Chapter Thirty-Two | Magical Dysfunction
"Who the hell is this?" Crocodile barked, and though Quinn couldn't see him, she could easily make out the tamped down anger in his voice, inches away from breaking through to the fore. "Answer me!"
"You can call me Mister Prince."
A hush came with the momentary pause of every Straw Hat straining their ears. Out of the corner of her eye Quinn saw a flicker of deliberation cross Nami's face before it settled into something more solid.
"Prince!" she suddenly shouted, rattling the bars with her fists. "We're captured and Vivi is hurt!"
There was a moment of silence before Sanji's voice once more rang out. "Understood."
And then there was a gunshot, a muffled crash, cursing, and the tinny broadcast abruptly cut off, the sound of Crocodile's low chuckle ringing out a second later.
You better not be dead, you bastard, was the first thought to leap to Quinn's mind, and it carried with it a special kind of dread she'd almost forgotten the sensation of. It started with a sickly chill that rocked her gut abruptly and violently, as if a chunk of ice had plummeted through the space where her heart should be. Nausea appeared a moment later, a flicker of it, before that too was swallowed down and cast aside in favour of a molten rush of anger, though even that rage was edged with fear.
Dread made way for worry as Quinn made an effort to pack it down into something more manageable, because through Crocodile's mocking laughter all she could see was Vivi, slumped unconscious atop a canvas of gilded marble. Gotta' save her. Got to get to her first. That reminder pulled her once hunched shoulders together, back straightening, and Quinn's mind rapidly switched from fear to instead being wholly dedicated to their escape, to saving Vivi, and to reuniting with the rest of the crew.
"Ha! Useless, all of you! If that Princess wakes up before the Bananadiles get to her, make sure to let her know that she'll have plenty of company in the afterlife, starting with her father!"
With that last taunt behind him, Crocodile left for good, and Quinn spun the jitte she'd stolen from Smoker like a barber pole, the tip of it whistling as it ground against the tiles.
"You can have this back," she suddenly growled, tossing the jitte over her shoulder without once tearing her eyes away from the prone form of Vivi and the slow swell of water rippling out of the hole in the ground. "We need to get out of here, fast."
"How?"
"I don't know. Maybe… maybe if I don't touch the bars, I can get through, right?"
"And how do you-?"
A crack rang out and Quinn swore, falling to the ground as all the strength was sapped from her body. Apparition was out the window then, the cage trapping her magically and physically. "Bollocks," she growled, pushing herself to her feet with Usopp's help. She flinched a moment later, her heart lurching in her chest at the sight of a Bananadile snout emerging from the water. "Shit."
Almost frantic, she drew on magic she hadn't so much as glanced at since the war, seeing no point in it beyond its usefulness as a glorified parlour trick. She'd never had a penchant for rootweaving and other magics that owed their ancestry to the old ways of the druids, a truly useful field of magic no doubt, but one that made her feel fragile. At least, the only spell of the sort she'd ever mastered did.
What a fright it was to feel that way.
Small. Helpless. Able to be killed with an errant footstep should it be placed just so, or for a passing bird to decide she looked an awful lot like supper.
Rare Animagi may be, underreported more likely, the only people she knew to put it that rarity to good use had been the Marauders and Rita Skeeter. The only reason Quinn pursued the magic in the first place was to have another, fleeting connection to her parents, seeing little to no real use in it otherwise.
Nonetheless, she envisioned in her mind's eye a saw-scaled viper, a serpent of brazen aggression, and when her magic coiled in her belly – a nearly forgotten sensation of a change coming over her – it disappeared just as quickly.
Her breath stuttered, and with a half step forward she tried desperately to yank at her animagus form, a bewildered voice in the back of her head crying out that it had been too long since that muscle had been flexed. That her magic had abandoned her at a time in her life that she truly, desperately needed it.
"What?" she asked aloud, patting at her chest as if that would draw forth her magic. "What!?"
A strange growl interrupted her, and Usopp suddenly spoke up. "What the hell is wrong with that Bananadile?"
Quinn glanced upward to see the Bananadile had emerged halfway through the hole in the ground and promptly got itself stuck. The growl bubbling in its throat was more confused than anything. Distressed, even. She presumed that had to do with how rapidly its midsection was inflating, like a balloon, its scales stretched and chest distended, the sheen of the flesh between a pale green bordering on white. It reminded her of one of the few times she'd managed to have the house to herself and watch the telly back on Privet Drive. She'd been entranced by a nature documentary that, in vivid colour, showcased footage of an anaconda that had nearly torn itself in two in a misguided attempt to gorge on an impressively fat boar.
Unlike the anaconda, which had coughed up its meal when it was nearly fit to burst and slithered away with the last of its strength, the Bananadile in front of her let out a quiet noise of discontent before it very violently and very suddenly exploded.
Blood and quivering chunks of viscera pelted the ceiling, the walls, and stuck to the cell bars with a meaty thud. Dull green flesh and heavy flecks of red were spattered across damn near every inch of the room – including themselves – as what appeared to be an egg nearly ten feet across and still growing rolled from the remains of the Bananadile and settled to a stop a short ways away.
"Did… did it just lay an egg?" Luffy asked, tugging at the sleeve of Quinn's shirt, somehow completely unbothered by the utter carnage. Beside him, Nami retched.
The only noise Quinn found herself capable of making in that moment was a breathless wheeze.
Seconds later, all of them spent in mystified silence, the 'egg' began to flake, the top of it cracking and crumbling away. A skinny hand pushed its way through the gap and found purchase immediately, digging into muddy-white and pulling until a limp shock of black hair appeared. Then, with herculean effort and a desperate gasp of fresh air, the man she'd nearly killed on Little Garden pulled himself from his wax bunker and flopped onto the ground, chest heaving.
She paused, staring at him, and as Luffy made a small noise of surprise followed by an exclamation of "Wax-Guy?" Quinn pointed a finger at him and made a loud, imposing declaration.
"Get us out of here."
Lifting his head weakly, Mister Three stared at them through bleary eyes, frowning, before recognition washed over his features. First, his jaw dropped. Second, his brow climbed until it disappeared behind the sweat-sodden clump of black hair hanging over his face. Third, his elbows quivered as he tried to pull himself up, to flee and get himself far, far away from the woman that had nearly taken his head.
A thousand thoughts raced through her mind in that moment, eyes flicking between Mister Three and the still prone form of Vivi lying not too far away. Quinn made a split-second judgement, one she'd made a few times during the war and been summarily pardoned for. At least, pardoned for the times the Ministry knew she had cast the spell.
"Imperio," she intoned, finger still extended towards Mister Three. Quinn instantly felt her magic take hold of the man and bind his will to her own, crushing it between metaphorical palms like a ball of foil, crumpled beyond recognition. The Unforgivable was unsteady without a wand to give it structure, but Mister Three was tired, weak, and entirely incapable of fighting her off in that moment, wand or no wand.
Sweat dripped from her brow, and it took the whole of Quinn's focus to direct him up and onto his feet, the world around her dwindling to a pinprick upon which her puppet stood. With trembling legs he was steered towards them, zombie-like, his eyes glazed over and a vacant yawing to his jaw that reminded her vaguely of an Inferi.
Free us from this cage, was her command. Use your wax to make a key. Do not touch the bars, they are made of seastone.
Mister Three did as he was ordered, wax erupting from his open palm as he grew closer to the cage. It began as an amorphous blob before twisting, plunging into the keyhole and changing unseen by the lot of them. There was a dull, yet heavy click, the rattle of tiny springs and bolts shuffling past one another, and with a turn of the wrist the lock clicked open and Mister Three wrenched free the seastone door and let loose the Straw Hats alongside Smoker.
With a gasp she let go of the magic binding him, rushing out the open door before he could come to his senses, though she stumbled along the way - tired from the exertion involved in wandless magic that she was still unaccustomed to.
Quinn blinked and then found herself kneeling over Vivi, gently taking her by the shoulders. "Hey, you with us?" she asked, wondering if she should revive her or simply sling Vivi over her shoulder and carry her out.
"We need to wake her up," Nami spoke up from behind, glancing over her shoulder at the stunned Mister Three, who was staring at Quinn with no small amount of horror. "There's going to be Baroque Works and Marines crawling all over the place."
"Crocodile's forces?" Smoker queried, leaning on his jitte, to which Usopp nodded.
"Yeah. We don't know how many he's got but… it's a lot. He's one of 'em," he answered, pointing at the cowering Mister Three.
Grunting in reply, Smoker studied the man before turning his attention back to the Straw Hats. "Anything they can be easily identified by?"
Putting a finger up, Usopp dragged a sketchbook out of his satchel-bag and quickly dashed something across it, turning the pages to them to reveal the sign of Baroque Works - a skull before two great wings, with crossed swords behind it instead of the oft stereotypical clashing bones. "This is on some of their ships, they might have shirts or tattoos as well."
"I can work with that. Alright." Pointing at them, Quinn and Luffy in particular, the scowl that worked its way across Smoker's face would have been intimidating were it not for his now discovered and – Quinn would admit later, in astonished retrospect – glaring weakness to wind. "Get the Princess and get out of here. I can't touch Crocodile, not at my rank, but I can clear a path. Do not make me regret this."
Gaping at him, it took a second for Smoker's words to register, alongside a firm hand on Luffy's shoulder to stop him rushing over and high-fiving the man. With the way he was straining against Nami's grip, he looked less like a Captain and more like a very eager dog begging silently to be let off leash. Quinn took that moment to lean over Vivi and place her hand against her forehead, murmuring Renervate as she did.
"Hey, hey, you're safe," Quinn started, helping Vivi up by the shoulder. "We got out of the cage."
"I knew you were a good guy," Luffy said behind her, and Quinn could hear the grin in his voice. In a flash he was kneeling next to her, staring at Vivi as his mood swung without warning or hesitation to anger the instant he saw her bleary, fearful gaze. Luffy paused then, frowning, and then looked to the ceiling. "Quinn?"
"Yeah?"
"Find Sanji. I know he's okay but… find him. After, you two should go help Vivi's dad. Keep him safe."
"And you? The rest of you?"
"We're gonna' kick Croco's ass," he declared, staring at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And thanks, Smokey!"
All Smoker did was grumble, and Vivi finally took that moment to speak. "Let me come with you," she said, her voice hitching somewhat as she looked Quinn directly in the eye. "I need to make sure my father is safe."
"Of course."
"We'll get Zoro, Chopper, and Marianne before we chase after Crocodile," Nami said, reaching out to take Vivi's hand before drawing back, something hesitant in her eyes. "But we have to move now, before Crocodile sends someone back here to check on us. He's cocky, but he's not a moron."
"Then let's move! Vivi's fine, so don't worry anymore!" Grinning, Luffy flung one of his arms over to the bannister above, the tunnel entrance just before it, and his other arm wrapped around Nami and Usopp. They had a moment to blink before they were flung, screaming, out of the room and down the hallway. Somehow Usopp managed to throw a frenzied wave over his shoulder just as he disappeared from sight, his short, frantic goodbye the equivalent of a salute. That left Quinn and Vivi alone with Smoker, a jittery adrenaline fueled breath snaking out from between her lips that was accompanied by clear relief.
"I'm glad you're safe," she said, helping Vivi fully to her feet and clapping her on the shoulder. "Ready to get out of here? Or do you need a second?"
Rubbing her eyes, Vivi then leaned over and stretched, before shaking out her arms for good measure. "I should be good. I think," she added, jogging on the spot. "Head still hurts."
"It'll do that. Once we're out of here I'll see about a bit of healing, but for now…"
"You have zero sense of urgency."
She turned to smile at Smoker, a soft thing laced with respect. "Impatient, are you?"
He made to reply when she aimed her pistol straight up, right where the tube that had dropped them in the sea prison cell joined to a bowed expanse of filigreed stone, the ceiling so much alike those gothic vaults at Hogwarts that it gave her momentary pause. "If you wanted to get rid of me, all you had to do was ask."
"What-?"
Knowing what was going to happen at a glance, Vivi plugged her ears as Quinn took a deep breath and pulled the trigger, steel and magic colliding with the stone a fraction of a second later. The sky opened above them, dust and rubble pouring from the cracked maw that was soon joined by the sound of frightened shouts and what she assumed to be the frantic evacuation of Rain Dinners above. None of it touched them, an immaterial shield glimmering overhead upon which the rubble broke, scattering around them as though shirked off by a grand umbrella.
"Who the hell are you?" Smoker roared, shielding his eyes from the dust.
Quinn glanced away from the carnage that surrounded them and looked Smoker in the eye. She didn't say anything, and after a moment he glared at her. "Were you a Marine?"
"Something like that."
"...Cipher Pol?"
"Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe a word of it."
She didn't give him a chance to respond, her arm snaking around Vivi's shoulder as she apparated to the casino above, before the twin doors that had led them to a frankly embarrassing trap. Stop getting caught up in Luffy's energy, she told herself, scowling. A second later she heard a wet cough, turning to see Vivi just as she hacked out a glob of spit, hunched over with one hand pressed firm against her belly.
"Shit. Sorry, I should have warned you. Apparition is disorienting on the best of days. I'll let you know next time I have to," she rambled, squeezing Vivi's shoulder and casing the room while she recovered.
"Next time?" Vivi wheezed.
"You never know," Quinn said, watching hundreds trample their way out of the casino from their relatively calm vantage. Gilded slot machines had been pushed aside, and pit bosses attempted in vain to quell the panicked mob only to be struck or screamed at, but what caught her attention were the few people she picked out of the crowd that were scanning the room just like her.
"You good?"
"Good."
"Then follow me."
Quinn immediately slunk towards the nearest agent, and the one most likely to spot them, a heavyset man with the barest hint of Baroque Works wings peeking out from his collar, inked in muddy green. He didn't even have a chance to glance her way when Quinn cupped a hand around his mouth and let out a burst of magic, knocking him out cold. Get your head in the game. You snuck into the Ministry and killed Umbridge in a packed courtroom without getting caught.
Looping her arm through Vivi's, Quinn led her through the crowd, sidestepping their way towards the entrance as the man's limp body fell. All the while she sent out minute pulses of magic, compulsions, forcing people to step aside while they snaked their way through the teeming masses. The knotted crowd shifted before them, dazed expressions on the faces of anyone near enough, and as they grew closer to their escape Quinn tamped down on her magic so as to not exhaust herself. She'd need a wand soon, or something approximating it. Even with her handle on the strange flow of magic strengthening with each passing day, it was still far too unwieldy.
What she wanted, what she needed, was something that would let her refine the more delicate spells in her repertoire. Her pistol was all well and good but it lacked a subtlety that she'd once grown accustomed to and then had abandoned in her time as an Auror. Shock and awe was the name of the game in the corps, but you could get a lot more done on a job if the first chunk of it was spent as quietly as possible.
Quinn was thrown from her thoughts when out of the corner of her eye she spotted someone making their way towards her, carving a direct path through the slowly thinning crowd. Her hand hovered over the hilt of her sword, before freezing as she recognized the scent of cigarette smoke, the specific note of the tobacco giving her pause.
When Quinn spoke it was a near whisper, as quiet as she could be beneath the roar of the crowd. "Sanji?"
Beneath the tattered brown hood he wore she could see his lips curl. "Do you know any other cooks as handsome as me?"
"You absolute bastard, we thought you were hurt."
"And I thought our dear Princess had gotten hurt, but I'm delighted to see you safe," he began, bowing his head in Vivi's direction as both her and Quinn rolled their eyes. "Who-?"
"Crocodile."
Sanji's face crumpled with anger. "He'll pay."
"Stop peacocking and show us the way out of here."
"Well, the thing about that is-"
A sudden explosion outside the casino rattled the windows and sent what little calm the crowd had skittering away in favour of something more frantic. "-Chopper and I may have created a distraction, and judging by how scared everyone already is, you had the same idea? That should've been the bridge getting taken out."
"Hell of a distraction. Move to one of the windows, we can crack it open with all this chaos and sneak out."
"Good. Let's go."
The three of them moved swiftly, carving their way out of the crowd that was now swaying back and forth as those too far away to know the bridge was out still pushed for the exit, while others did their best to get away from what Quinn imagined was a heap of rubble. "How the hell did you take out the bridge?" she asked, smashing a window with a focused gust of wind and vanishing the shards with another twist of the wrist.
"Found some explosives, had Chopper set them off when no one would get caught in the blast."
"Clever."
With a grunt, Sanji hopped up the six or so feet to the open hole in the wall and reached down, reverent, taking Vivi's outstretched hand and winking at her as he hoisted her up. Scoffing, Quinn leapt up and grabbed the ledge, vaulting up and over it onto the other side. She fell, grunting as her feet hit the ground and her knees bent under the force, glancing back up to see about a dozen feet between her and where the window had been, Sanji and Vivi shading their eyes as they looked down.
"Catch me!" Vivi shouted, before jumping directly towards her.
Eyes wide, Quinn's heart lurched as she threw her arms out and caught Vivi around the waist, setting her down with a huff. "Bloody royals, making demands."
Like a gymnast, Sanji dropped down next to them, a hand cupped around his mouth as he lit a cigarette. "Gimme' that," Quinn demanded, snatching it from him and tucking it between her lips. "Just escaped from the world's dumbest trap and now I've gotta' catch princesses and watch you float around like a damned ballerina."
"Is that envy I hear?" Sanji grinned. "You wish you were as light on your feet as me."
"You didn't have to catch me," Vivi added, nudging her arm.
"I see something falling, I move to catch it."
"Sure, sure."
Sanji grunted, catching their attention. "Where's the rest of the crew?"
"They're heading off on their own. The three of us," Quinn said, gesturing to all of them. "We're making a beeline straight for Alubarna to make sure the King is safe."
"Good thing we have a guide then, hey?"
Nodding, Vivi took a moment to get her bearings, and then pointed towards what Quinn could only assume was east. "That way. We'll want to get transport or something… there's desert, and then the Sandora river cuts right through our path."
"I can transfigure some sand into a boat once I've had a chance to collect myself."
"Camels, then."
"If you see food on our way out of the city, grab it. We don't want to fight on an empty stomach."
Taking a deep breath, Quinn steeled herself for yet another journey through the desert, nodding at her two companions. "You ready to get out of here?"
"The faster the better."
Sliding down the embankment, Quinn stopped at the moat that ran a circle around Rain Dinners, hiding the aquifer beneath. She dipped a finger into the water, freezing a stretch of it for them to cross. "Stay sharp, and let's try not to fight unless we can help it. Smoker should be ordering the Marines off our backs."
Gawking at her, Sanji blinked. "How the hell did you manage that?"
"I can be diplomatic when I need to be."