Title:  Up on the Peak
Fandom:  One Piece
Pairing:  a bit of Zoro/Kaku
Categories:  action, humor, pre-slash
Length:  Long [~17,500 words]
Warnings:  some violence


Author on LJ:  maldoror_gw 
Website:  just her LJ for the One Piece fic (she has sites for Gundam Wing and Naruto fic, in her LJ profile)

Author's Summary:  A year after Enies Lobby, Kaku catches up with Roronoa Zoro for a rematch; a battle featuring swords, reasons to fight, a sprinkling of odd emotions and, of course, giraffes.

Review:  This fic was written right after the Enies Lobby arc, so it has none of the newer characters, and it guesses at the fates of others.  If you're willing to look past those aspects of "Up on the Peak", you'll be rewarded with an interesting story that gives one of the members of CP9 a second chance.  Kaku was always one of, if not the most, sympathetic characters of CP9, and so Maldoror doesn't have to stretch his character at all to arrange a scenario in which he would be welcomed as a new crewmate of the Strawhats.

I particularly like the mix of humor and action in this story, which is typical of Maldoror's style at the time but which does suit the canon of One Piece rather well.  I also re-read "Up on the Peak" for its unusual pairing, a slowly-building, not-quite-there-yet Zoro/Kaku.  I was convinced by Maldoror to give more Zoro/Kaku fics a try; the characters have so much in common, and given a little time to discuss their differences of opinion, I can pretty much buy that their enmity would disappear.  You'd end up with two strong swordsmen who alternated between hot sex and sparring, which, well, yes.  Unfortunately for us, "Up on the Peak" leaves the two on the brink of such a relationship, but the stopping point works for the story, and we can satisfy ourselves with imagining what must have come next.

Up on the Peak  {Chapter Index}