Author's Note: YES CHAPTER EIGHT!! XD I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: don't own one piece, oda does
Chapter Eight: Fire and Pain
Hoshi ran. She was tormented with worry… Zoro was strong, but would he be able to keep up with the boss' Devil's Fruit ability? She suddenly got blue lines on her head. She should have told him that before she left…
A picture of a boy, perhaps eight years old, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes suddenly flashed in her mind. He was smiling at her… Hoshi narrowed her eyes. "489, you liar," she muttered, a tear forming in her eye. "You said you would wait for me… no matter how long it took, you promised you would hang on…"
She turned a corner, and a steel door came into view. Growling, Hoshi concentrated fiercely. Pockets of air around her solidified into razor sharp spikes, and she hurled them at the door. They made dents in the door. Suddenly, there was a rain of spikes flying towards the door, and in no time at all, it folded like tin foil. Hoshi stood there panting. Slowly, she walked towards the gaping black doorway. It reminded her horribly of some sort of mouth, waiting to swallow her up.
Zoro stumbled back a few steps. He was flummoxed at how unbelievably fast this guy was… it was taking everything he had just to block the attacks.
The boss stopped moving and twirled a small dagger in his hands, a bored look on his face. "I had hoped you would be more of a challenge, but it appears not," he commented. "I suppose the ability of the Senkou Senkou no Mi (Flash Flash Fruit) is quite a handy thing to have, wouldn't you agree?"
Zoro narrowed his eyes. That would explain why this guy was able to move so quickly. "Devil's fruit or no, I'm taking you down," he growled.
The boss chuckled. "I'm afraid not," he murmured, before disappearing again.
Zoro barely blocked a series of attacks from the dagger.
"No more playing," the boss' said from somewhere inside the fray. "I need to get down there before it can destroy all our precious documents."
"Hoshi is not an 'it'," Zoro snarled. He carefully studied the man's movement, looking for some sort of opening…
The boss laughed. "You really are a sentimental man," he chuckled. "How far will that get you in the real world?"
Zoro grinned. "It's already gotten me this far," he said. "And with the crew I've put my bet on, I think we're going to go to the very end together."
"How touching," the boss growled. "Loyalty to captain and crew."
"Yeah… and the person you're aiming for at the bottom of the stairs is part of the crew."
They disengaged. "One thing you should've known before doing anything to her," Zoro growled, raising his swords threateningly. "When you mess with one of us, you can expect the rest of us to hunt you down to the ends of the earth."
"How frightening," the boss droned. "I have the wrath of a few kids on my head."
Zoro grinned wolfishly. "Don't forget one of the rules of life old man." Something his sensei told him once came to mind… "'The new generation will always overpower the old'," he echoed. "'That is the way of life.'"
The boss' eyes narrowed.
"And I say your time to be overpowered is right here," Zoro growled. "Let's hurry and finish this."
"I quite agree," the boss said, bringing up his dagger. "It's true I have been in this position for more than fifty years, but I'm not planning to retire any time soon."
"Looks like you've been working overtime. Time for you to take a break."
"Come on, we have to get out of here as soon as possible," Nami urged the kids.
"B-but Hoshi-san!" Panda cried. "Hoshi-san is-"
"Going to come back out once she's done," Luffy said firmly. "Let's go."
"No!" Kitsune screamed. "We've got to go get her! She's going to get killed!"
The rest of the kids were struggling.
"AH!" Usopp yelled as Oso bit his hand with his pointed teeth.
"The things guarding the papers about us… they're all the failed experiments!" Uma yelled. "They have no minds, they're just monsters with teeth and claws that can move super fast… and there're a LOT of them!"
"Hoshi-san's your nakama, isn't she?!" Kakyou demanded, his eyes flashing. "We need to go help her!"
Sanji grabbed two kids by the backs of their shirts. "Stop this already! Hoshi's going to be fine, she's got the Marimo with her too."
"But the boss is there too!" Neko growled, swiping his clawed fingers at Nami's hand. "He's a Devil's Fruit user!"
"It's not like both of them haven't fought Devil's Fruits users before!" Luffy yelled.
Raku dodged restraining hands, trying to run down the hall, but Chopper changed to human form and grabbed her tail. "Don't!" he yelled.
Tori fought tooth and nail, pulling out two wings of her own and pummeling everyone who was trying to restrain her. Luckily though, it seemed she didn't know how to fly yet.
Koara screamed as loud as she could… and for a baby, that's pretty loud. "UWAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
Robin watched with amusement for a couple minutes, before she crossed her arms and sprouted hands to hold them down. "Calm down," she instructed. "You can come out, or you can not come out. It just depends on how much you trust Gakushi-san. If you trust her, you'll come out with us so we won't get crushed under several tons of stone. If you don't trust her, you'll go after her and get crushed under several tons of stone when she destroys this building."
The kids stopped struggling. Indecision shone in their faces as they gritted their teeth.
Finally, Uma hung her head. "Okay then, we'll go with you."
Robin smiled and let her hands disappear. Nami picked up Koara and rocked the wailing baby gently. "Hush, hush, it's okay," she crooned. Gradually, the baby stopped screaming and stared solemnly up into Nami's brown eyes with her beetle-black ones.
"Your friend is outside waiting for us," Luffy said. "The lizard-boy?"
All their eyes lit up. "653? He's here!?" they exclaimed.
Luffy grinned. "He's outside waiting for us, so let's hurry!"
"That reminds me," Kitsune said as they ran off, "We need to ask Hoshi-san to give him a name."
"Huh? Don't you kids already have names?" Usopp asked, confused.
"Hoshi-san gave them to us just now!" Panda sniffed, wiping away the last of his tears. "She said that her captain said it wasn't good to have a number as a name."
Nami narrowed her eyes. "They really are like Hoshi, aren't they?" she murmured.
"Yeah," Sanji agreed. "It's cruel, doing this to children."
"Who's the captain anyways?" Oso asked.
Luffy grinned. "I'm the captain, Luffy! I'm the man who's going to become pirate king!"
All nine kids stared at him, open-jawed. "EEHH?!"
"Oh, he's your captain," Uma acknowledged in an emotionless voice. Then in the exact same tone, "I do believe the world is going to end."
The crew sweatdropped. "That's true…"
"Look, it's the door!" Luffy laughed.
Nami looked, and her jaw dropped to the floor. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT THE DOOR?!" she screamed. Because between them and the door was an army of scientists and Marines.
"W… we're going to die," Usopp sighed. "Ah, it's been such a wonderful life…" Then he spotted the kids looking at him with horrified eyes, and he quickly changed tact. "I was joking, I was joking!"
"Yosh!" Kakyou yelled, punching the air. He bent down and started running on fours. Neko, Raku, Kitsune, and Oso quickly followed suit. "We spent the whole way here being guarded by Hoshi-san, but this time, we're going to fight for our own freedom!" he shouted.
The kids gained speed, faster than even Luffy, and threw themselves into battle, clawing and kicking and punching. Kitsune's eyes glowed yellow, and fangs sprouted out of her gums. Her hair stood on end, and she moved with fluid motion, dodging and attacking with grace and ease. Whoever tried to grab her only ended up brushing her tail. She kicked and bit… preferably aiming for places that hurt.
Neko's hair stood on end, and he hissed. His pupils became slits. With liquid grace, he jumped from shoulder to shoulder, unsheathing his claws, and going for eyes and faces.
Raku's snout elongated, and her nose became black and moist. Her striped tail became more puffy as her hair stood on end. Running into the crowd, her teeth aimed more for ankles, often nipping right down to the bone. She favored Achilles' heels, resulting immobilizing the person.
Tori had pulled in her wings, but she was lashing out with her fits and her feet… especially her feet. Claws had grown out of her feet, and she didn't hesitate to use them on every bit of flesh she could reach.
Kakyou and Oso were a ferocious pair. They would charge at an enemy, their fangs bared, and take him down. Their eyes had no mercy for those who had hurt them. Oso's body bulged with muscle, and he would take down the enemy. Kakyou would spring on top of them and bite them while Oso would proceed to beat up every single part of their bodies he could reach. Then they would move on to the next opponent.
Usopp shivered, watching them. "I… I'm so glad they're on our side…" he mumbled.
"Me too," Nami agreed.
"Did they transform or something?" Sanji asked. "They look different."
Chopper nodded. "I… I think so."
Luffy had stars in his eyes watching them. "THEY'RE SO COOL!" he yelled.
"SHUT UP YOU MORON!" everyone yelled.
"Shouldn't we assist them?" Robin asked.
The crew looked at the group of kids and the steadily falling soldiers. "Should we?" Sanji asked. "They look like they've pretty much got it."
Luffy laughed. "We'll be their backup," he said, stretching his arm backwards.
"Make sure you don't hit any of them," Nami warned.
"Don't worry about it! I won't," Luffy grinned. "GOMU GOMU NO PISTOL!"
"Damn," Hoshi muttered. Her heart was crying at seeing all these poor creatures. They growled at her, the pain of their malformed bodies making them angry and cruel. They attacked.
Hoshi pulled out her whip. "I'm sorry," she whispered before shouting, "Yami no Kurushimi!"
The whip cracked, and all the poor things fell to the ground, the shock having caused their already strained bodies to shut down completely. Hoshi surveyed them with dull eyes. She had no more tears left today.
Walking into the room, she found herself surrounded by mountains of file cabinets. She methodically started pulling out drawers and dumping them in the center of the room.
"Oi, what the hell are you doing!" came a voice. Hoshi turned. It was the scientist who had asked her about burning down the lab a couple days ago. He seemed shocked to see her. "I… it's you!" he yelled, poining.
"Duh," she droned. "Who else would I be?" She continued piling all the papers in the middle of the room.
"W-what are you doing?! You can't do th-"
Hoshi glared at him, and the sight of her ice-cold eyes made him shut up. "I have no obligation to tell you that," she muttered.
Five minutes later, she was finished. Reaching into her pocket, she took out a box of matches. Before lighting one, she closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment. Then she lit a match and threw it onto the pile…
Where all the papers immediately burst into flame.
The man seemed stunned for a second, before he found his voice. "What the hell did you do!?"
Hoshi sat on the ground and watched the blaze. "I increased the oxygen density of the air surrounding the pile. Oxygen burns, does it not?"
"Yes it doe- I mean, yeah, it does, but why are you doing this?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Hoshi asked as the paper blackened and turned to fine grey ash. "I don't want you guys to be able to do this ever again."
"Do what?"
Hoshi turned and locked his gaze in her ice-cold one. "I don't want you to be able to do any more genetic experiments and to look on them as inferior beings that are only animals. You all don't get that the beings you create are ALIVE. Therefore, you don't deserve to be able to create us anymore."
"Huh? We've always known you were alive!"
"Have you given any one of those kids a toy to play with? A hug, perhaps? Tucked them in at night and let them know they were loved?"
The man fell silent. Hoshi glared even more fiercely at him before turning back to the bonfire. The orange glow reflected in her aqua eyes seemed to bring all her anger and hate to the surface.
As it fell to glowing embers, Hoshi stood up and looked at him. "Well, are you here to fight? Put me back into a cage and run a couple more tests?"
"Actually, I came down here to get a document…" the guy mumbled, not looking at her.
"Right… sorry about that," Hoshi said. She pulled her whip out of the air. "You'd better get out of here, I'm about to destroy this place."
The man looked alarmed. Hoshi chuckled darkly. "Don't worry, you have time. I'm waiting for my friend to get down here. Consider yourself lucky I'm not killing you now."
The man took one look at the blood of the animals lying on the ground and her ruthless eyes, and bolted without another word. Hoshi sighed and sat down, waiting for Zoro. After a couple minutes, the tension started to get to her.
Standing up, she walked to the doorway and drew a deep breath…
"Hirameiki!"
"Senkou Senkou Shishou!"
Both fighters paused for a moment to catch their breath, and the whirlwind of movement ceased for a moment. The boss grinned. "It seems I have underestimated you, Roranora Zoro."
Zoro scowled. "That's generally not a good idea."
"So I have realized." The boss put away the dagger and walked to a corner of the room. Picking up a black-sheathed sword, he unsheathed it. "It is appropriate to fight named swords with named swords, is it not?" he asked lightly. "Meet Kyuuka Yuki."
Zoro lifted an eyebrow. "Summer Snow? Isn't that a bit contradictory?
"Summer snow is unique," the boss explained. "As this sword is."
Zoro grinned at this. "Well, if you're going to get serious," he said, sheathing his swords. "Guess I'd better too." He tied his black bandana onto his head before pulling out his swords again.
"Does that bandana make you stronger?" the boss asked, a mocking grin coming onto his face.
Zoro scowled. "Who knows," he replied.
"ZORO!" came a voice from up the stairwell. "HURRY UP AND GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE! I CAN'T START DESTROYING ANYTHING IF YOU'RE STILL UP THERE!!"
Zoro sweatdropped. Does she have any idea what's going on up there?
The boss smiled. "Time to end this."
Zoro took his stance. "I agree."
They rushed towards each other.
"SENKOU SENKOU DAGEKI!"
"TOUROU HAGASHI!"
Hoshi heard the clash of metal and stiffened. She clenched her fists and waited, a sweat bead rolling down her cheek. Zoro… you'd better be okay, she thought viciously as a slight breeze came down the stairs.
"Dear me, look at what you've done to our documents," said a voice behind her.
Hoshi froze, then slowly turned around. Standing behind her, she saw… the boss.
Her eyes widened. "It… it can't be," she whispered, her throat closing with horror.
He smiled. "Your friend put up a good fight, I'll give him that much. He was a worthy opponent to give me this," he said, pointing to a cut on his cheek. He held out a hand. "Now we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Your choice."
Hoshi fell to her knees and retched. Zoro…
"Don't carry this by yourself when you don't need to."
"Who the hell told you that you were replaceable?!"
"You really are an idiot."
Hoshi looked at the boss again. There was blood on his hands…
She bent over and clutched her stomach, trying to suppress the newly awakened pain and stop the tears from coming out of her eyes. This pain was like a spiked knife being dragged through her gut… she bit her lip until it bled. The boss laughed, and each soundwave was like another spike being stabbed into her body. She couldn't stop the tears anymore. They fell to the ground, making little dark circles on the concrete.
It couldn't be… it just couldn't be…
Zoro…