Zetsumei opened her eyes again to see the familiar ceiling of the Thousand Sunny's infirmary. With a quick glance around the room, she found herself alone in the room wth shouting being heard outside the door; although she didn't pay attention to it, let alone even understand the muffled words being shouted.
Zetsumei sat up, haing a few ahces here and there (especially in her shoulder and head) but ignored each one as she swung her legs off the bed and rested her feet on the floor. She noticed the bandages covering her body and one just in the crease of her arm which she knew was from where Chopper gave her a blood transfuson. The only questioned Zetsumei had to wonder was how Chopper got the blood for her, she had a rare blood type after all.
Zetsumei stood to her feet, a bit shaky at first, but regained her stance to walk towards the door. That's when she could make out some of the shouting.
"How can you trust her so easily, Luffy?!" Zoro was the one being so loud, like usual. "It's obvious she's been lying to us from the moment we met her! How can we continue having her around if she can't trust us enough to tell us the truth?!"
"He has a point, Luffy," Nami said just as Zetsumei was opening the door without anyone's attention being drawn to her. "It's hard telling what she's thinking most of the time, she might just turn on us one of these days."
"But she wouldn't do that!" Chopper objected. "Zetsumei's a good person!"
"Chopper," Usopp spoke up, "we don't know anything about her."
"Has that stopped us from trusting other people?" Robin asked. "She might not have told us the truth, but that doesn't change the fact that she's helped us on mulitple occasions."
"And each time she had something to gain," Zoro cut in.
Zetsumei crossed her arms, continueing to watch the argument unfold in front of her, until the subject was changed to the file.
"Luffy, let us see what's inside that file," Nami said, holding out her hand.
"No," Luffy said, pulling the file away from her. "Soumei doesn't want us to interfere."
"We've already interfered," Franky said, crossing his arms.
"Can't we just stop arguing?!" Brook asked as his friends continued to bicker.
"He's right!" Sanji snapped, making the black haired woman watching look to him. That's when she noticed the bandage around his arm, right in the crease where her's was. "We need to keep quiet or-"
"Z-Z-Zetsu!" Usopp screamed, startled when he finally noticed the woman. "H-How long h-have you b-b-been standing t-there?"
"Long enough," Zetsumei answered, taking a step forward.
"Zetsumei," Chopper spoke up before Sanji could beging his swooning fest, "you should be resting! You're not-"
"It's hard resting if there's all this shouting going on outside," Zetsumei said, making everyone hold their heads. She looked to Luffy. "Strawhat, may I see that file?"
"Sure," Luffy said, handing it to her. To be honest, he was the only one that actually looked inside it, knowing what Zetsumei was planning, but he left it a mystery to everyone else.
Zetsumei held the file and began opening it; however, she was stopped when a sword was suddenly in front of her throat, cutting it slightly from how sharp the blade was. "Finally got the guts to draw your sword on me, Swordsman?" Zetsumei looked up and towards the moss head with a small smile.
"Zoro!" everyone gasped, but none could get the guts to step in.
"Put down the sword, Moron!" Sanji shouted, about to step in but suddenly got very light headed from his recent blood loss. This made Chopper run over to make sure he was okay, though he tried butting in again, Chopper demanded he stay seated.
"I think it's about time you gave us some explanations," Zoro said, narrowing his eye at her, "Seikiyou-san."
Zetsumei flinched at the name and her eyes seemed to darken even more. Looks like the cat was already out of the bag.
Sanji notied how dark the woman's expression had turned. At this point it he knew she could kill without hesitation. He couldn't believe that a woman who was happy just days ago could become so dark menacing in just a few minutes. He didn't know who she was anymore.
"You know," Zetsumei said, glaring at Zoro, "putting a sword in front of me if like asking for a death wish." Zetsumei's eyes narrowed even more. "You digging your own grave, Pirate Hunter?"
"Not at all," Zoro answered smugly. "But I'll be happy to dig yours." Zoro's smirk faded. "What's in the file?"
"I would have told you if you weren't being such an ass suddenly." Zoro flinched at the words, but watched as Zetsumei opened the file and showed him and the others, making them all stare, dumbfounded. "The look on your face tells me you weren't expecting this." Zetsumei grinned. "Disappointed, Swordsman?"
Zoro glared as Nami spoke up. "These are accoutning papers, right?"
"That's right," Zetsumei said, throwing the file onto the table as Zoro pulled his sword away, but not bothering to sheath the blade just yet. "The Commander has been sending out marines to collect taxes every week, yet this week he's sent them out three times already."
"Why did you want these, Zetsu?" Usopp asked.
Zetsumei put her hands in her pockets. "A little girl asked me to help..."
Zoro scoffed. "A little girl? I didn't picture you as the community service type of woman" Zoro narrowed his eye again. "What made you want to do this in the first place?"
Zetsumei remained silent, slightly lost in her dark memories and was starled when Robin suddenly spoke up, defending her.
"Does a reason matter?" Robin asked, standing to her feet. "She has the right idea. If something like this is going on, shouldn't we help?"
"We're pirates, we don't help," Zoro said, looking to Robin. "This isn't any of our concern."
"But it is," Luffy jumped in, making everyone look at him. "If this continues, who knows what could happen. We need to help while we still can." Luffy smled and looked to Zetsumei. "Right, Soumei?"
Zetsumei dropped her head, looking towards her feet as she spoke rather quietly. "I'm the reason that little girl is growning up without a father..." Zetsumei looked up, shocking everyone with her stoic expression. "I'm not just going to sit idly by while her home gets taken from her too."
"That doesn't explain half the questions we have," Franky said, scratching his head.
"One being what you mean, Zetsumei-san," Brook said.
"The other being what you meant," Nami said, pointing at Zoro. "Why'd you call her Seikiyou?"
Before Zoro could even answer Nami, Zetsumei spoke up. "Guess it's about time I give an explanation..." Zetsumei looked up and towards everyone. "It's true...I lied to you."
"Well no shit Sherlock," Zoro grumbled, earning him a kick in the shin from a frustrated chef.
Zetsumei sat down in a chair as Chopper demanded her to (worried her wounds would open up again) and continued with her story, having each Straw Hat listening intently.
"However, I didn't lie about everything," Zetsumei continued. "It's true I left the marines three years ago and it's true I was a Vice-Admiral, but I did lie about my name, have been for three years."
"Your name is really Seikiyou Kaiyou, correct?" Robin asked.
Zetsumei nodded.
"Zetsumei-san," Sanji spoke up, making the woman sitting next to him turn her head, "does that mean you lied about not having children?"
Zetsumei's gaze noticibly dropped, as if guilty of the lie, and she looked back towards her fiddling hands. "No, tecnicly I didn't." Sanji was a bit confused at this statement; however even if she did lie about it, it wouldn't change the feelings he had growing for her.
"What do you mean 'tecnicly'?" Nami asked.
"I had two boys, Lewis and Suho," Zetsumei said, still not lifting her head. "They were both adopted after I saved them from a pirate attack." Zetsumei paused for a moment. "A few years ago, I was asked to go on a mission, a five day mission... I left the two in the care of Commander Piers, a man I trusted completly." Zetsumei's mind flashed through the images. "However that was a bad call on my part."
"Why?" Usopp asked, a bit frightened for the answer, but he didn't get one.
"The fleet I had was attacked at sea by a group of pirates," Zetsumei continued with her story, ignoring Usopp's question for later. "They had killed most of my men and almost killed me as well when they cut off my leg. By the time I regained consciousness, I found myself at HQ Infirmary." Zetsumei finally looked up and to Luffy. "Your grandfather was the first person I saw."
"Garp?" Luffy questioned. Zetsumei nodded.
"He was the one that gave me the news," Zetsumei said, looking back to her hands. "I asked him where Lewis and Suho were, but..." Zetsumei suddenly stopped, feeling the tears begin to fill the corner of her eyes. She didn't want to remember, she never wanted to remember, but she needed to tell them if she hoped to get anywhere.
Sanji noticed the woman struggling to continue and he wasn't going to push her like most of the other were doing. He understood how much effort she was putting into explaining and to show her that she didn't need to push herself too much, he placed a hand on her's. Zetsumei had to admit the hand on her's was comforting and made her feel warm inside, but she didn't want comfort; she didn't want to be told it wasn't her fault, because it was her fault, she knew it was. However, Zetsumei couldn't get the guts to brush him off.
"Garp told me that the camp Commander Piers was running was attacked," Zetsumei continued, her tears refusing to stream down her face. "There were no survivors."
"So, that means..." Chopper sniffted as he, Franky, Brook, and Luffy cried at this tradgic story. Zetsumei's silence was all they need to confirm that question.
"Is that why you left the marines?" Robin asked.
Zetsumei took a breath before lifting her head. "No, it's not." Zetsumei shifted her gaze a bit. "I was court marshiled."
"Why?" Luffy asked, wipping his nose on Zoro's jacket, which received an angry shout from the swordsman.
"Treason, insubordination, the list goes on." Zetsumei chuckled. "To be honest I think they just wanted me gone, but that was until someone broke into the World Goverment and stole some secret information. Of course, the blame was put on me."
"What was a verdict?" Franky asked with a loud sniff.
"Of course she was found not guilty," Usopp chuckled nervously, that was until he saw the dark look on Zetsumei's face. "Right?"
"No," Zetsumei said, narrowing her eyes at the ground as her sadness slowly turned into a heating rage, "I was proven guilty and was sent to be exicuted the next day, right here in Snowdell, my home town. I escaped before they could even get me out of my cell."
"Home town?" Nami questioned. "But I thought Ringo was-"
"Ringo was where my father went to after I became a marine," Zetsumei said, looking up and to Nami. "To be honest, I was greatful he left, means the marines didn't know I had a drunken ass father. I even made sure to say he was dead when the marines asked me. That's why Ringo was the perfect place for me to hide, especially after her died for good." Zetsumei smiled a bit longingly. "I changed my name and I reopened my father's bar; however, I could have done better without the rising debt he left me. I had managed to start over and I was able to hide from the marines for three long years. " Zetsumei took her hand away from Sanji and pointed at Luffy. "That was until you showed up."
"Us?" Luffy questioned, pointing to himself and tilting his head.
Zetsumei smirked, a bit confident in her words. "When you showed up and asked me to join your crew, I saw my chance after all those years."
Zoro chuckled, making the other crew members stare at him, stunned. "I knew there was something wrong with you. You're after the people who did you wrong."
"Considering they took my leg, framed me for a crime that almost got me exicuted, and, most of all, took my children away from me," Zetsumei said, narrowing her eyes at Zoro, "I think getting revenge is a good compensation, don't you?"
"Speaking of your leg," Franky said, crossing his arms again, "wouldn't the marines give you a new one after that incident?"
"They did," Zetsumei answered, "but I ditched it and got one from Retek so the marines didn't know where I had gone."
Nami looked to her captain, completly shocked by all this new information. "And you knew about all this, Luffy?"
"He only knew I was after revenge," Zetsumei said, "I didn't tell him what for and he never asked. He was the first one to comfront me." Zetsumei motioned to everyone around her. "Before you all gung up that is." Zetsumei chuckled. "Although, considering he comfronted me right after we left Ringo, I have to say you're all a bit slow."
The Straw Hats all looked to Luffy, who was absently picking his nose, and couldn't help but wonder if this was true or not. Luffy wasn't exactly a genius, but he wasn't stupid, that was for sure; however they weren't sure he was smart enough to find something like this out so easily.
"Now," Zetsumei said, standing to her feet, "if you'll excuse me"-she grabbed the file from on the table and began walking towards the door-"I have a little girl to tell about a Commander's recent spending spree."
"W-Wait, Zetsumei!" Chopper shouted, about to run after the girl, before the girl was stopped once again by Zoro's blade stopping in front of her neck.
Zetsumei glanced down to the blade and followed it along to meet Zoro's cold gaze. "Is there still a problem, Swordsman?"
"Don't just think because you told us a sob story that we're just going to let you off the hook," Zoro said, before he was suddenly kicked to the ground.
"Knock it off, Idiot!" Sanji shouted, stepping of Zoro a bit before stopping and gripping Zetsumei's shoulders lightly. "Don't raise your blade to an injured and unarmed woman! What kind of man are you?!" Sanji was soon in complete pervert mode, hugging and rubbing against Zetsumei. "Oh, Zetsumei-san, I'm so sorry for this bastard's imcompetence!"
"Imcompetence my ass!" Zoro shouted, which started the usual argument, much to Zetsumei's shock. Everything seemed to be as if her past was never even brought up.
"Knock it off you two!" Nami shouted, hitting both men in the head and pulling the injured Zetsumei away from them. "We have more things to worry about then deciding who's the idiot among you two!"
"Sorry, Nami-san," Sanji sighed, bowing a bit at the woman while Zoro mumbled his apology and a few words only Sanji could hear, just to tick off the chef.
"From what these papers say," Robin said, flipping through the file she had taken from Zetsumei (without her knowledge), "Commander Hyoga has been taking tax money and spending it on new weapons and such. Is he planning a conquest?"
"Whatever it is he's doing," Luffy said, smiling as he raised a fist, "we need to put a stop to it!" Luffy then turned serious and pointed to Zetsumei. "But you're stayng here, Soumei!"
"Wait a minute," Zetsumei said, slightly angered, "this is my mission, I don't-"
"You're injured, Zetsumei," Chopper said, "you need to stay here a rest. Luffy and the others will deal with all of this."
"Don't worry, Zetsumei-san!" Sanji swooned, "we'll take care of you!"
Zetsumei couldn't help but give a small chuckle as she felt relief was over her. It seems she was worrying for nothing, because even with her past known to all of them now they didn't think any differently about her, and for this she was thankful.