Chapter one:
My eyes snapped open, what had awoken me? I was never a light sleeper until my trust was betrayed when I was taken as a slave and sold onto a ship. This ship that I was currently being held on was full of men that acted like they hadn't seen a woman in years and had no other way to relieve their built-up angst then to turn it on me.
As I surveyed the small cage-like room I was kept in when my "Services" where not needed, I ran over the list I had come up with in my, I think, four years of imprisonment. Number one was if the door was open. I could easily check that option off. The small, rotting piece of wood that I got to call my bed was positioned to face the door, as an early warning system for me. The door before me was shut up tight and the room was pitch black.
Number two was if there was someone in the room. Listening carefully my ears searched where my eyes could not. There were just the normal sounds such as my soft breathing, the rats scratching along in the walls of the ship, and the creak as the ship rolled along the waves, as well as the shouts of the crew members on the deck above my head.
No new light and no new or alarming sounds left just one thing, new pain. I had learned how to shut down the part of my brain that registered long term pain within a few months of being a slave. Opening my mind to the pain I did a quick examination. There was nothing new, sure my knee still had the faint pain from where the captain had broken it a few times over. He claimed it was to keep me from trying to escape again, since the first time he had done it he had caught me trying to steal a dingy. My wrist still ached from where my arm had slammed into the wall because I glared at a crew member when he was being extremely cruel. My ribs still ached with each breath from where a marine had kicked me last night for taking a bite out of his manhood that he was trying to shove down my throat. I could still taste the blood in my mouth.
There was no new pain, and I was alone in the dark and could only hear the muffled sounds of the crew moving around on the deck. The list had only taken about 20 seconds to run through. Barely anytime had passed, yet I was going into panic mode. What had woken me up?
A crash of what sounded like metal could be heard faintly through the door. There was no way we could be under attack. This was a marine ship for fuck's sake, no one in their right mind would be...My thoughts were rudely interrupted as a cannonball blew a hole in the wall just above my head. It dawned on me that I had got my answer as water poured down on my head by the gallon full.
Moving as much as my chained leg would allow me to, I looked up through the stream of water at the hole just a few inches above where my head would have been if I had been sitting up. I was unclear whether I should panic because I was about to die or celebrate because one way or another I was about to be freed from my suffering. My mind soon made itself up for me as I opened my mouth to scream, forgetting for a brief moment that no sound would come from my mouth. For you see when my freedom was snatched from me, they also took away my voice.
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The sunlight glistened off his swords as Zoro took out enemy after enemy. He was enjoying himself for the first time in a long while. He was glad this Marine ship had shown up just when he was getting bored of the mundane day to day of life aboard the Thousand Sunny.
The grin upon his face, which was striking fear into the hearts of the weaker marines, suddenly melted off his face as confusion quickly took over. SOMEBODY, ANYBODY HELP ME! A female voice cried out in pure panic. The cry sent a shiver down Zoro's spine. For a brief second, he wondered if it could be Robin or Nami but then realized that the voice didn't sound like his female nakama. Zoro was about to shrug it off and let the idiot love cook deal with it when the scream came again. I CAN'T DIE YET! PLEASE GOD DON'T LET ME DIE A SLAVE!
Zoro sliced his last enemy in half when he heard The Sunny's cannon sound again. Usopp was having fun. Chuckling darkly Zoro went to leave the marine ship when the voice sounded again. PLEASE? IF ANYONE CAN HEAR ME ITS COLD. I DON'T WANNA DIE.
The voice sounded weaker like the owner was losing strength but still sent a cold shiver down Zoro's spine. Quickly glancing around to make sure his nakama were safe Zoro started to search for the owner of the voice. Knowing that it couldn't be on the upper deck of the ship, since it was littered with the dead bodies, Zoro quickly located a door.
"OI! Marimo, you dumbass!" The curly haired perverted cook's voice rang out. "The ship is in the other direction!" Zoro was about to spin around and go show the cook a thing or two when he heard the voice again, please, it was almost nonexistent. With a deep sigh, and a promise to himself to punch the cook later, Zoro raised his finger behind his back and flipped off the annoying blonde while with his other hand Zoro flung open the door and plunged into the dark. He was just two steps down with the water already lapping at his ankles, but he knew he couldn't stop. The voice had sounded like Kunia's, and something in him wouldn't allow him to ignore it. Taking a deep breath, he dove down into the water but couldn't see a thing. Zoro drew his trusted Wado and swung with all his might, praying to the nothingness that he wouldn't slice the voice's owner along with the ship, Zoro cleaved the Marine ship in half.
With the light now filtering down through the water Zoro could now see the small frail body mixed in with the ship's debris. He was about to leave and let the body float to the surface when he realized the body was going the opposite way. Sheathing Wado Zoro began swimming toward the girl. As he got closer, he could see just why she was sinking with the ship. She was chained to it. Zoro yet again drew Wado and cut the chain, leaving just the band around her ankle, He grabbed the small child-like body with one arm while putting his sword away with the other. His lungs had just started burning when Zoro broke the surface.
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As the darkness became complete, I knew I was dead. I kind of wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. I knew that dying was one way of being released from the hell that had been my life for what I thought was at least a few years; It was hard to keep track of time when you hardly saw the light of day and when you were fed at random times. I realized that I could finally apologize to my father, for getting him killed, if I could find him. The only regret I had was that I had never had the chance to hunt down that fat, greasy, missing tooth, black haired bastard that had killed my father, took our life's earnings and had thrown me into hell. 'But too late for that now' I thought and started chuckling to myself but suddenly warmth entered into my body as if there were some strong arms wrapping around my waist.
The warmth brought with it a feeling of safety and security that I had not felt since I had last hugged my Father. 'Hi Daddy!' I said my voice breaking as the tears began to stream down my face. 'I'm sorry! I thought we could trust him. I thought he would help. Please forgive me daddy.' I tried to bury my face into his shoulder.
Instead of comforting me my father shifted me until I was no longer enclosed in his arm, but his hands were on my upper arms. Then he began shaking me. "WAKE UP!" The deeply husky voice that roared in my ears was not my father's voice. "Wake up! You're not dead." The voice wasn't as loud as if the owner had seen me flinch away. My eyes felt glued shut until the hand smacked across my face.
"ZORO!" A small child sized figure screeched at the man that was holding me "Put her down! You might hurt her!"
The feeling of hardwood hit my back as whoever was holding me dropped me to the ground. "Chopper she's not breathing. I thought hitting someone would help them breathe." the husky male voice stated like he was commenting on the weather.
The young voice laughed. "Not on the face." then it turned serious. "Move Zoro. We gotta get her breathing then we will take her to the infirmary." as the young voice talked his voice started fading until I could barely hear it. The last sound I heard before the darkness completely consumed me was what sounded like hoofs headed toward me.
The air entering my lungs burned with each breath as if I were attacking them with sandpaper. I took a deep breath, and the pain gave me just enough strength to open my eyes for a few seconds.
Between blinks I could see that I was in a small wooden room. I was laying on a small cot with a blanket thrown over me. The light that was coming from the porthole window was a little dim, as if it was dusk outside. There was a table cluttered with papers and vials of strange looking liquid across the room from me with a shelf bowing from the weight of the thick medical books stacked upon it.
"You awake?" A voice that was so deep I could feel it in my bones asked. I just turned my head and stared at him; all my pain was temporarily forgotten. The man that sat in the chair that was tucked into the corner was darker skinned, like someone who spent more time outdoors then indoors, had muscles that would put Zeus to shame, and Green hair.
"I guess you are... I'm going to go get Chopper." The man stood up and my eyes widened in fear as I saw not one or even two, but three swords strapped to his waist. Just who had gotten their hands on me this time?
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Zoro shut the door behind him. Had he known that Luffy would put him in change of the teal haired girl he would have let the dumb curly cue save her instead. She's been sleeping for three days now and Luffy hadn't let him work out since she was brought on board.
Zoro pushed the door to the men's bunk open, his mind already thinking ahead to the sake he was going to loot out of Sanji's stash and the workout regimen that he was going to push his body through.
"Chopper."
The small reindeer stirred in his bed at the sound of his name "Huh?" He asked sleepy while sitting up.
"The girl woke up."
Chopper's eyes widened after a moment as he began to comprehend Zoro's words. "Oh? Okay, give me a minute. Did she look okay? Did she say anything?" His little voice growing more aware with each passing word Chopper started to slip into his doctor mode.
"Yes, Okay, she looked fine, and no." Zoro responded to each of Chopper's questions as they started out of the boy's room.
"Hey Marimo. Did I hear the lady woke up?" The blond cook's voice drifted over to Zoro, the sleepiness in it making his heart skip a beat.
"Yeah." He replied gruffly and turned around to see Sanji getting out of bed.
"Kay I'll go make her something light to eat, she is probably hungry."
Zoro paused for a brief second, before turning back to the doorway, the thought of her being hungry never crossed his mind, was that is what the look she was giving him meant? Though Zoro had thought that it was more a look of fear. But what would that girl have to be afraid of? After all he had saved her life.
"Hey Zoro." Chopper's voice broke through his thoughts. "You don't have to come with me."
"What if she gets violent?"
Chopper gave Zoro a look that clearly said, "Are you stupid?" which caused Zoro to scramble for an answer.
"I'm going." was all he said.
Chopper sighed he knew when a fight wasn't worth fighting. "Fine, but you have to stay in the corner unless I say otherwise."
Zoro nodded. As the boys started walking again Zoro heard the girls voice again. I've got to get out of here. I can't stay in this hell! What if this is another marine ship? Or worse.'
"Hey Chopper? Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I thought I heard that girl talking."
"Strange I didn't hear anything." Chopper shrugged. "Come to think of it you were insisting that she was screaming on the boat too, but nobody heard her then either." Chopper mused softly to himself.
"Yeah, still don't know how you didn't hear her." Zoro shook his head and pushed open the door to the infirmary.
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"...hear her." the deep voice was saying as the door swung open. Echo, who had been attempting to get out of the bed despite her body screaming its protest, froze.
'Oh shit. I got caught.' Echo's mind was going into a panic. 'What are these monster's going to do to me?'
A movement from behind the overcompensating green haired man drew Echo's attention. There was a small furry…. racoon?... Dog? ...No, it was a reindeer, or something else with antler like horns. The small brown animal was walking on two legs as it headed over to the chair at the desk.
"How are you feeling today?" the childlike human sounding voice that came from the animal made Echo take a second look.
'Are you a mink?' she asked him, despite knowing that nobody would ever hear her and give her…
"No." The green haired said suddenly.
'What?'
"He was born a reindeer and ate the human human no mi fruit." He stated in a very gruff manner, like he was tired of having to explain simple things to an idiot.
'Can you hear me?' The small reindeer was forgotten as she focused on the strange man standing in the doorway, but before he could answer her the small animal spoke up again. "Zoro? Who are you talking to?"
"Her." the short answer was partly frustrated and partly confused. "She asked if you were a mink."
"No, she didn't Zoro, she hasn't made a sound. Did you hit your head in the last fight? Do I need to give you an exam? This is the third time you've said you heard her when she hasn't spoken." The small animal went on ignoring the green man's head violently shaking back and forth. "After I check up on this girl you are getting checked up."
The small reindeer must have had a lot of influence because the sword man deflated and mumbled under his breath. Taking his swords off his belt he leaned them against the wall and sat down next to them as if he were a child being put in time out.
Nodding his approval, the small animal turned to Echo, who's mind now registered the fact that he had a blue nose. 'Huh, a blue nosed reindeer? Wonder if he is related to Rudolph.' she mused to herself as the reindeer's eyes gave her a quick once over.
"Glad to see that the bruising on your face is getting better, that is a good sign, means that you most likely don't have internal bleeding, at least in your face. But it is the rest of you that I am worried about." The cute voice he had spoken to the man with had morphed into a no nonsense taken tone.
'Huh?' Echo was confused, her face had been bruised. That was news to her.
"Your kneecap has been severely dislocated, and possibly broken, the only way we can fix it is to go in and secure any broken pieces and then repair the ligaments in your knee. Your right wrist might have a fracture break so we will need to cast that. And we can't have you moving around too much. You do have 6 broken ribs; I'm honestly surprised you haven't damaged your lungs yet." he went on, oblivious to Echo's question.
'Are you a doctor?' she asked him, then answered herself, 'probably just the ship's medic. There is no way that my captors would waste an actual doctor's time on me.'
"He is a doctor, and you are not a captive." The green haired man snapped at her.
"Zoro, be quiet or you can wait outside." The young man sighed. "Oh, I'm Chopper. And yes, I am a doctor. Now can you tell me your name?"
Knowing there was no other way to inform them that she would never be able to communicate with them she opened her mouth and attempted to say her name. No surprise to her, but plenty to the men in the room, not even a squeak escaped her open lips.
"Can you not talk?" Chopper asked her curiously.
Echo shook her head dreading what came next. It was always the same question.
"Can you write your name down? We have to have something to call you?"
Echo again shook her head in response 'Why does it matter? You'll just wind up calling me something like whore, bitch, slut, or even Dorei (Slave). Those have been the other men's favorites in the past.'
"WHAT?" Zoro growled out in a voice that made Echo's blood freeze in her veins.
Chopper who had been so focused on the girl in front of him jumped. "Zoro!" he snapped "what did…"
Zoro cut him off standing up abruptly "Who called you that?" he was staring Echo in the face as he advanced toward her.
'Called me what? Names? Every single person I have encountered over the last I don't even know how many years.' Echo paused and then 'So, I asked before but I'm asking you again. Can you hear me?'
"Yes." came the reply from the man but she wasn't sure what question he was replying to. "Now can you please tell us your name?" he had seemed to calm down a bit, but Echo could still feel the anger rolling off him in waves.
'Echo.' She said softly while Chopper snapped "She can't speak Zoro."
Zoro who was obviously ignoring the adorable reindeer echoed her "Echo? What kind of name is Echo?"
'My father always called me Yamabiko. He said it was because I was like an echo of my mother, whom I don't really remember. But that name was so hard to say as a kid, so I just went by Echo.' I answered after a brief pause. Honestly, it was a relief to be able to talk to someone again, but painful at the same time. She hadn't been able to talk to anyone about her father since shortly before the black-haired lying ass pirate had run him through with his own sword.
Zoro's face showed a brief flash of sorrow, as if he knew what she was feeling then he nodded. Turning around he went back and sat down once again. "She says her name is Echo, and yes I know she didn't speak, don't know how I can hear her." He stated toward Chopper who had opened his mouth to say something that she guessed Zoro had already figured out based on the previous comments.
Echo watched him in confusion as Chopper snapped his mouth shut. How could he hear her? Did he always hear people's thoughts, or was she different? Could there be something connecting him to her? And what did that mean for her stay on this ship? He says I'm not a captive, but I've been told that before. What is going to happen this time? Echo's mind was so full of confusion and questions that she didn't realize that the small doctor was trying to get her attention until he tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to start in surprise.
"Is your name Echo, or is Zoro losing it?" Chopper asked his already large brown eyes blown wide in what she guessed was a mix of curiosity, surprise, and concern.
Bringing her uninjured hand up to her chest she tried to calm down her heartbeat as she nodded, what was she doing getting lost in thought on a strange ship.
"Interesting." the small doctor smiled suddenly "We will have to find out why later, if that is okay with you." at Echo's nod he continued "So I think if we started with casting your arm first, we could then go in and fix the more damaged parts." The small doctor swiveled in his chair back to the desk, grew, and started to get some things out of the drawers.
Echo's eyes about bugged out of her head as the small reindeer doctor grew and she stared in shock. 'What the…?'
She heard a soft chuckle from over by the door which was suddenly turned into a grunt as said door flew open and hit Zoro.
Echo tore her gaze of the very strange doctor and turned to the doorway, where to her horror she saw yet another male figure. 'Okay I'm dead. This is hell. I am surrounded by men and monsters. I have to be dead.' Echo decided before the smell hit her nose and her stomach growled in pure hunger.
The new figure had brought her some delicious smelling soup, which he sat on a small table he set up next to her as he said "Chopper, sorry if I'm in your way but the lady needs to eat something, she is practically skin and bones." The new guy's voice isn't as deep as Zoro's but couldn't be described as high pitched either.
"That's okay Sanji. I was going to send Zoro to get her something in a little bit anyway." Chopper, who had returned to original size, said as he turned back to them. Echo could feel a little bit of irritation coming from him, but he wasn't acting on it.
Echo eyed the soup, even though she couldn't remember the last time she had had something to eat that wasn't dry, moldy, or maggoty bread, she still couldn't bring herself to eat it.
Echo turned her eyes up to the newcomer, San...something she thought she had heard Chopper call him, to see him smiling down softly at her.
"It's okay, you can eat it. I made sure to make it light so it wouldn't upset your stomach." he spoke to her in a way that made her think of how she had heard people talking to a scared animal.
Sanji looked at her as if expecting her to fall upon the offered food with tears and cries of gratitude which just kind of really pissed her off. 'You first.' she stated in defiance. She had fallen for fake kindness before and it had come back to bite her in the ass.
"She says you first." Zoro's voice drifted over from where he still sat against the wall.
"She said nothing and can speak for herself Marimo." The Blond snapped scornfully at the only guy who had heard her speak in years. But before she could do anything Chopper's voice cut in.
"Actually, she can't and for some reason Zoro seems to be able to communicate with her, or at least that is what I believe is going on."
"Are you sure Chopper? Maybe the Marimo now has moss for brains instead of just hair." Sanji asked the doctor in a totally different tone than he had used on either her or Zoro. It sounded like a parent who was amused with his offspring.
"OH!" Zoro's reply was the loudest she had heard him be for a few minutes which reminded her that he was there and could translate for her.
'Zoro? Would you mind translating for me?' she paused watching him after a brief second she saw him nod. Echo would have cleared her throat if she could. 'I'm not eating that until one of you takes a bite of it. The last time I trusted someone who brought me food I wound up seeing shit for 4 days. I'm not doing that again so if you want me to eat take a bite.'
Zoro sighed and with a smirk aimed at Sanji said "So Echo has asked me to deliver a message for her since you are so dizzy-browed you can't hear her. If you don't take a bite of the disgusting slop you brought her then how is she supposed to know that you aren't trying to poison her?"
'That is not what I said.' Echo stated in surprise. She had honestly never met any men like the three in front of her, they were easing the tension that she had felt for years, but she knew that she couldn't let her guard down.
"Oh, how you harm my heart Echo-Chan." The blond idiot said while acting utterly wounded, but soon stopped and picked up the spoon from the bowl and after making sure she was watching took a spoonful and swallowed it.
There was, in Echo's opinion, a weighted silence as she stared at the strange blond man waiting for a reaction. When nothing happened for a few long moments, Echo darted her hands out, grabbed the bowl, ignoring the pain shooting through her right arm, and began inhaling the food.
The taste was like nothing else she could remember even eating, and before she knew it the bowl was empty. Echo was debating whether licking the bowl would be appropriate or not when she noticed that Sanji was beaming from ear to ear. 'Did I just fall into a very elaborate trap?' she couldn't help but ask herself, or what she thought was herself until Zoro chuckled.
"Hey curly brow she wants to know what the creepy ass grin is for." He said after a few seconds. Echo stared at him in shock. Why did he keep putting words in her mouth? Before anyone could react to Zoro's words or even notice what she was doing Echo had thrown the now empty food bowl at Zoro's head. And to her utter shock the green haired man managed to catch it out of the air before it even contacted his ugly mug. "What?" He asked her "You asked me to translate."
'Translate? Yes. Put words in my mouth? NO! Not just no but Fuck no!" she raged at him. She didn't know why but when he was around, she found herself acting like she was before the nightmare had started.
Chopper, who was watching the interaction between Zoro and Echo closely while every now and then jotting down a note on one of the papers on his desk, cleared his throat to draw the attention back to him and pointed to the door. "Sanji out. Zoro stop bugging her or you can get out too." It was the authoritative voice Chopper had used on her when they had just come into the room.
Sanji sighed and stood up. "Well Echo-Chan get better soon!" he said with a grin then turned to Zoro and put his hand out for the bowl "Give!" he growled at Zoro.
Zoro glared at Sanji for a few moments then did as the blond had asked and handed over the bowl.
Echo's attention was pulled from the two bickering men at the door when Chopper approached her with some strange looking cloth like bandages. "So, I'm just going to position your wrist, which might hurt, and wrap it with this material. It will be wet going on, but when it dries it will be almost as hard as rock." He explained to her and waited for her to nod her understanding before doing just that. Zoro winced at the volume she shrieked at when Chopper repositioned her wrist. It hurt so much more when someone else moved it as opposed to her moving it. But soon enough her arm was encased from the base of her fingers all the way down to her elbow in the strange wet material.
The next thing Chopper did was pull out a syringe that to Echo's eyes looked nasty, big, and fat. Echo did not like needles. When Chopper started to prepare her arm for the shot, she jerked her arm away from him and glared daggers at him.
"It's to help with the pain." Chopper explained, and then as if in after thought added, "And to knock you out so we can get your knee fixed."
Echo continued to glare at the small reindeer. 'I don't know if I can trust you,' she spoke, 'but if you wanted to harm me then why would you feed me and fix my arm?' She sighed deeply and before Zoro had a chance to snap at her stuck her arm out. 'Just know if you do anything besides what you said you were going to do, I will not be happy.' she warned him, knowing he wouldn't hear. She focused on the other boys in the room that were still fighting and tried to listen in on what they were saying so she wouldn't have to see the massive needle or feel it pierce her skin.
Chopper moved away giggling. "All done. The IV is even in." he told her.
Echo turned her head and stared at the little animal. She hadn't felt a thing. And she fell into a deep sleep.
