Karmen smiles haughtily as Baldwin leads her into the banquet hall. Tonight's event is a masquerade. She wears a tight blue dress that her father sent over, complete with white elbow length gloves to cover her tattoo and a diamond bracelet. It has half a single sleeve to cover her right shoulder and a high slit up the skirt that ends halfway up her left hip. The back dips farther than she's comfortable with, but the front covers the healing bullet wound on her stomach, much to her mother's irritation. Her three inch heels have ribbons that wrap up her calves to hide the scars on her ankles. The mask covering her face is a lacey butterfly that leaves her forehead and mouth exposed. She would have chosen something with feathers, but she hadn't been able to pick anything that she wore since she'd entered this Itluk Manor. Her hair was trimmed the night before. Tonight it is woven into a hive on her head and twisted into patterns of roses, butterflies, and pinned with sapphires. Woven into the side is a single sunflower.
She had greeted everyone yesterday, but several guests came back up to her to greet her again, especially her father's elderly male business partners. She smiles and kisses cheeks and tries not to grin at the full length masks hiding puffy red faces from the greetings the night before. She doesn't see much difference in some of their appearances despite this fact. They're all faceless pigs. As they make their rounds, she encourages the government agents lining the walls to enjoy the celebration, making sure the servants offer them food for their diligence. They walk by the blue fountain and Baldwin guides her onto the dance floor to join what is supposed to be a waltz. Her toes are trod upon several times and his sweaty hand remains planted on her lower back. When the song ends, she picks his golden pocket watch out of his pocket and goes to sit at a table. She twirls it over the place setting, watching the seconds tick. She doesn't care where Baldwin wanders off to. Her mother stands on an indoor balcony, overseeing the progression of the party.
Karmen twirls the watch in front of her face for ten more ticks before deciding she's bored to tears. There's no infighting, no skeletons getting kicked in the face for asking inappropriate questions. No steady beat of hammers or wrenches or the turning of pages. No food being stolen or people angrily changing forms. There wasn't even anyone she knew from fish riding competitions. Sighing, she drops the watch on the table and props her chin up on her hand. A man wearing a cape and a swallow-tailed hummingbird mask approaches. She glares. He bows deeply and extends his gloved right hand to her. The elegant blue, green, purple, and black feathers that cover his head plume like a mane and fall to his mid-back, bobbing with the motion that makes her slightly envious. She is about to wave him off when she sees a pale moss green shell hanging from a silver chain at his wrist. She lifts her head suspiciously to it, but takes the man's hand.
He places his hands carefully to make sure he doesn't touch her skin. She feels comfortable in his arms already. When he pulls her close she whispers to where his ear should be, "There's antimony powder in my makeup. It would be best if you avoided my face." He gives her hand a slight squeeze in acknowledgement. "And you remembered the thing about the punch bowl?" Squeeze. "Good. I used a strong one. We have to make this look like I'm unwilling." He leads her onto the dance floor. "Be a dear and lead me to the balcony? We can talk there."
She gives the musicians a bob of her head and they strike up a new song. They start off with a waltz. With the exchanges of partners they don't get a chance to make much progress into the room. She appreciates that he's taking regular sized steps and doesn't step on her toes. When the song ends she motions for the musicians to pick up the pace. She returns to her feathered partner for a foxtrot. In the end, he pushes with his hand and prompts her to spin around his knee. She comes off his leg into a dip. They are in the middle of the room now. "You've found a level-headed teacher. Do you have two more in you?" He extends his hand to her once more, which may have actually been him offering to help her stand up straight. She motions again.
He pulls her up into a paso doble. For a moment, Karmen is thankful to her mother and father for forcing her to wear a dress that had a slit all the way up the leg. They had meant to use it as a selling point for Baldwin, who was upset that the first wedding had been "called off." She was going to sell it all right. She sashays her skirts, flashing as much of her scarred thigh as she could to annoy her mother, and allows her partner to throw her into some low leveled flips. He pulls out some footwork and fancy kicks. By now several of the other couples have stopped dancing and have brought their attention to the pair as they make their way across the third quarter of the floor. She briefly wonders if they are watching the dance or if the poison is taking effect. She had worked with the slaves and chef to put it in the food and drink. It's either the dim lights or the toxins effects, but what she can see of their faces are starting to look pale. She motions again with a stylistic twist of her wrist. "Last one. Can you keep up?"
They step off into an Argentine tango. There are so many kicks, lifts, twists, and spins that she is left breathless. In the middle of the dance he dips her, bringing the bird mask so close to her face that she can feel something thin and metal pressing into her lips amongst the feathers. When he pulls away, she has her poisoned pen clutched lightly in her teeth. "Oh you naughty boy," she whispers to him around the alloy. "Where were you hiding that?" He pulls her up and turns her again. She can barely feel her feet touching the ground at all. He finishes the dance by extending her foot over his shoulder and letting her hair graze the floor.
She doesn't see her mother on the balcony anymore. Perhaps she caught sight of the quill and is mobilizing the guards. People start falling to the ground. Karmen pulls her quill from her mouth and smiles up at the bird mask. "I think that's our cue." He stands her up and pushes the balcony doors open. The guards who aren't incapacitated start making their way towards them. He pulls her forward until they're against the railing. "I don't think Pierce is here, but I heard his voice over the transponder snail. I think he's being transported on a ship." She grips the beak of the mask and begins to lift it off. "Well, you can get rid of that cowl of a mask now, Z- Sanji?!"
"My, my, Karmen. You're one hell of a dancer. You weren't expecting someone else, were you? Remember, act unwilling." The mask slips out of her hand and falls back over his face as he throws an arm around her shoulders and holds a kitchen knife under her chin as the guards surround them. "Take one step closer and she dies," he says. "We'll make our demands known soon."
"What do you think you're doing?" Karmen growls at him. "I don't have time for this. I have a wedding to attend. If you put a mark on me before the ceremony father will ensure your death is slow and painful. Release me at once, rapscallion."
"Either you come quietly or you die, Gallowcomb." He curls Gallowcomb off his tongue like the a private joke. She has to fight to keep scowling.
"I thought father took care of you blackguards." She stomps her pointed heel on the end of his shoe. He flinches and his grip loosens a bit and she elbows him in the gut. The knife against her carotid artery stops any further resistance. She glares at the guards. "You all are useless! No wonder I had to hire pirate scum! They're willing to destroy whole towns to get a little gold and they know how to do a job properly. I hope father makes examples out of all of you!"
She headbutts the mask, beak absorbing most of the impact, and Sanji stumbles a little. His foot slips but his grip tightens and they both topple over the balcony. Karmen can't help but to scream and cling to his jacket as they plunge over a 500 meter cliff with the ocean fast approaching. Not only was it a deadly height, it was cold and the folds of his jacket negated most of the wind. Sanji slips his knife into his belt and holds her securely, not minding her clinging one bit.
75 feet from the water, hands spring from nowhere and create a net to catch them and reduce their speed at a safe rate. They are drawn up into the Thousand Sunny which is resting in a nook that's been carved out by the waves and invisible from the building above. Sanji sets her down triumphantly. "Yo," Zoro calls from his seat on the railing. He exhales sharply through his nose at the sight of the chef but give her his attention. "How'd it go?"
"You." Her eyes are accusing and angry. "Why weren't you up there?"
"Me? I was taking out your family's guards. What else?"
"But it was supposed to be you up there! He had the dial so I just assumed…" Her face turns red as she slides to her knees and covers her cheeks. "And after I said those embarrassing things."
"You expect him to be able to dance like that?" Sanji tosses his mask and lights a cigarette.
"He would if you would teach him the right parts!"
Sanji gives Zoro a smug look when Karmen turns away. The swordsman returns a hard glower but both straighten up when Karmen looks back. Robin chuckles.
"You've seen my necklace?" Zoro asks. "I took it off earlier when I swam to shore and misplaced it."
"I get kidnapped and forced into a pre-wedding banquet and you go for a swim?" The swordsman only shrugs.
Sanji leans down a bit. "You never gave me back my handkerchief so I thought it would be an acceptable way to identify myself." He was right of course. When she had borrowed it after running into Baldwin the first time she had kept it to wash it. It was still hanging on the line below deck. Sanji straightens and slips the liquid dial off his wrist and tosses it to Zoro. "You should keep better track of gifts from beautiful women."
Zoro makes sure the necklace is securely in place before he pushes off the rail to stand by them. "You were up there a long time. What were you doing?"
"Testing a theory," he says, taking a long drag before grinning. "And making sure the lady had a decent dancing partner."
"Dancing?" Zoro yells. "Why you little-"
"What are you so upset about? You had a nice time, right, Karmen?"
"Well yeah, but…" She pulls her mask further over her face. "A Paso Doble and an Argentine tango," she mutters to herself. She poises her pen near Sanji's ankle, suddenly angry. "Did you look up my skirt on that last dip?"
Sanji stumbles back a few steps. "Who do you take me for, Brook?" The chef turns around to deal with a sudden nosebleed.
"Did you call me? Yohohoho!" comes the voice of the musical skeleton. "My you look ravishing. Tell me, are you wearing panties?" Luffy swings around the cove's entrance with Brook and Usopp clinging to his back. Usopp hits Brook over the head with his hammer for the comment. Luffy's clothes are full of holes but he's grinning proudly.
Franky comes out of the cabin followed by Nami. Karmen assumes they've just docked the hobby horse or mini-Merry. "The ship's ready to go," he says. "Yow, little sis. You clean up nicely."
"None of you ate or drank anything, right?" Karmen asks, finally pulling off her mask.
"We all knew better than to trust a buffet you were trapped in." Sanji grins. "Who do you take me for, these idiots?" He nods his head towards the Captain and first mate.
"You mean you didn't bring me any food?" Luffy asks. "I worked up an appetite fighting and Franky drug me away from the food in the ballroom."
"I'll cook something once we're out of here," Sanji says.
"Don't worry. I shared your warning. You poisoned the punch bowl, right?" Zoro kicks her mask into the ocean.
She lets herself smile then. "And a few other items on the table. It's a shame Mom and Baldwin didn't eat more than they did. I would have loved to see them hit the floor." She frowns at her mother's forethought. "Maybe I included too much of the truth in those letters I sent home."
"What kind did you use this time?"
"Aniline. You'd be surprised how much of it you can find in a house like that, with all its paintings and new dresses. It has a lovely delayed effect that takes an hour or two to kick in. By the time it started working everyone was dancing and spreading the toxins through their systems even faster." She let herself grin wickedly. "You should have seen them passing out when we were jumping from the balcony. It was better than the dance itself."
"Did you leave an antidote?" Chopper asks, coming out of the same door Nami and Franky had appeared from.
"I told the servants to fill the fountain with methylene blue. Their doctors will figure it out. I was able to slip the slaves some keys, so hopefully they were able to escape with all the confusion."
"Well as long as you enjoyed yourself." Zoro offers a hand to her. "This doesn't count as 'too delayed,' right?"
She allows him to pull her up. "My tongue is still intact and I never made it into anything silk, so I'd say not." His hand is damp, with seawater or sweat she can't tell. She remembers that he's injured and thinks that maybe it's a good thing he didn't set foot in the ballroom. Without pulling away, she turns to the cook. "Thank you for coming to get me. It was a lovely dance."
"I should be the one thanking you," he grins dreamily. "I haven't danced like that with a woman in ages."
"We should go before he starts spouting poetry," Zoro mutters.
"Yeah," she sighs. "Mom's probably called in the warships by now." She uses both hands to examine her skirt. "I think I'll go change into something a little more battle worthy."
Nami looks her over. "What's wrong with that dress?"
"Father picked it out, of course."
When the door closes behind her the vein pops out on Zoro's forehead. "Testing a theory, huh? Is that why the dial's empty?"
"What did you expect me to drink?" Sanji asks. "She poisoned everything else. And it was very good sake."
Zoro places a hand on his white handled sword. "I'll kill you."
"Go ahead." Sanji beams. "I can die happily after tonight. It's really a shame that she thought I was you." He slides his exposed eye slyly in Zoro's direction. "Do you even know how passionate an Argentine tango is?"
Zoro glances over at Robin. "We haven't gotten that far into the lessons yet." She rests her chin on her palm and smiles knowingly.
"Besides," Sanji grins. "You would have been caught in two seconds flat if you had gone up, seeing as you only know the woman's steps."
When Karmen returns, dressed as the Scarlet Secretary, Sanji has a goose egg. "Hey," Usopp calls. "Your hair is down. I haven't seen you like this since we left Gekko Island."
Karmen runs a hand through her curls. "Of course. I can't let this expensive hair product go to waste, now can I?" As she passes to the bow, she points the tip of her quill at Zoro. "You owe me a tango."
"Come on. How about a smooth?"
She turns back to look at him. "You can smooth?"
"That certainly was." Robin laughs.
Nami and Franky set Sunny sailing and Karmen adjusts her poison capsules in her quills. "To be honest, I was expecting Luffy to smash in the walls and Gatling gun everyone."
"We did, but rescuing you right away would have been boring. Besides, you spent all that time training so you could escape stuff like that on your own, right?" Luffy grins.
"So instead you…?"
"I beat up that jerk." Meaning Baldwin.
"Oh I would trade my gold seal to have seen that," she croons. "What happened to your clothes?"
"I got hit by that guy with a glass tank on his back."
"Uncle Ludovic is here?" she asks. She looks at Luffy's seemingly moth-eaten clothing again. "The guy with the big hair and the acid?" She wishes she had been there to see it.
"He was there," Franky grins. "Luffy sent him flying with his bazooka along with your fiancé and mom. And then we busted our way in, but you'd already made a super escape."
"The rest of us took out your mother and her guards," Usopp says proudly.
"Zoro ran off on his own and we thought he'd get to you first, but it looks like he got lost and ended up back at the ship," Nami says. "So Brook, Chopper, and Usopp went to look for Pierce, Robin moved Sunny, and the rest of us went looking for you."
"I took the liberty on myself to spirit you away, so to speak," Sanji says. "I hope you're not too upset with me."
"You were a perfect prince," she responds. "This is a lot easier than having to find you all. Sorry if I damaged your shoe."
"When we got in a cook said you were planning on escaping on your own," Usopp said. "Did something happen with Pierce?"
Karmen closes her eyes, remembering the painful state that the transponder snail had reflected. "I heard his voice through a snail," she says at last. "But I couldn't say anything to him because my father was there on the other side of the line too. If I married Baldwin, we both would die. If I escape, father will either kill him or wait for me to return on my own. There's something else that I don't know about. They need me for something. I can't guarantee it, but he has a higher chance of survival like this. Either way, I've decided that fall off the balcony is the end. Gallowcomb Jenevive Willow Karmen is dead. They may still try to use Pierce, but they won't use me ever again."
"Won't reports of you being dead give them a reason to kill Pierce?" Sanji asks.
"I didn't go with Mom and Baldwin because they threatened Pierce. If they had him here they would have brought him with them and made a big spectacle of threatening him," she explains. "I went with them because they had this." Karmen holds up a yellowed, folded piece of paper. "It's the original proof of ownership. They can't kill Pierce without serious repercussions."
"You can't beat an original Valentine," Usopp says.
Robin goes to look over the document, but Karmen tucks it into her bag. "Sorry, that's for my eyes only," she whispers. "There are others I have to protect." Robin nods with understanding.
"So what now?" Nami asks.
"Once he learns about what's happened, father will turn around and lick his wounds. The plan's the same as it's been. Cross the Red Line. Save Pierce. Burn my bridges." And find out the truth.