One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Three Hundred and Nineteen

-Chapter Three Hundred and Nineteen-

-Everybody's P.O.V-

Zoro frowned when he felt Skylar tense as the others raised their brows, curiously looking between her and their captain.

"Skylar's father? When did you meet him?" Nami frowned, not knowing when their captain would have had time to meet the brunette's father during these last two years.

"Now that you bring it up, I always thought Skylar's parents were dead since she never talks about them" Usopp sheepishly confessed, always having believed that the brunette was nothing more than an orphan due to her lack of mentioning family outside of her two brothers. He had always assumed her reasoning for never mentioning her mother or father was because they were already gone. It was a reasonable assumption—in a world like theirs, orphans weren't exactly uncommon thanks to the many pirates who flooded the sea and bandits who littered the mountains of various islands. It wasn't strange to think her parents had possibly met an unfortunate fate, leading to her and her brothers only having each other.

Skylar lowered her head, a lump already forming in her throat as her lips slowly twitched upwards into a crooked smile—her eyes now stinging with unshed tears. Robin frowned as she worried her lower lip, concerned for the young woman as she recalled what had happened the last time she had talked about her father and upbringing with anyone.

"I should have known...it would make sense that you would have run into him..." Skylar shakily laughed as she rested her hands in her lap, balling them up as she started to suck deep, shaky breaths of air. "There was no avoiding it—he would have been required to take part in the war whether he wanted to or not."

"War?" Nami echoed. "Wait...are you referring to..." she didn't have to finish that question, the others already knowing what war she was speaking of as the only one that their captain had ever been a part of was the one two years ago. "So your father's a Marine? That doesn't seem like something to be upset over" she frowned, noting how tense their friend looked as her shoulders heavily rose and lowered with every shaky breath—her face an odd mixture of distress and anger as she avoided all eye contact.

"He's not just some Marine—he's an Admiral..." Skylar softly corrected, gaze finally lifting.

"A-an Admiral?!" they gaped.

"Admiral Varen Strife is my father..." Skylar shakily sighed, closing her eyes as her head drooped once more before she slowly reopened them. She didn't want to have this conversation with them...with any of them. It was a conversation she would have preferred to avoid for as long as possible even if she knew it had to happen eventually after everything that's happened and all the things she had found herself forced to confront about herself these last two years. "What's the message...?" she quietly asked, silently peering up at her captain who frowned as he slowly began to recount his encounter with her father.

-Flashback-

Luffy knew something was wrong when the bullet that had whizzed by and grazed the flesh of his arm made him feel weak for a brief second. Turning towards his attacker, he prepared himself to take them out as quickly as possible so he could be on his way.

"Straw Hat Luffy, it's a pleasure to finally meet you" the brunet before him calmly said, casually twirling the gun in his hand around his finger. He was tall like the rest of the Admirals, maybe a head or two shorter than the other three, but still taller than your average Marine with broad shoulders and sharp features.

"Who are you?" Luffy frowned, taking note of the coat that hung off the man's shoulders, and stood out against his dark suit—a coat that was similar to what most of the other higher-ranking Marines and Admirals wore. One that proudly displayed their position of power and let others know where they stood in the ranks amongst their fellow men.