The rock room was laced with black tendrils that wormed beneath the surface of the stone like a roots of a cancerous tree, slowly prying apart the host until nothing was left but death. Ace knocked hesitantly on the wall as no door existed. The grunt he received was the permission to speak "Law says the humans are awake."
As Zoro sat up from the floor Ace made a quick retreat and it took only moments for the Demon King to stride out behind him. The smith's footsteps were unhurried as they echoed down the hall before being absorbed by the cacophony of the main rooms.
A demon lived in near constant companionship, only moving out of the main rooms when they chose a life partner. He had not lived in those rooms since his wife had died.
As he passed everyone stepped aside as the keening noise burned into their cores. His decision was made.
One of the three swords at his waist continued it's banshee-like wail as a trail of blood filled the sheath to overflowing.
Law sighed heavily "That was the worst time any of us experienced." looking at the ceiling with closed eyes he muttered a prayer that they couldn't make out before telling them "Now come on. We're leaving."
Robin asked hopefully "'We'?"
"Yes 'We' as in both of the Generals and the Kings."
The path known as "The Great Spiral Down" was beyond the mythical bridge into the demon's domain, angels taught that it was the path to Hell where a soul was tortured by demons for all eternity. The reality was vastly different.
Law, as it turned out, had studied The Great Spiral Down since his birth, it had been carved long before demons or angels had existed as a place of refuge for the people who had lived in the area but over time the area became abandoned and when the demons needed a place they discovered it. The idea of the people was that Mother Earth would protect them as it had provided for them.
Ace, Luffy and Zoro had met Law and the two women at the base of the ramp before they started to ascend easily, Luffy asking the girls how they slept before arguing with Ace benignly about coffee. Law spent the first few minutes regaling the girls about The Great Spiral Down while Zoro stayed quiet.
It wasn't until they were only a few minutes from the surface that Zoro grunted "Info."
Robin jumped a bit "Ah, yes. The angels have aviaries in every province and several keeps where the archangels and the 'mayors' live respectively. They boast that they have a thousand angels for each keep."
After Robin had told them all of the strategic information they knew Nami asked "Can the four of you really win?"
Ace must have sensed that she was actually worried for them as opposed to sarcastically he smiled openly "A thousand angels isn't much, back when we were still fighting the only thing that stopped a mid-level demon from killing a thousand a day was that only three angels could fit around you at a time."
Luffy watched his second with a smile on his face, Ace wasn't good with non-demons but he seemed to understand that these women actually worried about them, maybe because they were the last option, maybe because they were that kind-that he didn't know.
Nami added "Oh, and there's the Nest in Raftel."
Luffy tilted his head "The Nest? Raftel? You're sure?"
Nodding the orange haired woman asked "Yeah, but what is it?"
Law opened his mouth before stopping and turning to look at Zoro as did everyone else. He stared straight ahead as he walked "The Nest is everything to them, it's where they are born and where their bodies are taken after they die. Calling it the center of their world is an understatement. Their very strongest guard it 24/7 and all of their important decisions go through there. It used to be thought of as Heaven." this got a snort out of the demons "But all those years ago when they were summoned it moved the Nest into this world and that's the start of everything."
Zoro stopped walking "I understand you four not knowing…but how do YOU not know when I've told you at least five times?" he asked Luffy.
The other King smiled and shrugged "No idea! It's not really all that interesting either so I guess I just don't care enough to remember it."
The two generals wanted to cry while the two would be sacrifices actually laughed a bit. Zoro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose but continued walking the last stretch before they reached the bridge that wrapped around the mountains.
Robin sighed deeply and stared out at the blasted landscape. They had been taught that when the angels pushed the demons back into Hell they used holy fire to scorch the land so that the demons could never rise again. Obviously that was wrong so she asked "Why…why do things not grow here?"
Ace bit his lip "Uh…part my fault."
Oddly nobody was laughing. The way he said it should have brought a laugh to Luffy at the very least but they all looked downcast. Law continued the answer "When…" he glanced at his king before trying to phrase it a different way.
Zoro beat him to it "When my wife died Ace's powers burned the few plants that were here to ash. Then mine destroyed all other life." If the humans hadn't been paying the closest of attention they wouldn't have noticed the faint signs of sorrow that he displayed.
Robin bowed her head "I'm…so sorry for your loss."
"My bond was stronger than anything else I've ever seen. Your words are little consolation."
Zoro continued walking while the humans stood dumbfounded. Luffy sighed before sending the generals on ahead, as they spent time around him it became more odd for him not to be smiling and here he looked dead serious "Zoro doesn't mean to be…mean. You have to think like him and that is impossible." he gave a smile as Nami rolled her eyes "To him humans have made really bad decisions acting on emotions so he doesn't really like them but we still have 'em."
"So I take it he was with her for a long time?" Nami asked bluntly and got an even blunter reply.
"They were married before I was born." the humans gasped "We've been alive a really, really long time but he's been alive even longer." Luffy turned around and continued walking leaving the group in silence
The quiet continued until they reached the edge of the path and started down to the only place a boat could have docked on the peninsula, a small cove that was sheltered from both the wind and rough tides.
An old man was sitting on deck under the single sail, roasting a fish, dressed in a white button jacket with matching pants and a tall hat, a pale blond mustache split into two branches that stuck off his face and defied gravity.
Nami called out "Zeff!"
The old man stood up revealing a peg leg and he hobbled over before grumbling "So you ain't dead…'mazing."
Both women laughed before introducing him "This is the Chef and Captain of this vessel and one of our Cult, Zeff. These are Ace and Law, the Generals." swallowing hard Robin then said quietly "This is King Luffy and King Zoro. They have offered their help."
The old man grunted "In exchange for what?" as he crossed his arms over his broad chest.
Law stepped forward "For the moment it's just to kill angels. We don't really need a reason to deal with them…we've let them go on for far too long as it is."
The captain grumbled but readied the ship and in only a few minutes they were pushing off and the demons retreated below deck to sleep. The two 'sacrifices' sat with Zeff in the wheelhouse as he rumbled "Don't like this one bit."
Robin nodded "Neither do we but we have no choice, we don't have the power to fight but they do."
"Not that." he replied "They didn't ask for anything in return. Nobody does that unless they plan to wring you dry."
Now it was Nami who answered "I don't know. They've lost too much and I think…as weird as this sounds, I think they've forgotten about the outside world until we got there." the captain didn't stop her so she went on "They hadn't gone out since the fight with the angels, which they didn't loose."
"Then why did they go into that hole?" the older man asked with suspicion obvious in his voice.
"Because Zoro's wife died." Robin said, that caused Zeff to stop "From what I understand the angels had yet to win one battle but they somehow distracted the army and slipped around to attack the injured and children. His wife died but wiped them out in retribution. Losing someone you love, they all loved, surely you understand that loss Zeff?"
To someone other than them it would appear that the man was staring at his leg, but he was looking down at the carving that decorated the wooden shaft "That I do…That I do." he repeated in a quieter voice.
The rolling waves calmed as they moved out of the perpetual storm that hovered over The Great Spiral Down letting them get their first glimpse of true blue sea in several days. The orange haired woman asked "How long until we reach the base?"
" Four days to a week depending on winds and not including storms." Zeff answered as he effortlessly guided the boat through the cresting waves. All that needed to be said had been so they enjoyed the quiet sounds of the ocean as they traveled back into the 'civilized' lands.
It had been many years since any of them had thought themselves lucky to be under the rule of angels. They had all lost precious people to the winged scourge. As they crossed into the more temperate climate the girls left the robes behind in favor of their usual attire, Nami a short sleeved white and blue striped shirt with short shorts while Robin favored a blue polo with a sarong tied at her waist, both of them let their long hair down and enjoyed the warm breeze flowing through the air.
The demons had taken turn sleeping and it had ended up that Law and Luffy were sitting on the deck chatting amicably about something while Nami, Robin and Zeff watched the skyline hoping that they would be able to get to base before anything happened.
"So you're saying that it tasted horrible?" Law asked with a calm face as he leaned against the railing with his arms crossed and his overlong sword in one hand.
Luffy was hanging upside down from the mast with his legs wrapped around the crossbeam while the rest of him dangled limply "Yeah! Don't most of them?"
The other shrugged "I wouldn't know."
"Eh." Luffy replied before twisting to look at the humans "So where are we going?"
Zeff didn't answer and neither did Nami, but for a different reason. As he had twisted she had gotten her first look at his body as his shirt had fallen? Lifted? Was no longer covering his stomach and most of his torso. Currently she was staring at his abdominals. Robin rolled her eyes "We are going to our base to find out where would be the best place to go next."
Zoro and Ace came up from below deck with serious faces that caused everyone to sober. It was Zoro's words, however, that caused the ice in the human's blood "I smell angels."
