FicWad

Summer jolted awake, blinking her eyes rapidly in confusion. She coughed violently from the suddenly dusty air. The entire infirmary was a wreck; a giant hole was all that was left of the ceiling and the medical equipment that had been attached to Luffy was crushed and broken. Her eyes widened.

'Luffy…'

The boy was gone, most likely through the gaping hole in the roof. There was no one else in the room with her.

"ACE!" She heard outside of the sub. Outside, yelling men and destruction of what she assumed was the surrounding trees filled the air. She knew Law probably wouldn't want her to leave the bed, but at this point she didn't much care. Throwing off the thin blanket covering her, she swung over and landed on her feet.

"Ah…" Her knees buckled beneath her and she fell hard onto the floor. Her limbs still weren't fully recovered from her run through the forest. Everything hurt. "Dammit…" She muttered.

Forcing herself into a kneeling position, she breathed in and out slowly, preparing for the length of floor to the door. Now that she needed to struggle to get to it, it seemed so far away. Taking one more deep breath she got on her hands and knees and began to crawl with agonizing slowness to the infirmary door.

Each stretch of her arm and lift of her legs brought pain and strained her stiff joints. Gritting her teeth, she pushed forward despite the effort it took to make it only a few feet.

What seemed to be ages later, she reached up and turned the handle, watching as the door swung open into the hallway. She continued on her knees, trying her best to ignore the now loose bandages around her knees. Again, the hallway seemed to go on forever. She cursed everything she could think of, glaring at the door such a distance away.

'Stupid submarine…Stupid Pirates…Stupid idiot Kuja…'

Her injured knee, now fully exposed to the floor, scraped harshly against the worn metal.

"Shit." She said under her breath. Lifting her leg so it wouldn't drag across the ground, she continued forward somewhat awkwardly.

Eventually reaching the door, she realized that the commotion outside had died down. She could no longer hear the agonized screams of Luffy as he searched for his dead brother. Making her way to the main hatch, she threw it open with great effort and glanced at her surroundings.

The clearing was a disaster; trees were cut in half and scattered around on the grass, debris from the ship lay on the shore nearby, men were knocked to the ground unconscious, at least she hoped. The alternative was not something she wanted to think about. Liam was one of them, after all.

Law stood with Jinbe, who took off into the forest immediately after she came outside. Shachi and Penguin were trying to wake those on the ground nearby and Summer made her way over to them. The pain was somewhat bearable as she reached the soft grass.

"Summer-Chan!" Penguin exclaimed as he spotted her coming closer. Shachi looked up as well and both men ran over to her side, helping her onto her feet. She nodded in appreciation, too tired to stubbornly reply that she didn't need any help.

"Are you alright?" She nodded again. Looking around, she asked the question that had been on her mind since she woke up.

"What happened?"

"Strawhat woke up in a frenzy! He blew a hole in the sub and took off into the woods. He kept screaming his brother's name." The engineers walked her over to a spot of shade and sat her down. She found her breathing was ragged after all of that work to get outside.

"That fishman went after him to calm him down." Penguin added. They sat down on either side of her.

"Is everyone alright?" She asked, scared to hear the answer. To her relief, they grinned in reply.

"Oh yeah, we're fine! It'll take more than a little roughing up to take us down." She couldn't help but smile in return, grateful that no one had died or gotten seriously injured. It then dawned on her that she had actually been the one in the most danger, being so close to him when he exploded through the ceiling of the submarine.

Bepo came wandering over to her and sat down as well. "Are you alright, Summer? Your knee is bleeding." She looked down and saw her exposed knee soaked in her blood.

"Oh, I didn't even notice." It was true. Her struggle through the halls of the submarine had been agony but she didn't even feel the blood seeping from the wound. Taking a strip of bandage from her arm, she quickly covered the bleeding limb and bound it tightly, grimacing as the pressure brought another stab of pain.

"No, that's too tight." Penguin said, taking the cloth in his hands. "Here, let me do it." He undid the bandage and rewrapped it much looser than she had tied it.

"Thank you." She said, a small smile gracing her lips. Penguin blushed and looked away, pulling his hat farther down his face.

"W-well, ya know…I-it's nothing." She chuckled quietly, amused by his shyness. She patted his leg in affection. She laughed harder when his nose began to bleed and he froze up. Shachi looked pretty depressed, watching her give such a kind treatment to his friend. She grinned as he sighed deeply.

"Thank you, both of you, for helping me." Turning to him, she held his chin in her hand and planted a small kiss on his cheek. To her delight, he froze up and began to bleed from his nose as well.

"W-wha…?" He stuttered. Both fell over in surprise and Summer brought a hand to cover her mouth. She giggled loudly, and Bepo smiled down at her. She was only messing around, but the rational side of her brain decided that now was a great time to butt in.

'This is a mistake. Don't become attached.' Internally, she frowned in anger.

'Let me have a little fun in my life. I'm tired of being lonely.'

Another figure came near her. She looked up into the cold eyes of a certain pirate captain. Just as she expected, he was not happy. Her smile quickly faded away.

"What, may I ask, are you doing out of bed, Summer-ya?" He practically growled. His hand gripped his nodachi tightly in what Summer knew to be restrained anger. She glared back in irritation.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." She said sarcastically. "Well, I figured the old infirmary was a bit boring so I decided on a change of scenery." She crossed her arms, not caring that she was pushing her limit with his patience. She, frankly, hadn't liked his attitude after he had found her and she was still bitter about it. His eyes narrowed in disapproval.

"I don't appreciate your tone of voice, Miss Summer." She shrugged with lack of concern. He gestured to his two incapacitated engineers.

"And please, refrain from fraternizing with my crew like that." He turned his back on her and walked away, leaving a seething Summer behind him.

/'Fraternizing!? Damn him…' /Once he was out of earshot, she cursed him under her breath. Bepo placed a paw on her shoulder, a comforting gesture.

"Don't worry about the captain. He was just worried about you." She scoffed.

"Him? Worried about me? Hell would sooner freeze over than him caring for my safety." Regardless of her ill words, she instinctively patted Bepo's paw in reassurance that she was fine.

Except, she wasn't fine.

The thought of how quickly she had settled in with the Heart Pirates frightened her. She couldn't afford to care about a group of people like that. Her memories kept reminding her why.

Visions of his face appeared in her mind and she shook her head to rid of them. Once she was fully healed, she would ditch the pirate crew and continue on her quest to get stronger. She wasn't going to let him control her life out of fear any longer.

'You will die by my hand, you bastard. Just wait and see.'

Marine Headquarters

"Her body possesses two souls."

Sengoku watched as Moriah's expression turned into one of confusion.

"How is that possible? I've had nothing to do with this girl." He crossed his arms defensively, as if the Fleet Admiral were accusing him of being the cause.

"The second soul she possesses is that of an ancient female warrior known as Nemesis." He leaned back in his chair. "She was a fearsome fighter, excellent on the battlefield, and a strategist at heart. At least, that's what the texts from that time period described her as."

"Time period? How long ago did she live?" This story was continuing to get stranger and stranger…

"Over 350 years ago. It is said that she was betrayed by her lover. She vowed her vengeance but died soon afterwards without following through on it." Moriah shook his head.

"So what does that have to do with the girl?" Sengoku frowned at the interruption.

"You didn't let me finish. Nemesis requested a sacred ritual be done to bind her soul to the earth for eternity until she vanquished her target. Unfortunately, her lover, Iapetus, had the same thing in mind."

"It is said that she inhabits the body of a newborn every generation. When the host body perishes, she is reborn in the body of another who was conceived at the exact moment of the previous host's death."

"How do you know all of this is even true? It sounds an awful lot like a fairy tale told to kids to make them behave if you ask me." Moriah moved to stand but Sengoku held out a hand.

"I assure you everything I am telling you is the truth. Just bear with me." The soul stealer reluctantly sat down again, sighing in frustration. This little story was taking an awfully long time.

"We know the cycle exists because it is described in the Poneglyphs." Sengoku could see the question forming in the larger man's eyes and answered it before he could ask. "We also know she currently resides in the Red Hunter because her power was unleashed on a small island's village when the girl was born. Hundreds were killed, the girl's parents included. Most of the village went down in flames."

"Why wasn't she killed when the people realized it was the newborn?" Sengoku sighed as well, this time in exhaustion. The time was really slipping away.

"The girl had an older sister, Madelyn, who survived the destruction. At the time, she didn't know that her sister was the one who had caused the incident, so the two hid in the woods to escape the village's anger."

"It took several years for the girl to figure it out. There are reports that the Red Hunter killed Madelyn when she found out, but we can't be certain at this point."

"The girl became old enough to fend for herself in the forest. When she was 17, she took to the seas as a bandit. We eventually caught her and locked her in Impel Down in hopes of keeping her alive for as long as possible to keep Nemesis locked away from the world."

"Now that she's escaped, the soul will continue to look for her target. This poses a great danger to the public."

"Is the girl able to control this power?" The Shichibukai asked curiously, stroking his chin in thought. The Fleet Admiral shook his head.

"No. As far as we know, she doesn't even know about Nemisis' soul inside of her. We have no idea what triggers her emergence either." The Fleet Admiral finished, looking to Moriah in anticipation.

The man's interest was certainly piqued. Having such a soul in his collection may well be worth the trouble of finding her. Of warrior of such prowess was sure to be feared once again in the flesh. He could feel the Fleet Admiral's gaze on him and he grinned back at him.

"So, you want me to find the girl and rip this warrior's soul right out of her? That I can do." Sengoku narrowed his eyes.

"You are to destroy Nemisis' soul completely. She is too dangerous to be kept on the earth any longer. Her vendetta against Iapetus is bound to cause collateral damage. Do I make myself clear?" Moriah glared at this. He stood up swiftly.

"I will find the girl and take this warrior's soul, but what I do with it is my own business. It's pretty clear I'm the only one who can help you, so either I receive her soul as payment or you can continue to watch as she wreaks havoc in the world."

The Fleet Admiral was visibly upset by this, breathing hard and closing his eyes tightly, but he skillfully mastered his emotions with a deep breath. Frowning deeply, he opened his eyes and reluctantly nodded.

"Fine. Just get rid of her."

All he got in response was the slamming of his office door.