Hey there,
so this is just a short, little chapter, not a lot of things happening, but they will, I promise ;-)
Have a great weekend everybody, and thank you all for your lovely comments^^
Chapter 6 - Uncertainty
-Zoro-
Headache.
The last few days he had woken up far too often with a headache.
He didn't even want to think about the rest of his body.
It felt as if someone with a pair of dull, hot tweezers had first pulled off his skin and then teared apart every single fiber of his muscles, tendons, and whatever else was in the body.
Feeling dull he groaned and tried to move but failed miserably. Everything hurt and his body was simply unable to perceive anything else.
He opened his heavy eyes.
What had actually happened and where the hell was he?
Above him he saw a blurred ceiling of simple, cold stone.
But then he remembered what had happened. He had turned back, he had lost his crew and afterwards turned back.
Quietly, he sighed. At last he was himself again. But the feeling of happiness that he was supposed to feel wasn't there. How could he rejoice about something like this when he didn't even know where his friends were and if they were alright?
He did not believe in accidents or fate, but in his luck he had come across Bartholomew Kuma, only minutes after he had been back in his original body again. Just like back then on Thriller Bark, Zoro had not stood any chance, had hardly been able to defend himself.
I saved them.
What the hell had the Shichibukai meant by that?
After all, he had smashed them! Had made them... made them disappear. He had destroyed them!
Tell me, Roronoa Zoro, if you were to go on a trip, where would you like to go?
Or... Hold on.
Had Kuma done the same with them? Had he just touched them, like him, and then the same thing had happened to them; whatever had happened to him?
Had Kuma, just like with Zoro, brought his friends out of a dangerous situation?
But why? Why should a Shichibukai help them? The one Shichibukai of all people, who had wanted to kill his captain not so long ago?
Don't worry, Roronoa Zoro, I'm not going to betray you.
This made no sense at all!
Why did this Shichibukai first send his friends and then him away? Why did he seem to want to help them and what did he mean by that? Not betraying him? That he had been on Mary Joa or what?
Or that he was still alive. Slowly it dawned to Zoro.
But if all of this was really true, then it meant that his friends were still alive, had to be alive.
Zoro had no idea where he was, but maybe his friends were there as well.
He quickly straightened up, at least he tried, but his body was still burning in pain and, except for a miserable groan, nothing happened.
But what struck him was his voice.
It wasn't his voice. No, that was not true. It wasn't his voice, yet still it was his voice, or rather Loreen's voice.
To hell with that! Had it been nothing but a dream? In the end, hadn't he changed?
But no, Kuma had recognized him after all.
He sighed, the headache made it impossible for him to think straight.
"You're awake?"
There was somebody there!
But Zoro could still hardly move and even from the corners of his eyes he could not see anything. Moreover, his damn vision was slow to clear up.
He wanted to answer, but only a croak rang out of his mouth.
"My goodness, you look like you've taken some stick, haven't you?"
Somehow this voice seemed familiar to him, he thought he had heard it somewhere, but maybe only because his roaring head played a prank on him.
Once again, he tried to get up and this time he even made it halfway.
"Carefully," the voice advised with a slightly sarcastic undertone.
Zoro looked to the side, there, just a few meters away from him, stood painted, young woman with pink hair.
"You?!" He wanted to scream, but only a dry growl came out.
She was that girl from Thriller Bark! This ghost chick, which could spread negative mood with her hollows.
She didn't seem to understand him, because she smiled slightly.
"You also got caught by Bartholomew Kuma, didn't you?"
She bent down and picked up a pillow, holding a small bowl with a cloth in the other hand.
"I found you outside. You've fallen out of the sky just like I've done. Looked at least as bad as I did." She kept talking, pushing the pillow behind his back so he could sit up. "I'm really glad that I'm not alone anymore. I've been here for almost two months and there's absolutely no one to talk to on this whole insel. There aren't even servants here."
"You are..." Again, his voice broke.
"My name is Perona." She sat on a chair next to his bed and was still smiling. "And you're one of the straw hats, aren't you?"
-Mihawk-
Standing in Lady Loreen's room, he watched his housekeeper, her son, and one of her granddaughters scurry around another one of Kanan's granddaughters.
"Koushu, this is not an art competition, stick the wig on and finish it," murmured the younger one, a girl named Taruchi, in fond memory of Mihawk's late mother, but she was so very different from his mother, not that he was thinking about that at the moment.
Taruchi was not even twelve years old but already about the size of Roronoa in his female form. Otherwise, their figures seemed similar, at least at first glance.
"Don't rush me, Tai, the wig has to fit tightly so it doesn't fall off," hissed the elder of the sisters, not yet twenty and already an image of her mother.
The father of the two, Kanan's only son and indeed the real doctor of the Dracule family, meanwhile, worked at the large suitcase in which he had brought his youngest daughter in. It looked like a normal, if oversized, doctor's bag.
"Stop fighting, you two," he muttered in his usual calm, deep voice; with each word his little too long moustache trembled, "and calm down a little bit."
None of them paid attention to Mihawk, none of them asked any questions, none of them seemed nervous, they all seemed totally unimpressed by this unusual assignment.
Kanan walked over to him.
She had tried several times to start a conversation with him, but he had stopped any attempt. He did not want to talk about him worrying, did not want to talk about how unsettled he was, he did not want to talk about how an uneducated child had become so important to him.
"Your Lordship?" She looked up at him.
He turned his gaze away from the two sisters when she touched his arm, but before he could respond, they were already interrupted by a dull knock. It came from the front door of Mihawk's rooms.
Suddenly, everybody exchanged a quick glance. The two sisters rushed to Lady Loreen's bedroom, followed by their father, who closed the door.
Mihawk quickly walked into his room, feeling the door in the wall close in his back, locking it on his side as well.
He quickly straightened the collar of his coat before opening the door.
"Eizen?"
He was already cursing himself. His concern for Roronoa had made him inattentive. Of course, it had only been a matter of time before the politician would show up.
"To what do I owe the honor?" He asked coldly, openly showing his dislike.
The old man with his opaque sunglasses folded his hands. Behind him were two bodyguards in black suits, a somewhat unorthodox company for the politician, at least in Mary Joa, where no danger supposedly existed.
"Good morning, Lord Dracule," he said, respecting the etiquette, "I wanted to have a conversation with Lady Loreen, but I saw the please-not-disturb sign hanging on her door, so I was hoping to meet her in your chambers."
This wicked man wasted no time.
"As you will surely remember, I would like to discuss the further cooperation with the young lady."
"Further cooperation? ", Mihawk repeated a trace too sarcastic. "I would like to remind you that there has been no cooperation between you and my companion so far. As far as I am informed, my guest has politely rejected your offer, even if you may dislike it."
The other was just smiling his dangerous smile. "Oh, maybe I have just forgotten it. Anyway, I would like to talk to Lady Loreen now, so if you would be so kind to step aside."
The audacity of the other surprised him. The contract with Lady Loreen seemed to be truly important to him. Why else should he take such drastic measures and disrespect the etiquette?
Mihawk folded his arms.
"I have to apologize, but this will not possible."
"Excuse me?" The old man seemed almost confused that his desire had not been bowed to.
"Lady Loreen is about to leave Mary Joa and is currently not receiving any guests."
Eizen laughed softly: "You must be joking, Lord Dracule, a bad joke if I may add. Please, it is unthinkable that you will not guard Lady Loreen for even a second and now the young lady is supposed to leave Mary Joa without you. With all due respect, but are you trying to get rid of me?"
The other was far too direct, this meeting seemed quite necessary for him.
"I apologize, but I have to disappoint you. It is actually the case that I will not leave with my companion. My duties as Shichibukai do not allow me to accompany my guest."
"Oh, I understand." A quiet threat had crept into Eizen's voice. "You have heard about my unplanned visit to Mary Joa and want to prevent a conversation between the honorable lady and me. Your jealousy is almost morbid."
Mihawk would not fall for this bait, the other had to think about a better trap if he wanted to lure Mihawk into answering unasked questions.
"Eizen, I ask you to refrain from such insinuations. As you have just said yourself, your visit is unplanned, so how would I have been able to make any preparations?"
But he did not deny that he would have done some under different conditions.
"But your companion is still there, isn't she? I do not mind the young lady continuing packing her possessions while we are talking. Please, let me in."
Now Mihawk pressed a hand against the door frame, an unmistakable sign. One of the two men behind the politician took a step forward.
"You obviously fail to understand me, Eizen. Lady Loreen is currently unable to receive any visitor, even if it is someone like you."
Now the politician frowned.
"And why is that?"
"Private reasons," he replied coldly.
"Is it the same reason why Lady Loreen was indisposed for the last few days at your home?"
"Even if, I am not in the position to tell you."
At that moment, Mihawk could hear a fine, almost inaudible beep; the snail in his pocket had awakened.
Roronoa!
Luckily, at that very moment, the wall door opened behind him – making him wonder how that was possible, because he recalled locking it - and Kanan came in, drawing attention to herself.
"Your Lordship," she called him calmly, "I am sorry to bother you, but if you would please come. Doctor Gonou wants to talk to you."
Oh, just in time.
"Doctor Gonou?" The politician asked.
"My family's doctor," Mihawk answered hostile, "and now, if you please would excuse me. I wish you a pleasant stay on Mary Joa."
He closed the door in front of Eizen's face, who had already opened his mouth for a reply.
"Very good, Kanan," he murmured, digging in his pocket. "What does Gonou want?"
The older woman shrugged her shoulders.
"I just wanted to let you know that we are ready and that we can leave."
He looked at the big clock at the other end of the room.
"Not yet. An average appointment of a family doctor takes a little longer, especially if concerning an important personality... please wait a few more minutes with your departure."
The housekeeper nodded and closed the wall door again.
Mihawk meanwhile pressed the button of the little transponder snail and waited. It beeped quietly in front of him.
But the other did not pick up.
"What are you doing?" He grumbled dissatisfied. "Did you just call me only to throw the snail away or what?"
With a sigh he gave up again. Hopefully it had been really Roronoa.
-Zoro-
"What?" He asked, stunned.
She just nodded: "Yeah, of course, I mean you're totally cute right now, but when you got here you weren't at all. You transformied or something and you're a pretty little girl now, but actually you're that nasty looking swordsdude, whose shadow we stole."
His heart stopped for a second. How could he get out of this mess?
Yet she had confirmed that he had regained his own body and then turned back.
That would also explain the pain.
The very first time he had woken up in this form, everything had felt numb and heavy.
When he had regained consciousness in his true body, he had been hardly able to move due to the pain, and now he felt very similar, was even more exhausted, even more tired.
"You said you were alone." His voice was still coarse, scratching his already dry throat. "That means none of the straw hats are here?"
If she had seen his transformation with her own eyes, a game of hide-and-seek would do nothing but steal time.
She shook her head. "No, just you. I read in the newspaper that you guys got beaten up. But I thought you were already dead, haven't you fallen with the G-6?"
The girl with the pink braids handed him a cup of clear liquid.
"How old is the newspaper?" He asked. How long had he been unconscious? Where had the Shichibukai sent him and how long had it taken him to get wherever he was?
The cold water soothed his irritated throat.
"Well, from today. But say, I didn't even know you were a shapeshifter. How do you do that?"
"I'm not," he replied coolly. So not even a day had passed. But since this room had no windows, he could not tell how early or late it was.
"Geez, you are rude. I'm finally not alone anymore and all I get is someone like you. Despite your sweet figure, you're a meany, do you know that?"
Now he looked at her again.
"You know I'm going to kill you if you blab about what happens here, right?"
Her already round, big eyes grew even bigger.
"What? That you are a shapeshifter?"
"I'm not a shapeshifter." It was exhausting. Her voice annoying, made him almost miss the quiet, thoughtful voice of the Shichibukai.
He paused, that was the first time he thought of the other. Hopefully this idiot hadn't done something stupid. Back when Zoro had done a few errands for Kanan and she had given him the wrong directions, the elder had almost gone nuts.
He had to tell this overprotective teacher what had happened and then he had to get to the Sabaody Archipelago as fast as possible. If he was alive and this girl before him as well, after she had also faced the Kuma, he could assume that the Shichibukai actually did spare his friends.
So maybe they were all alive and then they would all find their way back to the Sabaody Archipelago.
Then he noticed that this girl was still staring at him.
"What?" He grumbled.
"You're really rude," she said slowly, "I've helped you, you know? If I had left you outside, you'd probably be dead by now!"
"I don't think so." He was not interested in her sensitivity.
"By the way, the thing over there has been crying all morning." She nodded to the night table by his side. Against it leaned his three swords and on it lay a small white transponder snail, peacefully asleep. "I guess your sweetheart is worried about you."
"My what?"
Again, he stared at her.
"Well your sweetheart, this horrible mean Shichibukai Hawk Eyes. I read about all your adventures in the newspaper, I didn't have much else to do. You're Lady Loreen, right?"
Oh no, it seemed to be getting even worse than he expected.
"But to be honest, although I have to say it's kind of romantic I'm also a bit confused. Are you now a World Aristocrat who pretends to be a man to be able to travel around as a pirate and meet the love of her life? Or are you really a man and have just faked your death to be with your love? I don't know what I find more romantic. I mean, you look really fearsome as Roronoa Zoro and I don't even want to start about this Hawk Eyes, but both of you together would be just..."
"Could you stop it! What the hell?! There is nothing going on between Hawk Eyes and me. Are you mad or what to come up with such nonsense?!"
For a moment she only looked at him, then she pulled out several scraps of paper out of nowhere.
"Evidence one!" She slammed a newspaper article on the blanket covering his legs.
"Evidence two!" Another one.
"And of course, let's not forget evidence three!"
Each of these newspaper articles showed Lady Loreen and Dracule Mihawk at some activity, the last one was probably the most famous picture of him. It was from the great Marine ball. On the white marble floor, a young veiled woman knelt, her white dress spread out like a lake around her. This woman was himself, his alter ego Lady Loreen. A hand raised, with his back to the camera.
In front of the woman, three small steps up stood no one other than Dracule Mihawk, dressed all in black, except for the red mask. The Shichibukai had opened his mouth slightly by surprise and extended a hand after the woman on the ground.
Zoro knew this picture, it hung in the kitchen of the Dracule mansion, Kanan loved it.
"This is you, right?"
"Yes, but that's not..."
"Here it says in cold print, that you guys kissed on the ball and then you bailed."
"It didn't happen like..."
"And what about..."
"Shut up, will ya?!" Slowly he grew mad, his voice could hardly bear the increased volume and broke. "I don't have to explain myself to you. We are no... not in any way! Hawk Eyes is just the guy I want to defeat and that's it!"
She didn't seem impressed at all.
"I don't believe you."
"I don't care if you believe me or not!"
"But the newspaper..."
"I don't care what it says."
She got up grumpy. "You're really nasty. I kind of doubt you're nobility."
"I never said I was!" Why was he here?!
"That means that's also a lie?! So, you're really this grumpy swordsdude?"
Slightly desperate, he pointed to his three swords.
"Do they answer your question?"
She bit the inside of her cheek and pulled a face.
"So only two grumpy swordsmen without love? But this is neither sweet nor romantic!" She went to the door. "No, it's not sweet. Not sweet, not cute. Not cute at all."
"Hey," he yelled after her. She turned around.
"Just to make things clear, Perona, that's your name, right? If you spill even one word about this, I'll hunt you down and let you watch me cutting some heads off from all your cuddly toys before I kill you."
Shocked, she jumped a step back.
"No! You wouldn't dare to!"
"Do you really want to find out?"
She shook her head. "You're really not as cute as you look. Not cute at all." With those words she left.
He groaned annoyed and fell back. The pain had subsided by now and only a dull reverberating muscle soreness remained, but he was still exhausted.
What had he done to deserve this?
But then he realized the situation he was in. He quickly reached for the small, white transponder snail. He needed a cool head and a good plan now.
When he pressed the small button, the awakening snail stretched out and squealed slightly before it began to send the signal.
Suddenly the door opened again.
"Here, I have something to eat for you."
Hastily he hung up and buried the little snail under the blanket, could feel this little animal cuddling against his leg.
Why did he hide it from the girl?
