Chapter 8: Protect the City

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all of my American readers! I hope you all had a wonderful, turkey-filled day. I'm sure you all don't was to read an A/N, so I'll get right into the chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 8:

Protect the City!

"I want to save this town, too," Coby stated. "Those people don't deserve to be overrun by pirates."

"I want all their treasure."

"I just want to cut something."

"I just want a fight." All that established, the group began preparations for the next morning.

The sun rose over the southernmost coast of Gecko Island, shining down on five people, three of whom were ready to fight. The narrow path before them shines, the slippery oil coating it reflecting the morning sunlight. Luffy stood at the top with his arms crossed and face shadowed by his hat, thinking he looked like Shanks just before fighting the mountain bandits. Zoro stood to his left with his bandana tied around his head, Wado Ichimonji unsheathed and resting on his left shoulder. On Zoro's other side was his student, a new bokken prepped for battle (Zoro had made sure it was good enough to withstand at least one battle with real swords before allowing it). Nami stood on Luffy's right, her bo out and held behind her and on her other side was Usopp who was trying to weasel his way out of battle.

"A-are you s-sure you n-need me? I-I mean; you all seem w-way stronger th-than me."

"If I'm fighting," Coby argued, "then you're fighting too."

"B-but-"

"Shouldn't they be here by now?" Zoro questioned, gazing out at the open ocean. "He did say they would be here in the morning, right?"

"Kuro ordered them to land on the shore at sunrise," Usopp affirmed before he seemed to come to a realization. "Crap! He must've meant the north shore on the other side of the island!"

"You moron!" Nami yelled. "Our boats are docked there!"

"Everyone," Luffy ordered. "Get there as fast as you can." There was a flurry of activity that ended with Zoro at the bottom of the cliff, unable to get back up due to the trap they had set.

"Zoro-sensei!" Coby called.

"Go on, Shrimp. I'll catch up."

"No you don't," Luffy stated. He didn't need one of his nakama to endanger himself before they were ready. "Coby, stay with Zoro and find a way to the other side." Luffy left, running after Nami and Usopp.

"Zoro-sensei, we can get there by following the beach around the island." Coby slid down the path covered in oil, losing his footing but not injured.

"Got it." Zoro picked him up and started walking.

"Uh, Zoro-sensei?" Coby started after 30 seconds. "Why are you headed for the cliffs?"

"Obviously the forest is a shortcut."

"But you don't have any sense of direction. You'd get lost in a heartbeat."

"Says who?"

"Everyone," Coby deadpanned. "Here." The boy wiggled out of his master's grip and grabbed his wrist. "Let's go." With no imminent danger in sight, the pink-haired boy quickly led the wayward samurai around the island. They arrived at their destination roughly 7 minutes later.

The battle had already begun. Their captain was fighting on the front line, beating back waves of pirates with assistance from Usopp's long-ranged attacks. Nami was nowhere to be seen, but, if her obsession was anything to go by, she was probably somewhere on the pirate ship grounded on the beach next to their own.

The swordsman jumped in without a second thought, blindsiding the advancing pirates from the left. Six of them went down before the others could perceived the newest threat, blood bursting forth from their slashed torsos.

"Hey Zoro!" Luffy waved, punching a pirate with his other stretched arm. "What took you so long?"

"Shrimp insisted on taking the long way around," Zoro answered through the sword in his mouth.

Meanwhile, two pirates had seen Coby trying to hide by the edge of the cliffs and rushed toward him, not wanting to have to fight the two monsters instead. Coby very nearly panicked, but his limited sword training (having started last night by a very sadistic Zoro) and the view of his teacher fighting a half dozen or so pirates alone was enough to get him to duck and retaliate. His wooden sword hit one foe in the leg, not breaking it but taking the pirate's footing out from under him. Before the boy could capitalize on his victory though, the other pirate attacked.

Coby's sudden burst of courage ended and his cowardice took hold. He fled, avoiding the sword swinging at him and trampling the fallen pirate in the process. He ran to his master, hiding behind him and forcing the green-haired man to block and hold back all of his opponents.

"Shrimp? What the Hell are you doing?"

"I can't do this, Zoro-sensei! I'm not strong enough!" A pirate with a headband that looked like cat ears swiped at the child who jumped out of the way. In retaliation, Zoro pushed the enemies off of his left-hand sword and cut him down.

"Yes you can, Coby," the swordsman urged, blocking three men at once. "Just stay close and remember what I showed you." Coby hesitantly shuffled out from behind the 19-year-old, but hurried back before joining the battle.

"No! I can't!"

"You wanted to protect the town, didn't you?" Zoro demanded. "Then forget about yourself and think about the villagers. They can't save themselves, so will you help save them?" Zoro knew he was playing with Coby's beliefs, but they didn't have any time to waste at the moment.

As per his intention, Zoro's words struck a cord. Coby wanted to protect the village; he couldn't stop now. Not in the middle of the fight. He stepped out from behind his teacher with more confidence and charged the men attacking him. The pirates were caught off guard from the boy's sudden determination and fell quickly from the combined efforts of Zoro and Coby (more so the former than the latter, but that was irrelevant). The two finished their last opponent and put away their weapons.

Jango the Hypnotist, a thin man with colorful clothing, a Egyptian-style beard, and red, heart-shaped glasses 'tsk'ed at his downed men. "Meowban brothers! Get out here!"

Two men emerged from the Bowles of the ship. One was thin and dressed in the top half of a suit top with the sleeves cut off, Jean shorts (that did not match), high socks, hiking boots, and a maroon bow tie. He had light green hair swept to the right and a hunch in his back. His brother was a large, black-haired man with no shirt, red-and-black striped pants, a purple-and-pink striped cape, and a bell around his neck. Both had little cat-ear decorations on their heads and clawed gloves on their hands.

"I'm She-am!" called the thin one.

"And I'm Moochie!" the other called.

"And together we are the Meowban Brothers! At your service." The two jumped off the ship, landing before their captain, and bowed. "You called, Captain Jango?"

"Yes, I did. I need you two to kill these morons in our way."

"What?" She-am yelled.

"B-but they're t-too strong," Moochie whimpered.

"You better do it or Captain Kuro will kill us all! We're late enough as is!"

"Alright!" She-am cried. "Just stop yelling!" The thin man started running toward Zoro and Coby, tears leaking from his eyes. He had all of the Straw Hats fooled.

All but one.

"Don't fall for it, Zoro-sensei!" Coby shouted. "That's She-am of the Meowban Brothers! He and Moochie are known for acting cowardly to catch their opponents off guard! Plus they are the main cat burglars of the Black Cat Pirates!" Suddenly, She-am lunged, but Zoro caught his attack.

"Damn," the brother cursed. "That kid saved your life." She-am leapt back, two sheaths tied to his back. "But he didn't save your swords." He removed the weapon holders only to find them empty of their usual sharp contents. "What?"

"Looking for these?" Zoro asked through his favorite sword, his other two in his hands. "You might have gotten my swords if Coby hadn't given me that warning. Thanks, Shrimp."

"Just be careful, Zoro-sensei. If you died..."

"I'm not gonna die, Shrimp." In the distance, Luffy and Usopp saw Nami sneaking out of the Black Cats' ship with a bag of treasure over her shoulder. Luffy wanted to call out to her, but Usopp slapped his hand over the other teen's mouth.

"Che. So you won't be that easy to beat," She-am threw the sheaths aside and gestured to his brother who lumbered up to stand beside him, "but can you take both of us on at the same time?" The two charged. "Die!"

"Tiger-" Zoro growled, positioning himself so his hand blades were parallel with each other and Perpendicular to both Wado Ichimonji and the ground. He waited until his foes were in range before slicing. "-Trap!"

There was no movement for a moment before looks of shock sprouted on the faces of Zoro's enemies. Blood spurted from their chests and they went down, one of them to never rise again. Moochie painfully pulled himself onto his hands and knees and tried to drag himself over to his captain. His path took him right past Coby who whacked him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

"What the Hell is going on here?" Everyone able to turned to the slope where Klahadore, AKA Captain Kuro, stood with his special gloves on. The man stared down at the battle, his army at the bottom with the exception of the dead and dying on the incline. Their four adversaries, three on the slope and Usopp on higher ground, looked at the butler/pirate with surprise. "How have four brats halted you? Jango?"

"Captain K-Kuro," Jango stuttered. "W-well...T-there was another, as w-well-"

"Oh, I'm sorry," he sassed. "Five brats held you back. Listen well, you imbeciles. You have five minutes to end this fight. After that, I will kill everyone here."

"Oh," Jango squeaked. "Y-yes, thank you. You're too generous, Captain. Men, look at me." He pulled out a small, circular disk on a cord. "On the count of Jango, you will all grow stronger and defeat those whelps. One... two... Jango!"

"AHHHH!" the living pirates yelled, their bodies getting bigger than they had been. Luffy had nearly been caught as well, but Usopp averted Luffy's gaze before the count of the non-number. The small hoard of cat-themed buccaneers rushed at the band of misfits.

"Shrimp! Usopp! Cover our backs. Watch Kuro." The two most-cowardly fighters did so, staring down Kuro who did nothing but stand there with his Catclaws (sword-gloves) hanging at his sides. Battle sounded behind them, but neither turned back for fear of what they would see. Kuro would glance at his watch every now and then before continuing to watch the bloodbath before him. Eventually, Kuro moved.

"Time's up," he said simply. The ex-pirate began wobbling back and forth, head down and eyes shaded. The Black Cat Pirates panicked, trampling each other to try to get away before he suddenly vanished from sight with a burst of unexplainable purple smoke. "Out-of-the-Bag Attack!"

Deep grooves of five parallel lines started appearing everywhere: the ground, the cliff walls, pirates (both good and bad), even the ship. Once, Zoro shoved his sword in front of Coby for seemingly no reason. There was the clang of metal-on-metal and Kuro became visible for a second, an expression of slight shock on his face before he blurred out of sight again.

"Please Captain Kuro! Stop!" The man was cut down.

"Why the Pussyfoot Technique?" Another asked. He never got an answer.

"Why are you doing this?" A pirate's head rolled.

"I don't want to die!" How unfortunate.

"Stop it, you bastard!" Luffy yelled, throwing his arm forward. Five cuts appeared in a small burst of blood, but Luffy's purpose was achieved. Kuro was moving so fast, he couldn't perceive the new obstacle in his way until he'd run into it. Luffy clotheslined the other pirate captain with an angry expression, Kuro tumbling forward due to his extra momentum. "Those are your friends you're killing!"

"Friends?" Kuro warbled, sitting up from where he'd crashed into the cliff head-first. Blood oozed from a cut on his head. "They aren't my friends. They are simply a means to an end; nothing but pawns in a captain's game." So distracted and dizzy was the pirate butler that he didn't notice that his four enemies had approached him.

Luffy grabbed ahold of his left arm and both his legs. Coby claimed the right arm, yanking his glove off of that hand just for good measure. Zoro stood over them, a sword at the man's throat.

"Usopp," Zoro spoke in an emotionless tone. "Would you like to do the honors?"

"With pleasure." The long-nosed sniper lifted his slingshot and loaded a small orange pellet. "This is for Kaya! Exploding Star!" As the name implied, there was a small explosion at the point of contact. Kuro slumped forward, breathing shallowly. He would survive if he received medical attention. Zoro and Coby backed off, the latter going to gather his sword sheaths. Luffy picked up the man's limp form and, with a yell, chucked it at the band of pirates at the bottom of the ravine.

"Leave this island and never come back!" The pirates scrambled onto their ship with their captain and pushed off, fading into the distance as quickly as their ship would allow.

"Usopp/Captain Usopp!" The Straw Hats turned to see the battle's four spectators. Kaya, Pepper, Onion, and Carrot came out from behind the trees where they had hidden themselves when Kuro began his attack. They ran to their village's liar, only for Kaya to trip when nearly there.

Usopp caught her gently and held her as she cried, apologizing for smacking him and not believing him, and something about a man named Merry. Usopp whispered that it was fine, that she was safe, but still she wept. The trio had gathered around them, spouting about how they'd known he was lying about the attack being a lie. While this was happening, Nami returned from stashing her stolen treasure and Coby collapsed from exhaustion, his adrenaline dropping rapidly.

"Please... never... again," Coby wheezed.

"I didn't miss that much, did I?" Nami asked, her eyes scanning the battlefield and the bodies thereupon.

"Don't worry, Nami," Luffy assured as Zoro picked up his now-sleeping student. "We just kicked their asses. How was your haul?"

"They only had a million Beris on their ship, but it wasn't totally boring. Four guards easily overwhelmed."

"Great! Now let's-" Luffy was asleep before he finished his sentence.

End of Chapter 8

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-SwordOfTheGods