Disclaimer : I don't own One Piece.
A skinny and scarred child opened his eyes as he heard footsteps approaching. They were almost lifeless. The boy was laying on his back on a wood-made floor.
"Here, you have a companion now, boy. Be nice to her, she's new." A bulky man said with a barking laugh, pushing a girl in the cell and locking it behind her.
She was around twelve years old, 5 years older than him. She had long straight pink hairs and brown eyes. She was quite pretty, he thought wistfully. If only she could be less noisy. She was crying and screaming for someone to save her. That made him laugh mirthlessly. Hearing him, she turned and looked at him with angry tears.
"What's so funny ?!"
"You. Nobody's gonna save you." He said cynically, something surprising for one so young.
"What would you know about it ?"
"Oh I know, I've been here for 2 years. You're not the first one to come. The others died. I hope you'll make it. I'm lonely." There was a slight hint of sadness in his voice, but she immediately dismissed it. She was angry, and she needed a target for it.
"Pfff, you're lying ! The marine will come, and they will get us back, papa always said the marines saves people..." She trailed off, crying anew. She had witnessed the pirates kill her parents in front of her, after all, just before they took her.
Some hours later, she was quiet, and simply waited for something to happen. The same man that had brought her came and opened the door.
"It's time for your session boy." He announced, smiling cruelly.
She looked and saw fear in the boy's eyes. It was squashed down, though, and replaced by an emotionless mask that made a shiver run down her spine. The man grabbed him by the back of his neck and left. A few minutes later, she was startled by a bloodcurdling scream. It didn't stop, more screams ensued, it rapidly became painful for her to hear them. She tried to cover her ears with her hands, but it only muffled the sound a little. It stopped after what felt an eternity. The man came back and threw the limp body of the boy in the cell. She was horrified by what she saw. He had bruises, bleeding cuts and burn marks all over his body. It made her want to throw up.
"You know what's waiting for you." The boy stated quietly, hugging his knees close to his chest.
She cried once more. She was terrified. When she heard footsteps some time later, she grew even more frightened. They were coming for her. She screamed and struggled as the man grabbed her and told her it was her turn.
Luffy sat up. The screams of others didn't bother him anymore. He had heard them too many times. He waited patiently. The first time was always the worst. It was always the longest one. Some died and other just broke under it, becoming empty shell. There had been ten like him. Five at first, and they arrived one by one after that. Everyone broke or died at some point. He was the only one left. The only one that survived. He didn't know why, all he knew for sure was that he would continue to survive at all costs. He wouldn't die here. One day, he would escape, and he would be free. He stared at her unmoving form on the floor. Did she die ? He approached her and shook her shoulder gently. He was happy to hear her whimper in pain. Ignoring his own and her weak protest, he rolled her so she was laying on her back and stroked her hair gently. She looked at him oddly.
"It hurts, I know. It means you're still alive. You have to bear with it and survive. Please, don't die. Don't leave me alone like the others." He pleaded with enough despair that she picked up on it. She nodded, or at least she tried to, she was suffering too much to know if it came out right.
"Promise." She croaked.
Two months passed in the blink of an eye in the same manner. They awoke after a few hours of rest, you couldn't really call it sleep because the pain prevented it most of the time, and waited for the man to come and grab them or give them some bread and water. They had two sessions per day, exactly one hour after lunch and dinner.
As promised, she hadn't broken. She had become a survivor like Luffy, as she had learned. She had also told him her name, Jewelry Bonney. It was too hard to pronounce for him though, so he just called her 'Jewey'. After each sessions, they would snuggle together and nurse the pain away. Today, they were stirred from their rest by the cell and the whole ship being split in half a few feet from them. She was panicking like crazy, but Luffy was reacting differently. He was grinning like a madman. She looked at him worriedly, thinking he had lost it.
"This is our chance to escape !" He shouted excitedly over the loud noise of wood cracking and sinking.
Her eyes widened before her expression matched his.
"You know how to swim Jewey ?" He asked her. She nodded. "Good, I don't." He announced not losing his grin. "We jump in the water and find something that float ?" He suggested.
"Okay."
They jumped once they had a clear spot. When she returned to the surface, she grabbed Luffy and helped him swim. They found a small boat, with a black sail. They climbed on it and laid down, hiding from the men on the sinking ship. They waited and strained their ears to hear what was happening. They were startled by a man landing on the boat. He had a long opened black coat, a hat of the same color with a feather on it and a big black sword on his back. His eyes were the most shocking, they were bright yellow like those of a hawk. The two parties stared at each other. Luffy defiantly, Jewelrey with some fear but trying to imitate her friend, and the man impassively.
"What are you children doing ?" He demanded.
"Escaping from torture." Luffy blurted out.
The man raised an eyebrow. He inspected them and, indeed, there was bruise and a lot of scars on the skin not hidden by clothes. More so on the boy.
"My name is Dracule Mihawk. What is yours ?"
"Jewelry Bonney."
"Monkey ."
Mihawk's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Monkey D. ? Are you related to Monkey ?"
"You know my jiji ?" Luffy asked curiously while Jewelry gaped at him. Everyone knew about the marine hero Garp.
He nodded. "Yes, I met him on a few occasions. I can call him to pick you up."
Luffy's face darkened. "Don't !" He said firmly. "That's his fault if I've been kidnapped in the first place. Just dump me at the next island."
Mihawk was curious about this reaction, but decided it wasn't his business, he turned his gaze on the girl.
"I go with Luffy." She stated.
"We're close to the east blue. I have an acquaintance resting on Dawn island, I will take you there."
"That's where I lived." Luffy remarked.
"Good." Mihawk simply said.
The rest of the trip was spent in silence, broken only when they had to eat. They arrived at destination two days later, despite its size, the small boat was quite fast. When they arrived at Fuusha village, nobody recognized Luffy, he had changed a lot. They directly went to Partys bar.
"Oi ! Mihawk, what are you doing here of all place ?" A red-haired man called from the bar when they entered.
"Luffy !?" A green-haired woman cried out, seeing the children behind him.
She ran at him and envelloped him in a bone-crushing hug.
"I will let those two explain, I have to leave now." Mihawk walked out uninterrupted, the attention being on the children.
"Stop it you're hurting him !" Jewelry exclaimed as she tried to get the woman off of her friend.
She let him go at that, and sent an apologetic smile at the girl, only to receive a glare back. She spotted the bruises and scars on Jewelry and her
eyes flew back to Luffy, who was also glaring at her, but with a pain-stricken expression.
"Oh I'm so sorry, come you two, we have to treat your wounds. I'm Makino by the way." The now named woman said apologetically.
"Jewelry Bonney."
"Doc, treat the kids, captain's order." The red-haired man called at one of the individual drinking.
"Sure, captain."
Luffy and Jewelry were led upstairs in one of the bedroom. They didn't have that much wounds, only bruises and cuts not fully closed yet, as the last session was from three days ago. The doc refrained from asking where and how they got all the scars, she had a good guess already. Makino brought some food once the doc was finished.
"You want to rest ? I'll show you to another room." Makino said kindly to Jewelry.
They both glared at her. "I'm not going anywhere if Luffy's not with me." The pink-haired girl replied fiercely.
They climbed on the single bed and snuggled, ignoring the other woman in the room completely.
