IX.

.

.

I was against the wall when Zoro came back. Crouching low, staring fixedly at the floor. My hands were firmly over my ears— doing my very best to block out the screaming, but I guess I was so focused on not paying attention that now it was actually over, it took a tap to my leg from the sheath of his sword that snapped me out of it. I looked up wordlessly, blinking. Processing the lack of outside noise.

"I'm done," was all he said. Tucking his sword into his sash, he turned and strode back out, hands laced behind his head. I didn't follow right away; I just watched his back as he went, dimly noting that he'd finally picked up a shirt to wear over his bandages— a floral Hawaiian number. Haha, now we sort of matched. It almost helped me ignore the strange twist in my gut that really felt before until now— something that hadn't been there this whole time I'd been around him. But I couldn't squat in a pirate stronghold forever, I guess, so I stood, shook the pins and needles out of my legs, and dragged them uncooperatively forward.

Surprise, surprise— there were bodies littering the concrete outside. Lots of them. An entire compounds' worth, and of course there were, who else would have been screaming and making such a din as I stayed hidden inside? I could… smell blood. I mean… it wasn't a massacre, there weren't trails of gore splattered everyone. Zoro wasn't that kind of swordsman, obviously. But, here and there, splashes of red— there was a fishman only a few feet away from me, motionless on the ground. Had… there been blood on Zoro's sword? No, it was sheathed— where did he clean it? On his newly acquired shirt, carelessly on some downed enemy before he came to get me…?

"Are they dead?"

Zoro paused, only a few steps off. He didn't turn around. Right away I wished I hadn't said it, biting my tongue and looking at the ground again. It was better than literally anywhere else. To my own horror, I found that distinction included Zoro himself.

"Would it bother you if they were?"

His words were light. If he was judging me, I couldn't tell, which made it all the worse.

"They would have killed us," I said, sliding past a question I didn't have the answer to— "And they'd have been happy about it, I mean. Probably. They wouldn't even hesitate if Arlong said so. And— they've done worse, I know they have, on this island, and lots of other islands around here— Arlong's got a bounty of what, twenty million bucks? You don't earn that for nothing." I laughed, but it rang hollow. I stopped laughing. "God, I'm— sorry. That was a stupid question. I don't mean to, um, put you on the spot. I-I'm just, god…"

I scrubbed at my face. I wasn't about to cry or anything, I wasn't really— but right now, there were a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head. Dumped right on top of everything else. Zoro was a swordsman. He was a bounty hunter. I knew this. I'd known this. But still… still…

"I'm not used to this," I finished lamely, with another shaky laugh. At a lack of what to do with my arms, I wrapped them tightly around myself. All the better to keep me from shaking, because I shouldn't be— I wasn't even cold.

Zoro glanced over with a half-turn on the heel and a neutral expression.

"Yeah," he agreed. "You're not."

I winced. One thing to know it for myself. Another to hear it reinforced out loud like that. I'm not sure what Zoro was looking for, but he studied me another moment before stretching his arms and dropping them with a sigh. One went to rest on the hilt of his sword. The small action drew my eyes like a magnet, and hastily I dragged them back. Then, he… shrugged.

"It doesn't bother me, if it bothers you," he said at last. "I came to terms with it a long time ago— that not everyone sees eye to eye on this sort of thing. I figured out pretty quickly not to care."

Huh. That was sort of sad.

"It's… It's not anything personal? Against you?" I said, feeling the need to defend myself, or reassure him, or… something, meeting his eye for it. He just quirked an eyebrow.

"Isn't it?" he asked, looking amused, "Pretty sure you think differently of me now than you did ten minutes ago." Oof. He had me there. That was embarrassing, and I felt ashamed. "Well, like I said—I don't care. You're basically just a civilian. There's no reason you should think any differently."

See, there it was again. Something that almost stung, the way he said it, as casually as I thought he meant it. He wasn't wrong— that's what really got me, I think. And it hurt, knowing that about myself. I wanted to like him, after all. I… I'd… expected to like him. I mean, he was one of the good guys. Not a bad guy, not one of the numerous heartless villains from the series at all. But he was also someone who hunted other people. For a living. I guess that was where I'd set myself up to lose out. It was so much easier glossing over certain violent actions done in black and white. That I was seeing the aftermath of such…. Casual violence like this…

Haha, I was a filthy casual, to put it one way. I could almost make myself laugh at that.

"Well, anyway, for what it's worth—" Zoro was… sitting on the deck chair throne that Arlong had occupied not too long ago,"—none of these guys were worth the effort. They're only mostly dead."

"Uh, where does 'mostly dead' rank on the mortality scale?" I deadpanned, and then promptly slapped a hand over my mouth. Zoro smirked as he leaned back and crossed his legs, making himself right at home on the chair of a notorious murderous fishman pirate. Mostly dead? 'Mostly dead?' What did that even mean? There were still a fair amount of fishmen bleeding on the ground, here. Mostly dead wasn't a real reassuring indicator but… well, even so, some of the twist in my gut eased, a bit of bitter relief that despite everything, I wasn't hanging out with some crazy hardened killer. Mostly.

"Now what?" I sighed, staring out over the distant horizon.

"I'm waiting for Arlong," Zoro said. He yawned. Really committing to this casual napping position, I see. "What about you?"

"What about me?" I echoed. Zoro cracked open a lazy eye, flicking it upwards in my direction.

"I think," he said, "That you're tangled up in a bunch of pirate business, and that you should figure out how far you're willing to play along. Before you can't turn back."

.

.

Those ominous words sure left things on the weirdest note.

Thoughts upon thoughts upon… ugh. Small miracle that somewhere along the way I didn't just get the biggest migraine. A scary thought— I think I was starting to desensitize to it all. God forbid I actually get used to this. I ran a hand through my hair (gross, I think I could feel the salt still in it) watching the dark reflection of the water below me. Zoro napped, content to wait it out; I'd found the least body-occupied patch of concrete by the entrance pool and sat down right on the edge. About where Nami had tried to throw me in the water, actually.

How far along I was willing to play along…?

How far I was going to play…?

But I wasn't playing? I was just trying to… survive the shenanigans. It was everyone else who couldn't keep things straight, or act normally at all, why wouldn't anyone just act normally— No, that was wrong. I was the one who wasn't normal. I was the outsider dropping the wrench in the works. The extra plot device in the narrative, throwing off the script and making things worse when they would have turned out perfectly fine without me and I knew that— no that wasn't right either, because this wasn't a script! Argh, argh! The paradox! I groaned into my hands, slumping over for a moment of abject despair over it all.

When I looked up again there was a face staring back at me from the water. It wasn't my face.

Calypso waved cheerily from her water mirror.

…WHAT.

Over my shoulder I swiveled around— yeah, Zoro was out still. I swiveled back around— Calypso. Still there. The ocean was eerily calm, all smooth and glassy just like those other, and I'd really been that out of it? It wasn't small! What if someone saw? To my horror, she was opening her mouth to speak!

"Shhhhh!" In the lowest hiss I could make, praying Zoro wouldn't hear me across the way, I waved my arms frantically in front of me, anything to keep her from speaking since we weren't alone. Thankfully she seemed to get the picture; she tilted her head and looked confused, but didn't speak. I tried to further emphasize my point— a meaningful tilt of the head over my shoulder. Exaggerated eye rolling, some kind of chopping motion with my hands. Uh, wait, I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. Calypso looked baffled.

Okay, uh… A jab at myself. An extra hard jab over my shoulder. Followed by the worst attempt at miming Zoro's three-sword style without actually having any swords to mime with, but I think she got the picture as her eyes widened and her mouth formed a perfect 'o' in understanding. Then, uh, she nodded and winked in a dramatic fashion.

Her image blurred as waves overtook the mirror, and in seconds was gone, leaving me to sigh in relief. That wasn't something I felt like explaining today. Wait, shit, what if she'd had information about getting home? Aw man. The timing on top of all that! Damn it, Calypso! Then, the waves made a funny little motion, swirling like water in a bathtub that had just had its plug pulled. Unlike in a bathtub, very quickly it snapped back— spitting out a small, hard object that smacked directly into my face.

"What the hell…?" Somehow I caught it before it bounced right back into the water, and it was a near thing, but luck was on my side, and now I had a thing in my hand. A small thing that sat very neatly in the palm of my hand. It looked like… was that beach glass?

A small glass piece sat innocently in my hand , dully shining under the sun. It was worn smooth, and slightly pitted, just like the little shards of beach glass I'd found on the beaches of my home world through carefully focused combing. This was bigger than those, but from the shape and form, it was almost like someone had fused several little pieces of beach glass into one complete sculpture. All in all, with the direction of the glass and the arrangement of the pattern… It looked like a little whirlpool. Huh. Why did Calpyso give me… this? It had to have been her. Oceans normally didn't throw things at me like this.

The little whirlpool lay more or less flat, but an even smaller spiral up top split off to make a loop, one that looked as if something could be threaded through. Was this actually a pendant? Was it supposed to be a necklace? Well, I didn't have anything to hang it on, so for now, I hesitantly stowed in the pocket of my baggy shorts. Hopefully it wouldn't fall out. Wasn't sure what to do with it, but a sea goddess had given it to me so it had to be good for… something. I probably could have found out, if she'd actually had the chance to speak.

In the middle of my puzzled musing, a sound came floating from the direction of the ocean, made abrupt just from how out of place it was. It kind of sounded like some brass instrument. Maybe… a trumpet? No, I hadn't played full orchestra for years in school for nothing, that didn't sound like any brass instrument I'd ever heard.

Wait, wait, I remembered this. Oh no.

"What the hell is that?" Equal parts curious and irritated, somehow the noise carried enough to disrupt Zoro from yet another impromptu nap (tough luck, good naps were in a hell of a short supply around here) and before I could say something he was sauntering down the walkway to the great wall separating Arlong Park and the sea and in short order was exchanging words with the originator of the noise, which wouldn't be a trumpet or anything at all, of course.

Hatchan was on the other side of the wall right now.

"Oh no, " I mumbled. Forget Calypso and all other mysterious, time to deal with another round of plot nonsense. Okay, okay, no, this was fine. No time for sitting, of course— I sprung up and resisted the urge to pace. This was happening. Had to stay calm. Hatchan over the wall right now, who in his kind-hearted thick-headedness would give Zoro a ride to Cocoyashi village, right? Because Zoro was still waiting for Arlong and Nami both. I couldn't help it, and shivered; leaving for Cocoyashi was a pretty pivotal action, all things considered. At last we were headed for a convergence point. Everything was coming to a head. Luffy was on his way right this minute.

Of course, Usopp was also on his way in a sense, if he'd been nabbed by Arlong by now. Good god, what was the timeline of events here? How quickly was everything supposed to happen?

"Oi."

Aaaaaugh there weren't any commercial breaks or transition panels here! I had no idea if things happened in a matter of minutes or hours! What the hell!

"Hey. Woman!"

"My name is Kirsten," I shot back automatically, winced, and finally acknowledged that Zoro was yelling at me down the way. Attention caught, he thumbed over his shoulder where he'd been talking over the wall.

"This guy's offering a ride to Cocoyashi," he called, "You coming, or what?"

I was a little baffled by the fact he was offering, I guess. After my less that flattering behavior just before. It's not like I wanted to be left behind in a base full of downed pirate. Also… Also… still thinking a mile a minute. Arlong was coming back, like, right now with Usopp, right? And Nami? Wait, what chain of events was happening right now? Could I just… suggest that we stay put? Logically Arlong was bound to come eventually… But that was a stupid thought, wasn't it? Why would I suggest that? If I said something like that…

…Nami would be angry all over again that we didn't listen and vacate. Luffy wouldn't reconnect with Zoro. Usopp wouldn't be free to join up either, and what if throwing things off meant he was stabbed or something, for real? I don't know what the hell Johnny was up to right now. And Zoro, I'd just be setting him up for a premature fight with Arlong because he would pick a fight, moron, overconfident no doubt from easily wiping the floor here, but against the fishman captain himself and his lieutenants combined—

Through some unexplained decision Zoro was still waiting for my response. Seconds were ticking by as I thought too much about stupid things I didn't need to be poking my nose into. Just because I knew roughly what was happening… why on earth did that mean I had some kind of right to act on it?

How many seconds was I wasting by delaying him when he had better places to be? Zoro's hideous Hawaiian shirt fluttered a bit, catching my eye to where it lay open, exposing his stark white bandages.

'Why aren't you jumping in after him?'

'Stay out of things you don't understand.'

…how far was I willing to play along?

I swallowed, and forced myself forward in a light jog to close the distance.

"Oh, good, I thought maybe you wanted to stay here," Zoro said with an eye roll. I just stayed silent, just kept my legs moving and my face blank. The plot was important. The plot was safe. Following the plot meant I wouldn't be putting anyone in danger, or messing things up any more than they had to be just from my presence alone.

It had worked out so far. I wouldn't dare assume it would stay that way.

.

.

The real, unfortunate, answer to my question on just how quickly the timeline was moving was answered way too quickly for comfort.

"I take it all back!" I shrieked, "This is stupid, and you're stupid!"

"Shut up and run!" Zoro snapped right back, sprinting ahead with unnatural ease, holy shit what was this guy's time on the mile test? I'm not even sure how I was keeping up in the first place. My lungs were burning. Hell, every time I opened my mouth there was steam rolling out from the force of my breathing alone.

Ride the Hatchan express to Cocoyashi: check. ("Oh! Is this your lady friend?" he'd said pleasantly on my appearance, which neither of us deigned to comment on ; truly he was as bizarre looking as I feared— six arms was nothing to sneeze at.)

Upon arriving at Cocoyashi, immediately find out we'd missed Arlong ages ago: check.

Turn around and start running right back to Arlong park: check, check, and throw the list out while I was ahead! My legs weren't built for this kind of running! Wait, wait, why was I following him when I'd literally resolved to keep my nose out of the plot's business? What was I doing? I was the idiot now!

On that revelation I ground to halt and doubled over, panting and shaking and dropping steam like nobody's business. This was not efficient at all. To my alarm, Zoro slowed on hearing me drop back. No, none of that—I waved, shooing him on.

"No! No, just go!" I wheezed, "I'll— I'll catch up! Just go on!"

He needed no further prompting, speeding right back up and leaving me in the dust. At least his priorities were straight there. Aw man, he wasn't going to get lost, was he? I'd always thought it was weird how his directional handicap didn't ramp up until later in the series. Whew… oops, there was totally a stitch in my side now. Cramp, cramp—

"Shit, okay," I gasped, fanning my face desperately to cool down. A dead sprint would do that, but I was feeling way too hot for this to be all from that; I'm sure my face was glaring red, I felt so hot. Under my skin, though, that's where it started getting weird. My blood felt like it was… churning, for lack of a better word. I didn't even know what blood felt like, really, but it couldn't be this. What with the steam puffing from my mouth like some kind of winded dragon, was there something going on here with my devil fruit? I had been mostly able to keep up with Zoro, and that in hindsight was a little crazy. Guy was way more fit than me.

I guess I did feel, lighter? In a sense, but I wasn't sure how noticeable an effect it made. I refused to believe that a logia fruit would go so far as to make me physically more fit than I'd been in the first place; still, the rapid pressure inside me, the frantic beating of my heart, hammering way too loud and quickly, the heat radiating around my body—

Actually. I think the dragon metaphor was wrong. Listening to myself, feeling how I felt, maybe a more apt comparison would be to an… an… engine. A… steam engine.

Hm. Hmm. I don't think, when it came to logia users, was it possible that there were more scenes than not of them pointedly not using their own two feet to move around? I looked unsteadily at my legs. Solid, human-like, fleshy. Not steam. Oh, man, I was missing out completely here. Why was I running when by all rights I could just as easily be flying?

…how the hell could I do that? I'd freaked out consciously trying to change the shape of my arms alone in the brig. I couldn't just, change a whole half of me like that at the drop of a hat.

There wasn't any time anyway. Zoro was a dot in the distance. The wind was blowing, the trees were swaying, and if I listened, I could hear the chirping of birds and bugs, as well as a faint and distant sound of screaming, growing louder by the secon—

Huh.

I was still half-keeled over and steadying my breath, but I craned my neck upward in confusion, wondering where the screaming possibly could be coming from when we weren't anywhere near Arlong Park or anything. Somewhere up ahead came a crackle; also growing louder. Hm, it sound a bit like breaking wood. Or, a lot of breaking wood. A whole lot of breaking wood heading exactly in my direction—

A ship came bursting out of the tree line. A whole-ass ship, traveling an indeterminate amount of miles per hour, most importantly one helmed by three familiar figures in varying states of fear, panic, and exhilaration as their ride came plowing across the road, as easily as if it were the very waters it normally would be sailing.

Haha, who was I kidding. Most of what I saw was just a smear of color. All I really could do was bug my eyes out and open my mouth to scream, at which point the quick time event timed out and the entire bulk of the flying ship slammed squarely into the sitting duck that was my motionless body.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I am not extremely pleased with this chapter but you know what! I'm almost at the point I've been working towards that is the whole reason I started in this corner of the blues in the first place! I'm working on this next chapter immediately! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!