Ch. 6- Trafalgar Law, Warlord of the Sea
One Piece © Oda
Blizzard, Aika, Kumi, and Jupiter © Me
Meanwhile, inside Punk Hazard's laboratory, Nami and Chopper, who is still in Kung-Fu Point are still helping the children escape and are running through a corridor. Aika is still being carried in Nami's arms, and this time, Kumi is also being carried by Chopper, who carried her inside his medical bag for she grew tired (not surprising since she was a puppy). As they ran, Chopper began to ask the children some questions.
"So…it takes a year…for your illness to be cured?" Chopper asked, panting.
"Yeah!" said one of the kids. "At least…that's what we've been told!"
"What kind of sickness do you have?" asked Chopper. "You guys look perfectly fine, to me!"
"Well, my Mom and Dad asked these people to cure my illness," said a little boy that was twice Chopper's current height. "After that, those people brought me here!"
"So your parents told you to come here so you could get better?" Nami asked.
"Well…not really," a little girl admitted. "I was just playing outside with my friends, and then these people came up and said my parents wanted me to come here! They wouldn't even let me say goodbye to them because they said I might get them sick, too!"
'…That's not what happened with me,' Aika thought.
"So you guys were brought her without your parents' consent?!" Chopper asked. "It sounds like…you guys are REALLY sick!"
"NO THEY'RE NOT!" Nami shouted, comically smacking the reindeer in the back of his head. "ARE YOU THAT DUMB?!"
"So, what about Kumi?" Chopper asked, ignoring Nami. "Is she sick, too?"
"Oh, no!" one of the little boys replied. "The Master brought her here to cheer us up and make us feel better while we were being treated, but the only one she likes to be with is Aika!"
"Well, if you ask me," Nami began, "it's well passed the year they mentioned, right, Chopper? Maybe you should examine them once this mess is over! I'm sure we'll find the truth!"
"Good idea!" Chopper agreed.
Soon, they spotted a door up ahead.
"A dead end?!" Nami questioned.
"Not for long!" Chopper exclaimed. "HWACHAAA!"
KABOOM! Chopper kicked the door down, revealing a very dark room on the other side.
"The door's open! HACHAA!" the reindeer exclaimed.
"Wow, Chopper…you sure have gotten stronger these days," Nami noted.
"That was so cool!" one of the kids exclaimed. "You're awesome, Mr. Raccoon Dog!"
"Hehehe…!" Chopper chuckled. "Hey, wait a minute! I'm not a raccoon dog!"
"Uh…no offense, but you kinda look like one, right now," Kumi added.
"Hey! You're right!" Chopper said.
WHOOSH! A fierce wind blew in from the wind, causing Nami and Aika to shiver.
"Brrrr~!" Nami shuddered. "It's freezing, in here!"
"I'm cold!" Aika complained.
"Hey, Chopper, lemme borrow your fur!" Nami said.
"Oh, sure! Just let me…" Chopper began, "I CAN'T TAKE IT OFF!"
Nami shivered as she tried to take a look around.
"Where is this?" Nami asked. "Are we outside? Or is this a giant refrigerator or something?! It's too dark to see anything!"
"It feels just right for me, though," Chopper chuckled, contentedly.
Aika and the children did not seem very comfortable, though. In fact…they all looked downright terrified.
"Oh, look!" Nami said, pointing to a door on the other side of the room. "There's a door! It's not a dead end, after all! Let's keep moving!"
"Right!" Chopper agreed, but as they were about to go, Aika suddenly started squirming out of Nami's arms.
"A-Aika?" Nami asked. "What's wrong?"
"Lemme go!" Aika cried. "I don't wanna go through here! It's way too scary!"
"Yeah, Orange Lady!" cried the giant, black-haired girl. "Come back! This room is scary!"
"What do you mean?" Nami asked, hugging herself to keep warm. "What's wrong with this room?!"
"We all went through here the first day we came here!" said one of the children.
"Yeah, yeah!" Aika agreed.
"You did?" Nami asked. "Well, that's great! It must lead to the exit, then! I know it's cold in here, but you can handle it! We need to keep going!"
"N-no!" Aika cried. "I don't wanna go through here!"
"Why, honey?" Nami asked, concerned.
"Because…well…just look around!" Aika replied.
"What do you-" Nami began…before she and Chopper gasped in horror.
In the walls, all encased in ice…were men and even giants, all dressed in black-and-white striped suits.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Chopper screamed. "WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!"
"The frozen ones!" cried the giant, black-haired girl. "So scary~!"
"Put me down! Put me down!" Aika cried, still trying to get out of Nami's grasp.
"I-it's okay, Aika!" Nami said, trying her best to calm her down. "It's okay! Calm down! Everything will be okay! I promise!"
"W-what are these things?!" Chopper asked. "Frozen corpses?!"
"AAH!" Aika screamed. "There are even some in the floor!"
Nami and Chopper looked down…and saw a huge man frozen solid in the floor.
"Ah…ah…!" Chopper whimpered…before he bolted. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Chopper, wait! Calm down!" Nami cried. "Don't panic! I know this looks scary, but we have to stay calm!"
XXX
Back in the Biscuits Room, Sanji and Franky had just sealed off the corridor, preventing the guards from chasing them.
"Okay, Franky, good work!" Sanji said, holding the samurai's head. "Now let's hurry! I think I heard Nami screaming! Of course, that could probably be Chopper, too. We gotta move!"
"What the hell is with these guys?!" Franky asked, holding up one of the guards, which looked like a faun. "They've got sheep legs and horns! I thought they were only in fairy tales!"
"No use wasting brain cells on them until we know the FULL EXTENT of what's going on here," Sanji said.
"RELEASE ME!" the samurai's head shouted. "Put me down and go, you pirate swine! I will stay here! My son was not amongst the children we freed! He might be in a different room! So I shall remain here and-"
"And just HOW do you plan on getting there?!" Sanji questioned. "HUH?! I just know that if I drop your head, I'm gonna leave you here to die! I don't want something like that hanging over my conscience!"
"Be silent!" the samurai barked. "I am only here to rescue my son!"
"THEN STOP BEATING AROUND THE BUSH AND JUST SAY IT ALREADY!" Sanji bellowed. "'PLEASE HELP ME LOOK FOR MY BODY'! IT'S GOTTA BE HERE, SOMEWHERE, RIGHT?!"
"BITE YOUR TONGUE, YOU WORTHLESS PIRATE SCUM!" the samurai shouted. "I WOULD NEVER BEG FOR HELP FROM THE LIKES OF YOU! I'D RATHER DIE!"
A slight pause came as the samurai seethed angrily.
"H…however," he said, "if you wanted to looked for my body…then I would not persuade you against!"
"All right, THAT'S IT!" Sanji shouted as he prepared to throw the head on the ground. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS GUY'S BULLSHIT!"
"I've no regrets!" the samurai shouted. "I WILL NOT PLEAD TO A SCOUNDREL FOR MY LIFE!"
"Hey, hey, hey, knock it off!" Franky cried as he grabbed the head from Sanji. "Is squashin' a defenseless head really gonna make you feel any better?"
"RAAAARGH!" Sanji roared in anger.
"You lost this argument the moment you took him outta that cell with us, Sanji," Franky said. The samurai stuck his tongue at the cook to further infuriate him.
"GAAAAAAH!" Sanji yelled, rolling around the floor in a child-like tantrum. "This is driving me nuts! I can't believe I was stupid enough to actually feel sympathy for his cause for a single second! I don't WANNA help this guy, anymore!"
The samurai gave a somewhat sinister grin.
"Now then," he began, "if you wanted to transport an entirely defenseless head, I would not argue with you. What do you say, pirate?"
XXX
A moment later, Sanji is dragging the beaten-up samurai's head on the floor.
"You are SO in for it when you get your body back!" Sanji hissed.
"Y…you don't really give a severed head much mercy, do you?" the samurai asked. "I suppose I should watch my tongue, then…"
"You BETTER!" Sanji barked.
XXX
Meanwhile, at the laboratory's front entrance, Law and Jupiter are listening to the conversation that Luffy had with the samurai's victim, which G-5 had tapped into using a Black Transponder Snail.
"ZZSK- llo?! This is Luffy! Future Pirate King!"
"STOP YOU MORON! DON'T TELL THEM EVER-KRZZZK!"
"ZSHK! HELP! PLEASE! SOMEONE, HELP MEEEEE! It…it's so cold…! Boss? Is that you?!"
"No, this isn't your boss- ZZZZZT! ZRRRSH! KRRZZTT!"
"All my men…were cut down, one after the other! We're…being hunted down…by a samurai- KZZZZT! KRRZZT!"
"Hey! Who are you?! Where are you- ZZRRT!"
"Please…h-help us! We're trapped on…PUNK HAZARD~!"
"Punk what?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!"
Then, the Black Transponder Snail went back to sleep.
"The name of this island, references to the cold," Tashigi noted. "It it's pretty clear that the voice on the call was coming from his island, don't you?"
Law didn't answer.
"You know Straw Hat, don't you, Law?" Smoker asked. "Sabaody Archipelago, 2 years ago…during the incident with the World Nobles, the Roswald Family, you were seen fighting on the same side of Straw Hat and Captain Kidd. Also, in the Paramount War, when Straw Hat and White Wolf had Akainu hot on their tail…you and Beastly Bird Jupiter there helped them escape!"
Law still didn't reply, and Jupiter growled, beginning to lose his patience with the Marines.
"Easy, Jupiter," Law said, petting his dog on the head. "What do you Marines want from me? Don't try to tell that falsified S.O.S. messages aren't the oldest trick in the book with you people."
"Sorry, but that recording isn't a trap on our part," Smoker said.
"I'm not convinced," Law said, "and I don't know anything about this. This conversation is over."
"Don't you waste my time with your evasive answers, Law," Smoker snarled. "Now show me inside the lab."
"I told you, it's my vacation home," Law said. "And NO. You people abandoned this place, so why can't a pirate like myself do what I wish with it? I'm the only one here, and if Straw Hat and his crew make their way here, I'll them down for you. Is that all you wanted?"
"Law, why don't I just 'escort' these guys off the island?" Jupiter asked.
"If by escort, you mean 'fly to the sea and drop them in there', then no," Law said. "How many times must I tell you not be so rash?"
Jupiter groaned in annoyance.
Suddenly, they heard a scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Those frozen ones were so scary!"
"WAAAAAAAAH!"
"But look, over there! There's a door! We can get out this way! C'mon, kids!"
"Yay~!"
"What the hell is that?" Law asked, turning around upon hearing those voices.
"They sound familiar," Jupiter said. "Their scent smells familiar, too."
"Hey! Someone is in there, after all!" shouted a G-5 soldier.
Suddenly, BWAM! The door was kicked open, and not long after, Chopper appeared!
"HACHAAAA!" Chopper shrieked. "We made it!"
"Oh, finally, we're outs-" Nami began, only to shiver even more-so than before. "WAAAH! It's even colder out here than it was in there!"
Aika shivered as she held onto Nami, trying to keep warm.
Tashigi gasped.
"It's the Straw Hats!" she whispered.
Soon, the rest of the children came outside, too!
"We made it!"
"We made it outta the building! We can go home!"
"Yay! I can see my Mommy and Daddy, again!"
"BRRRR~! It's really cold out here!"
Law and Jupiter stared in slightly shock.
"Ah, shit," Blizzard cursed.
Not long after, Franky came outside…with tank treads coming out of his legs and the children, as well as Sanji and the samurai head, sitting on him. As they did, Franky began to sing a song.
"Hey, hey, hey-hey! Franky~!
Hey, hey, hey-hey! Tank~!
Scooch, scooch, SUPER-scooch!
Get in my way, and I'll squash you flat!
But I'll roll all around the pretty flowers (pianissimo)~!
THE FRANKY TANK AIN'T SUCH A BAD GUY AFTER ALL (fortissimo)~!"
Soon, Franky struck his signature pose, followed by Chopper and the boys. Even Sanji and the samurai got into the act!
"SUPER~!" they all cheered.
"He's so cool!"
"What an awesome robot man!"
The G-5 soldiers only stared in shock at what they had just seen.
'A raccoon-dog, a girl in a bikini, giant kids, a robot, and a severed head?!' one thought. 'I gotta be dreamin'!'
At that moment, the Straw Hats finally noticed Law and Jupiter.
"YAAAAAAAAH!" Chopper screamed. "IT'S YOU TWO!"
"You're that guy and that dog from Sabaody!" Nami added.
Law didn't reply, nor did Jupiter. However, they did seem a bit nervous, judging by the way they were glancing at Nami, then at Smoker, who glared at them.
"Are you the one who locked up these innocent children!?" Nami questioned. "Why I ought to let you have it!"
"I wondered what kind of villain we'd run into here," Sanji began, "and it turns out that it's…SMOKER?!"
Smoker sneered at the Straw Hats…and that's when Sanji noticed Tashigi at his side.
"And hit cutie of a companion~!" he swooned.
"Oh, shut it, Sanji!" Nami barked, slapping him in the back of his head.
"Children?" Tashigi questioned, surprised. "Why are they here?!"
"Dammit all," Sanji cursed. "I didn't expect to run into the Marines!"
Just then, Nami felt something shaking against her. She looked at Aika, who is still wrapped up in her arms, shaking like a leaf in the wind and her eyes as wide as saucers.
"Aika?" Nami asked. "What's wrong, sweetie? Are you too cold out here?"
Aika didn't answer her. However, Kumi, who is still sitting in Chopper's bag, noticed her expression, and soon, the puppy's expression turned concerned.
'Uh-oh,' she thought. 'I recognize that look.'
Aika continued to shiver in Nami's arms, staring straight at the G-5 Marines…or rather…the Marine insignia on a soldier's cap. As she continued to stare…a brief of image of herself, standing at the sandy beach of an island appeared before her eyes…as she watched 5 Marine battleships sailing towards the shore.
Aika yelped as she put her hands on her head, chewing her lip and screwing her eyes shut.
"Aika?!" Nami questioned. "What's wrong, sweetie?!"
"…No…no!" Aika whispered. "Not them…!"
Nami gasped silently before she glanced at the G-5 Marines and then back at Aika, who whimpered as she tried to fight back tears. It was then that Nami realized something.
'Is she afraid of the Marines?' the navigator thought. 'But why?'
"Nami, quick!" Sanji shouted. "Let's go back!"
"R-right!" Nami said before she and others quickly ran back inside with the children following behind them.
"Wait a minute!" asked the giant blonde boy. "Why are we running away?! Aren't the Marines the good guys?!"
"Hey, good idea!" Sanji said. "Why don't you go with them instead!"
"No!" Aika cried. "I don't wanna go with them!"
"Yeah, me neither!" said a boy about her age and her size. "They look scary!"
The G-5 soldiers just stared in absolute shock.
"So much for being alone, eh, Law?!" Smoker questioned.
"Indeed," Law agreed. "I'm actually just as shocked as you are, believe me."
"Dammit, Law!" Jupiter shouted. "So much for that! Now the Straw Hats are gonna botch up everything! We gotta hurry and catch them before it's too late!"
"Not so fast, Jupiter," Law said. "We'll deal with them later. First, we have to take care of our Marine friends, here."
XXX
"C'mon, kids, hurry!" Sanji ordered as he pointed in the direction from whence they first came. "Go back the other way! There's probably a back exit, somewhere around here! Move, move, MOVE!"
Nami panted as she still carried Aika in her embrace, even though her arms felt a bit numb from being exposed to the cold. All the while, she still felt Aika trembling.
'She's still shaking?!' Nami asked. 'Poor thing's terrified!'
She looked back at the front entrance.
'What happened to her that was so bad?!' she thought.
XXX
"Quickly!" Tashigi ordered as she and her men began to give chase. "We must pursue the Straw Hats!"
"Oh, yeah! You're right!" said one of them. "Follow the Captain, you guys!"
"No!" Smoker ordered. "Stop, all of you!"
"Just perfect," Law said before he held out his hand. "This is exactly the kind of complication we didn't need! ROOM!"
Suddenly, a huge, dome-like film appeared…all around the riverbank and the G-5 battleship!
"Now…TACT!" Law shouted before he pointed his index finger upward…causing the battleship to rise into the air, much to the G-5 Marines' shock.
"AAAAAAAH! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR SHIP?!"
"It's floating in midair! Even the water and the riverbank is floating!"
"What's going on?!" Tashigi questioned.
"Sorry," Law apologized. "No hard feelings, but…I'm afraid Jupiter and I can't let you leave this island now. Forgive me for not saying that nobody was else was here!"
"AAAH!" one of the soldiers screamed. "I knew this guy was trouble!"
"All of your, stay back!" Smoker said…before he brandished his jutte. "Don't try anything with him…or he'll dismantle you all, limb-from-limb!"
TO BE CONTINUED…
Sorry for the long wait, but I hope to get at least maybe 7 more chapters up...followed by more Wolf Children.
Review, please!