Disclaimer: I own it, surprise... not.
xXx
Saviour
Chapter 10.
Amethyst shot up, breathing heavily, soaked in sweat, she grimaced as she felt dried blood all over her body, where was she? She looked around and realised she was in a room and it was night time. 'That's right, I'm on Luffy's ship but... I don't remember coming inside though'
Her eyes widened as everything came racing back, she stood up, only to waver and fall back on the bed 'Dammit, I'm still weak' How long was she out?
"You're finally awake, you can clean yourself up"
She turned at the voice and saw a familiar figure in the door way, a look of relief on their face that she had finally woken up. "Rayleigh?"
"You've been out for quite a while, found you passed out on the deck," he said as he walked closer. "I would've cleaned you up but I didn't want to invade your personal space without permission. How are you feeling? You were having quite the nightmare," he finished calmly, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at her with worried eyes.
"I'm fine, thanks. How long have I been out of it?" she questioned wincing as she moved to get into a more comfortable position on the bed.
"About three days"
Oh okay... Three days... three days... did he just fucking say three days? "THREE DAYS?!" she stood up quickly, steadying herself as nausea and pain washed over her, why did she still feel like this if she rested for three fucking days?
"You shouldn't be moving, you were still bleeding when I found you, I was only able to stop the bleeding yesterday morning with some help," he said sternly, pushing her back onto the bed and ignoring the scowl that she sent him.
"I have to get to Ace, he needs me," she stated, gritting her teeth as the pain started increasing with all her movements, trying to get out of his grip on her shoulders, 'Strong old geezer' she went to use her power and immediately was met with a wave of nausea. "Oh fuck," she spit out before vomiting all over herself, the warm puke seeping into her clothes and running down her skin, mixing with the dried blood.
"This is why I told you to be careful before. Grab my arm and I'll help you get to the shower so you can clean yourself up," he said holding out his arm and she grabbed it not bothering to argue anymore, she stood up shakily, using his arm as support and followed him slowly, still trying to gage her bearings.
"I already put some clothes in there for you and a couple towels, if you need help just knock on the door, I'll be right outside," he said once they got to the bathroom, she nodded and walked inside, stumbling a little but righting herself. She closed the door behind her and stuck her tongue out childishly at the door. 'Old Man'
She took her clothes off very slowly, wincing every so often as the movements caused her pain. She finally got into the shower, turning it on and sighing as she relished in the warm water running down her filthy skin. As she cleaned her body of the filth she thought about the voice and the sacrifice, she didn't understand what it meant when it said she was going to lose half of herself, half her soul and half her heart... did it mean literally or what? was she going to die? she shook the thoughts out of her head, she could come back to it once it actually came to having to go through with the 'sacrifice' and finished up cleaning herself.
She got out and dried herself, swiftly changing into the clothes set out for her, 'Shorts and a singlet, good just my style' she tied her hair up with a hair tie that was in the sink and put her hair in a high ponytail. She saw that she had some severe bruising on her face and the rest of her. That ability really took a toll on her body.
She felt her body wasn't aching as much, the warm water helped ease it a bit. She shuffled to the door and opened it but didn't see Rayleigh in sight. She walked out and watched as the steam came out of the room and cringed as a flash from that night went through her mind. 'No use thinking about that' she scolded herself and walked towards the deck. "Rayleigh?"
"Amethyst, in here" she heard a voice say and realised he was in the room she was in before. She walked there and stood in the doorway, watching him. "I need to get to Ace," she stated, getting straight to the point. Rayleigh sighed "And how might you do that?"
She crossed her arms across her chest "By using my power," she said simply, she didn't care about whether he was concerned or not.
"Your power can get you there? Do you even know where he's being held?" Rayleigh asked, a doubtful and somewhat exasperated expression on his face, he could tell she was going to be stubborn about this.
"Yes, it can and I'm pretty sure he's being held at Impel Down"
"Well seeing as someone vomited when she tried to just move her hand, I'd say you can't exactly do much as of now," he responded wisely, she glared at him and looked away, ignoring the remark. "Well then I'll figure something out, I just need a plan and help"
Rayleigh stared silently at the girl a little longer and stood up "Well, you have about five days before he is sent to Navy Headquarters, so I say you rest a little longer and wait till you're at decent strength, I got a doctor to check you ou- Now don't give me that look, I got her to check you out and she says you need to stay in bed for at least a couple of wee- don't interrupt me, I know you aren't going to listen to her or me so I say rest for as long as you can and then go," he said firmly, giving her a stern look.
She huffed and agreed reluctantly, walking towards the kitchen so that she could eat something. She opened the fridge and saw some fruit, grimacing and seized the meat that was beside it. She had come to despise fruit, that was basically her breakfast lunch and dinner since she was kicked out. She walked to the aquarium room, sitting down and eating the meat. Rayleigh followed her and placed a cup of water beside her plate of meat. "You need to hydrate," he said, sitting down across from her.
She rolled her eyes at him and drank the glass of water in one shot then going back to her meat, swallowing the rest down. "Luffy and everyone, they're okay I'm guessing? Because of Kuma..."
Rayleigh glanced at her in surprise, "And what do you mean by that?" she rolled her eyes again. "I know he's part of the revolutionaries, the crew would've been killed or captured had he not done something"
Rayleigh decided not to push for an answer to how she knew about such information and placed his elbow on the table, leaning his chin on the palm of his hand and looked at her. "I'm not sure, but I would guess so. They're strong, they'll be fine"
She nodded at the answer and watched the water in the aquarium, she didn't know what to say, she feels like it's one of the first times where she wasn't doing something, which in reality it sort of was. "So... the One Piece," she said suddenly. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You really want to know?" She thought for a second then shook her head, she didn't have much interest in it personally, what would she even do with the information once she had it.
It had been ten minutes of silence and she didn't know what to do or say, she really wasn't used to such silence not even in her cell, she was always hearing shouts or gossip or screams, but this was just pure silence. She started to look at her arms, scanning them and noticed that some of her bruises had already faded. "Wow, I've stooped to watching my bruises disappear," she said in a bored tone of voice.
"You heal quite fast, perk of your power?" he asked amused at her obvious boredom.
"I'm not sure actually..." she said shrugging, but then remembered something she neglected to think about "Um, do you read a lot?" she asked randomly. He glanced at her and nodded "Yes, I do. Did you want a book?"
"No, I was wondering if you could maybe find something out for me" she responded in a kind almost too sweet for words tone of voice. He stared at the girl, tapping his foot and waiting for her to continue.
"I met someone who knew me and they said a few names that I didn't recognise so I was wondering if you could research them for me, please?" she requested.
He got up and nodded "I think I can find some books of names and I'll bring them back so we can go through them together, better two pairs of eyes than one," he responded, a small smile on his face "Yeah... sure," she said avoiding eye contact with him. He gave her a look of suspicion but brushed it off and walked out.
He came back an hour later and he was surprised to see her arms only having faded bruises, they were barely visible just pale yellowish green patches, he was also surprised to see a piece of tissue in one of her nostrils. "I thought you would've run off by now," he said entertained at her surprised expression.
She smiled a bit glad he was finally back and she wasn't forced to talk to herself like a psycho. "Trust me it's not for a lack of trying, hence the nosebleed" he shook his head at that and placed the few books he had on the table. "These were all the books on names that I could find, what are the names?"
"Lilith, Leila and Malach"
He nodded his head and sat down, starting to go through a book. She grabbed a book and looked at the cover, squinting a bit and then nodding her head after a couple minutes, opening it and scanning it with a look of concentration. She was on the first page and squinted again, her eyebrows furrowing in frustration.
Rayleigh looked up from the book and saw her expression. "We'll find it, Don't worry, there's no need to be frustrated"
She looked up, facial expression softening "I can't really read all that well," she admitted feeling a tad ashamed. "Ace was teaching me to read but well it wasn't that easy, I know some words and most letters but I forget a lot and it's hard to form them in my head to make sense, it takes a while"
Rayleigh nodded in understanding, giving her a small smile of encouragement and went back to looking over the book again. Amethyst was glad he didn't try and baby her because of it, his reaction was perfect.
She went back to the book she was scanning and tried harder to form the words faster, it was much easier reading the Newspaper headline so why was this so difficult?
"While you're trying to build up your strength, would you like me to teach you to read a bit?" he asked, snapping her out of her concentration, she looked up at him "You don't have to, it's fine"
"Well if you change your mind just ask," he said before looking back to the book. She peered at him a little longer then looked back to the book, groaning in frustration after about twenty or so minutes and then pushing it away from her, forehead now leaning on the table. "Tell me when you've found them"
About half an hour passed and Rayleigh finally found something. "I got two names they were both under the same letter so made things easier," he said, pushing the book into the middle of the table so she could look at it.
"Leila means 'Dark Beauty' or 'Dark-haired' and Lilith means 'Demon of the Night'" Rayleigh said with piqued interest. Amethyst felt herself itch a bit in irritation, brows furrowing in disapproval. Why did she have to be related to ominous names? 'Devil eyes' 'Dark Beauty' and 'Demon of the Night' what next? The evil spirit of hell?
"Oh and there is Malach," he said finding the next name quite quickly as it was the next letter in the alphabet. She looked to where he was indicating and tried to read it herself before giving up straight away and looking at him. "What does it mean? Evil Spirit?" he chuckled and shook his head.
"No, it means 'Angel'"
She perked up a bit at the fact it wasn't something dark and ominous but then her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "What's that suppose to mean? I highly doubt that I'm going to sprout wings" she didn't get how they had any correlation to each other if that really was her name, which she was pretty positive it was, it made no sense altogether.
"If you don't mind me asking, what is the significance of these names?" Rayleigh questioned curiously. Amethyst looked at him and answered, "The person who said the names actually directed them to me she called me 'Amethyst Lilith Leila Malach' so I think it's my name and before you ask, the person isn't available anymore so don't bother"
"Your name... suits you," he said calmly and she stifled a laugh, cocking her head to the side. "How so?"
"Well you are beautiful, a tad dark in personality and your powers aren't that of this world typically so Angel and Demon seem to suffice as an otherworldly sort of meaning, so, all in all, makes sense," he said in all seriousness, one of his hands rubbing his chin and the other tapping on the table.
She was a bit startled at the description, she didn't know whether to feel flattered or insulted and understanding or confused. "I guess so"
"Your bruises seem to be gone," he said. She looked and saw that he was right, even on her legs, she guessed her face was the same. She stood up immediately and felt no pain, she still knew she was rather weak and not in top condition but she was a lot better. She made a hand gesture and lifted Rayleigh who of course protested but she put him back down. "Sweet, no more Nausea or nose bleeds"
"Please refrain from doing that again and also before you do anything rash you need to figure out a plan first before you go using your powers to get to him"
"Well I actually already thought of a plan, I'm going to find Luffy and tell him because he deserves to know and then I'm going to go to Ace. There. Plan. Done." she said, her eyes turned red and she went to click her fingers when she was interrupted by a hand on her wrist. "Just wait, do you know what you're doing?" he asked concerned.
"Well, if you let me try then I guess we'll see, to strengthen and get used to a new ability I usually had to use it a lot and my body eventually adjusted. So if it works then thanks in advance" she closed her eyes, letting them turn crimson and held her breath, hoping it would work and clicked her fingers.
Amethyst opened her eyes and stumbled, falling to the floor and holding her head in pain "Motherfu-" she looked up mid-curse-word and was greeted with the sight of a really weird and ugly looking old lady with a paper. The lady was holding the paper to her chest and looked like she was going to faint from shock. "Sorry lady I was- Um is someone named Luffy here?" Amethyst asked, getting straight to the point. She was suddenly thrown forward, landing on her face. "AM!" she heard a familiar cheery voice from behind or more like on top of her. She sat up, the person on her back sliding off and she turned around in a sitting position.
"Lu..." she whispered as her eyes landed on the happy little ball of sunshine, she couldn't contain her happiness and pulled him to her in a tight embrace. "That hurt you idiot" he laughed at her, returning the hug in all his rubbery goodness, wrapping his arms around her... a lot.
"You're bleeding on me but I don't care, I'm glad to see one of my Nakama," he said cheerfully a hint of sadness in his voice at the last word. She pulled her head away from him and realised blood was coming out of her nose. "Let go so I can clean up," she said softly, receiving a pout but he obeyed and retracted his limbs and got off of her. She snatched the newspaper out of the old lady's hands and wiped her nose with it then gave it back, a look of 'genuine' apology on her face. "Sorry, lady"
"You can call me Elder Nyon," Elder Nyon said giving her a look of disgust but oddly kept reading the paper, not even questioning her and how she got there. Amethyst turned back to Luffy not minding the lady and noticed that he had a big piece of meat placed beside him, typical. She took a deep breath "Luffy, it's Ace," she said softly, he cocked his head to the side at the mentioning of his brother. "Is he okay? Did you see him?"
"Girl, are you part of the Whitebeard pirates by any chance?" Elder Nyon suddenly asked interrupting her as she looked at the slightly exposed tattoo on the girls back. Amethyst turned her attention to the old woman, giving her an annoyed expression 'she speaks really strangely, it matches her face well' Amethyst thought. She paused a bit before answering, could she still consider herself one of them? They did try to bring her back. "Um, yeah, why?"
"You must be talking about Fire-Fist Ace, you know about what's happening to him, I assume," the old lady inquired.
"What's happening to Ace?" Luffy asked confused at the conversation that was going on. The old lady looked at him not knowing the connection between the two. "Fire-Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates is set to be executed soon"
Amethyst internally cursed the lady for blurting it out, she was planning to tell him calmly and ease him into the cold water not just shove him off the cliff like a moron. She looked to Luffy who had frozen in shock. Amethyst grabbed his hand and he snapped out of it, his eyes wide and searching, looking at her. "Don't worry Luffy, we'll get your brother back, I promise," she convinced softly. He still looked shocked but nodded, determination and trust mixing with the shock.
"Brother?!" Elder Nyon shouted. Amethyst turned to the lady and glared menacingly "Next time you want to open that fat mouth of yours, Don't," she threatened, eyes staring angrily at the woman. The woman went to retort but Amethyst turned back to Luffy "I can get us to where he's being held now with my ability if you're ready"
He shook his head violently, eyes looking severely at her "No, you get hurt a lot doing it, Ace wouldn't like that and I don't like it," he said, a tone of finality in his voice and she knew she couldn't argue, he was as stubborn as his brother. "Fine, how exactly are we getting there then?"
Amethyst was now standing and watching an entertaining exchange between Luffy and Boa Hancock, she glanced up at the three watching from the window above and rolled her eyes when she heard something about a 'Hurricane' and 'Love'. She turned her attention back to the other two, Hancock was giving her small glares now and then, that she really didn't appreciate. She could tell she had fallen for Luffy, she felt kind of sorry for her, she never had a chance with the type of person Luffy was.
Luffy bounced back to her and had a big grin on his face. "She said she'll take us, you have to make yourself invisible though, is that okay?" he asked worriedly. She sighed and flicked him in the head "Don't worry about me moron, you're the little weakling" she teased. Luffy frowned and stuck his tongue out at her "Am not, you wanna fight?!"
She laughed at him and ruffled his hair. "I don't fight people I care about" His grin appeared again at that and he grabbed her hand. She raised her brow at that questioningly.
"Your hand reminds me of Makino," he said, smiling as he thought about, said, woman.
"And who is this Makino person?"
Luffy started rambling excitedly, whilst holding her hand and making animated motions to explain the lady of Fuusha village, then suddenly surprising her by going on about Red-Haired Shanks and his experience with him, 'He gets more interesting the longer I hear about him'
"YOU FILTHY PEASANT! LET GO OF HIS HAND THIS INSTANCE!" Hancock suddenly shouted enraged at the audacity of the girl touching her beloved Luffy. Amethyst looked at the crazy lady and groaned, did she really have to come with them? She let go of Luffy's hand much to his dismay and walked slowly up to Hancock, something coming to her mind that she thinks might ease the anger or increase it, either way, it was worth a try. "I've heard about you," Amethyst said randomly, staring her dead in the eye, now standing right in front of the still enraged woman.
"Well, of course, you have, I am the Pirate Empress and I'm beautiful," Hancock said, making a weird pose that looked like she was trying to seem sexy but epically failing, at least in Amethysts eyes.
"No, I mean among Celestials I've heard about you"
Hancock's face paled almost immediately and Amethyst could hear shouts of outrage from her sisters above. "H-how? Are you connected with them?!" she shouted in indignation, how could a commoner know of something so shameful and dare show her face, let alone talk to her.
"I guess you could say that. I was a slave to the Celestials as well," Amethyst replied calmly, waiting for a reaction from the Empress who looked even more shocked than before and then her face went blank "Come inside" she said abruptly and walked back into her room. Amethyst turned to Luffy and gestured him to follow which he did eagerly.
As they got inside Amethyst stood at the foot of her bed and looked at the Empress that was now sitting on her knees on the bed, looking at her. Luffy was standing beside the bed with Elder Nyon and the other two sisters.
"You were a slave? So you have the brand as well?" she asked hesitantly, hands shaking and sweat forming on her forehead as she hugged herself.
"I have a brand but not the mark of the Celestials," Amethyst said and turned around, as much as she disliked the Empress' attitude, she trusted her when it came to something like this, they could relate. Luffy was Luffy she knew he wouldn't judge her.
She lifted her singlet and the many scars were visible even under the mark of the Whitebeards, they were deep and gruesome, nothing would really cover them apart from well more scars. Gasps were heard throughout the room and she was reminded of the time she revealed it to everyone on the Moby Dick but she wasn't nervous this time, it felt different. "Oh my," she heard Elder Nyon gasped out. She pulled her singlet back down and turned back around, seeing the looks of horror from the women in the room and a look of anger from Luffy.
"It's fine Luffy, it's in the past," she said soothingly offering a small smile to the angry teen. He shook his head and looked even angrier. "I hate the Celestials, I'm glad you killed him," he said, surprising her, she didn't expect him to say something like that and with that tone of voice.
"You killed a Celestial Dragon?!" Hancock shouted in disbelief. The two sisters didn't look all that better, all overly-surprised. "Well yeah, wasn't that hard," she said nonchalantly, crossing her arms over her chest.
Hancock recovered, expression now calm. "You both are fools, one punches a Celestial and the other kills one, such fools" Amethyst analysed her expression and could tell that despite her words she was amused if not delighted by the information.
Luffy walked over to Amethyst and grabbed her wrist, she looked at him "You okay Luffy?" she questioned, worried at the blank look on his face. He then gave her a look of pure determination. "I'll protect you until we get Ace back," he said in a tone of pure seriousness that almost shocked her speechless. "Luffy you don-"
"NO! I promise!" he shouted immaturely now back to his usual self that had her sighing in exasperation. "Fine, let's hope you do a better job at that than your brother then," she said jokingly, winking slyly at him. He laughed and grinned at her.
"Your connection with Fire-Fist, what is it?" Hancock asked curiously.
Amethyst smirked a little and covered Luffy's ears. "How you feel about Luffy, is how Ace and I feel about each other" Luffy started struggling against the hold, wanting to hear what they were talking about.
Hancock blushed and held her face "So, you have the sickness as well" Amethyst cocked a brow and looked at the three on the side for an explanation but was greeted with the sight of them looking to the ground, grim expressions on their faces. Amethyst just sighed and let go of Luffy "Uh, yeah"
These people sure were strange.
It was morning and she was on the Navy ship. She clicked her fingers as they were left alone in one of the rooms, becoming visible again. "How long will it take to get there?" Luffy asked.
"A little more than 4 days so you'll have approximately more than a day to save your brother before he is moved to Navy HQ," Hancock said.
Luffy nodded in acknowledgement, suddenly going quiet, Amethyst could tell he was worried. Of course, he was, who wouldn't be in this kind of situation? She saw Hancock acting weirdly, probably trying to build some courage or figure out a way to talk to him but then falling into one of her many delusions and she rolled her eyes, sitting next to the teen. "Luffy, it'll be okay, we'll get him back," she said softly and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I know," he replied, smiling a little at her. "Hancock you think you can get Luffy food, I think it'll cheer him up," Amethyst said to the Empress who jumped up and ran towards the door of the room they were in.
Amethyst could still see the serious expression on his face and sighed, trying to think of a way to cheer him up.
"Hey Lu, you wanna be my little brother?" Amethyst asked suddenly, thinking about the time Ace talked to her about his childhood. Luffy jerked in excitement, grinning up at her but then deflated looking disappointed. "We have no Sake, Ace said if we share sake we can become brothers" she grinned slyly at him.
"That's different, I'm a girl so I'll become your sister and all we have to do is make a promise," she said convincingly to which he believed straight away, perking up again. "Really?!" She nodded, grin still on her face.
"Do you Luffy promise to become my little brother and I your big sister?" she asked, trying to sound as formal and serious as possible, despite the urge to laugh. He matched her grin and nodded excitedly.
"Now we're brother and sister, see?"
"Does that make you and Ace brother and sister too?"
She paled at the question and then blew into a fit of laughter. "No Luffy, just me and you, I haven't made the promise with Ace, so it can't happen," he nodded in understanding. "Good, I can be your only brother," he said seriously making her laugh at his expression that almost looked possessive had you not known Luffy at all. He then jumped away abruptly when he finally noticed some food. Hancock fussing over him and telling him to eat slower.
"Hancock, thank you for helping Luffy out," Amethyst said grabbing the attention of the flustered Empress.
"I would do anything for him if he wished for it," Hancock said dreamily as she stared at the boy stuffing his face as if her some angel, though from what Amethyst has seen, he very well could be, a little rough around the edges but definitely angel-like innocence.
"Of course you would 'Hammock'" Amethyst teased receiving a rather angry lecture from the crazy lady.
Amethyst was glad to finally have arrived, for one she was utterly sick of the Empress and her constant blabbing of marriage and proposals and her blushing and it was all just so embarrassing to see, she had zero dignity and Luffy was probably the most oblivious person she has ever come across. Luffy also worried her a bit, sometimes he was too worried to think about food, even when she brought it to him. She was also obviously glad to be here because of Ace. She had used her powers a lot as people kept checking in on Hancock and now she wasn't in the best of shape and also the fact that she had to use it again now.
She was watching nervously as Hancock, who was hiding Luffy in a very peculiar place was now walking beside her as they entered the prison, they were informed that she needed to wear sea-stone cuffs and get a body-check done, how they were going to pull that off, she wasn't sure.
Amethyst looked around and cringed at the screams that could be heard, it was all very cold and gloomy feeling, she was feeling angered at the thought of Ace being here.
Suddenly a man with a very large pot-belly, horns and wings walked up to them, looking awkward and somewhat geeky. "Welcome to my Impel Down!" he boasted cockily, holding a pitchfork 'Was he the devil?' Amethyst thought. "Well at least it will be my Impel Down soon, I'm the Assistant-warden, Hannyabal, pleasure to meet you"
Amethyst wasn't looking forward to meeting the Warden, she had heard he was strong and had a devil fruit ability that was less than fun, either way, she knew that they had to steer clear of him. The devil looking guy kept rambling on about Hancock and some 'Lousy Warden' only to freak out once he said it and then finally got to the point of meeting the warden and being escorted by someone named 'Domino'.
A blonde woman with a thick pair of sunglasses on came in then, she was wearing a guards uniform and stood in front of Hancock, leading her deeper inside the prison. She talked about the prisoners and how they were weak but with the exception of a select few including Ace and two Warlords that she recognised, one being former. Amethyst suppressed a growl as she didn't particularly like the sound of Ace's name coming out of that woman's voice. She was also surprised to know that Jimbei was there, wasn't he a warlord?
As the blonde continued to talk they finally got to a private room so they could proceed with the body check. Hancock walked in without a hint of worry but she knew better, Amethyst followed close behind into the room, feeling a tinge of desperation, she hoped that Hancock had a plan to get through this.
"Please remove your coat," Domino requested as she closed the door, "I need to make sure you aren't hiding someone, so please hand it to me. I'm not saying I do not trust you, I have no reason to suspect you but I must inform you that there are transponder snails in here and all over Impel Down, so you are being watched"
Amethyst almost scoffed 'so much for private room' but she took a mental note about the transponder snails. Domino then held up a pair of cuffs and told her to put them on which Hancock didn't protest too but did complain about.
Hancock glanced at the transponder snail that was in the room and back to the blonde woman, she sighed then suddenly smiled, a light blush on her face and eyes looked like they were glittering and she cutely responded. "Please be gentle with me" Amethyst had to suppress the urge to gag and laugh as she saw Domino start to blush herself then all of a sudden Hancock used her ability to turn the snail and the woman into stone.
Amethyst instantly dropped her ability and leaned on the wall for support as she kept her headache under control, whispering, "Finally, Luffy you can come out now" He popped out from under Hancock's dress, his hiding spot, landing softly on the ground before standing up straight and grinning. "That was a close one, I thought I'd have to make a break for it somehow while they were distracted or something," he said, beaming.
Hancock's expression turned sad and worried "This is as far as I can take you two, I wish I could've done more to help but once I release them, I'll be put in Sea-stone cuffs and my coat will be gone so I'll have no way to use my powers or hide you Luffy," she informed sadly.
Luffy wasn't having any of it "What are you talking about? We wouldn't have made it this far without you! You managed to sneak us here with all those warships and guards! We couldn't have gotten this far safely without you! Don't worry, we'll be fine from here, right Am?"
Amethyst nodded in agreement. Hancock still looked worried "Luffy, try not to cause an uproar, if you're captured you will never leave this place alive, this is a stronghold built to keep people in, I know you're strong but please refrain from causing disturbances." Hancock then turned her attention to Amethyst "That goes for both of you, I wouldn't want you Amethyst to be put in another cell, one you have small chance of escaping"
Amethyst looked at her surprised at the worry in her tone that was directed towards her as well but shook it off, smiling in reassurance. Luffy took Hancock's hand, flustering her and responded "Right! We promise! Thanks for everything Hancock, I'll never forget what you've done for me, I'll definitely pay you back someday" Amethyst stifled a giggle at the Empress who fell to the ground, whispering about her life being complete and agreed, clicking her fingers and becoming invisible as Luffy jumped up and hid in the ceiling rafters. "Hey Hancock, you can turn them back now oh and do me a favour and don't tell Ace I'm here, if he's going to find out about Luffy I would rather he not find out about me, it'll upset him too much"
Hancock nodded and stood up quickly after finishing off her delusional muttering and turned them back to normal. Her gaze turned blank and questioning "Is there something the matter?" Hancock asked the now unfrozen, dazed blonde in a tone of indifference.
"My apologies, I must've zoned out"
Hancock pulled her coat off of her and handed it to the woman "Well get this over with already, though I must say, I don't know what you expect me to be hiding" she said, coldly.
Amethyst almost laughed out loud at that, it was all perfectly planned and she was playing it off perfectly as well, she was glad that she had come. Domino patted the Empress down thoroughly and after being satisfied, put the shackles on her wrists and lead the woman out, Amethyst and Luffy following close behind, Amethyst making sure not to bump into anyone by mistake as Domino closed the door behind them.
Domino, Hannyabal, Momonga and Hancock all went into an elevator that then disappeared, taking them out of sight. Amethyst cursed for not being at full health, otherwise, she could've followed them with her current ability, but it was getting more tiring to hold it.
As they got to a place where no one was, Luffy dropped to the ground and Amethyst dropped her ability, it was really tiring her out especially with her normal eyes but she knew that was the best option if she were to last longer. "Where's Ace's Paper thing Luffy, we can follow it," Amethyst said, Luffy pulled it out immediately and it moved, they both followed the direction it was going with their eyes and saw a staircase. "Bingo, let's go Lu"
And down they went, down a seemingly endless amount of stairs, Luffy would jump from the rafters to the floor and Amethyst would use her ability and turn it off all the time as they kept coming across guards and transponder snails, it was all very tiring. Every time they weren't sure if they were still supposed to keep going down, they would look at the Vivre card and then keep going downwards.
They finally got somewhere and followed some frantic guards through a door, they were shouting about some escapee. Once the guards were all gone and the coast was clear, Luffy dropped to the ground and Amethyst dropped her ability, hopefully for the last time or at least for a while.
"This is Level 1" she guessed quietly.
There were sudden agonised screams of tormented prisoners filling the air and Amethyst couldn't hold the grimace as flashes of her life as a slave came into her head. She felt a hand grab hers and opened her eyes that she had closed. "Ignore it, Let's go," he said calmly, but she could tell he was slightly shaken as well, she nodded and they started to walk forward.
Well, sort of.
"What the fuck was that about?!" Amethyst whisper shouted, breathing heavily as she had to use her abilities and lack there of running skills to dodge random traps that tried to kill them out of nowhere. "What the hell...?" Luffy gasped out as he also was breathing heavily. "That... was close..."
"Yeah, no shit," she cursed, still trying to steady her breathing. They finally gathered their breathing to a normal rate and looked back, questioning what the hell was up with that. Suddenly guards came out of nowhere and they were spotted. "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me, RUN!" Amethyst shouted, sprinting beside Luffy.
They saw a hole and both jumped into it, grabbing a hold of the chain that was hanging down it and slid to the bottom. They waited for a bit, but no guards came after them, luckily.
"Well, that didn't last long," Amethyst said as she thought about their promise to not cause any disturbances. They both started to run, looking around briefly at the endless amount of cells scattered everywhere when they heard someone calling out to them. They stopped and were caught up in a conversation with some prisoners, questioning how they got out of their cell before Amethyst cut it short.
"You guys know where Ace is? Because if you don't we'll be off, we have no time to be divulging you, people," she snapped.
"You mean Fire-Fist Ace?" The prisoners asked in disbelief.
"Yes! We're gonna save Ace!" Luffy answered.
"And before you start ranting about how it's reckless and all that bullshit, Don't and just get to the point," Amethyst said quickly.
"If he is here, he'll probably be down in Level 5! But you'll nev-"
Amethyst cut him off with a flick of her wrist, sending him crashing into the floor and turned to Luffy about to speak when they heard screaming coming towards them. They both turned around to see a bunch of large masked-gorillas with double-sided battle-axe's in their hands, chasing something in their direction.
"IT'S THE BLUGORI! RUN FOR IT!" the inmates started to shout but Amethyst was aggravated, dizzy and exhausted from running and she turned her eyes white and made one hand gesture and all of the gorillas were in midair, then unceremoniously smashed into the ground about ten times before she finally dropped their lifeless bodies to the floor, eyes turning back to normal.
"Now that, that is done with, shall we move on finally?" Amethyst said in a tone of satisfaction, now looking at Luffy again. But Luffy was looking behind her a weird expression on his face. She turned around and came face to face with... a clown.. or more accurately a cut in half clown who then put himself back together as if he hadn't just been put together. She cocked a brow at him.
"I'm guessing you're the escapee and the fact you just put yourself together, a devil-fruit user?" she asked, looking at the outfit he was in. He had a look of shock and terror, matching the other inmates as they all looked at her like she was some kind of freak.
"You're a monster," he said, finally getting words out of his red mouth. He then looked to Luffy and his shock increased and he screamed "STRAWHAT?! What the hell are you flashily doing here?!"
Luffy looked at him blankly, still trying to figure out who he was and then it clicked. "Oh, it's you, Buggy."
Amethyst laughed at the boredom and distaste in his voice. "You know the moron Lu?"
"Why you... don't screw around with me you lowlifes! and you straw-hat are as cheeky as ever I see, didn't know you had been caught as well!" he said mockingly, which was quite hypocritical given his current situation.
"Shut up idiot, we aren't like you, we came here of our own volition," Amethyst butted in, irritated by the clown.
"What?! What kind of idiots are you two?! unless..." he suddenly became teary "Unless you heard about my imprisonment and came to rescue me?!"
Amethyst rolled her eyes and hit buggy in the head with her fist to snap him out of his delusion "What the hell are you on about?! We were trying to keep a low profile until you came like some fucking idiot and ruined that so if you aren't going to be of any use to us we'll be off" she said, as she and Luffy turned around and started going where they were headed.
"You people ruined my Great Buggy Escape Plan!" Buggy shouted from behind them.
"Who gives a shit," Luffy said suddenly, not turning around and earning a laugh from Amethyst. Buggy started to follow them and had a shouting match with Luffy when suddenly their path was blocked by even more Blugori.
Amethyst groaned in annoyance and did the same thing she did with the previous gorillas except for a lot harsher, slamming them a lot more, she was getting highly aggravated. When she was finished she faltered a bit and took a hold of Luffy's arm, steadying herself again.
"Let me take care of it now Am! You're getting hurt and your nose is bleeding again," Luffy said worried and slightly scolding, he used his hand and wiped the blood much to her surprise. "Thanks, Lu," she said, not arguing.
Suddenly another Blugori came out of nowhere but this time Luffy gave it one good punch in the gut and it was out like a light, much to the surprise of the prisoners and pride of Amethyst. "Nice one Lil bro," she said, ruffling his hair, earning a grin.
"Wait, I've heard of you, you're Devil Eyes Amethyst of the Whitebeard Pirates! What are you flashily doing here?! And 'Lil bro'?! You're Strawhats sister?!" Buggy shouted.
"Yes yes, I'm that person and Luffy is my brother and we are here to break out Ace and yes I mean Fire-Fist fucking Ace who is Luffy's brother," Amethyst explained, exasperated.
"WHAT?! YOU WANNA SAVE ACE?! BROTHER?!"
As Luffy and Buggy conversated, the prisoners were shouting about letting them out and Amethyst glared darkly at them, shutting them right up. When she looked back to the two she saw Buggy looking creepily at Luffy's arm bracelet. "Lu, let's go already," she said.
Luffy nodded and they both started running again "See ya, Buggy! Good luck escaping!" he said, waving in farewell.
"WAIT! STRAWHAT!" Buggy screamed loud enough for the entire world to look up from what they were doing, going after the two runners.
"Shut the fuck up, you moron!" Amethyst hissed under her breath but it was too late as a bunch of guards came charging in, sounds of gunfire going off. All three starting to run faster.
"Why'd you have to shout?!" Luffy yelled but Buggy wasn't listening, he kept looking at the bracelet on his arm.
"I'll tell you the way to get to Ace!" Buggy shouted suddenly, getting both Amethyst and Luffy's attention.
"Seriously?" Luffy said. Amethyst glared at the clown, he was up to something. "Sure, but only if you give me that bracelet" and there it was, he had a greasy smile plastered on his face and Amethyst knew he was going to bolt the second he got his grubby hands on it. Luffy agreed happily.
"You try anything remotely dodgy clown and I'll do you one worse than those gorillas back there," Amethyst threatened.
Buggy blanched and nodded. He started to explain what he was going to do with Luffy as Amethyst listened. He explained the different levels and how they correlate to the criminals in each level and then how he could only take them to Level 4.
"When did you become a nice guy?" Luffy asked, now holding Buggy's feet, smiling and Amethyst noted in her head to pummel the clown if he did anything to that smile.
"Since you're giving me the treasure marker that will show me where Captain John's treasure is!" Buggy blurted out, quickly covering his mouth afterwards. Amethyst rolled her eyes 'What an idiot'
They kept running and nothing was said for a while until Luffy spoke up. "You..." Buggy tensed, scolding himself for blabbing about the bracelet. "Y-yes?"
"You're here because you're weak right?"
Amethyst laughed out loud and relished in the anger that the clown displayed as he shouted at Luffy. They both talked about the bracelet before Luffy took it off and held it out to Buggy, who voiced his surprise.
"Ace's life is more important to me than some treasure," Luffy said smiling at the clown.
Amethyst grabbed the bracelet "Luffy, you can't trust him yet, wait for when he actually gets us there, he might run away if he gets it now," she said, scolding him slightly. Luffy cocked his head at her confused. "But he said he would take us"
Amethyst shook her head a little and glared up at Buggy who had tears in his eyes. "You don't deserve his trust," she hissed, Buggy blanched again and didn't try to ask for the bracelet or more he couldn't as he crashed into a wall and Luffy who thought it was all part of the plan, grabbed a hold of Amethyst and Buggy's feet with one arm then punched through the wall with the other and they all went crashing through it. And would you look at that? A bunch of guards.
They then went crashing through the opposite wall and suddenly they were falling, Luffy and Amethyst on Buggy's body as Luffy held her in place tightly so she wouldn't fall. The place was a wide-open area and at the bottom of it was a crimson forest.
"What the hell is this?" Luffy yelled as they fell towards the forest, now floating across it. "What's a forest with a bunch of people in it doing here?"
"They're all prisoners and this isn't a normal forest, the trees are sharp like razors, the grass is needles, they both pierce and slice your body, you're chased by poisonous spiders and guards through here, so your body gets sliced up and pierced, staining everything with your blood, Welcome to Level 1: The Crimson Hell," Buggy said.
Amethyst was appalled, she couldn't fathom how the government could approve such disgusting and cruel punishments. This place was a prime example of why she hated the government. The screams were horrible but she refused to let them get to her. She blocked out the conversation Buggy and Luffy was having and just stared at everything, it was all quite horrifying. She finally felt them come to a stop and she looked forward seeing them beside a huge hole.
"Am! were you listening? we have to go down the hole to Level 2, let's go!" he shouted, letting go of her and jumping down head first. Amethyst poked Buggy in the back expectantly. "You want the bracelet then jump down clown or do I have to make you go down? Plus, Luffy has your feet you know?"
Buggy seemed to get the picture and willingly floated down, muttering curse words under his breath. And down they went, it felt like forever, after a few boring and annoying minutes of going down, they finally reached the bottom to see Luffy looking around.
Amethyst got off the clown and walked to Luffy, looking around as well, it was similar to the first Level cell block but there were so many staircases and hallways, like some maze. Luffy grabbed Buggy by the ponytail and started to drag him "Lead the way"
"Luffy, he can't lead the way if you're going to drag him, let him go," Amethyst said, though she was quite enjoying watching the clown being rag-dolled.
There was a sudden roaring in the distance that they didn't pay too much attention to. They started to run, Luffy still dragging Buggy by the hair. They got to a dead end. There was more growling and roaring heard in the distance, this time getting their attention.
"Let me guess, this Level has a bunch of monsters in it, Am I correct?" Amethyst questioned looking at the now free clown. "Yes, this is the Accursed Beast Hell and it's even worse than the crimson hell," Buggy said, confirming her suspicions.
Luffy was facing the opposite way as them and pointed at something. "Is that one of them?"
Buggy and Amethyst turned around, one slowly and scared and the other calmly, and they saw something come out of the shadows.
"That looks like a baby hippo to me," Amethyst said disappointed that her expectations weren't met when her eyes landed on the small animal.
All three started commenting on how it was just a hippo, no matter how you look at it, it was just a small hippo. Buggy started to walk towards it, muttering things under his breath and then Amethyst and Luffy's eyes widened as they saw the hippo's mouth grow in size and swallow Buggy's torso. "Oh, I am not dealing with that" Amethyst said, her eyes turning white and she made a hand gesture, the hippo was lifted in the air, mouth suddenly forced open and Buggy's body being pulled out by an invisible force. The hippo was then cruelly slammed into - ahem - through the wall. Her eyes turned back to normal but this time no headache, her eyes were burning, though.
"GAAAAAH! SHE'S CRYING BLOOD!" Buggy shouted dramatically, pointing at Amethyst's face rudely.
"AM! I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO ANYTHING!" Luffy shouted annoyed, now wiping the blood that trailed from her eyes. "Sorry Luffy," she said softly trying to stifle a laugh at the face he was making.
"I could've gotten myself out of there," Buggy said ungratefully. "You're welcome big-nose," Amethyst snapped back. He started to yell at her but she ignored him. Luffy grabbed her arm and started running all over the place, looking for a way out, but there was nothing, no staircase downwards, no helpful sign that she would fail to read.
Buggy looked up suddenly and the other two came to an abrupt stop. "What is it?" Luffy asked. "I think I saw something up there," he said in uncertainty.
"It's probably another stupid beast," Amethyst said, getting ready for whatever was coming. All three stood there for a couple of seconds before something fell from above and cut Buggy up into pieces. "AAAAAAAHHH! CHOP CHOP QUICK ESCAPE!" he shouted, before him and all of his pieces floated behind Amethyst and Luffy, reassembling as they did so.
"That is one big bug," Amethyst said, Luffy nodding in agreement beside her. The bug slashed at them again, causing no harm to Buggy, Luffy jumped back before it could get him, Amethyst, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky as she jumped away but got cut in the stomach, her singlet ripping, as she did so. "Shit," she cursed, holding the newly made wound. "He sure can cut," she said calmly, impressed as the initial pain wore off. Luffy who was worried at first then nodded in agreement, now mesmerised.
"THIS IS NO TIME TO BE IMPRESSED!" Buggy yelled as the large Preying Mantis started to swing its scythes, cutting the brick walls as if they were paper, showing off its skills. Buggy and Luffy clapped at the display, where as Amethyst just stared at it. Then she laughed as it struck forward and seemingly got itself stuck like a moron.
Amethyst walked past it, now tired of the stupidity of these 'Accursed Beasts' she heard Buggy and Luffy following behind, talking among themselves. She looked down at her stomach and now ripped singlet and grabbed the loose material, ripping it off all the way around, so it now looked cropped, some of her stomach and back were now showing. She held the ripped material to the cut.
"I'm sorry"
She jumped at the sudden voice and looked to see Luffy standing beside her, an ashamed look on his face.
"What for?" she asked confused.
"I said I would protect you and you got hurt," he said looking at her stomach. She sighed and patted his head with her free hand. "It's not your fault Luffy, I wasn't fast enough" she reassured but he just shook his head still looking ashamed.
"Come on, don't be like that, it's just a small cut, plus look it's already healing," she said making him look at the cut and saw that she was telling the truth, it was healing.
"Wow, that's so cool!" Luffy said mesmerised. She laughed and patted his head again before glancing back at Buggy who looked annoyed.
There was suddenly another roar, except this one was really loud and very strong, so strong that it caused an uproar of wind and sent the stuck preying mantis flying through the air. All three looked up and came face to face with a humongous bird-like creature, it was like a mix of a chicken and a lizard but not laughable whatsoever.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa...aaa...a... AM! I SAID NO POWER USING!" Luffy shouted as he and Buggy's screams died down as the mutated beast's neck snapped swiftly as she made a simple hand gesture. Amethyst quickly wiped the blood from her nose and smiled. "It's fine Luffy, I only used it a little," she said reassuringly but he wasn't having it, giving her the silent treatment now. She rolled her eyes and let him do what he wanted to get over it.
As they were about to start running again to find a way to get to Level 3, Buggy had taken it upon himself to play around with the prisoners in the cells around them, who were shouting praises, even though he didn't do anything to deserve praise. "Clown! we're in a hurry if it weren't blatantly obvious," Amethyst shouted angrily. He finally threw the keys he was dangling around into one of the cells, the prisoners hastily unlocking the cells and getting out and Luffy dragged him along as they started to run again.
"Hurry up and show us to Level 3 Buggy!" Luffy shouted.
"I don't know how to get to Level 3! It's like a maze in here, NOW LET ME GO STRAWHAT!" Buggy barked at him. "What the hell? You said you would take us to Level 4!" Luffy shouted back.
"He lied Luffy, he just wanted the treasure marker," Amethyst said, annoyed.
Luffy came to an abrupt stop, looking angrily at the clown. The prisoners who had unlocked themselves from their cells suddenly rushed back in, closing the cell doors behind them, all running from different directions just to get back in their cells, panicked looks on their faces. "What the hell? Didn't you people want to get out of your cells?" Amethyst asked confused at the sudden change of heart.
"We were reckless, we can't escape with the boss of the floor still roaming around," a prisoner said as he slammed the cell door closed. The others started shouting in agreement. Buggy, on the other hand, had changed his tune "Right, so I'll show you guys how to get to Level 3!"
"DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY YOU DIDN'T KNOW BIG NOSE!?" Luffy yelled at him. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING BIG NOSE?!" Buggy yelled back.
Amethyst was too busy looking at someone else who had appeared "Who are you?" she asked threateningly, glaring at the figure.
"If you're having troubles, maybe I could be of some assistance," the person said, Buggy and Luffy turned to the voice and looked confused.
"Who're you?" Buggy questioned.
"It's been too long, Straw Hat and as a man who repays debts, I shall repay you for freeing me," the strange man said, smirking.
Luffy looked much like how he did when Buggy first presented himself, confused and trying to figure out who exactly this was.
"WAIT! you're that guy who was on the Giant's Island, 3!" Luffy shouted after much confusion, finally recognising the person.
"IT'S MR.3!" Mr.3 corrected angrily.
"Okay, well seeing as you've now reunited, I think we should fight those beasts that happen to be grouped over there," Amethyst interrupted, making the other three look to where she was indicating and they saw all of the beasts they came across before except for the Basilisk and including a few Human-faced Lions and giant scorpions. Great.
"Can I use my powers Luffy?" Amethyst asked to which he violently shook his head, rejecting the idea, she sighed and nudged her head towards the now charging creatures. "You three have to fight then, we don't have time to run forever," she said.
Luffy nodded, getting ready, the other two as well though more reluctantly. Luffy's fist came into contact with the Scorpion that then exploded into smaller scorpions. Buggy and Mr.3 were holding their own and fighting pretty well, Amethyst interested with the wax powers of Mr.3. The scorpions were coming after them and All four bolted then. They ran everywhere, up, down, here, there, this way, that way, through hallways and corridors and stairs. Until finally they got away thanks to Buggy using his legs as a distraction.
Buggy, however, was boasting and laughing so loudly that the distraction was useless for his big mouth had blown their cover.
"Nice going Moron," Amethyst shouted as they began running again. She almost stopped in surprise when she heard some of the beasts talking. "What the fuck?"
"They're Manticores, they can imitate human speech," Mr.3 explained.
They started shouting random words and phrases, Amethyst started to laugh as she heard them say something stupid but then smacked Luffy in the head when he got distracted by one naming food.
"Hey, glasses guy! you said you would help us right?" Amethyst asked getting Mr.3's attention.
"It's Mr.3! and yes, of course, we need to help each other so that we can escape from here right?" he answered, panting for air.
"Didn't you hear us before? We want to get to Level 3 not escape, how do we get further down?" She asked, furrowing her brows at him.
"WHAT?! YOU AREN'T ESCAPING?!" he shouted in indignation.
"I just said that didn't I?" she said annoyed.
"They're planning to free Ace, Straw Hats brother and Devil eyes crew member," Buggy said in distaste as he ran backwards so that Mr.3 could see his face.
"WHAT? BROTHER?! DEVIL EYES AMETHYST?! STRAWHAT, YOU AND FIRE-FIST ARE SIBLINGS?! AND YOU'RE BOTH HERE TO RESCUE HIM?" Mr.3 cried out.
"YES! YOU FUCKING IDIOT BIG-NOSE JUST SAID THAT! SO FUCKING GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD!" Amethyst shouted, losing her cool momentarily before calming down again. "We're in a hurry if it wasn't obvious"
Mr.3 was going to protest but when he saw the severe look on her face, decided against it. "Alright! Let us go together" he said enthusiastically, baffling Buggy and making Amethyst roll her eyes as she knew he probably had some ulterior motive like the clown. They all ran deeper down a flight of stairs, following Mr.3.
They ran for a while, Mr.3 starting to shout until he ran into something big and grey but breathing, so not a wall. They all stopped and looked up and watched as the big, greyish breathing creature turned its head, looking at what had just bumped into it. "Is that a giant Manticore?"
The creatures that were chasing them before had come to an abrupt stop as well, seeing the huge beast they had bumped into and turned right around, bolting away, forgetting about their current prey.
"Well, that's always a good sign," Amethyst said calmly and sarcastically. She couldn't take it anymore, the running and stopping and running and stopping and screaming and conversation, it was all starting to piss her off. So with a flick of the wrist, she lifted the beast high and slammed it down as hard as she could. But what she didn't calculate was the floor breaking and them all falling through it. Yeah, she really should've seen it coming.
"Good thinking Am! Now we can get to Level 3!" Luffy shouted as they were falling, she was glad he wasn't mad at her for using her power.
They fell and fell through the darkness, it was like a vortex of darkness, feeling like much longer of a drop than the previous one. Amethyst saw a light, coming fast and quickly turned her eyes red and made a hand gesture before landing hard on the beast who cushioned her fall. She rolled on her back and groaned in pain, looking up and sighed in relief, seeing Luffy and the other two floating there looking confused. She placed Luffy down gently on the beast and dropped the other two the rest of the way, eyes turning back to normal.
"Am! You okay? Your ears are bleeding!" Luffy asked worried at the sight of a tired and groaning Amethyst. She waved off his worry with her hand, smiling lightly. "Don't worry little brother, I'm fine"
"You're siblings as well?! What kind of messed up family do you have?!" Mr.3 shouted from the place he was dropped on the Beast.
Luffy ignored the remark and helped Amethyst up on her feet, she stood up and steadied herself, testing her weight on both legs before letting go of him. "I'm fine Luffy, really," He didn't look convinced but nodded.
They all then looked around, everywhere was covered in a layer of sand, it was blazingly hot and bright, the light was blinding, a stark contrast to the darkness of the other floors but the heat... the heat was almost unbearable.
"Dammit, we're in Level 3, WHY'D YOU PEOPLE HAVE TO DRAG US HERE?!" Buggy yelled furiously.
Amethyst and Luffy ignored them, jumping off the beast and starting to walk in no particular direction. "Let's just go!" Luffy shouted.
They all started to walk quickly, then slowly, then started to trudge, they were all exhausted, panting hard and dragging their feet and there was no staircase or literally anything in sight, Mr.3 looked the worst, not surprising considering his devil fruit power.
"Luffy, don't eat th- and you already ate it," Amethyst said in exasperation as she saw Luffy eat a roasted bird that fell from the sky, most likely roasted by the ridiculously hot wind, she wasn't even going to question how there was a bird in here or why the hell it was so damn hot... actually maybe she will. "Why the hell... is it so hot?"
"Stop talking... wasting energy..." Mr.3 croaked out.
She didn't snap at him and instead pointed towards something in the distance "I think I see cells," she said.
They all looked where she was pointing and Buggy and Luffy went sprinting off towards it. Amethyst looked at Mr.3 and felt a tinge of worry. "Want me to use my ability to get you over there?"
The man looked startled and stared at her about to agree but then shook his head. "It's fine," he said.
She nodded and wanting to get there faster, grabbed his arm and dragged him with her as she ran towards the other two now standing in front of the cells. Luffy was peering curiously through the bars, questioning what was in there. She looked in as she got there and was shocked at the prisoners who looked almost like skeletons, they were so skinny and dehydrated. "All the prisoners here were criminals with bounties of over 50 million berries. The heat rising up from the inferno hell below us, as well as the fact that hardly any food and water is served, has left all the prisoners here half-dead if not already," Mr.3 said grimly. "This is Level 3, The Starvation Level," he croaked out tiredly.
"I just saw that skull crumble into dust, does that mean what I think it means?" Amethyst asked suddenly, voice full of disgust at the whole scene in front of her.
"That the sand you're standing on here, could be the dried up remains of dead prisoners? Then yes," Mr.3 answered. All four looked around taking in the horror of the Level. It was truly despicable to think that something like this actually exists.
"Let's hurry to Level 4 already," Luffy said.
"YOU'RE GOING THERE?!" Buggy and Mr.3 shouted in horror.
Amethyst glared at them both "We've said it so many times, we are going to Ace and Ace is on Level 5 so if I hear so much as a cry of surprise from you two again, I will use my powers to lock you in that cell," she threatened and they both nodded quickly, not wanting to anger her further.
They all then started to argue on which way to go from there, they weren't sure which way they should go. They all finally decided on a direction and walked through the burning hot environment, sweating bullets for what felt like a millennium only to be back at the out-cold beast, where they had started. Amethyst was getting increasingly aggravated, her emotions kept going up and down and she had enough already.
"It's been a few hours already Luffy, we can't keep walking, I'm using my ability to at least just get us to the next floor, okay?" Amethyst suggested, feeling desperation claw at her chest. Luffy nodded reluctantly, he wanted to save Ace and they were just wasting time but he was also worried about her.
"We're not going!" The other two shouted and Amethyst rolled her eyes at them. "Fine, then don't come, I'm keeping the bracelet and you two can stay here and turn to sand," she responded coldly.
She grabbed Luffy's hand and hoped it worked. She's never tried to teleport someone else with her, she knew it was dangerous and reckless but at this point, she didn't care, they were nearly at Level 5 but were making no headway as of yet, this was their best chance. Her eyes turned red and she closed them, rolling her eyes as she felt three hands grab her shoulder and clicked her fingers.
Ace was sitting in his cell staring at nothing in particular, he felt cold, on the outside as well as on the inside, he was accepting his fate and it felt like his insides had frozen and everything felt numb. He heard multiple footsteps but didn't look up at them until one of them acknowledged him specifically.
"You have a special visitor, Ace, Bet you can't guess who it is," Hannyabal said in a playful tone, then looked at the prisoner next to him "Jimbei, I'm sure you've heard of her, you probably never met her but her reputation does precede her," he added, stepping back to reveal the 'special visitor'.
"The Empress of the Kuja Tribe and one of the Seven Warlords and the most beautiful woman in the entire world, Boa Hancock"
Ace and Jimbei looked up in surprise, ignoring the blabbering of the Vice-warden and the confetti that came out of nowhere. Prisoners from all around cried in surprise and shock as another man came out, he was dressed in a black suit with black wings on his back and horns on his head but what frightened them the most was his face, sharp teeth, a thick beard and dark, angry looking eyes, it was Magellan, the man who ate the Poison devil fruit and also the Warden of Impel Down. Behind them were Momonga, Domino and Hancock's pet snake. More prisoners started to shout, but for a different reason, crying about how beautiful the Empress was, how nice she smelled and even going as far to tell her to go closer to their cells like she was prey.
Hancock ignored them and walked closer to the cell, eyes full of interest. Ace, on the other hand, had an expression of indifference, seemingly unaffected by her presence. "What do you want with me?" he asked coldly.
"Nothing, in particular, I merely wanted to see you with my own eyes. The man who served as a trigger for the war I'm about to participate in," she said calmly.
Ace felt anger rise in him. "So what? I'm some item on display?" Hancock continued to stare at him, not answering and ignoring the constant perverse shouts from behind her.
"The Pirate Empress who refused to listen to anyone, no matter what was said to her and now? You really want to keep your position as Warlord that badly?" Jimbei sneered at her, thoroughly disappointed and confused.
She barely gave him a glance. "So, you're Jimbei. Don't be so spiteful," she said casually, waving him off as if he weren't of any importance to her.
The Wardens voice roared throughout the room as he started to shout for the prisoners to shut up as Hancock was trying to have a conversation but was only met with insults thrown back at him.
Hancock turned away from Ace's cell and to one of the other cells much to the prisoners' pleasure. "You just keep taunting me with bad words," She started, then held a hand up to her face, blush on her cheeks and eyes shining "I'm just so scared," she continued cutely.
To say the prisoners lost control, would be an understatement, the prisoners went ballistic, they were shouting and throwing themselves at the bars, trying to reach for her and some even shouting insults at Magellan telling him to hand her over to them. Momonga scoffed and muttered something about how unrefined this place was.
Magellan had also taken to look star-struck at the Empress but then snapped out of it, anger taking over his features "I will not take such insolence!" he shouted, eyes turning cold and blood-red as a dark purple substance started to seep from his body. A dark haze starting to emulate off of his body as he was now covered with the purple substance from head to toe. Hannyabal started to protest, saying that he was putting them all in danger.
Purple tendrils began to take shape and come out of his back, forming into what looked like three dragon heads each one dripping with poison from their necks and their fangs. Each one moving as if they had a life of their own.
"Don't get carried away you scum," Magellan said coldly, shutting the prisoners up straight away as they quickly realised the danger that was fast approaching. They started to scream bloody murder about as he had brought out the 'Hydra' hydra and moved hastily to the back of their cells.
Ace wasn't paying attention as Hancock leaned closer to the cell and began to speak. "Luffy has come here to rescue you," she whispered loud enough for him to hear.
Ace froze in shock, eyes widening with horror, he didn't even notice the cries of pain and despair as multiple prisoners were covered in a layer of poison that would slowly but surely kill them. His mouth opened but nothing came out, he felt like he was breaking, close to having a panic attack, like he was screaming silently at the thought of his little brother coming here, to such a place, it was unfathomable. His head was pounding with realisation and dread.
Magellan had finished threatening and dooming the prisoners and returned back to normal, poison seeping back into his body and eyes returning to their normal tint of colour. He walked to Hancock and nodded politely "You may take your time and say what you need"
She brushed him off and turned around "No need, I'm finished here," she said coolly.
"WAIT!" Ace shouted after her, surprising a lot of the people there. "Is what you just said... is it true?"
She smiled a little bit at him as she turned slightly "I have no reason to lie to you..." she let out a huff of amusement "Right... she did say you would be upset," she muttered to herself before walking away, followed closely behind by her pet snake and everyone else that had come in with her.
After they finally left, Jimbei had turned to Ace, worry and interest marring his face and asked what she had said to him for him to react as he was.
Ace's face was dark with confusion and anxiety, his little brother had come to save him, he was risking his life as he sat here, his little brother who was the object of his protection since he was a child. "She said that... my brother is here...to rescue me"
Jimbei's eyes widened in shock "That Straw Hat kid you always go on about? How reckless of him!" he cried out.
Ace felt like his brain was about to explode, all he could think about was his little brother running around this place getting hurt and worse being caught and having to suffer in here because he was trying to save someone as worthless as himself. He couldn't think, couldn't grasp a stable thought at all, so many emotions were racing through him when suddenly all the emotions that were clouding him at lightning speed were over-shadowed by one... fear.
He hung limply from the chains that held him, he was lost in his own head, not paying attention to anything, not aware of anything but his own mind that was on a rampage. His eyes filled with worry and pain, he shut them tightly and whispered, voice cracking as he did so. "Whatever you do... don't- please... just don't come here Luffy!"