*Smacks my head*
*Slowly shakes my abused head*
I am such an idiot
I updated the wrong chapter for chapter four and never even noticed
Kill me now
For days, maybe even weeks, the Straw Hat crew looked in every corner of the island there was. But there wasn't even a hint of their captain's smile, or his noticeable straw hat he amost always wore. In fact, if they hadn't known better, he might've disappeared off of the face of the earth.
"Luffy!"
"Luffy-san!"
"Shitty captain!"
Each of the crew dutifully called for their missing friend, but there was never an answer. Only the occasional echo of their own voices as they bounced around the caves they explored. The weather didn't help their search in any way; the snow made it hard to see, and the nonstop storm covered any footprints that could've been left behind. Chopper claimed it also deadened any smells, so tracking Luffy down seemed to be an impossibility.
"Did you find anything?" Nami asked as they regrouped at the Sunny again.
"Just like the last time, nobody can seem to remember if they saw our hyper-active captain anywhere around town," Sanji stated bluntly.
"Nothing to report here," Zoro grunted.
"Not a thing," Chopper sighed, sitting beside Usopp.
"That's so not super..." Franky muttered.
"Maybe Luffy-san was taken by the Marines and taken to Impel Down," Robin suggested, calmly sipping her coffee.
"Don't say things like that!" Chopper screeched, tears pooling in his eyes. "He's okay! He has to be!" Everyone spared each other a glance, then turned their attention to their small doctor.
"We know he's fine," Sanji sighed, taking a drag from his eighth cigarette that day. Chopper relaxed slightly, but his face was still taught with worry.
"Yeah, yeah he's fine. Everyone's okay..." he said, but he seemed to be soothing himself more than the other crew members.
Luffy tried to blink open his eyes, but the elephants on his eyelids wouldn't go away. He tried lifting his hands to rub his eyes, but he couldn't move his arms more than three inches before they stopped. He frowned at this, and he tried standing up, only to find his legs wouldn't respond. He kept trying, and soon he felt the slightest twinge in his leg. Automatically, it felt as if a thousand tiny needles were repeatedly poking his leg. He knew he had been asleep, but for how long?
"Ah, straw hat. You are awake, yeah?" Luffy finally got those dumb elephants to go away, and he barely opened his eyes even a sliver. Even that was enough to let a bright light slice into his vision, and he bit back a yelp as he squeezed his eyes shut once again. The same voice that had spoken before seemed to laugh, but it sounded more like they were trying to barf to Luffy.
"Sorry, the light is too bright for you, yeah?" Luffy wanted to say something biting, like "It's not that bright", but something in the voice made him bite his lip and keep it in.
"You can open your eyes now, yeah. I turned the light down, yeah," the voice came again. Luffy hesitated, but he cracked open an eye. When he deemed it safe, he opened both eyes wide. His head whipped back and forth, as if trying to take it all in at once.
"Whoah, calm down, yeah. You'll hurt yourself, yeah," the voice cautioned, but Luffy didn't listen. He was too bust trying to figure out where he was.
"You're curious, yeah? You want to know where you are, yeah?" Luffy tried to find the source of that unidentifiable voice, but the plain, cotton-white room had no living being in there. Except for himself.
"Who are you?" Luffy's voice sounded scratchy, as if he hadn't used it for days.
"I'm your new friend, yeah. My name is Sketchy, yeah," the voice answered. Luffy frowned.
"Catchy? I don't know, you sound more like a Jeff to me..."
"I said Sketchy, yeah," Sketchy interrupted patiently. "Now, you'll answer my questions, yeah?"
"Um, no, yeah," Luffy said, mocking Sketchy's speaking style.
"Too bad, yeah. I guess you'll have to go with Beetle, yeah," Sketchy sighed. "Beetle isn't very nice, yeah. I'm the good guy, yeah."
"So good guys kidnap people?" Luffy asked sourly.
"Yeah, good guys do that, yeah."
"That's stupid."
"It is, yeah. Now, wait for Beetle, yeah. He's coming to get you, yeah," Sketchy said cheerfully. "Bye bye now, yeah!" Luffy rolled his eyes, then tried to reach up and touch his hat. Tried being the key word here.
"What the-" He turned his head to see that he was in a pretty awkward position; His hands were chained to the wall behind him, and he was slumped over on his knees. No wonder his legs had been asleep.
"Good guys kidnap the future pirate king, huh?" he muttered bitterly.
