Thanks for your comments :) I appreciate every one of them. Here's another chapter for your reading pleasure.
Title: Zoan
Author: ZOroronoaRO
Fandom: One Piece
Pairings: none. (i suck at romance, so why try? :P)
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 ten
[Much ado about everything]
Nami was having a hard time with her opponent. Every now and then Nakiami would throw the poisonous pellets that Robin got sick from so Nami would have to use her cyclone tempo, giving her position away so Nakiami could breathe fire at her.
Think, Nami, think!
She needed to end this somehow, but every time she started to charge up her thunder bolt tempo, "Lady Poison" would interfere somehow.
"Come on, dear, we all know that you've lost. If you give up now,you won't end up like Roronoa."
Nami narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"You don't seriously think we went through all this trouble to get him to let him run away? No, I bet he's going through hell right now because of the little trap Rika set for him."
Nami looked to the shore. Zoro, you idiot.
Back on the island, Zoro was having his own problems.
Before either of them attacked, a small sound echoed from inside Chris' shirt.
The brown haired man pulled out a baby den den mushi and answered it. "Mr. Rika?"
"Chris, I need Sir. Put him on."
Chris frowned and pulled out a pair of glasses from his front pocket. He put them on and stood there; a couple seconds of silence ticked by.
Zoro was thoroughly confused.
"Yes, James?" Chris' voice was filled with impatience.
"Stall for a couple minutes; I'm not quite ready,
Rika said quietly so Zoro couldn't hear.
"Roger." He put the phone away and looked up at Zoro with a smirk. "Confused?"
Zoro scowled. "I don't care; just give me back my sword."
"No, no, no. We should get to know each other. They call me Sir H.C., or Sir for short," Sir H.C. said.
"What?" Zoro raised an eyebrow.
"You see," Sir H.C. continued, "I was one of the first experiments James started with the World Government." He flipped up the collar of his dress shirt.
"From the moment of birth we were trained, tested," he paused, "and tortured." Sir H.C. rolled up his sleeves, revealing black wrist bands with something strapped to them. "They wanted two heads in one. One side could be completely normal for a cover story and the other a born killer who could take a life without a second thought." Sir's eyes flashed deviously. "They got just what they wanted. The boy they used was Chris Black. His mind broke in two to protect itself, creating me."
Sir H.C. started to unbutton his shirt. "It worked too well. I formed a plan to escape from that prison. James helped me out, so I am in debt to him." He smiled evilly. "At least until I get bored of what he has to offer me."
Zoro saw that underneath the dress shirt was a black vest equipped with hundreds of small, metal objects, and strapped to Sir's wrists were long daggers.
"That should be long enough." Sir H.C. licked his lips. "Let's go, Roronoa."
In a single movement, Sir H.C. unhooked a dagger from each wrist and flung them simultaneously at Zoro. The green haired swordsman knocked one away with Kitetsu and dodged the other. He looked up just in time to see another volley of blades headed his way. Zoro steadied Kitetsu and made his way towards Sir H.C.
"Takanami!" Zoro shouted, and a gust of wind split through the air, blasting the daggers away. Zoro quickly followed up his attack with another.
"Thirty-six pound hou!" A flying slash headed straight for Sir H.C.
Zoro's opponent evaded nimbly and counterattacked by grabbing two objects from behind his back and throwing them towards Zoro. They missed cleanly. Zoro moved in within striking range but was stopped when two sharp objects punctured both his calf and his hip from behind. Sir H.C. used the distraction to put more distance between him and the swordsman.
Zoro gripped Kitetsu with one hand and pulled the two objects out with his free one. They were boomerangs, sharp blade boomerangs.
He didn't have much time to recover as more sharp objects headed his way.
The green-haired swordsman somersaulted to the side. He rolled to his feet and, without breaking his momentum, dashed after the split-personality man.
Sir H.C. threw two bright yellow knives at him, which Zoro blocked easily. Unfortunately, he didn't see the four black throwing needles Sir threw right after them.
Three needles pierced Zoro's shoulders and waist while the fourth one missed, but Zoro kept running at Sir H.C. Zoro knew Sir was toying with him because none of the needles hit vital spots, and with Sir's skill, Zoro knew he could do it. The question was why?
Zoro didn't have time to think about it as Sir pulled two double sided short swords with no guards from behind his back; both were no longer than a foot and a half long, including the handle. Kitetsu screamed for blood, and Zoro agreed to that demand. The swordsman slashed downwards, and Sir H.C. held his weapons horizontally to defend. The swords never clashed. At the last moment, Sir bent his knees, tucked his swords together, and lunged to the side.
The next two seconds seemed to go in slow motion. Zoro's sword sliced into the ground, immediately imbedding itself deeply due to Kitetsu's need for blood. Sir H.C. brought his two swords across and aimed for Zoro's neck.
Something clicked in Zoro's head that made the whole world slow down somehow. Zoro didn't know whether it was adrenaline or the devil fruit inside his body. Faster than Zoro thought he could move, he pulled his sword from the ground and slashed at his opponent, shattering Sir's swords and sending blood into the air. Kitetsu purred with excitement.
Everything seemed to speed up again as the shards of Sir's sword rained on the ground, and he fell backwards, unmoving.
Zoro felt lightheaded, trying to grasp what just happened.
He coughed, tasting the familiar copper flavor of blood in his mouth.
"Dammit," he muttered, falling to one knee. Goosebumps spread across his body as it shook. He looked down at his hands and saw that he had transformed to half panther, but he was still in control.
Zoro heard the familiar sound of a den den mushi ringing. He picked himself up and made his way over to Sir H.C. His opponent's vest was split in half and a large cut mark made its home in between. The brown haired man's eyes were rolled back and showed no sign that he would be awake any time soon.
Zoro sheathed his sword, much to Kitetsu's dismay, and opened up Sir H.C.'s shirt to find the baby den den mushi. He picked it up and answered, "Where's my sword?"
"Now, now, Roronoa, in due time."
"He said if I beat him he would give me my sword back. I'm tired of your games!"
The man on the other line chuckled. "Games? No, these are tests. This data has helped me perfect the formula; now I can create an army of devil fruit soldiers! As soon as I send this footage of you to the World Government, they'll be begging me to come back. I'll be promoted! Senior Executive Doctor James Rika, it has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"I- ah!" A throwing knife stuck out of his right arm. Zoro looked over to the fallen Sir H.C. and saw he was getting up.
"Sir, we agreed that after he responded to my questions, then you could attack!" The den den mushi had a scowl on its face.
"I got tired of playing dead like a sad puppy. If you want to ask him, come down from the damned tree and ask him in person." Sir seemed to regain his composure and turned to Zoro more directly. Now, let's continue."
Zoro dropped the den den mushi in the grass and reached for his sword, ready for round two.
Sanji's kick was aimed at Bane's stomach, but Bane sunk to the ground and lashed out with a series of hits that Sanji narrowly dodged. Sanji created some space between him and his opponent and lit a cigarette. Bane got back into his fighting stance again with a fist by his face and an open hand outstretched in front of him.
"Have you ever heard of Northern Shaolin kung fu?" Bane asked.
Sanji didn't reply.
"I didn't think so." Bane burst forth with fast powerful punches, Sanji side kicked him, but Bane maneuvered around. Many of Bane's punches landed before Sanji could counterattack with another kick.
The cook staggered backwards, his ribs aching, but Bane didn't wait for him to recuperate. With his hip pointed at Sanji, the martial artist stretched his arms towards Sanji then moved them in a small circle back towards himself. Bane took a sharp step forwards and shot his hands forward, landing another blow to the cook's ribs. Bane followed up with a kick and knocked Sanji into the side of the ship.
"I didn't think you'd be this weak," Bane snarled. "I guess I'll just-"
A foot slammed into Bane's face and sent him rocketing to the other side of the ship, smashing into the wood.
"What was that?" A newly ignited flame flashed around Sanji. "You'll pay for what you did to Robin-chan."
Sanji ran at Bane, but the kung fu master recovered and attacked.
Sanji jumped over the lower kick Bane aimed and countered with a kick of his own.
"Collier!" The kick hit bane directly in the neck.
The kick toppled Bane over the side of the deck and he landed in the hole in the dock Zoro had made when he first went to shore. Neck aching and stuck between pieces of wood, Bane was a sitting duck.
Sanji jumped off of the deck and somersaulted through the air.
Bane tried to get free, pushing off from behind him with his arms, but he was too late.
"Concasse!" Sanji shouted as his heel connected with Bane's head, shattering the dock into woodchips and sending a shock wave through the water that created a huge wave.
Sanji fell into the water, the flames around him extinguished.
The cook looked down at his soaked shirt. "I liked this tie." Shrugging, he made the short swim to shore and took off his jacket.
Sanji heard water splashing around but paid no mind to it, until he saw a shadow appear on the ground next to him. Before Sanji could turn around, Bane jabbed him in the back and arm several times and his right arm went limp.
Sanji whirled around see Bane; his head bleeding and he was panting heavily.
"You'll have to do better than that," he said with a smirk.
Out of the corner of her eye, Nami saw Sanji leap off of Sunny. Almost at the same time, Franky's chain arm shot up and grabbed on to the side of the deck, pulling him and Luffy up from the water.
Nakiami saw it too and pulled out a couple more vials of powder.
"Franky, where were you?" Nami called, not taking her eyes off Nakiami.
The shipwright hauled the sopping wet Luffy over the edge and set him down without a care.
"They planted explosives on the outside of the ship," he said with a scowl, placing the bundle of explosives, which were wrapped in Franky's floral patterned t-shirt, next to the captain.
The boat was rocked by a large and sudden wave, throwing Nakiami down to the ground, sending her little containers in all directions.
Grateful for her sea legs, Nami took this chance to finish her storm cloud with more cool and heat balls.
"Thunder bolt tempo!" She threw the little yellow lighting ball into the cloud and quickly took cover.
The lightning zapped everything in sight, friend or foe.
Nakiami and Franky were both on the ground, sparking with electricity. Nakiami was unconscious, but Franky got up.
"Hey, watch where you're-" His complaint died in his throat as he saw the sticks of explosives were lit from the lightning.
He shook Luffy. "Mugiwara! Wake up! You need to catapult these away!"
Luffy looked up groggily, now free from the yellow cream that was on his face. "Huh?"
"Don't ask questions, Luffy. Just do it!" Nami said as she walked over to them, giving him a smack on the head for emphasis.
"Okay, okay," he responded, rubbing his head.
Luffy grabbed both sides of the ship with both his hands and his feet like when he caught the cannon ball at the Baratie. Franky held him back and Nami put the explosives on Luffy's stomach. As soon as Nami assured the explosives were secure, Franky let go and the explosives shot out of sight. Seconds later, a small explosion was seen in the distance.
Nami sighed and crumpled to the ground, Franky struck a pose "Owh! That was supah!", and Luffy cheered, now finally getting the situation.
Usopp, who had been out cold the whole time, finally awoke.
He looked up to see Luffy cheering.
"L-L-Luffy! What did you do that for?" Usopp asked, gaining his composure.
Luffy looked over at him. "What are you talking about, Usopp?"
"You don't remember?" the marksman asked.
"Mmmmm… nope!"
"What was the last thing you remember?"
"I was standing on the deck… and… oh yeah! This lady gave me a pie!"
"And you ATE IT!"
"Well, I was hungry."
Usopp shook his head and noticed Robin on the ground.
"Robin?" He questioned, walking over to her.
Nami remembered the antidote and went over to Nakiami, digging through her pockets to find it. In the last pocket, she found the little vial of clear liquid and ran over to Robin with it.
"Hey, Nami. What's that?" Luffy asked, eyeing the liquid and licking his lips.
"It will make Robin better," she responded as if talking to a child.
"What? Robin is sick!" He joined Nami at Robin's side.
"No, poisoned." Nami lifted up Robin's head, waking her.
"Navigator-san?" she said weakly.
"Robin, drink this," Nami said, putting the liquid up to her nakama's mouth.
Within seconds, color returned to Robin's face.
The door to the sick bay burst open. "ZORO, WHERE ARE YOU? I DID IT!" Tears of joy streamed down the little doctor's face.
Chopper looked down over the railing, noticing his crewmates. "Hey, where's Zoro? What happened to Robin?"
"That's right!" Luffy exclaimed, remembering Zoro's whereabouts. "Zoro gets to go exploring and I don't!" He frowned.
Exploring was hardly the word for what Zoro was doing.
Round two had already begun. Zoro would expertly knock away all incoming projectiles, slash at Sir H.C., wounding him slightly, and repeat.
He's got to run out of things to throw sometime. Zoro thought.
And Sir did, he kept throwing less and less pointy objects until all he was doing was dodging.
Zoro was getting impatient; it was enough for him. This game of cat and mouse needed to end.
The energy of motivation surged through the swordsman. With newfound speed, Zoro dashed towards Sir, slashing him across the chest in the other direction,creating an "X". Sir H.C. crashed to the ground, and Zoro pounced on top of him, holding Kitetsu over Sir's neck.
"Where's. My. Sword?" Zoro spat out.
"My, my, aren't we impatient." Sir smiled, but it disappeared quickly. "Alright, I'll show you where your sword is."
"No. Tell me." Kitetsu slipped slightly, its hunger for blood unwavering.
Sir didn't flinch at the sting of Zoro's blade. "It's down the stairs over there, but you need me to open the door." He made a small effort to point to the rubble of the building. "You can't get in without knowing the right brick to push."
Zoro didn't move for two long seconds. Heclenched his teeth; he had to trust him. The swordsman got off of the man and followed him to the burnt down building.
Without warning, Zoro's legs gave out like someone had kicked them from behind, and he fell to his knees. A cold shiver zipped through his body, making his shoulders shake uncontrollably. Zoro gasped for air, but his lungs found none.
He barely heard Sir's voice. "Oh, going to die already? Pity."
Zoro's whole body was paralyzed; he looked up to see Sir H.C. on the baby den den mushi he dropped earlier. "James, you were right. He's having the same symptoms as the rest. He's about to leave this world."
Thanks to ZeldaAddict42! Till next time, folks!