Rated M for Violence, Language, Smoking, The Destruction Of Government Property, and Some Very Detailed Lemons!
I don't own One Piece! This world belongs to Eiichiro Oda and these amazing characters are his. My OC'S and this story, however, are my own! This is a work of fiction from me, any relevance to the real world or other works is purely coincidental.
Thank you Guest 2.0 for the review. You are awesome!
Thank you for reading!
Alba
Alba stopped at another turn, her gaze shifting from left to right and back again. This place was annoyingly maze-like, all the buildings looked the same making it beyond difficult to figure out where they were. It didn't help that Zoro was turning the wrong way pretty much every chance he got. He even turned completely around a couple of times.
"Without the sounds of fighting or others to guide us," Alba sighed. "This is way harder than I'd like it to be."
"Well, if you'd just follow my lead," Zoro huffed.
"Great Turtle grant me patience," Alba whispered to herself.
"That a chant or something?"
"It's a prayer," Alba said.
"Prayers are pointless," Zoro snapped.
"They aren't pointless, I've seen prayers work."
"Well, I haven't," Zoro argued. "I don't trust in anything I can't see or touch."
"You don't have to believe in something for it to be real."
"Oh yeah?" Zoro reasoned. "What's the point in something existing if no one believes in it?"
"The point is that it exists."
"No, it doesn't."
"Yes, it does."
"No it-"
"I think it's this way," Alba interrupted, turning right.
"Hey, wait for me," Zoro growled. "You can't just cut me off like that."
"I can when we aren't getting anywhere," Alba corrected, as she mentally prepared for another rebuttal from the swordsman.
"Wait!" Zoro snapped, suddenly gripping Alba's arm and yanking her back just as she would have continued forward.
Alba was so startled by the sudden change in mood that she let herself be pulled part-way down a side street before she yanked her hand free of his and placed both her hands on her hips.
"What on earth are you doing?"
"Shhhh," Zoro cautioned pausing and looking around. Then he turned and gripped both of Alba's shoulders, shoving her back into a corner behind some barrels. The second he joined her in the confined space Alba froze. The action and their sudden proximity had certainly taken her off-guard. In the near darkness, Alba remained ridged, encompassed in the feeling of being confined with him.
Suddenly several footsteps echoed around Alba, answering the unasked questions swirling through her mind. A massive group of people was nearby. Slowly the sounds got closer before starting to pass them. Judging from the footsteps whoever they were, they were huge, probably as large as the two opponents Alba and Zoro had just faced. Or close at least. And there were certainly a lot of them.
Alba's heart accelerated, slamming into her chest as her breathing increased. She should be terrified of the prospect of fighting all those people, but that wasn't what had her blood racing. Zoro was so close; part of his arm was unavoidably pressed against her side and she could feel his corded muscles. A part of her wanted to lean in even closer to his heat, and Alba quickly pushed that part of herself away. Zoro's breathing was slow, deliberate. Years of training evident in his calm stillness. In contrast, an overwhelming uneasiness was slowly encompassing Alba. She squirmed slightly as an uncomfortable heat settled deep into her core, never faltering. Still, despite her desire to ignore the new sensations hitting her, something about it felt right. Zoro's warmth pressed against her, the scent of steel that permeated his skin, his slow rhythmic breathing.
"You okay?" Zoro finally whispered a while after the footsteps had faded.
"I… um..." it was all Alba could offer; the words just wouldn't form in her mouth.
Time seemed to freeze after that, the moments ticking by endlessly. Despite the absence of sound, Zoro kept still. Kept her anchored in their dark hiding place. It felt like an eternity until Zoro finally started pulling back. His eyes sought her in the dim shadows before he completely stepped away, freeing her.
"I think they're gone now."
Alba nodded before finally stumbling out of the darkness and following Zoro back into the light. Heat burned her face and she gripped her cheeks demanding her own thoughts to settle down. She had to come back to her senses if they were both going to make it off the island safely. What on earth was wrong with her anyway?
"What the hell is that?" Zoro questioned, looking down to the end of the street they'd unwittingly found themselves in. His words pulled Alba back from her swarming mind and into reality. She glanced in the direction he was staring and paused as a large bord caught her attention.
"I don't know," Alba offered, following Zoro as he continued walking up to the massive wooden structure. The object was easily ten feet tall and twice that distance wide. Posters were plastered all over the thing, wanted posters.
"Every pirate this side of the east blue is here," Zoro huffed, stepping up to the wall-sized panel and gripping a few corners of the posters currently covering the front.
"Yeah," Alba sighed, noticing a few familiar faces among the countless she didn't know. Some had been crossed out with large red X's. Some looked old, others appeared new, the dinginess of the papers an indicator of their age.
"I think I know what this place is," Zoro sighed, just as one of the newer-looking posters caught Alba's attention. She gripped the sheet, the very parchment feeling like poison in her hands. Whatever warm feelings she'd had just moments before plummeted as tears pricked her eyes. This was bad… really, really bad. The rest of Zoro's words barely penetrated Alba's thoughts as he continued. "Bounty Hunter Island."
