"Are you sure you're alright?" Hina asked worriedly her agonizing friend.
"Yeah-" Nanko muttered, voice muffled by the quilt covering him. Not one bit of his skin could be seen. "I just need some time alone, please." His voice was getting weaker by the second.
Hina though worried, agreed to leave, promising to check on him by lunchtime.
Once completely alone, Nanko dragged himself up to lock the door. His steps were hesitant, his gaze muddled, but more importantly, cracks could be seen on his skin, from which sheets of papers fell to the floor.
He was but a paper clone, and his main body, Ko, was too damaged to properly maintain fully functioning clones. Still, it had to be the main body controlling Ko at the moment because she couldn't risk the subterfuge being discovered by the Marine. They had to believe the Ko they caught was the real one. A simple paper clone had high risks of being shattered if it got too hurt.
Knock. Knock.
Nanko looked at the door with a trace of panic, he was in no way presentable. There were multiple paper sheets stretched on the floor, while his own skin was on the verge of falling apart.
"It's Smoker, are you in there?" Smoker announced, his voice calm and hoarse as usual.
His throat was scorching, he struggled to properly form words, he could feel Ko was being tortured and it started transcribing onto him. Usually, even when the main body was hurt, it didn't have many consequences, but the problem here was Ko's mind, it was being heavily influenced and that disabled her ability to maintain proper clones. If she couldn't think, neither could the clones, it was an internal struggle caused by external factors.
"Yes," he finally voiced out, in a weak voice. He hoped Smoker couldn't hear the tremor in his voice.
There was silence.
"Do you want me to come in?" Smoker asked, his voice gentler than usual.
Nanko stared at the floor blankly before replying, "No." What did he expect, they had been together for more than a year, of course, he would know when something was wrong.
"I'll see you tomorrow for your promotion?" Smoker asked, staring at the closed door.
"Of course." If he hadn't disappeared by then. He had overestimated his ability to bear with torture and had underestimated the sadistic side of Akainu. He would have to speed up the final phase of his plan.
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Life in prison was dreadfully boring. She hadn't seen Akainu since he had been sent away. From Nanko, she knew the magma bastard had been promoted and had received all the credit for arresting her. Of course, the marine would use this opportunity to promote their best pawn. They were too proud and arrogant to admit it was a small unknown officer who arrested the most sought-after criminal.
In exchange, Nanko was discreetly promoted under the guise of some 'excellent display of obedience and strength'. To keep his mouth quiet, they gave him a unit, a high grade, and lots of money. She knew Garp and Tsuru had a hand in that promotion, otherwise knowing the Marine, they would have simply tried to silence him, either by killing him or sending him to some forgotten corner of the world.
Ko admired her dim cell from where she sat on the floor. Her wounds no longer hurt, she had applied the basics of medicine chakra she knew to disinfect and seal the open wounds. Nothing too noticeable, but enough to prevent a needless infection. After all, she would be spending some time stuck there. Just enough time for Nanko to prepare what needed to be.
On the other side of the headquarters, Nanko obtained easy access to the library previously inaccessible to him. Years later, people would still wonder how Masked Truth gained access to top secrets pieces of information the Marine kept under lock. Never would the higher-ups admit they made such a huge mistake as unwillingly letting in a mole and falling face-first into the trap Nanko and Ko so kindly laid before them.
A week later, Nanko had already left with Hina to travel the world and catch pirates. The next day, the bells rung in the entire headquarters. A prisoner had escaped.
Mihawk, stopped short in his conversation with Garp, gazing up as the lights flashed red. "This is a first," he commented dully, not in the slightest interested in helping them catch the escaping prisoner.
Meanwhile, Garp was just as much inclined to move from his seat. If they needed the Marine Hero to catch a mere prisoner, the Marine would become a farce.
Ko was totally playing with the messy marines sent to capture her. She was healed enough to put the plan into action, she had to do it now, before they sent her to Impel Down, where her chances of escaping would become close to null.
The higher-ups had spent the full week arguing about where she would be imprisoned, how to extirpate information from her, and doing press conferences to advertise their gloriousness. So, they had mostly left her alone, save for the few people sent her way to interrogate—torture—her. All coming back fruitless.
As she ran down the corridors, her clothes changed from her bloody tattered outfit to something more fashionable, princely golden and scarlet clothes, along with a matching mask. She would make a complete fool out of them, she had suffered enough, it was time for payback.
She had obtained what she wanted, access to high-end information, and the Marine had trapped themselves in her scheme. By advertising Akainu as the one who caught her, he would also be the one to suffer from her escape, while Nanko could get off scot-free, with a higher grade.
Truly prideful fools who didn't expect their greed to turn against them.
Needles appeared between her fingers, before being sent flying toward the marines running in her direction. They swiftly fell down.
A wave of heat hit her from behind and she turned around in precipitation, a heavy sword in hand to block the magma punch. Her feet dug into the cracked floor and she swung back the heavy black sword. It was blocked by a black arm. Akainu was glaring at her, his fist raised to form another magma punch.
She intercepted it with a black hand, taking a step back despite herself. Her short stature made it easier for him to overpower her.
Akainu felt his senses spike up in warning, but it was too late.
Before he could react, he staggered, eyes full of fury as he understood what happened. There was a clone of Ko behind him, sword tainted with blood. His.
"All is fair in war, remember to watch your back," Ko whispered with a wicked look, before turning around. Her clone had disappeared when he turned back.
A huge wound running from his shoulder to his hip was now apparent on the back of Akainu, cutting straight through his mantel of 'Justice'.
Ko continued running straight towards a big window, as she felt a wave of heat pursue her. With a loud crash, she jumped straight through, free-falling toward the marines waiting for her at the bottom, only to be stopped as a giant eagle flew by and caught her mid-fall.
She turned back, easily avoiding the ball of magma sent her way. She waved teasingly at the pissed-off vice-admiral glaring at her. "Next time I see you-" Her smile dimmed as she weaved through the barrage of fireballs. Her still scared finger swiftly traced a line on her neck, her gaze piercing his. "I will repay my debt of blood." She flew into the horizon, ignoring the shouting behind her.
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Small time skip soon :D