One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Misrepresented and Misunderstood ❯ How Cruel ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Recap: The Straw-Hat Pirates docked on an island, but the marines were close behind them, and as Smoker chased after Luffy, Zoro and Tashigi began a battle of their own.
 
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Chapter 5 - How Cruel
 
“Nami…”
 
Nami pointed her nose to the sky and walked off, Zoro's swords clinking together in her arms.
 
“Nami?” Zoro said again, watching her worriedly as she appeared to carry out her earlier threat. “Nami!”
 
“I told you Zoro, I paid for them, so they're mine,” Nami plainly told him as he scurried after her.
 
“Nami, you do realise there are marines on this island?” Zoro asked her, fidgeting nervously as he watched his swords bounce about as she walked.
 
“I don't care Zoro,” Nami snootily replied. “The amount of money you owe me now is ridiculous! Start paying it back, or I keep the swords!”
 
“You'll change your mind when the marines attack us!” Zoro growled at her moodily.
 
“I will not. You want these swords you've got to pay for them. What would you have done if I hadn't shown up? You wouldn't have gotten your swords back from that blacksmith, that's for sure!”
 
Zoro pulled an exasperated face at Nami's back, but she walked on, ignoring his tantrums.
 
“Women!” he grumbled, marching after her.
 
Robin drew up alongside him, eying him over with an amused smirk, before quickening her pace and passing Nami. Zoro once more made a silent wish never to have to see the marine girl who looked like Kuina, an idea finally striking him.
 
“Don't want to get left behind, Nami!” he said, forcing a grin as he jogged ahead of her. “That guy Smokey's here!”
 
“Smokey?” Nami repeated, hoisting Zoro's swords up higher and attempting to move faster. “Damn these things are heavy!”
 
“Then let me carry them for you!” Zoro offered.
 
“No way!” Nami snapped.
 
“Over here gorgeous, I'll carry those for you!” Sanji offered, sidling up to Nami.
 
“Thanks Sanji!” Nami said sweetly, handing Zoro's swords to the chef.
 
“Damn it!” Zoro cursed, growling at Nami as she skipped past him. “Gimme back my swords, love rat!” he snapped at Sanji.
 
“Beg me for them, Marimo,” Sanji replied, grinning at him.
 
“Damn it!”
 
Zoro contemplated just grabbing his swords from Sanji, or at least punching the chef in the head and taking them back by force; but the sound of urgent voices shouting behind them warned him that they had been spotted.
 
“Move it shit-head, the marines are onto us!” he warned Sanji, before breaking into a run.
 
Sanji balanced the swords over one shoulder and ran after him, both men shortly reaching the Going Merry.
 
“Hurry up and get on board!” Nami yelled down to them.
 
Zoro began to scale the rope ladder at the side of their faithful ship, yelping as he saw his swords fly past him and land with a clatter on the deck.
 
“Hey!” he yelled, looking down between his legs as Sanji began to climb up behind him. “I ought to kick you in the head for that!”
 
“Bring it on,” Sanji replied, smiling at him.
 
“Bastard!” Zoro grumbled, again silently reminding himself that they had no time for fighting amongst themselves.
 
Leaping onto the deck and dashing to raise the anchor, Zoro tried to keep an eye on his swords, hoping to reclaim them once they had set sail.
 
“Hey, check it out, that pretty lady is following us again!” Sanji called out.
 
Zoro turned his head to see Sanji holding a set of Usopp's binoculars, looking back towards the shore.
 
“Why aren't you helping us here?” Zoro yelled at him angrily.
 
“What pretty lady?” Usopp asked, focussing his goggles as he followed Sanji's line of sight.
 
“That pretty marine lady, the one that bastard Zoro was upsetting back in Loguetown!” Sanji replied.
 
“Oh, you mean Smokey's girlfriend?” Luffy asked, fixing the sails into place.
 
“She's not Smokey's girlfriend!” Zoro snapped.
 
“She's not?” Luffy asked, scratching his head curiously.
 
“Who the hell cares, the marines are back at their ship, and they have a lot more fire-power than us, we have to get the hell out of here, and now!” Nami yelled at them all. “Less talk, more action!”
 
“Who died and made you captain?” Zoro snapped at her.
 
“No-one, but there's a storm approaching, we don't have time to waste!” Nami snapped back. “If we don't get out of here now, we never will!”
 
“There's no storm,” Zoro grumbled.
 
“There must be Zoro, Nami's never wrong!” Luffy corrected him.
 
Zoro contained the urge to tell Luffy exactly what he thought of Nami right then, securing the anchor and gladly turning to collect his swords.
 
“Oi, no way!” Nami yelled at him, spotting him before he reached his target. “Sanji, stop him!”
 
“She sure is pretty, Zoro!” Sanji said with a sigh, his eyes still pressed to the binoculars.
 
With a grin of delight that Sanji's womanising had finally proved advantageous, Zoro grabbed up his swords, laughing at Nami as he replaced them to their rightful place at his hip.
 
“What did you do to that nice lady, Zoro?” Sanji asked, turning his head a little to look at Zoro.
 
Zoro baulked as he saw the angle Sanji was holding the binoculars at, following the line they pointed in, crying out as he saw the fully loaded marine ship leaving the bay.
 
“They're following us, should we open fire?” he asked anyone who cared to listen.
 
“No,” Nami called back. “They're too far behind us, we're faster than they are. Once we get away from the island, we'll start to lose them again.”
 
“She's such a pretty girl, Marimo!” Sanji said again.
 
“Shut-up you moron!” Zoro snapped, snatching the binoculars from Sanji.
 
Sanji quirked an amused eyebrow at Zoro, eying him over slowly.
 
“I see. It's like that huh?” he said quietly.
 
Zoro pulled a face at Sanji, pretending to be ignorant of his true meaning. Zoro could tolerate and ignore Sanji speaking about any other woman in such a way, but not Kuina.
 
`She's not Kuina,' Zoro told himself silently. `She just looks really, really like her.'
 
“Let's just get the hell out of here,” Zoro growled, thrusting the binoculars into Sanji's gut.
 
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Tashigi stood quiet and still on the deck of the ship as her fellow officers ran about her, loading the canons and adjusting the sails as they tried to catch up with the much smaller and much quicker little ship the Straw-Hat Pirates sailed on. She was aware that Smoker was pacing about her, but she kept her eyes fixed on the ship ahead of them.
 
“Sir, a call from Captain Hina for you,” a marine announced, saluting Captain Smoker as he spoke.
 
“Tell her now really isn't a good time,” Smoker growled back.
 
“But Sir, she says it's very important,” the marine added.
 
“I don't care what she says, I'm not about to let Straw-Hat get away from us!” Smoker barked.
 
“Maybe you should just take the call,” Tashigi said suddenly, the words leaving her mouth before she even realised she had been thinking as much.
 
She hurriedly met Smoker's eyes, feeling as shocked as he looked by her outburst.
 
“Sir,” she added slowly. “It might be important, Sir.”
 
“I don't have anything more to say to her right now,” Smoker grumbled.
 
But, to Tashigi's relief, he started off after the officer who had reported the call.
 
“Keep an eye on Straw-Hat for me Tashigi, don't let him get away,” Smoker called back to her.
 
Tashigi jumped with a start, shocked to hear that her captain still trusted her with any authority after her recent series of disastrous mishaps. Feeling a boost of confidence from her captain's decision, Tashigi squared her shoulders, walking across the deck to the bow of the ship.
 
“Sergeant Major, we've got them in our sights!” one of the marines greeted her, offering her a pair of binoculars.
 
Pushing her glasses up her forehead into her hair, Tashigi took the binoculars, aiming them at the obnoxiously bright ship the Straw-Hat Pirates sailed on. She gasped, yanking the binoculars from her eyes again a second later when she saw a blonde-haired man looking back at her through his own set of binoculars, waving a hand above his head.
 
“Permission to open fire, Sergeant Major?” the marine asked, saluting Tashigi respectfully.
 
“Permission granted, officer,” Tashigi replied, handing him back his binoculars.
 
Tashigi turned her back on the pirate ship as she felt the rumble of the canons beneath her feet firing off. She had actually been looking for any signs of that idiot swordsman Roronoa Zoro; but, she told herself, she did not need to see him to know that he would be onboard the ship with the rest of his crew. Feeling the strange drop in the temperature around them, Tashigi began instinctively heading towards her own quarters, intending to collect her coat and gloves.
 
Leaving her glasses perched at the peak of her forehead as she often did, Tashigi absent-mindedly walked through the bowels of the ship, the rumble of the canons occasionally causing her to stagger a little. Unfortunately, without her glasses, each part of the ship looked pretty much like the last, and Tashigi found herself becoming a little disoriented. She knew she was generally in the right part of the ship, and, upon seeing a door she recognised she pushed it open, stepping into the room.
 
Tashigi allowed the door to bang shut behind her, inhaling deeply, her senses instantly invaded by the smell of leather, sweat and cigar smoke: this, she thought quietly, was Captain Smoker's room. Tashigi turned on her heel to leave, silently wondering how many times she had done this in the past. Usually it happened during the night, when she had left her room for some reason or another and forgotten to put on her glasses, stumbling back and inevitably barging into Smoker's room as he slept. Usually he woke up to correct her actions as politely as he could under the circumstances, but occasionally she had managed to slip out unnoticed. Opening the door again, Tashigi hesitated in the doorway, the sound of something clattering against the door drawing her eyes downwards.
 
Tashigi slowly moved her glasses back to their rightful place atop the bridge of her nose, steadying the sign hanging on the outside of Smoker's door.
 
“Do not disturb,” she read aloud.
 
Tashigi glanced up and down the corridor, deciding that since everyone else was preoccupied with the ongoing pursuit of the Straw-Hat Pirates, she had a few minutes to spare having a quick look around her captain's room. Closing the door carefully, Tashigi was fully aware that what she was doing was very, very wrong: but she had worked with Smoker for so long, and she knew so little about him, all she really wanted was to find something, something small, something that told her just what sort of man he really was.
 
Hurrying over to Smoker's desk, Tashigi began searching it, finding only copies of wanted posters, a few newspapers and a box of cigars. As the canons continued to bang, Tashigi increasingly felt wrong about what she was doing - but still she could not stop herself. Moving over to his bed she hurriedly slid her hands under the sheets and pillows, clawing around for a letter, a photograph, just something.
 
Sighing in resignation and ready to give up, Tashigi rose to her feet, scratching the back of her neck as she tried to think of somewhere Captain Smoker might hide something that spoke of who he was. As another round of canon-fire rocked the ship, Tashigi saw something glitter from the corner of her eye, turning her head to see something dangling over the top corner-post of Smoker's bed. Smiling slyly to herself, Tashigi grabbed up the gold chain that hung there, watching the locket at the bottom spin for a moment before steadying it between her fingers.
 
Tashigi paused, surprised to find something as sentimental as a locket in Captain Smoker's room; she had certainly never seen him wearing it around his neck. Her curiosity peaked to the point that she thought she might die if she did not open the locket up, Tashigi shrugged her shoulders, clicking open the catch. The locket fell open across her palm, the face inside looking back up at her causing her eyes to widen.
 
“Tashigi, what the hell are you doing in here?”
 
“Captain Smoker Sir!” Tashigi yelped, dropping the locket in her panic.
 
Too frightened to turn around, Tashigi could hear by the deep, hurried and ragged breaths Smoker was taking that he was seriously unhappy.
 
`I've really done it this time!' she thought, cringing in anticipation of the worst.
 
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“How cruel. Hina's very upset with you.”
 
Smoker sighed, rolling his eyes at the radio.
 
“What part of “I'm in the middle of a fight with Straw-Hat Luffy” didn't you understand?” he growled into the mouthpiece.
 
“Hina doesn't like it when you speak to her like that,” Hina purred back at him.
 
“I really don't have time for this right now, we'll talk later,” Smoker said, standing abruptly, the continuing sound of canon-fire putting him on edge.
 
“Hina wants to talk now, Mister Smoker.”
 
Smoker scowled at the radio, silently wondering if the woman knew her timing was always perfectly awful.
 
“Later, Hina,” he said with finality, roughly replacing the mouthpiece and rising to his feet.
 
“Sir,” an officer said politely, opening the door for him.
 
Smoker nodded his head in acknowledgement, marching out of the room and back through the bowels of the ship. He had hoped that Hina had been calling to tell him something sensible, like perhaps that she and her crew were headed in his direction, and they could help him block the Straw-Hat Pirates' escape route - but apparently she was just hell-bent on tormenting him. Feeling as angered as always after a conversation with Hina - particularly one so pointless and so ill-timed - Smoker was heading back with the hope that his crew had somehow managed to slow the Straw-Hat Pirates down sufficiently for him to get his hands on at least one of them.
 
On his way back, Smoker passed his own quarters, slowing as he heard a movement in the direction of his room. He stopped a short distance beyond the door, unsure if the sound had been nothing more than an echo. He took a few steps back, thinning his eyes as he sighted the door to his quarters, the sight of the partially open door snapping what little was left of his patience. Someone was in his room?
 
Smoker marched up to the door, kicking it open, almost choking on his own shock at what he saw: Tashigi was standing by his bed, a familiar-looking locket dangling from her fingers. His stomach twisting as he realised what she held and the significance it had, Smoker gave the only response he felt suitable.
 
“Tashigi, what the hell are you doing in here?” he yelled at her, almost relieved when she dropped the locket at the sound of his voice.
 
“Captain Smoker Sir!” she replied, her voice tight, her fear barely contained.
 
Smoker growled, gripping at the door as he struggled for the words to say next.
 
“I was just…” Tashigi began, spinning around to face him. “Looking for a coat, Sir…”
 
Smoker decided to capitalise on her floundering, scowling at her response.
 
“A coat?” he repeated.
 
“It's getting colder out there, Sir,” she said, slowly walking towards him. “I-I forgot my glasses, I entered the wrong room again-”
 
“You're wearing your glasses, Tashigi,” Smoker pointed out, wondering if she thought he was stupid that such an excuse might work with him.
 
Tashigi opened her mouth as though to speak, but closed it again. Smoker thinned his eyes at her, slowly folding his arms across his chest and leaning into the doorway, blocking her exit. He had never expected her to invade his privacy, and genuinely wanted to hear her reasoning for her actions.
 
“Captain Smoker Sir!” a voice called to him from the hallway.
 
“Just a minute!” Smoker yelled back.
 
“But Sir, the Straw-Hat Pirates are trying to board our ship!”
 
“What?” Smoker growled, barely able to believe what he was hearing. “What the hell are they thinking?”
 
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“This is getting ridiculous!” Nami wailed, grabbing at the railings as the Going Merry was tossed about in the sea, the combination of the cannonballs dropping into the water around them and the mounting crosswinds of the rapidly approaching storm making it almost impossible for them to make any headway.
 
“We're taking in so much water, we're in serious trouble!” Usopp warned.
 
“The marines are gaining on us, what gives?” Sanji asked Nami.
 
“The only direction we're moving right now is down!” Nami replied.
 
“We have to stop them, if they catch us, they'll take the ship!” Zoro warned, running towards the stern of the ship.
 
“What are you doing, Marimo?” Sanji yelled after him.
 
“I'm going to stop them from catching up to us!” Zoro yelled back.
 
“You're boarding their ship?” Sanji echoed in disbelief.
 
“Hey, wait for me you guys!” Luffy called, grabbing his arms out to either side of the ship and running backwards, stretching his arms out.
 
“Oh shit…” Sanji muttered, his eyes widening.
 
Zoro had a feeling he knew what was coming, and he had been relying on it to bridge the distance between the Going Merry and the marine ship. He still always felt being flung through the air by a human catapult was seriously undignified and carried a high risk of injury, but he was not about to let the marines take their ship, and so he did little more than tense himself as Luffy and Sanji smacked into him, sending him flying off the deck and across the water.
 
“Does he ever aim this thing?” Sanji yelled to him.
 
“Probably not!” Zoro replied, before all three smacked into the front sail of the marine ship.
 
Deciding not to waste any time, Zoro swiped out a sword, stabbing it into the sail and allowing it to tear the sail in half as he slid to the ground.
 
“So what's your plan, Zoro?” Sanji asked him as he landed.
 
“Throw them overboard,” Zoro replied. “We don't need to draw any more attention to ourselves by getting into any complicated fights, just stop them from following us.”
 
“Sure thing!” Luffy said cheerfully, thrusting forwards with his bazooka attack, sending five marines flying out to sea.
 
“And make sure you throw Smokey in the water,” Zoro added.
 
“But why Zoro?” Luffy asked. “He can't swim.”
 
“That's exactly why, you idiot!” Zoro snapped impatiently, swinging his sword around against a gun aimed at the back of his head.
 
“If we take Smokey out, these marines will have to stop,” Sanji pointed out. “Just don't hurt that beautiful lady, Zoro!”
 
Zoro growled, resisting the temptation to run one of his blades through Sanji. It was still just a little too surreal for Zoro to have to listen Sanji talk about Kuina that way; and, just to make his agonies all the worse, the girl in question had just appeared in his sights, still wearing that skimpy little vest despite the fact that it was starting to rain, her hands clutched around her sword, and she appeared to be heading straight for him.
 
“Leave him to me!” she yelled at the other marines.
 
Zoro watched bemusedly as the others obediently backed off: either this girl had some degree of authority, or she really was Smokey's girl, and defying her was as good as defying Smokey himself.
 
“And this time, you can't run away from me, Roronoa Zoro!” she warned, stepping up to face Zoro.
 
At the sound of his captain screaming, Zoro took a quick glance around himself, the idea that attacking the marine ship had perhaps been the wrong thing to do slowly dawning upon him. Luffy was in Smokey's clutches, Sanji was surrounded by marines and dangerously close to the railings of the ship, and it looked as though the rest of their crew had managed to get things under control back on the Going Merry, as the ship was slowly moving away from them.
 
“Damn it,” Zoro cursed, catching the marine girl's sword against his own as she took a shot at him.
 
Zoro went through the motions of fending her off, watching her curiously as her eyes dropped continually to something at his side. Zoro eventually realised that she had her eye on his Wado Ichimonji - apparently the girl had a one-track mind. Grinning at the prospect of finding a way to get rid of her, Zoro held her back with one hand, drawing the famous sword with his free hand. She lifted her eyes to his, and he smirked at her, a little startled to see her do the same in return. Zoro was so shocked by what she did next he could not react quickly enough to stop her. She reached forwards and grabbed his remaining sword, pulling it from its sheath and wielding it as her own.
 
“You idiot!” he eventually managed to say. “Do you know what that is?”
 
“This?” she asked, raising the sword a little higher. “This is the Kitetsu, the sword I helped you buy!”
 
“You didn't help me buy it, I chose it, I overcame the curse, and the old man gave me it for free!” Zoro snapped back. “You're not strong enough to carry a sword like that, give it back!”
 
“Ha! I knew it!” she declared, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. “You don't think I'm strong enough to be a swordsman because I'm a woman!”
 
“I never said that!” Zoro yelled back. “I just said you shouldn't mess with my Kitetsu! It's cursed, remember?”
 
“It hasn't brought you any bad luck,” the girl smartly replied.
 
“Well it's about bring you some!” Zoro growled, raising his two remaining swords.
 
He slowly eyed the girl over, her stance as she carried a sword in each hand registering a place in his mind.
 
“Do you even know how to use two swords?” he asked her quietly.
 
“I'll learn!” she stubbornly replied.
 
Zoro cast her a withering look, but the girl had lost none of her determination, still wearing that ever-ready and ambitious look he remembered only too well in Kuina. Zoro decided that the only way she would learn to stop was if he beat her again.
 
“You want me to fight you seriously?” he asked her. “Fine then!”
 
She yelped as all four swords clashed together, and Zoro realised then that she was even more out of her depth than he had suspected her to be. Of course, he thought dryly, he had to stop thinking of this woman as Kuina. Unlike Kuina, this woman was easily defeated. As Zoro continued to attack her, he found she was able to do little more then defend herself, backing away from him with every blow. She faltered as her back hit the railings of the ship, and Zoro quickly capitalised on the moment, swinging his arms outwards, knocking both swords from each of her hands.
 
As the two swords clattered along the surface of the deck, Zoro saw the girl finally show her fear, a look she had only allowed around him once before - when he had defeated her after their first confrontation in Loguetown. Zoro still could not hurt her, but he did arrive at what he thought was a clever idea to keep her away from him at least until he had returned to his own ship and made his escape. Zoro slowly brought the Wado Ichimonji around, hooking the tip of the blade under one of the legs of her glasses. He saw her freeze at his actions, her body becoming so rigid and motionless she almost looked like a statue. Zoro flicked the blade back towards himself, tearing her glasses from her face, pulling her hair over her eyes with his actions.
 
“This ought to slow you down,” he said, lifting her glasses from his sword and crushing them in his fist.
 
“How cruel!” she gasped, as she watched his actions helplessly. “How could you do that to me?”
 
Zoro threw the crushed remains of her glasses over his shoulder, returning his swords to his sides and starting in the direction of his Kitetsu.
 
“Sanji!” he heard Luffy calling.
 
Zoro turned to see Luffy floating high above the deck, his body wrapped in grey smoke, but his eyes looking not at his attacker, but rather down over the side of the ship.
 
“Zoro!” he called out. “Sanji fell overboard!”
 
“What?” Zoro echoed, hurriedly retrieving his sword. “Useless cook, can't take him anywhere…” he grumbled, marching over to the side of the ship Luffy appeared to be looking.
 
Zoro leaned over the railings, looking about for any traces of the chef's blonde hair against the dark waters. The storm was starting to become a problem, the rain beating down on them, the sky darkening and the wind picking up momentum. Zoro was a strong swimmer, but even he had his doubts about jumping into the water in such conditions. The fact that he could not see Sanji anywhere at the surface brought forth the idea that perhaps Sanji had sunk or was stuck under the ship.
 
“Great…” Zoro growled, grinding his teeth impatiently.
 
“Hey Smokey, over here!” he heard Sanji yell.
 
Spinning around, Zoro watched with wide eyes as a drenched Sanji appeared at the marine captain's side, a large bucket in his hands. The captain turned to Sanji but Sanji had already flung the contents of the bucket forwards. Zoro winced as a wall of seawater and a small collection of seaweed slapped into the captain, who could do not little more than close his eyes against the assault. Sanji turned to Zoro, grinning and giving him a thumbs-up.
 
Zoro sighed, wondering when Sanji was going to realise that his actions, whilst clever, would not be enough to stop a man like Smokey. But, to Zoro's surprise, the smoke clouds around Luffy began to thin, and their captain came crashing back to the deck. Zoro turned back to Smokey, watching him slowly pull the seaweed from his hair, the telltale signs of exhaustion tugging at his features as he tried to rid himself of as much of the seaweed as possible.
 
“Quick, push him overboard!” Zoro yelled to Sanji.
 
“No, he'll drown!” Luffy protested. “He can't swim, remember? He'll sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown!”
 
“Exactly!” Zoro and Sanji said in unison.
 
“No!” Luffy insisted. “Come on, let's get back to our ship before it gets too far away!”
 
“Right,” Sanji agreed.
 
Luffy began stretching himself back to catapult the three of them back to the Going Merry. Sanji and Zoro reluctantly stepped into his line of fire, bracing themselves for disaster. As Luffy launched himself, Zoro felt something at his feet, looking down with alarm to see smoke gathering around one of his ankles.
 
“Damn it!” he yelled as his foot was pulled out from under him.
 
Zoro fell hard, landing face-first on the deck. He looked up in time to see Luffy and Sanji fly over his head, the sound of them calling his name fading as they flew back across the water. Zoro watched them go before rounding on Smokey, finding him standing with one hand on the railings, a large string of seaweed draped across his chest. He was breathing heavily and in a prone position, and Zoro knew he would probably never catch the marine captain at such a weak point again, and so decided that he had to take advantage of the situation. Scrambling to his feet, Zoro charged at the captain, intending to gore him, sending them both off the edge. Once they were in the water, Zoro would easily make his escape by swimming back towards the Going Merry, whilst Smokey would just sink, in the same way he had done right before Luffy had insisted that Zoro rescue the old man back in Arabasta.
 
Zoro aimed his shoulder at the captain, shocked when the captain came back at him with a sharp kick to the chest, sending him staggering back. As Zoro regained his balance he saw the captain lunge at him, unable to avoid the punch the captain landed on his jaw.
 
“Ow!” Zoro groaned, rubbing at his jaw.
 
`Damn, he didn't even use his Devil Fruit powers to do that!' Zoro thought desperately.
 
“Still got some fight in you, huh?” Zoro came back, forcing a smile as he tried to keep his confidence.
 
“The rest of your crew might have gotten away, but you won't,” the captain growled back, grabbing a large hand around Zoro's throat and slamming him against the railings.
 
Zoro grabbed at the captain's hand, bending backwards over the railings as the captain began to lean his weight on his hold. With the rain and spilled seawater, the deck was slippery beneath Zoro's feet, and as he began to lose his footing, he found the balance of his own bodyweight being tipped over the wrong side of the railings.
 
“No!” a voice cried out.
 
Zoro watched in amazement as Smokey stopped, his expression changing.
 
“No, please don't do it!”
 
Smokey leaned back a little, the lessening in pressure allowing Zoro to plant his feet back on the deck and straighten a little, peering over the captain's forearm to see the marine girl on her knees in the middle of the deck, her hands clasped together. Her face was wet, and Zoro could not be sure from the angle he was watching her from if it was because of the rain or if she was crying.
 
“Please don't throw him over, please!” she wailed.
 
“What?” Zoro grunted in disbelief.
 
Smokey growled, rounding on Zoro and tugging him upwards to stand in front of him.
 
“What did you do to her, pirate?” he growled, thinning his eyes at Zoro.
 
“Nothing!” Zoro argued back.
 
“Please, I'll do anything you ask, just please don't throw him over!” the girl pleaded. “Please, I'll leave the marines, anything, just don't do it! Throw me over instead if you must!”
 
Smokey's eyes grew suddenly huge as he glowered at Zoro, and Zoro could have sworn that he heard a vein pop somewhere in the man's face. Zoro shrugged his shoulders helplessly, hoping that the marine would get the message that he was just as confused about why the girl sought to save his life.
 
“She knows I could never refuse her anything,” he said softly, opening his fist and releasing Zoro.
 
Zoro rubbed at his neck with a sigh of relief, eying the captain warily as the girl pressed her face to the deck and began profusely confessing her gratitude. Smokey sighed, rubbing at his temples, his eyes falling to the large strand of seaweed still plastered against his chest. Zoro cleared his throat, feeling suddenly very awkward, and wondering if he ought to just jump overboard anyway and take his chances in the water.
 
“Zoro!”
 
Zoro broke into a huge grin at the sound of his captain's voice, never having felt so relieved to see the rubber idiot flying through the air towards him. Luffy, as was often the case when he threw himself great distances, missed his intended mark of the sails, colliding with the main mast of the ship, creating several cracks in it.
 
“Uh… Oh…” Luffy muttered as he slid to the ground, watching the mast bend and sway in the mounting winds.
 
“Quick Luffy, if that mast falls, the whole ship will break in two!” Zoro yelled, rushing over to his captain.
 
“Right!” Luffy said, stretching his arms out to the bow of the ship to create another catapult.
 
Zoro stepped in front of him, tensing himself in preparation of what was to come next.
 
“You're alright!” the marine girl said, standing up next to him.
 
Zoro yelped as the stupid girl flung her arms around him, her grip becoming much tighter and her screams shattering into his ear as Luffy collided with them both, sending all three of them flying off the deck of the marine ship. Zoro heard Smokey yelling something after them, but his voice dissolved in the wind, and seconds later they had hit the sail of the Going Merry, and were sliding down to the deck.
 
Zoro froze where he landed, finding himself laying flat on his back, his captain at his side and the marine girl draped across his chest.
 
“Wow Zoro, did you find me a musician?” Luffy asked, sitting up.
 
The girl pushed herself up at the sound of Luffy's voice, squinting at him, leaning towards him. Zoro tried to crawl out from under her, but his actions drew her attention to him. She beamed down at him, touching her hands to his face, causing him to jerk back in surprise, banging his head hard against the wooden deck of the ship.
 
“You're alright!” she said softly. “I was so worried about you! I thought that scoundrel was going to throw you overboard and you would drown! I would have jumped in after you, Sir!”
 
Zoro frowned at her, suddenly regretting having crushed her glasses.
 
“Wow Zoro, she really likes you, huh?” Luffy said, grinning cheerfully.
 
“Straw-Hat?” the girl said curiously, leaning towards Luffy again and squinting at him.
 
“My name's Luffy!” he replied, waving at her. “I remember you, you helped me find Crocodile!”
 
“She can't see you,” Zoro hissed.
 
The girl gasped at the sound of Zoro's voice, turning her attention back to him. She leaned over him squinting down at him for a moment, before screaming and leaping to her feet.
 
“Roronoa Zoro!” she wailed.
 
“Who did you think I was, you stupid girl?” Zoro yelled back at her.
 
“But…” she began, looking about herself desperately. “But where's Captain Smoker?”
 
“Best guess is he's back on your ship,” Zoro sarcastically replied, standing up and straightening his clothing.
 
“My ship?” the girl wailed. “But if I'm not on my ship, then where am I?”
 
“You're on my ship!” Luffy cheerfully told her. “The Going Merry? Would you like to join our crew?”
 
The girl turned to glare at him with wide eyes, before slowly scanning around the others, her eyes passing over Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Robin and finally Chopper, who was hiding from her behind a barrel. Seeing the desperation in her face, Zoro grabbed Usopp's binoculars, yanking them up over his head, ignoring the cry of protest he made.
 
“Over there,” he suggested, handing the girl the binoculars and pointing back at her ship.
 
She hurriedly lifted the binoculars to her eyes, refocusing them on the ship. Zoro and the others all tensed as they saw the marine ship break apart and crash into the sea, turning into nothing more than an array of driftwood in a matter of minutes. Zoro turned back to the girl, who had turned impossibly pale. The binoculars slipped from her hands and her eyes began to cloud over. Zoro hurriedly stepped forwards, catching her as she collapsed in a weak faint.
 
“Damn it…” he grumbled, looking her over. “How cruel can you be to me, fate? This is the last thing we need right now!”
 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
 
Next Chapter: Um… Basically, it's the fight on the marine boat again, but told from Tashigi's point of view and then through Smoker's eyes, filling in the gaps. Chapter 6 - What Did You See?