Pain. Pain without mercy and without break was something Charlotte had long ago gotten used to.
A little pain is nothing, as long as you're still alive.
Wise words from the one teaching her not to live, but to survive.
After all, how does one live if one is dead?
Blood splattered against her blue tail fin.
The large, bloodied fin heavy and limp on the ground before the huntress. "How's that?" Kline grinned satisfied by the slight twitches of her body spasming and the tears at the corner of her tired eyes. "Now you know better than to cross me again!" He laughed and then stared at his bloodied hand, disgusted. He wiped the blood against her tail like it was some kind of germ as he walked past her. "Now be a good girl and sit still, we wouldn't want you to bleed to death."
"...d-don't..." Charlotte's defiance was barely audible. She spat out the blood in her mouth from when she instinctively chewed at her cheek to avoid screaming. "And if I don't?" She repeated, louder this time. Her body finally responding to her.
Kline paused, tilting back slightly at the noise that he originally thought he had misheard. His eyes widened in shock when he saw her, slumped over the counter, much closer than she was before. Much too close to the giant red button. The glass casing already flipped open.
"D-Don't press that!" He pulled up his hand quickly to restrict the huntress' movements again only to jolt to a stop. His body frozen; unable to move. Only his eyes which drew down towards his hand, wondering why it wouldn't listen.
"Can't move?" His eyes darted back towards the troublesome mermaid and widened. The style of the doll with coarse stitching and button eyes far too familiar, yet so bizarre. Never had he seen one that looked like him. "Looks familiar?" Charlotte grinned. She couldn't agree more. Eyes were such great storytellers of one's emotions. He hadn't realized it yet. He didn't make the doll, she did. "What does this button do?" Not that she was going to clarify that. Why would she give away the surprise of her ability? This was why she never understood chatty Devil Fruit users. "Oh, wait, you can't talk anymore can you. Here, one moment." She undid the stitches binding his lips together. "I bet it's very important if it beats you asking me how I'm able to move."
"It's the kill switch that releases all the cages door! PLEASE, I beg of you. DON'T press it!" Charlotte's eyes gleamed at his words. Those were the exact words she was hoping for.
"You know, I've always been awful at taking orders." She pressed the button down with ease.
An alarm sounded loudly, and the once quiet inspection center was doused with red and white light. "What the hell?!" Penguin flinched, grabbing his poor ear. He was standing right next to the bell when it sounded. "What in the world?!" All gates and doors flung open simultaneously and confused mermaids and humans were slowly creeping out of their crates.
"Captain! Penguin!" Even the rest of their crew was coming out fine.
"H-how did you get out?" Penguin questioned through the multiple hugs. A few of them had been separated into different crates. They were on their way to collect them.
"The door flung open by itself randomly."
What are you planning? Law thought, glancing around at his recovered crew chatting happily about their strange escape. At the mention of their only female companion, the other grew excited, hoping to see her soon. It wasn't hard to connect the dots that she was likely the one responsible for them getting out. Except only Law realized she still hadn't shown up and she had all the time to. It was almost as if they—he—weren't her priority. He blinked, realization hitting him. Is she still mad at me?
"She's not here for us." Bepo's words cut through the crowd's gossip like a hot knife through butter. Law turned towards Bepo, a look of non-comprehension on his face. "She's here for a job."
They weren't her priority? The thought beguiled the tactician. He wanted to say that he was getting a handle on their wild card of a member, but that was exactly what she is. A wild card and at each turn, just when Law thought he figured her out, she'll behave in a way that was outside of his calculations.
She wasn't here for them? They were just a happy coincidence along the way. At the right place, at the right time.
"But she doesn't take jobs. What changed?"
"Doesn't she only take one job at a time?"
"Does that mean she gave up on Captain?"
Law flinched. She was so adamant about it before. Was all this just retaliation for not answering her question? The words she shot back at him when he denied answering echoing in his mind: "I'm not out here to play lottery with my life."
A brown sack slid quickly across the bar, stopping short of the edge but before its intended target. Hazel eyes narrowed and lips drew thin as the cross-dressing bar owner slid the sack back towards him. "If you're here to ask about where Charlotte Baako said easily, never looking up from polishing the already spotless glass.
"I could care less about that. I'm here to buy information on Charlotte." Cole shoved the sack back.
"...I have nothing of interest to share with you."
"Yet here I am. Consider me interested."
"Put that money to better us. Your ship was just raided." The wineglass Baako was cleaning shattered and Baako finally turned towards the uninvited guest in his bar. The barrel of Cole's makeshift gun smoking. "The glass is going to cost ya." H reached for the sack of gold.
Cole yanked it back. "This is for information." A sack of gold for a wineglass. Talk about overkill.
Baako grabbed a mini dustbin to clean up. "Some advice, on the house. Information on Charlotte is scarce to none. This alone won't come close to covering it." The sound of broken glass suddenly sharp. "Plus, whoever said it was on the market?"
A chill ran down Cole's back and he was suddenly aware of the differences in their sizes.
"Now get before I—"
"Madam Shyarly."
"What?"
"I'll trade you information on what she likes and dislikes for information on that Witch."
Baako whistled, lips curling. "What makes you think I need help?"
"You had that Crazy Witch take on the job to help your case. I'd say you need all the help you can get."
"I have a bar to run."
"Really? Because this empty place is all so very busy."
"... It's downtime right now."
"This late into the evening? I would have thought this would be prime time for bars."
"Information on Charlotte is scarce to none." Baako repeated and Cole knew he had won.
"This is information you for sure have." Cole acknowledged that he knew full well what little he was going to get. Damn the huntress for being such a secretive person. He paused. This was the best information broker in the underground market and Charlotte could barely hide the dishes she somehow still broke. Baako's words finally settled in his mind. There was no information on Charlotte.
"Why did Charlotte have to be the one to do the job?" Cole turned towards the squid fishman, frowning when the other's grin split in two. "Who is Joval and why does Charlotte have such a hatred for slave trading?" Despite the target being Kline, it was the other name that had Charlotte responding in a way that he had never seen before. He shivered at the force that flooded out of her from the name alone. He was certain that that wasn't just accidental.
"That's quite a lot of questions." Baako hummed and Cole wondered for a moment if the other was going to answer him at all. "How about this? I'll answer only one of your topics: Reason for Charlotte's response or the reason why Charlotte's targeting your Captain."
Baako's grin twisted further when hazel eyes widened. "It's no surprise, but I'm the one who gave her the job request." Hook, line, and sinker.
They found her first or maybe she found them. Either way, they had met up. Not that they had time to dwell on the whys. Or that is at least what Law told himself when Charlotte refused to provide any details besides that she had 'coincidentally stumbled' upon them.
"Kline is a Devil Fruit user who can create voodoo doll replica of anyone he's touched. He can control the dolls he creates at will. Whatever he makes the doll do, happens to the original body he copied." Charlotte explained quickly, sparing a glance over her shoulder to the motley crew behind her. "Don't let him make a doll of—" Her eyes landed on the stack of dolls nested in Bepo's arms. One for each member of the crew.
"We are well aware."
Charlotte didn't know whether to be astounded, disappointed or to laugh.
"Thanks for worrying about us though!" Charlotte head snapped to stare at the Heart Pirates as if they were aliens. "You opened the gates holding us too, didn't you?" Another nodded, jumping eagerly with an arm raised to contribute. "She even went looking for us and 'coincidentally stumbled' upon us." He winked at her. "Come on, admit it already, you came here to save us, didn't you?"
"No! I'm here for a job!" Charlotte spluttered quickly. Her face felt hot.
Bepo nodded next to them sternly. They were ignoring his earlier words again. Shachi slapped the bear on the back, grinning up at the bear before deciding to join in on the fun. "That's just what she's saying, but this little tsundere probably actually only took the job as an excuse to save us. Am I right, Charlotte?"
Charlotte snapped her head from pirate to pirate. The sound of her heart thumped extra loud in her ears, like it malfunctioned somehow. Just like every other function in her body. Charlotte gawked at the others, her face exploding through shades of red at an alarm rate. How did they know?
Their faces spit into wide grins as they watched the embarrassed huntress, expression honest to a fault. Thank you for coming to get us!
Charlotte was brought back to the trouble at hand when Kline stepped forward, looking like he would explode at any moment. The doll copy that Charlotte had created nullified and reduced from existence when she dropped it. An error on her part from when she got tackled into a metal wall of a shipping container. She should have known better. It was only time until she ran into the other. She just hadn't expected to find him with the Hearts. She really hoped they hadn't met.
Platinum eyes landed on the large, round-bellied man, with a pair of long human legs hanging off his neck. She frowned. The numbing discomfort of limbs bending the wrong way for too long pricked at Charlotte enough for her to know exactly whose legs she was staring at. "You had one job." She clicked her tongue and the others flinched at her tone. "How did my legs end up with that pervert?"
"Why the hell did you slam into me too?!" Kline hissed, stomping towards his partner. "Though I guess, I shouldn't be complaining. Because of you, I finally got free." He patted himself off and brought his hands up, thin transparent threads that only became visible when it caught the light extended from his fingertips.
"Change of plans." She announced faster than the others could realize what was to come. "Bepo, the nearest exit is on the left, down the hall and though the first two doors you see." Bepo blinked confused but before he could ask why, Charlotte took matters into her own hand: forcing him to start running away with the ability she copied. Ignoring the confused screams of the bear. When the noises disappeared much earlier than expected did, she realized that Law had shambled Bepo and a few injured others as far along the path as his room reached.
"That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" Law threw her confusion back at her. Her lips slanted into a grin. Cheeky bastard. She thought without a speck of malice. Bepo was right. If it was important enough to them, Law would oblige.
"So, what if you got rid of the others and their dolls?" They returned their attention towards a manically laughing Kline. A mermaid doll connected to his finger pads. "I still have this one." He pinched at both ends of the doll, pulling it taut between his fingers. The thick stitching strained against the seams. "What do you think will happen to you if I rip this doll in two?"
The remaining Hearts tensed at the threat, stance ready to attack, tackle, and wrestle free from his hands the doll replica of Charlotte. Their expressions expected by the trader and that excited him beyond compare. The friends, worried and angry, and then the target, scared—
Platinum eyes stared back at him, steady and unbothered, uninterested in the ordeal. He watched her lift her finger slowly and pointed behind him. Her lips moved silently, mouthing something—a warning?
Kline turned around just in time to see a giant black hole before the world turned into nothing. The giant mouth clamping tight around his torso, white teeth grinding and crushing through bone as Kline was eaten alive. The plush doll of Charlotte plopping against the ground a moment before the lower half of Kline crumpled next to it.
"H-he ate him!!! He ate a person!" The Hearts shouted, trying to process exactly what it was they just witnessed. Even Law was having trouble comprehending the insanity he just witnessed. "What in the world?! I thought they were partners!"
"He was such a noisy brat for someone so weak." Joval huffed, spitting out a broken femur to pick at his teeth with. His lips jeered towards a side as he watched the only expression not twisted into some sort of horrified surprise. "It's great to finally see you again, Deathbringer."
At the odd nickname, Shachi and Penguin shot back into action, warnings for their friend bounding off their lips. Warnings explaining how this crazy maneater has been looking for her since they met. Except they didn't expect her to answer him.
"Still as revolting as always, I see." Charlotte spat. This was what she wanted to avoid with entering the New World. Finding old familiar faces. She picked up the fallen mermaid doll of herself, surprised that the sailfish fin was also missing from the doll, guessing it had fallen off when Kline ripped it off her. It was then that the Hearts saw the dried blood trailing down her backside.
He glanced down at the female before him and licked his lips hungrily. Even at close distance, he couldn't find a single opening. "What's with the comical attire? I got no clue how you managed to get the tail to stick to you, but I can have this if you no longer want it, right?" He wrapped his tongue around her ankle pulling it close enough to nibble. The pirates shouted profanities at him for treating her legs like that.
She peered up at him, devoid of any emotion. "Will that satisfy you, Gluttony Joval?" Just like her hostage legs. Just like her removed heart. Law wondered if the woman really cared naught for her limbs as long as she remained alive. No sacrifice greater than life itself.
In a sense, it really didn't matter to the huntress. A cut or a limb here or there was a small price to pay for life. However, Charlotte, as reckless as she could be, doesn't gamble when she knows she can win. There was no real risk with Joval and her legs. She knew him enough that he wouldn't want her unless she was at her best. As if to prove her point, the man chucked the severed legs towards her, and she caught it easily.
"Fix yourself, I didn't wait all this time for you to be at your worst." As if he wouldn't notice the sluggish movements. It disgusted him.
"Feel free to keep waiting." Charlotte waved over her shoulder, back against the enemy as she picked up the doll copy of herself. The hairs on her body stood straight and instincts kicked in immediately. Without a second thought, Charlotte ripped the doll in half, severing her fish tail and human torso with an oddly loud pop. Joval's attack going through her. "Your habits are as bad as they were five years ago." The words hung eerily thick in the air and even more creepy coming from a severed body glaring over her shoulder.
"You weren't in the mood to fight. I have to put you there." He licked at the crimson red that shouldn't be there from his hand.
Blood? But I wasn't cut—
"Shachi!!!"
"God, you're awful. Spectators love this dragged-out death scenes. The more dramatic, the better. Yet you bring death so early on. The only thrill is of them begging you to be the one to kill them. That and the game you created: which of us can get the kill first?"
The lamp post above them shattered, casting a shadow over them. The pirates tensed at the sudden tremor in the air and the woman whose rage was so strong, the air itself warped. They knew her emotions to be expressive, but it was never this forceful. She glared at Joval, her eyes glowing eerily. "Touch them again and I'll kill you."
Joval whistled. He knew it would get her in the mood. This was what he was waiting for. "To be honest, I didn't know if five years of freedom would make you dull. But I was worried for nothing." He smoothened out the goosebumps across his forearms and drilled his heels deeper to ground himself. He exhaled slowly, his breath fanning out before him. So, this was Deathbringer. "I would be upset if I didn't beat the one who offed Brother at their best."
Her eye glinted, promising of death as Joval easily picked at a past kill of hers. "Is that why you ate him?" Or it should have been hers. Joval made the finishing move. Joval and his brother were from a cannibal tribe. It was their belief that their opponent's best features and strengths could be consumed and they, too, would be able to use those abilities in their next fight. "Be honest, you're the one who wanted him dead." She had awakened her Haki by then already, and she could hear his intent clear as day—the morbid glee of finally being able to eat someone stronger than he can finish.
A toothy grin split into his face in two. "You knew."
"Are you here to avenge your brother?"
"As if!" Joval almost choked at the ridiculous idea. "I'm here because life's been boring ever since. People from the Outside are so weak—so boring. But you won't be! Let's fight again! I miss the battles in The Ring."
An oddly horrific sounding name for a hometown. The New World is weird. The group thought. Only Law seemed to notice the strong disdain on her face.
"Look, I miss it so much that I made this!" Her gaze widened at the too familiar metal cuff tucked underneath the rolls of his chin. Her fingers twitched and the urge to touch her own neck—to feel skin and flesh instead of cold metal—suddenly overwhelming. But her fingers never moved. Her body frozen by the sudden claustrophobic feeling of her scarf around her neck being something much heavier.
"Of course, it doesn't actually detonate." At the words, Charlotte realized the red light she'd been staring at was just a red stone, and she exhaled. "How have you been adjusting, Deathbringer? Don't you miss them too? The itch to kill. The thrill of not knowing if you'll survive for another day!"
"No." The word hung heavy in the air between them. "Why would I? Life everyday was horrible. The best day of my life was when that damn Ring blew up!" The corners of his lips dropped. "I'm done fighting those battles! Find someone else to live out your sick fantasies with."
"As if I haven't. Do you know how long I've been searching for you or him?" Charlotte flinched, mind swirling, and breath caught. "It was my biggest regret. Not being able to eat either of you two before. The only two real monsters raised in there. I can just imagine how tasty your meat would be!"
"...Is he... out too?" Charlotte's question barely that of a whisper, the words hesitant.
"Hah? What's that? You're going to fight him, but not me?" Joval cried incredulously, stomping his feet, and causing the place to shake. He exhaled loudly into the air, dark eyes glaring down at the huntress. "Ah, you were such a pain then too. Never in the mood to fight." He tilted his gaze to the boiler-suit-wearing pirates. "Luckily, I know exactly how to fix that."
Charlotte's eyes widened and a scream ripped through her throat. "Shamble everyone away NOW!"
"The hit on Captain was a... request?" The thought of why never came up. Being hunted and chased came with the territory and honestly it was a measure of fame. The more notorious they became the more others targeted them. Charlotte was simply another of them. Right?
Baako grin split further, slit eyes glinting in the evening bar. "Is that your decision?"
Charlotte wasn't one to take orders or jobs. She made that clear from day one and again each time they asked her to do something. "What am I? A lost and found tracker?" was her snappy remark each time they asked her to find something they lost or misplaced. The idea that Law was a contracted job seemed impossible, yet didn't he just see the impossible? Charlotte was taking job right now because of this very man. The very same man who said he gave Charlotte the job to go after their Captain.
In other words, he was an enemy.
"If what you say is true, how can I trust you to say the truth?" Cole dragged his guns across the counter, barrel pointed and finger twitchy.
A shrill laughter escaped the muscular man. He leaned forward so that the barrel was pointed directly at his chest. "Because, my dear brat, I would never tarnish my name in the industry for something as petty as this." Red lips curled on one side. "So, what's the verdict: Charlotte's tainted past or the inevitable betrayal of your newest member?"
Cole's lips twitched. Betrayal? He scoffed, "I came here to buy information on that Crazy Witch." As if they'll let it get that far.
Surprised flashed on Baako's face. Long lashes fluttered for a moment and the larger male flushed indiscriminately. "Oh, how cool, how very cool! You're quite a heartstopper, Baldie!" Baako pulled back whilst ignoring the man's retort of having hair to make them both a drink.
"What's this? I didn't order a drink."
Baako quirked a brow at the man's annoyance. Most people would be glad to have a drink on the house. "Trust me. You'll want it after I'm done. I, for sure, will."
Cole eyed the large bottle Baako slammed down beside him. No glass either. He meant to drink straight from the bottle. "I thought you said there was barely any information on Charlotte." That looked like it could last the whole night.
"There isn't." A pause—a last chance to escape knowing. "Charlotte-chan's hatred for slavery stems from personal experience. Charlotte was a slave in the past." Baako watched the other's expression, taking in the small raise of his brows and the widening of his eyes as signs. He had no clue. Perfect. Short version comp—
"And?" Hazel eyes flashed upwards, catching the sly mirth on his face. "I find it hard to believe that being captured is all it to piss off the Witch like that." That level of bloodlust was unlike anything he'd seen from her. Plus, it wasn't like her to sit still captured. He grabbed the alcohol before him and dared him to gloss over the story again.
Baako grinned, "You aren't as dumb as you come off." He ignored the outburst and continued. "You're right. Being captured is a small thing. With Charlotte, it won't last long before she starts becoming difficult." He laughed at the other's expression. Seems like they knew from experience. "Unfortunately, poor Charlotte wasn't as bold as she is now back then. Have you ever wondered why there is no record of her from before five years ago? That's because she only recently gotten out. Before then, she spent ten long years as a slave." Even if Cole's mind didn't automatically start counting math, Baako told it to him straight. "She became a slave when she was just six."
Baako took the first swig of the grog next to him and Cole suddenly became more aware of why the alcohol was there. His own measly cup suddenly far too tiny. "Her Master didn't take her for the typical slave roles either; servant, trophy, or pet was probably suited for someone so young. She really drew the short straw. Almost as if she had wronged Lady Luck in her past life or something."
"Have you ever heard about Cockfights?" The question threw the male off.
"Cockfights were a blood sports in which aggressive birds were bred to fight and maim each other for the entertainment of spectators who would wager on the outcome."
"Now replace the cocks with human slaves. Charlotte was one of those slaves. She was raised to be a monster."