Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but Kyra was my idea

Beta'd by Tomas the Betrayer.

Kyra feels the hairs upon the back of her neck prickle for the tenth time in the last half hour and tenses. She wishes Law hadn't taken the seat in the corner; it would be nice to be able to see who the hell is watching her. Instead she is stuck with her back to the rest of the bar, sitting right across from her captain so the bastard can stare at her with that infuriating smirk on his face.

They have been on this island for roughly two hours, having finally dumped the traumatized blonde nurse at the first house from the docks and spent time gathering supplies for the continuation of their journey. They will be stuck here for another three days while the new, complicated Log Pose sets. The storm that nearly claimed Law's life has followed them here, to this island of unbelievably massive trees and the metropolis built into the branches like beautiful, elaborate tree houses. The bar in which they sit is easily fifty feet off the ground, in the lowest branches of a pair of monstrous oaks, reached by a series of handholds carved deep into the bark of the trunks. The people here seem quiet and somewhat shy, all of them walking around barefoot and showing off their elongated toes that look very much like fingers.

The natives seem rather fond of seafarers, giving the Heart Pirates their supplies for free and providing booze and food here in the bar for a ridiculously reduced rate. They have been courteous and polite, their leader offering the entire crew shelter in his home for the duration of their stay. They have not even gone crazy over Bepo, a definite first in Kyra's experience of traveling with the bear. It is fairly amazing to her how accepting these people have been.

Which does not make her feel any better about whoever the hell that is over there giving her the hairy eyeball.

Bepo, sitting close at hand, nudges her slightly. "What's wrong, Kyra?"

The sorceress doesn't bother inquiring as to how her fluffy companion is aware of her discomfort. He probably smells it on her with that sensitive nose of his. "Somebody keeps watching us and it's starting to bug me."

This draws Law's attention. The ruthless surgeon pulls out of a quiet conversation with one of the lower level mechanics and directs his gaze at the woman across from him. "What do you mean by that, my magician?"

Kyra squashes the urge to tell him not to call her that, as she has started to learn that doing so will have the exact opposite effect. "Somebody keeps looking over here. I can feel their eyes. Obviously I can't see them, since somebody took the corner seat, but they're watching us right now from somewhere behind me."

Law's grey eyes shift to scan the room, stopping at a point just to the right of Kyra's head. They immediately narrow, and the feeling of being watched instantly dissipates as whoever it is looks away.

"There is a man sitting at a table near the door," the captain intones softly, his voice bordering on deadly. "He's wearing some kind of hooded cloak, but I can see his face fairly well. Early to mid-twenties, smooth of face, light brown hair." Law grows quiet, as if pondering something. Then he leans forward with a smile. "Would you like to come with me while I have a little chat with our curious friend, my magician?"

Kyra considers for only a moment before giving a nod and pushing to her feet, waiting for Law to round the table before turning and falling into step behind him. She sees the man he means instantly, sitting alone at a small table very close to the exit. His features are as Law described them, with a strong jaw and glittering brown eyes that watch their approach from the shadow of his hood. He makes no move to rise and leave, sitting there calm as you please until the duo comes to a stop before him.

Something is wrong, a nagging something that tugs at Kyra's mind. This man is vaguely familiar, like a face she has seen once a long time ago and forgotten until now. Her brow furrows in confusion as she tries to figure out if she has indeed met this individual before, and if so, where. Could he have worked in the labs with Merrick? The thought sends ice racing through her veins, but for unknown reasons she is almost certain that is not the case. So if not, then where has she seen him?

"Good evening, sir," Law greets him smoothly, moving to place an arm low around Kyra's hips as he smirks at the stranger. "I couldn't help but notice your interest in my crew over there. Do you have a problem with pirates?"

The man does not respond, his gaze flickering over the Dark Doctor for only a moment before coming to rest on Kyra. His expression shifts infinitesimally from guarded to dangerously interested in an instant. The twitchy mage immediately tenses at his scrutiny, extremely uncomfortable and wary as hell. Seeing this, her captain loses the smirk and moves as though to step in front of her, only to be stopped by her hand upon his chest.

The stranger takes all this in before speaking, his voice low and deep and unfamiliar in a way his face is not.

"I meant no offense," he assures Law quietly, sweeping a hand to the booth seat across from him. "Please, won't you sit? It's been awhile since I had company to drink with me."

Kyra uneasily allows Law to usher her into the booth, not pleased to be trapped between him and the wall. She eyes the stranger, who has hardly taken his gaze from her in the last few minutes. He catches her look and smiles gently, heightening that sense of familiarity.

"I apologize if I have made you uncomfortable. I've been looking for you for a long time, and I admit it surprised me when you walked in that door, Kyra."

Her eyes immediately change color, black wisps swirling around her as she prepares to fight and kill this person who somehow knows her name. "Who are you? How do you know me?"

He does not seem alarmed by her hostility, nor by the look currently gracing Law's features. Instead the man puts his hand into his cloak and slowly withdraws something. Very carefully, he places the item down on the table and removes his hand, all the while watching for Kyra's reaction.

But she is unable to give him one - Kyra is in shock at what she sees for a long, frozen moment in time. A delicate necklace lies on the polished wooden surface of the table. It is gold through and through, from the fine chain to the jagged half-heart pendant. Beside the pendant hangs a filigreed silver knotwork ring, beautiful in its detail and so tiny it would only fit on a woman's pinkie.

Kyra knows every curve and line on that intricate band by heart. Her mother wore that ring. It had been a gift from a childhood lover who went out to sea long years before Kyra was born and never came back. Her mother had worn that ring every day of Kyra's life up until her abrupt departure from their island. The necklace she recognizes too, the twin and match to the one safely tucked away in her satchel back on the sub. Another of her mother's most prized possessions; Kyra's grandfather had given them to her the year he died, and she in turn had given one to Kyra when the girl was five years old. As far as Kyra knows, her mother never took the necklace off, not even to bathe.

And now this stranger has placed that unforgettable memento casually before her, paired with the precious ring her mother had so loved.

Kyra has wrapped the stranger in strangling black magic in an instant, her heart pounding in her ears. She snatches the treasures up and leans over the table towards him, dangling the precious jewelry in his face as she bares her teeth and snarls at him, ignoring Law's warning grip on her elbow.

"Where," she demands through clenched jaws, fury bubbling dangerously close to the surface, "did you get this?"

The mysterious stranger meets her glare calmly, a smile still quirking the corners of his lips. "From Naomi, of course."

The air freezes in Kyra's lungs. Her mother's name. Oh gods.

"Where is she?" the sorceress growls, hardly aware of anything else as her powers respond to her growing fear and rage. "Where? Tell me now or I will kill you so slowly you'll beg to die."

"Your mother is waiting for you," the man replies, somehow looking hardly fazed by her very real threat to his life. "She misses you terribly, and was thrilled to know that you are alive. Would you like to go home to her, Kyra?"

The world is spinning out of her control. Law is speaking to her, something about calming down and damage to property as the sound of raised voices and shattering glass rings around the bar. Kyra ignores it all. The entirety of her concentration is focused on the person sitting calmly in front of her, wrapped in her magic to a dangerous degree but not looking the least bit afraid. That familiar face is watching her closely, those sparkling brown eyes urging her to say yes. Urging her to go with him back to her home island. Back to her mother.

"Who are you?" she whispers, needing to know before this goes any further. "Who the fuck are you?"

The man smiles gently. "My name is Jericho. My father's name is Malachi. Ring any bells, shrimp?"

Everything stops.

She is crying, her thin little arms wrapped around her seven year old cousin as her mother and uncle argue.

"You can't be serious!" her uncle bellows, throwing his hands in the air in clear exasperation. "Naomi, that man is evil! If you stay here, if Kyra stays here, he will kill her! You know he will! You heard what he said today!"

"And so did you!" her mother screams back. She has never seen her mother like this, and it terrifies her. "If we leave, the contract he forced on her will kill her for sure! I will not take that chance with my daughter, Malachi! She's all I have! I won't risk her life like that!"

She huddles further into her cousin's protective embrace, trying to block out the fighting and the scary words piercing the air inside the little hut. Black magic crawls out of her skin to engulf the two children in a soundproof cocoon, the power inside her answering her silent pleas. Jericho doesn't flinch or cry out in fear - he merely tightens his grip on her until she thinks they will fuse together, his hands warm through the bandages on her back. Her magic strokes them both, teasing his hair and trying vainly to wipe the endless river of tears from her cheeks.

"Don't be scared, shrimp," Cousin Jericho whispers, using that annoying pet name that she hates, because he's only a year older and a half-inch taller, and she hardly qualifies as a shrimp! "Everything's going to be okay. You're going to be okay."

"B-but it hurt, Jeri," she sobs into his scrawny chest. "The shaman made me hurt so bad! I don't wanna have lessons with him! It's scary, his magic's scary, Jeri! It makes my stomach funny and my chest hurts when he looks at me. I don't wanna go back! He'll hit me again! I don't want you and Uncle Chi to leave! You can't leave me! I promise I won't hurt you again, I promise, I'm sorry!"

She rubs a tiny hand on her cousin's tummy, more tears wetting her cheeks when she feels his scar under his shirt. She didn't mean to hurt him. The village boys were throwing rocks at her again and he got in the way of her magic on accident. That scar is testament to her power's ability to both harm and heal. Is that why Uncle Chi wants to leave? Is he scared she'll hurt his son again?

"Shh, don't be stupid, shrimp. I'm not mad about a little scratch! You're my cousin, and that's what cousins are for! I gave you that scar next to your eye, remember? When we were playing pirates with those tree limbs and I accidentally poked you? This was just payback for that, okay? Nothing to worry about!" Jericho makes her lift her chin and grins at her, the expression taking up his whole face and squeezing his watering brown eyes until they are almost shut. She cries harder than ever and tries to hug him tighter, never wanting to let go.

"I love you, Jeri," she bawls into his shirt. She knows already that he and her uncle are going to leave. There's nothing she can do to stop it. She's going to lose her cousin, and she has to tell him how she feels before he goes. "I love you lots. Will you promise not to forget about me?"

Jericho laughs, the sound watery and brave and so fake even the six year old isn't fooled. "I'll never forget you. And someday I'll come back here with Daddy and save you from that stinky old man! We'll come back and take you and Aunt Mi somewhere far away, where there's no creepy shamans with their stupid lessons and whips, where we can eat cake for breakfast every day and chocolate for dinner and ice cream whenever we want it! It's a promise, okay?"

"R-really?"

"Yup! A promise!"

Kyra is crouched on top of the table with the stranger's shirt rucked up to his armpits in one second flat, shielded so that Law cannot interfere and staring at the faded scar just under the man's ribs. It is the size of a small child's fist, clearly gained years ago. It is located in the exact spot where she wounded her cousin as a little girl, just weeks after killing her father and days before her uncle took his son and left the island forever. She had managed to heal for the first time when Jericho had been hurt, terrified that her best friend would die and sick with the knowledge that it would be her fault.

Oh, gods.

"It's me, shrimp," her prisoner says softly, watching her face with those brown orbs of his. "It's really me. I promised I wouldn't forget about you and I didn't. Have you forgotten about me?"

The stunned sorceress stares at him, hardly daring to hope. Could it be? Is he really...?

"Jeri?" she whispers, terrified of his answer.

He grins at her in response, a grin that utilizes his entire face and scrunches his eyes until they are almost closed. Her cousin's grin. "Yup!"

Jericho is sitting before her, alive and well and smiling.

Kyra drops her shield and throws herself into his lap, wrapping her arms around him and crushing him in a hug. She is crying, she can feel the tears racing down her cheeks as she grips her cousin tight and just weeps in sheer joy. She doesn't care that they're sitting in a bar. She doesn't care that Law and most of his crew can see her. Nothing matters except the way it feels when Jericho's strong arms come up to embrace her right back, burying his face in her hair and holding her close.

"Jeri," she whimpers into his broad chest, so different and yet so like the one she remembers from all those years ago. "Jeri, gods, Jeri."

"Shh, it's okay," he whispers to her, rubbing his big hands soothingly up and down her back. "I got you, shrimp. Everything's okay now. I got you."

Kyra pushes him away slightly, greedily drinking in the sight of his face. "Uncle Chi? Is he alright? Is he here with you?"

Her long lost cousin and childhood best friend shakes his head. "He's with Aunt Mi. They're both waiting for us to get back to them. I've been looking for you since we got wind that you'd ended up with a bounty. Speaking of which, is your title seriously 'Demon Witch'? Isn't that like redundant? I think shrimp is a much better name, don't you?"

She laughs weakly, letting her head drop to his shoulder and squeezing him again. She can't make herself let go, terrified that if she does he will vanish. Kyra grips fistfuls of her cousin's shirt and cries into his shoulder while he holds her and mutters comforting nonsense. She can feel the eyes of the whole damn bar on them and wants to snap at these kind people to fuck off, to mind their own damn business, because this is the cousin she hasn't seen in sixteen fucking years and she doesn't need a goddamn audience to their reunion.

It isn't until strong fingers close cruelly around a fistful of her hair and attempt to yank her away from her cousin that Kyra moves. In an instant she is crouched over Jericho's thighs with her back to him, arms encased in black magic up to the elbows and teeth bared in an animalistic snarl. Her eyes skim over Law in search of the threat that has just touched her before she pauses and gives her attention to her captain.

Who looks pissed.

Oh.

"Perhap you would be so kind as to explain to me what the hell is going on here, my magician?" the Surgeon of Death inquires quietly, his voice positively icy. Only now does Kyra notice that the bar is in shambles: the tables and chairs that aren't completely destroyed have been overturned, while all the lamps have busted and gone out. What might possibly be every glass in the place lies shattered on the floor. People are picking themselves up from where they were thrown. At some point the other Heart Pirates had converged on her position, and now stand behind their captain at the perfect angle to watch her.

...Oops.

"Um, Law, guys, this... this is my cousin. His name is Jericho."

A cousin.

Law sits behind the desk inside his cabin, secure now that he is back on his sub, and listens in silence as Kyra tells him about the relative she hasn't seen for the better part of two decades. Part of his mind is still baying for the stranger's blood for putting his hands on Law's magician, cousin or not. Part of him is seething that this other man is able to bring such a carefree smile to Kyra's face and that happy glimmer in her eyes. Part of him is coldly waiting for her to tell him that she is leaving so that he can correct her faulty assumption - she's not going anywhere. Law will kill this... cousin before he lets his magician set foot off this sub again.

"So we're going back to my home island," Kyra informs him cheerfully, grinning the grin of someone who is ecstatically happy. Visible in the hallway outside through the open door, the crew exchange glances between one another. They can tell what their captain is thinking, while Kyra continues to blithely gabble on. "Jericho's going to be the guide for my powers and we're leaving as soon as I get -"

"You are not," Law interrupts curtly. Kyra pauses in her ramblings, looking at him blankly as though she does not understand.

"I'm not what?"

The Dark Doctor leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and tucking in his chin so that his eyes are hidden by the shadow of his cap. "I have not given you permission to leave. You're not going anywhere without my say-so. Or do I need to remind you that I am your captain?"

He watches as that blank expression slowly morphs into something dangerous. He does not move as the girl stands and stalks over to him, doesn't so much as twitch when she grabs the armrests of his chair and leans down until only inches separate their faces.

"Do you really think for an instant that you can stop me?" Kyra hisses, her hot breath washing over Law's face as he meets her furious gaze impassively. "Did you conveniently forget that I can slaughter you and your whole fucking crew if I need to? Don't you fuck with me, Law. I won't let anybody keep me away from my mother, least of all you. What exactly do you think you can do to keep me here, hmm? If you or one of your men goes near my cousin you'll be dead before you can touch him. What leverage can you possibly come up with to keep me here?"

Unimpressed by her threats, the Surgeon of Death uncrosses his arms and buries the fingers of one hand in her hair. He uses this handhold to yank her head back so that her neck is bared to him, ignoring her snarls and the black whip of her powers that crawls down his arm to rest against his throat. Uncaring of his audience Law leans forward and licks a long line up his magician's neck to her ear, holding her still when she struggles against him.

"I don't need leverage," he growls into her ear. "Your powers will keep you here because I've commanded it. Funny how they have yet to take my head off despite your rage, isn't it Kyra? Funny how you've managed to force a little strand around my neck but can't tighten it, can you? You can't convince that magic of yours to kill me, can you? Which means all your little threats are completely empty. Those powers have realized what you are still denying: that you are mine. I don't give a shit about your cousin. You are not going anywhere."

In an instant all the fight seems to go out of the woman, leaving her to slump over his lap with her head against his shoulder. Law does not ease his iron hold on her hair, does not acknowledge the curious looks from his men or the worried expression on the face of his magician's fucking cousin. He doesn't care what any of them think of his actions. They are his crew, the cousin a guest on his sub, and as such have no right to question whatever he chooses to do.

"Please," Kyra whispers, her breath warm through the fabric of his hoodie. "Please, it's my mother. I have to go. I need to go to her. What do you want? I'll do anything you want, anything if you'll let me go to her. Tell me what to do and I'll do it, anything, I swear."

"I am a pirate, Kyra, I take what I want without permission from anyone," Law counters smoothly, giving her hair a small yank. "Your begging is pointless. You will not leave this sub. Your cousin can do whatever he pleases, but if he tries to take you I will kill him in front of you."

"Don't you understand what I'm saying?" she wails, jerking her head up and grabbing handfuls of his hoodie as she glares at him. "He can take me back to my mother! My mother, Law! Can't you understand how important it is for me to find her? I haven't seen her face in ten fucking years! I need this, I need to see for myself that she's alive! Why are you being such a jackass about this? What the fuck do you care if I leave or not?"

"Because you're mine," the surgeon answers simply, his anger at this whole situation growing by the minute. He wishes he had just killed the fucking cousin back at the bar instead of bothering to walk over and talk to the man. He glances over to see this Jericho being forcefully held in his chair by Jambarl, who has his massive hands clamped over the smaller man's shoulders. This is perfect, actually, as now that his strongest crewman has a hold on the little bastard, he actually does have some leverage.

Or so he thinks until Kyra turns her head and sees them.

She is out of Law's grasp in an instant, across the desk with a hand sunk up to the elbow in Jambarl's guts and the other clamping down around his throat. The girl pulls enough to break the skin, causing a small spurt of blood before she encases the quasi-giant's neck in black and lets go. She turns to Law where he is rising from his chair, her eyes onyx in shade and a terrible look on her pretty face. The rest of the crew shouts in surprise, starting forward until Kyra snarls and twists the hand still inside Jambarl's body. The large pirate gives a roar of pain as he drops to his knees, his crewmates freezing in their tracks.

"One step and he dies," Kyra whispers, her voice easily carrying through the silent room. Her damn cousin has bolted from his chair and retreated to a corner, a globe of protective magic shielding him from harm. All this time Law and his magician have not broken eye contact, his cold grey orbs narrowed nearly to slits in his fury and her black ones boring into him.

"You're right, Law," his magician concedes, sending involuntary shivers down his spine with that deadly tone. "I can't kill you. But the rest of this crew does not share your immunity. Them, I can hurt. Them, I can kill. And I'll slaughter every last one of them if you try to stop me from leaving.

"I'm holding Jambarl's guts in my hand, Law. I just ripped out his jugular, but he won't die unless I take my magic away from his throat. You clear this room of everyone else, you sit your ass back in that chair; or I will tear Jambarl's intestines to pieces and then let him bleed out, and I'll make you watch it."

Law has ascended into a level of rage unlike any he has ever felt before in his life. If not for the fact that Jambarl's life literally hangs in the balance, he would leap over his desk and lay his hands on his magician with the intent to kill. How dare she threaten his men? How dare she betray him like this? How dare she presume to order him to do a goddamn thing in his own fucking submarine? And the worst part is that he must do as Kyra commands. If he doesn't he has no doubt that she will kill his entire crew without a drop of remorse. She has just said as much, and this has shown him that she doesn't give two shits about these men. If ever she did, if Law has made any progress winning her over and integrating her with his crew, all of that is gone.

All because of her fucking cousin.

"Get out," he barks at his men, jerking his head towards the doorway. "All of you. Go."

In seconds the room is empty but for Law, Kyra, Jericho, and Jambarl. As soon as Bepo hesitantly steps through the arched doorway into the hall beyond, a black barrier springs up behind him to ensure that no one can come back in. Law slowly lowers himself back into his chair and watches as Kyra carefully pulls her arm from Jambarl's innards. The girl places her bloodied palm on the wound, pouring white magic into the big man's body for a long moment before waving that same hand and removing the black power around Jambarl's throat. The damage done to his neck has been healed along with the hole in his abdomen, and Jambarl still goes down like a felled tree when Kyra releases him altogether. Law itches to go to his subordinate, to check his pulse and make sure he is breathing, but he forces himself to stay in his seat as his traitorous magician turns her attention back to him.

"He's in perfect health. He'll wake up later." Her voice is colder than Law has ever heard it before; if not for his rage he might be shocked at the iciness. "I'm leaving, Law. I don't care how it happens, but I will leave. What you need to decide is if you want to be responsible for the death of your entire crew because of your own fucking stubbornness. Do you want to hold on to this bullshit belief that you somehow own me? Nobody owns me. I will kill myself before I become a possession of anyone ever again."

Kyra looks over her shoulder at him, an expression of weariness all over her face. "I don't want to hurt you. I saved your life, remember? I don't want to kill your crew. I don't want to skin the fur off of Bepo and leave it for you as a fucking hearth rug. But if you think for even a second that I will hesitate to murder every man on this ship or peel Bepo's hide from the rest of his body while he's alive and screaming for you to help him... if you think I won't do it and make you watch if that's what it takes to get back to my mother... then you are a fool, Trafalgar Law, and you deserve to suffer for your stupidity.

"Now you release me from my service to the Heart Pirates or I start painting this sub red."

Law wants nothing more than to bathe his senses in her screams. He wants to tie her to one of the exam tables in the infirmary and see how noisy she gets when he slices the flesh from her bones. He wants to take a leaf out of the scientist Merrick's books and pour ammonia down her throat. He wants to mix up his own special batch of chemicals and poisons to inject into her veins and observe as the mixture eats her from the inside out.

He wants to strip his magician bare and fuck her into oblivion, and then kill her with his own hands.

He does none of this. Instead, the slender pirate simply tucks his hat down over his eyes. Law then swivels his chair around and props his feet on top of a medical chest beside his desk. He laces his fingers over his stomach, offering no further indication of noticing either of them.

Taking this for his permission, Kyra gives a satisfied grunt. She is just stepping over to join her cousin when Law's voice stops her.

"If you decide to leave, Kyra, do us both a favor. Take a look at our flag on the way out."

She flinches at the word 'our'. The girl turns to regard him warily. Trafalgar Law smiles without looking back and begins to explain in a soft, assured voice.

"Recognize that it is not a cruise line flag flying over this vessel. It's a Jolly Roger. You sailed aboard a pirate ship... my ship, to be exact. Whether you felt it was your only available option at the time doesn't change the fact that you are a part of my crew. You can whine and threaten and boast all you want, but if you leave without my approval, I will find you. You may indeed see your mother again, Kyra. And by doing so, you will have signed her death warrent. Because I will kill her."

From the corner of his eye he notices Kyra's mouth drop open slightly. She looks at Law as if only now seeing him for the first time. That is exactly the reaction he was hoping for. She needs to understand something. They both do, actually. His face turns ever so slightly in Jericho's direction.

"I will kill her mother," he repeats for the smug little shit's benefit. "Her, and anyone else whose existence Kyra might feel invalidates her place at my side. One day you will look up to find the Heart Pirates at your doorstep. Her magic is not sufficient to stop me. Even if everyone under my command dies by her power, I will be there, to fulfill my word... and to take her back."

Jericho is now a sickly shade of pale and no longer looks quite so sedate. Beside him, the sorceress has begun to shake, hands fisted at her sides. "You... fucking lunatic," she breathes, teeth gritted, features working into a savage fury. "If you... fucking touch... my family, I'll...!"

"Kill me? Before I can kill them?" He smiles now in a feral, humorless way. "That's quite a risk. Do you believe in your abilities to that extent, my magician?" The pirate captain taps his knuckles, tracing the letters tattooed there. D...E...A... "Or do you believe in me?"

The bitch wastes no time in darting to her cowering cousin's side and grabbing his arm. The next second both of them are gone, leaving Law alone in his chambers with an unconscious crewmate and an unhealthy amount of homicidal fury building in his gut.

A/N: Major parts in this chapter were contributed by the World's Most Awesome Beta, Tomas the Betrayer. He is a diabolical genius who will one day rule the world. When that day comes, you will remember that I called it first, before anyone else recognized his true potential.

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