Remnants of the White City

by Watermelon24

When gloomy baby doctor meets spoiled merchant's daughter it's not exactly love at first sight. But Law is going to find out that taking care of his first patient is harder than expected... What if Law isn't the only one to survive the Flevance tragedy? And what if one day they run into each other again? A Law x OC story.

12. The Conqueror and the Conquered

Woohooo I'm back! :-D

Many many thanks to everyone taking their time to read and review this fic! And special thanks to sarge1130 for putting so much heart into your reviews and, as always, to Guest666-69 for the boundless inspiration and moral support! Writing this wouldn't be half as fun without you guys!

I'm sooo sorry to disappoint but the reunion has to wait another teeny-tiny chapter... And then I promise the two will run into each other again (and again XD). So please, stick around for just a little longer!

For some reason this was quite a hard chapter to write. It took me a while and didn't turn out exactly as I planned, but well...what does, really?^^
Anyway, thanks again for being here and I hope you'll enjoy...

Warning: this chapter explores darker themes and contains scenes of torture and graphic violence.

---

"Isn't this going a little too far?"

"Says who?"

"Louise... but still. Shouldn't you only be stealing things you actually need?" Rosie asked carefully. Savenna shot a quick glance at the blue tea pot, her newest conquest. Recovered from Flevance's royal family's private collection, it was a rarity. "I definitely need that."

"For what?"

Savenna pondered. "To put it on the kitchen shelf for everyone to admire. Maybe Catch will be stupid enough to break it, and I'll finally have a legitimate reason to shoot him in the leg."

"Poor Catch," Rosie said. "He still can't get over your promotion."

"And those missing daggers are giving him a hard time too," Savenna added casually. The older girl gave her a reprimanding look.

"What? I couldn't resist! Have you ever seen how shiny they are when you get someone to polish them? They go perfectly with my gray dress."

"This is becoming a problem."

Rosie was concerned about her friend's pathological urge to make off with other people's belongings. Now that she had worked herself up the butcher's unsteady job ladder, her insanity was starting to show. As a wealthy citizen of Flevance, Savenna's life had been all about shiny things. And since she had ended up in the care of poor bandits she started stealing them without noticing it, as if restoring a natural order. Be it a picture frame or a book - she even stole a door once - it all ended up on the walls of her tiny room transforming it into a robber's cave. On some days it was so crammed with clothes, trunks and musical instruments she didn't play that Rosie couldn't even see the floor.

Savenna rolled her eyes and dove into the last hot water the boiler was spitting out for the night. When she came back up she splashed cold water over the older girl who was obediently sitting in the tub and loosening her braids. Strands of her wet, brown hair clinging to her face, Rosie gasped with exasperation. "I'm never ever gonna cover for you again! Next time you steal something form Catch, I swear I'll tell!"

Laughing lightheartedly Savenna let her bare legs dangle over the rim of the bathtub, and picked up a pile of crumpled Wanted posters from floor. "Oh, cheer up! Let's see who we have today."

Rosie surrendered with a sigh. "That Marco is pretty young, but I can tell he'll be quite good-looking when he's older."

Savenna made a face. "His head looks like a pineapple! Why do guys always grow heads that look like something that goes on pizza?"

"What..?"

"Nothing..."

There were almost no Flevance refugees left in town, at least Savenna hadn't seen any in months. During her first weeks with Louise, the marines had organized searches and shot whoever was unlucky enough to be found. Now it seemed that Amber Lead had indeed left no survivors except for herself.

Everyone had hoped that with this the marines would finally retreat, but another wave of unwanted visitors had hit the town. Since word of the Flevance tragedy had spread, the border towns were teeming with pirates. Montmort had been right with his prediction. Despite the rumors of contagion, everyone wanted to get a piece of the Flevance treasure and whether it was a monster, Sea King or a contagious disease that was guarding it, was all the same for the young and reckless of that particular profession.

For the first time Savenna had seen actual pirate ships moored at the docks in the old port. She had stared at them for half a day and was even more exited when she got to share a bottle of sake with a pirate in a port tavern. While the bandits weren't so keen on sharing the streets with more thugs, Savenna was overjoyed.

An entire wall of her messy kingdom was now plastered with her personal Wanted poster collection. After she'd run them by Rosie, they were organized and daily rearranged according to Savenna's obscure principles. The best-looking usually ended up at the top, until she got tired daydreaming about them and exchanged them with new candidates running for Pirate King. Fetch had long since stopped trying to understand her whims, but Rosie kept playing along. She preferred her friend staring at pretty pictures instead of putting herself in unnecessary danger.

"Oh, here's Mihawk! His bounty was raised by 50,000 Berries! He must have done something really bad," Savenna speculated with a crooked smile. He had become her favorite – after Roger of course – and she was following his career with vivid interest.

"Isn't he too old for you?"

"Shall we talk about Marco again?" Savenna replied. Both girls giggled.

"Maybe he'll come and and kidnap us. I bet his ship is faster than anything rotting in our harbor," she sighed. "I would love to see the open sea."

Rosie smiled. In a few moments Savenna would be spinning an unlikely story about Mihawk crashing through marine headquarters, slicing soldiers in half and saving them from a grim looking dungeon. She always created two or three miles stones throughout the story where she would let Rosie put a few twist in the romance, and then wrap it up in a ridiculously dramatic ending.

Rosie turned out to me as big of a daydreamer as Savenna, if not worse. While Savenna was well aware that those things were never going to happen – the pirates who came all the way north to loot a ghost town were far below the big shots she admired – Rosie was looking forward to it with annoying optimism. It didn't matter that Mihawk didn't know that their island existed, and that he wouldn't care about it even if he did. As long as Savenna could picture it her friend didn't object.

Secretly Savenna prepared the stories every night. She was ashamed to admit it, but when it come to making friends she wasn't any better than Law. Even though she didn't show it, she put a great effort into making the girl like her.

"What's that?" Rosie asked all of a sudden pointing at Savenna's back.

"Must be the rest of the make-up..."

Immediately, the older girl grew serious and grabbed a soapy sponge. When Savenna protested she shook her head. "It's poison, Sava! It could do severe damage to your body."

"Where have I head that before..."

Rosie ignored the comment and started scrubbing the neglected spots. "This isn't funny! You shouldn't be so reckless. You might be a master thief now but you are still sick! How do you keep forgetting that?"

"I don't," Savenna said flatly. When Rosie was done she got up, wrapped herself in a towel, muttered a quick good night and headed out. She could feel the girl's confused look but didn't turn around.

After slipping quietly in to her room, she leaned heavily against the door. Slowly she raised her towel until she recognized a dark line on her white stomach: old, ugly stitches made by a clumsy, trembling hand. This had been the first time Law had practiced his needle on a living patient. She felt that even after all this time, they were somehow holding her together, one Amber Lead attack after another.

Rosie was very wrong to think she didn't care. More than six months had passed and now she was changing wigs, costumes and identities so often people couldn't keep track. However, her thirteenth birthday was now only 101 days away. The calender day of her death. She had been counting down to it since Trafalgar had made the diagnose.

Fortunately, nobody in Fort Esperance knew enough about the sickness to predict its course. The gang suspected nothing, not even Fetch. The moment she had learned to handle her condition on her own and and started bringing in money, Amber Lead had become secondary. That her time was running out was her own concern.

And as much as she had grown to like Rosie, she couldn't ignore her full hair, the womanly hips and round breasts. Savenna had always admired the girl's lack of self-consciousness when it came to her body, but now she wanted to punch her for it. She had tried hard to contain her envy, but when she dragged herself to the mirror that morning she knew it was useless. She would never grow up to be like Rosie.

A few months ago she had stopped growing. Both of her parents had been tall, so she must have been shooting up by now. But her feet still fit in what remained of the shoes from Flevance, and she hadn't grown one bit taller since then. It must be another symptom of the Lead. So even if she ate well and took care of herself, she would never her mother's long legs or Rosie's ample cleavage.

Savenna looked away from her reflection and climbed to the only square of her floor that wasn't covered with her conquests. There she pushed down a loose plank and pulled Law's hat out from under it. She felt stupid for hiding it, but like everything else she held onto it as if someone was to steal it from her at the first occasion.

"What are you looking at, Mushroom Head?" she whispered. "You still don't have a magical cure for me, do you?"

Savenna had spent an entire month thinking Rosie was the dumbest person Louise had ever hired. She kept saying how she was waiting to fall in love, and how her father had been a marine captain and how she wanted find someone as kind as him. Of course she and her captain would get married and move to a faraway land that sounded like a pre-toxic version of Flevance. Consequently, they couldn't get through a conversation without Savenna calling her a simple-minded idiot and Rosie running away in tears.

"Why do you have to be so cruel to her? She does nothing but help you," Fetch said one day. He had been right. Rosie took care of make-up and costumes every night, and spent about as much time with her than the thief himself.

"It's for her own good! Don't you see that she'll only get disappointed being stupid like that?" Savenna replied arms crossed in front of her chest. "Nobody will come and save her!"

"She will, eventually, like everybody else. You have to remember that you don't share the same past."

"But she's older so she needs to be smarter!"

Fetch hesitated. "Not everybody you meet will have survived a genocide, Sava. You have to cut people some slack. Especially when they only wish you well."

Savenna raised her brows. "Nobody ever cut me any slack so why should I?"

"Because you're smart and because I want you to be happy someday," Fetch said quietly and left before she could come up with another argument. What was that supposed to mean? Savenna shook her head and walked away in the other direction. Happiness? What world was he living in?

Savenna gave her best to avoid the girl so Fetch wouldn't grow too upset with her. She managed well for a while, until Rosie didn't show one evening. Savenna didn't appreciate being late but none of the other women felt confident enough to meddle with Rosie's colors, so she decided to go looking for her.

"She's sick. I'm afraid she won't be coming out tonight," Lady Viola explained.

"How sick can she be?" Savenna snarled. As far as she knew she was the only one walking around with a terminal illness. The madame shrugged and pointed her to the girl's room. "See for yourself."

Irritated, Savenna stamped up the stairs muttering insults under her breath. There she banged on Rosie's door. A faint voice told her to come in. The room was dimmed and hadn't been aired out in a while. A shape was hiding between the covers, and refused to get up when Savenna told her to. Savenna came closer but recoiled when she laid eyes on the girl's greenish face. Her eyes were puffy, her cheeks swollen. She had even lost a little weight.

"Holy Roger, what happened to you?" Savenna blurted out.

"He left me!" the girl sobbed. "He told me he wouldn't! He promised...!" The rest of her speech was lost to unintelligible babbling obscured by even more tears.

It turned out the older girl was chronically lovesick. Every time a man rejected her or left town as he was supposed to, her dreams shattered in a particularly unpleasant way. The love-sickness was so bad that on some nights Savenna thought to be looking at her own symptoms. Rosie would grow a fever, throw up and wouldn't move for hours. That's how at her twelfth birthday, Savenna didn't find herself shaking with Amber Lead but taking care of Rosie. She spent the entire day reading to her, bringing her water and mixing some of her own medicine into it.

"Don't worry so much. You are going to be just fine on your own," she tried to console her.

"How do you know? You're too young to know! I'm sure you haven't even been in love," Rosie wept.

Savenna snorted with indignation. "Of course I have! I'm really good at it too! Once I was in love with three men at the same time."

Rosie shook her head. "No, that's not it. I mean real love... like giving away your food even though you're hungry, or taking a bullet for someone. Can you imagine that?"

Savenna's expression went blank. She didn't have to imagine. She had done both before. And she didn't even know it because it had seemed completely natural. They had only had each other.

"Sava...?" Rosie's voice had grown sleepy.

Savenna didn't answer. It was too much for her to process. Fortunately Rosie was asleep moments later and didn't notice how Savenna had curled up next to her, fiercely hugging a pillow.

Law had never been anything like the men she had dreamed of. He had been a short, perpetually scared know-it-all with a creepy fondness for needles. If it hadn't been for the sickness, they would have probably avoided each other until someone had left town. Rosie's description of love was too simple. No questions or doubt. How was Savenna ever supposed to know whether she and Law had actually liked each other, or if all that had brought them together was fear and necessity?

Now standing alone in her room she wondered why she cared for making friends at all. She didn't have much time left.

Savenna was no sunshine, but she wasn't as different from her friend as she had thought. Deep down she didn't want to be alone. And like a plant inside a cave desperate for daylight, she was hunting for the little bits of affection that survived the harshness of everyday life. She had to go for the little things. After all, no one would ever want to undress her, kiss her neck or even admire her from afar. Unlike for Rosie, it was too late for her to fall in love.

---

The next morning, Savenna had just swallowed a few painkillers when there was a knock on the door. "It's open," she called and giggled when Fetch bumped his toe on an antique clock.

"I can't believe it...How does this even fit in here?" the thief muttered and cursed before finding his partner in front of a silver mirror. He looked less tired since he had started relegating parts of his work to Savenna. Now he was just annoyed. "How does Louise let you keep all of this junk again?"

"I know where she keeps her private liquor stash."

"Fair enough," he said. He couldn't help but to give her the old questioning look of concern. "You feeling alright?"

"Never better," Savenna replied. "Is it time already?" Their squad had been assigned a robbery of a cargo ship heading south, and today would be the first day of planning. They had to get their hands on it before the pirates did. Fetch shook his head. "We still have a few hours. Louise wants to see us, though. Apparently she has some big announcement to make."

Many things had changed since Savenna's trip to the Marine headquarters. She and Fetch were now responsible for all of Louise's thieves, and had made enough money to keep the Major off their back and buy three more fronts for their business. Savenna was again the proud owner of full wardrobe, even though less extravagant than the first. She had stopped playing with dolls when she discovered that she could play at a bigger scale. She was now changing appearances several times in one night, and had developed such a vast repertoire of characters that even Fetch lost track of who he met in the hall at midnight.

As for him, having her at his side had finally allowed him to go for the big jobs. They had started out as a father-daughter team. On some days, Savenna found herself lost in a shop and emptied the cash box while the clerk was looking for Fetch who skillfully portrayed her father. On other days they played a rich family traveling through, Fetch's buttons and Savenna's pearls replaced with smuggled drugs. He had even slipped into the role of a grieving merchant who had organized a procession carrying his daughter's coffin across town, while Savenna was lying inside the casket making sure none of the fire arms that had been delivered for Louise were going off.

In real life, Fetch resembled her late father in various ways. He adored her, granted her every wish and didn't mind any of her ranting and occasional fits of rage. He got Viola's girls to trim their dresses for her; he made sure there was always a stash of her favorite sweets in the hidden cupboard in the kitchen where Louise wouldn't find them, and gave her money every time she had spent too much of her own. Once she had even sent kitchen plates flying toward him and the only thing he did was get out of the way.

Meanwhile Savenna knew perfectly well that she was a replacement for the daughter he had lost, a ghost of someone she had never met. And as terrible as she could be towards him, he would never do anything to hurt or upset her. In the beginning it gnawed on her that she would never be loved in her own right, but since she couldn't change it she ended up using it to get what she wanted.

Despite Fetch's lack of love and Savenna's way of using it, they were quite successful as a team. While she had managed to develop some sort of routine, Fetch was happy for the first time in years. After their last big coup he even started talking about retiring. Savenna however, couldn't picture a life to retire to. Whenever she wasn't scheming, her mind revolved around her conversation with Montmort. She regularly replayed it in her head, wondering whether she would have been able to get more out of him if her sleeping power hadn't returned.

This time it had forced her to stay in bed for over a week after what happened. For some reason the attack that followed had been particularly violent. Whatever it was that had protected her and Law the night at the festival, seemed to come out when she grew angry. And yet, she had no control over it. She didn't know how to release it or how to make it stop. The worst part was that whenever it returned, it brought all possible symptoms of the poisoning upon her. She would have to find a way to control it if she wanted to remain in her position for a few more months. Or best avoid it altogether.

Savenna didn't bother hiding her profound disinterest when she followed Fetch into the kitchen that morning. It was a private meeting. The room was empty except for the highest squad leaders trying to keep their eyes open after a long night. Fetch and Savenna weren't the last ones to enter. Lady Viola caught up with them in the hall and went straight to the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee with a splash of sake.

Savenna found a seat in the back where she wasn't likely to be bothered, and yawned as Louise's heavy steps entered the room. The butcher was in a strangely good mood. Her dark eyes were shining and she had even put on a fresh apron with almost no blood stains on it.

"You're all here. Good," she said and sat down facing them. "Thanks to our thieves over there we've been off the hook with the marines for a while now," she went on. "And, now after more than a year of constant humiliation, there might be a way for us to get rid of them for good."

Immediately everybody was awake. Chasing the marines out of town would be a victory no underground organization in the North Blue had accomplished for a long time. Everyone except for Fetch and Savenna got up, yelling and arguing over each others' heads.

"Silence!" Fat Louise shook her head. "I received a letter a while ago," she said and walked over to one of the drawers where she kept her books and forged documents. After rummaging in her pockets, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "The keys, princess!"

Savenna threw the bunch of keys across the room after discovering them in the inner pocket of her yukata. "Ups."

"I swear to Roger, that girl..." The butcher opened a drawer and pulled out a pink envelope. Inside was a letter, equally pink and neatly folded. Savenna's eyes narrowed.

"Apparently news of our success has traveled through the right channels. Someone powerful is willing to help us get the marines off the island in exchange for a favor," Louise announced. "Montmort has recently been promoted and has been called to another marine base. But most importantly, he will be deciding over future marine strategies in the North Blue and is now in possession of valuable information."

A resentful murmur went through the crowd, but Louise ignored it. "Long story short, our friend is willing to strike a deal. If we get our hands on the Major's plans before he leaves the island, he'll get rid of the marines in Fort Esperance and we'll be back in proper business."

"Someone able to chase an entire marine battalion off the island must be incredibly strong. Who is he and how do we know we can trust him?" the head smuggler asked with open suspicion.

"A pirate named Donquixote Doflamingo."

Savenna stiffened as if someone had hit her across the face. She had heard that name before even though she didn't like to remember from whom. But despite the despicable source of the information, Savenna didn't like the idea of working for Doflamingo. The smuggler was right. How did they know they could trust him? And besides, anyone who could go up again the marines might do the same to them, if not worse. No matter how she put it, she couldn't stop wishing he had never heard of their tacky little town.

But both her and Fetch, who would have been the first to take Savenna's side, knew they were powerless. When Louise had come up with something she would benefit from, she would sell her grandmother to see it happen. So no matter how much influence Savenna had gained with Louise, she wouldn't be able to make the woman change her mind. The prospect of freedom was bright enough to sacrifice her best criminals. And as for the others, the temptation of a marine-free hunting ground was just too big to resist, even if it sounded too good to be true.

After the meeting it was decided they would strike during the farewell party held in the marine headquarters in two weeks' time. Viola would get her girls booked that night as a distraction, while Fetch and Savenna were to sneak into his office and look for information.

They had done it a hundred times before, but neither Fetch nor Savenna had a good feeling about the job. It was a high-risk operation in a high-risk location where the tiniest mistake could get them shot. The preparations were tiring and stressful as they tried to anticipate everything that could possibly go wrong.

After a week Savenna believed she was growing paranoid. When she walked the streets at night to time their escape routes, she felt that someone was watching her. Heavy footsteps followed her into narrow back alleys, but every time she turned around there was no one to be seen. First she thought that Montmort was suspecting something and had sent troops looking for her. But if that were the case she would long since have a bullet in her head. Whoever it was followed her like a shadow for three nights and disappeared on the forth.

---

On the night of the party no clouds were hanging on the horizon. The weather was warm and clear when Fetch and Savenna made their way to the marine headquarters. A dozen spotlights illuminated the building while white-blue marine banners were flapping on every window of the second floor and the sails of the marine ships were blowing in the mild autumn air.

They didn't need to be afraid of pirates that night. Most of them were lying low now since stronger marines had come into town for the celebration.

The plan was simple. They would go in the way Savenna had before. Put on uniforms, infiltrate and attract as little attention as possible. The thieves were lucky. The soldiers were just lining up in front of the gate to welcome a high-ranked officer. They simply had to join their ranks. Their backs straight, they got in line and saluted before making their way inside and up the front staircase.

The party was hosted upstairs in a lofty white hall at the end of the corridor. When Savenna peered around the corner she recognized a dozen older marines surrounded by younger officers and Lady Viola's girls. The madame had made sure that somebody was always keeping an eye on the devil fruit users among the guests. Smart. Savenna didn't even want to think what would happen if they got on the wrong side of one of them.

Then she caught Rosie's eye and stiffened. Her friend was as calm as ever, acting as if it were just another party she had been paid to attend. But the man at her her side was no other than Major Montmort, his sleek light hair brushed back and a cold smile on his face. Savenna watched them with a mix of fury and fascination.

She didn't often get the chance to see Rosie at work, given the circumstances. Living with bandits had filled the gaps in her education but she wanted to know more. As soon as they had started to stand the company of one another, she had asked Rosie the most inappropriate questions about the daily duties of a hooker. How much of what she had read was true? What did it feel like? How was it different from one man to another? But Rosie was convinced that Savenna was too young to know these things, and didn't engage in the conversation.

Savenna had been burning with indignation. Nobody had thought she was too young when someone had to do Louise's finances or hold Rosie's hair when she was throwing up. Sharing that was not a problem, but when it came to fun they kept it all to themselves.

Piloted by angry curiosity she hid in the closet one night, determined to watch her friend in secret. Savenna knew she should have been embarrassed by what she saw but she wasn't. It had left her stunned, her eye glued to the keyhole.

The Rosie she knew was transformed into a powerful, enticing stranger. As the lights were dimmed, beauty turned into sensuality and hushed voices started gasping for air. First she thought her the girl was hurting, but slowly the pain turned into pleasure. Savenna didn't know what to think. How could the two be the same thing? Which one of them was real?

It was wrong, completely absurd, and yet she couldn't stop watching. Only at the very end, she began to understand that Rosie's pleasure didn't come from the man. It was the control she had earned. She had him at his most vulnerable and she enjoyed it to the fullest.

But now when she saw the Major's hand pulling her closer, his lips brushing over her neck, she turned away with resentment and disgust. Trying to focus on the job, she met Fetch at Montmort's door. There she walked up to the guard, and after a furtive glance on his name tag she said, "Officer Jenkins, you are to report to the Major at once."

The young marine was unconvinced. "But what about the door?"

"What do you think I'm here for?" Savenna asked sternly and waited for him to move. Officer Jenkins who might or might not have believed the lie, walked away slowly and as soon as he had turned the corner Fetch was already breaking the lock.

Knowing that they had ten minutes until Montmort would know that something was going on, they moved fast. Savenna found matches and a candle that spilled an orange light into the dark office and onto the neatly ordered papers. Fetch made a quick tour of the room, browsing through the few binders sitting in the shelves. Savenna, however, headed directly to the hidden back door. She could hear her partner following with hesitation. "What are you doing?"

"We won't find anything in his office. If that bastard has any secret information, it will be in here," Savenna replied, opening the door to the Major's private study. Silently she had held her breath in fear of seeing the poor woman again, but as they entered the room it was empty. Relieved, Savenna put down the candle and started looking.

Unlike the main office, this place was a mess with heaps of loose paper everywhere. Savenna who was used to navigating in utter chaos got herself a head start. Just when thought she had found a letter written on marine stationary, an envelope fell off the shelf. It was heavy, good-quality paper which couldn't be bought or stolen anywhere in town. Even in Flevance it had been hard to get. The red seal was broken at the back.

Savenna frowned. Ignoring Fetch who was frantically ransacking the place, she took out the letter. It was dated a whole month back. But when she saw the return address, her eyes widened.

Marijoa.

The capital of the world. Savenna had read about it, remembering the sky-high buildings and the poor slaves carrying the World Nobles on their backs. But who on earth could the Major know in that place? Writing itself was beneath those people!

With trembling hands Savenna read on:

Dear Major,

As I have mentioned before, neither I nor my successors will be laying claim to the city of Flevance. There is hardly anything left to lay claim to. We are now settled in the capital and do not wish to return to our homeland, no matter the future circumstances. We leave the management of the kingdom therefore in your capable hands. As our representatives have agreed, everything of value left on the territory now belongs to the marines. You can do with it as you please.

Furthermore, as you have urged me to confirm, all documents concerning the discovery and the prior analysis of Amber Lead have been destroyed as requested. Please report to your superiors that the only evidence linking the family to the foundation of the industry, are now in the hands of the honored Gorosei. According to the agreement between the late Commander-in-Chief and the second king of Flevance, the secrecy of the matter is guaranteed. You can be assured that the records will not show any breach of protocol on you part.

Finally, I would greatly appreciate it if this were our last correspondence. The recent tragedy has deeply troubled my daughter, and I do not want to upset her any further. The passing of my husband has left me with various other matters to attend to, so I will not be able to deal with further queries.

Wishing you strong winds and safe travels,

Her Majesty Queen Heleen of Flevance

P.S: You are now holding the executive power of the royal family, so I trust you to handle the diplomatic tensions resulting from the outbreak with utmost care. Not all cities have suffered the same onrush of pirates and refugees as Fort Esperance, therefore I advise you to deal with your own territory first. Of course I am aware that you do not have the manpower to clear the city from the said criminals, so the World Government should send reinforcements shortly.

And as for the ..

Savenna had arrived at the bottom of the page. This couldn't be all!

"I think I have found something," Fetch called from across the room. "There's a bunch of marine charts with marks on them. They were sent three days ago...Are you listening?"

She wasn't. "Where is the rest of it?" Savenna cried.

"What?"

"The letter. The queen...She sent a letter!" Savenna hissed with tears burning in her eyes. "They knew, Fetch. They have known all along!"

For a moment thief stared at her with utter confusion. But when he heard voices coming from the corridor he couldn't wait and ushered her to the door. "We have to leave! Now!" Bent on finding the rest of the letter, Savenna resisted. She wasn't ready. She had to know more. Finally, Fetch managed to pick her up and dragged her towards back into the office.

There Fetch and Savenna froze. Montmort and an anxious Jenkins were already waiting for them.

"Oh, how interesting. I believe we have two thugs among us, Jenkins," the Major said matter-of-factly. "And you played right into their hands." Then he turned around and punched the officer right in the face. But instead of simply breaking his nose, the punch flung the man right across the room. Jenkins made a weak, choking sound. When the Major turned around, his fist had turned shining black, as if he was wearing a glove or an armor that hadn't been there before. Panicked, Savenna tried to rush past him but he grabbed her by the collar.

"You!" the Major hissed, his black fist lifting her up. "I know you! How dare you to show your face here again? Now you are going to tell me exactly what you were looking for or I'm afraid your partner here won't make it." With his left hand grabbed Fetch by the throat and started choking him.

The touch of his hand filled her with disgust. The words from the letter were aimlessly flashing through her mind, trying to convince her of what she still couldn't believe. The marines had helped the royal family to betray and annihilate their own people. And now they were to do it again.

"You little piece of human trash," the girl hissed. "What did we ever do to you?"

Suddenly Montmort let go of Fetch and pulled the girl so close that she felt his breath on her skin. "What did you say?" But suddenly, as if someone hit him hard, his face froze with shock. "Your eyes! How is this possible? There's Amber Lead... in your eyes!"

Savenna was dropped on the floor.

He knew.

Since Rosie didn't have anything to hide the white of her iris, they had left it as if was, confident that nothing bad would happen as long as Savenna avoided close contact. It didn't take the Major very long to deduce that the rest of her was poisoned as well. Suddenly the black color of his hands disappeared as if he were trying to shed his skin after touching what he found out to be the last Amber Lead victim. He tried to say something but failed.

Fetch had taken the opportunity and hit him over the head with a decorative bust. The Major wavered, and glanced at them with surprised contempt before passing out. Only seconds later, a pale Rosie came rushing into the office. After Montmort had left her at the party, she knew that something must have gone wrong. "What happened?" she asked, making sure her latest customer wasn't moving anymore.

"He knows I'm poisoned and that we were in his study," Savenna gasped. What had she done? How could she have been so reckless?

Fetch shook his head thinking. "We need to get us and the plans out of here before anyone finds out he's been attacked." With that he crammed the marine charts into the pocket of his uniform and ordered Rosie to go back to the party and leave as quietly as possible.

Scared that the alarm would go off while they were still inside, Savenna and Fetch didn't say a word until they were out of the building and back on the streets. Even there Savenna couldn't lose the feeling that someone was watching them again. Waiting. Maybe it was the stranger from before, or maybe she was slowly losing her mind.

Just before entering their neighborhood, Savenna couldn't take it anymore. "This is all my fault! When I found out what they did, I... I should have listened to you."

This time she wanted Fetch to go overboard, yell at her or hit her like Louise did. But he didn't. She even wondered if he could. Instead he wanted to know about the letter. Slowly, Savenna reached inside her pocket and handed it to him. It took him a while to decipher it in the dim light of the street lantern. When he was done, he read it again. "Holy Roger, if this is true..."

Savenna nodded. "If this is true, then the royal family and the World Government have already known Amber Lead was poisonous when they ordered the first digging. They've must have secretly analyzed it. Over hundred years they've known that their people were going to die. And now they are going to rid the neighboring countries of the trash their greed has attracted."

She could see Fetch freeze in the corner of her eye. "So all these marines..."

"Are definitely not here for the party," Savenna finished. "We should have known...They're probably just warming up before going all devil fruit on us."

"But that's... that's only for the pirates, right?"

"No, Fetch, criminals. We're included in that definition."

---

Louise was furious. Curses were followed by a dozen I-told-you-sos. What kind of incompetent idiot would blow her cover like that? "And don't you even think for a minute that I will protect you when the Major walks through that door!" the butcher threatened.

Savenna didn't fight back. She knew Louise well enough to know that she wasn't unleashing half of her anger. Under normal circumstances she would be already chasing the girl with a kitchen knife. No, what Louise was truly worried about was the Marine assembly waiting for the right moment to destroy her and the rest of the Fort Esperance underground.

After she had released Savenna, she cornered Rosie and Viola to find out how many marines there were, how drunk they had left them and what kind of devil fruits they were to expect. Viola had been able to identify two Paramecia users but couldn't tell for sure, while Rosie remembered counting fifteen high-rank marines at the party. Louise was devastated, but unable to show that she was now truly desperate for Doflamingo's help, she started going through her treasury looking for old Sea Stone shackles she claimed to have seen there a few year ago.

Soon everybody under the butcher's roof was staring at the clock, calculating how much time they had left before the marines stormed the city. Suddenly Doflamingo had become the subject of every heated conversation. How strong was he really? How many men would he bring along? Was the information payment enough or should they prepare another load of gold to make sure he was thorough? But most importantly: when would he show?

Now everyone who usually didn't cared the least bit about pirates inquired about Doflamingo's ship, his Jolly Roger and the exact nature of his abilities.

While everyone was rushing around, furiously hiding every bit of treasure they had ever looted and speculating how many weapons they could carry at once, Savenna sat on the floor, knees drawn to her chest. She had changed back into simple bandit's clothes. So at least she would have enough pockets to fill when stealing from the dead after the fight was over.

Savenna couldn't tell how much time had passed. She knew she had to prepare, get her medicine ready, find a hiding place where she would sit until Doflamingo had disposed of their enemies, but her body wouldn't move. In the middle of the anxious hustle she remained motionless, hypnotized by the content of the queen's letter.

How was this possible? The royal family's conspiracy had been going on for over a hundred years, and nobody had every suspected anything. Even old Trafalgar who had uncovered the nature of the sickness, hadn't been able to point a finger on those responsible. How was it possible that they hadn't known? How could they have been so blind?

Savenna shook her head. It made sense now; the simultaneous closing of the borders, the organized invasion, the bombs and firearms... The military had known exactly how many people were to be eliminated because the information had come from inside Flevance.

Nobody had ever suspected the royal family. They had been reported dead during the first weeks of the outbreak, and the country had been too busy burying their own dead to ask any questions.

For as long as Savenna could remember the royals had kept to themselves. Invisible and always absent, they let the merchants rule Flevance for decades, acting only through officials and representatives. Even her father had laid eyes on them only twice in his entire career. Throughout the years they remained secluded in their residence outside of town, to which nobody was permitted without prior clearance due to the poor health of the inhabitants.

Savenna chuckled to herself, when she realized how perfectly it fit into place. They hadn't been keeping any illness hidden inside those walls. They had been keeping Amber Lead out. Every building, street and park bench in the city contained the metal, and knowing that it was toxic they did everything they could to avoid contact. Three generations had lived and died in a cage, surviving while their city fell into chaos.

Savenna had met one single member of the family a long time ago. She couldn't have been older than six or seven. A carriage pulled up at school and everybody had recognized Princess Emery when she came in for her only visit. The girl had been carried inside on a chair by two men, a white mask covering her nose and mouth. Her light hair had been carefully braided while she seemed to be swimming in her airy dress. Even though the princess was only a year younger than herself, Savenna remembered the girl being frail and tiny, just like little Lamie...

How could such a weak and fragile person be responsible for the destruction of a nation? The recent tragedy has deeply troubled my daughter... Savenna cursed. At least the brat was still in the position to be upset. The rest of her country hadn't been granted the same privilege. Oh how would Savenna have tormented her if she had known... Her and the Major doing her bidding!

But she didn't get to indulge in any further vengeful fantasies. She snapped back to reality when voices were coming from outside. Immediately Savenna jumped on her feet. Was that Doflamingo's crew? It was high time they showed up! Determined she marched to the door, but froze as she heard marching footsteps approaching.

Marine boots.

No... This couldn't be happening. Where was the protection they had worked for? Her entire body started shaking as she remembered the sound of the bullets flying through the streets of Flevance. As the distant smell of fire reached her nose, she forced herself not to faint.

"Get away from there, you idiots!" Louise barked and ushered her and Rosie down the hall, armed with knife and hammer. "This is no place for little girls! Stay away while we handle this." But before they reached the back rooms, the door was broken down and soldiers tramped inside the house. There was no warning, no negotiations. A rain of bullets hit the wooden walls, before Louise's massive body shot out of a corner to slit the throats of two soldiers. Immediately the rest of the bandits followed, shooting and stabbing with whatever was at hand.

Hastily Savenna turned to Rosie, "There is a loose plank in the back," she whispered. "Hide in there until I come back!" Thinking of Magdalena, she wouldn't let anyone else take the hit for her again. This time she would fight for her home.

She didn't get very far, though. Somewhere a gun went off, making her ears ring. Disoriented she staggered on, trying to snatch guns and swords from the incoming soldiers, until a marine grabbed her and pushed her against the wall with a knife to her throat.

"Don't ever get tired of this?" Savenna seethed and tried to punch him. He replied by hitting her across the face. Her nose started bleeding, probably broken. She tried biting him in return but the blade was already cutting into her skin. Somewhere she could hear Louise scream out, and Fetch was nowhere to be seen. Catch was down with two marines on top of him, and three of the smugglers were bleeding out on the floor. They were losing and no one would save her this time.

Savenna waited for the blade to cut her throat and for the air to leave her lungs. She waited. Five seconds, ten. Nothing happened. Slowly she realized the screams around her had subsided. And when she slowly opened her eyes, she didn't believe what she saw.

The marine who had been so eager to finish her off stared at her with angry confusion, his arm suspended in the air. Turning around, Savenna realized that every marine around her was unable to move. What the hell is this? Before the bandits could use the situation to their advantage, the floor began to tremble and their feet were caught in greenish, foul-smelling slime.

"This place is a dump."

"Ne ne, maybe Doffy got the address wrong."

Two bizarre figures had appeared out of nowhere. One was immensely tall, as if all his limbs had been put on a stretcher and pulled out to the double of their normal length. A large red cloak was hanging on his shoulders, barely covering his naked chest. But his strange looks were nothing compared to the atrocity standing next to him. More like a drop of slime than an actual human being, the black-haired man in a green overcoat didn't bother to blow his nose even though his snot was running down to the floor.

"Behehehehe...What a bunch of losers!" he giggled. "Ne, Diamante, they would all be dead if it weren't for Doffy!"

Could these possibly be Doflamingo's men? Savenna didn't know if she were to laugh or cry. Something told her that there was little kindness to be expected from them. But whatever devil fruits were at work here, they must be way more powerful than the marine's diabolical arsenal. Savenna started at them with both dread and relief.

"The Donquixote family is here to honor our part of the deal. Now it's your turn. Which one of you is Louise?" Diamante wanted to know.

Leaden silence reigned. The butcher was leaning against the wall with a serious stab wound in her stomach. And with her down, no one had the courage to come forward. Savenna had to do something. No matter how frightening Doflamingo's crew seemed to be, they needed their help if they wanted to live through the night. Quickly she pulled the maps out of the butcher's hands, almost tripping in the snot.

"You can deal with me!" she called.

The snot-man giggled as he contemplated her. "A brat? Behehehe!"

"Please follow me," Diamante replied ignoring his crew-member. Before she could take another step, the snot around her ankles hardened and dragged her to the door like a liquid rope. It haled her out of the room, down the corridor and spat her out the backdoor. Savenna cursed while scrambling back onto her feet.

Outside, a strange scene was taking place. A man with light hair and flamboyantly red pants was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the courtyard. Through a pair of black sunglasses he watched two marines hitting each other. Both were bleeding out of their nose and one showed a serious head injury. Savenna shook her head in disbelief. Not only did she wonder who on earth wore sunglasses at night, but also why the two soldiers kept inflicting injuries on each other when they were fighting on the same side.

Suddenly the marine on the right pulled his sword and drove it deep into his opponent's chest. The second marine screamed.

"There we go! What a fun game, don't you think?" the flamboyant visitor finally asked. Savenna was speechless. After all that had happened she surely had no soft spot for the Major's men, but now she couldn't help but feel a sting of pity. Next the blade was pulled back out and smashed the head right off the marine's shoulders. With a dull, wet sound it rolled up to Savenna's feet.

She didn't dare to move. The man in the red trousers jumped up as if electrified by the violence, and laughed. That laugh... It crept through her bones and made her knees shake. It was as if it had fed on all the cruelty surrounding them and was spitting it right back into her face. The Major had been right. "Donquixote Doflamingo," she muttered. She didn't need another look to know who she was talking to. "You live up to your reputation."

"And you have exceeded yours," he replied with a humorless sneer.

"What...?" Reading the lost expression on her face Doflamingo pointed casually to the spot where the knife had cut her skin. The wound wasn't deep but the blood had washed away Rosie's make-up. Her throat and parts of her chest were again Amber Lead white.

"I guess you don't have much time left so let's get this over with. Where's the information?" he barked. The slight hint of compassion had disappeared and his face had grown hard when he snatched the charts out of her hands.

"Is this what you wanted?" she asked dryly, trying to hide the fear rising in her stomach. After meeting the Major at close quarters, she thought she knew was a psychopath looked like. But facing Donquixote Doflamingo she realized she had been mistaken. There had still been room for more.

Instead of simply controlling the compound with whatever devil fruit he had swallowed, he made allies turn against each other. There had been a sense in what the Major had done, some sort of deranged logic, but not for Doflamingo. He did it because he was bored. Torture seemed nothing but a game to him.

"Better!" the pirate said with a grin. "The idiots from the Headquarters are extending the Flevance blockade and this is our way out. Thank you for that." Then he turned around and walked toward the snot-man and Diamante waiting at the side. "Let's get out of here."

"Wait, what about the deal?" Savenna shrieked.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Doflamingo chuckled. "Clean out the treasury first. Considering they had someone from the inside, most of the Flevance trinkets still must be around here somewhere."

"What?" Savenna cried out in frustration. "You can't do that! We had an agreement!"

"Well, we don't anymore." Doflamingo watched as the rest of his crew broke down the remaining doors and started taking the place apart. "Next time you should deal with people your size."

Savenna could punch herself. This was exactly what she had feared from the very beginning. But now she had no other choice but to convince him. He obviously didn't respond to honor or obligation so Savenna tried begging. "Take whatever you want but please help us! I don't know how you do it, but you are the only one strong enough to take them out!"

Doflamingo grew annoyed, "I have no interest whatsoever in helping scum." He turned his back to her and started walking away. With outrage and desperation, Savenna set out after him picking a marine knife off the ground.

But before she could even get close, the hand holding the weapon was yanked back and flung up in the air. The rest of her body followed she knew what happened she was hanging in thin air, tangling from one side to the other. It took her a moment to realize that what was holding were was a fine, invisible thread. Taking her best chances, she caught the knife with the other hand aiming to cut herself down, but the blade fell to the floor when her second arm was immobilized.

Savenna gave an exasperated scream. She had done everything she could to lay low and move on. She had worked so hard, and now this pirate just thought he could take it away again? She felt the old, boiling rage gathering in her chest again. She could feel it prickling underneath her skin, burning to burst out and make someone suffer. And this time, instead of avoiding it, she welcomed her sleeping power with open arms.

Doflamingo was chuckling at the stubbornness of his latest victim, when a very special headache invaded his temples.

"Ne, ne, Doffy... look!", the snot-man called out, staring at the girl with stupid admiration. When Doflamingo turned around, half the marines were hanging unconscious from their strings. Not knowing whether he should be amused or genuinely surprised, Doflamingo snickered. "Well this is interesting! I didn't think I would see someone like you in this part of the world."

Savenna's white eyes threatened to burn holes into his chest as he watched her like an exotic bird. She clenched her teeth, waiting for him to crumble. But the pirate only laughed, while the snot- man was falling into deep veneration.

"Desperate to use our little Haki, are we?" Doflamingo asked.

"I will rip you apart, you flashy dirt bag!" Savenna's face distorted to a wild grimace. It was the first time she was mad enough to try and consciously use her ability. But as soon as she was finally feeling it flow through her body and letting the emotion take over, she had reached her limit. No! I need more time! A cold numbness was already settling in her bones, stiffening her limbs, humming in her ears. She pressed her teeth together and shot the pirate a venomous look.

He was still standing with a grin as terrible as his fashion sense. Why wasn't he down? It worked on everyone, so why was he still standing?

"Anger is for beginners," Doflamingo observed darkly as Savenna lost control over the muscles in her neck and her head slumped onto her chest. "It takes a lot more than that to beat someone like me." Savenna wanted to spit on him but the numbness was spreading onto her face. "Properly trained, a Haki user like you would make for an interesting kill...I'm almost sorry that you're kicking the bucket. Amber Lead is a real pain. If I were to dispose of an entire population, that's probably how I would have done it."

In the meantime the snot-man had crept closer and discreetly started engulfing Savenna in slime. "And what exactly are you doing?" Doflamingo asked watching him with irritated confusion.

"Aren't we taking her home, Doffy? That's strong Haki. The family could use some of that. Especially now that Rosinante..."

"Don't!" Doflamingo barked. His amused grin had formed into a stiff mask of hatred. "Did you even look at her, Trebol? She's dead weight. I bet she won't survive the week! Besides, we already had a Flevance brat too many."

Savenna's eyes shot wide open. How did they managed to have a survivor in their crew? She stared at the pirates with agonized bewilderment. Doflamingo responded with a curse. Then he approached Savenna, so close that she could see her reflection in his sunglasses.

"I'll tell you a secret, girl. Consider it payment for your co-operation," he said coldly. "Betrayal. The pain of being stabbed in the back by someone you trusted. That is where real power comes from." Suddenly he seemed pleased with himself again. "But all in all, I'm impressed. Sick and still using your Haki – that's brave... So I guess you deserve a little parting gift from me."

Savenna wouldn't remember if he snapped his fingers or made a move at all, but all threads holding the marines hostage were cut in a heart beat. Doflamingo laughed at the terror in her eyes. Then he turned around and walked away. Seconds later there was no slime, no Diamante and no loot. Only then, her own strings snapped and she landed hard on the ground.

Instantly the sound of fighting resumed.

Savenna's instincts told her to get up and run, but it was as if her entire body was made of lead. She found herself struggling to breathe.

"Sava? Sava, where are you?" Fetch' voice brought her back to a blurry semi-consciousness. Thank God, she thought. He was alright!

Having knocked out the marine guarding the front door, Fetch was now running outside. It didn't take him long to spot her. "Sava, are you hurt?" he called and rushed towards her. Savenna tried to smile at him. But as he was making his way around the unconscious soldiers, a marine stepped out of hiding, the gun on his shoulder aimed at Fetch.

She needed to warn him but she couldn't. When the gunshot fell she thought the bullet would take ages to get there, gliding through air like through water slow enough for him to dodge it. Instead it hit him in the between the shoulder blades in the blink of an eye. He went down instantly, as if cut from those same invisible strings.

With her cheek pressed to the ground she could see him looking at her, confused. The blood pouring out of his mouth ran down his chin, and mingled with dirt and dust as it trickled in her direction. Far away she believed she saw someone attacking the shooter. For a moment she thought it was Rosie. Unable to move or to pass out, she watched her partner struggle until he wasn't moving anymore. After that, when the building caught fire and Rosie was trying to help her up, Savenna could only stare in the direction Doflamingo had disappeared.

---

Savenna slept for two days. They had moved her along with what they could salvage from the house. The bandits had been able to hold their ground against swords and guns, but it were the devil fruits that put an end to them and four other gangs that night. The butcher herself survived only thanks to Savenna's medication Rosie had snatched from her room. Pirates worth a good bounty had been put on the first ship to Impel Down and those who had survived were now hiding together in the waterside caves next to the old harbor, waiting for a chance to get off the island, however bad the odds.

When Savenna woke up in the middle of the third night and found Fetch' cold body next to her, the shock was followed by a dark sense of familiarity. Even though now she had the time to mourn someone she loved, she didn't know how. The only two options she had learned was running away or falling apart, but she didn't feel like doing either. The emptiness she had suffered when losing Law didn't catch her this time. Now she knew who was responsible. Every time she turned her head she saw Princess Emery's braids blowing in the wind or heard Doflamingo's humorless laugh echoing through the caves. And every time she closed her eyes, there were the Major's hands caressing a woman's white shoulders.

The bandits were scared to approach her. Most of them had seen what she had unleashed during her confrontation with Doflamingo, and the rest had heard enough not to bother her. As they had made sure she wouldn't lash out at them for touching the thief's corpse, they grabbed the shovels and started digging into the stony ground. However, when Savenna returned after aimlessly wandering through the caves fruitlessly trying to chase her demons, she squinted threateningly into the crowd.

Seeing them just as lost and confused as she left them was unacceptable. Unable to reach her enemies, Savenna's wrath turned on the bandits.

"Is this all you're planning to do? Bury him in this hellhole?" she called with disdain. "Montmort is still out there and you're just going to stay here, play with your shovels and cry like a bunch of little girls in a sandbox?"

"What do you want us to do instead, princess?" Louise had laboriously made her way into the outer cave. She was still fighting a nasty fever from the infection that had settled in her wound. She wasn't the only one in a bad shape. The rest of the gang was tired, scared and hungry, attempting to treat their injuries with the little means they had left.

But Savenna didn't care for that. Outraged she kicked the empty bottle at her feet. "Strike back! Make them suffer for what they did."

Louise, slightly drunk, could only laugh at the proposition. "Revenge? You are insane, princess." This wasn't what Savenna wanted to hear and her face twisted with contempt. "These marines have slaughtered your people, robbed you of your home, your money and you are letting them get away with it? How pathetic!"

A wave of shock hit the group. Suddenly nobody had the courage to lift their eyes. Louise clenched her teeth and got up, heavily leaning on a stick. "Listen princess. It doesn't matter how much we want them dead. And you know why?" she spat. "We don't have anything left to fight with! They took the weapons and blew up the ammunition. Hell, we don't even have enough food to get through the week! How should I lead an attack half my men dying?"

"You would find a way if you were a better leader!" Savenna yelled. "You should have known about Doflamingo. It was your responsibility to know and to protect us but you failed! We walked straight into a deathtrap because we acted like a bunch of ignorant peasants thinking only about our own profit! And now we don't have anything left to lose. The least we can do is fight!"

Savenna felt tears rising in her eyes. No matter how strong someone seemed to be, there was always something that had brought them down and left her to fend for herself. Louise couldn't have been more different from her mother, but in the moment it mattered most she had decided to take the easy way out.

Strangely, Louise's anger subsided when a silent understanding spread across her face. She gave Savenna a crooked, apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Sava but I'm afraid we are talking about two different things here. I think I know what this is about. I've read the letter. It's horrible what they did to your people, but we can't possibly fight this war for you. You might have nothing left to lose but we do," the woman said mechanically looking at the girl's skin. "I'm sorry but this is too big for us."

Desperate Savenna turned to Rosie who looked away instantly.

Not her too! Cold sweat was running down Savenna's spine as her lips quavered. How could they to this to her after all she had done for them? With white fire flaring up in her eyes she turned to the butcher and said, "You deserve every bit of what happened to you!"

As she turned around her gaze fell back on Rosie who was carrying a bag with Savenna's things. Someone must have thought of bringing them along. The girl couldn't care less about her treasures until she saw Law's hat in Rosie's hands. Immediately she rushed over and ripped it out of her fingers with animal ferocity. "Never touch that again!" she hissed and stormed away.

---

Rosie had been told Savenna had a bad temper, but she had never seen it with her own eyes. Her fingers were still trembling when the girl had left. What had happened was terrible, and hardly anyone could think of a moment in their lives where they had been this close to desperation. And yet Savenna had found a way to hurt them even more.

Nevertheless, Rosie couldn't help but feel guilty. Despite their obvious differences, Savenna had never abandoned her. In fact, no one had loved her with as much zeal and devotion as she had. Not because she deserved it but because it was the only way Savenna knew how to love. It must be what had saved her after she had lost her home. But now Rosie was afraid of finding out what else it could do. If someone had earned the right to go mad, it was her.

Savenna had been right. Rosie was a coward, waiting for someone to take her off the island instead of just boarding a ship and leave. When she had finally found the courage to defend Fetch it had already been too late. But maybe it wasn't to late for Savenna. She couldn't treat her illness or bring Fetch back to life, but she could try to save her from herself.

Like every night, the stranger was sitting on the lower pier where there were no lanterns to illuminate his face. Rosie had met him before as she caught him shadowing Savenna and Fetch on the streets. She didn't know if she could trust him but she felt she didn't have a choice. He greeted her with a silent nod. "Thank you for meeting me."

She gave an uncertain smile from underneath her hood. "She has it, the ability you were asking about. I've seen it myself."

"Would you take me to her?" his deep but warm voice asked. "I need to talk to her before she gets herself into bigger trouble."

Rosie sighed knowing it was the right thing to do. "Follow me."

---

Betrayal – The pain of being stabbed in the back by someone you trusted... The words spun circles in her head as Savenna was rushing through the caves. Her heart felt like bursting with shame and deception. Just like Louise should have known about Doflamingo, she should have knows that they would turn their back on her when things got messy. Just as she should have known about Flevance.

Useless, pathetic peasants!

Her hands were violently kneading Law's hat while she thought of Rosie with burning hatred. Everything she was good for was sweet-talking idiots and make them fall for her. But when it came down to it, when Rosie could finally use the power she had over them, she was too scared, too sweet, too good. Savenna's rage mingled with her smoldering envy. Their friendship wasn't any different. She would help her with the pretty dresses but when it came to stabbing people, she wouldn't make her hands dirty. That was Savenna's job. But she was done now.

Indeed, she had nothing left to lose. She remembered how much she liked tormenting her classmates, pushing little Lamie to tears and Sophie to the edge of reason. It had given her a strange sense of accomplishment punishing those idiots for overstepping their boundaries. So why not get a little pleasure before all of this was over? Of course they would stop her, hurt her but then she was as good as dead anyway. Louise had been kind enough to point that out. And she wouldn't be a Flevance girl if she didn't go out with a bang.

With the frozen smile of delusional joy she walked back into the caves without recognizing anyone in her way. She dug out Rosie's velvet dress from the party, blood stained and smelling of smoke and pulled it over her head. The shoes were too big as well, but she had walked enough stairs in her mother's heels. When she was going to die while taking revenge, she might as well look pretty.

How many times she had wanted to slit Doflamingo's throat or watch Princess Emery rot with Amber Lead poisoning, but she knew better than to dwell on that. She would be dead before even laying eyes on them. So she decided to gather the best of her revenge fantasies and offer them to the Major. "Haki..." she repeated to herself. Her power had a name. And this time she would find a way to use up all of it. To do real damage. There was nothing to wake up to anyway.

She pulled Law's hat over her head and marched onto the beach through the incoming tide. "It's high time we have some fun again, Mushroom Head."

---

"I really thought you'd be a better cheater. Cowards usually make good cheaters," a marine officer scoffed killing Jenkins' king with an Ace of hearts. The young marine whose face was still covered in bandages muttered a silent course.

"Oh, shut up!" a third, broad-shouldered soldier called out and blew a cloud of smoke into their faces. "It's bad enough that the Major has gone paranoid since the other troops left. Now I have to sit here with you idiots and guard his office as if he were a little kid afraid of the dark." Six marines had been posted outside the Major's office after nightfall, three of which were snoring in the corner.

"There's no pirate left in town who's brave enough to show his face. I wonder why they're not sending us home," the first agreed with a yawn.

A little drunk, Jenkins shook his head. "It's not the pirates. It's the Flevance kid."

"Right," both of his colleagues chuckled. "The Amber Lead ghost no one has seen except for him. All nonsense if you ask me. Everyone knows it were two pirates who attacked him that day."

Jenkins didn't say anything. He knew what he had seen. He got up and went looking for another pack of cigarettes while the card deck was shuffled for another round. He was just about to turn the corner, dragging along his limping leg, when light steps strolled down the hallway. Who could that be at this hour? Had someone really ordered a hooker to pass the time?

Jenkins froze. A silent, melodic humming echoed through the corridor. Whoever was approaching now started singing. Mechanically the marine pressed himself against the wall. Was he dreaming? The steps were coming closer. And when they passed him, Jenkins gasped.

It was the Major's Amber Lead ghost. Only now he realized it was a girl. Her white skin almost glowed in the shadows of the night lamps filling the room with an invisible heaviness. The layers of her dress engulfed her like a shroud smelling of earth and fire, as her tiny feet pranced down the hall. She smiled an otherworldly smile as her eyes remained hidden in the shadow of an old hat. If he didn't know better he'd say she'd just crawled out of a grave.

He must have been drunk. There was no way this girl could have survived. And even if she did, how had she passed the guards at the front door? But despite everything the marine didn't have the courage to get in her way. He watched quietly as her dirty, high-heeled shoes sauntered toward the Major's office and stopped in front of the card table.

The faces of the other marines flushed with disbelief at the sight of the white figure. As the cards fell out of their hands the girl gave a crystal laugh. "You're playing! Mind if I join?"

The marine who had beaten him at cards was the first to recover his wits. As he reached out to grab his gun, she stared at him with outrage. "I said I want to play!" she called. When a beam of light finally illuminated her eyes all Jenkins could see was madness. She might look like the person he remembered, but she wasn't. Pain had twisted her doll-like face into an ugly mask.

"Why am I not allowed to play? Do you think I'm a bad girl?" she cried, clutching her fists with grotesque, desperate desire.

Then something even stranger happened. The marine collapsed slowly like a deflated lifeboat. Paralyzed he glided to the floor and watched how the same happened to the second. Fighting the sudden burst of fatigue that overcame him, Jenkins tried to keep his head from banging on the floor. How was she doing that?

"You should have played with me," the girl said. "Now I have to show you how bad I really am." Humming that same song she pulled a scalpel out of her clumsily stuffed cleavage. "Now it's my turn." With that she climbed on top of the first marine, lifting her skirt like Rosie had when she had been watched her from inside the closet. The man tried to say something but Savenna placed a finger on his lips.

Then she put the blade to his throat and stared with fascination as the blood spurted over her hands. Carefully, as if afraid to hurt her victim she continued cutting the skin, going deeper and deeper. "Is this how it's done, Law?" she muttered. "I know you like cutting things. Does this make you happy? It was always so hard to make you smile..."

The man coughed, grimaced and wept but she saw nothing of it. When he was dead and the blood had formed a lake at her feet, the girl got up. She was displeased. Determined to deliver whoever she was talking to a better performance, she walked over to the next marine and repeated the procedure. When she had worked herself through entire team Jenkins' face had turned white. The little girl had just killed five men without batting an eye. He had seen acts of revenge before but nothing as terrible as this. The murder wasn't about settling scores – she obviously didn't care for justice or for telling them who she was. This was torture, pure hunger for pain.

Hiding behind the corner he saw her growing weaker. Her upright figure wavered when she headed toward the office, her arms trembling. She even stumbled a few times until she reached the door. But whatever had triggered her madness was pulling her up, and she pushed the door open with a smile of anticipation.

Savenna's head was spinning. Drunk on excitement she hardly felt the fatigue dragging her down. Doflamingo had been right. Yearning for someone else's life pushed her farther than simple anger ever had. Her power was bellowing, screaming and engulfing her like ocean waves. It was as if every cell in her body had been wired to everything else. Her blood was sizzling, boiling as it pulled energy from every living being around her. Finally she could take from them what they didn't deserve... Savenna should have started playing god a long time ago.

"Oh dear Major!" she called in her sweetest voice. "Where are you?" The room was pitch-black but from the candle smoke still hanging in the air Savenna could tell that the occupant couldn't be far. She strolled over to the desk and lit the gas lamp plunging the room in an eerie yellow light.

Then she saw him. The once so tall and elegant Major was squatting in the back of the room, his back against the wall and his disheveled head pulsating with pain. He must have been waiting for her. Shaken and unshaven he was still dressed in his best uniform and armed to his teeth.

"Feeling unwell?" Savenna inquired, approaching him with lazy, languishing steps she copied from Lady Viola. The man muttered something through pain and dizziness. "How did you...what did you do to my men?" he finally managed to ask.

"We played a little game," she replied biting her lower lip. "They lost." Suddenly the Major jumped to his feet and his black fist sent her flying against the wall. "You're not the only who know how to use Haki," he said rather helplessly. "I knew what you did during the raids. It took me long enough to figure out that trash like you could use true power."

Then he stumbled backwards as if the punch had cost him more strength than he had calculated. Savenna could hear her head ringing, and judging by the piercing pain in her lower chest the punch must have cracked one or two ribs. Something warm and sticky was slowly trickling down her back. It had blown the air out of her lungs for a few seconds, but as soon as could breathe again Savenna chuckled darkly. "How observant of you. But the thing is, Major, you're not helping yourself."

As Savenna pulled herself up again, she realized she enjoyed the spasms his attack had sent through her body. The more pain she felt, the more she wanted his power to become hers. His freedom to go wherever he wanted, to be loved, be feared and be able put his hands on whoever he wanted, to decide who lived and who died... She wanted all of it.

Now Major Montmort backed away, cringing at her sight. "Oh no, you are not going anywhere, love," she imitated Rosie's adoring voice. He didn't resist when she took him by the hand and led him to his chair. He had no strength left in him. He sat down wincing. And as he tried to get up again, Savenna shook her head mockingly. "Let's make you more comfortable, shall we?"

She took out the needle and thread and walked around the chair. Then she placed his palms over one another, smiling dreamily and made a first stitch. The Major's screams didn't reach her ears as she sewed his hands together, finger after finger, slowly but carefully. "See how smart I am, Law? I can do it all by myself now."

The Major was wavering on the edge of consciousness, gazing at her with fear sparkling in his clear blue eyes. Satisfied Savenna gave him a lazy look from under white eye-lashes and climbed expertly on his lap, sliding her arms around his neck. He didn't have the strength to resist, instead he said, "They're gonna kill you and everyone you..."

She cut him off with a laugh. "But they already have! You should really be better informed. Besides, you were right. I did kill my own mother." She giggled following his jawline with her fingers. "And now it's your turn!"

"Get off me, you monster!"

Savenna backed away somewhat offended. "A monster? Me?" She brushed back the short white hair. Confused she fiddled with the fabric of her dress. "But don't you like me in this? From what I've seen this seems to be your color..."

The Major's face flashed with disgust and he made a last attempt to push her away. "You are sick!"

"You know who was sick?" she asked quietly. "My mother, my father, my teacher and my doctor. Remember the boy you shot, the one with the sad eyes? That was him. He would have found a way to heal me but you just wouldn't let him." When Montmort didn't react, her eyes narrowed. Irritated, she pulled away. "How dare you call me sick if you made me this way?"

Suddenly her anger mellowed back into insane playfulness. "You know that I was the prettiest girl in all Flevance? I deserved to fall in love and be loved back. Give boys hugs and kisses." She laughed. "And now you say you don't want me..." She pondered for a moment. "I think there must be something wrong with your heart, Major. How could you possibly not love me? You definitely need treatment." With that she leaned back and tore his shirt open. "Let's take a look!"

With smoldering eyes and complete disregard for the pitiful sounds the man let out, she pushed the scalpel right into his chest. She struggled to get through the breast bone, but managed to pull the rib cage apart with both hands. "Next time you'll think twice before breaking a girl's heart!"

His own heart was smaller than she'd expected. It was still fluttering wildly as she ripped it out. When exactly the Major died during her torment she didn't notice. She was just staring at the heart of Law's murderer, waiting to recognize the evil in it. Waiting to feel the joy and satisfaction of revenge. But nothing came.

Suddenly, the stinging pain in her chest broke through her madness. The Major's heart fell to her feet as a violent coughing fit brought her to her knees. When she looked up she realized she was coughing blood. The blood of her victims mingled with hers as her old wounds started popping up one by one. She ripped her dress open and saw that Law's clumsy stitches had burst open.

When Savenna had entered the headquarters she had been calm because she knew there would be no surprises. No running, no hiding, no hoping to get away. She knew she wouldn't survive her retaliation and she didn't intend to. She had expected to pay for her Haki with a final, heavy sleep. But instead she got pain like she had never felt before. All the places where her body had managed to heal in the last two years, all the cuts and bullet wounds, had opened up again as if someone had severed the thread holding her body together.

"Don't move!" a voice yelled through the room, before Savenna could make any sense of what was happening. She managed to turn around. Surrounding her were a dozen marines with gun barrels aimed at her head. She hadn't even heard them enter. The two corpses at the kitchen door must have finally caught their attention.

"I said don't move!" another marine voice called out when Savenna's knees finally collapsed. Finally, she thought. No more pain and no more Amber Lead. It would all be over like it should have been a long time ago. But before she blacked out for the time she was convinced would be her last, she dreamed that the marines started fainting around her. And that this time she wasn't the one doing it. Before she lost consciousness, she saw a broad figure standing in the doorway smiling wryly from under an ash gray hood.

---

It would take Rosie years to forget the sight of the massacre. Six men dead, tortured. Blood everywhere. And Savenna in the middle. It would have been hard to imagine that such horror had been inflicted by a little girl, if she hadn't been found at the center of this grotesque picture.

Rosie reached for the wall for support.

"And I thought I was the craziest person around here..." the stranger muttered as he entered the room. He didn't seem like someone easy to impress, but she senses that some of his laid-back attitude had disappeared at the sight of Savenna.

"Why...? She would never...I should have..." Rosie stuttered, her stomach turning upside down at the sight of Montmort's heart lying on the floor. When she believed Savenna had lost her mind she had thought of many bad things, but this was way beyond.

"You would be surprised what trauma does to people," the stranger replied thoughtfully. "Hell knows what happened in that country after the sickness broke loose. It's a miracle she kept it together for so long." Quickly he made his way past the unconscious marines and lifted Savenna off the floor. She looked tiny in his arms, like a twig ready to be crushed. Most of her body was covered in blood. She was barely breathing.

"Is... she dying?" Rosie asked soundlessly. "Are we too late?"

"Not quite. But she's very sick. She has overdone it this time. In her state she couldn't be using Haki at all. Not to mention attacking the marine headquarters on her own..." he said shaking his head with concern. When he lowered his hood, Rosie realized he was older than she'd thought. Dark, observant eyes looked out of a pair of round glasses, while a gray beard covered his strong chin.

Rosie couldn't help but wonder who he was. She hadn't been very enthusiastic about him marching right into the building until he had put everyone to sleep except from themselves. It was the same power Savenna possessed, but unlike her he knew how to control it. Also, it didn't seem to consume any of his physical strength. He said he had been a pirate once but since Savenna had never shown her a poster of him, Rosie thought he couldn't have been a very important pirate. And yet he had escaped the raids without any injuries.

He carried Savenna through the deserted halls as if she weighed nothing at all, calm and steady like a rock, and strangely unafraid of the Amber Lead glimmering underneath Savenna's skin.

"Will you take her with you?" Rosie asked when they had reached the front gate. The stranger stayed silent for a moment. Then he nodded.

"Good." The girl replied biting back the tears. "She needs someone stronger than me. Someone who can fight for her."

As they had made their way to the old port, an irritated voice hollered for them to stop. When Rosie had set off to the marine headquarters Louise had insisted on accompanying her. But as her wound was still aching she had only managed to cover half the distance in the meantime.

"Where do you think you're going? That's my girl! Put her down right now!" the panting butcher yelled waving a dagger at the stranger. But as soon as the butcher recognized the man's face, the blade fell out of her hands. "Silvers Rayleigh! I'll be damned!"

Louise was the only one old enough to have known the days of Gol D. Roger. While she remembered his face from the newspapers, Rosie had only heard Rayleigh's name in Savenna's stories.

For the first time something had truly managed to impress Fat Louise. She had trouble finding the right words to address the man. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to," she muttered. "But nobody expected to see you in this forgotten part of the world. Many even thought you were dead."

The former first mate sighed. "I was traveling through, hoping to run the blockade along with the pirates, when I heard rumors about a kid using a ridiculous amount of Haki."

The butcher gave him a confused look. Of course, how could she have known?

Silvers Rayleigh glanced at the girl in his arms. Underneath the layers of blood and dirt he recognized the northern traits of her face, the anger and stubbornness that had impregnated her features and the smile lines at the corner of her mouth. Yes, she was definitely a citizen of Flevance. Proud, joyful and headstrong. Slightly psychopathic too, but who wasn't? He had heard of their temperament, but he had never thought that the doomed generation of merchants would bring another Conqueror into their midst before disappearing from the face of the earth.

"It's the power she uses to take others' strength away," he explained. "It's called the Conqueror's Haki. It's incredibly rare and dangerous when its used as recklessly as just before."

"Why?" Rosie asked.

"Let's say it is strong enough to attract unwanted attention," Rayleigh replied grimly. "After what happened, marines worse than your Major will be looking for her. And there will be no easy way out. She needs to know how to protect herself."

Silence followed. No one dared to speak against Gol D. Roger's right hand. Only Louise regained her courage when she realized Savenna was truly leaving. "But the Amber Lead syndrome... You will put yourself in danger if you even consider helping her. I doubt that Haki thing of yours is important enough to get yourself back on the government's radar! And even if, what good would it do? If she lives through the night she'll be dead before you reach the next island."

"Well... We'll have to see about that." He smiled confidently. "And don't worry about the marines, I believe I'm still young enough to survive another one of the World Government's tantrums."

Louise didn't like the idea of letting Savenna leave with one of the most dangerous men in the world, but also she couldn't imagine someone who was better fit to protect her. That's why she had no choice but to let it happen. Before they left, the butcher was determined on examining the girl and making sure she was stable enough to get aboard a ship. Then she handed the rest of their medicine over to Rayleigh and insisted for him to learn all the symptoms of Amber Lead poisoning. Dawn was already breaking when Louise was finally ready to release the girl.

Against all expectations of a grand pirate ship, Rayleigh's means of transportation didn't look like much. It was a small vessel with gray, shabby sails carrying so much cargo that it threatened to topple over. Louise was just about to protest again until she figured that questioning the seafaring abilities of Gol D. Roger's first mate was probably a bad idea. So begrudgingly she remained silent as she watched them go.

"Wait!" Rosie called and caught up with Rayleigh as he was carrying the girl on board. "Here," she said handing him the gray furry hat Savenna had lost in the marine headquarters. "I don't know whose it is, but she wouldn't want to leave it behind."

The man nodded, and hesitantly Rosie returned to what remained of her group.

Rayleigh looked down at the sleeping girl a last time before getting on the ship. She wouldn't get to say goodbye, but he had no other choice. He couldn't let her Haki fall into the hands of the marines.

"We're going to sail south today," he said, somewhat awkwardly, as if to console her. "I hope you'll like the sun." Slightly uneasy he cleared his throat. "But if you don't...Please don't try your open-heart surgery on me, okay?"

---

"Conqueror's Haki...Whatever!" Louise scoffed, secretly brushing away angry tears. They were watching Rayleigh's sails disappear in the morning mist. "At least now we know where the attitude came from."

Rosie smiled, still shell-shocked from the last few days. But now, when she thought of what she had seen in the Major's office, she didn't feel any fear or hostility towards Savenna. Just as Savenna had accepted her dreamy naivety, Rosie now slowly begun to understand the girl. And she hoped that one day her strong, hurting spirit would find happiness, and that she would remember that there were people who had loved her the best they could.

When the ship had finally vanished behind the horizon, a passing thought made Rosie laugh. Despite everything, Savenna's unlikely dream had ended up coming true.

She had finally been kidnapped by a real pirate.