Chapter 6

Threat

The burly Vice Admiral, who had the younger lad on his shoulders for a few minutes after entering the establishment, stopped after a while inside before throwing his body onto the ground in what was a dingy place. The surrounding area wasn't entirely dark; it provided just enough light for him to be aware of his surroundings. Of course, that was what enabled him to be able to spot the first person who had come to address him.

"Hey, don't be so rough on him." The voice came from a woman of relatively young stature and medium height. She seemed to be the first to have appeared to meet the Vice Admiral, regardless of whether he had summoned her or not. She placed a hand on her waist. "We need him in one piece."

Onigumo sneered a little, letting out what seemed like a remark of displeasure from his palate before casting a similar glance to the young pirate on the ground. "Such a little bump won't work on him. He's been through worse and I've seen him come out okay in the end."

At that point, a second voice spoke up, coming to join the two people who were already on the scene. This time the voice came from a male person, and the person in question had a calm voice, which went hand in hand with the manner in which he made himself present to both Onigumo and the girl. His hands were in his pocket as he made his way towards them, and he was clad in a full suit, all but the tie in place on his body.

"But is this really okay? I mean he can just be held back at Impel Down. Level 5 did a good job of restraining him the last time he was there." While it was not exactly common knowledge just what exactly had happened in Impel Down except for the part where Luffy invaded the prison and successfully escaped with 200 other inmates, making him the second to do so after Shiki, a handful of people were well aware of the fact that when the Straw Hat Captain was in the walls of the prison, he had fought with the then warden, Magellan, a fight in which he lost horribly and afterwards, he was thrown in the Frozen Hell of Level 5.

Onigumo was the one who responded to the person who had just appeared, averting his gaze from the female who was sharing his company a few moments back. "Fleet Admiral's orders, I didn't even expect to be the one sent on such a job as soon as the pirate had resurfaced."

"Akainu-san never lets things go, does he?" The sole female in the trio said to no one in particular, but she seemed to be addressing both men with that sentence just then.

"Of course, Straw Hat Luffy is the first person ever to escape his clutches. When Akainu has his sights set on you, you're as good as dead," Onigumo said, in his usual no-nonsense voice. While initially it did vex him being sent on such an errand which he believed could have been done by anyone else in Marine HQ, he had to admit to himself that there was a degree of satisfaction he felt at finally apprehending the man who had caused the World Government a great headache. It had become a bit tedious to read reports of his constant troublemaking in things that had to with the government, so the 2 years in which he was inactive had proved to be a reprieve from that.

Before the trio could delve into further conversation, they were joined by yet another person, this time it being a swordsman. The man in question was clad in a kimono, a stark contrast to the manner in which both Onigumo and his other male companion were wearing. On his waist, he had three swords strapped, and as he moved they also moved noiselessly beside him. His feet were covered in a pair of sandals, which had an ancient Japanese make, and they echoed a bit loudly as he took one step after the other headed to where his comrades were standing.

"This is odd. Where are the rest of your swords?" The girl asked him before he drew level with them. Like everyone there except Onigumo, she had duly taken note of the number of swords strapped onto his waist band. They were a considerably less number than what they usually saw him wielding, so it was a definite cause of concern at that moment.

The swordsman scratched the back of his head for a moment, before finally opening his mouth to speak in what was a surprisingly lazy voice, for someone of his disposition. His other hand was resting within the folds of his kimono, and he proceeded to place his other hand into the kimono.

"Carrying all of them tends to get weary, besides, there's no action yet, so there's no need to be fully armed as of yet," the swordsman responded.

"Please, they aren't even your swords in the first place. You shouldn't express such confidence in things that aren't even yours," his partner told him, standing beside Onigumo with his hands behind his head, as he rested himself on the wall that was behind him. It was common knowledge to everyone who was in the facility just then that the swordsman had a penchant for taking the swords of any of the opponents he beat in battle, provided that they were also swordsmen. And not just any swordsmen, but swordsmen who would give him a good time in battle, otherwise he would find it a total chore. He would then proceed to add those swords to his collection, so at said moment he currently had 6 swords in his possession. Of course, it went without saying that he did not exactly pick just any sword he found, the sword had to be to his liking and if it was a substandard sword, he would just discard it along with the life of its owner.

"Dead men don't exactly have a say in anything, do they?" The swordsman nonchalantly replied as he stopped a foot before the trio that was before him. He had not noticed it before since he was not paying attention and was preoccupied with conversing with his comrades, but now that he had drawn closer to them, he was able to see it clearly.

Looking down at Luffy's unmoving body, he asked no one in particular," And what do we have here?"

The woman decided to address him, her hands on her waist and standing on the other side of the wall. "His name is Monkey D. Luffy. A rookie with a bounty of 400 million. After the war on MarineFord, he went missing for a whole 2 years but soon enough he resurfaced, and here he is now."

The swordsman bobbed his head to the side a little, with his hands still in the sleeves of his kimono. He had most definitely heard that name before, as much as he detached himself from the ongoing events in the outside world and preferred to keep to him as much as possible, there were a few things that he had committed to heart, among them being the names of notorious criminals. "Luffy? I think I've heard of that name somewhere before." Luffy currently had his face downwards to the ground owing to how he had been roughly manhandled, so the swordsman readjusted his position on the ground using one of the sandals on his feet.

"Hey, don't do that." His comrade told him, getting his hands off the wall where they were resting and preparing to intercede in case things went out of hand.

"Tch, pirate scum is pirate scum. It doesn't matter how you treat them either way."

The female edged closer to him, now standing beside him as they looked down at the form of the unmoving boy. At that moment, the swordsman's eyes widened as he now remembered where he had heard the name before, and the young man's face suddenly seemed familiar to him, finally coming into view and he found himself looking down at the boy's face. "Ah, it's that boy. He's the Captain of the crew that has Pirate Hunter Zoro."

"What, do you have some sort of grudge with Roronoa Zoro?" Onigumo asked, edging closer to the duo that was standing on the opposite side of Luffy's body. This was the first time he was hearing anything of the sort coming from the man, despite having known the group for quite a while now. Despite the surprise however, the Vice Admiral was all too aware of the Pirate Hunter's skills, after witnessing them at Enies Lobby 2 years ago when he and the rest of the crew had showed up there to save Nico Robin.

The swordsman rubbed his chin, both his hands out of the sleeves of his kimono. "It's not exactly something personal, but I have been interested in the swords he possesses for a while now. Maybe my lucky day has finally come." His fascination with swords did not just end at collecting the swords he bested his opponents of, during his own free time he did his own research about any of the legendary swords that existed in the world. It was with that conviction that one day, he had come across information about 12 Meitou, the world's rarest and most special swords, so with that information he had also popped upon the news that Roronoa Zoro had 3 of those swords in his possession. Those were a little too many swords in the hands of one person, so for quite a while Zoro had been the renegade swordsman's target. It was only prudent that he relieves him of the three swords, after all.

To that reply, Onigumo sneered a little, before remarking himself, as he now turned away from the trio that had assembled before him. "Well, I don't particularly care what you do, provided that you don't let that runt escape, or get stolen from beneath your feet. If we're going to have another failure on our hands like with the CP-9…" He placed a special emphasis on that last part of the sentence, and a little of his bitterness seeped out into his voice, something that the others took dull note of but decided not to pay too much heed to.

Regardless, that did not prevent the swordsman's male counterpart from speaking up in response to the Vice Admiral's retreating form. Taking a step forward in front of his other two comrades, he said in an astute voice. "You don't have to worry about us, Onigumo-san." He then proceeded to take Luffy's limp body that was on the ground and hoist it on his shoulder, before walking away in an opposite direction to where the Vice Admiral was heading to. He stopped a few metres short, before glancing from the corner of his eye. "If anything, we're better than that failed group known as the CP-9."

Onigumo, who had stopped for a few moments to look at the man as he made his bold claim, smiled from the corner of his mouth grimly, before turning his head once more to face the outskirts of the facility. "So be it then." With that clear and out of the way, the burly man stepped out into the light of day for the second time. While he could rest assured now since the first part of his job was done, he couldn't allow himself to rest completely easy since he still had to go back to Marineford to report the issue. Once that was done, he would return to the facility with the Fleet Admiral in tow, and once that was done, he was sure that Monkey D Luffy's fate would be sealed for good.

Somewhere out at sea

"Hmm, I think I get the gist of things now," Hancock said, once Nami and Robin were done filling her up with the details of all that had transpired regarding Luffy's capture. While it was difficult taking in all that had happened to her beloved, she could still take consolation in the fact that Luffy was still alive.

Now the real issue was getting him back, and in one piece at that.

They had been out at sea for quite some time, not wasting any time ever since they had regrouped at Sabaody Archipelago and also disembarking from there as soon as Hancock had arrived at the ship along with the people who had gone ashore to explain the situation to Rayleigh-san. Once they were back in the sea once more, the Pirate Empress was familiarized with the remaining crew members who she had yet to meet. As she had already anticipated from the captain's nature, they were as amiable a crew as he was. She smiled to herself as she reminisced briefly on how mixed their reactions were when she took a first step onto the deck of the ship.

"You girls hungry? I brought you something to eat," Sanji says, interrupting the moment between the trios of girls before setting a delicacy of sea king meat. The particular delicacy was so large that at first the girls were not sure they would be able to complete it, but they needed as much energy as they could where they were heading.

It had taken quite a while for the blonde cook to be able to regain his senses from the momentary shock of having the Pirate Empress aboard the Thousand Sunny. Never in all his life had he thought that he would be in such close proximity with the prettiest woman in the world, so today seemed to be a blessing in more ways than one. Soon enough, however, he went back to normal, and was able to carry on like he always did around the rest of his crewmates. . That however, did not stop him from gawking on the new comrades who were aboard their ship at the moment.

While Boa Hancock had indeed arrived at Sabaody Archipelago using her grandiose ship and accompanied by the rest of her crew, the Kuja Pirates, it wasn't the same thing she was planning to disembark off the island once more to go save Luffy. As much as she adored him and wanted to go to his side as soon as possible, she wasn't exactly as reckless at him when it came to things like this. That was one thing she could admit they didn't have in common. It was to that effect that she had chosen a handful of her best warriors to accompany her: Margaret, Sweet Pea, Sandersonia and Marigold.

Originally, Aphelandra had wanted to accompany them, insisting that she had wanted to show her appreciation to Luffy for saving her when Hancock had inadvertently turned her to stone back on Amazon Lily, but her peers dissuaded her, telling her that someone as big as her would draw too much attention to herself and the people she was with at that point. Eventually, the oversized woman had to content herself with remaining behind and waiting on Sabaody with the rest of the crew.

At said moment, the four girls who accompanied the Pirate Empress were associating with the other crew members. Margaret was listening to Brook play his guitar on the deck of the ship and swaying her head from side to side in tune with his music, a smile on her face and her eyes closed in bliss. Her initial impression of Brook was not exactly the best one, since it was not exactly common to get off the right foot with someone when they asked to see your panties. Despite that, Margaret had not allowed that to plague her first time on Luffy's ship, so as soon as Brook had apologized, she had delved into conversation with him that had actually turned out to be more enjoyable that she had initially thought.

Besides that, the Pirate Empress's sisters were on one side of the ship, looking out towards the sea. They were both unusually silent, which was quite a site as both of them were loud spoken even more than their younger sister, but perhaps their solemn nature at the moment was showing the degree of worry they felt regarding their sister's beloved. There was a slight breeze out at sea, something that caused their hair to sway silently and mirrored the same feelings that they both held in their hearts.

Sweet Pea, on the other hand, was in the medical ward of the hospital along with Chopper, and the girl was too endorsed in the skills of the younger medic, marveling at each and every one of the things he did. It wasn't exactly common knowledge to everyone except a select few who were close to her in the island, but Sweet Pea was a lover of everything that involved herbs and medicine. In her free time, she would visit the forest in the village and collect herbs, which she would proceed to later on go and practice her medical skills with. It was a bit of a downer being the only one with that interest in the island, so having someone else who had the same interests was a blessing to her.

After looking around the ship to see that all her crewmates had settled in quite well, she turned back her attention to Nami and Robin, this time with a stern expression on her face. Sanji, who was resting his back against the wooden rail on the side of the ship and had his hands in the pockets of his suit, his gaze cast slightly downwards, duly took note of the change in expression on Hancock's visage, but chose to say nothing as he braced himself for what the woman was about to say.

"Do you guys know what happened at Impel Down 2 years ago?" She asked curtly, her gaze drifting between the two girls plus the sole male who was sharing their company.

Sanji responded his voice calm and collected. "Yeah, it was in the news back then. Luffy infiltrated Impel Down to save Ace, and in the result of his escape he released 200 other inmates who were also in the prison walls." He then turned his gaze to Hancock, making eye contact with her for the first time ever since she had come aboard and not melting from the action. "What about it?"

Hancock pursed her breath a little, before responding again. "The Government won't risk holding him in that place again, since having another slight on their honor would only dampen the faith of the people in them. To that effect they want to deal with the immediate problem, that is, you guys, as soon as possible and as subtly as possible."

"This means….." Robin asked, but she already had an idea of what the answer would be even before it left Hancock's lips.

"They'll hold him at an institution that's not too familiar with the public. I have a general idea where the place is, since it's relatively new, and I think you guys have been there in the past as well."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Nami said, worry still gnawing away at her heart. There was something strangely ominous regarding what Hancock had just said just then, and Nami was not exactly sure she wanted to find out what was on the other side of it.

"Oh yeah, you guys didn't know about it, being all in hiding and stuff. Well, I already told your shipwright, so I guess I'll fill you on in it."

Sanji glanced out to the water that surrounded them, taking note of the ship's trajectory and the nature of the water in this area. "Now that you mention it, where are we headed to? I don't remember ever seeing this area of the sea, although for some odd reason, it seems strangely familiar. Like I've been here before."

Hancock had a look of recognition on her visage just then as she looked at the blonde man, realizing that he was probably one of the smartest people aboard. Before the dark haired woman could continue any further, however, someone called out to them from the front of the ship where the rudder was. It was Franky.

"Hey, you guys! There's an island showing up at 12'oclock!"

Zoro, was on his hammock that was erected in the grassy patch of land on the deck, with his hands behind his back and drifting between slumber and being awake, had his attention captured by Franky's words just then. He arched the upper part of his body upwards as he refocused his gaze in the direction that Franky had pointed out just then. A small smile broke out onto his lips," It's about damn time."

Hancock turned her head backwards to look at the shipwright, nodding her affirmation to him, before turning her head back to Sanji, Nami and Robin. "It seems we've already arrived. Look around you. Does this place seem any familiar?" She asked the three Strawhats, but at that moment, each of them had a look of shock and surprise placated onto their faces.

A/N: To be continued.