Chapter 15 - No One Takes Ours
Words: ~2900
Updated: 02/2018
Published: 01/2017
~o0o~
The ghost of Aokiji's attack was fading with distance and time. The Grand Line was still the Grand Line. Storms, weather, currents, and winds did not stop for anyone. Time did not pause. A few days with nothing more exciting than a Paradise storm and some sea kings and the crew was back to normal.
Almost.
Riyo had curled herself in the sun on the aft deck with Zoro. She woke from her nap, sluggish and exhausted from another late night of training.
Zoro was counting out push ups across the deck—the sound was what woke her—balanced in a one-hand handstand on the deck rail.
Riyo was half tempted to walk over and give him a shove, but the thought of it took all the energy she had.
She stayed curled up in her smallest change, tail wrapped tight up to her snout. She let the warmth of the sun on the deck wake her further. The show was about to start.
Every day since she came back from the sea floor she slept in this spot. Every sunrise she laid here to nap, every afternoon she woke for her lunch and show from Sanji, and then she went back to sleep until evening. She hadn't allowed herself to be human around the crew since The Fight with Aokiji. It was its own sort of punishment.
During the night she trained.
She was pushing her body harder and faster than ever before in both human and sea queen form. She used Zoro's weights and exercise regimens on deck while the crew slept, aside from whoever was on watch. Then she changed and dove deep beneath the waves. She hunted sea king, chased schools of fish, and pushed her speed, reflexes, and camouflage to their limits using nothing but instinct.
Alone before Roger and alone after he found her, haki had been her tool. She relied on haki for so long it had become muscle memory, so to speak, to fall back on the skills. It took time and effort to break the habit and embrace her new instinct.
The instinct was a weapon she had never used and opposite in almost every way to her traditional fighting style. For all their camouflage, sea queens had never been silent killers. They were claws-to-throat powerhouses. They could stalk, but when they chose to attack there was never any doubt on what was sinking teeth into skin, scale, or hide.
Riyo had always been the showy muscle. She had been the monster to fear with the Roger pirates. Now Riyo was the smile that hid the blade. She had to choke down her pride and shadow her skill. It was an adjustment. An adjustment she hadn't recognized she needed to make until an admiral stood before her pit and she was bound to inaction by her promise to her Captain and Alpha.
The promise they made to protect that stopped them from protecting.
Riyo realized she was digging her claws deeper and deeper into the deck. She relaxed her forepaws with a grumble. She patted a paw against the marred wood contritely. Merry was already hurting and Riyo wasn't helping.
Zoro finished his set and flipped himself onto the deck. She had taken to keeping the entire crew within sight, of a sorts. She kept a constant low brush of her instinct around the Merry for everyone.
Honestly this was the more reasonable option, if a bit creepy had they known what she was doing. The alternative involved kidnapping her pit, sticking them all in her personal nest, and never letting them more than three feet away again.
Sneak stalking them all with instinct was the more reasonable route.
{No.}
Riyo ignored the Other.
The Other, Ryuko, and herself had come to an odd truce since they came back to the crew. Ryuko and the Other had more freedom and equality in Riyo's mind. In return they all pretended to be civil with each other to maintain the delicate balance. It was holding so far.
Riyo gave it until the next big fight. And there would be one, Aokiji would not let them go that easy.
Riyo cracked open one of the eyes she had closed against the sun to peek around the corner. Sanji timed today perfectly; he got extra vicious when he got a good eyeful.
Nothing like repressed sexual attraction to get a good fight going.
Sanji walked around the corner, tray in hand. He cleared the wall in time to catch what she knew to be Zoro in profile. The swordsman was using his long abandoned shirt to wipe sweat from his eyes. The unintentional pose pulled at the muscle in Zoro's shoulders and threw his abs into relief.
Sanji's jaw clenched, but he didn't stop walking. Riyo would give him that. But it didn't stop her light snort when she saw the blonde flick his eyes greedily across all the golden muscle on display. With Zoro's face hidden there was no one to see the slip but her.
Unless Robin was watching again. The first time Riyo caught an eyeball hidden in the rigging above them it took her a few horrified seconds to recover.
Then Riyo had to take a few more seconds to reconcile the realization that Robin could make any body part appear anywhere.
Any. Part.
She still shivered at the thought.
Riyo couldn't tell Robin to stop growing body parts on the ship. For one, it was damn cool once she got over the initial shock. Two, Riyo appreciated the view as much as the archaeologist. Neither of them were blind, and they were both too old for the swordsman anyway. They appreciated the display as nothing more than eye candy to pass the time.
It was a lot more for the cook.
With Zoro's face hidden, Sanji had a rawness in his gaze Riyo never saw anytime else. She didn't think Sanji realized it himself. As much as he fawned over herself, Robin, and Nami, and really any other woman around, it was an act of rote habit more than sincerity. More sincere in their cases, but still habit.
That raw longing was something entirely different. There was the obvious physical appreciation in the once over, but behind it was a desperate longing for something he knew he could never—should never—have. It burned bright, stronger than a crush but less than anything like love. It was respect, recognition, rivalry, and accord all in one.
It was that promise of what could be that got her. If Sanji allowed it, if Zoro allowed it...that maybe-something if they let it be always hit at Riyo's chest.
The look was gone as quick as she saw it. The cook shook his head and proceeded over to her as normal.
Sanji set the tray down in front of her before turning to Zoro. Without any warning he launched a kick at the first mate's head.
Zoro barely ducked the blow that would have given anyone else a concussion, if not worse.
"What the hell, shit cook!" Zoro dropped his shirt to the deck and glared at Sanji.
Riyo didn't miss the flare of excitement in her beta's eyes. Or the confused buzz of eagerness and anxiety he always seemed to get around Sanji.
Idiots. The both of them. At least it was bound to be a good show today.
"Your ugly face is putting Riyo-chan off her food!"
"How the hell did you pull that one out of your—"
Zoro barely ducked the vicious mule kick.
"Dammit, love cook!"
Sanji launched a barrage of kicks, hands in his pockets and a cigarette between his lips. Impressive.
Zoro grabbed his swords as he stumbled back and got into a ready stance. After training hard enough to put most people to shame. Also impressive.
A sheathed blade took the momentum of the next flurry of shoes and turned it back on the chef.
Riyo dug into lunch, some sort of seafood medley over fried rice with a savory sauce. She poked through it as she watched the two bandy back and forth. Was that the sea king Chopper and Usopp caught yesterday?
Zoro caught a kick to the chest with his crossed blades. He threw the leg back at Sanji. Swords followed close enough to catch a blade of golden hair.
"Moss brain! Watch where you swing those overcompensating toothpicks!"
"Overcompensating! You're one to talk, with your dumb suits and ties!"
"Your rags should be burnt! They'd crawl across the deck to get away if you let them."
Thud-whistle-thud-thud-crack.
Zoro's bond was singing with rivalry, joy, fun, and frustration.
About 90% of the frustration was sexual.
Riyo was about 100% sure he had no clue about that.
They were both going to give her a double heart attack before 400.
[And yet, we picked them.]
Riyo sighed. Point.
A kick missed Zoro, hitting the deck hard enough she heard an ominous creak from the planks.
She brushed her tail over the railing in sympathy as she ate the last bit of sea king off her plate. Then she licked it clean. Because it was delicious. And these two were morons.
"You're breaking the ship, shit cook!"
She chased the last of the taste off her snout. Damn, that was good.
"Then stop ducking so I can break your face and do the world a service!"
Riyo fell asleep in the warm sun with a full belly and with the sound of denial's mating call echoing across the deck.
~o0o~
Water 7 was on the horizon.
It had been some decades since Riyo had been to Water 7. The last time was long before she had joined the Roger Pirates. She knew the Oro Jackson had been built here, but she hadn't joined until well into the New World.
Since Aokiji's attack Robin had been distantly polite with the crew, almost as if preparing herself to leave them. If there was any island to escape on, this would be one of them. With so many ships in and out from all walks of life, it would be easy to slip away with a merchant ship for the right price.
Riyo knew what it felt like when you were about to break everything you loved. She knew the fear of letting it break you—or watching it break because of you.
Robin had the look and the feel through their bond of a woman who was out of options.
Something had to give.
~o0o~
Riyo stayed on the ship with Zoro. She was content to laze in the sun while she kept a careful eye on the crew and her pit bonds on the island. Everyone was exploring, cashing in their treasure, and working to find a shipwright for Merry.
Riyo hadn't the heart to tell them all Merry was done. She could feel the ache of it in her own bones, a constant buzz at the farthest range of her senses. It was a white noise of pain and dedication and love. Riyo couldn't crush that hope.
Riyo glanced over the side of the ship when she felt the men sneaking up from the sea side. The group were hardly professionals, but skilled enough they would be able to take most crews.
They hadn't accounted for a Zoro.
Riyo relaxed into her spot of sun. She didn't bother to open her eyes when she heard the meaty thuds of the one-sided fight.
~o0o~
The blast of startled fear and then bitter acceptance from Robin's bond was a blessing and a curse. It was rife with resignation and crushed hope.
Riyo flinched from the chill as Robin closed her mind and then her heart off. Riyo hadn't realized how much the archaeologist had opened up. Despite what happened with Aokiji, Robin had trusted them to some extent.
But when the push came, Robin gave up before she even tried.
Riyo uncurled from her ball to stand on all four feet. She padded over the deck and sat back to put her front paws on the railing. She stared through air, buildings, people, and walls to track the signature of her epsilon in the city.
Going where she should not with dangerous signatures that had her scales vibrating.
Robin thought that was going to be the end of it.
Robin was wrong.
Riyo latched onto the bond anchor to Robin. She shoved the Other's possessive anger, her own fierce pride, and Ryuko's endless devotion down the bond.
She felt Robin's shock and instant denial in response. Robin tried to pull away again.
Riyo sent the same flood of emotion a second time. This time tinged with exasperated care.
The assassin could choke on that if Robin thought she could get away from Riyo.
Robin was Riyo's, Ryuko's, and the Other's. She was Luffy's. Nico Robin was a Straw Hat pirate.
They did not let go.
~o0o~
Kaku. A shipwright and a liar.
He was good. Too good.
A shipwright wouldn't know how to shave and moonwalk across the skyline of Water 7. Those were traditional marine skills. Advanced skills. Kaku made them look like natural talent.
Riyo watched the man deliver the news of Merry's broken keel to Zoro. Riyo had not taken her eyes off the 'shipwright' the entire time he was on board.
He was a liar, but not about this. It was worse than she suspected.
Zoro ignored Kaku to look at her. She could feel the clash of denial and recognition. The Merry had taken much more than she was designed for.
Riyo broke her stare with Kaku's back. The man turned to look at her as well when he realized Zoro was ignoring him.
She met Zoro's eyes and nodded.
Kaku, if that was even his name, watched with an air of detached confusion. His body language belied his bright interest in the exchange.
He left shortly after.
Riyo laid down when he was gone to tuck her snout beneath her tail. Zoro sat back on deck. He stared at the ship with a frown.
Riyo didn't say anything when she saw him put a callused hand against the main mast with a solemn face.
Some time later Riyo realized why Kaku's skills felt too familiar. And why Robin had been so scared.
Fucking Cipher Pol.
~o0o~
When the news came that Robin was gone, Riyo's smile was grim.
Bumps and bruises, electrocution and frostbite, near-death battles, and elite marine spies were all part of letting her human hatchlings grow up, right?
[{No.}]
Yeah, even Riyo's skill in self-delusion couldn't sell that one.
Her pit and her Alpha's crew were their own breed of danger magnets. It was like problems went out of their way to find them. Their bad luck was only tempered by that same good luck following right behind, but not close enough to prevent the chaos between.
Riyo hated being right.
~o0o~
Riyo stood beside Zoro in human form as they all watched Usopp and Luffy battle. Riyo owed the moment this form. The sulking was getting old, anyway.
Chew Toy had more courage and cunning than they had guessed. He had less self-confidence, respect, and faith than they hoped if he disobeyed his captain's order to leave Merry.
Riyo supposed Luffy was the only one who had seen Usopp's potential; Riyo had never guessed the sharpshooter could stay so strong.
Now here they were, the two facing off in brutal battle.
Too bad the revelation of Usopp's courage and commitment came at the cost of splintered friendship.
~o0o~
Riyo stayed out of sight of the rest of any of the Galley-La shipwrights. Cipher Pol came as a group. She had no doubts more of the workers were undercover agents.
Cipher Pol's job was intelligence and the World Government was paranoid to a fault. No matter how much time passed since the last confirmed sea queen sighting, Cipher Pol would have the training to spot her kind...unlike a standard marine. Even an admiral.
Cipher Pol could not know she had survived Roger's death. Riyo's careful truce with Ryuko and the Other wasn't strong enough to risk unnecessary confrontation.
While her pit went after Iceburg, Riyo followed Sanji through the streets. She followed the chef through the growing wind and rain to the train station. In human form, hidden from haki and view, Riyo used claws to dig into the stone of the station and cling to the ceiling like a scaly spider.
She watched the defeated line of Robin's shoulders board with Cipher Pol. She watched Sanji scrawl his message across the platform wall before following. Riyo chanted her promise to Luffy and dug her claws deeper into the ceiling.
She watched as the crew rushed into the station. They were all in time to see the sea train disappear into the waves.
Riyo dropped from the ceiling to the floor in front of the group.
People startled and cursed.
Today's dress was a tight halter top that fell to her ankles. It hid the vibrating scales stretching across her chest and torso and down to her toes.
[No one takes ours.]
{It will not let them.}
Riyo sunk into their collective mind.
Instincts flared as eyesight sharpened.
"No, we will not," she promised.
~o0o~
This is still on hiatus. I just...dammit brain. I don't have time to write AND make a game.