DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING, EXCEPT RAGNAR AND ALL VIKINGS IN THIS STORY! ONE PIECE BELONGS TO EICHIRO ODA, VIZ MANGA, TOEI ANIMATION AND FUNIMATION ENTERTAINMENT/CRUNCHYROLL LLC
Chapter 13: Chapter 13: The Terrifying Duo! Meowban Brothers vs. Zoro!
The battle seemed to hang in the balance, and Jango knew it. Most of his men were lying on the ground, recovering from the beating Luffy and Zoro dished out, and worse: that damned Viking shield wall didn't budge one inch! This wasn't part of the plan at all!
Usopp sat back in amazement. He figured Luffy was just bluffing when he said he stretched, but never did he think that his friend would actually stretch his arm out literally. The sight of the Gum-Gum Pistol in action left him speechless.
"Wow… that was great!" He exclaimed, "You guys are really that strong?"
"That's right, but you haven't seen anything yet," Luffy replied with a confident smile.
"The sun rises high in the sky now," said Jango, worried, "And that means Captain Kuro grows further impatient." He only shuddered as he knew that certain death awaited those who defied the captain's orders. "Men, don't just lie there! You can't tell me you're going to let them win! They may have Vikings on their side, but they're just a couple of idiots!"
"But Captain, that's the pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro who's on their side!" Another replied, "He'll kill us all!"
"I know that!" Jango shouted, reaching for his ring, "But the fact is, we don't have time to lollygag around here any longer. If our enemy is strong, then we must become stronger than them." He then took out the ring and swung it back and forth before the pirates. "Here, stare deeply into this ring. Now, on the count of Jango, you will all begin to grow stronger; your wounds will heal and you will grow stronger still."
The Straw Hats only watched from behind the shield wall in stupidity, doing their best not to fall under Jango's spell.
"Is he serious? He's gonna hypnotize them to make them think that they're stronger than us?" Nami asked.
"It appears so," said Ragnar, looking towards Luffy, who was already covering his eyes. He too covered his face with his shield so that the hypnosis would have no effect. The Straw Hats and Usopp only listened, bracing themselves for what was inevitably to come.
"One…two…JANGO!" shouted the hypnotist. A long groan came from the invading pirates; it swiftly turned into a howl of fury, as they all charged forward at once. One of them even punched one of the cliff faces, which shattered upon impact.
"By all the Gods!" Ragnar said with a shock, "They...They've all entered the Berserkergang!"
"That one guy completely destroyed the cliff!" Zoro muttered, "Now, that's what I call power!"
"I always thought hypnotizing people was a bunch of crap," said Nami, utterly shook by what she too just saw.
"And that was just one of them!" Usopp added, "Imagine what the whole crew could do!"
"Don't worry, we got this!" Luffy chuckled, then looked to his quartermaster, "Ragnar? With me!" Ragnar only nodded and the shield wall parted for the two of them. The Viking's entire body twitched and shook as he transformed into his lion-hybrid form, and recited a poem in his native tongue:
"Deyr fé, deyja frændr, deyr sjalfr it sama, ek veit einn, at aldrei deyr: dómr um dauðan hvern." He then took a deep breath, and then unleashed an almighty roar at the pirates, louder than any battle cry they could unleash. "ODIN OWNS YOU ALL!" He yelled as loud as he could before charging forward with Luffy. He unleashed his bearded axe and shield, and bashed his way into the pirates, fighting with every ounce of strength.
"Ragnar! Get back!" Luffy shouted, winding his fists up for his own moves, "GUM-GUM GATLING!" He yelled, throwing a rapid-fire succession of punches, which struck every last pirate in the face, torso, or groin, sending them tumbling back down the slope.
"Damn you, Captain Kuro! You made one helluva miscalculation!" Jango cursed as he saw the situation unfold, "These are not your average village idiots!"
The invading pirates looked at Luffy and Ragnar, shocked despite their hypnotized state. Then they all fled back down the slope, terrified of the lion-man and his rubbery friend. This whole plan was going sideways, and it wasn't worth all this trouble! At that moment, Sigrun gave the order with her horn, and the shield wall slowly advanced down the slope, marching in time, and pressing the pirates in further.
At the mansion, however, Onion met up with Pepper and Carrot, having witnessed quite the scene earlier.
"What!? You saw Klahadore heading to the shore!?" Pepper asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, and he had this weird, scary look on this face," said Onion.
"What about Kaya? Is she okay?"
"We'll find out. The Usopp pirates are off!"
"Carrot! Would you wake up!?" Pepper asked his purple haired friend, who was obviously sleeping beneath a tree.
"C'mon… it's way too early for this. Besides, that Viking told us to stay home," he replied, still groggy.
"This is no time for laziness!" Onion told him, "Horrible things could be happening right now."
Inside, Kaya woke with a flash, her forehead dripping with cold sweat. There was no sign of Usopp holding a knife trying to kill her in retaliation. It was only a nightmare. Quickly, she put on some slippers and her nightrobe, and headed out to the hall. Klahadore hadn't come to wake her yet. That was off. So, she made her way to the dining room. Perhaps he overslept?
"Klahadore? Klahadore are you there?" she asked with a cough as she knocked on the door, opening it slowly. Much to her horror, she saw Merry bleeding out on the floor! "No! Merry!" She screamed, rushing to his side, "What's going on!? Please, wake up! Merry! Please don't die!"
Hearing his mistress' voice, Merry turned, weak with pain, as he saw Kaya still alive. Somehow, against all odds, he managed to survive Kuro's attack!
"Oh, thank goodness. You're still alive. I was worried," he said weakly, turning over on his back.
"You have to tell me, who did this to you?" Kaya asked.
"Klahadore! That's who!" He answered, "He attacked me in the night! He's a…He's a pirate. He's never been anything else."
"But…how could he?"
"He got close to you, just so he could steal your fortune…that's all he ever wanted…it's the truth, I swear…"
"Then…What have I done?!" Kaya muttered, the tears of pain streaming down her face, "Usopp was telling the truth all along!"
"That's right…and that's what is most tragic…" Merry explained, finally putting two and two together, "When he learned the truth, he tried his hardest to get us to hear him out, but we all so shallow-minded, too confident in the closed off world we've lived in for so long to listen to a single word! In our blind protection from the villain in our midst, we drove away the one brave lad whose desperate resolve he enacted for the sake and safety of every person of this village! Including you and I!"
"SOMEONE! ANYONE! HELP! MERRY NEEDS HELP!" Kaya screamed out.
"No, Ms. Kaya…it's of no use…" Merry explained, sitting up against the wall, "The entire staff is on leave. No one has been here since yesterday. You cannot let yourself get flustered, Ms. Kaya. We know that the attack hasn't begun yet, so remain calm, and think clearly about what it is you must do next. For, if Klahadore really is the thief we understand him to be, and his goal is both your fortune and your mansion, then by all means let him have it! None of this is worth sacrificing yourself for. It's a cruel truth, but you are the only one who can stop Klahadore now, Kaya. Can you do it? I know this is not your burden, but still, I must ask."
"Yes, I understand. And I will act, Merry," Kaya told her faithful servant, "This isn't a situation I can run away from. I know what consequences I face. I will find Klahadore, and I will finish this!" With her newfound resolve, Kaya donned a great coat that her father left, and made her way towards the northern shore. Now was the time for action, and she knew it.
Back at the shoreline, the battle was still undecided. Neither did the attacking pirates want to advance, and nor would Luffy and his allies let them move one inch. The shield wall had advanced slowly to where it occupied the center of the slope, with mail-clad warriors armed with two-handed long axes behind, ready to cleave some skulls.
"Looks like those guys are probably down for the count, don't you think?" Nami asked Zoro, watching with her linstock and shield ready.
"I guess," Zoro shrugged.
"Whoa…Luffy and Ragnar really are a formidable duo…" Usopp muttered, awestruck by the power of two Devil Fruit users in action.
"Damn those two! Now our whole plan's shot to Hell! What am I gonna do with this mess!?" Jango muttered, fearing for his life, "Captain Kuro sees this, and he'll kill us all!"
"Buchi! Check this out! There's some bad stuff going down!" A voice called out from the galleon.
"What the Hell!?" Another voice cried out, and Jango smiled with a glimmer of relief.
"I forgot we still have our trump card!" He muttered happily, "Come forth! Meowban Brothers!"
In a flash, two shapes leapt from the ship and onto the shore. One was green haired and wearing a polo shirt with denim shorts that showed off his hairy legs, while the other fatter man wore nothing but a cape and a cowbell over his neck and shoulders, and pants over his waist with a sash. Both wore clawed gloves as well.
"Yes captain? You called us?" The green haired one asked.
"Well, did you?" Asked the fat one.
"Sham!"
"And Buchi!"
"Together, we are the Meowban Brothers! At your service!" They declared in unison. Luffy and Ragnar only facepalmed at the sight of such bad theatre. Nami and Usopp just stared in utter confusion, while Zoro only looked on with no sense of emotion whatsoever.
"Buchi, Sham, we absolutely must get up this hill, but as you can clearly see, our path is blocked," Jango told them as the two knelt to their captain. "If you could so kindly remove these obstacles immediately." Buchi and Sham both looked past the shield wall, knowing there was just no way they could get past it, and then looked at Zoro, who was glaring at them as a statue. Instantly they both froze up in fear.
"No way! We couldn't do that!" Sham protested, "That's Roronoa Zoro, the pirate hunter! He's too strong for the likes of us, right Buchi?"
"Yeah, he's strong – way stronger than us!" Buchi responded in agreement.
"Besides, we just guard this ship, not fight people."
"Sham's got a point, Captain. We're really not the kind of guys you wanna send into battle."
Everyone just looked on in bewilderment at the sight, all while Zoro descended down the slope, the shield wall opening up to let him pass.
"So, they're a couple of pansies?" Usopp asked, noticing that these two were acting more cowardly than he was, "I guess they're not the trump card after all."
"Sham, just do it already, and HURRY!" Jango yelled at them both, causing Sham to cower back in tears as he nodded in acknowledgement.
"The guy's crying like a baby! What are they doing down there?" Nami asked, equally confused as she raised an eyebrow as Sham ran forward with the absolutely worst battle cry ever. "Of all the people, why force that guy into a fight?"
"You come any closer and I'll cut you in half!" Zoro warned Sham, readying his sword, "I'm not joking! I'll do it!" Yet it was at that moment, Luffy gasped. Thanks to his Haki, he soon noticed something was off. Jango was right - These guys were a trump card!
"Zoro! Be careful!" He shouted, "They may look like cowards, but it's just an act!"
True to Luffy's warning, Sham's face curled into a sinister grin, and he came at Zoro with his claws. Zoro used the flat of his sword to block the attack, shocked by the fact that it was all a façade.
"Too bad," Sham told the pirate hunter, "It seems you fell for my ruse. Still, I'm impressed that you blocked my attack, considering what a brilliant performance I gave!" He then disappeared, only to re-appear feet away from Zoro, and what was worse: two of the first mate's swords were on his back! He managed to snag them! "Don't let your skills as a warrior allow you to underestimate me." Seeing this, Zoro realized what just happened. He was so focused on blocking the attack, he never felt his other two swords leave his side! "Are you missing something? Not that I would know anything about it." Sham mocked.
"Give me my swords back," Zoro growled, knowing that he was better if he had one or both swords as well.
"Oh, but you already have a sword! How greedy can you be?" Sham asked mockingly, then he threw them down the slope behind him, riling Zoro up to no end.
"You should take care with other people's things!" Zoro yelled as he charged, both hands on his remaining sword, and slashed right into Sham's side. Thinking that his foe was dead, he rushed to get his swords, but Ragnar then noticed the obvious: Sham was not dead!
"Zoro! Look out!" Ragnar yelled.
"You really have to be faster, because I'm agile as a cat!" Sham chuckled, as he came from behind and grabbed both of Zoro's arms, sitting cross-legged on the swordsman's back. Zoro slid to the ground, thinking himself a fool for not noticing this sooner. "Buchi! You're up! Get in here!" Sham called out for his brother.
"Cat-a-pult Cat-astrophe!" Buchi cackled as he ran towards Zoro, then jumped in midair, ready to land a kick down onto Zoro's head. Luffy, Nami and Usopp looked on in shock, while Zoro looked up in horror, fearing he was going to die. Yet before Buchi's heel could connect with his skull, an earsplitting roar could be heard, as Ragnar, in his full lion form, pounced on Buchi, his claws sinking into his opponent's skin. The timely intervention allowed Zoro to throw Sham off his back. Ragnar leapt back and returned to Zoro's side.
"You dumbass! Don't help me," Zoro told the quartermaster, "You wanna die too?"
"I understand your desire to fight them on your own, and I respect that as a drengr," Ragnar explained, "But remember, you're not alone in this battle."
"Damn, Buchi!" Sham growled, "He got away from you!"
"Now, he's right there!" Buchi yelled back at his brother, "Now, hold him tight this time!"
"Careful, that lion could pounce on us at any moment. And the Pirate Hunter is strong; stronger than I thought he'd be without all his swords." The two brothers then readied their clawed gloves. "We'll get him for sure this time!"
"Ya got that right!"
'This is getting worse by the second!' Zoro thought, 'If fatso there had actually landed on me, I would've been pounded into the dust!' He got up and caught a round shield that Sigrun threw towards him. "Sword and shield style's not really my forte fellas, but what the hell." He told them, raising his sword and shield for battle.
"Pussywillow March!" The brothers shouted, and readied their clawed gloves before suddenly leaping forward and simultaneously slashing at their foe. Zoro blocked their incoming attacks with his shield, but even he knew that it wouldn't hold up against their attacks for long.
"This is bad! They got him on the backfoot!" Nami muttered, watching the battle from the cliffside. Then she noticed Usopp drawing his bow back with an arrow aimed at the brothers. "What are you doing, Usopp?"
"There's no way Zoro can gain any ground if he's too busy blocking their attacks! I'm gonna help him," he explained, but Ragnar only dissuaded him.
"No. This is Zoro's fight, Usopp," he explained, "We'd only just get in the way."
"Maybe Ragnar's right," Nami suggested, "If you shot at one of those guys, they would come after us instead, and we wouldn't have a chance of holding out against that."
"What a guy…he's really worried about us." Usopp muttered in awe of the pirate hunter, who was still holding out as best as he could.
'If I could just get one more sword, I could take these guys!' Zoro thought, as he focused on fighting off the brothers.
"I'm gonna get those swords," Nami told Usopp and Ragnar, "If I can get them back to Zoro, then there'd be no way he can lose."
"Let me get the swords," Usopp replied.
"Don't push yourself, Usopp," Nami told him, "You can barely even stand up on your own."
"Besides, Nami can handle herself," Ragnar added, smiling at the navigator as she readied her linstock and shield for a fight, jumping down towards the cliff. Yet Jango wasn't going to let that happen. Luffy was also watching the fight when he noticed what nobody else could: Jango's ring was actually a chakram!
"Oh no! Nami!" He shouted, then stretched his neck forward, seeing Jango step on the sword Nami grabbed, only to take the wound on the back of his neck. The captain shrieked in a spasm of agony as he recovered from the wound the chakram dealt him.
Nami only looked on as she rolled out to avoid the attack. Luffy took the blow to protect her. She only looked on as blood trickled from the wound, but he was now glaring daggers at Jango.
"Damn you….!" He growled with a venomous tone, "How dare you try to hurt Nami like that, you bastard!" The Straw Hat captain was livid at this point, and Nami knew it as she saw her captain punch Jango so hard, he was sent flying, and somehow landed on his feet. Luffy's anger only abated as he turned to Nami, checking her body for any injuries. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
"I'll be fine," she replied, "I'm so sorry, Luffy. I should've been more careful."
"It's okay, you're gonna be alright," Luffy told her with reassuring tone and a smile, "You and Ragnar go ahead and raid their ship. Zoro, Usopp and I will handle these guys." Nami only smiled back with a nod at her captain, knowing he could take these bozos on.
By now, Jango was terrified. Yet soon it became evident that he was not looking at Luffy, but at something, or rather someone, behind him. Everyone all turned and saw Captain Kuro at the top of the slope, right in front of the shield wall, and he was apoplectic! Now that the man of a thousand plans was here, the tide of the battle was about to turn drastically!
A/N: And now, the battle has reached its apex! Zoro is outmatched evidently, but the Black Cat Pirates are left reeling from the fight with Luffy and Ragnar. Kaya now knows about Kuro's ploy, and worse - the man himself made it to the battle!
So, you all know what this means now: it's time for some useful Viking contextual lore! You'll have noticed that when Jango hypnotized most of the pirates, Ragnar mentioned that they entered into the Berserkergang. Once more, we must look to the lore of the berserkers to provide some context. Last time, when we mentioned Ragnar's Zoan Devil Fruit powers, we looked at how therianthropy and the power to transform into animals had a significant role in Viking society, culture, literature and mythology, and how this power was intricately linked with the Berserkers. However, it's important to note that not all shapeshifters were berserkers, but only a subset. Jango's hypnosis on the Black Cat Pirates also brings up another distinguishing quality about these warriors.
The second major characteristic of the Berserkers was their rage, known as the Berserkergang in Old Norse. This fury occurred not only in battle, but also could occur during hard labor, as a result of some triggering event, or for no apparent reason at all. The condition is said to begin with shivering, teeth chattering, chills in the body, and swelling in the face that changes color. As the transformation progressed, individuals would spiral into a state of increasingly hot temper, until they lost all human reason, once more tying us back to the animalistic qualities we discussed earlier. Berserkers might begin to yell, howl, and even bite the rims of their shields, hence why back in Chapter 7, Ragnar even mentions the term "shield-biters" in his chant.
According to Hrolf's Saga, a group of warriors were so overcome by the Berserkergang that they, "Fell into such a fury, that they could not control themselves, but killed men or cattle - whatever came in their way and did not take care of itself. While this fury lasted, they were afraid of nothing, but when it left them, they were so powerless that they did not have half their strength, and were as feeble as if they had come out of bed from a sickness. This fury lasted about one day."
The blinding nature of the Berserkergang was apparently so strong, that according to Egil's Saga, men even became threats to their own relatives. Yet since it was the antagonists in this chapter who were in such a state, it also plays into another crucial role of the Berserker in the lore of the Viking Age.
Most of the time, Berserkers were out roaming the wilds or terrorizing communities. In fact, though they are often glorified today, they were actually the villains of many sagas, against whom the heroes fought. Another factor that must be noted is that Berserkers were often depicted in the sources as donning the skins of animals, such as wolves or bears, and in the case of Ragnar's clan - lions. This was an extremely intimidating sight, and was a clear sign of the warriors' confidence in their own abilities, and disregard for their own safety, as these men would often forego wearing armor. However, it is not out of the question to imagine some of these warriors to be wearing armor, especially if they were integrated into a jarl's retinue. After all, the term berserker is sometimes translated as "bear-shirt", which gives some wiggle room in terms of their tradition. This also was why we saw Ragnar's father, Sigurd, wearing armor as well as a lionskin cloak over the top of his armor.
Now, you may have noticed that Ragnar was also reciting a poem in his native language. For those of you hardcore Viking history buffs and Germanic Pagans, you will know exactly what this is: stanza 77 of the Havamal. This is perhaps one of the most famous skaldic poems of the Viking Age, and stanza 77 is perhaps the most well known proverb in the first book. Translated into English, it reads, "Cattle die, friends die, and the same with you; but I know of something that never dies, and that's a dead person's deeds."
The battle cry that Ragnar uttered, "Odin owns you all", is attributed to the Swedish king, Eric the Victorious in 970 CE. It refers to an instance in Norse Mythology as to why Odin is sometimes referred to as "Lord of the Hanged" - the time he spent nine days as a dead man - hung himself by the neck from Yggdrasil's branches, stuck Gungnir into his side, and bled out into Mimisbrunnr - the well of Mímir. He did so in order to seek knowledge of other worlds and better understand the runes.
