Nami felt nervous while waiting for Luffia. Her leader disappeared on them when they specifically told her not to wander far.
"I should not have trusted her to keep that promise!" She whispered to herself and cursed when Robin and Brook alerted her of Kaido's men patrolling the area.
Based on the map they drew after years of investigating, they should be somewhere between Okobore and Amigasa Village. However, with the difficult terrain amid enemy territory, they could not advance further. They should be getting back now; however, their plans of retreat are getting pushed further as Luffia went missing.
"We can't afford to stay any further. Let's find Luffia - hide!" Robin dragged her companions when she spotted Kaido's men. There were dozens of them, armed and terrorizing the citizens nearby. They could only grit their teeth and force themselves to hide. No matter how much they wanted to help, they could not afford to risk their presence here. That would only invite unwanted attention. Worse comes to worst, they might be killed.
"I'll contact Usopp to track Luffia," Nami said, dishing her phone out of her pocket only to find a message from Usopp.
'SOS! Luffia's vitals are decreasing! Location - here!'
Nami's face went pale as soon as she realized what was happening. She quickly called Usopp, eager to get as many details as possible.
"Nami!" His voice quivered.
"Tell what you see now!" Nami demanded, heart racing erratically.
"We got the notification. Based on her vitals, she could be rapidly losing blood. There were no signs of heartbeat rising before we got the signal so she could have been stabbed or shot." Each member had a device attached to them during a mission that could track their location as well as their vitals. It was specifically designed to alert if the other member is heavily injured.
"We're in Wano, somewhere in Okobore Town when we lost her. Damn it! We can't move to where she is with Kaido's men on patrol."
"Fuck. Wait, there is a movement. Based on her location, she's moving or something. Either someone took her or she must have been carried. Is there any ocean or river nearby?"
Nami thought for a moment, trying to remember the map she prepared.
"There was a cliff not too far from here. Continue monitoring her location and let me know. I'll reconvene with the rest in a bit." The call ended but before Nami could explain to Brook and Robin what was happening, Kaido's men started walking in their direction. Left with no choice, they hid until it was safe for them to talk.
Nami hastily explained Luffia's predicament, hoping to get suggestions from her companions. Leaving Wano right now will be impossible unless they manage to find Luffia.
"The people here are wary of strangers. Staying in the wilderness might not be a good idea considering the terrains, not to mention our unfamiliarity with this place. We could rouse suspicions by staying here." Robin said.
"But what about Luffia? We can't leave without her," Brook said.
"I don't want that to happen either, but we would be inviting more danger if we stay any longer. Unless we find a way to disguise ourselves, but even then new faces would be suspicious."
"For now, let's find a place to stay. Even if it's a cave, it doesn't matter." Before they could start finding somewhere to stay, Kaido's men suddenly appeared not too far from where they were.
"Hey!" One man shouted.
"Fuck! Run!" Brook shouted. The next thing they knew, bullets came flying their way, leaving them no choice but to run for their lives, Luffia was temporarily left alone somewhere else. All they could hope was for her to be alive.
=XXX=XXX=XXX=
Usopp was sweating heavily while his eyes were locked on the screen. Luffia's vitals continued to drop with her movement rapidly increasing. On his other screen were Nami, Brook, and Robin's locations.
"They're being chased!" Franky shouted.
"What?!" Sanji exclaimed.
"Robin just got in touch. They're dealing with Kaido's men."
"Just what we need right now," Sanji muttered, gritting his teeth in frustration. He should have accompanied them in Wano.
"Luffia's location stopped! Zooming in!" Usopp announced, clicking on his mouse till he could pinpoint the location of where Luffia was. "Amigasa Village."
"Check her vitals!" Chopper shouted, and Usopp was quick to open the screen to see her vitals. "Good, she's still alive, barely."
"What should we do? She's heavily injured and judging from what we can see, it might be worse than we thought," Usopp faced his teammates, waiting for an answer.
"We are in a bind. Infiltrating Wano right now is going to be hard. Especially with Nami and the others being discovered. They are likely on high alert." Sanji blew a smoke while racking his brains on what they should be doing at this point.
Just as they were racking their brains on what to do, Usopp's screen suddenly turned black.
"Fuck!" He muttered, alarming the others.
"What happened?!"
"Her signal was cut off."
"What the fuck do you mean cut off?!" Sanji shouted.
"Either someone deliberately removed it or - "
"Don't you dare finish that sentence," He grumbled, warning Usopp not to imply anything worse.
"N-No! I mean, the last time I saw the vitals, I was pretty sure she was still alive. But then..." He trailed on his sentence, afraid of voicing the possibility of Luffia being dead.
"That means someone had her. Note down the path and location before the signal was cut off. We'll reconvene with the others once they can be contacted. Luffia is still alive! I am sure of it."
"We can't allow this to continue. Finding Luffia will be our priority." Franky stopped drinking his cola, fingertips on his chin, and a frown decorating his face.
"Getting her back is easier said than done. There will be risks involved if we are to dispatch our allies to search for her. Kaido would likely know something amiss the moment they detected us within their vicinity," It was not as if Sanji was being pessimistic, but realistic. Kaido would see it as a declaration of war if they were to send a search party. How could they rescue Luffia if they suddenly declared war just to find her?
"Perhaps we should let the twins know," Usopp said and almost bit his tongue upon realizing the extremity of the situation. "I honestly don't know how we could tell them, but withholding this information would be bad as well. We can't hide it from them."
"Now, that's a different story. Who's going to tell them?" Franky asked.
"For now, let's prioritize contacting Nami and the others. Then, let's decide how we will find Luffia." Sanji said with finality, stress getting into him. Just how much of a mess could Luffia do?
=XXX=XXX=XXX=
Robin and Brook managed to escape the pursuit of Kaido's men but at the expense of getting separated from Nami. After deeming the surroundings as safe, she contacted Nami who thankfully escaped.
"Where are you guys?" Nami said, breathing heavily.
"If I am not mistaken, we are in Atamayama Village. Where are you?"
"I am not sure, but I should still be within Okobore. There are abandoned buildings nearby. Thank goodness I managed to escape them,"
"If it's safe for you to talk, let's reconvene with the others. I am sure Usopp could share Luffia's location now." Robin suggested.
"Okay, on it." With a few clicks on their phones, Nami dialed Usopp's connection line, allowing all of them to talk. Judging from his voice, there didn't seem anything good. Robin, Brook, and Nami feared the worst.
"Cut off? What do you mean?" Nami hissed.
"It might have been removed from her wrist. But I managed to get to the last location of where she was before the signal went blank. It was still around Amigasa town. But the bad news is, the location was in the middle of the river."
"Shit!" They all cursed, fearing for the worst.
"Should we ask for her sisters' help?" Sanji asked. In times when Luffia is not around, it was an unspoken rule that the decisions could likely fall onto Nami and Robin's shoulders with Sanji there are a pillar.
"We'll have to tell them, but we cannot allow them to send parties here in Wano. That will only make things worse. What we need right now is stealth, more than ever if we hoped to find Luffia." Nami said with conviction. "But we'll have to let them know."
"Uhh, don't you want to wait at least a few days before letting them know? Not that I am scared of them. It's just that they might react badly because of Luffia's circumstances." Chopper hesitantly muttered but loud enough for them to hear.
"Delaying it will only worsen their reaction. Better to let them know now while we still have the situation under control." Robin's optimistic view was far-fetched considering how dim the situation was.
"So, who's going to tell them?" Brook tilted his head, eyes on Robin, and then back on the telephone, waiting for the others to answer.
"I'll talk to them," Robin answered after everyone went radio silence. Her diplomatic approach might alleviate the worse reactions they would get from the twins. It seemed that anything that could endanger Luffia would trigger the ticking bombs those sisters had.
"Alright, I'll leave that to you, Robin. For now, let's try to reconvene tomorrow. We'll be scouting the area where Luffia's last location was. Judging from the distance, I am not sure if we could cover the area," Nami said.
"Let's do what we can for now. If needed, we might follow you to Wano if necessary to expedite the search," Franky commented.
With their plans set for now, they ended the call, asking Robin to keep in touch with them after her conversation with the sisters, hoping everything would go well.
=XXX=XXX=XXX=
Something tells Sab that there was something amiss but she could not tell what exactly it was. She shrugged her shoulders, brushing the discomfort as quirks or weirdness that came into her head. With several things going on at once, being distracted was the last thing she needed.
Enemies are everywhere. There was no end, and if they hoped to hunt the people on their list, they had to be cautious lest they end up dead. What was worse than death was the thought of failing. They sacrificed a lot and lost too much to be losing now. How could they face their parents in the afterlife should they fail? They might not be disappointed with them but they ought to feel sad that the lives they saved that night in Baltigo Island would end up in vain.
The phone's ringtone woke her up from her musings. She briefly wondered who was calling and even Kidd who was sitting next to her, glanced at her, expecting her to pick it up.
"Robin?" She frowned before answering the call, placing it on speaker mode while she sorted some files. "Robin. Hey."
"Sab. Are you busy?"
"No, not really. Why? Is there something going on?" the gnawing feeling returned once again. She never usually gets calls from Luffia's members unless there is an ongoing operation or an emergency. She almost hated that Robin's voice was calm which made her unable to discern her intentions. She glanced at Kidd who detected her mood changing.
"Alright. I would hope that you would listen to what I have to say."
"Get to the point, Robin," irritation building in her voice, hands promptly letting go of the files to give her full attention to Robin.
"We are in Wano. And your sister is currently missing." It felt like the color on her face drained. "We were supposed to scout the area in hopes of a full-scale infiltration in the future, but your sister got lost."
"Robin..." She called to her, voice slightly quivering. "What do you mean by missing?" Robin is an intelligent woman. She should know what Sab wanted for an answer.
"We were about to get back when Kaido's men went on patrol. She went astray. We tracked her down..."
"You said she is missing and now you said you tracked her down. Get to the point, Robin. I don't have time for riddles," Sab's voice rose, almost begging Robin to spill all the details lest she gets them herself.
"We managed to track her down, but her vitals were dropping. She was likely injured. And now, the tracker was removed from her body. We don't know if it was deliberate or if it was an accident. Usopp and Chopper sent us her last known location and we are searching for her."
It felt like everything crashed into Sab's world upon hearing the situation. Anger was slowly creeping into her head, wanting to burst at any moment. She wanted to ask why Luffia went on a scouting mission when she had members to do it. Her members should have known the danger it would pose to Luffia and should have advised her otherwise. Several questions were on her head but if she said it out loud, she would sound as if she was blaming her members for the current situation. The last thing they needed right now was to point fingers at someone. And if she was in a state of disarray, she could not imagine what situation the Strawhats were in right now.
"Alright, I'll help you. I'll join in the search - "
"No." Robin cut her off.
"Excuse me? Did you just say no?"
"Yes. You and Ann cannot join the search party for now."
"Ha!" Sab exclaimed, exasperated. "Do you expect us to sit and do nothing while our sister is missing and likely captured by Kaido? Who knows where she is now?!"
"I expect you to be sensible enough to think of the bigger picture, Sab. We cannot have more people infiltrating Wano because it would be risky not to you or your Ann, but to Luffia. We don't have any information if she was captured or not. If we are to have more people join the search party, it will risk being discovered. The last thing we want is for Kaido to think this is a declaration of war."
"That's not enough reason to keep up from saving our sister!"
"That is more than enough reason for you to leave the search to us. We're already in Wano. With the commotion that happened earlier, the patrols are on high alert. You would be welcoming more unwanted attention towards the search party if you were to infiltrate as well."
"Need I remind you that infiltration is my specialty? I can infiltrate anywhere even if it means going to hell to find my sister!"
"This is not a question of your skills Sab, but a matter of consequences. Think calmly. If Luffia was not in a danger she could not get out of, why has not she pressed the SOS to signal for your help?"
"And what if she was in a situation that won't allow her a second to do so? What if she was heavily injured? You said her vitals were dropping!"
"I did, but I doubt it was enough to keep her from thinking. Luffia is smart. Besides, she wouldn't want you to set aside the plans in motion just for her."
"I will set aside anything if it means I can guarantee her safety!" Sab argued.
"Not this time, Sab. I get that you're frustrated with the situation—believe me, none of us are happy about it either. But we're committed to finding her. All we're asking is that you leave this task to us for now. If she's captured, I doubt Kaido would pass up the chance to use that against us. But as of now, we've heard nothing."
"So what? Leave this to chances?"
"For the moment, yes. If there is a need for help, we will welcome your presence anytime. Right now, the least we can do is inform you."
Sab cursed out loud. She did not want to admit it, but Robin raised valid points.
With nothing but curses in the background, Robin immediately took the chance to speak again.
"We will contact you with the updates of our search. I trust that you will inform Ann about this."
By the time the call ended, Sab was left with deep frustration and the weight of having to inform Ann. If Sab was reacting this strongly, Ann might take it even harder.
"Fuck!" She cursed again, slumping on the chair.
The silence was so deafening in the room. Sab was left to gather her thoughts and all she could think were the worst scenarios. Just when they thought their plans were going well, something happened to mess that up. And worse of all, it was Luffia this time.
"I know you are worried about your sister," Kidd broke the silence. "But rushing towards an enemy territory is not wise."
She glared at him but said nothing.
"You were the one who always reminded me that every action has consequences. Not only to myself but to those connected to me. I think this applies to this situation but with bigger stakes."
"It's not like I am not aware of the consequences. But could you blame me? This is my sister we're talking about!"
"I understand, but because she is your sister, rushing without a plan is nothing but recklessness. You are blinded by your emotions. Damn, I can't believe I am saying this, but don't be a daftless fool!"
Sab gaped at him when he used her words against him. A chuckle escaped his throat at the irony of the situation. Between her and Kidd, she was always the voice of reason and calculated plans. But the reverse is happening right now. Who would have thought she would find herself in a situation where Kidd would call her a daftless fool?
"At least her members were sensible enough to inform you. You'll have enough time to be ready if backup is needed."
"Yes, that I appreciate. But they left me the responsibility of informing Ann."
"Oh," Kidd shook his head, eyes pitying Sab. "That's gonna be tough on you."
"Ugh. Accompany me in visiting Whitebeard. If I can't manage to stop Ann, it's your responsibility to stop both of us."
"What do you mean?" Kidd frowned.
"Because, if Ann is going, then I will too. So pray that I can convince her to stay put, otherwise, we'll both storm Wano." Kidd groaned, muttering something under his breath—something about reckless sisters.
=XXX=XXX=XXX=
Ann should have known something was going on when Sab showed up after dinner time without prior notice with Kidd in tow.
"Spill it, Sab," Ann knew her sister well enough to discern her thought process. It doesn't help that Kidd's expression was a dead giveaway.
"What is happening?" The three of them turned around when Whitebeard arrived in the living room with Marco and Izou in tow. Ann's eyes immediately avoided Marco's.
"It's about Luffia."
Ann's eyes went wide, breath hitching.
"What happened?" And that's when Sab spilled all the details that she received from Robin.
As soon as she was done explaining, Ann immediately stood up.
"Then, what are we waiting for? We should be searching for her!"
"We can't, Ann."
"We can't?! What do you mean we can't?!"
"I just explained why we're letting the Strawhats lead the search party. They are already in Wano. If we are to infiltrate now, it will alert Kaido more than he already is. The last thing we want is a full-blown war while we are still unsure about our sister's whereabouts."
"You're just leaving it as it is? Waiting? Doing nothing?!"
"Believe me when I say I don't like that idea either! When I first heard of the news, I immediately wanted to follow them in Wano. But the situation won't allow us to move in a closed territory, surrounded by enemies."
"That's not like you to be afraid of the enemies. I thought infiltration was your specialty?" Ann sarcastically commented and Sab fought the urge to roll her eyes.
"This is unlike the infiltration we've been doing Ann. The World Government is already aware of our identities. I doubt Kaido is not privy to such crucial information. Think! If we are discovered in the territory, he will put all his resources into capturing the three of us! We'll only invite unwarranted attention to Luffia, who, need I remind you, might be injured. Stealth is what is needed to find her. Our presence might make things worse! Not to mention, you're supposed to be dead."
"So, you're telling me to sit still and do nothing? I am not doing nothing!"
"I am telling you to wait." They battled with their eyes, neither relenting till Ann lowered her gaze but cursing when she did.
"With the brat's predicament, just let me know what help we can offer," Whitebeard said.
"Thank you, but I only meant to inform Ann about this to prevent her from doing anything reckless." Sab answered.
"Excuse me?" Ann raised her eyebrow, insulted. "Is it reckless of me to want to save Luffia?"
"It is not, but storming to Wano without plan and information, that's recklessness."
"I don't want to hear that from someone who almost did the same." Ann glared and Sab only shrugged, feeling relieved that they avoided the worst situation. "And Sab... Five days."
"Five days?" Sab asked, confused.
"I'll give them five days to find her. If she is not found, I'll storm Wano myself to find her. Alone, if I have to." Sab knew that was Ann's bottom line. If she was being honest, that was hers too. All they have to do is pray for the Strawhats to find Luffia, lest they will have both Ann and Sab storming into Wano.
=XXX=XXX=XXX=
The scene played in Zoro's head several times than he could count. It etched into his mind the expression of Gol D. Luffia when their eyes met, more so when she realized the bullet piercing her body.
'Vengeance' is what he told himself over and over again but a gnawing feeling kept him awake in the dread of the night, replaying the scene. As much as he did not want to admit it, he felt a sense of discomfort when he pulled the trigger.
He sighed in frustration as he promptly got up from the bed. His feet took him to the windows overlooking the desolate city of Ringo. His birthplace.
It ached his heart to see the once bustling city become what it was now, desolate, dirty, lawless - a living hell. Even the abandoned inn he stayed at felt like a hellhole, but he supposed it was better than nothing. The old lady who used to own the place recognized Zoro when he arrived in Ringo. She was kind enough to offer him shelter knowing Shimotsuki Mansion was now part of the wasteland.
Everything Zoro witnessed was a painful reminder of what he lost ever since his parents had been murdered.
With the wind blowing his face, memories long set aside came crashing into him till he was filled with nothing but rage. But who was he supposed to direct this rage at?
Once again, he was reminded of Gol D. Luffia.
Mindless, he reached for his small bag and took the papers that Tashigi had given him weeks ago. She was kind enough to list the information Zoro might need.
Silvers Rayleigh. Scopper Gaban. Crocus. Gol D. Ann. Gol D. Sab. Gol D. Luffia.
Those were amongst the list of information Tashigi provided.
"Here. You will need this. The Mafia King's daughters are out there, following the footsteps of their father, spilling blood on Grandline. They might have been children when their father killed your parents, but they are now doing the same thing as their father. They are your enemies. Never forget that. When you see them, get rid of them. Grandline is better without those demon spawns."
With a frown on his face, he took the paper with Luffia's face on it including her activities and known allies. Her face was smiling brightly and innocently. While staring at her picture, Zoro felt a pang of pain in his chest.
It was as if he had forgotten a memory his heart longed to recall...
While Zoro was in a state of confusion, somewhere in Grandline, Tashigi was at her wits' end when Zoro was no longer responding to her calls or texts. She feared for the worst.
The last time they saw each other, Tashigi felt as if Zoro was slowly drifting apart. She dreaded, sensing Deja Vu when Zoro asked to be left alone to sort his thoughts. It was as if she was witnessing the same scenes replaying when he chose Luffia over her.
She could not allow it to happen again.
"I hope he won't remember her." She murmured to herself, wishing that Zoro would never regain his memory from the systematized amnesia. It was a rare type of amnesia where a person could forget a certain type of event or specific people. In Zoro's case, it was everything about Luffia.
"He can remember anything, everything, just not her. I won't allow that to happen."