CHAPTER 11

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Diary of Dracule Mihawk, entry #972:

Needed something from the kitchen and sent Roronoa to get it. He got lost. I found him up in the attic. How did he ever get the reputation of being a fearsome bounty hunter? I simply cannot believe this man ever managed to track anyone down in the first place. Maybe he just got lucky every single time.

… … …

Zoro stopped, panting for breath. He looked around. All around him were trees, trees, and more trees.

Why am I in the middle of the forest?

He was lost. How long had he been running? He had no idea. But the sun wasn't setting yet so it couldn't have been that long. When he was last with Perona in the clothing store it had been just around one in the afternoon.

He couldn't believe this was happening. Marines had turned up, arrested Perona, and taken her off somewhere. He had all three swords with him but what good were weapons when he couldn't find the Marines or Perona? Damn it all to hell!

… … …

The sight of the blonde woman in the Marine uniform had startled Perona. But she barely had time to do more than gasp before a handcuff clicked into place on her right wrist. It felt like all the energy had drained out of her instantly, and she barely managed to stay upright.

Those had to be kairouseki cuffs. No normal handcuffs would've produced such an effect on her. She felt sluggish and tired, and couldn't call up any of her hollows, much less project herself out of her body. Astral projection wouldn't have been much use if her body still lay there in front of the Marine though.

"Ghost Princess Perona," said the officer, "you're under arrest."

Perona tried to protest. "You can't – I'm part of Moriah-sama's crew!"

"Gekko Moriah has been stripped of his status and therefore all his privileges – and his crew's privileges – have been revoked. You're a wanted criminal with no immunity anymore. You're coming with me."

The cuffs were so effective that she could hardly move. The Marine officer had to prop her up with one arm in order to march her down the alleys until they reached the station.

Upon reaching the police station, the Marine had gotten into a discussion with the local police officer, who looked curiously at Perona. When Perona felt the woman loosen her hold on her, she mustered what strength she could and pulled away from her and tried to run. She got no further than three wobbly steps however, because she tripped on the uneven ground and fell down hard.

She heard the Marine make an exasperated noise. The woman pulled her upright.

"You know you can't run with those cuffs on," she said. "Save yourself from more injury and don't try that again."

Perona's face hurt. She guessed she must have bruised or cut herself somewhere – possibly on the left cheek. It hurt more there.

The Marine instructed the policeman to put Perona in the station's jail while she used the transponder snail to contact her crewmates.

"But, ma'am," began the policeman.

"Just put her in the cell already! I need to inform my captain about this. If one of Gekko Moriah's crew is here on Notson Ear, others may well be nearby."

When the cell door closed on her, Perona wondered if it was made of kairouseki too. It didn't really matter. The cuffs alone were enough to incapacitate her. She curled up in a corner and closed her eyes. She felt so very tired.

So this is what kairouseki feels like… It sucks.

Perona really wanted to scream for help. But… Even just breathing felt tiring. It was as if she had been robbed of all her strength. No wonder they deployed it against Devil Fruit users.

It probably wouldn't help to scream. Even if Zoro heard her, what could he do? He was a wanted man too – much more than she was. But Roronoa Zoro was stronger than this Marine, or any crew that could have come to Notson Ear by chance. He could probably take them down on his own. However, doing that would reveal his location. Would that mean he would have to leave Kuraigana? Would he and Mihawk have to go into hiding somewhere so that he could continue his training? Because if the Marines knew Zoro was here, they would surely bear down on Notson Ear and the surrounding islands in search of him. So maybe it was better for him to not come after her.

In spite of that, Perona wished very much that he would.

… … …

Zoro hacked at a bunch of thorny vines and much to his relief, he saw the houses of the port town before him. He had had to cut his way out of the forest, and all the while he had a mental clock ticking loudly in his head, which made things worse.

A cold fear had begun to grip him and it was only the adrenaline surging through his blood that kept him going as fast as he did. He had run through every logical scenario in his head. The Marine must have caught Perona by surprise. Otherwise she would have blasted the Marine with several explosive hollows, or thrown the Marine into the depths of despondency with a few negative hollows. The fact that she didn't do anything of the sort meant that either the Marine was some sort of Devil Fruit user too (unlikely, because the man at the shop would have mentioned it if any bizarre power had been on display), or kairouseki was involved somehow. If even someone as strong as Luffy was affected by the stuff, it would be far worse for Perona.

One more determined slash brought down the obstructing plants and he burst out of the forest into bright sunlight.

He vaulted over a fence and ran a little way down the street. It appeared to be a more residential part of the town; there were no shops and he had never seen the area before. Several children were playing on the sidewalk. He called out to them. "Hey, kids!"

They stopped their game and stared at him.

"Where's the police station?"

One boy stuck out a hand and pointed a finger to Zoro's left. "It's that way. Go straight, then take two right turns."

"Can you show me the way there?" he asked. He couldn't waste time getting lost again.

The boy hesitated. "I'm not sure…"

One of the other children piped up: "We're not supposed to go places with strangers!"

"Yeah, and you look scary, mister!" said another.

"Like a scary marimo!" said a third.

Zoro glared at him. If only looks could kill…

"And you've got swords too. You must be a bad guy."

"Argh! Forget it!" I don't have time for this. "That way, you said?" He pointed his sword to the left.

The boy nodded.

"Got it," said Zoro, and he dashed off.

… … …

The sound of the door opening roused Perona. The blonde Marine stood there, along with a stocky man dressed in a Marine captain's uniform.

"There she is, sir," said the blonde.

The captain held up a piece of paper and looked from the paper to Perona.

Perona guessed it must be a wanted poster.

"Good work, Lieutenant Blackberry," said the captain. "Seems like this quick stop was worth more than just the extra supplies. Let's get her out of here and put her on the ship. We'll need to inform headquarters so they can send more patrols to this area. We might run across some of her crewmates."

She heard someone barking orders and two men entered the cell and hauled her up. She stumbled to her feet.

Zoro, where are you?

"Come on, move!" said the man on her right.

"Ease up, Jenkins" said the one holding her left arm. "I hear these Devil Fruit users get really sapped by kairouseki."

Perona walked out of the cell, half-carried by the men. She wished she hadn't worn her high-heeled boots. It made walking much more difficult when she was so devoid of energy.

"Bah. I saw Portgas D. Ace in kairouseki chains. He could still walk."

"Firefist is on a totally different level."

"Are we going to have to drag her all the way to the ship like this?"

"Captain wants her in the brig. We've probably got to bring her to headquarters or to Enies Lobby."

The mention of Enies Lobby sent a chill down Perona's spine. Zoro had talked about Enies Lobby. Criminals sentenced at Enies Lobby inevitably ended up in Impel Down. And Mihawk had told them about Impel Down. It sounded like a terrible place.

Desperately, she tried to pull back and dig her heels into the ground.

The man called Jenkins exclaimed, "What on earth –? Hey, stop that!"

She wrenched free of them but lost her balance and fell, her legs crumpling under her.

"See?" cried Jenkins. "You can't go easy on criminals, kairouseki or no!"

"What's happening?" That sounded like Lieutenant Blackberry.

More booted feet arrived on the scene. Hands reached for her. Perona closed her eyes and gave in. It was no use fighting them. She simply didn't have the ability to do so without her hollows.

Then suddenly the voices died away and the commotion ceased. Perona's eyes flew open and she looked up.

Mihawk had arrived.

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A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've been fighting some pretty severe writer's block on top of RL stuff and didn't want to publish this chapter until I was sure I wouldn't need to change anything major in it. Hopefully I'll be able to progress quicker now that I've decided to give up some pet ideas I had for this which weren't working out...

Shoutout to AvengerGal who helped me name one of the Marines, and to Namibean, the constant encourager!

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