Chapter XXXIII: The Barrel

Cavendish did not appreciate his current situation. The cowering guards be damned, he did not deserve to be placed in an isolated cell in a straitjacket. Sure, when he slept it was like he became possessed by a bloodthirsty demon, but his crew had learned to deal with it. Whitley had managed to deal with it as well, but these marines couldn't be bothered. Instead, they were treating him like a caged tiger, one that they weren't entirely sure wouldn't eat them.

Even so, he was fully awake, and thus his other personality was fast asleep. He was in complete control, but these damned marines wouldn't believe it. He had even offered to put on the jacket each night, but they refused. Too dangerous his ass.

"I haven't had proper beauty sleep in days because of you bastards!" As his voice rang out, he could hear them flinch. None of them dared guard directly in front of the cell bars lest he jump at them. Even still, he could hear their feet against the floor at his call.

As always, they did nothing to react. Cavendish sat back down against one of the walls, blowing a lock of blond hair out of his face. He wondered faintly what his captain was doing. It was strange circumstances that led him to be part of Whitley's crew. At first, it was just to help further his own fame, as he rightfully deserved. Being around those brutes and a snobby child was simply something he would have to put up with. Yet, somewhere, somehow, it had changed. The rest of the crew began to feel more like comrades. Dirty and vulgar ones that he wouldn't want to touch, but comrades nonetheless. As for Whitley, he had almost grown to be a younger brother in Cavendish's eyes. That was why he would personally see to it that every marine that laid a hand on Whitley's head would feel his wrath at the end of his blade.

Cavendish had never had many true bonds in his life. It was difficult to find someone to care for when everyone thought of him as a monster. The fact that he might hurt them in his sleep made it worse. Now, he had finally gotten a group to call his own, and he would be damned if he gave up on it so easily.

"You will all pay for my un-shampooed hair, do you hear me! You will all pay!"

"It's nearly finished," Penny said to herself with a determined smile. "The design has certainly changed — maybe a bit too much, but they won't mind, right?"

Penny paused. At some point during the project, she had stopped worrying so much about what the marines would think and she began wondering what the pirates would think instead. It might have been when she asked Ruby about the lumber, but it felt like it had begun before then.

The overall structure was more rounded than the initial design, though the front and back were flat now instead of the top and bottom like it had been. She made the middle more oblong so there wasn't worry of it spinning upside down out at sea. There were masts with sails ready to unfurl, but that was more for the sake of looks as the ship had engines. Penny had never built an engine before, so a quick research helped her greatly. She had attempted to paint the jolly roger on the sails and hoped they would be up to par. The flag was still with her, as that might give her away if it was spotted. Watches don't have flags.

With the vessel itself finished, she had spent time working on its interior. It wasn't anything too fancy, but Penny thought it would feel cozier with furniture and decorations to fill the space inside. Not to mention how she made proper sleeping quarters that was a vast improvement from what was there before.

She also might have borrowed some cannons for it. They were for defensive purposes, that was a promise. She did her best to be more subtle in taking those than the other materials. Even if she did rename the blueprints she made to 'Ciel's watch' in order to better hide the truth of her project, weaponry wouldn't be as explainable.

In the end, she was proud of how it was turning out. Though, at a second glance, the ship looked oddly like a barrel.

Luffy moved through the halls without a care in the world. The sound of flippers slapping the ground behind him was nearing the point of white noise. Marines were quick to get out of the way of the waddling flood as he passed. He wasn't quite sure where his friend was, so he just checked every room that he could find.

There was a long pause in his search at one point. When Luffy found the kitchen, all hell broke loose. The cooks valiantly defended their work with kitchen knives and pot lids for shields. Despite their best efforts, they were no match for the force that was Luffy. His arms easily snaked around them, snatching their prizes, and snapping back to Luffy. All the while, his dugong army created mass confusion as they charged into the area. When Luffy finally departed, the cooks were left to lick their wounds and start their work over again. Kobe, who arrived moments after, tried to apologize for his captain. He was unable to stop the multitude of vengeances sworn that day.

Next, Luffy happened upon a room where some sort of meeting was taking place. The marines outside tried to stop him from going in, but he figured they might stop him from trying to see his friend, so he just opened the doors anyway. They couldn't get close enough to Luffy to even make an attempt to halt him as the sea of dugongs flooded between them. The meeting looked to be between three men. They were so engrossed in it that they didn't even notice Luffy slam the doors open.

One of the men was leaning over a table talking about taxes and torture. Another seemed to be trying to stuff his face with cigars in an attempt to combat his frustration. The last looked terribly tired and fed up with the other two.

Not really caring for anything that was going on there, he closed the door and moved on.

"Dude, that was hell," Neptune groaned to Sun. "I was this close to getting caught and I swear to you that I almost seeped through a crack on the floor." Normally he would have just gone into Sun's cell, but he had enough risk for the day already.

"Practice your powers then," Sun simply replied.

Neptune glared at the wall between them. "I would, but — it's water."

"I thought you were getting over that."

Neptune sighed. "It was easy to feel that way when it was either the ocean or Neo's cheese. It's getting better, but it's not easy. It doesn't help that I'm not just around water: I am water now."

"Well, how did it go?"

Neptune shrugged, even if Sun couldn't see it. "I visited everyone I could. Blake's good on the plan so far. I got the feeling that Neo will just be ready for whatever we do — she seemed more upset that I was interrupting her charades than she was surprised to see me. I tried to visit Ren, but Nora was there talking to him. She said no interrupting and sent me away, and I wasn't going to test that. Cardin was practically in a coma, so I couldn't tell him anything. I'll just assume he'll be fine.

"The bars of Ruby's cell were something called seastone. Evidently, they made me tired because of my devil fruit. That shouldn't be a problem since someone else can get her out, but that material is dangerous."

"What about Jaune?"

Neptune sighed. "I couldn't get there. I don't exactly know where he is, but there's also something going on upstairs. All I could hear was what sounded like some horde moving around making slapping sounds."

"I guess we can figure that out later," Sun replied bitterly. "For now, we need to figure out how we're sailing out of here, and then we find an opportunity to steal the keys."

With a bit of hesitance in his voice, Neptune said, "The others didn't seem too keen on leaving The Bucket behind."

"We don't have much of a choice," Sun retorted. "It's not like we have what we need to fix it out here. We won't have the time either, not unless you want to try working on it bit by bit without the marines noticing."

"No," Neptune replied. "There's no way in hell I'm sneaking close to that. Being water and getting close to the open sea? I would rather not." He paused, remembering something. "Actually, Ruby mentioned something weird. There's a girl named Penny here that she met back in Vale. Ruby said that Penny asked her something about a ship."

Sun's voice wasn't particularly optimistic. "I wouldn't read too deep into it. It's not like we can expect her to repair The Bucket for us. If she's here and not in a cell, she's probably with the marines."

No plan survives contact with the enemy. That was something Cinder knew well, but those words felt mocking now. It didn't matter anymore since she was busy rebuilding her schemes from the ground up. Yes; only minor adjustments would be needed now.

Their infiltration of Beacon could no longer be expected. Neo was supposed to be their fourth member, and they would have acted as students from Mistral here in Vale for the Vytal Festival. The fact that Lionheart, the headmaster of Haven, would aid in this was simply to make it all move smoothly. Now that it needed to be tossed aside, a new plan was in order. Quite simply, she saw it fit to replace their prior elements of stealth with elements of surprise. If they couldn't attack from within, they would simply blitz Vale.

She could begin by further establishing the White Fang. Her current plans put them at the forefront of danger, but she could do more. Instead of simply looming over Vale, she could spread out sections across the city to act independently. She would make sure they were untraceable to any higher command, so any of them being caught wouldn't be an issue. No longer would they be a simple threat on the mind when the news came on. Now, the people of Vale would have to worry about every dark corner in the streets.

She would also work Roman overtime for dust. It could be spread out more than just her initial plan entailed. Chaos would reign around the city as explosions went off in the streets. Yes, and that would be fitting for the image of a terrorist group, wouldn't it? Then, she could give a grand speech to give a sense of dread to those still watching. This event meant to bring the world together would crumble and bring Vale to its knees.

Emerald could help with planting the virus into Atlas' technology. Mercury was so insistent that the Ilia girl would be fine for leading the White Fang. She still needed a way to utilize the growing tensions between the Vale council and Beacon, but that should be easy. The old fools in the council were just being stubborn, and nothing would make them happy at this point. However, they could easily be further riled up.

From there it was only a small matter of stealing the Fall maiden's powers. While finding, getting to, and finishing off the Fall maiden sounded like quite the arduous task, she was sure it would be nothing for her.

Cinder grinned wickedly. Soon, another step in her plans for power would be complete. And this time, no bumbling, blond idiot would stand in her way.

"How did you even end up here?" Sabo sounded less confused and more impressed. "We're out in the middle of the sea with no one around. Did you swim?"

Their guest, a green haired man wearing marine pants and shirt but not the rest of the uniform, shrugged. "I was trying to get to the booze and took a wrong turn." He took a swig from a bottle of sake. "Found it in the end though."

"Right." Sabo looked around at his men, trying to discern if any of them had noticed when the man had boarded. "Well, by your attire I'd say you're a marine. Who are you and who are you with?"

The man took a moment to wipe his mouth of sake with his sleeve. Then, he took an annoyingly long time to yawn before he finally said, "Name's Zoro, and my captain is Luffy."

In a flash, Sabo's eyes lit up. "Luffy? So you're my little brother's crewmate." Now more relaxed with the man who appeared out of nowhere. His marines noticed the change in his demeanor and followed suit. "How has he been?"

Zoro rested his elbow on his swords. "You're Luffy's brother." He looked Sabo up and down. "You don't look like you're related to him."

Sabo gave him a nostalgic smile with a soft chuckle. "It's a bit complicated, but we're brothers. Nothing in the world could ever change that. So, what has he been up to?"

"Sailing around." Zoro crossed his arms. "Evidently his pirate buddy got captured or something. I don't really know."

As Zoro tipped back the sake bottle again, Sabo blinked at him. Then, a grin spread across his face and he burst out into laughter. "Luffy's friends with a pirate? I can't say I'm surprised. Is he that 'good pirate' Luffy was talking about?" By the way Sabo's crew joined in his laughter, it was clear they knew enough about his little brother not to be fazed by Zoro's statement. They had heard much about him, as one of Sabo's favorite topics was his cheeky younger brother.

Zoro scratched his head, looking around and said, "I'm not sure. But where is he?"

"Where's who?" Sabo's laughter subsided.

"Luffy; I took a wrong turn looking for the booze, and now he's gone."

Sabo frowned slightly. "Didn't you gather that you're not on Luffy's ship? He's not here."

Zoro checked around him, as if only just noticing that the ship didn't look the same. "Now that you mention it, Luffy's small army isn't here. So, where are we?"

On any given day, Sengoku was a busy man. From the time he woke up, far before the sun rose in the horizon, to the time he finally laid down for bed, he was pulled every which way. For the most part, it was what would be expected from his position. Reports, meetings, and decisions found him on the daily. However, there were parts of his job that made his life more difficult and were not part of those.

The first of which would be Garp's entire family. That was entirely all he needed to say on that matter. Anyone who glanced at them could tell why they stressed him. If his latest report from Smoker's lieutenant was correct, then Luffy was already there causing a ruckus. Sengoku took a deep breath and let out the sound of a deeply tired man. The report, made over responder snail, specified that these were current moments; Smoker's lieutenant had felt it necessary they knew immediately.

Idling himself, Sengoku slid a newspaper off of his desk. Times were changing, and no one could deny that. Many don't realize what it's like for the man in charge in said times. While there were crimes to discuss, the front of the paper was filled with an article on the new technology spreading around. Scrolls were spreading through the public's hands like wildfire, no small part due to new companies rising up to distribute them. Sengoku wagered the companies might have gotten a hold on some of the marine's scrolls before they were made public. It certainly made the competition more fierce.

His eyes wandered to the responder snail on his desk. They were still in the midst of setting up their scrolls for official purposes, but he knew that people might be hesitant to begin its use. Smoker's lieutenant had every opportunity to contact his scroll with her own, but she had still used the responder snail. Even so, these sorts of devices would push their old technology to the side. He didn't doubt that newer recruits would be more keen to use scrolls. Responder snails may be common technology, and he may be used to them now, but they could be a bit unnerving to anyone who hadn't had the time to grow accustomed to them. They had been for him.

The large scroll on his desk began alerting him of a call. It was such a different way from the normal responder snail's muttering ring that it took him off guard nearly every time. He accepted the call and was greeted with the face of a man he had been making communications with as of late. And, he meant just the face, as the rest of the man's body was lost in a fluffy, blue sea of cloth.

"Ironwood," Sengoku greeted curtly. It was his usual tone of voice, easily misconstrued as angry and irritated. Somehow, simply going through his years as a marine with Garp by his side had changed how he spoke. However, despite how rude it would have sounded to the general, Ironwood took no visible offense.

"Hello, Sengoku. I was calling in to check up on our recent exchange."

"Ah, yes," Sengoku grumbled, thinking about the person they had dumped onto Ironwood. Hopefully the man wasn't here with a vengeance and would forgive them for her. "How is Nami?"

Ironwood gave him a long, tired stare that resonated with his soul. "She made sure to dig her heels into the ground every step of the way. In the end though, she seemed almost eager to become a huntsman. It was surprising to say the least."

"I see. I'm glad you haven't had much trouble with her." Sengoku wanted to tell him that Atlas was evidently doing much better than they ever had, but that would be acknowledging they knew exactly how difficult Nami was to deal with. "Things have been well on our end. Miss Winter Schnee is currently watching over your students."

Ironwood smiled, nursing a mug in his hands. "I see. I hope Miss Katt hasn't been a big problem. She can have quite the fiery spirit."

"Katt? We received Miss Polendina and Miss Soleil."

"What?" There was a new urgency in Ironwood's voice, one that didn't match his current appearance. "Miss Polendina — are you sure that's who it was? She's not supposed to — she shouldn't —" Ironwood slumped back into his chair. "Of course this would happen. Why shouldn't I expect it at this point?"

While he wasn't sure of the entire story, Sengoku could surmise the situation. "We can get them back to you swiftly, don't worry."

Ironwood waved his hand dismissively, or Sengoku guessed he did. Really, a section of the blue blanket moved about. "Don't worry about it at this point. Miss Polendina has — she has had issues fitting in, and I worry for her. If your reports say all is well, then it's good for now. I'll discuss on my end what to do."

Ironwood paused, his scattered mind recalling something. "Didn't I send documents regarding this matter? They should have informed you of who was supposed to arrive."

It was Sengoku's turn to look tired. "A bird took them from me."

Ironwood gave the only intelligent response he could, "Ah."

The effects of the coffee were finally wearing off. Or, Jaune hoped they were. Another explanation was that he was currently dying, and he would rather not think that. He felt horribly groggy, his mind felt all over the place, and he had a headache. It was so different from the laser focus he had before that he almost felt like he was in a different world. Jaune likened it to waking up from a nap and still struggling to come back to reality.

Gingerly, he stood up and leaned against the back wall. Like the floor, there was a thin layer of metal covering the seastone that encased him. It was probably so he wasn't constantly in contact with it, but it was still present to stop him. He had tried.

He sat down on his cot, trying to think of what to do now. It had been so long since Ozpin had left that Jaune was beginning to think they might be keeping him here forever. The thought made him frown. From what Pyrrha and Nora had said, he hadn't thought their plans would be to keep him in a cell. Was it even legal to keep him here this long without any trial?

Well, whether or not that was the case, he didn't plan on staying put. Now that his mind was somewhat clearer, he was able to recall something that he had forgotten during the coffee spell. The roof that was out of his reach.

It was impressive for a room to be so tall that a person of his height couldn't reach the ceiling even by jumping. He had tried every surface for seastone but that last one. He had even tried standing up on his cot, but he didn't like how precariously that moved. It almost wasn't worth him trying to reach it; at least, it wasn't until now.

It was something he had discovered while meditating on his devil fruit. There was a faint feeling around him whenever he was using it, and he even tested it by sticking his arm through his cot. The weird part was that he felt it that moment. Even when just standing in the middle of his cell, he could feel the sensation surrounding him. At first he thought it might have just been his clothes, but he was lucky they kept with him whenever he used his powers. Not to mention he felt it on his face as well.

"Could I —" Jaune trailed off looking up. "There's no way, right?"

Ruby had gotten a tennis ball from one of Whitley's crew members. The man had been bouncing it against the wall, and Ruby was doing something very similar. Instead, she was throwing it to Zwei for him to bring it back to her. Yang and her dad hadn't come back yet, and she wasn't sure if she wanted them to or not. She wanted to talk to Yang, but she felt guilty each time she looked at her sister. She hadn't expected it to be worse with her dad, but it was.

Whitley hadn't given up. If anything, his efforts were slowly increasing. Ruby had tried to tell him at one point that the bars were stone. From what one of the guards said to her, the seastone was just some rock that had the same properties as the ocean did to devil fruits. That did not mean there was any salt in it. Of course, the boy refused to listen to her. She still stood by the self-proclaimed title as most sane person present.

"What should I do, Zwei?" Ruby asked. "Neptune said they were working on something, but I'm getting tired of just waiting."

Zwei whimpered, leaning against the bars. He had done that a few times. It was odd, the way he would touch them and almost collapse. It was as if he got stuck there until Ruby would pick him up again.

Gently, she moved him and sat him back down. Getting a bit bored of the tennis ball, Ruby said, "Sit, Zwei; roll over; shake." With each command, the dog did as he was told.

Then, as a joke, Ruby pointed to the cell bars and said, "Break out, Zwei."

AN:

Zoro managed to get lost over an entire sea while looking for the booze. Typical. The weird coffee's effects are over, but what is Jaune planning?

On an actual note, a lot of these scenes ended up being longer than I originally intended. The scene between Ironwood and Sengoku was supposed to be much shorter, but then I just got in the right atmosphere and kept writing. It's a nice feeling; I just wish I knew how to instigate it.

Anyways, next chapter: Prison Break!