Mass x Acceleration

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Five

Between fitful sleeping and the knock on the door downstairs, the young lady and the young man were both awakened. Sleepily, the young woman looked at the clock and tried to mull over the late hour. "It's really late," she whispered, looking at her companion in sleepy curiosity. "Who in the world would be calling Mac now?"

The young man shrugged. "He's the mayor. Maybe it's an emergency?"

The sound of the caller's voice was soft, but familiar. It took them a few moments to recognize who it was, and a few more moments to believe it. They slowly turned their eyes towards each other and saw fear and panic mirrored in the expression of their companion. Their hands were shaking, and they felt their throats dry out as their blood froze.

They weren't imagining things.

It was him.

Mac didn't know who it was, but they knew. The voice was calm and scientific, precise in its choice of words, like slicing through the air with a scalpel as if it were flesh. The sound felt surreal, like it shouldn't be real, but without a doubt in either of their minds, it was him. Downstairs, Mac was talking with that man.

Tesla.

The conversation between Mac and Tesla floated up the stairs and through the floorboards, and they were able to hear enough to understand what was going on. Tesla was looking for them. He'd figured out their boat landed on Apple Island and obviously the mayor was the first person he should talk to – wouldn't a mayor know what was going on in his own town?

The young woman flung herself at the young man, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest. "No," she whispered. She felt him pull her closer to him, and could feel he, too, was sobbing. Tesla was going to find them. And they'd be taken back to the ship and thrown into the Tank and maybe they wouldn't even be allowed to see each other in the holding cell anymore. Neither of them, especially the young woman, was going to spend another moment without some kind of seastone restraint.

Freedom had been in their grasp. And now it was going to be snatched away again.

2 hours earlier

"So you made friends with the young man last night, huh Braeburn?" said Ria, sitting with her legs crossed at the blacksmith's kitchen table. She was idling sipping from her coffee cup, letting her left foot swing back and forth during their idle conversation. After leaving Mac's, the group had gotten dinner at the Cider Mug followed by dessert at Braeburn's. The twins were now asleep on his couch while their mother and her friend talked. Naturally, the blacksmith's "sleepover party" came up.

"Wasn't how I intended to befriend either one of them, but yeah, you could say that," he said. "Poor guy – wonder what the hell did that to mess them up so bad in the head like that?" The blacksmith added another lump of sugar to his coffee and rubbed his forehead. "Sometimes I just don't get people."

"Hmm?"

"Whoever did whatever that was to them gave them something that causes hallucinations."

"You don't mean like, acid or magic mushrooms or cactus juice or something?"

Braeburn sighed. "Maybe. Point is, whatever it was is still in his system at least – that's why he ran out on Mac last night. He wasn't trying to run away from the mayor or abandon his friend – if anything I don't think either one of them took well to being away from each other last night – but because he thought someone or something was chasing him and he was trying to get away from that."

"So he was running away from what amounts to . . . nothing," said the seamstress. She sighed, leaning back in her chair and stretching. "I can't imagine seeing things that aren't there and being so terrified of them I just start running away like that. He must have been terrified." She leaned forward and rested her head on the table. "Makes some of the shit we've gone through seem like child's play, you know?"

"We still know so little about what happened to them."

"You trying to downplay what happened to them?" asked Ria.

"I'm thinking that you might have made an understatement," said Braeburn. "But like I said . . . something happened to them, and I don't get it. When he was here last night, the young man made me dinner as a thank you. Ria, it was . . . amazing. I haven't had food that good in years. This guy is a TALENTED chef." He clenched his eyes shut. "Even with natural talent, he must have spent a long time – years, probably – learning how to use spices and how to handle meat and when to do what. And what's more it's not just a livelihood for him – it's his passion. He loves cooking. Ria, don't you see? He had a LIFE before something or someone pulled him away from it and did that to him. I just don't understand why someone would do that."

Ria cleared her throat, her playful tone melting into a stoic stare. "I know, Braeburn. You know how well I know that." She looked back into the living room where her girls were sleeping and frowned. "This is the Great Pirate Era, and we know firsthand most of them of . . . not very nice. There are a lot of bad people in this world, and a lot of good people get hurt because of it. The best we can do is keep the ones we love safe."

Braeburn looked forlornly out the kitchen window towards the sea. "Yeah. I know."

The seamstress looked away. "I know you miss-"

"Pirate ship!"

The present

Mac's eyes widened. Yes, yes that name did ring a bell. Tesla was a pirate notorious for cruelly torturing other pirates in the name of what he called 'science'. What the hell was he doing outside his front door? Why is this man here? What could he possibly want with this island! He swallowed as he nodded in recognition.

Tesla grinned, moving his way inside the house. The woman nodded at Mac, moving with her boss. Cobbler continued growling at them, resulting in the pirate captain giving the dog a cold glare. Mac wasn't sure if he should shut the door behind them or not – here, in his living room, was the crazed mad scientist of the Science Pirates, THOMAS TESLA!

Casually, Tesla sat down in Mac's favorite chair, folding his hands and neatly placing them in his lap. "It seems to me that you've heard of me and my work – am I correct?" Dumbly, Mac nodded, feeling himself begin to sweat around his collar. "Good, then. Please, sit down and relax – I have no ill intentions against you or any of your island's residents."

Mac sat down on the couch, taking a few deep breaths. He wasn't sure he trusted Tesla to keep his word, but for the moment he needed to stay calm. This was just what he needed – one day two kids in really rough shape wash up on his shore like they'd been through some kind of science experiment gone horribly wrong and then a few days later Thomas Tesla shows up looking for something-

Oh, FUCK.

1 hour, fifteen minutes earlier

Braeburn and Ria had stayed by the window in the blacksmith's kitchen, watching as the pirate ship made its way closer and closer to the shore, eventually docking a little bit off the beach – they would need to take a smaller boat to shore if they planned on making landfall. And once the pair saw something being lowered into the water, that confirmed the theory.

The seamstress scoffed. "Well, whoever those idiots are they have balls of steel coming here," said Ria, keeping a stone grip on her long empty coffee cup. "I can't believe they think it's a good idea here. Are they fucking blind or just stupid?" She sighed. "Well, maybe they're just low on supplies and they can't get to Water 7 on what they have and made a do or die decision."

"Well it's dark and a little foggy . . ." said Braeburn. "Maybe 'blind' isn't too far off."

"I guess that's possible. Still, can you make out the Jolly Roger?" said Ria.

Seeing she had a good idea, Braeburn started to fish through his kitchen junk drawers, seeking out a telescope or a pair of binoculars. After finding a toy telescope that he suspected belonged to one of the twins and deciding it would do for now, he lengthened the makeshift tool and peered out the window. "It's wearing safety goggles, and the cross-bones are a pair of bubbling test tubes instead of, well, bones."

Ria thought. "That sounds like the Tesla Pirates," she said. "They're known for-" Ria's eyes snapped open in sudden realization and her tone changed for the dramatic as she grabbed the blacksmith's elbows and looked at him in panic. "Braeburn! Did you finish the repairs on Romulus and Remus! Is Rosalie ready to go?"

"What?"

"Tesla runs experiments on people!"

Braeburn felt his spine go cold. "He's going to attack the island?"

"No, you idiot! Mac's guests!"

The blacksmith felt the world slow down. He HAD heard of the Tesla pirates before, and Ria was right – running experiments on people was what they were best known for. And Mac's guests . . . everything was falling into place. The hospital gowns they'd been wearing. The numbers on the backs of their necks – serial numbers or something.

Oh my God.

"That must be what happened to them, and now he's-"

"-your swords are in the forge and Rosalie is in the living room. Let's-"

". . . Mommy . . . Uncle Braeburn . . . why are you yelling?"

The adults froze when they realized the twins were awake . . . and couldn't be left alone.

The present

The young woman was afraid she was going to phase through the floor just like she had a week or so ago, only this time she'd be falling right into Tesla's clutches and not away from him like before. She whimpered at the young man, clinging to his arms and his pajamas. "I don't . . . I don't want to fall through the floor . . ." She barely spoke, wondering if young man could even hear her.

The young man evaluated her for a few seconds, his eyes wide. He pulled her tight, mumbled "trust me" into her ear, and gently, slowly, lifted them off the bed. The young woman almost shrieked, but he was quick to cover her mouth, shaking his head vigorously "no". She nodded, still fighting back sobs as she buried her face into the crook of his neck.

They floated there, the young man concentrating to keep her from falling through the bed, through the floor, and into Tesla's lap. He couldn't let that happened to her. Damn it, he hated his Devil Fruit – no, Devil Fruits – but right now one of them was keeping them safe, even if only for a few more minutes. Tesla finding out they were there would . . .

He couldn't stomach the thought.

45 minutes ago

Ria called in a favor from Kerry Pippin, one of the young ladies who worked in her shop part time, to watch the twins at the forge – she was not letting Braeburn go after Tesla alone, but there was no way she was going to leave the castaways to just get picked up by him and dragged back to whatever hellhole he'd kept them in for who knew how long. Once Kerry arrived, the seamstress kissed her children goodbye, promised she would come back, and left with the blacksmith, ready to fight.

"If he figures out what happened here they're in deep trouble – the more I think about it the more I'm convinced they're victims of that son of a bitch, and I've got a bad feeling that boat you found them in is one of his own lifeboats – if he sees it he's going to know that they're here!" said Ria. She was moving quickly, resolved to not let anything bad happen to the people they'd worked so hard to save. "We've got to do something if he starts snooping around for them!"

"It's been a long time since we've picked a fight, Ria," said Braeburn. "What good are we going to do them? These are pirates – they probably got into a fight with a bunch of Marines as recently as this morning! They're in much better shape to fight than we are!" The two were marching as fast as they could through the snow towards the mayor's. The blacksmith's house was closer on foot than where the Tesla pirates were docked, but they'd lost time finding someone to watch the twins and the path of the mad scientist would be clear of snow.

"Well we're the only people on the island who have a CHANCE against Tesla right now – the sheriff's only good for throwing the occasional drunk into the cooler for a night and at best we'd get an uncontrolled angry mob with pitchforks and torches out of the farming folk here – we don't even have a lot of hunters around here, Braeburn! We're IT, practice or no practice!"

Braeburn swallowed. She was right. As rusty as they were, the island didn't have anyone in town who could defend it at that moment, and the mayor's house was one of the worst places those drifters could be right now. Mac was in no position to stop Tesla if the pirate figured out his escaped prisoners were in his house – oh sure he would try to do something, but the last time he'd tried to defend anyone he'd gotten himself hurt.

"I can't believe I didn't think of him sooner," said Ria, mentally beating herself for the oversight.

"We can't worry about that now – we need to make sure we don't get ourselves killed – or dragged onto that ship ourselves – and protect Mac's house!" Braeburn shot a serious look at the seamstress. "Promise me this – if it gets bad, you get the hell out of there, you got that? You need to keep yourself safe for Wendy and Sundae. If things get nasty, run away. Understood?"

Ria nodded – she didn't want to abandon Braeburn, but he was right. "I guess I'll-"

"Hey, what are you two doing out so late? You look like you're on a war path!"

The blacksmith and seamstress stopped, turned, and couldn't believe their luck.

The present

"Good – you seem a bit more focused. Now, here is my problem – two of my specimens escaped my ship a few nights ago. All I need you to do is tell me whether or not they landed on your island, or if I need to search another nearby island for them. The research on them was quite exciting and I would like to get back to it as soon as possible," he said. He looked at Mac expectantly, grinning widely and leaning forward.

Mac smiled back. !

"Well?"

"Who told you to come find me?" He had to stall until he thought of something. Cobbler was still angry, gnarling his teeth at the scientist. Mac reached down and held the dog's collar. "Calm down, boy." I know you don't like him – I don't either. But it's too dangerous – we can't risk the castaways upstairs. It's not fair to play games with their freedom if this man is involved.

Tesla scoffed. "Some drunken whore wandering around on the beach – sober enough to give good directions, though. And wouldn't you know it, on my way here we came across one of my lifeboats. Since the only lifeboat that's gone missing in recent days is the one 0543 and 0544 used to escape I have no choice but to conclude they are here."
Mac closed his eyes. More stalling time. "Well, what did they look like?"

"0543 is a female around nineteen to twenty years of age. 0544 is a male around twenty to twenty one years of age," he said. "The girl has a tattoo on one arm. They were recently shaved so they don't have a whole lot of hair on their bodies right now." Tesla began to drum his fingers together, looking at Mac expectantly. "I already told you I saw my lifeboat. I know they're here. So stop stalling and tell me where they are!"

35 minutes earlier

" . . . and that's what's going on. You've gotta do something!" said Ria.

"You said it's a young man and a young woman?"

"Yes. Mac didn't want to spread around what happened but-" Braeburn started.

"Describe them to me. Now."

"Both of them were shaved bald but the young woman is growing in orange hair and has a tattoo on her left shoulder. The young man is growing in blonde hair and has eyebrows that curl up on the left side. They're both pretty skinny and in rough shape, but have gotten better since we found them a few days ago," said Ria. She widened her eyes. "Wait, you do know them do you-"

"Not personally, but I know someone who's been looking for a pair matching that description – well, mostly – who were kidnapped by Tesla a little over a year ago. If they escaped alive, and it sounds like they did, I'll eat my shirt if he's not looking for them. Here's what you two need to do – find a place to keep an eye on that ship without getting spotted. I will make sure that everyone on this island – including the escaped prisoners – is safe. When he leaves, come find me at the mayor's house. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir!" Ria and Braeburn said, heading off on their new assignment.

The present

That was it.

Mac was going to turn them over to Tesla, either out of fear for his island or fear for his own life. The young man was certain the man wouldn't turn them over to be evil – he had been far too nice to them. He'd given them real food – juice, apples, soup, crackers, rice, even some fish the other night – and much more than they could have asked for. They had pajamas. They were given privacy to give each other sponge baths. They had a BED to sleep on.

But Mac didn't have a reason to do any of that for them. He didn't owe them anything, and he didn't know them. Given the choice between protecting his island and his own life or theirs, the choice seemed obvious. They couldn't hate or blame him for that. They didn't want anything bad to happen to Mac or Gala or Braeburn or Ria and her girls . . . it wouldn't be fair to any of them.

But the little they'd gotten back in the last few days was going to be gone and they'd be back to where they were before. Back to the holding cell. Back to the experiments, and they might have been worse than before now Tesla knew the second powers had "woken up" or whatever. He clutched at the hem of the young woman's pajamas, feeling the fox wanting to come out. He thought he could feel his face moving, thought he could feel fur sprouting from his hands.

No, not now! He had to keep the young woman floating so she didn't sink through the floor. He didn't know if he could use both powers at once – if he turned into the fox against his will they might be done for. Even if the young woman didn't phase through the floor Tesla might hear the creak of them landing on the mattress and demand to know what he had just heard.

And that was when he heard what might as well have been the voice of an angel.

"What's going on here?"

Mac could have sobbed. You always did have the best timing . . .

Eight years ago . . .

The town was still a mess.

Mac was amazed that, after so many years of living on the Grand Line – born and raised – that this was the first time his precious home had been brutalized by pirates. Entire neighborhoods were reduced to scorched woods and memories as the townspeople sifted through the rubble for their loved ones. They were leaderless in the wake of that yellow-bellied Mayor Egle attempting to flee the island – Mac felt no sympathy when the pirates sunk his ship. No one knew the death toll yet, but there would be plenty of work in the graveyard in the days to come. Even with a Marine flagship in sight of the island, their cries for help went unnoticed.

But pride of the island, the orchards, were untouched. All because of . . .

"Hey, how's your knee?"

Mac turned his head to see the island's savior sitting beside him in Dr. Fuji's infirmary, a smile on his face and a mug of hard apple cider in hand. The town record clerk struggled to sit up, the other man wincing in sympathy. "I'm okay. Marines, pirates, and bounty hunters survive gunshot wounds all the time – this is nothing, right?"

"No offense, Mac, but you're not in half the shape even the weakest of those guys are in," said the other man, crossing his legs. "For someone like me, then yeah it's nothing, but for you? Doc Fuji's really worried about you. You need to keep weight off it if you ever plan on walking again." His concern shifted to a grin. "That said, you had some balls of steel out there."

"I got my ass kicked in about two seconds," said Mac.

"Yes. Yes you did. But you had the guts to get out there and stand up to those pirates, knowing that you had next to no chance of winning," said the other man. He threw back the rest of the cider. "And I respect that. I like you – you're really weak but you've got a lot of spunk!" Mac frowned as the man laughed at him. "No, no, don't look at me like that – I really like you. There are much stronger men out there who don't have half the guts you do."

"But I didn't do anything. So many people are dead-"

"- but you stalled them a little and probably saved a few lives, too," said the other man. He grinned. "That's actually why I'm here. Since the mayor fled and got himself cannoned to death the sheriff rallied who was left for a little election, and guess who won by a landslide." Mac's eyes widened in disbelief.

"What! But I'm just a records clerk!" he said.

"No, you're the mayor."

"I don't know how to lead the island!" said Mac. He closed his eyes. "If you hadn't shown up when you did this island would have been destroyed! You protected everyone . . . and the orchards. Not so much as a leaf was harmed. You stopped the bloodshed. You saved this town. Why didn't they make you the mayor?"

"I don't want to be a mayor."

"Then why do you think I do?"

"I like this island. But not like you. You have passion, and everyone sees that. Sure, maybe you don't know all the details about how to file paperwork or whatever it is mayors do, but you love this island and they trust you to make decisions about the town and the people here. That's why they made you mayor."

Mac closed his eyes and couldn't help but smile. "Those idiots." He turned his attention to the other man. "You know, I'm going to need to discuss it with everyone – guess I need to schedule a town hall, don't I? – but I'd actually like to ask you something." He laid back down, getting tired. "The Marines left us for dead. Bounty hunters would charge us an arm and a leg. But you . . . I think I trust you."

"What are you saying?"

"I'd like to ask the town if they'd like it if Apple Island became your turf and we flew your flag."

The present

Cobbler perked up at the sound of the new voice and woofed. He rushed to the front door, sitting before this newest visitor with his tail wagging in excitement and his tongue hanging out of his mouth. He was rewarded with a dog treat and a scratch behind the ears. "Hey there, Cobbler – you've gotten big since the last time I saw you!"

Tesla and Curie looked like they were going to be sick.

Mac got to his feet. "Shanks, what a surprise! How are you, my dear friend?"

Author's Notes

I told you it would be okay.

You will get an explanation (and possibly Tesla peeing himself) next chapter.

-Dixxy