Freakout From Grim

I was frozen in place by the man named Grim looking at me and walking away as if he saw nothing.

'He.. he.. he stared me straight in the eyes. There is.. absolutely.. no way.. that that guy.. could have just stared at me.'

I could feel my heart beating faster, and I had started to freak out.

'There's no way.. to just.. do that? I don't remember much about the........ South Blue, but there couldn't have been a guy who can see through everything.... Right?'

With my blood pressure so high, I decided to stop being Spiderman and lay on the ground for a couple minutes. I didn't care if anyone saw me, since Grim had seen me, and it completely slipped my mind to stay as stealthy as possible. So I ended up dropping to the floor and laying on said floor, exasperated, and sweating buckets, questioning everything.

'I thought that no one could see me. Even Rosa and that girl...... Rem couldn't see me. Although I was hiding, Rosa at least knew of my presence, so how strong is this... Grim.. guy to be able to see me? Although I wasn't exactly doing much to hide, I was just clinging onto the wall and using a bit of observation to mask my presence, it shouldn't have been able to be seen through with a snap of your fingers! Does he have Haki too? And has it at a level STRONGER THAN MY OWN? WHO IS HE?'

Before I could continue to freak out on the floor, a calming presence appeared, and I couldn't tell where it came from, mostly because I was not using observation at that moment. I then heard something in my head: "Calm down. Think through all possibilities rather than focus on what has just transpired." In a tone that very much added to the calming presence.

After hearing this, I went into a state of partial Zen Mode, just to calm down as much as I could.

My face then scrunched as I closed my eyes.

'Um.. That was my voice. My own voice in my head just told me to calm down. Is someone trying to take my mind over? Like how those guys are? AM I GONNA END UP UNDER SOMEONE'S CONTROL? NO! I CANT JUST DO THAT! I SHOULD HAVE SOMETHING AGAINST IT RIGHT? I.. WHAT.. HOW WOULD A DEVIL FRUIT LIKE THAT AFFECT ME? I NEVER THOUGHT ABOU-'

What the voice said rang in my head. "...think through all the possibilities..." I also felt myself calm down a little more too.

I then took a deep breath, and looked at the ceiling, activating Observation again as a precaution.

'No, that isn't what I need to focus on right now. That guy, Grim, somehow saw me, which should mean that he has stronger Haki than me. But why would someone like that be here in the South Blue? Does it have some connection to why the rest of the people all have some soul thing in their body? Is he perhaps the reason? No, that can't be it. Rosa didn't know who he was, and it even seemed as if that Rem girl wasn't under the control of him either, so what is the possible happening? They don't seem to be under anyone's control, so why do they have that soul thing in the first place? That's question number one on a list. Question number two: what, and who is Grim, as well as what is the connection here? Question number three: who is this Family Rosa has? I don't know who those people are either, so would question number four be "Who, specifically, is Rosa's family? I mean, to start answering that, I can assume it's Rem and the other.. six people in that meeting room, but I know none of their names.'

I knitted my eyebrows.

'Wait.. Rem? Isn't that name from Re:Zero? Where Subaru dies like a billion freaking times? Why use that name for one.. of.... them....? Ooooohh. R. Their names start with R. Or, I think so at least. What was I talking about? Oh, right. I now have a list of questions I need answers to, so I will need to get closer to hear and just have a little faith that Grim won't rat me out. I should probably be ready to run as quickly as possible before eavesdropping on them though, otherwise it may be a bit too close for comfort.'

I got up, dusted myself off while checking where everyone was, and after realizing everyone was in the meeting room, I went to eavesdrop.

The doors to the meeting room burst open with a fuming Rosalina stomping towards the table.

The second oldest one with a white goatee and mustache spoke "Ah, Rosalina, you are back, how was your last tri-"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT LIKE HOW MY LAST TRIP WAS, I NEED ANSWERS ROSS!" Rosalina slammed her hands on the table, shaking the entire thing, with a face that was sneering.

"Now Rosalina, that was not needed. We would like to know what kind of answers you need before we-" said the older lady before she was also interrupted.

"CAN IT RIANNA! YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I MEAN. WHO IS THIS GUY NAMED GRIM, AND WHY ARE YOU PARTNERED WITH HIM TO LEAVE THE ISLAND?"

Rosalina was getting angrier by the minute, and Rem ran into the room finally.

"Oh..... thank the heavens! Ro-Ro, you ran ahead without stopping, so I couldn't ask for you to not say a woooor....."

Rem, with her hands on her knees while standing, stopped speaking as soon as she noticed all the others looking at her. She immediately adopted a face that was completely and utterly scared for her own life.

"Rem." Rem then shook a little, the fear still there. "Did you perhaps speak of what we told you to not speak of?" The oldest of them all spoke up.

Rem was shaking a little at this. But Rosalina wasn't having it.

In a serious tone, she spoke "Rath, don't you dare bring her in to this. Slipping up will happen, and you can't fault anyone for them." Rosalina had a darkened face, with some of her hair covering up some of her face, with a single eye looking straight at the oldest.

He was unwavered though.

"Rosalina, do you perhaps have any reasoning behind thinking we have someone else here? I would not think so, unless something has happened that I am unaware of?"

Grim then barged in to the room, stopping to stand at the side of the doors.

"Perhaps you don't. Forget that question." Rath turned his head to Grim and said "You know this was not a part of the plan, right? You were not supposed to appear in front of Rosalina herself, and yet, you do exactly that. Is there a reason?"

Before he could speak a word, Rosalina interrupted again.

"Rath, you do realize that you are not in a great spot, right? I thought I told you all to go out and explore the world yourselves, and yet, you are all still here, after all this time, doing what? Having meetings about random, mismatched topics? Recruiting random people to do things for you in exchange for something?"

"Ro, ya know we have reasons." Spoke the delinquent looking person.

Rosalina went to a more relaxed look, while still being angry.

"Rosten, do you know that I told all of you to leave the island by yourself to explore?"

"Younger Sister Rosalina, perhaps you are thinking too much into this. We are doing what you have asked us to do. It should not be such a hastle if we include one person outside of ourself in the plan."

"Rianna, as I said before. CAN. IT."

Rianna was taken aback from this, but then regained her composure.

"You are very much thinking too much about this." Said the evil looking one.

"How am I thinking too much about this, Rosin? I told you all a long time ago to leave the island, and you can not just have someone random help you, even if they are willing to help."

"You ask us to leave, and expect us to not become more prepared to fight our way around the world? Just to explore it? We were bred to make weapons, so why not be more prepared with another weapon of protection?"

Rosalina was still standing, Rem behind her, quivering a little, freaking out about what may happen to her while Rosalina was speaking.

"You know, pain is something that will happen, no matter what. You are insane to think that perhaps, with enough weapons, the pain will never come. But after long enough, it will appear nonetheless. Not because of something you did, but because you will be tortured by the souls of the ones you killed with such weapons, and will live in regret that you just didn't experience pain and live in peace rather than experience pain while living in peace."

The people at the table stared at Rosalina, as if she was crazy, and seemed to try and push that idea out of their own heads, some more than others.

And then a clap was heard from the other side of the doors.