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Haha.

She's so screwed. 

The mushroom hat guy was completely silent, staring at Roxi as if trying to pick apart her brain piece by piece. Oh lord did Roxi hate the awkward silence in the room. Don't get her wrong, she loved silence, it was music to her ears, it meant no one was interacting with each other. 

But no, this silence meant Roxi had obviously done something wrong.

Okay.

Calm down.

What do people normally do when meeting new people? Greet them? Right--she already did that. What do they do after that? They---Roxi struggled to remember what you do after that.

Uh...

Right! 

They introduce themselves!

"M-My name is Roxi?"

Somehow the already intense glare became even sharper.

Ah.

Hmm...

Maybe she shouldn't have used her real name. 

Yeah, Roxi probably shouldn't have used her real name. She, while not as well-known as Vegapunk, she's well--umm--a  pretty well known world government scientist. And Roxi doubted it had been leaked that she defected . The World Government, after all, had near impeccable information control. And Roxi doubted they would want the world to know that their young genius had left them.

Roxi suddenly found a knife to her throat.

She tensed, making a subtle movement for her scalpel. "I'd advise you against touching that scalpel." His tone was dangerous. She froze. Roxi would probably be killed, or at least injured.

"Hey Unko don't you think this would be a great time to intervene?" Roxi asked.

"No, I'm lazy, and he's not planning on killing you anyway." Roxi felt Unko shift behind her neck, he was buried in her hair, completely safe. The goddamn lizard was protecting itself.

Roxi reclined her hand away from the scalpel. Although she trusted Unko, she still wouldn't take chances. A slight smirk tugged at the man's lips. Roxi, being as bad with people as she was, had no idea what that meant. And so as absolute genius that she was, she thought back to that thing Vegapunk told her thirteen years ago. Smirking is just smiling right? And people smile when they're happy. Then the mushroom hat guy was....happy?

Roxi didn't really understand.

And she didn't ponder for to long because a blue kind of aura surrounded her and the mushroom man, he spoke once again. "Scalpel."

Somehow Roxi's chest felt lighter. Much lighter. The familiar thump of her heart was absent. Wait a second....in the man's hand was a heart. A beating heart. And-- in Roxi's chest was, yep, a hole. The mushroom man stepped back once he knew she noticed where her heart had gone.

A somewhat sadistic smirk played on his lips.

It first Roxi simply processed the information, with a blank face. In the shock she staggered to her feet. Then, gradually, Roxi's face practically lit up with childish excitement. A grin on her pink lips, and stars in her lavender eyes. "You--you...have the Ope Ope no Mi don't you!" Joy was evident in her voice.

Just imagine!

The ope ope no mi!

A fruit the World Government's Scientists had wanted to study for years. And here it (or at least a user of it) was, right in front of Roxi! Barely a hairs breath away. The mushroom man's smirk faltered, making way for a slightly baffled look.

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