Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece!
Summary: She was a mage that ate a fruit when she was 10. She lost her faith in humanity when she was 6, but due to meeting Monkey D. Luffy it was restored and she was forever loyal to him. He saw her in a bar on some island. He had heard rumors of her while she worked with the group known simply as the Thirteen, so he thought it would be a good idea to get her to join his crew. Funnily enough he didn't expect her ties to her adoptive family and just who was protective of her.
Welcome to the next chapter! Let's see how you like it!
Chapter Eighteen: Frustration game PT. 1
"Around shall they fly,
The stories of old through the sky.
None shall hear their end,
For their song is too sweet to end.
Fire shall burn,
With drums rumbling,
The voices crying out,
For the past has come once again.
The past has come again,
The past has come once again,
The past, the past, the past,
Once again, the past has come!
Around us they fly,
Like birds through a moonlit sky,
Words shall fall like feathers,
As the old stories fly.
As they fly,
Straight through the sky,
Voices ringing like a song,
The stories of old.
As they fly,
As they fly,
As they fly,
As they fly!
Our voices shall join theirs,
Our souls shall sing their songs,
Our eyes shall see as they saw,
Our stories shall ring with theirs!
The past has come again,
The past has come to sing again,
The past has come to hear again,
The past has come to see again,
As they fly,
As they fly,
As they fly,
As they fly!
The stories shall ring once more,
Old and dusty, they shall fly,
Bringing back the old memories,
The old stories have come once again...
Once again...
Once...again..." A soft voice sang soothingly through the air with five others.
I stared at Kaileara as she sang with Ms. Valkyrie, Ms. Valkyrie's partner Cain, Ms. Strife, Ms. Strife's partner Striker, and Yukina. Each of their voices held a diffrent, yet melodious tone that blended together well like cream in coffee. Kaileara's voice seemed to call out to the soul as it rang through the air. It held a mystic quality to it that the other's did not. It held a ring of emotions all throughout the song that brought it to life though underneath it all her voice held great sadness. I managed to catch Kaileara's eye halfway through the song and felt shock go through me. A deep, heart wrenching pain glowed in those multicolored orbs of hers. I felt a hand on my arm and looked to see Minx looking at me with an almost amused expression on her face. She looked back at Kaileara and asked, "Liked the song?"
"Did you know she could sing like that?" I ask causing her to giggle.
"Of course," She smirked at me as I glared at her, "Where do you think she was when you sent her away while trying to study?"
"Weren't you supposed to be studying as well?" I ask while my eyes narrowed at the implications.
"Yeah, but I go done early most of the time," Minx shrugged before looking at Kaileara, "She's hurting over something. It's worse than when she came to us, but it's also a diffrent kind of pain,"
"How can you tell?" I demand while wonder why Kaileara hadn't told me anything.
"Due to my devil fruit, I can see illusions," Minx explained, "I can make people see what I want them to see. People can mask their emotions all they want, but due to my power, I can tell if they're hiding something," Minx cast Kaileara a sad look, "If I didn't know Kai like I do, I would only be able to tell she was wearing a mask. I can see the pain inside of her and hear it in her voice. She may hide it well, but she's in pain," Minx looked me in the eye, "And not the physical kind,"
"Then do you know the cause?" Maybe I could do something to help Kaileara with it.
"Nope," Minx smirked at my scowl, "I can however see where the pain stems from," She frowned slightly as she looked at Kaileara once more, "Regret is the biggest though more falls under it. Pain from loss, while light, is there. Pain from the past is there as well...It looks as if it's been there for a while," She shook her head and looked at me, "She diffrent from before, but also the same," A small smirk appeared on her face, "Kinda like you little brother," I scowled at her and she chuckled while standing, "I'll see you later and do talk to her soon if you plan on helping her," Minx smirked back at me, "She is after all like winter and like all seasons she shall pass you by,"
"How?" Slipped from my mouth as I stared at her.
She snickered and shook her head, "It's obvious to me little brother. You can't hide anything from one who can use illusions."
With that, she walked away before I could even speak. Anger and annoyance ran through me as she disappeared into the crowd. One of the things I hated about Minx was that she always spoke like that. She held all the information she knew to herself and only gave out small bits at her own pace. It infuriated me to the core. I glared after her even though I knew she wasn't there only to blink when a hand was waved in my face. I grab the hand and look to see it was Kaileara. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow and amusement shining in her eyes as she asked, "Something wrong Law?"
"No," I deny causing her to snort.
Her hand was rather soft, but had calluses from using various weapons. A slight chill ran across the top of it while a slight heat ran across her palm. Her skin was smooth and her nails were rather short. I noticed all of this as Kaileara shook her head, "Yeah and I didn't just see you glaring at a crowd of people for no apparent reason," She rolled her eyes as I scowled at her, "Scowl all you want, but it still doesn't change the fact somethings bothering you."
"It doesn't matter," I say causing her to sigh and shake her head.
"It kinda does since I wasn't the one that's bothering you," She smirked at me as I glared at her, "In all honesty, I feel like someone just violated my territory,"
I rolled my eyes at her joke, "Just leave it be Kaileara."
"Okay somethings wrong since you didn't add the now customary -ya to the end of my name," She looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Just tell me what bothering you," I didn't reply causing her to sigh, "Honestly you have a hard head," She frowned before saying, "Wow that was weird,"
"What's weird?" I ask while wondering if she had finally cracked or would let this slide.
"It's odd to say that considering every single person I've met has said that to me on various occasions," My lips twitched at that causing her to smile, "And most of the time, I didn't even do anything worthy of it. Honestly," She sighed dramatically much to my amusement, "I think the fates have cursed me. It's annoying!" I chuckle causing her to smile, "Finally. I thought you wouldn't stop scowling!"
I glared at her, "Be quiet."
She shook her head and said, "Only if you tell me what's bothering you."
I glared at her before sighing, "Does it truly matter?"
"Yes it does," She said bluntly, "I don't like seeing you bothered by stuff," She paused before adding, "Well unless it has to deal with me wanting to irritate the hell outta ya when you piss me off,"
I frowned before standing causing her to move back slightly to make room for me. I led her outside and let go of her hand as I leaned against one of the wooden posts outside of the bar. She gave me a raised eyebrow at the actions, but seemed to shrug it off. I noticed the absence of both Kiyo and Yukina causing me to ask, "Where are Kiyo and Yukina?"
"Kiyo's talking with the spirits on the island whereas Yukina is spending time with Striker," At my raised eyebrow, she shrugged, "They've been close friends for a while. Striker teaches her more about being a partner to someone like me whereas Yukina tells him about our adventures," She then shook her head, "So why drag me out here?"
I sighed as I debated what to say before answering, "Minx."
"What'd she do?" Kaileara asked with slight amusement, "Call you cute or something?"
"No," I glared at her causing her to snort, "And how did you know she was there?"
"Saw her in the crowd and knew she wouldn't miss a chance to hear me sing," She shrugged slightly.
"How come you never told me you could sing?" At that, Kaileara blushed slightly causing me to smirk in amusement, "What embarrassed?"
"No!" She denied with a glare towards me, "I just don't want more fan boys!"
"Fan boys?" The very thought caused me to shudder.
"Fan boys are the worst," She visibly shuddered, "I swear they're creepy as hell,"
"You had to deal with Fan boys?" The thought was both pleasing and disgusting.
"Yup," She snorted softly, "It comes with the fame. Whether the marines admit it or not, they make us famous. Everyone with a bounty poster has some kinda fan-base," She snickered slightly, "Quite a few ship diffrent parings. One of the funnier ones is Shanks and Mihawk,"
"How do you know that?" I asked slightly disturbed, "And how is that funny?"
"I have informants everywhere and they happen to hear this stuff while they go looking for information," She answered before grinning, "As for why it's funny...C'mon you have to find it funny," At my raised eyebrow, she shook her head, "Shanks is like a total party loving idiot. Mihawk is mostly in his castle unless he's bored and wants a fight. He either goes looking for Shanks or someone willing to challenge him. Hell you may actually be seeing him soon enough since it's about time for him to come 'round for a spar with me,"
"What?" The prospect of her fighting Mihawk and living was unimaginable.
She offered me a raised eyebrow, "Did you forget I traveled with Mihawk and that he was a father figure to me?" I only offered a slight smile as I mentally kicked myself for forgetting that fact, "He wouldn't want me to be defenseless, so he often offered me a chance to train with him," She scowled slightly, "I still haven't won a single spar against him, but then again he is the worlds best swordsman and that title is well deserved."
"So he'll be coming around soon?" I asked causing her to shrug.
"If he's close by though I think Shanks mentioned that he would be traveling near the east blue for a while," Kaileara hummed softly while carding her let hand through her hair, "To be honest, I don't really understand as to what he's doing near there. Perhaps he's hoping on seeing Luffy or wants an easy place to train his next batch of crew members...I personally think he's just looking for a place to both party and recover from hangovers," She shrugged lightly, "The beginning of the Grandline is always the easiest part. It's the farther reaches that will put you through hell," Her lips quirked into a soft smile, "I think someone was looking out for me those first few years as a pirate when they let my crew and I travel with Shanks and the others,"
"You really care for both men don't you?" I could see it in her eyes as she spoke of them, but I wanted to hear it from her.
"They're like my father figures," She answered softly, "They gained my trust and wouldn't have me any other way. The same could be said for all that I call Nakama and in return I care for them like they care for me," She closed her eyes slightly, "I think that you guys and Luffy may have gotten the process of helping me become...well me, but it was everyone else being around me that cemented it," She cracked open an eye, "So what was bothering you earlier? It had to deal with Minx, but what did she do?"
"She pointed something out to me," I answered causing Kaileara's head to shift slightly to the side like a dog did.
"What'd she point out?" Kaileara's eye burned with curiosity as they always did when she heard about something that interested her.
"She pointed out that you were in pain, but not physical pain," Kaileara froze causing my eyes to narrow, "What bothers me is that you didn't inform me of the fact you're in pain,"
Kaileara seemed to be frozen for a matter of moments. As each moment ticked by, I felt anger and annoyance towards many things, but Kaileara mostly. I was about to speak when Kaileara sighed softly, "Does it really matter Law?"
"It does since you haven't bothered to speak to me about it," I answer while my eyes narrowed further, "Do you not trust me?"
She growled under her breath, "I trust you, but-"
"Then why didn't you tell me you were in pain?" I demand causing her to flinch back slightly to my confusion.
She shook her head, "Why do you want to know Law? It has nothing to do with you or the rest of the crew."
"But it's hurting you," I protest causing her to shake her head, "Kaileara please-"
"No!" She growled while her bangs shadowed her eyes, "You don't need to know,"
"I do and do not cut me off," I was beginning to get pissed off at her, "Now tell me,"
"NO!" She growled again louder this time, "Stop fucking asking. It has nothing to do with you,"
I frowned as I noticed the slight bestial hint in her voice, but pushed it out of my mind as I hissed, "I need to know, so I can help you."
"I don't need your fucking help you idiotic bastard," I dimly noticed her hair spiking, "Leave it the fuck alone,"
"No," I protest causing her to growl and begin to walk away, "Where the hell are you going?"
"To get away from you before I decide to do something stupid," Was thrown back at me as she took off.
I watched her go and glared after her. Why the hell wouldn't she listen to me? I was her captain, her doctor, and her first friend. She had to listen to me dammit! I growled under my breath and walked towards the bar. I needed a fucking drink.
Kaileara P.O.V
"Fucking bastard trying to get into my personal business," I growled under my breath, "What the hell makes him think he can do that?"
"Maybe because he cares for you?" I froze before growling under my breath.
"Master," I hiss as I stop in the middle of my walk towards the cliffs, "It's none of his damned business. It's personal,"
"Yet he is your friend and captain-" She began causing me to snort.
"Only until Luffy enters the Grandline," I remind her causing her to sigh.
"Yes, but he is your current captain," She stressed the word, "Meaning he has a right to know what's wrong,"
"But it's not his business," I protest while beginning to walk towards the cliff again, "He has nothing to do with it, so he needs to stay outta it,"
"You're slipping," She commented causing me to freeze.
I began to curse in every language I knew in both my mind and out loud. Oh dammit all the fucking hell!
Another short chapter, but don't worry I'm doing another update to make up for it. The next one should be up tomorrow at the latest!