Chapter 3: Come Morning
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
Tora rose, yawning tiredly and stretching her arms widely. She was honestly surprised with the comfort quality Eustass' bed had – the amount of furs randomly thrown on it put her off – but it was true. Eustass Kid had the softest bed she had ever sleep in.
Tora let a flat expression fall across her face. God, that sounds so bad… She stood up suddenly, putting her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Humming softly, she moved over to Kid's wardrobe (Okay, let's be blunt: Mound of Clothes.) and picked up the briefcase that she had placed next to it the previous night. She opened it, taking out a spare, navy blue sweater. She changed into it quickly, neatly folding up her discarded shirt. Changing tunes, she opened up the false bottom in the case, and took out several doses of sedatives, and snuck them into her left boot. Smiling with almost eerie sweetness, Tora repacked the suitcase, stuffing it under Kid's bed.
"Ah, now I'm ready for the day~" Tora smiled, "Goodness knows I'll need to be. I bet Akachan is going to burst in, in three… two…"
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU DOC!" the Captain fumed, storming into the room, now wide awake.
"Good~ Morning~ Sweetheart~" Tora hummed, "I take it you're not a morning person, Kiddiewinks?"
Kid froze in his place, with a murderous expression, "What did you just call me…?" he asked quietly.
For the first time in a long while, Tora actually felt like she was going to die.
"… and may Kami bless my soul…" Tora prayed, in a hush tone, then cleared her throat, and resumed smiling, "Oh, why hello, Eustass-san. My sincerest apologizes, I do believe that your tired mind must be playing tricks on you. I simply asked if you still wanted to know about Haki?"
Kid continued glaring at Tora, mercilessly. Tora concealed a nervous gulp as she saw purple sparks fly, indicating a 'Repel' coming her way.
"… Maybe I could tell you about it over a cup of my famous, home-brewed coffee. I brought some beans?" Tora tried again, flawlessly taking a small packet of coffee beans that she kept in her jeans pocket for emergencies, "I know you like my coffee. Everyone likes my coffee. Remember? My coffee is really good…" Tora repeated, drilling the message into the redhead's brain.
"Hm." Kid smirked.
"Hm." Tora hummed back, tilting her head.
They stood there for a moment, smiling. For a moment, Tora thought that maybe, just maybe she was off the hook.
"Repel!"
She was wrong.
"Kid-" Tora started, deftly sidestepping a random sword aimed for her head.
"I think," Thunk. "This is," Smash. "Counterproductive." Bang.
Tora smirked awkwardly at the mess that was becoming of Kid's room. There were currently 27 daggers imbedded in the wall behind her, several smashed lamps, and a broken chair. The two were even growing a crowd! She paused calmly in her dance around the metal projectiles, and stood with her hands in her pockets. A trident flew directly towards her, with a small noise of protest from his owner. Just before it reached her, she leaned backwards – a hair length away from the sharp heads of the weapon. The doctor whipped a hand out of her pocket and grabbed the object, stopping it in its path.
Tora sighed, fed up, and redirected the weapon at Kid, throwing it at lightning speed. He easily stopped it; with the use of his Devil Fruit.
"Not good enough Eustass." Tora said monotonously, "What if that wasn't metal? It would have pierced your left lung and you would have died within minutes."
Eustass let out an angry snarl, and charged at the woman. He aimed a punch for Tora's gut, but the lithe woman, easily sidestepped, sending a kick directly into his side. The redhead let out a dry cough, and sent a discarded weapon from the side of the room towards the opponent. Tora ducked down with finesse, using her elevated leg to kick the blade down. Kid went to grab the limb, when Tora lent backwards and flipped. Kid and Tora remained interlocked, in the brawl.
"Right fist, aimed for my temporal bone." Tora narrated in a bored tone, as she dodged another attack with ease, "A generous amount of power behind it, well-aimed… But not good enough if it can't hit the target."
Kid grit his teeth, and glared at her angrily, "Are you mocking me?" he growled, grabbing the dark haired woman by the head.
"Yes." She replied, staring him in straight in the eye.
Kid raised the side of his mouth in disgust, and slammed Tora against the nearest wall. The angered Captain raised his fist, and slammed it straight into the side of her head.
Kid smirked as the doctor slumped to the ground. He turned around, with arrogant swagger in his stride. Just as he was about to leave the room, a voice spoke.
"It's unwise to turn your back on an opponent." Tora spoke in an offended tone.
Kid swung around in shock. His eyes widened, That was a direct hit! She shouldn't even be alive, let alone standing!
Tora cocked her head, "And that, Eustass-san is Haki. If you can't beat that minor use, the New World will crush you."
The woman took something out of his boot and threw it at him all in one fluid motion. Kid had a single moment to register a prick in his neck, and Tora's cold, elegant voice:
"Hope I didn't embarrass you too much, Akachan."
The last thing Kid felt was a burning shame on his face.
"Good Morning, Princess."
Kid shot his eyes open, and grabbed out for the nearest person's neck – with oh-so conveniently happened to be Tora's. Shock fell upon the older woman's face, but it was quickly replaced by distaste. She smacked Kid's wrist, and slapped him.
"How rude. I even made you coffee." Tora tilted her head, "Though, I suppose it was made in the presence of negativity – Thank you Killer, hint the sarcasm there please…"
Tora was promptly pushed out of the way by the fore-mentioned blonde.
"Kid, are you alrigh-" Killer began, before being cut off by Kid.
"I don't want to have this conversation." Kid announced, getting up off of the bed, "She told me nothing. We're killing her."
Killer crossed his arms, "Kid, if this is because of some wounded pride…" he began.
Tora watched the two bicker from the side. She rolled her shoulders, and used the distraction as a way to get out of the room.
When Kid had fallen under the effects of her drug, the whole crew had basically tried to murder her. In a sense, this amused her quite a lot. The 'Captain' is supposed to be the strongest on the ship, yet they thought they could have stood a chance against a woman born from the New World? Nonsense. But it was very cute to see all of them get so riled up. In the end, however, they 'Let her live' to make sure that their Captain was okay (Which sounds like bullshit in her opinion, but so are a lot of things she hears.), because, apparently, the morons don't have a doctor.
"What kind of idiot goes out to sea without a doctor…?" Tora sighed to herself, raising a hand to her forehead.
She moved to the ship's helm, and leaned forward, staring at the sea. Tora rubbed her temples. And now I have to worry about a crew of psychopaths just because I didn't get my morning coffee… Damn it!
"Oi, Tora, right?"
Tora perked up at the familiar voice, turning around and smiling, "Oh, Mister Heat! Are you feeling better?"
The man with stitches gave Tora an unamused expression. Tora frowned at this, oh, shoot. There goes my free ticket out of the Hate Train…
"I don't like you. Even if you did supposedly 'help' me back on that island." Heat scowled, "You tried to kill Master Kid."
Tora gave Heat one of her nicer smiles, "Now, now, that silly misunderstanding? I do believe your Captain attacked me. I simply used self-defense… It was a weak sedative anyway…" she added in a lower voice.
Heat didn't look convinced, which did not make Tora happier in the least. She folded her arms across her chest, and let out an annoyed sigh.
"Well, could you at least acknowledge that you liked my coffee? I do pride myself very dearly on that." Tora grumbled.
"Fine. It was… good…" Heat began, trailing off slightly, with a faraway look in his eyes.
Tora smirked. Hook, line, sinker. Gets 'em every time…
"Kid, if she hasn't told us any valuable information, there's all the more reason to keep her alive!" Killer debated, trying to get his Captain to see reason.
"I don't care! She purposely tried to humiliate me!" Kid shouted back, clenching his fists at his sides, "I'm the Captain, so I say kill her!"
"Kid, I'm just saying to wait until she tells us what we want to know." Killer exasperated, "Of course we're going to kill the woman!"
Kid gave Killer a wary look, "You promise…?"
Killer let out an annoy huff through his mask, "We'll never get rid of the stains, Kid." Killer said very slowly.
Kid pursed his lips, "You didn't say you promised."
Killer, though no one could see it through his mask, had a deadpan expression. "I'll promise to let you murder her, as long as you promise not to gut her at the first available opportunity." the Massacre Soldier replied, crossing his arms.
Kid inwardly groaned, "Fine. I promise…"
Kid gave Killer an expectant look.
"I promise to let you murder her in the most gruesome, brutal way possible." Killer sighed in agreed, as if on cue.
Kid gave Killer a grin, "Okay, so then where is the bitch?" the Captain asked after a moment.
Killer froze up in realization, "Oh no…"
"Whoa, this chick's coffee is actually really good…!"
"Yeah, I know right! I don't even like coffee!"
"Hey, can you make another cup?" a member of the crew yelled out to the doctor.
Tora wore a smug smile as she ground the coffee beans, "Of course, hun. Sugar or no?" Tora hummed musically.
"Nah, sugar isn't my taste!" the same man laughed out rowdily.
Tora continued smiling as she added the grounds, "Okay, give me a minute to make another kettle~" she hummed.
It was surprisingly easy to win the favor of Eustass' crew, seeing as she had basically humiliated their Captain right in front of them. As soon as she made Heat a cup of coffee, some other guy – a friend of his, she supposed, Wire, was it? – smelt the beautiful scent of her famous brew. One thing lead to another, and here she was; making coffee for all of Kid's lackey's. Tora smirked, thinking about how shocked Kid would look when he saw this…
"What did you do?"
Speak of the devil… Tora, blinked and looked up to see a very annoyed Eustass Kid – or maybe he was just confused. It was really hard read him. It had at first seemed really easy; he was a naturally aggressive, arrogant moron. It was when we wasn't being either of those that Tora got seriously lost.
"No, Eustass-san. I did not drug them." Tora said very seriously, "My coffee is simply that good."
Kid pulled a face, and Killer – who was standing right behind him – put a hand on his shoulder. The Captain clenched his jaw tightly, and closed his fists.
"You're." Kid ground out, "Brainwashing. My crew…"
Tora shrugged, and continued making another pot of coffee, "No, Eustass-san. I'm making friends, because as much as I hate to admit it, your crew isn't half bad." She gave him a predatory smile, "I would hate to die gruesomely at sea before achieving my dream, wouldn't I? Oh – wait. Ha, ha, sorry, that's you, isn't it?"
It suddenly occurred to Tora that it probably would be a bad idea to anger Eustass in a kitchen…
"I am going to kill you!" Kid snapped, before pausing and giving Killer a quick glance, "Later. But I am going to kill you!"
Tora blinked. "Oh, okay then Eustass-san. So, what did you – "
"Hey, Tiger Woman!" the man from before called out, "You still making that coffee!?"
Tora poked her head out of the kitchen momentarily, "Yes, Thorn-kun! Just a moment!" she called out, pulling a cheery face.
Kid's jaw dropped, "His name's Thornton- You can't just start giving my crew nicknames!" Kid stammered in shock.
Killer coughed awkwardly, "Tora-san, you're getting far too comfortable, aren't you…?"
Tora hopped back into the kitchen, immediately pulling a bored face, "Yeah? So?"
Killer gave the still stunned Captain a halfhearted glance, "Tora-san, I think it's best that you told us about that 'Haki' thing around now…"
Tora tilted her head, "Hm. I honestly thought that the demonstration would have been enough… I guess fools aren't as fast at learning as I initially thought. Oh well." Tora sighed dismissively.
Killer was beginning to see what it was about her that annoyed his Captain so much.
"Okay, boys. I'll tell you more. Just let me finish up."
A/N: I don't like this chapter. Plain and simple. To me, if just looks like spam dialogue. I hate it when I do that. Not enough setting. Also, I have no idea how to make a proper cup of coffee. I just went to WikiHow and hoped for the best xD
I'll try and do better on the next chapter! There's gonna be lots of explanations, sidetracking, and, hopefully, incorporated crew members. I generally suck at that last bit, I always focus too heavily on a single group… I thought that it would be kinda cute to have Kid take a promise to Killer so seriously. If it seems out of character, idrc. At least, not this time. xD
Any who, please review and tell me what you think! (#OTPtoraxcoffee)