Smokeless War - One Piece

(14)

The sight of it filled me with glee, that handle. It wasn't plain in the least.

The spectacular hilt and sheath of the katana didn't disappoint so I tried desperately to prepare myself for the view of the steel itself. But I could never anticipate the shiny, glass like perfection of that no doubt extremely sharp blade.

It was heavy, or at least felt like it should have been but after all that hellish training it felt just right. The design up it was so intricate I couldn't wrap my mind around how much time and effort it must have taken and it surely suited someone of higher status better rather than me, someone who had never actually wielded a real sword.

As I handled its magnificence, I felt someone's stare on me and looked up to find Orion's unsettlingly dark obsidian eyes on mine, drinking in every emotion that flitted across my face. He grinned the entire time and as soon as I laid eyes on the sheathe, even though it had been just me and Mihawk standing in the expanse of the foyer, he appeared so quickly it was frightening.

Speaking of obsidian, as I examined the metal again it was so deeply black it appeared purple at some angles. Perhaps just a trick of the light.

"How do you like it?" Orion's curious inquiry made me jump but I pursed my lips to hold in the slew of compliments I was about to give him.

"It's exquisite. I've never seen anything like it. Of course, that doesn't mean much as I've never really seen a sword up close." I chuckled dryly but he seemed happy enough about the answer.

At my last sentence, I flashed back to the moment I met Mihawk.

It feels like time went so fast back then, I'd been forced to go on a trading trip. It was for information so hard to obtain, it might have been a billion berries for all I cared. I digress, no one in the eastern ocean had ever really seen a Warlord in real life and no one could have anticipated he'd be looking himself.

"It's easy, boss told us to just kill the guy if he asked too many questions. No one knows much about where he came from, especially family? Forget about it."

I swallowed shakily, heart racing. They keep touching me as if to keep me moving with them but it just won't stop even if I keep perfectly where I'm supposed to be so I will block out as much as I could until it's all over.

As we neared a shady but somewhat open area behind a group of buildings so close to the ocean I heard its roaring waves, something kept telling me to run. Run away? Run towards? It wasn't worth thinking about because anything I did other than stand still would draw attention.

At the towering stature of the customer and his razor sharp gaze even shrouded in darkness, my hair stood on end and I kept my gaze on the littered ground. The stench of trash was so distracting though my nose wrinkled and I stood by, trying to keep out of reach of the men with me.

"Do you have what I requested?" His tone was all business and immediately the rowdy crowd straightened out and stopped their chattering, their poking fun at each other and me.

"Yes sir uh, all written in these files. Boss said feel free to ask anything else, but it'll cost ya extra aha. Touchy stuff to poke into, kinda taboo if you know what I mean." Justin sniffed, holding out a barely decent looking package to the man.

His eyes must have skimmed over the pages in a minute but it felt like much longer. I'd do anything to be doing chores back at their hideout, heck, I'd rather be running a bar.

After that minute his eyes narrowed infinitesimally, disapproval evident immediately. But of course, no one but me was paying attention in the slightest and I pointed it out meekly only to be chastised like a child.

"Stupid girl, we're professionals. Sir, uh, is there a problem?"

"This is not what I requested. I see nothing worthy of payment." He simply replied to which Justin almost audibly grit his teeth as close as I stood to him, his annoyance palpable. I felt myself tensing immediately.

"Haha, ah, sir. I don't see that, it's what you enlisted us for and we're here for the money." He rambled so much I felt myself spacing out until he said something that snapped something in me.

"Look, I'm a nice guy. What do you say, she's our finest. Make a good date, if you know what I mean." He whistled, grabbing me by the arm and holding my jaw to which I grimaced, for sure pulling a face a lady should not.

"Never." My vision for the moment had me seeing red. They'd never, never attempted to sell me because I'd made a deal years ago specifically for this to never happen again. It's why I was trapped here for so long without complaint. The unknown man's contemplation, or lack of response had him caught in the line of fire. "I refuse. Absolutely I will not go with this devil of a..creature, you disgusting men. I'd rather jump into the sea."

My outburst bought me a few seconds of surprised silence before two other men grabbed my arms to hold me in place while the head guy kept negotiating, my struggling getting more and more panicked. Tears pricked at my eyes miserably and I despised the feeling terribly.

"No deal? Say something freak!"

At that moment, he pulled a knife. A knife to plunge into the unknowing man's side, which seemed so silly compared to what was on his back. After that there was no need to struggle. My attackers let me go and immediately went to get destroyed in battle, if you could call it that, while I regained my senses and ran in the blink of an eye.

(sorry, long flashback end!)

"Hello, Mae? Are you still with us?" Orion smirked at my spaced out mind, before flicking me across the head. "If this happened in battle, you'd be dead, which is quite the shame."

"Apologies." I merely replied before following Mihawk out the doors. The scent of the rain coming through the doors was so very sweet in the morning, but the humidity was definitely going to mess up my hair. Not that I cared too much, just a bother later. A bother now is my empty stomach.

Before I exited completely Orion got my attention once more and out of the smoky darkness he controlled came a big yellow apple I'd never seen the variation of in my life, his thumbs up in reply of my bow I thanked him with. Before I realized how far away Mihawk was already and how behind I was.

As I eyed his cape clothed back whilst struggling to catch up I realized he may have been wrong about me having discipline.

And I could have sworn I saw it even just briefly but his eyes gave me the feeling he thought the same.