A/N: Warning, blatant flirting ahead.
And Zoro participates! I didn't think it was possible. He and Helena's relationship isn't doomed after all. (Or maybe I'm just being a little self-indulgent. Let me know if it's too much).
Happy Christmas, all!
Ch. 25 – Eleleu!
Zoro turned to find Helena lying in a dead faint in Calypso's arms. He dashed to her, shoving Calypso away so he could take her himself.
"What happened to her?" he demanded. Last he'd looked, she'd been on the mend. Maybe Regent had hit her harder than he realized.
"You did, mon," Calypso said, unamused.
"Huh?" Zoro asked. "Wait, is her nose bleeding. Was she hit?" He ran through scenarios. He had been keenly aware of her presence throughout the battle. His attack hadn't sent any shockwaves backward, how could he have hit her?
Helena answered him herself, her eyes fluttering open, though they clearly saw nothing. "He did a fencing move, and he named it after Ilium!" Helena spluttered, completely star struck as she snuggled the ruined haramaki to her chest in delight, "Hee hee hee, and look how strong he's gotten!"
Zoro blinked at her, taken aback.
"And she's not the only one, mon," Calypso went on, jabbing his thumb at Agamemnon's men. They'd all passed out as well.
"He named a move after our country!" they babbled together. "He's so cool!"
"You've got to be kidding me…" Zoro spluttered.
"…and he caused a tidal wave," Helena went on dazedly. "He's even stronger than Calypso. I didn't know swordsmanship could look like that!"
"She hasn't seen the best I can do," Calypso felt the need to point out, stiffening.
"Me neither, short-stuff," Zoro goaded, glaring at him. "Wait, did she just say tidal wave?"
"That's right," Calypso said, gazing out at the incoming wall of water with an unamused quirk to his brow. "As strong as you think you are, mon, I doubt you can carry all of Helena's people over the wall in the next, oh, twenty seconds. So why don't you take care of your queenie, while I kick back your little Tsunami."
Zoro dropped Helena at Calypso's goading. Fortunately she was still dead to the world, and didn't seem to notice the bump.
"Back off!" Zoro insisted, swords raised.
Calypso had already taken off running. "You've caused enough trouble, mon!"
"I've caused enough trouble!" Zoro demanded, running after him. "Weren't you the one who gave the enemy an attack big enough to level Mycenae?"
"I'm strong enough to level a small town, mon I'm strong enough to level your stupid wave."
Zoro and Calypso sprinted straight toward the wave, running neck and neck as they continued shouting insults and challenges at each other. Never mind that the Navy had all started to make a mad dash toward the walls, trampling one another in their effort to get away.
It wasn't anywhere near as large as Aqua Laguna, Zoro noted with some relief as he ran. While it was sizeable, it wouldn't reach over the walls.
Correction; it wouldn't reach the walls because Zoro would stop it before then. It was really too bad some of Helena's people were stuck on this side. The wave could have wiped out the Navy in one fell swoop.
The swordsmen both reached a good vantage point at the same time and leapt into the air, drawing all of their blades.
"Santoryu," Zoro started, "1080 pound…"
"Sinatra!" Calypso finished.
"Huh?" they both cried together. "That sounds so stupid!"
The attacks smashed into the wall of water. But because they were both a little distracted, their moves weren't as powerful as they generally expected. Instead of pushing back the wave, they shattered it. Water exploded into the sky above what remained of Mycanae, then turned into a great, salty downpour.
Everyone got soaked, but no one was pulled out to sea. Neither Zoro or Calypso seemed to notice or care.
"You ruined my move!" Zoro accused.
"No, you ruined mine!" Calypso retorted. "What kind of idiot attack name was that, mon?"
"You're the one who made it into a fat person!"
This argument continued for another minute or so, and most assuredly would have come to blows, but a certain Queen appeared beside them, lacing an arm through each of theirs.
"Boys, boys," Helena cut in. The drenching seemed to have done her some good. Leastways she had come to her senses. She had knotted some of the loose strings from the haramaki, and used them to tie it around her waist. "You both did a lovely job. But you," she released Calypso and sidled up to Zoro, just close enough that he could feel a sudden flush rushing through his body. "…and I are going to spend some time alone together when all this is done. Got it?"
She leaned in close to his face, but their lips didn't quite touch. "Um, yes ma'am," Zoro replied. He could sense a nose bleed of his own coming on, but a ringing transponder snail caught her attention, and she turned away to answer it.
"Queen Helena, this is Andromache with the nursemaid unit, do you copy?"
Andromache's voice came through sort of strained, like she were struggling against a heavy weight.
"I copy, Ann. Are you alright?" Helena replied.
"Um, I'm kind of stuck in a broom closet with all the other nursemaids…"
"Including Ax?" Helena asked in understanding.
"Including Ax," Andromache said, "But never mind that now. We'll figure it out. Helena, I called to report another code green…"
Puru puru puru puru….
Hector awoke to the sound of his own transponder ringing. He was having a hard time moving his limbs though.
"Oh, do you want me to answer that for you?"
He recognized the voice even before her face came into focus. It was the famous artisan, Raqueline du Agamemnon.
"Does your father know you're on the battlefield?" he asked.
The girl twitched involuntarily. It was well known that the artisan girl didn't handle fighting or life-or-death situations well. She had once tried to torpedo her own family's mines to keep them from falling into enemy hands.
"Me, on the battlefield?" she asked, snorting. "No, Daddy's men moved you back behind the wall so I could treat you. There's no one better to remove sea prism porcelain shrapnel than myself." She adjusted her glasses, which had several attached magnifying lenses like a phoropter
Hector took in his surroundings for the first time, realizing he was lying on a cot in the street just inside the walls. His men were no longer cows, and had started to organize themselves under Lieutenant General Achilles for a charge through the city's main gates.
Puru puru puru puru…
"Go ahead and answer it," Hector said. Raqueline's stone-coated fingers made a clacking sound as they depressed a button on the snail's shell before she quickly returned to her work.
As the message came through, she placed her hand over the last of General Hector's lacerations; a large shatter wound in his shoulder. Putting her pebble pebble power into effect, she pulled at the stone and minerals in the sea prism porcelain, removing the last of the shrapnel.
Hector hardly felt it. As General, he had a special snail that could pick up on the messages from any of the other units, and he'd just heard a message from his wife to Queen Helena.
"…I called to report a code green. The Marines have the Princess!"
Rage surged back into Hector as the sea prism's power released him, but his devil fruit powers were slow to follow. Helplessly he watched his men charge through the gates, furious that he was still too weak to join them.
Coby and half his men had been among those who had barely made it to the stonework of the harbor before Regent had frozen the water. The other half ended up frozen to their ankles or knees. Using their bayonets and the butts of their rifles, Coby and his free marines tried to crack the ice and free their comrades with minor success.
Zoro's Lion of Ilium attack finally broke the rest of them free. Much mayhem and a drenching later, Coby stood miserably with the rest of the Navy, a transponder snail in hand as he communicated with the other captains. Thankfully the recent dowsing had put a temporary stop to the fighting and gave everyone a chance to think.
"The Vice Admiral's down, what are our orders?" a voice barked through the snail.
"Has anyone heard from his second in command?"
"Circe? She's been taken down as well. The rest of his crew all got taken out when he first started burning ships, so no third either."
"Any word from HQ?"
"We've lost contact."
"Lost contact, suuuure," Helmeppo said from beside his captain. He didn't have a transponder of his own, but he'd been listening in on Coby's with interest.
Coby sighed. "This whole attack has been pointless from the start," he muttered to Helmeppo. "We were just pawns in all this, but now that Regent's down, we're the ones who are going to take the fall."
Coby lifted the receiver to his mouth.
"I suggest we fall back to avoid any more casualties," he said. "Without Regent, we're grossly underpowered. Especially with Roronoa Zoro here. Let's raise the white flag…"
"Are you kidding? And make all of this for nothing?"
"We don't need Regent to lead us. Our original strategy still stands."
"What original strategy?" Coby grumbled while Helmeppo shrugged.
The main gate to the city swung open, and Ilium's complete army, fully armored, dry, and angry, came barreling toward the remaining marines. They held their outdated and very sharp weapons at the ready as they charged, shouting out the Iliad warcry:
"Eleleu!"
They sounded like a flock of angry birds. Really, really angry birds. As Coby and his men were still close to the water, they weren't on the front lines. Those who were quickly made their thoughts known:
"Our guns aren't working!"
"All the powder's soaked. Of course they aren't working you dolt!"
"Who was it who suggested running up the white flag?"
"We are so dead!"
"Oh, for the love of…" Coby sighed, ripping off his captain's coat.
He vaulted up onto Helmeppo's shoulders and started waving the coat around. Following his lead, a few marines ripped off their soaked shirts and waved them above their heads. Eventually a few more captains caught on.
Finally the charging Iliads saw it and slowed their pace, letting out a cheer of victory.
Coby sighed with relief. It looked like the nightmare was over.
At least, that's what he thought until he saw the Queen march up to the front of her army, anger radiating from every inch of her, flanked by Zoro and Calypso.
The Queen's General suddenly launched himself over the wall; a furious ball of wood that became humanoid as it landed with a crash at Helena's side. He and her majesty made a brief exchange, then he suddenly swooped her upward in a tower of branches so she could loom threateningly over the surrendering marines and her own army.
General Hector created a large megaphone of branches for her, and though she spoke to her own army, everyone heard her:
"Men and Women of Ilium," she called. Haki pulsed from her voice, enforcing every word she spoke with power. "For too long we have been trodden under the foot of the World Government. Every time they have spoken of peace, it has been with plans already laid to break that peace. Heed the command of your Queen: we take no prisoners today. We accept no surrender. We will make an example of those who would dare invade our lands! Destroy them all."
"Wow, seems pretty harsh, mon," Calypso observed to Zoro.
They stood side by side, watching Helena as she gave her speech. Her people let out a guttural roar to show their approval, pounding their weapons on their shields.
"I don't think so," Zoro replied, both hands on the hilts of his katana. "Those bastards messed with our family for the last time."
"Daughter of Zeus!" Helena's men cheered as she vaulted from her roost, Peleus in hand. It was a long way down, but thanks to her years of training, she landed unhurt. "Light-Bringer! Sun Queen! Guide us to victory!"
"Words are potent in debate, but deeds in war decide your fate!" she cried, "Onward men! For our country 'tis bliss to die! Eleleu!"
She charged toward the Marines ahead of her men, momentarily a lone figure in the no-man's land between the two armies. Her husband soon joined her, two swords already in hand, as Hector and the rest trailed not fair behind, their own indignance speeding their charge.
The waiting marines fought to quell their panic, the front lines raising their bayonets for all the good it would do them.
Guns weren't their only option. The marines also had a few devil fruit users, but they were useless after the recent drenching. Even without it, they had the Sea Prism unit with its sea prism armor and weapons to worry about. Not to mention it seemed like just about every Iliad soldier carried sea prism daggers like the Queen.
Thankfully a good fifty percent of the marines had sabers and katanas as well as their rifles, and a few like Coby were adept at hand to hand and haki. These pushed their way to the front, taking the brunt of the Iliad charge.
The two armies clashed, the fear of the marines matching the anger of the Iliads as it pulsed off of them in palpable waves. Coby fought back the nausea as he sensed the lives of his comrades snuffing out. He jumped down from Helmeppo's shoulders, throwing on his coat as he went.
"We're in for it now," he said. "I regret bringing the crew here."
"They understand, Captain-San. It was a direct order," Helmeppo replied. "You didn't have much choice."
"All the same," Coby said, tossing him the transponder snail. "Get in touch with the men we left on board our ships. See how many we have and if they can bring them around. We need a method of retreat."
"But that big tree guy is back in action!" Helmeppo pointed out. "He'll sink us for sure!"
"I'll keep him busy," Coby said. "Let the other captains know so they can be ready to make a break for it."
"Aye, Captain."
Coby turned and dashed into the battle, dodging through the men on his own side as he made his way to the front. He didn't make much progress until, taking a deep breath, he allowed himself to delve deep into his observation haki. The hyper-awareness made him retch as he sensed what only the most adept haki users could –pain, fear, anguish, and despair so raw and real they felt as though they were all his own.
Fortunately he was used to it by now. Well, could one ever really become used to such a thing? Leastways, he knew how to sift through the over-abundance of feeling and use it to his advantage. He could predict where people and their weapons would be long before they moved. Using shave, he rocketed through the path he foresaw, intent on reaching General Hector before anyone noticed the returning ships.
Another Haki-user intercepted him, and he blackened his fist in time to block a katana with it. His eyes met Zoro's, and recognition passed simultaneously over both their faces.
"Coby." Zoro said it quietly, and the two momentarily lowered their preferred weapons.
"Zoro," Coby replied with equal calm. "I'm really sorry it came to this. I thought by warning you, I could stop it."
"I know," Zoro replied.
"We're enemies now," Coby went on.
"Always were," Zoro reminded him, raising his swords. Coby smirked despite himself. "Let's see how strong you've become, marine."
Coby shook his head. "Not strong enough to take you on, pirate," he replied, raising his fists all the same. "I saw what you did to the Vice-Admiral."
As Zoro made to attack, Coby used his haki-blackened fists to push through the blades. Thankfully, Zoro hadn't tapped into his own armament haki again, or Coby knew his fists would have been torn to bits.
He wasn't about to hang around long enough for Zoro to figure that out. He tapped back into his observation haki, the one skill in his repertoire that he knew with confidence surpassed Zoro's. Using it, he managed to dodge away and ultimately escape, disappearing into the tangle of battle-locked combatants.
"Sorry, Zoro," he murmured under his breath. "I've got something more important to do!"
"Zoro, who were you talking to?" Helena asked.
Their initial charge had plunged them right into the center of the enemy's lines, cutting them off from the rest of the Iliad army. They weren't worried though. Back to back they had soon settled into a comfortable fighting rhythm.
When Zoro didn't answer, Helena glanced back at him, and a different question soon popped out of her. "What in Hades happened to your shirt?"
"It was wet! And slowing me down," he replied unapologetically.
"So are the rest of your clothes, but I don't see you taking them off!" she pointed out, slicing down a few sabers pointed her way.
"I do have some sense of dignity!" Zoro retorted, slashing through a few sabers of his own. "Why? What's the problem?"
"It's…it's…" Helena looked at him and swiftly looked away, "Distracting! How am I supposed to concentrate?"
"Ha!" Zoro guffawed, "As if you can talk!"
Helena couldn't answer for a moment. She turned a graceful flip, taking down a marine archer before he could cause them problems from a distance. "What are you talking about?" she demanded.
"Oh, look at me, I'm the Queen!" Zoro taunted in a high pitched voice, "I'm riding into battle, but do I put on my armor or my military uniform? No! My husband's home. I'm going to wear a chiton, 'cause I know he likes it."
"YOU NOTICED?" Helena shrieked in delight. She and Zoro were no longer standing back to back, and she took down a few marines that stood between them as she spoke. "I mean, ehem, the uniform had too many buttons and we were in a hurry."
"Yeah, uh huh, sure," he replied, turning to her. He caught sight of the split haramaki still tied about her waist, further marking her as his. "Stop being so damn sexy, woman. We're in the middle of a war, here!"
"Who, me?" Helena asked. One of her sleeves had been torn off in the fight, and she winked at him over her bare shoulder as she swirled around to dispatch a few more marines.
She ended the spin surprised to find herself face to face with her husband, who smirked at her as though there was something on his mind.
"It's been a long couple of years, eh?" he asked, not looking away as he jabbed a marine running at them from the side.
"Too long," Helena agreed close to his mouth as she stabbed someone behind Zoro.
"HEY! WE'RE STILL HERE YOU KNOW!" the rest of the flouted marines shouted in unison.
Helena and Zoro raised a brow at one another before turning to grin evilly at the interruption. "That IS a problem," Zoro observed.
"I couldn't agree more, my Love," Helena replied.
"Seven Sword Titan!"
"Selene…"
"Twister!"
As Helena leapt up onto his shoulders, Zoro turned with all three swords in a spiral, launching her straight upward with his Dragon Twister while she used her Arrows of Artemis attack to rain slashes down on the marines from above. With her foot swords crossed beneath her, she kept herself safe from Zoro's spiraling attacks below.
Eventually she uncrossed her foot swords, and used her arm blades to increase her rotation speed. This shot her up even higher as she pushed her own energy and foot slashes into the twister. Still standing within the eye of the storm, Zoro raised his own swords to block her energy, deflecting it outward.
The resulting cyclone caught a few hundred marines in its walls, slashing and throwing them outward with hurricane level winds.
As it spun itself out, Helena fell into Zoro's waiting arms, both of them careful not to skewer one another with their many swords.
"So…what were you about to say?" Zoro asked. "Before we were so rudely interrupted?"
"I wasn't about to say anything," Helena retorted, kissing him.
"Ugh," Calypso groaned from his own plot of the battlefield. "Those two are the strangest couple I've ever seen, mon."
"You have no idea," Hector replied, rolling his eyes. "It's good to see them getting along again, though. Nothing like a good battle to rekindle the old romance, eh? Makes me wish Andromache were out here."
Calypso's lip twitched. It was becoming more and more apparent that he'd lost this little love game, especially now that Hector and the rest of Helena's people seemed to have forgiven Zoro. Not just forgiven him, some of them were downright infatuated with the pirate after seeing him dispatch Regent.
"It's too bad he won't stay for long," Hector went on. "It's been a long time since I've seen her smile like that."
This did make Calypso hopeful again. Time was a virtue he had over Zoro. He had already invested a good deal of it into this op; what was a little more?
In the meantime he needed to firmly establish himself as Ilium's ally. And so he carefully bit back his anger, choosing to channel it instead into his machetes as he slaughtered his own comrades. None the wiser, Hector fought alongside him, tentacles of wood shooting into the fray.
Calypso kept himself tuned into his haki as he fought. In this way he saw something much sooner than Hector did:
"The ships out in the bay," he said. "They're coming closer, mon. The Marines are going to try to retreat."
"By order of the Queen, I can't let that happen," Hector said, "Cover me."
Calypso nodded but then sensed someone coming at them impossibly fast. He turned just a little too slowly to stop him. Perhaps if the attacker had been coming at him directly, he'd have reacted faster, but Calypso wasn't the main target; Hector was.
Prince Cobalt, or rather, Captain Coby of the marines slammed his blackened fist into the wood man's gut. The General had formed another makeshift ironwood breastplate after the first had been destroyed by the sea prism mortar earlier, but it shattered around the marine's fist. Calypso saw blood fly from the General's mouth as he and Coby flew back several dozen yards with the momentum of the marine's arrival.
Bodies locked in combat filled the space between them before Calypso could come to Hector's aid. It looked like the General was on his own for now.
Helena and Zoro weren't as distracted as they appeared. Zoro saw the ships coming closer to the broken port just as Helena saw her General go down.
"Hector!" she cried, jumping out of Zoro's arms.
"What's wrong?" Zoro asked. They still had a circle cleared around them, so they didn't have to worry about a fight as they took to running. "This is Hector we're talking about. He can take care of himself, right?"
"Whoever just hit him made him bleed," Helena replied. "Hector doesn't bleed unless he's hit with sea prism."
"Or haki," Zoro added, but before Helena could ask him to expound, he went on: "We need to free him up to fight. The ships are coming back!"
"Can't you and Calypso sink the ships? I mean, you do kind of cause Tsunamis."
"You wanna deal with another Tsunami?" Zoro asked.
"If it comes to that, yes," Helena said, "But you're right. Hector's method is a lot more elegant. Anyway, I'm not letting whoever that is take out my General. Come on!"
Coby had been lucky to land the first hit. Sure he'd got him hard enough to make the devil bleed, but Hector wasn't a General for nothing. He caught Coby in a swirling cocoon of branches, trapping his arms at his sides.
"You've got some nerve, marine," he growled through the dribble of blood in his teeth. The roots tightened, cracking his ribs.
Coby wriggled one of his arms free in the nick of time, punching the cocoon around him hard enough to make it splinter. He hit the ground and rolled away just in time to avoid getting crushed by Hectors massive arms, which had turned into even more massive branches.
"You're the ones with some nerve," Coby observed, using shave to dodge around the general again. "We raise the white flag of surrender and you slaughter us. You have no respect for the rules of war."
Hector let out a hearty guffaw. "As if you or your government care one berry for the rules of war!" A tendril caught Coby around the leg, lifting him upside-down into the air so that he was face to face with the enormous man.
"You attack us without an official declaration of war!" Hector went on, slamming Coby into the cobbles before lifting him to face him again. "You try to assassinate our Queen!" he slammed him down again. "You beasts try to kidnap our infant Princess and wed her to your world nobles!" He slammed him down several more times before lifting him again. "And that is all just in the course of one evening! You would do anything to grind us under your heel, Navy Dog! We are done taking your abuse!"
He dropped the dazed and bloodied marine, lifting his spear to stab him through. Shattered though he was, Coby managed to catch the spear before it could reach his person. His arms shook with the exertion of holding it at bay as he spoke:
"We are soldiers," he said through gritted teeth, arms straining for his life. "We follow orders. You of all people should understand how that works, General."
Breathing haki into his arms, Coby's fists blackened and he broke the wooden spear off at the tip. Hector easily grew it back, but it gave the marine just enough time to dodge away before it punctured the cobbles.
"My men aren't responsible for the poor decisions of their leaders," Coby went on. "Execute me and the rest of our captains if you must, but for heaven's sake, let the men go!"
Hector paused, momentarily taken aback.
"I and others like me joined the marines with the hopes of making the world a safer place," Coby confessed to him passionately. "Many of those men out there are just starting to learn of the corruption of their heroes. Many more are working hard to eradicate it. Please, if you want to see the world change, perhaps the world could use a little more mercy."
Hector's arms returned to normal, and he shrank back to his more human, albeit still intimidating size, clutching his spear in two hands. He eyed Coby up and down, momentarily at a loss for words.
"I've never known a marine like you, Captain," he said at last. "What's your name?"
"There are many more like me," the marine insisted. "And it's Coby."
Hector nodded, but then he lifted his spear, crouching at the ready to resume combat. "I'm afraid that the decision is not up to me, Captain Coby-San," he said. "Just as you must follow the command of your Vice-Admiral, I must follow the command of my Queen."
Coby nodded sadly, raising his own fists and coating them in haki. Why did he keep meeting enemies he'd rather have as friends? The world sure was a complicated place.
Before he and the General could start fighting once again, something caught Coby's attention; a small presence, frightened and young. He recognized the aura almost immediately, and held up a hand to the General, hoping the man would be honorable enough not to attack him as he closed his eyes and honed his haki in to be sure.
"The Princess…" he murmured. "What's she doing all the way out here?"
Without pausing to think, he launched himself toward the girl's aura. Opening his eyes he saw her, a tiny girl with Zoro's green hair, thrown over the shoulder of a mustachioed Navy Captain. Her screams were lost in the sound of combat.
Her kidnapper had just arrived at the edge of the port, and as luck would have it, found one of the few fishing boats that had miraculously remained intact. Just as he lowered his prize over the side of the little vessel, Coby rammed into him, knocking him flat.
"What the HELL are you doing, Marine?" Coby raged from over him.
"What-a does it look like, idiota?" the man asked, twitching his mustache. "That bambina is-a the Princess-a!"
"She is a CHILD," Coby insisted, anger making him shake.
"A child that Regent wants-a!" the captain reminded him. "You're just trying to steal-a my promotion-a!"
"Regent's dead," Coby informed him flatly, and then punched him across the face, knocking him out cold. "It's marines like you that give the rest of us a bad name," he murmured.
He turned to the still wailing Princess, lifting her out of the boat as gently as he could.
"Want P-p-papa!" she stuttered. "You s-s-scary!"
"Sorry, my face is pretty beat up. I promise I don't always look like this," Coby said, smiling wryly. "But I know your Papa. You wanna see if we can find him?"
The Princess stopped struggling and nodded at him. She looked so much like Zoro with her grim expression, Coby couldn't help but marvel. Pirate-Hunter Zoro was one of the last people he'd ever imagine having a family, least of all an adorable little toddler. It made him wonder what Zoro looked like as a kid. Surely not this cute!
He turned to find not only Hector, but Zoro and Helena staring at him with slack jaws. They had apparently witnessed the whole exchange. Coby turned Kuina, pointing so she could see them as they started running toward her.
"PAPA!" she screamed reaching out her arms. "MAMA! UNCLE HECKY!"
"Uncle Hecky?" Coby murmured under his breath in amusement. "Does she mean the General?"
When her family had come close enough for safety, Coby gently set the Princess on her feet so she could toddle the rest of the way over to them. Her mother fell to her knees and scooped the little girl into a fierce embrace. Zoro placed a hand on his wife's shoulder and gave Coby a grateful sort of nod.
"I don't understand, marine," Helena said, glaring up at him. "Why…?"
"Queen Helena," Coby said, bowing all the way to his knees before her. "This was the least I could do for you and Zoro. If it weren't for me, Regent never would have known about her existence in the first place. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I had stumbled upon until I had talked to you, but by then it was too late. I had already made my report."
"So that's what you were trying to warn me about," Helena said, standing with her daughter in her arms. She kept her mouth set in a hard line and her brows furrowed, either angry or deep in thought or both.
"Yes," Coby said simply to the ground.
"Your Majesty, this marine sought me out at risk of his life to ask that we cease the bloodshed," Hector put in quietly.
"Please," Coby begged, looking up at her. "Those who truly sought to harm you and yours are now slain. These men have families. YOUR men have families. For the love of whatever gods you hold dear, let this madness end."
Helena eyed him pensively. Coby could see the conflict in her face as she weighed what he was saying with the history of cruelty the World Government had heaped on her kingdom.
"Majesty, I believe we should listen to him," Hector advised. "At the very least his own actions prove that there are decent men on the other side of this battlefront. Men who don't deserve to die for being obedient soldiers."
Helena turned her gaze from Hector back to Coby. Her eyes held no sympathy. "Every time we show your people mercy, we end up paying for it with our lives and our dignity," she said with quiet vehemence. "An example must be made."
"Your father made an example by wearing the Mask of Zeus twenty-one years ago," Hector pointed out. "It didn't stop them from attacking again."
"Vengeance begets vengeance," Zoro agreed quietly.
Helena looked from one man to the other, at last letting her gaze fall upon Coby.
"Can you promise me that this madness really will end if I stop the bloodshed?"
Coby felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. His mouth went dry. But when he answered, he spoke the truth:
"I cannot," he said, voice trembling, then babbled on, "Your Majesty, I can promise our men will leave you alone tonight, but I don't know what the future holds. I only know this: that I am as confused and enraged by this attack as you are. I can honestly say as a Navy Inspector that Regent should have been court martialed for his actions here tonight had he survived. But with the backing and protection of the Fleet Admiral, I doubt it would have happened. Even now, HQ has cut contact with us in hopes we will take the fall, perhaps so they can say that Regent and all those under them acted on their own, I…"
Helena held up her hand to silence him. "If you had tried to promise me it would end, I would have known you were lying," she said. "Your honesty is refreshing, Captain Coby. I hope for all our sakes that the marines possess many more men like you."
She turned to her General. "We will call off the battle and allow the marines to retreat," she said. "Help their boats to shore so they can board and be on their way safely."
"Aye, my Queen," Hector said, a look of relief spreading across his face.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Coby gushed, only to stop short when he caught sight of the anger still present in the Queen's face.
"You have until sunrise," she went on coldly. "After that, any marine or world government official found here will be executed on sight. Do you understand?"
"I-I…understand," Coby said, getting to his feet. "Again, thank you for showing mercy.
Hector planted his spear into the ground, putting down roots so he could shoot above the crowd and draw the attention of the battling armies for the announcement. Before he could take her up too, Helena handed Kuina to her father. The Princess had fallen asleep.
"You are a brave man," she said to Coby, her expression softening incrementally at last. "I am not the first despot you have stood up to in hopes of stopping bloodshed."
"You are no despot," Coby replied softly.
Helena responded with a wry smile; clearly she disagreed. For a woman who loved her people so much, it was strange that she saw herself in that light.
Then she disappeared, flying upward in a flurry of leaves and branches to make the announcement. The battle would finally end.