PART FOUR: Shadows
Tashigi's blade clashed against the twin non-existent shadow swords wielded by Lady Rook's phantom accomplice. The fact that they were non-existent didn't prevent them from being deadly and every time her katana struck her enemy's the piercing wail of metal against metal echoed across the sand.
The young woman felt her blood boil as she nimbly parried her opponent's blows, her wet hair and clothing soppily clinging to her, its extra weight slowing her down and impairing her movements. She knew fighting against it was fruitless as there was no way she could kill it. She needed to get past it somehow and help Zoro, who was furiously battling against the shadow's host. If they could cut her down, or at the very least disarm her, the shadow wouldn't be able to harm anyone.
Parrying another blow Tashigi released her blade's handle with one of her hands and pivoted her body to spin sideways. It was a gamble to subtract the strength of one arm from the force of her attack, but she needed reach more than power at that moment. Spinning her wrist she leaned all her weight into her step forward and swiped rather than stabbed at the shadow's neck, and just as she suspected, the blade whistled through the air about level with the ghost's throat, passing directly through it delivering no damage whatsoever.
The swipe would have likely only resulted in a scratch had her opponent been made of flesh, but it still confirmed what she already knew. She couldn't hurt it. She could only defend herself against it.
The shadow lunged at her and made to stab at her torso with one of its transparent swords, but when she had turned her body sideways, she had minimized her occupied space and made herself a smaller target. The strike whistled harmlessly past her abdomen and she immediately recalled her weight and planted herself firmly back on both feet, two hands clasping her sword handle again. Her gamble had been both a stellar success and a spectacular failure. If there had been clouds overhead then maybe the shadow would simply vanish, but the sky was clear, and the sun passively continued to reinforce the actions of Lady Rook's deadly puppet.
It was just a matter of time before she lost her balance or her glasses and then she was as good as dead, murdered by something that could never be held accountable. She needed to outsmart this thing and get to Zoro before Lady Rook overwhelmed him, but in the meantime, she had to keep the eyes of the sightless creature focused on her, so it couldn't sneak up behind him and stab him in the back.
A few yards away Zoro and Lady Rook dueled across the wet sand in the shallows, her two blades countering his three as easily as if he were moving in slow motion.
Sweat ran down his face and stung his eyes as Zoro grew more and more enraged. He had encountered numerous skilled swordsmen in the past, some faster, some stronger, some smarter, but for the first time since his battle with Mihawk, he was starting to think this woman was all three. He was amazed not only at her stamina and agility but how she didn't seem to have a tell of any kind. There was no sign of weakness anywhere. No sudden flash of fear in her eye. No small favoring of a muscle to indicate a previous injury. Even her pride only extended just far enough to make her confident but still cautious. She suspected she was better than him but didn't assume it, and he couldn't even coax her into letting her guard down by making her angry. She was too well-disciplined for that.
Admittedly, there had been a flash of anger when Tashigi had rejoined the fight, but it had faded quickly after she rebirthed her shadowy henchman. Zoro was running out of ideas. He had been throwing his best at her, striking with enough force to decimate a city wall or a steel door, but she continued to absorb them like he was a cat idly batting at string. She was prepared for his best, so his best wasn't going to be enough. He had to adjust his strategy.
Zoro took half a step back and spat his third blade out and let it splash into the seawater at his feet. He took in a big gulp of air and immediately his limbs felt refreshed.
Lady Rook stared him down, ignoring the blood running down her cheek as Zoro did the fresh pain from the numerous wounds she had dealt him.
"You think you can be the best simply because you want to be?" She raised an eyebrow. "You think will-power, practice and pain is all are takes? Had I not learned to lift a sword I would have been dead before I was ten. I was forced to kill or else my captors would have starved me. My survival depended on the deaths of others, most of them my own age. But everything I ever lost, I chose to lose by my own hands. It was a necessity, and in turn, everything I ever gained was by my own hands as well."
Zoro spun his blades nimbly. "I don't keep score. I only look forwards, never behind me."
Lady Rook snarled. "After I kill you, no one will ever remember your name. Not even Mihawk."
Zoro allowed himself a smirk. "If you're the one to kill me, I don't deserve the recognition."
He launched himself forward, his blades held out to either side of him like wings, daring her to strike at his exposed chest.
"Twin-Headed Hydra!" Zoro bellowed as he charged her, making it seem like he was going to swing his swords horizontally in front of him as if to take off her head. For half a second her defensive stance made it look like that was exactly what she was expecting, but at the same moment he realigned his blades, she did the same.
The attack had been a double bluff. Zoro had been anticipating her suddenly changing her position at the last moment to intercept his swift vertical strikes meant to cut her down the middle, but he had never expected her to think one step beyond that. Her blades spun to intercept his horizontal turned vertical turned stabbing attack, and she deflected both his blades as easily as they were leaves gently lifted by the breeze.
Zoro shot past her and for a few quiet moments both stood facing the opposite direction, their backs towards each other. The young man winced and felt the deep gash she cut across his left side leak blood down his pant leg. He staggered but didn't fall. He forced himself to count to five, and then he heard it.
Lady Rook let out an enraged hiss and dropped one of her swords, and Zoro made himself chuckle. After she had deflected his blade and he realized he wasn't going to connect with her torso, he let the momentum of her sword striking his own carry up the length of her arm instead of trying to overcorrect himself. Now her right forearm was sliced from wrist to elbow.
Both of them were past the point of no return. They were losing too much blood to remain clear-headed. Now it was just a matter of who could remain standing longer. They both turned to face each other again, Zoro's left hand clutching the split in his flesh under his rib.
"You… ruthless… bastard…" She gasped, almost in a congratulatory tone.
For a moment it looked like she was actually going to throw down her remaining blade and surrender, but then she raised the sword into the air, tip to the sky as if to challenge the sun.
"FLARES!" She cried out.
Somewhere up the beach, Zoro heard the pop of a shot being fired and then saw six or seven blooms of red fireworks appear on the horizon. He knew what was coming a second before it happened, and only managed to bring his swords up just in time.
There was a bright flash that for all of a single instant outshone the sun and cast multiple dark shadows behind them all. Except for Lady Rook. Her shadows swarmed Zoro all at once and slashed at him from every angle. Then, as quickly as they appeared, they vanished, and Zoro fell to his knees as blood spurted from numerous raw wounds.
Tashigi's arms were screaming in pain as she attempted time and time again to get around the shadow swordsman. She had nearly been ready to collapse in exhaustion when one of its blades had disappeared.
Glancing over towards Zoro she noticed Lady Rook and he were standing with their backs to each other as the tides washed in around their ankles. It appeared as though Zoro had wounded her enough to get her to drop one of her weapons. Now was her chance.
Taking advantage of the shadow's momentary confusion she charged past it towards the sea. Throwing off her navy jacket she grabbed her glasses in one hand and once she was waist deep, took a deep breath and dove forward into the water. Right before the cold salty waves enveloped her there was a blinding flash of light, but she didn't even get the chance to process where it had come from before she was kicking her way blindly forward across the sand, dragging her katana behind her.
Zoro fell forward onto his knees with a splash and gasped in pain as Lady Rook march towards him, carefully favoring her bleeding right arm as she held her blade outstretched with her left hand.
When she was within striking distance Zoro gave an exhausted swing of his right arm, but she countered the blow and slashed at him, knocking the blade from his grip.
She made to stab downwards into his chest, but he parried the attack with his remaining sword and deflected it. Lady Rook brought up her boot and connected it with his jaw, knocking him backward, and somewhere between her kick and the resulting crash of his body hitting the sand, he dropped his last sword. He could never remember being completely disarmed during a battle before.
The woman placed both her feet on his elbows, pinning him into the sand, his nose and mouth just above the waterline.
"Goodbye, Roronoa Zoro." She hissed and brought her left arm up to plunge her sword point down into his eye when there was a click of metal to her right. She glanced sideways and saw Tashigi standing a few short yards away in the shallows up to her knees, soaking wet, glasses perched upon her nose streaked with saltwater, sword in one hand, a pistol in the other, pointed directly at the sword master's head.
"Drop it." Tashigi hissed. "Let him go."
Lady Rook's eyes darted sideways and found her shadow standing despondently a few feet away from the young marine, its form wavering and convulsing uncontrollably.
The deeper into the water her shadow tried to move, the more it began to fade and weaken. The light reflecting off the constantly rippling surface made it nearly impossible to hold its form.
Lady Rook grunted and looked back at the girl. "Your powder's bound to be soaking wet. And even if it isn't and the gun fires, can you even see me well enough to make the shot?"
A flinch of panic crossed Tashigi's brow, but then the younger woman's eyes harden as if transforming into glass and leveled the pistol, keeping it steady in her small hand.
"You want to risk it?" She replied, daring her to strike at Zoro.
"He's just another pirate…" Lady Rook rolled her eyes. "You help free him, how many more marines will he kill?"
"Less than you would," Tashigi responded without missing a beat.
"Okay, butterfly…" She chuckled, the tip of her blade still positioned just a hair above Zoro's chin. "Clearly this one isn't just another bounty for you. Bring my terms to Navy Headquarters, and maybe I'll just blind him instead of cutting his throat."
"What are your terms?" The marine inquired without emotion as water dripped from the end of the pistol's barrel.
"Your Navy is in disarray. The Buster Call launched upon their own at Enies Lobby proved the marines are just as capable of random, savage bloodshed as any pirate enterprise. The playing board has been reset, and pirates from across every ocean have set aside their differences and have collectively fixed their eyes on Navy Headquarters. You're about to be overwhelmed. The Pirate Warlords won't help you, but the Chess Piece Pirates can."
"How so?" Tashigi asked.
"The six remaining Warlords are to be stripped of their titles and their positions assigned to the six officers of the Chess Piece Pirates, including Juzo Rameses, who is to be reinstated. You've seen the horrors we're capable of. The number of bodies we've stacked. How would it feel having that destruction turned against every one of your enemies instead? In exchange for immunity and free-range across the Grand Line, we will ally ourselves with your little seagull fan club and help protect you from what is to come."
"You're insane." Tashigi spat. "The attack on Enies Lobby was brought about by the incompetence of one man, not at the orders of some shadow council. The World Government will never ally themselves with murderous pirates like yourselves."
"They already do." Lady Rook raised an eyebrow. "Be sensible, girl. You saw how easy it was for us to free Rameses. Do you really want us infiltrating Impel Down next and swelling our ranks with those imprisoned there? How would you like Crocodile joining with us, or someone worse? Who else could possibly protect you?"
She jerked her head down at Zoro. "Him? The Straw Hats?"
"Maybe…" Tashigi hissed through clenched teeth. "Your terms have been heard and considered by a representing officer in the Imperial Navy, and they have been denied."
"Time to roll the dice then." Lady Rook shrugged and turned back down to look at Zoro, and her eyebrows arched in shock to discover the tide had been going out and his head was now mostly above the water.
The young man raised his upper body and struck, grabbing the end of her blade in his teeth and snapping the top third of the sword off. Lady Rook cursed and took half a step back in shock, which freed one of Zoro's arms and allowed him to spit the steel tip into his hand and plunge it into the woman's shin.
Lady Rook roared in pain as her legs nearly collapsed underneath her and raised her broken sword to swipe across Zoro's exposed neck, but suddenly Tashigi was there, and her blade sang as she swung it upwards and it bit into the woman's hand.
Blood cascaded across them in a small arc as her sword fell to the sand and immediately the shadow puppet vanished and returned to its quiet place beside her. Lady Rook fell onto one knee and held up her left hand in horror to discover all four of her fingers had been sheared clean off by Tashigi's katana.
Zoro clambered to his feet huffing in fury and picked up his blades as Tashigi stepped forward and placed her sword against the back of the woman's neck.
"Lady Rook… by order of the Imperial Navy… I place you under arrest for piracy, assault, attempted murder, and murder."
The woman was too stunned to respond as she stared at her mangled hand.
"They'll never let me eat again…" She whispered to herself as blood ran down her wrist.
Zoro retrieved his third sword and glanced back up the beach.
"Where's that cook?" He snarled and then paused. He could see his crewmate up the beach, but he was no longer fighting. He wasn't even on his feet anymore. In another moment, he would never stand again.
Zoro sprinted up the beach, ready to cut down the figure who stood over his friend, but the swordsman's wounds were too severe, and he wasn't moving fast enough. He wasn't going to make it.
"Sanji!" He cried out, but the blonde chef didn't hear him.
9 Page