While Diddy was happily fighting it out against his vice-captain and second-mate, the other three Frenzy Pirates, Grand, Trenza, and Scar, who had all fallen into the dark hole, were now worrying about their new situation and how they would escape to regroup with their crew members.
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"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Yelled Trenza fearfully, tears streaming from her face that was washed away from the wind as she continued falling down the deep hole.
"H-How deep does it go!?" Exclaimed Grand with a frown as he plunged down the seemingly endless abyss alongside Trenza.
For what felt like an eternity, Grand and I plunged down this immeasurably deep hole, and just when I started to calm down, I noticed a dim light far away along with the ground, which was the complete opposite of what I wished to see.
"Please, God, if you exist, let me survive this fall!" Said Trenza as she clasped her hands and prayed to whatever god that may be listening.
Seeing the ground below us rapidly approaching, I closed my eyes and prayed even faster, not knowing whether that would make a difference, but it at least felt like it. The seconds passed by, and against my better judgment, I slightly opened my eyes, peeking down below, only to see the ground, which was practically in my face; I widened my eyes at my death and just before my body splattered against the ground, a large bag of air suddenly manifested itself from the side of the wall. I didn't even have time to think before my body collided with it; sinking deep into the bag, my momentum finally stopped, though just when I thought it was over, I felt the airbag tremble, causing me to be flung back into the air like a shooting bullet.
"AHHHHHHHH!!" Yelled Trenza in fear and anger as she shot back into the hole, not knowing it was all because Grand unintentionally propelled her back into the abyss.
For several seconds, I flew back through the abyss, heading back toward the top, but eventually, I started to slow down. While doing so, I heard another voice that was also rapidly approaching me in the air.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" Yelled Scar with his dagger in hand as he plummeted through the abyss while trying his best to maneuver to the wall, even mimicking Diddy by kicking the air.
"Eh, that voice, is that Scar?" Said Trenza in surprise as she looked upwards, only to see Scar's figure get progressively bigger and at a rapid rate to boot.
Coming to a complete halt, gravity did its work and began to take hold of me as I started falling back toward the ground along Scar; though since I now knew I wouldn't be dying, most of my fear had vanished, now I was just waiting so I could finally touch the sweet ground again.
"Scar, stop yelling, we're going to be fine; there are these airbags that'll catch us at the bottom!" Remarked Trenza loudly while looking at Scar, her voice barely reaching him from their bodies ripping through the air as they plummeted to the ground.
"O-Okay!" Replied Scar with a nervous gulp as he glanced at Trenza before looking downward in uncertainty while tightly clenching his dagger.
Shortly after that, we neared the ground, which was thankfully still covered by those airbags, and when we collided with them, just like what happened previously, we sunk into them before we eventually stopped. Climbing out of the giant airbag, I slid down the side and landed softly on the ground; I was tempted to kiss it in joy, but I stopped myself as the ground we were standing on looked very dirty.
"Grand, Scar, you two okay?" Asked Trenza as she unholstered Sunaipu and her other pistol while Scar, who had just emerged from the airbag, guarded her rear.
"Yes, I'm fine." Replied Scar quietly as he warily eyed his surroundings, though it was pitch black, so he saw nothing while keeping his back pressed against Trenza, following her every footstep.
"Yeah, I'm good; I just can't see anything! What about you, Trenza?" Said Grand from behind the large airbag, which was deflating and concealing itself from the compartment it emerged from.
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"Haa, that's good; I'm fine as well." Remarked Trenza, sighing while nodding as she holstered pistols and approached Grand.
"So now that we are all here and are no longer falling down that ridiculously long drop, do you know what happened, Scar, before you too were also thrown down?" Asked Trenza as she, Scar, and Grand stood in the center of the small room while huddling together.
"No, Captain, thought it would be a good idea to push me over the edge, wanting to see how deep it was, though it did sound like he intended to follow along, so I imagine we should be seeing them soon enough." Stated Scar, his face twitching in annoyance before he shook his head and looked up, only to see nothing but darkness.
"Heh, I feel your pain, Scar." Muttered Trenza with a forced smile as she patted Scar's shoulder while he gave a small smile in return.
"Anyways, until Captain, Freyja, and Father arrive, let's figure out our circumstance, though it's too dark for either Grand or me, so you'll need to do most of the work, Trenza." Said Scar as he glanced at Trenza, and despite her being less than a foot apart, he found it difficult to make out her face, let alone the rest of her body.
"Hehe, you can count on me, Trenza, Marksmen of the Frenzy pirates reporting for duty!" Declared Trenza with a grin as she grabbed Sunaipu and did a little pose, though given the darkness, no one could see, which was probably for the better.
"Marksmen of the Frenzy Pirates?" Remarked Grand with a raised eyebrow while looking at Trenza, or at least looking in the direction where her voice came from.
"Yes, Marksmen of the Frenzy Pirates; why do you sound so surprised? Just like Father, Freyja, and Captain, one day, I'll get my own bounty, and I want to have a cool moniker as well. So, instead of letting the Marines decide for me, I figured, why not make my own? It's still a work in progress, but it's not bad; what do you two think?" Questioned Trenza with a slight smile as she nodded and glanced between Grand and Scar, both displaying thoughtful expression.
"It's decent, but it's a little bland, not very original; I'm sure you can come up with something better." Replied Grand after some thinking while Trenza happily nodded at his helpful input before looking at Scar.
"Haa, I agree with Grand; it's too unoriginal for you. I personally think 'Elitist Sniper' Trenza is a better name. However, can we speak about this later? This isn't exactly the best of times for these types of conversations." Said Scar with a sigh as he gave his input before knocking on Trenza's head, causing her to lightly slap his hand away.
"Alright, alright, we'll talk about this later, though you two should think about coming up with your own monikers; you don't want to be given a terrible one by the Marines when they post your bounty." Replied Trenza as she glanced at the two before turning around and observing the surroundings.
Looking around, I looked out from the cage we were stuck in; yeah, we are currently in a cage, a pretty spacious cage if you ask me, but either way, I don't like being held captive; in the distance, I saw several other cages filled with a multitude of people that were all hung from a few chains. From their appearance, they all looked like pirates, and they were also all men, which caused me to start imagining terrible things.
'Yep, if any of them so much as look at me, I'm killing them, rowdy pirates caged for who knows how long; they would love to force themselves upon me if given a chance.' Thought Trenza with a nod as she glanced at all the cages.
Ignoring the numerous men who would love to rape me, I continued looking around; I did happen to find what seemed to be an arena below us, surrounded by water, and from the occasional splashes I heard, something told me it was infested with fleshing-eating beasts.
Other than that, I didn't really spot anything note-worthy; I mean, there was a big metal sheet embedded into the wall, but that could be anything. Just as I was about to inform Scar and Grand, the several lights jutting out from the walls suddenly turned on one by one, causing the large room to be illuminated in bright light, nearly blinding us.
"Too much intensity; lower it a bit." Said a voice, though it was a little static, sounding as if it came from a speaker.
"Yes, Madam." Said a deep, masculine voice, and following his words, a few of the lights were turned off, which allowed us to see without worrying about being blinded.
"Trenza, any idea what's happening?" Asked Scar as he and Grand approached the bars and observed the massive room, spotting the several cages filled with men.
"My guess is as good as yours, but I've got a feeling we'll end up fighting." Said Trenza solemnly with a frown as she looked around, while Scar didn't say a word but merely nodded.
Followed by the lights beside our cage, we noticed the wall open, revealing a giant transponder snail emerging on a platform; once the platform stopped moving, the transponder snail awakened and looked directly at the large metal sheet, causing its eyes to project the image of an older woman sitting on a couch overlooking us.
"My name is Mirage, but you can call me Madam Mirage; I welcome everyone to my 1285 Pirate Royale!" Said Mirage with a slight smile, her words causing Trenza to sigh and Scar to frown while Grand laughed in excitement.