A/N: Really, really late. Oh well.

I like to answer reviews in some such way, but I’m finding that it makes my author’s notes too long. If you want to see answers to questions you’ve posed in reviews or controversial statements you’ve made… or if you’re just plain bored, go check my online journal – it’s linked as my homepage in my profile. Heck, you can even ask me other questions there, get in touch with other fans, whatever. I’m on every day, so you won’t rot in obscurity. Oh, and I have a handy link to the ZoroxTashigi LJ Community there - which is where all of you should be hanging out! It’s lonesome with only me and two other people around!

Chapter 9:

The initial discussion had been brief but heated. Zoro had still been in favor of heading straight toward Rokku’s secondary base and wiping out all opposition to be found there. Tashigi had been, suffice it to say, vehemently opposed to such a course of action. Her logic was that they really didn’t need to be taking on small armies on a daily basis, and that they had barely escaped with their hides intact from the previous Fortress of Stupid. There was no need for an encore performance.

Zoro had felt compelled to point out that it would be an excellent opportunity to gather more information about who they’d be facing in the future. Tashigi’s rebuttal had included facts such as that it was easier and less life-threatening to gather information from townspeople who might actually be willing to talk without a life or death battle proceeding. Zoro had been forced to agree at that point based on the fact that he really didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

And so, they made tracks in a direction that was not toward the stronghold and the massive troop buildup, much to the confusion of those who remained at that fortress. They had opted to stay back and brace themselves for the incoming advent of two crazy people after losing nearly a dozen fighting groups to the pair. They were thus left hanging when the two psychopaths in question abruptly turned and walked the other way.

As Tashigi had previously predicted, it actually wasn’t too hard to find a convenient pocket of civilization where the two swordsmen could potentially make some progress with resolving their situation. They had simply followed the road that Zoro had spotted from the site of their last fight, and it had led them a little farther down the coast to a good sized fishing village. They had encountered several groups of travelers alogn the way, but had managed to escape notice by remaining off the road proper in all such situations. The settlement the now found was conveniently big enough for the pair to disappear, but small enough that any rapidly forming law posses or vigilante mobs were likely to be of a size they could handle.

The trip had so far been made in silence, their wary alliance already being put to the test. Tashigi appeared somewhat lost in her own thoughts, likely trying to reconcile herself to a long term partnership with Zoro. He, on the other hand, was trying to work himself around to a way of thinking or mean of considering the Marine that would get rid of that nervousness she inspired in him.

Arrival at the outskirts of the town was a welcome distraction, to say the least. There was a fortified city gate with a quartet of guards inspecting all those who passed by, and a good number of civilians were apparently out and about for the day as well. Eyeing the moderately sized crowds about, the two swordsmen were suddenly faced with another dilemma as well.

“The swords…” Tashigi muttered, getting her a glance from Zoro. They were crouched down in the thick underbrush at the edge of the forest, hidden to everyone but those who would know where to look. The dark clothes certainly helped with the whole skulking about as well.

“Hn. They’ve got that weapons ban going on, don’t they?” Zoro turned his eyes back to the people moving in and out of the gate. Indeed, there was not a single weapon in sight, though he had his suspicions about a few bundles passing through, and there were a couple of people wearing coats that were rather unseasonably large.

Well, if they could do it, so could he. Turning away from his observations, he switched his attention to the swords lying on the ground next to their feet, as well as the two bundles of clothing they had at their disposal. After a moment of consideration, he decided that his old clothes had completed a long life, and would not be missed overmuch.

Tashigi observed his activities with an air of approval, most likely because she realized that it was either this of Zoro would go out and beat up a random passerby and steal material from them. Wrapping the weapons in cloth wasn’t the most ideal way of concealing them, but it was not only their sole option but it would keep them from being bothered by anyone who wasn’t really determined to pick a fight. After all, Zoro looked scary enough that, given any excuse, most would-be law enforcers would just take it with the spirit of ‘at least he’s trying to look like he’s obeying the law’. Judging from the experiences they had with other members of this society, that would most likely be the order of the day here.

Once their weapons were disguised as oblong cloth covered bundles, they had to face the problem of actually getting inside city limits. The guards who were manning the main roads leading into the settlement looked suspiciously alert, so the swordsmen were forced to find an alternative means of sneaking in. This was pretty simple actually, since there were no city walls or anything, but it did involve bolting through the backyards of a few unsuspecting civilian houses and avoiding a couple of angry dogs in the process.

Leaving the cacophony of wrathful barking in their wake, Zoro and Tashigi found themselves in a narrow alley of what seemed to be a merchant district. Making tracks away from their entrance point, they headed downhill and toward the harbor area by unspoken accord. The rest of the city might be full of respectable people, but dockside areas always had a few shady characters and plenty of unknown faces.

Araki perched on the top of a fence, watching his targets disappear among the houses. “Huh. Welcome to my backyard.”

Grrrr.

“Ack! Bad dog!”

Zoro and Tashigi were currently facing the particular predicament of where exactly to begin and with whom. Furthermore, neither of them had managed to eat anything since the night before, and vicious yet edible pig monsters were sorely lacking within city limits. Recently escaped as they were, they obviously had no money or items of tradable value to exchange for any such foodstuffs either.

The town was a fairly busy one, so it was possible to simply blend in with the crowds who were out and about during the afternoon. Luckily the ‘borrowed’ guards’ uniforms were nondescript enough not to attract any sort of attention, allowing the pair to pass essentially unhindered through the streets.

Just being out among the public was an educational experience in itself. They had been surrounded previously with criminals, prisoners, government lackeys and pompous power-mad lechers, but none of these types were a pronounced factor of the average populace. For this Zoro was quite thankful, not really having the energy to deal with those sorts of people en masse and on an empty stomach.

Working their way through a crowd of shoppers amid an open air marketplace area, Tashigi glanced around and muttered, “What we need is a group of people willing to speak openly to a couple of strangers.” She was likely just speaking to herself, but Zoro decided to reply anyway.

“Drunks are usually good for that.” He offered, sidestepping a couple of oblivious women loaded down with packages. “But if we go into a bar and order water while pestering paying patrons for info, we’ll get kicked out in no time.”

Tashigi took a moment to step into a deserted alleyway where they could have their conversation in peace. “There are other ways to get information than just wheedling it out of drunk people, you know.”

Zoro followed and took up a position leaning against one of the walls. “Yeah, you can always ask the bartender, but they tend to actually remember that you asked them…”

“I was referring to situations that do not, in any shape or form, involve bars or alcohol.”

“Oh. Are there really other ways?” Zoro was honestly curious. He’d never been one for spending much time investigating in the past.

“Of course! There’s…” She trailed off at this point, leaving Zoro waiting for her newest bit of wisdom.

“Well?”

“Ah, well…”

Zoro found himself grinning evilly at her sudden stammering. “Hah! You were gonna suggest contacting the local Marine base, weren’t you! Too bad there isn’t one here. Kinda leaves you out in the cold, huh?”

“Shut up!”

“Heh. I guess that means we gotta find some loose-lipped drunks after all.” Zoro continued snickering for a moment at her expression.

Apparently disgusted with either the concept of drunk people or the fact that she’d just lost another argument, Tashigi muttered, “Lovely. I’ll leave that to you then, since you’re so experienced in the field.”

“Damn straight.” At this point, Zoro straightened up and looked around, searching... “This way.” He turned to the right, down an alleyway, striding along with a purpose. Only a few moments later, they arrived at Zoro’s destination.

“Shocking.” Tashigi was suitably amazed. “You can’t find your way out of a paper bag, but you can make a beeline for the nearest liquor vending establishment without hesitation.”

“It’s a gift.” Zoro shrugged, shouldering the door open and motioning for her to enter. She did so, simply shaking her head and shifting the cloth covered sword across her back.

They got a few glances as they appeared in the doorway, but the two incognito swordsmen made their way to an unoccupied table quickly enough for the attention to be passing interest only. It was early enough in the afternoon that the place wasn’t terribly busy, and so the crowd wasn’t of a threatening size.

Now came the trick – getting info, food and maybe some booze without actually paying for any of it. Not with his own money anyway. Normally, Zoro would use his trained eye to spot a random guy with a bounty, lay him flat and ‘pay’ for services with the price on the poor fool’s head. But seeing as this nation apparently didn’t have any solid connection with the World Government, there would logically be no real way to easily cash in on bounties either. He took a moment to consider that such as situation would probably make this place a paradise for wanted men, if it wasn’t already.

Well, that strategy probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. Here, he was a fugitive as well, so openly attacking others would just bring the law down on his head. No, here he needed a more basic system of acquiring funds…

Well, he had to work with what was available to him. This included, in no particular order, several drunks already sprawled at the bar, his own particular wit and cleverness, his brawling skills, a pair of disguised swords… and Tashigi. Of all the things he was currently in possession of she was the one he least wanted to use, but in this case there wasn’t much else to do for it.

For the sake of money, though… ugh, he was starting to sound like Nami.

“Ain’t seen you guys around here before.” Zoro was spared the extra work of striking up a conversation, at least. One of the guys from the bar had wandered over and dropped down, uninvited, into an empty chair at their table. Zoro could see Tashigi sizing the man up, and had to hide a grin at the look of distaste that flashed across her features.

“Eh, well, we’re kinda passing through.” Zoro replied lazily, trying his best to appear nonsuspicious and unthreatening.

“Passing through?” For a moment Zoro wondered if that had been the wrong kind of statement to make. “The crews from the merchant ships usually don’t come this far into town. Or are you from another city?”

Thirty seconds into the conversation and they were already coming across questions they didn’t’ really have answers to. Of course, they could always just lie out of their asses, but what if this guy actually knew the names of the merchant ships or who crewed them? Furthermore, they didn’t know the name of this city they were in. much less any within reasonable traveling distance.

Just as Zoro was beginning to sweat a little, Tashigi stepped in. “We’re off a merchant crew, but we’re pretty new hires as well. This is our first time to this island, so we’ve traveled a bit farther inland than the rest of the crew.”

“Sightseeing, eh? Not much to see here, if I can say so.”

“Yes, well, it’s all for the novelty value.” Her relaxed tone and easy manner put Zoro’s lying skills to shame. Obviously this was not her first incognito assignment. Well, that would let him relax a little more himself, not having to worry about her so much.

Zoro took control back of the conversation, steering it in the correct direction. “Anyway, now that we’re finally off the ship, we’re looking for a little action to liven up our night. Know where to find any?”

The man leaned forward, grinning. “Action, eh? What kind of stakes?”

“Nothing too big, unfortunately. We’re just merchant sailors, after all.”

“Well, if you want just a little, you came to the right place. We were gettin’ pretty bored around here ourselves, right boys?” The stranger turned to look at his group for a moment. A chorus of affirmative noises greeted this general question. The man then turned back to the pair of newcomers. “So, what are you puttin’ up, then?”

“Hm. Well, a good question…” Zoro drawled lazily. “I suppose plain old Beri will do, but I can’t really get into something over just that.”

“Oh? What do you suggest then?”

“How about her?” Momentarily frozen in shock at becoming the wager of their little challenge, Tashigi recovered quickly. Waves of palpable rage began radiating from the female swordsman, which Zoro did his best to ignore.

“Heh heh. I thought you were only going for small time, but here we’ve got high stakes!” The man’s leer was positively disturbing, but it wasn’t like Zoro was going to let him collect on such a thing anyway. As if he would ever lose.

“Well, I didn’t mean permanently. Just for a little while. Half an hour, perhaps? I’ll take Beri in exchange, I guess.” The rage now reached a blistering level, and Zoro began to wonder about his chances of surviving the next few minutes.

“Well, for that… I hope you’ve got a challenge in mind!”

Luckily, Zoro did. “Arm wrestling?”

“You’re on!” The man clearly thought this would be an easy win. Though Zoro was obviously well muscled, the other was three times his size, with beefy biceps to match. He reached into his pocket and slammed a wad of Beri down on the tabletop, repositioning himself in his chair in the correct stance.

Zoro knew he’d have to at least make it look like he was having a little bit of trouble. After all, it never seemed to go over well when he put people’s fists through the table, and they seemed disinclined to pay up quite frequently after things like that.

As it was, he did manage to put on a good show of effort, though the impending doom sensation he was getting from his companion was rather distracting. As it was, the other man’s arm was flat on the table in less than a minute.

“I’ll be damned, he showed you up good, eh bro?” One of the men still at the bar roared in laughter at the sight. Zoro took a moment to claim the Beri on the table, just in case someone decided to renege on their bet. His opponent was swearing and rubbing his wrist, obviously not too thrilled at being shown up like this.

The noisy one then jumped down off his bar stool and headed in their direction himself. “You handled him right out, but how about another try?”

“From you?” Zoro eyed the newcomer. This one was shorter, but rather beefier than the man Zoro had just taken care of. Still, he wouldn’t be a problem, and here was a chance to increase their funds even more. “Same stakes?”

The man sat down at the table as his friend took his leave, retreating back to the bar proper. “Sure, ‘cept I’m not so interested in the woman…”

“Eh?” Zoro felt a chill climb his spine at the insinuation here. Tashigi, on the other hand, had a look of something akin to joy on her face.

“Well then, I suppose it’s me that you should be challenging then?” The avatar of the devil, also known as Tashigi, took instant advantage of the situation. She leaned forward, arm at the ready.

“Hey! Wait a minute!” Zoro was desperate to avoid the consequences of this duel.

“Fair’s fair.” Tashigi’s grin was absolutely sadistic. “Don’t make the bet if you’re not willing to pay the stakes.”

Zoro felt the color draining from his face, blackness starting to close in on the edges of his vision. No! Passing out in a place like this was the last thing he wanted to do! He shook off the low blood pressure and gripped the edge of the table hard enough to crack the wood.

“Well, normally I wouldn’t go for something like this, but you seem serious.” The other man seemed thrilled with this new turn of events, rather understandably. He was about to win… something that Zoro didn’t even want to contemplate. “Alright, I’ll take you on!”

Zoro resigned himself to finding a way to run away, very quickly, from this place. He really didn’t even want to fight against a person like this, and there was no way he was going to follow through on this bet. No way in hell. So, when Tashigi lost, he’d just take off, straight through the door, and abandon the evil woman there among these other psychopaths. Never looking back, that was the key.

Preoccupied as he was with grandiose escape plans, he barely noticed when the actual arm wrestling match began. Yes, Tashigi was having trouble, as expected. Her arm was inching closer and closer to the tabletop, but it was somewhat amazing that she had lasted so long anyway. At least she was trying for his sake… maybe he’d forgive her in a few decades.

Hey, wait a minute. Something was not quite right with this picture.

Tashigi’s arm was inching back the way it had come, the other man abruptly put on the defensive. Zoro, and the rest of the bar, watched in absolutely stunned silence as Tashigi turned the tables and then, unexpectedly, actually won.

There was dead silence for a long moment after the thud of the back of large man’s hand hitting the table faded. Tashigi freed her own hand and shook it out easily. “Ah, a good fight. Better luck next time, eh?”

“Hold on just a damn minute!” This roar of outrage came from the man that Zoro had so recently shown up in just such a manner. “I can maybe accept that green-haired shrimp layin’ me out in a fair match, but a woman making a fool of Doku - he may be a freak, but he’s stronger than I am!”

“Freak…?”

“Sorry, bro. Anyway, you two bastards are cheating!” The man finished this statement with one finger pointed accusingly at the pair.

“Cheating? How dare you?!” Tashigi was instantly on her feet, Zoro joining her, glad for any excuse to lay into these guys. He wondered if this had been the goal all along in Tashigi’s own twisted mind?

At any rate, the group of drunks seemed willing enough to oblige. The two swordsmen found themselves being charged by more than half a dozen of them, the man Tashigi had just defeated springing up from the table and throwing the first punch as well.

As previously stated, they were not a challenge. Even without using swords, Zoro and Tashigi managed to deal with the whole gang in a very expeditious manner. This did involve a couple of broken chairs, and smashed table, and a small cut on Zoro’s knuckles, but overall it was barely worth mentioning.

The fight over, it was now time to get down to the actual business that had brought them to this particular establishment. And Zoro had no intention of using one bit of his newly earned Beri if he could help it.

“Yo, barkeep!” The green haired one twisted around to address the only other remaining conscious person in the bar.

“Y-yes, sir?” He seemed rather out of sorts, but at least he was responding.

“Bring us some food and booze, and put it on this guy’s tab.” He gestured to one of the unconscious people on the floor with the jerk of a thumb.

“Right away!” Zoro dropped back into his chair with a sigh as the bartender scurried into the back.

“Is the ‘booze’ really necessary?” Tashigi muttered, also returning to her seat and straightening her clothes.

“Damn straight it is.” Zoro grumbled back, leaning forward on the table, “Can’t have a bar fight without liquor involved, can we?” And on top of that, he really just wanted some damn alcohol after this whole scenario.

Tashigi shrugged, that evil gleam still somewhat present in her eye. “Well, if that’s the case…”

Meanwhile, elsewhere…

The situation was utterly unacceptable. It had been nearly a week, and they were all still locked up in these cells, awaiting some sort of punishment. Or perhaps just being locked up like they were, with the company they had, was supposed to be punishment enough.

That might have been true for the Marines, who had all looked somewhat the worse for wear, but Nami was used to this and more from the group of idiots she sailed with. Of course, and extremely bored Luffy was never a good thing, but the Seastone of his cell was actually keeping him fairly quiet.

The only recent bit of excitement was that the aforementioned Marines were now relocated elsewhere. That had been something of a relief, as that Captain with the Devil’s Fruit powers had been, quite frankly, giving her the creeps for days now. He spent hours glaring at Luffy, as if somehow trying to find a way to blame his imprisonment on the young pirate. Of course, it may have just been Luffy’s admittedly somewhat strange antics, which his crew was essentially numbed to but were probably still disturbing to others.

At any rate, she could do without that kind of company. It allowed them to be much freer about discussing escape possibilities, among other things, as well. This wasn’t to say that there appeared to be many chances for breaking out of this place, since they had taken great pains to limit the abilities of the crewmembers. Such was the fate of people with bounties on their heads, she supposed – everyone and their mother knew who you were and mostly what you were capable of.

Sanji, for example, had his feet securely chained, and furthermore was attached to a loop in the floor far enough away from the walls to prevent him from landing any sort of solid hit on them. Robin, like Luffy, was held in captivity simply by the presence of the Seastone. Nami, of course, didn’t have any insane fighting abilities that could have demolished her surroundings and facilitated escape, but they had made sure that she had no access to the lock of her cell door either. Not that her lock picking skills were incredibly developed, but given enough time she might have been able to manage something. But instead, a solid metal plate around the lock prevented her from being able to reach it from inside her cell.

Of course, it was kind of surprising that information in such detail would have reached a backwater little island like this one already. Suspicious, even. Had they been expected and thus thoroughly researched beforehand? If that was the case, getting out of this prison and getting their ship back was going to be even more difficult than originally planned.

The navigator was broken from her rain of thought by the door leading into their holding area opening to admit several men. This was an even that occurred on a regular basis, but the particular people that had just showed up were certainly more interesting than the average mooks that had been seeing to them as of late.

A well dressed man with dark shadows around his eyes led the group, his dark suit nearly blending into the shadows around him. Jut behind him was a person who was obviously a fighter. The man had more scars than skin, and appeared to be missing his left eye. He was wearing a long jacket, but loops of chain were visible and audible from underneath the cloth. The third and final person to enter remained obscured by those two for a minute, but when he finally emerged into Nami’s field of vision, she was honestly confused.

“A Marine?”

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End Ch. 9

Next Time- Kajou & Miki! The past is revealed!

Ending Note: Heh heh. Poor Zoro. I couldn’t resist the chance for extreme hilarity. I was cackling like mad while I wrote that bar scene. Oh, and another chapter will be flying up very shortly. Be somewhat more patient.