Chapter 3: The One Known as 'Master'
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You didn't answer him, to which he chuckled. Hurried footsteps were heard from behind, and you looked back to see Ghin rushing towards you. When Krieg saw him, he roughly pushed you to Ghin, proceeding to lug the bag full of food. A sigh came from beside you as Ghin gingerly guided you towards the ship, causing you to glance up at him. He refused to meet your gaze, shame possibly at your current situation.
"Y/n-san, I'm sorry." Ghin had seen the frightened look on your face, including the shocked and angry looks from your Captain and Sanji. Why couldn't he have realized it sooner? You were that girl on the small boat, drifting in the Grand Line. The one that his captain had set his eyes on. In Krieg's attempts, misfortune had fallen upon them, like a curse for attempting to lure an angel.
"Don't apologize, I'll be fine," you reassured him. Were you that blind? How could you smile as if this were a normal occurrence, after what transpired? Doubt laced his features, and you grabbed hold of his tanned hand. "It's going to be alright- no, it will be alright. Put a little faith in me, Ghin." Tears were clouding his vision.
You tilted your head slightly to the left, eyeing a little fire bird on the Baratie. A vision of the ship splitting into thirds was in your mind's eye. "By the way, I wouldn't get on the ship if I were you."
"Why?"
You gave him a mischievous smile. "Call it, intuition." With that, you left him confused, and you hummed, recollecting the events that had occurred only mere minutes ago.
* * *
"Mere Minutes Ago"
Krieg laughed as he shot down the chefs, relishing in their pain.
"Don't defy me! I'm the strongest!" he declared, irritated that the cooks had attempted to take him down. "Steel arms more powerful than anyone's... A wootz steel-made body that is harder than anyone's..."
You let out a small hum, listening to his speech, waiting for the dust to settle.
"-And a diamond fist that can destroy anything! I have all sorts of built-in weapons throughout my body, and a 50-ship large fleet and 5000-pirate force!" Alright, this was starting to get boring, hearing his monologue.
"...I am the man fit to be called Don!" he shouted.
"What does 'Don' mean?" you mumbled to yourself.
"When I tell you to prepare food, you do it immediately! Don't defy me!" By now, the dust had already settled, allowing him to survey the damage he had caused. Instead, it revealed a young woman of the age of seventeen, standing amiss the chaos he had created. Taking a good look around, he noticed that the chefs were in fact, not in pain, and that the young woman was staring intently at her hands.
"What?!"
"Why aren't we injured?!"
It seemed like everyone else had the same thought. You looked up to stare at Krieg with intensity, before aggressively rubbing your eyes in exhaustion. Oh boy did that take a lot out of you. You accidentally unfisted your hands as your rubbed your eyes, and the bullets from Krieg's attack all landed on the floor.
"Oh. Whoops, my bad."
Everyone stared at you with a "wtf" face. About to pick the bullets up, a hand caught your wrist, causing you to look up in confusion. Don Krieg gazed into your eyes, the gears in his head clicking as realization dawned upon him.
"You..."
"Me?" You wondered out loud.
"Impossible- What did you do?" It was obvious you had something to do with the anomaly, but how was the question. Wasn't he, Don Krieg, the most powerfullest in the East Blue?
"Uh..." You felt uncomfortable under his scrutinizing gaze. "I caught the bullets?"
"You saved us?" Patty exclaimed in shock. A sudden sound made you turn your head to face Zeff, who had placed down a rather large sack of food.
Huh, how did he even carry that?
"There's probably enough for one hundred meals in this," the old man spoke, casting a small glance in your direction. He remembered your exact words, "This should pay for the damage done to your ship, especially the future ones". Were you some sort of psychic? No human is able to catch bullets in a blink of an eye. A devil fruit perhaps? Even so, by your face, he knew whatever you had did had left you exhausted, and Zeff didn't want something terrible to happen to you.
"Bring it to your ship immediately," Zeff spoke again, eliciting a chorus of protests.
"Zeff?" Krieg uttered out in shock.
"What are you doing?" One of the chefs cried.
"If we revive even those on the ship, our restaurant will be completely taken over!"
"If they have the will to fight, that is," Zeff retorted.
Will...? You wondered what he meant by that.
"Isn't that right, defeated warrior of the Grand Line?" the head chef finished.
"Y-you must be Red Foot Zeff!" the East Blue Ruler said. "You're alive?!"
"Red Foot Zeff?" you said suddenly, causing everyone to face you, who was now comforting Ghin on the floor, to many's horror. Your eyes wandered over to the said male, and you spoke again. "You were an important person, Zeff?"
"To many, I suppose I was," he said, answering your question. He tilted his head to face the armored man. "So what if I'm alive? It has nothing to do with you. As you can see, I live as a cook now."
Krieg cackled loudly. "If you put it that way, it sounds nice, though rather than living as a cook, it looks like you can live only as a cook."
You made a face. Did that even make any sense? Or were you just incapable of comprehending his sentence (which basically means stupid)?
"Red Foot Zeff was a master of kicks who never used his hands in battle. I heard his strong kicks were strong enough to break bedrock-"
What was this, Minecraft now?
"-and even left footprints on steel. And Red Foot referred to your shoes, which were covered in the blood that splattered as you kicked your enemies down..."
Alright this kind of sounded familiar... Who did you know used his legs to fight? You hummed to yourself. Doffy perhaps? Oh dear, your mind was wandering again. By now, you were already starting to get bored of his monologue, again.
"...I've heard the rumor... how unlucky for you to have an accident at sea." Krieg grinned, and you were still ever so bored. How does this dude win every one of his battles if he monologues for this long? It just didn't make any sense. Did all antagonists do that? You hummed thoughtfully to yourself. You didn't exactly know any antagonists... or did you?
"What are you trying to say?" Zeff asked. "Just come right out and say it!"
Boring man spoke again. "You're the man who once entered the Grand Line and came back unhurt... There should be a logbook with the full year of your journey in it... Give that to me!"
Oh, so that's what he wanted. Why did it take so long to get to the point?
"Whoa!" Luffy spoke amazed. "You've been to the Grand Line, too, pops?" The airhead laughed. "You know Y/n's been there too!"
"... is that right?" Zeff eyed you curiously, before lifting his eyes back to Krieg.
"Y/n? Who's Y/n?" Krieg asked.
"Her." Luffy pointed towards you, causing you to sigh at his actions.
"Luffy..." you whined. "You can't just keep telling people I've been to the Grand Line!"
"Why not?"
"Because it could be a liability!"
"What's a 'liability'?"
"Nevermind," you sighed.
You felt yourself being lifted up by the back of your shirt, and your eyes widened. Your eyes snapped to Ghin, and he seemed to be watching you in shock as well.
"So you've been to the Grand Line?" You were faced to face with the pirate, and you scrunched up your nose in disgust. His breath was disgusting.
"Perhaps."
"And you would know how to navigate it?" This was starting to feel like an interrogation. Oh wait, it was.
"Possibly." You had to answer vaguely. If Krieg thought that you would be a valuable asset, you wouldn't be able to do anything. Anything to stop him from dying that is.
"What do you say, care to join my crew?" he asked, whispering in your ear. Oh dear, it seems like he already realized that he wouldn't be needing the Log Book.
"Uh... no?"
"Then, I'll just take you by force."
"Okay- wait what- AH!" You yelped as he hoisted you up into the air, throwing you over his shoulder. You struggled for a bit, before calming down, seeing small glimpses of the future. Besides, it wouldn't do you any good for your blood pressure. Sanji watched with narrow eyes as Krieg deliberately placed his hand on your ass, and it seemed like he wasn't the only one.
"Put her down," Zeff demanded, and Krieg only cackled.
"It's true that I fell from the Grand Line," he began his monologue again. "Even if that's the case, I'm still Don Krieg, the strongest man. It's merely a dark sea route. To sail across it, I had enough power, forces, as well as ambition!"
You listened to him with knitted brows, only able to see his back. Your Master had neither forces nor ambition, unless you considered his rivalry and his sword skills, and he still sailed the Grand Line. Maybe it was because his power overruled everything else...
"The only thing that was regrettable was that I lacked information." Ghin met your eyes, and you gave him a small smile of reassurance, trying to help him calm down. It seemed to quel his shaking just a little. "I just didn't know things... But with this woman by my side, I'll be able to sail the Grand Line without a problem. And I'll form a large pirate fleet again and seize the One Piece. And then, I'll stand on top in this Great Pirate Era!"
Zeff widened his eyes in realization. "You're going to use her as your navigator."
"Hm.. yes, and perhaps a little bit... more."
More? That did not sound good, and you didn't even know what that meant. Fish bait?
The sound of walking caught your attention, and you tried to wiggle around to see who it was. It sounded like flip flops, and the only person who wore flip flops at the moment was non-other than your captain.
"Hold on a second!" Luffy wore a pissed expression. "I'm the one who's gonna be King of the Pirates!" Yup, definitely Luffy. "And you just can't take my First Mate without my permission!" You couldn't see it, but you could tell that Luffy was definitely pissed. Whether it was that this man was kidnapping you, or just declared that he was going to be the Pirate King, you didn't know. Perhaps both.
Sanji silently agreed with Luffy. About the taking you without permission, not about the Pirate King stuff. All his mind could focus on was you, and he was already pissed as it is. Nobody should take advantage of a beautiful lady, especially if it was one like yourself (*cough is yourself).
"Hey, back off chore boy!" Patty shouted, holding some sort of pitchfork. "You're no match for him!"
You frowned. I think it's the other way around...
"I can't back off on this, especially when my First Mate is in danger. Right Y/n?" You caught a glimpse of his expression, seeing that he was frowning as he stared at you. The two of you met eyes, and you quickly replied, "Of course." Why wouldn't you agree? Of course you would want someone to help you when in danger.
"This isn't a game." Krieg's grip on you tightened.
"Of course not. I'll conquer the Grand Line." You stifled a laugh how Luffy was easily agitating your current captor. Luffy took notice of it, and let a grin replace his frown. He shouldn't be so angry about this, he knows that you'll be alright, you weren't exactly weak, and yet there was this nagging feeling that something was wrong. It wouldn't matter though, he would get you back. Even if he had to get his hands dirty.
"It's true that we didn't have information, but a fleet with 5,000 men was wiped out in just seven days!" Krieg shouted in frustration. By now, Ghin was shaking badly, and you wished you could be beside him. You knew what this was. Trauma. It was something you were familiar with. Whatever they encountered must have been serious. You mildly shook your head. Who.
"There's no way someone like you can sail across it, even with the help of your 'First Mate'!"
The cooks were shook at his exclamation.
"Seven days?" Patty exclaimed.
"Krieg's pirate ships were wiped out in just seven days?!"
That's what he said.
"Unfortunately, I don't find those kinds of jokes funny."
"But it's not a joke," you mumbled. A harsh slap caused you to tense up, feeling pain blossoming across your rear. Did he... did he just slap you?
"You aren't allowed to speak to your Captain that way."
But you aren't my Captain...
"Hey, you can't do that!" Luffy voiced everyone's current thoughts.
"You can't tell me what to do."
Luffy held up his fist. "I'll make you." Krieg lifted you so that he was now carrying you bridal style, allowing his weapons to come out of his armor.
"Gonna fight, Luffy? Need a hand?" a voice called, and you traced it back to moss man, standing with Usopp on the staircase. His eyes flickered to your form, and you smiled brightly at him. He averted his eyes as he felt a heat come across his face, and Sanji took notice of it with narrowed eyes.
"Just how much competition do I have?" were Sanji's thoughts as Usopp added shakily, "I-If you don't need help, though, th-that's fine too..."
"Zoro! Usopp! You stopped by?" Luffy spoke in confusion. You waved eagerly at the two, to which only Usopp reciprocated, before you hand was restrained by Krieg. You gave him a disappointed look, causing Krieg to stare at you in bewilderment. You were strange. Normal people didn't act like you, then again, if you survived the Grand Line, then you weren't exactly normal, perse.
"Don't worry, I got this!" your captain exclaimed. To be honest, Luffy kind of wanted to save you by himself.
"Ye-yeah?" If possible, Usopp's stuttering got worse. "But if you say so, what can we do... B-but if push comes to shove, we'll help you. S-s-so, g-good luck!" You gaped as Zoro smacked the sniper with his katana, sending him tumbling down the stairs. "What'd you do that for, Zoro?!"
"Shut up! Just keep quiet! Our First Mate is with the enemy right now."
Krieg let out a loud laugh, and you swore you were going to go deaf if he laughed any longer, especially when you were so close to him. "Are they your crew members? That's quite a small group you got!"
"What are you saying?! I've got two more!"
"Hey! You counted me, didn't you?!" Sanji yelled, albeit half-heartedly. He was starting to consider his choice, mostly to be close to his love. He met eyes with you and he swore his heart melted.
"I'll deal with you later. I'll go feed my underlings." He lugged the bag over his shoulder. "Those who don't want to die can abandon the restaurant and escape. All I'm after is this ship, and the logbook as a small bonus." Krieg began to walk away, and you met eyes with Luffy. "But if you want to stay, then I'll bury you into the sea." You shivered at his threat, and hoped that wasn't going to be you anytime soon.
* * *
And thus you ended up in your latest predicament.
Your gaze was upon the ocean, with it's vastness and unpredictability.
Was that why you feared it? Because it was unpredictable?
Or was it the trauma that still lingered within the confines of your mind?
You were truly strange in Ghin's eyes, and yet that was what made you special. You personality was so odd for a pirate that it caused him to be drawn towards you. Just what made you so confident? What gave you such a smile? Was it your captain? You had such an ability to soothe that even after the fear in your eyes, you were still able to keep him calm. You weren't pirate material, and yet at the same time, you were. Ghin carefully made sure you weren't going to be tripping anytime soon as your gaze was on the sea, especially after being threatened by Sanji earlier. God that was traumatic.
"Say Ghin, what kept you?" By now, Krieg was far enough away for the two of you to have a conversation, so you decided to break the silence. He started to shake again, and you widen your eyes. "Oh no! You don't have to tell me if you can't!" Ghin shook his head.
"No, you have the right to know, after all, I told your crew mates." You met his eyes, concerned.
"You told everyone at Baratie?" He nodded his head.
"The reason that-that we had only lasted for seven days was because of one man." He swallowed thickly, and you patted his back in reassurance. "I-I..."
"It's okay. You don't have to tell me."
You heard war cries, and stared ahead, seeing that Krieg's crew were already charging towards Baratie. Laughter coming from none other than Krieg echoed around, and your heart practically stopped as he jumped from the ship, landing beside you.
"Hello there, navigator." He pulled you towards him, encasing a hand around your small neck. Ghin opened his mouth as if to protest, but was silenced by the threatening glare from the Ruler of the East Blue.
You froze as you felt a familiar presence, and you rapidly whipped your head towards the source, but Krieg's hand was preventing you from doing so. You felt fear, fear for not of your life but of the wrath of a warlord. Yes, even though you knew small snippets of the future, it still doesn't change the fact that it still shocked you. Especially when you don't know the motive behind the actions.
The appearance of Mihawk, was not something you had foreseen, however.
The ship instantly broke apart into pieces and you felt a shiver go down your spine. Such clean cuts on such a large vessel (hah, get it?)... You fell to the ground as the broken ship caused waves to form, and your fear spiked. The water- it was getting closer. No. You were getting closer to the water!
You gasped as you looked behind you to see Ghin panicking as well, trying to get you away from his captain. You could hear your heart thundering in your ears. You didn't want to. The water.
It scared you.
Krieg stood there planted in both fear and shock, unwilling to let go. His grip on your throat tightened, and you stared desperately at Ghin, mouthing the word go. Reluctantly, he rushed back, towards the main ship in one piece, and was met with the cooks and your crew mates.
* * *
"Where's Y/n?" Luffy asked desperately, frantically searching around, before he spotted you beside Krieg, a bit too close to the water than you would have normally liked. Luffy widened his eyes. "Y/N! DON'T WORRY!" he shouted, albeit slightly panicking.
Thalassophobia - fear of the sea. One of the many phobias that you possessed, one that Luffy knew all too well. That day was not pleasant, and had taken nearly weeks for you to calm down, and another month before you're night terrors had dwindled.
In his heart, Luffy knew it was selfish. Selfish that he made you apart of his crew despite knowing this. But that was just Luffy. He was selfish. Selfish when it came to the things he loved and enjoyed.
"Luffy, what's wrong?" Zoro asked worriedly. Why was Luffy getting so worked up with you within Krieg's grasp again? He wasn't too agitated earlier. So what made this time different? His eyes wandered to the siloute within the mist, and his jaw slacked.
"Y/n's afraid of the ocean! I have to save her!" Luffy cried, attempting to jump off the railing, before being held back by Patty.
"Are you crazy?" the chef exclaimed. "You're just going to make it worse!"
"It already did..." Sanji spoke shakily.
"That man is..." Zeff trailed off, not finishing his sentence. A wooden boat made for one, the mast looking like a cross. And piercing golden hawk eyes.
Kreig's hold on your throat tightened as everyone watched as a man on a small cross boat made its entrance. His hawk like eyes flickered to your face, eyeing the hand around your neck, purple marks forming. He scowled, a murderous aura surrounding him.
"Is it possible... that's..." Zoro could feel sweat dripping down his skin.
You coughed, throat burning. "Master?" The pirate captain was shaking beside you. You were his pupil? Oh god, what did he just commit himself to? Thoughts screamed in his brain to release you, but his nerve receptors weren't responding. Nothing could describe the pissed look on his usual stoic his face.
Dracule Mihawk did not attack his fleet out of the blue, oh no, it was because he- Don Krieg -had sinned. He had committed an unforgivable act against The Greatest Swordsman.
At that moment, he knew he had fucked up. No, he fucked up everything the moment he had set eyes on you.