The Sun's Adversary (zoro x reader)

Chapter 1 - I Will Survive

Battle after battle raged by, each bloodier than the last. It was a brutal stage, and the limelight was on me. Some fights were as little as a few minutes, and others raged on for past an hour. I was exhausted by the end of the night, and I was covered in blood, yet none of it was mine. It was a slaughter house.

When the final battle of the night ended in my victory, I stood there taking in sporadic breaths, and a guard walked over. He forced my blades out of my hands, and raised one of my fists. The crowd erupted in rage, and different things were thrown into the ring. Mainly trash they had on hand. I can only send a bone chilling look in their direction, and I lower my head back down as I'm dragged out of the ring.

As I exited the ring into the room filled with weapons, I was once again handcuffed and my precious blades were taken from me once again. In all honesty it felt like being separated from a lover, though I didn't have much experience in that department. It was my best guess at what it would feel like. I didn't show the impact it had, but there was a pang of hurt in my stomach watching the blades exit with another person.

I was dragged back to the cage in the center of town, and as soon as I was chained to the bars again, Clement decided to make some light conversation.

"As horrid as you are, I'm sure the bets on you will be sky high tomorrow." He clapped his hands together, as if congratulating himself.

"You're betting on illegal fights? That's not exactly gonna fly with headquarters." I taunted with venom on my tongue.

"What hq doesn't know, won't hurt them." He gave me a menacing grin. "Be ready for hell tomorrow. You won't be having any easy opponents, and there's a lot of killing that the marines don't want to do."

"Why stop the torture now? What's with the ring?" I demanded an answer.

"My my, you're much more talkative than when you first arrived." Clement laughed to himself. "It's still torture, you just haven't seen it yet."

I stared at him with an unreadable expression, and waited for him to leave the cell before finally relaxing myself. Within moments, I was out, and the morning came all too soon.

Another month went by fighting in the ring, and I still won every battle I was faced with. It irked me to know people were getting rich off of my victory. One night I made a vow to myself that I'd get out of here, and I'd make sure those Reagals got what was coming to them.

On the last day of the month, as soon as the sun peeked over the sea, I was in the weapons room again, waiting for my blades to be returned, and my cuffs to be removed. For some reason there was a feeling I couldn't describe as my blades were returned to me. Sure there was relief, but there was also something else. I pushed it to the back of my mind, and I stepped through the gate once more preparing myself for more battles.

The crowd roared again, and I started to swing my blades in a circular motion at my sides. It was a slow movement, only meant to calm me. The crowd seemed to take it as a threat, and they shouted and screamed as they warned me not to mess their bets up. I sighed as I readied myself for my opponent to enter the ring. The other gate open, and the crowd went into a stunned silence. The muzzle on me obstructed my view, and I couldn't see who walked out. All I knew was that his presence made the air overwhelmingly thick. He stepped closer into the ring, and I found myself face to face with a man I didn't know was still alive.

"How the hell-" I was cut off as he slammed a fist down. I nimbly dodged to the left and got a good kick in on his arm. He was groaning in pain, not from the kick, but from something. I stood behind him trying to take in how this man was standing in front of me.