Unnamed island, East blue.
They sailed up to the small island in the middle of nowhere, east blue, around noon. Everyone had been very excited for the chance to stretch their legs on another island, most having stuck around Whitewater for the majority of their lives, only a few of the older guys like Wire or Saber had been elsewhere in east blue. That excitement started to die pretty quickly once they got close. Most everyone gathered up on deck to watch with unease as they silently sailed into dock. Even the air around the island felt dirty, and there was hardly any sound, no birds chirping, no sea life or activity at all. The distant forest looked gray and lifeless.
"That is the creepiest fucking fishing village I've ever seen." Wire stated bluntly, staring at the small village up ahead. Ramshackle, dark wood, with suspicious stains. Blackened, stained and ripped cloth hanging from crooked bent roofs. The docks were barely above water, more holes than wood. A few… probably supposed to be fishing vessels… They all agreed they looked more like floating coffins. It was eerie just watching the village. And although they didn't see anyone, somehow they didn't feel alone here.
"Wire, you've never seen a fishing village in your life." Tears poked at him with a smirk. Trying to keep it light, with the oppressive aura around them. And making fun of Wire was always the best way to do so.
Wire frowned at him, "You ain't ever going to give me fucking anything, are you?" He said flatly. Creepy village or not, he wasn't going to take any shit.
Tears grabbed his chest with a mock hurt look on his face. "That's hurtful, Wire. I give you tons of mocking!" He joked.
"He does mock you alot. Like constantly." Kaito said, having come up behind them during the conversation. "Man, that is the creepiest fucking fishing village I've ever seen." He didn't say it in a mocking tone at all. He was the Captain after all.
"Fuck you!" Wire grumbled, dragging a hand through his mohawk. He eyed his Captain. "Are you still sure you wanna send them ashore to this shit hole?" His eyes shifted to the shitty village, "Are you sure anyone will even want to go?" He amended his question.
"I'm sure it's much more pleasant once you get to shore… Somehow." Kaito said dubiously. "I mean, people live here… Right?"
They all looked towards the village again. There was not a sound or sight of anyone moving, no smoke from the chimneys, no clothes hanging out to dry. "This is super creepy." Kaito admitted, hanging his head, "My first real island as a pirate Captain and it sucks!" He moaned theatrically, hanging over the railings. He didn't need it to be Water 7 or anything, but it could at least not be completely sucky!
"I'm staying onboard, this dump ain't got anything I want to fucking see.* Wire said bluntly, walking off immediately. He did not need to hang around while his Captain whined. He got enough of that from the rest of the idiots.
"Tears?" Kaito asked hopefully. Eyes almost sparkling as he pushed his hands together. Surely someone had some spirit for adventure and wanderlust?
"Yeah, no." Tears gave the village another look. "Change that to hell no." And he walked off to find Wire, getting drunk alone was sad after all. Also drinking Wire's booze was cheaper than buying his own.
"Why won't anyone go exploring with me!?" Kaito roared, jumping onto the railing. The island was creepy, but it was a new island! Treasure and adventure awaited!
"Because it looks like a dump!" Apple cheerfully told him from right behind him. Kaito lost his balance in surprise and almost hit the water. A quick moonwalk saving him and returning him to the ship.
"I'm okay!" He shouted as he landed on deck again. Getting disinterested looks from a generally apathetic crew. All looking either disappointed or creeped out. The atmosphere around this island affecting everyone.
"You should have hit the drink, we could use a laugh." Apple told him cheekily. "And for what it's worth, I'll come along and check it out."
Kaito cheered, raising Apple's arm into the air. "We have one brave volunteer for the sacrif- I mean exploration party!"
"I'll go as well, I need to stretch my legs, as it were." Archer said quietly, appearing from the inside of the ship carrying a large rucksack on his back. Someone came prepared. Hopefully with food Kaito thought gleefully. He had the best chef!
"Me." Duel said, walking up, overalls done up and absolutely covered in weapons and ammo belts. Kaito still wondered if he had an overalls fetish or if she really just managed to make dirty overalls look that good.
"Uh, Duel, we're just here for a friendly visit." Kaito reminded her. Usually civilians had issues with people showing up armed like a battalion. Not like he overly cared, pirate and all that. But it did convey a certain image that made shopping or enjoying a town hard.
She snorted, waving towards the village, "Not. Friendly."
"Okay, so I admit it has some faults." Kaito said, before realizing the situation and gasping, grabbing Apple's shoulders. "Oh, no, three officers and a redshirt for a landing party. Apple's going to die!" He cried out, to mass confusion. Kaito loved using references no one could get. He'd always wanted to troll people, believe it! Hmm, that better not actually become a real tick or something… He thought worriedly.
Apple looked down at her shirt, raising a confused eyebrow as she looked back up again. "My shirt isn't red?" She wondered, everyone else equally confused.
Kaito pursed his lips, "Well…" He hedged, "Maybe the colour change will save you?"
"What are you even talking about?" Yourichi called down from where she hung off a boom. "Just go explore the giant piece of crap of an island."
"That's not a very nice thing to say." Chided someone from down on the dock with a deadpan scratchy voice.
"Yeah, Yoruichi, that's not….Who the fuck are you?" Kaito asked, just realizing someone had appeared at the docks without anyone on the ship noticing.
And wow, he was yellow. Not like racist yellow, but like literally the guys skin looked like old yellowed parchment. He was rail thin with a few wisps of stringy dark hair on top of his head. He was wearing a plain dark robe, worn and filthy and showing way more than Kaito wanted to see. Kaito had seen corpses looking more alive.
Frankly, corpses were more attractive. Which said something about just how unsettling this guy appeared.
Kaito turned towards his crew, "Okay, important question. How did none of you see that guy walk across the village and onto the docks?" He looked around the crew, sweeping his arm out towards the village, "I mean, c'mon, he's pretty noticeable!"
He was mostly met by shrugs, those of the crew on deck staring at the if possible even creepier guy, from creep village. If necessary they'd throw creep island on there too.
"I walk very quietly." The yellow freak said placidly.
"No one's that quiet!' Kaito snapped, before realizing, oh yeah. This is One Piece, there's plenty of weird shit. "Okay, so maybe you're really quiet… What's your name?"
"I am known as Four." He said and smiled. Kaito blanched, holding up a shaking finger as retching could be heard across the ship. "Okay, never do that again, alright?"
The man had smiled and his mouth had stretched so far it had almost looked like it would go around the skull, the thin parchment-like skin almost translucent as it stretched. A worm had wiggled out of a blackened tooth. And there was something, some kind of background noise… He could almost hear it … Like drums in the background… If a horde of goblins was going to bum rush them he was going to freak out! No crossovers! He forbade it! Forbade!
"I'm not sure we should stay here." Yoruichi said faintly. Looking disgusted, and staring off into the village, ears twitching.
"Yeah… I'm beginning to agree with you…" Kaito said slowly. There was one thing to want to hit up your first island as a new crew. Quite another to deal with something so very suspect. "Yeah… Sorry… Four, was it?" And like a number for a name wasn't freaky as hell, or a red flag the size of Big Mom." I think we've changed our mind on staying."
"Oh, no. That won't do at all." Four said slowly. Blinking, one eyelid getting stuck, giving him an even creepier look.
Kaito grimaced, "Look, you have a lovely… " He tried to find a word for it, but in the end he defaulted to, "Shit hole here… We're just not interested."
"I said, that won't do." Four said firmly. Thin fingers trying to unstick his eyelid, which promptly fell off and fluttered to the ground as Kaito and crew watched in disgust.
Kaito glared down at him. "Look, I don't car-" SPLASH! Water sprayed up, together with a cut off scream and shouted curses. Kaito watched in shock as a tentacle of all things had snagged Apple by the ankle and dragged her overboard into the water. Quickly disappearing, even as Archer jumped in after her, almost propelling forward under the water. Kaito turned towards Four in murderous rage, only to find him gone. Nowhere in sight. "Did anyone see that fucker go!?" He shouted, incensed, looking into the village and not seeing any movement.
Yoruichi landed on the deck with a grimace. "I swear I was looking right at him, and then just between one blink to the next he was nowhere in sight."
Another curse heralded the return of Archer. Without Apple. The entire crew tensed. The big man shook his head slowly. "There are dozens of underwater tunnels under the docks, I have no idea which one she was taken through." He admitted.
"Yoruichi, organize the groups. At least one officer per group. Ensure it's the strongest members. You're staying on board to protect the rest. You might hear them coming, whatever they are..." Kaito ordered, gritting his teeth. No one touched his crew. No one. And whatever or whoever this was…
These fuckers were going down. Still he could feel it in his chest, like his heartbeat. Just Ba-dum, Ba-dum, a steady drum beat, just barely perceptible.
"Is anyone else hearing anything weird?" He yelled out, slapping his ears, he was almost positive he heard it. He just wasn't sure what it was, or what it meant.
Well it didn't matter, he was coming for them.
He let loose a feeling of murderous intent as he glared at the island, he'd just gotten his crew, he would slaughter whoever dreamed of touching them!
＊＊＊
Apple had not appreciated the sudden dunk into the water. Especially as no one had been courteous enough to forewarn her to hold her breath. She'd barely been able to stay conscious as she was dragged down a water filled tunnel. Finally as she was beginning to worry she'd drown, she had been dragged upwards and into a cavern with air. Unceremoniously tossed into a small iron cage, barely big enough for her to sit in. For once it was a good thing she wasn't the tallest. The tentacle somehow managed to lock it, Apple wasn't looking too clearly, every time she'd try and turn her head to look, something primal in her screamed at her to stop. Whatever being it was, it soon sank under the water out of sight. Allowing her to look around.
She contemplated the cavern, looking for anything that would give her a means to escape or to find out more about her captors. She was sure everyone was already looking for her, but she was no damsel in distress, she'd find her way out… Somehow. And looking at the cavern distracted her mind from whatever the hell had kidnapped her. As an artist she had seen way too many disturbing things with tentacles to feel comfortable.
She was pleased to see that the underwater way wasn't the only way in or out of the cavern. At the very back there was a tunnel leading away. Luminous moss covered the ground and walls, hanging in great masses, silvery light emanating from them. The ceiling was somehow covered in jewels, the criminal in Apple was delighted, so was the artist as the jewels gave off light, as if stars in the night sky, everything reflecting off the water's surface. If only she wasn't here as a kidnapping victim she'd have been delighted to find this place and explore it.
To get to dig into that curiosity again and her wish to explore new sights, find new inspirations for art and new ways to create it. Something she'd practically suppressed due to needing to remain at Whitewater island.
Her inspection was cut off as she was suddenly spooked, screaming in fright, shuffling back as good as she could in the cage, which meant not much at all. A face having just appeared out of nowhere to peer into her cage from an uncomfortably close distance. It's nose sticking through the bars.
"A guest!" The creepy face cried out in glee, hurting Apple's ears. His white skull-like face had wild thin greasy looking hair, the hair sticking out everywhere like he'd had an electrical shock. He moved further back, allowing Apple to get a good look at him. The thin man looked comical in a horrific way, with a skeletal thin appearance with sickly bloated large hands and feet, and a large round head, painted like a skull. He had added makeup making a complete mess of his face, garish lipstick and mascara in neon colours murdering her artistic sensibilities. He was cross eyed giving him the perpetual appearance of looking at his own large protruding nose.
Apple thought he looked like someone tried to make a clown and just made every part … Wrong… "Hello?" She tried, really hoping this weirdo wasn't the one in charge of her kidnapping.
The clown… Thing, did a little dance, which looked more like a seizure with the wildly flailing limbs. "Ohhhhhh! A guest! A GUEST! It's been ever so long!" Apple winced, as there was just something with his voice that hurt her ears. Some screeching undertone she couldn't quite pick out.
"You treat all your guests like this?" She asked snarkily, indicating the cage. Masking her fear with attitude, something she was well practiced at.
"Yesohyes! Guests for the master are very good! Cage is good, for guests, is the cage!" He laughed, skipping around the cage, tears of joy running down his makeup encrusted cheeks.
"Fantastic…" She muttered, eyeing the lunatic warily. Who knew what could happen if he was set off. She'd have to be careful.
"Food! Yes! Food for guest!" He cackled skipping across the floor to a pile of filth and broken wood and debris that was piled near the water line. She saw him dig, carelessly throwing things away, all the while cackling. Apple winced as her head really started to hurt the more noise he made.
He finally found what he was looking for, scrambling over wet rocks to return to her cage. She watched in disgust and horror as he offered her bones, definitely human bones, rattling the bars of her cage with them. Strips of rotten flesh still attached to one of them.
"Food, yes!" He grinned, he brought a bone to his face and gnawed on it, making exaggerated chewing noises. Then he offered it to her again. Apple reared back, shaking her head wildly.
His eyes darkened, "Eat it! Three gave a gift of food!" He spoke, voice mad and ethereal, something dark and insane backing it. The feeling entered the small cavern, crawling up the walls and loomed over her.
She didn't know how she knew this. She just did.
Apple threw up violently, feeling violated, and her head absolutely exploded into the worst pain she'd ever felt. Shakily she reached a hand out and grabbed one of the bones, dragging it through the bars, at least it wasn't the one with the rotting flesh. The being appeared appeased and scampered off. Disappearing down the tunnel. Leaving Apple alone and more afraid than she had ever been in her life.
What the hell kind of island was this!?
＊＊＊
There had been a sense of urgency about them all, so in the end it only took ten minutes to have everything sorted out. Three teams set out from the ship, searching three different locations, racing to get to the bottom of this, and save Apple.
Yoruichi watched them go, biting her lip nervously. Something about this island was off, the longer she stayed the more she felt like she needed to leave, there was just this feeling in the air, of imminent death. She was left behind to protect the ship and the rest of the crew, and she wondered how long that would be possible if this feeling persisted, or grew worse. Already the faces of the crewmembers staying behind were anxious and strained.
"Figure this out quickly, Kaito!" She murmured, turning around and moving towards the crew, she'd try and cheer them up as best as she could.
＊＊＊
Kaito's team, consisting of Kaito, Saber, Cloud and Edge.
Kaito hadn't had much interaction with Saber and Edge. Saber was the oldest member of the crew, the tanned and wrinkled, white haired older man having been the only one of the criminals that had experience with the sea. Not surprisingly considering his name, he was covered in weathered tattoos of swords of different kinds.
Edge was a blonde haired petite beauty, somewhat diminished by her constant frown and the heavy bags under her eyes. As with the other women she had been a bit more creative with her name and tattoos. Several tattoos of different weapons from axes to swords to scythes on her, and taking the name Edge instead of a more direct name like Arsenal. Kaito's team had been chosen as it had because every member of it except him had numerous bladed weapons.
"This is such absolute bullshit!" Kaito ranted, as they cut their way forward, "How it should go… You get to come to an island, take in the sights, flirt a bit, get drunk, get roped into some adventure… And then it turns out there were some bad guys behind it all in the end, like normal procedure for these kinds of adventures." He carelessly kicked away a tree that was in his way, sending it crashing down, clearing some of the path for them in the dense forest. The trees and brush in this forest was brittle and grey and lifeless, just like everything else, "What kind of shit luck and bullshit has the island be creepy and full of monsters from the start?" He continued ranting to the increasingly sweat dropping crewmembers following in his wake. "I've been gypped! Where's my nice pleasant Island of hijinks hiding secret evil for the end!?"
"Maybe next one, Captain." Saber said dryly, "And perhaps we could go ahead of you, as we're actually equipped for it?"
Kaito turned and looked, and yes, the three of them all carried swords and axes. The reason they were with him in the first place. As their team were cutting through the forest behind the village, heading for the small mountain that could possibly be where the underground tunnels lead to. Or so he had reasoned, and they could perhaps find an entrance there. His rant disrupted he stepped back, waving them ahead to cut down the foliage in their way.
"I'll listen for enemies I guess." Kaito sulked. He felt really guilty for the whole red shirt joke he had pulled, now that Apple had been taken, and who knows for what purpose. The back of his head kept itching like someone was watching, but their entire time in the forest had been a cakewalk. Not a single enemy or monster or even wild beast. Which was kind of odd now that he thought about it…
"Hey, Saber, Cloud, Edge…" He called out, interrupting their plant massacre. "Have any of you seen or heard any animals at all out here?"
Saber paused, cocking his head, listening to the absolute silence surrounding them once they stopped chopping away. "That isn't right…" He agreed warily, sharing a look with the others. Most of them were city people, but even they knew any forest had constant life in it.
Edge's frown deepened as she walked up to a tree inspecting it closely, bending down to poke at the moss covered ground. "Don't see any insects…" She reported. Kaito might have even said she was on… Edge!
Everyone looked at him weirdly as he chuckled briefly to himself. He shook his head, clearing himself up, he liked to joke around but he needed to stop playing now. Time to focus. He stretched his senses as much as he could, really wishing he had attained observation haki. He couldn't feel or sense anything other than a general unease.
"Keep your ears and eyes peeled. Something on this island is very wrong…" Kaito warned. He swore he could hear laughter briefly, but there wasn't anyone else around.
"I already fucking hate this island." He swore as he started helping the progress with tempest kicks, speeding up their demolition. The sooner they could get forward the sooner they could solve this and get out. The sooner he could go back to just messing around and having fun.
Wire's team, consisting of Wire, Tears, Dice and Pie.
Wire didn't like anything about this village, not at fucking all. He didn't know if it was the air or just a sixth sense, he could swear he heard whispers everytime he turned his head, but there was never anything there and it was annoying the fuck out of him. But for every door they broke down, every house they searched. There was nothing but more filth, blood stains and silence. Not a soul around, no sign of Four or anyone else.
"No basement level here either." Pie said angrily, smashing a kitchen table with his massive hands. Pie was a gentle giant of a man normally, and not prone to rage. 8 feet tall and massive muscles from spending most of his life working mines or shipyards, bringing in some legal cash for the gang. Pie wouldn't hurt a fly normally, unless someone hurt one of them. If Pie got ahold of whoever took Apple, Wire suspected he'd get to see a motherfucker torn apart by bare hands. Pie had never been a particularly good criminal, but he'd been a loyal workhorse and worked great for intimidation, even with his ridiculous pie tattoos. Wire liked pies too, but he didn't tattoo a motherfucking meat pie on his face for it!
Wires were different… They made sense!
"We keep searching." Wire growled out, stalking out of the house, Dice and Tears following him silently. Pie snarling and smashing his way out of the front wall, huffing in anger as he stomped his way down the street after them. Considering his height he usually smashed through the houses anyway, so Wire didn't give a shit about some walls. Fuck em anyway, they'd taken Apple. He'd tear down the whole place if needed.
"Pie, mate, you need to calm down, if there's someone here you're advertising our movements." Dice said quietly, patting the angry man on his right arm.
"Good, let them come out…" He said angrily.
Wire shook his head, "Don't bother, Dice. I want any fuckers hiding here to come out anyway. I'm way too fucking pissed to bother with being fucking sneaky." They'd been tasked with searching the entire village for any possible entrance to the tunnels, or someone to interrogate… If the village was a bust they'd continue along the coast, there had to be an entrance somewhere, it couldn't all be underwater.
"Well, there's a reason Yoruichi picked the Wire lead team to ransack the village I suppose." Tears said with a strained smile, trying to inject some levity. There was just something in the air, something foul that made him feel… Unclean.
"Oiy! Are you trying to say that I can't do sneaky shit?" Wire snapped, offended. He had been a damn criminal for most of his life. He could sneak damnit. He just never did, because he just didn't need to, that was it.
Tears and Dice both chuckled, Dice speaking up. "Mate, you're too colourful to do any sneaking." He eyed the Mohawk especially, to Wire's ire. "And you have a tendency to break things when you're pissed."
"I break things cuz they need fucking breaking, ain't got nothing to do with my sneaking skills… You fuckers pay attention to the job instead of ragging on me!" Wire said annoyed, he looked up at Pie, "Hey, you see anything yet?"
Pie squinted, looking ahead, his tall stature an advantage in spotting obstacles or incoming enemies. "I think I saw movement. Three houses down, on the left." He muttered quietly. Which for him was a booming voice that sounded down the street.
Amazing friend to have in a tight corner, but not the cleverest or quietest one.
Wire smiled unpleasantly, "Good, finally. Let's go ask them where the entrance to the tunnels are, and remember boys… There's absofuckinglutely no need to be fucking polite about it …"
Archer's team, consisting of Archer, Duel, Needles and Venom.
Archer's team took the longest to get going, despite having the shortest distance to their destination. They'd had to quickly fashion some masks, tubes and containers for air, it wouldn't give them a lot of time underwater, but enough that Archer should be able to pull them through one of the several dozens of tunnels, and into one with air. Risky, but they all agreed to take the chance. Archer and Kaito had both agreed that if Apple's kidnapping was meant to keep them here, then she must have been brought to somewhere with enough air to survive. Perhaps it was wishful thinking. Yet, they persisted with it.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Needles would be coming along as the former addict and drug runner was their most qualified medic, in case Apple needed immediate attention. Needles was also a decent fighter, both in hand to hand and with throwing daggers, having fought in the ring a few times when Archer had been around, not ever him directly. He wasn't that good. He was gaunt with a shaved head and big beady eyes, he looked exactly like someone who ran drugs, which made it all the more amazing he had never been caught doing it.
Venom, the stocky brusque woman, also had a shaved head, and was built like a brick wall. Yourichi had sent her along due to her being an avid poison user. She had been the fixer for the gang whenever someone needed to go, quietly into the night. Serpent tattoos and colourful deadly flowers covered her body. She was decent hand to hand with her physique, but mostly relied on thrown weapons and her poison.
With Archer being a tank of sorts, and with Duels firepower at hand - the other two members had been picked for their utility and unorthodox skill set then for fighting. They had no idea what awaited them after all.
They all affixed their masks, Duel grabbing Archer's arm, Venom the other, while Needles grabbed around his neck. All bracing themselves for the ride. Apple was counting on them, and there was no way they'd let her down.
Archer centered himself, took a deep breath, and then threw himself and his cargo from the docks, into the water. Using his abilities to flow quickly through the water. Picking one of the many gaping maws in the rockface of the island to swim through on random. Their tiny cobbled together air supply wouldn't last more than a few minutes so Archer sped through, always heading up, ignoring any other diverting tunnels.
With a minute or two to spare they all broke the surface in a small cavern. Three tunnels leading out of it, all on land. They all looked around warily, waiting for any kind of enemy action to their arrival.
"Look!" Duel pointed to the side, grimacing. Less weapons on her than usual as she had to leave behind any weapon unable to handle being soaked.
They all stared in unease at the morbid display in front of them. Human skeletons nailed to the side wall of the cavern, arranged as if they were dancing and cavorting around something.
"Is anyone else having trouble seeing what is in the middle?" Needles asked, hissing as sudden pain flared in his head. His hand flew up to his forehead in confusion.
Venom cleaned debris out of her long dark hair in confusion, her pink eyes going cloudy for a moment. "The middle… Sorry, what did you ask?"
Needles looked at her blankly, "What?"
Duel cocked her head as if listening to something, shuddering for a second, almost staggering. "Hear. Bad." She let out, breathing heavily.
Archer, who had been keeping his eyes closed ever since seeing something that screamed wrong to his senses, kept them closed as he grabbed his crew mates one by one, and exited the cavern. All of them snapped back to normal as they did, looking around with narrowed worried eyes, touching their weapons. Looking for something, anything, they could actually fight.
"I don't know what that was… We need to be careful from now on. If any of us react strangely, one of us will need to snap them out of it, leave the room with them if necessary and we'll take another way." Archer said slowly, still with his eyes closed. Thinking, trying to make sense of anything that's happening.
"That could take forever, if these things are around many caverns around here." Venom pointed out, spitting on the ground with distaste.
"What. Choice." Duel said bitterly. Hands clutching weapons, eyes staring down the tunnel, trying to pierce through the dark.
Needles rummaged around in his pack. Bringing out two bottles. "Worst case, I have some stuff here that could maybe prevent us from spacing out and getting stuck." He hesitated, rolling them between his fingers, "It's not really healthy, definitely a last resort kind of thing." He warned.
Archer nodded, opening his eyes. "We will continue on, no matter how many times we have to be redirected." He looked to Needles, "Save those until they are absolutely needed. I'll trust you to decide when it's necessary."
"Yeah… No pressure." Needles chuckled nervously as he put the bottles back in his pack.
"We. Kill. Now…" Duel growled, looking tense. Only Archer's calm presence kept her from going ahead.
Archer smiled, "Yes. Let's kill." He agreed darkly.
With Yoruichi and co.
Yoruichi didn't want to freak out the crew with how anxious she was becoming for every minute they stayed here. So she put herself into the task of keeping everything in top top shape. Running the crew ragged with tasks, from cleaning to minor repairs, to duties with no real purpose except to keep them busy. Normally she'd have gotten some grumbles and whispered words of tyranny, yet today everyone seemed grateful for something to do.
The problem with giving everyone else a job, became that she was standing alone, staring out into the island, no task for herself other than to keep watch and protect the ship. The atmosphere of this island made the hair rise on the back of her neck. Something here was utterly wrong.
Unknown to her, underneath the ship, slowly, with crawling speed, blackened soggy limbs and silent gurgling, many beings were crawling up the hull. A dull gray webbed hand appeared over the water line, quietly attaching to the side of the ship, the being pulling itself further up. Followed by many more in all shapes and sizes.
With Wire and co.
Pie smashed through the house with eagerness, trying to catch whoever they had seen. Wire and the rest following behind, eyes watching for any movement, so they could pin down this illusive fucker. This was the third house they had followed someone to, only catching the sight of the edge of a cloak in their vision before they disappeared into another house.
"Fucking hell, I hate it but we gotta split up! Catch this fucker before he slips to another house." Wire spat. He looked at Tears and Dice, "Go now, Pie will smash his way into the next house, you will be ready in front of the house after."
Tears and Dice nodded and quickly took off as Pie roared in rage, sending a table flying out of the window. Their quarry had escaped again.
"PIE! SMASH THE NEXT HOUSE!" Wire yelled, jogging off ahead to make sure their quarry didn't try and slip to the side or double back or something now that they had a bead on its movements.
Pie smashed through the walls of the house and it only took him a few running steps to arrive at and smash into the next one. Wire waited, tensely. He didn't see anyone come out his way, he could hear Pie swearing, so their quarry wasn't in the house. He ran to get behind it, to see if Dice and Tears had managed to corner their quarry before the next house. He skidded around the corner to see Dice and Tears standing with weapons drawn, looking unsure.
Wire looked in front of them. "What the fuck!?" He shouted in horror. Water dripped off slimy grey skin, a rotten and wrong feeling emanating from it. The being now caught, standing there looking at them. The feeling of wrongness so strong no one launched an attack.
With Archer and co.
"There is something very wrong down here." Archer said, pale. As he stared at the pit of flesh in the cavern in front of him. The grey flesh pit pulsating with a strange purple light. Like a large strange mouth growing out of the floor. Human corpses laid inside of it, being transformed, gray pustules splattering over them every so often, a rotten and pungent stench following each time. Their bodies were deformed, faces turning into something… Other.
"Kill. With. Fire!?" Duel said urgently, hefting two grenades, looking at Archer for permission.
Archer hesitated, the entire tunnel system, the further in they got, had this strange gray flesh running through the walls - until they were the walls, with gold like veins spread out, giving off its eerie light like a heartbeat. He wasn't sure a grenade or two was going to cut it. Or whether it would bring the roof of the cave system down on them, if it did kill it. "We're here for Apple… Not whatever … This is…" He decided. He really wanted to destroy this place, but he had to think of the more important things. Apple, the crew with him. What would exploding this abomination do to the cave and them?
"I disagree." Venom said, turned away from them, resolutely not looking at the gaping pit in the ground. Wiggling tentacles tasting the air as if aware they were there.
Needles agreed vehemently, hiding behind Duel. And of course Duel wasn't impressed with his decision. "Why?" She asked, squeezing the grenades in her hand angrily.
Archer looked her in the eyes seriously. "What's more important? This thing or Apple?"
Duel scoffed, "Apple. Important." Then she pointed to the abomination pit. "That. Evil."
Archer shook his head, "I choose Apple above all else, you all, above all else. We're leaving."
Before they could argue further the pit seemed to have a fit, the fleshy mass undulating back and forth. Before with a gush of vile black liquid, something came out of it. Standing up inside of it. The tentacles and feelers of the pit caressing it.
"Told. So." Duel snarled, before throwing her grenades.
Archer admitted if this was where these things were created he might have been a bit hasty, not that he'd admit that out loud necessarily. "No one take it for granted." He warned as he protected his face with one hand from the explosion.
Sure enough, the explosion ended, revealing a charred but mostly undamaged enemy. Of course it couldn't have been that easy. Archer thought aggravated.
"Maybe I should have picked up a weapon…" Archer said seriously, as he prepared himself to fight the abomination in hand to hand.
The pulsing light grew faster, the cavern seeming almost alive.
＊＊＊
"Why!?" Tempest kick to the right, cutting through the attack, "Are there…" Jump above another one, use moonwalk to change direction suddenly and smack it away again, a large bruise forming on it. "So many…" Shave to the rest of the group all huddled together cutting away as best as they can at stray attacks, tackle the one that was going to knock them all over. "MOTHERFUCKING TENTACLES IN THIS FOREST!" He screamed, before one of the grey purplish appendages slammed into him midair, sending him through the underbrush and several trees. He panted as he lay upside down against a tree sturdy enough it finally stopped him. "It's a pertinent god damn question!" He breathed out.
They had been making good headway when all of a sudden with no warning, tentacles ranging from their size, to the size of small giants started attacking them, literally popping out of the ground. They resembled an octopus tentacle, down to the suction cups and everything. The difference lay in its sickly colour and the fact Kaito had to hit one several times to kill it, oh yeah and the fact they weren't in the ocean... He hurriedly used shave to return to his crew members side, they had been doing well, but if they ended up the sole focus of the attack, they'd be unlikely to live.
Except when he arrived it was to them standing in a triangle, facing outwards, panting heavily, and no tentacles in sight. "They can't possibly have been scared away…" He said seriously as he landed in front of them. They were kind of winning as Kaito kept having to double back and protect the other three.
Edge snorted tiredly, absolutely drenched in sweat. "I don't know Captain, that girly scream when it knocked you for a loop was pretty scary."
"Don't you start now!" He said pointing at her, shaking his head rapidly. "I already have enough people on the crew to make fun of me!"
Cloud rolled his eyes, wiping sweat off his brow, "You make fun of you, Captain…"
"Should we try and move on? It might entice them to attack again, however." Saber asked, eying their surroundings warily. Weapons still held up. He obviously didn't trust the sudden silence. Kaito didn't either. It was weird, and it made him worry something worse was coming.
"We have to move on, for A-!" He grabbed his head as a completely foreign sound made his head explode in pain. Through tearfilled eyes he saw his crew mates all falling to the forest floor, faces paralyzed in pain. He looked up, and gaped, slack jawed, through the pain. "A fucking Illithid! That's cheating! This isn't a crossover!" He screamed at the sky.
Before darkness took him, he realized, it wasn't. It was some horrible mismatch of an octopus and a human, cobbled together by someone who obviously had no idea how either worked.
This knowledge didn't assist him as he lost consciousness just as his crew members.
The forest was completely silent once again.
With Yoruichi.
"Strike to kill! They're not alive! Don't hesitate!" Yoruichi roared, her sharp claws tearing straight through a shambling corpse - the body so wet and loose it practically disintegrated before her, the smell worse than anything she had ever experienced before.
As a zoan her senses were stronger, and in her fully transformed state it was even stronger. She couldn't fire out orders fast enough as she had to breathe through her mouth to not fall over retching immediately. The dank, rotten, foul stench of their attackers was almost more dangerous than the corpses themselves.
Flexing her powerful legs she jumped onto the railing, tail swiping a octopus headed corpse of a small child off the railing and into the sea - before she scrambled up the rigging to get a better overlook of the ship. She tried very hard to not think about how many child sized abominations there were.
How had the marines missed this? How had she never had a report? People missing in this magnitude…
Her eyes immediately caught the issue currently facing them and she roared out another order, "Retreat into clusters! Everyone find a buddy! Sharpshooters into the back or find elevation, only target limbs and feet - slow them down, you can't kill them!" She jumped down into a cluster of these soggy rotten undead, a whirling mess of claws and fangs as she severed the corpses into slimy pieces - allowing her crew members to disengage and reorientate themselves.
She'd already sent Blackjack down to the brig - he'd be useless up here. She'd ordered him to let Buggy go if they got overwhelmed. The clown could at least save Blackjack if nothing else in his attempt to escape through the abominations.
They were useless fighters really, just rushing straight in with no fighting skill or strategy apparent. What they had though was numbers. Still more were climbing up the side of the ship. And shooting them did nothing but make them a little less cohesive, more soggy - so already part of her crew were relegated to simply slowing down the approach - unable to put them down permanently.
The deck was wet and slippery in blood and the viscera of the decomposing corpses they killed.
They were never going to get this smell out of the ship…
A silly stray thought to have, but when you had senses like Yoruichi did, then odor was of vital consequence on a ship. Kaito had given her a queer look at her instituting mandatory showers everyday. Like Yoruichi was the crazy one.
Her crew mates were following her direction - clustering together in small groups, slowing down and taking down enemies in groups - protecting each other. But it was tiring work. Unsteady footing and the sheer terror of what they faced. Still they held strong. Their bond with each other proving stronger. These people had lived together and been raised together. They wouldn't falter and let their friends be turned into that.
Yoruichi threw herself back into the fight - seeing a flagging group that was being pushed back against the galley.
They'd have to run out of corpses eventually.
Right?
With Wire and co.
"You are resisting. Master do not like!" Came the screech from the man with an octopus for a head of all things, that stood before them. His black robes frayed and rotten, yellow skin visible, where it wasn't patched with slimy pustules covered gray skin.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Cuz I don't want to believe what I'm seeing!" Dice muttered with disgust.
Tears spat on the ground, hefting his weapon. "The fact it's so ugly just makes it easier doesn't it?"
"I was really hoping you were gonna say you didn't see it…" Dice sighed, a reluctant smile coming to his lips, "I won't be able to eat octopus ever again, mate."
"Good, it's disgusting anyway." Tears quickly fired back with a weak grin.
"Fuck your master and fuck you! Where is Apple! Tell me right fucking now or I'll tear you limb from limb and fuck you with each one you damn squidhead!" Wire roared suddenly, having built up into a rage, face red with anger, lips twisted into an expression of pure hatred.
Dice and Tears knew him though, and could see the fear underneath. They shared a tentative look, grimacing. If corpses were turned into these things… What has happened to Apple?
The corpse in front of them shook with fury, screeching again, a bulbous finger three times the size it should be - pointed in their direction. "Master no like resist. Do the die. Do it!" It insisted loudly. "I number Two, have to do as say!" It stomped a foot angrily making a squelching sound.
Wire uncoiled some of his razor sharp arsenal into his hands, "Dice, Tears… Leave enough of the nice mister two to be able to still talk after." He growled, beginning an attack run at the stationary monstrosity.
In a cloud of dust and a squelch of viscera, Pie came roaring through a wall, running straight into the monstrosity in front of them. The thing practically disintegrated in Pie's hands as the gentle giant grabbed it and tore. Black bubbling blood splashing all over him as stumbled away from the ripped apart being.
"Fuck, Pie I didn't say for you to go in, dammit!" Wire cursed, running up to his crew mate. "Are you alright?" He spits down at the now very dead thing ripped apart at their feet. "Good riddance, but next time wait for me to signal you, alright, Pie?" He said, more gently.
Pie blinked slowly, "Wire…Don't feel…" He groaned, falling to his knees, retching, looking pale and sweaty. Then he simply fell down, not moving. Everything going unnaturally still.
"Shit! Clean that black gunk off him! Maybe it's poisoning him!" Wire ordered. Dice immediately tearing off his shirt and using it to try and clean off some of the black blood. With limited success.
"Wire, incoming!" Tears called out with trepidation. Wire turned to see a slow shamble of corpses coming their way. At least two dozen. Perhaps more on the way.
"Dice stay with Pie, he's a fucking sitting duck like this!" He ordered as he glared at the incoming horde. "Tears I'm going to rip into them - you cover my back."
"Or course, Wire. Just like in Durapest." Tears said with a tight grin.
"You have a very different memory then me if this is like fucking Durapest." He muttered, slowly moving to meet the enemy.
Kaito better have better luck then they are having.
Because they're shit out of it.
Just as he thought so, one of the octopus corpses shambling their way shuddered, spasmed and seemingly got caught in seizures, before straightening up and screeching to the sky, "I no die! Master I like!"
"Of course…" Wire bit out, a tingle of fear making its way down his spine. "I fucking hate Monday's…"
"It's Friday." Tears felt the need to interject.
"It feels like a fucking Monday…"
"Wire, we don't even work a normal work week, we've never technically worked, we don't have Mondays like that."
Wire flung a dagger into the head of one of the octopus men, side eyeing his crew mate. "You're really interrupting a good bitchfest here, shut the fuck up with your logic!"
"Alright… It's Monday."
"Damn right it is!"
"....Good day for someone else to die!" Tears said with a humorless chuckle.
"....Damn right."
Then the horde was closing in and there was no time for talking.
＊＊＊
Kaito came into awareness slowly, a dull ache in the back of his head. The Ba-dum beat of a drumbeat was even louder now. It felt like his head was going to explode. He tried to rub his eyes since they hurt - and found that he couldn't. His arms were locked to his side by a huge tentacle wrapped around him, only his head free.
"What is it with this island and tentacles!" He growled out, shaking his head to try and make sense of what he could see around him.
….No… Still didn't make any sense at all.
He couldn't see any of his crew mates. Saber, Edge and Cloud weren't in here with him… Wherever here was.
The walls, floor and ceiling around him was this… Gray matter, with golden veins pulsing through them to the beat of the drums. In front of him was a giant eye the size of his ship, taking up all the space to that side. A red eye staring at him.
Kaito had a sinking feeling in his gut. That drum beat…. There was no Moria horde coming to ambush them. It was a heartbeat! This entire island… Was the beast itself! The tentacles that so easily reached anywhere on the island! It was the island itself acting.
"Ahh, comprehension setting in, I see." Drawled an amused voice from somewhere ahead of him. "Well even a lowborn such as yourself could gather as much here."
Kaito squinted, with the giant eye taking up so much real estate it wasn't easy to pick out the human walking his way at first. His vision kept being drawn to the giant eye, and couldn't focus on the approaching man.
When the man came closer, Kaito had trouble understanding what he was seeing. Because it didn't make any sense!
"What… Is a Celestial Dragon… Doing here!?" He grunted out, the tentacle constricting around him.
"Oh, you recognize our kind, how quaint to find one of you vermin actually knowing instinctively the sight of your gods. I am Saint Jartal." The world noble said airily. Standing in front of Kaito in one of those ridiculous suits and air helmets that prevented them from having to breathe commoner air. The fat dark haired noble clicked his fingers and several dark suited men carried over a gilded throne, placing it in front of Kaito. Saint Jartal immediately sat down and appraised him with a smug grin on his face. "You know, no one ever made any trouble on this island, until you started running around making noise."
"I am sorry for the inconvenience!" Kaito snarked, gritting his teeth. How were none of them affected by this wrongness he felt everywhere around them.
"Oh it isn't much of one, really. I was getting quite bored anyway you see. Some entertainment on the eve of takeoff to whet the appetite is actually just what I needed." Jartal said nonchalantly, leaning one leg over the other and peering curiously at Kaito. "I must say, the vermin here in east blue has been particularly pathetic - so you were a bit of a surprise."
"Eve of takeoff? What is this place?" Kaito asked, perfectly happy to let the idiot noble keep talking while he tried to figure out how the hell he was going to get out of this situation. He could probably cut through the tentacle - but should he risk doing so with a celestial dragon so close? What if they had a direct line to Marineford. He could not afford an Admiral on his ass.
That luck he had at the beginning of this journey really switched to amazingly bad one quickly.
Like he knew he got his crew a bit easily, but to turn around and drop a Celestial Dragon in his lap was just bad juju. Overkill, fate or lady luck or whatever fucker runs this world. He thought angrily.
"Oh well you see, this little beast here was found by one of my ancestors some hundreds of years ago, back then he was quite tiny of course." Jartal looked back at the giant eye watching their conversation and sighed, looking incredibly put out, "It's really quite dumb you know, it took ages once it had grown to proper size to figure out how to use it properly." Jartal started counting on his fingers, quickly losing track, "Fifteen, how many years have I worked on this now?"
One of the suited goons - the number 15, pinned to his hat, bowed low before the celestial dragon. "113 years, Saint Jartal-Sama."
"You look well for your age." Kaito spat, twitching his fingers, finger gun while in a prone position like this would hurt like hell, but would puncture straight through this tentacle and give him an opportunity - he was just waiting for the right moment now.
"Of course I do, I'm immortal now, thanks to the essence of this beast." Saint Jartal said smugly. "Oh it takes so many bodies to make enough essence for even one person, so that's why I've relocated the beast here." He sniffed imperiously, "It's not like anyone is really going to miss this little ocean anyway. And they'll throw me a parade back home when I return after such a long absence with immortality to offer. I'll be the god amongst gods!"
Kaito couldn't believe the tripe that was coming out of this fat bastard's mouth. Kill the entire east blue! Even the marines wouldn't be able to excuse a world noble doing that! Hell, Garp would come flying to kill the idiot himself, Admirals or cipher pols be damned. Immortality or not this wouldn't ever work. Hells, did this idiot really expect everyone would just see his fat ass and bow down and let themselves die? Because there would be plenty of people in the sea that could take this island down.
Arlong and his crew could probably do it. Let alone what people like Dragon and Garp could do. Fuck, Shanks would come over the calm belt and do it himself.
"What did you do to the people you take! They're not all dead! I met that… Number four at the docks when we arrived." Kaito asked, fishing for information on Apple's whereabouts and condition. And desperately hoping he's not too late.
Saint Jartal snorted, "Oh, those ones." He looked back to the giant eye again, "I told you it's dumb did I not? Perhaps your inferior ears weren't able to handle a god's words…" He slumped in his seat slightly, looking bored. "Sometimes it fails at processing all the dead peasants, sometimes they survive, well not really," He amends quickly, "They're dead, but still moving around. They can hear the beast, so we make use of them, give them a nice number, we're down to only three now." He points at one of the goons, this one with the number 9. "Nine, which of the freaks are still left?"
Obviously the freaks weren't the only ones numbered. It takes a special kind of someone to spend over a hundred years with people and still not bothering to learn their names.
Another low bow of obedience, immediately followed by the terrified voice of his agent, "Numbers 2, 3, and 4, Saint Jartal-Sama!"
"No number one?" Kaito asked sarcastically.
Saint Jartal looked confused for a moment. Seemingly thinking it over hard. Brows furrowed. The Celestial Dragon looked over at his still bowing agent. "Who was number one?"
The agent hesitated for a moment, shaking as he answered, "You're number one, sire…"
Kaito smirked, "Fits, number one of the freak show. You're no bearded lady but you could probably sub for the giant baby."
Saint Jartal rose in his seat, fury on his face, "How dare you!" Quickly he turned to his now terrified agent, roaring at him, "You'll go to the pit, let's make a new number out of you for putting me in the same breath as those freaks!"
"No! Wait! Saint Jartal-Sama! You were the one who told me you're always number one because you're the best and the most powerful god!" The agent begged, literally falling to his knees and begging.
"You dare contradict me! Die!" Saint Jartal screamed, pulling out a pistol and firing at the agent. Actually managing to wound him but not fatally so.
"This is just getting pathetic. Why are you all even following this tub of lard at this point?" Kaito chuckled, watching the few agents in the cavernous room freeze still. There weren't many of them. Most have probably died over the years. Not to age, but to the whims of this moronic waste of DNA.
To think the celestial dragons found a creature that would grow into island size and was capable of producing an elixir of life. And they were using it as some horror massacre machine in a dumb scheme. What they could have achieved if they'd just turned it over to Vegapunk. There was probably no reason for violent deaths. People could have come from all over to die in peace in their last days on this island and create possible cures to diseases and who knows what else.
Probably for the best that it would all end here. This creature has only had celestial dragons to imitate. It would be a mercy to put it down. No wonder it felt so absolutely wrong and awful. It was literally the site of thousands upon thousands of dead over the last hundred years. It said something about the world nobles that Saint Jartal didn't even seem to notice the effects.
As Saint Jartal grew increasingly purple in the face in incandescent rage, his agents all stood shock still, not even the wounded agent daring to as much as breathe too loudly. All waiting for what the noble would do next.
Kaito grimaced slightly, fingers ripping through the tentacle holding him, the beast letting him slip out of its grip for a moment as he shaved away to get some distance. Not sure where and how the beast can attack him here.
He grinned at the screaming world noble that was firing at his own agents as motivation to make them go after him.
"He's been here with you for a hundred plus years… He doesn't have a direct line anymore. No Admiral back up. No one knows he's here or that he's even alive. Why do you allow him to do this to you?" Kaito grinned savagely, avoiding a finger gun attack from one of the dark suited goons, pushing him away, "DON'T YOU WANT TO BE FREE!?" He roared.
As everyone stood still assessing each other. Even the beast not making a move. Kaito grinned savagely at the Celestial Dragon. He'd not been sure what exactly he wanted. Pirate king? Emperor?
Did the title matter? Being on top?
But he remembered now… The nobles and their history of evil.
He had his goal. Emperor or Pirate king - he was going to eradicate the Celestial Dragons!
Every. Single. One.
＊＊＊