The Puppet Master [One Piece]

I Will Avenge You

~Echo's POV~

                Though I'd now been 'part of the crew' for about a week now, I didn't trust any of Shanks' crew. I barely slept, even though Shanks had provided me with my own private room complete with a locking door, for fear they'd make an attempt on my life in my sleep. They all acted way too laid back and aloof for my liking. I felt they were trying to lull me into a false sense of security and attack when I least suspected.

                I was on the verge of collapsing from sheer exhaustion and crawled into my bed late one night when the raucous sounds of their party began to die down. These pirates threw a party every night, for absolutely no reason. They didn't seem like pirates to me, all they did was drink and party. They didn't ransack villages or anything like that; this place was essentially one giant party boat.

                Just as I settled beneath my warm blankets and snuggled into the soft fluffy pillows atop my bed there was an obnoxious knock at my door followed by the drunken call of several highly intoxicated pirates. "ECHO-CHAN! ARE YOU SLEEPING?!"

                I groaned and threw back the warm covers and stomped to the door angrily in my simple black nightgown. "Who can sleep with you loud mouths screaming?!" I snapped as I flung my bedroom door open angrily.

                Three inebriated rookies stared back at me with their jaws nearly dropping to the floor. "Woah."

                "Get lost!" I glowered.

                "Nope, we have to catch you." They laughed and lunged for me.

                I easily sidestepped them and with a wave of my hands had the three of them strung up in my wires like marionettes. Perhaps I'd have some fun with this. A wicked smirk wormed its way to my lips and with subtle flicks of my wrist and slight jerks of my fingers I had my marionettes walking back to where the rest of the partiers were gathered. With enough pressure on a particular nerve I'd completely rendered all of them mute. They were nothing more than puppets.

                "Hey, you were supposed to come back with Echo." A man with a puff of orange curly hair and hazel eyes noted.

                I wiggled my fingers slightly forcing the wires to move one of the rookies' mouths and masked my voice to sound like his, "We couldn't find her."

                "What?!" The group of rookies panicked, "We're going to be in so much trouble if something happened to her."

                I concealed myself in the shadows and listened curiously, why would they all be in trouble if something happened to me? I shifted my fingers to make one of my other puppet's mouth's move, "How come?"

                "What do you mean 'how come' you idiot?" The rookie barked.

                "She's just a stow away." I made the third respond.

                I cringed as one of his fellow crew mates punched him in the face.

                "Ah! She's controlling us!" He cried as the wires suddenly slackened from the pressure point keeping him mute.

                "Shit!" I released my hold on the three morons and darted from my hiding spot and headed for the upper deck.

                "There she is!" Everyone cried.

                I ducked past the onslaught of men trying to grab me and bolted up the stairs to the upper deck as they continued chasing me. The cool night air enveloped me as I burst onto the main deck. "What the hell?!" I snapped as I spotted Shanks, Yassop, Benn and a large round man by the name of Lucky Roo in the midst of a drinking contest.

                "Echo!" They all cheered drunkenly.

                "Why are these goons chasing me?" I hissed as I stepped out of the way of the rookies.

                Yassop toppled over in a fit of laughter, "We told them whoever could catch you wouldn't be called rookie anymore and given all the slop chores."

                I glared at this as the rookies all charged on deck with cries of determination. "Don't treat me like some sort of trophy!" I snarled as I waved my hands and thousands of miniscule wires shot out and latched around each of the rookies, "I'm not a toy!" I hissed as I tightened my hold on them causing miniscule cuts to appear on their revealed skin where the wires were.

                "Please refrain from hurting them, Echo." Shanks said softly, "They were just having a bit of fun."

                "Have all the fun you damn well please, but leave me out of it." I growled and released the rookies from my hold.

                "Who are you so angry at?" Shanks asked wisely. Even for a drunk he was more perceptive than the rest.

                "EVERYONE!" I snapped and turned on my heel and headed back to my bedroom.

                I was mad at everyone, the entire world. They blindly followed a corrupt government and called it justice. Killing off an entire race of people wasn't justice. It was genocide! My fists were clenched so tightly by the time I reached my bedroom that blood began pooling in the palms of my hands from where my nails pierced through my skin.

                The door clicked shut behind me and I closed my eyes to stop the flow of tears as I heard the anguished cries of my dying people in my mind. Men and women, elders and children, all of them slaughtered like beasts of burden. The World Government unleashed hell upon our island. I survived because of these cursed wires my father made me learn to use. Because the fine wires are completely entwined around my body, I was protected from the majority of the blasts.

                "Mother, father, I will avenge you." I swore solemnly as I slipped to the floor. "I'll make them all pay." I vowed.