Finally got around to write another little piece, this time to get my mind off the math test I had to take today (I just know I failed! -pulls at her own hair-). This one was poking my brain for a good hour before I wrote it down. It's not one of the best stories I've written, but here it is in all its glory!
His path
By KuroKame
The sound of steel against steel made his skin prickle, as if he was being showered with icy cold water or even tiny pieces of metal each time the swords collided. Still, he didn't move away where he stood outside the restaurant Baratie, watching the ongoing battle while digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands. He didn't know much of swordfights, but he knew who had the upper hand in this one.
"Taka no Me no… Mihawk… Hawk-eyes Mihawk." He had repeated the name as Zoro said it to him so that he wouldn't forget it. The man Zoro had been looking for, and the man he had found and challenged. The best swordsman in the world.
Even from the distance, he could see Zoro's movements steadily growing weaker for each cut he received, and it appeared as if he actually was losing.
"What do you seek beyond the strength, young weakling?"
The other swordsman's words seemed to trigger something in Johnny and Yosaku where they were watching the battle from their boat, because they threw themselves forward over the railing, swords drawn and ready for battle.
"Zoro-aniki isn't weak!" they both yelled at the top of their lungs as they leaped away from the boat.
Luffy growled and jumped over to the boat while reaching out his hands towards the bounty hunters. He caught them in midair and pulled them back aboard the ship, ignoring their feeble protests as he held them down with a firm grip around the back of their heads.
"Johnny! Yosaku!" Luffy growled, his eyes still following his battling swordsman while he pushed the two men down against the deck. "Don't interfere! Just watch."
He could feel his body trembling, not because of the effort it took to hold Johnny and Yosaku down, but because he could feel how Zoro was weakening for every second. His swordsman was losing and he could feel it. But he couldn't do anything about it. Interfering would be to break the promise he had made not so long ago, and there was no way he would do that.
This was the path Zoro had chosen, and as long as Luffy still was breathing, he would make damn sure that no one did anything to make his swordsman turn from that path. Even if it meant that he wouldn't have a swordsman once the battle was over…
gothywolfie - Oh, no it didn't sound like a command at all. I had been thinking of writing a story centered on Gin for a while, but I couldn't think of a storyline... I miss Johnny no Aniki and Yosaku no Aniki as well, I really hope that Oda will bring them back in the future.
Sulia Shincho - Thank you. Exactly, we never got to know if he survived the poison or if he died later on. I hope that we'll find out one day... Actually, I was watching a sunset the other day, and I realized that I never really had seen one before either. I just wish that I'll get to see a sunrise one day.