Heyhey guys! I'm super sorry for the gigantic delay. Everything after school and such is starting already, so I'm getting used to the whole routine again, and of course other things are going on. However, guess what? Imma try to get to updating weekly. I know I've said it before, but now it's different because the whole climax and such is starting, so I'm hyped. However…reviews will always be nice, despite my part on not giving back. ;( Sorry about that, again. Thanks for those who still waited, and still stood by this story! You guys are my inspiration! I hope you enjoy the rest! :)
"Eh? Really?" Nami said, her brown eyes wide.
"Yeah, really." He repeated bluntly, nodding.
"He was so noble!" Perona cried.
"Oh, shut up." Zoro rolled his eyes, as to which Luffy nudged him, chuckling with Nami. "I hate you guys."
"We love you too." The two of them giggled.
"Anyways," Nami smiled, crossing her arms, "Anyone's seen Robin or Vivi?"
The three shook their heads, "I haven't, actually. The last time I saw Robin was when she was mocking me in plain sight about an hour ago. Haven't seen Vivi since P.E." Zoro frowned.
"I've seen Vivi." Luffy spoke up.
"You have? Well, where is she?" Nami blinked. The raven haired boy pointed behind her, to the said blue haired girl walking to them. "Ah, there you are. I've been wondering where you went."
"Yeah, sorry." She rubbed the back of her head a bit sheepishly, "I was talking to Kohza."
"Vivi and Kohza and sittin in a tree, K-I-S-S-"
"Oh, shut up." Nami rolled her eyes, giving the boy a quick smack on the head, which he frowned to.
"So it's just you two?" Vivi asked them.
"Two? What're you talking about? Zoro and Perona are right - …there." She blinked at the empty space behind her.
"They're gone." He scratched his head.
Nami shook her head and started giggling, to the other two's confusion.
"I'm not even going to ask." Vivi muttered before saying, "So, have you guys seen the rest of them?"
"I'm sure Usopp, Franky, and Chopper are off doing something 'super.'" the orange haired girl waved off, making quotes with her fingers, "And I was just talking to Sanji-kun right now, but I haven't seen Robin since…that." She looked at Luffy sheepishly.
"That was your fault."
"Shut up, you bastard!"
"Shishishi! Robin's probably alone somewhere. She does that a lot." He grinned.
"I don't know." Vivi shook her head, frowning, "I was walking around the whole school, but I didn't see her at all."
He shrugged, "Maybe she's in our room…?"
Nami frowned at the uncertainty of the whole topic, "Well, I think we should look for her. I really need to apologize for what happened, anyways." She sighed.
"Why, what happened?" the blue haired girl blinked.
"It was a funny story." Luffy informed her.
"Was NOT!" she stomped on his leg, as he was still lying down.
He yelped in the sudden shock, but recovered in a matter of seconds before standing up
Nami, shaking her head, started to explain the whole situation, before Luffy interrupted and added about meeting the principal of the other high school, which Nami hadn't known herself.
"Nani?" she gasped, "You met him?"
"Yeah. He's a creep." He scratched his head.
"Maybe that's where she is." Vivi suggested, "If he had to talk to her, why not do it now?"
"Ah! That's right." She nodded. "I'll go check Newgate's office with Vivi. I think he'd get the wrong picture and lie that she wasn't there if he saw you, Luffy."
He nodded back, "I'll stay right here!" He exclaimed, stomping his feet onto two spots.
"Good. Be right back!" She waved, and headed off with the blue haired girl.
As he waited, he crossed his arms and watched the two leave, until they were out of sight.
Luffy didn't know why, but he had a feeling she wasn't at the office, or in their room, or even in the school. She had a history of going places outside the school a bit more often than the normal student, so he wouldn't doubt if she was outside the school grounds.
She might've still been upset about the whole incident, but it wasn't that big a deal - to him, at least. He had no clue what was the difference between what the female brain thought, and what the male brain thought, but, apparently, there was a big difference, according to Sanji.
She was obviously a coffee lover, so Starbucks was an option, but there was one inside the food court, so if she was at one outside, it only meant one thing - she was upset.
He let out a whiny sigh, not feeling up to going through another apology.
He studied the grass moving with the light wind, his mind shifting gears to the external problem of the group - Lucci, Hancock, Aokiji. He didn't consider Aokiji as a threat to her safety, but there was obviously something he was hiding that came back to haunt her. Luffy wasn't sure if Hancock actually had any fighting skills, but he didn't want to hurt her if he didn't need to.
The pigeon bastard, however, was a different story.
He wasn't only trying to her away from him - he didn't mind, and probably was, going to hurt her in the process if he ever got away with it. He had many times in the past, and Luffy was going to make sure to kick his ass if he ever even attempted it again.
He scratched his head, frowning. Things had gotten too complicated far too fast. Before the year started, it was just him, Zoro, Sanji, and sometimes, Ace, playing either Fallout or Assassins Creed half the time, and eating the other. Now, it had been a few days, which was a record, since he had last touched the controller.
But, back to the matter at hand, he wasn't worried, and he didn't see why he needed to be. If things were actually serious, then he would know if she didn't return to their room tonight...But, if she didn't show up, what if whatever was happening to her was already too late to change?
Damn those last few statements. Now, now he was worrying.
He pulled out his phone and called her - why hadn't he thought of it before, he had no clue. It was one of the perks of being him.
7...2...9...Call.
He was immediately directed to voicemail.
"No!" He cried, pulling his hair as he ignored the stares of the other students of the school. He dialed Usopp's number, and screamed into the speaker once he answered, "Usopp!" He popped the p's with his lips, "Have you seen Robin?!"
"Robin? Haven't seen her since class." His confusion traveled through the phones, "Why? Did something happen?"
"That's what we're trying to find out!" He clenched his jaw, comically barking through the speaker at his friend.
"Okay, okay jeez. Now tell me what happened!"
After explaining the situation, the long nosed teenager responded, "Holy crap! Are you serious?! I-I, I suddenly feel sick."
"Shut up, Usopp! Can you ask Franky and Chopper when you see them?" He asked him.
"Ah! I'm with then right now. Okay, hold on." The slightly younger boy impatiently waited, and started to repeatedly pound on the nearby tree with his fist when he answered, "They haven't seen her!"
He let out a frustrated groan and ordered, "Usopp! Explain it to them, and meet us at our bench in an hour!"
"Uh, got it! See ya, Luffy!" He heard the click as his friend hung up.
The young man was ready to stomp into the office and fuck things up, when suddenly, he was interrupted by the two girls coming into view, frowns on their faces. He stood there and waited somewhat impatiently until they arrived before asking, "What happened?" But he was certain what the answer was.
"What do you think the answer is, Sherlock?" Nami raised her slim eyebrow, her frown still on her face.
He mirrored her expression, and looked thoughtfully to side, calming himself down before saying a bit more hopeful than he thought he was, "I guess we check my room, then. She likes going outside the school, though, so she could be lots of places."
Nami signed and put her head into her hands, while Vivi sweatdropped, "So that leaves everywhere in the world, minus three whole places?"
"Yup." He nodded, "Hey, Nami. You should call her. I forgot we had phones." The boy grinned sheepishly.
"Don't be stupid. I already tried," she rolled her eyes, "It went to voicemail like that." She snapped her fingers to emphasize the point.
"That's what happened to me, too." He sulked dramatically before saying, "Alright! I'm going to go check our room. You guys call Zoro and Sanji and Horror Horror if you want. I already called Usopp, Chopper, and Franky to meet us at our bench in an hour.
"I'll actually call you guys this time if she's there. Got it?" He grinned, satisfied with his plan as he held his thumb up, looking for some sort of response.
"Got it." Vivi smiled, while Nami just nodded and said, "Alright. Let's go." The two girls headed further into the field, looking for the green haired teen, as Luffy headed to the dorm, unknowingly pushing people aside as he lightly jogged.
He didn't know for sure if he would find the raven haired girl there, but as before, his gut had yet to change, so he still had his doubts about her being there. He could feel the corners of his mouth curving into a small frown as he thought about it more, and with a bit more thinking, his mind reluctantly settled with the fact that the pigeon bastard was somewhere around the school, somewhere.
Bang!
Luffy slammed the door shut in quiet frustration - him, not the door, but you know what he meant. He stared at the patterned wood, lightly panting as he calmed himself down for the second time that day before quickly getting into the elevator, and dashing out as soon as the doors opened to the lobby. The bottom of his slippers ground against the floor as he slowed down a bit to make a sharp turn.
"Nami!" He yelled through the halls, sprinting as he did so.
He was momentarily blinded once the lighting suddenly changed from the fair lights of the hallways to the harsher, pure rays of the sun. However, he kept running, until he had his vision back. But, he still ended up ramming into a green haired teen, tackling the said man to the floor as he, himself, continued to roll until he hit the stump of a tree.
"Luffy!" He heard the said female's voice, which somewhat confused him. She wasn't angry, nor upset, nor excited or happy in any way. It had a desperate tone to it, and she almost seemed...scared?
Now he knew something was wrong.
In these past few weeks, his orange haired friend had shown him she was smiling whenever he 'wasn't being an idiot,' silently frowning when she was thinking, leading the group when there was a problem, or either harshly scolding people. But never, never had he seen her scared. Ever.
So, he opened his large eyes to see the girl looking down at him, his view of her upside down, some of his own black locks getting in the way. "Nani? What happened?" he frowned, confused, when he saw he was right.
She clutched her fists to her chest before saying, "It's Vivi! She's…gone."
…
"She DIED!" he yelled, his eyes popping out as he pulled at his hair.
"Baka!" Zoro hissed, kicking his side, "She's not dead. Some douchebags named Baroque Works," he made quotes with his fingers, "Kidnapped her. So, 'Captain,' are you gonna just sit there, or are you gonna help me and this ero-cook kick some a-"
Whoosh!
Only a vague dust silhouette of the boy remained, as he dashed through the halls to save the other female.
After the breeze died, the Nami's hair was finally out of her face as she turned to Zoro, "What…what're you talking about? Sanji-kun isn't here."
"I texted the pervert. I could practically hear the cries of anger from the what, seventh floor?" He wasted no time in following the younger teen, but Nami's frown of slight jealousy didn't go unnoticed from him.
He couldn't help but let out a low chuckle, much to the girl's anger. The last thing he heard before he walked through the doors was, "What was that, you bastard?!"
He listened to the steady beat of his exhaling as he sprinted to through the halls once more, wondering if the other students were even aware of the life he led.
More grounding of the floor and his slippers were heard. He had no clue exactly where he was heading, but his gut was leading him. It had been right many times in the past, so he was confident it would guide him to the right direction again.
He found himself standing in the unfinished part of the school.
He felt light shivers of nostalgia, but shoved it away and clenched his fists, yelling, "VIVI!"
The last syllable of the name echoed through the halls, light curtains covering the spaces with no doors waved with the shallow wind, silence quickly overpowering his words.
He briskly marched through all the halls, opening every door, pushing away every curtain. He huffed when he saw nothing, and finally stood at a dead end, only tools and a pile of old wood at the end.
He sighed and fell to the floor, panting a bit before he frowned.
He blinked. Odd. He pounded his fist to the floor. He did it again. And again. And again.
He had fallen to the floor many, many times – some on purpose, most on accident, and this was not what it sounded like. This was the first floor, so he should've heard a deeper thump – a full one. Not one that seemed…hollow? He frowned again, staring at the floor beside him. Unless…there was a basement?
He sat up, and thumped on it one more time for precautions. Still hollow. He stood up, and walked to the wall curiously putting his ear to it and thumped – it sounded somewhat like an echo, something he couldn't explain. He stared at the pile of wood between the wall and his own feet.
Thuck, thuck, thuck.
He quickly chucked each piece of wood behind him, each one crashing into a pile. After going through the pile, he let out a satisfied huff, putting his hands on his hips as he stared at the hole.
"Stairs." He murmured to himself, "What a creep."
With a grunt, he threw himself into the opening, falling a good three feet before landing on the steps. He scratched his head as he traveled down further, looking at the small passage way once he reached the bottom. Light from the floor above streamed in through small cracks, creating lights that were decent enough, but he still found himself stumbling on small fragments of wood.
"I wonder if oji-chan knows about this." He said aloud, but covered his mouth almost instantly, hearing his voice booming and echoing through the hall.
He blinked, hearing faint voices. He sprinted towards it, coming closer and closer to it. They were coming from the end of the hall, with another single curtain blocking a doorway. Bingo.
He clenched his fist, seeing a shadow on the other side. He let out another grunt as he burst through the other side, punching the unknown man to the floor.
He exhaled briskly, getting a good look around him. It wasn't all that big of a room like he thought – it was probably only a third of the size of a classroom. Three other pairs of eyes lay on him angrily.
He blinked at them, not sure if they were enemies, or just other random creeps.
"Oi! You! Have you seen my friend Vivi?" he asked innocently, tilting his head as he put his hands on his hips again. The three looked at each other, sharing a grin.
The kid was an idiot, they figured.
They wasted no time trying to steer him off course, "Sure, kid." The other teenager said, a smug smile on his face, who looked a few years older than he, "Our good old friend Croc took her out for ice cream."
Luffy slightly frowned curiously.
"Yeah! It was his treat! The two of 'em 'er friends ya' see." Another explained, a cheeky smile on his face.
"They met a few years ago, and since then, they've been best frie-"
Bam!
He balanced on one leg as his body leaned forward from the punch he delivered.
The second one screeched at him, clenching his jaw, "And what do ya' think you're doing?!"
He looked up at them with cold eyes, his anger clear across his usually joyous face, "Liar."
He cracked his knuckles, walking towards them as they stepped back. He was looking down a bit, a shadow casting over his eyes, "What've you done to her? Vivi…Vivi…" he started irritably.
"Oi, oi! Just take it eas-"
"Vivi HATES ice cream!"
"WHAT?!" their eyes popped out of their heads in disbelief at the boy's choice of words, but was quickly pushed back into their sockets with a fist belonging to a certain boy.
He huffed, standing up straight again once he proceeded in knocking the remaining two out.
"Ba~ka." He mumbled, walking by the four unconscious bodies and into the next room.
Correction, hallway. He huffed to himself. It consisted of six different rooms, and each one was filled with about four more people. Luffy wasn't a genius at math, but he knew for a fact that six rooms filled with four people in each one was…a whole lot of dumbasses.
All of them were weak, either fainting within a single punch or fainting simply out of pure fear. Some he vaguely recognized in a few of his classes, most of them he didn't give a crap about.
After finishing them, he stood in the last room of the six in the northwest corner, yet another hallway connecting to that one. However, this one seemed odd. The hallway had no light pouring in, and actually had only about six candles on the floor to light it up.
He quietly walked through the hallway, heading for the somewhat larger door. He couldn't help but grin as he thought of himself as the hero and this was the boss battle. If playing Mario when he was little wasn't enough for him to know a big door meant a big problem, then he didn't know what was.
He pressed his ear against it, listening to the conversation on the other side.
Muffled voices were heard, some high, some low, some whiny…some… no, one familiar one. But he couldn't place it.
He wasn't sure if he knew this voice's name, but just the voice itself sounded like someone who would do such a thing to his friend.
He hesitantly placed his hand on the handle. He should open it, right? Well, it was an obvious answer. But, it sounded like there was at least more than four people in there, and if this was the boss, then the four of them would have to be the best. Could he really take on four people at once?
…
Of course he could.
Bang!
The doors were kicked open by him, and he simply walked in – he didn't want to make a scene if this was the wrong room, that's why he only kicked it open. If he knew for sure, he would've flown into the room, bursting open the door in mid-air.
"Oi!" His voice echoed loudly through the large room, causing four people to peer their eyes at the young intruder, who did it in a nonchalant way nonetheless. "Which one of you is 'Croc?!'"
He took the time to study the opponents as they seemed not to want to answer. Oh yeah, these were them. All of them looked weird one way or another, and the only thing they shared was a frown, glare, etc.
A man with a shaved head, and an odd tattoo on his chest. A queer with too much clothing on to properly see his face. A man with weird goggles or glasses, he couldn't decided which one they were, and with a weird hairdo that looked like the number three. And finally, a man he could've sworn was familiar, in a way he didn't know, but he didn't really care. This was 'Croc.' He could just tell by the gigantic ass hook, which he couldn't help but stare at in awe, but the way he looked at him, with his dumb slicked back hair, it just ticked him off.
The man with the bizarre hair stood up, and looked at him in a squeamish way that reminded him of the other weak ones that fainted with a punch. Could these really be the best?
He blinked a bit as he approached him, saying, "You. You're that girl's friend, eh? Well, don't think you'll be able to get her back, there are four of us as you can see.
"How old are you, anyways? Twelve?" He chuckled, making Luffy frown, "That's real cute kid, but if you don't wanna get hurt…I recommend you leave no-"
He let out a high pitched grunt, which Luffy teasingly smiled at, as he hit the floor a few yards to the right.
After staring at the unconscious body to make sure he wouldn't get back up again, he turned his head to the remaining three sitting at a somewhat large table.
"How strong are you guys?" he asked curiously, frowning, as he turned his head to the remaining three. "Everyone here's weak." He added, whining softly.
He gasped, his black eyes widening at recognizing another one of the members, "B-Bon-chan?!"
The queer's eyelined eyes widened as well, "Mugiwara?!"
"You know him." The shaved man asked quietly, as if he didn't really care whether he did or not.
"N-no! Of course not Mr. 1!" he waved his hands sheepishly, "He's just some kid in my P.E. class!"
"But we had so much fun!" he whined to himself, making the other two grunt. "Why would you want to hurt Vivi?"
"I don't wanna hurt her!" he retorted back, his eyes popping in denial. "Mr. 0 is just good friends with her, and since I'm his fellow comrade, I must stay loyal to him!" he stood up, putting a fist over his heart proudly.
"That's beautiful…!" he sobbed sadly, "But…I guess I'm gonna have to kick your ass for teaming up with this jerk." He smiled confidently, placing his fists in front of him.
He looked at his recent made friend hesitantly, but with a look from 'Mr. 0,' he clenched his jaw, leaping into the air and landing in front of the boy, his leg still lifted. "Alright, then, mugiwara."
Grinning, Luffy took this as a sign to start. He huffed before aiming a single punch at his gut, but quickly felt pain rushing to his own as Bon Clay delivered a quick kick, getting into position again quickly after.
He grasped his stomach momentarily after gasping for air, before throwing another punch. The other man lifted one of his powerful legs, aiming it in the same spot. However, this time, he stopped Bon Clay's leg with his own before he had the chance to hit him. Grabbing his oddly decorated shoulders, Luffy lifted his chin up, sending his skull to hit the other's.
A stream of blood slowly made it's way down the younger one's face. As Bon Clay was in midair head first, Luffy gladly took the opportunity to strike at the man's side once more.
Like his ally, Clay's body collided with the cold cemented floor, but he quickly stood up again, regaining his stance. "You're tougher than you look." He concluded, a grin forming on his face again, "But you clearly aren't tough enough."
"That doesn't even make any sense. I just the beat the crap out of you!" he said bluntly, too bluntly for Baroque Works' agent's taste. The seventeen year old boy grunted as he scarcely dodged the man's sudden series of rapid kicks. Eventually, he managed to grasp one of his legs in front of him, and he decided to use it to crash the queer into the nearby wall.
He grinned, satisfied, as his opponent got up after a longer period of time, his delicate hand clutching one of his swollen cheeks in pain. It was obvious he was slowly wearing down.
He panted for a few seconds before taking his hand off his cheek, only to find the younger's leg a foot away from his face. He managed to dodge it by ducking under, and grabbed Luffy's leg and flipped him a bit slowly. Using the time he had, he swiftly kicked off the wall he was recently dragged into, resulting in him being higher than the boy who was still in midair.
His black eyes widened before Mr. 2 kicked his gut with both of his powerful legs, his body crashing harshly onto the floor, blood suddenly spewing out of his mouth. He coughed, getting as much blood as he could out to avoid the trouble, before jumping up, feet first. After he landed, he lightly panted and wiped his mouth.
Placing his hands in position again, the two's legs and arms flew across the room, none of them hitting their desired marks. Seconds after seconds passed, and finally, the gang member managed to knock Luffy off his balance, his back colliding with the floor once again.
He lifted his leg to give him another mark, but it never reached him, the only thing in Luffy's sight was…black?
He blinked. What the hell? Was he dead? No, screw that. You can't blink when you're dead…Maybe he was dead. He did smell like a rotting corpse.
"Oi, Luffy." A deep, recognizable voice called to him.
Scratch that. It was just Zoro.
"Zoro! You could've gotten here sooner."
"I would've.." the other man said, a frown on his face as he scratched his head, "If I knew where we were."
His grin only grew, "Shishishi! Baka!"
"Bastard.." he hissed angrily, before proceeding to look at the currently recovering opponent. "Is he who we're fighting?" He jerked a thumb at the man he was currently blocking, asking the younger one for clarification.
He nodded, his black hair falling and rising with his head, "Those two weirdos too." He pointed at the two remaining, who were still comfortably lounging on the desk "But it's that bastard that's the boss." He said nonchalantly, directing his finger to Mr. 0.
A grin appeared on the green haired man's face, "Really? So now we have three asses to kick?"
Luffy nodded, "His name's Mr. 0 or Croc – he's a real douchebag!" he grinned, while Zoro sweatdropped.
Nodding, the green haired man let out a brief grunt before deciding to simply punch the opponent to the floor a few feet away near Mr. 3's unconscious body.
"Are you gonna stop now, Bon-chan?" the boy asked disappointingly after getting up, tilting his hat to cover the left portion of his face.
"Of course not!" the opponent shouted, standing up, a daring grin on his face. "That was only a short tussle, mugiwara!"
"Tussle?" Zoro raised his eyebrow, muttering to himself as Luffy continued, "Good! This isn't over yet,"
He nodded, his own grin appearing, "This is Bon Clay," he pointed his thumb at the he-she before the said man retorted, "Mr. 2!"
"And I guess that's Mr. 1, since there's already a 0 and 2." Luffy shrugged, pointing to the man with the shaved head.
"That is Mr. 1!" the barely recovering man clarified.
"Right, right." He waved off again. "Croc's the leader, so I'm gonna kick his ass first." Luffy told him, cracking his knuckles.
"Sounds like a plan." Zoro smirked, "I'm sure I can take on these two, eh?"
"Shishishi! Yeah." He nodded to his best friend before turning to Mr. 0, "Oi, you! Tell me where Vivi is! If I beat the crap out of you, then I get to have her back! That's fair, right?"
Zoro's smirk fell, "Dumbass!" he hissed, "He's most likely the leader of what, a damned mafia gang, and you expect him to 'play fai-"
"Princess is in the next room over, mugiwara." The man chuckled quietly, a lax smirk on his face as he motioned to the door behind him. Mr. 1 still had a blunt frown on.
Luffy threw Zoro a proud smile, "Told ya' so."
Zoro felt his eye twitch as he almost instantly replied, "Go to hell!"
"Anyways, Crocodile," Luffy smiled, stretching his legs, "I'm the leader of this group, so I'm gonna kick your a-…Eh?" he let out, his feet no longer touching the ground. He felt the cold floor hit his back in a lighter way that made the impression it wasn't done to hurt him.
"You.." Zoro scratched his head, trying to recall the name of the intruder that had flipped his friend. "You're…Kohza, am I right? You're the one that Vivi talks about."
"Vivi doesn't talk about him." Luffy frowned, sitting up and using his hands as support.
Zoro huffed, "Maybe not to you."
"Robin and Vivi? Are you Nami's therapist too?" Luffy frowned, scratching his head.
He simply clenched his jaw, letting out a "Tch."
Kohza let a smirk grow on his face, adjusting his purple shades soon after. He turned his head to their direction, "So Vivi talks about me, eh?...I'm not letting her live this one down." He chuckled, cracking his knuckles.
"Mugiwara," he started, "I'll take care of this bastard." He frowned, a light glare thrown at Crocodile, "You and marimo take care of queer man and whatever his name is."
"Mr. 1!" Luffy piped up before retorting, "No way! This is my fight."
Kohza rolled his eyes, his interest of the boy disappearing, now leaving him stuck in the I-don't give-a-damn-fuckity zone of Kohza's mind. "Uh-huh. But dontcha think you should handle him first?" he frowned, looking at the blinking okama.
He gave Kohza an annoyed pout before giving in, "Fine, but just until I beat the crap out of Bon-chan," he turned his head to the opponent "Okay! Let's finish this."
The he-she nodded, grinning in return. Luffy turned to Zoro, "Zoro. You're gonna beat the crap out of baldy, right?"
He only a received a nod, followed by the brisk unsheathing of three swords. Luffy and Bon Clay's eyes popped out of their skulls. "S-S…Sugoi!" Luffy screamed, his jaw dropping to the floor, "Where did you get those?!"
"Damned Mihawk is useful in some way." Zoro muttered before proceeding to place a sword in his own mouth. "He's kinda been giving me lessons."
Luffy's jaw was starting to pile up on the floor, "Sugoi!" he repeated, "B-Bon-chan! You wouldn't mind if I watched Zoro kick you're friend's ass, right?" he asked excitedly.
Kohza and Zoro sweatdropped, but he answered nonetheless, "Of course not! Get him Mr. 1!" Bon Clay cheered as he ran up to stand next to Luffy, "Fight, fight, fight!" the two of them cheered, simultaneously pumping their fists in the air.
Kohza grunted at the display of immaturity, while Zoro muttered behind his sword, "Dumbasses."
When the swordsman's gaze fell back onto the table, a smirk grew on his lips as he noticed 'Mr. 1' had stood up, and was, as a matter of fact, walking towards him. However, it quickly fell into a frown, noticing the man was bare-handed, while he bared katanas, a much stronger advantage. The man clearly wasn't an idiot, and even if he was good with hand-to-hand combat, it meant nothing compared to his own katanas.
He quickly grunted, his eyes widening as he blocked the attack that was thrown at him with the edge of one of his swords. His eyes only widened further as he stared at where the cut on the side of the man's arm was…where the cut on the side of the man's arm should be.
However, his arm didn't lose a single drop of the crimson liquid. A spark was made as he slid his arm up to the tip of Zoro's sword, the flashing bits of fire following the path he led.
"What the-" he grunted again as he quickly came at the swordsman, his arms attacking one after the other, forcing him to walk backwards. Zoro had no clue what in the damned world was going the hell on, but his arms seemed the same as his own katanas, so that was exactly how he planned on treating them.
Deciding he had been blocking enough, he started attacking during the small portions of time that was between Mr. 1's strikes. Fortunately, what he had in mind had worked, and what they had been doing was backwards.
Noticing he used the same positions to block, no matter what different combinations or angles Zoro tried to strike him in, he used the split second when his left arm was up to briefly raised the katanas, muttering under his breath, "Santoryu."
He blocked one more quick attack from his right before dashing past the man, feeling the tips of all three swords slice through something, his jaw clenching as the katana in his mouth slightly moved. "Toro Nagashi."
He paused a second, quickly catching his breath before turning around to his opponent, who had already recovered and succeeded to strike a somewhat deep wound across Zoro's chest. Zoro grunted in pain, his hands clenching the handles of the katanas harder as he fought the stinging.
Deciding to ignore it, he took the more important matter at hands, kicking off the ground to avoid an attack directed at his legs.
As he did so, he noticed a bit of a glare coming from under Mr. 1's arms, his previously narrowed eyes widening. The damned bastard had katanas attached to his arms. What the fuck? Quickly landing in a somewhat crouched position, he used this to kick off the floor and past the agent. Kicking off the ground once more and into the air, his blades were close to slicing the man's shoulder and the lower area of his neck, before he turned around, blocking Zoro with his arms once again.
He jumped back, his feet ground against the floor as he slid, dust flying in the air from below his boots.
He panted, noticing the deep wound on the man's left side. His frown deepened as he showed no signs of pain, not even emotion for the fight whatsoever.
"Wounds on his back is a swordsman's shame." He stated bluntly, the same emotionless look in on his face.
Zoro smirked, finally hearing his voice, "Exactly why I did it."
He jumped at the assassin again. Their sparring was at a slower pace this time, but he could tell there was more force behind it. He lowly groaned, the stinging of the wound coming back. "Damn," he cursed as he almost lost his balance. The sounds of their blades colliding and sliding against each other filled the room with sharp echoes, the tapping of their steps quickly following it.
He smirked again as he managed to cut the top layer of his right arm, but it quickly fell once again as Mr. 1 struck at his chest again, another cut appearing followed by more of the crimson liquid staining his white shirt. It wasn't as deep and wasn't even close to how long the other one was, but it still stung like a bitch.
As the two of them stood there, panting, the man noticed from the corner of his eye his best friend succeeding in flipping Mr. 2 over, the other agent's decorated head crashing into the floor. He lowly chuckled, seeing the usually happy boy in such a foul mood.
"You bastard!" he heard the higher tone of his voice yell, followed by the sound of a bone cracking.
Zoro smirked again, turning his head back to face his current opponent. For the umpteenth time that day, his lips dragged into a small frown as Mr. 1 was out of sight. He wasted no time in looking around himself, but there was no sign. Clenching the swords again, he glanced at Crocodile for a split second between his fight with Kohza for any sign or hint of something that would clarify the opponent's whereabouts
Silence.
Luffy's grunts of annoyance and sounds of bones cracking became inaudible. All he heard was the swift sound of his arm slicing through the air, before it continued down Zoro's chest.
The slice was far deeper this time, and ran in the parallel diagonal position of his other one, the single point where both of the gashes met had blood continually flowing.
He dropped his third sword into his hands, panting through his teeth as he clenched his jaw. His head seeming to be in the clouds, but not in a pleasurable way.
He could feel the sweat he hadn't noticed before sliding down his forehead. His torso was close to numb when he refused to move, but throbbed when he did. He heard the other swordsman's swords clashing against each other, most likely to make an attempt to wipe off his blood.
His head really was in the clouds. It seemed light all of a sudden, too light for the wounds that seemed to want to drag him towards the depths of hell itself. He wouldn't be surprised if he somehow already was in the sunlight of heaven, no matter how hard he wished he wasn't.
He knew he wasn't very good with directions.
"Zoro!"
He opened his eyes at Luffy's voice cutting through the air sharper than Mr. 1's own swords. The surrounding sounds rushed back through his mind as his friend dragged him back to earth.
"This isn't over yet!" his voice seemed to have a tone of teasing somewhere vast into it, but a trace of anger was there as well.
He could only let out a smirk, his panting slowly going down a bit as he lowered his head to look at the other swordsman, "Never said it was."
He heard Luffy laugh.
The tip of his third sword lightly clashed with the tip of the one in his left hand, the weapon being placed back in his jaw.
"Goddamn." He muttered to himself, deciding to ignore the stinging again despite his instinct to slightly wince. "The hell am I supposed to defeat you."
It came out as a statement; a compliment.
"I've been training my whole life." He stated bluntly, his lips hardly moving as the words passed out of his mouth. "I know the rights, the wrongs. It's the only thing I seem to know without thought."
"Hardcore perfectionist." Zoro commented, a bit amused.
"Hardcore." Mr. 1 repeated, "No."
"Well you're definitely harder than other opponents…" Zoro smirked, "Almost as hard as rock, actually."
"…Steel."
"Steel." It was his turn to repeat it. "The hell am I supposed to cut steel."
He revised his original statement.
"That's not my problem." He finished, his expression unchanged.
He sent his body flying towards Zoro, his katanas clashing with his. Although he didn't show it, he was satisfied with the grunt Mr. 1 made as his wounds continued to ironically 'stab' him.
They stood there as Zoro caught his breath, "My wounds are killing me." He panted, "I'm getting this over with. Now. Hope you're fine with that."
He pushed his weight over to push Mr. 1 backwards, his feet ground against the floor. He attacked first thing, the sounds of five swords clashing continually against each other, sparks flying once again as screeches echoed through the room.
Zoro allowed his ego to slightly expand, hearing the grunt coming from him once he successfully managed to slice a fairly deep cut down his right arm.
The sword was coming off the slightest bit from his arm.
He wasted no time in striking once again, confidence behind every swing.
The end was near. He could practically feel it. He was on a roll, to put things simply, continuously attacking without letting a single second for him to recover slip by. His right sword was close to becoming completely detached from his arm.
The string itself was incredibly thin, and of that string, was only two thinner threads. He noticed this when the sword itself seemed to be lacking the speed his arm was at, which resulted in poor aim. Two strings were left.
He attacked vigorously, his own blood that was currently gashing out from the wound was forgotten for the moment.
One string was left.
He needed to finish this now.
It was a nice thought, knowing that he would have an incredible advantage with Mr. 1 having only sword. But Zoro didn't want to win like that. He was much too honorable.
I'll have to cut steel.
"Ittoryu Iai." He muttered, listening to the breath of his opponent, "Shishi Sonson."
The shrill of his sword cut through the underground lair of theirs, as his opponent's sword collided with the cold cemented floor, tumbling, tumbling, before finally laying there.
Steel had fallen.