The O Men

7

In that moment I truly believed that my life flashed before my eyes. I didn't live a very fulfilling life I suppose. The tall girl had taken my gun and pointed the barrel at me. What was I supposed to do in this moment? I didn't remember. I simply stared up at her, bracing for death.

"Get up StrawHat. I'm here to take you to the others." She said as she lowered the gun. "I'm surprised you even made it this far from town, I found most of the others in Menchal city near Marian, and here you are all the way in Aria."

Getting up and looking around it struck me to see that the city of Aria was...rather different. The buildings were designed differently, the roads were sectioned into 4 instead of 2, there were more public bars that lined this particular area, I suppose that's why I went largely unnoticed - I must have been wearing Aria dayclothes. Lightly torn they were, but sufficient. In the presence of the public bar and my stench, which was similar to sour beer and urine, they must have thought that I was simply a poor adult drunkard. That makes sense given that I had been moving awkwardly, which could be mistaken for being drunk. In the State, it's actually encouraged for the poorer class to drink, it discourages them from rioting in the face of the state, and since they can't afford any of the good alcohols, the unemployed are hardly ever sober. It distracts them from their misery I guess. Looks like a miserable way to live I'd say. The town itself is quite obviously in shambles. The roof tiles are missing on a lot of buildings, the paint on these buildings is peeling, and you can smell the awful smell coming from the public bars. The people in the bars I could see were wearing day clothes, some people were even wearing torn ones like mine.

         "Where did you get this set of clothes?" The tall girl inquired. Looking at my clothes, I realized that I looked very suspicious.

"I got them from this alleyway actually, they were clean so I changed into them. Was that a bad idea?" I responded, shaking with fear. I feared that I was gonna get killed because I was suspiciously lucky for someone who's never openly broken the law before.

"Actually no that was a very smart decision you took. Wearing the same clothes as the people of Aria would so you would go unnoticed, you are a true genius." My cheeks stung with pride and confusion. I don't understand what I'm feeling, embarrassment? No, this is a positive emotion, but anyways it wasn't important. "I would like to know one thing though," she started. "How did you get all the way over here and not get caught? There's no sewer holes in these roads for miles and no way you were able to come all the way here without getting noticed."

I told her my story. I told her about how I got lost, and how I used the mice to find my way here. Her face changed from complacent, to surprise, to simply a smile. She has a pretty smile.

"Oh wow!" She said with great excitement. "I thought I was the only one that knew about the mice! You were able to intuit this? You truly are a genius!"

My face felt warm, the tips of my ears felt hot, I want to believe what I'm feeling is embarrassment, but it just isn't that. It was something more, it's a feeling that I wanted to keep feeling.

"Ha ha, well thanks, uhh"

"Rose, it's rose." She responded as she looked into my eyes.

"Her eyes are stunning" I thought to myself. "I've never met anyone so aesthetically pleasing and yet so menacing." I stared at her in wonder, not listening to a word she was saying until she slapped me back into reality.

"StrawHat! Were you even listening!? We have to go now! I'm not dressed as an Aria city official Observer, they're going to figure me out soon and I need to take you to the new hiding spot with the others!" I fully processed the situation, and we quickly and quietly snuck through the streets, avoiding every street visor and hiding in every back alleyway, better safe than sorry I guess.

.   .   .   .

         "We're here," she coughed, out of breath. We arrived at an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of town. It was obviously abandoned because it looked to be in complete disarray, and that never happens to places like storage units or factories when they're in working condition. Walking in, I was glancing around and looking for Jude and Ashier. "Bet you're looking for your friends huh?" She asked. "They're off upstairs settling into their sleeping spaces, you should go up and join them." Grateful, I thanked Rose and hurried up the stairs and searched for them.

         "Shh, don't be too loud Jude you're going to give us away!" I heard someone harshly whisper to Jude. "No one can know, especially not Charlotte."

         I immediately became curious as to what was going on so I hid by the door to their sleeping spaces and listened in.

         "Hey hey sorry" I heard Jude's voice say. "I'm just so happy that the plan's finally working!"

         "What plan?" I thought to myself, still unsure of what to think.

         "I know Jude, we'll get recognized for our work!" Said a voice that sounded like it was coming from Ashier. "We will have to watch out for Charlotte though, she's pretty sharp. Even the smallest hint could give us away to her."

         My heart skipped a beat, I didn't want to fear the worst, I desperately hoped that what I was hearing wasn't what I thought it was.

         "True" Jude replied. "When I was being 'taken away' I would have thought that she would just watch me get dragged away, but she put our plan askew and actually tried to save me. Fucking bitch complicating things, why is Charlotte so important to the plan anyways? She's a fallible variable."

         "Well we have to bring her to the O Men somehow, they've learned of her capabilities as a strategic general and they need her to help them expand, They'll reward us generously."

         My hands began to sweat, I felt sick to my stomach, I felt rather dizzy and panicked. They were spies for the O Men! I've got to tell someone I've got to- but who would believe me? No one would, it's apparent that Ashier has done a lot for the Opposition, while giving the State information on them. I need to find some way, some way to expose them, I'll get taken away for the State! Oh I hate war! Why couldn't I have been born in the Union? As I pondered and despaired in my mind, I failed to see them come up on me.

         "Hey there Charlotte!" Ashier near shouted. "It's a good day isn't it? Perfect enough to get a good night sleep!" Something was off. Ashier's eyes, they were missing the sinister look, rather it was replaced with something scarier. It seemed to have been replaced almost with pure hysteria. I turned around to see Jude holding a needle in his hands, his face plastered with a look that I couldn't imagine there being. I could recognize this look from one of my textbooks on the lesson of the downfall of capitalism, there was a man pictured looking at heaps of money and groups of prostitutes, Jude's eyes were filled with lust. I felt Ashier grab my arms and pull them back, she stuffed a gag in my mouth and held my head down as I felt a needle go into my neck. I tried desperately to scream but not a sound escaped. My vision began to blur, my hearing became foggy, and my head felt clouded. I could ever so faintly feel my body being picked up and moved and I felt ropes against my skin as I passed completely out of consciousness.