Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Fairy Tail.
The second chapter of the bulk submission!
Leaving the unconscious Lucy in the hands of Brook, Zoro ran off to help the rest of the crew fight the zombie giant known as Oz, who was currently being animated by their captain's shadow. There was no way he would be able to keep Lucy safe in this fight, while fighting the giant. A part of him despised the fact he had to leave her side.
Lucy wakes up later and rejoins with the crew in time to see them beating on an upside down Oz with his horns in the ground. Dawn would be approaching soon and this would be bad as Lucy had seen Luffy's shadow taken from him. Normally this would not be a problem as the sunlight never shines through in the Florian Triangle, but thanks to Oz's earlier meddling and antics which included messing with the rudder of Thriller Bark, the ship had begun to drift out of the Florian Triangle. Turns out that Thriller Bark was the world's largest ship. They had to defeat Moriah and get everyone their shadows back before dawn arrived. However, she realized there was something else she needed . . .
She came back just in time to see Oz be beaten by everyone. Lucy would have been there much sooner except the shore had been a bit farther away than she had anticipated. Everyone began celebrating until an enraged Moriah rises from the cockpit that was in Oz's stomach. They prepared to fight as Moriah began giving him a speech about how the New World was out of their league. Placing his hands on the ground, he began absorbing the shadows he had taken from others in his ultimate technique, a technique called, "Shadow's Asgard."
"So, Straw Hat, you say were able to absorb one hundred shadows? Well, I can absorb one hundred . . . two hundred . . . three hundred . . . four hundred . . . " Moriah's form began deforming and swelling till he looked reminiscent of a giant gecko. "five hundred . . . six hundred . . . seven hundred . . . eight hundred . . . " the crew watched in horror and dread as he continued to grow. "nine hundred . . . ONE THOUSAND SHADOWS! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Lucy stepped forward. "Everyone, grab on to something solid and keep a hold on Chopper, Luffy, Robin, and Brook." she said.
Zoro's eyes widened. "Lucy! What are you thinking, you can't take this guy on alone!"
She turned to him and smiled. "Actually Zoro," she said from where she was standing, holding a cup of water, sea water to be specific. "this is one of the few things I can do, so just trust me."
Conflicted, Zoro looked at Luffy, who nodded. They all stepped back and grabbed hold of something and each other. Lucy was taking over this fight, her companions exhausted from their fight with Oz. Moriah looked down at her and laughed.
"Oh? What's this? You think you can beat me all by yourself little girl? Ahahahahaha! Foolish!" he exclaimed in glee.
Lucy glared at him steadily as she took one of the golden keys from her belt. "Not alone, no, but I have the perfect person who can help me beat you." she declared with confidence.
"Ah? And who might that be? Your exhausted friends?!" he asked before laughing again.
Without answering, Lucy shoved the key into the cup of sea water. "Open, Gate of the Water Bearer! I summon thee, Aquarius!" she shouted out, the blue haired and temperamental mermaid appearing before them.
"So it is true, you really can summon companions to fight for you, but it won't do you any good!" he declared, raising his hand to smash her.
Lucy looked at her spirit. "Aquarius, you know what to do." she said.
Surprisingly enough, the spirit didn't argue with her or berate her for summoning her out of a drinking cup. With a shout, Aquarius spun around, creating a massive wave of sea water that blasted into Moriah, washing him away and deactivating his powers, all shadows returning to their rightful owners. Zoro had rushed out and grabbed onto Lucy, anchoring them with his new sword so she wouldn't get washed away as the wave rolled over them as well.
Everyone stared in amazement afterwards, shocked that the blonde mage had beaten Moriah in one hit. Lucy and Zoro stood in the center of an empty battleground, Moriah washed away somewhere, everyone else in the background. He still held her in his arms as she looked to him with a smile.
"See? I told you I could do it." said Lucy.
Zoro looked at her before smiling slightly, making Lucy's heart skip a few beats. "Yeah . . . you did."
Aquarius watched silently from the side. 'So, she finally got herself a man hm?' the mermaid thought before smirking. 'Guess I better leave them, I have my own boyfriend to get back to after all.' she thought as she went back to the Celestial Realm of her own accord.
With Moriah and Oz defeated, everyone's shadows returned, everyone began to cheer and celebrate in the early rays of the morning sun. Once again however, their celebration is cut short by the appearance of Kuma, the Tyrant. He received orders to revive Moriah and eliminate all witnesses to his defeat. With that, he teleports to Zoro and Lucy, deciding to start with them first. Zoro attacks Kuma, who deflects all of his strikes with his Paw Paw no Mi abilities. Sensing that Kuma will not be as easily defeated as Moriah, Lucy summons Loki this time, who gets right to helping Zoro. Lucy does her best to help with her whip, but nothing was landing or having any effect. Sanji and Usopp join as well, but again, nothing works.
Kuma teleports back and began to compress the air into a paw shaped balloon, making a bomb. Lucy dismisses Loke and summons Scutum the shield instead. Luffy was unconscious through all of this, having passed out after Aquarius used her water attack.
"Scutum, I need you to make a shield to block the explosion." Lucy told the shield quietly.
"You don't have enough magic!" the grumpy shield responded.
"You don't think I know that?! Just do something!" Lucy hissed desperately.
While she was arguing with the spirit she missed Kuma asking them to turn in Luffy and be spared. Everyone responded with a resounding never, and Kuma released his bomb, sending everyone flying. Scutum managed to protect everyone from dying from the explosion before he was forced back into the Celestial spirit realm, draining a lot of Lucy's remaining magic.
She managed to regain consciousness just in time to hear Kuma say, "Very well, I will spare your captain's life, but in exchange . . . I will show you what hell is like. This bubble is your captain's pain, and fatigue, a culmination of all the damage he experienced during his fight with Oz. In your current state . . . it will be impossible for you to survive. Don't believe me? See for yourself."
Lucy raised her head and watched as Kuma passed his hand through a large red tinted bubble, a relatively tiny bubble separating from it and floating towards Zoro. It entered his chest and for a moment, nothing happened. Then Zoro started screaming in agony, blood spurting from his wounds as if his body was trying to rip itself apart.
"Zoro!" Lucy screamed, scrambling to him and managing to catch as he fell, skinning her knees in the process. He was gasping from the residual pain. With tears in her eyes, she turned to Kuma. "I'll take his place!"
"Lucy, no!" Zoro groaned, voice strained.
More than anything, he wouldn't let her experience this pain, the pain he had willingly agreed to take. Zoro forced his body to stand, despite Lucy's protests. She stood with him.
"You can't! You'll die!" she exclaimed, tears lingering on her lashes, a few had already run down her cheeks.
"I agreed to do this, this is to save Luffy. What kind of swordsman am I if I can't even protect my own captain?!" he argued.
"We find another way! How do you think Luffy would feel if you died!? How do think I . . . " more tears fell. "You live for the ones you care about! Not die for them! Think about the people you'll be leaving behind!"
Lucy could see that Zoro wasn't budging on this issue. She looked over at the red tinted bubble floating next to Kuma and her eyes narrowed in determination. Zoro saw this and knew what she was thinking, she was going to run into the bubble and take the pain for him. His heart throbbed, and he knew the reason why now.
Before she could run off to do just that, Zoro raised his hand to caress her cheek, his thumb gently wiping away the tears there. Lucy looked up at him with those gentle, chocolate brown eyes, her breath hitching slightly at the action, and he knew more than ever what these feelings of his were. But he also knew this could very well be the last time he ever saw her.
His body knew what to do before his mind did. The hand on her cheek gently guided her closer to him as he leaned his head down closer hers. Lucy's eyes drifted closed of their own accord and her body moved on its own, leaning her head up for something that she hadn't even known she'd been waiting for. Zoro's lips finally met Lucy's.
Neither of them had ever experienced anything like this. The moment their lips met, their hearts sang and skyrocketed into the sky and their bodies became warm. Time seems to stand still the world became just them. Lucy had read about kissing in books but . . . it was nothing compared to the real thing. Neither of them could really think, their world consisting only of each other.
Unfortunately, all things had an end and Zoro pulled away, his expression sorrowful as he met Lucy's slightly dazed and confused eyes. "I'm sorry." he told her.
This caused her brows to furrow in confusion before she gasped in pain, Zoro having punched her in the stomach. She slipped into unconsciousness, Zoro catching her in his arms as her body became limp before gently lowering her to the ground. He turned to Kuma, eyes narrowed in determination.
"Let's take this somewhere else."
Hope you enjoyed and please leave a review!
