Ameliorate ✦ One Piece

57

There was nothing they could do, no way to stop the structure from burning or spinning, no way to keep the wax that continued to fall from hardening all across their skin. They were stuck and with every moment that passed the chances of it breaking were smaller and smaller.

Akira could feel it, not just in the wax tightening around her legs, not just in the weight building across her arms and shoulders as more of it hardened over her skin, but in the stillness of it. In the way nothing they did changed anything. There was no escaping this. There never had been.

"It's getting hard to move," Vivi said from the other side, her voice strained.

Akira didn't answer. She didn't need to. It was happening to all of them and they knew it.

"And breathe." It was Nami who added another observation of their predicament.

And Akira could feel it too. Every time she tried to pull more air into her lungs, it felt like it didn't go far enough. like there was something heavy sitting on her chest and continuously pressing down, making every breath feel shallow and wrong. Not because of panic, but because of their surroundings this time.

"I can't cut through this wax, " Zoro said, making Akira force her neck to turn despite the resistance she could feel against her skin. "But I can cut through my legs." For a moment, she didn't understand, brows furrowing as she watched him pull out a second sword.

"You're going to cut off your feet?" Nami's incredulous question had Akira's own eyes widening in shock. "What kind of a plan is that?"

But despite her disbelief and the looks he was getting from all three women on both sides of him, Zoro's determination continued. "Better than being dead." He said, raising the blades before swinging both down at the same time, slashing at the skin above his own ankles.

"He's really doing it," Vivi gasped out with wide eyes.

"Zoro!" Akira tried to call to him, panicking as he swung again and her eyes started to notice the trickle of red staining the wax at his feet.

"How do you expect to fight them without your legs?!" Nami questioned, aiming to make him rethink what seemed like an absolutely idiotic plan.

But it didn't. "If you're scared to watch, look away!" Another slash followed his words, the sound making Akira flinch and look away, eyes squeezing shut as she tried to tune it out. But she could still see it even then, hear the sounds as they continued.

Something twisted sharply in her chest, panic spiking higher and growing sharper as her heart raced. And then suddenly it all stopped, a loud voice cutting through and making her eyes snap open again. "This is disgusting! Stop it!" Mr. 3's voice echoed through the clearing, sudden and sharp.

At once, he took control of the situation, hands rising and the wax flowing from his fingers just as it had when he'd trapped Akira in her own place upon the structure. It soared at Zoro and wrapped around his legs, rising higher and adding thicker layers until his legs were covered and secured, preventing him from slashing any further.

And for a moment, everything grew still again.

"At least free the others," Vivi spoke, using the silence as her chance to attempt reasoning with the assassins holding them captive, slowly killing them. "I'm the one Baroque Works really wants."

"The moment they helped you, they made our list." Mr. 3 replied, almost casually. And Akira could remember thinking of the very possibility of that happening back when they'd left Whisky Peak as she watched him shake his head at the princess. "You cannot save them, and you're too late to save Alabasta."