Yay, so I've updated! Sorry about the wait my life has been SO hectic! I had to split this chapter in half, so I have the next chapter ready! So make sure you comment to push me to update! ;) Thanks to Phoenix, camierose, MidoriPoet, and ComicGeek for the awesome comments!
"What the-?" Kimi looked down at the brick floor that seemed to bugle underneath her feet. Distracted from the nervous feeling of the floor, the guards standing in front and attacking her, Nami and Chopper went to strike when all of a sudden they fell with the collapsing floor.
"This place is so dangerous!" Chopper yelled pushing the two woman back from the hole now turning into a vertical tornado to the ceiling. "What is going on?!" He yelled once more as the swirling wind took over the three pirates pulling them into the swirling vortex now rising them to the broken and many stories of ceilings.
Within a few more moments of chaos, the wind settled down and Kimi had a view of a blue sky and white fluffy clouds. She realized that her and the other two were falling down from the tornado-like wind onto the top ceiling of the tower.
With a twirl, Kimi landed on her feet while Nami landed right beside her crouched down in a fixed position, "Landed it!" She proudly announced just as Chopper fell messily onto his side after the fall.
"And then if you want to die," Luffy's voice pulled Kimi from her giggling of the pirate doctor, "Then you can after we save you!"
"Ouch, that hurt." The reindeer stated sitting up and rubbing his head. "Are you alright, Chopper?" Kimi asked concerned. "Oh yea, I'm fine. But I wonder what that thing was just now?"
"I can somewhat imagine…" Nami pouted crossing her arms. Looking up towards the on-looking tower, Kimi noticed the CP9 members from Iceberg's room yesterday, plus a couple of unfamiliar faces and bodies standing on the ledge of the building. Robin stood on the side of them while a man with an iron mask smiled proudly next to her.
"Ahhh, I should have climbed up this way from the start…" The voice of the green-haired swordsman muttered from the hole behind Kimi's back. Turning her head to look in his direction, she couldn't help but smile as Nami accused him of their torture jut before. Suddenly, another hole broke through on the other side and a black suited Sanji twirled from out of the dust.
"I am certainly the first one here set to save Robin-chan…" Sanji stated as he landed behind Zoro, "I am here to- AH! Marimo! Why the hell did you get here before me!?"
"Ah, you're pretty late getting here. Did you get lost?"
Sanji began to laugh offensively, "How the hell did you even learn that word?!"
A screaming yell turned the focus to a person flying through the air. "Sogeking!" Chopper exclaimed.
"He's flying through the air."
"I wonder if he'll land safely."
The enthusiasm and concern from Zoro and Sanji had clearly been non-existent making Kimi nervous for her crewmate. "Clone clone!" Kimi placed her hands out in front of her chest and cloned a pile of soft leaves in the area Sogeking had been landing. On target, the masked sharpshooter fell into the pile scattering the green leaves around the roof. With the opening of her eyes, the leaves disappeared and Ussopp rolled from off the pile.
"Kimi-swan is just so sweet!" Sanji held his hands together raving over the blue-haired woman.
"I don't care whatever you say, Robin!" Luffy's voice pulled the crew towards the ledge. "Say that when you are by our sides."
Looking up from Ussopp on the floor, Kimi stared into the teary eyes of the raven-haired woman on the opposite building. Never since Kimi had joined did she see Robin reveal any type of emotion towards the crew. But now, standing a mile away from her, Kimi could clearly see the love and the fear that Robin really didn't want to leave or die.
"Oi, Sogeking." Zoro muttered. "Can you stand?"
The masked man sat up with a small bit of struggle, "Of course. A small fall like that won't stop me!"
With a nod as he stood, the crew and Kimi walked to the ledge Luffy was standing on. They all walked at a slow and steady pace not saying a word as the joined their captain. Standing next to Zoro on the ledge, Kimi looked up at her nakama with her hands stuffed in her pockets and a confident smirk on her lips.
"Leave the rest to us!" The captain screamed across the way. "Sogeking…" He whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Make that flag burst into flames."
With a nod and a straight dead on shot, the sharpshooter had a direct target on the flag of the world government. "Done." He proudly responded.
"ROBIN! I still haven't heard it from your mouth! SAY YOU WANT TO LIVE!" Luffy screamed so loudly that his voice echoed in the open space. From the way Robin was contemplating her thoughts, it seemed as if she still wanted to die.
And then in the next moment, Robin yelled at the top of her lungs, "I WANT TO LIVE! TAKE ME OUT TO THE SEA WITH YOU!"
Tomoko Kimiko knew in that moment what she needed to do for her nakama… stretching her fingers out in front, the blue-haired woman smiled at the confident feeling of the stretch of leather gloves.
"Let's go!"
Birds chirped as Sogeking and Kimiko walked into the garden type of room. Their mission: to rescue Robin from her sea prism stone handcuffs with a key one of the CP9 members had.
"Oi, Kimi-san. Go and get the key!" Ussopp now hiding behind the mask of Sogeking commanded in a whisper.
"Yea right!" Kimi whispered back and then looked back at the man sleeping in front of one of the keys. "Fine!" He nodded and began to tip-toe his way over to the sleeping CP9 member.
Kimi watched holding her breath as he walked quietly towards the enemy and then held her breath as his nose bubble popped making Sogeking back away. Jyabura, the CP9 member, turned over his shoulder at the partial sleep disturbance leaving the key wide open behind his back.
Kimi slapped her forehead and then cloned herself right in front of where the key lay behind the man in the hopes of rescuing Robin faster. And put an end to Sogeking's carelessness.
Speaking of, Sogeking had let out a cry as a bumblebee stung him causing the CP9 member to wake from his sleep and attack the Kimi clone about to take the key. Kimi made a point to give the masked Ussopp a death glare and then looked back at the man.
"Ah so you have challenged me huh?" The CP9 member stood to his feet examining Kimi and Sogeking.
"Yes! Now give us the key!" Kimiko yelled getting ready to attack.
"Oh, you're the one who shot the government flag down huh?" the man picked up his sake jug and drank from it while eyeing Ussopp evilly. "You have a good arm!" And then suddenly Ussopp was sent flying through the air to the brick wall. "Sogeking!" Kimi looked behind her back at her nakama and then quickly defended herself from the man. "And you so beautiful. I'm not sure I can bring myself to hurt a woman such as yourself."
Kimi smirked. "You'd better. I'm one tough cookie to bring down." She held her right hand up to defend her face just in case he decided to attack her as well. Just then the man began to transform into a human-wolf form almost similar to Lucci's leopard form from before.
"Well despite the way I look, I don't like to torture." The wolf-man laughed looking devilishly towards the blue-haired woman. "All I have to do is cut your windpipe and it'll be over. If you're gonna die then there's no reason to suffer. It's a shame though. You could make a beautiful wife…but as orders, I must kill you!"
"A wolf?!" Ussopp ran next to Kimi with his slingshot ready. "What's this? You wanna fight?" The wolf laughed just about to make a move when all of a sudden the ceiling began to crumble from above.
"Sogeking!" Kimi ran to her nakama and pushed him out of the way from the giant pieces of brick and debris falling towards them.
"Hahaha Kaku! Your new power is so hilarious!" The wolf laughed not phased at all from the destruction above making Kimi look up at a giraffe man and Zoro falling from above. She was quick enough to clone herself to catch Zoro but it disappeared from the harsh landing afterwards.
Running towards the swordsman and leaving Sogeking behind, Kimi watched as the two Zoan fruit users taunted each other on their power. It was somewhat cruel, but it gave Kimi an opportunity to think about how to defeat, now, two CP9 members. That was, until Zoro directed the attention towards him and her. "Oi, how long do you plan to keep arguing there? I already told you I don't have the time!" He held one of his three swords in his hands and took a defensive stance causing Kimi to sigh at her ruined plan of secret attack.
"Do you underestimate the power of a giraffe?" Kaku smirked and then his body seemed to transform even more in his giraffe form.
"You look like shit!" Zoro yelled out causing Kimi to drop to the floor.
"What!?" Kaku screeched and then Jyabura, the wolf-man, began to laugh even more. "How long are you going to keep laughing at me, Jyabura?" The wolf-man tried to keep his laughter in but he could not contain it as he tumbled on the ground and began to roll around the garden area.
'Why are all his body-parts square like his nose?' Kimi thought crossing her arms, 'Giraffes aren't square?' Just then a clanking noise next to her made the woman look to the swordsman.
"Oi! What the hell is this!?" He held his hand up at the pair of steal handcuffs secured tightly on his wrist.
Sogeking screeched from the other side of the room. "Opps! Sorry Zoro-kun! My hand slipped. I thought if I handcuffed those two with the devil fruit abilities they would become weak, but the giraffe's face is so hilarious!" he giggled pointing to Kaku.
"No doubt!" Jyabura laughed once again.
"Danm you! All of you!" Kaku growled and then began to twirl on one of his hands rapidly creating a thick wind in the room.
Zoro ran to Kimi picking her up by her waist and then continued running towards Ussopp dragging them to the ground. "Get down!" He pushed them both on the ground and covered the two with his body causing Kimi to be awkwardly in the middle of the two men. The entire building shook and within seconds the ceiling above titled and slid from off of it base. Kimi gasped at the pure strength of the man; even if he was a giraffe he was very powerful and not to be teased.
Zoro opened his eyes and looked into the woman's opposing sky blue eyes for a moment. Kimi felt strange in that moment that Zoro had been looking into her soul in a way making it hard for her to inhale. With a small shake of his head, he pushed his chest off of hers to sit up and face their enemies Kimi gasped throwing herself off of Ussopp and to a sitting position. "He's so strong! His centrifugal force is aided by his new ability!" She looked at the smiling giraffe man.
"I see." Zoro nodded and then stood to his feet, but as his did so, Kimi felt a pinching feeling capturing her wrist and pulling upwards as Zoro moved. "Ouch!" She cried and then looked to her left wrist and gasped in horror. The added sensation of feeling unbelievably weak could NOT be a good sign combined with the fact she and Zoro had been captured.
"No matter how sharp your blade has gotten that doesn't scare me one bit- Oi!" Zoro felt the same sensation of his wrist behind held down like Kimi's had.
"Ussopp!" Kimi yelled evilly with fangs growing out of her teeth. "Look what you did!" She growled.
"Oi! Kimiko, what the hell!?" The swordsman yelled at the woman.
She hit the top of his head and yelled back. "What!? It's not my fault you got handcuffed in the first place!"
"Well you were just standing there hopelessly during his attack! What was I supposed to do?! Let it hit you!?" he yelled back and then looked to the masked Ussopp, "Fix this! It's your fault!" He continued to yell back and forth with Ussopp while Kimi shook her blue-haired head.
"Listen! In the end, we are in the same situation like Robin. The only way to get us out of this mess is to find the key that will open these cuffs!" She looked to the two enemies before her. "Do you have the key for these handcuffs?" She asked sweetly hoping they could free her and the swordsman.
"Depends. What number cuffs do you have?" Kaku responded.
The woman looked around lifting her hand, and Zoro's hand, to her view. "Number two!" She smiled praying one of them had the correct key. They looked down at the keys in each of their hands and frowned.
"Not mine."
"Mine either."
"Damn it! After getting our hopes up they tell us this!" Zoro yelled and then looked over at the woman. "Can you use your power at all?" He wondered.
Kimi shook her head. "No, I can barely stand…this prism is so strong." She grimaced and then looked back at her enemies.
"So I guess who ever get the kill first wins." Jyabura nodded and then took a stance in his wolf form.
Kimi turned her head over her shoulder, "Ussopp! One of the other CP9 members must have the key! Go find it! NOW!" She yelled trying to intimidate the intensity of Nami. Apparently it worked since he ran off into the shadows of the hallway immediately.
Kimi looked back towards the animal Devil Fruit men and then gasped as she felt something snake around her waist and then pulled her up into the air and onto something sturdy. She blinked twice and then noticed the back of Zoro's yellow jacket below her. "Wha-?" The swordsman had picked her up over his shoulder in the heat of the moment while the two Zoan devil fruit type users chased the two throughout the Japanese garden field.
She gasped and then huffed feeling the oxygen puff out from her lungs at a rapid and bouncy jog from underneath her pelvis. "Zoro!" Kimi tried to free herself from his hold but it had been no use. "Let me down!" She cried and yet more and more attacks seemed to barely miss the two.
He ignored her constant pleas and weak hits from her free arm on his back. There was no way the two could out-run the CP9 men while Kimi had the weakening power of the sea clutched around her wrists. Zoro ran across a red bridge and then noticed the two CP9 enemies had stopped chasing him and began to fight with one another like they had done before he and she had been tied together.
"Zoro!" Kimi whined in a whisper, "Put me down, now!" She sternly argued and he reluctantly agreed after being a safe enough distance from the two.
He and she watched for a brief moment as the two CP9 members yelled at one another until Zoro's attention turned to a now widely grinning Kimiko. An idea had sparked in the heat of the moment her brilliant mind.
"Oh really? You want to see which is stronger? The Giraffe or Wolf?" She yelled causing the two men look towards her and Zoro pausing their argument. "You wanna see them fight? Wow, me too!"
"No, not really." Zoro muttered but Kimi placed her free hand over his mouth. "This coming from the man who used to be the best pirate hunter of the sea, you think the wolf is stronger? Really?" She bluffed feeling like Ussopp in the heat of the moment. If she could make the two CP9 members fight one another than it would just be enough time for her and Zoro to escape. "Well I think the giraffe is pretty strong too, after all, he did cut the building!"
Just as planned, the two Zoan fruit users started another fight, this one over who would win in a fight with the other. "Oh you want those two to fight so that we can escape, huh?" Zoro apparently understood Kimi's plan but spoke aloud his words just a bit too loudly making the CP9 members stop their argument and stare at Kimi and the swordsman.
Slapping her face Kimi shook her head. 'How can he be so powerful and yet so dumb at the same time…just like Luffy…' She sweat-dropped and then looked up. "Be quiet this time!" She shushed the man and then looked to the two animals.
"Well, besides being powerful, I wonder which one would win a woman's heart?!" She giggled innocently. "Giraffe are so cute, but wolves are so fierce and strong!? Which one do you think would be better for a girl like me, Zoro-kun!?" Kimi giggled once again this time trying to be sexy like Nami.
The fact of Kimi's innocent and yet, seductive sentence caused Zoro to blush at her while the two animals fought once more. "Hurry, Zoro! Let's get out of here-" She tried to run but instead her left arm being contained in the handcuffs would not budge causing her to be pulled back into her position from before.
"I have an idea, Kimiko." Zoro bluntly responded. "I'll just cut my hand off so that we can be separated from this prison."
"WHAT!?" Kimi hit the top of his head, weakly, "How can you say that with such a straight face!" She yelled at the thick-headed man. Zoro rubbed the spot on his head, "Wait, I'm not done! I'll just run over to Chopper and then he'll sew my hand back on!"
"You're not a doll, Zoro!" She yelled using what was left of her strength to pull his free hand towards her, "Hurry and shut up!"
They ran together for a few paces when Zoro stopped causing Kimi to be pulled back to him just as before. "Wait! I have another idea!" Zoro growled while his face turned black from the ghastly thought rampaging in his head.
"NO!" Kimi smacked his face once again and sweat-dropped. "You're ideas are mental!" She cried.
In a moment, the entire room became still for the blue-haired woman as she felt her breathing, and heartbeat, increase as Zoro held her in position in front of his body. Her cuffed hand had been jerked behind her back while Zoro's similar cuffed hand held her waist protectively. His chest predominantly protected her back making Kimi blush at the close connection between the two.
"Take this." He demanded giving Kimi with his free hand one of his black swords into her right hand, the one free from the cuffs. "What!?" She gasped taking the heavy sword. "I can't-"
"You can." He nodded pulling out the other two swords into their positions. "Just believe in yourself." He talked through the mouthful of his white katana and grinned.
"No…seriously. I can't, Zoro. The handcuff is taking away all of the strength I have. I can barely stand." She looked cautiously as the sword shimmered in the sunlight from the sliced rooftop. It was such a beautiful sword but it was heavier than she imagined and after holding it for a few seconds was already tiring her out unbelievably.
"You don't have to do much." He growled and then took a stance while Kimi stood there hopelessly in front of him.
"You better not cut my neck with that sword in your mouth!" She warned the man and he grinned bigger. "I won't." He simply responded back.
"Ha! You two are ridiculous!" Jyabura laughed while Kaku shook his head. "I didn't want to harm the lady, but I guess I have to now…" he frowned.
Kimi gulped not sure what exactly to do at this point, usually she was good, if not the best, at figuring out plans in her head to escape a certain doom. She got it from trying to avoid attacks from her vicious sister and the Marines that so often visited her and her father. But now…she was stuck in a position she had not one clue how to get herself free.
Feeling Zoro bend his knees and hold his Katana in his left hand just so, Kimi panicked and crouched down holding the sword in her hand as well. "Oni…" Zoro whispered this time making Kimi cry, "You can't be serious!?" But he was and using the hand securely and purposely holding her waist, he pushed her forwards trying to make her run to attack.
But Kimi held her ground despite the pinches from Zoro and the tired feeling almost shutting down her body. Growling through the sword in his mouth, Zoro sighed, "Guess I'll just have to cut my hand off then…that's the only way to be free."
"Don't be an idiot! Please? For two seconds just give me time to think!" She whined once more but her thoughts were pushed aside as Kaku began to spin around rapidly as he had done before when the building split in half. "No time!" Zoro pulled his hand around her waist tightly to his lower half clutching onto her stomach and jumped into the air avoiding the attack.
Although screaming was not the best way to get out of the situation, it was the only thing Kimi could do at the moment as she flew in the room with the swordsman at her back. As they landed Kimi's knees buckled and she fell while her arm hung hopelessly behind her back. "You are so weak." Zoro muttered making Kimi shake her head.
'I know I am…I just can't seem to catch up to my breath…' She tried to breathe deeply, feeling a panic attack from the anxiety and strain of fighting began to latch onto her small body. "I'm sorry…" She held the sword in her hand tightly and using all her might stood back in front of Zoro.
"Just fight." He nodded and eyed Kaku as he begun to twirl around once again. Just as he was about to leap forward, despite if the woman in front of him had wanted him to or not, Kimi dropped his sword causing it to be carried off in the increasing wind behind the couple. "OI!" He yelled and jumped behind to get her to catch the Katana before it broke or ventured too far.
Taking the opportunity, Jyabura punched the ground barely missing Kimi as Zoro jumped backwards. Kaku did the same but missed as well while Zoro pulled the woman back even further. He heard her gasp for a second but his mind was focused on his precious sword.
"Grab it!" He yelled to the woman and she reached her gloved hand to the sword clutching it in her hand. "Don't let go next time!" he muttered and focused back on the fight.
"Zoro…" Kimi gasped and panted. "I-I…"
"Damnit. It would just be easier if I just cut my hand off- and where the hell is Ussopp with the keys?!" He paid no attention to her plea and instead looked around for his masked nakama.
"Zoro!" She gasped again making him turn his head in front of her blue-haired bun. By this point it was almost a ponytail from being thrown about so much.
"What!?" He yelled and then stopped as the worried expression plastered on her face told him the situation had just gone from worse to critical.
"He cut me…m-my leg…"