Disclaimer: I no own One Piece. Bah.
As usual, Zoro couldn't find his intended destination even following a map that Nami had specifically drawn for him. He was sure this path would lead him to the swords shop, yet somehow he wounded on the beach at the east, which was the opposite direction of where he should be. "The witch must've drawn it incorrectly to mock me," he grumbled sullenly under his breath as he somehow found himself staring out the same ocean for the umpteenth time, even though he clearly followed the instructions of the neat map. Shaking it in frustration, he turned back to his starting point. Never did it occur to him that perhaps it was his own lack of direction that led him to be lost.
The swordsman passed a vaguely familiar bakery, a hand running through his tousled green hair as he groaned in irritation, wondering how long it was going to take him to find the damn shop. In his head, he could almost hear the shitty cook mocking him gleefully. Huffing, he began to jog, hoping that would quicken the process.
"Hey!"
Zoro spun around towards the sudden voice to find himself face to face with a young man. "This is the fifth time I saw you walking down this street. Are you lost? I could help," he offered amiably with a smile.
He raised an eyebrow; he didn't remember this street at all, and the buildings were all familiar in the way that he could tell he was in a town, but that was the extent. "Sure," he replied warily. "I'm looking for the swords shop, do you know where it is?"
The man suddenly took on an expression like he was trying hard to not laugh as he pointed a shaking hand to the street adjacent to them. "It's right there," he said, struggling to keep a grin off his face.
Zoro felt warmth creeping up his cheeks, a telltale sign that he was blushing. "Oh… right… thanks," he muttered, turning around sharply to the store, ignoring the small chuckles that slipped through the man's lips. Abashment was quickly replaced by curiosity as his eyes scanned the contents the store offered, contemplating whether to buy a new sword or not. The embarrassment was soon forgotten as he immersed himself in his specialty, finally settling for a kit to keep his swords in top condition which he was beginning to run low on.
Humming quietly to himself, he left with his face buried in Nami's map and supplies shoved in a leather sack. His eyebrows drew together as he examined a particularly odd part. The swordsman was almost a hundred percent sure that the salon was adjacent to a tiny stationary store, yet here it clearly indicated that they were on opposite sides of the island. So for the second time of the day, he took up wandering around, hoping his extreme luck would land him fairly quickly back at where Sunny was docked.
Presently he reached the back alleys, where the more unpleasant people of Elysia resided in. He had already passed the area an innumerable amount and was certain he'd reach the dock soon.
He reckoned he would have been able to see the dock from his point when an explosion rocked the earth right in front of his face, shooting up plumes of smoke up into the clear blue skies. Out of reflex he jumped back and dodged lethal shards of solid that came flying is way, then drew out a sword in anticipation. His eyes scanned his empty surroundings and zeroed upon a figure perched elegantly on the ledge of the bare building tops. He winced, squinting through as the sun was shone too brightly in his eye, casting a direct shadow over the mysterious figure so he couldn't see his face except a wicked grin.
He tightened his grip on the hilt, glaring at the man. Was he one of the marines that Robin warned them about? The raven-haired woman had told them last night of her findings about fifteen soldiers that were stationed undercover on this island, but he hadn't expected them to outright attack them. "Are you one of the marines?" he asked bluntly.
The Cheshire grin didn't fade. "Oh? You seem to be informed of us already." He held up a hand, and Zoro made out a dart clasped between two fingers. With a swift flick of his wrist, the projectile weapon came flying towards Zoro's face with uncanny accuracy, who snatched it out of the air before he was hit.
He tore off the small square sheet of paper attached and unfolded it.
To the Straw Hat Pirates,
I, Captain Shigeru of the Marines on my honor challenge you to a battle due northeast of the island in the clearing at 1900 today.
"The hell is this?" he said out loud incredulously, shaking the paper. "A challenge letter? Seriously?" Robin did give them a warning, but this was just…
He heard a derisive snort from the man, as if he agreed with Zoro. "You don't say. Crazy-ass leader," he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for the pirate to make out his words.
Zoro's eyes widened at the outright insulting by this Captain Shigeru's subordinate, and the man seemed utterly unfazed by the fact that Zoro had overheard. "So am I supposed to accept this shit or something?" He gave another vigorous shake.
"If you would be so kind to," the man replied, the grin seeming to stretch impossibly, reminiscent of his idiotic and hyper captain.
"Was this sent out to the rest of my crew?"
"Yep."
It was surprising how the man answered all their questions so easily without any qualms about revealing inside information. It was the first time Zoro had ever met an enemy like that who wasn't so uptight and anal that it honestly scared him.
"Well then, my business here is done," the man continued, straightening up and raising two fingers in a mock salute. In that brief moment, the sun shone past all the shadows cast by his cap and revealed the mysterious man's face. Within the split second, he turned and darted away, leaping out of sight, but that simple instant was enough to have the image deeply ingrained in the pirate's mind.
Wasn't that-? He took an involuntary step backwards, rubbing his eyes and blinking.
That voice. That face.
A shaking hand reached into his pocket and drew out a baby snail transponder, oozing happily on his palm. "Oi, shitty cook," he said as he breathed in deeply to calm his frayed nerves.
There was visible disappointment in Sanji's tone when he replied. "Why does it have to be you, marimo? And not one of my lovely ladies?"
"Deal with it," Zoro snapped back irritably, not in the mood for the blonde's openly flirty behavior.
"So what the hell do you want?" Sanji took a deep drag of his cigarette and breathed out. "Don't tell me it's about the Marines is it?"
"That's exactly what I was going to ask. You got one, too?" Zoro stared contemplatively at the crumpled paper.
"Yeah, by two retards who looked like they were going to shit themselves, but not before saying I really did have a curly eyebrow." The blonde chef grumbled into the den den mushi. "Guess they sent one to everyone or something. Is that all you have to say now? I still have to get back to my shopping and talk to some pretty ladies."
"No, that's not it. It's…" he hesitated.
Sanji noticed the strange lapse in his speech with interest. "It's not like you to be so indecisive. Spit it out, will you?"
"I think… I saw … the guy that went after me was Ace."
Silence.
"You what?!"
Zoro winced, pulling the snail briefly away in case there were any more explosive responses; he didn't think his eardrums could handle to abuse.
"O-oi, what the hell?! Have you honestly lost it, shitty marimo?!"
"No I haven't! I saw what I saw, and this is what I'm telling you," Zoro yelled back, ignoring frightened onlookers as they scurried away from him, unwilling to face the green-haired man's wrath in case he directed his fearsome anger to them. He scowled darkly at the snail.
"… Are you sure? He's supposed to be dead during Marineford since he got punched through the chest…" Sanji trailed off uncertainly.
Zoro understood perfectly what the other pirate was insinuating, as it was next to impossible to survive from such a fatal injury. From the bits they had gathered through the public media and the captain himself, they managed to cobble together what happened. Apparently, Ace had died in Luffy's arms after sacrificing himself for his brother. They could only guess how traumatic it would be despite going through similar situations of their own, but none as mentally wearying or dramatic as their captain's. The crew also unfortunately found out that mentioning the word Ace was borderline taboo, as the rubber teen would cook up an angry storm. They had seen with their own eyes how much more dementedly serious and cold Luffy would become over the topic. "I don't know either," Zoro replied honestly. "Don't ask me these questions, but I swear it's him."
Sanji took another calming drag of his cancer stick. "I assume you haven't told Luffy yet."
The swordsman scoffed. "I'm not as dumb as you look."
"You're not- wait, what the hell?!"
Zoro smirked in satisfaction. "Don't drift off topic, ero-cook."
A string of unintelligible mutterings and curses passed through. "Damn you," Sanji said at last, this time loud enough for his baby den den mushi to pick up. "So what do you propose we do? Sit on the information? This is big, but we can't tell Luffy like this."
"We should-" he broke off as a strange object protruding out of the earth caught his eye.
The odd article was, in fact, a strikingly familiar sea blue eye that intently stared directly into his own as if peering into his very soul. The gaze could only belong to one person, and his suspicious were confirmed when the eye burst into a multitude of flower petals. "Robin," he said.
Sanji broke out of his angry ranting. "What about her?" he questioned curiously.
"I'm right here." From the shadows, Robin stepped out and regarded Zoro with a piercing gaze not unlike the previous eye, her expression unreadable and lacking the usual cryptic and serene smile.
"Robin-chwan!" If Zoro could see the cook through the snail transponder, he would've seen Sanji transforming into a wriggling wet noodle on the floor again, fawning over the extraordinary beauty of Robin and other lewd thoughts.
The raven-haired woman paid no heed to Sanji. "If you may, Zoro, please tell Sanji to meet us here. There is something I need to talk about, about Ace."
"What about Lu-" the swordsman began.
Robin silenced him with a simple look. "It will not be a wise decision to tell Captain yet."
"Then the challenge?"
"We will still go."
Ace somehow miraculously survived the first half of the day without puking his guts out all over himself through sheer willpower. Maybe he should consider dropping out of the mission, but no doubt the commander would chew his head off. It was almost time for the soldiers to regroup once more in Shigeru's cramped room, and one of the crew had given him a full makeover because the leader deemed his simple cap unfit.
The freckled man was tempted to throw a childish fit, but reluctantly obliged anyhow. Within the span of a short hour he became almost unrecognizable with pale unblemished skin and startling emerald green eyes, hair temporarily dyed a chestnut brown and pulled into a small pony tail. His cap, sadly, was tossed to aside as the younger soldier rebuked him for carrying around an identifying article. The other Marine packed his makeup kit away and left, wishing him good luck.
They were all going to need it.
In some ways as the hour drew near, the atmosphere around his co-workers reminded him of how one would act before a great war. It was as if they believed they were going to die, though from what Ace gathered the Straw Hats weren't known to kill. Perhaps they were just terrified.
His digital watch beeped obnoxiously; the timer was set off. "I know, I know," Ace grumbled to no one, dragging himself out of his warm and comfortable bed. The unwanted nausea seemed to grow as he walked out of his room, or maybe it was his own nerves. He brushed back strands of hair from his eyes, focusing on the task at hand.
The rest all passed as one big blur of memories, time accelerating to several times the supposed speed. He dozed through all of Shigeru's annoying pep talk, filled with the usual "we will defeat the pirate scum!" phrases and meanings that got the rest roaring with energy and anticipation until the intimidating innkeeper knocked impatiently on the door and very kindly reminded them that there were other people who needed rest.
They piped down, but only by a bit.
Finally, the soldiers eventually filed out to with excited smiles and began the weary road towards the forest. Shigeru suggested them all sing a war song.
How about let us all march while someone waved a flag and another beat drums? Ace thought sarcastically, the only proper notion he could come up with amidst his worn-out mind. He wished they could speed up all the damn process and finish the job, so he could sleep off the sickness that proved much harder to shake off than he was originally led to believe. Grinding his teeth in frustration as they began the second chorus, he began to walk at a slower pace, dropping slowly yet steadily behind the soldiers.
He slid down beneath a tree to catch his breath, sweat pouring profusely out his forehead. His heart was fluttering at ridiculous rates as it usually would be if he overexerted himself, but it wasn't the case. It was just a slow trek to the forest clearing and nothing else. "My god," he grumbled wearily. "Now my fucking heart wants to give out on me."
The strange serum was making him more petulant than he usually would be.
Ace wiped away the sweat irritably, trying to think something else. Just nothing but what that man had done to his body.
His eyesight was blurring now, and he yawned, casting a look at the direction the rest had gone off to. Just how long had he left them?
Ace didn't have long to ponder over the thought before he slid off into a fitful sleep, unaware of the inner turmoil his mind and body was undergoing.
In his dreams, he saw himself launching a fiery fist towards multiple enemy boats, breaking the sturdy masts and sinking them as soldiers jumped overboard and onto rafts in hopes of escaping his power. With a large grin plastered on his face, he pushed up his hat. Then it flash-forwarded as he returned onto a ship, greeting several different people and introducing himself.
Several of the faces he recognized subconsciously, though in the dream he knew them well. One had hair a curious shade of moss green with three golden earrings dangling from one ear, and his captain was a young teen with a cheerful attitude and was constantly hyper.
This boy he knew well, as his subconscious mind registered that he was well acquainted with him prior to this meeting, and they were as close as family.
Straw Hat.
However, the images began to slip away from his fingers, forming into one large puddle of gray and melted completely, leaving behind no trace. He cried out in alarm and desperately searched for the scattered memories, but the harder he tried, the more painful it became on his mind as if the two were somehow correlated.
A scream ripped through the woods, jolting Ace awake from his disturbed dream. He discerned the voice as one of the soldiers and leaped to his feet, realizing that he had managed to fall asleep and abandoned the rest of the Marines to fight the Straw Hats. "Shit!" he cursed, sprinting past the trees towards the clearing.
The last threads of the odd dream that clung to his mind vanished, and the matter was completely forgotten as he centered his attention on the duty to save the soldiers, however unwilling he was to do so. Frankly, he'd rather let Shigeru be sorely defeated by "pirate scum" so his annoyingly arrogant attitude could be wiped away once and for all.
Presently, he broke out of the last line of trees into a destroyed field. Most of the soldiers were littered around the ground in unnatural positions but not dead; he could tell that through haki. But the rest were barely holding up either, all sporting some sort of hindering wound.
Ace's gaze settled upon nine figures in the center.
So that was the enemy.
This should've been finished a couple of hours ago… but I got distracted by shimejis. *laughs nervously* But they're really cute! Chibi figures that crawl around your computer desktop and do random things, and you can even drag them up and swing them around, then drop them anywhere. I've already downloaded Ace and Luffy, and goodness are they addicting! It's so cute watching them crawl around, hehe!
Hopefully I can try updating faster next week with the four day weekend I will be getting, but like usual no promises.
Once again, please review and leave your thoughts there! It will be greatly appreciated and motivate me to write faster. Thanks! :)
~Shen