"LUUUUUUCCCCYYYY-DOOOONNNNOOOOOOOOO!"
Lucy wheels around, turning from endless dark hallways and earthy brick to face the guy who brought her to Zoro and Kin'emon earlier. He's carrying…Bellamy? On his shoulder, and the big blonde looks a lot more beat up than when Lucy saw him last.
"Oh, it's you," she says in surprise. "You don't know where the exit is, do you?"
Tears well in Rooster-head's eyes. "Lucy-dono! I regret to inform you I do not!"
The lump of bloody flesh that is Bellamy gives a groan. "It's a trap, idiots. Of course there's no exit."
Lucy stares at Rooster's head a few moments longer, trying to figure out why the guy looks so anguished and, ultimately, fails.
"Bellamy you work for 'Mingo, right?" She asks after a moment. "You must know a way out then." Lucy takes an eager step toward them, thinking of gunshots and the agitation in Zoro's Voice, the faint terror in Kin'emon's. "Tell me, my friends need my help!"
"Like I'd betray Doflamingo," Bellamy growls, choking on a gob of blood. "Nothing's worth my pride."
Rooster growls at him, "Oi! Don't speak to Lucy-dono in such a manner! She asked you a question!"
Lucy blinks in the face of the unexpected support. "Er, no, it's fine." Lucy locks eyes with Bellamy, tries to figure out why she still thinks there's a nugget of something worthwhile inside of him. "I can bust my way out of here somehow, I'm sure." And that way she doesn't have to make someone give up their treasure.
Bellamy's eyes narrow in suspicion, but there's something like respect there too. Respect and general apathy, which is a bit worrisome.
"...we're leaving," Bellamy grunts, with a rough cock of his chin toward Rooster. "If you follow us, I guess that's fine."
"Thank you!" She says with relief. Bellamy scoffs and spits blood at her feet, but says nothing in response.
"But...Lucy-dono...the Mera Mera Fruit…" Rooster interjects. He looks preeminently concerned for her welfare.
...Lucy still isn't exactly sure who this guy is but he seems cool enough.
"My friends are more important than a fruit," she tells them. It's amazing, actually, how much she absolutely does not care about it now with Torao's screams still ringing in her ears and the yawning gap between her and the nakama on her ship grows ever-wider as the seconds tic by.
She can't think about her fleeing nakama too much. The howling in her chest won't subside if she does.
She's needed by people here, on Dressrosa, people who are still alive. Ace's Fruit is important, but not more important than that.
"But...you still want it?" Rooster queries hesitantly.
"Of course," Lucy tells him, turning toward the fountain she's pretty sure is the exit. "Can't be helped though."
Then Rooster drops Bellamy in a bloody heap on the floor and whirls to face her with a manic expression.
Lucy takes a step back in shock. "Er…"
"I WILL GET THE FRUIT FOR YOU, LUCY-DONO!" Rooster says eagerly. Green hair bobs in equal enthusiasm.
Lucy blinks, then her eyes widen in surprise. "Wait, really?"
Long canines flash in the dim light as Rooster speaks. "OF COURSE! I HAD PLANNED TO GIVE IT TO YOU ANYWAY, IN THE EVENT I WON!"
Lucy doesn't really know why he would do such a thing, but hey, if he's offering help he's offering help. "Awesome, thank you!"
And for some bewildering reason, this causes Rooster to curl up in the fetal position on the floor and start...whimpering?
"Er...you okay?"
Lucy only picks up what he says because his hoarse whispers echo off the stone. "Lucy-dono, the future Pirate King and love of my life, has thanked me. Me! Bartolomeo! I am unworthy of her presence, let alone her praise! My life is truly complete!"
Lucy blinks at him again and scratches the back of her neck. This is taking too long, seriously. "Look, I appreciate your help, but could we get—"
"You won't get the Mera Mera Fruit, Straw Hat Lucy."
It's a new voice, one that aches with familiarity. One that lances open long-healed scars, one that brings memories of forests and promises and tiger-hunting to mind.
She doesn't move, doesn't even look up to see the voice's owner.
Rooster has no such qualms, and is immediately off the floor confronting the stranger. "AND WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TALKING TO LUCY-DONO SO RUDELY? HER BROTHER WAS THE LEGENDARY FIRE FIST ACE, AND SHE WILL BE THE PIRATE KING! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO STAND IN HER BLESSED PRESENCE?"
Lucy hears the stranger take a step forward, brushing Rooster aside with ease. "...I already know all that," he says, his voice soft. Then he stops, doesn't approach any further.
Lucy turns around—slowly, carefully, knowing that if she's wrong, if she's wrong, she might be broken forever, but she can't not look. She has to see.
Before her stands a tall man with curly blonde hair hidden under a top hat with goggles around the brim. He's dressed like an old-fashioned gentleman, with a waistcoat and a jacket with tails. His features are older and sharper than she remembers, but they're still familiar, achingly familiar. The only real difference is the scar covering his left eye, a mottled red mark across his tan face.
His eyes are filled with some terrible wealth of emotion that reflects her own.
"You see…" he says softly, emotionally, his voice wavering just a little. "...the two of us go way back."
And then Lucy listens, not with her ears but with Haki, and she finds herself hit with the trembling presence of her brother. Her brother, who she thought long dead, who is now before her filled with dread and anticipation and fear—fear of her, and what she will say, a concern over her possible rejection—and love, so much terrible, wrathful, joyful love from her long-lost brother, so much Lucy thinks she could burst from it second-hand.
Lucy understands. She's feeling it pretty strongly herself.
She sniffs, and belatedly realizes her eyes are filled with tears. "Sabo," she whispers, agonized.
Her brother grins, a roguish smile that used to be far more innocent, and raises one gloved hand to wave, and Lucy sees the pipe strapped to his back. "Long time no see, little sister. I bet you can hold Dadan's sake a bit better now, huh?"
It's him. It's him, it's him, it's really—
She throws herself at him, and she doesn't do it gently—doesn't hold back like she would with almost anyone else. Instead Lucy comes at her big brother unreservedly because he can take it, could always take it, was always stronger than her, could always be relied upon to catch her if she fell. So she wraps her arms around his waist and squeezes as hard as she can, butting her helmeted head into his chin heedlessly as usual and sobs, the tears so thick she can't see at all.
Sabo grunts, and rocks a step back with the force of her momentum, but doesn't make any sort of move to peel her off. Slowly, like he's not sure he's allowed to do so, he raises his arms to wrap around her. She can feel him trembling, can hear his breath catch in disbelief and awe and the terrible sense of reverence about him speaks of another wave of love so intense Lucy thinks she might get swept away by it as well.
Sabo makes a gentle shushing noise, patting her back. "Hey, Lucy, don't cry, you know Ace and I could never stand it when you did that."
"Liar," she sniffs. "You two loved making me cry. And Ace called me a crybaby all the time. And you laughed."
This earns a soft chuckle from Sabo, and Lucy thinks he maybe sounds a little choked up himself. "Yeah, I guess we did."
Lucy wonders if he's remembering Ace, just like she is, and the love in her chest bursts open again as she realizes—
"Ace would be so happy you're alive," she tells him, clutching his jacket a little closer.
The arms around her tighten a little and his breath hitches. "I like to think so." There's a slight tremble of doubt in is voice that Lucy can't help but notice.
"I'm happy you're alive," she sobs. Sabo's going to have to replace his jacket after this. "So happy."
Sabo gives a soft, painful-sounding chuckle, and cradles her head to his chest, swaying softly. "Me too, Lu-chan. Me too."
The childhood nickname makes her chest clench painfully, and Lucy sobs a little harder.
"I—I let Ace die in front of me," Lucy confesses, because if there is one person in all the world who would understand what a crime that was, it's Sabo. She's been aching for both of them for years now, offering apologies every night before she sleeps. "He was murdered and I—"
"You lived, Lucy." Sabo's grip turns almost painful. "And I'm so, so glad you did. I would have woken up alone otherwise. Ace's death wasn't your fault. You know that."
Lucy sniffs, loudly, and in the most unladylike way possible. Sabo snorts, and the rocking motion he's doing starts to soothe her. Lucy leans into him, lets him stroke her tangled hair and the familiar scent of him puts her at ease.
Lucy wonders how it's possible he still smells like the forests of Goa, but she's grateful he does nonetheless.
"W-where," she starts after a moment, unsure if she should ask. "Where've you been?"
It's almost—almost—irrelevant to Lucy. She doesn't exactly care where he's been, only that he's here now. But she needs to know in case there are people whose asses she needs to kick, or people who kept her brother away from her.
"Ah, it doesn't matter. I found you as soon as I could," he explains, evasive. Lucy accepts the answer, trusts that everything is well with him. It's hard to care with her brother so obviously alive and here.
Sabo seems to feel the same. He won't stop petting her hair, and he's holding her like she's going to fly away. It's almost terrifying because she doesn't remember Sabo being this indulgent of her clinginess, or reciprocating it to this degree, but it's a relief all the same. She doesn't want to let him go. Not until she's sure he won't disappear again.
Her brother. Her brother. She can't believe—her brother—
"Oi, Lucy, I have a question for you." He pulls back, and Lucy loosens her grip on him to accommodate. The expression on Sabo's face is kind and earnest as always—terribly familiar in a face that she thought long gone. "Is it okay if I eat Ace's Fruit?"
Lucy blinks, tears filling her eyes again as she recognizes the request for what it is—a nod to the ten years of Ace's life Sabo missed, and an uncertainty as to whether Sabo knew Ace in the end as well as he thought. Like he's bowing to her authority on the issue, or something.
Stupid. Ace was too stubborn to change. Especially when they lived in part for Sabo, or what they thought was Sabo's ghost.
"Yes of course!" She nods through the tears. "That's the best possible way for it to go!"
Something like relief bleeds into Sabo's eyes. "Good. Off with you then. I'll take your spot in the tournament." He gently removes Lucy's helmet, and sets it on his own head, tossing the top hat aside.
Lucy blinks up at him in confusion, still crying. "Sabo…?"
Her brother grins, and Lucy sees an image of the boy he used to be. "You've got some friends to save, don't you?"
Lucy's heart seizes hard in her chest. That's right. Torao needs her. And Zoro's about to tear the whole colosseum apart if his increasing concern and irritation are anything to go by. It's probably a good thing he can't feel emotions yet the way she can. This place would have been gone the moment she heard Sabo's voice if he could.
Still, she hesitates, just a moment. It's...difficult to believe this is anything but a dream. Five minutes ago she was the last of her siblings alive. Now…
"I'll see you later," Sabo tells her, his voice gentle and his expression warm. "Go help your crew."
Lucy nods determinedly but can't exactly stop the tears flowing down her face. She has to go though, has to leave and fight and save, and so she gives him her beard and cape, and with one final hug, makes for the exit with Rooster and Bellamy, vision still blurred with tears.
Zoro waits outside the colosseum impatiently, fingers tapping on Shusui's hilt. Kin'emon distracted half the Marines that came after them, and Zoro defeated his portion, but it's taking Lucy a long time to get out of the building. Longer than it should, at any rate. Trafalgar's life is on the line here, shouldn't Lucy have busted herself out by now if she couldn't find a reasonably placed exit?
Something must be wrong. Or she got distracted somehow which, honestly, is not that unlikely.
She's well within his range still, so he knows she's alive. He probably would have cut the colosseum in half by now if he couldn't sense her. And she's finally moving again, after a pit stop of some kind.
Then he feels her from a side entrance Zoro never would have noticed without the exploding and the very loud sobbing of the person who runs through it.
Zoro blinks in surprise as his captain, now free of the beard and helmet and cape she wore just a few minutes ago, emerges from the dust and wails in great, heaving sobs.
"Lucy?" he asks incredulously, because yeah Lucy sometimes cries at things that are completely unnecessary to cry over—like the last time Sanji tried to offer a vegetarian course for dinner—but she rarely sobs like this, and usually she can be distracted with whatever the next interesting thing is.
He has a feeling it won't be a matter of distraction this time.
Lucy turns to him, her hat whipping around her neck on its cord. "Z-Zoro!" She sobs, and then she's running at him full-speed, so quickly Zoro just barely has time to brace to catch her.
Lucy, of course, is heedless and tackles him, hard, but he manages to stay standing and winds his arms around her instinctively. She just buries her face in his shoulder and sobs.
"Lucy, what the hell?" Was she this upset over the others moving on to Zou? Because yeah, that sucked, but it isn't the end of the world, not by a long shot, and it's not going to be long at all if Zoro has anything to say about it.
Lucy trembles. Clutches the back of his shirt so hard it threatens to rip. Zoro grips her tighter, holds on to her as her breath heaves and catches in her throat.
"He's alive," she hiccups. "My brother's alive."
Zoro nearly drops her, he's so stunned. "Ace is—"
"No, Sabo. Sabo's alive." She squeezes him around the shoulders impossibly tighter.
"Who the hell is Sabo?" Zoro asks, still bewildered.
"My brother," Lucy insists. Hiccups. Zoro can feel her tears staining the collar of his jacket. "I thought he died years ago." Then she sobs harder, shaking as if to fly apart. "Him and his stupid hat, Ace and I thought he died at ten!"
Oh. Oh. So Ace wasn't—
Ace wasn't the first brother Lucy lost.
He keeps thinking Marineford and everything that happened because of it can't get any worse, and yet.
Dammit.
"But he's alive?" He asks. He pats her back awkwardly, trying to soothe her. "Where the hell has he been?" And, better question, why did he leave Lucy all alone, especially after Marineford?
"Yes," Lucy sobs, and Zoro feels her shudder as she sucks in a breath of badly-needed air. "Yes, he's alive. He was in the Colosseum. Not for twelve years, I don't know where he was all that time."
Zoro blinks. "So the Fruit—"
Lucy gives a slightly hysterical giggle. "Sabo's going to eat Ace's Fruit! It's perfect!"
Zoro's glad she thinks so, but a quick look at the sky tells him they've wasted too much time already. "Good. But, I'm sorry Lucy, we need to get a move-on to rescue Law."
Lucy nods into his shoulder. "Y-yeah." She doesn't let go though, and neither does Zoro. They can't leave until Kin'emon shows up anyway.
"He's exactly like I remember," Lucy whispers, and Zoro's not sure he's meant to hear. "He's so strong and kind, and—" Another hiccup. "All that time we were growing up, and I didn't—I didn't know I could miss him that way."
Oh, Lucy.
"He's your brother. You're allowed no matter what." Zoro tells her, rubbing circles in her back. Slowly she relaxes, and eventually he feels confident enough to set her back on her feet, despite the hiccups.
She steps back, blinking up at him with tear-stained cheeks and puffy red eyes and a trembling smile on her lips. Clumsily, Zoro wipes a few of the tears away with his thumb, his callouses pressing into soft, freckled skin. Lucy leans into the gesture, and her smile broadens a little, becomes a little steadier.
"Salutations, my hedonistic acquaintances!" Kin'emon's voice calls from Zoro's left. "I have created suitable costumes!"
Zoro looks up and is horrified to see a giant frog running towards them with two swords strapped to his hip.
Lucy blinks in surprise, still a bit teary. "Kin'emon? I didn't know you could become a frog."
Zoro snorts, and waves Lucy's teary, questioning glance away.
"My magic allows me the ability to change objects into clothes! Here! For your disguises!" The giant frog tosses Zoro a cat costume, and Lucy a fish.
Zoro frowns down at it. "This is the opposite of inconspicuous."
"Have more faith in me, Thief of Wano's Treasure!" Kin'emon shouts. Zoro feels his eyebrow twitch involuntarily. "I saw others in such costumes earlier! We will assimilate as natives!"
Zoro looks at Lucy and discovers her already donning the costume, even as she sniffles. He sighs in resignation.
"You two better not tell the cook about this."
Because yeah, Sanji will never live down the dress, but Zoro's pretty sure this qualifies as an equal level of ammunition.
They start running the moment they have the costumes on, and Zoro can hear the little whimpers as Lucy continues to cry. Zoro lets Kin'emon pull ahead as he sidles closer to her.
"Hey, Lucy," he says lowly, trying to be gentle. "It's okay, he made it this long, I don't think he's going anywhere." He better not, at least. They clearly didn't have a proper reunion.
Lucy sniffs again. "It's not—it's not that," she hiccups. Then she looks up at him, her face just barely visible inside the ridiculous costume. "I'm—I'm happy."
Her eyes are swollen and red with tears, her cheeks wet and her chin wobbles with her trembling smile, but somehow, Zoro believes her.
Affection and fondness well in his chest, and he can't help the soft expression on his face.
This Sabo guy better not let her down. Zoro will fucking murder him otherwise
Getting into the castle is relatively easy, with a guide in the form of the castle's real owner. Zoro considers running into Viola more evidence for the idea that Lucy is just straight-up lucky, most of the time. To further the point, it's only ten minutes into enemy headquarters when the walls start moving and bending around them that they run into any kind of issue.
Like he said. Lucky. They've even lost Kin'emon somewhere in the basement.
Zoro feels a little less lucky, however, when the walls start swinging swords at their heads.
"Lucy! Get going, I'll handle it!" He calls, splitting one of the walls in half.
"Swordsman-san!" Viola protests. Lucy yanks her onward with a quick nod over her shoulder. There's an implacable sort of trust in her eyes that stokes the determination in his gut.
"Beat 'im up, Zoro!" She calls back.
Zoro curls a smirk over Wado's hilt. Kitetsu fairly purrs in his palm.
"Aye, Sencho."
.
Lucy really has no idea what's going on when the hallway outside Torao's prison starts to glow with gold-white light, but when it's over there's a big muscly guy with one leg where the one-legged toy soldier used to be. The absence of his leg looks like it will slow the big guy down about as much as it impeded the toy soldier.
Lucy recognizes him, actually. He's—
"Kyros," Viola whispers beside Lucy. There's a sick kind of horror reverberating in her Voice, laced with guilt and terror. "I—I forgot—"
"It's not your fault," the gladiator grunts, pushing himself up and his broad knuckles wrap around the hilt of the sword on his hip. "It's—it's his." He snarls, dark eyes welling with rage and hatred.
And then—oh look at that, having only one leg really doesn't slow this guy down.
Three bounds in and Torao's Voice resonates in delirious shock and then Kyros just decapitates Doflamingo.
Lucy almost pouts. She at least wanted a shot at the guy.
...but dead is better than not, so.
Lucy bounds into the room, making a beeline for Torao. He's covered in blood, bound to a chair by his wrists and he doesn't look like he's capable of moving much. But even though his eyes are a bit glassy, a bit unfocused, they widen in genuine horror when he sees her.
"S-Straw Hat-ya?" He slurs, trying to prop himself up more in her presence. "What're you doing here?"
"We came to rescue you!" Lucy tells him brightly, trotting over to his chair. "I'm glad you're not dead!"
"But why?" He asks again, which reminds her a little too much of Ace, and the light in his eyes becomes a little manic. "Did you—Straw Hat-ya, I swear, if you came here before you destroyed the factory I'm going to kill you."
Lucy frowns up at him. "Wait, so do you want me to untie you or not?" It's a rhetorical question, she's already examining the cuffs. Sea stone. Dammit.
"Straw Hat-ya."
"Don't worry, Usopp and Robin and Franky are on it," she tells him. "And I came because we're friends. Duh."
"WE'RE NOT FRIENDS! THAT'S NOT WHAT AN ALLIANCE IS, AND THAT'S OVER, ANYWAY!"
Aw, poor Torao. He seems distressed.
Lucy takes the key from Violet. "I'll decide when our alliance is over, shut up."
Torao yanks against the chains. "I'LL FUCKING MURDER YOU, STRAW HAT-YA."
"Get in line," she mutters, and then key slides home in the sea stone cuffs.
Before Torao can try and strangle her—good luck with that by the way, she'd definitely win in a fight—the floor warps and twists beneath her feet and she freezes in sickening familiarity as she realizes—
—she can't feel anything but the man inhabiting the castle.
Everything outside the room is fuzzy, a blur. She can't sense Zoro or Kin'emon or anyone—just the people standing right beside her and the large, looming presence of the man with the Stone Stone Fruit.
He's fine, Lucy remembers. It's Zoro, so he's fine. He's probably more annoyed that his prey left the fight than anything. No way Zoro would lose to a guy like this.
"Oh fuck me gently with a chainsaw," groans a familiar voice.
Lucy freezes, and then crouches in front of Torao and Violet, defensive. "'Mingo is—"
"—very much alive, thank you for the astute observation, Straw Hat." Lucy stares at the still-detached head, bewildered and maybe a bit disgusted, but also—why didn't she sense him before? Are her senses really that skewed with stone man surrounding her?
Doflamingo looks almost bored. "You people are annoying, but I guess there's no other choice about it." His smile becomes sadistic and wide, and Lucy feels Torao stiffen behind her as the madman's gaze locks on him. "You remember the birdcage, right, Law?"
Torao's Voice trembles in what Lucy can only call terror, but he says nothing, and Lucy doesn't turn around to observe his expression.
Lucy decides, right then and there, that she doesn't like the way Doflamingo looks at her friend. Not at all, if it inspires that kind of fear. Hate. Rage.
"Oi! Can it!" She calls, stomping her feet in an effort to recapture Pinky's attention. "Shut your face and fight!"
"Straw Hat-ya, no—"
But Lucy isn't listening, is already dropping into Gear Second as the familiar burn screams through her blood. Haki fuels her steps as she charges forward, heedless of everything except the fact that there's a friend she needs to protect at her back.
A clawed hand swipes before the headless body, and Lucy just barely manages to duck beneath the whistling strings as they sweep for her head. She coils to spring into an attack, but then Lucy looks up and there are two of him.
Two terrible smiles. Two arms descending with razor-sharp strings. One Voice.
Shit.
She dodges one, but as she twists out of the way another cuts across her back and she feels the skin burst open before she can harden herself with Haki.
Lucy grits her teeth but doesn't scream, steadies herself on shaking legs to face the two monsters before her.
"It's time for a tragedy," Doflamingo muses, his voice almost breathless with laughter, a showman's smile creasing his face. "Away with you, Straw Hat."
Wire wraps viciously around Lucy's ankle and she hardens her leg instinctively as she's hauled through the air with devastating speed—so harshly it would have taken her foot off, sans Haki. As it is, Lucy flies through the window, shattering glass as she finds herself scrabbling helplessly through the air in uncontrolled freefall.
Above her the castle rumbles and shakes and Lucy is suddenly, furiously aware that she left a friend and three of her allies alone before the enemy without protection.
She reaches for the window, her arm stretching across the distance, but just as her fingers brush the broken glass of the sill, Viola and Torao are expelled, the other captain still in his chair.
Lucy changes targets, teeth clenched against the whistling of the wind in her ears, and she wraps an arm around them both as the three of them plummet. Using them like ballasts she angles herself beneath Kyros and the man he was so desperate to save.
Fuck, Lucy's really starting to dislike this 'Mingo guy.
"Gomu Gomu no balloon!"
It's a ridiculous technique—enough people have said so that Lucy can't exactly deny it—but it's a useful one, and that's infinitely more important.
Lucy's four allies bounce harmlessly off of her inflated belly. It hurts a little, kind of like getting punched in the gut, but she doesn't let them know that as everyone but Torao stands. That makes sense—he's been in the cuffs long enough to render him immobile.
At the top of the castle, Doflamingo glares down at them, manic smile ever in place. The headless clone kneels beside him, string shooting up from his neck into the very sky.
"Th-the birdcage…" Torao whispers from the ground. He's staring up at the spiraling strings in abject horror, and Lucy can practically taste his terror on her tongue.
It worries her. If whatever 'Mingo is doing is enough to scare a tough guy like Torao this bad…
Lucy kneels next to him, and tries to carefully slip him out of the now-loose cuffs without touching them. "What's wrong, Torao?"
"He's going to kill everyone on the island with that," Torao whispers, not even taking heed of the fact that Lucy's wrestling with his arm. It relieves her a little that Torao's still himself enough to speak with his characteristic bluntness.
"Keep a watch out," Torao warns, his voice dark and fierce. "Don't let anything touch you."
"I'll look out for you all," Viola offers, and Lucy watches with curiosity as the woman seemingly does nothing but stare at the rock in front of her.
The white strands shoot up, up, and out, and Lucy can hear them whistling from here.
"Now let's play a game, people of Dressrosa and guests! A game of life and death!" Doflamingo's voice crows from above, thick with dramatic anticipation. But Lucy hears it echo through the town below, and knows it's not just them he's speaking to. "I'll give you one hour to kill me. Just one. Or, if you think that too difficult, you may kill your would-be saviors. Bring me their heads at the end of the hour, and I'll release you from this hell." Lucy sees a flash of white teeth. "It's kill or be killed, Dressrosa! Which will you choose?"
Lucy's fists curl at her side, and she squares her jaw toward the enemy.
A game. A game? Lucy knows he's being dramatic for the sake of it, that maybe, to him, that's just a figure of speech, but it isn't. Not to her, and not to the screaming people in the village below.
Those aren't for threatening people, Shanks said once, low and confident and terrifying. Lucy's never forgotten, and she thinks Shanks would disprove of this as well, because it wasn't just about the gun, then. It wasn't just about the bandit's bluster or their treatment of Lucy as a child. It was about life, and how preciously short it is, how precious in general. It was about a threat made on shaky resolve, and false hope, on the other side of the coin. How the ending of life is not something done without cause, how it is not something done recklessly, for pride or gain. It is done with care, with the knowledge that actions once taken cannot be undone.
It's not a fucking game, to kill someone. It's especially not a game to kill her nakama.
Lucy stares up at Doflamingo, feels Torao still trembling beside her, and knows she's looking at a dead man walking.
Zoro is, admittedly, a little miffed that his opponent just up and left before their fight was over (he's counting it as a point to himself, concession by forfeit), but he's more than a little shocked when the castle they were climbing just walked away after depositing his captain and allies outside of it.
Talk about avoidance strategies. Fucking cowards.
Somehow buildings moving on their own is still something he hasn't seen following his batshit girlfriend around on this adventure of theirs. Considering all the other shit they've witnessed, he'd have guessed moving buildings would have shown up sooner.
Luckily though, he's not the only one who was left behind by the wandering castle. Lucy and Trafalgar are across the plateau. Zoro wanders over, Wado leaning sheathed against his shoulder, and finds Lucy crouched in front of an increasingly irritated Trafalgar, poking him in the chest as he sits up with a palm pressed to his eyes.
Below them Dressrosa burns, and the screams can be heard ringing throughout the island.
"Torao. Torao. You okay? Torao."
Trafalgar's expression is hilarious, and on Lucy's next attempted poke his hand snaps out to catch her fingers.
"You," he starts, his voice tight with irritation, "are not right in the head."
Lucy does nothing but blink at him a couple of times, and then her free hand comes up to poke him in the shoulder again, on the side that's not sporting a bullet wound. "But you're okay, right?"
Trafalgar makes a slightly broken noise that could be terror. Zoro snorts.
Lucy whirls around immediately, smile bright on her face and her eyes lighting up. "Zoro! Did you see that castle move?"
"It was hard to miss," he says dryly. So too was the giant cage over their heads.
Zoro doesn't like it. He's never liked being confined.
Lucy stands to greet him, and despite her carefree affect there's a tightness to her frame that lets him know she feels the suffocation of the cage as well, and a glint in her dark eyes that speaks of rage and wrath.
Fuck Feathers. Guy's not gonna know what hit 'im.
He's glad she doesn't look teary now, though. She's either put her brother out of her mind or gotten over it.
(His money's on the former.)
"I thought you might still be in the castle," Lucy tells him. Her eyebrows furrow, and there's a metallic spike of frustration from her. "My Observation Haki…"
...is not her strong suit. Right. "Pica ran off before I could finish him," Zoro recounts, and a fresh wave of annoyance hits. Who runs from a fight? "You got Torao free."
Lucy wrinkles her nose, and a fresh wave of rage crosses her face. "They put him in sea stone."
Which, combined with the blood loss…
...no wonder Lucy's concerned about the guy. Zoro frowns at him over Lucy's head as well, in a reflexively curious sort of way. Trafalgar notices and glares. Hard.
Zoro is unintimidated.
He does look around at the others though, and notices a big guy getting ready to depart. One is obviously their guide from earlier, a deposed princess or something, but the others…
"Who're they?" Zoro asks, gesturing.
Lucy squints at them. "Nice lady. Soldier dude." She points to the elderly man. "I dunno, but those two wanted him."
Behind her, Trafalgar gives a long-suffering sigh reminiscent of Nami, but with more anger. "He's the king, Straw Hat-ya."
...well that did make sense.
"Huh." Lucy says, unconsciously agreeing.
The Den Den Mushi in Zoro's pocket starts to ring, and Zoro blinks, pulling it out with surprise, unhooking the receiver.
"Zoro?" Robin's voice queries over the line. It's good to hear. He hasn't been able to keep track of his nakama very well here, considering how often they've been underground and how chaotic this whole mess has been.
"Yah," he responds. "I'm on the King's Plateau with Lucy, Torao, and some others. Where're you?"
"Underground. We're heading up though. I've got Usopp, some of the Tontatta and Rebecca with me, among others." Robin's voice turns smug and proud. "Usopp took Sugar down."
Zoro quirks a grin. "No wonder Doflamingo's pissed at him."
"Oi, Robin, did you say Rebecca's there with you?" Lucy asks, peering down at the Den Den Mushi in his hand with a pinched expression he's long-since associated with Lucy at her most stubborn. "I want to talk to her."
"Luffy?"
Lucy swipes the snail out of Zoro's hand and stomps off, her whole demeanor almost comically irritated.
Zoro rolls his eye and turns to the strangers—the big soldier and would-be-king.
"You any good with that?" Zoro asks, nodding to the blade at the soldier's hip.
The big guy pauses in his preparations to give Zoro a blank stare.
Zoro stares back, nonplussed.
"...I do not think that would be most people's first assumption," the man allows after a moment.
Zoro raises an eyebrow, not following.
The king beside the man coughs, interjecting. "What I think Kyros means is, he only has one leg." With an almost regretful, apologetic shrug in the younger man's direction, he continues. "Most would not assume capacity with swordsmanship, let alone skill."
Ugh, people are too complicated for their own good. "He's got a sword, doesn't he?" Then he turns back to Kyros. "So you any good?"
For a second, Zoro thinks the big guy's not going to answer. Then he scratches the back of his head, like he's absolutely befuddled. "Er. Yes, I suppose."
Zoro nods. "We should spar sometime." He taps Wado's sheath across his shoulder absently.
Kyros looks down at the king, bemused, then back at Zoro. "I am occupied at the moment."
Zoro heaves a sigh. "Not now, obviously." Zoro gestures to the giant cage circling the island. "Later, when this shit's taken care of."
Something shifts in the man's dark eyes, and the king is staring at him too. "You are confident in victory."
"Got no reason not to be," Zoro drawls. "So, spar?"
"Perhaps," he allows. "But for now I must take my leave." He draws his sword from its sheath and holds it at his side in the ready position. His thigh bulges and he springs forward, hopping on one leg with ludicrous ease.
"See? One leg's not such a big deal," Zoro tells the king, waving Wado's hilt at the soldier's back. "Could definitely still fight like that." Hell, he had a vague plan to fight with no legs, once. He maintains that it would have been successful, too.
The king chuckles a bit, and Zoro looks down with a raised eyebrow. The old man waves him off.
"Nothing, sorry, it's just," The man's eyes are warm. "I can tell you are not a native of these lands."
Dressrosi seem weirdly preoccupied with who lives here and who doesn't. "I'm not."
The king's eyes warm and despite the fatigue and agony on his face, Zoro senses something else. Longing, maybe. Or wistfulness. "There was a time, once, when the people here believed in nonviolence."
A country of pacifists, huh? That worked out well for them. "Sounds boring."
The king barks a laugh. "So it might seem to you!" He absently turns a heavy gold ring around his index finger. "But the path of nonviolence is difficult. Dressrosa has a long history, and is home to passionate people. Restraint is hard for us. We decided there was a better way to use our passions than violence, and worked to uphold that as a value. That's all." The king smiled. "It is not an easy path, to hold one's lesser nature at bay. But it is a worthwhile one."
"Lesser nature, huh?" Zoro mutters, and doesn't remember beady eyes and bad stars. Then he raises an eyebrow, thinking of the scantily-clad gladiator in the colosseum. "That girl was saying something similar, before her fight in the tournament."
The king's expression turns agonized, bewildered. "Rebecca," he whispers, and the name comes out tortured on his lips. "My granddaughter." He looks down at his hands, awe and confusion staining his voice. "She never lost faith in me, somehow. Or her parents' teachings."
Zoro looks at the old man, feeling a little sympathy, but not really knowing how to relate. His concept of family is atypical. "Must have been difficult."
The old man's face turns fierce with pride. "Years she spent in that pit, and never once has she injured an opponent, and yet never once has she lost."
Huh. Maybe Zoro should ask her for a fight. "She was asking Dressrosa to remember."
The king nods. "Remember nonviolence, remember who we are. Dressrosa, the land of passion and love. Revenge and death have no place here." The king quirks a smile. "It is a lesson Rebecca's father learned quite well." Then the man's whole affect droops. "That was before Doflamingo, though."
Shit, Zoro's not a shrink. "Lucy's going to kick his ass," he offers. It's about the only comfort he can give.
"I'm going to kick 'Mingo's ass!" Lucy corroborates, shouting unnecessarily into the Den Den Mushi at whoever's on the other end.
Oh, shit, wasn't she talking to—
"King man!" Lucy shouts, stalking up to the old man. "Where's Soldier guy?"
"K-King? You don't mean—"
"He left. To go make things right, I believe." The old man smiles at the Den Den Mushi. "For you, Rebecca."
"Grandpa…"
"You remember our creed, don't you?"
The girl hiccups, her voice strained. "Yes, Grandpa. Of course."
"War is upon us, child," the old man says kindly, and there's an air of tradition about the words that isn't lost on Zoro.
"I shall not lose myself within it," Rebecca replies, and her voice is stronger now.
The old king closes his eyes, and a tear runs down his face. "That is all I ask."
This was two chapters but the number of Dressrosa chapters I have is honestly ridiculous and I figured combining them wouldn't hurt, so here we are.
Just in case you're getting confused, Lucy and Zoro's particular abilities when it comes to Observation Haki are still very distinct and separate—Lucy has a very narrow range to her ability, while Zoro can't sense emotions or intentions nearly as well as she can. They both have the capacity for growth in these areas (as well as general detail and precognition), but for now they still have these limitations. However, because they're so familiar with each other, their abilities are stronger when it comes to one another, and to a lesser extent, the rest of the Straw Hats. It helps that they both have very vibrant presences. But in Lucy's case, her range with Zoro (and to a slightly lesser extent, the rest of their nakama) is wider than it is with others, and in Zoro's case, he can sense her emotions/intentions a little easier than he can with anyone else (which is to say, he can sense them at all).
"Fuck me gently with a chainsaw" is a Heathers reference. The movie, not the musical, although that's great too. Great cult classic. Great line. Heather Chandler and Doflamingo would get along swimmingly. Or murder each other. It kind of wrote itself in there, and since I see Doflamingo as being a really melodramatic drama queen right up until he looses his shit and goes terminator on whoever's nearby, I let it stay.
I always thought Viola should learn Observation Haki. With her powers it would practically make her omnipotent. She'd be the perfect counter to Eneru, if he ever shows up again like I think he will.
Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!