One Piece: The Skull Pirates
Chapter Thirty-One: Beneath Enemy Territory. Protect the Town, Mary and Drake!
Jack woke up, and not for the first time (probably not the last, either) regretted doing so immensely. He had a splitting headache, the kind you'd get from - well, from falling down a pitfall caused by a gorilla being ridden by a music-playing, masked native. That was definitely a first.
Staying put wasn't an option like back home: there had to be worse things that could find him here than other drunks. Checking his limbs to make sure they were still attached, he opened his eyes and gingerly rose. His surroundings were pitch-black, and he'd barely got off his knees before his head cracked against the ceiling. "Terrific. Off to a perfect start."
Make that almost pitch-black, actually. Bending low, Jack slid back until his back touched a wall. There was an opening above he must have fallen down somehow, and way above that was a glint of sunlight. It was enough to see his pack nearby, and while much of it turned out to be gone, the matches were still around. Lighting one, Jack surveyed his surroundings.
They weren't much. From the alcove he was in, a single tunnel stretched out ahead, an easy stroll for one of the tribesmen and practically a crawl for him. That made things simple, but on the other hand not having many possibilities didn't seem like such a great thing right now. He tested the rock with his fist and found it pretty damn hard; and even if he could dig, where the hell would he go?
Shrugging, Jack stooped and made his way forward. He half-expected the tunnel to end after just a few feet, but it kept going on and on. That seemed odd, but thinking on it, it wasn't like they could have planned for him to drop anywhere in particular, right? The plan was probably to have them all splat in the fall.
"That's a grisly thought," he muttered to himself, but no getting around it. His Devil Fruit made him more durable than most, and the same was true for Ikki, but what about the others? No way to tell, or even where the hell he was going beyond deeper under the volcano. For all he knew this tunnel could deposit him straight into a very, very hot bath…
A noise reached him above the sound of his crawling. Jack froze; right now wasn't a good time to be hearing a lot of noises, but none more than the sound of rock crumbling. When he wasn't entombed in a moment, the captain twisted his head backward.
A hole had been partly made in the side of the tunnel behind, and as Jack watched more fell away, exposing a pair of mandibles and eight staring eyes. A spider just big enough to fit in the tunnel clambered through. It only seemed to notice the pirate afterward, pausing a moment to size him up.
Jack had never exactly made a habit of thwacking spiders, but somehow he doubted any gentleman's agreement there mattered when you were this one's size. He watched some green substance drip from the spider's fangs, creating a nice new hole in the tunnel floor where it fell. "Guess the masked guys aren't the only diggers around here."
He was already backing up as fast as he could go once the thing started moving, but it had eight legs and could actually use them here. It caught up in a moment and spread its fangs for a bite. Not even a particularly savage one, either, but like he was something in the way. That made it sting a little more, but probably not as much as if that acid touched him.
Quickly Jack brought up both feet, catching the spider by its fangs in mid-bite. That slowed it down for a second, but the pirate winced as he saw more acid drip from its fangs, smoke rising off his boots. "Hey, I paid for these!"
The arachnid gave a start as its prey's feet began spinning within its mouth, and before it could process much beyond that they both fired, sending it spilling back down the corridor. As soon as his feet returned Jack resumed crawling, as fast as he could go. It didn't take long for the spider to right itself and charge back toward him, and now it no longer looked it just wanted by.
With his head twisted to keep an eye on his pursuer, Jack only found out a piece of crucial information when his back hit up against something solid: a flat wall. "Oh, you got to be kidding me."
The spider was almost upon him. Grumbling, Jack tried to twist himself into at least a kneeling position. No way was he getting taken down by something most people stepped on.
He pulled back his fist as the arachnid spread open its fangs. Aim below them, that was the ticket. It'd probably come down to who struck first.
In a sense, it kind of did. Jack heard the rock above him crack just before a grip like a vice seized him around the neck, dragging him upward. He quickly swung his fists, feeling them bounce off something that felt like rock itself.
"Pirate." He was spun around to an impassive face. "It is me."
"..oh, Rolento," Jack peeped, slowly lowering an outstretched fist. "Thanks for the hand. Nearly gave me a heart attack, though."
"I sensed you were in danger, and now you are not," the warrior spoke calmly. He spun Jack around and dropped him on his feet. "Come. We must find the others, or a way out."
With that he turned and strode off. Jack looked around; they were in a much larger tunnel, one that looked dug by things with less than eight legs. He could still hear the skitter of the spider from the hole he'd been pulled from, and wasted no time following Rolento.
"How'd you find me down there, anyway?" he couldn't resist asking.
"Instinct."
He made Drake look like a real chatterbox. "I guess you haven't instincted out anyone else, then?" Jack asked.
"Only you," Rolento replied, "at least among our party. But there are others, some quite close. It is good I found you."
And not good for anyone alone. Jack swung a fist into his palm. "Let's get to it. If we both survived that fall I don't mind betting the others did."
"I ask again: must you follow me around like this?"
Frank took a moment to work out a reply. Growing up where he had had taught him to treat women with a certain amount of respect. In the shinobi's case this was out of politeness. In Jack's case, he would have appended the words 'or else' to it in his head.
But it didn't seem to matter what approach you gave to Gloria, as the swordswoman responded the same to everything: like it was beneath her. Even being quite literally beneath a whole island hadn't changed that. Still, she was the first person Frank had run into, and this was no time to be picky.
"There is safety in numbers, after all," he said coolly, or what he hoped was. "Better to be lost together than separately, no?"
Gloria sniffed in response, still striding ahead of him. If she had said something like 'who said I was lost?', then Frank would have had trouble not believing her. It was hard to imagine her being lost anywhere, even here.
He hoped Gerald, Jack and the others were all right, and Mary and Drake back at the village. But right now there was nothing to do but carry on. He was good in the shadows, and there were certainly plenty of them down here.
With her work on the trees chronicled, Mary had decided to take a break - sort of. She certainly hadn't moved from her spot for a while, but her eyes were getting a work out all the same. She was a good (bad?) enough pirate to get a bounty, so she was certainly good enough for this job.
"Do you see anything?" Drake called up. From her position on the roof of the tavern, Mary looked down and shook her head. With how suddenly the mask-wearers seemed to be able to pop up, the two of them decided to stick to the town. From here they'd either see them coming, or hear wherever they dug up in. Hopefully, anyway.
"Non, so far it's all quiet," Mary replied. She frowned. "Where's our third at the moment?" Part of why they were here was an unspoken acknowledgement that a wooden floor couldn't hide anymore nasty surprises. Chase did say he would swap out the bear traps, but Mary had a feeling even gentler traps could be dangerous if someone like him laid them.
"Not anywhere in the town I've seen him," Drake said with a shrug. "He may still be working on his traps. He struck me as someone very diligent, if nothing else."
Was that what passed for an insult from Drake? Well, Jack certainly filled his own niche for it already. "Wherever he is, I hope he really can handle himself in a fight," she muttered, pursing her lips. "On the other hand, seeing him end up a paper tiger would be pretty satisfying after all that big talk."
Speaking of big things. At that moment a great gonging noise rang through the town, loud enough Mary almost looked around for a bell-tower she knew they didn't have. Instead she looked to where it had come from, the tree-line. "Oh - oh my."
No sneak attacks today apparently. Marching to the village now was the group that had confronted the expedition, the gorilla at the head of them. Not that Mary knew who they were were, of course: her first reaction was wondering how fast a bunch like that could leave this town a pile of smashed wood. A half-hour, maybe?
Mary risked a glance down and wasn't surprised to see Drake already on his way out of the village, striding to meet them without skipping a beat. A full-on attack may not have been in the plan, but really, anything else would be out of the ordinary for them, wouldn't it? Hooking a thorn-arm onto the lid of the roof, she flipped down.
"Head inside!" she shouted to the villagers, and felt stupid for it. First because none of them had seemed stupid, and those who weren't paralyzed in fear were already doing so, and helping those who were. Second because what good would wooden walls do against monsters like this?
But as she approached, Mary noticed the party and their mounts had stopped in their tracks; all of them were staring at Drake. Ha, of course. If you were only just used to humans, a fishman probably looked like something out of a bad dream, especially one Drake's size. He was nearly face to face with the gorilla the lead one rode.
But now what? Ikki hadn't actually been clear on what they were meant to do if the natives showed up here, let alone with a force this size. They already seemed to be getting over their surprise - from their perspective, there was only one Drake.
"Mind standing aside a moment, you two?" called a voice from behind: Stanley. "Ikki taught me a thing or two about their language. I think I can work something out here."
The mayor looked serious. Mary and Drake did as he asked, but didn't move too far away. They watched as he stared at the lead tribesman a moment, before abruptly letting out a deep grunt, slapping himself on the chest. It looked ridiculous, but the riders didn't seem to think so: every single eye was now locked on to Stanley.
Moving with deliberate care, Stanley raised one hand and held up two fingers. With the other, he pointed downward at the earth, before jabbing a thumb toward himself. Mary got the message: you have two of our people, give them back.
The leader of the party didn't seem pleased with the ultimatum. Striking its drum twice, it stood up straight as its mount slammed both sets of hands into the earth. Stanley nearly fell over, but was braced by Mary.
That made the tribesmen to an individual turn, staring at the petite pirate. This was because she hadn't grabbed Stanley with her normal hands, but a thorn-less vine. Releasing him the girl stepped forward, snapping out another vine to crack through the air in front of them. This one did have thorns.
Before they could get their bearings, Drake stepped forward, eye to eye with some of the animal mounts. Stone-faced, he lifted one foot before stamping down, cracking the ground beneath and making some of the tribesmen lean back in their seats. Both pirates held up two fingers of their own.
"I think you should step back now, Mayor," the fishman said calmly. "They know what you want, but their boss seems to only know one way of solving an argument."
"Which is fine by us," Mary added with a smile, "because it's the same way pirates prefer."
Stanley looked between them and shrugged. "Good luck, then. Don't get yourselves hurt…well, too badly anyhow."
He turned and somehow made a dignified retreat while running at full speed. That left the two Skull Pirates with the war party. Despite their number advantage, they still looked uneasy save for their leader. Mary couldn't blame them - if Ikki was a monster to them, it was like two more had just shown up.
It wasn't the first time Mary had been called that, and probably wouldn't be the last. But sometimes it meant you were doing something right. She was the first to make a move, striking out with a kick even faster than her flourish earlier; the snake gave a pained hiss as it lurched to one side from the impact.
That spurred everyone into movement. The tiger looked prepared to leap, but its master's hesitation cost them both as Drake lunged forward, giving a blow that sent it sprawling back. As their comrades reeled, the rest of the party spread out into a circle around the pair, who went back-to-back.
"Bold of you," Drake commented, "but a good idea. Now their attention is completely on us."
Mary gave something halfway between a grin and a wince. "When you put it like that, was it a good idea? Wouldn't be the first time I only thought something through after." She crouched lower. "I'll leave the bigger ones to you, and keep the sneakier ones off your back."
"Sounds about as good a plan as we're getting," the fishman said, popping his neck. "Let's go, Thorn."
"Let's."
Jack couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this tense. The closest was him being dragged into the marine base back when, but at least that was above ground. Not only was he a foreigner here, he wasn't even the same species as the owners. More than a few times as they crept down the tunnels Rolento dragged him into a side passage while something went hurtling by.
Suddenly he noticed a flash of white and blue in the gloom of a side tunnel. That could only come from one source down here. "Ikki!" he whispered, creeping up with Rolento behind him.
Ikki barely twitched her head in their direction. "Hello, Mr. Bones. It is fortunate to see you were unharmed. Is anyone else with you?"
If she was still talking like that she must have made it out okay too, not that Jack had expected much else. "Just the two of us, I'm afraid. You seen anyone?"
"I am afraid not," Ikki replied. "But I confess I have been distracted by certain findings. Look here." She gestured to the wall she was looking at.
Jack came forward and squinted to make out…well, a load of scribbles, frankly. What was he supposed to see from a language he didn't know? But hang on: pirates were all about symbols. He took a closer look.
"A lot of the same markings look different, so I bet more than one of them drew here," the captain murmured, "and a bunch got drawn over some others. Some kind of argument, I guess?" He'd seen enough graffiti to know you could definitely have one like this.
Ikki nodded. "I believe you are correct, Captain Bones. The majority of these marks also seem to be quite recent. While we have no direct proof, something does come to mind that may have caused an argument as of late."
She was good at explaining herself - once you got used to how she spoke - but she also expected you to keep up. Jack could get behind that. "So there could be people down here who aren't too sure about attacking the village or kidnapping folks, you mean. But what's that change for us?"
"Nothing," rumbled not Ikki, but Rolento. "Even if some have doubts, we are still intruders here, and do not speak the same tongue. We do not even know who made these marks."
The scholar nodded, a touch reluctantly. "It is true that acting on this information will be difficult. However, it also tells us something more pertinent." She waved a hand at the etchings again. "With how dangerous this island's fauna is I cannot imagine any native carrying on a conversation far from safety. We can assume their dwellings are nearby."
"You maybe could have lead with that, you know," Jack said mildly. He glanced back behind them, but there was nothing. "Any idea where? Can't imagine they'd be any more happy about us dropping in unannounced than their neighbors were for them."
"No, I must confess." Ikki adjusted her glasses. "But it is not hard to find signs of habitation if you are looking for them, and we now have three pairs of eyes." She pointed along the tunnel, past the etched debate. "I was intending to explore this path. Do you have any objections?"
Jack shrugged. "It already looks different from every other tunnel we've passed, so I'm good. You fine with that, big-"
The captain stared at Rolento's receding back. "Guess that's a 'yes'," he muttered. He was glad he'd ran into Ikki, honestly: she might throw out big words like they were worth points, but you could still tell what was going on in her head.
"I suggest we not allow him ahead of us too far, Captain," Ikki murmured, walking off herself. "He is quite…visible, after all."
"Oh, yeah. Good thing we're completely low-profile to make up for it."
"This is a waste of my talents."
A massive ant, big enough to ruin a hundred picnics at once, screeched as one of its pincers was sliced off by a sword dancing through the air. Gloria spun, following up her attack with a fierce thrust that sent it flying back into the cavern wall with a thud. "I hadn't intended to offer my services for pest control," she sniffed.
Even given the circumstances Frank had to give an awed stare at the display. He carried a sword, of course, and knew how to swing it, but deep down he'd always thought every other shinobi was surely more skilled with their weapon than him. Gloria made her blade look as natural as his own mask.
The circumstances, a trio of ants circling around him, didn't seem to appreciate the martial prowess on display before them. Frank gulped as the one in front lunged, swinging out his own blade on reflex. It was a reflex that may have wanted to imitate his companion a bit too much, and ended with his sword locked between its jaws.
"C-Come now," Frank grunted, trying to dislodge the blade as the ant pushed him backward. "I've no wish to harm an innocent animal, but, but if you leave me no choice…" A motion with his free hand produced one of his scrolls. Anyone back home would have much to say if they knew he'd spent one on a bug, but it was better than what else he might pay.
With a hasty whisper to activate it, Frank tossed the scroll forward. He'd intended it to land within the ant's mouth, but his throwing arm happened to disagree: instead it rolled below its underbelly. The shinobi gulped.
The resulting bang did dislodge his sword, and his footing as a bonus. The ant flailed in pain, the blast having flipped it straight over. Frank would have celebrated the lu - clearly planned throw, but had other things on his mind. His body too, such as the remaining two ants.
"Q-Quite relentless, aren't you…?" he grunted, wiggling under four legs pinning him. The ants clacked their mandibles together, leaning closer. "Could…we not discuss this? Please?"
Air could hardly make a sound when metal swept through it, but you could almost believe otherwise when Gloria struck. The next thing Frank knew he had been rolled none-too-gently off to the side. Nearby the two ants reeled: in the same movement as she'd shoved him, the swordswoman had hacked a leg off each of the insects. They hesitated and then with their comrade turned to beat a retreat, hopefully finding less pointy prey.
"T-Thank you," Frank was quick to say, but Gloria swept past him, scooping up his blade and holding it out to him like a bit of refuse.
"Here," she said icily, "but if your performance with this blade doesn't improve, I may confiscate it. Seeing an amateur swinging around the work of a skilled smith irritates me at my core." With that the swordswoman turned and strode on ahead.
The shinobi gulped. "Maybe it's a good thing I'm the only one with a sword on the crew…"
Since these people had arrived on the island, Stanley had been nurturing a deep, unpleasant thought in his head he couldn't quite shake off: that all this plan was going to accomplish was make him responsible for more people getting killed. Sure, there were strong people on the West Blue, but he'd seen what these animals could do. You could have an off day even with a Devil Fruit, couldn't you?
Well, not today, apparently. The mayor watched as the girl flipped aside a swipe from the snake that could have snapped her in half, before retaliating with a kick that slammed its jaw clean shut. Nearby the fishman had shoved away the boar after stopping its charge with one hand, just in time to dodge a hammer blow from the gorilla as quick as someone half his size.
Stanley had never liked violence even before the trouble had started back home. With that in mind, it was good he'd come across this crew. He couldn't imagine violence happening around them for very long.
Mary landed from her attack and had a moment to breath as the snake's rider tried to rally it. She didn't think of herself as a fighter, but in moments like this it was hard to insist on that: anything could go wrong, but the adrenaline flowing through her also said anything was possible. And the fact she was able to describe it so poetically certainly said a lot, didn't it?
Behind her, she heard the thud of multiple feet that could only belong to the beetle. That was something she'd noticed about these fellows: they didn't get in each-other's way on purpose, but it didn't seem like they were used to numbers and size ever being a problem for them. You probably never thought about those things when you were riding on top of the top of the food chain.
The beetle rider only appeared to notice their friend on the other side when she'd flipped over the pincers, scrambling to play a sharp note that sent the insect skidding to a halt. It had a moment to breath in relief before Mary touched down right behind it, and another to get out the musical equivalent of 'oh no' before it was kicked across the clearing. Mary hopped off and tensed herself, waiting to see what the insect itself might do now, but after a moment of stillness it turned and propelled all six of its feet back toward the trees.
"That might not be bonne with the others, though," she thought to herself with a frown. "That tiger coming off its leash would be-"
And here was proof she wasn't a fighter. Drake wouldn't have spent a single moment just thinking about the tiger, and he certainly wouldn't have let it creep up behind him. It pounced, easily bowling over the petite girl, and sank its fangs into her soft flesh.
As a cub this tiger had quickly learned not to try to bite porcupines or similar creatures - so it was awfully bad luck that it chose to attack a girl that could become one at will. It reeled back, yowling through a mouth full of broken thorns. Instinct told it to leap away, but something had gripped hold of its hind legs.
"You're not the first to think I'm an easy meal," Mary growled from below. The tiger, through its pain, had a sudden realization that it had made a very poor decision. "You're not the first to be wrong, either!"
A mighty, Devil-Fruit powered flip sent the feline crashing head over heels, not landing on its feet but certainly on its rider as the musical urging ended in one squashed note. That groan of pain below drove the tiger not to spend more than a minute prone, and it rolled to its feet groggily. Through its swimming vision, it bore witness to one-and-a-half thorned vines being swung down toward it with all the fury a young pirate could muster.
Mary's beret had come off in the scuffle, and she plucked it off the ground, dusted it off and placed it back on its perch as if it had been blown off by the wind. "Alright," she murmured as the tiger slumped to the ground, "that's deux down. Which of you is next?"
The remaining animals didn't understand a word of it, of course, but the girl's eyes said everything they needed to. Despite the commands of their riders blaring, they hesitated collectively. All of them had suddenly encountered a feeling no predator was safe from: the feeling that they may have just become prey.
To be continued…
Jack: You sure heading out to say hello is a good idea?
Ikki: I can communicate - we need only find someone willing to listen.
?: Get…back…
Beware: Danger Lurks Underfoot!
Ikki: Thinking something needs to be large to be dangerous can be a deadly fallacy…