Merry watches, disapprovingly, as Kaya showers Kuro with the warmest, kindest smile. Even more radiant than those she had ever given Usopp. The complaints piling up on Merry's tongue makes his jaws physically ache.
First! Why does that animal not make a sound while moving around? Not even a brush of fabric! Merry vows he will not blink when they are in the same room. When they are breathing the same air.
Moving on to complaint number two! Those! Shoes! You might as well shove your feet into wicker baskets! When that fiend first wormed his way into the estate, Merry was asked to take him under his wing, to transform him into a respectable servant of a humble yet renowned household.
Indeed, the first time they met, Kuro resembled more of a stray cat than a human: teeth bared, shoulders tensed as though preparing for a fight. Who knows why the former Lady of the house, Kaya's late mother, took him in…
Anyhow, those shoes!
Despite Merry's pleas to adhere to the dress code, Kuro was adamant in keeping those striped abominations. Kaya's mother even made an exception just for him.
That aside! The act of constantly pushing up those eyeglasses with the heel of his palm! Every time Kuro raises his hand, Merry's heart performs a dizzying flip. Kaya had graciously offered a pair of new eyeglasses—customized, measured to the pore!—but that monster destroyed it! What is the point of keeping eyeglasses that keep slipping off if not to put everyone on edge?
Merry's fingers inadvertently brush against the pistol in his pocket. Gooseflesh explodes up his arms. A pacifist by heart, he has the sinking feeling the weapon has found its permanent home on his person.
"I'd like some cake," Kaya says to Kuro, who gives her such a dispassionately scathing look that she automatically steps back.
Old faithful Merry takes the initiative. "I'll make your cake!"
"Um. No, that's okay—"
She has to run after an overzealous Merry, who, unfortunately, has begun to warm up the kitchen with his enthusiasm.
While Merry pours his heart into the cake, he feels the equivalent of a cold knife digging into the small of his scalp.
Kuro is watching him from the doorway.
"Vegetable oil instead of butter? Are you making a cake or a block of sand?" He sounds more annoyed than malicious. "Your batter is too wet. It will run away from you when you pour it out."
The audacity of this beast to sully the sanctity of the kitchen with verbal sod! But Merry is beyond such savagery to take the provocation.
Cake finished, he sets his delicate creation onto the table. As usual, he fails to read the grimace beneath Kaya's polite smile.
"Thank you," she says weakly. "I'll eat this is my room." What she conveniently forgets to tell him is that the birds will be eating it instead.
Meanwhile, Kuro has begun walking away. Kaya chases after him.
"Wait! Your quarters are that way! There's also a spare suit—"
"Enough," Merry says sharply. "You will not keep him here!"
"But Klahadore saved us from those pirates!"
"You forced my hand," Kuro says without turning around. "And Klahadore is dead. Speak that name one more time, and I will be more than happy to reunite you with your beloved pet."
Those harsh words fail to deter Kaya. She sprints to the door and blocks it with her frail body.
"I don't want anything to do with you," Kuro hisses. "However, until I figure out my next objective, I have no other choice but to remain in Syrup Village. I will not step foot into your estate, provided you do not look for me."
"You expect me to trust a pirate?" Merry barks.
"I expect good little lambs to be afraid of wolves," is the coy purr.
Merry shudders.
"But you're in no shape to walk around!" Kaya insists. "What will you eat? Where will you sleep?" Her face softens. "And you're still shivering from being out at sea. Let me feel your forehead—"
Kuro leaps back from her outstretched hand. His fingers are curled inwards, prompting a mental image of Kaya's shredded, bloodied face to flash alarmingly before Merry's eyes.
When Kuro speaks again, his voice is a low growl. "Why did you save me?"
"Do I need a reason to save someone?"
At once, his face slips elsewhere, as though he has disappeared behind a flash of lightning, and when it comes back, he is laughing. His laughter is darker than a moonless night.
"That is exactly the type of mentality that will get you killed again."
And with that, Kuro turns away from a stunned Kaya, locates the nearest open window, and lets himself out. Only once he disappears does Merry finally allow himself to blink.