As soon as Zoro entered the ring, people pushed passed Sanji and pressed themselves up against the mesh fence. Grumbling to himself, the blonde moved along the fence to freer space where he could see the fight better. Zoro looked smaller and less dangerous from a distance, but he knew that was going to be a whole different story once the fight started.
He glanced up at the screens on the walls, displaying panning shots of Zoro. His face was solemn, pure concentration etched into his stripes. He looked different. Not feral, but posed a quieter threat. Like the way distant thunder promised a storm. Sanji had to admit he felt a little thrill of anticipation rush through him. But all that feeling was washed away by a tidal wave of worry. Sanji's glance fell on the opposite side of the pit, as the other grating slid open. A tall, bulky figure leapt in.
"And now, facing off our newbie, Sabaody Underground's favourite: Killer!"
"Ah shit," Sanji muttered under his breath.
He watched the screens, as the recorder transponders floating in the ring zoomed up close to Zoro's opponent. From what Sanji could tell, he was another cat. But he stood a good few inches taller than Zoro, and was a whole lot bigger too, and not even in a natural way. His arms were beefed up to the max, as though the muscles were injected into them. A full head of golden fur sprouted from his head, between two palm-sized, rounded ears. A strange, azure and white stripped helmet with small holes drilled into the front covered the Companion's features. No doubt to make him look more intimidating.
Sanji gulped as the crowd grew even wilder at the appearance of this Killer. He had to be a favourite for a reason. The cook glanced back at Zoro. He didn't seem the least bit phased by his opponent. Sanji just hopped he was confident and not cocky.
"Brace yourselves for the ultimate cat fight! Rookie vs Veteran! Place your bets!"
Sanji saw more than a handful of people around him flashing up key cards to the people with silver headsets dotted around the crowd. A hologram projected words onto the centre of the ring, and a mechanical, feminine voice sang out the words.
"Audience, ready?"
Cheers erupted.
"Fighters, ready?"
Zoro shook his limbs out and assumed a fighting stance, fists raised. Killer remained standing still, only a long, golden tail swaying behind him showed signs of life. The words changed to a glowing countdown.
"You better win like you said, shitty mossball," muttered Sanji. He watched the number turn. 3… 2… 1…
A beep sounded. The crowded roared. Zoro, keeping himself on his toes, edged forward. Killer remained on the spot, but cracked his neck and raised his fists too.
Sanji wasn't sure where to look. Watch the fighters edging closer in the ring, or the holograms projecting the glinting fangs of Zoro's confident smirk and Killer's stoic, helmeted façade? The crowd jeered, pushing the Companions to act. Sanji gritted his teeth. How the fuck did it come to this? Before he could get any more irate, Zoro made his move.
Sanji held his breath. In a blink, Zoro lunged forward, jabbing an uppercut. Killer blocked, but was forced to stagger backwards, as Zoro didn't relent in his volley of punches.
People were screaming like mad around him. Zoro was fast. Sanji had somehow forgotten that. He darted left and right, punching, one two one two. Killer blocked each one, not fast enough to move away. Zoro darted left, then ducked back right and swung a fist upwards. A dull thud rang out as his fist hit the steel of the helmet.
The crowd went wild. Sanji gripped the mesh fence. Nice one.
The punch was enough to stagger Killer backwards. Zoro leapt away, creating a distance between them, fists still raised but the grin was wider across his face.
Killer shook his head, golden fur bristling all along his back. He raised his fists and only took two strides to close the gap between them. A fist like a wrecking ball came swinging. Zoro easily dodged out of his reach.
He was sizing his opponent up. Sanji kicked himself internally for only seeing that now. Zoro was pacing himself, seeing just how much Killer could take and give. The cook smirked. Maybe Zoro was more of a fighter than just blindly swinging his claws around like he initially thought.
Killer's punches sped up. The force of each one to ruffled Zoro's stripes as the tiger ducked and weaved with ease, dodging each one. With a glint in his eyes, Zoro ducked a right hook and darted full circle until he stood directly behind the other cat. He spun, arcing a leg and delivering a kick square on Killer's back.
Killer was down. The crowd cheered, and some of the more ecstatic people by the ringside, shook the mesh fence, adding a metallic rattling to their yelling. Sanji furrowed his brows, watching Zoro bounce on his toes. Where had he seen that move before?
Killer got back up, and cracked his neck, unphased by Zoro's attacks. People began to chant his name as Sanji heard a woman's shrill voice yell, "Get 'im, Killer!"
But almost as loud was a crowd of people that had begun chanting Zoro's name. Something swelled in Sanji's chest as he watched the crowd rattle the fence, saw the encouragement in their contorted faces, everyone willing Zoro to win. Sanji laughed.
"You've got a fanclub, mossy," he said under his breath. "Better show them what for."
Killer moved forward again, this time keeping his fists close to his face. He jabbed forward. Zoro ducked and weaved. Sanji watched his feet. He was going to try the same feint again. Not a good idea. Zoro ducked right, and spun once again to kick. Killer's arm lashed out and gripped his leg. A fist connected with Zoro's chest, sending him flying a good foot away from where he stood.
"Shit," cursed Sanji. He couldn't hear his own voice among the rabid screaming around him.
Zoro tried to push himself up with a shaky arm, coughing and gripping his chest with his other hand. Killer strode forward.
"Get up get up get up get up," Sanji chanted, pushing himself closer to the fence. His heart stopped as he watched the large, helmeted cat grip the scruff of Zoro's neck and lift him from the ground. Zoro readied a punch, but Killer was quicker. He lifted the tiger above his head and threw him against the wall of the pit.
Zoro was winded for sure. With barely enough time to push himself up, Killer loomed over him again. He gripped Zoro by the shoulder and pressed him up against the wall, laying two strong punches to his face, before throwing him onto the ground again.
"Killer! Killer! Killer!" The crowd taunted. Sanji gritted his teeth. Zoro hunched on the ground, coughed and spat out blood.
"Get up, you shitty cat!" shouted Sanji. "Was that all you had in you, you useless ball of moss!"
He saw Zoro's ears twitch, but wasn't sure whether or not the tiger heard him. Killer's hand descended on his shoulder again, forcing the tiger to his feet.
Zoro growled, then turned his head and sank his fangs into Killer's hand. Sanji gasped, the metal of the fence digging into the palm of his hand.
Killer let out a yowl, the sound rang out hollow in his helmet. He aimed a punch at Zoro's face, but when the tiger would not let go. Killer flung him against the wall until he did.
The chanting was split again. Sanji watched as the people with silver headsets sat along the table debated among themselves. Was biting against the rules? It couldn't have been, it was one of a Companion's main form of defence. For now, it didn't look like the fight was going to be stopped. But Sanji couldn't shake off the feeling of dread that blossomed in his gut.
He cast his glance back to the fight. Killer had put some distance between himself and Zoro, who panted and struggled to support himself up on the wall. The helmeted cat circled the tiger slowly, inspecting the blood dripping from his hand. At least from the irate lashing of his tail, Sanji could tell that Killer was pissed.
He watched the screens, now projecting Zoro's face, chin-stripes stained red. He spat out blood and fur and looked up. The tiger's pupils were almost gone, and Sanji could see red starting to circle those burning amber eyes.
Zoro pushed himself off the wall, shaking his fur and staggering forward. His hands weren't clenched into fists anymore but were looser, claws drawn. Sanji gave a short sigh. He didn't like where this was going.
For a moment, the two cats stood still. Both taking stances, both staring each other down. Each tense second that passed only rilled the crowd further until the chanting of names were replaced with the rhythmic chanting of "Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"
Killer moved first. Two strides. He swung and hit Zoro's awaiting palm. Zoro roared, the sound boomed out louder than the jeering crowd. He hooked the punch over his shoulder. Momentum and strength pulled the huge Killer over the tiger's shoulder and collided with the wall behind him.
"Yes!" Sanji found himself cheering, smacking a fist to the fence. His eyes lingered to the screens again. Zoro's eyes were growing redder.
"C'mon, Zoro," Sanji muttered. "Just finish him and get out of there."
Killer was up, and Zoro laid into him with punches and scratches. His golden furred arms were growing more and more crimson. Suddenly, a large palm enveloped around the tiger's head, and smacked Zoro face-first into the wall. The tiger was stunned. Before he could move, Killer gripped his tail and yanked him up to the fence. Sanji winced as her heard Zoro's yelp, then felt the dread really sink in when he saw that Killer had somehow linked the tiger's tail into the mesh, trapping him there.
Sanji saw the panic in his eyes. Zoro flailed, scratching at the fence to try and free himself. Killer raised balled fists and wailed into him like a punching bag. The people beside Sanji laughed, and he heard on of them urge Killer on. This was humiliating. How do these fights even end?
Just when Sanji started to make his way back to the table and urge the ring managers to call the fight off, a wounded roar resounded from the ring. Sanji half expected to find Zoro ripped from the fence, but instead he turned to find Killer on the ground, clutching a bloodied arm. He glanced at Zoro. The tiger spat out a red lump of flesh and fur. His eyes were full, blood-shot red. In the same instant, he curled up and gripped the fence behind him, anchoring his feet at the walls of the pit.
With a thundering roar, he ripped the mesh fence from the concrete, screeching iron and crumbling rock filling the air. The cheers of the crowd died significantly and turned into a din of panic. Zoro unravelled himself from the fence and turned to Killer, who still got up from the floor.
Zoro lunged. A woman screamed, as the pair of cats collided, claws and fangs tearing flesh and fur.
Shit shit shit.
Sanji dropped the tablet, long ago forgotten, and ran to the opening that Zoro ripped into the fence. All the while starring wide-eyed as he watched Zoro sink his fangs into Killer's shoulders, too close to the vitality of his neck.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please vacate the area as calmly and quickly as possible," announced a voice through the speakers. Sanji turned to see the people with headsets and lanyards surround the opening in the ring, all wielding guns and loading them with feathered darts.
"No!" Sanji yelled, shoving past the crowd trying to get away. "Don't shoot!"
He managed to get close to one who raised his gun and took aim.
"I said don't fucking shoot him!" Sanji kicked the gun from his hands and leapt down into the pit, ignoring their pleas for him to stop.
The growling and the scent of blood grew stronger in the ring, but Sanji didn't let that stop him as he ran to the two cats, locked tooth and claw on the floor.
"Zoro!" Sanji yelled.
The tiger ripped another chunk of flesh from Killer's shoulders. Gritting his teeth, Sanji tensed and spun a kick at Zoro, managing to separate him from the other cat. Zoro turned to him, face set in a snarl, muzzle dripping red and eyes aglow. Sanji froze, paralysed by the heat and the murderous aura radiating from the tiger's blood-stained and bristling fur.
Zoro leapt at him. Deafened him with another roar, fangs bared. Sanji raised an arm to try to defend himself. He screamed. A sharp pain shot up his muscles and all across his body. Zoro's jaws locked around his arm. Claws dug into his shoulder and his hip. Panic seized Sanji's heart and he gripped the fur atop Zoro's head, hoping that that would somehow stop him from ripping his entire limb off.
"Zoro! Ah!" Sanji gritted his teeth as he felt the tiger's teeth sink deeper into his flesh. "Zoro- look at what you're doing, you shitty animal!"
He squirmed, trying to escape the death hold Zoro had on him. But somehow, the tiger's jaws slackened. Sanji watched as Zoro's pupils dilated in his reddened eyes, growing and flickering in recognition of Sanji's features.
"Snap out of it," Sanji breathed out, hearing the tremble in his own voice. Zoro's face dropped. He practically spat Sanji's arm out of his jaws.
Sanji watched different expressions play on Zoro's features. Scrunched brows, pupils darting everywhere. He pushed himself away from Sanji and spat blood out onto the ground.
Sanji pushed himself up with his uninjured arm. He was about to speak, when the pink feathered end of a dart appeared on the side of Zoro's neck. The tiger growled and swiped it off. Suddenly, the ring was full of people with silver headsets, each of the armed with a dart gun or a long metal rod that sparked at the end.
"Wait, don't-" He was cut off as a set of arms lifted him from the ground and dragged him from the ring. The others backed out with him. One of them jabbed at Zoro with a rod, producing a bright spark and causing the tiger to yelp in pain.
"Leave him!" Sanji yelled, but it fell on deaf ears.
"Raise the shield!" cried one the men dragging Sanji.
The cook watched as a shield of clear glass began to rise around the outside of the pit. The last of people with headsets stepped over the rising glass, leaving the ring empty except for Zoro, skulking at the centre and growling at the retreating figures.
Sanji glanced to his left and saw that they had pulled Killer out with him. The Companion was unmoving as they loaded him onto a stretcher. The lady with dreadlocks from earlier stepped in front of him, obstructing his view.
"Hey, jackass," She glowered. "You can't enter rabid Companions in the ring."
Sanji blinked up at her. His head felt like it was filled with cotton, unable to comprehend what just happened.
"Uh," he started, clearing his throat when he felt his voice shake. "Sorry, miss, but he's not rabid."
She gave him a humourless laugh. "Yeah, uh-huh. You realise there's a fine for entering defunct and rabid Companions?"
"He's not rabid," Sanji repeated lamely. "And he's not really my-"
"Lena!" Another man approached them, tall with an oddly styled beard and wearing a long brown coat. He also had a lanyard around his neck, over a necklace of small axe-heads, and wore a pair of silver headsets.
"Boss wants to see him," he said.
The dreadlocked lady crossed her arms and frowned. "What, now?"
He shrugged. "You wanna keep him waiting?"
She sighed and shook her head. "Whatever," she muttered and stalked away.
Sanji frowned up at the man as he passed him a thick cloth. Sanji reached for it with his right hand and winced, seeing the rips in the blood-soaked sleeves of his jacket, and the open gash on the flesh underneath. He realised what the cloth was for now, and took it, wrapping it around his wound.
"Can you walk?" asked the man, extending an arm to the cook.
Sanji brushed him off and pushed himself up. His legs wobbled, and he staggered to right himself, but he didn't fall. The man nodded at him.
"Right. This way," he said, and made off into a deeper part of the room. Sanji glanced over his shoulder at the ring, now encased in a glass dome. Zoro was pacing the centre of the pit, snarl fixed on his face, as he eyed the people with metal rods and dart guns. At least they didn't seem intent in the using them now that Zoro was contained.
"Hey, you with me?" the man called out to him. Sanji limped after him, holding back a wince as a stinging sensation lingered on his hip.
"What'll you do to him?" asked Sanji.
The man shrugged. "Probably sedate him."
Sanji shook his head. "Don't. Just… Just leave him there for a while. He'll cool down."
The man stopped walking, staring after Sanji.
"What?" said the cook, shifting uneasily under his glance.
He shook his head. "You're a weird one. No wonder the boss wanted to see you."
The man led Sanji through some double doors to a dimly lit hallway. Sanji startled a little when some ambience flickered up on the walls. He watched the underwater scenery as they walked, admiring the various glowing jellyfish that floated in the water beside luminescent coral. It reminded him of the ambience in his flat, back on the Island.
Sanji sighed, the dread from earlier now seeping back into his bones. What the hell was he going to do now? The wound on his arm wasn't going to disappear overnight, how was he going to explain that to Law or Robin?
"We're here," said the man, interrupting his thoughts. He'll have to think of that later. Just face whoever this 'boss' person was for now, and probably shovel up a wad of cash for causing a ruckus in his fighting ring. Sanji took a deep breath and willed himself to look as composed as he could, with a bleeding arm and a ton of problems weighing in his mind.