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Chapter Two: The Battle Ends
The world was falling apart. That was the first coherent thought that Mata thought, her skin prickling uncomfortably as sweat trickles down her throat and stomach. Falling apart and burning.
Something in her shoulder burst painfully forcing a scream from her throat as she rolled, rocks catching and tearing at her capris and coat. And then the pain was so unbearable that she shrieked even louder as her back collided with a pillar, her spine exploding in agony.
Mata Hara thought that she was dying.
"Don't let them escape!"
"Execute Straw Hat and Fire Fist!"
Mata groaned, blinking away the grit that had formed on her lashes and struggling to her knees. Not only had she passed out but the platform had been completely destroyed, timber still booming to the ground around her. Waves of heat burst over here as mini fire explosions went off, sending Marines flying.
Mata Hara's prisoner was free and he was making a mess.
"Fucking dammit," she hissed, leaning against a boulder as she unclipped the revolvers tucked into the back of her belt. Clutching her ribs and ignoring the pain spiking through her right arm, she limped forward, shoving Marines out of the way as she went.
The yard was a mess. The dead had been kicked aside to make small heaps here and there, their corpse already rotting and gather flies. Inside the wall, something tore through the cement, making the ground rock until it was hard for Mata to stand properly without pain.
Ace and his brother were yards away, making their way toward the hole in the wall. Briefly, the ebony haired eyes flicked to the paddleboat that was tearing through the yard, making it's way through the cement at a painfully slow pace. She felt an awkward connect to that pace as she limped after her prisoner, cussing openly and fouly.
Every step drew her closer and closer to the haul of the paddleboat, Ace and Luffy slipping around the side just a yard or so in front of her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a giant alabaster beast that looked similar to a dog tearing through a group of Marines, a giant white mustache curling thickly from his upper lip.
"Shit!" Mata cussed as she shot a howling pirate in the leg and then the temple, unclipping the cylinder of her revolver so that bullets cascaded to the ground and then reloading quickly. It was a slow, painful pace and she huffed and swore the whole way. "STOP FIGHTING ME!"
"WHITEBEARD STOPPED THE SHIP WITH ONE HAND!"
The girl suddenly realized that the ship had halted and that she was only a few feet away from the front where the giant of a man had a hand pressed to the wood, his shoulders moving in deep breaths as he tried to catch himself. It looked like every gasp of air was more painful than the last, blood dripping through the white of his beard and splattering from his chin and to his chest.
Immediately, her revolvers were raised, her chin setting as she aimed for his head. The last time that Mata Hara had missed a shot, she was ten and she had cried so much after the talking to that Matron Ellen had given her that her eyes had nearly been swollen shut.
Her fingers tightened on the trigger.
"Can't you understand how ungrateful it is for a child to die before his parent, Squard?!" Mata's fingers stilled, her eyes lighting with curiosity as the pirates that had gathered behind the ship cried out. "Don't get too confident! That little stab wound that you created doesn't jeopardize my life!"
Mata's face didn't twitch from it's impassive mask but her skin went two shades lighter.
Mata Hara was twelve and molten lava oozed from Akainu's fists, his expression bored as he stared across the training area at the wheezing, burned little girl. A small dagger was clutched desperately in her hands, the skin there already bubbling up with blisters.
"Is that all you have, little orphan?" Akainu asked although his voice was laced with disinterest. "You're boring me, little lost girl. At this rate, we'll have to toss you out to the streets."
The thought scared her more than another chance of getting burned.
With a scream, she jolted forward, her barefeet tapping against the cement floor as she lashed out, making a mad stab at trying to slash the much larger man.
"Don't get too confident," Akainu drawled, easily swatting her away and to the wall. "You're so far from beating me that it's laughable, girl."
And then there was the cold click of his boots as he left.
Sweat dribbled down her spine, the revolver in her hands shaking as she blinked up at the taller pirate. Everything he was saying was backwards. If Mata Hara had ever dared to even raise a brow to her admirals they would have whipped her in the yard and thrown her into solitary. When she lost or missed a shot, they laughed and degraded her. How could pirate's be so different? They were supposed to be rats.
"Now is our chance! Kill Whitebeard! He's dying already!"
Tawny eyes met hers. Why was that her undoing?
Without thinking, her revolvers had moved, focusing down on the men circling Whitebeard. Eighteen marines barely hit the ground before she was tossing the guns aside, unsheathing her daggers from the carriers at her calves and spinning to slash the men beside her, driving the blades into their throats as they fell with screams. Blood splattered across her face, dampening her bandages.
Mata Hara had effectively two minutes to fall back to protect the lines of pirates retreating before the Marines around her got over their shock and started fighting back. The bitter taste of betrayal usually made people a lot more spunky in a fight.
"Who's that?" A murmur went through the pirates as the ebony haired girl tore through the men and women around her, creating a safe circle around her as she flung a dagger into a man that was approaching and unclipped a pistol from her shoulder holsters.
"Warrant Officer Mata Hara!" A stray officer that Mata had been on duty with a couple of times screamed as she shot an approaching women in the leg and then flung her last dagger into another man's chest.
"What are you doing?" The ebony haired girl glanced up at the deep voice, spinning back as a blade came dangerously close to slashing through her stomach. Whitebeard had turned his full attention on her, the laugh lines taloning around his eyes crinkling a bit in divergence to his otherwise stern expression.
"I was assigned to protect Portgas D. Ace," Mata said simply, flipping over onto her hands as a bullet went whizzing by and then back even more until she was panting beside the much bigger man. She was starting to feel the damage that she had sustained from her fall and the gashes that she was getting from fighting.
"You were assigned to keep him a prisoner of the Navy," Whitebeard said evenly, his eyes flashing as they traveled over the Marines in front of him who froze.
Mata shrugged, covering the way that the words tore at her. "I changed my mind."
Her words were met with a rumbling laugh that seemed to shake the area around her. "You understand the consequences?"
"I don't like to think about unnecessary things," Mata snapped, quickly emptying her pistols and then throwing them aside angrily. She was running out of weapons. If she got back her revolvers than she could load them - She hissed, driving her knee into the soft belly of a Petty Officer and grabbing his pistols from his hips. The reason that she had thrown aside her revolvers was because of the time it would take for her to load them. She would be dead ten times over.
Pain sliced through her side and she rolled, kicking up and catching the girl with a boot to the chin. Blood dribbled down her side, the wound throbbing painfully. Shadows fell over Mata, giving a little warning before the butt of a sword slammed into her chin, snapping her head to the side.
"Traitor," someone spat from above her, nails digging into her neck as someone hauled her to her feet.
Her vision was a bit blurry but she was able to catch the blue glint of slicked back hair. She forced her lips to curl in a smug smirk right before someone punched her in the face and the world snapped. Noises dulled, popping as she spat out some blood. So this was how she was going to die. Man, that was sad. She at least wanted to go out fighting someone other than a Chore Boy and his groupies.
Mata brought her knee up, driving it into his groin and causing him to release her.
"DAMMIT!" The Chore Boy screamed. "GET HER UP!"
That was when the fire came, tearing a line across the cement. It was obnoxiously hot, sweat rolling from her overexerted muscles as she rolled, huffing.
"I'm never getting involved with these assholes ever again," she snarled, wincing. And then freezing as she saw familiar black boots and shorts. "Aw, fuck."
"You do have a heart!" Ace cheered, giving her a wide, cheeky smile. "I knew you had it in you, Mattie."
"Don't call me that and don't touch me," she snapped, slapping away his hand with a glare as she struggled to her feet and then abruptly sunk back to her knees.
"Do you need help? You look like you need-"
"I'm resting," Mata said blandly.
Ace's brows tipped up and he glanced back at his brother as Luffy came forward, his eyes curious. "Ooookkkkkaaaayyyy~ Oh, hey. This is my brother. You remember my brother right? You know, the-"
"I've heard a disturbing amount about you," Mata cut him off, staring at the smaller boy in mild interest as he gave her a wide grin. "You look a lot less stupid than your brother described you."
"That's so nice of you to say! You're a friend of my brother?" He grinned offering out his hand which the girl took lamely. "Nice to meet you!"
It was like I was in front of the sunshine brothers, each of them grinning at me like we weren't in the middle of a battle and I wasn't a Marine who was ordered to kill both of them.
"We'll become great friends, I can just tell," Luffy gushed and Mata resisted the urge to wince. She hoped that that was the farthest thing from the truth that she could get.
"Hey - quick note. Don't hit me." The ebony haired girl blinked, opening her mouth to question him but only yelped instead as Ace hauled her up and over his shoulder. "TIME TO GO!"
Up ahead, she saw a docked Naval ship filled to the brim with pirates and groaned. The pirates that were running beside them eyed the ebony haired girl warily but didn't comment. A blue fish-like man that she recognized as one of the warlords and a former prisoner caught her eyes, giving her a quick once over and then a stiff nod. She hadn't been on duty when she had escaped. But she had certainly gotten an earful because of it.
"As soon as you rescue 'Fire Fist' Ace, you run! The Whitebeards must be a group of cowards!" Akainu's voice was loud and obnoxious but it brought the whole procession, particularly Ace to a halt. Mata's lips thinned, her breath catching. "Well, your captain is that guy so you can't help it, can you?"
Around him, she saw some of the Marine's snicker. Beneath her fingers, she could feel Ace shaking, his teeth gritting as he turned to fully stare at Akainu.
"He's doing this on purpose," she whispered, trying to draw his attention to her.
Akainu clicked his tongue. "And you, Mata Hara. I always knew you were useless but I didn't think you were a traitor. What kind of parents must you have to make you such a cowardly waste of space?"
Mata blinked, her cheeks redden as the words cut into her like little daggers.
"At least the Whitebeard cowards have an excuse," Akainu drawled and Mata lowered her gaze. "Afterall, Whitebeards just a loser from the old times."
His smile was sadistic and mean. How could she have ever followed this man's orders?
"Hold her." Ace didn't even wait for a reply before she was thrust into Jinbe's arms.
"Ace!" Luffy yelled, looking torn.
"You don't want to do this! He's playing you!" Mata yelled uselessly, gritting her teeth as she struggled to wiggle from the warlord's arms.
"You're opening your wounds more," Jinbe said, staring down at her sternly as blood oozed from the gashes in her legs and the larger one running along her side.
"A loser?" Ace questioned, his anger flaring up as his arms steamed and then burst into flames. "Take back what you just said!"
"You idiot!" Mata snarled, fighting rabidly to get free. No one seemed to hear her.
"Hey, don't, Ace! Don't stop!" One man yelled.
"Just let him say whatever he wants!"
Ace brushed away the pirates restraining hand on his arm. "He mocked Pops! Take back what you said!"
"Ace!" Luffy screamed, struggling against some pirates that had reached forward to restrain him.
"Did you say 'take it back?'" Akainu goaded. "Not in a million years… I'll tell you why, too… Your father Gold Roger conquered the Grand Line and opened the gate to the new era called the Great Pirate Era by sacrificing himself. As a Navy Admiral, it's not my place to say-"
"Then don't!" Mata snarled but Akainu continued on with only a disgusted stare in her direction.
"But he was true to his name the King of Pirates. In contrast, what has Whitebeard done? I wonder if he really had the intention to fight. I assumed that he establish a large family and was satisfied with being a large fish in a small pond. There are some fools who would say that his name is keeping peace in various islands, but if you ask me, he's just keeping lightweights in fear of him and he thinks that he's a hero, which makes me laugh! When Rogers was alive, he had second billing and even after Roger's dead, he couldn't become a king. That means he'll never surpass Roger, and he'll be a loser forever. That's who Whitebeard is and that's the truth. He's a poor man when you think about it. He's gathered some punks who call him 'Pops' and roamed around the sea with his fake family."
"Stop it." Ace was on fire, completely and totally, his strides slow as he made his way closer to Akainu.
"And although he reigned the sea for years, he couldn't become a king and gained nothing and at the end he was stabbed by a fool, one of his sons who fell for my lines and he will die to protect that son." He actually laughed, his head tipping to the side as he gave Ace a sardonic smile. "Don't you think his life is so empty?"
"Stop it!" Ace snarled and the flames leaped around him.
"Don't do it, Ace!" a man with a pistol in his hand screamed from my right. "Come back!"
"Pops gave us a place to live! You can't understand his greatness!" Pain tightened Mata's heart. She did. She understood.
"People don't deserve to live if they don't live justly. Punks like you don't deserve a place to live."
"Stop it!"
"Whitebeard will die a loser! It's fitting for a big fish in a little barrel." She didn't understand Akainu or this twisted place. But she understood Ace.
"DAMMIT!" Punching Jinbe in the stomach, she was able to wiggle away and snatch the pistol from the man, firing a shot that sizzled and melted into Akainu's shoulder. Ace's eyes snapped to her as she fired another shot that sizzled into his skull, stepping forward swiftly until she was standing beside the dark haired man. "I promised-"
She stopped, licking away the blood that had begun to crust her lips shut. The woman standing beside Ace looked disheveled and like she was barely able to stand, sweat slickening her clammy skin and making her black hair stick to her neck in clumps. Her jaw was bruised, cuts lining her face and traveling along her whole body. Her back was swollen and bruising starting to shade her spine, large and pulsing. A gash gaped between two of her ribs, the wound already crusted in a thin layer of dirt and blood still pouring to soak all the way into her capris which were a tattered mess.
"I promised your grandfather," she panted, the hand holding the pistol dipping and shaking as she tried to stay focused on the figure in front of her. "I will not let you die here."
"Slimy, traitorous brat," Akainu spat, utter disgust coloring his face as he studied at the unfocused eyes of the girl. "We should have thrown you out from the beginning. Maybe then you would have died in the streets and saved us all some trouble."
"Fuck you," she said shakily, her vision going a little fuzzy. At her ribs, the blood had slowed to a steady trickle.
"What are you going to do, little orphan girl? Throw that pistol at me?" Mata's eyes narrowed. The pistol didn't have anymore bullets in it.
"Sure." She hurled it, the thing spinning through the air and then promptly melting into goop at his feet. She stared at it in disappointment. "Damn. Really hoped that was going to work."
Molten lava oozed all around him, bubbling the tile into mush as it seeped closer to them.
"This isn't your fight, Mattie," Ace whispered, his flames crackling around his fists as he crouched.
"It became my fight when you decided to be an asshole," she hissed back although it was more like a gargled whisper, her knees wobbling. "This is about more than you, Portgas Ace. Your death affects… Shit."
Her legs finally gave out and she collapsed to the ground. Damn. Damn. Why couldn't she have been stronger?
"MARCO, GET HER OUT OF HERE!"
The world burst into flames again as a hand wrapped around my waist and she was dragged back to the line of pirates so quickly that she rolled as Luffy's arm uncurled from around her.
"You stay." A guy with a mess of blond hair sprouting from the top of his head commanded, his words and face tight as he clutched at the wounds in his chest.
There was a scream and then an explosion but Mata couldn't see anything from her spot. She wanted to scream, her teeth gritting down as she tried to roll and get up but only succeeding in falling back to the cement. Her head felt light, the pain that she had been feeling only moments before lightening. Smoke, gray and unyielding filled her vision.
Someone was screaming. Why was it so loud?
"GET ME THE KEY!"
Mata's eyes wandered to the man with the blonde hair, his face blurry and the colors that had seemed so bright moments before looking washed out. He was chained with seastone shackles. Mindlessly, her fingers fumbled with her pocket.
"I have it," she coughed out, the words flaring pain back into her for a moment. "I have the key."
His eyes widened, the pupils dilating as his hand reached out, curling around hers and taking the key.
Someone was screaming. Mata coughed, choking on the blood that bubbled up the back of her throat.
The last thing she saw was smoke.
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