Chapter 37
They used a Tone dial to play some classical music that they can dance to.
Cori danced with Timi first, to show her the moves and so that Law could watch as well.
"One, two, three." Cori counted, repeating that as they moved around the room. Timi stepped on his foot a couple of times but it didn't take her long to get a hang of the rhythm of the dance.
"Alright. I think you're ready to switch partners. Law?" Cori grinned, handing her over to him.
Law rested one hand on her waist and the other held her hand, while she had one hand on his shoulder.
"Oh come on. You two are a couple now. Get closer to each other." Cori grinned pushing them closer so their chests were touching and Timi had her arm around Law's neck.
"So cute." Bepo and Cori teared up as the two began to dance. Everyone was watching them in awe, with huge grins on their faces.
By the end of it all, Law and Timi waltzed around the room gracefully, enjoying it all.
They finished up and Timi went back to their room to change, after receiving a lot of compliments from the crew.
"That was fun." Law smirked at her as he walked in behind her.
"Haha yeah. Never knew you could dance so well." Timi smiled hugging him.
"Thank you. You weren't too bad yourself." he smirked and pulled her into a kiss.
"As much as I'd like to continue this, I want to change." the red head smiled up at him, kissing his nose.
"Oh but you look really hot in it." Law smirked, refusing to let her go. She grinned but raising an eyebrow, her sclera turned black, indicating that she activated her blood magic.
"Fine." he sighed and let go of her.
"You know, we still didn't have that fight." Timi said walking into the bathroom.
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that. We can do it on the next island, I don't want to damage the sub." he said through the door.
"I know. I've got the last job to sketch up now though." she said and came out of the bathroom in black jeans and an oversized burgundy hoodie, with her chest binded.
"Okay. I'll leave you to it. I just want this first." he smiled pulling her to him.
"Wha-" she was cut off by his lips crashing onto hers in a passionate kiss.
The next few days were spent with Timi either drawing, playing guitar and singing or training Karma. Law occasionally caught her and pulled her into his office, so she's near him or just pulled her to their room to make out. They never got much further than that though, sometimes due to interruption or Timi stopped him.
It's been a week since then and they docked at an island not that long ago.
"So Law. Can I finally have that fight?" Timi asked grinning from beside him.
"Yeah. I wanna see what you can do." he grinned back.
"Let's make a few rules." Cori suggested.
"Let's have a few rounds, showing off your different skills." he said smiling as they listened.
"Yeah, let's do that." Timi grinned, catching onto what Cori was thinking.
"First round; you are only allowed to use your bare hands, second round; you're only allowed to use your swords, third round; your devil fruit and blood magic." Cori explained as the crew cheered.
"Sounds good to me." Law smirked. He was obviously as excited about this as Timi was.
"Let's go!" Timi yelled happily and ran out of the town to a clearing where they could fight.
The crew made a circle around them to watch, with Bepo as the referee and Cori as the judge.
"Hand to hand combat. I want a nice clean fight." Cori said as the two stood facing each other and stepped into a fighting stance.
"Fight!" he yelled and they launched at each other.
Timi was fast but Law was stronger than him. They were both pretty skilled fighters and gave it their all, both landing many hits and kicks at each other. It was great to see the grins on their faces as they fought and also that Law didn't hold back just because they were a couple or that Timi was a girl, Law hit him hard but took quite a few hits as well.
"Enough. Don't want to run out of energy before this thing is over." Cori called grinning as the two jumped away from each other, panting.
"Good fight. You're both clearly skilled fighters with your own strengths and weaknesses. It's a draw." Bepo grinned.
"Round two is to show off your swordsmanship." Cori said as the two pulled their swords out. "Fight!" he yelled and they clashed swords.
This time, Law had no chance of winning. Timi was much more skilled than him in this department. The fight was over before he could even land a hit. Timi had disarmed him and held the tip of AkaKage to his throat.
"I win." Timi smirked.
"Nice fight. Law you need to improve your skills. Timi stop showing off." Cori chuckled but the red head only grinned.
"Last round guys." Cori grinned as everyone cheered. The crew was really excited to see them show their skills like this and were proud of them both.
"Devil fruit and Magic." he called as Timi made AkaKage disappear and Law held up his nodachi. "Fight!" Cori called.
"Room." Law called, activating it and created a dome around the two.
Timi smirked looking up at it as the whites of his eyes turned black, indicating he had activated his powers as well. He let the blood seep from his snake markings and swirl around his body.
Quickly dodging Law's attack, he sent the blood at him in the form of little daggers. Law dodged them and made quick and precise slashes towards Timi. They went back and forth for a while, until Law managed to catch Timi off guard and cut him up into little pieces.
"This feels weird." Timi complained and used the blood to try and pull his body parts together but Law didn't let him, instead he pulled him further apart.
"The winner is Law." Bepo called and the crew cheered.
He put Timi back together and they stood by each other grinning.
"Well done you two. You're both good in your own areas of expertise. I wouldn't want to be your enemy, that's for sure." Cori grinned at the two.
They went off to a bar to celebrate and Rory showed up, happily joining them.
"We can continue the training later." Timi grinned at the younger blond.
"Awesome. I can't wait." Rory smirked.
"Why do you hate me?" he suddenly asked, turning to Law.
"I don't hate you. I just don't trust you." Law replied, dead-panning.
"That so? What can I do to make you trust me? I mean no harm to you and your crew." Rory said frowning.
"I'll believe it, when I see it." the raven haired man commented and walked off to sit by Bepo.
"Maaaaan. What'd I ever do to him?" Rory asked pouting.
"He'll come around eventually. It's just that you were hired to kill me once." Timi said amused.
"I don't want to kill you though. I want to learn from you." he said poking Timi's head.
"I know." the red head nodded, swatting his hand away.
The next few days were spent with Timi training Rory and Law watching them.
"Don't worry. Rory's a good kid." Cori said patting Law on the back.
Later that day, Timi got a call from a client asking for someone to be killed. Timi, Cori and Karma then took off to the next island to carry out the mission. It also happened to be where the Heart Pirates will next go to.
He was asked to find and kill a local mass murderer that the authorities weren't able to catch. It didn't take him that long to find, going by what the client said and scouted the town at night. He could also smell blood on the guy and jumped him.
Timi finished the job pretty easily and headed back to the bar that Cori was in with Karma.
On his way, he spotted a marine ship at the docks and out of sheer curiosity sneaked closer to see who was on it.
Who he saw on that ship, he was not ready for. Just by sheer sight of him, his blood started to boil and body shook with anger and hatred that he held for that man. He then remembered his cheery father and Griffin. With a low growl, Timi turned on his heels and took off to his original destination.
Running through the doors, he ran straight to Cori.
"Hide. Wait for Law and under any circumstances, do not follow me." he said in a hushed but stern tone, looking into his eyes.
"What? What's going on? Timi, are you alright?" Cori asked worried, seeing the panic in the red head's eyes. That was a very rare occurrence and he didn't like seeing it. Nothing had ever shaken him up so much, not for many years now.
"He's here. I can't let him find you. I won't let him. You have to hide, please." he sounded so desperate. His anger turned into fear of loosing his beloved father and he couldn't go through that again.
"We will. Can you explain what's going on?" Cori asked, starting to get nervous himself.
"Tell Law that I've gone to take care of a ghost from the past and whatever happens, he shouldn't come look for me. I will deal with this myself. Just go on ahead and I'll meet you on Sabaody." Timi said pulling them out of the bar and towards a little tavern.
"Timi." Cori called worried.
"Trust me. You don't want this particular ghost to see you no matter what. Stay in here until Law arrives and then meet me on Sabaody. Don't call, don't look for me and definitely don't try to follow me." he said pushing them through the door and closed it behind them.
"I might not be able to keep my promise to Law after all. One of us definitely wont make it out alive but I don't plan on dying just yet so don't let Law do anything rash that could get him into trouble." and with that, he ran out, leaving the two confused and very worried.
'He never acted so panicked about something before. Is Doflamingo on the island? He couldn't be. Timi's not strong enough to handle him yet. He wouldn't attempt to fight him if it really was my brother. I have to trust and have faith in him though. He's an assassin, he can handle himself.' Cori thought and with a determined look on his face, booked a room for himself and Karma for at least a week. He didn't know when Law and the others would arrive.
"Vergo." Timi called glaring at the man as he turned around, responding to his name being called so hatefully.
"Oh my. Blood Viper Timi, assassin of the Heart Pirates. Worth 300,000,000 Beli and a former member of the Donquixote Pirates." Vergo stated looking the red head over.
"Do you want to add my height and favourite food to the list by any chance?" Timi asked sarcastically.
"What do you want? I'm sure you understand that it's a stupid decision, standing in front of the marines like this. You are under arrest." he said without much emotion.
"You beat up Corazon and Law. I came to take revenge for that." Timi growled, clutching AkaKage's hilt.
"Corazon is dead but it would help if you tell us where Trafalgar Law is." he said.
"I refuse. I came here to fight, not for meaningless chit chat." the red head growled, pulling AkaKage from her sheath and stepped into a fighting stance.
"You're asking for death, insolent brat." Vergo said a tad annoyed and Timi charged at him.
Vergo pulled out his bamboo stick and infused it with his Haki, turning it jet black. He blocked most attacks that Timi sent at him. The red head put in as much effort and strength as he could into his attacks, using more and more powerful techniques that he learned from Mihawk as the two went back and forth. Timi landed a few hits on Vergo but he got hit himself a few times with that Demon Bamboo.
'Damn, he hits hard.' Timi thought as he stood back up after Vergo hit him in the side of the ribs. 'I think he cracked some.'
"What's wrong? Little mutt is all bark but no bite?" Vergo asked smirking at him.
"Not by a long shot." Timi growled and launched for another attack. His movements sped up and he managed to cut his arm pretty deeply. He would have cut it off if he didn't move and use his bamboo stick to hit Timi on the shoulder.
"Game's over." Vergo frowned, pulling his top off and put Haki all over his body, turning his skin jet black.
'Things just got a whole lot more serious.' Timi though with a smirk. 'If he's bringing out the big guns. Why shouldn't I?'
"I don't usually use this as I don't want to rely on it so much but I guess I have to." he smirked and let a huge amount of blood seep from his snake markings and swirl around his body.
"I've heard of your strange powers but still. You are no match for me." Vergo said and charged at Timi with the bamboo stick. He dodged it quickly and sent his blood at the marine to try and bind him. Vergo jumped out of the way though and kept it up for a while.
He suddenly appeared behind Timi and heavily brought down the bamboo stick on his back, pushing him to his knees. Before he could do it again, Timi morphed a dome around himself with his blood to block the attack and quickly got a fair distance away from him. Vergo was relentless and chased after him, landing heavier hits that he started to have trouble blocking with just his blood and Katana.
'Fuck. I can't give up.' Timi thought and pushed him back, sending several little blood bullets at him with high speed.
They hit him but because of his Haki armour, none of them affected him. Pushing his boundaries a bit, Timi sped up his attacks and the number of them, using a lot more blood drawn from his body combined with his swordsmanship.
All it seemed to do though was tire Vergo out from all the dodging and blocking, never really injuring him. The massive amounts of power used in the attacks also took a toll on Timi and started to slow him down. Now he could hardly dodge the attacks Vergo sent his way, if at all.
The fight soon turned to Vergo's favour as Timi was slowing down and loosing his strength, that let him hit the red head a lot easier and did more damage.
With every blow received, the more trouble it was to move and retaliate. Sheathing AkaKage, Timi made her disappear and decided to focus solely on his blood magic. He wasn't good enough to pull the two off together successfully just yet.
Concentrating on the blood splattered around him. He made a lot of ropes and sent them at Vergo, entangling him in it, trying to immobilize him.
Timi took a second to regain his breathing, then using the ropes, he lifted Vergo into the air. Then smashed him into the ground with great force, repeating it several times.
It looked like Vergo wasn't moving anymore and Timi ran very low on energy, hardly able to control the blood anymore.
The red head fell to his knees, from exhaustion and the pain pulsating through his body from the heavy blows he received from the guy. If he was completely human, he would have already died.
"You damn brat." Vergo growled from the crater in the ground he was in. Timi watched wide eyed as he stood up, his sunglasses cracked and a lens missing.
"You ruined my glasses and clothes." he said.
The red head quickly jumped to his feet but he wasn't able to call the blood to his side anymore.
He tried to dodge Vergo's attacks and managed for a while, until he caught him by the feet and slammed him into the side of a building. Things went completely downhill from there for the young assassin as Vergo beat him to a bloody pulp.
"I won't kill you. We'll take you in so you can rot in hell." Vergo said, holding Timi up by the throat. He was heavily injured with every part of his body bruised or bleeding.
"I'm sure Doflamingo would love to see you again." he whispered.
'No. I don't want to see him.' Timi thought and he was dragged onto the marine's ship by the hair.
On board, he was taken down to the sea stone cells where he was searched for weapons and then cuffed to the wall, his arms stretched out either side of him.
'I lost. Fuck. That wasn't supposed to happen. Law, Cori, I'm sorry I failed you.' he thought as he was left alone. He couldn't move and even breathing hurt him.
A few hours later, Vergo returned after he was patched up and wore clean clothes.
"Blood Viper. Tell me the location of your captain, Trafalgar Law." Vergo demanded in a stern voice, standing before him.
"What makes you think . . . I will ever tell you anything?" Timi asked, glaring up at him.
"Wrong answer." Vergo frowned and punched him in the stomach a few times and then slammed his head against the wall.
"How about now?" he asked holding Timi's head up by a handful of his hair.
"I will never betray him." the red head spat back, still glaring at him.
"Stubborn." Vergo smirked and beat him some more until he was near passing out.
"I will come back later. You better tell me or there will be more pain." he said and left.
'Shit. How will I get out of this one? Why did he have to show up?' Timi asked as darkness engulfed his vision and he lost consciousness.
Timi was rudely awakened by a hard smack against his face.
"Uh, What?" the red head asked, his mind swimming from the sudden awakening as well as the pain coursing through his body.
"Where's Law?" Vergo asked.
"Go fuck yourself." Timi spat back and was rewarded with a kick to the guts and several to his legs.
"So stubborn. Scream for me." Vergo smirked down at him.
"Never." he panted but got hit on the arms with his bamboo stick this time.
"Scream." he ordered but received nothing so kept beating the red head until he passed out again.
This little cycle was kept up for another three days. Vergo viciously beat Timi all over his body, until he eventually passed out.
'This is it. I'm going to die in this hell hole.' he thought as he barely clung to life. 'Everything hurts so much. I don't know how much longer I can withstand this. I won't scream or cry for him though, I will never give him that pleasure.'
Eventually Timi lost all feeling in his body, so Vergo's beating didn't affect him anymore but he could feel his body giving in and his life slowly seeping away.
'Are you seriously just gonna give up?' T asked disappointedly.
'I can't fight anymore and there's no one that can get me out of here.' he replied solemnly.
'You're fucking pathetic.' T growled quickly getting pissed. He didn't receive an answer for quite a while after that until Timi lifted his head, resting it against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. A miracle that he even had the strength to do that.
'Law, Cori, Bepo, Karma, Penguin, Shachi, Jake, everyone. I miss them so much. I don't want to die. I want to live and fight alongside my family. I wanna go back. T please, take me back to Law, to my family.' Timi cried out in his head as he realised this.
'I thought you'd never ask.' T smirked. 'But because of the shitty condition our body is in, I can only take it so far. I will drop you on the nearest ship that wont kill us and leave. You just have to make sure you wont kick the bucket, or I will get fucking pissed and you don't want that.'
He then took over, Timi's hair turned pitch black and his eyes turned blood red.
"Alright mother-fuckers, it's time I get out of this shit hole." T said smirking and using brute strength, he pulled his arms downwards, breaking the chains. He stumbled to his feet chuckling.
The commotion got the attention of the guards and some of them ran off to get Vergo while the remaining ones pointed their rifles at T.
"That's a bad idea." he laughed, lifting his right arm and activated his blood magic. Using the blood around him, he formed them into bullets and sent them at the guards, hitting them in the arms and legs.
"Now to get out of here." he turned to the wall. Placing his right palm on it, he seeped the blood into the wall. Stepping back a little, he blew a hole in it with a flick of his wrist and created bat wings on his shoulder blades. The hole was on the side of the ship, so he just flew out before Vergo could stop him.
T used his own energy but being so severely wounded, he didn't manage to fly too far and soon enough he lost control of his blood magic and fell towards the ocean.