Legal notice: All original characters, plot, and settings belong to Eiichiro Oda and I didn't receive any revenue for writing this story. Enjoy Chapter 20!

Chopper busily translated for the King Bull. Zoro deflected stray bullets, distracted by the thought that Magina was by herself. What did she need to take care of? He was preoccupied so when Chopper spoke next, he was surprised by the doctor's question.

"By the way, was it okay that the masked man isn't on board?"

Stunned silence descended on everyone on the saddle. Zoro almost swore. It was bad enough that Luffy charged ahead but now the marksman was left behind. Chopper shrieked, holding his head

"Ah! Sogeking! He's not here!"

"Did he fall off?" he asked, frowning heavily.

"No! Come to think of it, he was never on board!" Nami moaned.

"You don't think that he ran away, do you?" the Love Cook asked.

Chopper panicked. "What are we going to do? What are we going to do?"

The flying bullets lapsed into silence. Zoro leaned on Kuina's katana, the blade wedging into the saddle seat. He stared at the blade, thoughts racing. His expression was dark and dangerous. Right then, there was only one option and nobody was going to like what it meant.

"We don't have a chance to go back for him. We can only move forward. He will have to work something out on his own."

Nami protested first. "There are guards everywhere on this island! He isn't like Luffy! If he's by himself…"

She trained off. Her concerns were valid but that didn't change the fact that they couldn't go back. Besides, he really wasn't as weak as everyone kept saying. He got stronger, just like they all did. He would be fine.

"Hey! Didn't Magina say that she forgot something earlier? Maybe she knew that Sogeking was missing!"

Nami's frown cleared. "That explains why she took off earlier. Magina would notice if anyone was gone. Then, he's not alone after all. Why didn't she just tell us that she was heading back for him?"

Zoro fought to keep his growl to himself. Of course, she would notice that the marksman wasn't with them. Her comments on the train was another clue but that didn't stop his frustration at the siren. When they met up again, he was going to give her a piece of his mind!

Zoro shook his head. "That was probably for his sake rather than ours. Not giving the name keeps his identity safe."

The saddle jerked when an explosion went off and the King Bull screamed. The great beast weaved, turning his head to look at them. The sounds he made were muffled. Chopper's eyes immediately filled with tears.

"He says 'Go!'"

"Straw Hats, jump over here! Quickly!" Zambei shouted, driving the other King Bull closer.

Their necks intertwined. Zoro recognized the sounds as an exchange, though Chopper didn't translate for them. They all leapt over to the other King Bull. When Sodom fell, they weren't on his saddle anymore. Reverent silence fell on their group, even the enemy was strangely silent. Zoro gripped the hilt of his katana. The pall that lingered didn't bode well. They couldn't allow themselves to be stunned into inaction. He strode to an empty seat.

"Oi," he said to Zambei.

The man snapped to attention. Zambei closed his eyes in grief for a moment before turning back to the group.

"Okay, let's go!"

The battlefield sprung back into action. The mortars trained the second King Bull in the crosshairs.

"Gomorrah! Dodge the shot!"

The beast nimbly moved its large head out of the way. They decided to take a different course. The main road was too dangerous to continue down that route. One of the men approached him. He seemed to be looking for someone.

"Oi, Roronoa, where's your woman? I was sure that Magina wouldn't miss this battle."

Zoro crossed his arms. "The siren is just a little late. One of our comrades was left behind. She's picking him up."

"Ah, that explains it. She's really something else, your woman."

"Tetsu! Stop saying that Magina-san is this marimo-head's woman!" Dart-brow shouted angrily.

Zoro narrowed his eyes. Tetsu threw back his head and laughed. He grinned.

"Even if you say that Cook-niisan, it's pretty obvious to everyone else. You should just accept the facts," the man stated.

Sanji's face flushed to a mottled shade of purple. "I will kick everyone's head in that says differently! I'll annihilate them! I'll-"

"Save it for later, Sanji-kun. Look, we're almost to the courthouse!" Nami interrupted his rant.

The attack grew fiercer. Huge iron balls hurtled towards the King Bull. The saddle contraption grounded to a halt as the beast crashed into a building. Zoro got his katana ready. Soon, the street was filled with Marines, all ready to capture them.

"He got us close but it looks like we'll have to run the rest of the way."

"Yeah," Sanji agreed.

"We'll clear a path for you. Ready, men!" Zambei yelled.

Everyone prepared to jump out of the saddle.

"Wait! Nobody leave! I promised Sodom that I would carry everyone to the courthouse! I'll risk my life to get you there. Gomorrah is saying this!" Chopper shouted tearfully from the saddle reins.

The King Bull lifted his head and trumpeted into the air. Little by little, the wheels began turning again and they moved forward. It wasn't long before they noticed that something was still wrong.

"Gomorrah! You're heading straight towards that building! Left! Veer left!" one of Franky's men screamed.

The beast moved too slowly to the left, brushing his large body against the building. Zoro made it his task, along with Dart-brow, to keep the debris from falling on the passengers. Chopper listened, his stricken face more telling than words.

"He's blind. He can't see! We have to stop him. He could become permanently blind if we don't take care of his wounds!"

"Ah! Gomorrah, wait! Not that way! There's a building right in front of you! It's a dead end! We'll be killed!"

The building loomed over them, casting a long shadow over the saddle. At the right moment, Zoro leapt from the saddle, slicing through the stone edifice. Sanji kicked through the wall he cut. The King Bull still crashed through the rubble. Standing right in front of the ruined building was the courthouse.

"Dead end? Do you see one?" he asked.

"No, there's nothing like that here," Sanji replied, taking a drag on his cigarette.

Now, their objective was in front of them. There were still Marines in the way. Where in the hell was Luffy? He should have made it here before them. There was a rumble and a crack. One of the peaks on the building above came hurtling to the ground.

"Oi, cook!" Zoro stated, staring up the roof.

"Yeah, I see. Luffy's already fighting."

"Get inside the courthouse!" Zambei shouted.

The Franky Family members yelled, splitting into three groups. One group headed for the left tower while another headed off to the right. The last group came with them as they approached the courthouse entrance. They all arrived at the thick stone doors. The handles were set at least 50 feet above their heads. Opening up the doors in the conventional way would take too long. Zoro readied his katana again and sliced an opening large enough for them all. Nami took charge once they were inside.

"Now, we have to go to the roof! Up those stairs!" she ordered.

Zoro ran to the stairs after he cleared the room of enemies.

"Just where do you think you're going, marimo! The stairs are over here!"

Just like the night before, Nami and Chopper exclaimed on his lack of directions. He thought his sense of direction was just fine. Everybody else just built these buildings wrong.

"Zoro is like a national treasure. His sense of direction is so bad that if it weren't for Magina, we would never get anywhere," Nami shook her head while he ran up the stairs.

"Zoro, I'll make you a medicine that'll work on hopelessness," Chopper said seriously.

"Hopelessness? Oi!"

'What would you do without me?' Zoro growled when he remembered the siren's words. He hated being separated. There was no limit to the trouble that she could get herself into. A heavy thump on the stairway brought his attention to an approaching enemy. Three heads, all with angry expressions peered over the landing. A sword was raised high in one hand. Zoro stepped forward. If they held a sword, he would fight against them.

"How dare you pirates ignore us! We condemn you!"

"You guys go ahead. I'll take care of this," Zoro prepared himself for a fight.

"We, Baskerville, the judge of Enies Lobby, will not…let you pirates…go any further…"

He was ready to fight, only the enemy slowly slipped farther off the landing. Everyone peered over the ledge. Zambei and the other Franky Family members clung on the judge. Zambei grinned.

"We'll handle this. Your fight is with CP9. Save your nakama and Franky-aniki! We're counting on you!"

Zoro nodded and saluted. Now, all that was left to do was to get up on the roof.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Zoro looked down the hallway. Doors lined the walls. What were his nakama doing, getting lost so easily? They didn't exactly have time to play around! Zoro opened a door and ran through it. Another door was in front of him. He opened it up to another hallway lined with doors.

Zoro growled. He could hear hundreds of footsteps running on the floor above him. He looked up. And then, he had a brilliant idea. If all he needed to do was get to the roof, then he would cut his way up there!

"Dragon Twister!"

Gale force winds spun around him, breaking a hole straight up. The Marines were swept up in the chaos. When the winds subsided, there was a perfect circle leading to a bright blue sky. Zoro climbed up to the roof.

"I should have done that from the beginning," he said.

"Zoro, I knew that you were responsible for that mess! If we were in the middle of that attack, we would have died!"

Zoro shrugged. They obviously made it here just fine so what was Nami's problem? Moments later, the Love Cook broke through the roof top. He landed, trying to look cool.

"Obviously, I'm the first one here. It is no surprise that my love for Robin-chan led me the correct path right away. Ahh! Marimo! How come you're here before me?!

Zoro looked Sanji's way steadily. "Oh. You're here. What took you so long?" He paused before adding, "Did you get lost?"

Sanji sputtered. "'Did you get lost?' I don't want to hear a phrase like that coming from you, you directionally challenged Moss-Brain!"

Before the cook could start another fight, Zoro heard a familiar scream.

"AHHHHHHHHH! MAGINA-A-A-A-KU-U-U-U-U-U-U-N!"

The siren and the marksman were now here.

Crazy to believe, but this system seems to be working. Yay! I will keep working ahead as much as I can. I'm thinking that I have about 10 more chapters to write for Enies Lobby/Water 7 before I will be finished with this arc. We'll see how things play out. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, see you in Ch. 21!