][Malice][ =One Piece=

:: Chapter Six ::

                “Would you mind paying attention so I don’t have to save your ass?” A familiar arrogant voice growled and she could feel it reverberating in the bare chest her face was buried in.

                Malice looked up curiously to find the angry red haired pirate captain glaring down at her, “Why did you save me?” She smirked.

                “Beginning to regret that.” Kid grumbled though he still hadn’t released her from his hold.

                “Seriously?!” Killer growled as he fended off two attackers at once and happened to spot his captain and the twisted girl locked in an embrace, “You two are not getting out of this one!” The masked man snapped as he broke the two apart and pressed a wicked looking curved blade into the girl’s hand, “Go take out your frustrations on them.” He waved at the attacking pirate crew.

                Malice shrugged, “They don’t look like much of a challenge.” She turned a wicked glare to Kid, “I’m surprised that someone of your caliber would need any help with such a trivial task.”

                Kid clenched his fists at his sides, “Remind me again why I saved you?” He grumbled sourly as he took Killer’s advice and turned his rage toward the attacking pirate crew.

                Before Malice could retort with a snappy comeback she paused as she sensed a disturbance in the water beneath them. She opened her mouth to call out a warning to Kid and the others but hesitated as she watched the handsome red haired captain fighting in awe. He repelled attacks with some strange devil fruit ability and there was something mesmerizing about the malicious gleam in his feral orbs as he cut down his opponents. A wicked smile wormed its way onto her lips as she watched him ruthlessly attack the enemy crew.

                A cannon blast thundered from the attacking ship and Malice barely dove out of the way of the blast as the cannon ball surged toward her. She was losing her edge lately. Her senses seemed dulled compared to normal. With a newfound determination, she adjusted her grip on the wicked blade Killer had given her and dove into the onslaught of enemies. The enemies panicked as the frail girl completely vanished from sight, moving so fast she was no more than a black blur due to her raven hair fanning out behind her.

                Beautiful arcs of crimson shot out from her victims as she sliced through them with ease. Kid smirked as all of her opponents fell in a matter of seconds. He knew there was a reason he’d asked her to join his crew. She reminded him of a ghost he’d once heard rumors about. A ghost of a girl by the name of Malice, though it was said that her hair was the color of the blood of those she’d slaughtered. People referred to the malevolent spirit as a ghost for lack of knowledge and certainty on her origin. She was silent as death itself and would always disappear without a trace. There was no mistaking it by how easily she cut those men down, this was the ghost. The ghost everyone thought had vanished.

                Malice focused her concentration on the ship below water preparing a sneak attack. There were already a surprising amount of enemies spilling aboard their ship. Not all of them were as pathetic as they’d originally suspected. The captain didn’t need additional men to worry about. She closed her eyes as she envisioned the vessel below them. In a matter of seconds she pinpointed another thirty enemies below.

                At a very young age, Malice discovered she had a strange gift. As she grew older she learned the rare gift was called Haki and was essentially the willpower of the user. Upon discovering this gift, she trained her mind and body to be able to hone and perfect it. She focused on the men below the water and felt the familiar flow of energy through her veins as she invaded their consciousness. Even rarer than Haki itself, was the type of Haki she first learned to master, a rare form of Haki that only one in a million are capable of, Conqueror’s Haki.

                It took a great deal of undivided concentration to pinpoint and focus her influence to a localized area. As she overpowered the enemies underwater, the ones onboard began to get antsy waiting for their reinforcements. One of the enemies noticed the strange cryptic girl’s trancelike focus and grew uneasy. There was something mysterious about the gaunt girl, he had a hunch she was responsible, somehow, for their reinforcements delay.

                Kid hurled two of his opponents overboard with a single swipe from the mechanical arm he’d created with his devil fruit ability. He turned to smirk at the cryptic young woman only to find her spacing out once again. What was she doing? She stood frozen in place with her fists clenched so tight her already pale knuckles were white as a sheet and her scarred eyelids revealed as she kept her eyes sealed shut.

                A burly beast of a man lunged for the fragile young woman as she concentrated on the task at hand in an attempt to incapacitate the enemies in the sea below. The beast of a man roared as he raised his heavy wooden mallet readying to attack the frozen girl.

                “Malice!” Kid snapped trying to shake the girl back to reality as he fought desperately to reach her. There was no way he could make it in time, and the wooden mallet was completely unaffected by his devil fruit ability. “MALICE!” He yelled as the burly man swung the great mallet.

                Her piercing garnet eyes flashed open, her task completed, and she quickly flitted from view. The mallet smashed into the deck with a spray of wooden splinters as it crashed clean through. “Don’t interfere.” Malice hissed venomously as she appeared behind the big bulk of a man and drove the wicked curved blade right between his ribs.

                Kid felt a wave of relief wash over him as the cryptic young woman offered him a small smirk, but there was something off about her. She looked tired as if she’d already exhausted a great deal of her energy. There was more to the eerie girl and Kid found his thoughts lingered on the girl more than he’d like to admit. She invaded his consciousness like a sickness and though it was a little unsettling to him, he was perfectly content with it.