Sword

Chapter 9

Damn it, I knew I should've brought my bow into the doctor's office with me, Shoko thought.

The pirate was looking at Zoro with malice in his eyes. Shoko tried to think of a way to distract Puck, all while keeping an eye on whatever he was hiding in his right hand. Since she was unarmed, all she could do was help Zoro get his best opportunity to strike first. Hopefully he could hold the pirate down so she could cuff him quickly and be done with the whole thing.

"How low can you stoop?" Shoko asked, trying to stall the tense situation. "These people all need a real doctor, and you're just prolonging the time it's taking for them to receive the treatment they need. And just so you can reveal yourself and play a game of chase?"

The doctor smiled evilly at her. "By the time they realize they haven't been cured, I'll be on my way. If my drug didn't work for them, it's not going to be my problem."

Shoko glared at Puck, disgusted.

"Don't act all high and mighty to me, girl," Puck sneered. "I'll at least admit that I stoop low to gain money. All you are is a professional snitch."

Shoko rolled her eyes. Is that seriously how he's going to try to bait me? Whatever, I'll play along to keep him distracted. "I don't deny what I am," she said aloud. "But I don't target innocent victims."

"Who's to say I'm not a victim?" Puck scoffed. "I'm a victim of a society who forced me to trick people for money. The only honest money I could have made at home was working for nobles who treated us lowly citizens as ass wipes!"

Shoko blanched. Woah, that was actually an intelligent response.

But in her moment of surprise, Puck took his opportunity. He lunged forward at Shoko, revealing a scalpel in his right hand.

Without having a weapon for a counter-attack, Shoko dropped off her seat and onto the floor. Zoro was ready though: he caught Puck's blade with one of his swords.

Shit. My one job was to give Zoro the chance to attack first. Now he's starting off on the defensive.

At the commotion, another patient had timidly creaked open the door. "Is everything o-" but they stopped suddenly, seeing the doctor and Zoro engaged with their blades. A child in the waiting room must have also been able to see the fight and let out a terrified scream.

Of course, chaos ensued. The patients ran screaming from the building, several of them slowed or hobbling because of their ailments. Shoko's stomach sank: the last thing she wanted to do was scare the patients. In her head, she'd imagined simply coming in, cuffing the pirate, and walking out a hero, explaining to the patients that she'd saved them from being scammed.

She couldn't allow herself to be someone who used her title as an excuse for scaring innocent people. She hurried out of the room, leaving Puck to Zoro, and helped a couple of slower patients out the door. "We're trying to help you, I promise," she tried to assure the patients who only looked at her in fear.

Puck came sprinting out of the building just as Shoko cleared the last of the patients from the building, and Zoro was following after him. Shoko noticed blood dripping down his arm. Puck must have sliced at him to take his chance to run.

Well, it looks like he's getting his chase after all.

Shoko swept up her bow and quiver that she had left behind the shrubs outside the door. "You go after him, Zoro. I'll cover you," she half-shouted over the commotion on the street. She leapt up and grabbed the ledge of a window above her with her good arm, then scaled the short building.