it was the fact that he was so close now, he could hear Hoshi trying to defend herself against that Corazon bastard.

"Damn, only if my arms were free!" he heard Hoshi mutter.

Corazon's voice slid over him like some sort of grating metal. "You have absolutely no chance of staying away. I'll have my way with you, you'll see." Anger flared through his body and he ran faster.

"How many times do I have to tell you, you bastard!! I'm not 'your dear'! Stay away from me!" Zoro growled. Hoshi was still fighting so hard…

He'd reached the dungeons! Hoshi's and Corazon's voices were coming from right around the corner now… Turning it, he swept his gaze inside the cell, took in the situation, and acted in an instant. "NIGIRI!!"

Hoshi landed in his arms as Corazon hit his face on the floor. He readjusted his hold when he saw that her arm was broken. Putting her belly-down gently, he broke the chains that bound her arms and leaned her against the wall. For a moment, he thought she was unconscious until she cracked open her eyes. She stared at him for a second, then she started painfully laughing as tears started running down her cheeks. "Zoro!" she whispered, her voice hoarse.

Zoro felt a wave of conflicting emotions clash inside of him. He was relieved that Hoshi was still alive, and it didn't seem like Corazon had done anything physical yet: he had gotten here in time. But he was also furious at Hoshi's condition. Hoshi was more beaten up than he had first realized. She was covered in bruises; her hands were bleeding; her arm was broken, and from the looks of things, it seemed like some of her ribs might be too. And also… there was another feeling, a feeling of overwhelming protectiveness.

He tenderly wiped away her tears with his thumb. "Jeez, what'd you do to yourself? You look awful," he told her.

Hoshi grinned and reached up to touch his hand with her uninjured arm. Suddenly, she pinched it.

"OW!! What the hell was that for!?" Zoro yelled, a stress mark appearing on his head.

Hoshi's grin widened in relief. "Now I know you're real. You're not a hallucination."

Zoro was taken aback for a moment, before he retorted, "What the hell! I go through the trouble of getting down here and you pinch my hand like it's some sort o-"

Suddenly, Corazon's raspy voice filled the air. "Roranora Zoro, you bastard… you are going to pay dearly-"

"Oh?" Zoro turned to face Corazon. "I was about to say the same thing to you." He narrowed his eyes. "Hoshi," he said. "Do you mind waiting for a second while I pummel this guy?"

Hoshi chuckled softly. "Go ahead."

"It's going to get a little dangerous in here… get up the stairs and meet with the others if your body can handle it."

"Like hell," Hoshi retorted. "I can barely talk, let alone make it up the stairs."

Zoro turned his head and grinned at her. "Well if you get mixed up in this battle and die, I'm going to come kill you myself, understand?"

Hoshi smiled. "I trust you," she said simply.

Zoro looked at her for another second, then nodded slowly. "Okay." He knew what heavy weight she put on those words. Her trust was something really difficult to gain, considering what she had been through in the past. Drawing two swords, he took his stance. Corazon grabbed his pikestaff and faced Zoro.

The tension in the atmosphere grew. There was absolutely no movement, and the air itself seemed to stay frozen in the presence of these two conflicting wills.

Hoshi felt her heart start to race as the air grew thick with killing intent. She had never actually seen Zoro fight one on one before… and it was frightening, seeing him like this.

Suddenly, the tension reached the breaking point. Corazon and Zoro lunged for each other.

"Nitorryu…HIRAMEIKI!"

"Bakuryou Tsukaite… INCISO!"

They clashed with an enormous shock wave that resonated in the room. Hoshi gagged slightly as it hit her.

In a flurry of movement, Zoro and Corazon suddenly began attacking one another, blocking and attacking furiously, too fast for Hoshi to follow.

They broke and jumped away from each other. Now they were eyeing each other in a new light, each remodeling their opinions of the other.

Corazon grinned. "You're pretty good."

Zoro drew his Maitou and put it into his mouth. "Same to you."

They attacked each other again.

"Santoryuu… HYOU KIN DAMA!"

"RODAJA!"

With another shock wave, they clashed again, but this time, something was different. Corazon was putting all his strength into blocking Zoro this time.

"Bastard, just what the hell are you?" Corazon demanded, sweat running down his face.

Zoro grinned. "I'm a swordsman, what's it look like?"

Corazon's eyes lit with insane madness. "Ha! That's true, alright."

They broke their holds on each other. "I'll have you know, I myself don't have a power of the Devil's Fruit, but I am still powerful enough to bring three of them under my command with just this one staff!" Corazon roared.

"So? What about it?" Zoro asked.

"It means I'm very powerful! I haven't even been using ten percent of my power against you?"

Zoro scowled. "Bring it on then."

Corazon cackled. "Oh, I will." His face darkened menacingly. "Believe me… I will."

Almost before Zoro had even realized Corazon had moved, a deep gash opened on his chest.

Zoro fell to one knee, but he didn't drop any of his swords. Breathing heavily, he glanced at Corazon standing right behind him with an insane grin.

"How do you like it?" Corazon asked. "Being struck down so easily? THAT is my power!"

He heard his blood pounding in his ears. Almost as if from far away, he heard a voice screaming. "Zoro!"

Hoshi…

Zoro pulled himself to his feet and fixed Corazon with one of his death glares. "You've done some pretty bad things," he informed Corazon. "You're going to have hell to pay through me."

Corazon stopped short. Something Hoshi had said earlier suddenly echoed in his head. "Because my nakama… are coming for me, and when… they do, you're going to have hell to pay."

His jaw tightened. "You people are pretty cheeky to be saying stuff like that to me. What can you do, all cut up like that?"

"This? This wound is nothing," Zoro taunted.

Corazon suddenly smiled. "Well then, if that one doesn't affect you… how about this one?" he asked. Moving in that lightening-manner of his again, he came behind Zoro…

And stabbed Hoshi clean through her waist.

Hoshi's scream of pain was nothing like anything that the two men present had heard before. Zoro's eyes widened, and fury erupted in his chest like a starved beast of prey.

Hoshi's head lolled on her chest. Her aqua eyes were almost a dark navy now. "Zo… ro…" she whispered, her voice thick with pain.

Zoro snapped. "BASTARD!" he roared. Corazon wrenched his staff out of Hoshi quick enough to block Zoro's oncoming attack. Zoro felt his fury rise at the sight of Hoshi's blood decorating the blade with a sick, shining red pattern.

Corazon smirked. "Looks like this is one wound that affects you, Roranora Zoro."

Zoro growled and disengaged. He knew that there was now a time limit to this match… which would be determined by however long Hoshi could cling to life with a wound like that.

He had to win this as soon as possible, or else Hoshi would die…

"Z… Zoro…" Hoshi gasped. She lifted her head a little, her eyes still an unsettling shade of dark navy. "D… Don't worry about me… I… I'll hang on… for as long as you need."

Zoro didn't know what to think. "Hoshi…"

She smiled a little. "Do your best."

Again, I apologize, but this will be the last update for a couple weeks, unless maybe I can squeeze one in tomorrow… but that's going to be it!