Chapter 4
Zoro groggily opened his eyes, the spinning just would not stop. His head hurt and he felt like he'd just woke up from the biggest hangover ever. He put his hand to his head to try and ease the pain, but that didn't do anything for him. The swordsman frowned, the last thing he remembered was eating dinner... but the rest was a blur...
'I'm sorry Zoro...'
Wait... Nami had said that to him. Why was she...
Then, everything snapped into focus.
"That Bitch!" Zoro yelled and very quickly regretted it as the sound left a ringing in his ears and only made his headache worse. The room spun dangerously as his arm fell back to his side. 'She drugged me...'
The swordsman was breathing heavily and every muscle in his body was tense. He slowly sat up and had to try and keep himself steady by grabbing the headboard. He growled and forced his mind to concentrate. Soon, all the pain vanished... well that or he was just ignoring it. Either or, it was working. He desided to take it to the next step and he slowly got up. It felt as if his legs would give out on him so he kept a firm grip on the headboard as he took one step... and then another. Soon, he was stumbling along. 'I'm gonna kill that girl...'
Zoro entered the bright sunlight. "Where is she..?" he growled to himself as he looked around the deck. Suddenly, as if some higher force had heard him, she walked right around the corner... and froze at the mere sight of him.
They made eye contact and neither one of them moved. Then she turned and faster than a cat Zoro ran, tackled and had her pinned to the ground.
"Z-Zoro..." Nami stuttered.
"You. Drugged. Me." Zoro spat. "Why?"
Nami bit her bottom lip and it made Zoro grin psychotically. He loved it when she was afraid, made him all tingly inside. "It was... the only way..." she said in a wavering voice.
The grin fled from Zoro's face at those words. By no means was he an idiot and he knew exactly what that meant. "Where are we." It was more of a statement.
"5 days from port. I-I'm so sorry Zoro, but it was the only way we could go and get supplies." she said as he growled. "Please, just accept it like we all have? Luffy's gone, Zoro. He can't come back and if we die it won't exactly make things better."
"Luffy's not dead." Zoro snapped. "We just haven't looked hard enough!"
"I'm going to give you five seconds to get off of my Nami-san before I kick the shit out of you, Dickwad." came Sanji's voice as he walked toward them. "5..."
"Go right ahead and try." Zoro growled. "I just needed a good reason to kill the both of you and now's perfect." He didn't have his swords but he didn't care, he could still kick his ass.
"4..."
"Sanji!" Nami cried. "Don't!"
"3..."
Zoro smirked and got up so Nami could move.
"2..."
"Sanji!" Nami cried.
"1-"
"STOP!" came a voice and Chopper clung to Sanji's leg. "Don't fight now! Usopp's found an island! We can stop and look for food-"
"And perhaps Luffy's washed up on shore!" Zoro said with a new hope which made evryone sigh.
"Or I could make me some make-shift Cigarettes." Sanji pondered.
"Ok, lets dock her at the island. Well get some food and some things we need and we'll pack up and go." Nami said, "And yes, Zoro, you can go look for Luffy."
Everyone nodded and went to prepare the ship. Within a few quick moments the ship was docked... but the little doctor forgot to mention one thing... the beach was the only sandy part of the whole freakin' island. The rest was made up of rocks and ship debris. The crew, minus Vivi and Chopper as they could stay behind and guard the Merry-Go, got off the ship and walked on the small beach.
"I'm going to look, if anyone wants to come they can-" Zoro started but was cut off by a large rumbling sound. The crew looked up to see what looked like a rock slide, but upon closer inspection...
"Animals?!" Sanji cried as they rolled toward them. They looked like a bunch of armidillos' only completely made of rock. A small one rammed into Sanji's shin and he promptly went to kick it. He nearly broke his foot.
"Run!" Screamed Usopp as he took off running.
"What about the ship?" Nami asked as they ran and climbed along slippery rocks.
"It'll be fine!" Screamed Zoro.
"Yea, but where do we run too?!" Sanji asked as one of the little shits launched itself right at his head.
Zoro scanned the area ahead of them with his sharp vision. Finally, he spotted it. "There!" he cried as he pointed to a cave.
"There?!" Nami cried.
"Unless you wanna fall victim to these little... things!" Zoro argued as he was not able to come up with a name for them.
At the last minute they all dove into the cave and the rock midgets rolled past them. Everyone was busy panting and trying to learn how to breathe again. "This... is all... you fault... Long-Nose..." Sanji gasped as he hunched over his knees.
"Shut up... Princess..." Snapped Zoro. "Now's not... the time for... this..."
As soon as they could all breath again, they took in the surroundings. There was water in the cave, knee deep cold water. That and there was only one way to go unless they wanted to suffer from concussions. Nami sighed, "Well, onward."
The Straw-Hat Pirates walked on into complete darkness untill Zoro thought he touched something slimy and cold. He reached outward even though his mind was screaming at him that he was doing something stupid. It felt like water and at first he thought it was a waterfall, but there was no noise comming from it and it was completely smooth with no pressure. He touched it again and felt it ripple like jello. "What is that?" he asked.
He felt it ripple again as someone else touched it. "I don't know..." Nami said. "Does anybody have a light?"
Zoro heard a rustling noise and then a "fittt... Fsst..." noise before there was a small light in the tunnel. Nami gasped, Usopp clung to Nami wimpering, Sanji raised an eyebrow, and Zoro couldn't take his eyes from it. It looked like a mirror, but when he touched it it rippled like metallic silver water. Zoro stuck his hand in and it felt all gooey but nothing happened... except that the hand he stuck in never appeared on the other side.
"What do you feel?" asked Nami.
"I think you mean to ask what is it?" suggested Usopp.
"For two answers: number one I feel nothing and for number two, I have no clue what this thing is." Zoro said.
Suddenly, there was a hiss and a curse from Sanji as he burned his finger and dropped the match. The light went out.
And that's when it happened.
Zoro felt a sudden coldness travel up his arm. Panicing he began to try and jerk his hand out. His arm wouldn't come out of the mirror type thing. "What the hell?!" he yelled.
Sanji lit another match and screamed. The silver substance was covering Zoro's body, his clothes... everything! "Grab him!" Nami cried as Usopp grabbed Zoro around the waist. Suddenly, the substance spread onto him and he couldn't detach from Zoro, who was now completely silver and being pulled into the thing. "Guys! Help us!" screamed Usopp as the silver stuff covered his face.
Nami shrieked and Sanji's eyes traveled to her, the same thing was happening to her as well. "Nami!" he cried as he grabbed for her. He dropped the match and the last things that could be heard were their screams before they disappeared as well.
ooooooooooo
"How much do you know about... well... magick?" Sarah asked.
"You mean like a magician?!" Luffy cried excitedly. "Are you going to do a trick?!"
"Somewhat, but first I need to know how much you know about it."
"Well..." Luffy thought for a moment. "Absolutely nothing!"
"Great." Sarah scowled. She put her head in her hand. "Well, lets start from the basics. Those people you saw with Mark are hunters. A hunter is a person who wants to kill people like us." she began, indicating to everyone in the room.
"Don't forget about Gage and Krissy." Anna said.
"Them too, but Kay no longer counts. Anyways, hunters have powers like your devil fruits, only they are born with them." she said as Luffy gasped.
"Then they can't swim either?!" he asked as Sarah smacked her forehead.
"They don't need too but they can! They can turn to shadows too and leave spells on you that make you do whatever they want!!"
Luffy suddenly went quiet. "You mean like those bounty hunters at Baroque Works?" he asked. "With the paint?"
"Presicely." Sarah said as Luffy's eyes went very very serious. It kinda creeped her out.
"Are those mean shadow people after you and your friends?" he asked.
"Yes. And if given the chance, they'll kill us without mercy and possibly torture us before that." she said as Anna curled up next to Kaden.
"Why?" Luffy asked.
"Well then, there's really no way to tell you about this, you wouldn't understand."
"Sarah..." Anna said, staring at her. "Are you going to..."
"Yes." she said. "I'm going to show him."
Sarah stood up and walked over to the small coffee table where a huge white candle was located in the very center. She lit the candle. Luffy watched with a child's curiosity and an adults seriousness. "Luffy, watch and learn why the hunters are after me... after all of us."
And suddenly, Sarah was holding the flame in her hand. Luffy's eyes widened as he looked at the candle - there was a flame there too! Suddenly, the flame in her hand turned blue and began to engulf her hand.
"I can control any of the elements. I am the spirit of what was the 'Kodiac Pride.' The 'Kodiac Pride' consisted of 5 or more people who could control certain elements. Two of us, who still have our powers, can control them all. Anna was Fire, Kaden was Earth, Krissy was Air, Sissy, or the other Sarah, would be Water, Gage is Darkness, and I am Light or the Spirit. Gage and I can control all the elements. We called it the 'Kodiac Pride'... it was like a pride of lions with one leader. Gage was the leader." Sarah explained. The flames suddenly turned into a fire ball.
"Kinda like me and my crew?!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly. Then he frowned. "What happened?"
"Exactly. Gage was the captain of the 'Kodiac Pride.' We were his crew." Sarah said. She sighed at his second question. "The reason we no longer are a family is because of Krissy. Krissy can't follow the rules. She can't keep quiet about her powers... so now the hunters are after all of us. Their numbers are increasing by the day. Things just keep getting worse now that they know who to look for."
"What do you mean worse?" Luffy frowned as he raised an eyebrow and scratched his head.
"The hunters have captured and killed many of us. Those of us that remain have gone into hiding or have formed small rebelious groups. Our numbers decrease by the day... and soon we won't be able to defend ourselves." She explained. "The only way to win is to find out who's controlling the hunters... the one true leader... and destroy them. So far... that's been a big flop..."
"Were you guys born with your powers too?" Luffy asked, raising an eyebrow.
That ruined the moment...
Sarah smiled. "Yes." She said.
Luffy was basically jumping up and down while sitting. "That's soooo cool!"
Sarah laughed at the look of childish excitement plastered on Luffy's face. Then, for Luffy's short attention span's sake, "We also gain the ability to fly after a while."
Luffy's eyes widened to an inhuman size. "Fly?" he all but squealed. "How?!"
Sarah was actually amazed Luffy had payed complete attention for this long.
Anna smirked. "The wind."
Sarah exhaled and extended her arms toward the ground while standing. A small breeze filled the room and Sarah was hovering inches from the ground. "That's all I can manage to do so far." Sarah stated.
"Cool..." Luffy whispered. Then his eyebrows narrowed. "Hey, then why did you tell me to hide my powers?!"
Anna and Kaden both looked at Sarah with wide eyes. "He has powers too?!"
Sarah nodded as she silently landed on the ground. "Remember the One Piece Manga I had you read?" she asked, standing up as Anna nodded. "Say hello to Luffy."
Anna's jaw dropped as Luffy waved. Sarah put the blue flames on the candle wick and blew them out. "Anyways yea... even with the simplest things I can be very dangerous. When I am in danger, I can create any element on my own if there's none around."
"Then why didn't you control the water in the pool?" Luffy asked. Sarah indicated to her still bleeding arm. "Y-you're bleeding!"
"Pain distracts me from concentrating and controlling large ammounts of a certain element." Sarah then turned to Anna. "Pencil. Now."
Anna ran into her bedroom and after a few minutes (she had to be quiet so she didn't wake Phillip) she re-emerged. Anna handed her a paintbrush. "The only thing I could find in my room since it was rearranged." she chuckled.
Sarah took the brush and clenched it between her teeth. "You mean since Kaden destroyed it." she growled. Sarah then dug her fingers into the bullet hole and pulled the bullet free. She left teeth marks in the brush handle as she let out something between a scream and a growl. Luffy gritted his teeth as Anna looked away. Kaden stared at her in awe. Anna then walked into the bathroom and came out with a gauze wrap, alcohol, a cotton swab, and water. Sarah forced a smile as Anna dipped the cotton swab in the water and began to clean it. Then, she put alcohol on it and Sarah screamed so loud Kaden started grinding his teeth together, glancing from her to the crib. Sarah tried desprately to jerk her arm away but Luffy held her in place and gripped her arm to try and stop the shaking. Luffy ended up wrapping her arm up afterwards and Anna dabbed the sweat from her forehead. Sarah collapsed against Luffy with a sigh and together Kaden and Luffy laid Sarah on the couch.
"You're lucky that didn't hit anything major." Kaden stated as he sat back down and took a bite of his pizza. 'Thank god Phil didn't wake up...'
Sarah laughed weakly. "Mark's lucky he didn't hit anything major. He's getting castrated-"
"Who wants to watch tv?" Anna interrupted, laughing nervously, and, not waiting for an answer, turned on the television.
"And tonight's main news story, a shoot out at the Day of the Dead festival. Several dead and many more injured. We're still trying our best to capture those who were responsible for this event-"
"Shit!" Sarah gasped as she sat up, the pain in her arm comming alive with the movement and she clenched it.
"What?" Anna asked.
"My mom's gonna flip out! Luffy, we gotta... Luffy?" Sarah started but stopped when she noticed that the pirate captain was nowhere around. She tried to get up, but Anna pushed her back down. "We'll find him. You rest. When we find him, we'll have him take you home."
"But... what about the hunters?" Sarah asked.
Anna turned to her and smiled. "Something tells me that Luffy won't let them do anything to you." She turned to Kaden. "C'mon Kaden."
"Yes ma'am!" Kaden cried, saluting her. Anna promptly smacked him upside the head as they began to search the yard and inside the house. Sarah sighed and without her will, her eyes closed and she was asleep in an instant.
ooooooooooo
Anna was just about to give up the search when she found her target. Luffy was sitting in her backyard up on top of the shed staring at the sky. "Luffy?"
Luffy kept staring straight ahead as he spoke. "Mark had better say his prayers. I'm gonna send him flying..."
Anna stood there for a moment. She really didn't know what to say to that. Luffy desided to continue. "Sarah's a good person... a good friend." Luffy looked away from the moon and down at Anna. Anna was busy staring at him without realising it. When she did, he was looking at her with a confused look.
"Sorry. I was just thinking that there's a lot I don't know about you." Anna said as she sat atop the truck next to the shed.
"Really? Like what?"
"Well, you know pretty much everything there is to know about all of us. But for instance, I don't even know how you got that scar." Anna pointed to his face.
"Hehehe. I was trying to be a badass when I was little to impress the local pirates. Ended up stabbing myself in the eye to show how tough I actually was."
Anna laughed. "Dumbass!"
Luffy sat indian style. "Ahh… there's not much to know about me. My story's not nearly as cool as everyone else's."
"Sure it is."
Luffy shook his head. "Nope. Until I met my crew and you all, I had a pretty easy life. I didn't suffer horribly like anyone from my crew. I didn't tell stories like Usopp. I didn't… Hey. I don't know anything about Kaden except that he listens to nobody. Weird, huh?"
"Anyways, your life?"
"What about it?" he asked with a grin.
Anna sighed. "Alright, fine smartass. If there's nothing traumatic about your past, why don't you want to tell me about it? Huh? Huh?"
"I dunno…" Luffy said and sighed. "My life before I left my home village, it had… a theme? People always left me behind."
Anna's eyes narrowed in confusion. 'Who could leave him?' she wondered. 'Sure, he's a bit annoying and he eats alot but he's one of the funniest people I know, not the most civilized but he's charismatic…'
"When I was young, my father died facing thieves," he began. "I wanted to run away on the next ship I saw, which was Captain Shanks, but I couldn't. I was too young. My mother made me promise to wait until I was 17 before I left home. She was a thin woman with long hair, a strawberry blonde like Sarah's. When I was 10, she died. On her deathbed my mother admitted she and my dad and all of my family had been great pirates. She told me that she wanted me to be an amazing pirate, even better than they had been. She told me to go to Logue Town and stand at the top of the gallows to see what it was like and if I could handle that, then I could go find One Piece on the Grand Line. When my mother died... when I was 10... I had nowhere to go. I was alone for all that time."
"Well, didn't you have family? Friends?" Anna asked. "Everyone has atleast one friend..."
"No. My older brother was too busy trying to support me to play and all the other children thought I was a freak 'cause I could stretch like rubber..." He pulled on his cheek to prove his point before continuing. "I had nothing until I met my crewmates and family... my newest additions even. You guys are all I've ever wanted, even more than One Piece. My friends are my treasure." He turned and smiled at her. "Sounds silly, doesn't it?"
"Not at all," she said. "You make alot more sense than the dumbasses around here..."
"When Sarah saved me from drowning, my first thought was that she was strong and perhaps she would join my crew. Now that I know the whole story, I know that I can't leave till you all are safe. After seeing what Mark did... he'll pay." Luffy said in a voice that sent chills down Anna's spine. He slowly cracked his knuckles.
"Luffy?" Anna asked after a few seconds.
"Huh?"
"You talk about Sarah alot." Anna stated.
Luffy looked back toward the moon. "She's... different."
Anna smirked with a mischevious look in her eyes. "How so?"
Luffy frowned. "I don't know..."
"You do... just put it any way you can..." Anna suddenly looked up and met his eyes. There was a heart warming expression on his dark eyes that she just couldn't place. They were sparkling and he was smiling... not grinning that same old goofy grin, just smiling.
Could it be… was he..?
'Sarah's sooo getting made fun of later...'
"When I'm with her, I'm just happy. And I want to be with her all day. Is that love?"
Anna grinned at his words. They sounded so naïve, simple… and meaningful at the same time. "I'm not sure. Explain."
"I like seeing her smile."
"That's natural between friends, silly."
"Um… I like listening to her voice."
"You hardly even understand what she says most of the time."
There was silence. Anna almost got tired waiting when he thoughtfully murmured,
"I don't like seeing her afraid... sad... scared even. I saw her like that for the first time when her father showed up at that resturant a few months ago. She looked so fragile... that's why I destroyed it; I wanted to erase all the traces of those who made her unhappy."
Anna gaped at him, her eyes wide. She knew that Sarah had a rough life when she was younger... her father threw her siblings out onto the streets and left them for dead. He tried to rape her sister, and he beat her mother every night. Sarah would be home alone with him when he'd invite his friends over... then there was that one time she woke up with nothing but a towel on. She had to beg for food and hide every night so she wouldn't get beat. She stayed awake most of the night... only sleeping when she had a weapon or someone she considered strong nearby. When Luffy saw how Sarah's father tried to beat her... how Sarah broke down and cried... he got pissed and she'd guessed that Luffy was just defending Sarah like he would anyone else. He never told anyone his reasons for why he destroyed that place. All she had seen back then, when she came too, was the falling structure and lots of explosions; he had never told anyone about this before…
"You know, I really hated it when her father made her cry. Sarah didn't want me involved so I tried not to get involved. But the moment I saw her crying and bleeding on the dirt, it became my affair. No one has the right to hurt her."
The way Luffy used the "her" made Anna giggle. Luffy had never been this open with his feelings before. Sometimes, after reading Shonen Jump, she thought that maybe he just liked the simple life and only dreamed of his goals and having fun... no time for anything else. Now, she realized how wrong her assumptions were. There may be hope for them after all. She merely nodded at him to go on.
"I was so afraid when she got sick after the incident. You know, with all of her cuts and gashes... I thought I would lose her," and Anna giggled again at his use of "her", "I couldn't imagine Sarah dying. I can't."
More silence. Then,
"Am I in love with her?" Luffy asked abruptly peering at Anna with wide eyes. The question sounded so stupid that a big roll of sweat dropped from Anna's head.
"Luffy..." Anna said in a gasp. 'Why did he have to ask something that was so damn obvious?!'
And then, it happened. There was a crash and a peircing scream that shattered into the night. Luffy and Anna both froze.
"LUFFY!"
"Sarah!" Anna gasped. More crashing noises filled the nights along with screams of terror. "Phil..." she whispered as she heard him start crying.
In the blink of an eye, Luffy had launched himself off the shed and was flying across her yard and right through the back door. "Wait!" Anna screamed and ran toward her house. "Kaden, hurry!" Anna cried. She prayed to god everything was alright. She stopped and slowly entered the house. Everything was in dismay... and there was blood on the floor. Anna instinctivly ran into her room and grabbed the crying Phil. After checking on him and making sure he was fine, she slowly entered the livingroom. The fact the the livingroom was completely destroyed and that her dad was going to be royally pissed off wasn't the worst part about it though. Anna looked to Luffy, and noticed by the way he was standing that it had happened. She knew before she even looked toward the couch that...
Sarah was gone.
