All That Glitters (One Piece\Zolo) 138

Quick Recap: Your crew and the Frankies infiltrated the main part of Enies Lobby under heavy opposition. Sodom was killed by mortar fire. Then Gomorrah was attacked. You learned that Luffy was fighting w/Blueno on the roof of the courthouse. Gomorrah pulled himself together long enough to get you inside the courthouse entryway.
START THE QUIZ
You walked forward to join Sanji and Zolo, who were staring up at the imposing doorway. Behind you, Franky's second said with determination, "Well, done, Gomorrah!!! We won't waste you and your brother's run!!" Turning his attention to the Marines behind you, he cried in defiance, "We've gotten in, you bastards!!! We're gonna rescue Big Bro Franky!!!" The other Frankies added their voices.
You took a moment to observe your new surroundings. The courthouse was right in front of you, including its enormous keyhole-shaped door. `I guess breaking the door down's out of the question,` you thought cynically. Honestly, who was everything so big here? The World Government certainly had a grandiose view of itself. The courtyard itself was pretty bare: the stone path you were standing on and a trimmed lawn. You also couldn't miss the handful of Marines standing in your way, but you could manage these chumps. You'd also bet money that more enemies were on their way once the alert went out that you'd infiltrated the courtyard.
Nami and Chopper -- in Walk Point -- jumped down to join you. "You see him?" Nami asked behind you. She was of course referring to Luffy.
"Not from this angle," you replied. You were too close to see the roof. Zolo raised a hand to shield his eyes, but the look on his face told you he couldn't see Luffy either.
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Sanji mused, "If he's on that roof, there's no way to climb up there." The wall was almost completely vertical and almost half a mile straight up.
"Unless you're made of rubber," Zolo added.
"Speak for yourself." The crew looked at you funny when you said that. But when they saw you letting out your wire, they understood what you were thinking. You may not be able to slingshot yourself up there like Luffy, but you could just as easily climb it. The tetsugin truly was a very handy tool. Keeping your eyes on the roof, you said, "I'll make sure Luffy's okay and wait for you guys to get up there the long way."
"Be careful, Vaughn," Nami advised, to which you only nodded. You suspected they'd have a harder time than you. "How many CP9 members did you see?"
"Just the huge, horned guy," Zolo answered. "It's only one guy, but..." He wasn't sure that counted with CP9.
Sanji commented, "It's unlikely they'd be out in the open up there, especially when they have Robin and Franky." He didn't think anyone else was up there. It wasn't smart to leave your prisoners unguarded.
"At any rate, we've gotta catch up to Luffy!!" Chopper growled. "We've gotta hurry and save Robin!!!"
Before you had a chance to press on, your damaged left eye spotted something large and round hurtling towards you. Your head reflexively snapped around, as did Zolo's, Sanji's and Chopper's. It was another one of those blasted ball-and-chains. But you didn't have to worry about getting out of the way, because Yokozuna jumped in front of its path just in time for it to slam into him. Nami let out a startled cry, but there was no cause for concern. The frog had stopped the ball dead in its track. He didn't even flinch. You guessed after years of getting run over by sea trains, that was nothing.
"Whoa!!! That frog's amazing!!!" the Frankies exclaimed. "It's the same steel ball that beat Gomorrah!!!!" Ignoring the praise, Yokozuna glowered at the hulking figure at the end of the chain.
Having lost the element of surprise, the figure tried to flee. Despite its large size, he was surprisingly fast. He rushed off in a blur, pulling the ball with him. He was fast, in fact, that it looked like there were actually several figures instead of just the one. "Those three are trying to escape!!!" someone shouted. You saw a blonde blur as Sanji ran passed you.
"Why are they running!?" Chopper asked. "They're the ones who attacked us..."
"Because they're a bunch of cowards," you replied coolly while turning your attention to the fools in your way. They were either in too much shock to fire on you... or they were too afraid. Either way, it'd be their downfall. Not wanting to use your tetsugin on them, the men gasped as you disappeared in a blur. "Berserker." Less than a minute after you'd disappeared, you reappeared behind them all. Neither you nor them moved for an instant, before all the men collapsed to the ground with a groan, eyes rolling up in their heads. `So much for that...` you thought coldly.
While you dispatched what could laughably be called the "guards," the Frankies chased after the figure. Either not noticing your actions or confident you could take care of it yourself, Zolo snapped at them, "Hey, you morons, chasing fleeing enemies one by one is a waste of time!!!" If they wanted to run, let them run.
No sooner than the words left his mouth, the figure was thrown into the side of the wall. Dust flew up everywhere, blocking their view of what'd happened. The Frankies could only watch on in shock as the dust settled and Sanji appeared, dragging the hulking figure along behind him. "Shut up already!" he snapped, glaring at Zolo. Dropping the figure, he said, "It's confirmation. We should know what kind of enemies we're up against, right?" Sanji was getting impatient. The longer it took to reach Robin, the more irritable he got.
The Frankies looked dumbstruck. "Whoa!! You stopped him!!" They gathered around to finally get a good look at the man. He was quite large, and dressed a bit like a wrestler. As you'd thought, he wore spiked armor: a spiked shoulder pad on his right shoulder and spiked wrestler-style shorts. He also had a black leather helm on his head, gloves, knee pads, two belts crossing over his chest and boots.
"What is this guy?" one of them asked. "He's super strong!"
"Is this another special unit, like the Houbantai!?" Probably.
"I bet there're a bunch of them out there," Sanji warned, cigarette dangling between his fingers. "Be careful!"
Zolo just snorted, not at all impressed. "Poser," he mumbled to himself before focusing on, in his opinion, more important things. He blinked when he saw the Marines passed out on the ground, you standing in their midst, studying the door. A ghost of a smirk tugged at his lips as he came up beside you. Crossing his arms, he gazed at the door and asked, "Can we open it ourselves?"
"I doubt it," you responded.
Drawing his swords, Zolo said, "Then I guess we'll just have to make our own door." After a few quick sword flourishes, you watched as cuts appeared in the stone door before the pieces crumbled away, leaving a large opening.
Nodding in satisfaction, you held your tetsugin in your right hand and began to spin it around. Once you had enough speed, you threw it into the sky, aiming for one of the stones on the roof. You held your left hand up so the wire could unravel freely. Once it was high enough, you twisted the wire around so the knife wrapped around one of the stones and pulled hard to secure it. A few short tugs reassured you that it would hold.
You pushed your foot against the wall, preparing to start you ascent, when you heard a bunch of shouts coming from the far side of the courtyard. Looking up, you discovered it to be a large group of Marines rushing your position. "We'd better get going," you muttered, more to yourself than Zolo.
But he still heard you, and agreed with you. So while you started your long climb, he shouted to the others, "Stop wasting time, guys!! We're going ahead!!!"
The Frankies looked stunned. "Whoooa!! He cut through that thick stone!!!" And here they'd just been wondering how to get inside.
"Zambai," the Yellow Square Sister interjected. Motioning to her sister, she said, "The two of us will split up to the left and right and pull the levers for the drawbridge!!"
"Got it! I'm counting on you!!!" Turning to the rest of the men, Franky's second, now named as Zambai, ordered, "We'll split into three teams!! Whoever's with me, we're gonna do some spring cleaning inside the courthouse!! I just need a few of you!!" A handful of men volunteered, in addition to your own crew and Yokozuna, before they split off.
"Okay, wish us luck!!" the Square Sisters said as they ran towards opposite ends of the courtyard.
"Scatter!!!"
"Be careful, Vaughn!" Sanji called up to you as they were about to enter the courthouse through Zolo's "door." "We all know how hectic Luffy's fights can get! Don't lose your grip!"
You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. Even if you did lose your grip, the wire was attached to your arm. Leaning back a little as you looked down at them, you retorted, "It's you guys who should be careful. I don't think I'll meet anyone on the way up, but you can't say the same thing. Watch yourselves. I heard a rumor that there's a three-headed judge here." Yeah, you said it correctly. A three-headed judge. It was only a rumor, but it wasn't the kind you could easily forget.
"A three-headed judge!? Are you serious!?" Chopper gasped. He'd never heard of such a thing. But then again, who'd ever heard of a talking reindeer?
Continuing your climb, you said, "Yeah, Judge Baskerville, I believe. Just don't let your guard down."
"See you at the top!" Nami called up to you as they disappeared inside, ready for anything.
Hope they don't get lost
Inside the courtroom, a lone prisoner stood, surrounded by Marines, waiting for his trial to commence. In spite of the likely severity of the punishment the judge would hand down, the man looked rather bored about the whole thing. Of course, that might've had something to do with the fact that he was borderline Antisocial Personality Disorder and thus was incapable of feeling guilt... or any other emotion, for that fact. He was a tall man, just shy of six feet, in his mid 20's, with dirty blonde hair in a style similar to Sanji's but a lot messier and it didn't completely cover up his left eye, light brown eyes, tanned skin and a lanky build. He definitely had a Goth thing going on, with black eyeliner, a black muscle shirt with the sleeves ripped off, dark too tight/too long jeans and black combat boots. He also had a habit of slouching and (if his hands weren't handcuffed) running his fingers through his hair.
The man slouched against on of the pews. `I wish they'd get on with it,` he thought. He was supposed to be standing trial -- though by this point it wasn't so much a "trial" as a sentencing -- but the judge seemed to be distracted. Something about pirates invading or some other nonsense the man couldn't care less about.
The man looked up sluggishly as the courtroom door flew open and Marines went flying through the air in a whirlwind of attack. He moved his head just enough to avoid getting hit by one of the flying Marines. "Judge!! Reporting!! The pirates have managed to cut through the giant stone doors and have invaded the courthouse!"
`No shit...` the man thought dully. What was his first clue?
"Don't just watch, morons!" the judge shouted.
Focusing on the most interesting thing today, the prisoner watched the group of pirates enter the courtroom unopposed. He could tell just by looking that they were in fact two groups. One group was dressed almost completely the same, with steel pants with a star on the front. The other group consisted of four people. A green-haired swordsman appeared to lead the way. The prisoner didn't recognize any of them, but he had been in jail for a long time...
"That was a surprising amount of people," Zolo commented, propping a sword on his shoulder. "Seems we can advance, though." Zolo to a second to look around the room. The courtroom looked more like a chapel, with stone columns, high arched ceilings, and two long rows of pews. There was a large podium at the head of the room, with a large, winding staircase on either side. Zolo suddenly blinked when his eyes landed on the man standing on the podium. At least... he thought it was a man. "What the heck is that?"
Zolo wasn't sure whether to call it a man or men, because it was a person with three heads. That's right. Three. And Zolo was sure he wasn't drunk. The left head had gray hair, a scruffy beard, and wore a blue leather helm and white-framed sunglasses. The middle head had a long white beard and mustache and wore a red captain's hat. The right head had orange hair with sideburns, a jutting chin and a yellow conquistador-style hat. He... they... whatever... wore a long blue tunic with the World Government symbol on the front, brown gloves, brown pants, boots, and wielded a sword.
"Whoa! A three-headed man! Just like Sister Scar said!"
"Order in the court!" the middle head of Judge Baskerville shouted. "This is a sacred building of law! If you undermine that, your fate will be decided here for you!"
In their usual fashion, the crew just ignored the bizarre man as he went on and on about divine judgment and other dribble like that. "Alright you guys! At any rate, keep an eye out for Straw Hat on the roof!" Zambai pointed to a few of his men. "Leave behind Yokozuna with a few guys to block pursuers coming from the door! The rest of you guys protect the rear! Let's proceed!"
"Got it!" Half of the remaining Frankies stayed behind with Yokozuna to keep any enemies from entering the courthouse behind them. The other half trailed behind the Straw Hat Crew.
Nami just now noticed the blonde-haired man in handcuffs standing at the front, watching them with mild disinterest. "Say, look at that!" She pointed at the man. "It looks like a trial is starting!"
"Ignore it. Too troublesome," Zolo advised. Whoever this person was, was none of his business. And based on the dull look on the prisoner's face, he felt the same way about them. "Where's the path?"
Spotting the two large staircases, Nami answered, "Look at the front, there's stairs on either side!! We can get to the top floor from those!!" If Nami guessed right, they'd both lead to the top, so it didn't matter which way they went. So long as they stayed together.
The few remaining Marines looked horrified at how the pirates were ignoring Judge Baskerville. Though, truth be told, they weren't really paying all that much attention to him either. "Whoa! These rude guys are ignoring their divine judgment!" Man, how arrogant do you have to be to believe you have divine authority?
"Unforgivable! Making fools of the Island of Justice administration!"
The remaining soldiers blocked the crew's path. Too bad for them, Zolo was in no mood to play around. Using all three swords, he took the stance for his Oni Giri, only this one was a little different. Waves of heat began to rise up around him and in the background you could actually see the outline of some kind of winged demon appear. "Enbima Yonezu..." The waves of heat made Zolo's swords appear to bend, just like the horizon does on a scorching hot day.
"What the!? His swords look bent!" the Marines gasped.
"Oni Giri!" Zolo let loose his attack, his swords curving so that they cut into all the men blocking his path, instead of only one man like his regular Oni Giri. Everyone, minus those from his own crew, looked stunned by the display of strength. With the way clear, Zolo ran forward. He shouted over his shoulder, "So let's go. I cleared the way."
"Okay!" Nami and Chopper followed close behind.
The Frankies were still in shock. "... So why isn't he the captain?" It was something many people asked. Strong and authoritative as he might be, Zolo lacked the charisma to be your leader. And, though he'd probably never admit it, Luffy was in fact stronger than Zolo. He had to be, or else you wouldn't be following him. The Frankies' confusion only increased as a blonde blur ran passed them. "Brother Suit?"
"Wait up, wait up, wait up!" Sanji yelled as the rest of his crew continued without him. "Why don't you stay behind with the reindeer, stupid swordsman!?" he demanded. "That's a dangerous enemy line! The one that's going to split up and go with Nami is me!! Dumbass!!" Sanji wasn't about to let the stupid, incompetent (as far as he was concerned) swordsman protect his precious Nami.
"Whoa!" Zolo had to quickly hold up a sword to block Sanji's incoming kick. Shoving the cook's foot away, he growled, "That's dangerous, bastard! Wanna fight, huh?" And fight they did, in usual Zolo v. Sanji fashion.
"Why did you start fighting!?" Zambai hollered. That was a very good question, and one none of you had been able to answer yet. Why did those two always pick a fight at the wrong time?
Unfortunately for them, you weren't around to break them up this time, so Nami had to do it. And her methods were far less gentle than yours. "Knock it off!!" the perturbed navigator snapped, smashing her Clima-Tact against their heads. As the two lay on the ground, nursing the bumps on the back of their heads, Nami rubbed her fingers against her temple and mumbled, "I should've made Vaughn stay with us just to deal with you two."
For the first time, the prisoner actually gave the scene his full attention. `Did she say...?` Now there was a name that brought back memories...
Memories? I know this guy?
Recovering quickly, as he usually did from Nami's attacks, Sanji took the lead from the swordsman. "Nami, this way!" he urged, directing Nami and Chopper up the left staircase. "Come with me!"
"Umm... didn't we come to save Robin?" Nami asked.
Sanji's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered your purpose here. "Oooh... that's right! Robin is waiting for me to save her!" His brow furrowed in worry. "At this time, I wonder if she's crying lonely." Purpose restored, Sanji rushed off in a burst of energy, ready to save his damsel in distress.
Nami and Chopper were about to follow, when they suddenly realized something. "AAAAH! We took our eyes off Zolo just now!" Frantically searching around for the directionally-challenged swordsman, they spotted him running up the wrong set of stairs. "Wait, Zolo! Not over there!" Chopper shouted. Zolo nearly tripped over the stairs as he came to a sudden stop. Sweatdropping at his own lack of direction, he quickly recovered and headed for the left staircase.
"Even though we said the stairs, he made a mistake and went over there!" Nami grumbled under her breath. She simply could not understand how one person could be that bad at following directions. The only person she knew of that might be worse was Luffy. "Are you a show off!!?" Nami shouted at Zolo.
Rejoining them, Zolo snapped back, "Shut up! Your explanation was bad!"
"In what way was it bad!?" she demanded. No one else ever seemed to have any problems following her directions.
"Zolo, I'll try to make some medicine for that," Chopper suggested, hoping to be helpful.
But it only made Zolo angrier. "Hey, don't!" he growled.
The Frankies watched the scene with a rather forlorn expression. "Are they really gonna save Big Bro?" one of them asked.
"When the time comes, they're the type to do it," Zambai replied. "Surely." Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence...
Judge Baskerville glowered at the three as he realized he was being ignored. "A great sin, this is..." the left head grumbled.
"A serious crime, this is..." the right head added.
"Therefore, those who went in between get the death penalty," the middle head concluded.
"Agreed," the other two said.
As they started to make their way up the stairs (again!), Chopper sensed something heading right for them. His eyes widened and he instinctively jumped back, pushing Nami out of the way at the same time. Good thing, too, since Judge Baskerville slashed down with his sword at where he'd just been. "Don't ignore this judge!!" all three heads cried at the same time.
Eyes narrowing at the large gash the judge had made in the stone floor, Zolo placed himself between the judge and his crew. He held two swords in front of him, on guard. "Chopper! Nami! Go on ahead! I'll finish off this guy and chase after you!"
"We will show no fear of this audacious pirate!" the judge said.
He probably would've gone on, but he didn't have time, as someone backhanded him hard in the face.. the middle one. The judge stumbled backwards, trying desperately to regain his balance, only to fall off the edge of the stairway and onto the ground below, right at the Frankies' feet. "You're opponent is us, Cerberus!" Zambai drawled, the men grinning as they drew their weapons to take on the judge.
The three Straw Hat pirates looked stunned at what the prisoner had just done. For a man in handcuffs, he still hit pretty hard. But why did he do that in the first place? Not facing them, the prisoner asked, "That name you said earlier... Vaughn. You didn't happen to mean Cruz Vaughn, did you?"
Nami was surprised by the unexpected question. "Ah... well, yes. Do you know her?"
Although they couldn't see it with his back to them, a large grin split the prisoner's face, his eyes lighting up with something close to glee. "Oh yes. The two of us go way back. We used to be very close. She used to rely on me to supply her with information... among other things. But it's been such a long time." Zolo's eyes narrowed. He didn't like the way this man was speaking. It wasn't so much what he was saying (Zolo was sure there were lots of people you'd relied on for information) as it was how he was saying it. He almost made it sound like you and he had been... intimate. And that was an idea that did not sit well with Zolo. "Tell you what," the prisoner's voice broke Zolo's train of thought. "As much as it would be an absolute delight to see Vaughn again, I can tell you have pressing business to attend to. Since you're working with her, I'll stay here and help your friends deal with Cerberus." He cracked his neck. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time anyway."
"Really?" Chopper gasped, surprised at finding an ally in the heart of enemy territory. "Gee, thanks!"
"No problem." The prisoner finally turned to face them, and Zolo's eyes narrowed even further at the leering smile on his face. "Just be sure to tell Vaughn Damion says hello." He was sure you'd remember. It was what you did, after all.
"Yeah, fine," Zolo replied impatiently, having absolutely no intention of giving you the message. Something about this guy rubbed him the wrong way, and it wasn't just jealously. Something in those eyelined brown eyes told Zolo this guy wasn't playing with a full deck of cards. Spinning around on his heel, Zolo ran up the stairs. "Let's go!" he called back to the other two.
REST OF QUIZ IN RESULTS + PIC OF BASKERVILLE

Back outside, you were a little over half way to the roof. So far, so good. You just kept chanting in your mind, `Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.` You put most of your weight on the wire, because there wasn't a whole lot for your feet to stick to. The wall was a sheer vertical cliff of polished stone. Occasionally you'd look down over your shoulder to see how things were going on the ground. The Frankies seemed to be doing okay. It didn't look like any enemies had gotten passed them.
`I should take up mountain climbing,` you told yourself. You'd been doing a lot of climbing already.
The closer you got to the top, the louder the sounds of fighting became. From time to time you'd have to move to avoid getting hit by a chunk of falling debris. At least you knew Luffy was well enough to keep fighting. Hopefully he'd be able to manage against Blueno. It was only him, and he wasn't the strongest CP9 agent.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, you made it to the top. Your tired hands clutched onto the ledge of the roof as you heaved yourself up one last time, pulling yourself up onto your elbows. Finally, you were able to see the rooftop. And just in time to see Blueno's eyes roll up in his head as he collapsed face-first to the ground. Looked like Luffy had won.
Speaking of Luffy, the boy hadn't noticed you yet because he was standing with his back to you. Even though you couldn't see his face, you could tell he was tired. He was panting, sweating and looked a little scuffed up, but otherwise seemed fine. You smiled to yourself when you also noticed the pink tint on his skin. He'd been using his Gear technique. That would explain why he was so tired.
You pulled yourself all the way up onto the roof. As you knelt down, you took a moment to stretch your fingers out. They popped as you moved them. Despite wearing gloves to protect against the wire from cutting into you, your hands were still stiff from pulling your body weight up with such a thin line. As you worked out the kinks, you spotted Luffy's straw hat by your feet. It must've fallen off during the fight, despite the band he'd attached to it to keep it in place. You picked the hat up as you stood up and walked over to Luffy.
Luffy blinked in surprise when you placed the hat back in its rightful place. "Vaughn?" he panted, slowly raising a hand up to touch his hat. "You're here? What about the others?"
"They're on their way up," you replied. "They had to take the stairs. And the Frankies are going to release the levers to lower the drawbridge so we can get across to the Tower."
Luffy grinned, though you couldn't help noticing it wasn't an enthusiastic as usual. "I'm glad you made it alright."
"What about you?" you asked, giving the boy an appraising look.
Luffy sighed. "I'm beat..." he answered honestly. Raising a hand, he stared at it as he murmured, "My body can't seem to keep up yet..."
"That's to be expected," you replied. "It'll take some time for your body to get used to it." You knew that very well, since his own technique was very similar to your Makaze, at least in the fact that it took its toll on you. But Luffy was a very resilient person. You were sure he'd adapt.
Luffy nodded in understanding. "It's okay for now. It's just my body." Looking over his shoulder, he looked out over the chaos that had become Enies Lobby. Even from all the way up here, you could hear the fighting going on in the streets below. "I caused a big disturbance."
You couldn't help but chuckle. "Indeed."
Leaving Luffy to his contemplation, you walked over to the other side of the roof, the side near the Tower. To get a better look, you climbed up onto one of the stones >>the courthouse roof looks like how most people draw castles<< and carefully looked down. The Tower itself was even taller than the courthouse, and sat on a piece of land that protruded slightly over the waterfall. The gap between the courthouse and the Tower was larger than you expected, about a quarter of a mile wide. You doubted even Luffy could make that distance. If the Frankies didn't lower the drawbridge, there was no way you could get across.
"Robin's in there somewhere..." Although he was to your left, you didn't have to turn to tell that Luffy was standing on the stone beside you.
"Mm-hm," was all you said, raising your eyes to the World Government flag flying at the very top of the tower.
"And that pigeon guy, too..."
"Mm-hm."
Luffy took a deep breath, and in a cry that echoed over the entire island, screamed, "ROOOOBIIIIIIN!! I'M COMING TO MEET YOU!!!!"