Disclaimer: I Do Not Own One Piece.

Chapter 13: The Plan

The sounds of footsteps echoed in the small tunnel as the three—one carrying Luffy—walked along the path in darkness.

"No." Aro's voice echoed.

"Aro, don't argue with us, it's the fastest way to get out of here." Ezerial's voice filled the tunnel easily.

"No!"

"…"

"Fine…" Aro sighed.

"Oh, I get it, you'll say Ok to him, but not to me." Ezerial said angrily.

"I don't trust you fully yet!" She snapped.

"I didn't try to kill you!"

"…"

"Sorry Guzen." She said in an apologetic tone.

"He didn't even say anything!"

TWACK

"Gah…." Ezerial whimpered.

"Quit complaining Ezerial!"

The group walked in darkness still. Although they can't see it, Aro could see everything. Ezerial had given her his coat, being as she was in all white when she fell in the water. Luffy was on Ezerial's back, against Aro's protesting. Guzen hand two dice out, one bright blue, the other a bright yellow, though, color wasn't seen in the dark, even with night vision. He had told her what each of them was, but she had already forgotten. Both her scythe and Ezerial's sword were on her back. The sword, compared to her scythe was not only too tall, but too heavy to carry normally. She had the blade balanced on her shoulder. "Eh… How much longer?" Aro asked, eyebrow raised.

"Not much, if I remember correctly." Ezerial said, shifting Luffy around to carry him easier.

Soon, they came to a halt at the end of a small tunnel. The walls went down into the water into a large drain. Aro frowned, "Now where do we go from here?" She walked up to the wall, running her hand along it slowly.

"Down."

"Down?!"

"…. Down…."

"Dang it…." Aro looked at the water, ears laid back. "You know I'll just sink, right?"

"Yeah," Ezerial came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "That's the point."

"What do you mean?"

"… There's a kind of air bubble below the drain…" Guzen walked up to the water edge, looking into the spiraling water, "The water some how gets pulled away, and then there is an empty cavern. It's a perfect place to dump all kinds of bodies, scrap metal, old armor, and weapons."

"So… basically,…" Aro muttered to herself, "We're being dropped into an unknown area of sharp pointy objects."

"Basically." Ezerial answered, heading to the water's edge.

"That's just great…." Her ears laid back as she spoke. She looked down and then looked at the others. Guzen watched her, waiting for a lead. Ezerial's eyes held something that Aro was so use to seeing in people's eyes. The same look that Cap use to give her when she was in training. She smiled at him, mockingly to his 'Too scared?' look. She turned and jumped into the water, being consumed in darkness…

Aro's body fell through a thin water barrier and she started to fall, gasping for breath. She glanced below to see a pile of dead bodies, swords, armor, and rats. Her ears twitched as she shifted her weight to land on her feet. From the height and speed she was falling, and her weight, made her landing come with a nice loud squish from the rotting bodies. Her hairs stood on end as the smell of rotting flesh began to creep into her nostrals. Her skin crawled as she looked around. The rats came at her, eyes an eerie red. She fumbled for her scythe when two more 'splerch' came from above her. She pulled her scythe out as three bodies fell on her, causing the bodies below them to collapse and cave in. The bodies blacked everything out of their views…

"Aro?" Guzen's voice came quietly from above her.

"Aro! Where are you?" The sounds of shuffling corpses came from near by.

"Over here! I can't move my arms because of these dumb meat bags!" Aro shouted, a whimper in her voice.

"That's… just nice…. Hold on, I'm coming."

"…. What about Luffy?" Guzen still spoke in a whisper.

"Here, you watch him."

"But Ezerial, I can't carry him."

"SHUT UP AND GET ME OUT!" Aro shouted, enraged.

"HOLD YOUR HORSES!" Ezerial snapped back with more squishing and squashing sounds.

A squeak came from near her ear, and Aro froze in her spot. Her body grew cold as another squeak came, closer to her this time. Something in the corner of her eye made her mover her head slightly to see two glowing dots, swaying towards her. She could feel it coming up her throat, the fear, the horror, and the sting of acid…

Her body reacted faster than her mind could. She let out an ear splitting scream, the adrenaline rushing in her body. Everything was a blur of motion as the bodies were tossed this way and that as she dug her way out of the pile. A sharp pain shot up her leg as she pulled out of the pill of rotting flesh. "EZERIAL!" She called, pulling herself as much as she could out of the slimy mess of bodies. The rats started to crawl over her body. Her breath quickened, her blood rushed in her ears, making sounds melt together.

She felt the pain shot up her leg again, and another scream suddenly exploded from her throat. A blade suddenly passed by her head and over her back. She froze completely. One hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up to her feet. Aro fumbled and held to the arm tightly. She felt the arm pull out of her grasp and then wrap around her, holding her close in a protective way.

"Are you alright?" Ezerial asked, putting his sword on his back.

"No." She pulled away from him, "I mean, yeah. Just scared of some rats… lets get out of here…" She looked around. The rats were making their way towards them again. She felt her skin crawl. Another scream came from her throat and she jumped onto Ezerial's back, clinging to him. "Get me out of here!" She whimpered.

Ezerial nodded, holding down a laugh. He turned to Guzen, who was carefully and silently picking his way through the bodies towards them. "Which way from here?" Guzen pointed at a small path that was behind the two. Aro noticed Guzen was carrying her scythe. "What about Luffy?" Ezerial asked, noticing the same thing.

"...I can't carry him…," Guzen said, pointing over his shoulder and down the hill of rotting flesh.

"We can't leave him there—"

"The rats will get him!" Aro whimpered, hiding her face behind Ezerial's shoulder.

"… You take her to the path, then come back and get Luffy…" Guzen said, turning away, and heading back to Luffy.

"Guzen—" A squeak cut Aro off, and she whimpered. Ezerial turned and headed to the path slowly and carefully.

"What's wrong with you? You're suppose to be the hero, not the scared-e cat…," Ezerial spoke without emotions as he grew nearer to the path.

"I have… a fear of rats…" She spoke in a small whisper.

"You're part cat, why are you scared of them—"

"Their nasty! Cat or not, those things are just…" She shivered to finish her sentence. Ezerial asked no more questions, but only set her on the safety of the stone walkway.

"Stay." He turned and headed back to Guzen. Aro watched him, silent. She wanted to yell at him or something—to let him know he doesn't control her. She couldn't find the words, and ended up letting her jaw hang open—a bad choice. The taste of the foul air crawled into her mouth, settling on her tongue. Her face turned pale and she turned instantly to the side, hurling near the path. She hugged her stomach as she let the last of it empty out of her. Her body shivered violently. Another squeak came from near by, and she froze yet again. She slowly looked over her shoulder. Two large red dots made their way towards her.

"What… the… hell…" She whispered, feeling her body start to tingle. Her bones started to twitch. The red dots slowly grew larger, swaying side to side as they came slowly at her. Smaller dots started to come in pair near the larger ones, but closer to the ground. Aro slowly slide to the entrance to the path, eyes locked on the larger of the red dots. Some kind of sound caught her attention, and her eyes darted to the mass of bodies. Two more large red dots slowly became visible. "Gia-gia-gia-gia—" Aro stumbled for words. The four red dots began to rise, and a silhouette of a furry figure became clear to her. Her night vision kicked in, and the forms of two giant rats became startlingly clear to her.

"Aro!" Guzen and Ezerial's voice called at once. Aro looked in the direction of the voice and saw them running down the hill of flesh with Luffy over Ezerial's shoulder. It took her a moment to notice that the hill was vibrating slightly. Her pulse rushed, her ears pounded with the sound of her pulse beating in her head. Her jaw dropped as a swarm of glowing red eyes came after them. Her ear twitched and she jumped back. A large gray blur flew past her face as she landed in the path. One of the giant rats had jumped at her, and landed in the puke. Her stomach turned.

Normally she would have made a humorous comment about it, but seeing as hundreds of rats were heading her way, she decided it was best not to. Instead, she turned, and ran down the path as the second giant rat chased after her. It took all of her will power to not scream in the small path.

(Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! Been a little brain-dead lately… BUT! I'm already working on the next chapter! It should be done soon… hopefully…. gives phoenix down no dying on me, please!)