16:: Lost and Found Again

 AN: the vid to the right is what the song the dancers are dancing too

*Luffy*

I waited for what seemed like forever. Even singing the Baka song a few rounds and climbing surrounding trees didn’t help. I waited and waited and waited. . .

“If Chopper’s not coming back, I’ll just go on ahead. He’ll catch up.” I mused.

I sang, whacking a stick against anything close by as I ventured onward.

%mine%

As Luffy set off, singing loudly, Chopper cried out in fear, only to be cut off sharply. Unheard by anyone, Chopper was dragged off like Nami by a mysterious man in rainbow suspenders.

It happened again, over and over. Luffy yelled as steel cut off his windpipe, choking him into unconsciousness. Usopp’s scream was cut off as gloved, long, graceful hands grabbed him, knocking him out with chloroform. Robin gasped as vines shot out from the trees, wrapping around her, and pulling her back into the shadows right when Sanji had his back turned.

~Rhythm~

I skipped cheerfully in front of Zoro, singing all-to-happy pop loudly and terribly off-tune. Zoro was spacing out, trudging behind me like a dead weight.

“Jeez, Marimo. Lighten up. Why you so emo, Emo?” I asked, skipping backwards, flawlessly avoiding the small rocks and branches I could easily trip on.

“You’re doing that again,” Zoro said.

“Doing what?” I asked between my humming.

“That walking backwards thing. I keep thinking you’re going to fall over and hit you head.”

“I’m not walking, I’m skipping. And don’t worry; I’m too awesome to fail.” I said, puffing my chest.

He just rolled his eyes at me.

After a while of singing the same 3 lines over and over (because I don’t know the rest of the lyrics) I stopped and ceased the skipping to. I could’ve kept going, but I was bored.

After a while of thick silence (occasionally looking around for anything “suspicious”), Zoro cleared his throat and attempted a conversation.

Empathize on the “attempted part”.

“So. . . you believe in God?” he asked.

I gave him a WTF look, and then responded, “No. I’m an Atheist.”

“Same here,” he said.

“High five, we don’t believe in God,” I said. We did. Was it me or did his hand linger a bit longer than it should have?

From there, we were silent again.

It wasn’t thick or awkward, just that I hate it. I couldn’t find any music to fit my mood, without playing the same six songs over and over. My headphones lay around my neck with my goggles, the one’s Luffy picked out for me.

I couldn’t take it. I screamed in frustration (I don’t have a loud, girly scream. It’s a dude’s scream . . . yell . . . whatever)

“I can’t take it! Make there be a huge explosion or giant dragon attack us! Or hell, make Nami fall from the sky!”

Zoro looked at me incredulously.

I sighed, “Sorry. I just broke. Go on with your life like nothing happened.”

We reached a fork in the road, separated by a knurling old tree with two very old signs nailed to in. One said “left” and the other said “right”.

I held my hands up, making an L with them.

“The signs are wrong,” Zoro said.

“Oh shit your right,” I put down my hands.

“Should we fix them?” he asked.

“Sure. The hands never lie.”

He drew Wado and sliced them through the rusty nails in one clean slice. I spun around and implanted them into the tree with a firm kick implanted with a small amount of Rhyme Shock. The signs now faced there right direction, just up-side-down.

We looked at each other and shrugged, “Eh,” we both said together.

“So which way?” I asked. I turned and realized that Zoro was already walking down the left lane. I sighed. “Sure. Let’s go that way. Because without careful consideration, we’ll be killed. Oh who am I kidding, my sense of direction is almost as bad as his.” I followed him.

As the sun descended slowly in the sky, my stomach rumbled. Hungry and tired, I plopped down and insisted a break with Zoro. We sat in the roots of an old tree, unpacking the lunch Sanji gave us. Mine was to pretty to eat, yet the aroma drew me to scarf it down. Zoro’s wasn’t nearly as nice, consisting of the parts of food no one ever ate and leftover meat.

“Leftovers,” I snorted, shoveling down my food like the “lady” I was.

He just rolled his eyes and started eating. The sun went lower and lowers in the sky, the light turning more golden with a rosy hue.

“We should be getting back in a few. It’s sunset,” Zoro said, putting down his chopsticks next to his half eaten meal.

I gulped down the bite, burping and drinking some water. “I guess. Which way’s the ship?” I asked

He shrugged. “I thought you knew.”

“That’s my line,” I frowned.

“Che. Way to go, you got us lost,” he grumbled, picking up his chopsticks and continuing to eat his meal.

“Hey I don’t keep track of those kinds of things!” I growled. I stabbed my food with the fork, pretending it was Zoro’s face. Stupid Marimo got us lost.

He set down his food and stared off into space, deep in thought. He wasn’t eating his bento, and those crunchy rolls were mocking me. I couldn’t use chopsticks, and if I stabbed them wrong, they’ll fall apart. So I took the chance. I posed my fork, aiming. Zoro wasn’t paying the slightest attention to me or his bento. His dark eyes were glazed over, green hair lighting up slightly in the amber light, making his tan skin seem to glow. A sudden urge came over me to run my fingers softly across his skin. I mentally slapped myself. Dammit Rhythm, stay loyal to Sano and pay attention to that lone crunchy role in front of you. The shrimp is calling you! I thought.

I lashed out, only to have my fork intercepted by his chopsticks. Damn swordsman.

“My food. You have your own,” he growled, holding my metal fork at bay with his wooden chopsticks.

I groaned, “but I love sushi! Sanji packed me a French cuisine!”

“Then ask him next time and he’ll give you all the sushi you want.”

“But it’s sitting there mocking me! Gimme gimme!”

He growled, twisting my fork. His hand was busy holding mine back. So like the sore loser I am, I snatched the crunchy role and crammed in into my mouth with my free hand.

“Oi!” he yelled grabbing my face as I tried chewing the roll while holding back laughter.

“Whab ib baqk?” I asked. I opened my mouth to show the half chewed roll, reaching up as though about to take it out of my mouth and give it back.

“No just keep it,” he said jerking back.

“’kay!” I chewed happily, humming a random tune as he grumbled about how I was a psychopathic, food-stealing, selfish bitch.

A strong breeze ruffled my hair, bringing my already jagged, un-kept bangs into my eyes.

“Oi, you can’t see like that,” Zoro said reaching over and tugging the hair away from my eyes.

<Sanji>

I ran through the trees, kicking down the trees in my path screaming my lungs out.

“NAAAAAMIIIIII-SWAAAAAAN! ROOOOOOBIIIIIIIN-CHWAAAAAAN!!!!!” I cried out, heart pounding madly. I lost both of my ladies, both gone and I haven’t the slightest clue where they were. I needed to find that damn Witch and kick his ass for taking my precious Nami-san and Robin-chan. I was hopeless. An utter fail of a man to lose them right under my nose. I skidded to a stop, hand on chin and legs spread apart for stability.

“Rhythm-dono’s still here I bet! But that shitty swordsman has better have kept her safe!” I cried out the last part, taking off into a run and yelling: “RHYYYYYTHM-DWOOOOONOOOOO!!!!! SHITY MARIMO! OOOOOOIIIIII!!!!”

A smell reached my nose, one awfully familiar. The smell of my own cooking, stored and then opened again.

“A bento,” I said.

I followed the scent, leading straight for a giant tree. I rounded the corner to see the shitty swordsman with his hands on Rhythm-dono’s face

“Dammit you mother fucker! Take your hands off of Rhythm-dono before I rip them off for you!” I landed a nice kick on the center of his head.

“Oi! What the hell was that for?!” Zoro yelled, holding the lump on the back of his head.

“You touched her face with your monster hands! Stay away from-“

“Hey Sanji, where’s Robin?” Rhythm asked, now munching on Zoro’s now abandoned bento.

I paused.

“NAAAMI-SWAAAAAAANN! ROOOBIIIIIN-CHWAAAAAAN!” I yelled.

“He lost her, didn’t he,” Zoro said, sitting down again and looking for his bento.

“Yup. Who would’ve thought that the perv would take his eyes off of her? A great plot twist indeed.” I said, eating the last riceball. Ha-ha . . . riceball . . .

$Nami$

This damn dancer dress was getting really uncomfortable and the paint was pretty sturdy stuff to be able to stay on this long. Vines wrapped around my wrist in a vise-like grasp as I was led down a hall with two freaky masked men holding an arm each. The hall was long and dark hallway, lit only by the dimming blue-flamed torches. Water oozed from the cracks on the rough stone walls, watering the twisting vines that snaked across the passageway, getting thicker and greener as we approached large thick double doors.

“Hold it,” the guys jerked me back and pushed my against the wall.

“Hey!” I yelled.

“Stay here.” One said, keeping a firm hand on my upper arm.  The other leaned against the wall on the other side.

Then from where we just came, more footsteps followed suit. I looked over and gasped.

Approaching and looking a bit dazed, was Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Robin with their hands in seastone cuffs and arms held by masked guards (four in Luffy’s case).

“Wha-what happened?! I thought you were going to save me!” I yelled.

Luffy just grinned, “Sorry Nami. I was taken by surprised. Shishishishi!” he laughed

“Don’t laugh! This is serious!” I kicked him across the shins. He yelped in pain.

“Oi! Shut up!” a guard wacked Luffy across the head. Luffy yelped again.

“Oi! That hurt!” he grumbled. Chopper was trying not to cry, Usopp was saying (with his legs shaking) that he’ll get us out of here, while Robin just stumbled weakly to the wall.

One of the guards knocked against the door, only to have it slide open easily. The noise that released through the now revealing doors was amazing. It sounded like a beautiful folk song, in a different language and sung by women. The rhythm pulsed through the hallway and down into my very core. The tempo made my heartbeat pulse to its rhythm, as the women’s voices softened the beat and flowed through my ears like a lullaby. Usopp stopped shaking, Chopper stopped crying, Luffy shut up, and Robin gasped slightly.

(AN: Song “Cosmoflips” by KOKIA)

“Don’t stop! Keep dancing!” a male voice sliced through the melody. We couldn’t see what was happening in there at this angle.

“Here yeah go boss! The intruders you wanted. We’re still missing four.” The apparent leader of the 12 masked men, saluting into the room. I craned my neck, only to be blocked by another guard.

“Put them into the cage.” The voice sliced through again.

“Aye aye, sir!” the saluted. “Get in there.” Our captors grabbed our arms and dragged us in there.

Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, Robin and I stopped in our tracks. What lay in front of us was not what we were expecting.

Thirteen beautiful women danced in perfect sync across the stoned floor with a vine-like pattern painted on it. Each woman ranged from ages sixteen to twenty-five, all swirling with a grace completely inhuman and clad in the dancer dresses Robin and I both wore. But the way they moved and sang told us they were the real dancers of Tomoni. They spun in wide circles with graceful legs clad in the metals and sturdy shoes of theirs, arms waving gracefully without a single awkward movement of mistake as their voices echoed into one goddess-like voice. A group of musicians were in a cage producing the music we first heard. One dancer in particular caught my attention. She was about nineteen and seemed to be the ringleader of them all. Even though they all danced with perfect coordination and equalized, she seemed more powerful than the others, more in control of her fluid movements. Each lock of her knee-length blonde hair was braided and held with clay beads painted with different colors, and with closer examination, with patterns engraved on them. The top half of her hair was piled atop her hair, mostly unbraided and held with a golden head band that dipped into her forehead while the rest of her hair swayed around her slim form like a glass curtain. We were all awe-struck with the absolute beauty, the slight spark of hope for freedom that they danced for.

Completely amazed by the utter amazingness of the whole thing, we didn’t even realize that we were ushered into a large, seastone cage. Doors locked and key pocketed, the cage was lifted by a sturdy chain so we viewed the dance from above, which was just as spectacular. Then I realized that they were spelling something out. The forms they took in the dance, spelled a hidden message from above. Who would’ve thought?

保

存

レ

ガ

シ

ー

‘Save our legacy.’

Finally, they reached the final chorus, stopping just as the music ended. They were perfectly still like a statue, except for the waves of their skirts. The last word spelled out:

日

光

‘Sunlight?’ I thought.

“They want us to save them. They are probably aware of us on the island, and that Rhythm, Zoro, and Sanji are still out there,” Robin said.

I nodded in agreement.

“Well, my dancers. You may go back to your rooms and get pretty for dinner.” A man that we just noticed (well, maybe not Robin) sat in a large throne at the head of the room waved.

He was a lean man with long brown dreadlocks and murky green eyes. His eyes were narrowed, despite the pointed grin on his narrow face as he clapped for the dancers. The women, meanwhile, were herded out by the guards while the musicians were rolled away in their cage.

“Hmm~” he mused, standing up. He slowly descended the stairs with his hand on his chin and his elbow resting in the crook of his arm as he looked up at us. “What a lovely show, won’t you agree Mugiwara Pirates?” he asked.

“And you must be Witch, I presume.” Robin said.

He grinned, sharp teeth glittering wickedly in the candlelight. “And what if I am?”

He waved his arm. Vines twisted a withered from the crevasses of the stone flooring, springing up and forming a sort of pillar under him, hoisting him up to our height.

“Now who do we have here? Hnm~ ‘Straw Hat Luffy’” he said.

“Hi,” Luffy said.

“And ‘Demon Child’ Nico Robin,” he said. He tsked as he shook his head, “Luffy, can I call you that? Okay. Luffy that’s a terrible choice. Nico Robin has been known to betray and destroy any group she comes in contact with.”

Robin glared. Luffy just laughed, “No she won’t. It’s because she’s my nakama.” Luffy said.

Witch shrugged. “Suit yourself. Now! On to the activities! You two!” he pointed at Nami and Robin, “Will be my fifteenth and sixteenth wives. And you two, will join the men,” he pointed at Luffy and Usopp, and then at Chopper, “and you. . . I don’t know what you are so just through him in the cellar. Keep the seastone on just in case.”

Sanji, Zoro, and Rhythm better hurry the hell up.

 AN: to lazy and in a rush to go through and fix the large spaces. ill do it later