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, Sarin-sama, soul-madness, Autumn Eclipse, mcr77, Henna89, C'Kidd, and RobinFleur194 for the spectacular reviews!

Anonymous Review Response:

Autumn Eclipse - I'm happy to hear that you think so highly of Jynx, and I will continue to do my best with Kidd and Killer. =)


Lock and Load

If you have the guts to hold a gun, make sure you have the guts to pull the trigger.


Chapter Three

Waking in the dim light of the early predawn hours, it took Jynx several moments to realize where she was as the hammock she lay in swung back and forth gently with the motion of the ship. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she recalled how the past day had been spent moving her things from the gun shop to the previously empty cabin boy room of the Kidd Pirates' ship.

Slowly sitting up, Jynx rolled first one shoulder and then the other before cracking her neck to loosen up. It had been a few years since she'd last slept on a ship. Swinging her feet over the edge of the hammock, she dropped down to the cold wooden floor. Taking a few minutes to stretch and relax, Jynx let out a content sigh before softly padding across the floor to look out the port hole at the gently rolling sea still gray in the pale morning light.

A few minutes later found Jynx out of her sleepwear, and instead in one of her many off-white burlap shirts with a dark green corset top over it, loose black pants tucked into her black boots, and her gold sash around her waist. Picking up her hairbrush from where it sat on the small desk in the corner of the room, Jynx ran it through her hair, stopping now and again to untangle the worst of the knots with her fingers.

Once she was satisfied, Jynx pushed her hair back letting the dark brown wavy locks ripple down to the middle of her upper back. Pulling a dark green bandana out of the sea chest she had stored all of her clothes in, Jynx placed it on her head, tying it tight while making sure to avoid catching any loose hairs with her deft fingers.

The last thing she did before leaving her room was to take her gun belt down from the nail on the post of her hammock and fasten it around her waist.

Standing outside the door to her room, Jynx looked around the short hall she was in –it was actually the only hall in the entire ship. Yesterday while she'd been moving in Pierce had helped her, explaining different things about the ship while they worked. One of the first things he had explained was the ship's layout which was actually quite simple.

The ship had three main levels, the first being the hold in the very bottom of the ship which was used as storage for extra ropes, sails, tools, and fresh food and water. It was also where the ship's cannons were located although, Pierce had informed Jynx that it wasn't often that they used the cannons since Kidd preferred to let the enemies get close and hear their screams of pain from damage dealt by his own hands.

This had also brought about the learning or an important rule: if it's metal make sure it's always tightly secured down. After seeing Kidd's ability for herself at the bar, this rule needed no explaining.

The next level was the lower deck which could basically be divided into three sections from Jynx's understanding –the crew's room, the mess hall, and the private rooms. The crew's room was located up in the forecastle, or front, of the lower deck. It's where the majority of the crew slept, and nicely enough it provided them with two bathrooms.

The mess hall took up the majority of the middle of the lower deck. True to its name, it was where the crew gathered to eat and drink. On the far left of the mess hall was a galley kitchen which due to a large window cut into the wall, allowed the cooks to look out over the crew as they ate and be part of the action. Off to the side of the mess hall were the stairs that led down to the hold. Across the mess hall on the right side were the stairs leading up to the trap door which opened onto the main deck.

The final part of the lower deck was the private rooms which Jynx was grateful to find herself living in as the idea of sleeping in the forecastle with the rest of the crew didn't exactly enthrall her.

The private rooms were separated from the mess hall by a door which led to the small hall Jynx was currently standing in.

If you were facing the hall as if you'd just opened the door from the mess hall, there were three doors on the left, and two to the right. The first door on the left, which was the cabin boy room, was now Jynx's. The next door down was Killer's, and the final door on the left was Pierce's. With Killer being the first mate, it made sense for him to have his own room, and it hadn't taken Jynx long to figure out that Pierce was the unofficial second mate as well as being the ship's navigator which also merited having his own room.

Across the hall from Pierce was Salem who to Jynx's honest surprise was the ship's doctor. Truly, she would never have guessed that someone who wandered around in leather mini shorts holding what looked like a trident pitchfork would be a doctor.

Of course, being a doctor was more than enough reason to give Salem his own room, added to the fact the final door in the small hall led to the infirmary, and there was actually a door which connected Salem's room directly to the infirmary.

The other nice thing Pierce had informed Jynx of was that there was a bathroom in the infirmary which he, Salem, and Killer had shared, and would now be sharing with her. She would much rather share a bathroom with the three of them than the rest of the crew.

The last full level of the ship was the main deck which could also be divided into three parts –the area beneath the Fo'c'sle deck, or as Pierce more easily labeled it -the front or foredeck, the open deck, and the part beneath the quarterdeck.

Beneath the foredeck was a good sized training room which Jynx had gone and inspected when she'd had some free time. It was actually pretty nice with a space for sparring if the weather outside was bad, along with lots of free weights and other things to help the crew train and become stronger.

Across the main deck underneath the quarterdeck were two important rooms. If you were facing the doors, the one on the right was Kidd's room, and the one on the left led to the navigation rooms which had several tables and bookcases inside with maps pinned to the wall and all sorts of other devices that Jynx wasn't overly familiar with.

Pierce had seemed rather protective of the room, informing Jynx that for the most part the crew was banned from it in order to keep all the maps and things safe. He had said however, that since she wasn't rowdy like the rest of the crew, if she promised not to touch anything she could visit the navigation room whenever she wanted. The amount of trust this showed Pierce putting in her was not lost on Jynx, and she had made a mental note to never abuse the privilege.

Having meandered up to the main deck, Jynx was currently looking at the door to the navigation room consideringly. It was still early, so the rest of the ship was asleep, and not having much else to do, Jynx decided to go take a look at the maps.

Upon opening the door, she was surprised at the sight of Pierce bending over a map on the large table in the middle of the room muttering to himself. At the sound of the door opening he looked up at her, a spark of surprise crossing his face before it returned to normal.

"I didn't think you'd take up my offer to come here this quickly," he said in his somewhat gravely, deep voice, beckoning Jynx over with a hand. Making her way around the table, Jynx joined him in looking down at the map.

"I didn' think you would be up so early," Jynx said quietly, looking down at the unfamiliar lines on the map.

"I could say the same for you," Pierce chuckled with a hint of a smirk. "Could you not sleep well or do you always get up this early?"

"I've always been an early riser," Jynx said, reaching out to touch the map, but freezing when she remembered that Pierce had said not to touch anything, so instead she moved her hand to rest lazily on the edge of the table. The movement didn't go unnoticed by Pierce.

"You can touch the map as long as your hands are clean which I doubt is something I have to worry about with you."

Nodding gratefully, Jynx reached out and touched the map as lightly as a feather with her finger, gently tracing the confusing lines surrounding the island in the center of the map. "What are these strange lines?" she asked after a moment. "I know the lines on land represent the steepness –the closer together they are, the steeper the incline, but that does not seem like the reason for these lines in the water."

Pierce nodded slowly, giving her an appraising look before turning to the map. "Those lines are the currents in the water."

"Why are there so many lines then? Surely there can' be that many currents at once in a single area," Jynx said in confusion.

"There's not," Pierce said, pointing to one of the lines Jynx had traced. "This line is for the normal current in the area, and this one over here is how the current usually flows when a storm is on its way. Other current lines show variations in the current from morning to evening and during the different tides as you get closer to an island."

Jynx let out a low, soft whistle of appreciation. There was more information there than she could have guessed. "How do you know which lines are which?" she asked curiously, leaning closer to the map to take a better look at all the different lines.

"This map comes from a set I purchased which has a key that describes what all the different lines mean. Without a key or knowing the cartographer who drew the map and remembering the way they like to draw them, it's impossible to know," Pierce responded slowly.

Noting the slight change in his voice, Jynx glanced up at the navigator, and slowly drew back from the map. "Is something wrong Pierce?" she asked carefully.

"No," Pierce said slowly again, shaking his head back and forth lightly. "It's nothing. Well, nothing important anyways." Jynx nodded slowly, knowing it wasn't the truth, but understanding that it wasn't her business to know unless he wanted to tell her. "Have you had breakfast yet?" Pierce asked after a few moments, breaking the silence between them.

"Not yet, I wasn' hungry when I woke up," Jynx replied, smoothly adjusting to the change of subject. "I'm starting to feel hungry now though."

"Then I say we go get some breakfast before the rest of the crew gets up," Pierce said, putting away a few of his instruments. "It's much nicer not having to fight for your food."

Smirking, Jynx let out an amused chuckled. "I would suppose so."

*%%*

Jynx found that she was indeed glad to have beaten the crew to breakfast. After she and Pierce had their bowls filled with oatmeal by Hobbes, the head chef, the two of them went and took a seat at a round table in the corner.

Not even a full five minutes later it was as if some silent signal had gone off as the door leading to the crew's room sprang open and the men poured out into the mess hall grumbling and complaining. Watching as they shoved each other roughly, trying to be the first to get their breakfast, Jynx made a mental note to never be late to breakfast, or even on time for that matter.

Breakfast and probably all the other meals as well were to be arrived at early whenever possible.

"Is it always this bad?" Jynx asked between mouthfuls.

"Bad? This is a good morning by normal standards. Just wait until we've been on the sea a few days and you'll see just how bad mealtimes can get," Pierce replied after swallowing. "Although, it's not as bad once everybody's sitting down."

"I'll take your word for it," Jynx said with mild disbelief. Several minutes later, she watched as Salem and Killer walked into the mess hall. It surprised her that rather than go get in line for breakfast, they made a beeline for where she and Pierce were sitting.

"Are you two not hungry?" Jynx asked blowing on a spoonful of oatmeal to cool it down.

"Oh, we're hungry enough," Salem replied as he sat down across from her, "we just don't want to put up with the chaos over there. We'll go get breakfast in a few minutes." Jynx nodded in understanding. It wasn't a bad idea since either way they had to wait for their food, so they might as well wait at the table instead of being shoved around. Although, Jynx couldn't really see the crew daring to jostle either of them around, but still…

"How's our course? Did the night watch keep us going in the right direction?" Looking up curiously at Killer who'd spoken, Jynx realized he was addressing Pierce.

"We're doing fine. I'm guessing it'll be close to two weeks before we see land again though if the log post is pointing to the island I think it is. That's if the weather stays good the entire time too." A nod from Killer was his only response while Salem let out a huff.

"I sure hope it's more eventful this time around." A murmur of agreement came from Pierce while Killer nodded his head again. Apparently, there was something they knew which Jynx didn't, but she didn't let it bother her.

Scrapping the final spoonful of oatmeal from the bottom of her bowl, Jynx glanced over at the kitchen. The line had finally dispersed, and noting that the other three occupants of the table had somehow gotten into a lengthy conversation, Jynx quietly slipped out of her seat and made her way over to the kitchen.

She could feel the eyes of some of the crew on her, but ignored them. Once they were used to having her around, the stares would stop. Meeting Hobbes at the kitchen window, Jynx handed him her bowl.

"So how'd yah like mah cookin'?" Hobbes asked curiously. Jynx smiled. Hobbes was one of the few crew members she'd had a chance to be introduced to the previous day, and for some reason she had just instantly liked the man. Maybe it's because he kind of reminded her of Jilgo.

Hobbes was a rather big man at least in Jynx's standards. Her head couldn't quite meet the top of his shoulder, and he was a large mass of muscle which was obvious as the t-shirt he wore underneath his open black leather vest had the sleeves ripped off exposing his large biceps. His short rust colored hair lay flat on his head, and complimented his blue eyes which were set in a well defined face.

"I was actually wondering if seconds are allowed," Jynx replied smoothly. Grinning, Hobbes filled her bowl again, but set it aside instead of giving to her as he went to fill three more bowls.

"I might want more Hobbes, but I can't eat all that," Jynx laughed softly.

"Ah'd be worried iffin yah could Jynx. Naw, this is for the cap'in, Killer, and Salem. Think yah could carry four bowls back for mae?" Glancing back, Jynx saw that Kidd had indeed appeared and was currently standing next to the table she'd been sitting at, talking to Killer, Pierce, and Salem.

"What about Pierce?" Jynx asked turning back to the cook. "He should be just about finished with his first bowl."

She raised an eyebrow in question as Hobbes gave her a funny look. "Yer a strange one Jynx. Round here yah normally fend fer yerself. Besides, yah only got two hands, so how can yah carry five bowls? Four should bae hard enough."

"Try me," Jynx replied with a smirk. Hobbes stared her down for a moment before sighing and shaking his head as he pulled out another bowl and filled it up. Once the bowl was filled, he placed the five bowls in a row in front of Jynx.

"So yah mind tellin' mae just how yer gonna do this Jynx?" Not bothering to respond, Jynx swiftly placed three of the bowls on her left arm, stopping a moment to make sure they were balanced and then placed the other two on her right arm. "Tha's nevar gonna work," Hobbes said in disbelief, reaching out to take the bowls from Jynx, but she backed up and roll her eyes. Men.

Turning, Jynx made her way back to the table with the eyes of what felt like the entire crew as they realized what she was doing.

"Oi, don't drop 'em!" called a cheeky voice. Glancing over her shoulder in the direction of the voice, Jynx met eyes with the pirate who'd called out to her and smirked.

"Don' worry, I won'." Seeing that Jynx could take and throw friendly banter, a few other voices started calling out to her to which she responded good naturedly. A few of her responses got some good chuckles and laughs out of the crew, so that when she reached the table even Kidd seemed to be laughing and having a good time.

"Those better not all be for you," he said with a grin as Jynx carefully slid the bowls from her arm to the table.

"Just this one," Jynx replied smoothly, taking her old seat with bowl in hand. Grinning, Kidd grabbed a bowl as did everyone else at the table. A few nods of thanks were given, but the words weren't actually spoken. Jynx could easily guess that while respect and thanks could be shown, the words "thank you" were rarely vocalized.

"I hope you got a good night's sleep," Kidd chuckled as he dug in, "cause after this you're getting a crash course in how to be a sailor, and it won't be easy. There's more to being a pirate than fighting, and I hate having dead weight on the ship."

Swallowing, Jynx smirked mischievously. "I think you'll find me up to the challenge."

*%%*

"Alright, listen up newbie 'cause it ain't cool if I hafta repeat myself." Sitting on a spar midway up the foremast, Jynx resisted the urge to roll her eyes since it would probably set Jax off again. Jax, was the crew member in charge of teaching her life in the rigging since he was apparently quite good at it.

His shoulder length dark blue hair and chiseled chest which was shown off by an overly tight fishnet tank top would have many girls after him, but Jynx had burst out laughing when she was first introduced to him –well, after threatening to seriously injure if not kill him because he tried to flirt with her and got on her nerves when he didn't back off even after she'd said she wasn't interested.

Kidd had laughed his head off, injuring Jax's pride even further after he was shot down by a girl, and Killer had quietly told Jynx that while Jax was a good fighter and almost indispensable in the rigging, his playboy attitude could get annoying and that it was a good thing she'd shot him down so quickly. He also warned her that Jax might try again once his pride recovered and while she shouldn't kill him if he did, to feel free to let him have it.

Adjusting the metal link chain around his neck which was held closed by a keyhole lock, Jax gave Jynx a superior look as he launched into the particulars of the ropes and sails of the spar they were sitting on.

"Did you get all that newbie?" Jax asked in annoyance when he was done. Jynx hadn't been paying much attention, but she didn't really need to since it wasn't the first time she'd been exposed to ropes and sails –not that he needed to know that.

At a nod from Jynx, Jax got to his feet, balancing easily on the spar. "Alright then, the sails are where they need to be for now, so we'll focus on getting you used to running around in the rigging which is something you can only gain through practice."

Nodding again, Jynx got to her feet, feeling the sway of the ship, the mast, and the spar she was on as she adjusted her weight slightly to keep her balance. It only took a few seconds for her to feel comfortable.

"Okay," Jax said, drawing Jynx's attention again. "Just moving around the rigging would be boring, so we'll turn it into a bit of a game. I'm going to give you a twenty second head start and then I'm going to try and catch you. If you get caught, you lose, and have to give me a kiss," Jax said, turning around to throw Jynx what most girls would call a seductive smile. "We'll keep playing until there's a shift change for the rigging."

"And if I don't get caught," Jynx asked dangerously, her hand hovering over her pistol. She might just have to let him have it sooner than she'd originally thought.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll be sure to catch you," Jax replied slyly. "There's no way you can outrun me in the rigging when I'm so experienced and you're just a beginner, but if it'll make you feel better, we can say that if by some miracle you don't get caught, I'll give you a thousand beli. Fair enough?"

Jynx nodded, letting her hand relax.

"Okay then, no weapons allowed, no leaving the rigging, and your twenty seconds start now," Jax smirked, leaning against the mast. Not needing a second invitation, Jynx took off up the rigging. She was just below the top spar of the foremast when she felt extra vibrations on the ropes. Looking down, she saw that Jax had started climbing up behind her.

A cheshire grin spread across Jynx's face. This is where the fun began.

Quickly ascending the final rungs of the rigging, Jynx hopped up onto the top mast, balancing easily even though the swaying of the mast was worse higher up. Looking back down at Jax, Jynx let out an interested 'hmm'.

He was already closing in on her.

Not about to be caught, Jynx easily ran across the spar, slowing slightly as she neared the mast. "Looks like you've trapped yourself," Jax called from eight feet below her as he continued to climb. "You can't go anywhere with the mast in the way."

"That's what you think," Jynx said with a smirk.

"I'm not sure what you just said, but man do you sound sexy when you talk in another language," Jax said, a predatory grin edging its way onto his face as he licked his bottom lip.

Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Jynx grabbed one of the free hanging ropes and pushed off the spar as she neared the mast in order to swing around it to the other side. She lost her balance for a brief moment as her feet touched down on the other side of the mast, but she quickly regained it.

"What the?" she heard Jax shout in disbelief. "You shouldn't be able to do something like that –you're just a newbie!"

Grinning, Jynx used a loose knot to secure the rope to her side of the mast so Jax couldn't reach it before swiftly dropping down into the rigging and making her way back down the mast.

"Oi, get back here!"

Looking up at Jax who was descending back down the rigging on the other side of the mast, Jynx let out a laugh. He'd never catch her like that.

The game continued on for quite a while, and as people on deck realized what was going on, they stopped what they were doing to watch, and a few of them started placing bets. Occasionally, Jynx would go sit on the bottom spar and talk to the people on deck for a few seconds before she had to move again.

A few times, she and Jax ended up in the same section of rigging, but even then she always managed to slip away before he could catch up and the cheers and complaints from the betters below would drift up to them making Jynx laugh.

Jax though, wasn't finding the situation to be funny at all. He'd expected to catch Jynx over and over again, earning a kiss each time in order to win the new girl over. After all, he was a good kisser in his own humble opinion, and what good was having a girl on the ship if she didn't like him? He shouldn't have been having so much trouble catching a newbie, but it hadn't taken him too long to realize that Jynx was no newbie when it came to running around the rigging, and it infuriated him.

Captain had told him to teach her the ropes, but she already knew them. What kind of a joke was this? The captain wasn't one for pulling pranks, so all Jax could guess was that even the captain hadn't known about Jynx's skill.

Growling in annoyance as he missed Jynx yet again, Jax knew he was running out of time –it wouldn't be much longer until the shift change, and he needed to make her pay for the humiliation she was handing him. He, the one who was supposed to be the fastest and most adept in the rigging of the entire crew, was being showed up by a girl! It just wasn't cool.

When the shift change came, Jynx easily made her way down the mast to the deck where several of the crew congratulated her. She could feel Jax's scowl on her back and turned to smirk at him in a superior manner.

"Don' forget you owe me a thousand beli now," she chided softly, her eyes twinkling with laughter as Jax shoved his hands into his pockets sulking.

"Cheater," her huffed at her indignantly, "you were supposed to be a newbie."

"I am," Jynx said lightly, "on this ship at least." The old sailor joke brought appreciative laughs from several of the crew who were listening in. "Besides, with all the skill I heard you were supposed to possess, you should have been able to do more than you did up there." Throwing her head back in a haughty manner, Jynx enjoyed watching Jax bristle as the crew laughed at him.

"She's got ya thar Jax," a burly voice called out.

Face burning red, Jax whirled on Jynx who didn't even bat an eyelash as he stormed up to her. "How dare you make me lose face like this!" he hissed quietly in her face. Looking up at him as he stood a few inches taller than her, Jynx rolled her eyes.

"The only one making you lose face is yourself," she replied smoothly before turning and starting to walk off. A couple cheers and laughs came from the onlookers as she coolly shunned Jax. The boy was starting to wear on her nerves, so she wanted to go find someplace to relax where he wasn't.

"Wait a minute," Jax said reaching out and grabbing her arm. "I'm not done with you." Sending him an ice cold glare over her shoulder, Jynx's eyes sparked dangerously.

"No? Well, I'm done with you, so let go before you have time to regret it."

Jynx watched as a frown fell onto Jax's face, and the next thing she knew, he'd yanked her sharply towards him while taking a step in so that their bodies collided and she felt his arms wrap around her tightly.

"I've never met a girl who didn't warm up to me after a kiss," he whispered into her ear in a low, sultry voice, his warm breath tickling her ear. Jynx's eyes hardened into honey colored steel as she felt him draw away, and knew what was coming next as she felt his hand smoothly coast up her arm towards her chin.

Without warning, no change in her breathing or tensing of her muscles, Jynx swiftly kneed him in his family jewels. She could hear a few sympathetic groans from other crew members, but ignored them as she swung her left fist into Jax's sternum as he was in the process of doubling over.

Not slowing, Jynx took the opportunity of Jax being bent over to deck him in the face with her right fist, sending him toppling back onto the deck. Stepping forward, Jynx placed her boot firmly on Jax's chest as she leveled her pistol at him.

"You really are a fool. Be grateful that I've been told not to kill you or you'd already be dead," Jynx informed him. "I can however, quite easily injure you without killing you. This is your second strike –next time I won' let you go unscathed," Jynx warned as she returned her pistol to its holster. "You can keep your money."

Pivoting sharply, she strode away, her eyes catching sight of an amused grin coming from Kidd who was standing up on the quarter deck looking down at her with Killer at his side.


And there's chapter three for ya. I hope you all enjoyed it. =)

If you want another good Kidd story check out Tarnished Souls Spilled Blood & Endless Blue Seas by Anon A. Mauze.

Reviews are amazing and help inspire me, so make sure to leave one before you go.