One Piece: Dream of Immortality-Chapter 666: Parole
Chapter 666: Parole
That hadn’t been part of the plan...
Nami stood by helplessly as she watched the object of her vengeance disappear down a storm drain amongst a swarm of vermin. She felt some regret that she had insisted Cherry didn’t involve herself in this phase of the plan. She had wanted to get her own payback from the corrupt marine captain, not to have it handed to her on a silver platter. That choice was coming back to bite her now that someone or
something
decided to intervene.
She didn’t have a clue what it was, but she suspected devil fruit shenanigans were involved, as was
usually
the case when something inexplicable like this happened.
"You sure he wasn’t faking it? He does kind of look like a rat, so he might have been controlling them himself." Nami hoped that was the case, to be honest.
"His shock and terror seemed pretty genuine to me," Reiju replied as they both looked down the open storm drain, seeing naught but darkness. "I doubt he was faking it. Cherry probably would have told us if he is a devil fruit user, using that weird sense of hers, too."
Nami clicked her tongue. "He’d better not be suffering a fate worse than death down there. That’ll take the impact right out of what I had planned for him."
Reiju snickered at her, which wasn’t helping her mood in the slightest.
"Instead of laughing, why don’t you go down there and find him?" Nami snarked.
"I would, but I’ve already had a bath today," Reiju made up a bullshit excuse.
"Well,
I’m
not going down there after him," Nami remarked. "With my luck, I’d end up getting caught in whatever mess he’s in right alongside him."
"Mm, that’s prudent of you," Reiju praised, only half seriously. "Who are we going to get to do the dirty work, then? Unless you’re giving up on teaching this guy a lesson?"
"Oh, he’s not getting off that easily!" Nami denied. That was easy to say, but the only real option she had was Cherry. She wasn’t about to go crawling back to beg her for help after already claiming she could handle this herself.
"Oh!" Nami smiled with malicious intent. "We could get
him
to do it!"
"Who?" Reiju asked, only for Nami to ignore her and walk away. "Don’t play this game with me, I really don’t know who you’re referring to!"
...
"Okay, that’s hilarious. Let’s do it," Cherry laughed as she listened to Nami’s request.
...
There were certain expectations that Daud had had about where his life was headed, before his encounter with Cheapshot Cherry.
Those expectations were completely thrown out the window after that fateful meeting. Even the new expectations that he created in an attempt to keep up were found wanting more often than not.
He hadn’t expected her to spare him after defeating him, and she had. He hadn’t expected her to leave him on an oddly solid cloud in lieu of a proper prison cell, and she had. He hadn’t expected her to come retrieve him by popping out of the den den mushi she left with him, and she did exactly that.
And now, if was down in a damned storm drain with a mission to rescue a marine captain who’d been kidnapped by rats. It would be a lie of monumental proportions to claim he’d expected
that.
At least she’d fixed his shattered skeleton before tossing him down here. Yet another expectation thwarted, to show mercy to a man who had tried to kill her, however fruitless the attempt had been. Also the fact that she could casually fix broken bones.
Back to the mission, which he fully intended to complete given he’d been promised freedom in exchange for success. He didn’t have any illusions that he could simply run away.
There was a problem, however. Daud knew most of the city’s tunnels by heart, including the ones connected to the manhole he’d been tossed down like a sack of bricks.
Most
, being the operative word here. There were some places even he did not dare to venture, down here in the darkness.
Tracking the direction the marine had been taken wasn’t too hard; the rats left quite a trail in their wake, through the muck. It hadn’t rained in a few weeks, so nothing could have gotten washed away.
Then they led him deeper, which could only mean one thing; the rats took him beneath the Flooded District. Daud’s Whalers operated out of the Flooded District, but they all knew better than to go into the sewers. No matter how skilled you thought you were, there wasn’t a guarantee that you’d come back up again, if you did.
Regardless, Daud figured he feared what waited for him up top more if he returned empty handed, so down he went. Still, he went with caution and kept an eye on the walls and ceiling. You never knew when something would give and let a deluge of water in to drown you.
Daud stopped abruptly as a chill went down his spine. He was close now; he could feel it in his bones.
From behind, the sounds of countless skittering, scratching, gnawing, crawling rats issued from the darkness.
Daud did not run, not move at all for that matter. He stood perfectly still right where he was, even ceasing his breathing as he became a living statue. His heart did not beat wildly out of fear or excitement, either, for he had better control than that.
The swarm reached him, but they paid him no mind. They ran over his feet and between his legs as they rushed to their destination, straight ahead of him and around the bend. Right where he expected to find his target.
The wretched little beasts finally thinned out enough that he could move again without risk of stepping on them, but something else gave him pause.
"What’s that, my dearies?" a voice hissed and sang in equal measure. "We have a guest?"
Daud immediately made to turn back, but his feet betrayed him. The haunting melody of a flute flooded into his body through his ears, seizing control of his limbs.
Daud spun around in place with far less grace than he usually possessed and marched straight into the maw of the beast.
"Oh my, oh my, if it isn’t the little killer from upstairs~" the old hag greeted him with a kindly smile, but there was nothing good lurking behind her eyes. "Whatever are you doing down here? I thought you and yours knew better than to play in Granny’s tromping grounds?"
She still held the flute he had heard before her face, ready to use it against him in a moment’s notice. Since she was not playing it any longer, though, he could feel his control reasserting itself.
"No reason in particular," Daud replied, knowing better than to reveal his true motives. He’d heard of this woman, but he had no idea she was so dangerous.
"Tut tut, you shouldn’t lie to Granny," Granny Rags scolded. "I know. Granny will give you something sweet to eat, if you’re honest. Unless, you’d like something else...?"
The way she tugged on her collar when she said that made him wonder if avoiding execution was really worth it all.
Chapter 666: Parole
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