Disclaimer almost everything belongs to Eiichiro Oda that genius of a man
Dressrosa, a kingdom torn apart and whose citizens were forced to watch as their destroyer sat upon the vacant throne, for everything Riku had told them about its history it appeared very peaceful but he knew better. Devil fruits were fascinating things, even at the end of their journey they never learned their true nature, well he personally didn't as it hardly interested him, and there was such an odd devil fruit that would turn those that the users touched into toys. He sneezed rubbing his nose obviously annoyed at the fake mustache that adorned his face, it was itchy and annoying like most things on this island, but a disguise was needed they were here to basically start a rebellion and they needed men to incite it first. He had fallen asleep during Laws' attempt to draw up a plan with the Strawhats and only woke up cause Nami kicked him awake and told him to follow Luffy, he had agreed to do so, but what he didn't agree with as much as the dumb disguise that only served to irritate him. He quickly caught up to Luffy as he barged into a crumby-looking casino everyone stopped to stare at the pair that had just entered the casino and stared for a few seconds before continuing on with what they were doing. He grumbled under his breath,
"At least we aren't drawing more attention than we usually do."
Luffy was jumping around intrigued with everything he laid his eyes on while Zoro went to the bar while keeping a careful eye on him, downing sake like water he watched as a familiar face entered the casino after them. Now conflicted was a feeling that Zoro felt much more since he returned but seeing Fujitora again led to a whole different feeling, Fujitora was by no means a bad man, by far he may have been one of the few marines that he himself respected not only for his strength but for his honor, a man so disgusted with the world that he chose to blind himself. He had cut him down in their final battle something he felt no guilt over but seeing him again made him question if there was a way to circumvent such a situation, he sighed pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, if he had to do it again he would just to save them all. Luffy as he always did absentmindedly attract problems as he helped Fujitora who was getting scammed by the men at the table who took advantage of his lack of sight. Fujitora unleashed a powerful display of his might creating a massive hole in the center of the casino. Zoro took this as his queue and walked over to Luffy,
"Let's go Luffy, staying here isn't going to help us."
When he got close enough Fujitora turned towards him with a frown on his face,
"Light and dark, a fitting pair."
Zoro narrowed his eyes hovering his hand over his blades,
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Zoro had been so focused on Fujitora that he failed to notice Luffy slip from his grasp and leave already spouting something about how fun the island was and by the time that Zoro finally noticed that he had disappeared he growled,
"Fuck I was supposed to keep track of him."
But something else had happened this time Fujitora aimed his blade at him,
"I have yet to ever meet another person filled with so much darkness."
Zoro reached up slowly pushing the blade away from him,
"Every person has darkness within them, I've simply learned to harness it for good."
Fujitora gave a hum of confusion,
"Darkness could be used for good, but if one were to use the dark to achieve light, did they really ever achieve light?"
Zoro chuckled darkly at this,
"Probably not, but at least it is towards good, something I can't say for your marines. I've seen far more darkness in the men that proclaim they fight for good than I have seen in the pirates that simply do what they wish due to their own desires."
Fujitora's frown grew as Zoro walked away,
"Darkness can only amount to darkness no matter how hard one wishes to convince others that what they do is for good."
Zoro exhaled, a dangerous expression clear on his face,
"I know."
The next time he would see Luffy was when the idiot had already entered the colosseum, he glared at Luffy through the bars,
"I leave you alone for a few minutes and you get yourself into this?!"
Luffy looked a bit sheepish but very determined,
"It's Ace's fruit, I couldn't just let any get their hands on it."
Zoro sighed, knowing that he was right, he didn't have to participate in the battle but knowing that Ace's fruit was on the line there was no way in hell he wasn't going to throw his hat in the ring. Law had come along joined by Kinemon,
"Quite down Zoro-ya, I told you guys to keep a low profile."
Zoro glared at him,
"And I vaguely remember not giving a shit about what you said."
Law gave him a dirty look,
"I don't care what you have against me but don't screw up this mission."
Zoro snorted and was ready to retort when a very condescending voice interrupted,
"Now if it isn't little Law."
Law froze up not wishing to turn around, and Zoro wouldn't lie it was nice seeing him suffer but that is neither here nor there. He hovered his hands over his blade as Doflamingo stalked closer, but that wasn't his main focus as Fujitora had once again accompanied the warlord. He wouldn't lie and say that he didn't hold a certain amount of animosity towards the admiral but knew that he was an honorable man much better alive than dead, but that didn't mean that he would take it easy against him. He lowered his stance and shot forward without an ounce of hesitation drawing his blades and clashing with Fujitora.
"Justice huh? I've never seen a man more blind to his own injustices."
Fujitora frowned at this but didn't say a word as he activated his devil fruit ability, Zoro knowing what was about to happen distanced himself from Fujitora before unleashing another attack.
"Ittoryu: Yakkodori!"
Fujitora blocks the attack but the power behind it does manage to make him stumble backward, but it was all Zoro needed as he wouldn't let the opportunity slip away. He dashed forward coming from the right and delivers a strike that Fujitora manages to pull his blade up in time to block but was too unsteady to stop Zoro from overpowering him and throwing him flying into the colosseum wall. Luffy was yelling at him but he ignored his words and glanced at Law who was being picked up by Doflamingo.
"Darkness only amounts to more darkness, remember that well Demon Wind."
Zoro scoffed at the statement as Fujitora activated his devil fruit and lifted both him and Doflamingo away from them, Zoro clicked his tongue but didn't spare another glance for them. He knew that he would encounter both of them again eventually, whether it be on this island or at the end. He turned back towards the colosseum to see that Luffy had left already, he clicked his tongue annoyed before turning and telling Kinemon to reunite with the other Strawhats. He found himself a bottle of sake and sat by himself in a secluded spot, taking a drink and sitting in silence for a few moments before speaking,
"For something you touted as your most powerful creation, he seems to have a distinct sense of hatred towards you I would have thought the two of you would have had a better relationship."
He was met with silence and huffed in annoyance,
"I know you're there, being silent isn't going to help you."
"What is it you want me to say? Emotions are not something I care much for and how he views me is something that is of no concern to me."
Zoro scoffed at him,
"It may be of no concern to you but it is to me, as it fucking affects me directly. Why the hell does he hate you so much and why does he want to destroy me so much? Those are two simple questions that I think I'm entitled to at least you bloody bastard!"
He got no response for a few minutes and sighed in annoyance at how frustrating Ashura could be, but Volron's words were stuck in his mind. Could he really trust Ashura? He believed himself to be fairly cautious when it came to trusting others but maybe it was due to his situation that he never really thought about how truthful Ashura really was. But before he could really dive further into his thoughts Ashura spoke up,
"I'm a demon god, I am the furthest thing from benevolent most people would think of and they aren't wrong. Did you ever question exactly how Volron was created?"
Zoro paused at this statement never really one to ever consider how things came to be as he hardly cared for how devil fruits came to be and what they were meant to do,
"Not exactly, but he still seemed pretty chummy with you when he was still sealed within my body, where did this sudden hatred come from."
Ashura responded with a little too much excitement in his voice,
"He was once a human just like you, who I had considered a candidate for my champion but he lacked the absolute desire and disregard for other's lives as you did. So I gave him a little push."
Feeling a little bit more concerned now Zoro asked,
"What exactly did you do to him?"
There was silence for a few moments before Ashura burst into laughter,
"I did everything to him, I've never seen a man sink into despair and insanity faster and harder than Volron did after what I did to him."
Zoro could sense the massive smile Ashura had on his face and chose rather to sit in silence, he pitied Volron for who knows what horrors Ashura could have done to him but it hardly excused what he has done. It was much better to see the demon now as nothing more than an enemy meant to be eventually defeated like the Yonko were. But there was still something unsettling about it, why would Ashura help him, to begin with, if he was willing to drive a man to the point of insanity like he did Volron? Did he simply wish for a champion or is there an ulterior motive as simply spreading his name and chaos across the world seemed to make less and less sense the more he thought about it. He growled in frustration and chucked his empty sake bottle at the wall shattering it, he leaned back in his chair wondering just how exactly he got here. Things had stabilized for a bit and just seem to be spiraling out of control once again. He takes out Wado Ichimonji and simply stares at the blade for minutes on end before attaching it back to his belt and getting up, he knows his goal and he knows how he's going to achieve it, it doesn't matter what comes his way. It's either going to get out of the way or get cut down, that's how he's always done it and that's how it shall remain.
It had felt like a lifetime ago because it was literally a lifetime ago, but he forgot just how chaotic Dressrosa really was. Between Doflamingos lackeys running amok, the civilians screaming as they scattered, and the collapsing building. This was chaos in its purest form and a little part of him found this quite exciting as he had yet to really push himself ever since being in hell but he knew that hardly anyone on this island would be able to put up a decent fight against him and it was frustrating but he knew that he still had a role to play. Stretching his shoulder he sets out to find Luffy and Ucy the bull, jogging past the screaming civilians and occasionally having to unsheathe his blade and cut down a few of Doflamingo's men would be quite unexciting but he would eventually find his target.
"Luffy!"
Said target was laughing on the back of a bandaged bull as they ran down a few of Doflamingo's men,
"Oi Zoro! Look at the friend I made!"
He smacked the bull laughing as they proceeded to run down even more people, Luffy extended his hand to Zoro and he grabbed it yanking him onto Ucy. They charged towards the castle as Pica emerged in his giant stone form, Zoro stood up unsheathing his blades,
"Leave him to me, just get to Doflamingo and make sure to end this for everyone."
Luffy laughed and gave him a thumbs-up,
"Of course I-"
But he would be interrupted as Pica spoke causing him to burst into laughter, Pica's voice did manage a chuckle out of him before he became serious again. Pica had of course taken offense to this and tried to strike Luffy but Zoro had already intercepted, with a devious grin he spat at the giant,
"For such a big man you seem to really like hiding from an actual fight, how about you put on your big boy pants and actually fight me like a man."
Inciting an indignant roar from Pica who just repeated the same punch hoping to overpower Zoro, rolling his eyes at the predictable and childish attempt of an attack he blasted him back,
"Jinsoku! Ashura no Kohai!"
The giant stone first was blasted back and Zoro shot forward hoping that he could catch Pica out early instead of partaking in that insufferable chase throughout the castle,
"Senhachiju Pound Ho!"
He would have enough momentum to do the move he did before so he had to settle for this hoping that it would be able to injure him enough to stop him from escaping as the giant Pica was almost perfectly split from shoulder to hip. Prompting him to rush towards the part that was in the air as he could see Pica coughing up blood near the top of the massive figure, jumping into the air he prepares another attack,
"Ashura Hakai!"
Slicing straight down at Pica, what emerged was simply a massive dust cloud from the destroyed stone and a massive hole where Pica was. Zoro clicks his tongue, annoyed as he could tell that Pica had managed to slip away again,
"Got to be faster than that, that slippery bastard seems to only be good at running away from things."
He grumbled as he scaled the giant figure heading towards Doflamingo's castle, ignoring the carnage of the several colosseum combatants fighting members of Doflamingo's family members below him. But it wasn't his role to intrude upon, he had his own task to work out, that being the annoyance that was Pica.
Seeing Pica's face popping out of the walls constantly would have been more horrifying if it didn't happen so often and to such an annoying degree,
"Stop being a coward and fight me like a man!"
The only response he got was the high-pitched laughter and taunting from Pica as he continued to pop in and out of the walls, he knew it was going to be a frustrating fight but he forgot just how frustrating Pica was despite how weak he was. He growled in exasperation,
"Senhachiju Pound Ho!"
The attack tore through one side of the castle walls, decimating what it once was, but unlucky for him Pica wasn't in the wall as he still heard the incessant laughter. He sighed and continued to keep an eye out for whenever Pica peeked out, but that became the least of his worries as the shattered corridor became increasingly darker and darker the further he walked to an unnatural degree. He knew that this wasn't something he was going to like, as his past experiences of being dragged toward a dark corridor have shown.
"How foolish to simply believe everything you're told."
Zoro narrowed his eyes knowing exactly who was speaking,
"I doubt I would be able to believe you much either at least Ashura has yet to try to kill me yet."
Volron chuckles,
"He hasn't made an attempt at your life yet so you trust him completely? I've never heard of a more foolish statement!"
Zoro sheathes his blades knowing that if Volron wanted to fight he wouldn't have bothered to spark a conversation with him, to begin with,
"Then what exactly do you want from me? We both know you aren't especially trustworthy and you want me dead for some reason."
He was met with silence for a moment before Volron lost his usual casual tone,
"You are right, I am most likely the least trustworthy person in your eyes at the current moment but can you truly say that you trust Ashura at the moment?"
He exhaled roughly,
"You seem to think I actually trust either of you."
He sat down craning his neck while focusing his narrowed eyes around to see if Volron was physically there,
"I don't trust either of you, I'm simply making the most of what I can learn from the two of you while it still benefits me."
"Hah, you think you're just going to use Ashura and me? He's taking advantage of you and you haven't even begun to realize it!"
Zoro stood up yawning, he turned around and walked back the way he came,
"It's mutually beneficial, but I know it's not going to last forever and I'll have to deal with him eventually, same with you."
He looked behind him peering into the darkness almost imagining Volron's enraged face,
"I'll kill every single person that stands in my way and whatever deal you were hoping to strike. Well, you can just shut the fuck up and leave me alone."
The darkness shot out through tendrils trying to grab onto him, but he knew that Volron wouldn't have just let him walk away with the last word. He had already unsheathed his blades, slicing through the tendrils that got too close and batting away others that come his way.
"YOU INSUFFERABLE INSECT, I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO BE A TOOL FOR ASHURA AGAINST ME. YOUR POWER WILL EITHER BECOME MINE OR BE COMPLETELY DESTROYED MORTAL!"
The tendrils were beginning to multiply fast enough to overwhelm him a bit, he sported a grin regardless of the situation,
"Ashura Hakai!"
The moment his blades came into contact with the tendrils the flame began to spread through the tendrils, proud of his handiwork he stood watching as the flames consumed all the tendrils,
"You'll never get my power, why don't you just run back to whatever hole you were hiding at instead of bothering me?"
He wouldn't lie and say that hearing Volron scream in frustration was music to his ears as the darkness started to recede,
"You'll only get so far, I'll always be watching, always be waiting."
Though Zoro wouldn't get the time to think about it as the moment the darkness fully receded he was hit by a giant stone fist, he managed to pull up his blade to block the fist. But he wasn't stable enough to stop it from throwing him back and slamming him into the wall, he growled as he collected himself,
"Hahaha, you'll never be able to defeat me!"
He spat some blood out and leveled his blade at Pica's face poking out from the wall,
"You can't keep running forever, and when you finally get too tired and slip up I'm going to make it hurt!"
He took off before Pica could throw another taunt at him,
"Ul-Tora Gari!"
Pica only managed to squeak in fear before disappearing into the wall again, Zoro hoped he would have managed to injure him enough in that strike but knew that it was likely that Pica would have managed to get away in time. Grumbling he continued his hunt.
He grimaced as Orlumbus picked him up again, being thrown through the air at dangerously fast speeds was not exactly a pleasant experience. But cutting through Pica would definitely be a pleasant experience, that high-pitched squeaker was getting way too cocky for his liking, but being hurled through the air was not exactly something he would have liked to experience again. He could barely hear the people screaming in the peninsula that Pica was about to crush as the wind whistled past his ear at a deafening rate, but he was prepared as coated all three of his blades in Armament Haki,
"Santoryu Ogi: Sanzen Sekai!"
There was silence for a moment before the sound of his blades cutting through the mountains that was Pica was heard by all who were trapped in Dressrosa, the booming sound as a mountain was cut apart and a high-pitched screech frustration rang from the officer of the Donquixote Pirates. Landing on the wall he flipped and swung upwards cutting up the mountain again into smaller and smaller pieces to isolate Pica,
"YOU THINK YOU'LL BE ABLE TO BEAT ME JUST BECAUSE YOU GOT ME OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO CUT THROUGH MY HAKI WITH THOSE PITIFUL SWORDS OF YOURS!"
Pica covered his entire body in Haki and, all Zoro could do was give Pica a bank look, muttering to himself,
"Why do all villains say the same few phrases, it's like they're all given a guidebook on how to be villains."
Zoro dropped into a stance ready to land his last decisive attack to silence this nuisance of an opponent, he shot forward,
"Santoryu Ogi: Sanzen Sekai!"
It was a tad bit unnecessary but was satisfying to silence the rat with one of his more powerful attacks, and with a final screech Pica fell silent falling from with the stones that Zoro had cut before, he bounced off the rocks and grabbed onto the ledge of the peninsula in which King Riku and Usopp were currently on. Taking Wado Ichimonji and placing it back into its sheath he turned away and covered his ear with the only available hand he had at the moment, preemptively grimacing knowing that Usopp would continue to scream and cry as he tended to do. All he had to do was wait a few seconds and Elizabelo would have cleared out the debris for them and Zoro would make the climb to the top peninsula grumbling as he's met with the crumbled crying face of Usopp,
"ZORO!"
Usopp lunged at him, but Zoro had already gotten on top of the peninsula, sticking a foot out to stop Usopp, as Usopp crashed face-first into his foot and crashed into the ground gripping his nose,
"Ita! My nose!"
Zoro gave him a disappointed look as everyone around them had to witness Usopp rolling around the ground screeching about his nose, which more often than not becomes crooked from the activities that the Strawhats participate in. Zoro swatted his hands away and pulled on his nose straightening it out with a painful-sounding crack inciting an even louder screech from Usopp,
"There fixed."
"YOU DIDN'T FIX ANYTHING MY NOSE IS STILL BROKEN ZORO!"
Zoro glanced at him,
"Looks fixed to me."
He started walking off ignoring the Usopp's crying behind him, peering over the ledge he glanced at the birdcage, with how it was created he knew that breaking it could also prove to be quite difficult as it was very tough and he knew that Doflamingo would simply regenerate any of the damage almost instantly, leaving very little time for anyone to escape. He grumbled at this never liking the dealing of powerlessness that came with this situation, he would have to rely on Luffy who he knew could defeat Doflamingo but not being able to do anything but slowing it down was not a very satisfying task for him. He started making his way down cutting down the few pirates who were hunting for his bounty, he finally reached his destination staring straight at the the oncoming birdcage wires, coating his blades in Haki once again he held his ground against the wires pushing back the warlords dangerous ability. Kinemon and Kanjuro would join but he tuned out their comments as he focused on the wires ahead of him not wanting to waste any energy on any else but the issue that was present in front of him and wasn't broken from this stupor till a very noticeable figure emerged,
"Nice of the righteous Marine Admiral to join us."
Kinemon and Kanjuro gave their expressive reactions to his appearance, but he knew what Fujitora was here to do so barely spared him a glance until he joined them at the birdcage. But before the other Marines would arrive Zoro couldn't help himself to a few snide comments directed at the Marine Admiral.
"Darkness only amounts to darkness, but it seems that you've deluded yourself into believing that the Marines are light."
He didn't have to turn towards him to know that Fujitora knew the implications of his comments, the frown was evident to even those without sight,
"You blinded yourself because of the evils you witnessed, but it feels more like you turning a blind eye to the atrocities that are being committed around you."
This still didn't get an audible response from him so Zoro continued,
"For someone who claims to be virtuous and of the Marines who claim to protect the innocents from so-called evil pirates such as us, you seemed very keen in doing nothing to stop the tyrant that ruled this kingdom for years and allowed him to run free even now."
This finally got a reaction from Fujitora,
"You don't have to spell out the realities of the situation to me, I'm well aware of the mistakes the Marines have made."
"Then all you are is a hypocrite that spews useless platitudes while hiding from every possible moral recourse."
Fujitora was silent for a few moments before responding in a quieter tone,
"That's why we don't deserve to be the saviors of this kingdom."
Zoro didn't respond, he knew that he got his point across well enough to hopefully plant a seed of rebellion within the admiral. All that was left was for them to fulfill their role and witness Luffy defeat Doflamingo and free the people of Dressrosa. This was to happen very soon as he could hear the Colosseum announcer declaring that Luffy would return within 10 seconds and defeat Doflamingo for the citizens of Dressrosa. He could hear the ramping cheers as the people of Dressrosa were finally able to announce their freedom from the tyrannical rule that they were forced to endure for years. Zoro gave a satisfied huff as the birdcage began to dissipate, he sheathed his blades and began walking away but couldn't help but leave Fujitora with one last snarky comment,
"Now let's see how the righteous Marines react to their precious warlord being defeated."
That's a wrap, I'm still alive people, unfortunately. I would like to say that I'm gonna be fully back and that I'm going to be updating more, but god knows that my dumbass is gonna get swamped with other work and forget again but I'll bloody try, to be fair haven't really figured out what to do with Whole Cake Island since ya know Zoro isn't in the arc at all, so we probably gonna settle for the fun adventures of annoying demon Volron and Zoro murder people through fictional Japan aka Wano for a bit. But like damn, I feel like I fucked up pacing so much, dragged out the pre-time skip for a shit ton of chapters, and got through a post-time skip in like 6 chapters. That could also be more really enjoying pre-time skip more than post but that's neither here nor there. I'm reaching the point of the story where I'm probably gonna catch up to the manga in 5-10 chapters tops depending on how I'm going to write Wano but after that, it's either gonna be full improvisation for the rest of the story or a long break to see a rough idea of how Elbaf is before writing, not sure yet but we'll cross that bridge when we get there, cause from what y'all experienced I could finish Wano in either the next couple months or the next couple years.