章 12: Chapter 12: Under the Bigtop
Hey Guys! I am having a blast writing this! Okay, so I took the advice from one of my reviewers and turned Conan back into Jimmy/Shinichi, at least for the next chapter, not sure about after. Either way, it won't last through the rest of the fic. But the idea worked great for this and I hope you guys think so too! Also, there's a mild gory scene in this chapter, but it's fairly safe. Also know, that there's a slightly racy scene with Bonney, but nothing actually happens. Speaking of Jewlery Bonney, I looked up wikipedia's spelling regarding her name, and I got it right! Thanks for all the reviews, and I hope to hear about this chapter too, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Case Closed
"What in deep-water are you talking about, boy?" The starfish asked genuinely confused.
"Nothing, sorry, momentary lapse of sanity." Conan laughed. "My name's Conan Edogawa, nice to meet you Pappug-san."
"Like wise, my boy, like wise." Pappug nodded. "So, what brought you here, to Sabaody?"
Thinking about it, Conan answered. "I was supposed to meet my parents today, but then I got captured by those group of smugglers."
"Ah yes…the Hound Pets, they're a group of kidnappers that go around collecting victims for the auction house, as you can tell, I got caught as well." The star fish nodded.
"Ah, I'm sorry. How'd you get caught?" Conan asked, curious.
"I was with my student Keimi, and my handyman, Hachi, and we were suddenly ambushed. IT was unexpected, since the Strawhat crew completely took them out while they were here. Sleeping gas was thrown at us, and when I woke up, I was here. Oh no!" Pappug gasped in realization. "Keimi-chan! Hachi-kun! They're missing! They were captured too!"
Wheels cranking, Conan responded. "Calm down. The auction hasn't started yet, so I bet they're still here. Listen, I have a few questions to ask you."
Pappug stopped his sniffling before looking up. "You do?"
Nodding Conan asked. "Yeah. Is this place really endorsed by the Navy and the World Government, or are they just turning a blind eye due to prestigious connections?"
"It's both, really." Pappug answered. "This auction house is both endorsed by the world's nobles, especially the Tenryubito, and also covered by the Navy's top officials."
"Is there any documentation of this?" Conan asked.
"Oh of course!" The star fish exclaimed. "The house has to keep documentation of all its transactions, otherwise the Navy won't cover it."
"Why is that?" Conan raised a brow.
"Simple. Half the profits go to the Navy, this is one of the biggest financial pillars for the Navy. Why are you asking this anyways, kid?" Pappug asked curiously. After all, it wasn't often a kid was interested in finances.
"My parents may have been sold here, so I was wondering if the Navy would be any help to me." Conan lied. "The Navy's been putting off the investigation for a reason, I should've known something like this was going on."
"Ah. I see, I'm sorry that happened to you. But what makes you think they haven't auctioned anyone off yet?" The star fish pointed out.
"The owner, Disco-san said that they were making final preparations for the curtains to pulled, which means none of the buyers have seen anyone yet. So if Keimi-san and Hachi-san have been captured too, then they're still here." Conan responded logically and then thought of something. "They said it was their grand reopening since their business was nearly shut down by a group of pirates called the Strawhats, he also said that their captain punched out a Tenryubtio, and also mentioned that Keimi-san and Hachi-san were involved too. Pappug-san, were you there when this happened?"
Looking down, the starfish answered. "Yes, I was. Keimi-chan was captured by those damned Hound Pets, and was about to be sold to a Tenryubito. He was going to throw her into a tank of piranhas to see how long she would last." Conan's eyes narrowed as the starfish continued. "But then, Hachi-kun tried to stop the bastard and he got shot. Luffy-kun punched the Tenryubito through a wall, that boy marked himself for death…but I thank the heavens for him…he saved Hachi-kun's life."
"The Tenryubito…who are they exactly? Why are they different from other nobles?" Conan had been curious of this for awhile.
"I really don't know…all I know is that thye don't breathe the air of commoners." Pappug said.
"Are they the ones who live in Mariejois?" Conan asked with narrowed eyes.
"Yes, they are. It's been their homeland, as well as the Gorosei's for quite a long time." Pappug answered.
"I see." Conan closed his eyes and sighed, he'd have to come back to the subject of the Gorosei later. "Going back to the auction house, does this place keep documentation on who was sold, as well as who bought them?"
"Er…yes." Pappug was surprised by the change of subject. "Each sale is recorded precisely, because customers normally build their status here based not only on how much they're willing to pay, but by how often they come here as well."
Smirking, Conan nodded. "Interesting." Looking around himself, Conan knew he had to act fast before the curtain rolled up. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
"It's not like I can move." The star fish grumbled. The young detective sprinted off and hid between the cages, observing what kind of locks were on them, and how much time would be needed to pick them. He also noticed that each person was bounded horribly in chains, and each person looked dehydrated as well as beaten. This made the detective angry, how could the Navy call themselves just? Noticing one of the henchmen coming, he crouched low and prepared his stun gun, but then thought against it. He need to pick where these thus would land, he couldn't carry them.
"Ugh…" Almost jumping at the sound, he took a quick glance behind him, and noticed a woman bound in a cage. Quickly hiding behind it, the men approached her cage eagerly. The woman looked at them threateningly. "What do you scum want?"
"Hey Jewelry, how about we play a little before the auction? You know, give you a preview to what's coming." The man smirked.
"Scum of the World Government aren't worthy of my presence, scurry away with your tail between your legs, like you normally do when the fights get tough." She growled.
One of them men glared, and stepped into her cage. Conan noticed that her legs were not bound together, but her arms were, this was bad. Smirking, the man separated her legs evenly with his foot, rubbing her crotch with it suggestively. "I'd like to see what's between your legs, is it as pink as your hair?"
"Don't fucking touch me! You do dare try to, and you'll feel the wrath greater than a Seaking!" She spat.
"Heh…" He leaned down to her face, his lips only an inch from hers. "I feel jealous of the rich bastard already; he gets to keep you until you're no longer pretty." Just as he was about to force a kiss from her, he suddenly fell forward and fell to the side of the stunned woman. Noticing the cage was opened at a slight angle, Conan had readied his soccer ball during the man's harassment. As his goons were about to storm in, Conan made a kick, knocking the gate right into them with enough force to knock out three football teams. The bars of the caged-door hit their heads and faces, and were knocked out instantly.
Coming out of his hiding spot, Conan gathered his soccer ball and turned to the shocked pirate woman. Smiling, he gave a friendly greeting. "Hi…my name's Conan Edogawa…could you help me with something?"
"I'm Jewelry Bonney, pirate captain, and one of the eleven supernovas…I'll help you, depending on what it is." She replied hesitantly. The kid seemed safe enough, and he did just save her from those dogs, but he could easily have a trap set for her.
"I need help rescuing everyone here." Conan responded and then remembered something, he hadn't freed her yet. "Oh sorry, I didn't get the chains off you." Bonnie was about to protest, but when Conan literally got the sea-stone shackles off her with three clicks, she was certain the kid was just nuts. "Are you okay?"
Blinking at the boy, she responded. "Yes, I am. And your plan for rescue is stupid." She rubbed her wrists regretfully. "Even if you freed everyone here, we have nowhere to run. My crew and I are starved and dehydrated, so even with these shackles off, we can't fight. And even if we could, the Tenryubito and the admirals will shoot us down before we can take any action to escape."
Thinking quickly, Conan spoke. "What if I told you I had means of escape for everyone here?"
"Then I'd demand to know what it is, and call you a liar." She responded evenly.
"Well, I'm not lying. I came to this island with Whitebeard-san and his crew." Conan knew he'd have to show her proof of what he was saying, and he was suddenly glad this journey left him a scar.
"Now I know you're making shit up, there's no way Whitebeard would take requests from a kid. If he's really here, where is he? Why would he agree to allow you onto his ship?" It was natural for the young woman to be suspicious, after all Whitebeard was one of the Emperors.
"I helped Ace-san escape from Marineford, and I asked him to take me here because this is where I last saw my parents. I wanted to see if I could track them." The detective spoke confidently. "They're at the dock waiting for me, and it won't be long before they start scouring the island for me because I'll be gone to long."
"How do I know you're telling the truth about Marineford? Wouldn't you ask the Navy for help, with your parents?" Jewelry pointed out.
Conan clenched his fists, and slowly revealed his burn scar to the pirate, who put on a look of shock and horror when she saw it. "Akainu-san did that to me, because apparently I was being uncooperative, all I asked was for a different book to read." Pulling his shirt back up, he looked at her in the eyes. "Do you require any more proof, or can we get started?"
"…Those guys you knocked out, one of them, has a key to the shackles and the cages. If I get my men out first, then I'll help you free the others. But I'm not putting myself in a position to go against the Tenryubito." Jewelry said.
Conan scoffed. "So much for living for freedom. What's so special about the Tenryubito?" Maybe this woman would know.
"It's not something for a child to know. You've suffered enough, don't put anything else on yourself." She said decently.
Raising a brow, Conan now knew he had to investigate the Tenryubito. He was about to ask something, but then remembered the time limit they were on. "Fine then. Just get everyone free!" As he was about to run to Pappug, he stopped short, thinking of something. He ran over to one of the other thugs and grabbed another key. He looked at Bonney's confused face. "You focus on your men, I'll free the others!" Nodding, the pirate woman, did what she was told.
Running back to Pappug, he quickly unlocked the lid and the starfish quickly got out. "Conan-kun! Where'd you go? I thought you had gotten captured!" He set himself up Conan's shoulder.
"Sorry Pappug-san, I was trying to figure out how many people there were to save." The boy smiled. 'Also looking for the file cabinet with the sales-records'. He quickly started running to cages and unlocked them as well as the shackles. Many merman, women, children, and other creatures were brutally chained, and were relieved to get out of the shackles. After ten minutes, he got everyone that Bonnie hadn't already. The captives were all anxiously looking at the boy for further instructions.
"They're not here! They're not here!" Pappug cried. "Keimi-chan and Hachi-kun aren't here!"
Silencing the starfish with a comforting hand. Conan turned to the crowd. "Has anyone seen an octopus man, named Hachi-san, and a mermaid named Keimi-san?"
"Yeah, I saw them." Conan and everyone else turned to Bonney and he crew. "They were taken somewhere else, I think they were reserved orders for the Tenryubito or are the opening numbers."
"Opening numbers?" Conan repeated confused.
"She means that they're selling them first. And all first sales are kept spate from everyone else because the first two sales are the only ones that are publicized for the event." One of the captured women, who seemed to be an elf, explained. She was beaten and in rags, and it was obvious she had seen hell. Conan winced inwardly at the sight of her. "They're probably on stage with curtains over them right now."
The detective scolded himself sharply for his carelessness, that was why no one else was checking up on them backstage, the attention was all onstage. Turning to the pirate captain, he asked. "Do you have an emergency flare?"
"No, but we could swipe one, why?" She raised a brow.
"We need to signal Whitebeard-san, where we are. There's too many marines, and we're all too tired to put up a proper fight. So we need to get their attention." The youngest explained.
"What do we do until the old man gets here?" One of Bonney's men asked.
"…We storm the nobles." He said, earning gasps from everyone. "It's our best bet saving Keimi-san and Hachi-san, and it's the last thing they'll expect. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the security guards here have no idea how to handle escaped inmates, and the nobles aren't even used to lifting their own fingers. The element of surprise is on our side right now, we might as well use it."
"But the Tenryubito." Bonnie pointed out. Conan noticed that everyone seemed discouraged by that remark, at that point, Conan spoke.
"Then we'll threaten them." He got confused looks from everyone, this time. "They can't breathe the same air as us, so we threaten to crack their oxygen supply."
"Y-You sure it'll work?" A man who appeared half elk asked. He was elderly and had moss hanging from his antlers, reminding Conan more of a moose. His size didn't help anything either.
"Absolutely. We're dealing with people who are so arrogant that they think they breathe separate air from us, so exposing them to the elements will do more than make them cooperate." He reasoned.
"If you're sure." A man who was half turtle replied, who appeared quite timid.
"What if Mr. Whitebeard doesn't come in time, Onii-chan?" Conan had to hold his breath at who just asked him. The child who stepped forward had to have been younger than six, and she had a huge gash in the shape of a crescent moon on the right side of her face. She was short, tan, in rags, and was definitely starved. This wasn't the first auction ring she had gone through.
Clenching his fists, Conan forced himself to stay calm. "Then I promise to set it up to where all of you can escape no matter what. If all else fails, I'm going to trigger a fire to this whole place, if that happens, everyone get the hell out. Find Whitebeard-san and his crew, and tell them what happened."
"What about you, Conan-kun?" Pappug asked.
"I'll find another way to escape, I've got to take care of something." He answered and then turned back to Bonnie. "Can I trust you to take care of everyone until Whitebeard-san gets here?"
Jewelry looked a little hesitant, but in remembering what the boy did for her, she nodded reluctantly. "We'll do it, but only if we don't get in the Tenryubito's sight."
Nodding, Conan pondered what to do next. He didn't have long. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Disco's voice was like the sound of a fly buzzing right in their ears.
Onstage
"WELCOME TO THE GRAND RE-OPENING OF THE HUMAN AUCTION HOUSE!" Disco yelled into the microphone. A roar of loud clapping came from the audience, all nobles dressed in things that weren't meant for walking in, and in the seat of honor; was none other than Saint Charloss and his horrid sister, Saint Shalilua. Both were anxious to know what choice of prime meat they could sink their teeth into.
"SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, WE'LL UNVEIL OUR FIRST PRODUCTS FOR ONLY OUR MOST LOYAL CLIENTS!" Disco signaled, and the curtains went up, to reveal a disgusting sight. There were both Keimi, and Hachi trapped in fish bowls, in the abhorred conditions. Keimi's beautiful skin was barely seeable, it was covered in black and blue bruises that litter her face, arms, and abdomen. Her shirt had been torn off, leaving her exposed in her seashell bra. There was a shackle around her neck, that seemed to also act as a shock collar when needed. Hachi was in no better condition, he was shirtless and had a giant bandage over his abdomen, having been shot there again. His tentacles all had been plugged with corks, and despite his skin being purple, he obviously had bruises and scars over his body as well. Both were unconscious, and floated like dead fish in the water. "AS ALL OF YOU KNOW, THESE TWO MISCREANTS DARED TO TRY AND DEFY YOU SUPERIOR BEINGS, AND HAD THIS WONDERFUL ESTABLISHMENT TEMPORARILY SHUT DOWN! SO TO WHOEVER WANTS THE FIRST BID, PLEASE RAISE THEIR HAND!"
Immediately, Saint Charloss, apparently recognizing Keimi and Hachi raised his. "I bid 250,000,000,000 beri, no one else dare bid against me." He said into the microphone.
Smiling, Disco spoke. "AN AMAZING PROPOSAL FROM OUR HEAVENLY LORDS, DO I HEAR ANY OTHER OFFERS?"
"650,300,250,900 beri." Some random man spoke. Gasps were heard through the crowd, not even the Tenryubito could bid that high.
Noticing that no one was speaking up, and fat fishbowl-head was too stunned to speak, Disco continued. "WE SEEM TO HAVE A WINNER! COME TO THE STAGE TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZES!" Getting up, everyone glared in envy at the newcomer, realizing they didn't recognize him. He was wearing a long blue top heat, hiding his face, wore a blue suit, with a red bow tie, and made it a point to keep his face hidden the whole time. After getting to the stage, he waited for Disco to speak again. "CONGRATULATIONS, GREAT SIR! PLEASE GIVE US YOUR NAME, WE WANT TO REMEMBER A VIP, LIKE YOU."
Smirking, the man lifted his top hat, revealing his face. Everyone noted that he was a young, fit man, with blue eyes, brown hair, and had a slightly skinny face. "The name's Kudo. Jimmy Kudo, and these are my friends." Snapping his fingers. The curtains to the backstage suddenly rose up, revealing Bonnie and her men, armed and ready to fight.
"WHA-" Disco suddenly found himself punched to the ground. Looking up, astounded at what just happened, he found himself staring into the eyes of the little boy he bullied earlier. The man smirked, and snapped her fingers again.
"Let the fun begin." Conan smirked. Thinking about how it was to see a woman actually fight.
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