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Chapter 4: An Ax Hand to Grind
Zoro didn't know how he was still alive.
He hadn't had food or water since he was strung up and Helmeppo's daily beatings didn't help either. His entire body ached with pain, begging for this all to be over. But he couldn't give up now, he wasn't going to die in a place like this. He made a promise and he intended to keep it no matter what. That's when he heard something, it sounded like footsteps and they were getting closer to him. He looked up to see who his latest visitor was, ready to shoo them off like he did with the girl from earlier. But once he saw them his face went from a gruff scowl to one of complete shock and confusion.
"Kuina?!" Standing before him was a young girl with dark blue hair, a pink shirt, dark maroon shorts, and wielding a kendo stick which she had rested on her shoulder.
"Still weak as ever, Zoro." She had a confident smile on her face as Zoro looked at her dumbfounded. This had to be a dream, there's no way she's here, she can't be here. He shook his head and blinked rapidly, trying to snap himself back to reality. Sure enough the girl began to fade away and he was now left alone again with nothing but his thoughts. He let out a heavy sigh as he slumped down with his restraints being the only thing keeping him upright.
"Just nine more days." He told himself quietly. He would endure no matter what. Only about a minute had passed when he heard another set of footsteps but these were louder, like there was more than one person heading his way. Looking up slightly he noticed three shadows standing in front of him, at first he thought it was Helmeppo and his entourage but he noticed each of the shadows were very distinct. One was much shorter than the others, the second had a large blade holstered on his back, and the third one had what looked like a hat on his head. Tilting his head the full way up he saw the three guys from earlier who were on the wall.
" You three sure have lots of free time." He joked.
"I'm going to untie you, so join my crew!" Luffy told him plainly.
"What!?" Zoro replied with confusion.
"I'm looking for people to join my pirate crew and I want you to join me."
The pirate hunter looked at him with disgust. "Forget it, I'm not becoming some common criminal."
That's when William decided to pipe up. "People already see you as some evil demon, mercilessly cutting down your foes."
"I don't care what others think about me, there hasn't been a thing I've done that I regret doing. I'm going to live through this no matter what!" He exclaimed with a cocky grin.
Luffy paused for a second before giving his own smile. "But I already decided that you're going to join!"
"Don't make decisions for me!"
"I heard you fight with swords." The straw hat asked Zoro.
"Yeah but that Captain's idiot son took them from me."
That's when an idea popped into the Strawhat's head. "I know! I'll get the swords from him that way if you want them back you have to join me!" He then let out a laugh at his 'brilliant' idea.
"You're really starting to get on my nerves!" The pirate hunter yelled, trying to lunge at Luffy only for the restraints to pull him back to the pole.
"I bet the blades are in his room, so we need to find that if we want to get them back." William hypothesized while looking up at the massive towers of the marine base. "Luffy, why don't we split up, that way we can cover more ground."
"Great idea! Let's go" The pair then began to sprint towards the base.
"Koby, stay here and try to work on untying Zoro!" William shouted just as they turned a corner and disappeared from view.
Zoro just looked at them speechless, were these two idiots about to storm a navy base just have him on their crew?
…
At the top of said base a large number of marines were trying to raise a massive statue, even with about thirty of them it was hard to pull it up without accidently dropping it. Who was the statue of, who could be so worthy as to have a statue made in their honor? Why the illustrious and great Captain Morgan who was also at the top of the base overseeing its erection. Morgan was a brick wall of a man standing at almost nine feet tall. He also had two notable features, a steel jaw grafted on his face and a large one sided ax replacing his right arm.
"Dad, why aren't you going after that guy who struck me!" Helmeppo yelled at his father who was more focused on the statue than his own son. "Not even you ever laid your hands on me!"
That seemed to catch his attention. "Do you know why I've never hit you?" He asked with his back turned to Helmeppo who was starting to get nervous.
"Well because I'm your belov–" Before he could finish his sentence Morgan turned around and slammed his fist straight into his son's face, sending him into a nearby stone wall.
"Because you're an idiot son who is not worth even hitting!" He bent down and got right into his son's face who was now crying.
"Don't get it twisted, you're not the great one! I AM THE GREAT ONE!" He then stood back up and began to walk back to watch over his statute before stopping for a second.
"That reminds me, I heard that a rat snuck into the courtyard."
"Y-you mean the that little girl, I already took care o–"
"So you killed her." Morgan asked his son, cutting him off completely.
Helmeppo was stunned by what his father insinuated. "What?! No, she was just a kid!"
Morgan turned to one of the men currently not part of the group raising the statue. "You! Go into town, find the girl and kill her!"
"Sir you can't be serious! It's just a kid, she probably didn't even know what she was doing." The marine pleaded with his commanding officer trying to reason with him. But Morgan was not having it.
"Anyone who disobeys my orders are traitors to the World Government, even if they are little brats." He then began to walk slowly to the defiant soldier. "I will ask you one more time, find the girl and kill her, Now!"
But the marine held his ground. "I won't murder a kid, Sir!"
That was all Morgan needed to hear. He raised his ax hand high into the air before bringing the side of it down on the marine, slamming him into the floor.
"Lieutenant!" Some of the marines shouted as they ran towards their fallen comrade and checked his pulse, thankfully he was only unconscious.
"Y-you didn't have to go that far!" Helmeppo gasped as he saw the man's near lifeless body being carried by the others.
"As for the rest of you, listen closely! In this world titles mean everything. That means I, the highest ranking officer of this base, am the most superior person here! So everything I do is right. Do I make myself clear?!"
"Yes sir! Absolutely sir" The marines shouted, scared straight by his display and commanding voice.
"The kid's execution can wait for now." He then pointed at the statue of himself with his axe hand. "For now let's raise my glorious statue, it took many years to complete but now that it is, I want it displayed for all to see!
…
As William ran down the halls of the navy base he couldn't help but ask himself one question, where is everyone? If the situation was different he would devote more time into wondering where the base's inhabitants were but right now he needed to find Helmeppo's room. Thankfully due to the absence of the marines it made it easier to navigate the halls without running the risk of being spotted. He checked every door he passed looking for any indication that it was the one he was looking for but so far he turned up empty handed. Unfortunately because he was too wrapped up in his search for the blade William wasn't paying much attention to anything else.
As he came to the end of the hallway he went to turn a corner he ran into something and ran into it hard. Falling to the floor he looked in front of him, worried he accidentally bumped into a guard. Instead in front of him was an orange haired woman rubbing her head, clearly in pain from the collision. "Hey, what's the big idea!"
"I'm so sorry! Are you ok!?" William's face covered with a shade of deep red as he immediately shot to his feet and approached her with his hand outstretched. When the woman got a look at her assailant she realized who she had just bumped into, it was the guy from the bar who punched out the captain's son. At first she was worried given her first impressions but her fears soon subsided when she noticed the genuinely concerned look on his face, grabbing his hand she pulled herself off the ground.
"Thanks."
William returned her gratitude with a small smile. "Don't mention it."
As he got a better look at the girl he noticed something peculiar, this girl was not a marine. His reasoning had nothing to do with her gender but rather her attire, instead of navy fatigues she had on an orange skirt and a white short sleeve with blue horizontal stripes. His confusion did not go unnoticed by her.
"What?"
"What are you doing in a navy base?"
She looked at him with a confident and cocky smile. "You first?"
"I'm looking for the captain's son's room. Any idea where I can find it?" She was caught off guard by his honesty but then a devious plan popped into her head.
"Yeah I know where it is, but I don't give information out for free." She gave the swordsman a coy smile. "Now usually I charge berries but today I'm feeling generous so I just need some help."
William raised his eyebrow, curious about the proposition. "Help with what?"
"I'm looking for something important, you help me find it and I tell you where the room is." She then put her hand out for a handshake. "What do you say?"
He thought about the offer for a moment before grabbing her hand and giving it a firm shake. "Deal."
She was surprised by how quickly he answered but was none the less happy with his choice, giving him a smile.
"I'm William by the way."
"Nami."
With introductions out of the way, William got down to the brass tacks. "So what is it you're looking for?"
"A map of the Grand Line!"
He was both surprised and confused by the revelation. "What do you want with that?"
"The Grand Line is full of untold riches, I go there and I'll reach a hundred million berries in no time." Her eyes lit up like sparkling diamonds at the thought.
That last part of the sentence stuck out to him. "A hundred million seems too specific of an amount. What do you need it for?"
Nami's expression immediately soured, her smile morphed into a frown and the gleam in her eyes was now replaced by a look of pain as she gripped her left shoulder tightly.
He could tell that whatever her reason was it had a lot of baggage attached to it and decided not to press her about it."Well whatever the reason is I can tell it's important to you so let's not waste anymore time." He then began to think. "If I was in charge of the map I would keep it in a secure location, so my bet is that it's probably in the captain's quarters which is most likely on the top floor."
With a hypothesis formed William started to walk down the hall toward the stairs. Nami just stared at him, bewildered by his willingness to help a complete stranger. Part of her was skeptical of his intentions but she never got any malicious vibes from him, just someone wanting to help so she brushed it off as being paranoid and began to catch up with him.
…
"Where is everybody?" Luffy had been running around the outskirts of base and like William hadn't seen anyone. "I have to find the stupid son if I wanna get Zoro's sword back."
He then heard voices, they were faint but they were definitely close by. He looked around to see where they were coming from, ending up at the very top of the marine base. "I think I hear voices. I'll just check it out."
Luffy throws his arm back and launches it to the top of the base, gripping part of it. "GUM-GUM ROCKET!" His body then followed his arm, sending him flying all the way to the top.
…
As the marines used every bit of their combined strength to raise the massive statue, some were beginning to lose theirs. One marine who was pulling the left arm lost control of the rope for a moment causing the hand to gently brush against the base. The damage to the statue was barely noticeable, only a small chip that if you didn't know it happened you would never know. But the marine nevertheless was paralyzed by fear at what he had just done as he was covered by a large shadow.
"You're the one who bumped it, didn't you?!" Morgan growled, brandishing his axe hand.
"I'm so sorry sir! I got careless!" The man tried to plead with him but it fell on deaf ears.
"I told you to treat that statute as if it were me! Even the slightest scratch is considered treachery!" He then raised his axe hand above his but unlike last time the blade was pointed straight down, ready to cleave the 'traitor'. "Now you must pay!"
Just as he was about to bring his hand down something came flying up from the side of the base, drawing everyone's attention. It took a second for the marines to realize the object was a person but when they did their faces turned into ones of confusion and shock except for Morgan who looked at the mysterious person with an angry scowl.
"Whoops! I overshot!" Luffy had put a bit too much force in his propulsion upwards and was now about to fly over the base instead of landing on top of it. He looked around for anything to stop his momentum until his eyes landed on the statue, reaching his arm out and he managed to grab one of the ropes, bringing him to a halt. However the force of him coming to a stop caused the knot tying it to the statue to become undone The sculpture started to fall backwards now that one of its supports was missing, the marines tried to stop it, nearly doubling their effort but it was a fruitless attempt. When it finally slammed back onto the roof the statue broke in half from the waist up with the upper portion sent falling all the way to the ground, shattering to a million pieces. Everyone excluding Luffy was left speechless with their mouths agape staring at the remaining lower half. Morgan's reaction was even worse, his eyes a solid white with tears rolling down his face.
"Sorry about your statue." Luffy was trying to be genuine but it honestly would have been better if he had just kept his mouth shut. The second Morgan heard his voice his face went from shock to unbridled rage with veins popping out all over face and his eyes turning a bloodshot red.
"SEIZE HIM! I WANT HIS HEAD!"
All the marines around him gave their captain a salute. "Yes sir! Right away sir!"
"Daddy! That's one of the guys who was with that brute that hit me!" Helmeppo shouted, which had the unintended effect of catching Luffy's attention.
"There you are!" Luffy ran over to him, grabbed him by his shirt, and dragged him along as he ran inside. "There's something I want you to give back!"
"After him! Don't let that worm escape!" Morgan ordered his subordinates.
"Sir! There's someone in the courtyard!" One of his subordinates pointed out, looking over the ledge he saw a young boy over with Roronoa Zoro and seemed to be untying the ropes holding him.
"It's just one traitor after another."
…
Koby was struggling, the knots were fastened tight and anything short of cutting the rope proved to be difficult but that did little to stop him from trying.
"You'll be killed for this, you know!" Zoro tried to scare him with the prospect of death but he simply ignored his warning.
"I can't standby and watch the navy act like this, I want to be an honorable marine." Zoro was honestly surprised by the boy's bravery given their first interaction however he couldn't let that distract him as Koby started to get the first knot undone.
"Hey, knock it off!" This time he put more anger in his voice. "I can't escape, Helmeppo promised me…"
"He never intended to keep his promise! He announced to the town that you're going to be executed tomorrow!"
"W-What?!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing, all this time enduring everything just for it to be pointless. He felt angry at Helmeppo for just going back on his word but also at himself for being so easily fooled by him.
"When Luffy and William found out he lied to you, they were furious and William even punched him out!"
"They were?" He was intrigued by that last sentence. He wasn't the friendliest person to either of them and yet they were risking their lives for him, it made him think.
"I'm not asking you to become a pirate but please help them! Koby wanted to trust that they could handle themselves but from what he heard about Morgan, they might need all the help they can get.
…
After a few minutes Nami and William had come across a very peculiar door. Unlike every other door they came across this one was different, instead of just a singular wooden door it was a double door and the wood had beautiful cravings etched into it. Beside them was a little plaque 'Quarters of the Great Captain Morgan'.
"Bingo." William walked to the door and went to open it only to his disappointment to find it locked. He then took a step back, preparing to kick down the door, as he raised his leg Nami immediately got in front of him.
"What are you doing!?"
William was confused. "What? I'm opening the door."
"And alert the whole base?!" Nami then let out a big sigh before kneeling in front of the door and pulling out a lockpick. It didn't take long until she was able to unlock the door and open it. As they walked inside they were greeted by a massive portrait of what they assumed was the captain. The portrait itself was of him standing triumphantly with the sun shining on his face, giving his tan skin an almost heavenly glow. William couldn't help but roll his eyes at it, finding it unfit for a marine to be so full of himself. He then pushed any other feelings he had and began to look around for the map.
His first thought was to check his desk, he looked through all the drawers, finding plenty of documents pertaining to a bunch of things but none of them were the map. He then looked around, trying to put himself in the captain's shoes as to where he would hide an important item. While he was doing that Nami had been checking his bookcase as well as the books themselves, thinking one of them might have a hidden compartment. As he scanned the room he noticed something peculiar, in the corner of the room was a group of barrels. Normally it would be nothing of note but it stood out because of where they were located, why would there be barrels in the captain's quarters of all places? Walking over to them he realized why they were tucked in the corner, embedded into the wall was a small safe with a dial combination. William couldn't help but let out a small smile at this discovery. "There you are."
"Found something!" Hearing William's call, Nami immediately dropped her search and went over to where he was. By now he had moved the barrels out of the way, making the safe more visible and easier to access. Once she saw it she crouched down and looked at it for a bit so she knew what she was dealing with.
"Think you can get it open?" William asked her, lockpicking a door is one thing but cracking a safe is way more difficult.
Nami gave him a confident smirk. "Of course, all I need is some..." She grabbed the handle and dial, using it to pull herself closer but when she did, the safe opened. "...time."Both of them looked at the now opened safe with both surprise and confusion, asking the same question in their head. Why was the safe unlocked? Looking inside Nami found a rolled up piece of paper, her eyes sparked for a moment thinking she had finally found what she wanted but then she unfurled the paper and her expression immediately soured. Instead of a map plastered onto the sheet of paper was a skull and crossbones with a bright red nose and a note written on it.
'I've flashily taken your map! Buggy'
She was almost dumbfounded when she read the note. "B-Buggy!?"
"What!?" Nami was a little startled by William's reaction. He rushed over to her and looked at the note, once he saw it and the symbol he could feel his blood boil and his fists clenched.
She was puzzled by his reaction and familiarity with the pirate. " You know him?"
He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. " Yeah, you could say that." He turned and began to walk towards the door. " But for now let's get out of here before the captain shows up."
Nami nodded in agreement, she closed the safe and put the barrel back before joining him out in the halls.
"Sorry the safe was a bust." William couldn't help but feel bad that she ended up empty handed.
"It's not your fault he beat us to the punch." She reassured him while locking the door behind them, erasing any trace they were in there.
"Hopefully I have better luck finding that sword." He joked.
She looked at him confused. "Sword?"
"Yeah that's why I'm looking for the captain's son's room, he took a sword from that guy in the courtyard and I plan on giving it back to him." Then he remembered something. "Speaking of which, I held up my end of the deal so can you tell me where his room is please?"
Nami's eyes widened as she realized her 'little white lie' from earlier was rearing its ugly head. "U-uh yeah it's ummmm…" She tried to come up with a convincing answer but unfortunately she was too slow.
William quickly caught on to what was going on. "You never knew where the room was, did you?"
She was about to defend herself from the accusation but stopped herself, she knew the jig was up and let out a deep embarrassing sigh.
"AHHHHHH! SOMEONE HELP ME!" Before she could get a word out a scream echoed through the halls, catching the both of them by surprise. They turned their heads,looking in the direction they heard it and waited to see who or what was about to come their way. Sure enough within a matter of seconds a figure came sprinting round the corner, as it got closer William was almost in disbelief by what he saw.
"L-luffy?"
His captain was running towards them, grinning like a goofball while dragging a terrified Helmeppo behind him.
"Hey William! I found the idiot son, come on!" Before he could even say anything Luffy ran towards, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and proceeded to drag him down the hall. All the while Nami stood there baffled by the whole ordeal, she had so many questions but she would have to save them for later. That guy with the strawhat and the 'idiot son' he was towing with him made a lot of noise and someone was bound to come check it out so it's best if she wasn't here when that happened.
…
"Freeze!"
Koby had just gotten the second knot unraveled when a battalion of soldiers appeared with their weapons drawn. Behind them approached Morgan, his massive prosthetic resting on his shoulder as he gave the two an angry scowl.
"This is the end of the line, for your acts of treachery against me you shall both be executed where you stand." Terror swept over the pair's faces, Koby was completely paralyzed by fear while Zoro tried to pull himself free to no avail.
"I can't die now, I still have to keep my promise!"
…
"This must be the room!" It only took a few minutes of running before Luffy finally found Helemppo's room.
"Ok good, now can you please let me go?!" William shouted from below, the captain looked at his crewmate's angry and exhausted face before unceremoniously letting go of shirt causing him to hit the ground with a thud.
"Thanks." He groaned out, he laid there for a moment, waiting for his energy to return before getting up and brushing off the dirt and dust he accumulated.
The strawhat gave him a big goofy smile. "You're welcome!" The bladesman just let out a sigh at his innocence and let it go.
Once he got a better look at the door Luffy had stopped at he saw that his assumption was most likely correct due to the sign on it saying 'My Room'. Once inside any doubts were cast out, the walls were painted eggshell, the curtains were a vibrant pink, and to top it off tucked against one of the walls was a vanity desk with what William assumed to be very high end perfumes and makeup. It was as he looked at the desk he noticed 3 swords leaning against the wall.
"There it is!" They both rushed over to them, ecstatic their mission was almost complete until they realized there was a problem, neither of them knew which one was Zoro.
"Which one do you think is his?" William asked aloud, they both took a good look at the blades, all three of them were katanas and none of them had any markings signifying which one could be his.
"I don't know, let me ask him." Luffy looked down at Helmeppo. "Hey, which one of these swords is Zoro's?" Unfortunately he was also subjected to the same torture as William, however unlike him Helmeppo was not strong enough to endure it and had passed sometime ago. "Oh, he passed out."
His crewmate couldn't help but roll his eyes at the unconscious man, but as he did he happened to glance out a window and he noticed a lot of activity outside. He walked over to get a better look only for his eyes to fill with horror at the sight of his friend's soon to be execution.
He rushed back over to Luffy. "We can figure out which sword is his later, right now Koby and him are in trouble!" Luffy only needed a brief look outside to understand what was happening, he grabbed all three blades and some nearby string, tying them together and to his back. Once they were secured, both of them eyed the window before looking at each other.
William gave him a grin. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
…
Morgan raised his axe hand in the air.
"Ready! Aim!"
All the soldiers readied their rifles, their fingers resting on the trigger. For Zoro and Koby time almost seemed to slow down, each second feeling like a minute as both of them waited for the inevitable.
"Fire!"
Just as they heard the shots fired, a loud crash came from above as William and Luffy landed in front of them. The former took out his Buster Blade and used the broadside of it as a shield while the latter used his body as one. The soldiers looked on in shock as their bullets were either blocked by the massive sword or bounced back thanks to the strawhat's rubber body, many of the men even had to duck for cover or risk getting hurt by their own munitions. Even Morgan was caught off guard by the sudden arrival of the duo.
Koby and Zoro were just as speechless as everyone else. "Wh-Who the hell are you!?" Was all the imprisoned swordsman could say.
Luffy turned towards him with a big smile and a thumbs up. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be King of The Pirates!" He then took the three swords from his back and presented them to Zoro. "Which one of these is yours, me and William couldn't figure out so we brought all three."
"All three are mine, I practice the three sword style."
William couldn't help but mumble to himself. "Where does the third one go?"
Luffy continued, "If we fight together, you'll be one of the bad guys or you could let the Navy kill you!"
The Pirate Hunter then gave him a grin. " I'm not ready to die just yet! Fine, I'll join your crew!"
"Really?! Alright!" To say he was happy by the news would be an understatement,he was practically giddy with excitement.
"What is he?" The marines didn't even know what to think at this point, none of them had ever seen anyone like him before.
"He must have eaten one of those devil fruits." Morgan growled. "If guns don't work then use your swords!" All the soldiers ditched their rifles for sabers and charged at them.
Luffy tried to untie Zoro but like Koby he too was struggling with the knot. "Damn, these knots are tough!"
William thought of using his blade to cut it but given its size he was worried he would accidentally hurt him in the process. So he settled for the next best thing, buying them time.
He took a few steps towards the soldiers before entering a stance, he lifted his blade to the right side of his head with his right hand gripping close to the handguard and his left close to the pommel. As the men drew closer he steeled himself by taking a deep breath before charging forward.
They barely had time to react before he was directly in front of them, with one sweep of his blade he immediately incapacitated 3 men and before they even hit the ground he was moving to his next target. This one however saw him coming and went to block the hit only for his blade to shatter the second it made contact, he could now only look on in horror as the massive blade continued its intended path towards him making a cut across his chest. Before William could move on, two soldiers tried to attack him from behind, their sabers raised over their heads ready to cut him down. Just as they were about to bring them down he brought his blade up and blocked both of them at the same time, the two men put every ounce of strength they had trying to overpower him but weren't even able to make him move an inch. William pushed back, staggering the both of them and allowing him to follow up with a quick slash.
Koby looked on in shock as he continued his assault, at first he was horrified by it, thinking he was ruthlessly slaughtering everyone in his path but on closer inspection he saw the soldiers were not dead, just injured. He then paid more attention to how William fought and noticed every cut he made was just shallow enough to take the men out of action but not kill them.
Zoro was impressed by his skills, every move and blade swing looked as if it was practiced a thousand times. At no point did any of the soldiers come close to landing a hit on him, he seemed almost unstoppable.
As another marine fell to him the bladesman took a second and scanned around him only to find all them either on the ground or hesitating to get near him. He used this time to look back, seeing if Luffy had made any progress but unfortunately he had barely made any.
"Weakings, the lot of you! I guess if you want some dead, you kill them yourself!" Morgan was beyond furious as he stepped forward, he gripped the shoulder of his navy overcoat and threw it to the side. "The rest of you deal with the others, this one is mine!"
"Sir yes sir!" His soldiers nodded before rushing past the swordsman in the mad dash, William tried to stop them but before he could a massive axe blindsided him, barely giving him a chance to block and sending him sliding back a couple of feet.
"Low lives like you should know your place!" The marine growled, putting himself between William and the others. The bladesman could only grit his teeth and hope he bought them enough time.
Koby noticed them and started to panic. "Luffy hurry!"
"There, I untied one of your arms!" The strawhat held up the rope to zoro while giving a big grin.
"Give me my damn swords, moron!" In a move faster than the eye could blink, just as the soldiers brought down their weapons on the trio, Zoro not only freed himself from his remaining restraints but also blocked all of the marines' swords at once. With a sword in each hand and one surprisingly in his mouth he stopped the assault dead in its tracks.
"The first one who moves dies." His words were cold, striking fear into the hearts of the men, who dared not make light of his threat. He then shifted his focus to Luffy.
"A promise is a promise, I'll be a pirate. But hear this! I have a mission to fulfill! I'm going to become the World's Greatest Swordsman! If for any reason you make me abandon my mission then I'm going to make you commit Hara Kiri!"
Luffy just smiled. " World's greatest swordsman, that's great! The King of the Pirates would need no less than that on his crew."
Zoro couldn't help but smirk. "You sure do talk big."
Morgan shifted his focus from William to see his men hesitating. "What are you idiots doing, slaughter them now!" The soldiers didn't know which fate was worse, losing their lives to the pirate hunter or their captain.
"Zoro, Duck!" Luffy yelled, rearing his leg up. "GUM-GUM WHIP!" He extended his leg and made a big sweeping kick, hitting all of the marines at once with Zoro dodging the attack at the last possible second.
To say Morgan was surprised would be understatement, his iron jaw nearly hit the floor by the inhuman display while his men came rolling back to him.
"Nice one Luffy!" William commended while giving him a thumbs up, much to the marine captain's ire.
"Captain, we don't stand a chance against them!" One of the soldiers shouted up to their leader.
Another chimed in. "We can't even handle Zoro by himself!" They all looked at Morgan for guidance, advice, anything to help them but he gave them none.
"Everyone who just sprouted weakness just now must shoot themselves in the head! I have no use for weaklings!" The men looked at him with shock and fear at the order before some grabbed their rifles and began to raise them to their heads, their hands shaking uncontrollably the entire time.
Koby, Zoro, and Luffy were just as surprised as the marines. "These guys are mental!" The swordsman growled. Luffy was about to run over and punch him until…
"And you call yourself a marine!" A voice shouted behind Morgan,his eyes nearly going bloodshot red hearing those words. He whipped his head around to see who had insulted him, finding William standing defiant.
"What do you say!"
The bladesman reiterated "You heard me! You're no marine, just a thug dressed as one!"
This only served to make him even more angry. " And you're just pirate scum, what could you know about being a marine!"
William's anger turned into a confident smirk. "More than you could ever know!" He charged at the marine captain and swung his blade at him which he blocked but the force of the attack sent him sliding back. "Being a marine is about Honor!" He didn't give him a chance to recover, following up with another strike which was also blocked but was much more sloppy than the last. "Courage!" Morgan tried to go on the offense, raising his axe hand in the air and bringing it down with all his might only for William to redirect the attack, sending it to the ground and splitting it open. He continued his assault this time landing an uppercut on his iron jaw, staggering him. "Dignity!" His punch left Morgan wide open, he readied his blade and swung across his chest, leaving a nasty cut in its wake. "Protecting the innocent!" The force of the swing proved too much for Morgan to keep his balance as his back came crashing to the ground. He tried to get up but didn't even get to lift his head before coming face to face with William's sword. "And to be a defender of Justice!"
The marines were left dumbstruck by the display. "H-he beat the Captain like it was nothing!"
"Stop!" a voice shouted from behind Zoro and Luffy, while everyone was distracted with the fight Helmeppo had made it to the courtyard and taken a hostage, he stood next to Koby with a pistol aimed at his head. " One wrong move and four eyes gets it!"
Koby at first was scared out of his mind but he looked over at Luffy who stood there and gave him a smile. He then steeled himself. " William, Luffy don't let them win because of me, let him kill me!"
The bladesman gave him a small smile before shifting his eyes over to Luffy and gave him a nod with the strawhat returning the gesture.
" Hey idiot son! You should just give up, Koby really is ready to die." Luffy walked toward Helmeppo with one hand on his shoulder and the other in the air, ready to throw a punch while having a smile on his face.
"What are you dense! I'll do it, I'll shoot him!" But he didn't listen to Helmeppo's threat and continued his advance until stopping about thirty feet. He then began to wind up a punch. "Gum-Gum!"
"William, behind you!" Koby shouted, he turned his head to see that Morgan had not only got back up but was directly behind him with his axe hand raised high into the air.
"I am Navy Captain 'Axe Hand' Morgan and I will not lose!" William however didn't even make an attempt to block the incoming strike, instead just watching him.
"Daddy quick, kill him now!" His son screamed frantically.
"Pistol!" Luffy's arm extended and before Helmeppo could pull the trigger he punched him square in the jaw.
Morgan didn't fare any better. Just as his hand was about to come down, he felt a slice hit his back, his eyes rolled up and his entire body gave out as he fell to the ground once more.
Luffy didn't even see him go down but knew was responsible. "Nice one… Zoro!"
Behind the fallen marine stood Zoro with all of his swords drawn, he turned to him and smirked. "Don't sweat it… Captain!"
All of the remaining marines couldn't believe what they were seeing. " The Captain lost!"
Zoro gave them all a side glare. "Any of you still feel like taking us on?!"
The men looked at each other for a moment before all of them bursted in celebration, throwing their weapons and hats in the air.
"It's finally over!"
"We're free!"
"Hooray!"
Luffy looked at them confused. "They're happy we beat their captain."
William walked over to him. " They only followed his orders out of fear, not respect. That's why they're happy."
The celebrations were cut short by Zoro collapsing to the ground.
"Zoro!" The three of them cried out, rushing over to him. William turned him over and checked his pulse and breathed a sigh of relief once he found it.
"He's just exhausted." He grabbed one of his arms and put it around his shoulder. "Let's get him to the bar."
The other two nodded in agreement and made their way out of the courtyard but not before William turned around and looked at the partying soldiers and smiled.
Finally after almost 6 months and nearly seven thousand words later Chapter 4 is done! First off I would like to announce that this story is now on AO3 so if you're more comfortable there then you can read over there. Secondly I want to say sorry for taking so long to finish this. A lot happened between the release of chapter 3 and now so unfortunately it slowed down progress. I also wanted to say thank you for 14 followers, 14 favorites, and one thousand views on just the first 3 chapters, there are no words that could describe how grateful I am. Thank you all so much! Lastly a commenter brought up the fact that I have yet to actually describe what William looks like so it's time to fix that. Next 'Chapter' will be a bio for him. Like the previous chapters if you have any comments or questions feel free to leave them and hope you all have a wonderful day!