Chapter Five | She's (Almost) Lost Control

All Quinn could hear was the ringing in her ears, the way the gunshot and the crack of her wand echoed over and over. The vision of it was seared into her retina, that familiar branch of holly and phoenix feather exploding into a cloud of slivers that drifted westward, carried by a sudden gust of wind. That icy chill swept across her, arms trembling with fury, her finger clenched, slick with sweat, around the trigger of a still smoking gun.

It took her a moment to realize someone was shaking her by the arm, and slowly, with a distant gaze, Quinn tilted her head to see Sanji wearing an expression of horror and concern.

"I'll kill him," someone said, their words dripping with poison as black as tar. "I'll kill him!"

"Quinn, you're going to get yourself hurt."

"I'll kill him. I'll turn the fucker inside out."

"Quinn, please."

"You hear me, Gin!? You're going to die here! All for your lying bastard of a captain!" The same voice rang out across the waters, hoarse with rage. It was then that Quinn realized it was her own. "I'll show you why Death Eaters won't speak my name! I'll drag you broken and bloodied to Azkaban myself!"

Spit flew from her lips, every drop of it tasting of the purest venom. A decades worth of anger that had been bottled and hidden, tucked away in the deepest recesses of her mind now bled forth, crackling with magic. She flexed her legs, ready to run headlong towards Gin and drag him screaming to the depths with her bare hands when Luffy appeared before her, worry etched into his every pore.

Gently, as if he feared she might break, Luffy took her by the hand and ran his thumb across her knuckles. "Quinn."

"Luffy, get out of my way."

"Quinn."

She blinked, Luffy's voice barely carving through the blood-red fog that had swept through her lightning quick, a flash-flood of rage unfettered by the laws that Quinn adhered to with a vigilance born not of respect but necessity. "Luffy?"

"Zeff wants to talk with you."

"What?"

"He's waiting for you inside. Usopp? Johnny? Yosaku?"

"Yeah?"

"Help her."

An arm looped through hers and she was dragged, stumbling into the Baratie. The whole while her gaze never left Gin's, and the man was paler than death, soaked from head to toe in his crewmate's blood. Quinn blinked, and he was gone, the inside of the restaurant in his place. Another blink, and Quinn was sitting, and she looked down to see an arm still laced through hers. She followed it up to see who it was attached to, Usopp, pale and sweating as he talked with Zeff.

"No, no." Quinn stumbled out of her chair, jerking backwards and breaking free of Usopp's grip. "I have to kill that son of a bitch, I have to- hey! Let go of me!" she shouted, Johnny's iron grip replacing Usopp's, Yosaku taking her by the other arm. Together, they held her in a vice

"Let it go, sis. Your head ain't on right, anyone could sneak up on you right now."

"He's right," Zeff said, marching up to her with a stern look. "You wade into that battle the way you are now, you're going to die."

"You don't understand, that wasn't- that wasn't just a stick, that was-"

"Your treasure?" Usopp asked, a sense of familiarity in his eyes. "You're acting how Luffy would if his hat got destroyed."

"You're comparing my wand to a hat? A fucking hat?"

Usopp glared at her. "That hat means everything to him."

Swallowing, Quinn returned his glare before eventually relenting, her head bobbing in a slow nod. "It's what lets me use my magic. My wand, it's- it's all I have- had left of home," she admitted quietly, doing her damndest to fight back the shame that painted her cheeks in red.

"Witch."

"Zeff?"

"These three fools were just telling me that they're going to track down that twin of yours."

"My what?" Slowly, her brain churned, mired by confusion and the still raw pain of losing her wand, all that remained of it being a stub of jagged wood and a handful of splinters that jutted out of the thin flesh that clung to her knuckles. "Nami?"

"That was the little thief's name?"

Usopp nodded. "Yeah, that's her."

"Well, consider yourself on leave, Witch. I want you to tag along with these three and make sure they don't go and get themselves killed by a fishman with a grudge."

"No. I'm staying and I'm fighting."

"Not a chance. I'm not letting you hang around here so you can sneak out the back and get your head blown off by a stray bullet. That Straw Hat kid and that shitty eggplant of mine will take care of Krieg without too much fuss."

"There's no way I'm leaving when-"

Quinn snarled through the hand that clenched at her mouth, Zeff looking down at her with annoyance. "I'll knock you out if I have to, got it? You three, get her out of here and grab one of the sloops moored out back. You know where you're headed?"

"Cocoyashi Village," Yosaku hissed. "Where Ar- Ar- Arlong's base is."

"Better get moving then! Go, go!" he shouted, shooing them towards the kitchen.

I'll kill that damned chef too.

Teeth gritted, Quinn snarled and cursed at the two bounty hunters, all to no avail, their gaze cast stubbornly forward and their hold unbreakable no matter how much she thrashed nor swore at them. Usopp cast a fearful glance at her from over his shoulder, muttering something under his breath about terrifying women, which made Quinn thrash all the more.

The sound of battle echoed in her ears as she was dragged to a small ship, Johnny letting go of her arm only for it to be instantly held by his partner. Both Usopp and Johnny quickly untangled the ropes from the tiny pier that stuck out of the back of the Baratie, Usopp giving Quinn one last, apologetic shrug before he planted his boot against the pier and pushed. He shivered at the sound of gunfire and held his hands up to his ears, accidentally hitting himself in the jaw with the berthing rope. Blinking, Usopp paused as he looked down at the rope, over to Quinn, and then back again. Finally, he turned his gaze to Quinn with fearful resignation in his eyes, an apology already bursting from his lips as he shuffled towards her.

"Don't you dare." She interrupted, and bared her teeth at Usopp like a wild animal. "If you're even thinking of tying me up I'll show you what we did to pirates back in England. Have you heard of a gibbet, Usopp?"

"Alright! Uh-" He did his best to ignore her, smiling through the fear. "So- Johnny and Yosaku can't hold onto you forever so, uh, we're going to have to use this until we're away from the Baratie so you don't- um… you know- uh, swim away?"

"I hope that nose you've got works like a goddamn snorkel because I'm going to drown you when I'm free."

"Okay! That's uh- that's not terrifying at all, so- Johnny? Johnny can you- I think you'd be perfect for this. The Great Captain Usopp needs to chart a course, after all!" With that Usopp threw the rope at Johnny who scrambled to snatch it out of the air, wrestling with it and shaking all the way over to Quinn, and as he grew closer she could tell how scared he was of her by his pinprick pupils and the quiver of his breath.

Quinn's heart clenched and she sagged in Yosaku's grip. "I'm not… I'm not going to try and fight," she promised, watching the Baratie grow smaller as they drifted away. "I'm just- I promise, I'm not going to go back." A weary huff flew from her and with it all the fight she had left. "I'm sorry."

"You're uh- you're sorry?"

"I am. I shouldn't have- I'm sorry I threatened you. I'm sorry I scared you. That wasn't… you did absolutely nothing to deserve it." She looked Usopp in the eye, trying to convey to him how truly sorry she was. Quinn genuinely felt awful, and while she still shook from the adrenaline that trickled through her veins, moving at a steady crawl, it no longer came from a source of anger but instead, shame. "If it'll make all of you feel safer you can tie me up and throw me in the corner. I'm not going to fight."

The three of them shared a look, or, it felt as though they did. Quinn couldn't exactly get a look at Yosaku from where she was but he shifted a bit when Johnny's gaze swung their way. A silence slowly built until Johnny decided for them, dropping the rope on the deck and waving his hand. "I believe her."

No questions asked, Yosaku let her go, and Quinn slowly – so as not to spook them – rubbed the blood back into her arms for the second time today. She shivered, grimacing at the chill of the ocean wind as they drew further away from the Baratie, no longer shielded by its high walls and the heat that always radiated from the kitchen. "So we're chasing after Nami?" she asked, leaning against the outcropping of the bunk.

"Yup. Lil' bro Luffy and the rest of the crew are going to meet us on the Conomi Islands."

"I can't imagine I'm going to be of much use to any of you in a fight, what with… well- fuck."

Quinn stared at the splintered remains of her wand that she still held tight to with a white-knuckled fist. Her knuckles creaked as she let go of the jagged stick, because that was really all it was at this point. A fancy stick. Her lip jutted out as she picked the splinters from her hand, flicking them onto the deck with foggy eyes.

It hurt worse than the first time she lost it.

Could Quinn even find or make a new wand here? She knew nothing about wandlore, how Ollivander and his compatriots around the world managed to take a branch and whittle it into something both beautiful and dangerous, concealing within it the heart of some majestic beast she'd only ever heard of in storybooks.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Johnny squatting in front of her, his head tilted in confusion. "Not much use in a fight? You blew that guy up back there."

"So?"

"So? So? Get a load of her, Yosaku. She doesn't even realize how scary she is."

"Zeff said she came from a remote island. Don't know much about the world."

"You mean-?"

"Probably don't even realize what she did."

Quinn frowned at the both of them. "Mind filling me in?"

"Johnny's had that pistol of his for what, a year now? Barely ever uses the damn thing, but he got it a while back. Know what it doesn't do when he shoots it?"

"...Blow people up?"

Yosaku snapped both of his fingers at her. "Righto! Musta' been your Devil Fruit or somethin' because I ain't ever seen anything like it. That guy just went bwah-" he threw his arms out, gurgling. "-Blood everywhere. It was crazy."

Looking away, in no particular direction, Quinn's brow furrowed. She tried to recall what happened when she pulled the trigger, what she felt and saw as that bullet flew, obliterating the man next to Gin. Past the fury, past the anger that had been boiling inside her since she first laid eyes on the Veil, Quinn could remember the feeling of pure, glorious magic coursing through her arm and into the bullet that had ended that man's life.

Her gaze trailed down to her left hand, fingers splayed open as if they'd catch the secret she was after like netting. "I somehow… how?"

That shouldn't have been, couldn't have been possible. At least, not back home. But- but, with how incredibly, hilariously dense the magic was in this world, it should be possible. Was that what Mihawk did? Forcing some kind of magic into his blades and when swung, unleashing it on those unlucky enough to draw his ire?

"Do you mind if I take a look at that pistol?"

Johnny didn't hesitate, unlooping it from his belt and handing it over to her. "Reloaded it after you dropped the damn thing, try firing it at the water a little ways away and let's see if you've still got it."

"Guys, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"What? She said she ain't gonna' fight us so she ain't, right?"

"I promised you I wouldn't. I don't walk back on my promises."

"See? She's alright, just was ragin' mad earlier. Big bro Zoro gets like that sometimes, so it's no sweat."

Usopp paled at that statement, muttering under his breath about terrifying swordsmen, but it eased the tension nonetheless. All Quinn did was wince. She definitely deserved his suspicion, and she hoped that however long this voyage took she'd managed to earn back his respect (and the childlike way with which he watched her work her magic, eyes alight like hers had been when Hagrid had waved his umbrella through the air, sparks trailing from the top in glittering red).

"Alright." She turned the pistol over, getting used to the heft of iron and walnut – or whatever passed for walnut over here. Quinn pointed it at the sea, well away from the sloop. She breathed deeply and tried her best to drum up that sensation of magic bursting from her fingertips, coursing into the pistol and suffusing the powder and bullet nestled within. It must have been five minutes she'd spent standing there in silence before she felt a prickle in her palm and, between one heartbeat and the next, pulled the trigger.

There was a snap, followed by a cacophonous crack as the hammer slammed true and sparked the powder, the bullet exploding from the end of the pistol in a flash of light and smoke. The pistol kicked in her hand, and the bullet fizzed as it flew further than it ever should have, whistling through the air with frost crackling in its wake. Quinn blinked just as it struck the surface of the water, stalagmites of jagged blue erupting from the sea and spreading across the surface, a handful miniature floes peeking from the waves like breaching icebergs before being carried away.

"Huh," she whispered, finally dragging her eyes away from the icy explosion to look at the pistol as if it would have changed when she wasn't looking at it. "I thought it'd be lightning again but… I have an idea."

"That was awesome!" Johnny shouted, hands pressed to the side of his head.

"That gives you an idea?" Yosaku added.

"I can… can I keep this?"

"I barely use the damn thing, and either way, how could I say no after seeing that! Woah!"

"Do any of you have a screwdriver and a chisel, or a knife?"

"I got all those in my bag," Usopp said quietly. "What… what are you going to do with them?"

"I'm thinking… and this is all theoretical, but what I'm thinking is, I can inscribe some runes on the barrel and grip so that I can easily channel my magic into it. It took way too damn long just mustering up the power to do it unassisted, but- and it's a big but, I might be able to do it a lot easier with runes."

"Runes?"

"It's a- it's a way to use my magic. Runes are like… they're like symbols that each mean a different thing. Put them together in the right way, and you can make wards, traps, things like that."

"What happens if you put them together the wrong way?"

"Nothing pretty," she said, wincing. A new recruit fresh out of training had ignored her order to leave a door alone until she could take a look at it. Instead, he tried to create his own counter-ward for the damned thing on the spot. Quinn only realized he'd ignored her order when she heard a dull pop and felt one of his ribs plunge into her thigh.

"Are you sure you want to do it in the middle of the ocean?"

"I'm a dab hand at runes, and what I have in mind shouldn't be an issue. An array to help funnel and direct my magic, as well as a conjuration scheme to make ammo and powder whenever I pull the trigger… it'll take me a couple of days but it won't be volatile."

"Can… if you build a slingshot for me or something will it work? Or is this a Devil Fruit only thing?"

"I'm sorry but I don't think it'd work for you," Quinn said, the lie staining her teeth.

She'd told Gin too much and he'd destroyed her wand, now here she was scrambling in an effort to even the playing field. People were strong here, far stronger than anyone would be back home. Even Dumbledore, for all his might, would have been killed in an instant by Mihawk. Because how could you contend with someone who could carve a mountain in two? And if someone had that insane level of strength, how fast would they be? You can't hit something you can't see, and no matter Dumbledore's immense knowledge he never would have been able to even spot someone like Mihawk if he didn't want to be seen.

The most terrifying thought Quinn had was that Mihawk had to overcome someone to become known as the world's greatest. What kind of monsters were out there in this vast blue sea?

Quinn didn't know these people. She didn't trust these people. Giving them access to a magic that they might be unaware they even possessed could not just spell her own death, but the death of countless others.

So lie if she must. Deceive anyone and everyone, and so long as she didn't give away magic to someone who would use it to turn this world on its head, she'd have succeeded.

Usopp, for his part, looked only mildly disappointed, shrugging his shoulders as if to say what did I expect. He wobbled his head a bit in thought, then tossed a swiss army knife (or whatever the hell it was called here) as well as a small chisel over to Quinn. She caught them, nodding at him in thanks before looking at the pistol with a glimmer in her eyes.

-::-

Quinn learned quite quickly that this world was predominantly ocean. Not in the same way as earth, with vast expanses separating the continents, but instead small strings of islands dotted here and there. There were archipelagos, spots of barren rock or sand straight out of a picture book, or the rare few islands that were like that of Japan or New Zealand, countries stretched out across a long strip of mountainous terrain.

They'd stopped at a tiny spit of land to resupply about a week into their journey, and when Quinn asked Johnny how long they had left he'd rambled something that amounted to another week, give or take a few days. This world was… immense. It was hard to tell how large it was exactly, but she'd hazard a guess at it being twice as large as earth, which was a frightening thought. How in the hell was she standing? Shouldn't the gravity have sent her to her knees?

To put it simply, nothing here made any goddamn sense and she was starting to get to the point where she no longer felt like asking any questions at all.

In better news, the pistol had come along nicely. She'd spent the first few days of the journey planning the runes she'd need and the last few deciding their placement. Whilst she was better at dismantling runic arrays than putting them together, you couldn't know one without knowing the other. The only issue she'd run into was the matter of inscribing them into the metal with a simple chisel, whereas she'd normally use her wand. Since that wasn't an option, and she wouldn't be doing this if she did have a wand, Quinn was forced to improvise with something much less precise.

Humming, she shaded her eyes, keeping watch of the sloop while the other three grabbed food. The only thing she really had to be thankful for were the few wandless spells she'd picked up over the years, that being a few basic conjurations as well as the summoning charm.

Water was a necessity, and her being able to cast a wandless aguamenti had gone a long way towards getting her… not into, but closer to Usopp's good books. He'd mentioned off-handedly the other day that they were getting low on rations, water especially, to which she'd conjured a glass and filled it, handing it to him without a word. It was a movement built from habit, something she'd have done lounging about the house with Ginny, who was the laziest person Quinn knew when she'd gotten cozy. She'd rather ask Quinn for a glass of water than haul herself off the sofa and get one herself, and she had the annoying habit of leaving her wand in hard to reach places around the house.

So Quinn hadn't thought, she'd just done it the instant she heard Usopp say he was thirsty. It wasn't until she realized how quiet the ship had gotten did Quinn look up to see the expressions of awe being directed her way. Water was life, after all, and it had been a very long time since she didn't have easy access to it in almost every situation. It wasn't until… well, here where that hadn't been the case.

"Oi, Quinn!"

"Yeah?" she asked, not looking away from the breathtaking view of the ocean, thin white peaks rolling across the sandy shores. She'd never seen a beach with water this clear. Not in person. Quinn snorted, realizing that in a fashion, she was traveling in the way that Robards had recommended and that she'd never had the chance to experience before.

She'd recognized Johnny's voice anyways. What could she say? He was annoying on the first encounter, but the guy was growing on her.

"Found some good booze for cheap! We can have a party soon!"

"A party?"

"Well, Luffy and big bro Zoro should have trashed Krieg by now. We'll just have to wait for them to catch up to us!"

"I hope they took out Gin for me, otherwise I'm going to be pissed off."

"I'm sure Sanji did him in for ya'. He seemed pretty angry about the whole thing as well."

"Did he now?"

"Yup. You were out of it, but he said something about the restaurant and Zeff, but the look in his eyes…" Johnny shuddered next to her. "All of you guys are scary. You, Zoro, and Sanji. Buncha' monsters," he joked, jabbing her shoulder with the bottle he'd picked up.

Quinn huffed, taking a look at a bottle of… sake?

"They grow rice on this island?"

"I mean, I guess?"

It didn't look like they had the space for it, but Quinn just shrugged rather than question it, handing the bottle back to him. "We've got another week of this, yeah?"

"Yup. Then… then we can look for Nami."

"Got any plans after that?"

"Bounty huntin' I guess. Same as always."

"Not interested in joining the Straw Hats?"

"Nah." He waved the idea away. "Don't wanna' be a pirate, and I never wanna' go to the Grand Line. I mean, you saw that Mihawk guy." Johnny shuddered at the memory. "I say you and Zoro are scary, but he's really scary."

"Should've seen him cut an entire fleet down."

"Nope! No thanks! Know what?"

"What?"

"You can help me haul all this shit onto the sloop just for puttin' that nightmare in my head."

Sighing good naturedly, Quinn grabbed the sack of food he'd bought and made for the ship. She had a pistol to enchant and it was calling her name.