He woke up feeling heavy, every piece of him felt as if it was made of lead and had been welded to the ground, much like every morning went. Stretching himself as far as he could go he whimpered when his shoulder and hip popped with a little bubble of pain and concern. His fingers digging into the ground and it parted easily, small grains tingling his skin as he started to get up from wherever he fell asleep. A sandbox perhaps, wouldn't be the first time he slept in a park.
The sun was fierce on his eyes and confirmed that he was outdoors, what went against his expectations was the wet feeling in his feet. He sat up and watched the waves lap at his toes, green water stretched in front of him as far as he could see, and he was sure that was an ocean, what he wasn't sure about was that there were such clear waters in Argentina. With some of the shock his memories started to jog, his mind started to wake up, he had been in an accident with his baby sister. He had covered her and hadn't had the time to jump away from the place.
He touched his whole body, looking for wounds and snapped bones or torn skin and scrapes and found nothing. He was immaculate, he felt better than ever now that he thought about it, his knees didn't hurt and neither did his neck. It was a bizarre situation, welcomed when he thought about the other option but no less strange and concerning.
Besides him was his sister, same outfit and everything, except she had balloons in her shirt or maybe something else. And while he was curious about what it was she was hiding, that was for her to find out. He reached out to her and slapped her gently, twice and thrice, the fourth he pinched her cheek until she woke up and scratched his hand.
"What are you doing?"
"Waking you up, we need to talk about this,"
And he gestured with one hand as he cradled the other, it didn't hurt but it was still a habit he had to make it look like she had wounded him. She would call him dramatic and just carry on with whatever it was they had to do, worked all the time.
His sister looked around, gave the line of woods he had ignored until now a good look and then the sea, kept switching between the two until he was sure she would snap and covered his ears. Her scream ripped through the beach, scared the birds and the life out of some smaller animals that were hiding a couple meters away, how he knew that was a mystery he filed for later. There were more important things to do now, like calming her.
"Sis, calm down,"
She fixed him with a glare that told him his plan had failed, but at the very least she had stopped shouting and that was something good because he wasn't sure that they were the only ones in this place. She stomped her way until she was behind him and rested herself against his back, he just didn't feel like pushing her away even if he suspected she was using him for the shade.
"Do you have any idea where we are?"
"Yes. In a beach,"
"Sarcasm gets us nowhere, sis,"
"What do you want me to tell you? That I will read the fucking clouds and tell you what country we are in?"
"You are the one that's always watching Discovery Channel and stuff, thought you might know something,"
"The only place I can think of is the Caribbean,"
"Better than nothing. Hey, sis, don't you feel strange?"
She turned to look at her brother who just couldn't shut up, but when he mentioned feeling strange she thought of the worse, that maybe he had already caught a disease and that would have been the cherry on top of every one of her problems.
It wasn't enough that she could feel flames all around her, that the whole place looked to be about to bust with fire but she now had to take care of a man that was her best chance to get out of the place.
"What do you mean by strange?"
"I feel like there are a lot of things near us right now. I don't know how to explain it. Also, doesn't your chest feel strange?"
Her chest? What was wrong with it. She looked down and found her breasts swollen, massively so, she peeked inside her shirt and saw that it was all her and cursed like all hell because there was simply too much of herself. They looked horrible, they made her shirt stretch to an impossible degree and were going to mark it horribly, it was her nice shirt too. The one she used all the time.
"You look taller too,"
"Really? I don't feel any different though, except maybe stronger?"
"This is fucking awful,"
"Couldn't say it better. But we are still stuck here so we should move,"
"I know, and it makes everything even worse,"
He stood up and took in the view, even if the situation was as bad as could be the place was still beautiful and he would make sure to come back once they were both safe at home. That was his goal and that was what kept him from ripping out his hair and wailing, they were in a situation similar to a blind woman in an orgy, they both knew they were about to be fucked, just didn't know where it would come from. So there had to be at least one calm mind.
It didn't help that he felt something coming towards them, a flickering feeling that kept moving closer to them and it worried him that it could be he was suffering from a heat stroke. That he was hallucinating and being delusional, after all she had said nothing about strange feelings or flickers like the one he felt in the back of his mind.
He picked a rock that fit quite snugly in his hand and threw it up and caught it a couple times, trying to find the best way to grip it so he wouldn't break his fingers if he had to use it. With a satisfied nod he marched forward, ignoring the twists and knots in his gut. It was surely hunger and nothing more but they still made him nervous and he would always speak when he was nervous.
"Do you remember what happened before we woke up?"
"… yes,"
He kept walking in silence, the knots in his stomach had made their way to his throat as he wanted to ask her if she had seen what had happened to him but couldn't. He remembered, the image of her laying on the ground, crumpled like tissue as if she had no bones and when he thought that she had seen something similar he wanted to cry. Because they were supposed to be dead, because a piece of him knew they shouldn't be walking, shouldn't be able to.
"I should have looked down the street. You shouldn't have needed to protect me, I am sorry. I am so sorry,"
Her voice was almost a whisper as she apologized and gripped the back of his shirt, the look of pain in her brother's face was burnt at the front of her mind. And she couldn't think of anything other than what she could have done to avoid this, avoid being here. She felt him tremble when she took hold of his shirt, his shoulders shook when she let herself free of whatever was holding her back. Hugged him tight and her arms were barely able to close around his chest, he grabbed her hand and turned around to hug her back and she felt him use a tree to lean against as he held her close and if she felt the water pattering her crown she wouldn't say.
It was just so fucked up, everything, she was glad he was here but furious they were here, away from home and their house and their parents. She just couldn't hold herself together like this.
She wailed, sad and ugly sounds escaping her like thunder of a storm while her brother was silent but equally shaken. She felt it in the back of her mind, his sadness left him in scores like the waves reaching out and receding. And not long after they were both in an awkward silence, comfortable on the ground but very much aware of their soiled faces, finally she pried herself free and looked at his pinched face. His eyes puffed and squinting trying to keep any more tears from seeping out and his nose a mess of snot and was a bright red in all its pointy glory, like a heated nail.
They both laughed as they looked at each other's hideous faces and rubbed them clean with their forearms. Once the knots had come undone they started to walk once again, to march into the thick forest that was just so full of life that it was scary and a nervous man is a talkative one.
"You said I was taller, right?"
"Yes, but its just a feeling. Like I have to crane my neck more than I used to,"
"It only happens when I focus on it but the ground does seem a little further. But if I am taller then you are as well, because you still reach all the way to my chest,"
"Excellent news, we are taller now. One dream made true,"
"Didn't you also dream about not needing padded bras ever again?"
She was clearly not amused by his joke, and he supposed that some people just couldn't see the flare in his quick-witted remarks, but he had learnt that there was also some fun in looking at the twitching faces of those without humour. He either found it funny or he kept his comments to himself, and the last one wasn't an option really, he never wanted to let unsaid words rot in him. That was how you grew bitter.
"There is something to our left,"
The comment caught him off guard, he whirled to the left and crouched a little, trying to make himself a smaller target, trying to get a bit closer to the ground and be as solid as he could. Eyeing the woods he saw nothing, nothing but leaves and branches and the occasional bug made visible when flitting through the bright rays of the sun. His voice dropped to a whisper.
"I see nothing. What did you see?"
"I feel there is something hiding, its hungry and pleased. I can't see anything either,"
She was terrified, she could feel the flames almost a breath away, tongues of black and purple caressing her with the charm of a shank to the neck. They were thick as smoke and just as foul, it obscured her vision as a chill race its way down her back, making her straighten and reach for the fountain pen in her pocket. It may not be a shiv but it was sharp enough to draw some blood when used with enough strength.
The fire trickled down as she focused on it, it became more subdued and focused, sparks abandon it from time to time and died after a moment but she finally managed to regain her sight. What she could see was something big as a pyre, perched on a branch that was infested with climbing vines and nothing else. It didn't move, content to watch them.
"Snap out of it,"
Her brother's voice came low and hard, snapping her concentration and making her lose whatever was watching them in a flurry of fires that crept their way from all sides.
"I was trying to find whatever it is that is looking at us,"
"You looked like you were high,"
She breathed out slowly, and looked at the oaf at her side, then breathed once more for good measure.
"It's on that tree and using the branch closest to the ground to look at us,"
"And what do we do? Attack it? Run?"
"Does it look like I am Steve Irwin?"
"I hope not, cause he died. Remember?"
Before she could say anything hurtful to him, it came at them, the leaves rustled and fell as the tree shook from the sudden shift in weight and an animal bigger than life appeared in front of them with a speed that belied its bloated body. A pair of maws came at her and she could almost smell the rot as it tried to snap her chest but caught nothing but empty air, her body having turned soft as a noodle and almost dropped her on the ground before she regained her bearings and moved away from the beast.
She could see now that it was some kind of tiger, with eyes that popped from its head and fur that was a palette of dull browns and greens that caught no light, its head was bigger than the rest of the body and the paws were padded making it look like it was using something to appear taller.
When it tried to jump at her again a stone cracked the crown of its head, its mass shaking the ground beneath them as it collapsed with the grace of an overdosed addict. Without thinking she popped the cap of her pen and held it in both hand before putting her whole weight behind it as she stabbed down at the middle of its neck, just like when she had been asked to bleed a pig in their uncle's farm.
It sank down far too easily into the flesh and it didn't stop until it reached her grip, when she removed it she winced as she took in the piece of sinew stuck in the slit of the pen. It was going to be hard to clean that.
A pair of hands took her by the shoulders and forced her to face her brother, his thumbtack of a nose almost taking her eye and she had to rein in herself lest she stabbed him too.
"Martina. Martina, look at me. Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I am fine, Nico. So stop shaking me,"
"I was so fucking worried. I almost died thinking it had bitten you,"
They both looked at the big cat in front of them and then at the minuscule pen in his sister's hand, it was simply ridiculous for something that small to kill a feline that was as tall as his sister and that was at the shoulder. But then again, the way she dodged was something he didn't think she had in her or how he could down such a beast with a stone. Must be a magical stone, he would need to make sure not to lose it if that was the case.
He pressed himself against a tree and used it to slowly lower himself to the ground, because he didn't trust his legs that were turning soft from the fright and the stress. He needed a smoke to deal with this, or time, but a smoke was the better option. Bringing his hands closer he rested them on his stomach and a spot caught his attention, the hand in which he had held the stone was tainted black. It started uniformly at his palm but as it expanded it became something resembling the patterns of a Jaguar.
Miffed by the dirt he started to scrub at it with his nails, decided to get rid of the mud or whatever it was. He put strength into his finger and tried to get a hold of whatever was in his hand without success, almost as if it was part of his skin. Flexing and clenching his hand showed him the pattern shift with the movement and gave him pause.
He didn't like that train of thought.
Unsurely he grabbed a fallen branch besides him, his hand gave him a sure grip on it and he applied a little more strength, the spots shifted and attacked. They bathed the branch in black, making it look dead and sombre, and he almost lost it. But no, if he had to lose it he couldn't be alone in it.
"Sis, look at this,"
"What is it?"
"Look at my hand. Does it seem familiar,"
"Unless you cut it off it's the same damn hand you had before,"
"Would you just look,"
She turned her head at her brother's annoying demands, couldn't he see she was trying to piece everything together? She had just killed a monster of about a hundred kilos with a fucking pen and now he was calling her to show her his mud stained hand. What did he want her to do? Congratulate him for being able to finger paint now?
"I am looking at a dirty hand. And I hope it's either mud or blood,"
"And now?"
He took a branch in his hand, dead and withered by the cruel sun overhead and she watched as it became tainted. All the way from his hand to the tip of the wood there was but one colour, and that was black, thick and dull as tar. And it brought two words to the front of her mind and no matter how she tried to ignore them they stuck true like a pair of ticks. She opened her mouth without thinking and they were out.
"Armament Haki,"
"Indeed,"
"One Piece,"
"Indeed,"
"Shit,"
"Indeed,"
