Straw Hat Luffy: The Black Fist

Chapter 19: A Look Inside

AN:

I keep surprising myself with how quickly I'm getting these chapters out. lol. Anyways, I have been thinking about this chapter for a while and it did take some work to get it feeling the way I wanted it to. I struggled with certain parts but overall I'm very happy. I hope you guys like it. As always, I'd love to know what you think. I think this is a pretty cool chapter but as I've said before, I'm the author so I'm biased. :)

Here's Chapter 19.

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Chapter 19: A Look Inside

Zoro slashed Wado Ichimonji through the air and the movement was accompanied by a purple arc materializing from its edge. He quickly sheathed both of his blades as the projectile moved in the direction of his target. If he had to guess, from the man's reaction, the seasoned pirate had probably seen one or two flying slashes in his time.

Time to try something new.

The swordsman shifted his sheaths so each rested against one of his hips, taking a familiar runner's stance and bending at the knees. His eyes drifted closed and he crossed his arms to form an 'X' in front of his body, lightly hovering his hands over the hilts of his katanas.

"Nitōryū:", the rock beneath Zoro's feet shattered as he chased behind the still-moving purple arc.

In the blink of an eye, the verdet's form seemed to pass through the man, the purple slash connecting in the same moment. Zoro ignored the sound of his deflected projectile crashing into the rock above and calmly slid his blades back into their sheaths, the quiet sound seeming to somehow fill the entire area. His eyes slowly drifted open, two clicks echoing into the air, "Sabertooth's Lullaby.".

The clanging of metal and an irritated grunt came from over his shoulder, along with the sound of dripping blood. The swordsman heard chains beginning to rattle behind him and he whirled around, drawing his blades in a flash as metal links assaulted him from every direction.

"Zoro! You look so cool!", Luffy's voice cheered through the bars of his cage. His friend really was awesome. He could shoot stuff out of his sword! How cool was that?! And that move! It'd been so fast he almost couldn't keep up! Just look him go! He was deflecting all those chains super fast, too! It looked like fun... "Hey! Come get me out of here!", the straw-hatted boy begged, trying to squeeze his face through the bars. It wasn't fair that Zoro got to fight and he didn't!

"A little busy right now, Luffy!", the verdet grunted, moving his blades as fast as he could, metal clangs erupting from his position. Mad Treasure continued to rapidly attack from afar and Zoro chose to bide his time, waiting for the right moment. The chains were fast but he could see them well enough to find an opening.

In the middle of his vision, the swordsman saw a gap in the pirate captain's offense and didn't even think before diving through it, Kitetsu flipping in his hand as his form became parallel with the ground. In a feat of pure athleticism, he gripped his entire body with his core and wrenched himself into a spin, a beastly growl leaving his lips, "EQUINOX!".

The thin purple ring surrounded him, pushing outward into the thick links of assaulting metal and reaching about a meter before stopping in place. A grinding sound exploded into the air as the ring and chains fought for a moment, each trying to claim dominance over the other. In the middle of Zoro's descent to the dirt, the grinding suddenly stopped and was replaced with the sheering of metal.

The verdet's body hit the floor just as his attack gouged into the earth, thick chains falling to the ground all around him. He was immediately back on his feet, eyes searching for his opponent. He couldn't help the grin that came to his lips when they landed on Mad Treasure's figure still surrounded by dark floating chains... Fighting strong guys was fun.