I lie here paralytic
Inside this soul
Screaming for you till my throat is numb
I wanna break out

I need a way out
I don't believe that it's gotta be this way
The worst is the waiting
In this womb I'm suffocating

*Feel your presence filling up my lungs with oxygen
I take you in
I've died

Rebirthing now
I wanna live for love wanna live for you and me
(Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow)
Rebirthing now
I Wanna live my life wanna give you everything
(Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow) *

Right now

Right now

I lie here lifeless
In this cocoon
Shedding my skin cause
I'm ready to
I wanna break out
I found a way out
I don't believe that it's gotta be this way
The worst is the waiting
In this womb I'm suffocating

**

((Bridge))
Tell me when I'm gonna live again
Tell me when I'm gonna breathe you in
Tell me when I'm gonna feel inside
Tell me when I'm gonna feel alive

Tell me when I'm gonna live again
Tell me when this fear will end
Tell me when I'm gonna feel inside
Tell me when I'll feel alive

... - Skillet


Chapter 29: The Lover

It wasn't far until I saw that white casted Kira, which Swordsman easily cut down like it was really made out of paper.

"What the hell are those things?" He asked.

I explained what happened and he gave me an odd look.

"You triggered something?"

"I don't know. I might've, but then they could've been waiting… or they could be ghosts."

"You can't be serious."

"I've seen a few since I was here."

"I'll believe you when I see one."

I pouted as we passed by a tobacco shop, and headed to a place with a neon sign saying Mermaid's Pearls.

"A strip bar?" I said.

"Not like anyone would be in there." Swordsman said as the doors opened, which we suddenly saw a ghost of a stripper.

I couldn't hear what she said, but she did mention 'Dragon' before going to the back room.

"I stand corrected." He said.

"She said Dragon."

"As in the guy that supposed to run the city?"

I nodded.

"Must be a lover then. It's not that uncommon."

"What's in the back room?"

"You wanna look?"

I jumped up onto the stage and waited for him to do the same before going in.

Luffy's POV: End

---

Swordsman's POV

When I saw a new kind of Kira, he explained why they're around and think they're ghosts.

Personally, I'm skeptical about those kinds of things. I won't believe in things like ghosts until I see them for myself.

We got up to this strip bar place, which I'm sure was completely abandoned and the doors opened. And soon enough I find myself corrected when we saw a ghost of a stripper going into a room in the back.

Normally I wouldn't bother going after something that's dead, but he heard a name that I didn't really care, since he left us going down to this level instead of trying to do something about it.

He wanted to see if he can learn more about that stripper, when I believe that she's just a lover and not entirely involved with anything.

When we got into the doorway, there was a small hallway and the ghost appeared once more.

"Dragon? Is that you?"

We turned the corner to see a door, the light was on as the same woman's voice was heard.

"Wait! Please! I didn't know what they were doing! I needed to tell Dragon when I realized what they're doing with my baby. I honestly didn't know Lucci was behind all this! I didn't even realize what they were doing with the unborn children! No… No! Please! I have to tell Dragon that I love him and I'm sorry!"

We heard a short scream before it was abruptly cut off and silence filled the area. The lights were off and the door opened, only to see that it had happened sometime ago, and we only heard the last words…

This means I was corrected once again.

Swordsman's POV: End

---

Luffy's POV

When we got up through the doorway and then the corner. I heard what could've been her last words before the lights went out and the door opened to a room that only had a bed and a corpse.

"She did something to piss him off…" Swordsman said as I found a tape.

"Maybe this will explain…" I said as the labeling was torn off.


"I shouldn't have given up that egg! That was Dragon's unborn child! I wanted it back, but when I did, I was already taken by Lucci's group of doctors who went rouge! Oh! Why did I give my defenseless and barely born child to that hospital. This will surely break Dragon's heart! If he had mentioned wanting kids the day before I… Oh! What am I going to do!?"

It stopped there.


"She didn't leave a name or date." I said.

"By the look of it, whoever was here knew Dragon and found out about whatever she gave up." Swordsman said. "And the decomposition must've slowed down when it's been in this room. Though it should smell rotten… So the guy who did this knows how to cover the smell."

I looked at the corpse, and saw her face. Even though it looked beaten and some skin was missing, I couldn't help but to think that we looked a little… similar.

"What's wrong?"

"This woman… does her face look like mine?"

I guess I could've kept it to myself, but I trust him to tell me if I'm out of my mind.

Luffy's POV: End

---

Swordsman's POV

We entered the room, which wasn't much. This must be a room where the strippers get paid to be prostitutes.

But damn… she looked like she either just got in to work or starting to get out of work. She was dressed too honestly to be here.

He found a tape and by the sound of it she seems nice… Like Luffy… But that's crazy, but somehow I have a sinking feeling that it's not as crazy as it seems.

He can't be no more than a few years younger than me, and this corpse is… well beaten but well preserved.

He then mentioned about the corpse's face. I thought it was strange to ask me to look at it, but I did look. And no shit, his face is similar to this woman's!

"Must be a coincidence…" I said, making him nod and seemed lost before wincing and holding his head. "Luffy?" I quickly went up to him and held his shoulders. "You okay?"

He nodded. "Just… another memory flash."

"Memory flash?"

"This is the third time it's happened…"

"Do you know why?"

He shook his head. "I don't remember much before I was ten." He admitted.

"My brother and I were orphans found in the middle of the ocean… Since then I often wondered what might've happened to me and Ace… Shanks, our adoptive father, often said that I shouldn't worry and just be appreciative of the present and look foreward to the future. But he also said that, when doing a story, we should find the beginning of that story."

"Sounds a bit frustrating."

"It is, but I try not to complain about it…"

"And these memory flashes of yours, did they start when you came in?"

He nodded. "Weird, isn't it?"

I want to say it was, but I suddenly have a memory flash of my own about seeing a Nautilus go down and seeing someone inside that made me upset. But I still can't recall the memory at all. "It's not that weird." I finally said. "I'm having the same thing going on right now."

"Really?"

"Yeah…"

He smiled a bit.

"Let's get out of here." I said.

"Yeah… Still have to find and kill these guys so we can get out of here."

I ruffled hi head. "You talking to me or yourself?"

Swordsman's POV: End

Luffy's POV

When he said that it could be a coincidence, I nodded before seeing men in masks and white coats as well as bright lights.

My head started to hurt a bit more when he asked me if I was okay.

I admitted about the memory flashes and told him a bit about my life.

I never told anyone about this, but I felt he should know…

We really should find those last two guys so we can get out of here.

Although… For some reason I felt more like myself in this area, than the other places I've been.

I just don't understand!

But I'm glad that Swordsman is here. I don't know why, but I feel more confident when he's around.

"Come on you baka." He said when I didn't respond to his question.

I smiled and walked out of that room turned nameless tomb.


This time I wonder what it feels like
To find the one in this life
The one we all dream of
But dreams just aren't enough
So I'll be waiting for the real thing.
I'll know it by the feeling.
The moment when we're meeting
Will play out like a scene straight off the silver screen
So I'll be holding my breath
Right up to the end
Until that moment when
I find the one that I spend forever with

*Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There's gotta be somebody for me like that.
Cause nobody wants to go it on their own
And everyone wants to know they're not alone.
Somebody else that feels the same somewhere.
There's gotta be somebody for me out there.*

Tonight out on the street out in the moonlight
And damn it this feels too right
It's just like Déjà Vu
Me standing here with you
So I'll be hold in my breath
Could this be the end?
Is it that moment when
I find the one that I spend forever with?

**
Ooooooh,
You can't give up!
Lookin' for that diamond in the rough
Because you never know when it shows up
Make sure you're holdin' on
Cause it could be the one,
the one you're waiting on

Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There has gotta be somebody for me
Ohhhhhh.

Nobody wants to go it on their own
And everyone wants to know they're not alone.
Is there somebody else that feels the same somewhere?
There's gotta be somebody for me out there.

Nobody wants to be the last one there
And everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Is there somebody else that feels the same somewhere?
There has gotta be somebody for me out there
- Nickelback