He was getting very tired of this, and he'd only been in the damn warehouse for twenty minutes, at most.
Doflamingo swatted aside a gun that had just dropped down from in front of him, and barely even flinched as it went off. The older man kicked away some barrels and crates meant to slow him down, and avoided a few more nasty sharp objects aimed at him. Doflamingo smiled to himself as he continued on his way as if he hadn't nearly been skewered again like he had almost become in the pit of spikes earlier. Doflamingo had had no idea just how depraved Trafalgar's mind really was, but the large axe-like blade that was now whizzing through the air toward him gave him a fairly good idea. And so did several iron maidens and other sharp instruments lying against the wall behind him, as if there hadn't been enough time to put them in place.
Doflamingo immediately dropped to the ground as the sharp blade went overhead, low enough to the ground that the older man felt the pressure of the blade against the back of his feathery coat. Doflamingo lurched forward for the single tunnel-like path before him, in case any more blades tried to cut him. Doflamingo laughed as he narrowly avoiding tripping over a near invisible wire straight in front of the tunnel, and made an undignified roll into the narrow place.
He held still, waiting, almost certain that the ground was going to give way as it had before. It didn't, and Doflamingo cautiously rose, though he had to remain stooped, again, to avoid brushing against the top of the hastily put together tunnel. The blond's smile was fixed as he reached the other end of the shoddily built place, and emerged into a large open space. Doflamingo narrowed his eyes suspiciously, though with the glasses in place, he merely seemed to be contemplating where to go next. Inwardly, Doflamingo was wondering what else he was going to encounter on his way to the exit of the warehouse.
Doflamingo absently ran a hand along his right arm, before leaving it alone at the painful twinge. So long as he didn't come across any more pits or the ground caving out beneath him, he'd likely be able to get out unscathed. Or spikes coming out of the walls. It just figured that Trafalgar would design things with his height in mind. After another brief survey of the area, the blond haired man began to skirt the side of the wide open space. He could see the back wall of the warehouse from where he was, even if it was a tad on the dark side. Though there was likely to be a detour at some point, as Trafalgar wasn't going to let him take the easy way out.
Doflamingo heard a rushing sound, almost like water, and turned his head. He watched something start to fill into the room he was standing in, and noted that it wasn't water, but something that was sizzling upon contact with the ground. Doflamingo's eyes widened a fraction. Acid, perhaps? Doflamingo's head whipped to the door he'd been heading to, and saw that it was closed now, trapping him in the open room with acid or some substance steadily filling in. Doflamingo grit his teeth as he looked around for higher ground, and glanced up silently. The only thing he could see that could potentially hold his weight was some mesh fence that enclosed the room. Doflamingo moved away from the substance that oozed across the floor toward him, and made a jump, reaching up with one long arm.
The blond grinned triumphantly as his fingers seized the fence, and held on tightly as he hoisted himself toward it and latched on with his other hand. Doflamingo chanced a glance down, and saw that the substance now entirely encased the ground he'd been standing on moments before. Doflamingo, with a doubtful expression, lifted up a foot to try and gain more purchase, when he heard something headed toward him. Doflamngo swiftly dropped his leg, narrowly avoiding having the foot impaled by a sharp spike. Doflamingo couldn't avoid the other spikes, and grimly endure the pain of the spikes cutting into the skin of his arms and legs, as well as one narrowly avoiding his neck, but taking something with it in any case.
Doflamingo watched in dismay as his favorite feathery pink jacket met its demise, slowly sinking into the substance below, where it fizzled against the jacket, until it was entirely gone. Doflamingo scowled. He'd had to have the damn thing specifically tailored for his frame, and it had been expensive as hell. Doflamingo gripped the mesh wire fence more tightly, aware that it would be a bad idea to let go and meet a similar fate. With a sigh, Doflamingo's smile came back as he slowly made his way along the fence, and over to where he could force himself up under the fence and onto a wall. It would get him one step closer to the exit.
Doflamingo's hands tightened subconsciously as his smile grew in its intensity. Trafalgar was going to pay for every little thing that happened to him in this warehouse, and there was no way he was going to let the dark haired man think that he was going to get away with this.
-x
"Is he all right?" Ace questioned, though his eyes were on the same pit of spikes that Doflamingo had landed in earlier, and was amusing himself by melting the spikes with his pyrokinesis.
"He's fine. I think he's more in shock that you saved him than anything," Marco responded, stepping away from Bartolomeo after seeing to it that the green haired teen hadn't been injured.
Bartolomeo seemed to be distracted, shaking and muttering feverishly under his breath.
Both Marco and Ace assumed that the muttering was from having a near death experience, but had they been really listening, they would have heard things like "he touched me. Luffy's brother touched me" and "I'm not worthy of his notice" or the fact that the pierced teen was now crying, not out of fear, but from being overwhelmed with feelings of admiration.
Ace toned down the flames, and turned to Marco, who was standing alongside him and giving him a searching look. "What?"
"I think you can stop burning the spikes now." Marco commented, glancing down into the pit, "I think all we need to worry about now is how to get across and not land in molten iron."
The flames dispersed altogether and Ace shrugged his shoulders, "We could probably make it if we go on either side of the pit." The black haired teen pointed out the bits of cement that hadn't fallen into the pit.
Bartolomeo was suddenly between the two, looking eager, "Great idea. I knew you and your brother were awesome! I would never have thought of that!"
Marco hid a smile at the now beaming Bartolomeo and the rather confused Ace, "We should keep moving. We don't know what else that ghost has planned."
Ace carefully avoided Bartolomeo, rather put off by how enthusiastic the other teen was, and the fact that he didn't really know him other than the fact that they went to the same school, "The ghost that's possessing Law?"
"The one possessing Eustass is here too. I heard him over the speaker. But he was bedridden for awhile, so this place isn't his doing." Marco moved up against the wall, carefully traversing the edge of the pit, "And there's also the fact that the spirit possessing Law seems to have some problem with Doflamingo. Eustass, or the spirit possessing him, did mention Doflamingo and Law. I assume that Doflamingo took Law with him, whether because he thought it was Law, or knew that there was a spirit possessing Law." Marco reached the other side of the pit, and had to reach out to help Bartolomeo balance, before the teen fell into the melted spikes because he was marveling at how Ace had managed to make it to the other side so quickly.
"What are you talking about?" Ace questioned, settling his hat back on his head as he glanced around the immediate area on the other side of the pit. There were two paths to choose, and he supposed they'd be taking the way that looked like Doflamingo had taken. Mainly because the older man would have set off any potential traps.
Marco shook his head at the sight of Ace trying to figure out which way to go, and Bartolomeo watching him admiringly from a few paces away, "What I'm saying is that I think that Doflamingo knows one or both of the spirits for some reason. He specifically mentioned that he wanted to get his hands on both Eustass and Law, and I'm fairly certain he meant the spirits. Eustass hadn't done anything to anger Doflamingo, and Law worked for the man."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
A/N: Short chapter. I'll post the next pretty soon after I go through it one more time for any errors/edits.
This particular chapter I will definitely go back to and rewrite after I finish posting the whole story (because, quite frankly, the chapter didn't turn out how I wanted it to, but you should get the gist of what I originally had planned for it).
For now, I want to keep posting, so that this fanfic doesn't become one that I leave alone for years and years before getting around to updating.