Fair warning, this contains a little gruesomeness, though nothing too graphic. Remember, I MADE THIS FOR YOU!


"Hypocrisy, the lie, is the true sister of evil, intolerance, and cruelty."
- Raisa Gorbachev


The Storm that Shines

The rusty hinges of the grand door squeaked in protest against the seemingly gentle push that Ace gave them. As they opened the crew could see the murky beginnings of the building. Kepi stood behind Ace shifting impatiently, wanting to go explore. She would have opened them herself but with her broken arm it would have been too much for her to handle; she wasn't monstrously strong like the rest of the crew. With Ace leading the way with a hand full of fire to light the way, the crew crept slowly into the tomb-like room.

Calling it a room didn't really do it justice, since even 500 years of neglect hadn't decreased the obvious beauty of the space. The high vaulted ceiling which reached at least a hundred feet above their heads was gold plated in intricate designs, most of which had faded with age. A grand stair case seemed to grow from the very floor straight ahead at the back of the room and curved upwards with marble steps and railing. The hall ways on either side of the stair case led to two large doorways. Portraits lined the walls, filled with the images of dour looking men and women. The space gave off a cold beauty that both compelled and repelled them. Regardless, they stepped into the room onto the marbled ground; it was so clean that it actually shined in Ace's fire.

The most eerie thing about this place was that it looked like the owner had simply stepped out for a moment and was going to come back at any moment. There was no debris laying around on the ground from decay, no leaves from broken shutters, in fact there were no broken shutters. What really creeped them out was the giant portrait of a heavy-set man sitting on a chair that hung at the top of the staircase. His brown hair was pulled back in a ridiculous pony tail, his eerie, sunken gaze seemed to follow them as they slowly made their way forward looking around and subconsciously huddling closer together under the pressure of his lifeless watch. He tracked them across the floor to the bottom of the staircase. They all stood there for a moment, looking at different pictures and furniture that seemed to ring the wall, taking it all in before Ace broke the silence.

"Hey Kepi, if you gained, ohh, about 80 pounds and turned into a man you would look exactly like the guy in the picture." Ace joked loudly. She snapped her head around to glower at him.

"I am nothing like that man." She said through gritted teeth before she stalked away after flipping her hair over her shoulder and sticking her nose a little higher in the air with a sniff.

"What did I say?" Ace asked confusedly to a crewmember, who just shrugged and started to wander off.

Thatch climbed the stairs to study the painting. The man stared coldly back, even just on paper he looked like someone Thatch would want to gut. Thatch looked down at the bottom of the painting which read:

Dedicated to Sir Sophocles Grandioles, Who Without his Generous Support None of the Would Have Been Possible.

He stared up at the painting for a moment more, noting the likeness between Kepi and the Tenryuubito. He started to get a picture of just who Kepi Meriweather might be, and his realization made him uneasy. He would have to talk to Pops. After they found the treasure of course. Priorities.


Second Level of the Creepy Building…

Kepi wondered the halls looking through the many doors that littered the building. The rooms were pretty boring, they mainly contained old-styled furniture, she had become bored because few contained anything else. That and she was thoroughly lost. The building was enormous and as soon as she had passed through a pair of doors and up a flight of stairs she had lost all sense of direction. It didn't help that the passages were almost completely dark, except near the windows where some light could filter in through the layer of grime on the outside. That was another weird thing about this place. It was immaculate, like someone hadn't cleaned in a few days instead of a few hundred years.

She came to one of the dirty windows at the end of a three-way intersection, looking at it contemplatively for a moment before stopping. Since she was lost she might as well take a look outside to maybe get her bearings. However, when she tried to pry the window open the only response she got was a cry of protest and a bulging of its frame as it was unable to meet her demands of opening. At this she stopped struggling with window with a sigh, knowing she would have to break it to get it open and was unwilling to damage the building. Sighing again, this time in exasperation, she turned around to head deeper into the unknown, when out of the corner of her eye she saw a pale flicker. She turned her head sharply but by the time she looked at the spot whoever it was was gone.

"Thatch, that's not funny." She spoke, certain that Thatch or some other member of the crew were trying to play a prank on her. No response. Suddenly she felt uneasy.

"Ace? Anyone?" She took a tentative step forward and felt a cool breeze blow by her face and a dull thunk resounding behind her. Spinning around fast enough to make her dizzy she located an ornate knife sticking out of the wall. Knife? She blinked; why would one of the crew throw a knife at her, maybe one of them truly disliked her after finding out she was a noble. Then something wet ran slowly down her face. Reaching up she absentmindedly swiped at whatever it was and took a step forward so that the murky light of the window could illumine it. It was blood. More precisely her blood. Then she felt the slight sting of a cut on her face. Now she was scared. She reached up and grabbed at the knife, only to have her hand go right through it. She tried again before hearing a sound behind her. Turning slowly she looked back the way she came and standing in the hallway, glowing with a pale blue light, was a tall man in old-fashioned Marine Admiral's coat and holding up a more knives. Definitely not the crew.

"H- hello?" She whispered to the figure.

"You should not have come back Grandioles. Your blood will be MINE!" And suddenly the chase was on. Kepi sprinted down the hallways, up different flights of stairs, and around corners. She dodged knives all the while, relying on what little observation haki that she knew. She had to get out, and if she had to fly to do it, so be it. She saw a window at the end of the hall, making a fast decision she dodged another volley of the seemingly endless supply of knives before making a dive for the window. Only for her to bounce off of it like rubber ball. Yelping in pain she shook her head trying to get her bearings only for her to let out a small scream as knife grazed the top of her arm.

Rolling to her feet she ran towards a narrow staircase that was almost vertical in its steepness. If she couldn't get out by a window then she would get to the roof. Or she would die, either were a viable option here. Her thighs shrieked in agony as she took the steps three at a time. Taking a chance she took a brief look over her shoulder to see the ghost-man-thing-killer was still behind her but falling further back as she climbed. Good. She picked up her speed ignoring her aching legs, throbbing semi-healed arm, her shallow cuts. She could live with those. She pushed herself to her physical limit, wishing for once that she could of had a chance to recharge, but not being able to fly or find a source of electricity left her sorely lacking in juice. Focusing on what was ahead she saw what looked like a door approaching fast. It was the moment of truth, would she be able to open the door or would it react in the same way as the window earlier. Time to find out

She jumped the last few steps, her feet left the ground and bent slightly to help protect her stomach. She rammed her entire body into door, raising her good arm to protect herself, she sailed straight through the door. Wood splinters shattered around her, acting like little pieces of wooden shrapnel. She fell rolling into a ball only to spring up and continue running. However, the view she saw made her stutter to a stop, skipping slightly to keep her feet under her. She was at the very top of the building standing on the roof, and surrounding her was the giant forest trees that still towered stoically over her head blocking out most of the light. The area was lit by thousands of tiny luminous flowers that seemed to grow only on the upper echelon of the trees. They were all different colors that moved and swayed in the wind making them look like a flowing sea of stars.

"Beautiful." For a moment she stopped thinking about the thing chasing her. She just breathed, taking in the peace being offered here, this place was sacred. It hadn't felt the pain like the rest of the building had.

"You do not belong here. Your kind will never be welcomed here." The voice rang out from the doorway causing her peace to come crashing all around her. She spun quickly looking at the glowing man. His glow looked like the same that the flowers gave off. He took a menacing step forward raising a knife.

"You are one of them, Leave!" A new voice hissed from a dark corner. A woman stepped out, long hair blowing in the nonexistent breeze. She glowed as well, but was more purple than blue. At her voice the first man stopped.

"You shou'nt be 'ere monster. 'Avent ya already taken ev'ry thing else 'way from us?! What more ken we give ya?" A gruff voice joined the two. A towering man, who looked to be a half-giant stepped into view. His glow seemed much brighter than the others. Suddenly more and more voices joined theirs rising like a crashing wave surrounding her from all sides. Some cried, some screamed, others hissed. All voices held anger and hate in them. Slowly she crouched down covering her head with her good hand she scrunched her eyes shut, cowering and whimpering, she stayed in that position as she felt whispering hands clutch at her clothing and hair, pulling her every which way. Small cuts were sliced into her skin, but nothing that would be permanently damaging occurred. Finally, having had enough she raised her voice over their quiet thundering.

"Stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop, please stop! I don't know what you want, I'm not someone who brought you pain! I wasn't even alive then! Leave me alone!" She stood up as she shouted this glaring at those around her. Quiet descended on the group, the whispering hands moved away.

"Ow don' ya know wha' ya did ta us. Ya were ta one who made us slaves! Ya migh' na' 'ave been livin then, but ya sure are now. Ya came ba' ta this place, where ya ancestors caused us all sor' 'o pain an grief. Ya are a Grandioles arencha?" The half-giant finally spoke, glaring down at her. She glared right back at him with anger and a slight tinge of fear.

"Yes I was born into the Grandioles family. It is one of my greatest shames," she took a deep breath before continuing, "My birth name is Sophia Grandioles. My chosen name is Kepi Meriwether. I-I cannot say I am exempt from the atrocities my ancestors committed, the heavens know that I have committed my fair share of them, but your pain and suffering were not my deeds. I will not regale you with a hypocritical speech on how I am trying to right the wrongs committed so long ago for that would cheapen what occurred. I simply ask that you judge me not for who my blood relatives are, but on who I am." Slowly she sat down cross legged bowing her head and closing her eyes; she knew she could not escape even if she tried. She heard indefinable murmurs that seemed to carry on for a long time.

"We've come to a decision." Kepi opened her eyes. Faces with varying degrees of hate on them gazed down at her. Slowly her eyes settled onto the face of the woman with the flowing hair.

"And what did you decide?"


Somewhere else in the Freaky Building…

"Aaaacccceeee~. I can't find Kepi anywhere!"

"So? She's a big girl, she can handle herself."

"Yeah? Well it's your fault that she ran off in the first place, being an insensitive jerk and all."

"What?! How was I being an insensitive jerk, not that we should really care seeing as how we're pirates and all."

"Gasp! How could you say that, she is a delicate maiden and a lady! You won't get any girls like that you know."

"Whatever, if she's going to hang out with pirates she's going to have to get used to it. Besides you never answered my question on what it was that I did that upset her so much."

"If you can't figure it out, then I'm not going to tell you." Thatch sniffed in mock offense before turning down yet another hallway lined with doors. At least this one had rooms that they could explore. At first exploring Madred had seemed like it would be exciting; it quickly became boring as they opened room after room with nothing but most surprising thing was that even though the furniture was over 500 years old, it didn't look its age, in fact when Ace had sat down on a chair it didn't even let off a puff of dust much less disintegrate. It gave Thatch the willies.

"I don't think we're going to find anything here, let's go to the next floor, or maybe the dungeon." Ace sighed as he opened yet another door to nothing but furniture.

"Sure, just point the way." Came Thatch's easy going answer, completely forgetting his worry about Kepi at the prospect of adventure and gold. They stepped out of the room closing the door behind them.

"Uuuummm. I… don't know which way to go. Retrace our steps I would guess."

"Okay, retracing, retracing, retra… which way did we come from?" Thatch frowned looking both ways down the hall at the symmetrically placed and perfectly identical doors on both sides. Ace stood there for a second before pointing at exactly the same time as Thatch, only in the opposite direction.

"That way!" They looked at each other and began to argue.


The Flower Power Rooftop

"We have decided. You are free to go, but on two conditions. First, once you leave, you are to never return. Second, even though you were not directly responsible for what occurred here, you are still from the same family that did. We require a blood price." The woman looked at her serenely, her hair floating around gently in the background.

"How much of a blood price?" Kepi asked stoically, hoping it wasn't something like an arm.

"I would have liked an arm, however that is a steep price and would be unfair to take something from you that we would have taken from your ancestors. Simply making you bleed would may suffice, however we may get… carried away and not stop soon enough. So what we require is a toe."

"A… toe? That's a little, uh, odd."

"Would you rather it be an arm?"

"No, no, definitely not. I need those. Do I get to decide which toe?" The woman cocked her head to the side, glancing over at the half-giant.

"Yes, you may." Kepi looked down at her toes considering each in turn. She wiggled them slightly before reaching up and tapping her second to last toe on her right foot.

"Why this one?" The woman inquired looking at her foot with focused curiously.

"To give you a pinky toe would be an insult on your uh… hospitality. To give my bigger toes would leave me out of action for quite a while. I chose my right foot because it is my strongest." At this the ghosts around her seemed to pause for a moment, their gazes softening, at least they seemed to to Kepi. Then the woman waved the knife-ghost over. Slowly he grinned looking at Kepi. He approached her in a swirl of his cloak. As he got closer she saw the little tears and faint stains barely discernible because of his supernatural glow.

"This is going to sting a little." He reached out and grasped her right foot, drawing it to him.


A Time Skip Past the Toe Removal…

Kepi limped through the building following an old hunched-over ghost carrying a lantern down the stairs so that she would reach the doors.

"So why a toe?" She asked wincing slightly with every step. The old man gazed solemnly back at her.

"So that every step you take on yer journey from now on is a reminder of our pain and our mercy. You can learn to forget a missing finger, but a missing toe is not something a person will easily forget because the toes balance a person."

"Ahhhh… Sound reasoning."

They walked for a whiles further before the old man turned to her.

"Through these doors is the Entrance Hall. Wait there as the others gather the rest of the wanderers, then depart and never return." He spat that last part with particular venom, glared at her, and faded away.

"Thanks for the guidance." She called with a hint of sarcasm to thin air as she pushed the doors open.


The Still Arguing Two…

"This is your fault you know. You have no sense of direction."

"My fault?! How is this my fault! I told you we should have gone the other way, did you listen, no, of course not!" Ace's voice floated through the silent hallways as he threw his hands in the air in exasperation. The two stood in front of a four hallway crossway arguing.

"Of course I don't listen to you, you always get us lost!"

"Not always." A quiet cough sounded behind them, which the two didn't hear since they were so engrossed with a shouting match.

"Ha! You admit that you get us lost!" A slightly louder cough.

"I admit nothing, I simply said that I don't get lost!"

"You- you just changed your words!" Suddenly a hacking fit sounded behind them causing them to whirl around almost in sync.

"What do you want!" They punctuated while getting an eyeful of a large glowing man standing in the hallway looking bemusedly at them. They spluttered before sliding back into a fighting stance.

"Now, now I ain' 'ere ta attack ya or anythin, I'm jus' here ta lead ya back ou'side." Thatch and Ace looked at each other. They didn't feel any ill intent from the man-ghost-giant-thing. Straightening they gazed at the man questioningly.

"A'm a ghos' so ya don' 'ave ta ask. Name's Anzo."

"Ace."

"Thatch!"

"Nice ta meetcha, but it's time for ya ta leave." He said turning on a heel and walking away.

"Ahhh… I wanted to look for more treasure." Thatch pouted following behind the man.

"Heh, sorry bu' if your lookin' for treasure ya shoul' 'ave looked out back. We dumped it all back there. We di'nt wan' anthin' from the previous owners. It's yours if ya wan' it." Thatch stared at him for a second.

"I could kiss you right now," Thatch said with a serious face causing the giant man to pause and look at him in surprise, "That is if you weren't a ghost. And a guy. And dead. And glowing. And kind of look like Pops in the right lighting. Did I mention the ghost part?"

Anzo turned to Ace.

"Is he always like this?"

"Pretty much."


The Main Hall, Obviously…

"Did you see that!? It was a ghost!"

"I know, I didn't think this place was haunted. Scared the crap outta me. Surprised me when they were so nice an' civil."

"A' know. They were a' polite a' a bu-erfly."

"That don't make any sense."

"Yeah it does, you see a bu…" The doors above the grand staircase opened, cutting off the crewmembers conversation. Ace and Thatch stood in the doorway with the fading presence of the massive man illuminating the darkness behind them.

"Looks like it's time to go!" Thatch called out cheerfully, practically skipping down the stairs.

"But boss, we didn't find nuthin!" A crewmember called out.

"That's alright, I know where to look! We even have permission from the ghosts to take it all." At this statement a wild cheer rose from the crowd.

"Is everyone here? Where's Kepi?" Thatch said counting off the different crewmembers until he came to the realization that their noble guest was missing.

"She's sittin' by the wall boss, I think she fell asleep."

"Alright let's get her and go then." Thatch led the procession over to the doors where Kepi was sitting down with her legs crossed beneath her; she looked to be asleep.

"Kepi, rise and shine darling! There are so many things to see and do, treasure to hunt, riches to be found, and adventures to be discovered!" Kepi blearily opened her eyes before blinking up at him.

"Are you alright?" One of the crewmembers asked, "Ya look kinda pale there." Kepi smiled slightly up at them.

"I am not accustomed to seeing ghosts, it frightened me a little. I'll catch up to you in a moment, I need to wake all the way up."

"Alright, we're going around the back of the building. Anzo said that the ghosts dumped all the treasure back there." Even more cheers resounded at that, followed by a mass exodus through the front doors as the crewmembers scrambled over each other to reach the treasure first. Thatch lingered for a moment looking at Kepi's pale face before following the rest of the group out.

After the front doors closed softly, Kepi leaned back against the wall closing her eyes. Her foot hurt really, really badly. Getting her toe cut off had hurt, and it hadn't helped that the ghost that did it seemed slightly insane. And a fleet admiral. She wasn't used to feeling scared of Marines, so having one, albeit an old one, didn't sit quite well. She sat there for a couple more minutes just breathing, before standing up with a very unlady-like grunt. Then suddenly she was sprawled out on the ground. She blinked confusedly, shaking her head to clear it.

"Leavin' so soon?" A quiet, menacing voice suddenly rang out through the silence. She glanced up quickly into the eerie eyes of the pale knife-throwing ghost. He was crouching in front of her holding a knife between his fingers. In his other hand he was holding her toe.

"That… is very disgusting." She finally spoke looking at her toe, "Did you come here to give me my toe back?"

"No. This I will keep, it wasn't everything that I wanted. I wanted you dead, or at least tortured and then killed. The others have gone soft, they shot down my idea saying that you seemed different than your ancestors. Me? I'm not too sure."

"Then why are you here? Did you come to kill me?" She knew, just like on the roof, she wouldn't be able to get away or even attack since she would just faze right through him.

"Sadly, no. I already got my blood price from you, and I am a man, or ghost, of my word. I was more wondering about something you said earlier. Something about not wanting to cheapen what happened to us by saying you were going to right the wrongs. I was wondering if you would… elaborate some more; color me curious." He said looking down and picking at his ghostly nails with the knife. She watched him for a moment before he glanced up at her with a pointed look and then looking back down.

"Hmm, well I-I want to, there's a reas… oh butterscotch, might as well start at the beginning. It shouldn't take too long and will help explain my… motivation? Ambition? To totally destroy the slave trade. You see I was born in Mariejois around 20 years ago…"


B..b. .. that's all folks!

What do you think? Did I do good? Huh? Huh? HUH? Next time you'll learn a lot about Kepi, Yay!

If you haven't noticed by now, I love to use symbolism in my stories. Names are a particular favorite of mine. Sophocles is the male equivalent to sophia. Madred is like Madrid which I read somewhere that it had to do with suffering. Etc…

On a side note, did anyone watch HTTYD 2? It. Was. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing… Amazing.

I *sniff* am so happy and surprised by the *sniffle* amount of people that have followed/faved this story, it makes me so very motivated. *Achooooo!* (Sorry allergies)

Sorry about the late release, I have been really tired for the past few weeks and just decided to crank this out in (almost) one sitting. My biggest problem is with starting the story, everything else is suuuuuupper easy.

Please, please, please, please comment. You have no idea how much of a kick in the butt it is, telling me to get a move on and write some more.

Also I should probably be doing this in every chapter, but I forget so -

Disclaimer: I do so swear that I have never, nor ever will claim the wonderful workings of Oda-sama in the form of One Piece. I love it too much and would definitely mess it up so everyone should be thanking me. Your welcome btw's.