A/N: Remember that thing I said about not introducing any more OCs? -I can't seem to help myself. Sorry not sorry?
So we hit 100 reviews last update. Made my day. Thanks as always for your readership and support!
Ch. 20 – Marine Mayhem
Zoro saw that Nausicaa had pulled Kuina from the blimp before it exploded, but after that he lost track of everybody as soot and heat overwhelmed his animal senses. Before he knew it he was inches from the ground. His smaller, weaker fox body probably wouldn't survive the impact. Stupid Perona…
Some of the litter in the street had started to whirl as though caught in a dust devil. Zoro had noticed it only peripherally, thinking it was probably just caught up in the wind of the explosion. Right before he inevitably smashed into the cobbles, the whirlwind turned into a mini tornado, cushioning his fall. He landed with a soft thud, not even hard enough to bruise.
The litter storm dissipated a moment later, leaving him with a few candy wrappers caught in his now thoroughly matted fur. He looked thankfully up at Nausicaa, who crouched over him, still clutching Kuina.
"I told Mom my powers are good for way more than just spying," she grumbled, setting the girl down next to her father. "Anyway, we're totes lucky I dropped a ton of litter around town earlier, or we'd have been toast. She turned to rescue Cygnus from where he'd landed beak down in a trash can. "It'll take me hours to make another blimp, though, so I guess we'd better start walking. Hopefully that #lamegoth can beat my Mom soon so you can turn back…"
"Lookout, kid!" Zoro yipped at her. He knew Nausicaa couldn't understand him, but spoke out of habit as he tackled her in the nick of time. One of those enormous slashes smashed through the part of the street she'd been standing on.
He saved her from being sliced in two, but the slash crashed through a house near her. A piece of falling debris caught her by the head, and she keeled over into the street.
Zoro swore, nudging Kuina away from the wreckage as Cygnus flapped his wings to clear the dust away.
"Miss Nausicaa?" he honked, nudging her with his beak.
No response. Blood trickled from beneath her Navy ball cap.
Grabbing her with his webbed toes, he flapped and hauled her out from under the remaining wreckage. Meanwhile, people poured out into the street around the destroyed houses. This area was completely residential. Not that the Navy seemed to care.
"Is she ok?" Zoro asked. Aside from the head injury she appeared unharmed.
"She's still breathing," Cygnus replied, "She may have a concussion, though.–looks pretty bad."
Zoro eyed the shouting civilians gathering around. Thinking fast, he nabbed Nausicaa's ball cap and tossed it aside into the rubble.
"Hey! There's another one hurt over here!" someone cried, spotting her.
"Good thinking," Cygnus said. "They'll be able to take care of her much better than a pair of animals and a toddler."
"Speaking of the toddler," Zoro said, suddenly panicked. "Where'd she go?"
He and Cygnus looked around the street for a glimpse of the little girl with wild, green curls, but couldn't see her anywhere. Zoro tried using observation haki, but it wasn't strong enough to detect her in all of the hullabaloo. Cygnus circled once above the rooftops, but couldn't see her in any of the adjoining streets.
"Dammit, kid. Where'd you wander off to so fast?" Zoro growled, but then he paused and sniffed the air. "Wait, I think I smell her." He hadn't paid much attention to it before, but he noticed it now. She smelled like baby powder and soap, but also like…herself. He didn't really know how to explain it, she just had her own scent.
"What are you waiting for? Go get her!" Cygnus cried, flapping his wings. "When you find her, get her to Andromache; she'll take it from there. Then for gods' sakes, man, get back to Helena. She's going to need all the help she can get!"
"What about you?" Zoro asked hurriedly.
"I should stay with Miss Nausicaa and make sure she's alright. We owe her that much," Cygnus replied, then grinned slyly. "After that, I think I'll go find some churros. It is a festival after all."
"You think it's going to come to that?"
"It might," the king replied. "And if it does, I'll be prepared. Now, go! Before you lose the scent!"
Zoro nodded. "Take care of yourself, Pops," he said, then turned and bounded off. Seconds later, when he should have been out of human earshot, his vulpine ears picked up Cygnus' quiet response:
"You too, Hurricane," he muttered. "Don't die out there, son."
Coby kept his telescope pointed toward the shattered docks. Parts of Mycenae lay in shambles now, with deep trenches cutting straight through the streets and gabled buildings. Soon Ilium proper wouldn't fare much better, though the walls did limit the attack's trajectory some.
Between the slash damage, and the fact that anything wooden on the docks had been burned to cinders earlier, it looked like landing would prove troublesome. The lack of strategy and coordination between units was irksome to say the least.
"Remind me who on our side is doing that again?" Helmeppo asked, just as another enormous slash glanced off the surface of the water toward their enemy.
"Yoma Masophat," Coby replied.
"What did you say about my Mama?!"
"No, that's just his name," the captain corrected irritably. "He's…well, he's famous. And a little…strange. You really haven't heard of him?"
Helmeppo shrugged. "Looks like he's going to win the battle before we even land."
"That would save us the trouble of figuring out how," Coby muttered.
More annoyed than sheepish, Calypso glared out at the attacking Navy as it came closer and closer to the shore. He didn't like being upstaged with his own attack. Not to mention they'd botched his attempt to impress Helena.
Speaking of the Queen; Calypso had to admit she had guts. The battle on the docks ground to a halt after the first few slashes tore through everything. Everyone with any sense of self-preservation had taken refuge, or tried. Helena, however, must have realized that nothing could truly protect them from attacks like these. She stood completely exposed at the edge of the ocean, glaring out at the enemy with nothing in hand but her sea stone dagger.
Calypso sauntered up beside her, one machete slung casually over his shoulder as he tapped the other pensively at his side.
"What's the plan, mon?" he asked.
Helena glanced sidelong to where Hector had Regent pinned. As they watched, Regent flipped Hector over, his three heads snarling. And so the stalemate continued. They couldn't use Hector to stop the approaching ships.
"Is it a swordsman causing this, do you think?" Helena asked him, "Or a devil?" she flipped the dagger around her hand in anticipation.
"If I had to hazard a guess," Calypso said, grinning at her pluck, "I'd say it's Yoma Masophat."
"What'd you say about my Mama?" Helena asked, turning a glare at him.
"No, Captain Yoma. That's his name," Calypso explained quickly. "That looks like something his devil fruit power could do, mon."
"How do you know so much about the navy?" Helena asked suspiciously.
She didn't miss a beat, that one. "Wouldn't you like to know," Calypso replied, winking at her. "So Yoma's got a devil fruit that can capture, store, and reuse attacks. I'm thinking those slashes that keep hitting us are mine."
"Lovely," Helena replied with little enthusiasm. "That's how you've managed to block some of them, I take it."
Calypso nodded at her, glad she had noticed his daring attempts to keep the slashes away from her civilians. "That's also why I haven't tried to sink any more of their ships. If he captures anything stronger from me, we'll be in even bigger trouble."
At that moment, another slash ripped across the ocean. Helena pushed Calypso aside, running straight into the attack's path.
"What are you doing, mon!" Calypso cried.
"If it's a sword attack, then it's something I can block," she insisted.
Idiot woman! She knew nothing about haki! And if she got herself killed, that shot Cipher Pole's plans back to square one. Calypso tried to reach her, to push her aside, but by then it was too late. She faced the attack head on, catching it with her dagger.
The sea prism blade had been beautifully crafted; it sparked but didn't shatter or break under the weight of the attack, even without armament haki. Unfortunately, despite Helena's skill and daring do, she still lacked the strength to redirect or negate the blow. It pushed her back, hard and fast until she struck one of the houses behind her. The wooden building snapped around her, knocking her off of her feet. When she fell backward the glowing slash glanced off of her blade and flew upward, slicing through the roof above her.
"Your Majesty!" a woman with cinnabar hair emerged from the now shattered house. She slung Helena's arm over her shoulder and helped her to her feet before Calypso could get there. A red-headed boy, around twelve or thirteen-years-old, followed them out of the wreckage, his eyes wide.
"As I thought," Helena said, wincing. "Sea prism is strong enough to block it. Get everyone in Mycenae behind the walls. Talk to Agamemnon – he has the manpower to make it happen. Quickly!"
"But Queen Helena, you're hurt," the boy said.
"Don't worry about me, Ajax," Helena replied, smiling at him. "Just take care of your mom, ok? Sorry about your house. I did my best to protect it."
The boy nodded, and he and his mother beat a hasty retreat, drawing their neighbors with them. Helena watched them go, then grimaced as she rotated the shoulder of her dagger arm, popping it audibly back into place.
"Your house will be next if we don't do something, mon," Calypso observed, glancing toward the semi-distant palace where the slashes aimed over the walls could still hit Ilium proper higher up the hillside.
Limping a little, Helena walked back toward the ocean and approaching ships. "I think you should help get the civilians to safety," she informed him.
He didn't move from her side. "I think that woman and her son have it covered, mon," he observed. "Anyway, you expect me to leave you after a crazy stunt like that? Someone's got to keep you in check."
Helena smirked, but ignored his proffered arm, her gait growing stronger with each step. She retrieved something heavy from the battle detritus as she ambled forward. When she liked her vantage point, she cracked her neck first one way, then the other, then swung a mortar launcher up onto her shoulder.
Calypso had seen her men use one of them before. A shatter-cannon. It usually had a stand to keep it steady, but Helena balanced it easily across her arm and pointed it toward Captain Yoma's ship.
"This isn't usually my weapon of choice, but I'm not a bad shot," she said, narrowing her gaze through the scope. "Let's send the devil home, shall we?"
Helena's evacuation order meant that the fighting animals from Mycenae found their way into Ilium proper. Most were smart enough to keep the battle next to the walls, where they had gone to take cover in the first place. One unit of wolves, however, wasn't content to fight a bunch of cows. They made their way toward the palace, hoping to find their fortune in the form of the infant princess.
In one of Ilium's many side streets, farther from the palace than anticipated, their leader stopped short, sniffing the air. Large and broad-shouldered for a wolf, and even larger and broader-shouldered as a man, he didn't have to do more than breathe a command to halt; his men were too intimidated by him not to pay close attention to his every whim.
"She's-a close-a," he growled, twitching a trim black mustache at the end of his snout. "There's-a her scent-a."
His men didn't question him. Earlier, their captain had been the one General Hector had threatened and sent to be the messenger of defeat to Regent. While his encounter with the surly Vice Admiral had been life threatening to say the least, he'd also been right beside him when the Princess had fallen from the sky. He'd been transformed into a wolf by Circe enough to isolate a scent, even as a human.
"This-a way-a," he snarled, and his pack followed closely behind.
They turned a corner into an alley, but to the wolf captain's surprise, he didn't find the little girl he was looking for. A green, one-eyed fox turned to look him up and down, unimpressed.
"Roronoa," the wolf growled. "Mamma Mia, you smell-a like-a your little girl-a."
"Like baby soap?" Zoro asked, lifting a brow. "Well, she has been riding my shoulders for a while. Maybe that explains why I can't find her. So…who are you?"
"I am sure that you have heard the name, Aldolpho!" the wolf proclaimed with pride.
"Uh," Roronoa really didn't sound as worried as he should. He was, after all, just a little fox.
The wolf went on, "A ladies man who wins acclaim, Aldolpho!"
"Yeah, I heard you the first…"
"Well, stupid fox, I am the same Aldolpho!"
"Do you really have to sing it?"
"I introduce myself. I am Aldolpho."
Roronoa stared at him in confusion. This was a common reaction; one Captain Aldolpho had a hard time understanding considering he'd just repeated the name four times.
"Right," Roronoa said. He eyed the rest of the wolf pack, clearly aware that he lacked any avenue of escape. "And you all are more of Circe's underlings I take it."
"Uffa, no!" Adolpho snarled. "They-a answer to me-a! Tear him apart-a, men! We'll bring Regent his corpse-a in a shoebox-a!"
Zoro knew he was in trouble.
He could easily take on these guys, with or without his swords, in human form. But though he was strong for a fox, he simply didn't have enough muscle mass to take on a pack of wolves.
Maybe he could outfox them. He glanced around, looking for an avenue of escape. What he found made his heart sink instead. As it turned out, he and Aldolpho hadn't been too far off with their scent-tracking. Right there in the dead ended alleyway, he could see a pair of familiar, chubby legs kicking out of a pile of boxes. Kuina had apparently been climbing on them and gotten herself stuck head down.
Fortunately, Aldolpho and his pack couldn't see her yet. Against all paternal instinct, Zoro edged away from her, trying to keep their gaze on him.
It was no use. A moment later Kuina got free and when she saw him, she immediately charged to his side, her little legs pumping and arms open wide.
"Papa!"
She scooped him into an awkward embrace, snuggling her soft, babyish cheeks into his fur. Zoro melted, despite himself. How'd he end up with a daughter this ridiculously cute? Of course, then she started squeezing him half to death and he had other things to worry about.
It wasn't long before she noticed the encroaching wolf pack. She dropped her father, and before Zoro could regain his breath, approached Captain Aldolpho and his clan with her little hands extended.
"Puppies!" she cried.
Aldolpho took a step back, slightly alarmed.
"Bambina, you're-a supposed to be afraid of us," he informed her, twitching his mustache.
"Good doggy," she said, patting his muzzle. She threw her arms around his muscular neck, snuggling into him. "I like you."
"Kuina, get away from him!" Zoro yipped in a panic, not that she could understand him. He dashed forward, trying to put himself between Kuina and the Marine, heedless of his own safety. Without hesitation, Aldolpho caught Zoro in his jaws, prepared to snap him in two.
Kuina's demeanor changed on a dime. She slapped Captain Aldolpho across the muzzle with surprising ferocity.
"BAD DOGGY!" she shrieked, shaking a finger at him. "NO HURT PAPA! BAD DOGGY!" Kuina's big, brown, baby-doll eyes watered, then let loose a veritable waterfall of tears. "Why you so mean?" she wailed, hiding her face in her hands.
Aldolpho let out an apologetic whimper. "I'm-a sorry, bambina!" he insisted through his mouthful.
As she couldn't speak wolfish, this did nothing to appease her. Her pitiable sobs could have easily rent the toughest of heartstrings, which Aldolpho for all his posturing clearly didn't possess.
"He's fine-a!" he insisted hurriedly, depositing Zoro unharmed (though covered in drool) beside the weeping child. "Look-a bambina! He's-a not hurt-a!"
Sniffling, Kuina scooped Zoro up again in her embrace. "Nice doggy," she said, kissing Aldolpho on the snoot, which drew a collective "aww" from his men. Kuina smiled a brave little smile, which made them melt. Then she let out a little giggle as she snuggled the fox in her arms, and the helpless marines were knocked off of their feet completely.
Kuina half-dragged her vulpine father straight through the center of the dazed wolf pack while they fawned over her, wagging their tails. When they had gotten clear, Zoro quickly wriggled free of her grip.
"Time to go, kid!" he said. He ducked under her and straightened up, glad to note that he was still strong enough to carry her.
As he trotted away with his daughter in tow, the wolves behind him blinked at each other in confusion.
"Che macello!" Aldolpho cried with a start, "Don't-a let them get away-a!"
Zoro took off as fast as his frustratingly small legs would allow, the wolves nipping at his heels. Kuina wrapped her arms around his neck, delighted at the ride. Her spellbindingly sweet laughter pealed through the streets, but did nothing to slow their pursuers this time.
It looked like even her charm had its limits.