Black as Knight.
Note: Throughout this fic, there will be love, humour, friendship, family, violence, spanking (in a parental tone), whipping and a mixture of other stuff, but nothing that could move this rating up to an M. =)
Ok, this chapter will hold a little more of Zoro's background...just a heads up. ^^
Thank you SO much to the two who reviewed! I was absolutely ecstatic! =D So to everyone else, PLEASE review! Please Please Please Please PLEASE! ^^
Enjoy!
Chapter 2.
Zoro cracked his eyes open as he felt someone shaking him awake. He saw Thatch's grinning face swim into view, and it cleared suddenly as Thatch clapped his cheek twice somewhat cheerfully.
"Rise and shine handsome." Thatch laughed as Zoro groaned and sat up, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Ugh, what time is it?" He asked, his voice croaky from having just woken up.
"Well, lets see. It's one o'clock on Sunday afternoon and Ace has already left us a den-den mushi." Thatch replied as he handed him a tankard of Sake, watching and stepping away as he drank it.
As Thatch had mentally predicted, it clicked in Zoro's brain seconds later and Sake spewed from his mouth in a fine spray.
"HE WHAT?!" Zoro spluttered, letting Thatch pat his back as he scrambled upright from the creaky old sofa that he was sat on. "WHERE'D HE GO?" He yelled, shrugging on his leather jacket and pulling his boots on as quickly as he could.
"The bakery." Thatch answered calmly with a hint of amusement.
The green haired teen paused. "...The bakery?" Zoro asked in confusion.
"Yeah, we're out of bread."
"We're out of money too."
"...The little git failed to mention that one."
Suddenly a high-pitched scream went up, getting closer as it entered the building. Thatch raised an amused eyebrow as Ussop came running into the warehouse towards them.
"Ussop...shut up, breathe, and tell me what's wrong." Zoro sighed, rubbing his temples.
Ussop bent double and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily for a few seconds in silence. "Ace set the bakery on fire." Ussop said finally as he stood up, his hands resting firmly on his hips.
Silence followed.
"Fuck." Zoro said shortly. "MOVE OUT." He yelled suddenly, grabbing the den-den mushi that Ace had left as they ran to the concealed entrance of the warehouse. Picking up the den-den mushi, he started to shout into it. "ACE? ACE, YOU ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW." He shouted as he ran through the dark back streets of London, following the column of fire that he could see had erupted from the general direction of the bakery which was approximately twelve streets away.
"Uhh, I think you ought to know this...but...he accidently burnt the den-den mushi." Ussop called.
Cursing, Zoro slammed the den-den mushi into Ussop's hands and started to full out sprint towards the bakery, his powerful legs allowing him to surge forwards quickly. Zoro rounded corner after corner, turning down different streets as he neared his destination, Thatch and Ussop struggling to keep up with him.
As Zoro reached the flaming bakery, where an instant blast of hysterical female screams hit his eardrums which made him wince, he saw the figure of his friend who was currently silhouetted against the huge tower of flames.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCEEEEEE EEEE." He roared, running up to him and hitting him upside the head, making him yelp. "Damn it Ace, put it out! Do you want us to get caught?" He shouted angrily.
"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I SWEAR." Ace yelled back as he surged into the burning building, concentrating hard and allowing the fire to soak into his skin, until nothing but a smoking building remained, only just intact, but blackened and charred. "The baker said his oven fire wasn't working, so I lit my hand and went to put my burning hand under it and the idiot lit the gas at the same time, making my hair catch fire!" Ace protested to Zoro. "It made me jump in suprise and as I twisted round and fell, I grabbed the wall to catch my balance, but I hadn't put my hand out yet, and the wall went up like paper!"
Zoro face-palmed. "You idiot." He muttered. "Nami's going to kill you."
"Why?"
"Because we're going to have to pay for it." Zoro explained, an annoyed expression crossing his face.
"Aw hell." Ace grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck in embarressment and worry. "She's gonna murder me. Seriously, she's gonna turn into a psycotic bitch and shove one of Thatch's frying pans up my arse." He fretted.
Thatch snorted. "I won't let her. Those saucepans are valuable. Not to mention I'd never be able to cook with them again, not once they've taken a trip up your arse."
Ace smiled at him witheringly. "Thanks for thinking of me bro." He simpered. Thatch merely grinned in response as he turned his attention back to the burnt out building.
"So...Where's the baker?" Ussop asked nonchalently.
Everyone turned to look at Ace, who froze as his eyes widened in panic. Wordlessly he sprinted back into the bakery, tossing aside burnt debris and being careful as he made his way over to the corner of the room.
Thatch's face was a mixture of disbelief, whereas Zoro's expression was merely of someone who had long since given up. "We've got at least three minutes before the police get here, and if we're lucky, they won't have an agent with them." Zoro calculated. "Do we have any money on us at the moment?" He asked. Ussop showed them his empty pockets as he turned them inside out and Thatch shook his head.
"Ok. I'll be right back, I'm going in. We're wasting time. You two take this ten pound note and head over to the main market square, see what you can scrounge up. Ok? It's all we've got left." Zoro instructed. "Meet back at the base in about ten minutes."
They nodded and set off, leaving Zoro behind as he turned and strode into the bakery, the surrounding people parting like the red sea before him as they sensed danger approaching. He navigated his way through the debris until he was stood next to Ace and the weary baker, whose clothes had burnt holes in them and had ash streaks across his hands and face, which were red from having been exposed to the heat of the flames.
"Mugiwara leader..." The baker breathed, his eyes going wide in horror. "Roronoa Zoro!"
Zoro grimaced and gently shoved Ace aside, taking the baker either side of his collar and pulling him close. "Oi. Listen to me." He commanded, gaining the immediate attention of the fear stricken baker. "This whole thing was an accident, but we're willing to come back tomorrow and pay for at least half of the damage. However, this is probably going to be on the news. So, in exchange for being let go unharmed, you say not a word about us. Ok? The only thing anyone else knows, is that you dropped the match when putting the gas on. Do I make myself clear, old man?" Zoro growled threateningly.
The baker nodded. "I-I-I won't say a word. J-Just take some bread from the back and c-come at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon for the money...I-If that's reasonable. Please, just d-don't hurt me." He begged pitifully, watching as Ace disappeared for a second, returning with two loaves of freshly baked bread with a grin.
"That sounds very reasonable indeed, and it's a deal I accept. Now remember, you never even saw us." He reminded the baker, who nodded vigorously, gasping in fear as he was released.
As Zoro and Ace walked out of the bakery, they were confronted by the public en masse, staring at them suspiciously. The corners of Zoro's lips quirked up in a smile as he held his palms up to them. "He's ok." He announced, hearing a collective sigh of relief. "But we have to stick together as a community by helping him to rebuild the bakery. Find as much wood as we can so that we can start. The sooner, the better." He said, motivating the people who replied with a chorus of cheers as they set off to find some wood.
Meanwhile, Zoro and Ace edged through them and headed back to the warehouse, checking to make sure that they were not followed before slipping in through the concealed door and down the hatch, arriving safely at the Thousand Sunny to find Nami, Luffy and Chopper waiting for them.
"Hey! Where did you guys disappear off to?" Luffy called as the boarded the ship. "You didn't have an adventure without me did you?" He pouted.
"Well, I think Ace can explain this one. Make sure you listen well Nami." Zoro hinted, making Ace gulp audiably as Nami turned to him, her gaze suddenly suspicious as Zoro smirked and walked away, heading to the crow's nest as he heard Thatch and Ussop board the ship and head to the kitchen to the sound of Ace's cautious 'I can explain...'.
Just as Zoro went to close the hatch of the crow's nest, Nami's loud screech followed by Ace's frantic protests and yells of pain signalled that Nami had proceeded to start trying to kill one of the strongest guys in London, with suprisingly scary results.
"NAMI I SWEAR I HADN'T MEANT T-"
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THIS WILL COST US, YOU-"
"O-OI! NAMI! CALM DOWN!"
"SHUT UP USSOP! AAACCEEE!"
"ACE! RUN!"
"GOD DAMNIT NAMI, PUT THE SAUCEPANS DOWN! I NEED TO COOK WITH THOSE!"
"I TOLD YOU SHE'D TRY AND SHOVE THEM UP MY ARSE."
"OH DID YOU NOW? LETS SEE IF THEY'LL GO ALL THE WAY UP AND OUT THROUGH YOUR MOUTH."
"HOLY CRAP SHE'S A MAD WOMAN."
"PUT THEM DOWN NAMI-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH! LET ME GO YOU VIOLENT WITCH! AAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
The closed hatch blotted the sounds out slightly, but at least they weren't as loud as before, meaning that he could to his training in peace and go to sleep without any distractions.
Zoro walked over to the edge of the circular crow's nest and carefully laid his three swords down on the long window seat that ran the circumference of the room. Glancing out of the window, he checked to see whether Nami was still beating up Ace, to see Ussop, Luffy and Thatch holding back a raging Nami as Chopper attempted to bandage Ace's bruising face and torso.
"...Witch." Zoro muttered, shaking his head as he made his way over to a pile of weights and a pole. Taking the pole, he slid four large weights on either side of the pole, being careful and making sure that they wouldn't slide off once he had started his training.
Removing his leather jacket and white shirt, he discarded them alongside his swords and rolled his shoulders. His bare torso was devoid of any bruising, even though he was probably known for getting into the most fights. However, he had trained himself thoroughly and knew how to handle nearly every situation.
Nearly.
He slowly started to swing the weights up with one hand, bringing it up from his waist to high above his head, keeping a steady rhythm as he did so.
Ten minutes later saw him on three hundred, having barely broken a sweat. He found his mind wandering a little, turning his mind to things that he wanted to keep behind locked doors...things he had wanted to forget.
Hours later and sweat was steadily dripping down his body, coating it in a fine sheen of perspiration. Then he started to see clips of things. Broken. Fragmented. Like the sliver slivers of a cracked mirror. Seen between the cracks of reality when he lifted the weights, feeling the weight as though it was mentally crushing him. 'One thousand eight hundred and ninety eight...One thousand eight hundred and ninety nine...One thousand nine hundred...' He chanted mentally.
Zoro closed his eyes, but it only made the images clearer as even more time passed.
"Again."
"We've been at this for hours. If I could just rest-"
"IF YOU ARE ATTACKED BY AN ENEMY, BE ASSURED THAT THEY WILL NOT, REST. Now...AGAIN."
Zoro grit his teeth and started to count out loud, albeit under his breath. "Two thousand and twenty five...two thousand and twenty six..."
"BECOMING A ROGUE IS ALL I WANT TO DO."
"I WILL NOT LET MY SON BECOME A RUTHLESS, UNRULY, BLOODTHIRSTY, KILLING, STREET RAT."
"IT'S NOT YOUR CHOICE. YOU CAN'T DECIDE FOR ME."
"OH YES I CAN, I'M YOUR FATHER. I WON'T ALLOW IT."
Zoro's eyes flashed open...
...And the weights fell.
Zoro stared at the floor numbly, his mind blank and his fingers twitching from where they had lost grip on the weights that were slowly rolling to the edge of the room before coming to a stop at the wall with a thump as metal met wood.
He slid slowly to the floor, landing on his knees before allowing himself to fall backwards until his bare torso hit the stone cold floor, soothing his back as he felt the pressure of his head being taken off from his neck as he relaxed slightly, dispelling every memory that had been brought to surface as he looked to the ceiling which his knees also pointed up towards.
The sound of the hatch opening two minutes later didn't even stir him as he continued to stare at the wooden boards above him. Footsteps were heard coming closer and stopping beside him, replaced by the sound of someone kneeling down beside him. Ussop's face came into view, worriedly glancing over him as concentration ran over his face.
"Oi...Zoro. You ok? Hurt anywhere? What the hell did you do? Did you lose your grip on the weights or something? Overwork yourself? You've been up here for at least three to four hours so-"
"Shurrrrrup..." Zoro whispered.
Ussop stared at him stupidly, blinking in confusion. "What?"
"I ssssaid shut up..." Zoro slurred as he blinked dazedly. "You talk too muchhh..."
The sniper nodded. "Yeah, I know." He said, grabbing Zoro's upper body and lifting him so that he was sat upright. "Chopper's on his way up." He continued, trying to ignore Zoro's groaning. "I hope he's got painkillers. Especially for if you get annoyed with me in the next five seconds. In which case I hope they're extra strong."
Zoro's reply was halfway between a grunt and a moan, so Ussop was relieved when a pair of antlers carrying a medical bag appeared over the rim of the Crows Nest's hatch, revealing Chopper as the little reindeer hurried over to them and started to check the gang leader's condition.
"Looks like he just dropped the weights. His hands are unresponsive which signal numbing...and his lack of normal response in general show that his brain has been overloaded. Stress maybe?" Chopper questioned in concern, taking a dry flannel from his kit and wiping Zoro's brow with it.
"Well, let Ussop and I get him to the men's quarters. If we get him under the shower, he can relax and try to think clearly. Besides, it's the evening anyway. He can sleep straight after." Came Thatch's voice of reason from where he was leant against the window from having followed Chopper up.
Ussop nodded. "Sounds about right, but you can deal with him in the shower. No offence to him or anything, but I really don't want him trying to kill me just because I tried to get him into the shower." He said.
The cook laughed. "Done." He agreed. "Just help me get him down the ladder. Ok? Then you can clear up the weights instead."
The three of them proceeded to pick up the limp, green haired teen. Carrying him over to the ladder and strapping him tightly to Thatch's back with one of the towels that Zoro would have used to rub the sweat off after having finished his normal workout, and a jacket that Ussop had taken from his satchel.
Upon arriving on the deck's grassy lawn, Thatch untied Zoro from his back and nodded to Ussop and Chopper, who poked their heads back over the edge and drew the hatch back over so that it closed with a heavy thunk. He proceeded to avoid the kitchen, where he could hear Nami yelling at Luffy and Ace to at least eat the food with the cutlery provided and not with their fingers.
Thatch scowled, his cook side agreeing with Nami wholeheartedly.
Having dragged his usually relaxed boss -who was currently a little TOO relaxed since Thatch was carrying his entire bodyweight for him- down into the guys quarters, he laid him gently on top of the quilts that covered the beds.
Leaving him there for a second, he freely moved over to the huge bathroom that the six boys all shared and rummaged through the cupboard on the wall. Taking two towels out, he put them on the metal rail that jutted out from the wall away from the glass doors that separted a quarter of the bathroom from the rest of it. Sighing in resignation he turned the shower on and walked back through into the large bedroom, taking out and setting aside a spare set of clean pyjamas for the both of them.
Turning to Zoro, whose gaze was still fixated on the ceiling, he rolled his eyes and walked over to him calmly. Laying his boss out on the bed, he started to strip him of his clothes until he was in his birthday suit. From there he slung Zoro's arm over his shoulder and hauled him through the bathroom and into the steaming shower.
As the water pelted them both, Thatch fully clothed and Zoro fully naked and sat on the shower floor, Thatch raised an eyebrow and squeezed some shampoo into his hand before massaging it into Zoro's scalp. Zoro's head lolled back and forth loosely with the movement, totally relaxed physically, but his mind as tense as a frozen muscle.
It was only after Thatch had washed out the shampoo and had started to apply the conditioner that Zoro started to regain the ability to talk and move once more, exiting his previously frozen state.
"Thatch..." He said quietly, barely audiable over the sound of the shower's continuous rythm of water. Receiving no answer, he turned his head, suprising his friend as he said the name once more.
"Yeah! Yeah, I'm here." Thatch replied, frowning as he realised that he hadn't quite made sense. Of course he was here.
However, Zoro relaxed and leant his back into Thatch's legs. "Good..." He said. "I was wondering..."
"Hmm?" Thatch hummed, beginning to rinse Zoro's green hair so that the conditioner bubbles ran down Zoro's well-muscled neck.
"Did I ever tell you how I ended up on the streets?" He asked almost absentmindedly.
Thatch raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't expected this. "Uhhh...No. I don't think ever really mattered. We were too busy setting up the shed when we first met. I guess background never really crossed my mind." He admitted, picking up the soap and starting to get to work on cleaning his friend's back.
"I ran away." Zoro murmured, sounding as though he was remembering it. Dragged back through time.
"Oh..." Thatch frowned slightly, massaging the soap into Zoro's arms and trying to keep his face neutral as he felt Zoro's huge biceps that seemed to almost leap out from his arms.
"My father...wanted me to be one thing...and I wanted another." Zoro continued in a dream-like voice. "He wanted me to be an agent like him so he could keep an eye on me, but I wanted to be a rogue. Even one of Gol. D Roger's rogues...even though I was way too young at the time and I knew he wouldn't allow me to join."
Thatch remained silent, feeling that it would be wrong if he said anything...knowing that it would be interrupting, and that he might never get the chance to hear this information again.
"But I didn't want to become an agent...he used to train me in swordsmanship but he was over the top, expecting everything of me...expecting complete obedience. I suppose that's what's happens when you're an agent, but that's what he always was. An agent. Not a father...He was the head of MI5...how the hell was he supposed to have time for me? Mum had already died when I was young. My father told me what had happened to her, because he didn't believe in lying to me at that age. She was targeted by a terrorist gang because of him being an agent that was hunting them down, but they got to her before he could." Zoro said emotionlessly, his eyes glazed over with his past. Thatch still remained silent, his eyes wide in shock as he slowly processed the fact that his boss's father was an agent, the people that they ran from. The head of them, no less, who was a man of legend when it came to the agents.
"Then...When I was thir...thirteen...I didn't turn up for training...Locked myself in my room. I escaped out of the window whilst he forced his way in, so I ran back into the house and into the basement, took my two katanas and another, a white one...Wado, the family's prized sword...just to spite him. I ran onto the streets looking for shelter where he wouldn't find me...and I never looked back."
Thatch swallowed. It was more than enough to make him think twice about staying with the Mugiwara's, but he'd known Zoro for too long to let this even try to faze him.
"Thatch?" Zoro asked directly, turning his head to try and look up at his second in command.
"Yeah?" Thatch questioned, taking the shower off of its hook and hosing down Zoro's body, getting rid of all the soapy suds.
"Does this affect who I am?"
Thatch stopped, allowing the shower to just spit the water over Zoro's back as he held it loosely in his hand, trying to think of what to say that could put his friend's mind at rest. "Well..." He started, moving the shower head again and continuing his previous job. "It does, but it doesn't." He replied evasively. As soon as he'd said it he realised that it didn't quite make sense, so he expanded on it.
"I think it does, in the sense it has made you who you are up until today. If you hadn't run away, you wouldn't be here now. But at the same time, it doesn't affect who you are, if you don't let it. The future is the part you control, but the past is the past, a fixed point in time. You can't change the past, but you can make the future...and you determine your own future by what you do and say. That, is who you are." Thatch explained, turning the shower off.
There was a silence, in which Zoro's eyes examined the tiled floor beneath him, scanning each part unseeingly as he figured it all out in his head before nodding in finality. Wordlessly, he held his hand up.
With a smirk, Thatch took it, helping him upright and grabbing a towel from the rail, handing it to him. Zoro wrapped the towel around his waist and walked through to the guys quarters with Thatch in his wake, who was soaked through to the skin. They both started to change seperately into their pyjamas, both glad to have some normal, dry clothes on.
"Thanks." Zoro said as he sat down on his bed, resting his head against the head board at the back of the bed.
Thatch turned to look at him as he paused in the doorway and shrugged. "S'what I'm here for bro." He smiled. "Want any food? Alcohol?"
Zoro shook his head with a grin, putting his hands up behind his head as he relaxed into the soft quilt beneath him. "Nah, maybe in the morning."
"Suit yourself Marimo." Thatch laughed, ducking out of the doorway and closing the door, hearing the soft thwack as the pillow meant for him hit the now closed door. Thatch snorted quietly and headed up to the kitchen.
The rest of them couldn't cook if their lives depended on it.
That and he still needed to kick the arses of those damned D. brothers.
Nami muttered to herself as she brushed her hair in the kitchen, fully dressed and awake at just past one o'clock in the afternoon the next day. Her limbs ached underneath her slightly tattered clothes. Wordlessly, Thatch handed her a glass of cold water, to which she gratefully accepted with her free hand, sipping the cool contents contentedly.
"Rough night?" Thatch asked quietly as she handed him the empty glass once having finished it, placing it in the sink behind him.
Nami grunted and gracefully flopped down into a chair, hiding her head in her arms as she closed her eyes. "I still feel drained." She groaned.
The corners of his lips quirked in amusement. "Well I'd be surprised if you weren't. You were out pickpocketing the streets of London from nine at night until five o'clock in the morning."
"It only took so long because everyone's wallets were so pitifully thin. I came across one good catch, one." Nami sighed resignedly. "Do you even know how disappointing that is? For me at least?"
He chuckled at that. "No, but I can imagine. But on the brightside, you did manage a pretty good haul. There's about one hundred and twenty in those put together, right?"
Nami nodded. "About that. Shame that it has to go to the marimo and not me." She pouted, laying her chin back on her arms as she stared at the money pile in front of her that looked so tempting, but was just tantalizingly out of reach. "I could do with the money to buy a few things..."
Rolling his eyes, Thatch meandered his way over to the padlocked cupboard labelled 'dangerous kitchen appliances, do not touch' and twisted the dial numerous times until it clicked. Upon opening it, he took apart a dangerous looking blender and removed the blades at the bottom to reveal a small round hole. Stashed inside were at least four twenty pound notes. Grabbing two, he replaced the blades and re-assembled the blender before locking the cupboard back up.
Turning back to Nami, he took her hand and pressed the fourty pounds into her hand, to which her eyes widened in surprise. "Go and buy yourself a new outfit or something. Looks like you need some new clothes anyway judging by what you're wearing. Besides, that's what girls do, isn't i-"
He was cut off with a slight 'oof' as Nami jumped out of her seat, spun around and grabbed him in a huge bone crushing hug around his chest, seeing as she was quite a bit smaller than him.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Nami cried joyfully, bouncing on her tip-toes as she hugged him.
Thatch, after having gotten over his original shock, laughed and squeezed her back before letting her go. "Yeah well, I'm not doing it again. It's a one off 'well done' for your efforts last night. Ok?"
Nami nodded enthusiastically. "Hai, Nii-san.*"
He grinned and ruffled her hair a little, but not enough to seriously muss it up. The Mugiwara's weren't really family, not by blood (if you don't count the D brothers), but they had been together long enough to consider themselves family. Since Nami was the youngest and had never really known a family, they'd done their best to try and make it up to her, which had ended up with them all being very protective of each other and for Nami to start calling the older guys Nii-san. They were all rather fond of their orange haired little sister.
They both turned as a sleepy Ussop walked in, still in his pyjamas, scratching the back of his head through his black bushy afro. "Morning Ussop!" Nami smiled happily.
Ussop blinked a few times blearily and smiled. "Sup Nami." He greeted, grabbing a glass of milk and sitting down at the table with it.
Ace walked in behind the afro kid not seconds later, dressed in his usual attire of boots, shorts and bare torso, although this time he was minus his hat. "Hey guys!" He grinned, holding up his hand to Nami who grinned and high-fived it in response. "How are we then this m-"
"I NEED BOOZE." Zoro's interupting roar sounded out from the doorway. After raising an eyebrow, Thatch uncorcked a bottle of small sake and threw it at his leader, who neatly caught it and drank at least half of it. "Ahh, s'better." He muttered, wiping his mouth with his arm.
Shaking her head at him, Nami hugged him with a smile, surprising him and making him old his arms out wide away from her so that his sake bottle was nowhere near her. He stared at Thatch over her head, who shot him a pointed stare.
Catching the hint, Zoro quickly placed the sake bottle on the table and hugged her back. "Ehh? Feeling happy then today, eh Nami?" He asked.
"Yeah! I got a pretty good haul last night considering that the wallets were all pretty thin." Nami nodded. "About one hundred and twenty."
"The wallets would fetch a good price too y'know." Ace called out, pointing to the empty leather wallets that were piled in the middle of the table. "Want me 'nd Luffy to go out later and see what we can get for them?"
"Sounds like a good idea, Ace." Zoro agreed. "But might want to watch out for Luffy though." Ace grinned in response, knowing that his brother could sometimes go a little...off track when it came to those sorts of things.
Nami huffed at him and put her hands on her hips. "Seriously, we should use the money I collected to get a leash for Ace so that he doesn't go and burn down any more buildings."
An indignant exclamation from Ace on the other side of the table made Zoro smirk as he turned to the little sister of the group. "Well I'll make sure to threaten him later. That way we won't need to waste money. Besides, I need that money to shut that damned baker up."
Reluctantly, Nami reached into the back pockets of her jeans and handed over the one hundred and twenty pounds that she had collected, placing them into Zoro's waiting hand with soft thump, as though sad to let the money go. Zoro smirked at her expression and grabbed his katanas from the door, strapping them securely to his waist.
"Well, I better go now then. I'll see you all later." Zoro said, glancing at the clock on the Sunny's cooker as the others nodded their goodbyes, watching as he made his way off of the ship and up the metal stairs, coming out into the warehouse and out onto the streets of London.
Making his way down the street, he shut off everything around him. Just walking contentedly as he strolled, passing everyone who quietly stared at him, staying away from him just that tiny bit. Not by a huge distance, but in the safety that they wouldn't just run into him or knock his shoulder.
It wasn't like you could mistake who he was. Tall, bright green hair and three katanas. He didn't mind being known by everyone in London, whether it be on his side or not, but sometimes it did get rather annoying when he couldn't just become one with the crowd so as to go unnoticed.
Upon reaching the bakers, he found the man in the back of the store, checking up on his stores that had been there just before Ace had accidently set the whole place alight.
"Oi, here's your money." Zoro stated, pressing the hundred and twenty pounds into the terrified bakers hand. "Just remember, not a word about us. It was an accident and you dropped the match or something."
"Y-Yes sir." The baker gulped.
Zoro coughed in the awkward silence that followed. "So...uh...did you get hurt at all?" He questioned, knowing that technically, he should be looking out for his half of London, unlike that idiot curly-brow.
The baker shook his head in response. "N-No, not really. Just a few burns, but that's to be e-expected. B-B-But the bakery will be up and running again as usual within the week I'm sure, thanks to this money. Th-Thanks again, Roronoa Zoro." He thanked him.
The gang leader nodded and hummed as he turned away, heading out of the shop having finished up with his errand. There was nothing else to do now. He felt like grabbing a drink, but there was plenty back on the Thousand Sunny. Immediately his made up his mind and started to head back, not hurrying in the slightest.
Zoro smirked to himself as he started to leisurely stroll back to the warehouse. It seemed as though everything had turned out ok, meaning that he had won Thatch's bet. Which was even better, naturally.
He noticed the Halloween decorations being put up all over the houses and streets, getting ready for Halloween, which was nearly three days away. He smiled. His favourite time of year. So Christmas was all well and good, but scaring people and not getting in trouble for it was even better.
Besides. Nami, Thatch and Chopper always brought back the free candy.
As he walked, he started to feel a slight tingling sensation that made the hairs on the back of his neck rise, making him shiver involuntarily.
He frowned. It felt as though someone was watching him. He stopped in the middle of the street, people walking past him but not touching him. He was never one to feel scared or intimidated, but something about this seemed almost...familiar.
Sensing that the source was behind him a way, he slowly turned his torso so as to look back at the end of the street. Sure enough, a man was stood on the corner of the street, leaning up against the side of the building and watching him intensely. He took in the black trousers, the white shirt, the black ankle length cape and the black hat that covered his face, the plume of which blew gently in the wind.
Zoro stared. His breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened in horror as the man stood up fully and started to walk towards him. "Fuck." He breathed, turning around and breaking into a flat out sprint, his muscles rippling as he pushed himself forwards. Anyone caught in his path was shoved aside none too gently as he weaved his way through them.
Taking reckless twists and turns down various streets, the Marimo checked over his shoulder to see the man running after him, his cape flying out wildly behind him. Zoro started to feel fear building up inside him and pushed every once of strength into running even faster, as fast as his legs would carry him.
After five solid minutes of sprinting, his breath started to run short, but his pursuer was starting to catch up. Cursing, Zoro turned into some of the old backstreets of London. Upon unsheathing one of his three Katanas that were strapped to his side, people around him started to scream and scramble out of his way. Zoro's face scrunched up in distaste, knowing that it just attracted the attention that was REALLYunwanted at that precise moment.
He swiped at one of the vegetable stalls that he passed, unleasing a chaotic and undignified scramble as cascades of apple and lemons crates tumbled to the stone cobbles, the wooden crates smashing and splintering upon impact.
Zoro took lefts and rights at random, swerving behind things in an attempt to lose his pursuer. He finally stopped when he came to a deserted street, hiding behind a stone pillar and pressing his back against it as he regained his breath, straining to be quiet as he listened for any echoing footsteps that signaled the arrival of his follower.
There were none. He silently resheathed his Katana and took a few shaky steps forwards. Looking around him, he realised that he gotten himself lost. Again.
Numbly, he stumbled down the streets until he happened to come to one he recognised, which luckily for him was close to the warehouse. Dragging himself down them until he came to the warehouse, he slipped in through the door and locked it behind him before heading over to the vent, making his way down to the Thousand Sunny in less than a minute after having nearly fallen down the metal ladder, his limbs feeling like water.
As his boots touched the ground, a sense of helplessness washed over him and his legs collapsed beneath him, turning his body so that his back hit the wall with a thump, a cloud of dust rising from around him.
His body shook slightly, the close encounter having been enough for him as he stared at the ground between his knees, not really seeing anything in his state of shock and fear. He closed his eyes as he heard an almost silk like voice echo in his mind, the memory of it being one that he had striven to try and forget. It haunted him, and the memory filled him with anger.
The anger swelled like pressurised magma from within the earth's crust, boiling and raging inside him. His face contorted into one of fury as he stood up slowly, unable to rid himself of the voice within his mind. The rage finally overcame him as he snapped, the rage becoming a huge bellowing roar as all three Katanas were drawn.
On board the Thousand Sunny, Thatch raced on deck and ran to the railing gripping the wood tightly as his jaw clenched. The Mugiwara's filed up behind him more hesitantly, their eyes wide in astonishment as the scene unravelled before him.
"What's...g-going on?" Nami asked.
"Why's Zoro freaking out?" Luffy questioned in confusion.
"Sh-Should I go and t-tend to him?" Chopper wondered out loud.
Thatch shook his head. "No Chopper, leave him be for the moment. Likely as not he's gonna destroy a lot of shit before coming back to us, and it's not like he's gonna hurt himself. Well. Unless he's unlucky enough to have one of the shelves fall on him." He said. Turning to his friends, he nodded his head back towards the ship. "You guys better get inside just incase he takes it over here. Otherwise you'll get caught up in it." He added wisely.
Luffy frowned. "But we n-" He started to protest.
His brother's hand clapped down on his shoulder and started to gently pull him away. "Oi, Lu. Give him some time. Obviously there's something up, or he just needs to let loose, get it out of his system." He said reasonably, winking at Thatch's look of relief as he helped to get them all back inside.
Thatch turned back to the railing and sighed, watching as metal sliced into the cavern walls and left incrediably large scores in them, cutting up pieces of metal shelf and spearing metal containers, giving them dangerously sharp edges from where they had been sawn into halves or more.
The katanas seemed to have a life of their own, dancing, curving and arcing through the air in a frenzy as they cut through anything they came into contact with. It took skill to be able to do so with such precision and accuracy, and Zoro had had more than enough practise.
The skill however, had been drummed into him ever since he had been little.
Beads of sweat glistened as they slowly threaded their way down the young boy's lightly tanned face. He was breathing heavily, with two wooden swords in each hand, stabbing away mercilessly at his opponant, giving them no time to attack as his tireless onslaught wore the other down.
"Stop."
The two boys stopped. The boy with the two swords grinned as the man who had stopped them stared at them.
"Hey dad, what do you think? I'm getting better now aren't I-"~
"It's a pitiful effort. Your stance was wrong and you were only tiring yourself out because you have a weak stamina. Do you honestly expect to beat your opponants with such weakness?" The man stated coldly, nearly emitting a short humourless laugh at the end.
The boy's hopes were dashed, shown by the slow fall of his smile and the droop of his shoulders."B...But...Maybe if I were to try again-"
"No, enough. You are to train. And train hard. With a weak body and a weak mind, you are nothing to me. I have nothing to work on to be able to make you into an agent. Now get out." The man snapped.
Zoro glared at his father, not bothering to keep the hatred out of his eyes. "Look, I don't have to do what you say."
"Yes you damn well do, and you will do what I say, WHEN I tell you to do it." His father stared back at him, his eyes piercing as he met his son's gaze.
"I DO WHAT I WANT." Zoro yelled, his small-ish hands balling into fists.
"DO NOT. ARGUE. WITH ME." His father roared in return, brandishing a warning finger in his son's direction, making him flinch slightly.
"THERE YOU GO AGAIN, TELLING ME WHAT TO DO. LEAVE ME ALONE. I HATE YOU." The boy shouted, hot angry tears filling his eyes as he ran out of the room and bolted down the hallway in a desperate attempt to get out of his father's presence, which only resulted in his father following him at a quick pace.
"RORONOA. GET BACK HERE IMMEDIATELY."
"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE. I WISH YOU WERE DEAD."
The green haired boy stared at the stone slab in front of him. The cold rain pelted him from all sides, soaking him completely to the skin, but he barely noticed. Tears that welled in his eyes and slid along the lengths of his eye lashes merely looked like raindrops, mixing in with them before falling to join the rest that had fallen before them.
Green ivy wound its way up the stone slab, making it hard to make out the few words that had once been carefully engraved upon the dulled grey headstone. The green ivy was slowly, gently pulled away by small hands which then proceeded to stroke the headstone lovingly, wistfully, forlornly.
"I wish you were here." Zoro whispered. "Mum, I really wish you were here. He keeps telling me that I need to become a strong agent, but I feel he's just telling me that because it's what he wants. I miss you...and I love you so much, even if I barely remember you. But I p-promise. I'll m-make you proud a-and do my o...my own...go my own way. I-I-I p-promise."
He stopped, taking a shuddering breath that had nothing to do with the cold wind that was now biting at him, nipping away at his bare skin and tearing at his clothes that whipped as the wind built in strength and volume, howling loudly like a dog.
"I PROMISE."
His body heaving, Zoro felt a haze lift from him as his vision seemed to clear, which allowed him to stare around him and survey the damage that had been done to the walls, shelves and other objects that had been around him. Metal beams had been severed, broken glass was on the floor, along with the contents which the glass should have contained and the walls themselves had light scratches running along the wall, but never reaching halfway up and the scratches never going too deep, instead looking like mere pencil drawings.
Zoro panted with exertion, slowly sheathing his katanas and numbly walking over to the ship, to where Thatch was calmly sitting on the pure white railing of the Thousand Sunny, bearing a large tankard of sake ready for his friend, his own already half drunk from his tankard which was placed beside him.
Wordlessly taking it from his old friend, he turned and slid his back down the railing until his butt met the wooden panels of the Sunny's deck. They sat in silence for a while, gulping down their drinks, merely appreciating each others company.
"Do they want to know?" Zoro asked quietly after about ten minutes of silence.
Thatch eyed him silently for a few moments. "Are you ready to tell?" He responded just as quietly.
Zoro remained silent, considering the question. "Not yet."
Aaaaaaaand that is chapter two people. ^^ I hope it was ok...I'm still getting a feel for writing this, xD It's gonna have a lot of themes, and quite a few of them are a little dark in some respects, but what I am kind of aiming to do, is see if I can convey emotion.
Basically, I'm trying to make you cry.
Or laugh.
Depending on what I'm writing.
Oh, something else, for any of you Tumblr fans out there, you can follow me if you're interested, cause I follow back. ^^ My Tumblr name is; MadnessIsJustTheBeginning
Anyway, please review! ^^D
Kai XxxXxxX