Ch.19- Zoro and the Illusion Battle
Disclaimer- One Piece isn't mine and most likely never will be.
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"Where's the door?" Zoro asked when Nami and Emily stopped. There were no doors around, just walls.
"The map says that there is a door here." Nami said, pushing on the sealed door, but it didn't budge.
"Well, what do we do now? Pam's on the other side." Chopper asked.
Nobody knew what to do until a soft voice whispered in Emily's ear, "Say 'tneicna rood, raeh ym llac. Nepo pu dna tel su hguorht.'"
Emily jumped and chanted, "Tneicna rood, raeh ym llac. Nepo pu dna tel su hguorht." The door automatically opened. Everybody stared at Emily.
"How did you do that?" Zoro asked.
Emily shrugged, "The spell…it was whispered in my ear." Without saying anything, Zoro and Emily ran through the door. Luffy, Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, and Nicole followed them.
As they ran deeper into the room, they heard laughing, screaming, whining, and complaining, all from a woman and two girls. The noise was loud and annoying and sounded like three dying crows arguing over whose nest belonged to who. And the noise kept getting louder and more annoying.
- - - - - -
"Mother? When are we going to get our Almani powers?" Lyssa complained.
"Yeah, I thought you said that we would soon get our powers." Sabrina agreed.
"It takes time to find the secret in giving you your powers." Pam simply told them.
"Then, why didn't you let us drink the girl's blood? We would have already had our powers." Sabrina asked.
"Because drinking another's blood is disgusting." Pam answered.
"Then why did you do it?" Lyssa asked in annoyance.
Pam paused. She knew why she did it and wouldn't let her daughters and Bryce know and she had no shame in the reason, of course, she wasn't going to let them ruin her plan if they found out. "Because I didn't want my beautiful, smart, talented daughters to be poisoned if the blood was poisoned. The walls will tell me how to give you stronger powers than mine." Pam told them.
It was a lie. Pam knew it was all a lie. Earlier she had read on the ancient tablets that there wasn't any other way to get the powers except for drinking the blood of an alive Almani, which was Emily, and her daughters and Bryce believed every word she said about the powers. How could they not believe it? They couldn't read the writing and she could.
Pam stopped when she heard the sound of footsteps running towards her, Lyssa, Sabrina, and Bryce. She let out a growl of annoyance. She knew who the steps belonged to. "Lyssa! Sabrina! Get out there and fight them!" Pam commanded her daughters.
"Why should we?" Lyssa asked.
"Those pirates are coming up here and what are you going to do if they kill me while I'm reading? They won't let you take the girl's blood." Pam asked.
Lyssa and Sabrina quickly thought about it. She was right. Emily was captured twice and injured by Pam and not one of the pirates was going to let Emily get injured or captured again.
The two ran off. Pam turned to Bryce, "I want you to be in the room outside of this one. Let nobody enter this room."
Bryce bowed, "Yes, Lady Pam." He left the room.
As soon as he was gone, Pam laughed evilly as she continued to read the tablets.
- - - - - -
"Stop right there. We won't let you pass!" Sabrina announced to the Straw Hat Pirates and Nicole.
"Yeah." Lyssa agreed. Both girls took out staffs. Zoro and Luffy started walking up to them.
"Didn't you hear us?" Sabrina shouted. She and Lyssa hit Zoro and Luffy with their staffs. Both males felt a surge of energy fill their bodies as they were hit back to the back of the group.
Everyone in the Straw Hat Pirates and Nicole took out their weapons. Emily looked at Nami and Zoro's wrists. Their Dark Diamond bracelets were beginning to glow.
"Zoro! Nami! Whatever you do, don't fight with them. If you use all the energy in them, you won't have any to use on Pam!" Emily screamed at Zoro and Nami. Zoro and Nami nodded and put away their weapons.
"We'll take care of these two! Zoro, Nami, and Emily, head towards Pam." Luffy shouted. Zoro, Nami, and Emily nodded and started running.
"Oh no you don't!" Lyssa shouted, raising her staff. Extra hands knocked the staffs from both Lyssa and Sabrina's hands. Zoro and Nami ran through the door.
Emily stopped and turned towards Luffy, "Attack them as hard as you wish, but whatever you do, don't kill them. They are only spoiled, stupid girls who deserve to be punished by the most powerful beings in Almani history!"
Luffy, Robin, Sanji, Chopper, Usopp, and Nicole didn't exactly know what she was saying, but nodded anyway. She seemed to know what she was talking about.
Emily smiled, "Thank you." She then ran after Zoro and Nami.
"Your fight is against us." Sanji told the two girls. Lyssa and Sabrina picked up their staffs.
"We will kill you then go kill that little brat for calling us stupid, spoiled girls." Sabrina shouted.
Luffy smirked, "Bring it on."
- - - - - -
Zoro, Nami, and Emily ran down the hall that separated the room the rest of the pirates were in with the room Bryce was in.
"Are we going the right way?" Zoro asked.
Nami nodded, "We should be. Pam is only two rooms away."
Zoro, Nami, and Emily reached the hallway and entered the room Bryce was in. Bryce was smiling and standing in front of the door leading to the room Pam was in.
"Move." Zoro growled at Bryce.
"Well, it's nice to see you too." Bryce said calmly.
"I said, move." Zoro growled.
"You know what? Our last battle wasn't very fair. So, I suppose I'll challenge you again." Bryce decided.
"Come on, Emily, Nami." Zoro told his partners. He took a step forwards and instantly, a blade was held up against his throat.
"That wasn't an offer." Bryce told Zoro.
Zoro grunted, but nodded. He lifted Misao's bracelet off his wrist and handed it to Emily. "I don't want to get careless and use my energy against him." Zoro told her.
Emily nodded and slipped the bracelet on her left wrist. "Be careful, Zoro." Emily told him. Zoro smiled at her and got his swords out.
Bryce stared at Zoro's swords and let out a bored sigh, "You are one very boring and rude person, Roronoa Zoro. Won't let anybody use their true powers."
"Shut up!" Zoro shouted through the sword in his mouth. He started rushing towards Bryce, reading to strike.
Bryce smirked, raised his arms, and called, "Deep Illusion!" A black barrier covered Zoro and Bryce, blocking out Nami and Emily. Smoke came through the barrier and entered Zoro's body and made him weak. Zoro fell unconscious.
- - - - - -
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy shouted, aiming a fist at Lyssa. Lyssa hit the staff onto his rubber arms before the fist hit her. He felt pain in his arm as it returned to its normal size. "Itai!" Luffy shouted.
"You won't beat us!" Sabrina shouted. Robin used her extra hands to knock out the staffs again.
The girls were pissed, but they kept fighting with their powers. It was useless trying to get their staffs back. Robin's extra hands prevented them from getting the staffs back; of course, it didn't mean that both Lyssa and Sabrina still couldn't try.
Sabrina's power was pretty much useless when being used against Luffy because he honestly didn't care how he looked physically and neither did everybody else.
Lyssa was the one that was actually a challenge. She used her powers to get fatter and fatter, which not only gave her more strength, but blocked off every physical attack aimed at her. It was like she had a special barrier around her, protecting her from all harm. Not one attack hurt her.
"Shit! Now what do we do?" Sanji muttered.
- - - - - -
Zoro wasn't sure how long he had been unconscious, but when he woke up, he was lying in his hammock on the Going Merry. Standing beside him was a crying Emily. She saw that his eyes were open and cried even harder.
"Emily?" Zoro asked, "Are you okay?"
Emily nodded and dried her tears, "I was afraid you were going to never wake up."
"What happened?" Zoro asked, looking around the room. Everything looked like it had before he left for Almania.
"I…don't know. We were walking and you suddenly collapsed." Emily told him.
"How long have I been out?" Zoro asked.
"Five days." Emily answered.
Zoro looked at her, not quite believing what she had told him, "What about Pam? Did we defeat her?"
Emily nervously laughed, "It doesn't matter. She's going to become a great ruler of the world."
Zoro instantly knew that something was wrong. Emily thinking that the woman she had been trying to kill was good? Now, that was definitely wrong. He took a good look at Emily and looked at her wrists. Neither hers nor Misao's bracelets were there. "What happened to your bracelet?" Zoro asked.
"I put it away." Emily answered.
"And Misao's?" Zoro asked.
Emily looked confused, "Who's Misao?"
Zoro was now absolutely sure that something was wrong. He could understand Emily believing that the evil Pam would be a great ruler if Pam forced Emily to believe that. It was normal for anybody if they were tortured in believing something. It happened a lot to different people, but there was no way a person could forget their best friend and sister unless, "You're not Emily."
Emily looked shocked, "What are you talking about? I'm Emily."
Zoro shook his head, "No, you're not. Now where is she?"
"I am Emily. You don't recognize your own slave?" Emily asked.
Zoro quickly took out one of his swords and sliced her. White blood poured out of her body and the body and blood disappeared completely.
At first, Zoro was a little shocked, but got over it when he realized that the Emily in his room was not real. He stepped out of his hammock, placed all three swords against his side and walked out the door of the men's quarters. Now he was starting to get freaked. Instead of being in the lounge, he was on the deck.
He looked around the deck. The mast, bow, and Nami's orange trees were still there, but not one of the Straw Hat Pirates was around, which was surprising because it was daytime and Luffy wasn't even on the bow. Zoro saw a moving shade of green coming from the orange trees. The green walked from the trees and revealed itself to be Emily. She was upset, but not crying.
Zoro walked up to her and placed his hands on her small shoulders, "Emily?"
Emily refused to make eye contact with him, but asked, "Why?"
Zoro was really confused, "Why what?"
Emily looked up at him. Her blue-green eyes had this weird shape in them, a jagged circle and it was moving.
Zoro wanted to question her about it, but decided against it. Kristina had told him that Almani could have unusual things that a normal person wouldn't have physically: Unusually bright eyes, weird eye shapes, moving tattoos, and many more things they wouldn't be able to explain. Emily's eye shapes were most likely an Almani thing she couldn't explain.
"Why don't' you trust me?" Emily asked.
Zoro was taken back by her question. He knew what she was talking about and was positive that she wasn't Emily. "What have you done with her? Where's Emily?" Zoro screamed at the small girl.
The girl pretended to look confused, "You don't recognize me? Your own slave?"
Zoro was really getting annoyed. He sliced this Emily and, like the one before her, she bled white blood and disappeared.
He thought it was all over, but he was wrong. More copies, more Emilys stepped out of the orange trees, behind barrels, and even jumped down from the crow's nest. He didn't count, but he guessed that there was nearly 100 Emilys surrounding him, all looking the exact same. "What the hell are you trying to do, Bryce?" Zoro screamed.
Five Bryces suddenly appeared in front of a few of the Emilys, "I'm using my ultimate attack. You see, I used someone you love and want to protect, so what better person to choose than little Emily. Oh sure, some of these girls are illusions, but I'd be careful with killing them if I were you. One of these girls is actually your little slave."
"You're sick." Zoro shouted.
Bryce smirked, "Maybe. Have fun with these 100 Emilys. I'll be watching."
The five Bryces disappeared, but the 100 Emilys stayed, smiling, frowning, and innocent looking, all staring at him. He had to choose wisely. If he wasn't careful, he could accidentally kill Emily, but how could he find her when there were 99 more of her? Half of the Emilys form all around him smiled and started to chant:
We are the 100 Emilys
The copies you should dread
Be careful with the slicing
Or the real one will be dead.
Zoro looked from Emily to Emily and muttered, "Oh shit."
- - - - - -
"Dammit! I didn't think a battle like this could take so long." Usopp grunted, firing another Mad Dog Peach Juice bullet at Lyssa.
The huge girl simply ate the bullet as if it was a candy. It was useless anyways to attack her. She either ate or blocked anything he shot at her. Luffy's attacks were useless, too, as were pretty much everyone else's.
The battle against Lyssa and Sabrina had been going on longer than anybody had expected. Sabrina hadn't been attack for her simple attacks were useless now against everyone.
Lyssa had been a barrier, protecting both her and her older sister and started to wear out the Straw Hat Pirates and Nicole. Of course, the attacks were starting to take a toll on Lyssa. She was getting worn out from all the attacks aimed at her.
Nicole noticed her getting tired and asked, "Why don't you just give up?"
"Never! Mother promised to give us Almani powers after we defeated you!" Lyssa screamed.
"You think she's really going to do that? Keep dreaming! She's only going to keep the powers for herself." Chopper shouted.
"She will not! She promised!" Sabrina screamed.
Luffy laughed, "That crazy old granny? Yeah, right. If she wanted to give you powers, she would have already done it."
Lyssa shrunk down to her normal weight because she was tired, but that didn't stop her from wanting to fight.
"Shut up!" She screamed, running towards him with her sister following her. Robin held both girls down before they got to Luffy. Quickly, Chopper shoved needles full of anesthetic in them. The girls were out immediately.
"Well, we promised Emily that we wouldn't kill them." Chopper said.
Sanji leaned their staffs against the walls and with one good, strong kick, broke them in half. There was a fairy in each staff that was more than happy to escape their prison and return to the forest. Chopper grew to his human form and with Robin's help, lifted the unconscious girls onto his shoulders.
"Come on! Let's get Pam!" Luffy shouted, running down the halls. Everyone followed him.
- - - - - -
Pam was looking over the very powerful spells at the time, searching for the ones that would give her infinite powers, but she wasn't alone.
Kristina was not far away from her, working on a machine to prevent Pam from getting the infinite powers. Let's see, push once, turn clockwise twice, move left three spaces, up four, right five, down six, counter clockwise seven times, then pull twice. She thought.
Kristina was looking over a large board and crank hidden in the wall behind a large stone. She lifted up the stone and placed a hand on the crank. She pushed it once into the wall, turned it clockwise twice, moved the crank left three spaces, up four spaces, right five spaces, down six spaces, and pulled the crank two spaces out of the wall, then covered it again with the stone.
A large, thick, rocky barrier covered up the spells that gave out infinite power. In a way, she was proud of what she had done, but in a way, she wasn't. She wasn't supposed to know the code or even about the crank, but she did…and it wasn't her fault that she knew. Somebody from royalty before she was even born, carved the code and crank on a wall inside her closet. She found it when she was seven while she was looking for a toy she lost. But, she shook off the thought. When her family was saved, her father would forgive her.
She started walking towards the door when a loud voice called, "Well well well…looks like I caught a little princess."
Kristina paused, remembering that now that Pam had Almani powers, she could see Kristina. Fortunately, Kristina was certain that Pam hadn't seen her block the infinite power spells, so she ran. As she ran, she heard Pam calling, "I don't know what you did, little princess, but I'll find out and punish you."
- - - - - -
Nami and Emily were getting really worried about Zoro. They couldn't see him or what he was doing and didn't know if he was okay or not.
"He's been in there for a while." Nami stated.
"Do you think he's okay?" Emily asked the older girl.
Nami shrugged, "I don't know."
Emily looked into the barrier in front of her and screamed, "ZORO!"
- - - - - -
In his battle, Zoro had gotten rid of most of the Emilys around him. Now there were only ten left. He sensed that Bryce was behind him, but Zoro was more concerned about not killing the right Emily…and he couldn't tell which one it was. He was about to give up when he heard a voice from outside the barrier scream, "ZORO!" repeatedly.
Zoro now knew the truth: there was no real Emily in the barrier. They were all copies. Without wasting time on killing the copies, Zoro quickly turned and attacked Bryce before the illusionist had the chance to attack Zoro from behind. The barrier, copies, and Going Merry disappeared. Zoro found himself standing in front of Nami and the real Emily. Bryce was lying on the ground a few feet to his left, bleeding severely.
"Zoro!" Emily cried, running up to him. She threw her arms around his waist, "I was afraid you were going to die!"
Zoro hugged her back and looked at Nami, "How long have I been fighting?"
"About 20 minutes." Nami answered.
Zoro took a look at Emily's wrists and saw both hers and Misao's bracelets.
"You didn't forget Misao, right?" Zoro asked.
Emily looked confused, "How could I forget my best friend and sister?" Now he knew this was the true Emily.
Bryce let out a few coughs of blood, "H-how c-could you s-save…t-the...l-life of…a s-simple…s-slave?"
Zoro held Bryce up by the collar of his shirt and growled, "She is not my slave! She is my sister! Got that?"
"H-hai…your s-sister." Bryce muttered before his life ended.
Zoro dropped Bryce's body, not caring if a few bones broke when the body hit the ground.
"Zoro! Nami! Emily!" Luffy shouted, running into the room. Luffy stopped when he saw Bryce's body in a pool of blood, "What happened?"
"This son of a bitch was trying to kill me in a fight, but I was the one that killed him." Zoro answered.
"Where's Pam?" Robin asked.
"She's in the next room! We have to hurry before she finds the really powerful spells!" Emily shouted. The Straw Hat Pirates and Nicole started running to wards the door when Kristina ran into them breathless. "Kristina? What's wrong?" Emily asked.
It took ten seconds for Kristina to catch her breath before she answered, "It's Pam…she's found the really powerful spells."
- - - - - -
A/N: Okay, that's chapter 19. Sorry it took me a while to get this chapter written, but I was working all month on my story "Christmas Memories" and for Christmas I got 4 One Piece box sets and spent days watching all the episodes. Now I have up to episode 206 and if you think that Crocodile is a bastard, you don't know bastards until you meet Ener. Now THAT is a bastard. R/R if you want and send me ideas if you got any.