Chapter Seven; Escape -
"What the hell?!" She screamed at Joel when he tried to jump off the window, keeping her nestled on his shoulder. There was a blonde boy, who was unconscious thanks to her on his other shoulder. "Let me go, you big ape!" She screeched, beating the larger male with everything she had. She turned around, Joel's hand still resting firmly on her back, keeping her to his shoulder and she saw Ace, fighting the marines. He was fighting her battle! There were explosions all around them now, and she didn't understand how it all began. "You bastard! What the hell are you doing!?" She screamed, but Joel only laughed as he ran to the ship, not letting her go.
They decided to take her by keeping her inside the cage. That way, there was no possible chance for her to escape. When Emilia heard of this, she scoffed; she was amused with how much caution they took for her. "Yeah, you've all got the right to be scared!" Emilia screamed at them but the marines didn't pay attention to her. They raised the cage she was in and placed it on a wheel compartment, which allowed the marines to push her to the court. That was all just a build up, she assumed. She was going to be sentenced anyway, for the crimes that she committed.
"Emilia the Sylph, you are going to be taken to court-""Shut up, even a baby knows what'll happen next. I don't need the details," she snapped at the marine who was only doing his job. He gulped and turned away, now noticing that Cancer was walking toward her. "Your friend is safe," Emilia didn't care. "Ah, so you don't care?" Cancer mocked and Emilia ignored him. He was someone who could die easily by her hands, but the only thing that kept her from doing so was that she was inside a cage. Fighting Cancer was not hard. He was an amateur when compared to what she had to go through.
"If by any chance, I am freed, I will kill you," she said, mercilessly and Cancer scoffed. "By any chance? Who's going to free you? Nobody likes you. Even General Akainu has more followers," If Cancer was caught saying that anywhere else, he would have lost his job. "Next time I see Akainu, I'll let him know that," Emilia said, only to forget it later on. It was no important promise at all, after all. Cancer scoffed and turned around, "One hour. One hour to yourself, and then we'll be taking you to court," Cancer said, and walked off.
One hour or not, nothing mattered anymore. Jaclyn was her only chance of an escape, and she had lost that. Even though she shouldn't have relied on someone else beside herself, Emilia knew now that there was only a slim chance for an escape. Her eyes were glued to the ground she was sitting on, and then it looked at the cage surrounding her. She felt alone now more than ever. And suddenly –
"Join my crew!"
Emilia cussed. She didn't want to be thinking of an idiot at the time of her death. An idiot who got her in this mess. If he hadn't spent so much time on that island, she wouldn't have been captured this early. She could have escaped rather smoothly if Ace wasn't around. It was once again her own fault for asking Ace to take her to the New World. Normally pirates won't stick to their word. But, Ace was something else. Ace not only stuck to his word, he made sure what he said would happen. Emilia shook her head and stopped thinking. She closed her eyes and decided to rest for a while.
"Captain, we've docked," one of the Spade Pirates said to Ace and he black haired pirate captain smirked. "What's the plan, Cap'n?" Joel asked Ace and the captain sighed. "We go in there and save her, is all," Joel might not be good with planning, but he sure as hell knew that Ace's plan would get them all killed. "Cap'n?" A feeble voice said now, and Ace turned to see his latest recruit. He had recruited this boy only a month ago, and had never spoken to him since. There was no reason to, Ace told himself.
The boy wore glasses and had bright yellow hair. His eyes were golden as well. He was short, but not too short only a few inches lesser than Ace himself. His name was –
"Marcel! Is something wrong?" Ace asked and Marcel shook his head. With a soft smile, the shy boy said, "I have a plan that could…work," Ace grinned at the sound of the word 'plan' and patted the boy's back. "Let me hear it!" Marcel gulped and said, "But, you aren't going to be a part of it, Cap'n," Ace didn't want to hear it much now.
"But, it's definitely going to work! The statistics say we've got 65% of a chance if we follow through successfully-""65?! That's not nearly enough! We're fightin' the navy-"Joel said immediately and Ace chuckled saying, "65 is more than enough." Joel blinked. "What? But Cap-""I have a brother who'd jump in the minute he hears 'plan'. He wouldn't care about statistics and all that rubbish. Let's hear it, Marcel," Ace confirmed and Marcel smiled. "We steal a navy uniform and ID," Ace blinked. "What?" Marcel nodded, and fixed his glasses.
"Um, the marines have taken note of Captain, so we can't let him steal the uniform. Someone might alert the headquarters if they spot him," Marcel said, and Ace nodded. "So, I thought we'd send someone who hasn't been seen that often or not seen at all, to steal the uniform," Both Joel and Ace looked at each other, and then at Marcel. Marcel blinked at them and his eyes widened. "Oh! But-"Ace put his arm around Marcel's shoulder and said, "Setting perfect jobs for yourself, I'm proud," Marcel gulped and began to shiver slightly. "What's the rest of the plan?" Joel asked.
"After stealing the uniform, since I'll be doing that…I'll head into the chamber where they've kept Emilia and lure her out. Before that, I've got details of a hearing that's going to start in about an hour. It has to be her hearing, no one else's," Marcel said and Ace nodded. "And once you're in there, we'll distract the outside so you can make your escape," Marcel nodded and said, "It's bound to work!" Ace grinned and patted the boy's head twice before his head dropped down. Marcel almost screamed but Joel sighed. "I was wondering why this hadn't happened in a while," Marcel looked at Joel and then at Ace. "He falls asleep a lot," Marcel was shell-shocked.
Marcel decided to sneak out quietly from the ship, hoping no one had seen him. Luckily, he wasn't. He noticed a few guards patrolling near the building and gulped. He obviously couldn't go there; there were more than just one guard. He had to take out a guard when he's alone. That was his only possibility. He looked to his left and found just one guard but he was far too big for Marcel to take down. Marcel gulped and turned back to the ship to see that Ace and Joel weren't even looking at him. Marcel turned back, sighing and frowned at the large guard. 'If I don't steal that guy's uniform somehow…then the plan's going to fail…and I can't fail my first plan for the Captain!' Marcel promised himself that he wouldn't fail and took a deep breath before walking toward the bigger guard.
He poked the large, almost asleep guard on the arm and watched as the sleep left the big man's eyes. He was a larger, well-built male with gold eyes, and judging from his uniform he was just a patrol guard. Marcel was just half his size. "Can you tell me the directions to this place, sir?" Marcel asked, kindly, faking a voice of an innocent little kid who was lost. The bigger guard blinked and groaned before saying, "Do I look like a travel guide to you, kid? Buzz off!" Marcel felt a vein pop on his forehead.
Even if he was a pirate, Marcel would never tell someone who asked for directions to 'buzz off'. It was rude and it was unnecessary. The same way how Emilia was framed, Marcel knew that there was a bigger story behind what Emilia was framed for and why she was framed. Maybe it was something she chose to hide, maybe she was secretly after the killer? Maybe Emilia wanted to bring back the killer to be proven innocent? Maybe the killer was in the New World. Marcel knew he was just contemplating, but he didn't like the way the Marines treated people.
Like they were on the top of the world and everyone else was below them.
Marcel pushed up his glasses before grabbing the man's hand rather tightly. Marcel didn't even notice that he was frowning at the moment, and he grumbled, "You marines get on my nerve," he slowly looked up to see the larger man and let out a breath. "I'll be needing that uniform, you worthless huge sack of meat."
And with just one pull, the bigger male found himself on the ground and blackness enveloped him.
"I don't know, Marcel seemed like a little man…" Ace heard Joel mutter and the Captain chuckled. "Do you know the reason why I chose Marcel to be part of my crew? I didn't just choose random people off the street, you know…"Joel was interested now. Ace looked like he was going to narrate a story and the look on the teenager's face made Joel smile. Ace was filled with dreams, and Joel was sure he would see to it that Ace lived them all.
"Marcel's got a bad temper. When he's angry, no one can stop him. He hasn't eaten any devil fruit, but when that kid's angry, there's another person inside him that wakes up." Joel's eyes widened with shock. "What?" Ace nodded at his crewmate and said, "Marcel's a great fist-fighter. One of the best! And he's from the East Blue. Doesn't look it, eh?" Joel shook his head and let out an amused laugh. "Let's see how he's doing." Ace said as he leaned against his ship to find that Marcel wasn't in sight. "Has he…" Joel didn't have to finish the statement to know what he was trying to convey. "I can't see him," Ace said, searching the area for the boy. "Maybe he's already gone inside?" Joel asked and Ace hummed, narrowing his eyes. It was too fast. "Maybe…"
Marcel couldn't believe it worked as quickly as it did. It was quite obvious that the uniform didn't fit him, but right now that didn't matter. He had to walk inside the navy headquarters without arousing suspicion. Marcel brushed a hand through his gold hair and set out a shaky breath. 'I've gotten this far…let's see…' he looked at the main gate of the HQ and scanned the area. There were four guards, and two of them looked like they were the promoted kind. Marcel suddenly reached inside the pocket of the navy guard's shirt and took out the ID. His name was Tay Gunya. Marcel gulped. Right now, he didn't like the plan all too much.
"Tay? Buddy, where are ya?" Marcel's eyes shot up and he looked at Tay's unconscious body and almost screamed. He didn't know what to do! Tay was lying there, half-naked. If anyone saw his body then they'd alert the guards to anyone named Tay Gunya and Marcel wouldn't be able to save Emilia. "You're name's Tay, right? I don't even know how this guy looks like…" he heard the other navy guard complain and he quickly hid Tay's sleeping form behind a wall. 'So he doesn't know what the real Tay looks like…' Marcel figured out and stepped out of the wall and blinked at the guard.
"You Tay?"Marcel nodded and said, "Is something wrong?" the other guard eyed Marcel carefully and cocked his eyebrow. 'Don't figure it out. Don't figure it out. Don't figure it-'"Your uniform looks too big on you, you know that right?" Marcel sighed with relief and then said, "What does it matter?"The other guard raised his hands in defense and said, "I was just asked to bring you to Cancer. Nothing else, man." Marcel gulped. "Why?" the other guard blinked and said, "Yeah, they told me you'd forget…Weren't you the one who was supposed to pull the line for that Sylph girl?" Marcel's eyes widened and his body froze up.
This was just…too lucky.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah! Take me to Disease-"The guard started to laugh. "Disease? Geez man, his name's Cancer…that's a good one," the guard laughed as he led Marcel through the gate. Marcel honestly made a mistake for Cancer's name, but that didn't matter. A smile crept up to his face as he walked through the gate, into the HQ. But, something told him that things were just too easy. Something didn't feel right.
Marcel walked with the other guard and cleared his throat before saying, "Uh…don't mind me asking, what did Emilia do? She killed a man-""Not just any man, Tay. She killed Bristoff – the Vice Commander. Sources say that Emilia's looking for someone, and that's why she joined the Marines, so that she can get information on this person. And when she did, she killed the person who was closest to her in the Marines, Commander Bristoff. That man was the kindest Marine you can ever see! He was strong, responsible and I was sure he loved Emilia like a daughter, seeing how the two got along with each other and everything. But, one day she just runs off like that – BAM! It was a slap across the Marines' face! Emilia doesn't deserve to be trusted."
Marcel pursed his lips together. Why did Ace want her back so much then? The entire reason that the guard was giving him was genuine, but yet…something felt off. "What if…what if someone framed her? Didn't she have enemies? She is a pirate-""What're you talking about? You're as ignorant as a snail living under a rock! Emilia wasn't framed," Marcel's eyes widened. "She wasn't framed at all. There are witnesses who're gonna testify against her. And I am sure he was the one who killed him. Because…" the guard grinned now as he said, "Her hands were covered with his blood when we found them," Marcel almost gasped.
"Wake up, scum!" Someone poured cold water on her and Emilia let out a shriek. "Asshole!" she screamed and felt another gush of water on her. "I'm awake, God! What's the matter with you freaking Marines?!" she screamed at them, and felt her stomach burn with the pain. The kick was too hard, she thought and sighed. She turned to look at the one who poured the water on her and she frowned. Cancer. "Time for the trial. One of the best execution guys - Tay Gunya's going to be the one making you fall to your death. I can't wait to watch-""That is if I'm proven guilty," Emilia said, smirking. Cancer frowned at her and pulled her out of the cage before muttering, "You will be proven guilty, Sylph. You will be," Emilia resisted the urge to spit on his face.
As he dragged her by her handcuffs through the hall, Emilia glanced at everyone around her. She was shivering now because of the water that Cancer had poured on her earlier and she didn't care a least bit about, how she was looking like. The stone bracelet was still around her left arm and she was thankful. She didn't want to lose that, yet. "You're scared of me, Cancer…that's why you want to get rid of me." Emilia said, with a smirk that screamed confidence. Even if she was being taken into trail, Emilia was as self-assured as ever. She was not afraid of what the future held for her. She knew Cancer and everyone from the Marines were afraid of her.
"Shut up." Cancer scolded and turned to see a boy, gold hair and gold eyes, his uniform looked too big on him. Emilia frowned at him before wondering if she had seen him before. He did look familiar. Once his eyes fell on her, they widened for a second before he turned away to face Cancer. Now she was sure, she had seen him before.
"You must be Tay Gunya. You don't look too big to me," Cancer said, eyeing Tay with a curious gaze. Tay gulped and said, "Y-You haven't seen me in action, sir…" Emilia's eyes widened. 'Is this guy…stupid?' Cancer bellowed in laughter and patted Tay's back. "I'll see you in the trial, Sylph!" He said as he walked away. The moment Cancer was out of sight, Emilia kicked Tay's legs and made him fall. "Who the hell-""I'm from the Spade Pirates! Please, let me help you!" Tay looked scared now. "What's your name?" Emilia asked, as Tay got up on his legs. "M-Marcel…" Emilia sighed.
She couldn't believe Ace was helping her. She didn't want him to, but right then she knew Ace was her only hope. She hated being under the beck and call of someone else, and she hated the fact that Ace had successfully penetrated the HQ of the Marines, but helplessness drove her to accept his help. "Is Ace here?" She asked with her voice low. Marcel shook his head. "Captain isn't here-"That was good enough for her. "Go. We can't waste much time here," she said and Marcel nodded.
The trial room was small. Marcel had to walk to where the judge was and he was scared senseless. Emilia stood near the entrance, her hands behind her back because of the cuffs. There was a large window to her left at the front besides where Marcel stood and Emilia blinked. Her cuffs were not made of Seastone, so she knew right away that her devil fruit abilities would be enough to get herself and Marcel out of that window. Yes, that was the plan now.
Emilia walked toward the panel where she had to stand and a smirk crept on her lips. It was now or never. With one quick pull of the arm, the cuffs tore off from her wrists and she chanted, "Miasma!" a large gust of wind released from her hands and formed a cloud like substance around her. The pressure in that hall thickened and coughing could he heard a second later, but before she could run however, Emilia fell to the floor, gasping.
The pain was excruciating and her body couldn't even comprehend what had caused it. From the corner of her eye, she saw Cancer.
"Let her go!" A familiar voice said, and Cancer was pulled away from her. The knife embedding behind Emilia's back was pulled off rather harshly and the girl winced loudly. The person whose voice was familiar grabbed her and put her on his shoulder before running toward the window.
"What the hell?!" She screamed at Joel when he tried to jump off the window, keeping her nestled on his shoulder. There was a blonde boy, who was unconscious thanks to her on his other shoulder. "Let me go, you big ape!" She screeched, beating the larger male with everything she had. She turned around, Joel's hand still resting firmly on her back, keeping her to his shoulder and she saw Ace, fighting the marines. He was fighting her battle! There were explosions all around them now, and she didn't understand how it all began. "You bastard! What the hell are you doing!?" She screamed, but Joel only laughed as he ran to the ship, not letting her go.
"Captain knew something was up! Marcel shouldn't have walked in like that, it was a plan all along! That Cancer bastard's quirky, gotta give him that much!" Emilia felt a sting on her back and Joel said as he ran to the ship, "We've got to get you treated. Some stunt you pulled there in the trial!" Slowly, the girl was losing consciousness. "Where the hell…is that stupid captain of yours?" She asked, her eyes getting heavier by the minute.
Ace and Joel rushed inside the building through the entrance and ran toward the hearing. Something did not feel right, and Joel agreed to Ace's need to destroy Marcel's plan. "Plans usually don't work well with me, Joel…" Ace confessed as he pushed the door to the hearing open. His eyes widened with what he saw.
Cancer stabbing Emilia in the back. Without even holding back he screamed, "Let her go!" Ace rushed to Cancer and turned to Joel and said, "Take her to the ship, now!" Joel didn't need to be told twice.
If Ace escaped her alive, then he was sure he was going to make Emilia owe him for the rest of his life.
Author's Note: Helloooo~ Hehe. My exams are nearing now, so my updates are going to get slower than this, so please, please bear with me, loves! Also, do review and let me know what you think of the story so far. And if you have any questions about the story, you can PM me, I won't bite. Hehe.
Have any of you seen the latest episode of One Piece? I cried. Oh Golly. I could not stop them tears from leaking down my face. I mean, I read the manga so I knew what was going to happen but the anime just made it all the more emotional, you know? One Piece is the only manga/anime which is awesome in both those categories. Ah. Oda-san, you make me love you so much. :3
Read and review, my dearies~!