Ridiculously long chapter
Wow, this chapter took fucking forever...now first of all I would like to apologize for the rating change because I'm guessing when I was changing the summary I must have accidentally changed that too somehow. Also I realize that in the last chapter the "X" thing didn't make sense so I will try it again: -X- means change from Luffy's story to the crew's story or visa versa and a regular X means change in time or scene with the same group of people. Haha Cai is a complete mental person that needs help immediately! Yeah, so they find Luffy in this chapter so have fun!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece
"LOOK! I CAN SEE THE ISLAND!" yelled Usopp back at the rest of the crew.
Zoro straightened the black wig on his head glancing over to the horizon. "It's about time..." Reluctantly, he quietly went down the stairs to stow his three swords away. On his way back up he found everyone grouped on the deck in their individual disguises except for Franky and Chopper who were sitting on the other side of ship keeping themselves entertained by playing some card game. The others were discussing and finalizing the plan of how to stop at the naval island just long enough for Ace to retrieve the log pose that finally had its 2 long months to reset to Kyuushuu.
"We have to make up a story to just stop by and not have to stay the night," said Sanji as he breathed in the last of his cigarette before throwing it in the ocean, "we've already wasted too much time."
"We can ask them for supplies or some food," suggested Usopp.
"That won't get us on the island if we ask that from them," retorted Sanji, "they'll probably just bring it to us on the ship."
"Cook-san is right," stated Robin, "but that does give me an idea." Everybody immediately turned their attention to Robin to see her pointing to Ace. "Our main goal is to get Portgas-san onto the island to retrieve the Log Pose. So using the interesting boat that he brought on board when he first met with us he could get onto the island while we once again distract the marines attention by asking them for supplies, redirecting their attention to the pier," she explained, "and because your boat is so small it won't be detected that easily."
"Your talking about his fire-propelled boat?" asked Nami rubbing her chin in thought, "I think that plan will actually work!"
"I'm sure you can keep the flame down so you won't be spotted that easily from shore," said Robin looking at Ace who simply nodded back to her. Nami looked at him curiously as he made his way under deck to get his boat out from the men's quarters before she motioned the rest of the crew to crowd closer together.
"Have you guys noticed that he's been really quiet ever since we left Seidou island?" asked Nami when he was far enough not to hear her.
"Tsh, It's probably because he's worried about Luffy." said Zoro plopping down on the floor next to the rail.
"Do you think that he knows something that he's not telling us?" whispered Usopp.
Chopper and Franky came running over to the group leaving their cards scattered across the deck curious about why everyone was crowded together. "Hey! What are we whispering about over here?!" exclaimed Franky.
"Shh! We're talking about how Ace hasn't said word since Seidou." explained Usopp, "Do you guys think he's hiding something?"
Chopper and Franky shrugged. "I agree with Kenshi-san," said Robin, "he is probably anxious about finding his little brother."
The others nodded in agreement except for Nami. Robin noticed that she seemed lost in thought while she stared blankly at the floor. Before she could say anything the sound of a door slamming and heavy footstep was heard coming from below and the subject was dropped. Ace appeared to them carrying his boat easily with one arm up the stairs before he dropped it into the ocean.
"Ok, I guess your going to start your part of the plan?" asked Usopp not making eye contact with the older man. Ace once again nodded before jumping over the rail.
Nami ran over to the side of the ship. "When you get your log pose just go out into the ocean and wait for us to pick you up when we get out of military waters." He turned to the island with a sigh and propelled himself to the island. Nami took a deep breath and turned to the rest of the crew with her normal stern expression. "What are you two still doing up here?" she yelled pointing at Chopper and Franky, "get out of site now! The rest of you get your faces and personalities down!" The crew scrambled around while Nami tucked a blonde curl behind her ear. "Why did I ask a stupid question like that in the first place?" she whispered.
-X-
"It's been almost three months, my little pet," teased Cai idly playing with his black locks of hair, "and your so called 'nakama' hasn't come for you." Her hand moved down his face running over the bandages wrapped around his eyes and cupped his cheek. Licking her lips she grinned devilishly before she placed her lips over his. Covering his lips with her own her tongue pushed into his mouth taking her time exploring every part inside in depth before wrapping it around his own unresponsive tongue. She twisted her head to the side for easier access while her hand slipped to the back of his head to lace her finger into his hair as her other arm snaked around his body. As she forced her tongue down his throat she moved her hand right below his shoulder blade and slowly bared her fingers over his back.
She smiled when he whimpered into her mouth while she felt the warm blood trickle down her fingers. Pulling away from him she savored the faint taste of iron in her mouth and ripped her fingers out of his back. "I've really taken a liking to the taste of your blood. I'm so glad I changed my mind and actually decided to get my hands dirty with you," she giggled, "and I'm sure you remember this little power of the Toge Toge no Mi (Baroque Works agent Miss Doublefinger)." Stretching out her spiked fingers she dragged the tip of them down his chained arms.
"I think your getting too attached to the boy," commented Gaije who was leaning by the door.
Cai stood up quickly turning to him still licking the red liquid off her now normal fingers. "Hmm, nobody said you had to watch," she interjected, "besides, I'm only playing around with the little cutie."
"Is that why you haven't hurt his face in any other way other than his eyes compared to the rest of his body?" he prodded walking over to her side. Gaije looked down at Luffy's battered form on the floor running his eyes over each of the wounds he had acquired over the months. He was kneeling on the ground as usual being held up by the chains that bonded his wrist together high above his hanging head. Blood dribbled out of his mouth and dripped down to the floor while his whole body shuttered with each breath he worked so hard to take. New injuries ran over those that were barely healed with red sticky rivers that ran down his body and pooled around him. There were even several nails embedded in his skin on his arms and legs mainly focused around his joints rendering his limbs useless to him now. He grimaced at the sight before turning to Cai who had her head tilted to the side with her arms crossed pouting childishly at him.
"That's not true," she protested, "I've played with his mouth a few times." She tapped her lips playfully to him before she turned back to Luffy.
"Tsk, tsk! I think Gaije has a point, Cai. I think you're forgetting why you even captured him in the first place," sneered Doll gliding over to their prisoner from her spot on the opposite side of the door. She abruptly kicked him in the stomach causing him to cough out more blood.
Cai bent down in front of Luffy and took a fistful of his hair pulling his head back to expose his face. With the back of her hand she roughly wiped his chin clean. "I never forgot the reason why I brought this devil here but I like to have fun and there's always more than one way to have fun." She tugged at the bandages around his eyes until she tore through one layer. "Here, I'll show you and tell me what you see." she said tearing the rest of the of the dressings off. The two bent over them looking intently over Cai's head and into Luffy's half open eyes. His dilated pale blue orbs were cast down and completely glazed over in a vacant stare. The bottom rim of his blood shot eyes were gathering the familiar red liquid that would soon spill out of his unfocused gaze and follow the dried path down his cheeks.
"WOW!! I didn't even know his eyes changed color!" squealed Doll in awe, "it looks like he died with his eyes open except for the problem that he's breathing. I guess you finally got to him." Cai smiled and let go of the boy's head allowing it to loll foward again.
"I knew his nakama, or if he still should call them that, wouldn't even bother to come find him. There is no point of his existence in their lives. They're smart and strong on their own and maybe the normal ones might even realize that they don't even need the other Akuma no Mi users on that ship." she declared getting up and walking to the door, "I think it's time that I claim him as my pet... permanently."
-X-
"Well that went well..." said Sanji as he changed in the men's quarter's with the rest of the guys.
Zoro glared at him from the other side of the room while he tied his black bandana around his arm. "What are you talking about?! Your the idiot who leaned over the rail letting your wig fall off into the water when we were already leaving the pier!"
"Hey! don't call me an idiot, marimo! It's your fault! You decided to push the food they gave us over the edge and I ran over to the rail to try to save it!" the cook argued.
Zoro picked up his swords from his locker making sure not to turn his head away from Sanji. "Maybe you shouldn't be so impulsive and actually watch what your doing." Sanji's shoe met with Zoro's sword as the two finally lost their temper. Usopp dove under the wooden hammocks while Franky and Chopper hid in the kotatsu as the two engaged in battle.
"Guys! Stop it already! We already got away from the marines!" cried Copper ducking into the sofa as Sanji flew over him and crashed into the sunken table. "HELP!!"
Zoro had Wado Ichimonji in his grasp watching Sanji get up with a cold look in his eyes. Already suspecting his attack, he raised his sword up in defense while Sanji jumped into the air and brought down his foot targeting the swordsman's head. His foot landed on the side of the sword and was deflected, pushing him to the other side of the room. The two fighters stood on opposite sides of the rooms as the tension rose making the air heavy with anticipation. "This is the most intense battle I've ever seen them in!" yelled Usopp to the other onlookers who themselves were too caught up in their shock to even try to stop the fight. In a flash, the two were in the center of the room with Sanji's foot and Zoro's sword dangerously pushing back and forth for dominance while both shot death looks into each other's eyes.
Quietly, the door opened slowly as Ace walked in gazing gloomily at his reclaimed log pose around his wrist. Without even looking up, Ace shot a fire blast from his finger between the two throwing them away from each other into the walls. Sanji and Zoro both slid down the walls onto the floor but while Zoro seemed to accept the abrupt end to the fight, Sanji became even more outraged. "What the hell was tha..." he began to yell but Ace had already left and shut the door behind him. Fuming even more, the cook ran after him with the others tailing behind all the way onto the deck.
Sanji found Ace next to Nami who was holding his arm out in front of her to look at the log pose on his wrist. "What the hell are you doing?" he roared catching the two off guard, "Get away from my Nami-san!"
"Sanji! What's your problem?" asked Nami letting go of Ace's arm and putting her hands on her hips.
Sanji didn't even acknowledge the navigator but kept his eyes on a very confused Ace. "My problem is that guy!" he said pointing at the older pirate, "I know what's going on here! You guys are getting a closer relationship and now he's just trying to get me angry!"
"What are you talking about?" retorted Nami.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! You can't hide it from me!" he exclaimed while the other's finally catching up with Sanji up on the deck.
"Cook-san, your accusation doesn't make sense. Why would you think that they are in a relationship," asked Robin from the upper balcony.
Sanji looked up at the archeologist with his one exposed eye. "I've seen them talking to each other in private whispering to each other and standing really close together."
"Sanji, I'm not even yours why are you getting all worked up?" protested Nami, "and Ace and I aren't like that!"
"It doesn't matter! I want him off the ship now!"
"First of all, you have no right to order anyone off this ship, and second, his log pose is the one that we need to get to the island," explained the Navigator, "so he doesn't go!"
"Why are you treating me like this after I saved you from that guy who was about to rape you?!" blurted out Sanji causing the whole deck to fall quiet.
Nami's eyes suddenly began to well up as she balled her hands into fists by her sides. "Why did you tell that to everyone!" she screamed.
"You never said it was a secret."
The others started to murmur to each other quietly with a feeling of disapproval floating through the air. "Nami, why didn't you want us to know?" asked Chopper pushing his way to the front, "we're you friends and you shouldn't have to keep secrets from us."
"Shut up, Chopper! Your not part of this!" she shouted to the young reindeer.
"Hey! Don't yell at him!" said Usopp kneeling in front of Chopper who was already tearing up, "what's wrong with you!"
"Like you're one to talk! Soge king!" shot back Sanji making sure to say that last words with obvious sarcasm, "lying to Chopper all the time and keeping your him a secret!"
"Wha..wha..what?" stuttered the confused reindeer.
"There's no need for this fighting, straw-hats!" clamored Franky trying to put himself between Usopp and Sanji.
"Don't even bother trying to get through to them," said Zoro lazily leaning on the rail.
Nami pushed past everyone to get to Zoro who was standing with his arms crossed watching her make her way to him. "Oh! Your such a great captain not even bothering to get everyone else in line." she said.
"Don't tell me how to run things you witch!" replied Zoro baring his teeth at her.
"Don't call my Nami-san a witch!" called out Sanji trying to break away from Robin who came downstairs to try to calm the crew.
Nami turned away from the green-haired swordsman and stomped her foot on the ground repeatedly. "I'm not yours!"
"Stop it already, Sanji! You started this whole argument in the first place. " said Usopp. Just as the sharpshooter finished his comment the whole deck blew up in an uproar as everyone began to curse each other and even throw a few punches while Chopper and Robin tried to break up the fight. Suddenly, flames erupted between each of the crew members and scattered everyone across the wooden floor. The shocked Straw-hats sat back up and looked over at Ace who was standing in the middle of the deck with his whole body on fire. His face was hidden behind the rim of his hat with his head downcast and hands curled into fists by his sides.
"I had no idea how dependent you guys were on my little brother," he whispered. He looked up at them with eyes full of sorrow and anger while he extinguished the flame around him. Ace turned away from them and disappeared to the back of the ship.
-X-
Gaije was carrying him down the hall again following the girls as usual. He looked down at Luffy who was blankly staring at the ceiling. He felt the shuttered breaths travel from the kid's cold body into his arms that were covered in the boy's blood. 'He's losing way too much blood,' he thought studying Luffy's face, 'his skin is so pale.'
Flashback
They walked down into the stone staircase getting farther away from the cold air after their little trip to the surface by the icy ocean.
"Go ahead and bring him back to his cell." said Cai letting Gaije pass her down the stairs, "and do what you want. I don't care if you help him or hurt him since I had my fun already."
Gaije nodded and left the two girls to travel down the dim hall with the younger boy in his arms. His shivering was still violent despite they were out of the cold and his skin was mostly a ghostly white but some places were beginning to turn blue. Gaije's eyes widened as he held Luffy closer to him and began to run down the hall.
"Shit, the kid's got hypothermia." he said to himself stopping at the wooden door at the end of the corridor.
Opening the door, he immediately kneeled on the ground and lay Luffy in front of him. Lighting the lone candle above them he watched the pirate's body shiver while trying to think of what to do. Taking off his black shirt he laid it across Luffy's body and began to rub his own hands together. Gaije got down on one knee and grabbed both of the boy's shaking blue hands and covered them in his warm ones. He felt the shaking steadily subside in a matter of minutes before he did the same for his ears and even his feet. When he was finally done all the blue limbs were back to just being pale white but Luffy was still shivering madly. He looked around and soon realized that the room itself was pretty cold... and the stone floor was freezing. Gaije groaned while he ran his hand through his long black hair and looked down at the kid.
"I hate you." he breathed before he picked Luffy up off the ground and sat him on his lap.
He carefully wrapped his shirt around the younger one's torso and put one arm around him for support. He leaned on his other arm and let Luffy lean on him to feed off of his body heat.
When Luffy's shivers began to die down Gaije breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the other boy off of him. He dragged him roughly across the floor by the chain attached to his collar over to the wall dropping him so that his limp head hit the wall. Taking his wrists into the chains he securely locked him into place and stepped back to survey the young captain. Scowling at him he lifted his leg back ready to strike him. In mid stride he stopped his foot from making contact with Luffy's stomach and set his foot down. Gaije kneeled down in front of the boy and took his face into his hand. Staring into his dazed blue eyes, he began to feel that weird sense of sympathy again that he had been getting a lot lately. Gaije quickly shook off the feeling and threw Luffy's head against the wall... hard. He blew out the candle and walked over to the door. Before he closed the door behind him he slightly turned his head back to look into the black room.
"Damn you"
End Flashback
Gaije looked at the backs of the two people in front of him on the stairs and then back down at Luffy. Quickly, he tried to think of a reason for Cai to let him treat the five giant holed in his back. "He's going to pass out." he said.
Cai immediately stopped and spun on her heel. She walked over to Gaije and abrasively turned Luffy's face to her. Running her hands over his forehead and cheeks her face contorted in a look of displeasure. "Damn it, he's freezing. You're right," she said through her teeth, "Go stop the blood loss now and bring Doll with you. I don't want him to be unconscious." Gaije turned away from Cai at the bottom of the stairs and walked down another hall while Doll skipped happily behind him.
X
Doll supported Luffy on the table while Gaije worked on his back. They were in another stone room with another wooden door but there were way more lights and it was five times the size of his prison. It had shelves of medical books and counters and cabinets filled with bandages and ointments and all sorts of medical supplies. Luffy came to the conclusion that it was the doctor's room, instead of that white room that was more like a lab, and Gaije was ironically the doctor. He had been in this room a few times already during the months and it used to be his favorite mainly because it was the room that they actually treated some of his wounds rather than make them yet, lately he just didn't care anymore if they healed him or hurt him. He was no longer conscious to the world around him or the time he had spent here but had retreated to the back of his mind to hide from the pain. Whenever the three of his captors would visit him now he would barely be there in his mind and hear a only few of the words they spoke to him. Nonetheless, he still couldn't block out every time they tortured him but he didn't bother to fight back anymore. As for Cai kissing him, he could care less about that too. She was probably trying to toy with his emotions but his heart had already gone numb a long time ago. He had completely given up now knowing that the people he cared so much about didn't even care that he was gone. His 'nakama'... Why should he care if no one else did? Cai told him it has been almost three months and there wasn't a single soul passing by the island. Even if they did happen to decide to rescue him, who's to say that they just want to use him? It was a mistake to trust anyone so much but he thought that they would always be there with him. So after all they've been through together they betrayed him in the end. His body was dying, his mind was lost, and his spirit was gone. He wanted to die.
"Stop" said Gaije swatting Doll's hand away from digging themselves into the hole's in Luffy's back.
Doll retrieved her hand and sucked on her fingers childishly. "Why?" she whined adjusting the boy in her arms, "you know how much I like this stuff." She took her fingers out of her mouth showing off the red remnants still present on them.
Gaije rolled his eyes as he wiped off the red liquid on his back with a towel. He felt what seemed to be alcohol being poured onto the injuries that began to sting for awhile before dying down to a dull burn. Luffy closed his eyes and simply slipped away into the confines of his minds in utter isolation.
"So did Cai accidentally hit any vital organs or something." asked Doll in a bored tone.
"No"
Doll sighed while Gaije proceeded to stitch up the deep injuries. "You're all tense. You need to lighten up, baby." she said leaning towards him. Gaije did not hesitate to pause in the middle of the work to return the kiss before he pushed her away lightly. Doll pushed up her glasses giggling at the sight of his rarely seen half smile. "Oh, looks like the tough guy does have a weakness!" she teased while he turned back to the stitches. "and a weakness for this kid."
Gaije flinched but still went on and finished up the last one before he looked up at her. Raising a brow he urged her to elaborate. "Your softer on him than any of those other Akuma no Mi twerps we ran into," she explained in an oddly serious tone, "what's wrong with you?"
"Cai is making a mistake," he said laying Luffy on his stomach on the table, "her plan of what she's going to do to him is wrong."
"What are you talking about?"
Gaije looked away from her piercing gaze for awhile trying to decide if he could trust her with his theory. In all truth and honesty, Doll was the only person he could speak more that 10 words in a sentence and the only person he ever talked to comfortably. He sighed and turned his eyes to her. "Look, I don't know how you feel about this but lately I've been feeling this unusual feeling that this kid doesn't deserve any of this," he said, "he's not like the other Akuma no Mi users."
Doll cocked her head to the side staring at him in shock. "How could you say that?" she asked quietly, "all of them are the same heartless killers. Of course he deserves this! Besides, we're just tagging along with Cai for the fun of it, remember?"
Gaije nodded looking down at Luffy, noticing for the first time he was unconscious. "Listen, you know how much I love to indulge in my guilty pleasure of satisfying my sadistic needs but no matter how much I want to rip his heart out I just can't seem to do it," he growled punching down onto the table.
Doll came from behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Grabbing onto her wrists, he turned around and placed her arms around his neck. "You know I love you even if you begin to change but Cai is going to get her way with that boy no matter what," whispered Doll, "she will kill you on the spot if you betray her so just sit back and please just don't do anything stupid, for me."
Gaije nodded pulling her into a tight embrace. "Well he's unconscious again so I don't think that Cai can do whatever she wanted to do with him today."
-X-
"ninety-three days without him..." Snow fell steadily from the sky onto her jacket and covered the deck of the Thousand Sunny under a thick white sheet. It seemed that they were in the territory of another winter island but they had been sailing for four days already and they still hadn't found the island. Her head began to feel a little heavy as the snow piled onto Luffy's straw-hat that Ace had given back to her a few days after the fight. Taking it off, she lightly shook off the snow and placed it back on her head. Nami listened to the snow crunch under her feet while she walked over to Ace who was staring down at his log pose. He also had a coat on that he borrowed from the crew but still had on his shorts despite the cold claiming that he could keep himself warm with his power. She rubbed her arms trying to warm them while the snow fell steadily between them. "Still on track?"
The whitebeard pirate looked at her for awhile before he gave her a half-smile and pointed out to sea. She looked into the distance past the millions of white flurries falling from the gray clouds above and saw a pure white lump in the distance. Immediately she ran down to the front of the ship to try to get a better look at the island. Squinting through the flakes she saw the snow covered island they were heading for with a huge mountain jutting out from the center. Her eyes widened with excitement.
"GUYS! GET OUT HERE!" yelled Nami still staring at the island.
Zoro jumped down from the weight room from above her while Chopper's hooves could be heard tapping on the boards from the back of the ship out of the doctor's room. The rest of the crew emerged from the ship wearing heavy coats shivering slightly in the cold.
"What is it Nami?" asked Chopper curiously shaking the snow out of his fur.
Nami pointed out into the ocean. "There it is!"
Everyone followed her finger out towards the island. "Yes! We made it!" cheered Usopp picking up Chopper and throwing him up in the air. Gigantic streams of tears dramatically fell down Franky's face while he tried to wipe them away. "Are you crying, Franky?"
"No! Of coarse not." cried the cyborg turning away from them.
Robin sighed with relief walking back into the ship while Zoro and Sanji stared out into the ocean. The two of them haven't said a word to each other lately, or anyone for that matter. After the huge brawl that included everyone on the ship, everyone was a little antsy with each other and relationships on Sunny have turned for the worst. Nami turned around and gave both of them an a little shrug before walking past them. She glanced at the other three who were celebrating with each other. ' At least those three are still normal.'
"It will be a little less than an hour before we actually dock," she stated, "be ready."
Walking across the deck back to the balcony she decided that she would go over a few things with Ace before they landed. When she looked up at Ace she saw him with his arms crossed and legs apart staring intently at the island. Nami could see the fire of determination burning in his eyes. Her eyes widened in sudden realization knowing that she had seen this look before. Ace had the same expression that Luffy had on top of roof of the bridge at Enies Lobby, that same look that meant he would stop at nothing to get back what was his.
-X-
It had taken Luffy four days to wake up out of unconsciousness due to blood loss and Cai wasn't one to waste time so she told them to retrieve him the moment he had woken up. They layed him in the center of the chamber that they had brought Luffy to the first day they were introduced to him but Cai had made a minor adjustment. In the center of the room there were two thick metal poles running from the ceiling and into the floor on either side of where they were ordered to lay Luffy. All of the torches burned wildly on the sides of the room lighting their faces with their orange glow. Doll tied the black cloth around Luffy's eyes while Gaije stood by her putting on a pair of leather gloves. Doll looked up at his uncomfortable expression worriedly. Cai had told him that she had a special job for him before she had left the room a minute ago and that the gloves had something to do with it. Gaije looked back at her automatically erasing all emotion from his face and gave her a reassuring nod.
The door opened and Cai came waltzing in with her hands behind her back. "Are his eyes are covered? I want this to be a surprise." she said walking closer to the group. Stopping in front of Gaije, she took out her right hand from behind her and revealed a coil of metal.
Gaije looked closer at the metal noting the spikes protruding from it. "Is that.."
"Correct!" Cai interrupted, "I want you to tie him up with this. It will be a better restraint than those noisy chains."
He took the coil without hesitation and turned to Luffy. Now he understood why she had given him the leather gloves in the first place. Gaije lifted one of Luffy's limp arms and positioned him on his knees. Pulling out the wire he began to wrap it around Luffy's arm from his elbow down to his wrist before he tied it to one of the metal poles. He felt the boy's arm tense up and watched the sharp spikes penetrate into his skin and draw up blood. Surprisingly, he wasn't feeling any sort of commiseration for the younger's sake and gingerly kept coiling the barbed wire around his other arm. Despite how much the spikes were slicing into his skin Luffy hardly made a sound. He only sat there on his knees taking the pain as it was dealt to him. When Gaije was finished Luffy's arms were held up on either side of his body with the wire curled around both and stretched over to the two poles. With his sudden remergeance of his cruel attitude he had also wrapped two more coils around both poles and stretched them to the boy's neck interlacing them with the collar before they criss crossed over his torso and stretched back to the metal rods. Stepping back he admired his work, watching Luffy's blood run down to the floor with immense satisfaction. Doll latched onto his arm with a relieved smile plastered on her face.
"Thank you, Gaije" said Cai.
Gaije grunted in reply. "What do you want us to do now?" asked Doll.
"You guys can leave already" she replied smiling at them. The two nodded and left immediately understanding what she was planning to do.
Cai stood over Luffy in silence. The only thing heard was the crackling of the flames lining the room and the sound of their breathing.
"I told you that you weren't wanted in this world but you just couldn't accept that," she spat circling around him, "but now you know I'm right by example of your nakama." She bent down in front of him and ran the back of her hand across his cheek smearing the blood on his face. "You feel you have no purpose to live anymore because the people you loved have abandoned you in the end, but don't worry, you have much worth to me." Stealing another quick kiss from him she stood up and walked behind him. She took out another piece of cloth that she had hidden behind her in her left hand and tied it around his head so that it ran into his mouth between his teeth gagging him in the process. Walking over to the outer rim of the room she ran her hands on the wall until it hit one of the torches and pulled it out from the holster. "I know you won't resist me anymore so I can finally take that power within you into my hands, but before I awaken that little monster that has lay dormant inside of you for so long I want give you a simple reminder that you are mine now."
Walking towards him again she formed her free hand into an iron rod shaping the end of it into cross and circle fused together perpendicular to the rod. Bending down behind him she placed the end of her transformed hand into the flame of the torch in her hand long enough until it was barely glowing orange from the heat. Cai threw the torch to the side causing it to go out while her normal hand ran down Luffy's back to the cloth of his shorts. She placed her chin on his shoulder, carefully avoiding the barbed wire leading to and around his neck, putting her lips close to his ear. She pulled down his waistband an inch while her smile grew.
"My pet."
-X-
Zoro threw down the anchor into the frigid water while the rest of the crew jumped down onto the snow covered dock. Sanji spotted Nami a little farther down the dock away from the group and walked over putting his hand on her shoulder. Nami turned around and her eyebrow rose when she saw him behind her.
"Nami-san, I want to apologize for what I said on that one day." he said quietly, "It's just that you should know how I feel about you and when I saw you with Ace so much I just got a little defensive."
Nami stared at him surprised at the words that were coming out of his mouth. It was so unlike Sanji to be so calm and straightforward with her but it was better than him always flirting with her. "Sanji, I understand but..." she whispered turning her head to watch the snow fall, "I don't feel the same way for you that you feel for me." He looked at her in shock but at the same time acceptance lingered behind his eyes as if he knew it all along. "I'm in love with someone else."
Sanji looked down at the icy water in defeat while he shoved his hands into his pockets. " I see... can you tell me who?"
Before he could get an answer they both turned back to the ship at the sound of Zoro's boots hitting the wooden panels of the dock. The subject was dropped as the rest of the crew joined them on the pier and they all started their silent walk towards the town through the snow with Ace in the lead. At the edge of the town the whole group stopped and stared at the sight in front of them in awe.
"Wow, this place looks deserted." whispered Usopp looking around at their surroundings.
Everything around them was covered in a sheet of white snow. Some of the buildings had vines covering their walls that were already dead from the intense cold. Most of the other structure had missing chunks of pieces everywhere while others had simply crumbled and were just piles of large rocks buried in the snow. A few of the smaller structures had their roofs caved in and collapsing or missing walls. In the end, all of the buildings were stained black inside and around the places where windows and doors once existed. The group walked through the ghost town listening to the wind whistle through the buildings while they looked around for any sign of life.
"Look around" said Ace walking towards one of the vine covered buildings.
"How are we supposed to find him in this mess?" growled Zoro kicking down a door to peak inside.
"That is he's even here..." muttered Sanji looking into another building.
Nami turned around and looked straight into his eyes. "Don't say that."
"Sorry Nami-san" muttered Sanji turning away from her glare.
"Doctor-san, are you alright" asked Robin turning back to Chopper who had suddenly stopped in the snow. The rest of the crew turned to look at Chopper with his hooves over his blue nose with a look of disgust on his face.
"What's up, Chopper? Do you smell something?" asked Franky walking over to the small reindeer trying to smell the air. " I don't."
Chopper let go of his noise and sniffed the air. Immediately, he covered it again shaking his head vigorously. "Guys, I don't like this place! The air smells like blood and a lot of it!"
Nami's eyes widened while she listened to Chopper's words. Whipping around she ran over to the reindeer and kneeled down in front of him with her hands of the other's shoulders. "Can you tell who's scent it is?!"
Chopper looked back at her confused. "I can try..." He stuck his nose into the air and took a few sniffs closing his eyes to try to focus on the scent. A few seconds later the reindeer's eyes shot open. His face screwed up into an expression of pure shock while he could only utter one word. "Luffy..."
The whole crew including Ace gathered around Chopper while Nami tried to shake him out of his state of shock. "Chopper! Can you lead us to him?" Chopper shook his head to regain his composure before he turned into his walk point form as a regular reindeer. Without warning he jumped over their heads and darted off into the city. The others ran after him trying to keep up as they passed by the ashen buildings to the city border and then into a forest of barren trees. Suddenly they came to a clearing in the forest that had a large building in the middle of it. The building was in the same shape as the ones back in the city but it was fenced off with tall metal bars that circled around it.
"How are we supposed to get over this?" asked Usopp putting his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. As if on que, both Zoro and Sanji sliced and kicked down a part of the fence in one blow sending the bars crashing to the ground. Usopp sweat dropped while the rest of the crew ran towards the building through the opening. "Can't we rest for one second!" groaned Usopp running after the group.
Chopper turned back to his brain point form while the others came to a stop behind him. "Luffy's scent is coming from in here." The crew was staring at the large wooden door that was in front of them trying to steady their breaths from the run.
Ace looked up above the door and read the words that lined the entrance. "Kyuushuu Detention Facility"
-X-
Cai ran her hand over the damaged skin listening to his ragged breath hitch to her touch. She traced the circled cross on his skin lightly with her finger still leaning on his back. "Perfect" she whispered into his ear before she stood up again. She circled back around in front of him. "Now I'm ready to get what I want." she hissed placing her hand on top of Luffy's head.
Doll barged in through the door knocking Cai out of her concentration. "Cai, you should come out here now!"
"What for!?" asked Cai angrily stomping over to the door.
When the door shut behind them Doll moved closer to Cai cupping her hand around her ear. "Gaije and I heard a crash above us and some people's voices just a minute ago." she whispered. Without giving her time to soak in the information, Doll ran with Cai leading her by the arm down the the twists and turns through the halls and stairs to where Gaije was standing by another flight of stairs.
"They're above us on the ground level" muttered Gaije.
"Can we attack them?" asked Doll hopefully. Cai stood still with her head tilted to the ceiling fixing her hearing on the voices above her. "It's his nakama."
"What?! Are you sure? I thought nobody could get to this island anymore except for you!" exclaimed the other girl in a low voice.
"I'm sure of it. I can hear their voices and I know it's them." she replied calmly.
"Should we kill them?"
Cai paused for a second in deep concentration until a small smile crept onto her face. "No, I want them to find him." The other two looked at her in surprise and then at each other reflecting the same confused look. "You two, don't let them see you." she ordered turning around, "let me finish up with the demon downstairs and then I will deal with them."
-X-
The straw-hats walked into the building cautiously, peering into the long white hallway before them. None of the lights were working so Ace used his Mera mera power to light up the area around them. The neutral colored walls were bare and didn't even have any windows or decoration to brighten up the place. The hall split into four way intersection but the group had decided not to split up not knowing what to expect in this area. Following Ace through the dark corridor on the left they began to see small metal doors lining the walls with the white paint chipping off and a small glass window in the middle.
"The room is really small with only a little bed in the corner and a toilet in the opposite corner," said Ace walking from each door to the next looking into the small window, "all the rooms are pretty much the same but none of them looked like they're been touched in a long time."
"Chopper, you can't smell him out anymore?" asked Zoro looking into the rooms himself.
"No, it's like the scent is coming from here...or above...or all around us." said the miniature reindeer shaking his head negatively.
Across the hall the crew found more of the same exact rooms finding nothing that would give them a clue to where their captain could be. They were now standing solemnly in the intersection debating on weather or not to go down the last hallway. "Guys, this place gives me the creeps." said Usopp lightly latching on to Zoro's arm.
"Well, we just have Chopper's nose to ride on so might as well scout the whole place out," sighed Sanji shrugging slightly. Everyone nodded but still stood in silence waiting for each other to make the first move. Chopper's ear twitched and his head shot up to the people above him.
"Did one of you say something?" he asked.
Everyone looked down at him questioningly. "Nobody said anything, Doctor-san" replied Robin.
"One of you had to say something. I thought I heard someone talking."
The crew looked around in the dark anxiously while Ace's ignited arm lit a circle encompassing all of them in its eerie glow. Nami looked down at the floor and played with the rim of the straw-hat on top of her head nervously when something caught her eye. "Oh my God."
All eyes turned to her while she pointed down at the ground with eyes wide. "Holy crap! Is that blood?!" yelled Zoro pulling up his feet watching the red liquid drop off his boot. Ace stretched his arm down the unchecked hallway revealing a trail or a red-ish brown liquid smeared on the floor. Chopper brought his nose down to substance sniffing it lightly.
"It's Luffy!"
"Finally another clue!" exclaimed Franky.
Usopp groaned. "I have a feeling I'm not gonna like what we're going to find if we follow it."
Suddenly, a blood curdling scream echoed from down the hall and pierced their ears. Everyone was thrown off guard and Ace accidentally let his flame go out, throwing them into complete darkness.
Nami screamed and everyone grabbed the nearest person to them while all that could be heard was the sound of their flailing in the dark.
"Turn it back on! Turn it back on!" cried Usopp frantically tightening his hold on to Zoro's arm.
Ace re-lit his arm again revealing the whole crew again in the hall. He looked around making sure that all seven were still around him. Luckily, they were all still standing around him perfectly fine if not a little shaken.
"What the hell was that!" asked Sanji looking down the hall.
"I don't know, but it came from down that hall and that's also where this bloody trail leads to so I guess we have no choice but to follow the sound." said Ace slowly walking down into the dark passage.
"Well, you heard him! Let's go." ordered Nami following close behind Ace.
"I was afraid you were going to say that" whined Usopp.
They walked close together down the dark corridor watching the walls seem to grow more decrepit as they went on. Finally, by the end of the hall the crew had come face to face with a large wooden door. The cracks on the wall seemed to come from the edges of the door and chipped off some pieces of white plaster that were scattered on the floor. The lock on the door had been broken off the rusted handle and the corroded hinges looked as if they were struggling to hold up the large structure.
"Open it already," urged Franky shoving Ace forward. Ace shot him an annoyed glare reaching for the handle and turned it slowly, taking a deep breath before pushing it open. To their relief, they were only greeted by a flight of stairs that seemed to spiral down below them. The walls and floor were now made of dark brown stone all around them and the ceiling seemed to have a few leaks that dripped down and trickled down the stone. Yet, what surprised the group the most was that the stairs leading down were lighted with a few torches that lined the walls.
"Someone's here" muttered Zoro while they began their steady descent down the stairs.
"What is this place?" asked Chopper to no one in particular.
"I believe it's some sort of hidden or maybe an off-limits underground chamber," answered Robin peering around when they reached the bottom of the stairs. They stood before another fork in their search where the hall split into two different paths: One going straight and the other going to the left.
"Oh great, more halls," breathed Sanji down each one.
"Look, the blood stains lead down here!" exclaimed Chopper pointing down the one going straight. Nami suddenly bolted pass the reindeer down the particular path stained red. She ended up at yet another wooden door and stood before it while the others caught up. She turned the handle and opened it wide only to see a pitch black room.
"I got it," said Ace igniting his arm.
With the light from his flame the whole room was revealed before their eyes. Just like the hallways it was made of stone from top to bottom and it was very small resembling that of a cell. On the wall opposite of them there were chains hanging down to about four feet above the floor and beside that were a pile of bloody bandages that seemed to have been sitting there for quite some time. Nami walked forward into the room staring wide-eyed around at the objects in the room until her foot stepped onto something sticky. Looking down she found herself in a puddle of barely dried blood that clung to her shoes. For some reason, she didn't jump up and out of the puddle but returned her gaze to the chains in front of her. The same red substance was dried on the links and covered the cuffs but as her eyes drifted to the wall she saw blood splattered all across it and trails running down to the ground.
"Shit, don't tell me that this is all his," said Zoro looking around the room. Chopper didn't answer but tilted his head down avoiding everyone's questioning eyes. Despite not getting an answer, they knew Zoro was right. Nami sank down to her knees and started sobbing quietly.
"No Nami, don't cry," said Usopp stepping up behind her, "this room doesn't mean anything."
Nami turned her head to him revealing her reddening wet eyes. "What are you talking about? He's not in here and look at all this blood! " she exclaimed coughing slightly in the suddenly musty room.
"Don't think like that! He's still alive. We just haven't found him yet and none of us are ready to give up!" he chimed.
Nami looked at them through the cloudy air letting a small smile form on her face. 'Yes, I'm not going to give up either,' she thought, 'all nine of us are going to find Luffy no matter what... wait, there's only eight of us including me' She looked at each of her crew members faces thinking she had miscounted, 'Me, Zoro, Robin, Franky, Usopp, Chopper, Sanji, Ace, and...' Nami fell backwards staring at the crew with a horror.
"Nami? What's wrong?" asked Chopper moving a little closer to her. Nami slowly lifted a shaking hand and pointed towards the center group. Everyone followed her finger and looked at each other blankly before back to the girl on the floor.
"Be..be..BEHIND YOU!!" she screamed crawling backwards into the wall while the must in the room thickened.
The crew whipped around and almost fell back in shock. There, stood the same veiled woman dressed in all white who had been standing right behind them the whole time. Her white dress flowed around her in a ghostly manner and her veil screening her face made chills travel up their spines. The must in the room suddenly retracted to her arms and cleared the air between all of them. She lifted her arm and shot a fire blast into the ceiling above them lighting a candle over them.
"You must be the angel" growled Ace setting eyes on the woman for the first time, "I can tell by how you can use both my Mera mera and the Moku Moku power."
The girl slowly lifted one of her pale hands out towards them. "It looks like you have found my hiding place," she whispered, "but you are too late."
Nami's eyes narrowed as she abruptly lunged at the veiled woman out of pure anger. Unfortunately, the woman had dissipated into a fog once again and Nami fell through the cloud. "Go ahead and find him. Your beloved captain is in here somewhere." With that said the cloud flew away from them and disappeared around the corner of the other hall.
The whole group followed the cloud around the corner and down another flight of stairs. At the bottom they had lost sight of the fog and were once again faced with the choice of either going down another staircase or go down the hallway in front of them. Choosing the hallway they only found a few cubicles separated by bars that housed nothing but random items such as rope, chains, wire, nails and a variety of hardware. Not even bothering to ponder why the items were in such a place the crew all turned and ran back from where they came to run down the third staircase.
Getting down off the last step, the groups stopped to catch their breaths. The air had becoming unbearably thin due to how far they were underground and it felt as if their lungs could only breathe in half the oxygen around them. Looking up they stared with annoyance at the 3 different hallways they could take that lay in front of them.
"You've got to be kidding me!" screamed Nami looking extremely distressed.
"Let's go straight. My gut is telling me to go that way." said Ace.
Running down the hall a door could be seen down at the end. Zoro ran ahead of the group drawing his sword. With one slice the wood came down in pieces and the Straw-hats jumped into the room.
X
Nami's POV
The glow of the lights shined into my eyes when we jumped over the broken door into the room. Zoro had suddenly stopped in front of me staring in shock at something in front of him. Ace, Robin, Chopper and Usopp were beside me while Franky stood behind me with the same expression painted on all their faces but I wasn't able to see what they were looking at because all of them had boxed me in. Trying to push my way between Robin and Usopp, I fell out of the group onto the open floor. Slowly getting up, I looked at my friends who didn't even notice my fall but still had their eyes glued forward. I looked around the round room lighted by torches following their gaze to the center of the room and instantly, my heart was crushed.
There in the middle of the room was Luffy. Although I was not able to see his face I could see that all over his body there were open gashes and bruises in his unnatural pale skin. He was sitting on his knees with his head down and his arms above him, stretched out by lengths of barbed wire that coiled around his limbs and reached out to two metal poles on either side of him. More barbed wire crossed over his chest and went around his neck where the collar clung to his skin and the chain attatched and trailed down. In nothing but his black shorts, his skin was vulnerable to the razors that dug into his thin body and bled out an immense amount of blood that dripped down and pooled around his legs. The only good thing that I could see were the oddly restrained shuttering breaths that he let out in the quiet room.
"LUFFY!" I bolted towards him with tears forming in my eyes. Dropping down on my knees in the puddle of blood around his battered body I reached out my hand towards his face but quickly retracted it once I felt how cold his skin was. Taking a deep breath, I moved my hand towards his face and lifted it up to me gently. Thankfully, his face wasn't hurt in any way with cuts or bruises like the rest of his body but a sudden rush of deja vu hit me when I saw the blindfold over his eyes. I also discovered the reason why his breaths were so retrained when I saw that there was also another cloth that was gagging his mouth and wrapped tightly around his head but the most profound detail were the smeared trail of blood running down his colorless cheeks. By now, the rest of the crew were standing behind me gasping at the sight of Luffy's state.
"I think he's unconscious," I said still looking at Luffy.
"At least we found him," said Sanji turning away from the bloody sight before him, "let's get him out of here before that girl shows up. I looked back and saw Robin, Ace and Chopper standing a distance away staring at Luffy with watering eyes when I realized they were trying to keep away from the sea stone collar around Luffy's neck.
"Oh God! Look at his back! It's covered in welts and there are these five holes stitched up..." Usopp said trailing off. I looked up at him noticing that he was staring out to the outer edges of the room we were in. Looking around the room myself I noticed that it was a large circular chamber with torches on the wall with random piles of sand around the edges yet, now the piles of sand were flying in the air and coming together before our eyes. Everybody was now watching the sand crystals join together to form the into the woman once again.
"Cai," hissed Ace stepping forward out of the group in front of me, "what did you do to my brother?!" The girl flinched probably surprised that we even knew her name but still didn't answer to Luffy's furious brother. Turning her body back into sand she traveled through the air and started reforming right between me and Luffy causing all of us to back up into a circle around the two of them. She kneeled down if front of Luffy's body cupping his face in her hand. I could feel my cheeks warming up and it took all my self control to keep myself from attacking her.
"That's something for me to know and you to find out soon," she whispered, "but don't worry, I just had a little fun with this one." Turning her head to me she brought her other hand to her veil and lifted it up just far enough to let me see her mouth that was curled in a devilish smile. Slowly, she turned back to Luffy. Using her other hand she untied the cloth around his mouth and I watched it fall into his blood below. When I looked back up to her my eyes widened in horror as she pressed her lips against his. The anger built up inside of me as I was about to tackle Cai to the ground but suddenly, a fire blast hit her from the side knocking her away from Luffy's body.
"Don't you dare touch him!" yelled Ace. When I looked up at him I saw that fire in his eyes again. "Get Luffy out of here!"
Immediately, I crawled towards Luffy but Zoro pushed me back drawing out his blade again. He sliced the wired that were hold Luffy's body up causing him to fall forward. I watched Zoro drop his sword and catch the younger boy's body in his arms. Turning back to me he placed Luffy into my arms and picked his sword back off the ground. "Keep him safe," he hissed putting his sword into his mouth. Walking towards Cai he drew his other two swords and stood next to Ace.
"I told you to get him out of here!" yelled Ace watching Cai slowly get back up.
I dragged Luffy's body to the farthest edge of the room from where everybody else started to crowd around the woman. "We're not going anywhere until she pays for what she did to Luffy." muttered Sanji.
Cai began to laugh maniacally when she had finally gotten up as she brushed the side of her burnt dress. The group got into battle position while she turned her head in my direction and let her laugh subside. I screamed when she stomped her foot down into the ground and a trail of ice ran straight for me and Luffy. I wanted to move but all I could do was shut my eyes and wait for the ice to hit us. Next thing I knew, I wasn't frozen but felt a warm glow on my face. When I opened , Ace was in front of us shooting a fire blast down at the ground stopping the ice in its tracks.
"Ocho fleur flip!" said Robin crossing her arms over her chest. I watched a pair of arms pushed Cai over and flipped her on her back onto another pair of arms that grasped her shoulders. More latched onto her legs and started to bend her body backwards. "Clutch!" Before she could finish her off, Cai turned her body back into smoke and drifted out of Robin's arms.
Zoro ran towards her and blades collided when Zoro's three swords ran into her two arms that had turned into blades themselves. Pushing apart, Zoro charged at her again but Cai fired a blast of sand in his direction. Zoro crossed his swords in front of his face in defense but the small crystals shot through and into his eyes. While Zoro struggled to wipe the sand out of his eyes she threw up her hands and shot ice beams out of her palms and froze his feet to floor. When she finished restraining Zoro a large chain wrapped around Cai's body that shot out from Franky's arm. The cyborg began to pull her towards her but Cai's body began to ignite into a flame that traveled down the chain and towards Franky's body. In sudden alarm, Franky retracted his arm from around her body yet, the blast still hit its target sending Franky back into the wall with his arm slightly burned. Chopper changed into a regular reindeer and started to gallop towards the girl from one side while Sanji leaped for her on the other. When Chopper came only inches away from hitting her body she grabbed onto his antlers and began to spin him around her. I watched in shock while she let him go, he was thrown into the air and collided into Sanji who was coming down onto them and both fell together in a heap on the outside of the circle. I wanted to help but I couldn't leave Luffy alone so I could only watch helplessly as my friends were defeated.
When she turned back around her face was hit by an explosion from one of Usopp's explosive stars. The cloth of her veil began to burn up as she ripped it off before it burned her face. Usopp pulled out another star and cocked it in his slingshot ready to fire.
"I'm growing tired of this," she sighed throwing down the burning cloth to the floor.
I looked at her face in complete awe while I took in her features. Cai had flawless pale skin and pure black hair that framed her face perfectly. Her light pink lips was curled into a small smile but it was mainly her eyes that caught my attention...well if there were any eyes to look at. I stared into the empty sockets that once held her eyes and found myself filled with a feeling of fear and despair as I looked into the black abyss. I held Luffy's body closer to mine ignoring the pain of the barbed wire around his body press into mine.
"...but don't worry, you will see again and we can finish our game later!" she said sweetly.
Suddenly, the room went black as all the torches were blown out by a sudden gust of wind.
"She's gone."
"Damn it! How the hell could I be so stupid and let her get me like that?" yelled Zoro blinking out the last traces of sand in his eyes while sheathing his three swords.
Sanji shoved Chopper off of him and stood up brushing himself off. "We all messed up but it's not like we knew how powerful she was."
Ace once again lit the room with his own flame as he walked towards the others and checked if they had been hurt. While he helped them stand up I looked down at Luffy again. I wiped the trail of blood running down out of his mouth while I scanned over his body. This close to him, I noticed the large screws that were embedded into his joints on his arms and legs and ran my fingers lightly over them. To my surprise, I saw a droplet of water fall onto his chest and realized that I was crying over him. Seeing him like this, so weak and vulnerable, tore me apart inside. The thought that I could have lost him made my heart tighten but the thought that I could even let this happen to him was what put the thorn in my heart. He had sacrificed so much to keep all of us safe with him and this is how we pay him back.
The others had already gathered around us and Ace had gotten down on his knees looking down at Luffy with soft eyes. He stretched out his arms and I knew what he was asking for even though part of me wasn't ready to let him go. Reluctantly, I let Ace take Luffy out of my arms and into his own. I hastily wiped the tears out of my eyes before I looked back up. His blood had already soaked onto my arms and into my clothes and his breathing had gotten quicker since we first found him. Ace visibly weakened when he got so close to Luffy and the collar but nevertheless, he stood up with his little brother wrapped protectively in his arms. Ace motioned me to stand up while he made his way towards the exit. I looked around at the others who were looking down at the ground while they followed behind Ace and Luffy. They all seemed disappointed in themselves but I wouldn't blame them. Even though we had Luffy back it still seemed like we all failed.
Wow, I'm such a freaking psycho for writing this but just taking you guys on a mature walk through the confines of my mind. So this was pretty long and pretty much around 3x as long as chapter 7 give or take but I got the job done. As usual, I would like to say sorry if some things weren't clear and sorry if I made any grammatical/spelling mistakes but I'm only human. Now the places where I got lazy are probably evident but sometimes I don't feel like writing a complicated long sentences. It was actually fun when I wrote this because I was actually scaring myself when I was imagining the scenes in my head especially when Cai was standing behind them and I felt like someone was standing looming over my shoulder the whole time. Now right now, it will probably be hard to see the main theme of the entire story but there is a mini message that has been present in every chapter and in almost all the characters. If you know what it is, Damn your good, but if you don't just think about the strange details in the story and focuses.