Resilience
Hello! I'm back with a new chapter!
I do not own One Piece, it belongs to Oda and the concept belongs to Hanzatsu-Hime
jolphuong: (27) Have Faith! We'll make it through this! (28) I hope you enjoyed Zoro's encounter with the impostor Strawhats! As for the Brahmin...? well...hmm...she's actually a *zips mouth*
jessjulieee: Thank you so much!
If you weren't able to picture the Inner City, allow me to paint you a better picture in the simplest way possible. Imagine a large spider crouched on the tops of the walls over the entire city with its legs slightly spread apart. If you aren't fond of the arachnid analogy, well…feel free to picture something else.
Can you see it?
Good.
We can move on now.
"The Inner City is split into four sections: Markets and warehouses are South, Entertainment is North, Equipment and Medical are West, and Institutions East." The Bartender wedged the curled corners of the map with a few miscellaneous objects and circled the locations. "You guys came from the Western Entrance which is where shops sell Equipment and Medicine are located. Houses are built in the middle of the Inner City and the Monarch's living quarters are the walls surrounding the entire Inner City including the arching tower that hangs over the entire Inner City." Franky made a face,
"She lives in the walls?" The victualler laughed and pointed to the highly decorated walls, the lone tower, and the suspending arches that were connected to it,
"All of that are hers. If you haven't taken a good look at the walls, even if they don't look like it, they're incredibly thick. She uses them as her watchtowers and posts Kshatriya in them to watch over the City." The man traced a finger around the entire city, "you can say that the phrase, 'the walls have eyes and ears' is a literal thing here. She knows about everything, including our rebellion." The bartender smiled and gestured toward his kitchen, "that's why I had this place built; she may have her spies up and above, but not down underground." Luffy squatted on the table and poked a pinky into his nose,
"So the meat is south. Got it. Can we go now?" The Bartender hefted a large sack over his back as Abelard secured the pouch of coins to his side,
"My bar is labeled as Entertainment. We need to pass the houses and head straight to reach the Market." Franky held up a hand,
"There are some parts of my body that are in need of repair. So I'm be going West." Chopper stuck his hoof up and waved,
"You said the medical center is west too right? I ran out of most of our supplies so I'll go with you." Robin tapped a finger to her bottom lip as she studied the map,
"I'll go with Luffy and the Bartender to help. And if by any chance we meet the rest of our crew, we'll enlist their help." The Bartender nodded and adjusted the straps of his bag,
"We'll meet back here in the evening. Until then, take care to stay as low as possible. Even though there won't be many people out this early in the morning, remember that the Monarch has Kshatryia standing guard everywhere." He ushered Abelard and everyone else out the door to the open bar before he shut the stone walls, effectively sealing his hideaway. "No matter what, do not get caught."
"I'm surprised that Dragon took interest in this island. 10 years ago, it's only known use was a port for ships hoping to make a pit stop before they continue on their way." Robin fell in step beside the Bartender as they ducked behind a house of buildings and made their way toward the Markets. A smirk tugged at Bartender's mouth and he drew a spiral in the air,
"When you reached the island, did you notice the shape of Nishima is like the shell of a Transponder Snail? That was exactly what Nishima was built for: communication. It was one of the central uses of this isle. Wave frequencies and lines could be sent underwater through certain water lanes and Nishima is right in the thick of it. The file I had on this island said that Nishima was strategically placed between the Yonkos' territories and the Marine Headquarters. Transponder Stingrays were used to move around the bottom of this island to help carry these conversations from one place to another. If we can secure it, it will be the perfect outpost for the Revolutionary to wiretap into these lines." The historian tipped her head back to stare up at the massive, arcing bridges that were all connected to an impressive towering building suspended in the sky.
"Quite fascinating architecture." She murmured as she watched Luffy gawk at their surroundings, his dark orbs glittering with excitement,
"This is so cool!" he pointed up to one of the bridges stretched toward the Southern entrance, "I wonder if I can swing us over there." Robin spared a glance at the Bartender and Abelard who stared at her captain as if he'd grown another head,
"That would be convenient and save us the time it'll take to walk there but that's impo-" before Robin could even try to persuade the rubberman out of the notion, those familiar arms wrapped around her waist and her breath was snatched from her as the historian found herself along with the victualler and Abelard flung into the air.
"He said yes!" Robin hung onto her rubbery lifesaver for dear life as Luffy stretched and looped an arm around the arch that led to the Southern entrance. With an enthusiastic whoop; they were soaring into the sky.
The screams and colorful streams of profanities that flew from the Bartender's mouth and the terrifying cries of Abelard shattered the Inner City's somewhat peaceful morning. They landed without a hitch onto the cobbled stones and the Bartender stumbled out of the captain's grip and spun around, astonishment painted over his face.
"I should've known you were a devil fruit user the way you snatched that bowl this morning!" he peered at the Strawhat curiously, "tell me, what is your name?" Luffy grinned and clasped his hands behind his head,
"My name is Monkey D. Luffy! And I'm going to be the pirate king!" It was no surprise when the Bartender's mouth flopped open and he staggered back, gaping,
"Monkey D Luffy! You're Luffy!" he mumbled as his eyes brightened, "Pardon me for prying but by any chance, is your father -"
"Yup! My dad's Dragon!" Luffy shrugged and whistled as the victualler let out a choked gasp and sank onto his knees, his eyes glistening with tears,
"I'm eternally grateful I had the opportunity to meet his son." He whispered as Abelard rushed to his side,
"Are you alright? Why are you kneeling?" the boy tugged on his uncle's sleeve as the Bartender heavily rose to his feet,
"I remember your mother; she was so full of life. I can finally see where that familiar carefree personality came from," he wiped a tear from his eye as Luffy's eyes widened,
"Y-you know my mom?" he asked incredulously and the man chuckled,
"Of course! You think you got that laidback composure and bottomless stomach from your stone face father?" he chortled and shook his head, "your mother was quite the monkey herself when she was young. From the day she was with child, till the day she went into labor, she drove your poor dad up the ceiling and out of his mind with her crazy antics." His smile faded and he quickly sobered and snapped his mouth shut and hefted his sack over his shoulder,
"What happened to her?" Luffy grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, his dark orbs drilled into the Bartender's and Robin stepped forward; this was important,
"I don't know what happened. She gave birth to you in the East Blue and upped and disappeared shortly after." His mouth slanted down shut on the conversation and he turned and trudged toward the first open stall he saw, "Madam! What do you have for us today?" he signaled for Abelard as he bent to examine the trays of dried meat laid out in the stand,
"Only the best on this island dear," a plump, woman emerged from within the stand, her heart-shaped lips pursed as she took in the Strawhats. A penned eyebrow raised and she looked at him,
"They're the ones we're looking for?" the Bartender passed a finger over a dehydrated pack of jerky before he grabbed a couple and nodded at his nephew to pay.
"4 total. They're out buying supplies." The woman's snorted softly and ran her eyes over Robin and her captain staring fixatedly at the dried poultry,
"We have five more we need to look for." Robin quickly interjected and the woman nodded to the victualler.
"Do you want me to spread the word out so the others can keep an eye on them?" the Bartender nodded,
"I'd be grateful if you did that. Thank you." She waved a ringed hand and reached under the counter to pull out a miniature version of the telephone snail. It was really a tiny mechanism, no bigger than a thumbnail. She pressed the red button top of the shell and touched her finger to a microphone inserted into her ear,
"I got the okay. Keep an eye out for the foreigner's friends. If you see them, go ahead and send them over to the Bartender's place." Her nails clicked against the mic and she let out a satisfied huff, "words out now. It will only be a matter of time when we find them." The historian followed the Bartender as Luffy did his best to poke his nose into every single stall there in existence. His nose twitched like mad every time he encountered something that struck his fancy and the poor bartender was forced to empty a few coins to satisfy his insistent begging. The task of distributing allowances to each crewmember had been left to none other than the navigator herself so when they left the ship, they'd entrusted all the money to Sanji and had forgotten to split it.
It was nearing lunch when they decided to stop by an open yatai hidden deep within the folds of the market. There, Luffy proceeded to stuff his face with as much of the stir-fried noodles as he could fit in his rubbery mouth as Robin kept an observant eye one their surroundings. She tuned into the conversation between the Bartender and the cook covered in a stained apron angled his neck to her,
"So these are the youngsters stirring up the Inner City." He laughed and used the back of his hand to swipe back his graying hair over his forehead, "quite an uproar you made here. All of the Brahmins were all riled up when they heard your entrance." He quickly lifted his head to scan the area behind their back, "it would have been better if you had left them in your cellar. The Monarch has ordered all Kshatriya out on a blood hunt for you." All the blood on the aging man's face suddenly drained from his pallor expression as his mouth parted open in a soundless gasp. In a split second, the Bartender had all but picked up a struggling Luffy and a startled historian and dumped them over the counter.
"Hey!" Luffy popped his head up only to have a large hand quickly smash his head back down,
"Ssst!" the victualler hissed and Robin crouched beside her captain, her body tense as the sound of boots marching in unison filled the air.
"Udon cook! You have been summoned by the Monarch! He has ordered for you to cater to his dinner tonight." The man's wrinkled hands dug into his apron as his frail body shook,
"O-o-of c-course-se." he stuttered as the trooping unit faded back into the crowd.
"Don't go." Robin watched as the cook, with trembling arms, begin to hurriedly wipe down his counter,
"I have to." He said hoarsely as he looked up at the Bartender, "let's hope she likes my dishes." The man let out a weak chuckle. The victualler leaned forward to place his hand on top of the chef's,
"We both know why she summoned you. She's going to hand you over for interrogation." The sous-chef exhaled and took off his hat to rub his temples,
"You think I don't know that?" he stuffed the towel into his front pocket and shook his head, "I'll resist her, I swear I will." He offered them a courageous smile and turned away, "in the meanwhile, you need to hide them before she finds them and takes them too." The Bartender gritted his teeth and combed back his hair,
"She's beginning to move her pieces by taking some of ours." He grunted as the cook flipped the blinds and the welcome sign over and began to close shop, "we should go," Abelard dropped their payment onto their table as Robin clambered over the counter. With the victualler hefting their loaded burlap, they sped up their pace after a hasty goodbye to the chef. Halfway past housing, Luffy twisted his head and he reached out to snag Robin's wrist. The chronicler's eyes widened at the sight of the familiar broad back shouldering a load of food in plastic bags,
"Oi! Zoorro! Saannjii!" she'd barely clapped her hand over her captain's mouth when the duo spun around,
"Luffy!" they rushed toward them. The cook's mouth was stretched in a wide grin as he all but prostrated himself in front of the historian,
"Ohh Robin-chan! The beautiful and splendid queen of my heart! It's been so long since-" he squawked when a pair of hands fisted his lapels as both the chef and the swordsman were dragged out of the reach of wandering eyes,
"We'll fill you all in later but we need to hide." She nodded to the Bartender when Sanji began to struggle,
"Did you two manage to escape them? The rest of us snuck into the Inner City when we heard you were taken in by the Kshatriya!" Robin spoke quickly as she tugged the men behind her,
"Luffy caused a disturbance that ended up with the guards on the lookout for us. They probably know you're here too." The blonde nodded,
"When we arrived, entire squad of Kshatriya were waiting for us on the other side of the walls." Zoro grunted and shook his shoulders in annoyance,
"Ero-cook is right, we need to go back and get everyone else." The man froze when he felt her finger give his clothed loins a warning tap,
"Not now Roronoa." Was the silky reply and the man swallowed hard and shut his mouth when the historian halted at Luffy's protest,
"Everyone is here? Great! Where are they?" Sanji jerked his chin behind him,
"We were just heading back to the Brahmin's house, we'll take you there." A few feet away from her, the Bartender froze and whirled around, dread etched over the lines on his strained face,
"A Brahmin housed you? What seat is she?" he hissed and the cook narrowed his eyes,
"What do you have against her? And who are you anyways?" the victualler pinched his eyes shut and blew out a breath,
"Hello, I work as a Bartender in the Inner City and as a spy for Dragon. I've recruited your friends here in an uprising known as the Insurgence." His eyes darted around the quiet alley as his voice lowered to a more serious note, "right now, it is imperative that I know what Seat you're staying with. Know that it is for your own safety that I'm asking this." Sanji blinked in surprise,
"The Insurgence? Didn't Faith mention something about joining that group?" the man's forehead wrinkled, "if it puts you at ease, we're staying with the 7th Seat Brahmin." A loud whoosh of relief escaped the Bartender's lungs as he sagged against the wall,
"Thank god," he sighed before he straightened his shoulders and steered Abelard forward, "come, take us quickly to the Seventh's house." His smile was faint if not stressed, "I'm sure she'd be more than happy to see us."
Her throat stubbornly closed as Nami picked listlessly at the bread beside her hand. It felt as if the world around her had shrunk and closed upon her. She stirred the spoon in her bowl with the tip of her finger balancing the entire utensil and grasped the handle, lifting the contents to her lips. Her stomach rebelled and she dropped the spoon and dug her hands into her hair and sighed.
She spent the rest of the night huddled on her bed, staring cynically at the bedside window. Although her expression was worryingly blank, her mind had become a sanctuary for a whirlwind of scattered and uneasy thoughts. She couldn't push the woman's words from her mind; the end of her tale was anything but positive, and it triggered her own insecurities and previous qualms about how her own story would play out.
Nami wasn't exactly one to be superstitious, but she couldn't escape the niggling feeling of alarm that spiked through her body as realization hit her.
What if…it became hers too?
Her hand automatically gripped her spoon in a strangle hold and she all but slammed it back down into the broth and gave her head a hard shake. Nami ignored the throb in her temples and concentrated on forcefully shoving an entire spoonful into her mouth; he would never do that to her, the idiot wasn't one to show affection, but she knew his actions conveyed his thoughts louder than anything else.
"They don't want the burden of helping the person they claim that they love. They want the girl from the past before they got hurt."
The heavy substance refused to slide down her throat and Nami squeezed her eyes shut, coaxing her throat to open. Frustration wet her eyes and she swallowed and gagged. She stared at the still full bowl, watching as it increased in size till it nearly overwhelmed her; she couldn't finish this.
"Eat." Her insides protested as the navigator picked up another dollop and pushed it into her mouth. She choked as her closed gullet finally gave way to the food and wiped her mouth panting.
"It is better to leave the whole alone and intact than drag them with you to misery."
Why did she find herself craving his reassurance so badly? Nami dropped the spoon, crossed her arms and leaned back to rest her head on the back of the chair. She folded her thigh over the other, winced and quickly brought them back to their original position; she'd refused to take the pills to alleviate her pain and the warning sting between her legs reminded her again, why she shouldn't push herself.
"I'm not giving up." Determination brought a sliver of her nonexistent appetite back and Nami grabbed the entire bowl, sucked in a deep breath.
And proceeded to drink down every single drop.
Thank you for reading! Comments and Critiques are welcomed!
