The 7th Heir: Chapter 2

The Dead Man's Tale
''Argo was frozen for some unknown reason. Throughout his childhood, he had faced many horrors, but something about this hooded black figure shook him up. It was as if time had frozen, and it was just him, and that monster. Naomi rammed into Argo, pushing him out of the figures path. The figure, who had lunged at the two, destroyed the book case that was behind Argo.''

Naomi: Snap out of it please!

Naomi grabbed Argo's hand and the two ran down the hallway that the black figure had came from. Ecstasy's voice echoed throughout Argo's mind. "Avoid the seekers".

Argo: That's it!

Naomi looked back at Argo as the two ran down the dark hallway confused.

Naomi: Stop spouting nonsense, this isn't the time!

Argo: No, hear me out. My old man said avoid the seekers. This is like the game of hide 'n' seek we all used to play a long time ago.

Naomi: So basically, this whole this is just a big game of hide and seek?

Argo: What did I just say!!!

Naomi stuck her tongue out Argo. The two finally reached the end of the long hallway. It was a large room, lit by a dying chandelier above. Argo and Naomi hid in a corner, waiting to see if the seeker would rush into the room after them. After a few seconds of silence, something eerie caught Naomi's attention.

Naomi: A....A dead-

Argo: Woman a what!

Naomi: A dead-

Argo: Spit it out!

Naomi: Shut up idiot! There's a dead body right there how could you not see it!!!

Argo: Whaaaaat! I knew the old man was twisted but that's what happens when you get caught!? I thought he loved us!

Naomi slowly approached the lifeless body that laid in the center of the room. An image of the will reading flashed in her head. Naomi gasped.

Naomi: This is the guy I sat next to in the room when the will was being read.

Argo looked at the face of horror on the man's face. He sighed.

Naomi: This just makes the situation more dire. We really don't have time to be messing around like this.

Argo*sarcasm*: Oh yea, because we were totally living it up before!

Naomi shot Argo a look of annoyance.

Naomi: How about I kill you to make the seeker's job easier, huh!?

Argo and Naomi clashed heads. A quiet, barely noticeable noise caught Argo's attention. Argo immediately covered Naomi's mouth and the two hid back in the corner. Naomi pried Argo's hands away.

Naomi *whispers*: What are you doing?

Argo shushed her and pointed to the hallway. The two intensely stared at the darkness, waiting for something to pounce. The silence was unbearable.

Naomi: Above!

Argo looked up to see seekers crawling all over the dark ceiling like a swarm of spiders. They began to drop down on the floor one by one. Argo and Naomi ran to the center of the room. As more and more seekers fell from the roof, their options for escape became more limited. Argo grabbed Naomi's hand and the two headed for the hallway that they came from. The fist seeker from before appeared in front of them, blocking their escape.

Argo: Damn it! Were gonna have to fight. I hope you're strong.

Naomi: That's my line.

The two smirked as they prepared for battle. Argo crossed his arms and fingers, summoning 7 floating heads, roughly the size of footballs, around him in a circle. Naomi looked over at him.

Naomi: Huh? what kind of devil fruit is that? Smiley faces?

Argo: *chuckle* Headless Mortar!

One of the heads revolving around Argo shot at one of the seekers, sending it and all the other seekers near it flying towards the wall. The head quickly came back to Argo.

Naomi: Soru!

In the blink of an eye, Naomi had appeared in front of one of the seekers that were surrounding them.

Naomi: Shigan!

She jabbed the seeker in front of her with one of her fingers, impaling it. Another seeker attacked her from behind.

'Noami: Tekkai! '

Her muscles hardened, and the seekers attack did little to no damage to her. Naomi was using Rokushiki, the fighting style of the navy! Argo stopped attacking the seekers for a second and looked at her, unsure how to feel. A seeker swung at him, breaking him out of his thoughts and bringing him back to reality. He crossed his fingers again, causing his heads to spin in place. The friction they built up set them on fire. Argo sent them all at a cluster of seekers

Argo: Headless Blaze!

This continued on for a few minutes until something dropped from one of the defeated seekers. It was another video den den mushi.

Argo: What?

He ran over and picked it up, avoiding one of the seekers attacks. As Naomi was fighting the seekers, she felt a hand grab her. This caused a moment of fear for her until she turned to realize it was just Argo. When she saw the den den mushi in his hands, she knew it was time to flee. The battle was going nowhere, more and more seekers would replace the ones that had fallen. To Naomi's surprise, the two began to fly. She saw one of Argo's heads biting the back of his shirt, and lifting both him and her up, to the chandelier. They both sat on it and rested for a bit, until Argo put one of his heads on Naomi's neck. She was frozen.

Argo: I've only ever seen the navy use those techniques. Who are you really?

One of Argo's floating heads was at Naomi's throat, ready to attack. She gulped. After a moment of silence, she sighed.

Naomi: I...I grew up in the navy, but I ran away a few years ago to become a pirate.

Argo was shocked at this news. He dwelled on it for a few moments.

Argo: Then answer me this, how do you know my old man?

Argo stared her in the eyes, awaiting an answer. Naomi slowly lowered the floating head from her neck.

Naomi: Do we really have time for this?

Argo stared at her with the intensity of a killer. That was his inner assassin kicking in. Lately, he had been letting his guard down around her. But he was trained to trust no one. Naomi could feel the murderous intent of Argo. Suddenly, it went away.

Argo: I'm sorry.

Naomi sighed. She could tell something more was on Argo's mind.

Naomi: A..anyways, we should watch that den den mushi before this chandelier breaks.

Argo nodded and pointed it towards the wall. Like last time, a video of Ecstasy appeared.

Ecstasy: If you are watching this, that means you have defeated one of the key seekers. These are seekers carrying den den mushi. But I digress, what you must know is that in this building, there are 7 chests. Each one corresponding to my 7 sons. Each son must find their designated chest. Then, you will find the exit to this building. That is all for now.

The video abruptly cut out. The two were silent. Naomi was waiting for Argo to speek. After a minute of pure silence went by. Naomi decided to say something.

Naomi: I think w-

Argo: Join my crew!

Argo grabbed Naomi's hands. She was frozen, in shock.

Naomi: What?

Argo: I'm gonna...If I even want to stand a chance at finding this heirloom, I'm gonna need a strong crew. Look, I don't care about your past. I know you're strong, and I need you. Please...join my crew.

This didn't seem like the sarcastic Argo that Naomi had been with. He was serious. Naomi chuckled.

Naomi: On one condition.

Argo: What? just join!

Naomi: You have to promise to get us out of this alive, before the timer runs out.

Argo looked at her, then grinned.

Argo: What do you think I was planning to do?

The two began laughing together when the chandelier began cracking. They both looked at the chain that was holding it in the air, then below, at all the swarming seekers waiting for them to fall.

Argo: This is bad.

Dust from the cracking roof above began to fall on them. A loud crack filled the room. It wasn't the chandelier breaking, but the chandelier triggering a hidden door. A door, at roof level opened, and the only way in was to swing from the chandelier.

Naomi: We were meant to get on this thing?

Argo: I guess so. My old man sure is crazy.

Naomi began swinging the chandelier.

Argo: Hey! What are you doing!?

Naomi: Are you dumb? We obviously have to swing the chandelier to reach that door!

Argo: I bet those seekers are real hungry, it would be a shame if you fell.

The two angrily clashed heads once again. As they swung the chandelier, they got closer and closer to reaching the door.

Naomi: 3...2...1...Jump!

They both jumped off of the swinging chandelier and into the doorway. It was a cramped vent space.

Argo: Great. Another hallway!

Naomi *sarcasm*: I don't know. I'm pretty sure this is a vent space.

They both crawled for a few minutes when the vents began to creak.

Argo: Crap!

They both fell as the vents broke. They landed in a hallway below. Naomi fell on top of Argo.

Naomi: Hmm, didn't hurt as much as I thought it would

Argo: That's because you fell on me!

Naomi *sarcasm*: sorry about that.

As the two got up and dusted off their clothes they both noticed something. There was a man behind them. They both jumped back, away from the man. He didn't appear to be a seeker. Naomi and Argo both looked at each other, ready to fight.

Man: Don't worry, I come in peace.