Missy

When push comes to shove...

I don't own One Piece. If I did, Pluton wouldn't be a weapon. It would be my own personal cruise liner.

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"Wait."

Time seemed to linger a moment, as if emphasising all the emotions that single word held. Pain. Suffering. Relief. Betrayal. Fear... They were all things you knew well. Some of which you had gone through the effort of working out of your system. Some of which which still had to be revisited. But you had done your bit.

Luffy froze, hands still outstretched to perform a Gum Gum Rocket.

You turned away, fists clenching until your knuckles were white.

Now it was Robin's turn. She had to figure this out, and make those realisations for herself. It wasn't your place to take anything away from that.

"I've told you so many times already!" Robin's eyes flashed open. "I... I won't return to you guys!"

It was her moment to shine.

"GO BACK!" She dashed forwards, a difficult feat in handcuffs, and leant over the small ledge surrounding the balcony. "I don't wanna see your faces again!"

Mello twitched, his lithe form coiling up and around your shoulder. "I have waited so long for this moment."

'Mmm...' You rubbed his blade with an absentminded finger. 'Same here...'

"Why did you come to rescue me..."

Once upon a time, when life had been collarless and the rules seemed to make sense, you'd been shown a case file.

"WHY DID YOU COME TO RESCUE ME?!"

A case file for an eight year old child, with hooded eyes and barely enough flesh on her body to feed a mouse.

"THIS ISN'T WHAT I WANT!"

You were told that the girl was a criminal. One of the worst of them all. For she had hidden knowledge that could call forth monsters stronger than you, and had even razed her hometown to ashes.

"WHEN DID I ASK YOU GUYS TO RESCUE ME?!"

But you knew about Ohara. You knew about their culture, and how highly your people had valued their input. You knew, and so was able to see through the printed lies and hastily pasted cover-ups.

"I... I just want to..."

Those lies continued, whispering into rumor mills and newspaper and gossip mongers until even not even those who were involved knew the truth anymore. And you, you who knew the story, could only sit there on the sidelines as that poor girl got buried under hate, fear, and discrimination. Unable to do a thing. A mere bystander watching so many things stacking up and up and up onto this one woman's shoulders.

"To... to..."

And she had only just started to crumple.

"I just want to... die!"

Silence. Not even the wind dared to disturb this moment.

Luffy's jaw slackened, drooping into something unrecognisably sad. What was he thinking, you wondered, when he heard something like that? Something so raw yet completely forced at the same time. He could never understand that sort of agony. Not without experiencing it.

You had felt the same. Long ago, in Loguetown. It was hard to get over.

Rubber fingers slid off the ramparts, snapping back to their original owner with a sound louder than you could have ever thought possible. Though that could just be your head talking. Everything sounded loud in that moment.