Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
At the training field, the atmosphere had turned strangely tense. Two groups stood staring at each other, eyes wide with shock and confusion. Neither side had expected to meet the other here.
Before long, the CP agents led by Rob Lucci began to grin.
"Chapapa… a gift from heaven?" Fukuro unzipped his mouth and muttered. "Who would've thought a Pirate Hunter would literally fall out of the sky?"
No one could have imagined that while peacefully training at Marine Headquarters, an actual pirate would suddenly drop right into the middle of them.
Before Zoro knew it, he was surrounded by figures in Marine uniforms.
"Hey, hey…"
"Where the hell am I?"
A bad feeling crept over him, cold sweat breaking out on his face. He looked around. Marines. Everywhere. It was like he had fallen straight into the nest.
"Where?" Kaku smiled, looking at him strangely. "You don't even know where you landed? This is the strongest fortress in the world. Marine Headquarters, Marineford."
Jabra grinned mockingly. "You've got some incredible luck, pirate. Of all places, you landed here."
"Marine Headquarters…"
"MARINEFORD?!"
Zoro froze, his face practically turning green. Even the dumbest pirate in the world knew that name.
"That bastard…" Zoro gritted his teeth, sweat pouring down his forehead. "He slapped me all the way here?!"
Soon, Marines farther away noticed the commotion and began heading over.
"Rob Lucci. What happened?" Daz Bones approached with a cold expression. But the next second, his attention locked onto Zoro, his eyes sharpening. "Roronoa Zoro. Why are you here?"
Zoro's face twitched. "I'D LIKE TO KNOW THAT TOO!"
Who could possibly understand what he had just been through? One second, he'd been having a perfectly good fight with Kuina. The next, a single slap had sent him straight into enemy headquarters.
"The swordsman from Straw Hat's crew." A tall figure strode over and fixed his gaze on Zoro.
"Gecko Moria?!"
Zoro's pupils contracted, shock filling him as his eyes swept over one familiar enemy after another. His hands instinctively moved toward his swords.
His current situation could hardly be worse, everywhere he looked were enemies he recognized. He had no idea why all of them happened to be gathered here, or why fate seemed determined to keep throwing them in his path.
But these people were only the first obstacle. Even if he somehow escaped this training field, there were countless more Marines waiting beyond it. Marine Headquarters. Marineford. The heart of the entire Marine organization. The strongest Marines in the world were gathered here. His chances of escaping were practically zero.
No. More accurately, there was no chance at all.
"So I really walked straight into the tiger's den…" Zoro gave a grim smile and placed his third sword in his mouth, his eyes turning savage. Like a wild beast surrounded by hunters, there was nothing left in his expression except aggression and the will to fight.
"If you ask me, your best option is to surrender," Kaku smiled calmly.
Rob Lucci's eyes remained cold and emotionless. "Any resistance is pointless."
"Leave him to me." Daz Bones stepped forward. "We're old opponents."
Moria gave a vicious grin. "No. Let me crush his skull and settle what happened last time."
Perona floated in the air, looking Zoro up and down before covering her mouth with a giggle. "This is the first time I've seen such an interesting swordsman."
Zoro clenched his teeth. "If you've got the guts, then all of you come at me together! A true swordsman never turns his back on the enemy! Running away? Surrendering? Neither of those is ever going to happen!"
Rob Lucci stepped forward, and almost at the same time, Daz Bones and Moria moved as well.
Lucci narrowed his eyes. "No matter what grudges anyone here had with him before, now that he's appeared in front of us, we only have one objective. Capture him. Or kill him."
No one objected. In just a few casual sentences, they had practically decided Zoro's fate. The sheer dismissiveness of it made him furious. It was obvious none of them took him seriously.
"You think I'm some helpless sheep?" Zoro sneered. "Then you're about to be very surprised." He lowered his body slightly, leaning forward into an attacking stance.
Just then, a chubby young man with pink hair walked over. His head was badly swollen and bruised, making it look almost comically large. The moment he saw the three-sword swordsman surrounded in the middle of the field, he shouted in shock.
"MR. ZORO?! You became a Marine too?!"
Zoro turned his head. Despite the terrible state of the guy's face, he could still just barely recognize him.
"Koby?" Zoro stared at him. "You sure look different."
Koby, whose swollen head now looked almost like a pig's, gave an awkward smile and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I guess I'm a little harder to recognize right now."
"As for becoming a Marine…" Zoro grinned. "Sorry to disappoint you. Right now, I'm probably the enemy of every single person here."
He lowered his stance even further as a fierce light flashed through his eyes. Surrounded by powerful enemies on every side, Zoro attacked first, charging straight at them.
Different expressions immediately appeared across the faces of everyone watching.
Rob Lucci gave a cold laugh and vanished from where he stood, reappearing directly in front of Zoro a moment later.
Moria charged in from another direction, laughing with murderous intent. "Hehehehehe! You're asking to die!"
Daz Bones said nothing, rushing forward as well with his military sword in hand.
CLANG!
Steel crashed against steel as Zoro's knees bent sharply under the pressure. Large beads of sweat rolled down his face, dripping from his chin and splashing onto the ground. He had blocked all three attacks at once, each coming from a different direction, but the pressure was enormous. All three of his swords were trembling, and so was his entire body.
"You guys got stronger too?" Zoro grinned savagely. "Perfect. I'll take all three of you down at once!"
"Too much confidence isn't always a good thing," Lucci said coldly. "I'll turn your body into the perfect work of art and send it to Straw Hat."
"I've been looking forward to settling things with you again," Moria grinned viciously.
Daz Bones spoke seriously as well.
Zoro clenched his teeth and let out a low roar, pouring all his strength into his swords to force all three of them back. The exchange had lasted only an instant, but the pressure they placed on him had already made the muscles throughout his body tremble and spasm. That alone showed just how much stronger these three had become.
But no matter what, there was absolutely no chance Zoro would surrender.
"A swordsman who gets cut in the back is a disgrace!" Zoro roared. "Even if I die, I'd rather die while swinging my swords!"
The three figures attacked again, bringing with them a pressure almost enough to make anyone despair. Nearby, Koby and Helmeppo clung nervously to each other, shouting Zoro's name.
"Please survive, Mr. Zoro!"
"Someone save Mr. Zoro!"
And in truth… they weren't wrong.
---
While Zoro was facing a hellish situation in Marineford,
On Amazon Lily, Rayleigh emerged from the sea with Luffy in his arms.
Waves crashed against the shore behind him. Rayleigh was completely soaked, his silver hair plastered against his head. His steps were unsteady, and wounds covered several parts of his body, but all of his attention was focused on the unconscious boy in his arms.
"What exactly was that power? The rhythm of the Drums of Liberation… A power strong enough to fight that monster Kojin head-on." Rayleigh stared at Luffy's blank white eyes, his expression serious but filled with a strange excitement.
"Are you the king Roger once said would appear in the future, Luffy? The will from eight hundred years ago awakened inside you… and fought Kojin. You really are an unbelievable kid." Rayleigh sighed in amazement.
"I'll make sure you survive, and I'll train you properly. Kojin called that will Joy Boy, but your future… your future has to surpass even Joy Boy's." A smile appeared on Rayleigh's face.
He had lived for most of a lifetime, yet he had never witnessed anything like what had just happened to Luffy. Another will had actually appeared inside a person. And judging from what that will had displayed during the battle, there was clearly far more to Luffy's Devil Fruit than anyone had realized.
"Kojin really is absurdly strong," Rayleigh sighed again as he carried Luffy toward the forest beyond the shore. "At my age, I'm no longer a match for him. I'll have to leave people like that to the next generation."
Two Devil Fruit abilities. Both awakened. All three forms of Haki trained to their limits. There was no question that Kojin stood among the strongest people in the world.
"And even then…" Rayleigh's eyes flickered. "I don't think he showed everything he had in that fight."
He looked down at Luffy again. "Luffy… the era waiting for you is going to be the hardest one yet."
The next instant, Rayleigh's body shifted slightly as an arrow coated in Haki shot past him. Looking up, he saw several female warriors who had appeared among the trees ahead.
"I'd like to see your ruler, Boa Hancock," Rayleigh smiled calmly. "Tell her an old friend has come to visit."
The women exchanged glances. They didn't attack again, but they remained on guard while one of them left to report his arrival.
A short while later, Rayleigh was allowed into the kingdom. Standing before Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, his expression turned serious.
"I need you to save Luffy. He has an incredibly bright and powerful future ahead of him, and his life absolutely cannot end here."
(End of Chapter)
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