‘Vivi’s been kidnapped?’

Rick was dumbfounded. It happened right under their nose.

He quickly composed himself. And rushed towards the guard.

“How did that happen?”

“The princess was on her way to the kitchen! A maid saw Aladdin and Abu putting the princess to sleep.”

“It was an hour ago! Why do we learn about it now ?”

Rick was terrifying right now, the guard was fearing for his life.

Neither the king or the chiefs of his royal guard dare to move.

They could feel his rage and murderous intent and Rick was 30 feet away!

Aokiji just looked with interest. This was a new development. Rick never demonstrated such a behaviour before him. The reports didn’t say anything either.

“They.. they attacked the maid. Someone just found her passed out on the floor bleeding. She woke for a few moments and told one of the guards the bad news!”

“Sir!” Turned to Aokiji.

“Go ahead! Den den mushi me when you have found them.”

Rick nodded and left.

King and his retainers finally regained their senses.

“Pell, Chaka, search every corner of the city turner over every stone!”

“Yes your majesty” They went on their way rallying the rest of the royal guard.”

“Vice-admiral Aokiji, would you please lend me your help and the help of your men?”

“There is no need, your Majesty.”

Cobra thought he heard him wrong. Aren’t the marines here to help?

“Your Majesty Rick is hunting them. He’s more than enough. I almost feel sorry for them.”

“Sorry for them? They took my daughter! What can that young man do?” yelled Cobra getting frustrated and angry.

“This young man is the best tracker in the Grand Line. He’s one of the best elements the marines corps ever recruited. He joined at 10, was adopted and trained by Vice admiral Garp, Hero the marines, he also was trained by Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Vice-admiral Tsuru before being put under my command.

And if that’s not enough for you. His first track and rescue mission was when he was 12. He has done about 200 hundred missions of this kind since then.

His success rate?100%.

Total number of casualties? Zero, absolutely none.

So your majesty, my advice? Sit down, relax and drink some tea.

Before the sun rises you’ll have your daughter back.

~~~~~~

They may have been infiltrated for only two weeks in the capital, but his team and him were really good at gathering intel. And intel about the group? They were none. It’s like they were not in the city. They speculated that their base was near the capital.

It could not have been the south, since they find nothing at Nanohana, neither the South East in Katorea? Aokiji sent a team there and didn’t find anything.

The West was a no go either as the river was too large to allow a swift retreat .

Likewise for the North, there was nothing there and the terrain was impractical. All sand and nothing else.

That left the East. The terrain was mountainous, perfect for creating a hideout. Well hidden, desert and close to the capital for supplies.

‘We speculated, but didn’t have time to search.’

Rick was actually floating in the air , supported by a big boulder he applied his reverse gravity to. He was scanning the horizon towards the East.

After a few minutes he saw a small cloud of sand moving forward.

‘It’s them!’

Still on his rock, he started chasing them, they were quite far.

‘I wont catch them before they enter the mountain.I hope I’m near enough to sprout some eyes on them.’

Over the year, he trained in secret hi Me Me no Mi abilities. The radius of those abilities was far greater than his gravity.

He tried and failed.

He could have made a sprout and use his gravity but so far he couldn’t have controlled it properly and may have hurt Vivi.

He closed the distance enough to make a sprouts on one of them

And make them bloom into eyes.

‘I got you now, bastards!’

He recognized one of the guard, it was the loud and foul mouthed asshole he put in his place.

‘So you panicked when I trashed you and you saw a Vice-Admiral present? Good thinking, kidnapping her right when we let our guard down thinking she was safe in the palace. But guess what Asshole you and your friends won’t get away with it!

FOR. I. AM. HERE!’.

From the sight he planted on the man, he could see they had dismounter their mounts and went straight to a hidden cave.

‘Gotcha bitches!’

Rick took out the den den mushi in his bag and called Aokiji.

~~~~~~

*purururu*

*purururu*

Aokiji was sitting on a chair enjoying some tea while Cobra was walking in circles.

When the den den mushi rang the king stopped in his tracks. And the Vice-Admiral picked up.

“Kuzan.”

He quieted.

The king could hear the other side talking to Aokiji and was more nervous than ever.

“Understood.”

Aokiji looked at Cobra.

“Told you he’s the best, your majesty”

The king was astonished.

“He found them already?”

He couldn’t believe it, Rick left less than an hour ago after all!

“Yes, they are in the East of the capital.”

“There are only mountains in the East.”

“Yes, their hideout is inside the mountains, the entrance is in? a hidden cave.”

“There may be some old maps about those mountains in the archives. One of my ancestors was searching for habitable land and sent many explorers and cartographers across the kingdom.”

“With some luck the hidden cave would have been found and her location recorded.”

“Do that your majesty, Rick said he didn’t have time to mark the way, meanwhile I’ll notify my men so they can spread the message to yours.

~~~~~~

‘So How do I proceed?’

He had his eyes on the asshole guard, disapeared. In the night they were difficult to see even with a torch, but in a well lit hideout?

Not so much.

Since the base was inside the mountain, and didn’t have the time to search them for an alternate entrance, he had no choice but to go through the front door.

‘If peaceful infiltration doesn’t work.. there is always the might is right way...’

He approached the door.

*Knock Knock*

“Who’s there?”

‘Don’t make a joke, don’t make a joke...’

“It’s me! I heard we finally got the brat, so I came as fast as I could. The guards are everywhere in the city!”

“Please be a moron.”

“Damn those bastards are fast! Aladdin and Abu just came back with the princess. Come in.”

‘Thanks you Goddess for the existence of moron’

The door opened and Rick pushed it violently.

The gatekeeper took it right in the head and passed out.

‘Infiltration: success. Now where is the princess?’

He didn’t know where to hide the body, so he just put it outside.

‘Nobody would think to look for him outside the base and not inside.’

Nobody stopped him on the way, simply because no one was there.

‘That’s weird. Are they all celebrating? Is that why there is no one?’

He followed the only pathway there was. He could hear people laughing and others screaming.

‘I have a really bad feeling..’

He entered the room, the tunnel led him to.

What he saw there was a hundred times more than the dungeon where he found princess Azalea

Animals.

A hundred.

All in human skin.

Raping, torturing, mutilating many women.

The sight disgusted him.

He felt something rising in him.

More than anger, more than rage.

A pure burning fury.

A burning fury, that wanted to lash out at those monsters, to tore them apart. Piece by piece, limb by limb, bit by bit.

He saw Vivi? displayed in the middle of the room, still sleeping but chained to a pole.

He made a finger just behind her and with his gravity, just like he did for Azalea’s chain, broke the one restraining Vivi.

Before the eyes of every beast present, her body started floating and was pulled towards him.

He caught her in a princess carry.

Every single one of them stopped what their one doing too stunned about what happened.

‘You got the princess now! Good, Good! Let the hatred flow through you! And let it out, let it all out!’

“None of you will see the sun rise.”

~~~~~~~~

When Rick came outside. He was met by Chaka, Pell and their men.

Vivi was still sleeping soundly in his arms. She seems to find them cozy.

Chaka and Pell were taken aback. Rick's expression was.. nonexistent. Absolutely devoid of emotion.

“The princess is just sleeping, she’s safe and unhurt.”

Even his voice didn’t have any emotion in it.

“Good! What about the kidnappers?”

“There are more kidnappers.”

He passed by then and stopped. He turned his head halfway.

“Inside you will find around 50 kidnapped women who need help, and for a long time.

What those animals...no even animals don’t do what they did. What those monsters have done was unforgivable. They met a fitting end.

But hear my advice. Don’t go there if you’re not ready to have nightmares for the rest of your life.”

He then left back to the palace.

~~~~~~

span>

Pell and Chaka were anxious. Rick’s advice was more like a warning.

‘No one should go there’

Yet they had to make sure the criminals were dead, and saved the kidnapped women.

When they arrived at the giant room. Their faces paled.

Some of their men puked.

As before there was pandemonium.

The women were battered, some were missing limbs, some had been burned, some were used as target practice.

Disfigured? Carved by a knife?

Whatever atrocities were recorded in humanity’s history, it happened here.

But it was not the worst.

No, it was not.

Every surface of the room was covered in blood. From the floor to the ceiling, no corner was ignored.

Brain matter spreading a few feet from a bursted head. Corpses split apart in more ways than one. Guts and fecal matter everywhere, mass of flesh, sometimes shape in a cubic form. Entrails? and other organs stuck to the ceiling, dangling.

The worst was the smell. So many different and so disgusting smells.

The soldiers rescued the women that could be saved. How many will ever have a normal life again? How many were still there, and did not have a broken mind? Too few.

~~~~~

On the way back Pell and Chaka were having a discussion.

“What do you think?”

“That I will probably never sleep well again.”

“Me too, but that’s not what I meant.”

“You were talking about him?”

“Yes, from what I heard from the princess and his demeanor during the walk back to the palace, I did notice a lot of kindness and honesty from him and yet..”

“And yet he did that.”

“I’m having a hard time believing his attitude, they’re so different. It’s.. like the man we met this afternoon was not the same that we saw exiting this cursed place. Like there were two.”

Pell nodded.

“Do you think it’s safe to let the princess near him?”

Chaka pondered a long moment.

“Yes I do. I don’t see that man doing something like that to innocent people. But to scum like those..Honestly they deserved deaht, that’s what I believe, but like that? I...”

“ I know what you mean. I don’t know either.”

“I just hope that I never face him in battle.”

Once again Pell nodded.