Chapter Text
A morning for Reiju did not truly start until she could slip into a warm shower and after scrubbing herself clean, spend a few minutes just basking in the wet warmth. Being able to have that time of the day where she could relax her body and muscles to an extent before having to continue the rest of the day under tension was needed for her to keep going. She knew she would be admonished by her father for wasting water and time if he knew about her longer showers, but that was only if he knew. One of the good things about keeping her emotions under lock and key is that whenever she could find little things that she could derive even a sliver of joy from, it was hers and hers alone, with no one else knowing about it and being able to ruin it for any reason.
And considering what her father had in store for her today, she was going to need any morsel of goodness she could get her hands on.
As the warm water washed over her face, Reiju thought back to how the servant who had delivered her dinner (she had preferred to eat her meals away from her family now, not wanting to feel the gaze of their judgment while eating) had also delivered the news of her needing to go down to the labs tomorrow with the king for a medical appointment. They did not divulge details, as they had not been provided them, but Reiju knew exactly what this appointment was for. The woman was far along enough that the gender of the child in her could now be determined. Germa technology was advanced enough that they had the machinery to look inside of her and she dreaded to see which way the coin flipped.
Reiju should not have been partial to a gender as a mother to be, but this was not just about preferences, it was about the potential fate she could see for her baby just because of which sex they may have. While she herself was not considered a "failure" like Sanji was, there was always an underlying current of being lesser than her brothers in a way purely because she was a woman. One of the most useful things a woman could do was to produce more male heirs and Reiju knew her father was banking on having another boy in the family. She never understood, considering the type of man he is, why Judge never moved on to another woman to breed after her mother died, but perhaps it was a boon that some poor woman was swept into Germa.
Still, even if the pregnancy was unexpected for him, she knew her father would turn this around into something positive for himself. More children, more heirs, more test subjects, more men like her brothers…
But a girl would not be out of the woods. They would go through the same treatment she has endured, perhaps even worse as she would solely be surrounded by murderers and death. Reiju knew, too, that no matter how she tried, she would never live up to the positivity and humanity her mother practically radiated. She would never be able to fill her child up with the needed components to make her as good as Sanji and this fact gnawed at her.
She took a breath in, held it, and then slowly let it out.
Even if both options were not savory, they were only the options she had if her child stayed in Germa. If she could somehow get them away, let them free into the big blue world, then maybe...
Reiju turned off the water, grabbing a towel hanging near the shower before getting out. She dried herself off and was about to reach for her clothes when she remembered that she left them on her bed. Letting out an annoyed sigh, she wrapped the towel around herself before stepping into her room. She passed by the full length mirror nearby, glancing at herself at first before turning that glance into a full body turn and assessment. It had been a while since she had fully looked at her form. There was no real reason why she had not done so, none at all. She just did not feel like it and nothing else.
...Okay, maybe there was one reason.
It was something she would never admit (not like she had anyone she was willing to share anything to), but Reiju was almost afraid to see how she was looking now that she was starting to balloon. Her body did not look too different in the first trimester, but now in the second trimester and beyond, she was definitely looking much more fecund. This would not bother most people, but the last pregnancy Reiju had ever witnessed was very scarring. Her mother, her poor, poor mother, was made to carry four times the amount the average pregnant woman would usually carry, leaving her bed bound for the final months of her gestation. Reiju’s younger self witnessed all this and much more, the medical complications, the way her mother's body morphed and bloated into something unfamiliar and alien. The worst, part, undoubtedly, was when he father brought her to see the boys be extracted via c section, seeing her mother be cut open in the operating theater.
“Drink it in, Reiju,” he said as the doctor’s were pulling Niji out, “this is history in the making.”
He did not want her to forgot the moment, and she sure did remember. She remembered especially how angry that smile on her mother’s stomach looked while she was in recovery. It was like a mocking grin, as if knowing what effect its presence had on the three year old girl.
All these events painted a picture for Reiju, despite logic and statistics from the books she read on the topic saying otherwise, of pregnancy being something that should be feared. It changed you and not for the better, taking away more of more of your abilities until there was nothing left you could do but wait it out. Until the day they would finally be taken away from you.
But then again, this was not the same situation as then. For one, she was only carrying one child, which would put less strain on her body compared to quadruplets, but secondly, she was different from her mother Sora. Maybe…maybe things would not be so bad with her in particular. It could be a smooth pregnancy with no complications and the biggest concern should be how much she was filling her head with fear…
…Fat chance of that, but it was something that could be latched onto like a teddy bear for a scared child. It was at least enough to convince herself to give her body a once over, which was going to be necessary moving forward anyways.
Making sure he curtains were drawn so she did not accidentally flash the kingdom, Reiju unwrapped her towel and observed her nude form.
The first thing she took note of was how softer she had gotten. While not chiseled like her brothers despite her tremendous strength, she had always kept a sort of hourglass figure, one that was now filling out. Her muscles were less defined now and swelling was occurring on her ankles and wrists, only rounding her further.
Not only that, but along with the softening, and despite her efforts to use as much vitamin E cream as she could, the angry red lightning strikes of stretch marks were starting to form and creep up her stomach and down her thighs, resting above the 66 tattoos on her legs. They were small for now but would undoubtedly grow and stick out as the final months went on. Her breasts were growing too, losing their perkiness and sagging above her midsection, also not helping the stretch mark situation.
She was…normal. Her form was that of a textbook photo marking how things would look at the weeks she was at, down to her getting that “glow” she had always read about. Whether that glow was the kind of the sun setting over the horizon or the glow of radioactive material that was about to turn any living creature into goo was yet to be seen. It was a far cry from what had been imprinted on her mind and it gave her some slight relief. Just slight relief. She still had to see what her child's gender would be with her father and she damned with either path.
Speaking of the devil, a knock came to Reiju's door, slinging her back into the moment as she quickly wrapped her towel around herself again.
"Lady Reiju," a female servant's voice came from behind the wooden door, "your father requests your presence at the royal medical bay."
"I will be with you in a minute," she coolly replied, "thank you for informing me."
Pursing her lips, the pink haired princess finally got to dressing herself, steeling herself for the impending appointment.
~~~
While the green haired swordsman had steeled himself to be thoroughly worked like a mule for his first day in Germa, he was not anticipating the humiliation wrought upon him by doing so in front of every day people evidently uncomfortable of his presence. It was definitely because he was a pissed off near naked prisoner being made to work around ordinary people, but Zoro could feel the eyes burrowing into him and it just soured his mood even more. The feeling was only bolstered by the work he was made to do, the worst of which being cleaning all the slime in the breeding caverns for the ship snails. He got some of it in his mouth accidentally after a slip and now that bitter and musky taste would not leave his tongue and throat. It even soured him being served his favorite, plain white rice, for his dinner last night. If anything, though, the soreness and tiredness of his muscles made it easy for him to just lay down and pass out for the entire night until Rodrick woke him up. He did not say anything at first, passing the food to Zoro and assuming a military rest position. The swordsman could see the slightest tug of the edges of his lips pulling downwards, giving the ghost of a frown.
Neither party said a word until Zoro finished his extremely plain yet adequately nutritional meal.
"So what humiliation am I being subjected to today?"
"Well...technically, it will not be humiliating if you're skilled enough, but the king and princes expect your failure."
The mention of the princes caught Zoro's attention. He had not met Sanji's brothers or even seen them yet, but from what little the blond had said about them, his image of them was already soured.
"Why are those three involved?"
"Because...you are going to have to spar with Prince Yonji today."
"...You're shitting me."
Rodrick shook his head. "Afraid I'm not. Judge just handed me the orders early this morning. I even picked up the clothes you have to wear for it, picked out by the King's science partner himself."
Oh, fucking great. He had a feeling that gasbag took enjoyment in some way of him working his ass off yesterday. Even if he did not see him, his slime ball presence was very much there, probably meshing with the snail slime.
“How bad is it?” He bluntly asked. Rodrick cleared his throat to give a sliver of time to delay the inevitable before reaching into his uniform’s pocket to and pulling out a lime green piece of clothing and pair of shoes. Oh God no.
Zoro took it and unfurled it and his face twisted into a disgusted grimace.
It was the unholy and bastard love child of a leotard and a mankini. It would cover up some of him, but expose much more of his body in...weirdly lewd ways. And now that he had a closer look of the thing, was that fucking glitter??? He was going to look a total pervert if he wore this thing!
He gave Rodrick a serious stare, glare hardening.
"What consequences would there be if I refused to wear this?"
"I've been ordered, in that case, to turn your tattoo shackles on and put it on you myself."
The only thing worse than wearing the…thing was if someone had to dress him up with it. Grumbling how he would stick his sword so far up where the sun does not shine in Caesar, the swordsman acquiesced and put on the garment. The material was breathable and light, but that was cold comfort.
“Well then,” his handler commented, “you look…nicely green now. Like a ripe lime.”
“Fuck off.”
“…I was trying find some way to compliment you to make you feel a bit better.”
Zoro breathed in, and slowly let it out while pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Ok, so this sparring thing, how does it work around here?”
Rodrick put his hands behind his back, prepping for his spiel.
“Well, the first thing you are going to want to know is that there are no weapons involved on either side. It is purely hand to hand combat, plus your abilities if you have them. No one is going to die, we are going to make sure of that, but it is meant mainly for the princes’ training…and entertainment, sometimes. Personally, if you ask me, I'd prepare myself for some wrestling since Prince Yonji IS a powerful grappler. The last few guys who went against him got thrown hundreds of feet out of the ring and into the sea."
Wrestling, huh…well, shit. Zoro was a swordsman, after all, and he flourished the most when with his weapons. Without them he was competent, but against someone who was more versed with hand to hand combat was when he started to crumble.
Well, there was no use in floundering about this. He was going to get dragged to the arena either way, so it was best to pony up and shut up.
“Ok,” the swordsman replied. That would have been the end of that, but in the moment, Zoro decided to tack on something he has been wanting to know about.
“So, like, is this gonna be a private thing or public?”
“Public. The usually involve most of the soldiers and the Vinsmoke family being in attendance. Citizens may watch, but most don’t because these can get…messy.”
“Is the whole family going to be there today?”
Rodrick picked up on what Zoro was getting at and shook his head.
"Judge and Lady Reiju will not be there today due to a health related appointment."
Damn. He did not know what he expected, seeing as her father seemed to have an iron grip over her, but Zoro at least wished to see her again, perhaps even talk to her, even if that would require getting her away from Judge, because...hell, where did he even start? Even after digesting the fact that his pull out technique had failed so miserably this time that he knocked up a woman, that woman out of all people had to be Sanji’s sister. Sure, he didn’t know it was her at the time, his hormones swaying his decision making slightly and the fact she had on makeup so good that he didn’t see her leg tattoos or the curly brow, but the fact still remained that it was HER. He still awaited for his crew’s arrival, but had to figure out how he was going to handle the love cook once he found out this. This all was not bringing up the fact that he was still sort of the fence about the woman herself. All he knew about her before getting dragged here was what Sanji told him and...well, she definitely was better their brothers, but after that there was not much else he knew about her. She was still a part of Germa, still participating in it, and always putting on a mask. He did not know how much he should trust her, especially seeing how their situation occurred from her donning a false identity, but he also knew that he HAD to trust her to some extent as there were not many other options.
And none of that was bringing up the fact that Zoro was going to be a father soon.
He was not a bum, even if having a child was not in his near future plans, and had no intentions of leaving his child behind here. He still had to figure out what to do after that, all the parental and caretaker stuff, but one of his biggest priorities now besides getting out of this hell hole kingdom was bringing his kid along with him. The biggest snaggle, there, though, was that he absolutely needed Reiju to work with him on this and right now he could not even speak with her.
“Mister Zoro?”
Rodrick snapped his fingers to gain back the swordsman attention. The green haired man grunted from being perturbed, but knew he would have to be pulled away from his thoughts for a while. He had a fight to get to.
“Ok ok, let’s just go now.” He put his wrists together, his soldier handler clicking the button to close them together. Rodrick retrieved some rope from a pocket and began to tie the green haired captive’s wrists together, which Zoro gave a quizzical look to.
“Is it really needed to keep tying me up when you already have my wrists stuck?”
“Eh, it’s more like…a leash. So you don’t get lost.”
This brought out a pang of anger from Zoro.
“I can follow you very well.”
“So all the newspapers, eyewitnesses, and your crew themselves are liars?”
“Look,” Zoro raised his voice, “it just so happens in those instances that the areas were always confusing and-“
Rodrick gave a chuckle he tried to hide in his hand.
“Ok ok, I get it. Let me rephrase, then: this castle is very confusing and I would not want you, an outsider, to get easily lost here.”
“Hmph,” he shot his handler a short glance, as deadly as a bullet, and looked away.
Once his already bound wrists were wrapped up with rope, Rodrick led Zoro from the cell and brought him out of the dungeon. Zoro used the time to think about how he was going to deal with Yonji. The last time he had really done hand to hand wrestling was when he got pulled into fights with other boys at the dojo as a kid. Rusty was not enough to describe him. There was also the fact that this Yonji most likely had much more experience and from what he heard from Sanji, was a big bruiser. He probably had an advantage over Zoro from weight and height alone.
If he wanted to get out of this in one piece, he would have to find a way to get it over as possible and most likely need to deploy dirty tactics.
The pair made it to a pair of large wooden doors, Rodrick knocking on it in a certain pattern in order to signal for the soldiers outside to open the doors. Slowly opening, Zoro could see the crowd outside, their hollering that was muffled earlier hitting him like a sea train. They were all clone soldiers of varying sizes, turning their attention and quieting down as the green haired swordsman marched out into the yard. Now being able to see many of the soldiers up close and all together, it was uncanny how they all looked like they came from one big family tumbleweed. Zoro also noticed how many of them were clean shaven and had minimal facial hair and short hair, making him question why Rodrick looked the way he did even more now. Up on one of the balconies in the castle, he caught sight of two flashes of brightly colored hair, red and blue respectively. Looks like Sanji’s other brothers turned up to watch the match too.
The crowd soon switched from silence to roaring jeers and sneering at the swordsman and his ridiculous outfit. Zoro chose not to listen to them, instead craning his head around the clone soldiers to get a look at his opponent as his handler led him to the middle.
Yonji was a spitting image of Sanji if he worked out like a maniac and grew a few inches. And was green. His hair slicked back, he wore his own wrestling singlet, a proper one, along with white wrestling shoes. What stuck out to him was what he could see of a tattoo on the man’s chest. Square geometric designs wrapped around his pectorals and crept up his neck before stopping at his collarbone. The other thing that stuck out to Zoro too was how weird he looked without a fringe covering half his face. One look at Yonji and Zoro realized why the lovecook always kept one side of his face hidden. He’d also hide his face if his brows looked so stupid together like that.
That was the least of the issues he already had with this man. His stance, his sharp smirk and even the way he crossed his arms all made him come off as an overly confident bully, one who thought he was better than everyone else and could do whatever he wanted to others with no repercussions. It made Zoro want to lay him out on the ground as soon as possible.
Yonji bounced on his heels as he caught sight of Zoro. Rodrick untied and unbound the green haired man’s wrists as he got into arena area.
“So, this is the famous Roronoa Zoro, huh?” He scanned Zoro up and down, giggling at his purposefully ridiculous outfit, “I never took you for the…glitz and glitter type.”
Zoro scowled and unconsciously tugged on one of the straps of his leotard abomination.
“You know damn well this is not of my own volition.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that Caesar the Clown has a bone to pick with you and has been pulling some strings.”
“HEY, it’s just Caesar Clown, you little-“
Once the eyes were on him, Caesar choked on what he was about to say, ducking down into the crowd with his cameko snail. Zoro sent him a hellish glare. Watching AND recording this? Maybe Zoro would have to put him on the top of his hit list after all. Yonji seemed amused by this interaction.
“I guess EVERYONE really wants to see our little match. Why don’t we make sure this is an interesting one?”
Zoro kept his slightly pissed off face, not wanting to give the other green haired man any reaction to feed off of. He still wanted to punch him, of course, but he had a feeling that giving into those feelings would end up with him in traction. If only he had his swords…
He clenched his fists, veins in his arms popping up. No, this was no time to mourn his tools of trade, he just had to focus on the here and now.
The soldiers, ever loyal to the royal family, were all hyping up and cheering on Yonji before the match even started, only fueling the man’s ego more. Hmmm, maybe with all the ego inflating, it could be an advantage for the swordsman to overpower him.
“Alright, men!” A soldier, short but stout, stepped out of the crowd, hands outstretched and a yellow ascot in one hand, “we’re about to start this spar, so stay back!”
They all followed, moving into place until forming a perfect ring around the pair of green haired men and the lone soldier. The way they moved into perfect position in synchronicity with no missteps was a bit creepy.
Yonji hunched down into position, barely containing his excitement.
Zoro tried to copy his position as best as possible. The shorter soldier raised the yellow cloth up, everyone in the audience on the edge of their non existent seats.
He swung it down forcefully.
“Go!”
~~~
Reiju was more than used to medical check ups and the invasive poking, prodding and collecting of data that entailed. She had been doing it ever since she received her enhancements and never complained once about them. At least not out loud. She had to accept that her body was no longer hers years ago, to expect at any moment to be called down and inspected like a show dog. The woman just wished that her child was not about to get that sort of judgment now.
Her father was there already, the large man finally wearing something non-combative, but not casual, for once. He instead wore a dark grey three piece suit, lab coat hanging in the crook of his right arm. He had probably just came out of the research lab for this. His eyes flicked down to his daughter, dark sclera piercing through her.
“So you have made it.”
Reiju nodded, bowing slightly.
“I came as soon as I was called, father.”
“Good. Now come, this is extremely important.”
She followed her father like a trained hound as he made his way into the medical bay. The obstetrician and nurses were already on standby, all heads flicking towards the king and his daughter. Reiju noticed that one of the scientists was there too, probably to gather information on her child for research into how to modify them once they were born.
“Ah, your majesties!” The obstetrician gave a curt bow, his spiky hair shaking with the movement of his head, “we already have all the equipment warmed up. Just allow us to do a few checks of the princess first and we can get to the ultrasound.”
“Hmph,” the tall blond sneered, “be as thorough as possible.”
“As always, sir.”
The nurses led Reiju to the examination chair and sat her down, promptly beginning the usual routine of taking her vitals. She was used enough to being pulled around like a trained animal, though this time any sort of touch was making her skin itch. Not an itch on the skin itself, but an uncomfortable feeling that raised up at any hands that brushed against them. As the staff began to take her blood pressure, heart rate, and other vitals, Reiju glanced up to her father. His own gaze bared down on everyone like the powerful rays of the sun on a sweltering day. A lot of weight was being placed onto everyone by him at the moment, even if the results were ultimately out of their control. Some of the medical staff were even sweating a little from that hot pressure. She could already see how his brain was ticking off like an abacus, calculating what to do in either gender situation. Judge already saw her child as making the best out of a “bad” situation, now he was working out how…”bad” for him it was.
Seeing this made the uncomfortable itch Reiju had been experiencing worsen.
The nurses took down the results of their checks and gave them to the doctor. His eyes scanned the papers as he combed his free hand through his hair.
“Respiration normal, heart rate ok…the blood pressure is a little higher than I would like it to be-“
“What is the rate?” Judge interjected suddenly. The doctor, to which Reiju now remembered his name, Dr.Wu, flinched minutely at the booming voice before replying.
“I-it’s 128 over 83. I think we should keep an eye on that in case this could lead to preeclampsia.”
Judge nodded.
“Is that all?”
“Y-yes, sir,”
“Good, send a copy of that to the lab,” he motioned to the scientist on the sidelines, “Now, the ultrasound.”
Oh joy, here it comes. The moment of truth.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
The ultrasound machine was one of the few useful pieces of Germa technology that Reiju could see having potential to revolutionize the medical field. It was too bad it was like her and would never see the outside of the castle walls. Using pre existing sonar technology, they were able to use the sound waves in order to see inside of someone in a 2d image. It had already seen much use being able to diagnose any tumors or pregnancies in the workers of Germa 66 and now the eldest Vinsmoke was going to be added to the list of recipients.
Too bad the piece of tech was producing more anxiety for her than anything.
Not even allowed to pull her shirt up on her own, the nurses pulled it up for her, exposing her stomach. Reiju’s now healed hand twitched but nothing else indicated what she felt. One thing that was going to follow her during the whole pregnancy was how self conscious she felt for the first time about her body when it came to her stomach. It was like she was baring a vulnerable part of herself for the first time ever and it made her skin crawl how much people focused on it.
Dr.Wu retrieved the wand from the machine, the black monitor screen behind him continuously giving an electrical hum. Next to him, a nurse brought out a small container of clear gel, lathering some of it on her fingers. She rubbed it on Reiju’s pronounced stomach, the pink haired woman’s skin now feeling like it would rip away from her body to get away from all the touching of that area. The doctor neared with the instrument.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Judge watched from the sidelines with bated breath, all the staff there twitching with anticipation.
Once some adjustments of placement on of the wand were made on her womb area, Reiju and Zoro’s child came into view. And for once, one of the very few times she had ever done so, Reiju temporarily let her emotional shields down to marvel at this glance she got of her child.
She had seen ultrasound photos before, mainly when her mother was gravid with her brothers, but seeing HER child floating in there up on the snowy static screen, making small movements, moving their feet while she felt it at the same ti-oh god, were they sucking their thumb?
If her ability to let herself cry had not been sanded off years ago and if her father were not there, she felt that she would have fallen apart this very moment like wet paper at seeing her baby for the first time. Instead, she gasped gripped the seat as she kept herself in check. As much as her hormones threatened to blow up the dam, the most she
Reiju was so lost in the moment further connecting with her child that she almost forgot about the point of this procedure. Almost.
“Ahh, I can see what, um, the g-gender.” Dr.Wu’s expression turned morose at what he saw. Judge’s brows knitted in impatience.
“What. Is. It?”
“It’s…it’s a girl.”
The other shoe had finally dropped and the tension had finally released for her father. He shoulders slumped as his expression turned to one of disappointment accompanied by a sigh. When seeing that he did not blow up from news he did not want to hear, the rest of the medical staff and the scientist beside him could now breathe a sigh of relief.
Reiju could not do the same, though.
“Of all the…” Judge began, “Ok, this is not the end of the world, only a set back. This can be…salvaged.”
The way he spoke of Reiju’s child, her daughter, was a knife to the heart, though it would have to make room with all the other ones first.
The gravity gender reveal was laying its full weight on her now. A daughter…she was having a little girl. A little girl that was going to come into this world pure and innocent of the sins of her family, of the sins of her…mother.
The doors to the medical area burst open as a soldier, gasping from running all the way here, barreled in. Her father snapped around, his mood taking a nose dive now that he was interrupted.
“What’s going on?” He hissed. The clone soldier gulped down a few more lungfuls of air before answering.
“Yonji…prisoner…gone wrong…incident…”
Judge gritted his teeth and curled his hand into a fist.
“Beautiful, bloody beautiful, right after I get this news…”
~~~
Ten minutes earlier…
Zoro was now beginning to wonder why Sanji decided to call him the “green gorilla” when his younger brother existed.
Yonji’s stance was seemingly impregnable, any attempt to sweep him down or get him to fall was useless. The swordsman gave up quickly trying to sweep or kick him down as his body felt like steel and hitting it like that hurt himself. He’d have to focus on keeping his own stance on the ground.
On the upper end, he was desperately defending himself from any other throws ensnaring him. He slipped up a minute ago and gave the Vinsmoke the opportunity to grab his waist, lift him up and slam him down on his side. The swordsman did not feel that any of his bones were broken, but everything on that side HURT.
At this moment, Yonji had gotten behind him and wrapped an arm around the swordsman’s neck, starting to bend him backwards as if trying to fold him. This presented an opportunity though as his arms were still free. Reaching behind himself, he grabbed Yonji by the back of his head and using all his strength he had at the moment, wrenched his whole body forward, lifting and throwing the larger man in front of him with a surprisingly hard “thud”. Any noises the crowd made were amplified at watching the “beloved” prince be thrown. The green haired prince did not immediately get up, though. He took a second to let out a joyous laugh and rolled over before popping up onto his feet.
“Woo, that actually stung a little!” And Yonji dove back into Zoro.
The best way to describe the rest of the battle was crushing. Even though he managed to defend himself from anymore throws, Yonji still had the advantage of experience over Zoro and quickly turned to keeping Zoro in his grasp at almost all times. While the swordsman was able to grab and sloppily throw Yonji a few more times, each one harder than the last and making the ground crack more, this emboldened the green haired prince, increasing his taunts per minutes and making him more aggressive with his moves.
He did not want to admit it, but Zoro was starting to lose steam, and fast. Struggling against the brawnier man was taking its toll on his body and even dirty tricks like throwing gravel in his face and elbowing him in the sternum did nothing to slow him down. Ending this fast was something easier said than done, now he just wanted it to end before the man could attempt to throw him again.
Luckily, if he could look at it like that, keeping the fight going this long with Sanji’s younger brother was making the sparring last longer as he basked in lording over the right hand of the Pirate King. At this moment, when he had gotten Zoro to fall to the ground, he clamped down on his neck with his thighs in a vice grip, not giving him any room to breathe or wiggle out. His hands firmly grasped Zoro’s calves and wrenched them backwards, inching the green haired man’s feet closer to his back. At this rate, Zoro felt that his spine would break under all this tension.
Yonji turned to him, yelling over the audience who had now become loud background noise.
“How you holding up, mossy?”
Zoro’s eyes burned with a fire of rage at hearing this green haired curlybow call him by the name only HIS curlybrow could say.
“Can’t…breathe…you…big ape.”
Yonji squeezed his thighs tighter and bent Zoro more harshly.
“Damn, already? And here I thought we were just getting started. Laaaame.”
He accentuated the drawn out last word with a pull that made Zoro wince in pain.
“Ahh well, toys break sometimes. I’ll try not to mess you up too badly.”
Fuck, he was going to get his back broken if you did not do something quick. But what options were there? His hands could do nothing to against the brute’s muscular physique and his legs were crunched together by Yonji’s hands. There had to be some way he could, perhaps, use his teeth to get out of his hold before he either passed out or was snapped in half.
It was then that Zoro noticed how close his face was to…something between the prince’s legs. A part of his bulge that was moved around to not get crushed by his powerful thighs. If he craned his neck closer to it, the swordsman could…
Well, it would not be the first time he had a man’s nuts in his mouth and it probably would not be the last.
~~~
Present
Something…stirred within Ichiji at that moment. It was not something that happened often, or ever, if he correctly recalled, but seeing Yonji yowl at about three octaves higher than his normal voice, and medics setting up a little tent around his groin region as they attempted to treat his most likely swollen and sore family jewels, well…he felt some sort of sympathy. It was more in the way of imagining himself in that situation and cringing at how it would feel, but it was something new nevertheless.
Niji, who was leaning close to get a good look at the action going on, had now reeled back and contorted his face into that of pure horror and disgust.
“Dear God, there’s teeth marks here!” One of the medics exclaimed a little too loudly. Niji’s frown deepened.
“Fuck, I can’t believe that mossy swordsman took a bite out of Yonji!” He turned to his older brother, “Do you think he’s going to lose one of them?”
Ichiji cupped his chin in his hand and hummed in thought.
“Well, from the looks of it, he was mostly protected by his singlet, and I did not see any blood, so it is most likely a superficial wound. Hurts like hell, though.”
“I thought we had exoskeletons for situations like this, man.”
“We do, just not there.”
“Ugh, apparently,” Niji craned his neck to look at something else but Yonji’s pain, finding a distraction almost immediately. He snickered and pointed down.
“Hey, Ichiji, take a look at what’s happening to the boytoy.”
Looking over, next to their brother, Zoro’s bearded handler was fighting off other enraged soldiers from taking a piece out of the man, his prowess in hand to hand combat showing as he tossed clones back like bags of flour. It was unsurprising that they would go after Roronoa. The clones were programmed to have total loyalty to the royal family, defending them in times of needs (or when they needed meat shields). Any attempt to injure a Vinsmoke and they would be swarmed like a defenseless caterpillar against an army of ants. Perhaps it was a good thing then that father assigned someone tough like that bearded clone to protect him from more serious injuries.
“Huh,” the red haired prince mused at the pure chaos, “perhaps we should have had him do the sparring.”
“Where’s the fun in that, though?” Niji sneered.
In that moment, their father stomped onto the balcony, Reiju close behind him. His eyes bulged at the unfolding situation below him.
“What in the HELL is going on down here!?”
Everyone on the ground stopped what they were doing and looked up at the king of Germa. Scanning the crowd, Judge stopped and focused on his youngest son, who was now being laid out on a stretcher. Something looking like concern spread across his aged face.
“What happened to Yonji?” He looked at Ichiji. The red haired man shrugged.
“Zoro bit his testicles.” He laid out plainly.
“He WHAT?” Judge and Reiju said in unison. Curious, he had not seen Reiju be that expressive ever.
“Yeah, he bit him like a dog.” Niji chirped. Judge cradled his face in his hands, trying to hold himself back from screaming. Reiju was not looking too hot either, mouth slightly agape at what she had just heard. Niji noticed this too and pounced on the opportunity to make a jab.
“Damn, it must hurt you Reiju to see your man in a-“
“Niji, please, shut up,” Judge sniped. He pointed accusingly at Zoro, his face turning red. The swordsman looked up, his one eyed gaze defiant and evidently feeling no guilt over what he had done. Even worse, he crossed his arms in front of their father.
Oh yes, this would not end well.
“You!” Judge snarled, “Youuuuuu…you little…you were supposed to SPAR, not actually hurt my son like that!”
“Well,” Zoro shouted back, “maybe he needs better training so he would not leave himself open like that.”
The remaining Vinsmoke siblings took a step back to avoid the upcoming storm of insults to be exchanged. Reiju bumped into him on accident and she jumped away from him as quick as a cat from water. It did not seem that there was going to be much gleaned from the interaction between his father and the prisoner at the moment, so he decided to see what he could get from Reiju on where her and father had been.
“So…where were you?”
Any sort of shock from the current events were ironed out of Reiju’s face now. She leaned against the stone door frame.
“He did not tell you?”
“You know father chooses not to fill us in on your ‘womanly affairs’.”
The pink haired woman sighed.
“Did an ultrasound. It’s a girl.”
Ahh, that made sense. Their father had been eager to know the gender of the child and now was the appropriate time to take a look. So they were having a niece, huh…He felt that Niji and Yonji would be disappointed by another girl coming into the fray, but Ichiji did not feel much of anything about that. Only wondering if this girl would be on par with everyone else or be a failure like her uncle.
Niji took immense pleasure watching their father threaten to come down and give the swordsman a piece of his mind and fume when Zoro yawned to his face.
“Hey,” Reiju wrapped an arm around her growing midsection to support it, “what is going on with that hideous outfit on Zoro?”
“A little gift from the goatman, I heard.”
Reiju groaned.
“God damn, not him.”
Ichiji solemnly nodded. If there was one thing his sister and him passionately agreed on, it was of their distaste for Caesar Clown.
“Yes, him. I even saw him bring a cameko snail to record the fi-“
“He RECORDED this!?” Judge sputtered. His grip on the railing was enough to break two chunks off of it. He looked either on the end of screaming or ripping out his hair.
“You know what? I am too damn stressed to think of a proper punishment for you right now, Roronoa,” he turned his head to Zoro’s handler, “no food for him for the rest of the week.”
The bearded soldier nodded, Ichiji noticing out of the corner of his eye how Reiju clenched her jaw shut at this.
“Fine, don’t give me any food, then,” Zoro retorted, “I’ll live.”.
And with that, his handler was ordered to turn all his tattoo cuffs and drag him away with his face to the ground. As the pirate threw in a few more expletives towards their father, Judge turned away and grumbled that he was going to find out the extent of Yonji’s injuries, and find Caesar, and stormed off. The remaining three siblings stood on the balcony awkwardly.
“Hey, I earjacked a little and heard you had an ultrasound,” Niji poked his head into their space, “what was the ge-“
“I need to get back to work. Need to get the inventory done before we land for a restock.”
Reiju hurried off in the opposite direction, not giving the brothers a second glance. Niji sucked on his teeth.
“Bitch.”