Greetings all! Another chapter for you! I took a large amount of sadistic pleasure in the last chapter ending, but you all know by know how much I love the cliffhangers :P
Thanks for all my lovely reviews
Review Responses:
Jenelric: Robin is awesome! I'm so glad she helped, she just needed time to see the truth in Luffy's words. Please don't attack me for hurting Zoro, it almost made me cry too T.T
BecauseIwasBored: Lol I fear for my safety now! Thanks for the thought on the Sanji/Nami/Zoro thing, I'm glad Im not the only person who thinks that way. And yea, Zoro is straghtforwardly dumb, how about that? :P
Santoryouu: I love the evil cliffhangers :D mwah ha ha ha
Yusukes: Thanks! I was gonna make Luffy take the hit, but the I would've had to make Zoro fight him or Vegapunk and that wouldn't have been anywhere near as poigniant or amazingly kickass, so thats why I gave it to Zoro!
DeathlyFlames: Thank you so much! I am aware of the touchiness of the subject, but I hope I've managed to make it fantastical enough so not to offend anyone. I'm glad you like it so.
Blu: Oh gosh Blu I actually love you. Your response makes me so happy :D
Zoro didn't have enough time to block! He wasn't thinking straight, that's what Luffy does to him! :D:D As for names, thanks but I'm okay. I have decided though that my next fic will have fairly simplistic titles, and the one after that too! :P I know what you mean about the rebellion, I'm just trying to figure out what it is it needs. The same with Robin's fight too, in te near future I will do a major re-edit and fix those minor indescretions.
The prospect of Oda's vegapunk both excites and intimidates me. No way I could even attempt to make him my own in anyway,
Cosa Nostra is on a break for a few weeks, I'm just thinking where to go with it (I have the middle and end but I need a chapter to link them! lol)
Don't get too hyped up before reading this - I fear you may explode ;)
Enjoy!
Chapter 20 - Ends
Many times in his life, Zoro had felt pain. Torment, torture, these things followed him like shadows.
Normally, he felt weak and downtrodden by such treatment.
But never had pain felt so justified.
He could feel the hook, permeating deep in his chest. Man, it stung like a bitch, but no way in hell he'd cry about it. There were more pressing matters at hand than a bit of a blinding stinging sensation.
Crocodile looked startled, surprised to find that person at the end of his hook instead of that stupid rubber kid. But this was just as fun. He smirked and slowly raised the limb that protruded from his slave's body, painfully dragging the man to his feet.
Zoro hitched his breath and hissed as he rose
"Tch…"
"Painful, Roronoa?" Crocodile's laugh boomed across the room. "Is it worth it, all this pain, just for him?"
Crocodile motioned at the boy lying on the floor, who was oblivious to the whole situation. Zoro looked at the unconscious face as a cough fought its way out of his blood filled mouth.
The businessman took his silence as defeat, and continued
"To think, you go through all this, and what good will it do?"
A cry fell from Zoro's lips as the sadistic slaveowner twisted the hook inside of him. Blood dripped down his chest, splashing onto the floor near Luffy's face.
Crocodile sneered and dragged Zoro closer to him, listening to his gasping breaths.
"You go this far to help him? And yet you will die, and then no one will be around to protect him."
Zoro growled in frustration, the words rang true.
"Don't fret Roronoa; I'll be sure to make his death slow and painful. He can thank you in hell."
Crocodile's taunts buried their way into Zoro's mind. Crocodile will kill him, and then Luffy would be left to suffer alone at him hands. And it was all his fault, just like it was with Her.
But then Zoro remembered. This was Luffy, and the kid had an impossible fate. He remembered their meeting, the impossible grin and straw hat, like the kid could take on the world in his sandals. And take on he did, and saved Zoro from certain doom and showed a whole new life to him. With friends, nakama who cared for him.
No way in hell that Luffy would fail.
Not when he had nakama who believed in him.
Despite everything, Zoro raised his head and stared Crocodile defiantly in the eye.
"Che, even if I die, he'll still beat you. Luffy will not fail."
The trust in Zoro's voice and the spark in his eyes angered Crocodile, and his smirk twisted into an ugly frown.
"NO ONE can defeat me!"
He seethed, and Zoro felt the movement in his chest before anything happened.
Crocodile roared and threw his arm away, flinging Zoro off his hook and crashing into the wall. Windows around him cracked as the wall fell beneath him.
Zoro didn't even register the impact, already falling into unconscious. He could feel the air around him, and a silence that descended as his body shifted through the broken wall and towards the floor outside.
The final thing he registered before sweet, blessed unconscious took him, was a familiar voice screaming
"ZORO!!!"
--
Luffy couldn't quite remember why he passed out, only remembers the hard punches of Crocodile. He felt blood warm on his body and the heavy feeling of tiredness in his arms. But something else was missing, he was forgetting something important.
He could her something drip near his face, and could hear muffled voices above him.
What was it he was forgetting?
The rubber boy thought hard, remembering the fight. Crocodile was sand; every punch went right through him. He was losing, badly.
He remembered falling, remembered waiting for a hook. Then unconscious came, but not death.
What else was it?
The voices made more sense, and one sounded so familiar…so important. Ignoring the protest his body sent him, Luffy decided it was best to get up and find what he was forgetting.
He opened his eyes, and saw the thing dripping near him was blood.
Looking up in confused fear, Luffy saw the thing he was forgetting.
From his angle on the floor, he could see Zoro and Crocodile close, the arm going towards his friend and the blood dripping on the floor. He heard Zoro's voice and then Crocodile's angry roar.
He didn't believe when he saw the hook rip from his swordsman friend, and the blood shower after him as he drove into the wall.
He saw it, but he didn't believe it.
Pure white hot rage filled Luffy, and he didn't even recognise what he was doing as he saw green hair fall outside
"ZORO!!!"
Luffy was on his feet, shouting hoarsely at the empty space his friend previously occupied before he even realised it.
--
Crocodile was surprised, to say the least.
"So, you are back among us, Mr Redhair? Just in time it seems, to see the demise of your friend."
Luffy didn't even look like he heard, still staring at the Zoroless gap. His head was spinning in confusion.
"...Took my hit just to protect you, stupid Southerner. He should've realised it was pointless, I'll kill you anyway."
The pieces were fitting in Luffy's head. He remembered the cold floor as his tired body hit it, the sound of defeat as Crocodile brought the hook down.
And the heavy weight pushing him to the ground, just before sleep took him.
With a dull roar, everything clicked into pace in the boy's head. And his mind went blank with rage.
The elder man look ruffled, his hair starting to fall out of place as he grinned at his opponent. Luffy slowly turned, eyes shadowed in anger as he screamed at him
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
The elder man didn't expect the speed in Luffy's attack, and was hit square in the stomach. He noticed how the blood covered fist didn't break through his sand, especially as bore into his body.
"Gah!" He choked out, taking a step back. Luffy's expression was pure rage as he ploughed him rubber fist into the sandman's jaw, sending him flying.
"HOW DARE YOU HURT MY NAKAMA!"
Crocodile barely had enough time to regain his balance before a barrage of rubber fists sent his toppling back once again. Enraged, he flung a sand made wave, sharp as a knife, towards the boy who barely sidestepped.
Luffy was too busy concentrating on the sand he about forgot the body before he was punched again. He noticed the manic expression on Crocodile's face, as well as the heaves for breath.
Clearly he wasn't too used to being hit.
The sand formed a scythe which threatened to tear Luffy in half, but he dodged quickly and swung a leg around to hit back. He quickly drew it back as Crocodile's sand weapon attempted to cut it off.
This fight was close.
The pair continued the assault for some time, Luffy landed many good solid blows in between Crocodile's attacks, and Crocodile himself had managed to slash him a few times with his hook.
The stood at a stand off, panting and dripping with blood. Luffy was struggling to stay conscious, the previous cut going a bit too deep and leaking a bit too much blood for him to take.
But Crocodile was wobbling, a few too many hits to the jaw taking their toll. He spat out a tooth and chuckled
"And how would this help your friend, hmm? Even after all this, I'll still win, I'll rule this country." Luffy scowled
"You'll never understand, without Nakama what can you do? I'll do it for Zoro; people will see what a horrible man you really are."
They ran forward, Luffy began to draw his fists back, rubber stretching them as a giant sand sword formed from Crocodile's arm.
The fists launched first, and Crocodile was a bit too late to notice it.
"I'm gonna make sure of it."
Luffy's fist flew at the speed of a bullet, both connecting with Crocodile's chest simultaneously and driving him out of the full window. The glass shattered and he soared into the air.
The fight outside slowed and halted as the man shadowed the sunlight and landed in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by slaves, guards and the odd duck.
He was out for the count, even the simplest person could see.
With the joyous knowledge of winning, Luffy fell to the floor in unconscious victory.
--
The slaves had been overpowering the guards, slowly gaining the upper hand. Many lay on the ground, both guards and slaves fallen in their plight, but the battle raged on.
Nami and Chopper were working together to bring down a big group of guards. The large gorilla-like form of the reindeer's was effectively terrifying many, who didn't notice Nami's staff connect with their heads (and more delicate parts).
Ussop was firing anything he could find, now out of homemade pellets. A nasty cut bled just above his hairline, and his nose was broken. But his trusty hammer had taken care of the guard that did it.
Robin had rushed from the house with her furry companion singing her praises. The kind words warmed her heart, and she realised something she knew all along.
She should have stayed with her nakama.
With a renewed sense of purpose, she calmly walked through the crowd of fighters, calmly lifting her arms and letting her devil fruit take care of the rest. And with the placid expression, she took out a quarter of the guards single handed.
She smiled, a real genuine smile, when she saw her nakama grinning at her, and the weight of Luffy's words earlier hit her.
Her nakama had never stopped trusting her. And she would never stop trusting them, ever again.
Johnny and Yosaku were struggling, having picked on a group a bit too large for them to handle in their injured state. They were surprised, to say the least, when the guards all fell after disembodied hands broke all their necks. Spinning around, they saw the figure of Nico Robin, smiling politely at them.
"Please allow me to assist you, slave-san"
The pair looked at each other and grinned, before the three dove back into the fray.
Sanji was battling the head guard, a big, angry man with a heavy club. He had heard him laugh angry taunts about Zoro earlier, and it got him riled up.
Only he was allowed to talk about the Marimo that way.
The cook saw Zoro fall, but was too shocked to do anything about it. Then this idiot got all annoying so Sanji knew he'd have to take care of this bastard instead.
Sanji spun on his hands, and his heel took the head guard to the floor. He stood just in time to see a big, fur coated figure crash into the courtyard.
What the fuck?
Sanji looked up to see a straw hat flutter to the floor inside, and laughed to himself.
"Luffy, heh, that shithead went and did it."
As slaves poked the unconscious body, and guards fled at the fall of their boss, Sanji nodded to Ussop, Nami and Chopper. The reindeer ran towards the rubble near the house while the other three fled to find their rubber idiot.
Slaves shouted and cried tears of joy – they were free.
--
Ussop was amazed at the pristine condition of the house after the madness outside; it still seemed perfect as if the slaves were afraid of damaging it.
He, and Sanji and Nami, were running down corridors trying to gain some idea of where they were in the house, and how it related to where they were outside and where Crocodile had flown from.
All were too afraid to talk as they ran, terrified that something might remind them of Luffy, and if he were still okay.
Still alive.
Nami was sure they had found the place they were looking for. A huge ballroom stood before them, well, stood was the wrong word. More like slowly fell before them.
Smashed windows let sunlight stream in, highlighting the rubble and dust and flecks of blood.
And the small, slim body of Monkey D Luffy collapsed on the floor.
The hearts consecutively sank. Nami whispered as they ran over
"No…Luffy…"
She knelt next to him, tears in her eyes as she looked between her friends and the unconscious boy.
"Is he?...I mean, he couldn't be…de…"
Her sentence was broken by an inhumanly loud stomach gurgling
"Naaaaaaa!! I'm hungry! Meat!"
Nami deadpanned, and an angry, shaking fist collided with the back of Luffy's head.
"BAKA!! Don't scare me like that!" Behind her, Ussop shouted
"Luffy, you're okay!"
"Che, stupid kid." Sanji grinned around the cigarette in his mouth and helped pull Luffy off the ground. Once he did, the rubber boy lost all fatigue and shouted
"Sanji, feed me!"
"There's no food yet Luffy. You'll have to wait."
Luffy pouted at Sanji as Nami checked his cuts over.
"Are you okay to move Luffy?" He turned and grinned at her
"Of course! I'm fine! Ah, you're bleeding Nami!"
"Baka! So are you!" Nami forgot all previous concern as the rubber boy began instantly annoying her again.
"We fought the guards Luffy! We helped free all the slaves!" Ussop jumped for joy as he explained the injures the three of them carried.
"That's great! Now Zoro's free!..." Luffy's face fell as he slowly remembered his swordsman friend, and he suddenly sprung up and ran out.
"Zoro!"
Sanji ran after him quickly, making sure he didn't get lost, while Nami and Ussop shared a concerned look before setting off to find them.
They weren't sure it was a good idea for Luffy to find the former slave quite yet.
--
They had found their way outside again rather quickly. Slaves were celebrating, some dancing, some cheering, others crying, and many simply looking lost.
As happy a sight it was, Luffy wasn't looking for it.
He saw a pink hat near a pile of rubble, and somehow knew that was where to go.
A group gathered around the rubble, it wasn't until Luffy neared did he realise they were all his friends.
He observed Robin with a huge grin, glad to see she was a trustworthy nakama after all (not that he ever doubted it). She was a bit dirty and dusty, but not a hair was out of place as she stood facing the arriving group.
Luffy didn't really notice the fact she wasn't smiling.
There were two guys Luffy had never seen before, sitting on the floor. They both looked pretty hurt, covered in dirt and blood and grime, and fresh bandages that must have come from Chopper. They looked like they'd funny, Luffy thought.
If it weren't for the fact they were hugging each other, bawling their eyes out.
He had found Chopper straight away, kneeling next to the rocks with bandages splayed out around him. The reindeer had turned as the four arrived, no doubt having hear them coming (his sensitive hearing and smell always amazed Luffy). His big eyes were wide as they approached, tears welling over his furry face.
Luffy knew that expression did not mean good things.
"Chopper?" Ussop asked quietly in concern.
The doctor didn't say anything, just hiccupped and gazed down at the rubble.
The dirty, bloody rubble.
The dirty, bloody, green rubble.
"Zoro!"
Luffy ran over and froze as he surveyed the body next to Chopper.
Zoro didn't look good. The injures from his torture were still covering him, and they now mingled with the cuts and bruises the impact of the fall.
But the worse, by far, was his chest. The wound from the hook was grizzly, stretched open when he was flung across the room. Blood ran down his torso, gathering in the long scar that split it in two.
And Zoro wasn't moving.
Name choked out a sob, falling against Robin in grief. Ussop shook his head in disbelief, muttering nonsensical rejections of the scene before him. Sanji turned away, muttering curses at the Marimo who he could never express concern for.
Luffy simply fell, landing on his knees in front of his friend.
"He hasn't stirred since we found him. Oh Luffy, I don't know if I can…"
Chopper's high voice broke as fresh waves of tears fell. For the doctor to fail his injured friend was too much.
Luffy gently prodded the body, mumbling
"Zoro, wake up…"
His eyes never left the still figure, gently prodding the bloody chest. Chopper sniffed and watched him
"I beat up Crocodile for you, we can go home now, ne?"
Johnny and Yosaku both turned, still hugging, and looked over at the scene unfolding.
Luffy's pokes became more frequent.
"You're just hungry, right? I am too."
Nami lifted her head from Robin's shoulder as they both listened to Luffy's one sided conversation
Luffy was poking harder.
"Sanji's okay look – he's not stronger than you, is he?"
The chef twisted at the mention of his name, and stared wide eyed at the rubber boy.
"You're always sleeping! It's time to wake up now…"
Ussop bit his lip, gazing at Zoro and Luffy as he bent over him.
"Wake up Zoro…please…"
The group watching all though the same thing
'Please…'
Luffy pokes were becoming less and less frequent as time passed, as he began fearing the worst.
Naturally, he was surprised when a large, calloused hand rested on top of his
"Huh…Stopit Luffy, Imtryin t'sleep"
The deep growl seemed to fill the crew's minds with relief.
"Zoro! Shihihihi I knew you weren't dead!"
Luffy grinned as Zoro peered up at him and everybody else, all appearances of former distress vanished in an instant.
But, as hurt as he was, Zoro was no fool. He could hear the anxiousness in his friend's voice, the slight trembling of his touch.
Idiot, no point being worried.
"M'not gonna die, baka. Just need to sleep."
Luffy laughed out loud, the sound ringing across the courtyard.
Everyone was okay.
Everyone was free.
"Shihi, yosh, good idea Zoro."
And, with that, it was all over.
So the straw hat boy collapsed on top of his friend, snoring just as heavily.
--
Chopper and Ussop bandaged the heavily wounded pair as much as they could with limited supplies, and Nami, Sanji and Robin walked around helping hurt slaves.
The sun had begun to set, when a convoy from the capital could be seen on the horizon.
Reinforcements. Vivi was massively helpful, as always. As the cavalry neared it was easy to spot a concerned man with bright red hair in their throes.
The kings men arrested Crocodile, and learnt the whole story from those affected. They were all visibly shocked and appauled, and gave upmost sympathy to the former slaves.
Night fell, and for the slaves, celebrations began.
Because they were free, free from their tyrannical rule.
So they danced through the night, singing praises of their victory.
Though none of them realised how it happened, only those important nakama knew who started it all, who caused this monumental feat.
And those heroes who caused it slept peacefully, for there was nothing else to be done.
-.-.-
Victory! Hehe I hope I managed to trick you with the near deaths there! Isn't it good to see the battle finally won!
I wan't to make the fights longer, but I'm raelly not very good at describing them. So maybe, one day I'll extend them. But for now, the're gonna have to stay like that.
And this is where you're all gonna hate me...There is only ONE CHAPTER LEFT!!!!
Sadness :(
And to make it worse...I'm away for the weekend so you're gonna have to wait at least a week for it!
Sorry everyone!
Thanks for reading! - Pamplemoose