Chapter 33
Chopper
The lights were turning on in various parts of the round lab. A light blue Seastone light was shining over Luffy, forcing Brook's spiritual form out and back into his physical body a few yards away. Another was shining over Law, keeping the other doctor weak and unable to use his powers. Nami was pinned to the floor by a purple gravity light. Another Seastone light was blocking the door Chopper had used to enter the room in the first place, although the other exit was still open since Franky had destroyed the light above it earlier.
The attack had been sudden and swift. As it stood, the only occupants in the room who weren't currently unconscious or under a light weapon were Franky and Usopp up on the platform and Chopper himself, hiding in his miniature form behind Sanji's table. The reindeer had the impression that he had gone unnoticed so far and he wanted to keep that going.
"Gunpowder Star!" Usopp shouted from the platform, aiming for the light above Law. Suddenly, the light just before the platform- located between the sniper and the Heart Pirate captain- changed to a deep purple, dropping the ammo to the floor. With a little pop, the small pellet exploded. The heavy gravitational forces pushed the explosion to the floor and quickly snuffed it out, though the tiny flames only missed Law's arm by bare inches.
"Watch it, Long-Nose-ya!" Law shouted at the sniper.
"I don't get it!" Usopp cried out as Franky typed furiously behind him. "Are you doing this, Franky?"
"Ain't me," Franky replied crisply, still typing away, "I can't control the lights from here. It's all that snail. Or a remote system."
"Exactly right, Cyborg Franky," the old man's voice reverberated around the room. "That little snail is merely a satellite, its signal too weak to even leave the room." Suddenly, Chopper saw the old man walk up to the door from the hallway he and Brook had been occupying until just recently, protected by the Seastone light shining before it. The reindeer held still, continuing to peek from behind Sanji's table, just out of the old man's view. In the scientist's hands he held a much larger Transponder Snail. "This is the main snail for the island's defense systems."
On the old scientist's face was a curious device; hooked around the old man's ear for support, it looked like half a pair of glasses, covering one of the man's eyes. The other part of the device curled around the man's jaw and ended near his mouth. When the old man spoke, his voice continued to echo around the room. With some surprise, Chopper realized the device was some sort of portable microphone, hooked up to a speaker system within the room. The other part of the device, covering the man's eye, must have been some sort of surveillance system. But the entire contraption was far too small for any Transponder Snails to be powering it. Once again, Chopper felt in awe of Dr. Vegapunk's genius, while simultaneously feeling terrified of it.
Robin
When the sudden attack with the lights in the room had begun, Robin of course had not been affected, her eyes and other "bloomed" parts still safe in the hallways just beyond the lab. Nevertheless, she dispersed the extra parts and brought her full concentration back to the office she was in. Looking at the video feed of the Ambience lab, she could see how much the others were struggling. A shuddering boom served as a reminder that the Navy was getting closer and closer. No doubt another Buster Call was in the making. The archeologist shuddered. It was clearly time to move out.
An unexpected flash of movement on one of the video feeds caught her eye. Robin watched it for a moment, a smile appearing on her face.
"Ah, there you are," she said quietly to herself.
Quickly grabbing her bag, Robin left the office, the layout of the facility from its schematics still perfectly safe in her memory. Once in the hallway however, she glanced back through the open doorway at the messy workspace and bright computer screen still inside. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and crossed her arms. Smiling in satisfaction, she began walking down the hallway. As soon as she was past the doorway, a giant fist flew past her, having spawned from multiple copies of her hands fusing together, and completely crushed and destroyed the office and computer within. That was one less room they would be destroying on their way out.
Chopper
"Everyone!" Brook suddenly shouted, getting up from the floor. He was still recovering from the after effects of the Seastone light hitting his spiritual form, Chopper thought with a certain clinical detachment. The skeleton stood straight yet shaking, leaning a little on his cane sword even though none of the weapon lights were currently shining on him. "I spoke with Luffy-san! We must get Zoro-san's swords away from him!"
"What?" Usopp questioned, thinking he must have misheard the skeleton.
"Get…Zoro's swords…a-away from him?" Nami asked from the floor, grunting from the effects of the gravity light on her.
"Yes! Those were Luffy-san's orders! Although I'll admit to not understanding them myself," Brook clarified, "We are to keep Zoro-san's swords away from him until those three wake up and escape the simulation. Then we are to free them from those contraptions. Only then can we return Zoro-san's swords to him."
"Long-Nose-ya! Use that miniature Transponder Snail to-!"
"Apologies, Trafalgar Law, but that snail is already disabled," the scientist called from the doorway, pressing buttons on his larger snail. Chopper heard Usopp gasp and looked over at the platform. The little snail was asleep in Usopp's hands.
"Wha-? No, no, no little guy! Time to wake up! Rise and shine! Wake up dammit or I'll feed you to Tra-guy!" Usopp cried out, shaking the snail to no avail. He glanced over at Franky, who was still typing furiously away. "Hey, Franky! A little help here?"
"No time, Usopp-bro. Working on a special request from Curly Cook," Franky replied, never looking up from the console. "Besides, you've got this."
"I've got this?! Are you crazy?!" Usopp shrieked. Chopper had to agree with him.
"Don't worry, Usopp-san! You have me as we—ll…" Brook started triumphantly, raising his sword in the air before a Seastone light turned on over his head and his voice and posture weakened noticeably. "Or not, I'm afraid." The skeleton looked over at the pile of swords next to Zoro's table. "But we must…follow…Luffy-san's orders…"
From the floor, Nami tried desperately to get up, reaching a hand out towards the swords which were only a couple yards away. Chopper heard the scientist chuckle, followed by the clicking sound of buttons being pressed and the purple light above the navigator increased in intensity. With a cry, Nami fell flat against the floor.
"Nami!" Usopp cried from the platform. "Dammit, you bastard! Stop it!"
"Come on down and try, 'God' Usopp. You have less than twenty minutes before those Navy ships arrive and this island is crawling with Marines. And your friends have yet to escape!" the old researcher laughed, his hand poised over the Transponder Snail. As if to punctuate his statement, the island shook again from another attack. It might have been Chopper's imagination, but the blast felt bigger and louder that time.
"They'll get out! You'll see!" Usopp shouted from the platform. "Luffy will get them out."
"Sure he will," the scientist agreed sarcastically. "If you can get Roronoa's swords away from him, right?"
"Eh, uh, yeah! That's right!" Usopp stated, fumbling for words for a moment. "Never underestimate what the great Usopp is capable of! Why, back in the country of samurai, I carried one thousand swords! And on top of that-!"
The researcher let out a laugh, a rusty-sounding belly laugh as though he'd just heard the greatest joke of his life. Somehow, Chopper found the sound worse than all the times when the man was chuckling calmly.
"It's not about the swords, you damn fool! That's just some stupid fancy of Straw Hat's. Tell me, how can you compare?!" the old man shouted. "You're a crew of fundamentally broken people! I took those three and gave them what they needed to become whole again! How do you think your crew can compare with the understanding and acceptance of a family? The care and companionship of a beloved friend? The kindness and support of two older brothers? Tell me, how can you Straw Hat Pirates ever compete with that for those three?!"
There was silence in the room, a long silence as everyone mulled the man's words. The scientist laughed again.
"You'll never free them! They'll never want to leave that dream world for the rest of their short lives!" The scientist continued to laugh as another rumble announced the incoming Navy ships. Suddenly, the laughter cut off.
"A man like you could never understand it!" Robin's voice sounded from down the hallway containing the scientist. Chopper glanced over and realized that the scientist was now covered in Robin's arms. While the Seastone light was successful in protecting the man from any Devil Fruit attack from the Ambience lab itself, it seemed the old man had forgotten that Robin was still wandering elsewhere in the facility.
Using the distraction Robin had provided for him, Chopper transformed into his Heavy Point form and dashed for Zoro's swords, leaping over the beheaded remains of the Pacifistas and carefully dodging the Seastone lights over Luffy's table and Brook's wilted form. He had just gathered the weapons in his arms when he heard Robin gasp, followed by a bellow of laughter from the old man. When Chopper turned to look, he saw the scientist standing in the Seastone light in front of the hallway, Robin's disembodied arms disappearing into puffs of petals. Then, to Chopper's horror, the old man turned and looked directly at the reindeer, his hand lowering to the buttons on the Transponder Snail.
Fear and adrenaline filled Chopper's being along with one thought: he had to follow Luffy's orders about Zoro's swords. He had no idea what his captain had planned but some instinct told the young doctor that it was critical to save Zoro though he couldn't say why. He dashed for the other exit, knowing that he'd never make it in his Heavy Point form but he'd also never be able to carry all three swords in his Walk Point form either. The click of the snail's buttons filled the Human-Human Fruit user's ears as an idea popped into his head. He stopped, grabbed one of the swords and used his massive arms to throw it like a dart into the empty hallway ahead of him. He had just finished throwing the third one when the blue light started shining above his head, filling his body with a weariness and exhaustion he couldn't fight…
"Green Star: Devil!" Usopp shouted. "Firebird Star!"
Usopp had sent the two attacks at different angles, but the reindeer could see that the firebird star was turning and veering towards the scientist, making it impossible to use one light to stop both and the old man didn't have time to activate two. Chopper watched as the scientist was forced to choose which of the attacks he would fend off. If he stopped the plant, the firebird would still get him and vice versa. And if he backed into the hallway to use the light over his head to stop both, Robin would get him.
Suddenly the old man cried out as Usopp's unannounced third attack -a rotten egg- hit him smack in the forehead, causing him to fall on his rump to the floor and drop the large Transponder Snail. The other two attacks collided in mid-air above the scientist's head and exploded, cancelling each other out. The sniper stood on the platform, Kabuto held firmly in his hand, a rare look of serious anger on his face.
"How can we compare?! If you knew anything about Luffy or any of us, you would know that being blood related doesn't matter! And that Sanji already has a compassionate and understanding family!" With that, Usopp fired a Gunpowder Star at the light above the scientist's head, shattering it. Robin's disembodied hands quickly grabbed the snail and began pressing buttons, turning off the lights in the room one by one. Chopper felt it when the Seastone light over his own head vanished, allowing the reindeer to stand and face the old man.
"And Zoro already has us, his beloved friends and crewmates!" The Straw Hat doctor shouted and then turned and helped Nami rise to her feet as the gravity light was shut off above her. The navigator seemed exhausted, but she faced the scientist with as much anger and determination in her gaze as any of them.
"And Luffy already has the two best older brothers he could ask for on either side of him right now!" the red-head declared, gesturing at the swordsman and cook on either side of Luffy before pointing her Clima-tact at the old man. He gulped nervously, Chopper was pleased to note. "Gust sword!"
A burst of wind hit the old man full on, throwing him down the hallway as Robin nimbly moved out of the way. The archeologist glanced down the hallway, gave a small nod of satisfaction, and then walked into the room. Another rumble shook the island and this time there was no mistaking how close the weapon was. The Navy was nearly upon them.
"Alright! We'll have to wait till they get out, of course, but it's pretty much done! And none too soon!" Franky called from the console as something popped out of it. The shipwright used one of his miniature hands to carefully push the device back into the console and then grabbed a different object from on top of the console and placed it into his shirt pocket. With the other hand he gave Usopp a thumbs up. "See? I knew you could handle it without me!"
As Usopp began berating the cyborg, Chopper turned to his three crewmates still sleeping on their tables. To his mild surprise, Law was already there, looking at Luffy. The Surgeon of Death's fingers touched the glasses covering the rubber man's face, as though trying to ascertain what they were made out of.
"Any change, Law?" Chopper asked, still supporting Nami. Law shook his head.
"None, Tony-ya. If they don't wake soon, it'll be too…" Law started to reply and then paused at the ringing in his pocket. Everyone's eyes widened as Law removed the Transponder Snail and answered it. "Jinbei-ya?"
"Law-kun. I'm afraid I have bad news." Jinbei's voice was blunt and to the point. "The Navy's here."
Author's Notes: Alright! Back to the real world again. All the Straw Hats get to be badasses. As it should be.
-After writing this, I gotta give credit to Oda; balancing all the Straw Hats, keeping them in character, giving them character moments/interactions, plus time to shine is hard. I wish some of the movies were a little better at this.
-One of the scenes I had in my head was the Straw Hats declaring how they as a crew were better than anything Ambience had to offer. The only line I had clearly thought out was Nami declaring that Luffy already had the best big bros on either side of him. (We'll ignore the fact that they did use him as a trampoline to bounce back cannonballs once).
-Usopp's awesome for comedy moments. Especially in the face of Franky's nonchalance.
-I realized upon rereading this that I basically gave the old assistant a scouter from Dragon Ball Z. Oh well.
-Just a few more chapters left till this is wrapped up. As one reviewer pointed out, I think this plot would have made for a fun movie.