Chapter Fourteen: "Her eternal stupidity knows no bounds."
"Come on Luffi, hold it together!" Usoppa shook the captain as her head began to droop.
"I don't feel so good… the water's getting pretty high up…" Luffi mumbled.
Sora glared at the bars. If I were a boy, would I be good enough to cut through this cage?
She growled, shaking her head. She didn't want to go down that path again. She wasn't a good enough swordsman to escape, but that had nothing to do with her gender.
Every once in a while, though, she was reminded of the fact she'd spent most of her childhood being told girls couldn't be swordsmen.
Suddenly a cool voice cut through the roars of the bananagators and the thundering water. "It's incredibly impolite to make a lot of noise at mealtime like you were doing."
Sora's head snapped up at the words.
"Was that-" Namizo began.
The bananagator let out a snarl of pain as a sudden impact, worse than a cannonball, hit its stomach. The reptile was thrown into the air and pushed backwards, stunned.
"I guess I'll have to give an etiquette lesson, then," Sanae snarled. Her boot splashed as she put her leg back down from the kick.
The Straw Hats and Smoker all stared in shock.
Sanae calmly reached into her pocket, pulling out a cigarette. "Hey everyone. Were you waiting long?"
"Miss Princess!" Usoppa yelled, clapping her hands together in delight.
"We're gonna get out of here!" Luffi shouted, struggling to keep steady on her feet in the rising water.
Namizo let out a sigh of relief. "You're okay?"
"Don't just stand there, get the key-!" Sora began to shout.
"Namizo!" Sanae squealed, waving her hand frantically at the orange-haired thief. "Were you scared for me? Did you want to come rescue me? Do you love me yet?"
"Uh, yeah," Namizo said, a little incredulous. "Sure, I love you. Get us out of here!"
"Okay!" Sanae squealed.
"Her eternal stupidity knows no bounds," Sora muttered.
Luffi beamed at Viv, who was sitting up on the broken stairs. "Viv! Good job!"
Viv looked startled, before grinning back. He gave her a thumbs up.
Grrrrrr!
Sanae lost her dreamy expression to be replaced with a smirk. She turned around calmly, looking at the bananagators ready to attack. "Sorry, but we're having difficulties in the kitchen, and so dinner has been cancelled. In compensation, we'll be glad to offer three hundred sets of broken jaws."
"Get 'em, Sanae!" Luffi cheered, punching the air. Usoppa had pushed her onto the above water-level block with Smoker, who looked at her in disgust but didn't protest. "Smash those stupid bananas into pudding!"
Sanae wasn't sure if her captain was just telling her to attack them, or if she was legitimately asking for the chef to cook them; it was hard to tell with Luffi, sometimes. "I'm not sure these things would work well in a pudding," she said calmly, raising one leg above her head. "But by the time I'm done, there won't be enough left for a stew anyway. Anything that would dare attack a lady needs a severe lesson in table manners."
"Sanae! There isn't time for that!" Usoppa shrieked. "We're going to drown! One second strikes! No, one instant strikes!"
Smoker looked at the blonde girl, who didn't seem to make any outward acknowledgement of her crewmate's shouts. 'Miss Princess' was watching the bananagators coolly, judging the distances and the most efficient way to take them out.
"The third one that just came in."
"What?" Sanae glanced around.
"That's the one that has the key."
"How do you know that, Smoke-guy?" Luffi demanded.
Smoker looked at her contemptuously. "Are your ears just for show? That's the one with the same growl as the one that swallowed the key."
Luffi stared at the man next to her in amazement. "That's really cool!"
"Third one. Got it." Sanae nodded.
She ran forwards. Her foot connected with the jaw of the one about to bite her, before she flipped in mid-air to slam her other foot down on another's skull.
It took less than thirty seconds to reach the bananagator Smoker had indicated. Within a few moments of that, the bananagator retched, something gleaming falling from its mouth.
"Is that the key?!" Namizo demanded frantically.
"No," Sora answered him, frowning.
The shining thing was far from a key. It was a silver sphere, about a meter in diameter. Sanae spared it a glance, keeping one eye firmly on the bananagator that had spat it out.
"Wax-Wax Ball… release!"
The sphere split open and a gangly, unshaven man stumbled out. "I have escaped!" He put his hand into the water, spraying it upwards. "Water, at last!"
"What's he doing here?" Sora asked sharply, folding her arms
"Hey! It's the candle-guy!" Luffi snarled. "Mister Three!"
"What was he doing inside a bananagator?" Viv demanded.
Mr Three took a deep breath, scooping water into his mouth. It was far from clean and probably unhygienic, but it was still fresh water. "I thought I was a goner," he crowed. "Stupid Crocodile, you thought you could get rid of me, eh? The moment I was swallowed I created a Wax-Wax ball. That was how I survived!"
He stopped, realising that something not made of wax was attached to his sphere. "Hmm? A… key?" He picked it up, frowning. "What does it open?"
"Hey! You! Give it here!"
"Yeah, give it!"
"Give us that key right now!"
Mr Three turned around at the shouts, and then let out a shriek of horror as he recognised the occupants of the cage. "You again?!"
He stopped, staring at the key and ignoring the raging screams of the pirates.
A room leaking water… an iron cage… and three Straw Hats shouting for this key…
"Oh, I see what's going on," Mr Three said slowly, a sadistic smile crossing his face.
"Sanae! Get that key from him!" Luffi ordered frantically.
Sanae cricked her neck. "Not a problem."
Mr Three spun around. For the first time, he registered that there was someone outside of the cage. "Yah!"
"Mr Three, I presume," Sanae said, her eyes locking on his hairstyle. "Hand over the key."
Mr Three smirked, gripping the key tightly. "I don't think so. Fetch!"
The key flew through the air, disappearing underwater behind several bananagators.
"I don't know who you are, but if you're a friend of the Straw Hats you're an enemy of mine. If you want the key, go find it!" Mr Three declared.
Sanae's face darked, daggers shooting from her eyes. "Jerk. That was dirty, even for Baroque Works."
"Aren't you going to start searching?" Mr Three asked tauntingly.
Sanae growled.
"Wait, Sanae!" Usoppa shouted, grabbing the bars of the cage. "Maybe he can use his wax-wax powers to make another key!"
"Huh?" Sanae looked uncomprehending for a moment, before a smile crossed her face. "Yeah. So, what do you say, Mr Three? You going to help?"
"And why would I do that?" Mr Three snapped.
The first clue he got as to why was an agonising pain and a sharp cracking noise as Sanae's leg slammed into his ribs.
Within a minute, Mr Three quietly unlocked the door.
"Thanks for that!" Sanae said brightly. It might have been theatrical, but she couldn't resist pinning the note to his chest, before nudging him out of the way with her foot. Her 'nudge' sent him flying backwards a few metres, before falling into the rising water.
"What's the fastest route to Alubarna? The one Crocodile's taking?" Namizo asked, leaving the cage.
"Yeah, but the way there is surrounded by hundreds of bananagators-" Viv protested, glancing in the direction of the hallway.
His jaw fell open.
Sora calmly sheathed her swords at the same time as Luffi's arms reduced back to a normal level. "Is that it?!" Luffi shouted, glaring at the dozens of bananagators lying around the water. "That was so not enough!"
Sanae was unmoved, but the other three Straw Hats stared with their mouths open.
"And I couldn't handle one…" Viv said weakly.
"Don't blame yourself," Usoppa said comfortingly, rubbing his shoulder. "Those two are barely human."
Crack!
Walls breaking had never sounded so ominous.
"This whole place is falling apart!" Luffi screamed.
"Even the passageway!" Sora warned.
"Come on, we've gotta get out of here!"
"AAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE! Namizo, Viv, will you pretty please save me?"
"You're a moron."
"Shut it, marimo!"
"Guys, come on!"
Sora jumped off the bananagator she was on, Luffi right behind.
The swordsman stopped when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. "Zoro!"
"What?" She glanced at her captain.
"Get Smoke-guy out of here!"
"What?! He's our enemy; he can take care of himself!"
"No, he can't! He's got devil-fruit powers too, remember?! He'll drown if you don't help him!" Luffi was almost pleading.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Sora groaned. "Fine!"
Then the water spread over them and all argument was cut off.
Sora kicked out, her eyes straining against the water. Thankfully, Smoker wasn't far. The swordsman grabbed him, heading upwards.
She could see a flash of blonde hair just ahead of her as Sanae scooped up Luffi. The Straw Hat pirate had known that her crew would never let her down, but had guessed – correctly – that it would take an actual order for Smoker to be pulled out.
Sanae's lungs were bursting as she broke into the air, dragging Luffi up with her. "You still alive?" the chef asked, dropping the rubberwoman on the sidewalk.
Luffi only gurgled in response.
"Usoppa!" Viv dragged the sniper out, his arms wrapped securely around her shoulders. Namizo was trying to push the long-nosed crewmate out from behind.
"Come on! Kick or something!" Namizo snapped angrily. "Why can't you get yourself out?!"
Sora kicked to the surface, her hand wrapped securely around Smoker's jacket. She threw him against the side of the pathway.
"Zoro, what the hell?!" Sanae shouted, walking over to where the swordsman was trying to climb onto the shore. "Why'd you rescue him?!"
"Shove it," Sora snapped, pushing past the cook. She leant down and dragged Smoker properly out of the water, leaving him against the floor. "I didn't want to. Besides, he would have died anyway."
Sanae scowled, then waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever. We'd better go. Viv, can we still make it to Alubarna?"
Viv was straining the water from his desert cloak. "I don't know."
Sanae nodded. "Okay."
She reached into her pocket. Her fingers habitually went for the cigarettes – soaking wet, dammit – but she passed over them, pulling out the bottle of perfume Namizo had said he liked in Nanohana. She started to spray it on.
Viv blinked at her. "What are you doing?"
"We need to be able to track down Choppa-"
"Roronoa!"
Sora didn't even glance, a sword already blocking Smoker's staff, exactly like how the marine had expected. The marine had known he wouldn't have broken her defence with one blow, and hadn't intended on it.
"Why did you save my life?" Smoker asked flatly.
Sora looked over her blade at him, scowling. "All I did was follow captain's orders. Don't read into it. She's just like that."
The swordsman flicked her blade, pushing Smoker's staff down. She brushed sopping wet green hair out of her eyes, wondering when it had gotten long enough to get in them.
"Then I suppose you wouldn't have any problems with me following my orders and arresting you," Smoker said threateningly.
Sanae groaned. "That's what you get when you rescue a marine."
Sora met Smoker's eyes squarely, her sword held expertly by her side.
"Alright! We're going to Alubarna!" Usoppa shouted, jumping to her feet.
"Where's Crocodile?!" Luffi demanded, punching a fist into her palm. She spun around, presumably searching for the Warlord of the Seas, and jumped when she saw Smoker instead.
"Hey! Smoke-guy! You wanna fight?" Luffi clenched her fists, getting into a fighting position. "Come on!"
"Smoker!" Usoppa squeaked. "We're not really going to have to fight him, are we?"
Smoker considered the situation for a moment. "I should. But you just saved my life."
He closed his eyes and sighed. "I'll let you go. Just this once. The next time we meet, I will take you down without mercy."
There were shouts from the main road. Civilians parted as a wave of marines hurtled towards the Straw Hats.
"That's our cue." Sanae stowed her perfume away. "Viv? Which way to Alubarna?"
Viv pointed. He was still grinning from Smoker's agreement to let them go. "Due east."
With the prince of Alabasta leading the way, the Straw Hats hurtled off. Sora paused long enough to glance back at her captain, standing still. "Luffi, are you coming or what?"
Luffi cocked her head to the side and grinned at Smoker. "You know, I don't hate you after all!"
Smoker growled, and then swung his staff. Luffi frantically had to jump to stay out of range of the Sea Prism stone. "Get out of here already, Straw Hat!"
Luffi yelped, and scampered off, chasing in the general direction the Straw Hats had gone in. Sora chuckled, before following.
It didn't take long before they'd caught up to the others. The crew had realised they were missing several, and had slowed to compensate. Once everyone was there, they sped up again.
"Okay guys! We've got a lot to do, so we'd better keep going until we get to Alubarna!" Luffi shouted.
"Aye-aye, captain!" The road rang with the affirmative shout.
After a few minutes, it occurred to Usoppa that Alubarna was unlikely to be in easy walking distance. "Hey, how are we going to get there?"
"I just said it! We keep going!"
"We're actually going to run?!"
"We could get horses at a stable," Namizo suggested.
"The whole town is crawling with marines!" Viv protested.
"Already planned that!" Sanae called, pointing. "There's Choppa there – and it looks like she picked up a ride!"
Choppa was giggling in delight, waving frantically from her position on top of what looked like a giant crustacean.
"That's a moving crab!" Viv shouted as the Straw Hats stumbled to a stop. The prince's eyes were alight with hope. "They're really rare to find one – Toni, you did amazingly!"
Choppa started to squeal and dance with joy. "Shut up! Just because you said so doesn't make me happy or anything! Just get on board already!"
"We get to ride it? Awesome!" Luffi stretched her hands up, clambering onto the giant crab.
"He's Eyelashes's friend," Choppa said as her crew joined her. "Since Eyelashes's was born here, he's got lots of friends."
"How'd you even find us?" Namizo asked, settling down carefully.
"Sanae's perfume! It's really strong – I could smell it all the way from the desert!"
Sora tapped the shell of the crab experimentally. "Come on. Let's go already."
"Right!" Choppa hit the reins. "On to Alubarna!"