Three left after this one, and nine hours to do them in! :-P
Title: Declaration of war
Theme: Set #3 - War
Claim: Zoro
Words: 3228
Rating: PG
Warnings: Post-current-canon fic. Follows from " Promised Farewell". Makes a very, very vague reference to " The Adventures of Young Roronoa Zoro". Some minor characters are probably OOC but I don't have the time to research them properly at the moment...I'll probably revise this at some later date, anyway.
Disclaimers: I don't own One Piece.
Smoker was fuming, figuratively and literally. He had been waiting over an hour now for his turn to interrogate the new prisoner, and still they hadn't been allowed to see Roronoa Zoro.
"What right does that upstart prison guard have to keep a Marine commodore sitting about? Especially in Marine HQ?" he demanded.
"Sorry, Commodore Smoker," Tashigi replied, "but Hannyabal-san has been given temporary oversight of the prison wing. A Vice-Admiral's authority is needed to overrule him." Marineford was the temporary home of the prison for Level 6 prisoners, with the lower reaches of Impel Down still under reconstruction. The Marines themselves were no authorities on running a prison, so they had pulled in the Vice-Warden of the great gaol to take charge until a new, more secure Level 6 could be built. Since Hannyabal had so many dangerous ex-escapees to look after, he'd been given the equivalent authority of a Rear Admiral.
"This isn't a matter of authority, it's a matter of basic respect," Smoker snorted. "He's just enjoying rubbing it in my face that his temporary rank is higher than mine." For once, Smoker regretted turning down as many promotions as he had in the past. "Besides, what are the prison guards doing that's so important? Torturing the man? You know as well as I do that Roronoa isn't going to be broken by any ordinary tortures."
Tashigi started at the word "tortures", and gripped the katana in her hands a little tighter. Smoker noticed. "What's the matter, Tashigi?" he barked at his clumsy lieutenant.
"Sorry, sir. They're rather...twitchy." Smoker knew better than to question the use of the word. He knew she revered fine blades, and regarded them as practically human. "Especially this black-and-red one. Sandai Kitetsu. It feels like it's baying for blood. Even more blood than it's already drunk today."
That was how they had come to be involved in the first place. They happened to be stopping by at HQ to be briefed for their next mission, when Tashigi had been given an urgent call by the bureau that processed items confiscated from new prisoners. Apparently a certain katana was slicing up everyone who dared to get anywhere within a foot of it. She had hurried down to help, and immediately recognised it and its two brethren, and informed Smoker of Zoro's capture directly after that. The bureau wanted nothing to do with the cursed blade, and let her have all three.
"What I want to know is, how the hell did they get their hands on the man?" Smoker went on. Not that he craved the honour of capturing so notorious a pirate - hell, he'd voluntarily let the Strawhat crew go free more times than he cared to count - but he wanted to know how someone else had succeeded where he had not. He was sure that if one of the Vice-Admirals or Admirals themselves had set out to capture Zoro, he would have heard of it. And what about the rest of the Strawhats? Why had it been Roronoa, and Roronoa alone?
The door opened, and they looked up to see the vice-warden enter. "Welcome to my Marineford - ah! I said the wrong thing! Welcome to my prison wing at Marineford, Commodore Smoker! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Hannyabal smirked at them.
Smoker clamped down on his two cigars. "You're not sorry at all, you bastard. When are you gonna let us see Roronoa?"
"I'm afraid he is a little...tied up at the moment, Commodore Smoker. Such a tough prisoner, you know, needs a little bit more...persuasion to start talking."
He cocked his head slightly to the side and, when they listened carefully through the open door, they could hear the distant sound of multiple whips being applied to a prisoner's flesh.
Smoker saw Tashigi grip the three swords tightly once more, and shot her a what's-the-matter-now look.
She looked up at him, her face pained. "The katana are crying, sir."
Crying for their master, huh? Smoker shook his head. These swordsmen were crazy. He turned back to Hannyabal.
"I thought you had a reputation for not believing in meting out torture," he ground out, making sure his tone communicated his disapproval. He wasn't above a little arm-twisting to extract information himself, but he didn't believe in inflicting pain for the sake of inflicting pain.
"Yes, but this is the man whose captain broke out of my great...ah! I said too much! He has escaped from the Marines more times than we can count, Commodore. You can't fault my seamen for wanting to get their own back."
Since Smoker had been behind the vast majority of those attempts to capture the Strawhats, that statement did not go over well. Before he could launch a tirade, though, Hannyabal continued, "Anyway, if you want to interrogate the world's greatest swordsman, you'd need him to be softened up first, wouldn't you?"
"What's that?" Tashigi gasped. "Did you just call him - ?"
"World's greatest swordsman," Hannyabal repeated. "He beat the Shichibukai Hawk-Eye Mihawk a few days ago."
"Then what the devil is he doing here in a Marine prison?" Smoker growled.
Hannyabal swelled up importantly, pleased to be the one in the know for once. Normally, the prison wing was the last to hear any news. "Well, you see..."
Hannyabal was abruptly interrupted when the other door to the room swung open and a loud voice bellowed, "Where is he? Where is Roronoa?"
"Ah! Vice-Admiral Garp, sir!" Hannyabal was suddenly the picture of fawning obedience, when Garp's entourage entered the room. "How nice to see you in the prison wing, sir! Welcome, welcome!"
"I want to see him."
"Him, sir?"
"Roronoa! Now!" Garp would have looked and sounded extremely intimidating if he hadn't been in the midst of excavating his nose.
"Er - yes! At once!" Hannyabal squeaked, and hurried away.
"Vice-Admiral Garp, sir, I would like to be present for the interrogation," Smoker requested, in the respectful tone he reserved for a very select few of the upper brass.
Garp studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Very well."
"Excuse me, Tashigi-san," a pink-haired youth behind Garp said meekly, "but are those...?"
"Yes, Coby-san, they are," Tashigi replied.
Smoker racked his brains, trying to recall just who this young officer was and why he looked so familiar. Finally he remembered the boy who had blocked Akainu's way in the battle of Marineford, screaming for everyone to stop the useless fighting. The boy had guts, he had to give him that. Garp certainly knew how to pick them.
"Garp-san, were you the one who captured Roronoa?" Smoker asked. If there was one person whose movements were opaque to most of the Marine establishment - even to the Fleet Admiral - it was Garp.
"Wahahahaha! Me? No!" Garp replied. "Helmeppo, tell him what happened."
The blond-haired counterpart to Coby straightened up and reported, "Apparently Roronoa Zoro had made a deal with the Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma to surrender himself once he became world's greatest swordsman, Smoker-san. And...he did."
Smoker bit down on his cigars so hard he almost decapitated them. He had surrendered himself? Damn that Roronoa! He couldn't even give the Marines the faintest honour of having captured him in fair battle - though doubtless history would be rewritten that way, just like Arabasta had. Smoker wondered which sap would be forced to take the glory and promotion this time. It sure as hell wasn't going to be him!
And what had possessed Roronoa to make that deal in the first place?
"Vice-Admiral Garp, the prisoner is ready for you." Hannyabal ushered the Marine officers through to the cell, and would have followed himself, but was stopped by the silent man in the suit whom Smoker and Tashigi knew to be Garp's constant and rather mysterious lieutenant. He clanged the door shut behind them.
Tashigi gave a small gasp as she surveyed the sorry state of the "world's greatest swordsman", who looked far from the embodiment of that title right now. Smoker frowned at her and motioned for her to remain in the back of the room, behind the others, and took a good look at the prey he had chased for so long.
Roronoa Zoro was chained to the wall, green hair matted to his head with sweat, shirt hanging in shreds off his broad shoulders, his entire body streaked with rivulets of blood that dripped from wounds old and new and pooled around his knees. His body was sagging, held up only by the chains, but still he managed to raise his head and give them the feral, mocking grin Smoker loathed. "Never knew I had so many old friends among the Marines," he rasped out, before giving way to a fit of coughing.
"Give the man some water," Garp ordered, and Coby immediately hurried to pour the prisoner a drink.
"Here, Zoro-san, drink up," Coby said, gently holding the cup to the prisoner's lips so that he could sip it.
Huh, maybe Roronoa hadn't been mocking them after all. Maybe those two really were friends.
"Thanks," Zoro said gruffly.
Coby took back the cup, taking a close look at Zoro's eyes as he did so. He turned to Garp. "Sir, he's lost a lot of blood. I think he should be treated for his injuries."
"I'm fine. Fine!" The tone was proud, but Zoro's voice was slightly slurred, and for a man who had just been given a bad beating, he seemed positively light-headed. "Well?" He glanced around at the silent crowd, somehow managing to sound defiant despite everything. "Now that I've been softened up, anyone gonna ask me any questions?" The tone of his voice made it clear that he had been anything but "softened up".
"Tch. Still the same stubborn idiot after all this time," Helmeppo muttered. Smoker couldn't decide whether that was a tone of disgust or respect. Probably both.
"Wahahahahaha! I see my grandson chose a fine first mate!" Garp chortled.
The expression on Zoro's face changed, and he looked away. "I'm not Luffy's first mate. I'm no longer on the crew. S'you don't have to worry 'bout him coming to rescue me. He won't."
"When his life was the reason you made this deal in the first place? I think you underestimate my grandson," Garp retorted dryly.
Zoro turned to stare at the white-haired vice-admiral. Then he shook his head. "It wasn't for Luffy's life. It was for my dream."
"Do you take me for some sort of fool, boy?" Garp snorted, semi-serious for once. "Kuma told me all about it. How you and that cook offered your heads in exchange for his." Beneath the harsh tone of the Marine Vice-Admiral, Smoker could discern the gratitude of a grandparent. Garp was saying thank you.
And Roronoa wasn't denying it, either, which meant it was true. Smoker clenched his fists. Why couldn't the Strawhat Pirates act like pirates? Why couldn't they steal and pillage instead of bringing down corrupt criminals, saving countries, freeing slaves? Why did they constantly push their self-interest aside and throw themselves into harm's way for other people, making even hardened Marines like Smoker feel bad, of all things, that they were behind bars where they belonged?
Smoker didn't believe in absolutes as some of the other Marines did, but hell, the Strawhat Pirates were turning the world topsy-turvy. When pirates held themselves to a higher standard of honour than the so-called forces of justice did, something was wrong.
Damn Strawhats.
Smoker only had a few moments to unravel his thoughts when they were interrupted by a commotion outside. "Admiral Sengoku, sir!" they heard the prison warden warble a greeting.
"Ah, Sengoku's here to join the party too, eh?" Garp said, cheerily.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku entered a few moments later, giving curt nods to all present and taking in the condition of the prisoner in a brief glance. "I will be brief, Roronoa Zoro." Sengoku never wasted time with formalities. "Tell me, do you still consider yourself a member of Monkey D Luffy's crew?"
"Nope," Zoro said.
"Good. The Gorousei has authorised me to offer you Hawkeye Mihawk's place among the Shichibukai. Will you accept?"
"Shichibukai?" A smile twisted its way across Zoro's face. "You want me to become a shichibukai?"
"Why not? You were once a pirate hunter, and now you are a pirate. What else is a shichibukai but the union of these two roles? It would only be entwining the two contradictory threads of your life into one. I need hardly add that this is a great honour, and is the only way to escape your other possible fates."
"And just what are those fates?"
"One, execution. Two, slavery. The Tenryuubito still have not forgiven you the incident on Sabaody."
Smoker felt Tashigi stiffen at the latter. He wasn't too thrilled at the idea either. Roronoa Zoro had been a formidable opponent, and always an honourable one. He didn't deserve so ignoble a fate.
"Slavery, huh? I guess you can't outrun fate forever," Zoro commented. Smoker hardly knew what to make of that statement.
"You will also be acknowledged worldwide as the world's greatest swordsman, even by the World Government. I have read your file, Roronoa Zoro. I know that was your dream, to have your fame proclaimed to the high heavens. I can assure you, as long as you do not comply with our wishes, you will be erased entirely from history."
"Like Ohara, or the Void Century?" Zoro asked mockingly.
Sengoku stiffened a little at the mention of those two taboo subjects. "I assure you, the World Government has great expertise in the matter."
"Well, tough luck. I don't need my name to be proclaimed to the high heavens."
Sengoku looked scandalised that his files had given him the wrong information. "Why not?"
"The only person who needs to know is right here."
Everyone turned to follow the prisoner's gaze. Tashigi shrank back a little from the stares of some of the most powerful men in the world. "M-m-m-me?" she stuttered.
Dammit, what is Roronoa playing at? Smoker raged internally. If he was trying to incriminate Tashigi in some kind of plot...
"You know what happened, don't you, Kuina?" Zoro asked. "You got Wado back. That's good. You'll take care of Sandai and Shuusui too, won't you?"
"Lieutenant! What is the meaning of this? Do you know this man?" Sengoku said, giving Tashigi a suspicious glare.
"If I may, sir," Smoker said, interposing himself between Tashigi and his boss's wrath, "The prisoner is clearly delirious. He's mistaken Lieutenant Tashigi for someone else. Someone dead."
"'M not delirious," Zoro contradicted him. "I can see her, clear as day. You know I beat Mihawk, don't you?"
His voice was so stubbornly insistent that Tashigi couldn't help nodding. "Yes, I know."
A smile of relief spread across Zoro's face. "You know what that means, then."
"You're the world's greatest swordsman?" she said softly.
"No. You are."
"Me???" Everyone glanced between Zoro and Tashigi, confused.
"You're the one person I could never defeat. So that means...you're the world's greatest swordsman. See?"
"Lieutenant, what is the meaning of this?" Sengoku asked sternly.
"Sir, really, he's mistaken me for somebody else! He always has, even years ago, back in Loguetown. He said I just looked like her...a childhood friend."
"Is that so?" Sengoku said, tight-lipped. He swung around to inspect the prisoner once more. It was true that his eyes did look slightly unfocused, but he didn't seem in the least like a man in delirium. He had sounded so certain, so confident.
Zoro smirked up at him. "See? I don't care what you do to me now. She knows. She knows, and that's all that matters..."
"Does that mean that you refuse the appointment?"
"Shichibukai are scum, anyway. Except Mihawk, they're all weaklings, dogs of the World Government..." At last, one thing Smoker and Roronoa could agree on, Smoker thought.
But, damn it all, he didn't want to be agreeing with Roronoa on any subject!
Zoro's words were interrupted by an urgent knocking on the door. "Sir! Admiral Sengoku, sir!"
"Enter," Sengoku barked at the messenger, who rushed in, panting heavily, and saluted. "What is it?"
"A declaration of war, sir!" the Marine reported.
"A declaration of - who the hell is it this time?" Sengoku frowned.
"Strawhat Luffy, sir! He's sailing for Marineford as we speak!"
The news seemed to bring Zoro back to full alertness. "What? That idiot!"
"I told you so," Garp said smugly.
Sengoku was equally livid at the news. "Garp! I want you assigned to defence..." His voice trailed off, as he recalled what happened the last time Garp had "tried" to keep his grandson from reclaiming a prisoner. "Never mind! Smoker! I want you to organise the defences! On no account are we to cede Roronoa Zoro to the enemy as we ceded Portgas D Ace in the past!"
"Sir." Smoker nodded curtly, accepting the order. "Come, Tashigi."
"No, Lieutenant Tashigi is being relieved from duty pending an investigation into her background," Sengoku intervened. "You are hereby placed under suspension, Lieutenant."
"B-b-but sir! I've done nothing wrong!" Tashigi protested.
Smoker glared at Sengoku as if he was an idiot. "The prisoner is clearly either trying to fool us, or is fooling himself. He simply mistook her for a person who's dead!"
"Stranger things have happened than a dead person coming back to life and infiltrating the Marines, Commodore Smoker," Sengoku said acidly. "The Gorousei will not forgive a repeat of the inside job that allowed Teach to dictate how the last battle of Marineford went. Now go."
Smoker shot Sengoku a lethal glare and stomped off. Just as he reached the door, another Marine came tearing up. "Sir! Admiral Sengoku, sir! Urgent report!"
"What is it now?"
"Sir, a declaration of war!"
"Yes, yes, I've already been informed of that. Stand down, Marine."
"No, sir, it's another one! The Revolutionaries have declared war on the World Government, sir, and their fleet is on the way!"
Everyone took a few seconds to process the report, then Sengoku turned to his vice-admiral and friend. "What the hell is wrong with your whole damn family, Garp?" he roared.
"Yeah, I kinda want to know the answer to that as well," Zoro added.
Oddly enough, Garp did not look in the least bit ashamed. "Wahahahaha! I guess they don't believe in allowing fate to claim their friends."
"Idiots, all of them," Zoro repeated under his breath.
Smoker was rather relieved that he was back to disagreeing with Zoro once more.
Theme: Set #3 - War
Claim: Zoro
Words: 3228
Rating: PG
Warnings: Post-current-canon fic. Follows from " Promised Farewell". Makes a very, very vague reference to " The Adventures of Young Roronoa Zoro". Some minor characters are probably OOC but I don't have the time to research them properly at the moment...I'll probably revise this at some later date, anyway.
Disclaimers: I don't own One Piece.
Smoker was fuming, figuratively and literally. He had been waiting over an hour now for his turn to interrogate the new prisoner, and still they hadn't been allowed to see Roronoa Zoro.
"What right does that upstart prison guard have to keep a Marine commodore sitting about? Especially in Marine HQ?" he demanded.
"Sorry, Commodore Smoker," Tashigi replied, "but Hannyabal-san has been given temporary oversight of the prison wing. A Vice-Admiral's authority is needed to overrule him." Marineford was the temporary home of the prison for Level 6 prisoners, with the lower reaches of Impel Down still under reconstruction. The Marines themselves were no authorities on running a prison, so they had pulled in the Vice-Warden of the great gaol to take charge until a new, more secure Level 6 could be built. Since Hannyabal had so many dangerous ex-escapees to look after, he'd been given the equivalent authority of a Rear Admiral.
"This isn't a matter of authority, it's a matter of basic respect," Smoker snorted. "He's just enjoying rubbing it in my face that his temporary rank is higher than mine." For once, Smoker regretted turning down as many promotions as he had in the past. "Besides, what are the prison guards doing that's so important? Torturing the man? You know as well as I do that Roronoa isn't going to be broken by any ordinary tortures."
Tashigi started at the word "tortures", and gripped the katana in her hands a little tighter. Smoker noticed. "What's the matter, Tashigi?" he barked at his clumsy lieutenant.
"Sorry, sir. They're rather...twitchy." Smoker knew better than to question the use of the word. He knew she revered fine blades, and regarded them as practically human. "Especially this black-and-red one. Sandai Kitetsu. It feels like it's baying for blood. Even more blood than it's already drunk today."
That was how they had come to be involved in the first place. They happened to be stopping by at HQ to be briefed for their next mission, when Tashigi had been given an urgent call by the bureau that processed items confiscated from new prisoners. Apparently a certain katana was slicing up everyone who dared to get anywhere within a foot of it. She had hurried down to help, and immediately recognised it and its two brethren, and informed Smoker of Zoro's capture directly after that. The bureau wanted nothing to do with the cursed blade, and let her have all three.
"What I want to know is, how the hell did they get their hands on the man?" Smoker went on. Not that he craved the honour of capturing so notorious a pirate - hell, he'd voluntarily let the Strawhat crew go free more times than he cared to count - but he wanted to know how someone else had succeeded where he had not. He was sure that if one of the Vice-Admirals or Admirals themselves had set out to capture Zoro, he would have heard of it. And what about the rest of the Strawhats? Why had it been Roronoa, and Roronoa alone?
The door opened, and they looked up to see the vice-warden enter. "Welcome to my Marineford - ah! I said the wrong thing! Welcome to my prison wing at Marineford, Commodore Smoker! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Hannyabal smirked at them.
Smoker clamped down on his two cigars. "You're not sorry at all, you bastard. When are you gonna let us see Roronoa?"
"I'm afraid he is a little...tied up at the moment, Commodore Smoker. Such a tough prisoner, you know, needs a little bit more...persuasion to start talking."
He cocked his head slightly to the side and, when they listened carefully through the open door, they could hear the distant sound of multiple whips being applied to a prisoner's flesh.
Smoker saw Tashigi grip the three swords tightly once more, and shot her a what's-the-matter-now look.
She looked up at him, her face pained. "The katana are crying, sir."
Crying for their master, huh? Smoker shook his head. These swordsmen were crazy. He turned back to Hannyabal.
"I thought you had a reputation for not believing in meting out torture," he ground out, making sure his tone communicated his disapproval. He wasn't above a little arm-twisting to extract information himself, but he didn't believe in inflicting pain for the sake of inflicting pain.
"Yes, but this is the man whose captain broke out of my great...ah! I said too much! He has escaped from the Marines more times than we can count, Commodore. You can't fault my seamen for wanting to get their own back."
Since Smoker had been behind the vast majority of those attempts to capture the Strawhats, that statement did not go over well. Before he could launch a tirade, though, Hannyabal continued, "Anyway, if you want to interrogate the world's greatest swordsman, you'd need him to be softened up first, wouldn't you?"
"What's that?" Tashigi gasped. "Did you just call him - ?"
"World's greatest swordsman," Hannyabal repeated. "He beat the Shichibukai Hawk-Eye Mihawk a few days ago."
"Then what the devil is he doing here in a Marine prison?" Smoker growled.
Hannyabal swelled up importantly, pleased to be the one in the know for once. Normally, the prison wing was the last to hear any news. "Well, you see..."
Hannyabal was abruptly interrupted when the other door to the room swung open and a loud voice bellowed, "Where is he? Where is Roronoa?"
"Ah! Vice-Admiral Garp, sir!" Hannyabal was suddenly the picture of fawning obedience, when Garp's entourage entered the room. "How nice to see you in the prison wing, sir! Welcome, welcome!"
"I want to see him."
"Him, sir?"
"Roronoa! Now!" Garp would have looked and sounded extremely intimidating if he hadn't been in the midst of excavating his nose.
"Er - yes! At once!" Hannyabal squeaked, and hurried away.
"Vice-Admiral Garp, sir, I would like to be present for the interrogation," Smoker requested, in the respectful tone he reserved for a very select few of the upper brass.
Garp studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Very well."
"Excuse me, Tashigi-san," a pink-haired youth behind Garp said meekly, "but are those...?"
"Yes, Coby-san, they are," Tashigi replied.
Smoker racked his brains, trying to recall just who this young officer was and why he looked so familiar. Finally he remembered the boy who had blocked Akainu's way in the battle of Marineford, screaming for everyone to stop the useless fighting. The boy had guts, he had to give him that. Garp certainly knew how to pick them.
"Garp-san, were you the one who captured Roronoa?" Smoker asked. If there was one person whose movements were opaque to most of the Marine establishment - even to the Fleet Admiral - it was Garp.
"Wahahahaha! Me? No!" Garp replied. "Helmeppo, tell him what happened."
The blond-haired counterpart to Coby straightened up and reported, "Apparently Roronoa Zoro had made a deal with the Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma to surrender himself once he became world's greatest swordsman, Smoker-san. And...he did."
Smoker bit down on his cigars so hard he almost decapitated them. He had surrendered himself? Damn that Roronoa! He couldn't even give the Marines the faintest honour of having captured him in fair battle - though doubtless history would be rewritten that way, just like Arabasta had. Smoker wondered which sap would be forced to take the glory and promotion this time. It sure as hell wasn't going to be him!
And what had possessed Roronoa to make that deal in the first place?
"Vice-Admiral Garp, the prisoner is ready for you." Hannyabal ushered the Marine officers through to the cell, and would have followed himself, but was stopped by the silent man in the suit whom Smoker and Tashigi knew to be Garp's constant and rather mysterious lieutenant. He clanged the door shut behind them.
Tashigi gave a small gasp as she surveyed the sorry state of the "world's greatest swordsman", who looked far from the embodiment of that title right now. Smoker frowned at her and motioned for her to remain in the back of the room, behind the others, and took a good look at the prey he had chased for so long.
Roronoa Zoro was chained to the wall, green hair matted to his head with sweat, shirt hanging in shreds off his broad shoulders, his entire body streaked with rivulets of blood that dripped from wounds old and new and pooled around his knees. His body was sagging, held up only by the chains, but still he managed to raise his head and give them the feral, mocking grin Smoker loathed. "Never knew I had so many old friends among the Marines," he rasped out, before giving way to a fit of coughing.
"Give the man some water," Garp ordered, and Coby immediately hurried to pour the prisoner a drink.
"Here, Zoro-san, drink up," Coby said, gently holding the cup to the prisoner's lips so that he could sip it.
Huh, maybe Roronoa hadn't been mocking them after all. Maybe those two really were friends.
"Thanks," Zoro said gruffly.
Coby took back the cup, taking a close look at Zoro's eyes as he did so. He turned to Garp. "Sir, he's lost a lot of blood. I think he should be treated for his injuries."
"I'm fine. Fine!" The tone was proud, but Zoro's voice was slightly slurred, and for a man who had just been given a bad beating, he seemed positively light-headed. "Well?" He glanced around at the silent crowd, somehow managing to sound defiant despite everything. "Now that I've been softened up, anyone gonna ask me any questions?" The tone of his voice made it clear that he had been anything but "softened up".
"Tch. Still the same stubborn idiot after all this time," Helmeppo muttered. Smoker couldn't decide whether that was a tone of disgust or respect. Probably both.
"Wahahahahaha! I see my grandson chose a fine first mate!" Garp chortled.
The expression on Zoro's face changed, and he looked away. "I'm not Luffy's first mate. I'm no longer on the crew. S'you don't have to worry 'bout him coming to rescue me. He won't."
"When his life was the reason you made this deal in the first place? I think you underestimate my grandson," Garp retorted dryly.
Zoro turned to stare at the white-haired vice-admiral. Then he shook his head. "It wasn't for Luffy's life. It was for my dream."
"Do you take me for some sort of fool, boy?" Garp snorted, semi-serious for once. "Kuma told me all about it. How you and that cook offered your heads in exchange for his." Beneath the harsh tone of the Marine Vice-Admiral, Smoker could discern the gratitude of a grandparent. Garp was saying thank you.
And Roronoa wasn't denying it, either, which meant it was true. Smoker clenched his fists. Why couldn't the Strawhat Pirates act like pirates? Why couldn't they steal and pillage instead of bringing down corrupt criminals, saving countries, freeing slaves? Why did they constantly push their self-interest aside and throw themselves into harm's way for other people, making even hardened Marines like Smoker feel bad, of all things, that they were behind bars where they belonged?
Smoker didn't believe in absolutes as some of the other Marines did, but hell, the Strawhat Pirates were turning the world topsy-turvy. When pirates held themselves to a higher standard of honour than the so-called forces of justice did, something was wrong.
Damn Strawhats.
Smoker only had a few moments to unravel his thoughts when they were interrupted by a commotion outside. "Admiral Sengoku, sir!" they heard the prison warden warble a greeting.
"Ah, Sengoku's here to join the party too, eh?" Garp said, cheerily.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku entered a few moments later, giving curt nods to all present and taking in the condition of the prisoner in a brief glance. "I will be brief, Roronoa Zoro." Sengoku never wasted time with formalities. "Tell me, do you still consider yourself a member of Monkey D Luffy's crew?"
"Nope," Zoro said.
"Good. The Gorousei has authorised me to offer you Hawkeye Mihawk's place among the Shichibukai. Will you accept?"
"Shichibukai?" A smile twisted its way across Zoro's face. "You want me to become a shichibukai?"
"Why not? You were once a pirate hunter, and now you are a pirate. What else is a shichibukai but the union of these two roles? It would only be entwining the two contradictory threads of your life into one. I need hardly add that this is a great honour, and is the only way to escape your other possible fates."
"And just what are those fates?"
"One, execution. Two, slavery. The Tenryuubito still have not forgiven you the incident on Sabaody."
Smoker felt Tashigi stiffen at the latter. He wasn't too thrilled at the idea either. Roronoa Zoro had been a formidable opponent, and always an honourable one. He didn't deserve so ignoble a fate.
"Slavery, huh? I guess you can't outrun fate forever," Zoro commented. Smoker hardly knew what to make of that statement.
"You will also be acknowledged worldwide as the world's greatest swordsman, even by the World Government. I have read your file, Roronoa Zoro. I know that was your dream, to have your fame proclaimed to the high heavens. I can assure you, as long as you do not comply with our wishes, you will be erased entirely from history."
"Like Ohara, or the Void Century?" Zoro asked mockingly.
Sengoku stiffened a little at the mention of those two taboo subjects. "I assure you, the World Government has great expertise in the matter."
"Well, tough luck. I don't need my name to be proclaimed to the high heavens."
Sengoku looked scandalised that his files had given him the wrong information. "Why not?"
"The only person who needs to know is right here."
Everyone turned to follow the prisoner's gaze. Tashigi shrank back a little from the stares of some of the most powerful men in the world. "M-m-m-me?" she stuttered.
Dammit, what is Roronoa playing at? Smoker raged internally. If he was trying to incriminate Tashigi in some kind of plot...
"You know what happened, don't you, Kuina?" Zoro asked. "You got Wado back. That's good. You'll take care of Sandai and Shuusui too, won't you?"
"Lieutenant! What is the meaning of this? Do you know this man?" Sengoku said, giving Tashigi a suspicious glare.
"If I may, sir," Smoker said, interposing himself between Tashigi and his boss's wrath, "The prisoner is clearly delirious. He's mistaken Lieutenant Tashigi for someone else. Someone dead."
"'M not delirious," Zoro contradicted him. "I can see her, clear as day. You know I beat Mihawk, don't you?"
His voice was so stubbornly insistent that Tashigi couldn't help nodding. "Yes, I know."
A smile of relief spread across Zoro's face. "You know what that means, then."
"You're the world's greatest swordsman?" she said softly.
"No. You are."
"Me???" Everyone glanced between Zoro and Tashigi, confused.
"You're the one person I could never defeat. So that means...you're the world's greatest swordsman. See?"
"Lieutenant, what is the meaning of this?" Sengoku asked sternly.
"Sir, really, he's mistaken me for somebody else! He always has, even years ago, back in Loguetown. He said I just looked like her...a childhood friend."
"Is that so?" Sengoku said, tight-lipped. He swung around to inspect the prisoner once more. It was true that his eyes did look slightly unfocused, but he didn't seem in the least like a man in delirium. He had sounded so certain, so confident.
Zoro smirked up at him. "See? I don't care what you do to me now. She knows. She knows, and that's all that matters..."
"Does that mean that you refuse the appointment?"
"Shichibukai are scum, anyway. Except Mihawk, they're all weaklings, dogs of the World Government..." At last, one thing Smoker and Roronoa could agree on, Smoker thought.
But, damn it all, he didn't want to be agreeing with Roronoa on any subject!
Zoro's words were interrupted by an urgent knocking on the door. "Sir! Admiral Sengoku, sir!"
"Enter," Sengoku barked at the messenger, who rushed in, panting heavily, and saluted. "What is it?"
"A declaration of war, sir!" the Marine reported.
"A declaration of - who the hell is it this time?" Sengoku frowned.
"Strawhat Luffy, sir! He's sailing for Marineford as we speak!"
The news seemed to bring Zoro back to full alertness. "What? That idiot!"
"I told you so," Garp said smugly.
Sengoku was equally livid at the news. "Garp! I want you assigned to defence..." His voice trailed off, as he recalled what happened the last time Garp had "tried" to keep his grandson from reclaiming a prisoner. "Never mind! Smoker! I want you to organise the defences! On no account are we to cede Roronoa Zoro to the enemy as we ceded Portgas D Ace in the past!"
"Sir." Smoker nodded curtly, accepting the order. "Come, Tashigi."
"No, Lieutenant Tashigi is being relieved from duty pending an investigation into her background," Sengoku intervened. "You are hereby placed under suspension, Lieutenant."
"B-b-but sir! I've done nothing wrong!" Tashigi protested.
Smoker glared at Sengoku as if he was an idiot. "The prisoner is clearly either trying to fool us, or is fooling himself. He simply mistook her for a person who's dead!"
"Stranger things have happened than a dead person coming back to life and infiltrating the Marines, Commodore Smoker," Sengoku said acidly. "The Gorousei will not forgive a repeat of the inside job that allowed Teach to dictate how the last battle of Marineford went. Now go."
Smoker shot Sengoku a lethal glare and stomped off. Just as he reached the door, another Marine came tearing up. "Sir! Admiral Sengoku, sir! Urgent report!"
"What is it now?"
"Sir, a declaration of war!"
"Yes, yes, I've already been informed of that. Stand down, Marine."
"No, sir, it's another one! The Revolutionaries have declared war on the World Government, sir, and their fleet is on the way!"
Everyone took a few seconds to process the report, then Sengoku turned to his vice-admiral and friend. "What the hell is wrong with your whole damn family, Garp?" he roared.
"Yeah, I kinda want to know the answer to that as well," Zoro added.
Oddly enough, Garp did not look in the least bit ashamed. "Wahahahaha! I guess they don't believe in allowing fate to claim their friends."
"Idiots, all of them," Zoro repeated under his breath.
Smoker was rather relieved that he was back to disagreeing with Zoro once more.