Chapter 3 - Peacock
Edited: 11/12/2017
Posted: 4/2016
"Is that a mini dragon?"
"No….Well, she might be a dragon? Kinda small for a dragon, but that'd be cool. What if she is a mini dragon? Zoro, she never said! That would be awesome!"
They felt the warm bed they were lying on move when Beta grunted. They blinked their eyes open. Yes, they were wrapped around Beta.
And wherever they were smelled delicious.
"This is Riyo. She's part of our crew. She got hurt when the marines caught her. She needs lots of meat to heal!"
They drifted, letting the conversation soothe them. They were hungry, always hungry as they healed now. Their Alpha would feed them; he was doing a good job caring for them.
{We are alive.}
They ignored the feral.
He was a good Alpha. Good Beta too, toasty warm and he always made sure to keep them steady when he carried them. Alpha forgot about that. A lot.
"Luffy forgot to add that Riyo turned from a woman into that lizard to heal. Anything from the ocean is what she needs, Sanji-kun. Fish, shrimp, crab, sea king, whatever you have we would appreciate it oh-so-much."
"Ah, dear Nami. Did the lovely Miss Riyo eat a devil fruit?"
"A devil fruit? No, not that we know of. She actually loves sea water-the hotter the better."
"That's one way to put it," Beta's voice rumbled next to her.
"Shut it, Zoro. Actually, the poor thing was almost starved to death when she was captured. She could only tell Luffy what she needed before she changed for some reason."
Beta was especially warm today. His steady breathing was comforting around so many strangers. They had put on some weight the last few weeks, and could cling better to Beta, so they didn't need to be inside his shirt any longer. They were still too hungry but no longer had bones protruding under their scales.
But they were interested in this Sanji-human's tone. A sweep of his aura showed he was a ridiculous mess for Loud Woman. He acted like he wanted to mate with her but he felt like that for every female he walked past in the room, at least superficially.
He was doing a horrendous job at his display if that was the case. Is this how all human males acted when they wanted to mate? It had been so long since they had bothered to observe human courting behaviors.
{Ridiculous.}
They could only agree.
[Peacock?] they asked the feral.
It snorted in amusement, still scritching-scratching.
Yes. Peacock. Preening and overbearing, tripping over his own tail feathers in his desire to impress as many females at once as he could.
They could feel Peacock's focus on them. They sent out a tendril of power. Yes, Peacock was broken too, but his broken had been fixed; it was a scar rather than an open wound.
Peacock was strong, and honorable to a fault below all the ridiculousness around females. A Peacock that wasn't completely for show.
They did not know how to feel about that.
As soon as Peacock heard that the white-blue snacks hadn't fed them, he had gone very still. Too still. They didn't need their instinct to know his thoughts on that, with the sudden pungence of adrenaline and rage filling the space around him. His face did not change, but they only needed their nose. He stank with the emotion. Peacock had known true hunger.
The hunger wouldn't have been so bad if human hadn't been losing control of the shields, falling into their mind and jumbling them all up, them and human and the memories.
The human forgot to feed them, then, forgot a lot of things, and they didn't know what to do, and it made them so angry because the human got stuck inside, and they had claws and teeth and it only made it better when they could hunt and crack and tear and destroy outside their confusing head, and…
They jerked, latching their mouth around their front leg. Their teeth were barely out, only enough to feel the pressure. It helped to ground them without human awake.
{Broken beast. Useless,} the Other snarled at them.
"What the hell?!"
They growled at Beta's shocked words as he shuffled them off his chest and into his lap.
They growled at the feral's bitter truth.
Their teeth bit deeper, pressing through scale until it stung.
"Riyo."
They jerked their head, front leg still in their mouth, to look at Alpha across the table.
Alpha's dark eyes were wide and solemn. Disappointed.
They had ruined it. Ruined it all.
{Your Alpha will leave. Too broken. Can't fix. Told you. Stupid.}
They whined deep in their throat. They slid off Beta's-Zoro's-lap and under the table. Their teeth bit deeper until they tasted blood. They keened at the pain.
Hurt them. Ground them.
They were strong, they could go a long time without food, much longer than anything else. It wasn't fun though. It made them cranky and tired. Then human had to fall into the deep sleep.
The human hated the deep sleep. They hated being alone with the feral.
The Loud Woman was there. Chew Toy was there. Alpha. Beta. They all saw. Even Peacock had saw.
Ruined it.
{Stupid animal.}
Alpha suddenly fell to the floor in front of them. It startled them enough they let go of their leg.
Blood dripped slowly down their scales.
They were safe beneath the wooden table and hidden by the long cloth. Hidden from the judging eyes.
Alpha crossed his legs and sat facing them below the table. Small and dark and safe here.
Alpha reached toward them and they flinched back, expecting a punch or slap. Instead they felt Alpha moving their leg and something being pulled tight around it. They glanced at it. Alpha had wrapped one of the small squares of fabric from the table around their leg to stop the blood. They froze in confusion looking from their wrapped leg to their Alpha.
"Riyo." He watched her. Focused. Sad. Resolute. "You said," he started quietly, "when I found you in the cell, that you had hurt yourself. I don't care why you had to, not unless you want to share, but I care that you had to, understand? You shouldn't have to hurt." He paused the cross his arms as he looked at her. "Do you remember what I told you then?"
They startled when they felt Beta slide under the table behind them. Then Loud Woman sat with them, and Chew Toy, and even Peacock crouched to listen to them from behind the cloth. There but not.
Her pit and Alpha's crew and future crew (because they knew how Alpha wanted a cook) under and almost under the table. For them.
{Fools.}
[Our fools.]
They nodded at Alpha. They remembered.
He smiled.
"How can I fix it?"
{Can't. Broken.}
They whined. Shifted closer to Alpha.
Fix it? Help? Alpha helped simply by existing. He helped by being stupid and foolish and brave and carefree and him. But even he couldn't fix this.
This was a kind of brokenness that didn't heal. After the Break...human and the feral and them, all the pieces and parts behind the wall...there were too many thoughts inside their head. Too many in one; one split in too many.
Unless human could accept them all...they would always be broken until one day the pain didn't bring them back.
They wanted their Sigma who was being much more Sigma than before. Their Sigma could fix them. Sigma could help human once he was Sigma as he should be.
{Not worthy of a Sigma,} the feral snarled.
They flinched from the voice. They flattened themselves to the floor and whined because it was true. They were weak and broken.
They shut their eyes and curled into their body. They could feel their almost-Sigma farther down the Line, like the tug of a vivre card, and then they let the sensation go.
They did not deserve nice things.
{Never did. We failed.}
"Riyo, you need to explain it to us. Let us help. We can fix it."
{Human. It is not human. Beast is not human!}
They flinched again. Human was sleeping. They were not Riyo.
Not all broken things can be fixed.
They felt something in their mind shift, pressure and pressure and pressure before it-
Popped.
It was not human.
Its eyes opened and focused on maybe-Alpha. Maybe-Alpha had frozen, a frown growing on his face. He did not speak for a moment, and then-
"You're not Riyo."
The feral smiled back at him with bloody teeth.
The wall that had stood for over two decades with human had its first crack. It would enjoy its time in control.
The cost was a longer slumber for the human, and it wouldn't be able to hold control long. But it had a short agenda, and human sleeping wasn't much of a cost to it at all.
It factored as a positive, in fact.
The human was too sentimental, too contained by her own sense of rules and morals, her own mental blocks constructed of fear.
It had no such limitations.
The human did not seek to push every boundary of their species' many gifts. The human did not accept what they could become.
It did.
It felt the burn and stretch as it used instincts the human and beast could no longer access in order to adapt their body for their new pit. Speed along evolution to fit its needs. The baby pit human and the beast were collecting would need the help.
It had never needed to speak in their changed form in the Before. It had preferred not to be human at all, just as the human and animal had not. But things changed. Such was life. It understood this where the human refused to acknowledge it.
If their pit could not understand them, then it would fix it so they could. Sea queens were the grandmother of the aquatic species. Speech was already there.
It twisted its body to its thoughts, pushed it through a fast forward of the cell growth and decay needed to create the necessary pieces. It was a process that required a master's knowledge of biology, expert control over every aspect of their physiology, and a massive amount of energy. It could only be accomplished with age and the help of somnum's naturally increased cellular activity.
It was not underwent lightly. It was not something the human would ever try because that would mean the human would have to acknowledge it as herself.
Also, the pain was spectacular.
A small price to pay for the benefits. A voice to put the foolish humans in their place.
It hacked and growled. Whined and pressed claws to its throat as it burned and shifted and writhed and changed.
Alpha watched silently. They could feel their throat moving under their skin and scales, jerking and twitching, so they weren't surprised when Loud Woman raised a shaking hand to her mouth, looking pale. Chew Toy had already turned his head away. Beta watched and Peacock waited.
After a few minutes it was done.
"It-" they broke off with a choked cough. Growled. "It," it tried again, and was pleased by the rough but clear words, "is not the human. Riyo is human. It is the Others."
It cocked its head, assessing maybe-Alpha. "They chose you as new Alpha, the human and the animal. It remembers what the human told you when you said you could fix the broken. Do you remember what the human told you, little human boy?" It parroted the words back at Alpha, all sharp edges and anger.
"I am a child compared to you. An ember that will burn or die. And that's my choice. Like it's my choice to help you. And like it was Riyo's choice to live. I only asked. She chose. Now you can choose."
It growled but could not argue such straightforward logic.
Alpha nodded to himself. "How many of you are there?"
"It is many. The question should be how many are free to take control."
"How many can take control?" maybe-Beta asked.
Its tail unconsciously twitched with aggression at the interruption, but maybe-Beta did not flinch. Maybe a good Beta.
"It is one, the Other. They are two. Dumb beast and the human."
"Wait," Loud Woman interrupted, "there are more that Riyo has locked down somehow? With you?"
"Yes," it hissed. Teeth descended further to flash at Loud Woman who thought to interrupt pit. Sharp white spikes to grip and gouge and tear. It did not bite, but only because it was weak from the energy and focus needed for its voice.
"That's a handy trick," Beta said.
It felt the animal pushing for control then. Always greedy. It growled in response. It wanted to test its pit.
[What have you done to human's sleep?] the beast snarled. [You know human will not heal soon!]
Its head jerked to the side as it snapped at the beast in its mind.
"What was necessary," it answered simply.
It twitched and shivered as it fought the beast, but it really was too weak.
Its scales flexed and ruffled like settling feathers before it lost completely.
It was a testament to the tension that no one commented on its scales moving.
{It is not done,} the feral growled.
They knew the Other was weak from breaking the wall and adapting their body and could not fight any longer.
But the feral was right. There would be no fixing the wall. That was for later, though.
"Yes," they answered Beta's comment. Calmer, to Loud Woman, "Other, it is caged behind the wall but free to speak. They are the beast, and they are in control now. Human is sleeping to heal."
"You can actually hear the inflection change between them…" Chew Toy whispered.
"The pronouns are terrifying and telling," Loud Woman added.
Alpha ignored them. "The Other is more dangerous than you."
They smiled, small and pleased, at Alpha. They took no offense to truth. "The Other is feral. It is our instinct, locked and lost behind the wall."
"But now the Other is free somehow?"
"Always fight. Human and them and the Other. They get lost, or human gets lost, in our head and in the memories and in time. The Other is always scratching at the wall. Scritch, scritch, scratching to be free," they whispered. They laid down and curled into themselves. Did not dare look at Alpha. "The Other got stronger when human went to sleep. It made a crack. The pain...it grounds us. Keeps them outside their head and away from the twists and walls and broken inside."
Beta whispered a curse with quiet weight. Loud Woman looked close to tears, and Chew Toy had a pained expression. Peacock outside the cloth radiated pain. For them.
Alpha, Beta, Loud Woman, Chew Toy, Peacock...they all hurt for them. They had forgotten what it felt like to have those that cared.
"I meant it. What I said. I will help you no matter what."
"Help," they scoffed. They chuffed with bitter laughter. "Alpha cannot fix this. Only human. Human will not listen."
Suddenly they had the full attention of the group. Of Alpha.
"What do you mean?"
They cocked their head in confusion. Wasn't it obvious?
"Sigma. Need a Sigma who can stay Sigma. Human is afraid from the Break. Afraid of the Other. What was locked behind the wall. Sigma who is almost Sigma now will fix it if human listens."
"Who's Sigma?" Loud Woman asked.
"Sigma is Sigma. Want the Sigma." They thumped their tail on the floor, teeth extending further in agitation as their claws dug into the wood floor. "Can feel Sigma is almost Sigma this time."
"This time?" Chew Toy wondered out loud.
"This part has no self-control. It moves from thought to thought, desire to desire."
Nami glanced sideways at Zoro's statements. "That's an awfully big concept coming from you. And I think this is a lot more complicated than we'll get from this personality, Usopp."
"Witch."
Peacock got closer. He peeked beneath the cloth.
"Hey, don't talk to Nami-swan like that you overgrown houseplant."
Peacock was overwhelming and suffocating with his female obsession and anger-all for them, not at them, but still too much and far too close in their small safe space.
"Don't! You stupid curly-"
Too late. Beta shifted and tried to stop him but Peacock was already there.
They snapped their head to him and focused on the pale hand reaching too near to Beta, too close to touching them as Peacock reached across.
They growled deep in their throat as they felt their pupils constrict. Their tail lashed out in defense; they would have preferred teeth.
Peacock's reflexes were fast. They had been aiming for the presumptuous fingers. Peacock had twitched the hand out of danger and their tail hit his forearm instead.
The strike was a loud crack. It opened a thin slice deep into the skin that quickly filled with blood. Their tongue flicked out, scenting the split second snap of adrenaline-fear-surprise in Peacock, quickly replaced with regret.
The blood made them ravenous, made them shift restlessly trying to latch onto the scent. Their strike, their kill.
Beta's arms wrapped around them and pulled them into his warmth. They were still hungry.
"Beast." Alpha's voice. They knew what Alpha was going to say. They stopped moving, but lashed their tail grumpily as they stared at the blood. "I need to think of something to call you. Lizard-Riyo? No...let's see. If the scary one is the Other, and Riyo is Riyo, then you'll be...Ryuko! Since you're another part of Riyo. No eating people, Ryuko. Well, not people who make us food."
"That's your criteria, really?"
Chew Toy. They turned their head and stared at him. His fear smelled delicious. Especially when he whimpered and scurried out from under the table.
Alpha frowned at them. "Or people on the crew, Ryuko. I already said that. No eating our nakama."
They turned their head from Alpha. He ruined all their fun.
They were Ryuko now. They had always been another part of human. It was odd to have their own name, but they would agree if it helped Alpha.
They wanted food to heal so human could wake up again and they weren't alone in their head with the feral locked behind the wall and always scritch-tat-scratching at them. But now the wall was cracked maybe it would stop scratching?
They picked up one gnarled signature behind the kitchen doors that reminded them of the Before. They must have been unconsciously scanning the...ship? Weird ship.
They poked at the man curiously with their instinct.
The man poked back with haki in patient amusement. They snorted, choosing to ignore him. He would be too much work to eat while they were healing, and he wasn't a threat to them or their pit.
Peacock gave her an apologetic look where he was peering beneath the table. "I apologize, Ryuko. I shouldn't have gotten so close." He dropped the cloth and moved away.
A timid voice broke the silence around them, although they could only see Chew Toy and Peacock's shoes now.
"She doesn't like to be touched by anyone other than Zoro or Luffy. She ran me down and tried to take a chunk out of my thigh when I got too close a few days ago, and I'm actually on the crew."
When did that happen? They must have been unconscious at the time. They flicked their tongue out to taste more of the prey and blood scent.
Hungry.
Their stomach rumbled, and they shifted in their Beta's arms.
"Come on," he muttered. He lifted them around his shoulders until he could crawl out from under the table as well. He took a seat in a nearby chair as everyone else followed.
They brought their tail to their mouth to lick at the few drops of blood there. A sheep-human gagged somewhere in the room. They were too tired to look for them.
They rumbled at Beta, nudging their head under his chin in demand before dropping it in exhaustion. That took too much energy. They may have pushed too much. The Other, too.
"Food," they whined.
Alpha's laughter rang out. "Sanji, she's hungry! She needs food to get better."
"I'll bring you your dishes momentarily."
Peacock was sincerely contrite. He wasn't scared of them or enraged that they attacked him or angry at his wound, although they could feel the pain of the cut in the changes of his scent. It was deep and they did not regret it.
Peacock was an odd one. Not quite like Beta or Alpha, but strong. They may keep him around. They could feel Alpha's interest in him, purely for his food skills. Alpha, they had learned, could eat more than a titanic sea king when he chose.
"Don't bother, eggplant. I have a fresh seafood bake here. Barely cooked, super-heated, and seasoned with a seafood broth."
"How'd you know that, shitty geezer?"
Ah, the gnarled one. He set a huge bowl of delicious smelling food in front of Beta and them. It was almost half as large as them and filled to the brim.
The gnarled one bowed deeply.
"My peace and protection to you, queen. It is my honor to feed you as you heal."
"Manners," they happily trilled, nodding in acknowledgement.
"Manners? What does that mean and what's with the pledge, geezer? Are there certain rules we're missing here?" Beta grumbled.
They dropped to Beta's lap and then climbed onto the table. They wrapped their whole body around the bowl greedily, sucking up the heat from the ceramic, before shoving their snout in to slurp up the broth and rich pieces of meat.
"Don't worry about it if she hasn't felt the need to tell ya. You. Strawhat. I couldn't help but overhear your issue with the queen. Do you know anything about her?"
They raised their head to look at the gnarled one carefully. Yes, for a human he was of the right age. He may know the truth.
"Gnarled One," they stated clearly. "Their pit. Go away."
He raised a bushy eyebrow at them. "If you explain why you need the Sigma, they can help look."
They hissed at him. Their scales fluffed out, flashing bright purple and blue in warning. "Sigma ours."
"Wait, you know what she's talking about, shitty geezer?"
The gnarled one smirked. "Of course. Hard to miss something like her."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Peacock snarled.
"Ever heard of sea queens?" The gnarled one smiled at the frozen faces.
Chew Toy spoke first.
"Sea queens? They're a myth. No one's seen one in over two-three hundred years! Almost nothing is known about them, besides the rumors that they're territorial and aggressive, more dangerous than sea kings or most any other sea creatures. They're supposedly huge, bigger than an island. How could they hide for that long? It's not like they could hide in plain-" Chew Toy's frantic waving slowed and stopped as he watched them unwrap from around their empty bowl and settle in a loose curl in the center of the table. "-plain sight."
Ah, Chew Toy was more clever than they thought. Or had a refined sense of self-preservation. Probably the latter.
"I suppose she's a devil fruit user?" the gnarled one pushed.
"The opposite," Loud Woman said in a shocked whisper.
A quick sweep of the table let them know that Beta was catching on now, surprised but strangely proud of the news. Betas were so odd.
Alpha was still confused; Chew Toy was paralyzed with fear and shock; Loud Woman was torn between fear and horror; Peacock was assessing them; the Gnarled One was content with a job well done.
"Hiding in plain sight," Beta muttered.
"Wait, what do you mean? What's that have to do with Riyo and Ryuko?"
"Luffy, Ryuko really is a mini dragon. And a really freaking big dragon, I think, when she wants to be. She's a sea queen. It's why she can change from human to dragon."
"What? Really? That's SO COOL. She really is a mystery dragon!"
Loud Woman hit Alpha in the back of the head. Yeah, Alpha deserved that one.
"I can tell you what I heard about sea queens in my time sailing."
They tensed, ready to tell the Gnarled One where he could shove what he thought he knew. Their new voice would be good for something.
"No."
They looked at Alpha.
"I don't care about what you know about Riyo, Ryuko, Other, the Grand Line, or anything else. When she's ready she'll share what she wants to and if that means nothing then that's fine. She's my nakama now and that's all that matters."
The Gnarled One was happy. He had expected that.
Humans were weird.
"Just one thing then. A warning, of sorts. Sea queens are notoriously picky with who they allow in their family groups, and it is a great honor to be included. Once they've accepted you, it's for life, and you won't find a better protector. Ever. It's a double edged sword, because when theirs is threatened? There's no limit to what they'll do to protect it."
They sat up on the table. The Gnarled One was walking on thin ice. Their tail began lashing in warning.
"If you can find the Sigma and-"
Her tail slammed down, making everyone but the Gnarled One jump in surprise. There was the audible sound of wood cracking over their drawn out hiss.
Their claws extended, their spikes slid out of their back and their teeth fully lengthened until they curved over their jaw in needle sharp points.
Their tail lashed dangerously side to side, daring the human to say more.
"That's even more handy." Beta.
"Eep!" Chew Toy.
"She gets scarier?!" Loud Woman.
"SO COOL!" Alpha.
"Huh." Peacock.
The human had no right to speak of anything so private. Their mate choice was only for pit to know. No one but pit was safe to know. Pit would help find this new maybe-Sigma and help to protect the Sigma who was almost Sigma.
{Never. Unlovable. Broken.}
They ignored the feral. They could feel the Sigma. They were close. Soon.
The gnarled one smirked at her and bowed his head slightly. "My apologies, queen. And this is the other side of the sea queen's form. Gentle with family, seemingly defenseless until provoked. Keep this in mind: their number one offense is their appearance. Underestimate them once and they'll rip out your throat. Or worse."
They grinned at the gnarled one. "Clever human. Now go away."
They felt Alpha reaching for them, and they lurched away, growling deep in warning. "Poison."
They made certain Alpha watched them retract their claws and spikes and shrink their teeth before they padded over to let him place them back on his shoulders. They gummed at his fingertips happily once they were settled.
"Okay, claws, teeth, and spikes are dangerous." He suddenly squashed her head against his chest. "But you're so awesome!"
"I've seen similar spikes on different ocean fish for latent defense. They're usually filled with neurotoxins. I'll get your food, everyone, and a new table."
"And sake, dartboard brow!"
"Stuff it, you overgrown plant! The lovely Ryuko may like you, but your dumb ass will get what I damn well serve! All of the men have to pay! And you owe us for the table you shitty marimo. The lovely ladies are on the house, my dears."
They could feel Beta's annoyed anger at Peacock before Beta shouted, "How is the table my fault?!"
That was settled. They would keep Peacock. He was entertaining and good for Beta to relax.
"Thank you, Sanji-kun!"
They were falling back into darkness. Maybe there was a pot big enough in the kitchen for them to nap in later?