Chapter 3: Separated
Nami and Usopp were scared. It was hard to tell who was more afraid. Usopp was a coward, of course, but Nami knew more about Kraken, more information to be scared of. Such as the story she heard of when he was surrounded by five Navy ships and all of them were defeated by just his first mate, and if his first mate -whoever he was- could do all that, what was the captain himself capable of doing?
Two pirates of Hugo's crew had carried Nami and Usopp, still tied up, and tossed them onto the island on hard, dirt, ground. Then they went back to the ship, probably to get Sanji and Zoro.
Nami and Usopp were face-down on the dirt, but they could hear yelps of pain from the ship. Of course, Nami thought. Only our arms and hands are tied up. Sanji must be beating them up with his feet like he always does. Then she heard Hugo's voice going, "What is going on here!". Nami hoped she would hear either the beating of shoes against someone's face, or the sound of Hugo crying in pain. What she really heard was a yelp of pain from the wrong person.
Afterwards, Hugo and another pirate walked up to Nami and Usopp without Sanji nor Zoro. Or Luffy, for that matter. Where did the captain go, anyway? That didn't matter now. Hugo's pirate yanked on the ropes that tied up Nami and Usopp, making a sort of leash from the extra length. He grabbed the ropes, forced them to stand up, then, unsheathing a sword, told them to walk forward. Neither Nami nor Usopp knew exactly where they were walking to, but Hugo was following, offering no chance of escape. And they did know that they were going to see the powerful fiend, Grim Kraken.
Zoro woke up eventually. He looked around, which wasn't easy for some reason. He was in a cabin. To his left, he saw Sanji, looking unconscious. To his right, he saw Luffy in the same condition. They were both trapped in some kind of...thing that looked sort of like a coccoon, although Sanji's covered only his body from the chest down, while Luffy had only his face uncovered. After trying to move his arms, Zoro guessed that he was trapped in one as well.
"You're awake" said Vard.
Zoro immediately looked towards him as Vard came into the room.
"Who're you?" Zoro asked with suspicion.
"Hugo told you about Master Kraken, right? Then he probably told you that there are the Brass and Iron Security pirates. I'm the captain of the Iron pirates, while Hugo's the captain of the Brass pirates. Our job is to patrol the water around Master Kraken's HQ and attack intruders, as well as bring him candidates for his group of slaves."
Zoro then noticed something "Wait! Where are Nami and Usopp!"
"They left with Hugo. The two of us decided that you and these other two lackeys are too special to go with them, so you three are going later."
Next to Zoro, Luffy moaned, indicating that he's awake.
"Luffy?" Zoro asked.
"Zoro?"
"Oh, I just remembered," Vard interrupted. "This kid still hasn't gone through the intro. Master Kraken's too busy to bother with storytelling. So I need you to be quiet." As he said the last part, he pulled out a remote and -
"GAGH!"
"Zoro!"
"Man, I love these shock-built straitjackets. Now then," Vard said as he turned some dial on the remote. "I'll activate the shock, just low enough to keep you quiet."
Luffy was about to say something before the straitjacket was turned on and his muscles strained him from moving his mouth.
Just what did Vard mean by "too special"?