Smokeless War - One Piece

(4)

All struggle ceased instantly as I could barely find the energy to lift my eyelids. I warily clenched my hands to try to keep hold of my attacker.

Help, please. Anyone. I thought for a moment, stupidly. In a moment of weakness I'd hoped for a slim chance I could continue living.

It hadn't been very long with the warlord, but he wasn't a bad person. I was hoping to form a deeper opinion of him if I was able to.

But the monkey-like animal dragged me down despite my desperate thoughts before easily escaping the grasp of the river, leaving my sight with only scarlet wisps seeping into the clear dark water.

My gaze then focused on the clear white sky above, or what I thought was the sky. The fog only grew thicker every hour I spent out and where the sun was became a mystery to me the moment I came to be on this island.

Water seeped into my lungs and I choked weakly, the crash into the water being the last thing I heard as my vision dimmed.

I didn't lose consciousness though. Breathing in the water was a torturous and painful way to die, especially for someone like me.

As my head broke the surface I regained the right to move my lungs freely, coughing incessantly, holding onto the frilly sleeve of my savior. My eyes couldn't even focus on the face in front of me and it clicked only then as I should have been able to escape the water's hold. The legends, they couldn't be true?

I realized after I regained control of my lungs, the sight in front of me. I was the only thing holding the Warlord back from fixing himself accordingly, and I couldn't find the air to give him an apology so I simply allowed myself to fall backwards and opened my grasp.

That was my plan at least, but I found his arm supporting my body with ease and my surprised gaze on his cold one before I finally turned myself over to cough out all the water I'd swallowed, hoping he'd leave me alone at last.

Boots crunching softly on the rivers edge and its assorted stones, he must have surveyed the scene as I emptied as much water as I could from my stomach on the mossy ground. I weakly lifted my head, spotting the bodies of the few enemies I could beat, maybe five or six in all while the rest had scattered. His gaze flickered to me so quickly I thought I was mistaken before he sat on a fallen tree to shake water from his boots.

Water tickling my skin as it dripped from the mop of hair on my head, I staggered to stand and walked over to the tree to support myself and find two frightened kittens looking down on me and clutching branches for dear life.

"Come down dears, sorry to give you a fright." I murmured and urged them to my arms and set them on the ground so as to not get them too wet. Which might have been useless since they clung to me and rubbed their tiny faces on my dress.

"Sir, I thank you and hope you will forgive me." I turned to face him where he sat but found him very near my own figure in such a way I could not contain my startled movement.

"You seem to attract trouble." He simply replied, still expressionless which to me told me he was in neither good nor bad spirits. In fact, he'd seemed to be musing on something as soon as he looked at the crumpled bodies of the monkeys.

I watched the kittens attach themselves to my dress and play with the tangled mess of it while he watched me.

"Are you a devil fruit power holder?" The inquiry made my face darken at the thought.

"I wasn't sure, now it's undeniable I suppose." I treaded forward to search for my garment holding the herbs which I'd dropped to free my hands earlier. He didn't let up and only closed in on me as I searched about nonchalantly.

"What is," He paused as I bent to retrieve not only herbs but kittens. "Your ability, then?"

Scratching Alice's chin softly I followed the path back to the castle and stopped to answer him after a moment.

"Will you think me anymore foolish if I answer I haven't the slightest clue?" I answered him almost coyly, looking straight into his positively glowing golden eyes.

"Not anymore foolish than what I've seen already." He tsked, and his eyebrow rose ever so slightly for the first time telling of his annoyance to which I turned to hide my deepening smile.

"Then I apologize to report exactly that."

The silence afterwards left me turning to open the door for him as we entered the castle, tracking in a miscellaneous sort of mud, rocks, and pine needles.

I eyed the mud with disdain for a moment before following his lead into the castle and finding the study in disarray, his cape strewn across his prized seat and spilt tea dripping from the rich wooden side table near it. I paid no mind to it after a moment as I started to shiver, his own figure before the fireplace as he lit it with ease.

"Dress yourself, and meet me back here when you're ready." He then sat down on a bench near the fireplace and I could only imagine the flames echoed in those unnatural irises of his.

"Yes sir." I quickly ushered the kittens out of the room and swept them up the stairs to my own quarters, before taking a shower in a separate room and trying to quell the cough I felt in my throat. Something else I tried to quell was the stinging in my side, a long deep scratch marring the skin of my abdomen which I pat with a clothe uselessly before bandaging myself up crudely.

As I stepped out of the steaming bathroom I'd still had achingly to draw and heat water for, I eyed the herbs I'd sacrificed too much for before looking affectionately at the now rowdy kittens climbing everything there was before settling on my bed.

I played with them for a moment, and noticed the trees near the windows. A thought popped into my mind I didn't discard just yet, before I decided I shouldn't keep him waiting too long.