Title: Lost and Found
Theme: #26: Garden
Claim: Zoro
(Words:) 7,319
Rating: PG
Warnings: Set between Alabasta and Water 7. Little bit of language, minor violence, nothing serious. Sort of longish because I got too into it lol.
Disclaimer(s): I do not own, or pretend to own, One Piece or any of its subsequent characters, plots or other ideas. That right belongs solely to Eiichiro Oda. I do not own the prompts either—those are assigned by 30_OnePiece.
The island they'd arrived at that morning wasn't exactly thrilling—in fact, considering it was on the Grand Line, it was downright tame compared to some of the other places they'd been. Zoro would have expected to see this place back on the East Blue, not on the infamous Pirates' Graveyard. It was apparently a huge center of trade for all manner of plants and fungi, and if it didn't grow there somebody was sure to import it from somewhere else to sell it. It also had a rich cultural history and was the site of a lot of medical discoveries, and the place was known for treating anyone regardless of background, marine or pirate. Zoro supposed that granted the island some sort of immunity or something.
Several of their crew had been excited to visit. Chopper had been positively ecstatic, rushing off almost as soon as they docked to speak to the traders about rare medicinal herbs and other natural remedies. Robin had been calmer, obviously, but had expressed a lot of interest in visiting the island's historical district.
Not everyone was quite as excited as those two, though. Luffy, in particular, was troublesome—he was very rapidly becoming bored, and when Luffy got bored, bad things tended to happen. Robin suggested checking out the island's world-famous gardens, which stretched on for miles. Luffy, convinced that it would be like exploring, agreed enthusiastically, and Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji went with him, mostly to babysit. Zoro was just interested in finding a nice, quiet corner where he could get a good nap in undisturbed, and a huge garden seemed like it'd be just the place for that.
They were pleasantly surprised to find that the gardens actually were pretty spectacular, and even more impressively, they kept Luffy's attention for quite some time. He and Usopp rushed back and forth, looking at the brightly colored flowers and smelling the scents, which ranged from oddly pleasant to downright bizarre. A lot of the species had been imported from various other islands with different climates, and most of the arrays of flowers had placards posted on the protective guard rails to explain what the species were, which Nami usually read out loud to the others for their benefits. They walked through several greenhouses for special summer-island plants that needed more heat, and there was an enormous building set up for winter-island plants, with extremely cold air continuously being pumped through it. There were even some strange varieties of plants that appeared to be alive, with odd snapping jaws or wiggling vine-like arms; these were kept in enclosed display rooms with very thick-paned glass, like a zoo, and viewers were warned to not disturb the subjects.
But the attraction that really caught their eye (or more specifically, Luffy's) was the hedge maze they stumbled across a little before noon.
"Awesome!" Luffy proclaimed, looking up at the towering, neatly trimmed bushes with bright eyes. The hedges had to be at least twenty feet tall, and were extraordinarily thick, more like leafy green walls than plants. A large wooden arch proclaiming 'Entrance' was placed over one of the wide openings in the hedge, and another marked 'Exit' could be seen a little further down the way. A large signpost was set up in between the two entryways, with a list of information about the maze.
"These hedges are Cretan Whitethorn," Nami read off the informative sign, as the rest of the pirates gathered behind her. "It says they grow naturally into mazes even in the wild, but if cultivated carefully they become more creative. I wonder what that means...oh, wow! This one has over ten miles of track!"
Luffy had that gleam in his eye that said he was about to get up to mischief. Sure enough, seconds later he grinned and said, "Let's do the maze!"
"Wait just a second, Luffy," Nami said, reading over the sign still. "There are rules listed here too. It's a caution. 'Cretan Whitethorn is a very idealistic plant. It loves to create a challenge, respects rules, and detests cheating. Players should make note of this before entering the maze.' Huh, what a strange warning for a hedge maze..."
"C'mon, let's go already!" Luffy said delightedly. "Zoro, I'll race you—"
"Absolutely not," Nami said, before Zoro could even open his mouth to say...well, pretty much the same thing, although maybe with a curse in there somewhere. "Zoro is not allowed near that maze. If he can get lost going in a straight line, there is absolutely no way we will ever find him again if he goes in there."
"Excuse me? I'm not that bad!" Zoro protested with a splutter. "It's always you guys that move around, anyway."
"Are you calling Nami-san a liar, shit-swordsman?" Sanji growled warningly.
"And what if I am, curly-brow?"
Sanji looked ready to charge, and Zoro started drawing one of his katana in preparation, but before either one could make the first move Luffy collared Usopp and said, "Okay, you can come with me then, I bet I can beat you through it!"
"No one can beat the Great Captain Usopp in a maze race," the sniper declared, as the two jogged over to the entrance of the Cretan Whitethorn hedge. "Why, one time when I was three I came across an enchanted maze that shifted the walls and floor and ceiling whenever you moved! But there was a princess trapped within it that I had to rescue, so I went into it with nothing more than a packed lunch and a magical flute that legend said calmed the labyrinth!"
"Really? What happened next?"
"Well, I played the flute to make the maze stop shifting, and left myself a trail of ketchup from my lunch..." The voices faded away as the two went further into the maze, and after a moment they were gone completely.
Nami sighed. "Well. If Usopp is with him, this shouldn't be too bad," she said. She, Zoro and Sanji walked over to the 'Exit' portion of the maze, and waited.
And waited. And waited. And waited.
After half an hour, Zoro finally got tired of standing around, and walked over to a nearby bench. It was long enough for him to stretch out fully on, and he did so, folding his hands behind his head to make it a little more comfortable. He allowed himself to doze, just barely aware of his surroundings.
"Where the hell are they?" Nami growled from over by the exit, a little while later. "It's been an hour since they went in! It can't be that difficult to figure out."
"Nami-san is simply gorgeous when she's worried," Zoro heard the love-cook whimper delightedly.
"I'm not worried, I'm annoyed," Nami shot back. "I don't want to stand out here all day waiting for them!"
"Allow me to go in after them for you, Nami-swaaaaaan!" Sanji offered. "I'll find them immediately and drag them right out for you! I'll make sure to punish them for wasting your precious time!"
"You might as well," Nami said with a sigh. "I don't think it'll waste any more time than is already being wasted. You could probably catch up to them easily enough."
"I'm so pleased to have your confidence, Nami-san!" Sanji trilled. "I'll have them out in only a few minutes!" Zoro heard the quick thumping of dress shoes on dirt as Sanji ran into the hedge maze, and that, too, faded away after only a few moments as the cook disappeared inside.
At least it'll be a little quieter now, Zoro decided idly as he dozed. The love-cook's tendency to start rambling over anything either of the girls said or did was downright annoying, but with him absent it'd be a little easier to catch some shuteye.
Or not. He felt more than saw a shadow fall over him as his nice, comfortably warm sunlight was blocked, and cracked an eye open to see Nami standing over him. "Scooch over," she ordered. "I might as well sit down while we wait."
"There's at least three other benches," Zoro said, and closed his eye again. "Go sit on one of those."
"This one is closest to the exit."
"Yeah, and I'm sleeping on it."
"Argh! You are so..."
She fell silent, and Zoro thought for a brief moment he'd won—until he felt himself being unexpectedly shoved off the bench and onto the concrete path that lead the way through the garden. "What the hell was that for?" he growled, as he rolled to his feet.
She smirked at him, now sitting smugly on the end of the bench that he had been occupying until just recently. "This is the best place to wait for them, at the end," she said. "So I'm waiting. Now that Sanji-kun's in there looking for them, this shouldn't take too long—you won't have time to nap anyway."
Zoro begged to differ—catnaps were still pretty decent, even if they were short. But he had a feeling Nami was getting into an argumentative mood what with all this waiting, and he really didn't want her chalking up his fines any further today, so for once he decided to play nice and just ignore her. He sat down on the other end of the bench, cupped his chin in one hand, and let out a bored sigh as he waited for the rest of his crew to emerge from the maze.
And waited. And waited. And waited.
"I don't believe this," Nami finally said, fuming, an hour later. "This is ridiculous! Luffy I can understand getting lost, and Usopp can get easily distracted, but Sanji-kun, too? It's been over two hours since we found this maze, and they've been in there for most of it!"
Zoro shrugged, and said dryly, "It is a maze. It's sort of meant to get you lost, isn't it?"
"As if you would know anything about it," Nami shot back. "Argh, fine. If you want to get something done, sometimes you just have to do it yourself." She stood up from the bench, brushed off her skirt, and whirled on Zoro, gesturing with a warning finger. "I'm going in to find them. Do not go in that maze, or I swear, I will raise your interest by five hundred percent. After all this, there is no way I want to go looking for you, too!"
"Whatever," he snapped back. "As if I want to go in there, anyway. Waste of time if you ask me."
"Good. Then stay put." She pointed sharply at the bench, as if to emphasize her point, and then turned on her high heels and marched determinedly into the Cretan Whitethorn maze.
Zoro rolled his eyes, shrugged, and stretched out on his bench once more to get back to his nap. Without the witch or the love-cook there to yammer at him, it was surprisingly simple to fall into a nice doze, and before long he was out like a light.
Zoro woke with a yawn some time later and idly stretched on his bench. Despite being made of stone it had been quite comfortable, and the garden was peaceful and quiet; combined, it had made his sleep quite relaxing. The temperature was starting to drop now, which had probably prompted him awake. It felt like it was getting close to nightfall—
Wait. What?
Glancing up at the sky, Zoro was surprised to see the sun quite low; it probably wasn't much more than an hour before dusk. It had been around two in the afternoon when Nami had gone into the maze and he'd finally dozed off. Had that much time really passed? Why was he still here?
For a moment he thought that perhaps the other Straw Hats had just left him there and gone back to the ship. But no, that didn't make sense. For one thing, he was reasonably sure that they would have woken him if they were leaving the gardens. For another, he was never so deeply asleep that he became completely unaware of the world around him. In this day and age that was just flat-out dangerous. He would have sensed if any of his fellow pirates had snuck past him to head back for the Going Merry. But he was still here, and it was getting close to sunset—that didn't make sense, either.
His gaze swung to the towering, twenty-foot-high hedge maze. They couldn't seriously still be lost in there, could they? An hour or two was one thing, but all afternoon? That was a little weird.
Well, maybe they were close to the edge. He strode over to the 'Exit' sign and waited by the opening in the bushes, listening, but he didn't hear any of his friends yammering on the inside or arguing with each other. "Luffy?" he called, frowning a little. "Hey, witch! Curly-brow! Usopp, you in there?"
Nothing. Stranger still, his voice seemed to fall oddly flat as soon as it hit that little opening in the hedges, like it wasn't even making it into the maze. Something about this was starting to unsettle Zoro. He could feel a cool prickling at the back of his spine, his usual early warning that something wasn't quite right, and that he would need to take action soon.
Of course, there wasn't much else that he could do other than go in after them, which could cause problems all on its own. Primarily his own grief when Nami inevitably jumped up his interest. By five hundred percent. Five hundred percent. That was ridiculous just for a stupid maze!
He debated it in his head. Follow his instincts and go in after his crew, only to be in debt up to his eyeballs for eternity. Or leave them be, and hope they found their way out before they died of old age...or whatever else might be in there.
Instincts won out. What the hell. It wasn't like he would ever be able to pay Nami off, anyway.
Decision made, he strode forward towards the 'Exit' opening, intending to go in backwards and find them that way—after several hours, they'd still likely be closer to the ending than the beginning. But as soon as he tried to take his first step between the hedges, the temperature seemed to drop significantly, until he almost felt like he was walking into ice-water, and the bushes rustled alarmingly even though there was no wind.
Frowning, Zoro took a step back. Almost immediately the air warmed again, and the bushes stopped moving, although Zoro could swear the maze was glaring at him somehow. There was a heavy sense of pressure coming from the plants, a barely suppressed anger that Zoro could feel nonetheless thanks to his recent training in Alabasta. It didn't want him to go in this way—that much was obvious.
He remembered rather suddenly the information Nami had read off of the signpost for this maze earlier. Cretan Whitethorn is a very idealistic plant. It loves to create a challenge, respects rules, and detests cheating. Technically, going in the back way was cheating, and Zoro was very aware now that he didn't want to piss the plants off, not with his friends still in there somewhere. "Sorry," he apologized to it, keeping his voice level. "I made a mistake. I'll go in the right way this time."
The Cretan Whitethorn seemed mollified, and the angry presence seemed to vanish. Zoro frowned, but walked over to the entrance this time instead, and stepped unhindered into the maze.
Almost as soon as he was surrounded by the enormous hedges the world seemed to grow quieter, like everything else outside the hedge existed very far away. Frowning, Zoro turned around to glance behind him. The path and benches and displays of flowers were all still there, only a few feet away, but his ability to sense the rhythm of the world told him those same things were miles away, unimportant.
Okay. That was a little strange.
Zoro was aware of the presence again too, in the confines of the hedges. There was no human being, no ghost, just a sense of...aliveness that didn't fit naturally into any other category. It was the same sort of feeling Zoro got from his cursed sword, Sandai Kitetsu, although with significantly less malice—something not aware, but sentient none the less. This time the hedge wasn't angry, not like before when he'd inadvertently tried to cheat. But it was watchful, patient, waiting, and Zoro was acutely aware that unlike Kitetsu—which grudgingly accepted him as its master and was subdued as a result—this Cretan Whitethorn had no master to temper its violence if it was made angry.
Zoro thought of the warning Nami had read again, and determined that he would not try cheat under any circumstances. No climbing the hedges, no cutting through them, no matter what. He wasn't sure what this thing would do if he made it angry, really angry. But while he was pretty sure he could handle it, he had no idea if the rest of his crew in here could, or what their conditions already were. So he'd play nice, for now.
So he took a deep breath, and without any further hesitation, plunged his way into the maze.
The first path lead straight for several moments, long enough to lead him fully into the maze and make the rhythms outside sound even more deadened, and then abruptly split into five paths. Zoro supposed this was a real stumper for most people, but to him it was painfully obvious that the second from the right was the one that was supposed to be taken, and take it he did without pause. The next fork he came to was just as obvious—the one closest to the left was the answer. And the one after that as well—middle path, clear as day. Left, second right, third left, farthest right—this wasn't hard at all, why did people make such a big deal of it?
He was still aware of the Cretan Whitethorn's presence. It appeared to be following him how, and seemed politely puzzled every time he never bothered to slow down and study the next series of turns and forks. Zoro could tell it was scrutinizing him carefully to see if he was cheating somehow, but Zoro was quite confident that he wasn't—the maze was just too easy. Then it seemed to pause before growing excited, when Zoro approached the next three branching paths, as though a challenge had finally been presented.
Zoro wasn't sure exactly what the thing's excitement was for, until he reached the paths themselves. It was painfully obvious that the one on the far left was the path he was supposed to take. But a niggling feeling at the back of his consciousness insisted that the far right path was just as important to head down. It was the same insistent feeling Zoro got every time one of his crew members was in danger and he was pushing himself to protect them in time. He glanced at the left-hand path once, and then turned and strode casually down the right one.
A few twists and turns later, and he was suddenly aware of a voice cursing the bushes ahead of him, sounding extremely frustrated. Turning the corner, he was unsurprised to see Nami standing there with her Clima-Tact out, beating at the Cretan Whitethorn furiously with the metal poles. "Let me out already, you stupid plant!" she growled furiously, taking another swipe at the hedges, but not even a single leaf was torn off of the towering plants from her attack.
"That's not going to work," Zoro said dryly, crossing his arms. "Didn't you pay attention to the sign you read?"
Nami squealed in surprise and whipped around, Clima-Tact at the ready, but relaxed when she recognized him. "Zoro," she hissed, "I told you not to come in here! This maze is crazy enough already without adding your sense of direction to the mix." She sighed, and said with exasperation, "How long have you been in here?"
Zoro shrugged. "Not sure. Ten minutes, maybe?"
Nami looked surprised. "No way. You've got to be lying. It took me two hours to find my way to this point!"
"Can't see why. This maze is pretty easy. I'm surprised you guys have been in here this long."
She grit her teeth. "Easy, huh? I am one of the best, if not the best, navigators on the Grand Line, and not even I can find my way through this stupid thing." She took another swipe at the hedges with her Clima-Tact, and the pole bounced off like it was hitting a wall.
"Stop that," Zoro told her sharply. "That's not going to work."
"I'd like to see you do better!" Nami hissed at him in frustration.
"Alright," he said, and turned back the way he'd come. "Let's go, then."
"No, Zoro, don't wander off—argh, don't leave me here alone, either!" She trotted after him, hesitantly putting the Clima-Tact away after a moment, but that didn't stop her from lecturing. "You'd better not get us even more lost. It took me forever to get this far, and I don't want to be trapped in here all night."
Zoro rolled his eyes and said, "It'll be fine. Just don't cheat, and don't wander off like you guys always do." Nami spluttered and looked about to protest, but Zoro kept going before she could. "Have you seen any of the others in here?"
"No," she said, after grinding her teeth a little more. "I thought I heard Luffy once, but when I finally found my way to where I thought the sound was coming from nothing was there. It must've been a fluke."
Zoro shrugged. He'd made their way back to where the original path diverged now, and turned back to the proper path on the left, with Nami grudgingly following. The presence of the maze seemed satisfied—it had offered a challenge, and Zoro met it successfully, which seemed to please it.
They walked on for another ten minutes, with Zoro choosing the paths. Nami stalked behind him, grumbling for the first few minutes, but eventually she fell silent, and finally said with bewilderment in her tone, "Zoro...we haven't hit a single dead end yet."
"Yeah? So?"
"So...you're leading the way."
Zoro scowled at her over his shoulder, and was just about to protest when they heard a frantic yelping coming from somewhere to their left. It sounded suspiciously like Usopp—a very terrified Usopp—and Zoro was suddenly aware of the Cretan Whitethorn's anger at almost the same moment.
"It's coming from that path," Nami said, and darted towards it.
"No," Zoro said sharply, and grabbed her wrist. "Not that one—it's this one." He tugged her towards a path near the one she'd indicated, which appeared to lead away from the scream, but Zoro knew instinctively that this was the correct one. Nami protested for a moment, but then they were already pelting down the pathway, turning several corners at breakneck speed.
Usopp came into view suddenly—what was left of him to view, anyway. He was half buried in the thick hedge walls, and sinking into it faster with every second. Zoro didn't hesitate: he threw himself forward and plunged his hands into the hedge on either side of the crew's sniper. The bushes scratched at his arms angrily with thorns that he was pretty sure weren't there a second ago, but he managed to fasten his hands around Usopp's upper arms all the same, and held on gamely. Then it was his strength against the hedge's, and they effectively came to a stalemate.
"Zoro!" the sharpshooter blubbered. "Get me out, get me out, get me out, helphelphelp!"
Zoro grit his teeth as the hedge tugged at Usopp again. The stalemate wouldn't last for long, and Zoro was acutely aware of the Cretan Whitethorn growing angrier. So he raised his voice and yelled to the presence, "I'm sorry my friend tried to cheat! I'll make sure he doesn't do it again if you let me have him back, I promise."
"Zoro, what are you doing?" Nami hissed from beside him. She looked like she wanted to help somehow, but with all but Usopp's head buried in the hedge by this point, and most of Zoro's arms as well, there wasn't much for her to grip. Usopp watched Zoro as well with wide, frightened eyes.
Zoro ignored them for the moment—he was still listening to the presence. It was still angry, but at Zoro's words it seemed to consider, waiting. After a moment it finally seemed to calm down, and forcefully spat Usopp out of the hedge, as if to say, fine, take him then. Zoro grunted as the sniper crashed down on top of him, and shoved Usopp off roughly.
Nami helped the two of them to their feet, and as one the trio glanced at the hedges that Usopp had been nearly swallowed by a second before. They looked perfectly normal once again, and Zoro was unsurprised to note that the thorns were gone as well, although his arms were still scratched up pretty good. He glanced over at his friends next. Nami looked worried, and Usopp was trembling violently while thanking Zoro profusely for the save.
"Alright," he said, "What'd you do to piss it off?"
"I c-ouldn't find my w-way out," Usopp stuttered, "So I t-tried to use a flame star to b-burn some of the hedges so I c-could esc-cape..."
Now that he mentioned it, Zoro could see Usopp's slingshot laying on the ground not too far away. He picked it up, handed it back to the sniper, and said with a note of finality, "Put it away, and don't take out any of your weapons again."
"Okay," Usopp said. "Are you going to cut our way out instead?"
"No," Zoro said, very firmly. "That's cheating." He could feel the presence watching him, and it seemed pleased with his answer. "C'mon, let's go." And once again he led the way back to the original path.
He led them on for another twenty minutes—this maze might be easy, but it was sure as hell long. Nami did say there were miles of track in here. Most of that was probably dead ends, but the correct path would still be pretty extensive. He walked on ahead, calmly taking the most obvious paths every time they came to a fork, and occasionally glanced back behind him to make sure his two crew mates hadn't wandered off and, more importantly, were behaving themselves. It allowed him to overhear their conversation—they were whispering to each other, but he could pick it out whenever he turned to keep an eye on them.
"We haven't hit a dead end yet."
"I know! He did the same thing before we found you, too. And he picked the right path to get to you in time on his own."
"That's...are you sure this is Zoro?"
"It has to be, but I don't know what all of this is about. I figured if we set him loose in here we'd never see him again."
"I can hear you," Zoro groused, glaring over his shoulder. They fell silent after that.
It was starting to get darker when they came to another diverging path, this one with five forks. Usopp and Nami waited expectantly, and Zoro paused in the middle of the branches for the first time, considering. He was getting that niggling feeling at the back of his mind again, the same one he'd gotten for Nami earlier.
"Don't tell me you've lost your...whatever it is...that's getting you through now," Nami said, almost helplessly.
"No," Zoro said after a moment. "That's the right path." He pointed at the second one from the left. "But I think somebody else is down this way," he added, gesturing to the middle fork. "I'll go check it out."
"Don't leave us!" Usopp yelped, and the two scrambled after him. He rolled his eyes, but they were probably safer with him, anyway.
They went through several more twists and turns, and then came around the corner to spot Luffy, sprawled spread-eagled on the ground. For one horrified moment Zoro was afraid the Cretan Whitethorn's presence had grown angry enough with Luffy to kill him somehow—he wouldn't put it past his captain to do something to piss it off, accidentally or no. But the captain looked up when they called his name frantically, and rolled into a cross-legged sit after a moment, looking very forlorn.
That was when Zoro realized his hat was gone—probably the reason for the extraordinarily unhappy expression he was wearing. Zoro glanced around quickly, and spotted the straw hat perched delicately up in the highest branches of one of the hedges, at the very top of the natural wall. It looked like a gust of wind would blow it off easily, but Zoro knew better, and suspected the maze was playing a lively game of keep-away with his captain.
"Luffy!" Usopp said. "What's going on? Are you okay?"
"This stupid maze stole my hat," Luffy whined, glancing up at the hedges where his most valued possession was being held. "It won't let me have it back."
"Luffy, that's barely twenty feet," Nami said in exasperation. "You've stretched farther than that before. Just grab it."
"I can't," Luffy said, sounding too tired to be angry. "Watch." He sprang to his feet, wound up his arm for a particularly spectacular stretch, and shot it upward. Almost immediately the hedges began to grow, stretching higher and higher, just outpacing Luffy's rubber fist and keeping the hat barely out of reach. Luffy finally hit his limit, and his arm twanged alarmingly before snapping back with such force that the captain was smashed back into the ground.
"Stretching plants aren't fair," he whined, once again spread-eagled on the ground, as the hedges returned to their original height. "And I tried punching the bushes down for stealing my hat too, but they don't fall over, and they won't listen to me when I tell them to give me my hat back." Well, that explained the fatigue—he'd probably gone into one of his classic rages when his hat had been stolen, but with the plants being impervious, he'd likely worn himself out.
Zoro crossed his arms and said flatly, "What did you do to piss it off?"
"Huh?"
"You must've made the maze angry somehow by breaking the rules. What'd you try to do?"
"Oh." Luffy considered, and then said, "Well, I got bored of wandering around, and I was hungry, so I tried to climb the hedges to see how to get out. But they kept stretching like that and knocked me off, and then I realized they stole my hat..." He looked forlorn again. "I can't leave Hat behind!"
"I'll get it," Zoro said with a sigh. Striding over to the spot just below the hat, he addressed the hedge, and more importantly the presence. "Look, can I have my captain's hat back? It's very important to him."
He could feel an edge of angry satisfaction from the presence, like it was enjoying getting a little payback. It didn't like Luffy—Zoro could tell that almost immediately. He was tempted to find a way to beat the crap out of it for offending his captain, but quelled the urge almost immediately. It wouldn't do any of them any good at all. So instead he said, "I'm sorry. He's sort of an idiot, but I'll make sure he doesn't break the rules again. So. The hat?"
Once again, the presence seemed to contemplate Zoro's words. He had a feeling he was starting to get on the thing's good side—it appeared to trust him, after everything he'd done so far. After a moment it seemed to accept his apology on behalf of his captain, and the leaves rustled as the hat was plucked from the top of the hedge and passed, neatly and carefully, down to Zoro's eye level. The branches offered him the straw hat peacefully, and he snatched it free, handing it to his captain.
"Ah! Thanks, Zoro!" Luffy said, accepting his beloved hat back with enthusiasm. He checked it over quickly to make sure it wasn't damaged and then planted it back on his head, grinning once more. "That was really cool! How'd you do that?"
"I followed the rules," Zoro said. "Let's get out of here now."
"What about Sanji-kun?" Nami asked.
"What about him?"
"Sanji's in here too?" Luffy said. "Then we've gotta find him! I'm hungry after all this maze stuff and he's gotta make us a pirate dinner!"
The captain made to dart off into the maze once more, and Usopp barely managed to collar him, dragging him back. "No, Luffy," the sniper said, "You can't just wander off like that again! We've got to stick with Zoro. For some reason he can get through this creepy maze really easily."
"Zoro? But he always gets lost!" Luffy said with a laugh.
"You really aren't any better," Nami said dryly. "But it's true, this maze seems to like Zoro, and we haven't hit any dead ends as long as he's leading. I think he's our best bet to escaping."
"Okay then," Luffy said. "Zoro, find Sanji, and then we'll go eat!"
Great. Find the love-cook...just when he had the perfect excuse to leave the annoying bastard behind, too. "Sure," he said, "Whatever. I'll do what I can," and led them off again.
Finding Sanji proved more difficult than Zoro had expected...mostly because the idiot appeared to have gotten farther than any of the others, somehow. Zoro continued to lead them along the correct path for another twenty minutes—he'd been in the maze for at least an hour now—but he hadn't had that feeling at the back of his mind that told him he was near one of the others, or that he had to hurry. Presumably, the love-cook was just lost, and not endangering himself somehow. The Cretan Whitethorn's presence seemed to be laughing at him, congratulating itself on stumping him for the first time.
But then he felt it switch from amusement to rage a moment later, and that presence seemed to shift across the maze, focusing more intently on some point elsewhere. Alarm bells went off almost immediately in Zoro's head, and without warning he turned around, darting through the rest of the group to double back towards the one path he was pretty sure would take him in that direction.
"Zoro, what's going on?" Usopp yelped, as the three of them rushed after him.
"Somebody else pissed it off bad," Zoro shouted back, as he ducked around a twist in the hedges. "Probably that idiot curly-brow."
They ran through the maze, Zoro leading with the rest careening after him, and when he skidded around a leafy corner five minutes later it was to be greeted with the sight of a full-scale battle. One of the hedges was on fire, and Sanji, lighter gripped in one hand, was kicking at the burning mess angrily. He managed to put a sizable hole in the thick plant, enough to pass through to reach the other side, which the cook immediately tried to take advantage of by diving through. But before he could make it so much as an inch, long, thorny tendrils sprang from the hedge-wall on the opposite side of the path, twining around Sanji's legs and torso. The cook grunted in pain as he was slammed violently into the ground, and then the thorny vines began dragging him back towards the hedge-wall, presumably to swallow him like it had tried to do earlier with Usopp. Sanji struggled violently, but every time he tried to kick the vines wrapped around his legs grew tighter and wound higher, and he was left clawing at the dirt to try and pull himself free.
"Idiot," Zoro swore, and darted forward immediately. He slammed one foot down on the stupid love-cook's back to hold him in place—Sanji swore and cursed him vehemently—but Zoro ignored him and shouted to the maze, "Knock it off already! I'll keep an eye on him, let him go!"
Promises weren't going to do it this time—the Cretan Whitethorn was still furious, and Zoro could feel the rhythm of its sheer, unbridled rage at Sanji's attempt to both kill it and cheat simultaneously. It tugged more insistently at the trussed-up cook, clearly determined to exact violent revenge, and Zoro was nearly thrown off balance as his foot shifted.
"Sanji!" Luffy called angrily, and wound up his arms to attack.
"Luffy, don't," Zoro snapped at him warningly. "I got it!" The last thing he needed was Luffy getting involved—the maze already didn't like him as it was. Luffy obeyed, though reluctantly.
The presence was still furious now, and underlying it Zoro could feel something that was probably the creature's perception of pain. It regarded the hedge still burning hatefully, and Zoro realized it was especially angry because of the fire. Come to think of it, it had tried to eat Usopp for the same reason—he'd tried to burn the hedges to escape. "Nami," Zoro ordered sharply, gritting his teeth as he put more weight down on Sanji's back to hold him in place, "Put out the fire, fast!"
"What—oh!" Understanding, she drew her Clima-Tact free again, and had a small rain-cloud hovering over the burning flames in a matter of moments, drenching the hedges. The Cretan Whitethorn's presence relaxed ever so slightly now that it wasn't effectively being tormented, and the vines wrapped around Sanji loosened just slightly. The cook gagged, and Zoro realized a moment later that the vines had been constricting him like a python, cutting off his air flow.
But the presence was still wary, and bore a definite hatred for Sanji. Zoro couldn't say he blamed it, but he had to convince the thing he was in control enough of the situation that it was okay to let the cook go. He spotted Sanji's lighter, still gripped loosely in one hand, and crouched down long enough to snatch it up.
"Hey," the cook hissed dazedly. "What are you—"
Zoro ignored him. Instead he tossed the metal contraption into the air, and for the first time since he'd entered the maze, drew one of his swords. Wadou Ichimonji lashed out sharp and quick, and the lighter fell in pieces.
"What the hell, marimo!" Sanji spluttered, half coughing. "Burn the shitty plants, don't destroy my lighter!"
"Shut up," Zoro told him, and then said to the Cretan Whitethorn, "I've got it, okay? Let him go." The presence still seemed wary, reluctant, and tugged insistently with its tendrils at the cook Zoro was still standing on to hold in place. Eyes narrowing, the swordsman growled, "It wouldn't be breaking the rules for me to cut up those vines of yours. They're on the path. Don't push me, got it?"
The presence grew cold, and Zoro felt its frosty irritation with him. But rules were rules, and he knew the maze would respect that. A few seconds passed, and then the vines slowly uncoiled from the last Straw Hat member in the maze, lashing out only once to scratch at Sanji's hand where the lighter had been, leaving deep scores in his palm before withdrawing into the hedge wall.
"Shitty plant," Sanji snarled, as Zoro let him up. "I ought to—"
"Leave it," Zoro ordered sharply, and dragged him protesting to the group. The love cook looked like he seriously wanted to pick a fight, but Zoro couldn't be bothered. The presence was on his mind heavily now, exuding a good deal of pressure, and Zoro could tell they were no longer welcome. "We're leaving now. Don't touch anything, don't bring out any weapons, and don't break any rules, got it?"
Sanji swore. Nami smiled at him sweetly and very deliberately agreed to Zoro's terms, and almost immediately the stupid curly-brow's mood changed. Usopp and Luffy just nodded.
"Good. Follow me," he said curtly, and led the way, leaving the others to explain to the love-cook, since they inevitably had to question his ability to get them out of here every time a new member joined the party.
It took another fifteen minutes, but Zoro led them back to the original path, and continued to follow the obvious route. He didn't have to worry about finding the others anymore, now that they were all trailing behind him like meek little ducklings, and that let him put all his focus on finding the way out as fast as possible. And he definitely wanted it to be fast—the presence was dogging him angrily now, waiting for the tiniest little excuse to attack. It wouldn't unless he or one of the others broke the rules, though, and Zoro kept a very careful eye on them all to make sure it didn't happen. They were on their best behavior, even Luffy, for which he was extremely thankful.
At last they poured out the exit to the hedge maze, each of them breathing an audible sigh of relief as they finally made their escape. The last rays of the sun were just disappearing over the horizon now, and Chopper and Robin were probably already back at the Going Merry, beginning to wonder where they were. That had taken longer than even Zoro had expected.
"I can't believe the marimo got us un-lost," curly-brow said with a scowl. He placed a cigarette in his mouth, reached for his lighter, and then glared balefully at Zoro when he realized he didn't have one anymore.
"I'm just glad we're not in there anymore," Nami said tiredly. "That was the weirdest hedge maze I've ever seen."
"Agreed," Usopp said, shivering. "That is not a maze I would ever go through again!"
As if in response, the leaves of the hedges behind them rustled angrily. The pirates turned around and discovered the exit they had just walked out of no longer existed—several hedges had sprouted out of nowhere, filling the spaces as effectively as any wall. The entrance to the maze was similarly blocked, and the signpost that explained about the Cretan Whitethorn appeared to have been absorbed into the hedge walls as well.
"I guess we're not allowed back in, anyway," Nami said, shuddering slightly.
"It doesn't matter," Luffy said. "It was a mean maze anyway for stealing my hat. Sanji! I'm hungry!"
"Fine, Luffy, but I've got to stop at a market first and pick up a book of matches or something since somebody—" a pointed, single-eyed glare "—decided to wreck my lighter for no reason at all."
"I saved your life, curly-brow," Zoro shot back. "But just remind me and next time I won't bother." Sanji continued to glare at him, and Zoro broke the gaze, continuing, "Anyway, I've wasted enough time here, so I'm heading back to the ship." And he strode off down the path, vaguely irritated with the day's events but satisfied, at least, that his crew was okay.
"Er...Zoro?" Usopp said, sounding almost apologetic.
"The Going Merry is in the opposite direction," Nami said, exasperated.
"Dumbass," Sanji finished with a smirk.
When I first saw the prompt 'garden' my first reaction was 'hedge maze' and then I was like 'OhDamn Zoro + Hedge Maze = Instant Win" and then I just had to roll with it.
Every time Zoro listed left or right, chances are, half the time it probably wasn't even that if Skypiea is anything to go by. "I go right." (He turns left).
~VelkynKarma