One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
All OCs belong to me.

-Chapter Three-

Scarlet and the Straw Hats walked in silence, the redhead taking lead as the group of pirates stuck close to one another. Some looking more terrified than others as they all looked around them at the rotting and broken-down buildings. "W-what was that?!" Usopp flinched as soon as he heard a growl that made Scarlet roll her eyes.

"We're entering someone else's territory" she calmly explained. "Just stick close and be sure not to make any eye contact."

"What do you mean by "someone else's territory"?" Nami frowned.

"When things started falling apart, people started to fight over a lot of things—food, water, and as well as shelter. If you were lucky enough to get some shelter and claim the area around it, then that area would forever be known as your territory" Scarlet explained. "Though, anyone is allowed to take it if you were to die, so people aren't very nice to those that come walking through their property" she added, stopping and blankly peering down at the rotting corpse that was left in the middle of the road. There were a lot of corpses actually littering the ground, though most of them were already nothing but bones that have been picked clean by the Shadows. Stepping over the corpse, she ignored the looks of disgust and fear that crossed some of the pirates' faces as the others avoided looking at the dead body.

Nami especially tried to avoid looking at the corpse, her face twisted up into a look of disgust as she caught the glimpse of maggots residing in the empty right eye socket of the body, slowly eating away at the rotting flesh. "I suggest you get used to seeing that, it's quite a common sight around here" Scarlet suddenly said, causing all eyes to stare at her.

"I've been meaning to ask" Robin spoke up, breaking the tense silence that had slowly been starting to build up around the group. "But, what exactly happened to cause your world to become like this?"

"To be honest, I don't really know" Scarlet truthfully answered. "One day those Shadows started appearing out of nowhere and the next thing I know the powers being cut and supplies is starting to run low. People were soon attacking one another, selfishly trying to keep themselves alive without a care for anyone else's safety and it wasn't long before our world became…this" her eyes had started to widen a little and harden the longer she spoke before returning back to their normal blank stare. "It's been like this for two years, plenty of time for everyone to come to accept that death is a common thing to see at every turn. You can't stop and mourn over the loss of loved ones, you can only keep moving forward if you want to survive."

"That's…that's awful" Nami frowned before flinching as she came to a halt when an arrow flew by—barely grazing the tip of her nose as it embedded itself into the ground instead. Yelping, she jumped back and away from the arrow, quickly clinging to Sanji who couldn't help but inwardly swoon at having the ginger-haired woman cling to him as everyone came to a halt to look towards the assailant.

"Scarlet! I thought I told that scrawny pale ass of yours to stay the fuck out of my territory!" a deep voice rumbled as a young man jumped down from the car that he stood on top of. His face was covered by a hood as he came stalking towards the group, ignoring the venomous glare that Sanji shot his way. Scarlet moved the bag on her back as she turned back to dig around inside it and dig out the flashlight she had packed. It was one of the last flashlights she could find in her house that actually still worked—especially since she was lucky enough to find two packets of batteries that had been buried in one of the upstairs drawers. Pulling it out, she turned it on and shined it towards the newcomer who drew back a little at the sudden light that was shined at his face.

"We're just passing through, Adam, no need to get your panties in a twist" Scarlet said as she attempted to avoid looking at the man. A dark look flashing across her face as memories of the past started to flutter into her head—memories of when they used to be classmates that would laugh and joke around with one another, but things were different now. They weren't friends or classmates anymore, they were nothing but enemies that were now pitted against one another in their desperate attempts to survive.

"Just passing through my ass" Adam scoffed. "Admit it, you've just finally grown tired of that weak old house of yours" he growled as he finally pushed his hood down to reveal greasy and unkempt brown hair and dark brown eyes that were narrowed into a hateful look.

"You're being paranoid" Scarlet rolled her eyes. "I suggest you leave us be before I take this flashlight and shove it us your ass" she threatened before motioning for the Straw Hats to follow as she started to take her leave. Growling, Adam reached for one of the few arrows that were left inside the bag that was attached to his back. Before he even had the chance to raise his bow and take aim, a gunshot rang out and he was blown back onto his ass. A painful groan leaving his clenched teeth as his hands immediately flew up to grab at his arm and try to stop the blood that was flowing out of the fresh bullet wound in his arm.

Everyone gaped at what they had just saw, Luffy's smile that he had been wearing earlier now finally starting to fall as he and a few of the Straw Hats face harden into blank looks while the others seemed horrified by what had happened as they looked at the gun that was tightly gripped in Scarlet's hand. Her eyes were constricted and fixated into a glare that could rival the brunet that she just shot. "Now, you better be damn glad that I only shot your arm instead of that fat head of yours" the redhead snarled before finally stalking away.

"Fucking bitch!" Adam snarled right back before groaning in pain as he continued to clutch his arm, silent tears streaming down his cheeks as his eyes never left the retreating redhead's back.

"S-scary!" Chopper and Usopp whimpered as they clung to one another while the rest of the Straw Hats continued to stare wide-eyed. Their gazes moving from the brunet to the redhead before finally and slowly following after her when she suddenly looked back at them with a harden glare and an impatient look on her face.

"W-why the hell did you do that?!" Nami snapped as they followed the redhead, keeping a small distance between them and her while their faces were twisted up into displeased looks when they could still hear the strangled whimpers that came from the man they were leaving behind.

"Because if I didn't, he would have killed me" Scarlet came to a sudden halt and once again looked back at the group, her face now back in its normal blank stare. "I already told you, in this world, you can't trust anyone—you're on your own, whether you like it or not. Everyone is out to get you if it means they can live another day" she muttered as a dark look crossed her face once more that caused a shiver to rank up Nami's spine. "It's getting darker, we'll have to find somewhere to set up camp since it's really not safe to be wandering around this late at night" she suddenly said as the others slowly nodded. "There's a park nearby with a trail that leads out towards a clearing in the woods, not many people know about it, so it'll probably be the safest place to stay for the night."

"You sure about that?" Robin asked, as she only watched the redhead lazily shrug her shoulders as an answer before leading the group towards their destination. When they arrived, they were greeted by the sight of a large clearing that was covered in overgrown grass, even the trail that led up to it had almost been covered completely that it was only luck that Scarlet had even been able to remember where it was located.

"You all can sleep if you want, I don't mind staying up and keeping guard" she said as she didn't bother looking at anyone and instead busy herself with counting how much ammo she had left for her gun and how many bullets she had left inside the gun itself.

"You want us to sleep on the ground?" Nami asked, sure they had slept on the ground before, but normally they at least had blankets and sleeping bags when they did back in their world.

"Yes, is that a problem?" Scarlet raised an eyebrow as she halted in her actions and looked towards the ginger-haired woman. Just as Nami opened her mouth, ready to speak, Usopp suddenly slapped his hand over it and gave a nervous laugh.

"No, no problem" the long-nosed pirate weakly smiled as he violently shook his head.

"Thought so" Scarlet hummed.

-Later-

Everyone was fast asleep, their bodies either sprawled out across the clearing or on top of one another as some snored and some quietly slept. Scarlet sat a little ways away from the group, rubbing the back of her stiff neck before finally grabbing hold of her head and moving it in a certain way until she finally heard the bones inside her neck pop. Sucking in a sharp breath, she let her eyes flutter shut for a moment and heaved a sigh while the grip on her gun tightened. Every now and then she would look from the sleeping bodies to the darken woods that surrounded them on all sides—her only light coming off the moon that shined above in the sky surrounded by a million stars. Funny how the sky was the only thing that never changes despite everything that's happened.

Giving a quick look around the clearing, she couldn't help but let her eyes become downcast as she was suddenly reminded of the days when she would come here with her family for picnics or with friends for bonfires. "You still up?" Zoro asked as he quietly came up behind her, quickly raising his hands when she jumped and suddenly whirled around—gun pointed straight at his face. "Easy, it's just me."

"What are you doing up?" Scarlet muttered as she slowly lowered her gun and turned back around to face forward once more.

"I just woke up, so calm down, alright" Zoro said as he took a seat down beside her and tilted his head upwards to look towards the sky.

"You know" Scarlet started, her voice sounding a bit wavery as a ghost of a smile crossed her lips. "My family and I use to have picnics around here and occasionally my friends would hold a bonfire around here as well" she suddenly said, taking the swordsman by surprise as he hadn't expected her to speak of such things all of a sudden before he frowned as a melancholy look crossed her face. "Memories like those are the only things I have left to remember them by."

"What happened to them?" Zoro quietly asked, not knowing if he really wanted to know the answer or not especially when Scarlet's face took on that blank look once again.

"Parents were killed, best friend went nuts and killed both her family and herself, as for my other friends…most of them either turned on each other or are already dead" she said before a bitter laugh left her lips as she shook her head. "I honestly don't know why I stick around, this world's already rotting in hell, so why stick around any longer?" she asked as the man beside her stayed silent and continued to carefully watch her.

"You said that that man back there was going to kill you, why didn't you kill him back?" Zoro asked which caused the redhead to grow silent. He sat there in silence and watched the young woman, watched how a hazy look glazed over her eyes as she became lost in thought for a moment and before he could speak again, his ears perked up to the sound of a twig breaking not too far from where they were. On reflex, both he and Scarlet quickly stood up with him drawing one of his swords while the redhead held up her gun. One of the bushes around the clearing started to rustle and shake about before slowly Shadows started to creep out into the clearing, their jaws unhinged and showing off their pearly whites.

"Quick, go and wake up—" Scarlet winced when she was suddenly cut off by four ear-piercing screams that suddenly echoed out. Turning around, it was pretty easy to tell that the screams had come from Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Brook when she eyed them all clinging to one another while the others jolted awake. "Quiet!" the redhead hissed, causing them all to flinch and quickly zip their lips shut. Her eyes were scanning around the area as she noticed the multiple pairs of red eyes that peered out at them from the darkness of the woods. "Fuck" she quietly cursed as she closed her eyes for a moment and tried to compose herself before looking at everyone.

"Listen, there's far too many of them to fight off, so we'll have to make a run for it. Do any of you see a clearing?" she asked as right now all they could really rely on was each other shadowy figures as there wasn't much light to really light up anyone's features. With the sounds of teeth chattering and whimpers mixing in with hisses and growls, Scarlet noticed that the Shadows were slowly starting to advance as she struggled to focus and gather up her thoughts.

"Over here, follow me!" someone suddenly shouted as her wrist was suddenly grabbed and she found herself having to run. It was nearly impossible to tell who had taken lead and was tightly holding onto her wrist as the rest of the group fell in line behind her as they all ran. Looking around, she tried to take in the outline of the trees and bushes to get her bearings and remember some form of a layout of the forest. Her ears soon perked up at the sudden sound of rushing water and her heart seemed to stop and drop into her stomach when her feet were no longer running on flat land, but in the air instead. Looking down, loud screams filled the air as the group went falling down.

"We're going to die!" Usopp cried out before loud splashes sounded out as their bodies smashed into the rushing water below.

A/N: Enjoy

Please Review, Favorite, and Follow.