Yo Everyone. Here is Chapter no 4. Since 'Tough Trials in a Warrior's life' sounded kinda long and…cheesy…I decided to shorten it to simple 'Tough Trials'. Now to clarify some details to my readers…
Yup! It is a Zoro/Robin fic and not Zoro with some OC. Just read and everything will be clear. There are also some clues of a major plot which will follow shortly. I've been giving these clues from first chapter and they will keep popping up in future ones as well, you can find out about this upcoming plot, considering who is writing the fic and only if you are able to decipher this piece of code that is XD…
Before we begin, I would like to thank all those people who have been leaving their kind reviews after reading. Especially NinjaShiek, ZoroandNatsu and RoronoaStar96. Thank you everyone :D
Finally, A humungous thanks to my awesome beta LadySpring, who's been beta-ing this story and is dealing with lots of and some really stupid mistakes which I usually make while writing my stories.
Enough rambling, now to the story…
Chapter 4: A Nakama's Rescue!
"Very well."
Letting go of him she turned around, facing her back to Zoro. "This is the life you have chosen for yourself after all. If I can't make you mine, then I won't let anyone else have you either. At least in this room, you'll stay by my side."
Looking over her shoulder she glanced at Zoro once again. "Forever."
She finally noticed a hint of slight fear in Zoro's eyes which excited her once again. She left the room, leaving Zoro at the mercy of those five succubi…
Approximately thirteen and a half hours later…
Mikumo was sitting in her room, wearing a very annoyed expression. Ever since that time, she hadn't gone to that room again. She had already given permission those five to do whatever they wanted with the only requirement of keeping him alive. Unable to get the man of her desire, her frustration was at its limit already, yet she was content with the thought that he was in her possession. If not his mind, his body.
Mikumo turned her gaze to Zoro's three swords which hung on the wall to her right. Standing up, she sauntered towards them and stood a couple of feet in front, gazing with envious eyes.
These swords…he loves them so much, she thought as she traced her long slender fingers against them one by one starting from Wado Ichimonji. I'm being defeated by some lifeless objects. How much I envy you.
She let out a sigh. Just when her fingers reached the hilt of Sendai Katetsu, her eyes widened and her heartbeat accelerated as a dark, ominous feeling started taking over her body.
What…what is this? A cursed sword? No…it's different…this isn't just a regular cursed sword. This feeling, it's the same as that day. Her body became immobile, sweat covered her face and she felt as though something unbelievably strong was trying to pull her into a pit of darkness.
Heavy. This blade's presence is too heavy. How can he control something like this? Mikumo was yanked out of her thoughts when, suddenly, the whole fortress started shaking heavily, and a loud sound of an explosion echoed throughout the whole place.
What was that? She thought, letting go of the sword and turning around abruptly.
Approximately one hour ago…
Thousand Sunny was approximately one mile away from the Island when Franky halted the ship's advance.
"We should not get much closer. If there is still surveillance, then they would be alarmed," Franky said while walking from the helm to the others.
"First of all we should find out where Zoro really is," Nami stated while holding her chin.
"We can use this Vivre Card." Robin took out the piece of paper. "I'll go and find his exact location from the sky first; they wouldn't notice anything that way."
"I'll go with you," Luffy said while bumping his fists but received another smack on his head by Nami.
"No, you won't. They will notice you the moment you reach there and who knows? You might barge in just like that, making things even worse."
"But I want to go," Luffy whined, holding the bulge on his head.
"Robin-chan is going to fly there. Don't tell me you just want to ride her, eh?" Sanji yelled angrily while holding Luffy by the collar. In response, he received sparkly eyes, a wide grin, and thumbs up. Several veins popped on Sanji's forehead, and he slammed Luffy down on the wooden floor of Sunny.
"Robin-chan, I'll go with you. I can keep up with you as well remain unnoticed," Sanji said turning to Robin, when Nami pulled his ear.
"You just want to see all those women, don't you?" Nami said narrowing her eyes.
"N-no way, Nami-san, what are you saying? I just want Robin-chan to be safe," Sanji tried to clarify with a forced smile.
"It's ok, Sanji. I'll be fine by myself." Robin gave her usual smile, which melted Sanji right on the spot.
"Oh Robin-chan, your beautiful smile, just like a thousand suns, shines upon me, bathing me with the lights of your eternal beauty." Sanji was revolving in a circle while holding his left leg in the air.
"Let's just ignore the idiot." Nami was trying to control her hands from beating Sanji to a pulp.
"I'll try to be back as soon as possible." Robin grew two wings on her back and, flapping those wings, flew towards the direction where the Vivre Card pointed.
Approximately half an hour later, everyone on Sunny was getting ready for the oncoming battle, when Robin came back and landed on Sunny's deck. Noticing her arrival, everyone gathered on the deck.
"I've found the place. It's a fortress and I'm sure Zoro is somewhere in there," Robin told everyone and their surprise was visible on their faces.
"A fortress?" Ussop asked.
"But I think it had a weak spot." This intrigued everyone except Luffy who was picking his nose, eyes half closed.
"What kind of weak spot?" Nami asked curiously.
"The eastern wall of the fortress is connected with the open ocean. I think we can use Sunny to launch our attack from there."
"Sweet, you have already thought out that far? I knew you were the only one I could rely on, Robin-onee-sama." Nami circled around Robin with shining eyes and Robin smiled casually with a few sweat drops on her face.
"Ok now! Everyone gather around. We will discuss the rescue plan now."
The members accepted and followed Nami's command, and she began explaining.
"First of all, we will launch our attack with Sunny's Goan Cannon and break the eastern wall of the fortress, just like we did on Fishman Island, which means we'll launch the attack from the air. Hopefully our Goan cannon will make a big enough hole in the fortress for us to jump in. From there we will split into two groups. Franky, Ussop, Brook, and I will stay with Sunny."
"Phew." Ussop let out a sigh of relief, which earned him a glare from everyone else, but he just shrugged while smiling awkwardly.
"Anyway," Nami continued, "the other group which means Luffy, Sanji-kun, Robin, and Chopper will jump off Sunny, enter the castle and try to find Zoro as soon as possible. The four of us will take Sunny to the harbor so that it will not get caught in the fight. Even though the explosives won't respond to electrical signals, there is a possibility that they will still explode due to direct impact. As soon as you four get Zoro, rush back to Sunny as soon as possible, and we will leave this Island for good. And this is our perfect 'Rescue Zoro plan'," Nami said with a wink and a thumbs up.
"But there is one problem with this plan…" Chopper interrupted for the first time in a while.
"And what could that be?" Brook asked sipping tea casually.
"Do you always have tea with you?" Ussop asked awkwardly with a drop of sweat running down his forehead.
"Our opponents are all women, so I think sending Sanji with the rescue group is not a good idea," Chopper said.
"Eh? Why not? I want to go see all pretty lad-aaaah…I mean I want to go rescue Zoro as well."
Nami let out a sigh.
"I know, but for this mission we need fast people who can wrap things up as soon as possible and besides," Nami walked closer to Sanji and placed her hand on his shoulder, "I know Sanji-kun will never hurt any woman but how about instead of kicking them, you tie them up?"
"T-tie them?" Sanji was surprised to hear what Nami said.
Nami brought her lips closer to Sanji's ear and whispered seductively, "I'll lend as much rope as you want."
Sanji's cigarette fell, dropped from his teeth. Some hot images of tied up women flashed in Sanji's brain, and a perverted smile appeared on his face, followed by a small stream of blood from his nose.
"See? Everything is perfect," Nami stated proudly.
"You are not human, are you?" Ussop said with a drop of sweat running down his forehead.
"Not fair, Nami-san. I wanna go too," Brook insisted but was ignored.
Back to the present…
The women who were guarding the eastern wall were casually walking around with bored expressions when one of them noticed a hazy image of an object appearing in the sky. Within a few moments, it was close enough for her to figure out exactly what it was.
"A ship?" that woman muttered.
When Sunny was about a hundred feet away from the fortress, the lion's mouth opened and a blue light started forming in it, which startled the women who were watching it. Suddenly a giant beam shot out of the lion's open mouth, shaking the whole fortress and creating a big hole in its eastern wall. The energy from the backside of Sunny was not released, so the reaction on Goan cannon caused Sunny to suspend in air for few seconds and then fall into the ocean below.
Back to Mikumo's room…
Mikumo felt like her fingers were bound to the sword, as if something was trying to pull her inside a pit of darkness when, suddenly, the whole fortress shook and she fell on to the floor. She quickly stood up, regained her composure, stormed out of her room, and rushed into the surveillance room.
"What is going on? What was that shaking just now?" she asked agitatedly.
"Mistress! We are under attack," one woman, who was sitting beside a surveillance monitor, answered and continued after a brief pause. "It's the Straw Hats."
"What?" Mikumo clenched her teeth in frustration, but then a sinister smirk appeared on her face. "It's fine. Just blow them up. I have no further use for them anyway. Maybe if I show him his former friends' dead bodies, he would finally give in."
Complying with her orders, another woman quickly moved to the bomb controller and without any delay pressed it…
Moments passed but nothing happened.
"What now?" Mikumo was losing her patience. She wanted to see that ship blow up to smithereens as soon as possible.
"I don't know. It isn't working. There seems to be a malfunction," the other woman replied, pressing the button again and again.
Just then, four figures could be seen jumping out of Sunny and within a few moments, they entered the fortress, disappearing from the camera's visual range. Afterwards, Sunny turned around and rocketed away to a different direction, vanishing from sight.
"Fine, we just have to kill them ourselves." Gritting her teeth, she turned around abruptly and advanced to face the enemy herself.
The rescue team that consisted of Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, and Robin landed in the fortress's hallway, which was connected to its eastern wall. Luffy's stretched arm got back to its original shape, Sanji landed with Chopper on his shoulder, and Robin's wings disappeared in a cloud of petals. Without wasting any time, the three members lifted their feet in unison and stormed deeper into the fortress.
After a while of running, the hallway ended and they arrived in a wide hall. In an instant they were surrounded by enemies more than a hundred in number. Unsurprisingly, they were all women, pointing swords and guns in their direction.
Sanji's eyes instantly turned into hearts, and he started doing his doodle dance while chanting ~ladies, ladies, so many ladies~ repeatedly.
"I wonder if it was really a good idea to bring him along," Chopper said while sitting on Sanji's shoulder
"We should let him enjoy for now. After all, he did spend two years in a very dreadful situation," Robin said with her trademark smile.
"But there really are only women, just like Amazon lily." Luffy was looking here and there when Mikumo walked out of a dark hallway and stood before them.
"Straw Hat Luffy, I would say I'm glad to meet you but I would be lying." A frown appeared on her face and she threw a glare to him. "Why are you here? Didn't Zoro say to stay away from this place?"
"I don't care about whatever nonsense he was spouting in that dial. I'm here to take him back because he is my first mate. Just who do you think you are to keep me away from my friend?" Luffy said in a gruffer tone glowering back, which further deepened Mikumo's frown.
But…how did they find this place? None of them has ever been here before. The frown disappeared from her face and was replaced by a smile. "Then let me introduce myself properly. I'm the owner of this fortress and, of course, I am the owner of Roronoa Zoro from here on."
"Humans are not possessions that anyone can own," Robin responded bitterly, scowling slightly. "Even if you think they are, we cannot allow you to have this one."
Mikumo turned her gaze to Robin, a gaze that turned into a glower when she saw Robin and Sanji, who was almost drooling at her with heart eyes. "You are Nico Robin, right?"
Robin's frown disappeared.
"Do you like him?"
Robin was taken aback by this sudden question.
"Do you like him so much that you are ready to put your own life in danger for him?"
Robin and Sanji both narrowed their eyes.
What kind of question is this? Looks like she really is obsessed with that stupid marimo, Sanji thought.
"What if I do? Does that bother you?" Robin said with a smirk after a brief pause.
"EH? YOU DO?" Sanji's jaw dropped, and he received her usual smile in response.
"Tch! Whatever, just kill them already." Rolling her eyes angrily, Mikumo ordered her forces to attack.
As all the women who were surrounding the four straw hats got ready to shoot them, Luffy released a burst of Houshoku and more than half of them passed out.
"If you think you can take us down with this number of people, then you are dead wrong," Luffy said with a cocky grin.
Mikumo was sweating heavily already because of the immense intimidation of Luffy's Haki, but she was strong enough to hold her ground and make a comeback.
"D-don't fall back! Use sea stone against them, the three ability users," she quickly ordered to the remaining troops, and around ten of them stepped forward quickly, shooting sea-stone nets towards Luffy and the others. Luffy quickly stretched his hand and, grabbing a pillar nearby, jumped out of the way and landed in between three of the attackers.
Robin was not fast enough to avoid it, but luckily Sanji was with her. He quickly sidestepped to the left. Landing on his left foot, he turned right and quickly pulled his right leg all the way back, upward to the sky while his face was down near his left knee. He quickly gathered an immense amount of strength in his right leg which caused the ground under his left foot to shatter. All these actions happened within the blink of an eye. When the nets were almost a few inches apart from touching Robin, he quickly swung his right leg into an upward axe-kick, releasing heavy and sharp lines of air-pressure similar to 'Rankyaku'. His attack swept all the sea stone nets along with it, creating a crack in the opposite wall. Surprisingly, not even an enemy was harmed by it.
"Pardon me ladies, but I can't let you hurt Robin-chan." Standing up straight, he adjusted his tie. Then he pulled a rope out of his coat from its one edge and his eye started shining. "Now, let's get to the fun part."
"I'll leave them to you then." Chopper jumped off Sanji's shoulder and Sanji happily lunged towards the crowd of women. Within a few moments, Sanji was standing behind a dozen of women tied in…very…weird positions, writhing in…pain or excitement…who knows? Sanji turned around to take a look and passed out with a massive nose bleed.
"OI!" Chopper yelled angrily.
On the other hand, Luffy was dealing with other ones. Some who tried to attack from his blind spot got taken care of by Robin. Chopper sniffed a few times in the air. He was in his beast form.
"I can smell Zoro's scent from two places. The weaker one should be from his swords." Chopper turned to Robin. "Zoro's swords are somewhere nearby. I'll quickly go and get them. We will look for Zoro afterwards."
Robin nodded in agreement and Chopper ran off to where the scents were coming from.
Zoro doesn't have his swords. I hope he is ok. Robin crossed her arms and turned her attention back to the few remaining enemies.
In a few more minutes, all of the enemies except Mikumo herself were down. Mikumo was alone standing against the three but still didn't flinch in the slightest.
"Sanji, let me and Robin take care of her. You stand back. I promise won't hurt her," Luffy said to Sanji.
"Yeah ok." Sanji had no choice because, being surrounded by all those sexily tied up women, he was already having trouble controlling his nose bleeds.
"But I can't guarantee what Robin will do with her," Luffy said with a wide grin and a thumbs up.
Few veins popped on Sanji's head but he controlled them. "Well… It's fine if it's Robin-chan who does it."
"Don't underestimate me." Mikumo quickly lunged forward towards Luffy. Unsheathing her katana, she unleashed a quick right-to-left horizontal slash, which Luffy quickly dodged by squatting down. Continuing her movement, she spun 360 degrees with the same slash in the middle, which Luffy again dodged this time by a backward flip.
Several arms appeared on Mikumo's left arm, shoulder, and left leg. Noticing the approaching danger, she quickly turned the katana's blade to her left shoulder and swung vertically to cut the arms. Barely managing to escape the danger in time, Robin purposely got rid of her extra limbs to avoid damage.
Without wasting any time, Mikumo again leapt towards Luffy and swung her Katana horizontally in order to cut his head. Luffy, however, quickly jumped up. Placing his right hand on her left shoulder, he flipped over her and landed behind her. She spun again quickly and slashed diagonally from left to right. Yet again, Luffy stretched his left arm and, grabbing a big pillar, dodged the slash and stood on a pillar while wrapping his arm around it.
Mikumo spun again and unleashed an aerial slash. Luffy jumped away from the pillar and dodged it. The slash was strong enough to cut down the pillar. Realizing that his current speed was not good enough to subdue her, Luffy put some extra force on his legs while landing.
"Gear Second."
In a flash, Luffy jumped and appeared above Mikumo's head. By the time she noticed him, he had already wrapped his arm around her waist. With one push, he pulled his arm causing her to spin in the air like a top.
"Now Robin!" Luffy almost yelled.
Seizing the opportunity, Robin sprouted extra arms from the ground and captured Mikumo, who was still spinning in the air. Stopping her spinning and bringing her back down to the ground, Robin immobilized her with thirty extra arms. Three hands twisted Mikumo's right wrist and her katana fell on the floor. Some more arms appeared and she became completely immobilized.
Chopper returned, holding all of Zoro's swords. "Luffy, I got the swords."
"Good. We got her as well. Let's go find Zoro then," Luffy said, returning back to his original form.
"We should keep her with us. She is the leader after all," Robin suggested and Mikumo glared back at her angrily while clenching her teeth.
Following the Vivre Card as well as Chopper's nose, all five of them reached the room underground where Zoro was. Everyone was standing outside the room now.
"What is he doing in a place like this?" Sanji muttered while analyzing the surroundings which very closely resembled a prison. Without wasting much time, Luffy broke the door with one strong punch. Since the beginning of their attack, there had been no one in this room except …Zoro.
When smoke from the broken door cleared up, everyone's eyes widened. Their breath was taken away, shock took over their bodies, and they were overwhelmed by witnessing Zoro in one of his worst conditions ever.
Tied to a big cross with thick chains, blood dripped from almost every part of his body. Also, at many places, blood from a few days ago was frozen, turning into black clusters. His body was weak, much weaker than what they had seen before. His eyes were closed. They couldn't figure out if it was because he was unconscious. Of course, he wasn't wearing any clothes.
Chopper quickly threw the swords towards Luffy, who caught them impulsively, and ran towards Zoro followed by Robin. Robin analyzed the room for a bit and luckily found the keys to unlock the chain. As both Robin and Chopper unshackled Zoro from the cross and carefully laid him down on floor, Sanji quickly stepped forward. Taking off his coat, he covered Zoro's body, and Chopper started to examine him to analyze the exact amount of injuries.
Robin was also in a big shock after witnessing one of her precious nakama in this state. Unconsciously, she undid her ability, and the hands disappeared from Mikumo, who fell on her knees.
"What have you done to him?" Luffy asked her furiously. At this point, he was the only one standing beside her, holding Zoro's swords. After a moment of pause, she started laughing madly. Everyone looked at her with the angriest glares they could use. She stopped laughing after a couple of minutes.
"What's with that look? I just wanted him that's all, but he wouldn't give up. No matter what I did, he would just defy me, wouldn't even let me touch him. I know he despised, hated me… BUT SO WHAT?" Just like that she started yelling. "I WANTED HIM SO I'LL GET HIM! NO MATTER WHAT I HAVE TO DO, I'LL HAVE THAT DEMON NAMED RORONOA ZORO! IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK? EVEN IF IT IS, I DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT KIND OF METHOD I HAVE TO USE!"
Suddenly, she lowered her eyes and her voice calmed down. "I wonder if it's because of you that he wouldn't give in to me. And yet, when I was so close to breaking him completely and forcing him to give himself up to me, you showed up to ruin everything."
Out of the blue, she pulled out Shisuui from its scabbard which was in Luffy's hands. Luffy was too shocked to respond at the right moment. Mikumo quickly leapt forward. Everyone's eyes widened as she leapt forward towards Robin, who was sitting beside the unconscious Zoro.
If it's because of her, then I just have to kill her and he will finally accept me. I just have to kill her. With these thoughts in her mind, she lunged at Robin with a blindingly fast speed and swung Shisuui with the intention of cutting off Robin's head. But before the sword could reach her neck, Sanji grabbed Mikumo's hand with his left hand and stopped her.
Mikumo tried to free her hand but couldn't. Sanji's grip was too tight for her to break. Sanji twisted her wrist and Shisuui fell down, but Sanji didn't let go of her hand. Instead, he tightened his grip further causing a few cracking sounds from her wrist and some painful groans. Robin was very surprised to see Sanji's expression, with his sullen eyes, clenched teeth, and veins almost bursting out of his forehead. Within an instant, Sanji's left foot was sinking in Mikumo's abdomen. Her eyes widening, blood started to flow out of her opened mouth. Sanji let go of her wrist and she crashed into the wall behind her like a rocket.
When the smoke from the impact cleared, the various Straw Hats saw Mikumo fall down to her knees, face down. This was the first time they had ever seen Sanji hurt a woman.
"S-Sanji," Robin squeezed these words out as she gasped.
"Everyone…this is bad." Everyone's attention turned to Chopper.
"Zoro's body is in very bad condition. I have to start treating him as soon as possible or his body will become useless… forever." Chopper's horrified expression was enough to show how dire the situation was.
"Sanji, hurry up and get Zoro and Chopper back to Sunny quickly. Robin and I will follow you."
Responding to Luffy's orders, Sanji quickly lifted Zoro's broken up body in his arms. Turning to his chibi form, Chopper jumped to Sanji's shoulder and Sanji stormed out of the room and out of the fortress to Sunny while jumping in midair with full speed.
Dammit, why? Why do you always have to take care of these kinds of shitty jobs? Why are you always stealing the spotlight, always trying to show that you are better than me? I swear I'll prove to you one day that I'm better than you, I won't forgive you if you dare to give up before that day. So… don't you dare give up so easily, marimo bastard.
Sanji was firmly gripping Zoro's body, and he clenched his teeth in frustration and anger as he landed on the forest's soil, making a small crater in the ground under his feet. He sprung up in the air once again, jumping in midair, and disappeared in the direction of Sunny.
AN: Phew! That was tough, just to inform readers, this isn't going to be ZoroxSanji, if you are wondering. This is a ZoroxRobinfanfic. In my opinion this is just how Sanji would react if he saw any of his crew members in this kinda serious situation, that's all.
Now then…you remember right? What? Don't tell me you forgot…=_=…Very well, I'll say it again…
IF YOUR WERE ABLE TO READ ALL THE WAY DOWN HERE THAN PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW…
I mean, come on…it's not that hard to right a review right?...well…anyway…GOOD BYE…