While Chopper fought to make Luffy's fever go down and while Usopp was doing his best to aim for the right targets, Lolonoa Zoro had to admit to himself that he was lost. He was pretty sure that he already had gone through the same corridor at least three times already. He began to realize that running around in the base only would make his wounds start bleeding again and he would end up getting himself caught again. He still hadn't met any Marine soldiers, and was feeling very uneasy because of that.

Turning right when the corridor split in two directions, he vaguely noticed that the doors on both sides of the corridor were looking more and more ornamented as he silently walked past them. There were voices coming from a few of the rooms, either from groups of people having some sort of meetings or single persons talking either to themselves or dictating a letter or speech. He quickly walked past those doors as he looked around. He was starting to get the feeling that this wasn't the right place to look for his friends.

Suddenly, he heard hurried footsteps coming from around the corner ahead of him. He couldn't let himself act purely out of instincts and attack whoever was about to turn around the corner. There were too many people in the rooms around him. Instead, he grabbed the door handle of the nearest door and pushed the door open, hoping that the room behind it would be empty.

He shut the door behind him, leaning his back against it as he listened to the footsteps outside the door as they passed by. He could hear a muffled voice yell something about a riot in cellblock 1 and smiled to himself. He couldn't have thought of a better diversion than a nice little riot to occupy the Marines for a while. When he heard a lot of doors open and slam shut outside in the corridor and footsteps going down the corridor, he let out a sigh and was surprised to notice that he had been holding his breath.

Why was he feeling so nervous all of a sudden? Damn it, he hadn't even felt nervous when he got up against Mihawk or Mr.1, so why now?

Turning around to see what kind of room he had got himself trapped inside, he froze and let his eyes follow the row of items lined up against the back wall behind the small hazel desk.

There were at least twenty swords of different lengths and different styles on the scabbards standing there against the wall, each and every one of them clearly a masterpiece. A sudden realization dawned on him. If all the swords were there, then maybe…

He crossed the room and let his eyes sweep over the swords until his eyes landed on a familiar scabbard. Yukibashiri. The swordsman picked up the sword and ran his fingers over the hilt.

It was definitely his sword; no other sword could feel so light and so fierce in his hand.

He searched the line of swords with his eyes again, but he couldn't find his other swords. He could feel the presence of the cursed blade, but he couldn't see it anywhere in the collection of swords. Then his eyes fell on the light brown cabinet in the corner on his right. He opened it, only to reveal an additional forty swords hanging on the walls and in the insides of the doors of the cabinet. On the door to his right, the familiar form of the cursed sword caught his eyes. He took it down and felt the well-known bloodlust of the sword pulsate against his fingers. Two out of three. The most important sword wasn't there.

Behind him, the door opened and the swordsman felt his body get tense, but he didn't turn around until he heard the voice call his name.

"Lolonoa Zoro!"

He did his best not to cringe as he recognized the voice. That woman seemed to want to wear his name out as often as she had used it the few times they had run into each other.

"I should have known this was your room," he said as he turned around to face the black-haired woman standing by the closed door. "The swords were quite the clue."

"Put those swords back," the woman tried to command him, and her hands were drawn to the white katana hanging from her belt.

The swordsman shook his head. What was she thinking? That he'd just put them down and come quietly back to his cozy little cell?

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, they called for me and I came for them. The one you have there is calling for me this very moment."

He nodded towards the white katana, trying to keep his voice calm despite the annoyance and the anger he felt as he saw her with the Wadou Ichimonji.

The woman was staring at him while taking a fighter's stance. Zoro wondered if she was staring at him in general or at the blood covering his chest. As he had expected, the wounds on his chest had opened and was bleeding again.

"You won't have any of those swords unless you step over my dead body to take them!" she told him, keeping her hand on the hilt of the sword.

The swordsman clenched his teeth. Was it really possible to be that annoying? Why did she have to look just like Kuina? If she hadn't had her glasses on, he doubted that he'd even be able to listen to her.

"Look, I don't want to fight you right now, is it really that hard for you to understand?"

The moment he uttered those words, the woman drew the sword from the scabbard and untied the scabbard from her belt as if it would be in the way during the fight. She threw it onto the floor.

"What I don't understand is why a swordsman would decline a challenge from an opponent- man or woman!"

The swordsman cursed silently and did his best not to start that argument again. Why did she feel the need to bring that up over and over again? He made an attempt to move towards the door, but she blocked his way, raising the blade in front of her. The swordsman rolled his eyes and put his katana blades on the desk. That was it. Resemblance to Kuina or not, he couldn't let this go on any longer. He didn't have time to fool around.

"Fine. If a battle is what you want, a battle you'll get. I won't hold back. If you change your mind, you can do that in Hell."

He released the Marine swords he had taken earlier from his waistband and held them in front of him. The woman looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You fight using the way of the Three Sword School, Lolonoa Zoro. How can you be giving everything you have with only two swords?"

"So now you know my abilities better than I do?" Zoro asked, his eyes narrowing under the black bandana. "Are you afraid to face me?"

He was filled with a strange, reluctant fighting spirit and took a step forward, shoving the desk to the side. There was no time to lose, the rest of the crew were somewhere in the maze of corridors and rooms, and he really didn't have the time for a long fight.

The woman also stepped forward, accepting his challenge. Zoro nodded once and attacked, his arms crossed in front of his chest. In a blur of swift and powerful strikes, his blades met the woman's sword, causing her to take a step backwards.

The swordsman saw her clench her teeth as she counterattacked with very accurate blows. He dodged to the side to avoid the sword as his opponent found an opening in his defense. The sword cut a small hole in the short sleeve of his shirt, but didn't even touch his skin. Using another Demon Cleave attack, he managed to break through her defense, his blades slashing her left upper arm.

The wounds on his upper body were throbbing and still bleeding; his blood was dripping to the floor where he moved. If he didn't finish the battle, he'd risk losing too much blood.

Before his opponent had the chance to raise her defenses, he moved with all the speed and strength he could muster and got her pinned against the wall, the soul-less sword against her throat. The white katana fell to the floor with a clatter.

Staring up at him, the woman's eyes were filled with defiance.

"Finish it then," she said, the words almost sounding like a challenge.

"I should," the swordsman agreed. He withdrew the hand holding the other sword without taking his eyes from hers. Then he thrust the swords forwards, the blade penetrating the wall just a hairs-breadth to the left from the female Marine's head, causing her to flinch out of surprise or maybe even disappointment.

The swordsman turned to pick up the white katana from the floor and reached for the scabbard that was lying on the floor between him and his opponent. As he did so, he felt her hand grabbing his wrist in a tight grip.

"Why do you spare me?" she demanded to know, but her voice was thinner than before and she didn't seem to have much control over her body at the moment. "Because I'm a woman or out of pity? Or is it because I look like someone you know?"

With a swift movement, he released his hand from her grip, reached for the scabbard and tied it securely to his waistband. He watched the woman as he moved towards the desk and took his other two swords.

"Would you have preferred for me to have aimed a little bit more to the right?" he asked acidly. "There are things you just don't do out of pity. One of those things is risking your own life, and another is killing someone. Are you actually trying to say that the only reason to why I won this battle is because I'm a man and you're not?"

The woman didn't answer. She just looked at him with the same defiant look in her eyes as before. The swordsman continued.

"I made a vow not to lose another battle, and I intend to keep that promise. If you want my swords, you'll have to practice harder and try to exceed me, because the only way you are laying your hands on them again is to take them from my cold, dead hands."

As he made for the door, he noticed the bandage around the woman's right wrist and smirked.

"A little accident with the cursed sword? He's really mischievous, isn't he?"

"You have no right to have those swords!" the woman called out to him. "Can't you hear their cries of sorrow because they have to be used by someone like you?"

Zoro's eyes darkened. He turned to face the woman next to him, his eyes only visible as glistening slits in the shadow under the bandana.

"These swords have chosen me. You saw it yourself in Logue Town. Besides…" he held up the soul-less sword towards her and dropped it to the floor. "Maybe you should pay attention to the cries of the swords that are around you than the ones you wish to collect."

With that, he turned to the door, still keeping an eye on the woman, who had sunk down on the floor and was holding the Marine's sword in her hands. He slowly opened the door and was pleased to see that the corridor outside the room was empty. He slunk out from the room just as the woman regained the control over her body again. She called his name again just as he closed the door and set off running through the corridor, feeling the throbbing in his chest fade as he now could focus on keeping the pain under control.

"Damn it!" he muttered. "I've lost quite a lot of blood now. Why did I have to fight her?"

He continued down the corridor, feeling more in balance with the three swords swinging at his side as he ran. Now if he could just keep himself from getting lost again – even though the last time had made him get his swords back – he should be able to locate the others if he didn't run into too many Marines on the way.

From its place at the swordsman's hip, the cursed Sandai Kitetsu let out a silent howl from the depths of its bloodlust that even the swordsman could sense as he ran.

Maybe running into one or two Marines wouldn't be such a bad thing after all…

-

Oh boy, another action scene (or at least something similar to one). Damn Zoro, why can't he just stay still? Hmm… I guess he wouldn't be the Zoro we all know and love if he just stayed still…

AstroKender: Well, there is a simple answer to your question that has nothing to do with me being too lazy to write chapters with them all in different places oo;; Hrmm…No, it has to do with Zoro's reputation as a Pirate Hunter and the large bounty placed on his head. The Marines already knew about his monstrous strength and that he could be dangerous, so naturally, the safest thing to do would be to take all his weapons away from him, lock him away as far away from his crew as possible and hope that he won't figure out a way to escape on his own. I was actually going to put Sanji in a separate place as well, but the chapter with Usopp and Nami wasn't turning out very good without him there. I hope that answers your question.

Note: I said the answer would be simple, not short… ;