Birds of Feather

Chapter 31: The Library

It was almost like watching a cartoon in slow motion. There was a second of terrible realization on Teach's face before it registered what was happening. Gravity reacted faster than he did, and before he could level the pistol at anyone he was already past the lip of the door. The bang of a shot rings in your ears, but the crack and shattering of plaster and wood from the ceiling from the bullet is just as clear to you.

You tugged with all your will, bringing the door closed. It wasn't a physical action, but one that required focus. The doors only closed automatically once you passed through them.

"(Y/N)!" You hear Marco gasp.

"I'm fine!" You assert, putting your hand up past the line of the desk, turning and pulling yourself to your feet. "I'm fine, I'm here."

Macro leans back after taking a second to make sure his eyes aren't deceiving him, and he practically sinks into the chair like a lead weight. You look around the room, wincing a bit at your own pain.

"Let me go, uh, look for that key." You say, trying to ignore all the aches and pains in your body and force it to move.

"Just... just come here, yoi." Marco insists, pushing himself up so he's settled into the chair a little more comfortably. "Please."

You let out a shaky breath, nodding as relief sinks into your bones. You make it to the chair, legs buckling as you just grab onto his leg and hug it. The tension from earlier turns into nervous, garbled, messy energy and you just shake and sob for a few minutes.

Marco moves very carefully, fingers resting on your shoulder. The warmth is there, and some pressure from his fingers, but there's a weakness in it that twists your insides. An effort to soothe you, without letting the seastone at his wrists touch you.

"It's alright." He reassures you. "It's going to be okay."

You garble out half-choked words of apology, lost in the tears and mess of your current state.

"Don't apologize, pretty bird." Marco hums. You can hear the effort in his voice, and quickly try to clean up your face a little with your shirt. You look a mess, but it's easier to see and talk if you aren't covered in tears and snot.

"I... need to go find that key." You insist, pulling yourself to your feet carefully.

Marco shifts, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I'll give Thatch a call. He and Izou are at the end of the road, waiting for Teach's bike. I... we thought he'd be alone."

You give him a somber smile, leaning over and kissing the top of his head. "I would've rather been thrown from his bike, than taken off this island against my will."

"I would've rathered the chance to save you," Marco retorts as you head out of the office to work your way upstairs.

At the top of the stairs was the bathroom Teach had used to clean you up a little, and you were pretty sure the key wasn't in there. You hadn't torn the room apart from top to bottom, but the idea of putting you in close proximity to something like that seemed like a poor move on his part. Despite the fact that the evening had not gone how he had planned, his planning had still been solid.

Turning to head down the hall you froze.

The devil fruit you'd unwittingly consumed years ago had three sides to it. Active, passive, and utility. Actively, you could change into a powerful owl, but you barely had control of that. Keeping things secret meant using your power as little as possible. Utility was the library, and your access to it and control over it. That was far more practiced than your ability to change. The library was easy to slip into and out of, and for you it was painfully easy to read through several books in a very short amount of time.