Death can't have her

The biggest crime

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or anything related to it except for my OC and unrelated plots in this. I also do not own any pictures.  

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Knowing that there was a heavy but defeated silence hanging between the two, as soon as lunch time arrived, Shiki announced that she would return shortly with their food and possibly with Leo, leaving Captain with her for company.

It seemed like such a long time since she saw the others since most of the time, she stayed in the infirmary, her room and sometimes the laundry room if she had too much blood stained shirts.

Before she neared the gallery, Shiki stopped and took a deep breath, making sure her body was calm. She didn't want to start hacking up blood in a room full of people.

It seemed too tiring to explain what was going on with her.

One last breath and she walked in. At first, nobody seemed to have noticed until two mechanics gave a pleasant cry of surprise, gaining the attention from the others.

Two sets of weights settled on her shoulders before she could reach the counter where plates of steamed vegetables and bowls of chicken soup awaited to picked up.

"Shiki-chan!"

 She turned her head to the right, seeing a grinning Penguin.  

"It's been so long! For a moment there, I didn't recognize you!" he jostled her good heartedly. He was genuinely surprised by her appearance, seeing as the woman would hole herself either in the infirmary with her friend or in her room. There was a silent agreement that none of the guys would disturb the recovering woman and her friend when they were together, plus, remembering past encounters, they weren't well liked by the zoan user.

If he really thought about it, this would be the first time he saw her since her party they threw.

On the other side of her shoulder was Shachi, "Yeah!" he agreed before taking a piece of her hair and twirling it around between his fingers, "It looks nice, but why the sudden cut and when did you even get the time?" he questioned.

Penguin also copied, taking a piece of her hair as well, "Did you get dumped?" he joked.

"It's not that of a big deal." Kyle muttered as he walked by them to get in line for his lunch, ignoring the disapproving looks from the mechanics.

Shiki raised a brow, not understanding what they were getting at, "Reika thought I should get it cut since it was uneven and Leo cut it just a while ago." she answered bluntly, unintentionally dampingly their little fun. She then gently pried their hands off, "I'll be eating with Reika again." she said, excusing herself from the bouts of whines behind her.

As she reached the counter, she stood in line to get her share but as she stared at the bowls and plates, she wondered how she would carry them with only one effective arm. While Shiki devised a plan to carry two sets of steaming tableware with just one hand... and maybe her head, a shadow towered over her, stopping her from further planning to look up.

Only to feel her heart picking up, she tightly pressed her lips together as she stared into those beady black eyes that looked happy to see her after a period of absence.

"Shiki-chan, are you joining us for lunch?" the big white polar bear asked with a big smile on his fluffy cute face, looking expectant.

She didn't know what to do.

One one hand, she didn't want to disappoint the fluffy adorable bear.

On the other, she wanted to eat with her friend, but if she were to open her mouth, there would be a risk that Bepo could pick up the scent of blood.