Black as Knight.
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You guys make me so proud...=')
By the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS/JOYEUX NOEL/FROHLICHES WEIHNACHTEN/[Insert whatever you celebrate here].
Whatever you celebrate, make it a good one.
Sherlock: Meretricious
Lestrade:And a happy new year!
;D
Chapter 4.
Zoro had fumed in silence for the half an hour in which he had been left alone, his mind raging in anger. So he didn't notice Shanks quietly enter through the door until he spoke.
"So, Zoro, right? My name is Shanks, second in command to your father. I'll be introducing you to your new life here at MI5." He greeted warmly, his mouth lifting in smile that came way too easily seeing as he was an MI5 agent.
"Let me out of here." Zoro muttered quietly, making Shanks frown slightly.
"I can't do that. You are not to go back to the streets. That is your past life. Here at MI5 you will be trained in many disciplines before being allowed on missions. Once trusted and given full admission to everything within MI5, you will finally be allowed to join the higher up ranks, where you will help to guard our royal family. But to join those higher ranks, you will be tested on your ability to do such jobs."
Zoro sighed, closing his eyes. "I don't have any choice...Do I." He stated in resignation, slumping down in the chair a little.
"No, to be honest. But I shall warn you, we do not take disobedience lightly. We will take action at the slightest sign of it. So let's hope you're not a rule breaker, for your sake." Shanks told him seriously.
The teen groaned, making Shanks smirk slightly as he held out his hand to help him up. "Follow me. I'll show you to your living quarters." Zoro momentarily glared at the hand before standing up, without the aid.
Shanks rolled his eyes and started walking, heading out into the corridor and making sure that his charge followed him closely as they turned down the many deserted corridors. "Your living quarters will be just that. Your room, your bathroom, everything. It will be where you stay when you are not otherwise engaged in training or missions. You probably won't be in there much, seeing as we're going to be drilling a lot into you in such a short space of time, but that's because we need more agents out there on the job."
"Sounds like you got your hands full." Zoro grunted, glancing about him at the brick-coloured walls either side of him and Shanks, who smiled at the comment.
"True that." He laughed. "You are to be put under my supervision, and I will be your main trainer, seeing as we need to get you up to speed. But I'm not going to be your only trainer. The other agents all have specialities that you will be tutored in, and you'll find out about those later. Oh, you're not my only trainee either. We've got another, name of Coby. He's a little further ahead than you, but I'm sure the two of you will get along fine."
Minutes later, they walked through a door into a large open room, filled with sofa's, tables and chairs, a cupboard full of books, and another stocked with what looked like wine. Sadly, Zoro noticed, nothing stronger was to be seen among them. "This place here, is what we like to call the 'common room'. Where you come in after a mission and sit and relax, or play cards, or...whatever." Shanks shrugged with a smirk. "But through here," He said as he walked off through another narrow door at the end of the common room, into a long corridor, "are all the doors to the bedrooms. And this one here is yours. Number 221. Keep it clean and tidy, cause the cleaners will kick your ass otherwise."
Zoro stared at the hard oak wooden door before back at Shanks. "Cleaners? I don't want no cleaners going through my shi-" He paused as Shanks raised an eyebrow at him. "...Stuff." He muttered finally.
Shanks grinned and pressed something into the teenagers hand. "Well, here's your keys. It's about eight pm now, so get some sleep. I want you up and in the common room tomorrow at six. Ok?" With that, he turned on his heel and meandered his way back down the corridor.
"S-Six?!" Zoro spluttered. "In the morni-You've got to be fucking kidding me!" He shouted.
"Keep a lid on the language. And yes, six in the morning. Even a minute late, and I'll be coming to get ya'." Shanks warned him, showing him a hint of a devilish smile before disappearing into the common room.
Using the keys to open the door to his room, he noticed that it looked like a fancy hotel room. Down to the ensuite bathroom filled with the whole kit of toothbrush, toothpaste, flannels, clean towels, the lot. As for the bedroom itself, it had a small flatscreen tv located in the corner of the room that was turned to face the bed. The bed was in the centre of the room, and was rather large and comfortable looking. Next to it, there was a small coffee table with a light and a den-den mushi on it, a selection of quick dial numbers on it. There was also what looked like a work desk, with pens and paper, a small light and various bits and pieces. On the far side of the room, sat a chest of drawers and a small wardrobe, all made out of the same oak as the door.
He closed the door behind him and wandered over to the wardrobe and chest of drawers, opening them one by one and peering inside them curiously. He found night clothes, changes of underwear, relaxing comfortable clothes, training clothes, and weirdly, a black work suit complete with shiny shoes and a black tie.
Raising an eyebrow, he closed them again as he shook his head with a small laugh. Taking a pair of night clothes out of the drawer, he changed into them, carefully folding his normal clothes and placing them at the bottom of the drawer underneath everything else. He knew that MI5 would want to crush that out of him, and getting rid of them would be the first thing they did.
Cursing, he realised that he still didn't have his katanas, which were back at the base with the others. "I need to get out of here. First chance I get." He muttered to himself as he slid into bed.
With a pissed off, irritated sigh, he turned the light off and tried to sleep.
The next morning, Zoro found himself being rudely awoken to a hammering on his door. "FUCK OFF." He yelled in response with his deep, croaky, early morning voice as he pulled the covers up over his head and groaned from deep within in his throat.
"Z-Zoro? It's like ten to six. I j-just thought I should help you get up so that Shanks doesn't come to get you." A nervous voice replied, their voice muffled by the door.
"Wh...What?" He muttered in confusion. He sat up and looked around him, taking in his surroundings. The cleanliness of it, the unfamilliar-ness. Then it clicked. "Aw hell. Ah hell no...Ah, fuck NO." He shouted, his voice rising in volume as he began to panic. "I DID NOT WANT THIS. I SHOULD BE LEFT ALONE." He yelled, stripping himself of his night clothes and leaving them strewn on the bed as he quickly showered in a record time of at least three minutes.
"First chance I get. First fucking chance. I am NOT an early riser. I swear to god, if anyone tries to stop me from leaving, I will leave them in a pile of bones and squished flesh." He grumbled darkly, towelling his hair dry before dressing in the training suit that he swiftly plucked from the cupboard, deciding that he might as well try to look the part if he was going to pretend to go along with the bastards.
A minute before six, Zoro nearly ran at the door and grabbed the handle. Then he paused, his hand still on the handle glanced at the clock and then down at himself.
"What the fuck am I doing?" He questioned, laughing shortly at his idiocy.
With that, he turned the lock on the door and remade his bed neatly. Having done so, he promptly sat down and laid back on it with his hands comfortably behind his head, which was relaxed into the pillow. He closed his eyes, glad that the annoying voice had decided to bugger off.
Barely a minute later, he jumped as his door was hammered upon multiple times. "ZORO. GET OUT HERE NOW." Shanks's voice yelled from outside the door, his voice ringing clearly.
Zoro scowled at the ceiling for a second, deliberating on answering. After a moment, he decided against it, instead opting to close his eyes and lay back, hoping that if he ignored him, he would go away.
He jumped terribly as the door swung open with a bang. Shanks strode in purposefully, his blazing eyes making Zoro shrink back into the pillow. "When I give you an order, Zoro, I expect it to be followed." Shanks said, his voice dangerous. Zoro was a little shaken at the change. Yesterday, the red-haired man had been rather...well...nice. Now the teenager knew that Shanks had not been joking about coming in after him.
"Seeing as you're all ready to go, I'm going to be lenient and let you off. So get up." Shanks sighed at length. "Now." He added forcefully when Zoro made no attempt to move.
"And if I say no?" Zoro questioned in a polite, even tone.
Shanks eyed him. "You don't want to find out. But I can assure you that it'll be painful." He answered, his voice also dangerously polite.
Muttering irritably, Zoro heaved himself up off of the bed. "Why are we even getting up this early?" He asked, following Shanks out of the room and towards the common room. "I mean, no idiot in their right mind would-"
He finally noticed a boy of about the same age that had evidently been waiting for them, dressed in similar black training clothes, which clashed with his bright bubblegum pink hair. A memory whizzed through Zoro's mind at high speed, in which he remembered a flash of pink hair before his head had collided with the brick wall that had knocked him out the day before.
It clicked as his mind made the connection.
With an angry, wordless roar, he launched imself at the boy, tackling him to the wall and managing to get in a few good punches before Shanks grabbed him and hauled him away, hitting him upside the head in reprimand as he placed himself between the two teenagers.
"Oi, Coby. Are you alright?" Shanks questioned, not taking his eyes off of the darkly muttering green-haired rogue.
"Y-Yeah." Came the shaky response. "Just surprised and winded is all...I think."
Zoro grimaced as Shanks grabbed the scruff of his black training shirt and shook him like a kitten. "Feel like explaining that little tantrum?" He asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
"Pinky-locks over there is one of the two who brought me to this hell hole." Zoro spat, glaring at said boy, who slowly brought his hands up in a defensive gesture.
Shanks rolled his eyes and hit him around the head again. "Well instead of trying to beat him up, try paying attention to the fact that it only took two of them to bring you in. That and the fact that you can't do anything about it." He instructed authoritively.
The former Mugiwara gang leader was more than prepared to argue it out. But there was something about Shanks which made him rethink the idea, instead opting to keep his mouth shut and give him a very slight, curt nod.
The red-head smirked inwardly at the gesture, remembering Mihawk's warning of how stubborn his son could be. 'Well, there's certainly that. But it seems that amongst all that, he has a brain. And he knows how to use it too..Maybe I'll be able to put it to good use.' He thought with a small, barely noticeable snort.
"Follow me." Shanks ordered, making sure he kept an eye on the both of them, who said not a word to each other as they walked behind him, keeping close so as not to get lost in the maze of corridors that he led them down, twisting and turning in what Zoro was sure was a never-ending building.
Minutes later, Shanks brought them into what looked like some weird classroom, or meeting room. There was a map pinned to the whiteboard and two small desks had been placed in front of two chairs, small pieces of paper on top with pens apiece. Zoro glanced at Coby as the kid sat down in one of the chairs. He could feel Shanks watching him, so he decided to play along and sat down in the seat beside Coby with a barely supressed sigh.
"Ok." Shanks stated, standing in front of the map. "Coby is a little further ahead of you Zoro, so you're gonna have to try and keep up. I'm gonna be putting you both through intelligence training. It'll include things like maps, which is what we're gonna do this session. Each session will last approximately two hours. Other times I'll be testing you on your knowledge of the roads, what to do in certain situations, what counteracts what...for example certain poisons...but you get my gist. So, let's start shall we?" He asked brightly.
At first, Shanks got them to write down as many street names as they could remember from around London. Zoro knew a couple, but he knew them all by sight. And that wasn't the only problem. He hadn't used a pen, hell not even a pencil, for nigh on four years. He could just about form letters at first, but after writing down a couple of street names, he managed to join the letters up to form words, albeit in very untidy scrawl.
When Shanks got them to stop, Zoro's eyes widened a fraction when Coby stated that he had been able to recall nearly two hundred. He had only written about eleven, which was a meagre amount in comparison.
Coby frowned. "But Shanks-sensei, there are ten's of thousands of streets in London. It would be almost impossible to remember them all."
Shanks smiled. "Exactly Coby, that's why I know you wouldn't be able to list them all."
"Well then it was a pointless exercise." Zoro stated tonelessly.
The red-haired man stared at him for a second and tilted his head. "Ok then, why do you think I got you to do it then, Zoro?" He asked him, noticing Coby sending Zoro a panicked look as the teenager laughed humourlessly.
"For your entertainment." He answered, his tone blatantly holding a lot of disrespect.
Shanks smirked down at the floor for a second before turning to Zoro, his smirk still on his face. "Really? How narrow minded. It's was merely pointing out the fact that no one could possibly know the streets in London, but by the time I have finished with them, they will be memorised inside your head."
Zoro snorted and looked away. "Whatever. Not gonna happen." He muttered, obviously disbelieving.
The next hour progressed slowly, and Zoro kept glancing at the clock, already bored with the constant repetition of street names and which street had what on it. He answered as best he could when answering questions, but more than often, those best answers often had a smartass comment accopanying them, mainly because he couldn't remember a lot of the street names.
"Zoro. It's like it's going in through one ear and out the other." Shanks stated impatiently, his patience wearing thin. "Can you at least try to remember what I'm telling you? Because I sure as hell won't be the one coming to rescue you when you get yourself lost."
"I'm not going to get lost. I know my half of London." Zoro retorted. "And
"Your half of London? There's no such thing. Anyway, if I was to say that Gro-"
"There is such a thing. As a gang leader, it's my responsibility to know where my territory boundaries are, who's in it, and what's going on." Zoro stated confidently, standing up.
Shanks sighed and rubbed his temple. "Sit down." He ordered.
"Go fuck yourself." Came the reply.
Coby's eyes widened and he retreated into himself a little. "Z-Z-Zor-"
"Shut it kid. Anyone comes after me and I'll leave them dead on the floor. I've had enough." The green-haired teen spat, fully fed up as he turned on his heel and headed to the door.
"Who do you think you are?" Shanks demanded after him.
"Roronoa Zoro, Mugiwara gang leader." Zoro answered as he reached the door.
"Am I supposed to be impressed?" The MI5 deputy questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Zoro jutted his lower jaw out thoughtfully for a second as he turned to look back at Shanks. "You should be." He stated flatly. "Have a nice day." With that, he pushed the door open with a small skip of his foot as he simultaneously pushed it with his hands, stepping outside into the corridor.
Leaving the room behind, he strode off down the corridors, muttering to himself as he went. "Stupid asshole. Thinking he can make me remember all that shit, and do what he tells me to do. Well screw that. I 'ent doing none of it, and Coby can get that stick out of his ass too. Fucking idiot."
Whilst he was muttering, he wasn't look where he was going. So thus he found himself crash-walking into someone coming the other way with their arms full of papers, consequently hurtling to the floor along with the papers and the other person. Zoro sat back on his knees. "Shit." He groaned. "Uhh, sorry."
"It's cool kid." A deep voice chuckled. "You're the new one, right? The head's kid?"
Zoro looked up to see a broad shouldered man whose jet black hair was tied back into a pony-tail. The papers shuffled as the man started to put them back into their neat pile, and Zoro absentmindedly helped him. "...Yeah...And I'm not a kid." He defended himself gruffly.
"Course not kid." The man smirked knowingly. "The name's Benn." He introduced himself, holding out a hand. "So you must be Zoro."
"Mmm." Zoro hummed, taking the proffered hand and shaking it warily before letting it go so that Benn could pick up his papers and stand, as did Zoro. "Know where the exit to this place is?" He questioned suddenly.
Benn stared at him as though assessing him, finally nodding. "Yeah sure. I bet you've been wandering for ages. Follow me."
"Thanks." Zoro sighed, relieved to have found someone that could lead him out of the place so easily. "You're a life saver." A short laugh eminated from Benn, which made Zoro frown slightly at the older man's back. "What?"
"Nothing important, don't worry that mossy little head of yours." Benn chuckled, shifting the papers in his arms as they walked.
Not moments later, Zoro found himself being lead into a large hall full of random stuff, making it look a lot like some weird obstacle course. He stared at it in confusion for a minute, not understanding what was going on. "Hey, I thought you were leading me out?" He asked, looking back at Benn.
"Ah Zoro! So glad to see you again." Shanks' voice rang out from the middle of the gym hall, where Coby was stood next to him. "If it wasn't for Benn here, you probably wouldn't have made it in time for your physical training!" He exclaimed in mock horror.
Then Zoro understood. He whirled upon Benn, noticing that the papers in the agent's arms were completely and utterly blank, which he hadn't noticed the first time round. "You son of a bitch!" He shouted angrily.
Benn shrugged. "We weren't gonna let you go that easy kid. Now hurry up and start learning. We're expecting high things of you, you know."
"Save it for the choir." Zoro laughed humourlessly. Benn raised his eyebrows for a second at Shanks who rolled his eyes in return.
"Well good luck anyway." Benn nodded, turning and heading back out of the large gym.
Zoro locked his jaw in irritation as he saw no other choice but to join Shanks and Coby in the middle of the hall. He said nothing, and so silence reigned in the hall. Until Shanks started laughing hysterically. Coby and Zoro glanced at each other for a second before Zoro remembered that he hated the S.O.B (Son Of a Bitch) and decided to ask the million dollar question.
"What's so funny?" He asked irritatedly.
Shanks pretended to wipe his eyes. "Oh you're hilarious. It's like you hate the world, and you're so determined to make it hard for yourself because you have so much pride that you seem to think you can't let go of." He laughed heartily. The laughter stopped as quickly as it started. "Now both of you, we're going to start with the ropes. I want you up and down your ropes at least two-hundred times. No less. Get going." He ordered.
Coby jumped to it, starting to ascend the rope with surprising agility for one of his rather small size. By the time the pink haired boy had touched back to the ground about two minutes later, Zoro was still stood at the bottomr of his rope, having not even touched it.
"Come on Zoro! Show me what you've got!" Shanks encouraged.
"I can't be asked." Zoro replied monotonously.
"Oh come on, I wanna see how good you are! We've got six hours to complete in here."
Coby turned to Zoro at length. "Hey, I'll race you." He challenged before Zoro could say anything. "First to three hundred and fifty. Loser buys the other three beers." He goaded.
At the mention of beer, Zoro's interest piqued. "Fine. But I'm not losing."
"I'm already one ahead." Coby pointed out, trying to ignore Shanks' amused look.
Zoro suddenly hauled his top up over his head, tossing it on the floor beside his rope. Without another word, he gripped the rope with one hand and tugged it, testing to see whether it would take his weight. Deeming it acceptable, he started to climb. Within less than a minute he was back next to Coby, not panting in the slightest. "You were saying bitch?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Coby grinned, and the both of them began to race each other as time after time they hauled themselves up the rope and back down again. After a while though, when Coby reached seventy six climbs of the rope after half an hour, he began to regret the challenge slightly. Zoro was six climbs ahead of him, and was showing no signs of tiring. Stealing a glance at the teen, Coby could see the strong muscles in his stomach and arms. Hell, even the muscles in Zoro's neck strained slightly as he pulled himself arm over arm up the rope.
Determined to keep trying, Coby didn't give up. Instead he focused on the climbing. When he reached one hundred and fourty-six, he started to break into a slight panting. Zoro however, was still going strong. Coby marvelled at how relaxed and controlled his opponents body was.
By two hundred and twenty-two, the pink haired teen was sweating, albeit just a coating and a few small drops that ran down the side of his face.
Three-hundred and ten, and he was sweating heavily.
"Three-hundred and eleven." Coby almost whispered as he touched down. "Three-hundred and twelve." He added about a minute later. "Three-hundred and-"
"Finished." Zoro's voice rang out.
Shanks raised an eyebrow in surprise, whereas Coby merely stared, a red rope-burnt hand on his rope, ready to start his next ascent. "W-Wow, Zoro. That's fast." He remarked.
Zoro shrugged, sweat coating him a little in a fine sheen that reflected the lights of the gym. Shanks then nodded and hummed to himself, standing at the side of them room as he dragged Coby with him. "Ok then. Now that you've warmed up, I want you to start the obstacle course, which is not going to be easy. Well, it's easier than the training that Garp will put you through, but...you'll get to that lesson later." He smirked. "Off you go. Start in the left hand corner of the room and work your way down the gym."
He wanted to flat out refuse, but there was a flash of black that caught his eye from the doorway, and he didn't even need to turn to look to know who it was and what they were doing there. So fighting a snarl off of his face, Zoro nodded curtly and complied with the order.
"Try and see how fast you can complete the course. Usually takes agents about under five minutes. You can start when you're ready kid." Shanks called out.
Immediately, Zoro sprinted down the length of a conveyor belt that was set out in front of him. The moment he touched it, the conveyor belt sprang to life, speeding him up even more as it made him hurtle towards what looked like a large brick wall.
Narrowing his eyes which had at first widened in surprise at the speed, he approached the end of the conveyor belt and made a flying leap at the wall, using his initiative and well-muscled body to allow him to perform a handstand on the top of the wall before pushing straight off of it and landing onto the floor behind the wall, hitting the floor with a roll and coming up quickly so that he could start running once more.
This time, he faced a sea of small weeds with a rope dangling above them. Not sure as to what the hell was going on, he decided to go along with it and leapt for the rope as he cleared the weeds. As soon as his hands touched the rope, the weeds burst into flame beneath him and set the very tail of the rope alight. Cursing, he somersaulted off of the rope and landed on the next obstacle; the panel which had just sunk under his weight.
From seemingly all directions, hails of knives threw themselves at him.
To Zoro, it was like he was seeing them come at him in a version that had been speeded up one-hundred times. He put his hand out instinctively, and by chance, he managed to catch the hilt of one of them. Using this, he spun on his heel as he defended his body from the multiple attacks, successfully deflecting them all so that he could move on with the knife clenched between his teeth.
He gave a muffled yell of surprise as he slipped and fell on the ice that had been expertly concealed on the floor of the gym. He started to slide at an alarmingly fast rate, and he would have wasted time had he not wrenched the knife from his mouth and plunged it into the ice, thankfully not shattering the blade. From there, he quickly but carefully stood and made his way off of the ice.
There was one obstacle left, and he narrowed his eyes at it as the two metal doors started to close. Taking a breath, he flat out sprinted for the doors, watching as the gap between them began to close.
Coby watched as Zoro ran, his mouth slowly beginning to drop. "He's never gonna make it." He laughed breathlessly. Shanks didn't reply, instead he merely raised an eyebrow so that the scars over his eye twitched in what almost looked like amusement.
Feeling the world around him slow down slightly, Zoro counted his strides as he approached the narrowing gap between the doors, which was now just about wide enough to fit a person and a half.
One...two...three...four...five!
On the fifth count, he dived. His whole body seemed to flatten itself, and as he sailed through the gap and out the other side of the doors, they closed. Time seemed to then catch up to him as he hit the floor allowing him to perform a forward roll into a 'ready-to-attack' position.
Coby then raced up to him with Shanks in tow. "That was awesome Zoro-san!" He exclaimed. "You were all like; 'Whoosh!' and-"
"Cut it out with the Zoro-san." Zoro snapped irritably. Suddenly his attention was drawn by the figure in black as their cape moved slightly. He watched in shock as Mihawk stared at him for a moment before nodding impassively and turning on his heel, disappearing from view.
"Seems like you impressed someone else too." Coby commented, having followed Zoro's gaze.
Zoro shook his head, his lips curling in distaste. "That wasn't him being impressed. That was more; 'You could do better'." He spat.
"Well, you had a time of five minutes and eleven seconds, so that's not bad at all for a first attempt. Besides, the course is always changing, so you'll get another go at some point." Shanks joined in, nudging Zoro with his arm. "Hey, follow me the both of you. Looks like you could both do with some nourishment before I hand you over to Yassop and Benn. You guys look ready for some food, ne?"
Shanks had herded them back to their common room, to where food had been waiting for them. When Coby had asked, he had told them that Benn had brought it down from the canteen. Zoro had once again felt like refusing to eat, but his growling stomach made him swallow the refusal as well as his pride, allowing himself to eat something, no matter where it had come from.
Wolfing the food down in a matter of minutes, Shanks allowed them a twenty minute break in which he left them to themselves. "I'll send Yassop to come in twenty minutes. He'll be teaching you here in your common room."
"What more is there that you can 'teach' us?" Zoro questioned, miming the inverted commas around 'teach' as he said it. He received no answer apart from the closing of the door as Shanks left.
Coby was staring at him, and it wasn't 'til he challenged him that he stopped. "What are you looking at pink-locks?" He snarled, wiping the remanants of lunch away from around his mouth with his hand.
"Well, you, really. You really don't care about the rules do you?" Coby stuttered. "And my name's Coby."
"No I don't. I have no intention of staying here." Zoro answered shortly.
"There's nowhere else you can go. We brought you in, so you've got to kind of just...settle in. You're lucky really, you were given a second chance-"
"I NEVER WANTED THAT CHANCE." Zoro roared, making Coby jump back slightly at the force of it. "If you guys had just left it alone, left me alone, I could be doing what I normally do and looking after my half of London. Y'hear me?"
Coby nodded. After a short silence, he spoke up again. "Zoro-san...What's it like? Living on the streets? Owning half of London, as you call it?" He asked timidly.
Staring at him hard, Zoro replied a little more quietly. "It's not an ideal life for everyone." He admitted. "I survived by maintaining the bonds I have with those in my territory. It's about who you know. You don't...control people. It's more about having a reputation that makes them want your protection."
Processing the information, Coby asked another question. "And you said you had a gang? Right? You were the leader of the...Mugiwara gang?"
"Aa." Zoro nodded. "They're my friends, and they trusted me. When chased by your lot, they trusted me to lead them to safety, or to fight our way out of a situation. They're safe, because I led you away from them." He muttered.
"But then-"
"Shut up now." Zoro growled, clearly stating that he didn't want to say any more on the subject.
Some time later, a slightly tanned man walked into the room with a smile, his hair in brown dreadlocks and his forehead covered by a bandana. "Hey there guys. The name's Yassop, and I'll be helping you with your sharpshooter training. In short terms, how to handle a gun."
For a second, Zoro was stunned into silence as he looked at the man. "Ussop?" He muttered disbelievingly.
Yassop turned to look at him sharply. "What did you say?" He demanded, his stare intent.
"Nothing." Zoro replied coolly, mentally cursing himself for his mistake. "Anyway, why are you going to teach us about guns? I use swords. There's absolutely no point in trying to teach me about something that I'm never going to use."
Yassop laughed. "Kid, you never know what you might need to use on a mission. If you can use any and every weapon available, then you are safe in almost any situation that requires you to fight. Hearin' me?"
"So what guns are you going to teach us about?" Coby questioned eagerly, sitting upright in his chair.
"Woah there Coby," Yassop grinned, "you're not actually going to be handling any guns today. Once I've taught you the basics, then I'll let you have a go at actually testing out what you've learnt. Then I'll take you down to the firing range to see how you handle aiming and shooting at different targets."
"But what guns are you going to let us use, or learn about?" Coby asked, the eager light still in his eyes.
"To start with, you'll be learning and using about the easy hand-guns. Pistols and such-like. When I deem that you're both ready, then I'll let you into the big-boy stuff like AK-47's and the sniper rifles, machine guns, and the rest. If you're more suited to long range or canon-like firing, then by the end of the course you could be assigned something like the Harkonnan. Whereas if you're more suited to the hand-held guns, then perhaps something light but powerful enough to shoot someone's head off." Yassop explained.
At this, even Zoro sounded a little interested. But being a swordsman, he couldn't really find the appeal of guns. So when Yassop began the session and started to show them the different parts of a simple Walther P99 pistol.
"The Walther P99 pistol. Every agent starts out with it, and it's the standard pistol. It has a capacity of 16, so it can fire 16 round before you have to reload. It has quite a large magazine. It also has a standard silencer that you can attatch to it if you're on a stealth mission, which helps to quiet the shots, as you can evidently tell from the name. Also, take note of this, it's better at close distance rather than long distance. More damage is inflicted at close range." Yassop explained as he showed them both different pictures of the gun.
"Ok, so how do you reload?" Coby questioned.
Yassop nodded. "That's a good question kid. Y'see that hand grip? You've gotta unclip it and slide out that magazine as quickly as you can, and reload the new magazine into it, but making sure that the magazine clicks back into place. You get me?"
Coby nodded with a grin. "Yeah, sounds easy enough."
"What about you Zoro? Y'get that?"
Zoro nodded once. "Mm. I got it." He agreed un-enthusiastically. Although his outward appearance appeared disinterested, he was making important mental notes in an attempt to remember it. Even though he was not planning on staying in this place for long, he knew it would be better if he committed the important stuff to memory just in case he ever had to use it when he got out of there.
From then, Yassop passed the rest of the hour and a half trying to teach them how to assemble and disassemble the gun by using various different pictures so that they could try and remember it, to be able to use the information when they came round to actually doing it. He would have gone over his time-limit too, had it not been for the familiar presence of Benn entering the room. "Oi, Yassop. You're getting too deep into your subject again." His deep gravel-like voice said, cutting Yassop off from explaining the similar techniques for the Smith and Wesson model of the Wolfe.44.
"Eh? Yikes, you're right! Sorry about that Benn." Yassop laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he started to gather up his props.
"S'alright. I came about two minutes early. Thought you might forget." Benn said shortly, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "Besides, they've had a long enough rest. Time for some proper fighting."
Yassop grinned back at him. "You gonna spar with them?" He asked.
"Only to assess their abilities." Benn nodded.
Zoro resisted from raising an eyebrow as Benn took them both out of Yassop's care and back towards the gym that they had been in earlier with Shanks, of which the previous props had been removed.
Benn stopped in the middle of the gym and turned to face them both. "Right. Both of you, attack me." He stated.
Needing no further encouragement, Zoro leapt at Benn with a raised fist, intending to strike him in the face. However, Benn gripped his fist with his own and threw him over his shoulder like he was nothing. Getting straight back up, Zoro kicked out at Benn's legs, hoping to catch him out. Once again, Benn seemed to anticipate it. He sidestepped the kick and kickied Zoro's stomach in return, sending him flying across the gym until he landed and skidded across the wooden floor.
Coby then seized his chance and ran at Benn. Instead of giving Coby a chance to attack, Benn aimed for Coby's chest plate and lashed out with a punch. At the last second, Coby ducked under the punch with a limbo-like move and brought his own fist up in the hopes of connecting it with Benn's jaw. It would have worked, had pain not suddenly blossomed in his stomach from where Benn shoved a knee hard into it. Coby fell to the floor, gasping in pain as he tried to regain the breath that had been taken from him.
A flash of green warned Benn of Zoro's approach, but he hadn't taken more than two steps and Zoro had taken a flying leap over Benn's attempted punch to Zoro's abdomen, instead wrapping his legs around Benn's neck and using his own body weight to swing the older man to the floor.
But Benn swiftly came up again, knocking Zoro over so that fell on top of Coby. They both shoved at each other, trying to get the other out of their way.
"Stop." Benn commanded, calling a halt to their struggle. "You both failed that miserably."
"I thought it was a pretty damn good attempt." Zoro grouched.
"Yes, but had you worked together, you would have stood more of a chance." Benn responded.
Zoro snorted as he shot a contemptuous look in Coby's direction. "There's only one group of people that I would work together with. And he's not one of them."
Benn sighed to himself and lit a cigar that he seemingly pulled out of nowhere. "Then this is gonna be one hell of a long lesson."
Points to anyone who got the Sherlock line (Hint; It's from The Great Game). ;D
Kai, XxxXxxX