One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed Island of the Devil Fruit Gods ❯ Stepping Stone ( Chapter 28 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Zoro's opponent was fast, much faster than Zoro could follow without extreme difficulty. There was so much noise being created by his bizarre power that Zoro couldn't tell which direction he was coming from until he was almost on top of him. "Stop moving around so much! Fight me like a real swordsman!" Zoro challenged him.
His opponent stopped a few feet in front of him, a blur, until his opponent stopped spinning like a top. "You dare talk to the great Shuuren that way?" Shuuren introduced himself. He was holding two mismatched-looking swords, one of them was slightly worn from lack of upkeep.
"Stole those off some outsider, huh?" Zoro smirked. "Your style-Nitouryu? Two swords only?" he asked.
"Two swords? Hardly. There may only be two swords...but when I use the power of my Jiten-Jiten no Mi, the number of blades is infinite!" Shuuren laughed, and his arms began to spin like they were drills, the swords twirling on them like fan blades. "I can turn my entire body into a whirlwind, or just part of it. Even without the swords, I'm deadly. But this makes me the best swordsman on the island and the fastest person on the island too!" he declared.
"You are fast, I'll admit...But I'll bet in skill and strength I could defeat you easily. Care to try?" Zoro tied his bandana around his head at last, signaling that he was ready to start fighting seriously.
"No, thanks...I'd rather have my fun." Shuuren chuckled. He began spinning one hand so that the sword twirled like a drill bit, and the other hand like a fan. It now appeared that he had a sword and shield, from the rotation of his weapons. "Come, catch me if you can! As I said, my whole body is a weapon, and my swords, and that's not all...I can even make the very ground I'm walking on my weapon!" he laughed, and his lower body began to spin, making him look somewhat like his lower body should have been coming out of a genie's magic lamp. But the effect of his lower body spinning became obvious seconds later-a huge whirlwind of the dirt and sand beneath their feet began to form and it surrounded him, expanding, until the entire area around Zoro was a blind spot.
"Shit..." Zoro growled. He pulled his bandana down over his eyes so he wouldn't get anything in them, and although it blinded him completely, it wasn't like it made much difference. Usually by now Shishou would be interfering in the fight, taunting him but at the same time giving him advice. Her absence bothered him, and was distracting to the point where Shuuren was able to sneak up on Zoro, and nearly pierce him with both swords. Zoro blocked it, but the sparks flew and just like the fight against Mr. 1, if Zoro didn't break it off, his swords would shatter. "Oni-Giri!" he cried, leaping past Shuuren, but missing a critical strike. Shuuren was able to deflect it by spinning both blades like a fan to create a double shield.
"Nice try. You're very good! It'll be a great honor taking your life. And maybe then I can use your two best swords and become even better!" Shuuren grinned. The dust storm faded slightly, but Zoro still kept his bandana down.
"I should be thanking you...this is a wonderful opportunity. I can see through the eyes of the Zatoichi...the Blind Swordsman of legend. If I can defeat you without the use of my vision, I can truly advance to the next level. I will walk all over you-I will use you as a stepping stone to further my abilities and go to the next stage in my quest to become the world's greatest swordsman!" Zoro explained.
"You won't make it past my next attack." Shuuren scoffed.
"Then shut up and do it! Unless you can't handle this! Tatsumaki!" With several spins and slashes, Zoro conjured up a tremendous twister that blew away all of Shuuren's dust cover and made its way towards the tornado blader. But Shuuren looked happy that Zoro had sent such an attack his way.
"You call that a Tatsumaki? Amateur!" Shuuren laughed. Spinning both blades like drills, Shuuren conjured a tornado spinning in the opposite direction of Zoro's, and with some added spinning wind, his Tatsumaki attack negated Zoro's, and captured Zoro up in it. Zoro was carried into the air helplessly as razor-sharp winds slashed his skin. The wounds were shallow, but Zoro could feel his pride as a swordsman dwindling. His most reliable finishing move had not only failed, but had been turned against him. He fell back to earth hard, on his back, his swords flying every which way. He felt defeated, his bandana was now back up on his head, no longer covering his sad, empty eyes.
"Is that it? Already? I didn't even use the attack I wanted to and you're already down? Come on, get up! It's too early to cut your head off now!" Shuuren taunted.
Zoro lay there. "Shishou...why? Why aren't you here telling me how much of a child I am?" Zoro mumbled. "There is no reason to fight anyone on this island if you aren't here...nothing about this place matters without you. You have to be the reason I am here...where are you?" he growled. Something was very wrong. But what could threaten Shishou, when she could defeat him with ease?
His question was answered when out of the jungle, Anu appeared. Zoro gasped. If Anu was there, and Shishou wasn't riding him, she was indeed in trouble. There was no other explanation. "Where is she?" Zoro sprang up. "Take me to her!"
Anu growled and knocked him down. "What's wrong with you?" Zoro growled back. But Anu didn't respond, he merely picked up Zoro's swords with his mouth and brought them over to him. "Oh, I see. That's like her...finish this battle before you come back. I'd better hurry then." he smiled.
"What's going on? You give up or not?" Shuuren interrupted.
"Not on your life. I just needed to make sure my reason to keep fighting was still here. And it is. So let's finish this quick, I've got more important things to attend to." Zoro popped Wado Ichimonji back into his mouth and pulled the bandana back down over his eyes.
"Good, I'm just getting warmed up!" Shuuren grinned. "Here's the attack I really wanted to show you!" he bragged, spinning his legs yet again. He began moving around rapidly, making it obvious that his speed came from that particular move. He conjured up another sand twister, and blew it towards Zoro. He began doing this in several different places, throwing half a dozen of them at Zoro before stopping. Zoro took a stance like a great bird, with his swords pointing diagonally downward away from each other, and craning his neck so Wado Ichimonji was perfectly vertical.
"Legendary Bird of Rebirth, Suzaku...Screech! Phoenix Flight!" Zoro announced, and a windstorm even more powerful than his Tatsumaki followed him, blowing up each sand twister and forcing the winds up into the sky so mightily that the clouds above began to get dragged into a spinning pattern. Zoro was now in Shuuren's face, locked in close combat as Shuuren blocked with one sword and countered with the other.
"You're really getting on my nerves! That was my favorite attack and you ruined it, bastard!" Shuuren snarled.
"I'm running out of time, stupid! Just shut up and get slashed to pieces already!" Zoro retorted, and without another word, slammed his forehead into Shuuren's as their swords locked. Shuuren cried out in pain and fell back as Zoro pulled his swords back behind his shoulder. "Tora Gari!" he roared, leaping forward and slashing at Shuuren. But Shuuren, on his knees, quickly began to spin and drilled himself deep into the ground to avoid the attack.
"That almost had me there!" he teased. "I told you, I'm the fastest person on the island, you can come close but you'll never catch me. Just give up! I won't go down, so you're never going to get out of here alive, let alone in time for whatever business you have to take care of!"
Zoro snorted. But then the gears began to turn in his head. "Just like Mitsurappa...his strength was his defense. But I bested him with skill and speed. Now my opponent's balance is shifted in a different way. His speed is his defense, and I have to beat him with strength and skill." he smiled. "Take that, Shishou...I didn't need you this time after all." he chuckled.
"Talking to ourselves again?" Shuuren rolled his eyes.
"It doesn't matter. This fight is over. Try to avoid this next attack...you'll fail." Zoro pointed the Sandai Kitetsu at Shuuren.
"Then let's see you try and hit me now!" Shuuren once more conjured up a huge dust storm to mask his location. Zoro listened carefully, trying to track him, trying to find a pattern.
"Got you." Zoro grinned once he picked it up. He began swinging his swords and twirling in the same style as he would to create another Tatsumaki.
"Are you insane? You'll never succeed using the same attack twice, especially not after I've already bested it the first time!" Shuuren shouted.
"Now who's the amateur?" Zoro chuckled. "You should know better than to underestimate your opponent, Shuuren. If someone says they're going to become the world's best swordsman, you had best assume that they know what they're doing. They learn from their mistakes, they study their enemies, and they take fights seriously-this isn't a damn game, shithead!" Zoro growled, becoming more serious.
"Then how are you going to hit me with the same move when you know I'll just turn it back against you?" Shuuren asked, confused.
"Who the hell said it was the same attack?" Zoro countered. Instead of sending the Tatsumaki at the direction Shuuren was moving around in, Zoro leapt up, and sent the attack directly into the ground.
"What the-?!" Shuuren saw what had happened, and wasn't sure what to expect, until it was too late.
"In nature there are elements, and those elements have opposites. Fire and water, light and darkness. You obviously have an affinity for wind. Do you know what the opposite of wind is?" Zoro asked him. "I'll give you a hint. Blade of the Underworld, rise up and punish the wicked and drag their souls down with you...Hell's Climbhazard!"
A towering structure of earthen blades burst forth from the ground below Shuuren, slashing him all over his body, carrying him up into the air, and disarming him, sending him screaming back to earth so hard he landed in a crater three feet deep. He was defeated after the intense battle, not conscious to hear the answer to the question Zoro posed to him.
"It's earth." Zoro said simply.
Anu barked loudly, growling, to get Zoro's attention. They still had to go back to Shishou, now that the battle here was ended. "What happened to your eye?" Zoro asked the wolf. It must have been the work of whoever had made trouble for Shishou. That Tomoshibi woman, she was probably involved, he thought. The Shinigami...whoever they were. They would pay for this. "Come on, let's go back to the seaside hut!" Zoro tried to climb onto Anu's back but Anu shook him off. "What's the matter?" Zoro tried communicating with the wolf despite its lack of the ability to speak. It seemed to understand him well enough, just not the other way around. Anu bounded off in the direction of the other Straw Hats, giving Zoro no choice but to follow.

Everyone was standing around the defeated body of Daikyojin, wondering what would happen next.
"Oi! Ossan!" Luffy cupped his hands around his mouth, hoping the voice he'd spoken with would hear him. "I beat giant-man! Gimme back my ship! I'm getting bored with this island already! There's no restaurants here and there's no dinosaurs in your jungle like there are on Little Garden!"
"Give me a break!" Usopp sighed. "Luffy, we don't know what's going to happen, but if this Ossan you're talking about has Thousand Sunny you better not piss him off!"
"If he does anything to Sunny I'll kick his ass!" Luffy responded.
"What exactly did this guy say would happen when you defeated Daikyojin?" Franky asked.
"Huh? I forgot. I think he wants me to work for him or something. What a baka...I'm the captain, I don't work for anyone but me!" Luffy declared.
"You never work at all, all you ever do is eat!" Sanji bonked him on the head.
"I have a bad feeling! Everyone, come close!" Chiyu told all of them, as Robin caught up, carrying the unconscious Chopper, who was finally in his normal, tiny form. She created a large dome of light that slowly healed the injuries they all sustained.
"Let me join you!" Zoro called, as he and Anu approached.
"Did everyone win their fights, then?" Luffy asked, counting everyone. "Oi! Where's Nami?" he looked around for her.
"I hope she's okay..." Robin said, not able to find her anywhere, even by spreading her eyes everywhere.
"Well, something's going to happen soon, that's for sure. Everyone get ready for it." Tashigi told all of them. The wind began to change, and an ominous feel washed over all of them.
"Something's coming." Zoro narrowed his eyes.
"Or someone." Smoker added.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Luffy shouted.
"What?!" everyone asked, surprised by him yelling so loudly.
"Where the heck did giant-man go?" Luffy pointed to the spot where Daikyojin had been just seconds before, though at the moment was very conspicuously absent.