Weapon Prompt

Pick a pairing or pairings and write three or more drabbles based on a weapon or weapon related.

Challenge response for the sacred and profane.

I have a theme for this challenge kukukukukuku~ But actually I was not thinking of Fairy Tail at all but Final Fantasy and MMOs when I wrote this. (and a bit of Dragon Age)

First of three one-shots set in the same AU.

Weapon: The sword…of truth!

Zoro grimaced and wrapped his cloak tighter as he struggled further up the mountain path blustery winds buffeting his body. Since he was taking point Zoro was forced to endure the worst of the elements and clear the way for those following in his wake. He still wasn't convinced on this quest but a job was a job and they all needed money. Besides what sort of guild member would turn down a decent adventure. That was not what being a member of the adventurers' guild The Gray Path was all about.

-break-

On the Eastern Continent there were many adventurers' guilds. These guilds had certain qualifiers to join and whatever guild accepted you meant that you would be aligned against the many rival guilds on the continent. The purpose of these guilds was two fold. First they served as the middlemen for quests and jobs available for interested parties. They accepted a small portion of the reward, graded the mission based on difficulty and advertised it on their job board in the guild hall. Sometimes the quest was deemed to risky or harmful to the guild and passed on or a quest was not possible for the members of the guild so it was passed on to another guild by the master.

While each guild competed with the other open warfare was frowned upon and punished usually punished by the Grand Council who oversaw all guilds and organised annual tournaments for the adventurers to battle it out freely. (and with less chance of property damage.) Guilds that did not acknowledge the authority of the Council were considered illegal and thus 'open game' for those from legal guilds. In fact, it was a common enough mission to wipe these 'guilds' (read: bandits) out. For the most part though, Guild-members were free to do as they pleased and only answered to their Guild-Master.

The second purpose of the guilds was to gather together likeminded individuals to party, fight and generally do all the sorts of things nakama did together….well that's what they did in The Gray Path at any rate.

-break-

Makino smiled as Luffy bounced through the door waving his hands cheerfully.

"Hey, Hey. Makino! Has Sanji started cooking yet?"

"Yes, there's breakfast ready and Killer-san just hauled in some variety of dragonkin he encountered on his way to the hall this morning."

Luffy started drooling at the thought of all that raw, dripping meat. He was knocked out of his thoughts by an enthusiastic tackle and found his face pressed into a muscular shoulder. "Oh, hey Shanks" he mumbled.

"LUFFY! How was your mission, it's been so long. I missed you and Benn is being mean." The red haired man concluded in an audible whine.

The teenager mumbled something that was ostensibly about bacon but was indecipherable through the folds of Shanks clothing. The hand groping for the plate of breakfast Makino set down gave a clue though.

Makino calmly poked Shanks on the shoulder with her staff. "Master Shanks, perhaps Luffy could better answer you if you weren't suffocating him."

Shanks blinked and released his captive who immediately began stuffing his face from the plate of baterilla bacon that Makino had set down on the bar counter. The red-haired man quickly turned his attention to the bar mistress and clasped her hands. "Makino," he purred "have I ever told you how much I love it when you call me Master?"

"All the time but it's far too early in the day for your nonsense Guild-Master Shanks."

"A woman who can take charge. I'm seriously turned on m'dear; just say the word and your desire shall become my life mission."

She paused and traced a fingernail along her bottom lip "Well, now that you mention it, there is one thing that I really want you to do for me Shanks."

He leaned in, hot breath ghosting across her face. "Ask and you shall receive."

Makino promptly slapped a bundle of documents into his hands. "We need you to sort through these missions and classify them Boss."

Shanks sighed and dropped his head onto the countertop. "Duty never ends. I should retire (and take you with me) Fine, I'll get right on this. Send up a pitcher would you Makino-chan?"

She winked at the pouting Guild-Master as he sauntered off to his office on the upper level leafing through the stack of mission offers as he went.

A guild hall most closely resembled a tavern. It served food, drinks (copious amounts of alcohol), provided a meeting place for members and some measure of accommodation. Makino ran the bar and most day to day activities of The Gray Path but it was Shanks who was the Guild-Master. But don't misunderstand, she was not just an employee, she was a member of the guild.

Makino was an Earth Mage. She had learned from a woman named Dadan who lived in the mountains. Mages came in a million different varieties but when going up against fighters who used some variety of Spirit Arts they had no necessary advantage. Even within her category there were hundreds of different kinds of Earth Mages. A martial artist is a very specific and astonishingly vague wasn't it? It's the same idea. Makino's area of expertise truly was making things grow but the guild didn't publicise that fact because if the nobles living in the far north realised how good she was then they would have some problems. She also was quite skilled at defensive magic's in the earth style and thus was on of the members perfect for protecting the guild if assaulted.

Luffy had joined the guild with his brothers at a very young age but had only been allowed to take interesting missions in the last year.

"Muemo, Mmrohr, plurf."

"Luffy, please swallow what you're eating first."

"Ah, Makino; do you know if there are any good quests available?"

"Finish breakfast and go look on the board. Were you hoping for a solo job Luffy?

Luffy inhaled the last of the bacon and set about stealing additional breakfast from another guild member further down the bar. "Nah. Ace does lots of missions like that but I think it's really boring." He grinned "It's better having an adventure with lots of nakama, right?"

Makino chuckled and filled a pitcher with beer. "I thought some of your team was off on a job of their own."

"Zoro and Usopp went with Robin on a little adventure. I think Vivi sent Kohza along too." Luffy shrugged dismissively "They'll be back soon enough."

-break—

The quartet huddled together on the plateau as Robin checked her map.

Kohza sneezed and let out a stream of archaic curses. "Why in the name of the jackal of the damned is this stupid ruin up a frosty mountain? It makes no sense."

"fufuu, enjoying the weather, Kohza-san?" Robin chuckled, managing to maintain her composure despite being clad in fish net stockings but it might have something to do with the enchantments she would prudently utilise "The temple was devoted to the hawk god of the sky so they reached for a high spot."

"And the Alabastan border is about three thousand kliks south of this god-forsaken mountain."

Usopp shivered in his cloak and twitched his nose trying to dislodge the icicles forming there "Can we discuss historical significance once we're out of the cold."

Zoro grunted in agreement and returned to scanning the area. They'd fought several monsters not to long ago and the scent of blood was likely to attract more. "Are you absolutely sure about this Robin? It's not too late to turn around. We could do some monster hunting in the lowlands on the way back."

Kohza snarled "I left the warmth of the desert for this. I'm quitting without some sort of payout."

"Fufuu~ I'm sure all of our efforts will be rewarded and I believe that the entrance we seek is buried over there."

Usopp checked his enchanted sniping goggles and peered at the ledge. "I see it. The door's blocked but if it's safe enough Zoro could bust it in."

"These ruins are half collapsed but what survived was carved out of strong rock so they're pretty sturdy." Kohza kicked some of the snow off his boots "So how do we reach it?"

Usopp reached for his bow and choose an arrow with runes carved onto it from the large quiver on his back. He drew back the string and embedded the arrow deeply above their destination in a flash. He made a gesture and a connected rope sat in his hand. Embedding the other end on their side of the gulf and giving it a test tug Usopp the rogue sniper flipped onto the rope and ran across before pressing himself against the opposite wall and resolutely not looking down towards what could only be described as a 'gaping chasm of doom' that he had just crossed.

Kohza pulled out a wheel from his supplies. "I thought Usopp was afraid of those death-defying rogue skills."

Robin busied herself with her runic bangles are she prepared to activate some of her enchantments. "Longnose-kun? I believe he is but it seems that it doesn't mean he can't do them." A lilac glow surrounded her and she grasped the desert nomad's shoulders. Kohza hooked his small wheelie onto the rope and took a running start. He glided across the chasm with Robin merely touching his shoulder having activated her featherlight and barrier enchantments in order to hitch a ride easily.

Her enchantments were notoriously difficult magic to master requiring years of study and even then they tending to be of little immediate use requiring countless hours of preparation. Fortunately for the Oharan she had not only come from the city of scholars and runes but she was a proven genius revolutionising the use of the arts even if she made them no more accessible to the average adventurer.

Zoro gave a shout and ran towards the gulf, jumping and grabbing the ropes three quarters of the way and pulling himself the last few feet. The swordsman pulled himself up and quickly cut the rope just as a bunch of white creatures reached the edge.

Usopp shrieked and threw himself behind Robin attempting to meld into her shadow with admirable success. "What the hell are those things?"

"Nimble." Zoro snarled "And in possession of some extremely sharp claws. We don't have time to play with them right now." He drew one of his swords and sliced through the heavy door blocking their way in one clean movement. "Let's find the damn artefact and get out of here."

-break—

Nami was a witch. But that's not really very specific. She was a mage who had a particular affinity for weather magic. In truth she had spent most of her teen years practising rogue skills before returning to her first love of weather magic. It didn't change the fact that she could damn near pickpocket anyone or break any lock on the Eastern Continent. Even though she had left her hometown after the death of Arlong and the collapse of the illegal guild he reigned over Nami was not fool enough to abandon the skills she had acquired.

Usopp was the better shot by far but he was no slouch with other rogue skills despite his tendency to panic. They worked well together and got on well when Luffy had tossed them both over his shoulder and run all the way to the guild hall to make them join. Nami and Usopp had discovered that they did actually like the guild even if the members had presumptively begun celebrating their recruitment before they'd even agreed. The Guild-Master had cheerfully dismissed their concerns and jumped on an excuse to hold another party.

That was how Nami joined the famous and raucous adventurer's guild The Gray Path. With the Guild-Master getting drunk, people dancing on the tables, gambling, singing and spontaneously fighting all over the place. It was mad, chaotic and a hell of a lot of fun. Plus it gave her a perfect opportunity to tomb raid erhm…provide a valuable service to the community and be well compensated.

Today, Nami the (in)famously beautiful (greedy) cartographer and Weather Witch (thief) was with a small party in the Southernmost desert city of Nanohana in the country of Alabasta. She had taken on a well-paid mission to conjure rain for some areas. Vivi had sent the mission request when she had dispatched Kohza to assist in the quest Robin wanted to do. Easy work, good pay and a chance to visit with a dear friend. Of course she hadn't travelled alone. Only complete morons, the desperate and 'SS'-ranked adventurers' travelled on their own. Aside from bandits, marauding forces and religious missionaries there was a multitude of dangers in the world.

Brooke the unintentional necromancer, swordsman and bard. (A skeleton of many talents.) Brooke had once been a member of the successful and popular guild Rhumba Steps who were famous for their swordsmen, bards and throwing really swinging parties. They had fallen to a coalition of dark guilds though and only Brooke had survived by mien of a dying mage comrade expending the last of their strength to resurrect a member of their guild for a second chance. It was dangerous blood magic but the man had been desperate and afraid. Brooke had been summoned back to his body but unfortunately had remained trapped within the ruins of the guild hall due to the protective wards that among other things prevented movement of the undead. The gaping hole in that ward was however that while undead creatures could not cross the border they could be summoned inside the border. Thus the undead musician had spent fifty years amongst the remains of his dearest friends until Luffy had bounced into his life unintentionally broke the ward and dragged him off to join their guild. (They got more members that way.) He was a good man (or skeleton) to have at your back when monsters were pouring in. His bardic skills confused their enemies and gave boosts to their allies before his accuracy let him nip in close and cut through weak spots. He strolled along beside Nami and twiddled with a harp Vivi had gifted him with as he hummed an old tune.

Franky was sulking as he walked along. It wasn't the fact that they were walking to the port that he was feeling distinctly un-super about (although if he had his way they would be flying in his lovingly built airship the Thousand Sunny) but the long and itchy robes Nami had threatened him into wearing. Although promising to tell Chopper and letting the little doctor and beast magic prodigy get upset was so not playing fair and completely un-super of her. The blue haired man was a mechanical and engineering genius. He had trained with the mayor of the coastal city, and hub for all sorts of ships both air and traditional, Water 7 until the unfortunate death of their mentor via assassin. It was still unclear who had ordered the death of the brilliant and innovative airship pioneer Tom but it failed to accomplish anything. Franky estimated that the death of Tom had set back the development of transport engineering by twenty years. Franky had run an illegal guild in Water 7 for some years until they went legal and Franky followed Luffy in order to follow his own dream of building a more powerful and efficient type of airship, one that could circumnavigate the globe thus proving his theories on cola as a fuel source and creating the only airship that could surpass the current limit on airtime that hampered them.

They were sailing back north anyway. The Sunny was still in the shop. Franky had actually been in the middle of an engine overhaul when Nami had needed someone else to join her party for the trip. Two people was dodgy but three competent card carrying guild members was more than enough to make bandits think twice.

"Yo-ho-ho-ho. Miss Vivi was very kind to bequeath such a marvellous harp to me."

Nami eyed it speculatively "Is it valuable?"

"Most definitely Miss Nami. It was crafted for range. Such a type of bardic tool is exceedingly rare.

"Rare, you say?" Nami leered at the harp with a certain greedy expression.

Franky hopped around as he ditched his heavy robes on the deck "Nami-sis' don't try and sell Brookes' gift from Vivi-sis'. That would be seriously not super."

"Yo-ho-ho-ho." Brooke chuckled "But Miss Nami wouldn't be Nami if she didn't at least contemplate it. Apologies Miss Nami but when I say 'range' I'm not referring to different scales, pitches or varieties of music."

Nami blinked "But then what…? You mean?"

"Precisely. Bardic skills will be given an area boost so I spread them over a much larger area. A truly princely gift from the princess."

"That's brilliant." Nami cheered "Vivi always gives the best gifts and for a bard that's definitely something irreplaceable."

"hmm, I think Brooke-bro will have an opportunity to test it out now" Franky guzzled the last of his cola and threw the empty bottle at one of the sea monsters rising out of the ocean.

"Yo-ho! Time to go to work then."

Nami pulled out her elaborately carved staff. "You stupid sea monsters had better have some treasure in your bellies. Let's see how you handle some lightning."

-break—

Kohza and Robin scanned over the writing on the walls, their heads bowed together in whispered conversation as they decoded the glyphs.

"You're right Robin. A definite Alabastan influence. Probably carved by the peoples of some of the migrant tribes that moved north during the reign of Ghubar."

"I thought as much. This temple was lost after Ghubar was slain so the people must have abandoned it."

Zoro drummed his head repeatedly against a pillar.

"Oh? Is something the matter Zoro?"

"I signed on to kill things not encourage academic discussion."

Robin chuckled as she etched some runes upon a blank book. "Patience Zoro-kun. Fufuu~ We wouldn't want to trigger any traps or fail to find what we're looking for would we?"

Zoro thumbed at his katanas and sneered "There's very little in these ruins that could cause me any problems."

"For the love of god, DON'T go off triggering death traps just because you've got something to prove!" Usopp shrieked before sneezing repeatedly "Guh, We should have sent Killer and Kidd on this mission."

Zoro considered this for a moment. "Not enough monster slaying and battles for them."

"Point. But that hair and that coat would have kept them warm. What about Chopper, Law or Bepo? Those guys do cold weather."

Robin sidled up behind him the inscriptions safely copied into her enchanted tome "Ah but longnose-kun, while they all possess the skills required for monster hunting in the cold reaches of this world they are unfortunately ill-equipped to deal with translations and traps."

Kohza adjusted his scarf and tinted visor "I dunno, from what I heard about that Killer guy any trap would have a hard time trying to catch him."

Usopp nodded thoughtfully. "What exactly are we looking for anyway?"

"A few things." Robin murmured.

"We're going to bring back" Zoro turned to face him "the sword….of truth."

"The sword…of truth?"

Usopp collapsed on the ground laughing and rolled around whooping in hilarity. He jumped up "Perfect! It'll go marvellously with my pitchfork of destiny."

Zoro kicked him and strode on. "Let's just find the damn thing so we can turn it in for the loot money."

The rogue sniper sniffed indignantly "S'not as if you actually need another sword anyway."

-break—

The evening was approaching and if anything the hall was getting more rowdy. Guild members tended to form teams within the hall itself but it didn't prevent them from working with different members or on their own.

Portgas D. Ace, former martial artist, former fire mage, currently a dragon mage was a member of 'Team Spade' but he often took jobs and quests on his own or with people from other 'Teams'. For most people, it depended on the sort of job that was available.

If you were exploring ancient ruins or infiltrating someplace it paid to have a rogue on your team. If you were fighting monsters then a mage or a medic would not go amiss. Who knows what kind of poison might show up?

It was frequently said that adventurers tended to be utterly disreputable brutes, deviants, thieves, violent lunatics, madmen, seductresses', pirates and generally ne'er do wells. And do you know what? They're completely right.

What people tend to ignore is that they're forthright, loyal, keep the roads safer with their pursuit of bandits and monsters, are credited with the discovery of many useful and worthwhile sorts of magic. Most importantly, they throw really swinging parties. Shanks was a world famous adventurer (who would still venture out to do so regularly) and the owner of many epithets and titles. His most treasured title was that of 'partymaster supreme' which should tell you something about him and incidentally was the greatest honour bestowed by a small (but voracious) little tribe far to the west. One that occasionally sent members out to see the world and make an impact…

-break—

Robin smiled and glided her fingertips along the smooth surface of the poneglyph. Not the one but another step on her quest at any rate.

Kohza's eyes flickered over the surface of the monolith before turning away. "Well, I saw nothing of interest here."

Usopp nodded "I agree. No one saw anything of interest that merits further investigation."

Zoro merely snorted and idly poked through the debris. "We're adventurer's, aren't we?" his grin took on a feral edge "And adventurers are only interested in treasure."

"Speaking of which." Usopp examined their surroundings "Can we go find the damn sword before I freeze to death. Then you'll have to wheel my frozen corpse back to the guild and use it to cast a statue to my glorious deeds."

Kohza snickered and Zoro prayed for patience. That failing he punched the rogue in the shoulder and sauntered out of the chamber.

-break—

Jewel Bonney staggered though the doors of the guild hall. It had been a long and exhausting solo mission but she was an S-ranked fighter dammit so she would take one if she wanted. The only problem with questing solo was that you had no backup and no one else to provide the edibles.

So naturally, instead of heading to the female dormitories (incidentally one of the buildings with the highest security in the world but to date only Monkey D. Luffy has succeeded in his infiltration attempts and his motivations were not the same as everyone else.) she made her way to the hall for a good meal. (read: banquet)

Makino waved to her from behind the bar and Shanks flashed her a thumbs up before returning to his conversation with Makino and Benn. Luffy shouted across the hall and raising her eyebrows she made her way over and gestured for a waiter (They had the biggest table anyway.)

"Hey Bonney! Did'ya have a good adventure? Fight any strong guys?" Luffy warbled happily before he swallowed a turkey.

"It was alright, just hella' long." Bonney shrugged and swiped a plate of chicken from in front of the younger 'D' brother. "What's been going on here? More to the point, why are you here darling?" She grinned widely "Have you finally decided to leave the army and join our guild?"

Tashigi jumped and blushed before stammering. Ace choose this moment to wake up and pull his head out of his potatoes. "Ah, leave her alone Jewel-chan. She came to challenge Zoro but he's not back from his quest yet."

Luffy blinked and flailed "ooo, Tashigi did'ya know what they're looking for? Robin said they're looking for some sort of sword."

Bonney nudged the sergeant. "Hear that darling? Lover boy is bringing a sword back. Isn't that like a' proposal fer' your folk?"

"I'd say that it's something a good sight more…..intimate." Law leered over her shoulder causing Tashigi to shriek but it did not prevent her from moving to cut him in two with finely tuned reflexes. He blocked her and claimed a spot at the table. "Well, everyone has their weak spots. By the way 'Fire-fist' have you seen Emissary Thatch recently? He said he had a mission to pass on to me but he didn't give it to Makino."

Ace frowned and slapped greedy fingers away from his steak. "No, come to think about it, I haven't seen Thatch in a while. He was supposed to come drinking with me but he never showed. Maybe he had to report back to the council earlier than usual."

"Or maybe you got stood up for sticking him with the bill one too many times" Law muttered into his beer "Still, that's unexpected. Whitebeard wouldn't do that unless it was something extremely important."

Whitebeard was a nickname for one of the members of the Grand Council and was something of a terrifying living legend. In his youth he had been a rival of the (in)famous adventurer Gol D. Roger and had a familial network that covered the entire continent. Ace had spent a few years of his mid-teens with the man and had been 'adopted' into the family. Thatch was one of his 'brothers' and an emissary for the council often delivering messages, missions and invitations on behalf of others. (Not to mention a decent swordsman, fun guy and all around stellar human being who, like Luffy, had an incredible knack for collecting friends and allies.)

Bonney dismissed the waiter who skittered off with her order ('everything and keep it coming') before turning to Law "The ol' man wouldn't do something like that. Maybe Thatch caught wind of a job he fancied fer himself and took off fer a bit of excitement."

Ace chewed thoughtfully. "You're probably right there Jewel-chan. Still, if I see him I'll let him know you're looking for him."

Law touched the brim of his hat in thanks before departing muttering something about 'avoiding the storm'.

-break—

In adventure stories, the hero slays monsters and navigates their way through traps that have held up for hundreds of years and still function perfectly. Every decent quester knows this to be a load of dragon dung. In truth, very few traps were still operational. It was more of a matter of clearing rubble and broken debris out of the way.

Zoro went first, utilising his enormous strength to knock aside obstacles, grumbling about being 'used as a workhorse' the whole time. Usopp followed, keeping a sharp eye out for anything that merited further investigation as they moved deeper into the neglected keep. Robin navigated using a map that she had 'liberated' from some archive god-only-knows-where while she kept up a narrative describing the brutal and gory end of the people who had built the keep in the first place.

"Hey, wait a minute." Kohza said "if the people were killed here then wouldn't it have been looted already?" He adjusted his sword and checked behind as he performed rear guard duties "This had better not be a wild goose chase."

Zoro bristled "We better not have climbed this damn mountain under false pretences you morbid enchantress! It could have bloody well waited until summer if there's no portable treasure."

Robin chuckled, not at all intimidated by their frustration. "Fufuu~ don't worry. I'm almost positive that the practical treasures are still hidden there."

"Almost positive?"

Usopp paused and nodded "Well, you can never say for certain with quests like this can you? With monster hunting requests there is a packet to be picked up from an office somewhere but you can never know if someone has been to the 'castle' before you."

"Exactly right longnose-kun" Robin smiled "but not all explorers take the time to examine the location thoroughly and quite often they go for the obvious prize, missing the true valuables altogether and I believe we turn left here. The 'burial chamber' should be at the end of the hallway and then we should let Usopp-kun go first."

"For some reason," the rogue shuddered "those directions do not fill me with confidence."

-break—

Shanks appeared in the seat beside Killer with the efficiency and suddenness that had netted him many a free meal and enemy. His guild members, though, had grown so used to this that they barely batted an eyelid. In fact Killer did not even deign to actually greet him merely acknowledging his presence with the barest of nods before returning to his impassive…well I'm not entirely sure just what he was doing but it was all rather stoic and manly so it doesn't really matter too much.

"Good evening gentlemen~" Shanks sang looking inordinately cheerful considering the amount of alcohol he had imbibed the day before.

Kidd snorted and chugged from his tankard "What do you want you crazy-ass bastard? Shouldn't you be off seducing the bar staff?"

"All in good time my red-haired brother in arms, all in good time." Shanks pulled out a map and spread it over the table "Drake said you were talking to Thatch a few weeks ago. Can you show me where?"

Kidd put down his tankard and looked at Shanks for a moment. It hadn't been a request and the red headed brawler had to admit that when the Guild Master wore that serious expression something interesting was going to happen. Shanks was in charge for a reason and it had nothing to do with his inhuman capacity for alcohol or his penchant for the kind of parties that get talked about years later. Kidd nodded at Killer and the blonde rogue assassin quickly identified the relevant region on the map.

Shanks marked the page and gave it a worried look. "Master Shanks," Killer said "has something happened to Emissary Thatch?"

"I don't know. But it's suspicious enough to be worried." He rose from the table "Keep an eye out for him anyway. If you spot him tell him to pop into a guild somewhere and leave a message."

Kidd snorted as Shanks strode off watching as the red haired man chatted with Benn Beckham before getting knocked aside, over the bar and into Makinos lap for standing in the path of the hurricane of love. He snickered as Shanks cheerfully called a muffled thanks out of a faceful of soft feminine curves after Sanji as the chef descended on Bonney to shower her with food (and affection)

-break—

The vast hall had the air of a cathedral. Usopp had drawn his slingshot for while his bow was good for practical purposes he was much faster with his slingshot if he needed. He sidled in nervously. While the likelihood of any functional traps was very slim (but not quite zero percent) the chance that monsters had found a way in and built a den was far more likely.

His caution was prudent and he was not alone. Zoro had his hands resting on his swords (but wait, that's not really unusual), Kohza had actually drawn his blade and Robin had surreptitiously adjusted her belt that undoubtedly contained some horrifying and unpleasant enchantment for her enemies.

Usopp sniffed and grumbled internally about the cold before making the mistake of looking to Kohza for support only to receive a terrifying snarl. He snapped his head forward and skittered forward across the floor. 'Gah, don't go looking for sympathy regarding these conditions from the desert nomad!'

Zoro strode carefully across the damaged stone and stared up at the set of steps carved out of the rock. They ascended to a flat peak where towards the back of the level space was a strange piece of carving almost shaped like a…weapons rack? The Santoryuu master threw a disgusted look over his shoulder. "If that's where they kept the sword then they deserved to have it stolen."

"Fufuu~ Quite so Zoro-kun but that's not where the real treasure is."

Kohza looked up from examining the carvings at the base of the stairs. "So, what you're saying Nico Robin is that he's right."

Zoro blinked as a dawning expression appeared across Usopps face. "You mean, you don't think they left their valuables out on display but hid them like any sensible person would?"

"Not that we're sensible people." Kohza groused thinking of the screeching winds and snow outside along with all of the ravenous monsters they'd have to battle through in order to get back down the mountain. "What we're looking for is not wherever they'd display some gaudy trinket but the 'safe' where they'd lock away their valuables."

Usopp appeared back from where he'd run earlier. "So, this 'safe' we're talking about. Is there any chance it's something like a…hidden room?"

"That is precisely the sort of thing we mean longnose-kun."

"Well, um I think I found it."

-break—

Sanji fluttered through the air in a manner most unbefitting a human being but nonetheless he continued to defy gravity as he twittered around the only woman alive that could eat competitively with the 'D' family.

"Jewel-chwan~ how could those worthless louts leave you without support?" He threw himself at her feet and sobbed dramatically "For you I would have cooked in the dungeons of the holy city itself but cruel, cruel fate prevented me from flying on the wings of LOVE to your side."

Ace watched Sanji in bemusement "what does he mean by that?"

"Sanji wanted to go with Bonney but he couldn't because Makino needed him in the Tavern while the other cooks are in the hospital." Luffy slurped down a plate of beef stew "Oh, and he's worried she didn't get anything nice to eat while she was away."

"Huh," Ace chewed on a drumstick "I see…How did you figure all of that out anyway?"

"Eh? Sanji is really easy to understand Ace. You're kinda stupid."

"Somehow I feel that you shouldn't be saying that to me. What exactly happened to the rest of the kitchen staff?" Ace shook his head and blinked before collapsing face first into a plate of delicious and hot beef stew. Luffy pulled his face out and set him on the table without pause and proceeded to steal the rest of his dinner.

Bonney paused from stuffing a slice of delicious pizza made with love and patted Sanji on the cheek. "That's quite alright darlin' I don't need protectin' but I do so 'ppreciate the sentiment." Before planting a sloppy kiss on him and letting the blond chef mellorine himself into a pool of goo on the floor. It wasn't as if there was anything new about that anyway.

-break-

What Usopp was really good at was noticing things. Unlike 'Hawk-eyes' Mihawk his skill was not that he had particularly sharp eyesight or a natural instinct for identifying weaknesses but rather that he had trained himself to notice. When he ran further into the chamber to have a look (and to edge away from Kohza whose mood was dangerously close to Zoro when deprived of a challenge for too long. That is to say irritable, cranky and likely to lash out and ohgodpleasedon'thurtme.) he had spotted something.

A place where the wall seemed….'wrong' somehow. Once they had seen through that disguise it was easy pickings. Zoro busted in the door and they helped themselves. To what was there anyway. The room was tiny and barely fit two people at once, the walls lined with shelves that had been carved into the wall. The containers were in various states of disrepair but they were mistakes spinning from time rather than any kind of deliberate damage. Zoro, as the 'workhorse', went into the tiny room and passed out everything that could be moved for the others to sort through.

There were multiple cases of outdated currency, mostly made from worthless metals. For that reason Robin was practical and only removed a handful of the mint condition coins for historical reasons. They couldn't carry so much back to the guild and even if their historical value was truly priceless it wasn't as if they could sell them anywhere…

Fortunately there was some more financially pleasing items and they quickly divided up the ownership of some ancient jewellery lovingly crafted from precious, precious materials that would likely ensure a confrontation with Nami. Robin smiled to herself imagining the passionate greed emanating from her 'younger sister'. Her reactions would probably provide a full evening of entertainment. She didn't notice Kohza subtly edging away from her and giving her a suspicious look tinged with a hint of fear.

Such treasures were always appreciated and it was always nice to possess funds for emergencies. Zoro grunted and Robin looked up in interest, being as she was an expert in the language of powerful men, because the warrior had found something interesting. He hefted out a large heavy chest covered in sprawling runes that were clearly of some significant power considering the near perfect condition of the chest. He set it by Robin and she pulled out her enchanted tome to set about cracking the enchanted lock. While he did that Usopp slipped inside the hidden room and checked for anything of interest they may have missed.

"Wha? Is this..?" the sniper carefully removed a protective cloth to examine the long thin box. "Could this be…? Oi! Zoro! I think I've found a sword here."

They completely unwrapped the thick cloth to reveal a scuffed box with peeling leather. Unlike the small but hefty chest Robin was magically picking it had no serious securities that couldn't be overcome by Zoro simply ripping it open. (Although Usopp did take pains to point out that he could have simply picked the lock but nooooo, he didn't have the patience for that did he?) Zoro lifted out the sword that was heavily bound in protective cloth. The covering fell away to reveal an elegant katana which was summarily drawn for inspection.

"Hmm, it looks like…a named blade." Zoro grinned wickedly "Yeah, this is definitely the Kashū, one of the fifty Ryō Wazamono grade swords."

Kohza blinked "Not that it doesn't look like an impressive sword but how are you so sure?"

"This is Zoro here." Usopp flapped his hand and gave the desert dweller a flat look "He does swords."

"Huh, point. Is this the 'sword of truth' then?"

"While that is the literal translation of the words, that is not quite what it is." Robin smiled and clicked open the lid of the case with a satisfied look "A proper understanding of the texts explains that it is a 'true sword', a blade of quality and high calibre. It has been languishing here for some years which is really a terrible shame."

"It's the same grade as my Sandai Kitetsu. A good sword to have in any case and one that shouldn't be left to rot in a place like this."

Usopp secured the loot in his pack and stood up. "So, are we going to camp here or are we going to head back down?"

"We're going." Robin emptied the small chest of scrolls and a few hand bound books with rapid movements but not before handing a few to Kohza. "We definitely can't stay put here, no matter the small chances of being caught."

"This isn't about the you-know-what, I take it." Kohza secured his own luggage and peered at the tall woman through his tinted visor "There's something hidden on those scrolls that's illegal too."

"Precisely. This, this is true treasure but we can't be caught with it." She grimaced tersely " Hana-Hana is a priceless enchantment but if we're caught with these scrolls we'll have to deal with the Nobles in the north."

"That's it. We're out of here." Zoro slid the newly acquired sword into his haramaki and headed for the exit. "I'm not dealing with those annoying bastards. Let's get the hell off this damn mountain and get me some sake."

Usopp restrung his bow "Wonderful. Back out in the cold and off to shake hands with the mountain monsters. All in a days work."

A/N:

In this AU…

More will be revealed in the final parts (This is 1/3)

Robin: uses runes and the like to make life easier on the road. She also unearthed a scroll containing the secrets of duplication magic that was once used in tandem with Runes/enchantments. She's still a morbid scholar so very little has changed.

Zoro: still a swordsman, ambitious and a connoisseur of blades. On good terms with Tashigi.

Nami: Weather witch. Uses magic related to the weather but trained as a thief when Arlong and his gang oppressed her village. Luffy took a mission to wipe them out and brought her back to join the guild.

Sanji: Same as ever but possessing some appreciative skill in fire magics.

Luffy: Trained as a bare knuckle fighter and exceptionally gifted with Spirit Arts. Which yeah, killing intent, Haki. Whatever you want to call it.

Shanks: Guildmaster. He's in charge of the guild, owner and the top fighter there.

Brooke: A bard. Can use his skills to increase his allies stats and confuse enemies. Useful. Still a swordsman. Technically a necromancer but we'll come back to that.

Ace: Dragon…will explain later. I swear I was nearly done before I thought of Fairy Tail and Dragons are always in Breath of Fire and RPGs.

Kohza: Works directly for Vivi as a jack of all trades. He is fluent in all forms of Alabastan language and was sent to help decode the carvings in the ruins.

Usopp: A rogue! C: Archer and sharpshooter with a great deal of skill when it comes to hiding in shadows. Hahaha.

Makino: Runs the day to day of the Guild hall and is an Earth mage of some power. Will also come back to this in one of the other parts.

Franky: is the son of Cid. Tom was Cid.

Next part will have Ace going on an adventure. :3