Chapter 20

The Mask

"I didn't realize you guys were so tough," Usopp sighed, grinning around the pain in his head.

Luffy laughed. "Yup!"

"Tough, badass, awesome. It all applies to these two," Kim agreed, bumping Zoro with her shoulder. The swordsman grunted at her and ruffled her hair. She winced at the motion, scalp still sore, and pulled her hair back into a tight bun, not wanting to have a repeat of earlier.

"What took you guys so long?" Nami asked crossly. "Stop to get a manicure?"

"You guys were holding your own." Zoro said dismissively.

"Holding our own?" Nami bristled. "I get thrown into a cliff and you call that holding my own?! Usopp got his head bashed in and Kim was nearly trampled to death! How the hell do you call that holding our own?!"

Zoro shrugged. "You didn't die so that was going well for you."

Nami looked like she wanted to slap the swordsman.

Kim and Luffy inched away from the lighter haired pair, not wanting to be anywhere near Mt. St. Nami when it exploded. Nami was scary when she got angry. Kim had always thought Chopper and Usopp had been exaggerating when they reacted to Nami's anger in the anime and the show, but now that she was experiencing it in person, Kim sympathized with them.

"Like I would let any of you die!" Zoro growled, looking very annoyed with Nami.

"Oh noooo way," Nami said sarcastically. "No, not killed. Badly maimed maybe but never killed!"

Zoro glared at her.

Before the argument could escalate any further, Luffy noticed that the Jango pirates were beginning to stand again. "Hey! Those guys are still alive! They must have real spunk!"

Kim wrinkled her nose. "Please don't use the word spunk. I hate that word."

"Why?"

"It just sounds weird." Kim murmured, frowning. Luffy shrugged in a "Whatever" manner.

"Listen up!" Jango announced, gathering his men to him. "We don't have time to be playing around. We need to be stronger than our opponents! Look at this ring, everyone! When I say 'One, two, Jango!' you'll all get super strong and your wounds will heal. You'll continue to get stronger and stronger!"

"What're they doing?" Luffy asked curiously, eyes trained on the shiny ring.

"Hypnotism," Kim stated, shoving Luffy's hat over his eyes and thereby blocking his view of the enemy crew and, more importantly, Jango's ring. "Don't look at him guys unless you want to get caught up in his mind games."

"Don't tell me you believe in that crap!" Nami exclaimed incredulously. Kim shrugged and pointed down the slope.

"Some things do tend to work if people believe in them. Who knows, he might actually be a good hypnotist. You saw what he did to those kids, right? What's to say he couldn't do it to his crew as well?"

"But there's no way he can make them stronger just by swinging some trinket!" Nami argued.

Kim smiled thinly. "Just wait."

"One… Two…" Kim made sure the hat was still in place over Luffy's face, preventing him from seeing anything. "Jango!"

What had once been panting, exhausted men dripping with sweat were no more. In their place were monsters, mindless attack drones with men's bodies and blank eyes.

Kim shivered as they roared.

"No way! It worked!" Nami exclaimed in horror. One of the pirates below bellowed and swung at the cliff beside him, causing a great chunk of stone to fall off. The StrawHat crew's eyes widened in shock. Luffy shoved his hat out of his eyes so he could see.

"No shit, Sherlock." Kim deadpanned, gripping her naginata fearfully. Zoro rolled his eyes at her and shoved her in the direction of slope's top.

"Hush, Leonore. Go sit up there with Usopp. You too Nami. Luffy and I will deal with these guys."

Luffy hummed in agreement with his first mate.

"If you insist," Kim said warily, relieved that she wouldn't have to fight anymore. She trudged up the hill with Nami, plopping down beside the sharpshooter and pulled her backpack into her lap. She felt better with it nearby, more confident somehow. She lifted the flap and peered inside, checking on her egg.

She paled.

There was a long crack running down it, its beautiful shell marred by it. Either it was hatching or she had somehow harmed it.

Oh my god, I killed my poor baby animal! Kim thought in alarm.

She reached into her pack, grasping the egg gently, and pulled it out to examine it better.

"Whoa," Usopp said, eyes bugging when he saw it. "That's going to be one big chicken!"

Kim shot him a frown and ran her fingers over the shell, touching the frayed edges carefully.

Her breath left her and he body chilled. Kim felt sick and detached. It was like she wasn't in herself. The closest comparison she had to describe it was like being at the crest of a rollercoaster before it came down, being suspended for a second as the momentum of the ride lifted her from the seat before pulling her back down. Except, she didn't come back down, not immediately.

The sounds of Luffy and Zoro fighting in the background were a dull roar in her ears and she watched as the world grayed around her. From the crack in the egg came a faint glow.

Kim had never seen nor really believed in magic before coming to the One Piece world. There she had met men with axes for hands and boys with rubber for skin. There were swordsmen with green hair and boys that could have long, Pinocchio noses. And there were eggs that could glow from their cracks.

So maybe magic wasn't too hard to believe in anymore and Kim knew (she didn't know exactly how she knew this, she just did) that the light from the egg was magic.

And it was calling to her.

She touched her fingers to the glow, eyes wide in amazement, and felt it trail up her arm in a dancing, spiraling pattern like the waves and air and she felt stronger somehow, more confident.

A smile curled on her lips.

The golden glow spread outward from the crack in the egg, consuming it completely and flickering excitedly before the glow sank into her fingers. Warmth blossomed up her arm, her shoulder, and onto her face.

Kim dug her mirror out of her backpack and gasped when she saw herself.

Nami and Usopp were gaping at her as well, and below, Zoro and Luffy had stopped to watch the golden glow coming from their nakama.

Across her face spread the most beautiful mask Kim had ever seen, composed of thin, glowing lines of gold. With a jolt, she realized that Akane, too, had worn a mask like this when he sent her to this world.

A/N: Not much happening here, but at least the egg finally hatched and Kim got her alchemic powers! You won't see what actually came out of the egg until the fight's over, but you'll like it, I swear! Also, I'm terribly sorry I missed an update last week, but the circumstances prevented it.

SBS!

Thanks for Favoriting and Alerting: Ari-chan21, hector4349, bloodemon2, Salimiome, bright black hole, kusukusu225, sakuravampire-aqua, ThisIS M-Girl, killer1316, blackpearrlgurl, lyris musetta, StarPup, Sarakiq, shadowfox2345, .94, wolfscry248, Arithra, and Molly Grace 16.

Kine X: Thanks!

10th Squad 3rd Seat: Go Strawhats! *waves flag*

CatalinaVonFeuer: Ah, thank you so much! I love bluffing at poker:) Apparently I'm good at it!

FreeWeirdGal: Aye, though she did technically steal it...

Shiningheart of ThunderClan: I know what you mean. I've been feeling like that all week.

bright black hole: Ugh, I hate love stories (unless they're well written or Letter to Juliet) anyway. I'm terrible at writing them. Angst is my specialty. The naginata does have a name, but I'm not revealing it yet for plot purposes. All she can do with it now is block and swing it. She and her brothers used to have mock sword fights and the oldest (Kaine) never held back, even in play fighting, so Kim learned early on to block unless she wanted to get hurt.

ThisIS M-Girl: Thanks!

skipbeataddict: I hope so too!

wolfscry248: Kay!

Molly Grace 16: Thanks! I'm trying!