A promise to kill

A memory I can't forget

I dreamt of a place far away. I was so young. My eyes were still soft,untouched by the horrors of reality. My mind was full of dreams of what could be, and my heart raced with joy and happiness. There was a boy. Younger than me, he followed me around like a ducking just as I followed around another as if I were one as well. I dreamt a dream of a life before Anne.

Everything became apparent to me when light shined in from the windows. I remembered the horrors of the battle, the gaping hole in my abdomen, which made me reach for the gaping hole that should have been there, only to find regular skin.
    " Went through hell and back trying to fix you up. The captain threatened to skin me alive if you died." Noda, the doctor spoke without looking up from his papers. He finally put the papers down for a moment.
    " The crew got they're asses handed to them while you were knocked out, not that you wouldn't have been any help. All of em came back beat up and broken but you were the only one, a spider thread away from death. Had to use one of our treasures to save you. You're lucky we had such a thing on hand." He hands me a glass of water.
" If yer good to go, you'd best get outa bed and stretch those limbs. They're probably worried sick." He offers me a hand to help me up and as I step up out of bed, I notice two things. My hair and the cold. My hair had grown down to the floor and there was this chill, like nothing could warm me. Like it was from the inside out. There was something in me that was making me cold. He proceeded to leaned me through the door and out onto the deck where the sun was blinding yet, it felt nice. It was warm and radiant, It made me want to stretch my arms out and just sit there to take it all in.
    " Layla. What are you doing up? you had a hole in your gut!" I hear the concerned voice of Wire and when I turn, I see that both Wire and Heat sat on the deck with bandaged rolled around their heads.
    " I think I'm in better shape than you guys are. The hole is all gone. " I show them the skin on my abdomen before looking around once again.     " I'm looking for the captain. Do you know where he is?" I ask once and Wire makes his way towards us nodding to relieve
Noda of his babysitting duty    .
    " He's probably in his room, he was pretty upset. We were beaten pretty bad by that warlord. Had to fight with the heart pirates and he ain't about that you know." He explains before lifting me up into his arms. I try to resist.
    " your hurt. I can walk on my own." I try to persuade him but he just chuckles. " You ain't nothingI can't handle and we look worst than we actually feel. Just a couple bumps and bruises nothing major." I sit tight as he walks on into the ship.
    " I don't know what happened but the boss and Killer, were really messed up after Kizaru got you. I know that to them, you aren't just another crew member. Since the very beginning you weren't just a random girl we decided to take in. It's not my place to say but your should probably know that you mean more to them than a promising sharpshooter." His voice gets quiet as we reach the door to Kid's room and he sets me down.
    " Maybe you should ask them bout it cause, a lot of us were confused at the length Kid was going to go to make sure you lived." I nod. I'm starting to understand, looking back at all that's happened. I never questioned it. I never asked why. It never occurred to me.

Why were they so invested in me. Why let a complete stranger into your crew? Why should you care so much about whether I was in danger or not? Why personally train me? If I were one of the original crew members, the treatment might have been justified but they fished me out the Sea and let me join. I could have been a spy an enemy for all they know. So why?

    For a moment, i had to put that thought to the back of my mind as I knocked on the captain's room and a grumble came from inside. I took this as a hint to enter. Inside was a mess, as you'd expect his room to be. Dark and unfinished project scattered all around the room. The only kind of organization that could be seen was his work bench, where tools and pieces were meticulously places and organized.
" you good to be walking around?" Kid grumbles without looking up from his project. I can hear the quiet clicks and clacks of his working. He breifly looks up and gives me a glance.
" I'm as good as new. What ever Noda used on me fixed me up better than before I was hurt. Though I feel a little cold and my hair, it grew really long for some reason." I prove my statement by bringing my long hair over my shoulder to show that it in fact touched the ground.
    " Makes sense." He huffs and sits back into his chair pointing to a chair across from him for me to sit. He runs a hand over his tired face before facing me.
    " you were so close to death by the time we got back to the ship. You were probably hangin on with sheer willpower or some shit cause there was nothin left of your insides. That warlord blew a hole right through you. There wasn't anything there for us to fix. So, we fed you an devil fruit and cut away everything that was burnt." He explained I tried to process everything he was saying.
    " We had it laying around, was trying to convince Killer to eat it but he's pretty glad he didn't since we could use it on you..." he starts twirling a blade between his fingers before flicking it at his wall.
    " It called the Shoku Shoku no mi. You turned into a fuckin tree but it worked. Everything grew back. Everything we cut away healed in a day and your up now. It hasn't even been 3 days yet." He grumbled. And i can only sit in silence. Just as wire stated, they used something so precious on me. Before I I can even think to stop myself, a single question, a word, leaves my mouth.
    " Why" I can't get anything from his expression. It's blank. No fear, no anger, no joy, no nothing. When he finally looks me in the eyes, I see just how broken he looks, how tired he must be. Exhausted.