Chapter 6.
WOO! I'm on FIRE baby!
*Flaps hands at Ace*
Now put it out! I'm burning over here! =L
HAPPY NEW YEAR! ^^D
When Zoro woke up, his head felt fuzzy. Moaning with sleepiness he sat up, feeling a tight pull across his back and the feel of unfamiliar fabric around his torso. Pulling back the covers, he realised that he was in his night clothes. But it wasn't until he lifted his night shirt that he could see that the upper half of his body had been tightly bandaged.
Then he remembered what had happened, with the result of his fifteen lashes.
Getting out of bed, he smirked to himself. "So worth it." He laughed under his breath. Starting to get changed he started to remove the bandages, only to see a small piece of paper sticking out at him from within one of their layers. Taking it out, he read it.
'Figured you might want to take these off as soon as you get up, but don't do so unless it's 11:00 AM.
- Shanks'
He shrugged and scrunched the paper up, fistpumping as he accurately threw the paper ball into the bin on the other side of his huge room. Glancing at the clock on his bedside table which read 15:07, he gauged that it was more than time to take the bandages off.
Carefully freeing them from his body, he made a small heap of them on the floor at his feet. Opening the wardrobe to reveal the full length mirror he turned around and looked over his shoulder. He stared at his back, counting the fifteen faint lines that ran across him like words did a page. None of them overlapped, not even by a millimeter.
He stared at them for a while noticing how they were almost faded after only one night, whereas in reality it should have taken about a week or more. "I need sake." He muttered, walking away from the mirror and to the mini-fridge in the corner of the room underneath the TV.
Grabbing a small bottle of sake, he popped the cork and took a light sip to test it. Deeming it ok, he changed into some fresh clothes and started to wander. He didn't really know where he was wandering to, but he was surprised when he found his legs had taken him to the lower basement to where the cross was still stood there in the middle of the white room.
Flinching away from it a little, he walked out of the room and back to the stairs. He was about to go back upstairs and head back to the common room, when he noticed that there was yet another flight of stairs going down. It had a rope across it with a sign saying 'Authorised Personnel Only'.
Shrugging to himself, Zoro took another gulp of sake and headed over to it, easily lifting his leg over the rope with the other following close behind as he then began to make his way down the stairs. It wasn't a very long trip. About twenty steps down and he had dissolved into pitch darkness. Frowning, he went back up and grabbed a lantern and quickly lit it with one of the matches placed on the ledge beside it.
Holding it in front of him as a guide, he went back down, eager to explore. The flame wasn't particuarly bright, but it threw a light into the darkest shadows of the place. With a slow and controlled intake of breath, Zoro could see the emerald green stone slabs the contrasted with the iron wrought bars that turned what could have been a beautiful large emerald room, into a dark prison with hand cuffs on the wall of each cell, as well as a cross much like the one he had faced last night and other such torture equipment.
Sickened by the thought of it all, he turned away, not wanting to go any further into the empty, cold room.
"You." A voice hailed him, making him jump and turn back to look into the shadows. Zoro's eyes widened as he finally got a good look at the man, who raised his head to look at him with a huge rascally grin on his face.
"Gol.D Roger. Luffy's Uncle...Ace's-"
"Father. Yeah, I know who I am kid. The one that all out attacked the head of the MI5 to save my comrades, of which one of them he took in to make into another of his agents." Roger said, sighing heavily as he fiddled with his chains, their rattling echoing around them.
"Rayleigh..." Zoro breathed quietly, feeling a new kind of respect for the guy.
"Is he ok? Is he alive?" Roger asked suddenly, his eyes blazing with a burning need to know. "Tell me boy!" He said dangerously.
Zoro held his hands up defensively. "Y-Yeah, he's good, he's fine. Missing you a bit, I think." He said quickly, watching as Roger breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ahh...good." He exhaled, nodding. "Hey, kid. Sit and talk with me a while. I get lonely down here."
Zoro raised an eyebrow and put the lantern down by his feet, sitting down beside it crossing his legs. "Don't see why I shouldn't talk with guy whose old turf I'd claimed." He shrugged, holding out the bottle of sake through the bars with a grin.
"Ohhhh...So you're the successor of my territory, eh?" Roger chuckled, accepting the sake and choking it back gratefully, wiping his lips on his sleeve contentedly before handing it back. "And what might your name be, young 'un?"
"Zoro. Roronoa Zoro. Gang leader of the Mugiwara's, rivals of the Kali gang. Well...I don't actually know how they're doing right now..." Zoro confessed, wincing slightly and taking a gulp of the sake himself.
"Aha, so you got caught by MI5. Which one did it? What happened? Come on kid, tell me your story from the beginning." Roger invited, a smile grinning at him through the iron bars.
Zoro stared for a second, thinking of how much Roger and Ace were alike, and that Luffy was somewhat similar. "From the beginning? You pretty much started me off. I kind of ran away from home with my three katanas when I was about thirteen, four years ago...and I started pickpocketing...on...on your turf." He said warily, making Roger chuckle.
"Well I knew you back as a pickpocket you little green-haired monkey." The former gang King said with a laugh as Zoro handed him the sake with a wry smile.
"Well, I met Thatch about two years later,and he joined me. It was just the two of us, and we had a base in a little run-down shed that no-one really used, except to store sake during the winter."
"Free booze, what more could you want?"
"S'actly." Zoro grinned. "Thatch wasn't a half bad cook, and we made makeshift beds in the shed, and basically made it into a little home. We'd go out, pickpocket, buy food or stuff for the shed, and Thatch would try to cook. He got pretty good at it actually." Zoro admitted.
"Ussop, had been in the same position as me in a sense...He'd run away a week or two before Thatch found him curled up and shivering in a doorway, some little raccoon thing trying to warm him up by laying on him. Thatch had a little soft spot for the two of them, and brought them to the shed, where we found out that the raccoon was actually a young devil fruit using deer that could transform into a human that wasn't...quite human whose name's Chopper, and the two of 'em joined us to make the group into four about four months after I'd met Thatch."
"About half a year later, a rival small rival gang started to appear, their leader going by the name Sanji. He's a weird blonde guy, about the same age as me, who smokes and has one weird curly eyebrow and is an all round fucker." Zoro spat. "No idea how, but he started to get followers too. A cyborg, a devil fruit user that had allowed him to return from death as a skeleton, a mythical zoan user that can transform into a phoenix, and a few others."
Here he looked at Roger. "Then Ace and Luffy came into the picture about another year or so later I guess it was. Ace saw us on your turf, and tried to defend it. I'm sorry to say this, but I kind of beat your son and nephew up a little bit..." He admitted, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
"Ehhh, Ace always did have a thing for adventure, Luffy too. I'm sure they probably deserved it one way or another." Roger shrugged, the grin never leaving his face or faltering for even a second, making Zoro smile back in relief.
"Heh, well, they joined us at about the time that you and Rayleigh got caught up in trouble about two years ago. I rememember Tom-san too. That weird fish-dude. He built a ship for us in the basement of the warehouse in the middle of your old turf...And Luffy found it, and he came running to us down in the shed, saying that you and Rayleigh had been taken, Tom-san disappeared into thin air and that there was a freaking ship in the basement. We went to check it out and before you could say anything I'd claimed it as my territory. Luffy gave us the name the Mugiwara's after the name of that strawhat that he never lets out of his sight, and that was it. We became a proper gang in your stead, going over and claiming your territory on that half of London whilst Sanji started to take up his own territory on the other half of London."
Zoro snorted then. "And then some orange haired girl, the youngest out of the group, tried to rob our main base...having not realised that we were inside at the time. After Thatch, Ace and I had given her a piece of our mind, we learnt that she was in the same boat as us, living nowhere, knowing no-one, depending on herself. So we took her in, and our gang hit a grand total of seven. Nowhere near as big as yours was, but hell are we strong. We proved it too, we've been nameless in the news. Always there, but they never knew us, never found us. We stole, threatened, perhaps killed a few idiots that were arrogant enough to try and stand in our way, but we never killed innocents. Apart from a couple, but they were accidents, I swear. Hmmm...We set fire to places, not always intentionally since Ace ate the Mera-Mera fruit..."
Roger abruptly started to laugh loudly at that. "Good kid." He said proudly, making Zoro grin, making a mental note to tell Ace that.
"We accidentally stole two devil fruits from the government. The Mera-Mera fruit, and the Gomu-Gomu fruit. Ace ate the Mera-Mera no Mi, and Luffy the Gomu-Gomu no Mi. I think it's safe to say that there is never a dull day with those two around, that and their constant need for food." Zoro groaned comically.
The sake was handed back to him, and he took a long draught as Roger chuckled. "Sounds like life isn't all that bad, so how did you end up here?" He asked.
Zoro felt the sake go slightly sour in his mouth. "Hn." He grunted. "You say that the head of the MI5 brought you in, right?" He asked dryly, receiving a nod in response.
"Aa, Hawk-Eye Mihawk...Dracule Mihawk." Roger said in a slightly depressed tone of voice.
"The bastard just happens to be my father, and his lackeys caught me about a month or so ago. He freaking kicked my ass and forced me to join the Mi fucking 5." Zoro muttered, taking a swig of the sake grumpily.
"Damn kid, feel sorry for you." Roger sympathised, stroking his moustache.
"Snuck out to see the gang a couple of days ago to check that they were doing ok, and Shanks caught me on the way back. Not a good move. I don't want to have to feel those wounds ever again." Zoro said with a wince, feeling for the nearly healed lines on his back.
Roger grimaced. "Ah...Well, at least you did what you wanted to do." He said leaning back as the chains rattled around him.
Zoro nodded and stood up, taking the lantern with him. "Well, I'll talk to you again soon Roger, perhaps when I've next seen Ace and Luffy." He said, walking over and putting the bottle of sake inside his cell for him, turning and walking away.
"You are full of promise you know. I wish you luck, Roronoa Zoro." Roger called lazily as he closed his eyes, starting to fall asleep as he concluded the session. Zoro said nothing as he continued to walk out of the basement's jail, but if anyone could have seen the wicked grin on his face, it said more than a thousand words.
The next day, Zoro and Coby were called to a meeting. A meeting with all of the agents of MI5. Coby walked into the meeting room confidently with his head held high, unable to contain his excitement. Whereas Zoro merely walked behind him with his katanas strapped to his waist, which thankfully he'd been allowed to keep.
"FRESH MEAT." One of the agents called with a laugh.
Zoro turned to glare at him but a hand on his shoulder made him stop as he reached for a katana. "Not worth it kid." Shanks advised. "Besides, they'll have you in a flash."
"Damn right we would." Another agent agreed.
Smirking slightly, Shanks nodded to them all. "Guys, why not introduce yourselves to your new fellow agents." He suggested.
"Jozu. Also known around here as Diamond Jozu."
"Whitebeard."
"Silvers Rayleigh."
"GARP!"
"Aokiji. Sorry about knocking your head into the brick wall."
"Benn."
"Yassop!"
"Kizaru~!"
"Kuro...of the cat claws."
"Sengoku."
"Crocodile..."
"Kaku."
Shanks turned to the two new agents and nodded. "Your turn boys."
"C-Coby." Coby introduced himself with a slight bow, making the agents grin and nod at him in greeting as he went to sit down next to them in one of the free seats.
The green-haired teen merely sighed in boredom. "Zoro. Roronoa Zoro."
"We know about Coby, but what about you? What's your history and reason for working at MI5?" Whitebeard, a beast of a man, called out with a deep voice. Zoro shifted uncomfortably under the sudden intense gaze of everyone in the room, who were all evidently curious.
Zoro caught Rayleigh's eye, and the rogue winked at him whilst patting the seat next to him, to which Zoro gladly accepted and sat, making himself comfortable. "Come on kid, tell us how you ended up here." Rayleigh encouraged, giving him a starting point.
"Ok then. I'll put it nice and simple. I shot a paint pellet at a car that was carrying our royalty, so the guy with the funny afro over there and Coby followed me and knocked me out, and brought me back here. Got told off for bad behaviour," He said, making Shanks smirk slightly, "and was recruited into this place to keep me off the streets, by a fucking idiot with a retarded moustache and beard." He shrugged, leaning back in his chair.
A couple of the guys snorted with laughter suddenly, and Coby stared at him in a panic. Rayleigh face-palmed quietly, and that was when Zoro felt the back of his neck tingling, making him feel slightly on edge.
"Care to repeat that, son?" A dangerous voice said from above him.
Zoro screwed his eyes up and his teeth clamped down on his bottom lip, cursing his bad fortune. "Nope." He replied, opening his eyes again and pursing his lips in hatred.
"Good. Now keep a civil tongue in your head, Roronoa." The voice said sharply, cuffing him hard around the ear at the same time. Zoro massaged the spot, glaring as Mihawk moved to the front so that they could all see him, his black cape flying out behind him.
"Fellow agents. The new report has come in, and there has been a slight change to the order of shifts due to our two new agents." Mihawk began, his sharp yellow eyes scannning them all. "Kuro and Kaku, you are both to be removed from the Prince's shift tomorrow. Coby and Zoro, you will be under Garp's orders on your first mission tomorrow afternoon and evening until tomorrow morning, in which you will use what you have learnt and put it into practice. Am I understood?"
Coby saluted and nodded. "Yes sir." He acknowledged.
"Hn." Zoro grunted, inclining his head ever so slightly.
In response, Mihawk's eye twitched a little, but he said nothing. Smirking to himself, Zoro chalked up the scoreboard within his mind to 'Mihawk: 1, Zoro: 1'. Half-closing his eyes, Zoro all but went to sleep during the next half hour of the debriefing, which luckily did not include any more important information that was specifically aimed towards him.
Rayleigh nudged him in the side abruptly, making Zoro's eyes snap open and a hand went to the handle of one of his katanas. "Slow down kid. We just got dismissed, and unless you want to miss your last bit of training, you better hurry up." He smiled.
"Thanks Rayleigh." Zoro nodded, standing up and stretching. "By the way," he called over his shoulder as he started to follow Coby, "you might want to go and visit the King. He's missing you a bit."
Shaking his head with a knowing smile, Rayleigh watched as Zoro left the room. "So he finally found the old rogue. Took him longer than I thought." He muttered to himself.
"Horses." Zoro deadpanned as the arrived at the stables to the side of the MI5 building. "Do you not go around in cars?"
"Horseback is more convenient. They can get into the alleyways that a car can't, and we don't always like to run all the way across London." Garp replied as they walked into the stables. The stench of horse hit the two trainees like a freight train, and Zoro could feel his eyes watering slightly. "Now most of our horses are highly trained, and the one you choose will be your own, no one elses. They will aid you in most missions and for travel, so choose wisely. Once you have chosen, put your name on a tag and put it next to the horse's stall. Then meet me outside on your horse. I trust you both know how to put a saddle on." Garp explained, turning on his heel and walking off towards one of the stalls.
Coby turned to Zoro in excitement. "Have you ever ridden before?" He asked.
"A long time ago, yes." Zoro answered shortly.
"Ok, good. I'll meet you outside in five!" Coby waved as he darted away.
Zoro rolled his eyes. "That kid needs to stop talking to me." He muttered in annoyance. Deciding that he best get on with it, he wandered down the aisle and glanced into each of the stalls that didn't already have name tags on them. There were gorgeous bays, piebalds, skewbalds, duns and many other coat colours. With the types ranging from Orlov Trotter's to Arab horses and Lipizzaner's. But most of them shied away from him or took no interest whatsoever.
Until he came to a horse right at the end of the stable. Glancing at the black stallion, he noted that it was a Thoroughbred, famously known as the fastest horse breed there was with almost perfect proportions. The stallion stared at him defiantly, weighing the teen up.
Tilting his head to the side in interest, Zoro smirked slightly and stepped forward to meet the horse, who mirrored his movements. He could tell that the horse was quite aggressive and didn't play nice, because the moment he reached his hand up, the his ears flattened to his head and he tried to headbutt him. His smirk grew and he read the name next to the stall. "Balthazar." He read aloud. "S'that your name? Almost as weird as mine." He commented as he wrote his name on a tag and put it alongside Balthazar's.
Reaching for the bolt on the stable door, he held on to it as the horse put it's head down and charged the gate. Holding his ground, Zoro didn't move even an inch. A cloud of dust rose around the door as the horse stopped just in front of him, snorting heavily. "I think you and I are gonna get along just fine." Zoro laughed as he let himself in, pushing the horse back a ways with firm nudges. "Now if you'd let me put a saddle on you, it would be much appreciated."
Taking the saddle off of its hooks, he was surprised when the horse stood patiently and waited as he put it on and buckled the straps perfectly. Not too tight and not too loose so as not to cause the horse any discomfort. The problem came with the bridle. When taking the bridle off of its hook, the horse reared on its hind legs and let out a shrieking whinny of anger.
Zoro grimaced and waited until Balthazar's hooves touched the floor again, in which he wasted no time in grabbing the horse's head and gently stroked his muzzle, whispering soothingly in an attempt to calm him down. As he heard the horse's snorts become less heavy, he slowly managed to slip the bridle on, gently and carefully managing to slip the bit into Balthazar's mouth. "There, see? Not too bad was it?" Zoro grinned. "Now then. Ready for some fun?" He asked.
Checking the stirrups for one last time, Zoro waited a moment before jumping up into the sadle and slipping his other foot into the remaining stirrup. No sooner had he done so, when Balthazar's head went up in surprise and he charged forwards and out of the stall, galloping down the isle with Zoro only just managing to grip at the base of his mane. Bolting out of the stables, he ran straight into the ring that Coby and Garp were already inside with their own horses, both of whom gaped as they watched the event unfold.
Bucking around wildly, Balthazar tried every trick in the book in an attempt to throw his rider, even so much as bodily throwing himself at the wooden fence so that Zoro's leg smashed against it. However, Zoro grit his teeth and held on, waiting.
Eventually, the black stallion ground to a halt, panting and snorting with exertion. He jumped slightly as Zoro patted his neck. "Good boy." He laughed breathlessly, finally managing to take a hold of the reins. Gently pulling at the left rein, he guided Balthazar to stand over next to Garp and Coby.
Finally getting a good look at their horses, he observed that Coby had gone for a more docile horse. His Pinto horse (also known as the paint horse) was was a beautiful skewbald with three black socks to match the colour of its mane and tail. Whereas Garp was sat astride a dappled grey Irish Draught, whose strong build matched that of his rider. "Zoro." Garp started. "I'm not sure that you should have chosen that horse. He has barely been broken in and is extremely tempermen-"
"We chose each other. It was a fair deal in which he tried to block me at every opportunity. His attempts failed." Zoro explained shortly. "Besides, Balthazar is pretty much like me, so I get the feeling that we'll get on alright."
After a pause, Garp nodded. "Well, this here's Barton. He's worked with me ever since I joined MI5. Tell me about your friend there Coby." He ordered.
"Emrys. He's very calm, but has quite strong quarters." Coby reported, getting a better grip on the reins.
Nodding in satisfaction, Garp nodded to the end of the ring. "Y'see those jumps over there? I want you both to go over all five of them. Each of them are different heights and lengths, so I want to see whether you and your horse are able to complete them. They may only be suited to one of them, in which case you will spend the rest of the day working on improving the other. But before that, I want you going over to the field on our right. I want you both to acquaint yourselves with the gaits of your horses in the walk, trot, canter and gallop. Do not push them into a full gallop unless you think you can handle it. Go." Garp instructed, turning to watch them as they nudged Emrys and Balthazar towards the field.
Zoro could feel Balthazar's muscles rippling underneath him, and the thought of the power that the horse had filled him with confidence. He knew that to be able to work with him, they needed to trust each other to the full extent.
Starting at the end of the field, Garp watched as the new agents urged the horses from a controlled walk into a trot back down the length of the field. Zoro felt the way Balthazar moved, getting accustomed to how and when the horse changed, responding to his every move with the correct response. Baltharzar seemed to feel that Zoro was getting through to him, as his ears were not pressed to his head anymore, only flicking back occasionally when he was unsure.
On the turn, Zoro dug his heels in gently and tightened his grip on the reins. Side by side, Balthazar and Emrys seemed to race against one another as they simultaneously broke into a canter, both horses seeming to relax into the new gait. As they turned back at the other end of the field, Zoro urged Balthazar into a gallop.
Here Emeris fell behind a little, as his speed was not quite up to that of Balthazar's. However, as Zoro started to reach Garp at the end of the field and began to pull on the reins a little, Balthazar snorted and tossed his head a little. Zoro could feel Balthazar's muscle tensing underneath him, and he grinned. "You got it Bal." He murmured into the wind.
Just as Coby gently pulled Emrys to a halt Zoro allowed Balthazar to rear and turn on his hind legs, powering forwards with a burst of energy, his powerful muscles bursting from within as he bolted forwards at a full gallop, a speed that Zoro had never felt the likes of before. He laughed from where he was bent slightly over the horse's neck, who reached the end of the field and made a sharp turn back towards the others just to add a final test to his rider, who performed well by just managing to stay in the sadle as the full gallop faded back into a normal gallop and then downgraded into canter, a trot and finally a walk accompanied by the proud toss of the Balthazar's neck, the ends of his mane catching his rider in the face.
"Impressive stamina and strength." Garp commented, having already talked to Coby about Emrys' strengths and weaknesses. "Into the ring with you both. We need to test your jumping skills. I'm still not sure about your choice Roronoa. Still a bit wild."
Zoro grinned and stroked Balthazar's neck as the horse shook his mane again.
The next day found the three of them saddling up again in black suits outside the front of MI5 before cantering through the streets of London for the short five minutes that it took them to reach the palace. "Tonight," Garp began, his face serious, "there is a royal ball. People from many different countries will be attending the ball. So it's important that you are on an even higher high alert."
Coby and Zoro nodded as they dismounted and handed the reins over to two of the Royal stablehands. Immediately, Balthazar whinnied and reared, only calming down when Zoro quickly hushed him. "Hey, hey, hey. Shh. It's only for a while. Don't cause trouble unless I tell you to. Ok? Good boy." Zoro whispered as he stroked Balthazar's long coal black nose and secretly fed him a sugar cube. Turning back to the other two, he raised an eyebrow at them. "What? Never known how to calm a horse?" He questioned irritably.
"Shut up and follow me." Garp sighed, marching his way into the palace with the two of them hot on his heels.
Zoro rolled his eyes and began to fiddle with his tie. Unable to contain a smile, Coby flicked Zoro's hand. "Leave it alone."
"I don't like it. Someone could god damn choke me with it." He muttered, sending Coby a glare that could have melted metal.
The moment they entered, they could hear the lilting melodies of the orchestra, which became louder as they entered the ball room on the second floor of the palace. The room was magnificent and huge, with a lot of things decorated with gold. People were everywhere, most of them on the dance floor with their partners, twirling graciously through each dance step. All of which Zoro could still remember his father teaching him a long time ago.
Garp then stepped up to a young man with white-ish hair, a black and grey lined suit on with a cigar in his mouth. "Prince Smoker." He said, bowing his head respectively as the prince turned towards him. "We have replaced your guards with two of our new agents for this night. We wished for you to know this."
Without taking the cigar out of his mouth, the prince spoke. "This is fine. As long as they are not complete idiots like the green-haired one seems to be at the moment, and are able to cater to my needs whilst guarding me, then there will not be a problem." He replied arrogantly.
"Of course Sir." Garp nodded. As he turned back to Zoro and Coby, he put a hand on Zoro's arm as he tried to unsheath a katana. "I know. But just don't."
Smoker stood watching the three of them, a smirk on his face. Trying not to show any outward emotion, Zoro stayed at the edge of the room with his hands clasped dutifully behind his back with Coby directly opposite him next to the buffet table.
Instead, Zoro inwardly raged as Smoker continuously aimed jibes towards the agents with his comrades who all laughed raucously. Although he didn't actually want to be an agent, and more than anything wanted to be a gang leader once more, Zoro couldn't help but take offense at some of the jibes. For some unknown reason, it bugged the hell out of him.
As the night wore on, Smoker became even more insufferable. It was then that he realised that Smoker was purposely trying to get him in trouble. At one point, Smoker sauntered over to Zoro with an empty glass. "Find the waiter and pour me some more champagne." He ordered rudely.
Zoro raised an eyebrow. "I'm an agent, not a servant boy." He responded coolly.
"Did you just refuse me?" Smoker asked with a slightly offended laugh, as though he couldn't quite believe it. "I'll have you know I'm the prince. You have to do as I say. Now do as you're told, peasant."
Letting out a controlled breath, Zoro inclined his head a little and delicately took the glass that was still being offered to him. "Of course." He answered icily, turning on his heel and heading for the nearest waiter. "Your royal high-arse." He muttered angrily.
Upon returning, he handed the glass to Smoker, who as soon as the glass was being given to him, dropped it so that the glass smashed on the floor. "Oh!" He cried. "You clumsy idiot! Clean it up and get me another one!"
Inwardly seething, Zoro obeyed, trying not to say or do something that he would have to pay for later. After clearing up all the pieces of broken glass, Zoro fetched the prince another glass of champagne, politely thanking the waiter who gave him a sympathetic glance.
"It's the likes of these peasants that disgust me." Smoker remarked as Zoro departed from giving him the new champagne glass. "Filthy mewling quims. The ones the live on the streets too, they are the scum of the earth-"
Unable to take any more, Zoro turned and launched himself at Smoker and dragged him to the floor amidst the screams of shock around him. As he did so, he saw a knife coming flying out of nowhere straight over their heads which had originally been aimed at Smoker with the intent to kill.
Missing them both by inches, they both stopped wrestling with each other on the floor and stared at the knife which was now embedded in the wall. "That's mother's pure silver!" Smoker gasped in horror, the prince's face one of mortification.
"Oh good. At least you'll be safe against werewolves." Zoro muttered sarcastically.
Smoker glared at him and began to raise his fist, when it was grabbed by Coby who pulled him upright and started to smooth him down with lots of comforting words such as 'we will find whoever threw the knife sir' and 'let me just help you look your best once more sir'. Both of which seemed to work with the added flattery.
Suddenly Zoro felt Garp pulling him up, the both of them searching the crowd for whomever had thrown the knife. Garp looked annoyed for a moment, unable to find the knife thrower. Then he turned to Zoro with a beam. "Good work m'lad! Saved a prince on your first real mission! I'll certainly be able to put this good word in the report later."
Zoro felt unable to say anything, seeing as he was completely and utterly confused. He grabbed Coby's shoulder and leant in. "Who threw the knife?" He questioned.
The blush that appeared on Coby's face was a faint rosey pink. "I don't know." He answered.
"Bullshit. You were in the perfect position to see who did it." Zoro snapped.
Coby grimaced and pulled Zoro's hand off of his shoulder. "Shut up and keep to the job. We've got another two hours yet."
The two hours passed without incident, but as they swapped shifts with the next agents by riding back to the MI5 headquarters, the question buzzed around in Zoro's head like an angry wildcat, wanting to know the answer.
Following Coby to the common room, he matched his step and swiftly followed into Coby's room and slammed the door shut, making his fellow agent jump. "Damn it Coby. I know you know who threw that god damn knife, so you better tell me right now before I rip every single bit of pink hair off of your head." He threatened. "Who threw the fucking knife?"
"It was me! Ok?" Coby hissed wrenching Zoro's hands off of him.
"B-But...What?" Zoro asked in confusion. "Why did you cover for me in front of Garp?"
"Garp-san would have delivered your arse straight to Mihawk-sama if you'd attacked Smoker. He might be an annoying little douchebag, but unfortunately he's still a prince. We're just lucky that he's the third in line for the throne. Either way, he's royalty, and Mihawk-sama would have had your guts for garters if you'd have harmed even a hair on his head."
"I still don't get it...Why did you throw the knife?" Zoro asked, still looking as confused as a guineapig.
Coby face-palmed with an annoyed sigh. "Because Garp couldn't see me from where I was standing, and because I threw the knife it made it look like you had saved Smoker instead of attacked him." Coby explained patiently.
Zoro was silent for a second. "Oh." He muttered quietly.
"Get it now?" Coby asked, getting a curt nod in return. "Good." He said shortly, going to the bathroom to wash the sweat from his face and change out of his suit.
The Marimo coughed audiably to clear his throat. "I, uh. I owe you one." He called, making the sound of splashing stop, watching as Coby came back out of the bathroom, holding a towel a short way underneath his dripping wet face.
"Huh?" He asked cleverly.
"I said, uhm...I...Owe you one. Like, a drink or something. I..What I mean is, thanks." Zoro stuttered awkwardly, fumbling for the right words as he ran his hand through his odd green coloured hair.
Coby smirked. "S'alright." He said with a small laugh as he started to head back into the bathroom. "I got your back, friend."
Zoro remembered having those words from Luffy what now seemed to him like years ago. "Yeah..."He agreed absentmindedly. "You too, friend." It felt odd on his tongue, but good simultaneously.
"Well, we get a bit of a lie in tomorrow! We're allowed to sleep until ten!" Coby said, grinning at Zoro in the mirror, who grinned back in relief of the information.
"Ehh? I didn't listen too closely when Garp was talking on the way back. Seriously?"
"Aa, seriously. It's gonna feel great! AND we get to start monitoring the princesses now! I know that Whitebeard, Kizaru and Shanks monitor Queen Hancock, and I'm so excited! I want to help monitor Kaya, she's so sweet, and a lot easier to monitor apparently. Her sister's nice too, but her devil fruit power creeps me out." Coby smiled enthusiastically.
"A princess with a devil fruit power?" Zoro questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, Nico Robin. She ate the Hana Hana no Mi, and can produce any part of her body anywhere...it's kind of creepy, but she's lovely. I get the feeling she's a bit, well..."
"Well?"
"Badass." Coby finished at long last with a shrug, rubbing his face with the towel, meaning that he didn't see Zoro's interested, wicked grin.
"Sounds perfect." Zoro said with a laugh, heading towards the door. "Meh, I'll be off now then. Gotta get some beauty sleep, ne?"
Coby raised a hand in farewell. "Yeah! See you in the morning! Can you make sure that one of us gets the other up in case I try to sleep overtime?"
"Sure, night pink-locks."
"Hey! Shut it Marimo!"
"Ehhhh, suck it up."
Ehehehe, yaaaay! Coby and Zoro are finally getting along!
Loved writing that scene, SO MUCH. =D
I used to be a horse freak ok? Used to go riding, write mini horse stories when I was little, the lot. And I just felt the need to include them somewhere. And if anyone watches Supernatural, I hope you laughed at Balthazar's name coming up. ;D
If anyone is confused as to who is where and with which gang/group;
~MI5 Agents; Mihawk (Head Agent), Shanks (Second in command), Benn, Yassop, Whitebeard, Jozu (Diamond Jozu), Rayleigh, Garp, Aokiji, Kizaru, Kuro, Kaku, Sengoku, Crocodile, Coby.
~Zoro's Gang; Zoro (leader), Luffy, Ussop, Chopper, Thatch, Ace, Nami and Sabo.
~Rival Gang; Sanji (leader), Franky, Brook, Marco, Buggy, Eustass Kidd, Tashigi, Vivi, Law and Helmeppo.
~(Old gang leader of the past that they managed to put in jail- Roger.)
~ Royals; Kaya and Robin-Princess sisters. Smoker - Prince. Queen- Boa Hancock. King- Lucci
Kai XxxXxxX
(P.S; Please review guys! Robin will be making an appearance in the next chapter! ;D)