Sword

Chapter 20

The courtyard was silent.

The marine soldiers were staring at Captain Morgan as he lay unconscious on the ground.

"If anyone else wants to fight us, now's your chance," Zoro called out, placing a threatening hand on one of his swords.

Several of the soldiers cast cautious glances towards their peers. Many of them placed hands on their weapons, to Shoko's surprise. She reached for her yumi, in case any of them decided to charge forward, as much as she didn't want to fight any of them.

They all hated Morgan, from what I can tell. Why would they possibly want to fight us?

And she was right. None of them charged forward. Instead, many of them threw their weapons to the ground, whooping in celebration. Behind Shoko, Coby cheered with delight as well. "Thank God! They were all just scared of Morgan! I'm so glad," he released such a huge sigh of relief Shoko thought he may collapse.

Thunk.

Coby didn't collapse, but Zoro did. Shoko rushed to his side, kneeling by his shoulder. She lifted his head off the hard ground and rested it on her lap. "Zoro!" She placed a hand on his forehead, then caressed his face as she glided it gently down to his throat to check his pulse. "Here, let's go home and get you something to eat."

One of the marines rushed to her side and helped lift Zoro off the ground to a standing position, allowing him to lean on his shoulder for support.

"Please, allow us to help you," the marine soldier said. Many of his comrades shouted their agreement from behind him. "You have helped us more than you know by taking him down a peg. Where do you need to go?"

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It felt as though the whole town was gathered at her family's restaurant. Zoro was seated at the bar between Luffy and Shoko as he scarfed down a third bowl of food prepared specially by Riri and Rika. He held a large glass of booze, like many other villagers who had come to celebrate.

Riri had decided that all booze was on the house for the day, in celebration of Zoro's rescue after he had saved her and Rika from arrest.

Shoko leaned back in her seat, observing the celebration quietly, aside from her brief exchanges with old neighbors thanking her for finally putting an end to Morgan's reign of terror. It felt strange, in contrast to the fearful expressions they had faced her with in recent years.

Luffy was impressing her with the way he kept up with the endless stream of food that kept appearing in front of him. He had surely eaten more than even Zoro, who was literally nearly starved to death.

She contemplated the way the people of the town seemed to be different people entirely compared to who she had observed throughout her childhood and adolescence. They seemed so much more alive now that they weren't hiding under masks of citizens whose every public action served to please a dictator. The transformation was so quick, it was almost unbelievable.

But at the same time, Shoko wasn't surprised at how quickly the citizens were ready to change, even though Captain Morgan was still alive, and still in town. They didn't know for certain that he wouldn't keep his position at the Shells Town marine base, but just for the day, he was forced out of his dictatorial position, so they celebrated.

It was the way they celebrated so immediately and so readily that showed Shoko the spirit that had been burning in the town all this time. They weren't slowly crawling out of hiding, mistrusting each other, or trying to adjust to a new and forgotten feeling of freedom. They were publicly cheering and socializing, expressing joy over Morgan's defeat; something that surely could lead to their arrest or even execution should Morgan remain in power.