Zoro stared at the menacing figure of a biker advance towards him, though a little sluggish from Zoro's attack, seeing slitted eyes and bared, yellow teeth leering at him.
"Don't know where the hell *you* came from,"
The biker seethed,
"But you're dead."
Zoro tried to ignore his sense of panic, his eyes scanning the area for something to help him. The wooden splinters on the floor weren't exactly an option.
'Think, Zoro, think!'
Frantic thoughts ran through his brain as he barely managed to duck under as a swift punch was swung at him, but he stumbled, losing his crouched balance and landing hard on his elbows. He hurriedly sat himself up, his fingers fumbling to spread on the floor, yet the shadow cast over him made him realise it was a Very Bad Thing that he had fallen over. He looked upward to see another fist flying towards his face, his eyes widening as he jerked himself back, but he knew he couldn't dodge at that speed -
As they fumbled, his fingers found something it reacted to in reflex, his fingers automatically curling round in an all too familiar grip -
He was unaware that both hands of his were swinging upwards in a blur of white-shirt and skin -
His eyes shut and cringing, Zoro waited for the blow to land. The sound of a painful crack and intense pain at his jaw as the force of the punch threw him to the ground - these were the sensations he had been expecting and waited for. Nothing prepared Zoro for the dull and hollow metallic clang that sounded instead, the echo ringing in the back hall. His eyes opened in surprise.
He was gripping the metal pipes the bikers had been holding before he had knocked them out of their hands. Holding them in a cross before him, he could see the fist had landed at center of the cross. The biker let out a howl of pain, drawing his hand back and massaging his reddening knuckles. His eyes darted towards Zoro, glaring as the green-head picked himself up and stared at his hands in shock.
The familiarity that was coursing through him was alarming, and his eyes stared his fingers curled around the metal in curiousity. He had never learnt any sort of self-defense in his life, yet just now, he had performed what looked like a common defense move with the Two Sword Style Technique... he blinked. Two Sword what? Where on earth had that come from?
Something was running through him now, however; something Zoro did not know yet recognised. He hadn't known how to hold the broom handle, yet with the metal bars he had somehow awakened some sort of knowledge in him - no, it was more of some sort of reflex - that knew how to grip properly. Had it been the panic? He didn't know, but something was stirring in him; something enormous was fighting to be let out, desperately wanting to be acknowledged -
He saw -- no, felt a slight rustle of wind against his brow, and his arm automatically snapped itself up. The fist clanged again against the metal, and with fluid movement, Zoro slipped the bar beneath the wrist before swinging it up, slamming the bar against the side of the wrist. The rider looked stunned as the second bar sped toward his chest. A sharp crack in the air sounded as the end of the pipe sunk deep into the rider's ribs; a drawn out gasp of breath that was mingled with unspeakable pain confirmed his ribs were either cracked or broken from the blow.
Zoro lifted a foot up and harshly kicked the motorcycler away, the motorcycler gripping his chest and wheezing in pain as he landed.
'What the hell was that?!'
Zoro thought in a haze of confusion. He could feel waves of euphoria washing over him as he felt adrenaline pump through his veins, the violence somewhat satisfying the need that clamoured in him. He could only describe what he felt like as a fire burning through him with the metal pipes in his grasp an outlet for the flames. And the moves he was performing were easy - so easy, in fact, it took no effort in calculating the correct amount of strength or angle of direction when swinging... he found it was something he was used to, something he had done so many times before it was impossible to forget.
How was this possible?! He had never even twirled a baton in his life, unless you counted the relay races he used to participate in.
Something nagged at him at the back of his brain...
"It's clumsy."
Zoro muttered, his eyebrows rising in surprise as the three syllables tumbled out of his mouth. He realised he wasn't completely familiar with the bars, but they had managed to trigger something in him. The something that wanted to be known flared up in intensity... It filled his ears with complete silence, but the yearning in him pleaded...
'Zoro...'
A voice whispered.
Zoro sucked in his breath sharply as something broke in him - cracks spread rapidly and deeply before it crumbled - a wall that had been hiding something from him all this time... like a dam bursting, clear, sharp images rushed out and engulfed his mind --
He saw a man smile at him behind his glasses, his callused hands raw and red from gripping shinais too hard and too long, a worn and beaten wooden dummy, dark grey clouds pouring endless rain...
It wasn't only images, though...
He could feel and taste the salty tinge of sweat stinging his eyes, the rawness of a throat too dry yet stubbornly rejecting water, every engraved line and knot his fingers were tightened around...
He heard the rushing winds of sharply thrust swords of wood, his own heavy breathing, cracking posts of wood, screams of gathering strength and pounding feet against wooden floors...
...and her voice. He could hear her laugh, feel the heat of her hand curled around his, see her smile.
The voice that had whispered his name now whispered again.
'...Wake up.'
He opened his eyes, unaware he had been shutting them, and breathed in slowly. He noticed that several motorcyclists were surrounding him in a tight circle, their eyes trained on him suspiciously. All of them were wielding metal pipes, very much like the ones he was holding.
He didn't know what had just happened, but right now he was full to bursting with unseen knowledge... it seeped through him, calming him down with a cool stream of pure confidence.
"Zoro!!"
Yelled a voice. He lifted his eyes, and saw over many spiked and dyed heads the concerned gaze of Tashigi. She was holding up her stand with her mop handle, though with great difficulty as she tried to fend off three people at once.
And quite suddenly, a grin tugged at his lips. He let it spread, and watched Tashigi's expression change from horrified and worried to utterly confused. He felt his grin widen at that, and he switched his gaze from her questioning chocolate eyes to the goons around him.
"W-we don't know what k-kind of stunt you just p-pulled,"
One of the motorcyclers spluttered, his eyes glancing at the twisted form of the biker Zoro had just taken down,
"But you b-better be on your knees and b-begging for mercy, or else--"
Zoro just smiled.
The screeching of sirens tearing past the highway by Usopp's apartment building startled him out of his brooding, causing him to peek out his window. He could see police cars and vans ripping past, sirens piercing the air and actually leaving a ringing in Usopp's ears when they sped away from sight.
Unpressing his nose from the window, he tapped it in thought.
"I hope it's just a coincidence they're headed towards the Grand Line University,"
He murmured before sinking back to depression.
"@#$% it!!"
Krieg slammed a fist into a nearby locker. The spikes attached to the leather wrapped round his knuckles embedded heavily into the aluminium, leaving a deep fist-shaped indentation. Krow glanced at the dent and shook his head, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose with a palm before calmly saying,
"By the sounds of it, the gang inside seem to have silenced many of the students. We should go in there and present the grand finale."
"The 'grand finale' was supposed to conclude the @#$%ing dean as a @#$%ing asshole!! But he's gone, you @#$%ing idiot!! The @#$%ing coward @#$%ing ran away!! Don't you @#$%ing get it?!!"
"I agree the plan has failed in that area,"
Krow admitted slowly,
"But we can't stay here forever. Someone will have contacted the police by now - for example, the dean."
Krieg started to say something, but seemed to think better of it. He consented to letting out a long string of swear-words, trudging along towards the main-entrance of the auditorium. He stopped stock-still mid-way. A frown almost immediately darkened his features.
"Is something wrong, Krieg?"
Gin asked.
"There's something weird going on."
Krieg growled. With that, he stalked forward and strode into the auditorium, Krow and Gin following close behind.
After pulling off an amazing body-blow like that, Tashigi couldn't take her eyes off the green-head. She was stunned.
'Yeah right he doesn't know a bit of kendo!! He couldn't have pulled that off without any-- any experience!!'
She fumed inwardly, then noticed as she cracked a rider over the skull with her mop handle that his eyes were glazed over. He seemed totally unfocused as other riders from the hall began to surround him. She waited for him to pull himself back together and into action or something, but to her horror, he closed his eyes, as though in deep thought.
She could see the other riders sharing out metal pipes, and she couldn't go help because two other riders had somehow managed to attack her simultaneously. It was taking a lot of strength and time whacking them off her. When he opened his eyes again, Tashigi noticed that his eyes were suddenly so bright and clear he seemed like a different person. However, his body position was still relaxed and still, totally unresponsive to the riders surrounding him.
"Zoro!!"
Tashigi cried out. He turned his eyes to her, and shot her through with his confidence.
So much confidence.
Momentarily stunned, Tashigi stared at him, and her eyes widened in surprise and confusion when he grinned at her. She swung her mop handle blindly at the riders, unable to tear her eyes away from the over-flowing confidence.
Even as one of the ten or so bikers surrounding Zoro threatened him, he only smiled. Then, one of them gave a quick nod, an apparent signal because all riders simultaneously lunged at Zoro, swinging their thick pipes of metal at him. Tashigi opened her mouth to cry out in horror, when Zoro caught her eye. He was still smiling as he mouthed just one word:
Duck.
She wanted to scream back 'What?!!' but was forced to duck down to avoid a harsh blow to the face. Everything after seemed so quick, yet it seemed to happen over an enormous expanse of time for Tashigi.
He lifted the metal pipes clutched in each hand with smooth agility, his eyes glancing at them in mild question before shrugging and raising the pipes up. Spreading his arms out, he held the pipes at angles. He swiftly crouched to avoid a metal bar aimed for his head, and his loose and mild expression shifted to sheer concentration.
Then he-- well, he disappeared. Sort of. In a blur of clothes, green-hair and skin, Zoro Roronoah shot upwards, his hair ruffling under the rushing air from the ultra jump. Tashigi's jaw dropped open. He spun himself over so he was facing down before he started to accelerate downwards. It had happened in a second, but Tashigi could see every single move with electrifying detail. It was obvious the others couldn't though, because as soon as Zoro sifted from ground to air, they blinked in confusion and shock at his 'vanishing act'.
What happened next was done with almost God-speed. She saw his first attack on one person - a cross-slash aimed at the person's shoulder - before he blurred out of sight. He was so fast Tashigi could only see the white blur of his shirt as he used each person he hit as a point to increase his momentum. Tashigi's mouth opened even further when she realised he was channelling tremendous amounts of ki with each blow, blasting each rider with enough power to slam them onto the floor and render them unconcious.
Despite the shouts and war-cries and loud clanging of mis-aimed pipes all followed shortly by harsh thumps and sharp cracks, however, Tashigi could heard his delighted laughter.
The riders collapsed to the ground onto their knees, coughing out teeth and blood as they stared incredulously at their fallen comrades before crumpling completely. Within a minute, all riders were in a crumpled heap. Tashigi stood up, seeing the riders that had been attacking her previously also fallen to the floor, when she realised that Zoro was still speeding around, apparently unable to stop. Her eyes widened when she saw him shooting towards her. The next second, he lifted his pipes and slammed them down, digging them into the floor.
The bars screeched with fierce intensity from the extreme friction, slowing Zoro down as he sped towards Tashigi until they let out a short, piercing screech before coming to a complete stop. Tashigi blinked, his nose almost touching hers. He had been very near to crashing into her. Her eyes glanced down to see two very long and deep streaks engraved into the floor behind the bars that Zoro was leaning against now.
He seemed unbothered to move himself away from her, his cheeks flushed not from exertion but exhillaration, and his lips were tugged in a fascinated sort of grin. His breath gently tingled against Tashigi's lower lip as she brought her eyes to meet his. She could see he was in an extreme height of elation.
Then she took a step back, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms. He arched an eyebrow in surprise.
"What?"
He asked.
"Liar."
She replied.
[This is phenomenally long. I sincerely apologise. You must be so sick of my by now. T_T So I stuck on the next chapter. This makes the dinner-dance nine chapters long in total. Yikes! Gomen ne. T_T;;]
"Don't know where the hell *you* came from,"
The biker seethed,
"But you're dead."
Zoro tried to ignore his sense of panic, his eyes scanning the area for something to help him. The wooden splinters on the floor weren't exactly an option.
'Think, Zoro, think!'
Frantic thoughts ran through his brain as he barely managed to duck under as a swift punch was swung at him, but he stumbled, losing his crouched balance and landing hard on his elbows. He hurriedly sat himself up, his fingers fumbling to spread on the floor, yet the shadow cast over him made him realise it was a Very Bad Thing that he had fallen over. He looked upward to see another fist flying towards his face, his eyes widening as he jerked himself back, but he knew he couldn't dodge at that speed -
As they fumbled, his fingers found something it reacted to in reflex, his fingers automatically curling round in an all too familiar grip -
He was unaware that both hands of his were swinging upwards in a blur of white-shirt and skin -
His eyes shut and cringing, Zoro waited for the blow to land. The sound of a painful crack and intense pain at his jaw as the force of the punch threw him to the ground - these were the sensations he had been expecting and waited for. Nothing prepared Zoro for the dull and hollow metallic clang that sounded instead, the echo ringing in the back hall. His eyes opened in surprise.
He was gripping the metal pipes the bikers had been holding before he had knocked them out of their hands. Holding them in a cross before him, he could see the fist had landed at center of the cross. The biker let out a howl of pain, drawing his hand back and massaging his reddening knuckles. His eyes darted towards Zoro, glaring as the green-head picked himself up and stared at his hands in shock.
The familiarity that was coursing through him was alarming, and his eyes stared his fingers curled around the metal in curiousity. He had never learnt any sort of self-defense in his life, yet just now, he had performed what looked like a common defense move with the Two Sword Style Technique... he blinked. Two Sword what? Where on earth had that come from?
Something was running through him now, however; something Zoro did not know yet recognised. He hadn't known how to hold the broom handle, yet with the metal bars he had somehow awakened some sort of knowledge in him - no, it was more of some sort of reflex - that knew how to grip properly. Had it been the panic? He didn't know, but something was stirring in him; something enormous was fighting to be let out, desperately wanting to be acknowledged -
He saw -- no, felt a slight rustle of wind against his brow, and his arm automatically snapped itself up. The fist clanged again against the metal, and with fluid movement, Zoro slipped the bar beneath the wrist before swinging it up, slamming the bar against the side of the wrist. The rider looked stunned as the second bar sped toward his chest. A sharp crack in the air sounded as the end of the pipe sunk deep into the rider's ribs; a drawn out gasp of breath that was mingled with unspeakable pain confirmed his ribs were either cracked or broken from the blow.
Zoro lifted a foot up and harshly kicked the motorcycler away, the motorcycler gripping his chest and wheezing in pain as he landed.
'What the hell was that?!'
Zoro thought in a haze of confusion. He could feel waves of euphoria washing over him as he felt adrenaline pump through his veins, the violence somewhat satisfying the need that clamoured in him. He could only describe what he felt like as a fire burning through him with the metal pipes in his grasp an outlet for the flames. And the moves he was performing were easy - so easy, in fact, it took no effort in calculating the correct amount of strength or angle of direction when swinging... he found it was something he was used to, something he had done so many times before it was impossible to forget.
How was this possible?! He had never even twirled a baton in his life, unless you counted the relay races he used to participate in.
Something nagged at him at the back of his brain...
"It's clumsy."
Zoro muttered, his eyebrows rising in surprise as the three syllables tumbled out of his mouth. He realised he wasn't completely familiar with the bars, but they had managed to trigger something in him. The something that wanted to be known flared up in intensity... It filled his ears with complete silence, but the yearning in him pleaded...
'Zoro...'
A voice whispered.
Zoro sucked in his breath sharply as something broke in him - cracks spread rapidly and deeply before it crumbled - a wall that had been hiding something from him all this time... like a dam bursting, clear, sharp images rushed out and engulfed his mind --
He saw a man smile at him behind his glasses, his callused hands raw and red from gripping shinais too hard and too long, a worn and beaten wooden dummy, dark grey clouds pouring endless rain...
It wasn't only images, though...
He could feel and taste the salty tinge of sweat stinging his eyes, the rawness of a throat too dry yet stubbornly rejecting water, every engraved line and knot his fingers were tightened around...
He heard the rushing winds of sharply thrust swords of wood, his own heavy breathing, cracking posts of wood, screams of gathering strength and pounding feet against wooden floors...
...and her voice. He could hear her laugh, feel the heat of her hand curled around his, see her smile.
The voice that had whispered his name now whispered again.
'...Wake up.'
He opened his eyes, unaware he had been shutting them, and breathed in slowly. He noticed that several motorcyclists were surrounding him in a tight circle, their eyes trained on him suspiciously. All of them were wielding metal pipes, very much like the ones he was holding.
He didn't know what had just happened, but right now he was full to bursting with unseen knowledge... it seeped through him, calming him down with a cool stream of pure confidence.
"Zoro!!"
Yelled a voice. He lifted his eyes, and saw over many spiked and dyed heads the concerned gaze of Tashigi. She was holding up her stand with her mop handle, though with great difficulty as she tried to fend off three people at once.
And quite suddenly, a grin tugged at his lips. He let it spread, and watched Tashigi's expression change from horrified and worried to utterly confused. He felt his grin widen at that, and he switched his gaze from her questioning chocolate eyes to the goons around him.
"W-we don't know what k-kind of stunt you just p-pulled,"
One of the motorcyclers spluttered, his eyes glancing at the twisted form of the biker Zoro had just taken down,
"But you b-better be on your knees and b-begging for mercy, or else--"
Zoro just smiled.
The screeching of sirens tearing past the highway by Usopp's apartment building startled him out of his brooding, causing him to peek out his window. He could see police cars and vans ripping past, sirens piercing the air and actually leaving a ringing in Usopp's ears when they sped away from sight.
Unpressing his nose from the window, he tapped it in thought.
"I hope it's just a coincidence they're headed towards the Grand Line University,"
He murmured before sinking back to depression.
"@#$% it!!"
Krieg slammed a fist into a nearby locker. The spikes attached to the leather wrapped round his knuckles embedded heavily into the aluminium, leaving a deep fist-shaped indentation. Krow glanced at the dent and shook his head, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose with a palm before calmly saying,
"By the sounds of it, the gang inside seem to have silenced many of the students. We should go in there and present the grand finale."
"The 'grand finale' was supposed to conclude the @#$%ing dean as a @#$%ing asshole!! But he's gone, you @#$%ing idiot!! The @#$%ing coward @#$%ing ran away!! Don't you @#$%ing get it?!!"
"I agree the plan has failed in that area,"
Krow admitted slowly,
"But we can't stay here forever. Someone will have contacted the police by now - for example, the dean."
Krieg started to say something, but seemed to think better of it. He consented to letting out a long string of swear-words, trudging along towards the main-entrance of the auditorium. He stopped stock-still mid-way. A frown almost immediately darkened his features.
"Is something wrong, Krieg?"
Gin asked.
"There's something weird going on."
Krieg growled. With that, he stalked forward and strode into the auditorium, Krow and Gin following close behind.
After pulling off an amazing body-blow like that, Tashigi couldn't take her eyes off the green-head. She was stunned.
'Yeah right he doesn't know a bit of kendo!! He couldn't have pulled that off without any-- any experience!!'
She fumed inwardly, then noticed as she cracked a rider over the skull with her mop handle that his eyes were glazed over. He seemed totally unfocused as other riders from the hall began to surround him. She waited for him to pull himself back together and into action or something, but to her horror, he closed his eyes, as though in deep thought.
She could see the other riders sharing out metal pipes, and she couldn't go help because two other riders had somehow managed to attack her simultaneously. It was taking a lot of strength and time whacking them off her. When he opened his eyes again, Tashigi noticed that his eyes were suddenly so bright and clear he seemed like a different person. However, his body position was still relaxed and still, totally unresponsive to the riders surrounding him.
"Zoro!!"
Tashigi cried out. He turned his eyes to her, and shot her through with his confidence.
So much confidence.
Momentarily stunned, Tashigi stared at him, and her eyes widened in surprise and confusion when he grinned at her. She swung her mop handle blindly at the riders, unable to tear her eyes away from the over-flowing confidence.
Even as one of the ten or so bikers surrounding Zoro threatened him, he only smiled. Then, one of them gave a quick nod, an apparent signal because all riders simultaneously lunged at Zoro, swinging their thick pipes of metal at him. Tashigi opened her mouth to cry out in horror, when Zoro caught her eye. He was still smiling as he mouthed just one word:
Duck.
She wanted to scream back 'What?!!' but was forced to duck down to avoid a harsh blow to the face. Everything after seemed so quick, yet it seemed to happen over an enormous expanse of time for Tashigi.
He lifted the metal pipes clutched in each hand with smooth agility, his eyes glancing at them in mild question before shrugging and raising the pipes up. Spreading his arms out, he held the pipes at angles. He swiftly crouched to avoid a metal bar aimed for his head, and his loose and mild expression shifted to sheer concentration.
Then he-- well, he disappeared. Sort of. In a blur of clothes, green-hair and skin, Zoro Roronoah shot upwards, his hair ruffling under the rushing air from the ultra jump. Tashigi's jaw dropped open. He spun himself over so he was facing down before he started to accelerate downwards. It had happened in a second, but Tashigi could see every single move with electrifying detail. It was obvious the others couldn't though, because as soon as Zoro sifted from ground to air, they blinked in confusion and shock at his 'vanishing act'.
What happened next was done with almost God-speed. She saw his first attack on one person - a cross-slash aimed at the person's shoulder - before he blurred out of sight. He was so fast Tashigi could only see the white blur of his shirt as he used each person he hit as a point to increase his momentum. Tashigi's mouth opened even further when she realised he was channelling tremendous amounts of ki with each blow, blasting each rider with enough power to slam them onto the floor and render them unconcious.
Despite the shouts and war-cries and loud clanging of mis-aimed pipes all followed shortly by harsh thumps and sharp cracks, however, Tashigi could heard his delighted laughter.
The riders collapsed to the ground onto their knees, coughing out teeth and blood as they stared incredulously at their fallen comrades before crumpling completely. Within a minute, all riders were in a crumpled heap. Tashigi stood up, seeing the riders that had been attacking her previously also fallen to the floor, when she realised that Zoro was still speeding around, apparently unable to stop. Her eyes widened when she saw him shooting towards her. The next second, he lifted his pipes and slammed them down, digging them into the floor.
The bars screeched with fierce intensity from the extreme friction, slowing Zoro down as he sped towards Tashigi until they let out a short, piercing screech before coming to a complete stop. Tashigi blinked, his nose almost touching hers. He had been very near to crashing into her. Her eyes glanced down to see two very long and deep streaks engraved into the floor behind the bars that Zoro was leaning against now.
He seemed unbothered to move himself away from her, his cheeks flushed not from exertion but exhillaration, and his lips were tugged in a fascinated sort of grin. His breath gently tingled against Tashigi's lower lip as she brought her eyes to meet his. She could see he was in an extreme height of elation.
Then she took a step back, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms. He arched an eyebrow in surprise.
"What?"
He asked.
"Liar."
She replied.
[This is phenomenally long. I sincerely apologise. You must be so sick of my by now. T_T So I stuck on the next chapter. This makes the dinner-dance nine chapters long in total. Yikes! Gomen ne. T_T;;]