The Puppet Master [One Piece]

The Wires

~Echo's POV~

                I was finally healed enough to don my wires and spent the majority of the morning winding them into place. It was always a painful process, putting them on and taking them off. The wires had to link to my nervous system so they pierced through the skin at the back of my neck and connected to my spinal cord and brain stem. At first it was agony, but once I regained motor function, it wasn't so bad.

                However because of where they are connected I'm absolutely vulnerable to attacks from behind and it can be fatal if I were to get hit on the back of the neck where my wires connect. Mother had been furious when my father decided to teach me how to use them. He knew, somehow he knew the devastation that would befall us and I'd always believed he'd wanted me to survive to avenge them all. Perhaps I had been wrong, now I believed it was just a father's overbearing love wanting his little girl to be protected from all the evil in the world.

                There was a knock at the door as I was preparing to attach the wires through the back of my neck causing me to freeze, "Just a minute." I called softly.

                "Echo, are you alright?" Shanks called back worried easily detecting the strain in my voice.

                "I'm fine." I replied calmly before sliding the wires into place with a wince. My hands immediately reached out to grip the small dresser as I braced myself for the pain. A wave of agony rolled through me and it took all I had to keep from crying out.

                "Echo?!" Shanks must have heard my gasp of pain, he threw open my bedroom door and rushed to my side as he spotted me about to double over.

                And once the wires connected, the pain subsided and I regained motor function. I straightened myself up and offered him a smile, "Sorry, I'm alright now. Did you need something, Captain?"

                "Echo, what was that?"

                "Just a side effect." I shrugged.

                "A side effect of what?"

                "These." I loosed some of the wires so I could open the small blinds to allow some natural light flood through the small room.

                "What's the secret behind those wires, Echo?"

                "I won't stop using them." I warned him, "It's something my father insisted upon, something that connects me to him and I won't give that up."

                Shanks bit his lip to keep from voicing his opinion, "So what's the secret?"

                I turned around and swept my hair away from the back of my neck to reveal the entry wound of the wires. He swore under his breath before gripping my upper arm and forcefully spinning me around to face him. His dark eyes were filled with worry.

                "Echo, are those...are they attached to you...internally?" He asked with a grimace.

                "They connect to my spinal cord and brain stem." I replied simply.

                "Echo, that can't be safe-."

                "I told you I won't stop using them no matter what." I glared.

                "It's too dangerous-."

                "I don't care!" I snapped. "You're not taking it away from me."

                Shanks sighed in resignation before smiling ruefully at me, "I don't want to take it away from you Echo. I don't want you to feel like you need them anymore, because I- we'll protect you."

                I didn't want a repeat of what happened the day Shanks had tried to teach me to swim. I'd accidentally hurt myself and because of it awoke a terrifying power. It scared me a little.  "I know." I breathed softly. "Just a little while longer."

                He didn't look happy about my decision but decided against voicing his opinion on the matter, "Only a little while longer." He agreed reluctantly.

                "Did you need something?" I repeated softly.

                His dark eyes swept over me. He was still unhappy about my wires and wanted to intervene but thought better of it. "I thought perhaps we could give this swimming thing another go." He smiled, but it was strained.

                "I'd like that." My smile faltered as he didn't return it with earnest.

                He was really perturbed by my wires. So much so that it was affecting his mood.