Chapter 11

It was too early in the morning for Skyler to be up and about but Killer had repeated time and time again that it was the best time for the two to practice without getting in the way of the rest of the crew. She understood that he didn't want to meddle with the other pirates' work but… the sun hadn't even risen and they were already on deck and ready to spar.

Well, Killer was. Skyler, on the other hand, was fighting to keep her eyes open.

They had been doing these sessions for the past two weeks since they've been at sea. She was hoping they'd find land soon so that she could take a break. As much as it was helping her and improving her fighting abilities, she couldn't help but feel completely drained. The blond man was ruthless when he was training her, pushing her past her limits and not bothering much with any damage she'd suffer.

Well… he did worry about her well-being. He just didn't let it show all that much. Only when she couldn't manage to get up right away that he'd actually cool down on his attacks.

He had given her temporary alloy gauntlets that were easy and light to wield. Since her fighting style was close ranged and she used her fists and legs, Killer had spoken to Wire about making something for her for better defense and impact. It had helped her but her moves were still awkward since she wasn't used to the feel of the gauntlets.

Killer had decided to not give her the leg pieces yet since it would only make her clumsier with her moves. He did feel she was being careful to not hurt him, her attacks not holding all that much power.

"I feel like we're doing this earlier and earlier…" Skyler complained, stretching her arms above her head and sighed when she felt her joints pop.

"If we are, it means you are getting worse and need more time to train." The blond stated, testing out his bladed gauntlets to see if the mechanism was fully functional.

"You wound me, Killer." She chuckled, placing a hand on her chest in mocked pain.

He turned his attention to the woman, finally noting her attire. She would always have a very minimal outfit to facilitate her movements but they were always baggy and covered her figure decently. Today, however, she chose on a tighter outfit. The fabric was elastic and comfortable, hugging her figure tightly and showing her curves.

"Then get better." He said after a few moments of engraving her image to mind. "You ever heard of Haki?"

"What the hell is that?" She walked up to him, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for him to begin his explanation.

"It's… a skill that anyone can learn with enough training." He began, resting his hands in his pockets and doing his best to focus his attention on her face and not on her chest that had perked up when she crossed her arms. He mentally thanked himself for his fashion choice of wearing a mask that hid away his entire face from everyone else. "There's two that everyone has and can awaken if they so want to: armament and observation haki. Armament haki is basically an invisible armor that hardens your body or parts of your body and you can use it to fight. Observation haki is… kind of like a sixth sense more or less?" He shrugged, doing his best to simplify the two terms. "You can guess incoming attacks and read your opponent."

"So just… keep a keen eye and make your body calloused enough to not hurt that much?" She asked, confused as to why they had those terms when it was a simple basis of a professional fighter.

"Well… to put it simply, yes but it's heightened. Those senses are stronger so much so that with armament haki you can iron your skin and with observation haki you can see into the close future if you focus on that alone." He tried to hold back his laughter when he looked at her dumbfounded expression.

"I would ask if you were high but, I mean… Kidd can attract metal with the power of imagination so… I guess that's plausible?" She mumbled and that was the last drop, Killer finally laughing out loud. "What?"

"It's the way you put that." His laughter died down slowly until he finally managed to compose himself. "His ability comes from a devil fruit and not from the power of imagination."

"Hey, don't judge me." She chuckled, cracking her knuckles. "Let's just get this train over with before everyone else wakes up." She stepped back to gain some distance from the blond man before asking "Which haki should I focus on?"

"Since you have those gauntlets for now, try to focus on observation haki." He took a fighting stance, activating the mechanism of his gauntlets. "Focus on guessing my next attack, on seeing it and avoid it before I can hit you."

She nodded and their sparring began. The first attacks were barely dodged, since she was trusting on her Muay Thai training and her muscle memory to react on time but she wasn't envisioning the next attack at all. Killer managed to take hold of her arm and launched her across the deck. Her back hit the railing but she was quick to her feet, running towards him once more to attack. Once again, he deflected her attack and bashed her torso down, making her back hit the floor.

"Fuck…" She choked out. Killer reached out his hand to help her up and she quickly took it, getting back up and ready to fight again.

"Focus on defending and not attacking." He informed her and continued to go for the attack when she nodded in agreement.

She breathed in deeply, emptying her mind before focusing her entire attention on the man before her. He was giving her barely no time to compose when he began attacking her but, for one second, she managed to read his moves and, letting her body go on auto-pilot, she somehow managed to dodge an attack that he was preparing. His body showed no clue as to where it was going but she dodged to the left and, only moments later did his attack go down towards her right.

She lost her balance, tripping over Killer's feet and, as she fell, she held onto his blouse, pulling him down to the floor with her. Her expression was of surprise and enthusiasm, a smile growing wider on her face.

"I think I did it!" She shook his shoulders lightly, her body shaking from the adrenaline. "I saw it! Killer, I saw it before it happened! Is that it!? That was so weird!" She was spitting out her words so rapidly that the blond man had a bit of trouble understanding what she was saying. He couldn't help but smile at her, saddened that she couldn't see his approval to her achievement. "I don't know what the fuck I did but I think I did it!" Her enthusiasm died down once she processed their position: he was on top of her, one of his legs between hers, his arms on each side of her torso, holding him up. His blond hair fanned down, covering them from prying eyes and shielding her from the sun that was now peaking in the horizon. Their chests were heaving, result of their fight, her face flushed red from the effort. "Why do you wear a mask?" She finally asked, breaking the silence.

He shrugged.

"Fashion choice?" He smiled once more when he heard her soft chuckle.

"You guys all have a questionable fashion sense." She said, choking a bit on her laughter. She reached up towards his helmet, her fingers shaking lightly. Her eyes were gleaming as she looked at his mask to where his eyes were supposed to be, as if silently asking if she could take it off. Her response was his right hand reaching to the mask, on the round pieces that worked as latches to keep it in place. There was a clicking noise when he pressed one side and then the other. Skyler carefully removed his mask, revealing his face to her. She laughed when she saw his dense blond bangs covering his eyes and part of his nose. "Even under the mask you want to hide your face. How can you see with all this hair?" She said, mindlessly running her fingers through his hair and bushing it away, revealing light blue eyes that were staring intently at her. There was a long scar that went from one side of his cheek to another, bridging over his nose, and a second scar that crossed it, that came from his right eyebrow and down on a straight line until his jawline.

"So? What's the verdict?" Killer asked, a grin making its way to his lips.

"I could get used to this." She said, letting her hand rest on his shoulder, his bangs covering his eyes once more. Skyler was enjoying seeing how his lips moved when he spoke to her; how the corner of his eyes would wrinkle when he grinned at her and his nose would scrunch up when the grin became a smile.

He leaned back, sitting down on his heels so that he could look at her entire form. She sat up to be at the same level as him, keeping her hand on his shoulder, her nails brushing against his neck. Killer took hold of her arm, removing the gauntlet and bringing her hand to his lips, caressing the skin with his thumb, his eyes fixated on her face that had gained a stronger blush because of his actions.

With a long sigh, he got up to his feet and, before he could help her up from the ground, he visibly cringed when he saw Kidd standing in the doorway, staring at both of them, anger burning in his eyes.

Skyler looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened when he saw the red haired man walking up towards the both of them. She scurried to her feet, ready to face his wrath but was surprise when he directed it towards Killer.

"She's mine." He growled at his first mate, his form towering over the slightly shorter man. Killer didn't budge from his place at all, choosing to not falter and back out on his choices.

"Oi!" She called out, stepping in between the two men. She handed the mask back to Killer before turning to face Kidd. "I'm not something for you to piss on and claim as yours." She growled, making the red head man blink in surprise at her choice of words. Skyler grabbed her gauntlet that had been forgotten on the floor and placed it on her forearm once more. She averted her gaze to the blond man behind her. "Thank you for training me." The black haired woman turned her attention back to her captain. "And you better get a personality check because it's pretty crap, Kidd. I don't belong to you or anyone." She grabbed the collard of his jacket, pulling him down a bit and meeting up to his height by standing on her tip toes. "I am my own person. Just because we kissed doesn't mean I am yours to claim." She let go of his collard and stormed off towards the mess deck, planning on getting something to eat before the rest of the pirates woke up and made a ruckus.

The two men were left behind, staring at the door where Skyler had disappeared to, dumbfounded by her explosion until Killer finally broke the silence.

"Be a bit more mindful of her next time." He adjusted the mask and locking it in place once more. "If you do want her then think of what you're going to say."

"Fuck off, you blond pansy." He growled under his breath, angry at what he had witnessed and towards his first mate because he knew the blond man was right.

"Go talk to her." Killer said, placing his hands in his pockets, amused that he got a surprised look from the ever enraged captain. "Seems that you both have to clear the waters between the two of you." The curious look made Killer wave his hand to dismiss that expression. "I stepped out of line, I'm aware of that. You're possessive of the things you want. I was out of bounds." The blond man cleared, seeing his captain's figure relax. "But don't expect me to sit still if she's the one that comes looking for me and not you."

This last statement brought back the tension to Kidd's body, his red eyes burning with the enthusiasm brought by a challenge.

"Don't expect me to fucking lose to you." Eustass grinned and left to find Skyler, leaving Killer alone on deck.

He couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. He felt enthusiasm with poking at the beast that was Eustass Kidd, even if the captain would bitch about it afterwards. Plus, he enjoyed that Skyler would respond to such small gestures coming from the first mate.

It was comforting, in a way.

His thoughts were cut short when the crew began to mobilize more and more, creating a ruckus on deck. The blond man began to dictate orders around to the members of the crew so that duties could be distributed through all of them.

For now, Killer would have to ignore his urges towards Skyler and see how things would unfold.

A/N:

And here I am, once more, with another chapter.

I feel my head is in a knot since I've been working non-stop for college and only had the time to write this story this weekend. Hopefully, by the time Easter comes, I'll have a bit more time to commit to this story. I'm enjoying writing it a lot. I hope you are to!

I do not own One Piece! It belongs to Eiichiro Oda

I only own Skyler.