Chapter Text
Prologue
Tashigi
How did it end up this way?
She dangled roughly fifty feet off a cliff. The drop beneath her swaying legs was an ocean of lush emerald rainforest, so dense that she couldn't see past the void between the blades of the fan-like leaves and perilous canopies. The whipping wind howls over the rocky outcropping of the cliff, picking loose strands of her matted hair, tossing and swirling them across her face as if the wind was attempting to blind her. The cool breeze, which would generally soothe her, did nothing to quell the tension blazing off every fiber of her being. Each wallop of the gale made her already weakening arms tremble and tighten their hold around the thick, trunk-like neck that kept her from plummeting to her death.
Her hands, slick with sweat and blood, slipped slightly from their grip around her forearms, and she choked down a yelp when another blast of wind swayed them like a pendulum, her strained hold tightened in a jolt. She dug her nails into her arms. At least, the lacerating pain distracted her from the mortifying position she was in.
Her chest seized up, ribs closing around her lungs the moment her action caused the arm constricting around her torso to hoist her higher and tighter. To her horror, the movement unintentionally crushed her breast against the side of her unwilling 'savior’s’ heaving, adamantium chest.
"Ack! You're choking me!" His gravelly voice thundered through the expanse of the wilderness.
Marine Captain Tashigi clung like a monkey on Roronoa Zoro's neck for dear life. The pirate's right arm coiled around her back to the side of her chest, keeping her snug against him. His vice-like hold constricted her, clearly unaware of her struggle for air. Roronoa’s left hand gripped tightly on the hilt of his Kitetsu that stabbed the moist craggy cliff, the only mode preventing them from death.
For the untrained eyes, the unlikely pair would resemble that of an unnatural ornament, dangling from a protruding jagged cliff, or a bait, perhaps for the raptor hybrids gliding the winds and whizzing past their swaying figures.
If Tashigi loosened any more of her hold around the pirate's neck, she would easily slip off and plunge into the abyss. She had never clung onto a man like this, and the intimacy all the worse for being forced. It wasn't like she had much choice anyway.
She fought the rising swell of panic when Roronoa shifted his grip, his hand closing in on the cheek of her right breast.
"Ah! H-hey watch where you're touching me!" She shrieked. "Hands off my breast, you dirty pirate!" She immediately switched her voice to a more vicious baritone.
Maybe death was a kinder fate than this.
Her arms threatened to go numb, and they gradually slipped a fraction lower from the pirate's neck again. Her legs' automatic response was to straddle his waist, but before she raised them, she couldn't help the silent prayer whisking away from her lips when her moral senses kicked in, slaying the vulgar notion away. God forbid the mere performance surely has secured her a particular cell at Impel Down.
The shift of the pirate's hand, which only lowered an inch from its initial place, was limited to the current burden laid on him. The groan from his throat vibrated through to Tashigi's chest, and she wondered if the wind was indeed the only thing threatening to tear her skin off her bones.
"Quiet! You're not helping! Another word and I'm dropping you!" He rasped, "How about you do something for once?!"
Their constant bickering and squirming loosened the saggy terrain's grip on the man's blade.
“AAAHHH!!”
The pair screamed simultaneously as the sword's hilt descended abruptly at an angle, causing them to bounce lower.
The pirate averted his face away from the crumbling earth and sputtered out the dirt and tiny fragments powdering his mouth, and shook them off his face. As a result, the fingers pressed against the marine's breast only clamped tighter until finally, one rough tip prod at the sensitive point of her breast.
A whimper lodged at her throat. Tashigi was aware that Roronoa had no control over his movements, especially with their current predicament. Besides, he was the one taking the brunt of it all, by keeping them both alive. He couldn't possibly be doing this on purpose! Still, she prayed her assumptions were correct.
As she flinched away from his touch, her arms loosened, and with the sweat coating the pirate's neck, she finally slipped off his shoulder.
Her delayed reflexes allowed her to veer down and clamber around his midsection, clawing at the fabric around his rump. She braced her face on his lower midriff as they swayed wildly, generated by her fall.
Her cries were muffled against the man's trousers.
Crap! Oh, crap!
Tashigi blinked away the sting of tears welling up her eyes and feared that the jackhammering of her heart was shrugging her down lower.
"H-hey! What the-!" A slight crack cleaved through the pirate's usual coarse tone, "What the hell are you doing?!" His, now, free hand, smacked down on Tashigi's back, seeking purchase and bunching a fist on her blouse.
"I-I'm sorry!" Tashigi cried, her breath choked off and words suppressed on the pirate's trousers. Panic made a hot starburst in her chest. She prayed the wind would stop blasting at them or for her limbs to quit their involuntary trembling. She supposed it wasn't easy to keep her erratic breathing to a steady when she was holding on for dear life, especially at the mercy of someone who undoubtedly hated her guts.
He could drop me. He could drop me anytime to save himself.
And yet, he kept holding on.
No! She couldn't die now. She refused to be the reason for their untimely death.
I have to retrieve that blueprint! I can’t be a deadweight. Not especially in the presence of this man. He can't be hogging all the glory! She has to do something!
Tashigi took a deep breath, fortifying her resolve, and peeled her face off Roronoa's trousers. As she did so, her eyes swept over the splendid scene surrounding her.
Jutting out from the dense forest, a collection of sharply jagged karst mountains rise like stone thorns stabbing through the tapestry of clouds. Strips of bushes and juvenile trees were fastened at the summit. While some were coated entirely with thick tropical shrubbery, others were halted by the occasional smooth and pale dolomite surface peeking through.
Surrounding the mountains was a dense sea of various tropical trees—sporadic cerulean and indigo hues peppering the rainforest.
The emergent layer honeyed under the gleam of the afternoon sun, giving a false perception of a warm, welcoming ambiance that contrasted the ominous muffled howls and screeches of the island's endemic inhabitants beneath the canopies. Iridescent tropical bird hybrids exploded from the treetops, flocking the air in a storm of wingbeats. The crystal clear waters of the ocean that bordered the island sparkled, completing the stunning view.
It was magical. Breath-taking- if their predicament wasn't so death-defying. It turns out, having the best view of the entire island meant gambling your safety.
Her thoughts came to an abrupt stop when the sweltering heat from the forest beneath billowed and clawed at her bare calves. At the pull of the heat, she unconsciously transferred her gaze down and immediately felt her head spin. Terror broke through the brief marvel that distracted her, after perceiving the severity of her situation.
This was neither the time nor the place for such distractions!
Stop daydreaming! And think of a safe way down!
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she allowed her forehead to lean on Roronoa's lower abdomen. Her stomach lurched at each sway the wind produced.
"At least the view is nice."
She thought out loud, gathering her wits, concentrating on strengthening her arms, and mentally preparing herself to think of an effective plan. She swallowed a bubble of nausea and took another deep breath, steadying her mind.
"W-what?!" The unusual crack of the man's voice split her thoughts. "H-hey!! What the hell did you say?!" The pirate continued, now rasping and wiggling his hips as if grabbing her attention was urgent.
"Huh?" Confused, Tashigi pulled her head back. Squinting from the blazing afternoon sun, as she looked up to him, unaware of where her chin was settling on.
She was met with a peculiar expression she never thought she'd see in him. While dribbling with sweat, the pirate's cheeks were unnaturally… mottled with bright red blotches.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" He growled, spraying spit and sweat down her face. She had never seen him this exasperated.
"What-?" Tashigi stuttered, taking a second to collect her thoughts, unsure of the man's sudden outburst. What did she do?
The wiggling of his hips intensified. Had he finally decided to shake her off?
"Wait! What are you doing?!" Tashigi cried. "Stop!" She bore her clawed fingers on the fabric of his trousers, unintentionally piercing through the plump flesh. Panic seeped in when her arms threatened to slide off.
"Roronoa, please-!"
"GET YOUR FACE OFF MY FUCKING CROTCH, YOU PERVERT!"
As if waking from a dream, she was suddenly very aware of where her hands clenched on, how her breast pressed firmly against his inner thighs, especially the area where she had planted her chin. She ripped her face away from his groin; her expression fractured in dread.
That was it.
It was her turn to explode into a blushing mess after realizing that, indeed, she'd been leaning the entirety of her face against the bulge between his thighs. So preoccupied she was at her peril-- and the scenery!-- that she had taken her actions for granted!
"I-I-I-!!" Tashigi stuttered profusely, suddenly verbally impaired.
A million thoughts overlapped in her mind but also-- Why should I apologize?
She remembered him 'groping' her breast moments ago and how she settled on a logical excuse about it not being his motive. Such was the case now!
"I-it's not like I have any choice!" Her words damn near jumped out.
Panic emptied her mind of logic. Tashigi, while fiercely avoiding the man's groin, hastily scanned the trees beneath her again, seeking the closest, most secure branch she could leap and latch on to.
Jumping blindly, roughly fifty meters above an uncharted forest, was an extremely reckless and desperate decision- but desperate she truly was. She could only hope her injuries later would not be so severe.
For once, she appreciated the wind when it proceeded to bash them against the rocky cliff. And the moment she spotted an unnaturally tall banana tree, she tried to brace her right toe against the shoulder of the cliff, reaching as far as her leg and the given distance permitted her, all the while broadening their sway.
Unfortunately, every movement required her to press her cheek on the damn swell of his member! Also, maybe she imagined it, but every brush of her cheek seemed to elicit an increase of its size!
She fought the creeping acid of nausea.
"Stop whatever the hell you’re doing!" The man growled again, losing his mind with every sway she made.
"I'm trying to help you out!" She bellowed back. By jumping to my death!
A final sway and the damp rocky promontory finally crumbled and gave way. Rocks fell, followed by massive chunks of peat and roots raining down their faces, dirt peppering their gaping mouth.
Her lungs heaved, windpipe shut. It took a millisecond for Tashigi to realize the worst was finally happening. With her arms windmilling and legs kicking, she resembled a pitiful flightless bird. And despite her exhausted limbs, she begged them to reach out for anything she could latch on to, but she had drifted farther from the shoulder of the cliff. Her offhand plan failed, hindered by the inadequate time to react.
In a split second, her spinning compelled her to look up at Roronoa.
Maybe it was the trick of the light or her mind's last attempt to rouse her. But for the barest of fraction, terror fractured his usual stoic expression as he urged one hand to grab her.
Tashigi wonders if she imagined it. Nevertheless, it was too late.
Enormous serrated leaves closed in on her. The gaping yawn of the forest swallowed her whole.
How did it end up this way?!
