Their plan had worked… surprisingly well. Strauss herself hadn't expected it to go so swimmingly even in her wildest dreams. Not that she was complaining at all… but the pragmatic side of her feared that the good times weren't going to last.
She had thought they would have to surface at some point, possibly for lack of air, but as it turned out it was possible to stay for months underwater if Law wanted them to. Months! Submarines really were something, huh? It meant it was pretty much child's play for the Polar Tang to move under the shadow of a Marine warship and through the Gates of Justice when they were opened.
"I can't believe this is working…" Law murmured, watching through the periscope as the currents began to shift from the closing of two massive concrete doors. "The Marines always boasted of their security… especially around the Tarai Current…"
"Well I suppose they weren't expecting a submarine," Strauss replied with her leg pressed up against the wall. This was making her antsy. "Where the hell'd you even get something like this? Pirate submarines are pretty much unheard of, at least to my knowledge."
He scoffed a little, lips curling in a begrudged smirk. "Let's just say it cost an arm and a leg. Neither limb belonging to me obviously."
She should've known. "Well it's certainly coming in handy." In a swish of her hips she moved into a handstand, exchanging weight between her hands accordingly. "I couldn't have asked a more useful guy."
"That much is obvious" The periscope got sent back up. "I'm the epitome of usefulness."
"As if."
"Uh… Captain? Miss Strauss?" A large fuzzy head poked through the doorway.
Law straightened as Strauss flipped back to her feet, "What is it Bepo-ya?"
"Well, uh…" Bepo waddled in, claw scratching the back of his neck. "I just wanted to say that it seems like the… uh… current will be much faster than I anticipated."
"Isn't that good?" Law crossed his arms. "We'll then have additional time to prepare before the war properly kicks off. So how long will it be to get there? 2 days? 1 and a half?"
"Well that's the thing…" The claws started tapping against each other. "By my calculations… we'll be at Marineford in… half an hour."
Two pairs of eyes shot wide open.
"H-Half an hour?!" Strauss's brow furrowed. "Are you… Are you sure?"
"Of course he's sure." Law turned on his heel and began pacing up and down the small room. "That's my navigator you're talking to. He's always right."
"Ah…" Bepo's white cheeks turned a faint shade of pink. "Thank you Captain!"
She began wracking her brains. She knew things had gone too smoothly! All knowledge of the Tarai Current was highly restricted, and the actual speed within the whirlpool was a mystery to anyone not affiliated with the Marines. She and Law had estimated that it would perhaps cut a day off the journey time, so they planned accordingly, but half an hour!?
Indeed, now that she looked out the porthole it was as clear as anything. There wasn't a single shred of life in this ocean, not even a hint of algae. The water was just rushing past. Fast enough that it was visible with the small glimmers of light they had.
It was a miracle the Tang hadn't been crushed by the sheer force of those waves.
But they couldn't wait at Marineford for that long. She'd heard strange stories from folks who passed through Sabaody, talking about people who could detect other living beings. Who could plate themselves in black armour by just concentrating. Whether any of that was true or not… being around such a prominent marine base like that was dangerous.
Neither could they go back. The Impel Down gate was closed, and the only way back out of this endless circle of current was through another Gate of Justice… The chances of another one of those opening was practically zero. Especially if they then wanted to get back in to rescue Ace.
It was no use. Strauss's nails dug deep into her palms. How on earth could they work their way out of this one? The stress was working its way into her brain and it was getting hard to think logically no matter how hard she tried and please just calm down and think things through but she'd gotten them all into this mess so wasn't it her fau-
No.
Shut up.
It's not her fault. So deal with it.
"Well then," Strauss had to turn to her captain, "What do we do?"
Law paused in his pacing, raised his head, and grimaced. Eventually, something caught in his eye. Something gleaming and, by the look on his face, very very promising.
"We do absolutely nothing."
.
Shinokuni. Land of Death.
That's what Caesar Clown called this weapon that he'd created. If it could even be called a weapon.
Law narrowed his eyes.
What sort of weapon attacked living creatures indiscriminately? Either way…
The strong tang of cinders filled the air as smoke began to rise up around the cage, completely obscuring himself and the other prisoners. It was time to move.
"Well then…"
The length of chain around his body clanked limply to the floor of the cage.
"Wh…WHAT!?"
"I take it we're escaping?" Numerous hands sprouted around Nico Robin's waist, effortlessly ripping the flimsy metal chain to shreds.
"WHAAAAAAAT!?
How ridiculous. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Those guys really had no capacity to plan for the worst. "Now that we're not being picked up on that bastard's video transponder snail, we can get moving and they won't find out for a while."
"Y-You guys are awesome!" Straw Hat gaped up at him. "How did you free yourself-"
"Because it wasn't Sea Prism to begin with." Nico Robin glanced up from where she was working on Franky's chains. "I take it you swapped them."
Law nodded. "You can thank Strauss-ya for that." Although he had to hand it to her, he didn't think she would have been able to swap out so many Sea Prism chains without people noticing. It was a pleasant surprise, if not a little risky.
"Hmph." Rising to his feet, Law flexed his fingers, "Room."
Where was Kikoku… His eyes narrowed as he tried to use his devil fruit to search for it. Being without his trusty sword always made him feel slightly uneasy. Where was it… Aha! And was that…
The corner of his lips twitched.
She really was a smart one wasn't she?
"Shambles."
In the blink of an eye the severed chain on the ground vanished, to reveal in its place a more than slightly disoriented Strauss with various weapons strapped to her body.
"Took you long enough…" She rose to her feet shakily, evidently reeling from the journey. She'd probably been running for her life judging by the way her body had flung itself into the bottom of the cage. Hence why her face had taken on a greyish tint. "Here-" Kikoku got slung off her back and held out to him- "I took care of her for you. Figured you'd need her sooner or later."
That she did. He unsheathed his sword with ease. The blade hadn't been so much as nicked. A simple flicker of steel and every chain was severed.
"YAHOOOOOOO!" Straw Hat leapt to his feet as soon as the Sea Prism left his skin. "I'M FREEEE!"
"Quit cheering, fool." Law glanced back over to Strauss, particularly at the two remaining weapons on her body; White Chase's Sea Prism jutte, and the woman's Katana. "Now…" His head turned to their owners, still bound in chain. "...what should we do with these two?"
"Tch! As if that's a real question!" Vice Admiral Smoker growled in his female compatriot's body. "You know what you wanna do with us don't you!?"
Ugh… Law flicked two fingers, crossing one over the other. So noisy.
"- so just hurry up and get it over with already…" He trailed off, realising that he was finally back in his own body.
"V-Vice Admiral Smoker…" Tashigi squeaked, staring blankly at her superior in front of her "We're finally back to ourselves! Now we can…" Her eyes trailed down. Taking in her 'open' position. And her very much 'open' top.
"Ky… KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"STOP CRYING LIKE A WOMAN YOUNG GIRL!"
So very noisy. Law turned back towards Strauss as White Chase began yelling at the sobbing woman, "How did it go in there? Did Tony-ya manage to figure out how to cure the drug?"
She gave a sharp dip of the head. "Last I saw him he was searching for sedatives. I'm sure Caesar kept a few stashed away."
"Excellent. At least something is still going according to plan."
"When is it ever." Flicking her eyes over the people before her, she tapped covertly against her chest and arched a brow.
No. He shook his head. Now was not the time. Too much explaining and too little patience to deal with the consequences.
Her shoulders sagged, resigned. But she nodded all the same.
Good. As he'd expected.
"Shut up Tashigi! Wouldn't you rather die before grovel before a pirate?!"
Law's eyebrow twitched. So. Noisy.
"Right now we have to beg for our lives, even throwing ourselves at his feet if that's what it takes!" The woman rose awkwardly to her feet. "Because if we die here we can't save out people and Vice Admiral Vergo…" She grimaced, realising her mistake. White Chase's own face tensed, contorting into an expression of pure agony and hatred.
Hatred Law could manipulate for his own gains.
"Oi. White Chase-ya." Slinging Kikoku over his shoulder, he took a single step closer to the writhing person on the floor. "I have no obligation to save you. But if letting you go free makes Vergo lose his standing, it would be most beneficial for me. However, you need to forget everything that you heard about me, Strauss-ya, and Joker."
White Chase flinched, teeth grinding into each other with surprising vigour.
"And don't be mistaken. This is not a favour." His eyes narrowed. "It's a condition. Strauss-ya?"
Two haki-clad fingers shot up towards Tashigi's neck. Perfectly poised to sever every major vein in an instant if he ordered further.
The Marines didn't even have a choice.
Law slid Kikoku back into its scabbard, a pair of chains falling limply to the ground opposite him. The haki dropped from Strauss's fingertips as she moved back from where Tashigi was scrabbling to button up her shirt.
"I can't see anything!"
Straw Hat's whining voice broke any remaining tension in the air. Sighing, Law turned his back on the scowling Vice Admiral before him to look at…
Oh god.
"What's going on out there?" The mesh wall of the cage ripped apart faster than a sheet of paper. "Yeah! I finally got out! Welp, here goes nothing!"
"Wha…" Law couldn't believe his eyes. "What are you…"
"YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"HEY! WAIT!"
"He really hasn't changed from when I first met him…" Strauss muttered under her breath.
Law merely pinched the bridge of his nose. How dare he… That utter… URGH! Even Marineford had been better than this!
"OOOOOOOOOOOOI! TRA-GUY!" Straw Hat grinned gleefully as if he hadn't just fallen several stories down only to be bounced back upwards thanks to a foot being stuck in a railing. "HOW SHOULD I GET IN?!"
"Hey. Young guy." Law was vaguely aware of the cyborg speaking to him over his shoulder. "I'd rather take care of the Sunny."
"Do. As. You. Like."
WHY DID THIS DAMN CREW HAVE TO MESS UP HIS PLANS LIKE THIS?!
"Alright! See you guys later! Coup de… BOOO!"
AND IN SUCH A VULGAR MANNER TOO!
"Chances are Usopp and Nami will try to enter via the South Eastern wall of the facility. It would be wise for us to make our way there to thin out the guards."
Thank god he had a clear voice of reason to rely on. "Right." He clapped Strauss on the shoulder. "We should get moving then. Everyone!"
The four other individuals in the cage (and the one outside it) raised their heads expectantly.
Law cracked his fingers, gearing himself up for what was only going to be a long and tedious day that he had been craving for so damn long.
"Follow me."
"Awwww…" Straw Hat lolled his head back in anguish, only to slingshot it forwards into a security guard's skull. "I don't get why we couldn't just bust our way in…"
"How more foolish can you get," Smoker growled as the man he was choking dropped limply to the ground. "This facility will be the only protection we have against that vile gas. We can't go around destroying it."
"But couldn't Tra-guy just fix it again after?"
"IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT!"
Strauss watched a ripple of indignation travel up her Captain's back. She sighed, flipping upside down to slam an unsuspecting guard square in the neck. It was best not to deal with those sorts of claims, regardless if they were true or not. At this point it would be a waste of energy.
Returning upright, the guard was met with two fingers that momentarily blinded them before their head got sliced clean off their shoulders by a sleek katana.
Tashigi glared at her, flicking the blood off her blade. "I hope you know I still don't forgive you for your betrayal, Strauss. You could have been so much better than this."
"Perhaps I could, and perhaps I couldn't." She pushed the still standing body away, wiping away the stray lines of blood that had splattered onto her face. "As far as I'm concerned, that's none of your business. I don't tell you how to live your life so don't tell me how to live mine. End of story."
"Strauss-ya?"
Right. The door controls. Just what they'd come here for.
It had been a quick fight. Most of Caesar's security system had been distracted by the scene going on outside, or the panicking groups of marines that were trying to batter their way in. To the six of them? It was overkill.
Strauss stepped over the various corpses to rest her hand against the control panel. Well, control panel was a strong description for it. It was just a single massive steel lever connected to the main cogs. Caesar had never been too fussed about security for this place. Either way- Strauss kicked the massive lever up- it made things simpler for her. Even if Law could have really done this himself.
Gears clanked. Pulleys compressed. As a thin sliver of blinding light spilled into the dingy facility.
To think that it had only been earlier that day when she and Law had left through this door to placate a group of rowdy marines. It felt like it had been weeks since then. So much had changed. They had made an alliance. They were working with Marines. She had seen…
Oh god.
Strauss stiffened.
She hadn't thought of that. If this door opened, it was highly likely that he would make his way through here. And that he would see her here. Uhh… She felt a little sick. That was… Well it would be great to see him again and all… but she'd… She'd punched him. He couldn't be… No he definitely wouldn't be willing to overlook that…
The doorway grew wider, and wider, and wider; more giddy marines streaming through by the second.
"Captain-" She hated how feeble her voice sounded. How it seemed to tremor at the end- "I feel as though Chopper would need some backup. Perhaps I should go-"
"No!"
The reply was so sharp and sudden it even shocked her.
"It wouldn't do for us to be separated at a time like this." It was hard to not see Law's true reasoning as his eyes glanced in horror towards where Straw Hat was grinning like a lunatic. "Spreading our forces like this would be idiotic. Especially given that only a few of us know the layout of this place…" And only you and I own any shred of common sense.
She sighed, again. There was no getting out of this one was there? Great. Just… great.
The sound of footsteps began echoing one after the other down the hall, alongside the various cries of Caesar's goons. "Dammit! Who flipped the lever for the shutter?!"
"The hell's going on!?"
"O-Oi!" A bright yellow arm pointed up towards the piles of bodies that littered the control panel. "Look! There!"
"What should I do about the heart?"
Strauss arched a brow. She'd almost missed that. "Whatever you deem necessary," her voice remained low. "As long as you retrieve it at some point, everything should turn out alright."
"There remains a risk they will destroy it completely."
"They won't do that." Her lip curled. "Monet seemed quite concerned when Vergo was on the brink of crushing it. They probably want to keep you alive."
"I see." Law sniggered lightly. "Then it's just as well they have my heart then… and not someone else's."
It was practically impossible not to snort.
"Everyone's inside." Tashigi moved back towards the panel, having done a brief headcount of her unit. "You can close the doors now."
Really? Was that everyone? Strauss surveyed the crowd. No… she couldn't see a single one of the other Straw Hats here. Whether that was good or not was… another story.
Her eyes flicked towards Robin, then to Luffy. Neither of them seemed at all worried. Which was probably a good sign. Probably.
Back to Law. He dipped his head sharply.
Then it was settled.
Another flick of her leg and the door began its long process of making the facility airtight once more. The gap between door and ground got smaller… and smaller… and smaller… until only that first tiny crack of light remained.
Strauss for some reason felt her heart clench. As if it was desperately waiting for something, someone to sprint in through that gap at a moment's notice.
But the light vanished.
And nobody came.
Her shoulders sagged, weighed down by something she couldn't even recognise. A presence moved up behind her, one she knew full well by this point. It wasn't exactly comforting. More… a reassurance.
Or command to get her act together.
He was right, as always. Strauss straightened, forcing her shoulders up and back to open her chest. There had been many bad times for her to dwell on stupid feelings like these, and this was definitely one of the worst!
They needed her here. Now more than ever. So she should be ready for anythi-
KA-BLAM!
Two solid lines of energy shot through the solid metal shutter. One a rush of air, the other a roaring line of flame.
Strauss and Law watched in horror as G-5 scattered, sprinting as fast as they could away from the steel door…
… as a gigantic bearded centaur bashed down the severed segment of the door, carrying a mass of people on his back.
Ow…
Sanji landed as gracefully as he could from that monster of a collision, joints still protesting despite his best efforts. Damn samurai. Stupid Marimo! To get Nami's body so bruised like this. Although… he winced. There wasn't much that could've been done given the circumstances. Any minute longer out there and they all would've died. At least by being at the back he'd gotten the least of the damage.
"Hey! It's Zoro and the others!"
Hah… He grunted to his feet, dusting debris off Nami's coat in the process. It certainly was good to hear that idiot's voice again. He hadn't seen Luffy since… the Sunny? Really? That felt like a shitton of time ago. No wonder he felt relieved.
Who was that next to him? Robin-chan? So she'd arrived safely too… good. And was that Tashigi and her superior next to her? Yeah. The smoke guy. That bastard. They didn't seem to be attacking Luffy at least… so was this some sort of truce? He could work with that. So who was that figure next to-
Trafalgar Law hid his head in his hands, far too far away to be decipherable.
Sanji paled.
The large band of Marines around them started to yell manically, but the voices just turned to a haze in his head.
If he was here… Shouldn't she be too? She was his cre… his subordinate after all! If she wasn't, and had been ordered to go off and do a goddamn mission by herself he would… he would… Law would be fucking dead.
Where was she? Wide eyes scanned across the entire length of the room. No luck. When he thought he had caught a glimpse of her grey hair or long slender figure, one blink later and it would completely vanish from view. Which he was both upset… and… uh…
Sanji glanced down at his body. At Nami's body. All of a sudden this felt wrong. So so wrong. Strauss shouldn't see him like this. She… she wouldn't even recognise him. Who would, when his actual body was standing a few feet away from him. But on the flip side…
He doubled over, airless. Wordlessly watching the fist that had planted itself in his stomach. Strauss's face remained the same. Unmoving. Unflinching. As she forced the consciousness out of him.
Would she even want to see him? Perhaps… as Nami… he had a better chance of asking what he'd done wrong. Why she hated him so much. Was that… He didn't like tricking her, lying to such a close friend made him feel sick to his stomach, but it… he was just so damn curious…
Oi.
There. He chuckled to himself. He'd completely lost it. Now he was imagining her voice.
Hey! Move over already!
She would be yelling at him, wouldn't she? Just like all those years back at the Baratie. Although in his head she sounded a little harsher than she'd used to be. More cold. And… panicked?
"Oi, you damn Pretty Boy, if you don't wake the hell up and get out of the fucking way right now then it ain't my fault if I fucking shove your ass out into that fucking poison gas before it KILLS US FUCKING ALL!"
H-HUH?!
Sheer shock made him take a few steps backwards.
"About time…" Strauss (the actual Strauss!) let out a long, long, sigh. "Now how about you make yourself useful and clear some space around here. You guys!" She yelled over her shoulder at the petrified Marines, "I got you some building supplies-"
Wait had sh- WHAT?! Sanji's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. When the hell had that pile of debris shown up behind him?!
"-so get moving already and fix this door before we all end up dead!"
The group of Marines exchanged troubled looks, possibly because they hated taking orders from a pirate of all people, but eventually squared their shoulders and nodded. "Y-YEAH!"
"Hey-" His hand reached out almost subconsciously as she moved away to latch onto her wrist- "How did you… Why… Is…"
There were so many things running through his head… So many questions and answers and things he wanted to say but the timing just didn't feel right. It was overwhelming. All encompassing.
But he had to start somewhere.
"How did you know it was me? Uh…" God he just realised how that sounded! "I mean! S-Since I'm not in my… This is Nami-san's body- not that I chose to be in Nami-san's body by the way…"
The marimo scoffed in the corner. He'd get the bastard for that later.
Strauss on the other hand, just seemed unphased. "Of course I knew it was you, you dumbass." Deft fingers began unpicking his grip on her arm. "I met up with Nami earlier when Law switched the rest of your bodies back. So I knew you were in her body."
…Oh. Now… Now he just felt a little stupid. So that was Nami in his body then was it? Now that he was looking properly… He was acting a little… effeminate. And not in the wide-eyed innocence that Chopper had when they were first swapped.
Hah… So of course she'd know this was him. He'd been worrying about this for nothing.
"Besides-" Strauss turned to go help the Marines, deliberately avoiding eye contact- "Even if I hadn't been there… No one carries themselves like you do. So yeah. It was… obvious."
"H-Huh?"
But she was gone, forced away from him by a swarm of mildly panicking Marines as they rushed to fix the gaping hole between them and near certain death.
Sanji's arm remained the same. Outstretched. Right where she'd once been… Before he crouched down the the floor with his head in his hands.
He should be calm. He really should be rational about this. His crew needed him to be calm. His friend needed him to be calm. But… But… he couldn't! He just couldn't! Now that he was just thinking that brief conversation over and over and over again in his head. Thinking over every word. Every inflection of her voice. Every twitch of her lips. And all the while only ever coming to one conclusion.
WHAT THE HELL DID THAT MEAN!?
A/N
Well, ladies and gentlemen, here we are once again with a chapter update! Yet another bit of 'build up', as I'm forcing myself to call it... Is it bad I like writing this sorta stuff? Creating tension is so much fun! Hope I'm doing it well haha... You all have some really interesting theories on Strauss's 'pain' huh? I've had a lot of questions about what exactly it is. The answer is...
Nope! Ain't no spoilers in this A/N! You're all just going to have to wait and find out!
What I can say though... is that one of you is close. Very VERY close. I'm not going to say who. I'm not going to say which platform they commented on (FF dot net, Ao3, Quotev, or Wattpad). And I'm also not going to say what's incorrect about it...
That or I'm just fooling with you, because why not :) There's always a chance none of you are right and I'm just saying this to get you thinking. Who knows~?!
Other than that, thank you all so much for reading! I love reading each and every one of your theories, comments, or just 'love the chapter's. Every little thing just gives me a nudge that people are still reading and enjoying what I create... which is a helluva boost, let me tell you that! Nothing I can say really expresses my feelings for that.
Thank you. Thank you so so much. You guys are the most amazing and wonderful people, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! I hope you all have a lovely Valentines Day (woah I got this chapter out at a good time!) and, as always, remain safe and happy!
See you next time!