Straw Hat: Rise of the Dragon Slayer

Bullets and Doubt

I moved slightly as the sun peaked through the window. I opened my eyes and sat up slowly, the sling on my arm loosened and fell to the side of the bed. Reaching over to grab it a hoof grabbed it. "Morning Chopper" My voice was groggy, lifting my head to look at a sleepy reindeer. "Good morning, Cole, here left me help you with that" He sounded groggy like me, his movements were slow as he carefully helped me put my sling back on. Standing up from the bed I reached for my shoes and put them on. "Did anyone else sleep?" I turned to look at Chopper curiously. "Only Nami did, the others stayed on the roof" He answered and opened the hotel room door, I followed him down the hallway. We spotted Sanji in the hallway. "Good morning, Sanji" I greeted him, the said man gave me a love-sick smile with hearts in his eyes. "Good morning my lovely Cole-chan!" He twirled around and followed us to the roof, where the rest of the Straw Hat crew was. "There you are...Cole paid for our rooms and you guys haven't used them" Sanji lectured Luffy and Zoro, Chopper sat down near Zoro who had his eyes closed. I didn't see Nami so I assumed she went down and got food. "Where's Luffy?" Sanji asked curiously. I tilted my head and sniffed to see if I could smell the straw hat captain. I walked over to the ledge of the roof to see Luffy sitting on one of the roofs. "Where'd you go Sanji?" Chopper asked looking at Sanji, who lit a cigarette. "I was keeping watch at the peninsula...I thought maybe...Robin-chan would come back" Sanji looked down sad a little and concerned in his voice. Nico Robin.... I kept my mouth shut; Dad had a poster of her in his office in the mansion. Something about being dangerous, but I didn't look into her background much. From what it seems, Luffy trusts her. Then I guess I can as well.

"Hey! Luffy! COLE!"

Nami's voice was frantic and echoed the roof. Immediately I turned to face her, I felt my heart suddenly race seeing her horrified face. "Big News! Guys! Everyone in the city is talking about it..." My body tensed; the city was talking about something.

Was it Franky?
Was it Dad?

"Last Night....Iceberg-san was" Time suddenly felt slow, the words coming from Nami made my blood run cold and drained from my face. All my fears were coming. I stumbled against the cement ledge using it as a brace. "Cole?" My eyes widened in fear, horrified by the news. "Sh..Shot?" My voice trembled as tears weld up in my eyes. "Cole...You need to calm down!" My body shook as struggled to keep myself standing. "I have...I have to go!" I pushed up on the ledge frantically, someone grabbed my leg to stop me. "Wait a minute!" Sanji shouted out dropping his cigarette alarmed at me. "I...I have to go! He's all I have left! Let me go see my DAD!" My voice echoed, everyone on the roof had wide eyes as I kicked Sanji away. I jumped to another nearby roof and started to run. Jumping from roof to roof.

As I ran my arm ached from the quick movements, and tears flowed down my cheeks quickly. "Dad" My voice cracked as I sobbed, stumbling, and crashed into a roof. My sling burned off as flames erupted on my hands, and my emotions ran wild making my magic uncontrollable. I struggled to stand back up; my right arm gave out making me hit the roof face-first. Blood trickled down my nose and my cheek was scraped up. I pushed myself up once more and began to run on the roofs again. Once I caught sight of the Galley-La Mansion and headquarters, there was a large crowd in front of the doors. I jumped down from the roof to the front door startling everyone. My breathing was quick and frantic as I looked around at everyone. "Get the hell out of my way" My voice cracked as tears trickled down my cheeks mixing with the blood. People made room quickly and I rushed to open the front doors. They slammed open, and then I closed it so no one else came in. "Where have you been?" I heard Kaku asking accusingly, I turned to look at Kaku and LuLu. Their faces looked shocked to see my composure. "Where...where is he?" My voice was frantic.

"Where is my dad?!"

"In his room"

I rushed down the hallway stumbling, my feet struggled to stay balanced. Catching on rugs and corners of hallways. My shoes echoed down the hallway towards the stairs, my hand gripped the railing tightly. My eyes blurred with tears as I ran up the steps. My heart raced, it felt like drums in my head echoing. I couldn't bare to think about losing the man who I had grown to call 'dad'. When I reached his bedroom doors, my hands shook to grip the door handle and opened it slowly. My breath caught I my throat as I stared into the room. Lucci and Kalifa stood near the bed listening to the nurse and doctor. My eyes stared at the body in the bed.