Runaways: chapter 1

I jolted up, and only then realized it was a horrendous mistake, since my head started spinning. I dizzily looked around.

...There was no way in hell this place was in Goa.

The gray bricks in the wall, though well-kept, were visibly much older than even the kingdom walls. The light coming through the window was blindingly white, not warm orange like in the island. The breeze coming through it was chilly and smelled of earth, not like anywhere in the island.

And then my childhood survival instinct kicked in.

I kicked off the blankets as a sudden adrenaline rush invaded my body, jumping off the bed. Stumbling, I ran to the door and yanked it open. The gray corridor was deserted. Nevertheless, I chose going to the right and ran. Closed doors flew past me in a blur as i ran, ran as fast as I did when I found out about Luffy being captured, as fast as I did when I found out about the fire, as fast as when I ran from my parents' house-

I almost tripped over my own feet and stopped when I remembered. I had run away. I was setting out for sea. The Celestial Dragon shot my boat. It exploded. I shouldn't be alive.

...Why was I?

I stayed still and tried to think straight. The people here - if any - probably weren't bad, since they had saved me. Now that I thought of it, I felt a litttle stiff, from all the bandages on me. But why had they saved me? I was just a boy who happened to be drowning because of a Tenryuubito. Which was perfectly legal, as stupid as that might seem. That meant that rescuing me was illegal... Why would someone take that risk? There must have been a hidden purpose... Unless of course it was Ace, but I had ruled out that possibility - Ace didn't have an antique stone castle. Duh.

Voices from behind me made me snap back to the present. They were still far off, but I could tell that they were in distress. Maybe they found out I was gone. I realized that neither of them were the voice that I heard in my... dreams, sleep, that state I was in, whatever. So I kept running. It was then that I realized that my legs hurt. Probably from not using them for a long time, but I kept running.

Suddenly, the corridor opened up to a large entrance hall openly adjacent to an even larger ballroom. Gray and empty. No furniture, no paintings, and not a soul. Why would they want such a big place if there were barely any people?

Far inside the ballroom, I spotted a large staircase. I dashed up them to find another long, but wider hallway, also bordered with large doors. At the far end, there was a double door, bigger than the rest, and wide open. I ran across the hall towards it. I started making out a large desk, a high chair, and an open balcony. I practically jumped inside and just stood there prepared, expecting something to happen.

The chair behind the desk turned around to reveal a sharp-faced, muscular, long-haired man, with a tribal tattoo across the left side of his face and a somewhat scary face. "Oh, you're awake," he said with a careless tone and surprised eyes.

I flinched. That voice... And that face... Where had I seen it- it was the man I met at Goa during the fire! He was the one that saved me? So many questions popped up on my mind then, I couldn't do much but fall to my knees, staring at him. "Y-You..." I mumbled. "Y-You saved me?"

He simply nodded. "Yeah."

"W-Why?" I asked, not in the least bit less confused.

He shrugged, a bizarre-looking childish expression on his face. "A hunch."

I didn't know why, but that sounded so strangely familiar. "A hunch..." I repeated. "W-Where are we?"

"Baltigo."

"..." I could see this was getting me nowhere. "A-And where is that?"

"Southern Calm Belt."

He's unbelievable.