Regular text - Story
Italicized text - thoughts
TW: This one gets a little gory! It's not super central to the plot of the main story, so if you don't like to read that, please go ahead and skip this one. 3 CL
Zoro POV - In the Fearscape
I don't remember falling asleep, just the sudden awareness of waking. Usually, that wouldn't be a cause for concern; I often zonked out anywhere and everywhere I could when not training or fighting, but this was different. I hadn't been asleep very long, and even though power naps were a huge part of my daily routine, I didn't feel rested; honestly, I didn't remember the last time I'd felt fully rested. Waking was rough, leaving my head fuzzy and mouth full of cotton, my limbs feeling heavy, and my joints aching.
I wasn't sure what had roused me. A warm breeze was ruffling my hair, but the ocean was still and quiet otherwise. The low light of the ship lanterns and the moon were enough to illuminate the deck. I cracked an eye open and took in the peaceful scene around me. Robin and Nami sat around a small round table, their laughter and banter filling the air. They nursed colorful drinks with umbrellas and salt around the rim. They were in their element, sharing a moment of camaraderie and warmth that flowed from them across the rest of the ship, infecting everyone with cheer and joy, even me. Robin told a joke I couldn't hear that made Nami let out a very unladylike cackle that lit up her face, taking her beauty up another notch.
Thundering footsteps to my left were followed by Luffy's maniacal laughter and Chopper's distressed cries. I turned and saw Luffy, with chopsticks protruding from his mouth and nose, chasing Chopper while holding his hands in the air and making growly monster sounds. Chopper ran as fast as his legs could carry him, never realizing that if Luffy had wanted to catch him, he could have. They rounded the main mast, and upon seeing I was awake, Chopper altered his course, running straight into me, seeking refuge and hiding behind my shoulder. "Zoro, save me from the beast!" He wailed and clutched my shirt in his trembling hooves. A warm sensation filled my chest, and despite the pain in my shoulder, I gently patted his head, reassuring him of his safety, before turning to Luffy with a chastising look that silently conveyed that the game was over.
Luffy just shrugged it off before he erupted into laughter, his belly shaking with the sheer force of it. He looked up and, having spotted Usopp in the crow's nest, stretched his arm up the main sail, looping an arm up over the mast and shooting up. The terrified yelp from Usopp and the infectious laughter from Luffy confirmed that he had successfully achieved the reaction he was aiming for.
Chopper looked up at me with watery eyes. I wiped his face with a fond chuckle and sent him off toward Nami to beg for the snack I knew she'd give him. I rolled to my knees and tried to figure out how to get to my feet without letting the others know I wasn't feeling my best when the galley door burst open, and Sanji came barreling out with another platter of frilly drinks and hors-d'oeuvres for the girls. The savory scent of whatever he had whipped up floated toward me, causing my stomach to growl and my mouth to water. I knew he'd never share what he'd made for them, and I'd just started to feel what might have been envy at the attention he was showing them when, out of nowhere, Usopp's voice, full of terror, pierced the air, "Incoming!"
The still ocean night was suddenly shattered by a crashing on the port side, followed by a wave of seawater that washed the girl's table overboard and knocked Sanji off his feet. The tray he'd been holding shattered and sent soggy food and glass in a wash across the deck, food and fruity drinks mixing with seawater and running in rivets past the railings. The Merry had tilted with the wave, sending me crashing against the mast pole, the ache and pains in my body screaming at the impact. "What the fuck was that!" My voice was lost in the sudden chaos that erupted from a ship that was just suddenly right next to us.
From the crow's nest, Usopp screamed, "It just fell outta the freaking sky!"
For a split second, I thought he might be lying to cover his ass for missing a ship approaching while on watch. But then I saw giant balloons slowly deflating along the ship's hull, disappearing into hatches just under the water's surface. They appeared very similar to a hot air balloon I once saw while on a job in the East Blue, a faded red nylon material that seemed sturdy but light. I'd seen a lot of weird shit while on the Grand Line, but flying ships was definitely a new one. I'd just managed to get to my feet, my aching joints miraculously forgotten now that adrenaline was pumping through my veins. The slapping sound of wood on wood echoed along the pot side railing as gangplanks slammed into place, connecting our two ships. After a brief beat of silence, the deck was swarmed with enemy pirates.
They poured over the railing like the water had upon their arrival. They didn't seem to have anything to say; they just threw themselves into battle with a single-minded focus I almost admired. I saw Sanji strike a guy in the head with a spinning kick, and Robin, over near the door to Nami's map room, had her arms crossed; across from her, several pairs of arms appeared on the pirate's shoulder before snapping their neck with a quick snap. Luffy, Nami, and Chopper were all involved in various battles along Merry's deck. Usopp was taking them out one by one from his perch in the crow's nest. I felt pride in their abilities as they all appeared to be winning.
A vicious grin split my face as I gripped Kitetsu and Yabishiri in each hand and threw myself into the fray. A good fight is just what I needed to get out of this funk. These pirates were surprisingly weak. Dressed in stupid scarlet uniforms with gold and white piping and gold fringes on their shoulders, most only had a single sword made of inferior metal, though some also carried maces and axes. Not one appeared trained in combat, falling left and right as Luffy, Sanji, and I cut them down with sweeping blows.
They kept coming in droves, swarming over the gangplank of our ship like locusts. I sliced a particularly nimble enemy across the chest, Kitetsu's blade becoming stuck fast in his chest, probably caught on a bone. I was tugging hard, trying to dislodge it. I had just succeeded when a warm body collided with mine, pressing me against the railing. I had my sword at their throat and was a split second from slicing when I realized it was Sanji. His arms bracketed me on either side, and he was close enough that the scent of his cloves and spices wafted around me. Where I had just been standing was one of those scarlet losers, their battle axe stuck firm in Merry's decking. Had he not shoved me out of the way, it would have sliced right into me.
I looked back at him, his blue eyes as bright as his face flushed from his frantic fighting across the deck. "Watch your fucking head Moss for brains! I can't always be around to watch it for you." His voice was rough and high with tension. I scoffed and shoved at his arm to break away. "Whatever Curly. Why don't you worry about your own fight and not mine."
His face flushed harshly, "You ungrateful brat. You'd be in pieces if I hadn't pushed you out of the way."
I let out another harsh sound and got right in his face, forehead to forehead. "As if some no-name grunt could have even put a scratch on me."
He opened his mouth to spit some harsh retort at me, but the grunt freed his axe before he could get anything out. He swung toward us, the blade moving blindingly fast but not fast enough. In the same motion, Sanji struck out with his foot, and I sliced up with Kitetsu. No-name's axe blade hit our combined force with a solid smack. "Sorry to interrupt your lover's spat, boys." His voice was laced with mean humor. My face flushed, and my heart beat faster with embarrassment. I watched Sanji turn bright red out of the corner of my eye, studiously avoiding looking in my direction. Interesting.
I watched his face morph into embarrassed anger before he thrust his foot out, knocking the bastard away with ease. I'd have told him how impressive it was if he wasn't so irritating. No-name's cocky smile dropped as he had to put real effort into keeping Sanji at bay. I watched just long enough to ensure Sanji had a handle on it before I threw myself back into the brawl.
We'd been locked in combat for what felt like an eternity when a formidable figure materialized on the rail of their ship. Towering over us, a quartet of adversaries emerged: three men and a woman. The woman, a chilling sight, was garbed in a crimson latex bodysuit that seamlessly melded with her thigh-high stiletto boots. Her makeup was dark and heavy, with cherry red lipgloss on her lips that looked to almost drip like blood. Her skin was paper white, and her hair was styled in large looping ringlets with welder's goggles on her head and a gas mask hanging from her neck. Adorning her thin waist was a utility belt brimming with murky glass orbs that glowed and swirled in the dim moonlight. She held one of the orbs in her hand, her long, ruby nails coiled tight around it.
The men were all dressed similarly to her in various shades of red. I immediately noticed the swordsman. He was almost seven feet tall with long black hair pulled into a high, tight ponytail. He only had one arm, but two swords were strapped to his waist. The fingers of his hand were curved tightly around the hilt of his sword. He wore a loose red yukata decorated with sakura blossoms, nothing beneath it showing off a deep purple scar that slashed straight up his sternum, and tattered wooden sandals. His gaze scanned the ship for several seconds before snagging on me and staring at me manically, thin lips spread wide, showing missing and rotted teeth.
He stared at me for several long seconds before slowly sliding his gaze over to where Nami and Robin held their own against their cronies. His smile widened, and my skin crawled. I pivoted so that I cut off his direct line of sight to them, and his eyes flared with sinister mirth as they slid over me in a similar vein as he had the women. The tension in the air was palpable, fear trying to get a grip on me, but I fought hard to keep my composure. Sanji had moved with me, and I felt him stiffen beside me, even going as far as to take a step forward so that I was half-blocked from the swordsman's gaze.
I'd never been looked at like that before, and it made my stomach curl. I couldn't even bring myself to mind that Sanji was practically guarding me; I felt so shaken. I tried to shake off how his gaze made me feel, but even as I turned to take in his other companions, I still felt his gaze heavy on the side of my head. The man on the woman's other side was much shorter than the swordsman, maybe five feet six inches if that, but he was heavily muscled and looked lethal. He had no weapons on his that I could see, but an aura of 'Don't fuck with me' just radiated off him. His dark red gi was tied loosely with a black belt around his trunk of a waist and was fraying badly at the wrists and ankles. His feet were bare, and his hands were wrapped tightly in old and bloodied gauze.
His beady brown eyes tracked across Merry's deck before snagging on Sanji, where he fought off multiple grunts with a series of spinning kicks. His gaze was heavy, full of a want that curled my stomach and caused my hand to tighten on Kitetsu to the point of pain. He leaned over to whisper something in the final man's ear, moonlight reflecting on his bald head. The man gave him a firm nod and a friendly slap on the shoulder before walking down the gangplank in a looping, swaggering walk.
The last man, a towering figure almost as tall as the swordsman, commanded attention. This must be the captain. He had thick orange hair and a well-kept beard. Atop his head was a customary pirate hat in a bright scarlet with their Jolly Rodger, a bearded skull, and crossbones emblazoned across it. He was bulky, but in the way an athlete is after not having played in a long time, going a little soft around in the middle but still firm, still capable. He wore a frock coat in the same shade of red with a black button-up shirt underneath partially unbuttoned, showing a swath of dark tattoos depicting many lost souls rising up before the grim reaper.
He slowly walked toward us, the others moving languidly behind him as if they had all the time in the world. Chaos was raging all around me, the deck slick with spent blood, and fallen bodies lay in heaps as my crew, and I cut them down two, ten, twenty at a time. They just kept coming, with no fear, as their comrades fell left and right. A particularly tenacious fucker and I were locked in battle, my two swords holing off his one. His gaze moved to our left, watching his captain and the others approach. He turned toward me and shot me a look I didn't understand. His face smoothed out, a peaceful grin sliding across his mouth.
He spoke calmly and clearly right next to my face, "The dead shall live to fight anew." It confused me; I didn't understand why he spoke to me at all, let alone why he decided to speak nonsense. But before I could form any kind of response or figure out what was happening, he released all the tension in his arms, and suddenly, Kitetsu and Yabishiri were sliding forward, both slicing into his neck until his head was all but severed.
In my life, I had seen many deaths and caused quite a few myself, but this was new. I'd never had someone just let themselves die by my hand with a smile on their face. His body fell forward into me, the head hanging by just a few frayed tendons. I held it briefly in shock before recoiling and letting it fall at my feet. His blood coated my white shirt, warm and slick and oh so red. My hands shook around the hilts of my blades, and an icy numbness I'd never felt before had crawled up my spine and through all my limbs, paralyzing me. Hands grabbed me by the bicep and pulled me to the left. I was still in shock, so I didn't even flinch as strong hands gently pressed around my stomach and chest. After a moment, they rested on my shoulder and gave me a firm shake.
Still stunned, I raised my eyes to Sanji's pale face. It was strained; his eyes were narrowed and held an emotion I struggled to place: worry. He had never regarded me with such concern before, and it ignited a spark of warmth in my belly, shattering the icy numbness that had settled over me. "Pull yourself together, Mosshead. I know that was brutal, but we're relying on you." He shook my shoulder, his grip unyielding until I had inhaled deeply and nodded.
All around us, the sounds of battle had quieted. A glance over Sanji's shoulder revealed a scene of carnage. The grunts we had faced lay lifeless, their red uniforms a grisly mix of scarlet and black. Luffy and Nami, their breaths ragged, stood close together as the last of our enemies set foot on our ship.
The captain, with his imposing presence and shrewd eyes, positioned himself slightly ahead of his crew, his arms casually crossed over his chest. His voice, a deep rumble that seemed to shake the very air, demanded, "Which one of you is Strawhat Luffy?"
None of us deigned to give him an answer. We all locked eyes with the intruders, our collective fury burning bright. Each of us, in our own way, communicated our defiance as we refused to give him anything. He was unaffected by our glaring. His gaze swept the deck, searching until it found its target. Luffy wasn't hard to spot, what with the straw hat hanging from his neck. He cracked a smile; it should have been a nice smile. His teeth were white and straight, and it lit his face up in a way that showed off his nice cheekbones and firm jaw under his beard. But something about it made a primitive part of my brain scream, RUN!
"Ah! It must be you! You sure are a scrawny thing, ain'tcha. I was expecting someone with a little more meat on their bones for all the trouble you've been causing out here on the seas." His tone was jovial, like he was talking to an old friend. Luffy tightened his fists and still didn't say a word.
The captain looked back at his remaining crew. He didn't say anything, but the look on his face was enough to cause the other three to chuckle. He turned back to us. "Well, if you ain't one for introductions, how about I go first, hmm? Names Barone. Captain Raymond Barone and I'm lookin' for the One Piece. You heard of it?"
That did it. Luffy's eyes flared, and he took one step forward, his sandaled foot slipping slightly in the blood under his feet. Captain Barone noticed, and a mean light slunk in behind the faux-friendly persona he was trying to put forth.
Barone husky laugh rolled across the space between us. "Thought so. Strike a nerve, did I? Well, good. This was just a warning. I don't care about what kind of trouble some young punk causes on the Grand Line, but I've been searching for the damn treasure for twenty years, and no young upstart is going to take it from me." As he spoke, he dropped his arms to his sides, and I felt my body coil tight in anticipation. He held no weapons on his person that I could see, but the Grand Line had proved time and again that one didn't need a physical weapon to fuck someone up.
A laugh burst out of Luffy. It was unexpected, but at the sound, some tension slid out of me. It was then that I finally noticed that Sanji still had a hand resting on my shoulder. His palm was warm, and the weight of it was soothing.
For the first time, I noticed Sanji's hands. Tiny scars from past cooking incidents ran along his index finger and thumb, and an old burn scar that vaguely resembled the coil of a stove burner ran along the edge of his wrist just under the cuff of his blue dress shirt. His nails were short and neat. While his hands were large and proportionate with his height, his fingers were slim and delicate. I could feel the strength in them as he continued to clutch at my shirt.
Because I was staring at Sanji's hand, I missed what Captain Barone did, but I felt Sanji's whole body tense and jolt as if he'd been shocked. I jerked my head back around to take in our foes. The other three hadn't moved, but Barone had his hands raised over his head, and an eerie green glow emanated from them. His eyes opened wide and now held the same glow. He thrust his hands out toward us, flinging the glowing mass our way. I gripped my swords tighter and prepared to slash at whatever was coming, but it flowed around us like water. It held no heat, scent, or physical sensation, but the nearness of it made my stomach swoop and my skin run with goosebumps.
Sanji stepped even closer to me, his grip on my shirt tight and unyielding, bringing him almost flush with my bicep. I wanted to say something, but from the look on his face, it was clear that he was shaken by whatever was happening, and I didn't really want to bring to his attention that he was unconsciously seeking comfort from me. Looking back at the glowing mass, I watched as the glow covered the deck, filling all the cracks in the wood and sinking down through the bodies and blood surrounding us. Once the glow had settled, the night was once again only lit by the moon and the lanterns, and there was nothing but the quiet crashing of the waves against our hull.
The silence was suffocating. My heart was racing, adrenalin pumping fast through my veins with no outlet, making me jittery. The rival pirates made no other move; they just stood there with knowing smirks that I couldn't interpret. For a moment, I thought that fancy light show was all he had in him. Maybe the fear of the unknown and their appearance were enough to scare off other rival pirates? I was confident, almost cocky, that we had this in the bag. I was five seconds away from making a crack about his devil fruit, turning him into a glow worm. But then, a piercing scream shattered that silence. My head jerked around so fast my neck popped.
The scream had come from Robin. She stood just to the left of the stairs leading to the upper deck. She had backed up till her body was wedged into the corner, leaving her nowhere to run. I could figure out what was happening at first. Her body was hidden in the shadow of the steps, and all I could see was the top of her head. Her eyes flashed in the dark, and I caught the horrified expression and the tears welling in her eyes. "Help me!" She screamed so loud it rattled my bones.
I watched as she stumbled out of the shadows, and my eyes couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. From the waist down, Robin was a red ruin. Clinging to her hips and waist were three of Barone's crew. At first, I thought they were just three men who had faked their deaths so they could ambush us while our attention was elsewhere. But then more details came into focus. The one at her hip had his neck bent at almost a ninety-degree angle. The two clinging to her thighs had slashes in their throats, and one had horrible burns so deep his skull was showing, and his eye had melted.
They tore at Robin, rivulets of her blood flooding down onto her boots and joining the lake of blood coating the deck. She was clearly in shock; hell, we all were. She screamed again, her terror so complete that she never even thought to use her abilities. Sanji was the first to snap out of shock. He flew to Robin's side, quickly knocking the wretched things aside and scooping Robin into his arms. He turned toward Chopper, intent to help Robin written plainly on his face. However, before he completed the turn, Chopper let out his own horrified scream. "Zoro, help me!" We all turned to see Chopper swarmed. More torn and ripped bodies covered him, only his pink hat visible beneath their writhing limbs. It reminded me viscerally of just a short time ago when he had screamed for me to save him from Luffy's silliness, only now the danger was very real.
"Chopper, no!"
I ran toward him, fighting every slip of my feet on blood as I pushed myself to run as fast as I could. With ease, I sliced the bodies into smaller pieces and flung them away from Chopper. They fell away but continued to squirm and twitch grotesquely. "Oh god, no!" I nearly fell to my knees. Vomit rolled up my throat, and I was too distraught to force it back down. Chopper was gone, the parts that remained my eye refused to make sense of, only seeing the red and his horns.
As I was fighting my own grief, eyes burning with the need to release unshed tears, Sanji let out an anguished wail. "Robin! Sweet angel. Please open your eyes! Please take a breath, please, sweetheart."
I turned and found him on his knees beside her, desperately doing CPR in an attempt to bring her back to life. I could tell it was hopeless; her stomach had been ripped open, and her femoral artery was punctured. He'd tied his tie tight around the leg wound, but I could see that it was doing little to staunch the bleeding; the wound was just too long and deep. Even if she could get her heart pumping, she soon had no blood left for it to pump.
My blood had been wooshing loud in my ears, shock, and trauma forming an almost white noise that I could barely hear through. Shrill screams and gruff taunts filtered in slowly, and I turned toward the gangplank. The quartet had broken up. The swordsman and the man in the gi were now leisurely making their way across the deck, splitting up so the swordsman, his steps light and calculated, headed my way and the other man, with his bare feet slapping hard on the wooden planks, headed toward Sanji.
Barone had moved toward Luffy, the tension between them thick in the air. They were squared up near the Merry's masthead. Nami stood at Luffy's side, her climatact held tightly in her hands even as her whole body trembled with what I'm sure was fear and grief. Her eyes kept cutting over to where Sanji was still futilely trying to revive Robin. He paid no heed to the man approaching him; all his focus centered on pushing air into lungs that would never draw their own breath.
My body moved before I even knew where I was going. I just needed to protect someone. I'd already lost two crewmates, and I was not going to lose another. I was just a few feet away his name on my lips, "San-," I was cut off by the swordsman appearing in front of me in a flash, his sword already on a downward swing.
I raised Kitetsu just in time to keep the rusted and stained blade of his sword from cutting me in two, but not fast enough to keep it from nicking me in the forehead; blood gushed from the shallow wound, mixing with the sweat already there before it flowed into my eye in a stinging rush. The sound of our swords clashing screeched in the air, a gust of wind blowing out violently from us. The commotion got Sanji's attention, and he finally rose up from Robin's corpse to see the danger coming up from behind.
I watched as he briefly turned back to Robin, his face completely ashen. He bent and gently kissed her forehead before softly closing her eyes. I was able to watch a few minutes longer, long enough to see the start of his fight before my own foe drew my attention back to him.
His cackle was sharp and nasty, his breath washing over my face in a hot, sour wave. "Awe, is that your boyfriend? Don't worry. Haffey won't kill him. Just play with him a bit. Tenderize the meat if you will." He laughed again, pushing hard against our combined swords until my foot finally slipped, and he was able to push me back an inch. What the fuck does that mean? "Besides, it's not Haffey you need to worry about, but the ghouls."
I started to ask what a ghoul was, but flashes of Robin and Chopper's dead bodies popped around my skull. He continued to press forward, stealing inch by inch as he drove me backward with a strength I wouldn't expect a one-armed man to possess. This close he towered over me, his face was pulled into a cocky sneer. Around us, the sounds of dozens of people groaning and gurgling started. Usopp let out a high-pitched scream from the crow's nest, "Oh m-my g-g-g-god! Th-th-their w-w-aking up!"
I couldn't look away from my opponent. Every time I tried, he let out a feral growl and used that impressive strength to rip my attention back to him. Without realizing it, he had pressed me back all the way to Merry's wooden railing. "Marlowe."
I looked up into his grey eyes, and they were alight with mirth and sinister intent. "What?"
"My name. It's Marlowe. I want you to know it so you know what to scream when I bend you over this railing." He then used all that extra height to bend over our crossed swords and open his mouth. The longest tongue I've ever seen shot out and licked up the side of my face, tasting the blood and sweat that had gathered there.
Shocked, I yanked my head back and thrust up with Yabishiri, catching him off guard. I used that moment of shock to force him back a few feet. He laughed as he put the sword he'd been holding in his mouth and drew another from his hip. Something about him using the same method as me pissed me off. I drew Wado and stood before him with my three swords style on full display. He cackled around his sword and dove at me.
We slashed our way across the deck, the smell of salt and sweat and the tang of iron filling the air. Feet bouncing with each step, the sound of our movements drowned by the chaos around us. Toes barely touching the wood of the deck before we ducked and weaved around each other, the heat of our bodies and the adrenaline in our veins making each movement swift and precise. In our mad dash, I was able to get glimpses around at other fights going on. Nami was using her climatact to electrocute more of those ghouls that had killed our friends. Sanji had been knocked into the galley by Haffey; I could see furniture and other items flying across the open door as they fought hard in such an enclosed space.
Somehow, Luffy and Barone's fight was now happening among Nami's tangerine trees. The fragile fruits were being crushed under the pounding feet, and the trees themselves were now lying on their sides, each broken at different parts of the trunk. My heart ached for Nami when I saw her destroyed trees. A hand gripped my leg and tugged down. I looked and found that the man who had killed himself with my swords was gripping my pants tight and gnawing on the rough material between it and my skin.
Before I could react and cut the fucker myself, a familiar dirty blade severed the rest of the ghoul's head from its shoulders and gave it a firm stab in the eye for good measure. He stood to his full height again and half turned to where our captains were fighting.
"Hey Cap, keep your ghouls off this one." He turned to smile salaciously at me, "This one's mine."
Again, my skin crawled in a way I was unfamiliar with. The way his eye roved over me made me feel dirty. Pushing past it, I threw myself back into the fight. He was obviously toying with me, letting me tire myself out. Every parried slash was met with an elated titter or pleased groan. I felt frustrated and was actually starting to worry about getting beat by this one-armed bastard. My attention was abruptly snatched by a blood-crudling scream from above that quickly got louder before ending abruptly with a horrific crunch.
I couldn't help but look. I know it was dumb and dangerous with an enemy so close, but I had to look. And he let me; I think he wanted to see my face when I saw it. The main mast leading up to the crow's nest was covered in ghouls. They had stacked on top of each other and used their own bodies to form a ladder to reach up to where Usopp had been hiding, where we all thought he'd be safe now that he was out of ammunition.
The body was crushed, bones broken through the skin, and limbs bent in unnatural angles. I couldn't tell whether he had been thrown or if he had fallen over the edge in his own panic, but the result was the same. Usopp was dead.
Nami let out a hearbroken wail. Luffy hollered Usopp's name and tried to throw himself toward where our sharpshooter lay dead. Barone blocked him by summoning a flood of his ghouls to swarm toward them, cutting off every avenue he tried to take to get past him. From the galley door, Sanji dragged himself along the floor. The ghouls didn't touch him; they just flowed around him. His whole body came into view, and I noticed that his left leg was bent in three separate places, broken so severely that the skin I could see near his ankle was black and swollen.
He cried out as a hand latched on to him and yanked him back through the door. I was moving toward the galley, toward the sound of his fear, almost instinctively. I didn't make it very far before a hand gripped the back of my shirt and ripped me backward. I landed hard on my ass, blood splashing up all around me, swords falling away in my daze. The wooden slats of Marlowe's sandal smacked into my chest and forced me backward.
I tried to grab one of my fallen swords, but he kicked it away and stepped hard on my wrist, breaking several carpals and metacarpals. He pointed the tip of one of his swords dead center on my chest and pushed just hard enough to sink it into the skin.
He leaned down from his considerable height, his weight pressing the sword deeper till I felt it hit bone and let out an involuntary scream. He looked furious, the way I'd seen jealous husbands looking in the past when Sanji'd made the mistake of sleeping with their wives.
"I don't like when my playthings pay attention to other men."
I spat blood in his face even as he pressed harder on the blade, "I'm not your anything."
My bloody spittle had dripped down his cheek to his lips. He let that long tongue roll out and lick it off. He laughed right in my face before putting his mouth to my ear. His tongue touched the shell and forced me to shudder, which he must have really liked as he let out another soft laugh.
"Maybe not yet. But after Captain Barone is done with you, you will do whatever I say with a smile, and you'll beg for more. Just think of all the possibilities."
He continued to press forward. The sword sank into the bone; the pain became paralyzing and all-consuming. How could he be this much stronger than me? I've trained for so long! Blood choked me. I fought with everything I had to push him away. I used every ounce of strength I had left, but nothing seemed to work. A frightening lack of feeling had started to radiate from my limbs and I could no longer feel my fingers or toes. Suddenly, the blade sunk deeper, having finally made it all the way through the bone. I felt the tip of it touch what had to be my heart and coughed out a wet, sucking cough.
The clack of heels on wood filled my ears, and I moved my head agonizingly slow to see the tall woman in red approaching us. She let out a put-upon sigh. "Marlowe, you know I wanted to play too, and I don't do the dead."
Marlowe just laughed. "I think Haffey's is still alive. If you stop him now, he'll probably let you have a go before he starts to chow down." His gaze bounced over to where Nami was still fighting off ghouls, though it was clear her energy was starting to flag. "Or you could try something of a softer persuasion this time."
The woman studied Nami for a moment before, and an evil smile stretched across her red glossy lips. "Oh, my dear Marlowe. You have the best ideas." She half turned her head toward Luffy and her captain to holler, "Ray! Don't let them kill her. I want to play!" The second she said that the ghouls fled from Nami in a rush. I watched, my vision starting to black out and go fuzzy, as the woman pulled one of those odd orbs from her waist and hurled it like a grenade at Nami's feet.
Nami stumbled back into Merry's masthead and gripped it with white knuckles as she waited for it to explode. The explosion never came. Instead, a thick purple smoke flowed from it. It shimmered in the moonlight like oil shimmers on the pavement. At first, it hovered in the air above the orb, and then, almost as if it was alive and had caught Nami's scent, I took off towards her and poured down her mouth and up her nose.
She must have tried to scream. I watched her face turn red, but there was no air making it past that smoke. After a moment she just stopped struggling and collapsed to the deck. The smoke slinked away from her and poured itself back into its bottle. For a second I had the horrible feeling I had just wanted another of my family die, but I caught just the slightest rise and fall of her chest, and I knew just a brief moment of peace.
That peace was shattered as the sword sank another centimeter pulling another wet sound from me. Marlowe let out a low whistle of anticipation. "Man, Sheri. I will never get tired of seeing you do that."
Sheri gave him a little bow before standing on tip toes and pressing a wet kiss to Marlowe's mouth, their tongues sliding grotesquly between them. She then slid away and went to pick up her orb. She reattached it to her waist and then bent and picked up Nami's limp body like she weighed nothing and began to make her way toward the gangplank leading to their ship. I tried to force strength to my limbs. I wanted so badly to save her, Sanji, anyone! But that sword sank the last millimeter through my heart muscle, and I felt blood rush into my lungs.
Marlowe bent down and gently kissed my forehead, I could feel the left over lip gloss from Sheir's lips sticking to my skin at the contact. "When he brings you back, I'm gonna enjoy beating and riding this fighting spirit right outta you. For now, though, sleep, and we'll raise ya after we're finished here."
I suddenly thought of what that grunt had said right before he killed himself. The dead shall rise. Panic tried to set I, but I was salready too far gone. My vision had blacked out, and I barely even felt him rip his word from my chest.
Thinking hurt. Breathing would have hurt more if I'd been able to draw a breath. I'd been beaten. I wanted to feel rage. I waited for a last-minute Hail Mary to come about and save us all, but that wasn't going to happen. Robin, Usopp, Chopper. They were already dead. I didn't know what fate awaited the others. I had failed. A single tear slid from my eye down into my hair as my last bit of air wheezed out of me.
An anguished wail spiked through the air. "Zoro! No!"
A sad smile slipped onto my lips. Thank god. Sanji was alive. Maybe this wasn't an entire nightmare after all.
A/N: Sorry, this ended up being another fearscape chapter. I ended up with major writer's block trying to write the main story, and this is what I came up with trying to battle that. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review if your feeling generous. -CL