You sat outside your apartment in the morning. You had spent the day before doing absolutely nothing, if you were going to be honest. You had forced down a meal, and you had managed to get some sleep that wasn't useless, but that was about it. After a shower you had decided to just sit outside and wait for Doflamingo and his limo to arrive.

You know about the Warlords, and you even knew some of them by name, but you had never seen any of them. Most citizens of the Grandline knew only that they existed, and that they clashed with the Emperors alongside the Marines from time to time. Those battles were practically natural disasters, but they didn't happen often, and the Government rolled in and fixed everything up afterward.

If rumors were to be believed, sometimes even the Emperors themselves would assist in rebuilding.

You feel your phone vibrate, and it pulls you back into the moment. Looking at it you see it's a text from Eustass Kid, and you can feel your heart twist even before you open it up to read it.

Red: Get in the limo.

You: Take care, Kid.

You take in a breath and let it out, shoving the tears back inside. You couldn't bring yourself to actually say goodbye, but you didn't want to worry him. It wasn't the farewell you wanted but considering you didn't want there to be a farewell at all, it was as good as it was going to get.

After a minute you see a limo. It's not super flashy, except that it's a limo, and you weren't entirely sure what you had expected. You stood up as it came to a stop across from you and took a few steps toward it.

While the limo might not be flashy, what stepped out of it was. You could hear Kid's voice in the back of your mind, bellowing about a pink feathered bastard, and you finally understood why he had described Doflamingo that way.

Standing easily over seven feet, a man stepped out of the limo. He had unbelievably short blonde hair, and silver rimmed crimson glasses with a striking shape to the lenses. The grin on his face was almost more unsettling than his massive height, and the mostly unbuttoned shirt showed off an impressive physique. Capri pants with a pink fiery motif added to the look, but the big, fluffy, almost ghastly pink feathered coat draped over his shoulders completed the look.

It was like you were being approached by the world's deadliest flock of flamingos, as you half expected a series of beaked faces to peek up from the coat eyeing you with red beady eyes, like you were more shrimp than mouse.

"Miss (Y/N), it's good to finally meet you face to face." There was no mistaking that voice, but there was something different in it today. A couple days ago it was laced with authority, today it was dripping with confidence.

"I... uh, yeah." You stammer. Your brain's still trying to process this man's height, let alone all the other details about him. You thought Eustass and his crew were tall. Maybe the Underground was just full of people with some giant blood in their ancestries. "It's a pleasure, sir."

"I didn't expect to see you here completely alone like this." He muses, stopping far enough away that you don't have to crane your neck to look up at him.

"I, it seemed better – er," you shook your head. You were starting to babble. "You said I'd be safe, so I just... left." You admit.

A soft chuckle escaped him, and something about it made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. "You've made your decision then."

"... I have. I have, and, um, I have a question. Will you answer it before I tell you my decision?" Asking something of a Warlord seemed like the surest way to end your short life, but you weren't going to get another chance quite like this.

"Perhaps," he replies, and the teasing tone in his voice sends a shudder through you. This man could flick his wrist and end your life, and you're asking for favors.

"Why do I heal like I do?"

The soft chuckle bubbles up again, but this time it grows into a full-blown laugh. As far as you can tell it's a truly amused laugh, there's no mania or edge to it that makes you nervous.

"Straight to the point!" He laughs. "You're an interesting kid, I'll give you that." He crouches down and puts himself at eye level with you, but even in this position he's still just impossibly big. "Sure, I'll tell you as a parting gift, Miss. Your mother was a citizen of Germa, but not one with enough strength or money to have any rights. She underwent a lot of experiments before she managed to escape.

"Fate flung her into the arms of Vergo while he was on a Marine mission, and my stone-faced and stone-hearted friend fell for her, and here you are. Stolen Germa tech in you." He says, pointing at your chest.

"... What?"

Doflamingo shrugs, the motion shifting the mountain of feathers. "That is all I know. Chemical, genetic, or mechanical, who knows? I doubt anyone shy of Vegapunk could even detect it."

You're quiet for a moment, processing everything you've just been told.

"I... um. Thank you." You say, bowing deeply.

"Manners, but no sense." Doflamingo muses, and smiles when you look at him quizzically. "You're not getting in my limo, are you, young lady?"

"No. No, I'm not." You answer, and you're relieved to find you can even definitively say as much out loud.

"I do hope you're aware of what that means."

"I am." There's a shiver in your voice, but you manage to keep a hold of it. You offer him a sheepish and yet sure smile. "I figure if I can make it to the Marine station, then at least Coby will be able to reopen the investigation into Decken."

Doflamingo's smile is approving, and you don't know what to make of that. "The best of luck to you." He says, and hands over an ornate flintlock style pistol. "My gift to you. The weak don't get to choose how they die, but now, Miss (Y/N) you have a choice."

The words make your stomach drop, and you swallow hard before managing a quiet word of thanks.

Doflamingo gets back into his limo, and after a moment you're alone again. Standing out in the open near the apartment's parking lot feels oddly exposed, even if you're not expecting anything to come at you for another few hours at least. Maybe not even for the rest of the day if you're really lucky. You doubted that Doflamingo was going to waltz up to Decken and give him the green light personally, so it should take the creep a while to figure out he wasn't being hounded anymore.

You took out your phone, thought better of it, and put it back in your pocket. You weren't going to force his hand. You wanted Kid and the others to think you had gotten in that limo and were somewhere safe and unreachable. That had been your decision the moment you realized you couldn't stay with them.

You thought about asking Luffy for help, but the letters that had piled up inside your door from the crew over the last couple months told you they were entirely too far away. It would take days for them to get back to the Grandline Metro - even if you had told them right after your call with Doflamingo, they still wouldn't have made it in time.

You tucked the flintlock into your backpack and tightened your shoelaces before you started toward the nearest Marine office. 

You didn't get very far.

Once you reach the end of the apartment building you feel a chill run down your spine. At first you look up to the sky, but after a second you turn and see a figure standing in the shade of the building.

"You're kind of shit at taking orders." Eustass says. His voice is quiet, and his eyes are practically piercing your soul.

"I don't remember joining your crew, Kid." You say, looking away.

"What's your plan now?" His voice is becoming a growl, and you take a step back.

"Not your concern," you answer. "Why're you even here?" The question comes from your lips and you feel a tug at your hand as you're yanked toward Kid.

He grabs your wrist in his hand and you can feel the magnetic energy humming around him. It fades as his grip on your wrist is already inescapable.

"What was your plan?" His voice is demanding, low and threatening, and at the moment you think maybe he is more intimidating than Doflamingo.

"... My plan was for you to go on thinking I had gotten in that limo." You admit, looking into his eyes as best you could.

"And then what?"

You look away and swallow. "I'm on my way to the Marine office."

"Huh? Are you gonna turn yourself over for experiments or something? You're not a lab rat!" Kid barks and you could hear the pain starting to break into his tone.

"... I thought, if the weapons rained down on the steps of the Marine office they'd have to deal with Decken." Your voice is quiet, and you can't bring your eyes back to his.

Kid's grip on your wrist tightens, but you didn't try to pull away. You were just glad it was his right hand.

"Do you want to die?" Kid forces the words out through grit teeth.

"No, I-!"

Kid yanks you into a rough kiss so suddenly it takes your brain a couple seconds to realize what the hell is happening. Your hands are held against the wall by his, and you're trapped against the side of the apartment building so fast that it is disorienting.

"Why didn't you get into the limo?" Kid's growls the question, his voice sinking into you as his teeth trail across your neck.

"I - haa - wasn't going to swear loyalty to h-him." You answer, struggling against a cage you couldn't escape if you wanted to.

There's a nip at your earlobe and you tense as you try to keep your moans internal. "Why the marines? Why weren't you coming back to me?" His voice is hot against your skin, and there's desire, anger and pain mixed in it.

"I... I didn't want to force your hand." You admit, turning your head away and looking away from him. "I didn't want to know what you would choose, me or your dream, and I didn't want you to choose me over it."

"What I choose is up to me," he growls, letting go of one of your wrists and turning your face toward his. "You're not big and bad enough to force my hand, Mouse."

The single word, that one name, breaks the dam you had been building up since the night before last and your face twists as tears slip down your cheeks.

"D-don't call me that now." You whimper, trying to turn your head away. Kid doesn't let you go, holding your teary-eyed gaze with his golden eyes.

"If you were just going to throw your life away, I guess that means I'm taking it." He muses, a crooked and teasing grin on his face.

"Hngh, it's my life," you insist. "I'm not throwing it away. I'm choosing to-."

"Unlike that pink bastard," Kid interrupts, his tone and gaze sharp. "I'm not so kind as to give you a choice."

"I won't let you just toss your- hngh!" Kid's teeth sink into your neck, stopping just shy of drawing blood before he assaults you with a new deeply bruising mark. Pleasure and pain have never felt so comforting, even as tears and moans escape you.

"We're going to work on the whole taking orders thing," he growls into your ear, nipping and teasing your skin as he talks, pulling moans and whimpers from you when you try to talk. After a few minutes you're worried you're going to make an embarrassing and orgasmic sound in public just from the rough make out session.

"What are you gonna say, Mouse?"

You make a conflicted, whimpery sound as you can feel your face going red. "... aye, aye Captain."

The smile on Kid's face sends a nearly debilitating shiver through your core, and you're glad you're pinned against the wall because you're not sure you'd be able to keep your feet under you.

He leans in, his lips a breath away from yours. "Tell me I can kiss you, Mouse."

"You're asking for permission now?" Your voice is legitimately confused, even as heat and need bubble up to the surface.

"That was that, this is this." He says softly, his eyes moving from your lips to your eyes.

"... you can kiss me."

Soft warm lips press against yours, gently at first before Kid pushes into you with more pressure. His prosthetic steadies you by your hips and his hand cradles your head as his tongue pushes its way into your mouth. No matter how he kissed you it managed to steal your breath, and you felt the rush of pleasure rise in your chest.

You let your fingers slip through his hair and trace along his neck, and were rewarded with a soft, contented hum rumbling in his chest. You didn't hold back your own moans, quiet, soft tears slipping down your checks. They were a mix of relief and joy, since moments before you were fairly certain you were going to die today.