Responses to Reviews/

Caya strife: You do?…fibber! I think I might have overdid that first part, but if zoro wouldn't have stopped, I would've made him put the sword to Luffy's throat, Luffy'd laugh in his face, Zoro would put the sword down and shake his head. I SWEAR, I wouldn't kill Luffy, he's too cool for that.

Yahtzee: What another lovely review from ya. I knew you would be impressed when I fixed my mistakes. It just shows the work of good criticism. Oi, WOW! I made only one screw up this time, I really am in improving.

Night Wind Spirit: Don't worry, there's a lot more to come.

Gothywolfie: Yay! You reviewed again. I like Kuro a lot, he's so cool, with his ten blades and all, I really like his cat of the bag attack and his stealth walk. SOOO Awesome!

Omnichild: Oopsie…and actually it is aggravate not aggrevate, but thanks for not telling me I suck at spelling. You're so courteous.

Shadow Vixen: You loved it? Really? Thanks!

Me: okies!

Hana: I don't know what to tell ya about the first comment, but in this fiction they are not at the grandline, it takes place before that, if your getting me?

Disclaimer: sniff I no…own One Piece…sniff sniff

Whatever it takes

Chapter 4

"So…" he began, "which one of you is Roronoa Zoro?"

The straw hat crew had no idea what to reply. They were left on the docks wordless. They hadn't expected the navy here, on this small island. They didn't think that they would find them.

The island was on uncharted waters. It was, they knew, a long ways away from the grandline, or any naval bases for that matter. And why were they looking for Zoro, and not Luffy? After all Luffy was the one with a high bounty on his head.

The crew still stood there, stiff as a rock, wondering what they should do. What would be best? Run. Fight. Or compromise. And as usual they chose to defend their honor. Zoro spoke up first.

"Who wants to know?" he asked, and instinctively lowered his hand to one of three swords, tightly grasping it.

"I do," said another man calmly, as he walked out of the cabin of the ship. He stood directly next to the captain.

The man was a slight bit shorter than the other, but still stood at a good height, at about 10 centimeters less than Zoro. But as Zoro could tell, he was a great deal stronger than his captain.

The man wore a thin black shirt with the navy symbol written across the back of it in vibrant blue. He also wore white pants and low-cut black boots, which were scuffed near the toes. Similar to Zoro, he wore a teal sash, wrapped around his waist. What surprised the crew members most of all, was not the sash he wore, but what was attached to it…

Three swords.

Zoro's eyes widened at the sight. He'd never met anyone that could wield three swords except for him. Zoro put his sword back in its sheath, still puzzled by what he was seeing.

The navy swordsman spoke, breaking the silence,

"If I am not mistaken, by the expressions on your faces, you are surprised," he said to the crew, they all nodded in response. "Well, you shouldn't be…" he turned in Zoro's direction, "you should know that you are not the only man who uses Santoryu." He began to lift the end of one sword with his thumb. He gave a slight smirk, before continuing.

"You know, swordsman, you should have expected that someone would also try for the title of the world's greatest." His lips curled even more into a smirk, but suddenly looked more like a devilish grin, "ha-ha… (Pause)…HAHAHA. YOU'RE DEAD!"

Startled, Zoro jumped back, and found himself cornered against a wall. Despite the lack of space, he quickly unsheathed Kuina's katana. He held it in front of his face, trying to block the man's attack. Their swords collided, the sound of clashing metal ringing in their ears. The collision pushed Zoro even more. But, unluckily, being cornered against the wall caused the wind to be knocked out of him. It went largely unnoticed.

Luffy took a step forward, ready to strike. Nami stopped him.

"No, Luffy," she shook her head while she quietly spoke, "This is Zoro's fight; if we interfere it will only make things worse."

"But Nami…" Luffy pleaded.

Nami shook her head again.

"Fine," Luffy sulked. He sat down one leg over the other, right where he stood, ready for a nap. Nami rolled her eyes.

The man rose his sword above his head and quickly brought it down to attack the young swordsman. Still being cornered, Zoro was unable to completely move out of the way. However he was able to move most of his body to the left. Only his arm was struck by the sword. Blood rushed from the rather large but unserious wound. Zoro wincing in pain was the only sign that he felt the blow.

"Did that hurt?" asked the man mockingly, "I thought that the best swordsman in the world, didn't feel pain."

Despite the immense throbbing, Zoro kept fighting, finally inching his way off of the wall. He succeeded.

By getting off the wall, Zoro only aggravated the man even further.

"Hmph," he grunted. Again he raised his sword over his head, ready to strike.

Unable to block with the hand that held his sword, he used his other hand to grab another one. He lucratively blocked the man's attack, avoiding possible injury. For a moment the man seemed to have dropped his guard, Zoro took the bandana off of his arm and tied it around his head atop his short, green hair.

As their swords clashed again, Zoro quickly unsheathed his third and final sword. He rose it to his mouth and tightly clenched it with his teeth. His opponent did the same.

"You're not bad." Zoro admitted while declaring another failed attack.

"What did you expect?" asked his foe.

The man brought two of his swords back past his sides, and lunged forward and executed an attack comparable to Zoro's Oni-Giri. After the man attacked, both he and Zoro were forced to take a step backwards from the force. Both of the swordsmen leaned over trying to catch their breath.

"You aren't bad yourself, Zoro,"

"That's why I'll be the world's best swordsman!" he declared.

"Really, well, that's too bad," he began, Zoro was puzzled, "because that's why I must kill you!"

After he said that, the enemy, once again, lunged forward. It seemed he tried to slash his throat, but was blocked by Zoro's sword. He tried to bring the other sword around, to slice Zoro's stomach. But, yet again Zoro caught on and deftly blocked the attack.

Zoro could tell that his opponent was getting tired, as he backed away to catch his breath again.

"I underestimated you, Zoro," he said, seeming a bit calm and collected. The man lowered his head. When he rose it again, Zoro could sense the fire in his eyes as well as his heart.

"DAMN!" he yelled, "I HATE YOU, YOU BASTARD!"

Zoro looked startled.

"WHAT SURPRISED!" The man was obviously furious. "YOU SHOULDN'T BE! A thieving pirate such as yourself has many enemies, people willing to assassinate you at any given moment. And most of all people looking to capture you."

The man again brought himself into attack position.

"I, myself, am not looking to collect your bounty…but I want…YOUR TITLE!"

As he hollered at the top of his lungs, he ran in for another attack. The man lunged for a strait shot at Zoro's stomach, throwing himself forward with a wild fire blazing in his eyes.

When the sword reached Zoro, the man thought he would succeed at stabbing him.

He was wrong.

Zoro merely side-stepped and grabbed the oncoming sword. But not at the hilt as anyone would expect. He gripped the sword directly on the blade. It pierced the rough skin of his hand, as the wound began spewing blood onto the sword.

The man wielding the weapon, and the other members of the straw hat crew gasped. (Didn't that hurt?). They didn't believe what they were seeing.

Nami, rapidly blinked her eyes, as if to see if what she saw was real. Why'd he do that? She questioned herself. "Zoro…" she whispered.

Zoro, with his hand still clenched onto the sword, didn't even flinch at the injury. To him, it was nothing compared to the damage he's faced over the years.

He gripped the katana even harder. Still holding it by the blade, Zoro snatched the sword from the man. When he had done that, the sword stretched the wound up to his wrists, and he bled even more. A stream of crimson red fell to the ground, as Zoro tossed the sword behind him. It stuck into a wall behind him. The sword that hung from the wall was dripping with blood. Zoro's blood.

Realizing what had just happened, the man took the sword out of his mouth. He repositioned himself for assault, but felt weak, and his vision was slightly obscured with sweat.

Zoro saw his chance to attack and took it.

"ONI" he exclaimed, ready for attack, "GIRI." He ran towards the man and hit him square in the chest with his powerful oni-giri. Blood sprung from his chest as he fell towards the ground.

The man lay motionless on the floor of the docks. The shadow of the Navy ship shrouded over Zoro's face, as he said,

"No one interferes with my destiny."

Apparently, everyone thought the man was dead. They were surprised when the man scrambled to his feet. He still had one sword in hand; the other had shattered on impact. When he arose to his feet the man roughly panted.

"Well…if I can't…kill you…then let's…see what happens…when I kill one…of your precious…CREWMATES!" he yelled. As he regained his posture standing in front of his ship, he took a few steps forward, then smiled. He ran in Zoro's direction, although he wasn't his target. He ran past Zoro. It was then that he knew who his real target was.

…Nami…

Zoro looked behind him, and saw that the man was indeed heading towards Nami. She was petrified. She stayed in place overcome with fear.

Sanji looked over and saw what was happening and yelled, "NAMI!"

"NO!" yelled Zoro. Without thinking Zoro dropped his swords and sprinted in front of Nami.

He spread his arms out, and braced himself for an attack. He stood before Nami, between her and the opponent. He looked at her. In his eyes, Nami didn't see the fear she expected in his eyes. She saw confidence, with out a trace of fear. For a moment time seemed to go in slow motion. Then…

"ZORO!" she yelled, as the blade slashed his back, opposite to the Mihawk scar. Zoro fell to the ground.

Nami kneeled down beside his limp body. A single tear slid down her cheek, and mixed with his blood.

"So much for the world's greatest swordsman, hmph." The man said as he began to laugh, as he walked towards his ship.

Dreading the worst, Nami quietly kneeled next to Zoro. Her eyes widened, when she saw him slowly turn his head, and look at her. His lips slowly curled into a gentle smile. He propped himself up with his sword. He stood up delicately, blood shedding from his back, and slightly from his arm. Slowly he got up and started to walk towards the man who had struck him. As he regained a little more strength he quickened his pace, a few steps behind the man.

The man jumped up when he felt a bloody hand on his shoulder and heard someone whisper in his ear, "A scar on the back is a great dishonor." Zoro murmured.

The man gasped with his last breath of air. Zoro had slashed the man in the back with all three of his swords. The man fell off the dock and into the water, motionless, and lifeless.

Frightened, the navy crew went in the ship and quickly departed off.

After Zoro had attacked, he grinned before falling down to the ground. Nami and the rest of the crew mates rushed to Zoro's side.

He opened his eyes and looked at Nami.

"Don't worry," he whispered, "I'll always be here…."

She worriedly smiled and put her hand on his back, getting drenched in his blood. It stained her clothes, but she didn't care.

Chopper quickly came to dress Zoro's wounds.

Was that long enough for ya?

Sorry I didn't give the man a name, I just couldn't think of one. I'm really bad at finding names for made up characters…Later,

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