Nyoko Minako sighed and swept her thin black hair out of her grey eyes with her neatly gloved hands. For the last half hour she had being trying to get a glass of water off a server, and her handicap had been seriously showing. It really seemed as if no one in this infernal casino could play charades or, even better, use sign language. Not for the first time in her nineteen-year-old life, she wished she could actually speak. Having patience was something she needed, being mute, and what patience Nyoko possessed at the moment was growing very thin. She finally turned away from the red-faced waiter and took another glance around in hope that there might actually be someone who could help her. Nyoko's eyes slid over the slot machines, which had such names as 'Treasure Chest' and 'Gol. D Roger's Gold', and through the busy crowds, who wore the desert robes required to live in Alabasta. She sighed again and wondered why she even came to Rainbase in the first place. It wasn't like he was there, the man who had the knowledge that would enable her to control the power that came with eating a truly cursed Devil Fruit. No matter. She would meet him eventually, she was sure of it.
Giving up on getting a drink, she turned to one of her favourite pastimes: gambling. It wasn't that she loved money; nearly the opposite, in fact. For Nyoko, the only reason to keep money was to buy the basic necessities and to experience the thrill that gambling brought. People could say it was an addiction, but when anyone mentioned that, Nyoko would glare at them with such intensity that they would literally fear for their lives. Mind you, not many humans even approached Nyoko in the first place. Despite being rather pretty, with olive skin and a tall thin body, Nyoko had a sort of depressed state about her, and rarely smiled.
After finally winning about quadruple the amount of beri she put into the machine, Nyoko collected her winnings and headed over to the counter to cash them in. About half way through the casino, there was a disturbance at the entrance. Pausing to look, she saw a strange sight: a young man with a straw hat wrapped to his head was yelling something about a crocodile and his ass. Geez she thought why can't people be a little quieter. She continued to observe as two of the man's companions, another young man and a red-haired woman, hit him in the head and started to argue with him, while a swordsman (by the looks of it) came to stand behind them. Shrugging her skinny shoulders, Nyoko turned away and started walking again towards the gilded counter.
It happened so quickly that Nyoko couldn't take it in, let alone comprehend what happened until later on. Another older man with white hair, smoking three cigars, burst into the casino and started running after the boy with the straw hat. The group of people that were led by the straw-hat came dashing towards her while she stood there, frozen. Bumping past the security guards without a thought, the boy wearing goggles and sporting a beyond-average length nose crashed into her and, blacking out, she knew no more.
Coming to, Nyoko sat up with a gasp and quickly looked around. Not panickingn -she never panicked- Nyoko quickly tucked herself into a corner of what appeared to be a cage. At the moment her fellow prisoners, that were the straw-hat group from before and the smoker, were apparently in a position that involved a lot of tension between them.
The smoker had pinned the straw hat to the floor with his club and the others were standing around him, hesitant to get closer but nervous for their friend.
"What the…? I can barely move…! Like I fell in water or something…" the straw hat puffed.
"Yeah, that's right…" the smoker stated.
"W…What the hell did you do to Luffy?!" the long nose cried, sweating. Pinning that name to the straw-hat's profile in her mind, Nyoko wondered what on earth the history of the group of people that stood before her was.
"The end of this club is made of something called 'seastone', a mysterious stone that exists only in a certain sea…" he trailed off at the end, like he was uncertain of what to do with the straw hat.
"All the marine headquarters' prisons are made of this stuff. It keep criminals with the 'power' from getting away. The metal is still a mystery to us, but what we do know is that it emits the same kind of energy the sea does. Just think of it as a solidified form of the sea," the smoker continued. It seemed simple enough, and Nyoko saw enlightenment on the others faces.
"So that's what's making Luffy weak!!"
"Then the cage is made of the same?" the red-haired asked, pointing at the bars of the cage they were occupying.
"If it wasn't, I'd be long gone." He paused. "After destroying the whole lot of you, of course..." With that dramatic statement, the swordsman that had been standing there partially slid one of his three swords out while grabbing onto its sheath in a professional hold. The smoker took a stronger grip onto his club.
"Gyaaaaaaaaa!" the long-nose yelled "No, wait! How can you fight in this predicament?! And besides, Zoro, swords don't work against him!" Nyoko once again labelled the name 'Zoro' to the swordsman.
"He's right. Cut it out." Nyoko flinched as a new voice came floating into the cage. The voice sounded rather cold and cruel. Their host was here. She slowly turned her head to face him.
"You'll kill each other. Why can't you all just be friends?"
"Crocodile!" The smoker sounded angry, but somewhat unsurprised.
"Oooh… You really are a stray hound, Smoker-kun."
Okay, at least I named him properly. Kyoko thought.
"You never thought of me as your ally from the start. Oh… That's right. I was going to have you die in an 'accident'. I reported that you've been fighting the 'strawhat' several times. Hahaha! I don't know why you came here but it was obviously of your own accord. The governments believe me. They wouldn't send any marines here normally…" Nyoko thought Crocodile was done speaking, but then he addressed her.
"Unfortunately, you, my dear, are going to die despite simply being swept along by this crew. After all, I can't have anyone revealing my secrets. Sorry," he said insincerely.
Everyone jumped, just realizing she was awake, but then most turned his or her attention back to Crocodile. There was a lull in the voices, and Smoker walked over to Nyoko.
"Are you okay?" he asked gruffly. Nyoko nodded, but Smoker gave her a look over just to make sure she had no injuries. She blushed, but then without any warning, she blacked out again.
Smoker cursed and laid her down on the stone bench. This time, he easily found the problem. A wound on the young woman's leg was bleeding sluggishly, and it was easy to see that was why she fainted. Smoker tore off one of the sleeves of his coat and tied it around her leg. For the moment, that was all he could do