Reunited

Zoro & Franky

Zoro growled as he slicked up more of Rumble's henchmen. For a month and two weeks, they've helped Cressida and Ky finish up the beacon to free the cyborgs. Franky proved to be very useful in doing that. With Cressida's and Ky's help he learned quick about their technology. However, it wasn't quick enough. They were about to finish up the beacon when Rumble, somehow, was able to confirm his suspicion that Cressida and Ky were up to something. In a surprise attack he damaged a good part of their work and took both Cressida and Ky hostage.

After fighting off some of Rumble's henchmen in the attack, Zoro found that they weren't as tough as they seemed. They couldn't handle the swordsman very well. Franky decided it would be best for him to stay behind and repair the damage that Rumble had caused while Zoro went after Cressida and Ky. After a warn from Franky, to not cause too much damage to Rumble's henchmen because they were cyborg slaves, the friends separated.

Zoro was now slashing his way through Rumble's henchmen as he made his way to the goon's mansion where their new friends were being held. He knocked one of the cyborgs down then grabbed him but the front of his shirt. "Ky! Where is he?!"

The cyborg pointed down the hall. Zoro dropped him and headed in the direction the cyborg had pointed. He found several guards outside a room. He knocked them out easily and busted into the room. Inside, several of Rumble's henchmen were beating up Ky.

Zoro easily freed him. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine," Ky said after coughing up little blood. "We have to get to Cress."

The two stood up and after a bit of persuasion one of the guards told them where Rumble had Cress. They rushed off to the other side of the mansion.

…

Cressida was bound by her ankles and wrist on a bed. She could tell by the way the room smelled it was Rumble's. She watched him carefully as he wondered around the room. Sometimes he would look at her. Other times he would look around the room. Eventually he walked over to the bed and looked down at her. "You have been a royal pain, you know?"

"Say the creep who has slaves," Cressida hissed at him.

Rumble chuckled as he crawled onto the bed. He hovered over her. He ran his hand down her side. "I've tried to kill you so many times. Yet, I never managed to succeed. Ever wonder why?"

"You're just a lousy shot," Cressida glared.

"Maybe I didn't want you dead. Maybe I just wanted you under my control," Rumble said as he continued to run his hands up and down her sides. "But you've fought me at ever turn."

"And I'll keep on fighting," Cressida replied. "You won't get away with this."

"And who do you think is going to save you?" Rumble leaned down and kissed her neck. "That machine? It can't do anything to save you. He's dead by now."

"He's not," Cressida said confidently but tears began to pool in her eyes. "He will come."

"No, he won't," Rumble said, trailing kissed alone her neck up to her lips. "You are mine now."

"Neve-" Rumble cut her off with his lips. He immediately shoved his tongue in her mouth, making her gag. He continued to kiss and run his hands over here. He barely registered the doors being broken in as he continued.

"Get off of her!" Ky screamed as he rammed into Rumble. The two collide with the wall.

Zoro freed Cressida and helped her sit up while Rumble and Ky exchange blows. Rumble knocked the cyborg a few feet from him. Ky recovered and plowed back into the other man. The two proceed to trade punches and kicks. Zoro blinked at the two fighting. "This could go on forever."

"Leave them be," Cressida says. "Rumble deserves this."

"Zoro, take her and go!" Ky ordered.

"No! I'm not leaving you!" Cressida shouted back. "We're in this together if you stay then I stay!"

"You should take her advice, machine," Rumble chuckled darkly while he pulled out a gun. With his lightning speed, Zoro rushed over and cut the thing up. He pointed his sword at Rumble's neck.

"Ky isn't pulling any weapons on you," Zoro said. He pulled back his sword. "This is a fight between two men. Be a man and face him like one."

Rumble scoffed. "He's no man. He's a machine!"

"Well, this machine knows right from wrong," Ky said before punching Rumble in the face. He kept on punching him. "I know it's not right to force someone into being a cyborg just because you find it funny. I know it's not right to force those people into being slaves. I know it's not right to try and kill someone who hasn't done anything to you. And I know you are now defeated. We have won, Rumble."

Ky gave Rumble one more punch. It knocked the man out cold. Ky stumbled back, huffing and puffing before rushing over to Cressida. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine," Cressida clung to his neck.

"We need to get going," Zoro said when he heard thundering footsteps coming towards the room.

"Right," Ky nodded. He picked Cressida up. Zoro then cut a hole in the wall and they escaped through it.

Ky passed Cressida over to Zoro then transformed into his flying self. He flew the two of them back to the house. They busted inside to Franky greeting them. "Hey! You all made it! Super!"

"Are the repairs done yet?" Zoro asked while Ky pull out and set Cressida in her spare chair. "Ky might have defeated Rumble, but his army is still in tact. They'll come after us as soon as they realize Ky and Cressida have escaped."

"I'm almost done," Franky reported. "With the three of us working together now it shouldn't take too much longer."

"Great," Cressida said, she took over the keyboard controls while Franky and Ky connected wires, placed panels in the right places and other stuff.

"They're coming!" Ky said when his censors started beeping.

"Zoro! You've got to by us some time!" Franky shouted.

"Right! Just hurry!" Zoro shouted back as he headed outside. "I don't know for how long I'll be able to hold off an entire army!"

Zoro ran back outside and slashed down as many enemies as he could while the others worked as fast as they could to get the tower up and running. After several more intense moments of rushed work and fighting, the beacon began to hum. Cressida smiled. "That's it! The shard is now all we need! Ky!"

"Yes, ma'am," Ky popped his chest and pulled out the shard. He slid it into place. The shard began to glow.

"One last thing and we're done," Cressida pulled a small square disk out of her pocket.

"What's that?" Franky asked.

"A highly secret piece of the puzzle," Cressida said as she laid the disk into it correct place. Franky blinded in confusion when he noticed that the shard was pulling some kind of power out of the disk. He didn't have time to ask what was going on as the house began to open and change its shape into a satellite disk. The house lit up as the wave from the beacon began to flow through the air. Cressida's eyes lit up. "It's working! The chips are malfunctioning!"

"Attention, citizens of the Dome of Cyborgs, my fellow Cyborgs, you are no longer slaves to Rumble," Ky spoke when he lifted up a microphone. "Cressida and I have destroyed the chips controlling you! You are now FREE! Rumble has been defeated!"

"And that's it?" Franky asked.

"Yes," Cressida nodded as she started outside. Once outside, Franky noticed that Rumble's army had turned on each other. They were divided between those who served Rumble loyally and those who wanted freedom.

"I'm glad that's over," Zoro said, putting up his swords. "Now we can get the heck out of here."

"We can't thank you enough," Ky said as he put his arm around Cressida's shoulders. They all headed back inside.

"But there's something I don't understand," Franky said. He paused when he saw the console that the shard was in was sizzling and smoking. "Is it supposed to do that?"

"Yes," Cressida said as Ky removed the shard from the console. "We never told you this because we couldn't risk it, but this shard uses power from other things. This little disk actually held what we needed to put the control chips out of power, but I could never make one big enough to cover this entire area to make sure all of the control chips got destroyed. It took several tests with this shard to figure out how it actually worked and that's it's almost completely indestructible. But we did it. We're all finally free of Rumble. Now that his slaves have been taken away he can no longer control us. People will know revolt against him."

"Hold on a second," Franky said. "If that thing can pull power from another source, doesn't that mean it can pull power from any source?"

"What are you talking about?" Zoro asked.

"For an example," Franky said then swallowed before continuing. "Let's say there's this girl, who's magical, can this shard pull her magic from her and be used by someone else's will?"

"Um," Cressida tapped her chin in thought. "Well, I don't know anything about magic, but theoretically, yes. I suppose that could happen as long as the person who's using the shard has the right equipment or conduit for the magic to flow through. Why?"

Franky looked over at Zoro. The swordsman stared at his cyborg companion for a few seconds before he finally realized what Franky was getting at. "Neo was the target after all."

"Kiba did warn us about other magic users," Franky replied. He looked down at the monkey. The monkey jumped up and grabbed the shard out of Ky's hands. Both Zoro and Franky charged at the monkey. "Hey! Don't you da-"

They only got a couple steps before the current world they were in disappeared.

…

Author's Notes: I'd really like to know how I keep hitting cliffhangers. -_-' Anyways…just incase it wasn't clear, here's how long everyone was away from Neo:

Chopper-five days

Sanji-two weeks

Shachi and Luffy-two and a half weeks

Law and Nami-one month

Bepo, Brook, Usopp-one month and two days

Penguin and Robin-one month and one week

Zoro and Franky-one month and two weeks

Apple Bloom: Yeah, now they're all back. ^_^

sarge1130: Kinda a bummer that he can't take away pain. We all know he'd do it for Neo.

Bonney: HI! Welcome to the story. By the time you get to this chapter you'll probably notice that 'No' Bonney won't be making an appearance in it.