.: I can't believe I'm saying this, but this chapter ends the story of Aurilee's origins. After this, we will dive headfirst into the Straw Hats' role and what has happened for the 10 years following this day. Better buckle up! :.

The Girl from An Island of Wolves

Chapter 14:

Die In Vain

The girl was a dead weight. Calisto was trying to get her on the ship, but it was almost too challenging with the laceration on his shoulder. She was refusing to move or fight back now. Doing all the work to try climbing up the rope ladder was just not working out. So, the violet-haired teen dropped back down into the shallow water with a splash. "Easy," a voice said behind him. Calisto glanced to see a burly man with his hair slicked back, their shipwright, Gerald. He noticed the blood staining Calisto's shirt more and decided to take matters into his own hands by taking Aurilee from his grasp. "See the doctor about that. It looks bad."

"I'm fine," Calisto insisted as his gaze shifted over to the limp wolf. It laid right at the water's edge, breathing steady but approaching death the minute. He just could not shake the feeling that something was not quite right. There were just too many coincidences between it and the girl. Same patch of discolored hair/fur on their foreheads, the mismatched eye colors, and also how they both were experiencing extreme fatigue despite only one suffering injuries.

It was moments like these where Calypso would whack him upside the head with the butt of a gun. It was so stupid to think that there was a connection he was noticing, but it was also difficult to turn his nose away from it, too. Letting go of his shoulder, he waded over to the wolf and grasped its scruff to start dragging it toward the ship. He could explain to his sister later.

The predator whimpered as the saltwater pierced its gunshot wounds and cuts from swords, and Calisto could have sworn that the girl moaned in pain at the exact same time. He looked up to see Gerald had her on the deck already with Millie. "Help me with this one, too," he called, pulling the scruff harder to keep its head above the water.

Gerald's head appeared over the deck's edge to see what he was talking about. "What the hell is that?"

"Never mind that. Just get it on board for me."

Gerald exhaled quietly as he swung a leg over to descend back down the ladder. Calisto absolutely did not have the same authority of Calypso, but he understood that the siblings had an unspoken rivalry, which the sister always came out victorious with. In her temporary absence, he always took it upon himself to be in charge, whether the rest of crew enjoyed it or not.

"We also need to pull anchor and move the ship to the mouth of the bay," he told other crewmates.

"But Captain Beaver insisted that we beach the ship when we arrived," someone reminded him.

"Then you better start pushing," he answered matter-of-factly.

A group of them did not hesitate to get wet up to their knees to accomplish freeing the Pearl. Once he saw them press palms to the bow and strain, he ascended the ladder after Gerald.

Millie was squatted next to Aurilee as she laid on the deck, lost in wonder. She was an only child and had been on the pirate crew ever since she could walk, so being near another girl close to her age was a weird experience. Gerald brought Luna close by and laid her down, seawater pooling heavily from her thick white fur. Millie gasped loudly. "Is that a doggy?!"

"Not a doggy," Gerald corrected her, pressing a damp palm to her belly to shield her. "It's a wolf. They're dangerous."

When Calisto stepped on the deck, Millie quickly forgot about Luna and ran over to him instead. "Mr. Calisto! Mr. Calisto! Did you find the One Piece?"

"Sorry, Squirt," he began, patting her head. "I doubt Gold Roger ever stepped foot on this island."

"Aw. Another lie?"

"Looks like it. But they were right about monsters living here."

"Did you see one?!" she excitedly questioned.

"Oh, yeah. It was huge. Probably this big!" he exaggerated, holding both of his arms out to illustrate the size. But as soon as he did, his laceration protested with nerves firing in distress, leaving him hissing and holding his wound.

"You need to see the doctor," Gerald directed him.

"He's dead," Calisto shared, leaning back against the wooden railing.

"That's a problem," Gerald replied, looking back at Aurilee and Luna, "because you aren't the only one who needs treatment–"

"Oh shit," someone down below said. "Shit. Shit!"

The sound of some gunshots alerted Calisto, so he leaned over the rail to see what was going on.

"It's coming!" the same pirate shouted.

Calisto suddenly heard distinct thumping getting louder and louder, and it sounded big. "Hey!" he shouted at the pirates still struggling to get the ship unstuck. "Get the ship moving, dammit!" Then he turned to Gerald while also grabbing Millie's hand. "Pull the anchor up. I'm getting more guns." He did not wait for an answer before running below deck with Millie in tow.

"What's happening?" Millie asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"I think the monster beat Captain Beaver," he admitted, opening a door and running inside. "But it's fine. You just need to hide again." He found the hidey hole that Gerald added to the ship just for his daughter and coaxed her inside. "You did so good last time. Just hide for a bit longer."

She looked up at him with her dark blue eyes as he slid a crate over the hole. Judging from how he was trying to cover panic, she knew that this was different from last time. Not even an hour ago, she heard a loud thump on the deck, but just one. Nothing ever came of it, though. Now that she knew the monsters on the island existed, she knew that was what she heard. Now she sat in the dark once again with her knees tucked into her chest, wondering if she would see her father or Calisto again.

Calisto quickly invaded his sister's gun collection in her quarters, grabbing all he could carry with his injury hindering his strength. He was not gone even a minute but returning to the deck showed that he was too late. The massive brown creature was barreling through what remained of the crew. Tossing bodies aside with ease, slashing claws across chests, and catching necks in its jaws to chomp down on.

Gerald and three others had long oars ready. The moment they felt the ship lurch back from the shore, they were rowing as hard as they could.

"Save yourselves!" Calisto called out to the men as he pulled up a loaded rifle. He then aimed straight for the shapeshifter's head and frantically pulled the trigger.

But nobody saw the body gripping a branch of an overhanging tree and dangling with the soles of his feet pressed against the trunk. He watched as Tayen took a storm of bullets, and then released an earsplitting snarl with the help of Skah. Calisto had no idea what had happened until it was already happening. An intense force collided into his side, slamming his body into the deck and his head violently bouncing. He blacked out for a moment, unaware of the second shapeshifter towering over him.

To Paititi's horror, he heard a pained yelp and spun his head to see Tayen had collapsed with bullet holes in her head. Calisto had finally pushed her to her limit. "No–" he barely uttered.

Suddenly Gerald swung his oar across the deck and struck the back of Paititi's head so hard that he tumbled right over the railing and splashed into the shallow water below. The shipwright only saw a giant hairy monster threatening Calisto's life, so he acted immediately and only with what was in his hands. He then rushed to Calisto's side and lifted him up slightly and noticed how he was trying to wake back up but was struggling. "Hey, you hit your head pretty bad. Just take it easy."

"Gerald!" someone on the deck called. He was standing over Aurilee and Luna, who were both stirring now. He whipped his head from them both to peering down below. The monster he just hit was stumbling in the water, trying to find his balance from the blow he received. Then he also saw the other monster laying motionless on the island with some of the crew surrounding it.

Holy shit. There're two of them?!

"Gerald!" the pirate called again.

"Keep them both secure!" he commanded, dragging Calisto over to them as well. "And don't stop rowing! We gotta get the hell out of here."

Paititi glanced behind him to see the ship moving toward the open sea, but he also saw Tayen being surrounded by the pirates she hurt. Her brown fur was receding along with her body morphing back to a human form. Extremely toned muscles bulged underneath her skin, and the wounds she sustained from countless guns became more evident with blood. But all Paititi saw was the bullet hole in his spouse's headdress. "Do not come forth, Rikea!" he yelled, transforming back himself. "You'll die instantly!"

The pirates surrounding Tayen and Rikea were in shock by what they just watched. That teen from the tribe was right about shapeshifters!

Paititi pulled out three arrows and strategically shot three of the pirates right through their hearts simultaneously. The others panicked and backed away, but he did not show mercy. "Back away from my wife!" he demanded, trotting through the water.

The farther he got from the ship, the more pirates from the crew began to climb the ladder to get on board. But he did not notice. Instead, Paititi assessed Tayen and found that she was still breathing despite all of her debilitating injuries. The bullets may not have penetrated as deep as he thought, for Tayen at least. He slipped off the headdress to find long, silky brown hair fall out from underneath. At the same time, he saw a spherical bullet drop and roll across the ground. He felt relief in an instant; it had only lodged shallowly. Pushing her onto her back, his eyes met even more similar wounds. "Tayen, please help me. We're so close."

Up on the deck, Aurilee fought past her phantom wounds to yell out: "Papa!"

Paititi immediately looked back at the moving ship as it was being rowed toward the bay's exit. Many pirates were struggling to get on board with the single ladder, so many were crowded on it with others reaching over the side to try grabbing hands and pulling them up instead. Shaking Tayen gently, she eventually opened her eyes. "We're running out of time," he warned her. Paititi then pulled out a poison arrow and ran along the shoreline, shooting the side of the ship so that a green noxious cloud would consume the escaping pirates. Bodies dropped into the water, and when the cloud dissipated, Paititi saw that the ladder was clear.

"Papa!" Aurilee cried out again. She saw the cloud and how the pirates reaching over the edge all went limp. She knew it was him!

Paititi did not waste any time. He allowed Skah to channel himself so that muscles could enhance. It only took one leap for him to snag the side of the ship, and another to flip onto the deck. The sight of him made Aurilee's eyes light up. "I'm here," he assured her, allowing himself to turn back into a monster. The frightened pirates watched the white fur of the headdress transform into brown and spread until every inch of flesh was covered. Then, Tayen reappeared with Rikea doing the same. Two shapeshifters were facing off against their daughter's captors.

Gerald could not believe his eyes. There was no way this power was from a devil fruit. He glanced at the silver wolf that was on the brink of death. Calisto was one clever bastard for bringing it. It was clear to him now that the death of these wolves provided a shapeshifting power. Although he did not understand how, he was seeing the proof with his own eyes.

"Whatever you do, do not let them take the girl or the wolf!" Gerald commanded.

The pirates yelled out with Calypso's guns in hand. This was their last stand.

The short charge toward the monsters in the center of the deck was quickly met with claws tearing flesh and teeth clamping down on clothes to fling them overboard. Blood splatters erupted with the barrage of bullets. The hides of the werewolves were as thick as a bear's, so despite having damage inflicted on Paititi's and Tayen's bodies, the bullets were more cushioned than anything.

As Tayen used physical displays of violence, Paititi pulled out a fire arrow and forcefully penetrated it into the wooden floor. A puddle of pine resin spilled and spread the flames rapidly. He also aimed another fire arrow up at the tied-up sails. Tayen fought pirates back as they began to close in on them both, and she locked her gaze on Aurilee as she lay bounded on the floor next to Luna. The girl was scared as her mismatched eyes reflected the growing fires in front of her.

Gerald stepped in front of Aurilee, pointing the barrel of his borrowed rifle right in Tayen's face. It was him, Calisto, and two other pirates remaining. He had no idea where his captain was. There was no leadership to tell him how to handle this dire situation. All he knew was that the entire crew of the Bucktooth Pirates gave up their lives for this girl. To let these monsters take her back would cause the biggest humiliation in his lifetime.

Tayen easily swatted Gerald aside with a single paw, sending him tumbling. Paititi swung around her to snatch up Aurilee and Luna, but the moment he was in arm's length, another gun barrel appeared – from the other side of the railing! And it was too late to move out of the way.

Aurilee watched as an explosion came out from the weapon, and the flesh and fur from Paititi's face were strewn in all directions. She screamed out in terror both from the deafening sound and gory sight.

Paititi collapsed limply. Tayen jumped on top of him with a screech of her own. Then a young woman hopped over the railing with the shotgun in hand. She stepped over Aurilee with no fear in her movements. Then, before Tayen could do anything to retaliate, she felt something large and sharp impale her back and come out the front. There was so much force behind it that it even stabbed Paititi as he laid motionless with blood heavily oozing from where his face should have been. She cried out in agony with blood coughing up, and she looked down to see something white and as rigid as a tooth to be the culprit.

"Mama!" Aurilee choked, thick tears staining her face.

Tayen coughed out blood again.

"You're alive," Calisto breathed, sitting up with his head pounding.

Calypso gazed at him with a grim look in her eyes. The crew was dead, the ship was on fire, and she still had to come back to finish the job. "And you're as useless as ever," she replied.

At the same time, Beaver pulled out a tarp and quickly covered the flames to stuff them of oxygen. He looked up at the burning sails, hoping they could be saved. But first, he gripped end of his massive tooth sword and heaved to lift Tayen, who yelped out with an inhuman bark.

"Hold on, Beaver," Calypso interrupted, aiming her shotgun again and cocking it. "It's still alive."

Suddenly, Paititi's enormous paw grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and squeezed it so hard that it caved in. Calypso felt a wave of panic. How could it still be alive?! The shapeshifter lifted his head shakily to reveal that half of his face was nothing but mutilated tissue with blood trickling everywhere and dislodged teeth hanging out of a newly formed cavity. Calypso was forced to release her precious weapon. Pulling the trigger would result in herself getting brutally injured.

Beaver took that as his cue to finish the job himself. So, he used all of his strength to lift up Tayen and sling her off the ship. Paititi groaned as the sensation of the tooth stabbing him left his tough hide. He still could not find it in himself to get up, even as he heard the huge splash of his lover hitting the water. He kept his one remaining eye locked on Aurilee. The shade of island's trees swept off the ship as it floated out of the bay. "Hey," Paititi murmured, a tear leaving his cheek.

Aurilee sniffed. Her father's voice was slurred by the damage to his mouth.

"I'll see you again," he promised with a smile. "Stay strong."

Before Aurilee could respond, Beaver gripped Paititi's feet and dragged him backward. A trail of blood across the wooden planks followed him all the way until he fell from the ship. Not wasting time, Beaver picked up the tarp again and ascended the mast to stuff the flames up there.

"What a mess," Calypso commented as she stepped in front of her brother. "Now explain why there's a wolf on board."

"It's…the key to her power," he said, his headache worsening with the direct sunlight hitting the ship.

The first mate raised an eyebrow.

"I think if she kills it and wears it, she'll be able to channel it and transform."

"I think he's right," Gerald reinforced, joining them with a limp.

"You're alive," Calypso stated with relief.

Ignoring her, he continued. "Those shapeshifters went from being humans wearing wolf headdresses to werewolves right in front of us."

"The wolves weren't dead, though," Beaver contradicted, joining them. "The one I fought, he completely split into two: a man and a wolf. They both attacked me, working together. I don't know how Calisto knew that, but he did a good job bringing this girl's wolf along with us."

Calypso looked down at her brother but did not dare apologize for calling him useless. Instead, she went over to Aurilee and removed the rope that bound her wrists. Then she dragged her in front of Luna, who was shallowly breathing with her chin resting against her paws. "Do it," she demanded, passing her a knife.

Aurilee stared at the other half of her soul. They shared the shallow breathing, but only Luna was injured with bleeding bullet holes. She could feel the pain radiating to her own body, which made her feel very weak, but she could push past it to act. The knife in her hand was meant to put Luna out of her misery. Once they were one being, she would be reborn, and all of her injuries would be a figment of the past.

But doing that would just be doing what the pirates wanted. They wanted her bloodline's power. After doing everything they did to her parents, there was no way she would let them win. So, she instead used all of her strength to shove Luna through the railing and drop her into the ocean.

"Dammit, no!" Beaver protested as they all heard the splash.

Calypso stopped breathing for a second. Did that really just happen? The stupid girl thwarted their plan? Calisto pushed Aurilee to the deck and disarmed her of the knife. At the same exact time, Calypso pulled out a pistol from her hip and shoved the barrel into Beaver's mouth before pulling the trigger. A spray of blood erupted from the back of his head, and he fell dead.

Gerald watched in shock and pushed down the gun. "What have you done?!"

"Our crew didn't die for this!" Calypso yelled in his face. "He wanted a shapeshifter! And we've lost everything just to carry out his bullshit order! He can die with them to atone for his sins. I refuse to follow a leader who sacrifices everyone for failure!"

Calisto looked down at Aurilee when she started making choking sounds. She was trying to take a breath, but she could not. "What's wrong?" he tried asking her. But she could not answer. He lifted her up to try clearing her airway, but nothing was working.

He suddenly remembered how both her and the wolf shared the same sensations, so he let her go and ran to the back of the ship to see if it was drowning. He found where the water was disturbed, and also saw something dark swimming toward it. It was the female shapeshifter. He watched as she disappeared underwater and came back up with the wolf wrapped in her arm. At the same time, Aurilee coughed and took in a deep relieving breath. Calisto watched as the ship floated away from them. There was no point in going in to retrieve the wolf now that the shapeshifter had it. So he kept quiet.