~~~

[ No one's P.O.V. ]

"Today's events didn't go as planned. Not at all." Bege sighed, stiflingly siting on his chair while Vito poured the hot beverage in his sup. The condensation was visible, the smoke twirling in the air, slowly but progressively spreading around.

"What are we going to do, boss?" The taller male acquired, his calmness smothered by tension.

Taking a deep inhale from the cigar, he answered, his raspy voice determined: "... Continue with the operation. No stopping. No distractions. The attack in the hall was right that. And what is even more disturbing is that the primary strategy continued to proceed as Doflamingo planned. The woman almost reached her goal. But with luck on our side, Bartolomeo stopped her."

"That means this battle was a tie." Vito pushed his glasses up with his index finger.

The arrowhead deepened between the boss' eyebrows and his gaze hardened over the rim of his cup. "Tie? Ridiculous! With that many casualties and injured mafia leaders, this round was definitely his win. Y/n or not, he disabled us. Now only quick, effective recovery and planning can get us back on track."

"And the next stage is to..."

He tapped the side of his head. "... Change the chess figure's location a move ahead. We are leaving. Early in the morning." He leaned into his chair, puffing the grey smoke of his expensive cigar. "Bring me my phone. The one without the tracking and eavesdropping system. I need to have a word with others."

Vito submissively bowed, the faith in the victory again restored. "Yes, sir."

"And explain the situation to Eustass Kid. Fill him in with all necessary information."

"Yes, sir."

~~~

"That's her, right?"

Bege's assistant was silent for a moment, stroking an invisible beard with his fingers. "Yes, Monet from the Donquixote family."

Kid grunted, feeling calmer than before. "And how did she get here? Who was responsible for hiring the employees?"

Looking a bit taken aback with the unusual collectiveness of the younger male, he stiffly answered: "Gotti." He then resumed the silence with finding an apology for his colleague. "But indeed did we interrogate him and without doubt can I say that he had no such desires to betray Capone and the family, nevertheless, allow himself to allow an intruder inside. She sneakily disguised all her personal data, replacing it by someone else's and using highly praised acting skills to blend with the rest of the workers."

"A failure is still a failure. Y/n almost got kidnapped..." Folding his arms in a steady position on his chest, he was slowly losing his patience. The older guy opened his mouth in wish to be granted to continue, but a sudden knock and the immediately an appearance, confused Vito, leaving him speechless and wide eyed at the violet-head man in front of them.

"Excuse me for my intrusion-"

"You!" Fires of fury and hatred were smoldering in the red's narrowed eyes. Strutting without hesitation to the trusted bodyguard, he grabbed his collar, pulling him inches from his anger-squirmed face, spitting rancid saliva with each maliciously punctuated word "This is all YOUR fault, you fuck!" He roared, the twitch of his lower eyelid confirming his mental preparedness.

"Gotti, I told you not to disturb Eustass Kid right now-"

Gulping down the gathered courage, of course the mentioned male still visibly keeping the courtesy between them, candidly spoke in a steady voice: "I deeply apologize, Eustass Kid, for my insolence-"

"Shut your mouth!" The rage that was radiating from him was redirected to the hands in which the fabric of the bodyguard was firmly gripped, the contact's force increasing. "I don't want to hear any more crap from you." With letting a loud disapproving 'tch' he abruptly let go of Gotti, turning his attention back to Vito, dismissing the absence of the attacked guy. "If it weren't for that idiot Bartolomeo, Y/n wouldn't have been here anymore. You do understand that, don't you?"

Both Gotti and Vito nodded. One in fear and the other in agreement. There weren't any other choices on disposal for them to react accordingly.

While the confrontation continued, the whole scenery was meanwhile carefully observed by the blond that was silently sitting behind a desk. Kid was well aware of Killer's presence as he rotated his gaze towards the slightly cracked helmet.

"And you, you idiot! What are you doing here with those injuries?! Are you moron or what? Killer, you are totally useless in that condition."

"Thanks for the worry, Kid. I'm feeling fine." His before strong voice all whispery.

"Fucking, give me a break." With tilting his head towards Capone's subordinates, he swiftly dismissed them, "Killer, pack our stuff. We are leaving in one hour." Recoiling at the wrapped hands of his friend, he briefly cursed before he corrected himself. "Scratch that. Tell Wire to pack the things. You need rest. They almost fucking killed the living shit out of you."

"So it is decided, then. I'm pleasantly surprised you actually agreed to it."

"Shut up. I don't have so many options, do I?" Slamming his hand on the table, a loud crash produced by the hit, Kid's head fell to his chest, the strand of hair falling on his features. "And so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again, I'm going to take precaution matters into my own hands." He deeply inhaled, his glazed eyes shooting up to the blond. Hissing the next words, he continued: "Even if that means I will have to allow the meeting to be held in Trafalgar Law's headquarters."

"How noble of you." It was a decent attempt, enough to fool the casual observer, but Kid wasn't one. He understood Killer's effort to release the build-up tension, as his gaze softened for a fraction. The redhead let out a slow controlled breath and attempted to loosen his body movements. Then after a minute he mischievously grinned. "Broken bones, lack of blood...And you still have enough energy for mockery... That's fucking retarded."

~~~

"So, it's finally decided huh, Eustass-ya?"

"Yes. It's 4 AM. We are leaving one hour from now. One starting ahead of the rest." Kid sneered. "Preferably you."

Law, sending him deadly darts only with a simple look, flinched when he unwillingly nodded as if confirming Kid' orders pained his pride. "I don't like to be ordered, Red-ya. But in this case... I'll have to agree with you. It's too risky for everyone to leave this place at the same exact time."

With that, the uncomfortable conversation step on another incidence of palpable hatred. Kid's thoughts flew in an entirely different direction and it seemed that the raven noticed the sudden pull of brows together in a frown, as he seized the opportunity to explain Y/n's diagnose.

"She is now stable, if that's what you wanted to ask." Law assumed. "The attack wasn't anything fatal, so she is going to be fine. Y/n just needs to get enough res-"

Kid's head jerked up. Halting Law in mid-sentence, he made sure the silence filled the room. Only then he noticed how the doors were a bit cracked open. "Come out. I know you are outside."

The girl didn't immediately respond to his voice. She lingered a bit in the cold hall before stepping into the heated room, her gaze glued to the floor.

"Y/n-ya. What are you doing?"

Redhead's eyes slid towards Y/n's nervously fidgeting fingers and unstable posture that swung from one side to the other. She indulged the embarrassment with her steady voice, but answered with a candid reply, quietly hoping she would get them to explain everything to her. "You two were mentioning packing."

"Yes."

"No."

They both replied in an instant, mutually shooting murdering glares to each other.

"Eustass..." Law threatened. Y/n carefully looked from the side to the pale redhead, again feeling the rising butterflies in her stomach. She had finally admitted to herself what she knew all along but was too afraid to admit it: She liked him. A lot. And she wanted to be with him.

When Kid caught her staring gaze, she quickly lowered her head, volatizing the male's expression, when she regarded the raven and not him for an answer. "Law, what do you mean by packing? Where are we going?"

The male sighed. "We are leaving for one purpose only. There was not enough time to evacuate everyone, though the beasts were successfully disposed of. We decided to move our meeting to my mansion."

"Ok. I'm going to pack then." Feeling the stingy bore, Y/n subtly avoided the confrontation and questioned, shaking her head. "Where is Bonney?"

"Resting." He waited for a second, then added when she sent him a pleading look. "Second floor on the right."

"I'm going to help her." As she turned her back to quickly flee from the spot Kid, hsi face still smoldering underneath the stony expression, halted her.

"There is no need. I will send someone to do it instead of you. We are departing in one hour. Bege already knows. He'll be the last one to arrive."

"I-I can do it myself." She angrily stuttered, while she mentally slapped herself for showing ingenuine hostility.

~~~

When the door closed behind the girl, Law, his arms folded on the chest, skeptically rose a brow. "What did you do, Eustass-ya?"

Kid, standing beside the raven and gazing at the empty space in front of them, not a minute ago another presence inhabiting it, he hesitantly, but with deliberate malice, asked: "What the fuck do you mean?"

"I mean, look at Y/n, she was practically scared of you." The redhead's eye twitched. Law continued, quietly saying: "What happened after I left?"

"...None of your fucking business." Trafalgar turned to him. Kid saw a clutched fist arching towards his face. If he hadn't move to the side, his cheekbone would have been puffed up, the mouth filled with blood. Stopping the attack with one hand, both males bore their despise at each other.

"Look, if you'll keep hurting her, somebody will snatch her from you."

"Oh, yes? Who exactly?" Kid said loudly.

"Me."

Kid's eyes moved with the alertness that comes from heavy stress and his hands remained clenched.

"She is interesting." He inserts, a slow smile curling his lips.

"Is that suppose to make me scared, Trafalgar? If so..."With flushed and mottled neck, a face dark as gathering storm clouds, Kid threatened: "You chose the wrong opponent to mess with. Stay the fuck away from her."

"She's not yours."

"..."

The red head could only run his hand through his cropped hair three times in quick succession, his cold look that had the ability to froze any living being with a malicious glare, lost a bit of sharpness.

"You are aware of it, aren't you? It's her decision to make. And judging from her behavior, she hates your guts...Eustass-ya."

"..."

"See you in one hour." Not looking back over his shoulders, Law left the other male alone in the poorly lit room.

Kid's eyes closed, and he sucked himself into a deeper place to cope with the stunning realization.

~

"No one asked you." I murmured. But something changed at that moment. As if the grey atmosphere was washed away with the rain and merged with rainbow colors of life. It was like I saw light for the first time. Hope.

"Let's be friends!" She said, smiling with that big dumb grin.

~

The memory of the first encounter kept playing inside his mind, each repetition more vivid but nevertheless impossible to grasps into a hold.

"Fuck, you made it so hard for me Y/n. " He whispered.

Once he had been the boy that held her hand on the way to the markets, teasing her for the childish stories she had always believed in...

There was a time she remembered him...Called out for him...

Kid's ferociously bit into his lip, anger and grief consuming him.

He didn't get to hold her close, before she slipped away...

And forgot all about him...