You watched patiently, watched as the crew stood before the iron gates of the Totto estate as the sun bled out into the skies upon setting.

Not a sound was made from where you hid, a feat not so incredible considering you were a corpse, but considering how naturally loud you were on a regular day, you probably would've been proud of yourself.

Luffy certainly will once you spring him out of there.

Your eyes stung as a large vehicle with high-beams suddenly appeared from the other side of the gate, and with great care, you slunk deeper into the shadows of the vegetation around you.

A tall man exited the tank and approached your nakama, and with that you sprung into action.

Speeding to the side of the wall, you waited until the newcomers began herding your friends through the gates to leap over the walls and charge through the forest circling the heart of the property.

It was awfully quiet for a forest, no game, no birds, no zombies- which must've been one hell of a chore to flush out, with a place as great as this for sneak attacks.

For a moment, you were worried for the others as you heard the vehicle's engine roar to life, no doubt with them loaded onto it now, but you forced those thoughts down for now.

Focus on Luffy and the gang.. yeah.

You eventually came to a break in the treeline, and immediately took to the shadows again as you spotted more lights.

Peeking from behind your hiding spot, you analyzed the great mansion with great trepidation, light poured from every window, and you could see shadows go by on every floor, in every room, shadowed guards marched along the perimeter of the building.

This wasn't going to be easy to get past all that.. maybe you could jump onto the roof?

You narrowed your eyes at the said roof and pursed your lips in hesitation.

While the distance didn't seem too unreasonable, you didn't know if the roof itself was safe for walking on, or even worse, if it was strong enough to withstand your strength and weight.

As you continued to assess your options, the vehicle from before arrived, and all personnel within the vicinity rushed to most likely escort your friends inside.

This was your best chance to go unnoticed.

Clicking your tongue at the inconvenience, you literally ran back into the shadows, took a calming growl, and leaped as high as you could to avoid being seen.

It was much harder to maneuver yourself this time than when you jumped out of that arena with Tama, you couldn't see anything, nor could you actually measure your distance from your target as you had no set landing point.

Deciding to swallow your fears, you blindly aimed yourself for the roof of the mansion, and just as you were about to strike the shingles, you realized too late how loud this would be upon impact.

Slamming into the roof was jarring for only a moment, your head bounced off the shingles and rang slightly, however, that was the worst of it, the real problem was the gigantic bang that followed, and you could only pray to god that the gang was either kicking up a fuss as they were being escorted, or the room directly below you was empty.

Huffing to yourself at your own clumsiness, you cautiously waddled along the roof, conscious of every creek and thud until you found yourself at the edge with a bright window directly below.

Taking a risk, you hung your upper body from the roof and peered into the window.

At first it was hard to connect what you were seeing to your brain, as you were upside down, but once your eyes adjusted to the bright light, you came to realize that you were peering into a kitchen, an empty one too.

The lights were on, so you could assume that the people inside would probably come back soon, nonetheless, you've already made a resolution to take every chance given to you tonight, and without much thought, crashed through the window.

As you fell to the floor, you scrambled to get up and run into hiding before anybody could show up to investigate but.. there was nobody coming, in fact, the whole manor sounded devoid of much life.

A chill shot through your whole body and you instinctively palmed the satchel strapped to your waist, knowing that the handgun Killer gave you would be there.

This whole place felt all sorts of wrong.

Setting that nauseous feeling down, you decided to let it go for now and charge through the mansion's halls- and sure enough, nobody in sight.

Feeling more gutsy then you probably should have been, you began to open up random doors, only to be met with empty bedrooms, more kitchens, storage spaces, and the like.

After a while of running, as you were getting closer to the front of the building, you could finally hear the sounds of life, namely voices and laughter.

They all came from a room directly in front of the main entrance, and you guessed that was where your friends were taken upon their arrival, still.. it felt a little too convenient for them all to have gathered in there.

Were all the big shots around here this careless?

Deciding to save that room for last- as there was no way on god's green earth that Big Mom was idiotic enough to have all of her captives in one place, you continued to scour the vicinity until..

"Oi! Big Mom! Come back here! I'll kick your ass!"

Luffy!

Letting out a joyous moan, you made a beeline for the voice, only to stumble upon a bedroom redesigned as a prison of sorts.

Your friends spotted you the same time you did, and there was an elation building up from your chest seeing the light come to life in your leader's eyes, "(Y/n)!"

Everyone in the cell began to fight over who got to be in front, and with a quick scan you were relieved to find everyone safe and sound, including the Hearts.

"(Y/n)! How'd you get here?!" Law shoved his way through your friends, Tama right behind him in tears, "(Y/n)! I knew you'd come save us!"

Rushing into the room to free them, you were about to chirp and chatter back in excitement when a gunshot rang out.

With practiced ease, you allowed your body to go limp as you felt a bullet bury its way inside your heart, you could only curse your carelessness as you laid face down on the floor.

"So there was another one.." a deep baritone approached you from behind, they must've been hiding behind the other side of the door, and hearing a higher pitch of laughter, you guessed there must've been two of them.

"(Y/n)!" Luffy and the crew shouted frantically, prompting another gunshot from your attacker, shutting them up.

"Hahahaha! The idiot just waltzed right up to her death! Hahaha! Katakuri, you don't think she was the one he wanted alive, do you? Hahaha!" The second voice sounded younger, smaller, probably around Luffy's age.

"If she was, it's pointless to hand her over now that she's... dead.." the first voice stopped a few feet away from you, and you began to sweat as suspicion leaked into his tone.

"No blood.." you went cold, you could feel him hovering over you, and soon his fingers were half curled around your neck, you thought he was going to strangle you, snap your neck even, but after nothing happening for a good forever, his presence retracted, "no pulse.."

"You shot her through the heart! No way she's alive!"

Nothing.. the other enemy didn't speak, and you could feel their eyes burning into the back of your skull.

"It wouldn't hurt to make sure.." there was the distinct sound of a gun cocking, and you sprung into action.

"What the-!" Flipping over, you faced your shooter and grabbed onto the hand with the gun, in response, they stood up and tried to shake you off, but to no avail, your strength was far superior to his.

"Wah! She- She's alive?!" Glancing over your opponent's shoulder, you could see a younger girl, no older than Chopper no doubt, and with a frightened squeak, she brandished her own gun.

Without thinking, you kicked the larger man's shins and reached for your gun, pulling it out just as she aimed her own, and shot the arm that held it.

"Flampe!" Shouting in panic at the pained cry of his ally, the man fought back with more power, causing you enough trouble to lose your grip, which he took advantage of by dancing out of your reach.

"What the hell are you..?"

Now that you and your opponent were eye to eye, you could now properly take in his appearance.. and unfortunately he was hot.

'Drat! Curse the gods that be! That I must strike down such beauty!'

Your opponent glared at you menacingly, glancing back at the fallen girl only once to affirm that she fainted of shock and was not in fact dead.

You both continued to size each other up, brandishing your guns at the ready, and circling each other in a hesitant dance.

At the sidelines, your friends cheered and urged you on, forcing themselves against the bars of their prison and raising a ruckus so large you were practically waiting for the rest of Big Mom's forces to come running at the noise.

With your guard down, you hissed damningly as the larger man struck, but instead of shooting like you expected, he charged forwards, grabbing your own and knocking you off balance.

In the wrestling match that followed, the cheers of your friends suddenly became deafening, the room was sweltering, walls were closing in on all sides and the roof was falling upon your head.

It took you a few moments to realize that the guy was trying to choke you out, but since you didn't need to breathe in the first place, all that you felt was a deep pressure threatening to consume you.

No matter how many times you kicked or pounded the guy to get off, he refused to budge, and it only got even more terrifying as he started to cough blood, as you've obviously broken bones and perhaps even organs in your attempt to fight him off.

"I don't know what the hell you are.." you emitted a shaky groan as he weakly tried to pry the gun from your hand, "but... you're dying.. tonight"

Shit- Shit! Shit-! Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshish-!

Your body went on autopilot, and with a monstrous roar, you lurched up and bit into the corner of his mouth, and that was all it took for the taste of copper and the smell of rust to flood your senses.

Recognizing his situation, the man daresay shrieked and jumped back from you, his lips ripped up with you, and in the heat of the moment, you kicked him right in the gut.

There was a crack when his head hit the ground, and you didn't dare look back to see what damage you brought.

Croaking in horror, you staggered away from the mess you made.

The room was silent, and with tears threatening to surface, you turned to your nakama, seeing them frozen as ice at the savage demonstration.

Oh god now you did it they were gonna ditch you they were gonna kill you they were scared look at their faces oh god-

"Holy shit! (Y/n), that was awesome!" Luffy suddenly grinned, and with a genuine laugh, you felt the tears rain down and slowly scrambled to pull out your notebook.

'No problem captain'