Destined for Flames (One Piece Fanfic)

Running Away is so Badass

Raya's P.O.V.

I wave at Luffy as he starts running to meet us. He's smiling like the idiot he is, but his smile is infectious. A small one is lighting up my own face.

"Hey are you hurt?"

I look back at the Swordsman, whose name I still don't know. But his three swords... No, it couldn't be. He's a pirate hunter, not a pirate. Must be some copy cat or something.

I give him a confused look and he points to his face. I run my fingers over my cheek; they come away stained red. "Oh," I laugh. "I got a tomato thrown at my head earlier. No big deal." I lick the tomato off my fingers, smiling. As much as I dislike the villagers here, they know how to grow some great food.

The Swordsman looks down at his shirt, scowling. It's smeared with red from when I dropped my head onto his chest. "Sorry," I mutter, giving him an apologetic smile. He sighs and shakes his head, just as Luffy reaches us.

"Raya!" he cries, wrapping me in a fierce hug.

"Can't... breathe...." I choke out, kand he releases me.

I gasp for breath for a few seconds, before slapping Luffy upside the head. "OW!" he cries, giving me a wounded look. I pinch the bridge of my nose, scowling. "You guys... I told you to leave. Now, the only thing you've done is give the hangman another set of boots."

"What?" Luffy asks, scratching his stomach.

"She means she thinks we're going to die too," the Swordsman explains to his captain, sounding annoyed.

"Oh!" Luffy says brightly. "Then don't worry! We're getting out of here!"

He grabs my arm and starts to drag me off the Marine Base, the Swordsman following us. I look back at the unconscious Marines lying facedown in the grass, bruises all over their exposed skin. I only caught a glimpse of Luffy when I was falling, but he was wicked, throwing out punches so fast they blurred together, and I couldn't count how many hits he landed.

Rubber man, huh? Freaking awesome.

"Wait!" I suddenly cry when Luffy's ship comes into view. I wrench my arm from his grip, starting to run down the coast. A hand wraps around my wrist, stopping me; Luffy's stretched his arm to grab me, a puzzled look on his goofy face. The Swordsman only raises an eyebrow at me. "I need to get something," I explain, gently removing Luffy's fingers from my arm. "My house isn't very far away, and it's something I can't leave here."

"Ok," Luffy says, walking towards me. "You don't need to come," I tell him. He grins. "I don't want you getting captured by Marines again," he says. I return his smile, starting towards home. "You're an interesting Captain, you know that? Offering to help your crew instead of just giving them orders? Not a very pirate-like way of thinking."

"Luffy isn't like most pirates," the Swordsman says, catching up to us.

"No," I agree. "He's not. He's better than most pirates."











"So this is where you live?" Luffy asks when we arrive at my home, looking around the small home with wide, captivated eyes. I shrug. "It's my parents' house, really, and I don't come here all that often," I say.

"Why's that?" the green-haired Swordsman asks.

"The villagers know where I live, and they pretty much despise me. Sometimes they wait for me here and try to ambush me and drag me to the Marines."

"Why would they hate you so much?"

"Pirates," I correct. "They hate pirates. I think I told you that. Anyway, my dream is to be a pirate, a member of the next Pirate King's crew, so they hate me too, even if, until today, I wasn't really a pirate."

As I make my way to my room, I hear the Swordsman say to Luffy, "Guess you were right."

And Luffy's reply, "Of course I was!"

I don't know what they're talking about, but I don't think it matters much. I doubt it has any negative affect on me, so I'll just ignore it.

I walk over to my bed and crouch down, reaching under the frame for the case I know is there. I smile when my fingers brush the worn leather, and I pull the case out into the light. I haven't touched it in a while, so there's a layer of dust coating it, but it's still warm and beautiful to me. I gently ease the case open and pick up the red-hilted sword, sheathed in red and gold. I close the case and push it under my bed again, standing and returning to the others.

The Swordsman's eyes widen when he sees my sword. "Is that yours?" he asks, hand unconsciously going to the white-hilted sword hanging from his waist. I shake my head. "It's my dad's," I say, smiling down at it. "He wanted to be as good as Red-Haired Shanks."

"SHANKS?!" Luffy exclaims.

I wince at the volume of his voice, one finger in my ear to try and block out his voice. "Yeah," I say. "My dad said Shanks was his hero. He said Shanks was a good man, despite being a pirate, and that if he ever got the chance to sail the seas under a black flag, he wanted to be just like Shanks." My grip on the sword tightens as I feel tears prick the back of my eyes. I don't want to cry in front of my captain, but I can't help it; whenever I talk about my mom and dad's dream, I start to tear up.

"My mom too," I say softly, grinning ever so slightly. "She really admired Shanks. She used to tease my dad about how he'd never be as good-looking as Shanks."

I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand and look back up at Luffy. I blink as I take in his straw hat. I noticed it before, but now that I'm thinking about Shanks... Luffy smiles at me, holding onto his hat with one hand. "I got this from Shanks," he says proudly, and my eyes widen. "We made a promise. I'm supposed to keep this hat until I become a great pirate, and I can return it to Shanks."

"You want to be the King of the Pirates, you're made of rubber, and now I find out you've not only met Shanks, you have his hat." I shake my head in amazement. "I'm really glad you're the first pirate I've ever met," I say, grinning at him.

I walk past him into the kitchen, where I turn on the sink and splash water on my face. The tomato's started to dry, and it's annoying the hell out of me. I grab a towel and dry off my face, as Luffy asks, "So... what happened to your parents?"

"Luffy!" the Swordsman scolds, punching Luffy in the head.

"They died," I say quietly, surprising them both. I stare at the sword still in my hands, running my fingers over the red and gold sheath. "A pirate came to this island eight years ago, and killed my parents. And I know what you're thinking. Why the hell would I want to become a pirate after that?"

"We heard why," Luffy says, and I snap my head up to stare at him. "You... what?" I ask, blinking at him. "You're conversation with the Marine Commander," the Swordsman says, resting his arm on his three swords. "We were outside the window. We heard what you said about your parents."

"Oh," I say quietly. "That's good. But that's not the only reason I want to become a pirate so badly."

"What else is there?" Luffy asks, frowning at me.

"As petty and cold-hearted as this is," I say, my voice taking on a cold, dark tone I don't enjoy using. "I want revenge on the pirate who murdered my family."

I don't look up to see their expressions; I don't think I can take it. I don't want to see the disappointment I've seen in so many other faces. So I force a smile onto my face and turn towards the door. "Anyway, we should get going. The Marines are probably looking for your ship right now."















Zoro's P.O.V.

"As petty and cold-hearted as this sounds," Raya says, her voice matching her broken eyes. "I want revenge on the pirate who murdered my parents."

I narrow my eyes at her, but she doesn't look up. She's fighting for revenge? I don't believe that's a good enough reason to go after someone, but maybe I can understand her reasoning. She lost her only family to a pirate. It seems natural that she'd want to kill him in return.

Raya looks up with a pathetic excuse for a smile, her eyes on the door. I exchange a look with Luffy, who shrugs. Why did I think he'd be any help in this situation?

"Anyway," Raya says, "we should get going. The Marines are probably looking for your ship right now." She casts one quick, anxious glance at the two of us before striding out the door, her red sword still held tightly in both hands.

Her father's sword, eh? I wonder if she knows how to use it. It would explain why she wanted my sword back on the pier.

Raya knows the island much better than we do, so we let her guide us back to the Going Merry.

After a while of silence, Luffy says, "We'll help you Raya."

She stops dead in her tracks, and I collide painfully with her back. I mutter an unconvincing apology, but she doesn't seem to hear me.

"Don't," she says without turning around. "Don't say you'll help me get revenge. This is my burden to bear, not my captain's. I'll help you accomplish your goal first, then I'll go after mine."

She sighs tiredly, shaking her head and starting to move again.

I admire her ethics, but with Luffy, I'm not sure he'll listen to her pleas.











Luffy's P.O.V.

Raya seems so sad now. I didn't mean to make her upset, I was just wondering about her family.

But I understand why she doesn't want help in her revenge. It's personal to her, and having someone else kill the pirate who murdered her parents would only insult her. But I'll be there for her when the day finally comes for her to take her revenge.

Zoro and I follow Raya through the thick forest, trusting her to take us to the Merry. Then she suddenly veers to the right, throwing a sneaky smile over her shoulder. I grin back at her, happy she's changed her mood.

"You guys came here for supplies, didn't you?" she asks.

"Yeah," Zoro says warily.

"Then how about helping me fulfill one of my darker desires?"

I'm not sure what she means by that, but if she wants help, then I'm in!

"What's with that look in your eye?" Zoro asks, narrowing his eyes at her.

She smiles at him. "That, dear Swordsman, is the look of one who can't wait to scare the living hell out of one of her tormentors."

Zoro doesn't really say anything after that.













Raya's P.O.V.

That was probably a bad idea. But I can't help chuckling to myself even now.

The Swordsman and Luffy helped me scare the crap out of the grocer just a few minutes ago. He practically peed himself!

When he ran out of his store, screaming like a little girl, I packed up a bunch of his food in a sack and the Swordsman slung it over his shoulder. We hightailed it out of there, and now we're still running back to their ship.

"I was hoping you weren't really this insane," the Swordsman mutters from behind me. I smile at him over my shoulder. "I'm not really," I say and he raises as eyebrow at me. "But I'm leaving, and I just wanted to repay that guy for all the times he refused to sell me food. Starvation can make a girl just a little ticked off, you know?"

The Swordsman looks away, his eye twitching, and I hold back a laugh. It's kind of fun pissing him off.

"Hey, that's your ship right?" I call back, pointing at the ship with a sheep masthead that I can just see through the trees. Luffy grins. "Merry!" he says excitedly, running past me.

"How do you stand this much childish behavior?" I ask the Swordsman, amused. A faint smile touches his lips as he stares after his captain. "We manage," he says as we leave the trees behind and move across the sand.

Luffy is already on the Merry, and he's talking animatedly to the long-nosed boy with the curly black hair and the girl with the short orange hair and the short skirt. The Swordsman climbs up the ladder while I stand on the ground, playing with the bandana around my neck.

"You coming?"

I look up the see that the green-haired man is stopped halfway up the ladder, looking back down at me. "Are you sure this is going to work?" I ask, making him pause. "I mean, we don't even know each other."

"Like I said before," he says. "Luffy will do anything for his friends, and you'll already one. So don't worry about it, and get up here."

I grin softly as I follow him up the ladder.

"Everyone!" Luffy shouts when my feet hit the deck. "This is Raya! She's our newest crew member!"

"We know her name Luffy," the girl says. "She told us before."

"I'm the brave Captain Usopp!" the curly-haired boy says, jumping in front of me, fisted hands on his hips. He sticks his long nose proudly in the air. "And you look like a fine edition to my crew!"

"Um," I mutter, rubbing the back of my neck. "I thought Luffy was captain. Did I miss anything?"

"No," the girl sighs, grabbing Usopp by the nose and dragging him away from me. "Don't pay any attention to this idiot. He's just a liar."

"Not true!" Usopp says, his voice sounding funny because she's still gripping his nose. "I'm not just a liar!"

"I'm Nami," the girl says, offering me her hand. We shake, and I give her a pleasant smile. "It's nice to properly meet you guys. And it's great to be a part of this crew." Then I frown, turning my head slightly to look at the Swordsman. "I never got your name," I say. He opens his mouth to reply, when Usopp shouts out, "MARINES! THEY"RE FOLLOWING US!"

He shrieks like a scared infant and ducks behind Luffy, who's glaring with child-like intensity at the Marine vessel following us. The Base here isn't very large, compared to others, so I'm not surprised they can only spare a ship or two to track down some no-name pirates.

I slap a hand to my forehead in frustration. "This is exactly why I told you guys to leave when I did."

"Would you rather be dead right now?" the still unamed Swordsman questions skeptically. I shake my head. "No but... I don't want to see you guys get caught."

"Neither do I," Nami whines, ducking into the cabin, where I guess the steering mechanism is, considering I don't see a wheel anywhere on deck.

An explosion occurs in the water just to the left of the Going Merry.

Usopp screams again.

I lean over the side, staring down at the frothing water. "And now they're shooting cannonballs at us," I mutter crossly. "This is why I love the goddamn Marines."

"You're in a great mood," the Swordsman says, standing next to me. I shrug. "This went from being the best day of my life, to being the worst, then back to being the best and now it's the worst again." I glare at him from the corner of my eye. "What kind of mood am I supposed to be in?"

"The same mood Luffy's in," he says, pointing over his shoulder at our captain, who's now making weird, stretched-out faces at the Marines tailing us. I can't help but laugh at the sight of him; he's ridiculous.

"He seems a little young to be a captain," I say, judging his age. "What is he, seventeen, eighteen?"

"It's not that young among new pirates."

"Yes, but when you've got the mind of an eight-year-old, seventeen is young."

He barks out a laugh, just as the Marines fire again. My eyes widen as I watch the cannonball zip past a startled Luffy and head straight towards us. Without thinking, I shove the Swordsman out of the way, and he shouts indignantly. I shoot him a glare just before the cannonball catches my shoulder, grazing me, but sending me over the side of the ship.

I scream in pain, falling towards the water so fast I know I might break something on impact.