Black as Knight
So I've been ill the past three days, and I PROMISED a reviewer that I'd update as soon as I could, so I used the time well and gave you guys a preeeetttyyy long chapter! :) 8788 words!
BEWARE THE TIMESKIPS. XD
Oh and Santoryuu3? Mihawk wants to say something...
Mihawk: Santoryuu. I see that you have become very confident with yourself if you think you may threaten to...'kick my ass if I keep screwing up the chemistry' between my son and the princess. Kindly rethink your words. I am as you say, a Master Swordsman. Choose your words carefully.
...*Shrugs* He's being all touchy and grouchy again. Sorry about that. ;D
Mihawk all but threw Zoro into the interrogation room, setting Zoro slightly on edge as he fell forwards and stumbled, cursing aloud as he did so. Having closed the door behind him, Mihawk turned back to Zoro and stood in front of him, his yellow eyes glinting at Zoro in a blank expression that the teen knew all too well.
There was a silence in which neither of them said anything. Zoro's breathing was slightly staggered as he fought to control his anger, his stare murderous as he met Mihawks gaze, trying to read the man's face.
"Did you honestly think you could do this all by yourself?" Mihawk asked at length.
"Sneak out of MI5, beat up some guys and rescue a princess?...Like I just did?" Zoro retorted mockingly, his face sneering a little bit.
Mihawk's face didn't even twitch. "And so you find yourself back at square one, having disobeyed me yet again due to your moronic idiocy to try and foolishly prove that you're better than everyone else-"
"Because I am better than everyone else here, if you hadn't noticed-"
"Silence." Mihawk hissed, the first sign that he began to show of losing a grip on his temper.
"Or what?" Zoro questioned with a snort. "You gonna spank me?"
Mihawk raised an eyebrow in response. "Don't test me Roronoa. You know damned well I wouldn't hesitate." He threatened, watching as Zoro's only flinch was to angrily clench his jaw. "But that's beside the point. The question is, how to deal with you."
"What do you mean, how do deal with me? !" Zoro exploded. "I SAVED her. I did my DUTY. By what account was I in the fucking wro-"
"Watch your tongue boy." Mihawk snapped. "If you had contacted us and let us deal with the situation we could ha-"
"SHE WOULD HAVE FUCKING DIED." Zoro roared, pointing a finger towards the door as he continued. "OUT THERE, I KNOW THE STREETS AND I KNOW THE PEOPLE. I KNEW WHO HAD TAKEN HER AND WAS ABLE TO GET THERE AND DEAL WITH IT MYSELF! YOU WOULD HAVE TAKEN AT LEAST HALF THE DAY TO FIND HER WHEREAS IT ONLY TOOK ME A FEW HOURS."
"Do not raise your voice to me!" Mihawk finally shouted, his eyes narrowing at his son.
"I'm not a child. And I proved that when I brought Robin back. Safely." Zoro growled.
Mihawk shook his head. "You proved nothing. In fact your proved the exact opposite. You were told to stay away from the princess and you deliberately ignored me. Now you will pay the consequences of your actions."
Rubbing a hand down his face in exasperation, Zoro groaned out loud. "You have got to be kidding me...are you seriously this blind? Can you not see that I've actually done you all a fucking favo-"
He was cut off as Mihawk harshly cuffed him around the head, making Zoro hiss and clutch at the spot. "I warned you about your language boy." Mihawk reprimanded, his face having regained its usual blank look that concealed the fury within.
"Yeah, I warned myself about you a long time ago." Zoro replied sarcastically.
"You dare to take a sarcastic voice with me?" Mihawk questioned, his voice laced with danger.
"You know what sarcasm is?" Zoro shot back, feigning mock surprise.
Mihawk grabbed the scruff of Zoro's neck just as the door exploded inwards to reveal Princess Robin running in with the sound of Shanks and Rayleigh's footsteps not far behind. For that split second, Mihawk's hand relaxed enough for Zoro to pull up out of his grip, the both of them staring at her.
"M'sorry sir. She's quick and we didn't get her into contact with seastone fast enough, and she wouldn't take no for an answer." Shanks apologised.
"Get out." Mihawk instructed the three new comers, reaching for Zoro yet again.
Instead, Robin stepped in front of Zoro, putting herself between father and son as she shielded Zoro with her body. "Don't touch him so harshly." Robin ordered, her eyes firm as she stared at Mihawk defiantly. "He saved my life...He should be praised, not punished."
"Praise is not in order my lady." Mihawk responded, watching as Zoro stared at her in astonishment, unsuccessfully trying to put her behind him for her own safety.
"He saved my life." Robin protested firmly.
"He disobeyed an order." Mihawk replied stoically, taking in her appearance of the torn dress and faint bruising appearing on her once delicate skin, which had been gently cleaned of blood to reveal the slight raw skin surrounding the cuts that had not yet finished being attended to.
"It's better to asked forgiveness than permission." Robin stated in a voice nearly akin to a whisper, her breathing quiet but heavy. Zoro eyes found hers as she turned to look at him. "And I love him." She said a little more calmly. "I don't care if I'm royal. I'm still a person, and I would give up my title so that I can marry this man." She said quietly, taking his hands momentarily.
The tense feeling increased as Robin dropped Zoro's rough hands and instead gently used them to cup both of his cheeks as he allowed her lips to brush his own, not denying her when she increased the pressure into a proper kiss that he returned, ignoring the other three agents around them.
Zoro felt his heart flare up in his chest, something that he had never truly felt before. He'd never believed in love, having seen it only as a weakness. His love for his gang was something quite different to what he was feeling now. This was a love so powerful that he could feel it taking over his senses.
Evidently feeling the same, Robin sank into the moment as she lightly brushed her hand over his jawline simultaneously. When they finally broke apart, the both of them pressed their foreheads together, regaining their breath a little.
"What are you?" Zoro asked quietly, feeling strangely intrigued by the woman in front of him.
"Just a life that's trying to heal a broken heart with all that it can." Robin replied, smiling softly.
Zoro breathed out a tiny laugh, the first real smile that Rayleigh had seen on the boy's face for a long time. "So I'm broken, huh?"
"This has gone far enough." Mihawk's voice cut in coldly. "Rayleigh. Take the princess back to the palace immediately. Roronoa is to be cut off from his royal duties altogether and will join the others in staying to the streets of London. Shanks, you are to be responsible for Zoro whilst out on these missions. Am I clear?" He ordered, his tone clipped and to the point.
Shanks and Rayleigh nodded their heads once. "Sir."
Robin struggled against Rayleigh as he picked her up bridal style and hurried out of the door with her, his seastone ring coming into contact with her leg so that she was unable to use her powers to escape. She called back for Zoro, who answered her by yelling her name and thrashing against Shanks as the red-haired agent grabbed him by the shoulders. One of his elbows nearly hit Shanks in the jaw, but the second in command was sensible enough to keep his head out of range.
"Kid, stop it." Shanks grunted as Zoro's elbow finally managed to get him in the gut. Resorting to forcefully removing the green-haired teen, he dragged and hauled the frenzied boy into room 221b, shutting the door behind him after having shoved him inside.
"Why god damn it?" Zoro yelled, running a hand through his hair in desperate frustration.
"Zoro." Shanks said, walking over to him.
"I let her slip through my fingers again and damn it I'm such a fucking idio-"
"Zoro." Shanks' authorative voice stopped him, his hands finding the boy's shoulders and shaking them a little bit. "There's nothing you can do. You did your best."
"And I've probably broken her heart!" Zoro shouted, throwing his head back to look at the ceiling.
"You saved her though. And you killed the leader of the gang holding her hostage, and knocked out the rest of his gang which are going to be interrogated and imprisoned in a prison on the very outskirts of London."
Zoro laughed shortly, no humour in it. "Sanji had it coming to him. He'd killed more innocent people than I had, and he was a cocky son of a bitch. But I don't care about that. Robin's heart is going to..." He trailed off, unable to complete the sentence.
Shanks sighed. "Look, it's ok-"
"Noooooooo! It's NOT OK." Zoro yelled, starting to lose it a little.
Shanks fell silent, allowing the teenager time to collect his thoughts and rant in his head. After what seemed to be about ten minutes, Zoro's tense shoulders finally sagged in tiredness. "What the fuck do I do?" He asked quietly.
"Follow orders." Shanks replied, patting his shoulder and leaving.
MI5 life after that settled down somewhat. Zoro barely spoke unless it was to Rayleigh or Shanks, and even then he said little. To Coby or Garp, there wasn't a word spoken between them, no matter how much Coby tried to start a conversation, or just chatted to him anyway, filling him in on gossip that was going around MI5 or London.
If Robin was mentioned, Zoro said nothing, but he would get up and leave. As for Mihawk, Zoro avoided him like the plague, not wanting to have a confrontation in the fear that it would only take one look from the man, and Zoro would draw his swords in an all-out battle.
Missions weren't too bad, seeing as when he ventured out on the streets astride Balthazar, he would talk to the horse like he would a friend. Not only that, but the people all over London had claimed him as the gang king of London, praising him for having defeated Sanji.
If with others, the people tended to back off slightly or glance at him in awe from a distance. Rayleigh noticed this, and Zoro clenched his teeth the moment someone uttered the word 'hero' in relation to him. He could always make out the faint growl of 'I'm not a hero you fucking idiot'.
It was a bleak day in June when Zoro caught up to the recent news that had sprung up in MI5. After four months, one of the Kali group had finally talked. This would have been just general news to Zoro that he wouldn't have cared about, but something unnerved him about it. It was the fact that Coby had told him that the former gang member had talked willingly.
It was this that drove him to finally return the conversation.
"What do you mean, willingly? Who was it?" Zoro asked, making Coby jump in his seat in surprise from where they were sat next to one another in the common room by the fire, Zoro with his hand resting on the katanas that were always by side.
"Z-Zoro.." Coby stuttered, astonished that the teenager was even talking to him. Zoro raised an eyebrow to signal that he was waiting for an answer. "It was that guy with the flame-like hair. Eustass Kidd? Or something like that. He said something about this other gang that were rising up and getting ready to kill masses of Londoners, and he said he knew where their base was."
"Oh yeah?" Zoro grunted, starting to wonder who this new gang was.
"Aa, apparently Mihawk-sama is gathering some of the strongest agents. They will have headed out about five minutes ago to go and arrest them."
"Where is it they're headed? Did Kidd give them an address?"
Coby nodded. "The warehouse down in One Piece avenue."
Like an electric current running through his body, Zoro felt his blood run cold as his whole body froze in shock. Casting a worried look at him, Coby leant forwards in his chair and furrowed his eyebrows. "Zoro...Are you ok?" He asked nervously.
"Fuck." Was the only word that left Zoro's mouth, the one word that coursed through his body and motivated him to get up from his chair and dart down the corridor, Coby's panicked shouting echoing behind him as he heard the pink-haired boy start to run after him, telling him to wait.
His heart pounded in a panic as he ran, his jaw tightening as he ran in his black suit uniform that had long since been renewed after the battle with Sanji. He kept running until he was outside, stumbling his way over the cobbles into the stables and to the very back of the aisle, fumbling with the bolt lock of Balthazar's stall.
Finally managing to let himself in, he ignored the sounds of Coby's faint shouting as he heaved the saddle onto Balthazar's unsuspecting back and hurriedly fastening the clips and straps with practised ease, doing the same for the bridle before swiftly swinging himself up into the saddle and digging his heels in unnecessarily hard, making Balthazar rear up a little and punch out at the air with his hooves before landing and burst forward out of his stall.
At the far end of the stables, Coby had just entered with a slight panting. But as he saw Balthazar start to charge at him, he froze in fear and yelled out as the horse drew closer, turning around and crouching as he put his hands protectively over his head. In the moment in which Coby should have been crushed, Balthazar 's front legs lifted up into the air in what seemed like slow motion, his hind legs pushing his entire weight plus his master's weight off of the ground and carrying them both safely over the boy until they landed on the other side of him and galloped straight off into the streets of London, Coby staring after them in shock.
Balthazar's ears flicked back as Zoro drove his heels into him even more, forcing his legs to move even faster as he extended his gait into a full gallop as they charged through the streets. "Come on Balthazar, we've got to go faster. If we don't, I might not get there in time." Zoro shouted over the wind.
In response, Balthazar tossed his neck so that his now long, not-yet-cut mane nearly thwacked Zoro in the face as if to say 'I can barely go much faster!'.
In the streets people looked up at him with scared faces, telling him that the agents had already passed that way. He face grim, he turned the horse down the final few streets until they passed the sign reading 'One Piece Avenue' up on the wall on the corner of the street in black and white. Zoro inwardly groaned when he saw the mass of horses patiently standing outside in the street next to an extremely familiar warehouse. From the horses alone, he knew that his gang had a problem on their hands with Mihawk, Shanks, Benn, Whitebeard, Kizaru and Kuro grabbing them out of the base any moment now.
Muttering under his breath, Zoro slid out of the saddle and dropped to the cobble stones, racing across them and quietly squeezing through the crack that had been left in the open door of the warehouse.
Risking a glance towards the lighter area of the warehouse, he witnessed Sabo being hauled out of the vent and dragged across the floor by Kuro to stand in front of Mihawk next to all the other gang members who were also in the exact same position with an agent stood behind them. None of his friends looked at either the head agent or each other, and instead kept their eyes trained on the floor.
"Wondering how we found you I suspect." Mihawk's cold voice floated around the echoing warehouse. "One of our hostages from what they called a 'rival gang' passed your location on to us."
"What do you want?" Ace questioned, his voice full of anger that stayed firm even as Whitebeard shoved him hard enough so that he stumbled forwards a little bit.
"Justice." Mihawk replied simply. "You are a gang, and are therefore dangerous to the citizens of London. You are to be removed from here and imprisoned until-"
Thatch looked up at that moment and met Mihawk's cold stare. "Like hell we will old man." He growled. "You're gonna imprison us? We sure as hell won't go quietly. We're waiting on a promise."
The only response that Mihawk gave was the arm that shot out from underneath the cape and grabbed Thatch around the neck and gripped it tight, making the other Mugiwara's have to be held back as they shouted and tried to pull forwards to help the cook.
Zoro's temper flared in a moment of anger, and he surged forwards from the shadows towards Mihawk. *With great impact, Zoro collided with the master swordsman and wrenched his grip away from Thatch's neck who gasped in pain, watching in shock along with everyone else as Zoro tackled Mihawk to the ground with an angry wordless roar.
Everyone stilled and watched as Mihawk managed to untangle himself from his son and throw him to the side, the both of them swiftly standing up, Mihawk managing to do so somewhat gracefully. He whipped around in fury and grabbed Zoro's wrist, twisting it painfully and turning so that it was pushed up into an uncomfortable and slightly painful arm lock which made Zoro curse colourfully.
Ignoring his son for the second, Mihawk turned to the stunned agents. "Search them." He ordered, not bothering to check to see whether the order was carried out as he turned back to Zoro.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" He hissed.
Zoro swallowed, having realised that he didn't exactly think this through. "O-Oi, I know this looks bad."
"This looks bad? Barging in on a mission as important as this. Do you want me to have to-"
"Sir." Kuro's voice called out. "I've found something on the girl."
Everyone watched as Mihawk stopped and let go of Zoro's arm, who gave out a tiny 'ah' as he felt the blood circulate properly through his veins once more, his arm already suffering from a slight case of pins and needles. He too watched as Mihawk extended his hand to have Kuro press something rectangular and plastic into his hand. Mihawk studied it expressionlessly for a moment before he froze.
Frowning in confusion, Zoro tilted his head upwards a little and dispelled the light's earlier reflection on the object. His eyes closed and he scowled for barely half a second as he saw what the object was. 'Uh-fucking-oh.' He sighed mentally, licking his lips once in anticipation of what was about to come next.
"How did you come by this?" Mihawk's quiet voice asked, having walked over and stopped in front of Nami. Nami's eyes went wide as she trembled slightly, unable to make any sound come out of her mouth.
Zoro stared at Nami as she quaked in fear, and he felt bad for their sister. "Mihawk." He called quietly, trying to gain the man's attention.
"Answer me." Mihawk ordered more firmly, his eyes dangerously glittering yellow.
"Mihawk." Zoro tried again, only to be ignored once more.
"How did you get this?" Mihawk repeated in almost a hiss.
"Father." Zoro finally managed to bite out, the word tasting disgusting in his mouth. He could feel his gang staring at him in shock at the word, save for Thatch, and he remembered that this little bit of information was new to them.
However it seemed to do the trick, as Mihawk stiffened and turned to Zoro, his eyes piercing him to the very core. "Speak." He commanded, acknowledging his son at last and giving him his brief attention.
"I gave it to her." Zoro admitted. "I was the leader of this gang before you caught me and dragged me off the streets. I gave it to them to make sure they would be able to get by ok, as I didn't really have much need of it."
There was a silence, in which Zoro noticed the way that Whitebeard raised an eyebrow, Shanks smirked slightly and Mihawk merely pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "No matter. They are also no longer in need of it." He said at length. "They are to be henceforth imprisoned with those of the Kali gang and-"
"No." Zoro stated. "I know them well,-"
"Zoro." Mihawk started, his tone weary.
"-they are good people and are strong in their own right." Zoro continued heedlessly.
"Zoro." Mihawk tried again more sternly.
"If you allow them to join the MI5 they would be a valuable addition to help-"
"Roronoa." Mihawk snapped icily. "Stay your tongue and know your place."
"If you put them away, you put me with them." Zoro spat after a moment.
Mihawk glanced at the ceiling, as though praying to god to send him patience. "Fine...Fine they may become agents. But even a step out of line, and they will face the consequences. Understood?" He threatened.
"Yes sir." Zoro nodded, gritting his teeth and glancing at his gang who stared at him wide-eyed, only grinning to themselves when he winked to them secretly.
"Back to headquarters." Mihawk instructed, his tone betraying his annoyance. "Immediately."
During the training of the Mugiwara's, Zoro found himself relaxing. Having emptied the Thousand Sunny of everything that they would need, the Mugiwara gang had been stationed in the same corridor as Zoro and Coby, and after much bargaining with Shanks, Nami had managed to get her way into owning the largest room at the bottom of the corridor.
It was a large lifestyle change for them, and they were hesitant at first. But after a while they started to settle down into the routine of MI5 life. The three who had training of a different kind to the most of the group, were Nami, Chopper and Thatch, who decided to specialise.
After having spent time talking to Shanks, the second in command had quickly come to the conclusion that the girl was able to read and write just that tiny bit better than the others, and that her knowledge of the streets around London was absolutely perfect, having an almost photographic memory of a map of the city inside her head. He took her straight under his wing and began to teach her the secret ways through London that were often used for searching out bomb threats or other such scenarios that were potentially dangerous.
Despite having been wary of the red-haired legend at first, Nami had quickly grown attached to her teacher and almost ran to her lessons with him, excited to learn more.
Chopper spent his training with Aokiji and a female MI5 doctor by the name of Doctorine, whose knowledge of medicines was actually somewhat impressive, despite her fearsome nature as a crazy old woman. Chopper soon became used to her shouting and abrupt mood swings, and he swiftly learnt not to call her 'old'. Aokiji only intervened when he had something important to add, and there were times when he took the young reindeer out onto the streets of London and into places such as Bartholomew's hospital, where the reindeer would test what he had learned.
Thatch however, had not needed a tutor of any kind. He was his own tutor in cooking, because he claimed that 'the learning was all in the experimenting'. It was this motto that had him swiftly promoted to head chef in MI5, serving everyone's meals on a daily basis. He became rather good friends with a lot of the older, higher up agents due to it too. As a lot of them (specifically Shanks, Yassop, Benn, Kizaru, Rayleigh and even Aokiji on occasion) had the nerve to come back and ask for more.
Which was better than Luffy and Ace's way of asking for more, which was to roar it out over the whole canteen, only to receive a ladle in the forehead which had been accurately thrown from the kitchens. Sometimes with seconds being brought out, if he was feeling nice.
The rest of the Mugiwara's picked an agent to train with.
For Ace, he was deliberating over it when he literally ran into one of the agents in the corridor, his whole body catching alight on instinct. With an insanely loud guffaw of laughter, Ace had looked up to see a giant of a man standing before him with a ridiculous white moustache.
The laugh had irritated him, and he had challenged him to a fight in the gym. Which after about a minute, he had lost. It was after about the one hundredth or so time of being beaten that he had finally asked the man's name.
"Lad, my name is Edward Newgate. But most people around here know me as Whitebeard." The man had boomed. "And would I be right in thinking that you are Portgas D. Ace? Son of Gol D. Roger, the former gang king?"
"Aa." Ace had answered.
Whitebeard had nodded, a grin lighting up his face. "Kid, I will teach you to fight properly. Maybe that way you'll actually last more than five minutes against me."
Meanwhile, Ace's brother Luffy had chosen Shanks, whilst Garp had also chosen to teach him. Together, both Akagami and Garp tutored Luffy in using his skills as a devil fruit user, and as they later found out, a special Haki user. Luffy was more relaxed around Shanks than he was with Garp, seeing as he thought of Shanks as a hilarious friend, and Garp as his scary and crazy grandfather. Yet by both of their skills as agents, Luffy's strength dramatically improved.
Sabo, the youngest of them all, had not known quite what to do. He was considered by most of the agents far too young to teach, and it annoyed him greatly. When alone in the gym, he took several minutes to set up a punching bag before taking his metal pipe in his hands and going at it like a wild thing for several hours, beating it to a pulp before dealing it a death blow which ripped it open, spilling the sand from the bag onto the floor.
A round of applause made him jump in terror and spin to face the intruder with his pipe held out in front of him protectively. But he lowered it when Rayleigh walked into the room, gazing at him with impressed eyes.
"You have heart...and determination." The older man commented. Unsure of what to say in response, Sabo merely blinked a few times and felt his cheeks turn pink with embarrassment. "But surely you are too young to train?"
At this, Sabo scowled and found his tongue. "I want to learn to fight!" He protested, his hand clenching around the pipe.
"Why?" Rayleigh asked, a slight shrug following the question.
"Huh?" Sabo questioned cleverly.
"Why do you want to learn to fight?" Rayleigh repeated.
Sabo didn't even have to think about his reply, it came so naturally. "So that I can protect my friends!"
Nodding, Rayleigh grinned, the gym lights reflecting in his glasses a little bit. "Well said kid, well said...In that case, you have found yourself a teacher."
"R-Really?" Sabo gaped, his eyes wide in astonishment.
"Indeed. But do not think I will go easy on you. The training will be rough, but I will teach you everything I can and everything that I think you will need to know. Are you positive you want to do this?"
"Yes...Yes sir!" Sabo smiled, excitement alive in his eyes.
"Very well then." Rayleigh smiled back.
Ussop, however, did not really have much of a choice. Whilst sitting in the common room with Zoro, his father Yassop ran in from the corridor and hugged him upon sight, claiming to want to know everything about him and his own hand-made weapon, to see if together they could help to improve it and improve Ussop's sniper skill.
As much as he might have once hated his dad, at that moment Ussop felt it all wash away, wanting only to spend time getting to know the man and perhaps even build up something of a family relationship. His father actually cared, and that was all he needed to hear.
Sometimes, Nami would join Ussop and Yassop so that the three of them would talk about improving her Climatact and its uses and attacks.
Watching them all as they progressed, Zoro felt proud for having made the head agent change his mind about their original fate. It had worked out for the best, for all of them. And it was something that Zoro wouldn't let him forget in a hurry.
Also during this time, Zoro got a somewhat pleasant surprise one day on November the eleventh. A date that he had completely forgotten about until Sabo and Luffy crept into his room that morning and jumped on him whilst he was still in bed at eight o'clock in the morning, yelling at him to wake up and get dressed.
Reluctantly he had done so after having quickly showered, allowing the two excited younger guys to lead him out into the surprisingly warm corridor whilst he grumbled to them about having woken him up so rudely. But he was surprised to see a large layout of breakfast food set up in the middle of their common room and the fire already going in an attempt to heat it up, giving the place a much friendlier look.
Not only that but his whole gang was there, including Shanks and Rayleigh, which was kind of odd. "Ehh? Guys, what the hell's going on?" He questioned as he allowed Luffy to push him into one of the chairs.
"See, I told you." Nami laughed.
"Only a true marimo would forget his own eighteenth birthday." Ussop agreed with a snigger.
Zoro raised his eyebrows as it clicked into place. He had forgotten that today was his birthday, seeing as he never normally remembered it anyway, it didn't really bother him. Besides, it was only ever one day of the year.
"Dude, want to open your presents?" Ace grinned, nudging Luffy who stretched his arm back behind the chair that they were both sat on and brought forth a couple of (badly wrapped) presents.
"You guys actually got me presents?" Zoro asked in surprise, accepting the packages from Luffy's excited hands.
"Well duh! You're our leader, and it's your birthday!" Sabo nodded with a smile as he sat at Zoro's feet next to the fire. Zoro chuckled and began opening them, amusing them all as he managed to hit Shanks in the face with an accurate, sneakily thrown scrunched up piece of wrapping paper.
"I'll get you back for that Zoro!" Shanks laughed, shaking a fist at him jokingly and making the teen grin.
Zoro held up the bottle of sake to Ace and nodded to him with a smirk. "Thank you Ace. I know exactly where that's going." He said, the both of them laughing. Luffy's one made his heart seem to swell up in friendship as he held the piece of familiar dark green cloth in his hands. "Luffy..."
"I figured you'd probably want it back, 'cause you'd left it on the Sunny when you first left and we didn't get a chance to give it to you." Luffy shrugged with a grin as he watched Zoro tie the dark green bandanna in its rightful place around his upper arm.
"Thanks Luffy." Zoro nodded, feeling the bandanna fill in something he felt he'd been missing for a long time.
"Oi, Zoro. Catch." Thatch called, tossing something at Zoro who caught it easily. They smirked at one another as Zoro nodded to him and placed the bottle of sake down beside Ace's bottle.
Shanks laughed suddenly. "If you're all giving him the booze now, then I'd best join in." He said, handing over a sake bottle shaped present. "That one's from me and the guys at MI5." He added.
Suddenly a flash of pink darted into the common room breathlessly. "Wait! You haven't finished have you? I wanted to give this one to you Zoro before I have to ride for the palace." Coby all but shouted, having run down the corridor from the room adjacent to Zoro's own. Upon saying this, he handed over a present wrapped in the shape of a horse's hoof.
Luffy glanced at it curiously. "Hey, what is that?"
"We don't know yet idiot." Ace sniggered, watching as Luffy hummed thoughtfully.
"So...it's a mystery present!"
"...You are so weird."
Strangely, the present was soft to the touch and upon opening it, Zoro chuckled as he prodded the soft white neck pillow.
"You know you're never gonna see me awake ever again with this, don't you?" He warned, making Coby grin in return with a shrug that made his pink bubblegum hair flick about his shoulders.
"You never concentrated anyway." He reasoned with a laugh.
Nami then piped up from her chair. "For my present, you've kind of got two." She confessed. "For starters, I'm going to cut you free from all your debts to me-". There was a whistle of disbelief from Ussop who was sat next to her, and a gasp of shock from Chopper. Ace merely grumbled 'lucky git' under his breath. "And here. I didn't wrap it." She said, handing him a small disk.
Leaning forwards slightly, they all started laughing as Zoro's face grew red a little, not being able to help the small smirk that appeared on his face as he glanced at the compass in his hand. "Thanks Nami." He chuckled.
"Well, it's just...you are seriously directionally challenged. So I thought this might help." She giggled, watching as Ussop, Sabo and Chopper gave him three tiny presents each.
Curious, Zoro opened them and noted the small rings that were just about the width of the scabbards of his swords. "What are they?" He questioned, holding them up so that he could see them better.
Ussop rubbed the length of his long nose proudly. "This was my invention." He stated. "They're locks for your katana sheaths, and they're sensitive to only your fingerprints, meaning that only you can unsheath them. Good, ne? Took me a while to get the dimensions right because I could only measure the scabbard widths when you weren't looking."
Taking up his three katanas, Zoro found with surprise that the sniper had got the dimensions perfectly for each sword, and as he clicked the locks on he slid the katanas back into their sheaths. Extending the handle of Kitetsu to Thatch, the cook obliged a little warily, knowing of the sword's curse. However, the sword could not be unsheathed. Until Zoro tried. True to Ussop's word, the katana clicked free of the lock and slowly rose as Zoro unsheathed it halfway with a quiet hiss of metal.
"Ussop, this is amazing." Zoro said, marvelling at the invention with a grin. "Thank you."
Ussop puffed his chest out. "Well what do you expect from a genius like me? I am the great, CAPTAIN USSOP!" He cried, standing atop the chair and pulling a heroic pose to Luffy and Chopper's cheering.
Smoothly intervening, Rayleigh handed Zoro a small box and tucked a note into the teenager's sleeve which Zoro pretended not to notice. "This one is from someone who could not be here. I advise that you open it later." He smiled, nodding to the cute little box.
Knowing what Rayleigh meant, Zoro nodded and carefully tucked the box into his suit's inside pocket. "Anyway, are we gonna get to eat this food?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow in Thatch's direction.
"Yeah, and you better eat up." Thatch warned him. "I made sure I used all the stuff you like."
Zoro grinned. "As long as the two bottomless pits don't get there first, sure."
"Don't even tempt fate." Thatch groaned comically, making them all laugh as everyone dived for the table of food simultaneously in an attempt to block Luffy and Ace from it.
The day wore on with most people having to get back to training or missions, but Zoro's afternoon was free, and it was this time that he took to drinke most his booze for a few hours before deciding retire to his room for the evening to see what Rayleigh had given him earlier that morning.
Taking the little note out, he read Rayleigh's scrawl that was written across it.
'Zoro,
Come and see Roger this evening. He and I have a present to give you,
Rayleigh.'
Grinning to himself, he tore the note into tiny little pieces and threw them into the bin so that no one else would read it. Then he took the small box out from the pocket on the inside of his suit. He stared at it for a moment before carefully lifting the lid, just catching the small note that had been attached to the top of the lid before it fell out.
It read in a beautifully neat calligraphy:
'Kenshi-san,
I heard that you were to turn another year older today, so I had this specially made a few weeks ago. Happy Birthday my dearest Knight.
All my love,
Robin.'
Smiling to himself, he put the lid and note aside and opened the box. At first he was confused to see nothing inside the box, but he jumped a little as a small hand grew from the bottom of the box, the fingers gently closed around something. Carefully, he traced a finger down the wrist, watching with interest as the hand slowly unfolded like a blooming flower.
Nestled on the palm, was a small golden band that glittered in the light. Intrigued, Zoro cautiously picked it up and examined it in his hand. It was light as metal went, and it was definitely not a girl's piece of jewellery. Twisting it round , he noticed the inscription that was written on the inside of the ring, making the corner of his lips twitch up into a smirk.
'Love at first Knight'.
Slipping it on, he found that it fit perfectly, and it didn't come off quite as easily which was practical. Leaving the box on the bedside table next to a half empty -or half full, he didn't care which- bottle of sake, he stood up and headed down the now familiar corridors until he came to the staircase which lead him down to the holding cell, the wooden cross still inside.
But ignoring the cell, he turned to the final flight of stairs that still had a rope across it with the sign reading 'Authorised Personnel Only'.
He was about to go for the lantern that was usually unlit on the wall, only to find that the lantern wasn't there. But looking down the stairs, he could see a faint glow of light and warmth which told him that Rayleigh was already down there waiting for him with Roger. Stepping over the rope his quickly made his way down the stairs.
Upon hearing the boy enter the prison, both Rayleigh and Roger turned to him with a smile, having obviously just been conversing about something or other. "Happy Halloween kid!" Roger laughed. "Oops wrong one. That's just the atmosphere in here. Happy birthday Zoro."
Grinning, Zoro laughed a little too. "Heh, thanks Roger."
Roger nudged Rayleigh as much as he could through the bars. "Go on then, give it to him!" He encouraged, seeming to be a little over-excited, which made Zoro see why Ace and Luffy were related to him.
"Alright, alright. Hang on a second." Rayleigh said, rolling his eyes. "It's not wrapped." He apologised.
"It doesn't need to be." Roger argued.
"Well, seeing as it's a present, it's supposed to be." Rayleigh pointed out.
"I beg to differ." Roger scoffed.
"Beg then." Rayleigh responded in conclusion, making Roger growl out 'mutiny' under his breath with a fake pout that disappeared as Rayleigh finally handed something large and somewhat square into Zoro's hands.
Zoro frowned at it in confusion for a moment. "What..What is it?" He asked, glancing at the two of them who looked insanely proud.
"Open it up and see for yourself." Rayleigh suggested with a shrug and a grin.
"It's pretty big we know, and we only managed to fill about a third of it. Maybe a little bit under." Roger rushed as Zoro shifted what he now realised was a large old dark brown leather book in his hands and opened it up to the first page.
His head shot up to stare at them. "Is this for real?" He laughed nervously. "You're giving me this?" At Roger and Rayleigh's answering nods, his laugh became slightly breathless. "You've gotta be kidding me...All your adventures. Your close calls with MI5. Your base of operations-You've listed everything in here!"
"T'is our official logbook. On page thirty-six -at least I think it's thirty-six -you'll find the names of the whole gang which signed the whole damn page. My signature is in the centre, naturally." Roger stated proudly as Zoro leafed through the book, his eyes wide in wonder.
"Yeah, nearly took up half the damn page so that the rest of us had to write small." Rayleigh snorted.
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not slander and calumny!" Roger concluded with a smirk.
Zoro looked towards them with a grin. "You...Thank you. So much." He thanked them, unable to think of any other words in which he could express his gratitude.
"Our adventures aren't the best part though." Rayleigh said, the light from the lantern reflected in his glasses for a moment.
"Eh?" Zoro questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Roger grinned at him. "You've got enough space to fill in your own." He explained. "Rayleigh's told me that your gang got brought here too, so the lot of you can put your heads together and figure out your timelines. Besides, for Rayleigh and I, our era is way over. Yours kid...Yours is just beginning." He winked.
Closing the book, Zoro nodded. "Then it'll be put to good use." He told them, feeling proud to have been given such a valuable gift. He was pretty sure that not even Ace would have seen this, and he couldn't wait to show the rest of the Mugiwara's.
Rayleigh suddenly narrowed his eyes. "Kid, I get the feeling you should be going right about now.." He said slowly, making Roger focus as though he was listening.
"Aye...I sense it too. You've got less than two minutes to get up to your common room before he gets there." Roger agreed seriously.
"He?" Zoro asked in confusion, furrowing his eyebrows as he held the book tightly under one arm. "What do you mean?"
"Your room is about to get an unexpected party." Rayleigh informed him.
For a second Zoro stood there, and then realisation kicked in. Shouting a 'thanks' over his shoulder, he sprinted up both sets of stairs with the book safely under arm, nearly slamming into a wall as he accidentally took a wrong turn down a dead end corridor in his haste.
Cursing, he corrected his course and headed to the common room, concealing the large book craftily in the metal structure underneath his the common room chair that he claimed as 'his'. Straightening up, he smoothed himself down and calmly walked the corridor to room 221b.
Just as he went to open it, it opened inwards for him to reveal the MI5 head agent standing in the doorway, having been about to make his way out. Zoro narrowed his eyes at him. "How the fuck did you get in here?"
"Your knowledge of lock picking is obviously lacking." Came the response as Mihawk held up a misshapen piece of metal that had once been a paper clip. Zoro sighed and shook his head tiredly.
"Whatever." He muttered, moving backwards and allowing Mihawk out.
As Mihawk stepped into the corridor, he rested a hand on Zoro's shoulder, making him freeze momentarily. It lasted for no more than two seconds, as Mihawk merely let his hand fall from Zoro's shoulder as he walked away calmly back down the corridor and out of sight.
Thoroughly confused as to what that had been about, Zoro decided to shrug it off and walked into his room, grabbing his unfinished bottle of sake. That was when he noticed the long polished wooden box that was laid delicately on his bed.
Curiously, he sipped his sake before returning it to the table, sitting on his bed and reaching for the box. On the box he could make out the silver inscription above the obviously recent ornate carving of three intersecting swords.
'Aut inveniam viam aut faciam'.
Remembering lessons from long ago, he quickly translated it in his head, only to receive a flashback of a woman, whose face he couldn't make out as he looked up at her through his minds eye whilst she looked at his father's agonised face, feeling himself being passed over to his father. A soft voice, one so calm and yet laced with terror speaking those exact words before turning and leaving with Mihawk's arms cradling him as he ran .
The flashback felt weird, and it was then that he realised that it was his earliest memory...and the only one he had left of his mother.
"Aut inveniam viam aut faciam...I shall either find a way or make one." He whispered, taking the box in trembling hands and gingerly lifting the lid. Despite himself, he laughed softly when he saw the contents.
A small stack of nuguigami, the wiping papers that was made of a soft, sensitive pulp tissue, used for wiping off the excessive oil and unnecessary dust from the katana. A general flannel like cloth that was generally used for quick cleaning to wipe debris and residue from the blade after use. Choji oil, the rust preventive oil. The oiling cloth, which was used to apply a coating of choji oil to the blade, and the Uchiko ball, finely ground stone powder in a silk ball.
"How the fuck did he know I needed this?" He questioned softly, after having examined the oil closely.
Quietly stowing the equipment back in the box, he smiled involuntarily and carefully placed the box on a safe high shelf after having closed the lid and slowly stroked the inscription of the family's motto inadvertently.
Deciding right then that he needed sleep, he stripped into his night clothes and sprawled himself comfortably under the sheets.
It was at the very end of the year, a cold day in December, when Red Haired Shanks ran into Mihawk's office as the man was sat working on reports that were stacked around him. "Hawk-Eye! Mihawk! MIHAWK! I've got news! It's incredible. It's-"
"For god's sake calm down." Mihawk snapped, his patience already wearing thin after having been in the energetic man's presence for less than thirty seconds. "What are you blabbering on about now?"
Shanks paused and panted, regaining his breath before starting to speak again. "King Lucci has called for a knighting ceremony." He stated.
Raising an eyebrow, Mihawk nodded. "When is it to be held?"
"In the next four hours at Westminster Abbey." Shanks said, biting his lip a little.
Mihawk blinked once. "...He's bloody lucky that we're able to get organised in that time. Have the agents assemble around the abbey. I want them on the inside and the outside of the abbey and in the surrounding area. Have Zoro no where near the inside of the abbey. I don't want him screwing anything else u-"
"There's a problem with that sir." Shanks interrupted.
"A problem?" Mihawk asked, narrowing his yellow eyes at his second in command. "What about it could be so problematic?"
Shanks shrugged. "It's your son that's getting a knighthood."
Mihawk's mouth dropped involuntarily. "I beg your pardon?" He questioned, floundering for words as he watched a grin start to creep over Shanks' face. "Shanks le Roux, repeat yourself this instant."
Dipping his head obediently, Shanks obeyed the command. "Your son, Roronoa Zoro," he said slowly,"is to be knighted by the King in Westminster Abbey, in four hours." He cast a worried look at Mihawk as the man stood there, rooted to the spot in barely concealed shock. "...You're not going to pass out are you?"
"Wh-What? No." Mihawk stuttered, regaining his composure. "Don't be stupid. I'm fine. Absolutely fine. He's going to...Bloody hell." He muttered finally, making Shanks start to laugh.
"What did you expect? Like father like son." He laughed, his head hair flicking merrily around his shoulders as they shook with laughter.
"Why is he getting a knighthood, anyway?" Mihawk questioned, ignoring the previous comment.
"People all over London, including some of the lads here at MI5 and not to mention your royal highness the princess, have been singing the marimo's praises for defeating that gang leader and saving the princess. Ok yeah, some of the people don't know he saved a princess, but still. Obviously word got round to the King, and he wishes to honour Zoro with a knighthood. His royal highness sends you his congratulations by the way." Shanks explained.
Mihawk's cheeks coloured a little, and to hide it he merely stroked his moustache outwards a little. "And you say we have four hours to prepare him and get security ready for they abbey."
"Yes sir. Well, just under that now. Hmmm, let's see. That'd be three hours, fifty two minutes aaaannnndddd..." Shanks scowled at his watch as he tried to find a suitable number for the seconds hand.
"Forget the little details!" Mihawk snapped. "We've got work to do. Find the stable hands and have them groom every horse that's riding out. We need everyone in their best work suits and will need to be on high alert like most other important missions. I will attend to the planning and everything else, whereas you will find Roronoa and brief him on what is to happen. Understood?"
"Aa. Clear as crystal sir." Shanks nodded, the both of them hurriedly exiting the office.
By the way, for anyone who is having a hard time picturing Zoro in a suit, here are some examples. ;D
(you know the whole [h][t]t]p] bit ) 25 . media . tumblr tumblr_m1ck3cCfn41r9mdpzo1_500 . jpg
(and here) media . tumblr tumblr_m666juzCRC1qjvme0 . jpg
Enjoy. ^^
Kai XxxXxxX
(P.S: PLEASE REVIEW!) :3