Declaimer: I don´t own Harry Potter not One Piece
Words: 2985
A/N: Made it this week... sorry for not making it sooner... Enjoy
Marineford had always demanded respect, not only because of the admirals, and the fleet admiral, that resided there, but also because of its square presence, strict buildings and intimidating air. On the first days children used to cry, women asked themselves why exactly they had decided to follow their husbands to that nightmare, and marine´s to wonder if their luck would ever change. And now, Reina was standing there between them. Or rather, she would soon be there with them.
Emerald eyes stared at the crescent moon-shaped island from her small refugee between the busy waves, everything aside from the top of the head merged with the salty water. She had never seen an island composed entirely by bricks and steel, cannons glancing at her from the edges. It was strange, surreal even, and the apparent construction of other parts around the bay didn´t help her calm down. No, it only made it worse. She had heard some rumors about it, histories from grandpa; but to see it with her eyes…
The waves urged her to hurry, softly propelling her forward, as ships approached the island from behind, and the little witch let go of her human worries, melting once again with the sea. She needed to find a hidden entrance, somewhere where she couldn´t been seen. Any other day, the secrecy wouldn´t be needed, but the time urged to act discrete.
"Here we go…" Diving deeper, sea currents brought her closer to the island. The deep blue was amazing, but almost nude, the amount of fish living there leaving much to desire. Then again, considering the amount of people living in the island, it came as no surprise that the recourses were quickly ending. She only hopped species didn´t go extinct because of it…
A small entrance caught Reina´s attention suddenly, so small only a child could pass through it. That is, if the small child managed to survive diving hundred meters for more than thirty minutes. Redirecting the current towards it, limbs slowly forming in the never ending water, green eyes shone in the darkness. Almost no light reached the deeps, especially with the scary block of hideous human creation covering it. "Here we go…"
Breaking the surface, the green eyed witch found herself in a small veil. It´s purpose was dubious, but there was no time to ask questions. Hey, they created an island while countless were available, clearly something was wrong with their brains. Climbing out of it, drying the wet clothes, the girl tried to orient herself. At least she had arrived there unseen, which everyone had to admit, was impressive. "Let´s see…" Vapor was embracing her, as the water temperature rose to the boiling point, vigilant eyes searching for a reference point.
Trees were growing around her, mysteriously since the island was half made of concrete, and many little houses followed, which meant she was at the residence area. Great for her. Thought Reina had confidence in her skills as a spy, walking blindly into a building full of marines was stupid and irresponsible. She could say she came to visit Gramps, but then questions about her arrival would surge and… No, that would be a big pain.
To her left, a large, tall building rose to the sky, the "Marines" description and symbol catching her attention. So there stood her objective… that would have to wait for later, of course. First of all, some simple information, and then breaking in.
A loud growl startled her, eyes searching for an animal before understanding it was her stomach. Oh god. Blushing, she shook her head. Obviously, she was hungry… really hungry. The trip took her a whole day, and as water, there wasn´t much you could use as fuel. Surely stopping for a while had passed her mind, but it would mean lost time, and she couldn´t afford that.
"Okay… Food first, everything else later."
"Hey, did you hear? Portgas D. Ace will be executed here in a few days." A random marine said, as he ordered some soup and sake. "Man, I am so glad I am leaving tomorrow… I heard Whitebeard is extremely found of his crewmates. If he comes…"
"Don´t be an idiot!" Another stated, drinking bear like water. "Not even that crazy old man will dare to invade Marineford. Don´t even thinking about it." Other agreed, while a few just shrugged, aware no one in the word knew what the old Captain was capable or not of doing.
"Here dear." An old woman with short white hair and sweet smile placed a plate of rice in front of a black haired teen. "You need to eat more, you look like a skeleton." In her mind, the teen laughed, having travelled with one and finding nothing similar between then, but to the old nice lady, she only nodded. "You came here at a wrong time. The island will be dangerous in a few days…"
Bilking, pretending she knew nothing, Reina swept the room a glance. "Dangerous? With this many marines? I can´t imagine it…" Indeed, the inn was packed with marines. From old to new, strong to weak.
"Oh, I know but…" Black eyes glinted sadly, as the old lady cleaned the counter slowly. "I have this feeling… Portgas D. Ace will be executed here, and if his captain does come, all hell will break. Take my word darling and leave while you can. I am going on my long awaited vacancies tomorrow, and right in time if you ask me. Whitebeard is strong and wise. I don´t believe he´ll win, we have the admirals here, but many will fall."
"Admirals? Oh, I heard them… Wait, they live here, right? Have you seen them before?" If only they weren´t there at the moment, everything would be so much easier… "I came here to catch a glimpse of them without worrying about pirates."
Grinning, the old lady added more rice before Reina could even talk, nodding. "The three of them are currently here, resting. Fleet Admiral Sengoku is also here, just as if Monkey D. Garp. The strongest have reunited here." Gramps was there? Damn, she really was unlucky. "They don´t usually come out, aside from Garp-san. Knowing him, he´ll be here at any moment."
The words took Reina by surprise, as she started to chock and cough loudly. "W- wh…" More coughs followed, tears taking their rightful place as the girl felt suffocating. It was hard to breathe, taking a while until she could talk once again. "HE IS WHAT?"
Blinking, the old lady smiled. "Yes. Garp-san likes to come out and see how everyone is going. If you want I can introduce you…"
"No, thank you." Oh god, if gramps saw her there, all her hard work to convince Marcus and others would be a vain. However, refusing so suddenly would bring suspiciousness, so she forced her brain to work. "I don´t want to impose, not to mention I am tired. I would like to go rest now… Maybe I´ll see him another day."
Frowning, the lady clearly had something to say, but stopped herself, probably thinking Reina really need a rest. The black hair was ruffled from drying suddenly, there were black spots under her eyes, which were dying to close. Surely starveling the water was fast, but she tired herself twice as fast as normally, and a day of travelling none stop had drained her. "Your room is the furthest. I´ll tell Garp-san about you, maybe he´ll be able to arrange a tour for you."
Smiling kindly, Reina nodded, mumbling good night as her feet took her lazily to her room. However, a part of her mind refrained her from sleeping yet, the knowledge of Garp´s presence almost smothering her. What if the lady kept her promise, and told Garp about her? What if she decided to describes her, and he recognizes her? The questions didn´t allow her to rest, mind always turning around the same question. Maybe it would be better if she just left, ran and hid somewhere for the time being. Although the prospect was strangely appealing, Reina knew it would only make her look suspicious.
"No, you are going to stay here and rest." Finally the other part of her brain stated, knowing fully well the body couldn´t take more stress. Sleep driven Reina accomplished usually nothing but destruction, with the occasional sleep-while-walking phenomena. And so the argument ended, after the black haired girl locked the door, and fell down on the unused bed fully clothed.
She. Was. Tired.
Damn, her feet hurt, body ached, and mind was as fussy as haze. And even then, she couldn´t fully fall asleep. Reina knew a part of her was already resting, and probably she was dreaming, but it was almost a lucid dream. She knew she was dreaming, and yet she could do nothing about it.
In her dream, dark colored, Ace stood all alone, surrounded by innumerous marines. No one came to help him, and the face of despair and sadness hit the witch like a wall. Her hearth ached, she wanted to reach him, to help him, and yet something was keeping her away. Turning around, she understood it were the strong arms of gramps, whose face was twisted in august. More than anyone, Garp loved his children. For them, he would do anything… and yet there was he, forced to watch, to do nothing. The old marine´s body was tied, by tick ropes no one could destroy, and from time to time he tried to fight, break free, with helpless attempts.
"Grandpa…" They were all helpless. Garp, Whitebeard, Reina… at least for now, neither could help, just watch as the fated day slowly approached. Whenever Ace would live or die could only be decided on that day, all they could do before it was prepare and pray. Fate was cruel.
Morning came strangely too soon, but the dark haired girl couldn't complain. The night had been full of nightmares, soul eating daemons that had refused to let her go. At least her body had rested… Standing up, noticing the sunny day outside, she pouted. How come the day was so bright when she felt like crap? Stupid weather… she would have preferred it ten times for it to be raining. At least then there would be no need to smile stupidly, since she could always pretend to dislike rain. At the moment, however, any sign of unhappiness would be noted.
Sighing, the teen slowly made her way down, noticing it was almost empty. Oh, right, the lady said she was going on vacancies… Good for her, in few days the island would be a battlefield. "Good morning." Turning around, she came face to face with the nice lady, whom couldn´t stop smiling. Wow, she must have really been looking forward to the vacancies. "Did you sleep well?"
Smiling back, Reina nodded, noticing breakfast was already ready for her to eat it. "It was nice. Thank you for allowing me to stay here for a night. You must have wanted to leave soon and yet…" Shacking her head, the woman kept putting more and more food into Reina´s plate.
"There is nothing to be thankful. It was obvious you needed a place to stay, and I had a room, so why not? Now, eat." The girl still felt slightly guilty, through last night she hadn´t even thought about it. "Oh, I talked to Garp-san yesterday. He had been extremely interested in meeting you. If you go to the base today, I believe he´ll be happy to give you a small tour. Just say you want to meet him."
"Is that so?" He was interested in meeting her? Oh no, did he already figure it out. "That is really nice of him. I mean, with everything that seems to be going on, he is willing to give me a tour…" Probably because he refused to help with everything. Now that was her grandpa.
"Yes, he is a nice man." The old lady quietly drunk her herbal tea, dark eyes never leaving the teen. "I told him about your eyes. It´s the first time I see someone with such pretty green eyes. I remember him saying his younger grandchild has green eyes too, so I thought you two came from the same place… He tells us many stories about his grandchildren."
For a moment, Reina wasn´t sure if it was a good or a bad thing, but it didn´t stop her from smiling largely. So gramps did love them. Not that she even questioned it, it´s just that his way of showing low usually included shouting, training them to be strong, and the laugh when they failed something. "I will. Thank you very much for everything." Specially the juicy information.
"You are welcome, my darling. However, there is one thing I want you to be careful with… Someone of the admirals are not the best type of people… Not to mention the Shichibukai. Stay clear of those, please, I don´t feel safe around them."
"Shichibukai…? Like Crocodile?" Wait, those guys were there two? The marines had to be crazy… really? Wow, just exactly what she needed. "I guess you are right. I wouldn't like to run into one of them, even if just by chance." And specially not when stalking them.
"You be careful, my dear." The rest of the breakfast went by fast, as they talked about meaningless subjects, the minutes quickly turning into an hour. The kind lady had a boat to catch in some minutes, so after a rather long goodbye, and a promise to meet her another day, Reina finally left the inn.
The number of marines on that improvised island… Reina wasn´t even sure how big it was, nor she cared enough to find out, more pressing matters weighting on her mind. Disguised as a cute, blond girl with black eyes, a feat that took her painfully stressing two hours to accomplish, as she stared at a window and muttered probably wrong words to transfigure her appearance, since at her first try she ended up looking more like a monkey, the witch had made her way to the future execution site.
The place itself was big and rather spacious. For once, she had no doubt a war could be fought there. Another detail that caught her attention was the construction of new platforms, tall and impotent, made of strong wood. Taking in account the words of the workers, Ace would be executed there, by two randomly chosen marines. The lucky, or unlucky, depending on your point of view, would be chosen that day, thought no one would know for sure until the fated day.
Now that was a piece of information Reina had liked. If those two were chased randomly, she could pretend to be one of them. Now the question was how she would find those names, but everything could be arranged.
Another interesting piece of info she managed to get hold of, was that there would be a meeting of Admirals, fleet captain and every other important person the next day, to discuss further means of protection. Obviously, they were expecting Whitebeard to attack, and with a good reason.
"Little girl, you shouldn´t be here." A tall, kind looking marine stated as Reina approached too close to the execution site, clearly thinking she was harmless. "Please return to your house, it may be dangerous to stay here."
Blinking a few times, pretending to be just another innocent curious child, she nodded, starting to make her way back. Pretending to be weak always helped in bad situations, and even more when it came to escaping marines.
"Stop right there." An authorial voice stated, freezing the witch at her spot as she slowly turned around, confusion well written all over her face. The tall figure of a latino look man, with bright yellow eyes and a cross on his shoulders made itself known, as he took long and paused strokes towards Reina, his eyes never leaving hers. For a faint moment, the girl wondered if she should just flee, having to recognize instantly the odd in her favor were too slim. If everything she had heard from Zoro was true, this man was to be feared. "Who are you?"
Gulping, hopping her sudden discomfort could be explained by his appearance, she just stared at him for a moment. Was he talking to her? Wait, how stupid, obviously he was talking to her. "Ah… I… I am…" Damn, she hadn´t thought of a name. "Sun. I´m Sun, I came here with my parents…"
The scary yellow eyes narrowed just a fraction, looking for something specific the witch just couldn´t understand what. "Then where are your parents?" Did he really have to be so intimidating? Were all Shichibukai so bad to deal with? Reina just couldn´t wait to become a drop of water.
"They are looking for a place to stay, or, if possible, a boat to leave. They were not expecting an execution, and believe it's not something a young girl should see…" There was only one wish on her mind, for him to just leave already. "Did I do something wrong?"
Once again, they narrowed just a tiny millimeter, and yet it made her want to run. "No, forget it." And as suddenly as he arrived, the man turned around, walking away as calmly as before. Heck, if only he knew how much he had scared her…
"What was that all about?" Reina couldn´t help but wonder as she made her way to a nice looking bar, glancing behind her worried someone might have followed her. Or maybe Hawk-Eye, as Zoro had called him, if he suspected there was something wrong with her. Noticing no one appeared to be around, she swiftly ducked under the trees, melting with the humid water, leaving no trace behind.
A/N: I must admit I am rather tired... Collage is demanding more from me than I have expected, but I´ll try to improve...
Dark Neko 4000: Soon. Judging by the length, and my inability to write battle scenes, I would say about three more chapters. XD
Thanks everyone for reviewing, and I apologize from any mistakes. I am writing it here at 1 am, and my eyes demand sleep, while mind screams write. XD Love you guys.
Kaggami-chan
P.S for Fuyutaro son: yes, she does use magic. Little for now, but its increase soon enough.