The Puppet Master [One Piece]

Welcome Aboard

~Echo’s POV~

I woke to warmth wrapped in a blanketed embrace. It reminded me of a happier time when my people were still alive; a time when I still had a home to go to and a family to cherish. The warmth of the blankets wrapped around me made me think of my father’s booming laugh and his bone crushing hugs. The sound of crackling flames and the faint smell of smoke from a wood burning fire made me think of my mother’s cooking. I could almost taste her fresh baked pies and it made my heart hurt.

Was I dead? I remembered a snow storm; I remembered the numbing cold and feeling myself succumb to the chill. I let it engulf me. Dying would have been better, I’d be reunited with my people and my family, but I couldn’t die yet. I made a promise. A promise to live on and show the people of this world their government’s true nature; I promised my parents that I’d continue on and find a way to get the people of the world to see the governments deception and greed.

“I think she’s waking up.” A somewhat scratchy male voice said softly from my right.

People? Why were there people here? My stomach took a sickening turn; did the pirates capture me in my moment of weakness? If they knew I had a bounty on my head would they turn me in? I’d thought sailing with pirates would be the safest course of action; I thought they wouldn’t dare try to turn me in because they themselves would be outlaws. My heart started to race as my mind quickly began devising a plan of escape.

Maybe they’d try to take the law into their own hands and execute me themselves. I wouldn’t go down without a fight! I sensed movement to my left and heard the swish of fabric as someone reached out to me. They were going to kill me in my sleep?! What lowlife scum! I rolled out of the way of the hand slowly approaching me and flipped to my feet before opening my eyes to survey my surroundings.

I was in a decent sized cabin that I assumed was set up as a lounge type area for everyone to socialize. There were a few tables here and there for card games and barrels in a corner that I could only assume were filled with booze. Three men stood before me. The first I recognized as the usually drunken sniper, Yassop, with blonde dreads, blonde scruff along his chin and for once a focused gaze. I hadn’t seen him sober too often since the voyage began. The second man I recognized as the first mate a man by the name of Benn. His dark hair was long and pulled back into a loose ponytail, he was taller than the rest and I could tell he was well built due to the tight fit of his black t-shirt clinging to his well toned muscles in an almost constricting way. He had crisscrossed scars across his revealed forearms and looked pretty intimidating. The third man I recognized as the captain, though I’d not heard his name as most of his crew called him boss or captain. He was a handsome man with startling red hair that fell past his ears. There were three slash scars over his left eye. His dark gaze was piercing and something about him commanded respect and authority. He was tall and muscular and though he was missing his left arm I knew he’d be a formidable opponent.

“Take it easy, you shouldn’t move around so much, I don’t think you’re fully recovered yet.” The captain actually looked worried.

“What do you want with me?” I demanded as I got into a fighting stance.

The three of them stared at me perplexed, “What?”

“Don’t play dumb!” I glared.

“You stowed away on our ship.” Yassop pointed.

“Is that why you captured me?”

“There was a bad snow storm, we were worried about you.” The captain said as if it were obvious.

“You were worried about a stow away?” I asked confused.

“Well, you are pretty small.” Yassop chuckled and took a step closer to me.