One Piece 1. Prologue

|| The Siren's Lullaby ||

_Prologue:_

* * *

It was undoubtedly a tedious task; walking through the lawless zones of this man-made forest. Bandits and other ruffians ran amok here without being kept in check, which made it quite troublesome for anyone of any significance to pass through.

Most residents of this archipelago knew all too well that the lawless zones were not a place for the weak, and so the weaker did well to avoid it. But for others who wished to test their strength, or simply just did not care about the impending threat, they dwelled in these areas.

But there was one girl who, as she walked these forestry paths, seemed to stick out like a sore thumb.

Her hair was blacker than coal, reaching down to the back of her knees. It fluttered as she walked, like strands of woven shadow flickering about her shrouded form. Her eyes were a radiant glacial color, so light in color and so sharply florescent that it seemed as if one had carved iridescent ice into her eyes.

Her face was fair in color, as if it had scarcely felt the caress of the sun. It was smooth as well, giving it a porcelain like appearance. Such was the delicacy and apparent fragileness of this girl that any who saw her would briefly wonder of her intentions in the lawless zone.

Those who had seen her before never spoke to her, for they knew a secret that others did not.

Not much could be told about this girl, for only a scarce few knew her, and her appearance- aside from her hair and eyes- were all but a mystery, for she hid herself deep within a large trench coat with upturned collars. And, curiously enough, there upon her face was a scarf tightly woven.

It was fashioned as such to never be bothered by the wind or removed so easily by curious or prying hands. Perhaps an accessory such as an ordinary scarf should have been an otherwise irrelevant detail, but the odd and almost eerie air that this woman emitted made the citizens of Sabaody rather wary of her.

It was as if she were hiding something from them; keeping something hidden behind that scarf. Perhaps it was paranoia speaking, but more than one civilian of the village would claim that they had heard her speak to them, despite the obvious facts that went against that.

You see, this girl was mute. She never spoke; never made a single sound. But yet others claimed that she did. They swore up and down they had heard her. And then, with a peculiar look in their eyes, they would describe her voice.

_Like a drug,_ some said. Such were the mellifluous susurrus of her voice that those who heard it seemed to fall under a spell; an utter bewitchment.

Most steered clear of her whether they believed the rumors or not, seeing as how she was a rather eccentric woman.

But the so called enchantress seemed to have no qualms with the obvious hesitancy of those around her. In fact, it worked to her advantage in some aspects.

She could travel somewhat unhindered through the lawless zones, despite the fact she was an obvious target for a bandit attack, seeing as how petite she was. The rumors of her devilish whispers were known even to the delinquents of this archipelago, and so they too steered clear of her for the most part. Grant it, there was the occasional bold group who made an attempt on her life, but each fell before her without her even touching them.

Spectators would claim they saw her pull her scarf down in battle. She would speak to her opponent, and they would suddenly go rigid and falter, collapsing before her without a seemingly apparent reason.

She would leave her enemies for dead, not seeming to care for their well being. They remained in a deep sleep, and nothing could seem to sever the effect her voice held on her prey.

And so she became known as the Siren; a wicked enchantress whose voice would lure men to their undoing.

The woman would, unbeknownst to others around her, smile under her scarf each time she heard the epithet even uttered.

If only they knew how close they truly were.


	2. Chapter 1: Chance Encounter

The clashing of swords and the resounding echoes of battle cries had been overtaking the lawless zones for a while now. With all the big-time pirate groups out and about on this archipelago, the bounty hunters and other delinquents were restless and far too eager to make an attempt on one of the Supernovae's life.

This made traveling through these particularly rough zones rather unpleasant on this day, and Reina wasn't fond of when things were made difficult. The bandits were growing too bold- too greedy. They were likely to fall by the end of the day, meeting their fate against one of the super rookies no doubt, but for the so called siren, this could not come soon enough.

As it were, she was completely surrounded by a group of ruffians at the moment. They pointed their gleaming, silver swords at her and shouted crude things as they pushed her about as if she were nothing more than a toy.

"Answer me, woman!" The supposed leader of the group snapped, a murderous intent in his eyes as he stared down the petite female, who regarded him with a collected demeanor.

"Are you the siren I've been hearing about?" He asked, and once more, the subject to the questions remained silent. She kept her stare level and steady, and this only seemed to irk the bandit leader further.

He looked about ready to pull the plug on these shenanigans and simply dispose of this fragile little girl, when suddenly she reached into her trench coat, fishing something out of it.

When her hand emerged, she produced a notepad and pen. Clicking the top of the pen so that the ink-tipped ball point emerged, she calmly wrote a note to the bandit in lavish cursive handwriting.

The man blinked, utterly confounded as she held out the notepad to him.

_If you don't move out of my way, then perhaps you'll have the displeasure of finding out_ _for yourself._

The bluntness in the written words was quite apparent, and a vein protruded on the bandit leader's head. Was this girl seriously trying to threaten him, tiny and harmless as she was?

"Don't make me laugh, you brat!" He seethed, his eyes flaring with annoyance as the woman let out a silent breath; something akin to an exasperated sigh.

In a split moment, she reached up and tugged lightly on her scarf so that it loosened around her face, falling down a bit as she drew closer to the leader of the group. She caught him by the scruff of his shirt, pulling the looming man down to her level in a surprising show of strength for someone of her size as she whispered something into his ear.

"B-Boss, are you alright?" The man's followers stammered upon seeing their leader become stock still, as if he had been turned to stone. His eyes were popping a bit, his pupils wide and full, and his mouth hung slightly agape as if he were attempting to make a cry for help, but nothing came out.

When the woman released him, he fell to the ground without her support. The rest of the bandits immediately blanched, turning as white as a ghost in the face as they stepped back a bit.

"Wh-What have you done...?" One of the subordinates choked out, stuttering and stumbling over his words as he broke out in a cold sweat upon meeting the gaze of the mysterious woman, whom could be seen smiling ever so slightly now.

She did not answer the inquiry, and instead only began to sing. Her voice, hauntingly eerie with a whispering undertone and ethereal harmonies, shook the bandits to their very core. They froze in place as she stole from them their consciousness, leaving them to fall to their knees and finally come to rest against the vibrant green grass of the grove.

_An unfortunate waste of time_, the girl mused to herself idly, readjusting her tussled trench coat and scarf.

She was about to be on her way, when a peculiar feeling brought about chills that raced down her spine. Her dark, slender eyebrows immediately shot up for a moment before furrowing curiously, and she craned her body slightly in the direction of the disturbance.

She wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting to find. Perhaps another group of bandits, maybe even a civilian looking at her with wary eyes, but she certainly did not expect to see what she actually did.

* * *

_|| Earlier that day ||_

"Did you hear?" Came the hushed voices of many citizens of Sabaody Archipelago as they sifted about, muttering to one another in a anxious groups, "All eleven rookies are here on this island right now!"

"What have we done to deserve such bad luck?" Another citizen whimpered, and the sound of a raging battle could be heard in the distance, most likely caused by one of the members of the group of rookies currently being discussed.

"And the Celestial Dragons as here as well. What if those damn pirates get too cheeky and try to defy them?"

Each and every individual within hearing range paled drastically in the face.

_One._

Black wings of astounding size and luminous iridescence fluttered idly beneath the cerulean sky, and watchful eyes scanned the island below as they picked their subjects of interest: pirate ships. Particularly the ones of the Supernovae.

Changing course suddenly, the winged being took a sudden dive and surged off in a different direction, her eyes seeking out the infamous ships.

_Two. Three. Four._

Holding out the wanted posters before her, grasping them carefully in her hooked talons, she identified each one and placed a face with the ship.

_Five. Six. Seven. Eight. _

So, there really were all these rookies on the island at the same time. How very precarious and dangerous...

_Nine. Ten. _

Sharp and keen eyes darted about, identifying each jolly roger with the notorious pirate crew that sailed under it. They were all present and accounted for, save for one. It would seem that no matter how thoroughly she searched the island from her vantage point for the jolly roger of the Heart Pirates, she simply could not find it.

So had her sources been incorrect? Were there only ten rookies from the Worst Generation present at this time, instead of eleven? How could that possibly be right though, when everyone was talking about how _all_ of the Supernovae had gathered here on this man-made island?

Perhaps she had merely just overlooked their ship. It was a mistake she was willing to admit was possible, after all. But it didn't seem to make sense to her. She had found all the ships but one, and there was nowhere left to check besides on land, and that surely was no place for a pirate ship. How very odd...

* * *

|| _Present Time _||

_So, you're here after all, Trafalgar Law. _The idly mused comment remained unspoken by the dark haired female as she stared down the pirate captain whose ship she could not find in her earlier search. It would seem she had overlooked it, after all.

The notorious doctor regarded her calmly, his stormy gray eyes clouded with an almost unnerving calmness that almost gave off a bored and disinterested air. There was a bit of arrogance about this man, and it was quite easy to sense. But perhaps one such as he had a right to be prideful and to boast a bit, seeing as how far he had come and how rapidly he had increased the notoriousness of his name, just like all of the other Supernovae.

"May I ask what you just did?" He calmly inquired, a hint of a smirk forming at the corners of his lips as the woman regarded him with an almost amused air about her.

Clicking the top of her pen so that the inked tip re-appeared, she casually discarded her earlier note to the bandit leader as she scrawled something else out in neat lettering.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean." The note read, and she held it out for him to read. He clearly seemed to take note of the fact that she did not speak, but going off of the way his lips pulled into a wider smirk, she had a feeling he knew full and well that she was not at all mute.

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean." He drawled, the tone in his voice rather lazy and laid back, and throughout his remark, his eyes remained ever so watchful towards the shrouded female.

Frowning a bit behind her scarf, Reina idly clicked and un-clicked the top of her pen, chewing on the inside of her cheek a bit. They were minor habits, and on the outside, for the most part, it looked as if she was unfazed by this man's remark.

"You knocked those men out without even landing a blow on them. So I'm asking you, Siren-ya, what you did to them."

So, he knew her nickname, did he?

" -Ya? What an unpolite thing to tack onto a name." The new note that she wrote read, and a hint of a smile formed on her plump lips that were hidden underneath her scarf.

Again, her written remark earned a bit of a smirk from Law, but he seemed to show no remorse for his lack of manners. He hadn't gotten this far by being polite, and it wasn't his intentions to change his mannerisms now simply because it displeased someone.

"I believe you're the one that's being impolite here, Siren-ya. You aren't answering my question." His voice seemed to be scolding her, and his eyes held a dangerous glint that made even the usually unshakable woman frown a bit.

She was beginning to come to terms with the fact that he certainly didn't get his epithet of the Surgeon of Death for no reason. He meant her no harm- as far as she knew- and yet he still managed to intimidate her with just the look in his stone gray eyes. How intriguing.

Her pen lingered above her notepad for a long moment, and even when she pressed it down to connect with the paper, she hesitated.

"It is not a power you would desire to come to know." She settled for writing, showing him the note with a steady hand. His smirk only grew in size.

"Perhaps you should let me be the judge of that, Siren-ya." He said, his voice lower now, and certainly a good deal more threatening. He certainly wasn't beating around the bush when it came to finding out what he was curious of.

Taking a moment to size him up, the petite female frowned a bit once more, before it suddenly turned into a smile. Her shoulders quivered with an unheard chuckle of great amusement, and shifted her weight from her left leg to her right as she discerned this peculiar situation.

"Where are your crew members?" The notepad soon read, for once more, she was avoiding his question.

It was pushing her luck without a doubt, but she was testing the waters with this man. It wasn't everyday that one got to meet a rookie from the Worst Generation, and she intended to make the most out of it. Was he really as calm as he appeared to be, or was he the type to get easily irked?

His eyes glinted dangerously for a brief moment, and the woman nearly sucked in a breath, but refrained from doing so. So, perhaps he was growing weary of her little ask and dodge game.

But either way, he still played along with it, much to her surprise. Perhaps he did find a bit of amusement in it after all, or maybe he was simply intrigued by someone so bluntly refusing to give him what he had asked for.

"They'll be arriving shortly. We got separated after a little...mishap, with a group of bandits. But don't worry, Siren-ya, you won't be bothered by that particular group anymore." The surgeon said, and something about the almost devilish glint in his eyes told you that they had come to a cruel end.

_Fitting, for one known as the Surgeon of Death. How interesting of an individual you are..._

The words idly swirled around in your mind, and you found yourself smiling a bit because of them.

"I'll keep your kind debt to society in mind." The notepad now read, and the woman nearly faltered in her calm demeanor when she heard his deep, unnerving chuckle. It was almost maniacal, in a way.

"Quite the cheeky one, are we?" His words were like poison honey, flowing sweetly yet threateningly.

"It's an activity I do find amusing to indulge myself in." She wrote, a flicker of a smile appearing at the corners of her lips as she idly tucked a strand of her long black hair behind her ear.

Once more, the dark surgeon chuckled, and his eyes flashed with an indescribable look. He seemed to be debating on whether or not he liked her defiance, or if it was annoying. He didn't get to voice his thoughts, however, because soon enough the tramping of feet could be heard against the grass.

The moment Law turned his head, the female went a bit stiff. Now was certainly her chance to run whilst he was distracted. She had seen enough of his character, and while she was intrigued, she would much rather follow him from afar than stay so close to him.

"Cap'n!" A large white bear called out, approaching his higher-up at a hasty speed. Once he reached him, he slowed down, and his beady black eyes blinked once, and then twice in confusion.

"Eh? Captain, who were you talking to?" The bear inquired, and Law's eyebrows furrowed a bit.

"I was talking to-" He began, before he paused when a soft breeze ruffled his hat. There was a silence that now filled the grove, and slowly, a smirk began to form on his features as he turned around.

She was gone.

The rest of the Heart Pirates had caught up with their captain by this point, and they formed a small half-circle around him as they looked curiously at the notorious doctor. Law did not meet their gaze. Instead, he scanned the area around him, searching for any sign of the woman, but she proved to be a skillful evader, for he could neither see nor hear her anywhere.

"It appears she's run off." He remarked idly, his tone seeming bored as he played with the white fur guard around the top of his nodachi, which he soon passed off to Bepo to hold for the time being.

"Whose run off?" Shachi pipped up, glancing around as if he expected to find the girl himself, but had no such luck.

There was a moment of silence, and then the Supernova responded, his eyes idly shifting through the shadows of the trees, which were certainly a good place one could hide.

"I don't know her name."

The crew seemed to be a bit thrown off by their captain's vagueness, and they looked to one another, some scratching their cheeks in confusion and others shrugging in their befuddlement. They knew to leave their captain be when he fell into a deep, thoughtful state like he had now, and so the Heart Pirates waited patiently for their captain to give them their next commands.

It did not take Law very long to disregard the happenings of early, putting them to the back of his mind for the time being as he lolled forward lazily, stuffing his hands in his back pockets. But before he could take a full step, something fluttered down in front of him and landed before his feet.

"Was that paper?" Penguin asked, arching an eyebrow as he looked around for the source of where it could have possibly come from. But there was no one but them around.

Stooping down to pick up the note, Law held it between slender, tattooed fingers as his eyes flickered over the words, a wide smirk beginning to take its place upon his features.

_Reina. My name is Reina Kotone. And it was fascinating to meet you, Trafalgar Law. _

"Cap'n?" Bepo prompted his higher-up curiously, once again blinking his beady eyes at him, before his ears twitched at the sound of the paper being neatly folded and stuffed into the pocket of the captain's hoodie.

"Let's go, Bepo. We're heading to the Human Auction."

* * *

[**A/N:** Thanks to those who reviewed this story so quickly, it was really flattering! I hadn't expected to get a response to it immediately, and needless to say I was genuinely excited when I did. This chapter may be a bit short, but they will certainly get longer as we progress.**]**


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One Piece, Adventure, Romance