Author's Notes: THANK YOU for those who took the time to read...and especially to those who took the time to review, this story! Thank you!
Verum: Yay!!! You're back!!! Thank you very much for the review!!! I was wondering where you had gone! (Sanji: (hopping up and down waving) "Help us!!!", Zoro: "Kuso-Kokku, stop acting like an idiot.", KS: "Hahahahahahahaha!!! See what happens when I'm left alone with these two... Hahahahahahahaha!!!") Btw, you know I really, and I mean REALLY want to see Chapter 3 of Games We Play!!!
And now onto the third installment...
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Part 3: Powerless
"What the fu--" Growled the swordsman as he felt the receding lump on the top of his head. "Damn Kuso-Kokku!!!"
Green-eyes glanced around at the surrounding darkness, searching for any signs of the two strange boys that had tried to attack...
"Ero-Kokku!" The green-haired man called out to his missing nakama as he scrambled to his feet. Quickly grabbing and sheathing his katana.
Lying on his side, with his back facing the swordsman, the cook laid on the field like an abandoned rag doll.
Running to the blonde man's side, the swordsman dropped to his knees next to the blonde and carefully rolled him over onto his back.
"Sanji..."
For a long moment, the blonde man did not respond or move at all. Then quietly he struggled to whisper, "I can't move."
A pang of fear surged through the swordsman as he tried to probe the cook's body, looking for any signs of injuries.
"Damn it, Zoro..." muttered the blonde, "I said I can't move. I didn't say I can't feel..."
Finding no signs of broken bones or bleeding, the swordsman gently scooped up the blonde man into his arms and started walking towards the village.
"Oi, Baka...," whispered the cook, "where are you going?"
"Back to Merry," replied the swordsman, "and you call me 'Baka.'"
"Turn around," the fading voice of the blonde was barely audible, "you're going the wrong way."
As the cook passed out into unconsciousness, the swordsman hurried back to the ship with the blonde bundle in his arms.
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"I don't know what's wrong with Sanji." Came the quiet statement from the little blue-nosed reindeer.
The little reindeer sat at the kitchen table, with everyone but the ship's cook and swordsman surrounding him.
"There doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with him, but it seems like his oxygen supply was cut off for a long while. It's a miracle that he lived at all..."
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"What the hell was that all about?" Growled the swordsman as he watched the blonde resting in his hammock.
"It wasn't anything," mumbled the cook as he tried to ignore the swordsman.
"Bullshit!" Yelled the green-haired man as he loomed over the blonde. "What was all that about sacrifices, and spells...and those chains! What about that!"
Staring at the angry swordsman, the cook took in a deep breath and started talking.
"You know I was born in North Blue..."
"Yes."
"Well...the island where I come from...people there are different."
"How?"
"First of all, when we are born we have neko (cat) ears and tails."
"WHAT?"
"Oh, you didn't notice..."
"I thought they were...fake..."
After a moment, the swordsman ran his hands on each side of the blonde's head, to discover a couple of tufts hidden beneath his golden hair. Unable to fend off the unwanted examination by the swordsman, the cook gave up and allowed Zoro to take a closer look at his head. Pushing aside the strands of hair, the swordsman found the stubs of two cropped ears.
"What about the tail?" Asked the swordsman, a smile breaking out across his lips.
"They cut that too," muttered the cook. "Yoji's and my parents had them cut before they sent us away to the East Blue."
"Yoji?"
"He was my partner...my fighter..."
"Fighter?"
"In a battle of spells, a fighter will cast a spell to restrict the other team...to defeat them. However, a fighter needs to have a sacrifice...who tells the fighter what to do..."
"Must be good to be the sacrifice..."
Staring up at the swordsman, the cook's face was blank, expressing no emotion. "If a fighter is not fast or strong enough...the sacrifice takes the damage..."
"And have you ever..."
"Yes," looking up at the ceiling, the cook continued. "Even at our young age we were a really strong pair. However, one day we did battle with a pair of older boys from a neighboring village. We didn't know who they were. They basically lynched us." A pained look seemed to spread across the cook's face. "They weren't as strong as us, but they were determined to win. When they hurt me," the blonde spoke as he held a hand to the covered left side of his face, "Yoji went crazy. He attacked them...and the sacrifice died. A few hours later the fighter died...he slit his wrists."
Growing quiet, the blonde man took in a deep breath of air before continuing.
"The fighter was the son of the Village Magistrate. He started sending his village's best teams after us. We had to leave. It was our only chance..."
"You ran away..."
Looking away from the swordsman, the cook answered. "We were children...and even though we were a powerful match, we weren't fully trained. We would have died there."
While the swordsman felt that he could never bare the shame of running from a fight, he did remember that Sanji had been extremely young when he had left North Blue. And battling against full grown teams, that would have been suicide for the pair.
"What happened to Yoji?" Asked the swordsman, changing the subject.
"When Zeff attacked the Orbit, Yoji was below deck. I thought that Zeff's crew was going to kill all of us. I couldn't allow them to hurt Yoji...or me. I tried to stop them. However, the next thing I knew I was in the water. I could feel Yoji calling to me as I was drowning, but then the Orbit capsized...and I passed out..."
"You felt him calling to you?"
"In here," said the cook, touching his right temple. "Sentouki and Sacrifices are naturally drawn to each other. They almost always share the same name..."
"But his name was Yoji..."
"Our real names are located somewhere on our bodies..."
"What is your na--?"
"None of your damned business, Shitty Swordsman!" Spat the cook angrily, before continuing. "The elders say that matches are destined from the time we are born...it's who we are supposed to be connected with..."
"Connected?"
"When a fighter and sacrifice choose each other, they become connected. It's like being two parts of the same being. We feel when we need each other...but, I was unconscious when Yoji died, so I didn't feel him pass..."
"And when you awoke..."
"I wasn't sure if he was dead. I felt an empty void...but I had hoped. But as time went by...I knew. Anyway, since that old man sacrificed his leg for me...I felt that I owed him. So, I did my best to repay that Kuso-Jiji...although I almost--...I wish I had died that day on the Baratie..."
Watching as tears began to wet the cheeks of his crewmate, the swordsman attempted to lighten the mood.
"So, Kitty...You have ears and a tail..." Teased the swordsman, scratching the cook behind one of his neko ears.
Pulling away, the blonde hissed as he wiped away the tears, "It's only temporary..."
"Looks pretty permanent to me."
"It falls off when--"
"'When' what?"
"When we become adults."
"But you're nineteen already..."
The cook stared at the swordsman, as if dumbfounded by the man's thickness.
"Ah...," said the swordsman as he processed what the blonde was trying to say, "AH!!!"
Suddenly the swordsman burst out laughing.
"It's not funny," grumbled the cook.
"To think," the swordsman continued, "the Ero-Kokku is still a VIRGIN!!!"
Having had enough of the taunting, the blonde tried to get out of his hammock on the side without the laughing green-haired man, and ended up sprawled out on the floor.
As the swordsman tried to help the cook up, the blonde pulled roughly away. "Don't touch me! You have no idea what it's like. To think every day about someone who was so close to you...that you wanted to die when they did. To be afraid that someone would come after you...and harm those around you. You have no idea..."
"Actually," replied Zoro, "I think I do..."
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Author's Notes: Yikes! Lots of exposition. Sorry. However, I hopes it helps explain a bit more to you guys about what is happening. And just think...this is just the beginning!
Sanji and Zoro: (Shaking their heads)
So, until next time...Mahalo and Aloha!
