Ladies' Night

Chapter 2

When Usopp put his hand against the doorframe of the pub and heard the revelry inside--the chill morning air tickling down his neck—there was a moment in which he wanted to vanish. A creeping revulsion stole up from his legs and churned his stomach to bitterness; it pinned him to the pavement. The scenario was too familiar, and its repetition was too degrading, so soon after his failure on Water 7. He had been unable to face his crewmates then; instead he had gone in against Franky, and gotten himself nearly killed by opponents who later fell like tissue paper before his nakama. Now as before, he faced them having failed; and this time, it was a Luffy without Nami to soften and humanize him. This was Zoro's Luffy, tempered by the hard expectations of his triple steel. And there, too, was Franky.

But this was only a moment. Dignity had never been his strong suit, anyway, Usopp told himself; and he was well used to swallowing bitter pills.

He swallowed now, straightened his nose, and shouted as he burst into the bar:

"Bounty hunters!"

The effect was immediate. Luffy and the others wheeled to face him; so did the rest of the patrons of the Scurvy Scalawag. The Mugiwaras were not the only crew in town that night, and, as it turned out, shouting "bounty hunters" in a disreputable portside bar was a lot more galvanizing than shouting "pirates!" on a sleepy East Blue island. There was a still moment; and then great tide of chaos rolled over the room. Bearded thugs lunged for weaponry, old women sprang up from their tankards, men rushed up the stairs to yell for their dallying crewmates, and there were shrieks and muffled clatters overhead. A stream of scoundrels and rogues pushed around Usopp towards the door, and the bartender pulled down a noisy wooden shutter as he reached for his rifle. Luffy had to yell at the top of his lungs just to get over the cacophany. Luckily, rubber lungs could hold a great deal of air.

"Nami and Robin?"

"Taken!" Usopp panted. "By four men. They were drugged, or poisoned."

Luffy reached a rubber arm halfway across the room and snagged his coat as Usopp spoke, provoking more generalized panic.

"Where were they taken?"

"To a ship. I don't know how long I was out, Luffy—they may already have sailed."

Luffy looked down. "Franky," he said. "Sunny-gou…"

"You got it. Chopper and I will have her rigged and ready when you get back." The cyborg whistled. "Heh… never a dull moment with this crew, is it?"

Zoro and Sanji, without instruction, were already moving to flank their captain.

"All right. Usopp." Luffy's eyes met his, serious and determined, but his mouth was broadening into a feral grin. "Lead the way."

They rode the chaos out of the bar.

Dawn was cresting the hill, but the shadows of the buildings were still long and deep. Grimes and the others hadn't headed to the main harbour cove, that much Usopp was certain of. They'd gone down into winding back alleys that led towards the north end of the island-- a maze of low wooden houses whose roofs met overhead, obscuring the sky. They ran up stairs and under awnings, got turned completely around twice and had to start again; it was only the general slope of the island that helped them find their way back out to the sea, and when they did reach it, they were no-where near a harbour. However, this didn't matter. A schooner was making headway under full sail away from the island. No other craft were visible, and the boat was probably a good hour out.

"Shit!" Sanji lit another cigarette. His hand trembled a little in the autumn air. "That can't be right. Bounty hunters wouldn't use such a conspicuous ship, would they? Eh, marimo?"

There was no answer.

"Shit… where has he gotten off to?"

Luffy's gaze had never left the schooner. "It's them," he said.

"You sure about that?"

Luffy grinned as he turned. "There's only one way to find out," he said.

Usopp glanced at the sun. "I'd say it's about two more hours until the log post resets," he said. "If we're wrong, we'll be able to come back."

"The log post…" Sanji paused. "Wasn't it with Nami-swan?"

A second silence enveloped them, this time accompanied by the realization that the person who had been kidnapped, leaving them to pursue her into the dangerous waters of the Grand Line, was, in fact, their navigator.

"…well, Franky can sail, right?" said Usopp. "I mean… I know they have seatrains where he comes from, so maybe he didn't do it very often, and those ships he built were never the most practical long-range vessels, as these—"

"Sunny's this way, right?"

" – things go, but—Luffy, wait! That's inland, the harbour's the other way!"

"Oh, let him go," Sanji puffed. "We have to find the damn marimo. Luffy's got as good a shot at finding Zoro that way as any other."

xXxXxXxXxXx

In the belly of a ship, in a little room filled with women, Nami lay in the top hammock by the wall. The ship wasn't the Thousand Sunny, she knew that much. The wood was unkempt and aging, and there was too much pitch and roll. Franky would never do such incompetent work. Robin was in the hammock below her, humming softly. It was vaguely pleasant, but there was no need to listen too carefully. The little girl was still staring at them both from across the room. It didn't really matter, though. She was a prisoner. Her job was to behave.

There was a funny mark on her hand. The minute she'd woken up it had caught her attention. It was black, and the design was nothing much to speak of, but an odd balance in the proportions of it kept drawing her eye back in. Looking at the mark, tracing the irregularities of its lines, was pleasant and calming. When she didn't look at it, she became agitated quite quickly, and she felt as if something was terribly wrong. It was unpleasant. She didn't like it. Hadn't she had enough unpleasant things in her life, after all? Luckily, though, there was the mark, tattooed right there on her hand, and she could look right back down at it whenever she needed to. It was even all right to stay in the hammock all day looking at it, if she had to. After all, she was a prisoner, and the only thing she had to do was behave.

There came a time when a man came into the room and brought them food.

"This boat is in terrible shape," Nami said to him. "How long have we been sailing?"

"Oh, this boat's been goin' a good few years now," said the man. "Grand Line's hard wear. But we've only been a few months on this particular voyage, and you came on this morning. But don't trouble yourself about it; we're only a few weeks' sail from Marine HQ now."

Nami didn't answer him. There was something very wrong in what he was saying, and she had to look at the mark to stop her heart from racing. When it was calmer, she began to eat the hard, flat bread, without looking at it. Crumbs smeared across her face. Robin had not left her bunk for food.

The little girl was still staring at them. Her frame was perfectly still, and her eyes were blank and slack. When the man finally snuffed the candle, the last thing Nami saw was the glint of those slack eyes.

"You know me," said the girl in the darkness.

"Of course I know you," said Nami. "I'm not stupid, you know."

"I wasn't talking to you."

Below her, Robin shifted in her bunk. "Miss Goldenweek," she said.

Nami's breathing was quickening again. She stared furiously at the pattern. Why wouldn't they stop talking.

"Miss All Sunday." The girl breathed. "Help me, please. I need some ink."

Robin said nothing.

"Please," said Miss Goldenweek. "Help me, and I can get us all out."

"I'm a prisoner," said Robin. "Where would I go?"

After that there was nothing but silence and the pitching of the ship. They were riding into choppy weather; Robin rolled herself deeper into the hammock.