Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my OCs.
Chapter 6 - No wings to fly, no legs to run
Madness!
The only word she could think of to describe what she was just hearing. It was madness. The shit was beyond ridiculous! How was it possible for the Navy to be useless to this extent?! How could they let that damned psychopath run away so easily, again?!
The whole Navy was in chaos. Caesar Clown's break out from the transporting ship was definitely unexpected for the idiots. Of course he would! How couldn't they foresee that? What kind of a moron could possibly believe that transporting him to Impel Down with only two escort battleships was safe enough!? The little veins on her forehead were pumping in anguish as she was standing in Rear Admiral Murata's office, with two captains and her grandfather, Vice Admiral Garp. Her palms were all sweaty and her fisted hands were shivering on her sides. 'Focus!' she snapped at herself in her head, reminding herself of what she was doing there and watched her reflection on the window behind Murata's desk. Her face looked awfully pale. She tried to pull herself together and concentrated on her Haki.
"Sugiyama Taisa."
"Yes Sir!" she responded to Murata with a steady voice. Through the phantom she was creating for him, he was seeing Lilou as a blonde, mid-twenties tall man, the poor unlucky soul who just happened to run into her soon as she entered the island six nights ago, captain Sugiyama. Four pair of eyes in the room turned on her face, she held a strong expression and kept her head high and stared at Murata's face.
"You look tense today. What's on your mind?" he asked with his gaze carefully fixated on Lilou's face.
"Sir! The whole idea of that maniac running loose again makes me want to wipe him off of earth with my own hands. Kinds of that scum deserve nothing but rotting in the depths of Impel Down!" trying to keep her voice steady she said. Murata was a sharp man, she couldn't manage to be sloppy around him. "I'm recalling the reports I read on that abandoned laboratory in North Blue, discovered eight years ago by the Navy. All those dead children! Only a monster could do such a disgusting thing to innocent kids!"
A frown sat on Garp's face as he remembered the thing. Murata looked at him "Ah, Garp-san, wasn't it around that time your grandchild was gone missing?"
"It was." he said with a serious expression on his face which was rare "It was in fact how we managed to find that lab. Many kids were being reported as missing during those years, and most of them were northerns. It was how we followed the lead to that place. I gotta say, as much as I felt guilty for not being able to find those kids before it was too late, I actually felt relieved that my granddaughter wasn't along those children."
"I will feel relieved the moment we catch that granddaughter of yours, Garp-san!" Murata frowned. Garp let out a loud laughter "Bwahahahaha! That sneaky girl! Hahahahaha! I came to assist you with catching her but I'm telling you, she's smarter than that to get herself caught anytime soon! Wahahahahaha! At the end, not even one out of those three ended up in the Navy!" laughter tears shaping in the corner of his closed eyes.
"Garp-san!" Murata growled "You should take this more Seriously! If you want to handle this situation perso-"
"Oi oi Murata! Know your audience! They may be my beloved grandchildren, but this is the kind of life they've chosen for themselves! None of them are being considered as anything but criminals now!"
A disgusting feeling creeped on Lilou's back. 'You damned old geezer! You abandoned me way before I was a criminal!' she thought bitter to herself. Murata suddenly stood and came out from behind his desk "Anyways, as troublesome as it is, it's not in our concern to deal with Caesar Clown's escape, Sugiyama Taisa. And it's not supposed to leak out to the public. We have our hands full with these pirates running loose right under our noses." he turned to face Garp "Especially that other grandchild of yours!"
"Bwaahahahaha! You're giving me a hard time today, Murata!" he laughed out again."By the way, the problem we discussed earlier is something you should keep in your mind. The Yonkos acting out of order is something that could affect people all around the world, including yourself."
"Garp-san! That's classified information!" Murata quickly looked at Lilou and the other two captains in the room. Lilou tensed for a second. 'Yonkos? What about Yonkos?!'
A harsh knocking on the door distracted her thoughts. The door opened wide and a soldier stormed in
"Murata Shōshō. Garp Chūjō." he saluted hurriedly.
"What's the matter, Sano?"
"Murata-san! It's her! Black Siren has spotted in the main yard!"
The atmosphere tensed immediately. Garp stood up from the couch he was sitting on and Murata placed his white coat on his shoulders as he headed for the door "Report the situation."
"She's being surrounded in the main yard at the moment sir! But…" his face turned red "It seems a bit odd!"
"What do you mean?"
"She seems… how do I say it! She's not acting as expected! She hasn't even tried to attack yet! She's just standing there and it seems like she has no idea what's going on at all!"
'Damn that captain!' Lilou thought horrified. It was bad, very bad! 'Wander around in the woods was exactly what I dictated to him! What the fuck is he doing in the middle of this fucking base!' she had to leave, it wasn't safe anymore. She lost her temper upon hearing the news about Caesar earlier and it made her distracted for few minutes, that probably was when the real Sugiyama gained back his consciousness for a moment and decided to turn back to the base. 'Good thing I phantomized his appearances as myself! I need to get out before the idiot makes it more complicated than it is!' she thought as she followed the other four through the base. She needed to make it to the edge of the woods, as smoothly as possible. Sakura was there waiting for her, she didn't want to risk the bird's life by calling her inside the base, she could get shot if things happened to get out of hand! Her heart raced faster, entering the main yard she saw the real captain Sugiyama, standing in the middle of the yard looking exactly like Lilou with hundreds of guns pointed directly at him. Murata frowned and narrowed his cautious yellow eyes at the fake Lilou who was running her astonished eyes around.
"It's obviously not her. That God damned rat's been wandering in here for God knows how long! She outsmarted us again!" he growled arrogantly. Lilou quickly grabbed the opportunity "Sir! She must be disguised as one of the staff. We should investigate everyone in the base before she gets away!"
"Kid?" Garp's large hand landed on her bare shoulder from behind. She quickly turned
"Yes Sir!"
"What was the last unit you worked in? I'm having a feeling that we met before." a cunning expression on his face as he stared deep with his keen eyes into hers. Lilou answered steadily according to the memories she crafted out of Sugiyama's mind "I've been assigned here since the first day I joined the Marine academy." she stared back at him with her cold eyes.
"Oh? You have a very familiar look in your eyes. I must've been mistaking you with somebody else then."
"Indeed, Garp Chūjō." she calmly said 'Like hell I let you old geezer expose me here!' she could smell his suspension clearly, he knew something was off.
"Garp Chūjō! It's not the time for small talk!" Murata barked "We're in the middle of an invasion!"
"YOU!"
They all jumped and looked at the fake Lilou, her finger pointing at the real Lilou in disguise "Who are you?! Why is your face looks like mine?!" he shouted in confusion with widened eyes. 'SHIT!' she held her breath. The crowd fell completely silent. Murata's eyes landed on her face, quickly calculating the situation "HUH!" he shouted with his eyes shining with a sense of victory.
"Waahahahahaha! Like I can forget those tense eyes of yours, kid!" Garp bursted out in laughter. 'Leaving smoothly?! Screw that!' she thought as she canceled her spell on the real captain Sugiyama. The whole troop gasped in shock as Sugiyama turned back to his original appearances.
"Well I guess my fun time here is coming to it's end." she stated mockingly as her disguise vanished "It was nice meeting you though, Jii-san!"
"ALL TROOPS AFTER THE INVADER! BRING HER DOWN AT ANY COST!" Murata yelled out and drew his sword.
"Yehihihihihi!" she laughed out childishly jumping high on a portico's roof, drawing her katanas from her back as she ran and jumped from one rooftop to the other, causing the earthen bricks crack under the pressure of her kicks. Looking down she saw hundreds of soldiers shouting and cursing as they ran after her with drawn weapons. She laughed out loud with her childish voice again "Such a shame I can't stop and feast on you! I'm kinda in a hurry right now! SEE YAAAA! A-aaaahhh -" she tripped on a bulged brick at the edge of the roof she was running on and fell down rolling right in the middle of her angry pursuers.
"Oops!" she chuckled, quickly getting back on her feet "Guess I have no other choice then!" slashing the bodies of four soldiers in a row, she said with her voice shivering with excitement. She dodged the strike of a huge blade and slid on the ground between the soldier's feet, appearing right behind him and swiftly slashing through his back. Blood spouting out and covering her all over as she continued cutting flesh and bones, one man after another. The blade of her katanas covered in red and her tongue licking the blood on her lips, she noticed a giant soldier charging at her from behind with an axe about the size of her body.
"Sneaking from behind" she snarled "And you call yourselves the men of honor!"
He dashed his axe at her crossed katanas above her head and mocked "Monsters don't need an honorable death, you scum!"
He was strong, her arms were starting to bend under the pressure he was constantly adding to his strikes. All she could do was blocking his attacks as he was purposely pushing her towards a wall, leaving her no space to run. She cursed as the sound of clashing steels filled her ears again.
"TO HELL WITH IT I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU UGLY SHIT!" she yelled out activating her kagune, hardening one wing she revolved it around her body, and pierced through his stomach with her other wing turned into crystalized mode. The guy's eyes widened in pain and disbelief as he coughed blood. She smirked and harshly pulled out her blade shaped wing from his body. He fell.
"Eeeh? Dead already?! What a bore!" she coldly said as she was disappointed in her opponent's weak defense and nonchalantly looked down at his lifeless body. Turning her body she started running again towards the woods, randomly shooting crystal-red sharp blades from her kagune at the soldiers still following her.
"YOU'RE PUSHING YOUR LUCK TOO MUCH, BLACK SIREN!"
She halted as a sharp rush of pain stung her chest. Her red irises locked on Murata's yellow ones, standing high and steady in front of her, with the tip of his long sword pierced out from her back between her shoulders. She smirked as the shock washed off of her mind "Don't get so cocky now!" she snorted and kicked his body away hard, bending her upper body backwards releasing herself from the sword stuck inside her chest. The wound started to heal within seconds as she charged at him with full force. 'He's strong. I can't afford pushing myself too much. Damn HE'S FAST!' she dodged another strike. He was all over her, attacking from every possible angle, moving almost as fast as Lilou herself. She jumped high and showered him with crystal blades. He deflected most of them, still some managed to pierce through his shoulders and legs. She jumped back down causing the ground crack under her feet, opening her wings for a final blow. 'It has to end NOW!' Her energy was draining.
Her eyes widened in shock. It happened in a second. Her wings got disjointed by his Haki covered blade and they vanished into the air before hitting the ground.
"Arghhhh-"
Blood spouted out of her mouth as the cold sharp steel pierced through her heart. She fell on her knees with her arms still open on the sides.
Murata dragged his sword out of her chest "My apologies for missing your heart the first time." he mocked, swiftly swung his black blade and before she knew it, her legs detached from her body at the knee point. She fell on her face, drowned in her own blood. Her mind was going black.
"No wings to fly" he slammed his foot on her shoulder pressing her against the ground "No legs to run." he mocked again with a creepy voice "You came to the wrong place this time, Monkey D. Lilou!"
Her vision was getting blurry and she was losing her consciousness. His words though, made an image pop into her fading mind.
"No wings- to f-fly?" she coughed more blood and asked with a hoarse voice, smirking at his face through her shoulder blade. A sound of flapping filled the air above them.
His eyes widened in disbelief "Wha-"
"Later, fucker!" she spitted the blood on the ground before his feet and smirked gloriously. A familiar sharp call filling her ears and pink covering her vision, was all she remembered before passing out into the endless darkness.
Staring at the sleeping, purple Den Den Mushi, Law kept tapping his index finger on the wooden desk continuously. He was sitting there in his office with a buzzing sound in his head, waiting for the Den Den Mushi to start ringing. Not that he actually believed it would though. He couldn't help the uncomfortable feeling creeping inside him from the second he opened his eyes in the morning. It's been more than two weeks, and not once she had contacted them during that time. This annoying, uncomfortable feeling has been bugging him through the past two days. He glared at the newspapers from past weeks piled up on his desk, like it was their fault that he was feeling that way. He grabbed the one from two days ago and read the article in the front page for the thousandth time. 'Cover ups! Just write down the real thing you cowards!' he thought annoyed. The article covered the event in an as non-detailed way as possible. Black Siren's last night unsuccessful attempt to invade the East Blue Marine base neutralized by the powerful joined military forces of Vise Admiral Garp and Rear Admiral Murata. Lie! He knew she was sneaking around the base for at least a weak before she escaped. It was a five day trip to the base from where she departed from them, a week at worst, and she only ran away three days ago. Yet there was still no signs of her coming back. It was nothing unusual, though, his guts were telling him something was off. He sighed and headed for the door. He paced through the sub for few minutes, with his mind busy and a deep frown on his face, he eventually found himself outside the navigating room and walked in absentmindedly.
Checking the course and studying the monitors in front of him, Bepo was sitting on his chair. His ears moved as he heard Law's light footsteps entering the room.
"What's up captain?" he asked looking at Law's dark face through his shoulder.
"Nothing important." he nearly whispered.
"Still no calls?"
Law didn't answer the question. He stood next to Bepo and looked at the maps in front of him. "How much longer we have till Loguetown?"
"Tomorrow morning I say."
He nodded his head and turned to leave. He went to the infirmary and checked the freshly refilled cabinets. Antibiotics, painkillers, sedatives, herbs, and everything else needed for a just in case situation was there. He checked on the blood bags, enough F types. And the storage room behind the infirmary held enough cubes filled with severed body parts for her in case she came back hungry. He didn't know why was he checking on these stuff so obsessively, he just felt he has to be ready. For what? He had no idea. Just another guts feeling. Hurried footsteps closing in to the infirmary pulled him out of his thoughts. Clione, one of the three new members of their crew, busted in clumsily and slipped on the metal floor for few inches
"CAPTAIN!"
"Don't yell I can hear you just fine!" he frowned and said grumpily.
"I'M SORRY BUT CAPTAIN! YOU HAVE TO COME WITH ME NOW!" Clione yelled again with widened, horrified eyes. Law tensed and walked forward "What's wrong?"
"IT'S CAPTAIN LILOU! SHE'S U-"
Law ignored the rest and started running up to the deck where everyone seemed to be gathered. From what he was hearing, he knew it was bad. He almost jumped up skipping the last stairs and ran into the upper deck.
"Be careful she's bleeding. Don't pick her up like that baka!"
"Lilou-chan ? Lilou-chan can you hear me?"
"She's unconscious. She's lost a lot of blood! Hurry up get her inside!"
"Move aside I'll carry her in." Bepo said as he leaned down and carefully picked up her slack body.
Law ran towards them. The words dried in his throat and his cold eyes widened as he saw the pink feathers on Sakura's back completely stained with blood.
"Bepo! Carry her to the infirmary! Shachi, Penguin, get the operating room ready." he ordered and they immediately ran inside. "Ikkaku-ya, assist me in the operating room." the brown-haired girl nodded harshly with worried eyes. "Clione-ya, take care of Sakura. Uni-ya, Stay in the navigating room until Bepo gets back."
"Yes captain!" both men said in unison.
Law stormed back into the sub with Ikkaku running after him. He hastily sterilized his hands and hurried to the bed Lilou was laying on. Both of her legs were severed from her body a few inches under her knees and were unstoppably bleeding. He checked more carefully. Thin, pink, curved lines were visible on the skin above her knees "Her legs were gotten severed from here, her body has already started the regenerating. Ikkaku-ya, bring five F type blood bags. Penguin, bring the Rc serums."
He started to sterilize her open wounds and tried to stop the bleeding. There were few more already healed, pale scar marks on her body. The biggest one was right on the place her heart was barely beating.
"How is she still alive?!" Ikkaku asked horrified, staring worriedly at the large scar on her chest as she sat up the blood bags and attached the super-sharp, steel needles to Lilou after Law covered them with Armament Haki.
"She's a Ghoul. She won't die that easily." he said calmly, but a little voice inside his head was telling him not to be so sure. Just seeing her in that state was a painful reminder of how much stronger they needed to get.
Penguin ran towards them and handed the Rc serums and a syringe to Law. He injected two Rc shots into the blood bag that was being transfused to her body. He leaned and stared at her disjointed legs "C'mon heal faster!" he mumbled and kept staring until he saw a slight increase of speed in the regenerating process. He injected three more Rc shots and kept staring at her for minutes with his heart pounding hard in his chest. There was nothing else he could do but waiting for her body to heal for itself. He kept staring until he made sure every single cell to her last toe is grown back perfectly. He let out a relieved sigh "Ikkaku-ya, would you clean her up please? Throw all of her clothes away except for her hat and her coat."
"Ok captain."
"I'll go check up on Sakura." he said as he turned and walked out of the room. Ikkaku stood there, staring at Lilou for few seconds. She was shocked. She had never witnessed such a thing before, and she felt a sense of admiration upon her as she stared at Lilou's pale, peaceful face. She looked like she's simply sleeping, not at all like someone who had just been brought back from the verge of death. It was the first time she was seeing Lilou in person and she wasn't even conscious, yet Ikkaku was feeling a deep kind of respect for her.
"I wish I can become as tough as you are, Lilou-chan!" she whispered and smiled cheerfully as she started to wash the blood off her body.
Law halted soon as he stepped outside the infirmary. The whole crew including Sakura was standing there with worried expressions on their faces, waiting for him to come out. He just stared back at them with his cold grey eyes.
"Captain, will she survive?" Shachi asked with tearful eyes. Law frowned at him
"Of course! You're acting like you don't know her!" he answered annoyed.
"But captain! her legs!" Penguin cried out.
"They're already grown back. Get over yourselves! You look pathetic!" he sent a deadly gaze at them "Now, someone tells me exactly what happened up there." he leaned against the closed door and tucked his hands into his pockets.
"Uni saw her first." said Clione and pointed his finger at Sakura.
"Rouuu" she called smoothly and blinked at Law.
"Yeah, I recognized Sakura from what others described before. Then I called the others on the deck but..." he shivered as he remembered the state Lilou was in at the moment "The second they landed, captain Lilou dropped from her back all covered in blood and she was barely conscious."
"She was conscious?!" Law asked, slightly frowning.
"She was." everyone else nodded in unison.
"I think she was keeping herself conscious the whole time so Sakura could find us." Bepo calmly stated.
"Rouu rouuu!" Sakura shook her head up and down repeatedly. Law was shocked, not that it was affecting his solid expression though.
"Then she tried to say something but she kept coughing blood and I couldn't unders-"
"She said 'bring Law to me'." Penguin said cutting Uni's sentence "Then she completely passed out."
"I see." Law mumbled and readjusted his hat on his messy hair. He looked up and studied their worried faces. Even the ones who still didn't know her were worried about her conditions. He hid his face under the shadow of his hat as he smirked. She had this quality to impress people before even meeting them, 'So much like her' he thought amused.
"She's alright, there's no need to worry. Her conditions are stabilized already. She just needs to rest." he said to them calmly, then he looked into the round golden eyes of Sakura and smiled faintly "You've been very brave, Sakura. Thank you." he said while patting her soft head. Sakura blinked at him and then yawned. "Now leave the area, you're making too much noise!" shaking his tattooed hand in the air he said coldly and headed back into the infirmary.
He placed five cubes on the metal drawer next to a bed in the infirmary, then walked into the operating room and found Ikkaku still sitting next to Lilou's unconscious figure. She turned her face to him "Captain, when will she gain back her consciousness?"
He leaned forward and looked at Lilou's face for a second, then checked the numbers on the monitor next to her bed "She already had. She's just asleep."
Ikkaku's eyes widened "She's asleep?!" she almost shouted with a high tone. Lilou growled in her sleep and threw her arm on her closed eyes. Ikkaku stared at her in disbelief "I can't believe it! It's not possible!" she said confused.
Law shrugged "You'll get used to her. Let's move her to the infirmary."
After placing her on the bed with her meals beside it, he noticed Ikkaku's eyes creeping on the cubes holding severed body parts with a terrified expression on her face. "You'll get used to that too." he said nonchalantly. He was desperately looking for an excuse to send her away. "You better leave now. She'll be hungry when she wakes up, she might go berserk and eat you."
Ikkaku stared at him trying to figure if he's joking. The seriousness in his voice made her body shiver. Law barely managed to hold back himself from laughing at the outcome of his statement. The poor scared woman nodded hastily and ran out of the infirmary at full-speed and closed the door behind her. Law chuckled at the sound of her hurried footsteps getting further outside the door. He pulled his chair closer to her bed and rested his head on his palm.
"At least you made it back in time."
