The Blind Brawler [ Roronoa Zoro X OC]

Chapter 40: Trapped

As soon as I felt the floor fall away from under my feet, I let out a small grunt of surprise. I made sure to keep my grip on Kaori's wrist as I heard Nami and Usopp scream in panic. Smoker let out a shout of surprise as he fell with us.

I clicked my tongue with an annoyed hiss, "I can't believe we fell for this old trick."

Luffy moaned in frustration, "I hate trap dooooors!"

The pitfall was pitch black. I could not see the walls of the hole as we fell further and further down. It did not take very long before a faint light started to illuminate us from below. Instantly, I could see the walls were quickly growing narrower as if trying to funnel us closer together. Luffy hit the edge of one wall and bounced to the other side, nearly slamming into Usopp. I felt my shoulder clip the wall as I slid along it for a brief moment.

The end of the tunnel was below us and I could see stone flooring at the bottom. I gritted my teeth and let out a strained yell, "Brace yourselves!" Acting fast, I pulled Kaori tightly against my chest. With my free hand, I reached out to the wall to try and slow our fall, if only a little. As we reached the bottom, I flipped myself around to try and land on my feet, but I ended up miscalculating how much I needed to turn.

My shoulders and back struck the stones with a solid hit, forcing a grunt of pain past my clenched teeth. Kaori let out a yelp as she fell on top of me. Luffy hit the ground and ricocheted into a nearby wall before crashing back to the floor. Usopp landed flat on his stomach and Nami ended up crashing onto his back, sitting on the poor long-nosed man. The Marine Captain managed to land on his feet but had to take a knee to regain his balance.

My crewmates all started to groan as some of them sat up and started getting to their feet. I looked around and noticed we were in a small room with three white stone walls. The fourth wall was a dark blue studded steel cage wall. We had landed in a prison cell.

Kaori let out an angry moan as she propped herself up on my chest, "Fuck."

"You alright?" I asked with a pained groan.

The blind woman's face flushed red with anger as she rolled off of my chest and frowned at me, "I'm fine, but you are too damn reckless, swordsman. I could've landed on my own without risking hurting you."

My lip turned into a scowl, "Damnit, woman. You're really gonna get mad at me for that?!" She did not answer me and turned away as she stood up. I sat upright and frowned at her back, "How stubborn can you get?"

Luffy and Usopp had gotten to their feet and were standing facing the cage. The rubber man spoke with a huff, "Pretty clever trap, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yeah," Usopp answered with a nod as he crossed his arms, "No way to see that one coming."

Nami leapt to her feet and turned on them with an enraged shriek, "What are you talking about?! I told you it was a trap in the first place! I can't believe what a couple of idiots you are!"

Luffy ignored her and took a step toward the cage to grab the door and lightly shake it. The second his hand touched the bars, the color drained from his skin and his face fell, "Something's wrong here. I feel weak all of a sudden."

The sniper turned to him with a note of concern in his voice, "Really? What's the matter? Are you hungry or something?"

I watched as my captain's knees started to bend and he slowly sank to the floor. Kaori let out an angry hiss as I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see the Marine Captain wield his jitte and lunge toward the rubber man. He was too fast for me to intervene and I shouted in warning, "Luffy!"

My captain's movements were sluggish as he turned to face his attacker. The end of the jitte struck him in the face and he cried out in pain before collapsing to the ground. I leapt to my feet and my hand clasped the hilt of Wado as I grimaced, "What the hell?! Luffy felt that?! He's made of rubber, blunt attacks shouldn't hurt him. Why the hell did he cry out like that?"