Sword

Chapter 7

**In case anyone is confused, I changed the name of this book from "Hope" to "Sword." It just feels more appropriate to me **

WARNING: This chapter contains some gore!

Shoko's entire left arm burned terribly. Her nostrils eyes stung from the smoke, and the putrid smell of burning hair (probably her own) filled her nose. The rest of her body ached from her earlier fall and from the impact of the explosion. Through the window of the Marine base, she heard the sounds of weapons clashing. She wanted to return to where her teammates were, but she couldn't make herself stand.

Instead, she crawled through the smoke using her elbows, navigating through the pirates' unconscious bodies, picking up any arrows she could find that were still intact. Some of the pirates who had been farthest from the blast were still able to move and would occasionally try and throw themselves at her, but she would just roll away from their attacks and knock them in the back of the head once they would hit the ground.

Back in Ram's quarters, Johnny and Yosaku had defeated their opponents, and all that was left was the captain, who Zoro now faced. The pirate captain wasn't a strong fighter now that he didn't have any pawns to send to battle in his place.

"Your men are all down now," Zoro said, holding a sword to Ram's throat threateningly. "We can bring you in dead or alive. It's your choice."

"I'm impressed," Ram Vane said. "My men have always been able to hold down any bounty hunters. Of course, many of my strongest cronies sacrificed themselves before you all arrived. I suppose you were lucky that only my weakest men remained. It seems they were not strong enough to hold you down."

He glanced towards the shattered window behind him. "Though it does seem awfully quiet outside. Maybe my explosion was able to take one of you down."

Zoro added pressure to his sword pressed against the pirate's neck, fighting back the wave of panic that filled his chest. He had to trust that Shoko had defeated the pirates outside. She's done her job, Zoro assured himself. She's just waiting for us to do ours. "We can bring you in dead or alive," he repeated himself.

"Hm, you're no fun," the pirate pretended to pout. "Alive it is, then. Let's go boys."

Yosaku pulled out some rope and tied Ram's wrists together behind his back. "Don't try anything funny. We're letting you walk, but we can always tie your ankles and just drag you," he warned.

He and Johnny each grabbed one of the pirate's arms and they led the pirate down the staircase. Zoro had already hurried out of the building. He immediately spotted Shoko through the smoke. She was covered in black soot and the hair around her face was singed. She was laying on her belly, propped up on her right elbow and tugging an arrow out of a fallen pirate's leg using her left hand. Zoro noticed with a pang in his chest that her entire left arm wasblistering and bleeding from what appeared to be a serious burn.

Upon hearing Zoro's footsteps, she raised her eyes towards him and smiled weakly.

"About time," she said. "I took all these guys out ages ago." She gestured toward the dozen or so pirates who were sprawled out in the street.

Zoro huffed, relief washing over him. He stopped, still standing by the doors, taking in the scene around him. "You look awful," he commented.

"Really? Weird. I'm feeling just roses," Shoko rolled her eyes, but a grin was on her lips as she realized she had completed her first mission as a bounty hunter.

The two turned toward the Marine base doors as Johnny and Yosaku emerged holding Ram between them. The pirate looked over to Shoko and his lips formed an eerie grin.