A promise to kill

Lady Layla

    The air was quiet as we all settled for the night. We'd successfully crossed further into the grand line and we make steady haste further into uncharted waters. Everything we saw, everything we experienced, it was new. Flying people, man eating plants, floating islands, even talking animals. A place you'd never be able to imagine and as soon as we were a well good day in, Kid was already having his fill of fun, taking back other ships one by one, just because he can, proving to the world that no matter how young, how new, he and his crew was, we, are stronger, maybe strongest. Slowly, we gained information, learned the rules, found the way. Until one day, a bird came down with mail and I, was the one to get it.
    " The paper's here." I announce stepping away from the wheel and thanking the stork for the news script. The first words that caught my attention were of a place called Water seven. Minor things about an attack and naval hero Garp but what really caught my eye was the a bounty. I was so shocked in fact that I fell onto my bum and all I could do was stare at the said bounty. There he was, in all of his glory. Monkey D Luffy. My dear baby brother.

    " What the hell is wrong with you. Don't fuckin hog the paper. Other people wanna read it. Hand it over." Kid's voice suddenly shakes me away from my moment and I feel the tears suddenly flooding my system and before I can stop it, I'm sniffling and whimpering as I hold his bounty to my chest. I was fully prepared to leave that life behind. To never mention him, them again because to them, anne was dead, torn down by the world, Anne was dead. I was ready to face the fact that I may never see them again. I never wanted to see them again because what would they think of the person I had become. So I, thought I had convinced myself that these people. Ace and Luffy, they are strangers to me but the moment I laid my eyes on him, I knew I had lied to myself. I will never, never be able to forget them or the promises we had made.

Kid along with everyone else around me didn't seem to understand what was going on and didn't seem to know what to do.
    " Kid what did you do." I hear Killer make an appearance kneeling down to where I was crouched on the floor hugging the picture of my brother.
    " I didn't do a damn things! She was staring at the paper all wide eyed and when I tried to get the paper from her, she burst out crying like it's the end of the world or some shit. Damn it, if it means that much to you, you can keep the damn things." He glared at me from above and but I shake my head. I'm no child. I shouldn't be crying over something like this. He deserves an explanation. I peel the bounty from the top of the pile and hand the rest to the nearest pirate as I stand.
    " Can I keep this one." I ask and I notice that my voice is weak. He glared at the picture before getting a mischievous look to his face.
    " What, he your lover of something" he says this probably intent on embarrassing me but a smile comes to my face. I go to walk away and turn back once.
    " No, he's my younger brother." I still feel the tears and a faulty smile stretching my lips but I turn away on walk away. I find myself a quiet spot and just stare down at the picture. I know it's him. His hair is longer, his skin darker, eyes just a little bit brighter. He's older, not 5 anymore but I know it's him, I'd recognize him anywhere. I stayed there until the sky turned black and I started to hear the men starting to drink and party.
    "So this is where you've been." Killer find me at the bow of the ship, in the jaw of what defines our Victoria Punk. He slouches down next to me, back against the wall, sitting with our knees touching.
    "So you've got yourself a brother." He hums reaching over and pulling me against his side. I lean my head on his shoulder and he doesn't seem to mind.
    " I used to have 3. Ace, Sabo, and our baby brother Luffy. Sabo, he left the island when he was 10 because of some family issues he was having but as soon as he hit the waters, his little boat was shot down by some celestial dragons. So then there were two. We had all decided to leave when he hit 17 and so that's what I did. I sailed, started a crew and I made it all the way to Whiskey Peak..but that's where they caught me. That island was a bounty hunter's islands and my crew, they abandoned me,they left me for dead and my crew, it was labeled as dead. They caught me but I didn't have a bounty on my head yet so instead to make a quick buck, they sold me underground and I, that's when I started being a slave." I finished my story my limited memory had enough time to marinate and refresh it's self throughout the day. I can feel the old brand under my shirt, burning as if it's just been placed.
    " but that's not why I cried. " I sniffle again, aware that I may start crying again. " My name was Anne. They named me Anne and the Anne that they knew, she died as a slave, swallowed by the ocean and so I thought, I'd be able to forget them, pretend it never happened because my life as Layla started when you fished me out of the sea. Anne, their sister died and out of the sea, Layla came out." i feel a comforting hand rubbing circles on my back.
    " but I can't I saw his picture this morning and I remembered everything. I promised him, that we'd always find each other. That's I'd never leave. But here I am, trying to forget while not wanting to. What am I supposed to do Killer? Am I supposed to be Anne or Layla? Can I still be their sister even with this uncle brand on collar? Can I still be their family all the while being dirty, torn, and broken? Am I aloud to laugh and smile with this crew while my family, they think I'm dead? Tell me what to do Killer. Help me please." I grasp at his shirt in my fist and I'm unable to lift an eye to look up at him but what I feel next, it's warm.

His arms wrapped around me tightly.

    " Your name is Layla. You're the sharpshooter in training of the Kid pirates. Your the older sister of Straw Hat Luffy. The older brother of fire fist Ace. What died in that ocean wasn't Anne, it was a slave that shared your name, Anne and what I fished out was a pirate, and she took the name Layla, after my ship that could have been. You can laugh and cry and yell and even kill or murder. Who's to stop you. You're a damn pirate, you're free. Unless you want to, you don't have to do a damn thing. " He removed his mask and I watch as his blond hair cascades down his face. He leans his forehead onto mine.
    " So tell me what you want. Do you want to find and kill those bastard on Whiskey Peak? I'll turn the ship around. Do you want to leave the crew and find your brothers? I'll get us a boat. Do you need arms to hid in. I'll hide you from the whole world." He whispers this so quietly as if he's saying a prayer. He pulled me gently into his arms and I burrowed my face into the crook of his neck.
    " Nomatter what you want. I'm with you. I'll help you. But Layla, my Lady Layla, you told me that what you want more than anything in the world was the love of your family and they, Ace and Luffy, they're your family. I know that they are what you want more than anything else in the world. So I won't ever let you throw that away." The last thing I remember is the feeling of his lips on my head and the soothing strokes of his hand in my hair.

" Killer, hide me from the world."

" Of course my poor Lady Layla."