A Long Lost Roronoa [One Piece]

11: Ex-Baroque Works

It was a six foot burly man with tattoos all around his arms. His eyes were slitted and the thin strands of blonde hair stuck to his tan face. He only wore brown baggy slacks which showed the single image of a blue tiger on his chest and two red foreign symbols on top his feet.

His muscular arms rose up in front of him  in a nonthreatening way, "I mean no harm. I only have business with the weaponsmith."

Luffy stood on guard in front of Mei, "What do you want with her?"

"My name is Julius Seicer. I only came to discuss a matter regarding weapon forging."

"Ah, so ka?" the captain relaxed at hearing Julius' reason.

But the moment he dropped his guard was followed by his body crashing to a tree to their right. Then Julius appeared standing where the rubberman once was.. right in front of Mei. His thin eyes bore into her and his large stature made her feel powerless beyond her control. Her hands went clammy and her heart dangerously raced. She was in no shape to fight him. It also didn't help that she knew exactly what he was capable of.

Julius cracked his knuckles with a smirk curled to one side on his face, "Come on Mei, let's go somewhere private. This won't take long. You know it won't."

His arm reached for her shoulder, but was smacked away by an outstretched arm that wrapped around Mei's waist. His eyes followed the elongated limb to its owner by a bent tree trunk. Luffy had a dark shade casted over his eyes as he pulled the girl to his side. It was only when Mei was next to him she saw the glare in his normally bright eyes.

"You're not doing anything to Mei," he declared protectively.

Julius gave a toothy grin in return, "It won't take long. Just give us two minutes of privacy."

A second later he appeared behind Mei with his hand promptly prepared to grab her neck, but it froze a foot from its target. A single blade laid perpendicular to his neck, dull side facing away.

"Oh?" Julius smirked, "Is this a challenge?"

Zoro's glaring eyes darkened at his question, "Luffy, he's mine."

The straw hat boy nodded before joining with the others.

"Mei," Zoro stated bluntly, "Go with Luffy."

She hesitated at first, but soon followed suit. In her heart she believed in her brother, but her mind knew very well that Julius was also strong. She had scars to prove it, mentally and physically, but with the aid of her devil fruit she managed to hide them from everyone, especially from her brother. If he saw them, he'd just become more infuriated.

The smith held her breath as Julius allowed her brother to prepare himself. Zoro removed his black bandana from his arm to tie it around his head, then unsheathed all three of his swords.

Luffy whistled, "Zoro's going full out in the beginning? That's a first."

"What?" Mei breathed, turning towards the captain, "What do you mean?"

Sanji blew out a trail of smoke then replied for him, "He means that the Marino normally puts on the scarf in the middle of battle, once he takes his opponent seriously."

All their eyes were fixated on the two preparing for the other's incoming attack. Julius watched the Pirate Hunter, knowing fully well how to observe his opponents correctly. It was their eyes and the slightest movements of their muscles. After thousands of matches, it became a simple feat for him.

He smirked at the thought of an easy win, "Roronoa Zoro. I figured much."

The swordsman remained silent, ignoring his attempts to shake his concentration and create an opening. However, Julius had other things up his sleeves.

"Mei was originally my subordinate," the large man's lip curled as he appeared behind Zoro, "Baroque Works, does that name ring a bell?"

The santoryu user spun on his heels to face his opponent, but was met with air, "What the hell do you want?" he growled through Wado's hilt.

A sharp pain in his side was part of the reply, "Just to finish some old business."

Zoro stumbled forward, normally he'd ignore gashes like that, but that time it felt different, as if something was strangely off. He blinked as his gaze landed on the growing red splotch on his white shirt. His skin was moving.

Mei flinched at the sight of her brother's injury. He was hit with one of Julius' signature moves, E. One letter as its name with no definite description. The beginning is always the same, but what comes after varies. Sometimes it'd be a mild twist in the muscles or intense bleeding. Other times it'd spread painfully across the body, slowly leaving a jagged line behind, which would eventually turn into an ugly scar.

"Hope you enjoy the present," the man grinned devilishly, "as a late 'thank you' for demolishing the company."

Shaking his head, Zoro was getting too distracted from Julius' chatter. He needed to finish their battle fast, it was obvious Mei was extremely uncomfortable with her worried eyes, pursed lips, and shaking hands tightly clasped together in front of her bust.

"Enough with this shit," the green haired man scowled, "I'm not letting you leave this island alive."

The blonde fighter bared his teeth, "Let's see you try."

Before placing his legs a little further than shoulder width apart, Zoro took a deep breath in order to concentrate. His husky arms rose up, only to cross over each other, pointing his blades perpendicular to the flattened grass. The held breath was gradually released as his back arched forward, revealing multiple openings. But before Julius was able to land another hit, blood spilled down his front and Zoro appeared several meters behind him half a second later.

"Oni Giri!"

A chuckle escaped from the blonde's curled lips, "Not bad. Not bad."

"Shut up."

The ex-Baroque worker swiveled one-eighty degrees on his heels. His smile stretched across his face, composing an expression of a madman gone wild. The instant after he turned around, the balls of his feet gripped the earth before pushing him forward. His fists rose up, positioned in a traditional boxing manner. Zoro did the same, except his arms were hung loosely at his side with katanas in hand. As Julius swung towards his head, Zoro bent down, avoiding the hit as a north side of a magnetic would to the south end.

Mei watched in awe as her brother skillfully bypassed each swing with ease, as if he were a blade of grass dancing in the wind. It didn't take long until Julius became enraged with the continuous misses to begin throwing his fist wildly in any direction, hoping to catch his opponent at least once. On one of the many swings, Zoro bent low, allowing his weapons to use its momentum to block the fists and slice another crimson line across the stomach with the third. His body swung around, leading him to hit Julius in the back of his neck with the bottom of the hilt. A single cough escaped the his mouth before he crumpled to the ground unconscious.

"Toro Nagashi," the swordsman stated after removing Wado from his mouth.

The moment Mei's pursuer fell, a heavy weight lifted off her shoulders. His defeat meant more than anything to her, much more than what the Straw Hats knew. Her shoulders jumped when Luffy clapped his hand on it and she turned her head to see his goofy grin plastered to his childish face. Her hands rose up, palmed exposed her to wandering eyes as they were examining the hidden scars beneath her illusion. Tears welled up in her eyes quicker than she could wipe them away. Then she smiled and allowed them to fall.

"Thank you Zoro-nii. Thank you everyone."

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Yup. My awful skills at writing fight scenes.. I really need to work on them. WELL, all the chapters have caught up. (I haven't started the next one, but the general idea is there.)
I hope you enjoyed it! ^-^