Chapter 11

Nobody moved.

Nobody seemd to make a sound.

It seemed to happen in slow motion, the blood flying from the huge wound in her side, her eyes closing, and the way she fell to the ground like deadweight. Her breath escaped her lungs in a long sigh and the trance seemed to break with the sound of the impact - the crunching of broken bones. It echoed off the walls for a split second before there was a low growl. All eyes turned to Zoro and anything Mark was about to comment on was ripped from his mind. Zoro had made sure of this with a simple but effective move: The Psychopathic Glare.

Mark even went so far as to take a step or two backwards as Zoro started slowly but calmly walking toward him, the glare still upon his face. "You used my sword." Zoro growled, "My sword... to harm an innocent girl. Nobody has ever fought with that sword, but me, and lived to tell about it... and I'm not about to break that trend now. You've disrespected my honor by using my sword to harm an innocent person and for that the penalty is death."

"Well I could care less about the sword, but I can't let nobody get away who's hurt a pretty lady. I mean, the first mate here pisses me off pretty bad sometimes... but compared to an obsessed womanizing crap-druid... well... even he'll do." Sanji agreed as he loosened his tie. "You'll have to die."

Nami took this as the perfect oppertunity to sneak down the hallway. Upon making it, she quickly launched herself into a run. 'Luffy has to be around here somewhere! Once he see's what's happeend, he'll be sure to take care of this!' Her eys narrowed and a devilish grin spread across her face, 'Then I can loot this place of every valuable thing it has!'

ooooooooooo

"Damn it." Gage growled. He looked from his left to his right... and slammed his head into the nearest wall. It was pointless... they were lost and running around in circles.

Well, they'ed heard a loud bang, as if something had hit the ground hard. They had thought they were close because of how loud the noise was... and then it went silent.

Unusually silent.

And since then, upon having no noise to follow to where the fight was, they've been running around in circles.

"This is driving me insane." Mike hissed.

"Well then." Kaden growled as he paced back and fourth, causing the floor boards to creak. "Join the fucking club."

Mike growled so Kaden turned to face him. They began glaring eachother down untill Anna and Sissy interviened. The girls seperated the boys and once again the silence settled in.

Or so they thought.

"Come on out, Nami." Luffy commanded.

ooooooooooo

"Damn it." A voice growled.

Nami came to a hault. 'They might be the friends Sarah was telling us about.'

She slowly crept along the charred and termite infested walls. There, now she could hear a banging noise... like someone was hitting a wall or tapping their feet on the floor. 'Luffy?'

Nami wondered for a fleeting second if it was her captain. But if it was, he sure had a very deep voice.

Then she heard another voice speak, they were whispering... as if they were afraid to be heard.

"This is driving me insane." It whispered. Both male voices.

"Well then." Another one growled, "Join the fucking club."

Nami peeked around the corner, making sure she was covered by the shadows. She could see the group now. The banging noise was comming from a tall blonde guy with a bear tattoo on his shoulder. He was banging his head on the wall. The other voices were comming, not from Luffy, she noted, but from two other males. One had very short dirty blonde hair and the other had short black hair. It looked as if they were about to fight; they were both facing eachother and growling.

And suddenly, two girls seperated the boys from eachother.

One of the girls was not fat but had those cheeks that you wanted to pinch all the time. She had curly brown hair and wore glasses. Atop her head was a black bandana with pink metallic dragons all over it. She walked over to the guy with the dirty blonde hair and grabbed his arm, slowly dragging him away from the other guy.

The second girl walked over to the guy with the black hair and lead him away from the argument. She had short dirty blonde hair and she wore glasses as well.

'What an odd group of people. They're friends but they're about to fight?'

And then it happened. "Come on out, Nami."

Nami froze. She'd been caught. But she knew only someone from her crew knew how she opperated. She slowly came out from the shadows and faced Luffy. "Luffy?" she asked.

Her captain looked different. He wasn't grinning or being stupid. He wasn't laughing or... anything. It was as if he'd died. Nami quickly recovered from her momentary shock and remembered one of the reasons she'd sneaked off.

"Luffy!" she exclaimed and ran over, ignoring the five pairs of eyes watching her warily. "There's a fight at the entrance of the building. Some guy who can fly and turn into shadows!"

Nami took a step back when her captain let out a growl. "Luffy?" she all but squeaked.

"Is there a blonde girl down there?" asked another voice. Nami turned to face the blonde guy. "Yes." she answered. "But she's badly injured! She needs help!" she quickly added.

Gage looked to Luffy. The captain nodded and faster than Nami could even begin to comprehend, the group took off toward the entrance.

Luffy paused a short distance from her. He looked back for a split second, a small appreciative smile on his face, before he raced off.

Nami stood there, blinked a couple of times, and ran off in search of any valuables the place had.

oooooooooo

"Oni-Guri!" Zoro cried as his three swords slashed at Mark.

Or at what would be Mark if he'd stop turning into a goddamn shadow. That's what had been going on ever since Zoro retrieved his sword and had been attacking Mark with Sanji's help. They needed Sarah's light. Without it, Mark could block just about any attack. Suddenly, his feet left the ground and the swordsman was sent flying. He'd been caught off guard again! Luckily, his brain began working and he landed on his feet just in time to see Sanji land a nice kick across Mark's face. 'There's one hit to Mark's fifty...' Zoro thought irritably.

He glanced to where Sarah had fallen. 'Nobody has ever used Kuina's sword to harm innocent people and I'm not gonna let the trend start here and now...'

Zoro rushed at Mark, who was paying more attention to Sanji than himself, and grinned. "Tiger..."

Mark spun around, but it was to late.

"Hunt!" Zoro cried and his swords finally made contact!

Mark fell to the ground as Zoro came to a hault next to Sanji. "Wow, I guess like a sack of potatoes, you come in handy at the last minute." Zoro stared blankly at him. "Like when we eat potatoes when there's nothing left, you fight at the last minute-"

"You... cut me..." Mark gasped as blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. "You cut... me!"

"Yea, I did." Zoro snapped. "So stop crying like a big baby, get over it, and fight us or else we're gonna stomp your ass."

"You wanna fight, you'll get one-" Mark started but was cut off by the sound of gasping and coughing.

All eyes turned toward Sarah who rolled over onto her good side and coughed up blood. Zoro tensed for some reason and turned around just in time to be shoved out of the way by Mark, who was running full speed toward the blonde girl.

"Look out!" Sanji cried as he ran after Mark.

Cursing, Zoro chased the two of them. Sarah could only brace herself, if she even had the strength for that.

She was completely defensless.

Sanji and Zoro barely managed to lunge at Mark because of his speed. Right when Mark was upon Sarah, Zoro tackled him from behind and the two went rolling across the wooden floor. Mark and Zoro grappled for a bit, it was a neck and neck rolling contest to see who could pin the other first when Mark went into shadow form again and Zoro was left laying there in a cofused manner.

However, the confused manner only lasted a split second before Zoro realised what happened.

Zoro leaped to his feet and spun around, Mark was nowhere to be seen. His eyes darted to where Sanji was making sure Sarah was ok. Where was Mark..?

Suddenly, a dark mist began to swirl around Sarah and Sanji and all of Zoro's senses went to red alert. He ran toward Sanji. "Sanji! Look out!" he cried. Sanji looked up and screamed as Zoro lunged at him, barely managing to get the cook to safety before the floor exploded beneith Sarah. Smoke billowed out from the area and everyone shielded their eyes, coughing.

"The girl-" Sanji started while gasping and coughing for air.

"Belongs to me." Came Mark's voice.

Sanji's eyes instantly scanned the area from which the sound was dispersed. As the smoke thinned, Sanji saw Mark standing there with an unconscoius Sarah laying limply in his arms. The bastard then started to laugh as he levitated from the ground. "Is this the best you all can do? Pathetic. Not only did you fail to stop me, you failed to save the girl. She is mine now... and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

A black mist began to swirl around him as he laughed, continuing to levitate even higher from the ground.

"Sanji, Zoro do something!" Usopp screamed from across the room, "He's going to disappear again!"

Sanji glanced Zoro and with a nod they ran at Mark. The mist swirled about the demon man and with horror, they realized that they wern't going to make it. They failed... Sarah was going to be forced to be with this man. It was over... and for the first time the Straw-Hat Pirates were going to face defeat...

"Mark!" A voice cut through the air like a siren. There was no warning as a rubber fist flew through the remaining dust and mist and hit Mark right between the eyes. The blow hit him so hard, he flew backwards dropping Sarah. The young girl plummeted head first toward the ground.

Nobody could move.

However they all knew that another blow like that would kill her.