Astrasia: Thanks for all the kind reviews!
In response to DemonCatLady, I have only decided Mataji's height as far as she will definitely be the tallest of her siblings. Yonji is the tallest in canon at 6"4 and a half, so she will be a minimum 6"5 when fully grown. I'd like to make her the same height as Jajji, but as his height has yet to be disclosed I'll decide once I get that info! At the moment at ten years old she'd be roughly 5"7/5"8.
Note that NONE of the characters introduced in this chapter are OCs! They are all minor canon characters.
Even though darkness fell early on Tequila Wolf, especially when helped along by the thick sea mist still wafting over the edge of the bridge, it was several hours before Mataji felt as if enough time had passed that the guard's attention may have lapsed enough for an attempt to be made.
Kenji had opened the window during the first hour, feigning warmth in their room that wasn't there, to maintain an air of normalcy for when the opened window would be needed later. They had scanned the room for an escape route for hours that was feasible for them both, but except for the door the narrow window was the only option.
The floor was solid stone, an unusual choice for a nomadic country, but that was likely the reason for the multitude of abandoned camps that they had passed along the wall. The buildings were built for sturdiness not portability.
"Don't like this." Kenji grumbled, his back to Mataji as he stared out the second window with his eyes trained on the two guards standing mere yards away.
"You don't have to. I have to at least try." Mataji shrugged on her lightly mottled grey body suit, it was best for city camouflage but the ice and snow littered sparsely across the bridge-top could make that a bit more complicated. She would have to stick to the walls as much as she can.
"Yer ten." Kenji grumbled, crossing his arms. Mataji pulled a matching glove onto her hand and examined the window again. There was no way that Kenji's broad frame would fit through that.
"I'm a Vinsmoke."
"Barely."
"Shush. I'll be back in a while." Mataji pulled on her second glove with a wry grin. Kenji was bristling indignantly, but was showing no signs of turning around. Good.
"I'm ready." Mataji murmured, tucking her bright hair into the built in hood and face mask of the camouflage suit.
"So're they. Gi'us a few…" Kenji growled and Mataji could picture his expression without needing to see it. His already angular eyes would be even more so because of his squinting through the dark, brows furrowed, and a downturned petulant mouth.
Mataji stifled a chuckle and waited, bracing herself for immediate movement whenever Kenji gave the go ahead.
Seconds turned into minutes, turned into almost half an hour before there was even a slight let up in the guard. Mataji's legs were quivering from holding herself in such a strict position when Kenji's voice finally croaked out into the room –
"Now."
-and Mataji propelled herself forward with strong legs characteristic of the Vinsmoke siblings. She couldn't see out the window clearly from as far back as she had been standing, which was the point. They couldn't see her either. It was pure trust in Kenji that allowed Mataji to leap through the window and sprint hard to the wooden boxes piled against a dwelling opposite theirs.
Mataji leaped over the side of the box and stilled herself quickly and efficiently.
If they had seen her…
Mataji waited with bated breath for one, two, five, seven minutes before she allowed herself to breathe normally again. She had escaped detection. Somehow.
She peeked over the edge of the box she was crouched behind and stared at the dwelling from which she had escaped. Kenji was standing scowling out the window. His eyes were squinting, his brows furrowed, and his mouth downturned. Mataji only just managed to hold in the giggle that threatened to escape before she reminded herself of the situation.
And so, Mataji braced herself against the cold. She was thankful that her suit allowed a decent temperature regulation. While she was chilly, she was nowhere near as cold as the guards had been.
She slunk out from behind the box, ensuring that she was standing flush against the hard grey wall behind her. As long as she stuck to walls, it was unlikely that her camouflage would be seen through unless someone was standing close. After all, it was only Mataji's eyes and a sliver of skin surrounding them that were exposed from the suit.
Mataji paused whenever any sound reached her ears that was atypical of night time Tequila Wolf, which was difficult to do when the mist and snow muffled any sound soft enough to be wary of. Had Jajji not engineered their senses to be superior to that of a normal human, Mataji was sure that she would have been caught already.
The time that passed seemed much longer than the reality. Mataji glanced up at the hazy outline of the moon through the clouds every now and then, reassuring herself that there were still hours left in the night. It felt as if she were running on borrowed time for some reason.
Mataji had stared for mere seconds at the faded remains of red from the decapitated slave as she passed by, but it felt as if she had wasted hours by doing so.
Mataji slunk expertly beyond Caesar's dwelling, knowing that that bare room would hold little, if any, information.
It was the research facility, housed mere meters beyond Caesar's abode, that would hold what she sought.
It was innocuous enough a building that when Mataji had been led past it earlier that day, she had not recognised it for what it was. It looked identical to each of the other dreary buildings on Tequila Wolf, if only a little larger. Whenever research had been mentioned, Caesar had unconsciously looked in this direction – and while the size of the lab may make it seem as if there was little to hide, it was what she had overheard that finalised her suspicions.
"How are we going to get Caesar's stuff down there?" Two guards had been complaining about three large metallic canisters filled with a liquid that sloshed about noisily. The significance of what they had said didn't strike Mataji until much later, when she had been pondering the thickness of the bridge.
Even though the bridge traversed the ocean, and was designed to bear the full weight of heavy traffic and dwellings, there was little necessity to have it as ridiculously thick as it currently was. It was a waste of supplies. And while watch towers were strewn along the bridge top at intervals, they were not nearly frequent enough to be effective.
Mataji couldn't be sure, as the mist had been thick at the time, but she was almost certain that she had seen shadowed marks on the side of the bridge as they had been sailing to the nearest dock. There was a distinct possibility that they were slitted hollows, narrow enough to get a view but not enough to let a lot of cold in.
The chances that Caesar's lab, located at the leftmost point of the bridge, was located beneath the surface in a hollowed out room was too high to ignore. It allowed for privacy, which was ranked pretty high in importance when you were an assistant to Vegapunk… on forced temporary leave or not.
Mataji curled her fingers experimentally, cocking her head to the side and observing the dwelling in question. Not that it did her any good. Just like in Caesar's home, there were no windows. It was a cube of smooth unforgiving grey.
But how to get in? There was nobody around. It was highly unlikely that a known philanthropist like Caesar would work through the night, making it even unlikelier for any deliveries or messengers that Mataji could intercept to pass by.
Mataji allowed minutes to tick by, glancing over her shoulder at where Caesar was most likely asleep with a silent snarl.
She checked every rooftop, eyes flicking from one to the next and not moving on until she was sure she could both hear and see no one.
Deserted.
What would Mataji's siblings do? Mataji tried to reason with the knot of panic in her gut, knowing that there was much less of a choice in what her next actions would be than there seemed. There was an easy answer to that question after all. Indisputably, each of the Vinsmoke siblings excepting Mataji would already have gone through that door like a bat out of hell.
'Yes, but if that was needed this time they would be here, not me.' Mataji frowned, twitching with every second that passed by and trying to come to a logical conclusion.
No windows, little chance of anyone entering or even passing by. Mataji didn't like guesswork, like Jajji she was a being of defined logic and reason and assumptions didn't sit well with her. Well, not only like Jajji. There had been scientists in her old world aplenty who had paved the way for the likes of her. She was nothing special there.
'But here, you are.' The voice in her head came unbidden, and so suddenly that Mataji almost jumped in fright and craned her neck to see who spoke before she realised she had thought it herself.
Mataji stared stumped at the offending door, mind swirling.
It was true. In this world, it often seemed as if logic had no place. The world was made almost entirely of water, and the rest insanity. Fruit that gave people superpowers, mermaids, fishmen, giants, dwarves. Where on earth did a scientist fit in?
'Where you need to. The others can't plan as well as you can. Sanji definitely wouldn't be alive now if it weren't for your mind. It is necessary, your mind, especially here, but not now.'
"But not now." Mataji whispered in a voice barely audible to herself, and cleared her mind as best she could.
And. She. Moved.
Mataji sprang forward after one last cursory glance around to make sure there were no eyes looking in her direction and moved faster than she thought she ever had. Her heart hammered louder than ever as she swung the door open, jumped through, and snapped it shut as silently as she could while still being fast.
In the split second between the opening and closing of the door, Mataji had seen enough of the bare room inside to know that she had no company. She let out a sigh of relief and fumbled in her waist belt which was surprisingly difficult given the pitch darkness of the room.
Eventually, her eager fingers closed around a candle and a match. It took a few tries, but eventually Mataji managed to light the match off the stone walls and then the candle, throwing the room into an eerie focus.
Mataji blinked slowly, allowing her eyes to adjust before realising there was nothing to see. The entire room was empty. No furnishings. Just the blank grey walls and a single wooden hatch in the middle of the equally grey floor.
Mataji suppressed a grin. It appeared that nobody was even slightly concerned about being obvious. Luckily for her.
She inspected the groove surrounding the hatch, worrying about the tiny sliver of light she could see when standing above. Mataji shook herself abruptly. Not now.
The hatch didn't make a sound as it was swung open, its appearance was new so that was hardly a surprise. Mataji peered down, a rickety ladder was jutting out the top, and what little light was down there was not enough to bring whatever was below into view.
Mataji climbed down carefully, but easily. She pulled the hatch back down to cover the exit after discerning that there was no lock. The Vinsmoke training sessions made the descent easy even with one hand holding the candle, and it didn't take long before Mataji's feet reached the floor with a resound 'pat'.
Candle raised above her head, Mataji surveyed the room open-mouthed. It had indeed been built in as a feature of the bridge, the stone smoothly transitioning from floor to wall as any room would. This was not hollowed out for Caesar's use, it was definitely built in. Mataji's stomach lurched.
There were not enough dwellings built above ground for the sheer number of slaves that she had seen. They kept people in these tiny enclosed rooms.
Mataji focused, driving the subject from her mind, and looked around.
Indeed, the small amount of light visible from above the hatch had come from a slitted hole in the wall. The view beyond, had the mist been lighter, would have been beautiful and Mataji could hear the ocean from here.
This sliver of light added to the candle threw the room into enough focus that Mataji could see an enormous silver vat standing at the rear of the room, the letters SAD emblazoned across it in bold font and a nuclear symbol above that. Two tall cylinders were on either side of the vat, attached to it by several tubes and bubbling ominously.
"Well, I'm in the right place." Mataji murmured, almost sarcastically as she looked sceptically at the vat.
Sighing, Mataji looked around the room. A large wooden desk holding a small metal cage and with several drawers was pushed against the opposite wall, and a test bench next to that. Mataji recognised some of the solutions on the bench by their chemical symbols, which were oddly the same as they had been in her previous world. It made for an easier scientific transition. There was hydrochloric acid, methyl bromide, sulphuric acid, digoxin… And oddly some plants and mushrooms that for the most part Mataji couldn't recognise apart from aconite and water hemlock. Stacks upon stacks of disorganised papers stood in teetering piles on this bench next to what were probably all very dangerous toxins and Mataji couldn't help but feel her stomach lurch in disbelief that such a renowned scientist would abide by such horrific scientific practice.
But then, ethics and regulations were much less of a concern here. But still. It rankled with her that a man perceived as highly intelligent would…
"Stop it." Mataji groaned to herself.
"Stop what?"
Mataji jumped and span around, arms waving widely as she turned and eyes wide with madness. She scanned the room, frowning upon seeing nobody there.
There was nobody in the room. Unless…
Mataji crept towards the wooden table in disbelief, her eyes not straying from the small metal cage in which a small figure was becoming more and more clear.
"Hello." It said chirpily, large eyes brimming with curiosity.
"Hello." Mataji responded slowly, frowning at the little creature who seemed ecstatic to be sitting in a cage.
"Are you a good human or a bad one?" It asked eagerly, leaning forward to hear Mataji's answer. Despite the voice being rather more high pitched than that of a regular human's, Mataji noticed that it was most definitely male.
"Eh… What?" Mataji spluttered, trying to shake the shock from her system as what was clearly a dwarf swung to and fro on a small bird swing.
"Are you a good human or a bad one?" His little voice seemed harder now, more suspicious.
"Eh… Good? I think? Mostly." Mataji answered, deciding this as the best course of action whether she believed her words to be true or not. The sudden delight in the dwarf's features told her that her guess was a good one as his tail bristled happily.
He was adorable. His enormous brown afro topped with goggles was just as tufty as his matching tail, he had tiny matching overalls and a pointed nose. He was also smiling happily in her direction.
"Oh, good! So you promise not to tell anyone that I'm down here then?"
"…Sure."
"Great! Now I don't have to kill you, hahahahahaha!" The laughter trilled innocently about the room, but Mataji was sure the little creature wasn't joking.
"Why would you have to kill me?" She asked curiously, wondering why he was giving information so freely when he immediately brightened and began to speak.
"Because humans can't know that the Tontatta tribe exist! We're from Green Bit, and even the locals think we're fairies!" He announced proudly, puffing out his chest as Mataji stared disbelievingly at him.
There was not a single person with knowledge of the Grand Line that believed the 'fairies' of Dressrosa were anything but dwarves. The locals called them 'fairies' as a fond nickname, but Mataji never believed it would be to placate the dwarves themselves.
"Really?" Mataji asked, keeping her tone bright and lacing it with the right amount of awe.
"Yup. We're masters of disguise, and super fast. Regular people can't even see us!" He threw back his head and laughed.
"Excuse me for asking, but then why are you in a cage?" Mataji feigned a gasp, growing more curious as the dwarf shook his head vigorously.
"Oh no, oh no, I'm not trapped here." And with those words he stuck his tiny arms out and gripped either side of the bars and wrenched hard. They creaked and gave way under the impressive strength the dwarf seemed to have, Mataji was impressed.
The dwarf hopped out of the cage with a dramatic flair and bowed, Mataji clapped accordingly trying very hard to keep a sincere expression on her face.
"If youre not trapped, then why?" She began, but was interrupted quickly by the brown haired dwarf.
"Ah let me tell you the Tontatta tribe's tale of woe~"
"You really don't-"
"A mere two weeks ago, Donquixote Doflamingo returned to Dressrosa. It was just in time to, because Riku Dold III began acting very, very strangely. He used to be such a kind man, but he went mad with greed. It was very sad. But! Doflamingo came, and even though it was scary at the time, he took five hundred of us from the Tontatta tribe to help make SMILE. Which you get from SAD. It turns out, our good and kind-hearted princess, Mansherry, is very ill! So the kind Doflamingo is keeping the princess alive for us while we work hard to make SMILE! Because SMILE is the only thing that will make Mansherry better!" At this, the little dwarf punched the air in determination and Mataji stared blankly at him.
There was no way… No way that this little guy was really that stupid was there?
"Doflamingo… The pirate? With a reputation for manipulation and twisted murder methods?" Mataji clarified, rubbing her temples in irritation.
"Yes. Such a kind, caring man. A good human, too. He told us so." The dwarf nodded, not seeing the contradiction between the two descriptions in the slightest.
"I guess, since you're supposed to make SMILE, you're here to help Caesar make enough SAD first?" Mataji sighed, deciding to ignore the rest of it for now.
"Yes. Until we get Punk Hazard back up and running as the main SAD facility. Caesar, he's a good human too you'd like him, had an accident and blew up that part of the lab. Nobody was hurt though! So Doctor Vegapunk sent us away to work for a little bit, so Caesar came here." His high voice said confidently, still clearly not seeing anything wrong with how this story was playing out.
"Did Doctor Vegapunk know that you were there? On Punk Hazard?" Mataji asked curiously, not able to ignore the one blatantly obvious gaping hole in the story.
"Oh, no. Caesar said I should hide because Vegapunk is deathly afraid of dwarves! He passes out instantly, and I would ruin an entire day of work if Vegapunk ever saw me." A firm nod accompanied the blatantly obvious lie.
Mataji mulled this over. This made a lot more sense. Vegapunk, who had a reputation as a kind man if nothing else, would definitely not support the slavery of dwarves by Doflamingo. He wouldn't support a man like Doflamingo at all, in fact. So Caesar was obviously keeping this business transaction a secret from his more public employer.
"Does Vegapunk know that you're still making SAD?" Mataji asked, disappointed when a shrug was the only answer she got.
"What's your name?" Mataji asked, looking the little dwarf in the eye warmly as he perked right up again. Stupid or not, the dwarves were extremely cute.
"Chao!"
"What? No, I'm not leaving yet." Mataji waved her arms as the little dwarf laughed.
"No, my name is Chao. You know, I'm glad I met you. What's your name?" Chao asked excitedly, his little arms flailing in excitement.
"My name? It's… Mayu." Mataji cursed herself for the terrible made up name. Even if that was relayed to Caesar there was little chance that he wouldn't guess who it was. If Jajji ever learned of this he would
(Author's note: Mayu, and Mayuge, mean eyebrow(s) in Japanese)
"Ma…yu?" Chao asked, staring bluntly at her curled eyebrows in wonderment as to how any parent could be so cruel.
"Yes." Mataji said firmly, still cursing herself inwardly as Chao's face broke into a bright grin and he laughed.
"Hahaha, we both have pretty weird names!" He chortled, taking one look at Mataji's eyebrows before beginning again. Honestly, Mayu wasn't even an unusual name if anyone else had it. It had other meanings too, nice ones when given to a girl. But not so much when that girl had large curling eyebrows.
"Haha, yes we do." Mataji laughed in a strained sort of way before changing the subject rapidly.
"Does Caesar keep any sort of important notes down here? Specifically about SAD?" Mataji asked, knowing that she hadn't the time to go through the huge pile of papers on the test bench.
"Why?" Chao asked simply, not suspicious yet but tilting his head to the side curiously.
"Oh? I'm doing a project on Caesar. My teacher asked me to learn everything I can about him." Mataji chirped sweetly as Chao's face beamed up at her.
"Oh school is important! Let me help!" And with that he walked to the edge of the desk and swing his little legs over the side and kicked lightly so the drawer popped open. He hopped inside and began humming for a few seconds.
"Hm… There is sometimes a little book in here that he writes in sometimes, but there's no sign of it now! Maybe he took it with him to do some late night work." Chao chirped as he hopped back out of the drawer with a grin.
Shit.
"Ah… Thank you so much for your help, Chao. I wouldn't have found out half as much without you." Mataji said sincerely, giving a light bow as Chao blushed with pride. She wouldn't let him see her disappointment. While she had yet to find out anything solid about the manufacture of SAD, she had still found out a lot of valuable infor-…
"Chao? You said you help Caesar make the SAD, right?" Mataji asked wonderingly, not believing that this was only occurring to her now.
"Um… Kind of." Chao nodded proudly, as if he had actually answered her question.
"What do you mean, kind of?" Mataji asked, trying not to let an edge into her tone.
"Oh, well only Caesar knows how to actually make it. It's his devil fruit ability. Like Leo has! It involves… er… what is it?" Chao scratched his head looking utterly bewildered. Mataji was more confused as to what Chao's purpose was at all in the lab if not to actually make the damn thing.
"Lin… eh…. Linie…." Chao started kneading his little knuckles into his hair in frustration but something clicked in Mataji's head.
"It's not… The Lineage Factor is it?" She whispered, eyes wide and staring at the dwarf who suddenly looked ecstatic.
"Yeah! That's it! So Caesar uses the devil fruit and Linnie Factor, and I carry the stuff!" Chao announced proudly, puffing his chest out impressively.
"Oh, er, that stuff must be very heavy." Mataji responded softly, mind racing with possibilities.
"Yes, but we of the Tontatta tribe can lift – " But that was all that Chao had a chance to say before a soft snick was heard above their heads.
Mataji froze in horror. That was the sound of the main door opening overhead.
"Chao, listen to me. Please. Ok, so Caesar is really afraid of curly eyebrows, did you know that? And he knows my family have them so even our description can make him deathl afraid and faint. Just like Doctor Vegapunk and dwarves. So you have to make sure you don't mention me at all, alright? Can you do that?" Mataji asked desperately as she turned her head one way and another trying desperately to find a hiding spot as the footsteps above moved closer to the hatch. The table was backless, the vat was pushed directly against the wall… Where?!
"REALLY?!" Chao gasped, eyes wide with curiosity.
"Yes, now do you promise?" Mataji snapped, her eyes settling on the slitted window with trepidation. She was still ten years old, however tall she was she was still narrow and hadn't filled out much.
"Yes, of course!" Chao gasped, shocked by the 'revelation'.
Mataji had to have blind faith in Chao's gullibility as she balanced precariously on what passed for a windowsill and pressed her face to the gap. It was a tight fit, but she managed to ease her head through the window as the hatch upstairs opened. The jangle of the metal handle being the only sound as the hinges were silent.
Low grumbling could be heard as whoever it was descended the ladder with more difficulty than Mataji had.
Mataji's shoulders were partly out now as she shimmied sideways, the only thing stopping her from plummeting to an icy death the foot that she had hooked around the windowsill.
Her entire torso was out now. The climbing sounds were nearing the bottom now.
Mataji forced herself not to look down as she placed both of her hands on the outer ledge of the windowsill and tilted forward, forward, forward, until she was in a strange contorted handstand. She inched forward. The steps grew louder. She curled her legs over her shoulders. The steps grew closer.
And then she toppled in a backwards somersault out the window with a gasp of relief, fingers clutched to the outer ledge with her back to the bridge and facing the horizon. She was hanging low, safe in the knowledge that she was unlikely to be discovered and breathed a sigh of relief as the sound of footsteps turned with a shuffled sound and presumably faced the room.
"Hey, dwarf, what are you doing out of your cage?" It wasn't Caesar's voice, belatedly Mataji realised of course it wasn't. With his gaseous form it was highly unlikely that he would bother climbing down the stairs the old fashioned way.
"Oh, I had too much energy so I wanted a walk." Chao responded chirpily and Mataji realised, a little late, that there was no reason for Chao to lie to anyone except Caesar with the promise that she had enforced. She was lucky that Chao seemed to grasp the underlying rule of 'don't tell anyone'. Or perhaps the little dwarf simply didn't like whoever had entered.
"Get back in there then!" The voice, female as far as Mataji could tell, snarled and Mataji could hear the fast pattering of little feet accompanied by the creaking of metal. Chao had evidently bent the bars back into shape.
The woman paced the room a few times and didn't seem to notice anything out of place because moments later Mataji could hear her footsteps leave the room again and begin the ascent to the bridge top.
Mataji let out a sigh of relief as soon as the hatch closed but froze soon after. There was no way she was going to get as lucky leaving the lab as she had entering. Mataji looked to her left, slightly above her position there was another window in jumping distance.
Mataji pulled herself back up onto the windowsill, both feet planted comfortably and knees bent in a crouch as both of her hands gripped either side of the window.
"Thank you for all your help, Chao. Good luck making the SMILE for your princess." Mataji said guiltily, as Chao's face broke out in a wide grin and he nodded from inside his little cage. She wanted to help but there was no way Caesar would miraculously not notice what looked to be his only assistant going missing. Easier to at least leave Chao with the impression that he was doing good than explain in the time she had.
Mataji braced her legs and pushed hard enough to launch herself into the air, not thinking of the icy drop below as her fingertips caught hold of the upper ledge. She listened for a moment. She could hear no breathing or rustling from within, and so hauled herself up on the ledge to begin again. With this strategy, it was mere minutes before Mataji's fingers were enclosed around the edge of the top of the bridge itself.
And with extra care, and more luck, Mataji had made it back into the dwelling that she was sharing with Kenji. He stared curiously at Mataji as she began to shake her head. Now was not the time to panic.
"I got all we need. We have to leave." Mataji whispered, looking up at Kenji who now had a proud expression on his face until he looked at her empty arms questioningly. It didn't take long to fill him in, Kenji had always been able to operate on minimal information.
But all the same, by the time Mataji had finished enlightening Kenji and finished changing out of her camouflage gear the sun was in the sky. The mist had lifted for now.
It had taken some explaining, but Mataji had managed to convince the guards outside that a good night's sleep had brought her to her senses (here she could see them eying the growing bags under her eyes in disbelief) and that it was unlikely that Caesar would relinquish any information that the Vinsmokes might consider valuable.
Any offer to meet with Caesar she turned down firmly with a quip of 'I must be moving along, my father always expects business to be fast you know', which shut the guards right up. None of them wanted to come face to face with Jajji Vinsmoke if they could help it.
Mataji and Kenji had made it farther than she thought they would by the time Caesar actually made an appearance. They were approaching the perimeter of Tequila Wolf, walking surely past groups of slaves as Caesar's laugh echoed down the street.
"Shurororo, well, well, the little Vinsmoke has less guts than I thought." Caesar's fashion sense had not improved in the twenty four hours since Mataji had seen him last. His face was smug, expression overly triumphant considering she was a mere ten years old.
"Or perhaps a better read on people than you thought. I was not going to get any information out of you, Caesar Clown." Mataji inclined her head politely, Caesar did the same out of reflex and shook himself irritably.
"You're not staying to appreciate my work? I study things other than SAD and SMILE you know." Caesar actually had the audacity to look annoyed, but Mataji realised it was more because even this psychopath before her could acknowledge that his mind was an unusual one. And Mataji, eccentric herself for the world they lived in, was as close to a similar mind as he likely came to on a day to day basis. It was lonely, having an interest in things nobody else seemed to be. If nothing else his tone was confirmation that Chao had kept his mouth shut so far.
"Yes, and frankly I personally find those things more interesting than SAD and SMILE. If not for my father's expectations, I would stay for as long as my curiosity would allow." Mataji assured him, surprised to find that she actually wasn't lying.
Caesar, for however evil he may be, was a fascinating man and invented morbidly fascinating things.
"Humph, of course you would! I am a genius after all, shurorororo!" Caesar threw his head back and laughed loudly, calling the attention of the group of slaves to the left that had had Kenji's full attention for the duration of their conversation so far.
"K-Ken? Is that you? Ken? KEN! You gotta help me!" One of the slaves, eyes bulging from their sockets, threw himself forward and tried to crawl towards the trio standing near the border.
The slave had long unkempt blonde hair and thick eyebrows, but it was his scar that ran from his forehead to his eye that was his most noticeable feature. Or rather, it would be a scar. Because right now it was freshly bleeding.
"Kenji?" Mataji asked lowly, placing a hand on Kenji's arm as a guard approached the slave and kicked him hard in admonishment. Kenji's eyes were oddly blank as he responded,
"Byron. Our musician." Mataji understood instantly, though it didn't appear that Caesar did. Or if he did, he didn't care.
The man being kicked into the ground had been the musician of the pirate crew Kenji had once been part of. No wonder he was so out of sorts here.
"We have to go." Mataji said firmly, knowing how unkind she was being. Logic first, feeling later.
"I know." But Kenji remained rooted to the spot, his hand had reached up to gently touch his bomb collar as his eyes remained wide and his hands shaking.
"Kenji." Mataji said sharply, drawing the man's gaze instantly who blinked several times slowly before giving a single nod. But Kenji didn't speak as he turned his back on his once crewmate who was screaming for him in both desperation and rage.
"Shurororo." Caesar chuckled softly, but didn't seem to have anything to add. He placed his hands on his hips, causing the gas cloak to billow about him ominously before he opened his mouth again.
"For a brat, especially a Vinsmoke brat, you're not the worst. If you ever want to learn real science, not the shit your father does, I would welcome you to our lab. I'm sure Vegapunk would like having someone young about the place." Caesar's voice only sounded slightly bitter at the mention of his employer this time, and Mataji had to force herself to smile in response to his request. It was difficult to remember what a psychopath Caesar was sometimes.
"Thank you, that offer is most kind." Mataji bowed in thanks before straightening up again. Caesar seemed pleased by her acknowledgement of his prowess and seemed to be gloating internally.
Mataji glanced towards Byron once more, who was currently being dragged away by his hair and was flailing still calling for Kenji.
Kenji's face was whiter than she had ever seen it, and remained that colour as they left Tequila Wolf on their small boat.
The further they got from that cursed bridge the more Kenji seemed to ease, but Mataji bit her tongue. She knew, deep down, that Kenji would blame her for all that had happened on that bridge.
Mataji adjusted the mainsail as Kenji sat in total silence on the floor. She squinted, the temperature was rising drastically the further they sailed from the bridge and they were making incredible time considering they had been sailing a mere six hours. The wind was coming from directly behind them.
But… What was that? Mataji screwed up her face, keeping her eyes peeled on the dot on the horizon that was becoming clearer and clearer the closer they got.
It looked like… a large pink ship.
