Silmeria - Thanks for being patient everyone. Enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer - I claim no rights to One Piece or Sentinel.

Chapter Sixteen: The Guide of the Eternal Pose: Part Five

The fierce cold of the water sent a harsh shock to Luffy's system, but he was quick to gather his wits and swim to the surface, diving in again when an edge of a blade made its way towards his head. Rising again, he turned his head to see Hatchan and Zoro engaged in battle and it was much to Luffy's horror that the man wielded six swords to Zoro's simple two. Luffy took a deep breath and swiftly moved towards the edge of the pool, keeping his head low as Hatchman and Zoro headed in his direction with sharp swords still swinging wildly.

"What's wrong?" Hatchman mocked, his movements picking up speed and with enough force, pushed Zoro back against the wall. "You look like you're struggling?"

"It's none of your business, small fry." Zoro mocked in return, smirking when Luffy was quick to step in front of him with Bo Staff in hand. "I think he's going to make quick work of that little stick of yours, Little One."

Luffy snorted, his lips pulled into a confident smirk that only Hatchman believed. Zoro wasn't fooled. "He can try, Zoro, but he knows better, right? He can swing all he wants, but he has no form nor does he knows what he's doing-"

"I am the great Six Swords Style user, Hachi." Hatchman moved closer, his beady eyes taking in both Luffy and Zoro's tense forms and smirked. "You know." he began, stepping closer. "I'm not a fan of humans, but you two seemed to have plenty of meat on your bones to last me a night or two."

"What?" Zoro stepped closer and moved to push Luffy out of the way. Pointing his sword in Hatchman's direction, he held out his arm and pushed Luffy behind him. "You're not eating us nor are you coming any closer to Luffy. And great Six Swords Style user? I'll believe it when I see it."

"Six Swords Style! Octopus Chaos Blades!"

It was the only warning that Luffy and Zoro had as Hatchman moved towards them, all six blades whirling in different directions. Zoro rushed forward as Luffy moved to the left, each of them going against their own pair of blades. Zoro ducked under and twisted his blade with a twist of the wrist, lifting it up and creating an upwards slash, creating a spray of blood and cry of intense pain as Hatchman fell to the ground.

Zoro moved out of the way as Hatchman fell forward, grabbing Luffy's wrist and moving him towards the door. "Go!" he urged, holding up his blades as Hatchman rose again with a roar of rage.

"Zoro!" Luffy pleaded, his hands tightening on his Bo Staff. "I'm not leaving-"

"The more time we spent here, the more time we're losing in finding Usopp! Go! Now!" Zoro shot him an irritating, but pleading look as Hatchman rose and spat out a mouthful of blood. "For once, Monkey D. Luffy, just do as I ask!"

"Okay." Luffy swallowed, taking a good, hard look at Zoro's strong back, memorizing it, inhaling the smell of sweat, anger, and confidence as if it would be the last time-

"We'll see each other again if that's what you're worried about, Luffy." Zoro shot his grin his way. "After all, what kind of Sentinel can't protect their Guide-"

Luffy flushed at the promise - the confidence-in Zoro's voice before nodding and moving towards the door, just slamming the door shut at the sound of the metal of Hatchman and Zoro's blades clashing again. He would see Zoro again.

The man promised, after all.

Usopp woke to the sound of a pen scratching against the paper. He opened his eyes and fought down the whimper that escaped his lips as the pain raced up and down his body. Oh. He remembered now. He had been kidnapped and tortured and he wondered-he wondered.

"You're awake." Nami's voice caressed his ears that was followed by the continuous scratching of her pen. "I didn't think that you would be knocked out so long, but then again..."

Usopp looked up, his eyes swollen, but it was enough for him to see Nami's sandaled feet as she rose from the table and bent down to look him in the eye. "Luffy is coming for you. As is Zorro. You're going to be safe."

"I-" Usopp croaked out with a tight, bloodied smile. "I can't say the same for you."

"No." Nami murmured, returning to the table as the scratching resumed. "I suppose that you can't, can you?"

It was then that Usopp took the opportunity to look around and it was much to his surprise that the room was full of books, desks and endless upon endless of paper. What was this place and why did it have so much paper?

"W-What are you doing?" With strength he didn't know he possessed, Usopp rose from the floor and sat against the far wall, making sure to keep his distance from his kidnapper. "What is all of this?"

"Maps," Nami uttered, glancing at him with a blank stare that would have sent shivers down his spine if it hadn't been for the fact that he was used to them by now.

"Maps?" Usopp pressed. Who needed a room full of maps? Sure, there was no full map of the entire world considering that their world was so wide and vast and so interchangeable that it was almost unnecessary to make one because of the use of the Log Pose, but then again, he supposed that it would make sense to create a map for those who didn't have access to the Log Poses. Normal people sailing the seas didn't have the opportunity. He supposed that he could consider Nami and the Arlong Pirates blessed.

"Arlong hired me to be his cartographer." Nami glanced at him over his shoulder before returning to her task. "He decided that my talents would be of better us here than in the village."

Usopp said nothing, taking another glance around the room, the puzzle pieces in his mind clicking in place. Just how long had Nami spent in this room? The maps had to number in the hundreds, if not thousands.

"Why?" Usopp found himself asking, gaining Nami's attention again. "The world isn't this...large? What could these maps possibly be of?"

"These are maps or rough interpretations of East Blue," Nami responded, earning a sharp intake of breath from Usopp. "Of course. There are maps of the world, but not one of them are accurate, but they are enough for the world to be secure in the locations, but-"

"But?"

"Arlong wants an exact interpretation." Nami continued with a tight smile that nearly wrenched Usopp's heart in two. "Can you imagine it? An exact map of the entire world - Old and New?"

"Yeah," Usopp responded, his eyes drawn to Nami's back as she continued sketching away. How long, he wondered? Had she been sitting in here and drawing maps for such a despicable person? Surely it wasn't against her will? Then again, he didn't think that Nami would willingly spend her time her making maps for a man who would treat her village as if it was merely a resource instead of an actual living, breathing place to reside.

"How-" Usopp began, his throat tightening as he remembered his own struggle. "How long have you been here? Making maps and being a part of Arlong's Pirates-"

"It doesn't matter." Nami sighed, and the sketching stopped and Nami turned her full attention to Usopp, her eyes softening as she finally took in the opportunity to look at his injuries. "I'm not doing this for myself, you know? I-" Nami huffed, her cheeks flushing with obvious embarrassment. "We, or rather, this village has been under Arlong's hold for years. He extorts money, he terrorizes the villagers and forces those who have particular talents to join his gang." Nami waved a hand towards the towering maps and that bitter smile made itself known on her lips again. "As you can see, I have a talent for maps. I always loved making and learning about them when I was a child. I was hoping that if I made them properly I could save up enough money and buy the village back from Arlong and set my people free. But, well, you know how well that's working out, right?"

Usopp looked around, and even if he wasn't a Guide, he was able to feel the despair that lingered in the room. The desperation that seemed to smother Nami to the point that it was emotionally choking her. What she did to survive in such a horrid situation would have driven a weaker person insane. A weaker person like himself would have given up a long time ago.

But, Nami, as a Guide, and a strong woman, held a perseverance that he admired and even moreso, wanted. The pain she suffered for her sister, her departed mother and the village spoke of her devotion.

And her pain.

"I don't regret it." Nami continued, oblivious to Usopp's thoughts. "For trading you for that child, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but, I am sorry for them hurting you. That, I am immensely regretful for Usopp."

"It's alright." Usopp murmured, lowering his swelling eyes to the ground. "I would have done the same thing. I don't blame you. Well, I don't blame you anymore at least."

Nami looked skeptical before her eyes softened. "You won't be here for much longer," she assured with a tight frown that spoke of the trouble that was bound to come with his kidnapping. "Luffy and Zoro are in the Padoga."

"What...?" Usopp breathed, a small hope entering his chest at the thought of his new friends coming to rescue him. "Luffy? Zoro? They're here?"

Nami nodded, and again, a guilty expression flickered across her face. "Yes." she looked away, her cheeks flushing in what Usopp could only describe as shame. "Although, I'm afraid that obstacles lie in wait."

"Obstacles that you and Arlong set up?" Usopp reminded her bluntly, the hope that held smothering to a small flame. "And here I was feeling sympathy-"

"I don't need sympathy for someone who can't even defend themselves." Nami cut in ruthlessly. "Let alone give up a small child to save their own skin-"

"Shut up." Usopp snarled, baring his teeth at the Guide, and watching with a small inkling of satisfaction when Nami shrank back at the tone. "You talk about cowardness when you led innocent people into this deathtrap you call a base of operations? You seek sympathy for your situation when you're the one that's playing along to an extent that the person who feels sympathy for you becomes skeptical. I understand that you toiled away in this room and it holds nothing but pain for you, but you have to realize that you can't do this anymore. You can't sit and suffer and allow others to suffer because of your inaction." Usopp looked down and his jaw clenched. "I learned the hard way that such inaction can get you and others killed."

"I-" Nami seemed at a loss for words, her hands twisting in the edges of her green camisole before she turned away and returned to her task. "You don't understand-"

"I do." Usopp interrupted calmly as if the situation that sat before him wasn't bad. Not when the hundreds of people below in that village had it ten times worse. Not when the woman who helped in his captured suffered since she was but a child. No, the beatings and the torture was a mere cakewalk.

"I do understand." Usopp continued, staring into her reddish-brown eyes with an all too familiar sinking sadness. "I understand all too well."

Nami huffed and returned to her task and the scratching of the pen resumed, the only sound in the masking silence. The only sound, Usopp supposed, with a sad grimaced that covered Nami's soft sobs.

Usopp opened his mouth to apologize - to attempt to soothe over the situation - when the area below shook with such force that it knocked the towering maps over and Nami out of her chair with an enraged yell.

"What the hell was that-" Nami was cut when the door was swiftly destroyed when a body that was tossed through it as if weighed nothing at all. Usopp watched in awe as the body rose and coughed up a lungful of dust.

"I'm beginning to see that Fisherman have no manners." a cheery voice called out, and Usopp's heart leaped to his throat at the familiarity of it. "Who tosses a Guide through a wall? Honestly."

"Luffy...?" Usopp breathed, his eyes stinging with unshed tears. "Luffy!"

"Oi! Usopp!" Luffy called out with a small, exhausted chuckle as the dust clears to reveal Luffy's worn-torn form that was, much to Usopp horror, covered in blood and bruises, as if he had fought his way up instead of hiding in the shadows like a normal person should have, but then again, Luffy never classified under normal.

"I'm glad I found you, troublemaker!" Luffy pointed to the large door that now served as a door. "But, I'm afraid that I had to bring an uninvited guest."

Usopp swallowed, sweat dripping down his face as he turned to the hole to find a rather large Fisherman who was just as black and blue as Luffy. He opened his mouth to ask who, exactly, this was, when Nami beat him to the punch, her voice shaken and weak.

"Arlong."

"Arlong." Usopp repeated, dumbfounded. "Arlong? The Leader of the Arlong Pirates." Usopp turned to Luffy with a dazed expression. "And you ran into him, how!?"

Luffy bared his teeth, the action bloody and maniac and not an expression a Guide should be bearing. "It's a long story."