Second Guessed

Chapter 2

It seemed the fate of this world wasn't going to take all the changes I tried to make lying down. The next day at the bandit's hideout went similar to the first. Luffy ran out after Ace as Dadan called out after him about him skipping his chores. The fat barbarian looked down at me, her orange hair matched with her blush of rage making her look like a large clown.

"Boss, you can just make the girl do all his chores. No problem," one of the bandits tried to say to calm the old hag down, interrupting whatever she had been about to say to me. Dadan stood up, hands on her hips.

"No, I can't. Garp'd kill me if he ever found out she was doing normal chores, and I know the little brat would rat me out to him," she looked down at me again, mouth curled in a frown. "Go on, do whatever impossible training Garp wants you to do, girl. And bring back more meat today!"

I made sure to avoid going too far into the woods this time. No need to run into Sabo again. I trained with my staff and hatchets. Killing the wolf the day before had been mostly luck, my hatchet blades were dull and only killed the beast because of how much force I had used. But I would need to be stronger, always stronger. Ace killed game with his bare hands or that metal pole he carried, didn't he? Then I'd do the same. I had to be as strong as Ace at the very least, and then stronger. That would be my goal for a while, I decided.

It took me longer than the day before, but I managed to kill a giant python that had snuck up on me— just in time, since I had somehow gotten into the woods near Grey Terminal again. I could hear Ace and Sabo's voices just out of sight, and took the snake that I had bludgeoned to death with stabs from my staff, slung as much of the body over my small shoulders as I could, and ran off as fast as my legs could go.

And got lost.

I had been so focused on getting away from the boys that I hadn't been paying attention to where I was heading, and had to turn completely around to get back to the bandit's house. My detour made it so that I ended up getting there at the exact same time as Ace. But no Luffy anywhere in sight.

This time, Dadan noticed and brought it up since she didn't have the shock of me killing a wolf to distract her.

"You two came back alone again? Where's Luffy? Wasn't he with you, Ace?"

"I dunno." The boy replied, barely sparing me a cold glance before walking off. I gave Dadan my catch, and headed in the same direction. It was the only way to reach our rooms, after all. I frowned when I saw Ace leaning against the wall near the entrance to the main room where Dadan and the bandits were, but ignored it.

"—This is what they mean when they say bad weeds grow fastest! They're both devil spawn, you know?! You know what the government would do to us if they found out?! And the girl's a lost cause, to boot! A waste of our energy, if you ask me!"

I froze. I hadn't been listening until she said that, and it left me paused at the bottom of the staircase, one leg raised to take the first step but held in the air from shock. My hand, which had been on the railing, tightened. I could feel Ace behind me, feel the weight of his stare on my back, but neither of us said a word. I took a deep breath, and went up the short flight of stairs to enter our room.

I thought Ace might wait until I was passed out to come in, but he didn't. He had been closer than I thought, making me spin around when I heard the door close only to see him leaning against it.

I wanted to speak. I wasn't the type of person who was good at being silent, but I figured I would just have to practice at it. I could last a day or two without saying much, but usually Luffy was the only one trying to get me to talk. Ace's burning stare was an obstacle I had no practice resisting, and I had to turn away to avoid asking him why the hell he was staring. I made it look like I was only getting my futon ready.