Huffing indignantly, she trudged on in the general direction she knew she needed to go in, alone.
No, she hadn't let her attention slip from Zoro for more than five seconds and turned around to find he had wandered off and gotten lost. She had anticipated that move, learnt that lesson the hard way, many, many times in all the years she'd known him.
What she hadn't anticipated however, was his idiotic captain, riding a fish in midair, to extend one long, rubbery arm and literally haul him along for the ride whilst screaming something about kidnappers and mermaids that she wasn't quite able to coherently piece together in her shock. Leaving her halfway to Sabaody Park, alone, gawking at the sky like an idiot and wondering if she was experiencing a very peculiar acid trip.
"What. The absolute. Fuck?" She muttered to herself, closing her eyes and trying to curb her temper, still seeing the afterimage of a struggling Zoro being hoisted into the sky kicking and screaming.
She couldn't entirely understand how such a serious man like Zoro had landed such a goofy captain, no matter how many times he tried to explain to her his ironic situation of pirate hunter turned pirate. Don't get her wrong, it only took a minute in Luffy's presence to understand that he was a good guy - as good as they came, right down to his core and very likeable and reliable when it came to it...but the kid was a poster child for Ritalin.
Having seen which way the uh...fish had gone, she headed in that direction at her own speed, knowing that whatever chaos was happening at her destination, she was better off missing the most of it. It was nothing Zoro and his crew couldn't handle and she had no intention of getting involved if she wasn't needed. She was no pirate and had no desire to be openly affiliated with a notorious crew in a conflict and donned with a bounty for it as a result.
'Guess the amusement park will have to wait,' she pouted, mentally promising to make Zoro buy her a huuuge amount of candy once they finally made it there to make this up to her, even if it wasn't really his fault that he got abducted by a flying fish.
Startled when something white suddenly and roughly shoved her shoulder, she looked up to see the back of a marine as he ran past her. To his credit, he did turn and call back a rushed apology as he carried on hurrying down the road, though she soon saw more marines run past her one by one, following their comrade. 'Four, five...seven...twelve...twenty...thirt-oh, what the hell Luffy, seriously? What has he done now?' She inwardly groaned.
Marines continued to pour past, running at top speed but she kept her leisurely pace, slowed down even, wasn't too far off of dragging her feet in fact. She really, really didn't want to know what was going on up ahead but she could already see a mass of white uniforms in the not so distant distance.
Taking in the pandemonium as she approached, she tried to piece together what nonsense Zoro's crew had caused or gotten involved in this time. The first thing of note, aside from the horrendous noise level caused by the screams, shouts and gunfire, was the large crowd of rather wealthy and noble-looking people being ushered her direction and away from the scene. Beyond them was a vast clearing with a large building situated in the middle of it, surrounded by marines.
Whatever was going on, it hadn't finished yet, she'd have to wait to retrieve Zoro and resume her day. Disappointed but deciding to try to be patient and make the most of this turn of events she looked around for a suitable, safe spot to enjoy the show. She settled for standing at the edge of the clearing behind one of the larger trees, far enough behind the marines that she wouldn't be in the line of fire nor encourage any of them to try to evacuate her further back for her own safety.
Just about able to see through a gap in their ranks, she spotted Luffy almost immediately. No surprise there, of course he was spearheading whatever this confrontation with the marines was about. A captain like Luffy and Zoro had the nerve to insinuate she was a troublemaker? She let out an indignant snort at the thought but her breath soon caught in her throat as she caught sight of Mr. Death.
He was here too. That she hadn't expected, at all. Did Luffy know him?...No, if that were true then Zoro would have known who he was too. She took in his stance and unsheathed Nodachi and couldn't help but wonder what had provoked the seemingly cool, calm and collected man into this confrontation - alongside Luffy no less.
Dragging her eyes off of him, she scanned the area for Zoro but couldn't see him or the remainder of his crew for that matter. Though she did spot a large, red-headed, assumed-to-be pirate on the other side of Luffy. She concluded the crew she was looking for must still be inside the building; they weren't outside fighting but there were no marines leaving the area to give chase after them either.
'Guess this will be over as soon as these marines get flattened and the crew is able to leave,' she inwardly sighed, leaning against the trunk of the tree comfortably and crossing her arms. Although she may have been curious to see Mr. Death in action, she was entirely uninterested in whatever this commotion was about but had no choice but to allow it to play itself out for now.
It didn't take too long for it to escalate and frankly the battle was bizarre. Unbelievably bizarre. She was already familiar with Luffy's brand of bizarre, 'Redhead's brand was comparably understandable to his odd, rubbery fighting technique but Mr. Death's was just...a delicious mixture of sadism, torture, mutilation, shock value and fear induction. She'd nearly licked her lips at the incredible (and disturbingly, slightly arousing) display of the man in action. Zoro was right; she really did have fucked up taste in men.
She couldn't help but wish she had been close enough to hear what he'd been saying to the poor marines he dismembered. Though she was sure from his posture and expression that he had been taunting them in a nonchalant manner, she had an indescribable desire to hear his voice. Maybe because he had denied her that privilege earlier on. The thought of how he had assessed her with his unwavering stare and deemed her unworthy of so much as a single syllable of vocal greeting kind of irked her actually, now that she thought about it. She wasn't too used to men not fawning over her based on appearance alone. On the rare occasions it did happen though, she found her response to it an odd mixture of being impressed and offended but usually enjoyed the challenge to garner their favour.
The marines Mr. Death was playing with were screaming, that much she could hear but she wondered if it was in pain or in shock...Was what he was doing hurting them? Were those rearranged bodies permanent? Would it kill them? She wanted to understand what she was seeing but she knew that an opportunity to ask the perpetrator would most likely never present itself and if it did, she got the impression he wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know.
Even at her distance she could see the pleasure and glint of madness in his eyes as he toyed with and distorted the severed bodies of the marines near him. She strained to hear some of the ones nearer to herself, the ones that hadn't been disembodied (yet), hoping to overhear some snippet of information of what the strange ability she was witnessing was about but instead picked up on names. "Monkey D. Luffy" - she already knew, "Eustass Kid" and "Trafalgar Law," all captains apparently but not much else of interest was said between their shouted orders and panicked screams.
She'd already deduced Mr. Death had been the leader of those men she saw him with earlier and she agreed with Zoro that he was likely a pirate. Piecing together that he was a pirate captain herself hadn't been difficult. What she was left wondering now though was which name belonged to him. Furrowing her brows in thought, she pulled her gaze off of the marines to look him over again, finding him to still be casually tossing and catching a decapitated head with a smile, as if it were the most normal thing to do...'Hmm, does he look like a "Eustass" or a "Trafalgar?"'
Her eyes widened as she felt a sudden, rough tug on her body and heard the distinct clinking of metal. Quickly able to dismiss the fear of what she had initially thought had been a sneak attack, she looked down at the weapons on her hip to find them traitorously reaching out towards 'Redhead,' horizontal to the ground in their efforts to escape her. Looking up she could see a rain of blades, rifles and other assorted metallic weapons pelting in his direction. It seemed he had amplified the strength of his odd magnetism ability to disarm even the marines all the way at the back, the ones closest to her.
The pull she felt suddenly increased another tenfold and made her gasp aloud as it lurched her forward. Gripping the tree she had been leaning on, she used her free hand to hastily unclasp the weapons from her hip, immediately embedding both swords deeply, blade-first, into its trunk to prevent them from joining 'Redhead's ranks.
Staggering even further forward as she felt a strong pull on her thigh, she tried to dig her heels into the ground, quickly unsheathing the small blade kept in her thigh holster and embedding it next to her weapons in the tree.
She was still being wrenched forward. The tug on her piercings and jewellery was strong but not enough to pull her forward any further or rip through her flesh...hopefully. She took a moment to glance up and re-verify that Mr. Death's ears were still intact before looking back down and frantically scanning for more metal to remove over the parts of her body that seemed to be most affected.
Her feet skid across the grass, forcefully enough to break her grip on the trunk and nearly making her fall. 'Damn it, my boots are full of blades,' glancing down at her knee-highs, she swore aloud to herself at the sheer amount of buckles and zips required to undo them. They made the boots look awesome, practicality be damned, but she was certainly questioning her style choice now. Raising one foot from the ground, she began to hurriedly unfasten the numerous buckles but immediately regretted the action as her one-footed balance did nothing to keep her from stumbling forward further. Quickly planting her foot back down she bent over to unbuckle the boot instead but felt herself get pulled practically head first at her new angle, the tug strongest across the front of her ribs. 'Oh crap, the weapon brace on my chest.'
The realisation dawned on her then that there was no way she would be able to undo the fastenings of both her bladed boots and the intricate brace under her top in time to stop her making a truly unwanted appearance on the battlefield...Digging her heels into the ground with boots that were being so powerfully attracted in the first place was proving unproductive. All she could hope for now was that 'Redhead' would halt his ability before she was pulled into the line of fire and give her an opportunity to remove her boots and brace.
No such luck, of course. She swore inelegantly again under her breath as she eventually lost her battle and less than gracefully staggered forwards far enough to begin bumping into the backs of marines who were busy staring dumbly at the rifles leaving their hands.
As she got pulled through and past some of the marines, a few of them noticed her and quickly pieced together her predicament, admirably snapping out of their daze and reaching out to try to grab her before she could be pulled any further forward towards the dangerous pirates. It was unfortunate that only one of them had been fast enough to react but had only managed to grab onto the edge of her top, the material easily slipping through his fingers under the influence of the strengthened magnetism.
She found herself pulled through the throng of marines and stumbling into the opening between them and the three captains. For the second time that day, she was within 30 feet of Death.
Looking up at him, still caught in forward momentum, chest heaving from the exertion of struggling against 'Redhead's ability and from what she hated to admit was slight panic, she noticed immediately that Mr. Death's eyes hadn't snapped to her as she broke through the marines - no, they had already been on her. The amused look on his face told her as much and that he had been inwardly laughing at her for some time.
25 feet away.
She wondered how long ago he had spotted her but wouldn't be surprised if he had done so as soon as she was out of the tree line, long before she had forcibly melded into the group of marines.
20 feet away.
She also wondered what had happened to the head he had been tossing around. His left hand was free of it and back in his pocket. She had been so focused on trying to remove her metal affects and minimise the bumps and bruises as she passed through the marines to have been paying much attention to his actions. Probably a terribly fatal mistake to make in this man's presence she acknowledged grimly as she looked at him.
15 feet away.
The red-headed magnet was directly behind him and she was still being pulled forward, she was going to collide with Mr. Death. Surely he must have realised that too but his expression remained the same and his mouth remained shut, his handsome features adorned with a small, warped grin - he was obviously finding some twisted humour in her dilemma.
10 feet away.
She hoped that maybe he would say something before it was too late, before she crashed into him and knocked them both to the ground. Maybe to her or maybe to the stupid guy behind him to make him stop his ability but he remained still, unfazed and made no attempt to neither move nor speak.
5 feet away.
Futilely digging her heels into the ground one last time she hoped that the redhead would notice her and/or choose to stop his ability within the next few seconds. If she lost her footing one more time at this proximity, she would physically crash straight into Mr. Death's chest. Considering his demeanour earlier that afternoon and what she had just seen him do to those marines, the idea of giving this man a very forceful and intimate hug, breast-first, was not as entirely appealing as it may have been under different circumstances.
It took no more than two seconds. She lost her footing. She was going to hurtle right into him and he was still just standing there smirking like a cocky bastard...He wasn't stupid, that much she could already tell about him. He knew she was going to collide with him. Why hadn't he said or done anything? Why hadn't he moved? Maybe he didn't because he intended to catch her? Maybe he was going to play the smarmy hero and catch her neatly before they collided and give her a dashingly handsome smile from his height advantage to make her swoon...That or maybe crashing into him would be a good excuse on his part to make physical contact with her and cop a feel? She would have rolled her eyes at the thought if she'd had the opportunity to.
0 feet away.
Bracing herself for the unavoidable impact with him, she decidedly watched his arms, waiting for him to casually and effortlessly catch her before she smashed into him. She was already mentally steeling herself not to swoon under the inevitable cocky grin afterwards nor allow so much as a single wandering finger upon her person once he caught her...but at the very last moment possible, he sidestepped her.
So shocked at his sudden abandonment when he had been so close - close enough to begin feeling the heat radiating from his body, she didn't even think to attempt to halt her forward momentum once more as she whizzed straight past a surprised-looking Luffy and slammed straight into the extremely hard body of one very bemused looking red-headed pirate captain.
She turned her head to look over her shoulder so fast that she could have sworn she gave herself whiplash and glared straight at Mr. Death with what she was sure was unreserved anger clear on her face only to find he was looking right back at her with nothing less than that same, infuriatingly smug look on his face.
Author's Note:
EmeraldStorm7 - I'm glad that the tension I was aiming for in Chapter 1 was actually felt. I've always thought it was sweet how much Zoro obviously cares for his friends but personally imagine he's the kind of guy that gets a little flustered and embarrassed by open displays of affection. Law will actually speak next chapter, but we'll be seeing much more of him by Chapter 5. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, thank you for your reviews.
