3. Gin's Arrival
Story Start: Baratie
Steel rang out as it hit magical metal. In a Create generated construct that took the form of a door attached to the wall next to the Merry's kitchen door with an expanded space inside of it, Zoro panted as he faced three opponents, sweat all but pouring down his torso as he did his absolute best to keep from being sliced apart. The 'sparring match' he had agreed to had been going on for an hour now and it was one of the most intense fights he had ever been in. Even his fight yesterday with the magician hadn't been nearly as grueling.
In contrast, the three he was fighting seemed ready to keep going for another hour. Oh, all three of them were sweating from their exertions as well, but all of their breathing was much more controlled. This was primarily because their style focused less on power and more on finesse.
Said three opponents looked completely identical. Sakura had used Sword then Mirror and Twin in order to give Zoro a 'proper test' of his swordsman skills. And what a test it was. Where her husband had strength in his blows along with speed, unless she had Power active, Sakura was ALL speed. Speed to deflect blows at the exact point where the least force was needed, Speed to slip through defenses then pull right back out, and most importantly for this particular match, Speed to not get in her own way when she attacked then pulled back.
As Sakura put the Straw Hats' First Mate through his paces, Nami and Usopp ran the obstacle course that was connected to the right of the arena ring. The pair ran, spun, jumped, climbed, and even limbo'd at one point as Maze constantly changed the five hundred square feet the pair were in, Loop allowing them to move as fast as they wanted and yet still remain within that one area.
In another arena ring behind the first, Syaoran took on Johnny and the fully recovered Yosaku one on two, learning how the two fought and giving both corrections and suggestions as he did so.
The final area Sakura had made was to the left of the central area and Luffy was having the time of his life as he took on both Fight and Power in a for him all out brawl. The pair of Cards were pushing Luffy farther than he ever had when he fought someone else, his brawler style coming far behind Fight's literally inhuman efficiency and his strength against Power's was completely outmatched. Needless to say, the pair of Cards were going just the slightest bit easy on him. (Note the sarcasm there) In other words, they were just kicking his ass rather than putting him in the ICU of the closest hospital for a year, rubber body be damned.
All of the training came to an end when a long necked bird flew in through the entrance door with a piercing cry. One of the Sakura's immediately took a few steps closer towards it and held her arm out for the bird to land on. She seemed to listen for a moment before she turned to another Sakura and said "Marine vessel spotted Mistress. They'll be here within the hour."
That Sakura nodded and said "Thank you Fly, enjoy your flight." The bird let out a croon before flying back out. Now that it had spotted the vessel it had been tasked with looking out for from the crow's nest it was going to go for a good and proper fly. Sakura didn't plan to go anywhere for the next few days so it could take its time coming back.
"Alright people, training's over for the morning." Syaoran said with a clap of his hands.
At his Wife's confirming nod, all of the Cards went back into card form and zipped back to their mistress.
Luffy groaned and said "Awww, but I was having so much fun!"
Nami and Usopp had been walking back to the center when he spoke. The pair did a double take of alarm when they saw Luffy and Nami said "Luffy, you're covered in bruises!"
"More like he IS a bruise." Usopp muttered.
Nami ignored that and asked in concern "What happened?! I thought your body being rubber negated blunt force?"
"It negates most blunt force, if you hit him hard enough then he'll still take damage." Sakura explained.
"And Power hits really, REALLY hard!" Luffy said with a grin followed by his 'ShiShiShi' laugh.
Sakura shook her head and put an arm around Luffy, guiding him towards the exit where there was a six foot wide and tall set of shelves holding several Created potions, most of them just general healers though there were also a few for bone repair and blood replenishing. Sakura grabbed one of the general health potions and had Luffy down the entire thing. Within seconds the bruising began to slowly but visibly recede.
As Sakura fiddled with the now empty vial, she mused "Chopper's going to be rather put out with me when he joins I think."
"Either that or he'll treat you as his personal Goddess." Syaoran said in amusement.
Nami looked concerned as she and the rest moved for the door and asked "Who names their kid 'Chopper' and why's he joining us?"
"Hey! No spoilers!" Luffy said, going so far as to stick his fingers in his ears and go 'lalalalalala!'
Sakura shook her head in amusement and smiled at Nami as she said "Don't worry Nami, you'll like them once you meet them. If it helps, their full name is Toni Toni Chopper and the Marines will call him Cotton Candy Lover."
Nami blinked a couple of times at that and asked "Really? What kind of epitaph is that?"
Sakura giggled and said "Chopper is incredibly cute." Giving a wink, she darted out of the constructed training area, still giggling to herself. Her husband followed with a soft chuckle leaving the two weakest members of the Straw Hats looking at each other in confusion. Zoro merely grunted, grabbing a general healer of his own for all of the nicks Sakura had riddled his arms and the sides of his torso with before heading out as well, the bounty hunter duo faithfully following after him.
Once everyone had had a chance to freshen up in the Merry's shower the group headed into the Baratie for a meal and show. Ten minutes after Sanji had brought them their orders, a certain Marine Lieutenant entered the restaurant as well. When Sanji had poured the wine for Fullbody and his date, he tried to impress her with his 'knowledge' of the fine beverages only to be immediately called out on it when Sanji revealed that he wasn't even in the right metaphorical vineyard, never mind year. Then he tried to stir up trouble by dropping a fake bug in his soup and asking what it was doing in his food. (Sakura and Syaoran both frowned at him having brought that with him to a visit to a fancy restaurant that was supposed to be a date.)
It went...about as well as to be expected...which is to say rather horribly for the lieutenant. For starters, Sanji got most of the restaurant to laugh stating that he didn't know much about bugs. Then when Fullbody lost his temper and smashed the table Sanji knelt down to a put a hand in the spilled soup as he berated him that if he had just taken out the bug the soup would have been edible. The chef went on to state that he had worked for three days and nights on that soup only for Fullbody to step on Sanji's hand demanding that he get respect for being a paying customer.
Ten seconds later, Fullbody was being held up in the air by Sanji's hand on his throat (Defying physics in the way only Anime characters could) with blood dripping down his face and a busted rib from Sanji's quick but brutal one two kick combo.
Patty chose that time to come out of the bathroom at that point and began berating Sanji about treating customers like that only for Zeff to call from the stairs leading to the kitchen that maybe if the Marine hadn't been stupid enough to put a bug in his soup then his face would be just a little less ugly right now. At the owner of the restaurant's words, Fullbody lost any sympathy from the chefs on the dining level. And then the Marine sailor burst through the double doors reporting a prisoner had escaped.
As Fullbody displayed his disbelief, revealing how they hadn't fed the escaped prisoner for three days and that he had been on death's door from starvation even before that, Sakura and Syaoran noticed both Zeff and Sanji's expressions turning incredibly hard. The pair traded a look only for their attention to be brought back to the doors as the Marine was shot in the shoulder.
For someone who thought he was such a hot shot Marine, Fullbody was rather meek as Gin walked into the restaurant, going so far as to turn his head and look away as the Krieg Pirate heavily stepped past him.
When Gin slouched into an empty chair and put his foot on the table, he said "I don't care what it is, just bring me food. This is a restaurant isn't it?"
Patty moved up to the table with hands clasped and stated "Indeed it is customer. However, we'll be expecting you to pay for your meal. Do you have enough money?"
Sakura bit her lip to prevent herself from speaking up about paying for the man. As distasteful as what was about to happen was to her, it did need to happen.
Gin looked up at Patty with a flat look before he pointed his stolen pistol at Patty's head and asked "Does a bullet count?"
Patty's practiced 'customer smile' fell and he said "That would be a no then." The next instant, he slammed a double fisted blow into Gin's torso, completely breaking the chair in the process.
"That bastard Patty, he broke one of our chairs!" Zeff said with a scowl.
Patty crossed his arms as he said "If you can't pay up, you can't eat."
The customers and most of the cooks on the dinning level cheered for Patty. Gin groaned as he sat up, one hand over his beaten torso. There was a loud growling sound and Patty continued "Oi, bastard pirate, seems you're rather hungry there!"
"Shut up, it's just gas." Gin said, before he coughed and said "Just bring me some food."
"Oh, you still think you can talk to me that way?" Patty asked before kicking Gin in the ribs.
As the beat down continued to much approval, Sanji turned and walked towards the kitchen, Zeff watching him. Seeing this, Sakura nudged Luffy's side and when she had his attention spoke to him quietly. Luffy looked at her in minor confusion before he gave a quick shrug, somehow ate the last of his food even quicker than said shrug, then stood up from the table telling the rest of the crew that he felt like getting some air.
Luffy would come back twenty minutes later with a megawatt grin saying that Sanji would be their new cook. While Nami, Zoro, and Usopp looked at Luffy in confusion, with Johnny and Yosaku being indifferent, Sakura and Syaoran traded a long speaking look with each other, filled with narrowing and darting eyes, raising eyebrows, and abbreviated hand gestures. A moment later, Syaoran nodded and stood up from his seat as he said "Zoro, if you don't mind, I'd like a word with you in private."
Zoro let out a grunt then stood up as he said "Yeah, alright."
The rest of the Straw Hats plus the Bounty Hunter Duo watched the two leave the restaurant in confusion before turning their gazes to Sakura in question. Sakura shook her head and said "It's better if you don't know the part he's hearing, trust me. However, what I can tell you is that the pirate crew Gin is part of is in bad straits and he'll be back in three days, though his Captain will NOT be honoring the promise he gave his subordinate to not attack the Baratie."
Luffy gained a rather revolted look at the mere thought of lying to a crewmate like that while Usopp gulped and asked "Does that mean we'll have to fight the Krieg pirates?"
Sakura gave him a reassuring smile as she assured him "You'll have Syaoran and my magic to help you guys, but if you see a giant ship with a panther figurehead then I recommend you and Nami get aboard the Going Merry if you aren't already and move her away from the Baratie. If things go the same way as in the source material then the waters around here will be getting very turbulent shortly after that ship shows up so we need the Merry to not be tied to the restaurant if we don't want her to be damaged at all."
Luffy and Usopp both frowned heavily at the thought of their ship being damaged while Nami furrowed her eyebrows in thought.
Meanwhile
Zoro followed Syaoran outside of the restaurant and around the ship's deck until they were next to where the Going Merry was tied to a pair of the restaurant's docking cleaves. As Syaoran leaned against the railing, Zoro leaned against the wall opposite him with crossed arms as he asked "So what's up?"
Syaoran took in a slightly larger than normal breath before he confided "In three days, that pirate from before is going to return with the remains of his crew, roughly numbered at a hundred members. There will be a fight, but in the source material you weren't part of it."
Zoro frowned in confusion and queried "Alright, I'll bite. Why wouldn't I be part of what sounds like a good fight?"
"Because the man who attacked the Krieg Pirates in the Grand Line and subsequently wiped out all but one of the then fifty ship strong fleet is coming to finish the job." Syaoran stated before he gave Zoro a look and continued "In three days, your goal, the Warlord of the Sea and World's Greatest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk will arrive."
Zoro stiffened, left hand moving to grasp Wado Ichimonji's hilt tightly as he asked "Hawkeye will be coming here?"
"Indeed." Syaoran confirmed before he declared "You will challenge him, and you will fall." Zoro gave a massive flinch but Syaoran kept going, elaborating with "You will fail to score a single blow on this man. His blade will literally be an inch from delivering you to death's door step, but you shall not take a single step back. And when that happens, you will have earned his respect, and as such, he shall lay you low with the world's greatest sword."
A bead of sweat went down the side of Zoro's face as Syaoran spoke. However, there was no fear in his eyes, only pure determination and Syaoran smirked in approval as he said "Thankfully, it's to my understanding that 'chicks dig scars', the bigger, the better."
Despite himself, Zoro let out a single snort at that flippant ending to the magician's dire declaration. A moment later, he gave Syaoran a nod and pushed off the wall, walking to the railing Syaoran was leaning against. He put a foot on the railing, pausing just long enough to say "Thanks for the heads up." The next moment, he used the railing as a launch point to leap aboard the Merry and went below decks to gather his weights. He had training to do.
END
Author's Notes: I am REALLY sorry for how long this took to get out. I got stuck at places and just didn't know what to type. And yet somehow, my mind was set on adding both Mihawk and Krieg fights into the mix. Yeesh, way to aim high and fall short brain. It didn't help that I'm doing both a Pokémon Nuzlocke on Alpha Sapphire AND doing a coloring project on Paint right now. But still, I believe that this is a good stopping point and I will be doing the rest of the One Piece stories now, specifically the Branch stories first.
So until those stories are ready, this is Tact, signing out.
