Disclaimer: I Do Not Own One Piece or Axe

Chapter 33: Captain or First Mate II

"Now is not the time, Axe… We lost. The slime is coming off. We have to find a way out of here."

"Aro, you give up too easily." Axe looked at the roof. "Though, I think this time, I'm with you." Aro nodded and looked at the walls. "They coming out?" Axe searched the floor. "Can't see anything through the slime…"

"Of course you can't. That's the point of the slime…" Aro turned to the rest of the room, who still had not noticed the changes. "Are they just… never mind, I don't care about them." Aro went towards the wall and Axe followed. "How strong are you?" She pulled the shades down and pushed the button twice to be in heat vision, eyes following the wall.

"What kind of question is that?"

"A logical one. Man, where's Cap when you need him…" She felt a small pain shoot through her as she said the name.

"Oh… I get it… I think I might be strong enough…"

"Will you need bracers or anything?"

"Don't know. Find the stop and I'll try."

Aro nodded, watching the small red dots start to move around insanely. She soon found a part that was clear. "Got it." She pushed the button twice, pulled the small lever on the other side and pushed the button twice. The wall showed up in a 3D like setting. "How Kise and Guzen made these, I shall never know or understand…" She swallowed the lump in her throat at the names. "Air pockets everywhere here. Shouldn't be too hard for you." She stepped back and patted Axe on the shoulder.

Axe wiped some of the slime away and looked at his hand. "Yeah, if I don't mind having shards of metal imbedded in me." He pulled a small spike from his hand.

"Well, how the hell are the good guys to come on top if they make the traps too perfect?!" Aro stamped her foot, making the slime below her let out a wet squish sound.

"That's the point of a trap. To make it so we can't win."

Aro opened her mouth to say something and snapped it shut. She made her glasses return to the way they normally were and crossed her arms, "You need a brace then?"

"Yeah."

A sudden scream made Axe and Aro turn from the wall. One of the people was clawing at his shirt, screaming. "Ima! Ima! Calm down! It won't be long until we're out of here." His partner said with a small laugh, "Come on, stop making us look bad." The man, Ima, continued to scream, clawing more furiously at his shirt.

"GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF!" Aro looked at Axe as the man screamed. Axe only narrowed his eyes. Aro looked back at the man and turned the shades to heat vision. The fire's glow suddenly made her turn and curse.

"Smart…" Axe muttered, looking back at the wall.

Aro pulled her sword from the sheath, "Use this to clear the spikes."

"And if the blade breaks or dulls?"

"It won't. I've cut through marble with this thing. It'll live." She raised the glasses and crossed the room to Ima, who was screaming louder.

"IMA! IMA! Wh-Why are you ble-bleeding?"

"GET THEM OFF—"

Aro grabbed his shoulder, turned him around to look at his back. She pulled down the glasses and frowned at the red dots running around everywhere on him. "He's a gone—OH HELL NO!" She pulled back her hand and squished one of the red dots that had climbed on her hand. She turned to the other man, "Your friend is a goner, kill him and put him out of the misery."

"How?"

Aro held out the small silver looking spider to him. "See this? These things are all over him. Kill him and save him from the pain." She looked at the ground. "And get away from here, they're coming from the walls everywhere." She walked backwards until the warmth of the fire made her start to sweat. "Axe… are the spikes gone?" She looked over her shoulder and then suddenly hurried over.

"Not yet." Axe answered, bringing the blade down at an arch to cut a large wedge from the wall. "The stone's soft from the weathering though." Aro ran next to him and kicked the slime away from Axe. "The creepy crawlers?"

"Yeah, they make better time than I thought." Slowly, screams started to fill the room.

"THE ROOF!"

"WE'RE TRAPPED!"

"GET THEM OFF!"

"About time they noticed…" Aro and Axe muttered. Aro pulled her scythe and pushed the button so the staff part came out.

"Axe, get down for a second." Aro readied her scythe. Axe dropped to a kneeling position. With wide arches around them, she spun the scythe, making a wide semicircle around the two of them. Slime flew away from them, red dots stuck in them. When she finished, it looked as if someone took a spotlight, aimed it at where they were, and traced the light. In the deformed circle, there was no slime to be found. The poll slide back to it's hiding position and Aro looked around. The others were in a state of panic, too over whelmed by the fear to think correctly. Axe stood up. "We can't…"

"Leave them to their own mistakes, Aro." Axe turned to the wall and cut another large piece out. "Spikes gone." He held out the sword to Aro. "Aro?"

Aro stared at the red dots that slowly crawled towards them. She took the sword and put it away. "What would Guzen do… He'd freeze them with his Ice Die…" She frowned.

Axe turned back to the wall. "Kachi Kachi no Bazooka" His arm slowly turned gray as it turned to stone. "Watch out for flying rubble." He pulled his fist back and punched the wall. Rock shot in all directions and scattered in the slime.

Aro felt her hands clench into fists as she looked at the approaching dots. "This is ridiculous… how much longer…"

"Well, how thick was the wall."

"A couple of feet."

"How many feet is a couple for you… two, three?"

"… Six?"

"God, we're not close. This rock is like marble and diamond combined."

"Seriously?"

"It's like a mix of the two…"

"Well, we got our flesh eating creepy crawlies on the way…"

"Kill 'em."

"With what? My foot? They're too small to use a weapon on…" She put her hands on her hips and puffed her cheek out at him.

"Find away…" He smashed into the rock again.

Aro rolled her eyes and looked back at them. She looked around the room once more and grinned. "Got it." She crouched down. Axe didn't turn to her. She jumped over the slime and felt the spikes above scrape her arm as she landed next to the fire. She took the shades off, rubbing her eyes with one hand. "I hate fire…" She went to the other side and kicked a large arch out from around her of the red dots. She laid down and put her feet on the bottom of the oil bowl. "Heads up Axe!"

Axe looked over his shoulder, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Aro pushed and the bowl didn't budge. Burning the bugs." She pushed again and felt the bowl tilt slightly. The sound of furious punching echoed in the room. She pushed again, grunting as she heard some oil hit the ground. She grinned, let the bowl rock back some and pushed again as some oil spilled near her. The red dots jumped back. Aro laughed, pushing the bowl over.

As the bowl started to fall, she jumped to her feet and jumped on the back of the bowl. It crashed into the ground, flaming oil fanning out into the slime. It held to the slime, the fire turning a blue green and filling the air with a horrible smell. Aro coughed, looking around. Flames, flames, flames, … oh, and flames. Aro looked around; a frown stuck to her face. The crashing of rocks continued to echo in the room. Things started to spin and sounds started to fade. Something blew up.

Flint and Steel?

Aro saw the roof coming down, taking the wall's place.

Hell, now the room moves…

She blacked out.

---

Something cold… something warm… something cold… something warm… Aro said over and over in her head. Something cold, something warm… EW… it's wet…

Aro opened her eyes as a bucket of cold water was dumped on her face. She frowned at Axe, who was holding the dripping bucket of warm water. "You awake now?" He had a small grin on hi face.

"No…" She sat up, wincing slightly. "What happened?" She noticed that they were in a jungle. The building walls were behind her, and rubble poured out of the opening where she assumed Axe punched through.

"Well, you did the idiotic thing with the fire, though the oil only held to the slime. Yeah, you killed the bugs, but you ended up heating your body up too much."

"And I passed out, yeah, and?"

"I broke through the wall, and found out that only two other rooms made it out. The guy seems to be after our bounties."

"That's just lovely…" Aro looked around to find no one else around. "Where's everyone else?"

"In the maze."

"Eh?"

"That's the next part."

"Did Kit and Kat make it?" Aro looked at him. Axe nodded. She cursed under her breath. "Double lovely… How'd I get out?"

Axe grinned. "I dragged you out."

"Dragged me?"

"Yep."

"… Thanks, I guess."

Axe laughed and stood up. He held his hand out to her, "Ready to go?"

"Ready or not, we have to." She took his hand and pulled herself up. Axe pointed his thumb to a tree. Her board, sword, and scythe leaned on the tree.

"Any real reason why you have everything?"

Aro walked over and put everything back where it belonged. "Yeah, I didn't know what to expect."

"That board is heavier than any normal board. What's with it?"

Aro grinned at him, "My secret."

He stared at her and shrugged, "It's a fight-for-your-life kind of deal up ahead." He started off and Aro fell in step behind him.

"That's fine." She put her hands behind her head. "But, hey, we know who's what now."

"What do you mean?"

Aro pointed to herself; "I'm captain because I saved us."

Axe snorted, "You? I saved YOU. I'm captain in this ordeal." He brought her to a large Iron Gate.

"No way! I am!" She glared at him then looked at the gate. "What…"

"The entrance. Last chance to prepare."

Author's Note: Yeah, again, another sucky chapter… I'm trying to get to the part where I have my ideas … OH! If there's something wrong with how I'm using Axe, please tell me! –Bows-Early Apology incase I did! I'll fix it if you just leave/IM me the mistakes in a review/on MSN.