Taken Chapter 9, an one piece fanfic

Ok. Here we are with Chapter 9! I'm trying something different with the perspectives, so don't get confused. It's both Nami and Robin in this chapter. It makes sense, because their paths are crossing again. I think you guys will like :)

Brooke: Yohohohoho! Nine chapters! That's quite the accomplishment Writer-san~

Me: I know right! Would you like to do the honors?

Brooke: Yoho certainly! Sara*-sama does not own One Piece.

Me: But I own Cezar and Ilana, so suck it :P

I was in a bad mood, to put it lightly. I had just been jipped off by the river boat vendor when exchanging it back for the rowboat I came in. It wasn't enough that I gave back my river boat, I also had to pay him an additional five thousand beli. It was probably revenge for banging on his door at this ungodly hour of the night, but he didn't have to rob me because of it. I almost considered swimming. (Ok I really considered it, but I didn't want to ruin my new outfit.)

I plunged the oars in deeply, trying to make the most of every row. The sea was unusually calm, and my little craft glided quickly and efficiently across the surface of the water, but I still couldn't help but wish for my waver right about now. Suddenly I felt a tingling sensation on my skin, and I halted my rhythm momentarily. This was… a storm. Not a huge one, but big enough to force everyone inside so they wouldn't be washed away. Judging by my instincts, there was at least a good hour left until it started. I began paddling faster. I had to warn Cezar's crew.

Rounding the side of a large sea cliff, my captor's ship came into view. A few lights twinkled on board, reflecting in the ocean. After a few more minutes of paddling I finally reached the hull of the ship. I hoisted my bag onto my shoulder.

"Oi! Can somebody throw down a ladder so I can get up!" I yelled.

After a few moments of bobbing up and down in silence, a rope ladder was tossed over the edge. It made a sound like a shotgun going off as it slapped the side of the ship, effectively breaking the silence of the peaceful little cove.

'Wouldn't hurt them to just lower it.' I thought.

Making sure my bag with its precious cargo was secure on my shoulder, I grabbed the first rung and started climbing up the ladder. Just before I reached the top I noticed a chunk of railing was missing, as if it had been blown away in a fight. 'How long has that been like that?' I decided that it must have happened before I was taken captive, but it still looked pretty recent. I shrugged it off and climbed the rest of the way over the side.

Standing on top of the railing, I noticed some dark figures standing not too far away. I assumed they were crew members.

"So hey, just to let you guys know, there's a big storm on the way. Thought I'd just give you a heads up so no one had to unnecessarily drown." I jumped down and began to unfasten my cloak. The crew members didn't respond. In fact, they didn't even move or acknowledge that I just spoke to them.

"Hey! I'm being pretty considerate, I think! I could have just as soon not tell you and let you guys suffer!" I marched straight up to the nearest figure-

-and reeled back in shock.

I had looked straight into the terrified eyes of none other than Nico Robin.

Whoosh~

…

Whoosh~

…

Whoosh~

…

The methodical rhythm of the waves slapping against the shore was the first thing my mind registered upon waking up. It was being awfully sluggish, but I soon discovered why.

My entire body was freezing, and I couldn't budge an inch. I went to lick my lips, but discovered I couldn't open my mouth. There was something cold and wet pressed against it. I started to panic, but forced myself to calm down and interpret the situation.

'What is the last thing you remember?'

There was the rescue plan. We had boarded and started an assault on the enemy's ship to rescue Nami. Everything had gone relatively ok, up until we realized that Nami was not even on board the ship. I inwardly berated myself for mistaking the little red-headed boy for our navigator.

Then the captain had discovered us and we were easily subdued by him. I had not wanted to run into this captain ever again, but luck wasn't with us on this occasion. With four devil fruit users in the crew, this guy was definitely bad news. It was then my mind caught up to my current condition.

'I must be in a water trap just like Navigator-san was.' As I thought this I could feel the strength ebbing from me. Even if this water cage wasn't constricting me tightly, I wouldn't have been able to break out of it anyway. I had about as much strength as a newborn child at the moment.

I opened my eyes and raised my head, which was about the only action which I had enough energy to accomplish. I was greeted with blackness. At first I considered the possibility that I was now blind, but as I focused I could make out distinguishable shapes in the darkness. Combining that with the sound of the waves I deduced that I was outside, probably on the deck of the ship.

I turned my head to my left. There was another water pod right beside me, ever so slightly bobbing up and down. It was dark, but I could still make out a certain shade of marimo. It seemed Swordsman-san had been taken captive as well. Turning to my right I could make out small horns, and recognized Chopper-kun.

It appeared I was the first to gain consciousness. I closed my eyes again, trying to listen to their breathing and make sure everyone was relatively unharmed.

Whoosh~

…

Whoosh~

…

Splash!

…

Something was in the water. If I wasn't mistaken it sounded like someone paddling through it. It got louder and louder, and then abruptly stopped.

'They must have reached the ship.' I thought.

And that's when I heard her voice.

"Oi! Can somebody throw down a ladder so I can get up!"

My eyes flew open in shock. There was no mistaking it; it was Navigator-san's voice. She was back!

The lone man on watch duty bustled over with a rope ladder. He then unceremoniously, and seemingly in fear, threw it over the side, not sticking around for Nami to climb up and scurrying away again. I wondered why he was so frightened, but I forgot these thoughts as I observed Navigator-san rise up onto the railing and stand there with her hands on her hips. I had missed that conceited pose.

"So hey, just to let you guys know, there's a big storm on the way. Thought I'd just give you a heads up so no one had to unnecessarily drown."

That wasn't good. Nami had sensed a storm, and there were too few crew members left on the ship to prepare for it because we had very nearly wiped them all out. I attempted to make some noise to alert her that we were there, (for I had a feeling she hadn't seen us yet), but I was too weak.

"Hey! I'm being pretty considerate, I think! I could have just as soon not tell you and let you guys suffer!" She then marched right up to me.

There was a slight movement behind her, and glancing at it I noticed that Cezar had come back out on deck. He leaned casually against the railing, but what captured my attention was the dagger he now twirled in his hands. The feeble glow from the lanterns glinted off it's surface maliciously, and when he noticed me staring he took the dagger and mimicked slicing his own throat and then pointed at Nami. I felt my eyes widen in shock and fear.

Nami neared until she was only a foot away, but then she immediately stopped. I watched as realization hit her full force, and she recognized my face.

"R- Robin?" Her voice shook. She touched my cheek, and I closed my eyes weakly. "Robin!"

No. No no no no no no. This couldn't be happening. They were strong, how could they be captured! I reached a hesitant hand out to her, to make sure that I wasn't just dreaming.

"R- Robin?" I cupped her cheek, and blanched when it felt like I had touched a cold marble statue.

"Robin!" Her skin was ice cold, and she looked very frail. Not to mention the fear showing clearly in her startling blue eyes. Seeing the strong, usually unaffected woman like this scared me to no end. If Robin had been reduced to this… what about the rest of my crew?

I glanced to Robin's right.

"Oh no, not Chopper too!" I ran up to him. He, like Robin, was also trapped in a water cage. His lips shivered with cold in his sleep.

I ran past Robin again. Zoro. Brooke. Usopp. Sanji. Franky. And lord help us all, even Luffy. They all seemed to be in the same condition as Robin.

"No!" I yelled, trying to stop the tears from coming. I walked up to Luffy and pushed a strand of hair from his face. His skin was sickly pale, and his lips had turned a startingly shade of blue. He looked so peaceful while sleeping, so unlike the hyperactive goofball he usually was awake. But now he reminded me of a corpse, and I would love nothing more than to see him break out into one of those idiotic grins. I spun around.

"What did you do to them, you bastard!" I screamed ready for a fight, no matter how useless it may be. A sinister laugh answered me from the darkness, chilling my bones.

"I think you already know the answer to that. They came to free my little cardinal from it's cage, but I couldn't let you fly just yet. You had yet to deliver me the scroll." I glanced over at Robin to confirm what he had said. She slowly nodded, affirming that he was telling the truth. He sauntered over to me, and I whipped my climatact out of my bag and quickly assembled it. He chuckled at that, but kept advancing. He shoved his face into mine.

"Did you retrieve it?"

I backed quickly away from his too close face. 'What should I do? Should I lie? Think think!' And then it came to me. I straightened from my fighting stance.

"As a matter of fact, I did. It's right here in my bag as we speak."

"Then produce it." He ordered, a strange fire lighting his eyes.

I rummaged through my bag and felt the familiar dry paper of the scroll. I pulled it out, waving it around so he could see it. The problem was it was pretty dark.

"Tyson!" He bellowed. I watched as Tyson scrambled on deck, no doubt having been listening the entire time. He threw me a miserable but relieved look.

"Light the lamps! I can't see a blasted thing." Tyson hurried to complete his task. As each of the lamps got lit, I noticed more details about the deck. There were deep gouges, smashed floorboards, and sword cuts everywhere. There were even scorch marks in some places. Cezar's unconscious crew members were stacked up in a pile on the left of the ship. Even though mycrew had been captured, I couldn't help but feel proud at the fight that they had been able to put up. All that was left was Cezar himself.

He was now hungrily eyeing the scroll I held in my hand. He made a grab for it. I yanked it out of his reach, touching the tip of my Climatact to it.

"I don't think so! You so much as lay a slimy finger on this scroll and I'll set this thing on fire!" Ok, so I couldn't make fire with my Climatact, but I could very well set it on fire with a lightening bolt. It wasn't a complete lie.

He looked at me furiously. Obviously he hadn't anticipated this. Good.

"What do you want." He snarled. My little gamble had worked.

"Getting right down to business are we? Alright. I have two conditions. First: I am to read the scroll. You're not allowed to touch it, because I promised the woman who gave me this that you wouldn't.

Second: You let my crew, Tyson, and me go unharmed. That's all."

He shot me a death glare, but I didn't even flinch. I knew that I had the upper hand. But he was about to lay some ground rules down of his own.

"And here are my conditions, my darling. One: You may read the scroll, but I get to keep it after."

"I promised the witch that I wouldn't let you touch it!" I said, cutting him off.

"But wouldn't the scroll's purpose have already been fulfilled? You would have read it and my wife would have come back from the dead. I wouldn't really have any need for it any longer, I'm just aiming on selling it to the highest bidder."

Pirates were pirates, after all. I sighed, thinking things through. He could try and raise an army of the dead, but were the resurrected under the control of the reader? I highly doubted that, so I decided to keep most of the witch's promise.

"Ok. After I'm done reading the scroll you can have it." I agreed.

"Excellent." He sneered.

"Two: I will only let your crew members free after Ilana is alive and well again and standing by my side."

'Ilana…' I thought. I decided that that must have been his dead wife's name.

"Even if the scroll doesn't work, which I'm pretty certain of, you still have to let them go!" I said, adding another condition.

"Fine, fine. If for some unknown reason the scroll doesn't work, they'll still go free. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get this show on the road. I believe you've kept me waiting long enough."

He said the last part so low, and so dangerously, I didn't dare keep him waiting any longer. I had pushed my luck as it was with the conditions.

I lowered my Climatact from the scroll and, setting it on the ground, unraveled the scroll and began to read.

'So that is the scroll that Cezar had entrusted Navigator-san to steal.' I thought as I surveyed the rolled up piece of paper that she waved in front of his face.

From what I could gather from their conversation it was a scroll that could ressurrect the dead. There was no doubt in my mind who Cezar was going to try and bring back to life. It was all adding up now. When he mentioned the name Ilana, I remembered my conversation with the barmaid, Arianna-chan. I now knew why Ilana wasn't with Cezar the second time he had visited the bar.

Nami was being very smart about all this. Besides momentarily losing her cool after finding us, she had collected herself rather quickly and was now brilliantly trying to ensure our safe passage off the ship. She had included the ship's boy in the conditions as well, and I silently congratulated her for her selflessness. The only thing I was uncomfortable about was her reading the scroll. I had seen many strange occurences on the Grand Line, and after joining a pirate crew with a cyborg and an animated skeleton I now believed nothing was impossible. It seemed Navigator-san was more skeptic, but I had a bad feeling that when she read the scroll something weird would surely ensue.

There was movement in the corner of my eye, and I turned to witness Zoro returning to consciousness. I looked at the others, and sure enough everyone was coming around. I was sort of hoping that they would remain asleep until we were freed, but apparently fate had other ideas. Their eyes widened as they saw our navigator arguing with Cezar, but they couldn't utter a sound due to their water gags. Senchou looked ready to kill him, but there was no getting out of his restraints.

This was it. We watched in aprehension as Nami set her weapon down and began to unravel the scroll. The thought crossed my mind that it may be written in a language that she might not understand, but as she glanced it over I saw no sign of perplexity, only determination. She opened her mouth, and began to read.

"Blood is the soil. Mind is the sun. Body is the earth. And soul is the life.

Take mine blood and drink from it, and fill your throbbing veins with what is not yours.

Take mine mind and peer into it, and empty what cannot be of any use to you."

This did not sound good. It sounded as if Nami were giving her body up to someone. I saw her swallow hard, but continue.

"Take mine body and settle into it, and justly flex those appendages that have been so long taken from you.

Take mine soul and unsew it from it's bindings, and let me wander free for the rest of eternity."

Silence.

…

"Well look at that, nothing happened! Guess you can have the scroll now and we can just-"

What I saw happen terrified me.

Nami choked, and the scroll fell out of her hands. She grasped at her throat as if she couldn't breathe, shallow gasps being the only sound she could make. She fell to her knees, shivering uncontrollably, and we watched in horror as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped to the deck, unconscious.

I screamed in fury in the back of my throat. That man was going to pay dearly for what he did to my dear friend and sister. But he paid me no heed. He walked cautiously up to Nami's unconscious figure. Bending next to her, he said softly:

"Ilana?..."

What happened next took me totally by surprise. Nami stirred, and I felt a surge of relief. She raised her head and looked straight into Cezar's eyes and said confusedly:

"C.J.? Is that you?"

Ooooohhhhh snap! Man things are getting freaky now! It got a little scary there for a moment, and I could've gone into more gruesome details, but then I was like "oops this is a K+ rated story~" Maybe I should write a nice gruesome, angsty story someday.

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