One Piece – Halfway Broken

Warning! Chapters 91-93 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you pick up the story at the right spot!

Chapter 93: It’s Always Something

-Town Markets - Kuina-

Kuina didn’t like how the locals were reacting to their group. More accurately, how they were reacting to outsiders in general. Of the three of them, only she herself was visibly armed. Vivi’s slashers were easily concealed as a jeweled belt and Kaya didn’t use weapons at all. They should have been one of the least threatening looking groups moving around the market. There were plenty of Marines in sight, and quite a few other outsiders more heavily-armed looking than they, after all.

Yet, while the mix of traders and merchants from the various civilian vessels were acting at least somewhat normally, the locals were very much not. Something had them on edge, eyeing any and all strangers carefully. Worse, it was only the non-Marine strangers they were eyeing so. Which meant that the usual possibility of the locals being afraid of pissing off the garrison wasn’t the issue. Marines, even well-behaved ones, were often enough to put the backs of locals up if they were garrisoning an island in force. Yet that clearly wasn’t what was going on here.

No, if anything the locals were actively trying to stay near the Marines, even if it didn’t seem to be a conscious decision for most of them. They were also keeping children close, despite the children not looking at all happy about that fact.

She could see that many of the other non-locals were instinctively sticking together in their own crews, too. Being a trader on the Grand Line wasn’t an occupation you got into if you didn’t have damn good instincts, and clearly the locals’ behavior was putting the visiting crews a bit on edge. Not enough to stop them doing regular business, courage was also a required feature for traders on the Grand Line and there was nothing obviously wrong. Yet it was enough that the various crews weren’t spreading out the way you’d expect of those who were on shore leave from their ships. It wasn’t obvious or drastic, certainly not enough to disrupt regular business, but it was noticeable. At least to her.

“Girls, I think we should skip most of the basics and focus only on the special requests and a quick skim for anything of major note. Keep your ears open, too. Something is wrong, even if I don’t think it’s anything drastic yet. Certainly nothing related to us directly, I think.”

Kaya nodded seriously, though Vivi looked surprised before doing the same. Well, that probably wasn’t too much of a shocker. As capable as Vivi was, she was still one of the less experienced members of the crew. Technically, Kaya was even more so in some ways, but the spiritualist also had a triple dose of extra special bullshit going on with her senses. She’d probably picked up something was wrong even before Kuina. As if to prove her right, the younger woman spoke up quietly.

“The energy of the island is…odd. At first, I thought it was just the island itself, and I still think that’s mostly it. But there’s something, some sort of eddy or tide, building in the background of the rest of the oddity that is the island itself. It’s not like Asuka, not a curse, but something weird is going on. I have no idea what it could be, though. Not yet.”

Kuina nodded and tried not to let her palm itch too much as the urge to rest a hand on the handle of Wado Ichimonji grew ever-so-slowly stronger. Maybe they’d get away before whatever it was came to pass, but their luck rarely ever worked that way. Not that she was complaining, since it gave her plenty of chances to grow. If something major happened in the middle of a city with a major Marine garrison, though, things could get a little bit ugly…

… … …

-The Frozen Library-

Luffy had to admit that, even on the Grand Line, the Frozen Library was an impressive sight. Carved into the side of the same massive mountain as the Drakestone mine, he could honestly admit that it seemed like it could have been carved by a dragon. Which was apparently the local legend. For one thing, it was stupidly tall inside, to the point that if it wasn’t a dragon that had done it, then he’d lay high odds that a Giant had performed the working instead, though not for their own use. After all, the ‘books’ were only slightly larger than human sized.

The ’Frozen’ part of the name also certainly fit the place. Every bookshelf had layers of ice and icicles, the desks were covered in frost, and the décor of the entire library was all carved into the permafrost of the ceiling, pillars, and walls. One would think it was hardly a good environment for books. Until, that is, one managed to pry a book loose from the ice and realize that none of them were made of something as plebian as paper. Instead, incredibly thin sheets of drakestone, which showed some serious tensile strength that made him itch to experiment with it, were bound up in the books as if they were paper. The ink too, according to Robin, was something unique and local, a way to stain drakestone ‘paper’ that was far more durable and permanent than normal inks.

Now, if only the place wasn’t completely empty of people, including the locals that should have charged them the modest fee of a few thousand belli each to access the library for a day. Robin had frowned, commented on their absence immediately, and spread out her network of eyes and ears the moment they’d gotten inside. Luffy was merely taking in the sights of the library while waiting, as she tried to figure out what was going on.

“Found someone in the lower levels. Let’s see where he’s…ah. Quite a few more people and…oh dear. That doesn’t seem good at all.”

Robin’s tone had changed with the ‘ah,’ becoming even grimmer with the ‘oh dear’ a few moments later, and Luffy shifted to give her his full attention. For a long minute, she didn’t speak, clearly focused more on whatever it was she’d discovered. When her eyes finally focused properly on his again, there was a scowl on her face.

“I followed a man in blood red robes through a hidden door. He came out in a chamber that looks like it’s been used for a few decades, if not centuries, for some sort of ritual sacrifice. Piles of skeletons and frozen corpses at the edges of the room, and more men in similar robes, chanting. Not to mention what looks unfortunately like the thawing body of a dragon trapped in ice. One large enough to brush the ceilings of the library.”

Luffy groaned. Yes, because of course dragons had to be real. Why not? Also, apparently they’d stumbled on a group trying to…what, wake one from hibernation? Resurrect it? Part of him just wanted to leave this be, maybe after dropping a warning for the Marines. Yet he’d both recognized the fascination in Robin’s voice and had zero clue if a single Vice Admiral would be enough to deal with a dragon if these cultists, or what he was assuming were cultists, managed to wake the thing up.

“I think I’d better call this into the rest of the crew and have them look into rumors in town, then you and I can go get a better look at what these cultists are doing.”

Robin nodded, turning her attention back to her network of extended senses, even as Luffy pulled out the Baby Den Den Mushi. There was some risk to using it, since Mushi this small couldn’t be paired with a White Den Den Mushi to prevent people from listening in, but needs must when the dragon cultists drive…

… … …

-Town Markets - Hina-

Hina frowned as she listened to the quick-and-dirty description her Captain was providing. He wasn’t going into much detail, knowing they might be listened in on, which Hina understood. Even what he was saying was alarming though. Particularly given that she’d managed to pick up a few rumors after she and Pagaya realized that the town was no longer selling drakestone to outsiders. The locals had been apologetic, but apparently the Marines had clamped down on sales of the stuff after arriving in force. It wasn’t upsetting most of the locals much, since the Marines themselves were paying a premium for the material instead. But it had meant that she and the older man hadn’t had much to do. She’d decided, on her own initiative, to try and get a feel for the local conditions as a result. Which is why she risked broadcasting more than a quick response back to Luffy now.

“Captain. Hin—we, we have picked up rumors about people going missing recently. Apparently, there have always been some strange disappearances. People supposedly lost to the mines or out in the wilderness, despite a lack of major predators. But the numbers have gone up significantly of late, enough to put the Marines on edge and have the locals bunkering down. You didn’t find anyone normal at the library as it’s officially closed right now, with the usual caretakers and guards sticking in town for the time being.”

There was only a moment of hesitation before her Captain replied.

“Understood. That makes it more likely that they are nearly done with whatever they are up to here. Gather the others and head out to the library as quietly as you can. We’ll see what we can find out before you get here. Tell Princess to be ready to bring the rest of the crew in, if they are needed.”

Hina nodded.

“Understood. Hina is on it.”

She cringed as she hung up the Mushi. Damn it! That verbal tick was a much bigger problem than she’d thought. She hadn’t had it back when she’d trained for this sort of covert operation. Hopefully, no one at the Marine base had been listening in…

… … …

-Local Marine HQ-

“Admiral! Admiral Strawberry! Signals intelligence picked up something you need to hear! We think the Straw Hat Pirates might be in town!”

Vice Admiral Strawberry, still nursing a slightly stiff arm and leg that had been broken at Marineford, but mostly recovered, turned to look at the Commander who had just burst into his office. Pursing his lips, he took in what the man had said and spoke firmly.

“Explain. Quickly. If a crew like that is present, there is no time to waste. No, wait.”

Quickly standing and moving passed the Commander, ignoring the throb from only mostly-healed injuries, Strawberry stuck his head out into his primary aide’s workspace.

“Lieutenant, put all Marines aboard ships on alert, quietly. Then start spreading the word to the officers ashore to gather up their people. Try not to alert the locals that anything is wrong.”

As soon as he got confirmation from his aide, he turned back to the officer that had burst into his office.

“Now, explain quickly. What makes you think the Straw Hats have resurfaced here of all places?”

As the commander reported what the local intelligence office, on high alert due to several squads of Marines and even more locals going missing in the last two weeks, had overheard, Strawberry’s face grew grim. The name ‘Hina,’ used the way it had been, virtually confirmed the Straw Hats were here. Doubly so with the title ‘Princess’ used, even if they’d showed some basic sense in not using that Princess’s name. Yet, the pirates also seemed to have stumbled into what might be the very trouble his people had been investigating without success for months. Given the particular habits of this particular band of pirates...damn it.

“Gather every officer that can use Haki or the Rokushiki. Anyone else will be completely useless against them. We’ll move on the library, carefully. With a little luck, maybe these cultists and the pirates will fight each other and let us only need deal with the winner.”

Somehow, Strawberry doubted everything would work out that well, but he had to hope. Surely the Marines were due at least some good fortune after the run of disasters they’d had recently…

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A/N: You probably know this bit by now, but I need to say it anyway ;-)! Once per release, I point out that I have a Page with Early Access content. In example, I just released chapters 94-97 of One Piece: Halfway Broken are available there, adding just over another 15,000 words which will remain in Early Access until next month. Similarly, there are at least a few Early Access chapters there for ALL of my stories, though NONE of them are ever permanently paywalled. All fanfiction content I make ends up here (or on Fanfiction.net and Questionable Questing) eventually, as new content for each story is released. Typically, there are 75,000+ words of additional early access content for patrons at any one time, all for just a dollar a month! As well as chances to vote in polls that influence which stories are updated, pairings, and other such things.