Chapter 10: The Other Captive

To say that Monkey D. Lucy and Roronoa Zoe were not too happy about their current situation would be an understatement.

For one, they would accidentally catch themselves using their feminized names when thinking about themselves lately. It didn't help that Zoe (who was, of course, Zoro) was especially prideful on a daily basis. Oh, yeah, and then there was the small fact that they were beat up, barely able to move, so hungry it felt like their stomachs were trying to chew out of their shirt, and couldn't even see anything.

"This sucks," Lucy moaned. "I'm a girl and I'm hungry. And these damn boobs are heavy."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Shut up. At least you have some."

"You'd actually want my chest?" the genderbent captain said incredulously.

"Well, if I'm a girl now, I at least want to look cool and not like some okama."

Apparently, Lucy's (unofficial) first mate was more worried about her appearance than she'd thought.

It was three days after their attempted escape, the operative word here being 'attempted.' It had failed miserably. The had successfully beat the crap out of the Manacle Pirates' underlings, even those two twins with the weird magnet powers, and they had thought they were going to be able to reunite with the rest of the Straw Hats - - wherever they were. Unfortunately for them, the Monster Trio of the Manacle Pirate - - Captain Fenrir Bond; his wife, Fenrir Kane; and his disgusting, kickboxing okama of a first mate, Byakuya Joso - - had interrupted their progress and promptly beat the shit out of them. Then Bond himself had wrapped them head-to-toe in pretty much unbreakable seastone chains, dragged them to a cell even deeper in the ship than the one they'd been in before, and unceremoniously tossed them in it, locking the door firmly.

The cell was dark enough that neither could even see the floor - - which their faces was currently smushed against.

Lucy really hated being a girl. Those despicable boobs of hers really didn't help matters. Did she mention that she despised having boobs?

"I hate boobs," she muttered. Her rubbery cheek was laying uncomfortably on the cold, wooden boards.

Zoe looked at her strangely. "Did you seriously just say that? Are you even male?"

The brunette stared at her.

"...Oh. Right."

For her part, Zoe was having a tough time adjusting to the curse, too. Ever since she'd been turned into a girl, it was like she had Multiple Personality Syndrome. One part of her wanted to accept her new femininity and run off to try on clothes with Nami and Robin, which was kind of degrading. The other, more sensible part wanted to slice something into barely visible slivers... preferably this stupid ship, the Chain Reaction.

Besides that, she hated feeling so weak. The last time she'd felt like this had been back at that sea restaurant, the Baratie, when Dracule Mihawk sliced her chest open with the largest damn sword in the world.

'Come to think of it,' Zoe mused, 'it actually might be for the best that I don't have a big chest. It'd look pretty damn awkward if I had a scar running diagonally across two melons.'

Damn. This whole misadventure was an insult to her male pride.

For a while, neither captain nor first mate said anything.

"You think... Nami and the others are okay?" Lucy said after a couple minutes. Her voice cracked a little, which surprised Zoe. It almost sounded like the straw-hatted brunette was... worried? She tried to look at her captain's expression, but the darkness was an unyielding void.

The Marimo's answer was firm. "Of course."

There was another silence.

Zoe wriggled awkwardly. The chains wrapped around her tightly, restricting all movement like a hug from an overly excited and overweight aunt. She vaguely wondered if this was how caterpillars felt in cocoons.

Lucy's stomach growled more than a starving bear's.

"So hungry..." she groaned.

Her subordinate grunted. "Complaining about it won't solve anything."

Zoe's own stomach threatened to rebel, too. Although it was hard to tell in a room this dark, she suspected it was at least eleven in the morning, and neither pirate had had anything to eat since breakfast the day of the Manacle Pirates' initial attack. That had taken place just before lunch. They'd only been allowed out of the cell to go to the bathroom, and even then, they had seastone collars clamped around their necks.

Starving sucked. Being a girl sucked. Being flat-chested sucked. Being imprisoned sucked ass.

Zoe wondered what was wrong with them. Usually, neither captain nor swordsman (swordswoman?) complained as much as they did lately.

Suddenly, the ship stopped moving (though the rocking continued).

Their was the grating sound of chains rattling against each other. Zoe suspected Lucy was trying to sit up.

"What happened?" the latter wondered. "Why have we stopped moving?"

Zoe narrowed her green eyes. "I'm not sure... but I think we've just arrived at the next island."

A few keenly boring hours passed. Nothing much happened until a lesser crew member brought them lunch, which consisted of one small bowl of leek soup each. Their chains were unlocked long enough for them to eat it. They were so weak from hunger that they didn't even think about attacking the guard. The broth was cold, the vegetables brittle and tasteless, but it was the first meal they'd had in days, and they sucked down every last drop.

The guard made sure their chains were fitted once more. As he closed the door behind them, he paused and looked back inside, his expression somewhat regretful.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, looking away from the surprised duo. "I hate our involvement in the slave trade. It doesn't feel natural. Selling humans... If I had a chance, I'd get you two out of here in a heart beat, but I can't." His voice cracked. "They know I have a family. If I mutiny, Bond will... he'll kill my wife and kids. He's already done it to others who've mutinied..."

With a final "Sorry," the man eased the door shut and turned the lock.

Lucy and Zoe stared after him.

"Well," the swordswoman said after a beat, "that was unexpected."

The brunette was silent.

It was late in the evening. Boredom had once again taken over like an unwelcome spirit. The cold leek soup from earlier didn't satisfy either pirate's hunger; it only rubbed salt on their open wounds. Zoe tried to fall asleep, but found that she couldn't under the circumstances... and when Zoe couldn't manage to fall asleep, something was seriously wrong.

The door opened again. Lucy and Zoe futilely attempted to roll over and see why.

The voice of Fenrir Bond sneered, "Hey, ya damn cuties."

"Don't call us cute!" Lucy exploded venomously. Now that light was entering the room from the hall, Zoe could see her struggle violently to stand up. "I'm going to beat your ass, Bond! You've gone too far!"

"What have I done?" he sneered, sounding amused. "I'm just making a living. In case you're wondering, we haven't stopped at Tsuki Island yet. There's another island in between Taiyo and Tsuki - - Uchinuku, the island of martial artists. We have to stop here on Uchinuku Island for a while and wait for the Log to set. But don't worry! It'll only take another two days, and it's another four days worth of sailing to get to Tsuki, so if all goes well, you'll be able to meet your new owners by next Monday!"

"Bastard!" Zoe spat.

There was the sound of footsteps, as well as much kicking and screaming.

"The Weimer girl's here, Cap'n," said Byakuya the Okama dryly. He pronounced it like vime-er.

Along with an increase in kicking, an unfamiliar female voice screamed, "Let me go, you pervert cross-dresser! Your armpit smells worse than a skunk sprayed with rotten eggs! Let me go! Lemmego!" Whoever the girl was, she had a strong accent neither Zoe nor Lucy had ever heard before.

"Shut up, slave."

"Jerk! I ain't no slave!"

"Oh, I almost forgot," Bond cackled. "We have company for you. Play nice! I wouldn't want my produce to kill themselves. Toodles!"

WHUMP.

"Ouch!" the girl complained. "Hey, don't just drop me like that! I think I fell on my funny bone. Hey, don't walk away, cackling like an evil witch or something! Get back here so I can give you a piece of my mind! Hey! Hey!"

The door slammed shut.

Darkness once again seeped through the very fabric of the atmosphere.

"Nobody who says 'toodles' should be trusted," the girl muttered.

Zoe raised an eyebrow. "Little late to be realizing that."

"So, who the hell are you?" Lucy wondered rather rudely.

There was the sound of rustling chains. "Eh? There's more people in this place? Where are you!? Let me at you! Let me out of these chains and I'll fight you myself! I've got a fifth degree black belt, ya know!"

"Calm down," Zoe sighed. "We're in the same position as you. What's your name?"

"Isn't it more polite to introduce yourself first?" the girl shot back quickly.

"...Okay, my name's Roronoa Zoe. My captain's Monkey D. Lucy, but don't bother looking for either of us because it's so dark you can't even see an inch in front of your face."

"You have a fifth degree black belt!?" Lucy gasped. "Whoa! Sugoi! I wanna fight you!"

The girl's tone was that of a deadpan. "Late reaction. Anyway, my name's Weimer Quinn, but I guess you can just call me Quinn. I live here on Uchinuku Island, but the Manacle Pirates dropped in on us again this morning and kidnapped me. A few more of our villagers are in the cell above us. I tried to escape through the giant hole in the side of the ship, but apparently they didn't like that too much, so here I am."

Zoe blinked.

Zoe examined the walls, which curved in a little. The ship hadn't been designed too well, she could tell, because the wood was starting to rot. Raising an eyebrow, she strutted to the wall and ran a finger across it while Lucy watched with confusion.

"Oi, Zoe, is that stuff on that wall food?" she asked, her stomach growling again. Now that they weren't being forced into all kinds of clothes by Nami and Robin, the straw-hatted 'man' seemed totally fine with the genderbending, as if it happened every day. Zoe briefly wondered how she did it.

"No!" the feminized man snapped. Damn, was it hard to maintain a calm exterior when her swords were gone. Without them, she didn't feel complete. "It's rot! Oi, think you can punch through this wall here, even though we're both weaker like this?"

Lucy picked her nose nonchalantly. "Yeah, no biggie. I was fighting pretty on par with that Bon-Bon guy. He just cheated. I've got this.

"Gum-Gum... PISTOL!"

"Yeah..." she said with a sweatdrop. "We kinda did that."

"Did what?" Quinn asked.

Zoe could practically here Lucy's casual shrug. "The hole in the wall."

She exploded in laughter. "What!? No way! Dude, that's awesome! I'm dying here! When Bond's fugly wife saw that hole, she was furious! Her face looked like she swallowed a lemon or something! Her lips puckered up and her face got all red and her black make-up started to run - - it was hilarious!"

Lucy chortled. "Shishishi! That sounds like it was great! Wish we coulda seen it!"

Zoe's stomach growled and she was suddenly thankful for the intense darkness. If there had been light, Lucy and Quinn would've seen her blushing.

"You must be hungry," said Quinn. "Tell ya what. My big bro owns a hamburger joint on the west side of the island. He's kind of incapacitated right now, but when he comes and gets us out of here, I'll treat you two. He's a very friendly person, so he shouldn't mind."

"You're my best friend," Lucy told her solemnly.

Alright! There it is, folks! This chapter was thankfully updated a lot sooner than others. I really like Quinn's character. She's sarcastic, strong, and definitely not your average damsel in distress - - even spitting insults right in Bond and Joso's faces, although they don't seem to be bothered too greatly by said insults. I couldn't give any sort of description about her at all in this chapter, since the cell they're in as darker than night and neither Zoro nor Luffy could get a good look at her, but don't worry. The description will come soon. Okay, here are my replies to reviews on the previous chapter (again, not that many).

Thomas Drovin: Yep! The Straw Hats are the Straw Hats no matter what the situation. XD Except for during the Baron Omatsuri movie. That was some freakin' serious shit. Anyway, thank you! And never trust a person who says 'toodles!'

Kei-kei Yuki: Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! Let me know when you post your one-shot and I'll check it out. :)

Thank you to all my wonderful fans who have been supporting this story! To all you new readers, I'd really appreciate it if you'd follow and/or favorite this totally original story. I don't find it necessary to keep me writing, but doing so would be helpful to you, since I tend to update my stories COMPLETELY RANDOMLY. I do not have any kind of schedule. When I feel like writing, I write. It's as simple as that. Also, please, please, please review! I want to know everyone's thoughts on how I'm doing and two reviews doesn't really help all that much! Actually, it kind of demotivates me. Please leave a review!

-TheRealEvanSG

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