"Sanji-kun!!"

He could hear her, but where on earth was she?

"Sanji-kun!! Help!"

He swam through the inky blackness, desperately trying to work his throat but failing to call out her name... Then, before him, amidst a large wave of darkness he saw a flash of tangerine and frightened hazel eyes before the darkness swallowed her up.

Without thinking twice, Sanji dived; he tried to kick forwards, his arms swinging and hands grasping wildly, but he felt nothing...

"NO!!"

The model shouted, bolting upright, and was temporarily blinded from the bright morning light spilling in through the blinds. It took him a few seconds to remember he was in the infirmary, and he looked down at the pillows.

His eyes widened as he realised his fingers were fisted up with blanket, and that the bed was empty.

Empty.

"Nami-san!!" Sanji cried, and he stood up so abruptly his chair fell back and clattered across the floor as he turned around. And stopped short.

The nurse was sprawled out upon the ground, unconcious with a nasty looking cut swelling on her forehead. As Sanji propped her up, he saw ripped blankets on the floor, and the metal frame one of the other infirmary beds had deep dents hammered into it.

His brows furrowed before he gasped.

Someone took Nami-san?!

"Miss Nurse, please, wake up! Nurse! Nurse?!"

"What's going on?!" Kale exclaimed in alarm from the door to the infirmary, his eyes lingering on the bent metal of the bed frame before looking frantically at Sanji. The nurse groaned, her eyelids fluttering.

"What happened?!" Sanji demanded, shaking the nurse's shoulders, and she looked unfocusedly at the model.

"...Girl... hit me. Enormous strength... broke the bed..." She fainted again, and Sanji frowned. He tried shaking her awake again as Kale asked worriedly,

"Where's Nami? Sanji, tell me what's going on!"

"She disappeared. I don't know what happened - I woke up and she was gone! Someone might have taken her, but I don't know."

Kale's brows knitted. "There's a chance a lost soul took over her own," he muttered, "and if that's the case, I'm afraid that's one of the worst-case scenarios possible."

"What do you mean, a lost soul?!"

"Lost souls roam over dimensions to find a body to host their spirits. They didn't get a chance to have their own bodies, so they try to steal other ones. And Nami... well, she has been acting weak lately, and that would make her fairly susceptible to--"

"YOU TELL ME THAT NOW?!!" Sanji shouted, and setting the nurse down he ran to the door, pushing past Kale abruptly.

"Where are you going?!"

"We have to find her!!" Sanji yelled over his shoulder, "Go up the back staircase, I'll go through the front!!"

Kale opened his mouth to protest, but seeing that Sanji was already halfway to the front staircase, stopped trying and instead started to head up the opposite direction.





Krow pulled on his black gloves and stretched his fingers into them, smiling. The feel of cloth tightly bound around his fingers was deliciously welcome, and he flexed his fingers with a perverse sigh of content as he settled into his chair.

"Captain Krow?" A young newbie called nervously, "Are we ready to go, sir?"

"Of course," Krow said, his smile stretching, and he envisioned the warm blood seeping through the black cloth, through to his skin... just like Augustus Flint's death... Hopefully, this time it wouldn't be as messy...

Krow froze in the act of pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his palm. Hopefully, this time it wouldn't be as messy... There had been blood. Lots of blood... Crimson smudges and rusty crusts of it...!

The next moment, he was sifting through his envelopes desperately, cursing the clumsiness his bandaged fingers now gave him as he did so. He grabbed one particular brown envelope, his eyes darting over it desperately. No blood. Not a drop. Holding his breath, Krow loosened the string and tipped the contents out onto the table.

Kaya's proof of witness papers fluttered out.

Colour drained from his face as he searched through the papers and looked into the empty envelope. He riffled through all the envelopes and papers to no avail. Not a single smudge of blood, not a single page of Augustus Flint's will.

I've made a fatal mistake.

Krow suddenly grabbed the duffel bag holding his Cat Claws and stormed past the new crew member.

"Captain Krow, the crew is waiting that way..."

"I'll join you as soon as possible," Krow growled through clenched teeth, "Leave first."

"But, sir--"

"DON'T TIRE ME!!!" He roared, and the newbie let out a small 'eep!' before disappearing from sight. Krow tightened his knuckles as he slammed the back garage door shut behind him.

I have to get to Kaya before she sees it. I have to. I can't ruin everything now from this mistake, not when the plan is so near perfectly complete. I can't. If she's seen it, I don't care about her anymore. No one is going to destroy this plan. If she's seen it...

Krow swallowed, and loosened his collar with an unbandaged hand. A small smile spread on his lips, however, despite his nervousness.

If she's seen it... I'm just going to have to kill her.





Kale ran up the steps, cursing himself for leisurely walking down it just moments before. He had been meaning to see Nami... it had been for an incredibly important matter, and now he wondered if the strange feeling he'd been having for quite a while had to do with Nami's disappearing act. He feared he didn't have enough time now.

Especially because of the funnily simultaneously full and empty feeling he'd been having since two days ago, and the sensation that he was short of breath when he physically wasn't. It felt as though something was pressing against his brain; something invisible, and something that refused to go away...

Kale had a very good idea what it was, because other angels had told him about it, too. He frowned. He didn't really mind death that much, but he still had a job to do. So why was this happening now?

He turned a corner, still deeply caught up in his thoughts, when voices suddenly sounded in what Kale had thought was a deserted back staircase.

"It's him, Tonto!"

"Now!!!"

Kale proceeded to catch something sharply moving towards him in his peripheral. He barely managed to jerk away from it in time, and heard it clang heavily onto the metal railing. He flicked his eyes up to face a man holding up a metal bar leeringly, and preparing to try and hit Kale once more.

The young boy took a few steps back, but nearly toppled down the stairs; instead, he swerved to the left and rolled beneath the man's arm as the metal bar swung dangerously near his ear.

"What the @#$%ing hell?!"

The Messenger Angel swore, and the man laughed trollishly.

"That's right. There's no fun if there's no spirit."

"What do you want?!" Kale demanded, back-flipping out of the way of another large man trying to tackle him from the side. The landing connected to the second level carpark of GLU, and Kale moved there for more space as the men advanced.

"We were told to get you, boy. You've been hanging with Zoro Roronoah and Sandy White, haven't you? We've blacklisted them, and we need you as bait."

"BAIT?!!--" Kale started to yell, when a pair of hands grabbed him from behind; he caught a glimpse of a girl smiling before he felt his glasses tilt on his nose as a thick cloth was clamped tightly over his mouth. He sucked in his breath as he prepared to kick the girl holding onto his struggling form, but realised his mistake too late as a strong, sweet smell invaded his senses.

Still, Kale managed to ram his elbow hard enough into the girl's abdomen so that she let go, but when he fell to his feet he felt like his brain was disconnected to his body.

"S-SANJI!" He called out desperately, and sluggishly tried to move away from the metal bar swinging into him, but failed to do so quick enough; the bar hit his stomach square-on. His breath caught painfully in his throat before his small body hit the wall, his head sharply knocking against the concrete and cutting off his conciousness.

The blonde model reacted to the cry of help far too late, his mind having been too wrapped up in thoughts of the missing navigator, that by the time he'd reached the second level of the carpark they were already loading Kale into the back of a black van.

"KALE!! LUFFY!!" Sanji yelled, running, but the men had seen him. Knowing they were no match for him from experience, they floored it, leaving Sanji was in the wake of a thick cloud of dust and smoke and at complete loss of what to do.





Tashigi sighed as she stretched out on her bed broodingly. Zoro hadn't come the previous day at all. He'd said he'd come to check out the weird black marble thing, but he hadn't, and now Tashigi felt bad.

Was something wrong with him? Had something happened? Was it something serious? She hoped it wasn't. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd be able to take serious things very well. He was far too laid back, for that sort of thing. But then again, she supposed it would be that trait that would actually help him through a lot of tough situations.

She rolled onto her stomach, muffling a groan into her pillow. Why she so worried about him she didn't exactly understand... he seemed to able to take care of himself... didn't he? Maybe not, she mused thoughtfully, when several knocks came on the door.

"Yuina?" She called out, surprised at how quick her Media Studies class had been, when there was no reply. Tashigi frowned.

"Who is it?" Her voice held an edge of warning to it, and she raised her eyebrows as a low, male voice rasped,

"Open the door and you'll find out, won't you?"

"Forget it." Tashigi snapped, looking around for a phone, when she heard Jenna's voice call out despairingly,

"Raven, please open up! It's about Zoro!!"

Eyes widening, Tashigi stared at the door.

Zoro?





Waking up with a sharp sneeze, the green-head sat up unsteadily from his bed.

He groggily rubbed his eyes, looking confusedly about him.

"Where's that stupid cook? And Luffy?" He mumbled, trying to kick his memory into starting up. He remembered Nami after freshening up (and vigorous tooth-brushing to get rid of all the marshmallow he hadn't been able to the previous night), and presumed Luffy had gone to see her.

Just as he was tightening his bandanna he heard rapid knocking on the door. His eyebrows shot into his bandanna as he heard a small girl's voice call out urgently,

"Kale! Kale, open it, it's Rendel!!"

Zoro opened it to see a small, dark-haired girl looking up at him. Her mouth fell open.

"Roronoa Zoro?!"

"Er...yeah. So you know Kale, huh? Who are you?" Zoro prompted. The small girl craned her neck around Zoro's legs as she spoke.

"Call me Rendel. I'm an angel, too. Where's Kale?"

"I don't know... I think he went to see Nami," Zoro began, when Rendel grabbed her hair as she cried out,

"Oh no! He went out alone?!"

"Why? What's wrong with-- hey!!" Zoro exclaimed as the girl began to drag him out of his dorm with surprising strength, "Where're we going?"

"We gotta find everyone," Rendel said worriedly, "I think this is very serious."

Her words were confirmed as Sanji suddenly bounded up the stairs to huff heavily before Zoro and Rendel, and managed to breathe out,

"Kale-- Luffy, he-- he just got kidnapped...!"





Not one of Buggy's crew could fail to be shocked when she stepped in, fluffing her hair as she said loftily,

"Where's Captain Buggy?"

"Right here." He grumbled, pulling on his gloves, and when he swung his eyes to meet hers his jaw dropped open. The glove he'd been putting on fell out of his hand and onto the floor.

"Y-you're-- the girl I-- at the dinner dance--"

"Yes, I once was," She crooned, a strange smile curving her lips, "But now I'm not."

She sat onto the table, stretching out luxuriously. "I used to be a lost, floating ghost... and I only just managed to find a host willing to support the beauty of my soul. Of course, the body of this girl is no where near my old body's extreme beauty, but I suppose nothing can be done about that. After all, no one can surmount my beauty, isn't that right?"

She flipped her hair back, and slipping off the table she turned and crashed it apart with a swing of what looked like part of a metal bed frame with alarming force. Looking satisfied, she looked upon the crew as she settled against the wall.

"Who's the most beautiful woman in the world, men?" She asked, a dangerous sparkle in her eye.

"You, of course!!" They exclaimed in unison. She smiled as she turned to an extremely surprised Buggy.

"And so the great Alvida arises once more, in another world!! Although I'm no where near as luscious, this body is all right. It's simply amazing, isn't it?"

"Er," Buggy said, looking flustered as startling memories started to register into his mind, "What are you doing here, my lady?"

"I'd like to know what I can do for you," Alvida said, her lips spreading into a gracious smile as she ran a hand through her tangerine locks.

"So you're... possessing that body? Er... is there a time limit?" He asked cautiously. Alvida's smile grew wider, her eyes narrowing as she said smoothly,

"Not this one. It's not long before I manage to get rid of the original soul in here."

"You mean... you're switching souls?" Buggy asked in surprise. Alvida rolled her eyes, giving Buggy a pitying look.

"No, no, no, Buggy," She tutted, "I'm devouring hers."






=_=;;; Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but that oughta give a good kick up the rear for the following events. Just... four more exams... left...! O__o;; I can't take it... and... as always... thank you for your incredible words... and your undeserving kindness in reviews... and for bearing with me uptil now. (And just for Elli-san... for bearing with my bleghy writing. XP)


h t t p : / / w w w . a n g e l f i r e . c o m / a n i m e 3 / r u f i a n g e l / f a q . h t m l

Don't tell me you updated that!
Er... well...