Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, just the OC(s)

Chapter 42

The mecha trio leaped back, ignoring the annoyed yelp from Cole as the two yanked him out of the way again. "Did Charlotte really manage to take them out while also avoiding these nasty pests?" Shachi huffed, slicing through a stray branch that had shot towards his torso. He pressed his back against Penguin's. "How's your eye?"

Penguin wiped at the blood dripping for his head and obscuring his vision to stare at the man-eating giant Wilderbeast. It didn't look as scary as it sounded. If no one had told him that they were man-eating, he would have thought them to be cute. The Wilderbeast was another chimera of animals. It had the body of a sheep, the face and claws of a mountain cat, and the horns and hooves of a ram. A rather ferocious looking foe if it wasn't for the giant fuzzy woolly body in the shape of a cloud.

Is everything in the New World stronger than it looks? Penguin grimaced when his weapon snapped in two against the beast's paw. First Joval and now this. "Knowing Charlotte, she probably bulldozed through both. You saw the battlefield remains." His lips slanted into a smirk. We really need to get Char to train us more. Sparring would be invaluable. He thought with pride

"Well, she sucked at cleaning up." Cole groaned with a heave. "She missed one!" He fired another flare at the giant Wilderbeast, drawing its attention away from them. The distraction only lasted for a moment before the beast locked eyes with Cole. Horns ready for a charge.

"Idiot!" Penguin shouted. In a blink, the beast disappeared, reappearing mere inches before him. "LEFT!" Penguin shouted and Cole barely dodged being flipped into the air. The horn caught into his back, tearing a nasty line across it. Shachi made quick work on drawing its attention next. He parried off the roots charging at him. They needed to get rid of it quickly. Or better yet get out of the forest all together. "Cole, ya ready yet?" He yelled back towards the gunmeister who was setting up his attacks. Both guns now bulkier and with legs to stand on. A string of magazines slotted through each gun.

"Get out of the way!" Cole ordered and Shachi did just that. A screamed ripped through his lungs, setting it on fire as he launched a barrage of attacks, being more than generous with the rounds he was unleashing.

The Wilderbeast stalked out of the smoke slowly and with poise that said his attacks had done nothing. It took another look at the three of them, as if selecting its next prey. A push off its hoof and Cole was met face to face with a devilish grin splitting its face into two.

"Come and get it." Cole shot back, slamming a large cylindrical container into his modified gun barrel, ignoring the warning screams to get out of the way. The blood-thirsty trees were almost reaching him. There was no way in hell he was moving. It was now or never. He yanked the trigger on the side back and the large shell shot out of the barrel. Charlotte defeated them by clearing the area. "We just got to bulldoze our way through, right?" He squatted back for stability and squeezed the trigger tight. "Shotgun Mode: Grand Chariot!"

An explosion ripped through the modified gun right at the charging beast just before it reached the gunman, and a wall of white blanketed the world.

It wasn't until the light from the explosion dimmed and their eyes readjusted back did they confirmed the results. From the grass to the blood-sucking trees, everything within a forty-five degree angle of Cole was cleared out. Not a shred of the Wilderbeast remained.

Cole fell back on his butt and a loud sigh escaped him. "I almost peed my pants!" He shouted into the sky and the other two chuckled at that. They couldn't agree more. Their eyes widened at the sound of grass and roots crushing underneath hooves. The three swallowed, slowly turning around towards the sound.

"I-It's still alive?!" This was bad. They were beyond tired and running out of moves. At least it didn't come out of that attack unscathed. Blood matted the side of its wool, making it look rather lopsided. "D-do you have another shot, Cole?"

"…No, I'm out of ammo." He admitted and the two snapped their heads over at the other shocked. Cole never ran out—they snapped their heads back to where Cole was glaring at and frowned. His magazines spilled out from where the horn ripped him earlier. "You got to be fucking kidding me!" The group hissed as the beast charged forward, fangs bearing. The magazines were behind the beast.

Blood dripped to the ground, staining the grass, and setting to life the vampiric roots.

"Cole!"

"Fuckin' Hell!" Cole swore and the Wilderbeast tried to clench its mouth shut harder round its meal. "As if I'll let you eat me." Cole huffed, sweat dripping down his chin. His energy falling him far too fast for comfort. His hands wrapped around the canines of the beast's mouth, forcing it open and away from him. His hands coated in fading black armor. "This thing drains!"

"Cole!" The two shouted in relief and then their eyes widened at the black coating around his hands. "Busoshoku Haki?!" They've only seen it a few times, mostly from enemies. Since Charlotte herself couldn't use it, she wasn't able to teach them the ability. Which would make Cole the first one in their group to use Busoshoku Haki. "How? No, why? Why did you learn Busoshoku when you should be learning Kenbunshoku?!" They chided, despite the happiness in their voices.

"That's the first thing you say!" Cole snapped back disbelief. He cursed when the black around his hands started fading. "Hurry up and help me! I can't keep this up forever!"

"Hold it steady!" Penguin shouted from the other side where Cole's spilled ammo was. He loaded another large bullet into the chamber and lifted the modified gun onto his shoulder, allowing its form to change into a rocket launcher.

"Make sure you don't clip me in the range!" Cole grunted, easily trusting in the other's ability to handle his weapons. Penguin and Shachi were skilled in all kinds of weapons because the three of them were nerds like that.

Penguin fired another Grand Chariot. Mode: Sky Drop.

"You have a really nasty habit." Kid grimaced as he watched the doctor operate. "It's a wonder how she manages to stand you."

Law ignored the comments, pulling off the surgical gloves with a loud rubber snap. "If you're waiting for a thanks, you're wasting your time. My sub isn't that much further. It's a miracle how your crew managed to stay alive with just this."

"We're not all medical freaks like you." Law had been vocal about his disgust with the infirmary on Victoria Punk. "Wire manages just fine. Maybe it's your skills that's shabby, not the equipment." Kid jested back reflectively, and Law's glare zeroed in on the other captain immediately.

"I'm amazed you're both Captains given how stubborn you are. I feel sorry for your crews." Charlotte commented offhandedly while grabbing the loaner clothes from Killer. Her thanks died at her lips as she held up the clothing selection. Do I reaaaalllly need clothes? She glanced around at the others and sighed, defeatedly and settling for looking like Killer's sister. The rest of the Kid Pirates seemed to prefer going around topless.

"You're the last person I want to hear that from!" The two snapped and Charlotte jumped surprised at how in sync the two were. Charlotte turned towards the blonde for help, only to realize she couldn't read his expression through his mask. "Whatever, I'm going to check on Eno. He's going to need a bath after all that blood caking him."

"The blood is yours and why you shouldn't be walk around already!" Law scolded, dragging a hand down his face when the huntress continued to ignore him. Not that that was anything new. He swore handling the huntress was more tiring than fighting sometimes.

The Kid Pirates watched as the two bickered about whether she could keep Eno, completely unfazed by the exchange of events. Leaving them to wonder if it was normal to treat someone's wounds by dicing them up so they couldn't move. "And the man pride himself a doctor." Kid swore under his breath.

"It'll be fine! I'll tell Eno not to attack anyone with the Heart Pirate's Jolly Roger. He's a good dog so he'll listen!" Charlotte reassured, as she reattached her shoulder. The shrug finally making itself visible.

"For the last time, Eno isn't a dog! Where would we keep such a giant beast anyway?"

"I have a storage locker." She stated easily, bluntly. As if she hadn't realized everything wrong with that statement. Starting from the fact that Eno's much larger than that tiny stand-up closet to the fact that Charlotte barely returns to the closet, favouring to sleep in Law's room instead, to the point that Law wonders if she even remembers which storage closet she claimed.

"There's not enough space in there!" Law exclaimed and then groaned when Charlotte suggested that he used his ability to make room then. Or she will. He glared at her immediately at the latter. A shiver running down his back. "You are the last person allowed to renovate the sub." Last time she tried to create space, there was a hole in the sub. And they were submerged! "Do you want to go swimming again?" Her eyes only twinkled at that. Law pinched the bridge of his nose. That's right, this crazy idiot dreams of swimming. He could already feel the headache coming.

Charlotte grinned widely at his reaction, letting herself enjoy their bickering, just as she let herself relish in the feel of his warm hands treating her. Her hand pressed against the tight bandages against her abdominals. The last time she'll have any professional treat her. She wasn't looking forward to that. She liked how she felt after Law treated her wounds. He was a miracle worker with those long fingers of his.

"Law," she called to him. Her back facing him since she refused to look at him. "I'm leaving the crew."

Law watched her for a moment and frowned. "What are you running from?"

Charlotte glanced back at him, shocked. "What? Running from?" Her voice as airy and light as she felt. She was running from something? How— why did he think that?

He grabbed at her hand, tattooed fingers ghosting against the back of hers and lighting ablaze her skin. Warm and tingly. "What spook you to run out in the middle of the night?"

Charlotte's eyes flickered to her bare feet wrapped in bandages, the only thing that they couldn't find a in a size close enough to fit, and proof of her stupid antics of running out in nothing but her pajamas at the break at dawn. "I… I-I told you that the break was only for yesterday. Don't be complaining like a sore loser since you didn't take up on my handi—"

"Charlotte!" Law interrupted loudly, patience thinned out. Platinum eyes snapped opened and bandaged hand paused in the middle of tossing her purple tresses over her scarred shoulder. The steel grey of his unimpressed of the lies. "Does it have to do with that person you've been researching on: Aceteon?"

"How do you know that name? Did you meet him?!" Charlotte questioned instantly, shocking the two of them with how quickly she reacted. Urgency was lining her voice and she had pushed into Law. The fingernails digging into his bicep drawing crescents on his skin and Law would have flinched at the pain if he wasn't so shocked.

Grey eyes went wide at the panic etched in her platinum orbs. "She's terrified." For some reason, Grebbon's words came back into mind and Law swallowed thickly. "No," He shook his head and the huntress slumped immediately, relief washing over her. "Who is he—" He tried but the huntress was already moving on.

"Good… good," She muttered to herself like she was trying to calm herself down. "I should have known that. Ha… ha…" She had confirmed it, hadn't she? Came all the way out into the forest in the middle of the night to confirm that it was all just a dream. He was not here. Not in the Undead Forest. Not with her heart. Her heart which she found all alone—safe and untouched. "He is not here."

Law frowned at the trembling lips as she spoke. It wasn't the forest that was scaring her. "Char—" His attention shifted, and he frowned at the younger male's staring at them. "I already told you, you're not going to get any thanks." He remembered the mess he left in the infirmary. "Or an apology."

Kid scoffed, folding his arms across his broad chest. As if he'd be petty towards something so little. "I still haven't heard an answer yet."

Law raised a brow and Charlotte turned towards the other Captain. The way Kid's red eyes drilled onto the huntress irked him slightly. "Question? What question?" When did he even get a chance to ask her anything? Was it from before? She didn't seem surprised to see him on the island. One thing's for sure, he's not going to stand any poaching.

"To join my crew."

Law snapped his gaze back towards the huntress. Her expression hidden from him, and he scowled. He stepped in between her and Kid. "She already has a crew."

Kid tossed the threat back at him. "From what I could tell, she said she's dumping your sorry ass of a crew." He stepped up next with the huntress, walking around Law. Technically, I asked her first! Trafalgar was third, after Straw Hat.

Law scowled as he watched the two chatted. They fitted each other's styles oddly well despite first impressions. He wondered if she realized it herself yet or not. Not that he was going to tell her. Instead, he made a sarcastic comment, interjecting himself into their conversation. The two blasted feral monsters.

Law frowned as he eyed the huntress bandaged feet. What aren't you telling me?

"Why are we stopping?" Kid asked when their ride pulled short of the harbour. They were heading back to Polar Tang with Eno taking them like some taxi vehicle. Additional benefits of having him aboard or so Charlotte was trying hard to sell. He followed their frozen stares and immediately frowned. Something was gravely wrong. "Don't tell me that's your ship." He commented dryly.

The once beacon-yellow submarine was stained in a dark red iron coat. The Heart Pirate crew decimated—not defeated—decimated. Limbs were sliced open, body laced with open wounds and broken. "What happened?"

Charlotte, on the other hand, recognized the carnage far too well to not know who the culprit was. The style of attacks were well engrained and forever burned into her memories. This was how the best would leave their prey. It was a show, done to entertain the audiences. He's here. Charlotte tried to swallow. To breathe.

Yet, the words that came from Law had Charlotte flinching. "Shit… did Bepo see the full moon?" What is he saying? She thought, mind unable to process. Bepo did this? Despite the cruel state of everything, and the outright denial that flooded her that it couldn't be, she couldn't help but hope that maybe, hopefully, it was true. That it was Bepo who did it. And not him.

"Rike!" Law's shout snapped Charlotte out of her thoughts. A gasp escaped her as she spotted the coughing medic, barely conscious and pinned to the deck by a spike stabbed through his hand. One of his legs broken. In an instant, she was by his side. Charlotte's hand ghosted over Law's shoulder, silently asking him to do what Law was already doing. He pulled the knife out with a quick and quiet warning to Rike.

"No… first!" Rike gasped, stopping Law's movements. The two medics ignored Charlotte's cries for his care. Law knew something was wrong if Rike was refusing medical help in his state. "C-Char… lotte…" The female blinked. "T-take… Char…" The medic grew limp, skin pale.

"Oi! Worry about yourself first if you're going to pass out before finishing." Kid scolded. He glanced around the two of them, scowling. The chill in the air doing little to calm his nerves. Something was still here.

"You kept me waiting." A displeased voice called, deafening murderous aura flooded the entire area immediately, setting the pirates and Wilderbeast on guard.

No—Charlotte wanted to call out when she saw Eno charged forwards to attack with a growl. But her voice was missing and her body non-responsive. The pirates flinched at the whine that escaped the beast's mouth just seconds before a horrific crushing noise. The whines stilled. Tears sprouted from the corner of her unblinking eyes. Charlotte didn't need to see to know what that awful noise meant. Unable to turn around and see the reality of what the two captains were staring at.

The attacker killed a Wilderbeast, the deadliest and strongest creature on the island, as if it was nothing. The man stared at the limp remains still attached to his left shoulder. Even in death, their bite never weakened. He grinned, liking its tenacity.

"Are you the one who did this to my crew?" A voice interrupted his thoughts and his grin dropped as he stared at the fuzzy hat wearing non-important person he could care less for. He still didn't care when several other non-important people disappeared from the deck with a flick of the man's fingers. Not when the person he's been looking for finally showed up.

He ripped Eno's head from his shoulder. The thick fangs in his shoulders snapping with ease, unfazed by the punctured wounds. He dropped the carcass with a loud thud, grinning at the way her body flinched in recognition of the sound. Oh, she remembers. She knows. Even if she's not looking. She knows. He licked his lips at how delicious it was—her fear."You kept me waiting so long that I grew bored. Luckily your friends were here to entertain me." He frowned when she didn't turn around. "Oi. Aren't you going to greet me?"

His question turned into a deep laughter at her quick response. "Leaving so soon? I'm hurt, Deathbringer!" He shouted after her. His grin deepening as he watched her move. Acting only on instincts. Only on the idea of survival.

"The hell do you think you're doing, Charlotte!" Law grunted, glaring over the huntress' shoulder to the man who just admitted to hurting his crew. The man that was now getting further and further away from him because of her.

Charlotte recognized the voice immediately. There was no way she could forget it. Cold sweat coated her body and before she realized it, she grabbed both pirate captains and darted off, away from the Polar Tang. Away from everyone else who was injured. Away from him.

Escape. Run. She chanted in her mind.

"Oi, the crew's still there!" Law shouted, angrily. It wasn't like her to leave the people who could still be saved. Law shoved against the arm holding him and yelped when the touch scorched his hand.

Run.

Her body was hot. Burning actually. He turned over, spotting her other arm, bare and pressed against Kid's exposed chest. "Oi, you're going to overheat at this rate!" Her body was constantly overwriting itself as it tried to copy both his and Kid's ability simultaneously.

Run.

"Did ya hear me? Let go before your body breaks down! This is too recklessness. Even for you!"

Escape.

Law turned back towards the shrinking submarine where his injured crew were. "Room." He commanded, and then cursed when the boundary of his room shrunk just short of the sub. "Charlotte!" He called, again, ordering her to stop. She was taking too much of his ability.

"Deathhhhhbringeeeeeerrrr!" The man cooed loudly from the ship. Eyes wide with mania.

Her breath hitched and she forced her eyes shut, pressing off the balls of her feet harder.

Survive.

"If you leave, I'll have to entertain myself with those here." The attacker's deep voice travelled across the rising distance. His words were like a stone dropping into the huntress' stomach. Charlotte jerked still as if her feet were suddenly glued to the ground. Her blood thumped loudly in her ears, almost deafening so.

"Rike! Let go of him!" Charlotte heard Law shout and felt his struggles increase. She could hear Law ordering her to let him go. To let him go save Rikers, but she didn't respond. Couldn't. The world felt like it was spinning.

Kid watched the huntress from the corner of his eyes. "Is your hunter short circuiting from overheating or whatever you said earlier? She ain't responding." He asked the other captain, eyes drifting from the dangerous male to the trembling arm pressed against him. Her knuckles stark white and fingernails digging harshly into flesh. Something's gotten her freaked. "Who the hell is that guy?"

"The hell do I know?" Law snapped at the other, frustrated. He's never seen Charlotte overheated before, that was how careful she was with her ability's drawback. "She's reckless, but never like this. It's like she not even thinking…"

"Oi, they're talking to you, Deathbringer. You should do the proper thing and respond!" The man sneered, grin growing more wicked as he watched. While Law frowned at the naming. "Or are you too scared to even speak?" His grin stretched inhumanly large, eyes curving into crescents. The weak should fear the strong!

The blue dome flickered then dissipated. Scared? This was the second time someone's said that. Scared was not a word in her vocabulary. The Heart Pirates knew that for a fact. How many times have they—in an attempt to avoid anything unnecessarily dangerous—have to watch in shock and frustration as the huntress run headfirst into battle, a sea king, a marine base, or forest full of man-eating beast? Fear was not an emotion the huntress understood.

But hadn't he thought that she was earlier? He glanced down at the arm pressed against him. It was trembling. Steel grey eyes drew towards the huntress, widening as he finally looked at her. She was biting her bottom lip so hard that it was bleeding. Her platinum eyes blown wide, unblinking and wet. He waved a hand before her. No response. Yet—

"Let's play a game, shall we? How about Duck, Duck, Goose? It's your favourite, right?" The man called again, his voice booming, and Law frowned at the way the huntress reacted to it. Her body hung on every word he spoke with anxiety and dread. The attacker pulled the young medical assistant closer to his side and dragged his short knife precariously alongside the limp boy's side. The boy groaning next to him, consciousness barely hanging on by a thread. "I'm sure you know what'll happen to your friend if you don't come back." His lips split into a terrifying grin.

"Rikers!" Law reactivated his room, growling at the grip that only tightened against him. "Charlotte!" He hissed.

"Duck."

Charlotte's breath hitched and her body jolted. Her right-hand releasing Kid to grip over her left shoulder where the large, jagged scar ached. Her grip over Law remained.

"Duck."

Her legs gave out and her breath came in short, as if she was choking on air. Cold sweat coated her body and despite the searing heat of her ability overwriting her genetic code, she felt cold. Like her body had been robbed of all its heat. Her fingers dug deeper.

"Oi, you're gouging yourself out!" Kid exclaimed, reaching to yank her fingers from digging further into her collarbone. Hot red blood already stained past Killer's shirt and running between her fingers.

Law stared silently at the bloodied shoulder, remembering the horrid scar and wound that sat underneath. Then his gaze lifted to the stranger on his ship. "Charlotte," Law called, his voice strangely calm yet filled with an underlying anger that had the other captain tensing. "Is he the one who gave you that scar?"

Bloodletter Aceteon's maniacal laughter filled the air, punctuated only by gruesome squelches of blood and muscles tearing as he thrusted the knife in and out of the trapped body below, chanting 'Goose'. Aceteon's laughter faded when the screams complimenting him were no longer there. He plunged the short blade back into the one trapped below and waited. Nothing. He jerked the blade to the side. Nothing. He twisted the imbedded sword around. Dug deeper. Stabbed another place. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing!

"Why aren't you screaming anymore…?" He asked the body below him. "I didn't stab you in the heart." He couldn't even see her face anymore, her purple hair thrown all over her face in her futile tosses and turns to get him off. "Come on, don't you want to play with me anymore?" He ran the knife edge against her skin again, poking at spots that still looked relatively humane. Each poke punctuated with another chant of 'duck, duck, goose'. On goose, he stabbed at another section of her arm, slightly lower from the shoulder.

He frowned when she didn't respond. Didn't even whine as the knife tore into flesh. "Does it not hurt anymore?" He questioned, applying more weight onto his left foot to pull her arm further apart from her body.

He heard the muscles fibers snap from the motion and an excited smile blossomed on his face at the sounds. It didn't last long though as he realized just how big of a bloody mess he had created. Deathbringer's dirtied rag clothes were almost completely stained red from the amount of blood pooling out around her. She looked like she had been chewed out by a giant monster.

By him. He grinned widely.

"Boring." He said, realizing that she was probably dead. He twisted on his heel, getting off the small girl's chest as he turned away while listening to the grinding and popping noises of her bisected arm and the pool of blended flesh and bones that remained in the crevasse with glee.

"And the winner of this undefeated vs. undefeated battle goes to Bloodletter Aceteon. For all those who had betted and would like to collect their reward money, please go over…"

Aceteon blocked out the rest of the boring message, along with the rest of the audience and the two hazmat suits running over to dispose of the carcass. The only thing that remained on the fourteen-year-old's mind was the look on his opponent's face as he repeated stabbed away at her life. The fear that radiated in them. She—the other beast, the other undefeated—was scared of him. Just like everyone else was. He was powerful, almighty.

He was the strongest.

"Is he Acteon?" Law repeated, voice thin and gaze never leaving the man holding his crew captive. Charlotte tried to curl into herself. Eyes screwing tight together, forcing unshed tears to drip down her cheeks. Her hands pressed into her ears and a scream left her mouth when the timer ticked down. "Goose!" Aceteon pulled the knife back ready to jam it between the captured medic's ribs.