| 20. Chaos |
Water 7 Saga
"Nezuko," Nami placed her hand on Nezuko's shoulders. She excused herself from talking to the mayor and Kalifa for a moment.
"Hmm?"
"You look troubled. You can explore the island if you want." Nami said but there was a hint of worry in her voice.
She was getting bored in the shipyard so she decided to observe the whole place. It's pretty normal. Work here, work there. But Nezuko felt something weird about Iceberg's top workers. It's like they're hiding something, something that involves someone she knows. Lucci's been staring at her for a while, as if he noticed something wrong. It's like how Aokiji reacted when he saw her. She felt uncomfortable.
"Really?" Her eyes glimmered.
"Sure. We shopped for clothes already anyway. Do you need money?" Nami said.
"Nope!" She happily answered.
"That's not fair! Why don't you ask us that too? You always spoil Nezuko! I want to see the island too!" Complained Ussop.
"We can go out later after we deal with this," Nami said, annoyed.
"Ne, Nami. We should buy that spicy water fishcake over there—" Luffy didn't finish his sentence when his face met Nami's fists.
"Absolutely not. You'll suck the whole place dry and we'll end up going broke." Nami shouted.
"Says the one who bought the whole store earlier." Luffy and Ussop whispered but Nami heard it anyway.
"I GOT IT ALL FOR A 99% DISCOUNT!" Nami beats up the two. But Kalifa suddenly kicked them all, reasoning that they shouldn't argue in front of a respected mayor. Nezuko managed to dodge them all. Iceberg got kicked too, unfortunately.
Nezuko just sweat dropped.
"See you later, everyone. I'll come back to Merry before sunset!" Nezuko waved goodbye.
-
Nezuko enjoyed her time being alone. Riding on Yagaras all around the city and sliding through high canals too. Her new clothes got wet but she immediately dried them by making her body temperature high.
But suddenly Nezuko remembers what happened earlier. She can tell Iceberg's top shipwrights are skilled fighters, not just by beating up pirates. The demoness recalled what Mihawk told her before. The government often has secret organizations that mainly cover assassination and do the dirty work.
Maybe if she can read something, then she might find some information.
"Hello! Which way is the library or a bookstore?" She asked a yagara passenger.
"You must be new here! Just tell the yagara where you want to go and they'll take you there."
She thanked the passenger before telling the yagara to go to the library. But she stopped the animal when she saw the familiar figure of a female going to the backstreets of water seven, following a masked figure of a large person.
"Hmm?" Nezuko decides to go to the ground. She fed the Yagara some snacks before going.
She jumped to the roof to observe things from up there, careful to not be discovered by Robin.
It was Robin. Nezuko can smell fear, anxiety, and anger surrounding the archeologist as she follows the person.
What's wrong, Robin?
She jumped roof to roof to follow the two. When the masked guy finally left, she decides to jump down to the ground in front of Robin. The archeologist startled in surprise.
"N-nezuko?"
"Something's wrong. Who's that?" Nezuko said in seriousness.
"An old friend of mine. Now if you excuse me-"
"Didn't know you had friends other than us." Nezuko slyly said.
Robin's expression darkened.
"Of course, I have other friends than you. The world doesn't revolve around our silly pirate play." Robin said coldly.
"I guess your definition of a 'friend' makes you uncomfortable, anxious, scared, and guilty."
Robin paled. She couldn't utter a word because of shame but she managed to meet Nezuko's blank eyes without shedding a tear.
"Was he a government agent, Robin? Yes or no." Nezuko's cold voice gave Robin a chill on her spine.
"You're way too young to understand, Nezuko. I'll go now. Don't come to find me again."
Please Nezuko. Go away. Please.
Robin tried to walk away but the demoness quickly gripped her wrists to stop her. Nezuko has so many things to say to the archeologist but she can't. Robin is in her vulnerable state and Nezuko can't force her.
"Just a reminder, Luffy's not the type of person to give up on a friend. Whatever decisions you make have nothing to do with me anymore. But if Luffy orders to cut and destroy a whole island in half to get you back, I'll do it gladly. See you around, then."
Nezuko tapped the archeologist's shoulders and started to walk away, leaving the dumbfounded Robin behind. The demoness tried her best not to cry and crack her voice when she talked to Robin.
Seeing her in pain and agony pains Nezuko. She didn't mean most of what she said earlier. She'll cut an island in half without being ordered just to get Robin back. The older sister she never had.
But let's just see what'll happen now.
Nezuko traveled back to the ship, only to see a messed-up ground filled with explosions and burnt marks. Merry is still there, crying but she only senses one person staying inside.
The presence is from Ussop. Merry is crying again, mumbling things that they shouldn't have done.
"Ussop-san?!" Nezuko hurriedly went to the man.
"Oi Nezuko. You're finally back huh? How's your trip?" Ussop struggled to speak.
"What happened here?! Where's Chopper? You're injured—wait let me get the emergency kit—"
"Don't bother. The money we had got stolen by some thugs. The shipwrights said Merry can't be fixed. I got angry with Luffy for saying that we should let go of her. So I had a duel with Luffy. The one who wins gets the Merry. I lost. I left the crew. The rest left and took their stuff. You can join them, they're probably at some inn in the center of the city." Ussop said tiredly.
"But the crew needs you! Our sniper."
"They don't need a weakling like me. Just go."
Nezuko's face is calm but her eyes are cosplaying a waterfall again. First Robin, now this. Just how many things happened when she was away?!
"Then let me at least dress up your wounds, then I'll leave."
"Fine."
She cleaned Ussop's wounds and replaced the old bandages with new ones. She only has a few pieces of stuff left in the ladies' room so she took them and left, not looking back.
Now, time to tail Robin.
