Freedom Fighters! Viva la Resistance!
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.
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"Geez, look at this place. Whoever was here, they did a number on the ship,"
Axe picked up a broken piece of lumber and tossed it into the nearest pile, "Azu's gonna have a lot of work ahead of him,"
"If we can find him and the others," Niri reminded him as she sifted around the debris, "We should gather what we can, then we think of a plan,"
"Yeah...," Axe plopped onto the floor and tapped his foot against the deck, "This is bizarre. First DJ and the others are nabbed, then Dusty is missing. If this island and it's inhabitants wanted to take us out one by one, they would've done so while we were split up,"
Devon cracked his neck as he shoved the piles of broken wood off to the side, "Must be some kind of divide and conquer plan they got going on here,"
Niri shook her head, "I don't know, I've read some of the works of Vice-Admiral Tsuru, who is also called 'The Great Tactician', but I don't remember anything like this," she looked at her friends as Kirsty came into view, rubbing her neck, "Guys, we gotta do something here,"
"I agree," Axe nodded slowly, "We're the only ones left...now, I don't care what the hell happens," he shot to his feet and cracked his knuckles, "We're going out there and we're gonna find our friends, then we're gonna kick some ass!"
Niri smiled and turned to the others, "Bring out every thing that's still usable! When that's done, sort through everything and pick out anything that we may need for what might lay ahead of us. We're not leaving this island until we get each and every single one of our nakama back!"
Devon and Kirsty nodded and ran off while Pingu climbed on Sora's back and sped off, honking loudly.
-----
"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen...nobody knows my sorrow...,"
Azu growled and turned to the wall, "DJ, could you please sing a different tune? That's depressing enough as it is,"
"Yeah, please, DJ?" Chizuru asked from her side.
"Okay, okay...," DJ went quiet for a few moments, "Dreamin'! Don't give it up-,"
"ANYTHING BUT THAT!" Hiro, Chizuru, Azu, and every other prisoner screamed at him.
Everybody's a critic... DJ sighed and shook his head, "Well, I got nothing right now, so you guys gotta entertain yourselves because I-,"
Suddenly, the dark cells shook violently as a very loud blast was heard. Ears ringing, DJ and his friends watched as chunks of rubble and metal bars flew past their cells.
"What the hell was that?" he half-shouted, shaking his head, trying to get the ringing out, "An explosion?!"
"I think my ears are dead!"
"What?"
"What?"
"WHAT?!"
"WHAT?"
"Hiro-san! Hiro-san, are you in here?!"
A small figure whizzed past DJ's cell and despite the ringing in his ears, he could hear the sound of something banging against something else. Soon enough, a loud creaking was heard, followed by a loud clang.
What the hell is going on? DJ asked himself, First, an explosion, now this?
"Kid, get the other two, I got the girl,"
"I'm on it, Hiro-san!"
DJ squinted to see a short figure standing in front of his cell door. As he squinted, he noticed that the figure held a large cannon in it's arms.
"Oh...crap...,"
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
Another explosion filled the cell block and DJ turned away just in time to dodge some of the door's bars and rubble that flew at his face.
I'm gonna have this ringing in my ears for hours now... he winced, shaking his head as the figure began to free him from the iron chains that held him to the wall. DJ looked at his savior and was surprised to see that it was a boy, no older than fourteen years old standing in front of him.
The boy had messy, dark blue hair, wore a pair of goggles over his head and the cannon that he used to blast apart the cell door was strapped to his back.
"Who the hell are you?"
The kid looked at him as he worked the final lock, "My names Kei. Who're you?"
"DJ...DJ Macleod,"
"Well, DJ Macleod," Kei broke the lock, causing DJ to fall to the floor onto is ass, "Welcome to the freedom fighters,"
Freedom fighters? DJ climbed to his feet, rubbing his wrists, "Uh...,"
"DJ!"
The musician turned to see Chizuru standing just outside his cell, waving frantically.
"C'mon, we have to go! Now!"
Without wasting a second, DJ ran out of his cell, following his nakama and a large man he could only assume was Hiro while Kei ran behind him, followed by other prisoners.
After escaping what he assumed to be the prison of Kinmotsu Island, DJ followed his friends and Hiro through the dense forest of the island as smoke and fire engulfed the building in the distance. When they all reached a fair distance, Hiro came to a stop and leaned against a tree, panting heavily.
"Okay, we can rest for now," he looked at Kei, who was doubled over, gulping down air, "Nice work, kid. Made me proud in there,"
Kei gave a thumbs up, still panting.
"Who's the runt?" Azu asked, looking the boy over.
"It's okay, guys, he's a friend-,"
BAM!
A bullet struck the tree Hiro was leaning against, barely missing him by a few inches.
"Shit! C'mon, guys, we gotta book it!"
"Where?!"
"We have a secret camp, now come on!"
As bullet after bullet rained down on them, DJ followed the group closely. Even though he and his friends were being shot at and were running for their lives, he was thinking of one thing and one thing only.
Dusty-chan...hope you're doing better than me right now!
-----
"How long has she been out?"
"Only an hour, but then she recovered from the sleeping gas. It's amazing, I haven't seen anyone recover that fast,"
Zev grinned as he walked briskly down the decorated hall of his palace, "That's not surprising. She is blessed by Inari, after all," he came to a sudden stop and put his arm in front of Ayane, stopping her as well, "Listen...!"
Ayane became quiet and soon, she heard the same thing her father did. A song wafted down the hall, echoing off the building's structure. The tone was sad, but the song was still beautiful.
"If from where you're standingYou can see the sky above
I'll be waiting for you
If you still believe in love
Find a way
To bring back yesterday
Find a way to love
I hope you'll stay
When tomorrow becomes today
Love will find a way..."
Ayane and Zev quickly made their way to a guarded door and quietly entered, listening to the song as they did so. After closing the door behind them, the two of them looked straight ahead to find Dusty sitting on a cushioned stool, her back to them. A few moments more of singing and Dusty trailed off into silence.
"Was wondering when you assholes would be coming," she said coolly, not even turning around, "I was even wondering if you knew I was here,"
Zev stepped forward and put his hands behind his back, "I'm glad that we found out that you were here. We've been looking for you for a long time, Dusty...,"
"Yeah, same to you," Dusty shook her head, "Though, I sort of never wanted to find you jerks. Even after what you did,"
"What we did?" Zev repeated, "I'm sorry, but we've done so much...,"
"Ten years ago, in the East Blue, on a day celebrated by lovers...ring any bells?"
Ayane looked at her father.
Zev chuckled, "So, you were there that day. Strange, we looked all over for you, but we couldn't find you. Where were you hiding, Dusty?"
"In a safe place, of course," Dusty turned her head to look at them and Ayane saw a look of pure hatred in her eyes, "For ten years, I was scared to death that you might find me, but I also wanted to find you so I can avenge my father...,"
"How did you find out it was me?"
"I got my ways," she slowly turned around and rose to her feet, fists clenching tightly, "All he ever wanted was to live the life he wanted, but you couldn't give that to him, could you?!"
Zev grinned and walked up to her. Dusty didn't move a muscle, but her body tensed up as he came closer. The older man brushed some of her hair away, "You know, despite the dilution, you do look like your father. I can see the fire from him in your eyes, and I can see you share the style," he played with her hair a little bit, "Though, not it's right color, but I'm sure we can fix that,"
"Fuck you, Zev," Dusty growled before spitting a loogie in his face, "The only thing I'm gonna do is kill you and avenge the man you killed!"
Zev grabbed her by the throat and brought her close to him, "Don't make promises you'll never be able to keep, young one. You have the blood of the Wakanda clan running through your veins, the blood of mikos from ancient times! Your father was a fool then, and he suffered for it!"
Dusty struggled against Zev's grip on her neck, "I'm not a Wakanda, asshole. My name is Dustine Wenata, daughter of Gonen Wenata-,"
SLAP!
The fox-girls cheek burned as she hit the floor. Ayane watched in silence as her father grabbed Dusty by the hair and pulled her upright.
"Now, you listen to me, Dusty...it's bad enough Gonen took the name of that stupid whore of his, I will not have that name spoke in this house! You're a member of the Wakanda clan, Dusty, be proud of it and maybe you'll go further in life than your stupid father ever did!"
A loud knocking was heard and Zev turned to see a guard opening the door.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Lord Zev, the prisoners have escaped! The damn freedom fighters came and busted out their friends!"
Zev cursed and let go of Dusty, "Is that so?!"
The guard nodded, "A scout said the army lost sight of them somewhere in the forest,"
"Alright...fine," Zev cracked his neck and walked past him, "We'll wait for them to make a move, then we'll slaughter them. My family and I haven't spent the last couple of centuries to fall out of power now,"
"What about the girl?" the guard asked, looking at Dusty.
Zev looked back at her, "Call the maids...tell them that Lord Zev wishes his niece to be bathed and dressed properly before dinner,"
-----
"Holy shit...!" DJ's jaw dropped as he stared at what was ahead of him.
"This is the freedom fighter base?!" Azu asked in disbelief.
"There's...so many of them!" Chizuru gasped quietly.
After losing the hunting party, Hiro and Kei led the escapees to a camouflaged hatch, then down a long, sloping tunnel lit by torches. After a long journey downward, they finally reached a huge cavern filled with hundreds and hundreds of people.
Hiro grinned, "Welcome to our humble home...,"
The pirates stared in awe at the sight. Men, women, and even children of all ages occupied the cavern. Tents and makeshift shanties littered the cavern floor, marked by hundreds of small campfires.
"How...do you guys live here?" Azu asked as he and the others followed Hiro and Kei around, "This place can't be safe. I mean, there must be tons of rock above you and they could cave in at any moment!"
For awhile, Hiro didn't answer him due to the large group of excited people that gathered around him. Obviously, he was important to these people. When he was done, Hiro turned to Azu, "I know the dangers, young one. But we'd rather die in a cave-in than at the hands of the Wakanda clan,"
DJ whistled at the sight, "Man, if only Axe and the others could see this,"
Chizuru nodded, "Yeah. I bet Dusty would be glad to put on a show for all these people,"
"Dusty?" Hiro stormed over to her and grabbed Chizuru by the shoulders, looking straight into her eyes, "Dusty Wenata?"
"Yeah,"
"Is this Dusty a girl with fox ears and a tail?"
"Yeah...," Chizuru nodded slowly, "You know her?"
"She's here, on Kinmotsu Island?!"
DJ frowned, "Wait a minute, what's wrong? How do you know Dusty-chan?!"
Hiro looked at them, let go of Chizuru and backed away slowly, "Dusty...," he sunk to the floor, taking a hold of his head, "I can't believe that she's here,"
"What's wrong?!" the three pirates shouted, drawing the attention of nearby people.
The older man looked up at them somberly, "If Dusty's here...then her free life is over,"
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Kilnorc: HOLY CRAP! Bet none of ya'll were expecting THAT, eh!? Mwahahaha, I'm good with delivering twists...anyhoo, time for the preview.
On the next chapter of Bloodline...
Zev: Dustine, this is your family. Show them respect and learn from them.
Lian: She does look like big brother Gonen, doesn't she? I can feel her aura from here.
DJ: Hiro, how do you know Dusty-chan?
Chizuru: So, that's why Dusty wanted to leave this island ASAP...
A Kit's Tale. Dusty's Ten Year Pain
Hiro: It started a long time ago, but for her, it started ten years ago, when she first met her father.