#sal ic.

[bunpiece]

woe are the members of the galley-la company.

they have all gathered in @treasureofthesea's room, since iceburg was still in the worst shape. she, paulie, and @willofd were also sporting some pretty serious wounds, covered in bandages. tilestone and lulu were also in rough shape from the assault from the cipher pol 9 members. sal begins to zone out; she can hear the talking around her, but it all feels like it's drifting away as she remembers...

lucci, kaku, kalifa, blueno, ame, kinshi. her eyes water, and she brings a hand to her mouth to cover up the sobs. she has cried so much already, does she have any more tears to cry? sal's heart hurts from the betrayal, especially with how close she had been with three of them. at least, in the very end, chopper of the strawhats had been able to rescue them. for that, she is eternally grateful. iceburg gets to live another day, so do paulie and vichi... she sniffles, wiping away her tears, trying to calm herself. "sorry," she whispers, "sorry. i... i just..." and she grips at her hair, bowing her head forward.

[bunpiece]

sal had lost all sense of time. when they dragged her away from galley-la, this had been the last place she expected to be. in a jail cell, sure, fine, but spandam seemed to have other plans for someone marked with a d who was close to iceburg of all people. no, currently she was seated in a chair, arms still painfully pulled behind her and shackled with seastone cuffs to control her and keep her from using her devil fruit. her legs had been tied to the legs of the chair to keep her immobile. while she was strong, she was no match for the restraints the government had for her. she couldn't see; she doesn't remember now when she had been blindfolded, but it had been after they brought her to this room...

is she still in a room? sal isn't sure... for not only did they blindfold her, but they have put a pair of heavy headphones on her head that drowned out all of the sound around her. and in the headphones played a sound. a mantra told her to her over and over again, seeping into her brain. she can't escape it, no matter how much she's shaken her head to try and knock it off. they had shoved something in her mouth to silence her after she kept begging for them to turn it off. so there she sits, without most of her senses, lost to the darkness and this hypnotism, this mind control destined to break her. it had been hours, that much sal is sure. hours and hours of teaching her the right way, the government's way, telling her the celestial dragons were gods, encouraging her to use violence in order to keep the peace. spandam's goal: reprogram her to be a weapon. lucci and kaku's reports spoke of her strength, her devil fruit power. why pass up the opportunity for greatness?

by the time anyone finds her, sal has her head bowed, the headphones still firm on her head. tears trickle down her cheeks as she loses pieces of herself to the darkness. she has quieted, since her cries for help fell upon deaf ears. and then she waits, lost in the darkness. she sniffles as she softly sobs, not expecting anyone to come to her rescue...because she saw the way they left iceberg, vichi, and paulie... what if they're all dead...? no one... no one is coming for her... why doesn't she just... give in...? wouldn't that just... be... easier? what does she even have left now...?

it is a sorry sight for @treasureofthesea to find.

[bunpiece]

after everything, salvia throws herself into her work. she works overtime whenever she can, and she stops going out less. it's hard to trust anyone anymore, with the way her heart hurts. day in and day out, she remains in her space, cutting through every piece of wood she can muster before her body gives out. she is much more reclusive, and her eyes have a much more dull appearance. she is quiet as she helps with the rebuilding of the main offices, helping cut some more support beams. one of the logs is broken, and sal doesn't notice until she cuts into it and it immediately splinters. she winces immediately as some wood digs into her skin. "shit," she winces, tears in her eyes as she feels the blood start to drip down her arm.

certainly they're all looking at her, and sal can't take it. she hides her face as tears fill her eyes, her wounded arm outstretched, aching. she weeps openly as she stands there, until she hears someone call out for @treasureofthesea. shit, she doesn't want paulie to see her like this. she tries to wipe away the tears, grimacing as she looks over the wound. she goes to grab one of the bigger pieces...

[bunpiece]

sal leans forward, her face cloooooose to his as he snores, resting upon the ship. she had gone with kaku to evaluate the strawhats' ship. "ne, this must be pirate hunter roronoa zoro!" she calls out to kaku, who was going under the ship. sal is honestly impressed that he could sleep so openly. she waves her hand in front of his face, tilting her head. "oi, oi... are you alive there, mr. zoro?" she asks, truly entirely too close to him. @kaizokugaris could definitely feel salvia breathing all over him. listen, she's just trying to figure out if he's alive, okay!

[bunpiece]

everything was happening too quickly for sal to really understand. one moment, the strawhats were the enemy, and then suddenly trusted companions turned out to be world government agents trying to kill them. then, they threw the strawhats out the broken wall... and iceburg and paulie were tied up. for some reason, they had her cuffed with seastone. already, it made her feel weaker than before, draining her from her devil fruit powers. she leans into @darkestjustice as he holds her arm, looking at iceburg and paulie hunched over. tears fill her eyes, and she tugs against lucci's grip.

"paulie!" she shouts, heartbroken, "iceburg! please -- no -- lucci, let me go!"

there is the sound of a creak as blueno activates his powers. the door to escape is opened, and they all begin to leave -- kalifa, nico robin, kaku, and finally she is being dragged to the door. "iceburg! iceburg!" she shrieks, afraid, petrified that this is the last time she'll see either of them alive. "please, please save them from the fire if you're going to take me! please! PLEASE!" the poor young woman is screaming at the top of her lungs, tears trickling down her cheeks, as she shakes her head and tugs against lucci.

[bunpiece]

"hey, kalini," sal grins at @shiinjiiru, leaning against the doorframe of her secretary office. with the way she leans, her muscles are on display, a clear way to show that sal is... flirting. she is trying, anyway, the poor girl. "you eat lunch yet? would you like to go with me?" she's had a crush on kalifa for a while now, maybe a year or even two, and she's finally gotten the courage to ask her out. at least, to lunch, anyway. the foreman stands there, trying to look cool as she waits for her answer.