"I don't get it. How could one person's devil fruit show up when they're a kid and another when they're an adult?" A male student asked.

"The technical term is the devil's abilities and it works kind of like a cancer. Someone can carry the genes for it but it may take a while for them to actually do anything, or they may not even activate at all during a person's life."

You managed to get some of the students to help hang posters as you went through the explanation of devil abilities. It was more recent, but it still counted as a part of history and it was a great topic to catch their interest. And just as you had hoped, it was working. Students were asking questions and actually wanting to know more.

"So why do people call them devil fruit if it doesn't involve actual fruit?" One of the girls asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"That has an interesting origin." You smiled as you handed another student a poster to hang. You were letting them put them wherever they wanted and they were happy to help. "It has to do with the whole Adam and Eve shebang. They were tempted to eat the fruits from the tree of knowledge and they say knowledge is power. Someone connected the unknown power that comes from devil's abilities to that story and coined the term devil fruit."

"That's it? Nothing special?" She asked.

"No, not really. But that's how a lot of things go. History is full of a lot of seemingly simple things that add up to bigger things."

The bell rang and the class left, in a hurry as always. You didn't blame them, students that stuck around too long tended to run into trouble with the worst ones. They'd get into fights on a regular basis as you'd come to learn over the past couple weeks and that was considered normal around here. Your classes had warmed up to you pretty well at least and you didn't have to deal too much with the worst of the students. They tended to either keep to themselves or skip class entirely.

You'd settled into a decent schedule at this point and had gotten accustomed to the "sketchy" area. A lot of the noises and sights that had you a little on edge when you first moved here you ignored now, no longer spooked by them. Your blonde neighbor, Killer, and you tended to go to work around the same time and would walk in the same direction each morning. He still had yet to acknowledge you but that didn't bother you, as long as he was nearby in the morning other people didn't bother you.

His redheaded friend would occasionally glare at you as you passed but he hadn't talked to you since the first day you saw him and he snapped at you. Not that you saw a lot of him anyway, with the weather getting colder they keep the garage closed a lot more often. The doctor on the other hand had started to greet you as you passed every morning he happened to be outside the same time as you. He was polite enough but you could tell he was looking for a chance to get closer to you in a more intimate way. He'd drop the occasional compliment and stare at you through suggestive half lidded eyes. Whenever you'd continue on your way, you'd feel his eyes practically boring holes into the back of your skull.

He was a good looking man and all, but you had a boyfriend and weren't interested in cheating on him. Especially with some supposed doctor with questionable clientele. You'd seen the people coming and going out of the clinic and weren't impressed. Though there was one younger male that would come and go through the small clinic rather often. He was a hyper man, with short black hair and a scar under one of his eyes.

You actually ran into him on your way back home funny enough. It was technically your fault, you were looking at your phone as you bumped into him, both of you falling on your asses right in front of the garage. It was a bit warmer out today so the door was open unfortunately, letting the stuff that fell out of your bag from the impact slide into the mechanics' workspace.

"Whoops!" The young man laughed from the ground.

"Sorry..." You winced from the small tumble and from embarrassment as you got up, offering him a hand.

"It's no problem." He laughed again, accepting your hand and pulling himself to his feet.

"It is for me. Get your shit out of my shop." The redhead bared his teeth angrily as he kicked your notebooks and supplies back in your direction.

"It was an accident." You glared right back at him as you started picking up the abused items. He was a scary looking guy, with scars running down the left side of his face and chest and a heavy mechanical arm replacing the real one but you were pretty tough yourself. Not nearly as intimidating to look at, but tough nonetheless.

"Did I ask if it was an accident? Move your shit before I burn it all." He stood over you, amber eyes alight with fury over the debatably minor inconvenience.

"I already have it all." You grit your teeth, drawing yourself to your full height so he wouldn't feel so tall.

He slowly backed away, metal hand clenching and unclenching as he fought the urge to knock the shit out of you.

"Kid, leave her be." Killer said, tossing some scrap metal to the side from his spot at a work desk.

"Yeah she didn't do anything." The man you bumped into added, putting his hands on his hips defiantly.

Kid's face twisted into a vicious smile. "Fuck around my shop again and we're going to have a talk woman." He turned to face the man beside you. "And quit being a pain in the ass Luffy, go play your damn games somewhere else."

He turned around, tugging at the edges of his open vest as he stalked over to Killer. You turned to thank the man you knocked into again, Luffy, but he was already gone, wandering off to see the strange doctor again. Then again, everyone around this part of town you'd met so far had been strange.

----

"Hey Alec!" You smiled warmly to your boyfriend. He had come by for a visit and was home before you'd gotten back from your spat with the temperamental mechanic. He had a habit of leaving the door unlocked when he came by so of course that was the case again this time.

"Hey babe!" He met you in the doorway with a tight squeeze and a kiss.

"You're early, I wasn't expecting you for another hour." You nudged the door shut with your foot.

"I happened to be in town so I figured I'd come by a little sooner." He shrugged, following you back into the apartment as you shed your coat and tossed your stuff in a pile on your armchair.

He'd been in town a lot lately, and it didn't seem to be for you a lot of the time. At first you thought it had to do with his wanderlust but that was getting harder to believe. He wasn't one to visit the same places continually, once or twice and then he was on to somewhere new.

"What were you in town for?" You asked, curious about what he'd say. At the same time, you started brewing a pot of coffee, it was never too late in the day for caffeine.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? There's a couple new condo buildings going up near the shopping district, I'm looking to see if I'll be able to sell a few so I've been checking into them."

He answered easily but it still felt off to you. Alec loved telling you all the details of what was selling, what wasn't, and everything else that was going on for him. It was weird for him to forget to tell you something that could be so important.

"No, I don't think you did...." You trailed off, brows scrunched up in thought.

"It probably just slipped your mind." He chuckled as he got behind you, placing a hand on either side of the counter beside you. "You've been really busy the past few weeks with getting adjusted and all so I'm not surprised."

"Yeah, that's probably it." You giggled with him, leaning back into his chest. "Whaddya say we figure out dinner?"

----

He left early that night. Again.

It had become a reoccurring thing where he'd stay long enough to chat, have dinner, and join you in bed, only to leave after you'd fallen asleep. Sometimes you'd wake up and he'd say it was something like work. Other times you'd sleep right through it and he'd leave a text with a fishy sounding excuse.

The latter happened this time. You woke up and he was gone, your phone showed a message from him that was sent about two hours ago. Honestly, it was beginning to frustrate you. It was time to do some snooping.

You decided to start with what was frankly the only thing you could look into currently and that was the condos he had mentioned. The reality company he worked for didn't do a whole lot in Grandline City, so the idea of them selling condos here was a bit odd to say the least. Alec had even mentioned the area they were supposedly going up in.

While it was silly to not just ask him about it outright, you had a feeling he'd beat around the bush with all this, especially after you'd done some searching online for the supposed condos. There was nothing pulling up on them and last time you went that far into the city you didn't remember seeing them either. He had lied to you about them.

You were going to have a talk with him about this, along with all his weird comings and goings. It broke your heart when you realized what was probably going on but at the same time you were pissed. You thought things were going smoothly. No financial problems or arguments to be had, both of you loved going out to do things together, and sex was well....decent. You'd be happier of he put more effort into it but that was neither here nor there at this point. There was a bigger issue going on and you weren't sure for how long.

Was there just one other girl or did he have more than just you fooled? With his schedule, it wouldn't be hard to use work as an excuse to go hook up with another woman. The thought made you shudder. If he'd been sharing his bed with multiple other women that'd be more than slightly gross. Sure he liked to keep himself clean and neat, but still, that was nasty.

The more you dwelled on it the angrier you got until you were fighting back tears. Three years down the drain. You were hoping it was just you overreacting but he'd been giving so many excuses to leave early or for why he was in odd places. You weren't his keeper but he shouldn't be lying to you about things either.

You and Alex were going to have a talk about this, a long one.