AUTHOR NOTE! I'm so sorry it took so long to write this chapter! I started to write half of it and ended up getting writer's block when I went off to do something else and completely forgetting what I wanted to write. The usual author's note after the chapter below, I added some new things, so please read. I would like to thank mamc97nolongeranonymous, xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx, Vampirelover12100, Emz, Miss Doflamingo, valeries26, mars, Guest (whoever you are…), TypeWriter'sAreCool (thank you for your helpful info on my the first chapter, however I don't believe I'm going to change it based on a few reasons, the first being that I would have to change a good half of my story to fix it, and second because I'm more worried about writing more chapters, but I will keep your tips in mind for my future chapters,) and Lunacii; for reviewing to me, I never though I'll get so many viewers who like my story. I'll like to thank everyone who either followed or favorite my story as well. *Bows* so thank you. Btw, mamc97nolongeranonymous I thoroughly enjoyed your "shit's gonna happen. I hope Steve dies a painful death," comment. I hope so too, though he is like annoying painfully so son, since I did create him … So, you're just going to wait and see! (Look in the next view chapters… I might make one of my characters say it, if you don't mind…) Thank you and enjoy!
P.S, I do not own anything besides my OCs and how the story's heading.
Chapter 3
I frowned and glared angrily at the smirking teen across from me. I shifted and tugged a strand of hair that curled lightly to my face. It was blonde; my hair color is now blonde. Don't even get me started on my eye color now. I had to put blue contacts in. Contacts! I slouched into the wheelchair I was forced into. "I can't believe you guys made me do this…" I mumbled depressingly. Cato's grin widens. "Don't worry! You'll be fine," he stated in a too cheery voice; he obviously was enjoying my pain. I straighten up when I heard footsteps and tried to smile. It wasn't helping that Cato was grinning at me like that. I thought about Steve when I punched him in the face. That brought a real smile onto my face. It also caused Cato to raise an eyebrow in confusion. I smiled slightly wider when I recognized the heavy footsteps that stopped outside the door. A heavy knock sounded a few seconds later. "Come in!" I said cheerfully after a minute of making sure everything was in place. The door opened to reveal a buff, tan man. I leaned against the wheelchair's back, placed my hands softly in my lap, and smiled at the man, "Captain, what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked. Cato groaned into his hands, while the Captain gave him a sharp look.
"We'll reach Crescent Moon Island (Cato, Hinata, and my home island,) in a few hours; I hope this trip's been well?" the man asked, mainly looking at me with his back to Cato. I nodded excitably, clapping my hands together silently. "Yes, Captain Shiro! This trip has been fun! You and the rest of the crew have made this trip very enjoyable for me, though it this is my first trip in a while; so what do I know?" I said sheepishly, holding a hand to my mouth in thought. The captain grinned; the scar at the corner of his mouth stretched slightly. "It's been a pleasure to travel with such a pretty young lady."
"What about me?" A grumpy voice asked entering our conversation. We turned to a frowning Cato. I raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh? So, now you're a pretty young lady? How rude of us not to have noticed." The captain let out a loud laugh, and wiped his eye with his finger, much to my amusement and Cato's displeasure.
"I still can't believe you're related to such a ruffian like him," he said with a frown, pointing at an offended Cato with his thumb. I raised an eyebrow at him, "You're telling me." I turned to smirk at Cato, who grunted and glared at me.
The captain grinned bigger and moved a hand to scratch his head under his mob of grey hair. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to return to work." I nodded and bid him goodbye, while Caro pouted and walked over to his bed before plopping down on his bed. I grinned and rolled my way near my bed, as the Captain let himself out and gently shut the door. I could hear him walking down the hallway as his footsteps faded.
"I can't believe you're my sister now, Hitomi," Caro stated, grumbling. I nodded in agreement and wheeled myself to the mirror over the dresser. I tucked a strand of hair over my ear and leaned back into my wheelchair while gazing into the unfamiliar and familiar girl in the mirror. I, of course, still had my skin tone and face shape but now… I was a blonde haired girl; a fairer shade than Cato's brown –blonde hair color and baby blue eyes. Something much different from my blood-red eye color.
"Oh! And Cato?" I looked at him from the mirror so I saw him turn to me and raise an eyebrow at me, in a silent what. "My name's Haruta, not Hitomi, now." He blinked and turned back to look at the creamy white ceiling. "Oh, right… You're going by your middle name now." He mused quietly. "Hmm," I mumbled in agreement before rolling to my bed and moving the blanket off my legs. I moved the quilt before sliding into my bed and getting comfortable. Yeah, you heard Cato right. I'm pretending to be a sibling of Cato, hence the change of appearance. While I waited to get sleepy enough to actually fall asleep, I thought back to when the three of us actually came up with this plan.
~FLASHBACK~
I sighed and leaned against the wall of the room before sitting down with one legged propped up. I felt my fingers twitch and I fidgeted under Cato's and Hinata's stare. "What?" I finally asked, snapping at the couple. Cato spoke up after a few seconds of awkward silence, "I don't think I've ever seen you so restless." He was observing me from across the room with his arms crossed over his chest and his feet propped up on a foot stool. I huffed and raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who was all panicky when you heard Whitebeard was coming. I can easily handle the villagers, but whitebeard? I have to be insane to think I could beat him." He just blinked slowly before moving his gaze to his lap, frowning. "Are we going to just let them kills us?"
I turned to look at Hinata. She sat on her bed wrapped in her light blue colored fuzzy blanket. Yes, we moved locations; Hinata had to go home. Cato and I waited under a balcony to see if her father was home or not. If he was, then we'll have to come up with ideas by ourselves, but if he wasn't there, we could talk in her room. Luckily he wasn't in, so now, we're trying, and failing, to come up with good game plans.
I snorted and look to across the room to my left away from their gazes. I tightened my grip on my pants leg, and gritted my teeth. "Like hell, I'm going down fighting, and I refuse, refuse to let you guys die because you risked everything to be my nakama." I could feel anger boiling in my gut at the thought of them attacking and trying to kill my friends just because they knew me, and accepted me for who I am, despite the rumors and the truths.
I turned my attention back to my upset friends. "Hinata, Cato." I waited until they turned their attention to me. "If the Whitebeard pirates do attack us, I want you to take the first opportunity you have, and get the hell out of there. Do you understand?" I snapped at them when I saw their shocked expressions.
Cato stood up and glared at me with his hands clenched tightly into fists. "What!? Hell no! We're not going to abandon you, just because some jackass thinks you're a demon because of that damn World Government!" he screamed at me, eyes blazing. I jumped to my feet, mentally noting that Cato's a good half a head taller than me before pushing that to the back of my head.
"And what are going to do!? Fight? Don't make me laugh. You may be a good swordsman but you can't take on Whitebeard's commanders! Do you want to die?" I snapped back at him, glaring at him angrily. We glared at each other for the longest time; just daring the other to say something.
"Yes."
I snapped my attention to Hinata, who stood up, letting her blanket slip from her shoulders, before looking at me with such determination that I faltered for a minute.
"Hitomi…I know you well enough that you hate seeing the ones you love getting hurt, but…" She started out slow and gentle but suddenly glared at me. "Try to see us from our point of view. We don't want to see you get hurt either; you're very dear to us. And, like you, we refuse to just watch and let the one we call Nakama get hurt." She looked down and shook her head. "I understand that we could die there, but I rather die protecting a friend, than live knowing I let you die for us." I looked at Cato in a silent question. He nodded hard, frowning at me.
I sighed and lowered my head, feeling the tension in me leave. I knew that no matter how much arguing I could to do, they weren't changing their minds. I nodded in defeat. "Fine, but we still need a game plan."
"And more training!" Cato had to add his two cents. I nodded in agreement, trying to ignore the bad feeling in my gut. Hinata gave us, well more like me, a sly smile. Cato and I shared a look before turning to Hinata, each with an eyebrow raised.
~END OF FLASHBACK~
Okay, so maybe rethinking those memories wasn't the best idea. Now, I'm all twitchy and nervous about the upcoming, most likely, battle with the Whitebeard pirates. I may have been trained by the World Government for four years of my life, heal at astonishing rates, and have my very own weapon that I can't possible lose in battle, but Whitebeard. People say that he's the strongest man in the world. And, apparently he's also the only one who tied Gold Roger, the pirate king, in a fight. That's kind of a scary thought. Well, on the plus side, he most likely won't be fighting but his commanders instead will.
That thought made me sit up. His commanders….huh? I wonder how many there even are. Didn't Hinata give me a notebook on the little information she had on them? I scanned the room the best I could in the lighting I had. I noticed a darker more rectangle shape lying on the dresser, near the mirror. How the heck, did I not notice that earlier? Shrugging, I removed the covers from on top of me and slid back into my wheelchair. Wouldn't want the risk of finding out that I can actually walk. That might be a bit hard to explain. I rolled myself to the dresser. Picking up the book, I realized that:
No matter how much I don't want this to happen, this was going to happen and I had a very high chance at dying along with my two best friends in the world.
I refused to let my friends die; perhaps I could….make the deal with them?
Is that too insane? Shaking my head, I opened the book to reveal the index. Raising an eyebrow, I felt a small smile creep onto my face. Hinata sure is organized. I skimmed through the names and raised both of my eyebrows to my hairline. White beard had sixteen commanders. That was a lot. Maybe too much…I shook my head frowning; I can't let fear or doubt control me now, too much was at stake. Apparently, Hinata managed to dig up some valuable information on the group. Some had a few pages based on them. I sighed and tried to relax my now tense muscles. Hinata was really something. Anyway back to the task at hand. I read down the list of the index, noting that the first division commander was written in a darker lettering. So, I should be worried about him? Okay.
(The Index, below,)
Division Commander #01: "Phoenix" Marco
◾Division Commander #02: "Fire Fist" Portgas D. Ace
◾Division Commander #03: "Diamond" Jozu
◾Division Commander #04: Thatch
◾Division Commander #05: "Flower Sword" Vista
◾Division Commander #06: Blamenco
◾Division Commander #07: Rakuyo
◾Division Commander #08: Namur
◾Division Commander #09: Blenheim
◾Division Commander #10: Curiel
◾Division Commander #11: Kingdew
◾Division Commander #12: Haruta
◾Division Commander #13: "Water Buffalo" Atmos
◾Division Commander #14: Speed Jiru
◾Division Commander #15: Fossa
◾Division Commander #16: Izo
Fire Fist? Phoenix? And Flower Sword? Were those bounty nicknames or something? The must be, because I can't think what else they could be… Maybe I should read about this Marco guy first. I tapped my fingers on the hard cover of the notebook. If he's the first division commander, wouldn't he be like the first mate or something? I don't know much about how this pirate crew is positioned but…don't most pirate crews have the Captain, of course, and then the first mate. My question is who's the strongest of the sixteen division commanders? They're the ones I should look out for, and the ones Hinata and Cato need to avoid. I looked at the sturdy black leather journal, brushing against the cover with my fingers as I thought; biting my lip in thought.
Wait a minute….. Haruta? My eyes flickered up to the name Haruta, who was the… twelfth division commander. Huh…what a weird coincidence. Curiosity bubbled beneath the surface of me, and I flipped to the light green plastic marker that I just noticed labeled with the number 12 on it. I'm pretty absent minded now, as you can tell. I recognized Hinata's neat beautiful handwriting instantly; being born a noble woman has their perks, I guess. She had the info written under six categories; Appearance, Weapons, Fighting Style, Gender, Devil Fruits and Commands.
The info on Haruta was interesting, and while isn't hard to explain, I'll just read it off the book info.
Appearance:
Haruta has a crop of short brown hair, blue eyes, and is fairly short. Haruta wears a green and white 16th century style outfit with white tights and carries a saber whose hand guard resembles the puffy shoulder straps of Haruta's shirt.
Weapons:
Haruta wields a decorated saber with a purple hilt. The hilt is decorated like the top sleeves she wears.
Fighting Style:
Appears to prefer a fighting style based on agility and speed, rather than strength, as Haruta was seen jumping around when performing attacks. One demonstration of Haruta's level of swordsmanship is her ability to cut through steel.
Gender:
Female. She was complaining about how there wasn't enough girl members.
Commands:
As the commander of the 12th division of the Whitebeard Pirates, Haruta has authority over the lower-ranking subordinates.
Devil Fruits:
None. We saw her get pushed into the water as a joke and seeing on how she swam to the surface; she doesn't have a devil fruit.
And with that, I knew more about this Haruta girl. So, she prefers speed instead of strength. Okay, I can work with that. And no, devil fruits; I suppose that's a good thing. Once someone eats a devil fruit, you can't tell what devil fruit group they have until
They tell you themselves.
You figure it out in battle.
Or
You see the fruit they ate and look it up.
Devil fruits have three types: Logia, Paramecia, and Zoan. Seeing as I don't have devil fruit ability, I didn't really see a point in researching about them. However, I do know the basics of the three groups. A Zoan devil fruit user had the ability to transform into any animal…I think. The user can also have a human-hybrid form and/or have few more forms. It depends on the devil fruit, apparently. I also heard from the World Government that the Paramecia devil fruit category is the most usual. A Paramecia devil fruit user can gain super human abilities or powers. Most people think that I ate a Paramecia DF (devil fruit, I grew tired of saying that so much,) because of the World Government. I usually just allow them to think that. If they believe, sea stone can stop me, I'm I'll just gain the advantage. The last and rarest is the Logia DF. It can allow the user to transform into an element, allowing them to be them intangible or indestructible. I winced at the thought of one of the Commanders being Logia.
I clutched the now closed journal tightly in my hands; what if Hinata and Cato died but I survived because of my healing abilities? What if I lead my friends to their death? Could I live with myself after that? No, no I couldn't. I would go on a rampage and kill everyone who brought them to their deaths, and after that, I would kill myself. I could feel frustrated and sad tears burn the back of my eyes as I gripped the black journal in my hands, before I crushed it to my chest as I thought that this could be the last thing I'll have of Hinata. It's kind of ironic that if Hinata died, the journal, the last thing I had of Hinata, would be on the thing that killed her. I placed the journal in my lap and stroked the cover gently.
I jumped when someone placed a warm hand on my shoulder. Turning, I blinked owlishly at a tired looking Cato who smiled at me. I wordless held my arms out for a hug. He wrapped his arms around me and under my legs, surprising me when he picked me up. I managed to keep a hold on the journal. He walked back to his bed and laid down in it with me in his lap. He covered us with the blanket and ran his fingers through my hair. These were one of the times I let my guard down, even if I was with my friends. It felt good too. I moved my gaze to Hinata's journal, and shifted so my back was to Cato's chest. I let Cato take the journal from me and open the journal. He opened the book to Marco the Phoenix, and we wordlessly read it together. The silence was comfortable and reassuring. The reason this Marco guy is nicknamed Phoenix is because he ate a Zoan DF which allowed him to turn into a big flaming blue bird. A phoenix to be exact. Sighing, I cuddled myself more comfortably against Cato as sleep started to catch up to me. I could feel a yawn coming on as well. Cato lifted me up slightly only to lie down on his side and draw me into his body warmth. He muttered something to me, but I couldn't catch it as sleep already took me willingly.
"KA-BLOWIE!" Both Cato and I jumped straight up, wide-eyed and confused. Cato threw the blankets off and….
AUTHOR NOTE!
The author note above was merely an apology letter for not updating in a while. I wanted to inform my lovely reviewers that I worked hard to make this chapter interesting and so on. This chapter is eleven pages long and 3,406 words long, including the author notes. Remember, that the more reviews I get the more likely I'll update. More reviews = more chapters.
Good reviews = faster updates.
Writer tips = keeping them in mind and trying to write better chapters.
Bad reviews = Me not caring.
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