Hallo and welcome back!
Since I was being an idot and accidentally already posted this chapter on AO3 it's only fair you get it early as well!
Thank you guys for all the lovely comments! I'm happy to inform you that this is the first chapter of a new story arc consisting of 4 chapters, so prepare for weekly updates!
Last time we witnessed some light hearted banter, simply because Robin couldn't resist teasing her man when he reluctantly disclosed some details from his past. Zoro learned that Sanji had indeed known about their "relationship", but none of that matters now… well it does, but now we have more pressing matters to attend to!
Kitetsu and Shuusui were drenched in blood as pirates and marines alike fell to their hunger for flesh and bones, their thirst for blood. Kitetsu especially was driving him further and further into the mayhem, lusting for the gore it should have been gifted weeks ago. Would be a fucking bitch to clean afterwards. Maybe he could use Robin for a swordrack again… Fucking focus, damn it! Damn pesky soldiers just couldn't mind their own fucking business, could they? The moment they had heard of the pirates, everyone had known that Luffy would want to get rid of them. It was just what they did, the usual Strawhat heroism, no matter how much the boy protested about the word. And they had been perfectly fine taking out the scumbag pirate crew that had terrorised the fucking town for years. And now that they were taking care of the problem, it was suddenly important enough for not one, but two marine ships to show up. Granted, Tashigi and Smoker had been following them already, but they weren't the fucking problem. In fact, he found ragged G-5 soldiers to be standing conveniently between the other marines and him more often than not. Keeping them away so he could get rid of the pirates. Could you even call G-5 marines? They seemed to be more on their side than anything else.
When the first gunshot of the battle rang, he instantly focused on Luffy. Those pirates might have been scumbags, but they weren't particularly stupid. In an all out brawl like this, they wouldn't risk decimating their own numbers by using guns. The only kind of guns that would be fired in a fight like this were ones loaded with keiroseki, because with their twisted sense of justice the marines didn't give a single fuck about killing off their own if only they took a nasty pirate with them. The only one the marines would waste the priceless thing on was his captain.
He could see the shock on the boy's face. The pain and weakness were missing though. Cutting down another pirate he let his Haki go. Guilt. It was guilt that had his easygoing captain paralyzed on the spot. Didn't have to follow the boy's line of sight to know just which devilfruit user had been hit by the stray bullet probably meant for Luffy; a gut wrenching cry and a furious wave of murderous intent like he had never felt coming from the petite G-5 captain before told him. He met his captain's gaze. Like always, he was the first one Luffy came to in distress, and it didn't matter that the boy didn't have time to cry out, to give him an order, before he was tackled to the ground by a bunch of pirates. It was perfectly clear what was expected of him, and unlike back in Alabasta, he was not opposed to the idea anymore.
He sprinted up the slope, straight for Tashigi's radiating Aura. She stood over her commanding officer, Shigure raised to defend against any threat coming their way. Fucking impossible; with the deep abyss at their backs, there was nowhere to run, and with Smoker at her feet, she couldn't go all out. The only way out was down the steep cliffs into the rocky sea.
Like a school of piranhas, the pirates flocked around her in a matter of seconds, but they made way for him, overwhelmed by the fear of being caught in a fight between the two menacing auras. Fucking cowards.
When he jumped to attack, her face screamed betrayal and disgust.
"Shut up," he hissed when they locked swords, before she got the chance to voice her disappointment in him. "I got this. You just worry about getting the damn marines off our backs."
It was almost sickening how her eyes widened in gratitude before she gave way, seemingly buckling beneath his force. Evading his swords at the last second and letting them bite deep into the cliff's overhang, the rock crumbled. She watched him with an expression of horror and disbelief as he let himself fall down towards the spiky rocks jutting out of the angry sea at least 30 meters beneath them. Her face would have been hilarious if he didn't have to attend to more pressing matters. He didn't intend to fish Smoker's remains from the water, had to hurry up to catch him before that, and before he got his swords wet, too. Cut the air in front of him, reducing its resistance. Reached him just in time, yanked him up by his arm and pushed them up towards the cliff from the piece of rock he'd cut off before. With one strike of Shuusui, the rock before him crumbled and burst, cutting a cave in stone that had stood strong for centuries.
He barely reached the edge with his hand and hurled the motionless marine in with less care than his condition probably demanded before pulling himself up.
He popped the vice admiral's shoulder back in and cut his white coat to bind the bleeding wound on his arm. Bullet had gone straight through to lodge itself somewhere in his torso. Couldn't do anything about that.
Felt like fucking hours 'til the man started to groan awake, "Damn pirates."
"Ya know, for me being a damn pirate, I have to save your ass an awful lot."
Smoker grunted as he righted himself against the cave's wall. "Never asked you to; in fact I'd appreciate it if you didn't. Doesn't look particularly good to have a notorious pirate captain order his first mate to save a goddamn vice admiral."
"Guess he wants to keep you around to accompany him to the scaffold one day."
The marine coughed a wet laugh. "Yeah, I guess a man like him deserves that much."
They fell silent after that, apart from Smoker's occasional groans. Fuck, this was uncomfortable. Couldn't even meditate, the adrenaline of the fight still raging through his veins. Damn. "You guys should have just let us do our thing, you know. You would have had a whole fucking pirate crew ready for capture instead of this fucking mess."
Smoker laughed again, wheezing this time. Damn, things really didn't look too good for the marine. "Let you do your thing? Are you fucking crazy? What type of marines would we be if we left justice in pirates' hands? Damn it, boy, you and your crew are constantly trying my sense of justice, but let you do our job? Fuck no."
He scoffed,"Yeah, right, as if it hadn't happened before. Alabasta ring a bell?" He only got a grunt for an answer.
Smoker was always kind of pale, wasn't he? Pale, yes. Ashen? A bit maybe, but this? No, not really… Fuck. The man's eyes seemed to lack focus, too… He might be able to dress a wound and set a bone, but this was something else. Fucking shit.
He felt her presence before he saw her face appearing on the stony wall. Her eyes scanned him over, satisfied with his lack of injuries before she looked at the probably dying marine hunched in the corner.
"My my, you don't look too healthy, Smoker-san," she stated before disappearing again.
Dying maybe, but not too weak to run his mouth. "So, the Demon of the East Blue and the Devil Child of Ohara. Now if that doesn't make a cute couple," he scoffed.
Fuck. How the fuck… When… They hadn't even interacted in that damn battle; how in all the fucking hells had he found out?
"With the reports, I would have pictured you more the one night kind of guy if only because you wouldn't find your damn way back to bed after taking a midnight piss. Good thing you live on the same ship, ain't it?"
Fucking bastard. If not for his already battered state, he'd have carved him right up for that bullshit. Should maybe anyway, what if he decided to tell the whole fucking world? Fuck!
"Don't burst a vein, Roronoa. Your woman should be more careful with her attire. Was ripped during battle. Why the fuck else would a woman like her carry a wound saying 'blade?' Not very creative, I might add."
This was exactly what he had been worried about, fuck, he shouldn't have let her talk him into this! Fucking damn it! And not creative his ass, he had to change his signature because of the damn shitcook!
"Don't worry, boy, I'm quite relieved. Don't have to worry about you and my Captain eloping anymore."
Ha, he'd seriously been worrying about that? "She'd never do that."
"That's what you think. That woman would follow you to the edge of the world if you just so much as hinted to the possibility of letting her hold that sword of yours," he grunted.
"She wouldn't," he stated as a matter of fact. He was fairly certain she had a thing for Smoker, and no matter how obsessed she was with his blades, she wouldn't leave Smoker behind for them.
More silence, more wheezing breaths and wet coughs. Robin better hurry the fuck up getting Chopper down here.
Another coughed laugh. "Damn, wouldn't have expected a woman with her past to allow another mark on her."
"She's been marked before?" he asked before he could stop himself.
Smoker scoffed again. "She's been a slave, of course she had. Always figured you on the more rational end of the spectrum in that crew… What, she let you cut your prepubescent graffiti in her skin but won't let you see her naked?"
It was meant to get a rise out of him, probably to keep himself from becoming too friendly with a pirate. Wouldn't humour him. The man was dying, no need to start a fight. And wasn't it a good sign? That he didn't seem to know about her ability to heal the scars?
He might just live. She was here again, his time carrying Chopper from one pair of arms to the next until she set him down in their little cave with his bag in hoof.
He gripped one of her hands before it could disappear again, and she answered by growing an ear on her palm. "Cover your shoulder. Smoker saw."
Her hand gave him a thumbs up before it disappeared like the others in a flurry of petals. Rationally, he knew that there was still a battle going on above them and that she didn't have time to treat this situation with the severity it demanded, but fuck if the casualness she brushed it of with didn't enrage him.
Behind him, Smoker chuckled as he was prodded by tiny hooves. "Trouble in paradise?"
"Shut up," he and Chopper quipped back, although probably for different reasons.
Thank you for reading, please leave a comment and let me know what you think about this chapter. See you next week!