Chapter 10: Despair?

Disclaimer: One Piece is not mine.

Song of the Day: Ambulance by Eisley

"Kill Straw Hat Luffy!"

As soon as the command was given out, an earsplitting roar rose from the enemy pirates as the flooded over the deck. Chaos broke loose and the bloodshed began. The Straw Hats frenzied to single out the weaklings and eliminate them first. The faster the underlings were out of the picture, the less danger Luffy would be in. The pirate crew wasn't large to begin with, and it seemed only a few of the pirates had true strength on their side. After a few moments, the deck of the Thousand Sunny was littered with crumpled, unconscious bodies. Now, it was time to take out the champion fighters of the crew.

By the time they were finished taking out the weaklings, there were only 7 left. Smirks and smug expressions were spread over the remaining pirates' faces. Each Straw Hat seemed to gravitate towards an opponent. Nami took on a messy-haired brunette woman. Sanji settled with a hand-to-hand combatant with short black hair and cold eyes. Usopp's, or rather Sogeking's, opponent was a dark-haired man who seemed to be most skilled in long-ranged fighting. Though the blank, bored expression on his face seemed to hide his true abilities. Franky and Robin had formed an unconventional tag team and were fighting against a pair of twins. Brooke's opponent was a bulky, brunette swordsman.

Zoro, however, had chosen his opponent from the start. The rosy-haired woman assumed a battle stance and gave Zoro a confident, icy gaze. Without a moment of hesitation, the she-captain lunged forward in an animalistic manner and brought her claws down upon the swordsman. Zoro held the attack off and mentally noted the bizarreness of her weapon. At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a strange clothing choice. Upon further inspection, the swordsman compared them to Captain Kuro's cat claws. These, however, were monstrous in proportion. Each sleeve held three thick claws. The claws were sharpened like blades.

Zoro fended the claws off and lunged forward once more to get in an attack. The next few minutes were a blur of clashing metal. The swordsman panted and bit down on his sword's handle. He felt a strange sense of satisfaction welling in his chest. This was the first fight he had been in for a while. His muscle's throbbed with the desire to win.

"Hadley," the she-captain snarled. She brought her fists up and readied and smiled, "You should know the name of the woman who will defeat you, Roronoa!"

"Che," Zoro scoffed. "Don't get cocky… I made a promise."

Their blades clashed once more.

"Until I become the world's greatest swordsman," he continued, "I will not lose!"

Salt water surrounded every side of him. Luffy desperately kicked and thrashed, trying to pull himself towards the surface. Because he no longer had his Devil Fruit powers, he was no longer a hammer in the water. However, in this situation, it didn't matter either way. As soon as he managed to get his head up to the surface, another wave came crashing over him and pushed him farther down. The raven-haired captain felt his mouth fill with the salty ocean brine. He surfaced his head once more and desperately treaded water while he gasped for air.

"ACE… hahh hahh… SABO," he cried out pitifully between panting. In frenzy, he looked around to take in his surrounding. Angry waves, dark skies and splinters of wood from the wreckage… but his brothers were nowhere to be found. "HE-"

Another wave crashed over him and sent him into the dark depths once more. The man's limbs grew tired and an aching pain pulsed through his body. Desperately, he kicked more, trying to resurface one more time. The air supply from his last breath began to run out. His lungs felt as though they were throbbing in pain. Luffy gave one last kick before numbness swept over him.

"Ace…Sabo…Help."

Panic ripped through his chest like an icy fang. They almost had it! He knew that somewhere above him, the Thousand Sunny was drifting along the waves. He knew that all he had to do was find his body aboard the ship and he would have his nakama back. If he died here, he would have let everyone down. His brothers, his nakama, Shanks… The dim flicker of hope had burnt out and Luffy found himself staring at the cold, endless darkness of the sea.

Zoro took the she-captain's momentary weakness to quickly assess his crew's conditions. Brooke had finished his battle and was assisting Nami in her own. Franky and Robin were still in the heat of battle with the twins. Usopp was backing up Sanji in his battle. The sniper had apparently emerged victorious, but as he looked around for the unconscious body, he found none.

"Your opponent is me, swordsman," Hadley hissed as she recovered and lunged for another attack.

The swordsman's mind quickly reverted its attention to his own fight. He trusted his nakama, they would make it on their own. For now, he had his own problems. The she-captain stubbornly connected her claws with Zoro's swords. Her abdomen was bleeding heavily, and by the shakiness of her movements, Zoro knew that this wouldn't last much longer. But as much as he hated to admit it, the accumulated exhaustion from his weeks of sleepless nights was taking its toll. The green-haired man swayed, but held his ground. They were both exhausted. Now, it was only a matter of who had the stronger willpower.

Zoro readied a Tiger Hunt stance and prepared to launch his final attack. Hadley rocked on her feet, but raised her claws in front of her offensively. Tension crackled between them and after a split second, the two lunged forward with their final strike. A trickle of blood made its way from Zoro's mouth to his chin. With blurred vision, he glanced back at Hadley.

She stood tall and unmoving. The green-haired swordsman growled to himself and began to ready another attack but… As he raised his swords, the she-captain stumbled forward and coughed up a mouthful of blood. The woman cast an icy gaze back at Zoro, and grit her teeth.

"Everyone…! Everyone, retreat…!" the she-captain finally shouted in defeat. The enemy pirates weakly scrambled to their feet at their captains orders and poured over the rails of the Thousand Sunny. Zoro let out a quick, deep sigh and observed the damage. They had won! Although the battle left most of them breathless, they had won!

"Where's Kooper?" demanded the she-captain.

Zoro stiffened. There was one more left? He gave a quick scan over the deck but after a brief search, his eyes came up empty. Judging from the murmurs of Hadley's crew, he knew that the missing pirate was probably somewhere on the ship. He tightened his hold on his swords.

"Everyone! One of them is still on the shi-"

"LU…LUFFFYYY!"

The bloodcurdling scream almost seemed to tear the sky in half. Zoro's expression dropped. An aura of dread fell heavy on the Thousand Sunny. Everyone paused and stiffened with horror as they recognized the owner of the voice. It was Chopper's.

"It looks like…"

Zoro spun around to see Hadley glaring right back at him. Though she was panting, she managed to spread a smug smile over her face.

"I got my way after all…!"

To be continued…

Cliffhanger to the extreme! Hadley is a bitch, I know. This chapter was super fun to write though! I started it last night and didn't stop typing until 2 AM this morning. Writing can be so addicting fff. c:

Anyways, with the end of this story drawing near… I'm debating what I should write about next! I have an idea for an AU ZoLu fic but I'm still not sure. So…what do you guys think? Anything in specific you'd like to see from me?

BrokenBridges: Pshh, you got that right! We can't let Luffy get off that easily. ;) It's not like he's gone through enough already! Thank you!

BaconRainbow: Hehe, thank you! xD

Ghost of the Moonlight: The story is going to end pretty soon! And I assure you that there is more brother fluff to come before the story ends. c:

Vivi: Cliffhangers are my specialty! X3 And yeah, Oda's art/writing is just the perfect package of awesomeness. He's my idol, hands down! c: