Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece
"Ahh, Shima! Wait for me!" A young Aiko yelled, body too skinny, bones too protruding and clothes too ragged to be considered cute. Her hair was short and ruffled and she had a bright smile though she was missing a tooth. All of her limbs were bandaged, though there were no signs of injury on her body. She chased after a young boy with dark red-orange hair as they played in the outskirts of the large city, near a forest that most of the townspeople avoided as much as possible.
The boy was just someone who'd play with her when no one was around, he had stumbled across her while she was playing one day and from then on kept her company as long as the other citizens didn't see them. Shima had nicer clothes and an overall cleaner look compared to Aiko.
"HURRY!" Shima yelled, turning his head towards Aiko as he kept running at top speed. "WE'LL MISS IT!"
.
"So this Shima kid was your first love, yoi?" Marco interrupted, not even a minute into the story. They were both inside the mess hall since Aiko complained about not having anything to eat since the night before. She sat at the table as Marco busied himself in the kitchen since it was his turn to cook supper. He opened cabinets and looked around at all the new ingredients they received from the last island. "I'm not a fan of his name."
"His name?" Aiko asked in disbelief, upset that he had interrupted, but her curiosity overpowered her slight anger.
He shrugged. "Sounds like what you'd call your little brother."
Aiko shot him a glare, the Phoenix completely ignoring it as he took out a knife and chopping board. "Just… listen."
He rolled his eyes and waved the knife in his hand indicating for her to continue.
.
"Wait!" She said panting as she tried to catch up, she wasn't as fast as him, her smaller, skinnier legs struggling to keep up. Trying not to cut her small feet on the rocky soil. They were heading towards a cliff overlooking the docks where a pirate ship was docked, she didn't know what was so special about a pirate ship. Pirates docked on their island all the time, she had seen all kinds of cruel, nice and downright creepy pirates, this time would be no different.
Shima, still looking behind him didn't see the group of boys, not until he bumped into one of them, face first. Falling on his rear with a groan as he looked irately up at the boys in front of him, that irritated look completely disappearing when he saw his town friends. They were standing with annoyed looks on their faces as they stared behind him and at Aiko, whose tiny body had stopped to a complete halt upon seeing them.
"What are you doing here, Shima?" The self-proclaimed leader of the group interrogated. They all had the same red-orange locks that was common among the inhabitants of the island.
"S-She…" Shima looked up at his friends hoping they wouldn't see through the lie he was about to tell, "She w-was ch-chasing me!"
Aiko didn't mind that he had said that, because he usually said something along those lines when other people caught them together. It was normal. She didn't want him to be shunned along with her, especially since he had a family in the town. But, even if he lied and even if it was considered dangerous, he'd always come back out to play with her with an apologetic look on his face.
"You again?!" One of the boys yelled.
"Didn't the adults tell you to get lost already?!" One threw a rock at her small head. "We don't need someone that can destroy walls and buildings!"
"Monster!"
"You hurt my parents!"
"My brother can't move his leg because of you!"
"Hurry and leave this place, idioooot!"
"Look! Even her hair is different!"
Shima turned his head away when some of the boys went up to her, grabbing her hair and pulling with a force that brought her small frame down. Aiko tried her hardest to not let her bandaged limbs –especially her small fists- touch them. They'd get hurt and when they did, the adults would come looking for her again.
.
"Your first love's an asshole." Marco stated, voice dead of all inflection.
"PHOENIX!" Aiko yelled, hating the interruption.
"It's true, yoi." He told her as he brought the food to the table as Aiko moved to get a few plates.
She shot him a scathing glance, "Why do you keep interrupting?"
He gave her a broad shouldered shrug.
"Jealous? You keep putting the guy down." Aiko said with a smirk, she hadn't even said Shima was her first love. The blond commander was jumping to conclusions.
"I am just seething with envy, yoi." He said in his usual neutral voice, but the sarcasm was not lost on her.
"I knew it." She said giving him a happy grin.
He ignored her comment and took a bite of food, before inclining his head. A silent gesture telling her to continue.
.
"AHAHAHAHA!" They laughed, one of them asking, "Do you really think we'll be cursed if we touch her bandages?"
"Wait!" Aiko yelled, tears forming in her eyes. She had always been a crybaby, crying over the simplest and worst things. "Stop! It hurts!"
"That's just a rumor!" Another yelled, completely ignoring her cries as they pulled at her short hair, practically dragging her small protesting body on the floor as she continued to thrash around. He was about to grab onto her arm, covered top to bottom in –now loosely tied- bandages, before his wrist was suddenly cut. Blood seeping out from the fresh wound.
Their eyes all widened.
"AHHHHH!" The boy yelled, cradling the small injury with slight tears in his eyes. "Stay away!"
"Did she do that?!" Another yelled in complete horror, hands immediately dropping from her hair.
"What?! RUUUN!"
"We'll tell the adults on you!"
Aiko watched as they all ran back to the town, Shima glancing once more in her direction, before running back with them. Her clothes had gotten even dirtier and more torn as she simply sat staring after them for a moment. She was panting as once again they left her alone, tears still caught in her eyes, before she turned to the nearest tree with an angry expression.
"GIN!" She called out with anger.
An older boy jumped out from a nearby tree, sharp rocks in his hand as he gave her an irritated look. He wore strange clothes, that of a foreigner or one that did odd jobs for a living, he was a few years older than her and had spiky dark green hair.
"What did you do to him?!" She yelled, glomping him, careful not to let her tiny bandaged fists accidentally hit him. He didn't even bother dodging it as they both fell to the ground with a loud 'thud.'
Her lanky childish form straddling him.
.
"Okay, now, I'm a little jealous, yoi." Marco interrupted once again, he had already finished eating and sat drinking some grog as Aiko finished her meal and told her story in between bites.
Aiko rolled her eyes at the comment, the man really knew how to interrupt a story. Something Aiko didn't expect from the ever curious Phoenix. He barely let her speak for Roger's sake. Though his constant interruptions eased her mind a bit, he made it seem as if they had all the time in the world to talk of such things. He chased the bad memories away with the constant comments.
Marco though wasn't doing it for her, but more for himself. He'd sooner be cuffed in sea stone than admit that to her though. He only did it because he didn't like the expression on her face when she got too into her story, such a sad expression didn't belong there, at least not when he was around her. To chase the downcast expression from her face even for just a moment. That was the only reason he constantly interrupted. Not that she needed to know that.
The raven haired woman raised an eyebrow at him, "Just a little?"
"You were a kid, yoi, so…" He held his thumb and forefinger half an inch apart indicating just how little.
The action had her laughing.
She waved a hand to and fro to brush aside their current topic. "No more interruptions, Phoenix."
He closed his eyes for a moment before giving her a slight nod, pouring himself another drink.
.
Gin looked up at her as her tears rained down on his cheeks, not answering the girl and instead saying something else entirely.
"You're…" He started, tone irritated and eyes glaring at the girl before him. "Always being bullied by others."
Always. He always watched her as she was treated unkindly by the townspeople because she had something in her that she couldn't control. Something they had never seen before. It was some kind of brute strength that left her body whenever she tried to hit something with those limbs of hers. A strength awakened after her parents died from a Pirate-Marine squabble on the island a few years back. It wasn't her fault she couldn't control whatever it was.
Her tears still fell down on to him even in her anger at him for throwing that rock. She really was a crybaby, always crying over the stupidest things. She cried over anything really, even crying for the young boy who had just moments ago pulled her hair hard enough to yank a few raven strands out. This was why he –a son of one of the many spies that worked for the nobles of the city- watched her, because she was always so weak.
"Being hurt." He continued, "Injured. Over and over again… Crying."
'Crying.' The word echoed in his mind, 'You're always, always crying.'
He gave a harsh glare full of silent fury, not really sure if it was her he should be directing it at. "It's irritating."
He pulled a few short strands of hair with calloused fingers, the fingers of someone trained to fight from a young age. "If you're in pain, everyone should just disappear. Abandon them all."
His hand fisted itself in her hair, anger radiating off his body in waves. "And break them."
"No!" Aiko yelled at him, she was the one at fault. It was her fault that those buildings broke apart and hurt all those people. She understood why the townspeople were so wary of her. "Don't hurt them!"
Hurt? He wished he could completely get rid of them, but then she'd definitely get mad at him. Not her usual angry either.
"Idiot." Was the only thing Gin said, how many times had she told him not to hurt those people? How many times had she gotten upset at him for this? And how many times did the same things keep happening to her no matter how much she cried for them to leave her alone?
"You're the idiot." Aiko murmured, not really able to raise her voice at him when she wasn't genuinely angry. She could never be fully angry, at least not at Gin.
"Hah?!" He put a hand on her face and shoved, "Do you want me to kill you?"
"Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiiioooot!" She chanted.
"Get off." He muttered, brushing her aside as he stood. The pout on her face was clear as she tried to tighten the bandages around her limbs.
Gin stared at her pouting face for a moment.
He supposed he could bring her to wherever that other idiot was going to take her, it wasn't like he was trying to cheer her up or anything. He was just a bit curious as well at the arrival of some big shot pirates. "Let's go see those Pirates, yea?"
Aiko's head immediately snapped up to him, dropping her bandages as she rubbed the tears out of her eyes and grinned, before nodding as she followed after Gin who had considerably longer legs than her and didn't walk slow. Nor did he slow down for her to catch up.
"Gin! Can we go eat something after?"
"Mmm…" He hummed, "No matter how much you eat, you won't get any taller."
"I will!" Aiko said with a pout.
"Even if you will, I don't treat crybabies like you." He said instead, taking a different approach at his teasing.
"I'm not a crybaby!" She said indignantly.
"Just an idiot?"
"Ye—WAIT! NO!" She yelled, stopping to stomp her feet on the ground and glare at his back. Hating the fact that he was a whole head taller and though he was lanky, he still had more muscle than her.
When he didn't even turn to look at her, Aiko picked up her pace, pushing her small legs to move faster into a sprint. Finally catching up to Gin who had already reached the cliff, he was standing completely still, eyes staring out at the view before him.
Frozen in place.
"Gin, what's the matte—"
She let the question hang as she stared out at the docks.
The place was a battlefield.
Even though they were very high up she could still hear the sounds of swords clashing as if she were there in the fray. The sounds of blood curdling screams and cannons being fired mixed in with the sounds of panic. The same thing that had happened years ago was happening again, there in the docks leading to the center of the town were pirates and marines clashing, not caring for the lives of the townspeople that were unfortunately caught in the fight.
At the docks was a large red ship, one of its sails donning a Jolly Roger she had never seen before. Its cannons easily destroyed at least four marine warships, judging by the broken parts and wood surrounding it as it sat there in the water. As she looked towards the wooden docks where many were fighting, it was painfully obvious that the Marines were losing, just who were these pirates? To be able to take out so many Marines, they weren't the average joe that usually visited their town.
She watched as Gin jumped down from the cliff, landing in a trained crouch before jumping into the fight, searching for someone. Who? She didn't know. Didn't know enough about him to even make a guess at who he'd search so desperately for. All she knew was that she didn't want to be left alone, not in this island turned battle ground.
"GIN! WAIT!" She called, how many times had she told him to wait and he never did? She didn't know why she thought this time would be any different as she rolled off the cliff after him, landing face first on the cobble street of the city. Gin had always been there to protect her, even if she didn't approve of his methods, even if he was cruel to others and even if he was blunt with his words towards her. He was always, always there.
She struggled to stand, that fall had left gashed all over her and she forced her body to move. Eyes darting around the town, some building caught on fire and she could tell that that fire was spreading towards them. She couldn't see Gin and so she ran in whatever direction her feet moved. Going on her instincts as she desperately searched for him.
"GIIIIN!" She yelled over and over, "GIIIINNN! ANSWER ME! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Someone bumped into her, causing her to fall onto the ground.
"OI!" She was held up by her hair by an annoyed looking Marine, "What the hell's a brat like you doing here?!"
"STOOPP!" Aiko yelled out, tears forming at the corner of her eyes as she desperately tried to smack his chest with her small limbs, but to no avail, he was holding her an entire arm's length away.
"Are you with those Pirates?! HAH?!" He pointed the barrel of his rifle at her head.
"PLEASE LET ME GOOO!" She cried, still struggling. Hardly registering the words the burly Marine was saying to her. "I'M LOOKING FOR SOMEONE!"
"SHUT UP!" He placed the gun in her mouth.
"N-No! H-Helph!" Her pleas came out muffled now.
"HAH?! No one's gonna help scum like yo-"
The Marine was cut off as Aiko's small fist came into contact with his arm, the strange force of her punch completely shattering the bone.
"AHHHHHHH!" The Marine yelled as he dropped her, she fell towards him. Once more, hitting his chest with her small fist, hearing something crack as the Marine screamed again in pain, writhing and convulsing in pure agony for a moment, before completely passing out.
The tears were falling freely from her eyes as she stared wide-eyed at what she did to the man. This was exactly the reason why the people shunned her, because of this stupid power that for some reason she couldn't control whenever she decided to hit something, even if it was only a small amount of force. That small force turned into a killer punch that could destroy entire buildings and hit people even though they weren't anywhere near her.
She ran once more and yelled out Gin's name, completely unaware of two men watching her with wide eyes from the sidelines.
After the battle had ended, it was surprising, but for some reason, a reason she couldn't fathom from all the things she heard about how evil they supposedly were, pirates we're helping rebuild the messed up city. They distributed some food from Sea Kings they took out with one hit, helped fix buildings, treated the injured and even let go captured Marines, their natural enemy. They even gave back the bodies of the Marines that unfortunately didn't make it out of the fight.
She didn't really pay too much attention though, she had been running all night, still searching for the dark green hair that was so familiar to her. The constant physical activity was starting to take its toll though as she fell over, her stomach growling. She forced her little body up, gripping the cobble ground, her fingers going right through the stone floor as she cracked it. Even tired, Aiko didn't know how she was able to do that. She'd give up this strange strength to be able to find Gin. Anything to know where he was.
She got herself up, the ground having two small craters where her hands had been as she ran once more. People avoided or completely ignored her as she passed them, not in the mood to deal with the resident monster of the city as she ran with tears in her eyes, still desperately searching.
"GIN!" She yelled with a completely parched voice, that's all she had been doing recently, so much that her voice came out hoarse. Saying that same name over and over trying to find him.
It would be okay even if he called her idiot.
Even if he called her a crybaby.
It would even be okay if he yelled at her.
She just needed to see him. See for herself that he was alive and kicking.
She reached a more desolate part of the city, a part that took the brunt of damage from the fire that had suddenly started last night. She recognized the once fancy streets, this was where the nobles lived. "GIIIINNNN!" She yelled once more with all her might, voice echoing in the ruins.
"Shut up."
She spun around, searching for the small voice that had said that. Hoping it wasn't her imagination playing tricks on her.
"GIN! WHER—"
She cut herself off, as she saw a familiar figure buried under two Marines and a chunk of concrete from a nearby building. She ran to it, to him. Not caring when she punched the two already lifeless Marines into already destroyed buildings, not caring if others saw her brute strength. For once, she was glad about it. With it she could easily get to him.
"GIN!" She yelled in his face, tears in her eyes. A chunk of concrete sat on his legs, completely crushing him. In fact, he looked close to passing out. "I'LL TAKE THIS OFF NO—"
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" He whispered, looking up at her. He wasn't even panting, just breathing slowly and murmuring. He wasn't in any pain. Something Aiko didn't understand what with the boulder completely crushing his entire lower body. Blood was splattered around, though she didn't know if it was his or the Marines she punched aside.
Her hands moved to cup his head, tears sliding off her cheeks and onto his face. "I f-f-found youuhuhuhuhuhu!" She cried.
"Crybaby." Was the only thing that left his lips.
She tried in vain to wipe her tears, but they kept coming out. The relief of finding him making her cry. "Wait here, I'll get hel—"
"Aiko." She stopped as his hand tried to reach out to her, but he couldn't quite move it.
"A-A-Ahh," She sniffled, making a move to stand and destroy the debris crushing him, "You don't wanna be alone here, right? Then I'll just move the roc—"
"AIKO!" He said in a louder voice this time, coughing up blood as soon as he did. Whispering his next words, "Stop being an idiot."
"B-But…"
"You know what's about to happen right?"
She shook her head, not wanting to accept it, he couldn't follow where her parents had gone years before her. Even if he was mean and said cruel things, he couldn't. What was the point of this strength of hers if she couldn't even protect him?
"I shouldn't have come here, I was looking for my father." He muttered, just to have something to say. His family along with the nobles they were hired to protect had probably already died in the fire, it was foolish to come here, but he had to see. See for himself if they were really gone.
He hadn't really expected to die this young, he planned to go out to sea when he saved enough money. Planned to maybe bring her with him, she was no good living on this god forsaken island, full of people that shunned her because she was different. She could do so much more with her strength, yet the people were afraid to cultivate it. She was still a girl, yet they treated her like a monster, maybe that was why he stayed by her side. Pity? Worry? Whatever it was, by some twisted trick of fate she was the one by his side in the end, wasn't it usually him? He was the one that always stuck next to her.
He laughed, a self-deprecating one.
"Gin…" Aiko called, voice wavering as she just continued to stare at him. He really hated those honey eyes, they were unnerving.
"I keep money…" He coughed up more blood, Aiko's already blood drenched hands trying to wipe it off his face. "In the tree I always sleep in."
"You don't have to worry about tha—" She was interrupted again, he never let her talk.
"Take it and leave this isla—" He coughed out once again, Aiko's eyes becoming more panicked by the second as she called his name. Contemplating what would happen if she took off the boulder crushing him.
"Don't even think about it." His voice was getting weaker and weaker and when he saw her contemplating face it was easy to know what she was thinking. Easy for him to read her mind and know that she was planning to get rid of the boulder. But that boulder was currently keeping him from bleeding out, he was still losing a steady stream of blood, but not as much as he would be if she destroyed it. She probably didn't understand that.
"Gin," Aiko called, only resignation in her tone, there were still tears in her eyes, but she wasn't being noisy and stubborn anymore. She didn't try to save him, all she did was sit next to him and let her head hover above his, so that he wouldn't have to strain himself just to be able to see her. "Can I stay here with you for a while?"
He grinned, a small one at her childishness and her acceptance of what was about to happen to him. She was trying to act like an adult while staring at him with such innocent looking eyes. He wanted to laugh at that, but decided against it since coughing up more blood was something he really didn't want to do.
Instead he went back to his thoughts when he led her to that cliff to see those big shot pirates. It was because he wanted to see her smile. He could finally admit that to himself. Seeing her crying was irritating and he didn't know how to deal with a girls' tears, he was never trained to do that. Seeing her smiling face was always the best. Even if it was just from afar, even if it was someone else that brought that smile on her lips. It was still the best.
"Yea." He answered her question, after a moment.
She just sat there next to him, telling a story she had read in a book, it was about a place called Fishman Island. He knew the story, seeing as how he was the one that had given her the book, but he didn't bother telling her that and instead let her continue her storytelling, her face over his as she spoke quietly. Anything to fill his last moments with some kind of noise, she didn't want him to hear deafening silence as he left her behind.
She spoke for a good ten minutes, Gin could slowly feel himself fading. It was a strange feeling, as if he were numb or just about to fall asleep for his usual afternoon nap. His head was becoming cloudy, eyes weary from being open for so long and the only thing he wanted to do was close them. They were tired.
His sense of touch was the first sense to go, it had been gone for a while and he could barely move his hands, barely move his lips. Next was his hearing, he could only see Aiko's chapped lips moving indicating that she was still speaking. Saying something that his ears refused to pick up. How he wished he could tell her to stop babbling like an idiot when he was dying, to tell her that everything would be okay, to tell her how much he wanted her to leave this island. Who gave a flying fuck if that Shima kid would play with her, there was no need for her to be in this hellish place.
Especially since he wouldn't be around to watch her anymore.
He forced words out of his mouth, trying to at least say something, anything before he kicked the bucket. He couldn't die without at least getting a word out to this idiot of a girl.
But, the last words that came out of his mouth weren't anything sweet, -though he doubted she was expecting something sweet- in fact they were said in his usual harsh way of speaking to her, but they summed up everything he wanted to say to her, to the idiot –out of the billions of people on the planet- he never expected to be by his side when he died.
"Get out there and smile you idiot."
.
He stared at her, her eyes were on her finished plate. Though she looked as if she weren't really seeing it and when she brought those eyes to look at him. They went right through him as if she were looking at a spot well past him and not actually his face. But, that vacant look was only there for a second before a smile crinkled her face back into the honey eyes he knew. The ones he couldn't keep his eyes off of.
"So he was the first, huh?" Marco muttered, watching as the woman dropped her smile and gave him a pout.
"I told you not to interrupt!" She scolded standing and taking both their plates to the sink to wash them.
"Eh?" Marco asked, turning in his seat as she washed the plates. "There's more?"
She nodded, finishing up in the kitchen and gesturing to the door so that they could return to their shared room to continue the story. Marco grinned and followed after the woman, seemed she'd be sating his curiosity way more than he expected tonight.
A/N: Please read this: I know most of you skip through this that's why I highlighted the beginning, so I hope you all take the time to read this authors note. I wrote out the first part of her past in my usual style because I found that I epically suck at writing in any other point of view. Also, everyone seems to like mini Thatch and for that I'm glad, if he does or doesn't reappear, you lovely folks will just have to stay tuned. My Ace story will wait until this one is all caught up in One Piece, simply because I don't think I can handle two stories in the same field. My One Piece juices will be consumed. Though that doesn't mean I don't have other juices for other anime! I've already started writing up a Yu Yu Hakusho story for any interested, it is about Youko Kurama. This new story will be posted in February, I will update any interested, there is more information about it on my profile.
I got so many reviews last chappie that I decided to write double my usual amount for the upcoming chapters!
I have a feeling you guys will like the next chapter, at least more than this short one.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!