Sword

Chapter 18

There was a knot of anxiety in the pit of Shoko's stomach.

She stood with Luffy and Coby in front of the prison courtyard walls. Zoro was being held just on the other side.

He's going to be so skinny. What if he's too weak to even talk? Will he resent me for leaving him to protect my family? What if he agrees to be a pirate just to spite me? We'll be sworn enemies! What if he's too stubborn to let us free him? What if he insists on staying there and starves to death? What if-

"Are you coming?" Luffy asked. Shoko snapped back to her surroundings.

"Yeah, I am," she replied, staring up the wall. It was way too tall for her to jump though. "But how to we get up there?"

"Like I did last time," Luffy explained, positioning himself behind her.

"What? How-?" but before she could get out another word, she watched with shock as Luffy's arms stretched up to the top of the wall. They had to be longer than she was tall. But that was just simply not possible for humans. What is this guy?

Her heart stopped as she realized his plan.

Luffy let out a wild laugh as he lifted his feet from the ground behind her. His arms on either side of her began to shrink back to their normal size at a rapid pace, like a rubber band snapping back from being held tense.

He's not human.

He's a talking slingshot.

Those were her last thoughts before she was suddenly flying in the air over the wall.

"Eeee!" she squealed through closed teeth, trying not to scream and alert the entire Marine base that they were breaking into the enclosure.

Luffy wrapped his arms around her once they had passed the top of the wall, and then they were falling straight down into the courtyard. Luffy turned in the air so he was below her, and they landed with a hard thud on the ground, but it didn't hurt as much as Shoko expected. She barely even felt winded. It felt as if they had landed on a bouncy mattress instead of the solid dirt ground.

She rolled over and onto her feet, before reaching down to help Luffy back up. "Thanks, I think," she said, heart still pounding from the thrilling new means of travel.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, grin spreading from ear to ear.

As Shoko looked up, she noticed Zoro immediately—though it wasn't a difficult feat since he was the only thing in the entire dusty courtyard. Her heart plummeted. He was tied up to a wooden cross with the sun beating down on him brutally. He was leaning forward as much as his restraints would allow, unable to hold up his own head and neck. His skin was red and blistering with sun burns. She could even see that his arms were chafing where the rope was wrapped around them.

She tried calling out his name, but it only came out in a whisper as her legs began to carry her in a sprint towards him.

He looked up at her, eyes wide as if she had awakened him suddenly from a dream. "Shoko?" His voice was surprisingly normal. He didn't sound as weak or dehydrated as she imagined he would.

She reached her hands out to him and rested them gently on his face, trying to be gentle with his burns. He didn't flinch away from the touch. "I was in such a hurry to get here, I didn't even think to bring you water, or damn even sun lotion," she said, her voice hushed.

"I'm fine," Zoro said. "I'm more than halfway through. There are only nine days left now. And Ripper brings me water late at night when no one's around."