Fic dump!
Title: Introductions after the battle
Theme: Set #3 - Sacrifice
Claim: Zoro
Words: 2800
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
He awoke to find a woman - no, more a girl on the cusp of womanhood - bending over him, concern in her eyes. "Are you all right?" she asked, her voice gentle. "Easy now. Don't sit up too quickly." He blinked. White kimono...the white katana, of course, that he had fought against earlier in the day, and then fought alongside less than an hour later. He sat up anyway, not wanting to show any weakness in front of his new sister-in-arms. His head whirled with the effort, and he pinched the bridge of his nose to stem the nausea that threatened to overwhelm him.
The girl smiled sympathetically. "It's been a rough day for you. Three fights, changing owners, and then getting knocked to the ground like that..."
"Getting abandoned, more like." The interruption came from a boy who sat some distance away, hugging his knees fiercely, a petulant expression on his face. There was a slightly deranged look in his eyes, a barely-restrained bloodlust just waiting to erupt. Shuusui had met cursed katana before, but the aura this one radiated was beyond anything he'd ever experienced. He could only imagine what he was like unleashed.
"Ignore him," the girl said. She smiled politely. "We haven't been properly introduced. My name's Wado Ichimonji. You're Shuusui-san, right? It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Yes, that's right. The pleasure is all mine, I assure you," Shuusui said, summoning courtly graces long-forgotten.
"And that's Sandai Kitetsu over there."
Shuusui gave a curt incline of his head and the boy stuck his tongue out at him in response. That one definitely needed taking into hand, Shuusui decided.
"Don't mind Sandai," the girl said, her voice conciliatory. "He's feeling rather bitter just now. He chose Zoro-san to be his master himself, you see, and getting thrown about like this...well, I suppose you would understand."
"That's no excuse for behaving like a spoilt brat," Shuusui said coldly.
"What did you just say?" Sandai shot him an angry glare.
"Calm down, Sandai!" She turned back to Shuusui. "He's also annoyed that he didn't get to feed after all the fights we had today. He gets rather cranky when that happens."
"Stupid zombies, not a drop of blood between the lot of them," Sandai groused.
"And - " Wado's voice lowered to a confidential tone - "don't tell him I told you, but he's been awfully cut-up after Yubashiri-san died. The katana you're replacing, you know. They were friends, even though he'll never admit it."
"Doesn't your master take good enough care of you, then? To let one of his katana die..."
"He does too!" Sandai leapt to Zoro's defence, much to Shuusui's surprise. "It was that stupid rust guy! I wanted to kill him so bad..."
"You would just have died yourself, Sandai, you know that," Wado said reasonably.
"Anyway, it wasn't Zoro's fault. He keeps us close to him all the time, he cleans us and polishes us, talks to us...well, he doesn't feed us enough, that's true, but..."
"Oh? That surprises me. Your master - " Shuusui hadn't quite acknowledged that young brat as his master, not yet - "didn't strike me as a merciful man."
"Well, he's become a lot more so after joining the Strawhats. That's the pirate crew he belongs to," Wado explained.
"I'm surprised he can keep a rein on Sandai, then," Shuusui said, looking at the boy. "He seems quite ungovernable."
"Between them, it was love at first sight."
"Hey!" Sandai scowled, but his cheeks were flushed.
"It's true."
"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter, right?" The note of petulance re-entered the boy's voice. "You're still master's pet."
"I am not!" she protested.
"Are too. He never puts anyone else in his mouth besides you."
"You want all that saliva dripping over you? You know you can't stand getting wet!"
"But it's so cool! I never met a swordsman who could wield three swords before. And if you don't like his germs, why don't we just switch?"
"No way!" she responded, sounding younger and younger by the minute. Shuusui sighed, wondering what fate had brought him, a respected and ancient blade once wielded by the greatest swordsman in the world, into the company of two katana who, though admittedly fine blades in their own right, acted like bickering children.
"See? It must be awesome!"
"I can't switch with you, because you'd just cut his throat or something!"
"I would never hurt Zoro! He's a good master..." Sandai seemed to recollect recent events and his face fell. "Of course, he only was a good master until he betrayed us."
"Sandai! Never say that about Zoro-san!" Wado scolded. "You know he only did it to save Luffy-san!"
"Oh, come on, Wado, you feel just as angry and betrayed as the rest of us. Don't hide it! In fact, you should feel even more betrayed."
"Why is that?" Shuusui asked.
Wado gave him a sad smile. "He swore an oath on my blade, to my previous mistress. To become the world's greatest swordsman in her place." Her face took on a shuttered, far-away look. "I never thought he would give it up..."
"See? You are angry! He chose Rubber-boy over you!"
"No, I'm not. I understand why he did it. Kuina-san would too. Besides, you heard him apologise to her, just before..."
"I don't care! He should have fought! I'm sure I could've cut those paw things if I had another chance!" Sandai looked darkly at Shuusui. "I'm sure we'd have won, too, if only Yuba'd been there."
"Are you accusing me of being weak?" Shuusui shot back. "You're a thousand years too young to compare yourself to me, boy!" Oh great, now he was stooping to squabbling with a mere child. Apparently their infantile behaviour was infectious.
"Sandai! Shuusui-san! Behave yourselves!" The girl folded her arms and looked at them sternly. Shuusui felt himself shrivel a little under her severe gaze. "It's true that we didn't work together as well as we could have, but that's only because we weren't familiar with Shuusui-san's fighting style. It has nothing to do with any one of us being weak or not."
"Fine. But I still think we should have fought," Sandai whined.
"Zoro-san was exhausted! Couldn't you feel it? Three fights in a single day!"
"He's strong enough! I'm so going to give Zoro a piece of my mind when he comes back..."
Wado and Shuusui exchanged a look. "Sandai," she said softly, "Zoro-san's not coming back."
"Huh?"
"He's...didn't you hear? He volunteered to sacrifice himself for Luffy-san. Don't you know what means?"
A stricken look crossed Sandai's boyish face. "You mean..."
"He's gone, Sandai." A single tear rolled down Wado's face and into her lap. "Zoro-san's gone."
"You keep calling him 'Zoro-san'. You always called him 'Master' before," Sandai noticed.
"Sandai..."
"You think he's dead, don't you? You don't believe in him!" Sandai said angrily.
"It's not that I didn't believe in him!" Wado snapped back, brushing away her tears. "But I heard him! He screamed. Zoro-san never screams. And that was only a part of that huge ball of pain! How do you expect him to survive that?"
"I didn't choose a weakling to be my master," Sandai said sulkily.
"Even if Zoro-san survived that, that man worked for the World Government, Sandai, and Zoro-san is one of the most wanted criminals in the world! They won't give him up so easily. Besides, they made a deal, remember? A head for a head. Zoro-san for Luffy-san."
"They did?"
Wado gave a short hiccupy laugh. "Men. You never listen."
"Hey, try living in a barrel for ten years and see how well you understand human language after that." Sandai stared at the ground moodily. "So...assuming what you're saying is true - and I'm not saying it is - what's gonna happen to us? We're not gonna get split up and sold, are we? I refuse to go into a barrel for another ten years!"
"In my country, it was customary for a samurai who did not die in combat to be buried with his katana," Shuusui contributed what he knew from personal experience.
Sandai bolted upright, staring at Shuusui in horror. "What? I don't wanna be buried! You don't get to eat if you're buried!"
"Or we could hope for another swordsman to claim us before that, like that skeleton gentleman..." Wado suggested glumly.
"I'm not going to let some two-bit swordsman claim me...oh, great! The sword-thieves are already at it!" Sandai said in alarm as hey felt themselves get scooped up in someone's hands, hands that were clearly unaccustomed to handling katana. "Oh, the shame," Sandai moaned. "That's it, I'm gonna kill 'em." He got to his feet.
"Sandai, no!" Wado quickly got up and threw her arms around him to stop him. "It's Sanji-san! Don't you recognise him?"
"It is?" Sandai halted and took a closer look at their bearer. "Oh, yeah. It is."
"So you're blind as well as deaf now?" Wado demanded as she released Sandai from her grip.
"What?" Sandai scowled. "Most I've ever seen of Curly-brow is the soles of his shoes."
"Shoes?" Shuusui queried.
"Sanji-san's fighting style uses kicks," Wado explained.
"That's not very respectful," Shuusui frowned. "And besides, you should be able to cut right through his shoes, surely?"
"Zoro always uses our flats against Curly-brow," Sandai explained. "It's damn frustrating."
"They're friends. Zoro-san doesn't like to hurt him," Wado elaborated.
"It still isn't very proper."
"Oh, come off your high horse," Sandai scoffed. "At least it's some entertainment."
"And there aren't any other swordsmen on board, so Sanji-san's the only person Zoro-san has to spar with."
A drop of water chose that moment to land on Sandai's face. "Oh, great. And to top it all off, now it's raining?" he complained, flicking off the droplet of unwanted moisture.
"It's...it's Sanji-san. He's crying," Wado said softly, looking in awe at the blond cook's face. "That must mean that Zoro-san really..." She burst into tears herself, even as more tears began to spatter on Sandai.
"Oi! My clothes are getting drenched! Oi! Sanji! Curly-brow! Idiot cook! If you're gonna cry, cry on someone else!" Sandai demanded, disgusted. Then he looked around at Wado, and an undefinable expression came over his face.
Shuusui looked awkwardly at the sobbing girl. He felt as if there was something he should do, but he was sure that as an almost complete stranger to her and her grief, his sympathy would be unwelcome. He settled for bending down and putting a comforting hand on her back. Then the world moved and he found himself pressed up against her body, Sandai tumbling against them a moment later.
"What the hell? Oi! You lot! We need to breathe, y'know! Oi!"
Shuusui recovered from his surprise enough to stammer an apology. "I'm deeply sorry, Wado-san! I didn't mean to - highly improper - "
"That's okay," she laughed through her tears. "It's not your fault. Besides, it's worse when we're fighting, isn't it, and we don't mind it then." She looked up to find the cause of their squished situation. "Oh, it's Nami-san. They're hugging."
"Hellooooo, katana between you! What makes you think we want to be pressed up against your boobs, witch?"
"Sandai! Shhh! I want to hear!" But by then Sanji and Nami had already pulled apart, and silence reigned once more. "Now look what you've done! We could've found out what happened to Zoro-san!"
"We don't have to ask," Shuusui said, nodding towards the still body on the table they were being carried towards. "He's right there."
Wado pressed her hands to her mouth, her eyes widening in horror. "Oh no...he's not moving! And look at all those bandages! It must have hurt so badly before...before..." Another rush of tears prevented her from completing her sentence.
Sandai clenched his fists as he gazed at his master's battered body. "I'm gonna kill that paw guy. I will, I swear it!" Shuusui could see a sorrowful tear leak out of the corner of the boy's eye nevertheless.
Shuusui sighed. "And you two call yourselves katana?"
"Huh?" Wado and Sandai looked around questioningly.
"You can't even tell a living body from a dead one? Look! He's still breathing!" Shuusui had seen plenty of live bodies, dead bodies, and dead-yet-alive bodies, so he knew what he was talking about.
"He is? He is! Master! Master!" Sandai struggled so hard to get over to Zoro that he fell out of Sanji's grip.
"Zoro's not going to be happy you dropped that, Sanji-kun," they heard Nami say. She was still crying, but now they realised that she was laughing through her tears.
"Shitty sword jumped out of my hands," Sanji explained.
"Careful! And who are you calling shitty, shitty cook?" Sandai yelled, but he was soon mollified when Sanji scooped up Sandai again and laid all three katana by Zoro's side.
Shuusui watched as Wado and Sandai inched towards their master, caught between smiles and tears in their relief. He realised that the humans, too, were gathered around Zoro's bedside, some laughing, some crying, some tossing a little reindeer into the air as he squealed that he wasn't in the least bit flattered they thought he was the world's greatest doctor. He watched the sobbing katana and sobbing nakama, and felt a curious feeling inside, something he hadn't ever felt before - like he was part of a team.
He understood now why his master had volunteered to sacrifice himself for his captain. Why the blond cook had volunteered to sacrifice himself in his master's place.
They were more than a team. They were a family.
He'd never had to work with other katana before, or anyone other than his previous masters. But now he was saddled with what basically amounted to two less experienced, less disciplined katana, who would need to be taught new skills and stratagems, taught to control their temper.
It was like having a younger sister and a younger brother, almost. Troublesome, but...it was nice having a family.
"Stop crying, you two," he said authoritatively, and Wado and Sandai looked around.
"Don't tell us what to do, bastard!" Sandai lashed out, but the big grin on his face put the lie to his words.
"No, listen. We have to work out some things," Shuusui said firmly.
"Things...?"
"Things are going to be different next time. We're going to put our differences aside and learn to work together. We're going to keep Master safe from now on. Agreed?"
"Yes!" Wado said, her eyes shining.
"All right," Sandai promised.
They shook on it, grinning at each other. And then Wado and Sandai went right back to snuggling up to Zoro. The swordsman reciprocated with a slight movement that he could probably ill afford right now, given his injuries, his fingers grazing their hilts, checking that they were all present and correct. Shuusui covered his ears as Wado and Sandai practically screamed for joy.
But it was kind of nice to be included in that gesture, too.
Shuusui looked up at Zoro and made his own private promise. He would work with the two other katana, no matter how childishly they behaved. He would teach them all he knew. He would even let himself be used against the soles of Sanji's shoes. It would mean sacrificing his own pride, but if his master was so loved that all these people cried for him, if his katana yearned so badly for his touch, maybe he was worth it.
Just watch, Ryuuma-san, he vowed. I've met a second man worthy of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world. And someday, I'll get him there.
Theme: Set #3 - Sacrifice
Claim: Zoro
Words: 2800
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
He awoke to find a woman - no, more a girl on the cusp of womanhood - bending over him, concern in her eyes. "Are you all right?" she asked, her voice gentle. "Easy now. Don't sit up too quickly." He blinked. White kimono...the white katana, of course, that he had fought against earlier in the day, and then fought alongside less than an hour later. He sat up anyway, not wanting to show any weakness in front of his new sister-in-arms. His head whirled with the effort, and he pinched the bridge of his nose to stem the nausea that threatened to overwhelm him.
The girl smiled sympathetically. "It's been a rough day for you. Three fights, changing owners, and then getting knocked to the ground like that..."
"Getting abandoned, more like." The interruption came from a boy who sat some distance away, hugging his knees fiercely, a petulant expression on his face. There was a slightly deranged look in his eyes, a barely-restrained bloodlust just waiting to erupt. Shuusui had met cursed katana before, but the aura this one radiated was beyond anything he'd ever experienced. He could only imagine what he was like unleashed.
"Ignore him," the girl said. She smiled politely. "We haven't been properly introduced. My name's Wado Ichimonji. You're Shuusui-san, right? It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Yes, that's right. The pleasure is all mine, I assure you," Shuusui said, summoning courtly graces long-forgotten.
"And that's Sandai Kitetsu over there."
Shuusui gave a curt incline of his head and the boy stuck his tongue out at him in response. That one definitely needed taking into hand, Shuusui decided.
"Don't mind Sandai," the girl said, her voice conciliatory. "He's feeling rather bitter just now. He chose Zoro-san to be his master himself, you see, and getting thrown about like this...well, I suppose you would understand."
"That's no excuse for behaving like a spoilt brat," Shuusui said coldly.
"What did you just say?" Sandai shot him an angry glare.
"Calm down, Sandai!" She turned back to Shuusui. "He's also annoyed that he didn't get to feed after all the fights we had today. He gets rather cranky when that happens."
"Stupid zombies, not a drop of blood between the lot of them," Sandai groused.
"And - " Wado's voice lowered to a confidential tone - "don't tell him I told you, but he's been awfully cut-up after Yubashiri-san died. The katana you're replacing, you know. They were friends, even though he'll never admit it."
"Doesn't your master take good enough care of you, then? To let one of his katana die..."
"He does too!" Sandai leapt to Zoro's defence, much to Shuusui's surprise. "It was that stupid rust guy! I wanted to kill him so bad..."
"You would just have died yourself, Sandai, you know that," Wado said reasonably.
"Anyway, it wasn't Zoro's fault. He keeps us close to him all the time, he cleans us and polishes us, talks to us...well, he doesn't feed us enough, that's true, but..."
"Oh? That surprises me. Your master - " Shuusui hadn't quite acknowledged that young brat as his master, not yet - "didn't strike me as a merciful man."
"Well, he's become a lot more so after joining the Strawhats. That's the pirate crew he belongs to," Wado explained.
"I'm surprised he can keep a rein on Sandai, then," Shuusui said, looking at the boy. "He seems quite ungovernable."
"Between them, it was love at first sight."
"Hey!" Sandai scowled, but his cheeks were flushed.
"It's true."
"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter, right?" The note of petulance re-entered the boy's voice. "You're still master's pet."
"I am not!" she protested.
"Are too. He never puts anyone else in his mouth besides you."
"You want all that saliva dripping over you? You know you can't stand getting wet!"
"But it's so cool! I never met a swordsman who could wield three swords before. And if you don't like his germs, why don't we just switch?"
"No way!" she responded, sounding younger and younger by the minute. Shuusui sighed, wondering what fate had brought him, a respected and ancient blade once wielded by the greatest swordsman in the world, into the company of two katana who, though admittedly fine blades in their own right, acted like bickering children.
"See? It must be awesome!"
"I can't switch with you, because you'd just cut his throat or something!"
"I would never hurt Zoro! He's a good master..." Sandai seemed to recollect recent events and his face fell. "Of course, he only was a good master until he betrayed us."
"Sandai! Never say that about Zoro-san!" Wado scolded. "You know he only did it to save Luffy-san!"
"Oh, come on, Wado, you feel just as angry and betrayed as the rest of us. Don't hide it! In fact, you should feel even more betrayed."
"Why is that?" Shuusui asked.
Wado gave him a sad smile. "He swore an oath on my blade, to my previous mistress. To become the world's greatest swordsman in her place." Her face took on a shuttered, far-away look. "I never thought he would give it up..."
"See? You are angry! He chose Rubber-boy over you!"
"No, I'm not. I understand why he did it. Kuina-san would too. Besides, you heard him apologise to her, just before..."
"I don't care! He should have fought! I'm sure I could've cut those paw things if I had another chance!" Sandai looked darkly at Shuusui. "I'm sure we'd have won, too, if only Yuba'd been there."
"Are you accusing me of being weak?" Shuusui shot back. "You're a thousand years too young to compare yourself to me, boy!" Oh great, now he was stooping to squabbling with a mere child. Apparently their infantile behaviour was infectious.
"Sandai! Shuusui-san! Behave yourselves!" The girl folded her arms and looked at them sternly. Shuusui felt himself shrivel a little under her severe gaze. "It's true that we didn't work together as well as we could have, but that's only because we weren't familiar with Shuusui-san's fighting style. It has nothing to do with any one of us being weak or not."
"Fine. But I still think we should have fought," Sandai whined.
"Zoro-san was exhausted! Couldn't you feel it? Three fights in a single day!"
"He's strong enough! I'm so going to give Zoro a piece of my mind when he comes back..."
Wado and Shuusui exchanged a look. "Sandai," she said softly, "Zoro-san's not coming back."
"Huh?"
"He's...didn't you hear? He volunteered to sacrifice himself for Luffy-san. Don't you know what means?"
A stricken look crossed Sandai's boyish face. "You mean..."
"He's gone, Sandai." A single tear rolled down Wado's face and into her lap. "Zoro-san's gone."
"You keep calling him 'Zoro-san'. You always called him 'Master' before," Sandai noticed.
"Sandai..."
"You think he's dead, don't you? You don't believe in him!" Sandai said angrily.
"It's not that I didn't believe in him!" Wado snapped back, brushing away her tears. "But I heard him! He screamed. Zoro-san never screams. And that was only a part of that huge ball of pain! How do you expect him to survive that?"
"I didn't choose a weakling to be my master," Sandai said sulkily.
"Even if Zoro-san survived that, that man worked for the World Government, Sandai, and Zoro-san is one of the most wanted criminals in the world! They won't give him up so easily. Besides, they made a deal, remember? A head for a head. Zoro-san for Luffy-san."
"They did?"
Wado gave a short hiccupy laugh. "Men. You never listen."
"Hey, try living in a barrel for ten years and see how well you understand human language after that." Sandai stared at the ground moodily. "So...assuming what you're saying is true - and I'm not saying it is - what's gonna happen to us? We're not gonna get split up and sold, are we? I refuse to go into a barrel for another ten years!"
"In my country, it was customary for a samurai who did not die in combat to be buried with his katana," Shuusui contributed what he knew from personal experience.
Sandai bolted upright, staring at Shuusui in horror. "What? I don't wanna be buried! You don't get to eat if you're buried!"
"Or we could hope for another swordsman to claim us before that, like that skeleton gentleman..." Wado suggested glumly.
"I'm not going to let some two-bit swordsman claim me...oh, great! The sword-thieves are already at it!" Sandai said in alarm as hey felt themselves get scooped up in someone's hands, hands that were clearly unaccustomed to handling katana. "Oh, the shame," Sandai moaned. "That's it, I'm gonna kill 'em." He got to his feet.
"Sandai, no!" Wado quickly got up and threw her arms around him to stop him. "It's Sanji-san! Don't you recognise him?"
"It is?" Sandai halted and took a closer look at their bearer. "Oh, yeah. It is."
"So you're blind as well as deaf now?" Wado demanded as she released Sandai from her grip.
"What?" Sandai scowled. "Most I've ever seen of Curly-brow is the soles of his shoes."
"Shoes?" Shuusui queried.
"Sanji-san's fighting style uses kicks," Wado explained.
"That's not very respectful," Shuusui frowned. "And besides, you should be able to cut right through his shoes, surely?"
"Zoro always uses our flats against Curly-brow," Sandai explained. "It's damn frustrating."
"They're friends. Zoro-san doesn't like to hurt him," Wado elaborated.
"It still isn't very proper."
"Oh, come off your high horse," Sandai scoffed. "At least it's some entertainment."
"And there aren't any other swordsmen on board, so Sanji-san's the only person Zoro-san has to spar with."
A drop of water chose that moment to land on Sandai's face. "Oh, great. And to top it all off, now it's raining?" he complained, flicking off the droplet of unwanted moisture.
"It's...it's Sanji-san. He's crying," Wado said softly, looking in awe at the blond cook's face. "That must mean that Zoro-san really..." She burst into tears herself, even as more tears began to spatter on Sandai.
"Oi! My clothes are getting drenched! Oi! Sanji! Curly-brow! Idiot cook! If you're gonna cry, cry on someone else!" Sandai demanded, disgusted. Then he looked around at Wado, and an undefinable expression came over his face.
Shuusui looked awkwardly at the sobbing girl. He felt as if there was something he should do, but he was sure that as an almost complete stranger to her and her grief, his sympathy would be unwelcome. He settled for bending down and putting a comforting hand on her back. Then the world moved and he found himself pressed up against her body, Sandai tumbling against them a moment later.
"What the hell? Oi! You lot! We need to breathe, y'know! Oi!"
Shuusui recovered from his surprise enough to stammer an apology. "I'm deeply sorry, Wado-san! I didn't mean to - highly improper - "
"That's okay," she laughed through her tears. "It's not your fault. Besides, it's worse when we're fighting, isn't it, and we don't mind it then." She looked up to find the cause of their squished situation. "Oh, it's Nami-san. They're hugging."
"Hellooooo, katana between you! What makes you think we want to be pressed up against your boobs, witch?"
"Sandai! Shhh! I want to hear!" But by then Sanji and Nami had already pulled apart, and silence reigned once more. "Now look what you've done! We could've found out what happened to Zoro-san!"
"We don't have to ask," Shuusui said, nodding towards the still body on the table they were being carried towards. "He's right there."
Wado pressed her hands to her mouth, her eyes widening in horror. "Oh no...he's not moving! And look at all those bandages! It must have hurt so badly before...before..." Another rush of tears prevented her from completing her sentence.
Sandai clenched his fists as he gazed at his master's battered body. "I'm gonna kill that paw guy. I will, I swear it!" Shuusui could see a sorrowful tear leak out of the corner of the boy's eye nevertheless.
Shuusui sighed. "And you two call yourselves katana?"
"Huh?" Wado and Sandai looked around questioningly.
"You can't even tell a living body from a dead one? Look! He's still breathing!" Shuusui had seen plenty of live bodies, dead bodies, and dead-yet-alive bodies, so he knew what he was talking about.
"He is? He is! Master! Master!" Sandai struggled so hard to get over to Zoro that he fell out of Sanji's grip.
"Zoro's not going to be happy you dropped that, Sanji-kun," they heard Nami say. She was still crying, but now they realised that she was laughing through her tears.
"Shitty sword jumped out of my hands," Sanji explained.
"Careful! And who are you calling shitty, shitty cook?" Sandai yelled, but he was soon mollified when Sanji scooped up Sandai again and laid all three katana by Zoro's side.
Shuusui watched as Wado and Sandai inched towards their master, caught between smiles and tears in their relief. He realised that the humans, too, were gathered around Zoro's bedside, some laughing, some crying, some tossing a little reindeer into the air as he squealed that he wasn't in the least bit flattered they thought he was the world's greatest doctor. He watched the sobbing katana and sobbing nakama, and felt a curious feeling inside, something he hadn't ever felt before - like he was part of a team.
He understood now why his master had volunteered to sacrifice himself for his captain. Why the blond cook had volunteered to sacrifice himself in his master's place.
They were more than a team. They were a family.
He'd never had to work with other katana before, or anyone other than his previous masters. But now he was saddled with what basically amounted to two less experienced, less disciplined katana, who would need to be taught new skills and stratagems, taught to control their temper.
It was like having a younger sister and a younger brother, almost. Troublesome, but...it was nice having a family.
"Stop crying, you two," he said authoritatively, and Wado and Sandai looked around.
"Don't tell us what to do, bastard!" Sandai lashed out, but the big grin on his face put the lie to his words.
"No, listen. We have to work out some things," Shuusui said firmly.
"Things...?"
"Things are going to be different next time. We're going to put our differences aside and learn to work together. We're going to keep Master safe from now on. Agreed?"
"Yes!" Wado said, her eyes shining.
"All right," Sandai promised.
They shook on it, grinning at each other. And then Wado and Sandai went right back to snuggling up to Zoro. The swordsman reciprocated with a slight movement that he could probably ill afford right now, given his injuries, his fingers grazing their hilts, checking that they were all present and correct. Shuusui covered his ears as Wado and Sandai practically screamed for joy.
But it was kind of nice to be included in that gesture, too.
Shuusui looked up at Zoro and made his own private promise. He would work with the two other katana, no matter how childishly they behaved. He would teach them all he knew. He would even let himself be used against the soles of Sanji's shoes. It would mean sacrificing his own pride, but if his master was so loved that all these people cried for him, if his katana yearned so badly for his touch, maybe he was worth it.
Just watch, Ryuuma-san, he vowed. I've met a second man worthy of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world. And someday, I'll get him there.