Instead of trying to sit up, I started formulating an escape strategy. Since I didn't have any Sea Prism Stone handcuffs on, I could use my powers freely. However, the bars were made of it, so I could only use my powers in the cell to try and get out of it.
I didn't really need to create a plan, it was easy to get out, but escaping proved to be the hard part. What if we were under water? What if we were miles and miles away from my ship?
I shook off those thoughts and said, "I'll think about that later..."
My priorities were solely fixed on escaping this cell, I'd figure out the rest once I was out.
But then, I suddenly realized I couldn't move because of my injuries.
I groaned and started trying to sit up again.
"First, I'll need to get better..." I said.
By the end of the day, after what seemed like three thousand attempts to sit up, I finally did.
My abdominal muscles hurt like hell, but I did it, I sat up.
And as soon as I did, I slumped back down onto the hard bed and rested until Law came in to check on me.
Law smirked as he saw me sit up. He opened my cell door to examine me further.
"Most of your stitches are ok," he said. "The ends are coming a bit loose, but it's not like I'll have to redo them."
"Yippee," I said unenthusiastically.
"Your next assignment is 100 sit-ups," he said. "But you can rest for the remainder of today. That's tomorrow's assignment."
I rolled my eyes. He left and told me to get some rest because "I'll need it."
I never did get a meal that day.
Law sat outside the cell the next day, counting as I finished 100 sit-ups quickly. It only took me 30 minutes. Despite my sore abdomen, I was fully focused on regaining mobility as quickly as possible.
He looked impressed and said my next task was standing up.
The only thing tricky about this next task was that the only things to help me up were the bars of the cell. Since I didn't want to touch them, I'd have to master this basically in one go.
Like that was going to happen.
Yes, it took a while to learn how to stand properly. And yes, he did laugh when I fell. But, despite how angry he made me, I was able to stand and hobble around in an hour.
With a sore butt and a sour attitude, I was able to walk almost normally within the next hour.
Law stood up and walked away when he felt I was somewhat fully rehabilitated.
A little while later, Penguin came in to give me a meal consisting of a bread roll, two and a half pieces of burnt bacon, and a handful of raw carrots. He shoved it though the opening for food in the cell and walked away without a word.
"Nice talking to you," I called down the hallway sarcastically.
Since I basically had no supervision in my cell, I could try to escape without any commotion being raised. I sat down on the uneven slab they called a bed and thought of ways to escape this prison.
"I can pick the lock..." I said. "That's easy, but how do I get out and find my heart?"
I felt around in my torn jacket's pocket. The map was still inside.
"Sweet," I said, taking it out.
As I unfolded the map, I found exactly where I was. It wasn't that hard to miss, to be honest. I was in the basement, The Brig, where cells lined up side by side in a five-by-five grid. There was a stairway to my left down the hallway that leads almost directly to where my heart was located. All I needed was to take the hallway from the staircase and take a right. Then, I'd just need to go back the way I'd originally came and boom! I was home free.
The only problem was, how could I know if we were submerged or not? There were no windows in the prison area. I guessed I'd just have to wing it and hope for the best...
I ate my small meal in grateful silence, even though it wasn't much; it was nice to have something in my stomach.
It wasn't but two seconds after I started picking the cell's lock that I heard footsteps coming from down the hall. Panicking, I flew backwards onto the bed and sat down.
It was Penguin, I recognized.
"Your tray, please," he said.
It was the first time I heard him speak. I picked up my tray and said, "How long are you guys gonna keep me in here?"
"As long as our captain wants you here," he replied. "Tray, please."
"Well, tell your captain that I want to leave."
I saw a smile come from under Penguin's hat. "Law doesn't take orders from prisoners."
"He is now," I replied, shoving my tray towards Penguin.
He walked away with the tray in hand and without another word.
I waited what seemed like five minutes until after Penguin was gone to start picking the lock again.
There's a well-known legend saying that hair pins can pick locks, but most people think it isn't true. I, however, argue that the right kind of hair pins can pick any and every lock on the planet.
And it just so happens that the pins in my hair are such pins. You see, they're disguised as hair pins and function as such, but they double as multi tools. Everything from lock pocks, flint and steel, a small pocket knife (that isn't that sharp), and a nail file all crammed into one hair pin was definitely something I never left the ship without.
Crow designed it for me when we started our pirating adventures together. He gave one to Marina as well; she just never used it as much as I did.
"Just in case you get into a pickle!" he said, smiling, as he clipped it into my hair.
When the lock was picked and the door opened, I crept out of the cell and shut the door as quietly as a squeaky door could shut.
I looked down the hall in both directions and saw that the coast was clear.
With a couple shaky steps at the beginning, I sprinted on my tip-toes towards the door.
Except, when I went to open the door, someone opened it for me. I quickly ran behind the door so that the person wouldn't notice me.
Holding my breath and with a horrible knot forming in my stomach, the man opened the door and walked down the hallway, leaving the door open.
Phew... I thought. He didn't notice me.
As I looked down the hallway, I saw that it was Penguin again.
I wonder what he wants...
Without hesitation, I ran out of the prison block and up the stairs into the hallway. When the coast was clear, I turned right and heading for the room where my heart resided.
The door to the room stood taller than some of the other doors I'd seen on the ship, which didn't bother me at the time.
When I opened the door, I realized it was a bedroom. Whose ever it was, I had no clue and no real interest to be honest. As I groped the inside wall close to the door for a light switch and turned on the bright fluorescents.
The room was in the shape of a cube. It was dark, and had big grey sheets of metal that lined the walls. In the middle of the room was a messy king sized bed with yellow covers that had a large image of the Heart Pirates' Jolly Roger. To the left of the bed was a small night stand with a single picture frame on it and a black lamp that barely lit the whole room and I assumed was accidentally left on. To the left of the night stand was the closet. There was a desk with stacks of paper covering it with a spin chair pulled out from the desk. On the other side of the room was a small, waist-height bookshelf.
I searched around the drawers of the nightstand and the desk to find my heart, but it wasn't there.
When I opened the closet, my eyes widened to find a stack of at least thirty hearts in their own box.
How was I supposed to find mine?!
I bit my lip and stared at them, wondering how to start looking for the right one.
As soon as I touch the first heart, I heard footsteps running down the hallways.
"She escaped! She escaped!" I heard Penguin shout. He continued to repeatedly shout this until I couldn't hear him anymore.
"Shit..." I whispered.
I tossed the hearts aside that I squeezed, apologized to whomever I just made wince in pain.
"Gotta find it fast... Gotta find it fast...!" I said to myself.
Soon I heard one more set of footsteps walking in a normal pace towards this room.
I didn't even care whose room it was, if they were coming in here, I was screwed. I quickly turned off the lights and shut the closet doors to hide in the back corner behind some clothes so that they wouldn't see me if they checked the closet.
To my horror, the footsteps came into the room and turned on the lights.
"Fucking Shachi-ya..." mumbled a disgruntled voice.
My eyes widened when it finally clicked. This was Law's bedroom.
Of course it was! How could I be so stupid?! Who else would keep the hearts of victims in their closet?!
"I've never met anyone so damn clumsy..." he said. "Spilling tea on my favorite hoodie..."
Shit... I thought, panicking.
As the closet doors opened, I stopped breathing. I saw Law take his yellow and black hoodie off to reveal his bare chest. He tossed it into the floor where his other dirty clothes where and began looking in his closet for a new shirt.
Please don't look over here... Please don't look over here...! I chanted in my head.
And of course, guess where he looked?
I tried to melt into the wall, but being human, that was impossible.
As he searched through the hangers I hid under, he picked one out and put on the new shirt.
I thought I was home free, so naturally, I took a sigh of relief.
Only, he heard it.
Law stopped and I immediately covered my mouth in panic.
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK! repeated over and over in my mind.
As Law turned around and went back to the closet he said, "Come out now, Nori-ya, and I won't hurt you."
Seemed like a pretty good deal to me.
I popped up immediately and put my hands in the air, caught red-handed.
Before I knew what happened, I was pinned up against the wall with a murderous-looking Law holding my throat.
He chuckled darkly and said, "I lied."
"Just... kill me...!" I gasped.
"Oh, I could," he said. "I could kill you in a million different ways right now."
"Then... Then why don't you?" I asked.
He let me go and I slid down the wall to my knees, gasping for air.
"Because killing you wouldn't be fun," he said. "You're far too amusing to get rid of." He kicked my leg and said, "Stand up, Nori-ya."
I stood up obediently with a quivering lip.
"Let's see..." he said, holding up his hand. "How would it feel if I..."
Suddenly, I was on the floor again with the wind knocked out of me and a horrible, stabbing pain in my abdomen. Tears started streaming down my face from the pain.
"Punched you?" he finished. "It's really unfortunate that you try to escape when I sent Penguin down to release you in the first place..."
I looked up at him with a pleading look, but couldn't find my words to say anything.
He bent down and said, "You want to leave my ship?" he asked. I nodded. "Aw. The party's just begun, Nori-ya."
(I don't own One Piece or any of its content. This was made for entertainment purposes only and no copyright is intended.)