Okay, fifth chapter! Sorry again this one is taking so long, I keep getting distracted.
As always, hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Warnings: Not many this time
Several minutes after leaving the ship, I paused beside a corner and tugged on Zoro's sleeve to keep him from wandering off as I checked the map again. There seemed to be only one way to reach the path leading to the building in the woods from the main roads, but finding it was proving more difficult than I had first thought. There were a lot of roads.
The situation was not helped by the fact that I was also in charge of making sure the swordsman didn't leave my sight, as I didn't think I would be able to find him again if he did. The small town wasn't quite as small as I had first thought and the streets winding through it every which way reminded me strongly of a residential labyrinth. Even with Nami's map I had to continuously check our progress to make sure we hadn't missed a turn, or that we were still on the road we were supposed to be on.
Keeping Zoro close by was turning out to be much more of a challenge than I would have expected. After grabbing his arm several times to stop him from taking a wrong turn, despite the fact that I was walking in a completely different direction than where he was headed, I finally gave in and took a handful of his sleeve to guide him. I doubted I could actually steer the swordsman using just my own strength, but if he never felt the pulling he certainly heard my annoyed corrections and would turn to look at me, following wherever I was pointing and not saying much.
We hadn't even left the town yet and I could already understand why Nami had sent a babysitter with him. It hadn't ever occurred to me to be humanly possible to get lost walking in a straight line but Zoro seemed to have mastered it anyway.
"I'm pretty sure we've already passed that building," Zoro said suddenly, looking up at the shop behind us.
"We've never passed that building," I answered shortly as I followed the lines on the map with my eyes. "This is a new street. The next turn down should take us to the bridge, then across to the main road heading out of town." Holding the map in one hand and Zoro's sleeve in the other I continued down the street at a steady pace.
We rounded the corner and walked a few more blocks but when no bridge came into view I let go of Zoro and turned the map around, frowning. "Well, that's weird," I said, stopping in the middle of the wide street to read the map better. "There should be one around- Ah!" Before I had time to register what was happening Zoro was behind me, pushing me forward and half-drawing one of his katana with a soft hiss. "What? What is it?"
"The hell do you want?" the swordsman rumbled in a tone I had never heard him use with my own ears. I turned around and looked up at him, shocked, then realized he wasn't directing the question toward me. He was glaring at a ragged-looking man standing a few yards away with a dagger in his hand, watching us with hungry eyes.
"Gi-give me money," the stranger demanded in a falsely threatening voice. "Any beri you have. Now." The dagger trembling in his grip severely lessened the visible threat, the man seemed terrified. Moving my gaze back to Zoro, I could immediately understand why.
Despite this being my second trip, and all the time I had spent watching this crew, I had nearly forgotten how intimidating and just plain dangerous the swordsman actually was. Even without the dark hood tied around his head his eyes were shadowed, frown pulled into the beginnings of a snarl as he sized up the would-be robber in front of us. The tension in his body, the set of his shoulders and tilt of his head, all but emanated a deadly power.
"Do we look like we have any money?" Zoro growled. He paused for a second before replacing his katana and continuing, "We're flat broke but I'll make a deal with you. Take the woman, instead."
"Hey!" I protested angrily. The stranger looked like he was actually considering it and I reached up to smack the swordsman on the shoulder. "As if! Don't you dare try to give me away!"
Zoro tilted his head and glanced down at me in a mocking show of thought. "Oh?" he said. "You want to stay?" He grinned suddenly, showing sharp white teeth. "Will you behave?"
I sputtered for a moment, hardly believing what I was hearing. "Are you blackmailing me?" I demanded indignantly. The nerve of this guy was unreal, although I admitted I had to give him credit for recognizing the advantage.
"Is that a no?" the swordsman asked lightly. "Alright." He made to move out from between me and the robber and I jumped at him, nearly frantic.
"What are you doing?" I squeaked. My fingers closed in his sleeve once again as I hid behind his arm. "Where are you going?" When Zoro ignored me and took another step away, I swallowed my pride and caved. "Fine, okay! I'll be nice!"
Zoro took his time pretending to think it over and I stopped myself from snapping at him again in irritation. Nodding in satisfaction, he turned and addressed the robber. "Sorry, pal," he shrugged. "Guess you can't have her, after all."
Zoro moved away again, this time pulling me with him, and I sighed in relief. It wasn't that I really thought he would do it, but with the robber still so close I wasn't willing to risk my only current protection getting too angry.
"What do you think you're doing?" the stranger shouted. "Get back here!" He lunged at Zoro, changed his mind mid-step, and tried to dodge around the swordsman toward me, instead.
The reaction was immediate and brutal. Zoro grabbed the man's wrist, the one still holding the dagger, and with his other hand pulled the hilt of his white katana forward with a quick jerk, ramming it forcefully into the other's midsection. Zoro let go as the robber crashed to the ground and moaned in pain.
I stood frozen beside him and tried to get my lungs to cooperate, gasping for breath as my heart jumped violently. It had happened so fast I wasn't sure if what I had seen was correct or a visual trick caused by the speed of the movements. As Zoro grumbled under his breath and continued walking away as if nothing had happened, I snapped out of my shocked state and trotted after him, leaving the robber writhing on the ground behind us.
"What was that?" I asked when I had caught up with him, staring wide-eyed at the side of his green head.
"A thief," Zoro shrugged. "Small-time trash. That's all."
"No," I shook my head, "I mean that- why did you- never mind." I tried to brush the incident from my mind but stayed a little closer to the swordsman anyway. We finally reached the bridge a few minutes later and something occurred to me. "You know," I started, "I'm not sure you had to be so rough with that guy. He was probably just hungry."
"Yeah," Zoro agreed. "But he was also willing to stab you through the neck to get money. Should I have let him?"
He had a point, I thought. "No. Thanks."
Zoro made an irritated noise in the back of his throat. "You're really a lot of work, you know that?" he groused.
"I say thanks and you get angry?" I scowled at him. "How does that make sense?" The swordsman gave me another frown and I remembered our deal and turned away, concentrating on being nice to the stubborn, violent man now wandering off in the wrong direction. Again. "This way, Zoro," I sighed, pointing ahead of us. "We're not turning yet."
"Isn't this the way we came from?" he asked as he fell in step beside me.
"No," I ground out in an attempt to keep my tone level. "It's not. This is the way to the woods."
Zoro shrugged but didn't argue any further.
The town ended abruptly and we found ourselves on a single, narrow road leading away from the grey buildings. We walked on in silence, I tucked the map back into my pocket and Zoro's hand rested across the hilts of his katana in what I thought must be a habitual move for him. There weren't many sounds outside the town except for the light chirping of birds and the crunching of the earth-packed road under our feet.
After about ten minutes we found ourselves facing a fork in the road.
"Left," I directed. "That's what the map said." I watched Zoro start forward again and had to stop myself from taking off my shoe and throwing it at him, hissing in frustration. "Your other left, swordsman!"
Zoro paused and changed direction. "Be more specific," he grumbled.
"Jeez, how do you manage not to get lost on the way to the kitchen?" I frowned, moving in beside him again. He purposely turned his head away without answering and it hit me. "You have before, haven't you?" I laughed and clapped a hand over my mouth immediately. Unbelievable.
"It's not my fault Franky gave that ship such a weird design," Zoro defended. "It's confusing."
"It's a big ship," I agreed, still smiling. As annoying as he was, it still felt a little mean to tease him about something he couldn't help, so I let the subject drop for the moment.
It wasn't too much longer before we ran across a small branching trail, leading north from the road. Zoro looked at me in question and I nodded. This was it.
I let him go first, not sure what to expect, and walked behind him on full alert. I was starting to feel more than a little paranoid by the time we had reached a small wooden house at the end of the trail. Zoro halted in front of the house and put one arm out to stop me as well. He stood still, completely silent, and I wondered how he was supposed to get the attention of whoever might be inside without actually knocking.
"What do you want?" a raspy voice sounded from one of the open windows.
"I want to talk to Shogun," Zoro answered immediately.
There was a long pause, then the voice answered, "Roronoa Zoro, you may enter. The woman stays outside."
I didn't like that idea in the least, and was about to tell Zoro this when he put his hand on my shoulder and shook his head to keep me from talking.
"Just wait here," he said quietly. "I'll be right back." He turned away and walked up to the house, through the front door without a pause. It closed behind him silently.
I stood on the path and waited. And waited. After ten minutes I began looking around the trees, trying to keep my mind from thinking too much about what could be lurking in the area. I couldn't hear any voices from inside the house, no matter how hard I listened, but was unwilling to move any closer to try harder. What were they doing in there? Staring at each other?
After thirty minutes more I was thinking about calling out to Zoro when a slight movement caught my eye. It wasn't much more than a shifting of shadows in the trees to the left of me, a small rustling of underbrush. Still, I tensed immediately and stood from the rock I had been sitting on beside the path, straining my eyes to identify whatever was making the commotion.
Without warning an enormous black creature resembling a wolf stepped into view from behind a thick cluster of trees, it's yellow eyes reflecting the light and it's long teeth bared. It moved closer and I realized with a cold clarity that it's focus was on me. It sprinted forward at the same moment I turned and ran.
"ZORO!"
I barely recognized my own voice calling for the swordsman, it was so loud and shrill. I was now sprinting away from the small house and into the woods, panic clouding my ability to reason. I ran as hard and fast as I could through the trees, the only thought racing through my mind was to get as far away as I could from the beast behind me. I could hear it crashing through the plants as it gave chase and pushed myself even faster.
I heard a rumbling roar ahead of me but didn't even attempt to think of what it might be, which was why it came as such a surprise when I found myself facing a swift-moving river. I looked around quickly and spotted a tree laying half-way across the currents. The tree's roots were still deep in the ground and I hoped it would hold well enough as I jumped on top of it and began moving across the trunk. If I could get close enough to the other side, I though wildly, I might be able to cross the water to the other side. Glancing down at the swift currents I realized this had been a very stupid assumption, but it was too late to go back.
I heard the growling of the animal and saw it's black body slinking through the trees toward the river as I turned to look behind me. Edging out onto the thickest branch I tried to put more distance between myself and the beast. I seriously doubted it was actually a wolf; I had never seen any kind of lupine animal of that size.
The branch I was standing on broke with a sound like a gun shot and I tumbled down into the swift, freezing water below me with a startled shriek.
The currents were strong, and it took everything I had to not be pulled under completely as I was swept along the river. Icy water filled my nose and mouth, and I kicked out in wild desperation, trying to get back to the shore despite the danger lurking there. I went under, coming up a second later long enough to take in a choking breath before I was dragged down again. Not being a very strong swimmer, it didn't take long for me to begin tiring, my arms and legs screaming with the effort of keeping my head above water. The cold was numbing my muscles, and with a final kick I locked up almost completely.
A shadow detached itself from the trees and flew toward the water like a panther just before I sank into the river like a stone.