On to Chapter 11. Lots of action in this you will be pleased to hear and my longest chapter by words yet; although obviously the majority of it is from what happens in the actual series but there we go. Thank you to all of my reviewers from the last chapter, I appreciate your comments and thoughts, it's very inspirational to hear from you, and thank you to anyone who favourited my story and put it on alert. As usual, I do not own One Piece.
Law wasn't utterly surprised when he realised it was only going to be Shachi, Penguin and Bepo joining him on his outing to survey the human auction taking place at Doflamingo's establishment later in the afternoon. The two women on board had already shown their disgust and disinterest and it seemed everyone else had better things to do or jobs they needed to get on with rather than going to watch World Nobles buy slaves for fun.
There was also the little matter that according to various sources (Celeste and two shop owners) every Supernova had finally gathered on the island, with the Straw Hat pirates finally arriving last; earlier that day. Yet to Law's bemusement the World Government had yet to send any more marines to the archipelago to do anything about this.
The fact that there was now eleven of the strongest rookie pirates on the island was shown clearly as they entered the lawless area. Law had become quite accustomed to people drawing back and failing to meet their eyes as they walked down the street and it didn't take an idiot to know why. His escapades involving several unlucky bounty hunters had travelled around the archipelago quicker than wildfire and now anyone who could remove themselves from his presence for fear of becoming his next medical test subject was doing so.
That being said there were still some who were either too brave or too stupid to take any precautions, and if it wasn't the case that he had other business to attend to he would have shown them how idiotic they were.
"Hey Shachi, who is that?" he asked as they rounded the next corner to witness a very interesting sight.
"That's the Mad Monk, Urouge!" Shachi exclaimed as he lifted his cap to get a better look through his sunglasses. "But what is he doing?"
Law sat himself down on an upturned crate and smirked curiously. "Not him," Law chuckled darkly, "The other one... I think we should hang around here for a bit."
Shachi and Penguin shared a quick look before Shachi sighed in exasperation; there would be no moving the Captain now. The sight that had befallen them was one of chaos, Urouge had swung a punch at another man who was clad in a mask; the only distinguishable feature was his long blonde hair and the menacing looking blades on his arms. "I don't know who that is," Shachi eventually answered. "He might be important but I haven't seen a picture of him before, Captain."
"No matter," Law clasped his hands together and rested his arms on his parted knees. "We'll wait here a bit longer, the auction doesn't start yet; we're in no rush."
"Is it really a good idea to sit here in the middle of everything, Captain?" Penguin asked.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Law shrugged.
As Law said this, the one in the mask backed up as Urouge strode towards one of the hotel buildings; and with what seemed to be hardly any effort at all; ripped out one of the black pillars that supported the balcony above the hotel entrance.
He swung it around easily and a huge grin crept across his large face, ignoring the destruction behind him as the balcony began to crumble unsupported on to the ground below. Several people screamed and ran out of the way as the Mad Monk hefted the pillar on to his shoulder and leered at the other man. "Shall we continue?" he asked beginning to chuckle.
The masked man wasted no time in speeding towards him at an unruly pace seemingly unnerved by the gigantic weapon now being brandished at him. Urouge gave another deep throated chuckle and lifted the gigantic pillar up with two hands as the other man stopped in front of him cautiously. As the blunt object smashed heavily into the ground, sending bits of earth and rocks flying; Killer jumped back acrobatically flipping several times to get away.
Law gave another dark smile from beneath the shadow his hat was projecting onto his tanned face, as the blonde stopped abruptly and launched himself forwards once more. The Mad Monk had already picked up the pillar again and began to swing it around from his right as the one in the mask reached him; jumping up high out of Urouge's reach.
The Heart Pirates continued to watch as Urouge gave another smile and looked up himself as the other man become to come back down towards him. He twisted majestically to face the Mad Monk, who had changed his stance to ready another tremendous swing.
Before either of the two men could impact each other though, something unexpected happened.
Law had not noticed the tall figure in blue creep up towards the two men fighting, so when the pillar of Urouge was blocked by a four bladed axe and the blades of the masked man blocked by a familiar looking sabre; his smile grew wider.
"If you want to cause a stir... then do it in the new world!"
Law noted with a sinister smile that Drake looked exceptionally unamused that the two men were fighting. Regardless of a lack of marine presence or not; Shabody was not the place to sort grudges. He pushed heftily with his arms to throw both men away, and even Urouge took a step back as the other man Law didn't recognise; to back flip and land lightly on his feet.
As the former Marine crossed his arms against his chest; still holding onto his weapons tightly; he cast a glance at Urouge, who swung his pillar up and onto his shoulder, still smiling down at the former naval officer.
"I see," the tanned monk was still smiling widely, looking down at Drake with obvious interest as he continued to address him. "The former officer, Drake huh?" he gave a laugh before turning back to his opponent. "Your life was just spared, masked man."
The oversized man gave a shrug and turned around, casting a glance over his shoulder before beginning to walk away without another word. As he did so several people backed away, and seeing that his fight had ended Killer relaxed his arms and began to do the same.
Law surveyed both as they left, and it looked to him as though Drake was making sure both were clear from the area and completely out of each other's reach before making his own exit. Seemingly satisfied that they had finally gone their separate ways a few minutes later, he beckoned for his men to follow him as he headed back towards his ship.
Law chose that moment to make his presence clear to his former adversary, slightly insulted that the Marine almost missed him.
He watched Drake slowly turn his head, if the former Marine was surprised, his impassive face didn't show it; as Law lifted his head to lock his eyes with Drake's gaze. "It was just getting good."
Law had certainly not forgotten that Drake had tricked him and almost caused him to die. But he had also not forgotten that he still had the upper hand as it were; and that Drake was going to need his assistance sooner or later if he wanted his heart back inside his body rather than out of it.
The other Captain stopped, and cast his gaze down at the other man as he heard Law's next comment; that was directed to him as a question. "Yo, Drake. How many people have you killed?"
Law could sense that behind him Shachi and Penguin were beginning to feel uncomfortable as Drake turned his entire body towards them. "Law," he stated impassively before adding, "You're alive then."
"Is that an insult?" the dark doctor responded playfully.
"I'm sorry, but I do not have time for you today," Drake answered, as he began to walk away. "Count yourself lucky this time."
Law gave a very low chuckle as he stared blankly at the back of the former Rear-Admiral's retreating back; behind him he could sense Shachi and Penguin heaving small sighs of relief as he answered his rival cockily. "You'll have to make time for me at some point, let me know when you will require my surgical talents."
Drake grimaced as he tried not to let Law's comment get the better of him and ignored him as he walked away from the other former resident of North Blue. The sooner they could leave the island the better; he hoped the coating of their ship would be completed soon.
"Well I suppose we should get going," Law stated, lifting himself up and staring after Drake's retreating back. "After all," he began as he started to walk away in the opposite direction; shrugging his hands into his pockets as his closest crew followed obediently. "I wouldn't want to miss the beginning of the auction."
As it were, the auction house was only beginning to fill up as they got there, a small trail of local people beginning to step inside past the doors that were being loosely guarded by round men in flamboyant outfits, who was hounding on people enthusiastically as they approached.
"Ah good day, Sirs!" One of them called excitedly as they approached. Law paused momentarily to give him a look before proceeding forwards. Noticing that a chance may have been missed, the employee bounced forwards waving leaflets and small round wooden board at them. "I see you are Pirates of fine taste as this is the best and most exclusive auction on the island! Can I interest you in a programme and a number!?"
"No." Law answered flatly; giving the man a sideways glance that could not be misinterpreted as anything but threatening.
The auction worker didn't need telling twice and backed off to go and find a rich noble to bother instead, as Law entered the auction house and peered around.
Clearly the most enthusiastic had already arrived as the first few rows had already begun to fill up, not wanting to be too close to the action Law strode forwards and found a seat a little ways back, where they were close to the door if they wanted to leave, not that this was likely given what else he had noticed going on outside.
"Shachi, Penguin," he addressed as he sat down and let the two men position themselves beside him. "As we walked in did you notice what else was patrolling around outside other than those idiotic clowns?"
Penguin sat down next to him removing his hat momentarily to run his hand through his mussed up hair. "There was something else happening?" he enquired; truthfully not having noticed anything untoward happening outside. Then again; he had been preoccupied by Law threatening the auction worker and by Bepo's huge form obscuring his view of surroundings.
"There are marines outside," Law stated, his usual calm demeanour instantly telling his engineer and navigator he wasn't taking that piece of information very seriously.
"But this could mean trouble, Captain!" Shachi exclaimed holding his hands out in question. "Is it really safe to be here so casually!?"
"Well..." Law trailed off and looked around as the round amphitheatre like building began to fill up. "There's no reason for the marines to expect pirates to visit a human auction house; let alone this one in particular, it must be something else."
"They're obviously expecting trouble though, Captain!" Shachi tried to argue, but didn't really put much effort into it as he could tell the Captain wasn't really listening. He sighed; things were going to get complicated; he could feel it.
"Do you think maybe we should have gone with them?" Celeste pondered out loud as she and Ruby walked the streets of the archipelago; laden down with several bags.
Ruby tutted and shook her head, her beautiful red curls swaying as she did so. "Do you really want to witness that?" she asked.
"Not really, somehow it seems more gross than watching the Captain partake in his live human experiments." The younger girl answered sullenly. She mused over why Law might want to visit such a disgusting place and remembered that he had mentioned he knew Doflamingo, Celeste was about to start deducing on how he might know the Shichibukai when something fluttered down in front of her.
"What on earth?-" she heard Ruby comment from next to her, and as she bent down to pick up what had fluttered down in front of her; another one landed several feet away.
"They're newspapers," Celeste stated before looking up above and realising they were being intentionally thrown down upon them. "But why are they just discarding them so... what!?" she had trailed off as she'd lifted the object towards her and seeing the gigantic headline plastered on both the front page and inside she had cried in shocked revelation; her eyes wide with fear. "No way, no way; they can't be that stupid!"
She turned her direction to the other woman; who was staring down in bewilderment at her own identical tabloid. Ruby was shaking her head in utter disbelief that the Government might try something so suicidal, if they went through with what they were planning to do it would most certainly be a war! She turned her attention to the researcher and asked in exclamation. "Are they really that stupid that they would try and execute the second division commander of arguably one of the most powerful pirates that ever lived? This... this is declaring war on Whitebeard!"
"It is complete insanity," Celeste answered, flipping the next page and skimming through the propaganda filled pages trying to find any piece of valuable information. "It's to take place at Marineford, but this explains why there's such a lack of marines on this island... they'll have been gathered up ready to fight against Whitebeard and his allies... what on earth are the Gorosei thinking!?"
"This is bad," Ruby contemplated, discarding the paper as if it was filthy on to the floor. Celeste rolled hers up to keep for reference before she began to follow the other woman back towards the submarine. "We should prepare the submarine to leave, I don't think we should stay here this long, if all the marines are going to be in this area; and Whitebeard and his allies are going to make a move towards us we should clear out while its quiet."
"Good luck on trying to get the Captain to see that logic," Celeste answered imagining that the Captain would probably only find such a revelation something they should enjoy experiencing. She grimaced at the thought and then it dawned on her, "We should go and tell the Captain."
"I'm not heading to the auction house." Ruby shook her head as they walked, "We can take our wares back to the ship and then you are welcome to go if you like."
"Fine with me," the young girl answered. She was in agreement with Ruby; they would be better off clearing out of the island as quick as they possibly could; however with the Captain this was a subject that was not up for much debate, until he said so and gave the order, they were staying put, but it was totally worthwhile; as Ruby had suggested; to get the submarine ready to leave just in case.
At the auction house, Law had noted that they were not the only pirates to show interest in what happened once the event actually started. Out of the corner of his eyes; he noticed the masked man that had been fighting with Urouge earlier walk inside accompanied by several other flashy looking comrades. One of which; with his flamboyant dress and flaming red hair was undoubtedly Eustass Captain Kidd, making Law realise that the man who had been doing the fighting previous had to be his first mate Killer.
He gave a small smile as they stopped at the back and top of the room, preferring to stand and watch from afar than sit comfortably within the action. He was not the only one to notice their arrival, as he noted Shachi and Penguin sharing exasperated and worried looks between them; thinking that he wasn't paying attention. Bepo did nothing, choosing to remain in the seats behind them, carefully guarding Law's sword, although his furry presence was acting like a good enough deterrent already since no one had decided that sitting near a ferocious looking polar bear was a smart idea.
Soon after the Kidd pirates had taken their position at the rear of the room, some people arrived who might be considered more threatening than he; given that while he and Kidd had been almost ignored by everyone else filling the auction house save a couple of men pointing them out, the new arrivals were making people turn away uncomfortably.
"Are they...?" Shachi trailed off lifting his sunglasses slightly to get a better look.
"They are the Celestial Dragons?" Penguin observed as they began to walk down through the aisle to what looked like special seats at the front. Whereas everyone else was looking away from the man and woman who were making their way down the stairs, both the Kidd and Heart pirates were unmoved by their sudden presence.
Law frowned slightly, it seemed as though their slaves were no longer with them, which meant they had either killed or decided to sell them, which was somewhat of a shame; had he been in the mood, he might have considered stealing them for his crew.
Behind him, his ears suddenly picked up Kidd talking, which granted wasn't difficult considering the tone of the younger man's voice; but Law still thought it could be considered rude to be talking about him while he was sat right in front of him.
"I know that face... it's the two hundred million man from North Blue, Trafalgar Law. I heard some bad rumours about him..."
As Kidd trailed off, Law chose this moment to turn around to the slight surprise of his Shachi and Penguin, stare Kidd right in the eyes; give him a very cocky smile and then raise his middle finger rudely at him in response to his comment.
Worried that a fight might start against the rookie with the highest bounty and with marines stationed just outside the building, Shachi couldn't help himself from hissing urgently at the captain under his breath as Law turned around, "Captain!"
Law could hear Kidd speak again from behind him; there was no mistaking the amusement in the other pirate's voice as he commented dryly. "His manners are bad, too."
Before anything else between the two crews could be said, the lights dimmed and a voice rung out over the auditorium. "Well then, everyone! Thank you for your patience! In a moment, Grove one's monthly tradition the great human auction, shall commence!"
There was a pause as the audience gave a cheer before the clown at the front continued. "Our host, of course, is this man!" Spotlights began to direct at the stage as a strange looking man in ridiculous clothes that were bright enough to rival Kidd's ensemble strutted across the stage. "The walking super bazaar... Mr. Disco!"
The next cheer was louder than the first as the obscure man started twirling around on stage. As the cheers died down he began to speak, "Good day, everyone! This time, we've got quite an excellent selection of slaves for you! You are all lucky! We've got a spectacular deluxe item for later in the show! The only thing on my mind is making sure everyone here leaves with the slave they've been waiting for!"
Law could hear the excited conversations of the rich people sat around them discussing what type of slave they might buy as the first slave was bought out. Law wasn't really listening to what Disco was blabbing on about as he watched the man walk out onto the stage. He almost felt pity for him; but if he was weak enough to get caught that was surely his problem.
The bidding continued as one by one slave's were bought up to the front of the stage, and as they were Disco seemed to have no end of praise for the skills they had.
From behind him he heard the doors to the auction house open and close and curiously tilted his head to get a better look behind him, timing his glance coincidentally well as he heard the Kidd pirates discuss the strange group of people who had entered. "Sir, I think that's the Straw Hat crew."
Law's eyes flashed across from Kidd to the other crew as he heard Kidd speak, "The Straw Hat's captain isn't there... I was hoping to see just how dumb he was myself..."
Law lazily turned his head back again as Penguin muttered to him, "Captain; did I just hear that right?"
Law's smirk widened as he nodded once in response, "Things are going to get interesting," he commented.
Celeste meanwhile had dumped her things and was beginning to make her way across the island on her own, wanting to give the Captain the news that had just been delivered to the archipelago. Although Ruby had said that it could probably wait for them to get back, something didn't sit right with Celeste.
As she ran towards Grove 1, she cast a glance upwards as a loud noise disturbed her and watched as some funny looking fish things went flying over head. Frowning she wondered what they might be before shaking herself out of it to think.
She was probably worrying over nothing, but regardless she was still going to check the auction out. It didn't look like she was the only one concerned either, Pirates were already heading towards the dockyard and she couldn't say she blamed them. If there was a war then the best place to be was as far away from Marineford as possible. Given that Shabody was so close; it was not going to be a very safe place to be when Whitebeard finally arrived at the marine headquarters.
As a female stage was bought up on stage, the door opened yet again and this time the person to walk through was a dumb and ugly looking noble. Disco continued uninterrupted however as the noble started kicking his slave for whatever reason, the auction was nearing its end and Law was somewhat surprised that the noble had turned up so late.
Law frowned up at him as one of the employees began to show him to his seat, he was one of the very few who did as the audience who had noticed him began to turn away. Disco continued uninterrupted, announcing the next slave; a former pirate captain; as another large man walked out onto the stage looking pale and restless before dropping to his knees, blood dripping from his mouth. It didn't take long before he crumpled to the floor in a heap and Law tutted as the auditorium descended into yells. "What's going on!? He collapsed!"
"I saw blood!"
"Hey Penguin," Law said wanting to test his crew, "What do you think happened?"
The Navigator lifted his hat and looked down towards the stage, his face unreadable as he scanned the man and began to put two and two together to work out what had happened. "He's bitten his tongue," Penguin deducted finally, his face impassive as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Looks like he'd rather die than be a slave it seems. If you bite the tongue hard enough to damage or sever the central muscle it will retract to the back of the throat... look he's already begun to start choking."
"Very good," Law praised as the curtains were pulled to a close. "These people are truly idiots if they believe that nothing is wrong," he sighed.
Once more the lights dimmed before several more lights began sparkling warmly towards the stage and the curtains reopened. Obviously, the special item Disco had warned for earlier was being bought out early to make everyone forget the incident that had happened prior. Smoke began to cascade across the stage as music played and slowly the workers began to wheel something large and covered by a cloth out into view.
Cheering began again as they focused a spotlight on it and immediately the cheers increased as the clear silhouette of a mermaid reflected out towards the room. By the time Disco removed the cloth, the room seemed to be euphoric, Law was aware that Mermaids were rare given they were beautiful, hard to catch and generally avoided the upper world through fear of slavery. He was surprised that they had gotten one to auction off at all.
Strangely enough, Law seemed to be the only one who had noticed that the girl was banging hysterically on the glass of her tank, and from behind him he noted the Straw Hats seemed to be calling down to her. As the room went quiet finally, Disco continued. "It's been a while since we last had a mermaid here... I'm sure everyone wants to buy it! But how much are you willing to pay!? Now let us begin! First, let's start with..."
While Disco seemed to pause to think of a sum to start the bidding at a voice called out over the room sending the entire auditorium into a stunned silence. "Five hundred million!" Predictably, it had come from the direction of where the world nobles were sitting and instantly the people of the auction turned their direction towards them as the Noble reaffirmed his actions by repeating himself and holding up five fingers of his left hand. "I'll buy it for five hundred million beri!"
Clearly not knowing what on earth was happening outside in regards to her fate, the mermaid began banging on the glass again as people began to sigh irritably and the Nobles started to converse with themselves about the purchase.
The Straw Hats also seemed to be uncomfortable as Disco continued although albeit uncertainly. "The main price this time, the mermaid Caimie goes to the World Noble, Saint Charlos for the price of five hundred million beri."
Law noticed the Kidd pirates had began to leave before the auction house truly descended into chaos.
The roof of the auction house burst open with an almighty crash, bits of debris and rubble fell everywhere; Disco was visibly shocked as he stuttered uncomfortably into his microphone.
"What the hell?" he heard Shachi mutter from besides him.
Turning around curiously, the crew looked in awe at where it appeared a gigantic fish had flown into the building. Law sniggered trying and failing not to look immensely pleased and grinned.
A teenager with black hair and a straw hat had appeared; apparently having travelled in on the fish; and had begun yelling obscenities at the poor mermaid in the bowl. "Is that Straw Hat Luffy?" Penguin frowned leaning back over her chair to get a better look.
The scrawny teenager ran past them followed by the strange man with weird hair who had been present throughout the entire auction and rushed towards the stage. Before anything else could happen the man's jacket slipped off as four extra arms appeared and grabbed the teenager around the waist.
Law couldn't stop himself from looking absolutely delighted as the screams started. The Fishman noticed his arms were free as Luffy kept running forward; guards appeared to guard the stage as the crowd began yelling racist obscenities at the Fishman. Books and auction boards flew through the air towards him and Shachi growled in response. "That's pretty messed up."
Luffy threw the guards off of himself as the unmistakable sound of a shot ricocheted through the building. The Fishman fell to the ground and tumbled down the stairs.
The Saint Charlos from earlier was the obvious culprit as he stood from his seat and started dancing triumphantly. "I did it! I shot a Fishman! Father please look! I caught a Fishman! I shot it myself so it's for free!"
"Uh-ho..." Shachi trailed off, "I sense a shit storm approaching."
"Should we get out of here?" Penguin asked.
Law shrugged and raised his hands in question. "Why? This is the most interesting it's been all afternoon." This meant only one thing to the rest of the crew, the Captain was clearly looking forward to trouble.
Luffy stepped forward dangerously as the Noble continued to dance and from where they were; they could see the injured Fishman grab Luffy but couldn't hear exactly what he was saying. It wasn't difficult to deduce he was trying to stop him from doing anything irrational.
It didn't help.
The Noble was clearly; if possible more stupid than he looked because no one of sane mind would have the idiocy to remark as he did. "Stupid fish! Even after I shot you, you still keep on blabbering! You're annoying!" He aimed the gun again and this time he had Luffy's undivided attention, this he undoubtedly had noticed, as panic seemed to cross across his face.
"You? What's with that look of yours?"
Luffy stood up and stepped forward, ignoring the cries from the small starfish yelling at him. The Celestial Dragon aimed the gun again, Law could see what was coming; and was aware of the outcome if Luffy did what it looked like he was about to do. "Hey, Straw hat..." Law couldn't help himself but speak before realising it was too late.
The gun fired to no effect and at that point the teenager drew his fist back before punching the Noble right in the face. He flew backwards; crashing into the seats behind him and skidding back a hundred feet; knocked out.
The room was silent for several minutes, as Penguin shook his head disbelievingly and whispered to himself. "Quality..."
No one knew what to say; then the one with the Straw Hat spoke to his crew. "Sorry you guys, If I hit these guys, they'll call an admiral from the Navy and a warship here, right?"
"Because you went and beat him up..." the one with Green hair responded; sheathing his samurai sword, "I didn't get to cut him."
As the crew discussed amongst themselves their Captain's rash actions, the Celestial Dragons at the front had gained a hold of themselves, the father drew out his gun and aimed it at Luffy, firing several bullets. Hitting his rubber like skin they bounced off uselessly.
As if a panic button had gone off, the entire auction house crowd started running from the scene by the angered Dragon, screams and wails as they carried themselves outside, arms waving. Since Law hadn't given the command to move; the Heart Pirates stayed put.
Taking it upon themselves; the Straw Hats began causing chaos by attacking the guards and disarming the Celestial Dragons. "Should we do something...?" Shachi trailed off watching amusedly.
"I don't think that's necessary." Law answered calmly. "Save your strength, it looks like we'll need it for escaping the island."
The crew were dispatching the officials easily and it was clear to see how infuriated the Celestial Dragon was getting. It wasn't long before he ordered the Admiral and the Warship as expected.
The Swordsman from earlier ran forward and cut the top clean off from the bowl of water the mermaid was entrapped in before Law's attention turned back to the Captain of the other crew. "Straw-Hat Luffy... A bounty of 300 million huh?" He grinned.
Three more flying fish burst into the auction house from the roof and Penguin raised his arm to protect his head from the splinters and dust raining down from the destroyed ceiling. "More of them?" he asked.
"More of the crew it looks like." Shachi stated.
Disco obviously had no idea the trouble he was in as he yelled about protecting the mermaid for all she was worth, firing aimlessly and achieving nothing whilst doing so. Another crew member flew through the air landing on the eldest noble as the rest of the Straw hats finished dispatching the guards.
"If we don't hurry an admiral and warship will arrive!" Law heard the ginger haired girl cry.
He chose this moment to speak, addressing the Captain lazily from where he had been positioned the entire time. "The Navy is already here, Mr. Straw Hat."
"What's up with you?" Luffy commented turning to them. "And what's with the bear?" He added noticing Bepo who was cradling the Captain's beloved sword.
"Those guys have had this hall surrounded since before the auction started." Law explained ignoring the younger mans question. "After all, there's a HQ outpost situated right on this archipelago. I have no idea who they wanted to catch... They couldn't have known that someone would beat up a Celestial Dragon though, right?" He laughed before adding, "You've shown me something interesting Straw Hat crew."
"You are Trafalgar Law right?" The tall women with the black hair stated before turning to her Captain. "Luffy, he's a pirate."
"Huh?" Luffy looked surprised but not exactly worried as he turned back to them and asked stupidly, "The bear too?"
Bepo cocked his head as the black haired woman commented on Eustass Kidd stood at the top of the stairs. As the woman commented on Kidd, who was also watching the events unfold with interest, the final Noble (the female) had aimed her own gun at the mermaid still unprotected in the bowl.
Before she could pull the trigger, a burst of power erupted from the bottom of the room and the woman fell backwards off of the ladder she was perched on. It was certainly a weird and uncomfortable feeling, but not hurtful, Law noted as the female clattered on the ground. It was unmistakably the feel of Haki.
An old man walked out from the destroyed backdrop; his coat billowing on his shoulders and his hands tucked into his pockets. He surveyed the room before speaking to his giant friend and remarking on the emptiness of the auction house. The guards suddenly found a new interest as they realised the prisoners were not wearing collars. As the old man and the shot fishman started to converse; the old guy drew his attention to the mermaid stroking his beard in thought.
"So this means... I get it, I figured what happened, and you've gotten yourselves into quite a mess Hachi... and you're the ones who saved him?" He addressed the Straw hats before "Well then..."
An immense wave of power erupted once more blasting around the room. Again the uncomfortable feeling returned, but like the Kidd pirates, the Heart pirates remained unmoved as Law looked up frowning slightly.
The guards fainted at the blast and toppled, landing simultaneously with a thud. Whatever he had done must have been pretty immense as Law commented, "No way."
"Was that...?" Shachi trailed off although his question was clearly directed at the Captain who he was staring at from behind his dark sunglasses.
"Haki," Law stated.
More moments went by as the Old guy removed the mermaid's collar and the Straw Hat crew member with blue hair clad in only underpants returned with the keys to her collar. He threw it to the slaves who began to rejoice before the white haired man began to walk up the stairs. Pausing to turn to Law and his men; he smiled. "Sorry guys, you were just here to watch, right? Judging from how you handled the situation earlier, you're not exactly pushovers, right?"
"Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh." Eustass Kidd stated before the old man turned and him for using that name.
A voice sounded over a megaphone from outside, obviously the marines. "Criminals inside! Please release the Rosward family! An admiral will be here shortly! I'd imagine that it would be easier for you to just surrender! You don't know what will happen otherwise, rookies!"
Law smiled brightly before adding "So they're not just dragging us into this, but they're totally treating us as if we're his accomplices too..."
"I see that Straw Hat Luffy is every bit as crazy as the rumours said." They heard Eustass Kidd comment. "Not to complain, but I'm not gonna stick around to clash with an admiral."
"Yes, I can't use that power from before anymore, so I'm counting on you." Rayleigh stated turning to them. "It'd be really troublesome if the navy found out who I am."
"I have no intention of getting saved by some old man." Kidd responded arrogantly. "But the longer we stay, the more soldiers will come. I'll be going on ahead. As an extra favour, I'll save you guys. I'll take care of the cleaning outside, so just relax."
"Oh crap," Penguin stated.
"He said it," Shachi shook his head in dismay.
Law looked outraged as he turned around angrily scowling and gritting his teeth. "Men!" He barked irritably standing up and grabbing his Nodachi from Bepo's grip.
"Aye, Sir?" Shachi sighed and stood up; following him from where he had already left his seat to storm his way to outside.
"We are heading back towards the ship and leaving this island!" he snapped.
As Celeste made her way towards the auction house she was made aware of several normal looking people all passing her from the other direction looking horrified, frightened and irritated. Frowning slightly as she ran she tried to listen out for any piece of news but couldn't deduce anything from what they were saying as the wind whistled in her ears.
She sped from a jog to a sprint realising that whatever was happening wasn't good; her fears were amplified when she realised that what she could hear was marines from behind her, jogging in the same direction at a similar pace. What she heard next was not good news.
"What about all these other pirates!" one of them stated to the leader of his fellows.
"The auction house is under attack three rookies have taken the Celestial Dragons hostage!"
At this piece of news Celeste groaned and swore. She had no idea who the other two rookies might be but she had a very good idea who the third was. Given the symbol tattooed onto her bare back, she waved her hand in front of her face to cast her powers around her. In good time too as the next comment reached her ears.
"The Heart pirates, the Straw Hat pirates and the Kidd pirates all in one place! They're lead by three of the strongest Captains; we've been told that an Admiral is coming to back us up!"
Celeste heaved a deep breath angrily as she kept running. An admiral, they would be lucky to get away from this; there was no one to warn the crew either and if Law was at the centre of unwanted attention she wondered if he would want her help. Sometimes; and these were extremely rare occasions, she wondered whether her Captain was an idiot.
Law narrowed his own eyes as he reached pace with Kidd and walked towards the huge wooden double doors of the auction house. "Don't think I need you to save me Kidd," he stated.
"Hey!" Luffy added, "I won't let you guys hog all the fun!"
"Shut up!" Kidd answered.
"I'll do it myself!"
"Stop bickering already..." Law interjected.
"Really?!" Kidd retorted.
"Shut up, just shut up you two!" Luffy argued.
"You're so noisy." Law answered as they got closer to the front entrance.
"What did you say?!" Luffy rebutted.
"Like I said, leave this to me!" Kidd glared at him.
"No! I'll do it!" Luffy stated again.
"Don't order me around." Law commanded.
"You don't get it do you!?" Kidd snapped at him.
"You're the one who doesn't get it!" Law argued.
They came to a stop outside where Luffy clenched his fists together "All right! You guys stand back!"
"Are you listening to me?" Kidd asked with his arms folded. "I said that you two should stay away!"
"Try to give me one more order." Law warned threateningly, "And I'll take you out first Eustass!"
The three of them came to stop together and Law held up his left hand while keeping a tight hold on his Nodachi, the marines had completely surrounded them by now, making a complete circle around the auction house and every weapon in their arsenal was aimed right at Law, Kidd and Luffy. Despite that, Law smiled; it wouldn't be enough.
"I'll go," Luffy repeated continuing to crack his knuckles.
"Leave it to me!" Kidd argued with him again, an irritated expression on his face.
"Try it, if you want to get hurt." Law told him, "For this place..." he continued but his own speech was joined by both the other two Captain's as he finished his sentence. "I'm more than enough."
Before they could continue, the marine's attention was finally back on the three of them as Law listened carefully to hear the first order yell out. "Fire the mortars!" Instantly, several bangs were heard from around as flashes and then billows of smoke ricocheted from the weapons that were pointed towards them.
Law could hardly miss Straw Hat blowing up into what looked like a gigantic balloon as he concentrated on what he was doing, and from beside that the canon aimed at Kidd seemed to stop right in front of his outstretched hand, wavering slightly in mid air before firing back towards where it had come from.
Law concentrated on the one foolish marine who had strayed too far forwards and almost instantly the familiar blue spherical dome appeared in front of him. "Room," he called with a smile on his face and several explosions erupted from where Kidd and Luffy were fighting. Law withdrew his Nodachi from its sheath and as the marine was questioning what the light was, Law bought his sword through the air horizontally displacing the man's head from his body.
Noticing the cannon ball making its way through the air and through his dome of light towards him, Law flipped his hand before adding, "Shambles." Before anyone could gather what on earth had happened, the cannon ball swapped places with the marine's head, exploding instantly as it did so. Law smiled and caught the head as it flew towards him, watching the marine's yell in fright and horror as the detonation engulfed them.
He couldn't help chuckling, as he casually bopped the man's head up and down in his left hand like a ball; the marine screaming as he did so.
It became apparent that the marine's had only just noticed that the three of them were devil fruit users, however the one in charge seemed not to care as he called out to his men, "Our main concern is the hostages! Concentrate troops in this area! Do the same with the mortar cannons! Get ready to fire!"
"Wait, wait!" The bodiless head was screaming as he bounced up and down in Law's hand, in response to the calls from his leader.
Before Law could do anything else, he noted, Kidd had taken matters into his own hands, and had spread them in front of him and Luffy as if telling them to back off. "Keep your hands out of this you two! You'll just get in my way."
Law growled, not impressed as he snapped back at Kidd, "Didn't I tell you? If you tried to order me around..." before he could finish his threat, Luffy had already ducked under Kidd's outstretched left arm and had begun running towards the marine's in an excited frenzy, yelling out loudly to them without bothering to look back.
"Leave it to me!"
Kidd looked insulted, but Law merely smiled, Straw Hat Luffy was quite amusing. As the marine's set fire to them again Luffy ran at them head on, stretching his fingers into some type of elongated net.
"He stretched!" Kidd exclaimed.
"What's with that strange ability?" Law questioned in interested as Luffy gathered all of the cannon balls fired into his fingers. As he began swinging them around, both Law and Kidd noticed the escapee soon enough to jump out of the way before it hit the ground they were formerly stood in, exploding with a huge force, scattering earth everywhere.
Law noted Luffy sent a half hearted apology their way before he continued what he was doing eventually landing on the floor several meters away, clutching his hat firmly to his head. Several marines had been dispelled by his attacks, but not enough to stop another squadron towards them; this time it was Kidd who used his unique abilities to drive them back, somehow managing to pull their weapons through the air towards him before propelling them back towards their owners at an alarming and dangerous speed.
The leader seemed to be getting quite annoyed as Law heard him call out, "Isn't admiral Kizaru here yet!?"
"Yes! I think he should be here soon, but reinforcements from the nearest outpost just arrived," one of his subordinates told him, with a salute.
Not to be outdone, Law ignored the protests from his newly acquired head, and commented lightly on the news he'd just heard, "Good grief, there are even more of them than I thought."
Luffy walked back to rejoin them and as he did addressed him and Kidd happily, "You guys sure have some weird powers!"
"Yours is the strangest of all," Kidd replied quickly.
Luffy seemed confused by this, turning around and looking back at the marines he grabbed his hat and looking perplexed asked, "Really?"
Law grinned, if Admiral Kizaru was on his way to the island, then this gaggle of marines was really the best they could put up with.
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Any problems or questions you have, feel free to ask, I usually reply via PM to you directly, I can take more time and explain more than clogging up authors notes at the beginning and end of each chapter.
