Chapter 6:

The wooden wall facing the outskirts of the city was open and Zoro watched a man get ripped apart in the distance.

The Thenn saw this too and shouted, "Shut the gates! Shut them now!" Wildlings ran to either side while their brethren were running through and they started pushing the huge wooden gates shut.

"There are still so many outside!" Usopp yelled, but not one of the wildlings listened to him. They all knew what was out there and weren't going to risk leaving it open any longer.

The doors shut and men hefted a large bar across the handles to lock it in place. People were screaming and banging on it on the other side and everyone else was stepping back away from the door.

"Open the gate!"

"Let us in!"

"Please!"

"Help us!"

Usopp was so scared he felt like turning around and running right then. Suddenly he remembered the story he just told the giant and his legs stopped shaking. He wasn't going to run!

Hundreds of people were slamming on the gates and shouting, "Open the gates!" Everyone on the side was staring at the wooden wall as it pushed in and was creaking with the pressure of all the people pushing on the other side of it.

Usopp didn't know if it was going to hold, and then it stopped. Hundreds of screams all died down and the only thing he could hear was the wind. His resolve to stay and not run was shaken and he started taking steps backwards.

The Thenn who seemed to be in charge over here held his large ax as he walked towards the closed gate. There was silence on the other side and he wanted to see what it looked like over there.

Back at the docks, people were starting to freak out as the large white mass of snow coming off the cliff got larger. It started blowing around like a blizzard around them at times and Jon, Luffy, and Tormund took a few steps up the shore.

"What's happening?" Luffy asked. The usually fearless pirate had a bad feeling about this and the two men next to him were silent. Neither of them wanted to say what was on their minds, because that would make it real. "Is it those white walkers?"

The two men turned to the pirate who punched his fist into his open hand, ready for a fight. "You better hope it's not," Tormund said and looked back up at the ominous snow cloud, "because if it is, all your friends are going to die."

Luffy's smile wavered at the resoluteness of that man's sentence. "They're strong, you don't..."

"You don't understand," Jon cut him off. "We have to get everyone to the boats now!"

Luffy looked back and forth between the two of them. Both seemed like experienced, strong fighters, but they were scared shitless by what was coming.

Up at the wooden wall, Zoro stared ahead as the fearless wildling walked up and put his head to a hole in the gate. The bald man looked through it and after a few seconds his head snapped backwards and an arm flew through the hole in the wall, reaching out trying to grab him.

The two pirates stared at the arm that looked like it was part of a rotted corpse and then the noises started. Loud snarling and growling were heard on the other side of the gate as things started slamming into it. The Thenn sliced off the arm reaching through the hole with his large ax but there were enemies everywhere.

"Ready your arrows!" A man yelled and half the wildlings still guarding the gate rose their bows.

Usopp was horrified to the core as arms smashed through the wood and he could see what looked like people on the other side, except they were rotting. "Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-" he couldn't even say the word as he watched an arrow slam one in the head and it kept growling.

He lowered his slingshot, turned tail and ran as fast as he could in the other direction. Zoro pulled out his other sword and didn't actually blame Usopp for running. This is what they're all running from. A fucking zombie army?!

Back on shore, Luffy was trying to help Jon get people on the boats. They were all freaking out and running into the water with their heavy clothes on and pulling on the sides of boats that had already left, causing a few to flip over.

"Stay calm!" Jon shouted. "Get on the boats and move out! Keep in line! Get in line!"

"Lord Commander! We have to get out of here," a crow shouted as he pulled their leader aside.

"Take them, and come back for me," Jon yelled at the man.

"You'll never make it!" The crow shouted but Jon wasn't listening.

The Lord Commander started running down the shore and Tormund grabbed him, "If they get through, everyone dies!"

Jon looked up and then drew his large sword, "Night's Watch, with me!" Tormund drew his dagger too and Luffy punched his fists together.

Luffy chased after him. They were running the opposite direction of everyone else in town and the pirate was starting to enjoy this. He didn't like how the terrified people didn't think he'd be able to help though. This was the best he could do to help them. They don't know how strong I am, I'll take care of them. Even though he thought it, for some reason there was a huge dark pit in Luffy's stomach he couldn't get to go away.

On the Thousand Sunny, the pirates were in a state of panic. They saw the shoreline outside of the town get covered in falling snow, but a lot of people ran out of the cloud and into the shallow water where they tried to escape. Then the Straw Hats were permanently scarred as things came sprinting out of the cloud and jumping on the wildlings trying to escape. The people who ran out didn't look like people, and no one even tried to fight them as they ran for their lives. They stared at the monsters and Arya didn't need to tell them for them to figure out what they were.

The boat was headed towards shore now since Sanji and Robin decided they had to go pick up the others themselves. They had to make a slow entrance as to allow the rowboats to move around them and they were still too far away to help. They could see Luffy's red jacket in the crowd but it ran further up in town.

"What's he doing? And more importantly, where's Nami-san?!" Sanji looked around but didn't see the pink jacket either.

"I don't know, but there's Long-Nose-kun," Robin stated as a man in a green coat ran down to shore and hopped inside Mini Merry.

Arya was standing there terrified. "It can't be happening again," she whispered and the others looked her way. I was so close to dad, and then mom and Robb, it can't happen again, I won't let it. The girl ran forward and before anyone could stop her, she threw her black coat down and dove off the side of the ship.

The water this far north was freezing, but she fought through the pain and started swimming towards the shore. "Arya!" The four pirates called down but the girl was doing the front crawl as fast as she could.

At the gate of Hardhome, Zoro calmed himself and watched as a skeleton with a sword in its hand tried to climb over the wall but was filled with arrows and thrown backwards. He looked around the wooden gate and saw more hands and now upper halves of bodies being pushed through the holes. This wall won't last long, he thought and turned his head a little, making a tssk sound as he did.

There were still too many people behind them, unable to get out quick enough. I'll have to hold them off as long as possible, he thought and rose both of his swords. He turned to a teenage boy shaking next to him and he said, "Kid, give me your sword. Get out of here."

The boy was shaking and his weapon was shaking in his hands. It wasn't a heavy sword and was thin compared to the other wildlings around him. He turned to Zoro and saw two sharp thin swords already in the man's hands. "What do you need mine for?"

Zoro lifted his right hand and put the hilt of the sword in his mouth and then held up his right hand. "Give," he demanded and the kid watched as another white walker almost got over the wall and he threw the man his sword. He was out of there and Zoro turned to the gate. The sword wasn't great, and it definitely couldn't be his new third weapon, but it would have to do for now.

The men and women around Zoro kept shooting at the white walkers with their bows and were keeping them at bay, but the Thenn was the only one up against the wood, pushing them back single handedly. A sword smashed through the wall and Zoro didn't like how these zombies could use weapons. It made the flesh eating monsters sound all the scarier.

The Thenn stomped the head of a skeleton that was digging its way under the wall. He turned and yelled some orders to the others and anyone not shooting arrows came over and blocked up the holes.

Karsi was arriving at the wall and Nami was with her. The two women broke off as Nami went running to Zoro and the other girl ran further getting ready for a fight.

"Get out of here Nami," Zoro said with three swords ready. He spoke with a sword clenched in his mouth but the woman heard the tone and took a step back. She looked over at the wooden wall and her jaw dropped as her eyes turned huge.

She stumbled backwards and fell on her butt as a skeleton climbed over the wall. It had two arrows in its chest, but it ran forward and tackled a man, biting his throat and causing blood to spew up in the air before others could kill it.

The navigator got to her feet and turned, running the other way before freezing as she saw more of the moving rotting bodies climbing around on top of a house behind her. Her breathing slowed down and she felt her chest clench up as her legs refused to move. She couldn't think of a moment she'd ever been more scared.

Arya pushed her way between wildlings who were swimming the other way and she got to where she could stand. Everyone was pushing and moving the other way, but she started shouting, "Jon! Jon!"

The girl was knocked down by a wildling jumping off the dock for one of the boats and when she tried to get out of the water, another man stepped on her, causing her to gasp and breath in water. Her lungs filled up quick and she couldn't move fast enough before another leg hit her in the head and she let more water in. She was so close, and now it was all going to end.

"Arya!" The girl was ripped out of the water and she started coughing up water. Over the screams of everyone around her, she heard her name called out again. She turned slightly to her long-nosed friend who had her steadied by the shoulders, "What are you doing here?" He asked with fear all over his face, "You should be as far away as possible."

"Not without Jon," she stated and then ran out of the water. Usopp looked after her with his jaw dropped, this young girl was braver than him. His fists clenched and he tried to chase after her, but he was a coward and ran back to the Mini Merry.

Nami was standing still, her eyes pointed back at the large wooden wall. She couldn't hear anything, and the only thing she felt was fear as zombies started pushing through holes in the wall and running in. Some had swords and slashed apart five men before they were taken down while others just tackled and started eating people.

Normal weapons did no damage to them, they weren't dying. Even the ones who were chopped in half, the top half started crawling while screaming in their bloodthirsty way.

Zoro kept himself calm and slashed only those that ran straight at him. The wall was about to come down, and when that happened he was going to be prepared.

He didn't notice his crewmate fall to her knees as she watched people get slaughtered in front of her. The white walkers were jumping over the wall and slashing and cutting apart the guards. She could hear the squelches of blood and the screams of men being killed as she watched it.

Her shell shocked state went away and now the sounds were adding to the fear and she started shaking her head. I need to get out of here. I need to run! Move! She pushed herself up and looked around for a good, safe, escape route.

Out on the water, the Sunny couldn't get any closer to the shore because there were too many rowboats in the way. Besides that there were hundreds of people swimming in the water in front of them.

Sanji looked to the starboard side and the other side of Hardhome outside of the gate. The huge snow fog that fell on the area was starting to lift and the chef's eyes went huge. He dropped the cigarette he lit to calm his nerves and Franky saw where he was looking and looked as well.

The cyborg dropped his jaw and his skin turned blue in fear as he saw the army on the other side of the gate. It wasn't so much an organized army, as a mob of crazed dead people sprinting full speed at the wooden barrier. None of them looked like they had a sense of themselves and they were screaming in horrific tones as they ran. They'd been up against strong and scary enemies, but the monsters in front of them topped them all.

"Nami-san," Sanji whispered, "Arya." His hands were shaking and he tried to jump off the ship but Franky grabbed him around the body with both arms.

"Luffy and Zoro will keep them safe Sanji-bro," Franky assured. "And Usopp too," he added, not sure if he was adding him into the group that was saving or being saved. Probably the latter.

The sniper was currently standing at the edge of the dock as wildlings ran past him. They slammed into him and bumped him but he barely noticed. He was too deep in thought, No one else is here, they're all trying to fight. I can't be a coward forever, especially not here. This land is brutal, people are dying everywhere. I don't want to be dead weight! He snapped his head up and pulled out his Kabuto slingshot, running forward ready for action.

Already at the wall, Zoro was slashing every zombie that came his way. He saw a hole where a line were constantly running in and if that wasn't closed soon... "Nice of you to finally show up," he called over as Luffy punched and his arm extended, knocking the line of white walkers back through the hole.

Jon and Tormund didn't even have time to be stunned by the stretching power of the pirate. "Close up the hole, bring the sled!" Jon yelled as he ducked under a sword and sliced the zombie holding it. Tormund smashed one of the other white walkers on the back with his weapon and then spun, cutting the next one's neck.

"Looks like you two can handle yourselves in a fight," Zoro stated.

"This isn't a fight," Jon said. "We have to hold off long enough for the boats to return for more people."

Luffy was getting a look at the enemy for the first time and he couldn't even get enraged at them. Usually if he saw people ripping other people apart like this, he would snap and try beating the crap out of them, but these weren't people. He couldn't even be impressed by the fact that zombies were running around because so many men and women were being killed around them. He extended his arms and grabbed a post, flinging himself up in the air so he could get a good look at the enemy's numbers over the wall.

The pirate lifted up and saw tens of thousands of skeletons and zombies, all with varying levels of flesh still on their bodies. They were running straight at Hardhome with the sole purpose to kill everyone there and the nervous feeling Luffy had about this turned out to be well placed.

"How's it looking captain?" Zoro asked as Luffy fell back to the ground. The shocked wildlings were killed because they took their eyes off of the attacking white walkers for a second, leaving no one really shocked about Luffy's powers.

The captain grimaced and that was all Zoro needed to know to know the situation was grim.

Arya was running up the path of the street and she turned right at a building. From where she stood, she could see the wooden wall on the other side of town, and she knew that's where her brother would be. She took a few steps forward when she saw Nami.

The orange haired woman was staring at a tent close to her where a man was pressed against it and two zombies were eating his chest. He was screaming the whole time and the navigator couldn't run anymore than she already had. Arya ran over to the woman who was older than her by a few years and she yelled at her, "Nami! You have to get out of here!"

She looked down at Arya and didn't understand why the girl was here. Arya could see the scared and distant look on Nami's face and she looked back over to the wooden wall another time. She looked back and grabbed Nami by the hand, "Let's go!" She started running back down the path with Nami behind her and the two of them ran past a man in a green coat going the other way. "Usopp?" Arya called out and turned but the man in the coat kept running.

The girl kept pulling Nami towards the shore where hundreds, even thousands of people who couldn't swim were waiting around for other boats to return. There was a mess of people in the water trying to climb on the boats already leaving, but Arya left Nami at the Mini Merry and then turned around. She had to go get Jon and she left the woman somewhere safe and then headed back out.

Luffy and Zoro were standing side by side, right in front of the wall with the others trying to keep the white walkers away. The Thenn, Jon, Karsi, and Tormund were all holding their own against the mindless wights, but the others couldn't hold their own against the scary monsters and were being killed off fast. The men of the Night's Watch Jon brought up with him were quickly being depleted as they tried sealing holes slower than they were being made.

Suddenly they all felt a weird twinge in their necks and looked up to the left where they stared at the top of the cliff. Four horsemen were watching the battle from the cliff and the two pirates were stunned that this zombie army was actually an army. These were the commanders watching their troops.

Jon looked down from the edge of the cliff and to the building below. "The Dragonglass," he said as that would be the only thing that could stop them now.

"You and me then," the Thenn shouted over and they started running for the hut.

Luffy looked at Zoro and the swordsman nodded his head. The captain grinned and nodded, turning the other way and running after Jon who he was going to help get the special weapons that could kill these things. He liked how they weren't giving up against this horde of zombies so that they could protect as many people as possible.

They had to fight their way towards the hut and Jon cut a skeleton in half before slicing up one of the zombies' bodies. Luffy kicked one out of the way and then they heard a loud growl and looked towards the hut where a giant burst out of it and the front exploded. There were white walkers climbing on his back and the huge man started snapping them in half as he threw them off of him.

One white walker was jumping off the roof of the hut with a sword raised. It was coming down at the giant who turned and saw it right in front of his face. Suddenly an explosion hit the skeleton in the head and it broke apart as it was thrown backwards.

The giant and the men running towards the building turned and saw a teen with a slingshot in his hands, looking stunned he actually hit his mark. The guy in the green coat had goggles down over his face and held his thumb up, "Captain Usopp has your back!"

Another two monsters were running at Usopp from the right and he fired his slingshot, hitting both in the faces and throwing them back. The zombies got right back up and started charging at the terrified man, but the giant stomped on the two and then turned to Usopp. He nodded and said something in a foreign tongue, but the sentiment was enough.

"Come on," Jon said and started walking into the burning hut. The Thenn was behind him on his right and Luffy was on his back left.

At the shore, Nami was holding her head in her hands. Why am I just sitting here? The image of one of the men with a bow and arrows getting his throat ripped flashed in her mind and she sank down a little in the Mini Merry.

She heard a sound over all the other screaming on the beach. It made her snap out of her scared daze and she lifted back up to her feet. The navigator looked up the shore where everyone was running away and there was one child standing next to a tent. The little girl was crying and had her head tilted up as she screamed but all the other wildlings ignored her and ran past.

"Run!" Nami yelled back into the village but the other screams were too loud and the girl couldn't hear her. The pirate was terrified, but she couldn't just leave a screaming child to die.

The orange haired navigator got off the Mini Merry and splashed into a foot deep of water. She trudged her way out and pushed between burly men to get up the snow covered shore. There were hundreds of people around her and she couldn't see over them all so she lost sight of the young girl in the white furry hood. Nami started spinning around in the crowd and she saw which way she was supposed to go and ran towards that tent.

The girl was standing there with tears in her eyes as a panting Nami approached. "Hey, are you alright?" the woman asked and started to bend down. "Here, come with me." She extended her arm and held out a hand for the girl to take. The child looked at the sweet woman in the pink coat and stopped screaming. She reached out with a small hand to grab Nami's and then she was gone.

Nami screamed and stumbled backwards as a rotting corpse ran through the closed tent and grabbed the wildling child. The monster pulled the girl back in the tent while she screamed and all Nami heard was the loud squelch inside and the halt of the child's screams.

She looked up with sheer terror on her face and she saw Karsi fighting the white walkers as they charged at her. Nami knew the woman wouldn't last long and she had to at least save the mother of those two kids she saw get put on the boat earlier. "Karsi!" The woman was slicing them apart and looked to be holding her ground, but the wildling suddenly froze and Nami did too as the pirate saw what the woman was looking at.

A group of small children, all of them with rotting pieces and blood splattered on them, were staring at Karsi who faltered. The woman couldn't find it in her to attack the children and her heart raced as they charged at her. "No!" Nami yelled as the kids tackled the woman and started tearing her apart and eating her. I have to get out of here, she thought. One of the kids lifted their head from the wriggling woman beneath them and turned towards Nami. I have to go now!

She started running back towards the shore and there were a lot more white walkers than before. She sprinted all the way to the Mini Merry and dove into the boat. Nami turned her head around, not having looked back once while she ran, and the kid was right behind her. It leapt up in the air at her and she screamed as she pulled out the pieces of her Clima Tact. She connected them fast and smashed the child in the side of the head. He was rotten enough that her hit smashed his head to pieces and his small brownish body covered in rags dropped on the boat.

She stared at it for a few seconds and then turned on the Mini Merry's engine. What am I doing? She thought but didn't stop as she turned around the small boat and pulled away from the shore that was getting mixed with fighting wildlings and white walkers. The concentrated fear she felt was more intense than any other feeling her entire life. I'm running away, she thought but her shaking hands wouldn't move away from the wheel and she didn't turn back. Sorry Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, please forgive me.

Earlier at the wooden wall, Zoro was holding his own against every zombie that came his way and the large ginger man, Tormund was getting pushed back towards him. He was easily the strongest wildling still fighting against the onslaught of monsters, but Zoro knew neither of them were going to last long against these enemies who wouldn't stay down.

The wall began to creak as the hundreds and thousands of dead soldiers pushing against it became too much. "Move back!" Tormund yelled for any of his remaining forces protecting the wall.

Zoro watched as a portion of the wall started to come down and he saw the magnitude of the army in front of him. "They're already dead so there's no point in holding back," he muttered and Tormund looked at the crazy man next to him who was twisting his swords around. "360 Pound, CANNON!" Zoro spun his blades in front of him with so much force that his attack became visible as it flew through the partially broken gate and into the front of the army.

The large blue tunnel was slashing the zombies who got in the way and it had enough force behind it to clear a path straight back into the cloud. He broke through wood, flesh, and bones alike. Tormund was amazed, but neither of them were given any extra time as all the white walkers blown away by that attack were quickly replaced by others. They filled in the spots their friends' dead corpses were in and charged at the hole in the wall.

"Got any more attacks ready for them?" Tormund asked with a small bit of hope in his voice. Zoro didn't say anything and he had a bead of sweat coming down his head. At most he'd be able to do two, maybe three more of those attacks before he was spent. The wildling grunted and lifted his curved knives, preparing to stop as many of them as he could. His resolve faltered as he saw what was in front of him. When the massive army of white walkers broke rushed through the wall though, he turned and ran with the rest of his men, fighting them off as he did, but still running.

Only one man didn't run. "A scar on the back is a shame for a swordsman," Zoro stated and held up his weapons as the horde charged him. He was scared, but he couldn't turn his back on his enemy.

Over in the large hut with the broken front, Luffy, Jon, and the Thenn walked in ready for a fight. They could all feel a weird presence in front of them and looked into the flames that were burning around the inside of the building. Through the fire, a figure was approaching them and its silhouette got clearer the closer it got. Jon and the Thenn stared at the white walker commander walking through the flames and Luffy smirked, it was time for a real fight to begin.

A/N Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I just got back from vacation and decided to post this next one. Hardhome! Zombies are attacking everywhere and there are thousands of them! AHHHH! Can Luffy and the gang beat them? Who knows? Next time Hardhome Part 2 will be up and we'll see the stunning conclusion? Or not, but anyway thanks for all the follows, favs, and reviews, they mean a lot and I really can't believe how much feedback I'm getting from this story. 'Till next time!