Everything that proceeded after the outburst of the Celestial Dragon seemed to be a blur. Between Strawhat Luffy's grand entrance on a flying fish, the appearance of a fishman, and the gunshot that soon rang out, everything seemed to be flying into utter chaos.
Stepping to the side away from all the commotion, Reina stood among the lingering rubble of the torn down wall that Strawhat had crashed through and obliterated.
Her eyes were currently honed in on the blood that trickled slowly down the staircase, forming a winding, crimson path as the droplets oozed onto the flooring. The source of the blood was an octopus fishman, who lay on the ground weeping in apology to Monkey D. Luffy.
The tears flowed from his eyes as he grasped desperately at his friend in an attempt to ground him, but it seemed Strawhat was not going to stand for one of his friends being shot. That look in his eyes spelled trouble; the glint in his eyes like molten fire as he stamped his foot down onto the staircase, getting a good grip before he stormed menacingly up the flight of stairs- directly towards the Celestial Dragon who had shot the fishman.
Feeling her eyes widen a bit, the siren took a few steps back, her lips parting beneath her scarf. Surely this kid wasn't serious! Was he aware of the hell he would unleash should he go through with this?
Even the small, starfish like creature that seemed to be friends with the injured octopus cried out to the captain of the Strawhat Pirates, yelping that he would be in big trouble if he went through with this. But Strawhat's footsteps never faltered in the slightest.
His hands were clenched in a fist. His jaw was set tight, and that vengeful flame had yet to leave his eyes.
The click of a gun could be heard as the Celestial Dragon aimed it directly at the pirate captain, like the fool he was. At this point, the entire auction house was on edge, craning around in their seats to get a look at what was going on.
"Oi, Mugiwara-ya..." The faint murmur of the Heart Pirate captain could be heard, as the captain of the Kid Pirates seemed to echo his rival's surprise in a much more audible and dramatic way.
"Is he serious?!" The red haired pirate hissed, and amidst all the chaos and muttering, Reina merely smiled softly to herself in an exasperated way as she shook her head faintly.
Pirates would be pirates, it seemed. Even when it came to something as gutsy as attacking a Celestial Dragon, the Worst Generation seemed to know no bounds.
Two loud shots rang out in the auction hall, but they did nothing to deter Strawhat's menacing advance.
With his foot stamping down onto the final, uppermost step, the young captain draw back his arm and gritted his teeth, clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white. Veins in his arms protruded beneath rubber skin, and eyes dilated in sheer rage.
His fist came catapulting forward as he roared, his knuckles colliding with the World Noble's face in an astounding show of brute force. The crackle of the so-called-saint's face was indeed utterly satisfying to listen to, though the others in the auction hall fell utterly silent as the body of the Celestial Dragon was sent sailing into the wall, leaving a massive dent and crater in the framework.
It didn't take long after that for everyone to leap into action, though their panicked motions were undoubtedly caused by the sudden shots that were fired from the gun of the pummeled noble's father.
All at once, everyone rushed the door, and Reina frowned slightly as several nobles bumped against her shoulder in their attempt to rush the exit. She wasn't fond of being in tight crowds, so she easily slipped to the side, further away from the center of commotion.
She showed no signs of leaving, however, and neither did the three Supernova crews and their captains. She had a hunch that this was going to turn out to be far more intriguing than she had originally anticipated.
Another World Noble was taken down by a member of the Strawhat crew: Black-leg Sanji.
The guards rushed the perpetrators, attempting to put them down. Their heavy armor clinked as they rushed the pirates, but they were far too weak to take on the enemy that they targeted. Everywhere you looked, the Strawhat crew was pummeling the guards, and it was more than amusing to watch.
By now, almost all of the nobles had fled the auction hall, though Reina remained standing near what was left of the wall that Luffy had crashed through. Her eyes watched the unfolding situation with an apparent curiosity, and her lips coiled into a smile beneath her scarf.
More and more members of the Strawhat crew seemed to be arriving, with the final being a man that appeared to be cowardly in nature, with a long nose and widened eyes. He stared down at the drop he had to take, seeing as how he had been left to find his own means of getting down from atop the roof of the auction hall.
His legs quivered in sheer fright as he took in the height, but luck, it seemed, was not on his side. The flying fish that had gotten this far betrayed him, pushing him over the edge and sending him tumbling down right atop the father of the two younger Celestial Dragons; successfully knocking the older man out.
The long-nosed man apologized profusely before scampering up towards his captain, though a movement behind his back caught the siren's keen sight.
Reaching into her trench coat, she pulled out an object with shiny, metallic features that she twirled idly on her finger, before she flicked her wrist and sent the object hurtling towards the shadow that loomed behind the cowardly member of the Supernova crew.
It had been a guard sneaking up behind the long-nosed man, and the weapon pierced through the his chest, the throwing knife jutting out straight through his armor and gleaming with crimson blood at the tip. The guard had been about to attack the pirate from behind, which Reina deemed hardly fair.
The scrawny man with the widened eyes jumped a bit, slapping his hands onto his cheeks in a manner of terror as he shrieked in a way that was certainly not masculine.
"W-What was that?!" He yelped, turning his head all around until he located what he was searching for.
"Ah? What was what, Usopp?" Strawhat Luffy asked, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened. The one named Usopp appeared to not hear him, however, either that or he simply chose to leave his captain's question unanswered as his gaze at last locked onto a figure at the head of the stairs.
There she stood, calm as the eye of a storm. Her lips were pulled into a faint smile, and her hand was still raised from where she had thrown her weapon. Her glacial colored eyes glinted with a certain light that seemed to unsettle Usopp, because his knees began to rattle against one another as he stared at her.
Gulping loudly, he faced the woman with a pale face, beads of sweat beginning to trickle down his neck. He didn't like that serene expression of hers- he didn't trust it. No one looked that calm after having just flung a throwing knife into someone and piercing their heart, right?
The surgeon whom she had followed into this auction hall to begin with was looking at her- she could feel it. That familiar prickle at her spine which she was beginning to become acquainted with. She didn't bother to physically move her body in order to face the Surgeon of Death, but her eyes slowly slid to him, and her shoulders trembled with her mute chuckles.
"Who are you?" The question was coming from Strawhat Luffy himself, and the woman with long, ebony hair turned her gaze back to him.
Silence was the only response that the captain got, and a small smile directed his way.
"She's too quiet. Why is she so quiet? It's creepy..." Usopp wheezed, keeping his distance from the woman as he subtly slid behind Luffy, seeing as how the latter remained entirely unperturbed by the female's enduring silence and keen stare.
"Nevermind all that! We need to get out of here before an admiral and warship arrives!" A woman with bright orange hair trimmed in a short fashion called out, a few sparks of electricity dancing in the air around her.
"That wouldn't be such a good idea."
Narrowing her eyes, Reina directed her gaze to Trafalgar Law, who had thus far been silent up until just now. What was he saying? That it was a bad idea for them to flee and seek refuge somewhere safer before an admiral arrived and tore them apart? Because if that were the case, then perhaps his sanity needed to be checked up on.
"The marines have had the auction house surrounded from the very beginning," The man in the yellow hoodie drawled, reclining back in his seat as he tilted his head up so that the shadows created by his hat were alleviated for the time being.
His steel gray eyes looked upon the rookie crew, and there was an undoubtable amusement flickering in his gaze.
"I have no idea who they wanted to catch, but it isn't likely that they could have known that someone would beat up the Celestial Dragons." He drawled, before his deep chuckle resounded.
"You showed me something interesting today, Strawhat Crew." He spoke, his low and smooth voice flowing easily as the others regarded him with an air of caution, save for the captain of the Strawhat Pirates himself, who merely raised a finger and pointed curiously at the tattooed captain.
"Who are you?"
"His name is Trafalgar Law. Luffy, he's a pirate!" One of the women of his crew warned him, though Luffy seemed to remain completely un-phased still; something that earned a silent chuckle from the siren.
"Even the bear and trench coat lady too?"
What?
Narrowing her eyes to sharpened daggers, the frosty hued orbs glinted dangerously for a second as she frowned deeply behind her scarf. Now just what had made this kid assume that she was part of that psychotic surgeon's crew? She was barely even in close proximity to him; she was just standing in a randomly selected spot!
It wasn't as if she were lingering by the general area in which the Heart Pirates sat. She was minding her own business, but yet she got roped in with the crew anyways.
And the most annoying part was, Law said nothing to refute the idea that Luffy had suggested.
If Reina had been less wary of utilizing her powers, she might have spoke out in protest. She belonged to no crew- she was completely independent and free, and there was no authoritative figure that ruled over her and determined what she could and could not do.
That was the main reason why she had not set out to sea with some crew she happened to pick above the others. The promise of adventure was tempting to her, but she could not stand being told what to do.
Sirens were creatures of the sea and sky, and they were as deadly as they were beautiful. They had never been tamed by any man; in fact, a siren's main hobby was luring sailors to their death. So the very thought of partaking in a pirate crew beneath the jurisdiction of a captain made her recoil a bit inwardly.
No, she was not part of anyone's crew.
Reina was still frowning by the time all the chaos with the new arrival of Silvers Rayleigh had dispersed, and the auction hall was filled with limp bodies that weren't likely to move anytime soon, if ever again.
The siren was still quite vexed over the little mishap that the Strawhat captain had created, and she was even more perturbed that it had yet to be cleared up. No one had disproved his theory of her being tied to the Heart Pirates, and with a brown that twitched slightly in annoyance, she craned her head around to chance a peek at Trafalgar Law himself.
It was a mistake she immediately regretted.
He was staring at her with that signature smirk of his, his eyes glinting beneath the shadows of his hat. There was a smugness about his expression that certainly did not belong there, in the siren's opinion, but she could say nothing of it.
What an infuriating man you are. The thought idly flickered quickly through the woman's mind as she clenched her jaw, shifting her shoulders beneath her heavy trench coat.
Just what was he trying to get out of her, by not denying Strawhat's remark that directly linked her to the Heart Pirates? Was he trying to gain some reaction out of her? Was he simply trying to agitate her?
Then it struck her: he wanted her to talk.
He wanted her to physically open her mouth, and force the words out. He wanted her to deny any relation to his crew herself, but that would require having her speak, and that was something she would rather avoid doing.
Craning her neck around, the siren immediately frowned when she noticed that her notepad and pen she used to write out her messages was no longer in its previous position. It was likely it had either been blown away during the explosion of the wall upon Luffy's entrance, or it had simply been knocked from its place during the battle.
Either way, her means of silently communicating was gone. Law was trying to goad her into talking for herself, which would ultimately give him a small taste of the powers which she denied showing him earlier. How clever, yet so very troublesome and aggravating.
She wasn't one to bend to others so easily, but perhaps this one time she could make an exception, if only to prove a point.
So, while the others seemed to be distracted by the Dark King as he spoke to Luffy, the ebony haired female trailed dangerously close to the spot where Law remained seated, and when she passed, her eyes slid over to him.
"Be careful who you provoke, Trafalgar."
It was gutsy coming from a woman who was not even half his size, with petite and dainty features that were hidden beneath her trench coat. But the boldness of her words were not what caught the surgeon's attention.
His eyes snapped up and locked onto her, his gaze narrowing as he stilled completely. The sound of her voice was melodic, low and feminine in tone and silken in nature, yet there was something about it- something that made it feel like you were inhaling a tank full of nitrous oxide as you listened to her.
His mind was consumed with a haze; she could see it in his eyes. Her voice was lethal, and thus she hid it away and kept it under safe lock and key, until now. She had not meant to give him the pleasure of succumbing to his attempt to goad her, but expressing her point was far more important than retaining an everlasting silence at the time being.
Eventually he seemed to pull himself out of the heavy fog that had encased his mind, for his gaze cleared up suddenly, and his smirk had returned ten-fold as he stared at the woman with a darker hue to his already intimidating stare.
"Are you threatening me, Reina-ya?" His voice was calm and smooth, and he eyed her ever so watchfully as she turned her gaze forward, a smirk tickling the edges of her lips.
She said nothing more to him. He had gotten a taste of her powers, and if it was not enough to make him leave her be, then she would certainly demonstrate just what she could do.
But Law, it seemed, had plans of his own.
[A/N: Uh oh; Reina is beginning to realize that maybe sneaking into the Human Auction House after Law wasn't such a good idea. She's quite gutsy when it comes to him though, and rest assured, there will certainly be more sarcasm directed towards our favorite doctor later, courtesy of the siren. The next chapter is the fight with Law, Luffy, and Kid!]