Chapter 13 - Fraying

Updated: 01/2018

Published 01/2017

AN: A lot happening here as I'm trying to push us forward to Enies, Sabaody, and Marineford. I have SO many plans for those arcs. This fic has consumed my brain, but damn work has been making me be an adult and cutting into writing time; I'm getting these out quick as I can. Thank you to all of the faves, follows, and reviews! They keep me going! Here's to 2018!

#o0o#

Riyo learned in the next week that Robin picked up a lot more than most from any conversation or interaction, no matter how innocuous or absurd.

The tiniest tells given through gesture and expression and what was spoken or left unanswered were collected, deconstructed, studied, and classified. Riyo could practically see Robin's wonderful mind notating each of them in a mental profile; Robin's personal playbooks for later use as she saw fit.

It was an impressive skill both terrifying and a little, tiny bit endearing. The woman was a master of her craft. Those skills had been cultivated solely to defend herself as a child, teen, and now as an adult when no one else could or would, but they were no less for the cause of their creation.

Riyo's hand tightened on the worn grip in her palm as she threw her fishing line out with a whip of her arm.

"Hey, watch it!" Usopp shouted behind her.

Riyo didn't even look back. The sniper had been tinkering with a pile of gears and wires on the deck all afternoon. She knew he hadn't moved.

"The line was three feet over your head, longnose!"

[Chew Toy?]

"No," Riyo sighed at Ryuko. The beast was bored and had been trying to stir up trouble all day. "We are not referring to Luffy's crew as food."

[Toy, not food. Fun. Human would live.]

The Other snorted. The fact it acknowledged the stupidity of the statement at all showed how bored it was as well.

Riyo tipped her head back to stare at the sky because even she got exasperated with her own head.

"No."

Usopp grumbled something unflattering behind them. She ignored him.

Thinking of Robin, Riyo could feel the assassin-historian's gaze on her. Robin was lounging beneath an umbrella a few feet away with a book in her hand. It looked like a light medical text, so probably something she borrowed from Chopper. Riyo wasn't the only one who had noticed it covered the mapping of key pressure points and the main arteries in the human body if Zoro's scowl as he walked by earlier for his daily nap on the aft deck was any indication.

For all she watching Riyo, because Riyo knew she had been, Robin had yet to say anything beyond the most basic social niceties when living in close quarters. Everyone had learned to mostly ignore Riyo's arguments with herself-and it was comforting to know the crew wouldn't judge her no matter how weird those conversations got-but Robin was new. Robin was a historian and knew Riyo was a sea queen. Robin should be first in line for the questions, the least of which was Riyo's random verbal commentary she had fallen into on the Merry around the crew.

It was actually a bit worrying. Riyo could feel Robin's curiosity periodically across the bond-a pit bond whose curiosity was strong enough to pluck the connection between them, that had been new for Riyo-but Robin never said a word.

Riyo knew why. She had figured it out a day or two into Robin slotting herself into life on the crew; it was the ease she did it with that tipped Riyo off, actually. All of Robin's interactions with the entire crew were superficial; they were taken right from those playbooks and twisted to make it seem Robin was investing more than the woman was actually giving.

Riyo wasn't sure if knowing the cause made the restraint on Robin's behalf worse or better. It didn't help the reason was one Riyo could have seen herself using less than a year ago. Such a simple reason, and the cause of so much strife in life: Robin didn't want to get involved with the crew. Robin didn't want to let herself like the crew because Robin had been betrayed so often she didn't know how to trust like that anymore. Alone was better than the ache when Robin had to leave again. Alone was safe.

Riyo would be addressing that sooner rather than later with her epsilon. There was no alone for Robin anymore. Not once Luffy accepted, and certainly not once Riyo claimed her for her own.

Riyo took a deep breath and let some of the tension out on the exhale. The thoughts were only making her general angry mood worse. Riyo was beginning to get the unsettled, edgy sense of confinement under her skin, an itch of irritation between her own personalities and the crew. Riyo had forgotten the chafe she could get being willingly or forcefully restrained to a small space, even if it was with her pit around her. Sea queens were ultimately introverts and singular predators. The constant stimuli, as much as she was coming to love the crew's antics, could still be a bit much. Some days she needed silence and the crushing press of the sea above her head and the endless darkness of the sea floor around her.

It didn't help the Other hadn't made too much of a show, even though Riyo knew it had regained its strength. There was a massive break in the wall; the Other could push at her anytime. A large part of the chafe and tension was waiting for the Other to make its move.

There was an ominous flash of teeth and a rumble of a laugh from the Other.

Riyo really hated herself sometimes.

She sighed and stared down at the soft waves on the water.

There better be some sea king down there. She needed to burn off this energy before she snapped and did something she'd regret.

The sound of Robin turning a page caught in her ear. Riyo focused on Robin's bond, centering herself on the woman's calming influence. Her bond with Robin was the most placid, always still and calm. But there were spikes; it was like a door opening in the dead of winter and letting the heated air spill out into the night, giving you a glimpse of the warmth and light inside before closing as quickly as it opened-leaving nothing but the cold night air again.

Riyo loved the moments Robin let the warmth and light shine across the bond. They were usually displayed by her sense of humor, filling conversational gaps with her gallows comments to shocking effect...mostly for her own amusement.

Those warm spikes were something Riyo hoarded like her brightest treasures. Even if Robin's face was serene while she delivered the lines-and Riyo knew they were lines chosen for their specific effect-Riyo knew the light and warmth behind them. Riyo had glimpses of the real Robin at those times.

Oh, there was also the fact the Other adored Nico Robin.

Riyo still wasn't sure how she felt about that.

{Survivor. Alpha Protector. Mine,} the Other said slowly, as if Riyo were stupid.

"We are aware," Riyo answered as slowly to annoy it.

Yes, Riyo, Ryuko, and the Other knew Robin saved Luffy's life in the desert.

But that would be their own little secret.

A life debt to a Yonko and now someone known as the Devil. Riyo's life since meeting Monkey D. Luffy was certainly getting interesting.

As Riyo was contemplating options for those debts her fishing line snapped taut. It was so fast she was thankful she had been standing on the deck and leaning with her elbows on the railing; she had to brace the pole against the railing and yank back with both hands.

It took a considerable amount of her strength in her human form to pull against the weight of the unfortunate sea life that decided to take the bait. She grinned in anticipation.

After some struggle that brought most of the crew over to watch, a massive sea king surfaced...and kept surfacing. It was easily twice the size of the Merry.

There were startled shouts and yells.

"Impressive," Robin said next to her. The assassin hadn't moved from her spot, only tipped her book back to see.

Riyo grinned at Robin before looking at the enraged sea king.

"You're about to have a really bad day," Riyo stated to its ugly mashup of a fish-feline-snake face.

It snarled at her, opening its mouth to display fangs as long as her whole body.

Her claws slid out in anticipation.

"Luffy, I got you a snack!" she yelled over her shoulder at the bouncing-literally-captain.

"Shishishishishi! Awesome!"

#o0o#

Mock Town was a mess.

It was an all-out, drunken, brawling mess.

They ducked bottles, swords, and bar fights spilling into the street every few steps and they were only a few dozen yards into town.

The sheer testosterone floating on the air was making Riyo nauseous. It was fast making her want to raze the entire town to the ground, especially after biting her tongue with the asshole at the hotel.

She was still in a bit of a foul mood.

A scraggly pirate, more liquor than brains, cat-called at Nami as they came near.

"He-ey, pr'ty lahdee, nie-sh ti-"

The man was knocked unconscious, thrown in a pile of putrid garbage in a small alley to their right, and Riyo was back to shadowing her Theta before Nami even had the chance to pick more than the heckler's hair color out.

[My Theta,] Ryuko snarled in their mind.

"Mine," Riyo mumbled to herself. Her eyes never stopped darting around the crowded street for the next threat, which meant she couldn't miss Zoro's frown at her over his shoulder.

Zoro and Luffy were walking ahead of Nami and her, the swordsman keeping the rubber ball of energy from running after every shiny thing his attention span could flit towards. It was a lot of things.

"You two fine?"

Nami waved him off. Riyo could feel Nami's studied resignation over their bond. Riyo hated the fact her Theta was so used to being objectified. Nami had learned to turn it into a weapon, in much the same way Riyo used her own size and appearance as a facade, but that did not make it any more acceptable to Riyo.

Nami was a person, her Theta, their navigator, Luffy's nakama. Theirs.

Riyo smiled, tight-lipped and blade sharp, at Zoro. Too edgy to think to not do it, Riyo pushed the protective anger and righteous fury at the town bubbling in her chest across her bond to Zoro.

The swordsman's stride barely faltered as he glanced back at her. He felt her push.

The bond didn't go two ways.

The bond was never designed to go two ways.

Bonds were meant only for a sea queen to monitor her pit. They weren't telepathic or empathic-Riyo had already screwed that up-and they sure as hell didn't go two ways. The push was only instinctive because it was what she would do with another-

[DEAD.]

Riyo snapped out a hand to grab Nami's shoulder as her knees collapsed.

[Deaddeaddead-all dead. Dying. Screaming-]

{Quiet, animal! Fool!}

The Other shoved at Ryuko, which meant it shoved at Riyo. Riyo shoved back and for a moment the Other fought, testing her will against its own, before it slowly subsided.

Ryuko was left a keening mess of emotion and memories and dragging Riyo down with it if she didn't untangle herself from the beast.

"Dead," Riyo hissed between her teeth. "All dead," she whispered over and over. She mentally reached in and tugged herself away from Ryuko; she forced it away into its box to calm down. She couldn't catch a full breath until the door was shut on the memories playing through Ryuko's mind.

"Riyo, are you okay?"

Riyo felt Nami's hands cupping her face. She wasn't sure how long her Theta had been trying to get her attention.

Some time. People were staring.

Riyo focused on Nami's worried face inches from her own. She nodded slowly at her Theta.

"Yeah. Moment. Shouldn't've been able to do it."

"Do what, Riyo?" Nami asked. Quiet. Too kind. Such a good Theta.

"I want a hug."

Nami didn't ask anymore. She curled Riyo into her arms and held her tight. Riyo breathed in the smell of ink and metal and tangerines. Neither of them cared who saw them. Alpha and Beta were there. They'd keep them safe. Was what Alpha's and Beta's were for.

After a few seconds, Riyo felt balanced enough to pull back from Nami.

"Thanks," she muttered.

She stood up and felt Luffy grab her hand to help her; she saw Zoro do the same for Nami, giving her a hand to her feet like a real gentleman.

She should give Zoro shit for that later in front of Sanji.

Her thoughts still felt all floaty.

"You okay now, Riyo?" Luffy asked with a small frown. Concern. Worry. Love. Such a good Alpha.

She nodded. "Yeah. Figured out another impossibility for the bonds is all."

Zoro frowned. "What you did with me?"

"I shouldn't have been able to do that," she trailed off uncertainly. Then, because this was her pit and she wasn't alone anymore, "It brought up some memories I'd rather forget. Other and Ryuko get a little messed up when that happens. Have to separate us all to cool down."

Luffy's frown deepened for a moment. Nami and Zoro, mostly Nami, looked concerned but understanding.

"That's okay, Riyo!" Luffy said out of the blue. His frown was gone. "We'll make some new happy memories for you, and then you guys can all think about those whenever you get sad, and the sad ones won't hurt so much! Let's get to the Sky Island and make new memories for Riyo! Captain's orders!" Luffy said-well, ordered.

Who could argue with that logic?

"Aye, captain," she said softly.

Luffy beamed at her; she was happy to let the memories be chased away in the light of his smile.

#o0o#

They were walking up to the bar when Riyo felt it.

So much for Luffy's attempt at happier memories.

She jerked Luffy and Zoro to a stop a few steps away from the bar door, tight enough her claws sliced partially through the back of their clothes.

"Riyo?"

Nami crowded closer to her side. The navigator placed a hand on her arm.

"He's here," Riyo bit out.

There was a wordless roar, a rushing wave of building higher and higher.

Her hands tightened, her claws biting through cloth, through scale, and into skin.

He was here. Why was he here?

She knew Ace was close to him, but not this close. Not like this.

"Luffy." Riyo's voice was steady, completely at odds with the chaos building in her mind.

The Other decided to make its move.

There was pressure. Pressure riding the building waves as the Other shoved and shoved and shoved against her control.

Riyo bit out a sound of pain. She dropped her hold on Zoro's shirt to tangle the hand in her hair and pull tight, a way to distract and ground herself. The Other receded; regrouping.

{It will break the human. Break the human and take control. Kill the Black hair heart traitor.}

Riyo wanted to. Seas, she wanted to let go and let the Other kill Blackbeard.

She promised her Alpha.

"Al-Luffy," she cut herself off. Caution. Promise. "I need you to throw m-me," she stuttered on another grunt of pain as the Other shoved angrily. Pressure built again; the Other knew what she was doing. "Throw me," she bit out, "through the building."

"What."

Zoro stared at her. The word was a demand, not a question.

Riyo opened her bond to him as she had earlier. She let him into the wave of pain and pressure and rage as the Other seethed. As the Other fought for control.

He grunted at her, his hand spasming on the sword handle he held.

"Throw me. Through. The buildings." Riyo said again to Luffy, hand jerking in her hair as the Other roared.

"Do it," Zoro added.

She yanked on Luffy's vest, bending him impossibly backwards to stare at her with wide eyes when he didn't move immediately. "Throw me through the building. All the buildings. Through a tree. Take down the whole seas-damned forest. I don't. Fucking. Care-but distract me."

Before she did something they were all going to regret. Or the Other did.

If Riyo had to stay here and see her crew interact with that sea king shit chugging blobfish shagging slab of meat bag crunch she would let the Other out and they would break her promise to Luffy.

If Luffy could distract her, could distract Blackbeard and his men, the rat bastard would move on with his day. Teach had no reason to know anything about Luffy or the Strawhats. He had no reason to touch her pit.

"What?" Nami snapped at them all. "Luffy you cannot throw-!"

"Please," Riyo bit out, her whole body jerking into Luffy as the Other raged forward again. "I promised," she whispered into her captain's shoulder, closing her eyes to ride out the Other's push against her control.

Riyo opened her eyes in time to catch Luffy's lowered brows and deepening frown.

"Okay."

"Luffy!" Nami yelled. "You don't agree! We're supposed to stay out of-"

But Luffy did agree, and once he set his mind on something it would not be changed. Not in the two seconds Nami had to come up with an argument.

Luffy picked Riyo up with both hands, planted his legs, leaned forward and then arched back, stretching his arms behind his head in a parody of his gum gum rocket.

His arms stretched until Riyo had to kick herself off the wall of the building across the street; she heard a crack-used too much force-as she shot forward.

"Riyo!" Nami shrieked.

Riyo only caught Luffy's face, twisted in concentration, and Zoro's worried frown, as she shot over their heads; Nami was turned with her back to Riyo to chew out Luffy loud enough to draw the attention of most everyone in the street.

So much for staying out of trouble.

Riyo slammed into the bar wall in a tumble of wood and stone. The world was nothing but tumbling colors, splintering wood, startled faces (massive body, dirty black hair, betrayer, hate-destroy-eradicate), tinkling glass, the gagging, overwhelming stench of alcohol, more walls, shattered things, buildings, shocks of light and sounds and shouts, and out into blinding daylight.

The world jerked to a halt with a thundering crack as she collided with something that stubbornly refused to give. A moment filled with ominous creaking and groaning later and the world tilted as the trunk of the massive tree slowly gave under the stress.

Riyo was left sprawled on top of the stump. She realized in the ensuing stillness she had punched halfway through a tree easily half as wide as the Merry's deck.

The world seemed abnormally silent after the ground-shaking thud of a centuries old giant toppling.

Could also be the ringing in her ears as the world shifted and the sky swirled uncomfortably around her.

The Other and Ryuko were as disoriented as her and blessedly silent.

She felt the dark-hated-wrong presence moving further away from her pit after another minute or so, and then away from the bar and out of town.

All she could smell was alcohol. Every movement produced grinding glass and splinters. She was perfectly whole, her scales had taken the force, but the pale blue sundress, one of her own, was in tatters. She was also pretty sure she was more flammable than the tree she was laying on.

She blinked at the spinning clouds.

Worth it.

#o0o#

Riyo managed to refashion the scraps of her dress into a rough approximation of a halter top and skirt. It would cover the necessary bits and keep Nami from lecturing her on acceptable dress codes in public. Again.

She found running water nearby, barely a brook, and washed off the stickiness of the dried alcohol and the clinging wood chips and glass. It didn't erase the smell of the booze soaked into the fabric but she didn't have to feel her scales and skin sticking together and pulling oddly anymore.

She made her way back into the bar by following her own trail of destruction. She whistled as she stepped through the debris. The bar, three more storage buildings behind it, two small trees that were still considerable, and the final giant that stopped her.

Riyo stepped into the main bar room in time to see the same assholes from the hotel-in time for the leader to smash Luffy's head through the bar.

Today was not her day.

She forced herself to stand still; Zoro had already pressed a blade to the man's neck.

"Riyo!" Nami yelped. Nami quickly stepped over the broken bits of glass and wood and latched herself to Riyo's arm. Riyo gave the girl a bemused smile; Nami probably thought she needed restraining.

Theta was adorable; Riyo was pissed enough she could lay out this island with her aura alone.

Luffy stood up, a hand on his hat and the other loose at his side. Riyo could feel the fight gearing up.

"This your backup, Strawhat?"

Luffy glared at the man as Zoro stepped back. "You ready to fight?"

"Fight?" the blond laughed. Riyo didn't need to hear the unhinged edge to know he was a little boy playing at bully, drunk on his own power.

"Luffy, he's not worth it," Nami interrupted. "They can't help us, anyway." The navigator flushed slightly, and Riyo was not happy to see the normally confident woman so cowed. It wasn't hard to guess they had thought Nami a fool for asking about a sky island.

"Not a surprise little boys playing at pirate don't know anything about the sky islands," Riyo said easily. Nami blinked up at her, startled at Riyo's words.

Riyo didn't usually feel the need for verbal battle; she was more an 'actions speak louder than words' kind of person. In this case, she didn't trust herself to use actions. She'd hate to disappoint Luffy with a bloodbath against such weak-willed children because she was having a bad day.

"You another worthless dreamer?" the man who had attacked Luffy turned as he asked the question. When he actually caught sight of her he paused one second before laughing. Laughing so hard he had to lean a hand on the bar, completely ignoring Luffy and Zoro.

Luffy and Zoro let him ignore them. Riyo could see it in Luffy's eyes, Zoro's slight scowl, and feel it across their bonds. This man who laughed at dreams and took people at face value was weak. Someone who could move and breathe but would never live. Winning against someone like that wasn't winning at all; it wasn't even a fight. Using their strength against him would be insulting what they stood for as men and pirates.

Riyo understood the snub; didn't mean she was going to agree with it. Your opponent had to have some form of conscience for non-violence to work. The purpose was lost on people like this. Riyo understood upholding your own honor, but she also subscribed to the age-old pirate code of revenge.

Riyo raised an eyebrow at the man as he finally calmed down. "You insulted my crew. You attacked my captain and mocked my navigator." My pit. My Alpha. My Theta.

He laughed again as he stared at her. "Weak pirates like them make us strong ones look bad!"

Riyo wasn't laughing. "Only real pirates I see are my own crew. I don't recognize you. Do you even have a bounty?"

Riyo was the first to admit the bounty system was a load of sea king shit from the World Government, but it was a convenient point of contention to use.

"I'm Bellamy the Hyena! Bounty of 55,000,000! You consider yourself a pirate, doll, and you don't even know me?"

Riyo felt the Other's pinpoint focus; Ryuko bared its teeth.

The Other hated that pet name. They all hated it almost as much as they hated the marines and the World Government.

Today was really, really not their day.

Bellamy laughed suddenly. "Look at you. Shaking like a leaf. You recognize me now?"

Shaking? Yes. Her hands were fisted, her arms tensed, and her whole body was vibrating.

She was fighting down the Other and Ryuko. She was trying to ignore the itch of her scales. They wanted to rise and harden and flash waves of warning color burning across her skin.

The fool kept talking.

"A stiff wind could blow you over. They keep you out of pity? You must be a good lay for-"

There was a crack of skin on skin.

It wasn't Riyo. Nami had stepped in front of her and wrapped her arms around her in a full body hug. Riyo couldn't break the hold without hurting her Theta. She could only stand, shaking, and watch over Nami's shoulder.

Zoro stood over Bellamy. Zoro had punched Bellamy hard enough to lay him out on the floor.

Luffy stepped up next to Zoro to place a hand on his first mate's shoulder.

"You made Riyo upset. You made Zoro hit you." Luffy emphasized hit as if Bellamy should understand the insult it was. Riyo sure as hell did. "I don't know what you were saying, but I don't like it when someone upsets my nakama." Luffy tugged on Zoro's shoulder. "Let's go."

Zoro fell into line with Luffy without a word. Nami wrapped an arm around Riyo's shoulder and held the closest of Riyo's wrists loosely to lead her over to Luffy.

They had to pass by Bellamy in the process. He was picking himself up off the ground. The whole bar had frozen to watch.

Riyo forced Nami to stop so she could stare down at Bellamy.

Impulsively, she crouched down so they were at eye level. She met his slightly unfocused gaze, fairly certain his jaw was broke.

It wasn't enough.

She let her eyes change. She let the Other and Ryuko peek through them. She let them bleed into the inhumanly slitted pupil, the white breaking into acid green and yellow. She let the tiny scales surface around the delicate skin.

She did not blink as she stared at this man whose world was so small he would try to drag her into the same tiny cell and dare to call it freedom.

She let him see how this could have gone had her pit not interceded.

He froze in much the same way a mouse does before a predator. Mind blank, instincts all consuming.

Too stupid to flee.

Too weak to fight.

A mind so fragile would never understand the breadth of what he had avoided.

[Bite the head off.]

{Devour the body.}

"Watch the mice scurry and flee," Riyo said absently.

Everyone in the bar seemed to be holding their breath. They were all aware at a subconscious level some vast predator had turned its gaze on them. The whim of the beast would decide if they lived...

...but when did that ever stop Luffy?

"Riyo," Luffy said confidently into the silence while grown men cowered in the shadow of something far above them in the food chain, "it's not worth it."

There was an accompanying twinge of authority over her Alpha bond, but this was Luffy and of course the boy did it instinctively; in typical Luffy fashion it was nothing like Roger's quick temper and fiery Will ordering her back and calling her to heel.

Luffy's first flex of the Alpha bond wasn't an order. It wasn't even a request. It was more of a reminder of his Will wrapped in the core of their promise and filtered through concern for her well being and the crew.

Luffy was family calling her home.

Riyo blinked and her eyes were human again. Everyone in the bar collectively exhaled as Riyo stood up, somehow aware the monster had decided they weren't worth the effort. This time.

"Aye, captain," she agreed softly.

She walked out with her pit.

#o0o#

Riyo had been right. Bellamy had no idea of the fate he narrowly avoided.

That he dared attack and rob someone Luffy called friend proved it easily.

Riyo refused to step foot back in Mock Town, but she followed Luffy's trail and lingered at the edge of the trees to watch the show.

Luffy was kind enough to give them all, the town and Bellamy, a one-punch ringer as the mildest souvenir of what could have been this morning in the bar.

#o0o#

Riyo snarled loudly, not caring how it echoed while the crew scrambled to get the modified Merry into place for the Knockout stream.

He wanted Luffy's head. He wanted her Alpha.

Riyo was seconds from diving into the sea to devour Blackbeard alive (they'd sleep happily tonight) when she felt the second of warning.

They rocketed into the air.

At 358 the Knockup was a natural Grandline event that could kill her if it hit. If she was older...maybe.

But she wasn't; she could only hold on with the rest of the crew to the Merry and hope Luffy's luck held for them all.

She did not take her eyes off of Blackbeard. Her instincts were screaming at her to destroy the threat to her pit, her family, even as they shot further up and farther away.

Riyo sent out a blast of danger, warning, threat to Ace across their bond, not caring at the impossibility. It was a tool and she was going to use it. Blackbeard was too dangerous. Riyo would not be able to help Ace while they were in Skypiea.

A moment later she got a confused jumble of shocked, worry, question, urgent back. She only repeated the angry, danger, warning again. Ace was smart, he'd figure it out, but her instinct was telling her something terrible was about to happen. The last time she had the feeling the Roger Pirates were disbanded and Roger was executed a few days later.

There was change coming, for good or bad.

#o0o#

Skypiea was revealing.

Enel, the so-called god, had not been able to detect her presence even with his logia-powered haki once Riyo realized what he was doing.

Riyo had known there was something changed with the pit bonds and her instinct, but she hadn't realized how deep it went. For her to be missed completely, an absence of presence once she ghosted, was a new level of stealth.

Something with the Break, her recent somnum, and her promise to Luffy had changed her. The promise could only be superficial; a binding between herself and her Alpha was more formal than simple words, but not something as deep as how her presence would register to a haki user. This change had happened before the promise. Whether the Break or somnum or something else, she supposed it didn't matter too much. It was what it was and she would use it.

She used the survival game in Skypiea to familiarize herself with the new ability and edge out the limitations of it. So far there weren't many if she chose to actively ghost. Ghosting for sea queens was more than acting and skill, it was something that had a physical and metaphysical reaction. Their scales became similar to a chameleon, playing into natural shades and patterns around them subtly enough to appear human while in less focus. Their aura dimmed, dampening their presence, and they were easily glossed over even by haki users. Their entire mindset altered from predator to a noted presence, neither a threat nor prey. The change happened in that last bit. When Riyo was actively ghosting she was no longer even noted. She had as much presence as a tree or rock.

When she wasn't ghosting she was back to being noted but dismissed. A non-player, weak prey. Riyo was becoming bitterly familiar with the irony of it all.

Even better than her own puzzling but useful new skill was the crew's success. The Strawhats were able to experience their first taste of haki without any permanent damage (only Observation, but there was nothing more frustrating than being unable to hit your target). It was a serious accomplishment considering an introduction to haki in a live battle was really only sink or swim...and most sank like a cadaver-shaped stone at the end.

Riyo had never been electrocuted before. She never wanted to be again. She could feel the shock-burn-pain in an echoing sensation through her bonds every time one of her pit had been hit; it was nothing compared to when Enel hit her directly-and it gave her a good gauge for how much was lost in translation through the bonds. It made it worse, really, to know for certain how much more pain her pit had suffered.

She supposed it was good to know enough direct electricity screwed with her control of her scales and forms. If there had been a picture dial handy they would have made a fortune with Enel's face when she got stuck halfway through her change in a so-ugly-you-can't-look-away kind of way.

The crew were all bruised, sore, and on the extra crispy side, but no one was seriously injured.

Ryuko snickered at the memory of Enel.

{Eaten by a snake smaller than us. Funnier}

You were eaten too, she snapped back. It was to keep an eye on Alpha who thought it was a damn cave, anyway. We all agreed to forget about it.

[Until Theta needs blackmail material on us.]

...damn.