Book One: Treasure of the Heart (Zoro X OC)

Chapter Sixty One ~ To the Sky

~Third~

"Hey pops we caught one of those birds!"Luffy called as the Strawhats made it back to Crickets house only to see it in ruins, the old man and the two monkeys bloody and beaten up "Pops what happened?"Luffy asked "Masira"Usopp said "Shoujou"Sanji said noticing the monkey floating in the sea "What the? What happened here?"Nami asked.

"I've got a better question who did this?"Sanji asked as he dragged Shoujou back to shore "Ah! The Going Merry what happened to her? Who did this? When i find out they're gonna be sorry they ever laid a finger on her! The savages! Damn it!"Usopp yelled seeing the bow on the Merry was completely torn off.

"Sorry kid"Cricket said "You're alive! Don't try to move just take it easy"Luffy told the old man "I'm really sorry about this we did everything we could to stop them but it wasn't enough, he made us look pretty pathetic gotta get moving though ships not gonna patch itself up"Cricket said sitting up.

"Hold on pops wait, tell us what happened first, who did this to you?"Luffy asked "Calm down it's okay don't worry about it, it doesn't matter anymore did you have any luck finding?"Cricket cut himself off noticing Zoro was holding the south bird they had caught "Look at that you got yourself a south bird nice job"Cricket said before coughing a bit "They're hard to get"he said a bit strained.

"Luffy! Cricket's gold it's all gone!"Nami called from the house having gone to check it "That's stuff it's junk just forget it, doesn't matter your dream is more important"Cricket said waving it off "Forget it! How can you say that? Think about what it took to get that gold ten years of diving into the ocean subjecting your body to all the pressures of the deep come on you can't just" Usopp was cut off.

"Shut up"Cricket said "I'm serious that gold and what happens to it is our problem got it? You're ships in no shape to make it to the knock up stream we can get the Saruyama alliance crew here and they'll have it fixed by morning you'll still be able to set sail tomorrow"Cricket said as Zoro and Nicole went to have a look at something she had spotted.

"Listen everything will be alright we will send you to the sky i promise that"Cricket said "Hey Luffy"Zoro called and pointed out the mark Nicole had spotted drawn on the back of the castle facade "That's Bellamy's mark"Nami said "You want any help?"Zoro asked "I'll handle this one alone"Luffy said "Luffy don't be silly we don't have time for this we have to set sail in three hours"Nami said.

"If i follow the coast will that take me all the way back to Mock Town?"Luffy asked Robin ignoring Nami "Yes i believe it will"Robin said, Luffy started walking off "Hey where are you going? Don't be an idiot you can't possibly take on this Bellamy guy on all by yourself"Cricket said before Nicole offered him her sword still in its sheath and everything "If you wanna stop him use this" she said "Line thief"Zoro muttered from next to her "Kid don't do it"Cricket said "I'll be back by morning guys"Luffy said before running off.

~skip~

The Strawhats plus the Saruyama alliance crew were fixing the merry "Why didn't you go with Luffy?"Nami asked Zoro as him and Nicole were fixing the mast "Why? What's with you? Fight, don't fight, do this, don't do that, just make up your mind already"Zoro said "You're scared cause that guy beat you the first time around"Nami said.

"Luffy said he didn't need any help besides those were different circumstances"Nicole said "Yeah refusing to fight doesn't mean that we were scared when there's no reason to fight the only way to win is to stand down"Zoro said "Or walk away"Nicole added.

~skip~

Morning had come the Going Merry was fixed and now the Strawhats were waiting for "Where the heck is that rubbery bug eyed idiot? This is just like him, didn't we all agree to be here over 45 minutes ago? We're gonna miss the current, ugh i'm sure the genius didn't even stop to consider how the gold would way him down why does he always insist on making everything ten times harder?"Nami asked as she complained about their missing captain.