Summary: Discovering just what's been going on under the surface of the Crystal City...

  Warning! Chapters 53-56 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any!

  Chapter 55: Horror in the Dark

  During the day, as the sun warmed the Crystal streets of the city, it was easy to forget that Wind's Home was a winter isnd. The defused and reflected sunlight turned the days merely brisk, the sort of refreshing cold that was a little pleasant for most. Vivi, of course, had been bundled up since they arrived, the desert-born girl not particurly fond of the cold. The rest of the crew had been fine during the daylight hours, but as night set in the temperatures dropped and shivers started. Thankfully, Luffy's inventory quickly solved the problem for the girls, while he himself shifted into the form of a small blue-white fox.

  They would never speak of the squeals and quantity of hugs that had resulted.

  Honestly, if not for the fact that all of those hugs had seen him pnted face-first in several different sets of boobs, he'd probably have been more annoyed. As it was, he tolerated it until the girls got it out of their system. Thankfully, they had eventually gotten over it. Even if Vivi had insisted on carrying him to the point Nami had picked for their infiltration. He might not have allowed her that much, if he hadn't felt the way she was shivering even with a thick coat on. But he had, and so he did, and now they were all concealed atop a building across the road from their target.

  The vertical yout of the city was, even Nami had admitted, something of a challenge. It made most of the normal ways to sneak into a building completely non-viable. Almost like each compound was a fortress carved into a mountain…which was honestly pretty close to the truth. All of the Merchant Houses were carved into the huge, icy mountain that made up the core of the isnd. They needed too much space to be built otherwise, unlike some of the shops that had been carved or grown into the various pzas that had, in turn, been carved out of the mountain in times past.

  Thankfully, Nami hadn't been deterred. They had access to ways and means now that she'd never had before, and his lover was more than capable of adjusting her approach to take those new options into account. Specifically, in this case, they had access to Vivi and line-of-sight through a window into a disused room on the upper levels of the Battered Coin Merchant House. Not entirely ideal, given it would mean needing to sneak down through several levels of rooms. But Robin had already sent scouting eyes and ears into the building to confirm there were very few members awake and moving about.

  They'd considered reducing their numbers, as well. But all of those in the investigation group were part of the team for a reason. Nami for her expertise, Vivi for quick escapes if things went wrong, Robin for forward scouting, and Hina as the only one of them with proper skills in investigation. A necessity if they ran across less-than-btant clues like money trails or forged documentation. Luffy himself was the only one they could have realistically peeled off from the group, but he was legitimately the second best at stealth, behind only Nami. Moreover, he was their combat powerhouse if things went really wrong. All of which meant they were going in with a group rger than any of them would prefer, but with a skill spread that made it unfortunately logical.

  "Alright, Vivi, you're up in thirty seconds. Everyone, follow me as soon as we're through her door. Quick and quiet. Right…now!"

  Nami was the one to give the command, Luffy having the good sense to defer to the expert in this case. His lover had been carefully eyeing patrols around the exterior of the main building and getting a stream of reports from Robin about those from within. She'd undoubtedly picked her moment for the best gap they'd get from the internal security, and Vivi had been holding up a glowing hand from the moment of the first warning. Her air door snapped open instantly, bridging the gap between their hiding spot on the roof and the outer room of the Battered Coin's second highest level.

  Nami was through in an instant, Robin only a heartbeat or two behind. Luffy, still in fox form for stealth and enhanced senses, darted through next with Hina and Vivi following close behind. Nami hadn't paused, moving instantly to the door of the room and checking both it's hinges and lock. She tsked quietly at the hinges, before producing a small spray bottle of oil and pumping it twice over each hinge, quickly rubbing it in to silence them. The result wasn't perfect, but it was quiet enough as she cracked the door that the noise wouldn't have carried more than a few feet. Not even in the still of the quiet night that surrounded them.

  After a quick whisper between her and Robin to double check the patrols, Nami led them through the halls without hesitation, trusting that either Luffy's ears or Robins network of eye and ears would alert them to unexpected presences. Instead of leading them down, Nami led them inward, following a previous discussion about priorities. They all believed their greatest clues from the Battered Coin would likely come from the secret area Robin had found, which had been too pitch bck for her to make anything but odd sounds out while spying. Yet, that didn't mean there wasn't information to be had elsewhere. They were entering on the second-to-highest level of the vertical complex, two floors above the main public entrance.

  Which just so happened to also be the level with all the major offices.

  Those offices were up off the main floor for security and prestige, yet only halfway into the depths of the complex as it carved into the mountain, as they still needed to be conveniently reached for meetings with outsiders. The most secure areas, farther inward, were either private residences, vaults, or armories. The sort of thing you wanted properly secure from an actual assault. While they weren't pnning to try hitting the vaults, which could contain incriminating evidence, they had all agreed it made sense to at least check the offices. Particurly of the older man, 'Ryl,' who Robin had overheard the telling conversation of. There was a decent chance of finding paper trails there, as the man was clearly involved in whatever plotting was afoot. Better yet, those offices should be empty at nearly an hour after midnight.

  They only needed to pause once, waiting out a patrol in a break room, before Nami brought them, completely undetected, to the office in question. There, she spent less than a minute on the lock, checked the hinges to find these were well oiled, and cracked open the door. They all carefully and quietly entered after her, Nami relocking the door as Robin spread her network to make sure they'd have warning if anyone came near. Hina immediately went to the desk, carefully looking through the paperwork there, with Robin and Nami spreading out to help find anything hidden moments ter.

  Vivi and Luffy weren't idle either. Vivi wasn't without skill in investigation, given she'd needed to pick some up during her time in Baroque Works. But she wasn't an expert and they'd discussed a pn before they ever entered. Specifically, she waited for Luffy to sniff around the room, concentrating on the chair Robin has said the young man used. There were quite a few scents on it, but the most recent was notably a younger male to Luffy's nose, which was probably their other target for information. Not bothering to alter his vocal chords enough to talk properly, he simply quietly yipped to get Vivi moving. She nodded and opened a 'door' in the air to the two offices next to the current one. Their combined job was to locate the younger man's office. Or, at least, any offices in which he spent a lot of time, as there was no guarantee that he was senior enough to have one of his own. Luffy quickly darted into the next office over to start checking…

  ... ...

  Nami smirked to herself as the safe opened easily for her. It was a model she'd never seen before, with crystalline walls and tumblers that had presented more of a challenge than the metal she was used to, but that only increased her satisfaction at cracking it so quickly. Though she was slightly irked Robin had found it first. Woman had an amazing eye for detail. Which, well, made sense. Still annoyed Nami to have been beaten to spotting the hidden safe, though.

  Double checking that there weren't any additional traps or arms, she nodded when she was sure there weren't and only then turned her attention to the contents. She had to resist the impulse to empty the small number of valuables inside. They were supposed to be focusing on not getting caught! Thankfully, this wasn't a personal safe, so much as a documents safe, so there wasn't a lot in it beyond a healthy stack of extol and a lot of well-organized documents. Forcing herself to carefully memorize where those documents were, she only started withdrawing them once she'd made a proper mental notation, likening it to a map in a way she knew would help it stick. This was hardly the first time she'd stolen more for information rather than pure money, after all. It's just that, previously, she'd usually gone for both when both was an option.

  She quickly split the documents with Robin, as Hina was still looking over some she'd found in a completely stereotypical hidden compartment in the bottom drawer of the man's desk. Neither of them knew what they were looking for, but they could at least eliminate stuff that wasn't relevant. Quickly dividing up what might be useful from stuff that was unlikely to be helpful fast enough to matter, the two women turned the diminished pile over to Hina when she gestured for it.

  Nami looked up a moment ter as she sensed movement, noting that a once-again-human Luffy was gesturing her through an air door. She went through and nodded as he whispered that she should check over this new office for anything hidden. It was the strongest pce he'd found the smell of the younger man. Vivi was already riffling through the open documents on one of the two desks here, even as Luffy stepped through the still-open air door to check in with Hina…

  ... ...

  "Anything useful?"

  Hina nodded, even as she continued to winnow the documents, quickly skimming each one. She gestured to a small selection she'd set aside.

  "Hina hasn't found anything btant, but several things interesting. Manifests for a lot more food than a complex like this should need. Notable, considering it ought to be a valuable thing in the city as is and it's noted as being consumed rather than simply stored. Repeated references to deals between the Battered Coin and Fated Winds, as well as the other two groups. All legitimate but implying a level of cooperation that almost unites them as a single trading group, rather than mere allies. A few names that might be useful. No smoking gun yet, though."

  Luffy nodded, not having really expected to get quite that lucky. Most likely, anything seriously compromising would be in the hands of this 'Whillem,' or else secured in more private quarters. Though the note about food was potentially bad and potentially hopeful both. It might mean that the vanished individuals were still alive and being held here, which had been one thought about the rge hidden space. That was theoretically good, at least until you applied the idea that they had some means to 'control' whatever they intended to use against the Crystal Suns. Which could imply something like sve colrs, drugs, or Devil Fruit powers.

  "Keep looking, then move on through the air door to check anything Vivi or Nami find in the other office. We won't check any of the others. If there's nothing truly incriminating in this office, the only one more likely would be the head office of the Battered Coin, and that's on another level."

  Also under constant guard, so not a great option unless they came up entirely bnk in the hidden space. Hina nodded, knowing that already, and kept looking through the paperwork. Luffy turned to Robin, who reported before he even had to ask.

  "No sign anyone has noted our entrance, Captain. Patrols are maintaining the same routes. We're good so far."

  Nodding, he took a deep breath and forced himself to be patient. It wasn't his strongest suite, but he could manage when he had too…

  ... ...

  It took another half an hour to get through all the documents. Even that speed was only possible by both skimming and sharing the load. If they'd been attempting a truly in-depth look, they'd have needed far more time. In the end, they'd found only a few additional pieces of evidence. Only one of which they were completely sure was reted to the issue at hand, as it listed employee records for a number of those that had disappeared early on. The fact it looked only half completed, with evidence someone had stopped mid pen-stroke, was a bit interesting. Enough so that the infiltration group had used a Camera Dial to create copies, along with copies of a few financial records and the odd inventories of consumed food stuffs. Afterward, Hina and Nami had carefully repced everything in just the way it can been found, or as close to it as they could manage.

  After they'd wrapped up in the offices, Robin had assessed the patrols for Nami again, and the group headed down this time, intent on finding the entrance to the hidden space Robin had located during her spying. This, unfortunately, meant moving through the more secure areas of the building and they had to stop several times to seek concealment as they moved deeper in and down within the Battered Coin's complex. Eventually, despite the best Nami and Robin could do to work around them, they found their way blocked by guards.

  Thankfully, Luffy had considered that possibility and gotten a strong sedative mixture from Chopper. Robin and Vivi worked together to sneakily jab both guards in the back of the neck with soporific darts. Both guards spped at their necks in confusion, and one of them seemed to realize something was wrong, attempting to reach a noise-dial that likely acted as an arm. Luffy sent a quick burst of nauseating sound to destabilize him, causing him to slow…and he was out like a light before he recovered. They quickly arranged both men to seem like they'd merely fallen asleep at their posts, before using keys in their possession to move into the inner most security section of the building.

  "Quickly now, we're officially on a time limit! Look for a way in!"

  Luffy's quiet order had all of them moving along the walls, looking for a way through into the section he could now sense held…something. The were presences there to his Haki senses, but they weren't like any he'd felt before. Somehow both human and animalistic at the same time. It was disquieting enough that he was beginning to fear just what they were about to find. Enough so he nearly said 'fuck it' and just broke through a wall. Before he could, however, Robin found a hidden switch and a panel of wall slid aside.

  The area beyond had been in total darkness until the dim lights they carried leaked through. Luffy, eyes shifted to those of an owl for far better night-sight, was the first in, and the first to falter as he began to register the horror of what he was actually seeing. He froze, nearly causing Nami to collide with him. The words to stop her from raising the light she held on his lips…but he was too slow. The candle of her Dark Lantern was, unfortunately, more than enough light to reveal the first few rows of what was contained within the room. She gasped, and Hina swore behind her, Robin freezing in pce where she'd started to spread her network of eyes. Vivi couldn't see, and Luffy did react quickly enough to step more fully in front of her so she wouldn't.

  They'd found their victims.

  Some of them were even still alive.

  Somehow, Luffy suspected they wished they weren't.

  His voice was harsh as he gave the order.

  "Hina. Camera. Try not to disturb them if you can. Nami, make sure we aren't interrupted. Robin, sorry…but count, please. And look for anywhere in this horror show that might have documents."

  There was a brief moment of tension, before Nami ripped her gaze away and moved back, looking scared and nauseous. Ripped her gaze away from the cage and the grotesque chimera within. Luffy forced himself not to look away, instead panning his far better vision over the cages upon cages that ran deeper into the room, all of them filled with the same sorts of sight. It was horrifyingly clear that all the things in those cages had once been human. Many of them still having human faces, even if not always in the pces those faces ought to have been. But all of them had…other bits as well. Malformed arms that ended in cws, pustules of raised flesh that formed around bckened quills. A woman with her lower body repced by a spider's, a man with half his body turned into something that looked like a diseased bear.

  Mutated flesh joined the new additions to old bodies, and colrs brown with rusted, crusty blood were around every neck. For those that still had necks, at least. Whatever process had been done to these people wasn't a clean or properly successful one. It was a spdash application of horrifying mad science, and only Luffy's ability to suppress negative emotion with Gamer's Mind was keeping him from screaming, or retching…or finding whoever was responsible to brutally rip out their spine while they were still using it.

  Hina was unsteady as she moved forward, bringing up the camera Dial and a ntern of her own. Luffy winced as some of the creatures stirred at the light, but they needed evidence of this. He looked away, trusting to Hina's resolve and the building fury he could feel suppressing her own nausea. Vivi looked like she both did and didn't want to look beyond him, and Luffy firmly redirected her attention.

  "Vivi, open us a door to the ship. We're leaving as soon as we have any evidence we can get. Though we are most certainly going to be back once we figure out everyone who needs to die for this."

  The younger girl hesitated, swallowing at the cold fury filling his voice despite Gamer's Mind, then nodded jerkily, moving back to join Nami. Robin, looking bnk even if she felt sick and furious to his empathy, move up to fill her pce.

  "There's a b, Captain. We should copy any data they might have, so we can understand what happened to these people. The b is…bad. Worse than here."

  Luffy nodded grimly, pulling another Dial Camera from his inventory.

  "Show me. Maybe there is still something we can do for them, besides end their misery…"

  Robin nodded and moved deeper into the cages with sure steps. Luffy slowly following behind, forcing himself not to look away from the cages. Not all of the monsters in this world were ones of their own making, and Luffy refused to look away from the reminder that not all of who were of their own making hid their evil as well as the likes of Crocodile and Enel did either. He doubted they could actually help these people much. But he would make damn sure that those who had done this to them paid the price for pying god. No matter what their reasons or justifications.

  He just hoped killing a few of them with his bare hands was enough to let him sleep peacefully again, sometime in the distant future…