-Law POV-
"I have no intention of going down there," I decreed, looking over the edge of the cliff at the jungle below. We didn't have jungles in North Blue. I had no intention of finding out what they were like now. "I see no point."
Lilith-ya got a very evil glint in her eyes. "Oh?" she asked. Somehow I knew I wouldn't like what shes was about to say. Probably because it was coming from Lilith-ya. Even I'd known her long enough to realize that. "So you're scared?" she asked.
I rolled my eyes. "I am not scared and that is not going to work on me," I told her. Kid might fall for something like that but not me. I'm not that gullible.
"But you can't fight," Lilith-ya countered insistently. "Doctors are only useful after the fighting's over after all," she teased, "they can't do anything for themselves." I sent her a warning glare but it was ignored. "It's nothing to be ashamed of really. Warriors need medics sometimes. It's a very important job too. Just… slightly less courageous."
"You already know I can fight," I argued. We'd fought together at Shabondy. She should remember that.
"Oh sure," Lilith-ya dismissed, "Against Marines. But the unknown is completely different. Anyone can fight Marines. It takes brains to be able to make it in the Pit. As it is I'm worried about Ace if he wanders off."
"Hey!" he protested. We both ignored him in favor of a glaring contest. I was unused to opponents who didn't back down once they realized who they were dealing with. Lilith-ya wasn't. She didn't waver in the slightest.
"You're not going to stop until I agree to come are you?" I asked reluctantly.
"Of course not," Lilith-ya scoffed immediately. "I've got all day," she added. "The longer we argue the longer I can avoid the Hag Witch! Which, by the way, is a very noble aspiration."
I sighed. Miss Gracie had already told me that I'd lose this little competition. I may as well do it with some dignity. "Very well then," I conceded. "But how exactly are you going to get Sabo-ya down there without reopening his injury?" I asked. "I'm not having my work wasted and he can't exactly go mountain climbing in his condition."
"There's a staircase." Miss Gracie supplied. I was dubious. I hadn't seen one earlier when we'd taken a look at the Armpit of Hell from above. Granted, Lilith-ya had mentioned them before but the name sounded ridiculously made up. Apparently however there were stairs down into Hell's Armpit. Lilith-ya called them the 'Creepy-As-Fuck-Ass-Evil-Stairs-Of-Hell-And-Doom-And-All-That-Shit' once more and said that if we wanted to use them we were welcome to, but she would meet us at the bottom. Fire Fist-ya jumped after her almost immediately, apparently with the intention of keeping her company while she waited. When I asked Miss Gracie why Lilith-ya named the stairs something as ridiculous as that she just sighed and said, "You'll see. They're aptly named."
"And what exactly is it that can make Lilith scared to use them?" Sabo-ya asked.
"Let's just say that when we were five Lilith got herself eaten by one and she's had a phobia ever since," Miss Gracie said.
That's not much of an explanation really. "What exactly was it that ate her?" I asked. "And how did she get out?"
"Old Man Smokey showed up and ran the thing's head through with his jutte," Miss Gracie replied casually. "Lilith kept one of it's eyes as as souvenir but the whole thing still freaked her out pretty badly. She's still too scared to deal even with the little ones."
"The little whats?" Sabo-ya asked. Apparently he wasn't the only one getting irritated. "You still haven't told us what exactly it is we are looking out for."
"Those," Miss Gracie reported, pointing.
I turned. Oh. Is that all? I thought it would be scarier.
-Sabo POV-
Giant spiders. Tarantulas to be exact. Great big hairy beasts with lots of eyes and legs. And here I was unable to fight them. They weren't exactly all that scary, but I'm not normally overly fond of big things with the intention to eat me when I can't fight back. "Law, I'm injured," I reminded him calmly, "I won't be much help without reopening my wounds." It was disappointing to once again rely on his goodwill but I didn't have that much choice. It had been worth it to protect Luffy but the injury to my chest was still a huge nuisance. At least I was allowed to walk around now. That was something. Law said I shouldn't be doing anything too active for the next week, but I took that to mean a day or two. My injuries weren't that bad anyway.
"Do you want to take them or shall I?" Gracie asked. I looked at her, surprised. She didn't really seem the fighting type and her Devil Fruit wasn't suited to combat. She might be stronger than I assumed… then again, she grew up with Lilith. She's got to at least be able to hold her own in a fight.
"No, no," Law waved her off politely, "I've got this handled," he promised, drawing his nauchandi.
"Good," Gracie said, nodding. "I'm not to fond of these things either frankly, something to do with my best friend getting eaten in front of me as a kid." I can't imagine why. I saw Luffy get eaten by crocodiles several times but I never got scared of those things. Maybe it's something else...
-Ace POV-
I landed not far from Lilith. She hadn't bothered to transform and just used Armament Haki when she landed, kicking up a small crater. I landed next to her and successfully managed not to set the trees on fire - I'd gotten better at that recently. Looking around in the daylight, I could see things much better. The Pit wasn't like the jungle I grew up in as a kid with Sabo and Luffy. But I could sense it had a similar type of danger - not overly threatening or malicious, just the sense that the strong survive and the weak die. The trees were tall but not overly so, gnarled and twisted. Most noticeably though everything was covered in green. Vines, grasses, bushes, leaves, ferns, mosses grew on everything. I couldn't see the bark of the trees and the ground didn't show a single patch of dirt.
"What's up with this place?" I asked.
Lilith grinned at me. "Things evolve weirdly in the Grand Line. Even more so in the Calm Belt where there's practically no contact with outside lifeforms. The plant life down here feeds off seawater and has the same effect as Sea Stone on Fruit users. And that's not even mentioning the animals. But they mostly just show up on the later levels. The ones up here are basically harmless." Lilith paused. "Watch out for monkeys. They throw things."
I decided I didn't want to know what they threw. I focused instead on something she mentioned before that. "There are levels?" I asked, curious. So this is where Lilith grew up, huh?
"Tunnels that lead underground," Lilith said nodding. There was a gleam in her eyes as she talked. It was the same look Luffy so often gets when he'd thinking about exploring. The only difference of course was this was Lilith, not Luffy. Her ideas would probably be a lot more deadly than Luffy's which were merely dangerous - but that's what makes Lilith special. Luffy charged ahead, heedless of the dangers he usually ran into. Lilith actively sought them out. "As a kid the lowest I could go was Ten," Lilith informed me proudly, "Most kids couldn't make it past Four, even as a group. According to the Hag Witch, there are Fifty Levels and they get increasingly dangerous."
"You want to go all the way down, don't you?" I asked. I knew yer too well.
Lilith beamed at me. "Maybe not today," she admitted, "but eventually yeah! The Hag Witch refused to tell me what was on the final level so we used to make up stories. The most popular theories were a dragon, a heap load of gold, a tribe of blind cannibals - don't ask - or a second pit within the Pit that opened all the way to Hell itself."
"Which one do you believe?" I asked.
"Dragon. It's got to be a dragon!" Lilith informed me. "Don't ask Gracie though. She always said the tunnel just ended - not that she ever predicted it though. Completely boring. A real dragon would be so much cooler. Who doesn't want to fight a dragon?!" Well, normal people wouldn't but you certainly don't fall under that category.
"Why didn't you want to take the stairs?" I asked, curious. Lilith had actually looked a little bit scared at the thought and I wanted to know why. She hadn't hidden it as well as she thought she did.
"I got eaten by a giant spider when I was five," she admitted frankly. "Those things are freaky as fuck and they still live over there."
"Is that why you're afraid of spiders?!" I asked, laughing. I thought only idiots like Luffy got themselves eaten by things. Apparently I was wrong.
"I'm not scared I just really really hate them!" Lilith protested. I noticed she shuddered slightly. "I was five! Those things are really freaky with legs and eyes and all hairy and shit! Besides I'm fine aren't I?" she asked. I was still laughing. "Stop that or I'll do something malicious to you later," Lilith threatened, eyes narrowing. "There's plenty of stuff in here that can kill you if you don't know what to look out for."
"Oh yeah," I said, remembering my previous experience with the Pit, "What was that last night that made me pass out?" I asked, "You called it a cave vent or something? What is that?"
"A cave vent is basically just that," Lilith said. "Not all of the caves are safe to enter at all, some of them have toxic gasses and such. You walked too close to one of those and passed out. They're easy enough to avoid though. We're not going anywhere near them today. There's just something I want to show you guys on Level Seven."
That sounded interesting. "What's that?" I asked her.
"It's a surprise!" Lilith said happily. "I found it when Gracie and I were kids! You'll love it, promise!"
"You've been with Gracie a long time haven't you?" I asked, "Why did you never mention her?"
She just shrugged at first but quickly elaborated. "Why did you never mention Luffy and Sabo?" Lilith replied, sitting down and pulling up some nearby grass. She started braiding it thoughtlessly. "It was a part of my past. Something good that became painful to talk or even think about. It's not like I kept Gracie a secret or anything. You never asked. I never asked you either." Lilith ran out of grass to braid and tossed it aside, pulling up more and repeating the process. "Besides, I was pretty damn sure at that point that I belonged alone so… I didn't want to say anything."
"You don't though," I said, sitting next to her, accidentally squashing some ferns in the process and not acknowledging it.
"I don't what?" Lilith asked, looking over to me, confused.
"You don't belong alone," I told her. "Not anymore."
Lilith looked away, a smile pulled at her lips. "Thank you," she said. "For that and for everything."
"What everything?" I asked. "I should be thanking you. You're the one who saved my life. That's kind of a big deal you know."
"I wouldn't have if it weren't for you," Lilith stated frankly. I didn't get what she was saying at first but she explained without me having to ask her any questions. "I traveled around a lot the past eight years," she said. "Mostly I was on my own, training and such. I stayed with the Revolutionaries and Sabo and that lot for about a year. I hung out with some pirate crews for a bit but I never stayed long. Had a bunch of masters but I usually surpassed them within a few months max and moved on. The longest time I stayed anywhere was with the Whitebeards. And the first time I found myself fighting for anything beyond just my life or my revenge was when I tried to save you. And it felt really good not to be doing something just for myself for once. So thanks. I wouldn't have stayed with the Whitebeards for so long if it weren't for you."
"I didn't do anything special," I protested.
Lilith turned to me and smiled. "I know," she said. "That's what made me happy."
-Gracie POV-
"Crud," I muttered, sensing something was up. "They're crossing into dangerous territory without supervision!" Even when I'm not actively using my powers I can tell when something is happening and usually guess what it is. It's kind of like a super-extended Observation Haki that only informs me of things I would consider of interest. During the War of the Best, four days ago, I'd been forced to use my crystal ball to make sense of everything and even then I hadn't figured much out. Sometimes my Devil Fruit was a curse more than a blessing. Right now though I'd just been alerted to some bad news. "Agh, I knew I shouldn't have left them alone!"
"I thought you said they'd be fine on their own?" Law questioned. He looks slightly concerned. It makes him look hot. No! More important things are happening right now! Shut up stupid brain!
"Yes, well, they're not in that kind of danger," I informed him. We were now halfway down the stairs since Law had chopped all the spiders into pieces. It was awesome. Ope Ope Fruit. I'd have to remember that one. Anyways… We've still got a problem here! "Sabo," I decided, "can you - ?"
"No he cannot," Law cut me off. "He shouldn't use his Logia form for at least another day," he informed me. "Any sooner and his wound will reopen and he'll probably die. It would depend on how much medical equipment was nearby. Normally I'd say a week but I know that he won't do that so I won't be bothered with it."
"Right," Sabo said, "so I'm not doing that just yet. I try to avoid dying most of the time. Got a Plan B?"
"I'm always ready for a Plan B," I informed him. "I just thought this would be a nice surprise instead of a sneak attack but I can adapt."
"What exactly are you talking about again?" Law asked.
"Hmm? Nothing much. Just plotting. Fixing the future," I muttered as I dug through my pockets. This shouldn't be that hard. I don't have that many… unless I forgot to bring it… but I'm pretty sure I grabbed it... "I know it's here somewhere… Aha!" I held up a large silver whistle proudly. "Got it!"
"What's that for?" Sabo asked.
"It's a whistle," I said frankly. "What are whistles usually used for?" I prompted.
Sabo paused. "Annoying people with loud noises?" he guessed.
I fought the urge to facepalm and barely succeeded. I see why he's on Lilith's Dumbshit List. Makes perfect sense. "Whistles are usually used as signals," Law informed him, "More specifically and most commonly as a summons." And see why he's on Lilith's Not a Dumbshit List. "Did I guess correctly, Miss Gracie?" My name never sounded so good! If I try talking now I'll probably say something dumb.
Rather than answer in words, I blew the whistle. It was silent, but I knew it worked. Mostly because trees started falling over in the distance, forming a straight line towards the base of the Stairs. "I take it then that I was right," Law observed. I nodded. Oh and I refuse to call them the Creepy-As-Fuck-Ass-Evil-Stairs-Of-Hell-And-Doom-And-All-That-Shit because that would be weird. That's Lilith's thing. Doesn't quite suit me the same way.
-Lilith POV-
The ground was shaking. Just a little but it was getting stronger. I stood up. "What's up?" Ace asked. Then he noticed the ground shaking too. "Is that normal?" he asked, getting to his feet and taking up a fighting stance beside me.
"No," I informed him, "No it is not. There shouldn't be anything this big until Level Six and even then those oversized fuzzballs aren't aggressive. Something's up." This was unusual. There wasn't supposed to be anything even mildly threatening up here on Level One except plants. And a few monkeys willing to throw things at you - usually unpleasant things - but that's beside the point. Something was up here that I wasn't expecting. Well, it had been ten years. Maybe that's to be expected. I shouldn't be so cocky. I've been away from home for a long time. Some things are bound to change. But I broke myself from my thoughts as the shaking got stronger. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.
"It's your forest," Ace said, "do we attack?"
"Let's see what it is first," I decided. Maybe something just got lost… Animals aren't that stupid. Especially not animals around here. "Don't attack unless - " It broke the treeline. A large, black dog - easily twice as tall as a horse - bounded towards us - or, more specifically, me. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. "Is that -?!" was as far as I got before he sprung on me, pinning me to the ground with one forepaw. Next thing I knew i was covered in dog slobber and a rough tongue rasped repetitively over my face. I wanted to tell him to get off but opening my mouth would not be ideal right now.
"Uh... Lilith?" Ace asked, "Do I attack or not?" I was unable to look at him because of all the slobber constantly being reapplied to my face but he sounded amused. "Because this guy doesn't seem all that dangerous."
I held my arms up to defend my face. "Ace, this is Fang-chan. Obviously he's grown in the past ten years."
Ace burst out laughing. "Only you Lilith! Only you would have a pet like this!"
"You've already met Bubble-chan," I argued, still pinned to the ground but - thankfully - no longer being slobbered. I was already sticky enough. "I don't see why you're so surprised."
"You're saying that your family let you keep something this big?" he asked, still laughing slightly.
"Well he wasn't so big when I was a kid," I admitted. "Fang-chan was smaller than I was. Oi, get off me buddy," I ordered and Fang-chan obediently hopped back, removing his foot from my stomach. Sitting up, I felt horrible. One of Fang-chan's legs was gone.
"What's wrong?" Ace asked. "You look upset all of a sudden."
"Last time I saw Fang-chan I was being taken from my home," I told him. "He tried to attack Akainu. Got kicked. Back then he still had all his legs." It was a short story. I'd never gone over the details of how I'd been taken from my home. I never wanted to talk about it. I'd had a few nightmares about it though. I hugged Fang-chan around the front since I couldn't reach his neck. A thought occurred to me. "Oops," I announced. "That was a mistake."
"What was?" Ace asked. I stepped away from Fang-chan. Not only was I covered in dog slobber but now also dog fuzz. It was unpleasant. "I see," Ace announced. "Yes, I think that was a mistake," he agreed. As polite as he sounded, I could tell he was trying not to laugh.
"You shut up," I ordered. "I am extremely unhappy right now." I smiled evilly. "I'm so depressed in fact that I think I might need a hug."
Ace looked petrified. "Lilith, wait, think about this…" he protested, backing up slowly, hands up for defense. "You wouldn't really do tha- okay, yes you would," Ace admitted, "but I'm going to ask you not to."
"It's too damn late for that," I informed him irritably. "I've been slobbered, slimed and fuzzed. You're next."
-Sabo POV-
I hadn't thought of that. Grace and I had already decided that Ace and Lilith needed supervision if we wanted everything to work out but I hadn't realized when Ace jumped after her that something might come up. I had to be more proactive if I wanted everything to work out. Grace caught my eye and I nodded. We'd just have to handle this by ourselves. Law wouldn't want to get involved and anyone else might accidentally make it worse. It was down to the two of us. I've trained as a spy for years. Certainly this can't be all that different.
