One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
All OCs belong to me.


-Chapter Four-

Scarlet gritted her teeth as she crawled up onto the bank of the river, coughing and sputtering out water as she shook her head to rid the water the dripped from her hair. Soon the Straw Hats were also pulling themselves onto shore with Zoro dragging Luffy, Brook, and Chopper behind him. "Where are we now?" Nami coughed as she started to ring out her hair and peer around the darken forest around them.

"We're—" Scarlet halted as she also started to take a look around, her stomach dropping as the feeling of realization hit her. "I don't know, I've never been this far from the path" she quietly whispered as all eyes were now directed at her.

"What?! What do you mean you don't know?!" Usopp cried out as he grabbed at his hair and yanked at it while a look of distress crossed his face.

"I mean what I said, I've never been this far out before!" Scarlet snapped. "From here on out it's all just guessing, meaning we need to be careful" she told them as they all hesitantly nodded their heads in understanding. "Now, we'll wait here until daybreak and then head out" she said as they all nodded once more. After that, it grew silent between the group as Scarlet took perch up on the lowest branch on one of the nearby trees to have a better look at the surrounding area, so she could be prepared for any more Shadows that might come by while the Straw Hats laid awake on the ground.

"I want to go home to the Sunny" Chopper quietly whimpered, his eyes watering a little as he snuggled closer towards Robin who comfortably patted his head and held him close.

"I know, we'll get home soon" Nami whispered, though she doubted her own words as she kept her back to the reindeer and raven-haired woman so that neither of them could see that same doubt being reflected in her eyes.

-Next Morning-

Morning had come all too fast for everyone as they all still felt tired while sitting up, their bodies aching and screaming in protest in their movements. It took Scarlet a while to climb down from the tree she had been perched on top of her during the night, her body not too pleased with her for staying up all night and making it difficult to move. Her eyes were red and dull as she looked at the group of pirates for a moment before motioning for them to follow as they all started to walk straight through the woods. There was no path only overgrown bushes, sticks, rocks, and fallen leaves covered the ground. "Are you sure this is the right way to go, Scarlet?" Robin calmly asked as the redhead came to a halt.

"Only time will tell" was all she responded with, not bothering to turn around and face the woman and instead continued to walk. Everyone exchanged worried looks with one another, not exactly pleased with what the woman had told them. Well, almost all of them looked worried as Luffy seemed to be the only one unaffected by what the woman had said. His lips tugged up into his normal wide smile as he hummed a joyful tune and cheerfully followed the redhead with no complaints.

"How can that idiot be so cheerful at a time like this?" Nami grumbled.

"It's Luffy, nothing can break that boy's spirit" Sanji said, offering a charming smile to the ginger-haired woman as he walked by.

"Yeah, but just you wait until he gets hungry, then we're all going to have a real problem" Usopp muttered as Sanji started to dig around in his pockets before pulling out a wrinkled carton of cigarettes. Taking one out, he busied himself with lighting it before taking a long drag and blowing out a steady stream of smoke as Scarlet came to a halt once more. Her head tilting up a little as she took a small whiff of the air before fully turning around to face the blond, staring at the lit cigarette in his mouth, her eyes glazing over for a moment.

"Hey, what are you looking at? This? What, do you want one or are you just going to run off and tell the teachers?"

Everyone waited to see what she would do—to see if she would snap at the blond or just take the cigarette away from him entirely, but instead, they were surprised to see her just simply shrug her shoulders and face forward once again. Nothing but pure silence surrounded the group with only the sounds of the leaves crunching beneath their feet to fill the air and the occasional groans that would suddenly leave Luffy's lips when his stomach started growling. His crew was quite impressed that he hadn't started complaining about being hungry just yet, but they had no doubt that wouldn't last very long. "I'm hungry!" and just like they suspected, he did what he always did. Scarlet didn't seem to pay him any mind though as she ignored his groans and loud whines.

"We'll eat when we reach a town" she finally said. "That way we'll have shelter and can attempt to restock on whatever food we eat" she mumbled lowly to herself, there wasn't much food in her bag as most of it had gotten soggy from splashing into the water, she was sure a lot of things in her bag might have been ruined by the water.

"Chopper, what's wrong?" Nami asked when the reindeer suddenly came to a halt, causing everyone else to stop and look back.

"Don't you hear it?" Chopper whispered as his ears twitched before he took off running ahead with everyone quick to follow. Scarlet hesitated to follow when she saw that they were running off in a direction different from the one she had picked before finally cursing as she took off after them. The further they went into the woods the more they were able to hear what their friend had been able to hear—it was the sound of an animal loudly whining. Scarlet seemed to pick up in speed the second she heard the animal's sounds of pain, quickly running past most of the crew until she was just behind Chopper before skidding to a halt, so she wouldn't ram into him when he came to a stop.

"Chopper, what is—" Nami's breath got caught in her throat as her eyes along with everyone else's widened at the sight before them. The animal they had heard crying was a wolf, one who's fur looked as if it had once been pure white but was now dirty and matted as it laid on the ground, loudly whining. It's icy blue eyes looked up towards them, looking to be pleading while also looking hesitant and afraid as it drew its lips back a little and growled. One of its front legs had been caught inside a beartrap, one that looked old and like it had been sitting there for years, Scarlet was surprised it even still worked well enough to be able to clamp around the animal's leg. She was the first one to move, ignoring the animal's growling and the way some of the Straw Hats opened their mouth, ready to speak and tell her to stop.

"This is an old trap and by the looks of it the wound's fresh" she said, falling to her knees to have a closer look at the damage that had been done to the wolf's leg. She didn't look bothered at all that the animal looked as if it was ready to bite at her if she moved any closer, but it's growling soon stopped as it was taken aback when she suddenly brought a hand up to rub the back of its ear like one would do to a dog. "Chopper, if I get her loose, could you perhaps patch her up?" she suddenly asked, looking back towards the reindeer that gave her a firm nod.

"You don't seriously think you can remove a beartrap with your bare hands, do you?" Usopp frowned as Scarlet only ignored him and instead pressed the tips of her fingers against the small gap of the beartraps mouth—the gap that was caused by the teeth not going all the way through the animal's leg. Her eyebrows were knitted together as a look of concentration crossed her face as she slowly started to pull the mouth apart. Her arms shook as her fingertips started to grow red and sting when they would painfully scrap or cut against the dull teeth of the trap.

"Maybe if you do well this year on all your tests, your father and I might think about getting you that puppy you've been wanting."

"Wolf's are just like dog's aren't they? Just more predator-like and mean, you think you could tame one and make it a house pet? Nah, you're right, that's a silly thought. But wouldn't that be so cool though if you could?"

She gritted her teeth as she tried her hardest to ignore the painful whimper that came from the wolf as blood started to gush out of its wound and stain both Scarlet's hands and the metal of the trap. "You need—" Franky didn't get to finish as the trap finally gave in and started to slowly inch itself apart until the gap was big enough for the wolf to weakly remove its paw. Scarlet released a heavy sigh as her shaky arms finally gave in and her fingers jerked back and away from the trap to allow it to snap shut. The sound was loud enough to startle any nearby birds and cause them to take flight from the treetops and high into the sky. Chopper acted quickly and was already at work in patching the wounded animal up while Scarlet started to wipe the blood on her hands away on her jeans.

Blankly staring down at the small cuts and scratches that now littered her fingers, she barely reacted to the way they stung and throb every time she bent her fingers before finally looking up as she watched the reindeer help the wolf stand up on shaky legs. Making sure she didn't put any pressure on the wounded one. "You're going have to be careful not to run or put any pressure on your leg" he sternly told her. "It should start to feel better in about three to six weeks" he finished with a gentle smile before blushing as the animal suddenly gave his cheek a small lick as thanks for his help. Her eyes then looked towards the redhead that only looked elsewhere to avoid eye contact with the wolf, looking back at the reindeer, she yelped.

"She said, "thank you for saving me, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't freed me"" Chopper translated as he turned to face Scarlet who finally looked towards him.

"Yeah, it was no problem" she muttered, crossing her arms and once again looking elsewhere, acting as if she was bashful. Casting a small glance towards the wolf when it suddenly started to wobble its way towards her and rub against her leg. She yelped once again up at the redhead while sitting down and letting her lips tug upwards into a wide smile as her tongue lulled out of her mouth.

"She says she wants to stay with you as thanks" Chopper quickly translated, causing Scarlet to raise an eyebrow before she bent down to be level with the wolf.

"Is that so?" she murmured, reaching a hand up to gently scratch behind the wolf's ear while quietly humming to herself in thought. "If that's the case, then that means you're going to need a name, how about Snowflake?" she asked, a small smile tugging at her lips as the wolf happily yelped back at her while her tail waved back and forth.

"She says she likes that name" Chopper smiled as he translated for the wolf while the other Straw Hats seemed to watch in amusement, not expecting this sudden turn of events.

"Alright, then let us continue heading on" Scarlet said as she pushed herself to stand back up and started to walk once again, making sure to move slow enough so Snowflake could keep up. "You all want to get home, don't you?" she called back at the group who all exchanged looks with one another before quietly following after the woman and her new friend.

-Elsewhere-

A young girl of eight panted heavily as she quickly ran through the broken and deserted streets of what was once know as her hometown. Smoke seemed to steadily rise into the air from the burning building as sounds of painful screams and angry shouts seemed to echo all around. "Get back here, you little bitch!" a grown man snarled as he chased after the little girl, his face twisted up into a slight look of agony with each step he took. Putting more and more pressure on his left leg that looked to still be steadily bleeding out from the large gash that ran down it. Clutched in the young girl's hand was a brown bag that held what little food she had been able to steal in it, oh how she wished she hadn't had dropped her knife so quickly before she had taken off running.

Thick globs of tears started to roll down her dirt-stained cheeks and blurred her vision as choked sobs left her lips before she finally yelped as she almost tripped over her own two feet. "When I get my hands on you, you're going to wish you were never born!" the man roared as his anger seemed to allow him to ignore the pain in his leg and pick up in speed. 'Please, someone—anyone—save me!' the little girl whimpered as she took a sudden sharp turn into an alleyway and took shelter behind a couple of trashcans. Sitting there, her hands immediately flew up to her lips to muffle the sounds of her heavy breathing and whimpers as she listened to the way the man's footsteps started to slow down and he now stood in front of the alleyway. Hesitantly she peered through the cracks between the two trashcans she had taken shelter behind and watched as the man slowly limped his way down the alley, looking left and right for her.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, little fucker" he quietly whispered before twisting his head towards one of the garbage cans that were located on the other side of where the little girl was hiding when he heard a sound come from it. "Ah-ha!" he cruelly smirked as he drew closer towards the trashcan and ripped the lid of it right off. But, the cruel look on his face slowly started to disappear and be replaced with a look of horror as a Shadow stood up from inside the trashcan. It's body towering over him as it looked down and tilted its head to the side before giving a sudden snarl as it bared its teeth and pounced at the man. "Get off me!" he screamed, body starting to struggle underneath the weight of the monster as it now pinned him to the ground.

The little girl quickly screwed her eyes shut and pressed her hands against her mouth even harder, body shaking as more tears flowed down her face the second the sound of flesh being ripped into mixed with screams of pain and terror filled the air. She wanted to cry so badly the longer she listened to the man's painful cried and pleading voice—begging for help that would never come. But all too quickly it was soon over, and the Shadow rose up off the still body and slowly stalked away, leaving it behind with the young girl that was silently crying to herself.


A/N: Enjoy

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