One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Sitting on the Waves ❯ Down with Henchmen ( Chapter 13 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

ONE PIECE
SITTING ON THE WAVES
CHAPTER 13
BY
Sgamer82

     Sanj i was dodging the attacks of his opponent, a brown haired woman who introduced herself as Bataco. She proved quite adept at hand-to-hand combat, using a style similar to Sanji’s own, utilizing mostly kicks. However, she did use her hands to attack on occasion. Her style seemed mostly intent on making use of her feminine body’s greater lower-body strength.

     She had the big advantage in this fight. If you could even call it a fight. Sanji didn’t attempt a single attack since Bataco had taken the offensive. It simply went against everything he stood for.

     Just as the boss said. Bataco thought, In front of a woman the cook is helpless.

     Bataco attempted a high roundhouse kick to the side of Sanji’s head. Sanji dived to his side and cart wheeled himself away from Bataco. Bataco was beginning to get frustrated. If he kept this up this fight would take all day. She considered unbuttoning her shirt and flashing him. That would almost certainly halt him long enough for her to get in a decisive blow. On the other hand, it was completely shameless. She wasn’t that ticked off at this cook yet that she’d stoop that low.

      Meanwhile, Sanji’s head was thinking as fast as it could. He had to do something about this woman. But since he couldn’t bring himself to fight her he didn’t know what else to do. As he gazed upon her gorgeous, blemish-free face, he could barely keep himself focused. She was indeed quite beautiful by any standards. And, unlike the innocent Miss Nami, this woman knew exactly how she affected him. Sanji suddenly got hit with an idea. Since he couldn’t fight with his feet, perhaps he could try a different approach.

     Bataco charged Sanji and attempted a kick to his abdomen. Sanji successfully dodged it. But instead of running away, he instead took Bataco’s smooth, silky hand in his own.

     “My dear lady,” Sanji said, “your ability is truly astonishing. That you would use it on this unworthy soul is indeed a great honor.”

     Bataco couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was, more or less, trying to kill him, and he was hitting on her!

     “Your grace and beauty exceeds any I have seen before.” he said in his most flattering tone of voice, “Why must we indulge in such a barbarous act as fighting amongst one another?” Sanji then bent down on one knee, “Why not you and I stop and leave this place? You would do this worthless soul a great honor.”

     “Worthless is right!” Bataco spat, “Without a bounty you’re completely useless! I’m only here to distract you!”

     “I would gladly remain distracted, fixed by the beauty of your eyes as they gazed into my own.”

     To her own surprise, Bataco was starting to blush. Nobody that she could remember had ever flattered her so. She rarely got any real respect, let alone the sheer reverence this cook was offering.

     “I had a wonderful thought just now,” Sanji went on, “How about you and I simply sail off together and leave all this? If you wished, you could join our crew. I would gladly cook the most wonderful banquets every night for you until I died.”

     Bataco’s face was completely red by now. This was too much. As she held Sanji’s hand, she was honestly, seriously, considering running away with the pirate chef. It took a true effort of will to stop this romantic speak of this cook. But she managed it.

     “I’m sorry.” Bataco said, “But my loyalty is to my boss.”

     With that she began squeezing Sanji’s hand. She was putting all of her strength into this. Sanji had an agonizing (betrayed? She wondered) look on his face.

     Sanji felt the pain in his hand, but along with that, he was angry. It was taking every single ounce of his willpower not to prop himself up on his free hand and send a side kick into Bataco. It wasn’t over her turning him down. He’d had as much failure as he had success in love so that bothered him little. The reason he was close to betraying his every principle was because she was attacking his hand.

     Woman were Sanji’s passion. Cooking was his life. If his hands were injured seriously enough he could forever be robbed of his cooking. But he couldn’t do anything about it. He secretly hoped that something, anything, would come and stop her.

     “Yaaaaaahhhh!” a voice called out.

     Chopper, still in his four legged Walk Point form, came charging out of the trees and right into Bataco. Chopper head butted the woman and sent her flying into a tree. She hit her head against it and lost consciousness. Chopper reverted to his small, half-human half-animal form. Chopper turned around to address Sanji.

     “Sanji! Are you all right? I-”

     No sooner had he turned around and he saw a long black object come down onto his head. Sanji’s foot had flattened Chopper’s pink hat as he drop-kicked the human-reindeer. Chopper didn’t understand.

     “Barbarian!” Sanji howled, “Beast! How dare you attack a helpless woman!”

     “But Sanji she-” Chopper didn’t get to finish as Sanji pulled out a cooking knife out of his jacket and started chasing Chopper. Chopper immediately started running back the way he had come from.

     “I’ll barbeque you for that!” Sanji yelled as he ran after Chopper, “Anybody who would harm a lady will get a thousand times back from me! Chopper!!!!” * * * * *

     This sniper was more trouble than he was worth. Zoro’s being unable to see the enemy was turning into a bigger problem than he had expected. Several times now, he had just barely dodged a shot the sniper had fired. There were also times where he didn’t dodge. The blood stands on the stomach and other parts of his clothes where bullets had either hit or grazed him were testaments to that.

     Zoro would take comfort in the fact that the shots hadn’t hit any vital points. However, this person he was fighting was a very good aim. Zoro suspected the kid (he assumed it was a kid going by what little of his voice he’d heard) was simply playing with him. That made Zoro more determined to show this kid just what swordsmanship can do.

     “You’ve dodged quite admirably, Mr. Roronoa.” the boy called out.

     Hidden within the trees and foliage of the forests’ west side, Tirsni “the Deadeye” watched and waited. He had fired at Roronoa Zoro several times now. Each time intending to wound or graze the swordsman.

     “This game has gotten a bit tedious. Time to finish this and show you which weapon is truly superior.”

     A gunshot fired again. Zoro began to move out of reflex. But a stronger instinct told him to stay still. A sudden pain ripped through Zoro’s left shoulder as the bullets from the sniper’s gun went right through it. As Zoro looked at the red hole that had just appeared just below the shoulder, he realized that, had he moved left as he’d intended, that shot would have pierced his heart.

     Those near-misses were intended to help the boy learn Zoro’s movements. Then, when he was set, he’d simply fire a killing shot.

     “If you’d done as I’d wanted, that would’ve killed you.” the boy said.

     “You’ve got my movements figured out, don’t you?”

     “Correct, Mr. Roronoa. My nickname is ‘Deadeye’ because I can fire accurately even if I have my eyes closed. The fact is, I couldn’t miss if I tried.”

     Well then, that changes everything. Zoro thought to himself, If what you say is true, boy, then the question for me is no longer “How will I dodge?” It’s now “Where will you shoot?”

     Zoro knew what he wanted to do. Zoro loosened the grip on his swords in his hands until the hand guards rested on the top of his hands. He next tilted his head and opened his mouth, allowing the white-handled Wadô-Ichimonji to slip down until the hand guard on it rested on his cheek. He needed to choke up on his grips because he would need control for what he planned.

     When a series of shots rang out, Zoro moved immediately. He put the sword in his right hand across his chest, over his heart. Turned his head so his mouth sword was over his belly, and held his left-hand sword in front of his face. He felt a hard impact on his right sword, immediately followed by one on the mouth sword.

     Two spent bullets fell at Zoro’s feet. A few more rounds were fired off with the same result. Zoro used his swords and blocked every bullet. There was a brief pause in the shots before more rang out. Zoro kept up his blocking, counting how many bullets were fired between pauses. This would let him know how many bullets his gun could fire before requiring reloading. Each shot also gave Zoro a better idea of where his enemy was hiding.

     In the forest, Tirsni was getting frustrated. He’d heard that “Hawk-Eyes” Mihawk could deflect bullets with a sword. He had dismissed that as rumor and myth, but now that he was seeing it with his own eyes it was starting to get to him. How did this swordsman know what he was going to do? Tirsni fired off another round and began reloading.

     “You told me,” Zoro said, “That you wished to know which was superior, swords or guns. Swords are the better weapon, and I‘ll tell you why. No matter what you do, a pistol will always be a pistol. A rifle always a rifle. But in the right hands, a sword can become a cannon!!”

     What’s he babbling about? Tirsni wondered.

     Zoro’s mouth-sword was sticking out to his right. He took his hand swords and held them outwards over his left shoulder, crossing them into an X-shape.

     “Santôryu... !!!”

     What move could a swordsman use from so far away?

     “Hyaku-hachi Pondo-Hô!!”

     Zoro swung his three swords with all his strength. The force of his swings sent shockwaves flying towards the direction he heard the most shooting from.

     The waves flew right in the direction Tirsni was hiding in. He attempted to get away but was hit by the waves as they blasted their way through all the trees and rocks in their way. Tirsni felt his body was being slashed at as he fell to the ground. The pain was unbearable, he couldn’t move. His eyes were blurry, but when his vision cleared, he saw Roronoa Zoro standing over him. That was the last thing he saw before Zoro knocked him out with a quick kick to the head.

*For those who don't know, Santôryû - Hyaku-hachi Pondo-Hô literally translates to "Three-Sword Style - One Hundred Eight Pound Cannon."