Mona woke up without being able to move her body. Eyes flying open, she struggled against the ropes restraining her. She was in a small room, more like a broom closet than anything else. A single empty chair faced her. Behind it was a door.
She was panicking, her breathing and heart rate going a million miles an hour. One light bulb swung lazily back and forth to the movement of the ship. Wait, the walls were metal? Ah, she must be on the Heart Pirates' submarine.
"Dammit…" She muttered, clenching her fists in anger. It was just her luck to be captive on a pirate ship. What's worse, the Heart Pirates. She was sure the girl was somewhere aboard. Maybe they would have her torture her, or maybe the Surgeon of Death himself would finish her off. Did polar bears eat humans? Maybe he would maul her to death and then eat the meat from her bones? The thought made her shudder.
Should she call out? No, that would only make things worse. Better to have them think she was still unconscious. Just think things through for now…
'My heart!' She thought, and her gaze instantly directed itself to her chest. A plunge of fear went through her when she saw the hole was still present through her body. How was this possible, for her heart to be removed from her body? She was still breathing right? This was still life? Or was this some sick version of hell?
'Am I dead?' There weren't any sounds around her other than a low rumble in the distance somewhere. It vibrated mutely, and she felt it through the chair and the floor. 'No, I can't be dead. But...how is this possible?'
She couldn't move her hands since they were strapped to the armrests of the chair. She wanted to see if it all wasn't an illusion, just some trick that there was a hole through her chest. Without the use of her hands, this was impossible. Frustration was filling her head.
'Why is it that pirates are allowed free reign? God, what kind of sick plan have you in this world? Shouldn't the good always prevail?'
"What's in the chest?" Kid asked, eyeing the ordinary wood box tucked under Law's arm. The bear carried his sword for him, following loyally behind the Captain. With a shrug, Law passed by the redhead.
"Maps, tide charts, current markers...navigation stuff. I thought it would be useful. Would you like to see?" He stopped and was about to open it up. Kid came up and looked inside, taking in the several maps stuffed on top. Law's eyes stared at him in amusement. Kid's expression wasn't amused.
"Whatever, keep the damn papers. I don't have any need for them."
"Suit yourself." The Captain disappeared in their borrowed room, along with the bear. When the door shut, Kid shook his head and headed towards the kitchen.
"Still gives me the creeps." He muttered.
"Bepo, I want you guarding the door. If anyone approaches, let me know."
"Aye, Captain." Bepo set his captain's sword against the wall and sat in front of the door, preventing anyone from opening it. Law set the chest on the ground. Opening it, he threw the decoy maps to the side and took out the folders labeled CLASSIFIED. They were crisp creme paper stuffed to the brim with white sheets. His calculating mind was salivating at the thought of this secret information. He'd always wondered what secrets Summer had behind her sweet persona and deadly glances. Now, he'd find out.
Inside the first folder was a newspaper article, dated the 22nd of December. In fact, it was the same article that he had seen in his own archive when Summer went missing.
"MYSTERIOUS FIRE ANNIHILATES CITY, TOWNSPEOPLE BLAME DEMON."
Setting it to the side, he picked up the next paper. It was Summer's first wanted poster, the one he had showed her when she snuck aboard their ship. Next in the stack was her current wanted poster. However, below that, a missing person's poster with her picture stared up at him.
"MISSING: JAMIE BRISTLE
LAST SEEN ON 12/13/05 ON ISMARA ISLAND
IF SPOTTED, CONTACT MARINES."
The strangest part of this poster was the fact that it had a different name. Maybe Summer had used an alias and that was what the poster was put under? Who put out a report for her in the first place? If it was the World Government, wouldn't they use her real name?
Setting that in a different pile, he picked up the next paper. It was a map with lines tracking movement. At first he thought it was the Marines tracking the Heart Pirates' path through the Grand Line with red lines and arrows, but one glance at the dates for each island dashed those thoughts.
Terra Nova, the first island on the map, was given a vague date of 'Year of 1998.' Law assumed this was because Summer left undetected back then and no one knew the exact date of her departure. The second island was dated 'Year of 1999.' After that, they became more specific.
Several islands later on the map, the course became speculative. Several lines with question marks branched off to different islands. The Marines weren't sure where she had gone. He gave a smirk, thinking that that was pretty consistent with Summer's unpredictable personality.
Farther down the line, the path returns to a certain course, with her path zigzagging between islands and the dates printed over the islands. Curious enough, the dates between the speculated path and the one where it picked back up were several years apart. So how could they have no clue where she was for several years? It just didn't make sense.
Putting the map aside, he picked up another paper. It was Summer's arrest papers for Impel Down. Her pale, gaunt face in the picture smirked a little up at him. Her face had purple bruises, obviously she had been beaten. Below were listed her arrest date, the booking date, as well as who was present during her arrest. Law's eyebrows shot up at the names listed.
"Admiral Kuzan-ya...Fleet Admiral Sengoku-ya...Vice Admiral Vergo…" His eyes narrowed at the third name on the list. Why was Vergo at Summer's arrest?
Law leaned back against the wall, staring at the opposite end. Bepo watched his Captain in concern.
"What did you read, Captain? What does it say?" Law sighed wearily. This new information was crushing for him. He'd been hoping this whole time that Doflamingo would have no knowledge of Summer's story, no idea of the seemingly powerful secret that she hid, even when the possibility of his ignorance was bleak. He had held out on that hope, but with Vergo's name on her arrest papers to Impel Down, that hope was effectively dashed.
"Nothing, Bepo." Bepo wasn't aware of Law's dark past. He hoped it would stay that way. "Summer-ya just didn't have it easy growing up." Bepo glanced at the papers on the floor and sighed as well.
"But, she's happy with us, right? She always smiles and laughs. She has nakama now, and we can keep her happy." Bepo was adamant about that, and Law was a little surprised by it. He hadn't thought about how her life could've changed when she joined their crew. Now that he did, he realized that she'd probably felt like it was a blessing that could be yanked out from under her feet at any moment. Judging from the map, she'd been entirely nomadic for several years, never staying in one place for long.
Law knew a little of what that felt like, flashes of those long days out at sea with…
'Don't think about it.' He chastised himself. 'You'll only get riled up.'
Now Law saw why Summer was adamant about keeping away from the crew at the beginning. She didn't want to be hurt when her inevitable departure came about. It also explained why she'd been so surprised when Law offered to buy her clothes on Nix. She'd probably never been given things out of kindness before. Suddenly, he thought he understood her a little better.
"Yeah…she is." He muttered, looking once more at the missing person's poster next to him. There were still many papers left in the box and he had yet to go through them. Resigning himself to a long task, he popped his back and dove once more into the pile.
The next paper was a death certificate for a girl named Madeline. The picture looked very similar to Summer, like they were related. The girl looked way too young to be her mother, so it must be the sister that passed away when she was young.
The next paper was a Marine transcript from a conversation during an interview. Whoever the Marine had been talking to, their name had been blacked out to prevent information from falling into the wrong hands.
'Like mine.' He thought.
*OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT* DO NOT COPY*
18TH OF OCTOBER IN THE YEAR 2002
XXXX is visibly distraught by account of wringing hands and nervous tapping of left leg.
Interviewed by Captain Hatime.
Hatime: My name is Captain Hatime, I'm just here to ask you questions about your anonymous report to-
XXXX: Are we being recorded right now?
Hatime: Not by video, but a scribe is listening right now and is taking down everything being said for official records. You won't-
XXXX: If someone knows I said anything, I'll be killed and my family will be tortured! You can't let anybody read this.
Hatime: Please, rest assured that you and your family will be placed under protection after this interview has finished.
XXXX: …
Hatime: Now, all I need you to do is confirm verbally what it is that you stated on your written report.
XXXX: *indistinct mumbling*
Hatime: I'm sorry, could you say that a little louder?
XXXX: I said I saw the girl in this lab on this island my ship brought cargo to!
Hatime: No need for hostilities, Mr. XXXX. Now, you wrote that you were a shipwright for the...Venturer, a freelance cargo vessel. Is this information correct?
XXXX: Yes.
Hatime: Excellent. Now, when you saw the girl, what did she look like? Did she look like this?
*HATIME SHOWS XXXX DOCUMENT 1 OF 1 SUBMITTED*
XXXX: Yeah, for the most part. She, uh, looked a lot skinnier though. And her eyes were really sunken in, like a ghost or something like that.
Hatime: And were there other people with her when you saw her?
XXXX: Yeah, there were a bunch of people in lab coats and stuff. They were trying to get her to leave I think. She wanted to stay and see the ship but they kept saying it was bad for her sickness to be outside.
Hatime: Do you know anything about this sickness they were discussing?
XXXX: No, I don't. They left right after that.
Hatime: Mr. XXXX, do you know approximately how far away from the girl and the staff you were when you saw her?
XXXX: Maybe...thirty feet?
Hatime: And what were you doing at the time?
XXXX: Uh...I was unloading boxes from the ship. They had this unloading bay behind the lab.
Hatime: Are you positive that the building you unloaded the cargo to was a laboratory? Could you have mistaken it for something else?
XXXX: No, man. There's no way. The people had lab coats on and I think one was wearing goggles and they all were carrying files or papers or whatever.
Hatime: What island did you drop off this cargo at?
XXXX: I don't know the name. The navigator would probably know since he had the coordinates.
Hatime: What were the coordinates?
XXXX: I don't know. I'm not a navigator.
Hatime: What did the island look like? What were its surroundings?
XXXX: It was a winter island, really cold and stuff. It was really hard to get to. The crew almost turned back around, but the Captain said that we'd been paid a lot to drop off that particular load. He even said the guy paid us to never talk about the island to anyone ever again. How crazy is that?
Hatime: What cargo were you paid to drop off at this lab, Mr. XXXX?
XXXX: All that was in the boxes were various food items. I think that load had noodles, flour, sugar, rice, and eggs. There might've been a few crates of sake in there, but I can't really remember to be honest. You'd have to look at the packing list.
Hatime: Thank you, Mr. XXXX, that will be all.
Law read over the transcript a few more times before placing it to the side as well. The lab the unknown man had been talking about must have been the one Summer had spoke about once before when she had talked about Viper.
"I had food and a place to be for the time I sailed with them, but then they took me to this crazy doctor on some island. He did lots of experiments and kept me there for a long time. I'm not sure how long I really stayed. I would be given back to Viper several times, then returned to the lab. Viper was payed every time I was taken back."
So, Viper had an affiliation with a lab and its staff somewhere. From the sound of the transcript, the island was so secret they paid the crew off to keep their silence. It must be some big secret, one the World Government didn't even know about. Or the Government knew and didn't want other to know they were affiliated. Either way, the most likely conclusion was that this lab was the center of this whole mess. And now that Summer was back in the hands of Viper, that was the only place Law could think of or knew about that Viper would return to.
'Find the lab and you'll find Summer.' The answer seemed to be obvious.
"He's taking her to a lab." As soon as he said it aloud, it seemed to click. The speculation from the map and the several year gap in between known locations must have been the time she was being kept at the lab and experimented on. The most likely conclusion was that the lab was located somewhere between those two islands. It was the only information to go off of.
"Bepo, hand me those maps again." The bear leaned over and retrieved the Grand Line maps from before. Law spread it out over the floor, covering the box and his legs from its size. He found Terra Nova island and the ones surrounding it, but the others seemed to be nowhere to be found. There wasn't any evidence of their existence in the places the map showed. Taking a closer look at the map from the chest, he noticed a thicker black line running vertically in between two islands. It was right on the latitude and longitudinal lines and therefore not easily noticed. It was a map break, where one map was set besides another and printed together. All in all, the Marines had a very confusing way of mapping paths.
In tiny fine print, the words 'Proceeding map of New World' were written. He narrowed his eyes. Glancing back and forth between maps, he noticed that Terra Nova and the surrounding islands were fairly close to the end of the Grand Line and the beginning of the New World.
"The lab is in the New World?" Bepo asked, reading the paper from over Law's shoulder. With a sigh, the Captain ran a hand through his unruly hair. Things just got a whole lot more complicated.
"It appears so."
"So, what's the plan, Captain?" Folding up the map, he placed it in the pile beside him.
"We're going to the New World."
ns 15.158.61.8da2
