Guess what time it is? That's right, 2 a.m.! And time for more Phantoms of the Underworld too I guess... Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Chapter 16: Another Unexpected Problem
"Life is not like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapeños. What you do today might burn your ass tomorrow." -Author Unknown
It was a bright and sunny day on the Grand Line. The sun was shining beautifully on the sea, making the waters glisten and shine. Or at least that's what Mina envisioned the day to be... Sadly, the submarine was submerged and had been ever since they left Crissor. Needless to say, she wasn't in the best mood possible and the crew had caught on to that fact. Really the only people who could remotely talk to her at this point were Arthur and Chase. Anyone else would be met with a glare that felt like an arrow to their soul. Although at least she still followed orders.
Chase was eyeing his assistant with a rather worried look. Mina was really putting some... Passion into food prep this afternoon. The chef almost flinched when he heard the butcher's knife cut through some poor fish's head. The atmosphere was rather stifling and also void of any conversation. Normally Chase would be able to at least get her to say something, anything really, about food prep or how they'd handle a meal. But now, he was lucky if he even got acknowledged.
"Are you okay, Mina?" He asked, a worried tone in his voice.
"Peachy," She deadpanned as she brought down the knife on another fish.
"... Are ya' sure?" Chase was actually kind of worried.
Mina turned to the chef stiffly and he rather regretted speaking to her again, he really should have just left it at that. She had turned to him only to give him the most dead stare he'd ever seen on a person. Her eyes unnerved him on some level too. The look in her eyes was rather... Unhinged in some fashion. She really was not okay, and the wild glint in her eyes plus the fact that she had the meat cleaver in hand was frightening.
"We're getting to the next island soon, right?" Mina asked as the cleaver shined in the light.
Chase suddenly understood everything. She was going stir-crazy.
"You know, I will go ask the Captain about that," Chase said. "Why don't you continue to fillet those fish while I go speak to him for a moment."
Mina nodded and went back to what she was doing. Meanwhile, Chase hauled ass out of the kitchen.
Running through the submarine, he nimbly dodged his crew mates as well as ignored their questions of what was wrong. No, he was only concerned about finding Law and maybe preventing Mina from snapping completely. Of course Chase found Law in the control room. The Captain of the vessel looked at the chef oddly when he barged into the room out of breath.
"What is it Mist-" Law began but was quickly cut off.
"Sorry Captain, but we've got ourselves into a fine pickle. Ya know how we decided to sail completely submerged?" Chase asked.
"Yes, but-" Law was again cut off.
"I don't think we took into account Mina's need to stretch her wings," The chef said. "She's been acting pretty strange lately and I reckon that's because she hasn't been able to go topside in a while."
Law sat there in silence for a moment. He had noticed that she was off lately. He knew that she wasn't the most sociable person on his crew, but she'd normally at least try to be civil to other people.
"It took you this long to figure that out?" A rather annoyed sigh echoed in the room.
Those present looked to the door to find Arthur standing there. The self-appointed tailor of the crew looked to be rather annoyed with the situation as well.
"You couldn't have told us sooner?" Law eyed the man skeptically.
"I could have, but then where would the fun be in that," The swordsman smiled widely. "Besides, I doubt you would have believed me if I told you that Mina gets really, really wound up when she can't fly or see the sun for several days. Frankly I think you're lucky that she hasn't snapped yet."
There really was no excuse though. Law knew that he really should have seen a situation like this coming. Letting out an aggravated sigh, he turned to his navigator.
"Bepo, how long until we get to the next island?"
"We should be there by mid-morning tomorrow," Bepo said as he looked at the Log Pose in front of him.
They were currently in an island's climatic zone, so the weather was stable enough. The only thing left to check was whether or not there were other ships around.
"Bring us up to periscope level and check the surroundings," Law ordered. "If it's all clear then we'll switch to sailing for this last leg."
Mina was carrying out her orders of filleting the fish when she heard the klaxon sound. That was the signal that they were surfacing. It was about damn time too. She was getting sick of being underwater for so long. Still, she had to complete her instructions before she could slack off and get some sunlight and a bit of flight time in. Refocusing her efforts, she carefully resumed her knife work. Letting the knife do all the work for her, she masterfully cut and portioned out the fish. Not all of it was to be eaten today of course, they were going to store the rest. She was done with her work and washing her hands by the time Chase arrived back in the kitchen.
"All right, why don't ya take a break for a while," Chase told her. "I can handle it from here."
He didn't have to say another word and her apron was off and she was gone. But she paused a step before the door to look back at him.
"Thank you," She said. And then she was off and running.
All Chase could do was chuckle a bit. Well, it was time for him to get back to work.
Mina dashed through the submarine at a very fast pace. She nearly ran over poor Penguin at one point but thankfully the man was spared being knocked flat on his ass due to a nimble dodge on his part. Of course, Mina only had one thing on her mind and that was fresh air so she ignored the near collision. Finally coming to the door, she pushed it open and stumbled onto the deck. She took a deep breath, letting her lungs fill with fresh air. She then took a seat by the door to unwind a bit. Sure the wood was still soaked through from the water, but it didn't matter at the moment. She could finally breathe again. The mid-afternoon sun was still shining brightly. Really, being out in the sun and fresh air made her relax. Mina then recognized how stressed out she had been by the days underwater.
"You do realize that you could've said something."
Mina looked behind her to find Law standing there. He didn't seem upset by the situation though, in fact, he seemed amused by it all. Mina scowled at him.
"I was adjusting to the whole submarine thing just fine until you had the bright idea of staying submerged for the entire trip," She said coldly.
It was true though. Mina had been slowly getting used to traveling in the submarine, but she was nowhere near ready for extended periods of time without being able to go topside. She was able to get there, there was no doubt in her mind that she could, but Law had really pushed her a bit too far. Law on the other hand, didn't really appreciate her attitude at the moment.
"I can't read minds, Miss Mina," Law said. "You'll have to tell me these things."
Mina looked away from him. He was right, of course. It just hadn't crossed her mind to tell him strangely enough. Letting out an irritated sigh, she got to her feet. Without another word to Law, she slipped her sandals off and began to run. The sound of her bare feet against the deck was cut off when she launched herself off of the railing at the bow and into the sky. Mina then settled into a pace equal with the submarine's speed. She wouldn't stray too far away from the ship after all.
Law watched her for a moment before turning around to head back to the control room. He was now realizing how much trouble Mina could be. Hopefully she listened to him and would be a bit more forthcoming in the future.
"Don't worry, she heard what you were saying," A rather pleased voice rang in his ears.
When Law looked to see who was talking to him, it was rather unsurprising to see Arthur there leaning against the doorframe.
"I hope you're right, Mister Arthur," Law sighed as he walked past him.
"Oh, I am," Arthur gave a confident chuckle. "She may be moody and rather insufferable at times, but she's a good person at heart believe it or not. Just give her a bit more time and she'll come around."
Law gave his newest subordinate a rather blank stare. Somehow, he doubted that.
-:-
The next day was hopefully the day they were to reach their destination. And it was. The Heart pirates had just landed on Veneccio island. It was a rather flat island, or at least the region where they landed was. The island seemed to be rather large as it took a few hours worth of sailing along the coast to find a dock to land on, or at least somewhere suitable to anchor. But they found a bustling port town not too long into their search. The island seemed to be in the middle of spring at the moment so the weather was rather cool but not freezing.
The port was practically jumping with activity. Fishermen and merchants walked the docks without a care in the world. Even a few kids were running around and playing tag... However, the port was also a good place to get a look at the town they had landed in. Like the rest of the island, it was a fairly level environment with buildings made from wood. At least, as far as the pirates could tell. The town was pretty big after all. It seemed to sprawl more outwards than upwards though, so while it was large, there weren't many tall structures. In fact, the tallest building seemed to be three stories high.
Well, there was no time like the present to disembark. The pirates tethered the submarine to the docks, all the while ignoring the looks the merchants and fishermen were giving to them. A rather normal day all things considered. There weren't any Marine ships or outposts nearby, so the pirates figured they'd be safe.
Meanwhile, Mina was in her room still. She'd be going topside soon though, she just had to sort a few things. Dragging her reinforced suitcase out from under the bed and placing it on top of her chair, she opened the suitcase to find that it was practically empty save for the Eternal Poses given to her by Alderman whenever she had to go on missions. She highly doubted that she'd ever go back to some of these places as they either lead to direct associates of Alderman, or to islands that were dens of thieves and other ruffians. Examining the poses to determine which island they went to, Mina tossed those she no longer needed into a tan satchel next to her. She planned to sell them off to some of the merchants here. It wasn't that she needed the money specifically, she just wanted to get rid of them. However, as she went through the poses, Mina found one in particular that she didn't quite know what to do about it. Staring at the Eternal Pose in her hand, she contemplated just shattering this one and getting it over with. She would have to think about it, but for now, she placed the Eternal Pose back into her suitcase and shut the lid. Sliding it back under her bed, she slung the bag that Arthur had given her onto her right shoulder and went topside.
Mina noted with a twinge of disappointment that it was a cloudy day. At least it wasn't raining, but she didn't discount the possibility later in the day. She gazed out over the town for a moment, trying to get a sense of the town's layout. She'd rather not be wandering around blindly nor would she be wanting to fly around and make a spectacle of herself. Something felt a bit... Off about this island to her. It was way too flat and plains-like for her liking. There weren't any vantage points to get a good look at things either. Otherwise unimpressed by the island, she felt someone staring at her as she prepared to disembark. And if Mina had to guess, she'd guess that Sarge was being his usual, paranoid self. Although she did find it strange that he wasn't with Law or the rest of them. Just now realizing that there was a distinct lack of a yellow hoodie on the deck, Mina glanced around to find that Law had already left. Which meant that Bepo was with him too. No matter, she hadn't been given any orders to accompany anyone so Mina figured she was free to do as she pleased. So she simply hopped over the railing and disappeared into the crowd.
Wood buildings lined the streets and people bustled all around her as she walked down the main throughway of the town. They didn't even spare her a passing glance for the most part and that was how she preferred things anyway. She simply looked around for the nearest pawn shop that looked like it was fairly reputable. However, it took her all of three seconds to realize that someone was following her. Resisting the urge to just sigh and turn around to face him, Mina simply walked onwards and ignored the fact that he really was going too far. She got the fact that he didn't trust her in the slightest, but following her was kind of excessive in her book. However, just to make sure that he was actually intent on going through with stalking her for the day, Mina took a left at the next intersection. It took a minute, but sure enough, her shadow was there. Although to call him a shadow would be fairly ironic given the white boiler suit, green striped bucket hat, and height of the man following her.
'Really Sarge?' Mina sighed mentally. 'You aren't really stealthy at all... If I had actually been an enemy, you'd probably be dead right now. That hat was a dead giveaway. Not to mention the boiler suit with the Heart pirate's emblem all over it.'
Now, she could very well shake him off her tail. That would be as easy as going down an alleyway and hiding in the shadows for a period of time. Or maybe even duck down said alleyway and try to lose him in the labyrinth behind most of the buildings. However, if the rumors about him were actually true, he'd sooner make his own pathway by busting down some walls. So, to spare the commotion of a rouge pirate busting down people's homes, Mina figured it would be for the best to let him follow her. She'd play dumb for a little bit, not like she was going to do anything too out of the ordinary today anyway...
Sarge was fairly surprised that Mina hadn't caught onto him yet. He really thought that she caught on for a moment there when she turned left. Oh well, maybe she was dumber than he thought... Still, he had to make sure that this woman wasn't going to turn on them in the future. He knew the type of people Alderman employed after all. They usually weren't the most upstanding people and Mina was proving to be no different. She was too shady and she didn't speak much to the rest of the crew members. Well, apparently she would communicate with Chase while they were working, but other than that, she really only spoke to Arthur... And Arthur was a different kettle of fish entirely.
It was actually fairly easy to keep tabs on Mina. Sarge chalked it up to the fact that people were avoiding him and making his line of sight relatively clear. Of course what he didn't expect was a dog to come trotting out in front of him from an alleyway. The little Jack Russell terrier looked up at Sarge for a moment. The Heart Pirate figured the small white and light brown dog would just continue onwards. Oh, how wrong Sarge was... The dark eyes of the dog lit up suddenly as he faced the man and went down onto his front legs with his butt in the air. The dog barked at him and wagged his tail happily. The little thing wanted to play with him. Sadly, Sarge didn't much care for dogs and he had somewhere to be.
"Go back to your owner, mutt," Sarge muttered as he walked past the dog.
Well, the dog didn't much care for that. The terrier got a bit of a running start and then leapt from the ground onto Sarge's back. The pirate yelled out in shock, but soon his hat was stripped from his head and the dog off his back. Turning around, he saw the terrier partly down the street with his hat hanging out of its mouth. Of course the dog's tail was wagging a mile a minute. After it established the fact that Sarge was aware of where his hat was, the dog took off running.
"Get back here!" Sarge bellowed as he ran after the dog. "Mangy mutt!"
Mina, who witnessed the entire thing, made a mental note to praise that dog later. But now, it was time for her to pawn her things off. Entering a pawn shop that was devoid of patrons, she gave a precursory glance over the items for sale. She saw Log Poses among the wares... Mina noted that the pawn shop had quite the collection of goods. Jewelry glinted in the display cases on top of the counter, statues (some tackier than others) were scattered about the shop, and she even noted the fact that there was a very expensive looking grandfather clock for sale. However, there didn't seem to be anyone tending the store... The shopkeeper was probably in the back room though.
"Ah, can I help you Miss?" A bald man who seemed to be in his mid thirties suddenly appeared behind the counter. He was kind of shady looking, but then again, he did run a pawn shop.
Unfazed by his sudden appearing act, Mina approached the counter and set her bag in front of him.
"Yes, I'm looking to sell," She said.
"Good news, I'm looking to buy," The man said with a smile. "What have you brought with you?"
Mina opened the satchel and set a few Eternal Poses on the counter. The man's brown eyes lit up at the sight of them.
"Eternal Poses," He remarked as he picked one up. "In very good condition no less. How many of them do you have to sell?"
"I've got four with me right now," Mina said.
Hm... Eternal Poses went for quite a pretty Beli at times. And four of them no less... The shopkeep couldn't help but wonder where she got them from, but then he decided that it wasn't his problem. Making a profit was his problem.
"Hm... 33,000,000 for the lot."
"That's a bit low, don't you think?" Mina said. "I know you aren't going to pay me full value for them since you want a profit, but that's a bit too low. 50,000,000 is usually what four Eternal Poses are worth."
While Mina may not have particularly wanted money, she did have a problem with trying to be swindled out of it. The man really should have known better than to attempt to pull the wool over her eyes.
"All right, you got me," He laughed. "The most I can pay you is 40,000,000. And for being such a shrewd customer, I'll let you have something from that table free of charge."
The man pointed to a table of assorted goods. Books, some of the cheaper jewelry, and some clothing were laid out. It just seemed to be the random items that weren't worth very much... Eh, she'd take a look. It was more like he just wanted to get rid of his overstock that wasn't selling.
"All right, deal," She agreed. Really she just wanted to leave.
"Glad to hear it. I'll prepare your money then," The man said and ducked into the back room again.
Well, she'd be sticking around for a while it seemed... This did give her an opportunity to sift through the reject items table though.
-:-
While Mina was off having her adventure, Law and the rest of the crew were busy themselves. They were stocking up on supplies and just generally exploring the town a bit. While some of the crew went off and did their own thing, the Captain of the submarine decided to take a break from walking for a bit. Law had found a nice bench by a fountain to relax by. Bepo was of course sitting next to him, asleep as usual. It wasn't just for the scenery that he picked out this bench, it was because the locals were chattering nearby. And what better way to listen in then to pretend you're having a bit of a snooze on a bench? It wasn't too enlightening in Law's book. Just some local rumors at first, but then something made him perk up a bit.
"Did you see that Marine ship by the bay?" A local said.
"Oh yeah, I did. I think I've seen them lurking around too... I wonder what's up," Another said.
"Well, pirates just docked today, so I wonder if there'll be a conflict..." The first one trailed off.
That... Didn't sound good. Getting up from the bench, Law woke Bepo from his slumber.
"Huh? Everything okay, Captain?" The sleepy bear asked.
"Change of plans," He said. "We're finding the others."
Bepo fell in line behind Law without any hesitation. The bear could tell that the captain was starting to think about how to get out of this one. Luckily the pirates were prepared for a situation such as this. They'd avoid conflict if they could. Of course things don't always go according to plan...
-:-
Mina left the pawn shop with a heavier wallet. Satisfied with the payment she was given, it was now time for her to make her way back to the submarine. She might have to help Chase after all... She didn't get a chance to ask him whether or not they were making dinner tonight or if the crew was at the mercy of the local cuisine. However, something didn't feel right... Her eyes flicked around her surroundings and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She felt eyes on her back and she knew that it wasn't Sarge... In fact, she couldn't figure out who was following her. Mina had a very, very bad feeling about all of this. All right, time to shake them off then. Walking rather briskly, she ducked down an alleyway in the hopes of losing them behind the buildings. Or maybe she'd get access to the rooftops that way, but she also didn't want to cause a ruckus with the townspeople for that. The dim alleyways had a rather musty smell to them...
"There you are..." A low voice whispered in her ear.
The voice was familiar, too familiar. A soaked white cloth quickly covered her mouth before she could even take another step let alone react. Mina's eyes widened when it finally registered in her mind who it was. Immediately holding her breath, she attempted to break from him, but an arm wrapped around her waist and kept her still. However, that just made Mina thrash around in their grasp.
"Don't be like that," He said, obviously somewhat amused by her struggle. But then he moved her shirt slightly upward and pressed his gauntleted hand against her bare skin. "Just give in."
Adrenaline was flowing through her, but it was soon overpowered by whatever he had soaked the cloth in and the Sea-Prism Stone embedded in the palm gauntlets. Feeling her surroundings fade, Mina just weakly elbowed him in the stomach before passing out in his arms.
-:-
Sarge was still running after the dog. It was rather pathetic all things considered. Now that the streets had been combed, the dog had taken to the alleyways. It was easy to see his white coat in the dimness, thankfully.
"Loki!" A female voice called. "Where are you boy?"
At the sound of who the pirate presumed to be responsible for the little monster, the dog dropped the hat and ran dutifully to his master's side by cutting through an alley and onto the main streets.
"There you are boy! Come on, let's go home," The mystery woman said.
Sarge just stopped to pant for a moment. He needed a goddamn rest now. He'd been running so long that the sun was starting to peak out from behind the clouds. Picking up his hat and placing it firmly back on his head, the mechanic couldn't help but notice that someone left a bag in the alley. And a knife. Wait, those items seemed familiar to him. Going over to them, he picked up the knife and sure enough, it was Mina's. Looking at the bag, he noticed it was the one she had been carrying. Some part of him was actually concerned about this...
'Concerned? For her? Feh, I must be going soft,' Sarge thought.
Still, he should report this to Law... Just on the off chance that Mina didn't drop these in a hurry.
Well, it did't take long for Sarge to figure out where the crew was. They were actually hanging around the docks surprisingly enough. Apparently Law had all ordered them back to the submarine to brief them on something. Law was sitting on a crate of supplies talking to them. However, he didn't see Mina around.
"Oi! Where'd you run off to Sarge?" Shachi called to his friend.
All eyes were on the returning man. And Sarge didn't have a very good explanation for the question posed. He didn't want to admit that a dog had gotten the better of him for most of the day.
"I was... Around..." Sarge was evasive to say the least. He was also a bad liar.
"Riiiiigggghhhttt..." Shachi drew out the word.
"Anyways, we got a problem," He said has he help up Mina's bag and knife. "I found these in an alleyway."
Dead silence hung in the air at they studied the items.
"I don't see the issue," Penguin said bluntly.
"Oh fuck," Arthur swore. For once the man didn't have a playful tone to his voice. "We do have a problem."
Everyone turned to stare at the man currently holding his head. Apparently he got the boiler suit right, so Arthur was showing his team spirit by wearing the uniform. He wasn't wearing a hat though, so he didn't quite fit in.
"Care to elaborate, Mister Arthur?" Law prompted.
"That knife was a gift from Garrett. Mina would never drop it," Arthur said with a nervous edge to his voice. "In the event that she was forced to drop what she was doing and run, she'd carry that knife with her even if it meant having to use her teeth."
Law wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect that she was missing.
"Couldn't she have just flown off somewhere?" Shachi didn't want people to run off in a panic.
"Where? There aren't any trees or mountains around. Mina loves heights and this island is flatter than a pancake. If she was gonna fly around, we would have seen her," Arthur shot that idea down. "And with the news that there may be Marines about... Something isn't right about this..."
As strange as it sounded, Law was inclined to agree with Arthur on this one.
"Search the town," The Captain ordered. "No one goes off alone though. Meet back here in 20 minutes."
"Yes sir!" The crew chorused.
-:-
When Mina came to, all she was aware of were two things: that she was on the floor and that she had a splitting headache. Upon opening her eyes, she could only shut them again when the light hit her face.
"...The hell happened to me...?" She muttered under her breath.
That was when she decided to reflect for a moment as to what her last memory was. She remembered selling her things to that shopkeeper and that she was starting to walk back to the submarine. Mina vaguely recalled something about Sarge and his poor attempts to shadow her. And that was when his face reared its ugly form in her mind.
Mina's bronze eyes snapping open, she immediately sat up and looked around wildly not even registering the fact that her arms were behind her back. That was when the sound of chains echoed through the room. And then the bars in front of her registered in her mind. Headache all but forgotten at this point, panic took hold of her as she pulled against the chains binding her hands. This was really the worst case scenario for her. She was in a jail cell, bound and completely helpless with him on the loose. She really did not want to think of the fate ahead of her at this point. She had to think carefully.
Taking a deep breath and reigning in her panic, she looked behind her to see what kind of restraints she was dealing with. Her arms were behind her back, and the handcuffs they had used weren't sea prism stone, but they were bolted to the floor. There was some room for her to grab the chain... Perhaps there was a way out of this yet. Although it was strange, why didn't they use sea prism stone? If she truly was caught by one of Alderman's employees, then they should've used it... Oh well, might as well take advantage of their foolishness. Adjusting herself so she was on her knees, she grabbed onto the chain tightly; Mina then began to pull against the bolt in the floor. She didn't know how she'd get out of the cell once she was free to move around, but she'd cross that bridge when she got to it. The shackles dug into her wrists and the chain-links dug into her palms as she pulled on them. Sure it hurt like hell, but she had to be free, she had to be able to defend herself. Nothing good ever happened when she couldn't fight back. She needed to be able to fight back, that thought was the only thing on her mind as she pulled on the shackles.
It was only when the sound of a door opening made her pause in her efforts to free herself. She heard footsteps, two sets of them to be exact. Letting go of the chain and settling into a more... Normal sitting position, Mina let her hair fall around her face as she found a very interesting spot on the floor to look at.
"Oh, she woke up already," A surprised male voice remarked.
"Doesn't change anything," Another male voice said. This one was a bit more flat and sounded rather bored. "She's still going back, awake or not."
Mina didn't recognize their voices... At least she thought she didn't. They did sound a little familiar somehow though. Stealing a glance through her bangs, her eyes widened in surprise. Looking up at the two men, she couldn't help the look of shock on her face.
"Tobias..? Joseph...?" She stared at the two Marines in front of her.
"Silence, pirate!" One of them barked at her.
The other Marine sighed and shook his head.
"What he means to say is, long time no see little sister!" He said with a playful smile on his face.
And that's a good place to stop right there. Don't worry Chapter 17 might go quicker than I think... I've had a lot of time to think things through with this arc. Of course now that I say that, I'll be struck with writer's block. And as always: Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a review then!