"So.. yer probably wondering why I brought you here" again the redhead tried to engage you in conversation, but with every other attempt, you didn't respond.

You stared back at the man with pursed lips, completely unamused with his nice and civil facade, especially with how he was pointedly ignoring the men rooting through your satchel near his side of the table.

You glanced around, narrowing your eyes at all the thugs looming over you from the sides of the room, busy entertaining themselves with whatever they fancied to do with you as they stared, not truly looking at you.

Only a few others besides you and the leader were sitting at the table itself, all of which you guessed were the main squad.

The redhead coughed into his fist, seemingly displeased with the silence but not acting out on it, instead he hunched over and grinned again, this time a little more stretched than before.

It was almost amusing, seeing as you couldn't speak anyway.

"Not much of a talker are ya?" Suddenly his eyes lit up and he straightened up in his seat, holding himself in a way that looked like it held a challenge, "or are you too scared to even squeak?"

Frowning grumpily at his insinuation, and embarrassed by the laughs that came from it, you just shrugged deeper into your baggy jumpsuit and gave him a mean glare, already having a few ideas on how to kick his ass, if he should give you the chance.

There were a few moments of silence, and this time, he was visibly growing frustrated by your lack of compliance.

"Listen" his fist slammed harshly onto the table, and several people shrunk back into the walls from his expression alone, "I have a few questions I wanna ask you.. answer them and we'll let you go, unharmed, okay?"

By now you were considering trying to speak yourself, but refrained from doing so, knowing that it would give away what you truly were and most likely get you killed, however, it seemed that any more of the silent treatment was going to do that to you anyway, as he seemed inches away from wringing your neck.

Well.. fuck you.

Abruptly, the leader leapt from his seat, momentum being strong enough to cause the chair to fall over, and you were legitimately sweating, knowing that this was probably gonna end with you covered in blood, no matter who won.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck, why am I getting into this shit..'

"Alright, you little-" "Kidd, wait"

Blinking at the new, deeper voice, you turned to one of the other men at the table, more specifically, one of the men given the task of searching your satchel, and slumped in relief seeing him pass the leader your notebook.

"She's a mute"

As the redhead snatched the notebook from him and flipped through the pages, you suddenly stiffened again, realizing that you still had snippets from previous conversations in there, with incriminating information.

Staring hard into the man that had handed out your notebook, you only grew more anxious seeing that any expression he may have had was hidden by a hockey mask.

Oh please somebody just shoot you...

Thankfully, it seemed the redhead was merely gliding through the words and not really paying them any mind, until he rested on one page, and his expression darkened considerably.

You could feel your skin crawl, and an almost ghostly voice whispered over your shoulder in a fearful, tiny voice, which you realized two seconds too late was your own.

'He knows'

The redhead didn't make a move, didn't freeze up in fear, didn't move a hand to his gun.. he just stared at the page that caught his attention, analyzing it, contemplative.

Nearly jumping as he released a well drawn out sigh, the man set down the notebook and pushed it across the table, all the way to you, whilst he pulled up his chair and sat back down in it, now looking more thoughtful and serious than before.

"Sorry about my previous behavior" you blinked at the apology, "it didn't occur to me that you couldn't speak over than just not wanting to"

Pulling out the pen that you kept within the notebook's spine, you flipped to a totally new page and wrote in big, bold letters.

'No biggie, happens all the time'

The leader smirked at the page, seemingly more comfortable now that you were communicating with him, "eh, good then"

Leaning back in his seat with a grin, the man looked to the guy with the hockey mask and nodded to your satchel, "found anything else in there?"

The blonde man shook his head, "all that's left in here are bandages, more pens, a couple of bags of chips, an apple, and a bottle of water.. oh, and a mint" the redhead quirked a non-existent brow.

"Not even a pocket knife in there?"

"No" the blonde sounded just as confused.

'I don't need one'

The leader looked like he wanted to say something about that, almost amusedly, but instead shrugged it off, "alright then.. now that you can communicate, got some questions?"

Pausing for a moment, you gave the redhead a long look before scribbling in your notebook.

'Who are you?'

Everyone seemed to have been taken off guard by the question, as whispers circulated and the man seemed to have been nearly offended.

"Trafalgar never told you about me?"

You bit your lips at the question, knowing that there was a lot of times when the surgeon would go off on some topic, only for you to grow bored and fall into a daze, and by the time you snapped out of it, he was talking about something totally different.

Oh..

'I was only with him for a couple of weeks, but I'm sure he never mentioned a heavy metal biker gang'

The redhead threw back his head with a cackle, seemingly finding your description of him and his crew most amusing despite the earlier offense.

"Well then, I guess it's been rude of me to have been lugging you around without a name, huh?" The leader glanced back at the masked blonde, searching for any objections before turning back to you with a toothy grin, "name's Eustass Kidd, and this here is my crew"

You immediately felt familiar to the name, but where have you heard it before-

Oh.

'Oh... wait a minute'

Suddenly it clicked, and the cold sweat you developed before came back with a vengeance.

This guy wasn't just the leader of any group, he was of a Supernova group, one of Law's and Luffy's rivals, and even the one that caused the whole mess with the barn to top it all off.

Kidd seemed to have seen the recognition written on your features, as he once again burst into laughter, "at least it seems I don't have to explain who I am"

You nodded, now more weary of the man before you, as from what you've gathered so far, he wasn't someone you wanted to fuck with without good reason.

"So, what's yer name?"

'(L/n) (Y/n)'

Kidd glanced at the blonde, only for him to shake his head.

"Alright then.. so, as I said earlier, I have a few questions, you get where I'm going with this?" You nodded your head, slowly easing into the conversation the redhead was leading.

"So from what I've gathered so far, Trafalgar and that brat are.. all chummy again, I'm guessing?" You pursed your lips from how he addressed Luffy, but otherwise let the comment slide.

'Yeah, co-operation is back in full swing'

"And what were you doing with Trafalgar?"

You hesitated for a moment, not exactly knowing how to respond to that question.

'I was sent to help Law with a personal matter, and in exchange he helped us out with one of ours'

You felt at ease with this explanation, as it wasn't too far from the truth, and Kidd only mulled over it for a few moments before moving on, much to your relief.

"Okay.."

Suddenly, the room got very quiet, and as time wore on, awkwardness only came to accompany it, making you even sweatier, enough that you were sure it was visible.

'Um, don't you have anymore questions?'

Kidd narrowed his eyes at your notebook, and he didn't make a move whatsoever to answer you, until a sigh let itself out, followed by a chuckle that almost sounded embarrassed.

"Well uh.. not really.. see-" Kidd sat upright and hunched over the table, "I really just kidnapped you to piss those two idiots off and get them back at each other's throats again.." you gave the Supernova an unimpressed look.

"But- I do have one more question for ya" the way he said it made you kind of weary, but considering his other questions, you reasoned this one couldn't be that bad.

This time, Kidd's expression became more wicked, as when he first approached you, and everything in the room became insufferably hot and cold at the same time, a heat that chilled your bones, but you refused to show your discomfort.

"What's a ghoul?"

Your heart immediately sunk.

The blonde perked up at the question, and you were already counting down the seconds to disaster as he spoke with mild curiosity, "ghoul? What brought up that question?"

Kidd turned away from you and smirked at his subordinate, "Killer, you know what it is?"

The blonde shrugged, "well originally in Arabian culture, it was depicted as a shape-shifting demon, but now ghouls are more popularly seen as zombies that have retained their intelligence and... blend in with...." you could hear the exact moment the man put two and two together, and could barely refrain yourself from going apeshit with fear.

Both men turned to you with serious, apprehensive expressions, or at least you assumed Killer had one as well, "Kidd.. you don't.. think.."

The leader laced his fingers together and gave you a calculating look, appraising you... menacingly.

With the change in Kidd's demeanor, several people in the room cocked their guns, and your body was now running on pure adrenaline, hard as a rock and ready to spring into action at the first sign of trouble.

Though as soon as people started raising said guns, Kidd snorted, and chuckled darkly into his arms, careful to hide his expression, releasing a rich, crinkled sound that had your spine tingling and legs going wobbly in the knees.

"I knew Trafalgar was working on some fucked up shit.. but this.." peeking out from in between his fingers, you nearly recoiled from the intensity within them, they were thriving with fascination, somehow resembling Law's from when he first got to know you, only without the babbling panic attack.

Kidd grinned, psychotic, gleeful, but what confused you the most, was how it was without the tiniest bit of fear, "this is his best work yet, that bastard finally did something good for once"

When you first met Law, he was admittedly weary, as were the Strawhats, and even Luffy had his moments of brief hesitance in the form of curiosity, but this guy..

"So.. you're a ghoul"

Being caught off guard by the normalcy in his tone, you nodded without thinking about it and winced the moment you realized your mistake.

Somehow, Kidd's grin grew wider as he leaned forwards, as if trying to get as close to you as the table would allow, "holy shit" he breathed.

Turning to Killer, you felt your stomach drop, realizing where this was probably going.

"Looks like we're changing our plans again, we're keeping her"

'Why me..?'