Chapter Eight: The Exchange
"Pedupedupedupedup," rang the baby transponder snail.
"POOL OF JUSTICE!" Luffy launched himself down the street. Zoro just managed to grab the back of his shirt before they could get separated again, and used his free hand to answer the call; he pulled them both into the dusty shadows of the rubble.
"Zoro," Robin's voice spoke through the snail. "Are you with the captain?"
Ignorant of the exchange of information currently happening, 'the captain' growled and struggled and pulled against the swordsman's steel grip, which only made Zoro clench his fist tighter.
"I've got him," he responded, which was the correct answer. When not on the ship, you weren't 'with' Luffy at any given time. Babysitting him, maybe, or following him, or being sent somewhere by him. This time, it was babysitting.
"Did you feel the earthquake, too?"
"Yeah. Like the whole island was shaking. You find out what it was?"
"No. I am in the city library, researching the artifact. We have to find Brook as soon as possible."
Zoro's hand on the snail tightened slightly. "Why?"
"As we suspected, there is a limit to the artifact's power, as well as some side effects," came a hesitant reply, and a cold feeling entered his veins for a second. It was both a surprise and very unsurprising, but the fact it made Robin hesitate wasn't good. "It would be better to explain this in person. Where are you?"
A little annoyed by the suggestion in her tone, Zoro grunted, "Just meet me at the palace gates. It's not that far."
There was a pregnant pause, which spoke louder than any words, direct or otherwise.
"Dammit, I'm not gonna get lost!" the swordsman shouted at the transponder snail, unaware that a handful of nearby citizens were gawking.
"At the palace gates, then. According to the maps I found, all roads that go from east to west will lead there. Simply head towards the rising sun."
That was easy enough. "Got it," he told the snail, and it went back to sleep with a tired 'ker-chuk'.
"Are you quite sure...?"
Brook's confused voice dribbled with guilt, doubt and uncertainty. And guilt. Lots of guilt. As though a part of him knew precisely that he was wrong, that something great was missing—but he was denying it to himself. And sorry that it was happening, like it could possibly be his fault.
Chopper only made a dry, affirmative sound as he climbed all over the lanky musician, who now sat down on an overturned stone brick. He did a number of tests, from auditory ability to reflexes, to cognitive capacity. So far, nothing seemed wrong, except that he was underfed, tired from the morning's exercise and completely unaware of Sanji's identity.
Sanji leaned against the wall nearby, head bowed. His cigarette glowed at the end of an inch-long ash, forgotten in his pensiveness. He'd reacted angrily to Brook's question, and felt bad about it now. But no amount of yelling or prodding the former skeleton for answers stirred up a single memory. It was as if something had reached into the musician's brain and removed Sanji.
Nami-swan and Usopp were on their way to be executed. The steady reminder was like a heartbeat. He just didn't know how to deal with this new problem and still be in charge. He couldn't leave Chopper alone with Brook in the middle of the enemy's stronghold. He couldn't take an amnesiac crew member into battle.
"Don't worry about it," he told Brook, straightening his back again. "Robin-chan is already looking for a way to reverse whatever that artifact did to you."
"Artifact?" Brook sounded genuinely confused. "Ah...yes. May I ask...who is Robin-chan?"
"You forgot her, too!?" howled the cook, dropping his smoke. Irrationality and ire burned within him. He might forgive the shitty skeleton (former) for losing his memories of him, but there was no mercy, no respite for anyone who could look on the beauty of the heavenly, mature Robin-chan and forget about it.
From the drawn look on his face, it was obvious Brook didn't recall, and that was causing him some degree of mild to extravagant panic. Sanji balled his fists."You'd better be scared, you damn skeleton! I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"Sanji!" Chopper yelled, leaping in between his two nakama. "You're not helping! And he's not a skeleton anymore!"
"He will be after I flay him alive," growled the cook, but he deflated. Under extraordinary circumstances like this, some leniency wasn't much to ask for. "All right, let's go. If anything happens to Nami-san while we're wasting time here, I'll beat the shit out of you both."
"W-W-Wait!" gasped Brook as he turned to leave, and the musician half-stood in alarm. "I cannot go outside just yet! The sunlight will turn me to ash; you see, I must still reclaim my shadow from the man who stole it away."
It felt like a distance audience roaring in his ears, the sound and colour fading away slowly around Sanji. He stood there for a long while, the words sinking in and clicking puzzle pieces into a uniform picture. Chopper's placating voice hurriedly explaining to Brook that his shadow had been returned already—long ago, and why-oh-why didn't he remember that? Those were sounds that felt muffled and for some reason, he could only focus on the dim glow of the abandoned cigarette on the ground.
He had done everything he could to give Brook the most nourishing, perfectly balanced meals for the last 3 days. He was thus utterly limited to safeguarding his crewmates' bodily health. He'd tried to get the old man to put on some weight in a hurry, carefully balancing the spices and natural vitamins to make his food as enticing as it was healthy.
But how could a cook do anything about a broken mind? When the mind was under attack from something completely beyond his grasp?
Now was a bad time to think about it.
"You're not gonna disappear," he told the musician, a promise he knew was stupid to make. Brook had no reason to trust him; Sanji was just a stranger, a reason to doubt himself and his own memory. There was no reason to trust him at all. "Got it?"
Swallowing, Brook just nodded, to which Chopper breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The reindeer would believe anything at all, and Sanji said he'd somehow stop Brook from getting worse. So he bought it. It made the cook feel guilty, but that was the price of putting his nakama's fears at ease.
"Where's your cane?" he asked, and Brook gave him a slight shake of his head. "That's fine; it can't be too far. Chopper, can you help him walk?"
"I will be fine, I think," Brook said, and offered a slight smile. "I will admit, I am very confused by all that has happened recently. At the very least, allow me stand on my own two feet."
Sanji mirrored that with a smirk. "I figured as much."
"Look, Usopp! It's Luffy and Zoro!" Nami called out. Usopp had been peering around the corner of a building to look for soldiers, but he ran back to the navigator now.
Since they had left the underground tunnels, they hadn't been bothered once by the city guard. It seemed everyone was too busy dealing with the results of the sudden earthquake, and not every soldier in the city yet recognized the pirates-turned-prisoner by sight. A few glanced their way suspiciously, likely due how nice their clothing was compared to the patched and time-worn garments of the citizens. But it still made them both irrationally nervous.
So when Nami caught a glimpse of green flash by, closely pursued by a loudly complaining ebony-haired idiot, the relief she felt was immeasurable. If anyone could get Brook out of trouble, it was those two.
"Oi, Zoro!" yelled Usopp, sprinting after the pair once they had caught up in the middle of the deserted street. "Luffy! Over here!"
They could hear their captain's whoop of joy from a hundred yards away. Luffy stretched his arms in their direction, sling-shotting himself back to their position as the green-haired swordsman ran back.
"Gaaaah," was all Usopp could utter before a hundred plus pounds of rubber slammed into him.
By the time the sniper untangled himself from the knots of Luffy's limbs and stood up, voraciously complaining about his new goose egg, Nami was confronting Zoro at elevated tones.
"What do you mean you're going to the palace gates? You were heading back to the ship!" she snapped at him, then sighed in defeat. "Well, at least we caught you before you went too far. Now come on, Brook needs your help."
"Where is he?" Now that two of his nakama were safe, and the mirth of reuniting with them faded a little, Luffy's voice took on a more serious edge. He stood up, fists clenched.
"Well, since they took him away, my guess would be some sort of prison," Usopp said, rubbing the ache in his neck self-consciously. "We saw some guards take a few men away to a 'dungeon' when we met the princess-"
"A princess?" Luffy's face skewed strangely as his mind's gears ground. "The weird announcer guy said something about a princess."
Nami's expression fell into a dark, reflective one. "She's the one who ordered us to be executed when Brook couldn't play his violin. I've never met a bigger brat in my life; she made some of Arlong's followers look like plush bunnies."
"What the hell did you guys do to piss off a princess and the entire kingdom?" Zoro growled.
"We didn't do anything! But they know we're pirates, and that's all they cared about when they dragged us away," Usopp went on to explain, his arms crossed. "And boy, was she mad when Brook didn't play her a song like he promised. I thought we were dead for sure..."
"About that," said Zoro, abruptly. He looked over to where (he presumably thought) the palace entrance should be. "I got a call from Robin. She's been looking into the artifact that changed Brook. She'll be waiting for us over there."
"Zoro, give me the transponder snail," Nami ordered, holding out a hand. She placed her tumb on the button to dial out. "I'll call Franky and let him know what's happening."
"Stop!"
In surprise, every last Straw Hat head turned to look at the owner of the voice, and Nami's finger froze before it could activate the mechanism.
"You!" sputtered Usopp, face contorting in recognition of the young girl who'd been playing the flute on the street. The one who'd been caught because of them. "What are you doing here?"
The girl ignored the question and, faster than Nami could react, lurched outwards to grab the transponder snail out of her hand.
"Hey!"
"Why do all the pirates make the same, stupid mistakes?" sighed the girl, waving the baby snail back and forth. "It's like watching sheep wander into the same pen over and over just because the grass is green. Is your captain this dumb?"
"Oi, Usopp," said the 'dumb' captain, pointing at the girl. "Who is she?"
"Never mind that," Nami interrupted angrily. "Give that back to me, you little thief!"
But the girl deftly moved her hands, and like magic, the baby snail vanished—into thin air before Nami could grab it. She held up both empty hands in a gesture of surrender. "Whoa, whoa! Relax. I did you idiots a favour. The Miscan Army can tap into all transponder snail conversations on the island, and track the locations of the users. If you used that thing, you'd give up the location of your ship. Just like the last ten pirate gangs did, and the ten before that."
"Why should we believe you?" Zoro questioned gruffly. One hand subconsciously rested on his swords.
"Because, cabbage head," the girl started mockingly, with more attitude than was justifiable for the situation, "Humming Bird did a nice thing for me, and I've got a guilt complex or something. You guys really ought to take care of him better, by the way. He looks like a corpse."
Luffy looked stupefied. "Humming Bird?'
"'Humming Brook'," said Nami. She leaned over, putting on her nicest 'let's be kind to kids' smile and said, "Would you mind telling us where he is?"
"Last I saw, taking a nap on the dungeon floor," the girl responded nonchalantly. "Weirdo."
"Shit," Zoro cursed suddenly, and took off down the street. Nami cut him off with her voice, loud and annoyed.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To find Robin. If they're tracking the snails, then she's in danger."
"Well she's not going to be helped by you when you end up back at the ship!" Nami snapped, and sprinted after him. "Luffy, you and Usopp should find Brook! We'll take care of Robin."
"But where is the dungeon?" cried the sniper.
"Don't let that idiot give away our treasure!" Nami yelled over her shoulder; she and Zoro were already halfway down the long street and out of earshot. Usopp's eyebrows furled in confusion; why would he have to make sure of that?
"Hey, little girl," Luffy said, crouching down next to their informant. "Take us to the dungeon, and you can have our treasure."
Usopp slapped him on the back of the head. "What did Nami just say?"
The girl's face, however, was smiling, and that made the sniper gulp. How much power did he actually have here, to take back their captain's offer?
But the girl crossed her arms and said, "I don't want your stinking pirate treasure. I'll lead you to the dungeon...if you promise to help me get something out of the palace, in return."
"Deal," Luffy agreed, before Usopp could intervene. The sniper just stood, mouth agape.
"It might mean fighting the top generals under Priness Kana's command."
"Don't care," the captain said apathetically, standing up and straightening his hat.
"No, I mean—it's really, really dangerous."
"Come on, Usopp," Luffy said, ignoring the girl's warning. A grin stretched across his face, a beacon that lit up the entire roadside—but left the sniper in a cloud of gloom and despair. "Let's go get him back."
TBC