Second chapter is finally here!
I plan on keeping this story pretty fast-paced until we get to Alabasta, where it will then slow down a bit. Alright, that's all, go read!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own One Piece. Ugh.
Chapter 2
Ridin' Solo
A good week and a half went by, and Luffy still had yet to come across any land.
Riding on Ace had lost most of its appeal after only the first couple of long days doing it. There just wasn't much to do except sit and watch the horizon, or sleep, not to mention the fact that besides Ace he was all alone. There was nothing to entertain him like there always was on the Thousand Sunny, nor any of his nakama to goof off with in order to pass the time.
The only good thing about riding on Ace, besides just how plain awesome it was, was that the Sea King traversed the ocean at a much quicker pace than any regular ship could. They could travel farther faster because the giant sea creature was swimming through the water rather than floating on it like a ship would. Even with that though, they still hadn't reached an island yet.
Luffy soon found himself staring out in the distance for any signs of land, but there never seemed to be any. There was only the blue ocean as far as he could see, all the way until it met the sky on the horizon.
When he set off from Rusukaina, he'd figured he would have already hit land by this time. Instead, the ocean just never ended. It was true he didn't have a Log Pose to navigate, but it was only logical to think that eventually he would have to run into an island, even if they were just moving in a random direction.
It occurred to him that the Grand Line may have been playing tricks on them and they were just going in circles. Or he supposed he and Ace could just be missing islands by some sort of terrible luck, and if that was the case, he really hoped their bad luck would end sometime in the near future. They'd end up back at the beginning of the Grand Line if their fortune didn't look up soon.
Luffy's supply of meat was dwindling fast by this point too, and he estimated he probably only had a couple days worth before it was all gone.
Oh, how he wished Sanji was there. He would have had food, and the chef would be able whip up something delicious like he always could. Luffy really couldn't wait to taste his cook's cooking again when they finally met up at the Thousand Sunny.
And the shortage of food wasn't the worst of it. He had even less drinkable water. He could always catch and eat a wild Sea King if need be, but drinkable water wasn't so easily replenished out there in the middle of the ocean. That especially was beginning to worry him, mostly because the future Pirate King couldn't die off alone in the ocean, of a lack of water of all things.
That just wouldn't be right!
Realizing this, he told Ace to go faster in hopes that they'd come across land sooner, but so far that hadn't appeared to help much. All that he'd gotten was more time to consider the less than ideal situation he now found himself in.
In an attempt to take his mind off such troubles, however, he'd tried quite a few things to pass the time.
He'd explored the rest of Ace's monstrous body that was above water level, it was surprisingly vast.
He'd cloud-gazed in the daytime and star-gazed during the night.
He'd done push-ups and sit-ups, and any other little exercises he was able to perform on top of the Sea King to waste time.
He'd even just counted as high as he could in his head at the most boring of times, which actually took up decent portions of time.
He'd tried stretching his rubber arm out as far as it would go before he hit his limit and had to pull it back, multiple times. It honestly accomplished nothing, but just stretching out was pretty nice.
Most importantly, though, he'd had a lot of time to thoroughly ponder Rayleigh's Tone Dial message.
The part about how the old man had managed to sneak past Luffy's Kenbunshoku Haki was what his thoughts focused on the most, but he also wondered what could possibly have caused his mentor to cancel out on meeting up at Sabaody Archipelago. It had to be something big, especially with that cryptic comment the old man had made about seeing Luffy again sooner than he might think. What was that all about?
But in regards to how Rayleigh had delivered the Tone Dial undetected, Luffy was at a bit of a loss. Rayleigh said it was just a clever use of one of the threes type of Haki, so that left only three possibilities.
Unfortunately, that was about as far as he'd narrowed it down to as it could be any one of those three types, depending on how you thought about it.
With Kenbunshoku Haki, which allowed you to sense the presence of other things, could one also go in the opposite direction and conceal your own presence from other Kenbunshoku Haki-users?
Likewise, with Busoshoku Haki, would it be possible to form it around yourself with the intent to hide your spiritual presence, rather than protect yourself from physical damage? That seemed a bit unlikely, sure, but who knew what the limits were.
And with Haoshoku Haki, which allowed you to overpower the wills of people weaker than you, could you "overpower" another person's will and make that person unable to sense them if one didn't want them to, instead of knocking them unconscious?
It was all hypothetical, really, and it could be any one of them, none of them, or maybe all of them. Luffy just didn't know. He'd have to experiment with them before he'd have any real idea.
But doing that was a problem, because he wouldn't be able to know if he was actually doing it right without another Haki user to help him test it. That is, unless he somehow was able to just know he was doing it right by how it felt, but he had no way of telling if doing it right would feel different or not in the first place.
So, on that front he was kind of stuck at the moment, although not for lack of trying.
With that topic brought to a halt, Luffy had begun brainstorming other uses that Haki might possibly have, having remembered another comment Rayleigh had made in his message about expanding on what he already knew.
He'd come up with a few possibilities over the time he'd been traveling. The key word there though was possibilities, because even he knew some of them were a bit ridiculous. Even so, he still wanted to try them out before ruling anything out! He was a relatively new user of Haki, after all, and he was still unsure of what limits there might be.
Realistically, Luffy knew there had to be some sort of limit. There had to be some sort of ceiling on that ability, as otherwise you would see the strongest men performing miracles (unrelated to their Devil Fruit powers) at their whims all the time. Yet, on the other hand there were many crazy and unlikely things in the world that happened every day, so who's to say he couldn't do something if he hadn't even attempted it?
OOOOO
It wasn't until the next day that Luffy and Ace finally came across something. It wasn't land though. No, it was a ship – a fleet of probably a dozen ships, rather, that they were approaching nearly head on.
It had been cloudy all day that day, but had yet to rain or anything of the like, Luffy was grateful to note. He hoped it wouldn't start storming too horrifically anytime soon, as he didn't know how well he and Ace would fare in such conditions. So far, the two had had exceptional luck on their journey when it came to weather, for it had been mostly sunny or partly cloudy the entire time. The worst they had to experience was a light rain shower that had shortly abated as Ace swam on, and it would be nice if it stayed that way.
This was when it would have been great to have Nami around, he commiserated with himself. She would have been able to tell him what to expect, and what precautions he should take.
But she wasn't there to depend on. It was just him and his ride.
Luffy and Ace were still quite a ways off from the fleet, so Luffy directed the Sea King to close in. As Ace changed course slightly and neared the group of ships, Luffy got a closer glimpse at the group of ships and found it wasn't a fleet of just any ships.
It was a fleet of pirate ships, by the look of the Jolly Roger on their sails.
He could count thirteen individual ships making up the fleet, sailing loosely in some sort of formation unknown to Luffy. Each of the ships were huge, probably twice the size of the Thousand Sunny, and the head ship at the front of the fleet was even more massive.
At first glance, Luffy didn't recognize the Jolly Roger design, but something about it was definitely familiar. He couldn't pinpoint exactly why it was so familiar though.
The gigantic Sea King was spotted by the ships relatively quickly, not surprisingly, and in a panic the front ships began wildly firing off their cannons at the incoming Sea King. The cannon fire, of course, barely had any effect on Ace, not fazing him in the slightest, and the Sea King continued forward.
Luffy could hear the frantic shouts of the men as Ace finally closed in and leaned down toward the ships as Luffy had instructed.
Luffy grabbed the last barrel of water and the last sack of meat, one under each arm, saying, "Thanks, Ace! You can go do whatever you want for awhile, I'll call when I need you!"
With that, the rubber man leapt off the Sea King in the direction of what looked to be the head ship. Ace roared in agreement before submerging itself into the depths of the ocean, even as Luffy was still in midair.
Luffy whooped as he fell through the air, somehow avoiding crashing through the front ship's deck and landing gracefully in the middle of it, his straw hat now hanging around the back of his neck by its string after having fallen off the top of his head when he was dropping.
Laughing at the rush, he glanced around at the dozens of flabbergasted men standing around him, all of them gaping in stunned bewilderment.
He grinned widely at all of them. "Yo!" he greeted casually, "do you guys have any meat or water I could have?"
One of the pirates nearest him, who had an eye patch over his left eye and was only wearing a baggy pair of tattered pants, recovered first and shut his mouth. He pointed at Luffy in astonishment, his mouth reopening and closing several times.
"W-were you just riding that thing?" the one-eyed pirate finally spluttered after getting his mouth to work, as the others began collecting themselves as well.
"Ace? Yeah! He's my friend!"
All of the men collectively echoed his words in disbelief, "YOUR FRIEND?"
Laughing, the rubber man nodded. "Of course!"
Luffy set the meat bag and the water barrel down beside him. "So you got any meat or water I can borrow?" he questioned them again after they didn't answer him the first time.
The one with the eye patch stepped forward threateningly, "You think we just give free food and drink to intruders?"
"Yeah, we're pirates! We ain't no charity!" shouted another pirate in uproarious agreement. Multiple other jeers erupted throughout the crowd standing on the deck, condemning the mysterious intruder.
"Aw, come on guys! I'm almost out here, help me out!" Luffy responded as he smiled hopefully, fruitlessly trying to persuade the pirates.
The pirates were not amused. "No!" they all yelled together in unison, before starting to crowd around him menacingly, intent on dealing with the intruder in the best way they saw fit.
Luffy watched them as they mobbed together and approached him from all sides, effectively surrounding him. The pirates wickedly grinned at him as they pulled out various weapons, all the way from knives and bats to pistols and shotguns.
He was just about to open his mouth and warn them against such actions, when a door leading below deck was suddenly kicked open with a bang, the force enough to rip the hinges away from the door frame. The broken door landed with another bang on the other side of the deck.
The pirates crowding around him all turned their attention that way immediately, and Luffy realized whoever was coming through that door must be someone important. The rubber man imitated the rest of the pirates, examining the doorway that had just been forced open.
Maybe this person would be nicer than these grunts and give him food and drink, despite their entrance speaking to the contrary.
A large figure stepped out of the doorway, clenching his fists. As the large, muscular man moved further into the light, Luffy could see his face contorted in anger. The big guy had short grey hair with a very light purple hue and was wearing shiny golden armor over his upper torso.
A glimmer of recognition bubbled inside of Luffy, but for the life of him he couldn't put a name to that face.
"Boss!" several of the pirates greeted the man, who was apparently the captain. Luffy tilted his head slightly.
"WHAT'S ALL THIS RACKET DISRUPTING MY SLEEP?" bellowed the man as he slammed the side of his giant fist into the wall beside the door frame, destroying it with ease.
"Sir! There's an intruder! Over there," the pirate speaking told his captain, pointing over at Luffy.
The muscular man glanced in the direction his underling was pointing and finally met Luffy's eyes. Seeing the rubber man, the man's eyes widened and he growled, looking even angrier than he had been just moments ago.
"You!" he roared, "I'll tear you to shreds!"
Luffy's eyebrows rose and his mouth opened in surprise at the grumpy man's words. Waving his hands out in front of him, an alarmed Luffy said, "Oi oi oi! No need for that! I just wanted to see if you guys had any food and drink to spare."
The big man scowled after a pause. "You don't remember me, do you, whelp? Well, let me help you recall then!"
The bulky captain charged Luffy as soon as he finished speaking, knocking away several unlucky members of his crew that were standing in the way as he did so.
Luffy's manner sharpened as he saw the muscular man rushing him, feeling his patience slip away all of the sudden at the unprovoked attack. He cracked his knuckles, waiting for the angry man to reach his position.
The man ran forward and threw a strong right at Luffy, but the rubber man disappeared before the punch could land. Luffy reappeared in the air behind the man, grabbed the back of the bulky man's head before he could react and drove it downward, slamming the man's head face-first into the deck with enough force to make the entire boat shake.
As the sea breeze cleared away the dust, the onlookers all gasped in disbelief. There was a hole in the wooden deck where the now unconscious man's head had hit, and the defeated man was lying there limply.
Luffy stepped back confidently, not even glancing down at his handiwork. He knew his opponent was down and out without needing visible proof. Stunned silence followed, even as he looked around at all of the pirates.
"Don Krieg!" one of them called out worriedly, still aghast at how easily their captain had been taken down in just a matter of seconds.
Luffy blinked.
"The intruder beat Don Krieg in one move! No way…who is he?" another commented in awe, shaking his head and wondering if he was dreaming.
Don Krieg? Luffy blinked again. That was the man's name?
Flashes of images sprang up in his head. East Blue, Sanji, Baratie, golden armor, poison gas, Don Krieg. It was! That's why the Jolly Roger on their sails had seemed so familiar…
He remembered that man now. He also remembered what an evil pirate Don Krieg was, and Luffy decided right there that he didn't regret what he'd just done to the man.
"Should we attack him?" the same pirate with the eye patch from before said aloud, sounding unsure about what he was suggesting.
"Well if he beat the Cap'n then how will we be able to do anything to him?"
"Stupid! He can't take all of us at once, no matter who he is!"
"You're right! Atta-"
One of the Krieg pirates, wearing cargo shorts and a white wife-beater, stepped to the front of the crowd from where he had been standing near the back, interrupting his fellow crew mate. "Wait! I-I remember this guy!"
The pirate with the eye patch shot the other pirate a look, "You do, sir?"
The other pirate nodded. "Yeah, from back before most of you joined us." He looked back into the crowd searchingly, saying, "Reg! You remember that floating sea restaurant from a couple years ago, right?"
Another pirate, Reg, also came forward from within the crowd. "Yeah, so?"
Of course Reg remembered that floating restaurant. How could he not? He and the remains of the Krieg pirate crew had almost starved to death after their first attempt at the Grand Line, and they'd gone there in search of food when Gin had returned claiming he'd been fed for free. That restaurant had also been the only place and time he'd seen Don Krieg actually beaten, by a kid no less!
Reg examined Luffy closer, who had been curiously observing the Krieg pirates up until now. Reggie's eyes widened a bit, "You don't think…"
Gulping, the first pirate to come forward gave a quick nod. "Yeah, it's him, isn't it? The kid who beat Don Krieg last time."
Reg chuckled nervously. "Nah, it can't be…" he said, trailing off uncertainly.
Luffy met Reg's eyes, noting the pirate's heavy swallow. The pirate backed up slightly, "A-actually, I think ya might be right, Lou."
The first pirate, 'Lou', swore under his breath. "I knew it," he said, before realizing the bad situation they were in. "Crap," he added.
Something suddenly occurred to Luffy. Someone was missing. That one guy...
"Hey! Where's Gin? He's still here, isn't he?" he excitedly asked, breaking up their little discussion.
This garnered fearful looks from the pirates, and no one answered him.
"What? Where is he? Tell me!" Luffy demanded, causing a few of the pirates to grimace at his tone. For a second, silence prevailed, before the pirate named Lou shakily responded.
"He's being…punished," the pirate told Luffy awkwardly, folding his arms across his chest.
Luffy stared at the pirate, "What? Why?"
Lou looked down at his feet for a moment, before bringing his head up. "Don Krieg's Former First Mate has wronged the captain one too many times, and ever since then he's been locked up. Don Krieg doesn't tolerate disobedience in his crew."
"Locked up? Where? What did he do?" Luffy glanced around at all of the pirates' wary expressions with suspicion, noting their hesitance to speak on the matter. "Tell me!"
Lou shook his head in aggravation. "It doesn't matter what he did, just that Don Krieg isn't happy with him. He's locked up below deck for his crimes."
Luffy cocked his head slightly, frowning as he let what he'd heard sink in. Gin was locked up somewhere on the ship, and to make matters worse it wasn't just temporary by what Lou had said. Gin looked to be in trouble here - real trouble. Back at the floating restaurant Gin had seemed like the only half-decent member of the Krieg pirates...to leave him suffering in the hands of Don Krieg wouldn't sit well with Luffy, no sir.
The corners of Luffy's mouth twitched back upward. He knew what he had to. It was just a good thing he'd gotten there when he had. His expression suddenly turned serious.
"He's below deck?" Luffy bit out, not waiting for an answer. "Right, you're coming with me then."
Luffy stretched out his arm and grabbed Lou by the collar of his wife-beater, ignoring the man's enraged shout, and dragged him along as he moved toward one of the doors leading below deck.
The moment after Luffy began moving, all of the other Krieg pirates jumped into action.
"ATTACK THE INTRUDER!"
"HE'S GOT THE FIRST MATE! KILL HIM!"
Luffy took a leap over the mob of pirates and landed next to the door he wanted, slipping inside with Lou. It seemed he was the new First Mate.
"You're the one that replaced Gin!" Luffy exclaimed in surprise, shutting the door to the deck and barricading it with a refrigerator, an oven, and anything else large enough that he could find in the room they'd entered.
Evidently they were in the kitchen. And it was conveniently empty of people.
There was a long island-counter in the middle of the room, creating an aisle of sorts around its borders. Racks holding pots and pans hung from the ceiling above the island counter, while shelves secured to the walls above the counters lining the walls held plates, bowls, glasses, and other appropriate kitchenware. Other assorted drawers and cupboards below the counters and on the walls probably contained even more kitchen supplies.
Most importantly, however, there was a door on the other side of the kitchen that they would be able to take to exit the room safely.
"Yep, that's me," Lou confirmed confidently. "But you don't think I'll actually lead you to Gin, do you? I'm the second-in-command, after all, you think I would cave so easily?" said Lou, pulling two pistols out of a nearby cabinet after Luffy had released him in order to barricade the door.
"Yeah, I do," Luffy replied, glaring at the other pirate.
Pointing the two firearms at Luffy, Lou fired them both off multiple times without hesitation. A smirk marred the man's face as he saw the bullets had connected, but it vanished when he realized something wasn't right.
And then the bullets rebounded back at him, one of them barely missing his left hip. Shrieking, Lou stared at the rubber man in fear as Luffy just grinned in response.
"Won't work," Luffy told the pirate, who fell to his knees in disbelief. The intruder had just deflected at least half a dozen bullets – there wasn't anything else he could do to the monster. Don Krieg was the only one who could stand up to this freak, and after the straw hat had managed to luckily defeat the Captain earlier, they were in trouble.
Luffy grabbed the man's arm after a moment, hearing the banging and thumping coming from the barricaded door in the background, letting him know that the other pirates were still attempting to get through it.
"Now, show me to Gin," Luffy said to Lou, who reluctantly acquiesced. Not that he had a choice.
OOOOO
Billy leaned back in the wooden chair, putting his feet up on the corner of the table he was seated nearby. He folded his arms in front of himself as he let out a dull sigh, wishing he was anywhere else at that moment. Even the crow's nest was better than jail duty.
Glancing at the two prisoners currently occupying two of the eight available cells, the Krieg pirate zeroed in on his former superior. The man that had fallen out of favor was sitting in the center of his cell, his head lowered just enough that Billy couldn't tell if he was asleep or not. Either way, it didn't really matter, as the man wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Thinking of Gin, Billy reminded himself that it was about time for the ex-First Mate's daily bread and water. Don Krieg wouldn't forgive anyone if the man succumbed to starvation before the captain's say-so. The pirate shivered at the thought. To be on the receiving end of the captain's ire was not something Billy would wish on anyone, much less himself.
Turning to the other occupant of the small jail, Billy shook his head. The little brat had finally stopped crying, thankfully. Through the bars of her cell, he could see the annoying little girl sitting in the back of her cell, her arms wrapped around her knees with her head resting atop them. The only thing telling him that she was indeed awake was the slight tremble that went through her body every so often.
Unlike Gin, the girl had to be kept in better condition, so when her mealtime came around she would receive a good old bowl of slop and two glasses of water. It was practically a feast compared to what the former First Mate was getting.
That only went to show what disobeying the Don would get you, Billy mused to himself as he habitually adjusted his bandana.
Just then, there were three loud knocks on the jail door, disrupting his thoughts. Squinting in confusion, Billy dropped his feet from the table and stood up before making his way over to the door.
"Is my shift up already?" Billy wondered aloud as he pulled open the door, only to be met with a fist in his face.
OOOOO
The fat pirate with a bandana on his head collapsed from Luffy's blow, earning a satisfied grin from the rubber man.
With Lou in tow, Luffy stepped into the jail over the other pirate's limp body. Luffy's smile died when he looked around the cramped room.
There was a wide area up front near the door, with a couple of chairs and a table over to one side, before it led into a narrow aisle down the middle of the room, in between rows of small cells on either side. It looked like there were only four cells on each side, as there was only enough space for that many in the crowded jail.
A frail and gaunt bearded man that could only be Gin stared at him from the first cell on the right. His brown hair was a little longer than it used to be. He looked like he was just skin and bones, and Luffy noted with a twinge that he was bruised up quite a bit.
A dirty gray shirt hung from his body along with shorts in a similar state.
"Gin…" Luffy uttered in shock at the man's condition.
Luffy snapped his head around to glare at Lou, who he was holding by the arm. He tightened his grip on Lou as his anger rose and clenched his other fist.
"What is this," he growled at Krieg's new First Mate, demanding an explanation for Gin's less than satisfactory health. "Why does he look like Brooke?!"
Lou gulped, looking at Luffy fearfully. Stuttering, he answered, "W-well, he is b-being punished. D-Don Krieg o-ordered it so."
Lou scrunched his eyes up, preparing as much as he could for the inevitable hit. When it didn't come, he opened one eye a bit, but closed it again at the rubber man's steely look. Luffy gritted his teeth, itching to punch the man, but he abstained with the realization that he may still need him.
Luffy turned back to see Gin watching him quizzically, almost like he couldn't quite remember Luffy's name. When he met the man's eyes, they widened.
"…Luffy?" said Gin in a raspy voice, blinking a few times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "What are you…" he trailed off, leaving the rest of his question unspoken as he continued staring.
"Gin! I'm getting you out of here," he addressed the thin man sharply.
Gin averted his eyes. Raising a skinny hand up, Gin pointed over to the cell across the middle aisle, "Help her first."
Confused, Luffy glanced in the direction the former First Mate was gesturing. He stepped forward a few hurried steps, dragging Lou none too gently, and once again whipped his head back around to Lou in disgust at what he saw.
If anything his steely look had only become more intense after seeing a small girl huddled inside the dark corner of the other cell.
"Damn it...a little girl! What's wrong with you people?!" Luffy angrily asked the unfortunate pirate he had a hold of, simultaneously shaking him roughly.
Lou whimpered. "I-I'm s-sorry! I-It was Don Krieg's o-orders!"
"Don't give me that crap," Luffy snarled impatiently. "Why is she locked up here? What have you done to her?"
"W-we were sent to k-kidnap her for m-money! T-that's it, I swear! We h-haven't done anything else! S-someone Don Krieg knows asked us to do it, that's all!"
Luffy blew out a frustrated breath, glancing over to Gin. "Is he telling the truth, Gin?"
Gin nodded weakly, "Yep, 's far as I know. Haven't been privy to much info lately, ya know?"
Acknowledging that by grimacing, Luffy asked, "How long have you and her been here? I thought you said you were done following Krieg after I beat him last time."
"…I don't know how long I've been here. I haven't really been keeping track," Gin lamely told him, leaning his head back against the back wall of his cell.
Luffy gave Lou an expectant look.
"The girl's o-only been here a week. Gin…he's been here for probably a month now," Lou revealed quickly, shrinking away.
"I was done following him, Luffy, I was," Gin went on, addressing Luffy's latter comment. "But...well, after the Baratie things changed. I decided to stay and we sailed around for awhile just trying to rebuild the crew and our fleet so that we could travel back to the Grand Line again. It was working out pretty well for us, and Don Krieg was getting stronger all the time. We figured we'd actually have a real chance in the Grand Line, so we came here several months ago."
Gin shrugged, coughing a bit. "Ever since we got here though, Don Krieg's been getting us into some real bad stuff. Dangerous stuff. We've already lost a good portion of the crew we came to the Grand Line with, and it's only a matter of time before we're all killed. It's just been one thing after another, so I tried to put a stop to it. Most of the crew agreed with me on this even, that we needed to stop-"
"Let me guess, Don Krieg wouldn't listen?"
Gin bobbed his head, "Yeah, not only me either, he wouldn't even hear out the rest of the crew. Long story short, I ended up down here and he hasn't stopped. And now we've abducted some girl for who knows what reason! I'm sorry, Luffy, I should have listened to you and Sanji back then and got out while I still could."
Narrowing his eyes, Luffy dropped Lou's arm and told him to stay, before moving over to the front of Gin's cell.
He kicked the gated door in, breaking it open. "You can help me get her out, alright? And I'm getting you off this boat too."
Gin put a bony hand up to his forehead. "Why are you here, Luffy? Why are you helping me? After what I did at the Baratie and after I stayed with Don Krieg all this time, you should just let me rot."
"Because I know you aren't a bad person, Gin," Luffy answered seriously, grabbing the man's hand and pulling him to his feet. "Now, come on. Let's get outta here!"
Gin wobbled a bit shakily, but soon regained himself. "But how, Luffy? I don't know how you got down here, but Don Krieg won't let us go so easily."
"We'll be fine," Luffy assured him. "I've got a ride waiting for us, you know."
Gin considered the rubber man in front of him for a moment. "I...I've been ready to get away from this life for awhile now, I think. Not sure what I'll do if we get away from here alive…but hey, that can come later! Right?"
Luffy nodded, a grin on his face.
"Anyway...say, Luffy, how's that other guy doing? Is he with you still?"
"Sanji? Yeah, he's still in my crew," Luffy told him, smile widening at the mention of his cook. "Sorry though, he's not here now. We're all meeting back up in a few months. The Straw Hats took a little vacation, you could say."
"Ah," Gin replied neutrally. "That explains it. I wondered why you would be this far back in the Grand Line. How long have you been sailing here in the Grand Line? A couple of years at least, right?"
"Yep, somewhere around that long. Right now I'm just killing time until all of us meet back up…that's actually sort of how I ended up coming across this ship and finding you. Weird."
"Well I'm not complaining," Gin said. "I'd still be locked up in here if you hadn't shown up."
Luffy gave him a nod, "We should go. Can you fight?"
"Not very well I'd bet, but I probably look worse off than I really am. Hygiene hasn't been a top priority for awhile."
Luffy accepted that grimly. He walked over to the little girl's cell, who had silently been watching them with wide eyes ever since Luffy had entered the jail. Gin followed him a moment later.
After subtly checking to see if Lou the pirate had listened and stayed put, which he had, Luffy moved up against the bars and squatted down so that he was closer to being on the sitting girl's level.
She was young, couldn't have been older than 8 or 9. Her hair was a vibrant dark green color, though its overall unclean condition sullied it a bit. Brown, uncertain eyes stared back at him as he looked down at her.
He tried to put on his friendliest smile, showing her he meant her no harm.
"Hey, I'm here to help. I'm getting you out of here!" Luffy told her, getting her to raise her head up further in response. It looked like she didn't know whether to believe him or not, as if she thought it might be some bad joke or something.
His smile lessened as he continued peering at her, taking in more of her less than adequate condition.
She was very grimy and dirty, most likely due to her kidnapping, and Luffy could see evidence of tear streaks running down her pale cheeks. His resolve tightened as he thought about what the Krieg pirates had put her through. He couldn't even imagine what she must have been thinking in that situation, a little girl being abducted and all alone with these pitiful excuses for men. It was something that no little girl should have had to experience.
It made his blood boil, frankly, but he quelled his growing temper so that he could better focus on more important things. For instance, getting the girl out of her cage and away to safety.
In need of something to vent his anger out on, Luffy wasted no time in ripping the cell door off its hinges, tossing it aside where it clattered noisily on the wood floor. For some reason, just doing that one action was immensely satisfying to him.
At his forceful movement, the girl scooted further into the corner, clearly alarmed.
Putting his hands up in a placating fashion, Luffy said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." He stepped into the cell, crouching down a bit. "Are you hurt at all?"
The girl paused for a moment, before shaking her head. He continued inching toward her, noting how tense she was the closer he got. A few steps away from her, he halted, holding out his hand.
"C'mon now, I'll get you out of here, and away from these guys," he said, trying to exude warmth so as not to frighten her. After what she'd been through, he wouldn't be surprised if she shied away from him despite his claims to free her.
The girl bit her bottom lip nervously, glancing from his face to his outstretched hand several times. He wondered what was going on inside her head at that moment, but wasn't sure what else he could really do to make her trust him.
She eventually looked down at her curled up feet, only looking back up when he spoke again.
Luffy retracted his hand slightly when she didn't take it, simply saying, "What's your name?"
The pale girl sniffled. "Kimiko," she quietly answered, her voice small. She looked positively miserable. With good reason, he supposed.
He shook himself, another smile forming, "Nice to meet you, Kimiko. I'm Luffy!" Kimiko's eyes widened a bit at his loud introduction, not removing her eyes from him as he went on. "So, where are you from Kimiko? Where did these men…take…you from?"
Still eyeing him, Kimiko mumbled, "Martasa."
Her bottom lip began trembling as if she were trying to hold back a sob.
Luffy frowned, both because he did not wish to upset her and because he had no idea where this Martasa was. Or what it was, for that matter. Was it a town? A village? Or was it an island? It could have even been a ship for all that he knew.
"Hey now, no worries, I'll make sure you get back home safely. I promise!" Luffy grinned confidently, trying to calm her down.
Kimiko looked at him hopefully, choking a bit on her words. "R-really? You would do that?"
He took a step closer to her. "Of course! These people had no right kidnapping you."
Aware that she'd noticed him move next to her, Luffy once again offered her a hand. "Here, Kimiko, take my hand so I can get you out of here. I won't let them hurt you anymore!"
The green-haired girl gave him a watery smile, hesitantly reaching out and placing a small, delicate hand in his.
"Okay," she agreed, as he helped her up. She was rather short, only coming up to his waistline. Not that he expected anything different, seeing as how she was a child.
Her nose scrunched up as she looked down at herself, apparently not liking her unkempt and grimy state very much. The flowery kid dress she was wearing was ruined beyond repair and she seemed quite upset about that.
When the girl looked back up to him, noticing him watching her, she smiled meekly at him.
"Cheer up, Kimiko, you'll be home in no time!"
Luffy started escorting her out of the cramped cell and over to the door, where Gin and Lou were trading a few words of their own. Shockingly, it appeared that they weren't at odds.
As Luffy approached, holding Kimiko's hand at his side, he was able to hear part of their conversation.
"…don't blame you, Lou. You don't have to apologize to me."
Lou put a hand on Gin's shoulder. "Oh, well, Gin…look…again, it's nothing personal. I'm just following the captain's orders, y'know? I don't have the balls to go against him like you did."
Gin gave him a nod, "Yeah, gotcha. No hard feelings."
Luffy, not being able to take it any longer, broke in with an incredulous look on his face. "Gin! After everything they did, you're going to forgive them just like that? Why?"
Sighing, Gin shook his head and turned to Luffy. "Luffy, the main problem is Don Krieg. Not the crew. Lou here isn't one of the bad ones."
Lou nodded appreciatively at Gin's admission, confirming his words.
The rubber man grunted in confusion, shrugging. "Huh, I don't get it at all. But whatever, do what you want. I'm getting hungry now, so let's just get outta here."
Rubbing his belly lightly with the hand that was not holding Kimiko's, Luffy remembered something he was going to ask.
"Hey, Kimiko," he said, looking down at her. "So where is this Martasa? Is it in the Grand Line?"
Kimiko opened her mouth, but then shut it, her small eyes narrowing. "Y-you don't know where to go?"
"Well, no," Luffy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, chuckling. "I haven't been there before so I don't know how to get there. Do you?"
Kimiko dropped his hand, giving him a disappointed look. "Not without a Log. Don't you know anything?"
"Don't worry, Kimiko, we just need to find one of those Logs for Martasa then!"
Gin cleared his throat. "The Krieg pirates have an Eternal Pose to Martasa, Luffy. I know for a fact the guy who hired Don Krieg gave him one."
Luffy gave Kimiko a lopsided grin, "See, Kimi! We're fine. We just have to take theirs!"
Kimiko didn't say anything, but seemed to accept it nonetheless.
Luffy glanced at Gin. "Who's this guy that hired you all? Do you know why he wanted Kimiko?"
Gin met Lou's eyes, nodding slightly at the new First Mate. "Lou here would know more than I would. I was locked up shortly after we were hired."
They all turned to Lou. Lou looked a little hesitant about revealing the information, aware of what the consequences would be.
Gin put a hand on his mate's shoulder, "Don doesn't have to know you said anything. I certainly won't tell him. Besides, you can always just say Luffy forced you to tell him. Yeah?"
Tilting his head, Lou appeared to consider Gin's words. "Right. Well, the guy, I don't know his name. Even the Captain doesn't know it, he only knows of him. The man contacted Don Krieg and told him to meet him on Ilias. So that's where me and Don went."
Lou shrugged. "That's all I know. Although, when we got to the meeting place, I don't think we met the same guy that first contacted the Captain. Whoever that man was, he sent someone else to the meeting to relay the details of the mission."
Luffy blinked as he thought about what Lou had just told them. Whoever hired the Krieg pirates obviously wanted to stay anonymous, but for what reason? There was definitely something odd about all of this.
"Where did you meet?" he asked Lou, causing the pirate to contract his eyebrows.
"Uh…it was some place called The Tally, or The Tilly. Or maybe The Telly. I'm not sure," Lou replied uncertainly, a hand rising to his chin.
It was probably someplace nondescript, Luffy figured, somewhere where they wouldn't draw attention. Whoever this shady mystery man was, Luffy didn't like him already. Anyone that hired people to kidnap little girls was probably not the most upstanding citizen out there.
"So where were you supposed to take her then? Back to that place?" Luffy inquired, wondering if maybe there was a way he might be able to confront the man. Or at least whoever he sent in his place.
Lou shook his head, "Yeah, we were just told to hand her off there as soon as we were able. That's when we're getting the rest of our pay too."
Luffy was silent as he contemplated. Maybe he would have to stop by…and teach whoever was waiting there a lesson. It's not like he was in a hurry to do something else or anything. He still had a couple months until he was due at the Thousand Sunny.
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by shouts outside the jail.
"I found him! He's in the jail!" a pirate yelled from in the hallway leading to the jail, pointing at Luffy and running forward toward the open door to the jail.
Others made to follow, letting out battle cries, but before any could enter the jail Luffy rushed over and slammed the door shut. He locked it with the deadbolt, and barricaded it as well as possible with the table and chairs available.
"Looks like they finally caught up to you," Gin observed grimly. "How did you get so far ahead of them anyway? I figured they would have been down here by now."
Luffy didn't say anything back, too busy situating the table up against the door, so Lou enlightened him.
"He barricaded the door through the kitchen, so all of them had to go around the long way below deck. I don't think it'll work as well this time though…" he finished, a tinge of hopefulness coloring his voice just as banging could be heard on the other side of the door as the Krieg pirates attempted to break through. It rattled from the battering, threatening to give in.
Gin agreed, less happily than Lou of course.
Kimiko screamed, her eyes wide as she tugged on the edge of Luffy's shorts, "Mister! How are we going to get out of here with all of them out there?"
"We'll be fine, Kimiko, calm down. Here, come here," he said, bending down and picking her up.
She threw her arms over his shoulders and around his neck, wrapping her legs tightly around his abdomen as his left arm went around her back, supporting her. Sniffing, she closed her eyes and put her head onto his shoulder, resting her face into where his left shoulder met his neck. Not loosening her grip, Kimiko tried to drown out everything, focusing on the strong arms holding her.
Luffy adjusted himself to the added weight before facing Gin, hurriedly asking, "Gin, what's above us?"
This drew a confused glance from the former First Mate, but he responded anyway. "Er, the deck, Luffy. Why?"
Luffy grinned deviously, "Great!"
Without preamble, the rubber man flung his right foot upward, kicking through the ceiling of the jail as hard as he could. Wood splintered against his sandaled foot and a wide hole was ripped opened above them from the force he put behind the kick, as wood literally erupted up and over the deck of the ship. Some flew up high and landed out into the water, but much of it was not disposed of so nicely, instead falling straight back down onto the ship.
Gin and Lou both dropped their jaws, but were quickly forced to put their arms up over their face to deflect the falling remains of the jail ceiling.
"What the f-" cried Lou, though the rest of his words were drowned out by the noise of both the wood clattering all over the place and the collective shouts of discord from up on the deck at the raining wood.
Shielding Kimiko against him, Luffy stretched his free arm up to the top of the hole and pulled himself up and onto the deck, carefully avoiding the jagged, splintered edges of the hole even while wood bits continued showering down on them. He mostly ignored the flying wood pieces, taking only enough care to ensure that none hit the girl in his arms.
He shot his free arm back down into the jail and grabbed Gin by the collar of his ratty shirt, who in a panic latched onto Lou just as Luffy's arm began retracting, ending up roughly flinging both of them up atop the deck where they landed in a clumsy pile of limbs.
Groaning, the two sorely rose to their feet, cursing the rubber man.
Cracking his fists in annoyance, Gin aggressively turned to Luffy, ready to show him just what exactly he thought about being thrown about like a rag doll. However, all thoughts of scolding Luffy fizzled out when he became fully aware of their surroundings.
He froze at what welcomed them.
Luffy patted Kimiko on the back, prompting her to raise her head and glance around. "We got out of there, Kimi. Look! We're free…" he trailed off as he also scanned his surroundings with wide eyes.
All around them, hundreds of pirates stood crowded together filling up the wide deck area, all of them carrying an assortment of weapons and glaring at him menacingly. He didn't remember this many men being up here when he'd first arrived…
Laughing nervously, he greeted them, "What's up, guys?"
Kimiko whimpered, clutching him tighter. She knew it was hopeless though. There was practically an entire army surrounding them.
Luffy gave her a reassuring squeeze as his attention focused on all of the pirates, who by now were steadily closing in.
"I'm not looking for any trouble here, just let me go and we'll be good," he tried, smilingly winningly at as many of his opponents as possible.
"Luffy, there's too many of them. I don't think even you can take all of them at once," Gin warned quietly from behind him, where he was standing next to Lou.
All of the pirates now surrounding them provided Lou with all of the courage he needed. Smugly stepping away from Gin with a smirk, his submissive attitude did a 180 degree turn as he joined his ship mates.
The new First Mate faced Luffy. "Face it, punk, we'll overwhelm you now. Reinforcements have arrived from the other ships in our fleet, and you can't win against all of us. Surrender," the pirate demanded, sneering at Luffy.
Lou next looked to Gin, "Gin, help us fight and you might be forgiven. Don Krieg might let you go then. Or you can die with this fool. It's your choice." The former First Mate's only outward reaction to Lou's words was a slight widening of his eyes, but Luffy could tell that Gin's thoughts were reeling as he weighed his options.
Kimiko shifted in Luffy's arms a bit, but kept her head buried in his shoulder, as if that would make it all go away. Silently making sure she was still okay, Luffy swiveled around and glanced over at Gin curiously, wondering what he was going to do. He'd let the man make his choice now, before he took care of all these other Krieg pirates.
If Gin stayed by his side, then great. Everything would be dandy. But if Gin decided to abandon him now and join the enemy, then so be it. He'd end up on the losing side if he did that, but it would be his own fault. Luffy honestly wasn't sure which way Gin would lean, as he'd only met him that one time at the Baratie, but he hoped the man would make the right decision here.
Gin did not meet his eyes, instead looking at Lou resolutely. "So it's like that then, is it, Lou? Where is Don Krieg anyway? Why isn't he here?"
Lou's expression darkened at the question. "That guy with the straw hat beat him," he said shortly, giving Luffy a cutting glance as he did so.
"Wh-…he did? Again?" Gin responded in disbelief, raising his eyebrows. "But how? Don Krieg even ate a Devil Fruit to become stronger."
He finally made eye contact with Luffy, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe Krieg would lose again.
"Huh? Did he really?"
"Wait, didn't Lou just say you fought him?" Gin asked in confusion, looking at Lou questioningly. "Shouldn't you have seen it then?"
"I guess I didn't really give him the chance to show me," Luffy laughed.
Lou nodded reluctantly, "He knocked the Boss out in one blow, Gin. Lucky shot if you ask me."
Gin whistled at that, but Luffy looked indignant. "Oi, stupid! That was not just a lucky shot, I'll have you know!"
Many shouts of disagreement from the Krieg pirates surrounding them met Luffy's claim.
"Don Krieg is the best!"
"He wouldn't lose so easily like that normally!"
"Liar! The Don just wasn't trying, he was sleepy!"
"The Boss is strong, you got lucky, kid!"
Luffy was about to scream out how delusional they all were, but Lou's low toned speaking halted him. "Well, Gin? What's it gonna be?"
Luffy watched Gin, practically seeing the man's brain cogs turning.
Would he stay on Luffy's side? Or switch back to the Krieg pirates at the apparent overwhelming odds? It was a toss up, the pressure and tension rising as the entire boat full of men waited to hear Gin's answer with bated breath.
Finally, Krieg's ex-First Mate made a decision.
"I'm not a Krieg pirate, and I haven't been one for awhile, Lou," Gin started out, a shit-eating grin forming across his face. "I'm sticking with Luffy, even if it means death. So bring it on, you guys!" Gin declared, relieving Luffy slightly as the gaunt man maneuvered his body into a weak defensive stance.
Luffy grinned, the man was about to find out that he'd just made the right choice.
Gin stepped closer to Luffy, facing the opposite way so they were back-to-back. Grunting, Gin took a shaky breath. "Sorry, Luffy, but I won't be much help here. I don't have my tonfa, not to mention my weak body."
Luffy hadn't really expected much from him anyway, so this didn't surprise him all that much. "No worries, Gin. We'll be fine," he replied, though Gin probably took it as empty, optimistic words.
Lou was not as happy about Gin's answer as Luffy was. "Gin! If that's how you want it, then...fine! Just remember, you chose this! Don't blame me when you're thrown back in your cell!"
Gin's jaw tightened, slowly glancing around at his former crew mates. "All of you guys, you should take a close look at what you want here. Don Krieg will only lead you to devastation if you keep on letting him, and I know most of you agree with this! It wasn't that long ago that you were backing me when I first brought this up with him!"
Lou scoffed before raising his hand into the air, now clutching a sword. "Men! Enough chatter! Capture Gin, but kill the intruder! We must avenge the Captain's defeat! ATTACK!"
And that's a wrap, people. Well, not really. Heh.
Not a masterpiece by any means, but I hope it was at least somewhat entertaining. Until next time...