Acceptance

[ Stussy's POV ] 

We had found Dr. Vegapunk, my creator, in the town of Selen. I hadn't seen him since the day I left to join the World Government in secrecy. I initially had wanted to aid Dr. Vegapunk in protecting himself from the clutches of the World Government. So the only logical move I could make was to infiltrate it from within, and give any information that may be of concern to Vegapunk to him. 

However, Dr. Vegapunk was highly against the decision I had made. He always seemed to insist on me enjoying my life as a normal human being. Unfortunately, I had ignored his constant advice and decided to join CP0 anyway. The years I had spent in training camp were brutal, even though I was a clone, I still had a woman's physique. 

They had also went out of their own way to teach us how to supress our emotions. That, along with the constant indoctrination of the importance of serving the World Nobles would have slowly led to the emergence of an efficient CP0 agent. The only difference between me and a normal CP0 agent was that I had no emotions to begin with. Their indoctrination was mostly based on faith and passion over the fact that if it weren't for their ancestors, the world would be in much more chaos than it is today. 

This made no appeal to my emotions, if anything, it just made me start to detest the World Government's regime even further. However, I did not falter, this was all for my creator; the man who treated me like his own daughter. I would not leave just simply because I didn't believe in their cause. So I had to keep up appearances, I passed all of the CP0's field assessments and writing assessments as well. It was easy for me because Vegapunk had already taught me most of these things before.

The World Nobles were insufferable, however, I continued to serve them diligently. Aiding them in whatever shenanigans that they had gotten themselves into, from the safe confines of Mariejois to the brutal weathers of the New World. Slowly, but surely, I had gained the trust of the World Government.

Later on, an important event that some Celestial Dragons participated in. The Five Elders decided to appoint me as a leader for the expedition. I was one of the five leaders of that expedition, it was there I had met this man. Boris had made his first appearance when he went to kill Saint Lazarus. 

I didn't think much of him at first, I had always thought that he was nothing more than a pirate affiliated with Rocks. However, his eyes said something different, I was going to use shigan to put a hole through his head when I had made eye contact with him. For the first time in my life, I felt fear, it was a suffocating feeling that couldn't even compare to Conqurer's haki. I had felt that before, it was just a pressure that forced people to fall unconcious. 

The feeling that he gave me was that of a predator looking at its pray, I felt like any move that I could have made would have meant that it was the end of my life. I could only remain frozen in my spot as he came close to me and tossed away my mask. His clear killing intent had vanished the moment he saw my face. His eyes weren't filled with lust like Saint Lazarus' face when he had been choking me before Boris came. 

Rather, his eyes flashed with a glint of surprise, his face remained expressionless. We continued to stare at each other for a bit before his killing intent surged once more. He walked past me and promptly began torturing and killing Saint Lazarus. My eyes could still remember his face as he performed all of that. 

I really tried to warn him, but he didn't listen to me. The moment that the World Noble died, I knew that my plan of infiltrating the World Government had gone to hell. I didn't even know what to do after, but it was then Boris came to me. He offered me an oppurtunity to join him and Whitebeard as pirates. 

His naivety left me stunned, why did he trust me so blindly? My heart, which had been frozen in fear for the first time in my life. Slowly melted with curiousity, I wanted to know more about this man. I wanted to feel this man's affection. He was the first to give me fear, so its only fair that he be the first to give me love, right?

I knew it was selfish, but I kept the retained the fact that I was a clone from him. I was planning to tell him when the time was right in the future if it wasn't for Dr. Vegapunk. Now, I didn't know what to do. Did he hate me? Was he going to kick me out? After all this time? My heart was slowly beginning to feel hollow.

Was the feeling I currently had sadness? That must have meant that I had love for him, right? My feelings, they were slowly beginning to show themselves within me. I didn't like the idea being left alone without Boris. My head was rushing and processing all these emotions that I was going through when I heard Boris talk to me for the first time after Dr. Vegapunk explained my origins.

"It doesn't matter."

Those words rung through my ears as I slowly turned to look at him. He had been staring at me when he was saying these words. I couldn't say anything in response, but he kept going.

"You being here....has been something that I have come to appreciate overtime. I don't mind the fact that you're a clone, because these feelings will still feel the same no matter what you become."

His words were all that I could hear at that moment of time. I kept staring at his deep onyx-colored eyes as he talked. The only thing I could really say after all this time was.

"Huh?" 

Tears began swelling in my eyes as he drew me closer into his embrace. I could hear his heart beat ever so steadily as he held me close to him. I could hear my heart beat getting quicker and quicker the longer we stayed this way. It was at that moment, all the feelings that my brain was rushing to process. All these thoughts that were crowding my head, went quiet as if it wasn't even there. 

It was at that moment, that it was as clear as a book to me the main feeling that was currently in my heart: This feeling, was love.