The Silver Haired Pirate

Chapter 51

It got loud as the citizens of Water 7 whispered to each other. It was a great shock to everyone really, to hear those words come out of Paulie's mouth.

"Iceberg was...? What's this all about?" Aki heard Franky murmur to himself. It really was a complete surprise, nobody had seen this coming and yet it seemed that they were the primary suspects. Aki sighed, not surprised. He'd already gotten used to being pointed at and judged so easily, so of course being blamed for something like this wouldn't stun him like it did the others. 

Nami gasped, the blood draining from her face, "what are you... suggesting?" Well, Aki mused, at least she hadn't made the situation worse by yelling-

"DON'T BE AN IDIOT!" Luffy yelled, making the situation worse and now spinning the accusations around.  Aki scratched his head, amused. "WHY WOULD WE DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!"

While Aki wasn't entirely put off by the shipwrights pointing fingers he was glad that Luffy had enough sense to stand up for himself and the crew. They really didn't know what was going on. Aki wanted answers though.

"Pardon me," he spoke softly, breaking the aggravated silence. "Could you maybe please explain why you think it was us that attacked him?" He tried to be as nonthreatening as possible, though that wasn't necessary as apparently nobody saw him as much of a threat to begin with.

Paulie's expression hardened, "after the mayor came to," he began, "he said there were two assassins. When we asked, they told us one of them was a buddy of yours. Nico Robin!"

This caught even Aki by surprise, "what?" he whispered to himself, wondering if by some delusion this was reality. How could Nico Robin be the attacker, it made no sense, though in reality he didn't know her very well. He still wished to believe she wasn't the type to attack someone like this. 

"Robin?!" Luffy's equal confusion was a balm on Aki's conflict. Nami, too, seemed quite disturbed at Paulie's claim.

"Did you come to this island intending to kill the mayor?" Paulie continued, "or did you decide that after you met him yesterday? I don't know what you pirates are thinking... but now that we know you're the culprits there's no way we're letting you go free!"

At least Paulie was passionate and loyal. Aki admired a person who remained loyal and even jumped to physically defend people important to them. Still, he couldn't help but feel unsettled by the whole situation.

"They're the culprits?!" Aki turned to the noise of the townspeople. They were also quite loyal, Aki thought to himself disdainfully. "They won't get away with it!" If Aki had to fight innocent civilians he may never forgive himself.

"Hey now! Does that mean Iceberg's dead?!" The cyborg interrupted again. Aki glanced at Luffy who looked constipated. He could tell Luffy was struggling with this situation too, unsure of what to think.

"You think these idiots could kill him?!" Paulie shouted back to Franky. "We're doing this because he's alive. They could take another sot at the mayor, so we're getting rid of them now." It made sense, or it would if they had anything to actually do with this. Aki couldn't help wondering where Robin was anyway.

Suddenly Kaku chucked something at Luffy who barely dodged it. It appeared to be some sort of whittling tool that lodged into a beam with the force of Kaku's throw. It left a shallow graze on Luffy's cheek and bled lazily. 

Aki's fingers twitched to grab his sword.

"Dead or alive..." Kaku droned, menacingly, "do you know what it means to be wanted men? You pirates have no recourse, no matter what anyone does to you. In other words, world law doesn't protect you."

Luffy wiped his cheek, "that's right," he said, "we're outlaws. I know that!" He panted, out of breath, maybe from frustration or distress, Aki wasn't sure. "But... YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ROBIN! STOP TELLING LIES ABOUT HER!" He suddenly yelled.

Aki was taken aback, and by Nami's reaction she was too. 

"Let us see Ice Guy!" Luffy continued, "It's gotta be a mistake! It couldn't have been Robin!"

"There's no way we're letting you anywhere near the mayor! Who knows what you'll do!" Lulu shouted, clutching his pistols.

"Yeah tie up the criminals!"

"They tried to kill the town's hero!"

"Off with their heads! They deserve no less!"

The townspeople shouted at the top of their lungs, cheering on the shipwrights. 

Aki suddenly felt arms all around him, someone grabbing his sword, another gripping his arm too tightly, an arm around his neck. Several people had piled onto him as if holding him back, holding him down? Regardless, he didn't put up a fight, he didn't want to hurt innocent people.

The townspeople had grabbed Nami too, though it only took one large man to hold her in place.

"You little--! what are you...?!" Nami trailed off, trying to get the townsperson off of her. Aki shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and leaned forward to test the strength of the people holding him. They moved forward with him and tightened their grasp on him all over.

"I won't fight you, you can loosen your grasp you don't have to hold me so tight," he tried to reason, they didn't listen of course.

"You were with the Straw Hat guy a while ago. I saw you!!" A woman shouted from the mob of people surrounding Nami and Aki.

"You're one of his crew!" Another person exclaimed.

"For real?! Don't let them get away!"

"Come on, let me go!" Nami struggled. She glanced over and saw the gaggle of people holding Aki down and gasped. "Aki!"

"I'm alright, just focus on yourself for now," he said, peacefully.

"Nami! Aki!" Luffy shouted from across the way.

"Give yourselves up! The news will spread through town fast. You've got nowhere to run," Paulie demanded, "we're gonna kill the whole lot of you!" He promised.