Nearing the climax. Next chapter and then an epilogue. Enjoy~
Luffy went about the next day as normally as he could, though he was deeply depressed. He didn't want to bow his head to a murderer, but they couldn't let him onto their mutiny. It was time for Luffy to act when he needed to. He reluctantly got down on his knees the next morning and asked his usual questions, his voice hard as stone, and his face blank, not showing his hatred towards the man he now bowed before.
Luffy took his food order after being told he had no messages to send. The amount of deliveries from Master had dwindled down to nothing since Zoro's threat concerning Luffy.
Luffy brought Mistress her wine like always and went to Zoro's room to get a big hug. Luffy returned the hug tightly. "What do you want for breakfast?" he asked, his voice muffled against Zoro's chest.
"Cereal," was his answer. He didn't want to stress out the cooks since their friend was just killed because his food wasn't "perfect". Luffy nodded and pulled away, running down the hallway. Running got rid of his stress, which was why he ran another lap before he'd started his rounds.
He headed to the kitchen to see the children sitting at the table sadly.
"We don't want to cook without Josh," the now youngest boy said. Luffy put his hand on the boy's hair.
"We have to," was all Luffy whispered. "I'll help you all."
"Luffy, you can't cook at all. You'll get us in trouble," a girl said quietly. Luffy gave a small smile.
"I can cook Zoro's. It's just cereal."
"Do you even know how to pour milk out without making a mess?" she questioned. Luffy reminded her he pours Mistress's wine often.
"You have to cook. You are all part of phase one. Look for the stuff," Luffy said quietly. Then in normal volume, he said, "Let's not disappoint the masters. If 'Master' says anything about your food, apologize and say you'll make a new one. I don't want to even get close to him anymore," Luffy spat bitterly. The others nodded as they got to work. It took a little longer since they were short one person now. None of them wanted Luffy's help because he could be a clutz a lot of the time. They told him to not pour the milk yet or the cereal will be soggy when Zoro comes. So he just had the milk next to the bowl of cereal.
Zoro waited outside of the dining hall until he heard the sound of the kids to getting to work. He was right to think they were conversing quietly. Luffy had scarfed down the remains of the eggs being made in an omelet. He stood and bowed when Zoro walked in and handed his cereal and milk to him once he sat down.
"You all alright?" Zoro asked loud enough for the kids to hear. Every one of them, including Luffy, said a simple and flat "No" and went back to their business. Luffy turned and ran off to alert the other masters that their food was ready.
He arrived at their room and knocked on the door to inform them their food was ready. Master just waved his hand dismissively to Luffy and he left. He was really growing tired of the way Master treated them. Now that he could vaguely see freedom in sight, pampering and serving such an evil man was not easy, like it used to be. Joshua's murder had changed everything. But he couldn't show his irritation or annoyance when he was around the master.
Like usual, Luffy bowed like the others as the Master and Mistress sat and began to eat. The slaves went to their small table and wrote on Luffy's pad of paper. Their first mission was to find equipment to use in their mutiny. Everyone already know alcohol was a good flammable tool. Luffy was supposed to do inventory that night. The kids had known from an awful experience that flour was highly flammable and combustible as well. Luffy was doing inventory on that the night as well.
The next part they had planned on all of the slaves. It was grosser part of the plan, but they knew it was necessary to pull the whole thing off. They were to collect as many large bugs as they could, specifically cockroaches, since the gardeners knew where infested areas were. They already had a small sac they were to put them in. Their main plan was to get the masters out of the house with them not coming back in while Luffy burned the place to the ground and to escape. The whole thing would take a while to plan. The act of burning down the house was going to be quick, and Luffy would not stay long.
His position was the most dangerous. He hadnt told the others, but he was going to volunteer to be the one who was in the castle last, while it was already on fire. He was the quickest out of all of them, so it made sense.
The plan was to spread the bugs into the places the masters stayed in the most, besides Zoro's room on Luffy's request. He was to inform Master that they had seen the bugs throughout the castle. They were betting on being told to exterminate the place, which was the moment the three would be out of the house and wouldn't be able to see the flames until it was too late to get in through the first floor. Luffy would then go to the third floor, bypassing the second floor so the flames don't reach him too fast for him to escape. They didn't know how they would start the fire, but knew that they'd have to use help in igniting the place. That's what the alcohol was for, and maybe the flour the kids had mentioned.
Since Luffy wouldn't be able to get out through the first story, they'd find a way for him to get out from the third story. He didn't want to jump out but it was most likely what was going to happen. He wouldn't be able to climb down a ladder with the first floor burning and the flames that would crawl up the side of the castle. So he had a feeling he'd be jumping out of a window.
The slaves who werent setting up moments before the mutiny began were to break into Master's office and take all of their money and maps to the next towns over. The thing they needed to find out how to do was leave the castle grounds quickly. They couldn't climb the fence because it was quite tall and impossible to scale without sliding down the bars. Plus they needed to do it in secret somehow. They couldn't be found out. It would derail everything and it would turn messy. No one particularly wanted to kill the Master because they didn't want to be murderers. So they'd knock him out in some way. Everyone hoped it wouldn't come down to that.
The slaves had spent most of the night planning, and had made a lot of progress. But they still had much to go. That night was the start of the operation.
Zoro held Luffy in his lap on his bed and listened to Luffy talk about the child that had died. He cried through most of it, but Zoro didn't mind or think he was weak. Luffy was grieving to someone who wouldn't cry back. Zoro just let Luffy talk as he rubbed his back gently.
Luffy had eventually fallen asleep, and Zoro hated that he had to wake him up for his second round. He was sick of Luffy having to leave, and then start over when he got back. He had to shut down emotionally when he dealt with the master and mistress. Then he came back blank and didn't talk for a while. Just sat with his lover in comforting silence. Luffy just wanted silence sometimes, as did the others in his family.
No one chatted that night. Everyone were talking to Luffy as he outlined how the night would progress. He was going to spend the night with Zoro until he went to bed and then Luffy would get to work quietly. He had to be quieter and more sneaky as he ran around the castle. He couldn't leave any lights on like when he got caught in the kitchen making coffee. It was going to be hard climbing down into the wine cellar to count the alcohol and what types they'd use. The door creaked loudly every time he entered, and he couldn't have the noise echo through the castle, so he had been given some grease to put on the hinges. That had to work or he'd most likely be caught. Though all the bedrooms were on the second floor, the wine cellar was on the first. He cursed how much the halls echoed at night. He hoped it wouldn't be a problem.
He and Zoro spent much of the night not in Zoro's room. They had walked outside and onto the stone patio with fancy chairs to look at the stars and talk. Zoro didn't notice Luffy was looking along the black and tall fence. He was searching for a way for them to escape. The slaves had agreed the best route to take was into the woods behind the fence. They knew it was large and they could lose a chaser in there easily, if their plan fails, that they leave before they're found out. The problem was where. Where would they escape?
The two ended up sitting on one of the benches with short Luffy sitting on Zoro's lap. Luffy would treasure these simple moments. But he knew he would be leaving. He'd never tell Zoro, but his family meant more to Luffy than he did. He was raised by those people, and helped raise the younger ones. They were all abused together and had grown stronger bonds by this reason. They had to stick together or they'd go insane at this place.
It was a little after midnight that Zoro went to bed. Luffy said goodnight and waited outside the door until he heard Zoro get into his bed. Then Luffy began his task.
He kept note of everything on his small notebook he was hiding in his shorts against his hip. He counted how many bags of flour there were, and found there was eight large bags. Luffy knew he had to snatch some before they would be used, but where would he hide his things? There were no rooms that for sure no one would enter and closets that couldn't be opened. He also needed it to be somewhere convenient for the plan.
The dangerous staircase. That would work. No one used them and it was at the far end of the castle, away from the main areas. He and Zoro had agreed they weren't to use those stairs, even if they were convenient for not having to go into the heart of the place for the official stairs.
So he grabbed three of the large sacs and slowly carried each one to the abandoned stairs. After that task was done, he crept down to the wine cellar and used the grease he had in his shoe that was hanging from his waist on the hinges. Thankfully, that worked and Luffy got to the alcohol without making any noise.
There was a plethora of booze in the room, only half of it wine. He couldn't read well, but he copied the letters on the labels of all of the glass bottles. He made simple tally marks for each type and wrote down which ones he opened smelled the strongest. Vodka was the one that smelled the strongest, so he put a star next to the word, and then attended the other types.
Both tasks took his three hours combined. A lot of it was just lugging the heavy flour sacs down the stairs and through the long hall.
Master helped the slaves ruin him. If Luffy hadn't been forced to work even at night, this whole plan would probably have never worked. But now, Luffy was the key. Everyone knew that Master trusted him the most, if Master trusted any of them that is. But Luffy had been diligent and completely and willingly compliant with Master for a very long time. The thing that tried to break their "trust" was the stupid candy falling out of his pocket, but he couldn't say that was a very bad thing. After all, his "punishment" was because of that incident.
He didn't particularly like going and doing what he was behind Zoro's back. Luffy truly had no idea what Zoro's reaction would be to hearing about their planned mutiny. It was his house they were going to burn down, but he also said he hated it here. Maybe - hopefully - the whole thing would be good to Zoro. He'd be free from any obligation to his father. All of them would have no place to go, and he thought that Zoro would go live with his grandparents if he was no longer tied to this place. Luffy strongly hoped for that, and that, after it was all over, Zoro wouldn't hate him.
He knew what he was going to do with Zoro's stuff once the masters leave the house (according to the plan). He didn't want Zoro to have nothing left. So Luffy decided he'd haul all of Zoro's belongings to an area far from the house. Of course he'd have to cover it with some kind of blanket due to the ash that was going to fall.
However, they'd leave something for Master that would leave a bitter taste in his mouth.
With nothing to do the rest of the night, Luffy silently walked outside and circled the house, trying to make some sort of route to use once the fire starts, however it starts.
Luffy knew where the lighter was, so that was no problem. He did usually light the halls that the masters would walk through in the morning. Luffy had also decided how he'd deal with the smoke inhalation that he was sure to experience. He'd keep a wet rag in front of his mouth, but he could do nothing for the smoke that would burn his eyes. He'd just have to hurry from the first floor to the third, a race against the flames he'd light.
He was scared. There, of course, was a chance the plan, when completely formed, would fail, and he'd be trapped in the castle, surrounded by fire. And he'd die. But, if he got trapped, he'd carry out his tasks of making the whole place burn the ashes, even if he died inside. He'd be dying to free his family and to avenge Joshua. They werent happy with leaving his grave somewhere they'd never be again, but they hoped Joshua would watch their plan succeed, for if it didn't, it would be an insult to his memory. That they couldn't even avenge him properly.
Though Luffy circled the castle, he couldn't find a good place to exit. It heavily depended where their escape was. He'd want to get as close to it as he could. He didn't want to have to run a long distance because there was a bigger chance of failure if he didn't make it in time before someone reached him. He didn't want Zoro to be the one to come after him, because it was going to be hard enough leaving as it is. He didn't want to see the hurt on his face, and the pleading he'd do for Luffy to stay, that he could protect him. But Luffy had to be strong enough to turn away from him and leave him forever. It was just how it was going to be, and he was preparing himself for that already.
None of the slaves knew how long it would be until they finally do their deed. They hoped it wouldn't be long, because every day, they knew they'd hate Master more and more. Throughout their lives living here, they had not considered mutiny. They werent brave enough and had no real reason to. But after what Master had done... Well, he'd dug his own grave. He was going to lose everything because of something he did, accident or not.
If he had shown remorse or regret after their family had died, they might not mutiny like this. They might have thought it was an unintentional tragedy. But… "oops" didn't cover it. And even an apology from him would not be accepted. The slaves were already on the track of leaving. And they knew, if Master did express regret, it wouldn't be sincere. He showed what he really thought at that moment, and nothing could ever make up for that one word: Oops.
When Luffy walked back into the castle, he had his shoes on to keep his dirty feet from touching the carpet until he went and washed his shoes out.
He walked to the bathroom near his now storage closet, he knew that anyone could look across from the bathroom and see that door, and grow interested. No, Luffy had to make sure no one could open the doors but him.
He had to make both doors impossible to open without brute and destructive force.
He stared at that door for a long time, sifting through impossible ideas on how to lock it. He could tie both handles to each other, but there was no rope long enough to stretch so far. Then he looked at the storage closet at the end of the hall and padded over there, barefoot and clean once again.
He opened the door and stared at the supplies. At what they never used. A broom, a few mops, wipes, rags, dusters, buckets, gloves. Nothing would work. But he looked at the mops once again. It's strings were pretty long…
Luffy grinned and dragged the mops with him to the trap door. He spent the next hour pulling out the strings one by one and tying them together to make a long rope. By the time he'd gone through both mops, the string was very, very long. He hoped they'd stretch as long as Luffy needed them to be.
He finally walked into the unused and enclosed stairs and tied one end to the down stairs door handle and slowly walked up the stairs backwards. It was a long walk, but by the end, he had a foot left of string. But how should he get out but keep the doors closed? The flour really was all he needed to hide that wasn't in the slaves quarters.
He tried multiple times to tighten the rope at the very moment he closed the door, but it didn't work. He stood there, concentrating hard on what to do next. It was strange to him that he was being smart about this. He was never a very intelligent person. But this… betrayal was natural to him. It was convenient, but it also bothered him.
He wrapped the rope around the handle once and closed the door, pulling the excess rope through the closed door frame and yanked hard, tightening the rope and yanking the door closed at the same time. He smiled and ripped the end of the rope off with his teeth, throwing what was left out the nearest window into the bushes.
By the end of this, the sun was rising, so he sprinted back to the second floor and got ready to pretend he wasn't working on sabotaging the people he served under all night. He patted the dust off of his clothes from being in the stairwell for so long and made sure you couldn't see the bottle of grease in his shoe until he went downstairs to change.
Everybody was awake in the slave's quarters, putting their uniforms on. They looked up and bombarded Luffy with questions. He pulled out his small notepad and read off what he'd written.
"I locked the flour sacks in the old stairwell. It goes from the first story to the third, so I'll use that to get up," he said, then paused when they looked at him in question. "I'm going to be the one left in the castle while the lower story burns. I'm not completely sure of what I should do to light the lower story on fire quickly, though." The others looked at each other, but didn't protest Luffy's decision, since he was the quickest and didn't change his mind once he was dead set on something.
"I have an idea for the flour," a girl cook said. "You should use the flour for the upstairs fire."
"You could drag it around the halls and set it on fire," the doctor said.
"You said it's explosive. Is that safe for Luffy to be near?" the eldest woman said.
"I'll be fine. I'll run fast and try to set things up before hand. Plus, it'll take a little bit for the fire to reach the third story from the first. That's the only option I can see right now. I will be fine, don't worry," Luffy explained calmly. He was afraid, but he wasn't going to let that on. He didn't know he was an open book and everyone could see his fear, yet they said nothing. Luffy would pull this off, afraid or not.
The next part of phase one was getting the bugs. That was up to the slaves that worked outside. Everyone else would do their appointed jobs while the bugs were collected. The workers from outside had no problem dealing with the big bugs. They could care less about it and knew they could get the bag filled up relatively quickly. It was their job and they were going to pull it off easily. Luffy stayed up all night doing his part.
The outside slaves would also keep and eye open for anywhere they would be able to escape through. They were going to have to think outside of the box on this one because no one could come up with a place to leave the grounds without someone being able to follow them or see it beforehand. Luffy changed quickly and climbed back up to the second floor and began his day.
The workers outside pulled up the dirt near the foundation of the castle. They knew there were bugs down there, all kinds, cockroaches included. Like they told everyone, picking up the bugs was easy. They filled the little sack and tightened the rope, keeping it in one of their pockets.
An older worker, in his thirties, pretended to do maintenance on the fence. But he was really looking for soft spots in the soil. He had an idea but didn't want to tell the others unless he was pretty sure it would work. He mostly focused on the area's unseen from the front of the castle they were going to burn to the ground. He, personally, wished he could stay and see "Master"'s face when he sees his life crumble. All of his money and cherished memories will be gone. Like Joshua's future. He felt no guilt, and didn't know Zoro much so he didn't really care. As long as it took down the one who killed his family member, he could care less about who else was impacted.
He slowly walked across the line and prodded the soil with his foot. He then turned around and looked at the castle. He couldn't see any of the front yard, and was invisible from the left side by the thick bushes. Not to mention there were no bedroom windows facing where he was at the moment.
He looked around some more, standing in front of some unruly bushes up against the fence that stretched on into the woods behind the property. The worker took out his shearing tools and cut the bush from it's root, sneaking a glance around to make sure there were no masters anywhere, and carried it over to the spot he'd been touching with his foot. When he put the now-dead bush down on the ground, he couldn't see the fence or ground at all through the shrubbery. He grinned and walked away with a smirk on his face. Looks like they know their way out now.
Through the next few days, they were getting closer to completing phase one. To get things ready. The slaves had collected a large amount of cockroaches, big and small, that filled more than one sac. It was creepy holding it, because you could feel the bugs moving around through the fabric, but they were a key to the success.
The worker who chose the spot out of eyes for their escape led them outside at night with multiple shovels. During that night, Luffy was to make sure no one went to the back halls of the castle to look out the window as their escape was being set up. Speaking of Luffy…
Everyone had noticed how stressed Luffy was when he went to bed and got up. He had trouble sleeping even when he was allowed to. He stayed with Zoro the whole day except during his rounds and after midnight. Everyone knew he was having trouble with the concept of leaving Zoro. They knew he was still dead set on the mutiny like the others, but he was having the hardest time out of all of them. Everyday, he betrayed Zoro more. He even used Zoro to help him prepare for his task of lighting the fire. He timed Luffy as he sprinted around the castle, from the stairway upstairs, down the halls, and to the specific window they would have him jump out of. It was the closest window to their disguised escape route. It only took three minutes to make through the castle. He just hoped the fire wouldn't catch up to him soon enough from the lower story before he made it out.
He had told Zoro he was just curious about how fast he could run, unable to look his love in the eyes. Thankfully, Luffy was surprisingly discreet with his pain around Zoro. He didn't want him to catch on at all costs. They spent all of the day together, while Luffy worked to destroy his home every night he was awake.
Finally, the date had been set for their mutiny. It had been only a little over a month since their decision at Joshua's grave, and having more than 15 people involved sped it up considerably.
Today was the start of the end.
Luffy walked down the hall to Master's den, the bag of cockroaches stuffed in his shoe. He'd hid many things in his shoes nowadays. He bowed as he entered, thankful Master didn't acknowledge his presence by looking at him. Luffy took a few of the wiggling cockroaches out of the bag and tossed them on the floor. The things immediately climbed up the desks. Luffy took a deep breath. He had to keep his voice steady or he would be given away.
"Master, we have found cockroaches throughout the castle. We haven't disc- Master, there is one on your desk," Luffy said, sounding disgusted. Master looked down and flew out of his chair. Luffy was prepared to take the fire.
"Get these out of here! How long have you been finding these?!" Master shouted, unhinged. Luffy had a lot of trouble not laughing mirthlessly. Looks like Master didn't like cockroaches.
"As you wish," Luffy said immediately as he crawled under the desk and grabbed one, then picking up one on the desk. "We only started seeing them this morning. I thought one just came in, but we've found them in every floor."
Luffy took his time in picking up the bugs, since he was looking at the desk closely. He found a chest that was unlocked at the moment that he assumed had the money in it. The money they were going to steal. He looked around the room, pretending to search for more bugs while he was actually looking at the walls and at the maps pinned up. They were large maps of the country and the cities nearby.
Luffy kept the helpful bugs into his other shoe.
"Dispose of those and plan a castle wide extermination," Master demanded, looking disgusted. Luffy inwardly smiled. Phase one had been completed with success! Onto phase two.
"As you wish, Master. We have taken care of vermin in our quarters last year, so we know how to rid them from here," Luffy lied calmly. It sounded plausible since they basically lived in the basement.
"Do it as soon as possible!" Luffy bowed again and left the room after asking his usual questions. Onto Mistress's room. He barely had to use any of the cockroaches. He just reused the ones he had just used. Looks like they over collected the cockroaches. He knocked on the bedroom door to see Mistress, like usual, putting her makeup on. Once again, Luffy discreetly tossed some of the bugs on the carpet. As he watched one approach the vanity table, he spoke as it climbed up the side.
Luffy didn't even need to say anything for Mistress to see it and scream. "Get it away!" she shrieked. Luffy's eyes widened as he hurried to pick it up. He walked to the window and opened it, dropping the bug outside.
"Mistress, we will take care of the vermin. They have been found throughout the castle. I and the other slaves were told to exterminate them. Don't worry, they won't be here long. Would you like your wine?" Luffy asked. Mistress nodded as she tried to fix the lipstick she'd smeared by accident. As Luffy turned to leave, he tossed another bug into the room, running away to the wine cellar and grinning as he heard the woman scream again. Luffy was actually having fun. Things were looking smooth and he got to torment the masters in secret.
As Luffy ran out of sight, he tossed cockroaches around every corner and into every room he passed. If the house werent going to be destroyed, it would be a very big infestation that would be very difficult to treat.
Master didn't even question what the slaves were going to use, which was good because he had no answer. Even if they werent going to mutiny, they would have no way to get rid of the bugs by themselves without certain supplies that would need to be bought. But Master believed what Luffy told him. It was lucky Luffy had been a diligent worker for so long.
By the time Luffy was back at Mistress's room, he had emptied the entire bag of bugs. He'd thrown some down the stairs as well. He thanked each one of them as they were tossed away. Too bad they were all going to die. Mistress screamed at him that there were more and to "get rid of them now!" Luffy crawled under the bed and around the room to snatch the bugs up and toss them out the open window. He excused himself from the room after taking her breakfast order.
He exited the room to see Zoro standing in the hall. "What happened? Why is she screaming?" He looked very concerned.
"We've found cockroaches throughout the castle," Luffy said. "Master told us to exterminate them, but that's gonna take a while," Luffy lied smoothly, hoping Zoro wouldn't ask what they planned to do. Luffy didn't miss a beat before lying again once Zoro asked that question.
"We go through every room and inspect it to take the bugs out and kill the eggs. We've done it before in our own quarters," Luffy said, begging Zoro to just accept his words and move on. "We'll get rid of them. Master being angry isn't exactly something we like…" Luffy told him darkly, both of them remembering what Master had done based on his anger. "What do you want for breakfast?"
"Cereal sounds the safest at the moment," Zoro said in good humor. If Luffy said he was going to clean up the castle, he was going to. That's what Zoro thought…
Luffy was determined like that, but for a much larger and darker task. Luffy nodded and bowed, smiling as he ran down the hall and to the dining room. He ran up to the bar in the kitchen and told the kids what they had to cook as he muttered that everything was going smoothly.
"I tossed the cockroaches everywhere," Luffy told them quietly as he washed his hands in the kitchen sink. "You should have seen Master's face. Apparently he is not a fan of bugs." Luffy laughed. The others giggled as they cooked the meals. "Tomorrow will be your last day of cooking…" Luffy sounded sad suddenly.
"Don't think about it Luffy," a girl said quietly. "You said this will help him. And we'll be free." They all knew who Luffy was thinking of.
"Yeah, maybe you'll see him again one day," someone else said as they cooked the scrambled eggs for Mistress as he cooked the sausage at the same time.
"He'll probably hate me, though. I'd rather never see him again than see him looking at me in anger and contempt," Luffy replied, sounding thoroughly depressed. He straightened up and wore a smile as Zoro came in and walked to the table. Luffy walked to him with the bowl of cereal and jar of milk.
"There aren't any bugs in the cereal. We checked," Luffy said with a laugh.
"It's weird I haven't found any bugs in my room," Zoro commented as he watched Luffy eat whatever was given to him.
"You're lucky," one of the children said. "We found them in our quarters," she lied. Zoro was surprised that she'd spoken to him. "Oh, I'm sorry! How disrespectful to speak to you directly…"
It had come to the point where everyone was lying about everything. The kids had never spoken directly to Zoro. None of them cared anymore. Zoro had been nice to them and Luffy, and since they were about to burn his home down, they were going to be as nice as possible to him. They knew Luffy was having trouble, but also knew he was doing well to deceive his love. They imagined that it must hurt. Everytime he looked at Zoro, he must think about his betrayal and if Zoro would hate him for it.
I like to think the plan was pretty creative. Gotta hate those cockroaches, but in experience, I know I'd want to exterminate those assholes as fast as possible. Review!