Story Update : Leaving Chapter 10 part 3
continued...
The large meeting hall was beginning to fill, men and women of various shapes and sizes seeming to materialize from the shadows as they took their seats at the long table. A delicate blonde woman, face and body littered with scars, came to stand behind the seat at the right of the head of the table. She waited with due diligence for her companion to arrive, blank yet sad eyes staring off into nothing. Cindry did as little as possible to draw any more attention to herself, though the action was pointless; no one seemed to pay her any mind to begin with.
Tonight would be the first time that all of them would be together in almost two years, and it was already promising to be an interesting evening. The reason for the summons was still unknown, but everyone had their suspicions. When the door at the end of the room was thrown open, a hush fell across them as each member of the crew watched their leader walk to his place of honor at the head of the table. His loud voice echoed up to the rafters as he slammed his hand on the table to call attention.
“Is everyone here? Ki shi shi shi.” Geko Moria reclined back in his seat and looked out over the men and women seated in front of him. Several empty chairs caught his attention and he looked to the nervous man on his left for answers. “We seem to be a few short.”
“Ah, yes. It seems that Perona took a hit and was captured a few days ago. Her partner Bearmy was killed. Several of Captain John’s generals were taken into custody as well. The only ones left now are present and accounted for.” The short round man with beady eyes and long fanglike canines wiped the sweat from his brow as he read the list on the clipboard in his hands. “There are three available assassins now, a few dozen footmen and a couple of informants. Fortunately our feed into the police database is still operational although I don’t know the progress on the software.”
“Hn.” Moria laced his fingers together over his chest as he reclined back, the frown on his face deepening as he mulled over the update. “I hope you bring me better news than Hildon, Dr. Hogback.”
“Fosh, fosh, fosh! Indeed I do, Master Moria.” The portly doctor held his hand out, and turned to look coldly at the blonde standing behind him when nothing was given. “Cindry, you wretched girl, give me the computer.”
The laptop slapped him in the face as the annoyed woman shoved the electronic device at Hogback. The doctor snarled at her but held his tongue as he set the computer down and opened it up. In a few clicks, he opened the necessary files and connected to the large monitor mounted on the side wall. Everyone turned in their seats for a better view and waited anxiously for any good news that might be reported. Ooh’s and aah’s escaped as they took in the pictures on the screen.
“As you can see, I’ve made some modifications to the original design. Strength and speed have been increased, though we are still working on agility. The endoskeleton is holding up perfectly and our skin grafting research is showing promise. In all, project Oz is coming along nicely.” Hogback brought up several different pictures, each a more disturbing level of medical debauchery than the last. They showed different stages of a creature of some sort, being constructed of bone and metal then covered in multiple patches of skin, obviously from different donors. In one, you could see the flesh being ripped off of an apparently still living man to use to cover an open section on Oz’s chest. “Unfortunately, our biggest problem lies in the intelligence. So far all we can get him to do is walk or run into things. Cognitive thinking is our main focus, and I have some breaking research that I am anxious to get to work on as soon as possible, fosh, fosh, fosh.”
More slides passed across the screen showing different testing stages of the large, somewhat man shaped beast. The creature stood half again as tall as an average man, though its skin looked more like the patchwork on a crazy quilt. Just looking at the thing you could tell the massive level of destruction it would be capable of, if it had any intelligence. Once that was obtained, the robotic warrior would be almost unstoppable.
“Soon my soldier will be ready, and I can proceed with my plans, ki shi shi shi shi,” Moria exclaimed, clearly overjoyed with the update. Others joined him in laughter, some of the earlier tension finally dissipating with the Boss’ good mood. When everyone quieted down, Moria began to tap his forefingers together as he appeared to be deep in thought. “Hogback, tell me how it goes with the search for the little rat. Once we have him taken care of, there will be no one left to oppose us.”
“While it was unfortunate that Perona was lost, her sacrifice was not in vain. We were able to discern that the one we are looking for is under the care of our very own Detective Smoker.” Hogback knew giving Moria too much information could jeopardize his operation, but not giving the man any would be suicide. “I have already ordered Absalom to-“
“No.”
“Sir?” Hogback questioned, a nervous tic starting at his temple.
“I believe it is time for our samurai to earn his keep. Ryuuma will handle the blonde, understood?”
“Of course, Master.” The aging swordsman stepped out of the shadows to stand just behind Moria; his stoic façade masking any emotion the man might have felt.
“We will not stand for it! This was supposed to be our fight, our kill. He cannot take what belongs to us.” Absalom stood quickly, knocking his chair out behind him and slamming his fists on the table. “Look what happened at the last job. How can we send in someone we barely know to do something of such importance?”
“What happened with Perona is unfortunate indeed, Absalom. Her loss though is her own mistake. She was told to be careful.” Hogback intervened, trying to keep things from getting out of control. “Ryuuma has proven himself very worthy, and should the need arise I am sure he will call upon you for assistance.”
Absalom snorted in disgust and disbelief as he turned his back on the room. A light “chink” was heard and a breeze rustled the edges of his coat before the blonde realized what had happened. He inclined his head to look up at the tall man before him and felt the top half of his beloved hat fall to the floor.
“It is disrespectful to leave a meeting before being dismissed.” Ryuuma’s voice was smooth, even, and commanding respect, just like his movements as he dodged the rabid onslaught of attacks from Absalom.
/-/-/-/-/-/
Sanji rubbed at his temples, trying to ease the headache that always seemed to come when dealing with Luffy for long periods. He wondered how long Zoro’s shift was at work and if he should make dinner for one or two. Being by himself so much was actually starting to get on his nerves and for a brief moment, he thought about calling Smoker to tell the short tempered detective he’d been left alone. The stiffness in his muscles finally helped Sanji make his decision, and the blonde headed into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. While it brewed, he could take the time to do some long missed exercise of his own.
The couch and chair were pushed further from the center, since the coffee table was already removed, and made an area wide enough to do stretches and basic warm-ups, but nothing extravagant. There was an iPod docked into the surround sound system, and the cook took the liberty to look through the playlists to see if he could find something that caught his interest. “Workout” was selected and Sanji sat in the middle of the rug to begin. He groaned a little at the tightness in his legs, silently chiding himself for foregoing this simple task for so long. The brief spat with Zoro the other day showed him how much he was out of practice, so why had he waited so long before starting this again? Oh yah, maybe it had something to do with him running for his life every other day. Sanji forced his circumstance out of his mind as he continued with his regimen.
-/-/-/-/-/-
He put his ear to the door again and listened hard. There it was again. That thumping noise and music had been going for almost two hours now. It sounded like the crappy stuff normally played around this time, but no one should be home right now. He himself had seen the car leave, and checked periodically to make sure the occupant of the apartment hadn’t been brought home by anyone. So who in the world was in there? Jigorou scowled as he tried to figure it out.
Curiosity finally got the better of him and he pulled a ring of keys out of his pocket. It turned to anger when the appropriately marked key didn’t fit the lock. This was now a matter of breach of lease contract, and the superintendant took great pleasure in pulling out a lock pick in order to gain access to the apartment. Jigorou was so focused on the task at hand, that he never noticed the music stop or the presence waiting on the other side of the door. With a malicious snicker, Jigorou felt the lock give way and he quietly pushed the door open to enter. What met him was far from what he could have ever imagined.
“Ace, just knock… Who the fuck?”
A bare foot connected with his face, cracking his jaw and sending him flying back out into the hall. Jigorou blinked twice to clear his vision, just in time to see the second attack. He blocked it with his forearm and lashed out in return, intent on not letting the assailant have another chance. The super swung hard and managed to plant his fist into the man’s gut, giving him enough time to right himself before another kick was aimed at his chest. Arms crossed in front of him, he took the impact with a grunt and finally was able to get a look at the devil that had emerged from Roronoa’s apartment. Blonde hair shadowed most of his face, but a single blue eye glared at him, full of hate. Although his features were distorted with rage, Jigorou recognized him from last night in the lobby. He wondered how long the man had been living here without his knowledge. His hesitation cost him, and the blonde managed to land another blow to his face, this time breaking his nose and splattering blood across the hallway. Jigorou fell against the wall and slid down, grabbing his face with one hand and looking up to see an extremely pissed off blonde looming over him.
“Who the hell are you? What kind of shit is this? You’re breaking in, in the middle of the fucking morning? You’ve either got balls of steal or shit for brains, asshole. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood, or I’d give-“
“Hey, shit-cook, what are you doing?” Zoro stepped off the lift to see Sanji standing half naked in the middle of the hallway, covered in sweat and looking angry as hell. On the floor, dazed and confused, sat the semi-bloody superintendant of the apartment building looking back and forth between the men as he tried to figure out what was going on. The green haired man sported a new cut to his temple and looked very tired, but otherwise ready to fight.
“I’ve been receiving a lot of complaints about the noise in your apartment, Roronoa. That combined with the changing of the locks and someone who is not on the lease living here is all I need to evict you. In fact, I think I will.” Jigorou pulled his hand away and winced at the amount of blood on it. “I’ll be charging your friend with assault as well.”
Sanji’s ankle was caught mid-air, just inches from having his foot connect with Jogorou’s face again. The blonde glared at Zoro’s hand then back to the swordsman who gave him a warning look.
“Way to keep out of sight, shithead,” Zoro grumbled as he used his grip on Sanji’s ankle to force the blonde back into the apartment. Once Sanji was inside, Zoro turned to face the other man, who had finally managed to gain his footing again. “Go fuck yourself, Jigorou and try to throw me out, I dare you. I gave a spare key to the owner of the building, and I know for a fact that there weren’t any complaints.” Zoro glanced over to the thin pieces of metal scattered on the floor by the doorway, his face darkening as he put two and two together. “Stay the fuck out of my home, or next time it will be a sword and not a foot that connects with your head.”
Zoro stepped back into his apartment, keeping an eye on Jigorou until the door was closed between them. As soon as the latch clicked, he slid the safety bolt into place and leaned his head against the doorframe. He took a couple deep breaths before standing straight and turning around to look at the blonde.
“You okay?”
Sanji clasped his hands together in front of his chest and smiled sweetly. “Yes dear, and how was your day?”
The swordsman stared at him blankly for a moment, the sarcasm not sinking in right away. When it did, Zoro was torn between being pissed for Sanji teasing him, and embarrassed at the stupidity of his own question. In an effort to save face, Zoro decided to ignore the comment and focus instead on putting away his coat and swords, fiddling with this and that until he heard the bathroom door shut and the shower turn on.
Remembering that he had forgotten his phone earlier, Zoro began searching for the elusive device. After ten minutes, he finally gave up and used the home phone to call it. He traced the faint ringing to the pocket of Sanji’s coat and groaned when he looked to see how many messages had been missed and from whom. It looked like Luffy had been bored indeed. Zoro was about to erase all of them when he noticed the last was from Ace.
bird down
dog rabid
( keep the blinds closed )
The large meeting hall was beginning to fill, men and women of various shapes and sizes seeming to materialize from the shadows as they took their seats at the long table. A delicate blonde woman, face and body littered with scars, came to stand behind the seat at the right of the head of the table. She waited with due diligence for her companion to arrive, blank yet sad eyes staring off into nothing. Cindry did as little as possible to draw any more attention to herself, though the action was pointless; no one seemed to pay her any mind to begin with.
Tonight would be the first time that all of them would be together in almost two years, and it was already promising to be an interesting evening. The reason for the summons was still unknown, but everyone had their suspicions. When the door at the end of the room was thrown open, a hush fell across them as each member of the crew watched their leader walk to his place of honor at the head of the table. His loud voice echoed up to the rafters as he slammed his hand on the table to call attention.
“Is everyone here? Ki shi shi shi.” Geko Moria reclined back in his seat and looked out over the men and women seated in front of him. Several empty chairs caught his attention and he looked to the nervous man on his left for answers. “We seem to be a few short.”
“Ah, yes. It seems that Perona took a hit and was captured a few days ago. Her partner Bearmy was killed. Several of Captain John’s generals were taken into custody as well. The only ones left now are present and accounted for.” The short round man with beady eyes and long fanglike canines wiped the sweat from his brow as he read the list on the clipboard in his hands. “There are three available assassins now, a few dozen footmen and a couple of informants. Fortunately our feed into the police database is still operational although I don’t know the progress on the software.”
“Hn.” Moria laced his fingers together over his chest as he reclined back, the frown on his face deepening as he mulled over the update. “I hope you bring me better news than Hildon, Dr. Hogback.”
“Fosh, fosh, fosh! Indeed I do, Master Moria.” The portly doctor held his hand out, and turned to look coldly at the blonde standing behind him when nothing was given. “Cindry, you wretched girl, give me the computer.”
The laptop slapped him in the face as the annoyed woman shoved the electronic device at Hogback. The doctor snarled at her but held his tongue as he set the computer down and opened it up. In a few clicks, he opened the necessary files and connected to the large monitor mounted on the side wall. Everyone turned in their seats for a better view and waited anxiously for any good news that might be reported. Ooh’s and aah’s escaped as they took in the pictures on the screen.
“As you can see, I’ve made some modifications to the original design. Strength and speed have been increased, though we are still working on agility. The endoskeleton is holding up perfectly and our skin grafting research is showing promise. In all, project Oz is coming along nicely.” Hogback brought up several different pictures, each a more disturbing level of medical debauchery than the last. They showed different stages of a creature of some sort, being constructed of bone and metal then covered in multiple patches of skin, obviously from different donors. In one, you could see the flesh being ripped off of an apparently still living man to use to cover an open section on Oz’s chest. “Unfortunately, our biggest problem lies in the intelligence. So far all we can get him to do is walk or run into things. Cognitive thinking is our main focus, and I have some breaking research that I am anxious to get to work on as soon as possible, fosh, fosh, fosh.”
More slides passed across the screen showing different testing stages of the large, somewhat man shaped beast. The creature stood half again as tall as an average man, though its skin looked more like the patchwork on a crazy quilt. Just looking at the thing you could tell the massive level of destruction it would be capable of, if it had any intelligence. Once that was obtained, the robotic warrior would be almost unstoppable.
“Soon my soldier will be ready, and I can proceed with my plans, ki shi shi shi shi,” Moria exclaimed, clearly overjoyed with the update. Others joined him in laughter, some of the earlier tension finally dissipating with the Boss’ good mood. When everyone quieted down, Moria began to tap his forefingers together as he appeared to be deep in thought. “Hogback, tell me how it goes with the search for the little rat. Once we have him taken care of, there will be no one left to oppose us.”
“While it was unfortunate that Perona was lost, her sacrifice was not in vain. We were able to discern that the one we are looking for is under the care of our very own Detective Smoker.” Hogback knew giving Moria too much information could jeopardize his operation, but not giving the man any would be suicide. “I have already ordered Absalom to-“
“No.”
“Sir?” Hogback questioned, a nervous tic starting at his temple.
“I believe it is time for our samurai to earn his keep. Ryuuma will handle the blonde, understood?”
“Of course, Master.” The aging swordsman stepped out of the shadows to stand just behind Moria; his stoic façade masking any emotion the man might have felt.
“We will not stand for it! This was supposed to be our fight, our kill. He cannot take what belongs to us.” Absalom stood quickly, knocking his chair out behind him and slamming his fists on the table. “Look what happened at the last job. How can we send in someone we barely know to do something of such importance?”
“What happened with Perona is unfortunate indeed, Absalom. Her loss though is her own mistake. She was told to be careful.” Hogback intervened, trying to keep things from getting out of control. “Ryuuma has proven himself very worthy, and should the need arise I am sure he will call upon you for assistance.”
Absalom snorted in disgust and disbelief as he turned his back on the room. A light “chink” was heard and a breeze rustled the edges of his coat before the blonde realized what had happened. He inclined his head to look up at the tall man before him and felt the top half of his beloved hat fall to the floor.
“It is disrespectful to leave a meeting before being dismissed.” Ryuuma’s voice was smooth, even, and commanding respect, just like his movements as he dodged the rabid onslaught of attacks from Absalom.
/-/-/-/-/-/
Sanji rubbed at his temples, trying to ease the headache that always seemed to come when dealing with Luffy for long periods. He wondered how long Zoro’s shift was at work and if he should make dinner for one or two. Being by himself so much was actually starting to get on his nerves and for a brief moment, he thought about calling Smoker to tell the short tempered detective he’d been left alone. The stiffness in his muscles finally helped Sanji make his decision, and the blonde headed into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. While it brewed, he could take the time to do some long missed exercise of his own.
The couch and chair were pushed further from the center, since the coffee table was already removed, and made an area wide enough to do stretches and basic warm-ups, but nothing extravagant. There was an iPod docked into the surround sound system, and the cook took the liberty to look through the playlists to see if he could find something that caught his interest. “Workout” was selected and Sanji sat in the middle of the rug to begin. He groaned a little at the tightness in his legs, silently chiding himself for foregoing this simple task for so long. The brief spat with Zoro the other day showed him how much he was out of practice, so why had he waited so long before starting this again? Oh yah, maybe it had something to do with him running for his life every other day. Sanji forced his circumstance out of his mind as he continued with his regimen.
-/-/-/-/-/-
He put his ear to the door again and listened hard. There it was again. That thumping noise and music had been going for almost two hours now. It sounded like the crappy stuff normally played around this time, but no one should be home right now. He himself had seen the car leave, and checked periodically to make sure the occupant of the apartment hadn’t been brought home by anyone. So who in the world was in there? Jigorou scowled as he tried to figure it out.
Curiosity finally got the better of him and he pulled a ring of keys out of his pocket. It turned to anger when the appropriately marked key didn’t fit the lock. This was now a matter of breach of lease contract, and the superintendant took great pleasure in pulling out a lock pick in order to gain access to the apartment. Jigorou was so focused on the task at hand, that he never noticed the music stop or the presence waiting on the other side of the door. With a malicious snicker, Jigorou felt the lock give way and he quietly pushed the door open to enter. What met him was far from what he could have ever imagined.
“Ace, just knock… Who the fuck?”
A bare foot connected with his face, cracking his jaw and sending him flying back out into the hall. Jigorou blinked twice to clear his vision, just in time to see the second attack. He blocked it with his forearm and lashed out in return, intent on not letting the assailant have another chance. The super swung hard and managed to plant his fist into the man’s gut, giving him enough time to right himself before another kick was aimed at his chest. Arms crossed in front of him, he took the impact with a grunt and finally was able to get a look at the devil that had emerged from Roronoa’s apartment. Blonde hair shadowed most of his face, but a single blue eye glared at him, full of hate. Although his features were distorted with rage, Jigorou recognized him from last night in the lobby. He wondered how long the man had been living here without his knowledge. His hesitation cost him, and the blonde managed to land another blow to his face, this time breaking his nose and splattering blood across the hallway. Jigorou fell against the wall and slid down, grabbing his face with one hand and looking up to see an extremely pissed off blonde looming over him.
“Who the hell are you? What kind of shit is this? You’re breaking in, in the middle of the fucking morning? You’ve either got balls of steal or shit for brains, asshole. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood, or I’d give-“
“Hey, shit-cook, what are you doing?” Zoro stepped off the lift to see Sanji standing half naked in the middle of the hallway, covered in sweat and looking angry as hell. On the floor, dazed and confused, sat the semi-bloody superintendant of the apartment building looking back and forth between the men as he tried to figure out what was going on. The green haired man sported a new cut to his temple and looked very tired, but otherwise ready to fight.
“I’ve been receiving a lot of complaints about the noise in your apartment, Roronoa. That combined with the changing of the locks and someone who is not on the lease living here is all I need to evict you. In fact, I think I will.” Jigorou pulled his hand away and winced at the amount of blood on it. “I’ll be charging your friend with assault as well.”
Sanji’s ankle was caught mid-air, just inches from having his foot connect with Jogorou’s face again. The blonde glared at Zoro’s hand then back to the swordsman who gave him a warning look.
“Way to keep out of sight, shithead,” Zoro grumbled as he used his grip on Sanji’s ankle to force the blonde back into the apartment. Once Sanji was inside, Zoro turned to face the other man, who had finally managed to gain his footing again. “Go fuck yourself, Jigorou and try to throw me out, I dare you. I gave a spare key to the owner of the building, and I know for a fact that there weren’t any complaints.” Zoro glanced over to the thin pieces of metal scattered on the floor by the doorway, his face darkening as he put two and two together. “Stay the fuck out of my home, or next time it will be a sword and not a foot that connects with your head.”
Zoro stepped back into his apartment, keeping an eye on Jigorou until the door was closed between them. As soon as the latch clicked, he slid the safety bolt into place and leaned his head against the doorframe. He took a couple deep breaths before standing straight and turning around to look at the blonde.
“You okay?”
Sanji clasped his hands together in front of his chest and smiled sweetly. “Yes dear, and how was your day?”
The swordsman stared at him blankly for a moment, the sarcasm not sinking in right away. When it did, Zoro was torn between being pissed for Sanji teasing him, and embarrassed at the stupidity of his own question. In an effort to save face, Zoro decided to ignore the comment and focus instead on putting away his coat and swords, fiddling with this and that until he heard the bathroom door shut and the shower turn on.
Remembering that he had forgotten his phone earlier, Zoro began searching for the elusive device. After ten minutes, he finally gave up and used the home phone to call it. He traced the faint ringing to the pocket of Sanji’s coat and groaned when he looked to see how many messages had been missed and from whom. It looked like Luffy had been bored indeed. Zoro was about to erase all of them when he noticed the last was from Ace.
bird down
dog rabid
( keep the blinds closed )