Sacrifice
Looking back and forth between the two at the forefront of those who stood between her and the numerous marines who wanted to capture her and her sister (along with Luffy's group of pirates) and lock them up forever, Anna couldn't tell whose anger baffled and frightened Anna more. Of course, truth be told, Anna hadn't really known Luffy all that long. However, in the short time Anna had known him he had seemed more like some happy-go-lucky kid. Even after witnessing his rather unusual powers (which made Elsa's, Aang's and even Harry's seem rather normal by comparison), Luffy simply hadn't seemed dangerous enough in Anna's opinion for a government to place such a high bounty on his head. However, as Luffy stood glaring at the admiral standing mere feet in front of him, the man who apparently had killed his brother a couple of years ago, Anna felt a thrill of fear travel up and down her spine, making her shiver.
Though it seemed out of place in him, however, at least Luffy's anger seemed mildly understandable to her. On the other hand, as Anna shifted her gaze to the one standing rock still by his side, Anna felt that Elsa's fury was much less comprehendible. After all, as short of a time as Anna had spent with Luffy and his crew, Elsa had spent even less (being either unconscious from the blow to the head she'd taken after saving them both from the storm, or otherwise nursing her cold in the cot in Chopper's room). Not to mention that neither her nor Elsa had met or known Luffy's brother Ace at all, and Anna had only heard a little about him from the stories Luffy and his friends had told her, a small fraction of which she'd been able to relay to Elsa in her bed before they'd arrived here. So why was Elsa getting so worked up about this guy now? The only time Anna had seen Elsa exhibiting this much fury was when she had been facing the Quarrymen who had been torturing them both for information back in New York…
Anna groaned as soon as the realization had come to her. Of course, that was the connection. In the end, it all boiled down to her. Anna guessed now that the reason Elsa was glaring at Admiral like she wanted to tear him limb from limb, to freeze him to his core and shatter him into a million pieces, was that she was connecting Ace's death to the time that Princess Azula had shot her with lightning and killed her. Anna sighed as she fervently and silently wished that Elsa would just let that go. Of course Anna hadn't felt that experience was too enjoyable, and there were times that she still had nightmares about it, but at least she was trying to keep moving forward and she wished that Elsa could do the same.
As if in answer to her unspoken plea, Elsa's face cleared as she straightened to assume a more regal bearing, the anger in her eyes no longer evident. Anna almost felt relieved, but then she recognized this as a mask Elsa sometimes wore during her more….difficult meetings. Anna was certain Elsa loved their people as much as she did, but even she had found some of their requests rather trying and repetitive (particularly the requests for ice, before she made the proclamation for them to defer to Kristoff on such matters.) It was in those moments that Elsa had developed this mask of airs she puts on, in order to maintain her composure and not upset those calling on her by letting on just how much such requests irritated her. Anna thought she'd seen Elsa use that mask back when she'd taken their father's suggestion concerning the Duke's invasion of Arendelle and second attempt on Elsa's life and tuned it into an official sentence, but perhaps her memories on that day were being filtered through all they'd been through since.
At any rate, it appeared that some of the rank-and-file naval soldiers were mistaking Elsa's shift into a less aggressive stance for a sign of surrender as some of them started to step towards her. However, they didn't get more than one step towards her before the large admiral Luffy called Akainu extended one arm out to block their path and said, "One moment. Straw Hat, we had gotten reports that Aokiji was travelling with you, that he had aided in your last escape, but he doesn't seem to be here with you now. I don't suppose that you can tell me where my 'old friend' has run off to now, can you?"
"Ice guy?" Luffy clarified, his look of fury momentarily displaced by a thoughtful one before he shrugged and continued, "Haven't seen him since Marineford."
"Don't take me for a fool, Straw Hat. We know that it was his ice powers that prevented our fleet from apprehending you before," Akainu argued firmly, "If you cooperate with us now, I'll personally see to it that your deaths are quicker and much less painful. Otherwise…."
"I believe that Luffy told you the truth," Elsa cut in, her voice as hard and cold as ice, "At least since my sister and I woke on his ship, back before your fleet attacked it, the only people we'd seen aboard are those you see here with us now. However, if it's ice and snow that you're after here…" Elsa paused a moment while she summoned up her full body ice armor, then she continued, "…I'd be more than happy to oblige."
From her position, Anna had seen that the effort Elsa put into creating her armor had overpowered Chopper's medicine that was fighting her cold somewhat, as her breathing became slightly rougher and a faint sheen of sweat appeared on Elsa's forehead. However, it appeared that none of the naval soldiers had noticed this as they jerked nervously away, a couple actually falling a couple steps back as they muttered fearfully about former Admiral Aokiji. Only Admiral Akainu and the other officer with him showed no fear at all of Elsa's abilities, as the latter gripped the end of his walking stick with his right hand while he held into it in the middle with his left and pulled slightly, revealing that it was actually a concealed sword. Immediately afterwards, Anna felt as though the gravity here had become much more intense, like her own body had become 2 or 3 times heavier. However, it appeared that Elsa was the main focus of this attack as she was being sunk down into a crater before Anna's eyes, her body being bowed despite the armor strengthening her posture, and the armor itself was fracturing and falling off in chunks.
"Hold it, Issho," Akainu told him, a sadistic smile on his face, "I want you to take the men and focus on capturing the Straw Hats instead. I can handle this young woman." The blind admiral at first made no move to comply, merely turning his head towards Akainu, causing the red-clad admiral to face his subordinate and ask firmly, "Is there a problem, Admiral?"
From how he squinted harder and the set of his jaw, it appeared that the blind admiral did indeed have a problem with following his superior's orders (or, perhaps, it was with the superior himself.) However, the man simply shook his head and answered, "No sir," before he relaxed his grip on his sword & allowed it to be concealed in its sheath again, the gravity returning to normal as he did so. As the blind admiral and the other soldiers tightened their formation around Luffy's crew and herself, leaving only Luffy and Anna facing Akainu, Anna felt an odd sense of relief. While that meant that Anna and her new friends would now have to deal with this guy's strange gravity powers as well as the swords, rifles, and who-knows-what used by his men, at least Elsa would not have to deal with those things as well in her condition as she and Luffy faced Akainu alone. Then she remembered that Akainu was the one who killed Luffy's brother Ace, someone who apparently had the ability to turn himself into living flame, and as Anna felt the heat rippling off Akainu as his arms began to glow red her concern for Elsa returned tenfold.
Great, this guy's just like Princess Azula! Elsa thought to herself as she shrugged off the remainder of her ruined ice armor. As she thought that, however, she had to correct herself that there were a number of differences between this guy here and that psycho princess. First and foremost is that the princess seemed to suffer from some form of inferiority complex. To be more specific, she seemed to need to treat others as inferior in order to feel better about herself. That much was obvious from the way Azula frequently referred to Elsa as a peasant even after she revealed she was actually a Queen. Compounding on that theorem was how Azula seemed to come more and more unglued when Elsa was able to match her move for move, as if Azula wasn't able to handle the fact that she wasn't superior to everyone else. This guy, on the other hand, struck Elsa as more of a fanatic than anything else. Exactly what Akainu was a fanatic of Elsa wasn't exactly sure (perhaps it was of this twisted system of government) but Elsa got the sense that he was so completely devoted that he would overlook any flaws in the object of his devotion or that he would justify them as being necessary.
The second difference Elsa noticed was in the nature of their powers. Despite the differences in their attitudes (and overall mental health) Elsa found that she and Azula were similar in the nature of their powers, specifically that Azula was able to summon fire and lightning the way Elsa could conjure Ice and snow out of thin air, with no physical transformations apparent. This Akainu character, however, while he had yet to attack his merely accessing his powers seemed to make his arms glow and distort, as if they were changing into lava. Elsa might have discounted this as a mere illusion, like a heat mirage, had she not bore witness to the unusual powers exhibited by Luffy, Robin, and Chopper. Furthermore, the heat she seemed to feel coming off of the man's arms felt even greater than from the flames Azula had produced, so the notion that they were changing into lava didn't seem that farfetched to her.
"So, you're the one who froze the ocean and prevented our patrolling fleet from apprehending Straw Hat Luffy and his crew, Miss…?" Akainu asked in a curious tone
"It's Elsa, Queen of Arendelle," Elsa told him coldly, keeping her face impassive as she looked down her nose at him despite how he appeared larger than anyone she'd ever known, even larger than Stoick the Vast. However, even though this guy practically towered over her and she knew little of what he could do, she would not allow him to intimidate her into not doing everything in her power to keep Anna safe. She refused to allow him the satisfaction of seeing her afraid or angry as she continued, "and even if the indiscriminate fire from your ships hadn't posed a threat to my sister and myself, who were aboard at the time, I would have done so anyway. Since Luffy and his crew had likely saved our lives when they fished us out of the sea, it was the least I could do. And you must be Akainu, the Navy Admiral who had murdered Luffy's brother, Ace."
"It's actually Fleet Admiral, now, and it was hardly 'murder', Your Highness," Akainu corrected her, though his tone and the way he shrugged indicated that her words did not bother him (not to mention the way he said "Your Highness" made it sound as if he was mocking her), "Portagas D. Ace was a criminal with a 550,000,000 beri bounty on his head at the time of his arrest, and he had been sentenced to a public execution for his crimes. He would have been executed properly were it not for Monkey D. Luffy's interference that allowed him to briefly escape from custody. I would have ended Straw Hat Luffy too, for his attempting to break a convicted felon out of custody as well as his other varied crimes, if Whitebeard hadn't interfered. I don't wish to talk about Straw Hat right now, as that past failing will be corrected soon enough. At the moment I'm far more interested in you and how you got your powers."
"If you want I'll fight you right now!" Luffy snarled angrily, to which Akinu smiled in response. As he took a step towards him, however, Elsa extended an arm to block Luffy's path as she said softly under her breath, "No, Luffy. Go help your friends and my sister: leave this guy to me."
"No. Akinu killed my brother," Luffy argued, "He'll kill my friends too if I don't stop him here and now. I might have tried to run a couple of years ago but not now. I have to fight him sooner or later, so I might as well defeat him now. Otherwise how will I ever become King of the Pirates?"
"Luffy, please just listen to me," Elsa pleaded with him, keeping her voice down, "Anna isn't as strong as you or me, and even though she tries her best she's not as skilled as your friends. In a conflict like this she's bound to get hurt or even killed. I had to watch Anna die once when I was unable to protect her, please don't make me go through that again. I don't think I could survive that."
"But...if I..." Luffy protested again, but Elsa could hear his conviction wavering.
"Look, I know that it hurt you deeply that you weren't strong enough back then to save your brother from being killed," Elsa reasoned softly, "If you were able to go back to that moment the way you are now, with all the skill and strength you've gained since then, and stand against this guy to save Ace, would you?" When Luffy nodded yes, Elsa continued, "Then please don't deny me this. Let me stop this guy from having a chance of hurting Anna, and I must ask you to make sure none of his men hurt her either. Please protect my sister the way you would have your brother."
Luffy looked her directly in the eyes, and she could see a determined glint in his as he said, "Akinu's dangerous, you know."
"So am I," Elsa responded, "Please, Luffy, let me make up for failing against Azula."
Luffy appeared to consider for a moment before he nodded determinedly and said, "Okay, if that's what you want then you can go against Akinu first while I keep Anna safe."
"Thanks. Oh! And one thing, Luffy," Elsa said quickly before Luffy could turn back towards the others, who were already fighting, "If I should prove unable to stop Akinu, if I should fall, then I don't want you to waste time trying to avenge me, and don't let Anna do it either. Just take her away from this place for me."
"But..." Luffy started to protest, but Elsa cut her off as she said urgently, "Please, Luffy, I know that you're brave and strong, and that you are not afraid of dying fighting against him, but if both of us fall against him then who will protect Anna? I know that I'm asking a lot, but I want you to make sure that Anna stays safe. Of course Anna's pretty stubborn, I know that better than anyone, so if you need to tie her up and throw her below decks until you're safely away then you have my permission. Once Anna's someplace safe you can hunt Akinu down and fight him to your heart's content. Just take care of my sister first, please."
Luff nodded in affirmation before turning and leaping into the fray his crew and Anna were in the middle of. Elsa then turned back towards the admiral and, in an effort to try some time for her newly flared up headache to die down again, said in a calm voice, "So, you were asking about my powers a second ago. I take that you yourself don't believe like your subordinates that it is Admiral Aokiji's power?"
"Please, your Highness, give me some credit," Admiral Akinu said dismissively, "I had served with Kuzan for a good many years, not to mention that I battled with him for 10 days and nights when he opposed my being nominated for Fleet Admiral, though he showed no interest in the rank before. I guess you could say I know his Devil Fruit power nearly as well as I know my own, and while your power is similar to his I can tell that it's not the same. So now..."
"I was born with it," Elsa told him, trying to think of ways she could end this quickly. Her previous effort she put into creating her armor told her that she wasn't well enough for a protracted fight, especially against a dangerous enemy like this, and she wanted to get her sister home and away from these dangerous World Government people as soon as possible. Discretely creating a patch of ice on the back of her head to try and calm the throbbing, Elsa continued, "I don't know where it comes from or what its true nature is, nor have I ever encountered anyone else with a gift like mine."
She didn't bother to tell him about Katara or Aang, as she didn't want to explain about bending as it didn't seem to exist here. Besides, even if they weren't around anymore telling this monster about her friends felt too much like a betrayal, and she wasn't that desperate to buy time that she'd go there.
"I see," Akainu said thoughtfully, and the hungry glint in his eyes told Elsa that this was useful information to him, "And this Arrendale that you claim to be the queen of, I've never heard of it before, and I'm pretty well acquainted with all the nations of the World Government and even those few who persist on existing on the fringe outside of it. Where exactly is it?"
Hearing this admiral, who had caused so much pain already, express interest in the location of her home caused the hackles to return to her back, drawing her focus away from maintaining the ice she'd created on the base of her skull. Her anger was too great to notice her slowly returning headache as she growled, "Why? So you can erase it from the map with your Buster Call like you had with Ohara?"
Akainu seemed rather surprised by Elsa's outburst at first, then he burst out laughing as he said, "For someone who claims to hail from a land I never heard of you seem to be rather knowledgeable in the propaganda of pirates and rebels. For your information the island of Ohara was populated by criminals who dared to harbor some dangerous scientists trying to decipher the polyglyphs and revive the Ancient Weapons that can destroy the world. They earned the punishment that befell them."
"Sounds like you are the one spouting propaganda, lies generated by your superiors to cover up their insidious agenda," Elsa counted in a low voice, "I know that the only thing the scientists were trying to discover from the Polyglyphs was what happened during a lost era of your history. Because they learned something your leaders wanted to keep hidden, however, they had them silenced for good. I learned the truth from someone who was there, someone who managed to escape your so-called 'Justice'."
"You're referring to Nico Robin, I assume," Akainu retorted with a cock of his head, "A criminal, one who was a child at the time she evaded justice, who was just as guilty as the scientists we dealt with of the crime of trying to read the forbidden polyglyphs. What's more is that she has proven unrepentant of her crime: even though she was being hunted for it, Nico Robin continued to seek out the polyglyphs despite the danger that placed the world in. She, and her friends who dared to defy the World Government by freeing her from custody, will all be brought to justice for their crimes, trust me. Besides, I'm not repeating mere propaganda. I was one of the Vice Admirals who was part of that Buster Call that punished Ohara for their crimes as was Akoiji, though he hadn't the stomach to ensure Total Justice. He seemed to consider me a fool for destroying a ship full of civilians and soldiers to ensure that Ohara's scientists didn't sneak aboard it and escape, but I knew my duty and was proud to carry it out."
Elsa heard a gasp and she turned to see that Robin was looking rather shocked where she was back with her friends. She felt a moment of worry that Robin had gotten hurt already, but Elsa couldn't see any wounds from here and, despite that Robin was currently standing as motionless as a statue, none of her opponents could get anywhere close to her before a multitude of arms grew from their bodies and twisted them painfully until they passed out. Elsa then happened to glance down where she spotted what appeared to be a right ear growing out of the sand near her left foot moments before it vanished in a flurry of tiny petals. Elsa guessed that Robin must have been listening in, keeping an eye (or rather ear) on her in order to let Luffy know if she got into trouble so that he could intervene before it was too late, but Elsa still didn't understand her reaction. Had Robin not known of Admiral Akainu's involvement in the destruction of her home, or just how involved in it he was back then?
A particularly painful throb of her head brought Elsa's musings to an end, and she sighed as she realized that her efforts to stall until she was feeling a little better wasn't working. Not only were her thoughts all over the place, but also her efforts to bring down her headache with ice was being countered by the strain of her efforts to maintain it, and every moment that she held off on engaging was one that an attack could reach Anna through the circle of protection around her. Of course if her head wasn't frying like an egg she might have realized it sooner, but now she had to focus on trying to end this quickly one way or another. "Enough," Elsa said in a low voice, determined to not let any of her discomfort show in it, "There's a difference between upholding justice and enforcing the law, and they're not mutually inclusive. However, you don't strike me as the type of person who will willingly accept that, and I currently don't have the time or patience to convince you otherwise. I was on an urgent diplomatic mission to deliver some humanitarian aid to some of our allies when our ship got caught in a storm, and since I don't think you are going to let us return home so I can get back to it..."
Akainu still had on that infuriating grin as he said, "The Gorosei will want to speak with you on the true nature of your powers, as well as to determine your nation's allegiance and your relation to Straw Hat here."
Elsa half expected this answer, and she formed her clawed ice-gauntlets and dropped into her fighting stance as she continued, "...then I'll just have to make you let us leave."
Akainu's smile got impossibly larger, and he barked out a short laugh as he said, "Spoken like a true member of the Revolutionary Army! Still, for someone who wields the power of ice you certainly have some fire running in your veins. Very well then," then Akainu dropped into a ready stance himself, his hands changing into lava as he said, "this should be fun."
Before Elsa could make a move, Akainu thrust his hand in her direction, causing Elsa to instinctively create an ice wall between them as she ducked her head down. This proved to be a fortunate move, however, as the next moment Elsa felt intense heat on the back of her neck when a stream of lava blasted through her shield where her head was earlier. For a second all she could do was stare in shock at the hole in her shield wall. Elsa was able to fend off Azula's attacks with a wall half this thick, but this guy blasted right though it like it wasn't even there. She didn't remain standing there long, however, as she rolled to the side just before a larger lava blast obliterated the reminder of her shield.
Okay, so this guy is much more dangerous than Azula, Elsa thought to herself. She had thought that perhaps her gauntlets might provide adequate protection for some physical attacks while allowing for the additional mobility her full armor would have robbed her of, but if her ice wall (which was many times thicker) couldn't stand up against this guy's lava attacks, and if he could physically change his limbs into the stuff, then her gauntlets won't much of anything except open herself into getting herself hurt. Switching gears, Elsa strafed around Akainu, keeping her distance while she fired off a series of ice blasts at him, hoping that she might be able to catch him with one and immobilize him long enough for her and Anna (or just Anna at the least) to get to the Nexus Cave and away from here. Akainu dodged most of the blasts, which with their speed and trajectories testified to his prowess as a warrior, before one caught him and froze his arm up to his elbow. Elsa began to feel hopeful, that she might be able to beat this guy even in her current state and take Anna home. Then her hopes were dashed when Akainu smirked and his arm changed to lava, turning the ice covering it into a cloud of steam in less than a couple of seconds. Elsa then tried to blind him with a blizzard, enveloping him in a funnel cloud of snow that encircled him alone. However, her jaw dropped in dismay when Akainu simply strolled though the side of the snow funnel, his body changed completely into lava including his clothes, his insufferable smile still pasted on his face.
Akainu then tossed in her direction what she best could describe as lava balls. Figuring that these were likely just as dangerous as his streams of lava Elsa kept herself mobile, bobbing and weaving and firing her ice blasts at each lava ball that came anywhere near her. A good number of them fell to the ground, changed into porous black rock, but a few of them had enough momentum to continue through the air in her direction and she could feel that they all were still incredibly hot as they missed her by inches. Each exertion of her power caused her headache to get worse and worse, and even her dizziness and nausea chose this unfortunate time to return, but since it would be even worse for her if she was hit by the lava, and she had no intention of surrendering herself and Anna to this admiral's nonexistent mercy, Elsa simply pushed through the pain and continued to try and find a way to slow or distract this guy so that she and Anna could get away.
As the fight wore on, Elsa found herself getting more exhausted, her nausea and the pounding of her head growing more and more with each blast she fired and every shield she summoned. So far she'd managed to avoid serious injury despite how the admiral's lava blasts ripping through her ice walls like they were made of paper, but with how rubbery her legs were beginning to feel as her energy level bottomed out it was only a matter of time before she slipped up and he got her good. She supposed that she could have summoned her ice glider and attack him from the air, but even if she had the strength to do so and maintain the winds to keep her aloft, she doubted that she manipulate the currents enough to dodge his blasts, and with no ice walls to block his view Elsa had no doubt that Akainu would have any trouble shooting her down.
Just as Elsa was beginning to see no way out of this one, Elsa got an idea that had her grinning. Reaching deep into her remaining reservoirs of strength, she aimed and at Akainu and fired a blast….that wound up missing him, striking the ground a few yards behind him instead.
"You must be getting tired, Your Highness," Akainu said to her mockingly, "That one didn't even come close to hitting me."
Elsa shrugged as she said noncommittally, "If you say so."
One of the soldiers, who had a clear view of what was happening, managed to say, "Sir! Look out behind…!" before he was silenced by one of Sanji's kicks to his face.
Clearly confused about what his man was warning him about, Akainu turned towards where the soldier was pointing….just in time to be stuck by a vicious backhand from Marshmallow and get sent flying, just falling short of landing in the rolling surf.
"Very clever, Your Highness," Akainu said with a wry smile as he pushed himself up and rubbed his jaw, his voice just barely audible over Marshmallow's roar which had more than a few battle-hardened Navy soldiers nervously backing a few steps away, "but unfortunately not clever enough."
As Marshmallow roared and charged at him, Akainu released a double fisted magma blast that struck him in the midsection. As the lodged lumps of lava began to melt him, causing him to collapse in on himself, Marshmallow's roars changed in tone, reminding Elsa more of the cries of a mortally wounded animal, a sound which cut her to the bone and shredded her heart. While she had summoned Marshmallow to fight for her before, and even though it had occurred to her that he may be harmed or even destroyed in said battled, his end had never affected her the way it is now. Even when she had seen a number of them brought down when she was fending off the Duke's invasion together with Julian, it had never struck her as being real or having any weight emotionally, not like it does now with her looking into the sunken sockets that served as Marshmallow's eyes.
When Marshmallow had been reduced to a nondescript pile of slush, Elsa's gaze shifted over to Akainu's face, which was also looking over Marshmallow's remains. Seeing the self-satisfied smirk of triumph on his face lit a fire in Elsa's heart, her rage giving her access to a whole other reservoir of strength even as it clouded over her common sense. Conjuring up her full body ice armor, Elsa let out a scream of fury (which, on later reflection, sounded virtually identical to Demona's) as she charged at the admiral.
Akainu, unfortunately, wasn't that easy to catch off guard, and it took him no effort to twist around to fire a blast back at her. While her momentum prevented her from stopping, Elsa was barely able to twist her body to avoid being struck directly, the lava blast only melting clean away the ice covering her face. However, while she avoided it coming into contact with her face by a hair's breadth, the heat she felt from the stream of lava made it feel as though a branding iron had been applied to her cheek, and Elsa could not help uttering a cry of pain as she collapsed in a skidding heap on the sand.
"Elsa!" Elsa heard Anna cry out, and she looked up to see that Anna and the others had stopped and looked at her in stunned silence. Unfortunately it looked as though some Navy soldiers were looking into taking advantage of the opening this created, and Elsa's heart leapt into her throat as a couple of them charged at Anna, their cutlasses held high. Luckily Anna managed to see this attack in time and raised her frying pan to block it just before a number of additional arms grew from each man's body (which, Elsa could tell from the shape and suppleness, belonged to Nico Robin) which proceeded to grip the man they grew from and twist them around painfully until they passed out, and Luffy took down a few that came up on Anna from behind with an extra-long rubbery kick.
"You bastard!" Sanji yelled at Akainu. However, as he was still fighting through his own ever tightening knot of soldiers, Sanji was able to neither come to her aid nor to attack Akainu directly (for which Elsa was grateful, as she didn't think Sanji had any ability to shield himself from Akainu's power). Luffy also looked fighting mad, his arm looking as if it was changing from flesh to some sort of black steel as he raised it before his face as if he was looking to bite into it. Elsa, however, made the barest shakes of her head to tell him no, reminding him of the promise she made him swear to earlier.
As Akainu came to stand over her, Elsa saw that he looked rather let down as he shook his head and made a "tsk"ing sound in his throat before he finally said, "I must say, Your Highness, that you've disappointed me. You had shown such promise with the techniques you've used today, techniques that likely would have served Aokiji well in our duel 2 years ago. However, it turns out after all that you're nowhere near Aokiji's league, and since I'm the one who defeated him in that duel that means you were never a match for me."
Her energy exhausted once more, Elsa was barely able to move as her headache and nausea returned again full force. However, she was determined to show no weakness before him as she looked up at him with what was meant to be a smile (but turned out to be closer to a sneer) and said, "Well, murderer, if I hadn't been so sick here today, then I could have shown you just what I'm truly capable of."
Akainu simply shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as he said, "It's a shame that we'll never find out the answer to that, now will we? As a believer in Absolute Justice I cannot simply go around giving pirates nor their allies and accomplices second chances in combat. Rest assured that Dr. Vegapunk and the scientists under him will discover from your corpse just how your abilities work, as well as how to reproduce them, and we'll get out of Straw Hat and the others just where this Arendelle of yours lies." Akainu then drew back his arm, the fist glowing as it changed once more into lava, as he said, "Now prepare yourself."
Staring into Akainu's remorseless face as she waited for his final blow, Elsa felt no fear of what was to come next. Her only regret was that her people and especially her parents would end up believing that she (and possibly Anna, should she not return) had perished at sea the way her parents would have if not for the timely intervention of Julian. Still, she hoped that Luffy and the others would not waste their time and risk their lives to try saving or even avenging her, that they would find a way to escape and that they'd take Anna with them. Of course she figured that Anna would not go willingly, not as long as there was a chance that Elsa was alive and could be saved, but she figured that Luffy and his crew would have no trouble dragging her onboard the Thousand Sunny kicking and screaming. Elsa stifled a laugh at the irony that she was now thinking of abduction by pirates now as a good thing.
Wanting to look at her sister one last time, Elsa shifted her gaze away from Akainu, but an unexpected movement caused her to focus on the Sunny instead. There in the water, was what appeared to be a line of foam making its way from the Sunny & heading directly for them. At first Elsa thought an attack had been launched from the ship, but she quickly dismissed that as a possibility as the trail was too wide to be caused by disturbance from an underwater projectile, especially in such shallow waters, and besides there was nobody on board to launch such an attack. When it was closer, Elsa saw that what she'd believed to be foam was not foam at all: it was the Mini-Marshmallows from the ship, more than she could possibly count, and they were paddling towards them as quickly as their little legs could carry them. Elsa wasn't sure how they'd managed to escape from where they had been locked up, or why they were determinedly making their way towards her, but they all looked rather angry.
"What's that?" Akainu asked in confusion, and Elsa figured he must have heard the sounds of splashing behind him. Before he could turn to see what it was, the Mini-Marshmallows were swarming all over him, gripping tightly to every square inch of him no matter how much he thrashed to try and throw them off.
"What the hell are these things!?" Akainu screamed as he thrashed about, "Get off, you freaks! Get off of me!" When he was unable to dislodge his miniature assailants, Akainu let out a roar of fury and frustration as he changed his entire body to molten lava. Immediately Elsa saw an effect as the Mini-Marshmallows began to melt, though not as quickly as she'd expected. Elsa figured that the cooling effect of the snow clouds she'd conjured for them earlier must be slowing their melting down, though not enough to save them. Whenever any of them melted away, however, they were quickly replaced by some of their brethren on the ground around him.
What's more is while his heat was melting them, their cold was having an adverse effect on him as well. There were areas Elsa could see on Akainu's body where he wasn't glowing as brightly, and was even turning into porous rock, and Akainu began to groan in pain as the assault went on. Elsa couldn't enjoy the rictus of agony on Akainu's face, however, or even focus on the fact how this conflict was turning in her favor and that she might survive this. All she could see was that more of her friends were giving up their lives. For her.
"No! What are you doing!?" Elsa cried out to them, "Stop!"
Elsa thought she'd seen some of them look her way, but rather than heeding her request they merely smiled at her before melting into oblivion like their brothers. Then they were all gone, leaving only the statue-like form of Akainu standing where he was. Elsa figured that this was as good of a time to get away as any, but she had trouble getting enough strength to get back to her feet much less get Anna and make a break for it. Even worse Akainu was starting to regain his glow, and Elsa figured that it wouldn't be much longer before he was free to move once again and finish her off.
Then, before she could even blink, Luffy was standing directly between her and Akainu, his entire body steaming and looking like he'd spent too long in a hot spring, both his arms stretched far behind him, his hands and forearms looking once again like they're changed to dark metal as he cried out, "Gum Gum Hawk Bazooka!" Then Luffy's arms snapped forward again, and Elsa could swear that his metal-clad forearms were wreathed in flames as they slammed into Akainu's chest, sending him flying swiftly across the water. The only indication that Elsa had that the admiral had not landed in the ocean was when she heard a loud cracking sound accompanied by one of the navy ships in the distance rocking violently and smoking slightly, its broken main mast toppling to the side and into the ocean.
Elsa was left stunned by Luffy's casual display of power, so she could find nothing to say as he seemed to look just past her and nod in determination before dashing back the way he came. Then she felt someone starting to lift her back to her feet, and when she looked over and was surprised to see that it was Nico Robin. This was rather shocking to her as she could have sworn that Robin had been over with the others fighting the soldiers and protecting Anna, and a glance over that way confirmed that Robin WAS still there (though Anna was now headed her way while Luffy and his crew kept the Navy from pursuing.) Then Elsa happened to look down and she saw that this Robin's feet seemed to be merging into the sand (like the ear that she noticed eavesdropping on her and Akainu earlier.) Could Robin have the ability to copy her entire self, not just parts of her body? Elsa thought to herself in wonder.
"Now's your chance!" Robin, or rather Robin's double, said to her in urgent concern, "You and Anna hurry over to that cave and get out of here!"
As Anna ducked under Elsa's arm to support her weight, Elsa asked them in just as much concern, "But what about you guys?"
"Don't worry about us, this is nothing!" Usopp told her, though the brave front he put on was spoiled by the tremor she heard in his voice and the shaking of his legs, "We faced nearly 30 times this many soldiers, not to mention the dangerous members of CP9, when we rescued Robin from Enies Lobby over two years ago. We can make it through this too."
"But I can't just abandon you guys like this!" Elsa protested, though she looked less impressive than she sounded as she couldn't even stand on her own without Anna's support.
"Your Highness, the day I let a beautiful young woman give up her life to save mine is the day I stop calling myself a gentleman," Sanji told her coolly, "Besides, Usopp's correct that this isn't anything we can't handle. You've already done more than enough to help us, now you just focus on taking care of your sister."
"You should super listen to him, miss," Franky said as he launched his metal fist into a group of soldiers charging him, knocking them down like ten-pins, "Your little friends risked everything in order to save you. Don't let their sacrifice be in vain."
"But…" Elsa tried again, but the glares of Luffy and Zorro, the latter of which was still locking swords with the blind samurai-like admiral, caused the rest of her protest to die in her throat. She realized that they were right. She was in no condition to be able to help them, and her continued presence there was only going to put them in further danger. After all, they were staying to fight only so that she and Anna would have an opportunity to get away, and the longer they fought the greater the chance that something would go wrong and one of them would get hurt or worse. Looking over at the ship Akainu had struck she couldn't see anything different, but she realized it wouldn't be long before he recovered enough to get back here to finish her off.
Looking back at Robin's double, which was starting to break back up into flower petals, she was greeted by a kind smile as she said, "Don't worry, we'll be fine. Go."
Elsa knew that time was of the essence now, so she simply nodded in acceptance. However, she still felt bad about simply running away, so she reached deep into what remained of her strength and created a powerful blizzard that dramatically reduced visibility, hoping that the Straw Hats would be able to use it to cover their own escape. She even made it extend across the ocean towards the Navy ships, hoping that it would blind them as well and recovery that much slower. Leaning more heavily against Anna, Elsa then called out to the others, "Thank you, everyone! We'll never forget you!" Then she finally let Anna lead her into the trees in the direction Robin had indicated.
Elsa wasn't sure how long they had been walking through this jungle-like forest. It might have been as short as a few minutes or as long as a couple of hours, she wasn't sure. Her fever was making everything, such as her sense of time, as blurry as her vision was becoming. She could no longer even be sure that they were still heading the correct direction, but Anna assured her that they were so Elsa trusted her. There were a few times when Elsa's legs gave out from under her and she nearly brought Anna down with her, but Anna merely braced herself and waited until Elsa could get her legs under her again before she continued on.
With the way Elsa was slowing them down she was sure that Akainu's men would have caught up to them by now, but so far there was no signs of pursuit. Thinking about it then, she realized that a shipload of pirates with enormous bounties on their heads would be of a much greater priority than a pair of no bounty nobodies like Anna and herself. Besides, if anyone tried to chase them now they would have a hard time finding them in this blizzard, and any tracks they left behind would surely be swept away by the wind and snow.
"W-w-w-we're almost th-th-there," Anna stammered, and Elsa could feel through the arm that was draped over Anna's shoulders that she was shivering. Elsa felt bad that, in her efforts to provide the Straw Hats and themselves cover for escape, that she had neglected to account for how the cold of the storm itself would affect Anna, that she had forgotten how Anna had just barely recovered from being stuck inside of their spherical ice life raft for so long. Before she could come up with an apology, however, Elsa saw Anna's eyes brighten as she pointed ahead of them and exclaimed, "There! That must be it, the Nexus Cave!"
Looking to where Anna was gesturing, Elsa saw in the clearing ahead of them what, for the most part, appeared to be just an ordinary cave. However, the faint and unusual glow that she saw from inside looked rather warm and inviting, indicating that it was far from ordinary. "Home," Elsa said softly, a hopeful smile appearing on her face.
Just as they stepped into the clearing, however, Elsa heard a loud and unusual sound back from the direction they'd come from, from the beach where they'd been fighting just moments ago. Elsa couldn't place a finger on just what this sound was supposed to be, but the closest equivalent she could think of was a mixture of the sound of a cannon firing and the whistling of the cannonball through the air. Had the Navy decided to, rather than trying to track them down through the blizzard-besieged jungle, to instead lay waste to the area with their ship's cannons? Looking up she did see a large object being propelled at high speeds towards the cave. However, the object in question was too large to be a cannonball, and the force propelling it looked more like a trio of crossed air-slashes. When the object struck the side of the cave and slid down to the ground, Elsa was able to focus her vision enough to see that it was a man, and not just any man: it was the blind samurai-like admiral who Zorro had been fighting just moments ago, whose strange gravity-based powers had nearly crushed her at the start of this conflict. Had he managed to defeat Zorro then somehow raced up here to cut off their escape? Elsa counted that as unlikely as this admiral had slid down his back against the cave's side, meaning he'd flown backwards through the air (& who would make themselves fly backwards deliberately?) That, plus the fact that the spittle flying from his mouth from his coughing was lightly flecked with tiny drops of blood, told Elsa he hadn't come here under his own power. Then how…?
"Damn that Zorro!" Elsa heard the admiral say an a low but firm voice that was horse from his recent coughing, "I had completely underestimated how dangerous his techniques had become. I barely managed to block most of his 1080 Phoenix Cannon, but I had no concentration remaining to ground myself with my power and so got blown away by it. Since Akainu is still in no condition to do anything to stop them, and the rest of our men aren't nearly strong enough to do so, it's now likely that the Straw Hats will get away today." The admiral then stood and dusted himself off and looked (or rather turned, since he was blind) directly towards Anna and herself as he said, "Hello again, Your Highnesses. Sorry you had to see me in this state."
Elsa was stunned into silence, but mentally she raged, Zorro, you idiot! Of all the places you could have blown this guy to, you blast him over here!? Elsa had heard of the swordsman's legendary bad sense of direction, how he could manage to get lost within a 2 block radius, which is why Sanji and the others refused to let Zorro leave the ship during their last stop. However, Elsa hadn't figured that his broken compass would apply to his aiming! Of course Elsa guessed that her blizzard didn't exactly help him with his aim, but that didn't exactly do much to comfort her when their only route of escape was cut off. What's worse is that Luffy and his crew would not know the danger Anna and Elsa were in until it's too late.
Anna must have figured that since the admiral was blind that they could sneak around him if they were quiet, and before Elsa could warn her Anna began to take a slow, cautionary step to the side. The admiral must have sensed this, and in a movement that was almost too fast for Elsa to see he used his sword to care out a small trench in the ground 30 yards out from his current position, exactly where Anna was about to step. "I would not me trying that again, young miss," the admiral calmly warned her, "You seem to be basically good people, like the Straw Hats, and your hearts seem to be free of the corruption that plagues this world, so I'd much rather take you in alive. However, the one who calls herself Queen Elsa has proven to be rather too dangerous to be taken lightly, so if you resist I'm afraid that I'll be forced to resort to more extreme measures."
"If you know that, then why would you do this?" Elsa asked him Imploringly, "Why would you try to capture Luffy and his crew, much less Anna and myself? We've practically done nothing since we got here!"
The admiral shrugged as he said, "It's my duty."
Elsa, trying again, asked, "I don't understand. Why would you place yourself in the service of those who clearly have no honor? How can you stand to be the cause of so much suffering?"
The admiral, giving her a wry smile, said in response, "Your Highness, why do think I'm blind?"
Anna, clearly shocked, asked him, "You mean that your bosses blinded you because you wouldn't follow one of their orders?"
The admiral shook his head as he answered, "No matter how much I disagreed with an order, no matter how much it disgusted me, I've never directly disobeyed a single one."
Elsa felt shock as she understood the truth of what he was saying: he'd blinded himself! This admiral could not stand the sight of the corruption and evil around him, so he made sure that he would never see it ever again. Elsa could not decide whether this action indicated a noble heart or a cowardly one, but she figured that she understood this world too little to be able to pass judgement.
The admiral, still facing them as his smile disappeared, said, "Still, I would not be taking me lightly if I were you. I may be blind, but my hearing is quite good. What's more is that my devil fruit gives me a sense of where things are by the effect gravity has on them. Even the clouds up in the sky and the meteors out in space are not beyond my range of senses."
In other words, there's no chance that we can sneak past him, Elsa thought. However, rather than moving to capture them, Elsa was surprised to see him smiling again, and she could have sworn she seen him wink (though his eyes remained closed) as he continued, "Despite all this, however, there are things even I cannot 'see'. I can see the clouds travel through the sky, but not the winds that drive them. Also, while I can see the snow that now falls all around us I could not see the formless blast that created it."
Elsa looked at the admiral in confusion for a moment, wondering why he was telling her these things, and then it clicked. Wait, he's not telling me what I think he is, is he? When nobody did anything, a look of irritation momentarily crossed the admiral's face as he notched his sword out of his walking stick-like sheath. Reflexively, Elsa fired an ice blast at him, encasing him in an ice block up to his neck. Elsa had expected him to be angry or even to break out right away and use his power to crush her flat. Instead, he surprised her by grinning widely as he said with what she decided was the worst acting possible, "Oh dear, it appears you caught me off guard and completely immobilized me. I wouldn't get too comfortable, as I will be able to free myself with my abilities soon enough. Also, the Gorosei have determined that the Nexus Cave is too dangerous to be left intact. As such, I've already summoned down a meteor in order to obliterate it. I estimate that it will impact an about one minute, after which I will hunt you down to take you into custody, no matter in this world you try to take refuge."
"Why would you do that?" Anna protested, but Elsa just squeezed her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile as she understood what was going on now. This admiral didn't have to clue Elsa in on what to do to him, nor was it necessary for him to warn her of his intention to destroy the cave. He informed her of the limitations of his senses because he'd wanted to give her the opportunity to get past him, and the reason for informing her of the meteor was a subtle way of telling her to use the cave before it's gone forever. Furthermore, once the cave was no more there would be no way for Akainu or his comrades to follow them. This admiral may not be directly opposing the questionable decisions of his superiors, but it seemed that he was resisting them in his own subtle way, and this gave Elsa some hope for the future of this world. Standing as best as she could on her own, she gave him a small bow and smile as she told him, "I wish you the best, and pray that you can find a way to restore true justice and honor to the World Government and its Navy."
The admiral, whose ice prison was falling away in chunks as he was being pushed down into his own crater, gave her a small knowing smile before announcing, "Thirty seconds."
"Come on, Elsa! Let's go!" Anna yelled as she grabbed Elsa's hand and dragged her towards the cave entrance, and just before they got in Elsa caught sight of the meteor in question as it made its fiery entrance into the atmosphere. Once inside, Elsa saw the glow she'd seen earlier was from a pillar of light in the cave's center, which she assumed must be the portal in question. Elsa tried to remember how they were supposed to use it to get home, then when she recalled what Robin had said her breath froze in her chest. In order to get where they want to go they needed to concentrate on their destination, but it had been hard enough for her fever-addled mind to recall this little bit of info. If she was unable to keep her scattered thoughts on home when they passed through then there was a chance that she might not make it there, and if she was still holding onto Anna when that happened she might prevent her from getting there as well. Elsa tried to let go of Anna's hand so that she might pass through separately, that way at least Anna might be able to see their parents and Kristoff once more. However, Anna must have thought that her illness was making her lose her grip, so she clutched Elsa's hand even tighter and dragged Elsa into the portal behind her.
Once her vision cleared, Elsa found herself on her back on an earthen floor. She could tell that the portal had worked as the texture of this ground felt different than that of the cave or even anywhere else on the island that they had been on. However, she could tell from the smell of the air that they had not made it back home, just as she'd figured what would happen. Still the air here smelt here nice and crisp, unlike the salty air of the island they'd left, with the faint hint of the smell of hay. From that odor, as well as the wooden makeup of the roof, Elsa had deduced that they were in a barn. Curiously enough it looked as though a huge hole had been blasted in the roof, but how and why she didn't know. Anyway, the air and ground felt nice and cool against her fevered skin, and there seemed to be no immediate signs of danger, so she had no desire to move about right now.
"Wow, that was some trip!" Elsa heard Anna exclaim, "Are you okay, Elsa?" Elsa nodded yes but remained lying where she was. After a moment of silence, she heard Anna say, "This doesn't look like any place I recognize. We didn't make it back home, did we?"
Elsa sighed and turned her head to look at Anna, who was sitting cross-legged and looking back at her with a concerned expression, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."
"What do you mean?" Anna asked her in confusion, "How is this your fault?"
"It's this fever. It kept me from being able to concentrate on getting home, and because we were holding hands I kept you from getting there as well."
"So? It's not your fault that you happen to be sick now," Anna assured her, "so don't worry about it."
"Yeah, well I tried to let go of your hand before we entered the portal," Elsa continued her explanation, "that way at least you…"
"What?" Anna asked, interrupting her as anger flashed in her eyes, "You tried to let go of my hand on purpose!?"
"Of course," Elsa told her, "If I had managed to, then at least you could have made it back home to our family and…"
"Not! Without! You!" Anna enunciated sternly, and Elsa felt as though the words were punching straight through her chest, "I'm not about to head back home by myself & wonder for the rest of my life what happened to you. I thought we'd settled this when you considered doing this back on Berk! I would rather spend the rest of my life bouncing around from place to unfamiliar place together with you than to return to an Arendelle that doesn't have you in it, got it!"
"But what about Kristoff? Our parents?" Elsa reasoned with her.
"I will see Kristoff again," Anna countered in a sure voice, "We will see our parents again, and we will do so by working together to find a way to get back home. There isn't anything that we can't overcome when we put our heads together, understand Elsa?"
"But we don't even know where we are now or if this place is even safe for us," Elsa told her, "We have no idea if there's anyone or anything here that has the power to send us home."
Anna looked thoughtful as she gazed around the barn, then her eyes locked on a spot on the ground as she said, "What about this? This looks a lot like the portal we passed through back on that island, only this one's currently inactive. Perhaps when you're feeling better again you might be able to use your power to reenergize it & we can get back home using it?"
Leveraging herself up to get a better look at what Anna was talking about, Elsa saw that in the center of the barn, directly beneath the hole in the roof, was a design carved into the ground that could indeed be a portal of sorts. However, there was something about this design unnerved Elsa, though she couldn't place her finger on why. When her nausea caused her vision to blur, that's when she'd seen why it bothered her: this portal's design looked rather similar to that what she'd seen on the flags and sails of the naval fleet that had had caused them so much trouble recently, the design that represented the World Government! The main difference between the World Government's flag and this design was that here the cross with rounded tips was itself overlaid with concentric circles.
"Yeah, maybe," Elsa conceded with a shudder, then as her weariness overtook her, she lowered herself back down to the ground and gazed through the hole in the roof at the starry sky as she said, "We'll talk about it more in the morning."
"Ohhhh no you don't!" Anna argued, walking into her view and gabbing her hand to pull her up as she said, "Come on, back on your feet." When Elsa stared at her in confusion, her mouth hanging open, Anna clarified, "It's far too cold and drafty here, Elsa. You won't get any better if you fall asleep here, so we ought to find who owns this barn and see if they'll let you sleep this off. Besides, I'd like to get someone to look at this burn of yours for me."
Elsa groaned and rolled her eyes as she said, "Yes, mother," which earned her a playful elbow from Anna and Elsa giggled in response as she allowed Anna to lead her out of the barn.
After they'd walked through the woods for a while, with no other signs of habitation visible, they came across a cleared area through which a road of sorts stretched in both directions as far as she could see. If Elsa hadn't been sure that they hadn't made it back home before, then this would have confirmed it: the road here was paved with a similar material as the roads back in New York City, but since there was no buildings that she could see Elsa doubted that they'd made it back there (maybe this was Puck's idea of a practical joke). On one side of the road was what appeared to be a wooden sign, but it was so dark and her vision was so blurry by this point that she was unable to read it.
"Is that right?" Anna asked in confusion, "My English may be a little rusty, but surely that can't be the name of a town, can it?"
Before Elsa could ask Anna for clarification on what she was talking about, Elsa heard the rumbling sound that she'd recognized as that of what she understood to be that of the engine of an automobile, accompanied by the gradual lightening of the road around them. As she turned in the direction they were coming from, however, her ears were assaulted by the shrill blast of a siren that immediately had her head pounding furiously. The flashing red and blue lights on top of the vehicle didn't exactly help her feel any better, either.
Thankfully the siren didn't last for more than a few seconds (though the flashing lights continued, and when her head's throbbing died down she remembered that the "police" that Elisa Maza was a part of had similar lights and sirens on their vehicles. Then the door on the driver's side opened, and as Elsa saw the sleeve of a red leather jacket she asked in confusion, "Eliza?" However, as the person finished exiting the vehicle, Elsa saw that this woman was clearly not her friend from New York. She was about the same height & the coat appeared identical to Eliza's, but that's where the similarities ended: her skin was too fair, her hair a striking shade of blond. Even though Elsa's eyesight was too messed up right now to make out any facial features, she was certain that she did not know this woman.
However, Elsa's confusion only grew more pronounced as the strange young woman called out, "Elsa, Anna, you're back!" Then a beat of silence was punctuated by a sharp gasp from the young woman before she asked in concern, "Oh my God! Elsa, you're hurt! Anna, what happened to her?"
As a young man exited from the other side of the vehicle (which Elsa noted looked rather similar to Eliza's partner Matt Bluestone, but again his hair color was wrong), Anna told the young woman urgently, "My sister is very sick. Please, is there someplace nearby where she can rest and recover?"
"Of course," the young man assured Anna, "I'd like to take her to the hospital, but with Hyde pretty much running the town at the moment the less people who know she's here the better. We can give you a ride back to my place instead, and Mary Margaret can look after her while we get ahold of either Dr. Whale or Dr. Jekyll. But Anna, Elsa looks as though she's been burned! What happened to you guys? We haven't seen or heard from you since you went back to Arendelle about a year ago."
Elsa felt Anna's shoulders stiffen in trepidation as she asked, "You know us, know about Arendelle? Who are you people? What is this place?"
Elsa saw the young woman and the young man look at each other in confusion for a moment before the young woman asked, "Anna, you don't remember me, don't remember David?"
Anna shook her head no, and the young woman asked her partner, "Do you think someone used a spell to alter their memories again, Dad?" to which he responded, "But who would do that, Em, and why? Elsa's aunt is long gone, and from what I heard Elsa and Anna had sent Hans and his brothers running for the hills after they got back."
Elsa shook her head in confusion. Nothing these people was saying was making any sense, and her overcooked head was bad enough without adding more questions to the pile of currently unanswered ones. "Please, just tell us," Elsa implored them, "Who are you, and where are we?"
The young woman looked directly at Elsa, appearing as confused as Elsa felt, but she answered, "Elsa, it's me: Emma. Your friend, Emma Swan, and this is my father, David. You're back in Storybrooke." Then, her strength exhausted, Elsa heard no more as she fell into unconsciousness.
To Be Continued in Familiar Strangers...