It's been two days since the Straw Hats left Little Garden. Dymon D. Ciara left her room with a bucket filled with mysterious fluids hanging from her left hand. It was mostly clear, with slight discoloration. She had an eyepatch where her eye used to be and was moving with more energy than she had since they left the island.

Usopp saw this, he walked to her side. "Excuse me, what's in that bucket?"

She looked at him briefly, then continued walking. "Nothing important. Just sweat, along with some other fluids." She winked. Usopp gagged lightly.

"Why do you have a bucket of the stuff?"

"Waterproof bandages. If I let it build up, I get a little loopy. I mostly drain at night when you're all asleep, but something changed." She lifted it to the railing. She looked at Usopp. "Help me out here." She lifted the stub on her right hand. "It's hard doing this 'single-handedly.' Kshshshsh," she laughed at her joke."

"How can you be so calm about losing a hand," Usopp asked as he dumped the questionable fluids into the ocean.

"I just don't think about it too much. Eating has been much harder. As well as opening doors, writing, doing menial ship tasks, and relaxing on the deck."

"How can it be harder to relax?"

"You try drinking a mojito and flipping through a newspaper with one hand. It's annoying."

"Your life seems so hard," Usopp said blankly.

"I know. It's a wonder how I'm so great," Ciara said sarcastically. "By the way, do you have what I asked for?"

Usopp brightened. "I do!" He took out a hook and attached it to Ciara's right arm.

"Awesome. Now I look more like a pirate." She swung it around for a bit. "Call me, Captain Hook."

"Isn't there already someone called Captain Hook?"

"That's just in a dumb kid's book. I'm stealing it."

They stood still for a minute. "What are we gonna do now," asked Usopp.

"I know," yelled Ciara, with her hook in the air.

Chapter 13: Storytime with Ciara: Escape From the Tower of Tears!

Dymon D. Ciara

I dragged Nami's map-making chair onto the deck. "Gather around everyone! It's storytime!" I pushed her off and sat in the chair.

"What the heck, Ciara," said Nami. Sanji told everyone my real name. I couldn't possibly understand why it took so long for everyone to start using it.

"Suck it up. You'll get over it." The rest of the crew gathered.

Luffy ran in. "Woo! Storytime!" He sat on the floor next to Nami. "I hope it's a funny story."

Usopp was still on the deck. He sat on the other side of Nami. "I just hope it isn't too violent. Her last story was hard to listen to."

Zoro was lying on the mast, it just so happened to be in front of me. He was asleep. He was covered in sweat after training for twenty-four hours straight. I assumed it was to prove his masculinity after I implied he was gay. Why did he want to disprove it so much? It only made him look like he was in denial.

Sanji came out of the kitchen. He jumped into the air and kicked Zoro in the head. "Wake up you idiot!" His eyes turned to hearts as he looked at me. "Ciara is about to tell us a story of her time in the West Blue." He had two large plates covered in hors d'oeuvres. "The second I heard, I prepared these to snack on as she regaled her tale." That was impressive, it's been less than a minute.

Vivi, who appeared out of nowhere, or I didn't care enough to notice her, sat behind Nami. "Are we gonna learn something about you? That's the entire reason we're letting you do this childish display." What was she talking about? There was nothing childish about storytime with Captain Hook.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "What do you want to hear about? That time I went to a wedding." Nobody wanted to. "How about when I made the mob angry." Those five families were annoying. Luffy nodded but Vivi said no. I thought for a minute and got the perfect one. "This is the perfect one. The time I helped my best friend gain freedom."

Vivi looked at me with high suspicion. "This better not be a trick. Ok, I would like to hear that story."

"Alright. This is a story I like to call. Escape From The Tower of Tears!"

Vivi put her hands on her head and yelled. "What the heck! You're the one who did that?"

"No questions until the end." I began telling the story.

It all started on the Kinslayer Pirates ship. I was on the deck, looking at the Tower of Tears with a telescope. It was cloudy with a chance of rain.

The captain was recently captured and was being held there before being moved to Impel Down. We had to get him out of there before then or we'll get a different captain.

"Wait a minute," said Nami, rudely interrupting my story. "Why don't you want another captain?"

"He was a massive pushover. He let me do whatever I wanted."

"So, he was like a bad babysitter."

"Shut up, Nami. No more interruptions."

It was a highly secretive prison with large parts of information redacted from most paperwork about it. I was only able to find out that the captain was held there because I happened to overhear someone talking about it as they took him away on a marine ship. I did a little digging and easily found the location in a couple of days. I couldn't find any other information, though. Time was of the essence so we set course for the prison.

My good friend at the time, Sandra, was right next to me. "How are we gonna do this," she asked.

"Isn't Sandra the name of a boat," asked Usopp.

"Not Sandra the boat, Sandra the person. Come on, keep up," I was tired of these interruptions. "And all of you shut up."

"I don't know," I replied, putting my spyglass down. "I think I could wing it."

"I'm gonna give you a bit of advice. Don't. It could only lead to disaster." She said that like she knew everything. Reminds me of a certain redhead, just a lot less annoying.

"Hey!"

"I said no interruptions!"

I didn't listen to her. I looked at the island again and looked it over.

It was a tall prison—a large cylinder covered in rectangular windows. A wall and guard towers surrounded it. After a little while, I found a little cave off of a cliff.

I stole one of the dinghies and rowed my way into the cave.

"Hold on. You stole a boat?" I didn't look at who talked.

"Can you not pretend you care about that? It doesn't matter," I said. "Besides, I can guarantee you stole at least one boat without knowing who you are."

The cave was dark and humid. I could barely maneuver without crashing into the walls. Some stalactites dripped water periodically. I eventually found a shoreline. I docked and snuck up the cave.

There was pure darkness in a matter of seconds. I walked blindly for multiple minutes. I walked into several walls and squeezed through multiple tight passages. The ground was soft in a way. There was a certain smell I couldn't place. After a few hours, I saw a faint light in the tunnel. Like a single match. I walked a bit more before finding the exit. I climbed onto a ledge and I was there.

It was an incredibly thin hole that started ten feet high and ended at my feet. I could only fit my fingers into it before my knuckles stopped the rest of my hand. I looked through it. "Hello, anyone in there?"

"Help me, please," yelled a man on the other side. "It was the girl with the red eye!" I already knew who he was talking about. It would be spoilers, so I won't tell you who.

"Why not," asked Luffy.

"Don't worry. If I stick around, you'll be on the business end of her sword in no time." It was hyperbolic, she didn't use a sword.

"What?!" Yelled everyone but Luffy and Zoro.

"I said no interruptions."

"What's going on? Where are you," I said into the crevice.

"It wasn't my fault! She made me do it! She has a way about her. Making you do things you normally wouldn't. A witch, she's a witch!"

"Well, I'm here to stage a breakout. I think we could help each other." I was excited to have a new friend.

"Help me, please! It was the girl with a red eye!" He repeated himself. "It wasn't my fault!" He was mad, insane, even. Talking to him would be useless.

I walked back. The cave was a dead end. I jumped off the ledge. Only to be met with a shallow puddle that wasn't there before. I quickly moved back up.

"Hold on! Where did the water come from," asked Luffy.

"It'll be explained later on," said, of all people, Zoro.

"Yeah," I said. "So shut up."

I couldn't go back the other way for reasons that would spoil the story. So I went forward. And before you ask, yes, I went through the narrow slip in the wall.

I could say how I got through. But it's funnier if you think I squeezed through like an octopus. So that's what I did.

I emerged to find a dungeon of some sort. It had multiple cells with a large hallway in the middle. The cell walls were stone with barred windows between them. The metal door also had a small window. I could still hear the crazy guy repeating himself.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" I put my face through the bars in the door. I saw nobody in the room. It smelled repugnant. Which made sense if they left people down there to rot.

"I'm here," said some guy I've definitely seen before. He wore a marine uniform, but his hair was styled in a way that would take over six hours to do every morning. It was so done up it looked fake.

I remembered reading about him in the papers. A semi-famous thief who was known for being so overdramatic in his crimes that most of his crew was arrested or killed before they even began their escape. He was captured after robbing a golden dolphin and believed to be executed, but it seemed the Marines had different plans. I can't remember his name.

"Quick question," Nami raised her hand. She wasn't looking too hot. Her cheeks were lightly flushed and she was sweating. Well, I suppose she was looking too hot. "Why would a criminal end up working for the Marines?" I should've expected her to ask that with how pushy she was.

"That's what I said."

"Why would a criminal end up working for the Marines," I said.

"Most marines are criminals in their hearts," he replied. "The only difference is the judge. They gave me a choice. Guard the Tower of Tears or become a prisoner in its walls." He leaned on the door, crying dramatically. "Can you blame me for my choice?"

"Yes. I blame you."

"Well, you win some, you lose some." He bounced back in a second. "It's not like you're in a position to disagree."

"What do you mean?" At that moment, my legs gave way. I almost lost grip of the bars on the door.

"Because you're stuck in that cell. I'll let you in on a secret. The Tower of Tears is a more literal name than you'll think. They say every time it rains, it pours. Doubly true in this area of the ocean. So much so that this entire place fills with water and drowns everyone in it. We use the crack in the cell to drain the place. The windows are purely decorative. We couldn't be bothered to close them every time it rains so they're basically permanently closed. But don't worry. There's enough natural lighting to see." I wouldn't bother trying to decipher what he said. It doesn't make any sense.

To add to what he said, something I didn't learn until much later, with the reveal of all documents about the Tower of Tears. Something I had nothing to do with. They would put the extra bodies they had in the caves. They would float in the water and the natural flow of it would clog the cave with the human remains. The only way the water would escape would be a couple of marines unplugging it after the storm. They would chop up the bod-"

Usopp ran to the railing and threw up over the edge, soon followed by Vivi and Nami.

"Wow, were the hors d'oeuvres that bad," I said sarcastically. I should've tried one before Luffy got them all. That bastard.

Vivi got up, so did Usopp. Nami didn't, she was swaying, barely able to cling to the railing.

Vivi knelt by her side. "Nami?" She tapped her shoulder. Nami fell over, she was only able to breathe heavily. Vivi was hysterical. "Something's wrong with Nami! She has a fever!"

Nami was sick? Everyone went to help in an instant. It was like I wasn't even telling a story. They took her to her room in a matter of seconds. I sat down again. I didn't know what to do.

I guess my story will have

TO BE CONTINUED... at another time.

A.N.: You might be wondering why I wrote this author's note. I want YOU to ask me any questions you might have. Why did this character do that? Why is he not dead? How does she know that? Who the heck is that? I will take all questions in the form of private messages. I will answer one question at the beginning of every chapter from now on. If I don't get questions, I won't delay anything. So only ask one when it feels important. This is for information that I was too lazy to properly communicate in the story. I will take all questions, don't hold back. This will be fun for all four of the people reading this.