Here you are guys! I spent all day rewriting and editing this chapter because your awesome reviews got me so hyped. I hope you enjoy!
Thank you for all the fantastic reviews! You guys make my day every time I read a review and make me work that much harder to make the chapter absolutely perfect.
Thank you Shirani-Chan, VampireFreak4Eternity, Vampchick2010, ZoLuFanGirl98, Shizuka Taiyou, and Autumnangin.
I cannot take full credit for the idea of Zoro's fight vs the Nyaban brothers. The idea is totally Pen-Woman's and I absolutely adore her for coming up with such an amazing idea. I have just expanded on it and added to it and I apologize if I made Buchi a little too dark or creepy. I couldn't resist.
This is not completely my story. Some conversations and parts have been borrowed from other Fem!Luffy and LuffyxZoro fanfictions. However, most of this has been completely redone and rewritten by me. When we get to the Baratie arc and the fight of Luffy vs Kreig it will no longer have bits or ideas from other fanfictions and will be completely my writing.
The authors I have borrowed ideas from are: Pen-Woman, ChemGirl, and Killjou. (If someone thinks I have added some of their story, I apologize for not listing you. PM me and I will add you) Please read the original fanfictions as well. They are brilliantly done and I bow to the authors that wrote them!
Beta reader for Pen-Woman is TheBlackSeaReaper.
One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
The Terrifying Duo! Nyaban Brothers vs. Zoro
The Usopp pirates were gathered in their usual meeting place, one that Captain Usopp had picked out all those years ago. The spot was near one of the cliffs on the east side of the island, overlooking the ocean and the sun rising in the distance. It was a secluded spot, one tree providing a bit of shade, a few logs for sitting and a pirate flag with Usopp's personal symbol waving tall and proud behind them. Even though the sun had barely risen above the horizon, the three boys were all awake and dressed for the day. Usopp, as captain, was the one who usually gathered them together for meetings but this morning Onion was the one to cal the meeting. After seeing the scary look on Klahadore's face as the butler left the mansion, he wanted to report to Pepper and Carrot what he had seen, starting to get suspicious of the jerk butler's actions.
"What?! Klahadore headed for the coast?" Pepper asked, a little surprised, and Onion nodded, trying to get across that he was completely serious this time, he wasn't just panicking.
"He looked really scary." Onion shuddered as he remembered the menacing and almost murderous Klahadore had worn.
"Is Lady Kaya alright?" The blonde boy shrugged, having not seen the young woman, eyes too focused on Klahadore.
"Yosh! The Usopp Pirate Gang are off! You with me?" Pepper asked as he held out his fist.
"I-I'm with you" Onion stuttered, a little nervous, as he held out his fist as well.
"Snore." Both Pepper and Onion turned to look at the lone oak tree that stood on the cliff. The third member of their party, Carrot, was currently sitting under the tree and was sound asleep. Pepper clenched his fists and glared down at the purple haired boy before kicking at his foot.
"HEY! Don't sleep!" After a few seconds Carrot opened his eyes blearily, and rubbed at one eye while trying to stifle a yawn.
"But it's still sleeping time, guys."
"This is not the time to sleep! There might be something horrible happening! Klahadore is up to something and we need to find out what," Onion insisted, pulling at Carrot's arm in an effort to get his friend up. Once Carrot was off the ground they started to run towards Kaya's mansion, a little concerned that something might have happened to Lady Kaya.
"I still think that the pirates are going to attack," Onion huffed as they ran along the path on the outskirts of the village. "Although Captain said that he was lying, I don't really think he was.
"I think so too," Pepper nodded, a little ahead of Onion.
"Me too, Captain was acting really weird yesterday." Carrot said, bringing up the rear. Suddenly concerned that pirates might attack at any moment the boys increased their speed to get to the mansion faster and silently hoped that Kaya was alright.
They reached the mansion after another few minutes of running and stopped to stare through the front gate for a second before moving to Captain Usopp's secret door. They could see Kaya's window as they ran, the glass pane open and the curtains fluttering in the breeze.
"You don't think...?" Onion asked, trailing off as the three looked at each other. Without answering Onion pepper made his way to the hedge where Usopp had cut out a small section that he always used to sneak inside the mansion. They pulled at the square piece of hedge but even though all three of them pulled as hard as they could, the hedge wouldn't budge. The guards must've sealed it after the scene Usopp created yesterday in an effort to keep him from getting inside the mansion again.
"I remember that Captain always came through this way," Onion said confused, still pulling as hard as he could.
"No use, it's sealed off," Carrot sighed, stepping back sadly.
"Don't give up yet, let's go find another way in," Pepper insisted, also giving up on trying to remove the hedge. The boy's turned from the hedge and ran off to find a different entry.
Inside the mansion, in Kaya's room, the weak girl was sleeping but it didn't appear to be a very restful sleep. She tossed and turned, her eyelids fluttering as the dream played out.
*Dream*
Usopp stood above her on the bed, a cutlass held in one hand, eyes shadowed and mouth turned down in a frown. "You! Dare to make fun of me?!" He growled. Usopp pointed the cutlass at Kaya's head, directly between her eyes, which were slowly filling with tears.
"Just because pirate's blood flows within me... You look down at me!" Usopp continued his rant, as if he couldn't see the fear and sadness on Kaya's face.
"Please stop, Usopp!" She begged, unable to believe that this was really the same boy that had always told her such wonderful stories. Usopp didn't answer her, just pulled back the cutlass and gripped it in both hands, pointed down at her chest. The last thing Kaya saw was Usopp stabbing the weapon down and into her chest before everything went black.
*End Dream*
Kaya let out a scream as she sat up in bed, the nightmare having woken her up. It was the worst nightmare she had ever had, even worse than the dreams she had of her parents dying. She took a few deep breaths, fighting the urge to cry, before running one hand through her sweat soaked hair. She glanced around, reassuring herself that she was in her room and safe, before she started to cough softly.
Shaking the horrible dream from her mind, Kaya turned and got out of the bed, sliding her feet into the slippers that waited at the edge of her bed. She took one last glance around the room, gaze lingering on the open window and the tree just outside, before leaving the bedroom and walking in the direction of the servant room. Once she got there she knocked lightly on the wooden door, still coughing slightly.
"Klahadore? Klahadore, are you there?" Upon receiving no answer, She gently opened the door, calling out her butler's name one last time before her eyes found Merry face-down on the ground, blood pooled around his body.
"Merry!" She screamed, quickly making her way to her dear friend's side before dropping to her knees.
"Merry! Merry!" She started to shake the caretaker as she continued to ask questions, heart pounding and silently praying that he was still alive. "What's wrong? What happened? Who did this to you?"
After what felt like an eternity, Merry turned his head and opened his eyes so he could stare up at Kaya, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that she appeared to be unharmed.
"Lady Kaya, thank goodness you're alright," He breathed, voice hoarse and barely audible. He tried to push himself to his knees, trying to get up, only to lose strength in his arms and crumple back to the ground, this time on his back. Kaya crawled forward until she was next to Merry again before placing her hand lightly over one of his, squeezing it softly as she asked.
"Who did this to you, Merry?" She whispered to him, surprised when he started to cry.
"It was… Klahadore. He... did this to me"
Kaya let out a gasp, one hand coming up to cover her mouth, eyes wide with shock as Merry continued.
"He…he was a Pirate all along, Lady Kaya!"
"W-what are you talking about, Merry?" She couldn't believe it even though she knew Merry would never lie to her. There's no way Klahadore would do this to Merry, they were good friends with each other, and she couldn't believe that he would ever hurt his friend.
"He was never our friend, Lady Kaya. He was interested in the family fortune. That's why he got close to you." His words were filled with sadness and a deep remorse that he had been so wrong about someone he considered a friend. Kaya closed her eyes and shook her head slightly, hand still covering her mouth. She was trying to take in what Merry was saying but she still couldn't believe that this was happening.
"That's…that's just ridicu…"
"IT'S THE TRUTH!" Merry had never raised his voice to his young Lady before, but she had to know the truth…the real truth, even it meant he had to yell at her. Kaya flinched back, the tears in her eyes finally overflowing as she started to accept what her caretaker and dear friend said as truth.
"Then…What Usopp said yesterday was..." Her heart clenched as it all clicked into place in her mind and Merry nodded, his tears resuming.
"Yes, it would seem he was the only one who knows the truth about Klahadore's true intentions. He risked his life to save us... But none of us would believe a word he said..." Kaya thought back to Usopp's words and actions the day before.
'Get out of here, Kaya! Or you'll be killed!'
'In any case, let's get out of here for now!'
Her hand dropped from her mouth and both clenched into fists against her knees. How could she have done that? She had slapped him when he had been telling the truth this whole time. She had called him despicable.
Merry was also ashamed of his actions, He was ashamed of himself for hurting the boy, for even thinking that Usopp could ever hurt Lady Kaya, when he was in fact trying to do the opposite. He was trying to save her, save all of them.
"We only thought of protecting the bad guy... and made that brave young man... The man who wanted to protect his village, the man who risked his life to warn us; we chased him out of the village!" Merry fell silent as Kaya began to cry again, large sobs that shook her body.
Usopp was her only true friend in the village and she had destroyed that friendship all because of Klahadore's scheme. How could she live with herself after what she did to Usopp. She would never forgive herself for pushing away the hero who risked his life for their village and for her and instead had defended the person who truly deceived her and lied to her all this time. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Merry start to cough. Her eyes flew open just in time to see the caretaker start to cough up bits of blood.
"ANYONE! IS ANYONE HERE?! ANYONE!" She screamed, trying to get her voice to carry through the mansion, attempting to call one of the other servants but there was no answer.
"It's useless Lady Kaya," Merry sighed, forcing himself to sit up as Lady Kaya helped him to rest with his back against the nearest wall.
"Everyone's gone on vacation since yesterday." Kaya began to tremble, hands coming up to cover her mouth as she heard more bad news.
"That can't be…then I…"
"Now's not the time to panic!" Merry said firmly, trying to get Lady Kaya to calm down, before continuing.
"Nothing's happened yet. 'huff' It's vital that you calm down and think of a solution for all this. 'pant'" Kaya nodded slowly, taking deep breaths and clutching her hands together, eyes still wide. After a few seconds she let out a sigh before nodding at Merry again, waiting for him to proceed.
"If Klahadore's motive is just to own everything in this house, then just give it to him! It's not worth your life to protect it," Merry's tone was serious and Kaya broke eye contact to stare at the ground, wiping away the last of her tears with the palm of her hand. Merry was right, she had to take care of this before Klahadore could hurt anyone.
"The problem at hand now is that you're the only one who can stop Klahadore. Can you do it? Even though this is not your responsibility." Merry continued, watching Kaya carefully, making sure that she understood what he was saying. And Kaya did understand. If she could persuade Klahadore to do her bidding, to take her fortune, he could leave the village unharmed. But if she messed up there would be serious consequences. Then Kaya remembered Usopp smiling down at her and all the wonderful stories he always made up for her in an effort to put a smile on her face.
She wanted that moment back, the way it was before Klahadore ruined it. She wanted Usopp to come back and sit on the branch of the tree outside her window, a bright smile on his face, the same smile that lifted her spirits and made her forget all about her illness. Kaya knew the only to get him back was to give Klahadore what he wanted.
"I understand. I…will not run away from this. I understand the consequences and I will talk to Klahadore." Her voice was strong and her face had melted into a mask of determination, her fears disappearing at the thought of Usopp's smile. Merry watched Kaya stunned, his eyes growing wide. He had never seen his Lady act like this before. She was no longer the weak, sick child she had been after her parent's death; she had been reborn into a stronger person.
Outside of the mansion, the Usopp Pirate gang were currently trying to get through the main gate so they could get to Lady Kaya. Onion and Pepper had both tried to climb the gate but were having a difficult time of it because the bars were just too slippery to hold. Carrot had tried to squeeze his head between the iron bars of the gate, but was having even less success than the other boys, actually managing to get his head stuck between the bars.
"What do you think you're doing?" Pepper snapped, glaring at Onion. "Hold on to them tight!"
"These bars are just too slippery. I can't get a good grip." They continued to bicker until Carrot spoke up, trying to get his head out from between the bars.
"Someone's coming!" The boy's quickly hid, Carrot managing to get his head free after a few good yanks, and all sighed in relief when they realized that it was only Lady Kaya. She was Just then someone emerged from the mansion. The boys quickly hid and Carrot broke free from metal fence to hide but they all sighed in relief when they saw it was only Kaya. She was dressed in her usual pale blue sleep dress with a tan housecoat over top of it. The Usopp crew watched her worriedly as she made her way to the main gate, leaving her mansion for the first time in 3 years.
"What do you think it's going on? She looks really troubled about something," Pepper whispered.
"Lady Kaya is leaving her house by herself! She never leaves her house!" Carrot hissed, attempting to keep his voice down but failing slightly.
"Somethings up. Something really bad must've happened!" said Onion.
On the beach with the Straw-Hat Pirates, Usopp had pulled himself away from Nami, no longer scared after seeing Luffy's attack, and was cheering the raven-haired girl on, trying not to laugh at the shocked looks on the beat down Black Cat Pirates.
"HAHA! that was so cool, Luffy! You beat them with one attack, yes, yes, yes~" He pumped one fist in the air, the other braced against his knee. Even though he was feeling better, he was still too weak to stand up.
"Now that's what I call girl power!" Nami added, giving Luffy a thumbs up from her place next to Usopp on the grass. Luffy remained silent, still facing away from her crew, taking deep breaths in an attempt to catch her breath. Using a new attack always took a larger toll on her than her normal attacks because she hadn't had the chance to practice or refine it. Ace and Sabo had always warned her about using new attacks in a fight, but she hadn't had much of a choice this time. Zoro seemed to be the only one who noticed the heaving in her shoulders and the clenched fists at her sides and that worried him because he knew she wouldn't say anything about it. She was almost as stubborn about her injuries as he was. Luffy took one last deep breath and turned around to face her friends, grinning in triumph.
"What did you expect from your future Queen of the Pirates, I can handle any…" Before she could finish the sentence, a sudden wave of dizziness overwhelmed her and she stumbled forward, surprising everyone around her.
"Luffy!" Nami and Usopp screamed together, Nami stumbling to their feet and moving towards the she-pirate, Usopp still too weak to do much but reach out for her. Luffy's eyes rolled back into her head as she fell forward, about to collapse onto the hard ground. Before she could reach the ground, Zoro's arm was there, wrapping around her slim waist and pulling the exhausted girl against his body, her face nestled against his chest. After a second, the straw hat pirate shook her head, attempting to shake away the dizziness, and glanced up at Zoro, staring into steel colored eyes, mind still happily blank.
"Are you okay, Captain?" He asked, voice soft, words audible only to her. He held her delicately, shifting his hold so he could press his free hand lightly against her forehead. His movements were so slow and tender, as if he was afraid he would break her if he moved too quickly. "Lu...?" The she-pirate was surprised, this was the first time her first mate had ever spoken to her in such a way, as if she was fragile.
"I-I'm fine," she stuttered, glancing away from him and biting her lower lip. She had always been a terrible liar. "I'm just a bit woozy, that's all." Luffy had no idea why her heart was beating so fast or her stomach was making flip flops, even her cheeks were starting to feel warm; maybe she was getting sick. Zoro raised one of his eyebrows, confused at his Captain's sudden shyness but just shook his head, relieved that her voice sounded a little stronger. Seeing her collapse like that had startled him, he wouldn't go so far to say that he had been scared but he had appeared at her side before he even realized he was moving, so he was at least a little worried about her.
"Okay, just be careful next time. Though, I doubt you will be, you've never been the cautious type," Zoro grinned down at her and Luffy let out a soft giggle, but the swordsman wasn't finished yet.
"Oh, and Lu… you did well today, Captain." His grin melted into a soft smile and Luffy blinked in surprise, not expecting the praise or a true smile from her first mate. He has such an amazing smile, she thought, eventually returning the smile.
"Hey Luffy, are you okay?" Usopp asked, interrupting Luffy's thoughts. She turned her head to find the long nosed sniper, still kneeling on the grassy bank, watching her worriedly. Nami was a few feet in front of him, a hand on her chest, looking slightly relieved now that the smaller girl was moving and talking again. Zoro carefully helped the raven-haired girl get her feet underneath her again when he was sure she could stand straight without getting dizzy again. She nodded at Usopp, patting Zoro's chest lightly in a silent thanks and keeping the hand pressed against his chest for balance.
"Don't worry, I'm okay," she said, grinning at her friends. "It'll take a lot more than that to stop me!" Usopp let out a sigh of relief as the straw hat pirate began to giggle. Down at the shore, Jango ground his teeth, gazing around at his fallen crew.
"That brat really screwed us over. Now the plan's all messed up! If Captain Kuro see this, he'll kill us all." The hypnotist ground his teeth together as he eyed the Straw-Hat girl. Not only her, the swordsman looked like he might be an issue as well, but the girl was a more immediate problem.
"That girl is a nuisance, if this continues she'll disrupt Captain Kuro's plan," he muttered to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I need to figure out a way to stop her before things get out of hand." After another few seconds, Jango smirked, a plan coming to mind. He turned back to his ship and shouted.
"Come out, Nyaban Brothers!" Two shadowed figures jumped from the ship's deck and appeared, kneeling, in front of Jango, their movements so fast that they appeared to be nothing more than two dark blurs.
"You called, Captain Jango?" The first man asked, rubbing a hand over his face, as if he was cleaning himself like a cat would. He was very skinny man with green hair and cat ears on his head, a hunched back causing him to stoop over. He wore a large black shirt with a red bow-tie and a pair of short blue shorts that showed off his obviously hairy legs. Dark brown gloves covered his hands, sharp claws at the end that looked like they could be used as weapons.
"You called?" asked the other. The second man appeared to be almost the complete opposite of the first. He was a very overweight man, large black spots covering various parts of his body and a large bell around his neck. He wore a red and black striped pair of pants and a fur cape with the same design. Like his partner, he too had a pair of cat ears and gloves with claws at the end, but unlike his partner, he also had two fangs sticking out from his upper lip.
"Sham, Buchi, we need to get past this slope, but... As you can see, someone's in our way." Jango gestured up to where the Straw Hat crew stood, Luffy in the front with Zoro only a few steps behind her, one sword out and resting against his shoulder. "So here's the plan," he continued, gesturing the two towards him so he could explain his idea. The Straw-Hat pirates watched the three discuss their new plan, not overly worried. Now that Luffy had taken down so many of them, they could face anything those two tried to pull. Ignoring the enemy's planning, Luffy made her way to a tree right off of the path near Nami and Usopp. With a sigh she removed her straw hat and hung it carefully on one of the low branches. After her fight with Buggy, remembering what he had done to her treasure, she didn't want her hat to get messed up again. Luffy scratched her head in annoyance as she made her way back over to Zoro, muttering under her breath about getting some sort of chord to tie the hat to her head. She just didn't feel right when she wasn't wearing it.
After Jango finished explaining the plan, they broke their huddle and the hypnotist commanded the skinny one, Sham, to attack Zoro. Sham took one glance at Zoro, who had stepped in front of Luffy as soon as Jango said his name, and froze at the demonic look on the swordsman's face.
"E-eh! You want me to fight him?! But he looks too strong! Right Buchi?" Sham panicked, eying his Captain as if he was crazy.
"Ye... Yeah! Anyway, we're just supposed to watch the ship." Buchi added, taking a few steps back and pointing towards their ship.
"I said GET GOIN'!" Jango snapped, glaring back at the two.
"Fi... fine... I'm going."
"He looks completely different." Nami scoffed, having moved back to sit next to Usopp. "What're they up to?" There had to be some sort of plan behind this, something about the whole thing was bothering the orange-haired navigator. Then Sham started to run up the slope towards Zoro, claws held above his head, moving in a way that showed that he was inexperienced in battle.
"Hey you! Be prepared, cause I'm gonna tear you apart with these very claws!" Even his threat was pathetic, the words cracking, his voice sounding like he was close to crying. Luffy blinked, leaning around Zoro so she could see Sham, mouth turned down in a frown.
"Man, this guy is a big coward." She scoffed, moving to lace her fingers behind her head, relaxing slightly. Zoro could take care of this guy.
"What am I supposed to do with this guy?" the swordsman asked, glancing back at her, not sure what the precedent was with a situation like this. "You!" He yelled, turning back to Sham. "If you don't stop, I'll kill you!" Zoro didn't want to kill this guy, it wouldn't be a fight to him, just a massacre. And Zoro was nothing if not honorable, he didn't fight to kill people.
As the green-haired cat-man neared Zoro, his coward personality began to melt away and his arms lowered, face melting into a devious smirk as he adopted a better fighting stance.
"That is, if you can kill me."
"What?!" Zoro's eyes widened in shock as Sham moved, now a blur, and brought his sword up to block the incoming attack. Sham's claws clashed against the sword and Zoro was forced to brace it with his other hand against the flat of the blade. 'This bastard...' He gritted his teeth, angry at himself that he had fallen for the simple trick. Sham gazed up at Zoro, a mocking smirk on his face.
"You took me too lightly." Pushing Zoro back slightly, Sham jumped back, settling into a relaxed but ready stance.
"You blocked it well." Sham complimented, still smirking. "I thought my acting had been flawless. I may be tiny, but you'd better not take Sham of the Nyaban Brothers lightly." He lifted one glove covered hand and licked lightly at it, as if cleaning himself like a cat. Zoro narrowed his eyes at Sham, annoyed, but his eyes widened when he noticed the items on Sham's back. Strapped to the cat-man's back were two of Zoro's swords; but that meant... he quickly looked down at his haramaki to see that his Wado Ichimonji and the other black sword he carried were missing.
"Lose something? I wouldn't know anything about it," Sham taunted.
"There it is..." Jango muttered, arms crossed over his chest as he watched from the beach. "The cat snatch."
"Return those katanas to me!" Zoro snarled, his grip tightening on the sword still clutched in his left hand.
"Return it? Isn't your katana in your hand? One sword is enough for you, besides... these will only get in the way." Sham pulled the swords from his back and examined them for a second before tossing them behind him, as if they were nothing but trash. Zoro's anger doubled, his eyes darkening with rage and teeth gnashing together.
"Now... I feel much lighter." Sham calmly licked one of his claws, watching Zoro and waiting for his move. Luffy watched the fight from the top of the slope, eyes narrowing at the callous way Sham handled the swords. She knew how much they meant to Zoro, she could never find the swordsman without them strapped to his waist, or at least within arms distance of himself. Luffy would even go as far as to say that he treasured those swords as much as she treasured her straw hat. To have someone treat such important items the way Sham had... it was unforgivable.
"How dare you throw my precious katanas!" With an angry growl, Zoro charged Sham, moving quicker than the cat-man expected from him. Gripping his one remaining sword in both hands, Zoro slashed Sham's torso, cutting him nearly in half before continuing down the slope to his swords. "Bastard!"
Just before he could reach them something heavy landed on his back, throwing him off balance and knocking him forward. The swordsman glanced back to see Sham sitting calmly on him, looking completely unharmed.
'How...? I saw the attack hit him.'
"What were you trying to cut? I'm a cat after all." Sham laughed, grabbing each of Zoro's arms and pulling them back, forcing the swordsman face first into the ground. He slid a small ways before finally stopping, Sham settling comfortably into a cross legged position on his back, Zoro's arms still pinned behind him.
"Zoro! Hang on, I'm coming!" Luffy yelled, charging towards the fight. She had made Zoro a promise to never help in a battle against another swordsman but this was different. Sham wasn't a swordsman and the raven-haired girl was itching to pay him back for disrespecting Zoro's swords. Sham just smirked.
'She fell for it.' The green haired cat-man turned to look at his brother, who still stood near Jango at the shore and said.
"Come Buchi, your turn!"
"Gotcha, Sham!" The fat pirate ran forward a few steps before jumping high in the air, a feat that seemed impossible for someone his size. "Watch this!" He shot down and landed directly in front of Luffy, forcing the girl to skid to a halt and throw herself sideways in an attempt to dodge the cat-man's sharp claws.
Without giving her even a second to regain her balance, Buchi continued to swing his claws around, attempting to shred the puny girl to ribbons. He still couldn't believe that this tiny little slip of a girl had managed to take down their entire crew. But as time wore on and Luffy continued to dodge his attacks, moving from foot to foot and even doing partial handstands and somersaults to avoid him, Buchi began to concede that she was a little stronger than she appeared. Luffy's stomach clenched as she dodged another swing and she cursed as her vision began to blur. She was so hungry, having not eaten breakfast this morning, and using that new attack... she was a little tired. She barely missed a downward swipe of Buchi's claws, feeling lightheaded and a little dizzy, her body starting to sway a bit. Buchi smirked as he saw his advantage, he had been getting annoyed with the raven-haired girl's constant dodges but it looked like she had finally run out of energy.
With a swiftness that contradicted his large frame, Buchi managed to slip behind Luffy and grab her, one arm wrapping around her middle and pinning her arms to her sides, the other forcefully holding her head in place.
"Hey, let me go, you fat ass!" Luffy hissed, struggling against his hold. She couldn't muster up enough strength to free herself from the hold and began to grind her teeth together, still attempting to kick Buchi in an effort to get free. 'Damn-it, Damn-it, Damn-it' she cursed silently. 'I'm stronger than this! Stupid stomach and stupid hypnosis. I'm going to kick these guy's asses!'
"Now, Captain Jango!" Buchi yelled to his Captain and Luffy began to struggle harder as the hypnotist pulled out his ring. Buchi yanked her hair, forcing her head back, and then turned her to look directly at Jango.
"Once I say 'one, two, Jango' you will fall asleep," Jango explained, starting to swing the ring back and forth. "One... two... JANGO!"
As if a switch had been thrown, Luffy's eyes fluttered shut and her body went limp in Buchi's hold, the girl completely asleep. Jango smirked as he put the ring back in his jacket. Their plan had gone off without a hitch, just like he had expected. Now that the straw-hat girl was out of the way and the swordsman was pinned by Sham, they would be able to make it up the slope to the village.
"LUFFY!" Zoro, Usopp, and Nami cried all at once, horrified at the sight of Luffy unconscious in the enemy's hold. Usopp had started to shake again, wondering what they were going to do now and Nami had covered her mouth, eyes wide with shock. After a few seconds, she relaxed as her eyes moved to lock onto where Zoro was still pinned underneath Sham. Nami couldn't see his face but that aura he was letting off made her really glad that she was on his side.
Buchi shifted his hold on Luffy now that she was asleep, moving to cradle her back with one arm, keeping her mostly upright, so he could caress her face with his other gloved hand.
"HAHAHA! not so tough now, little girl." The large cat man started to chuckle as he stared at the girl in his arms, his brother quickly joining in. Just as their Captain had said, the girl had rushed to the aid of the swordsman, falling right into their little trap. Beneath Sham, Zoro's fist was clenched against the ground, his other hand still gripping his sword. His eyes were shadowed under his bandana as he craned his neck to see his sleeping captain and his whole body was shaking with rage.
Buchi's laughter eventually died down as he eyed the raven-haired girl with dark, beady eyes.
"Hey Sham..."
"Yes, Buchi?"
"You know, this girl looks kinda cute when she's asleep… and completely helpless."
"Is that so…what, do you…fancy her?" Sham asked as Buchi's grin turned into a dark smirk as the cat-man continued to stroke her cheek, his fingers trailing down and sliding over her neck, pausing to nick her slightly with a claw, ignoring the small trail of blood it caused.
"Her skin is so fragile and pale, and she smells nice too." Buchi muttered distractedly, taking a deep whiff of her hair much to Nami's disgust. The orange haired girl stuck out her tongue as she moved to grip her Bo staff. Out of the corner of her eye she continued to watch Zoro; if that idiot didn't get up in the next five seconds then she would get Luffy away from that guy. Even though the girl was a pirate and annoying and naïve, Nami had started to see the girl as a kind of younger sister, or at least, a friend. Next to her, Usopp just shuddered in revulsion as the perverted man continued to paw at Luffy like he owned her, hair sticking up on his arms as he felt the dark aura that Nami had noticed earlier. Zoro was more than furious, he was absolutely livid. His heart pounded against his chest and he could hear his blood rushing in his ears when Buchi's words finally caused him to snap.
"And I wonder…what she tastes like?" His eyes were filled with lust as he stared down at Luffy and he hefted the girl up, wanting to find out the answer to his question but before he could, Zoro let out a loud snarl, summoning all his strength and pushing Sham off him. As the skinnier cat man moved he made a halfhearted swipe at him but had no real interest in tangling with him right then. His eyes zeroed in on Luffy, the snarl still present on his face, before he charged Buchi, wanting nothing more than to slice him in half and watch as he died. The overweight pirate saw him coming, a little surprised at the ferocity of his attack, and quickly jumped to the side to avoid his swing, a little annoyed that he had been forced to let go of the raven haired girl in the process. Instead of chasing after Buchi, Zoro moved to Luffy and pulled the sleeping girl into his arms, stopping her descent. He dropped to one knee, wanting to look his captain over, clutching her carefully to his chest as one hand came up to gently push her hair away from her face.
As he quickly scanned her, searching for injuries, his eyes zeroed in on the trail of blood at her neck. His gaze hardened and he glared up at the Nyaban Brothers, clutching Luffy closer to his chest with one arm and holding his sword out in front of her protectively with the other. Unlike last time, Sham and Buchi didn't seem to be affected by his glare. They just glanced at each other blankly before snickering at him.
"Hey Buchi, I think you made our little swordsman jealous," Sham whispered conspiratorially, voice loud enough for Zoro and the others to hear.
"Aw, how touching. He's in love with his Captain."
Both Buchi and Sham laughed loudly at the statement and Zoro froze. He wasn't... she was just...
After almost a minute of silence the swordsman twitched, the knuckles of the hand clutching his sword turning white and his hold on Luffy tightening. Without taking his eyes off of the two pirates he called out to Usopp.
"Usopp! Take Luffy away from here. I have to exterminate some pests," he snapped, venom in his tone. Usopp quickly nodded and then, realizing Zoro couldn't see him, voiced his agreement. He was starting to feel a lot steadier, not as dizzy, and he pushed himself to his feet before running forward to where Zoro knelt. Zoro carefully lifted Luffy up and placed her in Usopp's arms without looking away from his targets as Usopp quickly darted back up to where Nami stood, waiting for him.
Zoro stood up and brought his only sword close to his face, clutching it with both hands and crouching into his fighting stance as the Nyaban Brother prepared to attack as well.
"One sword style is not my forte but it will have to do," He muttered darkly and the Nyaban Brothers just smirked.
"Let's go Buchi!"
"Gotcha, Sham!"
"Cat Claws Attack!" Sham and Buchi charged Zoro, using their signature attack, and teaming up as they began to rapidly slash at Zoro. Their swings forced him back, keeping him on the defensive and giving him no chance to counterattack.
"This is bad, Zoro's under heavy pressure," Nami said, looking over at Luffy, who lay sound asleep next to her. She had tried to wake the other girl up as soon as Usopp brought her back, but it was pointless. Jango's hypnosis spell was too strong and neither of them knew how long she would be unconscious. Nami almost felt bad for Zoro, getting hit with that kind of revelation in the middle of a fight... She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She needed to focus on the problem at hand.
As she stared at Luffy trying to think of something to do, she noticed Usopp with his slingshot ready and aimed at one of the Nyaban Brothers.
"What're you trying to do?" She asked, whispering so that the enemy wouldn't hear her.
"If they keep attacking him like that, there's no way he can win. I'm covering him!" Usopp spoke, closing one eye and lining up his target before firing.
"Shooting Star!"
Zoro glanced back at Usopp's shout just in time to see that the sniper had shot his pinball at Buchi. He quickly blocked Buchi's attack and stepped in front of the large cat-man, taking Usopp's hit instead. Zoro gritted his teeth as the shot knocked the wind out of him, causing him to drop his guard.
"An opening!" Sham crowed as both pirates quickly slashed at Zoro's chest creating an 'X' shaped wound that gushed blood as the swordsman was knocked back and forced to roll backwards so he could land back on his feet.
"Why are you hitting out own people! You're supposed to be a sniper!" Nami yelled, smacking Usopp upside the head.
"I didn't! It…he took the hit on purpose," Usopp explained, still not quite believing what he had seen.
"Eh? What would he do that for?" Nami was stunned, her eyes wide, as she turned to stare back at Zoro who was clutching at his wound. He struggled to take a few deep breaths, cursing their stupidity under his breath before turning to yell at them.
"You moron! Usopp! Do you wanna die?" Zoro hissed, moving his hands back to his sword as the Nyaban Brothers charged him and continued their attack. "I asked you to take Luffy. Watch after her, not me!" Usopp stared at the swordsman with wide eyes, realization beginning to dawn on him as Nami spoke quietly next to him.
"Maybe…we're the ones who were saved. If you had hit one of them with your pinball, those two would've probably directed their attacks towards us instead." Zoro had taken the hit so the Nyaban Brothers would keep their focus on him and not on the two people who were already injured. Nami turned to glance at the sleeping Luffy behind her. She knew Zoro's main reason was making sure Luffy was safe but after spending a week with them, she knew Zoro would protect anyone who Luffy had deemed a friend, and she knew the swordsman even considered her a friend as well.
"That guy…this is no time to be worried about us!" mumbled Usopp, continuing to watch Zoro as the swordsman desperately tried to find an opening to attack, but still forced to stay on the defensive.
'Damn. If I had just one more katana. I could beat these bastards easily.' he cursed as he continued to block. Nami finally decided that she had watched the fight for long enough, she stood up next to Usopp, a determined look on her face, and said.
"I'm going to get Zoro's swords. If Zoro get his swords back, then he can defeat them!"
Usopp opened his mouth to protest, pointing at himself. "Then I should…" before he could finish that sentence, Nami cut him off with a shake of her head, eyes darting to Luffy for a second, before she grinned down him.
"No. It's best if you stay here and keep an eye on Luffy, I think Zoro would kill us himself if we left her unguarded. Besides, you can't even stand up straight." Clutching her Bo staff, Nami jumped down from her place on the ridge, halfway up the slope, landing lightly on the ground before taking off. As a thief Nami was light on her feet and she knew she could slip past the fight currently going on and get the swords so she ignored Usopp's warnings as she ran. Nami quickly dodged past Zoro and the Nyaban Brothers, eyes focused completely on the swords, having completely forgotten about Jango, who still stood at the base of the slope, only a few feet from her target.
As she reached down to grab the first sword and closed her fingers around it, a shadow overtook her and a foot entered her field of vision and stomped down on the sword, preventing her from picking it up. Nami's eyes widened but she was unable to react fast enough as Jango pulled his hypnosis ring from his jacket and sliced into her shoulder, causing her to fall forward onto the ground in a heap.
"NAMI!" Usopp yelled worriedly.
"What do you want with those swords?" Jango asked calmly, staring down at the orange haired girl. After a second he shook his head, smirking softly. "Foolish..." Turning his attention from the injured girl he raised his head to continue to watch the fight and froze. At the top of the slope, staring down at the destruction that littered the coast, was Klahadore. He clutched his weapons bag in one hand, the other clenched tightly at his side. Jango screeched as he recognized his captain, starting to panic.
Buchi and Sham stopped their attack and turned to watch the butler, eyes wide and bodies shaking slightly at the sight of their Captain Kuro. Zoro also followed their gaze and his eyes narrowed, he wasn't all that happy to see him again and Usopp was no better off.
"Th-there's a good reason for this...," Jango stuttered, fighting to get his words out, afraid for his life as he tried to explain to his Captain what had happened. Captain Kuro just watched them silently for a minute, pushing his glasses up his face using the palm of his hand.
"The sky's been bright for a long while. Why didn't you act according to plan?" he asked, his words clear and articulated but spoken softly, showing just how angry he really was. Captain Kuro was quiet, controlled, and deadly. His tone now showed just how close he was to snapping. The rest of the crew, who had woken up since Luffy's earlier attack and had been just watching the fight, froze in shock at the sight of their former captain.
"Ca... Captain Kuro." They stuttered out, fighting the urge to scramble back and hide on the ship.
"We're gonna be killed!"
Zoro turned away from the Nyaban Brothers to face Kuro, an annoyed look on his face. "What?" He couldn't understand why the pirates were freaking out over the sight of their own captain.
"This is bad," Usopp muttered, crouching in front of Luffy, trying to keep her out of sight. With Luffy out of commission and Zoro only having one sword, they were having a hard time just taking on the Nyaban Brothers, taking on Captain Kuro would be impossible. Kuro eyed the situation in front of him, eyes sliding over the orange-haired girl, the swordsman, and finally settling on Usopp, who was kneeling in front of the bratty straw-hat girl from earlier. He was furious to see the nosy brats he had run into at the mansion had come to try and ruin everything he had worked three fucking years for and his sorry excuse for a crew couldn't even beat them. He pushed his glasses up once more, taking a deep breath before veins appeared on his forehead and he shouted down at Jango.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"
And there we go. Klahadore has shown up and it's time for Zoro to beat up the Nyaban bro and Luffyko to wake up.
I apologize if you think Luffyko was a little OOC this chapter. I wanted to adapt this from the idea Pen-Woman had and use Luffyko getting knocked out as a way for Zoro to get hit over the head with the proverbial brick. I feel like Luffyko could really be like that though. In Strong World he lost to Shinji and claimed afterwards it was cause he was hungry and various times throughout the series he has collapsed after trying new and crazy attacks. Since this is still East Blue I feel like its ok for her to get tired after these attacks, especially if she didn't have breakfast beforehand. Let me know what you think.
And Zoro is just now getting the picture of what's going on. He's not really going to have the time to think about it until after they get the Going Merry and head off but I'll definitely add his whole inner conversation with himself as he sorts through it. Now I just need to get Luffyko. *juggles brick in hand and grins menacingly at Luffyko* Ooh, I can't wait to write that.
To Shirani-Chan: I replied to your review but I just want to say again how happy it made me. I am totally looking forward to getting to the arc with Ace in it but before that we get to meet Sanji!
Thank you all so much for reading and please read the fanfictions by the authors I listed above as they are a huge inspiration.
Til next chapter!