high_seas | Mayhem at Malihini

[He can hear Luffy nearby, but if he's not rushing to help, there must be something wrong. Clearly. But Zoro has his hands full at the moment. His limbs move too slow, he has to actually duck and roll just to be able to get his other hand and his teeth on the other two swords and pull them. The three sayas clatter to the ground as he comes up fully-armed, his good eye blinking hazily. It's dark, the dancing firelight is a strain on his cloudy vision. But the fire they had been enjoying as a mere party bonfire looks different, now. There's something sitting in it, or over it...

He doesn't hear the bola coming until it hits his arm, but he moves just enough to keep it from wrapping around him and pinning his arms down. This is not good. This isn't how it's supposed to go. Zoro shakes his head as if that will clear it and then lunges toward the glint of light off knives. If they're going to bring it to him, he's going to meet it with all his might.

Whatever might he has left.]

Luffy! Where the hell are you, dumbass?!

Mmnnnnn [he's not sure. He hears Zoro but... there's bars...and a cage and a fire... and he doesn't have his hat... But he can't really figure out how to tell him quickly so he tries to move to make the cage shake a bit, hoping that Zoro will notice.

Digest. Digest. More people with knives are coming from all directions and then two big guys dressed in jaguar pelts with machetes as large as they are come from the trees.

One of them is wearing the hat.]

Oi...

[The fire-dancers suddenly aren't dancers anymore, but some of the village's toughest warriors, some armed with fire-swords and others picking up spears. Zoro is abruptly beset with them, since he has thwarted their plans simply by standing up. It had taken too much to even drug him, and he threw it off too easily for their needs - but not entirely. He might be on his feet and swinging his swords to deflect every weapon that darted near him, but Zoro knows he's compromised. Painfully. He still moves slowly, he can't make his body respond to demands to fight back, and his senses are numb. He can't go after the machete-guys just yet, but he can see them out of the corner of his eye, and then spots Luffy at last.

Oh what fresh hell is this.

They've got the giant rolly rubber ball that is Luffy in a cage suspended over the fire, and anyone not concentrating on taking down the swordsman was gathered around heaping the firewood and preparing a spit. Are they going to eat them? SERIOUSLY?

Zoro is going to have to go through half the village to stop them, but he now has a goal, something to focus on. One step at a time, he forces himself to try to advance and cut through the warriors blocking him from his captain. He manages to yell around the hilt of Wadou, but it comes out kind of slurred this time.

Luffy! Get up! It's not...not seastone, get out of there!

[his drugged limbs fail to block every strike coming at him from all directions, and he hisses as a flaming sword swipes through his shirt and into his flank]

[Zoro's in a lot of trouble. He's not moving right. Luffy closes his eyes tight and focuses, gathering all his strength and pushing. Then suddenly the cage is small again and ENERGY FROM MEAT invades his body and he breaks through the cage with a roar!]

[...only to land right on the fire]

AHHH! HOT HOT HOT HOT

[throws himself off it and rolls around on the grass to try and put himself off, everyone seems to be staring at him shocked but before he can get up they are surrounding him, trying to pin him down.]

GET OFF! GUM GUM NO GATLING!

[....yep, that's his captain, all right. Zoro breathes the quickest sigh of relief before turning his attention back to the fight closer at hand. He still plans to push his way to Luffy, so they can get out of there together, but his dulled senses only serve to call his attention to the pain in his side. He throws all of his strength behind his swords, cutting and swinging and slicing to try to make some space around him, and for the most part he's succeeding. But the natives know he's weak, they know how their drug works and assume how much of it is in his system right now. Their toughest warriors ignore Luffy for the most part and swarm on the weaker of the two instead.

Dizzy from the effects of the drug, Zoro closes his eye in order to try to let his other senses direct him, but his haki is completely muted and all he can hear is Luffy yelling, natives yelling, and the smack of rubber fists against foes. He looks up in time to block three spears at once, but a fourth gets past his guard and sinks into his shoulder. Roaring angrily, he flicks a wrist to turn one blade to cut through the shaft of the spear and then turns nothing but pure fury on his attackers. He must turn the tide, must take the offensive, must cut down everything between him and Luffy. There's no special moves here, only the bloodthirsty wrath awakened in him from the pain in his shoulder.]

[he manages to get most of the guys away from him. Some have knives so it's hard and he's a little sleepy but most fall easily. It's Zoro that's worrying. He's stronger than this even before he's in the future so they must have done something to him. He jolts as the spear goes through Zoro's shoulder]

ZORO!

[Then he feels something, a twitch on the edge of his senses. He looks up a second before the guys with machetes snap

whirling dervish!

And start to spin toward Zoro, their blades flashing. Luffy punches a few people out of his way and then throws out a hand to grab at them, one slipping out of his grip but catching the leg of the other, the one with the hat, letting his arm wrap around the man's legs and pulling himself to him. A lance of pain goes down his chest and stomach as a sword catches him in mid air but he ignores that to wrap his arm around the spinning guy, slowing him down, grabbing the hat and then]

GUM GUM NO KANE!

[he crushes down with his own head, hearing the crack and the shudder that ripples through the guy's body as he falls. Luffy jumps down and unwraps the guy from his arm with an elastic snap]

[Luffy's yell snaps him a little more alert, as Zoro mows his way through as many foes as he can, cutting anything he sees - blades, spears, flesh, animal pelts - but he's staggering as he comes, veering off to one side of a direct path towards his captain. Only belatedly does he think maybe that all this physical exertion is only accelerating the drug through his body. Huh. Whoops. So when the pair of machete bastards come at him, he's turned the wrong way. Luffy is his guide, his direction, allowing him to stop and turn to catch the second one just in time. Bringing up all three swords into a single block, he holds off the whirling hurricane of blades, and he can't help but remember a giraffe and a similar impact against him. No, he's not about to let this one cut him. He has too many cuts already, small slices here and there that are adding up along with the spear head still embedded in his shoulder.

He braces himself against the onslaught for as long as he can, ignoring any little nicks and cuts that escape his block, until the leopard-skinned warrior gets dizzy and wobbles out of it. At last! Heedless of the blood running down next to his scar from a cut on his forehead, Zoro tenses up and gives an equal and opposite whirlwind in return - Oo Tatsumaki sends the guy flying into the stage where the dancers had been not long ago.

Still not enough. Zoro is aware he's still slowed down, and hasn't regained his haki yet. But there's a clear space between him and Luffy now, and he staggers toward his captain.]

Luffy! You all right?

[nod]

Fine. [just bleeding a little and the villagers are regrouping. He can feel it a little. Like the rumble of a storm. He's still sticky from whatever they covered him with and naked so he snatches a sarong from one of the unconscious guys and knots it around his waist.]

You're slow. [are you okay, in other words. What happened? He can feel them charging up. Getting ready for a last stand. A wind sweeps through and rustles the trees, stirs Luffy's bangs]

Edited 2014-04-22 23:41 (UTC)

[Zoro, meanwhile, is breathing heavily, worse than usual, and seriously savaged and bloody. There's a spearhead in his shoulder and a gash in his side, and his shirt is already in ribbons from the concentrated attacks. He blinks at Luffy for a moment, though, something seems very important here.]

...where are your clothes?

[No, no, that's not important.]

It's...the food. Maybe the booze, too. I think...I think they put something in it. I can't use haki, or anything...

I felt it, too. [but maybe it's because he digested it so quickly, or the will to fight rushing through him, but everything feels sharp and focused. Bastards. To use something Zoro likes against him. ANd to use meat like that! It's not even a fair fight. No matter what they wanted to do he couldn't forgive anyone who abused their favorite things like that!]

They're coming back. [glances at Zoro's shoulder where the spearhead is]

Should I pull it out?

[He looks around. Shit, Luffy's right.]

No. Leave it. We have to fight first. I don't think we can even make a run for the ship without taking most of them out, they'll just follow us.

[And put the rest of the crew in danger. He can't do that to them, right now]

Yosh.

[he'll slip to Zoro's back, then, glad that it's still unscarred and brace for a fight, steadying his stance and catching his fists at his sides.

A second later and the villagers come pouring out from all sides with knives and swords and spears and bolas. There's a lot more of them and Zoro's pretty hurt.]

Let's go.

[As long as Luffy has his back, Zoro has nothing to fear. He lets go of his anger and worry and simply places his trust in his captain, so he can focus his embattled senses on the fight.

There are moves he can make that don't require him to keep moving around so much. Tatsumaki, Pound Cannon, and so on. Anyone who gets in too close feels the bite of his blades directly rather than flying slashes. A bola clangs off of Wadou's blade, jarring him, but he simply tosses his head to dislodge it and keeps on going. His breath burns in his lungs and the blood makes his hands slippery, but he never stops fighting, keeping his movements short and efficient so as to keep the drugs from wreaking havoc on his system.]

[these guys are persistent and even the energy Luffy got from the meat is wearing off because of what they put in it. He can feel Zoro flagging and it pisses him off all the more. This is a stupid fight. A really stupid fight.

He has to end it.

Now.

He suddenly remembers something--gathers all the anger and heat in the core just under his chest and

pushes it out.

The villagers stop. Some of them fall to their knees but the others waver in place before panic sends them running out in all directions.]

Edited 2014-04-23 00:41 (UTC)

[The surge of Conqueror's haki takes Zoro rather by surprise, and though he doesn't collapse, for a moment one sword falters, dipping a bit. Wow, that was powerful against his weakened body.

Once the village is clear of conscious natives who could pose a threat, Zoro lets himself drop to one knee. He's exhausted, and still unable to control himself enough to push down the pain and ignore it. Give him a minute to catch his breath, Luffy.]

...damn.

[he was pretty tired, too. The stuff in the meat wasn't helping and he was burned and still bleeding. But he has Zoro and the hat so it's fine. He plops cross legged on the ground and leans lightly against Zoro's back]

This place has dumb food.

[he's tired of food being weird.]

[Don't have to tell him twice. Zoro jabs Shuusui into the dirt at his feet so he can free up one hand to take Wadou Ichimonji out of his mouth. Hm, there's blood on the wrapping. Damn. He sheathes his precious sword and then Kitetsu follows, but he leans on Shuusui for a bit, keeping it out just in case. And, he really needs something to hold him up.]

So much for getting our fill.

Luffy...I don't know if I can walk back to the ship.

Yeah, no problem.

[he'll take Zoro's arm opposite the spearhead and pull it over his shoulder and haul Zoro to his feet, taking as much weight as his nakama needs.

The action makes a warm trail of blood gush down his side but other than a faint wince he ignores it and starts to lead Zoro to the shore]

[He accepts the help without complaint, picking up Shuusui with his injured arm as they go and dragging it along behind them. He can make his legs work enough to put one foot in front of the other, but Luffy will have to support most of his weight. It's a long way along the beach back to the ship. But they've finished it. No one else will be coming after their crew, now.]

Mayhem at Malihini

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