Straw Hat: Rise of the Dragon Slayer

Masks of Betrayal

-Memory from three years ago-

I hid behind Ice-san nervously, I kept my head low avoiding the looks I was receiving. "Iceberg-san why did you call for a meeting?" A male with a long nose asked curiously, we were in one of the meeting rooms of the mansion. A few trusted shipwrights and his assistant. Ice-san had kept on end of the mansion restricted to his employees, it was where I resided in the mansion. He wanted to keep me a secret for a while, till he was sure the government no longer questioned him. "I asked for you all to come today, so I can introduce you to my apprentice..." Ice-san stepped to the side so everyone could see me, I fiddled with my hands nervously looking at the ground.

"This is Cole, she has been living with me for three years now"

My body ached with pain, my body slumped against a chair. I was heavily restrained against the chair, large metal chains weighed me down. This time, whoever restrained me didn't seem to care for my arm. The metal weighted heavily on my arm, making it throb and sending constant pain up my arm. My throat felt raw and dry, and my eyes felt crusty. I opened my eyes slowly and squinted at the bright light of the room. My black eyes widened in disbelief as I adjusted to the lighting to see Nico Robin and four masked people standing in the room.

"D-Dad" I croaked out alarmed seeing the masked person lift their hand with a pistol in their grasp. Dad sat on the floor a little ways from the masked people. I watched helplessly seeing the masked person aim and fire at Dad. My body struggled and pulled against the restraints, pain and anger filled my body. "Yo-YOU!" I spat out gaining everyone's attention. Dad's eyes widen from pain and worry seeing me. "Cole! Stop! They're-" One of the masked men placed their hand on Dad's mouth, preventing him from saying anything else. The masked person nods to Nico Robin. "Quiet frankly, we are surprised you thought the government forgot about the girl" Blood drained from my face, Dad who tried to hide his face stared wide eye. "You did well to try and make fake documents and all...." I thrashed against the chains panicked, and my heart began to race as thoughts ran wild in my mind. "To see that she even stayed in this wretched city, means she dug her own grave. The government never forgot about her at all" My black eyes stared directly at the masked panda, fear filled my body and sent shivers down my back.

"Unchain her..... we have a few things we need to talk about"

Fear filled my eyes as Nico Robin began to approach me, I pushed against the chair only to be tipped backward and slammed into the floorboards of the room. My head smacked against the ground hard making me dizzy, I felt the back of my throat burn as I tried to keep myself from throwing up. "Just answer all our questions...and we promise not to make things more...difficult" Robin's voice rang out into the room, and my ears ached. I felt blood drip down the back of my head, there was nothing I could do but stare up at the checkered gray ceiling. "She has nothing to do with this!" Dad shouted out, you could hear the fear laced in his voice. "Oh but she does, she is so much more than she thinks she is" Robin unchained me, and the weight of the chains removed sent instant relief on my arm.

I sat up on the floor with my chest heaving, my body shook with pain. Sweat soaking my body, I kept my head low still feeling dizzy. "now....do you remember anything in the past six years?" I stayed silent for a few moments, a set of footsteps approached the bedroom and the door creaked open. "Sorry, that I'm late" I lifted my head and furrowed my eyes in confusion. There stood a man with bright blonde hair, he wore different clothes. His eyes were a bright green, nothing like I'd seen before. His clothes were all black and wore a symbol on his right upper chest on his black cloak. I don't know why but my heart raced as I stared at the symbol. It was an upside-down 'T' with two circles, a large circle and then a smaller circle in the middle. "My travels....took a lot longer than I expected" His voice was steady and cold as he walked closer, and his eyes scanned the room. His bright green eyes stopped at me and he smiled at the sight of me. His smile did not feel welcoming. "Ahh, hello little.....Dragon" My body tensed and my eyes widened at his comment.

"H-How?!"

The man chuckles and crosses his arms standing next to the bull-masked man. "I know many things, more things about you than you do yourself" He teased me, I lowered my head in anger. "Anyways....You need to tell us what you know" He orders to me, my brain suddenly becomes foggy and my body grows sluggish. "Don't mind the side effects....It's to simply just slow down your body is all. To ensure that you won't use your magic" The man explained, I struggled to lift my head. I watched as the man's eyes glowed and his hands glowed as well. I swallowed slowly and my eyes dropped. "Jeremiah, we don't need her falling unconscious again" The panda man scolded and the man laughed. "Fine...Fine" The man known as Jeremiah sighed in disappointment.

"Let us begin the questions now..... What do you know about yourself?"

My mind raced as I tried to think hard about what the man was talking about. Why ask me if they already knew? "I....Go to hell..." My voice was sluggish and slurred, my eyes were hard as I looked at the masked people. Jeremiah shakes his head and walks over to me. Each step brought fear to shake my mind. "Don't be a brat......" Jeremiah lifts his leg and kicks me in the stomach. I flung back and smacked into the wall, I wheezed in pain. My right arm ached, and I couldn't lift my arm. My body slumped against the floor and wall.

"We'll get our answers when we take you with us"

"GO HOME! I HAVE NOTHING TO GIVE YOU!" Dad shouted out desperate to have them leave us alone. My breathing was ragged, I tried to lift my body. My arm gave out making me slam back into the floor. "Coooo" My body froze hearing the familiar bird, slowly I lifted my head to look at the masked men. The bullhead masked stood there in front of Dad, and Lucci's Bird landed on the masked man's shoulder. My heart dropped as I sniffed the air, smelling familiar scents. "N-No" My voice was quiet as I tried to deny the truth. "What...." The masked man lifted his hands and began taking his mask off. "Shall we discuss first" My mouth was wide and my hands formed a tight fist as anger rose in me.

"With you?"

"Y-You Assholes" Tears welled up in my eyes watching the skeleton mask take his mask off. "It's honestly your fault if you had just complied and given us what we wanted" Kaku explained to us and held his mask in his hands. "This is what you get for not handing it over. And holding a fugitive wanted by the government"

Fugitive? I was a fugitive. I looked at Dad who lowered his head refusing to look at me. "Ah, seems like he never told you." Jeremiah tilted his head amused at the situation. "The Mayor of Water Seven was aware that you were wanted by the world government, which was why he kept you a secret for as long as he could" A tear slipped down my cheek at this new information, why... Why would he go to such lengths to protect me? I grind my teeth and push myself up. My arms shook as I used them against the wall to stand, surprising everyone in the room. "Screw the damn government" I spat out and used the wall to hold myself up. Despite my arms shaking, my legs stood my weight well. "We wished to make this town a memory....without having to harm you and Cole" Kalifa tilted her head and fixed her hair when she took her mask off. This...This can't be happening, I trusted them. I've spent so much time with these people that I called them friends! "You have your master's resolve" I closed my eyes as tears slipped down my cheeks. "You were all...with the government" Dad's voice filled with betrayal and disbelief.

"We've been concealing ourselves for five years....don't worry, we did our jobs properly"

Lucci reassured I frowned and my hair cast a shadow over my eyes listening. "Once we were sure you held the fugitive. We found it tedious to look after her and the whole amnesia thing" My heart dropped, feeling it rip to pieces. "I understand your discouragement...the time allowed for us on this case has approached its limit" Lucci spoke directly to Dad. "From now on, we will do our best to accomplish our goal. Be prepared, it would be best for you to not plan any thoughtless resistance" I looked at Dad unsure, he held an emotionless face, yet I could see the fear and anger in his eyes. When he glanced at me, I saw pure sadness. My heart ached knowing there was only so much I could do. "I assume you are aware of the name Cipher Pol" I tensed at the mention of that government group, the first two years being here. Dad gave me many resources, from reading about all the seas and the new world too. He was hopeful thinking I'd read up on something familiar, but we had reached a dead end on that. So when I learned about the seas, I also read up on the government.

"The only commonly known ones are CP one through CP eight. The government has an excellent secret service, each station at the eight points in the world" Blueno explained, I furrowed my eyebrows confused. There are only eight, right? "With a single order, they are to locate information in any location"

"....I know of them, but only up to CP eight"

"Yes....But we are CP Nine"