Ameliorate ✦ One Piece

16

Akira and Zoro had followed Usopp through the dark halls of Kaya's mansion and down multiple flights of stairs before the three of them finally walked through the archway of their destination. She could see the short flash of something similar to being pleased pass over Zoro's face as he took in the room before them. "Now we're talking."

The group dispersed throughout the space, all of them exploring their own individual corners. "Who needs this much wine?" Akira couldn't help but ask as she took in a row of shelves, holding about a dozen, if not more, bottles each.

"You never know when it might come in handy." Zoro quipped from his own spot, making her turn to fix him with a dubious look.

"Alright, if you manage to drink all this in the span of a night, then I'll take it back." The sarcasm seeping from her words made it clear just how little she thought even him capable of such a feat.

The sound of Usopp's voice as he spoke from his own corner of the wine cellar had Akira turning in his direction. "Hey, I'm pretty sure they keep the good stuff over here." He said as he began walking back into the light of the candles coming from the main hall only to trip and tumble down to the floor.

"Are you okay?" Akira asked as she walked over to him, extending her hand to help him up while also suppressing a small laugh as she'd thought he managed to trip over his own two feet. At least until she looked over to the spot where he'd been before his fall, only then seeing the legs sprawled out on the floor and unmoving. "Oh my god." She breathed out in shock.

"Zoro! It's Mer... Merry... He's..." The shock made Usopp incapable of stringing together even a single sentence as he watched Akira walk over and kneel by Merry's side. But the panic in his voice and her movements made it clear enough to the green-haired man that something was wrong.

Akira's hand reached for Merry's own, and as she took it, she pretended to look for a pulse while she was actually seeing if there was any life or energy left to tap into. As Zoro approached and knelt down on the opposite side of the body, Akira looked over at him, giving a small shake of her head, silently telling him there was nothing that could be done for the dead man.

Focused on the body himself, Zoro pulled apart the lapels of Merry's suit jacket, revealing stab wounds and the blood which coated his white-dress shirt from them. "Five blades." He muttered out thoughtfully. "I think I've seen this before."

"You recognized him..." Akira said quietly, remembering all the times he'd mentioned thinking he knew Klahadore from somewhere before all of this. "You were right."

As if thinking of the man alone could somehow summon him, the voice of the butler suddenly speaking up behind them made Akira jump in surprise. "Well, well, well... It appears we have rats in our cellar." His hand pointed straight at them, the gloves bearing blades much like Buggy's had back at the circus, only more of them.

The sight of him made Usopp, Zoro, and Akira all rise to their feet quickly, Usopp scurrying a few steps back while Zoro confidently approached the man. "Those blades. I knew I'd seen your face somewhere. On a wanted poster." He announced, now confident in his own belief as he stared down the butler. "You're Kuro, captain of the Black Cat Pirates."

Akira quickly recognized the name, remembering it from her own past. A fate which she'd escaped in the nick of time what seemed so long ago. But she didn't say anything, instead letting Usopp voice his own surprise. "Wait... Klahadore's a pirate?" He questioned.

"A dead one." Zoro revealed knowingly. "They say you were killed by Axe-Hand Morgan." Akira could remember the Marine Captain boasting about it himself when they'd faced him back in Shells Town. And that death at Morgan's hands, which he was so proud of, was what had landed Akira into Jahra's.