Kid left the washroom and rejoined the others at the pool. A couple of other guys showed up but it looked as though Ava and Nia were the only girls. This prompted Kid to ask why that was, Ava didn't know but Law answered, "Apparently some parents didn't feel right about their daughters being at a co-ed pool party."
'Makes sense. Some guys don't always think clearly at this age,' Kid reminded himself.
"Huh? We'd make sure they'd be okay though," Ace objected.
"Can't be everywhere all the time," Kid offered.
Ace had to agree there was truth to that. The two began bouncing a ball between themselves and Sabo, playfully excluding Luffy until they heard a scream. They turned towards the scream to see Nia being circled by boys that Kid instantly recognized, and the worst part was her bikini top was in one of their hands.
"C'mon, show us," the boy holding her bikini top taunted. Luffy dove under water and made his way towards the boys while Sabo, Kid and Ace swam over to Nia. Kid reached her first, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close to himself so her chest was pressed against his. He kept his eyes off of her and focused on glaring daggers at the boys who were taunting her.
Next Ace's fist connected the side of the torso of the boy who was holding her bikini top captive with enough force to make him lose his grip on it. Luffy snatched the top away, swimming over to Kid and Nia, offering it to them. Then the three brothers stood around her with their backs to her while She put the top back on, Kid helping her secure it around her neck, and this time ripple knotting it.
Afterwards, Ace approached the boy who had stolen the bikini top while demanding, "what's your damage?"
"Big words coming from a pirate," the boy scoffed.
At this Kid's eyes grew wide while Ace bristled, then quickly relaxed. A smirk came over him as he replied, "Oh I get it. Cause my bio Dad was a Pirate, I must be one too? Careful—if you follow that logic you're something worse."
Nia looked to Kid and mouthed, 'Pirate?'
Kid didn't answer but held her closer to himself. He knew the other three would act as first line, but he was the last line. The boy approached Ace, and raised his fist at the same moment someone loudly cleared their throat. The teens turned to see the eighteen-year-old man standing on the pool deck with a tray full of various barbeque proteins, he looked to the boy and stated pointedly, "Looks like you're ready for your mom to pick you up."
The boy rolled his eyes, scoffing as he stated, "I'm not a baby. I walked here."
"Yeah? Too bad for you I've been filming for the last three minutes. She's on her way now. Hope you had fun, cause you just ruined the rest of your summer," Law stated. He placed the tray down on the table, glanced at the others while asking, "anybody else wanna try their luck? Hands to yourselves or else."
The boy that Kid knew to be Victoria's younger brother challenged Law, "or what?"
"Or that video gets sent to your parents—and Ava's—the one your parents fear," Law stated, narrowing his eyes at the boy.
"Careful pervert, you have explicit child content on your phone now," the boy sneered.
"Not even. You can't see her face or body in the video. The girl deserves to keep her dignity—but it clearly shows you stealing her bikini top—and with holding it, telling her to show you her body," Law explained.
He smirked before adding, "your mother asked me to send a video of you to her so she knew what you were up to. My focus was never on the girl."
The boy's face paled as a car screeched to a halt in the driveway and a car door slammed, the boy had expected his mother to appear but instead it was Victoria, her face flushed red with anger as she walked into the pool fully clothed, grabbed the boy by his arm and began dragging him out of the pool. The boy thrashed and tried to squirm away only for Victoria to grab a fistful of his hair and tug it enough to force his head back as she walked him out of the pool.
Kid blinked repeatedly, he'd seen Victoria angry before, but never to that extent. Even still, she was demonstrating restraint until they were out of the water. She then slapped the boy hard across the face with enough force for him to sprawl onto the concrete deck.
"You insufferable little maggot! Did you think word wouldn't get back to me? First you threaten that girl's life and now this? What's wrong with you? This is the kind of shit that can land you in Juvie. Do you want that? Maybe I should let you have a chat with someone I know who had a stint in there," she screamed at him.
He paled enough to match a bed sheet and looked back to Kid. Victoria grabbed a fist full of his hair again and forced her brother to look at her face as she scolded "you better smarten up or you're in for a real rude awakening, brat. I know you think I'm a bitch—but it'd be a hundred times worse behind bars with people who won't think twice of whooping your ass harder than you've ever had it."
She forced him up by his arm, then grabbed the back of his neck, forcing him to look at the ground as she carted him off. The young woman glanced back at Kid, giving him a wink of her eye before she disappeared past the gate with her brother.
Law, Ace, Luffy and Sabo stood with their mouths gaping while the boys' friends shivered in near unison. Kid however had a satisfied smirk on his face, which caught Nia's eye. She glanced up at him and asked, "what?"
"He's not gonna have a good summer now," Kid advised her.
'Why do I have a feeling he did something to cause this? Oh well, thoughts for another time,' Nia thought to herself as she pulled away from Kid and swam over to the ladder. She climbed out and headed into the house.
Kid figured she was going to get some water, what he hadn't expected was Ava running out ten minutes later to tell him, "Nia's asking for you. She's crying in the washroom."
Kid didn't hesitate to climb out of the pool, and asked Ava, "do you know why she's crying?"
Ava glanced at the boys around them and stated, "I don't know for sure—she said something about 'bring his bag', I don't know if that means anything?"
Now Kid was both curious and concerned as he picked up his backpack and headed into the house. He pulled his towel out from the backpack and wrapped it around his waist to help absorb the water. He entered the house and followed Ava to the bathroom door which he stood in front of and asked, "what's wrong?"
He heard her crying on the other side of the door. He placed his open palm on the door, but didn't push or try to open it. "Hey—Nia it's me. Whatever's going on, we'll figure out."
"It—it happened," she answered.
'It happened? What is she—oh,' Kid thought to himself as realization dawned on him. He opened one of the smaller compartments of his backpack and handed a pad to Ava, "could you? I shouldn't go in."
Ava nodded as she took the pad from Kid and knocked on the door stating, "Nia—cover up okay? I'm gonna open the door in three. Two. One."
At 'one' Ava opened the bathroom door just enough to place the pad on the counter top, and then slide it down to the toilet where Nia was. Ava then closed the door and looked to Kid as she admitted, "This is a disaster. My friend Jenesis has a crush on one of the guys here, so I thought I'd have a co-ed pool party—see if they could hit it off. Last time I go out of my way like that."
Kid nodded his head a little, he could understand that. She had done this meaning to help a friend and instead another friend got humiliated. Nia poked her head out of the washroom, wiping her eyes and asking for her dress. Kid handed it to her and gently kissed the top of her head while stating, "we don't have to stay. We can leave. Or we can just chill on the deck with our feet in the water."
Nia blushed as she looked up at Kid.
He blushed a little as he brushed off the kiss with the excuse, "okay you're the first girl I've socialized with regularily since my ex. I might be a little weird."
Nia giggled as she closed the door once again.
Next thing Kid heard was Ava's voice asking, "So—you're not into her?"
"She's my friend," Kid stated.
"Uh-huh," Ava replied in an unconvinced tone.
