Chapter 12
Like cat and dog
In Goa the navy barracks was located on Canes street, on the corner of the main avenue that led to the palace. At night there was usually a lot of hustle and bustle with drunks and thugs arrested the day before who spent the night in the cells vomiting and complaining. In the morning, if they were lucky, the family would take them; otherwise, they would wait between dizziness and headaches until twelve o'clock to go out onto the street with a fine in hand and a promise to pay within twenty-four hours.
The terrorists had special treatment, of course. The murderer of a king was to be taken to Impel Down, if the administration managed to contact the prison, those things usually had a schedule.
Not at nine, that's the time for the officials' breakfast. The paperwork began at ten, except on Mondays, when it was training time. Between eleven and twelve, was the Den Den Mushi calls time, if the weather was good and the Den Den Mushi were working correctly of course. Although if they had in mind the international time change, it was too early for Impel Down and by then it was coffee time in the prison.
Ace was arrested on a Sunday so the day for administrative matters was Monday and new recruits had just arrived, schedules were disrupted. It was not every day that a king was killed and those things about interrogations and torture took special times.
Furthermore, the recruits turned out to be incompetent.
They were shown the facilities prior to the cleaning room until they had the bucket and the mop in their hands and that was where the presentations ended until the coffee hour was over and everything was like gold.
The boy spilled the dirty water in just five minutes and the girl asked to go to the bathroom in ten. 'that's the future of the country' thought the marine with the janitor position as he sent them both to the prisoners' latrines to prevent them from wasting the paper in the marine bathroom. If they were going to be kicked out soon they didn't need privileges.
On the stairs the two new recruits looked at each other as they went down.
"That one said that there is no paper in the bathroom in the cells, Nami. If you want, ask him for the upstairs bathroom."
The girl let out a sigh as she grabbed her partner's hand and put him into the first little room she found. One full of unmade beds and the smell of cigarettes.
"We're not going to pee, Luffy. You'd better stay quiet and follow me, okay? I do the thinking things and you watch. If they ask you something you say 'yes' to everything and if there is a fight I allow you to punch once."
He pouted as he snorted.
"I want to hit more than one."
She shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, two. Now shut up and follow me."
Before leaving, Luffy twisted his mouth, the words curling between his teeth.
"If it's small, we won't both fit in the bathroom."
She stepped on his foot already in the hallway, looking for prying eyes in the surrounding area.
"Shhhh."
As soon as they reached the ground floor, surrounded by bars, eyes turned to them pleadingly and Nami remembered that they were wearing uniforms. As they advanced, in an attempt to find a familiar face, hands came out from behind the bars, in the form of drunken and beggarly supplications. Despite the number of bars, behind none of them did they find Ace's familiar face. In the cells they would find nothing of wanted criminals, it was evident.
"Take me out of here, I promise I'll pay, just let me get home, my family is waiting for me" pleaded a man with small eyes and scabs of dirt on his skin.
Nami shuddered and Luffy hesitantly squeezed her hand.
The first pleading phrase gave way to a dozen misguided requests and hoarse voices.
The bathroom door seemed further and further away while the poor old marine guarding the cells shouted for silence.
"More pay and less complain!"
Nami looked down and almost ran to the door of the tiny bathroom where she forcibly pushed Luffy. Ignoring complaints and tears.
The boy squatted over the dirty toilet lid and a bursting paper with his mouth twisted and the brow furrowed.
"I don't like this place."
"Yeah, me neither. Have you seen Ace?"
Luffy shook the head vigorously.
"I haven't seen him either. We have to ask the prisoners or the marine. We'd better distract the old man now while the others drink coffee. This way I can review the detainees' entry log."
His friend squinted his head in question.
"Are the punches starting?"
Nami sighed again.
"Let's clog the toilet, come on."
Nami looked around in search of material and decided, with her eyes fixed on the dirt and the very small space of the pipe that a pair of socks and a cap would be enough.
Luffy helped her take off the shoes and threw the things into the filthy and dirty water.
It didn't take much more. When she flushed the toilet, the murky water swirled sinisterly in search of a way out and Nami had to pull the boy away from the mess before he got his flip-flops dirty.
When she took Luffy out of the bathroom she did so with cries for help.
"The pipes don't drain! It's overflowing!" Nami shouted as she ran in search of the older man who was resting after the reception to the cells.
The man ran towards the bathroom cursing and spitting, apparently accustomed to that type of spectacle. Nami left Luffy arguing with the man while she surreptitiously leaned behind the table in search of the necessary papers. From the cells, the majority turned their heads, attentive to the scene.
Despite the organization that she would have thought necessary for that place, a worn notebook with alcohol and coffee stains offered her a pile of names with times and numbers. It took her some time to recognize the letters, but as soon as she did, Ace's name, short and concise, along with the inscription of the charge as: magnicide, offered her a small breath.
'Confidential transfer. Pending Central' the signature of two men attested to the transfer 'Irvin' and 'Toga'.
Frustration at the very little information offered by the disastrous handwriting of the terrible record made her groan. They need to…
"I know you, girl."
Nami turned around at the voice that had just interrupted her thoughts. One of the prisoners, a middle-aged man with disheveled clothes, thinning hair, and a split lip, watched her from behind the bars with a hollow, disfigured smile. The girl's back tensed, unable to put a name to that face, but certain that she had seen him on another occasion.
Hopefully he would recognize her from those days making maps around the island.
The shape of a tattoo curling under his shirt told her of another kind of luck.
"You left my crew without a berry a few months ago and then your companions killed my captain and my gang. You are Arlong's leech. The thief cat."
The background noise, the wild screams, the old man's curses and Luffy's laughter died down for her and the world became silent.
"No, you're confuse me with another."
She turned around to avoid confrontation and looked for the nearest exit. The nerves burned, her blood bubbled.
"It's you, yes it is you. I swore I would kill you, those promises always have a face, you know, bitch? I have imagined so many ways to strangle you that I would be disappointed if you didn't die like in my dreams."
She shook the head again as she slowly backed towards the stairs. Luffy, in the background, had not even looked up from the puddle, as he jumped amused by the guard's screams.
"I don't know who you confused me with, but I'm not that one. So leave me alone."
"Nami, look! your cap's floating" Luffy shouted from the other side of the corridor of bars.
The prisoner who stared at her hungry for death from behind the cell, showed his chipped teeth when he heard her name. The girl's head went cold as did her ideas, the fear, which she knew so well and so faithfully accompanied her, hugged her, already with her hands on the exit lintel.
"The supervisor is calling us from above, Luffy, we have to go." The excuse came out patchy and unstable, but her friend didn't hear her as he played around on the fabric that sailed between the cells.
"But look at this, it's..."
"Luffy !" The shout was so severe that half of the prisoners watched her, fear gave her the courage to stay in her place, with the fingers frozen and blood on her feet, one step away from running away.
She would have already fled if it hadn't been for Luffy, who this time, watched her without a trace of amusement, alarmed by the tone and urgency.
"Let's go."
She barely had time to explain herself when the man who was terrorizing her behind bars started screaming.
"A fucking cat has sneaked into your cells!"
Luffy watched him, with confusion marked on his face and Nami's gaze fixed on the forehead.
"Run!"
The guard didn't even have time to think about what was happening. Luffy jumped on the puddle, crushing the wet fabric of Nami's cap and reached her in two strides.
"She escapes! The thief cat runs away!"
The screams pursued her as she took the steps two at a time. When she reached the floor she didn't stop, Nami grabbed Luffy by the wrist and led him straight to the stairs. The guard's deep, grave voice chased after them.
"I think they're following us." Luffy shouted, as he took the lead in the race, pulling Nami up. "We have to get out now!"
"And Ace, Luffy? We have to go after him." Desperation ran through her bones as the Marines who entered through the front door after breakfast watched the scene paralyzed by surprise.
"He told me to protect you! He'll be angry if we get caught."
She shook the head, her ribs aching and half gasping after such a sudden run.
"They're going to send him to prison, Luffy, if they take him to Impel Down there will be no way to save him. We have to get him out now! He has to be in this building!"
"The thief cat has sneaked into the barracks! Stop her!"
The boy looked over his shoulder and observed her with concentration on the face, before looking at the window that illuminated the stairs.
"We have to get out of here."
She gasped, breathless as Luffy pushed her to the window.
"Ace…!"
The boy wrapped one of his arms like a piece of gum around his waist and stuck the tongue out at the Marines who were striding up the stairs behind them.
"We'll come back for my brother! And then there will be a fight!"
Nami opened her mouth to shout something, but what little breath she would have recovered, Luffy stole it by running towards the glass. The world exploded around her into shining pieces and she took refuge behind Luffy's raised arm to protect herself from the splinters. The sun dazzled them as she screamed and Nami screamed.
The jump seemed to last an eternity with Luffy's laughter playing in the background, the sun behind them and the ground meters away.
Surrounded by disbelief, the mind gave her a blow of reality. She was dizzy at the idea that everything had gone wrong because of her. Nami was wondering for a while how long it would take to drag Luffy into her misery. Now that she was struggling to get out of the pit, life was stabbing her. It would never have mercy on her?
I've rewritte the chapter 3 times, I wasn't very convinced of it, but weeeeell here we are. And between that and the fact that lately there have only been complicated cases in the office, it's a bit difficult for me to write. I am clear about what has to happen but not how it has to happen.
The worst thing is that yesterday my laptop battery burst ):, but hey, thank goodness I have this saved in Drive 3
And like always: my first language is not english.
Enjoy!
(Oh, and I think it's starting to smell like dog hair, don't you think?)