"Which way?"
Sanji pointed at the road ahead the carpark, and the next second he and the small girl were sprinting across the pavement. The blonde was far too caught up with trying not to think of what they might have done to Nami, he didn't notice the extremely worried look on Rendel's face.
She stopped sprinting abruptly at a three-pronged fork, and caught her breath as Sanji skid several feet ahead of her to a halt.
"What is it?" He asked. He was hardly out of breath, whereas Rendel had to take a moment to speak. Between deep breaths she said,
"We're out of the GLU vicinity... I'll try and locate Kale now... give me a second..."
"What?"
"There were too many Angels in GLU... couldn't separate all the Angel Vibes..." She said distractedly, then her eyes widened as they flashed a sudden silver before Sanji's eyes.
"That way." She said, pointing resolutely, and was off at a run again. Sanji blinked, then started to follow. He was forced to stop when Rendel paused briefly before a traffic light; her eyes darted along the opposite pavement, zooming vehicles obscuring her vision of it. Then she suddenly vanished into thin air. Sanji's eyes widened, and he was about to call out her name when she appeared, quite unharmed, at the other side of the road.
Without stopping to breathe, the Silver Angel continued to pelt herself along the pavement, and Sanji frustratedly shouted for her to wait. His voice was easily drowned out by the roaring engines and squealing tyres; obviously Rendel had quite forgotten Sanji was not blessed with the same holy powers as she. As he waited for the stupid green man to appear, his teeth gritted to a point it felt almost unbearable, a pair of hands suddenly grabbed his elbows.
Sanji didn't stop to think twice. He abruptly threw his weight against the person, and heard the person grunt in surprise before yelping as he gave a sharp twist of his arms, freeing himself. Swinging his leg round, Sanji spun around and caught the hairy-looking baldie just above the hip before throwing him into the railings.
He felt the presence of two men behind him before he saw them, and flipped himself onto his hands to pull himself out of grabbing range. Before they could react to swiping at nothing, he spun his legs around like a windmill and violently crushed their jaws to the ground.
The model was caught off-guard as he pulled himself back to his feet again. A mis-aimed kick hit Sanji somewhere near his knee-cap; the kicker looked somewhat frightened as she cowered away from his horribly angered eyes, the kick apparently having made no effect at all.
"Who are you?" He demanded, his eyes narrowed as they scanned the four whimpering and groaning people, "What do you want from me?"
"Aiie." Managed the bald guy, his nose bleeding profusely as he winced, "Ngee game doo bringyu doo Aiiee."
"I don't understand what the heck you're saying." Sanji snapped, bending down and dragging up the man by his collar quite forcefully to his feet, to reach his eye-level. The bald man scowled, but tried again.
"Aa-ngii. Aa-ngii--"
The girl interrupted reproachfully: "Troll is saying we came to bring you to a girl named Nami."
"You're the ones that took her??" Sanji snarled, his eyes bright and ablaze with anger as he grabbed the baldie and rammed him against the railings so hard the metal frame rattled; Sanji seemed quite prepared to beat the sense out of the man when the girl cried out,
"No, no! She came at her own will, she did-- honest!!"
Sanji's eyes came to land suspiciously on the girl. What? She went there herself? Swallowing, she stood up shakily and said in her best warning voice,
"If you don't stop being so violent, we won't take you to her..."
"What do you want?" Sanji growled.
"We don't want anything to do with you," The girl replied, "we just follow Buggy's and Krieg's orders. And they clearly stated to 'bring the model back to see the girl'..."
The blonde did not respond for a few seconds, obviously torn between kicking the man senseless and going to see Nami. Suddenly, he dropped the man and let him fall with a heavy thud to the concrete.
"Lead the way," Sanji said stiffly. The girl, looking relieved, started to move when he snapped, "and if you've touched a single hair on her head, I swear to God I will pulverise the lot of you."
Casting him a frightened look, the girl continued to weave her way through the crowd. The three men got up slowly, clearly rattled and hurting, but followed the blonde's course swiftly. Someone stopped dialing for the police; chatter that had died down rose once more. Finally, as the crowd dispersed, they found themselves still shuddering at the look Sanji had given the girl.
Although she didn't feel like doing anything, Kaya knew she had better get it done and over with. Heaving a sigh, she put away the depressing newspaper headline concerning the dead body of Augustus Flint found in a motel and drifted to her desk, towards the large brown envelope.
She warily lifted the envelope from the desk and slit it open, knowing Krow wanted her to see if there were any problems. However, the papers that slid into her hands were not witness papers.
Frowning slightly, Kaya shuffled through the papers. There were sinister rust-coloured smudges and blots all over the pages, and if her eyes weren't decieving her, the papers were some sort of will.
Her eyes settled on one of the papers that held signatures, and her heart seemed to drop to the pit of her stomach.
...hereby states that all 10, 523 acres of the Stormland in possession of Theodore Adam Flint should belong to Augustus Samuel Flint as from...
Kaya's eyes flitted across the pages, her eyes widening as they set on the date. This looks like the rumoured will between Theodore Flint and his son, She realised, staring at the date, And it was made a lot later than the will that stated the Stormland belongs to Klahadol...! Oh... no...! Her eyes set on the rusty blotches, and her hands trembled violently as she forced her frozen fingers to loosen and drop the sheets. The newpaper frontpage flashed in her mind, and she audibly gasped.
Klahadol-- he-- couldn't have-- murdered Augustus Flint--?! For money?! No-- this is a joke, he just-- But Kaya suddenly jolted, crying out as though a hand had plunged into her mind as the memories came unbidden.
There was no white bedspread, no fluffed pillows or thick carpet or her usual mahagony desk. She saw hundreds of people below, colourful blots on the horizon of early morning on a sparkling ocean. The waves sloshed on land that sloped up to where she stood, and before her she saw Klahadol looking slightly flustered. His habit of pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his palm occurred, only Kaya could see why now; he had long blood-covered blades sprouting out from each fingetip.
There was an eerie silence pounding into Kaya's ears, but as Kaya forced her mouth open she heard a strong whoosh of volume -- and she could hear wind rustling trees behind her, strong hisses and murmurs in the people below and the soft sound of waves breaking in the distance. And she heard Klahadol speak as though from a distance.
"How... surprising... miss. How did you get here..."
Kaya could feel herself sweating and trembling, but her voice came out strong and still.
"I heard everything from Merii."
"Oh-- he's alive, is he? ..I thought I had definitely killed him..."
Kaya was frozen to the spot as she heard these words, his eyes dropping to a subzero frostiness she could not recognise. No! This... really isn't Klahadol... She found herself feeling a seeping guilt as she realised this was who he was; a cold, calculating man who had decieved everyone... and the only person who had known that was--
"...I'm sorry. Usopp-san..." Her eyes flickered to his bloodied face, "I know you won't forgive me even if I apologise... I... just couldn't believe that... Klahadol could be a pirate..."
"I don't give a damn about that!" Kaya's eyes widened as she heard this. How could he not care? The villagers had prided the opinion of Klahadol over him, Merii had shot him, she had slapped him...! Her eyes filled with tears as she saw the blood trickling down his bruised and battered body and face. He continued yelling,
"Why did you come?! Didn't I tell you run away?! They're after your life!"
"But Usopp-san is fighting..." Kaya cried, unable to believe he could still care about her like this when he was in dire need of medical help, "We did all those horrible things to you... but you're still fighting to a point you can't even stand...!"
He looked shocked, and tried to say, "That's... because I'm a brave sea...!" But Kaya didn't need to hear his excuses to cover up his true bravery. She turned her eyes to Klahadol, ignoring the pain swelling through her body as she shouted,
"Klahadol! If you want my money you can have it all! So get out of this village!!"
A protuding vein pulsed above his left eye, his dark eyes never left her limp and tired frame as he said softly, "No, although I do want the money... I... mostly want 'peace'." A twisted a strange smirk seemed to hitch the edge of his lips as he continued, "The trust I've built up for these past three years... give me an indescribable peace that I desire. So it is only when I get that peace and your money my plan is truly complete."
Kaya could not bring herself to connect what this man was saying with Klahadol, and was horrified to hear him continue,
"So in other words, the pillaging of these pirates and your will with your death... those two things... are necessary."
"Run away, Kaya! Nothing will get through that bastard! He's not the man you used to know!!" I know that, Kaya thought, and steeling herself she brought out the gun from her pocket. She hadn't wanted to resort to this, and she could sense the shock spilling in from all sides at the action. But she wasn't going to let this unrecognisable man before her hurt anyone. Resolute in this fact, Kaya shouted,
"GET OUT OF THE VILLAGE!!"
Klahadol suddenly gave a chuckle that sounded like his old self as he mentioned, "Miss, you have changed quite a lot the past three years... Do you remember? We did quite a few things those three years." Kaya didn't know where he was going, but she kept the gun trained on him the best she could. His voice penetrated through her detemination, however.
"We'd ride ships together... go out the village together... if you were sick I'd stay by your side... we went through the hard times and the good times together... I devoted myself to you." She heard a change of tone in his voice as he continued, "And devoting myself to the young lady who was only sick and weak... forcing myself to go through all that..."
He looked at her straight in the eye, all warmth dissapating from his presence as he said coldly, "Everything was a preparation for your death!!"
Kaya had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying out in pain and shock, but she could not stop the hot tears that spilled down her cheeks. His lips curled into a grin as he continued triumphantly, "I, 'captain Krow', had no reason to make myself act sweetly to a young bitch like you, other than to decieve and lead you to your death... do you understand, now? What those days of insult are to me..."
The gun was on the ground, her hands clutching at her wet cheeks. A sudden war-cry cracked the air as Usopp ran, his arm held back with a tight fist, and Kaya saw the angered tears in Usopp's eyes-- she wanted to say something, anything, but her throat was too constricted--
The images spun violently, swirling in disturbing twirls of colour, and she fell with a harsh thud to her knees on her plush white carpet. Her breathing was laboured and harsh, and she took deep gulps of air as she struggled to control herself.
This is what Usopp-san was talking about-- Klahadol is part of that-- we're all--!!
Her eyes returned to the brown envelope in horror, and Kaya knew that Krow was exactly what he was from that world and this one... a psycho.
"Merii!!" Kaya screamed, throwing the door open, "MERII!! Call the police-- CALL THEM!!" She ran to her room phone and picked it up with shaking hands, and dialed Usopp's cell-phone number with great difficulty.
"Please pick up, please pick up, oh please..." Kaya begged out loud in pleading whispers, and strong relief swept over her as his cheerful voice answered,
"Hello?"
"Usopp-san!!" Kaya cried out, her voice cracking as tears trickled down her skin.
Usopp, on the other end, stopped walking towards the Melinda Charity House, frowning. "Kaya? Are you okay? You sound like you've been crying." He heard her give a shuddering breath before she managed,
"I-I just realised, Klahadol, Krow, he k-killed someone, he--"
"What are you talking about? Kaya?!" Usopp exclaimed, his brows knitting, and Kaya let out a sob.
"Usopp-san, it takes too long to explain-- but Krow, do you remember, back in our village? Klahadol--"
Usopp's jaw dropped open, a flurry of images sifting through his head from his dreams. "Krow? Feline Incorporates manager? Captain Krow?"
"Yes," Kaya said desperately, trying to control her breath. She was so caught up in the phone-call she didn't think of why Merii had not replied, nor did she notice the door opening and shutting. But she did hear Merii's scream that was abruptly cut off. Eyes widening in shock, Kaya bolted to the landing of the second floor, crying out, "MERII?!!"
Then she felt the bottom of her stomach give way as Klahadol looked up at her from the bloodily slashed Merii on the ground. Blood stained the pine-wood, and Klahadol smiled in what looked like vindinctive pleasure as he lifted a handful of blades.
"Miss Kaya," He said pleasantly, and Kaya's blood ran cold. She stumbled back into her room and slammed the door shut, locking it, before grabbing hold of the phone again.
"Kaya?!!" Usopp called, panicking as he tried to figure out why Kaya had screamed, when she cried out hysterically to the phone, "USOPP-SAN!! He's here!! KROW IS HERE!! He knows-- he-- he knows and-- oh, God, Usopp-san, he KILLED MERII--" She felt her weak heart nearly stop when the door was banged against, Krow's voice shouting,
"You don't seriously think this will stop me?! Miss Kaya?!"
Throwing her small weight against the door in a futile attempt to stop Krow from entering, Kaya sobbed into the phone, "Usopp-san, please--"
She let out a sharp gasp as a single blade thrust through the door and through the phone pressed against her ear, effectively shattering it to bits.
"Kaya?! KAYA!!" Usopp yelled, but the line had been cut off.
"I thought he looked familiar," Usopp muttered, and knowing Kaya had to be in danger, he stuffed the phone into his pocket. Then he turned the opposite direction to run as hard as he could towards Kaya's mansion, glad that if he wasn't good at anything much, at least he was confident in running.
Zoro didn't know whether to be surprised or not at the fact there were people waiting for him at the other end of the park.
"Zoro Roronoah?"
"Where's Tashigi?" The green-head asked impatiently, brandishing the bokkens with a raised eyebrow. The motorcycler faltered for a moment before saying,
"Sh-she's with Miss Jenna. If you-- if you come with us quietly... we promise to-- to take you there." He glanced nervously at Zoro's bokkens before looking up at Zoro himself.
Still holding up the bokkens, Zoro's eyes narrowed.
"Okay, fine. But do anything funny and I'll beat the crap out of you."
Nodding fervently, the motorcycler gestured to his pals, and Zoro followed the guy who had talked to him. The rest had gone off on their motorcycles, presumably to alert some higher figures, but Zoro didn't think it mattered. He could probably beat the crap out of them just as easily, anyway. He had to get this done quick; Sanji had said that Kale had been kidnapped, and Zoro would have bet his Wadou (if he had had it with him, that is) that the kidnappers were the same group as these buffoons...
Following the motorcycler with his mind wrapped in thoughts of Kale, he failed to notice the police officer with his eyes wide open from the mention of Tashigi. Then, silently, Smoker followed.
Just a little more...
Kale rubbed the rope fervently against the sharp shard of glass behind him from a broken window frame that had been discarded on the floor, his teeth grit in concentration.
Just a bit more... I knows there's just a few more threads...
His eyes brightened in triumph as he felt the final thread break, the ropes binding his wrists immediately loosening. He tried to look indifferent to his watchers, although it didn't make that much of a difference considering they were all bored and gazing at something, spaced-out.
Kale slowly slid his hands to his ankles, trying to look unsuspicious, and gently plucked at the knot. After a minute or so of a lot of silent effort, the ropes came loose. The Messenger Angel would have liked a few more minutes of deciding when to run and where to turn, but unfortunately the shaved-head guy had chosen that moment to glance at him. He nearly fell off his unicycle as he yelled,
"Chuu!! Jango!! The boy is loose!!"
The blonde and the hypnotist looked up alarmedly to see Kale running to one side, the ropes lying uselessly behind him.
"Oh no you don't chuu!!" The blonde shouted, and Kale cursed the small body he was in, knowing the three full-grown adults would have far faster and longer strides than he. Instead, Kale began to zig-zag through the wooden frames of the warehouse, leaping over broken glass and piles of sawdust.
"Argh!!"
"Cabodi!!" Chuu shouted as Cabodi fell off his punctured unicycle because of the broken glass. Kale thought in relief, one down, two to go. He grabbed a broken spade handle off the ground and threw it backwards, managing to hit the shins of the hypnotist and forcing him down. Kale leapt over a large fallen table, and reaching its shadows ducked behind the huge, circular face of the table's surface.
Chuu gave a daring leap over its circular edge, thinking Kale was running ahead, and the Messenger Angel forced his fingers beneath the bottom of the table edge and pushed the other side up to meet Chuu's startled form. Kale managed to duck out of the way as the blonde howled in pain, tumbling over the table to hit the ground.
Relieved to see a large, dusty door, Kale slid his hands beneath the wooden bolt. It wouldn't budge. Desperate to get away from the sounds of the three men now rising up and running towards him, he forced the wood up at the expense of his muscles screaming in pain. But when Kale tried to push the door open, there was a loud clang of rusty chains, and Kale was met with the sight of thick steel chains that had a huge padlock at the centre.
"God, why?!" Kale asked, exasperated, and was grabbed from behind.
"You little piece of--" Cabodi began, but was thrown back as Kale jabbed his elbow into his stomach. Ducking down and round-housing Chuu to send him sprawling, Kale tried to push himself between them but was grabbed by Jango from behind. Before he could do anything about that, Chuu stood up and grabbed Kale's other arm, and they thrust the air out of his lungs by shoving him agains the wooden doors.
Trying to blink the stars out of his eyes, Kale felt a prickle of fear run down his spine as a large blade pressed against his throat. His eyes met the angry eyes of Cabodi, who had recovered from the elbow jab and was now breathing unevenly.
"You asked for it," Cabodi growled, apparently ready to slit Kale's throat, and the Messenger Angel thought desperately, is this how I'm supposed to die? However, Chuu said sharply,
"No! Arlong said we're not supposed to kill him chuu!!"
"Why not?!!" Cabodi yelled, his eyes bulging, and Jango said hurriedly,
"Now, now, Krow and Buggy agreed too, remember? He's supposed to be invaluable bait-- Krieg said that, remember?"
"Grrrr..."
"Don't lose your head, chuu, he's just a little snotty kid," Chuu snapped, and Cabodi's eyes narrowed, moving the blade to face Chuu's puckered lips as he growled,
"I'm not losing my head. I don't see why he's invaluable bait!!"
"If things go wrong and that green-head and blonde turn out to be undefeatable, then we'll have to resort to using this boy, understand?!!"
"How could they be undefeatable by the standards of our leaders?!!"
"Your clown of a leader got beaten up quite easily, chuu," Chuu said coldly, and Cabodi's face went red as he shouted,
"Are you insulting Captain Buggy?!!"
Seeing this as his chance to escape, Kale quickly pulled himself out of the loosened grips of Jango and Chuu, slipped between Cabodi's legs-- but was immediately kicked across the jaw.
"See? This is what I mean!!" Cabodi said angrily, and Chuu snorted.
"All we have to do is beat him up still he can't move, right, chuu?"
Kale's eyes widened as he tried to scramble away, but he still had to dodge Chuu's swing of an abandoned shovel. However, Kale failed to see Jango move in. The hypnotist jammed his heel so hard into Kale's shin the bones broke as though they were made out of china. Letting out a cry of pain, Kale tried to roll away, but was soon caught in a flurry of stepping and kicking, his face slapped violently when he tried to bite one of their legs.
Kale thrust his one good arm that wasn't broken to punch Cabodi blindly across the face. The unicycler looked severely pissed off and he brandished the knife again.
"Do that again, why don't you?!!" He screeched, and Kale let out a sharp scream as Cabodi stepped on his hand, Jango and Chuu holding Kale's chest down. The heel crushed his fingers, and Kale bit his lip as he realised-- he couldn't move. Even his ribs felt cracked. However, Cabodi was leering with the blade and snarling,
"Wanna try and punch me now? Eh? With those broken fingers of yours?"
"Stop that, chuu!!" Chuu yelled, and he and Jango pulled Kale's limp form up. The Messenger Angel winced, his breathing haggard as he faced Cabodi.
"See? He can't even move!" Jango said, sounding nervous and obviously not wanting the knife to be turned to him. Finally, Cabodi started to move the blade away. Kale realised with a start that everyone seemed quite diverted, so Kale forced his broken body to move a bit, to try and run. But Cabodi caught sight of this immediately.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!!" He roared, and without warning, without thinking, Cabodi thrust the knife's shining blade deep and straight through Kale's gut.
Tashigi opened her eyes groggily. There was an indescribable pain pulsating in her skull, and she wasn't entirely sure where she was for a moment. Finally remembering previous events and forcing herself to stand up, she realised she was in some sort of dojo. There were people surrounding her, obviously gangsters, and there in the centre she recognised the meaty guy who had beat her up.
"Wh-what...?"
She tried to move, and immediately had bokkens facing her from all sides.
"Kendo specialists," She heard a voice say, and looking between two of the offenders saw Jenna, a smirk curling her lips as she sauntered towards Tashigi with a bokken of her own.
"Is that so," Tashigi muttered, and her head hung in defeat.
She'd fallen for a stupid trick, and her skills had failed to protect herself. Why did this have to happen all the time?
Maybe I am weak, Tashigi thought miserably. Then, with a start, she heard Zoro's voice in her head.
"There's something empty in us, and that emptiness causes deep flaws. And things are missing here. I have no Wadou. You have no confidence."
No confidence? Tashigi bit her lip to stop her trembling. But what could she have confidence in? She had no weapon with her. She was nothing without it, wasn't she?
"...I guess we have a different goal here." She heard Zoro's voice once more, and her own confused voice question,
"But what goal could we possibly have in this world?"
"How about to restore your faith in yourself?"
Myself. Tashigi's eyes widened as she realised, I have myself.
Jenna was smirking at her, and Tashigi suddenly felt, not shame, but a deep and dark anger bubbling from deep inside of her. Not at Jenna... at herself.
I can't believe myself. Of course Jenna pushes me around like a ragdoll. So what if I have no freaking bokken? I'm not supposed to give a damn. If I want to show what my worth is... especially to Roronoa Zoro for the day he ever decides to fight me... if I don't have anything with me to have confidence in... I need to at least have confidence in myself.
And with this revelation, Tashigi looked up defiantly into Jenna's eyes. Jenna looked startled, and even more so when Tashigi demanded,
"What do you want from me, Jenna?"
A/N: Ahck... O_O;; Sorry it took a while... I just didn't feel like writing, but today I got off my lazy bum and got to work. Well, at least I got a bit of it done now... *shakes head* This is taking longer than I'd planned, but that's good. I was worried it'd be all... compacted... so you'd get like too much at once. But somehow it didn't turn out that way... Well anyways. ^^;; If you're reading this now, thankyew very much for reading uptil now. :D I'm so happy! XDDD And if you are a reviewer, you KNOW I love you. *huggles* So... I'll have a surprise for you guys soon. Yeah. ^_^ My sister is coming this weekend so I can make her help me with it. XD
About the translations... I did that with the Korean version, but my Korean is not perfect-- at ALL. I also tried my best to make it sound like natural English, so I twiddled a little with some of the really Japanese/Korean expressions to something else more English. Er, so don't hate me. *whimpers* (Note: I edited this chapter because I am appalled I gave it in unedited. The number of mistakes hit me harder than Luffy ever could. ;_;)