Chapter 25- Kidnapped
~Zoro~
I walk down the streets following Luffy, my arm wrapped around Rena's waist, keeping her close in this stupid 'country of love' or whatever. He finds this restaurant and heads inside. I stop in my tracks, sensing someone behind us. Rena looks up at me questioningly. I pull her around to see behind us, watching this blind man walk down the stairs in between the buildings. I raise my hand to my Katanas feeling something dangerous about him.
I stay still as he walks past me tapping his stick along the floor. "Excuse me," he says in a low voice. "I heard there is a gambling house around here. Do you know where it is?"
"I'm sorry ossan, this is my first visit to this town," I say turning around slightly. "Why don't you ask someone in that restaurant?"
"Oh I see thank you for your kindness." He turns round and starts walking towards the restaurant and I drop my hand from my katana pulling Rena with me as we go in.
We have a drink in the restaurant, Kinemon getting angry that we are just sat around doing nothing. Sanji points out how calm everyone around us is, considering that Doflamingo just abdicated the throne. good point, for an idiot. A toy waiter brings us our food and we eat while the toy explains about the legend of fairies or something.
There's a lot of noise from the back corner of the restaurant where the blind man is on a winning streak in gambling. Some men come in and start taking advantage over the fact that he's blind and keep cheating him out of money. Of course Luffy has to interfere and tell the blind man that he actually got his bets right. The old man fights the people that tricked him and a massive hole fills the floor of the restaurant. The old man leaves after using his weird devil fruit. When I turn around both Rena and one of my swords are gone.
~Rena~
Strong arms drag me away, stronger than any human that I have ever met, even Zoro. Either this is some kind of superhuman or I'm being dragged away by an elf… What would they want with me? I stop struggling, knowing that it's futile and they're stronger. A blindfold is tied around my head by a second person and I'm dragged through the streets of Dressrosa.
Eventually we reach wherever it is that they wanted to take me. I stand by myself in a room, still blindfolded. I hear footsteps approaching me and an immense sense of power from the individual. They pull the blindfold off, my eyes snap open taking in the whole of this woman's face. The power radiates from her in waves. Her pointed ears, shown by short hair that is pulled back just over the ear. Her high cheekbones and mahogany eyes that match the colour of her hair are her most prominent and sharp features.
I offer her the traditional elvish greeting, "Atra esterní ono thelduin." She smirks at me, coming closer.
"Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr," she replies keeping that smirk ever present on her lips.
"Un du evarínya ono varda." She takes my head in her hands and studies me.
"It's good to see that your mother taught you manners, and you do look a lot like her. I remember her from when I was growing up, before she left and became a pirate that is," she says still studying me, her manicured fingernails sharp against my cheeks.
She takes a step back and starts circling me, her eyes watch my every move. I make no answer to her statement. "I was surprised when I heard about her having you, and even more surprised about her death. You poor child must have been through so much. I never thought that after you watched her die you would become a pirate yourself. After we heard you had joined the Straw hats we thought we should come and pay you a visit. I'm glad that you know quite a bit about us already, that's reassuring."
She comes to a stop in front of me again, her guards watching from the doorway. The gentle rocking motion tells me that they brought me back to their ship. I bring my eyes back to her face, which hardens and glares at me.
"Do you know who I am?" she sneers.
"I am guessing you are the Dröttning," I say holding her stare.
"That's right, I am Rion Dröttning. What are your plans for the future…?" She trails off for me to tell her my name.
"Rena. I plan on travelling with my nakama and helping them fulfill their dreams."
"And what about the elves?"
"I have no intention of interfering with your lives."
Is this what they brought me here for? To make sure I'm not a threat? Rion looked back at the elves at the door before looking towards me again. Was that the wrong reply?
"Are you going against us?"
"No I do not wish you harm. I am... Vinr Älfakyn," I try to persuade her that I do not wish to harm them by saying that I am an elf friend in the ancient language.
"What happens if the elves need your help? Will you disregard your heritage?"
"No, I will help if called."
She smiles at me, but there's a hint of something underneath, "Well then, please get the yawë symbol tattooed on you, as a symbol of our trust in you and what trust you hopefully place in us." Ahh, she's trapped me, I can't say no. I nod my head and the elves at the door guide me out of the room and into another smaller room with a large reclined chair and a smiling elf holding a tattoo pen.
I got the symbol tattooed onto my hip, as I sat there I thought of all the implications this might have. I would be required to leave my nakama when trouble arises. If the elves and my crew went up against each other there might be trouble. No think about how likely that is to actually happen, don't be stupid Rena. But they did want to set themselves up for something, that is clear. What is Rion planning? I need to know more about the kind of person she is, she has been elected leader for our race she symbolises all that they stand for… or rather she should be the symbol. I don't actually know what has happened to them since my mother left over 30 years ago. My mother's father must be dead, he was the last leader.
When the tattoo is done they lead me through their ship again to a different room filled with lots of elves who all watch me intently. Tall elves all stronger in both mind and body than I am. I put up the walls around my mind to protect myself if they decide to attack, although any one of these people could get past them easily. I've spent my whole life surrounded by humans, never in my entire life have I been surrounded by so many people this much stronger than me. So many people that could wipe out my existence in seconds. I'm lead to a chair next to Rion and I feel the whole room staring at me.
"My dearest friends, today we have the result of our long journey. We all know the story of the elf that left Ellesmera for love and became a pirate. Today we meet the product of their love. When we heard that she had a child we were overjoyed with the thought that we had another child that contained the powers of the elves, even if she was half human. But we also felt trepidation; would she be our friend or our foe? Today I tell you we can rejoice! For she has accepted our yawë and placed her trust in us like we have in her."
The elves nodded and smiled at Rion's words. It is certain that she is a good leader, she can persuade people and understands politics, but from what my mother described she sounds more like a human leader than a leader of the elves. Maybe I was wrong to make the assumption that the elves were so different.
"We offer our condolences to you, Rena, for we heard about your parents demise, and we share in your sorrow as some of us knew your mother quite closely. It is a shame that we cannot be reunited with both mother and child, but at least we still have you," Rion comes and places her hands under my chin, looking at my softly, "we still have a future generation and a link to the past."
I looked around the room to the other elves faces which all mimicked Rion's. Apart from one, a man in the corner with long silver hair who looked angry. Like me, he knew the result of taking on the yawë symbol. I sense that there is more than just that though, his eyes pierce mine with such harshness like he's trying to convey a message to me. As I lock eyes with him I feel a pressure on the walls of my mind, someone is trying to get in. I focus my mind and strengthen my barriers. The presence recedes. The person who it was could probably have knocked down my barriers easily, but they chose not to.
"Now my friends, shall we discuss with her, her knowledge about us and fill in the gaps?" Rion asks the people who all nod and smile in agreement. Rion sits down next to me and takes my hand. "Dear child, how old were you when the horrific event of your parents death took place?"
"I was 7," I say quietly, looking around the room at these supposedly sympathetic faces.
"How young. How awful. What did your mother tell you about us?" Rion's eyes scan the rest of the faces to check they are all supporting her.
"She told me that the elves are immortal, unless taken by blade or poison. That they know what it is like to be in another creature's mind and how it feels for them to be alive, so they refuse to eat meat and are vegetarian. They believe there is no God or higher power and they value nature." I look across the faces to see that I had got it right. They all nodded and smiled approvingly.
"I see your mother taught you well," Rion says as the door to the room slides back and a large amount of food (all fruit and vegetables) was brought to the table that they were all sat around, "Please help yourself to our cuisine. Have you eaten elvish food before?"
Hesitantly taking some of the food in front of my I shake my head, "my mother would eat vegetarian, but it would always be human dishes." I try some of the food and I am astounded by the flavour. So much rich, sweet flavours yet with a slight tangy edge. Neither too sweet or too sour.
"Do you like it?" one of the elves next to me asks and I smile and nod. What is wrong with me, I'm acting so meek! They're all so much stronger than me it's so intimidating. I can never be in this situation again. When I get back to my nakama I must train, I must get stronger! I'm not only putting myself in danger by being this weak, but also putting my nakama in danger.
The elves gathered around the table question me about my upbringing, how much I understand of magic and the ancient language, and so much more that it's quite overwhelming. I always knew my brain worked faster than the average humans, that my mind was stronger than theirs naturally, but I never could imagine that I was so far behind the elves. They can keep up with anything, a fast moving conversation, they showed me a quick battle of magic between two of them.
The situation was not only confusing to try and keep up with, but also to try and understand. Why am I here? What do they want from me? It is clear that some of them do not like me being here, they gave me hard stares and asked me whether I thought my very existence was unnatural. It was clear that they thought that way, they thought that I should never have been born. It really made me question whether all of them felt that way, and some were just better at hiding it than others.
All throughout the conversation, the man with silver hair would stare at me with those same piercing eyes that felt like they bore into my soul. I know that there is no one in my head, but just looking in his glaring eyes made me feel like he was able to see right through my defences and read me like a book anyway. He never made any hostile moves like some of the elves did, but he wasn't friendly towards me either. I don't understand what he thinks of me.
After the food, the conversation had made its way onto asking her about fighting styles. I can't give too much away. I have Zar'roc with me, but I left Brisingr on the ship. It'll be best if they don't know I have it. They had left me with Zar'roc on my back, probably knowing that even one of them could crush me before I even had the chance to use it. My pulse races faster than ever, I have never been in such a situation before. My life has never been in so much danger.
I explain to them how I came to possess Zar'roc which seemed to please them that I wanted to take it back. Despite my fears that they would want to take it from me, they let me keep it. I guess no one wants the blade misery huh? After they had talked to me about everything they wanted, another elf took me to a plain room with one chair in it. I sit there for hours with nothing to do. No one opens the door to talk to me, no one even attacks me and tries to kill me. I'm wasting time here. Luffy, everyone.. are you okay? Did everything go to plan? Are you looking for me?