The humidity in the air weighed heavily in their lungs. Try as they might not to breathe in too deep, it couldn't be helped as they went down, down and even further down. Each step they took felt more tiring than the last; each minute, longer. Ace and Marco did a damn good job of lighting the way with their orange and blue flames. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't worth jack shit if the path ahead kept spiraling downwards. They had no way of seeing past the next step that rounded into the nothingness.
They weren't sure if they were going the right way. Or if there even existed a right way, for that matter. Nor did they know what would happen if the path they chose turned out to be the wrong choice; except, of course, for Ellie. But she was still having an internal debate as to whether or not she should warn them of what they were headed towards.
She should. Hell yes she should. Why the hell even have this discussion with herself?
On the other hand… no. Fuck no, she shouldn't.
They won't trust you, they won't trust you, the voice nagged in her head, sounding much like a mantra. They'll think you're in cahoots with the Thieves. They'll blame you for all of this. Accuse you of betraying them. After all, what are you to them, other than some girl their Captain pitied enough help?
Does it really matter though? If it's for the sake of self-preservation? As long as the results ended with her— them— being alive, does it really matter if they stop trusting her along the way? As the voice said, she's nothing to them, and likewise, they're nothing to her. Instead of caring that they'll stop trusting her, she should care more about saving her ass and being able to go on with her life when all is said and done. If they decide she's an enemy, that's on them.
Ellie sighed, running a hand through her hair. Her eyes skirted the edge of every shadow, occasionally studying the backs of the men ahead of her. For their part, they kept extremely calm. A tad cloak of tension hovered between them, but it was hardly noticeable within their confident strides and determined faces.
Three of the five were devil fruit users.
She swore the sound of water appeared at the thought.
Water and fruit users don't mix. That was the understatement of a lifetime. They may end up dead and it would be all Ellie's fault. After all, there were two kinds of evil in this world; those who do evil, and those who see evil yet do nothing to stop it. The person who does nothing to stop evil from occurring is just as responsible for it, even if indirectly. Could she really live with herself if they got to the Water Room and shit ensued? Live with herself after, essentially, killing three good men over something as silly as not wanting to be mistrusted? Emotions are the weakness of efficiency and this odd desire for their acceptance did nothing but hinder her from doing the sensible thing.
Mind finally made up, Ellie's mouth opened and closed as she fought to think of the right words to say. Though something which everyone should always keep in mind, especially when making a life-or-death decision, is: time matters. And it's a tricky thing that never stops ticking, even while you're in the middle of trying to decide on the right thing to do. Or, rather, especially when you're in the middle of deciding on the right thing to do.
"Hey look! A door!" Ace's eyes lit up. Finally. Something other than a downward spiral. He was starting to think this stair case was an endless one.
"'bout time. I was starting to get dizzy." Marco muttered.
"I don't think we should go through that door." Ellie blurted.
The Commanders looked to her. Marco had something like exasperation in his eyes. It threw Ellie off for a moment but she continued on.
"Guys, really now. The stupid Cat Man locked us in a room with only one possible exit. Why that one exit? Probably because there's something beyond it which they planned for us to fall for. Instead of following what they designed for us to follow, shouldn't we just give them the metaphorical finger by making our own exit?"
Marco sighed. Ace and Jozu sported these expressions that cried, "Coward!"; Vista and Thatch showed a little more sympathy. Vista approached Ellie, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Listen, nena," he started. She blinked at the Spanish nick-name. "We're all well aware of that possibility. Don't take us not talking about it as us not taking it seriously."
"Yeah, we know shit may hit the fan as soon as we get to the end here." Thatch nodded.
"Frankly we just don't care." Ace shrugged. "We can handle anything thrown our way."
A frown tugged Ellie's lips down as she stared at the men. She looked Ace up and down before asking, "Even a Water Room?"
He raised a curious eyebrow, as did the other Commanders. Fidgeting, Ellie tapped her foot on the ground before taking a deep breath and just going along with it. No taking it back now.
Welcome to the world of distrust, the voice smiled.
"Okay let me be real with you guys." She ran a hand through her hair before looking to Marco; Marco being the one she felt the most distrust come from. "I know more than I let on. You can sort of say it's my business to know what others don't, y'know? I already know the basic layout of this particular hideout. I wish I knew every nook and cranny as that'd be damn useful right about now but whatever. Point is, I already know where this stair case leads to. I know! Just like I know the second stair case we could've chosen leads to the same. Exact. Place. As this one, and that place is the Water Room and the Water Room sucks, especially if you're a fruit-user."
Silence. Blinks. Exchanged looks. Marco was the first to speak.
"What's the Water Room?" He had other questions, but this one took precedence, he felt.
"A room that fills with water." She said, as if that should've been the most obvious thing in the world.
"But wha— how exactly—?"
"That I don't know. Not well, anyway. Through some kind of sprinkler system. Either way, once the door closes behind us, there's no way to open it from the inside."
"And you waited until now to tell us something because—?"
"— because I thought it'd seem too fishy if I just said, 'Oh hey, by the way, I know this hideout as if I've worked here for months through means which I refuse to reveal but I'm definitely not working with the Thieves so trust a total stranger like me'! You can't blame me for not trusting you guys to trust me, especially after all that damn eyeballing you've—" She pointed an accusatory finger at Marco here. "—been doing of me!"
She sighed after her little rant, pinching the bridge of her nose to regain her composure. "It's hard to trust people you don't know. I'm well aware. I thought the best way to account for that would be to omit some unnecessary information at the time that may needlessly raise your suspicions of me. If I had known the Thieves anticipated our arrival I would have gladly let you guys in on more of what I know."
And now was the time to shut up and figure out where to go from here. Ellie stopped her fidgeting, standing straight and staring at them. They could practically see the challenge in her eyes, daring them to question her intentions; daring them to reject the honesty she so handed them. That queer look re-surfaced in Marco's face. Ace's eyebrow lowered from its spot on his forehead, now gazing at her with something close to understanding. Jozu and Vista were speechless, overloaded with the sudden information.
Thatch was smiling and Ellie couldn't for the life of her figure out why.
"I believe you." He said. It didn't do much to calm her, though she felt much more relieved than she'd like to admit.
"You do?" she asked, becoming aware of just how much she was suddenly blinking.
"Yeah, why not?" Thatch lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug. "I somehow doubt this is all an elaborate plan between you and the Thieves to lure us into a trap. I saw them chasing you the other day, remember, and they stole from you too."
"You don't really look like a bad person, anyway." Vista, getting over his speechlessness, chuckled.
"Looks can be deceiving." Ellie countered.
"They said they believe you. Are you really trying to argue with that?" Ace asked.
"Well, no! I'm just saying." Ellie waved her hands in defense.
"So there's a 'Water Room.'" Marco sighed. His eyes were closed in thought. "And both these spiral staircases lead to it."
When he re-opened his eyes, it was to look at Ellie. "Do you know if anything lies beyond the Water Room?"
"No." she shook her head. "All I could gather about it is that there are no exits. Only entrances."
"This Water Room… why is it here? As a torture chamber or what?"
"I believe so."
"Then they likely have a special exit of sorts, one they drag the bodies into to dispose of them."
Marco glanced around to the other Commanders.
"We keep going. Three of us will go in, three of us will hold the door open to make sure the room doesn't activate. We'll find a way to continue through and get the hell out of this place," here he paused and turned to Ellie. "even if it means giving them the metaphorical finger and making our own exit."
"Sounds like a plan." Thatch grinned. "Who does what?"
"Well the logical thing to do would be have us fruit users hold the door open while you normal ones go in and look around."
"What if it's pitch black in there?" Ace asked. "I should light the way for them."
"I've got a flashlight." Ellie patted one of the numerous pouches hanging on her belt.
"Just one?"
"Of course not."
Thatch was staring at Ellie's belt for the first time since meeting the girl. "You… you have a utility belt. What the hell."
As he laughed, amused by this fact, the girl in question just shrugged.
"Fuck if I'm going to be stuck somewhere with no resources." She muttered. His laughing picked up.
"All you need is a Bat Suit now!"
She ran a hand through her hair, defeated smile on her face.
Jozu stood at the door, studying it with some level of apprehension. It was made of a sturdy steel, coated black with dirt and looking worse for wear. Running a hand along it, he noticed a sudden weakness course through him; his body feeling warm-blooded and normal. He frowned.
"This has Seastone in it." He said. Marco shrugged, staring at the door.
"That's fine. As long as we don't let it close on them."
"Let's get this over with."
Vista, Thatch and Ellie stood before the door. All the worry she felt was gone, her conscience free of the weight plaguing it earlier. Whatever happens, at least she tried to make things better. Marco opened the door for them; as expected, they were greeted with the darkness living in this entire underground passageway. Ellie took out three small flashlights from one of her pouches, throwing one at Thatch and Vista.
Jozu, being the biggest of them all, stood with his back holding the door as wide open as possible; that is to say, the door was flushed against the outer wall. Marco and Ace positioned themselves on the door frame, ready to stop the door from closing should Jozu somehow lose his balance and let it go. Marco also doubled as watch. No way would he let his brothers go into a room like this unsupervised and with a strange girl. He studied Ellie for a moment, her earlier explanation still playing in his mind alongside what Pops told him the day before, when he asked to meet with Marco.
Keep an eye on the girl, Whitebeard had advised. He kept a good poker face, making it hard for Marco to read into his words. Tell me everything she does, everything she says. He didn't give Marco an explanation; simply dismissed him to help gather provisions. Marco didn't know what to make of it at the time so he went with being suspicious. Maybe he wasn't wrong to. It's her business to know what others don't? Just what the hell was that supposed to mean? He frowned.
Thatch, Vista and Ellie walked into the room, flashlights on and looking around. The floor squished and squelched under their feet, that stale smell wafting into their noses with each step. Water dripped from somewhere unknown, the sound noticed by all and their tension amplifying it. Humidity made the room warm, heavier in here than out there. It filled their lungs, pressed against their chests so it was harder to breathe. It didn't help that they were way below in the ground where very little oxygen lived. Ellie figured that was the point of having a room like this underground; with so little oxygen, people could drown much faster. The thought disturbed her.
"I'll check this wall and you check that one." Thatch said to Vista, his face much more serious than before. Vista nodded and wasted no time in approaching one of the walls.
For a time, relative silence reigned as the trio searched as much of the walls as possible, looking for anything that may indicate an entrance lay beneath their fingers. The impossible amount of cracks etched into the walls like intricate spider web designs didn't help; on many occasions Ellie thought she found something only to realize it was nothing at all. The drippings of the water continued on, louder still now that the sound of their voices didn't compete with it.
Drip…
Thatch swore under his breath, wiping sweat off his forehead.
drip…
Vista took in a warm breath, wishing for cooler air.
drip…
Jozu couldn't help but notice the door against his back seemed to be getting hotter the longer he held it open. He didn't know if it was his imagination or if he was just warming the metal surface. At the same time as this, Marco noticed Ellie was suddenly crouched low to the ground, inclining her head very close to it. Her eyes narrowed, brows furrowed, fixed on one spot of the ground where the wall meets the floor. Interestingly enough, she held her ear close to it as if listening.
A low, steady hum greeted her ears. It was faint. If she breathed any louder, she wouldn't be able to hear it anymore. Wiping some sweat from her eyes, she pressed her palm to the ground at the same time Jozu pressed his palm against the door;
Ellie flinched.
Jozu hissed.
And the others stopped to stare stupidly at them.
"The hell was that?" Ace asked, twitchy enough as it is from not knowing the status of the rest of the crew.
Ellie stared at her hand with mild perplexity. "The ground burned me."
If she didn't have sleeves that covered her palms, she was sure there would be blisters forming about now.
"The door burned me." Jozu said. He kept his back to it despite this. It only burnt when his bare skin was against the metal.
Marco poked the door with his finger. After a second, he blinked. Oh yeah. He pulled it away.
That was strangely hot.
"Why'd you touch the ground in the first place?" Ace asked Ellie. She looked up from her hands.
"Well I hear a humming from here." She said. "I wanted to see if I could figure out where it's coming from."
Ace walked over to where she stood, dropping to the ground and listening just as intently as she had a moment before. He held his hands against the floor, the heat being no problem to him for obvious reasons. It vibrated in tune with the faint humming, almost like a little massage to his hand. Ellie watched him as his eyebrow rose.
"There must be a generator." He said. "If it's a motor that would explain why it's hot."
"That wouldn't explain why the door is hot as well." Vista pointed out.
Ellie shrugged. "Could be rigged as part of the torture. Not only do you drown, but you boil first. Wouldn't be the first time someone's thought of it."
"I'm going to ignore that last sentence." Ace said, leveling a straight face at her. She smiled momentarily, dropping it when Marco spoke.
"Oi, Ace, since you're there why not try digging until you reach the generator?" Marco held one hand to his chin in thought.
Ace shot Marco the same look he just gave Ellie.
"If you want a generator to work, you don't just shove it into a hole and cover it with dirt. You set up a room for it, with working electricity and maintenance access and all that shit. I know this may be too much for your little brain to understand but it would be good for us to find it. Just trust me, eh." A smirk made its way across Marco's face as Ace grabbed a fistful of dirt and threw it at him.
"If you're going to find this generator, make it quick." Jozu huffed. "This door is starting to heat up my armor. Won't be much longer 'til it starts to burn me."
"On it." Ace nodded, placing his palms on the ground again and moving them around carefully. If he moved in a certain direction, the already faint vibration disappeared. If he moved another way, it became stronger. After a few minutes of feeling up the ground, he picked the spot where he felt it vibrate the strongest and began digging with his bare hands. Ellie stepped back so as not to get hit by the dirt, taking the time to think this over. Okay. Generator. It'll be inside a room, most likely, and where there's a room there's a way out. The Thieves are clever, but probably not clever enough to have adequate foresight. The chances of people in this room ever making it to the Generator Room were slim to non-existent, especially considering the effect panicking had on a person's ability to think.
She could feel a bit of hope blossom in her. They stood a chance of making it out. Closing her eyes, she envisioned the layout of the hide-out. So maybe she exaggerated a little bit when she said she knew everything there is to know about this place, but who doesn't? Especially while in the throes of a heated moment.
Think, Ellie, think.
There's the main entrance of the hideout. Nice, small room. Then the staircase. Mostly a straight shot, but curved a little as it reached its end. To the right, the bedding area. To the left, a hidden door. But that door didn't lead to anything special, as far as she could remember. It was more of an emergency supply room so she doubted treasure would be hidden there. So bedding area and then… spiral stair cases. That couldn't be it though. Lines formed into her brow as she thought this over.
There's a generator under this room, meaning there must be a lower level beneath them. If there is a third doorway, it must lead to that lower level. Or to a whole new area of the hideout she didn't know about. Perhaps one that leads to the alternate exit she and Jozu found. Fuck. Why did this have to happen before she had the chance to acquire more knowledge? One week more of research on this island and she would have had all this information under her belt already but no. Just her luck.
Ellie reopened her eyes. By now, Ace had dug fairly deep into the ground. At the door, Jozu was beginning to sweat heavily from the prolonged contact of a constantly heating door. Hell, the air in the very room was warming at an alarming rate. If Ace didn't dig fast enough, Ellie was sure they would become baked goods.
Fortunately for them all, Ace did manage to get to the bottom of the dirt. He realized this when his fingers crashed against something hard. He passed his hands over the new-found floor, clearing dirt from a decent-sized space on it. Unfortunately for them, it was a floor made of Seastone. He sighed irritably as he felt the all-too-familiar draining of his energy as he touched the floor.
"There's no doubt this is where it's at." He called to Marco's direction. "I can hear and feel it at this spot. Problem is, the damn floor's made of Seastone. Not even Jozu can break through something like that."
"Team attack?" Thatch said. "Jozu by himself can't break it bu-u-u-t Jozu times Ace times Vista times Marco times Me probably can."
Marco pursed his lips, hand-on-chin.
"That would be a fine idea if we didn't risk exploding the generator with it, eh." Marco shook his head.
"We've survived canon fire and a bunch of other shit. How bad could one little explosion be?" Ace shrugged.
"Yea-a-a-h… I'm not freakishly tough or a mutant like you guys are. An explosion would be pretty bad for me." Ellie said slowly. "I'd appreciate it if we could avoid that."
"More importantly, we would risk caving ourselves in. The floor has to have a weak spot. They all do." Marco said. Ellie sighed.
"Okay so guys this is a water room… water falls from the ceiling through some kind of plumbing system that's been installed within the walls. Marco has established that there's probably some kind of third entrance that's used as an exit for the bodies but maybe there's also a drainage system at play here? I mean surely they don't just open the doors and let the water flood the halls just to get to the bodies, especially considering we're underground and the water would have nowhere to go."
"Your point?" Jozu asked.
"Point being if there's a weak spot in the floor, it would have to be at one of the drainage holes. In fact, for a room this large, I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find one of these drainage holes. If we get to one, you guys could do your team work shit and get us through the wall and into the room below and hey! Problem solved."
Marco nodded as she spoke, eyeing her again. The shadows of suspicion lined his gaze but he shook it off.
"Sounds like a plan enough." He said. Ace took that as the okay to shove the dirt around, with Ellie carefully joining him. She had to wear protective gloves that she carried in one of her belt pouches, but never mind that.
One of the drainage holes was much quicker to find than digging through the dirt to reach the floor. What's more, it was fairly close to where they figured the generator to be, meaning it would surely lead to the room under them. A stroke of luck after a series of unfortunate ones. Ace stood straight and wiped way-ward dirt off of himself as Vista and Thatch made their way over. Jozu looked at Marco, frowning.
"It would be best if I joined in too. But this door needs to stay open."
"I'll hold it open for now. Better you than me." Marco said. Ellie walked over to them, holding up her now-gloved hands.
"I can do it." She said. "I'm really not strong enough a person to break through things but I'm pretty sure I'm strong enough to hold a door open. I hope."
Marco sighed but nodded nonetheless. Ellie eased herself in front of the door, arms behind her back with the palms against the stone, allowing Jozu to be able to let go of it. Her jaw automatically clenched as the heat of the door got through her heat-resistant gloves, but she sucked it in. She wouldn't get blisters, at the very least.
The Commanders all circled themselves around the drainage hole, truly a fearsome sight to behold.
"Nothing that can cause an explosion, alright?" Marco instructed, to which they nodded. "On the count of three."
"One."
They threw their arms back, Vista and Thatch opting to use their swords.
"Two."
Ellie blinked, hearing some echoes emanating from the stair case they came from.
"Three!"
A thunderous clash of sound shook the area as the five Commanders launched their attacks in perfect sync. The poor floor just didn't stand a chance, even if the Seastone it was made from was stronger than diamond. The sound of rocks crumbling followed the clash and Ellie noted with undisguised amazement that the cracks extended to the very ends of the room. The vibration of the room lasted a good minute after the attack was finished and for a moment, the risk of the room caving in became a very real possibility.
But no such thing happened, much to their relief; instead, just as they hoped, they were able to make a hole in the floor. Add to that the fact a Generator Room did indeed exist. Grins spread across their faces and even Ellie managed to smile, despite the increasing heat hurting her hands. The smile dropped, however, when she heard a voice that didn't belong to them:
"What the hell was that?" it shouted, disgruntled. Hurried footsteps followed it, belonging to more than one person.
"Guys, we've got company!" Ellie snapped her attention to the Commanders.
"Shut the door and let's get going." Marco ordered, having taken a quick survey of the room below them.
"Alright but the water is gonna start pouring as soon as it closes." Ellie warned. The approaching footsteps were getting louder by the second; no longer being able to withstand the heat anyway, she let go of the door and stepped into the room. It slammed with a resounding click, the whirring of gears starting up and the heavy rush of water rumbling within the ceiling following not long after.
The Commanders started jumping into the hole they made, Thatch waiting for Ellie before going in himself. As Ellie reached the hole, she could hear the same disgruntled voice form earlier at the door.
"Inform the boss! They've gone and done something!"
She doesn't know if they said anything beyond that; she jumped down into the room below, landing quite easily on her two feet. Thatch landed next to her, and all of them could feel water beginning to drip onto their heads. Marco was already looking around for a door in the rather large and surprisingly clean room; after spending a long time in a darkened room, the brightness of the white walls in this one blinded them a little. It disturbed Ellie that the hole was almost right above the generator. If they didn't leave soon and the water started pouring into it…
She took a glance around, her eyes adjusting to the brightness. Their section of the room had a see-through wall separating it from the rest, parallel tubes of wires lining the wall behind the generator. The wires, which were connected to it, dug into the ceiling, disappearing from sight. Beyond the see-through wall, which had a door-shaped opening, was the bulk of the room. One section had cabinets, possibly for typical maintenance tools; the middle of the room had a table with papers strewn about it; but what really caught their attention was the furthest wall from them.
The entire thing had security monitors set up on it. On their level was a control panel, with buttons and joysticks to toggle the view on each camera. From there on, up until the ceiling, were the monitors; some of them offered a view of the inside of the hideout, with some showing the perimeters of it. Others were set up scattered about the city and the docks, offering different views of the different districts.
The disturbing thing about it was all the fighting they could see happening in the city.
Marines were attacking the pirates, citizens of Alegria running for cover. Their fellow Commanders did most of the fighting, ushering their brothers towards the Moby Dick. They could see the Moby Dick in one of the cameras and watched as Whitebeard deflected cannonballs from it, trying to keep it floating so they could sail away in it.
The sound of cackling electricity pulled them out of their stupor.
"Shit! We need to get out of here!" Ace was the first to speak, slightly panicked.
"So this was a trap." Marco cursed. This explained a lot. They've been under watch by the Thieves ever since they set foot upon the island. No amount of sneaking could have gotten them around this extensive surveillance system.
"C'mon, let's go!" Thatch reached the only door in the room first, pulling it open. The Cat Man from earlier stood behind it, the ghost of a smile gracing his face.
"I shouldn't have underestimated all of you." He purred, tail flicking as he strolled passed Thatch and into the room. Everyone froze in their place, staring at him with undisguised disgust.
"But it doesn't really matter, I imagine." He continued on unperturbed by their looks, circling around them as he spoke. He was met with nothing but glares as the Commanders felt their anger flare.
"You saw us through the video den-den-mushi, didn't you?" Marco asked, keeping a level head despite his anger.
"Why of course. We watch everyone who enters this island 24/7. Especially high caliber pirates such as yourselves. My men may be a little on the… dimwitted… side, but that doesn't mean I am too. I know how to compensate for their slip-ups."
"Don't you think you're a bit dimwitted yourself? My good man, you must have realized how incredibly stupid it was to mess with the Whitebeard pirates." Thatch offered him a sardonic smile. The Cat Man simply shrugged.
"Your arrogance will be your down fall." He sighed, stopping his pace. "You want your precious treasure? Go through this door, up the stairs and open the door to the left. That's where we keep all of our money, and you'll find another set of stairs in there which will lead you to the hotel exit. Feel free to take as much as you want; you shan't get very far with it, I don't think. "
"Challenge accepted." Marco said, eyes glinting.
One by one the Commanders began leaving, running up the stairs. Marco noticed Ellie had been crouched at the generator this whole time, doing who-knows-what, before realizing they were leaving. His eyebrow quirked up as he hadn't seen her go over to it, but he said nothing as she trotted her way to the door. The Cat Man studied her curiously as she made her way up the stairs and out of sight, tilting his head.
"I'm surprised you have a sneak with you." He commented to Marco. Marco furrowed his brow, his earlier suspicion returning once again. Casting the Cat Man one last, hard, look, he turned and slammed the door behind him. Of course, he couldn't help but wonder just what the hell that damn cat meant by "a sneak".
Was he right to be suspicious of the girl? Physically, she seemed harmless enough. But he did notice little things about her that didn't quite strike him as normal. Like the lock picking. Or her weird utility belt with the various pouches on it that she kept pulling supplies out of. And then that rant of hers about 'knowing what others don't' and just…
Ah fuck it all. Right now, the safety of his Pops and brothers was more important than trying to figure out this strange girl. He would keep his eye on her. Anything funny and he would handle it personally.
Just as the Cat Man said, the stair case lead to a few doors. The one on the left was locked with a padlock, but Ellie was able to get through it fairly quick. Marco frowned as he studied the way she picked through it. Her hands held the torque wrench and lock pick with such familiarity that it suddenly made sense to him that she's done this a million times before.
Once open, they saw the room was full of tall shelves. Upon the shelves were treasure chests aligned neatly; kind of dirty looking but otherwise sturdy. To the right, they could see three wooden steps leading to a wall. Some light seeped its way from under it, coating the room with a dim glow; there was no mistaking the sounds of clashing swords, the explosions of gun fire, and the cracking of blows dealt to bones.
Upon hearing the sounds of fighting, Jozu wasted no time in breaking down the wall. The wall flew off its frame, crashing into a few unlucky Marines that had been standing behind it. The other Commanders were quick to act, jumping into the fight; Ace blasting away a large number of Marines with his fire, Marco knocking them down with a long-reaching swipe of his blue wings, Vista and Thatch cutting through them with expert ease. Ellie stayed behind in the room, thankful for the sudden flood of light that destroying the wall caused.
Her bag. It had to be somewhere. She hurried around the room, looking up and down the rows of shelves. She would kill herself if it turns out it wasn't here.
"Ah-ha! Gotcha!" she cheered when she found her black book bag. When she opened it, she was satisfied to see it had all of her oh-so-important documents still inside. She would check them all properly later to make sure there were no pages missing but for now, she needs to get the hell out of here before—
"OI!"
Too late. She had just enough time to dodge the swing of a sword; the blade crashed into the shelf she was standing in front of, sinking deep into the wood. A cookie-cutter Marine type was the owner of the sword; he pulled it out of the wood with a quick jerk of his arm and aimed it at Ellie again.
"I guess the Whitebeards are recruiting more girls, ey lassie?" he leered.
"I'm not part of their crew." Ellie said, backing away from the tip of the blade. It was uncomfortably close to her neck.
"Yeah, like I'll believe that." He snorted, drawing his sword back and taking another swing. Ellie ducked low to the ground, feeling the swish lift some of the hairs on her head.
"Do I look like a pirate to you?" Ellie rolled her eyes, putting more space in between them while the Marine recovered from his attack.
"Don't matter what you look like! We've seen you helping them from the very start!" he fumed, annoyed by how many times he's missed.
"What do you mean, you've seen me helping them?" she shook her head, not understanding.
"Through the cameras, lass!" he charged at her, swinging his blade down. Ellie dove to her left, rolling before getting back on her feet.
"But those cameras are ones the Thieves put up. How could you have access to them?" To her despair, her back was met with a wall of shelves. The Marine smiled, placing the tip of his sword against her throat; enough so she could feel the sharpness of it but not enough to cut her. Yet.
"They're not the only ones who use them. The Surveillance den-den mushi are wired to the two Marine Bases too."
Ellie tilted her head back as the Marine slowly moved the sword, as if reminding her of her disadvantage. She kept calm, one eyebrow rising.
"So in other words, we were fucked from the very beginning. The Thieves didn't even have to tell you the Whitebeards were here."
"Exactly." The Marine smirked. "We dispatched as soon as we saw the Moby Dick."
"Lovely, but seriously. I'm not part of their crew. I only helped so I could get my bag back." She jiggled the shoulder that had the bag on it.
"We looked through that bag." The Marine said, eyes glancing at it. "And we couldn't help but notice certain documents in there. Certain Marine-Confiscated, Top-Secret documents that shouldn't be in the hands of a child like you."
Ellie's jaw tightened, eyes staying on the Marine's face.
"I'm not going to kill you right now. I'm going to bring you to our base and you're going to tell us exactly who you are, what you're doing, who you work for and then maybe we'll send you to Impel Down if we're feeling generous enough."
"How nice of you." Ellie said. She raised her arms slowly, not wanting to alarm him with any sudden movements.
"Smart girl, choosing the easy way." The Marine said, grinning at her sign of submission.
Ellie smiled. "Easy for me, yes. Not so much for you though."
"What?"
Ellie grabbed one of the treasure chests resting on the shelf above her. Before he knew what was happening, she chucked it as hard as she could. Being uncertain of its weight, she didn't count on actually hitting him; she just wanted enough of a distraction to get away. The Marine didn't know this so he flinched out of the way, not wanting to get bonked on the head by a heavy treasure chest. With bag in tow, Ellie made a run for it.
When she started running, she noticed there were a lot less fights going on than what they saw through the cameras. She brushed it off as the pirates heading back to their ship now that all of the Commanders were free. Whatever. Her time with the Whitebeards has ended. She needs to focus on doing some clean-up. Her mind raced as fast as her legs moved, wondering just how much the Marines were able to gather from her documents. They were encoded. How could they tell the nature of them without being able to read them? Unless it's the fact that they're encoded that gave it away. She frowned, dodging some wayward bullets as she made her way to the docks.
No matter how little or how much, even a bit was too much. She would ensure that the two Marine bases were wiped out.
Relief flooded her as she reached the docks. By then her heart was pounding fiercely against her ribs, sweat trickling down her face as her lungs screamed for more air. Despite being night time, everything was well lit due to the orange glow of constant canon fire; the heavy stench of gun powder stuck to the air, clouds of smoke hovering over the battle field. The relief left Ellie as she noticed all the fighting was centralized here. To make matters worse, she could see at least 10 marine warships lining the horizon. Some were smoking from the damage done by the Moby Dick's cannonballs, but most were unharmed.
"Shit." She cursed under her breath. Even if she did manage to get on her little boat, there's no way she'd be able to get past 10 warships on it. She supposed she could go wait this out somewhere but with all these cameras she highly doubted she could lay low for a while. She looked to the Moby Dick, seeing that Whitebeard was now joined by most of his sons. For a moment, she felt awe-struck as she watched his mighty figure bounce back cannonballs with his bisento, Captain's coat fluttering like a cape with each swing. His silhouette was sharp against the darkness of the night sky, his white mustache commanding attention even in the darkness.
So maybe she was more star-struck than awe-struck. In all her short years travelling the New World, she never thought she'd meet an Emperor, much less the most well-known of them all.
She really should stop getting distracted in the middle of important moments. The familiar voice of a certain Marine snapped her out of her reverie.
"THAT'S THE LASS!" The Marine from earlier shouted to a group of his comrades, red-faced. "SHE'S WITH THE WHITEBEARDS! MAKE SURE SHE DOESN'T GET AWAY!"
Ellie rolled her eyes, slapping her hand against her thigh. "Oh for the love of— I'm NOT WITH THE WHITEBEARDS! Get that through your thick ass head!"
"Shut it!" The Marine yelled. He whipped out his sword and soon, the group of them charged at her. Ellie straightened, taking a quick look around her before bolting at a high-speed run. She had no idea where she was running to, but at the moment anywhere away from them seemed ideal.
Whitebeard, with his all-observing eyes, didn't fail to notice her predicament. He glanced down to Marco, who was keeping track of all the men coming on board to make sure no one was left behind.
"Tell me, Marco." Whitebeard started. "What do you make of that little girl?"
"She's a fishy one." Marco frowned. "But she helped get us out of there so I guess I can't complain, eh."
There was a glint in Whitebeard's eyes, as if he knew something that Marco didn't. Marco's frown deepened as he watched his father, recognizing the look on his face.
"Pops, that girl is fishy. We know nothing about her." He warned.
"She doesn't look fishy. Just a bit misguided."
"I doubt misguided is the right word. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing."
"It's not nice to take things at face-value, Marco. I'm sure there's a reason for her "fishy" nature."
"Yeah, she's probably a Marine spy or something."
"Marines don't go after their own men. Erm, women. Besides, half the men on my ship look down-right suspicious yet they're some of the most honest people I've ever met."
"...You've made up your mind, haven't you?"
"Go get that brat onto this ship. It's only right to help her after she helped us. I'll have a little talk with her and if I don't like what I see, we dump her at the next island. Deal?"
Marco sighed, knowing there was no way to convince his father otherwise.
"Deal."
By the time Marco got to Ellie, her legs were aching from all the running around. Seeing him fly down in half-phoenix form and knock out many of the Marines made her unbelievably happy. If she weren't so out of breath she would thank the man a million times and maybe kiss him. Well, no, but she felt like it.
"Come on!" he grabbed her arm, tugging. She blinked, confused.
"Wha- what do you mean?"
"You're coming with us, that's what."
Ellie tilted her head to the side, not budging. "I can't go with you guys."
"Well you have to." Marco said, leveling a straight face at her.
"I mean thanks for the help with the Marines but I can't go with you guys on your ship. I'm not a pirate." She emphasized her words more firmly.
"Seriously?! Now's not the time to be stubborn. Either come with us or we're letting the Marines kill you." His grip on her arm tightened, a vein twitching in his forehead.
"But why are you—?"
She never got to finish her question. Marco, seeing that all of his brothers now made it safely to the ship, got tired of waiting and simply picked her up. He flew them to the deck and dropped her onto it carelessly, eliciting a grunt of protest from the dazed girl. She jumped to her feet and looked around; all 16 Commanders were on board. She could only assume all of their subordinates made it back as well. Whitebeard's attention was now on the 10 warships blocking their path. A wicked grin was across his face as he stood on the figurehead of the Moby Dick.
"Trust me, it's better if you're with us." Thatch, who seemed happy by her company, approached her. He dropped an arm across her shoulders and pointed to Whitebeard.
"Watch what he's about to do! It'll be epic!"
As the Moby Dick lifted its anchor and set sail, the crew gathered behind their Captain much like an audience. Ellie felt herself subconsciously leaning closer to Thatch, nervousness beating its way through her body as she wondered just what would happen next. The rocking of the ship as cannonballs landed too close for comfort made it worse. She glanced around and saw many grins, seeing some men get closer for a better view.
Then it happened.
Whitebeard lifted one fisted arm slowly, holding it above himself as he waited for exactly the right time. When they were near enough, he slammed his arm down; instead of swinging all the way behind him as it should have, it collided with an invisible wall and created white cracks in the air. Ellie shook her head, not sure she was seeing this right. He lifted his other arm and repeated the motion; raising it above his head before bringing it down against… the air, she supposed. It had the same effect. Cracks covered the area his fist landed at.
The result wasn't obvious to her at first, as she was too focused trying to understand just how in the bloody hell one could break air. But then she noticed two huge waves forming, heading in the direction of the warships at an alarm speed; the closer they got, the bigger they became. By the time they reached the warships, they were full-blown tsunamis. It didn't take long for the warships to topple pathetically over, as if nothing more than rubber duckies floating along a storm-ridden sea.
The men around her began cheering, someone calling to bring out the rum. Thatch, who still had his arm around her, was laughing. Off to the distance, Ace and the other Commanders were sorting through some very familiar treasure chests. Whitebeard climbed down from the figurehead and stood in the middle of the deck, laughing himself. At some point during all of this, Ellie's brain died and she no longer understood anything.
The next day couldn't have arrived sooner. Ellie could barely remember the events after Whitebeard's disposal of the Marine fleet. There was laughing and cheering and drinking and then somehow she ended up in an unoccupied cupboard of a room. Not that she drank; but a headache told her she was just too damn tired to stay awake. She sat on her little cot of a bed, staring blankly at the wooden floor in front of her.
Well. This was awkward.
Fortunately, before she could dwell on just how awkward this was and oh-my-god-is-she-really-staying-on-the-Moby-Dick, a knock on the door surprised her. She glanced up at it before calling for the person to come in.
"Good morning Sunshine!" Thatch smiled, poking his head into her room. If you could call it a room. She blinked at him.
"What's the matter? Still tired?" he laughed. "Come on, Pops wants to talk to you."
"Is he going to tell me why I'm here?" she asked.
"Dunno. Probably." Thatch shrugged. "Try not to look so down about it! We're not bad people, y'know."
"I'm not down, just confused." Ellie ran a hand over her forehead before standing up.
"I'm sure Pops has his reasons." Thatch smiled. "Either way, you're going to be staying with us at least until the next island. Make the most of it."
They walked down the hallway together, Thatch leading her to Whitebeard's sleeping quarters.
"And how far away is the next island, exactly?"
"Couple of days, I think."
"Beautiful." There was this look of concern in Ellie's eyes that Thatch couldn't explain. He had a feeling it had nothing to do with being on the Moby Dick though.
"While you're here, if there's anything you ever need help with you can ask me. I'll be your host." He said, smile never faltering.
"You're too kind." Ellie said, finally returning his smile. It didn't take long for them to reach Whitebeard. Thatch knocked before opening the door.
Whitebeard was laying back on his bed, hooked up to some medical machines. Ellie was taken aback by it but had the tact not to mention it. When he spotted who it was, he straightened himself up.
"Thank you, Thatch." Whitebeard said, placing a cup of water he was drinking down. "You can leave us now. I want to have a private talk with Ellie."
Thatch nodded. With a wave to Ellie, he made his way out. Once the door closed behind him, Ellie looked up at the giant man. There was silence as they studied one another.
Finally, Whitebeard spoke. "Tell me about yourself."
AAAAAND DONE. Damn, it took me five months to write this. I'm terribly sorry for the delay in updating, but I DID warn you guys that I have school and work. :/ Hopefully you guys take this as a sign of me being dedicated though? Even after five months, I never stopped thinking about this story. :D
So they're finally off Alegria and Ellie is finally stuck with the Whitebeard crew! Lol I can progress with the "love" genre a bit more and start focusing on building her relationship with the crew members, Ace in particular. ;] I kind of rushed at the end because I was tired and it was getting late and I REALLY wanted to have this out by tonight!
A million, billion thanks to my reviewers: angelrider13, mythologyfreakgirl, kandy2431 and Tamamo no mae! I love reviews, and reading yours reminded me why I need to keep writing this story no matter how long it takes. :')
Loved it? Hated it? Want to be helpful and leave me some crit? Tell me what you think in the reviews!
