A/N- I'm super proud of this chapter, there is a bit of feels in here too, just so you know, anyways, I won't keep you guys for long, happy reading! – Diwata
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"Speaking"
"Thoughts"
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece nor its characters, Eichiro Oda does.
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Training, as everybody expected it to be, was hard. IMPOSSIBLY. HARD.
It was fun at first, Brielle concluded, but as the weeks progressed, she was seriously regretting her life decisions at this moment in time.
Melody had been nothing short of a strict general. Her training was almost on par with maybe a rear or vice admiral by regime alone.
In her books, there was no such thing as 'holding back'. Call it rigorous training, but it felt as if hell has manifested itself onto land, and had the devil it as her commander.
The first week was tiresome, sure, but it was okay for the most part. It was still manageable.
What Brielle didn't expect was for the following weeks to be thrice as difficult as the last.
About three weeks ago, back when they were finishing the last few lessons of the basics, Melody explained what the future lessons would be taught.
She told Brielle that their lessons would be split up into multiple chapters, each of which were named after the person who formulated the songs and techniques included in the book, and that each took a year or even years to master, depending on which chapter it was.
The Songs of a Siren had twelve chapters in total, and five supporting sub-chapters as her mother called them, which was not made by one of her ancestor's eldest daughters, but were close relatives of the main family.
The system was that the eldest daughter of the main family line would master the book, and would contribute with their own song/s in the future, and while others in their clan also knew some techniques, those were not exclusive to the successor.
However, it was not so exclusive to the main family only, those who wrote the sub chapters were not successors, but commoners from their clan.
They became recognized to be as fearsome and clever in the techniques that they developed their own and was allowed to write in their honed techniques in The Songs of a Siren, which was, a great honor, which is the reason why their songs were included.
Melody skimmed the rest of the chapters and told her daughter a quick summary of the book by each chapter.
The first chapter was of Melody's, the most recent owner and guardian of the book.
Her mother proudly introduced her daughter to her chapter of the book, claiming she had best start with her own as it was her best expertise, and that it was more suited for her age.
Melody's songs were about techniques that involved healing and defense. Both of which was certainly a must, Brielle thought.
For defense, it allowed the users to defend themselves in a barrier of sound waves that prevented any physical blows to land on them.
This applies for attacks by blunt objects, bullets and even swords. The only downside of this attack was speed.
To be able to make multiple sound barricades enough to cushion that amount of force takes time and quite a bit of effort to do.
For healing portion, there was actually a surprisingly abundant use of human biology put into it.
It made Brielle wonder if her mother was secretly a biologist.
The songs included involved allowing the user to heal wounds by either tricking the body's immune system to heal immediately or by manipulating tissue regeneration at an insanely short amount of time.
Or by simply allowing the 'song' to naturally heal any non-serious injuries by wrapping over it, like a cut or a bruise.
How it worked was up to Brielle's imagination, until Melody, like the badass that she was, cut herself, to her daughter's horror, and demonstrated proudly her song, that healed her cut in an instant, with no scarring left behind.
She almost had a heart attack when she pulled a stunt like that in front of her.
She thought for a moment if her mother was okay in the head.
But at least she was now a firm believer of the teachings her mother was desperately trying to drill into her skull, which she would allowed her to do willingly.
Her mother must have sensed her doubts and responded to what she thought was the best idea to prove her ancestors' credibility in her daughter's eyes.
The second chapter, was written by her grandmother Carolinne, who specialized in paralyzation and deafness.
She was the complete opposite of her mother, not only in personality, but also in techniques.
If Melody was out-going, open and a 'go with the flow' person, then Carolinne was stoic, reserved and a very objective woman.
She was the type of person to plan things through and always had a backup plan for a backup plan. Which is why her daughter's youthful recklessness stressed her out so much during Melody's childhood, which only resulted to more creative punishments.
Carolinne's teachings involved using the user's voice to seep into their target's nervous system and mess with their nerves.
The trick was to guide the seemingly pleasant song into the spinal cord to cause a stroke or paralysis.
Deafness on the other hand, was far more straightforward.
Using an extremely shrill, glassy voice, the user can cause an ear-deafening tune that would tear the target's nerve cells in the cochlea (those that send sound signals to the brain).
The damage can be temporary or permanent, it all depended on the user's choice.
The third chapter, on the other hand, was written by a woman named Sopeia.
She, according to her mother, specialized in causing deep or irreversible slumber, and an unnatural tranquility that removes their opponent's will to fight.
Her songs of slumber can cause about an entire army to fall asleep in mere seconds.
She wrote a lullaby so soothing and enchanting that whoever heard it, no one except the user herself can resist the call of rest and sleep.
This was incredibly useful in escaping in a tough situation.
From what her mother told Brie, Sopeia, was a gentle woman, and thus, she refused to cause unnecessary harm unto others unless provoked.
This was the reason behind her song of tranquility. By removing the will to fight in others, in a way that avoided useless violence.
However, despite her calm nature, she could be as ferocious as a lion in actual combat.
If there was tranquility there was also chaos and discord. She can channel immense disorder and an unstable presence of mind towards ruthless attackers.
Some say, the effects were so brutal they drove the victims insane.
Brielle was extremely fascinated by the somewhat brutal and savage nature of the songs, but what intrigued her the most was how exactly they made those extremely over-powered attacks.
"I wonder…..desperate situations called for desperate measures maybe?"
Brielle's train of thought was cut short when she felt an immense battle-hungry aura coming from non-other than her mother.
"Uhhh mommy?" Brielle could hardly ask as her voice almost died in her throat.
"That's enough for now, you'll learn the remaining in the right time, but for now…"
Melody's face darkened, and there was a scary look that she had never seen on her mother's face before.
"Eeeekk!"
"Forgive me Brie, but the REAL training starts now" Melody replied sorrowfully before a major switch was flipped.
After a not so quick briefing of the basics and introduction to madness, which referred to the staccatos, strengthening activities and simple vocal control, Melody's extreme training mode was activated.
Brielle was nothing short of being absolutely terrified. Her once relatively manageable training ethics were suddenly thrown out of the window and a new, rough and to her opinion, a very impossible version of training was introduced.
All hell broke loose after that.
They started going into an all-out strict routine from dawn till dusk.
Her (almost) everyday life began with an early morning jog to their training grounds. A fatigue-inducing warm up that would last for thirty agonizing minutes,
After that, was a quick breakfast, before she would undergo into a much hellish fight for her life. Melody, as the loving mother that she was, referred to herself as her 'opponent' after each lesson, and would spar with her for three rounds.
If Brielle managed to take a hit (without passing out) with her newly acquired knowledge from the lesson she learned, then she would receive a quick praise, and a nice dessert as a reward for lunch.
(Note that what Melody was trying to teach her was defense)
If not, then it would mean double the amount of training for the rest of the day.
This teaching method did kind-off work, somehow…..because it allowed Brielle to become oh so determined to survive a situation in a weird and twisted life-or-death simulation that kicked in her adrenaline big time.
She never knew her sweet mother could do a full 180 every time they were in the unholy grounds of pain.
Melody was uncharacteristically strict alright, and if Brielle wasn't in her right mind, she would've compared her training-happy mother to Garp the Fist reborn in the flesh.
Maybe somewhere along this timeline, Garp bit the dust earlier and reincarnated to become her mother. Who knows?
If she did something wrong, she'd have to did over and over and over again until she got it right. No breaks until her results matched what her mother had in mind.
She was extremely worn out and sore by the time the day was over. Her muscles and vocal chords ached to be set free from the hell she subjected upon herself.
It worn her out completely every single time, and yet, she still managed to get up early in the morning and do it all over again.
She wondered aimlessly every night why she continued to do this. Her will to continue her training was slowly deteriorating.
"Why am I even doing this anymore? My back is hurting, my muscles are sore, and my head is spinning! Why? Why am I still doing this?"
For the first time ever, she was upset with her mother, who suddenly wanted to shove her 'lessons' into her throat and started giving her a hard time.
But most of all, she was upset at herself for being so weak and being a total complainer.
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One day, after an extremely rough day at training, Brielle just couldn't learn and apply one of her mother's songs, and she came down into a mental breakdown.
Melody's loud commands to do it all over again for about the tenth time that same day rang in her head. Frustrated and agitated, she snapped.
With all her might, frustrations, stress, and anger shot off into one heavy blow.
"STOP IT! I'VE HAD….ENOUGH!"
Her high-pitched scream exploded, the trees around were uprooted slightly, and a huge gust of wind created after the outburst knocked Melody back to her motherly senses.
Melody's eyes widened at the scene, reality seemed to kick back and unfold before her. Beads of sweat rolled down to her neck, there was a sudden pain in her chest that screamed she did something horribly wrong.
"Brie…"
Melody's voice was just above a whisper, and there was nothing else to be heard.
Today had been so stressful for the girl that immediately after her outburst, she ran off crying, running far away from her mother.
On regular training days, Melody would've jumped at her and dragged her butt back to the clearing if she ever made the attempt to ditch training, but Melody stood there, unmoving from her spot.
"Oh no….What have I done?!"
The situation finally sunk down and she managed to move her petrified body and she chase after her daughter.
Brielle ran as fast and as far as her legs could carry her. Her tears flowed freely like a river, and loud sniffs and sobs were heard.
The crunches of the dried leaves against her sandals were enough to drown out all the noise around her.
She continued to run, not knowing exactly where she was headed. All she could register was that she needed to get away, and fast.
Her instincts went overdrive, and a quick supply of adrenaline triggered her fight or flight response, which in this case, was the latter.
She was like this sometimes.
When something becomes too much to bear, you run away. It was simple logic after all.
The little girl thought, as she stumbled upon another clearing and sat on a fallen tree. Still sobbing and rubbing her red puffy eyes.
Her shaken form took uneven breaths, shallow and rigid hiccups escaped her quivering lips.
A sorrowful cry of agony was heard, echoing in the forest around her.
"Ugh! I'm so useless! I'm so weak! How can't I do that ONE DARNED SONG?!"
With her sagged shoulders, she hugged herself in an effort to console her tired mind.
"Maybe I should just stop this nonsense. I'm no good at this anyways, I can't face mom after what I did…..maybe…maybe I should just run away? But, where would I go?"
The sun was beginning to set, she was lost and helpless. She had nowhere to go. Negative thought began to creep her battered mind.
"Brielle! Brielle where are you? Brielle!"
Her mother's voice echoed loudly, sounding worried and regretful.
Brielle couldn't bear to look at her mother's face right now, she just couldn't have the courage to look her in the eye after everything that had happened.
This was her first ever fight with her, and she didn't know how to handle it.
She curled up into a ball and covered her ears. Unwilling to answer the cries of her mother.
"Brie? It's Mommy! I'm sorry! Just- Please! Where are you?"
Melody's voice was close to breaking, the shaking of her voice was clearly heard even in the distance.
"What are you doing Brielle? Why won't you answer? You know she's worried!"
Brielle's thoughts were a mess, she couldn't think straight, she whimpered. She shut her eyes close and waited for her thoughts to subside.
"Brie! There you are! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have done this! Are you hurt? Brielle….please…look at me….."
Melody saw her daughter hunched over beside a fallen tree and immediately ran to her side, hugging her whole frame softly.
Her soft cries and whimpers broke her heart in all the ways possible. The sight of her daughter broken and afraid all because of her felt like she was the lowest of the low.
She hurt her only daughter because of her stupidity and being unable to keep her own stress in check.
"I'm sorry…I-I shouldn't have been so hard on you, I-I'm really sorry Brie….."
The mother stuttered, her words choppy because of her own tears and hiccups.
Brielle felt a pleasantly warm presence envelop her, it was no doubt her mother's.
All the stress she's been bottling up since the day she started training suddenly vanished. Her mother's gentle embrace, cradling her as if she's the most fragile thing in the universe eased her pains.
A minute passed by, they were still in each other's arms, their cries subsided, and the slow beating of her mother's heart calmed her state of mind, and finally looked up to Melody.
"I-I'm-"
Melody cut her off with a finger lifted up to her lips.
"Shhh…you don't need to apologize, it was all my fault. I….I haven't been the greatest mother to you….I'm sorry."
The mother's voice trailed slowly, her hands stroking her daughter's hair in a slow and steady rhythm.
"NO!"
Brielle shouted abruptly, facing her mother's teary face, droplets of tears continued to roll down her face.
"Oh Brie….I was so stressed because of your father that I….I-I poured it all on you…I can't say sorry enough….can you…ever forgive me?"
Melody's tears never ceased to flow down after that last statement, her regret and self-blame was eminent.
"Of course I would! You're my one and only mommy! I love you and I will always forgive you"
The little girl reached up to her mother and wiped the tears off her face, and kissed her gently on the cheek.
"I-I love you too sweetie….ahhh what did I do to deserve such a loving and understanding daughter like you?"
Melody replied, with a small smile, kissing her daughter's forehead in response.
They stayed curled up together for a while, watching the night sky serenely. They bonded once again after what seemed like an eternity ago, and Brielle missed her loving mother.
She was content, but she was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. She fell asleep in her mother's arms.
Melody carried Brielle on her back and she walked all the way back home.
When she arrived at her doorstep, Brielle stirred in her sleep, looking uncomfortable in her earlier sleeping position.
"Don't worry Brie, I'll lay you down soon."
The mother whispered silently, as she removed her shoes, headed upstairs, and gently laid Brielle onto her bed.
"Goodnight, Brie."
She sighed a heavy sigh. She went to her own room, and closed the door behind her.
Today was a long day, she had just made the worst mistake of her life….and her daughter had to pay for it.
"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"
She muttered angrily to herself. She rubbed her head harshly, ruining and disheveling her hair.
She couldn't believe that her pent up stress would befall on Brielle, to the point that she was suffocating because of her training regime.
"How could you Mel? I thought you were better than this!"
Her thoughts haunted her, mocking her endlessly for her failure.
A severe headache was forming, she sat tiredly on her bed, her eyes watering once more. She took her husband's den-den mushi and placed in on her lap.
She waited patiently for Alexander to call, that maybe, just maybe, just for today, he would call her, just like he did before.
But nothing came. He was busy. Too busy, again.
"Ugh what did I expect?"
Melody said to herself sarcastically. She and Alexander has been losing touch way too quickly for her liking.
She knew that being married to a marine was difficult, but Alex had shown her so much love and brought light into her world that she thought that they could work it out, and that the distance separating them was and never will be an issue.
Besides, he came back every now and again, and he was always talking to her during the night about his day, and he would ask about hers, and they were content and happy.
Truly they were, but now she's beginning to feel the fear that she thought she had left behind all those years ago.
His calls were becoming less frequent, and he didn't even answer her letter that she sent him a month ago. There was no way to contact him. She slowly began to feel…..alone and abandoned.
"Was the distance too much of a hindrance? Would he….abandon me?"
Just the thought of her husband leaving her broke her heart the second time that day. Her fear of abandonment skyrocketed and she started hyperventilating.
"NO! MELODY! Stop that thinking right now! You know how much he loves you! It's just because he's busy! You should know that! Especially since he's a marine captain now! Of course he would be busy…."
She clutched her heart and reached for the photo of them together on her table, and gripped it tightly against her chest.
Slowly and steadily, she regained her composure. Her panic attacks would occur every now and again during the night, when she can't sleep and her thoughts goes astray, going into deep unwanted thoughts she didn't ever want to think about.
"Ever since Roger's execution two years ago, the marines from HQ have been dealing non-stop with the wild search to find and 'capture' his son."
Melody spoke in resentment of the immoral mentality of the navy to no one but herself, inside her dark, empty room, devoid of her husband whom she missed dearly.
"A son does not carry the sins of his father. The child has done nothing wrong to ever deserve such hatred." Melody sighed, wiping her tears.
"-but sadly, Alex is one of those that are ordered to search and even potentially kill the child. What is the world forming into?"
She turned her head to the side, eyes closed and her form, vulnerable.
"Alex must have it worse than me, I doubt he would ever do such a thing, but, the entire navy orders him to, and has no right to oppose. Who knows what they'll do to him."
Melody sighed once again. There was so much that has been going on that she didn't have time to properly think things through.
"I need to make up to Brielle for what happened earlier."
The mother decided, and slowly, still hugging the picture frame ever-so-dearly went to sleep and let the unconsciousness take over.
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Brielle woke up, feeling the remnants of fatigue from the events that happened yesterday.
"Was it all just a nightmare? Did yesterday really happen at all?" The girl thought to herself
"Wait, what time is it?"
Brielle looked at her alarm clock that read '6:00'.
"SHOOT! I'm an hour late! Mom's gonna kill me!"
Brielle quickly jumped of her bed, scrambling to get dressed and rushed downstairs, only to see her mother putting down a delicious plate full of pancakes for the both of them to eat.
"Good morning, Brie"
"Morning, Mommy….uh"
"Yes Brie?"
"Aren't we going to train…?" Brielle asked, unsure of what's to come.
"Oh Brie, after everything that happened, I think you deserve a break. Common, have a seat and we'll have breakfast."
"Dang, I can't believe I almost forgot about what happened yesterday. It was…..exhausting. But at least Mom has realized I've been stressing out a lot on our lessons and pulled them back for now…"
"Thank you, mommy"
"It's me who should be thanking you, for having to put up with a mom like me"
"Mommy! It's not like that okay? Don't say bad things about yourself like that, it makes me sad!"
Brielle rushed over to give her mom a hug, to which she hugged back.
"Alright baby, Mommy promises to never do that again, as well…..as what happened before…"
"I know you won't Mommy, can we go eat now? That pancakes might cool down."
"Of course we can, now eat up, I made them especially delicious, just for you"
"Yay!"
The two ate their breakfast, and spent the whole day bonding.
They went shopping for a new set of clothes, went downtown and ate at a newly opened café, and they even went to the beach to collect lovely seashells together.
Brielle had so much fun, that she didn't realize how she missed spending time with her mother.
At night, the two decided to sleep together, since they were the only two people in their house, it was better if the two shared the same bed like before.
Melody was slowly brushing her hair as she was humming her favorite tune.
"Brie?"
"Yeah?"
"I was just thinking, do you….still want to continue?"
"Continue what?"
"The training, we could stop, if you want, I just…never want that to happen ever again."
"Hmmm…..Mommy?"
"Yes Brie?"
"Why….why did you learn those songs? Did you really need to? Back then?"
Melody was taken aback by her daughter's question. Why did she go through hell and back, back then?
"Well, it's because, some-some bad people tried to hurt us before, BUT they're not going to anymore, I guess for me, not only because of those people, I decided to train and take up the family tradition, because I want to protect those that I love and care about….especially you and your father " Melody explained.
"If I can't even do that, I'll feel so worthless that I'd rather be dead." Melody added as an afterthought.
"! I never knew that! So, that must be the reason why they came up with songs like that, I wonder how mom dealt with that situation before, I guess my intuition was right, I…..I may have been too eager to give up so early in the game. Wasn't my dream to explore, andmaybeevenseeluffyorsaveace? Plus, I also want to protect you mom, and dad too…and many others too…."
"Oh, then, I've made up my mind"
"What would it be Brie?"
"I-I'll continue Mommy. I want to continue training"
"B-But why? I was so hard on you….Why do you even want to continue….?"
"Because of the same reason you said Mommy, I, I want to protect those that I love."
Her daughter's reply made her eyes water, she truly was such a precious daughter.
She hugged her tight, and hummed in response,
"That's my girl, alright, I'll continue training you. I promise I won't be too much of a training freak too."
"Thank you Mommy! I love you!"
"I love you too, Brie."
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After a few days, the two had returned to train, with a much more powerful motivation than before. It still wasn't easy. But despite the hardships, Brielle had continued to train, and in return, those efforts pushed through.
After a month, Brielle had mastered a twelfth of her mother's teachings. It might not seem like a lot, but it was.
According to Melody's calculations, it would take her at least a year to properly master her chapter, which was a lot, considering her age.
Brielle had learned to heal small cuts, a light bruise and could even set up a barrier that could prevent stones half the size of a hand.
It was amazing progress, and Melody couldn't be any happier.
More time passed, and the better Brielle has become at mastering her techniques, with the guidance of her mother, she managed to even one up Melody, for having mastered a song much earlier than her mother ever did when she was her age.
That part made Melody pout a bit, but was over all elated at her daughter's achievements.
It certainly was good bragging rights in the future too, Brielle concluded.
Another few months rolled by, and Brielle's progress was at a staggering rate. Turned out, with the proper motivation and determination, she could overcome the challenges her mother would throw at her.
Everything was going great.
Until that day.
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There was a large commotion.
The sky darkened, as if to resemble the chaos that was about to ensue
News spread quickly across the neighboring village.
A total of 10 navy warships were seen fast approaching towards the other island next to them.
Loud thundering booms were heard.
"It's the marines! T-they're-they're planning on destroying Ohara!"
"IT'S A BUSTER CALL!"
The painfully loud cries of the concerned citizens were roared all around the village.
Not long after, the sky turned into a saturated yellow orange color, reflecting the fire that consumed the small island.
Engulfing anything and everything in its path.
The smoke emitting from the place looked so suffocating that the villagers could almost feel themselves choking in the scenery.
Brielle watched in horror at her room's window sill. Her mind couldn't comprehend how utterly horrible it was, from a faint distance, she could feel the agony of its people, helpless from the tragedy that has befallen upon them.
Another round of ammunition was fired, and the ear-deafening sounds resonated all the way to their village once more.
Brielle forgot, something painfully important.
"The bombing of Ohara….."
"I-I didn't know it was just there! I…I-I could have met Robin! And prevented her from being bullied! She deserved so much better!"
"AKAINU, THAT BASTARD!"
The girl would remember that piece of scum even if she were to be incarnated a third time. He was responsible for the massacre of the people of Ohara, and the death of many.
Just because he felt like an innocent CHILD they called a demon was aboard them.
"How could he sacrifice so much for his downright insane view of absolute justice?! Those people were an entire village! Not to mention they blame it all on Robin just to get the filthy dirt off of their immaculate hands, and their respectable reputation. Pathetic. Absolutely PATHETIC."
If only she had the strength to save her, to prevent this from all happening in the first place.
"What is the use of my knowledge if I can't even save lives?"
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Her silent screams of frustrations made her tear up, what was even her purpose here?
Her figure was trembling. She felt horribly useless yet again.
"Brie, are you okay?"
Melody's voice cut off her negative thoughts, she didn't even heard her come inside her room.
"Don't cry Brie, It'll all be alright, I know it will."
Her mother comforted her in a tight hug, she brought her up and onto her bed, to which they cuddled together, hoping that all her bad thoughts would fade away soon…
"Mommy? Why are the marines destroying that island? Isn't that bad?"
"I don't know sweetie, of course it's bad, but, it's too complicated to explain."
"B-But, aren't there people there as well, will they,…will they be alright…?"
Despite already knowing the answer that there would only be one sole survivor, Robin, she still held a small childish hope that maybe, it won't.
That the CP0 failed, and that Olivia, Saul, Clover, all the other archeologists and the tree of knowledge would be safe and sound.
But that was too good to be true.
Sometimes, she would forget how awful this world can be.
"I-I don't know Brie…" Melody answered honestly.
She hugged her mother closer, and covered her ears, hoping the cry of destruction would fade away quicker.
A day after the events of the buster call, some villagers went to check on the island, but there was nothing left.
It was completely and utterly destroyed.
Nobody knew if there were any survivors, but it was highly unlikely.
Even though the fire had ceased, the flames that were once licking at every corner of the island looked like it was still there.
An ashy gray mass of land was left.
A speedy figure ran past unnoticed by the other townspeople, and arrived at a familiar doorstep.
A door creaked open.
"A-Alex?"
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Word Count: 5,053
Date of Publication: March 22, 2020
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A/N- Aaaaand it's done! Whew this was such a chapter for e! I really like how this turned out! I feel sorry for Mel thoughhhh but at least things are finally, FINALLY picking up! That was a reaallly long introduction,,hhh I just really like slow burns alright? Anyways, thanks for reading and see you until the next one. - Diwata