FIC: This hurts me more than it hurts you (One Piece, 30_wounds #12)
30_wounds : prompt table
I don't fare very well with cliche so I'm giving all of those to Knight Sir Crocodile and Squire Luffy to mangle. This is set very early on in the AU, no Robin yet. The other fic in this AU is #6 Die For You, here.
Obviously, there had to be torture in a prompt table like this somewhere...
12. This hurts me more than it hurts you
The really galling part is, Crocodile probably regards this as some perverted kind of test.
He's naked, and still hasn't warmed up again after the icy water they threw over him when they began. His broken fingers sting, but they're almost numb, as is everything beyond his wrists and the tight, cold iron clamped around them.
The chains are bolted into the ceiling, and his arms are locked above him, high up enough that he has to perch almost on his toes. If his trembling legs give way he'll be hanging from them and that will only hurt more. There are already two little discarded scraps of his hide on the floor in front of him, where they were waved before his face, then shaken from the knife. Luffy tries not to shiver too much as the knife slides in again and he feels it peeling the edge of another square from his shoulder. He just grunts, short and sharp like an agitated horse, as the skin is dragged back a fraction more.
Crocodile is watching, eyes glinting dangerously in the bad light of the cell. He's chained, too, to the wall not much more than six feet in front of Luffy, where he can see everything. His hook's been removed, leaving the rarely-seen stump on display. The chain on his left arm is locked above the elbow. There's an open cut on his forehead and the blood from it almost obscures the impressive bruising over almost all that side of his face.
His scowl has a slightly perplexed aura.
It's possible he regards this as a test. It's also possible he feels that Luffy entirely deserves this. Since he was caught without a mark on him after losing control of his rubber spell and wrapping himself in a knot around a tree, Luffy finds it kind of hard to argue with that today. The enemy soldiers laughingly unravelled him and locked him straight into chains. He's not been in Crocodile's service for very long, and for all that he can fight -- a match for Crocodile himself, he knows he would be, if he just had a chance to prove it -- it seems there's not much he can do right. There's a nagging thought, very much not just at the back of his mind, that Croc could get out of his restraints if he chose to. It's not as though they'd have any effectiveness caging sand.
But if it is a test, then it's one that doesn't have a written element (which Luffy is bad at), and doesn't require memorising anything (which Luffy is worse at), doesn't require making anything (which... yeah), or hand-eye coordinationor eloquence or anything else that he can fuck up. So, fine. Because if not telling them Sir Crocodile's secrets is all that's wanted of him, this time, it's a test he has half a chance of passing. So he locks his voice into silence and thinks they can do whatever they want to his back. He can't see it anyway, so it's not like he cares. If they think he's going to talk...
The third little shred of skin flutters off the knife in front of his face. Luffy pants and snarls as the torturer mashes his fingers into the flayed patch of his shoulder. Their hands grab and twist him, showing his back to Crocodile before they let go, leaving him to swing wildly, desperately trying to regain his precarious footing in the chains.
"I thought the boy would be screaming by now, but it seems he's too dumb with fear... or is that too dumb to fear?"
"He's bored," Crocodile's voice cuts in, grinding through the air in all its unimpressed, stony immovability, and Luffy, opening his own mouth to protest, would've bet on the knight taking the opening provided by the torturer's jibe, but he seems more angered by it than Luffy is. "And so am I. Do you have a point you hope to achieve by this little pantomime, Lord Fullbody?" He directs his words not to the torturer, but to the smiling fop at the other end of the cell, who's staying out of spatter rage where Luffy can't see, just feel his eyes enjoying the show.
"You know what we want," the dandy says. "We know King Roger disclosed to you the whereabouts of the spy Nico Robin. If you tell us, Sir Knight, you can spare the unfortunate squire a slow, painful journey into death."
Crocodile chokes a little.
Luffy says, "Hunh?" He swings in little movements on his chains, testing his balance. The torturer's hands aren't on him any more and his fingers are almost dead to sensation anyway, and his back hurts no matter what. The tips of his feet are skinned by the hard floor as the words finally register and he abruptly stops himself. "What, you think he's gonna ca--?"
"Now, really," Lord Fullbody says, striding past Luffy's shoulder to address Crocodile, standing hands on hips between them both in an exaggerated pose. "I know your reputation. Surely no great knight would cave under any amount of torture. But to protect his faithful young squire? Inflicting such torment on a beloved companion is surely a greater pain to bear than agony wrought upon his own flesh! Your resolve must be considerable, Sir Crocodile, allowing the youth to endure so much."
"Are you an idiot?" yowls Luffy.
Crocodile looks at Fullbody narrowly for a moment longer. "You are an idiot."
"This does NOT hurt him more than it hurts me, you bastard! Did you miss him SMIRKING while you kicked me in the nuts?"
"Luffy."
Even though they're probably still more pissed off with each other than the enemy, they're moving at the same time. Crocodile's feet lock around the fop's ankles as Luffy's wildly swung ankles lock around Fullbody's neck, and the aristocrat's screaming chokes off as his arms scrabble desperately at the hold.
"Dammit, get me outta these chains or I'll break his neck!" Luffy yells, which isn't actually intended so much as a threat, because while he's limber, it's still not easy to pull off and the problem, at the moment, is more of trying not to break the man's neck.
"The keys, if you would," Crocodile growls at the torturer, and opens the fingers of his single hand to seize the chiming keyring from its arc through the air. As he sets the key to the lock of the manacles, he kicks Fullbody towards Luffy, who drags him to the floor and stands on him. The torturer flees the cell, but neither of them take much note. They'll be ready by the time reinforcements arrive. Sir Crocodile stands up and chucks the chains aside, speaks his sand charm, and the sand replacing his truncated arm whispers through the air to unlock Luffy.
With his hand, the knight reaches down and drags Lord Fullbody up. "The boy," he spits, "is privy to no less information than myself in this matter. And, for all your beatings, your broken bones and your knives, did not tell."
"Yeah!" Luffy pipes up furiously. The chains fall away and he yanks fingers straight with a yell, rubs tentatively at his stinging shoulder and hunches to hug his arms over the dark bruising that's already coming up across his stomach and groin. Of all the stupid, pointless... This was all about Crocodile for these bastards from the start!!! "Assholes! Of course I know! She's--"
A palm of sand slaps into place across his mouth.
"--Although next time," Crocodile says darkly, "I'm going to have words with Roger about how much he chooses to share with idiot rookie squires." His gaze slides down and narrows. "Put some clothes on. His will do. Be so good as to garb him in some especially comfortable chains in their place."
Luffy just manages to catch Fullbody as the man hurtles towards him. Crocodile's already stomping off to find his hook.
...If that was a trace of approval a moment ago, it's gone now.
As usual, Luffy is left unsure.
I don't fare very well with cliche so I'm giving all of those to Knight Sir Crocodile and Squire Luffy to mangle. This is set very early on in the AU, no Robin yet. The other fic in this AU is #6 Die For You, here.
Obviously, there had to be torture in a prompt table like this somewhere...
12. This hurts me more than it hurts you
The really galling part is, Crocodile probably regards this as some perverted kind of test.
He's naked, and still hasn't warmed up again after the icy water they threw over him when they began. His broken fingers sting, but they're almost numb, as is everything beyond his wrists and the tight, cold iron clamped around them.
The chains are bolted into the ceiling, and his arms are locked above him, high up enough that he has to perch almost on his toes. If his trembling legs give way he'll be hanging from them and that will only hurt more. There are already two little discarded scraps of his hide on the floor in front of him, where they were waved before his face, then shaken from the knife. Luffy tries not to shiver too much as the knife slides in again and he feels it peeling the edge of another square from his shoulder. He just grunts, short and sharp like an agitated horse, as the skin is dragged back a fraction more.
Crocodile is watching, eyes glinting dangerously in the bad light of the cell. He's chained, too, to the wall not much more than six feet in front of Luffy, where he can see everything. His hook's been removed, leaving the rarely-seen stump on display. The chain on his left arm is locked above the elbow. There's an open cut on his forehead and the blood from it almost obscures the impressive bruising over almost all that side of his face.
His scowl has a slightly perplexed aura.
It's possible he regards this as a test. It's also possible he feels that Luffy entirely deserves this. Since he was caught without a mark on him after losing control of his rubber spell and wrapping himself in a knot around a tree, Luffy finds it kind of hard to argue with that today. The enemy soldiers laughingly unravelled him and locked him straight into chains. He's not been in Crocodile's service for very long, and for all that he can fight -- a match for Crocodile himself, he knows he would be, if he just had a chance to prove it -- it seems there's not much he can do right. There's a nagging thought, very much not just at the back of his mind, that Croc could get out of his restraints if he chose to. It's not as though they'd have any effectiveness caging sand.
But if it is a test, then it's one that doesn't have a written element (which Luffy is bad at), and doesn't require memorising anything (which Luffy is worse at), doesn't require making anything (which... yeah), or hand-eye coordinationor eloquence or anything else that he can fuck up. So, fine. Because if not telling them Sir Crocodile's secrets is all that's wanted of him, this time, it's a test he has half a chance of passing. So he locks his voice into silence and thinks they can do whatever they want to his back. He can't see it anyway, so it's not like he cares. If they think he's going to talk...
The third little shred of skin flutters off the knife in front of his face. Luffy pants and snarls as the torturer mashes his fingers into the flayed patch of his shoulder. Their hands grab and twist him, showing his back to Crocodile before they let go, leaving him to swing wildly, desperately trying to regain his precarious footing in the chains.
"I thought the boy would be screaming by now, but it seems he's too dumb with fear... or is that too dumb to fear?"
"He's bored," Crocodile's voice cuts in, grinding through the air in all its unimpressed, stony immovability, and Luffy, opening his own mouth to protest, would've bet on the knight taking the opening provided by the torturer's jibe, but he seems more angered by it than Luffy is. "And so am I. Do you have a point you hope to achieve by this little pantomime, Lord Fullbody?" He directs his words not to the torturer, but to the smiling fop at the other end of the cell, who's staying out of spatter rage where Luffy can't see, just feel his eyes enjoying the show.
"You know what we want," the dandy says. "We know King Roger disclosed to you the whereabouts of the spy Nico Robin. If you tell us, Sir Knight, you can spare the unfortunate squire a slow, painful journey into death."
Crocodile chokes a little.
Luffy says, "Hunh?" He swings in little movements on his chains, testing his balance. The torturer's hands aren't on him any more and his fingers are almost dead to sensation anyway, and his back hurts no matter what. The tips of his feet are skinned by the hard floor as the words finally register and he abruptly stops himself. "What, you think he's gonna ca--?"
"Now, really," Lord Fullbody says, striding past Luffy's shoulder to address Crocodile, standing hands on hips between them both in an exaggerated pose. "I know your reputation. Surely no great knight would cave under any amount of torture. But to protect his faithful young squire? Inflicting such torment on a beloved companion is surely a greater pain to bear than agony wrought upon his own flesh! Your resolve must be considerable, Sir Crocodile, allowing the youth to endure so much."
"Are you an idiot?" yowls Luffy.
Crocodile looks at Fullbody narrowly for a moment longer. "You are an idiot."
"This does NOT hurt him more than it hurts me, you bastard! Did you miss him SMIRKING while you kicked me in the nuts?"
"Luffy."
Even though they're probably still more pissed off with each other than the enemy, they're moving at the same time. Crocodile's feet lock around the fop's ankles as Luffy's wildly swung ankles lock around Fullbody's neck, and the aristocrat's screaming chokes off as his arms scrabble desperately at the hold.
"Dammit, get me outta these chains or I'll break his neck!" Luffy yells, which isn't actually intended so much as a threat, because while he's limber, it's still not easy to pull off and the problem, at the moment, is more of trying not to break the man's neck.
"The keys, if you would," Crocodile growls at the torturer, and opens the fingers of his single hand to seize the chiming keyring from its arc through the air. As he sets the key to the lock of the manacles, he kicks Fullbody towards Luffy, who drags him to the floor and stands on him. The torturer flees the cell, but neither of them take much note. They'll be ready by the time reinforcements arrive. Sir Crocodile stands up and chucks the chains aside, speaks his sand charm, and the sand replacing his truncated arm whispers through the air to unlock Luffy.
With his hand, the knight reaches down and drags Lord Fullbody up. "The boy," he spits, "is privy to no less information than myself in this matter. And, for all your beatings, your broken bones and your knives, did not tell."
"Yeah!" Luffy pipes up furiously. The chains fall away and he yanks fingers straight with a yell, rubs tentatively at his stinging shoulder and hunches to hug his arms over the dark bruising that's already coming up across his stomach and groin. Of all the stupid, pointless... This was all about Crocodile for these bastards from the start!!! "Assholes! Of course I know! She's--"
A palm of sand slaps into place across his mouth.
"--Although next time," Crocodile says darkly, "I'm going to have words with Roger about how much he chooses to share with idiot rookie squires." His gaze slides down and narrows. "Put some clothes on. His will do. Be so good as to garb him in some especially comfortable chains in their place."
Luffy just manages to catch Fullbody as the man hurtles towards him. Crocodile's already stomping off to find his hook.
...If that was a trace of approval a moment ago, it's gone now.
As usual, Luffy is left unsure.