THIS is a bad idea...
Title: Going on a Witch Hunt
Theme: Betrayal
Claim: Robin+Nami
Words: 3,095
Rating: PG
Warnings: Some Language, Character Death (ish) (you won't care, trust me)
Disclaimers: I continue to not own a thing.
“HELLO, USOPP!!!”
“AAAAH!!!”
“Hahaha! You’re all jumpy again!”
Usopp glared at Luffy from where he was clinging upside down to a tree limb. “Do you just enjoy scaring me within an inch of my life?” he accused.
“No, but I like seeing you jump really high,” he answered innocently.
Usopp scowled and dropped out of the tree. “You’re such a jerk,” he muttered as they began to walk into the school.
“So, did you catch the witch-mmph!”
Usopp had to hold tight while Luffy fought to pry his arms off his head. “Shut up, Luffy! I already told you, don’t talk about that.” Thinking back to his deal, he added, “Witches don’t exist, anyway.”
Luffy stared at him, perplexed. “But you said yesterday that your neighbors were witches.”
“Yeah, well… I lied!” he announced, before throwing back his head and laughing. “And you fell for it!”
His laughter died off when he realized that Luffy was silent, staring at him with wide, innocent eyes. “Huh?”
“You lied to me, Usopp?” Luffy asked, shocked.
Usopp blinked, then quickly began to backpedal. “Well, it wasn’t really a lie, it was… it was…”
Luffy looked horribly disappointed. Unlike everyone else at their school, who saw through Usopp’s lies with ease, Luffy actually believed him. Luffy trusted him. And Luffy was the only friend he had, besides Kaya of course, and she was cooped up in that house where he couldn’t see her without sneaking in first.
“Okay, okay, okay,” he finally hissed, pulling Luffy off into a deserted side hallway. “Listen, you can’t tell anybody, an-ny-bod-dy, about this, you got it?”
Luffy, eyes shining, nodded enthusiastically and made a zipping motion across his lips.
“Okay…” Usopp took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My new neighbors are witches.”
Luffy’s jaw dropped. “REALLY!?!”
“Shhhh! Yes, really, but no one else can know!”
“Why not?”
“Because!” He looked back and forth to ensure that they were alone. “They said that if I told anyone about them, they’d give me a potion that would turn me inside out!”
“Aah! They sound scary!”
“Oh yes.” Usopp nodded sagely. “They’re terrifying beasts.”
“Coool!” Luffy cried, throwing his arms up over his head. “You have to show me after school!”
“WHAT!?! Luffy, weren’t you listening? If they find out I told you, I’m gonna die!” Usopp grabbed his shoulders and shook furiously. “Diiieee!”
“Aah! Die?”
“Yes.”
Luffy nodded seriously. “Okay, Usopp, I understand. When I go over there, I’ll make sure they don’t know you told me.” He turned and walked off toward his first class.
“Oh, good, you understand then. You can’t… wait… LUFFY, STOP!!!” He lurched after his friend, tears streaming down his face. “YOU STILL DON’T GET IT!!!”
…
“We shouldn’t be here, we shouldn’t be here, we shouldn’t be here…”
“Relax, Usopp,” Luffy chided, peeking through the bushes behind the witches’ house. “We’ll be fine!”
“But Luffy, if they find out that I told you-”
“Usopp.” Luffy looked back at him with uncharacteristic seriousness. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Usopp stared at him. It was true that Luffy, despite his skinny frame and boyish appearance, was extremely strong, due to excessive physical training by his grandfather, who wanted Luffy to become a marine. Back in middle school, when he had first moved to Eastville, Usopp had been the prime target for the school bullies. After they became friends, Luffy wouldn’t stand for him being picked on. After he got a hold of them… well, Usopp hadn’t been bullied since.
“But Luffy,” Usopp protested, “these girls aren’t like your normal opponents. They know magic! They’ll kill us!”
Luffy just laughed. “Well, you once killed a bunch of witches, remember?”
“Err… Did I say that?”
His friend nodded enthusiastically. “So we’ll be fine. Now come on!”
Usopp sighed, defeated, and turned back to watching the yard. “Well, okay, we can watch for awhile, but we need to stay back here, alright, Luffy?”
Luffy didn’t answer.
“Luffy?” Usopp looked back… at the blank space next to him where Luffy had just been.
“…Well, that’s strange, I could have sworn he was just… LUFFY!”
Luffy was crouched below the back window of the house, peeking up over the sill, the brim of his straw hat pressed against the pane.
“Luffy!” Usopp hissed frantically. “Get back here, before they see you!”
“Huh?” Luffy squinted, ignoring him. “It sure doesn’t look like a witches’ house in-WHOA!”
Usopp gaped as Luffy went flying up and through the windowpane, as though it weren’t even there.
“Luffy!” he whisper-cried in alarm. The house remained silent and unassuming.
For a second, Usopp considered just leaving. But he couldn’t leave his best friend to be stewed by the witches, so, steeling his courage, he turned back and marched… er, crawled to the window.
Hesitantly, he peeked in.
“Looking for someone?”
He screamed and whirled around; Nami was standing behind him, looking furious. Robin stood behind her, a wriggling Luffy next to her, bound by a dozen disembodied arms.
“Usopp, run!” Luffy yelled, before his mouth was covered by another hand.
Usopp, knees shaking, edged a few steps away, fully intending to do as Luffy said. Then he forced himself to stop, reaching back into his backpack and pulling out his slingshot. He held it in front of him, swallowing hard and trying to summon some courage.
“L-let him go!” he demanded in a quavering voice.
“Why should we?” Nami demanded. “You went back on our deal.”
“I didn’t mean to!” Usopp protested. “I told him about you guys before-”
“That’s not an excuse!” Nami roared. She pointed a finger at him. “You betrayed us! You know what’s coming next.”
Robin gasped suddenly, and Nami whirled on her heel. The older witch was rubbing her hand; next to her, Luffy had sunk his teeth into the hand covering his mouth. The hand disappeared in a shower of petals, and Luffy yelled, “Leave him alone!”
Nami stalked toward the other boy, eyes smoldering. “You! You keep quiet, or I’m…”
She stopped in her tracks and gasped. Her eyes grew wide, and she took a frightened step back.
“Nami?” asked Robin, alarmed.
“This kid… who are you?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“Luffy D. Monkey,” he introduced. “And it’s not nice to meet you,” he added, sticking out his tongue.
“What is it, Nami?” asked Robin again.
Nami took another step, then composed herself. “This guy,” she nodded at Luffy, “is a half-demon.”
There was a moment of silence.
“…EH!?!”
…
“A paramecian demon?”
“Yes.” Robin nodded. “They are half-demons; the children of a demon and a human.”
The four were seated around the witches’ living room. Nami was sulking in her chair, arms folded and legs crossed. Usopp was quivering in his, praying that his memory wouldn’t get taken away. Robin was drinking coffee while Luffy happily munched on some lunch meat she had offered him.
“So one of Luffy’s parents is actually a demon?” Usopp asked.
“Yes, or a paramecian themselves. Only two logia demons - full demons - can give birth to another logia demon. However, a paramecian demon can produce another paramecian, no matter the heritage of the other parent.”
“So, are there a bunch of them running around?”
“Well, it is very rare for a logia demon to mate with a human, and after enough generations with human mates, the paramecian gene eventually goes away. They aren’t that common, no.”
“Luffy!” Usopp looked accusingly at his friend. “Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t human?”
Luffy looked indignant. “But Usopp, I didn’t even know!”
“How do you not know that you’re a demon!?!”
“Excuse me, Mr. Demon,” said Robin, looking at him. “Do you take a certain medicine every morning? Something that you drink?”
Luffy made a face. “Yeah, that gross energy stuff that my grandpa gives me every morning.”
Robin nodded. “Just as I thought. Your grandfather is giving you a repressor; it’s a potion that negates your demonic power.”
“Demonic power?” Usopp repeated, shuddering.
“It’s not like what you’re thinking,” Nami said flatly, the first words she had spoken since they entered the house. “Demons don’t have lots of scary powers like in the stories. Each logia demon has control over one element, and each paramecian has a special ability. That’s all they can do.” She added the last part condescendingly.
“They aren’t like devils from Hell,” Robin explained. “They are simply magical beings with more power than normal humans.”
“So what’s Luffy’s power?” asked Usopp.
“Let’s find out.” Robin stood up and walked over to Luffy. “If you’ll allow me, Mr. Demon.” He nodded, and she placed her hand on his forehead and muttered something. There was a flash of light, then Robin nodded in satisfaction and returned to her seat.
“Well?” asked Usopp anxiously. “Do you feel any different?”
Luffy considered this. He looked all over his body, then scratched his head, perplexed. “No, I don’t feel anything. …Huh?”
Usopp was gaping at him. Robin looked amused, Nami just looked annoyed.
“What?”
“Luffy! Your arm!”
Luffy blinked, then looked down at the arm he was using to scratch his head. It was bending in an unnatural arc to go around his body and scratch the top of his scalp. He stared at it, then laughed and grabbed it in his other hand, pulling it out impossibly far, then letting it snap back to his body. “Look!”
“Fascinating. It seems Mr. Demon is made of rubber.”
“What a dumb power,” Nami muttered.
“Usopp! Try this!”
Usopp, despite their situation, was curious. He got out of his chair and grabbed the offered finger, pulled it across the room, then let it snap back to its owner. “Whoa!”
“This is so cool!” Luffy cheered, stretching his legs now and trying to tie them into a knot.
“Yeah, it’s great. Really great,” Nami spat.
“How did you realize he was a demon?” asked Usopp.
“Well, his haki gave him away,” the redhead answered. At their lost looks, she elaborated. “Haki is a demon’s energy. It’s what gives them their abilities.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what kind of repressors he was taking; with that much protective rage, of course he was going to exude some.”
“Okay…” He still looked confused. Nami sighed and threw up her arms.
“It doesn’t even matter! What matters is that you told your friend about us!”
Usopp returned to quivering. “Are you going to take away our memories?”
She sighed, disgusted. “Unfortunately, I can’t. Because of him.” She jerked a thumb at Luffy.
“Why?” Luffy asked around his lunch meat.
“Whether hiding as a human or not, to hurt a demon comes with heavy consequences,” Robin explained. “We don’t want that kind of trouble.”
“Not to mention his human grandfather is a five-star general. We’d have the magical and human communities after our heads,” Nami added.
“So… you’re not going to erase our memories?”
Nami stood up and got right in Usopp’s face. The boy squeaked and sunk away from her.
“No, we’re not. But if you tell anyone, anyone, else, you WILL be getting some of that potion. You got that!”
Usopp gulped and nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
Nami gave him one more menacing glare, then turned on her heel. “Good. Then get out.” And she marched huffily away.
Robin watched her go, then turned back to the two boys apologetically. “I’m sorry. She just… doesn’t trust easily. Of course, I don’t either, but…” She got a small smile on her face. “Well, I like you two kids.”
Usopp stood up slowly, in case it was a trick. “Well, thanks for not killing us, I guess.” He started to leave. “Coming, Luffy?”
“Hold on.” He looked imploringly at Robin. “Do you have any more meat?”
Robin laughed while Usopp grabbed his ear and began to tug him away, the ear stretching after him. “Come on, you idiot; the food might be poisoned, anyway!”
“Aah! Do you think so?”
“Let’s not press our luck. Come on, we can have cookies at my house.”
“Cookies? Alright!”
Robin watched the two boys cross the street, Usopp already heroically embellishing his tale about the day before as they went. A nosy boy and a half-demon, eh?
Things were certainly getting more interesting in this little neighborhood.
…
“HOOOOOW-OOOOOOOO!”
Nami jerked upright in bed, looking around wildly. She had only heard such an unearthly howl a few times before, but it never boded well.
“Robin!” she cried, hopping to the floor, but Robin was ahead of her, standing in her doorway. She was already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.
“Hurry!” was all she said before turning to run down the stairs.
Nami paused long enough to wave a hand over her body, changing her outfit instantly from pajamas to shorts and a tank top. She dashed after Robin, catching up just as the elder woman ran out the front door.
“It’s a witchsniffer, isn’t it?” she asked, fear heightening the pitch of her voice.
“Yes,” Robin answered curtly. “It’s somewhere on the outskirts of town. We’ll take my car.”
Nami nodded and ran around to the passenger side. Robin was backing out of the driveway before she had even closed the door.
“It’s Moria!” Nami lamented. “He’s already found us! We have to get out of here.”
“Calm down,” Robin commanded, though she couldn’t entirely hide the doubt in her own voice. “It’s not necessarily Moria. There are lots of witch hunters around here.”
“I bet it’s that demon boy; he’s already told someone about us!”
“If he didn’t know what he was, he’s probably being kept separate from his demon heritage on purpose. I doubt he even knows how to contact anyone.”
“Maybe it was all a ruse! What if he was working for Moria?”
Robin was silent a moment. She wanted to trust those two seemingly innocent boys, but if she had learned anything in twenty eight years of life, it was to never blindly trust anyone. “We’ll know in a moment.”
…
Bellamy “The Hyena” was a young but already accomplished witch hunter. With his witchsniffer Sarquiss, a dog infused with magical power as a fetus and raised to sniff out magical energy, he had already killed almost a dozen witches along the eastern seaboard in only a few short years. He had just come off a hit in northern Maine and was now looking for a new target.
Sarquiss had sniffed out an unusually large amount of magical energy coming from this suburb in particular, and Bellamy was excited at the possibility of finding not just a witch but a whole coven.
He stood on a hill by a river just outside the town’s limits, watching the lights of the slick purple sports car near them. Sarquiss bared his teeth and growled at it, and Bellamy grinned and studied his long dagger in the moonlight. They were coming to meet him; how hospitable.
The car stopped about two hundred yards away, and two figures got out. Bellamy was a bit disheartened to see it was only two, but that was still better than a solitary witch. He reached into his pocket a pulled out a small rock with a rune carved into the center. This he dropped on the ground and knocked lightly with the toe of his boot. Silvery lines snaked out through the grass, creating an intricate pentagram before fading away. He chuckled to himself; the witches wouldn’t know what hit them.
…
Nami and Robin walked silently up the hill toward the witch hunter. They had caught, just barely, the dim light that signaled the activation of a power draining sigil. They glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes, then continued at a steady pace.
“Hail, witches!” cried the man, grinning demonically in the moonlight. “Fancy findin’ two of you out here.”
Neither answered, just continued forward.
“Heh. Quiet ones, eh?” He scoffed. “Silence won’t help you ladies none.”
Nami held out her hand, and a long, blue staff appeared in it. She lowered it to her side and continued beside Robin.
“Oh, li’l red’s got a weapon!” The man laughed. “I’m so scared!”
His eyes darted down, and the two witches knew he was looking at the edge of the pentagram. In tandem, they stopped. The man frowned. “What? Scared?”
Robin shook her head, pointing a hand at the witch hunter. “Cheap tricks are useless against us.”
A chain of hands shot out from hers, flying across the gap between them. They created a loop, and before the man could even cry out, it had him lassoed. With a jerk of her arm, he came stumbling across the pentagram to lay at their feet, writhing and swearing.
The witchsniffing dog he had with him growled and came running at them. Nami swung her staff in an arc, and it was struck with lightning. The dog gave a final yip and lay still.
“Sarquiss!” screamed the man. “You bitch, what did you do to him?”
Nami pointed her staff in his face. “The same thing I’m going to do to you if you don’t tell us who you work for,” she hissed.
He scowled. “I’ll never tell you!”
The staff crackled dangerously, and the man’s resolve wavered. The arms squeezed tighter, and two more gripped his head, threatening to break his neck.
“Alright, alright, alright, ALRIGHT!” he cried, sweat beginning to run down his brow. “I’m Bellamy. I work for Doflamingo.”
“Doflamingo?” Nami repeated. “The famous Puppetmaster?”
He nodded frantically.
“I think he’s telling the truth, Nami,” said Robin.
“Well, good; he’s not one of Moria’s goons, then.”
“Moria?” Bellamy repeated in surprise. “What, you two got a fight with-AUGH!”
The hands gripping his neck easily snapped it, and then disappeared.
Nami looked down at his still body. “He dead?”
“Maybe.” Robin shrugged. “Either way, he won’t bother us again.”
Nami nodded, then looked back at the other. “But how did he find us? We have shields up!”
Robin put her chin in her hand in thought. “Well, this is just a theory, but… perhaps the power I use for my necromancy is too much for the shields. If that’s the case, any other spells we use will be fully exposed.”
Nami mulled this over, then groaned loudly and sank to her knees.
“Nami!?”
“This means we’re going to have to start cooking and cleaning by hand, doesn’t it?”
Robin stared at her, then giggled. “Yes, I’m afraid it does.”
Nami sighed. “Oh Robin, what have you gotten us into…”