So, after the prequel this will be my biggest project ever and I'm so excited to finally share it with you.

As some of you may know, the original story was written in German (here's the link .de/s/5a7e15770000b82c1b1c5c4a/1/Eine-erbarmungslose-Entscheidung) and studying makes it difficult for me to write right now, I wanted to seize the moment to translate this fic (because I know at least a few of you have been waiting patiently).

As this may suggest, English is not my native language, thus I love all kind of critics and suggestions for improvement or just feedback in general.

Those of you, who have read the prequel 'Protecting Dreams', welcome back, and those of you, who are knew, get ready, you have no idea for what you have signed up for ;-)

You do not have to know the prequel to understand this fic, there will be enough explanations, and chapter 4 will be a summary about what has happened so far, so, no excuses ;-P

As always I try to update weekly, usually around saturday, that being said, I'm working and at university, trying to finish law school, so no promises ^^'

Thank you all

Sharry


Prologue

"And another stone and another stone and another..."

"Stop it, okay?"

"Stone and another stone and another..."

"Luffy, it's annoying."

"Just sing along."

"Yeah, for sure." Irritated, he rolled his eyes, pushed past his continuously grinning captain, and picked up another greyish-yellow stone from the ground.

"Aren't you kind of moody today?" Luffy looked at him innocently and then continued to hum his tactless melody as he strolled along the stream and picked up one stone after another.

"I'm just having a headache," Zoro replied, though his ribs were actually causing him more problems than his head, and followed the younger man back to the camp.

"Oh, then I stop singing." But Luffy didn't sound blue at all. On the contrary, he dancingly walked on and whistled his song cheerfully while running the risk of losing his valuable collection with every bouncer. Not that his whistling was better than his off-key singing.

Zoro sighed silently and rolled his head back. Today was one of those days, when Luffy was exhaustingly happy. He knew that Luffy meant well, wanted to do him a favor, but all he wanted was a cup of good sake and his peace.

However, at least the last thing was impossible as a member of the Straw Hat crew.

They had left Thriller Bark behind just a few days ago and Zoro had to admit that he was still not quite back in shape. He didn't worry too much about it, he just needed a few more days of rest to get fit again. But Luffy's sunny mood would make sure that Zoro wouldn't have a quiet evening today.

"There you are. Have you collected enough stones for the campfire?"

At the sought-out campground, Usopp squatted in front of a huge mountain of firewood and waited for them.

"Sure," Luffy laughed, showing off his rich harvest.

"Where are the others?" Zoro grumbled, looking to the Thousand Sunny, which had anchored close to the not-so-distant beach.

"They're coming soon," Usopp replied, stacking even more wood, "just preparing the food and other stuff."

Zoro meanwhile did the same his captain did and layered the collected stones in a circle around Usopp and his firewood.

Again, he sighed while Luffy smirked and hummed his song. He just didn't understand why they had to go ashore. All he wanted was a quiet evening. Things like anniversaries and dates had never been important to him and unlike his friends he didn't need to celebrate them.

Nevertheless, he was now squatting on the ground of some island somewhere at the Grand Line and building a huge campfire. Because his captain wanted to celebrate tonight and if the Straw Hats could do one thing well, then it was probably to throw some parties.

And since he couldn't withstand Luffy's broad grin or Chopper's faithful eyes, he continued to build this campfire.

"Okay, are you guys ready?" Usopp asked, and a few seconds later the first flames crackled, the three men standing satisfied in front of their great masterpiece.

"Where are the others? I'm hungry!" Luffy jumped from one leg to the other and plucked at his vest.

"They're certainly coming," Usopp said, rubbing his face.

"But they need forever, and we didn't have lunch."

"We can go to Sunny and get them," Zoro suggested bored. Although he could do well without the party, Luffy was right; lunch had been canceled because the cook had locked himself up in the galley after breakfast to prepare everything for tonight. The sun was about to go down and so his stomach hung somewhere around his knees.

"No, no," Usopp quickly chimed in, and his voice trembled slightly, "I'm sure they're coming soon."

Zoro cast a questioning glance at him and raised an eyebrow. It was obvious that Usopp was trying to keep him off the ship. Sighing, he dropped on his butt while Luffy walked back towards the river to collect berries or whatever.

"I hope you didn't plan a surprise or such a nonsense," Zoro grumbled.

"Oh, of course not!" Usopp laughed two octaves too high and squatted next to him. "Why should we do something this childish?"

Approvingly grumbling, Zoro rubbed his ears and leaned back. For a moment he closed his eyes and enjoyed the last rays of sunshine. In the background he could hear Luffy's singing, accompanied by the distant waves. It was already quite cool.

"The fire was a good idea," he muttered with a soft grin.

"What kind of party would this be without a campfire," the other replied with a laugh.

Luffy's off-key whistling was now relatively distant and barely heard over the crackling of the fire and the sounds of the sea.

"Don't run too far away, Luffy. Otherwise we will never find you again," Zoro called after him and sat back up again.

"Like you're one to talk." Usopp looked at him with a smile.

"What do you mean?"

Usopp flinched under Zoro's grim gaze.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

Zoro wanted to reply, but suddenly he had this unpleasant feeling, this slight whimsy in the stomach area. Slowly he got up and watched the darkening shadows of the trees in front of him. He thought he heard a quiet crackle, almost drowned by the blazing fire.

"Did you hear that?" He asked the other pirate.

"What? What did you hear?!" Usopp had already jumped up and clung to his arm.

Luffy's whistling was now completely gone.

"Hey, Luffy! Where are you?"

"Quiet, Usopp!"

Once again, he could hear the crackling, this time it was louder, closer!

Again, Usopp's frightened stare caught his eye before both looked at the fire. Whoever was there had to stand right behind the blinding flames.

"Please tell me that you just want to take me in," he growled, pushing himself a little more in front of his crewmate, one hand already on the swords. He just wanted a quiet evening.

"No, no. We didn't plan anything like that," Usopp whispered, the fear in his voice palpable.

"So, you had planned something," Zoro replied grumpily.

"Can we discuss this later?" Usopp hissed, holding Zoro's arm even tighter. "Can you recognize anything?"

Zoro shook his head and took a step towards the fire. Usopp, who didn't dare to let go of him, was forced to follow him.

The heat of the flames made the air in Zoro's back seem even cooler, but he still couldn't see anything but shadows and trees.

"Usopp," he muttered softly, leaning closer to the other, "we split up, you go left, I go right."

"No! Definitely not!" Now the fingers of the other one almost clawed into his flesh. "In every scary story, this is always the dumbest idea."

"But this is not some..."

A sudden, loud bang ripped the words from his lips. Zoro and Usopp were thrown from their feet. They hit the ground.

Zoro could hear Usopp's hard panting, feeling his own breath being squeezed out of his lungs. For a second, the heat itself seemed to burn right down into his soul, and it felt like thousand shards of glass had cut his skin.

Then the heat subsided.

"What the hell...?" He clumsily straightened up and looked around.

All around him lay countless rocks, some fist-sized, sometimes no larger than a grain of rice. Usopp cowered on the ground an armlength away from him, still struggling to breathe.

"Everything okay?" He asked and walked over to the other.

"Am I still alive?" Usopp replied groaningly, getting back on all fours.

"I think so." Zoro couldn't prevent a quiet smile.

"What just happened?" He grumbled then and pulled the other back on his feet, still a quiet beeping in his ears while his already cracked ribs complained. "Oh man, you look awful."

Usopp was covered in cuts, some only scraped skin, others relatively deep and bleeding heavily. A fragment had literally split his eyebrow above the right eye, the blood flowing unhindered.

"Well, take a look in the mirror." Usopp sounded unusually deep and grumpy. "Oh fuck, this hurts." He held his bleeding eyebrow.

"What was that? Are we under attack?" He then asked, looking around suspiciously while Zoro inspected himself.

Although he had been able to cover his face quickly enough with his arms the rest of his body looked just as bad as Usopp's.

"Well, I don't think so. Otherwise, our enemy would have missed the moment of surprise by now."

Slowly, he pulled out a particularly large splinter from his left forearm and dark blood gushed out.

"Uh, Zoro. Wait with something like that until Chopper is here."

"Yes, sure, because of some scratches."

His head was still pounding, his ribs lamenting, and his whole body burning from pain, so much for some quietness and rest.

Usopp, on the other hand, had meanwhile turned to the fire, which was still burning innocently as if nothing had happened.

"What happened here?" Luffy strolled out of the forest, cheerfully chewing with full cheeks, holding all variations of fruits and berries in his arms. "And what the hell happened to you guys?"

"I'll tell you what happened!" Suddenly, Usopp sounded anything but insecure. "You idiots have collected limestone, that's what happened."

Angry, Usopp turned his back to the fire and stared down Zoro and Luffy. With one hand he still held his bleeding eyebrow, in the other he had picked up one of the slightly larger stones, almost as big as his head.

"How stupid can you actually be?! Limestone is particularly porous and explodes if exposed to strong temperature fluctuations. Such stones cannot be used to build a fireplace."

He yelled at them, but neither Luffy nor Zoro were impressed.

Zoro shrugged his shoulders. "How are we supposed to know something like this?"

Luffy on the other side seemed a little bit distressed that he had missed the explosion.

"You should know something like that!" Usopp growled. "The color alone shows the type of stone. How did you both survive when it was only the two of you?"

Zoro exchanged a telling look with Luffy, who grinned broadly and then began to laugh out loud.

"That's not funny, Luffy," Usopp mumbled.

"Oh, don't make such a fuss, Usopp." Zoro patted the younger man on the shoulder, who flinched with a silent whine. "Well, let's get you to Chopper."

"Not like you're looking any better. He should see you first, your arm's still bleeding kinda lot."

Luffy was still laughing. "Good idea, you get Chopper and I get some more stones."

The next moment, Usopp hit the back of Luffy's head.

"Certainly not! This is not a game, Luffy. We are lucky that neither Zoro nor I are badly injured, and my blood loss is already quite..."

"You're not going to bleed to death by just a few cuts," Zoro roughly interrupted him.

"Where are the others? I'm starving!" Luffy lamented, whose attention span had long been overstretched.

"Let's get on board and get them," Zoro grumbled.

"No, not you, Zoro. I do it!" Usopp failed in his attempt to push him back. Zoro just slapped his hand away and walked on.

"Give it up, Usopp. I just want to eat something and then get some rest. I don't need a party, I'm tired."

"Oh, what a pity, just when the special guests have finally arrived."

At the last moment Zoro was able to draw his Kitetsu and in the next second blade clashed against blade.

He was thrown back with a grunt and landed several feet away on the hard ground.

To his right, he could see Usopp also flying through the air, accompanied by Luffy's roar.

His focus, however, was on the man in front of him.

"Roronoa Zoro, finally we get to know each other personally," said the newcomer slippery as an eel, throwing his long ponytail over his shoulder. The light of the flames colored his Marine coat with a sea of bright yellow and orange.

Zoro stood up.

"I've heard a lot from you. A promising talent among swordfighters."

"Oh, really?"

Ignoring the words of the stranger, Zoro drew Shuusui and attacked.

But the other was obviously much stronger than him. Almost with ease, he intercepted Zoro's hit and hurled him back. For a second, the stranger's blade seemed to turn black, but that could also be an illusion caused by the flickering shadows of the blazing fire.

"However, I have to say that I am disappointed. I expected more from you, after even the best swordsman in the world has spared you. Tze."

A warm liquid flowed down Zoro's cheek. Although the Marine had only blocked his attack, Zoro had been the one injured by a cut wave.

"Who the hell are you?" He growled, rubbing his blood away.

"Oh, how rude of me." The man in front of him bowed sharply. Across his back, Zoro could see several dozen Marines. One of them wore a cape and fought with Luffy. Even a novice could see who had the upper hand in that duel and it wasn't his captain.

"My name is Homura Nataku, Vice Admiral and the Marines' best swordsman."

Zoro's breath stopped. He had already heard of this name. The cold blade of justice, Homura Nataku, third best swordsman in the world.

Suddenly, some kind of shock wave quaked the campsite, some soldiers collapsed and Zoro could hear shouts, shouts from his friends. He himself also stumbled, but he wouldn't let such an attack take him out. No, it took more to defeat him.

The Vice Admiral watched him curiously.

"Aha," he said, "apparently not quite incompetent."

Another wave swept across the field, but now Zoro was prepared, he took a step back and secured his stand. He could feel this power, he had to endure it.

Abruptly the man with the ponytail stood in front of him.

"But not that competent," he continued, dropping his sword on Zoro, this time he was sure that the other's blade was black colored.

At the last moment Zoro was able to stop the blow, but the power of the attack caused his bones to crack and a rarely known pain pierced through his wrists.

He ducked under the other one's arm and came back to stand. His hands trembled with torment; he was panting like he'd been fighting for hours.

He knew his friends needed his help, but he also knew he couldn't help them. This opponent in front him was from a different league. Zoro would only endure so many attacks before either his swords or his bones would break.

The Marine turned to him with a sweet grin.

"Do you see it, Roronoa Zoro? Have you already realized that you are not match for me? I could kill you here and now, so be a good boy and give up."

In the background, Zoro heard screams. They were losing. With a quiet sigh, he put his swords away.

"That's a good boy."

An inner calm filled him. So that's how it would end.

"Oh no, you get me wrong, Homura." With slow movements, he removed the black cloth from his arm. "I'm no one, who gives up."

Grinning, he tied the bandana around his head, blood still dripping down his cheek.

"If I'm already stepping down..." He drew all his swords. "Then with a loud bang."

He stared at the other one and took his beloved Wado-Ichi-Monji between his teeth, still grinning. Knowing that he couldn't win this fight, he knew it was probably going to be the most exciting fight of his life.

Of course Homura was not a Hawk Eyes, but nevertheless, it was itching in his fingers to fight against this man and if he would die by doing so, then that was just the way it was, then he would not have been ready for Hawk Eyes one way or the other.

Once again, he loosened his shoulders briefly before he went into position.

But he noticed that his opponent's facial expression had changed. If Homura had just looked amused and serene a moment before, he was now serious and suspicious, his eyes pinched into tight slits and his mouth no more than a thin line, the jaw tense.

Did he perhaps see Zoro as a threat?

Zoro laughed quietly, even if not yet, soon he would.

At that very moment, the other's eyes widened, reflecting blazing flames and wild shadows.

Zoro attacked.

Once again, the other one dodged. It almost seemed as if he could read Zoro's thoughts.

"You're too slow." The Vice Admiral wanted to irritate him, but Zoro did not miss the fact that he sounded different, much colder, much deeper. The mischief from seconds ago had disappeared.

For another time, their swords collided with each other, and Zoro felt the other's cutting wave grazing his right upper arm. Blood splattered. His wrist was almost screaming in pain and his shoulder muscles stiffened unfamiliar.

Suddenly he heard Robin's voice and saw from the corners of his eyes how Luffy crashed against a tree and slid to the ground.

"You won't make it," growled his enemy, who had probably noticed his glance.

"It's worth a try!"

Again, their blades met, but this time Zoro used the power of impact to hurl himself away. Breathing heavily, he slipped more than he jumped in front of Luffy, who clumsily got up again. Blood dripped to the ground everywhere and Luffy rubbed over his burst lip.

"They're strong," his captain grumbled, and then they looked at each other. Zoro could see it in the dark eyes, Luffy was dead serious, also aware that this fight could be their last.

Zoro did not respond but got back into position. He disliked how much blood the other was losing.

Most of the soldiers had withdrawn and guarded the rest of the crew, whom all appeared to be tied up. Except for Robin, none of them moved. Zoro hoped that they were still alive, hopefully only fainted by the shock wave.

In front of him and Luffy stood only Homura and the other man with the Marine cape.

Both of them were strong enough to deal with Luffy and him on their own, Zoro knew.

"Give up," the man next to the swordsman ordered, "we want to give you a fair trial. There is no need to die here and now."

Something broke within Zoro.

This wasn't fair!

They had just survived Thriller Bark; he had just faced Bartholomew. It couldn't have been all in vain!

He hadn't saved Luffy, so that he would bite the dust here and now!

No, not today! Not today!

He felt this unknown, almost forgotten force rise within himself, quite unexpectedly. He didn't know where it came from or why it reached him now, and although it filled him with fear, he knew it was his last chance.

"Luffy," he whispered, allowing this power to pierce through his limbs, "listen to me."

The other one stepped next to him. He panted at least as hard as Zoro and the way he held his belly didn't calm the swordsman.

"Do you have a plan?" He asked without looking at Zoro.

For a moment, Zoro looked at his shaking hands. He had to allow it, only this way he could be able to do something about their situation. There had to be a reason why he felt it right now. He had to use this power, he had to dare.

"Yes, I will get us out of... Argh!"

He hit hard against the next best tree. Homura stood in front of him, grabbed his neck, slowly lifted him up.

Zoro could barely breathe. Slowly he looked down to the man, who was now pushing him against the tree. But what he saw surprised him; Homura's face was distorted by pure fear, his eyes ripped open, his skin pale, his mouth quivering.

The next moment, he staggered to the side and let go of Zoro.

He fell to the feet of his captain, who had saved him but was already flying through the air when the other Marine intervened.

"Luffy!"

Helpless Zoro watched the stranger, who chased after Luffy like lightning and punched him in the ground, a disgusting crack echoing over the campsite. For a moment, Luffy resisted, then he stopped moving.

"Luffy!"

"You should be more concerned about yourself!"

An unprecedented pain tore Zoro's side apart. He stumbled away, holding scraps of his flesh together, felt blood slipping through his fingers.

Homura stood in front of him, this cold, almost frantic expression in his eyes.

"What kind of monster are you?" The stranger whispered.

Zoro's legs gave in, his swords fell to the ground, he coughed up blood.

The irrepressible power he had allowed to grow in his body had disappeared. He had waited too long and now he would lose everything.

The Marines' swordsman stood high above him.

"Don't worry, Roronoa Zoro. You're not going to have to suffer for long, I'll show mercy on you."

He couldn't defend himself when the other one pulled him up. More blood leaked to the ground and his intestines screamed in pain.

"You're going to die tonight."

The world around him blurred. Glorious flames and dark shadows blended into a colorful sea of schemes.

He could hear the man, who had wanted to convince him and Luffy to give up, talking: "Sanzo, immediately send a message to the headquarters that we have caught the entire Straw Hat crew alive and are expecting instructions for the trial. You did a good job today, and of course we will celebrate that accordingly."

Some soldiers cheered.

And then Zoro heard Homura's voice very close to his ear: "Don't worry, you won't need a trial anymore, Roronoa Zoro. Today will be the day of your death."

Deep echoed the resounding laughter through Zoro's dazed thoughts as the pain gradually overwhelmed him.

No, today was not the day he would die, not today, after all, today was actually his...