A/N: Here's the next part! Thank you for the follows, faves, and reviews!
*happy dance*
Warnings: Language, violence, slight sexual references.
Chapter 29: The Floating Islands Part Six: The Enigmatic Bachelor Vice-Admiral Rorrim Ijdel
**Countdown: Two Months, 11 days left**
Luffy burst through the gates and into the front door of the Marin Base with a shout.
"Oooiiii! Rim-guy!"
"Luffy!" Usopp said in hoarse whisper as he stepped gingerly around the rubble. "I really wish you wouldn't announce our presence…"
Usopp carefully looked in all directions, and through chattering teeth called for Luffy to wait again as his Captain chose a corridor at random and disappeared down the one he deemed most interesting. Law and the others came up behind Usopp as he was calling for Luffy a third time.
"I don't know why you insist on trying, but Straw Hat-ya is always…" Law stopped and looked around suspiciously. "Where are the Marines? This place should be crawling with them. Especially now."
"That's why I was trying to get Luffy's attention!" Usopp's worry was growing by the second. "There's no way all of them were sent out to take on the trading post workers…that wouldn't be a wise move on Rorrim's part at all."
"There aren't any Marine forces for us to face!" Kin'emon said, and he looked around curiously. "There's a sickening feeling in my gut, there is…"
"This place…I don't like it…" Momonosuke snuggled against his father's leg as there currently wasn't one of the women nearby to cuddle him.
Law could tell that there were still Marines at the Base, but they merely weren't attacking the intruders, and the Heart Captain didn't exactly want to think of as to why his group wasn't being confronted. He had done the same thing with his own crew before; they stay out of the way while he took care of the problem – because it was quicker for him to deal with it than to have to watch out for his crew and deal with needless injuries that could have been prevented.
Usopp gulped and looked at the numerous mirrors that lined the walls. The Base honestly looked deserted, as there wasn't even a Marine who came running to see what all the noise had been. Brook walked into the entrance and looked back and forth between the mirrors, making the scene all the creepier simply with his presence.
Brook glanced back at the others. "I don't see anything, even though I—"
Just then they heard Luffy shout, and Usopp without even thinking started running to where his Captain was, even though he had tears of fright in his eyes. "I'm coming Luffy!"
"Luffy-san!" Brook called, following close behind Usopp.
"Nose-ya! Bone-ya! Don't just rush in!" Law scoffed at the Straw Hats' usual lack of a plan, and took off after the pair, while glancing every which way with suspicion. Kin'emon and Momonosuke glanced at each other, and because neither was in favour of being left behind, they took off after the Pirates.
They came upon Luffy staring at a large painting of Rorrim. He was simply transfixed by it. It depicted Rorrim sitting in a large chair that looked so high class that it was as if only the royal elite would ever have the chance to sit upon it if they were lucky, a fruit basket was on a table next to the chair, and there were weapons lining the wall behind him.
"Luffy, we heard you shout…over a painting!" Usopp demanded.
"You shouldn't just run off like that!" Law said as he sighed heavily. "Especially now, when there's…Straw Hat-ya?"
Luffy continued to stare at the painting, looking completely serious. "Hmm…his hair…it makes me think of carrots."
"Was that what you were shouting about?" Brook asked, and he walked up beside Luffy to inspect the floor-to-ceiling painting for himself. "My, you're right, Luffy-san! His hair does look like a jumble of carrots! Yohohoho!"
Luffy put a finger to his chin and cocked his head to the side.
"Also, I think it hit me…or did it?"
Usopp desperately wanted to berate his Captain for nearly giving him a heart attack and putting all of them even more on edge than they already were; especially if he was thinking that the man's hair looked like a bunch of carrots. Law rolled his eyes and glared at Luffy for a moment, but then he thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye in one of the mirrors. He quickly glanced at it, but saw nothing. He tried to sense anything or anyone else that may have been in their presence, yet there was still nothing.
"It looks so…peculiar, does it not?" Momonosuke questioned, looking at the painting.
He was right; the background of the odd painting looked far away and extremely layered, with a slightly green tint. The painting was extremely glossy looking as well, almost as if it were made of a very fine and delicate glass. All of them could see their reflections in the glass, as they inspected the painting. It was thick like a window, and seemed to have been placed there merely to protect the painting. Usopp kept stepping around while cocking his head both ways to look at the strange portrait, going, "Hmmm….Hmm….Hmmmmmmmm."
Finally, he said, "Why is it at an angle? It's tilted back about…85 degrees…"
Usopp then very nervously and slowly looked up, and his eyes widened with fear. He began sweating bullets, and he pointed up at the ceiling. In a shaking, quiet voice, he said,
"I-i-t-t's a-a-a m-m-mirror…!"
All of them looked up at a mirror on the ceiling, which housed Rorrim in the exact same position as he was in the painting. Usopp let out a terrified shriek when the Rorrim in the "painting" suddenly looked down at them, with a cocky and malicious grin.
"Oh, you must be Straw Hat Luffy!"
"AHH!" chorused the voices of Luffy, Usopp, Brook, Kin'emon, and Momonosuke.
"We're going to die!"
"The painting is talking!"
"SO COOL!"
"How frightening, that nearly gave me heart-attack even though I—"
"Everyone, move!" Law shouted, spinning around while he tried to find the real body of the Vice-Admiral.
"Oh, and you're the Surgeon of Death!"
Rorrim, or his reflection at least, stood behind Law's own reflection in the mirror. Law saw the reflection pull back to deliver a punch and he dodged as the reflection crushed a part of the wall that was behind the Heart Captain in the mirror, and his eyes widened as he watched the same hole appear in the wall behind him. He tried attacking the space around him with a swing of his sword as he did not have a chance to activate "Room", but it proved to be a useless effort, as Rorrim, wherever he was, did not seem to react.
"Ackh! Unhand me, you fiend!"
Kin'emon shouted as he floated into the air, kicking his legs and trying to grab at the unseen entity that had him in its grasp. Luffy looked carefully and saw the reflections that were holding onto Kin'emon, and punched the mirror, shattering it. While Kin'emon did drop to the ground in an ungraceful pile of limbs, swords, and swear words, Luffy found himself being grabbed and held onto from behind, by multiple hands.
"Oi! Let go!" Luffy demanded, stretching and struggling, to no avail.
"Luffy-san!" Brook called out, and he drew his sword and sliced at the air around Luffy in quick, successive strikes.
"Ow! Dammit!" Rorrim's voice called out.
Law looked over to where he was sure the voice had originated from, and narrowed his eyes as he saw a version of Rorrim with a large, nasty red stain on the sleeve of his white uniform. Brook suddenly went straight down into face-plant on the floor in a way that would have been very painful if he had had a normal body.
"He's on top of me!" Brook fruitlessly squirmed underneath his invisible weight.
Usopp was unsure of what they should do in their current situation, but he knew that they had to get away. So he fired a "Pop Green: Haze". Luffy was freed in a matter of seconds, while Rorrim was shouting at them, "What is this? Do you really think you can escape so easily?!"
All of them started coughing and hacking from the haze and their eyes began to sting.
Rorrim continued talking and taunting them, "If you think you can hide simply because of a smoke-screen, think again!"
"Room!" Law teleported each of them away, back near the entrance of the base.
"What did you do that for?!" Kin'emon demanded of Law, to which Law scoffed. "It is shameful for a warrior to retreat, that it is!"
"Samurai-ya, that was not a favourable situation for us to be in! And we aren't running away! We have to regroup and rethink our strategy." Law calmly explained.
"I apologize, that I do…" Kin'emon replied slowly. He brushed himself off, and checked on his son.
"The real Rorrim wasn't there…" Usopp spoke up, looking to be in a strange mix of worry and seriousness. "My "Pop Green: Haze" causes people to cough and their eyes to water, but Rorrim continued talking as if nothing was wrong."
"But he did release Straw Hat-ya when you fired that bullet…and I believe he was injured when Bone-ya attacked the area around him when he was holding onto Straw Hat-ya…but how?" Law continued, half talking to his person, half talking to his group. "It very likely has something to with how much visibility he has with those mirrors. We need to have a better understanding of his abilities…
"Eury-ya said…his reflections move around by themselves…and it's a like a multiplying ability…perhaps his ability only works when our own reflections are seen?" Law brought a finger to his chin in thought.
"Um…please excuse my interruption, Law-dono…" the small voice of Momonosuke spoke up. Law looked to the little boy, who pointed a little finger back to the corridor from which they had just escaped. "It seems that Luffy-dono is returning to the scene of battle, that it does."
"Tra-guy! You idiot, what'd you do that for? We want to be in the Marine Base, not outside of it! You must be a special kind of idiot, like Zoro. Ooooiiii! Carrots! Come out!"
Law took in a shaky breath in order to keep calm, and he grit his teeth as he glared at the fading signature straw hat that Luffy was wearing. Numerous curses from under his breath escaped him, and he sternly glared at the others and growled through his teeth, "Come on, and stay together," to which they did without question.
As they followed after Luffy, Law glanced at the mirrors. Formulating some kind of plan that would at least give them a fighting chance, he turned to Usopp and (now in a much calmer voice) asked, "Do you have anything that could somehow cover these mirrors?"
Thinking for a moment, Usopp nodded, "I think I have just the thing. Although…it may be more of a hindrance than a help, to be honest,"
"Whatever it is, it's better than being caught off guard by those wandering reflections." Law reasoned.
"If you say so…"
Usopp dug around in his satchel, and pulled out a small vile of some sort of thick liquid. He carefully poured the liquid in a circle around them, while saying, "You'll want to stay in the circle, trust me. It'll keep the vines from wrapping around us."
"What about Luffy-dono?" Kin'emon questioned. "He will need some of this sap too, will he not?"
"Knowing Luffy, he'll just dodge all of it…" Usopp explained.
After Usopp was finished making the circle, Momonosuke commented on the sheer foul stench of the stuff. It certainly made everyone who could smell it want to gag or slightly sick to their stomachs. Usopp only agreed with a nod of his head as he pulled out a few multi-coloured seeds and shot them into various directions of the base, "Pop Green: Huorn Forest!" Thin and tiny roots slowly wormed their way out of the seeds upon impact, and nothing all that impressive seemed to happen. But as soon as the slowly traveling roots found the earth and a water source a mere few minutes later, the ground began shaking violently, and vines as thick as trees began to shoot out of the ground, shooting through the ceiling and the windows, covering nearly every visible surface. Outside, the roots and vines wrapped themselves around the disk island, and having found a direct water source, travelled down the thick chains that held the island in place. The roots came into contact with the now sunken island's earth, and quickly burrowed their way down.
Along with the cracking of mirrors and stone, the group heard numerous panicked and shouting voices come from above them, confirming that there were still Marines at the Base. The only place it seemed where the roots did not grow was the circle where Usopp had poured the sap.
Usopp had been right about it being a hindrance, as the thick stalks almost rivalled those of Green Bit, and they ever so slowly continued to grow. But Law didn't want to risk cutting them or having Kin'emon burn them as these plants were their only defence at the moment, and he certainly didn't want any weaknesses in the one thing that was protecting them from being attacked by enemies they couldn't even see or attack all that well.
The four of them climbed over the thick roots, following after Luffy down the corridor of his choosing.
Usopp was nervous. "I really hope we get this fighting Rorrim thing over with soon…"
As Ebony lead the way towards the Marine Base, with the others close behind, Eurynome told them everything that had happened to her at the Base, along with what Rorrim knew about the family and his abilities.
"What?! Dacho is 25 years old?!" Sokka was shocked, as he would have sworn up and down to anyone that she was at least 12 years old.
"How on earth could someone simply mutilate another person like that?!" Zuko fumed as thoughts of Daria and how she had been silent and unsmiling when they had met her. He initially thought it had been due to shyness or mistrust. "What gives them the right?!"
"It's the Tenryubito," Eurynome replied sadly. "They're descended from the original founders of the World Government. They think they are something special and praiseworthy simply because of their heritage. They wear special suits and helmets so that they don't have to "breathe the same air" as commoners. They collect husbands and wives and get rid of them as they please, and buy slaves even though slavery is illegal. Then they…" she trailed off, Eurynome's expression showed hints of anger and sadness, but quickly continued. "Slaves wear explosive collars so that they can't escape…Daria is just one example of what they will do to people, simply because they think it is funny or fun. And they'll give them a mark, a thing called Hoof of the Dragon, permanently marking someone as a slave."
"It looks like this," Ebony said as he twisted his top half around while his legs continued running forward, completely freaking out both Sokka and Zuko. Their shock was only temporary, and they stared at the pattern that showed on his palm: a circle with four, triangle-shaped claws, three on top, one at the bottom. Afterwards, he turned back around and continued to guide them.
Eurynome closed her eyes, and sighed as she continued. "That's what everyone's tattoos was covering up. I mean, if Ebony and I have the same crazy tattoos, you can't exactly pick out the slaves…"
"So, slavery is illegal yet these Tenryubito guys are allowed to get away with it?" Zuko questioned.
"They can do absolutely anything to anyone that they please. I don't know of any crimes they can't get away with. The whole reason our Dad did the things he did, as violent as they were…it was a big, "screw you" to the World Government and also to prove a point. Plus the Revolutionaries pose a huge risk to the Government and its control. Rorrim would be in line for a promotion, world-wide fame, and then some if he ever found out where the Revolutionaries were hiding."
"What exactly do you plan to do at the Marine Base?" Zuko asked Ebony. "Do we need to provide some form of back up, or anything?"
"We just need to get to Rorrim's office, undetected, and unbothered. I also need to find a Den-Den Mushi that the Marine Base uses to make calls." Ebony said. "Hopefully, we don't run into Rorrim first thing. I'd probably try to kill him, but probably couldn't. I refuse to lower myself to their level; I'd rather die than take the life of a Marine, no matter how despicable they are."
Sokka noticed a dark look pass over Ebony's face, so he changed the topic in an effort to lighten the mood. "So…you're buying illegal books from the Underworld, what exactly are all of the books about?"
"Um, various stories about a select few of the Royal Families and their roles in founding the World Government or something (boring stuff, it's all traditions, policies, and politics)." Ebony barely even paused for a breath. "I have one with really weird writing in it, and I can't even make sense of the notes,so I can't even read it (I don't know why it was banned) ...others are about various islands throughout the Four Blues, the first half of the Grand Line and the New World that technically "never existed" and one about Gol D. Rodger, and a few other things. I love books."
"You sound almost like a guy I used to know back home. He was a professor. Loved books and doing research on ancient cultures." Sokka smiled sadly as he thought of Professor Zei.
Ebony smiled fondly. "I read whatever I could get my hands on growing up, which honestly made my elders happy that I kept out of trouble." He then frowned slightly as he continued. "Although…there was that one time I came across a book of Java's when I was around 8 years old. Had pictures of naked people in weird positions and techniques on how to "please a woman" and vice-versa…Nana-san was furious when she found me reading it and was even angrier when she found out it had belonged to Java. It wasn't until I was about 10 that I realized what I had been reading. But that kind of stuff never really interests me, anyway."
Sokka held in a childish giggle and Zuko made a face as he was thinking of just what kind of book Ebony was talking about. Neither Zoro nor Eurynome could have cared about such things, although she commented, "So, that's why Nana-san was so upset that week. She kept mumbling to Mom's shrine for hours on end. And that also explains Java's behaviour…"
"Excuse us! Excuse us!"
The small group had to squeeze past a gathered crowd who were talking amongst themselves curiously, and as soon as they spotted Zoro, all of them parted in a matter of seconds, staring at Zoro and those that were with him with looks of suspicion and curiosity. They talked in hushed whispers, and Zuko overheard a few of them talking about the Marines, and asking questions as to who "the boy with the scar" and "the boy with the strange weapon" were, along with what exactly the trading post workers had to do with the Straw Hats. Even frightened whispers about the possibility of Revolutionaries could be heard.
Once they had a clear view of just what the crowd had been looking at, Ebony's eyes widened as he asked the question that was on everyone's minds. "What the hell is that?"
The Marine Base was covered in vines and three extremely thick stalks nearly twenty feet tall reached up towards the night sky with curled, leafy fingers that slowly continued to twist and grow.
"How did that happen?" Eurynome stared in wonderment.
"Courtesy of our Sniper, I imagine." Zoro said with a slight smirk. He was willing to give credit where credit was due among the majority of his crewmates.
"Let's hurry up and get over there." Eurynome said as she narrowed her eyes.
They crossed the bridges and islands until they reached the Marine Base, and thankfully, the citizens of the island offered no trouble.
Upon seeing the island completely wrapped in thick vines, Ebony made a face as he saw that they were slowly traveling across the bridge as well.
"Those things will take over the entirety of Bháite…"
The bridge was unsteady as they crossed, and as soon as they did, Ebony cut the bridge to ensure that the vines could not get across. They carefully climbed over the rubble and the thick vines and with Eurynome over his shoulder and with his free hand, Zoro easily cut through the vines. Eurynome directed them to an office where she knew a Den-Den Mushi would be located.
"Why aren't there any guards here?" Zuko questioned. "You'd think will all of this," he waved one of his swords at the vines, "this place would be swarming with them."
"Listen, they're all above us." Zoro said, and he had to give a slight smirk at the fact they were struggling against the vines.
Sokka and Zuko cut through the vines, although this proved to be rather difficult as the vines simply kept growing, and Zuko stepped forward after telling everyone to stay behind him.
He took a deep breath and released a torrent of flames that enveloped the entire corridor, burning the vines and the sounds of glass cracking and popping could be heard. Both Eurynome and Ebony stared in wide-eyed admiration as Zuko finished, complete with a final stance.
"You're amazing, Zuko-san!" Eurynome marvelled.
"Truly impressive!" Ebony agreed.
They continued on their way, and they found the room and they had almost missed it due to its burned state. They burst into the room, and after looking around to see numerous vines seeping through the walls, both Zuko and Sokka stared at the giant snail which currently looked to be asleep.
While the vines had rendered the lights ineffective, they had no effect on the Den-Den Mushi and Zuko lit a small fire in his hand so they all could see.
"Zuko-san, come over here, please," Ebony requested, and Zuko complied. Ebony picked up the phone, took a deep breath and began breathing as if he was panicking. He dialled the phone, and soon a tired voice came on the other end.
"H-hello…?" the voice asked. "Who is this?"
"Hello! Hello!" Ebony started, talking in a strange voice, and sounding as if he was trying to keep as quiet as possible, not daring to speak up. "I'm so glad I finally reached someone! I've been trying for the past hour!"
"Who is this? What's going on? Is everything alright?" the person whom the voice belonged to was suddenly alert and full of authority. "This is Vice-Admiral Snuzu! Report! What is your situation?"
"This is…" Ebony reached for a binder which listed the names of Marines who had used the Den-Den Mushi, along with the dates, times, and people that they had called and randomly selected a name. "Look, before I tell you anything, I want your protection! I want you to promise me that you'll protect me from Vice-Admiral Rorrim Ijdel!"
"What? Vice-Admiral Rorrim…soldier, what is going on?" Snuzu asked.
"My name and rank is Petty Officer Borges Jonas of Marine Base G-24! There were people who came here, to Bháite Island quite a few years ago…and they seem to have some connection with the Revolutionaries, or something, I'm not sure. Today, Vice-Admiral Rorrim invited one of them to the base, and I think the deal fell through…something bad happened, and I have no idea what, but...in retaliation, they attacked the Marine Base! Plus, I'm pretty sure I saw the Straw Hats and the Captain of the Heart Pirates here as well!" *sob* "They're here right now!"
"WHAT?! The Heart and Straw Hat Pirates Alliance is there?!"
*sob, sob* "Things are falling apart… I don't know why…my friends…my coworkers…so many people were injured! What if they're dead?! I don't understand! Why is this happening?!"
Ebony motioned to the people who were with him, the three swordsmen simply stared at him, not understanding what he was trying to say, but Eurynome let out a blood-curdling shriek that caused everyone except her brother to flinch back in surprise. At that same moment, an alarm started blaring throughout the entire Base, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and stare. A voice crackled on the speakers, "All available units, report to the docking station! We're under attack by the Fishman Orin! I repeat, we're under attack!"
"What was that?! Are you alright?!"
"Oh my—I can't talk any longer. His desk! You'll find everything you'll need there! Check Rorrim's off—"
Ebony broke the receiver, and disconnected the snail from the phone, saying, "Be free, little snail," as he did so.
The snail more than happily complied as it left, crawling up one of the vines with a grin on its face.
"Wow, everybody's here…" Sokka commented.
"Did you just call another Vice-Admiral to this island?" Zoro questioned.
"Yep, and I guess now we'll have to hurry. Eury-chan, guide us to Rorrim's office please."
"That way," Eurynome pointed, and hit Zoro on the back. "I said that way."
"While I look forward to the challenge, the others aren't exactly going to be very happy about it…" Zoro reasoned, as he turned to go in the right direction.
"That's why we have to hurry, plus we should be gone by the time that Vice-Admiral Snooze gets here. He's miles away right now. I got my hands on the logs where Marine vessels are supposed to be sailing."
Zoro and the others decided not to ask Ebony where and how he acquired such a thing, as he waved his hand and shrugged away any other concerns that their group may have had.
They had to chop and burn down a few more vines and branches, and Zuko questioned, "What is that smell?"
"It wasn't me!" Sokka said quickly.
All of them made looks of disgust as a very strong smell wafted its way into their nostrils, and they resisted the urge to vomit.
"It's like something died and blocked up a sewer system!" Eurynome choked out as she covered her mouth and nose.
"This smells so bad I'd actually enjoy taking a huge whiff of Iroh's slipper and call it fresh air!" Sokka said to Zuko as he pulled his shirt up to cover his nose and mouth.
"Like you're one to talk," Zuko shot back.
After they had gotten about thirty feet away from the mysterious stench, they took in deep breaths of the fresh air. Eurynome directed them to a section of the wall where she was pretty sure the office was located, and after cutting and burning through the thick and stubborn vines, they made their way into the office. It was also overgrown, but that didn't stop Ebony from digging through the file cabinets and Eurynome smashing the painting of the Marine ship.
"Oh, look at you, you beauty!" she said as eyed the safe. With a few quick and successive punches to certain areas of the safe, she pulled off the door, and threw it to the side. Upon seeing the contents within the safe, her eyes filled with wonderment.
"Ebony, before you do anything, help me out with this stuff!"
Ebony complied as he shoved everything off of the desk with a single sweep of an inky arm, and he pulled a scroll out from his satchel.
"What are you doing?" Zuko questioned.
"Compensation," Eurynome grinned as she piled all of the treasure onto the opened scroll. She briefly hugged one of the larger gold pieces with affection.
"Wow…" Sokka had never seen that much gold before. "So, what are you going to spend it on?"
Eurynome gasped as if Sokka had just said something absolutely blasphemous.
"Let me tell you something Sokka-san, a very simple life truth; spending money is wasting money!" Eurynome gave the treasure one last affectionate look, as Ebony traced the gold and the rest of the treasure with his ink.
"Ink Lock."
The treasure shrunk down in a matter of seconds, and when Sokka, Zuko, and Zoro looked, the treasure looked like nothing more than an intricate drawing on a scroll.
"That's amazing!" Zuko marvelled.
"Yeah, but it still retains its weight…" Ebony sighed, as he stuffed the scroll into his bag. "She's lucky I'm willing to carry it…"
Ebony then went back and forth between the file cabinets and pulled out various folders and digging through Rorrim's desk, cutting away at the constantly growing vines as he did so. He went back to digging through his satchel and pulled out a stack of papers.
"What exactly are you doing?" Sokka questioned, and a dark grin appeared on Ebony's face. The ink on the papers began to move, flowing across the pages.
"Why, a little espionage, blackmail, money laundering, among a few other things…I mean, when a group that is possibly connected to the Revolutionaries show up, and a high-ranking Government official seemingly lets it slide, that's bound to be suspicious. He's risen through the ranks for one reason or another, and it's not always by skill or hard work alone. Sometimes it's about who you know and what you shouldn't know about them."
The pages became covered in dates and notes, and Ebony looked quite pleased with himself.
"Suddenly, one night, things fall apart between the group of people who are possibly connected to the Revolutionaries and the Government official. And now, with the presence of the Straw Hat and Heart Pirate alliance, that just makes things all the more questionable, does it not?"
After carefully inspecting various papers, he smirked at the others. "Forging signatures is quite the little speciality of mine."
He motioned to one of the papers on the desk, saying proudly, "That is his handwriting, and here is what I've done."
"Oh, there's not really a noticeable difference between them is there?" Zoro looked impressed.
About twenty minutes passed before Ebony was finished, and he stuffed papers into Rorrim's desk and a few others into the file cabinets, and then with the help of the others, made the office a complete mess. They overturned bookshelves, making it look as if the office were searched. With the empty safe, the people obviously found what they were looking for.
"Let's get out of here," Eurynome said, as Zoro lifted her up again. "And let's find the others. I know I got you Pirates involved in this, I'm sorry for that, and I want to make sure all of us get out of this alive."
Ebony was grinning optimistically again, and gave them a thumbs-up. "Don't worry, you guys! I won't give the Marines the satisfaction of capturing you!"
"Great," Sokka and Zuko chorused flatly.
The ground began to shake again, and there was shouting upstairs. Everyone jumped back as the ceiling a few feet in front of them caved in, and a form showed before them. Even in the moonlight, he could be seen very clearly, and he shined.
"SUUUPPPEEEERRRRRR!" Franky Shogun called out, striking his classic pose. Marines groaned as they were sprawled across the vine-covered floor.
"Oh…my…" Zuko said in wide eyed wonderment. "That is…amazing…just saying that doesn't even do it justice!"
Sokka screamed in excitement. "I—I—you…do you see…how…!" He kept glancing in between those he was standing with and Franky Shogun with a big childish grin on his face.
"Is that Cyborg Franky-san?" Ebony questioned, pointing at Franky while he looked curiously at Zoro.
"IS THAT A ROBOT?!" Eurynome's eyes were sparkling as she twisted around to peer over her shoulder.
"Ow!" Franky struck another pose. "Super sorry I'm late! I had to take care of Sunny! Now, let's begin!"
Franky Shogun went berserk, shouting at the Marines, challenging them to a fight. The Marines were left with Franky shooting a huge laser that caused Sokka, Zuko to scream and duck for cover, Ebony to watch in wide-eyed fascination, while Eurynome begged for Zoro to find cover, and Zoro commenting that he wished a Marine would come along who would give him a real challenge.
"Wow, Cyborg Franky-san is amazing!" Ebony marvelled.
After they had ran down a few more of the corridors, Zuko questioned, "Where are we going?"
"I don't know, I was following you." Ebony replied honestly.
Sokka slapped his forehead, and sighed. "Well, alright, what's the plan now?"
"Well…" Ebony started. "I actually didn't think as far as this point…"
Sokka slapped his forehead again. "What?!"
"Well, originally," Ebony counted the parts of his plan with his fingers. "If we were ever found out, I intended to frame Rorrim, call in another Marine vessel to come in and clean up "Rorrim's mess", and all of us would escape from there. Although I never intended for the Straw Hats and Heart Pirates alliance to get involved (it makes it work out for the better in some ways) it certainly makes escaping a little more difficult as all of you are involved now."
"Perhaps we should find Rorrim and get him out of the way," Eurynome suggested. "I don't mean kill him!" she defended as Sokka and Zuko both gave her a look. "Obviously, he plays a big part in all of this. With him gone, we can go ahead and regroup and make our escape."
"Hmm," Zoro started. "Luffy was saying how he wanted to fight Rorrim, and he doesn't appreciate others getting involved. They're probably fighting right now. Tch. He's probably having a better fight than me…"
Zoro continued to grumble about Luffy's fight, while the others discussed what they were planning to do.
"We should go and find the others." Ebony said, sounding quite serious. "I'm confident in Straw Hat Luffy-san's abilities, so we should be able to leave very quickly."
Everyone agreed with Ebony, and so the group quickly ran down one of the corridors which would hopefully lead them to Luffy, and they could escape Bháite.
Next Time: Luffy confronts Rorrim and his mirrors, Zoro and his group go to find Luffy, and the others arrive at the Marine Base, and a disappointed Nami learns of the fate of the treasure at the Marine Base.
