Hello, my fellow readers! Hope I didn't make you wait too long! Well, it is the same day I posted the last chapter…bah! Doesn't matter! So, maybe this chapter is going to be a little boring compared to the others, but I decided to talk about Shikyo's past before she reaches the execution platform.

Shikyo: Don't say it like that! I already have trouble at staying impassible! Too bad I didn't talk a little longer with Law…

Sorry, sorry…Well! I hope this chapter helps you understand why she doesn't really care if she dies. I think we get attached more easily to characters when we know their past.

(10th Squad 3rd Seat) *Whispers so Shikyo can't hear* Well, it wouldn't be a romance if he didn't come around, would it?

So, let us begin! Nice reading!

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Chapter 3- The back that fades away

I lift my eyes at the marines, impassible. One of them gets closer with a sea prism stone mask. What was he afraid of? Did he think I would bite? At this point, it wouldn't have helped or made things worst either. I was sentenced to death whatever I would do. I lift my chin, waiting for him to place the mask, and he takes me by the arm to make me stand up. He was holding me tightly, but there wasn't any rudeness in his movements. I lift my eyes to see his face. It was weird to see a sadden look. It was too late, anyway. It's weird, but…I'm wondering…when was the last time someone was sad for me? That was…a long time ago…

I was five years old. Ma mother had left this world for good. She had been murdered. The witness of the scene never testified. He committed suicide, not wanting to live with such a memory engraved in his mind. My father was furious that the murderer could never be captured and brought to justice. So I, little girl not really smart, started to cry:

-He's a bad guy! He left without helping Mama!

My father had lifted me from the ground and had sited me on his laps:

-You shouldn't say that, Shikyo. The man didn't do anything wrong. He didn't want to remember what happened because he was sad, too. He wanted to forget, you know?

I had looked at him, but I didn't answer. I hadn't understood at the time. My father was a blacksmith. He had a real passion for swords and, even though the only swords he sold were simple since only the marines asked for them, he loved trying to give different shapes and styles to the blades he forged. I loved looking at him work. He would pass hours bent over ovens and tools creating different blades. He had started showing me how to do after my mother's death. At the age of ten, my father gave me two metals, a black one and a white one. He had told me to choose because it would be my task to forge the weapon I would defend myself with. I needed to forge my own blade. He told me to find the shape and signification, that it would be important so I could feel close to my work. I needed to infuse my soul in it. He left me alone in the forge with my thoughts. When he came back, he found me with two forged blades. He had looked at me, intrigued:

-What did you forge there?

I had turned to him, the most serious of world, and I had lifted the black and red blade with my right hand:

-This one is called Nishibi. It is the blade with which I shall bring my enemy to eternal light. She represents you, father.

I had lifted the white and blue blade with my left hand:

-And this one is called Tsuki. This blade will defend me against the darkness of defeat and fear. This one…it represents mother.

My father had smiled, even though this smile looked sad:

-I see, you really put your soul into it.

It is a little after that I discovered my devil fruit. Well, I didn't really discover it. It was my father who left it behind for me. It was three days after my own blades were forged. It had been some time, about a month before I forged Tsuki and Nishibi, that a boat at coasted at the port. Father was passing a lot of time with the crew on board. He would even forget to come back home, sometimes. One night, he didn't come back home at all. I stood up with the intention of meeting with him at the ship. I had reached the port and had seen the ship was slowly leaving. Right there, standing at the back of the ship, I could see my father next to the man navigating the ship. He was turning his back at me…he was leaving…I cried a lot, that night. I cried until dawn, completely collapsed on the wooden floor of the port. It's only when the port officials appeared that I stood up. I ran back home and closed the door shut and locked. I found the fruit on the table of the kitchen with a letter. I opened the letter, hoping it said when he would come back. It wasn't the case. Actually, it was telling that he wouldn't come back. It was saying he was leaving me the choice of helping people forget or not. It was saying that, in his case, he had found the only way to help him pass over mother's death. It was to leave for the sea.

What he had written made me remember about the man who had committed suicide because he couldn't bear to remember my mother's murder. I wanted to help people. But, more than anything, I think I wanted to forget what had happened. I had a hope that this fruit could help me like my father had said that I could help people forget. It was more complicated than I thought. It was with fear and despair that I discovered that I didn't had to forget anything, not even the slightest memory, and that I was forced to see the memories people wanted to forget. I wasn't even mature. All those painful memories were driving me crazy, sometimes. But I found a way to seal the memories so they wouldn't come to haunt me next. I still had a pocket watch that belong to my mother. Being close to this item, I succeeded at removing the memories of other people from my memory and to seal them in the watch, keeping them locked up with the numbers. I would be, in a way, a guardian of memories.

As they take me out of my cell, I notice the movement of the little den den mushi. He had come back on his trail. I'm sure he is staring at me, right at this moment. I turn my gaze away so the marines wouldn't notice. We never know. Maybe they could track back Trafalgar Law's den den mushi with this little snail. Or maybe they would simply get rid of it. He was living here, it would be sad if he was thrown outside. I walk between the two marines in the door's direction, third marine bringing up the rear. We pass the door and they make me stop. They needed to lock the door even though no one was inside. It was futile. No one would enter a donjon willingfully when there is strictly nobody left inside. We come closer to the stairs, now. I look at the steps coming closer with some regret. If only I had known that the power I used to help people would turn against me. I should have convinced people to testify before making them forget. That would have saved me from finding myself with shackles. I wonder what will happen when I'll be no more. Other viols, other murders…and people wouldn't want to testify, even if they remember. I think this village will be destroyed. Maybe I brought it closer to its lost by wanting to help. It's too late to repair my mistakes, now. I trip on the first step and fall on my knees. One of the marines sighs:

-Stand up.

I was worn out. This sea prism stone had drained me all of my strength. I took the time to breathe before trying to stand up. It was a little complicated with all those chains. I start walking up the stairs. I was counting them slowly, adding a number with each of my steps I made, and making it a pleasure to make them slowly. I say a pleasure, but I wasn't able to climb any faster. With tiredness, I am ashamed to say it, but fear was ravaging me, as if she was striking me so I would stop. When I arrive upstairs, I look with apprehension at the new hallway that was stretching in front of me. The last line. The marines walk forward, but I stay motionless, starting to tremble lightly. The two marines next to me take me by the arms to pull me forward. I walk, even if it is without conviction, so they don't need to drag me. The door was already open on the courtyard. They make me pass it and go forward to some kind of platform that would be my pedestal to the sky. Two marines are standing on the platform. The one on the left was holding Nishibi and the one on the right was holding Tsuki. As I arrive between them, I sigh:

-You aren't on the right side.

They look at me, puzzled, and I continue:

-The red blade goes to the right and the blue one to the left. At least respect the symbolic of a blade.

It seems like they have more honor than I thought. They exchange weapons and look at me, as if they wanted to know my opinion. Only my eyes showed them my gratitude:

-Much better…

They make me kneel on the platform and attach my chains to rings inlaid in the wood. What futile precautions. I was worn out, unable to move anything else than my head now that I was on my knees. I lifted my eyes at the crowd, waiting to hear the villagers yelling for my execution to start sooner. They did no such thing. People were looking at each other, not knowing how to react. What they would see on the platform was the little girl that had grown up with the village. The girl who had many times helped others. Some were remembering seeing me talk with witnesses who were depressing before our conversation and had started seeing the light of the sun. I lift my eyes to this sun that was coming closer to the edge. The colors would soon appear. I look at the sky…seeing it slowly taking a sweet orange color, now. The marines lift the blades and look at me:

-Do you have something to say, sentenced one?

I look at the blades they had in hand and my throat squeezes:

-Will you look on the villagers? You won't leave this village, right?

The marines holding the blades look at each other for a moment:

-The base will be rebuilt, actually. We will protect these people.

I nod, happy to hear it.

-I that case, I can leave without worries. I'll go meet my mother, up there, and I can wait for patiently for my father. The moon and the sun saw me grow. It is with them that I shall disappear.

-So be it.

A woman steps closer in the crowd:

-Wait! I'm begin you, don't kill her! She couldn't have done those horrors you accused her of having done!

A man yells right after:

-That's right! There were crimes she was way too young to have done them!

-Release her!

-Let her go!

I looked at the crowd, totally lost. What was the matter with them, all of a sudden? They were, defending me? Tears rolled down my cheeks, they were tears of joy. I would die, a judgment like this being irreversible, but I wouldn't regret. I smiled under my mask. So I closed my eyes, serein. I felt the marines changing the weight of their legs to strike down to my heart. I was ready.

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Mouahaha! I cut there! So, not too boring, I hope. It explains a good part, right?

Shikyo: You can't stop there! I stuck on the platform!

Why not? I'm the one writing, after all! Anyway, it will delay the time the blades will strike in your direction. It puts suspense! It will have more action later, don't worry. After, that she dies or not, Trafalgar is coming!

Law: What makes you think I'm not there already?

Aaaaaaaaaaah! Don't make me jump like that!

Law: That's for stopping in such an annoying way. You could've at least make me arrive, don't ya think? She's stuck there!

Would you look at that, you're worried for real XD Well, I'm waiting for your reviews, dears readers. ^-^

See you around soon, I hope!

*whispers so neither Law or Shikyo hears* I'll show what happened on Law's side next. Wait for it ^-^