A Wish on a Comet (Luffy x OC)

Chapter 64

The minutes felt like hours to Rufus as soon as he woke up in an infirmary in Marineford. Even though he was quiet the whole time of treatment, he emulated so much anger from his failure that the doctors were frightened the entire time.

Even though Rufus was annoyed by them, he doesn't do a thing to hurt them. After all, there's no reason to bite the hands that are healing him.

That didn't stop the moronic doctors from running out of the room as soon as they were done though.

With Rufus alone, he can finally stew about what exactly happened these past few days. For the first time in his entire career in CP 8, he failed a mission.

For the first time ever, an outsider not only survived his hunt, but utterly defeated him, and killed three of his men. The thought of that girl, being free and happy with her friends, makes him so mad that he creates a ball of explosive clay in his hand, and throws it to the window to blow it open!

The doctors run back to the room from the sound and are stunned at the sight of a truck sized hole in their wall.

The destruction didn't improve his mood at all, but a new distraction arrived when a door started getting carved open from the hole.

His expression remains blank while he watches the air door swing open to find Blueno on the other side. "Wow, you sure look like shit."

"Yet you're the one stuck to a bed." Blueno comments back as he steps out of his door, with a knocked out Lucci on his back.

The rest of CP 9, along with Nero, is quick to follow him, with the ability to walk, or limp through the doorway on their own.

At the sight of the injured people, the doctors get to work on escorting them off to another treatment room.

When they try to approach Nero though, he shoos them away, and takes a seat by his boss' bedside.

When the two agents are alone, Rufus looks up to his new recruit. "So, what made you lose the key?"

Nero quietly gulps at the question, because of what happened the last time he failed.

Thankfully, Blueno's analysis of the explosion man was more than correct, with his right arm the only one unbroken, with the other in a cast, while his right leg is elevated in a cast.

Seeing as how he can't give chase as easily as Lucci did, he opens up about his failure. "That bird and long nosed man, I think his name was Sniper King, took me down. I was able to hurt the bird, but I underestimated that sniper. He had all kinds of tricks from explosives, pellets, and even a dial. I wound up getting burnt..."

In fear of punishment, he drops his knees to the floor, and lowers his head to beg for mercy. "Please give me another chance! I promise to do better!"

Rufus scowls down at the groveling, because it reminds him of a dreadful time.

A time where he and Andreos were forced to do the same kind of groveling, as children. Whether it was to beg for scraps, or forgiveness for getting caught stealing, so they wouldn't be beaten to death. Each time pissed him off for being so weak.

To get the memory out of his head, he quickly sits up on his bed, and shouts at him. "Get the hell up!"

Nero flinches back up, and is ready to get hit, but instead of receiving a blow, he gets a lecture.

"You can't get anywhere by groveling! As a member of CP 8, you must never beg for anything! Especially not for forgiveness! Do you hear me?!"

He's quick to nod, but is confused. "You mean, I'm still a part of your unit?"