Drip. Drop.
The cold water splashed in the bathroom. It dripped from Marco's clothed figure sitting underneath the shower. The lost look in his eyes made his state even more pitiful.
The video replayed in his mind several times more than he could count. He was beyond shocked, still in disbelief. Or more like in denial. How could this happen? How dare she die at the hands of the likes of Perospero? What was Marco supposed to do now? How could he deal with these emotions swirling in his heart?
Was he supposed to be glad that the person who betrayed him died? Or was he supposed to be sad?
He could not register how he got out of the shower or got dressed. He was like a robot functioning in automatic mode while his mind was in some faraway place, thinking about the woman whose impact was immeasurable in his life.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
News traveled fast within the dark streets of Grandline. Many were shocked that the infamous Firefist died at the hands of Perospero. While many were adamant about the capability of a shrewd man, they didn't doubt the news to be false, not when the madman streamed Firefist's death live.
Big Mom's group was especially delighted with Firefist's death. Big Mom may have felt regretful that Ann did not join them, but in the end, she shrugged off that idea. There was no use mulling over a dead person's usefulness in her group. She rewarded her son with his original position and the influence they will get from eliminating an infamous thorn in the streets was significant.
While their group was happy, the Five Elders of the World Government were in deep thought. They might have issued Ann's bounty, but they hoped to capture her alive rather than dead. If she was dead, they could still use her body and DNA to continue what Hera left. With the explosion of the building, getting DNA from her was impossible.
"Such a shame," Saturn muttered after watching the video of the explosion. "It would have been great if we had her body." Hera left a lot of things that even they cannot solve. And amongst that traitorous woman left was the secret they could not open unless they had Hera's DNA.
"Knowing Hera, she should have left the key to her children. But with one of them dead, how are we supposed to find the other one?"
"Tracing Firefist's contacts is what we can do now given the loss we suffered with her death." The shortlist of people she was in contact with was not enough for the five elders to make a move. If Ann knew something, she wouldn't leave anything to these people.
At first, they suspected that she may have left something with her previous lover, Marco. But after hearing how Marco ordered a shoot to kill her, the possibility of leaving something diminished from the Five Elder's list. And even with that, they are not quite sure if Ann knew something about her mother.
"It left us no choice but to hunt for Roger's members. The snitch might have known about his children, but the information was not enough to point us in the right direction."
"And Strawhat?" One of the Elders asked.
"It was nothing but a speculation. We cannot invest more of our resources in capturing him without justification of his relation to Roger. We will only unnecessarily attract the attention of his members and allies."
All of them are threading this carefully. They committed many mistakes in the past that diminished the plans they had for Grandline. While Roger may have been eliminated, his death only left them with a hole they could not fill. They trusted Hera too much and lost too much in the process. To get on track with their big plans, they have to play the cards correctly. Even if the process was as tedious as it is.
Not to mention they had to keep an eye on Big Mom and Kaido. The spies planted within the group confirmed the alliance. While it may not have a significant impact now, the Elders knew sooner or later, that it would impede the balance in the Streets. The last thing they wanted was a force like Roger's group.
Certainly, the amount of force Big Mom and Kaido rivaled Roger's when he was alive, but the internal factors of cooperation were not something the two rival Emperors could address. They would need to send orders to their spies to disrupt the balance of the alliance.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
For the first time since years ago, Kidd got to see the worried expression on Sab's face. With trembling hands, her eyes were focused on the driver as if telepathically asking him to speed up.
The tension worsened when they received the live stream of Ann's torture.
"I'll fucking kill that mongrel." She muttered under her breath while watching her sister scream in pain.
The relief washed over her beautiful face when they reached a safe distance away from the place where Ann was. Sab sprinted out of the car as soon as the door opened, leaving Kidd behind her. He knew she was not a reckless sort, but this was her sister they were talking about.
And he was right. She would have barged her way in had Kidd not held her back.
"What are you doing?"
"I should be asking you that question. What the fuck were you doing? Do you want to alert the enemies?! You're giving them more reason to shoot your sister in the head!"
Sab blinked, seeming to calm down after realizing her mistake. This is not a usual kidnapping case where room for negotiation is open. This is the underworld where anyone will not hesitate to pull the trigger. Alerting the enemies will only shorten Ann's chances.
"R-Right..." She answered, still feeling restless and Kidd wanted nothing but to cage her in his embrace, assuring her everything would be alright. But now is not the time.
"She was chained. So we will need an easy way to break the chains." Wire said. Just in time for Luffia to arrive, bringing Zoro, Franky, and Robin.
"If they plan to burn the whole building, most of them should be out now. Let's take the back entrance." Robin suggested.
With their numbers, they could easily kill Prospero and his men, but this would risk any last-minute changes to the enemies' plans. They could have planted a bomb inside. With how crazy he was, they don't doubt he would press the button to send everyone to their graves.
Some of them were outside standing as guards while Sab, Luffia, Zoro, Kidd, and Franky went inside to rescue Ann. The building was on fire. The electric system made it more difficult to get to the floor where Ann was held.
"Please, be alright." It was a silent prayer Luffia and Sab sent above. They could not handle losing their sister. If that were to happen, they would not stop till every hell is unleashed in Grandline.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
Watching the fire surrounding her took Ann down the painful memories of the island burning. She could vaguely feel her back being burned. She winced and closed her eyes.
Is this how she will die?
She refused to bow to death. They had plans. They were supposed to bring hell to the people who drove their parents to their deaths.
"Will I join you?" She thought of her parents. Their smiling faces brought nothing but happiness to her heart. But then she thought of her sisters who were still alive. What would become of them should she die?
And lastly, Marco.
"I haven't asked for forgiveness yet. I haven't paid my debt." She muttered to herself while on the brink of losing consciousness. With the building on the brink of collapse, a tear escaped her eye, almost as if accepting the fate awaiting her.
With consciousness escaping her, she vaguely heard the shouts of her name and everything was blank.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
"Ann!" Luffia shouted with so much worry. She kneeled on the burning floor, disregarding the hot burning sensation. All her focus was on her sister bathed in her own blood. "Franky!"
"On it!" Franky took out the small machine he was carrying to cut the chains.
"Shit! The building will collapse any minute now!" Kidd said while using the fire extinguisher to prevent the fire from spreading near them.
"Hurry!" Zoro was doing the same but the fire was too spread out for them to contain it. The door was also blocked, which left them no choice but to jump from the window.
"Done!" Without hesitation, Franky picked up Ann and ran towards the flaming window followed by the others. They were five floors up and the only thing they could rely on was the makeshift suspender wires attached to them. Franky really came in handy a lot of times.
"We need to hurry. They might notice the cars parked." Killer said.
Without hesitation, they made a run for it and not even a minute of running from the building, the loud explosion echoed the surroundings. Had they been a minute too late, Ann would be dead by now.
"Her condition is critical. We'll need a doctor immediately."
"Chopper is on standby. We need to get out of here."
The commotion from the building masked their presence as they escaped the place.
As Luffia mentioned earlier, Chopper was on standby 10 minutes away from here. They could not risk taking the makeshift ambulance where it could be seen by any of their enemies, not to mention this is an enemy territory.
The moment they arrived at the meetup place, Chopper immediately checked Ann who was as pale as snow. She lost too much blood and who knew how many broken bones she had. The wounds on her burnt back were also critical.
"I can't treat her here. We need to go back now." Chopper attached oxygen to her face before checking her critical wounds.
"Fuck." Sab muttered under her breath while watching the lowering numbers on the monitor.
"She will be fine," Luffia said, convincing Sab or even herself to have faith that Ann will survive this. "The helicopter is almost here."
Not even 5 minutes later the helicopter arrived. Sab, Luffia, and Chopper boarded the vehicle while the rest took the cars. And while they leave the vicinity, the sisters pray for Ann to hold on till they arrive at Luffia's base.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
"Don't you dare do what I think you wanted to do, Eustass Kidd." Zoro blocked Kidd's path, looking intensely into the red-head's eyes.
"Get out of the way."
"They will get their revenge against that bastard in their own way. It is not our place to clean up this mess."
Zoro understood what was going on in Kidd's mind. With Ann and the sisters out of the vicinity, they were free to go after Perospero while he was on high on this said victory of his. Heck, Zoro was tempted to do it himself, but he knew the boundary of when they should act. He understood that Luffia would want to deal with that bastard on her way rather than leave it at anyone's hands.
"Tsk!" Kidd didn't bother answering and left the place. Zoro and Franky followed suit, with Luffia's base as their destination.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
No amount of comfort can alleviate the tension in Sab and Luffia's emotions until they know their sister is safe. Chopper kicked them out of the operating room and only allowed the trusted medical assistant. To say it was the excruciating hours of their life was an understatement.
Even without professional knowledge of medicine, Sab and Luffia knew Ann's condition was the worst. Her pulse was almost gone when they arrived in the base and all they could hope was for her to fight.
Another hour in and there were no signs of Chopper leaving the room. It was at this time that Luffia received a call from Zoro asking how things were.
"Chopper is still inside." She could not hold the way her voice trembled.
"Alright. I'll be there soon."
Silence engulfed the surroundings. None of them spoke a word, afraid to croak and break down. But it was too much. It felt like any silence would make Sab go crazy.
"I should have prevented her from going after Big Mom's group."
"Don't start, Sab." Because if they thread into the conversation, they would blame themselves for what happened. The three of them agreed that whatever happens, they should not blame themselves. This was a joint decision, a journey and even if one would end up injured, none of them should take the blame.
The silence between the two was what welcomed the others when they arrived. The Strawhat members were there to console them that everything would be fine. It might sound like flimsy comforting words, but it helped even just a little.
Zoro's arms were on Luffia's shoulder, hand stroking her in silent comfort. Kidd would have done the same but forgone the idea and instead took an empty spot near Sab, silently observing the blonde.
When the door clicked, the two immediately stood up, waiting in front, expecting Chopper to bring good news. All hopes they had were slowly being shattered while looking at Chopper's expression.
They feared the worst.
"She's alive." There was a pause before he continued. "For now. She sustained too much damage. The electricity they used was too high and she lost too much blood. I've taken care of her wounds, but she might not wake up anytime soon."
It felt like they were smacked with hard cold water after hearing Chopper's news. It was hard to process that their sister is in comatose.
"When will she wake up?" It was not a sensible question but Luffia had to ask even if she knew Chopper does not hold the answer.
"It depends. I'll do everything I can." That was enough for them, but the heaviness of the news was still there.
"Thank you, Chopper. Can we see her?" Sab asked, red eyes desperate to hold onto something.
"Of course."
Their steps were heavy. The door opened, and what welcomed them was the sight of their sister - eyes closed, several tubes attached to her body. Luffia choked, trying to contain her tears.
"A-Ann. W-Wake up. We haven't finished what we started." Even if they screamed or cried, they knew she might not wake up at all. And just as Luffia felt strong arms around her, she sobbed as she buried her face in Zoro's chest.
Finding the diminishing will to keep her composure, Sab nodded to the sleeping Ann, muttering the same wish Luffia said before leaving to find a place where could be alone and break down.
As soon as she was away from everyone's eyes, her tears started to fall. She whimpered and sobbed till she felt someone behind her. Before she could ask what he was doing here, he immediately caged her in his embrace. She resisted but her strength slipped away by his warmth.
"They're still alive. The people who did this to your sister." The hand clutching his shirt tightened and Kidd answered in response to her rage by embracing her as close as possible. "We could have killed them. But we didn't. Zoro said you and your sisters would want to do it yourselves when your sister wakes up. Not if. WHEN she wakes up."
His words dawned on Sab. That Ann is still alive and she will wake up.
"Yeah. When she wakes up." And she allowed her tears to burst out of her eyes, finding comfort with Kidd's embrace.
As Ann fights for her life, the Grandline is led to believe that she is dead.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
The news of Ann's death reached Rayleigh's ears. Disbelief washed over him. Even Shanks was shocked after watching the video. He was tempted to head over to Big Mom and demand Perospero's head. Had it not been for Ben's wise words, he would have been reckless in waging war against one of the Emperors. Big Mom's group is more dangerous now that she is allied with Kaido. Who knew what their next moves would be. Shanks doesn't doubt that his group and territories will be one of this alliance's targets.
With a clearer head, he contacted Luffia and found out that Ann was in a coma. This might not be the best news he's ever received but it was better than receiving confirmation of her death. Rayleigh received the news and the sisters asked them to keep it a secret.
Only a select few knew of Ann's survival and that included Dragon. Firefist's death also served as a distraction for the Revolutionary Army to launch small-time attacks against the World Government. They were planting seeds of doubt to the public that the World Government was in cahoots with some of the illegal activities within their country. While it may not be a significant shift in the power balance, it kept the Revolutionary Army's advantage of hitting the World Government where they least expected it. Mainly to rob their supplies from parts of the country they thought far from the reach of Dragon.
If they are to stop the spread of warfare and firearms deals, they would need to start with the middleman. Orochi. Aside from the direct middleman of Kaido, he also had connections all over the place. The more deals he got, the more money will be thrown into the World Government's hands.
Had Sab dealt with him earlier on, things would have progressed smoothly, but nothing in this world was certain. At least Dragon was aware a smooth sailing journey would never be their course. He'll need Luffia's help in this matter.
Dragon would have contacted her immediately, but he knew she could not divide her attention. Not when Ann is still in critical condition.
For now, dealing with Orochi permanently will wait.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
Tashigi was getting close to the truth. What she needed now was a couple more information and the puzzle would be solved.
It was quite difficult to dig for information about the people that don't exist. The last details she confirmed were about the false documents from Fuushia Orphanage.
Ann Ortiz.
Sab Regor.
Luffia Mondragon.
The bounty on Ann's head was ridiculous and came suddenly that it brought several questions even within the military. What could she have done to get the bounty? No one could answer and even the higher-ups don't know. Only the upper echelons knew about the real reason.
With frantic thoughts, she gathered everything about the three people. Sparing no expense to how much she needs to pay to get the information. Even the tiny details cannot be missed.
All the details she got did not make sense until an idea dawned on her mind. How could the World Government's actions toward Ann make sense if she was not important? The only time the World Government made a move was if it involved the Emperors. Or the Mafia King.
After digging through the old pictures of the Mafia King and his family, she came across the picture of a beautiful woman who looked like Ann albeit with blonde hair.
Her speculations grew stronger which led her to the private hospital records of the three women. It might be illegal and she had no warrant but she took the hospital records including a sample of their DNA.
Getting the Mafia King's DNA proved to be too difficult, but with the connections she had, she finally got it.
Using a private hospital, she submitted the samples for them to conduct a DNA test.
And today is the day she will get it.
She gasped when she opened the results that confirmed her speculations. This would be a discovery that the World Government will do anything to get their hands on.
Who would have thought that the Mafia King would go as far as mask his children's identities by falsely publicizing he had sons when in fact he had daughters?
More importantly, with Luffia's relation to the Mafia King, Tashigi finally unraveled the secret she had been keeping from Zoro. The policewoman did not doubt that Luffia told Zoro the truth.
"You've been deceiving him all along." She gritted her teeth in disgust while thinking about that innocent-looking face of hers when she was nothing but a witch.
A witch that continuously deceives Zoro.
How would Zoro react should he find that the person he chose over anything else was the daughter of the man who killed his family? It may break him apart, but Tashigi knew he needed to know the truth. She can't allow Zoro to continue living under the lies of that woman.
This must end now.
