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 seven
[Control]
Zoro felt himself slip away like the other times, but not totally. It was a different feeling, nothing that he could describe. Zoro didn't care; he just wanted his swords back. He snarled in protest and leaped down to the lower deck, almost landing on Franky.
"Whoa!" Franky got out of the way in time. "Swordsman-bro, what's wrong?"
Zoro turned to him, expressionless, then turned and jumped over the edge of the ship towards the island.
Franky ran to the edge to see a panther run across the dock and onto the island.
Sanji, Chopper, and Usopp quickly joined him to find out what was happening.
"Come on, Bros! We've got to get him back!" Franky jumped over the side in pursuit of the rogue feline, followed by Sanji and Chopper in walk point. Before following, Usopp zoomed in with his goggles to see Luffy, Robin, and Nami.
"Oi! Guys!" he said running after the other three. "Zoro's heading towards Luffy, Nami, and Robin!"
"Whaaaaat?" Sanji burned with anger. "I won't let him do anything to Nami-san again!"
Sanji sprinted forward, but he was no match for the legs of a panther and Zoro was too far ahead of him.
"Robin, do you think the cause could be—"Nami was cut off by a loud roar.
Her eyes widened. "W-was that Zoro?"
Robin looked towards the ship. "It appears to be." She noticed three figures jump off the ship into a small row boat and disappear around the island.
"Huh? What's going on? I can't see with all these papers!" whined Luffy.
"Look, there!" Robin said pointing at the ship with her free hand. The other, along with a couple helping ones, held Zoro's swords.
Something jumped off the ship and was running towards them at full speed.
Nami blinked. "It's Zoro! He's still a panther! I thought stage two would have happened, by now."
"It appears not," Robin said coolly; ready to secure the wild animal, once he got into her range.
She sprouted hands to catch the cat, but he dodged expertly.
Robin focused harder, creating more hands, but the panther would duck, roll, jump, or bite to get away.
"Robiiiin…" Nami said nervously, as the black cat got closer and closer.
With a sudden burst of speed and a leap, he crashed on top of Robin.
The archeologist cushioned her landing with a couple hands, but it knocked the swords out of her grip, sending them sliding a few feet away.
"Robin!" Nami screamed, getting out her Clima-tact.
Luffy finally got tired of holding the papers and dropped them, now finally able to see what was happening.
The panther remained motionless on top of Robin. His paws pinned down her arms and his eyes stared into hers.
Robin remained calm, returning the panther's gaze.
Before her very eyes, the panther changed into the half and half form, his eyes still a menacing yellow.
"Swordsman-san?" she asked with a slight smile.
Zoro's brow furrowed and he leaned closer to her neck, sniffing.
Robin blinked at the strange behavior, but continued to stay calm.
Zoro reared back and he blinked. His eyes shifted to green, but quickly back to yellow. He blinked a couple more times and looked around, his gaze stopped, when he saw his swords.
He quickly got off Robin and hurried over to his precious objects.
He held them in his shaking grasp, his eyes shifting back and forth between yellow and green. He clutched his swords with both hands, coughed up blood, then sank to his knees. The three slowly edged towards Zoro.
"Swordsman-san, are you alright?"
Zoro didn't acknowledged her.
Luffy crouched next to Zoro. "Zoooorooo…" Luffy poked him.
"Luffy! Stop that," Nami scolded him.
"But that always wakes Zoro up."
Zoro looked up at Luffy with green eyes.
"See?" Luffy smiled.
"Luffy…?" Zoro spluttered, then promptly passed out on his captain's shoulder.
Sanji finally arrived, shortly followed by the other three.
"Nami-san, Robin-chan, are you alright?"
"Yes, we're alright, Cook-san."
Usopp caught his breath, then spoke. "What happened?"
The crew watched as Zoro shifted from the half and half transformation to full human.
Luffy shrugged, laying Zoro on the ground. "Not much."
Swords. Swords. SWORDS! He saw them; they were in that woman's hands. He dove at her, tackling her to the ground. He stared at the petty fool that would dare take his swords, but something wasn't right.
Zoro smelt something familiar. He drifted closer to the thief and the scent of old books and coffee filled his senses, reminding him of Robin.
He blinked as memories of when he first met the archeologist flashed through his mind.
Why would Robin steal my swords? he thought.
That didn't fit. He looked around for his swords; there they were, just sitting there. He got up and went over to them, but something was urging him to get revenge.
What is there to avenge? He wondered.
He looked down at his swords and everything went black, he looked up and saw the panther again.
He frowned, unhappy to be in this place once more. He faced the panther, putting his two swords on his waist.
"Oi, cat. Leave. Me. Alone." He drew Kitesu with intent to kill.
The panther growled and leaped. Zoro sidestepped just in time to avoid the blow.
By the time he turned around to face the oversized cat again, it was gone.
Zoro got in a defensive stance and waited. Instinct alerted him, but a little too late. The panther slashed right down his back. He clenched his teeth in pain and reared around for a counter-attack. He swiped his sword downward, but the cat rolled to the side. They both paused, eye to eye, waiting for the other to make a move. Zoro took a step to the right and the panther mirrored him, taking a step to the right. The swordsman raised an eyebrow. A couple more seconds ticked by and the feline was tired of waiting, it leaped at the swordsman with its pointed claws.
Zoro was waiting for this. He dodged to the left and lowered his sword horizontally. When the cat jumped past, the sword slashed across its black fur coat, creating a huge gash on its side.
The panther collapsed, and Zoro stood over it in victory. He sheathed his sword, then turned to try and find a way out of the black abyss. He heard a low growl and turned to see the panther back on its feet.
"Want some more?" Zoro smirked, but it was quickly wiped away, when the panther disappeared into the darkness.
"Not again…" he mumbled, looking around with his hand on the hilt of his sword.
There was no sound, no warning, nothing to alert him of the attack, only pain, when the panther's teeth sunk into his neck.
"Gah!" Zoro fell to the ground, grabbing at the cat's jaws to make them unclench.
Zoro clenched his own teeth and flexed his neck muscles. "Why you little son of a-" The panther let go and slumped to the ground.
"Eh?" He turned to the cat lying on its side and poked it. The panther let out a quiet growl, letting Zoro know it was still alive.
No wonder they say cats have nine lives, this thing will not die! He thought.
The panther coughed up some blood and raised its head to look at Zoro from its downed position. The gaze wasn't filled with malice, like Zoro thought it would be, but peace and satisfaction.
Before he could ponder this more, Zoro felt lightheaded. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and slowly fell to his knees. The swordsman felt something in his hands and looked down to see his swords. Zoro frowned, wondering how they got there. He felt a sharp poke to his shoulder and looked up to see his raven-haired captain staring back at him.
"See?" Luffy smiled.
What are you doing here, Luffy? He didn't know if he said anything aloud because of his bloodied throat. Zoro's eyelids grew heavy and they drooped. His body relaxed and he felt the sweet pleasure of unconsciousness come over him.
Chopper rushed over to Zoro, but couldn't treat him because he was rushed and was unable to grab his backpack before he left Sunny.
With the help of Franky and Luffy, Chopper carried Zoro back to Thousand Sunny. The crew was quiet, unsure of what to say in this situation.
Luffy, oblivious of the atmosphere as always, raised his fists in the air like Superman. "SANNNJIIIII!!! I'M HUUUUUNGRY!!!"
"Yeah, yeah, hold on," Sanji said to the hyperactive straw hat, then turned to the women of the crew. "Nami-san, Robin-chan, are you hungry? I've made pork chops puttanesca for you!" His voice changed. "Oh, and I've made some for you idiots, too."
"Thank you, Cook-san, but before that, I need to give Doctor-san something. Go ahead and start without me."
With the help of several other hands, Robin made her way to the infirmary with a big stack of paper.
Sanji frowned; he never liked starting a meal without a lady.
"YAAAAAAY!!! MEEEEEEAT!" The red blur ran into the kitchen, only to be stopped by a shoe in the face.
"Sanjiii…" Luffy whined, "Robin said we could eeeeeat!"
Sanji grumbled, lighting a new cigarette. "Fine."
"Yippeee!" Luffy, followed by Sanji, Nami, Franky, and Usopp, filed into the kitchen.
Robin knocked lightly on the infirmary door. "Come in!"
She opened it and entered to see Zoro on the bed, with Chopper busy taking different readings and tests.
"Oh, Robin!" The reindeer put a wet rag on Zoro's forehead, then hopped down from the stool. "What do you need?"
She smiled. "Nothing, but I have something for you. We found these in the lab where we think they experimented on Swordsman-san."
Chopper's eyes widened and he rushed over to Robin. He greedily took the papers and spread them out on the ground, organizing and reading them.
As Chopper analyzed the findings, the archeologist dipped the rag back in the water and replaced it on the swordsman's head.
"Robin." She turned towards the little doctor. "I think I know how to save Zoro."
Dinner was quieter than usual, without the useless bantering between Zoro and Sanji; but, Luffy and Usopp made up for it, with their hyperactivity.
"Nami-san, how do you like it?" Sanji asked, noodling over to Nami with an orange, fruity drink.
She smiled. "It's delicious, Sanji-kun!"
"Ah~ Mellorine~" Sanji melted.
Robin and Chopper entered the kitchen.
"Robin-chan!" Sanji twirled over to her seat and pulled back the chair.
"Thank you, Cook-san." She sat down.
"Chopper, how is Zoro?" Luffy asked through a mouthful.
The doctor smiled, surprising the crew. "I think I found an antidote. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think it will work."
The rest of the crew mentally let go a breath that they'd been holding since they found out Zoro's condition.
Chopper's smiled faded. "His condition is stable for now, but he could turn for the worse at any time. It will take me some time to make the antidote, it requires a lot of heating then cooling time, so at the earliest it would be ready by tomorrow afternoon."
The atmosphere greatly improved and dinner went like normal, minus a certain green-haired swordsman.
The sun set and the crew turned in for bed; except Chopper, who was busy working on the cure, Sanji, who was on first watch, and Robin, who was in her room reading a book.
Sanji cleaned up the kitchen, then wandered out to the deck and leaned against the rail. He discarded his old cigarette and lit a new one, blowing out smoke into the night air.
He shifted his arm in the sling with care; it hadn't been hurting, which was a good sign. He was a fast healer and he was very grateful for that. Preparing dinner with one arm had been a bit of a challenge. He looked up into the full moon, lighting the whole deck with its light.
He exhaled and felt a presence behind him. Sure enough, the floorboards of the ship squeaked next to him and he turned his head. He was expecting Robin, but his eyes settled on the last one he'd expect: the black panther.
Weeeeell, here we are! please R&R~ :) rawr! panther zoro commands you! :3
ZeldaAddict42 with the amazing grammar-ness~
the story is almost over, i think three more chapters ought to do it!