Chapter 21: Answers

"Duck"

Yulie obliged as another knife landed on her side, Kid who was shielding her used his ability to push back the pirates who were running towards them. 

"Damn it, they just keep on coming one after the other"

"My butterflies had poisoned almost half of them but there's still too many"

"This is getting tedious"

Robin said as she unleashed her powers hurling some more of the blackbeard pirates away. Luffy and the others were busy fighting with Blackbeard and some of his captains. Yulie's gaze landed on Kid, he had refused to leave her side eventhough she had told him over and over again that she could handle herself. Yulie sensed danger looming around and immediately flew upward, her butterfly wings sprouting from behind her as she grabbed Robin by the arm.

The grassy ground they were standing just now had turned to ice. A tall male now stood before Kid, staring right above at Yulie and Robin.

"It's Kuzan"

"Fucking hell"

Kid had cursed as he watched Yulie above still carrying Robin. He had told Luffy earlier that he would protect Yulie but his only reply to him was that his sister was strong. He hadn't believed him, not until he saw how Yulie's butterfly poisoned and paralyzed the weaker pirates. He was worried but this was war, and he can't protect Yulie and bring down Kuzan without getting her caught up with his attacks.

"YULIE!! GET OUT OF HERE!! BOTH OF YOU!!"

Yulie immediately understood and flew off far from Kuzan, to get Robin far away from them. In this fight she knew that Robin was vital, the Ten Titanic Captains have been running after her since earlier. Robin knew that too as she unleashed another surge of her power to help some of their crewmates down below. It must have something to do with the Road Poneglyphs. 

"Yulie, Nami is down there"

Yulie stared down and true enough, Nami and Chopper were there, fending off just fine on their own. Before Yulie could land though, a bullet fast enough for her to not notice went her way. She was a second late, and she winced as she felt the bullet grazing through one of her wings. She immediately noticed Van Augur reloading another shot and flew fast down before he could shoot them again. 

"Yulie are you alright?"

"Fine"

She breathed to Chopper. She looked back and saw blood dripping from one of her wings. She heaved out a sigh as she ordered more of her butterflies to poison the ones surrounding the four of them. She immediately sensed Killer amongst the crowd and saw that the Kid Pirates had joined them. 

She took one of the swords laying on the ground and immediately parried against the pirates coming their way. They were grinning, bloodied, but grinning, like they were so sure that they would be the ones to win. Maybe they will, a small part of her had said before the roar of the giants not far enough from them echoed. 

"You dare hurt our friends and destroy our lands"

Brogy and Dorry's loud voice echoed throughout as they swiped almost half of Blackbeard's underlings. A tremor shook the ground they were standing on, the same time that Yulie had spotted her brother, his hair turning white and his loud laughter ringing in her ears. A loud thump, and then another, and another, the sound of the drums beating along with her heartbeat. She caught her breath as she stared at his brother's free form. 

She had seen this in the wanted poster but seeing it up close was really different. Luffy was different. She parried with another pirate, almost never leaving Robin, Nami and Chopper's side. She wouldn't let the blackbeard pirates harm them, not on her watch. 

Another tremor shook the ground as Yulie tried to steady her footing when she felt that undeniable presence nearing her, nearing Robin. When she tried to shield themselves Zoro had appeared fast enough in front of her to clash with the sword that was invisible to her eyes.

"What? Too afraid to fight me? Or too shy to show your face?"

Zoro taunted until his opponent had revealed part of his face, Shiryu, Yulie thought, was a menace and would have probably gotten them killed because of his devil fruit.

"Yulie ran far away, I'll handle him"

Nami, Robin and Chopper gladly obliged as they cleared the path for them to take but before she could even move another step a hand held her forearm and had twirled her around. Yulie sucked in a breath as Van Augur grabbed her and immediately transported her, not even giving Zoro and the others time to react. And in an instant the two of them were behind Blackbeard.

"What! Let me go!"

Yulie tried to fight and ordered her butterflies to come to her to poison Van Augur and Blackbeard only for it to be swallowed up by Blackbeard's dark hole. 

"YULIE"

Yulie heard her brother call her but her attention was on Blackbeard. His sneer and the glimmer in his eyes were enough to tell her that they weren't after Robin, it wasn't her that they wanted. From the very beginning, they were after her. 

"Zehahahaha, we got what we need. Time to finish this up"

"NO!!"

The collective shouts and screams almost deafened Yulie as she watched Blackbeard send another tremor through the earth, enough to shatter and break the island into half. Van Augur grasped her forearm tighter as they transported into darkness. Yulie would have never forgotten the look on Luffy's face, the horror and terror in them as the darkness swallow her up.

Yulie's eyes opened up to see that they have been transported to the neighboring island of Elbaf. An abandoned island that was not far from Elbaf. She quickly sent the information to her tracking butterflies that were left on the island. Not far away she could still hear the collective screams of people as Elbaf almost sunk underwater.

"Zehahahaha you're pretty"

Yulie felt her spine stiffen as she took in Blackbeard who was now kneeling in front of her. She wanted to punch him but found herself in cuffs. She gritted her teeth at the seastone cuffs decorating both of her wrists.

She looked around once more and found more pirates in here. Like Blackbeard hadn't sent all of them in Elbaf. Her eyes widened at the realization of his plans but she glared at him the moment their eyes met. 

"What do you want from me?"

She said through gritted teeth. She hadn't thought of any possibility that Blackbeard would have any need for her. She and everyone else thought that the person they were after was Robin. But they had been wrong.

"I was looking for you, oh pretty little butterfly"

Blackbeard said while laughing as he tossed a wanted poster in front of her. Yulie looked down only to see her picture, a stolen shot of her with her purple butterflies and her name Yulie Anne on the bottom. But her eyes had widened when she saw how much her head was worth.

"A million berries?"

She gasped out making Blackbeard laugh louder.

"Isn't it surprising? How the government put such a large bounty on your head when you weren't even a pirate? And they didn't even bother putting your whole name in it. They wanted you dead for some other reason, do you know what it is?"

"Stop toying with me. What do you want?"

"You"

Blackbeard answered her with so much malice Yulie could feel herself sweating buckets.

"Your powers that you don't even know what can do. I want that"

Yulie's eyebrows knitted in between as an indication that she didn't understand what he had meant.

"Your powers girl, your real powers is something that can transcend and ruin the natural laws of time and space. I want that"

"I refuse"

Yulie spat on his face but Blackbeard had just laughed at her.

"Oh you poor thing, this isn't something you can refuse"

Yulie felt herself tremble as darkness coated Blackbeard's hand which he had put on her chest, right where her heart is. She breathed heavily when she felt the darkness seeping through her skin. An invisible hand gripping her very heart so tightly she was afraid it would have bursted inside of her.

But she felt it. Her power slowly seeping through her heart. Like the invisible hand was squeezing it and pulling it out of her.

Yulie screamed as pain and agony enveloped her whole being. Make it stop, make it stop, please, please, someone save me, she thought hard as she tried to set herself free from the chains and out from Blackbeard's reach. Yulie coughed blood the moment the grip on her heart tightened and it was a battle not to faint on that moment.

Yulie's whole being screamed in pain when a person flew down from above making Blackbeard surprised as he tumbled far from her separating the two of them.

"You're not taking my sister away from me too, not this time"

Yulie coughed up blood once more as she slumped on the ground, her heart beating profusely as she tried to take in too much air.

Her eyes widened as she saw Van Augur trying to reach for her again only to stop when a wall of flames separated her from him. Her head snapped to the person standing beside her, his back on her, but she knew that hair color.

That blonde hair, that black hat that almost hid his whole face and that long pipe in his hand. She felt her tears quickly trickling down one after another as she called out to him. Called out to her brother that she thought she once had lost.

"Sabo"

She breathed out and Sabo turned to give her one glance, his scarred face smiling at her before it turned to pure rage at the sight of his sister twisting in pain, blood dripping from her lips.

"I will kill you"

He told Blackbeard, but before he can even answer, another figure flew to where they were and knelt beside her. Luffy, whose free form was far from being happy.

Luffy, who always smiled during battles, took one look at Yulie's battered form and stood up beside Sabo. His expressions mirror that of Sabo's. The expression of pure unadulterated rage.

"Aren't you gonna say thank you? Look, you're complete now. Oh but maybe not complete, Ace is gone after all"

That taunt was all it took for Luffy and Sabo to disappear only to reappear in front of Blackbeard, their fists both landing on his face, sending him far away from Yulie. 

Yulie felt another hand tugging along her cuffs and saw Zoro simply slicing the seastones off. His arms going under her knee and on her back as he carried her away from Van Augur.

"They were after you"

Yulie only nodded at Zoro as he placed her down behind Franky and Jimbei who were now fighting against the Blackbeard pirates.

"She's bleeding"

"Superrr not cool"

"Chopper look after her"

Zoro told them as he parried again with Shiryu who Yulie hadn't noticed at all. Chopper was beside him in an instant, looking at her, his face contorting as Yulie coughed another surge of blood.

"There's no external injuries"

He simply said to no one in particular but Yulie could feel herself trembling again. The invisible grip around her heart lingered as she felt the darkness in it.

No, Chopper won't find it, She thought. Because whatever Blackbeard had done to her, a fraction of his power was left inside of her and it's spreading like poison.

Yulie closed her eyes only for her to open them again when she felt her butterflies slowly burning away.

When she felt her life slowly burning away.

She let out another ear-splitting scream of pain as the darkness consume her inside. Along with the image of her butterflies crying, seeking her help as they burn one by one.

All of it, except for the dark colored ones.

The ebony colored butterflies that she had been afraid of. She could see them fluttering their wings inside of their jars. They're the only ones left, she had no choice but to use them.

"come"

She weakly muttered the order before another surge of pain hit her.

come, before I die