Twilight and Tabulation.

Aye, yes. Orochimaru. Zoro saw him, as he desperately struggled to maintain his balance in the air. When he rebalanced himself and stared at the snakes regenerating, his Rinnegan awakened.The awakening of the Rinnegan is nothing new, and it is almost the same which happens when a base Sharingan evolves into one with an extra tomoe. Except the fact that there are no physical changes in appearance in the eye itself, and it grants you a power, an useful power unlike any other Rinnegan or any other Dōjutsu for that matter, because, each awakened Rinnegan gifts the user an unique ability, which none other possesses. Usually, in most cases, the awakening happens just a few weeks after attaining the eye, which is either inborn(rarely), or got when the advanced Indra cell Sharingan reacts with Asura’s DNA, when the latent parts join together to form the great Dōjutsu. But in this case, where the Rinnegan was transplanted to his eye, and because of other environmental stimuli which caused it to evolve differently, the Rinnegan awakened a lot slower than usual. Needless to say, it worked all right.Zoro suddenly felt more warier, perhaps more active even, and his stance tightened.One of the snake heads, began to strike towards Zoro, and its mouth opened, it’s forked tongue huge and hissing. It did not look like a poisonous snake, but Zoro could’ve been mistaken. After all, he did not have any prior experience in the subject of snakes, or even animals at that. But never mind if it was poisonous or not, for if any man was caught in it’s jaws, it was game over.The snake came closer, its mouth now rasping to kill the man who had cut off it’s own two heads. But then, suddenly, something came out, wriggling out of the snake’s mouth, deep from the throat. The snake retched, and a man, undoubtedly Orochimaru himself, came out of the stinking saliva-drenched mouth. Zoro wondered how anyone could be hiding inside that wretched serpent’s mouth, the stench would be enough to make Zoro, or anyone, vomit.

Orochimaru glared at Zoro now, his menacing icy eyes reflecting hatred for the swordsman. How dare he mess with me, one of the Legendary Sannin, he thought. And he also noticed the change in the Rinnegan, though he ignored it, considering that commenting on it would just worsen the situation. After all, warriors do not talk while they fight. Speaking in the midst of battle is a thoughtless instance which only dulls the brain and tires the body. Speaking in the right time and manner is an altogether thing, which might grant incredible advantages to the speaker.He took out his Sword of Kusanagi, and prepared to strike at Zoro. But before his attack, two other heads came to kill Zoro to avenge the two previously chopped off heads.And that’s when the Rinnegan did it’s work.At the exact moment the serpent heads loomed and sped at Zoro, his body contorted. I mean, like, really twisted. Then his bodily mass started to deflate, more kind of like compress, and Zoro vanished. Literally subsided into thin air.

And then the swordsman reappeared, also out of thin air, or should I say, thick air, considering the dust encompassed air with a newly combined fog rushing towards the fight.Zoro landed just above the head of the snake which tried to swoop in to kill him for the take.He landed in a comfortable position, if any, his heart still racing. Additionally, his mind was also racing, trying to comprehend what just happened. Well, that did not take much time though. A man in the middle of battle must react as quickly as possible, however great a stimuli may be presented.Zoro took his stance, and jumped at Orochimaru. Orochimaru was right above him, still present inside the snake’s mouth. The snake-man now proceeded to take on Zoro using his famed sword, deciding that he would finish him for sure this time. But he became much aware of the situation, after seeing the remarkable change in the Rinnegan.Meanwhile, Zoro kept growing more accustomed to his newly empowered eye. He realised his new powers, and felt a surge of excitement. This new power could pave his way to his victory. The power of teleportation. He could vanish and reappear at will, and use it as an advantage against this enormous body of a snake. He could arrive near his opponent, and vanquish him as he wished. So, he tried using his newfound power again, trying to get a hang of it!. Now did he realise that this too, absorbed an enormous quantity of his energy, and that increased usage might cause his body to be immovable.Therefore, every use of it was invaluable, and needed to be used wisely.He teleported right above the head of the serpent’s head which contained the body of Orochimaru, and attacked it right next to it’s eye.“Nitōryū: Taka Nami!”The head was instantly decapitated, the slash causing it to be beheaded excruciatingly. But that was still not the end of it all, as Zoro much expected. He had wanted the body of the Sannin to be torn in half, in vain.As the mouth of the falling head turned upwards, Orochimaru jumped towards Zoro, using the fangs as footing to leap. As a distance no more than a few metres spanned between the adversaries, Orochimaru held out his sword hand, and his Kusanagi sword extended at a ferocious speed. And it struck Zoro right beside his heart.Roronoa had no time for preparing proper defence, and the Rinnegan’s power could not be used again, as he had little energy left. All of it occurred in a matter of seconds, and he had underestimated Orochimaru.The sword penetrated his body, ripping it apart, and struck right to the right of his heart. Blood splashed out, and he instantly knew that a few blood vessels had been cut. But none of the larger ones, luckily, but still the damage had been most severe nonetheless. Pain seared through his whole body, while his respiratory system just refused to abide to his brain. He tried to breath, and choked on air, and spat out blood.Mid air, Orochimaru contracted his legs and gave a hell of a kick, in the middle of Zoro’s chest. Air further refused to enter his lungs, while the remaining was kicked out. Zoro now flew, his whole body flinching with incalculable pain, his eyes blacked out with his brain not able to function nearly as well as just a few minutes before.He flew at the ground, going as fast as a hawk. His crash was yet another shock, and jolts of pain surged whenever he tried to move even an inch. Pain shot up his whole body like fire, and his chest exploded. He writhed, his suffering obliterating his existence like wildfire hit by lightning.Zoro crashed and created yet another swirl of dust around him, and he heard the sound of someone coughing. The sound of the cough produced seemed far away, as though it were through a transponder snail with signal issues. His entire body ached still, and he bent sideways to see who the man was, if he was foe. It was Roger. Zoro had fell all the way across with Orochimaru’s power-packed kick, and had landed heavily right near the Pirate King’s foot. The swordsman then slowly dragged himself, and slumped against the nearest tree trunk. A few shrubs pricked him on his side, but he ignored them all. His injuries’ pain outweighed even the highest discomfort by far. And he himself was trying to stay conscious, trying immensely hard to do so. His eyes blurred, with black spots dancing in them, glaring his vision. As his body shifted uneasily, his haramaki loosened, and the newspaper which announced the execution of Ace fell down. Roger, now finished with his cough and his apparent urination, now turned towards Zoro.“ Hmmm… What have we here? Are you all right, lad?” Roger bent down and stared at Zoro’s face, with a confused face. Zoro’s breathing was hard, and his laboured, slow breaths falling on the Pirate King. Zoro still couldn’t find out the correct suitable words to tell Roger, and even more, found that his injuries forbid him from making a sound. But still, he tried to convey whatever appeared on the brink of his damp mind.“Ah…Roger…Ace…Marineford execution… Your son…”Roger tried to grab his words, and felt a tinge of recognition at the word ‘Ace’. Ace was the name by which his famed sword was called, though the same words befitted his son. In simple words, his son’s name was Ace. But still, he could not understand anything told by the wounded man.At further inspection, Roger found a newspaper lying on the ground, and took it up in his hands, and read.He read on, and on, and the result shocked him. Well, who would want such unexpected news just a few hours after getting resurrected from the dead? Roger had expected to have some nice time to himself, readapt to the new world, and enjoy some breeze. His son was getting executed. And he expected the date to not be too far, considering the date the newspaper was published, and the date the execution was scheduled. At first he had not recognised the person in the newspaper, taking him for a random person, and focusing more on the navy parts. He began thinking about Garp, Sengoku, and the navy.He read on further, and all thoughts were demolished from his mind, except one.It was Ace. He carefully folded the newspaper, and tucked it inside his coat pocket. He glanced at the surrounding areas, and found that Orochimaru was currently standing on top of one of the snake’s heads, and that all the heads were now fully restored. But he had no care for that, though, and was fully focused on going back to save his son.The first thing he had to do was see someone and ask for directions, preferably to the nearest port. He saw the man lying down there near him, still panting heavily. Zoro gestured for Roger to come closer, because he neither had strength nor capacity to speak in a high enough decibel for him to hear. Roger bent down, hoping that Zoro could provide some useful information about their whereabouts.