Emotions are dangerous. Travelling the sea is dangerous. Being a pirate is dangerous. What could go wrong combining the three?
The Straw Hat Pirates continue along the Grand Line and encounter new friends and old enemies. Darkness looms above one o...
Kuro How I'm going to win this I don't know. I'm drained, head still buzzing slightly and am at the disadvantage of being unarmed. Yes, I can fight unarmed but when I already have multiple disadvantages it isn't as good. The thoughts from the rest of the crew I can still hear but thankfully not as much anymore but it is semi-distracting. Then I also am still aching from the varying experiments and almost dizzy due to the electrocution. Plus he is a great fighter and he currently has no disadvantages to the fight. Plus he is pissed off given he lost his leverage. On the other hand I very much have motivation to absolutely destroy him. He turned me into a monster the first time, creating the worst things. Then he did it again and this time dragged people I care about into it. That is something that I need to rectify. Especially given a very important fact, he will do it to other people over and over again so I should stop it being potential.
He swings the sword towards my chest and his thought slams into my mind. A fake out move. When I move he is going to swing the hidden knife into my leg. Since I know it is coming when he does so I catch his wrist, sending the knife flying to the floor. When he tries to stab me I dodge and grab the knife so I am at least armed.somewhat. It makes sense he would do that move, really. He probably doesn't want to lose all his hard work which does give me an advantage at last. I haven't killed anyone in a very, very long time but I have to kill him so no one goes through what I did. That gives me a much wider range of options than him.
Another thought: he's going to send it towards my face then do a kick to knock me over. I dodge the blade then do a jump with a semi-flip to dodge the kick and send the knife at him. He dodges too but I still manage to slice his cheek and mange to kick him. It doesn't knock him over but it does make him sway slightly and I risk another move with the knife. I slice his arm but he also manages to cut my arm from the shoulder, reaching to the collar bone. The issue with knives really against a sword this bad because it hasn't got much range. Normally that is find since my fighting style is agility and speed but we're in a confined space which doesn't help and I am still...distracted from how he has been draining my energy lately. At least Luffy and the crew are somewhere safe so if I fail they will be away from experimentation. "I have a proposition, Kuro," he offers. "I made you powerful. If you learn to control it then you could have power. Join m-" "No," I interrupt. "Are you stupid enough to think that would work? You hurt people I care about and ruined who I was for a long time. I will never join you, no matter how much you hurt me!" With that I punch him so hard he flies backwards into the door and he stands up, wiping blood from his mouth with his sleeve with a livid expression.
His thoughts nearly pull me up, distracting me for a moment. He knows that I'm right but he is also not going to kill me...He's going to do the two rounds he had planned remaining and if I haven't snapped by then it won't be elements of a vivisection anymore. It'll be a complete one. Even more reason not to lo-The sword slices my leg and I wince quickly but move out the way before it goes too deep. Another of his thoughts enters my mind: he is sure at some point soon in the fight he will have the opportunity to inject the sedative into me.
We continue fighting, me being careful to look out for that. It comes at a moment when I slammed into a wall, sword going into my shoulder. It made my knife fly out of my hands and given that I am already currently weak enough given days of experiments. My vision blurs for a moment and a ringing fills my head. He tries to inject me but I somehow manage to grab it and stab it into his eye. I don't release it and impressively for someone who got that injury he only yelps, pulling away, giving me a moment to get my vision back and pick up the knife. Fucking karma for the amount of times he injected horrific drugs and poisons into me.
The fight goes on and finally I have the chance, swinging the knife. He dodges but he dodged right into a quick move. The knife goes right into his side and he pulls away which is rather stupid because he moves away from the blade just letting himself bleed out faster. Given the amount of experiments he's done and how many people he has killed you would think he'd know that. Given his thoughts are fading in and out, and I am not a psycho who is going to sit around and watch someone die. I just go to the file room, restealing mine and see my swords are also here. I also see a packet of matches and light one, throwing it into the paper and walk out, leaving the smell of burning paper. As I head to the exit I light a few more, leaving a trail of embers and flames.
Once outside I take a deep breath of air, smiling slightly at the feeling of the wind. It is dusk, the sky hovering between darkness and light. Keizo is finally dead. Sure, murder isn't the best approach always but it was necessary. I can hardly say I care. I can almost not mind that I will have to cope with everyone's thoughts for a few days since it flickered out slowly last time when I escaped. I smile and head back to the ship, looking forward to have my first real sleep for days.
Luffy I come to on the ship, taking a breath of relief and smile. "You're awake," Chopper says. "How are you feeling?" "Like I have been hit over the head with a steel pole," I complain, wincing. "But we escaped so that's good! Is Kuro okay? He was unconscious since I last saw him." No one says anything and I instantly start thinking the potential of the worst. "Guys? Is he?" "We don't know," Sanji admits. "He stayed to fight Keizo and told us he wasn't back in an hour to think the worst." "How long has it been?" I ask. Again silence. "How long?!" "About fifty minutes," Danni says.
Right. Kuro may be willing to take the self sacrifice route but I am not willing to let him do it. I stand up, heading to the door, deciding that I need to find a way to destroy Keizo. Before I can open it though it opens from the other end and I assume it is probably Keizo, coming to capture us after hurting Kuro and I nearly swing a hit into them, stopping myself just in time.
"Kuro!" I exclaim and wrap my arms around him in a tight hug. "You're okay!" "Mhm," he confirms, tiredly. "Or I will be after sleeping..." "Any injuries I need to check?" Chopper asks. "Nah," Kuro says. "All the ones in the fight were minor..." He rubs his eyes tiredly. He eventually heads off to get some sleep and after a moment I follow to check he is actually okay. He said he was okay but he probably is physically, not emotionally. I knock on his door and once he says so I head in. He is sat on the bed with a thick blanket over him leaning against the wall as usual. I sit by him. "Are you actually okay?" I ask him. He nods. "Emotionally?" "Not sure," he murmurs. "I should be happy, shouldn't I? And I'm not unhappy. I'm just...numb." "I think that's normal considering everything you've been through and he has done," I say, quietly. "Want me to leave you alone to sleep?" He doesn't look sure. "Want me to stay?" A small nod.
I wrap an arm around him and let him rest his head on my shoulder as he slowly drops off, curling up again. I adjust the blanket slightly so he is warmer, glad he is finally getting some sleep and drop off as well, resting my head against his.
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