Semi-important message located in the author's note at the bottom of the page. Relevant to bonus updates.

After Being Caught

"HEY!" shouted Ridley at one of the guards, trying to get him to come over. The guard lifted his shaggy eyebrow and looked at him. The guard had a tell-tale bruise on his left cheek, indicating that he was in the brawl just moments ago. However, unlike Ridley he was on the winning side. Nonetheless it was his job to see to the prisoners. If they died before their execution it would mean an unpleasant reprimand from his boss. "Can you get me a harmonica?" asked Ridley with a smile on his face, "I just don't feel like a real prisoner without it." The guard twisted his pale lips into an ugly frown and rolled his eyes turning away from Ridley and continuing down the path. "How about a cup I can bang against these bars? Come on, man, level with me here! I can't be a proper prisoner without them!" The rest of the prisoners chuckled a bit at the new guy. High morale and new guys like him were what gave them hope and entertainment in a dark and dreary place like this. The prison guard had decided to move on without paying attention to Ridley's pleas.

Ridley grumbled beneath his breath as he leaned back against the stone wall. For the time being they had been quarantined off on the second floor, separate from each other. Ridley was absolute clueless as where the rest of his allies were. He had a pretty good guess that like him the rest of them had been moved to this same floor. It was big and spacious and they were just barely beneath the clouds. The small window of his room gave him a perfect view of whenever a massive sky beast flew on by. From what Ridley had overheard these arrangements were just temporary, they would be moved up to the first floor when they were done fixing everything up that they caused.

"Hey, pssht," whispered a nearby prisoner, perking Ridley's attention. He walked up to the front and popped his head out of the bars. He quickly looked left and then right, trying to locate the source of the sound. Ridley turned his head to the side to see a bulbous slimy brown substance leaking out the side. Ridley gently prodded it with his finger. "Fu ha ha ha!" laughed the man next to him and Ridley nearly had to jump back from the sound. It was louder than some of his own music. Ridley paused for a second as he waited for the mass to respond. "Don't touch me there! I'm ticklish!" It was weird hearing both a voice that deep and that loud admit to being ticklish, but all-in-all Ridley had heard stranger things.

"Uh…" began Ridley, not sure on how to respond or even if he should. His mother always warned him about strange guys in prison and he was fairly certain this man qualified. "How are you?" Ridley figured he'd be here awhile. Zesiro had caused quite an awful lot of damage on the fourth floor by slicing up several of the cells, chances are they wouldn't be done for awhile. He may as well get to know his companions.

"I'm doing great!" shouted the man. His statement was clearly contradictory to his current predicament, it was almost as if he didn't know he was in jail. "Sure, I'd like a bigger prison cell than this! Maybe one with a nice view as well, but I'm doing fine, my young friend!" The man let loose another bellowing and ear-splitting laugh. Ridley cringed backwards and into his cell, he noticed several of his fellow inmates doing the same. "I'm Suzuki D. Monsuta! I'm a Kraken Fishman! Who are you newbie?"

"The name's Ridley Blackwell," Ridley said. Suddenly the entire prison let loose a gasp. Similarly to when Monsuta laughed, they all cringed and jumped back, pressing themselves against the walls of their cells, all of them with frightened looks on their faces. Ridley could hear some of the passing comments going between them. 'Did he just say 'Blackwell' as in 'Karasu Blackwell'? The king of the Blackmarket?' 'Ridley Blackwell? As in the member of the Infinity Pirates?' 'This guy's gonna kill us all!' Ridley smiled and immediately took up a pose to intimidate the rest of them, however, his posturing was soon interrupted as Monsuta bellowed out another laugh causing him to cringe and hide.

"The Infinity Pirates, huh?" bellowed out Monsuta, "I heard of you guys before I got locked up! However, I only really remember hearing about 'Shark Bite' Zesiro and 'Kid Coyote' Mikoto." Ridley supposed that was fair, they got their bounties first. It was only suiting that they became famous before he was. "Oh, I also heard of 'Plant' Sage!" Ridley was thrown back into his own corner of the room at that. She was more famous than he was? How was that possible? "Anyways, forget about your past life. You're trapped in here! The Second Floor of Zenith Gaol! The 'Torture Floor'! We're lucky, we got the backseats. Rumor is the torture chamber is in the center of the floor, where those prisoners close enough get a full view of it! We can still hear the screams though. However, we should all thank you. Since the Infinity Pirates broke in and caused a ruckus the torture sessions have been delayed."

Ridley smiled, thankful that some people appreciated their work. "However, chances are you guys will be the first to try it out when they finally do get everything back up and running! Fu ha ha ha ha ha!" Ridley cringed, not only at the man's obnoxious and loud laughs, but also at the fact that he brought up a very good point. Ridley frowned and shrunk back down in his cell. Then again it probably would be Enma, Zesiro, or Hiro-Shu. One of the pirates with a high bounty amongst them. He would be safe for awhile. "Don't worry, I've been here for awhile and they haven't broken me yet. I'm still hanging onto hope. Somewhere there's someone who will break us out of these cells and lead us all to a brave new era! And when that day comes we'll be as happy as can be! Fu ha ha ha ha!"

Ridley smiled and quickly flashed Monsuta a thumbs-up. "Don't worry about it," bragged Ridley, "I am working on an escape plan as we speak! After all, I, Ridley Blackwell, son of Karasu Blackwell as well as First mate of the Infinity Pirates am going to break every last one of you out of here!" Ridley pumped his fist up into the air and immediately a roar was summoned up from every pirate around him. Ridley nodded with a small smile of satisfaction on his face. He assumed either they would break the people out of here or they wouldn't, in which case he wouldn't have to worry about them anyways! It was a win-win no matter how the situation went down. Ridley let out a small laugh as went over to the corner and sat down.

Now was the hard part. The crushing, deafening, mind-destroying boredom. No weapons, guitars, or even piece of paper and a pencil. Ridley was stuck in the cell with no more than four walls to keep him occupied. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. He wasn't good with staying occupied without his guitar. He was already starting to feel the quiet aches of boredom. He needed something to do, some instrument to play. It may have been a sign that he was going crazy being cooped up in this small chamber, but he didn't have any other choice and started beating out a quick rhythm with just his knees and hands.

(-With Enma-)

Enma was in solidarity. No other prisoners all around him, completely blocked off form anyone else who could even possible want to talk to him. He had seastone cuffs on both his arms and legs. He was close to passing out from the strain and old wounds from the fight. He was stretched over his strone-cold and uncomfortable cot, trying to calm himself down. But the fact was that he was still tired from the fight and the floors, he couldn't stay like this for much longer. He rubbed his eyes wearily, maybe a quick nap would do him good. He rolled over onto his side and tried to sleep it all away.

He couldn't calm down though. His brain was racing as he thought everything over. He was trapped and he was sure Zesiro and Ridley were both in the same situation. However, his thoughts drifted to the other three. Rosa, Maria, and Hiro-Shu. Maria was asleep when they got here, not to mention she could be literally disarmed. They may have separated her body from her arms and legs, leaving her completely helpless in a prison with horrible pirates surrounding her as he laid here, struggling to fall asleep. Hiro-Shu had suffered most of the attacks from their men. He had several gunshots embedded in his armor and chances are some of them went through or at the very least left sweltering blows on his body were very high. Hiro-Shu needed immediate medical attention and Enma doubted the prisoner guards would be very forth-coming with it. After that Rosa entered his mind. She was probably shaking with fear, ridden with self-doubt, and beating herself up while she was at it. She had failed her only sister. It was possible that she was banging her head against the wall right now, breaking her skull and rattling her brain. Enma just hoped that Sage and Mikoto could make their way up here until it turned that bad.

(-With Sage-)

Sage sighed as she walked through the third floor. The place was infested with the tapirs, most of them gave her a wide-berth apparently not interested in someone who was awake. They stayed clear of her and then would munch on the grass while keeping a close eye on her. They didn't bother her per se, but there was definitely something unnerving about constantly having their beady little eyes on you at all times. She was the only moving figure on this floor to her knowledge so it made sense that they would be drawn to her and be naturally wary of her. They kept a constant watch, but Sage trudged onwards through this sleeping hell.

She could feel her own consciousness starting to sleep away. Her built-up immunity to it meant nothing after several hours on this floor. Her feet were starting to lag behind her. She needed to get going, maybe Enma had the right idea about leaving rather than staying on this floor. She needed a break from this problematic area. The Sleeping Nightlocke trees still extended to the sky all around her. She couldn't believe that she would ever get out of here. IF she found Mikoto she would have to drag his body over the cold ground and to the stairs, heft his body up each and every step until he woke up again. If she could manage to get him away from this floor…and then what? It would still take at least twenty minutes for him to wake up! She couldn't protect him all by herself for that long! The prison guards were here, they'd be defeated in a matter of seconds before Mikoto even had the chance to wake-up! She would fail in seconds…really it would be that quick…she needed some help getting out of here.

Almost on cue a man appeared in front of her…well, running at her. The man didn't look like a bad-type of person, he wore a grey T-shirt with torn off sleeves along with jeans that were obviously one size too big for him and a pair of sneakers on his feet. From what Sage could tell at this distance he had brown hair and fair skin. "Hello! Pretty lady!" Sage's eyes widened. Like a lot of girls she had some kind of built-in sensor when it comes to perverts, some call it 'women's intuition', and Sage's was telling her to run away at breakneck speeds as quickly as possible. Sage turned around on her heels, burning up the ground as she went. Quickly she bolted off in the complete opposite direction of the wackjob.

"It's a beautiful day for a run, isn't it?" asked the man as he quickly caught up to Sage. Sage gasped as she looked at him. He had quickly caught up to her, despite the fact that just moments ago he was quite a distance away. "The name's Aaron Steele! I'm a friend to women everywhere! It is a pleasure to meet you!" He extended his hand to her, trying to seem like an ally. It didn't seem like he was all too concerned with their current location, it seemed like to him even a prison was a good place to pick-up chicks. "Don't worry about it I'm not a prison guard or anything of the sort!"

"That means you are a prisoner and that isn't any better!" Screamed Sage as she picked-up her pace. She had a sinking feeling it was hopeless as this man took his own speed up another notch and caught up with her. Sage turned around, pressed her hands against his chest. If running away from this pervert wasn't doing her any good then she'd have to stand her ground and fight, "Pressure BALL!" The small sphere of pent-up pressure emerged from Sage's hand and erupted into Aaron's chest throwing him back and clear over the lush fields. However, it was apparent that this man was no mere prisoner, if he even was one. He struck out with one of his feet, using it as a pivot of sort and used the momentum from him flying back to turn. He swished around, turning the momentum from the throw into a full circle and catapulting himself back forward. Within moments he was back up next to Sage and running right alongside her.

"Prisoner of love perhaps, but not of this shoddy jail," Sage was rather surprised at how quickly he recovered from the shot, it was surprising seeing as how not even Mikoto would recover that fast. The guy smirked and quickly burst into the space in front of her. "Anyways, what is a beautiful young lady like you doing in this dump? Surely no Marine in their right mind would have the audacity to cage such a lovely bird! Keeping it out of the light of society where she rightfully belongs?"

Sage couldn't quite put her finger on this guy. He seemed rather…insane, was that the right word? She had heard of people doing insane things out of infatuation, but this guy seems to have fallen in love rather fast…and she was afraid he had fallen on his head…at least once. Nonetheless, if being on the same crew as Mikoto had taught her anything it was that you could trust idiots or at least some of them. Besides as said before she was in a tough spot and she doubted she could escape from it all alone. "I'm a pirate. We're here to save a friend."

Aaron's head swiveled to both sides as he looked around. "We?" It seemed to unnerve him slightly, knowing that the person he was talking to and potentially harassing was actually a part of a bigger, more powerful gang. However, he seemed to soon calm down as he noticed that she wasn't necessarily with anyone at this precise moment, but still her comment meant he had to keep an eye out for someone else. "So, you snuck into the prison, too, huh?" Aaron said with a smile.

Sage stopped running. One, she realized that outrunning this idiot was impossible. He hadn't even broke out in a sweat and two, his words intrigued her. "What do you mean 'too'?" Sage asked catching the small and almost unimportant detail. The bottom line was he was in jail, how he got here was of little to no consequence of her.

"Hah ha ha ha!"laughed Aaron, "well, it's a funny story see. I was stowed away on a pirate ship belonging to some big shot and we docked here. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to move on. I didn't particularly like the guy in charge of the ship, so I figured I'd hop off of that ship and onto a new one here! Now I'm just looking around for a new crew to join up…for a little while at least!" The guy seemed a little brain damaged if he thought a prison was the best place to try to stow-away on a ship, especially a prison in the sky.

Speaking of ships for the first time since they got in this prison, her mind drifted back to their ship. It was still tethered to the ship below them, wasn't it? She knew Hiro-Shu made some kind of precaution and reservation for someone to come by and take care of the ship in their absence, but this was the first time she wondered if they had actually shown up. Her plants could be dying down there! The ship could be destroyed! They could be Grand Line Pirates left completely and utterly without a ship! It was a shocking truth and it made Sage shiver a bit.

"You just shivered," pointed out Aaron, an obvious tone of concern on his voice. "Want my jacket? Or would you prefer just cozying up and sharing our body heat?"

"PRESSURE BALL!"

Captured...and Tortured

Aaron is the work of Shadow40000 and boy is he smooth as silk! I mean, seriously, if I tried to hit on a girl it would come out like a walrus choking on a harmonica...anyways...onto less of my social awkwardness...

I have decided to do a slight 'contest' within Saga. As you all know I got A LOT of backlog (35 chapters). Now I could be a nice guy and just upload them for no good reason, but...I want to have you guys work for it (I'm evil...but I'm also an evil genius!) So, here's the plan for every...let's say...10 reviews (subject to change) Saga gets a bonus update. Sounds good? Well, let's throw in some rules. First, I'm only counting reviews from Chapter 160 on and Review # 1087 and up. Second, anonymous reviews don't count as you can cheat the system with them. Third, I will not update every day. I will update every other day if you guys manage to get to review that much. Finally, to help discourage/encourage you guys. You're currently averaging 3 reviews per chapter or per week (so you're on the track to get a bonus update a month). Also, this is a test. If it goes well I'll keep the idea around, if it sucks I'll scrap and try to think of a new idea.