Still a big thanks to ZeldaAddict42! my editor person :P
Title: Zoan
Author: ZOroronoaRO
Fandom: One Piece
Pairings: nearly gen, but with pairings hinted at and/or mentioned.
Timeline: After Ennies Lobby before Florian Triangle Series.
Spoilers: Do not read if you care about spoilers and are not up to date to Ennies Lobby.
Summary: At the newest island, Zoro's strength is admired…a bit too much, and he is now the next target of an X-world government scientist.
Zoan – Chapter four
[Investigation]
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"What do you mean, you lost him?!"
"Mr. Rika, please."
"That is no excuse!"
Rika sat in bed, bandages wrapped around his entire upper body.
"Sir, I didn't lose him. By the time I found him, his friends were there; but, I do have some good news."
Rika's mood perked up a little.
"Transition one is a success! Though the subject still doesn't have control, he's alive, and he almost overpowered his own crewmates."
Rika smiled, this was very good news! "Keep an eye on him. Report back to me their movements and his progress. I should be well enough to join you tomorrow. Don't fail me again."
"Y-yes, sir," Chris said as he exited the house.
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Usopp quivered behind Franky.
"Y-You mean, that's Zoro?"
Sanji nodded as Chopper bandaged his shoulder.
"How did that happen?"
"That's what we're going to figure out," Nami said. "Robin, Luffy, and I are going back to where we found Zoro to do some searching."
"Nami-san, what about me?" Sanji's eyes grew wide.
"Sanji-kun, you need to rest. Your shoulder is really bad."
Sanji's face filled with concern. "But, Nami-san, your arm!"
She glanced at her bandaged arm and leg, "Oh this?" She smiled and moved her arm around, wincing slightly, "I'm fine."
Sanji's head drooped, "Okay…"
His head shot back up at Luffy, eyes glaring. "Protect them with your LIFE!" He added emphasis on the last word with a sharp poke in Luffy's chest with his good arm.
Beads of sweat rolled down Luffy's head, "Y-yeah."
A low growl erupted from behind them as Zoro tried to get free of his restraints. Using his fast and reliable skills, Franky made a muzzle and a collar that were chained up to the main mast. Everyone agreed it didn't look too comfortable, but it was the best they could do, for now.
The three investigators left, Chopper went to test some blood samples he got from Zoro, Sanji went to start dinner preparations, Franky went to make more suitable restraints for the panther, and Usopp reluctantly was chosen to watch the cat.
After a few minutes of silence, the panther curled up and fell asleep.
Usopp chuckled uneasily, just what Zoro would do.
He let out a sigh and got to working on one of his projects.
It was hard to believe that the black mass of fur was Zoro. Did he eat a devil fruit? No… Why would he act so strange if he did? How else could he be a panther, though?Other questions bounced around in his mind as he worked.
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Chopper dropped some blood onto a slideand put it under the microscope. As he examined it, more and more things didn't make sense. He searched in his books for a match, and found it.
"No way…" he said in disbelief. He looked at the sample, then back at the book. "It's not possible… How can he be alive with this much in him?"
Chopper grabbed another one of his books and flipped through it. "There must be something preventing it; but, if it's preventing it… What's causing it?"
Chopper rubbed his forehead. Whoever made this was a genius. There was something in Zoro that had the properties of a poison, but some properties of a devil fruit user's blood, too.
One chemical helped out the next, which in turn changed the next. It was a big web of chemicals woven perfectly together.
Something else caught Chopper's eye in Zoro's blood, which made him worried.
Almost perfect, that is.
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They located the tree at the spot they had found Zoro, and ventured into the woods.
Like Robin had said, they found one sword after another. With the red one, though, they found the sheath first and then the katana itself.
After a little more walking, following Zoro's 'trail of breadcrumbs,' they saw a house in the distance.
"I think we just found our goal." Robin smiled.
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Chris burst through the door, breathing heavily.
"Rika! Mr. Rika, sir!"
Rika woke up and sat up in bed. "What?" he asked groggily.
Chris gulped and caught his breath.
"By the time I made it to the pirate's ship, they had already left. I passed three of them on the way here, and I think they're coming for you."
"How did they know?"
"I'm not sure, sir."
"We have no choice. Burn all the evidence. I have back-up files on the ship."
"Sir, what about the files on Roronoa, those are all here."
Rika nodded. "You're right. We'll pack those up, then burn the house down. I'll get the files ready and go. You burn the house, but wait until I have the papers together."
With that, the two go to work. Rika packed the bulging papers into a briefcase and Chris piled up the other papers to burn.
Rika, opening the door to leave, came nose to nose with Monkey D. Luffy.
"Yo!" Luffy said with a slight wave.
Rika stepped back and ran for the back door.
"What was his problem?" Luffy said crossing his arms with a frown.
Chris looked up from his piling job to see Rika run past him, "Sir, do you have all the papers on Roronoa?"
Suddenly, everything clicked into place for Robin. She bloomed some arms, tripping the running man.
Rika fell face-first on the ground. The pain in his chest tore through his whole body, making him pass out.
"They're most likely the ones who did that to Swordsman-san!"
"What?" Anger ripped through Luffy's voice.
Chris' head snapped to the door, his eyes doubling in size as he saw the three pirates.
He grabbed something out of his pocket and threw it at the pile of paper.
Smoke filled the small room in seconds.
Robin lost her concentration, and the arms holding down Rika disappeared.
With the pirates distracted, Chris grabbed Rika and carried him out of there.
Coughing at the harsh smoke, Nami grabbed her Clima Tact with her good arm.
"Cyclone Tempo!"
A gust of wind scattered the smoke to reveal the two men gone.
When most of the smoke had disappeared, they saw the pile of papers on fire.
Nami quickly retrieved her Clima Tact, which due to lack of space, smashed into the wall, and then quickly made a cloud to douse the fire.
"GET BACK HERE!" Luffy started to run out after their opponents.
"Wait! Captain-san!" The straw-hated boy reluctantly came to a stop.
She bent down and looked at one of the papers. "I think we'll find everything we need here." She looked up from the paper. "Captain-san, could you search the rest of the house for anything that might help?"
"But I want to send them flying!" Luffy protested, fists clenched.
"You can do that later, Luffy. Right now, that won't help Zoro," Nami said, without looking up from another of the half-scorched and wet papers.
Luffy sighed and came back into the house to look for 'anything that might help.'
Robin and Nami sorted through the remainders of the pile to see if they could use anything.
Luffy came across a refrigerator, which brightened his mood. He whipped it open only to find it full of empty jars.
Frowning, he closed the fridge and continued looking.
After going around the house for a while and finding nothing of great interest, he sat on a chair and watched the two girls sort through the documents.
"There has to be more… There's nothing about Zoro in here."
Robin held up a paper to Nami. "This one explains most of his story. Dr. Rika, that is."
Nami glanced at the paper. "So, all in all, what does it say?"
Robin flipped through several more packets of information. "Overall, between all the files, it says Dr. Rika was an experimental scientist for the World Government. Due to his harsh experiments with devil fruits on humans, he was expelled, or banished, if you will. It seems he didn't like that." She flipped to the next page in the stack of paper. "It looks like he disappeared under the radar and continued his research, finding the right subjects for his experiments." She looked up at Nami. "Zoro was the next on his list."
Nami processed this new information for a moment.
"So, he made him eat a devil fruit? I don't understand why he's acting all primal like that, though."
"No, it looks like he uses chemicals to replace the devil fruit, or some of it, actually." Robin gave her another paper to examine. "Ingenious really. I don't understand most of it; but, it's a series of formulas that would normally kill someone. However, administered in the right dosage at the right time, he has created a way to simulate the chemical reaction a devil fruit has on your body. That way more than one person can have the same devil fruit ability and even have the curse of the fruit lifted. It has many side effects though. Most of the notes are burned on this page, but it seems like none of his subjects have survived over two days. The poison levels in here are astronomical."
The three were silent for a while.
"There must be more notes around here. I'm not finding anything on Zoro." Nami said rifling through the stack.
Luffy went over his investigation of the house in his mind and remembered a briefcase. Briefcases had papers in them, didn't they? He went over to the shiny black case and clicked it open: paper heaven!
"Found some!" he smiled.
"Eh?" Nami snatched the case from his hands and flipped through its contents.
"Perfect! All this is about Zoro. We should get this back to Chopper. I bet it will help."
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Usopp felt a chill go down his back. He stopped what he was doing and slowly turned his head towards the main mast.
The panther was on his feet, with two yellow, glowing eyes staring back at Usopp.
"Haha…" he laughed uneasily, "You're awake, I see."
He noticed the panther was swaying, like he was losing his balance.
One of the panther's legs gave out and blood oozed out between his clenched teeth, thanks to the tight muzzle.
"Zoro?" Usopp got up and moved a little closer.
The panther made a grunt that sounded like a cough and more blood oozed out. Suddenly, his whole body shook.
Usopp's eyes widened and he turned towards the kitchen door.
"Sanji! Chopper! Anyone! Something's wrong with Zoro!!"
Sanji appeared through the doorway.
"What are you yelling about, Uso—"Sanji's sentence died when his gaze turned to Zoro.
Usopp turned back to the big cat. He no longer saw a panther, but a half-human, half-animal, like a devil fruit transformation.
Usopp gulped as Zoro's yellow eyes pierced through his very soul.
The chains slowly slid off the seriously pissed off Zoro.
DUN DUN DUNNNNN i know. i'm an evil clifhanger person D: don't shoot meeee~ 3 just review. heehee :D