Chapter 22: The Quell Invasion
"It appears we miscalculated with Quell," Ichiji calmly told a captain in his army amidst the sound of cannon fire. "Once we held Fen in our grasp, I had believed they would hunker down and take the defensive position. Presumably, they instead feel that they can force us out of Fen before we gain a strong foothold."
The captain shook his head in mock sympathy. "With how much Quell feared our eventual attack, you would think they would have studied up on Germa's war tactics. Of course our hold on Fen is absolute. They had no hope of forcing us out the moment we took down Fen's ruling family."
"Of course," Ichiji agreed. "Nor do they have any hope of stopping us from taking over their nation. All this preemptive strike will do is up the casualties from this war." He glanced at the ship's cabin before turning back to watch his fleet exchange fire with Quell's cliffside defenses. The only problem with Quell's preemptive strike was the fact that Germa's navigator was aboard Ichiji's ship.
He hadn't expected an attack today. The navigator was on his ship only because Ichiji had needed more maps of Quell's coastline. They had only focused on Fen previously so as not to arouse Quell's suspicions.
~.~
Nami stared down at her maps, not really seeing them. This wasn't the first time she was on board one of Germa's ships during a war campaign—but it was the first time she was on board by accident. Ichiji hadn't meant for this to turn into a battle. Or, if he had, he'd kept it from her, which was entirely possible. There was no reason why he would reveal any plans to her.
However, it seemed the whole reason that she'd come was pointless. With all the cannon fire going on, they couldn't navigate through the waters enough for her to work on her maps.
She hoped this battle wouldn't last long one way or another. She wondered if Ichiji would be more lenient with Quell's royal family if they surrendered rather than continuing to fight, or if Germa 66 treated all their conquered kingdoms the same regardless. She couldn't imagine how the non-conquered kingdoms of North Blue felt seeing one kingdom after another fall to Germa 66. Germa must feel like an unstoppable force to those countries. They sure seemed like one to her.
A shattering sound had her spinning toward a window on the side of the ship. Two men in dark blue suits were coming through. They definitely weren't members of Germa's army. All their uniforms had 66 on the side.
"Who are you?" she asked, backing up.
"You'll get a lot less hurt if you come with us quietly, girl," one of them said.
"Right," she said before lunging for the table where her climatact lay.
The man who hadn't spoken rushed forward so quickly he was a blur. Nami mentally cursed as he crushed her against his body with one arm, his other hand covering her mouth. The man had to have a devil fruit power. He was faster than even the Germa princes.
"Like my friend said," the devil fruit user began, "this'll go a lot better for you if you come quietly."
~.~
The fighting had only been going on for a few hours when the cannon fire from Quell's cliffside defenses ceased. Ichiji signaled for his fleet to cease fire as well. There was no way Quell was surrendering. There had far more military might than they had yet shown. They might, however, try to offer Ichiji a deal. No deal would be acceptable, but it looked good on the part of Germa 66 to at least be willing to listen. It showed that they could be reasonable if the occasion called for it.
It took only a few minutes for a message to be relayed to Ichiji that he was being summoned to the cliffside. It could be a trap, a paltry attempt on Quell's part to sink Ichiji along with his ship. Such a thing would be impossible. They could sink his ship and Ichiji would escape just fine with his raid suit, but . . . this time he stopped his eyes from straying toward the cabin. The navigator was too valuable a tool for him to risk like that. Instead, he flew himself toward the cliff, leaving his ship behind.
At the cliffside, he was greeted by a military leader wearing a wide smirk.
"Well?" Ichiji asked, tilting his head. "I don't have time to waste. What do you want?"
Anger flashed through the man's eyes before his smirk settled back in place. "You might want to watch your tone, Germa 66. Quell has abilities that can get past even the great Germa's defenses."
"Truly?" Ichiji asked. "And these abilities are so impressive that you feel the need to tell me about them rather than use them?"
The man's smirk widened, becoming a predatory grin. "We already have."
Ichiji had checked the formation of his fleet as he'd flown over. Everyone was in place exactly where they should have been and none of them had received any damage above what he'd expected. "You're bluffing." If Quell had some secret ability that would allow them the upper hand in this fight, they would have already used it.
"Am I?" the man asked.
He was so insolent that Ichiji considered killing him without waiting for him to finish.
"Many kingdoms have been scrambling to learn the secret of Germa's increased effectiveness, but it's not such a secret anymore."
The first hint of unease entered Ichiji's mind. He should have checked on the navigator before coming. But the man was probably bluffing.
"I doubt that you'll continue to be so effective without your precious navigator and princess. She's supposed to be your fiancé, isn't she?"
"You don't have her," Ichiji said. Why hadn't he checked the cabin?
The man chuckled. "Oh really? Have you seen her since we ceased fire upon your ships? We only stopped once we had her safely in our custody. Such a lovely young woman. It would be a shame if anything where to happen to her. I doubt she'd be much use as a mapmaker if she no longer had any hands. What do you think?"
Rage course through Ichiji at the threat. "If you have her," he said slowly, "then show her to me."
The man scoffed. "As though we would be that stupid. Go check your flagship for her. Scour it from top to bottom and see if you can find her."
Ichiji greeted his teeth. For him to go back to the flagship would put this Quell idiot in a position of power. But he didn't trust his men to do the check for him. With a last glare for the Quell military leader, he flew back to his ship.
It couldn't be true, of course. How could Quell possibly have gotten onto Ichiji's flag ship without him noticing? Unless they'd used devil fruit powers.
His men scattered when he landed on his ship, his rage apparent in his stance. Stalking to the cabin, he threw open the door. Empty. It was empty and there was glass on the floor from a broken window.
Growling under his breath, he prowled through the room. It looked like the idiot navigator had been taken. Why hadn't she fought back? Why was her staff still on the table? She'd been able to fight him off. Him, a general of Germa 66! She should have been able to fight off a couple fools from Quell. His heart was pounding and he told himself it was from rage. The navigator had no right to inconvenience him like this. He couldn't believe that he, a prince of Germa, was rushing off to rescue a commoner.
Stepping from the cabin, he turned to the captain. "Start negotiations with the Quell leader, but agree to nothing."
"What will you be doing?" the captain asked, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion.
"Retrieving the navigator."
He moved to the back of the ship and jumped, nearly allowing himself to drop into the water before activating his jets. He'd have to be stealthy so he wouldn't be seen. Pity Sanji wasn't there. It was so rare that he was useful that it was always annoying not to have him around when he was needed. No matter. Ichiji would find the idiot navigator and bring her back.
~.~
"Do you really think that Germa 66 will decide not to conquer a nation for the sake of one life?" Nami asked. She was stuffed into the corner of a room in what she believed was Quell' castle with her arms tied behind her back. Her face hurt from where one of the men had struck her. Not because she'd resisted, but because she was associated with Germa.
"According to our intelligence, yes, they will," a man said, glaring down at her. Despite the fact that he was dressed in military clothing, Nami felt like he was probably royalty. His bearing was too proud and entitled to be straight military, and he was way too young for all the deference the other guards were showing him. "Judge is so proud of his new pet navigator, his future daughter-in-law. You're too useful for Germa to allow you to die. At least, not until they've gotten everything they want out of you. I suppose I can admire a princess who bothers to learn a useful skill, but you chose the wrong side."
"I—what did you just call me?" Nami asked, thrown by being called a princess. She wouldn't be a princess until she married one of the princes. Surely it was known that the Vinsmoke wedding hadn't happened yet. Weren't royal weddings supposed to be a big deal? The Vinsmokes had sure made a big deal out of her wedding dress. Reiju had said it had to show off Germa's wealth.
"A navigator," the-probably-a-prince said, giving her a condescending look. "Don't try to pretend that you're not. Why else would a woman be on one of Germa's war ships?"
Nami had no idea why this man would think she was a princess, but decided not to correct him since it wouldn't do anything to help her situation.
"I didn't choose to help Germa," she snapped instead. Not like that would change what these men planned to do to her, but she at least wanted them to get that right.
"Oh?" said the probably-a-prince. "Were you kidnapped from one of the conquered kingdoms and forced into an engagement with the crown prince? I had thought you were from a kingdom in East Blue, not North."
Engaged to the crown prince? Where the heck was this man getting his information from?
~.~
Ichiji flew through the castle, killing anyone he encountered before they had a chance to raise an alarm. He remembered his thoughts about Nami being nothing more than a tool to be used until she broke and not someone to marry. But as he was searching for her, he wasn't thinking of her maps, he was thinking of her standing up to him on the first day they met and fighting him off. Of her braving a terrible storm to tell Niji they needed to change directions since Ichiji hadn't listened to her in the first place about avoiding the storm.
He slowed when he heard raised voices and maneuvered himself next to the door where the noise came from.
"If Germa 66 doesn't give into our demands to sign a treaty that is binding before the World Government swearing not to invade Quell, we'll cut off your hands! Based on recent events, losing you will greatly hamper Germa 66's conquest efforts."
Whatever the voice would have said next was cut off by Ichiji blasting the door open. Three men in military uniform spun to look at him in surprise. Two of them got off shots with their guns that ricocheted off Ichiji's raid suit and back into their chests. The last man turned to run toward a window since there was nowhere else to go and Ichiji shot him in the back. The coward could have at least died like a man instead of running away.
Now he searched for the reason he came. There she was, tied up in a corner with a purple bruise forming on one cheek. Neither of them said anything.
"Aren't you going to thank me?" Ichiji demanded.
"You haven't saved me yet," Nami said with a glare. "And it's your fault I'm here in the first place!"
"My fault?" Ichiji demanded, stalking forward. "You're the one who got captured. Aren't you supposed to be an excellent fighter?"
"They had devil fruit powers! One of them could fly and the other moved so fast I couldn't see him."
Then suddenly, Nami was gone. Ichiji froze. She'd just said that a man had moved so fast she couldn't see him. Ichiji ran into the hall and found Nami being held by a man next to a window.
"You killed our prince!" he yelled. "So the deal we're discussing with your captain is null and void! Watch your precious fiancé die!" Then he threw her through the window, shattering the glass with Nami's body.
Activating his jets, Ichiji streamed through the air. He heard broken glass scrape his raid suit as he cleared the window. He dived toward Nami, her red hair streaming like a beacon. Catching her, he continued his high speed on to his flag ship, the wind buffeting them too much for either of them to speak.
"Resume fire!" he ordered as he reached his ship, just before Quell began firing again as well.
"Medic!" he yelled, tossing Nami toward him. "Clean her up." He could see blood streaming from several wounds from the glass, but doubted she'd received any deep wounds. "I have a war to win."
~.~
Ichiji continued directing his fleet until Quell's cliffside defenses crumbled, then he organized the landing party and saw them off. The war was far from over, but they'd been able to move to the next stage of the battle quickly thanks to everything they'd already set up in Fen. It had been a brilliant tactical move on his part to take care of that first.
Since his soldiers knew what to do and were in the good hands of Ichiji's captain, he went in search of the medical bay. It was empty other than the medic.
"Where is she?" he demanded.
The medic snapped to attention. "She's in her room, Prince Ichiji."
"And how severe are her wounds?"
"Not bad, Sire. A few had to be stitched up. The rest only required a bandage. She should be all healed up in a few weeks."
"Good," Ichiji said before sweeping out the door and straight to her room. He hesitated only a moment before stepping inside.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed in a thin night dress that left her shoulders mostly bare and only hit her at mid-thigh. The bruise on her cheek was even more visible now and bandages covered her arms with a few on her legs and one around her neck. He frowned. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"Do any of you princes other than Sanji know how to knock?" she asked with a glare before answering, "I have a few bandages on my back. That guy did throw me through the window back first after all."
Part of Ichiji wanted to demand that she take off her night dress so that he could see all her bandages. He wanted to know every hurt those bastards had given her and repay it tenfold. For the sake of Germa, of course. He had to set an example of what happened to anyone who dared touch something that belonged to the Germa Kingdom. Quell would be ground into dust for daring to make such a move against Germa. For daring to . . . suddenly, Ichiji found himself standing next to Nami, staring down at her. How had he gotten there?
She glared up at him, then glared at his shoes and muttered, "Thanks."
"What?" Ichiji asked, surprised.
"I said thanks," Nami repeated, again glaring up at him. "Before you told me to thank you and I told you that you hadn't saved me yet. Now you have. So thank you. Even if you only saved me so I could keep drawing maps." She looked down at the bandages covering her arms and flexed her hands. "I should be able to keep going for this trip, but I might be a little slower."
Why did Ichiji feel like he couldn't breathe? It was like when he'd tried to deny that Nami was his fiancé at that ball, and nothing had come out. Why hadn't he been thinking about Nami's ability to draw maps? That should have been his first thought. That was why she was there.
Except, that certainly didn't look like she was here with her sitting on her bed in her tiny little night dress. Ichiji swallowed hard. Maybe his brothers had the right of it. If Nami was going to help North Blue achieve unification, why not make her an official part of the family? Wouldn't that increase her loyalty to them? They just needed to sever all her ties to the Arlong Pirates by wiping them out.
"Ichiji!"
Ichiji startled, then glared down at Nami. "What? Why are you yelling at me?"
"Because the was the third time I had to call your name. Did you get hurt in the fight?"
"No," Ichiji said with a scowl, taking a step back. He needed to get out of there. "I just have the coming war on my mind. If you can still draw maps, then that's all I need to know." He spun on his heel and stormed out.