Destined for Flames (One Piece Fanfic)

Tick Tock

"What?! Find the shooter?How the heck am I supposed to do that?"

Usopp has a point. Alubarna isn't small by any means. We'll have a hell of a time searching this place for a lone shoote.r. Damn you Crocodile. Damn you and your damn plans. Damn you for ruining a perfectly good desert country.

The sound of fighting is still pounding in my ears after Luffy's departure, but even louder is the sound of the ticking clock tower looking out over the square.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

We're running out of time, and it is painfully obvious to everyone. Every face is taut with worry, anxious to see what happens next.

Usopp eventually calms down, turning as rational as one can be in this type of situation. "No time to think about it. We've got ten minutes. Since the diamete of the blast is about five kilometers or so, the enemy should be at least two and a half kilometers away--"

"No!" Vivi interrupts. We all turn to her quizically, and she explains. "The shooters might be very near here," she says.

Usopp starts, beads of sweat trickling down his bandaged face. "How?" he asks frantically. "If the shooter is here then they'll be..."

"Crocodile is that sort of person," Nami notes dryly.

"Killing his own buddies...!" Chopper gasps. I pat his head reassuringly, scratching his tiny ear. His face relaxes slightly at my touch and I allow a brief smile to fill my face.

"I'd like to eat that guy raw," Sanji says, sounding as close to a growl as I've ever heard from him. I notice Pell grip his sword, eyes narrowing at something behind us. I'm about to look behind Vivi and I when suddenly both Sanji and Zoro strike. Zoro's sword deflects a blade that was aiming at Vivi and I, and Sanji lands a shattering kick to our assailant's jaw. He drops backwards, sword going limp in his hands, blood spraying from his gory mouth.

"Damn it!!" Usopp shrieks, pointing at all the heavily armed Baroque Works lackeys that are crowding around behind us. I pull at Vivi's arm, dragging her back into the safety of our group, while Zoro and Sanji take up positions in front of us.

"We've finally found you, Princess Vivi!" one of the agents calls giddily, waving around the two swords in his hands. "Killing you will earn us a promotion! And we'll become millionaires!"

Scowling, Sanji and Zoro turn their heads to look at each other. They look especially frightening with the blood running down both their faces. And Sanji looks dangerous without his tie, his shirt unbuttoned slightly. Even in the desert, on our way to Yuba when they killed the Sandora lizard, they didn't look quite as menacing.

"How long do you plan on taking?" Sanji asks our Swordsman.

"We have to make every second count," he shoots back.

They turn to the Baroque Works agents, and I stifle a laugh. They are so screwed.

"Two seconds!" they decide.

"Let's run!" Nami orders, already taking off with the rest of us in tow. "Let's hurry and escape to somewhere safe!" Usopp adds, to which I roll my eyes. Not a one of us are going to be safe until Luffy's finished with Crocodile.

By the sounds that are reaching my ears, I would guess Zoro and Sanji have cleaned up. But with all the other sounds crowding my senses, it take a minute to figure out that they are in fact following. Vivi leads us away from the fighting, and we all pause to catch our breath when she stops.

We decide to once again split into groups to search for the bomb, and consequently, the shooter. I don't get a say in whats going on, as Nami's appointed herself as temporary leader of our little band of one-time do-gooders. She pairs herself with Chopper, most likely for his sharp nose, puts Vivi with Pell in falcon form, Sanji by himself for God knows why, and Usopp, Zoro and I together. I catch her smirk as she sprints away with Chopper.

She did that on purpose.

Usopp, attempting to lighten the mood, I suppose, raises his hand, finger curled into a claw. "Wahahahaha!" he laughs, doing a spot on impression of Crocodile's voice. Or maybe I hate him so much I think Usopp's insulting impersonation is a dead ringer for him. "You useless trash!" he cackles.

I waste no effort in whacking the back of his head, sending him to the ground. He groans and mock gasps. He's so covered in bandades, I highly doubt the fall did any real damage. "Idiot," I mutter.

"What the heck are you doing?" Zoro demands of Usopp, his patience stretched too thin already. Usopp picks himself off the ground, and they engage in a macho standoff that I raise a skeptical eyebrow at.

"I'm putting myself in Crocodile's place!" Usopp exclaims. "If I were him, where would I put the bomb?!"

"Stop doing useless things!" Zoro shouts, making me sigh in exasperation. Sure I'm glad he's alive and well enough to be in a trying argument with our sharpshooter, but this is really getting us nowhere. "We only have five minutes left!"

Annoyed, I grab both of them by the ear and start to pull them through the deserted streets of Alubarna. "If you don't want to die in the next five minutes," I growl, "I suggest you stop acting like complete and utter idiots and help me look."

This is a tone I don't usually use on my crew mates, and I can tell it startles them. But my nerves are shot and I can take no more of their incesscent fighting. It's driving me totally nuts.

At some point, I let go of them, and they follow behind me like stray puppies. I roll my eyes at the comparison and keep scanning building, searching for signs of a shooter, or a bomb-like device. I would guess it's being kept somewhere, high, this cannon. Isn't that where most people would decide to put a cannon? Oh I don't know. I'm just rambling.

I turn to ask Usopp, only to realize that Zoro's missing. How lovely.

"He got lost," I deadpan, staring at the dusty streets. Usopp looks around, apparently only just noticing as well. "Gah!" he yelps, clutching at his head. "What are we going to do?! What if we get attacked?!"

I clamp a hand over his mouth and glare at him. "Now is not the time," I growl, and he nods obediently. I release him and continue running down the street, only to smack into... Vivi?

I help her off the ground, since we both hit the dirt after colliding, and mentally run through how much time we have left. Two and half minutes at most.

"Vivi!" Usopp waddles over to us, and she snaps to attention at the sound of his voice. "Mr. Usopp!" she says excitedly. "And Raya!"

'Did you find the target?" Usopp asks.

"Yes, I did!" she says. "It can onbly be there!"

"Where's there?" I ask, but am completely ignored.

"What?!" Usopp gasps. "Really?! That's good!" He pulls something out of his satchel, his trusty slingshot I've never seen him use. Though if he's Yasopp's son, I don't doubt his aim. He places some sort of ammuntion into the slingshot's sling and pulls back, aiming at the sky. "Let's call everyone!" he says, then turns to look at Vivi while I stand around in the background, watching this all unfold. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" she replies instantly.

Usopp nods. "Super move!" he shouts, letting the shot fly. "Red Snakey Star!" The shot rockets into the air, the trailing red smoke spiraling along after it. It shoots high enough that everyone in Alubarna will be able to see it if they bother to look up. Hopefully Zoro hasn't made it out of the damn city yet. Though, from the stories I've been told, that's all too likely.

"The clock tower," Vivi says breathlessly. "That's where it has to be. No other place makes as much sense."

I nod thoughtfully; it does make sense to put the bomb so close to the square. It wouldn't be checked first even if the plot was discovered.

Vivi, with another look at the tower in the distance, sprints off, leaving Usopp and I to follow. "Wait!" Usopp says, crouching down. "I'll write a note for everyone!" I watch him for half a second as he scrawls a message in the dirt, then follow Vivi. "Wait, guys!" he shouts. "Wait!"

"Hurry, Usopp," I call back.

"I found.... the Princess!"

Shit!

I skid around the corner Vivi just took, and find myslef face to face with about a dozen "millions" or whatever they're called. All looking to be promoted to a number agent, all hellbent on capturing and/or killing Vivi. This is what I'd call perfect circumstances.

Usopp nearly crashes into me from behind, and he screams, throwing his hands up in surrender. Such a terrified look on a pirate's face... Brave warrior of the sea my ass!

"Alright," I say, drawing out Honoo. "You're just picked the wrong girl to piss off. I'm in a bit of a rush, so forgive me if I'm sloppy."

They stare back at me uncomprehendingly, and I smirk devilishly. I won't kill them, because I don't roll like that. but they'll wish for death when I'm finished with them. "Keep going to the clock tower, guys," I say without taking my eyes off the enemy. "I'll catch up. And if you see Zoro there, tell him he's a bigger moron than Luffy for getting lost when he was right behind me."

They share a quick, unintentional laugh, before heeding my words and doing a disappearing act. I grin at the confused faces of the "millions", "Don't worry," I soothe. "This'll all be over in a minute."

And with that, I strike, weaving a deadly dance only a Swordsman can perform. Hm, I guess that does it. I am a Swordsman. And you know what? I love it.

I tune out the cries of pain and focus on not hitting any vital spots. But I slash at legs and arms and faces, and one by one they fall to the ground. I replace Honoo in her (I've decided my sword possesses a female warrior spirit) sheathe and then proceed to dash away from the carnage.









Third Person's POV

The Marines gathered together whisper to each other, wondering over their Vice Captain's decisions once more. How could such a level-headed woman decide to assist the Straw Hats? But they know they have to follow orders, and some of them don't mind it as much as they let on. The Straw Hats, at least in this situation, really don't have to be the enemy.

This particular group has just finished rounding up a few dozen Baroque Works agents, knocking them unconscious so that they're ready for transport, and no longer a hinderence to the Straw Hats.

"Look! It's Roronoa Zoro!" one Marine points out, gesturing to the rapidly approaching figure. Zoro groans, not loving the idea of having to fight off so many armed Marines when his friends are waiting for him.

He grudgingly wraps his fingers around Wado's hilt, ready to pull out his blades and clear a path. "Didn't think the Marines came too," he mutters to himself as he draws closer to the angry, slightly confused sailors. "No time to lose."

"Why are you here?!" a Marine demands, and several others back him up. "What are you doing?!"

"That's my line," Zoro grumbles, pausing in front of the group.

Another Marine points down the street, indicating that's the way Zoro should head. "You, North of the next street!" he orders.

Zoro sweat drops, unsure of what to do.

"Go back, right side!" another adds.

"Stupid!" another shouts out.

"Stupid!"

"What the hell is going on?" Zoro wonders aloud, jaw milliseconds from dropping to the floor in true Usopp fashion.

Closer to the tower, Usopp and Vivi are running from another group of agents that ambushed them after they left Raya. But they soon notice that they aren't being pursued any longer. They both pivot their heads enough to see behind them, and are shocked to witness Tashigi, Smoker's Vice Captain, along with a good deal of Marines taking care of the agents.

"Hurry up, Mr. Usopp!" Vivi urges, as surprised as he is but unwilling to act on it. She has a country to save, after all.

"That... that... that... that's...." Usopp is unable to finish a single sentence, his surprise is so vast.

"I will protect you guys!" Tashigi shouts. She recalls her run in with Crocodile and Miss All Sunday, only a short while ago. She was defenseless against the Warlord, but she knows the Straw Hats are capable of saving Alabasta from it's hidden tyrant. So she decided that she would follow her own sense of justice, a skill taught to her by her commanding officer, Smoker himself, who left for othe business some time ago. She decided she would protect the Straw Hats, just this once.

"Hurry and go stop the explosion!" she orders, and Vivi and Usopp waste not time in complying, leaving the Marines behind in a matter of seconds.

Tashigi briefly wonders if she's made the right decision, but is stopped from further contemplating the matter by an agent, slahsing at her with sword. I'll just have to trust them, she decides, fighting back her attacker.

And where is Raya in all of this? She's following in Vivi and Usopp's footsteps. In doing so, she passes her allies, the Marines. Further back, she was surprised when a Marine attempted to direct her to the clock tower. She wondered how he knew, but just nodded her thanks and kept going.

When I get out of this, she thinks to herself, I'm having a meeting with Smoker and Tashigi. Whether they want it or not, they're getting my thanks.

All the others are now converging on the clock tower, though two have already miraculously arrived by the time Usopp and Vivi reach the spot. They are oblivious to the fact, however, as Nami and Chopper are just joining them, with Nami ridine atop Chopper's back.

"What's going on?" Vivi asks frantically as the pair sprints towards them. "We were saved by the Marines!" Nami replies. "Did you find the cannon shooter?"

"We haven't yet," Vivi says, determination etching a hard frown onto her youthful face. "But if this sand is part of the strategy than I know where they could be! That's the only place we have left! It is wide and large and invisible from above! I can't imagine it elsewhere. I'm sure they're there!"

The others, save Usopp, wait with bated breath for Vivi to announce the location of the bomb. She quickly points out the grand structure of the clock tower. "Inside there!"

"My God..." Nami breathes, realizing how close they were to bomb this entire time."The clock tower..."

"I see!" Chopper says, his face the picture of awe and understanding. "From there you could aim for any place."

They all glance up at the large clockface, and blanch when they make out the time. So close to the deadline...

Pell, doing aerial surveillence near the tower, also makes out how little time they have left. "There's no more time!" he exclaims, eyes narrowing at the ground he can't see any longer. "This is where the smoke came from," he says. "But because of the sandstorm, I can't see below!"

Unbeknownst to both Pell and the Straw Hats at the clock tower, a strange, frog-themed guns pokes out from the slightly ajar clockface, and aims a shot at the falcon man. He goes down in a flurry of feathers and smoke, with one thought pounding through his pain-addled brain: Too careless...







Raya's POV

We have a minute left. A minute. How can we stop this damn bomb with a mere sixty seconds standing between us and its detonation? I scowl to myself as I finally reach the clock tower. Seems I'm the last to arrive.

"Raya!" Vivi calls, sounding relieved. I grin at her as I skid to astop beside Chopper and Nami. "Have you seen Pell?" she asks.

I think back, but shake my head. I don't recall seeing the falcon man anywhere during my mad dash over here. I'm sure he's ok though.

"Vivi," Nami says, catching the blue-haired Princess' attention. "Even knowing its location, you can't climb that high in a minute!"

"I originally planned for Pell to take us up there," she explains, her face falling. "There's only the stairs left!"

I squint up at the tower, and let out an involuntary groan where I see the blonde man waving his arms, and smiling like a fool.

"Dear God, Sanji," I shout. "Why are you up there?!"

"Usopp's message said 'clock tower' so I climbed up," he explains with a casual shrugs. Usopp jumps at the chance to order our cook around, pointing both bandaged arms up at the top of the tower. "On the top of the tower!" he shouts. "Just climb and finish them up!"

"Huh? What should I do?"

All heads tip back to see the owner of the voice, who's miraculously even farther up the tower than Sanji, on the lower roof. "Seriously?" I growl unde rmy breath, shaking my head. "He gets lost, and he ends up in the clock tower anyway? What kind of karma is that?"

"I've been looking for you guys for quite while," he says, glaring down at us as though we're the ones who got lost in the first place.

"You're there too?!" Usopp asks, his voice high and sharp.

"So I climbed up here," Zoro says, apparently ignoring the sniper's outburst. He gets bored, so he just aimlessly makes his way up the tower, without checking to see if that's what we want him to do? Wow. "Because those Marines told us to go North."

"By North," I shout, cupping my hands around my mouth so he's sure to hear me, "they meant the direction, Zoro! They didn't mean up!"

He just shrugs, and smirks down at me. And I think it's an expression meant for me specifically, though I don't know why.

Usopp tries to cheer, because he thinks Zoro and Sanji can just keep going up to the clock. But Vivi crushes his dreams in an instant. "From where they are," she says, "they can't enter into the inners of the tower. To go there you must use the the stairs from the ground level."

"But Zoro can break those walls!"

"The cannon may not be able to take that much shock," Vivi reasons. I feel all our hopes deflate in nanoseconds, discouraged as we are. This is ridiculous. We make it all the way here, we discover the evil plot... and yet we can do nothing about it. Such a cliche and incredibly annoying ending.

"We still have to go from the stairs!" Vivi starts to dash for the tower, but Nami calls her back. She has a hand cuppoing her chin, a look of complete concentration on her face. Like she's got an idea. Better hurry, we've got less than a minute to act.

Nami turns to a curious Vivi, one finger raises as though she's just had a breakthrough, but a voice from the top of the tower cuts her off.

"Hey! Do you understand, Mr. 7?"

Oh grear. Because this is exactly what we need. More bumbling bumber agents. A few shocked exclamations pass through the crew, and we all lock our eyes on the now open clockface. And the two figures standing there... are perhaps the most comical, and disturbing, duo I have ever had the displeasure to cross paths with.

"This is our last job," the man with the strange curly hair and screwy face says, loud enough for us to hear. "Baroque Works Company, middle class worker, Miss Father's Day, and Mr. 7!"

His partner, Miss Father's Day, laughs a very creepy, "Hehehehehehehe!" She's dressed in the most atroscious outfit I've ever seen in my life, and I don't even give a shit about fashion! It's completely frog themed, from the skirt to the hat to the calf-high boots. I almost start gagging from just being here in her presence.

"In this kind of situations," Vivi gasps, her face a perfect picture of horror, and annoyance, "those two had to appear!"

But Nami brings us out of our momentary despair by explaining her plan that was so rudely interrupted. And I must say, it's genius. If it works, anyway.

She instructs Usopp to crouch with his arms spread wide and knees bent. Chopper sits on his back, with Vivi as his rider. "What?!" Usopp cries, obviously not liking his role in the plan. "What are we doing?! We really don't have time, if we keep this up longer everyone will die!"

"I know that!" Nami snaps, whipping out Climatact weapon I've yet to in action. Though if she won against a number agent with it, then I'm sure it must be formidable. "Stand there and don't move! I'm calculating!"

"Don't move? I don't know the meaning of this pose! What are you planning to do?!"

Alright, she only explained to Vivi, Chopper, and I, though I suspect she purposefully excluded Usopp, knowing his reluctance to participate in dangerous activities.

"After I do it, you'll know!" Nami replies, raising the Climatact above her head. She unlocks two of the rods, stuffs one into her... bra, and reconnects the other so that it resembles a "T". "Weather is Typhoon!" she announces. "Cyclone Tempo!"

"Hey, Cyclone Tempo is only for after party's dart play!" Usopp complains.

"Aim is clock tower!" Nami shouts. Usopp opens his increasingly infuriating mouth to make another reply, but is cut off when Nami throws her Climatact like a boomerang. It spins end over end... right between Usopp's legs. And from the tears in his eyes, and the "whoosh" sound that escapes his lips, she hit her mark.

In the next instant, Usopp jumps straight up, despite the weight on his back, a good twenty or so feet in the air (shrieking all the while), close to where Sanji's still ducking out of his window.

As Usopp's ascent slows, Nami shouts up at them, "Chopper, toward Sanji and jump!"

A look of understanding crosses over Vivi's face, though I can't hear what she says to Chopper. "Sanji! You know what to do next! No time left!" Nami shouts. Sanji steps out onto the window ledge, and as Chopper springs upwards, consequently kicking Usopp towards the ground, he jumps and twists in midair. Chopper lands on his outstretched leg, and he launches them upwards in one fluid motion, before falling himself.

"Zoro, look! They're here!" he shouts as he comes closer and closer to the ground, and Chopper comes closer and closer to Zoro's perch.

"Wow, powerful," Nami comments, shading her eyes to watch the show. Meanwhile, Usopp's crashed into the ground beside me, his nose sunk deep into the dirt. Ooh, that's gotta suck. It was already broken.

As I watch, Zoro also jumps from the ledge, extending two of his swords. From this distance, I can't tell which ones they are by sight, but Honoo's purring confirms Wado isn't among them. He shadows Chopper and Vivi as they shoot slightly past them, crossing his swords together. But he freezes, and I understand why.

The two idiot agents have drawn their odd weapons. Some sort of gun is held in each of their slimy hands.

Time seems to slow down, and I can hear everyone's shouts.

"You dare point a gun at Vivi-chan?!" Sanji, of course.

"No way! Those two are the sniper couple!" I believe that's a very frantic Vivi.

But she calms herself, and I can imagine the deep breath she must be taking. "Zoro!" I hear her shout. "Just push us two up there nevertheless, and Tony think of a way to change the course!"

"What?! How?!" the reindeer demands.

"There's only seven seconds left! Hurry up!!" Nami shouts. Shit, seven seconds?! Only eight seconds have passed since this insane plan began?!

Zoro, with one last shout of "GO!" pushes Vivi and Chopper upwards, and throwing his swords wide, just as both the morons fire. I think I heard them say something about their bullets exploding upon bumping into each other. Not good.

Even worse, the bullets.... collide with Zoro.

"ZORO!" Nami, Usopp and I scream, as he plummets towards us. He just got shot at... KAMI! THAT BAKA JUST GOT SHOT! WHAT THE HELL?!?!

"ZORO!" I scream again. And yet time is still almost frozen, moving so sluggishly it's agonizing to watch. My own wound aches with a fierceness I didn't think possible, as though I'm recieving what people call "sympathy pain". Though I can't imaging my pain is anything compared to what Zoro must be going through.

Chopper and Vivi continue on their journey, and Chopper suddenly switches to his bulkiest form, throwing Vivi skywards. And just as Miss Father's Day and Mr. 7 fire, he shrinks, and the bullet flies past him, right in the space his head would have been in his previous form. Vivi, from above launches some sort of attack at the agents, but when she flies into the tower, we all lose sight of her.

"Two seconds," I mumble, as Sanji suffers the same fate as Usopp and crash lands onto his back. In the next second, Miss Father's Day and Mr. 7 are sent sprawling, knocked from the tower presumably by Vivi and her peacock-themed weapon.

The final second passes, but I'm not too concerned about whether we live or die. I skid along the ground on my back, stopping Zoro from connecting with the hard earth. The impact drives the breath from my lungs, much like Kohza did only fifteen minutes ago. But I don't care, as long as I kept Zoro from sustaining any more damage than he already has.

"Did it stop?" Usopp asks in a shaky, crumbling voice, unnattractive not dripping down from his nose. I suppose he's recovered enough from his fall to be asking such a question, and that's good.

I gently roll Zoro off me, and I'm struck with sudden deja vu. The day we first met, he did the same thing to catch me when Luffy destroyed the platform I was set to be executed on. I shake off the memory and lean over the bloodied Swordsman.

He's breathing. Oh thank Kami.

"Phew." He lets out a sharp exhale, blinking open his eyes. "Ha ha... what about the cannon?" I smack the back of his head, and he shoots me a glare. "You almost died... actually, how are you not dead? You got shot, for Kami's sake!" I sigh and sit back on my heels, rubbing my sore chest. Note to self: Stop trying to catch falling men who outweigh you by at least forty pounds.

"You disappointed?" he asks with a smirk. I smack his head again. As he mutters curses and rubs his own sore area, I roll my eyes. "If I was disappointed, I would sick Sanji on you, Swordsman," I say, and he lifts one brow in a confused response. "I nearly killed myself saving your ass," I say plainly. "If I was upset, Sanji would've kicked you into oblivion by now. Don't you think?"

He slowly smiles at me, and another forms on my own lips, no doubt showcasing a whole mess of emotions. Like relief, happiness, and annoyance. I tell him he needs to stop scaring me, and he goes and gets himself shot. Right. Well, I guess I'll need to come to terms with how insane Zoro, and the rest of the crew are. And maybe that's alright, because I've already put myself into some pretty insane situations. Taking on a bananadile is no small feat, I assure you.

I help Zoro sit up just as Chopper rejoins us with a massive pink bump on his little head. I think... Yeah, he landed on a Marine. I can see him shouting in the distance.

"What happened?" he asks. I look at him, and notice that Miss Father's Day and Mr. 7 also hit the ground. They're currently buried about two, three feet into the hard ground, in weird spread eagle positions.

"There's no sound coming from up there," Zoro notes, tipping his head back to see the clock. I follow suit, squinting. But I can't see anything remotely resembling my blue-haired friend.

"Vivi still hasn't shown herself!" Usopp worries aloud.

"NO!"

"There she is..." I mutter softly, confused by the terror and anger in voice.

"Vivi!"

"This is a timed bomb!" she shouts, and every last drop of blood drains from each of our faces. "It will explode at any time is it's not disabled!"

"Holy shit!" I gasp, as it slowly sinks in with the rest of the crew.

There's a moment of absolute silence. And then:

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

~~~~~~

Ok I'm really sorry about the spelling mistakes. When I finish this book (which probably won't be for a LONG time) I'll go back and revise EVERYTHING I promise. Damn Wattpad, no auto correct. Again, sorry!