Stolen Voice (Shanks × Reader)

Seven

"What are you talking about?" you ask, leaving your love's side to stand up, but you cry out when you feel the wound on your leg as your weight shifts over it.

Mihawk and Shanks cruddle at first as they see your pain, but even if they are only a second late, another one catches your hand carefully to support you.

Benn looks at your injured thigh worriedly, his other arm behind your back, holding you up by your waist.

The relief is immediate and you breathe out slowly while you regain your composure, raising your eyes back on your brother.

You refuse to sit down. Not now. Mihawk nods shortly to Benn, and you notice the slight scowl that he is unable to hide.

Shanks masks his face with his hand and bites his lower lip. It shakes you since you lose sight of his face, the only thing keeping you together.

"I found out around two months ago that you were being poisoned for several years," whispers Mihawk, and it strikes you like lightning. The pirates look up with confusion. "The same kind they used yesterday."

You shake your head, and Benn scolds you silently as you try to step forward. He holds you back.

Your brother walks closer, carefully brushing a wandering lock of hair behind your ear, and you can't even object as you see his anguish.

Regret, that he never told you before.

"Your Devil Fruit is the strongest in the world, [Y/N]," he says quietly. "There is no power to conquer it, aside from the sea itself."

"You know I can't even use it without it slowly killing me," you snap, your fists clenching. "It's flawed. I wish I never-"

"It is perfect!" shouts Mihawk, and you fall back, Benn barely manages to keep you standing. "It always was, as everything else about you."

He never raised his voice at me before.

The golden eyes are broad when he understands he startled you, even if his impulse wasn't against you.

Your brother touches your shoulders and strokes your arm gently to calm you.

"Ever since you gained your ability, he poisoned you each day through your food," he whispers. "I believe with some form of Sea Stone. It made using your power agonizing enough that you wouldn't use it if you had any other choice. Even if you did it, just a few seconds were painful enough to make you unable to fight after."

You are taken aback by his words, and he keeps caressing your skin to keep you in reality.

Can he be right?

My power.

Today, I stopped time for over a minute when I got away from the ship. And the surges mildened so much in the weeks since I left this hell.

Minutes, hours.

What is the limit if it wouldn't hurt?

Your hands shake.

Is there even a limit?

"He was the strongest, but only until your Devil Fruit appeared," continues Mihawk. "Father can make ordinary people obey all his wishes by the voices, drive you crazy, or destroy you from inside out, but he can not oppose time."

"Then why didn't he just kill me?" you ask, and you shiver when you hear your voice so weak and silent.

So incredibly tired.

You disappear between Mihawk's arms and Benn steps back as your brother takes you carefully.

"Because we are his children," he whispers, laying the side of his face against the top of your head. "And for each other, we are what matters the most in this world."