Doflamingo heard the commotion that had been going on outside the cabin he was in, and wondered what was going on now. With his head up against the wall behind him, Doflamingo was still running through the limited options available to him. He figured that things could get very dicey if it did turn out that the island Straw Hat Luffy and the others had gone to did indeed have Kaido on it. Doflamingo shifted, testing the sea stone shackles he's been chained with, and frowned. He had no desire to remain bound with no way to defend himself should the emperor choose to look for him.
A simple solution came to mind, and while it wouldn't get him out of the chains, he would at least be able to bring in more people to the island. Doflamingo grinned to himself as he maneuvered his hands, chained behind his back, and twisted enough to dig the small Transponder Snail slumbering in one of the pockets of his pink coat. One of Straw Hat's crewmates had dumped it over his shoulders when he'd been feigning slumber. Doflamingo chuckled to himself. Fools. Not even checking to see if there was anything to take away from him. Their loss. Doflamingo angled one hand to the side, and managed to get the creature onto one knee, and jostled it as he plucked the receiver off. Doflamingo fiddled with it as his grin widened.
Time to make a call.
-x
It was interesting to watch the workings of the government and the marines when they weren't actively coming after him. It didn't mean that he didn't know the marines would try and ambush him, but he knew he wasn't their current focus. Some younger upstarts were.
Crocodile watched as another marine ship sailed by from a distance, but didn't bother to rouse the rest of the crew. The violet haired man knew that for now, there wasn't much chance of an attack. It was the third one in the past hour that had gone by, so he was fairly certain they were focused on something else. And not interested in a random pirate ship drifting along lazily with no apparent destination in mind. Crocodile tossed aside the newspaper he was reading onto the table, puffing away on his cigar in thought.
Things were getting even crazier after what had happened on Dressrosa, and while not everything had come to light, Crocodile was fairly certain that things had come crashing down around Doflamingo. Crocodile turned his head to the side to look at the Transponder snail that was ringing on the table. The violet haired pirate narrowed his eyes at it. He wasn't expecting a call, and if the marines had been interested in attacking him, they would have already done so. If he could see the ships sailing by, then they could see his ship as well.
With a grumble under his breath, Crocodile reached out to pick up the call. He had a smaller snail nearby to prevent wiretapping, and he only answered the call because it wasn't like he had anything better to do until he had more information. It was only when he got a good idea of what was going on around him that he would decide what course to take. Crocodile picked up the receiver, and glared down at the snail, "Who is this?" As soon as Crocodile saw the snail spilt into a wide grin, the violet haired man was very tempted to hang up, as he knew exactly who it was before the other man had even had the chance to speak.
'Fufufufu. Is that how you answer all of your calls now?'
Crocodile's glare at the transponder snail strengthened in its intensity, "I've had some calls from the marines in the past few days. Some of them got close to finding my ship, although it seems like they aren't as interested today."
Doflamingo laughed, the Transponder snail's smile wide and amused, 'That so? I'd rather be dealing with that than what's happened to me today.'
"You holed up in your palace while the government and the marines try and figure out how to arrest you?" Crocodile asked, disinterested, as he reached for another cigar.
Doflamingo chuckled at that, before his voice became bitter and self-deprecating, 'I'm not on Dressrosa. The Straw Hat boy was convinced by Law to bring me along with them. To where Kaido is waiting.'
Crocodile laughed at that, but before he could say anything, Doflamingo cut him off.
'As amusing as my predicament is, how about I ask you something instead?'
"Such as?" Crocodile sounded skeptical, but decided to humor the other man. If nothing else, it was amusing to think of the blond as a prisoner on Straw Hat Luffy's ship.
-x
Shanks' ship was making good progress through the now choppy waves, and Mihawk, leaning against the ship's mast, wondered what he'd gotten himself into as he studied the crew silently. They were all far too chipper and laidback at the prospect of running into another emperor, that could result in a nasty fight.
Shanks caught sight of a navy ship off in the distance, and laughed, "It looks like other people have picked up on Luffy's movements."
Mihawk flicked his gaze in the direction Shanks was looking, before he spoke softly, "There is going to be a battle no matter who wins on that island."
Shanks didn't appear to be very concerned about the idea, and Mihawk wasn't sure what that meant. He knew that the other man had heard him, so Mihawk presumed that it meant that Shanks believed that Luffy and the others wouldn't have any problem with the marines if they defeated or escaped from Kaido.
-x
Kidd had thought that things had been going very well. He'd been taking down Kaido's crewmembers left and right, alongside Luffy, as the two of them raced along to reach Kaido first. The two had made their way up the side of a small mountain on one end of the island, and that was when things had started to go downhill.
They had been ambushed by some of Kaido's crew, and pushed back to the edge of a small cliff, where there was a drop of one hundred and fifty feet, by the looks of it. Kidd and Luffy, as well as Zoro, who had joined them, had been pushing back their attackers. That was when one large Zoan type Devil Fruit user had begun to stomp the ground so many times that the ground cracked beneath their feet. The attacks became more frequent, and Luffy, Kidd and Zoro had been hard pressed to just hold back the strikes as Kaido's crewmember continued to crack the ground with large jumps and stomping. And that was when it happened.
The ground gave way completely beneath Kidd and the two Straw Hats, and they fell down the hole that had been made, and kept falling, until the hole overhead was a small point of light, before everything caved in and left them in the gloom.
-x
Kidd couldn't remember landing, and from the height that he had fallen, felt that it should have killed him. But with a slight change in position, pain lanced throughout his body, and caused Kidd to grimace. Nope. He was still alive, and injured. Kidd coughed and turned over as he tried to orient himself in the gloom of the cavern he found himself in. Kidd pushed himself upright and tried to stand, only to wince and bite his lip when he couldn't move his right leg.
The red haired captain waited until the pain had passed before he took the time to turn slightly and examine his leg. Kidd's jaw set when he saw that his right leg was pinned from the knee down by rocks that had fallen. "Shit." Kidd could still feel his leg, but wasn't sure for how much longer if he didn't get the damn rocks off of it. Kidd searched for metal, but found none in the immediate vicinity. His concentration was crap anyway, and it would have taken that to call any metal to him that might be farther away on the island, and the pain from his leg commanded his immediate attention. "Shit." Kidd repeated, with more feeling this time, as he considered the rocks. Maybe if he just shoved at it with his artificial left arm that would get rid of it...
"Hey, metal guy! Duck!"
Kidd had only a moment to register that the voice belonged to Straw Hat, when he saw a fist headed his way. Kidd cursed and dropped down, as Luffy's fist went whistling overhead, smashing a majority of the rocks off of Kidd's leg. Kidd hastily pulled his leg free the rest of the way, and immediately wished he hadn't. It hurt like hell, and had begun to ache now that it was free of the pressure of the crushing rocks. Kidd grimaced but slid away further from the pile of rocks he had woken up near, in case a small landslide started and he found himself buried to the chest or something in rocks. Kidd only relaxed when he was far enough away from any potential falling debris before he fixed a ginning Luffy with a scowl.
Luffy completely ignored the other pirate captain as he looked around the cavern, "Hey, Zoro, why is it light in here? Shouldn't it be dark?"
The green haired swordsman shrugged, and glanced around, before up, "Looks like we won't be getting out the way we came in."
Luffy puffed up his cheeks at his question not being answered, before he caught sight of the moss–like plants all around that were emitting a faint glow, "Cool! Zoro, look! Those plants are glowing!"
Kidd bristled at being ignored, but in this instance, was glad of it, because he was in a fuck ton of pain, and wasn't even sure if he would be able to put any weight on his right leg right now. Kidd moved the limb gingerly as he looked it over, his clenched jaw tensing further when he saw that there was a long gash down the back of his shin between ankle and knee. Kidd looked at the torn pants leg before tearing it off to the knee, and hitching it tightly around the wound, the movement causing even more pain. Kidd tested the leg, before he forced himself upright, putting more pressure on his left leg than his right. Kidd swayed a little at the pain that washed over him from the movement, but shoved it aside. He needed to get out of the cave and get his leg seen to before it got infected. He didn't like the idea of losing another limb, therefore, needed to make sure he was able to keep it. The red haired captain took a tentative step, before he bit back the pain that shot up from his leg from the simple step.
Kidd grit his teeth, wondering if he was going to end up having to receive medical treatment from Straw Hat's doctor, even if he didn't really want to admit to needing any help. Kidd thought it unlikely that Law would be able to do anything, as the red haired captain was fairly certain he'd caught a glimpse of the other captain being menaced by several Zoan users. But then again, Kidd supposed he could have imagined it. He was busy fighting at the time.
"Are you staying here?"
Kidd slid a glance Luffy's way, sneering through the pain, "What the hell do you think? Why would I just sit around here and wait for another cave-in?"
Luffy laced his hands behind his head and gave Kidd a perplexed look, "Then why are you just standing there?" Kidd was weird.
"Luffy, we should go. What if those Zoan users head for the Sunny?" Zoro commented, as he inspected the moss like plants Luffy had pointed out earlier.
"I know." Luffy looked back at Kidd, and grinned again, "Tra-guy said we were in an alliance. Did you want to be in it too?"
Zoro caught sight of Kidd's murderous expression, "Luffy, this really isn't the time to..."
"Well?" Luffy persisted, either not noticing the look he received, or completely ignoring it altogether.
Kidd eyed Luffy silently for a moment, weighing his options, before inwardly sighing. As loathe as he was to it, it didn't seem like such a bad idea right now, since he was currently separated from his crew and those he was already in alliance with. Kidd shook his head, not really taking much more time to think about the implications of agreeing, "Fine. The more alliances the better. If nothing else, we can take the four emperors down more easily."
"Ok! Let's go!" At that, Luffy started to head along the cavern down the only path visible.
Zoro trailed after his captain, and thought to talk to Luffy about making alliances so flippantly and without any real talk about what it entailed. He had even given the red haired captain a look that had been intended for Kidd to think before he agreed to such a thing. He'd seen, however, that Kidd was in enough pain that he wasn't exactly going to be thinking very clearly.
Kidd started after the Straw Hat Pirates, taking a few hesitant steps to see if his right leg would hold any weight. The red headed captain ended up limping a short distance, pointedly ignoring the pain, until his leg gave out and he dropped to the ground in an undignified heap. Cursing, Kidd pushed himself upright, intent on trying again.
Luffy had glanced over his shoulder, "Hm? What's wrong?" Luffy watched Kidd attempt to walk again, before the red head sunk to the ground again with a loud curse.
Zoro looked the other man over, "I think the fall hurt his leg."
"Oh." Luffy frowned, "Hmm..." The Straw Hat Captain brightened as he slapped Zoro's nearest shoulder, "Hey, Zoro, help him. We need to get out of here and kick Kaido's butt!"
Zoro sighed but didn't argue. He didn't particularly care one way or another, but he knew that Kidd was going to be opposed to any help. So the green haired swordsman would just have to force it on him.
Kidd tensed up when he saw Zoro approach him, and he eyed the swordsman with an unfriendly look, "What are you doing?"
Zoro absently gestured to Luffy, "Captain said to help."
"What?" Kidd didn't have any time to react when Zoro suddenly hoisted him up onto one of his shoulders and started to walk, Luffy having already raced on ahead.
"What the hell? Put me down!" Kidd snarled, but was in too much pain to really do much other than accidentally jostle his wounded leg.
Zoro merely tightened his grasp, looking none too happy about the arrangement either, "Don't move so much. I'm only doing this because Luffy said to." Zoro faintly smiled, "Besides, you're in the same boat as Law now. The captain doesn't see alliances as a normal person would."
Kidd, struggling through the latest wave of agony making its way through his body, managed a faint 'shit' of realization. He'd forgotten about that. Kidd had entirely forgotten about Trafalgar seemingly losing his mind around the Straw Hat crew when he'd last caught sight of the Heart Pirate captain on the other island.
"Too late to back out now. Luffy won't listen to anyone who tries to break an alliance once they make it with him." Zoro commented, and followed along after Luffy, whom he could hear was occasionally letting out excited whoops at something he found.
Kidd closed his eyes, trying to ignore the humiliation of someone carrying him so easily over one shoulder, and the mistake he may have made, when he agreed to an alliance so easily. Then, even his body decided to give up on him, and Kidd fell unconscious, not sure which was more embarrassing.
-x
When Kidd woke up, he expected to still be on the swordsman's shoulder and subjected to more embarrassment if they happened to run across any of his own crew. Instead, the red haired pirate found that he was lying on the ground, his furred coat beneath his head, and his right leg elevated. From the feel of it, someone had treated it, or at the very least did a better job of wrapping it up, because the pain had lessened from before. Kidd kept his eyes closed when he heard numerous murmured voices, as well as some laughing. What the heck? Kidd further stilled when he sensed someone nearby, and the red head felt that he was being watched.
The voices were clearer than they had been before.
"I think he's coming around."
"I didn't know he made an alliance with the captain and Straw Hat Luffy."
"What's happening up there?"
Kidd decided there was no point in pretending he was still asleep, so he opened his eyes and propped himself up with his elbows. Kidd's gaze swept the entire area, and noticed the amount of people there, as well as the way they were dressed. Kidd spotted Luffy laughing nearby and rough housing, or trying to, with a bipedal bear that looked vaguely familiar. Kidd noted the man nearest to him and recognized him and his ridiculous hat stating 'Penguin.'
It seemed that they had come across the rest of Law's crew, and they were very much alive.
Penguin noticed that Kidd was staring at him, and turned to face him, his voice oddly serious, "Where's our captain?"
"Probably getting his ass kicked by Kaido." Kidd commented, not wanting to be bothered right now. The red haired captain was still distracted by his leg as it was, and hadn't realized that his offhanded remark wasn't appreciated. Kidd did become aware of it, however, when he looked up from his bandaged right leg to realize that he had nearly all of Law's crewmate's attention. And noticed that each and every one of them was giving him an unfriendly look.