A Light Touch (Eustass X Reader)

Chapter 18: Flintlock

You sat outside your apartment in the morning. You had spent the day before doing absolutely nothing, if you were going to be honest. You had forced down a meal, and you had managed to get some sleep that wasn't useless, but that was about it. After a shower you had decided to just sit outside and wait for Doflamingo and his limo to arrive.

You know about the Warlords, and you even knew some of them by name, but you had never seen any of them. Most citizens of the Grandline knew only that they existed, and that they clashed with the Emperors alongside the Marines from time to time. Those battles were practically natural disasters, but they didn't happen often, and the Government rolled in and fixed everything up afterward.

If rumors were to be believed, sometimes even the Emperors themselves would assist in rebuilding.

You feel your phone vibrate, and it pulls you back into the moment. Looking at it you see it's a text from Eustass Kid, and you can feel your heart twist even before you open it up to read it.

Red: Get in the limo.

You: Take care, Kid.

You take in a breath and let it out, shoving the tears back inside. You couldn't bring yourself to actually say goodbye, but you didn't want to worry him. It wasn't the farewell you wanted but considering you didn't want there to be a farewell at all, it was as good as it was going to get.

After a minute you see a limo. It's not super flashy, except that it's a limo, and you weren't entirely sure what you had expected. You stood up as it came to a stop across from you and took a few steps toward it.

While the limo might not be flashy, what stepped out of it was. You could hear Kid's voice in the back of your mind, bellowing about a pink feathered bastard, and you finally understood why he had described Doflamingo that way.

Standing easily over seven feet, a man stepped out of the limo. He had unbelievably short blonde hair, and silver rimmed crimson glasses with a striking shape to the lenses. The grin on his face was almost more unsettling than his massive height, and the mostly unbuttoned shirt showed off an impressive physique. Capri pants with a pink fiery motif added to the look, but the big, fluffy, almost ghastly pink feathered coat draped over his shoulders completed the look.

It was like you were being approached by the world's deadliest flock of flamingos, as you half expected a series of beaked faces to peek up from the coat eyeing you with red beady eyes, like you were more shrimp than mouse.

"Miss (Y/N), it's good to finally meet you face to face." There was no mistaking that voice, but there was something different in it today. A couple days ago it was laced with authority, today it was dripping with confidence.

"I... uh, yeah." You stammer. Your brain's still trying to process this man's height, let alone all the other details about him. You thought Eustass and his crew were tall. Maybe the Underground was just full of people with some giant blood in their ancestries. "It's a pleasure, sir."

"I didn't expect to see you here completely alone like this." He muses, stopping far enough away that you don't have to crane your neck to look up at him.

"I, it seemed better – er," you shook your head. You were starting to babble. "You said I'd be safe, so I just... left." You admit.

A soft chuckle escaped him, and something about it made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. "You've made your decision then."

"... I have. I have, and, um, I have a question. Will you answer it before I tell you my decision?" Asking something of a Warlord seemed like the surest way to end your short life, but you weren't going to get another chance quite like this.