I started this chapter right after I posted the last one. I can't say the same for when I posted it though. I seem to do that quite often...
-PD
Chapter 11- I Have a Bad Feeling About This
"Nami, there is no way we can get out of here. We have no tools, we're chained to the wall, and our powerhouse is unconscious about 90 percent of the time. How the hell are we—"
"Shh! Usopp! Someone's coming down! Don't say another word!" It wouldn't have been a surprise if whoever it was that came down the halls had heard her whisper; they would've been able to hear a pin drop from a mile away with how their gloomy prison ricocheted sounds off of its cold, metallic walls. But whoever the arrivals were, they didn't seem to hear, or perhaps they just didn't care, and continued to approach their cells. The echo of heavy footsteps were building suspense and nervousness within Nami and Usopp's pounding chests as the sound grew louder, more numerous, and more muddled with new echoes running into each other and interfering with each other, creating a mess of sound.
Nami frowned as she tried to think under these stressful circumstances. What could they want? Why were people coming down to the cells? Their meager rations had always been delivered through the chutes that connected their cells to whatever was upstairs. Unfortunately, Nami didn't have time to solve the mystery, because five jailers stopped in front of their cells, all of them were holding tethers and new sets of kairouseki handcuffs and collars. 'How degrdaing,' Nami thought, 'we're going to be led away like dogs.'
"Alright, pirates, let's get a move on." The man, who seemed to be in charge of the group of jailors or whatever they were, grumbled, as if this whole exchange was a waste of time, like he had better, more important things to do. He took out a large ring that was overloaded keys and frowned at it. He turned to the man next to him and complained about the keys, unable to figure out which one he was supposed to use.
"Where are you taking us!" Nami demanded bravely, but her voice cracked in the middle of her sentence, ruining the effect. She hadn't realized how painfully dry her throat was until she'd made that demand, and swallowed a couple times to try and re-hydrate it.
"I'm not obligated to relay any information to you." The man's brow furrowed as he shifted through the keys. It was a painstakingly long process, but eventually he found the key he was looking for...or not.
Nami stared at the man through the bars, an annoyed tick making her eyebrow twitch. "Would you hurry it up!" Nami snapped, practically biting the man's face off through the bars, all the pain in her throat forgotten. "I wanna get the hell out of here! Seriously! Can't even open a door!" She mumbled the last bit more to herself, but still made sure it was clearly audible.
"Shut up, bitch, I'm trying!" He pouted angrily as he sorted through the keys some more. When he could feel Usopp's unimpressed stare boring into him he began to sweat a little bit. This hadn't been the fear-inducing aura he'd intended to present; instead, he oozed incompetence, and normally he was anything but a bumbling fool that couldn't even figure out which one of the blasted keys could open a damned door. His temper rose with every minute he stood there like an idiot in front of their prisoners.
Usopp watched the bumbling man in the clean white lab coat – at least she assumed it was a lab coat – fumble around a moment longer, until he felt like he'd absolutely burst if he didn't say something. As much as he didn't want to go with these men, this waiting around was getting kind of annoying. "Oi, oi, shouldn't you have figured out which key it was before coming down here?"
The man growled, not even bothering with a retort. He really was not in the mood to be criticized by a couple of stupid, kid pirates. He finally managed to find the right key, it had been the 8th to last key out of...well, it was anyone's guess how many keys there were, and unlocked the doors. The team walked into the cells and switched out the cuffs and collars. As the four were lead, or dragged in Luffy and Chopper's case, they were oddly calm about the whole thing – their fear having been totally diminished by the 5th attempt at unlocking their cell doors.
"Ne, Usopp." Nami began, completely nonchalant as she was led up a steep flight of stairs.
"What?" He responded, trying to preserve Nami's apparent lack of concern over whether their present company overheard the conversation or not, even though he was sweating a bit more than the average scaredy-cat.
"When we rejoin with the others, we're gonna lie about who we got caught by. I don't want anyone to know we were sunk and caught by a bunch of idiots." She smirked at the main guy when he reacted as she had wanted. His walking became even more stiff, as he was still obviously frustrated, up the stairs in front of the little entourage.
"Sh-Shut up!" The key issues guy blushed furiously, keeping his head facing forward. He hated these kids, he really did.
Nami sighed with mild satisfaction. These guys didn't appear to be cold-hearted killers, just your 'Average Joe's' who were trying to make a living, regardless of the fact that they'd kept Nami and the boys as prisoners. She noticed that they were incredibly clean and smelt slightly of rubbing alcohol – perhaps they were doctors? Scientists? But why would they need a prison if they were simply scientists or whatever? They came to the top of the flight of stairs where two elevators sat, patiently waiting for anyone who happened to have one of the required card keys. The main guy swiped his card and waited a moment before the elevator on the left opened. Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy were shoved into it and one of the assistants stepped inside with them, pressed a special button that was not found in most elevators, and quickly stepped back out. Nami heard him start to complain about the inconvenient elevator system, but the doors cut him off.
"Usopp. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Yeah." The elevator wasn't moving. Even if it was, they couldn't tell. Suddenly the ceiling opened and four showerheads lowered into the elevator and a pinkish gas was sprayed into the confining room.
"KYAAAH," Usopp and Nami cried simultaneously, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING OOO—?" They would've finished their cry, but the pink gas had knocked them out cold. The showerheads disappeared and the elevator shot upwards towards light, towards food and water, and towards danger, or course.
o()o()o
That night, Robin was sitting up awake in her crib. She was slowly clenching and unclenching her small, practically useless fingers, trying to work away the strange tingling sensation that ran through them. 'How odd.' She thought to herself for the millionth time since the weird neurological phenomenon had begun. She glanced over at the snoring lumps in the bed across the room. Zoro was as sprawled out as he could be, while Sanji had his head comfortably pillowed on Zoro's upper arm, their faces turned towards each other. Robin smiled, but that sent an incredible, cramp-like spasm through her face, making her instantly relax all her muscles. It'd been going on since about dinnertime, but she hadn't bothered expressing her issue to Zoro. She didn't want to cause him any sort of unnecessary stress. The muscles in her thighs suddenly gave a sharp pull and she couldn't help but cry out. She flopped onto her back and tried to keep her breathing steady. She focused on drawing deep breaths and relaxing her muscles, but it seemed that the more she tried the more harsh her muscle spasms became.
"Robin-chan?" Robin turned her head and saw Sanji with his hands clamped around the bars of her crib. He looked incredibly tired, but clearly concerned for her well-being nonetheless. "Are you ok?"
'Cook-san...' Robin was about to speak when another spasm rippled through her body, this time in her back. She couldn't help but start to cry and scream. It was so painful and she didn't understand what was happening. Why was she in pain? What was happening to her body? As soon as her mind took a temporary dip into the world of childhood and ignorance, the spasms seemed to suddenly stop. Robin liked this. When she relapsed, the mysterious pains were gone, but she was still scared and continued to cry. She felt a small, cold hand slowly ran across her forehead and over her tuft of hair. She was still sniveling, but through her tears she saw the blonde boy smile at her. She cooed back, happy with the comforting attention. Sanji removed his arm and climbed up over the bars and into the crib. He carefully picked up the heavy baby and placed her in his lap. She gurgled happily and grabbed the shiny bangs and tugged them, trying to get the soft strands of hair between her gums.
Zoro awoke to giggling and childish singing. He instantly noticed the lack of Sanji and the rest of his thoughts slowly fell into place. He sat up and saw the two children playing in Robin's crib, illuminated by gentle moonlight. Zoro didn't even notice that he had smiled ever so slightly at the picturesque moment, almost not wanting to interrupt it. But as precious as the image was, there was definitely something wrong. So Zoro pulled himself out of bed and went over to the crib. "What are you guys up to?"
Sanji twisted his head around, a huge silly grin on his face"I'm pwayin wiff Wobby-chan!" Sanji looked back at Robin with that big smile on his face. "She was cwryin a lot, but Nii-chan was still sweepin!" Sanji's smile fell and he frowned at Zoro's lack of awareness of Robin's suffering. The two kids's play was interrupted when they both yawned widely for a good long while, almost making Zoro yawn along with them.
Zoro sighed instead. "You guys need to go to bed. Now." Sanji lay Robin back down on the bed and she sighed calmly, slowly returning to her regular frame of mind. Zoro picked Sanji up under his arms and pulled the reluctant boy out of the crib.
"I wanna stay wiff, Wobby-chan! I don' wanna sweep in da bed!"
"You're too big to stay with her. You'd squish Robin in your sleep. Besides, the crib isn't meant for more than one body."
Sanji couldn't argue back and just mumbled through a yawn.
"Right. Bed." Zoro placed the sulking child on his designated half of the bed and walked around to get in on his own side. He pulled up the covers and listened to the quiet of night. Sanji had fallen asleep within seconds, it seemed, but Robin had stayed up for another 15 minutes or so. Zoro could see her spasm and gasp every once in a while, but eventually she calmed down enough to fall asleep.
When morning finally came, Robin awoke feeling incredibly uncomfortable. She moved an arm experimentally and felt the twinge of a horrible cramp in her muscles. She did her deep breathing and waited for the pain to ebb away. When it subsided, she blinked opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. However, she wasn't looking at the ceiling, Zoro and Sanji were both looking over the edge of her crib, both looking like they were at a total loss for words.
"Wobby-chan?" Sanji asked tentatively, looking almost scared.
Zoro also looked like slightly perturbed with what he was seeing. "Robin? Are you...feeling alright?"
Author's Note
Amazingly, I don't have much to say, except that this was a very short chapter, but I just couldn't bear to write any more X.X My writer's block is sooo bad!
Sorry!
-PD
