Chapter 02 - Chew Toy
Edited: 11/12/2017
Posted: 4/2016
They woke to steady rocking.
Felt good to feel scales and legs and tail again.
Where was human? They peered around their mind, ignoring the scratching at the wall.
Ah, human was sleeping in their head. The long sleep where they healed. Good. Human had been stubborn not healing for so long.
"What the hell is that? Is it even alive?"
They slitted their eyes open at the unknown voice. Stayed relaxed, though. Had to assess; they were weak. Must protect human.
Their skin itched; they were shedding the first of many layers to heal the physical damage. That was good.
But itchyitchyitchy.
They clung tighter to their perch when it moved. A careful inhale brought the scent of steel and sweat and sake.
Beta. Safe.
It took them a moment to catalog their sluggish body. They were half under Beta's shirt, their tail coiled around his waist. They came up and over one shoulder, around the back of his neck, to wrap around the other shoulder. Their head was laying on Beta's chest.
{You've become a giant, scaly scarf.}
[Bite me,] they snapped back at the feral one.
Sharp teeth flashed in a warning behind the wall.
A hazy memory of Beta protecting them from a circle of blue-white snacks at the awful, cold, cage island surfaced.
Zoro. Yes. Beta, protector for the pit and second to Alpha. That meant they were almost halfway to a complete pit.
{Weak. It needs no one. Pit is weak.}
[It can shut up,] they growled back.
"Hey! Don't talk about Riyo like that, Usopp! She's part of our crew and she's not dead! She moved, see!"
Alpha, defending them against the voice they didn't recognize. The faintest tremor in Alpha's tone, a tremor only they could hear.
It made them ache.
Alpha had been afraid. Afraid he wouldn't help them right? This was their first time awake.
The human was sleeping inside, asleep in all the broken places in their head. Did their new Alpha want the human back?
Was he afraid of them now that they looked more like themselves? Did he think they were a monster?
The grogginess lifted slowly and they reached out with their natural power, assessing Alpha, assessing this Usopp human.
Humans had Observation Haki, at least their human did, as well as Armament, but this was their own skill. It let them know who was safe, who could be trusted, what could safely be hunted and eaten and what was too dangerous and needed to be avoided while they healed.
Usopp was weak and cautious. Hardly even a snack. But he had a core of promise that could grow if given time and challenge. Alpha would know this.
They heard the feral scoff before it spoke. {Eat him. Weak. Useless.}
They growled out loud, and everyone froze around them, even Beta.
[They're in charge. Human left it behind the wall.]
{For now.}
They ignored the threat. The feral was strong. Strong enough that it might break free while human slept and healed. They could only wait and see.
The feral one was a part of them, even though they knew human did not like it. It was a part they tried to avoid. It wasn't right after the Break, locked behind the wall with the rest of the too-broken bits.
A breeze blew by as they lifted their head to look at the small group around them. They snuggled tighter into the heat of Beta.
They liked this Beta. He was warm and strong and steady and made a nice roost for them.
They blinked at the humans. A female with red hair and a male with a big nose. Beta placed a warm, callused palm against their snout.
They leaned into the touch.
He scratched at their itchy face scales.
They purred.
"She was caught by the marines. They beat her. Almost starved her to death. She was human and then changed into this lizard thing." They opened their mouth and gummed Beta's fingers for that comment. No teeth. Teeth and claws and poison were for enemies, but they were certainly not a lizard thing.
"What the-what was that for?" he grumbled. "Whatever." Beta shrugged his shoulders as he wiped the spit on his shirt. "She warned Luffy about the change; she told him it'd help her heal."
The deep baritone of Beta's voice as he spoke lulled them further into the heat of his hand and the comfort of pit. His words were even as he spoke, but they felt the coiled rage deep inside beneath the calm. They had chosen a very good Beta-protector-heater-roost.
Human hadn't been able to explain what they were before human slept. And they doubted Alpha would have understood. They supposed they would have to get used to lizard for now. Their pit didn't know better.
They reached out lazily to the area around them, comfortable the humans around Alpha and Beta were not a threat. They categorized anything of interest as they relaxed into Beta's shoulder and chest again.
This island was ridiculously normal.
"Wait, they beat her? Starved her? You guys never told me that. I thought she was supposed to be that skinny or something."
The red haired female human spoke. They blinked at her. She was lying.
How interesting.
She hadn't really thought that, but she had wished she could believe their peeling skin and scales stretched taut over bone was truth. Odd human.
She was not a threat, but she made them uneasy. Not pit, but Alpha was comfortable with her. Beta was cautious, but that was normal for Betas.
The woman was full of sorrow and hatred. A sort of brokenness that had never had the chance to heal; it always cracked open before it could close.
The feelings set their protective instincts on edge. They weren't sure if they wanted to shield the woman or defend against her. Injured prey was the most dangerous.
The woman was haunted by some kind of loss. They knew that sorrow, helplessness, hatred, and rage all too well.
"I'll help however I can with it. I hate seeing animals hurt-"
Mmm, the one that smelled like prey the longer they walked. Uso-something?
{Chew Toy.}
They huffed at the feral. It kept scratching at the wall. Fine. Chew Toy. He would be Chew Toy if Alpha insisted on keeping him.
"Her, Usopp. She's a lizard right now but she can be human shaped too."
Such a good Alpha.
"Uhhh...how is that possible? Um, okay. I'll help even scary-weird animal-humans, I guess."
"Great!" Alpha started talking far too fast, over excited in his desire to care for them. "We need a big pot of boiling sea water-not regular water, she said it had to be fresh sea water or it wouldn't work-large enough to fit her in. The one we had kind of got knocked overboard earlier today."
"Yeah, when you fell overboard to chase a fish. You forgot you're a hammer, dumbass."
They chuffed against Beta's neck in amusement as he said this. That sounded like Alpha. Alpha should wait for when human woke up again, then they could Change together and Alpha wouldn't need to worry about falling in, they would always catch him, and they could protect him if he wanted to lay in the water.
"We need as much fish, shrimp, sea king, or any other seafood as you have. Oh, and a fireplace with coals to let her bake in. Bunked? Banged?"
"Banked, Luffy."
"Right! Thanks, Zoro! A banked fire! And...something else, what was it...Oh! Some rough gravel she can roll in to put in her pot at night while she boils!"
Chew Toy had stopped walking. "Are you trying to heal her or tenderize and cook her?"
"Don't ask questions, long nose! Snap to it! She's been cold for too long now!"
The broken woman. Yelling right in their sensitive ear. So loud.
They turned their head and snapped in front of the woman's face to show their displeasure at the high pitched screeching. They weren't trying to hurt. No teeth.
{So loud. Loud Woman.}
Yes, so loud. And now silence. They were getting sleepy again. They agreed with the feral one; broken woman would be called Loud Woman.
Beta had stopped walking when Chew Toy did after they snapped. They liked the rocking to help them sleep; it reminded them of the ocean currents.
They used their tail to tug at Beta's torso, pulling him forward. Beta grumbled, but he walked again.
Perfect.
"Ah, hah, hah. Right," said Loud Woman much quieter. "I'll help you get all of that, Usopp."
"Uh, yeah. Thanks. We're going now. Far, far away. Nami, right?"
Usopp hadn't known what to think of the lizard-girl called Riyo. She hadn't seemed like a real person. A little dangerous and a little weird, but not human (especially not when she looked an awful lot like a six foot version of the sea lizards that sometimes sunned themselves on the west side of the island).
Then he watched her head snap up from Zoro's chest to where Luffy lay beneath the keel of the ship on the beach.
He watched her slide off Zoro's shoulders and walk down the incline as if the dozens of pirates swinging swords and shooting guns and screaming around her didn't even exist.
He never saw her obviously evade anything. She made it all seem as if it was her complete choice where she walked, slowly and methodically, along the sand.
Which happened to avoid every shot and swing perfectly, sometimes by centimeters.
And he watched her sit at Luffy's side calmly, her upper body balanced on her hind legs, tail curled around her feet primly.
When the creepy-scary hypnotist guy looked at her, she stared back.
And then Usopp knew.
An animal could not display that much understated skill. An animal could not remain so calm in such a high stress environment.
An animal could not stare the hypnotist down with the promise of a slow, painful, and bloody retaliation.
Without speaking a word. Without moving a muscle. Without even blinking.
And Usopp could only shudder and thank whatever being was listening that she was on their side.