Zatarra watched his silhouette walk away and felt herself smile, she knew she had to go with him. Where did she put that vial?

"Z?" A small voice belonging to a big man questioned the room, she looked to see Brandon standing in her room, his blue hair rustled and messily laying over his forehead as he looked over to her. "You need to stop," Zatarra looked up at the moon,

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She asked no one in particular as a soft smile sat on her blood red lips. Brandon ran his hand through his hair as his steel grey eyes stayed trained on the floor.

"Z, if you do this, it will kill you," Brandon said trying to keep his tone harsh but the sorrow softened it.

"Will you listen to my story?" She asked turning her head to face Brandon. A stiff nod signaled her to carry on as footsteps entered her home.

"I finished it Z," Jericho said pointing out the a boat softly rocking on the waves. She nodded her head and her smile began to falter.

"Zatarra, you don't have to do this, for him or anyone else," Gideon said entering with a candle. Zatarra nodded,

"I know that," She whispered. Jericho knelt by her and laid a blanket on her shivering body and wiped the blood from her hair and face, then lifting her small framed body and set her gingerly into a padded brown chair. "Let me tell you everything," Zatarra pleaded. Jericho stood and backed away as everyone in the room stood at attention. "Once upon a time there lived a beautiful girl with chocolate brown hair and bright lilac eyes, she was the daughter of a very famous Marine and one day when she was older she would marry as her mother and father had done and she would live happily ever after." A sad, remorseful smile played at the corner of her mouth as she took a big breath in and continued, "The man who came for her was dirty, foul, ill kept in manner and in dress but he was a tenryuubito and his word had always been absolute law. Her father stood in the dining room and refused to let his beloved daughter leave the island they lived on." A cough racked her body, never before had Gideon ever seen Zatarra look so small and helpless. "The young girl's family was slaughtered before her but there, in the shadow stood a woman, a timeless beauty had kept her face from flaw, her bright red hair shone in the wind and her white dress made her look perfect, angelic, she was the man's brother and she wanted to take the young girl. She was not invited into the conversation between the siblings and the next thing she knew, she had been taken by the sister. The clothing she was forced to wear bore the blood of her family, they were all kept in a small box, no room to sit, so they all stood, no one knew how long they were kept like that. After some time she was taken from one box to another, she felt like a wild animal." A tear sat in her eyes as she carried on, "A man in a cage next to hers caught her and held her next to his mouth that smelled worse than the sewer like room they were held in, he said he was going to take her. She screamed, afraid of everything, even the man who rescued her. He cut the other's arm off, the arm was still wrapped around her when her rescuer came to her. He gently pushed her behind him and the words that came next, she couldn't hear but she didn't know why." Zatarra paused and swallowed deeply. Jericho held out a wineskin which she pulled deeply from, "Thank you," She handed it back and sat up higher, "He held her hand and she realized she couldn't hear anything because she was still screaming. She stopped herself, the man called to her gently and, after some time, was able to get her first name; Allison and he introduced himself as Colin Lefort, he came from an island of swamps and bayous, they talked and over time became as close as two could be. She would be gone for countless hours of the day training for an arena that she would be put in by the end of the month. When she came back Lefort would feed her and take care of her wounds the best he could. One night she came back with a deep cut from her forehead to below her her shirt," She explained unconsciously tracing the scar that sat gently on her tanned skin. "He used a needle and shirt thread and tried to take care of her but she fell very ill, from the rust on the needle and the blood and other germs in the shirt string. He showed weakness and asked for someone to save her. They took her, experimented on her, used her for foul things. They saved her but by doing so cursed Lefort's existence. She didn't see him for some time. It seemed that time passed with an unknown flight and as it passed by they stopped feeding her. She grew weary, a time or two she thought she had seen Lefort but she was never able to find out who was watching her. One day a light showed itself in the room and inside the room a small apple shaped food rolled into the room and stopped spinning when it hit her leg. The swirls on it was something she had never seen before but the shape was most surely that of an apple and even if it wasn't it wouldn't have mattered she hadn't eaten for some time while being kept in a small cage so she would have eaten rotted food if she had the chance." Her shoulder moved in a shrug motion. Brandon shut his eyes and set a hand over his face as he leaned forward on a wooden stand in front of him. Gideon rested a hand on the back of the chair where Jericho tried to fit his giant body in the small brown seat but he sat still as a stone statue as he watched Zatarra. "It gave her a power, a power to heal, a power to survive their torture and live through the pain. She fought more fiercely than she ever had before in the games, she made it to the top, she was in the final battle against some boy. She defeated him with ease using an ability she had taught herself, belyy vikhr' iz roz,"

"The Whirlwind of the White Roses," Gideon translated with a reverence that never showed itself until now. Jericho sat silent as the grave as Brandon shook his head, nursing his brow as if a headache were going to come on.

"Exactly, she killed the boy as was given access to a place of her own, outside she planted a garden full of all sorts of exotic and rare flowers, she had even managed to get ahold of a single white rose from her home island. She planted it and it grew all over the house in which she lived. She ate whenever she wanted, showered when she felt like and lived happily in her home that she had earned. The only way they wanted her to pay was by taking the lives of others in the arena and so to keep what she had made she killed anyone in her way." She took a shaky breath in and took a deep drink from the wineskin, "She requested the Lefort be made her partner, she talked them into it by offering the two of them to as many fighters as they felt like. After watching her kill for so long she knew they would want to up the ante so they agreed and Lefort was cleaned up and taken to her. They lived for many years together, fighting side by side, creating new things together but most of all they spend every moment they could being absolutely in love with one another." A smile showed on Jericho's face as he patiently waiting for the happy ending to the tale he was being told. "One day they made a plan to run away together, how and when they would do it but Lefort didn't want anyone to be left behind so he put together an elaborate plan to call upon a group of fishmen pirates to help us escape, she became troubled as no fishman she had ever known had ever cared for a human. Lefort asked for her trust and so she gave it to him without a second thought. They prepared everything and when the time came they were all ready to leave, except that the tenryuubito knew, someone had revealed the plan to escape and so they were lying in wait for the fishmen to arrive. They fought brilliantly, and for the most part every slave was able to leave the island." She took a deep breath in as waves of tears begin to threaten their way out of her eyes. "The Dragon found the pair by sheer accident, Lefort pushed her into a boat, she hit her head and blacked out. When she came to, she was floating on a small wooden boat, terrified and alone. She couldn't shake the awful sense that Lefort was dead and his last action had been to save her, she knew the Dragon would look for her and try to bring her back. She was all alone in the world and so she laid down in the boat and cried for what seemed like days. After the 745th sunset she awoke because her boat was hitting something in front of her. Her power had allowed her to live with no food or water because it constantly healed her. She blinked her eyes which brought a pain to her entire head, her skin was now tanned deeply by the sun and parts peeling, trying to heal itself as natural as possible but nothing was natural about her now. She put her hand to her scar and she felt a tear fall down her face." She paused for a moment, remembering a harsh time that had left her exhausted and powerless. "A man and a woman posed happily as her small boat rocked back and forth behind them. After the woman noticed her rocking in the boat, she ran the short distance to her asking all manner of questions to which she had no answer, she had been out to sea for weeks she found she had trouble remembering too much of anything she wanted to share. The couple took her in and loved her like she was their own." A smile touched everyone's lips as the fond memories of first meeting Zatarra entered their minds."It took time but they broke down her walls and taught her the most wonderful thing she hadn't know since Lefort, to love and be loved in return. You all know the rest of my story," They all nodded in agreement,

"Why did you tell us now?" Gideon asked breaking the silence,

"Because you needed to finally know and I need your help with something and I knew you wouldn't help me unless I told you everything." Zatarra responded with an unusual amount of patience.

"What do you need us to do?" Brandon asked not looking up from the cocoon he had made by folding his arms around his head and placing his guarded head on the wooden stand.

"I need you to help me stop Devon," Jericho cocked his head like a dog who wasn't sure of the noise being made at him,

"And then what?" Gideon asked feeling the pregnant silence.

"And then I need you to help me use his powers to make Zoro forget the island and everything and everyone who resides here."