Chapter 6
Author's Note: My exams were over only last week and I tried to write this as fast as I could. Sorry for the long wait, here it is so enjoy :D
Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX
It had been a rather smooth transit to the next scene and Eustass was thankful for it. However the sight that greeted him was far from what he expected.
Red and black were the only colours that greeted him. The smell of smoke and charred flesh was engraved into the back of his mind. A similar scene played at the back of his mind.
The sky was painted black and red. It was so sudden that Eustass had no time to grieve. Only yesterday the sky had been his color of happiness. Today, everything was gone. Everything was razed to the ground.
Eustass watched helplessly as the flames consumed the hut he built. All the metal parts melted away under the intense heat. The wood was turned into ash. Eustass was too numb to move. Tears that ran free had run dry. Streaks of blood took the place of what formerly were tears.
Eustass knew every single plank of wood, every single nut, nail and bolt that held that structure he was so proud and fond of. Everything became void and all his efforts waste. The fire destroyed everything in its path leaving nothing behind, not even memories.
Eustass remembered how lost he felt at his loss. That shed may have been broken but it was his pride and joy. He built it from scrap and lived in it. No one cared for a red haired child like him. No one in the village treated him like a human because he had strange powers. It was his only safe haven he called home. The fire took it away.
At the same time Eustass remembered feeling this strange desire build in him. The flames danced gracefully as they delivered devastation. A twisted sense in Eustass made him disregard the right from the wrong. He threw away whatever moral compass the society used and created his own. He saved whoever he wanted to save and killed whoever he wanted to kill. Eustass lived only by his rules like the fire, wild, unpredictable, destructive yet irreplaceable. That was until he met Law.
Fire makes a good servant but not a good master. Unfortunately, no one had been able to rein the flame colored hair man, no one except Trafalgar Law.
Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX
Sanji coughed. The smoke was making breathing a challenge and his eyes stung. The heat was unbearable and his skin was covered in blisters. Burns showed on almost every inch of the blonde boy's pale skin. There was hardly a patch untouched by the merciless flames.
In a last desperate attempt to get help, Sanji took a deep breath and shouted.
The thick smog filled the young lungs and seared his throat. Sanji hollered with the remaining strength he had. No more tears fell as everything dried up and burned, including Sanji's hopes.
In the black smog just before passing out, Sanji thought he saw a small shimmering hope. He was not too sure what to make of it but trusted the man enough to reach out.
Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX
Eustass watched over the kid who had fainted. Pulling him out from the fire had been no easy feat especially for him in his new form. He never expected Des to leave him in an old man's body.
Sanji had nightmares quite frequently in the last three days. As if on cue, the squirming started. Eustass hurried over to pin the boy down to prevent him from hurting himself.
Sanji woke up with a scream tearing from his throat. Eustass's ears rang and he winced. He never expected the cook to have such a traumatic past. Eustass was worried about law because he had never taken so long to help one of the crew members.
Seeing Sanji's fearful eyes, Eustass felt torn. He felt a compulsion to save the boy from his nightmares as well as his urgency to get back to check on Law.
Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX
Eustass could not believe it. The boy looked at the stove with fear in his eyes. How was he going to become a cook if he could not even stand within five meters of the stove?
Sanji cowered on the floor as Eustass put out the fire on the stove. Bringing the boy to the kitchen to calm his nerves was an extremely bad idea. When he was told the worst trauma was when the boy was starved on that rock of an island, Eustass never imagined Sanji did not start out liking to cook.
The man wrecked his brains for days trying to convince the boy he loved to cook but to no avail. The boy would not go near fire. Eustass was near pulling out his hair by the roots not that he had much left in his new form. He was vexed.
"What can I do to get that cook near fire again? Just because it did destroy things does not mean it is all harmful… then again it depends on perspective."
An idea struck Eustass.
Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX
Sanji held onto Eustass's hand nervously. He said they were going to a carnival to cheer him up. Sanji had just escaped death nearly and yet the old loony was suggesting something so ordinarily absurd in his situation. Any sane person would allow time to heal those wounds but Eustass was not quite sane. Sanji had no way of knowing that. He only had the choice to trust the person who saved his life.
Sanji held the old man's hand tightly and stayed close to him at all times. The fair was crowded and people pushed against each other in the hustle. Eustass wrinkled his nose on distaste at how blindingly colorful the decorations are. The luminous colors simply hurt his old eyes.
He scanned the fairgrounds carefully. They always had that act when the whole troupe arrived. The applause from the crowd drew his attention. Eustass knew where to head at once.
Pushing through the crowd to get a front view, Eustass dragged Sanji along to watch a spectacular performance of fire breathing, fire eating, fire spitting and fire dancing. They were all professional stuntmen and acrobats. Eustass hoped Sanji would get over that trauma quickly with a new outlook on the flame.
Sanji stood there in the crowd watching the fire that once destroyed his entire life, dance with grace under the command of people. He could not help but feel mesmerized by the beauty of it yet his body responded by trembling in fear. His heart raced, he wanted to flee but his eyes refuse to shift their line of sight from the flames.
"It's beautiful…" Sanji gasped.
Eustass smiled. They were finally progressing.
Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX
Eustass groaned. After all the trouble of helping the boy to overcome his fear of fire, the boy was adamant about becoming a cook.
"Cooking is for girls and I am not a girl! Why should I do something so lame?"
Eustass massaged his temple. It was going to be a long time before he could finish what he was supposed to do. "Please don't kill me if I don't make it on time… Law, please wait for a little longer while I pound some sense into this utterly useless brat…"
Eustass glared at the blonde bag of bones and whacked him hard over the head causing the boy to yelp and cry.
"You have no right to say that!" Eustass snapped. He vaguely remembered what Sanji had told him about his passion for cooking and the reason behind it.
"Cooking is a profession as honorable as any other. Without it, people would starve and die. People will fall ill due to lack of nutrition. Don't look down on cooking!"
Just as Eustass was about to say more, his old body gave out. His heart stopped and his eyes rolled back into his skull.
The young boy watched in horror as the old man collapsed. Eustass watched the fading scene of how the boy grieved for his supposed death.
When he got back, he gave Des a halfhearted glare.
"You could have spared him the nightmares of my 'death'."
Des smiled. "I knew you were a kind person inside."
Eustass growled threateningly and Des laughed.
Then the captain remembered something.
"How is he?" Eustass asked anxiously. He hoped the time taken did not cause Trafalgar any harm
Des stopped laughing. She showed Eustass the glowing orb that had become bigger than the last time.
She saw the questioning look on his face and explained, "While time is rather nonexistent in my world, it is real in other worlds. I can manipulate time zones in other parallel realities to match my own. Your actions and the severity of the situation will determine how much time has passed in my dimension. In Sanji's case, there was no waste of time and certainly no hanky-panky businesses. The condition was sever and so was the impact made. The greater the impact of your actions without changing the future for certain, the more time will be bought and the greater my powers will increase. In other words, it is the law of equivalent exchange that must be observed. As time is a constant energy, there is no way of producing more time. I have to take away some time from somewhere in order to lengthen time in another area."
Eustass cocked his head to a side indicating he did not understand anything. Des sighed, Trust a muscle head to comprehend logic.
"In other words, I am staling some time from everyone to extend your boyfriend's time so you can make an exchange with yours."
Understanding flickered and Des felt as if she aged quite a bit.
Eustass had gotten used to having Law being addressed as his boyfriend. Speaking of boyfriends…
"Who is next? Is it that sour faced boyfriend of the cook's?"
Des chuckled. What a way to put things. "If you want to find out so badly I could send you over right now…"
"Wait! I have a request to make."
Des waited for the red haired man to speak. He seemed to struggle with the words in his mouth.
Finally a defeated sigh was heard. "Never mind. Just make me a little more handsome will you? My back was killing me…"
Des grinned. "No promises~" she sang as she shipped Eustass off to another realm.
Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX
"What the fuck?" Eustass cussed. He was face to face with a creature.
The furry animal howled. Eustass stared at the familiar nose. It sparkled blue.
"Chopper?"
Author's Note: Finally up… I'm so sorry it took so long and yet it isn't as entertaining as it should be… Thank you for supporting me up till now. As usual, I don't like to read forced reviews so if you feel like it, do drop me a few ^^ I really like reading sincere ones even though I know I don't really deserve it.