The Rinnegan and rethoughts

Orochimaru-sama continued, a sly smile tilting along his snake-like lips, "Kabuto, get the preparations prepared for the edo tensei. May I know of your name, young lad?"

" I go by the name of Zoro, Pirate Hunter, well, former." Said zoro

"Now, Zoro, show me that Rinnegan of yours, for I will not proceed without any actual proof."

Zoro, looking a little disturbed for reasons unknown, took his hand to his closed eye. An ancient slash protruded perpendicularly to the eye. He took his hand to his eye and forced it open, with significant force. He seemed to struggle at first, but then it slowly opened.

And out shown the much fabled Rinnegan, not just a normal one, but adorned with three unfathomable tomoes .

The Rinnegan radiated an extreme level of power and strength, and I wondered how it could have been hidden until now. With the eye and his own willpower, Zoro, emitted an impregnable aura, a more brute and raw might than Orochimaru-sama, whose stature was more of cunningness and latent force.

I weighed our own possibilities, if he could somehow overcome the overall might of both of us. It seemed impossible, but with that level of dojutsu, anything could happen.

But Orochimaru-sama thought more out of the box. His plan was to take his Rinnegan, by force if necessary, and bind the opponent, all while not doing as per the demands of the deal. It might look a little hard, but nothing is beyond the bounds of possibilities of the great Sannin.

With his innumerable jutsus, many surpassing even the imagination of an average- shinobi , and his vast wisdom and presence of mind, he could achieve this task with ease.

"You have quite a powerful one in there, Zoro . . ." Announced Orochimaru-sama, stating the obvious.

"As if I don't know that. And I think that not even you can realise this Rinnegan's true potential. How long does the process take?" "About an hour, give or take." Said Orochimaru-sama, ignoring Zoro's comment on his intellectual knowledge of the high-end dojutsu.

I was readying all the materials required carefully when suddenly, something, a bird certainly, came gliding down inside the warehouse from the hole created by the swordsman. A pitch-black raven, I declared after inspection. It swiftly came inside and crashed into the wall inside, and fainted unfailingly. It was a rare kind, its size larger and more streamlined than the regular one, and it's beak more sharp and strong. It had a bag, a khaki one, hanging from its neck. It seemed to vessel a newspaper, which now protruded almost all the way from the impact of the crash.It now lay beside the wall near Zoro, and he bent down to pick up the newspaper.

———x (returning to viewpoint of Zoro)

I bent down to pick up the newspaper. It was clearly from the messenger birds that usually carried the international newspapers, only this one was a raven. I picked it up and straightened the flimsy paper, and stared at it blankly.

Execution of 'Fire Fist' Ace, Second division commander of the Whitebeard pirates. Taking place in Marineford Marine headquarters.

I completely recoiled, suddenly taken aback by such grave news. I knew that this paper was 100% genuine and authentic, and I reeled back. I put the newspaper down and thought properly. Ace… Luffy's brother. When I realised that he was going to be executed, I wanted to help him, rescue him from his certain death. I had to return back to Marineford, and rescue Ace, even if alone and facing against the three admirals and millions of other strong navy soldiers. But that would not work. I had to have some sort of reinforcement to achieve this goal. Mere willpower meant nothing in the might of such great marine powers. And then I remembered this deal. This deal with Orochimaru where I could bring back the dead. And then I remembered Hiken no Ace's father. Pirate King Gol D Roger.

He was dead, and would obviously want to protect his biological son at all costs. This changed my mind completely from the last idea of reviving Kuina, which seemed utterly useless in this moment. Kuina was just a child when she died, and would come to no use in this situation. Roger, huh… he could demolish, destroy and lay waste to the entire island of the navy HQ. And such is my plan. Well, if the legends are true. I kept thinking about the various outcomes, the pirate king's personality, his power, and forgot how many minutes passed . Then Orochimaru spoke, feeling irritated, " Well, well , what happened? Surely not something that would disrupt the deal?" I replied, returning from my trance of my Roger stream of thoughts, " Of course not. But, I would like to change the person who is being revived. Yes?" " Very well. It is your choice. The only thing that matters to me is the Rinnegan."

A lot many exchanges of information passed between us afterwards, the moments blurred by my subdued excitement on the resurrection thoughts. And not to forget my thoughts of retaining my Rinnegan. Of course, I did not want to give one of my most valued assets to this undignified snake man. My straightforward idea was to first revive Roger, then slice and dice this crooked man and return back to Marineford with both my eyes intact. Later did I realise, that Orochimaru meant the same.