This is probably my second favorite part of the movie, the first being – can't tell you yet, just in case you haven't seen this movie and I don't want to give away any spoilers. Hehe! Anyway, this is from Robin's POV, so the flow should be graceful like the first few chapters. Yay! I won't say much but here we go! Spandam seems a little ooc in this chapter, but only because I had no idea how the real Spandam would deduce these things. Read, enjoy, and review! You know you want to.
Chapter 7 – The Battle of Wits
Robin only had time to see a tall mountain in the distance covered in a lush green grassy color before Spandam blindfolded her. She sat on something hard, a rock perhaps, or maybe a fallen log, with her hands and feet tightly bound. She could see nothing but the occasional small iridescent ball of color that floated across her vision whenever she blinked, the dazzle from her last sight of the warm sun. She curled her toes in her boots, keeping her expression calm but screaming inside for someone, anyone, to rescue her.
Spandam began pulling things from inside what Robin assumed to be his bag, setting something metal atop a hard surface. It clinked loudly, and it was soon followed by another clink, and another though the third was more solid as if it was a bottle of some sort.
Her captor completed his preparations by placing the cool steel of a blade against her throat. She stiffened, not daring to move even a millimeter. They stayed this way for what seemed like hours; Robin's back began to ache, yet she didn't dare to shift positions. Her lip began to bleed from biting it so hard, and the bottom of her blindfold became damp with unwillingly shed tears.
Finally, leaves began crunching in rapid succession, too quick to be an animal. The steps of a human being. For one, it could be Kaku, finally catching up to them, but Robin doubted this. Or it could be Luffy, but the kind giant's steps were much slower and heavier than these. The footsteps stopped. Which only means…
"So," Spandam spoke. "It is down to you and to me." The footsteps began again. "If you wish her dead, by all means, keep moving forward."
The other person paused again. "Allow me to explain," said an unfamiliar voice, and Robin confirmed it in her mind to be the Man in Black who had been following them up the Gates of Justice.
"There's nothing to explain! You're trying to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen!"
Robin winced inwardly. Two men talking about her like she was simply an animal, like she was property.
"Maybe we can reach an agreement," said the Man in Black's voice.
"There is no arrangement." A voice full of scorn. Pause, and the Man in Black continued to move forward. "You're killing her."
The blade pressed against her neck harder, nicking the skin. She inhaled sharply, trembling ever so slightly as she felt a single bead of blood trickle down her neck. The other man's footsteps ceased, and the blade retracted.
"If no arrangement can be met, then we're at an impasse," said the Man in Black.
"I'm afraid so, you idiot," Spandam spat. "I can't compete with you physically, yet you are no match for my superior intellect."
"You're that smart?" The Man in Black's voice was skeptical, but curious in a mocking way. Robin imagined him with one hand stroking his chin, a sly smile curving his thin lips.
"Let's put it this way. Ever heard of Plato? Aristotle, Socrates?" There was a pause, during which Robin assumed the other man nodded. "Morons," Spandam continued, glee intruding in his tone.
"Really." Another pause. Robin waited, nervousness and despair filling her already broken heart. "In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits," The Man in Black finally announced. "If I am so unintelligent as you suggest, then you will have defeated me. The odds are in your favor."
"For the princess?" Pause. "To the death?" Pause. "I accept."
"Good. Pour the wine."
The blade was pulled from her neck, and Robin let out an exhausted sigh, letting most of the tension drain from her strained limbs. Spandam was a cautious man; he wouldn't accept this challenge if he knew he was going to lose. He was in constant fear for his own safety, so a challenge to the death spoke that he was mightily overconfident.
The footsteps resumed, and something clattered against a stone three times quickly. A stopper was popped, and liquid sloshed into wineglasses. There was more silence as Robin and Spandam awaited the Man in Black's terms. Clothing rustled as said Man in Black pulled something from inside his shirt. "Inhale this, but don't touch," he warned.
Spandam sniffed something. "I smell nothing, you stupid man," he taunted. "Is this a silly child's antic?"
"What you don't smell is called iocane powder. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is one of the world's most deadliest poisons."
Spandam humphed. Metal scraped against stone as the Man in Black removed the goblets from the table, probably to distribute the powder. Not being able to see was a horrible crime to humanity; Robin could only rely on her hearing to determine the events, and she wasn't sure if she would get them right.
The Man in Black apparently finished what he had been doing, for Robin heard the goblets set back on the stone slab that was their table. "Where is the poison?" he questioned. "The Battle of Wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink. Then we see who is right…" A pause for dramatic effect. It certainly worked; Robin's heart began beating faster. "And who is dead."
"It's so simple!" Spandam laughed. "All I have to do is divine from what I know about you: are you the sort of man who'd put the poison into his own cup or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own cup, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I clearly cannot choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool. You would have counted on it! So therefore I cannot choose the wine in front of me."
Robin was not following Spandam's ridiculous deductions. To even her knowledgeable mind, his logic and reasoning seemed a bit far-fetched. It was difficult to decipher what her captor was trying to say, and by the time she had realized what the first half of his statement meant, he had already completed his thought and the Man in Black had replied.
"Did you make your decision?" he asked, impatience edging his voice.
"Not remotely!" Spandam was on a roll now. "Because Iocane comes from Drum Kingdom, the legendary medical country which specializes in both medicines and toxins! Drum is full trouble-making doctors who have been often arrested on multiple accounts of human experimentation. This would make them untrustworthy to treat the sick citizens, as you are not trusted by me. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you."
"So you're not as dumb as you look."
"Wait 'til I get going!" Spandam didn't seem to hear the remainder of the insult. "Where was I again?"
"Drum Kingdom."
"Yes, Drum! And you must have expected me to know where the poison came from, so I cannot choose the wine in front of me."
"You're just stalling now."
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you!" Spandam yelled, his voice rising. "You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong. So you could've put the poison into your own goblet, counting on your strength to save you, so I clearly cannot choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also beaten my swordsman, which means you must have studied. And in your studies you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have to put the poison as far away from you as possible, so I clearly cannot choose the wine in front of me!"
Spandam's voice was getting nervous; Robin would be correct in the assumption that the man had no idea where the poison is. She could practically imagine spittle flying from his lips as he desperately stalled for time.
"You're trying to trick me into giving away something," The Man in Black said, his tone humerously impressed. "It won't work."
"It has worked! You've given everything away! I know where the poison is!"
"Then make your choice!"
"I will! I choose – " Spandam paused, letting out a quick gasp. "What in the world can that be!"
The Man in Black grunted, cloth sliding across rock, turning to face whatever Spandam had supposedly seen. Robin strained her ears, picking up the gentle clack of a wine goblet against a stone table. "I don't see anything," the Man in Black said suspiciously.
"I could have sworn I saw something," Spandam muttered, giggles creasing his voice.
The Man in Black caught on to this. "What's so funny."
"I'll tell you in a minute," Spandam chuckled. "Anyway, let's drink. Me from my glass and you from yours!"
The two men removed their glasses from the stone table; at least that is what Robin assumed happened in the silence that ensued from Spandam's last sentence to the light slurping a minute later. The goblets were returned to the table. Not even ten seconds passed before Spandam loudly burst into obnoxious laughter, pounding on Robin's ears.
"You guessed wrong," The Man in Black said calmly.
"You only think I guessed wrong!" Spandam yelled happily. "That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha ha, you fool! You fell for the oldest trick in the book! The most famous is never to get involved in a land war in Alabasta, but only slightly less well known is this: never go against a Lobbian when death is on the line!" Spandam roared with laughter.
Suddenly, his voice was cut off. Not like a transition from a moan to a whisper and silence, but a loud laugh sliced into silence. One moment there, the other gone. Something large slumped to the ground, bumping across the hard earth. Robin moved her head curiously in the direction of the sound.
Soft leather was pressed against the back of her head as the victor untied her blindfold. The cloth fell away from her eyes and she finally beheld her pursuer in person.
Only his eyes were visible in his face. A dark green in color, they were hard and unyielding, calculating, and intelligent all rolled into one. Her eyes roved over his straight jaw line, roving over his slightly pointed nose and the barest trace of facial hair on his chin. Strapped to a belt were three swords, slapping against one another as he moved. That white one seemed achingly familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Who are you?" she whispered.
"No one to be trifled with," was the abrupt answer, and the Man in Black looked down to begin untying her hands. "That is all you need to know."
"And to think," Robin whispered as he started on her bound feet. Her eyes roved to Spandam's slumped form on the other side of a small rock he had been using as a chair. His skin was pale, the ghost of a laugh still etched on his lifeless face. "All along it was your cup that was poisoned."
"They were both poisoned." The Man in Black pulled Robin to her feet with firm and gentle hands. "I've spent the last few years developing immunity to iocane powder."
That being said, her rescuer grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him, taking off away from the murder sight and down a large hill, out of sight of any prying eyes.
~X~X~X~
Lucci dismounted, handing his reins to Jabra, who took them with a low grunt of impatience. The prince knelt beside a large clump of flattened grass outlined by other stalks of its kind standing tall. He ran his hand across the imprint, shifting the dirt between his fingers. "Someone has beaten a giant," he concluded, standing and watching the landscape. "There will be great suffering in Enies if she dies."
Prince Lucci leapt onto his black steed and kicked the animal in the side. The white pigeon he carried took flight, soaring high above the Oharan Royal Army as they cantered in the direction three sets of footprints could be clearly seen.
Lucci stared ahead of him with clear confidence and, though no one could see it, an evil grin on his princely features.
I do not understand Vizinni/Spandam's reasoning at all in this scene, so I transferred that into Robin's mind to avoid having to explain it. *phew* Anyway, please read and review, much obliged.
Next Time:
All three of the kidnappers have been defeated by the mysterious Man in Black, and now Robin is on the run with this man as Lucci closes in. When the swordsman and princess pause for a respite, Robin accuses her rescuer to be the infamous Dread Pirate Mihawk! The Man in Black's identity is revealed. Chapter 8 - The Pirate
