𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗻.

three.

003 ⎯⎯⎯ axehand morgan.

   Fighting has always been one of my greatest thrills in life.

   I grab the next man's sword, slicing the man behind him with it, right down the back. I know that hurts. I stick the blade in my mouth as I glitch to the next group, knocking them out one by one with the blunt end of the sword.

   Spitting the sword to the ground, I place my heel on it, spinning it to slash the three marine's achilles. They fall to the ground and I take a step back, holding my sword steady in front of me.

   My back meets Nami's and I grin, "to your left."

   "You mean your left!"

   I turn, kicking away the oncoming attacker as Nami covers my other side. I glance over my shoulder to see Zoro sliding through marines, jumping up only to slice down two more.

   He lands on his feet beside me, "I didn't know you could wield a sword."

   I smile, "you never asked."

   Luffy and Nami flank the other side of us and Nami glances at Zoro, "aren't you that drunk from the bar?"

   Zoro grins, "glad I made an impression."

   I look up as Morgan makes his entrance, a sneer on his face. "The imposter, the pirate hunter, and the prisoners. Fancy that, four of you working together."

   Luffy grins, "yeah. We're a crew!"

   "Nope, not a crew."

   "Not together."

   "Ignore him."

   Morgan ignores our little outburst, "no enemy has escaped my wrath. I alone defeated the black cat pirates. I alone capture Kuro of the thousand plans. And I alone keep shells town safe from the scum of the east blue!"

   He throws his jacket down.

   Dramatic much?

   I steady my blade in front of me, lowering my stance. Usually I prefer something a tad bigger. But this will have to do.

   He steps forward and Zoro goes first. I take this opportunity to glitch behind him, only to have him catch my sword, pulling it away.

   I grit my teeth, back to no weapon, it's okay. I got this.

   I run at him again, glitching away as he tries to swing at me. He misses and I drop down to sweep my legs under him, however being thrown to the ground as Luffy falls on top of me.

   Luffy stands and Zoro helps me up. I huff, this is quite a bit harder than I thought it'd be.

   Me and Zoro exchange glances, "you go low, I go high."

   I turn to Luffy, "you deliver the final blow."

   Zoro steps forward, ripping the cloth from around his arm to wrap around his forehead. He unsheathes his final sword, holding it in his mouth as he takes stance.

   Guess we're finally getting serious.

   Zoro runs at Morgan, one hit from his blades sending him flying.

   I grin, my turn.

   I run to Zoro, jumping off his back. Morgan shields above, falling right into my trap as I glitch behind him, kicking him in the back towards Zoro.

   He barely has time to guard as Zoro comes at him with a series of attacks. I glitch above the man, dropping onto his shoulders. My legs wrap around his neck and it takes my full body weight to flip him to the ground.

   As he tries to sit up he's met with a blade from Zoro.

   Luffy grins, "gum gum..."

   He spins, his leg stretching as it catches movement, "whip!"

   Morgan goes flying, crashing into the ground on the other side of the yard. Luffy pumps his fists into the air, "whoo! We did it!"

   I feel myself smile, a genuine one.

   I pull myself to stand beside Zoro, "we make a pretty good team."

   He sighs, "no we don't."

   I nod, "tell that to the footprint on your back."

   "Hate to break up this beautiful moment," Nami steps around the unconscious marines and over to the safe, "but we need to get this thing out of here. Maybe if we find some rope or..."

   I watch as Zoro lifts the safe with ease, "or we can do that."

   Me and Nami exchange knowing glances before following after the boy. It isn't long before we make it to the docks, especially with no marines to stop us, and board Nami's boat.

   Zoro sets down the vault, Nami glaring at him, "hey! Careful with that!"

   "Whatever you say," Zoro pauses, "oh wait. I don't work for you."

   I look him up and down, "yet you're here."

   "I-"

   "Yeah," I silence him, "because you wanna be."

   "Shut up," he grumbles.

   Luffy frowns, "I'm sensing a bit of tension amongst the crew-"

   "Not a crew!" Nami and Zoro shout in unison.

   "We can't leave without my friend-"

   "Can't wait, the marines will be here before you know it."

   At the sound of a gun cocking I look over my shoulder, the man from the bar standing there. Except somehow his haircut is worse than before.

   "The marines are here already," he smirks, "you're under arrest."

   I snort, "what happened to his hair?"

   For the first time, Zoro laughs, "yeah, I might've done that."

   He fires a blank, "I won't let you make a joke of me! I'm taking you in, and handing you over to my father. I'll be the hero. I might even get a medal or something-"

   I narrow my eyes at him, "sorry were we talking to you?"

   His face flushes red and he becomes a blubbering mess, "I-"

   He's cut off by a sucker punch to the jaw, my grin growing even wider. Who knew the kid had it in him?

   "Koby?!"

   Koby shakes out his hand, "god that hurt! Also felt really good though."

   Luffy drags his friend to the boat, "no time to explain, we've gotta go, this whole island's trying to kill us."

   "I'm not coming with you."

   I raise a brow, "you sure?"

   "Before we met, every choice was made for me," he smiles, "now I'm gonna do what I wanna do. I'm gonna be a marine. I wanna help people that can't help themselves. Next time we meet we might be enemies."

   "But for now," Luffy smiles, "we're friends."