Chapter 19: First contact with Baroque Works
Going Merry, First leg of the Grand Line.
The crew were busy with the problems caused by the unpredictable weather changes in the region. When they left the Twin Capes, the climate was good and there were no clouds in sight but it started to snow out of nowhere. This caused no small distress to Nami, who couldn't predict the weather even with her Observation Haki.
"So this is the Grand Line... the weather changes without any warning. If I don't do my job properly then all of us will be killed!"
As she was in the middle of questioning her abilities, the weather changed again and wind started to pick up, declaring the beginning of a storm.
"The weather changed again... how are we even going to survive this?!"
"This is the Grand Line, girl."
"You have any idea on how to navigate here?"
Nami's distressed cries were met with the cynical remarks of Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9. Miss Wednesday then continued on with the conversation.
"You are not even at the helm...are you alright with that? Do you know which way we are sailing?"
That was when the door opened and Usopp came in, also while letting in the freezing cold wind. The three shivered to their bones, which stopped the conversation.
"We are heading in the opposite direction of the way we were going Nami...is there any change in the log?"
"AHHH...!!!You are right! Immediately turn the ship around!! Usopp take them helm. You two help us out too or I'll throw you off the ship!"
Nami dragged the two passengers out as Usopp went to take the helm. Nami immediately started to give out the orders to everyone while Zoro was sleeping without a care in the world, completely covered in snow.
...
A few hours later.
The entire crew plus the two passengers were completely passed out on the deck. Usopp also was lying down because of the mental exhaustion, showing that people and monsters weren't the most dangerous threat but nature itself is. Grand Line slowly wears down the sailors' mental strength and finally devours them, and the only way to remain alive is to keep moving forward and getting ready for the next trial.
"Why are you all so tired looking huh? Pathetic. With just this level of conviction, you guys won't survive, do you hear me?"
Zoro walks up to the upper deck and started to give a sermon. Everyone was literally emitting blood lust at him and he visibly shrunk for a moment, exactly when Nami cobbled him with her punches.
"You dare to give us lesson while you were sleeping like a log throughout the danger!! The next time you sleep like that, I'll make you sleep forever!"
Nami continued to beat up Zoro as he constantly ran away. At that moment Usopp sensed something and went towards the bow.
"Nami...I can see the Island. Its just up ahead."
"Is that so, Usopp?"
All of them went forward, only to see the ocean stretching out till the horizon.
"Look here, Usopp. tell us when you think we can see the island, and not just you. Got it?"
Nami dragged out every single word so that it felt even scarier than it sounded. Usopp got the underlying message and nodded his head. He then gestured towards Zoro to move to the side to have a talk with him. Zoro thought Usopp wanted to complain about Nami but Usopp was on about a completely different matter.
"You know what organisation they are from, right?"
Usopp was talking about the two passengers and the line of work their organisation was connected to.
"Yeah. It is called Baroque Works. An organisation where all the members follow the bosses orders without knowing his identity. Even the rest of them use code names in the field."
"I heard about them at the information brokers'. We need to be careful so as to not show our strength or they will probably avoid contact from the beginning. If they are up to something..."
"If they are up to something I'll take of it. You already had your fun when you took out the 8th Branch, so you don't get to party."
...
They partied. Hard.
When they were almost at the Island, the two passengers jumped into the sea and left, and Usopp felt nostalgic as he remembered team Rocket from those two's mannerisms. They then followed the river that led inland and found a town at the end of it.
The town was in a jolly mood and welcomed them even though they were pirates. Only Sanji and Luffy were naive enough to think they were really welcoming them without any rhyme or reason. The Mayor, who had a weird hairstyle welcomed them and invited them to a party.
Luffy continued with his consistent record of becoming a chef's nightmare as most of the chefs were defeated by the abyss that was Luffy's stomach. Zoro and Nami did not lose out to Luffy as they were downing drinks one after the other until they defeated all their competition.
Usopp's mood was also very jolly, as it was the first large scale party he had been to, and the rambunctious atmosphere and the knowledge that he can't be harmed by the hosts in any way made him party even harder.
When midnight passed, all the members of the crew were unconscious or asleep. Meanwhile the bounty hunters had gathered outside the hall and was ready to capture the crew. A buff, dark skinned woman with pink hair came out of the door and walked towards the Mayor.
"Why did we have to throw a party for the likes of these people? Couldn't we have just overpowered them and be done with it? Our food supplies were completely polished off because of them, Mr 8."
"Don't be so hasty in your judg-..." *coughing* "maa~mah~mahh~...Don't be so hasty in your judgement, Miss Monday. First look at these posters, then you'll understand."
The mayor, who was actually known as Mr. 8 brought out the three wanted posters of the crew.
"60 MILLION! AND EVEN TWO 30 MILLION BOUNTIES! Their faces don't look like they are worth that amount though. "
"That is why I said to not be hasty in your judgement. If we tried to use force on these guys, then I don't think we could have captured them. Anyways, we have to capture them alive so that we get the full amount of the bounty. Now go!"
"Yo! Sorry to interrupt your gathering..."
The entire group was startled by the voice and turned towards it, only to catch a sliver of moonlight rippling off of a beautiful blade edge.
"...Let them sleep for a little while longer, would you?"
Zoro's appearance at that moment gave them the chills. His body felt ethereal in the moonlight, as if he was a Messenger of Death waiting to claim their souls.
"YOU! You should have been completely unconscious by now!"
" A swordsman should not ever let his guard down, whatever the situation may be. Now let me get this straight...this is a nest of bounty hunters, and you people deceive the jolly pirates that come here and capture them for their bounty."
"Mr. 8, Miss Monday, the man with the haramaki and the one with the long nose is nowhere to be seen!"
"There's one more?! It seems that we have to get serious, huh."
The rest of the bounty hunters came outside and reported the situation, only to cause more panic. Mr 8 immediately decided to take down Zoro first so that they could search for the other faster.
"About 100 bounty hunters are here. I'll be your opponent then, Baroque works!"
Zoro started to leak his battle intent outwards, making them all draw cold sweat. The fact that he knew their organisation's name was also a major problem that might lead to the boss ordering a hit on them.
"Well then, If you want to capture me... then follow me!"
Zoro jumped down to the ground and ran into one of the alleys. The bounty hunters panicked and ran after him. Zoro slowed down just enough for a dozen people to get close to him and got ready to draw his sword.
"I'll start with you...[Yubashiri]!"
Zoro drew the sword and jumped into the air. When he reached around 20 meters, he kicked the air and reversed his direction and headed towards the hunters. He stepped on the air once more to accelerate, spun in the air to correct his center of gravity, touched down and accelerated further.
It looked like a sliver of moonlight had passed through the crowd when Zoro appeared on the other end of the crowd. For a moment, it looked like nothing had happened. The yells of the hunters in the next second and the blood decorating the walls told a different story.
" What a light sword!And using [Geppou] to accelerate before an attack made my attacks far stronger than normal...but no one cares about these guys anyway, so no problems there."
Zoro then jumped on top of a roof when the door behind him opened and 3 hunters jumped out. Their intense blood lust attracted the attention of Zoro as he turned around and released a flying slash, killing the attackers immediately.
"What a blood lust...[Sandai Kitetsu]! So this is the difference between a meitou and a youtou! Definitely a problem child!"
Zoro's simple flying slash cut through the building and cut through another two cleanly. The display of strength made the hunters question their life choices as their souls threatened to cross the Lethe river. Mr 8 and the other single digit agents were sweating buckets and tried to come up with a strategy.
"There might have been a mistake in the Wanted Posters! Its definitely this man who is the captain...otherwise this strength cannot be explained!"
"Yeah...there has been such mistakes in the past too. I also think it is like that."
Miss Wednesday was too afraid to think about the possibility of someone stronger existing in the group, denying the voice in her head saying the chances of that orange haired girl that was commanding the crew to be stronger.
...
Zoro was having his fun cutting down the hunters when Mr 9 came attacking in a weird acrobatic stance using two metal bats as a weapon. Zoro felt it would be fun to play with the man and dodged all of his attacks and deflected some.
After a minute, Zoro got bored of playing around with Mr 9 and cut through the metal bats and followed it up with a kick to the face which sent Mr 9 flying through the walls of the opposite building. Zoro then jumped into the air and used [Geppou] to land where the three stronger looking ones were and landed behind Mr 8.
"IGARAPPA!!"
Mr 8 raised his saxophone and played a tune, which released a shotgun shot containing a lot of projectiles. Zoro, who was bored with the weak opposition just stood there without even trying to dodge.
''"HUH?!""
The result raised a collective yell from all hunters standing there. Zoro, who was hit but the gunshot at a short distance was completely fine.
"Everyone shoot him again! All of you together!"
Mr 8 ordered the remaining hunters to surround Zoro. They then began to barrage Zoro with multiple gunshots, enough to raise a smokescreen.
"So this is the effect of [steel scales]! I did not feel like I became less vulnerable to hits because I only sparred with those three. This level of attack wouldn't even scratch me now."
"[KAIRIKI]!"
Miss Monday, one of the few that hadn't given up punched Zoro in the face with a steel knuckle, only to fall back and hold her hand down due to the pain. Zoro snapped his head back with a bored expression on his face and knocked her out with the handle of his sword.
"So this is the level of a single digit agent. If the entire organisation is this weak then just I am enough to destroy it."
"Don't get overconfident, Zoro! Isn't that scar on your chest proof enough?"
"IGARAPPAPPA!"
The sudden voice startled the already high-strung Mr. 8 to fire the cannons hidden in his hair. But his attack looked like it went through the person and exploded when it hit a building behind that person. It was Usopp who stepped down from the shadows, fully equipped with his weapons.
Usopp then continued to walk forward and punched Mr. 8 out of sight. He then caught sight of the huge duck beside the girl and walked towards it.
"This bird looks tasty. Let's use it for tomorrow's dinner."
Usopp's tone, which sounded like a person narrating a horror story scared the duck so much that it ran for its life. Miss Wednesday also looked like she was going to cry.
"Oi Oi... can't even make a joke these days. What is happening in this world?"
"DON'T MAKE SUCH SCARY SOUNDING JOKES THEN!!!"
Miss Wednesday yelled at him. At the same time, Zoro was thinking of something when explosions sounded at the place where Usopp sent Mr 8 flying.
"IGARAM!!"
The girl ran off in the direction of the explosion sounding deeply concerned. Usopp and Zoro also wanted to check the situation and ran after her.
...
"...So it is your end, Captain of the Royal Guard! Don't worry...your princess will soon follow!"
The new character, who had a dark skin tone and wore sunglasses and a red full body jacket sounded like he was deciding the fate of Mr. 8.
"MR. 8! WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING MR. 8...MR. 5?"
"WHY? Why do you think? Princess of the Alabasta Kingdom... NEFERTARI VIVI?!"
...
"Oi Zoro, what should we do? These guys are fighting among themselves. And that guy just said that blue haired girl is a Princess."
"Why are you asking me? Do I look like a perverted cook to you?!"
"A Princess?! Zoro, Usopp...first thing, save her and that old man. We'll decide what to do with them later.
A wild Nami appeared out of nowhere with golden Bellis in her eyes. Zoro wanted to say something but Usopp already went ahead. So Zoro jumped on top of a building to enjoy the show.
...
"Princess Vivi, a little hardworking girl who infiltrated the organisation to save her country. It would have been a heroic tale if not for you being found out though. You both can die knowing that your country will fall for sure!"
Mr. 5 raised his hands to trigger an explosion but a wall of air stopped the explosion. It did not stop there as it hit Mr. 5 and sent him tumbling into a building.
"The technique I developed using my understanding of [Reject] and the sea currents... let's call it [Aegis Wave]. Though this is way too weak to stop concentrated attacks from powerhouses, AOE attacks and heavy obstacles can be cleared. That's not all... I can create more waves if necessary. If only I could use Advanced Armament Haki alongside this attack...defending against a Yonko is a possibility!"
"I DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO YOUR EXPOSITION!"
Mr. 5 came out from the rubble, and a blonde woman was floating in the air mumbling something while slowly descending towards Usopp.
"That's too bad. This technique can also be used with a gun too, you know?"
Usopp drew [Despair] to-
"THAT GUN IS BANNED FOR A REASON, USOPP!!"
Nami did not let him have his fun, so Usopp directed that anger at the two approaching threats.
"[Focus Wave Palm]!"
Usopp opened up his palms and focused the vibrations. He then moved it in the direction of Mr. 5, who could only stand his place.
For a second, nobody felt anything, but the next second, Zoro's hand subconsciously held on to his sword. At that moment Mr.5's stomach started to move like a quake had been set of from his stomach. Mr.5 fell on his knees and lost consciousness while a shockwave continued out through his body and pierced through multiple buildings.
All this happened while the lady was still falling. Usopp did not want to use such extremely strong move, which was actually weakened down to the maximum for the likes of Mr.5 on a woman. So he moved aside before she hit him and held his hand to her face. The woman's face showed pure despair at the moment. Usopp gave her a smile in return.
"[Impact]!"
Usopp hit her with an attack just enough for her to go to sleep. He then turned towards the princess and the Captain of the Royal Guard, whose eyes looked like it would pop out of its sockets anytime.
"So you see...the [Focus Wave Palm] is the offensive application of the [Aegis Wave]. It is something like the Fishmen Karate technique, but mine requires more control and strength. Even my arm would have effects when I use it at full power, and it is impossible to overlay waves and transmit waves... so I can't increase the number of the waves like the [Aegis Wave]."
The two just nodded their heads at him when he explained his attack to them, and they now looked like two petrified people.
"You guys are no fun. So, getting down to business... Will you have a talk with our manipulative satan incarnate over there?"
Usopp gave them a really wide smile, wishing them good luck for what was to follow.
...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
battlemonger
battlemonger This chapter was quite long. I wanted a good place to stop or had to put in a cliffhanger.
So I did neither.
On another note, How does a pair of eagles sound... as Usopp's pets?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone