Wanting Freedom

One too Many

"What's with the dumb horns?"

As soon as the redhead said that he reached down and roughly grabbed one. A painful hiss escaped her and she shot her fist straight upwards, hitting him with an unintended uppercut. With her unnatural strength, he was sent flying into the ceiling, a loud resounding crack echoing through the room.

Gingerly she brought her arm down and lightly touched around her horns to make sure they were okay. A groan took her attention and she looked back up. The redhead who had stupidly grabbed one of her horns had his head stuck in the ceiling and was currently dangling in the air and stunned. His companion had hurried to his side, trying to figure out a way to get him down without harming him further.

"Killer, get me the fuck down, I'm gonna kick that bitch's ass!"

The shock of what happened to him quickly faded and the teen began to violently thrash, kicking his legs and yelling angrily. A thunk was followed by a thump and soon the teen stopped thrashing. The sound made the girl pop her head out to see what was going on.

"...Killer?"

"..uhg.."

The boy she assumed was Killer was laying flat on the ground, a large red mark on his forehead. She winced at the mark in sympathy and pulled herself out of the crate. Wrapping an arm around herself to maintain some of her dignity in being caught in near undergarments by two boys, she stood next to the first boy's dangling legs.

Reaching up, she grabbed his ankle and gave a swift tug. She let go as he fell to the floor in a heap. As he staggered to his feet, she made her way to the blond boy that had taken the heavy hit of his friend's boot.

Taking note of the black mask covering up half his face, she gently cradled his head in her hands to inspect the damage. Using her fingers to move his blond bangs away from his forehead to see the large bruise forming. She also took notice of his hair, it was long and soft, going just passed his mid-back.

"Oi! Get away from Killer, you ogre!"

From his friend's shouting, the teen's eyes snapped open. The young girl gasped as light blue met green and heat rose to her face. She had never seen anyone with such pretty blue eyes. She came out of her daze when the other boy's words finally registered. She slowly let go of Killer's head and looked at her hands.

"I kinda am aren't I." Her voice was quiet and soft. As the blond next to her began to get up she reached out to help steady him.

"Be careful that was quite a blow to the head."

"He wouldn't have gotten hit if it weren't for you, Ogre."

"Kid." His friend called out from her side, giving him a look of disapproval. Nodding to her as she helped him up and steadied him as he stood and leaned on her. He looked down at her and nodded her way.

"Thank you for the assistance, were the sailors aboard this vessel smuggling you?"

Her mouth went dry and she looked away from both of them. Could she trust them? She knew they weren't apart of the crew. From the rough looks of both of them, she could guess that they were more than just your average sailors. Especially with the way Kid dressed. Deciding to take a chance she took a deep breath.

"Unknowingly yes. And given the state of my home, I couldn't be seen if I wanted to live."

"Where's that?" It was Kid who asked, his tone hard as he glared at the horned girl.

She clamped back up immediately and shuffled his friend towards the door. It was obvious to the two of them that she had escaped from somewhere and that she didn't want to say where from exactly. So, Kid just grunted and rubbed his sore chin. His scowl turned into a feral grin.

"Fine then don't answer, doesn't matter anyway since anyone that may have known you were here is dead."

"That was your voice earlier wasn't it?"

Killer quickly changed the subject. Looking down at her, he could tell that Torque was not her real name and the way she clamped up about her origins was also telling. Both the teens could tell she was running from something, but they decided not to question it. He exchanged a look with Kid, the latter of whom was still grinning.

"Yes, it was. My devil fruit can sometimes prove useful."

"What is it?"

That small eerie grin was back on her face, a dangerous gleam overcoming her eyes.

"The Game Game Fruit. In a space of my choosing, I can make up to three rules and set the punishment for breaking any of them."

Kid and Killer looked away from her as they made it to the deck of the ship, her nagajuban was almost see-through with how thin the fabric was.

"How about we get you in better clothes. As an apology from Kid for grabbing your... horns."

"Hey!"

A small chuckle escaped her as the two started to bicker back and forth. She let Kid lead the way to where they were going. She was surprised that it was another ship entirely. Kid reached over and tried to pat her head roughly, an attempt to get back at her for punching him. He pressed harshly down on her head, putting more pressure as time went on.

"Kid.." Killer groaned as he saw what his friend was doing. The pressure on her head faded the moment she flung her arm to the side and punched him once more.

"OOF!"

Her fist made contact with his stomach and knocking him far away into a nearby tree. Killer's shoulders shook with silent laughter as she continued to head to the ship. The sound of loud groaning followed after them before they heard him throw up.

"Oops. I think I hit him too hard that time."

Kid managed to catch up to them after the embarrassing display, a deep scowl on his face. He glared at Torque, using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. A grunt left him as some of the men on the ship greeted him and Killer, other's looked hungrily at Torque. Killer quickly shuffled the two of them away to his room.

"Try some of these on, I'm gonna go grab some ice for my head."

After he left she gazed down at the clothes he placed on the bed. These clothes were nothing like what she had ever worn or seen. The thought of wearing something like this excited her. She quickly changed into a leather halter top with a heavily furred collar and tight leather pants and boots.

Her eyes caught sight of a small knife on the stand next to the bed. She gazed at her long, knee-length hair. She needed to cut it, the mere thought of him finding her made her paranoia skyrocket. She noticed a small mirror and set her nagajuban down and went to work cutting her hair shorter.

When she finished Killer had come back and did a double-take seeing her new look. She had cut her hair to her shoulders giving it a more frayed edge to it.

"I take it you're running away from something or someone."

He layed on his bed, the bundle of ice resting on his aching head. A pained groan left him as the ice cooled the forming bruise.

"Both actually, from boredom and someone."

Her answer confused him, but before he could ask her to elaborate Kid busted into his room and surprising them both. His yellow eyes looked her up and down saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Damn, you're actually pretty sexy for an ogre!"

Her face flushed bright red and before Killer could stop her, Torque swung her fist and hit the side of his face. Kid flew back and through two walls. Her face burned as she turned towards the rest of the discarded clothes and grabbed a black military-like jacket and threw it over her shoulders.

A loud laugh came from where Kid had disappeared and said man came back with a split lip and blood dribbled on the side of his mouth. The feral grin from earlier had made its way back on his face. His yellow eyes gleamed brightly as he looked at the horned teen.

"Quite the punch you got there Ogre, what say you join my crew."

She looked over at Killer then back to Kid.

"I think I punched him one too many times."