Chapter 11: Beginning of the End 2

She knew it was for Rosan because the boy was the only prisoner with a Devil Fruit and so they had to use special handcuffs to restrain him. It was only natural that her father would have a copy of them.

Seastone handcuffs were notoriously difficult to take off without a key and she knew her father was paranoid enough to have more then one.

Meiko waited with a bated breath in her room to hear the arrival of her parents. After what felt like hours, she finally heard the door to her house open and the sound of a conversation playing out.

Her parents must have thought she was asleep because they were trying to not raise their voice so Meiko had to strain to listen. What she heard left her beaming in happiness.

"He exceeded even my expectations," The smooth voice of her father, Masaru, whispered. "Never did I expect him to be able to deal with a Fishman of all things! He was truly the perfect choice to mold."

"Mhm," Sachie agreed and she sounded far more excited then the male. "He's so strong! To think he was able to achieve such results in such a short amount of time is incredible!" She gushed and Meiko heard something perverse in her mother's tone.

"Considering he was under the effects of Seastone a majority of the time as well. The fact he was able to perform at such a level, really leaves no surprise at what he was able to accomplish without them," Masaru concluded.

"Thanks to Rosan, we managed to secure such a huge amount of beri too," Sachie said proudly. "I'm so proud of him I can't wait to see him again!"

"Keep your perverted thoughts to yourself," Masaru grunted but Sachie completely ignored him.

Meiko resisted the urge to cheer loudly. Rosan, he had done it! Not only that, but he had managed to defeat a Fishman of all things?!

That was incredible!

She had heard about Fishman. It was very unlikely for an average human to be able to stand up to a fishman so the fact that Rosan (who was 9!) not only stood up to one, but managed to defeat them spoke volumes about how strong the child was.

She was so proud of him!

Meiko heard footsteps approaching her door and quickly, the girl feigned sleep. She didn't want her parents to know she was still awake. The girl wanted to make sure they didn't suspect her even a bit.

The blonde heard the door open and soft, dainty footsteps that could only belong to her mother approached.

She eventually stopped in front of her only child and seeing that she was fast asleep, Sachie smiled slightly. Bending over, she planted a kiss right on Meiko's head and adjusted her blanket.

"It will all be better soon, Meiko," her mother whispered before getting up and leaving, presumably to get ready for sleep.

Meiko smiled sadly at her mother's affections but did nothing to reciprocate them. She waited another 30 minutes before she moved.

Quietly grabbing everything, Meiko softly opened her room door and, after double checking that neither of her parents were in the living room, slowly departed.

All the lights in the house were closed but Meiko had been living here all her life. She easily navigated her home and in no time at all, the girl was outside.

The blonde knew by heart where Rosan was located and the best way to go while avoiding people. Soon she made her way to his cell door.

Meiko let out a nerve wracking sigh. Her last meeting with Rosan had not gone so well but, she at least knew that he regretted how he had acted towards her. She just hoped he didn't immediately kick her out.

Steeling herself, the 11 year old unlocked the door to his cell and quietly entered the room.

She had not been expecting to find Rosan sat up on his bed instead of sleeping. The boy was staring directly at her with that constant neutral expression of his.

Meiko resisted the urge to squeal as she saw that he had his hair put into a messy bun with some strands hanging and it allowed her to see more of his face.

It was really cute! Meiko gushed at how adorable it made the boy look.

She did prefer when he let his hair free however.

Realizing that she had been staring for too long, she quickly averted her gaze.

"Didn't I tell you to not come back," Rosan suddenly said and it caused her to jump in fright. It wasn't often that the redhead initiated a conversation with her and it had caught her by surprise to hear him first.

"U-um actually y-you said I shouldn't come back a-and I just chose not to listen," was her meek response. She immediately stopped talking at how unimpressed Rosan looked and, hoping to move the conversation forward, Meiko pulled the ointment and gauze she had been holding behind her.

"I heard you were in the tournament today and you won! I wasn't allowed to watch but I wanted to see if you were injured," was her soft response.

The way Rosan looked at her sent a strange feeling through her. Eventually, the boy sighed and said "I have some here actually. Mom patched it up a bit but she didn't do a very good job," before he pushed his shirt up.

Meiko blushed brightly at his sudden action and tried to cover her eyes. She shamefully peeked through said hands and what she saw had her reeling in horror.

His abdomen was littered with holes and though they were visibly closing up (which was amazing to see), it still looked painful.

A protective urge washed over her and within moments she had closed the distance. After shrugging in an uncaring manner, Meiko got to work on patching him up.

She eventually got immersed in her work and started to hum a small tune.

"I'm sorry," Rosan suddenly said, causing her to pause what she was doing.

Had she heard him right? He was apologizing? For what reason?

"Y-you're sorry?" Meiko cursed herself for stuttering but she couldn't help it.

Rosan nodded slightly. "The last time we met…I attacked you unprovoked and nearly struck you," Rosan began and his eyes were rather dim right now.

"I replayed that conversation in my head and I was completely out of line…" the younger boy admitted and her eyes went wide at that.

"It's just...everything about you is different and it irritates me in ways I can't explain. We hardly know each other but it doesn't feel that way and we can read each other like open books. No matter how hard I try to deny it, you can tell exactly what I'm thinking and that aggravates me but, that doesn't mean I should strike you. For the way I acted, you have my sincerest apologies."

He raised a good point. Meiko wasn't sure she had this synergy with any other person in the world.

Meiko stared at the boy and, despite how blank his expression was, she could tell he meant his apology.

"Rosan… you don't have to apologize because I know you weren't going to hurt me," she smiled at the boy as she said that. "This whole experience, I know it's jarring. I don't know if anyone has had to deal with a situation like this before. I know I haven't. To feel so exposed, is really weird and I can see why you reacted the way you did. That's why I'm not mad at you," Meiko said after a moment of deliberation, before she gained confidence.

"I meant what I said Rosan, I trust you completely. Deep down, you're a kind person and I hate that this had to happen to you because you don't deserve it. Even still… I know this is horrible of me to say, but I'm glad I met you."

Meiko flashed the boy a brilliant smile and he awkwardly held her gaze. She saw a flash of something in the boys eyes but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Meiko- thank you. You're words, they mean a lot to me and I'm happy that some people still have faith in me," Rosan said quietly.

For a 9 year old to be saying something like this… it hurt her. Rosan was so young, it always caught her by surprise that he was just a 9 year old.

Rosan closed his eyes and said "I trust you Meiko. You not telling anyone I lied about my Devil Fruit is enough for me..."

She smiled brightly at that. The girl had finally earned his trust! She could do a happy little dance at the fact that she was breaking through to him!

"...which is why I'm sorry."

Meiko paused and let out a confused "What? You're sorry?" before she felt it.

Regret.

Her eyes widened in fear as she felt Rosan's muscles tense and she took a step back. The boy was planning on attacking her right then and there!

S-she didn't even get to explain herself ye-

"Modify Target: Rest mode," A voice behind Meiko said as a hand made contact with her. The blonde turned to face her attacker with a look of pure betrayal on her face.

H-he had said he trusted her… how could he?

The look of remorse on his face, only made her feel a little better as the boy said "I trust you Meiko. But you should never have trusted me."

Meiko sighed as the memory ended. After that, she had lost consciousness and the next time she had awoken, she had been on the White Rose with Rosan.

Sachie had tried to amend their relationship but it had been a bit too late and the damage had been long done. The death of her mother always hit hard but a small part of Meiko realized she had brought it upon herself.

Rosan was one of the worst people to mess with and they had found that out the hard way.

Still, a large part of her was glad that she got to meet Rosan. It sounded terrible, considering he had killed her parents, but she had never been happier around anyone else and Rosan truly made her feel alive.

Meiko couldn't imagine how she would have been without having ever met Rosan.

A knock on the door snapped her out of her musing and Meiko gasped in horror. "Are you dead?" Angel's ever confident voice rang out.

She had totally forgotten!

Angel and Demon were waiting on her to get ready and she was just daydreaming!

How embarrassing.

"S-sorry you two!" Meiko called back as she hastily finished getting ready. "I'm ready hold on!"

Meiko looked at herself in the mirror and smiled in satisfaction. If Rosan were here he'd tell her how good she looked!

Making sure that everything was in order and her earrings were firmly on, Meiko finally departed to meet up with the twins.

Meiko found it so funny that Angel and Demon changed in appearance more then the oldest of the triplets.

The 3 still looked very similar to each other now but they all had their distinctions.

Demon's changes were the most obvious. He was still practically a carbon copy of Rosan, standing at 5'2 just like him. Instead of red hair, it was now the same shade of purple as Mod's.

The conversation had been simple but really funny.

"You want me to make your hair purple?" Rosan had asked his male clone.

"Yes… if you don't mind," Demon replied while kneeling.

Rosan waved him off and told him to stand up.

"Of course I don't mind, purple is an awesome color," Rosan smirked before he tilted his head in curiosity. "I'm curious why you suddenly want the change though," He said.

"Well, Angel is very easy to tell from the both of us because she's a girl," Demon began and Rosan nodded along. "Me on the other hand, well I'm a carbon copy of you. Angel is as well but she's not male so I wanted a way to distinct myself without being too different from you."

"There's also the fact that you put me on a pedestal which is completely unnecessary," Rosan pointed out, which caused Demon to blush embarrassingly. "You should be more like Angel. There's no need to worship me like that because I really didn't ask for it!"

He was right, but he didn't have to be so blunt about it.

"So you want purple hair like Mod-chan," Rosan deduced easily and Demon nodded in confirmation.

"Alright, c'mere," the redhead said and Demon hastily made his way over.

With a simple "Modify," Rosan grabbed a strand of Demon's hair and they watched in marvel as his hair turned purple. The job was quickly done and everyone marveled Demon's new appearance.

Angel handed her brother a mirror so that he could inspect himself and she smiled happily at him. It was good that he gathered the courage to ask Rosan a question by himself!

His longer hair was a darker shade of purple then Mod's royal purple hair and it similarly flowed down his back in neat spikes. Other then that, he still looked like just like Rosan.

"I always knew you preferred Mod-chan over me," Rosan sighed forlornly as he admired his handiwork.

He looked good with purple hair. Rosan still preferred red, but purple was just as good.

Demon's eyes widened in guilt as he said "I didn't mean to offend you Master! It's just-"

"I'm kidding," Rosan interrupted in exasperation as he cut his clone off. "I can see why you would like Mod-chan more, she's pretty gorgeous," Rosan smiled mischievously.

"Don't you dare," Mod warned but she was ignored completely and the woman let out a miserable sigh.

"T-that's n-not," Demon tried to explain himself but Rosan was not having it.

"I mean just look at her," the redhead praised and the gleam in his eyes didn't look promising. "Mod-chan is the whole package. Long purple hair, brilliant red eyes, jaw dropping beauty and earth shattering curves! She looks like a supermodel! I don't blame you for wanting to look like her," Rosan explained and the boy had a full blown grin now.

"Y-you exist to give me a headache," Mod-chan sounded audibly embarrassed and they could just imagine the deep blush on her face. "Did you have to mention my curves?" She complained and Rosan cackled.

Demon didn't look much better. His face was beet red and he refused to look at anyone.

Angel, his dear sister, decided to not be his dear sister in that moment.

"No worries Master!" The female clone hugged Rosan cheerfully and he happily returned it. "Demon prefers Master Mod, but I prefer you!"

The two actual demons laughed at Demon's embarrassment and all the purple haired clone could do, was hide his face behind his hands.

All he wanted, was to mirror his sisters red hair and purple eyes and now he was being tortured like this.

Meiko laughed at the memory. She had been far too busy laughing back then as well to input her two cents but seeing the easy going Demon, so embarrassed, was too good to ignore.

Angel was the clone who had went through the most changes and the memory of how it happened made Meiko laugh even harder.

"Maaaaaaster," Angel's voice called from a distance, steadily getting closer.

Rosan and Meiko had been relaxing on the deck together when they heard her. The redhead looked up from the romance novel he and Meiko had been reading (it was not his idea) and waited for the female clone to appear in his sight.

It didn't take long and soon Angel, in all her glory, appeared in front of him. The more outgoing of the twins was looking at Rosan like she dearly wanted to ask him something and so he obliged.

"Greetings Angel," Rosan greeted and he sat up.

"Hi Angel!" Meiko waved and the female redhead smiled at them both.

"Master…I have a favor to ask of you," Angel said politely and the girl had a demure look on her face.

"About?" Rosan asked as his eyes narrowed in suspicion. The way she said that had his hairs up.

Angel was never polite and she was especially not demure. No in fact, Angel was the opposite of demure.

"I know you're a reasonable person so you'll definitely hear me out first, right?" Angel asked with a hopeful smile on her face.

"…" Rosan was on full alert now and he looked at Meiko, who simply shrugged her shoulders helplessly, just as lost as he was. "I'll hear you out but first, tell me what the topic is on at least."

"My appearance," she replied easily enough.

Rosan relaxed a great deal as he heard that but he still had his guard up. "What about your appearance made you decide to act like this? You wanna turn into a dragon? Back into a boy? Wait… You want purple hair too like Demon?! You traitor! You said I was your favorite!"

"Wait wait wait, Master!" Angel frantically stopped him. "It's not like that and you are my favorite! Just hear me out first."

"Mmm," Rosan hummed as he tilted his head. "Alright sure, I won't interrupt you."

Angel let out a sigh of relief as he conceded. That was step 1 done. She didn't expect him to give up so easily but then again he hadn't heard everything.

Now to get to the difficult part.

"Well Master, you know how Demon and I can't actually age right?"

Rosan nodded and Angel continued. "Because of that, you modify us constantly to match your age."

"It's easy for Demon because he's basically you but well as for me…"

Realization slowly began to dawn on Rosan's face but, like he said, he refrained from talking.

"Well because I'm a girl it's hard to actually determine how exactly I would look and now that you're going through puberty, Demon is being changed to match you and his change is very accurate…"

The middle triplet let out a deep breath and said "Mine on the other hand, can't possibly be accurate because well, gender differences—,"

"Absolutely not," Rosan suddenly said and Angel gaped at him. Meiko looked at him in confusion but she was a smart girl. It would only be a moment before she realized.

"You said you'd let me finish!" Angel protested angrily and Rosan sighed, but waved at her to continue.

It finally hit Meiko and the grin on the girls face was promising for his clone but not for him.

"I don't think it's fair that my younger twin gets to grow properly and you have to take guesses with me," Angel continued and Meiko nodded along in agreement.

"Puberty for girls is much different then puberty for boys," Meiko said helpfully, as a victim of puberty herself.

Rosan didn't look convinced. "Use Mod-chan or Meiko then," he said with a frown but Angel shook her head in denial.

"I can't use them both because they aren't you. You're the one who my appearance is based on. Master Mod based her appearance on you but that was mostly color scheme! She could pass off as your mother but she's still not you!"

Her redheaded counterpart let out an aggravated sigh and they were surprised to see that he looked flushed.

"So you want me to…swap myself into a female and use that to modify you?" Rosan asked hesitantly, dearly hoping that he was somehow wrong.

Angel nodded vigorously as hope flared up in her. "Yes! That's exactly it!"

"No."

Angel deflated.

Well she couldn't be too disappointed. It's not like she expected Rosan to say yes to her.

"That's not fair, Rosan," a voice called and Angel's snapped her gaze up as Meiko reprimanded Rosan.

"Angel doesn't deserve this, she's been nothing but loyal to you! You're the one who chose to base them off your appearance, so the least you can do it help them when they need help," she chastised him.

"I...but…," Rosan struggled to find a reason but Meiko was glaring firmly at him and truthfully, everyone on the ship knew he was extremely whipped.

Rosan eventually let out a small sigh of defeat. "Yeah yeah, you're right. It's just…"

"Didn't you say you transformed into a girl before," Meiko accused and Rosan looked at her in annoyance.

"How do you still remember that?" And after a moment he added "Yes I did… But I was 7 and I looked kind of the same as I did as a boy. And... it wasn't by choice. Mod and Robin practically forced me."

"That was so fun!" Mod beamed at the memory and Rosan scowled deeply.

"Well if you did it before then you should be used to it! What's the problem?" The blonde asked in curiosity, she so wanted to know what circumstances led to Rosan's first transformation but that was for another time.

"You know what the problem is," he replied bluntly, glaring at her now.

That was fair.

"So you'll…?" Angel asked in anticipation and she nervously wrung her hands.

Rosan looked at her. After a moment he let out a deep sigh and said "Yeah, I will. Even without Meiko's incessant badgering, I'd have eventually said yes."

"Hey!" the girl in question protested.

Angel crashed into her Master in a bone crushing hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Rosan laughed and hugged her back. "Of course. Now step back before I change my mind."

The female redhead hastily did so and Meiko followed suit.

Angel was based on how Rosan would look as a 9 year old and he was currently 12. He didn't expect himself to change that much until his later years so this would be quick.

She probably would not have to be modified too heavily.

The interesting thing about Rosan's gender swap technique was that it turned Rosan into an exact female version of himself. If Rosan was born as a girl, this would be exactly how he looked at that current age.

Rosan naturally had no desire of modifying his female appearance beyond that.

"Modification: Swap," the redhead uttered as he used the technique on himself.

The redhead felt the technique taking effect and grunted. It didn't hurt whatsoever but, it felt strange.

Rosan had expected the change to be quick and done in seconds. Why on Earth was he changing so much?

"Oh wow," He heard Meiko call in awe as the transformation ended and she had a huge blush on her face.

"What the hell?!" Angel responded in disbelief and her jaw dropped slightly.

Rosan heard their reactions and confusedly looked at them.

Demon chose that moment to show up and after taking one look at Rosan, his eyes widened considerably and his mouth actually opened at the sight.

Rosan frowned and quickly modified a random rock into a mirror. What he saw left even him surprised.

For one, his female form was taller and that aggravated him to no end. Whereas 12 year old male Rosan stood at a 5'2, 12 year old female Rosan was a whopping 5'7 and she stood taller than everyone else on the ship.

The pure confusion on his face, as he saw the stark height difference between his forms, nearly made everyone watching burst out in laughter. Mod actually was laughing.

The massive height difference also made itself apparent with how tight his clothes suddenly felt. Looking down Rosan felt his mouth slightly open. His shirt was form fitting so it did absolutely nothing to hide how much his chest had expanded.

W-what was this?! Had Mod-chan done something to the technique?! Last time he did this, his female form practically looked like a copy of his male one! Was this a prank on her end?!

"No I didn't," Mod laughed uncontrollably, much to his embarrassment.

"Looks like female Rosan started reaping the benefits of puberty way faster," Meiko said, admiring her boyfriend turned girlfriend. She had almost thought he further modified himself but the confusion and shock on his face proved otherwise.

There was also the fact, that he didn't want to do this in the first place so something like this, would be the last thing he did.

This was how he would naturally have looked? Meiko was pretty jealous. Rosan was kind of gorgeous right now!

"How blessed," Angel exclaimed, gawking shamelessly at her Master's chest.

Going through puberty faster was an accurate assessment. The difference between his male form and female form was way too apparent.

Her spiky crimson hair had not softened whatsoever, unlike Angel's and had gotten slightly longer, now reaching her back instead of stopping at her shoulder. Like previously said, she gained a solid 5 inches in height, towering over everyone currently on the ship and only being an inch shorter then Mod herself.

Rosan had been wearing a black short sleeved shirt which looked more like a crop top on his new figure. He didn't like showing his skin, so to see his entire bronze midsection shown so brazenly was a new experience. Similarly, his pants had gotten shorter showing a glimpse of some long legs.

This was really not what he had been expecting at all.

"I-I must have put too much power in the technique?" Rosan's was unsure and the fact that his voice was a bit deeper now, almost set him off.

This was bullshit.

"Just to be clear —," Angel began dryly "You are not making my boobs that big. As accurate as possible my ass, I don't need those things impeding me."

So, so bullshit.

"I have to admit even I'm surprised… I didn't expect you to change this drastically. I'm curious how you'll look when your fully matured because right now, you're the whole package," Mod said and she was laughing at the fact that she used Rosan's own joke against him.

"You performed the technique perfectly by the way," she cheekily added.

Complete and utter bullshit.

"Don't worry, Rosan!" Meiko reassured the, now taller, girl. "Girls tend to hit puberty faster then boys so just wait until you hit yours!"

His girlfriend stepped closer and admired his body and Rosan wanted to take a leap into the ocean when she said "I think yours are bigger then mine."

"I pray that you've seen everything you've needed to see, Angel," Rosan's smooth voice came out and it was impossible to miss the sheer annoyance in it. Even with all that frustration, the voice still managed to captivate all the listeners.

"Honestly, I saw more then I bargained for," Angel said cheekily glancing up and down.

"Who knew Master could be such a bombshell," she finished and Rosan instantly transformed back into his male form. He was tired of this unjustified teasing.

Rosan let out a deep, aggravated, sigh of annoyance before a thought occurred to him.

"Wait… Do I have to do this every year?"

Yes he did and the thought made Meiko cackle in glee.

Seeing the actual Rosan as a girl, was a treat she didn't know she wanted!

Seriously, Meiko hadn't expected him to look that good. Her younger self would have been demoralized looking at the attractive 12 year old.

Angel had put it perfectly. Rosan was blessed.

She was looking forward to seeing the boy go through puberty now!

Thanks to getting a look from the source, Angel had been properly changed and Rosan had quickly shooed the overjoyed girl away.

The redhead looked strikingly similar to Rosan's female form. She was 5'7 and bore the exact same features. Her long hair remained in a ponytail and like before it looked softer and more tame then both versions of Rosan. Unlike female Rosan, Angel had opted to keep her chest much smaller.

A snap of fingers snapped Meiko out of her daydreaming and she blushed as she looked into the impatient purple eyes of the girl in question.

"How long do you plan on standing there? Lets go!" Without further ado, Angel grabbed a yelping Meiko's arm and began to drag her off the ship.

"Wait wait! I can walk on my own you know!" Meiko complained but Angel was not hearing it.

Demon watched the two and simply shook his head in exasperation.

They were really unbelievable sometimes.

Meiko glanced around in confusion. The sun was beginning to go down and in all the excitement, she had managed to lose Angel and Demon.

They were at an amusement park and she had been having a lot of fun! The 3 had gone on multiple rides and Meiko had enjoyed every single one of them. Even the ones that the unfazed clones called boring!

But now they were nowhere in sight… she had gone on a water ride by herself (for obvious reasons) and they said that they would wait for her, but maybe something came up?

Well they were disguised at the moment and she knew how they looked so it wouldn't be hard.

She just needed to get dry first before going to find them. Luckily the ride had prepared for this and there was a machine that helped with drying.

Meiko pointedly ignored all the looks from the perverts and in no time at all, she was done.

What Meiko didn't realize, was that among those perverted gazes were another set of eyes that lacked all signs of perverseness. Instead, they were those of a hunter seeking its prey.

The blonde had made the decision to just go back to the ship. Angel and Demon would detect her the moment she boarded it and they'd make their way to her. She had contemplated waiting for them at the ride, but it was getting really dark and Meiko was not a fan of the dark.

The girl never noticed that she was being followed.

As she made her way to the White Rose, she gasped in shock as a hand roughly grabbed her. That shock turned into fear as she tried to scream and another hand covered her mouth.

Meiko struggled but the person was unrelenting. Thanks to her training with Rosan, she was actually able to break free for a moment and she took full advantage of that!

She swung her leg behind her as hard as possible and was satisfied to hear a squeal of pain as her foot connected with the perpetrators family jewels.

Without wasting another moment, she took off.

She didn't make it far as another person tackled into her and she collapsed. The impact made her lose her breath and she heard a feminine voice whisper "Sorry!"

The painfully slow footsteps of, presumably the first person she attacked, approached and Meiko's struggles renewed.

Meiko stared into the apologetic teal eyes of the girl holding her down. What was happening? Why were they doing this? She was scared. She was really scared.

She wanted Rosan —

The girl's thoughts were interrupted as a blow to the back of her head knocked her unconscious.

The last thing she heard was,

"What are you doing Izuki-nii?! Don't hurt her!"

"We need to transport her quickly Izumi, can't do that while she's awake."

"I-I guess…?"

And she blacked out.

Demon had been searching for Meiko for 30 minutes before he concluded that something was very wrong.

He needed to contact his Master now.

They had gotten separated while Meiko was on a ride. Something had happened to the ship that had immediately caught Angel's attention and, wanting to ensure that nothing bad was going on, his twin had gone to check it out.

Demon had opted to wait for Meiko but that option was thrown out of the window when he was suddenly attacked.

"Don't move," A low voice said suddenly appearing behind him. Currently he was disguised as the same form he'd taken when he had first went out with Meiko. On the back of his 6'0 frame was a gun.

Guns didn't work on him but to avoid causing a scene he would pretend like they did.

"Good," The voice said. "Now turn around and start walking," they commanded.

Demon obeyed.

It was likely that they were about to bring him to an isolated area so as to not cause a scene.

Smart.

Unfortunately for them, Demon wanted the exact same thing. He needed to glean their motives and this was the best way.

He was brought to a clearing where 2 other people were waiting, all equipped with weapons.

"Brought em already?" One of the individuals asked. He was a rather unassuming man with a sword in hand.

"Didn't even put up a fight! What an idiot," The weapon wielder laughed.

Demon's relaxed poster never let up. He was nowhere near his Master's strength, but that hardly mattered when these were his opponents.

Free from unwanted gazes, Demon decided he would eliminate them all now and quickly make his way back to Meiko.

This wasn't random. He was sure something was up. He needed to get the girl and they'd regroup on the ship before contacting Master

Demon suddenly tensed up and threw his head back. He was satisfied to hear a crunch as it connected directly with his hostage-taker's head.

The man let out an agonized scream as he collapsed and Demon turned around to silence him with a vicious stomp.

Job done, he knelt down to pick up the man's gun and quickly put his arm up to block the swing of a sword with it.

Quickly adjusting himself, Demon grabbed the sword and yanked down. The man could not keep a grip on it and it was promptly turned and skewered through his heart.

Demon didn't even wait for his body to drop before turning his attention to the other pistol wielder.

They were at standstill as they both measured their guns against each other.

"A game of Chicken?" Demon said idly as he prepared to unload the gun. "I don't think you will win."

With that, they both pressed the triggers of their guns. Demon's aim was true and the bullet went straight through the person's skull.

The now dead man hadn't missed his shot. The smoking bullet lodged into Demon's skull was testament to that.

But Demon wasn't human.

The entire exchange took less then 5 minutes.

Pocketing the stolen pistol, Demon hastily made his way over to the park where Meiko was.

Upon arriving, he hastily searched for the blonde and he felt his heart drop when he couldn't find her anywhere.

He searched the surrounding area before deciding that this was just not going to work. The island they were currently on was massive and it would take him a while to search the entire land.

He needed to get back to the ship. Master needed to know immediately.

"Angel!" Demon frantically called his older twin as he landed on the ship. He paused as he took in the state of the ship.

"Some fuckers tried to set the ship on fire and they ambushed me," Angel snarled, as she wiped soot off of herself. "Good thing Master made the ship so durable."

"Meiko's missing," Demon said bluntly and Angel's gaze snapped towards him in pure horror.

"What?" She asked in disbelief.

The purple haired twin took the time to explain the situation to her and by the end, Angel looked like a nervous wreck.

"This is really bad," his sister said in panic. "We need to contact Master immediately! He'll know what to do!"

Demon nodded in agreement. He had never been so thankful that their connection range had no limit.

"Master!"

Today had been annoying.

Aiko had told him about a pirate in the area and Rosan had agreed to hunt them down. He thought it would have been done quickly.

That had been hours ago.

The 12 year old had been led on an actual goose chase. Turns out this particular Captain had a small fleet.

Rosan had gone through the painful process of eliminating each of the fleets ship before finally finding his target.

Captain Taz was a man who talked entirely too much. He was 6'3 with long brown hair and long pants. He opted to go shirtless and he had a saber rested by his side.

He had been talking about how their duel would be epic and that he had been waiting for Reaper to finally approach him.

Rosan hadn't bothered hearing the rest of what he had to say. As the man talked and talked, Rosan felt his annoyance peaking and decided to just get this over with.

One swipe of his scythe and the world was 1 pirate crew less.

It had been entirely too easy which is why it annoyed him to no end that it took that long. Seriously, at least give him a good fight! He had the same bounty as Maverick did!

He had turned the mans meager 15,000,000 million beri bounty in and quickly made his way over to Aiko.

The two had been talking about how annoying his trip was when he suddenly heard "Master!" reverberate in his mind.

The twins? They scarcely used this connection.

"What is it?" Rosan replied back instantly.

What he heard, made his blood run cold.

"It's Meiko! She's missing!"

…

….

….

What.

"Reaper?" Akemi called worriedly as she felt his sudden shift.

"You alright?" Aiko asked similarly concerned.

Rosan didn't hear them however. He was too busy replaying what he had just heard in his head.

Meiko was missing?!

He abruptly got up and, in a matter of moments, he was gone.

Aiko and Akemi looked at the spot in worry. They hadn't missed the murderous aura Reaper had emitted for a split and their partner was always polite enough to at least say goodbye.

For him to just abruptly leave? It was cause for concern.

Aiko absentmindedly sent off a prayer to whoever managed to piss Reaper off.

"Explain the situation now."

It was not a question and as they felt the murderous aura of Rosan, Angel and Demon cowed a bit in fear.

"W-we were attacked," Angel explained. "We think they are targeting you."

As Demon explained the situation, Rosan had not moved once.

And then an unbearable pressure washed over the two of them. They gasped in terror as Rosan all but snarled at them.

"You left Meiko by herself?!" He screeched at the two and they shrunk in on themselves at their mistake. The redhead was glaring at them with so much rage in his eyes that they nearly fainted.

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?!" Rosan snarled in raw unadulterated anger.

The twins were shaking uncontrollably as Rosan slammed them with his Pressure.

"YOU DIDN'T WANT TO CAUSE A SCENE? I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAD TO DESTROY AN ENTIRE ISLAND TO DO SO, I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE TO RUIN MILLIONS OF LIVES AT ONCE, MEIKO ALWAYS COMES FIRST YOU FUCKING IDIOTS," Rosan roared and the twins were convinced that they were about to die to him.

Their master looked utterly furious, teeth bared into a snarl and those very sharp fangs clenching into each other. They had never seen him this angry and to know that it was directed towards them caused them to feel untold amounts of guilt alongside their terror.

"Rosan please! Calm down! We can talk about their mistake later!" Mod called and this was the most worried she sounded in a long time. "Meiko is our #1 priority at the moment. We have to save her!"

The Angel of Death forced himself to take a deep breath and his pressure momentarily relented.

Mod-chan was right. He needed to get Meiko immediately. If they were here for him, then she should be safe for now.

Rosan regarded the two terrified clones coldly, before he turned away from them.

This wasn't over.

A mistake to this degree needed to be punished.

"Modification: Save Point" was all he said before he vanished from their view.

Angel and Demon let out a breath they didn't know they had been holding before collapsing.

They had royally fucked up.

Izumi had to wonder why on Earth she had agreed to this plan. As she stared at the tied up blonde she had to stop and think, was this really worth it?

Getting on Reapers bad side? Why would they ever want to do that?

Alas, she couldn't protest the stupid decision. Izumi had always been a rather meek girl, content to follow her older brother Izuki, and so she didn't feel confident enough to voice her disagreement with this.

Izumi was a young girl with olive skin. She was only 13 years old and stood at a healthy 5'4. She was skinny with chin length, curly, pitch black hair that parted to the sides and had the effect of bringing out her bright teal eyes.

She was currently tasked with guarding the blonde girl who had been aboard Reaper's ship.

Reaper…

She had always been fascinated in the Angel of Death. She held them on a rather large pedestal and wanted nothing more than to meet the famed bounty hunter.

Her parents had been attacked and killed by a group of pirates. Not even a day later, those same pirates had been captured and murdered by the Shinigami themselves.

Ever since then, she had gained a slight crush on the figure and tried hard to keep track on them.

Which is why she thought this was a really terrible idea.

She didn't want to get on Reaper's bad side. She wanted to thank them for their hard work, not kidnap one of the passengers on their ship.

Why had they even joined this group of people? Izuki-nii had made the wrong decision and she should have tried harder to dissuade him.

Her older brother was 18 years old and stood at a 5'8. He was skinny with olive skin and slightly spiky black hair with long bangs that somewhat covered his teal eyes. They looked largely similar to each other but he was more mature, being 5 years older than her.

He was just as obsessed with Reaper and wanted to join the Angel's crew. As a result he, along with his younger sister who he was now the guardian of, decided to join a group that was also interested in Reaper.

Izumi was beginning to suspect that it was not in the same way she was interested.

Not only had they kidnapped this girl. They had set fire to their pitch black ship and attacked the blonde man as well.

The teal eyed girl figured that they wanted Reaper's head for whatever reason. They would no doubt fail because her hero was not weak whatsoever but they didn't seem to think that.

They had recruited the siblings for their knowledge on Reaper. Well, what little they had which was still a lot more then most people. Most people weren't even aware that Reaper had a ship!

She wanted to stop this but she was outnumbered and not strong at all. Izuki was a lot stronger then her, but he couldn't handle their numbers either.

It's not like he had a problem with it either. Her brother only wanted to meet Reaper. The way to meeting him didn't bother him at all.

It's almost like he forgot what Reaper did for a living.

"I'm sorry," Izumi whispered absentmindedly to the blonde girl. "I didn't know they would do this to you. If I did, I would never have agreed to this…"

"It's okay," a kind voice whispered back and Izumi snapped her gaze towards the blonde who was supposed to be unconscious.

Izumi blinked at the words the kidnapped girl said.

Had she just been forgiven? For kidnapping the girl…?

"You… forgive me?" Izumi whispered to their tied up captive.

"Yes I do," she replied gently and Izumi felt herself reeling in surprise. Why was she being forgiven? She had kidnapped the girl with blonde hair and was the main reason she had gotten caught.

"I don't think you want to do this," she replied, sensing the confusion on her face. "You thought I was sleeping and you still felt the need to apologize to me so I don't think you're a bad person," she finished confidently.

This girl had to be insane. How could she be so forgiving to one of her supposed enemies, despite her situation.

Still… Izumi couldn't help but feel her heart flutter at the genuine kindness in her tone.

"You're using me as bait right?" The blonde suddenly asked and Izumi, seeing no reason to lie, nodded her head. At that, the girl suddenly shook her head sadly.

"You need to hide quickly. This is not going to go as you planned," the girl said and her mesmerizing, electric blue eyes stared at her in sympathy.

"What do you mean?" Izumi asked in slight trepidation. Reaper shouldn't even know where they are yet. The plan was to leave him a note tomorrow while setting up traps in case things went south.

The traps were currently being set up now and the note had not gone out yet.

So why was Izumi suddenly so worried?

But, Meiko was just shaking her head. "I know you're not a bad person so I'll ask Reaper to spare you but… I think everyone else is going to die," she said sadly.

Now Izumi was scared. What was this foreboding feeling?

"Reaper is not someone to mess with and...they happen to be extremely protective of me," Meiko informed her softly.

Izumi's pit stopped as she heard that declaration. H-had they made a mistake on who to kidnap? Extremely protective? Of this girl right here? They didn't know the relationship between the two but they just figured that she was the blonde man's daughter and that Reaper didn't actually care much for her.

If he was protective of her... D-didn't that mean he was going to kill them all?

Her brother chose that moment to burst into the room of the warehouse they were currently staked out in.

"Izumi!" Izuki called in greeting. His voice was high as he waved at his sister. "How's the hostage? Still sleeping eh. Helluva kick that one has!"

Still sleeping? Izumi turned around to see that yes, Meiko did appear to still be sleeping. The girls eyes were closed and her breathing came out evenly. She did not look like she had just been awake 30 seconds ago.

"Izuki-nii," Izumi said urgently. "I think we need to leave. Now," she told her older brother and she couldn't contain her fear well enough.

Izuki looked at her in confusion. "What's wrong, imoto?" He asked in concern at the frantic look in his little sisters eyes.

"We're so close to meeting Reaper, why do you suddenly want to back out?" He asked.

"The way we're doing this, it's wrong. We attacked them. Do you really think they're going to hear us out," Izumi tried to bring reason to her brother. "We should cut our losses and leave now. If we bring them the blonde here, they will definitely be more willing to hear us out."

"Izumi seriously, what's wrong. I trust your instincts, it's what has gotten us so far, but you gotta explain to me," Izuki said.

Izumi simply said "This is a really bad idea nii-san," and prayed that he would hear her out and they could just get out of here. She would explain more but that foreboding feeling was so oppressive, she couldn't think straight.

"Bad idea?" An unfamiliar voice said, causing them both to freeze in surprise.

Izumi and Izuki froze as they slowly turned around to the direction of the voice. An unbelievable pressure washed over the two of them and, within moments, they were on their knees.

Reaper, The Angel of Death, stared at them with a barely contained fury and it was then that they realized, just how royally screwed they were. They could see a red eye visibly glowing behind his hoodie and it was the most terrifying thing they had ever seen in that moment.

"You're about to find out that this is the worst idea you've ever had."

Rosan was mad.

No, scratch that.

Rosan was fucking pissed.

They attacked his ship, they attacked his subordinates, and, worst of all, they attacked his girl.

Meiko was his and they dared to touch her?!

To see her tied up… as a prisoner, it filled the obsidian angel with a fury he hadn't felt since he was captured on Daybreak. Rosan couldn't stand the thought of being a prisoner and that extended to the ones he vowed to protect.

To see Meiko not free... Rosan quickly removed her bindings and helped her up.

"Are you okay?" Rosan asked tenderly and Meiko flushed at how caring he sounded even despite his palpable rage.

"I-I'm okay," she confirmed, happily soaking up the attention.

"I'm glad you had the earrings on," he said softly, ignoring the room flooding with people. "Without them, I'd have taken a bit longer to find you."

Meiko blushed happily. "They're my favorite earrings so of course I'd put them on!"

Rosan finally turned around to eye his opponents. He was not surprised to see that all of them had weapons of sorts.

Seems like someone had a vendetta against him.

"Hide somewhere," Rosan said, turning towards Meiko. "I'll be done soon. It's been a long day and I just want to eat."

Meiko nodded quickly but not before saying "Please don't kill the black haired girl with teal eyes. She looks about 13. She wanted no part of this."

Rosan didn't outwardly acknowledge her but she knew he heard her. Satisfied, Meiko quickly ran off to go hide somewhere.

"Hey, stop her!" A voice called out but Meiko didn't even look back.

She didn't have to.

True to her beliefs, the person didn't even get to make a step towards her before a scythe made its way through his abdomen. The blade was unceremoniously ripped from his gut and he dropped dead.

"No need to be greedy," Reaper said conversationally as he held his scythe over his shoulder. "I'm more then enough."

Rosan swung his scythe and held it behind him in a reverse grip. The blade reached past his head and Rosan held his other hand loosely in front of him in a "come hither" gesture.

What happened next, could only be described purely as stress relief for Rosan. He was a whirlwind of destruction as he mowed his way through the crowd of people.

Rosan slashed open the belly of one person and kicked him into a group of 3. As he crashed into them he gripped his scythe with both hands and shot a wave of energy that severed all 4 cleanly.

Not pausing for a moment, he pivoted to the left and punched a person in their throat. They gagged and Rosan gripped his shirt, picked him up, and threw him. The sheer force of the blow made His body collide with another person and they both crashed, with a loud crack, against the wall.

They did not get back up.

Izumi watched all this from her hiding spot in complete terror at what they unleashed.

She was shaking uncontrollably at the carnage that the Shinigami was participating in.

The really pretty blonde girl had been right, they should have ran. They should have never gone through with such a stupid plan on a Shinigami who hunted people down in all corners of the Blue Seas. Of course they were going to find the ones who attacked his crew!

Reaper was a monster.

She watched in pure terror as he easily handled all of his opponents in unnecessarily brutal fashion. Some man tried to jump onto the winged Shinigami and he deftly sidestepped it by floating away. As the man flew through the air, Reaper caught him by the stomach.

With his blade.

She wanted to throw up as the bleeding body hung limply on the scythe. Reaper discarded him like he was nothing but trash and continued to move like he hadn't just casually impaled someone.

They were all going to die. Izumi's only hope, was that he listened to the sweet blonde and chose to spare her life because otherwise, she would end up like all the bodies littered uncaringly on the floor.

Eventually, it seemed like Reaper got bored with the one sided slaughter because he flexed his gorgeous black wings and took to the skies.

Everyone still alive looked up without any ounce of hope as he gripped his scythe with both hands and positioned it to his left side.

Rosan looked down at them in disdain. He tensed his muscles in preparation for his upcoming technique.

They would face judgment.

"Absolution."

He swung his scythe and a gigantic wave of energy, filled with his draconic flames, was released from it. The remaining survivors looked on with resignation at the approaching wave of destruction.

Reaper had been running rampant in all the Blue Seas. It would only be a matter of time before he went after them so they thought to bring the fight to him first and so they had done just that!

That was a costly mistake.

Reaper was absolute.

The screams of agony lasted only a moment, as they were killed instantly from the attack.

Izumi had, miraculously, survived the attack. She could not say the same for everyone else. As she looked at the carnage she felt a staggering amount of dread at the possibility of dying.

S-she really didn't want to die...

Had Izuki managed to survive? She dearly hoped so. Her older brother didn't want Reaper dead, he just wanted to meet them and talk!

Rosan scoffed at the battle. They had wanted to ambush him? Even with their traps, it wouldn't have worked on him. The difference in their strengths was far too large.

He landed on the floor without making a noise and turned in the direction Meiko had headed off too.

Izumi really hoped that he would get the girl and just leave because that would mean her life had truly been spare.

She wanted to get off this island right now and run far away. Antagonizing Reaper was a mistake that they should not have ever entertained and she cursed her meekness.

The black haired girl would be having nightmares for months after what she just witnessed.

"Wait right there!" A very familiar voice called out and Izumi felt her blood run cold.

No please. Please don't be this dumb. Please! Not after what you just saw!

As she dared to look, Izumi realized that her brother did in fact choose to be that dumb. He was standing a ways away from Reaper who had paused at the voice.

With the blonde in his hands.

With the blonde in his hands and a gun to her head.

Her brother had a death wish. WHAT WAS HE DOING?!

Meiko was deathly still as Izuki focused the gun to her skull.

Rosan vowed to kill the man no matter what. The boy was at his limit today.

"Hi Reaper-san, it's nice to meet you!" Izuki said with a crazed, obsessed gleam, in his eyes. "I'm Izuki and I've wanted to meet you for a long time!"

Rosan knew that gleam. It was the same gleam that Doc had when looking at him. He knew intimately what that look meant.

Desire for his strength.

How Rosan hated that look.

Alas, there was not much he could do currently. He was holding the only person in the world, that would actually give him pause, hostage.

If it were anyone else, Rosan would not care.

But this was his Meiko.

"This is an unorthodox way of handling things, Izuki," Reaper said calmly despite the burning hatred he felt at the moment.

"Forgive me! you're not an easy person to reach! I didn't want to do things like this but well…," Izuki looked around at the bodies on the floor in a bit of fear. "I think you get the point."

Reaper nodded in understanding. "A very valid point. I suspect you have demands then?"

Izuki nodded eagerly. "I promise I'm not an enemy Reaper-san! If you could just put you're scythe down..." after a moment of deliberating, he added "...also I want to see the face of the person I'm talking too. So, if you don't mind."

Meiko's safety was much more important then his identity. Rosan was sure Mod-chan wouldn't mind either.

The Devil Fruit agreed immediately.

Izuki watched with a bated breath as Reaper dropped his scythe without hesitation and moved to pull his hood back.

What Izumi saw shocked her and, despite the situation, she blushed.

Spiky shoulder-length red hair framed a bronze face that was devoid of baby fat. He had large shining eyes that were sharp and it was fascinating to note that his right eye was a royal purple and the left was a blood red. He looked jaw droppingly young and, combined with his rather short stature, he couldn't possibly be older then 14.

Reaper was a boy and he was an attractive one to boot, in Izumi's humble opinion.

Both Izuki and Izumi were thrown for a loop as they stared at the child whose face was carefully blank. They hadn't expected the famed Angel of Death to be a young boy but they had seen what he was capable of.

Somehow the thought that he was just a child and not an adult terrified them even more.

"I'm surprised… how old are you Reaper?" Izuki said, voice full of curiosity. Looking at the person before him, there was no doubt that Izuki was older than the Shinigami.

"12," He blandly replied and he continued to stare evenly at the 18 year old.

Izumi gaped. Reaper was even younger then her?! How did he manage to get this strong when she was so weak?!

Rosan contemplated lying but, he didn't know anything about this person. He would not risk putting Meiko in any sort of harm at all.

He'd be dead very soon regardless.

"What's your name?"

"Rosan. Are we going to keep playing 20 questions, or are you going to get to your point?" He asked calmly.

"Right, sorry," Izuki apologized sheepishly. "I'll get straight to the point, Rosan-san, do you mind if I call you that? I want to join your crew."

He didn't notice Rosan raise a red brow.

"You want to join me and you figured the best way to do this, was aligning yourself with people who want to kill me?" Rosan asked as he tilted his head.

Izumi felt dread pool in her stomach. This was not going to end well. She could feel it in her bones but fear was preventing her from speaking up.

"I didn't think they were going to attempt to kill you," Izuki admitted with a frown on his face. "They only told me that they were equally as interested in you. I never expected it to be this kind of interest though."

"But of course, something like this is no problem for you and that's why I wanna join you!" He finished excitedly and he was bouncing around.

"What can you do?" Rosan suddenly asked, catching Izuki off guard.

"What can I do?" Izuki asked with furrowed brows.

"Yes, what are you good at?" Rosan asked patiently as he idly tapped his foot on the ground.

Meiko chose not to interrupt.

Izumi felt utterly pathetic as she refused to do anything despite her mounting dread at the situation. Reaper was about to do something and she really didn't want to see it.

"W-well uh," Izuki floundered a bit as he thought of what to say.

"You want to join me but you can't even list your skills?" Rosan tilted his head again as he regarded the older person. "You know what I do is not a game right? I hunt dangerous people down and I kill them," he said bluntly and he continued tapping away.

"S-shut up!" The black haired young adult said in embarrassment. He had not been expecting the question.

"You didn't even stop to think that I'd question this? You are hopelessly optimistic if you thought you could just join Reaper for free."

Izumi found herself agreeing with him.

"I-I know alright!" Izuki yelled in shame. "It's just… Our parents died to a pirate attack and I couldn't do anything about it! But you… you managed to capture them and ever since I've wanted to join you and have you train me," he said, looking ashamed of himself.

"My condolences," Rosan actually managed to sound sincere and Izumi felt all her hairs rise as she realized the tapping stopped. "I'm sorry that happened to your parents… And I'm sorry that you'll be joining them soon."

"What?" Izuki said in confusion before the floor under him shifted and a spike flew out, stabbing the hand holding the gun. The boy didn't register what happened in time and he screamed in pure agony at being stabbed.

Meiko quickly broke herself from his grasp and moved a small distance from him.

Rosan vanished and within moments, he was in Izuki's personal space. The boy slapped the gun away and he watched in satisfaction as it went flying. He proceeded to kick Izuki in the gut and when the man keeled over in pain, the redhead grabbed him by his neck.

The boys eyes were positively blazing as he glared at Izuki with nothing but hatred and the teal eyed man couldn't help trembling in fear.

"Who do you think you are," Rosan hissed with barely contained rage.

"You think I'd let you aboard my ship after you put a fucking gun to my Meiko's head?" He snarled as he tightened his grip around his neck. Izuki gasped for air and felt his vision darkening as the lack of oxygen got to him.

"Let me show you how much I think of your proposition," was all Rosan said and Izuki blacked out.

Izuki-nii was going to die.

The realization hit Izumi like a ton of bricks and it nearly floored her.

Her older brother was going to die and it was to the person who she practically worshiped.

She didn't care that Izuki had provoked the boy. He was her older brother a-and when their parents had died, he had taken it upon himself to raise her. Despite struggling with the deaths of their parents, Izuki-nii had raised her with an unconditional amount of love.

And he was about to die.

Izumi looked at the gun that was lying at her feet, knocked away by Rosan, and came to a decision. With shaky hands, she managed to pick up the pistol. She had never held a gun before but if she didn't do anything, Izuki was going to die. She didn't know what she would do if that happened and she had to prevent it at all costs.

Izumi was trembling harshly as she aimed it at Rosan.

Izumi closed her eyes, looked away and she hesitantly pressed the trigger.

The sound of a gunshot rang through the night.

Chapter End