hiding

Hide

Let me just say that I love One Piece!  This is my first attempt to write, so please I am very open to suggestions/comments/advice. I am definitely not the best with knowing the history or terminology of devil fruits and such but I promise I will try to do the best research I can. I do not own one piece or it's characters (which is probably a good thing or else it wouldn't be the fantastic work of art it is today), but my OC Alexia is all mine!  I hope this isn't too horrible for you guys!

*************************************************************************************

She wasn't mad. 

Maybe she was annoyed.  While plastered in sweat, her heart threatening to pound out of her chest and her eyes twitching in irritation? Yes.  Her clothing burned to the point of no return? Annoyingly so.  Fighting to keep the stream of profanities in her head, instead of out her mouth?  Most definitely.

No, she had decided at that moment, she was not mad.  She was damned, irritated and above all else, pissed.

The auburn-haired girl was now hiding in her makeshift, underground home.  She loved her little space.  It had taken her 3 excruciating days to dig out her 12-foot-deep, roughly 8x8 home (One she prided in digging directly under a massive old oak, ensuring its roots would provide stability to her new home). A day to create a camouflaged covering (which was actually pretty flimsy as the wooden slats under the camouflaging materials were eroding due to the wear from nature), another day to spread out the dirt she had dug up across a good 2 acers to make the ground look undisturbed, and then a complete 2 months for grass and other natural debris to reappear amongst the area to make her home look completely non-existent to anyone not looking for a hole in the ground.

The pride she had felt in building her little space, definitely made her regret returning home to hide.  It would be such a shame if her pursuers happened upon her strange habitat, and she had to restart from the ground up, literally, in a new location.  No, she would not be found, she reassured herself.  She had built this just for the point of never being found.

She heard a twig snap under the pressure of footfall. Right near the entrance of her hiding space. Her eyes were glued to the opening that was barely visible to her, as light slowly filtered in from cracks of the wood and thru the leaves that covered it.  She mentally thanked the fall/winter island, grateful for the island's natural seasons allowing her materials to be oh so convincing in the art of camouflage.

"I think we lost him!" A male voice stated, exasperated.  She assumed it belonged to the brunette male, one of her two pursers. 

"He couldn't have gotten far yoi." She registered this voice to the blonde, who's head she felt slightly resembled a pineapple. "The terrain is too rugged for him to escape so fast.  I can sense him nearby."

"If he was nearby we would have seen him by nooow!" The brunette whined like child. "There's no place to hide here Marco, and I haven't eaten all day! Let's leave it alone, it's just one pesky marine."

"One pesky marine who knocked you on your ass." Marco reasoned, "If he felt strong enough to fight one of whitebeard's, then he should have stayed for what was coming to him."

She continued to hold her breathe, until she heard the footsteps retreating, her little home remaining safe for another evening.  She slid down to the floor, trying to calm her nerves.  She smirked as she revisited their conversation in her head.  They still thought she was a he, her disguise continued to serve her well.

She removed her marine cap from her head, her slightly curly auburn hair fell from its once secured pile under the cap, into messy loose curls down to her mid-back.  Her mask soon removed as well.  Just like she liked most of her very few possessions, she really liked her mask.  To her, it looked kind of cool. It was completely black, covering half of her face including one of her ice blue eyes. The bottom completely covering her face below the nose, and a skeleton grin on the fabric above the mouth.  She thought it contrasted quite nicely with her tan skin.  It did the one thing she wanted it to do, hide her emotions from the world.  No one could tell her emotions behind the mask, unless they focused on her one visible eye.  It gave her a chance to hide while still out in the open.

She scowled down at the marine cap she now gently caressed with her fingers.  Once again the hat had gotten her in a reckless situation with a pirate, once again she had been mistaken as a marine.  If the hat hadn't been the only possession of her mother's she had, she would have ditched it long ago.  She had even sewn a red diagonal bar through the word MARINE, as if to symbolize rebellion against marines themselves, but she still none the better, was accused of being one.  Did no one understand what she called a "cancellation bar"? 

She hadn't meant to start anything with them.  The brunette had tapped her lightly on the shoulder when she was unaware of his presence, causing her to almost jump out of her skin, and ultimately sending her fist flying into his nose out of reflex, leading to him falling on his butt.  She didn't handle touch well, hadn't for years, especially not from strangers.  And the way she lived, made everyone strangers.  If he had given her the chance she would have apologized, realizing he hadn't had any ill intent behind his actions.  Instead him and his friend immediately took the defensive, eyeing her hat with hatred. So, she did the one thing she did best, run and hide until the danger is gone.

Her stomach growled, reminding her she had failed her mission of acquiring food in town, for the sixth day in a row, as she closed her eyes and succumbed to sleep that once more promised to be filled with nightmares.