Hey guys! Finally, here's the next chapter. I'm so sorry that took so long, but I've started working full time and I don't have as much time as I did when I started this story. I'll do my best to keep updating as frequently as possible, so please be patient with me!
As always; I don't own One Piece! Enjoy!
Chapter 9 – Monsters in the Deep
Foodvalten, Grand Line – Present Day
Yanagi's head swam as she struggled through the dense forest. Around her, the forest was alive and pushing at her senses. She struggled to keep her haki at bay, focusing solely on Aidan's presence. Her surroundings blurred together, and she payed little attention to where exactly she was going, until she stumbled into the clearing behind Ayana's house. Aidan waved from the back door, grinning widely before disappearing inside. Ayana made a strangled noise in her throat and rushed past Yanagi, standing frozen on the edge of the property.
"Ayana wait-!"
Too late. The woman rushed into the house after her son and disappeared out of view. Yanagi's stomach clenched as something, decidedly not Aidan, flickered out of view behind one of the windows. Against her better judgement she rushed into the building, pulling her staff from its holster as she breached the doorway.
When nothing immediately jumped out to attack her she edged further into the house, staff up and ready for an assault. Aidan had neglected to turn on any lights in the house, and the rooms branching out from the hallway seemed cavernous in their darkness. She checked each room as she went past; the bathroom, Ayana's bedroom, Aidan's room, the linen closet. All were untouched despite the presence of a young boy whose patience ran thin on the best of days. Hearing sounds from the living area, Yanagi wandered over as soundlessly as she could manage.
Inside, she could hear Aidan and Ayana talking quietly. Ayana's voice was calm and subdued despite the panic she had been experiencing only moments earlier and Yanagi felt alarm bells beginning to blare in her mind. Their voices were joined by a man's, deep and smooth, that she'd never heard before and an angrier, gruffer voice she recognized as Marco's. Confused, she reached out with her haki only to nearly double over at the lance of pain that flared up behind her eyes. She stumbled into the wall with a dull thud and the conversation in the kitchen stopped briefly before that same smooth voice floated into her ears.
"Ah, it seems our final guest has arrived. If you would please, my dear."
Ayana came around the corner nodding complacently at whoever she had just left in the kitchen. She grabbed Yanagi's elbow, grip firmer than necessary, and pulled her into the kitchen without a word. Marco was sitting sideways at the table, looking calm except for the anger in his eyes. His posture was the kind of forced-relaxation Yanagi recognized from watching high ranking marines in meetings; legs sprawled out, body slouched and one arm resting on the table while the other draped over the back of his chair. Yanagi noted with alarm the heavy seastone manacle clamped around one of his wrists.
Thoroughly confused, Yanagi swept the kitchen again. There was a man sitting opposite Marco at the table, his reclined form almost dwarfing the chair he sat in. Despite his large stature, his face was round and made even more non-threatening by the mess of black hair falling over his eyes and obscuring the top half of his face. Aidan was sat comfortably in his lap, grinning up at the man like his birthday had come early. He swivelled around when Ayana deposited Yanagi into the seat beside Marco and shackles them together before either could move. Aidan continued to grin as though nothing was wrong.
"Look Yanagi, my dad's come back for a visit!"
Yanagi shot Marco a horrified look, tilting her head in the direction of the young boy and the man who was obviously not his father. Marco's face twisted and he made a helpless gesture with his shoulders. Across from them the man stood from his seat, the boy firmly cradled against his side. He spread his other arm, like he was welcoming old friends, and sauntered over with a grin.
"Now that all our honoured guests have arrived, we can get down to business. You'll be more than happy to escort us to the church won't you?"
Yanagi felt her head go fuzzy as he spoke, as though a sudden drowsiness had taken over her. She found herself nodding along almost immediately, standing and pulling Marco to his feet, before marching out of the house and off into the woods without even registering that it was happening.
. . . . .
By the time Yanagi snapped back to herself, their small group was nearly back at the church already. The man was walking ahead of them, Aidan clinging to one with Ayana on the boy's other side. Beside her, Marco was watching her through half-lidded eyes. He'd regained his usual composure at some point during the walk and seemed to be waiting for something on her part. When she met his eyes, he flicked a glance at the trio ahead of them before shifting closer, mumbling under his breath.
"You back in your head, oi?"
Yanagi shot her own suspicious look ahead. "Yeah… What happened to me?"
Marco shrugged. "No idea, oi. It's some kind of Devil Fruit ability, that's how he got me."
"What happened?"
The annoyed look flickered back onto his face. "Turned the villagers on us, oi. Aidan and Ayana mostly but everyone else too. Not like we couldn't take 'em but there was no guarantee someone wouldn't die and well…"
Yanagi grimaced, the familiar feeling that she was missing something vital flickering in her mind. She watched the man walking ahead of them, completely apathetic to the small boy clinging to his side and felt something burn red hot in her gut. Using the villagers was one thing, but using Aidan's grief over his father was another entirely. Her attention flickered back to Marco as he nudged her in the side.
"You wouldn't happen to have any insights, Mrs. Marine?"
Yanagi scowled at him, but he grinned unrepentant. She sighed. "What's the crew called?"
"The Bloodsaw Pirates. Or something like that, oi."
Something clicked in Yanagi's brain and she stiffened beside Marco. "You don't mean Warsaw Pirates do you?"
"That'd be them."
Internally, Yanagi cringed. Just her luck that one of the big rookies that had been terrorizing the Grand Line would be attacking the island she ended up on. The crew had been causing trouble for over a year, leaving mayhem and carnage in their wake and developing the kind of reputation that made Yanagi hate pirates. More importantly, they left a rather confusing clean-up behind them when the marines showed up, as most witnesses reported no attack ever happening and those that did insisted no Devil Fruits were used despite the Buster-Call levels of destruction. The mystery had only been solved recently, when a lucky break found them a witness with uncorrupted information.
"The Shin-shin no Mi, that's his Devil Fruit."
Marco quirked a brow at her. "A truth fruit?"
"It doesn't sound like much on paper but the reality is… difficult to deal with. Whatever he says becomes fact to his targets. Doesn't matter if the evidence against it is right there in front of them, they'll believe every word out of his mouth. It wears off eventually but still."
Marco frowned. "That's troublesome, oi. Anyone else noteworthy?"
Yanagi shook her head. "Their navigator had a logia fruit with some pretty impressive side effects, but Ace dealt with her earlier."
Marco nodded slowly, soaking in the information. They arrived at the church clearing at this point. All around, numerous Warsaw pirates sat lounging while the town's people gathered in a group at the edge of the clearing looking dazed and fearful. The Whitebeard pirates were corralled near the church. Yanagi recognized a few faces before Ace appeared at the front of the group looking disgruntled. The two were shoved into the group with the rest before the man from the house, presumably the captain, detached himself from Aidan and wandered off to the center of the clearing. His crew cheered loudly as he pivoted around in circles, arms outstretched as though waiting to catch something from the sky.
"Alright men!" A roar swelled up from the crowd. "Are plan is going off without a hitch and, in a few hours, the Whitebeard pirates will be put in their place once and for all!"
Another roar rose up from the pirates around the clearing. The captain sauntered over to the captive pirates looking smug and his eyes swept over them before landing on Yanagi. His mouth twisted into a wicked grin and he suddenly looked much more menacing then he had. He pulled her over roughly by the elbow and tilted his face down so his breathe fanned across her face as he spoke.
"My little friend Aidan over there tells me you're a marine."
"He's not your friend, you asshole."
He chuckled. "Protective aren't you."
He walked back to the middle of the clearing, swaggering as his crew made a racket all around. He turned, all leisure and arrogant, and peered back over his shoulder at her.
"So here's the deal girly. You weren't part of the plan, but we've got a little time to kill. And my men here," another roar swelled through the clearing, "need a little show. So you and me, we're gonna have a little fun, yeah?"
As though on cue, someone stepped out of the crowd and pulled her away from the rest of the captives. There was a brief uproar from behind as she was dragged away, but it did little to help her as she was detached from Marco and dragged to the center of the clearing. Glancing back over her shoulders, she watched the assembly of Whitebeard pirates as they stared back at her worriedly. The men beside her batted a sudden retreat and Yanagi had barely a second's warning before the captain's open palm collided with her temple and sent her stumbling backwards.
"Come on, Marine, entertain me!"
Without batting an eye, the man lurched at her again. Yanagi jerked back in time to avoid the swing at her head, but stumbled as a twinge in her injured ankle sent her off balance. She felt more than saw the captain swing for her again and let the weakness in her legs drag her down to avoid the blow. She rolled out of the way of a kicked and swept her legs out to topple her attacker, only to be sidestepped and kicked in the jaw when her ribs seized up with the motion. Her body tumbled sideways, and she caught a glimpse of Aidan cheering happily from his place within the ring of enemy pirates. She straightened painfully, one hand on her ribs where the black bruising gave way to fractures in the bones themselves.
"Release him."
The captain, puzzled, glanced over his shoulder in the direction she had been looking. Aidan was still cheering, watching the man he thought was his father with something close to hero-worship. The man shot a wicked grin in Yanagi's direction, shrugging noncommittally before wandering over to the boy and kneeling to his level. He watched Yanagi from the corner of his eye as he whispered to the boy, grin still curling across his face wickedly. She watched the thrall descend in Aidan's eyes and her stomach turned violently.
"Stop it."
As she watched, Aidan's face went from elation and wonder to confusion, before settling on horror. His head swivelled around, taking in his surroundings with a sudden fear as his small frame began to tremble. Behind her eyelids, scenes flickered through Yanagi's memory. Aidan's frightened face overlapped with Lavi's as Zero bore down on him in a rage, the sounds around her transformed into a dull roar as suddenly she was back on the ship from the mist, watching bodies that seemed eerily familiar get dragged from the deck by frothing waves.
"Stop it!"
From deeper in the crowd, Ayana struggled to get to her son only to be pinned by a burly man twice her width. Something hot flashed through her limbs as the scene unravelled, the captain's cruel grin burning at the center of it all. And then the wailing started.
Yanagi lurched forward without thought, grabbing the man by his throat and launching him across the clearing. Haki crept through her limbs, lending her skin the appearance of steel. She watched the captain push himself back to his feet, the near constant sound of Aidan's screams drowning out anything else as the man straightened with a satisfied grin and red flooded Yanagi's vision.
"What? You asked me to."
The air in the clearing shifted and the pirates grew silent, suddenly aware of some intangible change as Yanagi stalked the captain with a predatory smoothness to her movements.
In three steps she crossed the clearing, arm drawn back for a punch. The captain evaded her deftly, catching her fist to redirect it away from his face. He winced as the impact shattered the bones in his hands and he staggered away clutching his wrist in a futile attempt to stop the pain radiating to his elbow. Unfazed Yanagi pressed forward, her knee slamming up into his stomach and driving him up into her elbows as they came down on the back of his neck. Blood splattered the ground at her feet, and the man stumbled away clutching at his abdomen.
She followed and made to grab him collar when he whipped around, smashing the butt of a pistol against her jaw. She reeled sideways but didn't register the pain as she used the momentum of the blow to kick him hard into the trunk of a tree. Something cracked loudly as the man made contact. Around them, a ripple of unease passed through the invading crew as the marine inched closer to their captain.
Her head throbbed as her Kenbunshoku haki spun her vision until suddenly she was watching herself stalk towards the man from his own eyes. She had a moment to wonder at the predatory fluidity of her movements before she was sucked in deeper, to the words he'd said to Aidan, to all the island's he'd terrorized and ruined, to his home island which he continued to ruin. Anger flashed through her body and she wasn't aware of anything for a moment until heat engulfed her, pinning her arms to her limbs as she was dragged backwards and away.
"Calm down! CALM DOWN! It's over already."
Air whistled into her lungs as though she'd been holding her breath, but her throat burned like she'd been screaming. She sagged against the body behind her, eyes flickering around the clearing. The villagers were huddling together at the far end of the clearing, Aidan watched from the confines of his mother's arms with a wide-eyed surprise permeated with fear. The invading pirate crew was dispersing into the trees with many Whitebeard pirates in pursuit, though a few remained with the villagers. Marco was crouched over what had been the captain of the crew, but looked now more like the remnants of a wild animal attack. The blond commander's face was carefully neutral, but Yanagi's head still throbbed with her out of control haki and she could sense the dull horror permeating the area.
Feeling suddenly like she was going to be sick, she wiggled against the hold pinning her arms to her sides. The arms tightened momentarily, but eased away slowly as whoever it was seemed to register her calm. She stubbled forward a few steps and braced her hands against a tree to steady herself as the world swam around her. Vaguely, she noted that Ace had been the one to pull her from her rampage. His freckled face was twisted with concern as he watched her and surreptitiously shared glances with Marco. When it was clear she was shaken but otherwise fine, he wandered back to the other commander with one last confused glance in her direction.
On the other side of the clearing, the villager's voices were rising until the flow of different conversations was a dull hum in the background. Yanagi tried hard to avoid eavesdropping, but her haki was still wildly out of her control and their shock and horror sent spikes of pain lancing across her skull. Acutely aware of the eyes watching her in fear, Yanagi struggled to push the flashes of memory down. She could see herself in their eyes; stalking the man like a wild cat, attacking without hesitation or thought.
Abruptly, she shoved away from her tree and stumbled off into the woods. The plants caught at her and slowed her progress as she rushed blindly through the underbrush. She swatted at branches, growing more and more frantic as it seemed the forest began to close in on her. She picked up speed until she was sprinting, crashing through the foliage until, seemingly out of nowhere, she was knee deep in a stream. Dizzy and exhausted, she dropped herself onto a rock at the water's edge and let her emotions take over.
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So? Let me know what you think! I haven't written many fight scenes before this story so feedback is always hugely appreciated!