3 The Swordsman

  James. POV.

  Stupid thief, stupid architects, stupid hallways, and stupid stairs.

  "Why does this place have to be so huge!" I couldn't count how many doors I passed during the 10 minutes I've been walking. 47. This is ridiculous. I frowned and covered my eyes with my hand creating a shadow. "James you should climb to the window." I removed my hand and picked up the pace. "What a great idea, Drake…for idiots!" I turned a corner to see the commander of the Base. Vice Admiral Jonathan standing there with a light smile and his hands on his hips.

  "I don't think, Drake would appreciate that comment." I paused, looked around, sighed, and slumped my shoulders.

  "Hey dad." He patted me on the shoulder and gestured to follow him.

  "You don't look so good. Had a run in with the pirates?" His smile never left as he spoke.

  "You already know the answer." He chuckled.

  "Do I? How many did you see?" I raised two fingers and he looked over and nodded his head.

  "I figured as much. Trouble seems to follow you around. Even when you were a kid, remember that time when…"

  "Really not the time, dad." I couldn't be more slumped. This was embarrassing. He smiled and looked at me.

  "Right. Pirates to catch. I have an idea the amount on Straw-hat's crew, maybe 6 or 7. Their ships been cleared of all the treasure and supplies, it's on lock and key now." I nodded along as he was listing things down.

  "Do you want me to protect the ship?" He shrugged and looked over, then looked at my hip with a raised eyebrow. I sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it." He raised his hands and kept walking.

  "If you want. I'm sure you'll find your pistols there, soon enough."  We kept walking until we met a fork in the road. One hallway leading got his office, and the other leading to the docks. "Your mom says hi." I gave a thumbs up and walked to the docks.

  As I was walking I couldn't help but think.

  'Monkey D. Luffy. Roronoa Zoro, An orange-haired thief with the ability to somehow manipulate the weather, a raven-haired woman with devil fruit powers, hmm…they have a doctor on board as due to them helping in the infirmary, if Luffy is anything like Vice Admiral Garp then they must have a chef, and the last member is undisclosed for now. The only challenges I'll most likely face are Luffy and Zoro, perhaps the devil fruit woman. All the other positions don't necessarily need to be filled with a combatant, and as they just started piracy recently, they wouldn't have time to build on those skills. Though, I'll take my assessment with a grain of salt, I should be prepared for whatever challenges I might face. Especially Zoro.'

  Flashback!!!!! One year ago!!!!!!

  James POV.

  "Hey! Your Roronoa Zoro, right?" I said to a green hair man with three swords strapped to his waste. We were in a tavern somewhere in East Blue. I was journeying across East Blue before joining the Marines, to try to discover myself. Roronoa Zoro was three bottles deep in booze.

  "What's it to you?" He asked me without even turning around, just shook his empty bottle at the bartender and placed it on the bar. I walked up to him and sat next to him with a smile on my face.

  "I want to join you." The bustle of the tavern slowed and I could feel all sorts of eyes on me. The bartender handed him another bottle and Zoro popped the cork and chugged it before stopping and sighing with a content grin on his face.

  "No." I sputtered. I wasn't excepting such a quick dismissal.

  "Wait, wait, wait, wait. Before you just dismiss me." I stood up and placed my hands on my two flint lock pistols on my waste. "I can shoot good. Really good. I could be an asset to you." He just started chugging again, completely ignoring me. The people in the inn started to laugh a little bit and I could feel my face heat up and a bead of sweat fall down my back. "Don't just ignore me I'm…" As I walked closer to try to grab his shoulder, he already had a sword at my throat and an unamused look on his face. I gulped while looking down at the blade.

  "You're not ready to be on the sea and you're not ready to hunt pirates. It doesn't matter how good you can shoot or how useful you can be to me. If you can't handle a little laughter coming from these losers, then don't you dare try to ask to join me." With that being said, he stood up and sheathed his sword. Then just walked out of the tavern. Eyes followed him and the bartender coughed in his hand causing me to look at him.

  "He left a pretty big tab." He smiled and put out his hand. I sighed and reached into my pocket.

  "This is ridiculous. I grabbed a handful of Berry and threw it at him before following Zoro out of the tavern. I didn't take long to find him; he was just looking around. He looked kind of lost honestly. "Where are you headed?" I asked him as I came closer, he just turned to look at me and then crossed his arms with a frown on his face.

  "Didn't I tell you to get lost?" I smiled brightly.

  "Let me prove my worth. I, Cormac James. Challenge you, Roronoa Zoro to a duel." I patted the pistols on my hip with a smile. "Any and all weapons will do." His frown never left, and he just turned around and walked away. My smile dropped and I chased after him. "Hey! You can't just leave. I challenged you to a duel!" He was walking into a forest now. "Where are you going anyway?! The port is on the other side of town. This is the forest." He stopped for a moment before looking behind him into town, then shaking his head and continued walking.

  "No, it's not." I deadpanned and fell to the floor. 'How does he hunt pirates with no sense of direction?' I quickly got up and followed him some more.

  "Look, you owe me. I paid your tab back there." He kept walking and shrugged.

  "I don't remember having a tab." This caused me to sweat drop and fall to the floor backwards. 'This guy is really something else in person'. I crawled up and got on my knees begging him.

  "Well, you did and I paid it. So how about that duel?" I had my hands clasped together and I was right in front of him blocking his way. He sighed.

  "Fine." I smiled and jumped up to my feet before being swiftly dropped again by a kick to the stomach. "I win." He patted himself on the stomach with a satisfied smile before stepping over me and walking away.

  Me, well I was rolling on the floor groaning.

  "Wait. I wasn't ready." I managed to get out between me gulping for air and groaning in pain. He stopped walking. He leaned his head to one side, waited for ten seconds, and then did the other side. I finally got to my feet when he turned around. His face was solemn and in his hands was a bandana.

  "Alright, but I won't hold back." He swiftly put his bandana on before putting his while sword in his mouth. I was so excited that I almost forgot to dodge his attack. He had passed me now and slowly turned around. I drew my pistols and shot a tree branch above his head. It fell quickly before being sliced in half. "Smart." I smiled.

  "Thanks." I responded and I had to dodge another sword strike then another, and then ten more, before getting some opening to which I used it to block a sword strike with one pistol and aim at him with the other. He stopped for a moment, before slamming down harder on the pistol I was blocking his word with. Causing me to fall and roll out the way of a stomp.

  "I'm stronger than you. You're not going to win by dodging all the time. Fight back." He yelled at me and I only barely crawled to my feet to be stopped by a tree and two swords planted in the tree's bark stopped me dead in my tracks. I had nowhere to go. He took his sword out of his mouth and pointed at me. I was scared. I could barely hold in my pee. Is this my death?

  "Please don't kill me!!" I cried out in protest. "I'm not ready to die!" I could feel a trickle of blood coming from my neck, sliding down and staining the collar of my shirt.

  "Stop your crying. I'm not gonna kill you. I told you; you weren't ready." He pulled the two swords out from the tree and sheathed them. His white sword was still in his hand, and faster than I could blink he sliced at my right peck very shallow. "There now you have something to remember this by." I fell on my bottom and hissed in pain. Clutching at the cut to try to stop the bleeding. Zoro however just turned and walked away. "And stop following me." I could only close my eyes to stop the tears from falling.

  Present Time.

  At the Docks.

  "You have no idea how far I've come, Roronoa Zoro." I stood in front of the other marines with my arms crossed, A cutlass on my right hip and a borrowed pistol on my left. "No idea at all."