On the port, there are many ships coming and leaving every day even during this war.
However, the security is very tight. Shinobis with great sensory skills are everywhere around the port. The procedures to board ships are also very strict.
Everything is to prevent enemies infiltrating their country during this war. After all, these ships are usually escorted by shinobis from other countries to protect them in the sea. So the shinobis that guard the ports are also very strong because fight can break anytime.
But it makes things very difficult for Zoro and Torao. They almost got found 4 times since they entered this town when they came out of the shadow.
"What should we do, Torao? We can't stay in the shadows forever. Those shinobis always come to us whenever I get out of the shadows because they detect my chakra."
Zoro doesn't really know his chakra level in the shinobi world. But even if it's at the level of genins, the Kumo shinobis here will still treat him as a threat.
Those shinobis will also be suspicious when they see Torao because only summoned animals have chakra, so they'll catch Torao if they find him too.
That's why for the time being, Zoro and Torao hide the shadow while gathering information. When Torao almost runs out of chakra, they will go to the wilderness to get out of the shinobis' detection ranges.
"Can't we just board a ship legally? We have legal documents to prove that I'm from the Land of Iron, right?"
"No can do. Those folks from the village might have spread your information and Kumo might want to capture you now. So it's better to stay hidden until we reach the Land of Iron."
"Sigh, fine."
3 days after arriving in port town, Zoro and Torao finally found their transportation. They won't even need to hide anymore and the shinobis won't catch them because someone will help them 'willingly'.
This morning when they moved through the shadows, they coincidentally saw a young muscular man doing Snu Snu with a middle-aged lady in a storage room.
They didn't intend to get involved with it, but then a good drama unfolded. Some people suddenly entered the storage room, forcing the couple to stop in the middle of their exercise.
Zoro and Torao then heard something surprising as the couple tried to fool the people who almost saw what they did. The middle-aged lady is a merchant's wife who is on a business trip while the young man is a shinobi hired as her guard.
Her husband is sick, so he couldn't go himself and send his wife because she is the only one he can trust with this important business. He would never have thought that the wife that he trusted so much had such a relationship with one of their guards.
It's not something he likes to do, but Torao knows they can use it to leave this country because coincidentally, the lady's merchant group is going to The Land of Iron to send metal ingots.
This business with The Land of Iron is also very important for the Land of Lightning because the Land of Iron can produce high-quality weapons they need, especially during this war.
Knowing the group will go to the Land of Iron, Torao quickly makes a plan. Of course, it's Zoro who needs to talk even if it's Torao's plan. There's no way a cat can do a negotiation, after all.
They threatened the adulterous couple to let them tag along into the Land of Iron using the couple's relationship to threaten them. Of course, they do it after getting evidence, which is photos they took using a stolen camera.
The cheating couple are doing Snu Snu again that day because they weren't satisfied yet, after all. Zoro and Torao were following them in the shadows and took those photos.
Without any choice, the cheating couple allowed Zoro and Torao to join their ship. Now they can finally go to the Land of Iron for free.
The ship they use departs the next day. Zoro and Torao still need to hide as they enter the ship though. The list of every ship's passengers have been reported, so they will need to go through a lot of annoying procedures if they want to board officially.
With that reason, they enter the ship through the shadows and only appear once the ship has departed far enough from the port.
Their voyage is relatively peaceful, except that Zoro and Torao need to do an annoying guard job. They made a deal with that cheating couple to earn more money. Both of them will guard the madam's room and prevent anyone from getting inside during the voyage.
Of course, the reason is none other than the cheaters' plan to enjoy themselves during the entire journey. It's really annoying, but Zoro and Torao still do it because they need money even if they need to hear indecent moans all day long.
"I guess this is why that old hag cheated with that bastard. Her husband should be getting weaker in bed."
"No, I think this bastard is just too strong in bed. They've been playing for hours yesterday and even today they haven't stopped since 3 hours ago. He must've had Hashirama cells in him to have that kind of stamina."
Both of them grumble while they guard the room. Zoro is doing some training in front of the room to distract his mind. Besides, he hasn't trained properly for days, so he decides to train now or he'll lose his muscles.
Nothing happens for hours, until the night comes.
*CLANG CLANG CLANG*
The ship's bell suddenly rings and its sound breaks the silence of the night.
"ENEMY ATTACKS! PIRATES!"
Zoro is surprised. He never thought there would be pirates in this world. But then he also realizes that pirates are basically just sea bandits, so it is not strange for even this world to have them. They just won't be the same as One Piece world's pirates.
Taking his 3 swords, Zoro quickly goes to the ship's deck. He wants to see the pirates of this world.
Sounds of cannons being shot from this ship and the enemy ship echo on the sea. Zoro can only see some parts of the enemy ship because the lights on that ship are rather dim.
But he can see their ship approaching and soon both ships are moving right next to each other. Then the pirates are jumping to the merchant ship to hijack it.
Zoro knows that he can't avoid battle and run away because they are on the sea now. His only choice now is fighting those pirates and defeating them.
"I guess I can't avoid fighting humans anymore, huh?"
After saying that, Zoro joins the battle that has broken on the deck. Torao is hiding in Zoro's shadow, ready to pull him in anytime if he is in danger.
With swords on his hands and mouth, Zoro rushes toward the enemies. His heart is beating fast because he is nervous about his first real life and death battle against humans.
A pirate who wears tattered clothes and seems to haven't taken a bath for a long time sees Zoro. The pirate also rushes toward Zoro while laughing like a maniac as he swings his chipped sword down.
Zoro can see the sword's movement clearly even though it's quite fast. He has fought against Instructor Moss Head who can move much faster even if it's just in the Genjutsu world.
Before the pirate's sword hit Zoro, he parries it with the sword in his left hand. Then he stabs the pirate's body with the sword in his right hand. His sword pierces through the pirate's stomach easily and then Zoro slashes it out to cut the stomach.
He has trained by cutting animals' bodies that include their bones with his swords. So he can cut humans' bodies as well, especially normal humans without strong physiques or ninjutsu.
It's his first time killing a human, but surprisingly he doesn't feel bad or guilty. Maybe it's because his opponent is a criminal or because of this chaotic situation filled with sounds of battle around him.
No matter what the reason is, Zoro knows he can't stay idle. He needs to help the ship's crew fight these pirates if he wants to survive and go to the Land of Iron. So he moves again to fight the other pirates.
Zoro moves around between the fighting people. His body is smaller than everyone here who is an adult. That's why the enemies aren't giving him much attention and he can sneak around.
He uses this advantage to attack the pirates from behind. It's easy to distinguish the foes and friends because all the pirates look dirty as if they haven't washed themselves for years.
With Zoro sneak attacks, the pirates get overwhelmed quickly. The merchant ship crew thinks they will win soon, but then they hear a loud crashing sound from the ship's left side.
"Damn useless bunch! I've fed you a lot of food and you can't even defeat a normal merchant ship crew."
Everyone sees a tall burly man with hairy arms and thick beards standing near their ship's railing while holding a pair of big cutlasses in his hands. Zoro can feel that this man is strong and looks dangerous.
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