Destined for Flames (One Piece Fanfic)

Reach for the Sky

In the end, this is what I'm good at, isn't it?

There's an incredibly satisfying crunch as I feel the fine cartilage of some unfortunate Marine's nose collapse beneath the damning heel of my boot. He's thrown backwards from the staggering blow, flailing arms managing to grapple another two of his comrades to the ground along with him. Reasonably assured he won't be getting back up (the thud of his head cracking against the floor was audible even amongst the chaos beating in my ears), I scuff my foot over the wood, leaving gritty crimson deposits behind, and roll my shoulders before jumping back into the fray, a flighty smile pulling at my recently-morose lips.

I've delivered long-winded rants about how Zoro's element is when he's perfectly engulfed in the ferocity and lawlessness of battle, where all that conceivably matters is the enemy directly in front of you and the certainty of a yet-unknown death.

But I'm like that too.

Well, not to the degree that Zoro is; I'm still rather fond of leaving my opponent breathing when I've finished with them. But this - the adrenaline surging through too-small veins, how the world mutes around me until my senses only register the sights and sounds that are deemed as threatening, the explicit and uncalled for joy of felling a man twice your size with tenacity and fury alone - this is where I feel the most like myself.

That freaking epithet may grate my nerves whenever I hear mention of it, but whoever came up with it really did capture this violent demoness in human clothing flawlessly.

Not that I still don't want to reduce his house to a cluster of charred foundations, but hey, I'm giving credit where credit is due. Flynn D. Raya is nothing if not fair (occasionally, anyway).

I'm exhausted, feel shitty, can barely imagine how hellishly sore I'll be tomorrow (if there even is such a thing at this point), and yet I don't care - I'm more than willing to stretch my body past its human limits if it means we can secure even an abysmally tiny window of escape. And, of course, hold off the veritable armada of warships bearing down on us until Luffy cleans up with Lucci, the bastard. Which he'll inevitably do, coming through in the last moment like the faux-hero-of-legend he is. So we'll wait and we'll fight and believe in our captain.

Raya?

In the midst of administering a flaming kick launched from a hand-spring, I blink, then flip upright, spreading my arms for balance on the unsteady ground. We've been slowly forcing the brigade of persistant Marines away from the ship, and I've become less certain of my footing as the rubble's increased, both in size and distribution. Shaking off my surprise, I wheel around, one leg kicked out as an arc of flames shoots off from the sole of my boot.

What's up, Honoo? Need something? 'Cause I'm a little busy here...

I know what you're trying to do.

The comment could be - should be - harmless. But Honoo knows me too well for that to be the case, and I feel the blood drain away from my face as I drop to a crouch, allowing a charging behemoth to sail clean over my head and make a swan dive into a cluster of his buddies. Shooting up, I make use of the sudden clenching of my fists and throw an uppercut into another Marine's chin, clamping his jaw shut with an audible clack - which, evidently, is the sound one's jaw makes when their teeth forcefully collide and possibly shatter, littering their gums with bloody, pearalescent fragments.

Ah, what're you talking about Honoo? I'm not--

You'll kill yourself, Raya, if you continue to try and forcefully expel me from this sword.

Dammit. I hadn't thought she'd figure me out this early on.

"Well, whaddya want me to do, Honoo?" I demand tiredly, the dissatisfied bitterness forcing the words off my tongue, which - like it did so long ago in Alabasta - turns quite a few heads. I adamantly ignore them, returning to my internal dialogue while I survey the remaining Marines and the scattered islands my friends have become in the short time since the brawl began.