AN:
I keep surprising myself with how quickly I'm getting these chapters out. lol. Anyways, I have been thinking about this chapter for a while and it did take some work to get it feeling the way I wanted it to. I struggled with certain parts but overall I'm very happy. I hope you guys like it. As always, I'd love to know what you think. I think this is a pretty cool chapter but as I've said before, I'm the author so I'm biased. :)
Here's Chapter 19.
Chapter 19: A Look Inside
Zoro slashed Wado Ichimonji through the air and the movement was accompanied by a purple arc materializing from its edge. He quickly sheathed both of his blades as the projectile moved in the direction of his target. If he had to guess, from the man's reaction, the seasoned pirate had probably seen one or two flying slashes in his time.
Time to try something new.
The swordsman shifted his sheaths so each rested against one of his hips, taking a familiar runner's stance and bending at the knees. His eyes drifted closed and he crossed his arms to form an 'X' in front of his body, lightly hovering his hands over the hilts of his katanas.
"Nitōryū:", the rock beneath Zoro's feet shattered as he chased behind the still-moving purple arc.
In the blink of an eye, the verdet's form seemed to pass through the man, the purple slash connecting in the same moment. Zoro ignored the sound of his deflected projectile crashing into the rock above and calmly slid his blades back into their sheaths, the quiet sound seeming to somehow fill the entire area. His eyes slowly drifted open, two clicks echoing into the air, "Sabertooth's Lullaby.".
The clanging of metal and an irritated grunt came from over his shoulder, along with the sound of dripping blood. The swordsman heard chains beginning to rattle behind him and he whirled around, drawing his blades in a flash as metal links assaulted him from every direction.
"Zoro! You look so cool!", Luffy's voice cheered through the bars of his cage. His friend really was awesome. He could shoot stuff out of his sword! How cool was that?! And that move! It'd been so fast he almost couldn't keep up! Just look him go! He was deflecting all those chains super fast, too! It looked like fun... "Hey! Come get me out of here!", the straw-hatted boy begged, trying to squeeze his face through the bars. It wasn't fair that Zoro got to fight and he didn't!
"A little busy right now, Luffy!", the verdet grunted, moving his blades as fast as he could, metal clangs erupting from his position. Mad Treasure continued to rapidly attack from afar and Zoro chose to bide his time, waiting for the right moment. The chains were fast but he could see them well enough to find an opening.
In the middle of his vision, the swordsman saw a gap in the pirate captain's offense and didn't even think before diving through it, Kitetsu flipping in his hand as his form became parallel with the ground. In a feat of pure athleticism, he gripped his entire body with his core and wrenched himself into a spin, a beastly growl leaving his lips, "EQUINOX!".
The thin purple ring surrounded him, pushing outward into the thick links of assaulting metal and reaching about a meter before stopping in place. A grinding sound exploded into the air as the ring and chains fought for a moment, each trying to claim dominance over the other. In the middle of Zoro's descent to the dirt, the grinding suddenly stopped and was replaced with the sheering of metal.
The verdet's body hit the floor just as his attack gouged into the earth, thick chains falling to the ground all around him. He was immediately back on his feet, eyes searching for his opponent. He couldn't help the grin that came to his lips when they landed on Mad Treasure's figure still surrounded by dark floating chains... Fighting strong guys was fun.
"Not bad, kid! You cut my chains!", Mad Treasure complimented, a wild glint in his eye, "You'd do well in the Grandline! Why not join my crew?".
Zoro stared at the man blankly. Hadn't he just been really mad about him killing his guys 'all bloody'? He went to give the man his refusal but was beaten to the punch.
"No way!", screamed Luffy, glaring at the pink-haired man through the bars of his prison, "He's my first mate and you can't have him!".
The green-haired teen sent a smirk in the man's direction, "You heard the captain. I'm spoken for.".
Silence hung in the air for a moment.
"Eww, Zoro. Gross. I don't like you like that...", said the straw-hatted boy, awkwardly. He didn't care if Zoro was into guys but he definitely wasn't...
A tick mark appeared on Zoro's brow and he turned to face his future captain. "YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! YOU IDIOT!", he screamed with shark teeth at the boy.
Luffy held his stomach, bursting into laughter, and fell to the gold-covered ground. It was always really funny when his friend got mad like that.
The sound of rattling metal from behind stole the swordsman's attention and he spun on his foot to face his opponent once again. He didn't have time to let his future captain distract him. Mad Treasure was strong and if he didn't take this seriously... He could definitely die.
Zoro's form rolled to the right and two chains cratered into the ground he'd been standing on. Debris bounced off his back as he rose and bolted in Mad Treasure's direction, crossing his arms in front of his body so each sword lagged behind the opposite hip as he ran. "Nitōryū:", his katanas began to shimmer with tiny specks of purple, their constant vibrations feeling comfortable on his hands.
The verdet slammed his foot into the ground, stopping his momentum completely and heaving his arms outward with a roar, "DIVIDER!".
Wado and Kitetsu flashed in front of the swordsman's body, each creating its own flying slash. The two purple arcs curved outward before turning back inward, like boomerangs. As the two slashes traveled closer to their target, they also began to come closer to each other. By the time both had reached the man Zoro was aiming for, they'd completely merged, forming one large and powerful purple arc.
For the first time since the fight started, Mad Treasure chose to dodge rather than try and deflect Zoro's blow. A chain slammed into the wall to the left of the man and he was yanked out of the way as the deadly arc of purple passed through the place he'd been standing a split second earlier.
The attack sped through the empty air, connecting with the rock wall, and disappeared, the impact missing the usual crashing sound. Instead, it made more of a whistle, a thin line appearing in the stone right where the slash sank into it. The whistling continued to get farther away until it could no longer be heard by anyone in the area.
Neither of the fighters took any notice of this, however.
As soon as the slashes left the verdet's swords, he was sprinting once again, his eyes following his opponent's form. He could beat this guy. He'd already used some of the strongest moves he could, but the last one proved it. His opponent dodged which meant he was scared of being cut. The verdet's beastly grin began to come back, slowly spreading across his lips as he continued to furiously pump his legs.
Two chains came directly at Zoro's face but he made no move to slow down, quickly bringing Wado and Kitetsu up in front of his body and slicing downward. The edges of both blades cut into the incoming trains of metal and parted them straight down the middle in the blink of an eye. He tore his swords back up and found the outsides of the links, cleaving straight through them.
The now useless chains dropped to the ground behind the swordsman's back but he paid them no mind.
More metal came to strike him down but Zoro was confident now, his katanas striking out like cobras and dicing the attacking chains to bits. Before the heavy materials could even hit the ground, he was already moving in his opponent's direction. He was starting to get better at dealing with the chain-man's strange way of attacking.
The swordsman's eyes found Mad Treasure's and he could see something in them... Something he didn't know if he liked... The pirate captain seemed awfully smug about something as he watched the verdet approach.
Just before Zoro made it to within striking range, a single chain shot out directly at his chest. The boy scoffed at the pathetic attempt to keep him away, pulling both of his katanas back over his head. He brought his hands down with lightning-quick speed and immediately went into a panic at seeing them empty, his wide eyes watching in slow motion as the single chain moved, unimpeded, toward his heart. The swordsman desperately twisted his body, somehow managing to dodge a fatal blow, however, the chain still bit into the front of his left side and he grunted in pain when it made a clean exit out of the back.
"Zoro!", yelled Luffy, pounding on the grey bars stopping him from helping his friend. All he could do was sit there, watching, and it was killing him. Well... Maybe that wasn't all he could do... No. Not yet. He needed to trust his friend. Zoro would find a way.
The verdet hissed in pain, sharply wrenching his body off the metal without a shred of hesitation. His skin made a loud tear as his left side ripped open but he succeeded in freeing himself and dropped to the ground, immediately scanning for his swords. Blood flowed freely from his wound but he didn't have the time to worry about it. Mad Treasure was bound to attack again. He needed to find his blades...Quickly.
"Looking for these?", the pirate captain inquired, examining his spoils with a maniacal glint in his eye. The man sent Zoro a savage smile and the two trains of metal links holding him in place against the wall seemed to elongate as they lowered his body to the ground, the swordsman's blades firmly gasped in his hands.
The dirt underneath the Zoro's feet began to squirm while he watched the chain-man retract the chains sprouting from his back, the maniacal glint never leaving his eye. He glanced between the metal still connecting his opponent to the wall and the wriggling earth beneath his feet... So, that was how he'd done it... He angrily shook his head, his eyes shadowed by the dark-green bandana he wore. It didn't matter how the bastard had done it... "You get your hands off those.", the swordsman growled in Mad Treasure's direction, "Now.".
The man simply laughed at the words, "No, I don't think I will... I think I'll keep them.". He threw both the swords over his shoulder, their sheaths rattling across the ground, "You won't need them, anyways. You'll be dead soon.".
Zoro stood silently, his shadowed eyes cemented on his stolen blades.
Mad Treasure scoffed at the swordsman's silence, "No last words?". When he didn't receive an answer, he laughed, "Suit yourself.". The pirate captain bent his knees and jumped high into the air, the floor cracking underneath him. "Hope you're ready to die.", he yelled down to the already moving swordsman, "Cause nobody's ever escaped from this.". He curled backward, his skin gaining a darker tint, before uncurling and heaving his body toward the ground, "CHAIN PRISON!".
The green-haired boy started moving as soon as his opponent jumped, crossing the distance in an instant. They were so close... He bent his knees and ignored the pain in his side... Wado and Kitetsu were calling him. Just before he went to dive for his blades, something screamed at him not to and a wall of chains slammed into the dirt directly in front of his feet.
A moment passed, Zoro widely eyeing the metal, before he slowly began to unbend his legs, straightening them out and standing upright once again. If he'd dove... Loud maniacal cackling sounded from above the swordsman's head, causing him to look up, and his eyes landed on his opponent's laughing form being suspended by the chains he'd sent into the ground.
Mad Treasure looked down at the verdet from his place in the air, shooting him a psychotic stare. "You're trapped, little swordsman. Nowhere to run!", he laughed, "Now. DIE!". More chains ripped from the man's downward-pointing chest in an attempt to spear the swordsman caught in his trap.
Zoro stared at the metal approaching him, unable to move... How was he supposed to win without his swords?...
"ZORO! MOVE!", screamed Luffy's voice, shocking the the swordsman from his stillness. He barely reacted to his future captain's voice fast enough, quickly jumping backward and cheating death by mere inches. Metal chains destroyed the area he previously occupied and continued to chase him as he turned and began desperately searching for a way out of the prison. He needed to get back to his blades. He felt naked without them...
As the thought passed through his mind, something about it... Something about it felt... Wrong.
The green-haired teen dove to the ground and a chain grazed his thigh, drawing blood. He ignored the pain, scrambling back to his feet, and continued his mad dash around the confined area, eyes searching for anything that would help him. The chains were getting faster and Mad Treasure's laughter was really starting to piss him off... He wanted to shut him up. Zoro's eyes darted to where his swords were lying on the ground just past the wall of chains. If he could just get to his swords he could do something. Without them, he was useless...
Again... Something about the thought felt wrong. It was bothering him but he just couldn't figure it out... The chains trying to kill him weren't making it any easier.
Luffy chewed on a bar of his cage in anger. "Let me out of this damn cage!", he screamed, helplessly watching the green-haired swordsman run for his life. It had been fun to watch the fight until Zoro lost his swords... Now his friend was in trouble and he couldn't do anything to help...
The straw-hatted teen let go of the bars and dropped into a crisscross position, his eyes never leaving his friend's desperately sprinting form. He knew he could help but... No. It wasn't time for that, yet. He didn't even know if he could use it right now with all the Haki Exhaustion nonsense...
His eyes widened. Haki...
If Zoro could unlock it in time, he could definitely win. The only problem was... How was he supposed to help him do that? The boy's brain went into overdrive and smoke immediately began to pour off his head in droves.
Suddenly, it was as if the heavens above sensed his brain's impending implosion and granted him a reprieve, two words floating through his mind. Luffy's heart began to quicken as the memory of how he knew continued to get clearer.
"Look inside.", said Shanks, lazily, the straw hat that now belonged to the boy he was stuck teaching, covering his face.
"What the hell does that even mean?!", a seven-year-old Luffy screamed at his teacher.
His only response was the sound of soft snoring coming from the branch above his head. The black-haired boy groaned in frustration and stomped off, back into the direction he'd come from. It'd been this way for days! Why did his teacher have to be so stupid?!
"Look inside.", the boy grumbled to himself. It was all the tomato said to him anymore! His small feet stomped angrily into the ground, carrying him deeper into the forest. The seven-year-old pouted into the air, a whine coming from the back of his throat... He just wanted his hat back.
Luffy crossed a tree line into a small clearing with an even smaller pool of water. He didn't even look up to appreciate his beautiful surroundings, so focused on cursing his teacher he was, his feet carrying him to the pool of clear liquid before he even noticed. Sighing to himself, the black-haired boy sat down at the edge of the water, dipping his fingers in to test the temperature.
As the digits broke through the surface of the liquid, a ripple fanned out and caught his attention. Luffy's curious eyes watched the ripples multiply when he dipped his fingers in again and began to giggle in wonder at the art he was creating. He liked doing this. It was fun! He followed a particular ripple while it traveled across the water, joyful eyes continuing to track it as it moved directly toward him and over his reflection.
The seven-year-old met his own eyes and couldn't help but stare.
'Look inside.'.
The words floated through his head and for some reason, as he sat there transfixed by his own image, they didn't sound so annoyi-.
The straw-hatted teen shot to his feet, helplessly watching as a chain slammed into Zoro's shoulder and sent the swordsman rolling.
"Zoro!", Luffy yelled, beginning to punch the bars of his prison. He continued even as his fists began to bleed, showing no signs of stopping, "YOU DAMN BARS! LET ME OUT!". The boy angrily watched his green-haired friend shakily stand to his feet, slamming his fist into the stone as hard as he could with a roar. A crack shot through his knuckles on impact and his exclamation of anger turned into a grunt of pain. Great... Now both of his hands hurt. His eyes glanced down in frustration at his pulsing hand before immediately coming back up and searching for Zoro.
The swordsman was already up and running once again, thankfully.
The teen grasped two of the many stone bars around him and stuck his face between them as far as he could as if hoping it would bring his voice closer to his friend. He didn't know if this would help but he had to try something and it was the only thing he could think of at the moment... Hopefully, it would be enough. If an idiot like him was able to figure it out at seven years old, Zoro should have no trouble.
"LOOK INSIDE!", Luffy yelled to the swordsman through his smushed lips.
Zoro just barely caught the words his future captain screamed at him. 'Look inside?', he thought to himself, rolling forward as a chain shot upward at him from the ground. What was his stupid future captain talking about? How the hell was he supposed to 'look inside' without dying? It was taking everything he had to just to keep himself alive and running. Plus, what the hell was 'look inside' even supposed to mean?!
A chain grazed his arm and added yet another gash to the verdet's growing collection. The injuries were starting to stack up. His hand rubbed over the left side of his stomach while he continued dodging and he could still feel the constant flow of blood coming from the wound... That wasn't good. Add in all the other cuts and... Yeah, he'd lost a lot of blood.
"This power is something anyone can learn, Zoro, and I expect you to learn it too. I think you'll need to if you plan on being the World's Greatest Swordsman.".
Black eyes widened as the words came to mind. He'd been trying to figure out why he felt so strangely about some of his recent thoughts and suddenly everything seemed so clear. Somewhere in the back of the swordsman's mind, he knew there was still something he could do. That power had to be what Luffy was talking about with his strange words.
Zoro didn't know how long he'd been running around the chain cage, but the whole time it felt like he was just blindly scrambling in the dark. Now, suddenly, a path had been revealed.
The verdet folded his body to the ground, a chain flashing over his face, before wrenching himself to the left to dodge another as it smashed into the ground beside him. He rapidly stood to his feet and set back off into a sprint. He couldn't keep doing this. He could feel it... He was getting slower and the slower he got, the more hits he would take... The more hits he took...
Zoro spared a quick glance down at his blood-soaked body... He didn't have many hits left to give...
"LOOK INSIDE!", Luffy's voice screamed again.
Right. Look inside... But, what exactly did that mean? What was he even supposed to look at? The verdet dove in between two chains and rolled under a third, coming out of his roll and right back into a sprint. Look inside... It made sense. It was a power that could be learned by anyone, it obviously came from inside somewhere. However, it was still incredibly vague. What exactly was it that he was looking for?...
"JUST DIE ALREADY, YOU GREEN-HAIRED BASTARD!", Mad Treasure screamed in frustration from above.
Zoro ignored the man's crazed voice, still keeping his body constantly in motion. Look inside... The more he thought about the words, the more he began to think he'd heard something similar before. He reached for the feeling of familiarity and was surprised when his mind actually grasped onto something.
Zoro quietly stepped into the dimly lit room, softly closing the door behind him.
"Whaddya want, brat?", Saul asked, his tone softer than it usually was. He held an empty bowl in his hand and was brushing the edges with something that definitely wasn't a brush. Zoro didn't think it could make the same sound he was hearing.
It wasn't music, just one note. But that one note had a beautiful undulating tone. It started low and mellow at the bottom of the bowl and as the man brought his hand around, the tone brightened before mellowing out at the bottom once again.
It was soothing to listen to. It made him want to sit down and relax. Usually, he would have helped himself and gotten comfortable but something about doing that just didn't feel right in the moment. For some reason, the swordsman felt like he may have walked in on something he wasn't supposed to.
Zoro turned on his heel, regretting his decision to come pester the man about forging, "I was jus-".
"Oh shut it, brat.", he waved the green-haired boy into the room, continuing to 'play' the bowl in his hands.
The swordsman shrugged, removing his katana from his belly warmer, and sat cross-legged on a pillow next to the large man. He closed his eyes and couldn't help the small sigh that left his mouth. He'd only just sat down and he could already feel his body starting to relax. The sound flowing through his head was very soothing.
"This is how I meditate.", the large ebony man said, breaking the silence.
Zoro looked strangely at the man from the corner of his eye, "You meditate?". He sure yelled a lot for someone who meditated... Saul shot him a withering glare in response and he quickly sealed his eyes back shut... No need to poke the sleeping bear.
The blacksmith turned his head back to the front of the room and his eyelids dropped back down, "Yes, I meditate.". It sounded like he was smiling when he next spoke, "I learned how a long time ago. Helps me sort everything out, inside.".
"What do you mean?", the swordsman asked, curiously. It was the most candidly the two had talked since he'd started living there. He wasn't going to waste his chance to ask the older man some questions, even if it was about meditation.
"Humans are creatures of emotion.", the grey-haired man took a slow deep breath in through his nose, "They swirl around inside of us day and night, controlling our each and every decision.". He took another slow deep breath in through his nose, his hand never stopping in its creation of the beautiful note suffusing throughout the room, "Meditation helps you look inside to those swirling emotions. Helps you figure 'em out and through that, helps you figure yourself out.". He breathed in through the nose once again, the same as the last two times, "To put it into terms your bratty little brain can handle,".
Zoro resisted the urge to yell at the blacksmith, firmly keeping his eyes shut. The note in the air was definitely helping.
"I think about it like this.", Saul's hand halted in its rotation and he opened his eyes, turning to the verdet, "People who truly know themselves are like perfectly crafted blades... Strong.".
The word echoed in the swordsman's mind. Strong... He was strong and he knew it but... His future captain came to his mind. The person he knew would lead him to his dream.
Zoro knew he was strong... Not strong like Luffy, though... Well, yes but... No, Saul's version of strong was the kid epitomized. Zoro didn't realize it before but he was starting to see it now... Luffy's strength didn't amount to just the physical. He was plenty strong, yes, but the verdet was starting to see where his true power came from.
A chain ripped the skin from his right hip but he barely even felt it, his mind racing. The pieces were starting to come together but it was too slow. He was running out of steam. Metal took a small chunk of his thigh, but, again, he paid the injury no mind, continuing to pump his legs.
Who was he?... The question nagged at him... It just felt like the wrong one... But, if it was, then what was the right one?
"HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!", his opponent screamed, half in anger and half in disbelief. They had been at it for so long that he'd lost track of time! His breathing was starting to get heavier and he didn't like it. This was the longest he'd ever had to fight. He'd never had to use so many chains in his life.
Zoro didn't hear the voice, he was too consumed in his own thoughts, repeating the same words over and over again.
'What's the question I'm looking for?'.
'What's the question I'm looking for?'.
'What's the question I'm looking for?'.
'What's the question...'.
'What's the...'.
'What...'.
What... What was he... What was he?...
It was odd... As soon as the swordsman heard the question in his head, he already had the answer... Like he had known since the day he was born and he'd just been waiting to be asked.
The answer was simple.
"People who truly know themselves are like perfectly crafted blades... Strong.".
It had been right there in front of him all along... Just how much had Saul tried to teach him without him realizing it?
He was a blade.
He was a blade that would cut down anything standing in his way. The blade that would one day wear the title of Greatest Swordsman in the World. The blade of the future Pirate King.
For the first time since the cage had trapped him, Zoro's legs slowed, approaching one of the chain walls with what felt like heat beginning to gather in his heart. Chains rocketed toward his now slow-moving form and he was just barely focused enough to somehow only take glancing blows.
The verdet's feet continued to carry him forward as more blood poured from his body. He ignored it. The only thing he could focus on was the heat in his heart and the words in his head.
He was a blade.
Mad Treasure looked down at the green-haired swordsman, incredulously, watching him slow to a halt. What was he planning to do?
The change in behavior caused the pirate captain to unconsciously pause in his onslaught, his chains stilling. The sadist side of him just wanted to watch and wait for the idiot boy to realize that there was no escaping... That side of him wanted a front-row seat to the despair soon to take over the swordsman's face... His other half also happened to be a sadist... So, that's exactly what he did. He watched Zoro with a grin that spread from ear to ear, anticipation firmly rooted in his eyes.
He was a blade. A blade that would cut anything standing in his way.
The heat slowly made its way from his chest to his left shoulder, traveling up his arm as he raised it above his head. It felt almost like molten lava defying gravity and pushing upward. Strangely though, for as hot as it was, it wasn't painful... Actually, if anything... He thought it felt kind of nice.
He was a blade.
The lava coalesced in his hand, increasing in temperature at a very rapid pace. For a moment, it seemed the heat would increase to the point of causing pain but he knew better. The energy building up in his hand popped underneath the skin and he felt the extremity immediately cool down.
Zoro didn't even need to look for confirmation, he knew he wouldn't see anything anyways.
He was a blade.
"Mutōryū:", the swordsman breathed, his lower body rooting into the ground as he pulled his arm back even further.
His blade.
Without a single shred of hesitation, Zoro's hand flashed down and outward toward the metal wall of chains holding him prisoner.
"KING'S BLADE!".
The verdet roared, the edge of his enhanced hand gliding through the chains like a hot knife through butter, and they fell to the ground with a crash. As much as he wanted to stand and admire his work, he didn't. The cool feeling surrounding Zoro's hand disappeared and he pushed his feet through the opening he'd made himself, bolting in the direction of his swords.
It wasn't over just yet.
Mad Treasure was positively seething with rage from his place suspended in the air. How the hell had that happened?! The angry pirate furiously shook his head, rapidly retracting all of his chains back into his body. He didn't care how the green-haired swordsman had done it, he just wanted him to die... Painfully.
"ZORO!", Luffy blubbered in relief, wiping his very real tears away, "I WAS SO SCARED!". It'd been a close call but he was happy that he'd made the right decision. He always knew Zoro could figure it out! The swordsman ignored him but he didn't take it to heart. He was just glad his friend was alive.
The straw-hatted boy's eyes widened when he remembered, scrambling from his position to grab the item. He wanted to give it to Zoro earlier but was worried about Treasure Guy using his chains to keep it away from him. Now that his friend was free... His eyes found familiar white and black colors and he dove on top of the gold to get to them faster. His hand found the wrappings of a katana hilt and Luffy quickly pulled the blade free, not wasting any time as he scanned the area for Zoro.
"Zoro!", the black-haired teen yelled, his eyes landing on his future first mate's back, "Catch!".
The verdet continued to pay no mind to anything but his swords as he ran toward Mad Treasure, the pirate captain dropping down into his path from the air. However, as the katana came near, his hand shot out on instinct and caught the blade, his eyes never leaving Wado and Kitetsu.
Strangely, when the sword came fully into his hand, he felt it begin to lightly vibrate, just like his other two blades. It surprised him as not every weapon created could 'talk'. From what Saul mentioned, it took a very gifted craftsman to make a weapon that had a will of its own. It made him wonder who might have forged this one... He shook the thought away, getting back to business. Now that he finally had another decent blade... The swordsman grinned devilishly at the prospect of being able to use Santōryū again.
Mad Treasure couldn't even form words through his anger, only yelling in rage as a massive black piece of metal began to sprout from his stomach.
However, Zoro wasn't just going to stand there and let the man prepare an obviously large attack. As his feet cracked into the ground and launched him forward he suddenly realized that his new blade had come without a sheath. Luffy had thrown an unsheathed sword at him... A very sharp one... What an idiot.
The verdet's new katana slammed into Mad Treasure's form, its edge grinding against the chains the crazed man was protecting himself with. He angled his blade slightly steeper and pushed with all the strength he had left, his unnamed sword slowly beginning to sink into the metal.
Mad Treasure jumped away from the clash and Zoro's sword. The chains protecting him were weak because most of his power was being used to create the biggest chain he ever had, the one growing from his stomach. His furious screams grew louder as he watched the swordsman pick up the swords he'd pilfered from him. Everything was turning in the green-haired boy's favor and it was making his rage burn even hotter. But, it would all be over soon... He was going to blow this whole island sky-high!
A crazed grin settled on the pirate captain's lips as he forced more and more power into the chain slowly pushing out of his chest. What the swordsman may not have realized was that the area below where they were fighting was home to the magma chamber of the volcano they were in... And, with a large enough chain, he should be able to force the magma to rise and cause an eruption.
He would die, yes... But Mad Treasure didn't care. He'd go out right beside his treasure and that was a good enough death for him... Right now, the only thing on his mind was killing his opponent by any means possible. The man was so blinded by his rage he didn't even have the capacity to worry about Naomi or P... What did it matter anyway... He knew both of them had lost their battles, they would have been there otherwise.
"Hey. Treasure.", the Zoro growled.
The pirate captain was startled to see the swordsman much further away than he remembered. Had he moved?
The verdet held the unnamed blade in his right hand with Kitetsu and Wado secured in the left, "You remember what I said to you before all this started?".
Mad Treasure scoffed at the swordsman but internally panicked. The chains he could still use would be too weak to reach his opponent at the distance he now stood. If he started throwing around flying slashes... The man growled at himself for the weakness, but he knew, if that happened he'd need to run to buy himself time. He was so close... So close to ending him!
"I said... My name is Rorona Zoro and I'm the man that's going to kill you.", Zoro placed Wado Ichimonji in between his teeth as his opponent's laughter burst into the air at his words, "I already wanted to kill you before, but then...". He growled through the white hilt of his katana, "You stole my swords.". He flashed a grin, the blade in his mouth making the image look somewhat demonic, "So, now you're really gonna die.".
The green-haired teen closed his eyes serenely, blocking out whatever it was the man said in reply. He wanted to revel in this moment. The feeling of holding three blades at once was something he missed very much. Zoro sighed and opened his eyes. What met his vision once he had was honestly a shock, even though it shouldn't have been. Blood. He was still bleeding... Obviously. With how things had been going, he just kind of forgot about it... But now, as he looked at the small puddle of crimson slowly growing larger below him, it was kind of hard to miss.
Well... Might as well put his all into this one... It was probably going to be his last. He didn't think he was going to die... probably... but he was definitely going to pass out. And honestly, he was ready for it. The pain was starting to become very apparent and, more than anything, he just wanted to lie down and have a nice drink.
The swordsman shook the thoughts away. The bastard that stole his swords was still living and that needed to change. His bones cracked, the stiff joints grinding against one another as he bent his knees, leaning his chest forward and facing the ground. His arms came to cross over in front of his body.
It was a stance he'd taken hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
Zoro thought back to the cage and the heat, back to the power he'd discovered. Already, he could feel his heart beginning to grow warmer. Just like last time, he stoked the flames building in his chest, beginning to push them toward his hand... And they wouldn't move. He pushed harder but the energy remained still. What the hell was going on?... Why wasn't it working?
'Calm.'.
The soft breeze tickled the hairs on his skin and he immediately stopped trying to control the energy in his chest. As soon as he calmed his efforts, the heat began to move seemingly all on its own. The swordsman stayed still as he followed it from his heart to the bottom of his throat where it travel upward and began to coalesce in... His mouth?
Before Zoro even had the chance the figure out what was going on, something strange happened.
Once all the heat had gathered in his mouth, it began to move once again... At first, that wouldn't seem so strange, however, the energy didn't go anywhere else in his body. Instead, it began to slowly flow around the hilt of the white sword in his mouth. Wado Ichimonji was somehow covering itself in the heat all on its own. The verdet immediately felt his katana's pull on the energy, body shuddering slightly, but he made no move to stop it from what it was doing. It was slow but, other than the drop in energy, the feeling was kind of nice...
The blade continued to greedily siphon the heat until there was almost nothing left to give, suddenly stopping and leaving Zoro in a daze. His katana's meal left the swordsman barely able to stand but strangely, he wasn't uncomfortable. The fact that he could barely even open his eyes anymore didn't really bother him, either. He couldn't help it. He was mesmerized...
He felt Wado Ichimonji.
Not just in the hilt in his teeth... He actually felt the whole blade, his energy covering the entire weapon from end to end. It felt like it was a part of him... He'd never felt anything like it before... Zoro couldn't help but want to see what it looked like, peeling his eyes open to glance at the steel of his katana. When his vision found the bright steel of Wado Ichimonji, for some reason, the swordsman had a feeling that it probably looked normal to other people, but to him...
To him, it shimmered like a thousand glittering diamonds in the sunlight... It was beautiful.
"FINALLY!", Mad Treasure screamed, a single massive chain link protruding from his stomach, "ALL THAT SCAMPERING AROUND AND YOU'RE STILL GOING TO DIE!".
Zoro couldn't even really hear the man's words, dropping his eyes back down to the ground and letting them close once again... Everything. For some reason, he knew he needed everything he had left as he tightened his slack muscles back to tautness. The swordsman took a deep breath in through the nose and let it fill him. "Santōryū:", he breathed out, his breath looking like steam as it hissed through his teeth.
The pirate captain's attention was so completely consumed with the massive chain pushing out of his stomach and how it would help him destroy the mountain, that he missed Zoro's form flashing in his direction. However, he did not miss the sound of rock shattering, his maniacal eyes looking up just before he went to send his chain into the ground toward the magma chamber far below.
For the first time since the battle began, the man did not laugh, scream, or rage. He simply sat still, like prey frozen in the eyes of its predator.
"SHIMMERING DEMON CUT!".
In his last moments, time slowed down before his very eyes and the final thing Mad Treasure saw on the mortal plane was something that would follow him into the afterlife.
Superimposed behind the verdant swordsman's blood-stained body was the image of a purple demon so horrifying that he didn't have the words to describe it... He didn't even know if there were words to describe it... If there were... He never wanted to hear them.
A small shockwave, along with a sharp shinging sound, blew through the room as Zoro's katanas met the chain-man's form, the air around the two shimmering with tiny specks of white light.
Mad Treasure's body suddenly vanished, bloody mist and pieces of metal exploding into the air while the swordsman held the pose of his finished move. Even as the red fog began to settle, his slightly bent form continued to face the ground while Wado stayed firmly locked in his jaws. His arms also remained straight out to his sides, his hands still gripping his katanas.
Luffy stared wide-eyed at the scene before him. Zoro was... Really amazing... Treasure Guy literally exploded! He didn't know swords could do that!... Those things were dangerous... "Zoro!", the straw-hatted teen yelled to his friend, trying to get his attention. He was finally about to get out of this damn cage! "Zoro!", he yelled again. Maybe he just hadn't heard him the first time.
The swordsman's form remained unmoving, still holding his finishing pose... Was he... No... He couldn't be... Luffy spoke up again, louder this time, "ZOR-".
"Shut uuup.", Zoro groaned, Wado falling out of his mouth to the ground below while he tried to blink the grogginess from his eyes. He'd fallen asleep there for a second... Whoops. The verdet slowly picked up his katana and straightened out his body, groaning something fierce. He couldn't say he loved the way he felt. Actually, he could confidently say that he'd never felt worse.
Zoro pushed through the pain, resheathing the two blades that had them and holding the third awkwardly in his hands. He shrugged to himself after a moment and slid the katana into his belly warmer next to the other two, turning to walk in the direction of the cage filled with treasure... And his idiot friend...
"Zoro! I thought you might have died!", Luffy cheered happily, watching his bloodied and injured friend slowly make his way over. He was very glad Zoro wasn't dead. He looked terrible, though, like he'd fall over and pass out at any second... He felt bad about making the verdet work more but... He REALLY wanted out of this cage.
Just as Zoro walked past the large pile of bodies he'd made earlier in the day, he remembered something and immediately paled.
"One of you. Take care of unlocking the hoard when it gets down here. Obviously, I can't.".
That meant... The key to Luffy's cage... Before the swordsman could take another step, his consciousness vanished from the waking world. The thought of diving through the blood and guts of the men he killed to search for a key was enough to immediately flip the off switch in his head... Being half-dead probably had something to do with it too.
"Zoro?", questioned the straw-hatted teen, curiously, after seeing his friend's movement halt.
...
...
...
"Zooorrrooo?", he asked once again, waiting for an answer that never came... Luffy was getting nervous, now. "Zoro!", he yelled. When still no response came, panic began to set in. "ZORO!", he screamed, hoping to the heavens above for any kind of response. It couldn't be true! It just couldn't!
...
...
...
Apparently, it could.
Zoro's body fell to the ground and the black-haired boy wailed while he banged on the bars of his cage. "Someone! Anyone!", he moaned, taking in a deep breath, "SOMEONE! PLEASE! GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!". He fell to his back, slamming his fists into the gold surrounding him and throwing a child-like tantrum, no one there to listen to him except the dead and unconscious...
Well... Maybe there was someone... Or maybe something...
Luffy suddenly froze, his head perking up. His eyes went as wide as saucers and he flung himself off the ground to hang on the bars of his cage, desperately looking past the dock to the waters outside the cave.
The teen couldn't see him but he just knew he was there. It'd been so long that he'd almost forgotten...
A big bright smile plastered itself onto Luffy's face and he was unable to contain the laugh that came from his lips as he screamed into the air as loud as he possibly could.
"LEVI!".
End Note:
I really struggled with Luffy's place in this whole arc and I'm sure some of you are disappointed about him not getting to fight but you will see him throwing down soon, I promise. This arc was more about Sanji, Nami, and Zoro growing a little more before we get to canon. This was all really just to say sorry about sidelining Luffy :( I promise it hurt me more than it hurt you! Anyways, I still hope you guys liked it! See ya in the next one.