Ace's Second Chance 10
Happy Wednesday, this chapter marks the beginning of the end of the story.
Personal Justice
Vivi entered a dark place in Akainu's battleship. It was a small room with grey walls and a single lamp above a chair, there were some things on the walls but the poor light made it hard to distinguish them. The Princess was scared since she knew what was expecting her, the document signed by the Gorosei allowed the Fleet Admiral to seclude her to obtain information on pirates and use torture methods if necessary. The interrogation process would last until she was proven innocent or until she died. Vivi's thoughts were focused on the pain she would suffer and the freezing room was not helping, she felt trapped yet she was determined to deny every connection with the Straw Hats, otherwise her father and kingdom would be jeopardized. Alabasta would be destroyed by Akainu, she knew that much.
The wooden door opened and a young marine entered the room laughing at Vivi. He made comments on how low the royalty had fallen to be associated with pirates, that even though they looked down on everyone they were not different. The Princess felt bad for him, she could only imagine what led him to feel that way towards Royalty. "What was a delicate flower like you doing with a bunch of pirates?" He mocked her. "I know, you wanted to feel the emotion of disobeying your daddy so you chose pirates as your companions. A typical rich girl's dream." He kept laughing and getting close to the Princess. Suddenly his face turned evil and yelled in her face. "What were you doing with the Straw Hats?"
"I'm sorry that you feel anger towards me, I don't know if there is a way to make you forget all those negative feelings but I can listen to you and share your pain." She extended her hand to him but he slapped it.
"Don't give me that bullshit and answer my question." He yelled even louder. "What were you doing with pirates?"
Vivi felt disgust towards herself for lying about her friends, she would do anything to save Alabasta and they would understand but denying them felt wrong. "They took me from the beach and my bodyguard could not stop them..." She started to explain.
"As I thought, Aokiji is a pathetic excuse of a marine, who could not even protect you from those worthless bastards, Monkey D. Luffy and Gol D. Ace. The Fleet Admiral should have killed them all." The man laughed.
That did it. People could accuse or insult Vivi and she would accept her flaws… but offending her friends was unforgivable. The Princess slapped him and the marine turned at her but the door opened again.
"Sergeant, I will take your place. Summon Captain Tashigi to assist me." Akainu entered the room so the young marine exited the place after smiling evilly at the Princess and whispering that he heard her friendship speech two years ago.
"Fleet Admiral." Vivi nodded to acknowledge his presence.
"I assume you'll cooperate, your majesty." He removed his gloves and grabbed the Princess' left forearm, luckily the X mark was erased when she fell to the ocean, then the Fleet Admiral looked straight to the girl's eyes. "What were you doing in the Straw Hats' ship?" He asked.
"I was their hostage." She felt her skin burning but she did not dare to look down, it was clear that he was raising the temperature of his hand to hurt her but he would not use lava or he would kill her. "They took me from the beach to prevent Kuzan from following them." The pain increased, yet she refused to cry.
"I'll try it once more." He whispered. "What were the Straw Hats doing in your Kingdom?" He waited for an answer.
"How am I supposed to know…?" Her voice failed when she recognized the smell of burning skin, followed by an agonizing sensation. "This is only the beginning." She thought, gritting her teeth to stand the pain.
"I make the questions here." He removed his hand and took a deep breath. "Take a look, it's not that bad." The marine's hand was marked on Vivi's forearm, her skin was peeling off and its red color made her stomach turn. "Let's proceed with something nicer." He walked around the room wondering what tool he would use to get the truth from Vivi.
The princess didn't notice until then that the objects that hung from the walls were whips, knives and every thinkable object used to cause horrible damage.
Tashigi was in her newly appointed cabin when a sergeant she disliked told her to join Akainu in the Princess' interrogation process. The Captain reached the room but Hina stopped her, it wasn't long since the Vice-Admiral had woken up.
"Here, Smoker mentioned you break them a lot so I took them from your room." Hina gave Tashigi a pair of glasses. "I will be assisting Akainu, you can watch through the snail video transmitters." She said and opened the door, for a second Tashigi was able to see the Princess' eyes filled with a mixture of fear and anger.
Tashigi witnessed the interrogation with disgust. At first the Fleet Admiral put the black bag on Vivi's head, it didn't seem so menacing but then the Princess' legs moved frantically and her hands tried to take off the bag. When Akainu removed it Vivi gasped for air with teary eyes and shook her head. "Where are the Straw Hats?" The man would ask again and repeat the process after the Princess yelled that she didn't know.
The second method was worse, Hina gave him a small device that he put in Vivi's chest. He asked for the reason the Straw Hats were at Alabasta, she breathed slowly and said she didn't know. The man pressed a bottom and an electric discharge hit the girl, she clenched and unclenched her fists but not a sound escaped her lips, tears began to fall, they were not for pain but for anger.
After different types of torture Tashigi thanked Hina for taking her place or she would have burst in tears right there. The young marine wanted to stop the process, it was clear that the Princess didn't know the whereabouts of the pirates, as a matter of fact she saw her running away from them. "The Straw Hats did get rid of Crocodile and ended the Civil War. If I were the Princess I would be grateful to them." She shook her head. "But I am, they saved Mr. Smoker from drowning." At that moment Tashigi started to question the Marines' methods. "Create your personal justice." She repeated Smoker's words.
"Is being helped by pirates a crime? If it is most of the marines would be put to jail since the Straw Hats have done things that the Marines could not accomplish." Hina said to Akainu when Vivi passed out after telling them that Luffy stopped Crocodile, most Marines knew that. The man looked like about to hit the woman so she left the room to call a medic.
"Vice-Admiral." Tashigi ran towards Hina. "This is not justice…" The captain began but the older woman stopped her.
"This won't stop until she dies or you find out why the Straw Hats were here." Hina looked around and then kept talking. "I'm on Akainu's hands but you are not, I suggest you start looking in the Casino." She said and Tashigi ran off the ship.
Vivi woke up minutes later after Akainu threw cold water on her face, then he put his hand on her arm and made a question the princess could not answer. "Kill me already if that's what you want." The girl said through gritted teeth.
"I don't want to kill you, I can't get information from a corpse." He glared.
"You can't get information from someone who doesn't' know…" He hit her stomach and the girl spit blood. He didn't care that she was a princess, in his eyes she was just another criminal.
Akainu raised his hand once more but the princess glared at him. Her eyes were filled with despise and her demeanor became cold and intimidating, he had seen that in other members of royalty. A tyrannical princess was hiding beneath the compassionate girl everyone knew, and it made its appearance when she could not stand more pain. "Kill me while you can… because I will make your life miserable when I get out of here." She hissed. "That document that 'suspends' my royal privileges will be useless once I'm declared innocent and I will regain my authority as a Princess. Remember my words, you will pay for this offence. You will beg to die once I'm done with you."
"I'd love to see that." He slapped her so hard that she fell.
"I may not be physically strong but I'll destroy you on my own way. A princess' grudge is not to be taken lightly." She touched her itchy face.
Hina entered the room with the doctor and did everything in her power to delay the interrogation. Akainu was going overboard with the issue and she was having her doubts on the authenticity of the Gorosei's document. Sakasuki had been requesting that document since he got the title of Fleet Admiral and every time he had left empty handed, what would be different this time? Alabasta was in good standing with the Celestial Dragons and the Gorosei had more important Issues to deal with, such as Monkey D. Dragon and the Revolutionaries.
Kuzan had been waiting for Vivi to be released, he didn't move an inch after talking to Cobra. How was he supposed to tell him that his daughter was being tortured like a criminal? Well, she had ties with pirates and she knew that this could happen if she was busted.
The King arrived and Kuzan had to tell him every detail, form the escape of the pirates to the Gorosei's Document. The sole image of Vivi being in pain and in danger of dying made him tremble but he stood up as the ruler of a Kingdom, he could not afford to look weak. As for Vivi, he respected her decision of turning herself in to prevent more chaos, it hurt him but she trusted the princess' judgment.
"Your Majesty, forgive me for not protecting the Princess." Kuzan kneeled, that was the protocol to ask for a Royal's pardon. "I failed you… I will take my punishment the moment you command my execution."
"Nonsense. Akainu's actions are justified by the Gorosei, there was no way you could oppose him without becoming a traitor. Even I can't protect my daughter now… we just have to wait. That document… I should have been informed beforehand but I cannot call Mariejois and complain." He clenched his fists.
"We are powerless against a plain sheet of paper." Kuzan commented.
"She will make it out of this problem…" Cobra ended his statement when he saw Tashigi exit the battleship. She looked distressed, something he didn't expect to see. The girl explained the situation to the King, who thanked her with sincerity.
"Before I go I need to know something…" She turned to Kuzan. "Did Mr. Sengoku, Mr. Garp and you leave the marines because of the irregularities?" She covered her mouth, regretting she even said that in front of the King, who had all the reason in the world to hate the marines.
"I left because I had no choice… I will not take orders from an idiot like Akainu. Garp and Sengoku have their own reasons but I'm guessing it's because they are disappointed of the organization. I know I am."
"This is too much… I know Mr. Smoker is not contempt with the way things are going lately, the Fleet Admiral takes everything to the extreme, death is the punishment for small crimes and civilians are punished for mere suppositions, but he doesn't resign because if all the good marines leave no one will protect the innocent." Tashigi snapped at the tall man, explaining the Justice she developed in the last two years.
"You are a better person than I am, now go save Vivi." Kuzan winked, he was really proud of Smoker for having such a good subordinate. The girl blushed and ran towards the city, where she would call the Casino, as Hina instructed her.
"I remember her, that girl faced Nico Robin to protect me and led the marines to help the Straw Hats during the skirmish at Alubarna." Cobra recalled with fondness.
Hina observed Vivi. The poor girl had burns one her arms, red marks on her face, blood coming out of her mouth, and puffy eyes. She was a brave princess who cried of anger and frustration but not for pain, if she was the one directing the interrogation she would declare her innocent even though two years ago she heard her talk to the Straw Hats. "If we ever see each other again would you still call me your friend?" The words echoed in Hina's head. She was stopped by Bentham but she was able to hear all the speech, almost everyone heard it but only a few people realized she was talking to the pirates, and even so no one could prove it. That could have been fatal for her but the pirates turned their back on her. "After going through all this pain she still denies their ties, I believe her." Hina told Akainu but he ignored her, throwing another buckle of cold water. Of course, she would need more than that to end the interrogation. Vivi coughed and closed her eyes, the man asked again and she whispered something he didn't like so the torture began again.
Hours later Tashigi showed up panting and sweating but with a smile. She worked really hard to gather information and ended up with more than she expected. "The Straw Hats came to Alabasta for the Hawk Casino. The Straw Hats stole several millions of beli worth in treasure. The Cat-Burglar took jewels and wallets from the gamblers, golden decorations of the casino and…" She stopped to see Vivi's wide eyes. "They stole the giant hawk's precious stones. The other major crime is that they stole the black pearls that were cultivated on a building near the sea, the one you destroyed, sir. The owner says that the pearls disappeared today, before your arrival."
Akainu could not debate with Tashigi. At the beginning of the New Era several pirates tried to invade Alabasta just for that golden statue but the black pearls were even more valuable, no wonder why the princess was so crushed by the news. The Fleet Admiral gritted his teeth in defeat, he could not push his luck with the Gorosei's Document since it was a fake, and even though few people knew how it looked like Cobra was not an idiot and he would realize that something was wrong.
"The Princess Nefertari Vivi is declared innocent, the interrogation process is over and the Gorosei's Document has lost its validity." Akainu said following the protocol, he had a frustrated expression and hated Vivi's relieved face.
To Be Continued
Excuses so you won't kill me:
The first time I write this chapter I ended up deleting it, it was too mean, so I ended up with a softer version… I still don't like the idea of Akainu torturing Vivi, but that was in "The Outline" so I had to go along with it.
You'll soon know more about Hina and Akainu's "Agreement".
Tashigi is my hero :D
"The Princess' Grudge"… can't say anything yet, but women are scary.
I just noticed myself, but the first six chapters were like phase one, before the timeskip. The following six were the straw hats on Alabasta, and the last six… you'll see.
As I said before, this chapter marks the beginning of phase three, the last part of the story.
saveme57: I'm so sorry, I don't mean to torture you. I hope the end of the story will make you feel better. :D
Mikila94: Totally, he is pretty dense but I think he is adorable. ^_^ and thanks for letting me know about Sakazuki.
Son of Whitebeard: Exactly, and now he does this to Vivi. T_T Unforgivable.