WARNING: Rafi is seriously fucked in the head, guys, so be prepared for graphic violence, torture, blood, and blatant sadism.
In other news, holy smokes it's been a long time. I'm really sorry about that guys, I did not mean for it to take this long. But this chapter is four thousand words, so hopefully that makes up for the long wait!
Shoutout to my beta, aghostperson, who has been a champion these past months.
Ten of Swords, upright - Failure, collapse, defeat...
June 1521
Commander Calig Rafi, Second Mate of the Akatokuro, was not happy.
Understatement of the century. None of the crew dared step within five feet of her, not with the expression of black fury etched into her face. Rafi appreciated their caution. She needed to kill someone, and with how utterly fucking pissed she was at the moment Rafi didn't particularly care who so long she could put a bullet in their head.
With any luck, it would be the sea-damned slavers they were currently chasing.
The Akatokuro had stopped to resupply before continuing to the Red Line. They had received orders from Sengoku to return to Marineford, cutting their current chase of Red Hair short. Only for Noir to return to the ship after the brief shore leave and inform the crew of the slavers preying on the local islands over the past months. The delay to Headquarters was making the crew wary. Understandable for the rookies. Sengoku hadn't ordered them to return directly, but not many would presume to make the Fleet Admiral wait. The veterans weren't worried about that. A quick detour to take out slaves wouldn't make Sengoku do more than roll his eyes.
Their current course wasn't exactly sanctioned, given their standing orders, but it also wasn't prohibited either. Slavery was illegal with summary execution as penalty. No, the rest of the crew was uneasy over the Noir's orders to kill every slaver on board, without exception, and spare only the victims. The woman wasn't usually so vicious.
Rafi was delighted.
Noir had told Rafi and Cade the details kept from the rest of the crew. Also unusual, Noir preferred to be as honest as possible with the crew. Classified information was one thing, and half the time even Rafi didn't get to hear that, but pirates were pretty much standard fare for Marines.
Except these fuckers apparently. According to Noir - and Rafi learned not to doubt the blonde's information sources years ago - their current prey was rumored to be on the payroll of the World Nobles. If even one slaver lived long enough to report who attacked them, Noir, Cade, and Rafi would likely find themselves in Impel Down in short order. Hopefully, ignorance would spare the rest of the crew in that case. Knowing the World Nobles, Rafi wasn't all that optimistic.
Safer to just exterminate the scum.
Rafi didn't give a damn about going against the World Nobles. Those pirates were slavers who had kidnapped children. She wouldn't lose any sleep over this. Under Rafi's tattoos, old scars prickled and Rafi resisted the urge to rub her back. Those years were far behind her. No one would chain her down ever again, hit her, kick her, force her to eat ash and despair -
Oh no, Rafi was going to enjoy the coming fight.
The Rear Admiral stepping up beside her pulled her back to the present. The woman's Haki had always been solid, grounding like a mountain. It was there and would not be moved for the world. Lately though, there was a… worn quality to Noir's aura. Once rich soil turned to dust, after years and years of work and now so exhausted that there was little left to give.
No wonder Smokey was so worried about her. Tired didn't even come fucking close.
Hands moved, signing at Rafi to focus. Rafi grimaced. It was near impossible to sneak anything past Noir's Observation. Her range was too far and precision to sharp. She was also the only one on board who could safely stand next to Rafi at the moment. As angry as Rafi was, as much as she wanted to kill someone and make them suffer, she would never be so stupid as to think she could take on her commanding officer.
She liked living, thanks.
Noir raised her right fist, and Rafi checked her ear plugs. Custom made for each Marine on the Akatokuro and meant to block out all sound, they were issued to everyone who transferred to Noir's command. And damn did they work. Rafi couldn't hear anything but the blood pumping through her own ears.
Once everyone checked their ear plugs, the Rear Admiral raised a single finger.
The singing started. She couldn't hear it with her ears. Rather, it echoed through her very bones, changing in pitch and volume and Rafi could almost make out a tune. Curiosity rose through her anger for a moment, but the Rear Admiral's orders were clear. They were not to remove the earplugs under any circumstances before her command. And as curious as Rafi was, she was not curious enough to find out for herself if the legends of the Sirens were true, or how close Orion's Devil Fruit mimicked them.
Seeing the second hand effects was more than enough. The pirates, once miles away from them and hauling ass as fast as they could, were slowing down and turning towards them. Coming back. Yeah, she wasn't interested in experiencing the lure of Orion's voice without strict supervision.
Rafi bounced on the balls of her feet, teeth bared in a silent snarl that had Miohi of the starboard triple gun crew flinching away from her. Her orders were to get below deck and protect the kidnapped children until all the pirates were dealt with. Rafi would rather snap some necks instead, but she recognized that someone had to protect the children and her Devil Fruit made her a damn good choice.
By the time Noir signaled Orion to stop, the pirates were closing in on the Akatokuro. The humming stopped, and Rafi dug her earplugs out and tucked them away at the second signal. The pirates across from her were still dazed, but the quicker ones were already throwing off Orion's voice and realizing they were in deep shit.
"Board!" The Rear Admiral roared.
Rafi threw herself overboard, diving towards the side of the enemy ship. Her body collided hard, but instead of breaking her fingers and getting a nasty concussion, Rafi let her body splash into ink against the wood. By the Sea, Rafi would never get used to that feeling. Seeping through the cracks of loosed hatches prepared to open for cannon fire at a moment's notice was the easy part. Maneuvering to the stairs leading to the lower decks was a bit harder. Thank fuck she had Observation Haki, or this would be a shit ton harder. No one noticed her, which if she had to guess was less to do with her stealth skills and more to do with the excellent distraction Noir was providing.
There were only about two dozen auras in the hold, ranging from small to tiny, all of them huddled against the hull and trembling with fear. No adults, so Rafi reformed, rising from the floor and letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of the interior.
One of the kids whimpered, alerting the other kids to her presence. The others quickly shushed him. Rafi ground her teeth together so hard her molars creaked. Fucking hell, none of the kids looked older than twelve and dammit all, Rafi was going to need to mutilate at least one damn pirate by the end of this.
Not now though. The kids didn't deserve the brunt of her anger. Right now, she needed to keep a lid on it and put her less than lawful teenage years to good use.
"Commander Calig Rafi of the Marines." She told them, doing her best to keep her voice soft and non-threatening. Her fingers worked at the hem of her shorts and she held up a set of lock picks for the kids to see a second later. "Any of you know how to pick locks?"
A breath of silence as the kids traded uncertain glances. A boy nodded. A street rat, she would guess. Maybe ten, but he looked like he was eight with his height and had definitely missed more than a fair share of meals. Snatched because it was easy, not because the slavers expected to make any profit off him, the bastards. Rafi unlocked his cuffs and collar before handing him the picks and setting him to start on the other end of the hold, away from the stairs.
Rafi began on the other end, sending each freed kid towards the back. The cuffs and collars were standard fare - even the kid should have no problem.
Even as she worked, Rafi's Observation was stretched back towards the stairs. And if the first pirate to get suspicious about the noise down bellow got a handful of ink shoved down his throat, well, Rafi didn't particularly care beyond making sure he didn't fall down the stairs. Of course, the idiot's writhing attracted his fellows, who finally realized not all the Marines were on deck. They tried to reclaim the hold, but well, possession was indeed nine tenths of the law and Rafi was only too happy to prove it.
She'd just ripped apart the last pirate below deck when Haki hit her like a tidal wave. Rafi staggered and dropped the dead pirate. Behind her, the children dropped like flies.
Shit. Rafi coughed, trying to pull air into tightened lungs. Noir almost never used Conqueror's Haki - only ever to keep the crew from being overwhelmed against superior numbers and against Red Hair's own Haki. If she'd pulled her Haki out now, who the fuck did she run into and how did they sneak under Noir's Observation?!
The Conqueror's Haki wasn't fading. And it was strong - too strong.
This wasn't Noir.
Dammit legs, move. Rafi's needed to work on her Observation, she couldn't sense shit right now. No threats, so who the fuck-
On deck, Rafi skidded to a halt. Only a handful of people were still standing, a few more conscious but flat on their asses. All Marines, thank the Sea, so Rafi ignored that because Sile was knelt half over Noir, who was unconscious and bleeding, and why was there so much blood -
Cade was barking orders, Rafi dimly realized. Dr. Sin and his aide Kita rushed in with a stretcher. Sile whimpered, his hold tightening on Noir and the Haki pulsed. Rafi's knees hit the deck, black spots dancing in her vision and she couldn't breathe!
A moment later Cade chopped the back of Sile's neck, and the teen hit the deck like a bag of wet sand. The Haki disappeared. Rafi sucked in a lungful of air, oh sweet blessed air.
She stared at the ropemaker. Fucking - that was Sile?
Rafi didn't have time to ponder. "Commander!" Cade barked. "Report!"
"Twenty kids, all alive." Rafi said, pulling herself to her feet. "All freed." She could feel their auras huddled together, well away from the chains. "Permission to relocate?" They'd respond better to her - they knew her, however briefly - than an unknown.
Cade nodded sharply. "Do so. Aria will get them settled." Grey eyes turned flinty. "Deal with the remaining pirates after."
Oh. Oh. A grin spread across Rafi's lips. "Aye, aye, sir."
Rafi practically skips on her way down to the hold. The Commodore was being so nice, giving her a gift like that. Entering the hold, Rafi forcibly suppressed her glee. No traumatizing the kids. Noir would not be pleased with her when she woke up.
If she woke up-
Rafi silenced that line of thought. Noir would wake up. Otherwise, well, Rafi refused to be held accountable for any actions she would take as a result.
Rousing the children wasn't all that difficult. Getting them to follow her out of the hold was surprisingly more so.
"I want my mom!" A girl sobbed, holding tight to one of the older kids.
Rafi crouched in front of her. "I know." She said softly. Oh, how Rafi knew. "I promise, we'll do our best to get you all back home and with your families."
The boy she gave her lock picks stared her down. "Promise?" He asked, haunted green eyes boring into Rafi's blue.
Rafi met his gaze unflinchingly. "Yes." His shoulders lost their tension, and around her, the other kids relaxed in response. "Were any of you branded?"
A chorus of denials, ringing true through Rafi's Observation. Rafi let out a relieved breath. Thank fuck for small miracles. It wasn't impossible to cover up the Hoof of the Dragon, but it wasn't easy and it hurt like a bitch.
"I'm going to bring you to a good friend of mine." Rafi told them. "She's the cook of my ship, and she can get you all some food before we find you some bunks to sleep in, alright?"
"You aren't staying?" The little girl asked, lower lip trembling.
Rafi gave her a small smile. "I'm the second-in-command." For the moment, at least. "I've got a couple things I need to do, but I will come find you guys when I'm done alright? It won't be more than a couple hours."
She was not going to mention that the 'things' she needed to do was kill the last pirates. Nor would she mention that she was looking forward to it.
No traumatizing the kids.
While still wary, Rafi managed to get them out of the hold and across the makeshift bridge Chopsticks slapped together for them. Aria was waiting for them, thankfully, with a gentle smile and the smell of something delicious wafting out from the galley. With a reassuring nod from Rafi, the kids followed Aria.
Rafi turned back to the pirate ship. Zoi's team was securing the surviving pirates away from the growing pile of corpses. Twelve men - already awake, good. The Rear Admiral could be dying because of them. Rafi wanted them to see their own deaths coming.
Now, how should she enjoy this? Choices, choices…
She crouched in front of the first tied up pirate, eyeing him. The man stared back at her, calm and resigned. Oh that wouldn't do, oh no not at all. She wanted to hear him scream, wanted him to beg for a mercy that wouldn't be coming.
There, further down the line. A young man in the middle. He was a handful of years older than Sile at most, and already trembling. Rafi stood, pulled out one of her pistols, and shot the young man's knee. Her expression never changed as blood and bone painted the deck a lovely red.
Oh the screams were music to her ears and a balm to her soul.
Her second pistol was also loaded, but there was no reason to rush this. Cade had so graciously given her this gift, she was going to take her time and enjoy it. Rafi loaded another bullet into her first pistol, cocked the hammer back, and took aim the other knee. The second scream was as beautiful as the first.
"Tera!" Rafi barked. The sniper snapped to attention, his expression giving no clue what he thought of the show. "Throw this gentleman overboard. If he tries to climb back out, shoot him." The man still had to working arms after all, and Rafi had seen desperate men do incredible things for survival.
Rafi reloaded her pistol again and crouched before another pirate. Not the first one, no. He was still stone faced. Oh no, she intended to break that one.
The man in front of her shook and the sharp scent of urine filled the air as he lost control of his bladder. Rafi caressed his face with the end of his pistol. "Oh, don't worry darling." She told him gently. "I'm going to take such good care of you." The pirate sobbed, and finally, Rafi allowed herself to grin.
She so loved it when she was allowed to play.
When Sile woke, the first thing he noticed was that he was not in his berth. In fact, he was fairly certain he was looking at the ceiling of the medical bay.
And there was Sin, frowning at Sile. A look the teen was used to, to be honest. The doctor had not been pleased with the Rear Admiral dragging Sile to the medical bay a year back for being underweight. A few months of health checks everyday - complete with frowns ranging form Disappointed to Irritated to the scary as hell Thoughtful - had ensured that Sile was usually diligent in making certain he never ended up in Sin's territory again.
Especially because that is the Irritated Frown. Not good.
"Noir is awake from her surgery." Sin told him, tone brisk and words clipped with impatience. "She will make a full recovery. I expect you to keep your composure, or I will sedate you again. We don't need you knocking out half the crew again."
Wait, what?
It was then that Sile recalled the fight. The Rear Admiral - she took a bullet for him, had gone down and hadn't gotten back up. There'd been so much blood…
There'd been something in his chest, a feeling like a tidal wave roaring in his ears, but through his entire body instead. Marines and pirates had dropped like flies, taking out the remaining threats to the Rear Admiral.
He remembered Sin and Kita trying to take the Rear Admiral. And then nothing.
Hold on - "Did someone knock me out?"
Sin sniffed. "Twice."
"Twice?" Sile parroted. Sharp eyes narrowed, and Sile froze. Shit, what did he say to piss him off?
He yelped when Sin flashed his pen light into his right eye without warning. "You woke while Noir was in surgery. According to Cade, you unleashed Conqueror's Haki in your distress." The flashlight moved to his left eye, back to his right, then returned to his left before Sin tucked it back into his pocket. "You don't recall?"
Sile shook his head, dumbfounded. He had Conqueror's Haki?
It had to be a mistake. Conqueror's Haki was a mark of the heavens' favor, proof that one possessed the qualities of a king! Sile wasn't anything like that! He was the no-good Marine, the Akatokuro's screw up, and the Rear Admiral's charity case.
"Hmm." Sin's gaze slid out of focus, the doctor immersing himself in his Observation Haki. The doctor didn't have the Rear Admiral's range, but his Observation was even more precise than hers, and he often used it to supplement his diagnostics. "Side effect of the concussion."
Sile blinked. How hard did they hit him to knock him out?
"The Conqueror's Haki during surgery was not appreciated." Sin said, gathering a number of instruments. Sile winced. "I'd rather not deal with it again, so I will be the one to render you unconscious if you cannot - how did Rafi put it? - keep a lid on it."
Sin's tone made it clear he would not be nearly so nice in doing so.
Sile meekly nodded, and kept his mouth shut through Sin's check up. He did however peek once or twice at the other bed in the medical bay, privacy curtain drawn.
"Noir is awake. You may visit so long as you behave."
Alright, maybe he peeked more than once or twice. Sile bolted from his cot.
The Rear Admiral was sitting up in her cot, reading a book. Sile skidded to a stop by her bed and frantically looked her over. There were bandages wrapped around her upper chest, thicker over where she'd been shot, but Sile couldn't see anything wrong…
Behind him, Sin gave an offended huff. Sile cringed.
The Rear Admiral's lips twitched up into a small smile. "I'm alright, Sile."
Sile burst into tears.
The Rear Admiral froze, eyes wide like a startled rabbit. Sile wasn't surprised. Rafi and Aria were the ones to go to with tears, or Orion if you needed silent company. The Rear Admiral… was not that great at it.
Not as bad as she used to be. The Rear Admiral unfroze and opened her arms for a hug. Sile hesitated. She didn't look very sure of herself, but she was offering, and Sile really wanted a hug and she had told him he could always come to her for anything he needed. Taking care not to jar her injury, Sile wrapped his arms around her.
She was a bit too stiff, and her attempts at rubbing his back were a bit jerky, but she was trying and he really appreciated it. Most importantly, she didn't mind him crying into her shirt.
Sin wouldn't be too happy though.
The Rear Admiral's arms tightened, preventing him from jerking away at that thought. "It's fine, Sile."
"You nearly died, Rear Admiral." Sile mumbled into her shoulder. He shuddered. "There was so much blood." He never wanted to see that much blood ever again.
"Sin mentioned it was a close call." She said, her voice vibrating through her chest. "He also said I'll make a full recovery, so if you try to say how it should have been you I will assign you to morning combat training with Rafi."
Eep. Sile's mouth clicked shut. Commander Rafi was mean in the mornings!
After a moment longer, the Rear Admiral allowed Sile to lean back and take the chair by her cot. There was a flicker of relief, probably at the lack of tears. Sile felt a bit of amusement at the irony. The Rear Admiral could face down the worst pirates without blinking, only to panic at the sight of tears.
"I hear you awakened your Conqueror's."
Sile shook his head. "But I can't have Conqueror's!"
The Rear Admiral raised a brow. "Oh, why not?"
"Because it's me."
"So?" She challenged, brown eyes steely. "If you're thinking of the belief that having Conqueror's Haki is the sign of a king or something, I can tell you that it's absolute hogwash. Haki is nothing more than willpower, and Conqueror's Haki is merely a manifestation of the strongest wills."
Huh? "Then why is it so rare?"
The Rear Admiral's smirk was wry. "The strength required to impose your will over another person is monumental, Sile. Hell, imposing your will on yourself is hard enough - why do you think the Marines teach Rokushiki before Haki? It's essentially Haki training wheels."
But - "Rear Admiral, Sin said I knocked out half the crew." Sile said. He didn't even remember doing it!
"Three quarters, to be precise. You're a lot stronger than me if you can do that by accident."
He was stronger than the Rear Admiral. Which made him the strongest in the entire Marine Corps. Oh seas. Sile blanched. He wasn't going to be able to stay with the Akatokuro. The Rear Admiral could keep him when he was just a young Marine with a weak Devil Fruit, but now? Now he'd screwed even that up by somehow having freaking Conqueror's Haki.
A poke to his forehead. "You're my brat." The Rear Admiral said sternly. One of these days, Sile vowed to figure out how she could seemingly read minds. "I promised you didn't I?"
"Yes, but-"
"Do you want to leave?"
"No-!"
"Then I stand by my promise." She said. "You'll need training, but that's part of the plan anyway."
Sile warily eyed the smirk on the Rear Admiral's face. He knew that look. It never boded well. For anyone. He wasn't going to ask. If he didn't know, he couldn't be held responsible.
It's update time again! I've got two more chapters ready to go, and the last five all planned out. So here's a deal for you all: I'm going to post the chapters in week intervals, unless I get a bunch of reviews, in which case I'll post the next one sooner. Deal?
So Please Review!
