Zoro's Escape

Cherry held her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sunlight, an action that was wholly unnecessary at her level of cultivation, and watched Doflamingo crash through the roof of his own palace.

She pretended to wince and turned to Fujitora, who was trying to make his ears stop ringing after hearing a sonic boom from point blank range.

"He's probably still alive, right? No way he became a Shichibukai if he couldn't survive one punch from a little girl, right?" Cherry said with false concern.

"Well… probably. He did pull himself away from you pretty quickly, so that would have dissipated the force a bit." Fujitora spoke casually, as if he wasn't terrified of that 'little girl'.

"That's good. Hopefully he can pick himself back up soon so that Luffy can have a go at him." Cherry said with a nod. "By the way, you aren't going to get in trouble, are you?"

"Get in trouble for what?" Fujitora asked nervously.

"For failing to capture me of course. After all, a slippery piratess like myself could get away from even Sengoku. So they won't blame a blind man for losing 'sight' of me, will they?" Cherry smirked. Fujitora didn't see it, but he got the feeling she was smirking anyway.

"I'm not really one for lying…" Fujitora said.

"Who said you have to lie? I left about 30 seconds ago." Cherry said.

Fujitora's expression shifted to surprise and he focused on his observation haki. The impression he'd had of Cherry standing nearby was replaced by a den den mushi.

"Hohoho, you really did get me good. It's been many years since someone has fooled my observation haki. I still have room to grow, it seems. How did you do that?" Fujitora chuckled genuinely.

"Den Den Mushi can mimic a person's face, so all it takes is a little push for them to mimic a person's presence as well." Cherry spoke through the snail.

"And if I could see, I would have noticed immediately." Fujitora shook his head and walked away to meet back up with his subordinates.

…

Deep below the colosseum, amongst the scattered remains of broken toys.

"Why does this wall look so weird? A secret way out of this dump? There's no handle, so I guess I have to slash it open." Zoro spoke to himself, drawing one of his swords.

The odd looking section of wall rippled and fell over, revealing a strangely dressed man with long, thick red hair and white face makeup. "Hold on, don't go swinging your sword at me!"

Zoro studied this stranger closely. The odd clothing he wore was familiar in some way and his instincts told him that was important. His eyes went to the oversized paint brush on the man's back, then immediately all connections between the man and the word 'samurai' were cut in his mind. After all, a samurai was someone who wielded a sword, not a paint brush.

It didn't occur to him that the paint brush might be part of a sheath. Alas, the weapon was tucked behind his back and beneath his mane of red hair, so he could not get a good view of it.

"Did they drop you down here after fighting in the colosseum too? I didn't see you among the other contenders, so it must have been earlier than today." Zoro said, sheathing his sword again.

"Not exactly, but if you didn't come here by choice then you must not hold them in high regard? Perhaps we can assist each other in getting out of here?" Suggested the strange man.

"Some people were getting dragged up into the ceiling by big wads of snot, but if you have a better, less gross idea of getting out of here I'm all ears." Zoro agreed.

"Hmm, are you strong then? You only wound up down here because you lost a fight, correct?" The red haired man asked.

"Tsk, technically yes, but it doesn't count because it was against Cherry. Common sense doesn't apply to her, so every fight she has isn't fair." Zoro excused himself for his loss.

The man didn't know who 'Cherry' was, but he could tell this was a bit of a sore spot for the swordsman, so he decided not to press the matter. In any case it sounded like the green haired man was confident in his skills and his bearing was also one that gave a sense of strength, so he would trust that was the case.

"Excellent. Are you hungry? Would you like a cabbage?" The man asked, handing Zoro a cabbage that looked as odd as the false wall.

Zoro figured that if the man was going to poison him, he wouldn't do it with such a suspicious looking vegetable, and so he accepted it. The taste was as strange as its appearance, but he figured it would go well with sake.

"So what's your plan to get out of here?" Zoro asked with a mouth full of weird cabbage.

"With this!" The man took his giant paint brush and painted a terrible mockery of a bird that was perhaps large enough to carry a couple of people, if it were real. The most marvelous thing happened right after, though, as the bird peeled itself off the wall and now stood in the real world.

"With this friend here, we can fly ourselves to the ceiling and through one of the passageways." The man explained.

"Can this thing really fly?" Zoro asked doubtfully.

"Of course he can! Can't you see his majestic wings?" The man insisted.

"I can see his wings alright." Zoro responded, though he didn't agree that they were majestic.

The man hopped onto the back of the bird, which seemed fine with the weight despite its pathetic, misshapen legs. "Hop on."

Zoro sighed and clambered aboard. The bird immediately started to flap its wings and sure enough it was actually able to fly. Albeit at a dismal speed.

"This is the main reason I asked you to cooperate with me. He's a bit slow so I need your help to defend against any would-be attackers." The man claimed. "If I ran into an executive of the Donquixote family like this, I'd be done for."

*BOOM*

"Hm?" Zoro hummed. He knew that he was meant to be waiting for a signal from the sock monkey, that being explosions he'd set off at one of the toy houses. 'Was that the signal?'

He was supposed to start causing a commotion when he heard the signal, but he was stuck in a trash pit at the moment. He also couldn't just draw attention to himself right after making a deal with this guy to help him escape.

"When we get out of here, we'll have to go our separate ways. I'll be making a ruckus so you probably don't want to get caught up in that. I'll give you a head start to get away, so you can at least take advantage of my mayhem." Zoro explained, hoping the man would be understanding.

"Hm, it would be helpful if you can draw a lot of their forces' attention. Particularly the officers." The man said. "Very well. I'll wish you good luck once we're back on the surface."

The bird suddenly lurched, almost falling to the ground.

"What the hell?!" Zoro complained.

"Zorooooo-senpaiiiiiii! Please let me come with youuuuuuuu!" A man who looked like a rooster clung to the bird's leg and bawled his eyes out.

"Who the hell are you?!" Zoro exclaimed.

"That rotten bastard conked me on the head in a dirty sneak attack and made me look like a fool in front of Luffy-senpai and Cherry-Oneesama! I need to show them that I'm not a worthless sack of shit! Pleeeeeaaaaaasseeee?!" The rooster man cried and did his best sad puppy impression.

Zoro had no idea what his deal was, but it sounded like he was an ally in any case. He also seemed eager to prove himself useful, so he could help him to wreak havoc according to the plan.

"Fine." Zoro said.

"Not fine! We're losing altitude, you know?!" The paint brush man pointed out. "Three people is too much for my Nuke Suzume to carry!"

"Ah, I can help with that! Just let me up!" The rooster insisted.