Dr. Heart Stealer
ch13: Behind the Village Guard! Have They Forgotten My Freedom?
As I walked into the town I was greeted with an old guard that was far more pale than he needed to be. The old guard stopped me from entering any further than I had already gone.
"Who are you and what business do you have here?" He asked with a croaky voice. I looked at the pale man, and replied with what I thought would be the best thing to do in this situation.
"Doctor or not, I want to help cure this island."
"I have no reason to allow some stranger who thinks they can help, in. do you think you're the first to use that trick? Well you ain't! Plenty of people have come and gone saying those things, none have ever helped us! Why should we let you prance in here and most likely cause panic! You look to be the pirate type of girly. Last time I let one of thems in, they put the town in ruins!" he shouted at me. I thought that he would let me in if I said that. The fact that they had been taken advantage of more than once made me want to help even more, but the old guard just wouldn't give me a chance. Then a thought popped into my mind.
"Um... Mr. Guard, can't you give me a chance? I don't want to help you for my own reasons, as you can see I'm nowhere near being sick. I want to help because from what I can see behind you is pitiful. I dislike pitiful things, and you don't seem to like them either. I can help... and no I am not a pirate! I refuse to become one, if anything I'm a traveler." I told him. He narrowed his eyes in question, I stood up tall to make myself look more truthful. He shook his head.
"Sorry lil' girl, but we won't let liars in either." He said, my eye twitched. How dare he call me a little girl?! 'contain your anger, stay calm... you want to help right?' I thought to myself. I took a deep breath of air and sat on the browning grass. I looked up to the old man with a determined expression.
"I will not leave this spot until you let me in. if you take more than an hour I will look for another way in." I said. Why I didn't just go look for another way in was because I wanted to prove that I could be trusted. I wanted to give him time to decide if I could be trusted or not.
It was thirty minutes later before he spoke up.
"Lil girly, you've been sitting there for thirty minutes without moving. I give, you can come in. just lookn' at ya makes my back ache." he said, making a pained expression at the end. I smiled and stood up. I walked over to him, and my smile broadened.
"Thank you sir, it's true the ground is very unconformable." I told him. With those words said I walked past him into the small village. When I had walked in I was confronted by a little girl, not older than the age of eight.
"Hello..." she looked up at me with big, but dull, innocent eyes. I crouched down so I was her height. "Why did Aaron-ossan let you in?" she asked, with a grin I responded.
"I'm going to help you guys." I said, her big eyes seemed to grow larger, a spark of life appeared in the back of her dull blue eyes. She shook her head.
"You can't no one can." She frowned. My grin faltered, but I fought to keep it up. "Lot's of people come here... lots say that to... they disappeared." Her voice wavered as if she was doing her best not to cry, and she lowered her eyes. This time I frowned. Such a young girl had already given up all hope. I was not okay with that. I gently placed a hand under her chin, gently forcing her to look at me.
"I won't disappear, I will help you. I promise. And I don't break promises..." I said. Her eyes once again had that spark only this time it seemed to be the start of a fire, not an ember. "Here do you want to see something really cool?" I asked her. She nodded slowly, and I laughed. "Okay, go get your friends and bring them here. Then I can show all of you, okay?" I told her. She put on a forced smile that seemed practiced, and it probably was. She left to go get the rest of the village children. One parent walked up to me after she left. I looked over to her from my crouching position. She smacked me.
"Don't think everyone will accept you just because you get along with children." She hissed. I frowned, but then grinned.
"I wouldn't do that, I just think they are better to get to trust you first rather than elders and parents. Kids always are more understanding." I said, earning me another smack.
"Don't say such things so easily. They trust even less than the elders." with that the woman turned around and left me crouching and waiting for the young girl to come back. I turned my head back and sighed, I knew she was still watching me, everyone was. I could feel their eyes pounding at my skull. It was near unbearable, but I still pretended not to notice. Roughly two minutes had passed when she came back her friends trailing behind with frowning faces. One was carrying a teddy-bear, perfect. All of them sat down in front of me, I smiled and stood up.
"Ready? I bet I can get all of you to smile." I said some of the boys looked at each other and then back to me. Some shook their heads others shrugged. I turned in a circle, my hands spread out wide on either side of me. I closed my eyes and thought of what would be fun for little children like the ones sitting on the ground. I let a power I never knew I had spread to my fingertips and flow out. An image of green grass and a sunny sky fell from my fingertips, I opened my eyes. I was smiling brightly now, it had worked unlike all of my other tries prior. Yes, I had tried to make my illusions work. Nut they never did. Now they did, and I was proud of myself, and happy that I didn't accidentally make their worst fears come true. I stood still for a moment the children looked around in awe, then back to me. I smirked. I put my hands together, and slowly raised them above my head. Then I opened them a butterfly came out, then another, and another, and another. Soon there was a butterfly one everyone's heads. They all smiled. The youngest, four at most and one with the teddy-bear, had the widest smile she had ever seen one someone that young. I pointed to her teddy-bear, it took a lot of focus but I made it move. It stood up and danced around the small girl. She clapped her hands, and everyone looked back to her. They saw it moving around and clapped to. I felt my strength falter. I knew I would have to end this here. I sat down next to them. I drew my in close and then separated them so fast it was hard to see. The scene burst into sparkles. And floated to the ground.
"See I said she was going to be really cool!" A boy about the age often shouted. His friends punched him in the head. I chuckled at that.
"No you didn't! You said she would be another fake!" his friend shouted, also the age of ten. But looking at the suddenly energetic boys, I couldn't help but wonder, how had they gotten such energy just from that? They all started laughing. When they stopped a young man, most likely fifteen or so judging from his height, walked over and gasped.
"Are you guys laughing? Why? What happened?" he asked his voice filled with fake shock and curiosity. They all looked to him and laughed again. The girl who first confronted me smiled and spoke to him.
"Yeah! This pretty lady here is really cool and has magic powers! Keith, it was so cool you should have seen it! Mr. Berry walked and everything! There was this green stuff on the ground, but it didn't look sick!" She said in glee, I laughed at that.
"I think you mean grass." I told her, but the boy who got punched beat her to the words.
"Hm? No! Grass is so... so!" he gestured to the brown excuse for grass beneath their feet. "Oh yeah! And there was this bright shiny thing in the sky! It was big and pretty." he said with a massive smile. The man named Keith, as I guessed, smiled at him.
"Oh really, I've never met someone who had magic powers or could make real grass. And the word your looking for Bryan is the sun." he chuckled. But it was forced, not that the kids noticed, but I did. "Don't you remember me telling you about those things?" He asked. They all nodded. I stood up and walked over to the group. Everyone looked at me. I bowed to them and came back up.
"The name's Ka- Zepheron Kazue" I told them, nearly forgetting it was last name first then first name in this world. Keith mimicked my bow.
"My name's West Keith." He said and held out his hand, I took hold of it and gave a it firm shake. Once I had let go everyone rushed towards me. Well the guard, Aaron if I remembered correctly, stayed at his post. They all were saying how pretty I was, or asking how come I wasn't sick, or if I really had magic powers. Over the questions, I heard a familiar voice. Jake. I looked back and saw him standing by Aaron. By the looks of it, Jake had gotten mad about something and was having an argument with the guard. I laughed, and Jake looked to me.
"HEY! Harmony! How did you get in there!?" he yelled, I walked over a grin on my face. I wagged a finger in his face.
"Pain little bro, pain. Oh but don't you wish you could come in here?" I asked, turning around, an illusion at the ready. He frowned at me. "Plus they don't like pirates, so shoo, shoo." I said with laughter. I could feel his glare burning into my back.
"Oh, you're with the savior-to-be?" Aaron asked, I spun back around to face them with a confused look on my face. Jake also had one, but his face changed to one of disbelief.
"You didn't! You said you would help them, didn't you!? We're pirates we don't do that kind of stuff!" He yelled I frowned and walked back to the crowed.
"Have you forgotten? You are a pirate, I never gave into Law's command! I'm still my own person! If it makes you feel any better you can ask Law himself!" I shouted turning back to him. "I would rather be here than stuck in that sub! I get lost way to much!" Jake gave me a disapproving stare. He sat down the same place I had earlier.
"Whatever, you know Law won't leave you here. Speaking of Law he wants to see you." He said. I frowned but walked to the front of the town next to Aaron.
"Mr. Aaron, please don't worry yourself with my little brother, he really means no harm. I have to go see his captain, for whatever stupid reason he has come up with now. I promise he won't cause any damage to the village, you can let him in. you can trust me." I said with a smile and walked away. I let loose that illusion on Jake when I had gotten to far for him to get to me. Two bunny ears popped up on his head, and a little fluffy tail did the same on his lower back, a little snout appeared instead of his mouth, buck teeth included. All I heard while I walked away was laughter and a very loud 'HARMONY!' the reaction causing me to snicker as I walked back to the yellow sub.
~X~X~X~
I walked for about a hour before I had reached the submarine. I saw Bepo telling someone to stay inside, from what I could tell it was Law. Most likely not wanting to admit weakness. She jumped up onto the submarine's deck and waved to Law and Bepo.
"Hey guys! Law, you wanted to see me?" I asked, he nodded.
"We're leaving. Where's Jake? I told him to go get you and come back." he said. My mind was racing, so this is the heartless bastard I've been preparing to meet. I've noticed that Law has been rather kind to me, not at all what I was expecting. I have been expecting a heartless bastard that would turn his back on anyone that wasn't his nakama. Ready to move on with his plans, not caring about small sacrifices. I shake my head and back up closer to the railing, preparing to jump off in one fluid motion if need be. I knew the need would arise in moments.
"No, I can't. I'm staying here, I'm going to help the people of this island." I said. He moved a step closer to me and I moved a step closer to the rail.
"Kazue-ya, we are pirates. We don't help people." He said. He glared at me and I glared right back.
"You are a pirate, I never agreed to such terms. I am a free person, bound by slavery. But Law had you never thought your little slave might want to escape from your grasp? That I might not give a fuck what you think of me? That, oh I don't know... Don't like being a fucking slave? Here how about this, if ever get a bounty, then I will join your crew. Then you can boss me around like a captain. But I won't let you take charge of my life either way!" I don't really want to leave Law, and I sure do give a fuck about his view of me. But I was going to lie. Lie to save a island most likely no one cares about, and won't visit due to it's history. At this point there was no turning back. I put my hand over my heart, checking to make sure it was there. I knew that he couldn't use mes yet, but I still didn't like the thought. He took another step closer, this time though I jumped off and ran towards the village of the sick. I could hear Law's shouts and Bepo's cries but I couldn't go back. If they wanted to they could wait for me. They might and they might not. I didn't know, but I did know that I was going to help Byoki Island. Even with my nakamaship at stake, with my brother's sibling love at stake... with Law's opinion of me at stake... I was going to risk it all for this one, little island on the vast Grand Line.
~X~X~X~
~X~X~X~
A/N: I gave this chapter two tittles for one reason: it has two different parts. Like one part was what happened in the village the other was like "You are a pirate!" (says pirate) "No, I never agreed to that." (says Kazue). So yeah. So I have decided to update this story every eight to ten days, that sounds fair, right? Well I have no random rant right now, nor do I have any random questions, so until next time, keep being awesome!