Author's Note: And finally, the last chapter! Sorry this got late, folks… I lost my story notes, and was going to wait for them to get here, but then I got rather worked up today and decided to go ahead and write it.

I hope you enjoy!

Deeper Than the Sea

8: Kuro

"Crap," said Sanji under his breath fiercely.

"Oh no—what do we do?" groaned Usopp.

"We can talk to them—they'll understand!" said Chopper hopefully.

"Yes!" agreed Nami quickly. "That voice is Mr. Gen's—he's like a father to me and my sister, he'll listen to us and understand!"

"You can't be sure," said Vivi, shaking her head. "Kuro couldn't have done everything alone—that means that he has friends here. If those friends are in the police force, one person's objections aren't going to make enough of a difference to save us."

"And we don't have time to be arguing with the police and going to court," added Luffy. "We've got to find Kaya!"

"The passageways," said Usopp. Everyone glanced at him once, and then began rushing for the stairs. "That's the wrong staircase!" cried Usopp, and began to lead the way.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" one or two people muttered under their breaths as they all turned to follow Usopp.

They were in the basement, and Luffy was opening a secret passageway behind a wine cupboard when they heard the bang! of the door opening.

"Damn it," cursed Nami, and looked around just to make sure that everyone was present.

Zoro was not.

"Damn it," Nami cursed again, and rounded on Sanji. "Sanji, go find Zoro and get him through this doorway. Just get into the passageways and everything will be fine."

"Yes, Miss Nami!" Sanji said at once, without a word of anger at being forced to go and retrieve the bane of his existence.

The remaining five slipped into the passageway and Luffy closed the cupboard behind them.

"Do you think Zoro and Sanji will be alright?" whispered Chopper.

"Yep!" chirped Luffy.

"They'd better be," said Nami.

"What if Kuro and Kaya are hiding in these passageways?" said Usopp suddenly.

The group froze. "You're saying that we may have jumped out of the pot and into the flames?" squeaked Vivi.

"Um, yeah."

Another silence. Then, "It'll be alright," said Luffy.

"Do you even comprehend what it means to be in danger?" Nami snapped, whacking the boy over the head with a fist. "We could die here. One wrong step and we could be lost in these tunnels, so you'd better know your way. But with Kuro in here as well, we'd have been better off turning ourselves over to the police—at least then we would have been safe!"

Luffy looked at Nami for a moment, and then chuckled.

"What?" demanded Nami.

"You're the usual Nami again," replied Luffy.

"What do you mean, the 'usual' Nami? Are you suggesting that I haven't been me lately?"

"You were all gloomy and cautious," shrugged Usopp.

"Don't you think we should start moving and discuss this later?" Vivi spoke up with a fearful glance towards the cracks of light that indicated the entrance from which they had entered the passageway.

Indeed, when they fell silent, they could hear muffled voices growing louder beyond the wall.

"Right, you're leading, Luffy," Usopp whispered. "And you'd better not get us lost."

"Should we go to the dorms?" asked Luffy.

"No!" hissed Vivi fiercely. "If they already know that they're looking for us, that's the first place they'll look!"

"Then wouldn't it be better if we were there, rather than not there at four thirty in the morning?" suggested Nami.

"We need to get moving…" groaned Chopper as the voices came closer to the passageway.

"Right, everyone, grab a hand. Let's go!" said Luffy, and started off down the passageway.

"Where're we going?" asked Usopp after they were some distance away from the murmur of the police's voices.

"In a random direction."

"Are you trying to get us all lost? How is that going to solve anything?" snapped Nami.

"Yeah, we need to find a place to sit and plan!" hissed Usopp.

"No," said Luffy, and his voice was harder than they had ever heard it before. "We need to find Kaya. And she's probably in the passages, so we're just going to wander around until…"

Luffy trailed off and slowed to a halt, and Chopper peeked around behind him to see what had caused the distraction.

They had come upon a place where there was a small amount of light filtering into the passageway in a line that seemed much like the shape of a door.

"Is that a way out?" whispered Usopp, nervous.

"I don't remember there being anything there," Luffy said thoughtfully. On that note, he walked up to the door-shaped area and (ignoring the hissed protests of Nami and Usopp behind him) pushed. Nothing happened. Then he groped around, and upon finding a handle, he pulled. The door opened.


"My fault? Like hell it's my fault! You might recall that you got lost and I had to come looking for you!"

"Right. Because it was my idea to go into the closet where we'd have nothing to do but wait for the police to find us."

It was growing more and more difficult to remember to keep his voice down. Sanji thought of beautiful women in an attempt to remain calm.

"No; it was your idea to run into the bathroom." Sanji lowered his voice to a hiss—venomous, but still not loud.

"At least there would have been a window."

"Like hell!" snapped Sanji.

"Don't you have any better comebacks?"

Whatever Sanji may have said was lost when the closet door opened.

"Hello," said Sir Crocodile. "For the record, next time you're trying to hide, you should remember to keep your arguing minimal. Or better yet, not argue at all."

"Now look what you've done," said Zoro out of the corner of his mouth.

"Me! Me!"

"Gen," said Sir Crocodile, and Officer Gen suddenly had stepped forward and grabbed them both by their collars.

"Save the fighting for another time, boys," said Gen. "For now, you're coming with us."


"How interesting to see you all so soon," purred Kuro. "Not to mention how convenient."

"Kaya!" cried Usopp, forgetting all about his terror and leaping forward.

A flicker of light reflecting, and Usopp was writhing on the ground, blood seeping from a cut just above his collarbone.

"Tsk," said Kuro. "I'm out of practice."

"Usopp!" cried Nami, and Vivi had to catch her by the arm to keep her from jumping after Usopp.

"The hell?" said Luffy, and his tone of voice made Nami and Vivi turn and stare. It was hard—cold. "You think that you can hurt my friends and get away with it, you bastard?"

Kuro turned cold eyes on Luffy. "I would ask who you think you are, but I don't suppose it will make any difference to me."

"It better make a difference," growled Luffy, leaping forward before anyone could stop him, "because I'm ending your little gig!"

There was a flicker of silver, and Nami and Vivi screamed in unison as the blade that had sliced Usopp's neck headed for Luffy.

A moment later, the scream had died in their throats, and Kuro was staring at Luffy incredulously—Luffy, who had caught Kuro's wrist with the blade a mere fraction of an inch away from his throat.

"You end here," said Luffy, and this time Kuro paled.

A twist of the arm later, Kuro was free and moving swiftly into another attack. Luffy, who apparently had not expected this, leapt out of the way just in time. But Kuro was already aiming a kick, and Luffy's first step became a leap as he moved out of the way of the kick.

"Oh no, oh no," Chopper was muttering under his breath.

"Don't mutter, do something!" snapped Nami.

"But what?" moaned Usopp, who had sat up and was inching towards the wall, holding a hand to his neck to stem the flow of blood. "What the hell are we supposed to do, Nami?"

Nami did not seem to be listening, for she was suddenly by Usopp's side and preoccupied with swiftly producing a strip of cloth (torn from his sleeve, Usopp would realize with dismay a few moments later) and using it to stem the blood flow.

"Lean back," said Nami, "and try not to move."

"Why the hell are you so calm!" snapped Usopp. "You were screaming a second ago!"

Nami glared at him, and his mouth snapped shut. "Take a look at Luffy," she said with a jerk of her head; Usopp moved to turn his neck to do so, but was quickly stopped by Nami's hands in a vice grip on either side of his head. "Don't turn your neck, moron, it's bleeding!"

"You told me to look," protested Usopp, but just then Luffy and Kuro came into view, and he understood. For Luffy was parrying every blow, and even returning one or two of his own. The glint of the blade was no longer anywhere to be seen.

"Can't you see we're busy here?" snapped Nami as the fight came a little too close for comfort. "It's not like we can just pick up Usopp and move him!"

Usopp was about to say something about respecting a man's fight when Luffy's voice came around Kuro, "Sorry Nami!" and suddenly Kuro was flying through the air to the other side of the room, Luffy quickly running to deal another attack before the man got back to his feet.

"No!" cried Usopp. "Kaya! Luffy, get away from Kaya!"

Luffy swiftly maneuvered so that he was on Kuro's back, Kuro in a headlock. "Look," he said with an irritated sigh, "I'm not allowed to deal people serious harm. Something about being a black belt and being a human weapon or something, I don't really understand, but anyway, I need space to knock this guy out without really hurting him! There's not enough room in here to not be on either side!"

"Can't you sort of localize the fight in the middle of the room?" squeaked Chopper, who had been peering at the fight from between the fingers that were covering his eyes.

"Let go!" gasped Kuro, "Can't…breathe!"

Luffy looked like he was about to let go when Usopp snapped, "Don't you dare, not that close to Kaya!"

Luffy looked helplessly at the girl who lay bound, gagged, and apparently unconscious on the floor nearby. Well, she was no help at all.

"But don't you dare come this way either," snapped Nami, "Usopp's bleeding's just beginning to stop, and I won't forgive you if you make it start again."

"You're really not making this easy," said Luffy crossly.

"Is that my sleeve!" screamed Usopp, realizing that his arm was bare when he turned his head to check on Kaya.

"I told you not to move your head, can't you follow simple instructions?" snapped Nami, grabbing his head and moving it back into place.

"Look," said Vivi, sounding intensely irritated. "The guy's a fugitive, a kidnapper, and a fraud. Just hit him over the head and knock him out."

"Can't…breathe!" hissed Kuro, sounding to be in intense pain.

"My sleeve!" protested Usopp.

"But I'm not allowed," said Luffy, "And what's a futitive? A frad?"

Suddenly, Vivi's eyes went cold and furious, and everything went still in the room. Then she stalked forward to the mesh of limbs that was Kuro and Luffy. The gang behind her only saw her foot leave the ground and heard a dull thud. Luffy saw nothing but a shift in her position, followed by an impact to Kuro's body accompanied by a thud. Then Kuro went limp, and Luffy released him and stepped back as he collapsed to the floor.

"Wow," said Luffy, looking at Vivi with a new respect. "I didn't know you had it in you."

"Did she just…?" said Nami, temporarily forgetting about Usopp's cut.

"Ow," whimpered Usopp and Chopper in unison, cupping their own groins at the mere thought of the impact of Vivi's knee.

"Basic self-defense," said Vivi with a smile. "And I don't have any certification in martial arts."

"Great, but can someone untie Kaya and tie up Kuro before he wakes up and kills us all?" snapped Usopp.

"Right," said Chopper, running to Kaya's side to check her vitals as he removed the gag, ropes, and blindfold. "She's alright, just unconscious," he reported.

"Vivi, can you carry Usopp by the hands? I'll carry him by the feet."

"Carry him where?" asked Luffy absently, rather distracted by his current preoccupation of pulling Kuro's hair.

"Stop that, you'll wake him up!" said Nami. "And we need to get out of here. Now that we've got Kuro, we should be able to go right back to the mansion, don't you think?"

"What about Kaya?" said Usopp, trying to stand, only to collapse back to his knees.

"Do you have any idea how much blood you've lost?" demanded Chopper, sending him a disapproving look. "Nami and Vivi are going to carry you, and I'll carry Kaya. Just be grateful that he missed the major artery."

"I don't suppose that anyone but Luffy knows the way back?" asked Nami hopefully. She was met by blank stares, and she sighed dejectedly. "I thought not. It just makes me so uncomfortable, knowing that I'm going to be being led back through the dark by a guy who's dragging Kuro by one ankle."

"Why would he drag Kuro by one ankle?" asked Usopp.

"Because that's how he's starting now- I said stop turning your head, are you trying to commit suicide? Because if that's the case I'll just leave you here and not waste the effort saving you."

"Nami…" said Vivi, sounding torn between amusement and objection.

"Come on, Vivi, let's get on our way before we lose them."


Gen stared at them when they stumbled through the doorway of the police station. "I thought we'd have a bit more trouble finding you," he said.

"So did we," said Nami. "Then we found these, so we thought we'd bring them to you."

Gen shook his head with a sigh, staring at the man that Luffy was carrying over one shoulder (having consented under Nami's insistence to stop dragging him by the ankle once they exited the mansion onto the streets). "I got the evidence, Nami. It's plenty to convict him, so we should be able to get him shipped back to Alabasta within the week."

"Oh, good," said Nami, shifting uncomfortably under the suddenly intense gazes from her friends.

"Your two friends are remarkably tight-lipped," said Gen, oblivious to the tension in the air. "We couldn't get them to say a word."

"Ah," said Nami.

"Here, have a seat- is Usopp bleeding? Here, lie down here, I'll call a doctor-"

"No need," Chopper interjected, placing Kaya on the other of the two cots. "I'll look after him."

"Ah," said Gen, and glanced at Nami uncomfortably.

Nami smiled. "He's Chopper Tony, Dr. Kureha's apprentice. Don't worry, he's plenty competent."

"I see," said Gen, relaxing. "I'm afraid I don't meet many people I don't recognize by name in this town. Nice to meet you, Mr. Tony."

"I'm Chopper!" said Chopper, seemingly torn between outrage and euphoria.

"That's a cool expression!" said Luffy loudly, pointing at Chopper's face.

"I'm afraid I have to ask, Luffy…what did you do to Kuro?"

"Wasn't me," said Luffy cheerfully, "It was Vivi!"

Gen turned to stare. "Really?"

Vivi blushed and looked down. "Well, Luffy said he couldn't do anything because he has a black belt in something or another, so he was just holding Kuro still and we were arguing about what to do, and I figured this was the fastest way to resolve things."

Gen stared a moment before averting his eyes and clearing his throat. "I see. May I ask what, exactly, you did?"

Vivi's face, formerly only faintly pinker than usual, at once flushed bright red. "I, er…kneed him…between his legs."

"Ah," said Gen intelligently. Then, after a moment of silence, "Well, I'll go put Kuro into a cell and bring your friends back out."

"They're in jail cells?" exclaimed Chopper in alarm.

"No, no," said Gen hastily. "They're just in an interrogation room, being questioned by Sir Crocodile—we wanted to find you before something bad happened, that's all. Don't worry, none of you are in any kind of trouble."

Then with a friendly smile, Gen carried the still-unconscious Kuro out of the room.

"You told him?" hissed Usopp as soon as Gen was gone. "You didn't so much as discuss it with us?"

"Do you trust him?" asked Vivi, looking at Nami with serious eyes. "We know he's got to have at least a few accomplices…"

"Gen raised me and my sister," said Nami crossly. "I'd trust him with my life. But I didn't tell him." She sighed.

"Then how the hell did he know?" demanded Usopp, shooting upright on the cot in alarm.

"Stay down," said Chopper in annoyance as Usopp's eyes rolled back in his head and Usopp hovered on the brink of unconsciousness for a few moments.

"I told Sir Crocodile last night," Nami confessed after Chopper finished yelling at Usopp about the dangers of not taking it easy after losing large volumes of blood.

"Why?" demanded Usopp, Chopper and Vivi in unison. Luffy appeared to be listening, but he could also have been captivated by the dust in the air. It was never easy to tell with Luffy.

"Well, Miss Nico was dropping all these hints, you see, and so I-"

"Why didn't you discuss it with us?" implored Vivi. "A decision like this… I mean, you had time, didn't you?"

Nami averted her eyes. "Yes, but…there was another issue that I went to discuss with him. One I didn't want you to know about."

The group stared at her. She forced a smile. "Don't worry, I think it must have been resolved by now; if not, I think I've learned enough to do something about it for myself. I'm going to ask you to wait for me to talk about it until it's entirely resolved, though. Just for the sake of my own resolve."

Just then, the door opened and Sanji and Zoro came in, followed by Mr. Gen and Sir Crocodile.

"Miss Nami, Miss Vivi!" cried Sanji, holding out his arms as though he expected them to come running to embrace him. "How wonderful that you are safe! I was so terrified that you might stumble into harm's way because of this asshole's idiocy!"

"Watch it!" snapped Zoro. "I could make mincemeat out of you if I wanted to."

"Oh, is the amateur trying to cook?" smirked Sanji. "Not a great idea, I'm afraid. The food might not even be edible. Can you even tell the difference between dish detergent and vegetable oil?"

"We got Kuro put away!" said Luffy cheerfully, and just like that the fight was over.

"Finally! My darling Miss Vivi shall rest in peace!" cried Sanji.

"She's safe, not dead," said Nami with a roll of her eyes.

"About time," growled Zoro. "I'm taking a nap now."

"Me too," concurred Luffy. "I'm sleepy."

"Hey, I've been up longer than any of you," interjected Usopp.

"Usopp, stay still, or I will inject you with a paralytic!"

"Seems that you didn't need me after all," said Sir Crocodile lowly as he passed Nami on his way out the door.

Nami spun around to ask what he meant—what about Arlong?—but he was already gone. Well, she had said that she had developed the guts to do it herself. Perfect; she had the opportunity to prove it to herself.

"Sorry, guys, I've got something to do! I'll see you all in a bit at the shack!" And Nami was out the door, pretending she couldn't hear Sanji's ardent (and extensive) declarations that he would accompany her to the ends of the earth—she would be out of sight by the time he finished, after all.

Nami ran through her head the things that she would say and how she would say them as she made her way to the pool. By the time that she reached the swimming coach's office, she already knew what she would say so well that she didn't even need to stop to take a deep breath before she slammed open the door.

Arlong looked up at her in surprise. Good—it would have been terribly anticlimactic if he had been out.

"Look," she said, stomping up to him. "When I signed that contract, I was fourteen. I barely read the thing, Nojiko was struggling with the farm, and I really wanted to swim because that was what Bellemere always loved to watch me do. I didn't know what a protest was, and it seemed like a good deal—I keep up the appearance of a model student, and never miss or arrive late to a practice; in return, I get a place on the otherwise all-boy's swim team, and you provide monthly payments to help us out with the farm.

"But you know what? You can't get me with all that blackmail about bribery and such anymore. I didn't know those things when I signed the contract, and frankly, I don't care what people think of me anymore. When I didn't have friends, keeping up the appearance of a model student seemed important; now…I mean, what's that contract supposed to be anyway? Sure, if I'm a model student, some of that reputation rubs off on the swim team, and by having me on the swim team people can believe that you're not the sexist that you are. But it makes no sense to me that you would pay me for that! I don't even know what I was thinking, agreeing to that anymore!

"So I've come to tell you—I break the contract. You don't have to pay us anymore, and you can tell everyone that I was forcing you to pay me. You can play the helpless victim to my hunger for money. I don't care anymore."

Taking a deep breath, Nami looked up at Arlong triumphantly. To her surprise—and irritation—he merely rolled his eyes as he turned to tape up a box. Now that she took the time to look, she noticed that almost everything in the office was packed in boxes.

"If you want to quit, take it up with your new coach."

"New coach?" asked Nami incredulously.

"You and I aren't the only ones who can blackmail—and we stand no chance against someone who has true connections."

"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Nami.

Arlong leaned on one of his boxes and smirked. "Ah, so you didn't know. Maybe you should talk to that friend of yours: Luffy Monkey."

"So, what, you're just leaving? No more making my life miserable?"

"Unfortunately. Now, are you going to get out, or are you trying to make me assault you so that you can have me arrested?"

While the idea sounded tempting, Nami opted to mumble something and step out of the office. What had Luffy done?

"Oh, hey, Nami!" Speak of the Devil.

"Why is Arlong being fired, and why he he asking me to talk to you?"

"He was making you unhappy, wasn't he?"

"Well, yes, but what did you do?"

"I tried to talk to him, and he wouldn't listen, so I tried to beat him up, but Shanks caught me, and then I had to explain why, and then that guy ended up fired."

Nami stared. "Shanks as in…Shanks Red? The vice-principal?"

Luffy cocked his head to the side. "Yeah, that vice- vice…something word comes up a lot. But anyway, that's him. He and Makino raised me and Ace."

Nami stared at him, and suddenly the world began clicking into place.

"But none of us had ever seen you because you spent most of your time running around the forest and those passages—that's right, isn't it?"

"Yep!" chirped Luffy.

"Well," sighed Nami, "I suppose that does explain your apparent abundance of connections." She smiled wryly at him. "And it is so…you that you keep trying at everything instead of just talking to Mr. Red."

Luffy gave her a disapproving look. "My problems are mine. It's not fair to ask Shanks to solve them."

"Yes, yes, you're very right," laughed Nami. "Now let's get back to the shack—everyone's probably waiting."

"I want to sleep," argued Luffy.

"You can sleep when we get there."

"But you said it'd fall down."

"So sleep outside."

"I thought you didn't even like the place."

"Look, are we going to argue about this, or are we going to go?"

"Going!"

"Then let's go!"

And somehow, they ended up racing out of the building and down the road in the little town of Fuchsia.