Chapter 10: The Promise

  Koby's hands shook as he worked at the ropes.

  He'd found a knife in the kitchen. Small, dull, but enough. Behind the Marine base, in the shadows of the parade ground, he sawed at the thick cords binding Zoro to the crucifix while keeping one eye on the roof where Marines still moved.

  "What are you doing?" Zoro's voice was rough. Tired. "You'll get yourself killed."

  Koby kept cutting. "I know."

  "You're not a fighter. You're not even a sailor yet."

  "I know."

  Zoro watched him. The kid's hands trembled, sweat ran down his face, but he didn't stop.

  "Why?"

  Koby looked up, and there was something in his eyes that hadn't been there before. Something harder. "Because I want to be a real sailor someday. A real one. Not like these bastards who bow to tyrants and throw little girls over walls."

  Zoro said nothing.

  "Luffy is going to be Pirate King," Koby continued, voice quiet but steady. "I don't know how I know. I just... I just know. And he needs you. He came back for your swords. He punched that Helmeppo bastard for Rika. He's stupid and reckless and probably crazy, but he's not cruel. He's not like them."

  A bullet tore through Koby's shoulder.

  He screamed, dropped the knife, and fell backward clutching the wound. Blood poured between his fingers.

  On the roof, a Marine lowered his rifle and called out, "Captain! Someone's freeing the prisoner!"

  Zoro strained against his ropes, useless. "Kid! Get out of here! Run!"

  Koby crawled back to the crucifix, reaching for the knife with his good arm. Blood soaked his shirt. His face was white with pain.

  "The deal," he gasped. "With Helmeppo. It was a lie. He was going to execute you anyway. Luffy found out. That's why-"

  "Stop talking and RUN!"

  Koby grabbed the knife and tried to stand. His legs gave out.

  Boots thundered across the parade ground. Morgan led the charge, axe hand gleaming under the moonlight, dozens of Marines fanning out behind him. They surrounded the crucifix in seconds, rifles raised.

  Morgan stepped forward, massive and terrible. "You. Boy. You're the one who was with the intruder."

  Koby stared up at him, too scared to speak, too hurt to run.

  "Kill them both," Morgan ordered.

  The rifles leveled.

  Zoro's heart smmed against his ribs. His hands clenched into fists, bound uselessly behind him. 'Not here. Not like this. I can't die here. I made a promise. I swore I would-'

  The image came unbidden.

  Green fields. A dojo. A girl with short hair and eyes that held the same fire he carried.

  Kuina.

  Their st real moment together. Her voice, firm and certain. "One of us is going to become the world's greatest swordsman."

  His voice, just as certain. "I will. I'll be the one."

  Her smile. The st time he ever saw it.

  Then the stairs. The funeral. The wooden swords they'd used as children, pced in her hands one final time.

  'Her dream. My dream. I can't die. I HAVEN'T FULFILLED THE PROMISE YET.'

  The rifles aimed.

  Fingers tightened on triggers.

  Gss shattered.

  Luffy burst through a window above, three swords clutched against his chest. He hit the ground in front of Koby and Zoro just as the Marines fired.

  The bullets struck his back.

  And bounced.

  They ricocheted in every direction, pinging off stone and flesh. Several Marines screamed as their own shots hit them. Others dove for cover. The volley dissolved into chaos.

  Luffy straightened, completely unharmed, and grinned at Zoro.

  "Took you long enough," Zoro said.

  Luffy held out the swords. "Got your stuff."

  Zoro stared at the familiar wrapped hilts. For a moment, he forgot about the blood, the bullets, the fifty Marines surrounding them. He forgot about everything except the weight of those three bdes in his hands when Luffy pressed them against his bound fingers.

  "You," Zoro said slowly, "are the biggest idiot I've ever met."

  "Probably." Luffy's grin widened. "Now get loose. We've got company."

  Zoro's fingers found the hilt of Wado Ichimonji. The white scabbard. The sword that held more than steel.

  With the bde still sheathed, he sliced through the ropes binding his wrists.

  He dropped to the ground, legs nearly buckling after weeks without use. But he caught himself. Stood. Drew all three swords.

  One in each hand. The third in his mouth.

  The Marines stared.

  Morgan's eyes narrowed. "Three Sword Style. I'd heard rumors."

  Zoro bit down on the bde and spoke around it, voice muffled but clear enough. "You heard right."

  Luffy watched, and for a moment the mask slipped. Behind the grin, behind the reckless confidence, Ethan's mind registered the sight. Roronoa Zoro. Three Sword Style. Real. Alive. About to fight at his side.

  'This is really happening.'

  Zoro turned to him, swords ready. "You still want me to join your crew?"

  "Yeah."

  "Even after seeing what I can do?"

  "Especially after."

  Zoro's eyes held his for a long moment. Then he nodded once.

  "Fine. I'll join." He shifted his stance, bdes catching the light. "But if you get in the way of my dream, I'll kill you myself. If you make me look like a fool, I'll kill you myself. If you ever do anything that stops me from becoming the world's greatest swordsman..."

  He let the threat hang.

  Luffy's smile didn't waver. "I'll take responsibility."

  Zoro stared at him. Something passed between them. An understanding. A contract written in steel and blood.

  "Then I'll follow you." Zoro turned to face the Marines. "Captain."

  The word hit Luffy like a physical force.

  Captain.

  His crew.

  His first real crewmate.

  He looked at the fifty armed Marines, at Morgan's massive form, at the chaos surrounding them.

  And he ughed.

  "Alright, Zoro. Let's show these assholes what happens when you point guns at my navigator."

  Zoro blinked. "Navigator? The pink kid's our navigator?"

  "I’m just kidding."

  "He's bleeding on the ground."

  "He'll learn faster."

  Koby, still bleeding, still on the ground, groaned. "I hate you both already."

  Luffy ughed again and stepped forward to meet the Marines.