With silent and delicate steps, a man walks through a corridor, looking all smug. His scarred face gave way to a smirk instead of a smug smile; the beginning of an old cut began at his chin and came across his cheek through the lips and made it difficult for him to smile properly. Another scar could be seen across his eye, opposite to the other scar.
Dressed in an old worn suit, the man complimented the suit with old black shoes and a muddish green tie around his neck. His short messy black hair had signs of being brushed back, but the wind, which he had been out in just moments ago, had blown it out of place again. Despite his dirty looks, he walked proud with his chin held high and shoulders pushed back to make his chest look bigger. He was of regular built, so it was only his posture that gave away his position.
He was the captain of the ship and he had gone below deck to check up on their prisoner. It's been two weeks since he last saw her and so far he had uphold their deal. Since they were now halfway through the deal, he wanted to go down and check her condition. The guard have told him that she had made no trouble so far, so perhaps she had been serious about the whole deal. Shin, the captain, didn't think that woman would go through with such a deal as this, so he had complied. Mainly to see how long she would last or what she would do to get out of it again.
So far, she had behaved and haven't moved out of the spot in which she was placed on two weeks ago. How interesting.
"Ren~" he called out in a sing-song voice as soon as he saw her, the smug smile still in place. He stopped abruptly in front of the young woman, placing a hand over his heart while the other arm were pressed tightly to his side. With this posture, he bowed slightly for the woman, a miscievous glint in his light blue eyes. "It's a pleasure to see you once more. Tell me, how are you?"
Ren glanced up from her hung down position, brows slightly furrowing at his question. What an idiot.
The man chuckled, making the woman slump down again. "Right, I guess I won't be needing an answer for that. Truth be told, you look absolutely horrible! As if the cat have dragged you in here." He barked out laughing, clutching at his stomach.
The woman simply ignored him, hanging there silently. Had it not been for the rise and fall of her chest, one would think she was dead.
Shin stopped laughing shortly after, letting out a deep sigh to calm himself further. The smile still played at his lips as he leaned in closer to the young woman. "Ren, you know what? I didn't think you would hold our part of the deal, you know? You seemed like the kind of person who would trick a pirate like me just to get out of here alive. But you've been sitting here quietly and obediently, waiting things out."
She made no comment nor did she move out of place.
"I'm surprised, actually." The captain straightened up, glancing over to the guard that had woken up shortly after Shin had arrived. With a single gesture, the guard got up and nearly ran out of the room, leaving the two of them alone. Now with a seat available, Shin seated himself and looked at the woman with a look of interest.
"You don't look like you'll last long though. With this progress, you might die before time. And if that happens... well, I would have to do what a pirate does best."
Ren's head shot up, amber eyes widening in shock upon hearing his words. He wouldn't! Would he?
Shin merely grinned at her, quite amused by her reaction.
And his grin was all she needed to see. He would.
She gritted her teeth in anger, the furrowing of the brows deeping while she struggled against the chains holding her in place. "Don't you dare hurt any of the villagers! Or I'll kick your sorry ass!" she shouted with a sore voice, going into a coughing fit once she was done speaking. Against her will, she slumped back in place, suddenly feeling very tired.
The captain barked in laughter once more, leaning back in his seat and threw his feet on the desk. "I'm starting to think you'll actually die on me right at this moment! Well, guess I could stick around for a while. It's not like I got anything to do. Yet."
Shin laughed yet again, this time in a mocking manner while Ren did her best to not attempt to escape and kick the man's ass once she was free. Although she knew she would only die sooner if she attempted to move. So, against her will, she stayed in place, waiting things out.
Back to the Straw Hats
"Luffy! We've found a trace." Nami's voice could be heard shouting across the deck. The sun was just about nearing the horizon, indicating the night's arrival.
"Oh! So where is she?" Luffy's cheery voice said, the owner of the voice perched beside the mast, sitting with his legs crossed while he chewed on a snack.
"There's another ship ducked at the other end of the island. Pirates. We believe they may have been the ones causing trouble around here." Chopper answered for her, changing from his reindeer form into the tiny version.
"There's a high posibility that she'll be there." Nami continued, looking around at their crew. Or the remaining parts of it. "Say, has any of you seen Sanji-kun?"
Usopp shook his head. "No, he hasn't returned to the ship."
Zoro huffed in annoyance, crossing his arms. "Betcha he's chasing some stupid ladies."
"Lady." Nami corrected him, making the swordsman frown. "It is a woman we're looking for here." She let out a sigh, placing her hands on the hips. "As soon as Sanji-kun heard it was a woman we were searching for, he went off running on his own. Although I thought he may have returned here at some point. Seems not."
"So..." Usopp raised his hand, drawing the attention of everyone nearby. "Who are we looking for again?"
"Ren!" Luffy simply answered, eating the last bit of his snack which ended up with him pouting. He was still hungry.
"Uh..." The sniper gave him a look, slowly lowering his arm.
"A woman there's supposedly taking captive of some pirates, to protect the village. Right?" Nami explained, turning her gaze to the captain as she was starting to get unsure. She didn't get that many details from him after all.
"Right! And we're gonna find her!"
"So when are we going out to this ship?" Chopper stepped in, looking at them all with large, innocent brown eyes.
"Tonight! After dinner." Luffy fell down to the side, mouth wide open as he let his tongue hang out. "I'm so hungry... Sanji~ Where are you?"
The rest of the group either shook their heads or simply let out a sigh. Nami let her arms drop to the side and she turned around as she headed out. "Right, so first thing we gotta do is find Sanji-kun."
Zoro scoffed. "Love-sick moron..." he mumbled under his breath and followed the navigator. The red-head stopped up, turning once more to face the swordsman.
"Ah-ah. You're not going anywhere. You're staying right here on this ship, so we know where to find you." she said in a demanding tone, directing a pointing finger to the deck.
"Hah?" The swordsman scoffed once more, scowling in annoyance. "As if, sea-witch! The captain told us to go search for this woman, so that's what I-"
"Zoro! You'll only end up getting lost and it's more than enough to have to go search for Sanji-kun and this mysterious woman! No, you're staying right here." A stomp of her foot and a quiet huff.
"You don't have any authority to tell me that, sea-witch! Only the captain can do that!" Zoro was just about ready to draw his swords and slice this annoying woman into pieces. "And I don't get lost!"
"Zoro, Usopp! You stay on the ship until we've found Sanji." Luffy said determinedly, nodding once to himself.
Zoro groaned deeply, looking at the navigator with a glare whom had a victorious look on her face. With her chin held high, she throws her short hair over her shoulder while she turned which only made Zoro furm even more in anger.
Usopp took some steps away from the swordsman, not the least happy to be alone with such an angered and strong person. "Eh, L-Luffy! C-Can't C-C-Chopper take my switch?! I-I-I need some things i-i-in the village! Yes, s-s-some very important th-things." With his legs shaking, he crossed his arms and attempted to smile as if nothing was amiss. It was true though; he needed some things for his small experiments.
"Alright. Chopper, you stay on the ship."
"Understood!" the reindeer said with a salute.
The sniper let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and quickly abandoned the ship. The rest of the remaining crew were already standing and waited for him. Once the small group was collected, they all set off to search for their missing cook.
Meanwhile with Sanji... somewhere on the island
"WHERE ARE YOU, MY BEAUTIFUL DAMSELL IN DISTRESS~" Sanji's voice could be heard although the sound was mulled some by the thick forest surrounding him. At first he's been running around in town, asking questions, but no one knew where the so-called damsel in distress were. So he started searching by himself. He figured they might be hiding somewhere in the forest since none of the villagers knew where they were and it was a pretty small island. Although the trees were quite big considering the size of the island. Well, it is Grand Line.
"Where are you~" he said in a sing-song voice, running through the forest as fast as he could. However he had to make many turns and jump over roots, so his speed were limited. "Oi, if any of you scrampy bastards has hurt her, I'll kill you all!" he said, speaking to some imaginary figures by now.
Taking a turn around a tree, he stopped up promptly, seeing the shore right at his feet. He knew this must have been the other side of the island from where they were ducked since there were no ships here. Only the vast sea as far as the eye reached.
Turning to his left, Sanji took an immediate sprint, keeping an eye out for anything that resembled 'suspiciousness'. So far, only the sea to his right and the forest to his left was what met his eye. Nothing suspicious.
That was until he saw a ship ducked far up ahead. Even from this distance, he could tell that this ship was accompained by a large crew, given its size, and that it was a pirate ship. Clearly not the Going Merry as this ship was easily twice as big and was colored blood red with black edges and black sails. The sails were hurled up, so he couldn't see what mark it had much less state which pirate group this was. It didn't matter, all he knew was that this reeked of 'suspiciousness'.
His visible blue eye sterring harder as determination set in in his features, Sanji ran faster than ever before and made it to the ship in record time. He stood for a few moments simply looking at the ship, trying to determine the strength of this crew and where he would need to look to find his 'damsel in distress'.
It doesn't matter how many they are or how strong. I'll just kick all their asses and rescue that woman! he thought to himself, steeling his determination even further before straightening up and taking in a deep breath while clenching his hands into fists which he raised to his sides.
"WHOEVER YOU BASTARDS ARE," Sanji yelled at the top of his lungs, seeing a few men of the crew appear before he continued. "I'LL KICK ALL OF YOUR ASSES AND MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!" Which he knew little of or practically nothing. All he knew was that they had taken a lady as hostage and thus they needed to pay.
With that declaration set in place, Sanji quickly made his way onboard the ship and started fighting even before his foot had set place on deck. Shoving his hands into the pockets, he kicked and dodged his way through the growing crowd, smacking some men together into a pile while others appeared from below deck. It almost felt like every time he took out one, two new people came and took their place.
These people weren't particularly strong, but there were many of them. And some of those he had already knocked down woke up and continued to fight. This was tiring him faster than he would have liked and he hadn't even started searching on the ship yet. How was he supposed to find that woman if he was stuck here? Perhaps he should have gone back first and taken the rest of the crew with him, then they could hold these guys up while he searched for the woman.
Damn him and his impatience and irrational thinking.
To at least get a bit of a breather, Sanji went up higher and watched as the crew climbed their way up to him, slowlier than he had moved. Perched at the mast, the cook found it much easier to fight the men from up there since he could just kick the people down that came up and they even took some with them on the downfall. How fortunate. But that still didn't solve the problem as to how he was supposed to go look for the woman. He couldn't stay up here the whole day.
"What do you want from us?!" one of the pirates shouted, standing out from the rest that just threw treaths and insults at him. He had just plain out ignored them the whole time, but that one really caught his attention.
The pirates stilled their movements, obviously expecting an answer from Sanji. And an answer would they get. Pulling out his cigarrete package, the cook took out one of his calming nicotin-filled inhalers and put one into his mouth. Packing away the package, he pulled out his lighter next and light up the cigarrete.
He inhaled. "You shitty bastards dared to lay a hand on a lady." he said while smoke slowly exited his lungs and into the air, creating a fog-like cloud in front of his darkened face. "I came here to kick your asses and to bring that lady back to safety." he said seriously, narrowing his visible eye at a group standing in the middle of the deck, making them flinch under his glare.
"Hurting a lady," he exclaimed next while jumping down, pulling one leg up while the other was completely straightened out and ready to kick upon impact. "Is unforgivable!"
Somehow he had managed to make his way through the crew after that and went below deck, frantically searching for the woman, whom he realized he didn't know the name of. He had been in such a hurry that he hadn't gotten the name of her from Luffy.
With a few locked doors blocking out the enemy, Sanji started looking wherever he could. If he was lucky, the woman would be around here somewhere. Hopefully. He would have hated it if she had been placed somewhere else on the ship and he had to fight his way through that crew - again.
The cook went through all the rooms there were in the hallway he was currently in, save for the last at the very end of the hallway. He stopped in front of it, thinking, wishing for the woman to be there. With the last intake of his smoke, he threw the cigarrete away carelessly before exhaling. Once he had calmed his nerves fully, he pried open the door and made his way inside.
What met his sight was a thousand times worse than he could have imagined.
There, hunched over the air like some ragdoll, was a young woman. Or what he hoped was a young woman. Her very thin frame made it hard for him to determine her age as well as the messy hair and dirtied clothes that obviously hadn't been washed for a long time.
She was too thin to ever be considered healthy and appeared to not be breathing at the moment.
Wait - she wasn't breathing?!
He quickly walked up to her, nudging away the lone furniture there were in the room and searched for a pulse on the woman's neck. He wasn't a doctor, so he wasn't sure if he did it right so instead he tried to see if she was actually breathing by holding out his hand in front of her mouth and nose. He waited for a painfully long time before he felt the slightest brush of air against his skin. She was alive! If only barely.
"There was a kitchen..." he muttered to himself, glancing towards the exit. He could do it! There was still time to save her! Getting up, he kicked at the chains holding the woman in place, making sure to not injure her and kept his kicks as far away from her as possible. Once he was done, he carefully scooped the woman up to his arms and ran his way to the kitchen which he had passed in his search.
He thanked the Gods that he had been able to find her and that there was a kitchen nearby. Now he could only pray that he was on time.