CHAPTER 7: SHOCK
There, submerged in greenish-coloured fliud, was Luffy. He was naked from head to toe and was floating in the cylinder container, breathing from an oxygen mask. He was actually alive! Alive and breathing! Zoro could hear him inhale and exhale steadily, his heart thumping ever so softly. His face was serene, as if he was having a lovely, peaceful dream.
Zoro trembled as he touched the cylinder container. How could this be? How could he be alive? He and Sanji were sure that he had breathed his last at the One Piece Island. Even Chopper, the doctor of the crew, checked his pulse and confirmed him dead. He remembered wrapping him up in loincloths and tossing him into the sea with Nami conducting the ceremony. They have heard the splash as Luffy’s body went down and saw him sink. How on earth did he end up here?
Suddenly, the door of this secret exhibit room slid open. Zoro turned around, brandishing his swords. It was Tashigi and her band of marine people. Behind her stood the ever familiar Colonel Smoker, his hands dissolved into smoke, grasping his crew members tightly. Behind him were Cobby and Hermeppo. It seemed that everybody they have encountered was here.
“Sanji! Nami! Usopp! Chopper! You guys hurt or anything?” Zoro called out, trying hard to gain his composure after receiving both shocks from Luffy’s existence and his crew members’ capture.
“A bit tied up, but we’re a-OK,” Sanji replied, still chewing his chewing gum. It’s a wonder he didn’t accidentally swallow it after all these tense moments. Slowly he saw Luffy in the cylinder and gasped, “Oh…my…God…”
The rest of the crew saw him too and gaped like crazy.
“Surprised to see your captain now, aren’t you, Roronoa Zoro?” Smoker grinned sarcastically, his mouth puffing out cigar smoke. “This is such a reunion.”
“What is he doing here?” Zoro asked, pointing at Luffy’s floating body in the cylinder. “I thought he’s…”
“Dead,” Smoker finished his words. “You thought he was dead. Well, for your information, he’s perfectly alive. We have been preserving him ever since you threw him into the sea. It wasn’t easy, but we actually brought him back from the dead.”
“How…?” Nami was stupefied.
“We’ve been following you all the way to the One Piece Island. Bagy the Clown and Albida the Beautiful somehow escaped from our captivity. We let them escape and we followed them secretly, because we knew their target was you. We were just surprised and happy as you were when we knew that the One Piece actually exists. We split up, one to continue following your crew and one to follow Shanks’ trail. It was a struggle trying to get both targets at once, but here they are: the One Piece and the most wanted Luffy himself.”
“Why all this?!” Usopp yelled, struggling to break free. “Why can’t you just let Luffy rest in peace?!”
“He needs to be set as an example to all pirates and to people who attempt to become pirates,” Tashigi exclaimed. “He made a potential warrior like you into a pirate! He made a delicate woman like this girl here a savage thief and money-swindler! He made this long-nosed man into a pirate he wasn’t supposed to be! And this reindeer! He could be a great doctor serving his hometown! Instead he made him serve a bunch of useless pirates and turned him to a fighting machine for his own benefits! He is the greatest yet most dangerous pirate in the whole sea! Everyone will see what kind of a pirate is he and then peace will be availed!”
“Excuse me, miss, but I’m no savage and I was a thief before meeting Luffy!” Nami protested.
“Yeah! And I became a pirate at my own free will, and am proud of it!” Usopp yelled too, but they were both ignored.
“He is going to be sent to Logue Island next week to be put up as an exhibit for all to see,” Cobby said timidly. “That’s why he’s kept alive. I’m sorry, Zoro, but this is the only way to curb those notorious pirates. He may have helped me a lot, but he’s still a pirate, an outlaw of the sea.”
“You knew it, didn’t you?” Zoro hissed. “You knew it all along about us coming here. I should’ve known everything is way too simple.”
“Now you know,” Smoker grinned and snapped his fingers. “Men, take them away to the deep dungeons. And no tricks, Zoro, or your crew gets it.”
Smoker tightened his grip around the crew, making them yelp in pain. Zoro quivered for a while before surrendering his swords and himself to the marine soldiers. Cautiously, they locked his hands behind his back and took him away. The crew tried to wriggle free from Smoker’s grasp but he was too strong for them; they couldn’t move an inch.
Zoro took one last sad look at Luffy who was still floating in the cylinder container.
“We’re trapped! Trapped like rats! What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?!”
The Going Merry crew was strapped in chains inside their dungeon. It was quite crowded and there wasn’t much space for them to stretch their legs. Nami aimed her foot at Usopp’s face to stop him from complaining.
“Urusai, you bakero! Whining like a baby like this is NOT going to get us anywhere!”
“I can’t believe it,” Sanji sighed, his eyes showing a trace of sadness. “All this while, Luffy is still alive…He is still alive…!”
“Yeah,” Chopper said thoughtfully. “I wonder how they do it; I mean, bring him back to life. It is medically proven that there is no way you can bring someone back to life.”
“Unless they’ve acquired some certain gadgets to revive him or some sort,” Usopp replied, “or maybe they fed him with some sort of new devil fruit. There is no reason why there wouldn’t be soul-reviving fruit out there somewhere. Look what the Gum-Gum fruit did to Luffy last time.”
“To think that they went through all the trouble to revive Luffy just to set an example to the public,” Nami replied. “It seems like Luffy turned out to be a better legend than the late Captain Roger.”
“I heard that we’re gonna go with the marines to Logue Island again too,” Chopper sighed in defeat, “‘coz we’re going to be publicly sentence to death just like that Captain Roger and Shanks.”
“WHAT?! Sentenced to death?! I’m too young to die!! I can’t die!! I’ve promised Kaya I will return to her after this mission!! I can’t afford to die!!” Usopp exclaimed like a total maniac.
“Oh, so that means your pledge to be willing to sacrifice your life for this was a lie!” Nami yelled at him.
“Well, no! But I had to promise her that so as not to make her worry too much! Yet I hope I will come out alive!”
“We all hope we’ll get out of this alive, but I’m sorry, we can’t! So face it! We’re gonna die out here!”
“HUWAAA~~~!!! I don’t wanna die! Get me outta here!! Please!!”
“URUSAI!!!”
Almost immediately, Usopp stopped shouting. Zoro was trembling slightly, glaring at the crew with angry dark eyes. When Nami tried to check if he was OK (and apologize on Usopp’s behalf), she saw that tears were actually flowing out of his eyes.
“Uh…I’m sorry. We’re all sorry. Are you alright, Zoro?” Nami said hesitantly.
“Luffy…Luffy…” Zoro was too choked up to continue. He buried his face in his chained-up hands, sobbing like never before. He knew he had pledged not to cry before he and the crew complete this mission, but he couldn’t hold it anymore. He felt like he had failed his love terribly. Nami wanted to console him but Sanji laid his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. She obliged to his gesture and left Zoro to cry his heart out. Usopp felt quite guilty for his childish outburst after that. This really was the end of the Going Merry crew. They were going down with Luffy, or probably preserved alive like Luffy too for everyone to see.
At least they won’t be going down alone.
The Going Merry crew woke up by the heavy footsteps of the dungeon guards and Colonel Smoker. They can smell his cigar from a mile away. They slowly crawled out of their uncomfortable sleeping positions and sat up to meet their doom. They were ready to face it, each and every one of them, no matter how good or bad the ending might turn out.
“Time to go on a sailing trip, my dear Luffy team,” Smoker’s voice echoed throughout the whole dungeons.
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