Cupid's Henchman

They didn't even use magic, though each carried a sigil hidden under their armor that activated as soon as the life drained from their eyes.

Necromancy was a foul practice, the residuals of the spells leaving shadows across his mana-sight. Like the aftermath of looking at the sun too long, the echo of it still imprinted on his eyelid.

That was all he expected to see, considering none of the soldiers acted like witches. Just a bunch of amateur fighters who thought Zoro would be at a disadvantage for using blades instead of guns.

Even the ones with their own swords were hesitant, their strikes weak against his own. He had no problem disarming them, or he would've, if not for the explosion of magic that came at the least opportune moment.

Zoro did not make mistakes. But as he was guiding a soldier into the prime position to wrest his sword away, all he saw in the empty nothingness of his left eye were embers. The kind that rained from metal as a blacksmith coaxed it into a blade, bright and inescapable and too fucking distracting.

At first he thought it came from the soldier, so he stepped aside to avoid a spell. Right into the path of the man's frenzied swing, as it turned out. Zoro ground his teeth into Wado when the skin of his hip split, blood splattering onto the already slick floor.

The man did not last long enough to see the result of his lucky shot.

He didn't often have trouble with depth, though Chopper worried he would considering his missing eye. But Zoro misread the intensity of the magic as closeness, and reacted incorrectly.

Idiot, Kitetsu hissed, enjoying the slide of fresh blood down his edge. You rely too much on your mana-sight.

Good thing he didn't ask for the opinion of a sword.

Zoro pulled his waistband up over the exposed flesh, a muscle ticking in his jaw at the sting of contact. His own fault. He knew the soldier wasn't a witch, he should've trusted his assessment.

This is boring, Enma declared once more, as though Zoro didn't hear him complaining the whole time. Give us a real fight.

Did he think Zoro enjoyed picking off these weak fools? There was nothing gained from a fight that didn't challenge him, and he found himself sighing when more soldiers came in with their weapons at the ready.

A real fight. He wouldn't mind finding the witch who cast that spell. The intensity of it was mouthwatering, surely they'd be dangerous enough to show him a good time.

Zoro walked calmly among the slain bodies, cutting through their necromantic sigils to keep them from walking again. It was the least he could do, considering they died like men.

Someone's watching.

He paused, allowing the sensation of prying eyes to wash over him. Sometimes Zoro enjoyed knowing he was in danger. But sneaky bastards irked him, especially when he was alone and they still chose to conceal themselves.

Dropping Wado into his palm, Zoro licked the blood from his teeth. The wall was blank, no sign of an entrance, but it hummed with magic. "Don't hide, coward. I can feel your eyes."

A moment later, the wall distorted and mana kicked up like dust in the wind. Out came a man, thin and tall and filthy head to toe. He was average to Zoro's right eye, but his magic…

It smoldered inside him. Central to his core, gathering tightly in the pit of his stomach and pulsing like a fresh wound. What a twitchy, wild thing. He did not often see such defensive magic.

"You're not a guard." Zoro said conversationally, looking the man up and down.

Maybe his shirt was once white, but now it was red and brown with drying blood. Smudges of black covered his forearms, his hair stringy with more blood that he tried and failed to get out.

The man himself was gaunt, his clothes baggy and his belt too big. Zoro had spent months seeing revolutionaries on the verge of starvation, so he was not phased by how fragile this little spy appeared. A hungry man was a dangerous one.

"Whose blood is that?"

"I don't know." He said, with a voice that was too hoarse to be called soft. So he spoke Common. That made things much easier. "Does it matter?"

Blunt. Zoro enjoyed that, though he was looking for a more substantial answer. How was he supposed to know if this guy was on his side now?

"Guess not. You shouldn't be here either way," Zoro explained as he watched the man fidget in place, fussing with the cuffs of his sleeves. Perhaps he worked as a servant. Dealing with aristocrats often left people's pride barren. "We were told all the staff would be elsewhere for the festival."

"This is a castle, not some-" The man paused, gesturing at Zoro like he was supposed to just understand. Was he Germish? He had a very subtle accent, if so. "Battlefield. People live here, you are the one who does not belong."

Definitely Germish. That choppy way of speaking sounded like a good portion of the people Zoro had met during his time in the snowy kingdom.

That, and his one visible brow was curled at the end. A rather defining Germish feature, if a rare one. "Easy, curly brow. I'm not the only one who's been making a mess."

Something about his words made the man's magic flare outward like wind blowing over hot coals. His fists tightened and his shoulders hunched inward, glaring through his greasy bangs. "I was defending myself."

So fiery, Kitetsu simpered. A little ember! How quaint.

Zoro ignored his mindless chatter, enjoying how easily the man riled up. If he was the witch from before, then it would not take much to goad him into a fight. If he wasn't, well, he should've said he was with the revolutionaries already.

"Sure," He said as he tasted the hints of blood on the back of his teeth. "So was I."

The magic pulsed, glowing brighter for a moment. Threatening to spill out of that starved vessel of a man, sparks flying. Funny how warm his magic was, when the man himself was so pale, his eye a stark ocean blue.

With a little meat on his bones, he'd be gorgeous. He certainly already had the face for it. Zoro didn't like pretty men, too often they placed their looks over skills, but this guy was already covered in viscera. He had no problem putting in the work.

"I am just passing through-" He started, hands raised as he glanced behind Zoro.

But Zoro wasn't done with him. He wanted to see that magic again, wanted to figure out why it was so reactive. A mystery to dissect, a pretty man to fight. Maybe, if he was lucky, a challenge.

From the way the man's gaze snapped to his hands, somehow catching his minute shift in stance, he figured luck was on his side. "You're not supposed to be here."

"Yes, and I will leave if you move." He kept his eye on Zoro's swords, though it flicked back up to his face a few times.

The tension in his body could be followed like a meteor's trail, that tangle of magic pulsing and twisting around his core. When it inevitably exploded, what would it do? What kind of pain would it inspire?

Zoro wanted to feel it for himself. "It's you, isn't it?"

His fear was palpable, yet so was his magic's instinct to react, threatening to burn its way out of him.

Stepping towards the man, fighting down a smirk when he immediately threw himself back, Zoro wondered if he'd be willing to share his time for a minor spar. Nothing too serious. He wouldn't even go for a killing strike.

"You're the witch who's bleeding everywhere." Zoro mused, watching the way the stranger's magic seemed to reach out to meet his challenge. A smear of light in the dark, sunlight shining through his eyelid and washing everything in the warmth of flesh.

"I'm not-"

"You are, I can practically taste it." He did, if he concentrated enough. Mana-sight was not actually sight, though he called it that to simplify it for others. It was an entirely new sense. And the man's magic was everywhere now. "Spilling out magic with every goddamn breath. Shit's giving me a headache."

Again, a simplification. Zoro likened it to a headache, when it was more of an aura. A presence in his mind. His blades hummed as they tasted it for themselves, their excitement leaching into his bones.

"That was you earlier, too. You got me stabbed." Zoro hooked his thumb in his waistband, jaw tight as the blood crusted fabric pulled away from the wound. Chopper was going to fillet him later.

"I didn't do anything, we just met!" Was he even aware of his own magic? Could he not feel it overflowing out of his body like a cup running over?

"You're not bleeding?"

"No!"

Or perhaps he was too aware, and the mana spilling out of him was intentional. "Then you're casting a spell."

The handle of Wado slid home between his teeth as he rolled his shoulders, a sense of comfort washing over him. He always felt amazing right before a fight, the adrenaline running a well traveled course through his veins.

He barely listened as the man tried once again to convince him he had the wrong guy, frantic as he backed away from Zoro's swords.

A witch who didn't want to claim his accomplishments. Well, there was a first for everything. "Liar."

Zoro flicked Kitetsu up, determined to get rid of the restless energy the sword gave off. So needy, always looking for the next battle. Here it is, he thought gleefully as the sword sang through the air, eat up.

The man, now scrambling on his ass for something to throw, whipped a soldier's helmet at him.

"Stand up and fight, witch."

"I don't want to fight!" He yelped as he dodged the blades artlessly. If he was trained, then he should kill his teacher. So twitchy, second guessing himself and flailing around like a newborn colt.

But his magic? Goddamn, it responded beautifully. Like a moth to a flame, Zoro was drawn in closer with each wave of sparks that flew off him. Close enough to see his eyes, feral and bluer than any waters Zoro crossed before they had the chance to meet.

There was a fire in those eyes that was not there a moment ago. A spark of life, a freshly lit lantern. Something that reached out and met each of Zoro's strikes with glee. Hungry men often longed for more than food, but this man was ravenous.

"Nothing you say is the truth. Why deny yourself this? Show me what you've got!"

Zoro, as he often did when fighting someone less skilled, allowed a single opening. Room for improvement, he figured, or leveling the playing field. A fair chance.

If the man refused to take it, then his will was weak. If he missed, he would never catch up to Zoro's level. Show me your worth.

He expected a punch. Anyone with experience would go for something guaranteed to hurt, and his liver was right there, open for a gut shot.

Instead the man twisted, leg coming in high and fast like a whip. It cracked against Zoro's side like one too, the force rattling all the way up his spine into his teeth.

Zoro's vision exploded into a shower of sparks. Summer festivals, the air sticky and warm as children raced past with little firecrackers in their fists. Streaking the night with popping colors.

He could taste the ash, heavy and coating his tongue as he breathed out smoke. His skin was hot, the sharp white ache of a burn sinking deep into the flesh. Sweat dripped down his face, stinging his eye.

And for the first time in a long time, he did not hear Kitetsu or Enma commenting. They were silent, humming in his grasp with barely contained excitement. Waiting for more blood instead of demanding it.

Again.

Zoro blinked as he stared down the man, who watched him take the hit with utter fascination. He was sure he-

Again, Wado ordered, quiet but insistent. She so rarely spoke up when he was fighting, content to let his skill speak for her. A shiver ran down Zoro's spine, glee pooling in his stomach.

"That's more like it." He said, teeth grinding against Wado's handle. The barest hint of Kuina's charm fluttered in his peripheral as he watched the man's interest finally, finally take root. "Are we gonna do this or what?"

---

It's so easy for Sanji to put her on a pedestal. That's his big sister, she saved him, she knows everything, she always has the answers. When his mother was too sick to protect him, Reiju did her best. When he was falling behind in his studies, Reiju helped him. When he was dying of loneliness in the dungeons, there Reiju was.

He's older now, and not so naive as to trust blindly, but there's still this starry eyed reverence he has for his sister. And y'know Reiju absolutely has to be in control of any situation, but that doesn't mean she wants her brother to be obedient. She's not a child either, she doesn't see obedience as survival anymore. It's a tactic.