Chapter 61: The only one they fear is him

Despite showing a calm exterior, Rick was pretty pissed right now. Nami, Chopper and Usopp were missing and he couldn’t fly because the fog was too dense to see anything. So he decided, with no other choice, to start walking inland. He passed through a forest where he was attacked by… trees. But not ordinary trees, no those ones had a face, an ugly one at that. He also encountered animals which, like the trees, had either a human face or human limbs. All were full of stitches and wore a number which had been either tattooed or carved. Some of those numbers were well into the triple digit.

’Seriously !  How many of these things did Moria create?’

He beat them all up. To be more accurate he just ripped and tore them aparts. They were all some kind of reanimated beings so he had no qualms about doing it. The surprising part was they were still ‘alive’. He thought that at some point they would just die again for good but it seemed it wasn’t the case. When he exited the haunted forest, he ended up in a graveyard and was welcome by a horde of zombies.

‘Well… At least it’s some actual zombies.’

Or so he thought. It turned out those zombies were not the mindless eating brains kind. Noooo, far from it, these ones were sentient and to add to that were quite rude when Rick defended himself. After around twenty he had enough and flattened them all onto the ground.

“Listen up! You have two options. Option one: You show me the direction of your master and I won’t make a jigsaw puzzle out of you. Option 2: you don’t show me where your master is and there will be so many pieces of you scattered around this island that you’ll never be put back together. So what is it going to be?”
“We give up! We give up!”
“Good, now where is your master?”

One of the zombies still with an arm pointed in the direction of the North.

“That way! Keep walking that way and you’ll find a big manor. Behind it will be a big tower and our master is there.”
“Good. Just so you know, if you told me lies I’ll be back to finish the job.”

That put the fear in them even more. As he was leaving he stopped in his tracks and turned around giving them another warning.

“Friends of mine may pass by here. Don’t touch them and send them my way or… well you know.”
“N-no problem, sir!” answered one of the zombies.

Rick didn’t need to threaten them. The last group was made of the heavy fighter of the crew minus him. But if that allowed them to reach their destination faster, all the better. Pretty soon he arrived at the doorstep of the manor the zombies talked about.

‘The only way to make it creepier would have been to hand bodies on the walls.’

He pondered for a moment how to get inside. Should he just knock on the door? That would alert the people inside of his presence so that idea was discarded pretty fast. He opted option B: infiltrate the place. He started to float and one by one checked the windows to see what was inside while not showing himself. Just in case someone was there. After two thirds of the windows were done he saw Chopper and Usopp guarding a door and knocked lightly on the glass to catch their attention. That worked a bit too well as both jumped out of fright and Usopp shot a lead bullet at him, breaking the glass, by reflex.

“Guys it’s me!”
““Rick?!””
“Do you know anyone else being 6”2 and floating around?”
“Sorry, you just scared me!” Said Usopp.

Rick entered the manor from the broken window and joined them.

“It’s fine, after the shit I’ve seen coming here, I understand why the both of you are tense.”
“You came for us?” asked Chopper.
“Not exactly. We were attacked by something invisible on the ship when we heard you scream and I sent him flying, so I ...”
“Wait, how did you send him flying if it was invisible?” asked Usopp.
“He sort of was… sticking himself too close to Robin…”
“Is she alright?” questioned Chopper
“She’s fine, she just needs a shower, that thing kinda … you know what? Never mind that. I went after that thing without thinking and lost it, because you know...”
““Is invisible.””
“Yes, that. Since I had no clue, I chose to search for you and let me tell you, that was not easy. I had to pass through a forest and a graveyard and beat the shit of monsters and zombies.”
“Wait, you beat them all up?” exclaimed Usopp.
“Of course not.”

Usopp and Chopper sighed in relief hearing that. They had been too scared to do anything and just screamed and ran away.

“I left some zombies in one piece; gave them a choice, either show me the way here or end up in a million tiny pieces scattered around all the island. They were very cooperative after that.”
‘‘Is a devil.’’ thought his friends.
“Now, wasn’t Nami with you?” Rick asked.
“Oh! She’s behind this door.” said Usopp.
“She’s taking a bath.” added Chopper.

Rick got closer to the door and knocked.

“Nami, it’s Rick. Are you alright?”
“...”
“Nami?” he called out to her again.

When he didn’t get any answer he sent the door flying and entered the bathroom. There he saw Nami naked and back to the wall. Her arms were pinned against the cold stone on each side of her head and something semmes to block her mouth from screaming.

“You again?!” yelled Rick.

He rushed towards Nami and high-kicked the air just in front of her. Unlike on the Sunny, this time he didn’t hit anything.

“Rick! What are you doing?!” asked an horrified Usopp knowing that Nami will definitely not be happy with the intrusion.
“Stay by the door, the same thing that attacked Robin is here.”

His friends did what he ordered and Nami was on her knees breathing hard.

‘I may not have observation haki, but I’m resourceful’

Rick made the bath’s water float and scattered it at high speed around the room. For a brief instant he saw a form emerging from the steam before disappearing. He used his maximum level of gravity where he saw the silhouette and pushed it away. The wall behind broke and made a huge hole notifying Rick that he did get it or the wall would have stayed intact. With the assailant gone, the Vice-captain turned around to see how Nami was fairing. And also to leer.

“Nami are you alright?”
“Y-yes. You came right in time.”

She was pretty shaken and that was understandable. She was molested heavily and who knows what that thing would have done more if Rick didn’t intervene. He removed his overcoat and put it around her shoulders before kneeling, picking her up and carrying her.

“Usopp, Chopper, find her clothes and her stuff, we’re going to the room next door. If we stay here with the cold wind blowing from the wall she’ll get sick.”

Rick exited the bathroom with Nami in his arms. She was trembling and that wasn’t only because of the cold. Lucky them, the next room was a bedroom. With his gravity he removed the bed’s sheets and laid her on it. He took hold of her hand and with the other put the sheets back to cover her body. Her reaction was vastly different from the manga where once the intruder kicked out, she was almost perfectly fine.

‘I guess it was to un-dramatize the scene.’ he thought.
“I’m going to kill that thing!” she yelled.
‘Or maybe not.’
“Well, take a ticket and wait for your turn!”
“What?!”
“That thing did more or less the same thing to Robin.”
“Wow. I would almost feel sorry for him. If he wasn’t already screwed, now he is.”
“You have no idea how much you’re right on that one.”
“Is Robin okay?”
“Physically? Yes, as I said to the guys, she just needs a shower.”
“And mentally?”
“I... don’t know. I saw red and just went after him.” said Rick in shame.

Usopp and Chopper came to the room and dropped Nami’s stuff on a nearby chair.

“What’s the plan?” asked Usopp.
“To get you out of here.” replied Rick.
“What about you?” this time it was Nami asking.
“Find that invisible bastard and make sure he never peeps or molest anyone again for the rest of his life.”
“We can’t leave!” exclaimed Chopper.
“And why is that?” questioned Rick.
“The owner of this mansion is doctor Hogback that Chopper admires.” answered Nami.
“Chopper I don’t think you should, the monsters I fought were reanimated corpses. Except a devil fruit user of a fruit I know nothing about, only some mad scientist well versed in biology could do that. But …”
“Doctor Hogback is a great man! You’re being rude assuming he has anything to do with the zombies!”
“And I was a well respected marine. Now I’m a pirate. People change Chopper. But as I was going to say before you rudely interrupted me, if you want to stay a bit, we’ll stay a bit.”
“Really?!” asked the reindeer.
“Sure. I don’t see the problem in that. I’ll take care of everything hostile coming our way.”
“Then I would like to stay a bit more please.”
‘Then we stay a bit more.”
“That’s good and all but… CAN YOU TURN AROUND SO I COULD DRESS MYSELF?!” yelled Nami.

The guys turned around giving Nami some privacy. In less than a minute she was ready to go and signaled her friends. As Usopp and Chopper exited the room, Rick was held back.

“Here.” said Nami, handing him his overcoat.
“I’m never washing it ever again.” joked Rick, making the navigator laugh.

“You better not. It’s the one and only time I’m wearing something of yours.”
“Damn it! I should have given you my shirt then!”
“I’m not sure Robin would have approved. Actually I’m not sure she would have approved of how you ogled me while I was naked.”
“Ha! Joke’s on you, she would!”
“Suuuuure.” said a skeptical Nami.
“I’m pretty sure I know my girlfriend better than you do.”

“Just because you have sex with her doesn’t mean you know her better. We share everything, Robin and I.”
“Not everything.”
“Oh yeah? Give me an example then.”
“You don’t share me.” said Rick before adding a wink and leaving Nami with her mouth open. She had absolutely no retort to that.
“Hey! You guys are coming or what?” asked Usopp.

That put an end to the conversation. Nami and Rick joined Chopper and Usopp who led the way. They walked in almost total darkness before they took a pair of candlesticks from the walls and lit them. Now with more visibility they walked until they reached what looked like a diner room.

“Doctor Hogback? Miss Cindry? We took our bath!” said Chopper in a loud voice.
“The two of them have already left.” said a voice coming from the ceiling.

Looking up, someone was holding onto the chandelier like a bat.

“YOU!” said Usopp.
“You know this guy?” asked Rick.
“He’s the one who left us in the middle of the graveyard earlier.” said Chopper.
“I’m very ashamed. It happened while I was looking away as I was tending to the horses.” the bat answered.

“LIES!” yelled Nami.

The bat, whose name was Hildon, was sprouting unbelievable excuses  that none of the trio who knew him believed. He invited them to follow him through an entrance up some stairs but was turned down. There was no way they would trust, and follow him again. Suddenly a voice came from the side.

“HoHoHoHo. You’ve been dumped hildon! Isn’t it alright already? Those kids already started to realize some things, that’s why they are asking questions. So before you mess up and they run away… I’ll catch you little boys!” said the woman from a painting near Chopper.

She came out of the painting and tried to attack the reindeer. Unfortunately for her, Rick was there and with his gravity ripped her from her frame first, then in multiple pieces. There were more than 3 dozen paintings and ornaments in this room and every single one of them was alive, even the rug which was the hide of a bear.

“Get inside the fireplace. This will get messy.” ordered Rick.

They didn’t need to be told twice. Without any delay they hide there while Rick blocked the way. The ex-marine butchered every single zombie in the room. Should they have had any blood, the walls, floor and ceiling would have been painted in crimson red. The battle over, he turned around to say that it was okay to come out but saw no one. That made him frown and entered the fireplace.

‘There must be a secret passage.’

He tried without any success to push the wall but nothing happened, even after using his gravity.

‘Well, I guess I’m on my own now. I better get out of here and search for Moria. Or better yet, find the treasure room since Luffy will kick his ass anyway.’

Not knowing where the entrance door was, he walked back to the window where he entered the manor in the first place. He was in luck, the fog was gone and he could finally the rest of the island. Raising above the manor he saw a huge tower.

‘So that’s the “mast” of the island. It seems smaller in the manga.’

Getting closer to the tower he sprouted some eyes inside it through a window. Since he couldn’t prout a body part where he couldn’t see, those eyes would help him. If they saw a corner Rick could sprout another one that could look further and then sprout another one and so on. When his eyes caught the sight of zombies, he made an ear to listen to what they were talking about. Most of the talks were uninteresting but one in particular was. Sanji and Zoro were caught and their shadows had been taken.

‘Oh right! I remember now, that’s Moria’s power. He can take Shadows from people and put them in corpses which reanimate them. They have the same skills and some memories of the person the shadow belongs to. For the people without their shadow they can’t go under the sun otherwise they disappear. Shit, that’s really an annoying ability.’

If Moria ever took his shadow it would be a disaster. Rick’s cunningness and ruthlessness that he showed only to his enemies would be the doom of the crew. And even if it wasn’t, they would know that hidden and ugly side of him. Not good at all!
Thankfully right now he was pretty far away from the shichibukai. How did he know? The chief villain was always in the highest place and right now Rick was just 50 feet above the ground. Since the tower was around 500 feet, he was pretty safe. It took time but he finally found the treasure room. It was remote from most parts of the tower and the access was easy. Well easy for him as there was a window near it. To anyone not able to fly it was either go up two floors and defeat a hundred zombies or a 150 feet difficult climb.
He reached the room without getting caught and started to shed every single object of value from each chests. He emptied the chests and closed them so the people taking care of the treasure would not know it was gone. He exited the room then the tower with his booty floating behind him. Being high in the sky and with the fog gone he could see where the Sunny was. Once home, he hid everything in the hull.
Going back towards the tower he saw the giant zombie Oars.

‘I guess the party started.’