Part two of a five-part series, exploring what would have happened if Zoro joined Baroque Works when he was asked to ages ago. Because I like AU speculation like woah. Aw yeaaaah.
Title: Baroque Works Saga: Meeting
Theme: #9: Determination
Claim: Zoro
(Words:)
Rating: PG-13 for fighting and language.
Warnings: AU-ness. Some islands and events are mildly different. This piece assumes there were other islands in between Drum Island and Alabasta and that the group stopped at one on the way for supplies or whatever.
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.
Zoro would give Miss All Sunday, or Nico has he'd been calling her for the past two days, credit where credit was due: despite her suspicious nature, she was definitely good at getting a person exactly where they needed to be at just the right moment. He suspected her navigational and tactical skills were the reason they were standing on the unsettled island of Folgasse now, watching several of the Straw Hat pirates from the cover of the trees as the crew gathered supplies and water for the remainder of the journey.
Zoro was not terribly concerned that any of the opposing crew members would spot him or Nico. They were on a short cliff-like rise above the rest of the crew (the island was covered in such protrusions) in addition to being hidden within the outskirts of Folgasse's forest region. They were too high up and too deeply in the shadow to be seen properly unless one of the agents leapt out and waved their arms around. Zoro wasn't inclined to do so, and he knew Nico was clever enough not to (which was more than he could say for half the idiots that "qualified" as officers). He didn't even have to crouch to remain unseen; he was leaning comfortably against one of the thicker tree trunks, staring down at the group contemplatively.
Vivi was the only one Zoro recognized. Pictures of her had been circulated amongst the officers recently, with strict, unrelenting orders to kill her on sight if she was spotted. She didn't particularly look like a menace, nor like a particularly strong fighter, now that he got a real-life look at her. That made his stomach twist unpleasantly at the kill order, but he quelled it quickly. He didn't like being used like some hired thug to slaughter a girl who couldn't fight back. He wouldn't hesitate to fight and, if it came to it, kill a woman regarded as a strong or at least capable fighter—he owed Kuina nothing less, after all the troubles she went through. But mercilessly killing somebody who was, if not innocent, at least way over her head...that didn't quite sit well with him. That was one of the reasons he preferred more challenging combat missions—so that when he was labeled the infamous demon Roronoa Zoro it was for the right reasons, not the wrong ones.
There were others present, too, presumably members of the Straw Hat crew. A woman with short orange hair was yelling orders loudly to the others, or more like at the others. Although she appeared very insistent on getting their final round of supplies onto their ship, a small caravel with a ram's head, she wasn't doing an ounce of the lifting work herself. Zoro snorted. What a witch. He couldn't believe the crew was even taking orders from her.
There was also a kid with an unusually long nose and dark curly hair, sort of gangly looking. Zoro would have dismissed him, until he spotted the slingshot stuffed in the kid's back overalls pocket, whereupon he decided to keep a cautious eye on the long-nose in the future. Based on his scrawny muscles and slightly jumpy appearance Zoro figured he wouldn't be much of a problem, but it was always stupid to underestimate people on the Grand Line, and the kid was clearly a ranged fighter. That was dangerous to him simply because he hadn't found a way to counter it with his close-ranged swords yet.
Long-nose appeared to be having an animated conversation with what was, Zoro observed with more than a little bewilderment, a deer. The deer appeared perfectly sentient, responding to long-nose's wild gestures with excited all-too-human nods, and as Zoro watched it expanded into something that looked more like a yeti. Probably a Devil-Fruit user, then. Zoro resolved to take care around him, too. The yeti-deer helped long-nose tie several heavy-looking barrels to the back of an extremely large riding duck that Zoro recognized as native to Alabasta; probably Vivi's, then. The duck took off down the steep path leading from the island's cliff-perched forests down to the bay below, where their ship was moored, and seconds later the yeti-deer, now just a deer, followed with another barrel of goods tied to its own back. At this distance Zoro could barely make out one final figure wandering around on the decks of the caravel far below, presumably another crew member, though he couldn't make out the details.
Straw Hat Luffy, the captain of the pirate crew, was the most obvious member present. Zoro had been observing him for the better part of ten minutes, and still could not make out what the hell drove this kid to act like such a complete idiot. He was an enthusiastic mess of energy, constantly here and there, remarking on cool bugs he'd found or delicious fruits he was eating. The rest of the crew looked like they were only just putting up with his antics, with a mix of barely-contained patience and a growing desire to cause bodily harm. It was hard to understand why they'd be loyal to him at all, though they were apparently a tight-knit group when push came to shove, based on all the reports Nico had shared with him. He supposed that was sort of admirable.
But still...Zoro couldn't figure out how the hell a kid like that had earned a thirty-thousand beri bounty, which, truth be told, was why he'd waited as long as he had to observe him. Normally he'd just throw himself into the battle and figure it out from there, like he always had. Simple curiosity and confusion had cautioned him to hold back on that instinct, and now the more he watched, the less he understood. He certainly believed this Luffy kid had earned his bounty, otherwise the military wouldn't have assigned him such a large number for his first poster, but he couldn't figure out the how. It was driving him crazy.
"Have you seen enough?" Nico asked him patiently. "If we do not act soon, they are bound to sail away. They are already transporting their last batch of supplies back to the ship."
Zoro said nothing. This was his promised fight. He would handle it how he wanted, and she sure as hell would not interfere.
But she did have a point, so as the long-nosed kid started heading down the steep cliff path with a basket of fruits slung over one shoulder Zoro made his move. It would be easy, far, far too easy, to drop down on any single one of those pirates and slice them apart before they could so much as react. None of them had their guards up, and would be so easy to kill. But that wasn't Zoro's way either. No matter how underhanded or vicious Baroque Works could get, Zoro still had a code of combat, and he would never, ever stoop to stabbing an unprepared man in the back. It just wasn't something he, as a swordsman, an honorable if ruthless duelist, could justify to himself.
A real fighter with real strength would face their opponent head on, and beat them with skill and power alone, never deceit. So Zoro stepped forward and, with a surprisingly graceful leap, skidded down the steep rise they'd been standing on and came to a halt in front of the remaining Straw Hat pirates.
They gasped in surprise, and Luffy openly gawked, like Zoro had worked some sort of magic to appear out of thin air. He saw their heads turn to focus on somewhere behind him as well, and moments later Nico alighted beside him. In the late afternoon sun the swirl of petals around her gave her an odd halo that looked almost exactly like flowery, angelic wings as she landed with perfect balance on the ground.
Luffy was now alternating between gawking at Zoro and glaring at Nico; apparently their last encounter hadn't exactly been friendly. The orange-haired witch did not look impressed anymore either, and was glaring angrily now. "Not her again," the woman hissed. "Are you here to give us more advice? And who's that...your partner, Mr. 0? Crocodile?"
Zoro snorted in disgust. They thought he was Crocodile? And Crocodile was Mr. 0? Well, he supposed he knew now why the actual Mr. 0 wanted Vivi dead so badly, and the rest of these pirates. He coveted that secret very highly.
Zoro did not intend to let on that he had ever found it out just now, himself. He liked fighting; that didn't make him suicidal.
Vivi was shaking now, and looking directly at him. "That's not Crocodile," she whispered softly. "But it's almost as bad. That's Mr. Bushido. He's...he's sort of like Baroque Works' hit-man for especially dangerous opponents. They say he beat even Mr. 1 in single combat." She looked awed, and very, very afraid.
"Oh," Luffy said. A furious expression had passed over his face for a fraction of a second when they had mistaken Zoro for Crocodile, but now he appeared highly curious. "So he's a really strong guy then?"
"Very strong," Vivi agreed. "I don't know if you can beat him, Luffy, especially with Miss All Sunday here too..."
"He doesn't look that tough. And his hair's green."
Zoro's eye twitched. "I don't see how that's even remotely connected to my strength," he growled. He drew his first katana, Kuina's sword, and over its low rasping hiss as it emerged from its sheath he added, "And I promise you, I'm really strong."
"Cool!" Luffy exclaimed. "You use swords? I don't think I've fought a sword-guy yet."
"Swordsman," Zoro corrected, gritting his teeth. He'd barely met the kid for five minutes and Luffy was already wearing on his nerves.
"Sure, that," Luffy said absently. "Arlong doesn't count, 'cause he didn't use his for very long. How come you have three? Do you break your swords a lot?"
"No," Zoro answered shortly. "I use Santoryuu. Three-sword style." He spun Kuina's blade deftly before clamping it in his mouth, and drew his other two katana dexterously, one in each hand. He stepped forward to begin his attack, now that his opponent was clearly ready—
"Awesome!" Luffy said delightedly, eyes sparkling. "I've never seen anybody use three swords before! Can you really cut people with your mouth-sword?"
Zoro's eye twitched again. "How about I show you," he grated out from behind the white sword's hilt. This kid was definitely not taking this fight seriously. He was definitely going to die here and all he could do was admire his opponent's weaponry?
"Wait a minute," the orange-haired witch said suddenly. "Three swords? I've only heard of one person ever to use that style, a bounty-hunter from back in the East Blue named Roronoa Zoro."
"That's also me," he said, because it was true, and what did it matter if he told them anyway?
Nico chuckled slightly. "Oh my, Mr. Bushido," she said calmly, "you do realize you are breaking Baroque Works regulations."
"The regulations can go to hell," Zoro said. "As the witch here just pointed out—"
"What did you call me?"
"—I'm sort of recognizable anyway." He turned back to the still-admiring Luffy and said, "I hear you defeated Arlong, and you just admitted it yourself, so I'm really looking forward to this fight."
"No, absolutely not," the orange-haired witch said firmly. "We're not staying, not when we're facing down Baroque Works' co-leader and the Demon of the East Blue at the same time. Luffy, come on, let's run, hurry! Remember, we need to get moving so we can get to Alabasta in time!" She was already running towards the cliff path herself, with Vivi hot on her heels.
She was brought up unexpectedly short as Nico crossed her arms quietly in front of her, and several arms sprang into existence, pinning the girls' arms to their sides. "Straw Hat Luffy is yours," she said to Zoro cooly. "I will take care of the others."
"Right," Zoro responded curtly, and without further ado he hurled himself at the pirate captain.
For all his idiocy, Zoro realized almost immediately that Luffy's instincts were top notch. Zoro's lunge was incredibly quick as he sliced out with all three katana blades, but by the time he'd finished his attack Luffy had already leapt into the air above him, clamping one hand to hold his straw hat in place.
"Woah," the kid commented. "You're pretty fast." Then he whipped his arm back, and yelled, "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
Zoro thought he was crazy to attack at that range. He was pretty high up in the air—there was no way a basic punch would even come close. But unbelievably the arm stretched, rocketing at Zoro's face with shocking speed. It was only thanks to the swordsman's finely-honed reflexes that he was able to throw himself aside just in time, skidding to a stop on the dirt with his swords held wide for balance.
Luffy landed with a slap of sandals and grinned, his free hand still clamped to his hat, his attacking hand once again a normal length. "I'm pretty fast too," he said confidently. His smile was almost blinding.
Zoro's eyes narrowed. "You ate a Devil Fruit?"
"Yup," the other proclaimed proudly. "I'm a Rubber Man."
"Tch," Zoro muttered in return. "That still won't make much of a difference." He hurled himself at the rubber kid once more, swords slicing dangerously. Luffy leapt into the air again to dodge, and punched out with another one of his pistol maneuvers, but this time Zoro was ready for it. He twisted sideways, just barely to dodge the blow, and with a precise movement brought one of his hand-held katanas swishing around to slice at the extended limb. Luffy squawked in surprise and pulled sharply at his arm, whipping it just barely out of range, and overbalanced as he crashed to the earth once more.
"Hrm," the captain muttered, as he pulled himself to his feet. "I don't think I like fighting swords much."
"Too bad," Zoro said flatly, and threw himself at the kid again, this time unleashing a vicious Oni Giri that was sure to slice the kid to ribbons.
To his surprise, Luffy didn't dodge out of the way at all. Instead, with shocking speed, he whipped his rapidly stretching hands behind himself and yelled, "Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!" The rubbery arms came flying at Zoro with extra elastic force, and the kid simultaneously lashed out at the last minute with a short-range kick, meeting the swordsman at the exact moment that his sword technique's full potential was unleashed. Force smashed into force and negated itself, and when the smoke cleared Zoro was shocked to see the kid still standing, and not bleeding even remotely. One of Luffy's rubbery hands was gripping Zoro's right wrist tightly, while the second pressed against the swordsman's collarbone with wide-spread fingers to keep Kuina's sword from advancing further. The flexible little bastard had even managed to turn that kick into a block, his sandaled foot pressing against Zoro's left wrist in such a way that his sword was effectively halted.
Zoro was starting to understand just how the kid had managed to beat Arlong, now. If he could display this level of combat intelligence, observe and counteract a move he'd never even seen before so quickly—shit. He'd blocked Oni Giri. Not exactly with any degree of finesse, but not dying was not dying, and there was something to be said for that. This kid was pretty good.
Growling now, Zoro twisted his wrists and neck quickly, throwing off Luffy's iron grip. The two skidded backwards several paces, and Zoro glared over Wadou Ichimonji's blade, considering his next move.
"That was pretty cool," Luffy observed. "Really strong." He was still grinning, as though he was enjoying the fight, although his childlike enthusiasm had been replaced with a confident smirk now.
Zoro didn't bother to answer. This kid was more dangerous than he first appeared. That made Zoro all the more determined to win this fight. That pirate was going down.
Course decided, Zoro threw himself forward viciously again, drawing his two hand-held katana over Wadou Ichimonji's blade to execute a perfect Tiger Hunt maneuver. Luffy responded with a yell of "Gomu Gomu no Muchi," and swept his rapidly extending leg out like a whip; Zoro was forced to jump or be thrown to the ground, and his attack ground to a halt.
Furious, Zoro dropped into a crouch as the still-grinning Luffy snapped his leg back into place, and spun quickly with his swords, whipping up a vicious slashing tornado with a roar of "Tatsu Maki!" The pirate captain gave a genuine yelp of surprise as the slashing wind swept him up into the air and put several bloody cuts in his rubbery skin; but for all that he adapted quickly, turning his spinning momentum into force as he lashed out with a furious extending rubbery kick. Zoro grunted as Luffy's sandaled foot smashed into his chest, and he was hurled backwards, losing control over the spinning blade tornado in the process. The two combatants crashed to the ground, both panting, and warily dragged themselves to their feet.
"You're really strong," Luffy said, sounding impressed. He looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself, like this was some sort of game instead of a battle for his life. "Do more swords make you better?"
"No," Zoro growled back at him. "Training does." He threw himself at the kid again, but just as before Luffy countered each of his precise sword techniques with a creative and nearly unpredictable rubbery move. And while Zoro managed to gash the kid's face once, and while Luffy had landed another pair of punches that would definitely leave bruises in the morning, the end result was effectively nothing.
Damn. This kid really was different.
"You're training really hard just to be able to kill people then," Luffy said, as they made another slash-and-punch exchange that still left neither one with the upper hand. This time he sounded disappointed.
"I'm not training just so I can kill people," Zoro said with a scowl, deflecting a rubbery kick with one blade and slashing out with a second. Missed. Damn.
"Vivi says you're the hit-guy."
"Vivi doesn't know everything."
"But you do kill a lot of people for these jerks."
"I don't always kill them, and I only do it because they're good fighters."
Luffy nimbly ducked under a pair of sweeping blades and seemed to consider this before saying, "Oh. Why?"
Zoro snorted, rolled backwards as Luffy's rubbery leg extended in a wide kicking rush, and sliced out quickly to try and cut the limb somehow. He missed, barely; the kid twisted it out of range too quickly. Damn! "Why not? I need to find good opponents so I can get stronger. This is as good a way as any to test my skills, it gives me a chance to find the person I'm looking for, and it pays for dinner too."
They exchanged several more attacks in relative silence, with only the shouts of their techniques and heavy panting breaking the quiet. After several more minutes both skidded back warily, breaking apart temporarily as they waited to catch their breath. Luffy chose the moment to nod in agreement. "I couldn't live without meat, so I guess I get the dinner part. Too bad you're working for scum like Crocodile." And before Zoro could protest, say that he hadn't even known he'd been working for Crocodile, or add that he didn't care anyway, Luffy inquired curiously, "How come you wanna get stronger so bad?"
Zoro snorted. What a ridiculous question to come from an opponent. No, damn it, this whole scenario was ridiculous. He was not used to having entire conversations with the people Baroque Works sent him to kill. Usually he just killed them. But the kid definitely had real fighting spirit, there was no doubt about that. Zoro was absolutely determined to beat him, kill him if he had to, at this point; the least the kid deserved was to know why. So he shrugged his shoulders and said flatly, "I'm going to be the world's greatest swordsman," and rushed forward again.
Luffy's eyes widened, and he managed to barely block the attacking blades in time, gripping Zoro's wrists in the same iron grasp as before. He twisted, spinning his limbs together deftly before slamming Zoro into the ground with the extra force. The move left Zoro dizzy and with a throb in his skull that would almost certainly turn into a headache later, but he rolled to his feet quickly, expecting an attack to come while he was down.
It didn't. Luffy was just watching him. "World's greatest swordsman, huh?" he asked, still smirking. Zoro expected ridicule, the usual reaction, and was fully prepared to beat the kid's head in for insulting his dream, but Luffy only grinned and said, "That's great! I'm going to be King of the Pirates."
Zoro's jaw probably would have dropped if he wasn't currently holding Kuina's sword in it. "King of the Pirates?" he repeated, surprised. Now that was one ambition that was definitely even crazier than his.
"Yup," the kid said, still grinning.
"You know what that means, right?" Zoro asked, skeptically. He had no illusions about his own goal—Mihawk was the greatest for a reason. Zoro just had to be better. But this kid seemed way to carefree to understand exactly what his supposed goal meant.
But Luffy only nodded and said, "Yeah, I know. I'm gonna find the One Piece," as if it was the most casual statement in the world.
The kid was crazy. The kid was a great fighter, but he was nuts. In that moment Zoro decided two things about Straw Hat Luffy: first, that he was more wildly determined than ever to beat the kid in an even match, and second, that he had a lot more respect for the kid than he'd had ten minutes ago.
He threw himself forward again to continue the fight, but a sudden loud bang and keening whistle sounded just as he started to move. Zoro knew cannon-fire when he heard it, and backpedaled hastily, just as a heavy cannonball hurtled between himself and Luffy. Surprised, Zoro looked over the cliffside they'd been fighting next to, and noted with shock that the rest of the Straw Hat crew, plus Vivi, was on the ram-headed caravel. The sniper and the other figure Zoro hadn't been able to identify earlier weren't visible, but a second burst of cannon-fire a second later suggested they were below decks (Zoro threw himself to the side again to dodge). The rest of them were waving frantically from the deck as the sails unfurled and the ship began to sail away.
"Whoops," Luffy said. "Guess we're leaving. Nami's right, we're sort of in a rush." He grinned cheerfully at Zoro and said, "This was a really good fight, though! Hope you get to be the greatest swordsman. It's too bad you're working for an asshole like Crocodile...otherwise you'd be an okay guy, I guess." He turned towards the cliff and trotted towards it casually, apparently unconcerned about leaving the fight half finished.
Zoro wasn't going to stand for that. "No you don't!" he snarled, and hurled himself forward, dodging around a third cannonball firing wildly in his direction. Luffy might be able to stretch, but there was nowhere for the kid to go up here, and Zoro wouldn't let him get to the path—
But unbelievably, Luffy just grinned and threw himself off the edge of the cliff with a single powerful leap that launched him far away from its ledge, out into space. "Bye, Bushido or Zoro or whoever you are!" he called back. "We'll definitely have to fight again sometime!"
"No!" Zoro yelled in frustration, as the kid started to free-fall, spinning one of his rubbery arms wildly as if winding up to strike. Before he could think about what he was doing he'd hurled himself off the cliffside as well, sheathing one of his swords quickly as he reached out a hand for the kid's rubbery ankle. If he could just grab him and drag him back—
Luffy's left arm shot out impossibly far, stretching downward and over to the caravel. His hand gripped the mast, and with an elastic tug he was suddenly rocketing towards his ship, and away from Zoro—very, very fast. He hadn't even looked back, or known that his opponent had hurled himself off the edge of a cliff after him.
Still swearing, Zoro realized that the ground was plummeting up towards him all too fast. Damn that stupid Straw Hat! If he'd just stayed freaking put none of this would have happened. Gritting his teeth, he transferred Wadou Ichimonji to his free hand and spun rapidly, generating a powerful Tatsu Maki that launched him back towards the cliff face. He had already fallen too far to throw himself back atop the cliff, so instead he twisted both katana in his hands with expert ease and thrust them into the rocky stone face he was tumbling down beside. There was a painful cracking noise as stone shattered—his katana were far too sharp to simply hold him in place—but the maneuver worked anyhow, slowing his momentum enough that he was able to land on the beach below several seconds later with a relatively safe, not-spine-breaking impact.
He found Nico standing on the beach where the Straw Hats' caravel had been moored after several minutes of wandering (who knew it had been that far away). She was watching the the little ram-headed ship, already a speck in the distance, with cool, impassive eyes.
"How'd they get away from you?" he asked curtly. He'd been so distracted with his duel he hadn't even noticed the rest of the crew escaping.
"Their sniper," she said quietly. "He tried to shoot at me from afar. Of course he couldn't injure me, but it was enough of a distraction for the others to run."
"Figures." Zoro spat the word out like a curse. Luffy was the first one that had ever gotten away from him like that...it had effectively been a draw, but it felt almost as bad as losing. He was not happy. "Should we chase them?"
"I doubt it will work," Nico said calmly. "Our ship is moored on the other side of the island. By the time we reach it and give chase, they will already have escaped. It doesn't matter, anyway—we still know where they are headed."
"Yeah," Zoro said slowly. "Sure." He certainly knew where he was headed—the faster he got to Alabasta, the faster he could intercept Luffy and continue their duel.
Nico turned to head back for their ship, and Zoro automatically fell into step behind her. Then she paused, and said almost conversationally, "It is fortunate, Mr. Bushido, that you did not inadvertently kill yourself in that fall. It would be a great shame for Baroque Works to lose one of its most valuable agents in a freak accident, so close to the unveiling of our plans."
Zoro regarded her warily, and said slowly, "Yeah. You too, I guess. Wouldn't want the boss's partner to suddenly go missing."
Both understood the subtle implications clearly: We were never here. This fight never happened. We never let the Straw Hats get away. It would never do to have the leader of Baroque Works angry with them. And as members with their own agendas, neither one felt particularly bad about concealing anything from their so-called leader.
What he didn't know certainly wouldn't hurt him, after all.
Ironically I actually wrote this piece before I wrote Plummet, but hey, I suppose it also illustrates the difference between a loner and a guy with a lot of trust in his captain pretty well, too.
~VelkynKarma