KARMA WANTS YOU TO HELP HER OUT WITH HER NEXT PROJECT!

Lame intro aside, guys, I really am recruiting my readers for help with my next full-crew fic. Specifically, I am looking for a reader who speaks fluent French, either as a first or second language, to help me with some translation/naming issues. Said reader must be creative and be able to come up with French equivalents for my prompts cleverly and promptly. You must also be discreet, and not share any information I give you about the fic until I start posting it! I am terribly superstitious, and every time I have revealed too much about a fic, the fic always unexpectedly died when I lost interest, so please don't kill the fic by sharing it around!

If you fit the requirements feel free to PM me or let me know in your review and we'll see how it works out from there.

An old friend is back with some others due to popular interest lol. (And because quite frankly I had to bring'em back, they were too awesome not to).

Title: Battle in Limbo
Theme: #10: Invisible
Claim: Zoro
(Words:) 7,100
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Swearing, and Thriller Bark spoilers (not that we don't all know already...) References to Not Your Average Death as well (although this technically would take place before it, chronologically).
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.

To the Straw Hats, the incident on Thriller Bark was an almost literal nightmare. To their Deaths, it was infinitely more so.

Still, it hadn't been as bad as it could have been, and by this point most of the Deaths had a good deal of confidence in their humans. The Straw Hats were powerful, and (frequently to Zoro's Death's dismay) willing to risk themselves to protect others. They were as tight-knit a group as the Deaths had ever seen in their silent, observing lives, and all of them could be reasonably sure that their humans would survive (even Zoro's Death, who was extremely happy about the fact). They'd even met an unusual old Death following that strange animated skeleton around, who had some bizarre tales to tell about his undead human's Devil Fruit granted powers (most of them were thankful their humans hadn't been stuck with that one...it sounded far too complicated to deal with overall). Yes, there were definitely some frightening moments in Thriller Bark, but overall it had turned out all right, and the Deaths were satisfied by (and more than a little proud of) their humans.

But that was before Bartholomew Kuma showed up, and turned their existences upside down.

They almost didn't notice the human at first. As a general rule, Deaths tended to ignore any and all humans besides their own personal one; there just wasn't much cause to give them notice. Even the Straw Hats' Deaths were unusual in that they'd gradually been trained to watch the other Deaths' humans on the crew as well, and that was several more people than a Death normally bothered with.

Instead, it was the unusual Death that followed the human that they took notice of, and that was what truly made them worried, as well. It introduced itself quietly as Kuma's Death, but what was strange about it was its faded, almost ethereal quality, like it was only half there. It was nothing like any of the Straw Hat Deaths had ever seen. Chopper's Death came the closest; he said he remembered being see-through when he was born, shortly after his not-exactly-human ate the Hito Hito no Mi and became sentient. But this was the opposite, as if Kuma's Death was fading out of sentience...as if his human was changing from something, well, human, to something inherently not.

That was the first series of alarm bells for the Straw Hat Deaths, and almost immediately each one moved to flank his or her human, sticking close anxiously. There wasn't much they could do to save their humans, if it came to it. But they would still do their damned best to keep their mortal connection alive, by any means necessary.

They watched the drama unfold. How the human Kuma demanded Luffy's head, how the pirates inevitably refused. How the human threatened them with an enormously powerful compressed-air bomb, and still the Straw Hats would not give up their wounded captain. The Straw Hats' Deaths didn't like the direction this was heading in, and Luffy's Death, never one for ceremony (much like his human), glared at Kuma's Death angrily from within the depths of his deep cowl and hissed, "You'd better figure out a way to make him leave my human alone, or I swear to God—"

"I am sorry for this," Kuma's Death interrupted. He sounded exhausted, which was frightening. Deaths did not really feel hunger, or fatigue, or pain, not in the traditional sense that their humans felt them in. The fact that he was exhausted was a bad sign, and highly unnatural. "I cannot really control my human, you see," he continued quietly, "And he is not quite the same as he used to be. I apologize. It is always a shame when we witness such young humans and their Deaths go to oblivion so early...and worse when we happen to cause it."

"You'd better not fucking mean—" Zoro's Death began, but that was when Kuma released his air-compressed bomb and the world went to hell (although not literally—all the Deaths were familiar with what Hell was actually like, and this still wasn't quite it). The blast didn't actually affect them; their robes weren't even blown, the feathers on their rotted, folded wings remained unruffled. But each and every one of them was acutely aware of their humans being violently ejected into unconsciousness, and without even thinking they rushed to defend their minds and bodies somewhat against the blast, loaning some of their own powers of existence to their humans to help them sustain themselves throughout the burst.

When the explosion was finally over almost every human was unconscious. Brook's Death, a wizened, ancient-looking thing without a feather left to his bony wings, reported dazedly that his undead human was still conscious, if barely; he seemed shocked to hear it. The other Straw Hat Deaths grimly reported that their humans were out for quite some time. And no matter how much he yelled in frustration, Luffy's Death could not wake his own human, who was very much in danger of being carried off by Kuma.

And then Zoro's Death said suddenly, "Mine's awake," and then a second later, with exasperation, "And goddamn it, I think he's about to do something monumentally stup—yeah, there he goes. Dumbass."

Zoro had managed to somehow not only make it through the blast without losing consciousness, but to also attack with one of his more powerful skills, and still remain relatively stable afterwards. In actuality, this wasn't really that surprising. Zoro had had so many near-death experiences by now that Zoro's Death was considerably more powerful than the average Death.

Deaths were always at their most powerful at the moment their human perished, and the closer they came, the stronger their Deaths got. But if the human survived, it was almost like resistance training for their Death, making them more powerful simply because they pushed through something enormously difficult and strong and were able to fight back against it successfully. All of the Straw Hat's Deaths were more hardy than usual, and Luffy's Death and Sanji's Death in particular were on the same level as Zoro's Death. But whether their humans were simply too exhausted or their Deaths just hadn't made it in time, it seemed only Zoro's Death had been wholly successful in supplementing his human's strength through the blast.

Which he was now starting to regret—his human certainly would have been much safer unconscious, and less inclined to get himself killed. But his sword attack had connected solidly with Kuma, and the enemy had paused; perhaps Zoro would be successful after all—

"I am sorry," Kuma's Death repeated with a sigh. "I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this...it seems things will become more difficult, now."

"What the hell are you talking about," Usopp's Death growled. "If Zoro could bull through that enormous explosion what on Earth could your human possibly—"

"Don't fucking jinx me!" Zoro's Death said in exasperation, but it was too late. Kuma was already turning, and the Straw Hats' Deaths noted with shock and awe that the man's body was implanted with metal, and that Zoro's attack had done effectively nothing other than slice his sleeve and put a minuscule dent in one of the metal inserts.

"A cyborg?" Robin's Death noted with a frown.

"If he is, he's way more advanced than Franky is," Franky's Death reported. They believed him. Franky's Death knew almost as much about mechanics as his human did; there'd been precious little else for him to do other than learn it, in the years he'd followed his human around. "And it's probably affected his mind," Franky's Death added, as an afterthought. "Or Kuma's Death would be like me, and not like...well, like that."

A fair point. And all the more worrying.

Kuma had finished speaking to Zoro, who looked seriously beat up now, like he'd expended most of his energy with that last attack. All he did was stare as the Shichibukai began charging up an enormously powerful beam in his mouth, and he looked dazed, which wasn't surprising. He'd been through a number of tough battles today already.

Zoro's Death was not so understanding. He fluttered to his human's side and began attempting to shove him out of the way frantically, and when that inevitably didn't work, he resorted to his usual stream of curses. "Goddamnit, Zoro, this is what I'm always talking about! Don't fucking stand there, for once in your fucking life dodge the goddamn attack and don't die!"

His human couldn't hear him, of course—Deaths couldn't normally communicate with their humans in the conscious, living plane—but Zoro seemed to come to his senses regardless, and hurled himself aside at the last minute. The resulting blast sent him flying, and the other Deaths winced in painful sympathy as Zoro smashed into a broken-down stone wall hard enough to shatter it and lay there for several moments, stunned.

"Fucking hell," Zoro's Death snarled, as he hovered above his human anxiously, "If you pick now to kick the bucket, jackass, I swear I am never, ever going to forgive you—"

But Zoro managed after a moment, through excruciating effort, to haul himself to his hands and knees, gasping for breath as he turned himself around long enough to face his opponent. Zoro's Death drooped with visible relief, and the rest of the Straw Hat Deaths, although technically not requiring air, sighed thankfully as well. Zoro's Death was a friend to them, just like Zoro was a friend to the rest of the Straw Hats; for all his foul-mouthed tendencies they'd rather not see him go off to oblivion just yet. That, and each and every one of their humans would be notably distressed if Zoro died so brutally. Deaths were highly empathetic with their humans, and the Straw Hat Deaths, through the unusual circumstances and close bonds of the pirate crew they were forced to follow around, had developed even more empathy for their respective humans than usual.

But things weren't okay yet, and as the Straw Hat Deaths watched in dread, they got steadily worse. Kuma calmly explained the Pacifista Project that he was a part of, and the Deaths began to slowly realize why Kuma's Death was so faded. Such advanced technology inevitably eradicated the human soul, the part of a human that the Death was inextricably linked to, and the more Kuma deteriorated into technology the less his Death would be needed.

And then things got even worse. Because unexpectedly Zoro began commenting out loud that he was no match for Kuma as he was, and that his body was too weak to continue, and it was very un-Zoro, and probably not a good sign. The other Deaths frowned, but they could never know Zoro as well as Zoro's Death did, and Chopper's Death finally asked timidly, "Has he ever done that before?"

"Not for a really long time," Zoro's Death said, and although his frown couldn't be seen in the depths of his cowl, they could all but hear it in his voice. "Not since his sparring days with Kuina back home." The others nodded; unlike amongst the Straw Hat crew, the Deaths had no particular interest in concealing backstories, especially where death was concerned. The explanation made sense to them, but Zoro's Death still seemed unsettled, and said slowly, "The last time this happened and he claimed he was too weak he made a life-altering promise. What the hell could possibly make him do—"

And then Zoro's Death froze, seconds before his wings began fluttering wildly, panicked, enraged. "You wouldn't," he hissed angrily at his human, bending low over the swordsman menacingly, even though Zoro could never possibly see him. Zoro was almost desperately inquiring into the reason for taking Luffy's head, and hadn't said anything frightening yet, but Zoro's Death looked frantic now. "You fucking wouldn't," Zoro's Death snarled, with a razor edge of pleading to his tone. "You can't do it, you idiot, at the very fucking least if you have to go out it sure has fuck had better be in a fight, not like this, you goddamned son of a bitch!"

He continued to rage uselessly at his human, and all for nothing. And seconds later the rest of the Straw Hat Deaths understood, when Zoro unexpectedly offered his own head in place of Luffy's, without even an ounce of a challenge or a threat involved. He didn't even intend to fight for his life, or his captain's, anymore; he knew he was too worn down to battle, and offered his head willingly, knowing it would kill him.

"Oh, shit," Nami's Death gasped suddenly. "I knew he was crazy, but I didn't think he'd do something like that."

"He's being quite loyal," Robin's Death noted grimly. "That at least is admirable."

"Not in the right way!" Luffy's Death insisted. He scrabbled at his own human frantically, still trying to wake him up even though all of them—Luffy's Death included—knew it was a useless effort. Luffy himself was down for the count, and nothing Luffy's Death tried would matter. But he tried anyway, adding frantically, "If Luffy knew Zoro was pulling this crap he'd be furious! He doesn't want any of his friends to die, that's why he protects them so much! That's why I made us make that pact!"

The pact. All of them thought grimly back to that day that Luffy had wandered unexpectedly into their humans' lives, trailing a not-entirely-sane Death behind him closely. They had known right away that Luffy was intimately acquainted with death, and not in the least terrified it, judging from the size of Luffy's Death even back then. And instead of being unusually frightened for his human-with-a-death-wish, Luffy's Death instead seemed to encourage him to go all the way, and damn the costs; he supported his human's ridiculous wish fully. It was maddening.

But even so, when their humans had joined the crew one by one, their Deaths had listened to his little speech. And it had been nearly identical for all of them. "So, my human, he wants to be the Pirate King. And I have to admit, at first I thought he was crazy, and I tried to discourage him any way I could. But you know, even when I deliberately got him into a few controlled near-death experiences with fighting tigers and bears and bandits and all that good stuff, he just wouldn't give up for anything. So I figure, why fight it? Might as well support him. Well, here's how we'll do it: Luffy thinks that protecting his crew and making sure they all do whatever they need to do is really important, so I figure, let's just not let'em die until that happens." And at the inevitable odd looks he received every time without fail from each new member's Death, he would always add, "It'll be easy. We'll just make a pact—whenever one of us gets the urge to drag our humans off to the afterlife, the rest of us'll just hold him off as long as we can to buy the humans some time. So, what do you say?"

No one could argue with holding off oblivion a little longer, and at first they agreed, if reluctantly. Deaths normally kept to themselves; they might have passing conversations with the Deaths of others close to their humans, but that was as far as their companionship or cooperation generally went. But they were all stuck on the crew against their will. They had to get used to the ones they were stuck with. And after a while, after employing the pact one or two times in mild situations, they'd begun to actually take it seriously, and now the pact to the Deaths meant almost as much as the dream to the humans. They'd stick it through, if they could, help each other keep their humans alive for as long as possible.

But in a situation like this, it was looking rapidly impossible, and none of them wanted to consider the consequences if they failed.

"Luffy, wake up or you're going to lose him!" Luffy's Death was still trying, and called to his human frantically—and uselessly. "C'mon, wake up, wake up, wake up! Argh! Kuma's stealing your Hat! Shanks is here! Atlas beetles! Meat! For the love of crap Luffy, just wake the hell up!"

It was useless. Luffy continued to remain unconscious, and of all of them, Luffy had the best chance of reviving and beating Kuma. Things were not looking good, and they were continually getting worse. Zoro was now insisting his own ambition was worthless if he couldn't defend Luffy's, Kuma seemed impressed enough by the offer to be considering it, and Kuma's Death was hovering behind him, murmuring, "Hrm, interesting, very interesting, highly unusual, but still a pity—"

"Sanji's up!" Sanji's Death said breathlessly, winging his way to them suddenly from where his human was sprawled, several feet away on the broken stone. "I just hope it's enough—"

"You managed to wake him?" Usopp's Death asked, sounding impressed.

"Yeah," Sanji's Death answered. He sounded unnaturally tired, like he'd expended a lot of energy, but that wasn't surprising considering what he'd just done. Sanji's Death was weaker than Zoro's Death and Luffy's Death in terms of pure reaping power, but due to the unusual nature he had with his human, he'd developed a few other useful skills to supplement that with. One of them was the most heightened ability to communicate with his human that any of them on the crew possessed. The Deaths had discussed it one day and eventually decided it was because of Sanji's unusual history—several months of starving, essentially dying slowly, followed by what was at its basic level passive suicide with all his chain smoking—he'd effectively opened a channel between himself and his Death unknowingly. It allowed Sanji's Death to manipulate his human more easily than most in terms of mental encouragement, which could come in handy, but was frequently an exhausting process for the Death itself.

"Dragged him into a forced near death experience," Sanji's Death added by way of explanation. "He's not really near death, but it was the only way. Screamed a couple warnings at him, and encouraged him to wake up. He won't remember any of it—" which was fortunate, as that was technically a huge breach of the Death Laws otherwise "—and he'll have one hell of a headache later, but hopefully it's enough."

"Here's hoping," Zoro's Death said grimly. He'd stopped swearing when he finally realized how utterly useless it was, and now hung suspended over his kneeling human, wings folded defensively like a grotesque guardian angel. He very much did not want to die, and was willing to try almost anything to stay existing.

And Sanji did show up a second later, stumbling wearily towards Kuma and Zoro thanks to his Death's timely (if illegal) intervention. The Straw Hat Deaths hovered around anxiously to see how it played out, and Luffy's Death even stopped futilely attempting to wake his human. And for a moment it did seem like everything would be okay; Sanji berated Zoro for his ridiculous offer, and reminded the swordsman that he had his own dream to accomplish as well. But then, almost inevitably, the encounter went sour, when Sanji placed himself firmly between Zoro and Kuma and insisted that his life be taken instead.

Luffy's Death groaned in exasperation. "Luffy had better not hear about any of this, or he's going to be so pissed," he said. "What the hell is wrong with your humans? Don't they know what they're supposed to be doing?"

"Apparently not," Nami's Death observed, clutching rotting hands to her head in frustration. "I can't watch this."

"Oops," Sanji's Death said, after a bewildered moment of watching Sanji's flowery speech as he tried to take the death for Zoro and Luffy. "I...wasn't expecting this."

"Nice job, dumbass," Zoro's Death hissed in frustration. "Now both our humans are going to die!"

"I didn't think it'd work out like this!" Sanji's Death defended, sounding anxious (and well he should, seeing as his human was now close to his own end). "I figured he'd piss Zoro off and they'd end up kicking ass like they always do!"

"Well, he did piss him off," Zoro's Death observed dryly. "You got that part right at least."

"What do you mean—oh." Everyone paused as Zoro found the strength to stand, and winced sympathetically when the hilt of one sword smashed into Sanji's side, effectively knocking him out.

"Back to the beginning," Zoro's Death groaned, as he watched his human toss his last protection, his swords, away from him and insist upon the trade. "But thanks for trying," he added, as Kuma unexpectedly accepted the deal, murmuring something about honor.

"There has to be something we can do," Luffy's Death said in frustration. "Woah, hey—why the hell is he coming here—hey, you keep your stupid paws off my human, or—"

"He won't harm him," Kuma's Death, silent for some time now, offered unexpectedly. "But we are accepting the green-haired human's deal in full, and adjustments must be made."

"Adjustments?" the Straw Hat Deaths echoed. That didn't sound particularly...pleasant.

Zoro's Death was especially displeased. "My human is already going to fucking die," he snarled in frustration. "We're going to oblivion in only a few minutes now. What the fuck else could he possibly do, torture us? How the hell is that honorable?"

But Kuma's Death went silent once more, and by then Kuma himself was answering the question unknowingly, expelling an enormous transparent red bubble from Luffy's unconscious body as Luffy's Death hovered anxiously near his human. The Deaths listened to the bewildering explanation that the bubble was filled with expelled damage, exhaustion, and stress, and with growing horror as they realized that Zoro would be forced to accept it all in order to even qualify as a replacement for Luffy's head.

"Shit," Zoro's Death rasped. "How much is in that?"

Luffy's Death flinched. "A...lot," he finally said hesitantly.

"How the hell much is 'a lot?' How fucking bad is it?" Zoro's Death asked, sounding increasingly more anxious.

"Bad," Luffy's Death insisted, and began scrabbling all the more furiously to wake up his human. "Bad enough that a person made out of rubber survives it, but a person not made out of rubber, well...probably not so much. Luffy! C'mon, get up! You're not even wounded anymore, wake up and save your crew member before he dies!"

Before he dies...suddenly realizing the danger of the situation, the six other Straw Hat Deaths flew frantically back to their humans, struggling desperately to wake them. If somebody could intervene in time, or perhaps if the pain could be divided...even Brook's Death, though not a member of their crew exactly, tried to help, but he reported frantically that while Brook himself was conscious, it was only barely, and the skeleton couldn't even move his body.

Things looked hopeless...and even more so when Zoro's almighty scream hit them suddenly, enough to startle the Deaths and interrupt their efforts to wake their humans. Zoro had taken a tiny bubble of the damage, and appeared to be suffering mightily for it. He smashed to the ground when it was over, and it took him several minutes to even work up the strength to roll over, his breath ragged and gasping.

"Shit," Zoro's Death hissed, hovering frantically over his human. "Get up, c'mon...refuse it, refuse it, fight back instead or something, if you go willingly into this you're gonna die you dumbass—"

But that was the point, and Zoro's Death cursed frantically and uselessly as his human merely insisted that the bubble be moved to somewhere else before he absorbed it. The Deaths followed with morbid curiosity and anxiety as Kuma pushed the bubble away with his paws and Zoro stumbled painfully after to a place out of sight of the rest of the humans, and even now Zoro's Death cursed his human angrily for thinking about the others at a time like this but not himself in the least.

There was no changing fate; it was going to happen. Zoro's Death swore one last time, and then said, with remarkable calm (and not a hint of a swear, which was the most terrifying of all), "I've got to help him with this, or he is gonna die. I don't even know if I...if it'll..."

"Nobody is going anywhere," Luffy's Death said, with remarkable calm, and the exact same hint of determined authority that his human so often possessed. "Guys, see if you can wake up your humans. Chopper's Death, you especially, we're gonna need it." The childlike Death squeaked in agreement and darted off, followed quickly by the Deaths of Nami, Usopp, Robin, Franky, and even Brook. Sanji's Death alone hovered nearby, ready to act as a messenger, and Luffy's Death said confidently, "What I said about that pact still stands. Nobody's dying, not until Luffy gets to finish his dream, and he needs everybody for that. You try to drag Zoro off somewhere, and I'm just gonna have to stop you."

Zoro's Death laughed grimly and said, "If you can." And before Luffy's Death could retort, he turned back to his human. Just before Zoro plunged his own hands into the enormous bubble of pain, Zoro's Death dived down and wrapped his corpselike arms and wings around the swordsman in an almost shielding gesture, placing one rotting hand over Zoro's forehead and the second over his heart. For a fraction of an instant even the living might have spotted the grotesque appearance of the Pirate Hunter Zoro, wrapped in the embrace of his own personal Angel of Death as the primal, cruel power of the pain bubble began to overcome him and he screamed; but then the image was lost, and the Death went almost as rigid as the human as the pain went on, and on, and on, with only a few other Deaths as witness.

Then at last the screaming stopped, and the bubble was gone, and Zoro's Death crashed backwards to the ground and immediately scrabbled as far away as he could get. Zoro himself was still, remarkably, standing. In one unbearably slow movement he crossed his arms, and then seemed to go still as a statue, staring blankly. Sanji's Death flitted close enough to observe, while being very careful not to touch the human himself, and stared in shock.

"He's really still alive. I didn't think...I mean, he's in bad shape, really bad, and he's kinda...hovering in the middle right now but...he's not dead."

"And we're gonna keep it that way," Luffy's Death said with determination. He was watching Zoro's Death intently, and after a moment Sanji's Death flitted next to him to watch, waiting.

It didn't take long. Zoro's Death was weak at first from giving so much of himself to keep his human alive, but his strength seemed to come back with remarkable speed. The first slow, shuddering pangs went through him as his Call abruptly came to him, and he realized with certainty that it was time for his human to go. The Death groaned, and dug corpselike fingers into the ground to try and hold himself in place, but being immaterial in the real world his efforts were useless. His attempts to hold himself in place became weaker and weaker, and then finally, with an unnatural motion, he swept to his feet and spun around, focusing intently on his human—his completely vulnerable, very close to dead human.

"I have to," Zoro's Death moaned suddenly in acknowledgement, and faster than he'd ever been before, he lunged for his human, rotting hand outstretched.

Luffy's Death tackled him from the side with his own brand of remarkable speed, and smashed him out of the way. Zoro's Death hissed in animalistic frustration and tried to ward Luffy's Death off, but the latter was too quick. With surprising skill he managed to drag Zoro's Death some distance from his human before his hold was finally broken, and then he flitted easily in between, blocking the route back. Sanji's Death, taking the hint, set himself up as the last line of defense, guarding the dying human at his back.

"I told you," Luffy's Death said, very insistently. "Nobody's going anywhere. Those were the rules. We all agreed to them, so Zoro's not allowed to die today."

"This is wrong," Zoro's Death pleaded. Sanji's Death winced at the tone the Death had taken on; he'd entered that strange trancelike phase that always occurred after the Call, when any Death was desperate to achieve his or her Calling. Sanji's Death had seen it plenty of times, and he was willing to bet Luffy's Death had too. "Wrong," Zoro's Death repeated. "Unnatural. Move aside—he must go, I must take him, his time is over, he's dead!"

It was unnatural, for a Death to even go so far to protect their own human, let alone another's. It still felt wrong, for Sanji's Death to be hovering protectively beside Zoro, and not Sanji. He was Sanji's Death, after all, and nobody else's. But he'd agreed to the pact that Luffy's Death had insisted upon, and Sanji would (for all his arguing) be very unhappy if Zoro went and died on them, and if this invisible battle was what it took to keep Sanji happy, then he'd do it and gladly.

Luffy's Death seemed of the exact same sentiments, and he was very loyal to his human and insistent upon Luffy's happiness. "I'm not moving," Luffy's Death said, "And you'll find you'll have a hard time making me." And that was definitely true. Luffy's Death was by far the strongest of the ones following the Straw Hats, not only due to Luffy's penchant for almost getting himself killed, but for other reasons as well. Luffy's Gears were life-draining, in exchange for great power, and by consequence every time he used them Luffy's Death grew just a little bit stronger as well, and retained it.

Zoro's Death made an anguished-sounding noise from the depths of his cowl and lunged forward, but Luffy's Death tackled him back insistently and held him down, preventing him from moving forward as long as he could. Zoro's Death eventually dislodged him and tried to reach for his human again to drag his soul away, but once again Luffy's Death intervened, forcing him backwards. It was almost awe-inspiring, to watch these two with near Reaper-like powers go head to head. Fights didn't happen often in the world of Deaths, and each time they did it was quite a spectacle.

But it wouldn't last long. Sanji's Death grimaced as he heard Zoro's breath hitch painfully behind him, and yelled to Luffy's Death, "He's fading!"

Luffy's Death nodded in understanding, and forced Zoro's Death back again as the latter tried more insistently to break his guard, but now it was clearly starting to be more difficult. And no wonder. Luffy's Death was strong, but his human was still alive. Deaths were stronger the closer their humans were to their moments of Death, and Zoro was literally at the cusp of it, on the blade's edge between living and dying. Zoro's Death would continue to get more and more powerful, and would eventually overpower anything that stood in his way in his trance-induced attempts to complete his Calling. Not even a Death could stop Death; they could only hope to delay it long enough for the humans to care for their injured friend.

Zoro's Death forced himself forward now, even more insistently, with a frightening, chilling howl. Luffy's Death grunted with the exertion of trying to hold him back this time, and Zoro's Death began to gain ground, fixated on his human. Sanji's Death raised his voice long enough to yell for help from some of the others, and then he shot forward, tackling Zoro's Death and latching onto one arm. With their combined efforts the two were able to forced the tranced Death backwards again, and hold him at bay for a few more moments.

It worked for a little while—Sanji's Death might have been weaker than the both of them, but he was still considerably powerful for a personal Death, and when his strength was added to Luffy's Death the effect was difficult to break. But Zoro's Death was growing stronger now, and visibly bigger, and after a few moments he managed to hurl them both off before flapping his way raggedly for his human again.

This time he was tackled from the side by not one, but three opponents, as the Deaths of Usopp, Franky and Robin piled into him from the side. Nami's and Chopper's Deaths flitted in front of Zoro's weakened body to make up the new last line of defense, and the ragged-looking Brook's Death followed shortly after, offering his services although he himself was not part of the crew. He had some degree of respect for Zoro, after the man personally retrieved his undead human's shadow for him and allowed the skeleton a chance at happiness again; he would repay it however he could.

Zoro's Death was strong enough to overpower the three holding him down on his own, but Sanji's Death and Luffy's Death lunged forward hastily to help, and between the five of them they managed to drag the tranced Death the farthest away from his human yet. Zoro's Death struggled violently, insisting he had to retrieve that soul and that he was already dead, but the Straw Hats' Deaths were grimly determined. They'd made a pact, and they intended to keep it.

They held the Death down, and while he struggled violently and broke their grip several times, by some miracle they managed to keep him from his human. Nami's Death eventually flitted forward to add her own strength to the attempt, when Zoro's Death grew stronger still, and they piled on frantically, desperate to keep him down.

But she brought bad news with her, news that would make their efforts all for nothing. "Zoro's getting worse," she reported. "It's been too long already, at least an hour. Even if Zoro's Death doesn't collect his soul he's going to die anyway, and then we'll have a ghost situation on our hands. He needs medical help now or they'll lose him anyway. Chopper's Death's gone to try and wake his...er...reindeer up, but he's not very experienced..."

"Shit." Luffy's Death swore loudly as a particularly violent wrench from Zoro's Death threw half of them off, and he gained several feet before they were able to pile on again and hold him down. "Sanji's Death, can you—"

"You need me," Sanji's Death interrupted with a grunt of exertion as he forced one of the tranced Death's arms back down to the stone. It was true—Sanji's Death was a large part of the reason Zoro's Death hadn't escaped their grasp yet. "I can't leave now or he'll take his human—"

"Allow me to assist," the ancient form of Brook's Death said, as he hobbled wearily towards them.

"No offense, grandpa," Usopp's Death hissed, as he struggled to hold the fighting Death down, "But you don't look like you could hold Chopper's Death down, let alone this guy. He'll shatter you."

"Were I but an ancient Death, that would be true," Brook's Death agreed. He raised his hands, and a dark-tinted power seemed to coalesce in his palm slowly. "But I am a bit different from other personal Deaths, after my human's unusual resurrection," Brook's Death added. "I've somewhat evolved, you see...I possess a few minor powers of a Reaper now, albeit far weaker than what they have."

"Do it," Luffy's Death ordered. He was starting to sound tired, which wasn't a good sign, and he was their best shot at making this whole fiasco work.

Brook's Death nodded, and waited for a slight lull in the thrashing of Zoro's Death before pressing the dark power to the hooded cowl. There was a sharp flash, and Zoro's Death shrieked unnaturally in surprise before going limp. Sanji's Death didn't waste time asking what had happened—he disengaged immediately and shot into the air, diving back towards where the rest of their humans had been left unconscious.

Chopper's Death met him, dancing frantically in place and sounding terrified. "Some of them are awake now," he said quickly, "But I can't contact them, none of them will listen to me, and it's not fair, Zoro's only a few yards away and they don't even know he's dying—"

Sanji's Death understood, and immediately shot for his own human. No time for subtlety—he hit his human over the head with the biggest dose of mental encouragement he could manage, and Sanji, although obviously exhausted and not naturally intended to rise for another twenty minutes at least, blinked blearily awake.

Hurry was Sanji's Death's next insisting blast, and Sanji bolted upright naturally, as though he was remembering something. A very lucky glance at the discarded katana worked in Sanji's Death's favor, and then his human was off, searching frantically. Sanji's Death gave him just enough of a nudge to head in the right direction (he was going to be in such deep trouble if the Reapers ever heard about what he was doing), and he and Chopper's Death flew alongside frantically, hoping for a happy ending.

When they arrived back at the invisible battle-zone Zoro's Death was struggling again, and what was worse, he'd gained another ten feet, getting far too close for comfort. Sanji's Death and Chopper's Death both hurled themselves onto the pile, forcing Zoro's Death down again, but Sanji's Death at least was exhausted now after his mental urges to his human, and his efforts were all but useless. Zoro's Death clawed his way forward despite all the frantic yells and Luffy's Death's frantic insistence that this wasn't allowed and that they'd made a deal, and it was really going to be too late—

But then Chopper's Death cried out delightedly, and the exhausted personal Deaths looked up for the first encouraging thing they'd seen since the whole mess began. Sanji had found Zoro, and was already yelling frantically for help from his crew, even as he managed to get a decent grip on the swordsman and started hauling him back to the others. Zoro's Death screamed frantically as his Calling was hauled even further from him, but the rest of the Deaths, given new strength from the encouraging sight, eagerly held him down and kept him still as his human was pulled out of his grasp.

They managed it, against all odds, for over an hour. Zoro's Death struggled frantically the whole time, and it exhausted the rest of the Deaths to the bone. But they held on for the sake of their humans, and for the pact that they had made months ago that seemed ridiculous at the time but was now very real, and all the more important to fight for. Chopper's Death alone disengaged, flitting back and forth between the pile of personal Deaths and the body of the human they were trying to save, reporting the progress of Chopper's frantic attempts to treat his crew member.

Until at last they didn't even need the reports of Chopper's Death anymore. Zoro's Death began to struggle less, growing weaker, and shrinking slowly as his power lessened. It was a good sign—it meant Chopper's care was working, and that Zoro himself was rapidly drifting away from death into the world of the living again. Slowly, the Call Zoro's Death was hearing began to fade, until eventually he was completely still. Everyone remained in place, just to be safe.

"Fuck," Zoro's Death finally said, after a good ten minutes of silence. "I didn't really—did that just fucking happen?"

The rest of the Deaths laughed, hysterical laughs that were mixed parts relief and happiness, and finally rolled off their no-longer-tranced companion in exhaustion. "Yeah," Franky's Death confirmed, with a tired groan, "That really just happened."

"Dammit, after a near death experience that strong you're going to be a veritable monster," Nami's Death added with a shudder. "It's rare for anyone to survive the Call. Zoro'd better not try to die again, or we'll never hold you back next time!"

Luffy's Death snorted. "Of course we will," he said, in a perfectly reasonable tone. "We made a deal, and all our humans have things to get done, so nobody's allowed to die until it finishes. That's the rule."

"Yeah, well," Zoro's Death said, as he hauled himself tiredly to his feet, "I appreciate that. Fucking hell. And after all that, that bastard I'm stuck with still isn't going to appreciate what happened here, either."

"That's the sorry tale of a Death for you," Usopp's Death said. "But we can go take a look at least, see how he is."

"If you don't plan to try killing him again, that is," Robin's Death added dryly.

"I think I'm good," Zoro's Death responded tiredly. "Shit, though, that was...not fun."

"Look at the bright side, though," Luffy's Death said cheerfully, as they started to flutter tiredly towards the broken-down castle and its occupants (carrying Brook's Death with them, since his featherless wings could no longer let him fly). "Our pact works! And we are officially the most badass personal Deaths to ever hit the world."

"As long as the offices never figure out how badly we're breaking the law, it's all good," Sanji's Death added with a snort.

"Let'em figure it out," Luffy's Death said challengingly. "I'd like to see them try to stop us. Luffy's crew works differently, so we just have to work differently, too."

They all agreed, tired but determined. And even if the Straw Hats never discovered the nature of the invisible battle that had occurred that day, and if they never realized just how close they'd come to losing one of their number, that was all right with their Deaths. They were all working towards the same goal, anyway; as long as they got there, the details never mattered.

Remember, if you are a fluent French speaker, I'm recruiting! :)

~VelkynKarma