Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. Jynx is mine though, and so are any other OCs that I create.
Note: This story is completely separate from, and has absolutely nothing to do with my other One Piece story, Conspiracy.
Also Note: This story has characters with accents which means there will be purposeful misspellings and grammar mistakes.
Thank you: Pokepika's Haunt, Hailey4356, Emileighterrange, and Henna89 for the amazing reviews on chapter one. Also, thanks to the many of you that favorited and alerted this story.
This is super important! I went back and made a few changes to chapter one. You don't have to go reread it, but you do need to know that I changed Grim's name to Pierce. I came across the name Pierce after posting the first chapter and felt like it fit better, so sorry if this causes any confusion.
Lock and Load
If you have the guts to hold a gun, make sure you have the guts to pull the trigger.
Chapter Two
The silence in the gun shop hung heavy in the air as Jynx narrowed her eyes at Kidd threateningly. Several tense seconds of silence passed before she spoke, her words harsh with conviction.
"And just what makes you think I would do a thing like that?"
Kidd grinned. He liked level headed people, and her question had proved to him yet again that she was just that. "Why not?" he asked rhetorically, sweeping his arm in a grand gesture around the room. "This place is too small for someone of your skill, so why not follow me and rampage around the world making use of your talent?"
A dangerous smirk played on Jynx's lips as she eyed Kidd consideringly. "For a pirate, you can be very well spoken -a nice change from my usual line of customers. Words are simply that though –words. You aren' the first well spoken man through my doors, nor are you the first to ask me to join their crew. So, tell me, why shouldn' I turn you down like I've done to all the others?"
At her words, Kidd let out a loud laugh, throwing his head back as he spread his arms wide. "Because unlike those other scum I'm going to the very top –you're looking at the future Pirate King!" Tilting her head lightly, Jynx let out a soft 'hmm'. Kidd certainly had the aura of a leader, but did he really think he could make it all the way? If she joined his crew could he take her to the final seas –the seas her papá had told her stories of as a young girl?
"Can you do it?" Jynx asked softly, her words cutting straight through Kidd's laughter, causing him to fall silent and stare at her. "You're not even halfway through the first half of the grandline. Do you really believe you can make it to the red line, and continue to survive beyond it in the final seas?"
The grin that had disappeared from Kidd's face with her original question slowly grew back as his eyes flashed with interest. "Can I do it? Hah! Let me tell you something -failure doesn't exist in my world. I will find One Piece and become the Pirate King –not even death will stop me because I refuse to die before I get there and for a long time after that as well!"
Letting out a soft chuckle, Jynx watched as Kidd's eyes narrowed dangerously. He certainly was a prideful man.
"Don' get me wrong, I'm not laughing at you. I just find it amusing that you can be so confident." Turning, Jynx strolled over to one of the gun cases lining the room, staring at her reflection in the glass thoughtfully. "It makes me wonder, is this confidence foolishness because you are an untried rookie, or do you have the power to back up your words?"
A moment passed before a soft clanking noise reached her ears. Frowning, Jynx noticed the guns in the case vibrating as her own pistol at her hip felt like it was being tugged on. "I have more power than you think," Kidd spoke dangerously from behind her. Slowly turning, Jynx was met by hard eyes as purple sparks seemed to fly around Kidd's body. "All I have to do is put an ounce more effort in, and every metallic thing in this store will rush towards me whether you want it to or not."
"So you're a devil fruit user then?" Jynx replied calmly, taking the situation in stride. She'd met several devil fruit users in the past, so the idea of their power and strangeness wasn't lost upon her. "From what you've said I'm assuming you're a paramecia type, and your powers deal with magnetics, no?"
With nothing more than a narrowing of his eyes, Kidd released his powers, the purple sparks disappearing. The girl was impossible to intimidate –yet another reason for her to join his crew since he wanted subordinates who could face any challenge head on without getting scared and running off. The question was, how to get her to agree to join?
"Your proposition is an interesting one," Jynx purred, interrupting Kidd's train of thought. "The log post on this island takes three days to set," she said, holding up her fingers to emphasize her point. "If you can convince me that it will be worth my while to join your crew before your log post sets, I'll come with you. If not-"Jynx paused, giving Kidd a deadly glare as she slowly pulled her pistol out and leveled it at his head, "your life will be forfeit."
Kidd tensed, a frown on his face as next to him Killer and Pierce fell into fighting positions and the rest of his crew reached for their weapons. "If you cannot even manage such a small task with your life on the line there is no way you would survive farther on anyways," Jynx continued seriously. "After all, to be a pirate is to gamble your life everyday is it not? I will only follow a person who can succeed when their life is on the line. Otherwise, I would merely be following them to my death."
Gritting his teeth, Kidd thought about what she had said for a moment, letting the meaning of the words become clear. Gradually, the frown on his face turned into a smirk and finally a grin. She was testing him, or more accurately his abilities as a captain.
Well, Kidd wasn't one for losing, and in three days' time or less he would make Jynx see that and join his crew.
"Ha, you have yourself a deal!" Kidd said, turning sharply and heading for the front door. "Mark my words, you'll be calling me Captain by the time the log post sets."
"We will see about that Eustass Kidd," Jynx replied with a smirk as she watched his crew file out the door behind him. Her eyebrows raised in surprise as Killer hung back.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but I won't let you kill Kidd," the masked man threatened, walking up to her. Jynx had to look up at him as the top of her head barely cleared his chin. Because of his mask, she couldn't see his eyes, but she could feel his hard gaze on her all the same.
"Well then, you only have two choices," she purred, returning her pistol to its holder. "Either you make sure your captain succeeds, or at the end of three days you give your life in place of his." A harsh silence fell on the two of them as Jynx watched Killer turning her words over in his head.
"Kidd won't fail –I chose to follow him for a reason. And if things ever came to worst I would give my life if it would save his," Killer responded after several seconds. Blinking in surprise, Jynx smirked. Often she had heard that a first mate was a good reflection of what the captain was like. It made her wish she could see passed the mask to Killer's expression.
"Then I will wish you buena suerte, good luck." The sound of Kidd calling Killer's name from outside drew a chuckle from her. "You should go. I don' see Kidd as the most patient person." Giving her the slightest of nods, Killer headed for the front door where Pierce was waiting.
"Killer," Jynx called after him, making the masked man stop and glance over his shoulder, "I will give you fair warning –I'm a very stubborn person." Killer let out a hmph.
"You can't be as bad as Kidd."
Without another word, Killer was out the front door with Pierce at his side. Down the street Kidd was waiting with a scowl on his face, and Killer vowed to himself then and there to convince Jynx to join them. Like Kidd, he had realized the reason for her challenge, and actually admired her for it. Not many people would stand up to Kidd like that, let alone a woman -she really would make a good addition to the crew.
*%%*
Jynx could feel Killer's gaze on her back as she collected the money from her most recent client. The poor man couldn't seem to get out of the shop fast enough to escape the presence of the first mate of the Kidd Pirates.
"At this rate you'll scare away all my customers," Jynx commented dryly as she sat down in the chair behind her desk to fill out some papers. It was already early evening of the second day of her bet with Kidd. For two days straight Killer had spent most of the day with her, observing her and occasionally talking with her. Several times Kidd had stopped by, but it seemed he trusted that Killer would convince her so he didn't practically take up residence in her shop like the masked man had.
"After tomorrow that won't matter anymore, so why be bothered about it?" Killer replied, pushing off against the wall to walk forward and look over Jynx's shoulder at the papers she was filling out.
"You forget that I still haven't said yes," Jynx replied as she glanced over the papers and filled in a few things here and there.
"You will." The confident statement didn't both Jynx much as she'd quickly gotten used to such words coming from Killer over the past forty-eight hours. Rolling her eyes, she gathered up the papers on her desk, paper clipped them together, and placed them in the top drawer of her desk. "Are you going to close up shop now?" Killer asked. Glancing over her shoulder, Jynx nodded at him.
"I doubt that I will see any more customers today." Pocketing her profits, Jynx proceed to walk around the room checking all the locks on the different gun cabinets to make sure they were secure before locking the front door. "I assume you'll be leaving to go to the inn soon?"
When Killer made no response, Jynx turned around, surprised when he was standing there silently, staring at her. Or at least she assumed he was staring at her. "Killer?" Jynx asked softly, booted feet padding softly against the floor as she walked up to him. Killer wasn't the most verbose man as she'd learned, but this was just odd.
"You're coming with me," he finally responded after a minute. Jynx's eyes narrowed.
"And where do you think I'm going?" Her hand floated down to the holster of her gun.
Killer let out a sigh. "To the inn. I figure it would be good for you to eat dinner with the crew and become familiar with them rather than eat here by yourself."
Retracting her hand from where it hovered near her gun, Jynx let out a dry chuckle. "Again it seems you've forgotten that I've yet to say yes, so why should I bother to familiarize myself with a crew that I might not even join?" Strolling passed Killer, Jynx went to take her leave to her quarters upstairs, but was stopped as Killer threw out an arm blocking her path. Rolling her eyes, Jynx easily slipped under his outstretched appendage.
"Why would I want to spend an evening with drunken men?"
"Because it's an opportunity to see Kidd other than when he stops by here and form a more complete opinion of him. Besides, not all of us get drunk," Killer responded, reaching out and catching Jynx's shoulder with his strong fingers. She could feel his metal wrist and hand guard resting lightly against her and wondered why he never bothered to take them off.
Turning around to face him full on, Jynx looked at him consideringly. He had a point, a rather good one at that –seeing Kidd in a place where she would often see him if she joined his crew and the way he acted there was actually a very good idea. "Hmm," she intoned softly, biting the corner of her lip. "I suppose I could join you. Give me a few minutes to finish up a few things and we can go."
Letting his hand fall from her shoulder, Killer nodded. Spending the majority of the last two days at the gun shop had produced few results, so he figured getting Jynx out of the shop might help. He might have just been wrong when he'd said she couldn't be as stubborn as Kidd. In all honesty, most rocks were probably softer and less stubborn than her.
True to her word, just a few minutes later Jynx was ready to go, and the two found themselves walking down the town streets towards the inn in companionable silence.
"Why –why do you try so hard for Kidd?" Jynx asked quietly, breaking the silence between them as the inn came into sight. Killer thought for a moment before responding. It wasn't a question he had expected her to ask.
"He is the Captain. There are few men in this world that I would allow myself to follow, but Kidd is one of them. If the Captain loses I lose, if he wins I win. It's as simple as that." Jynx nodded letting out a thoughtful 'hmm'. Truly, the Kidd pirates were doing a better job of convincing her than any crew before them. Kidd's trust in Killer to convince her, and Killer's loyalty to Kidd really impressed her. On the outside they looked like a no nonsense crew with a rigid system of hierarchy, which they were, but underneath that was something more. A trust or sense of loyalty that was so strong it seemed to have its own thrum of life.
Of course, not all the members exhibited this aura although they all had at least some sort of respect towards Kidd. His reign through respect and loyalty rather than fear despite his appearances and reputation for violence had stolen her interest almost immediately. As they walked through the inn's front door which opened onto the lower level which functioned as a bar, Jynx found herself feeling almost excited to see how things would go.
"Looks like the crew is over there," Killer said quietly, drawing Jynx's attention as he nodded his head towards the tables in the dim light of the far corner. Sure enough, it was easy to spot Kidd with his bright red hair as he set down a tankard. Catching sight of them, he threw them a grin and with a quick jerk of his head, indicated that they should come join him.
"You go ahead," Jynx said softly, lightly touching Killer's upper arm with her fingers. "I'm going to go pick up a drink from the bar first, then I'll join you." Receiving a nod from the masked man, Jynx softly slipped passed him and threaded her way through the mess of people, tables, and chairs to the bar. She waited a minute for the bartender to become free, and when he came over to her a large grin was on his face.
"Hey thar, if it ain't Jynx. Haven't seen you 'round har in a while now. Wha' brings ya to thaw Golden Goblet ternite? Ya came in with tha' masked fella didn't ya? He's a pirate tha' un."
Smiling serenely, Jynx let out a chuckle. "I'm well aware of his being a pirate Jilgo. His captain is the man in the large fur coat with the red hair, and he's trying to recruit me for his crew." Jilgo threw back his head and let out a deep, rumbling laugh.
"Yarharhar! Ya got anuther un after ya now do yeh? I suppose he'll be dea' within a day uh two than. In thaw tree years I's known ya ain't nobody tha's survived tha' little ole challenge uh yours." Smirking, Jynx allowed herself a shrug which caught Jilgo's eye almost instantly. "Naw wai' a minute har. Ya's nevar shrugged like tha' afore. Don' go a tellin' mae they's actually got you thinkin' 'bout joinin' 'em." Jynx merely shrugged again as Jilgo narrowed his eyes.
She could feel that Jilgo wasn't the only one staring at her as she felt two pairs of eyes on her back. Without turning she knew it must be Kidd and Killer. "One Summer Ale minus the spike Jilgo." Watching as Jilgo gave her a hard, considering look before turning away to make the drink, Jynx knew he'd be keeping a close eye on her and the Kidd Pirates all night long.
When Jilgo slid the tankard across the counter to her, she gave him a friendly smile to which he grunted. "If ya goes with 'em make sure ta come an' say good-bye afore ya go." Taking her tankard, Jynx placed a few beli on the counter in its place.
"I wouldn' dream of doing anything less."
"So ya really ar' serious like abou' these fellas," Jilgo said, eyes widening slightly. Taking a sip from her tankard, Jynx swished the refreshingly sweet ale around in her mouth for a moment before swallowing and smirking mysteriously at the amazed bartender.
"Perhaps."
Without another word, Jynx turned and began making her way across the floor to the Kidd Pirates as Jilgo was summoned away by another customer who needed a refill.
The booth in the corner Kidd was sitting at contained him, Killer, the man who had been with them the first time they'd walked into her shop whom she'd learned was called Pierce, and another man who she had seen before, but never talked to. He was dressed in a black cloak with leather mini shorts and a fish net top. The only spot open was on the end next to Killer, so Jynx smoothly slipped in next to him, nodding a greeting to Kidd and the others.
"Heh, you could have grabbed a quick tankard on your way over like Killer, so why'd you bother making a trip to the bar?" Kidd asked coolly. Taking another sip of her Summer Ale, Jynx set about to nursing it with her hands, a small smirk on her face.
"I was in the mood for something special, so I went and asked Jilgo to make it for me. Is there anything wrong with that?" Looking up from her drink to Kidd, Jynx raised an eyebrow in question. In response he let out a quiet 'tch'.
"What's so special about your drink?" asked the man Jynx didn't know. "Name's Salem by the way." Nodding in acknowledgement, Jynx considered whether to answer his question or not, finally deciding she might as well.
"This drink," she said slowly as she tilted the tankard slightly to look at the dark purple liquid inside, "is one that I taught Jilgo to make. It's a popular drink from my native island called Summer Ale. It's very sweet and tart."
There was silence for a moment before several questions were thrown her way all at once.
"What's in it?"
"Where's your native island?"
"What's your native island like?"
Laughing, Jynx felt herself relaxing as she began answering the questions one by one. She hadn't expected the pirates to be so curious about what seemed like rather trivial matters. Even though Kidd wasn't one of the ones to ask a question, she knew he was listening carefully to everything she said.
"My native island is an autumn island found in another part of the grandline by the name of Fairinly. Summer Ale is a drink that is often made in the summer -hence the name, for parties and such using grape juice, cola, fruit extracts, and sugar."
Her answers satisfied the pirates for a few minutes as they broke into side conversations while she sipped on her drink contentedly. It had been a while since she'd spent a night at the bar, so she enjoyed looking across the dimly lit room to watch what was going on and to see who was there.
"So how come you're here and not back on your native island?" Slowly turning her head, Jynx was met by Kidd's curious gaze as he took a drink from his tankard. She noticed that next to her Killer had tensed slightly, obviously listening in while Pierce and Salem continued on with their own little conversation, although somewhat quieter than before.
Swirling her drink around, Jynx took a slow draught of it. The story for her being there wasn't something she spoke about often –not that it was a secret or anything similar, it's just not something she did.
"That is not a story I often share," she spoke softly, staring at her tankard thoughtfully. "Perhaps, if you can convince me to join your crew, I will tell it to you someday." Looking up at Kidd she frowned. "I'm not much in the mood for telling stories right now."
Kidd looked disappointed for a moment before grinning again. "Well, I'll hear it from you eventually, so I suppose it's alright." Jynx chuckled quietly. He was still so sure that he'd have her agreeing to join her crew before sunset tomorrow.
Glancing around the booth discreetly, Jynx realized it wouldn't be so bad to go with these pirates. The past few hours had been more fun than she'd had in a long time, and as the night had worn on, most of the booths occupants had switched places except for Kidd, so she now found herself sitting on the opposite side of the booth from where she'd originally sat down, currently putting her between Kidd and Killer.
"Are you glad you came now?" the masked man asked quietly so only she could hear. Jynx allowed a slight nod of her head. The next thing she knew, Kidd's elbow banged into her side, knocking her into Killer. Turning to ask him what his problem was, Jynx noticed his hand on his dagger and a harsh glare on his face.
Following the line of his glare, Jynx spotted a group of men a few tables over. If she remembered right, they'd only arrived about half an hour earlier. From their looks, she could easily label them as pirates, and the one who appeared to be the captain was glaring a Kidd.
"You have a problem with me?" Kidd growled, rising slightly from his seat. On her other side, Killer was shifting slightly so that he'd easily be able to leap over the table if the need occurred.
Sniffing, the other man stood up, sweeping a dark green cloak behind him as he did so. "I believe I do. I thought I recognized your ugly mug 'Captain' Kidd. I'm a veteran of these seas by the name of Captain Zanar of the Gale Pirates, and I've been wanting to run into a impudent rookie like yourself so I can put you in your rightful place. I'm tired of hearing nothing but news about you big upstarts fresh out of the blues!"
Feeling her tankard begin to tremble, Jynx grasped it firmly having a good guess of what was about to happen. This night had certainly taken a turn on its head in the matter of a few moments.
"HA!" Kidd laughed loudly. The entire bar had fallen silent and was watching the exchange with mixed reactions. "If anyone's going to be put in their place it's you!" Without warning, purple sparks appeared around Kidd's body as metal objects started flying towards him rapidly. Even though Jynx had imagined it in her head, the actual sight was something else.
As several guns flew towards him, Kidd stopped them with a single hand, repelling them towards Zanar, setting them off with a succession of resulting bangs. Several of Zanar's men fell from their chairs wounded as shouting broke out from the rest of the bar's occupants who quickly began running for the door or a place to hide and take cover.
Relaxing back into the booth, Jynx kept a watchful eye out to make sure nothing came her way while she enjoyed the show. Killer, Pierce, and Salem had all jumped to their feet and joined into the ensuing fray of fighting that came after Kidd's initial attack.
Throughout the fight Jynx could feel a dangerous smile playing on her lips. She had to admit she liked the way the Kidd pirates fought with no mercy. If their opponents somehow managed to survive it would be a miracle. Once during the brawl, Jynx had to slide over to avoid a random butchers knife and again later because of a few tankards, but for the most part being in the corner behind Kidd kept her safe since he repelled pretty much anything that came in her general direction since that also meant it was coming towards him.
Of all the fights going on, Kidd's was one of the most entertaining to watch. Zanar having lost his weapon to Kidd's magnetism long ago had switched to throwing nonmetallic items such as chairs at Kidd which were easily knocked out of the way or dodged and then switched again to hand to hand combat which went even worse for the poor man.
With Kidd's devil fruit it was extremely hard for Zanar to get anywhere near him. From her seat, Jynx noticed something though. Kidd's power was great for mid to long range fighting, but if anyone did manage to get close to him, his powers wouldn't do him much good. Thinking about it for a minute, Jynx realized that was probably why even with the powers of a devil fruit he carried a pistol and dagger –for just in case anyone got in too close for his powers to be effective.
Jynx allowed a grin to appear on her face. For a devil fruit user to keep weapons on his person because he knew the weakness of his own powers wasn't very common. Most fruit users were so confident in their powers that they considered weapons to be useless. Kidd though, even with his pride, had apparently come to the conclusion that it was better to be prepared than be left vulnerable. By carrying his pistol and dagger he was admitting that he knew his devil fruit wasn't all powerful.
Inside, Jynx felt a growing respect for the pirate captain. To know and admit to one's weaknesses, and then to actually do something about them showed great intelligence and strength as a person.
Watching as Kidd took several strides forward, Jynx knew instinctively that he was done with the rather pathetic excuse for a fight Zanar was putting up, and that he was going to end it –most likely with Zanar's death.
Having ignored Zanar's shouts through most of the fight, Jynx realized he was now begging Kidd to let him go as the red head came to a stop several feet away. His behavior sickened her. He was the one to pick the fight in the first place, he should have considered the fact that he might not win, might not survive. No battle was ever a guaranteed thing until the very end.
Even as she thought this, Jynx noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye. One of Zanar's men had somehow managed to escape the kill fest of the Kidd Pirates and had snuck behind the bar. That wasn't what bothered her though. What did was the gun in his hand which was aimed at the back of Kidd.
Watching as he took aim and pulled back on the flintlock to cock the gun, Jynx felt her temper flaring as she got out of the booth and stood up. Only a coward would shoot at a person's back, and only scum would interfere with a one-on-one fight. If there were two things Jynx hated it was cowards and scum.
In the single second it took Zanar's man to go from cocking the gun to resting his finger on the trigger, Jynx had her pistol out and leveled at his head. "I don't think so," she said in a quiet voice that carried across the room sending chills into the spines of everyone that heard it. As the last syllable left her mouth, she pulled the trigger and the man slumped against the bar, rapidly spilling blood across it.
The entire bar seemed to have fallen eerily still as the sound of the gunshot faded. "Tell the devil Jynx sent you," she said, raising the gun to blow away the smoke coming from its tip before flipping it around in her hand, and dropping it into its holster.
"Hahaha!" Feeling her temper quickly returning to normal, Jynx glanced over at Kidd who was laughing his head off. She watched as he walked up to Zanar who was cowering on the ground and roughly picked him up by the front of his shirt. "Allow me to put you in your place," he taunted, all traces of laughter gone from his face except for a rather large and devilish grin.
"No –please!" Zanar pleaded, but it was too late as Kidd pulled out his dagger with his free hand and stabbed Zanar in the chest, twisting the blade cruelly. Zanar's screams of pain rapidly faded as his lungs filled with blood and his life left his body.
Pulling out his dagger, Kidd wiped the blade clean on Zanar's shirt before dropping him to the ground and kicking the corpse away with his foot. Around the rest of the bar lay the bodies of the Gale Pirates –not a single one of them still alive.
Grabbing her tankard off the table, Jynx raised it in the air. "I'll raise my glass to you. That was nicely done," she said, nodding to Kidd and the rest of his crew before taking a swig.
"Heh, that was a good shot yourself," Kidd shot back. "I thought you were just gonna sit back and watch the entire time."
"Well, that was the plan until he tried to pull his little stunt," Jynx said jerking her head towards the man she'd shot. "After all, I couldn' have him shooting the man who's going to be my captain."
Somehow, the grin on Kidd's face grew larger than ever.
"To my new life as a Kidd Pirate," Jynx said, tilting her head back and downing the rest of her drink. The sound of her tankard banging against the tabletop when she finished was akin to that of a judge's gavel.
Well, there's chapter two. Did everyone like it?
Reviews are awesome and let me know how I'm doing, so please drop one before you go.
