Dr. Heart Stealer
Ch27: Transformations and Guns
She shouldn't have been smiling, but the fact that he was trying to protect her sank in. As well as the fact that she was definitely no longer in her world where this was all just an anime.
No, this was real.
Harmony stared at the back of Law's head in shock.
Devil Fruits...
Sky islands...
Pirates...
Den den mushi...
Strange animals...
Epic battles...
This could not be real.
All of that came from an amazing anime, and one of Harmony's favorites for sure... but this was all too much to take in! It should be impossible to be here - she was meant to be in school right now, learning that alternate dimensions didn't exist. She should be outside with her friends. Inside learning to work her new phone. She shouldn'tbe here. And yet... she was.
And the creepy doctor who was a rich submarine captain, who's obsessed with Trafalgar Law... was the real Law along.
And he had many different times when he should have, and probably deeply considered, killing her on the spot.
That thought was slightly horrifying.
She looked at his head more intensely, sensing a smirk of joy as the screams continued echoed around them, seeming to bounce off the walls of Law's room, only to ricochet again and again. The screams scared her, but she knew that she now had a protector. If her thoughts ended up being true then this man was Trafalgar Law, and he hadn't killed her yet.
That meant that he either A, really liked her, B, was in debt to her somehow, or C, felt like picking a random kid off the street of her hometown and teleported her to the One Piece world. She ruled out option C as soon as it came to mind. B seemed very unlikely, but so did A.
"... Law..." she asked with a small quiet voice, one she hadn't quite been aiming for. Far to meek, then again, she was too frightened to speak with a potent tone.
"Yes, Harmony-ya?" he responded with a smile in his voice.
"... Are you really a pirate? Are we in the One Piece world?" she asked, her mind was laced with questions like a spider's web.
"I am. And I believe that we are," he told her. She nodded in understanding.
"When you get done decapitating people, I plan to a thorough interrogation with you and your crew." With those words said, the conversation was dropped like an old crystal chandelier crashing to the ground. The screams slowly died down as people passed out from fear.
But someone had yet to fall to the effects of Law's intimidation.
"Backup is on the way!" The words were yelled in confidence. Law turned his head over his shoulder, and looked at Harmony.
"You still want to interrogate me, even if your precious Rin comes along?" he asked her. Harmony steeled her eyes and gave Law a determined look.
"Now that I know that all of this is real, I will do whatever it takes to figure out why I'm here." She left no room for argument. Law nodded and allowed his room to flicker out.
The marine's backup had finally arrived, just moments after Harmony had once again scrambled up onto Bepo's shoulders. Law still held his nodachi, obviously not going to give it to the bear holding Harmony when he knew that backup was coming. Harmony spotted Rin and glared.
This was the One Piece world, the marines were the bad guys, not the pirates.
"Harmony! You have to get away from that man! He's a wanted pirate!" Rin yelled over to her from her spot only a yard or two away, her arms waving at her.
"No! He's my... friend?" she paused in thought, "Yeah! Friend! He just... gave me clothes." She couldn't say bought - he had technically stolen them, but it was out of the good of his pirate heart.
"Harmony, trust me, he won't do anything but hurt you!" Rin yelled.
"Law, will you hurt me?" Harmony asked Law, who currently had a completely stoic face set in place.
"No," he responded. Harmony smiled and flashed a thumbs up to Rin, who stared at the trio in horror.
"See what did I tell-" Harmony stopped talking and shivered, she seemed to age two years in a second. She looked around curiously, and her gaze landed on Law. "Oh my god! It's Law! Captain of the Heart Pirates, and most awesome Supernova! Ah! I love my dreams!" she turned to look at the marines. "And some annoying people in marine uniforms... Get them, Law! Show them who's boss!" she cheered. Law smirked.
She was finally beginning to change back.
Two more years.
"Ah! Where am I? Wasn't I just in Science?" she looked around. "Shit! I fell asleep!" she closed her eyes chanting something about waking up, then opened her eyes. Once again she glanced around, taking note of the fur below her, she looked down at Bepo. With a confused look, she pulled out a pinch of his fur, Bepo yelped and looked up. "Strange, it's definitely real..." she turned to Law, "And that is definitely Law... When did my dreams get so realistic?"
Rin stood over in the distance, looking to Harmony, and gasped.
"Before you ask, marine-ya, she had a run in the Bonney-ya only two weeks ago, she's going back to normal now. Aren't you Kazue-ya?"
"What? Bonney...? As in the chick who was completely and/or utterly destroyed by Blackbeard? She was a good character while she was there, I'm pretty sure she died on that island though..." Kazue rambled, earning surprised looks from both Rin and Law.
One year.
"... Ugh, I feel sick. Hey! Where's Jewelry?" she asked, then took look around her. "Well, this certainly isn't that fancy restaurant... Oh hi Traffy... Traffy! I swear that I didn't sneak off to that fancy restaurant!" she looked over to where the marines were, then turned to Law. Only to get a face full of yellow clothing.
"Bepo, go take Kazue to that alleyway," Law instructed, Bepo did as told with a simple 'Aye, captain!'. The bear ran to an alley between 'Little Gunner's Boutique' and some small hole-in-the-wall cafe, then sprinted back to Law.
Kazue strutted out from the alley, wearing a black t-shirt with little white X's in diagonal lines going around the entire shirt and black skinny jeans. She stopped next to Law and held a hand out to him, Law glanced at her questioningly.
"My guns," she said sharply. Law shrugged.
"They... you should ask Jake when we get back to the hotel," he told her, she growled and looked to the marines.
There was one in particular who stood out, a girl with gold eyes and purple hair, freckles adorned her cheeks as she stared at Kazue.
"You're one of them?!" the girl screeched. "How could you! I thought we were friends!" she cried, Kazue leaned over to Law.
"I was friends with a marine? Did one of you guys get me drunk?" she asked in full seriousness.
"No, Kazue-ya. Just ignore her. We need to get back to the hotel," he said. Kazue nodded and walked away from the marines. Someone screamed 'FIRE', although the seamstress didn't know who.
She heard a gunshot, and laughing. Her eyes became sharp as she dropped to the floor and rolled over to the side of a building. She jumped up to look straight at a very shocked Rin.
"But- But you're afraid of guns!" she shouted, Kazue shot her a confused look.
"What?"
"When you were little and... innocent! You freaked out and wouldn't get near the base because you heard a gunshot!" Rin shouted.
"I'm not afraid of guns. Even if I was I wouldn't just let a bullet hit me," she walked backwards, until she felt the muzzle of a rifle between her shoulder-blades. She looked up a bit and gained an annoyed and slightly pissed off look on her face. "There's a gun to my back isn't there..."
"Disappearance!" she yelled, her body was gone in a flash of light, temporarily blinding the marine who held her at gunpoint. He dropped his gun.
Kazue, with her body encased in an illusion she was struggling to keep up, walked behind the marine. She allowed the illusion to drop. She looked like she was considering something then shrugged behind the confused marine.
"Night-night." She chopped the side of his neck with her hand. The marine fell to the ground lifelessly. She got a slightly impressed look from Law. "Is it bad that I'm beginning to enjoy knocking people out?" she asked with a guiltless smile.
"No, of course not, Kazue-ya. Let's go," he responded. She held out her elbows for Law and Bepo to take.
"Well come on, I'm not going to wait all day, idiots," she said snappishly. Law and Bepo walked over to her and held onto her elbows.
"Disappearance!" she shouted. All of them had an illusion covering them like a blanket. "Don't talk. Just wait till I get to that alleyway over there. Keep close," she whispered to them, Law rolled his eyes, and Bepo nodded furiously.
Kazue took a step forward, dragging Bepo and Law with her. Two more steps, then a sharp stop. A speeding bullet passed, then she continued walking.
"How did you know-" Bepo began to whisper.
"What did I say about talking?" she hissed quietly. Bepo hung his head sadly.
They reached the other side without any other unexpected bullets being shot at them. She dropped the illusion and began panting.
"Damn, remind me to never do that ever again. That was exhausting," she breathed.
"So how did you know he was going to shoot?" Law asked, Kazue just rolled her eyes.
"Did you not see the dude raise his gun? If you think I have Haki, I can assure that I don't, just a sharp eye. And you can thank the moving target practice for not getting shot," she told him with a glare.
"What were your moving targets?" Law asked with a smirk.
"People, of course," she said calmly before she realized how that would sound to Law, "Paintball. Not real bullets." Law frowned and sighed.
They began to make their way to the hotel with only a few words shared, like where she would be sleeping.
~X~X~X~
They arrived at the hotel and immediately, they were surrounded by the crew.
"Shut up! I want to go to sleep... no I need my gun first," she said, and almost as fast as they had crowded her they stepped back. Harmony looked around quizzically. Jake walked in from the other room and glanced at his sister, then to everyone else.
"What did I miss?" he asked them, Hiro mouthed 'gun'. Jake turned around and walked back from where he came. But he only made three steps before a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"Hey Jake, have you seen my gun? I can't find it, and everybody seems to get scared just at the mention of it. What happened to my gun?" she asked with a tone of worry. Jake looked over his shoulder, and rapidly shook his head. A little too fast to Kazue to be convinced that he knew nothing. "Okay, well if you see it, tell me. Okay?" Jake nodded again and sighed when she sauntered down the hall to the room Law had told her she would be occupying on the way.
When she was out of sight he rushed to room 12, and flung the door open. Once he was inside he slammed it shut.
"Are you guys done yet? Kazue just asked me for her gun. Next she'll ask you two!" he yelled. Shachi and Penguin began to panic running around with the broken gun.
There was a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" Shachi squeaked.
"Kazue you idiot, open up. Law said that if Jake didn't have it, then you two were hiding it from me!" The door fell down in front of them, sweat poured down their necks. "Now where the hell is my gun?" She glanced down to their hands, and in them was a shattered gun, that once was identical to Kazue's.
"... You-you brokemy gun!" she gaped, then her eyes turned to daggers as she looked up to the panicking duo. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY BABY!?" she screamed in uncontrolled anger. She was about to fling herself at them, going for the neck, when Penguin's quick thinking saved him.
"We didn't do it! It was Jake!" he lied. Penguin would have told the truth, but saying it was a younger version of herself just didn't seem logical to say aloud, and she would never believe them anyway.
"What!? Don't say I did it!" Jake yelped as Kazue's exposed red seemed to flash a darker color. She gripped his collar and shook him, rage like a charging bull, and the fierceness of a Black Mamba when cornered.
Law walked in and smirked.
"No need to worry Kazue-ya, we are on the island of gunslingers. You should have no problem with finding a gun while you are here," he told her. Her eyes seemed to light up. She walked over to Law.
"Island of gunslingers? Why are we standing around?! Let's go!" she shouted as she ran from the room. Jake sighed a sigh of relief.
"That went better than planned. Let's go make sure she doesn't get into trouble. Well, toomuch trouble," he told Shachi and Penguin.
~X~Kazue~X~
I walked through the crowd with a hop in my step. Who would have thought? I slip into a coma for a week or two and then I end up on the island of my dreams!
I spun around in wonder. This place was amazing! Towers of stone and steel were dedicated to making guns, outside there were bikes that would go around town delivering them to stores. Another building was small and was radiating a blistering heat, and the bricks seemed to glow red, and another was about half the size of the earlier tower, and sold only bullets: kairoseki, exploding, musket, and so many others. There was another one full of nothing but accessories for pistols and rifle.
But there was one that caught my eye. Just outside of the big city of guns, there was a relatively small house, the sub was at least ten times the size of it, and it had a shack in the backyard that radiated heat. There was a sign on the roof that read 'Rick's Guns', a small sign on the door said open in bright red letters. I walked in, a small chime range above my head.
"Welcome to my shop. I'll be with you in just a moment," said the owner without turning around.
I looked around for a moment, then said, "I'm looking for a full-size semi-auto, maybe in a .45 or .50. Two of them, really."
The old man stopped what he was doing and turned slowly to look at me, seeming to size me up.
"I don't think a fine young lady such as yourself would find herself especially pleased with the recoil from what I've got in those calibers. Maybe something a little milder in the .30 range? Something like this?"
He pulled from under the counter a cute little two-shot revolver. It was… pink. I hated pink with a passion, the gun didn't pass my inspection.
"I think you're underestimating me a little here, Rick," I said, the word littledripping with a deadly acid. I jumped over the counter and, ignoring his look of surprise, grabbed a Jericho 941 off the rack and held it one hand, testing the weight.
"I've never liked these, but it'll do."
Rick opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him short with a gesture and reached for the ammo box that had been next to the Jericho and extracted one round. "I'm sure you've got a handgun range around here somewhere…"
Sure enough, I could see an old metal pan riddled with holes about 30 feet out the back door. I quickly took aim and fired, and the Jericho bucked in my hand. Satisfied to hear a pingof the round landing on target, I looked at Rick, who stood there speechless.
"Now, find me something a little less…" I stared at the Jericho in my hand. "Worthless, if you would please."
The old man stood, unmoving, for a few seconds, then snuck a surreptitious glance to a weatherbeaten box on the floor. "Well…"
Not wanting to lose the momentum of the conversation, I reached for the box, but Rick stopped me.
"I'm sorry, anything but that one. There's something wrong with it, you see. It's far too dangerous for me to part with under any circumstances, regardless of your display just now. Can't let it fall into the wrong hands."
"Sorry, old man, dangerousjust means I have to have it now," and I shoved my way past him and picked up the box. Wrapped in a completely blood-soaked cloth, I found a gun whose model was entirely unfamiliar to me. I picked it up and it fit nicely in my hand. Sighting down the black barrel, I could feel a subtle shift from it as it tried to pull its own muzzle toward the old man's head. Muscling it back towards the ground, I saw that the hammer was shaped like a horn and the grip appeared to be shot through with veins of gold. The magazine matched this motif and the effect was enchanting.
Rick panicked: "Put that down! You'll get hurt!"
I shot him a look and he quieted for a moment, then continued, now somewhat less panicked, at least.
"I'm one of the best on this island of gunslingers - that's no boast, just a fact so you have context for what I'm about to say - and that gun nearly shot me while I was holding it. It was like… it felt like it hated me." He looked a little sad, a little disturbed. "The man I got it from told a similar story, but it had caught him by surprise and… the less said, the better. I'm sorry, miss, but I can't sell you that gun. I should destroy it, but I haven't been able to bring myself to. It's a work of art. A cursed work of art, but a work of art none the less."
I felt the gun warming in my hand like holding hands with a friend on a cold night. It wanted to be there. It… felt good.
I examined the slide, but found no markings. Instinctively, I knew it would take an unusual load… I closed my eyes and reached out slowly with my left hand, which came to rest on… ".66? I didn't even know this was a loading! Have you got dies for it? This just keeps getting better!" As I loaded the magazine with these unusual cartridges, they slid in with no effort, like they were just coming home. It was uncanny.
Without even looking at the target, I snapped my wrist up and fired from the hip and waited for the recoil… but there wasn't any. The only indication that I had fired was the old pan I'd shot making a pang and flying off its mount.
Without even meaning to, I looked back at the old man and tracked the pan with the muzzle, hitting it three more times before it hit the ground another 50 feet farther away than it had started.
Jake stared.
Shachi and Penguin stared.
Rick stared.
I stared.
"I'll take it."
~X~X~X~
~X~X~X~
A/N: Its on time and everything! Aren't you guys proud of me? Happy turkey day... hmm... Well, Kazue's back to normal and has a new gun... YAY! NO MORE HARMONY! But aw, no more Harmony. I had a lot of fun with her while she was young, but this is for the best. She was meant to get her cursed gun later on, but I couldn't help myself I just love the idea of her wanting to kill everything and not being able to. I feel both demented and happy! Yay for torturing OCs! And if you didn't already know, I made a one shot for this story and posted it! It's called Dr. Heart Stealer: Pumpkins and Whipped Cream. All of you should go read it, it's short and is for thanksgiving. Until next time, keep being awesome!