Chapter Text
“Come on, get him down!”
A punch from the right, then the left. He pulled his arms up trying to block the one coming from underneath, but it came with too much force and broke right through his attempt of a block.
“Keep standing!”
Another blow, right to the guts. Blood spilled from his lips and his body hunched over in pain. His mind was going fuzzy, his vision blurry. He was struggling to stay on his feet.
“Don’t give up!!”
His gaze drifted to the crowd on the side, eyes shining in a clear silver, scanning over the people cheering for - or against - him. Searching.
There she was.
Standing in the middle of the crowd, barely able to look through the people was the little blue haired girl, torn clothes hanging off her in an attempt to keep her warm.
The metal of her hands blinded him for a moment, before the next punch hit him in the face and tore his eyes away from his sister.
The boy stumbled back, his back hitting the hard, rough floor before he had even noticed that he was falling. A painful groan escaped him and he tried to push himself up, but his mind was hazy and then, suddenly, there was a knee pressing down on him, hands around his throat.
No…
“Get up!”
“You really wanna lose that way, kid?!”
“Pathetic!”
Their voices from all around him blurred together more and more, his breath leaving his lungs unsteadily, spreading a burning fire inside his lungs each time a new cough broke out from him. His hands clawed at the fingers around his neck, but it didn’t work. He was too weak.
No…!
“Echo - Won! Roronoa - Lost!”
Lost… Damn it…
The pressure on his throat disappeared and his body pulled in the sharp breath it had been demanding, turning over in pain and coughing, spitting out blood and spit onto the metal.
He didn’t hear much of the noises anymore, his lungs felt like fire and the places he had gotten hit burned even worse. The boy didn’t notice the crowd disappearing, but his eyes slowly rose up at the gentle touch of hard steel on his shoulder, stiff fingers brushing over the fabric of his torn shirt.
“Hey Zoro.. Are you okay? Can you hear me?”
He wanted to answer no, he wanted to say that he wasn’t okay. Everything hurt and he lost. He didn’t get the money.
But instead of saying any of that he nodded, pushing himself up on shaky limbs, for starters just getting his body to sit - more or less - upright again.
“ ‘m fine..”, he answered, but he didn’t manage to look up at her. He heard her sigh, now that the fog in his head started to lift again. He didn’t want to, because it just assured him what had happened. That he really hasn’t been successful.
“Come on, let’s go home”, the boy heard her say once more, the cold hands gliding underneath his arms to lift him up. He was a bit smaller than she was, but she still struggled. It was hard to get someone to stand up when you couldn’t move your hands or fingers, especially if the other didn’t help.
“Zoro please.. We need to treat your wounds, sulking won’t get us the money either”, she tried again and he clicked his tongue.
“I know.” It seemed to work though, because the boy finally stood up on his own, even if he was still rather unsteady on his legs. They were twitching and shaking beneath him, and he couldn’t help himself but curse at his weak form in his mind.
I need to train more.. I need to get better.
For the first time since the fight had ended, Zoro finally lifted his gaze again. He looked at his sister, briefly, turning away in shame again a second later.
Then his gaze fell onto the blonde head that was still there.
He had been in the crowd earlier, a boy probably around their age. Maybe a bit older, maybe younger, Zoro couldn’t tell.
Not that he cared.
But it was weird, the fact that he was still standing around here. The fight was over, the winner was probably in some bar celebrating that he won a street fight against a young teen, the crowd probably at his side. Drinking away the money that Zoro and his sister would have needed.
The blonde boy tilted his head slightly, now that he realized the bloody fighter in front of him was looking at him. There was something curious in his face, Zoro could tell so much. He didn’t seem scared or to pity them, he just looked.. interested.
It weirded Zoro out.
“Let’s go Kuina.” Putting an arm around her shoulders he felt her nod, before they both started walking, making their way down the dirty alley of the lower city. Zoro risked a last glance back, to see if the other kid was still standing there.
And he was, surprisingly. However he had his hand lifted in a weird gesture, not like a wave or as if he was reaching out, but with the back of his hand facing their way. His blue eyes shifted from his hand to the siblings, then back at his hand, as if he was studying the both of them. It confused Zoro greatly, but he didn’t have time to think about it much more, before they turned a corner and the weird kid in the nice clothes disappeared from his sight.