THANK YOU SO INCREDIBLY MUCH!! All of you who review on almost every chapter I have made me beyond happy~! I seriously love to see the thing that's you all leave me. Oh and thank you Lols. 8D for saying that "Love you So" describes Kali and once I listened to it, it seriously did!! Anyways I thank each and everyone of you, not only for reading, but for also taking the time to review. And thanks to all of you who read. I really appreciate the support. Though I do apologize for the late recognition...
Now... ONTO THE CHAPTER!
"My, my, Kali…" Aki muttered after I explained everything in detail of what had happened which actually took about an hour and a half, "You're day has just been hectic hasn't it?"
I nodded to her. She had no idea how hectic it had been. I had been almost taken out by a blown through wall, caught by slave-traders, sold as a slave, gotten into a fight with the Marines, blinded, along with close to being killed, by an Admiral, and in all honesty, I was amazed I was still able to stand, let alone function properly. She gave me a laugh to the expression of "No shit Sherlock" that spread across my face as she stood up and walked over one of the cabinets, opened it, and exposed a large chest.
"I need to know, Kali, if…" my manger started, pulling the chest out slowly with a hint in her voice that she knew something about me that was totally true.
She sighed very heavily while throwing the lid of the trunk up, causing a cloud of dust to cascade off of the top of it and roll as it hit the ground, just as she turned back to face me. A look that said she hated that she was about to utter whatever it was, was within her big blue eyes shimmering against the bright red hair that fell into her face. I couldn't tell what was bothering her. The sheen in her eyes was much to bright for me to read anything in her irises, but she leaned back, not really turning away from me yet doing that and she brought out a small box that was as tall as a regular glass cradled in her hands.
Never had I ever seen inside that box of… mementos, as she called them, from her old days of working for the Government except the one she was holding had a very odd vibe coming from it. Not to mention its look was odd as well.
The box itself was brown with vines coiling around it, along with the top that was on it, and had a very rough, rock texture as she handed it to me with a very reluctant way in giving it. It was as if she didn't really want to give it to me, but something forced her to do so. How peculiar… Anyways, back to the box. There was actually a bow tied around the whole thing, holding it shut and it had the look of a vine as well, having a flower seeming as if it was blooming on it in the shape of a bow and a tag attached to it.
"Happy Birthday Aki. Hope you'll put it to good use."
I blinked a bit cluelessly as I stared at the tag then looked up to my red haired friend. What was the point in showing me this exactly?
"Kali… I really need to know if…" She paused while biting her lip lightly after restarting her statement again from earlier. A sigh escaped her mouth as she heaved her chest up, obviously encouraging herself to go and tell me what she wanted to. "From the way that you've describe this… captain who had bought you, as well as how energetic you seemed to be when you did, I just want to know if you really want to go with them."
A large lump formed in my throat. Wanting to, once again scream out "Hell yes!", I held fast to my composure. Leaving was not an option. How many times was I going to have to tell myself that... and others?! As my head started to shake her hand slammed down onto the table suddenly making me jump half way out of my skin. Her blue eyes glared at me with a gaze pleading for me to be truthful with her and not lie on her or anyone else's account. I nodded and my feelings out of nowhere poured from my mouth and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
"God yes, Aki!!" I exclaimed with happiness shining from my eyes and unknowingly my grip on the package got tighter, "You have no idea! They all seem so exciting that I can't stand it. Leaving them was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done…!" She gave an understanding and approving nod, yet I was still confused as to the box I had just about crushed in my hand. "But what does that have to do with this?"
"Well, that was given to me as birthday slash going away present on my last day as a World Government worker and I… I want you to have it…"
Still confused, I looked back down at the package, grabbed the leaf sticking out from underneath the flower, and pulled it, causing the covering of the gift box to be sent flying off by whatever was in it. I froze in my wooden chair, afraid of what was in it now. A lot had come flying at me through out the day so it's no wonder I would just a little bit freaked out when it came off.
Putting my temporary fear of things flying at me aside, I looked inside, not really wanting Aki to feel hurt because I didn't and to my utter surprise, a dark, forest green apple sat within. How an apple, or any fruit for that matter, could throw off the lid of anything was way beyond me, but as I pulled it out, realization that it was no ordinary apple struck.
The supernatural waves it radiated was clearly obvious as they began to pulse through my veins in rhythm with my beating heart and along with the weirdness of the vibes, it was, as said before, a dark green with black squiggle like lines seemingly carved into its outside peel. It was quite a weird looking apple and the beautiful gleam and glare it gave off told me exactly what it was.
"It's a…"
"A devil fruit," she said, finishing my sentence for me with a smile and her eyes sparkling just a bit as she stared at it as well, "Yes. It is called the Terra Terra no Mi."
Leaning back from it in suspicion, I gazed at it with a cautious look playing from my eyes. The feeling it gave off was not one that I was fond of. It made itself seem like it was harmful and would poison me if I dare take a bite like the apple in Snow White, which that assumption wasn't completely out of my thinking yet. My mind, no matter what, was extremely questioning of this devil fruit, but along with my wondering about how safe it really was, I also started asking inwardly about why she would give this valuable item to me instead of selling it and being able to pay for the repairs to some of the damaged spots of this old building or upgrade the musical stuff that we had that was heaven knows how old…
"Because I had a feeling that I'd need it one day for something," Aki said. A grin came to her face as I looked up at her quickly with a look of "You read my mind!" type of expression. "Now, though I'm not forcing that apple on you," she began in a low voice as to not alert the "sleeping" (-cough- -cough- eavesdropping!) staff while she walked back over to the fridge and started to prepare a glass of water for me most likely. If there was anything she did to signal something, it was that. That was, for anyone, a hint that they needed to head on to their rooms and soon after, their bed.
"Alright. Alright, Aki," I said, taking the hint as I usually do and standing up from my chair and pushing it back into place while taking the now full glass from her with the apple back in the box and the box in hand, "Thanks and I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Hey, I wasn't done yet, Kali," she said with a bit of a stern tone as soon as I turned around and started off to my room in the back. I stopped with a smile on my features, except I had hoped I have been able to avoid anything else, and moved back around to give her my full attention. "As I said, though I am not forcing that little jewel on you, I am giving you a choice because I know you want to go…" She gave another pause as she gave her gaze to the floor, willing herself to continue. "Go on and leave with the abilities that that fruit can give you or don't eat the apple and go just like you are or… don't leave at all."
My heart rate slowed when I looked straight into her eyes. She was completely serious about the options. By knowing me for so long, she was able to read me like an open book with freakishly huge text. She knew and had always known, about my want and yearn for being on the ocean. It wasn't because I wanted the infamous pirate treasure, One Piece, no. I just craved to wake up every morning with the true, salty sea air there to greet me along with a crew with a lot of, or even just a few, people who really did want me there.
And I figured the Kidd Pirates did since they had defended me like they had.
"Think about what you really want to do, Kal," Aki said while quite suddenly skipping up to me, spinning me about face, putting the palms of her hands on my back, and then pushing me forward down the hall, "And sleep well~!"
After stumbling about half way down the hall, hearing and watching the doors of the supposedly sleeping staff shut, I looked back over my shoulder at that red haired woman heading to her own room. Again, a smile came to me.
"'Think about what you really want' she says…"
Turning the door handle of my room, the apple started to "call" out to me. The power it had, again, started pulsing through my veins. What was I going to do? Should I eat it? Would it be a good choice to consume a devil fruit and be cast out from the sea, never to be able to swim ever again?
"Ahhh!" I screamed out while throwing the box onto my bed, making the top fall off again and the apple roll out onto the comforter and then setting my glass of water on my bedside table, "I'm going to go take a shower…"
…
While pulling my bathroom door open and roughly dragging the towel over my damp auburn hair, I looked to my bed and the fruit seemed to glow on my comforter. A growl escaped my chest in frustration. What in the world was I going to do?! Being unable to swim did not seem like a fun thing, especially when, if I choose to, I'd be out on the sea, but… I guess if Kidd and every other Supernova who had a devil fruit ability could do then I probably could… Oh! This is so confusing…
"I've heard they taste horrible…" I muttered while putting the fruit back in my grasp, "But would the ability I get be worth it? Do I really want to…"
