Destined for Flames (One Piece Fanfic)

Reasons To Fight

Now I feel bad... you're all going to be so disappointed...

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Raya's POV

Those annoying familiar yellow eyes soften, something I never imagined they could do. In front of me especially.

"We do share a striking resemblance, do we not?" she asks.

Yeah.

She.

As in, this is a woman, and therefore not the great Dracule Mihawk. But damn, it's scary how much she looks like him.

"So he wasn't kidding about having a daughter," I mutter, staring questioningly at the gloved hand she offers me. I don't make a move to grab it, and she quickly moves it up to her hat to draw it off her head. Long, flowing waves of ebony hair tumble down, drowning her shoulders in black sheets. Bangs much less disobedient than mine fall down over her face, framing her luminous eyes but cutting off above them so that they don't restrict her vision.

Irritated, I blow the hair from my own eyes with a huff.

This girl... she shares the same sharp, impressive features that make Mihawk's face stand out, yet they look so much gentler on her. If I were to guess, I'd say that fact is only attributed to her being female. Anyone who shares the blood of Dracule Mihawk must be tougher than steel. Hell, I'd rather take on a whole ship of Marines with both hands tied behind my back and my eyes sowed shut than get on even his grandmother's bad side.

"Oh yes, he mentioned having told you about me," she says. "I wasn't certain you'd remember though."

My ass. What was all that talk about me knowing her the moment she ditched the mask then?

A soft sigh escapes my lips. I guess it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Not much at the moment, in any case.

"So..." I take a moment to get to my feet and shake off the shock of my false encounter with Mihawk. Bear may be the last person I want to see right now, but that doesn't mean Mihawk is ranked high on my list of friends.

If he was here, with Zoro...

"What do you want from me?" I ask. No reason not to cut to the chase, eh?

She grips her hat in both hands for only a moment before settling it atop her head again. She unclasps the cloak and lets it fall uncaringly to the stone street. With one hand, she removes the glove from the other, and extends it towards me.

"I simply could not resist," she says, a practiced smile on her lips, "meeting the daughter of Red-Haired Shanks." I blink. "He is, after all, Father's old rival."

Through narrowed eyes, I watch the flicker of excitement pass over her features. It's gone in an instant, but still present to my watchful eyes. There is no way in hell that's the honest truth of her coming here. Nevertheless, we shake hands.

"Flynn D. Raya," I announce, somewhat bitterly. "But you already knew that."

"Dracule Katana. Though I much prefer Kay."

There's a moment of puzzled, awkward silence, where I think she might be joking.

She isn't.

Next thing I know, I'm on the ground, laughing my ass off like some kind of mental patient. This is... I have no words for this. Except...

"Your father.... is such.... an asshole!"

She looks away from my manically laughing form, arms crossed over her chest. And I'm not being a Sanji here, but I notice she too shares in my plight. We obtained our fathers' chests. 

"Yes, well, I happen to like my name," she says. Her eyes shift to the corners to watch me as I slowly pull myself together, breathing heavily but otherwise back to "normal". In the Straw Hats, I'm not sure there is such a thing. "So it would be best for you not to poke fun at it any longer."

"Sorry," I cough, smiling sheepishly up at her. "I just.... Wow, I never thought the Greatest Swordsman in the World would actually name his kid Katana. But I like it too. It suits you. Beautiful and deadly, am I right?"

Her lips turn up in a slight smile. "You could say that, though I'm sure the same is true of you, Raya."

Eyes downcast, I rub the back of head, offering a fake smile to appear composed and easygoing. "I don't like that word so much," I mutter quietly. Looking back up, my voice gorws louder. "But deadly seems about right."