Zoro grumbled to himself, scratching the back his head vigorously. This street looked exactly like the next one. But where was that stupid stall the shitty cook went to? He sighed and sniffed the air again. Nothing. Not even a shred of a scent of the blonde. This must be a completely new road he didn't pass before. The wind picking up didn't help, and now the air was thick with the smell of oncoming rain.
Zoro growled. The weather was distorting his senses, like he was smelling and feeling everything through a thin sheet of cloth. He decided to keep walking. There was no chance of finding the cook again if he just stood still anyway. But each corner he turned at only brought him to a place that looked less and less similar to the alleyway with all the stalls.
He ground his teeth, furrowed his brows. Damn that shitty cook, this was all his fault. The first drops of rain splattered on his cheek. He'd have to find cover. In the distance, he heard a rhythmic thumping and strange noises that grew louder as he walked on.
Soon, the tiger came across an open doorway on a flat, steel wall. A large man, and his equally large Companion, stood on either side of the entrance, dressed in suits and ushering people into the building. Zoro tilted his head. The thumping and the noises were coming from inside, and even from where he stood, he could feel heat resonating from the place.
The rain got heavy now. Zoro approached the doorway, only to be stopped by the Companion in a suit.
"Hey, you can't just go waltzing in, bud," growled the dog-like Companion.
Zoro glared him down, clenching his fists at his sides.
"Nah, let him through. He looks like one of them ones for the ring," the man spoke up from the other end of the doorway. "Your owner's probably inside, right?"
Zoro regarded him, unsure of what to say. But the canine Companion stepped aside and the man nodded through the doorway again.
"Go on. Rain's only gonna get worse. We don't want anymore owners getting angry at us for leaving their Companions outside to get wet and burnt."
With no other words, Zoro ducked through the entryway and descended the cold, iron steps. If outside really muddled his senses, then this place was ten times worse. The air was blotched by this constant thumping and electronic pulsing noises that sounded like what Zoro thought robots must sing like. And this chatter, a constant din like a buzzing that filled the large, dimly lit space. Strobe lights occasionally pierced through the room, flashing and darting around. The air was thick and heavy with heat and the stench of sweat, smoke and alcohol.
The tiger's fur bristled. He wasn't sure exactly where he was going, but he carried on pushing through the throng of people and Companions, some dancing some standing around and drinking luminescent liquid from glass tubes. This place would have to do for shelter until the rain passed and he could resume his search for the cook again.
His ears twitched and turned as he caught a different sound altogether. It was faint, hidden in the buzz of conversation, but distinct. Definitely the sound of yelling and cheering from some place close. Zoro pushed passed some angry rabbits, and through a crowd of drunken dancers as he followed the noise, and ended up at the top of another stairway. There were no guards this time, so he descended.
The atmosphere shifted. The music died, and the smell of salt and steel hung in the air. Zoro's pupils slitted, his nostrils flaring, as the blood in his veins started to boil with anticipation for something he didn't know yet.
This room was different. Lit by several cone lamps hanging down from the ceiling. It was still full of people, but they all had their backs turned from the doorway, all surrounding what looked like a tall, mesh fence that linked into a wide circle. Zoro frowned, his tail and ears twitching with curiosity. His eyes cast upwards onto thin screens hung up on the walls. The video played two Companions, both scuffed and wounded, circling each other. Zoro followed a natural gap in the crowd, towards the mesh fence, and stared wide-eyed at the scene before him.
The fence surrounded a vast pit made from concrete and slopped down into the shape of a deep bowl. At the centre of the pit, two Companion's faced each other off, paws raised and teeth bared. The same two Companions projected onto the screen. A brown dog, with floppy ears like Luffy's, held up tapped fists. She hopped on the balls of her feet, blood gushing down the side of her face and her left eye completely sealed and swollen. Opposite her, a rabbit with her white fur mussed and stained with blood, also held up her fists, ringed with brass. She was standing, but when she moved, Zoro noticed a limp in her step.
As they circled each other, Zoro noticed three black orbs, with glowing red dots hovering in the air around them. His eyes darted from the orbs to the screen, and back to the two Companions in the middle of the pit. The crowd was ecstatic all around the outside of the ring. Everyone yelled and screamed, prompting the two Companions to make a move. Zoro watched as the dog bounced forward. Then, he felt a hand grip his arm and ripped him away from the ring.
"Zoro!" Sanji was glaring at him, eyes wide and brows knotted. "What the fuck? Are you deaf? I've been calling you all this time! Why the hell did you wander off into here?"
He could hear the cook's angry words over the din of the crowd. The shoulders of his coat were damp, and the ends of his hair had started to curl from the rain. He was angry, but Zoro couldn't return the anger, feeling bewildered by the place he'd just discovered.
"What is this place?" yelled Zoro, cutting off the blonde. For a moment, all fury disappeared form the blonde's face, replaced by confusion.
Zoro turned back to the ring, witnessing a flurry of kicks and punches exchanged between the dog and the rabbit. The cheers from the crowd shook the floor.
"Shit," said Sanji beside him. "This is a Companion fighting ring. I swear these places are illegal…"
"Fighting ring?"
Sanji was casting his glance around the crowd. "I've heard of these sorts of places, but I didn't think they'd be this big. Mostly undergound stuff. People arrange these sort of fights between Companions. Some people bet on them and gamble money."
Zoro watched the fight, his heart thumped in his chest with every blow taken and exchanged.
"These are people's Companions?"
"Probably," said the cook. "But I don't think these kinds of things are allowed. It's considered Companion abuse by a lot of people."
Sanji was cut off as the cheers escalated. It was a fierce exchange, but the rabbit successfully pulled a feint and delivered a two blows to the stomach and the back of the dog, rendering her flat out on the ground. A loud beep pierced the air.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!" boomed a voice over the speakers around the ring. The rabbit raised her fists, yelling in triumph as a woman jumped into the ring and tackled her with an embrace. Her owner, thought Zoro.
He felt the blonde's hand on his shoulder again.
"C'mon," said Sanji, yelling to get his voice over the noise. "Let's get out of here."
"I want to fight."
Sanji stared at him, blue eyes flickering and burning. "What?"
"I want to fight," repeated Zoro, raising his voice. "Let me fight."
Sanji laughed. "No, no way. There's no way in hell-"
"You think I can't do it?"
"It's not that. Zoro, these guys are vicious."
"Did you forget about the time I nearly killed you?"
Sanji gritted his teeth. "You're not fighting. Look at them! What if you ended up that hurt?"
"I won't get hurt."
Sanji balked.
"You don't believe me?" growled Zoro.
"Look, you idiot. This has nothing to do with how good a fighter you are. You. Are. Not. Fighting."
"What are you so afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid of anything! This is a bad idea. Besides, we're supposed to be laying low out here, remember? There's so many people, who knows if there might be someone who recognises us? So let's just go."
Zoro grabbed Sanji's arm. Maybe he squeezed a little too tight, but he didn't care.
"If you let me fight here, tonight, I won't ask to be let out again."
Sanji's jaw dropped. "You're fucking kidding me. You'd give up your freedom to get beat up by some other Companion?"
"I'm telling you, I won't get beat up!"
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Why is this so important that you'd even suggest something like that?"
"I want to fight," came Zoro's simple answer. But Sanji's face only contorted into more of a confused frown.
He didn't get it. He couldn't get it. Sanji was human. There was no way he could feel the thrumming in his chest now. There was no way he could sense the tension in the air, the glances from the other Companions sizing him up, the smell of anticipation and adrenaline. The rush. The excitement.
Zoro held up a single digit.
"One fight," he said. "Just one. Then we'll leave and go back to the island."
Sanji shook his head. "Zoro, think about this realistically. If you get so much as a scratch on you, how are we gonna explain that to Law?"
"We'll work it out somehow. That's what you always say, right?"
Sanji could say nothing. Faced with his own logic, he didn't have an answer. Zoro smirked, taking that as a win, and stomped off to find some way to enter the pit. He heard Sanji calling him this time, but he kept walking.
He spotted an open gateway in the fence, where the victorious rabbit Companion limped out with the guidance of her owner and carried to be seen to by people with med kits. He approached one of these people.
"Hey. How do I get in the pit?"
The man with the med kit looked up at Zoro and gave him a once over.
"If you wanna enter a fight, you have to sign up," he paused and pointed to a table on the far end of the fence. "Talk to the ring managers."
Zoro made a bee-line towards the table, hearing the blonde following him close by with rushed footsteps.
Several people sat along the table, all dressed in mix-matched clothes, but all wearing silver headsets and blank lanyards. One of them spoke into a microphone, his voice carrying over to the speakers around the ring.
Zoro met the eyes of several of the people with headsets.
"I want to fight."
One of them laughed. The one closest to Zoro, a woman with dreadlocks and tattoos, stood up and nodded to him.
"Your owner's gonna need to sign the papers."
Zoro tilted his head, and she raised a brow at him.
"You did come here with your owner, didn't you?"
Soon after she said that, Zoro caught the scent of spice and cigarettes. He turned to see an irate blonde glaring at him.
"Zoro, you fuck-"
"He'll do it," Zoro cut him off, pointing the blonde out to the woman.
"W-what?"
Before he could ask anything else, the woman threw a tablet and a pen into his arms. The screen flickered up a bunch of unfamiliar shapes and squiggles in a line.
"Just sign these," said the woman, before turning to the tiger. "What's your name?"
"Zo-."
Something hit him in the back of his knee, causing him to stumble. He spun around and growled at the blonde, but Sanji was speaking to the woman.
"Marimo," he spoke quickly. "His name's Marimo."
She looked from the tiger to the blonde, raising a brow. But she nodded anyway.
"Get over to the fence. You're fighting next."
When she turned away from them, Zoro grabbed Sanji and hissed in a low voice.
"What the fuck is a Marimo?"
"A ball of moss, just like you," Sanji leaned closed to Zoro's ear. "We're not supposed to be out here, remember? Don't fucking use your real name."
"Hey, you gonna fight or what?" The woman called to them.
Zoro gave her a curt nod and began to make his way to the fence.
"I can't believe you're actually going through with this," Sanji hissed, following the tiger through the crowd.
Zoro shrugged. "They said I could fight. May as well now."
"Fuck, Zoro, this is crazy!"
"I keep telling you, I won't get beat up. I'll win. Just watch."
"I'm not doubting you, it's just…"
Zoro paused and turned to face him. "Just what?"
Sanji's fingers tapped the back of the tablet irately. "This isn't a fight to the death, okay? Don't… Don't go too crazy in there."
Zoro blinked. That's what he was worried about? A tension loosened in his gut now that he knew the blonde didn't doubt him at all. Rather, Sanji was more afraid that he'd win too much.
He gave Sanji a smirk. "Quit worrying."
Zoro turned to the gateway at the fence, facing the wide pit beneath him. Sanji appeared at his peripheral.
"What if…" the blonde's voice trailed off.
"What?" Zoro prompted him again.
Sanji locked eyes with him then. It seemed like an odd time and place to do so, but Zoro chose there and then to admire those blue orbs. He'd never seen anything that colour before that wasn't mechanical in some way, shape or form. He liked them. Even if they were clouded with worry right now.
"Just… Don't do anything stupid."
Zoro frowned. "What do you mean?"
But before Sanji could say anything more, Zoro was ushered to the edge of the fence. He took a quick glance over his shoulder, but Sanji disappeared from view. A metallic screech drew his attention to the pit, as the iron grating of the fence slid open, allowing Zoro to enter.
He stepped into the ring. The cheering of the crowd seemed distant in the vast space. But the rush was still in the air. His fur bristled, his heart drummed in his chest. Clenching his fists, he walked further into the pit, as the voice from the speakers boomed his introduction.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight's new challenger. A tabby cat like no other you'd seen before. Raise the roof, for Marimo!"
Zoro grumbled at the stupid fake name the blonde had given him. He could've at least came up with something cooler. But the thoughts quickly dissipated from his mind as the air vibrated with cheers and hooting. Zoro felt it in every strand that made up his stripes. The small black orbs zipped passed him. Zoro glanced up outside the ring to see himself projected on the screens on the walls. His ears twitched as the heard the grating on the other end of the pit screech open. His opponent.
Zoro smirked. He resisted the urge to check around the ring for the blonde. He knew he'd be watching. Right now, he had to focus on the fight. Limbering up and streatching his arms and his legs, Zoro conjured up the image of the shitty cook's worried expression. He'd wipe that sorry look from his face.
Just watch me.