Three [Eustass Kid × Reader]

Twenty-five

"Oi, what's wrong?" asks Yamato confusedly. You shudder quietly and wipe away your tears to smile at him.

"Nothing," you whisper, hiding the slight shaking of your hand. "I'm fine."

Kid.

He tilts his head and pushes the plate closer to you again.

"Then eat. You gotta regain your strength!"

You glance at him, and Yamato smiles so brightly that you can't refuse. You take a piece of meat.

It still makes you uneasy how perfect it is while the people are starving everywhere in Wano.

You look around and lower your voice.

"They will come tomorrow," you whisper. "The Raid of Onigashima will begin. The army is on its way."

Yamato's eyes brighten up, and he accidentally drops the apple he took a minute ago.

You catch it, barely holding your meat between your teeth.

I miss my hand.

"THE RAID OF-"

You cry out in panic, and shove the apple back into his mouth, then put the meat down.

He blinks at you with questioning eyes, and his fists close in excitement.

"We can't let anyone know that, Yamato," you say silently.

He lours at first, then nods and bites the apple in half, finishing it in a second.

"I waited for twenty years!" he shouts-whispers, full of energy.

He's doing his best.

Yamato jumps up and runs around his room. "What should I do, what should I do? I thought it would take a few weeks, but they're coming! And you're finally back too! AND-"

"I still have a day to survive without running into King," you murmur, and he stops, hopping back to the ground. "They won't let me run around freely, especially now. Who knows when will Big Mom's daughter arrive?"

"We gotta find out something," he sighs, scratching his nape. He reaches towards you with his arm and measures you with his finger. You sweatdrop. "I think you can fit under my cloak. If I get my mask and let down my hair, nobody will see you."

"Don't you think it would be suspicious?" you lift a brow. "We're already hiding in your bathroom!"

"You have a better idea?" he pouts. "King wouldn't walk in on me, so this is the safest place for now. Even though I don't see what his problem is, I'm a man too."

"He's complicated," you grimace. Yamato smiles at you softly.

"I wish you knew him back then," he says. "Before I became Oden, he raised me for a while since my dad didn't really care."

You look at him silently.

"King was the one who babysit me every day," he continues. "He carried me around like I was a sack of potato, or let me sit on his shoulder. But he also took me on flies and helped me learn to speak, walk. He was more of a father than Kaido, and I cared about him too. But he barely talks to me since I changed my life."

"He abandons everyone who chooses a different path," you answer. "What kind of love... care disappears like this?"

"I don't think it disappeared, just faded," he shrugs. "But it doesn't matter. It's been a long time ago."

Yamato looks at his hands, sadness running over his face.

"When he brought you here, I thought you might be happy, Three. That he would take care of you as he did for me as a child. But he trained you until you were half dead each day. It was terrible to see. I was older and still couldn't do anything for you."