Despite the way he haunted my nightmares, Brutus was not an intimidating man by any stretch of the imagination. We were of a similar height, making him much smaller than the men I was with. His dark hair was almost non-existent, the hairline having retreated as far as possible from his beady eyes and overly large nose. The small, round glasses perched on said beak and his hefty paunch gave him the appearance of a meek, bookish man. That is, if you didn't look too hard into his eyes. Because even from ten feet away I could see the cold menace in those beady eyes.
The men on either side of me must have felt the shiver that rolled down my spine as they both tightened their respective holds on me. That, or they also saw what I did when I looked at Brutus. It didn't matter either way. Shanks' arm around my waist and LB's arm around my shoulders were a comfort that allowed me to plaster a cocky smile across my face. I slid my arm under the men's coats, holding them just as they were holding me. Shockingly enough, the Little Bastard's skin was warm, almost hot, under my hand, despite the fact that the idiot wasn't wearing a shirt.
"Well, we're here," I say, proud that there was no hint of the fear pooling in my gut in my voice. "Are you gonna make us stand out here all night, or what?"
Brutus' thin lips pursed in annoyance as he glared down at us. Pushing his glasses higher up his nose, he said in a reedy voice, "I thought I ordered you to bring your children, Kuniko."
I clenched my teeth at the sound of that name leaving his lips, my fingers curling into fists of their own accord. I heard fabric tear on my left as my claws tore into Shanks' coat and LB let out a little grunt as I scratched his back. I quickly uncurled my fists and forced my shoulders and jaw to relax. I didn't need Brutus to notice just how much being around him was getting to me.
"I'm afraid you only ordered Elle to bring her male counterparts," Shanks said in an even tone, putting a large emphasis on my name. "The kid and I are both male and could be considered her counterparts, so we decided to join Elle in accepting your dinner invite."
"Really," the Little Bastard drawled next, managing to sound both lazy and menacing at the same time. "If you had wanted Elle to bring the brats, ya should've said so," he added, also heavily emphasizing my name.
Damn. Was I really that easy to read?
A small snort directed my attention behind Brutus. Kiri-Chan was standing there, coughing into his fist in a failed attempt to hide his laughter. Brutus spared him only a small glare before turning back to face us. "I'll make a note of that for the next time, Kuniko," he said, lips spread into a smirk. "I'm adaptable, however, so your—companions—are welcome to join us for dinner. Why don't you all come inside?"
With that, Brutus turned on his heel and walked inside. Kiri-Chan held open the large door for us, a small, tight smile on his handsome face. We had no other choice, so the three of us walked up the stairs and into the lion's den.
Shanks could feel Elle shaking and it made anger start to boil inside of him. He wasn't sure who he was mad at, though. The man, who did such horrible things to such a little girl that her body still bore the scars over two decades later? The Marines, who threatened her children if she didn't capture the man? Or himself, for not having killed the man years ago so they wouldn't be in this mess in the first place? All three, Shanks decided as they stepped through the large doors into the entryway of the laboratory.
The door behind them shut with a loud bang, giving the sense that the three of them had just walked into a trap. Three men approached the group, all of them with black collars around their necks. Embossed on the collars were numbers, all of them different between the men. They held out their hands and one of the men quietly offered to take their coats. Elle dropped her arms and took a step out of the male pirates' hold. Shanks wished she could have stayed close, but knew that she wanted—needed—to prove that this place wasn't affecting her. A glance at the kid's face made Shanks think that he felt the same
The shadow-man was suddenly next to Shanks, making the pirate place his hand on his sword reflexively. It was unnerving how quiet and unassuming that man was. The shadow-man handed over his own cloak, revealing a black shirt with sleeves that fell almost to his fingertips, black pants tucked into black boots...and a black collar around his throat. The numbers on his collar read 67441, the color just barely a shade lighter than the rest of the band. As the three of them also shrugged out of their coats, the shadow-man must have noticed Shanks' gaze lingering on his collar.
The shadow-man gave Shanks a small smile and said, "After Neko-Chan managed to escape, Master designed these. They're trackers that double as disciplinary devices."
"And the numbers?" the rookie pirate asked gruffly before Shanks could.
"They're for identification purposes," Elle murmured. "Rather than give his experiments names, Master gave us numbers. Mine was 67492, so he called me Kuniko—nine-two girl."
The shadow-man nodded solemnly. "I'm not like Neko-Chan and don't have a name of my own, so you can call me what Master does: Shiichiro, for four-one boy." The shadow-man—Shiichiro—started walking down the hall, adding, "Follow me, if you would."
When Shiichiro had walked several paces ahead of them, the kid muttered, "This dude is way more fucked up than I thought. Which is saying something."
Elle and Shanks both nodded, but didn't bother saying anything in response. Kid was right, after all.
Shanks put his hand at the small of Elle's back and took comfort in the fact that her shoulders eased slightly. As the group walked down the bright hall, they all looked around. So far, it seemed that white was Brutus' favorite color, as it was everywhere. White walls, white floors, white doors. Hell, even the uniforms of the few black-collared people Shanks saw were white. It gave the place a sterile, clinical feeling that was probably meant to be soothing but just gave Shanks the creeps. Finally Shiichiro opened another set of large doors, revealing a large dinning room.
Despite the large room, there was only a small table in it, set for six people. Brutus was sitting at the head of the table in a large white chair that almost had the appearance of a throne. Shiichiro sat down in the chair to his right, the black of his person and clothing contrasting strongly with the white of—well, everything. To Brutus' left was a curvy woman with short, light brown hair. Her arm was heavily bandaged and her low-cut white tank-top revealed more bandages across her shoulders and collarbones. As her head turned to look at the pirates as they entered the room, the reason for her bandages became clear. It was Reiniko. And one glance at her blazing mad green eyes let Shanks know that she was not a happy camper.
Things were about to get real interesting real quick.
I followed Kiri-Chan into the dinning room, trying to keep my confident smirk plastered on my face. Hebi-Chan turned to glare at us as we entered, but kept her mouth shut. Her gaze landed on Shanks first, but quickly looked away. Good. I'd hate to have to teach her another lesson before we even sat down. As Hebi-Chan's green stare took us in, I sat down in the seat at the end of the table, directly across from Brutus. Shanks sat down to my left next to Kiri-Chan and LB sat down next to Hebi-Chan on my right. When he sat down, the Little Bastard gave Hebi-Chan a cold smirk and threw his arm over the back of his chair. He leaned the chair on the back legs and managed to appear both bored and insolent. And I could've kissed him for it.
With a small scoff, Hebi-Chan finally took me in. As I shook out my white napkin and settled it over my lap, she commented, "It seems you've finally grown up, Neko-Chan." When I only raised my eyebrows, she looked pointedly first at my tits, then at my hair, before adding, "You look like an actual woman, now."
Several men approached the table, making my ears fall back on my head before I could stop them. I didn't like having people appear behind me and my body reacted on it's own, making my discomfort clear. I ignored the smirk that Brutus gave me and decided to reply to Hebi-Chan. "It's amazing what children will do for you," I said mildly, glancing at the dark wine the man poured into my glass. It smelled amazing, even from a distance.
"Right," Hebi-Chan said, her tone implying that she hadn't really listened to a damn thing I said. She turned to face Shanks and gave him a nasty smirk, revealing her fangs. If we were to compare fang sizes, her's would be longer than mine, but mine still appeared bigger. "So, Red-Hair, does your woman know you're here with your Baby-Mama?"
Shanks leaned back in his seat with a small smile, swirling his wine around in his glass slightly harder than most would consider necessary. But it was enough for the smell to reach me and I couldn't smell anything poisonous in it, so I gave him a small nod. Shanks took a small sip of wine before he placed his glass back down on the table. "What do you mean by that, Reiniko-chan?" Shanks asked her mildly, his dark eyes sharp.
The Little Bastard had been watching us closely and must have guessed what Shanks had done. He slammed his chair back down, which ended up jostling the table and spilling wine out of several of the glasses, mainly his. I also gave LB a small nod as Hebi-Chan glared at him. She addressed Shanks, but gave me a vicious little smirk as she spoke. "I mean the woman who was so kind as to rip my arm off for flirting with you, of course," she all but purred.
Uh. What?
Was this ((bitch)) chick stupid, or something? Kid knew that Senpai looked (very) different when she was (completely) human, but did this ((bitch)) seriously not realize that Elle was the one who ((attacked)) dealt with her earlier? When the ((bitch)) chick oh so kindly (not) asked (without realizing it) about Elle (like she wasn't even there), Kid, Senpai, and Red-Hair had all stiffened in their seats. Tension thrummed between the three of them and Kid was (absolutely) certain that if he looked at ((either of them)) Senpai, they might (definitely would) start to laugh.
Finally, Senpai cleared her throat and took a ((gulp)) large sip of her wine. Then she took another, slightly larger sip (she damn near drained the glass). Finally, she gently set the glass down on the table (no, really—it didn't even make a sound) and said mildly (with only a slight tremor to her voice), "Whatever do you mean, Hebi-Chan? I'm the one who ripped your arm off for trying to kill Shanks, not flirt with him."
Kid (gleefully) watched as the realization that Senpai was (of course) right dawned on the ((bitch)) chick. She shot to her feet (and would have tipped over her chair if it weren't for the ((incredible)) awesome reflexes of Kid) and slammed her hands down on the table. "That can't be true!" she ((wailed)) shouted. "There's no way you could beat me without using your Devil Fruit!"
Senpai held out her glass so that another ((creepy)) servant could fill it with more wine. (Genuine) Mirth filled Senpai's ((gorgeous)) amber eyes as she regarded the ((bitch)) chick over the wine glass as she took another sip (drank half the glass). "Obviously I can, Hebi-Chan," Senpai said gleefully. "Would you like for me to do it again?"
Kid's gaze shot across the table and ((collided)) met Red-Hair's. Kid saw in the older pirate's dark gaze the same ((weird)) mixture of desire and (pants-pissing) terror at the prospect of watching Senpai fight the ((bitch)) chick again. But before either of the pirates could decide which emotion was winning (which, let's face it, would have been desire), Brutus looked at the ((bitch)) chick. That's all he did. He looked at her (he didn't glare; his expression never changed from that stupid, placid one) and the ((bitch)) chick sat back down in her seat (and shut her trap). Kid almost wished his glare could control his men the same way (no, scratch that—he did wish it could).
Shanks carefully studied the man sitting at the head of the table. Reiniko-chan was the only one besides the guards outside that wasn't wearing one of those collars, and yet Brutus was able to control her so well. From the malice pouring off of Reiniko-chan, she had been about five seconds from vaulting across the table and attacking Elle. Shanks could tell from the quick swishing of her fluffy tail that his Kitten would have readily met that attack. Both women had been mere heartbeats from trying to tear the other's throat out. And both women had been stopped by a single look.
Brutus' look had done more than shut Reiniko up. Elle's fingers had tightened around the stem of her wine glass and she had swallowed hard. She hadn't even been on the receiving end of that seemingly mild look and Shanks could tell that his Kitten was afraid. And the fact that his beautiful, strong Kitten was afraid of this small, bookish man made the hair on the back of Shanks' neck stand on end. Deep in his gut, Shanks felt the need to grab Elle and fight his way out. A quick glance at the kid's hard face told Shanks that he felt the same.
Surprisingly, Elle knocked back the rest of her wine and put her glass back down on the table. "Another time, perhaps," she said with a small smile, hiding her fear magnificently. Her ears even played along, only twitching slightly. She nodded her thanks to the man who refilled her glass before adding, "Are we ever going to eat, or were you going to spring your trap first?"
Both Reiniko and Shiichiro stiffened in their seats, their gazes shooting towards Brutus. But the Master of the laboratory just threw his head back and laughed. "Always an astute one, my Kuniko," he said with a slimy grin. "But I know how you can be when you go too long without food. I figured you would be more... amiable after you've eaten."
With that said, several black-collared servants entered the room and started filling the plates. Elle and Reiniko received large portions of meat, all of it cooked just enough that it could no longer be considered raw. The kid's nose wrinkled slightly as he looked between their plates and seemed relieved that his meat was fully cooked. Shanks was used to Elle's penchant for bloody meat, especially when she needed the strength, but he would admit that it was odd seeing another woman dig into the same type of food with just as much enthusiasm.
As they ate the food, a few of the black-collared servants making sure to keep the wine glasses full, Brutus made pleasant small talk. He asked about the twins, their names and how old they were. Elle and Shanks had only given him hard stares for answers, which earned them a mocking laugh. Then he had asked what Elle ("Kuniko") had been doing for the past ten years, since he had stopped hearing about the Hell Cat in the news. Elle had admitted that she took a break from active piracy, preferring to focus on her children. That seemed to have surprised Brutus, as he asked why she would give up traveling the seas for staying behind and raising children.
"I never said that," Elle answered him with a small smile. "I gave up active piracy when I found out about my boys, but I never stopped having fun around the world."
Shiichiro shifted in his seat, drawing attention to himself when otherwise he would have been overlooked. "What did you do then, Neko-Chan?" he asked quietly.
Elle smiled widely, drained her glass, and leaned back in her chair. She placed her arm on the armrest and propped her chin in her hand, looking every ounce as regal as Brutus was trying to pretend he was. "I made lots and lots of friends, Kiri-Chan," she said, a savagely cunning twinkle in her pretty yellow eyes. "And I destroyed many enemies."
The unspoken threat hung heavy over the table, but no one spoke. Shanks found a smile spread across his own face as he shifted in his seat, his hand resting on the guard of Gryphon. He knew without looking that the kid had adapted a similar position, both of them turning slightly to face the other end of the table. Without any of them saying another word, the message became quite clear. Elle was here for Brutus' head, and Shanks and the kid would back her up, no matter what.
The smile fell off of Brutus' face as he quietly wiped his mouth. He let out a heavy sigh and said, "Well, I guess it's time."
Before any of them could say anything, the floor beneath them opened and all three of them fell into blackness.
A/N: And it's finally, fiiiinally starting to get to the really good stuff! That's right, people! We've reached the climax before the final boss battle! So expect a really juicy chapter next time!
As always, I hope y'all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
~Shini