A.N: I'm back!

Chapter 20: Explosion

Sabo's (boy number 19) hand automatically reached for his injured arm as he fell over, noticing that Stelly's (boy number 23) bullet had only grazed him. Once again, he had been lucky. Stelly however... not so much. The rain of bullets from the machine gun, which he now saw Robin (girl number 4) holding, had hit him nearly perfectly. But Sabo could see Stelly's bloody chest moving; he was still alive.

"Stelly...?" Sabo mumbled, stumbling a little as he got up before walking over to his brother. Kneeling down next to him, the blond took a look at the younger man's wounds. He wouldn't live long anymore.

"Bro... ther..." Stelly muttered, weakly lifting his hand. His voice was quiet; Sabo could barely hear it.

"Help... me..." Sabo couldn't do so, yet he took Stelly's hand.

"It's alright; help is on its way" he lied. That was all he could do "Someone like you won't be allowed to die here."

Robin stood not too far away from them, frozen in spot once again.

She had shot at Sabo's brother.

He wasn't dead yet, but he would be soon. She had only wanted to help Sabo; seeing a gun aimed at him made her react without really thinking things through. The man had just lost an important friend; what would happen if he lost his brother too? Would he have a breakdown again? Would he be able to get back to his feet?

...What would he do to his brother's killer?

This thought brought Robin back to reality. As good person as Sabo was, she'd be in danger if she stayed here. Even if he'd lose it, when he got himself together he'd surely come after her. She had to get away.

With that in mind, Robin turned on her heel and ran.

XXXXX

Haruta (girl number 19) tensed as she heard the gun shots, apparently from the nearby village. They were distant, and the girl was glad that she had left the village, even if she hadn't gone far. She had decided to stick to B13 for now and see how things went; moving around too much would only waste her strength and put her at risk of being seen. Plus, she had found a good hiding place, a cave at the root of the mountain. And it's not like she had any plans; if she left she would just be moving around aimlessly. She wasn't the planning type or the brains; she was the kind of person that went along with other people's plans. Not to say she was stupid, she just didn't like to put too much effort in thinking and so was a bit rusty.

CRACK

Haruta froze; she did not cause that sound. Someone was out there, and that someone was close.

"It could be just an animal" she thought, wondering if she should check or not. The entrance to the cave was covered by bushes, so she probably wouldn't be found, but if she was there'd be nowhere to run; the cave was a dead end.

"If I'm found I have two options" Haruta thought, taking out her daggers "Either I'll try to fool the person and run out of here the first chance I get or fight him until he's no longer a threat."

Of course, both ideas would be very unlikely to succeed if the person had a gun. She knew that. But what were the chances that she would be found in the first place?

RUSTLE

...Apparently, they were pretty big. There was someone in the bushes. She should've gotten some place to hide in inside the cave, but there was nothing. Swallowing, she got herself ready, going in to a defensive stance. She saw someone come out of the bushes, but could only see a very blurry shape due to the darkness. That might be a good thing; if she was lucky the person wouldn't notice her either and she'd get the upper hand with a surprise attack-

...Or not; the person seemed to have a flashlight in hand. As it was aimed to the wall of the cave and the light began to move across it, Haruta made a decision. Taking a deep breath, she dashed forward with her daggers in her hands, determined to take the person out. However, the intruder managed to dodge just in time, only getting a small wound on his shoulder.

"Haruta wait!" he yelled "It's me!"

Just the sound of her name wouldn't have made Haruta stop, but she knew that voice. Izou (boy number 20.)

"Izou?" she asked. She still couldn't see him clearly, but he saw her as he pointed the flashlight at her. He saw the daggers in her hands, too.

"Yes, it's me" he said "So put those down."

Haruta hesitated. She felt bad for doing so, but there was the chance that Izou had gone insane and was playing... but he sounded sane enough, and if she couldn't trust Izou then she couldn't trust anyone; not now that both Marco (boy number 24) and Ace (boy number 8) were dead. Deciding to take the risk, Haruta put her daggers down.

"You don't have your weapon out, do you?" she asked, feeling bad about it immediately. It wasn't right to suspect Izou this way. If he was offended by the question he didn't show it, just said: "I'm putting it away now."

While doing so he put the flashlight on the ground and it ended up pointing towards Haruta's bag and the flashlight left next to it. She thought about going to get hers, but something held her back. Would it be okay to go there? Izou wouldn't think of it as a hostile move, would he?

"Do you mind if I get my flashlight?" she asked. With Izou's "Go ahead" she went to get it, trying not to look too untrusting despite the fact that she didn't move her eyes away from Izou... the little she could even see of him. As soon as Haruta got her flashlight and put it on, Izou picked up his own again. They pointed the lights near each other's faces, as if to confirm one last time that the person present was the one who they thought it was. Having confirmed it, they both just stared at each other. And stared. Eventually, it was Izou's poker face that broke first. Chuckling, he said: "This is getting ridiculous."

"Yup" Haruta said with a snort "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise" Izou replied, casually walking over to Haruta. The girl didn't react to it, not anymore; it had been unnecessary to be so cautious with Izou to begin with. Well, better safe than sorry. He stopped in front of her, ruffling her hair, making the girl huff in annoyance and slap his hand away. Just because she was much shorter than the rest of their group didn't mean they could treat her like a little kid. She knew she didn't receive the treatment because she was a girl, especially not from Izou who didn't want her to make comments about his cross-dressing habit. Not that she had anything against it, in fact she was cool with it, but if he started making fun of her because of her gender, she had all the right in the world to snap back with a similar issue. Not that they bickered often; most of the time their target was Ace and his sleeping habits. Haruta knew it wasn't exactly right to make fun of someone's medical condition, but if he could make comments about their sore spots then she found it completely justified to make so of his.

"Are you alright? No injuries?" Izou asked, already checking her up and down with his eyes, making sure he didn't miss a spot.

"Nah, I've only run in to a few people but weren't spotted so I'm fine" she replied "You?"

"There was quite a few of them" Izou said, hesitating a bit before adding: "Including Ace."

Haruta's eyes widened. Frantically, she asked: "Then why wasn't he with you? What happened?!"

Izou wasn't surprised by Haruta's reaction; he knew the girl well enough to expect this. He put a hand on her shoulder, telling her what had happened. When he was finished his friend asked: "Even if Ace is dead do you think we could still find his brother from your meeting spot?"

"I don't think so" Izou said, explaining: "Even if he was separated from Ace, they probably weren't too far from each other. However, since he's still alive he most likely left the place after Ace's death. And..."

When Izou trailed off Haruta raised an eyebrow, pressing: "And what?"

Izou sighed, saying: "That guy is not too smart; the fact that he could escape Ace's killer means... well actually this is more of a guess, but I don't think he could've done it on his own."

"So he has help?"

"Most likely" Izou said "But if we go to look for him, we need to be cautious. Even if he happened to trust us, whoever is with him might not. Besides..."

Haruta frowned. Crossing her arms the girl said: "C'mon Izou, don't leave me hanging. What else do you have in mind?"

Nothing escaped from her; Izou should know that by now. Even if she wasn't the brightest person around, Haruta was good at reading people. She knew when people lied or left something out.

"We also need to consider the possibility that whoever is with Ace's brother might be playing and simply using him as a shield or bait."

Haruta's eyes widened at this.

"Do you think he's with the killer!?" she asked, going frantic again.

"I don't know" Izou said, squeezing the girl's shoulder "If he didn't see who killed Ace, then it's a possibility, but if he did he wouldn't go with that person willingly. And no one here would waste their strength to drag people around forcefully just to use them as a shield; it'd be more convenient to be alone."

"So... the chances that Luffy is with the killer are slim?"

"Yes" Izou said, a bit too quickly and Haruta started to wonder what he was leaving out this time. However, right now she felt like she didn't need to know. She'd pry it out of Izou later; right now she was really tired. Noticing this, Izou said: "Let's decide what to do in the morning; right now we need rest. I'll keep watch first, you go to sleep."

Haruta didn't argue and did as told. Izou sat down, keeping his gun close. He wondered if Luffy (boy number 7) was safe, thinking that it was very likely he was with the killer without knowing it. He didn't want to tell Haruta in order to not make her more anxious and besides, he could be wrong. He had also decided to tell her about Franky (boy number 15) and Iceburg (boy number 17) later; the girl already had enough to stress about.

XXXXX

Robin run ahead without knowing where she was going, only equipped with her machine gun. Right now she was in true danger of running to a forbidden zone, but that thought didn't even cross her mind. All she knew was that she had to get away, as far from Sabo as possible. If he caught up, he'd certainly kill her.

"But… but if I hadn't done it, he'd been the one to die!" Robin reasoned with herself, trying to calm down. Sure, Stelly's bullet had barely graced the blond, but without Robin nothing would've stopped him from shooting again and the next shot could've been fatal for Sabo. From the start, it had been him or his brother "But it's not like that'll justify my actions in his eyes."

And she didn't blame him for that.

Out of breath, Robin collapsed. She had to calm down, had to think things through. The longer she kneeled down there, the clearer two things became: one, she had no idea where she was now and two, she'd left all her belongings save for the machine gun to the house. Including the map.

"But I can't go back" she thought, knowing it was too dangerous. Taking deep breaths, she kept telling herself to calm down. She had a good sense of direction; as long as she figured out where exactly she'd ran off to, she wouldn't need the map to keep a track of her surroundings while moving. It had only happened now because she'd panicked, that's all. She wasn't dead, so she wasn't in a forbidden zone. None of the nearby zones were meant to become forbidden either, so for now, she should be safe when it came to the collar. She could wait where she was until morning to get a better understanding of her surroundings. Yes, that was the best, logical solution. She could do this, she'd make it, even if she had to do it alone.

XXXXX

Paula (girl number 25) knew that someone was trying to come in to her hiding place. She had woken up to the rattling of the lock on the front door and was now waiting behind it, keeping her mace ready. It didn't matter who it was or with what kind of weapon; she had the element of surprise in her hands. One fast and strong strike would surely be enough.

"Come now, come to your death" she thought, swinging as soon as the door opened. She hit her target, but not nearly as well as she would've wished. She only managed to smash Lucci (boy number 13) in the shoulder and, while there was blood and a painful sounding crack, the man certainly didn't die and the wound wasn't even fatal. As she prepared for another strike, she noticed that he wasn't alone.

"Well damn!" Kaku (boy number 14) yelled as he pulled out one of his swords, swinging it at Paula rather clumsily due to the surprise. However, it was good enough as he managed to slice open her stomach. Not deadly, but perhaps fatal? Not that it mattered since she had dropped her weapon and was now crouching down on the ground, screaming in pain. Deciding not to take any chances, Kaku swung again, this time beheading Paula. With the woman dead, he breathed out a sigh of relief before looking at Lucci. Seeing the man clutching his shoulder, Kaku briefly wondered if this was his chance. Lucci aimed to win, he knew that and he also knew that Lucci knew that he knew, so it was likely that eventually one would kill the other. Maybe now would be a good time to make sure that Lucci would be the one going down.

However, as he took a step closer, Lucci looked right at him with a steady, murderous look.

"Maybe I can use him for a while longer" he thought, suddenly very unnerved by the idea of clashing with Lucci even though the other man was wounded. Calming down his nerves, he forced a cheeky smile on as he asked: "Are you gonna live or should I start digging a grave?"

Just as he had expected, Lucci ignored the jab. Instead he got up, stepping over Paula's body as he walked inside.

"I'll look for something to wrap this up with, you go find food" he said. Right, food, that was what they went there for, not expecting to get ambushed. He hadn't thought they could get so careless. Ah well, whatever, he was still fine after all, not to mention Lucci's injury should make it easier for Kaku to kill him when the need came. Perhaps getting ambushed wasn't such a bad thing.

XXXXX

After he was sure Stelly had stopped breathing, Sabo let go of his hand and laid it on his chest. There wasn't anything more that he could do for the younger man; burying him would eat up too much of his strength. Besides, he had already decided to focus on the living. He'd have to reunite with Robin and-

…That's right, Robin. She'd been the one to shoot Stelly. Not that Sabo blamed her; she had most likely just panicked and acted on instinct. Besides, it was very likely that her actions had saved his life. He wasn't mad at her for this, and he'd have to tell her that.

Walking back to the house, Sabo looked around. No Robin. Was she keeping watch somewhere outside? It'd be dangerous to go outside blindly to look for her, so he better go get the tracker. However, as he turns it on it catches no signal but his. Robin wasn't there.

"That can't be right…" he mutters, seeing that her back was still there. She wouldn't go without it, would she? …Wait, she'd been there to shoot Stelly, to save him, but he hadn't seen her after that…

The realization hit Sabo like a tidal wave. Killing Stelly had made her panic and she had fled with nothing but the gun in her possession. She had no map, no light, no food… and she was alone.

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" Sabo screamed out. Just when he had sworn to protect those who still lived… no, he had to stay calm. Robin was alive unless announced otherwise, and he'd find her before it happened. He had to. Making up his mind, he took their bags and his pipe and got out of the house, believing Robin to be heading west, for that was the safest direction. He was just about to sprint off, but got an idea that might help. Returning to Stelly's body, he took the boy's gun.

"See ya Stelly" he said "I won't be joining you just yet."

At the very least, not before he ensured Robin and Luffy were safe.

XXXXX

"Oi, Straw hat" Law (boy number 12) said, trying to get Luffy's attention again, but no such luck. He seemed to be still spacing out… hm?

Upon closer look, it seemed that the boy wasn't spacing out but asleep. Staring for a while, Law sighed in relief. It was a good thing; Luffy needed rest and perhaps it would clear his head a bit, perhaps he'd actually react to his surroundings after waking up.

"But it's possible that he won't remember Portgas being dead right away when he wakes up and will shut down again when he does… I'll have to come up with something to say, something that will make him want to keep going." the question is, what could that something be? Idea of revenge would motivate many, but he didn't feel like Luffy was that sort of person. No, he had to come up with something else.

"Many of his close friends are still alive, aren't they? I need to remind him of that when he wakes up" Law decided "And I have to do it fast."

He just hoped that those friends would stay alive, otherwise Luffy might lose it for good.

XXXXX

Robin, hiding in the bushes, could feel the earth shaking. She didn't deem it to be actually dangerous, at least not in the open location she was in, but it did unnerve her greatly. If there were small tremors, the chances of bigger ones following them rose. She wasn't too fond of the idea; if they were big enough, they could bring down trees and crush houses, making it harder to move around and recognize where she was. There was also the risk of getting caught under a falling tree and similar possibilities.

"But other people could get stuck in crumbling houses and under falling trees, too" she thought, knowing that if this happened, the island would be safer for her "I just hope Sabo will be alright."

Immediately, she shook her head at the thought. No, she mustn't care about the man, what happened to him didn't matter. She should and she would only worry about herself, just like she always had.

Reaching to her bra, Robin considered herself lucky that she had put some spare bullets in it. Not that she had many; most had been left in the bag. She'd have to be way more careful now and not waste the bullets.

"All the more reason to stay put until morning."

XXXXX

"That tremor was worryingly big" Iceburg said "Hopefully it didn't damage the building; we don't want the roof collapsing on us on top of this whole mess."

"That wouldn't be super at all" Franky agreed "Wanna take a look around to see if everything's alright?"

"That would be for the best" Iceburg agreed "And after that, we'll take turns to rest."

"Sounds good" Franky said. They went through the building, together for safety's sake, paying extra attention to the supporting beams of the building, but they seemed to be fine. There were some toppled over furniture, broken glass that had fallen off the cabinets, but nothing that would cause them real trouble.

Or so they thought.

"Hey Bakaburg, do you smell smoke?" Franky asked. Iceburg sniffed the air, his eyes widening. He did.

"I think it's this way" Franky said, his friend's face being enough of a confirmation to him that he wasn't just imagining it. Together they followed the smell, soon seeing the smoke as well, before coming to face a wall the smoke was seeping from.

"There's a hidden room" Iceburg realized, his mind swirling with the possibilities of what they could find. He just hoped they weren't too late.

"Move!" Franky yelled as he pushed Iceburg aside a little, slamming himself against the wall. Then another time, and again and a fourth time before the hidden door finally cave in, letting more smoke reach them "Shit!"

"Go get a foam extinguisher!" Iceburg yelled "I'll see what I can salvage!"

Normally, Franky didn't take well to being ordered around, but he was smart enough to know when it was not time to be petty. And this was definitely one of those times "Got it!"

Franky ran off and Iceburg ran in, frantically looking around as much as he could through all the smoke. Was this place still salvageable? No, he doubted it, but they had to put the fire out before it spread to the rest of the building. Was there anything useful? …There had to be; this was a hidden room after all! Why hide it if there wasn't anything important inside?

"Where are they? Where is the important stuff?" Iceburg seriously hoped that all that had been worth protecting hadn't been on those massive computers; they were already lost causes. And, he realized much to his horror, so was the whole room, no, the whole building, for he could see the gas canisters in the far corner of the room, the flames reaching them at any moment "Who the hell keeps gas in a place like this!? Why!?"

"Bakaburg- "Franky chose that moment to come back, making Iceburg's head whip around as he raced towards the open door "Idiot! Don't come here, the gas-!"

A huge explosion took place, ringing through the whole island.

Three days, 4 hours and 35 minutes of the game gone

30 students remaining

A.N: Bit of a cliffhanger, maybe? Which was worse, this or the last chapter? I mean I did mention in the end of the last chapter that Sabo felt the pain in his arm (which was a mistake; I should've just said that he felt pain), so it was pretty clear he didn't die at that moment… so it wasn't so bad? Maybe?