Non-humans: WW Zoro


". . . Yeah, but it doesn't work that way," Zoro was explaining exasperatedly to Luffy as they walked down the street, which was becoming emptier as they reached the edge of town.

"Can't you just—?" Luffy made a gesture with his hands.

"No," Zoro snapped, his tail flicking back and forth. "Geez, you're persistent."

Luffy glanced around. "By the way . . ."

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking . . . are we being followed?"

Zoro was silent for a moment. "Might be. Watch your back."

Luffy nodded and they continued on their way. As they went up an old small set of stone steps, he tripped over his own feet and fell face-first into the dirt.

"You okay?" Zoro muttered, glancing down and stopping.

Luffy gave him a thumbs-up, his face still in the ground. "Mm f'n," he mumbled through the dirt.

Zoro sighed and knelt to help pull him out of the dirt, but the wind grew stronger and he was struck by a horribly familiar smell. He groaned and shut his eyes.

"What's up?" Luffy asked, lifting his face from the ground, his face now streaked with mud.

"Wolf's bane," Zoro muttered, growing dizzier with every passing second. He fell backwards, his eyes squeezed shut. Luffy crawled over to check on him, but he was caught by surprise when in the next moment something was thrown over the pair.

"What the—?" Luffy moaned dramatically and went limp. "I'm weak . . ."

"Seastone," he heard a voice say.

"Oh, that explains it," he mumbled. Then he blinked and looked around. "Hey, who . . . ?"

Someone scooped up the net like a fishing catch and started dragging Luffy and Zoro somewhere.

"Hey, let us go," Luffy protested weakly.

No response. Luffy struggled, but he was too weakened from the net, and Zoro was still trying to recover from the disorientating effects of the wolf's bane.

They were dragged uncomfortably down a dark flight of stairs through an underground passageway, down a dim hallway, and finally through a door into a lit room. It was made of cement, about twenty feet square, and the door was heavy and seemed to be solid iron. Overall, the place had the look and feel of an old war bunker, which was, come to think of it, probably what it was.

"Welcome," the person said mockingly, dropping the net to the ground in the middle of the room. He left, leaving his captives tangled in the net. When he returned, Zoro had finally shaken off the plant's effects, and the man was carrying someone over his shoulder. He dropped her to the ground. It was Nami.

"Nami!" Luffy and Zoro exclaimed at the same time. Her eyes were closed and she was unresponsive at first, but then she stirred and slowly opened her eyes.

"God, my head," she hissed, slowly sitting up. She looked around and her eyes widened. "Luffy? Zoro? What's going on?"

"I can explain," their captor said casually, leaning against the doorframe. Nami glared at him and she hurried to get the net off of Luffy and Zoro.

"See, I'm a bounty hunter," the man said as Luffy tried to help Nami get the net off, which of course only made their entanglement worse and got Nami's wrist caught in a loop. "I'm also a magician. I noticed that the Strawhat pirates were in town and decided to keep an eye on you."

Nami freed her wrist and got back to work.

"Wasn't I surprised to learn you had a werewolf onboard!" the bounty hunter continued, gesturing to Zoro, who growled at him. "Tell me, are you scared of him?"

"Of course not," Luffy said without hesitation. Nami got Zoro free and he slowly straightened, glaring daggers at the magician and growling.

The magician pointed to Zoro and murmured, "Eht thgil fo eht lluf noom si ereh, dna eht flow segreme."

Zoro stiffened, but nothing happened.

"What kind of trick was that?" he snapped.

Luffy was finally freed from the net and Nami tossed it aside. The magician pointed to the net, clicked his fingers, and it flew into his hand.

"That was awesome," Luffy exclaimed. Nami smacked his shoulder.

"Your werewolf friend is going to transform in a minute," the magician said casually.

"What?" Nami whispered.

"That spell I just did forces him to turn into his wolf form," the magician said, smirking. "For . . . oh, I don't know how long. I figured I can let him kill you two, and then I can turn in your bodies to the Marines for a nice sum of . . . how much is it? Over three hundred million, at least . . ."

"You're bluffing," Zoro muttered. "You've gotta be bluffing."

"Undo it!" Luffy yelled, readying his fists.

"Oh?" the magician said. "I thought you weren't scared of him?"

Zoro suddenly doubled over and fell to the ground, breathing hard. Beads of perspiration formed on his forehead from the forced speed of the process.

Luffy glanced at Zoro and turned back to the magician angrily. "We're not scared of him, we're scared for him!" he yelled. "If he hurts one of us while he's like that, he'll never forgive himself because that's the kind of idiot he is!"

The magician smiled. "Then that's really too bad for him and you. Toodles."

He left, swinging the heavy door shut behind him and locking it. Luffy and Nami turned to Zoro. His head was lengthening and his limbs and torso shifted as hair began to sprout all over his body. Nami hurried over to Luffy's side.

Soon Zoro straightened up, now in wolf form. His shirt was hanging on by shreds under his haramaki, his pants and boots had slipped off, and his swords clattered to the ground as he looked at Luffy and Nami and growled.

"Zoro," Luffy said clearly, staring into his friend's eyes. "I won't let you hurt us. Don't worry." He glanced at Nami. "Stay with me."

Zoro charged with a fierce bark. Luffy grabbed Nami and jumped over Zoro, using his back as a springboard and momentarily knocking him to the ground. As they landed, Zoro struggled to his feet and turned on them again, snarling.

"Luffy," Nami said as she and Luffy leapt out of the way, Luffy kicking Zoro in the side. Zoro flew into the wall and landed hard on the ground. "I have my staff. I can knock him out while you keep him busy."

"That works," Luffy said, keeping an eye on Zoro, who was whimpering slightly and getting up again. "And . . . now!"

Zoro charged again and Luffy jumped up, landing on the werewolf's back. As Zoro whined and snarled in frustration, Nami whipped out her Clima Tact, threw the pieces together, and whacked Zoro on the head, knocking him out. He fell over with a lump on his furry head and Luffy slowly got off him.

"Nice," he said cheerfully, holding out his hand. Nami high-fived him and stowed away her weapon again. Luffy gathered up Zoro's lost clothes and swords and they sat against the wall to take a breather.

"Shouldn't we break out?" Nami asked eventually, looking at the heavy door. "If we can . . ."

"Nah, we should wait," Luffy said. "I mean, if Zoro wakes up and he's still like this, he'd wreak havoc outside, right?"

"Right," Nami agreed.

"So how'd you get captured?" Luffy asked curiously.

Nami puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "That jerk tricked me. Said he was selling perfume and sprayed some stuff on a handkerchief for me to smell. Next thing I know I wake up here."

Luffy laughed. Nami hit him. "Well, how'd you get captured?!"

"He caught us by surprise," Luffy admitted. "He made Zoro dizzy with that bane stuff, and while I was checking on him, he threw the net over us."

Nami sighed. "You two should really watch yourself when there's stuff like that around to make you weaker."

"Yeah, we noticed we were being followed," Luffy said cheerfully. "Guess we should've done something about it sooner!"

Nami hit him again.

"Ow," Luffy muttered. "But think of it this way—if he hadn't caught us, you probably would've been captured and turned in by yourself. This way, once Zoro's back to normal, we have a better chance of escaping."

Nami stared at him. "You're being weirdly smart today. Did someone hit you on the head?"

"You did."

Nami threateningly held up her fist again and Luffy flinched. They turned back to look at Zoro, still unconscious.

They waited. Not even half an hour later, Zoro began to turn back. The hair slowly shrank back into his body, which shifted with his limbs and face.

Zoro, back in human form, lay on the ground. He slowly sat up, clutching his head, which was pounding something fierce. He was hit in the head with his pants and quickly put them on.

"Thank you," he murmured, scooting over to Luffy and Nami and taking back his other things. "I'm so—"

"Don't waste time apologizing," Luffy said, standing as Zoro straightened out his swords, his shirt still in tatters and barely hanging on. Zoro tore off the rest of it and left it lying on the ground—it could never have been sewn back together at that point.

"You okay?" Nami asked quietly as Luffy started experimentally knocking on the metal door.

"It was rough," Zoro muttered. "I've never had to transform so quickly. Usually, y'know, my body has a day to prepare, but this . . ." he shook his head. "Never mind me, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Nami said gently. "You feel up to helping Luffy out with that?"

Zoro nodded and readied his swords, approaching the door to stand by Luffy. "On your word, captain?"

Luffy nodded. "Three . . . two . . . now!"

"108-POUND CANNON!"
"GUM-GUM BAZOOKA!"

Their combined attacks blasted the door off its hinges, leaving it a smoking, twisted mess in the dim hallway. They straightened up and headed out.

"C'mon," Luffy called to Nami, who was standing frozen in shock.

"Monsters, both of you," she muttered fondly under her breath as she hurried after them.

As they went for the stairs, they found the magician coming down them.


"Um . . ."

Usopp and Chopper stared at Luffy, Zoro, and Nami. Robin was sitting a little ways off, casually watching them. Luffy looked fine, Zoro had an exhausted expression and bruises over his exposed torso, and Nami looked traumatized.

"So . . ." Usopp gestured to all of them. "Are you gonna tell us what happened, or . . ."

"A bunch of stuff," Luffy said cheerfully.

"Yes, thank you," Usopp said sarcastically. "Zoro, where's your shirt?"

"I flexed and it fell off," Zoro deadpanned.

"Why are you hurt?" Chopper squeaked, looking over the bruises.

"Luffy kicked me a lot."

"Luffy—!"

"I had to," Luffy protested. "Besides, we took care of the other guy pretty quickly."

"Other guy—? Nami, are you okay?"

"Luffy, Zoro, did that guy really deserve all that?" Nami asked weakly, her horrified expression seemingly stuck on. "I don't think his face will ever look right again . . ."

"He tried to kill us," Luffy pointed out.

"Still . . ."

"What is going on?" Usopp demanded again.

"Do you think he'll ever walk again?" Nami whispered, almost to herself.

Zoro shrugged. "Speaking of walking, I need to sleep this off."

"Zoro, come to my office immediately!" Chopper exclaimed.

"I'll do that after a nap," Zoro snapped. "God, my head hurts . . ."

"Your head—? What's going on?" Usopp cried as Zoro shuffled to the men's quarters, Chopper on his heels.

"Sanji, I'm hungry," Luffy called, running for the kitchen.

Usopp looked at Nami, but she was staring off into space as she whispered, "There was so much blood . . ."

"What happened?!" Usopp screamed.

Robin giggled.


I know someone's going to ask this (eventually, if not this chapter), so let me just say this now: Magic circles for magicians/wizards/magic-users are only needed for some spells. The spell to create a vampire requires a magic circle, but the one to force a werewolf to transform does not. It has nothing to do with the level of accomplishment of the caster. However, nonverbal spells, like the one the magician used to bring the Seastone net to him, do have to do with the level of accomplishment. In other words, nonverbal spells are used by more advanced spellcasters and are harder to do than verbal spells. The advantage is that they don't take as much time to cast once sufficiently mastered.