A/N: I'm getting better at this perspective thing. Darn, but my writing skills were rusty. Feel free to leave constructive criticism. It may be the only way I further my craft. Mind you, this is a rough draft. Provided I finish the East Blue Saga, I will probably reformat this.
Also, I noticed that I got the duration of Zoro's sentence wrong in the last chapter. It was a month, not ten days. Bleck.
Roronoa Zoro was understandably unhappy. He was a disciplined man who had agreed to put his life on the line for a couple of villagers. His life (of which he was quite fond, no matter what the public perception of his persona by the rest of East Blue). It had been his own decision, and it had seemed a wise one in light of the circumstances. Helmeppo would string him up, yes, but Zoro believed he could survive the sentence. One month without sustenance could be achieved by someone as strong as he, though it was hellish prospect.
In accordance with his expectations, hellish it was. Every single inch of him hurt or itched; a sensation of weakness was overtaking him as his body was ravaged by loss of muscle mass; he was forced to wallow in his own filth, and to top it all off, he had seen impossible things in the crucifixion yard in the few weeks as his mind began to lose touch with reality.
The dead walked on the hard ground soundlessly at seemingly random intevals. Some of the specters were friends. Kuina and Saga, the oldest of his friends, approached him with wide smiles and open arms. They spoke to him for long hours in his misery whilst he ignored them, certain that acknowledging the two would be his end. After a time, they would disappear, only to come back to his side when he awoke from a tenuous sleep.
Unfortunately, Kuina and Saga were not alone. Though he didn't regret a single sword-stroke, Roronoa Zoro had killed many, many people throughout the last few years. They had been hardened criminals with innocent blood on their hands, but it had still been his choice to end their lives.
Though their phantoms were legion, they were easier to ignore than his friends, as all they did was shriek, threaten, and prophesize his imminent demise. Still, those rare naps grew more sporadic as their insufferable noise rose in volume as the days went by.
With these irregular happenings, it had become nearly impossible to keep track of how much time had elapsed. It was only by the virtue of Helmeppo's daily beatings and that small girl from the inn visiting the fence every night with reassurances and apologies that he knew how many days had passed.
27.
27 days that would have killed a lesser man had already come and gone. He had proven the specters of his past wrong. He was so close to victory that it erased some of the searing agony inside his living corpse. So, why?
Why?
The young woman was in front of him now, her arms outstretched. She had ruined everything and then robbed him of his right to be furious with her by virtue of her selflessness. She had taken his pride as a man and crushed it by the simple act of nullifying his suffering. Then, she just had to mitigate his willing sacrifice by throwing another life at it.
"FIRE!"
He counted six shots and was certain five of them hit her. Only one had made it past her by nature of her size and he knew that because it had whizzed past his right ear into the sky behind him. He registered that he was screaming with surprising fervor for someone who had only recently been on death's door.
He bit down on his lower lip. Everything still tasted of sweet, sticky rice but he knew bile would follow as the girl strained, shook, and fell forward onto her face.
"Luffy! LUFFY! Oh, no… nonononono…!" Her companion was calling now, and Zoro stole a guilty glance at him and the bawling child beside him. His hands were shaking in front of her eyes, and angry tears ran in little rivulets down his face.
So, now she had a name. Zoro made a note of it so he could find her on the other side and give her a firm talking to, if nothing else.
Gun barrels were retrained on him, but Helmeppo waved the weapons down, apparently satisfied.
"I think Daddy's justice has been served sufficiently now. Wouldn't you agree, Zoro?"
He gave the outward appearance of laughing, but the addressed prisoner could sense a quiver in the adolescent's voice. Perhaps he hadn't actually though people would die if he ordered them to be shot up. Hell, that wasn't Zoro's problem. He didn't have the time or desire to psychoanalize the tyrant's son. He did have some colorful comments he would love to substitute for the desire agreement, however.
Well, perhaps using the term 'comments' here was disingenuous.
They were laconic threats he had every right to go through with. Zoro would enjoy the actions therein far more than he should. Unfortunately, he had to bite down his replies. Perhaps if, even after all this, the boy was willing to let their promise stand, it would still be worth it to stay on the cross; to forget that another martyr was added to the pyre of a single dictator's influence.
Coby's shouted words had degenerated into some sort of stricken howling. Maybe that woman had been his relative?
Zoro looked down at Luffy's still form on the ground and fought his impulse to make matters worse. Instead, his words were measured.
"Are you going to hurt them?" he asked, jerking his head to refer to their audience of two.
Helmeppo paused, driving his shoe into the dirt as if he was snuffing an imaginary cigarette. A hand rose to his lips and his eyes darted from his newest victim to the unscathed basket with a single riceball remaining. "Clearly.. that woman was the only one actually breaking the law, yes? It is enough that she has been made an example of."
He gritted his teeth into a forced smile. "So.. er.. three days, right?"
Zoro stared blankly before managing a feeble. "I guess."
Helmeppo's complexion was turning even paler as the reality of what he'd done was settling in.
It almost quelled the rising bloodlust. Almost.
His men stared vacantly ahead, playing the part of obedient automatons well enough until they betrayed a shred of humanity.
Their shoulders gave in such a way that demonstrated relief as Helmeppo turned and stalked back to the base. They followed, leaving the remaining three living beings in the clearing be.
As they disappeared into the distance, the crucifixion yard fell into a deathly silence (with no pun intended). It was only punctuated by the occassional sob.
The wanted man again turned to Coby, seemingly at a loss. What was he supposed to do? Apologize?
Honestly, there was only one sane course of action (sane being a relative term, here).
"Leave. There's no reason for you two to stay here." he growled. "Leave and don't turn back. They'll kill you if you enter. You've seen proof."
Coby hiccuped through thick tears. "But… Luffy! Are they just going to leave her here?!"
"How the hell would I know?!" His voice wasn't so dark or steady anymore. Coby suspected that if he had been properly hydrated, Zoro might have been crying. "Just GO!"
Three days with a dead body. Three days with food and a human sacrifice lying mere feet from his cross. Now, that was a sadistic punishment. He hadn't thought this could get any worse, but listening to Coby and the little girl leave… it would be an understatement to say he knew better.
He just didn't think things would degenerate so quickly.
"Goddammit." he muttered, feeling his ravaged muscles shake. "GODDAMMIT!"
Time passed slowly in his renewed solitude, but the small amount of food and water he'd received seemed to keep the phantoms away. At least, that's what he believed until nightfall, at which point the cadaver got up and began to dust her clothes off, rigor mortis be damned.
Yes, Zoro doubted his sanity at that moment… and yes, he had initially thought her part of the same phenomenon that had produced Kuina and Saga's smiling faces. Not the least because she was grinning at him right then with adoring eyes.
The he noticed the lack of blood on the ground and the fact that she wasn't exactly being as quiet as his previous visitors. Granted, she wasn't making a great deal of noise, but she still moved the dirt with her bare feet.
She didn't sport any obvious wounds. Oddly, her clothes had clearly been penetrated by the bullets, but if they hadn't entered her body, where had they gone? That answer, too, lay on the ground. Five casings, five bullets… they had been partially buried like she had somehow planted them as one would bamboo chutes. But when? And how?
"Okay, good. I had to be sure those jerkwads weren't hanging around." She murmured, looking up at the base and shaking her head at a newly-erected statue looming over the rooftop. "Damn, but these guys are bad at their jobs."
She shrugged helplessly. "Didn't even bother to check me over."
Zoro's voice came back to him as he decided she was, in fact, alive. "...What are you?"
"Shh." She brought her finger to her lips and knelt down to pick up the basket from before. "That's not important right now, Roronoa."
She had his rapt attention, but didn't explain anything until after she'd held the last sweet onigiri in front of his lips. This time, he ate it on his own terms while Luffy scanned the dark courtyard. The marines clearly didn't dedicate too much manpower to keeping proper watch.
"Sorry for earlier. I had no idea you'd been captured on purpose." That was a lie, but not a complete one. The circumstances came back to her only simultaneously with the action. Deja vu was the closest thing to compare the experience to, as the memories she'd drawn upon were old and warped by the passage of time and were none too cooperative when she actually needed them. Such was the price of having used her abilities on the hedonistic pleasures of punching someone in the face with infinite gusto. "Seems you are a good guy, after all."
She stepped back and looked sidelong at the marine base. Zoro couldn't stop staring. She'd done everything earlier with the set goal of finding his moral compass? Bullshit. That woman had already decided he was worth saving. Either that, or she cared about human rights more than any governing body he'd ever heard of. Either way, he could see things through her baggy top that he really shouldn't be able to from this angle.
"Zoro." she said quietly, her tone wistful. "Come away with me."
He made a strangled coughing sound, jumping to the wrong conclusion immediately. This was sudden, strange, and completely unacceptable. He'd half a mind to tell her off right then and there for being a shallow tart for trying to elope with a stranger, but she didn't let him finish the thought.
"Join my crew."
Ah. That made more sense.
"You're a bounty hunter, too?" he asked after he regained his composure.
"Nope. Pirate." she responded, moving to one of the bonds holding his arms in place.
"Then why the hell would I join you?!" He hissed, still being careful to keep his voice down. "I have my own ambitions, and I'm not going to throw them away to be a goddamned privateer."
She stopped short of messing with the ropes, to his relief. Her eyes lit up like the sunrise. "Really? What are they?"
He smiled despite himself, appreciating the absurdism of the situation around them. "I'm going to be the world's greatest swordsman."
"Awesome!" The word lingered in the air momentarily. "I wouldn't expect anything else from the chosen first mate of the future king of pirates." She said this with all of the surity he himself had just demonstrated, catching Zoro off-guard once more.
"The fuck are you talking about?" his whisper was harsh and punctuated with laughter. "This is a terrible time for joking around!"
"Who's joking?" Luffy asked, her face falling. She pointed at herself and said, "I'm dead serious."
The look of puzzlement remained, but Zoro knew better than to mock a female for a supposedly gender-blocked dream.
"King of the Pirates? You?" He was asking for confirmation, not jeering. Thankfully, Luffy understood that and simply nodded.
"Good luck with that."
"I don't need luck. I'll have you on my side."
She started fiddling with his bonds as she said this, only for Zoro to flinch.
"Hey! I didn't agree to anything!" he resisted. "-and you aren't actually helping me. I thought you knew that!"
Now it was her turn to look at Zoro like he was an idiot. "You honestly think these guys mean to keep their word? They're sadists, pure and simple."
"You can't prove they wouldn't."
"I'm sorry, but you're the one with the stupid idea, here. The burden of proof is on you, Zoro. Make me believe it is safe to leave you here alone."
"Helmeppo could have killed me and your little friends earlier. He didn't."
"That doesn't mean Captain Morgan would have been so merciful. Isn't it his authority that holds you?"
That caught Zoro's attention, but clearly didn't sway him. "I'll still hold up my part of the bargain. My word is my honor."
Luffy gave an exasperated sigh. "At least let me loosen the cords."
"No." he answered resolutely.
"You're a masochist." his would-be rescuer accused. This wasn't something he could refute, given the circumstances (though it was, in fact, incorrect).
"You should leave," Zoro said, exasperated beyond measure. "I'm sure your friends and family would like to know you yet live. That boy who came with you, in particular."
"Coby will be fine." Luffy hummed. "That kid is stronger than you know."
She paced around Zoro's crucifix as the swordsman processed her throwaway sentence. "Come away with me. We'll take this place down and head to the sea. It could be over by morning!"
"Even if I wanted to go with you, that blonde idiot took my swords."
"So you're open to the idea, after all?" Luffy asked, giddy anticipation on her face. "I just have to get your swords!"
"That's NOT what I said." He sighed. "Look, just... let me be. I just have those three days left and I can walk out of here."
"Nooope." Luffy said, stroking her chin and then stopping short as a brilliant idea hit her. She smacked her fist into her palm. "Oh, I know! I'll make a bet with you!"
Zoro lifted one dark eyebrow under his haramaki. "What are you going on about now?"
"I bet these guys will execute you in the next few days. If they do, I'll kick their asses and you'll have to join my crew!"
"I'll be dead." Zoro pointed out incredulously.
"No, you won't." she sang the words in the universal minor chord heard in schoolyards the whole world over. Her voice fell flat with the next utterance, however. "But if they don't gun for you, what do I owe?"
In accordance with the respect for his personal space thus far, Luffy leaned in uncomfortably close. Again seeing things he thought he shouldn't, Zoro's face began to burn. It was distracting.
He didn't hesitate for long. "You leave me be."
If his companion were insulted by this, she certainly didn't show it.
"Okay, Zoro. Let's shake on it!" She reached for the bindings again, only to back off when the man in question made an animalistic sound of warning.
"Fine, fine." She relented, waving her hands in front of her in a motion of placation. "So, er… Did you see where Coby went?"
The captive man made a choking sound of incredulity.
"Guess I have to find him on my own, then." She slipped her straw hat from her shoulders to the top of her head and looked at the fence that had granted her entrance. Roronoa Zoro was left gaping in her wake whilst she clambered over it like a monkey, the innkeeper's daughter's basket held between her teeth.
There was no way in hell that was the end of this.