A/N: Hi everyone! Updates were a bit slow and school is starting soon, but I'm back! I hope you like this chapter too. Honestly, I just love writing this story. I planned a lot of things for future chapters, and I hope I can write as much as possible in the next weeks. Thank you for the wonderful rewievs! Enjoy the chapter~

12. Beautiful eyes

I saw red.

They were both dead. Their bodies layed in front of me...

And their killer stood in the doorway. I saw red. Yet...

I couldn't move.

Krieg just casually walked away - walked away from me, from the two people he killed. And I still didn't move. It was a whole new hell I experienced.

Fury, rage, anger, desperation... stronger than anything I felt in the past couple years, yet I couldn't let anything out.

I couldn't even scream.

I was full with these kind of emotions. My body was shaking, yet frozen rigid in one place. My breath was ragged and fast, my eyes wide. I didn't understand. I trained, damn it all! I became stronger! So why am I just standing here, looking at the fucking closed door? Why am I not doing anything?

"Rea?" Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulders. I jumped a little at the touch.

It was just a second, come on, I can be fast too...

"Rea?"

Yet I didn't move. I can't even move now. What is this? What...

"Rea!" I almost collapsed, but in the last second I found myself in Luffy's arms.

The restaurant was in silence.

From the corner of my eyes I could see Sanji trying to come to me, but Zeff held him back, shaking his head a bit. Usopp was on the verge of standing up and hurrying over to me with worrying eyes, but remained on his seat with Zoro and Kaya. He stared intensely at the person next to me - my Captain. They probably saw my panic and decided to let Luffy handle things.

I was glad.

I sat there on the floor with shaking hands and legs, trying to calm down a bit. Luffy sat there too, still having his hands on my shoulders as reassurance. My body calmed down.

My heart couldn't.

"Did you know them?" he looked at the two bodies, now being covered in two white blankets the cooks found somewhere. I sighed and looked away. I nodded once.

It's hard, I thought. I was basically ripped out of the world I always knew and lived in, and thrown into another I just heard and read a few tales of.

The two were different.

Experiences, situations, relationships led to my developed personality, morality and just plain behaviour and attitude towards certain things. These 'habits' are built into me. I can't just throw them away because now things which I took for granted aren't the same. Here, killing could be an everyday occurence. Revenge too. Fights are as common as sleeping and eating.

I decided to be a pirate, after all. It was my own choice. If I wanted to, I could've remained on the island instead of Kaya too, yet I came anyway. Still...

I am still the girl from a whole different world. There, I wasn't in danger like this. Others were safe too. Others I cared for.

But now, those people just lost their lives in front of my eyes. And... as everybody else, I'm supposed to keep going. That 'keep going' part would've been my revenge.

I wanted to kick Kriegs face until he was either dead or unconcious. Yet, despite the training, me trying to adjust to this world, trying to look tough and unbreakable...

"I'm scared." My tears started to pour down on my cheeks. Yes, I was scared.

Scared to attack a man who killed in front of my eyes.

Luffy watched me with a gentle look, so I didn't stop the tears. Letting them out is better then locking them away.

"I was scared to attack, Captain. I'm sorry." He knew I wasn't apologising to him. He just gave me a little smile and nodded, taking in my feelings.

"Okay. Do you need anything? Will you be alright?"

Did I need anything? I nodded a little and let him get me up from the floor.

"Time. I think... I need a little time. And my brother," I glanced towards Usopp.

"Okay."

Luffy took my hand and started to bring me towards the others. I tightened my hold on his palm, and he looked behind with a questioning look in his eyes.

"Next time..." I clenched my other fist and managed to unite all my anger, all my rage and hate in one look. "Next time I'm going to kick the ass of that merciless asshole."

"You're scared, and the fact that you are upsets you."

That... was on point. Wow.

"Pretty much," I sighed and nodded. Usopp and I were alone next to a broken window. One of the bullets from earlier damaged it. We already broke the hug which lasted for a good ten minutes. Now I was trying to pour my heart out to him. In this situation, we really were similar.

Fear.

Usopp feared a lot of things. I knew. He was scared of bats and vampires. He was scared of ghosts too - after the three boys in Syrup village tried to do a summoning ritual for fun, my brother bumped a whole bag full of salt and garlic in front of our door. Said it was going to keep the rotten souls and scary ghosts away. Usopp was scared of bullets and swords too, even if he uses one of it a lot. He was scared of hurting.

Being scared...

"It's normal."

I blinked and looked up at my brother's calm smile. Huh?

He laughed and patted my head, ruffling my curly, brown hair with his palm and fingers.

"Being scared, that is. It's totally normal."

I pouted and forced his hand away.

"I know that."

"You know that, yet you still beat yourself up about it."

"Of course I do!" I shouted suddenly. I couldn't help it, I had to let some of the frustration out before I exploded entirely. "He killed them, and I couldn't do anything because I was scared shitless! What kind of person am I after all this?!" I was panting after I stopped ranting. Despite me clearly looking upset and frustrated, Usopp still stood there with the calmness of the sea.

"Rea. I'm scared too. Scared to death."

I was stunned. My brother was scared too. But...

To be honest, in the past months I noticed some changes in my brother - well, changes that were different then the Usopp from the original story. He was more... more mature, braver to be specific.

He didn't back down when Luffy, Nami and Zoro arrived and tried to intimidate him.

Usopp in the manga and anime was scared, and continued to show this trait as the story progressed. So I thought that wasn't the case anymore. All I could see in serious situations was my brother's determined face, after all. I couldn't see plain fear on his face anymore.

Looks like I was wrong the entire time.

"But it's okay, you know?" he smiled and with a quick move raised his hand in a fist. "I will always be scared, I know that. But I will always overcome this feeling, because otherwise it chains me down. I will always be scared, and I think most people probably will be too. Scared of dying, of hurting others, scared of being hurt, a lot of things. But I-, we can't let that stop us. Because if we won't do anything about it, the only thing that will come later is regret."

I stared with wide eyes. I understood. I raised my fist too and bumped it with Usopp's.

"Everyone just needs to find that little push that's helping them cross that thin line."

And after the motivation speech I burst into tears. Usopp was confused and started panicking.

"Rea! Are you okay?! Did I say something bad?!"

I hugged the life out of him.

"I love you so muuuch! Nii-saaan!"

And I showered him with my eternal love.

Something wasn't right.

The planning on how to fight against Krieg started, and we were all crowded in a single room. Billie sat on my shoulders. She came to me running with a very angry looking chef on her tail. Apparently, she decided that eating half of the restaurant's food supplies was a good idea and that she could get away with it easily.

Well, now I was stuck with a debt half the size of my Captain's. It was still a lot!

The problem wasn't with that though. It was with the people who were present. Well, with the amount of people who were present.

Let's see.

Sanji, Zeff...

Zoro, Kaya, Usopp...

Billie, me...

Luffy, meat and a fork...

Yosaku... huh? The other swordsman isn't here...

Oh.

Oh no. No, no, no!

Nami wasn't here either.

I broke out in a cold sweat as Zeff tried to explain to Luffy, what kind of a man Krieg was.

"Um, guys..."

"Yosh! So if I beat this Krieg guy, then my debt will be paid, right?"

"Captain, I think we should..."

"Of course," Zeff nodded with a smirk. "The brat can join too if she doesn't want to work here for the next six months."

I sighed and stopped trying to gain their attention by gentle attempts.

"NAMI IS CURRENTLY LEAVING WITH ALL THE MONEY AND OUR SHIP!"

All I got was several pairs of wide eyes. Then Johnny burst into the room and repeated what I just said. The room exploded.

Zoro, Kaya and Usopp were preparing a boat fur us - Luffy decided to take matters into his own hands and pay my debt too, all by himself. Therefore he can't come with us for a time, so we have to go after Nami without him.

Of course, that's absolute bullshit. Even if things weren't going to go down soon, I would've stayed a little bit - just enough time to convince my Captain to let me kick Krieg's face a few times too. I deserve it, damn it.

Although I knew I'll have my ways with him soon. Because as we prepared the little boat for Nami's pursuit, I could already see a little dark spot on the water, coming closer and closer to us. I stopped doing whatever the heck I did before, and leaned back on the railing, watching the ship as it approached Krieg's damaged fleet.

There was no denying it, Mihawk was nearing us.

He was a mysterious man altogether. A bit cocky and contemptuous, though that trait is acceptable when you are on his level. It just counts as badassery with that man.

His black sword was on his back, hanging proudly from his shoulders. He was close. Closer than anybody would like him to be - he was dangerous, after all.

Zoro gasped next to me when he noticed the swordsman. Shouts and surprised, frightful words were tossed around - despite all this, I didn't look away from the man on the tiny boat. He was intimidating, to say the least. He had an atmosphere around him which screamed DANGER, in all capital letters.

Though if you didn't say or did anything which could offend him, and you knew you weren't his target, you could probably bear with his presence.

I was the most relaxed between all of us. I thought about reassuring the others that we are safe, but...

Well, a girl can see a man with a presence like this once in a lifetime, so I kept watching silently.

And yeah. I couldn't believe it when I first read it, nor when I saw it now - there really was someone foolish enough to shoot a bullet at this man.

Idiot.

The bigger idiot was nowhere near me though. The others were tense - and to be honest, so was I now. The images from before came back with maximum strength.

Oliver and Maria. Both dead.

A shiver ran up form my back to my neck. They died because they met me. Who knows how many things changed just because of my presence? And there goes the question which I was afraid to ask myself till now.

What if Zoro dies here because of me?

I couldn't possibly forgive myself. So I prepared myself - prepared to jump in in any second, prepared to use the first aid kit - though I don't really know, how much help would that be - and prepared mysef mentally too. For blood, for a fight, for one of my nakama getting hurt and losing...

For Dracule Mihawk, the world's Greatest Swordsman.

I couldn't possibly be prepared enough for him.

"It's true. You're really The Greatest."

Yeah, he is.

"I'm no beast that goes all out when hunting a rabbit." I finally can hear his voice from this far.

He better not go all out. It would be over for everybody here if he did.

"He stopped Zoro-Aniki's attack with that little knife? He is the first!"

That is the difference. We are rookies. He lives on the Grand Line. He fights big names for fun.

He spars with Shanks from time to time. A Yonko.

He stopped the attack with a pocket knife, for God's sake.

"You're weak."

I know that. Zoro knows that now...

"I feel like if I step back, all of my promises will vanish into thin air."

Promises...

"Wounds on the back are a swordsman's shame."

And Mihawk strikes with a satisfied grin on his face.

Zoro fell into the water, but I already was there within mere seconds. I got him to our boat, trying not to think about the inhuman amount of blood that was pouring out of his wound on his chest. I didn't know what to do. For a second I thought he stopped breathing, in the next he coughed up more of the same red liquid. I didn't know what to do, I was visibly panicing.

But Kaya did.

She jumped in the boat as soon as we were next to the Baratie and took matters into her own hands. She was working fast and precise. I knew I could trust her, so I left them and did the most stupid, foolish and dumbest thing I could in that moment.

I, alongside of my Captain, attacked Mihawk with outrage.

Well, tried to. I wasn't fast enough - wasn't nearly fast enough to strike. Luffy collided with the wooden parts of the ship we were now standing on...

And the pocket knife Mihawk was using earlier was now stuck in my right leg - more precisely, the sole of my foot.

It hurt like a bitch. Damn it, it hurt more than anything I felt so far in my life. But even though this was stupid, even though I knew I would get hurt, even though if one of the world's most powerful individuals was looking down at me right now, even though I was struggling and screaming on the floor...

I moved. Moved past the fear, and crossed that thin line.

And between Usopp's worried cries, Luffy's rage, Zoro's condition and everyone else's surprise, I couldn't look away from those poison-yellow orbs. So when I collected enough strength to open my mouth and form a sentence, I sat there in plain awe, and said just one thing to Dracule Mihawk before I passed out:

"Beautiful eyes."