Hi y'all! This is my new, and only, story as of right now, and my New Year's resolution is to finish one story before I start another. With that in mind, this is the first time I've done a One Piece fanfic, so please go easy on me if there's a bit of inconsistency. Please don't forget to review and/or subscribe; you have no idea how much it means to me!
The Ties That Bind Ch. 1 - And, Who Might You Be?
"Home is a physical space; it's also a state of mind."
- Gretchin Rubin
The slim girl slunk down the padded hallway quietly, making virtually no sound on the carpet despite her heavy boots and quick steps. Checking around her, including above and the carpet below her to make sure that no one had heard her as of yet, she reached out her hand and grasped the door handle in front of her, turning it slowly and pushing it open slightly as it unlatched.
"What is it?" came the slurred voice from inside.
Shaking her head in disbelief while simultaneously trying to hide the laughter that threatened to escape her mouth, she quickly recovered and counted to three before walking silently into the room.
The man she was looking for sat behind his plush mahogany desk in a high-backed cushion chair, signing ledgers and documents without pause. He was a disgusting man, with fat rolling off him in waves and a pair of cigarettes in his mouth.
"And to think that this is one of the most feared men on this side of the world," she mused, finally voicing her thoughts out loud.
The man paused in his writing and looked up at her. She could clearly see the color drain from his face and waited for the inevitable claim that usually followed her around."Y-you..." stuttered the fat man behind the desk. "Gh-Gh-Gh-GHOST!"
She sighed; this man was just like the rest. "Now, that's such a rude thing to say to someone who never died," she stated calmly.
"But...y-you fell! I threw you over the cliff! As a D-Devil Fruit user, y-y-you should be dead!" the man shrieked.
"My dear Tristan, you should always learn about the Devil Fruit abilities before you throw their users over a cliff. Waiting until afterwards can lead to...shall we say, dire consequences." The girl plopped herself down on the man's desk and crossed her legs, swiveling to face him. "Of course, I could always kill you another way, if you prefer. It's just that drowning," she paused, pointing to the cliff outside the window, "is usually a less painful way to go. Similar to falling asleep, or so I've heard."
"J-just hold on a m-minute here, Aya-chan," begged the big man, shaking. "I-I'm sure you and I c-could just w-work something out!"
She leaned over, leaving no gap between her face and his stinking cigarettes. "Yet again, something you do before you throw people off cliffs, Fatso," she said, pulling his cigarettes out of his mouth and extinguishing them using the desk. Two burn holes appeared on the surface of the wood, tarnishing the flawless craftmanship. Tristan attempted to backpedal away from the demon in front of him, but the chair was stuck in the rug and didn't move. He grabbed the arms of the chair as tight as he could and prayed for a miracle.
Said demon grinned wolfishly, and pulled two knives on her persona from their sheathes. "Oi, Fatso," she called to him. He opened one eye a sliver of the way, just enough to see what she was doing. Seeing her scrape the sides of the two blades together, his eyes quickly sprang open and he watched the two blades, petrified."Would you prefer the throwing knife or the hunting knife?" she asked casually.
"E-Eh?"
"I said, throwing knife or hunting knife, Fatso. You choose, because it determines how many more minutes you have left to keep living."
Tristan felt beads of sweat running down his neck as he looked at the two blades she held lightly in her hands. It gave the image of her waiting for her next meal, which made him shudder. He took a breath to give her his answer when a man's scream resounded down the hallway. He nervously let out the breath he was holding, and his nerves shot even higher when he heard the girl's comment.
"Damn pirates..."
Pirates? Pirates, here in his mansion? No, that wasn't possible. His mansion was protected! Sure, an assassin got to him without having to lift a finger, but come on! That was to be expected! He had Marines and bodyguards, and they were getting their asses kicked by some mere pirates?!
"Oh well, game over," the demon in front of him sighed with regret. Clearly an idea came over her face, and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, making him flinch."I've just had a splendid idea!" she said to him happily. "Here's the deal: you will run, or rather waddle, as fast as you can for the door. I wil give you a two-second head start, and then I will throw these knives over my shoulder. If you get lucky and they both miss, then you can see if your luck continues with the pirates, because I won't be following you. Okay?"
Tristan nodded nervously, and stood up as he was told."Ready? Here goes!"And with that, Tristan waddled as fast as he could towards the double doors, slipping out the open one just as the count of "Two!" was heard. Milliseconds later, two thuds resounded on the other side of the closed door, and Tristan could have sworn that he saw the points of each blade sticking out of his side of the door, prompting him to waddle for dear life.
Deciding to let the pirates decide his fate wasn't her most satisfying choice, but she let it go just the same and recollected her knives before returning to the desk. Leafing through the documents on his desk for anything of use to her, she concluded that it was all trash and discarded it.
"Looking for something, Madamoiselle?" came a smooth voice from the doorway.
Not bothering to see who it was since she had already sensed the person's entrance as to be non-life-threatening, she opened the drawers of Tristan's desk."Well, unless you happen to have something that I need, then no, I'm not looking for anything, but thanks for asking," she answered.
"Would you happen to know where the treasure room is then, Miss?" asked the voice again.
"Down two floors, and through the double doors on your right," she replied, not even having to think about it.
"Much obliged," said the voice.
The presence left, signifying the man's departure. Not finding anything of value or importance in Tristan's desk, she not-so-gently shut the drawers and turned to look out the massive double windows that stood behind the equally large desk. Opening one, she looked down at the ground below her, and the sea that surrounded it. 'Throwing people off a cliff in your own backyard was not such a bright thing to do, now, was it,' she mused quietly before jumping out the window. She walked to the edge of the cliff, watching the sea come up at her as the waves broke against the cliff face. She sat and stared out at the ocean.
'It's time to leave again, isn't it?' she thought to herself. 'Once again, I have to leave everybody behind and try to get into the good graces of new people in the next place. I'm tired of always being on the move...
A scream ripped through the air from the second story window. Smiling to herself, she leaned back on her hands, dangled her legs over the edge, and let the wind pick up her hair, throwing it into a tumbled mess.'But I'm almost there. This is almost over. Just a few more jobs and I'll be able to settle in with the guys. I'll have a steady income, and then I can repay my debt until I'm free!'
"Oi, you!" came a gruff voice from behind her.
Returning to reality, she leaned even further back and bent her head backwards in time to see, upside-down of course, a green-haired swordsman coming towards her.'Marimo,' was her first thought. It made her smile, and she rolled over onto her stomach, sliding forwards to pull herself away from the edge of the cliff.
"How can I be of service to you, swordsman?" she asked sweetly, with a large grin on her face.
He scowled. "Who are you? Are you one of the fat guy's comrades?"
Her face darkened, and the smile vanished. "No. I would gladly kill myself before I work for someone like him."The swordsman stared at her, confused."Fatso was my target. My boss is more powerful and well-known than that loser. It just so happened that Fatso pissed off my boss, and I had to clean up after him."
"Then, who do you work for?"
She stared at him coldly. "None of your business. Not yet, anyway. It would be better for you if you didn't know, trust me."
"NAMI-SWAAAAN!" came a shout from the side of the mansion.
The marimo-headed swordsman groaned. "That stupid ero-cook!" he cursed under his breath. A few moments later, a tall, blonde man came running around the corner, but stopped at the sight of the pair at the edge of the cliff. Anger made his brows snap together, and he advanced on the swordsman."Oi, Marimo," he threatened. "Just what do you think you're doing to that lady over there?"
"Inquiring," answered the swordsman shortly. "You got a problem with that, you erotic cook?"
"If it involves a lady, then you bet I do!" answered the blonde hotly.
A moment later, a pair of fists appeared over their heads, each one clobbering one of the men over the head into submission. "Fight later, guys," scolded the orange haired girl behind them. "Luffy says we have to get our asses moving right now!"The two men grumbled their acquiescence, and the darker haired woman behind them smiled. The blonde tried to make it up to her by stating that he had her treasure, but despite the beli signs that appeared in her eyes, she remained calm.
"Where are you headed?" asked the assassin casually.
"Now that the Log Pose is set, our next stop should be Dressrosa, and then Zou in order to drop off Law and the samurai dudes," answered the orange-haired girl. "Why?"
"Would you mind terribly if I tagged along? My destination is Dressrosa, you see, and I'd rather not have to stow away with cargo."
"Well, I guess it'd be okay, but you'd have to check with the captain first," said the orange-hair. "We have to go meet up with him, so why don't you come with us?"
"Thank you very much," came the reply.
"Come along, you two," said the orange viciously, grabbing the two men by the ear and dragging them along.
"RIGHT AWAY, NAMI-SWAAAN!"
The young assassin trailed behind the unorthodox crew all the way to the harbor, where they met up with more of the crew: a perverted cyborg, an equally perverted living skeleton, a reindeer who was apparently their doctor, and the captain, a rubber teen and well-known as the son of the Revolutionary Monkey D. Dragon, Monkey D. Luffy.
Said captain came running up to her. "COOL! You guys brought back a new friend! Hey, will you PLEEEEASE join my crew?"
Pulling out another pair of knives from their sheathes, she flipped one so that she was holding it backwards and pointed the other one at the rubberman who had embraced her. "Let go, Captain, before I slice you into tomorrow," she replied cooly, her head swimming with the rubber man's thoughts and emotions. "And no, I will not join your...crew. I am simply traveling with you until I reach Dressrosa, and then we'll go our separate ways. In return for your assistance, I will help you fend off any attacks that may fall upon this ship until we reach Dressrosa. Fair enough?"
The rubber human nodded excitedly as she resheathed her knives, and turned to the cyborg.
"Franky, are we all set to sail?"
The cyborg nodded in return. "Awaiting your orders, Captain!"
"Sanji?"
"Ready here too, Captain!" came the blonde's voice from one of the cabins.
"Chopper?"
"All set, Luffy!" called out the little reindeer, making the assassin do a double-take.
'What a weird crew,' she thought. 'It's a wonder that this ship gets anywhere.'
"SET SAIL!" yelled Luffy loudly.
She watched as Sanji and the marimo-head climbed the ropes up to the sails, jumping off the mast and unfurling the sails at the same time. Nami looked at her Log Pose and then gave Franky directions, to which Franky responded by giving the helm a good spin counter-clockwise, away from the dock. The marimo-head moved to the rear of the ship, and Luffy stretched his rubber arms out until he grasped the figurehead of the ship, his body catching up with his arms a moment later and plopping him down on top of it.
Slowly but surely, the ship backed out of the port and turned towards the open sea. The ship's sails caught the wind full on, propelling the ship forwards towards the next island. Quickly adapting to the rocking of the sea, the crew relaxed and dispersed, each person doing their own thing.
Luffy's head then popped into her field of vision directly in front of her nose, prompting her to grab his head and pull him down so that he now sat in front of her. She leaned back against the ship's railing, quickly releasing him due to the torrent of thoughts invading her mind, and studied the teen as he excitedly turned to face her.
"So, what's your name?" he asked her, cocking his head almost completely sideways.
She observed him for a minute more before giving a big sigh. This kid wasn't out to get her, so no harm there. "I've had many names before, but the one that I usually go by is Aya."
"Hmmmmm..." the rubber man scratched his chin, as if thinking of something, then jumped up onto his feet. "Okay! Aya, will you join my crew?"
Aya stared at the rubber kid before her, trying very hard to fight the face-palm urge that overcame her. "I told you already, no. My answer won't change just because you keep asking me."
"Awww, why not?" Luffy pouted.
'This kid is seriously a captain?' she thought. "Because I am under a contract with someone else right now, and until the contract is over I have to do as he says," she replied.
The dispirited captain left, and she was soon approached by the rest of the crew, sans the marimo-head.
"Sorry'" said Nami as she watched Luffy pout on the figurehead of the ship. "He's always like that."
"May I ask why you follow him as a Captain?"
"Well, there are two reasons, Aya-chan," replied Sanji, blowing out a puff of smoke from the cigarette in his mouth and ignoring the glare she gave him for calling her by that nickname. "One is that we are each following our own dreams, but we are all headed in the same direction: the end of the Grand Line, Raftel. And the second reason is because he knows the true meaning of friendship and will do anything for us, so we're returning the favor."
Aya observed Sanji as well, before turning to face the sea and leaning against the railing. She watched as the island behind them continuously shrank, getting smaller by the minute. "The true meaning of friendship, huh?" she muttered to herself. She felt tears spring to her eyes at the thought, but quickly willed them away.
She felt the eyes of the Straw-Hat crew watching her, but didn't move or acknowledge them again, and so their presences disappeared one by one as they went back to doing their own thing. Deciding to make herself useful ,since she was borrowing their ship, she quickly scaled the ropes that led up to the crow's nest and lightly hopped into it. She did a quick 360-degree check of the sea around them, but the only thing she saw was the receding island in the distance. Looking up at the sun to see what time it was, she decided to check the area again in another hour. Pulling out her journal from the knapsack on her back, she began writing an account of what had happened during her stay in Tristan's mansion; she knew her boss would use it later to evaluate her performance.
The time passed quickly as she got lost in her writing, not forgetting to check on the ship's surroundings every once in a while. As evening neared, she was interrupted by Sanji, carrying a bowl of hot food."I brought you dinner, Aya-chwan~!" he sang as he popped over the cross of the mast into the crow's nest.
Aya put her journal back into her knapsack along with the pencil, and gave Sanji a cold stare that made him cower slightly. "While I appreciate the gesture, it would be appreciated if you didn't call me by that name, Sanji-san."
Sanji was taken aback for a moment, but apparently could not be stopped. "As you wish, Princess!" he said brightly. "Won't you join us in my lovely kitchen?"
"I'm afraid I'll have to refuse, Sanji-san," she declined forcefully. "I prefer to be by myself."
Sanji stared at her before climbing out of the crow's nest and back down the ropes, looking up at the crow's nest one last time as he walked back to his kitchen to save the food from the bottomless stomach of his captain.
Back up in the crow's nest, Aya picked up the bowl that Sanji had left behind and started eating, eventually digging in and wolfing it all down due to hunger. She leaned back against the side of the crow's nest, listening to the noise that came from the Straw-Hat crew's dinner below.
Eventually the marimo-head came up to the crow's nest, obviously surprised to see it already occupied by someone else. Aya nodded to him in greeting, and he responded with a grunt of acknowledgement. With someone else occupying the crow's nest, Aya took the opportunity to go stretch her legs on the deck for a little while.
What she didn't expect was to see Trafalgar Law sitting under the orange tree, staring at her with his nodachi balanced on his shoulder. She stared at him, observing him and determining his threat level to her person. He stared back for some unknown reason, and his eyes seemed to pierce down to her very soul. They were cold, gray eyes that perfectly matched his personality. It was no wonder he was called the "Surgeon of Death" with a gaze like that.
"Oi!" came a shout from the crow's nest.
The pair on deck looked up at the marimo-head, who was leaning over to look down at them.
"There's a ship approaching from the port side, heading directly for us!"
"Can you identify it?" Law called up.
"It's hard to tell, but it looks like the Marines!" the swordsman responded.
"How far out?" Law asked.
"They're on the horizon, but moving fast. Two minutes at the most!"
The rest of the crew, and a samurai with his son, rushed out of the cabin prepared for a fight.
Seeing the grin on their faces, she reasoned that there would be no need for her to assist them in this fight and relaxed against the starboard railing to watch them. Apparently the surgical Shichibukai had gotten the same idea, as he moved to stand next to her against the railing.
"There's around two thousand Marines coming at us," mused the assassin out loud.
Law's head turned in surprise. "There's no way that two thousand Marines can fit on that one ship," he countered.
Aya nodded her head to the stern and the bow of the ship. "Seems like there are quite a few ships out there," she replied. And sure enough, moments later the marimo-head sighted more warships coming from the front and the rear of the ship.
Law turned to her. "How did you know?" he asked, his grey eyes belying a spark of curiosity within him.
"I've been well trained to sense people," she replied casually. "Besides, those Marines are making quite a ruckus."
Law stared at her, before turning to keep an eye on the Straw-Hat captain.
The Marines were finally within cannonball range, and they started firing with all their might at the tiny pirate ship. Rocking with the boat at the close calls as the cannonballs still fell just short of the ship, the assassin smiled. "Now this is more like it!" she said cheerily.
Law, a bit more cautious due to his Devil Fruit ability, watched as she started laughing. They both ducked as a cannonball soared over their heads, which irritated him a bit and he decided to jump into the game.
"Room," he said quietly.
A blue sphere extended around the ship and even reached the warships, changing the atmosphere and catching the attention of the Marines. Instantly, cries could be heard from the leading Marine warship. "It's the Shichibukai, Trafalgar Law!" "It's Law!" "The Surgeon of Death!" "Stay away!"
Aya turned to him. "You're quite popular, aren't you?"
Law grinned back at her. "Comes with the job," he replied. Unsheathing his nodachi, he made slashing motions in the air. Several hundred marines found their various body parts, and parts of the ship, flying through the air next to them.
"Shambles," he stated calmly.
Immediately, the body parts started spinning around in Law's artificial atmosphere until they collided with something else. More than one Marine had the...ehrm, pleasure of seeing the ship's pieces get attached where their arms or legs should have been and a comrade's body part in the wrong spot on the wrong body.
Aya, watching him from behind, gave a low whistle. "Very nice, Mr. Law," she stated, approving.
"Why, thank you," he responded, keeping a casual eye on the chaos he had created.
"Now it's my turn," said Aya. Instead of the wolfish grin that normally adorned her face, a look of dread had taken it's place. She walked to the port side of the ship, watching as the Straw-Hat crew continuously attacked the lead warship. Deciding that they had enough power to take care of it, she walked to the rear of the ship and faced the two oncoming warships who had decided to try and take out the ship's rudder and rear half.
She extended one arm towards one warship, and the other arm towards the other. "Soul Link," she stated calmly.
Hundreds of foreign thoughts and emotions suddenly entered her head, making her waver and lose focus momentarily. She fought the urge to drop the link and clear her head, wincing at the cacophany that raged inside her head. Tightening her rein on those invading thoughts, she balled both outstretched hands into fists. "Perish Song."
Far away, on the decks of the Marine ships, the Marines all screamed as they felt the life being extinguished from their bodies. They fell silent a minute later, and slowly fell to the deck or overboard into the ocean.
Releasing the grip on her powers, Aya slowly opened her eyes. The pair of warships were silent; nothing moved on them except for the billowing sails. Exhaling, Aya collapsed onto the deck of the smaller ship, unable to support her weight any longer. Pushing herself backwards until she was up against the railing, she screamed as the emotions of those hundreds of Marines suddenly overwhelmed her mind.
'Death,' the voices whispered. 'That's all you're good for; that's what people like you live for! You are worthless, a forsaken piece of garbage unless you kill!' 'You honestly believe you can ever have friends, when all you bring is the promise of death to others?' 'Forget it! Nobody wants trash like you around! Why don't you just go kill yourself and spare everyone else the trouble, huh?'
Aya wrapped her arms over her head, trying to block out the voices that pelted her with insults. Her head felt like it could split at any second; the raging thoughts hurt her head and her chest, making her head pound and her heart race. She thought she felt someone's hands on her arms and her cheeks, but she was unable to open her eyes to see who it was or what they were doing.
Just as suddenly as they had come, the voices all fell silent, and she became aware of a hand at the side of her neck.
'Pressure point, huh?' she thought as her consciousness started to fade.
'Thank you, whoever you are.'