Chapter Text
The last thing Zoro did was throw his hand in front of Luffy’s face.
The devil fruit user’s hand closed around Zoro’s wrist, just inches from Luffy. The hand that could kill a man with a single touch. The hand that had reached for Zoro’s captain while his back was turned like a fucking coward.
The last thing Zoro heard was his captain calling his name.
The strongest memory that stood out to Zoro was the absolute shit whiskey.
The crew had been celebrating. Nothing in particular, because that’s just how it was when you were part of Strawhat Luffy’s crew - sometimes you just celebrated whether there was a reason or not. Luffy had been in a particularly gregarious mood and hadn’t seemed to care that the island they were anchored at was a tiny little backwater dump. And the tavern owner hadn’t cared either, once Luffy slapped some cash on the counter.
It was a small town on a small island, with a port that could barely be called that, and a road that had been paved with cobblestones once about a hundred years ago. It was lined with a series of ramshackle buildings that looked just slightly abandoned, as if the villagers hadn’t quite given up, but were certainly thinking about it. The town was poor enough that they weren’t worried about a pirate crew, because there wasn’t anything worth stealing. The tavern owner and the one waitress who seemed to work there had looked at Luffy like he was the golden goose as he put back enough food to feed a half dozen people. Joke was on them, of course, because Luffy forgot to pay his tab half the time, and got run out of taverns by marines/bounty hunters/angry shopkeepers the rest of the time. But they seemed like good people, so Zoro made sure he had enough cash to leave behind when they inevitably had to leave in a rush.
The crew had been mostly bunched up together, Usopp and Franky and Luffy stuffing their faces while Robin and Nami sipped wine and shared a plate of some kind of finger food. The cook had been cuddled up next to them at the table, hearts in his eyes and his own glass of wine mostly forgotten as he went on and on about how whatever they were eating was actually supposed to be made with goat cheese. Chopper had been asleep in the chair next to Robin’s, his head down, chin on his chest, soft little snores hidden beneath the din of the rest of the crew. The only ones missing had been Jinbei and Brook, who had volunteered to stand watch on the Sunny, probably hoping to get five minutes of peace and quiet.
Zoro had gone to get himself another glass of the worst fucking whiskey he’d ever had - made from rotten grain and aged for five minutes in a driftwood cask from the taste of it - and another round of beers for him and Franky and Usopp, when the bounty hunters had arrived.
The man in the lead had burst through the doors like he owned the place, swagger in his step and a look on his face Zoro recognized all too well. The big fish in the small pond. The kind of man who thought he was hot shit, but he’d never taken on anyone his own size before. Zoro felt his lip curl back in a sneer.
The waitress paused beside him, handing him a glass of juice that she must have pulled for Luffy. Zoro took it, but she held onto it briefly, fingers brushing over his. “You sure this is all you need?" she cooed, then shifted so she was facing him, her back toward the entrance and the men who were spilling in. “Tanner’s men are bounty hunters,” she said in a low voice. She giggled, then tossed her hair. “They’re local, so they know everyone here.”
Zoro lifted an eyebrow. “Fair warning?”
She shrugged. “Your crew hasn’t done any harm. And the blond guy tipped me more than I usually make in a month and didn’t even ask me to go in the back with him, so I like you guys more than some of the regulars. Do with it what you will.” She grabbed her tray and disappeared back to the kitchen.
Zoro spun the glass of juice idly while watching the new arrivals out of the corner of his eye. The first man, probably the Tanner she’d spoken of, was a few years older than Zoro. Not too tall, not too broad, built more like the cook than Zoro. He was dressed better than anyone else Zoro had seen in town so far, in a well-made leather hat with a brim to block out the sun and rain, and a leather coat to match. Both were adorned with what looked like real fox tails, two hanging from the side of the hat, and about a half dozen others lining the shoulders and sleeves of the jacket. He wore a bandana tied around his throat, and beneath the jacket Zoro made out a well-tailored shirt, the color of wine, with pearly white buttons. Zoro was a little irritated that he could recognize it as silk even at a distance. The cook was a bad fucking influence on him. He also wore a watch on his left hand that gleamed gold in the tavern’s lights, and thin black gloves that covered his hands like a second skin.
Most of the other men were also on the young side, maybe Zoro’s age, maybe a little younger in a couple cases. Based on the size of the island, Zoro figured that had to be a big chunk of the young men in town. Bounty hunting was probably the closest thing this place had to an economy.
The men arranged themselves around a couple of tables by the front window, and Tanner himself sauntered up to the bar, leaning against the wood only a foot or so down from Zoro. “You’re new in town.”
Zoro grunted. “What gave it away?”
Tanner grinned, easy with an edge of cocky. “Well for starters there’s only about a hundred people in the whole damn place. And for seconds, you strike me as the kind of man who’d stand out even in a bigger crowd. What brings you to our little island?”
“Resupply. Just passing through.” The bartender handed Zoro his beers, and Zoro helped himself to a swig of Usopp’s. “We’re heading out with the tide.” Close enough to the truth.
Tanner cast his eyes toward the back of the tavern, where Zoro’s captain and crew were still being loud assholes. Zoro didn’t bother worrying about it. They didn’t wear uniforms like some crews (Law), and none of them had the jolly roger on their clothes (Law). Robin, Nami and the cook all looked like normal people, well-dressed and put together in a way most pirate crews weren’t. At a glance they probably just looked like a merchant crew or something.
Of course, it was a shitty little town with one shitty little port that was basically just a big dock. The odds that Tanner hadn’t seen the Sunny on his way in were slim to none. The sails weren’t up, of course, but the ship was distinct. A halfway decent bounty hunter would know an Emperor’s ship at a glance.
Zoro would know, after all.
“Your crew from around here?” he asked.
“Born and raised,” Tanner said, like that was something to be particularly proud of. Definitely a big fish in a little pond. “I’m one of the biggest employers in town.” He paused as the bartender brought him a drink he hadn’t ordered, and he threw back half the glass of god awful whiskey in one shot without coughing up half his lung in the process.
Zoro grunted again, catching the bartender’s eye and gesturing with Usopp’s half empty beer for another.
“We’re bounty hunters,” Tanner said, and his grin took on an edge. “Pirate hunters.”
“Sounds dangerous,” Zoro said, letting his own grin show.”I hear there’s some real crazy assholes roaming the seas these days.”
“Me and my crew can handle anything these seas throw at us,” Tanner said, which Zoro was willing to put every last beri he still owed Nami on being completely untrue. “We’ve got an edge though.” He held up one hand and curled his fingers into a loose fist like a magician trying to make a coin appear out of thin air.
Zoro polished off the last of Usopp’s beer. “Good glovemaker, I’ll give you that.”
Tanner’s eyes flashed with irritation, but his bark of laughter sounded genuine. “That too. No. It’s my devil fruit. It’s made me the most successful bounty hunter in these seas. I have a 100% success rate. Not a single bounty I’ve gone after has gotten away from me.”
“Not bad.” Zoro’s success rate had technically been 100% too, unless you count the one he’d been after when he crossed Helmeppo’s path that day in Shell Town. “A perfect capture rate is nothing to sneeze at. Some of those bastards are probably slippery.”
“Oh no, you misunderstand me. I have a perfect kill rate. I don’t take bounties in alive.” Tanner’s grin showed a flash of teeth. “I have the Kill-Kill fruit. If I use it, I can kill anyone with a single touch.” He put back the rest of his drink and slammed the glass back down on the bar hard enough to make the waitress startle. He held his hand out expectantly, and the bartender rushed to pour him another. “Just want to make myself clear. This is my town. My men and I take care of the people here. And we don’t want outsiders causing trouble.”
Zoro met his gaze with a deliberately unconcerned look. “My crew just wants a hot meal and enough drinks to make them forget how tired they are. We aren’t any threat to your people.” It was a sentiment Zoro might have respected, but something about Tanner was rubbing him the wrong way. He’d run into men who were guardians and protectors before, like Dalton on Drum Island, Igaraham in Alabasta, or Yamato on Wano, and even if some of them had been openly hostile to Zoro’s crew, there had been something beneath it that he could see in their eyes, the set of their shoulders. A man who used himself as a shield had a way about him that he didn’t see in Tanner.
A protector would be making a promise of those words. Don’t hurt mine and I won’t hurt you. Tanner was just making a threat.
Tanner grinned and clapped Zoro’s shoulder. He used enough force that some men would have been shoved halfway into the bar. Zoro refused to be budged. Tanner’s eyes narrowed a little further, but he just pushed away from the bar. “A good night’s rest to you and your crew, then. Maybe I’ll see you in the morning.”
Not if Zoro had anything to say about it.
The bartender blinked at him. Zoro silently held up three fingers in a ‘W’ sign and the man grimaced and went to pour his whiskey.
Tanner threw himself into a chair at the center of his crew and leaned back, feet propped up on the table. He was watching Zoro under the brim of his hat with a lazy smile.
Zoro took a deep swig of beer and ignored him.
The door to the back room opened and the waitress who had warned Zoro came out, a stack of mail cradled in one arm. She was making for Tanner’s group, and in the small stack of letters and newspapers Zoro recognized the familiar color of bounty posters.
His crew would be in there. Luffy, the cook, Robin, Zoro himself. They’d seen their bounties go up after defeating Kaido, when Luffy claimed his place as an Emperor of the Sea, but word was still spreading and half the bounty posters Zoro had seen in the time since they left Wano were still old. Tanner might not have done enough research to recognize the Sunny, or to pick Strawhat Luffy and his crew out of a crowd, but Zoro had a suspicion the man would be able to recognize them if he was literally staring at their bounty posters.
A fight could be fun. Zoro took another swig of beer and leaned against the bar, feeling the slight shift of his swords at his hip. They hadn’t had a good fight since leaving Wano, and their goal of Egghead Island was still a couple weeks ahead of them. A bar brawl might work off some extra energy. And Zoro had to admit he’d enjoy personally wiping that smug grin off Tanner’s face.
The bounty hunter reached for the stack of mail, the black material of his gloves a sharp contrast to the white and yellow papers, and Zoro reconsidered.
He’d never heard of a Kill-Kill fruit before, though to be fair he’d never heard of a Gum-Gum fruit, or a Op-Op fruit, or half the other weird ass devil fruit users they’d run into over the years. If someone had told him back in the East Blue there was a nine foot tall pirate who could turn into mochi he’d probably have written them off as a drunk at best, or an Usopp-level liar at worst. A Kill-Kill fruit seemed pretty straight forward in comparison. And while he knew his crew could handle Tanner’s men with their eyes closed, he wasn’t willing to risk losing any of them to some over-powered fruit user who didn’t have to rely on skill or strength.
The bartender slid his whiskey across the bar and Zoro caught it in one hand, hefting the beer glasses and Luffy’s juice in the other, and went back to his crew.
“Drink up,” he said, thudding the glasses down on the table. He threw back the whiskey, appreciating the burn on his throat and his sinuses. “We’re leaving.”
Luffy whined as he chugged his juice, but the others reacted immediately, the girls and the cook grabbing their coats and bags of supplies, and Franky hefted Chopper up in one arm.
Usopp peered into his empty beer glass and leveled Zoro with a narrow glare.
“New arrivals are bounty hunters,” Zoro said. “I don’t think they’ve made us yet, but he’s got a stack of bounty posters in his hand and I give him about two minutes before he sees a straw hat, three swords, and stupid eyebrows and puts it all together.”
Luffy leaned sideways so far he almost toppled his chair trying to look around Zoro. “Those guys don’t look so bad.”
“They’ve got a nasty reputation,” Zoro said. “And if we start a brawl and wreck all the supplies Nami just bought she’ll castrate someone. And it won’t be me.”
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said in a while,” Nami said. “If so much as one bag gets crinkled cause you couldn’t control yourself I’ll dock you for the cost of the supplies. And make you work it off.” Her voice lowered ominously. “The toilets need a good scrubbing.”
“Time to go!” Luffy gave her a toothy grin and hopped to his feet.
“Since when do we care about a bunch of two-bit bounty hunters?” Sanji asked. The cook was taking his time finishing off his wine, still leaning back in his chair. “And don’t pretend you care about the supplies - you dropped a week’s worth of produce in the mud during our last restock.”
“It’s vegetables,” Zoro said. “They literally come from the mud. It was fine.”
The cook’s eyebrow twitched dangerously and his fingertips were turning white against the wineglass, but he was standing anyway, eyes sharp on the crew across the tavern, which was all that mattered.
“Just once,” Nami griped as she flung her hair over her shoulder, “I’d like to have a nice drink and not get run out of town before I’m done.”
“Boy are you in the wrong line of work,” Usopp told her. He leaned over the table to swipe Zoro’s beer glass, then slammed it back on the table when that one turned out to be empty too.
Zoro caught the cook’s eye, jerked his head toward Usopp and Nami, saw the slightest tilt of his head to show he got the message.
The bartender didn’t blink as Zoro’s crew made for the door, but Zoro caught Tanner’s eye as he ushered Robin out ahead of him. The bounty hunter was leaning back in his chair, the slightly yellowish stock of a wanted poster held loosely in both hands. He grinned, slow and lazy.
Zoro contemplated taking a detour to knock his lights out, but settled for letting the door slam behind him on the way out.
“That’s the asshole we’re avoiding?” Usopp threw a glance over his shoulder toward the tavern. Zoro didn’t look back, but from the position they were in, Usopp would be able to see the back of Tanner’s head through the front window. “Oh come on, we can take him. I could probably handle him with one shot.” He flexed a little, but didn’t stop walking, and was definitely keeping Zoro between himself and the tavern.
“Probably,” Zoro agreed, only mostly humoring him. Usopp was a good shot and Zoro hadn’t sensed armament haki from Tanner. “But I don’t feel like listening to Nami bitch at me if we get run out of town and she has to navigate all night.”
“I do not bitch,” Nami said. She was keeping pace with Robin, the two of them flanking Franky who still had a sleeping Chopper tucked into one arm. “I educate you on the myriad of ways you’ve inconvenienced me.”
“Right,” Zoro said. “You bitch us out.”
Usopp snorted and Luffy cackled and the cook took a deep breath to call Zoro something unflattering when Luffy said, “Where are we going?”
“Back to the ship.”
“The ship is that way,” the cook said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. “You are heading straight for the mountain.”
Zoro scowled at him. “No, we’re walking into the sun. We had our backs to it when we came up from the ship this morning.”
“The sun moves you ignorant-”
“Yeah, okay.” Nami pressed a finger against Sanji’s mouth, making the cook wheeze like he’d run a marathon. “Sanji’s right, the ship is in the other direction.”
Zoro glared at the road they were walking, which, now that Nami said something, did seem to be slowly turning into a dirt path surrounded by trees. And there did seem to be a mountain ahead, which isn’t what you’d expect for a port.
Nami shoved Sanji’s shoulder until he turned around and started walking in the right direction. His face was crimson red and he was staring off into space. “She touched my lips,” he said dreamily.
“We’re all really happy for you,” Usopp assured him.
Nami smirked at Zoro, who rolled his eyes right back, but didn’t try to argue as she set the crew moving in the opposite direction, back into town.
Something quirked at the edge of Zoro’s observation haki, not unlike seeing the light reflect off a blade from the corner of your eye. Before he could look any closer, they rounded a bend in the road, and came to an abrupt stop.
The road ahead was blocked by the bounty hunters. Eight of them, at Zoro’s count, all armed with rifles or swords or both. Tanner wasn’t with them, which prickles at Zoro’s nerves.
“Shit.” Zoro rested his hand on Wado’s hilt as he yanked Usopp behind him, then shouldered his way past Franky and the girls. On his right, the cook was mirroring him, both of them putting themselves between the crew and the threat. Luffy stood between them, a finger stuck in one ear and looking supremely unconcerned. Luffy hadn't looked concerned facing down two emperors of the sea, so that doesn’t mean much.
Zoro didn’t feel any haki off the bunch, not worth mentioning at any rate, but that didn’t mean there wasn't a devil fruit user or two among the ranks. On his own, Zoro wouldn’t hesitate to push past them and deal with whatever attack may or may not have come.
“We’re not looking for a fight,” Robin said. She didn’t leave her position behind Sanji’s left shoulder, knowing better than to distract the heavy hitters by making herself a target, but she raised her voice to be heard over the distance. Of them all she’s the closest thing to a real diplomat, and her tone was calm, and level, but carried a note of warning. Be reasonable about this, it seemed to say. Do you see what you’re going up against?
The man at the front of the crowd took a half step forward. He was the same age as Tanner, give or take, with chin-length, curly blond hair and a slightly pointed nose. He held his hands out, palms up, in a gesture that seemed to indicate there wasn’t anything he could do about it. “Shouldn’t have become pirates then. You’re wanted men and women. We have a duty to bring you in.”
“You’re bounty hunters, not Marines. You take the jobs you choose.”
“We take the jobs that feed our families,” he said. “Doesn’t mean we can’t feel a moral obligation to protect this island from one of the most notorious bands of pirates in the North Blue.”
Luffy made a face. “We’re the most notorious everywhere,” he said.
“You’re not helping,” Nami sighed.
Luffy shrugged. “Don’t see why I gotta help. They started it.”
Zoro can’t help the chuckle that escaped, even though it definitely pissed a couple of the bounty hunters off. “Just let us pass,” he said in as reasonable a tone as he could manage. “This isn’t a fight you can win.”
“You sure about that?” The blond bounty hunter raised an eyebrow at him. “For a sure thing, you seem real hesitant to start this fight.”
“Just because I can leave your men in a broken and bloody mess on the street doesn’t mean I want to,” Zoro said, watching a couple of the bounty hunters pale slightly. “Fuck off.”
“Tell you what, we’re reasonable men. We’ll leave it up to the captain.” The blond turned to Luffy, still with a smirk on his lips. “One bounty should be more than enough to take care of my people for a while. You pick which one comes with us, and we’ll let the rest of them go back to the ship. Until the next time we cross paths.”
These idiots really didn’t do any research at all, Zoro thought with a vague sense of resignation. If they had, they’d have known that was a surefire way to piss Luffy off.
It happens in a second, maybe less. Luffy’s indignant squawk, the bounty hunters’ shouts as Luffy flung himself headfirst at the blond guy, Nami and Sanji both shouting at Luffy to get back-
One of the bounty hunters in the middle of the pack darting forward, bare hand outstretched at Luffy’s unprotected back.
Zoro moved before he had time to think about it. His conscious mind hadn’t realized the threat yet, but his instincts knew what was about to happen and in between one breath and the next head put himself in the middle of the hunters, grabbed the hand reaching for his captain’s back with one hand even as he started to pull Kitetsu from her sheath with the other and-
The last thing Zoro heard was his captain screaming his name.