Crew Members Outside of the Ring...

Opponent's Within...

Rosa was breathing heavily. She had been watching the entire fight and was already growing nervous. She had tried to read a book in order to calm herself down, but the impending fight kept popping back up into her mind. It was there, standing strong as the object of attention. Then there was Hiro-Shu who had recently lost. The two elements kept mixing in her head. Zesiro was stronger then Mashiba, wasn't he?

What if she wound up like Hiro-Shu? No...she'd end up worse. Hiro-Shu had armor...thick armor to protect him. Rosa grabbed at her hoodie's hood and pulled it over her head as if it would offer any more protection. It wouldn't. She could Zesiro moving his entire body around, using the strength of a Fishman, and the technique of a master swordsman. There was no way! Her hoodie would be ripped into pieces and possibly take her head with it!

No. Zesiro was a nice guy and he would hold back...right? He would...wouldn't he? Her mind frantically began searching for some facts that she had known about him, but they came up empty. She had just met him on the last island and known him for not even a couple of weeks! Did she really think that she knew Zesiro well enough to KNOW that he would hold back? She believed she did. He was kind and courageous enough to put his life on the line for his captain, he should hold back against a friend.

The fact was...Zesiro was trying to save his captain. He couldn't allow for a single margin of error. He couldn't allow for his captain to get killed because he went easy...if he got injured in this fight, because he went easy on her and wound up with a serious sword wound...it would be his fault, nor hers...for Mikoto's death. The thoughts kept bubbling up in Rosa's head. She tried to push them down and away, but there was too many of them. This fight could lead to her death, Zesiro's death, Mikoto's death...the more and more she thought about it, the only death it didn't seem like it could lead to was Trevor's.

"Aye, there you wee little lass!" said Simon as he strode into the room. "I know what yer thinkin'. I would be too if I were in yer shoes." Simon let out a hearty laugh, "I'm so glad I'm not!" Rosa stared at him for a moment with heated eyes. Simon backed away and coughed. "Well...you see the thing is this...you are worried about yer friend, but I don't think you be givin' him enough credit! Do you really think he would be a pirate in the Grand Line if he let something like this get 'im down. Oh, no that iron man in there gots lot more tenacity then that." Rosa sighed as she realized he was talking about Hiro-Shu. "Nobody in the Grand Line dies easily. I grew up here, I should know!"

"But..." protested Rosa trying to correct Simon on his guess. But he just held up his hand and shook his head.

"But nothin'!" he shouted with his gruff voice. "I put the life of my son in yer hands, remember? Do you really think I'd do something that silly with someone who would die like that? HECK NO!" he shouted. "We dwarfs are strong an' we dwarfs are smart! Don't go putting my race down by believin' we were just strong lug-heads!" Simon got up to leave, he patted some dirt free from his pants and looked back at her.

"That's not all lassie! There's an old folk saying where I grew up! Those who survive in the world are those who have the keys to success and those keys are found at the very bottom of a pit called 'despair'. There's plenty of ways to fall into said pit! A bad loss, a twisted ankle...a lost son," said Simon lowering his head in shame, "BUT! Its climbing out that matters! And trust me when I say...yer friend can climb out just fine!"

Rosa looked back down at her feet. Talking to Simon was pointless. He just didn't understand...she was fighting her friend. She thought about giving the fight and throwing the towel in early, but something was nagging at her. Simon was right. He was talking about the wrong person, but he was right. Zesiro had every bit of tenacity as Hiro-Shu. Even if Zesiro did lose wouldn't that mean that Rosa was the one who should be moving on to the next fight? The goal wasn't to win the fight, it wasn't to make sure they didn't lose, it was to make sure they rescued Mikoto. Rosa smiled.

The very bottom of a pit called 'despair'. Yeah, that somehow made sense. She looked straight up and at the ceiling. She remembered the island that the URA was on was basically like a pit. The island was at the sea-level, but it was basically a pit that sunk down several hundred yards below sea level. Maybe they were at the bottom and just needed to climb back up.

Her head popped back up as she heard the ringing indicating that their fight was starting. Rosa took one last deep breath and grabbed hold of her sword and walked out into the stadium. The lights blinded her temporarily, it was so dark in the waiting room. It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the light. She looked around at the stadium. Zesiro was already in the ring. He didn't seem the slightest bit nervous. He was in the ring, blocking out the blood-thirsty cries from the crowd. They didn't seem too fond of any of the Infinity Pirates, but they had a special hatred for Zesiro since he was a Fishman. Or at least she thought as she noticed an empty can come flying at her. She dodged out of the way letting it breeze past her.

Rosa's attention swiveled to the crowd, anxious to find a friendly face. Maria and Simon were both in the crowd, but neither one of them were trying to attract any attention, plus who could they cheer for. Cheering for one meant discouraging the other, so they both remained quiet in their seats. Rosa returned her attention to the ring and her upcoming opponent.

She paused as she looked around. Trevor was gone...as a matter of fact the entire boss' podium, or whatever it was called, was empty. Mikoto, Trevor, Karasu, they were all gone. Zesiro looked over at the podium apparently just now becoming aware of the missing boss. He grumbled something, but Rosa couldn't hear it over the crowds' yelling. With one final breath she stepped into the ring.

The obnoxious announcer's voice came on over the Den-Den Mushi, "The Infinity Pirates hoping to make a comeback after their crew's embarrassing loss the other day are now stuck facing each other!" The term 'crew's embarrassing loss' seemed odd. Since only one fourth of them had lost and Maria had won her fight in under two minutes. It seemed like a ridiculous thing to announce as well. "We have a match between genders, races, and swordsmen! Will the victor be Zesiro, the male Fishman swordsman who apparently had adopted another blade since his last fight or will it be Rosa the female human swordsman sticking to her single sword style!" The crowd seemed to be hushed down. It was apparent that they didn't want either one to win. The idea of a Fishman winning the tournament sickened their stomach, but a woman winning their tournament seemed just as sickening...

The gong rang and right off the back Rosa sprung forward. It took Zesiro by surprise the sudden movement. His worries still hadn't completely dispersed, but after watching Rosa move in at high-speeds they returned full-throttle. Imaging his friend already ready to mow him down made him pause a brief moment, but Rosa wasn't holding back. She lashed out with her sword, Zesiro recovered just in the nick of time to put one of his sword's in between them and fend off the attack. Rosa didn't wait for Zesiro to further gather his mind, she spun around and launched a second attack at his unguarded side. Zesiro broke free dodging to the side and regaining his footing while Rosa swiped air.

He crowd was already roaring. They may not want either one of them to win, but they forgot that this meant one of them HAD to lose. Although they all secretly wished that this would end up in a bloody draw, none of them proudly declared so. Instead they each picked the person the disliked the least and began cheering for them. Of course, every so often a discouraging 'you suck' or 'just die already' would rise up from the crowd.

Then came the problem of Trevor. The crowd was anxious to see blood and since the last fight had been so long without any real excitement, they felt cheated combine that with the fact that Trevor saved Hiro-Shu's life, their desire for blood and reached a peak, but the question remained would Trevor stop this fight before it hit that moment? They were all on the edge of their seats thinking about Trevor preventing another death. They bit their nails and wished that Trevor would stay gone just until this fight was over and one of them was dead.

And they may just get their wish. Zesiro finally managed to get used to the idea of the fight and roared back at Rosa bringing his sword down and nearly cleaving an arm off, but Rosa had dodged to the side ad avoided the attack with ease. However, that still didn't help calm Rosa's mind. Seeing a sword coming at you tended to set you on edge having that sword wielded by your friend tended to REALLY set you on edge. It did something similar to Rosa. She jumped back confused temporary as if they weren't in an tournament fighting for their lives and the lives of their friends. She seemed bewildered for a split second, but then she came back to...just as Zesiro was charging again with a second slash.

Rosa jumped back using her slightly superior speed to her advantage, but Zesiro didn't care. He moved in again and before Rosa's feet even touch the ground Zesiro made another wide arcing slash with his sword. Rosa cringed and brought her sword forward and in front of her. She felt Zesiro's monstrous strength for the first time as it shuddered into her sword and up her arm. Zesiro's strength flung her back a few feet, but Rosa managed to catch herself land on the ground once more, feet first. She looked up at Zesiro as he charged again, preparing a third slash. Rosa dodged to the side, but Zesiro was waiting for that he brought his free blade around and at her with a thrusting motion.

Rosa grimaced and fell to the floor, letting the blade cut above her. She flinched as she felt the blade slice into her short dark brown hair. She could've sworn that time had stopped as she looked up at Zesiro, thrusting his blade inches away from her face. A few strands of her hair fluttered into her view and the awful time-stopping spell broke. Rosa backed away at full speed and was immediately grateful that she did, as Zesiro brought his sword plunging down into the earth where she had been.

Rosa was shocked. Moments ago when this fight had started she had sensed something in Zesiro, some form of regret or despair, some slight twinge of sadness that said that he did not want to do this, but here he was in a frantically swiping motion. Sending his swords flying and cutting through the air and in a frenzied fashion. Moving in a step closer would almost guarantee that Rosa would feel the icy steel blade of at least one of his katanas lop off at LEAST one of her appendages. Rosa guessed that it was partly her fault, she had been the one to charge first and attack Zesiro, but now...now Zesiro had completely engulfed her attacks with a frenzied matters of wide and powerful swings.

Rosa was very wrong. Zesiro's attacks weren't frenzied due to some deep-seated hate or desire that invoked a demonic attitude towards her. His mind wasn't filled with the thoughts of slicing her up. If anything it was the exact opposite. He didn't want this fight to drag on any longer. His frantic attacking was in order to finish this fight up before the sudden and sure realization that he was trying to beat his friend came rushing at him again and he froze. His goal was a quick finish. An unlikely idea seeing Rosa cartwheel, duck, flip, and dodge all of his slashes, but he was still aiming for it. "Twin Thresher! Shark Wave!"

Zesiro on Assault!

I still hate school...onto the story's note.

That's right a multi-chapter fight that doesn't involve Mikoto! My goal for this arc was to improve my ability at writing fight scenes and try to not focus on Mikoto as much. I think I've done both fairly well so far.

Also, I've been meaning to do this ever since Chapter 100, but starting next chapter I will be re-posting all the main character profiles (slightly altered) to remind you about them as in appearances and likes and dislikes stuff that would normally go in an One Piece logbook. Including a special section, which is just basically their opinions on the rest of their crew.