#hhighkey decode

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Three, Dried Flowers

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female reader)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Note: WOW its been awhile I am so sorry

Masterlist

-

SEVEN YEARS AGO

The sounds of pattering feet against ivory tile echoed in the empty halls of the Saint Mana Monastery- a line of veiled nuns walked towards the temple. Angelic chimes rang through the air from the chilled breeze. Soft murmurs of prayers left the lips of bowed heads that never wavered formation. 

A year had gone by since Sabine's father shipped her off. How her hands still shook with anger when she thought of him- his hideous face with the larger than life mustache. A weak, pathetic man who cared for nothing more than himself and booze to hold him over another day. Oh how she prayed at night he'd receive his karma, or wonder if he already had. As her head bowed and her breathing quick, she felt herself grow angry thinking about him. 

The shining midday sun glittered through stained glass in the temple- an expansive room with little pews for the nuns knelt on the cold tile floor. Dressings dragged as perfect rows in front an altar formed. Prayers, both in silence and echoing unison, rang out over the monotonous hour. Like a choir of singing angels existed in the holiness as glittering colored light shone, chimes and lovely words alike breathing life into stale air. 

Each day was of strict routine, monotonous repetitions asides the holy day of Sundays. Early mornings causing early nights. Constant prayers and studying. Chores. Prayers again. Then little alone time which caused little individuality to flourish between sisters; a purposeful thing, intended to create to create pliable female worshipers,

Before 'silence time' however, there was a waiting stack of dishes needed to be ready for dinner. 

Which was how Sabine found herself in the kitchens with other girls her age. Her eyes had grown heavy with each passing minute. Her brain all foggy from a restless sleep and racing thoughts that felt like a knife stabbing her chest over and over. This wasn't what she saw her life being at sixteen– washing dishes in a neat assembly line with water all splattered on a nun's habit she wore each day. The closet of her room was filled with dozens of the same fabrics, it seemed. 

Normally one for conversation when able, it was quickly noticed when she wasn't partaking. Sabine looked at each plate she rinsed as if it were the devil, glaring eyes and pursed lips. 

"What about you Sister Mary Sabine?"

Sabine's head jerked to look towards the other girls assigned to dish duty, whose eyes bore into her, "Huh? Sorry, wasn't listening."

"What would you want out of life if you weren't a nun? Sister Mary Ellen says she'd work in a brothel! Can you believe it?"

"We all want what we can't have," Another Sister said, "Life of temptation always seems so fun."

"So, what about it Sabine?" Continued interrogation from the ever-chatty blonde, Sister Anna Lea.

"Yeah, what's your deepest darkest desire?" 

Sabine stopped, held the sopping wet plate in hand as she hummed to herself for a moment. She didn't want to say the first thing that popped into her head but she couldn't think of anything better to say-

"I want a husband," Sabine then said with a dreamy look in her eye, "Someone who meets me and knows I'm the one. I don't care about having kids, I just want to be loved and in love."

A few snickers followed her reply but most hummed in an agreement of solidarity, "Genuine question, why do priests and cardinals get to marry but not us? Sexist that we have to marry ourselves to the Father."

The group of girls Sabine spent her time with were of like age- teens to young twenties, most hadn't taken permanent vows like herself. So it was no surprise their talk turned to gossip about outdated ways. As much as Sabine agreed she tried to never engage even inadvertently, you never know who's listening, and she preferred to bide her time with her head down. Good behavior, as if she were a prisoner waiting for an early release.

"Ladies."

As if on cue— The matriarch, the most feared one of the elder nuns who sat on top, stood in the doorway hands on her hips. Most girls had shocked, wide eyes as they stammered apologies or turned back to their duties. 

Sabine could only shake her head, feeling nostalgic thinking about a life she'd probably never have. Daydreaming as the hours ticked by, her stomach filling with butterflies and chest tightening as she thought about scenarios of loving encounters with a man. 

It was 9:00PM when an intrusive knock jolted her and her dorm-mate, Sister Therese Sienna, up from their beds. Half-awake they looked at each other before Sienna crept to the wooden door. Their room was small and plain, not expected of two teenage girls. Peeling white walls with crosses hung on each surface. Simple wooden wardrobes and a centerpiece rug. Windows that had to be glued stuck, with pilling curtains covering them. 

Sabine rubbed her eyes as she looked around, shifting in the primarily uncomfortable bed, "Who is it?"

Sienna, with a huff, opened the door revealing Sisters Anna and Lea, "Oh the chatty squad is here,"

"Don't be like that," Lea shrugged, "You two aren't asleep."

"Neither are you two?"

The two uninvited visitors pushed their way in, with Lea marching proudly to Sabine's bed side to strip her of her covers. She recoiled from the sudden chill in the air and attempted to shield herself. 

"Get dressed, we have plans."

"Plans we didn't agree to," Sabine murmured, grabbing a lone shawl across the chair at her bedside. Yet she wasn’t willing to sit this out, not the way Lea had a smug confident look on her face. 

Neither of them were fond of the idea of being out past curfew, especially without an in depth explanation. Only by the light of oil lamps and scattered candles could they move about, footsteps echoing in the cavernous monastery halls. They were like little scurrying mice, constantly looking over their shoulders and around corners, fearful. But growing in certainty as they entered a more desolate area of the monastery. 

"Oh hurry up," Lea spat under the moonlight that streamed through a cracked window as they hurried by it. 

"You're being ridiculous." 

An eerie silence amidst their footsteps as they descended an older flight of creaking wooden stairs, made Sabine internally cringe. This wing of the monastery was creepy. Old. Worn down. Probably disease ridden in the air they breathed. Old paintings that collected dust amongst the broken cement walls, doors boarded up, and relics discarded haphazardly.

Rumors said a prior cardinal died here after performing a ritual, or an exorcism, the stories are different depending who speaks them. That afterwards series of misfortunate events began to take place, sudden deaths and great grievances that would plague their church for years. After a nun took her own life in the tower, it was officially regarded as dangerous for use and locked up. But all locks could be broken. 

Sabine felt unsettled. A pit in her stomach made her more on edge than past times they’d snuck into the abandoned ward. It felt like the eyes of the people in the paintings followed their every move with starch judgment, it filled her with shame. But the adrenaline to have say over her life that was unjustly ripped from her, was too tantalizing to say no to. 

“Good, we’re all here.” An older girl with long blonde hair spoke as they all formed a circle in a dimly lit room. It was further down than Sabine had been before, no windows and the air was heavy and moist. Her pulse began to hike. 

Thin papers with messy scrawl were passed around. Eight girls in total were present around scattered petals that gleamed a color unknown to her. And eight goblets of burgundy wine were handed out next. 

“All of you are girls that have shown interest in men, disdain for the unjust rules thrusted upon women in our situations. Women in this world in general. I found an old book, which appears ancient and during my time studying it, I have found a ritual that when done correctly, will bring you to your true love during your lifetime. That someone is meant for us all but there is no guarantee to meet them.” The blonde said in a serious tone, a fire behind her words that had Sabine hanging on to each one. 

“How.. Will we know? If we meet them.” A Sister asked. 

“It says- you just know. That it’s like your world changes, that you don’t think you’ll be able to survive without the person, that it’s more than love, that they compliment you, cherish you, protect you. It may be foolish, may not work, but there should be no downsides to doing the ritual. Harmless to try it right? Especially on the off chance it is real.”

Murmurs sound. Sabine knows she’ll do it. Not a bone in her body willed her to leave. It seemed all the Sisters were in agreement, that the ensuring possibility of meeting your soulmate through a ritual made perfect sense. What was there to lose besides never crossing paths with them? 

Or they all knew it was a form of child’s play. A fun little thing to do as girls who wanted something more than the Sisterhood. Their way of rebelling. 

“Now do what the papers say, we’ll all speak together.”

Sabine bent down to gather the flower petals into one hand, the other holding the directions the older girl wrote out. Her fingers trembled. 

"I cast this circle of flowers round, in calling for a love meant for me, to find me."

She sprinkled the delicate petals in a circle in front of her. She felt chills run down her spine, a disheveling cold gust she swore was her imagination. 

"Forever will my true love bind.”

Next each girl drank their goblet of stale communion wine, the raunchy taste making Sabine shudder. Was it stupid to feel anew? A fluttering in her chest as her extremities tingle in and out of numbness. The tips of her fingers down to her toes, up to her head tickled in a glittering daze and immobilization while she stood stuck staring at the circle she made. 

At sixteen she didn’t have the capabilities of forethought or critical thinking beyond that of her generalized life experience. How foolish to smile like an idiot as she made sure every drop of the wine was drained. The girls were all too giddy. Definitely too loud with their giggles and conversations that would have normally had a matriarch descending on them like a hawk. But feet below the surface in a desolate room of an abandoned wing, they were undisturbed to gossip through the night. 

-

PRESENT

"Father, please help Zoro through this storm. Provide him the strength and courage to conquer this obstacle. I put my trust and submit my ways unto you to seek help for his battle. Amen." Sabine's mouth was dry as she spoke, hardly above a whisper. Tears stung her bloodshot eyes as a faint throbbing numbed her face. 

Seeing him like that— all clammy, skin as if he'd see a ghost. Bandages peeking from his shirt where a pink tinge of dried blood stained as a reminder of what'd taken place. Sabine, in such a short amount of time, had grown fond- protective in her own way- over the crew. All younger than her, so she perceived them as her dear kids in a sense.

"Why do you feel so bad?" Nami whispered, a cold tone masked behind the question, "I went to leave, to leave the crew. And you feel guilty because you'd been flirting with that Warlord?" The redhead frowned, seemingly answering her own thoughts in her mind as her eyes widened, "Oh- cause you haven't experienced-"

Sabine held her hand up, signaling for Nami to stop, "I think I'd surprise you. It's not necessarily guilt, I don't quite know what it is really. Responsibility maybe? Or the fact I've spent hours listening to those who want to be saved, and act like I'm some saint? Maybe this is all I can do to offer help."

"I think I'd surprise you too." Nami shuffled in place. 

"I don't think you would. I can tell from your far away gazes and survival skills. I know you're hiding something." Normally Sabine wouldn't talk out of turn like she just did. Taught to always nod in understanding, listen intently while carefully thinking through a response. Taught to never interrogate but gently lead in the direction they point. 

"What are you profiling me? I'm not some drunkard, abusive marine stumbling into a church to repent."

"I never said that," Nami was right with her implications, Sabine needn't play her role as a nun with them. And she wasn't with her harsher than normal words as this was what she felt was a final chance to intervene. Nami was bubbling up, "Maybe hiding wasn't the best word to use. I know from experience when there's more to a story. I'm not judging, nor am I asking you to share. But we're all supposed to be a crew, yeah?" 

If Sabine could see Nami's face from where she stood with her back turned, grand line map in hand, Sabine would see the troubled tears in her friend's lash line. And she'd see how Nami's moment of pain fell to a blank stare, determination suddenly dancing in her eyes. 

Sabine frowned as Nami left, her footsteps echoing as they sounded further and further away. She let out a heavy sigh, chest deflating as her shoulders slouched. Guilt about how harsh she'd been, but nevertheless she wanted to speak her mind. 

Her legs screamed from soreness as she stood, carefully moving closer to Zoro's sleeping form. Standing over him, she let her fingertips graze over his clammy skin. She wiped the sweat from his brow-line with her thumb, reaching for a cold moist towel that rested on his left bicep. 

"Oh Zoro," Sabine whispered, "You kids are just too much to handle sometimes I swear." Not that she was much older than them, almost five years she thinks. A smile cracked on her lips about how Usopp never failed to mention her elderly age. 

The reality of it all wasn't that Sabine nor Nami were inherently evil due to pieces of themselves they kept hidden. It only further justified how complicated life is— how complicated people are. 

Sudden commotion, beyond what Sabine was told to expect, made her hesitantly leave Zoro and head to the Going Merry's deck. Her heart palpitated in her chest with each slow step, hand gliding along the walls for any sort of balance. She could hear the blood rushing in her ears as the banging intensified like muddled water swirling. Crouching down, looking over the bannister, her stomach sank. 

Hand clamped over her mouth to silence herself, 

"No!" She still managed to stifle out watching Arlong toss Luffy into the sea. Quick relief washed over her as Sanji jumped into the sea to go after him immediately. Splashes of torrent aqua blue. Technicolor drowning within her chest like trying to scream underwater. But curiosity shimmered in Sabine's eyes as she watched Nami leave with the fishmen.

But as much as Sabine wanted to be shocked or angry like others of the crew— she wasn't. A level of understanding grew in her chest as the minutes went on allowing her time to think. Little growing vines crept into her head as she recalled Nami's words and body language alike. Arlong would have torn the ship apart to find the map- would have torn Sabine and a recovering Zoro to pieces after taking down Luffy, she was sure. So Sabine stayed quiet even as Zoro woke and the others shared their uncertain opinions— she knew Nami did it to protect them. That she'd been right to assume the younger girl was nursing a secret. A searing sensation made her gasp, as her legs gave out, causing her to go down onto the ship’s deck. She clawed at her chest, at the clothes that adorned her and covered the necklace hidden beneath. 

On the dainty chain was the ring. Mihawk’s ring. Why it felt as if it burned her skin she did not know. The suffocating sea air swirling into her nostrils and intoxicating her mind with its musk and scents from the restaurant. 

It was a gorgeous piece. Sabine could not tear her gaze from it as she studied it. Too large for any of her fingers. Eclectic yet manly, clearly worth more berry than her life would ever be. Truly, it was a piece of him. She could recount the deep vibrations of his voice settled within her core, how his calloused fingers bruised along her skin. And how his lips were on her forehead. She could feel it. Feel his intense aura that warmed her insides like it was wrapping her in an all encompassing, protective blanket, to keep the outside world from laying a finger on her. 

Terror instilled itself, this wasn’t supposed to be happening to her! Close encounters with death. Pirates. Life itself! She should have stayed locked up in her isolated palace that was the monastery. 

But then Sabine realized something. That the terror she felt was from her thoughts. Thoughts that leaving her Sisterhood was the path she needed to take. And that was terrifying, the thought of giving up what was comfortable. All this time sailing with the crew and she wasn’t any closer to coming to a decision, not until meeting Mihawk. 

-

posted: july 12 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996

[honeybeezgobzzzzz]

Finally compiled a list of all the in progress fics I've been keeping track of because I needed something to do in light of recent events... my OCD is very pleased

A-E:

Across the Spiderverse: Don’t be a Stranger by obsessed789 Fastidiar by JokerzTriKz Tuyo by Chherry_blossom Web of Secrets by Liliacamethyst Desiderium by samseaa The Webs We Weave by Amsy1492

Baldur’s Gate 3: Bites in the Night by PursuitsEternal (One Shot Collection) Dare to Hope, Dare to Dream by https://theonewiththefanfics.tumblr.com/ Nightfall Heir by Azukiel romancing the (un)dead by marleymars Someone to shed some light by thedreamlessnights Give the Devil His Due by thedreamlessnights Weave Wielder by Gale_order_bride Big Love Ahead by GalacticGraffiti Bad Idea Right? by ghostchemsiii Eat My Heart by DaisyBoo_21

Batman: Surely, You'd Burn the Same by Startabi

Boys, The: Diamonds are Forever by Bxwitched

Call of Duty: After the End by WavesAgainstACliff Tethered Bonds by HallowsEve333 Blackbird, Fly by eowynstwin Fear of God by emphemeron cabin fever by moondirti take me home, country road by emphemeron The Warren by syoddeye

Descendants, The: Can’t Stop this Feeling by Descendantofthesparrow

F-J:

Fallout: A Well Timed Scandal by Cantique from a previous life by ghoulsbounty

Flash, The: Writing's On the Wall by Elfwoodfae

Heroes (We Can Be): Room Required by starlightmornings

K-O:

Marvel: More than Curiosity by theboldsnake Accidentally on Purpose by becauseicantthinkwritings Objects in Motion by becauseicantthinkwritings Alter of our Sins by becauseicantthinkwritings Teeth by becauseicantthinkwritings Beast within masterlist by skvatnavle To Be Loved By the Moon by qjuiq Emperor's New Clothes by Maiden_of_Asgard The Baron's Painter Masterlist by mahbonesmccoy

One Piece: A Bounty As Boundless As The Sea by Rainbow_Moonstone Bound by Fate by Cyberpunk99 Cabin Fever by moondirti Emperor’s Prize by hannahbarberra162 Wrong Place, Wrong Time by KDS_Cat_Trickster Fear to Tread by November_Bris If You Were My Little Girl by shonengirlfriend Numbers Game by TurtleTaub Peppermint Tea by Short_honey_badger Sapsorrow by FanaticSnail Struck Twice By Lightning by hannahbarberra162 The Musician and the Surgeon by TzimisceQueen the safest place in the storm is on its eye by anneliesmya Fear to Tread by November_Bris Decode by hhighkey

P-T:

Resident Evil: After Midnight by RainFox88 Black, Black, Heart by AshFormerlyAura Masquerade by Kdledga https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13800871/1 Sequela by Ripsi Weapon of Mass Destruction by SEchelon Black Wedding by SugarGlaze Eclipsed by the Moonlight Sonata by VinLHeelys Heartless by Jaester Progenitor woman by BetrayedWriter

Sandman, The: What Dreams Know About Love by Ladyumbrella Halcyon by irabelas Hello, Mr. Monster by Cuckoo_On_A_String His Gift by BoredWriterOnTheInternet His Ruby by Starlight_Writes Precious Things by Peachesof_Teal O·Mission by LadyofWhims Regina Somniantium by Rhune Precious Things (Little Earthquakes) by Peachesof_Teal The First of Many by babypandacakes This Waking Nightmare by InorganicOne2230 treehouse by inlovewithanendless The Bizarre Breeding Habits of Anthropomorphic Personifications by alteon77 26 Ways of Taking You_IP by thoughtsfromlayla Crimson Stained Petals_IP by Roguelov Destined Dreams of Love Masterlist by thoughtsfromlayla Dreams of Loneliness by aclowder In the Woods by Peachesof_Teal It Isn't Abduction If You're Willing by by CaitlinWells lady morpheus by thefudge Sometimes It’s Fated by withoutyouimsaskia The Anthology of Asmodeus’ Heir by dilemmaontwolegs Sweet Distraction by Darklinsblog

Star Trek: Exposure by peridotsarelongterm Mirrorverse by eyeofdionysus turn our hearts to the stars by Panthera_tigris

Supernatural: Worldwalker by theinsandoutsofcastiel

Triple Frontier: Half of You by foxilayde

[fics-not-tragedies]

Call me your name

It looks like I’m back to my bullshit with starting new fics, yes it’s a prologue for yet another chaptered one. A piece from “How did we get so dark”, that includes spoilers from “Chapter Three”.

SUMMARY: A face from his early days surprises John at the Continental.

- - -

Readers tag list:

@spookier-than-u; @sparrowsparrow; @magdazwolska; @mikaneonox; @derangedcupcake; @geostarr; @catsmieow; @wickedlangdon; @bodhi-black; @bugalouie; @onebatch--twobatch; @fandom-lover-4; @drunkonyellow; @semtempoirmaoo; @spadesandaces2342; @harrisongslimited; @a–1–1–3; @hhighkey; @lunilate; @i-cant-remember-my-old-login;

Wick was in the middle of his way to concierge desk, when someone called him by his true name, the one he hasn’t heard in ages.

“Jardani” he couldn’t believed when he heard his name called in the lobby. He was surrounded by people great amount of people, but there wasn’t a single chance anyone knew this was his true name. “Jardani” the smooth voice got to his ears again and the turned around to see who was calling him, “Moj darahi, Jardani.”

She looked taller than he remembered, her golden locks were lighter now and that outrageously red lipstick on her lips meant that they weren’t kids anymore. Step after step she was moving closer to him, heels clicking on the marble floor and he was unable to took his eyes off her. There was something different in the way she was staring at her, her baby blue eyes weren’t the same anymore. Maybe it was the fact that he hasn’t seen her for literal ages.

“Ioana? Is that really you, kachana?” he placed his luggage onto the floor, throwing his arms open, so she could sneak between them, wrap her own arms around his neck and hugging him tightly while standing on her tiptoes.

“It’s really me, Jardani. Oh how I missed you…” she smelled like strawberry field on a sunny day, the scent filled his nostrils and he felt dizzy.

“Ioana” John breathed her name just like it was the last ‘amen’ in a long prayer. He wrapped his arms around her, his large hands roaming her back, the coldness of her skin made him shiver, she hummed softly, looking up at him.

There was not a single thing that could made him take his eyes off her. How stunning she was… those eyes he could drown in every time he stared into them for too long. He couldn’t believe she was real, maybe it was just a dream, a mirage, a feverish vision he had lying somewhere in an alley where he was bleeding out.

“I thought…” he started, but couldn’t say what he wanted, the words stuck in his throat. Instead he just gently cupped her face in his hands and pressed their foreheads together.

“I know that she told me I was dead… but she did it only because she wanted to protect you” Ioana confessed, trying to reassure him somehow, but she noticed that lonely tear leaving his eye and sliding down his cheek, but before it could fall from his chin she wiped it with her finger.

“I have too many questions…” John mumbled, nuzzling his face in the crook of her neck. His beard tickled her skin and she giggled softly, letting her hand to sink in his hair, twisting his raven strands in her fingers, her nails caressing his scalp.

“I might not have all of the answers” she admitted, her hand gently touching his cheek, “but I will try my best Jardani” he looked up at Ioana, trying to decode the look on her face, the corners of her mouth raised slightly, a small smile on her crimson lips.

It was he first time he saw her wearing lipstick and it was quite the difference to see her with red lips. It’s wasn’t that it doesn’t suited her, it was just… something else. She wasn’t that Ioana he used to know decades ago, everything about her felt different now: the way her voice sounded, the way she talked, the way she moved. He knew it was her, he knew who he was holding in his arms, yet she felt like a stranger to him. When he let go of her and took a step back she knew there was something wrong.

“What are you thinking about, Jardani?” she asked him, noticing his distant gaze and how his forehead scrunched, spoiling the fact that he was long gone in his thoughts.

“You.”

She giggled almost without making a single sound, he just noticed how her chest moved up and down. His eyes were scanning her whole body, looking at all her features and for the first time he saw a woman in her. One thing that caught his eye was the slim velvet ribbon in a shade similar to the one her lips were painted with, that she had tied around her neck; she never wore any necklace, not even the one he gave her one time as a birthday gift.

“What about me?”

“There is something-” he swallowed down the gulp that already formed in his throat and took a deep breath so he could continue, “You’re not the Ioana I knew, you’re not maja kachanaja. They showed me…” his voice broke a little and she noticed that his clenched fists were shaking slightly, “they showed me pictures of your dead body in a pool of blood. And now you’re standing in front of me...”

“I can’t talk with you in the open about what happened that night.”

“Yes, of course, more secrets, like The Director didn’t had enough of them for us” he leaned to pick up his bags, but she cupped his face in her hands, pressing her lips to his, capturing them in a sweet kiss. Ioana tasted like the variety of forest fruits, John could name all of them: strawberries, raspberries, dewberries, blueberries and blackberries.

She was like the angel’s kiss in spring and with it she reminded him that his life was missing only one piece to be whole again.

Her.

“Moj aniel” he breathed against her lips, brushing it with his thumb, her lipstick staining it with rogue imprint.

“I wish I could turn back time Jardani, I’m not an angel anymore... Check in, I will wait for you here.”

“You’re not leaving me again?” his eyes were sparkling with hope that this time she wouldn’t leave him.

“Not this time, Jardani.”

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Four, Divine Intervention

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Masterlist

-

Weeks of sailing under the sun, staring out onto the never ending blue sea- yet not once did Sabine find herself succumbing to boredom. For she busied herself with chores from aiding Sanji in the kitchen or fishing, to cleaning below deck. Her knack for sewing allowed her to patch up ripped seams from day to day wear or in Zoro’s case slashed from his training. While ironic she was a homemaker on the boat, an ideal she wanted to run from, but it felt different this time around. Sabine enjoyed this, wanted to do this. 

The Going Merry felt like home and she’d contribute in any way she could during her time, time that she desperately begged not to run out. At night always ending her prayers with a little plea to the Father to not allow her sabbatical to run out. A miracle would be needed for that! She was having too much fun with her reddened skin from the sun, uncaring about the blisters that littered her hands from learning to tie knots. “Land!” Usopp’s voice called from the other side of the ship. 

Sabine perked from where she sat delicately stitching an apron back up for Sanji. Placing the fabric down, she wiped sweat from her brow and padded her way over. A jagged mountainside that broke into a cliff over the ocean, the waves crashing into it below. A town in the distance littered around and on said cliff, heavy foliage becoming more clear as they drew in.

Terror washed over her body the moment Sabine's eyes caught wind of that familiar shoreline, the port where it all began. Sabine had never learned the intricacies of reading maps or navigating beyond the general area where the Monastery was located, or the land she once called home. There’d been no way for her to know the way they were going was taking her back. Back to the one place she’d never forget, not even as it plagued her dreams with its dark wretchedness, a place where true evil resided. 

“We’ll stop here before moving on to Loguetown.” Nami had proclaimed, her voice caught on the wind yet never making its way fully to Sabine who stood in vibrating shock. 

Flashes of memories force their way from the back of her mind, clawing and scratching out, ripping her at the seams. The scent of jasmine and vetiver, and graveled wet dirt assaulted her nostrils, bile rose in her throat as she stumbled back, unable to escape the reminders. As if she were being transported back, the safety the ship provided her was gone, as others rushed to her she didn’t notice.  

“Sabine?” 

Sabine sank to her knees, bent over heaving as she stared wildly at her palms splayed flat. The whimpers that escaped her lips were nothing but silence to her, but others noticed. 

“Sabine.” Zoro grabbed her shoulders forcing her to look at him as he knelt, Usopp joining his side. 

“I- She’s there.”

“Who?” 

“That thing! That unholy wretched- wretched creature.” Sabine choked back, mumbling nonsense as her eyes glossed over. 

“What’s going on?” Luffy raced to the bow as he saw the commotion, immediately worried for Sabine. And Luffy’s loud voice echoed down to Sanji in the kitchen and had Nami leaving the wheel.

“I didn’t know we were going to Angelica Island.” 

Angelica Island- said to be the birthplace of the Father. A small island that became a booming place for those who worshiped, taking over half the city that ascends the mountain. Past the port and the market, past the normal residential areas and shops was a completely different side to the city where large churches, libraries, and holy grounds stood. Like it was lighter there, purposely constructed to emanate higher purpose compared to all else. A place Sabine once counted down the days to visit, now caused her to lose her senses. 

“What’s wrong?” Nami asked.

“We shouldn’t dock here.” Sabine whispered. 

“We need supplies.” 

“This island is evil.”

Silence amongst the waves, amongst the squawking of seagulls and echoing voices from the approaching port. 

“How?” Sanji and Zoro helped her stand. Having to grip her waist while she shivered, while she tried to move towards the rail to stare out. Gaze narrowing, body tense as she struggled to regulate her breathing. Fingers gripped the wood, knuckles went white, the two men beside her watching her curiously. 

Suddenly, Sabine remembered the words Luffy said to her in an attempt to convince her to come aboard: "You should join my crew, find the answers to your doubts. Maybe along the way realize you have a dream whether it be with those church people, with us or.. I don't know!" 

How ironic it was that Luffy had predicted this, that she’d find her answers by joining his crew and here she was. Answers being the damned Island that once held the figure that’d been haunting her for months. That subconsciously she knew it wasn’t over.

Her peace might as well be riding on her ability to question the past and face those fears. 

"Luffy, I need to do this, I need to stay here." She knew what she was thinking, knew what she needed to do. But her words caused the group to exchange worried glances. 

A frown still emanated on his features, "Do what?”

“I need time. The answers I’ve been looking for are here, they have to be.”

“I promised I'd get you back to your monastery, I intend to do so before we make our way to the Grand Line." 

"I know and I appreciate it.. this just.." Sabine grimaced, “I ended back here for a reason. The nightmares I’ve dealt with for so long… They were trying to tell me my job wasn’t completed.”

Luffy nodded, “I understand.”

“Luffy, we can’t just leave her.” Nami added, “Can’t we help? What job were you doing? I didn’t think nuns traveled like that.”

“There is more to the Faith than prayer or confessions. Just as there is good in this world, there is evil. And if you believe in such faith, then you believe in damnation.” Sabine’s fists clenched at her side as she pushed off the rail, “There had been a demon, causing to go mad. We’d supposedly exorcized it, but I always thought there was more to it. It went away far too easily. When I returned to my Monastery, the dreams started. I’m sure you all assumed I was struggling with my faith, you’re correct, and it was this wretched place that caused it. I want to find out if the demon is gone, or if it existed in the first place.”

“You never believed it was one?”

“I never chose this path. Sometimes mass hysteria evolves in different ways, like shutting adolescent girls away to have beliefs forced down their throats. In our world with devil fruits, I can see how a demon could exist. But there tends to be simpler explanations, right?” 

“Earlier, you referenced a woman?” Zoro said. 

“It takes its form as a woman, a sinister one at that. With black eyes that are all consuming, I sometimes feel its dark tendrils as if it could still touch me.”

“Will you be safe investigating this on your own?”

“Yes, I know people who work at the archives here, there are fellow nuns to speak with, and a cardinal who will give me a safe space to sleep.” Nami frowned, “You’re certain?”

“I am.”

“You’ll reach me once you’ve finished?”

“Yes, Nami.” Sabine smiled warmly at the younger woman, touched by her concern.

“I trust Sabine knows what she’s doing.” Luffy said, “I won’t stop her.”

Nami mumbled under her breath, “Of course not.”

It was a bittersweet departure, one Sabine wasn’t even sure she should make after her volatile emotions came crashing back down to reality. But she had to do this. Why else would she end back here? Quickly she gathered a few items from the ship, primarily extra sets of clothes, her rosary, and then berry. 

She took the main road to go through the center of town, not looking back to where the remainder of the crew would stay for supply. She’d to make her way to the religious sector in the furthest part of the city, where archives were kept. It would take her forty-five minutes up to an hour if she hurried. 

Crowds died down as the day went on, as she took the twists and turns that led her up towards her destination. Sabine felt bare as she hugged her habit closer to her body, as if it could shield her. While it was rare to see a Sister out and about, it was even more so to see one alone. Gazes seemed to stick to her, unable to tear away out of confusion or intrigue. 

The buildings turned to that of a pure white, more eclectic with an enclave of statues depicting past saints. Sabine felt more at ease from the familiar roads and structures she’d once spent weeks on end around. Knowing those who tread beside her were those of the Church let the anxiety in her chest subside, warm looks now descending upon her, but very much in contrast to how she felt.

The archives sat in front of her. But the door to take her inside felt like it was miles away. The tips of her fingers tingled in numbness, her throat feeling taut. Stepping into that building could just be the end of her. Its heavy air, the dust that never settled, the dark corners that hid prying eyes. Always feeling like something stands over your shoulder. 

Sabine knew there’d be no warm welcome for her from these halls. It didn’t matter as the lady at the front desk smiled brighter than the sun, remembering Sabine’s face. How she immediately went to find Cardinal Joseph, who’d hosted them prior. 

Cardinal Joseph was an older man, someone who engorged far too much in the likings of sin than anything else, but he was kind. 

“Sister Mary Sabine, pleasure to see you again.” He clasped her hands in his, “Though I am surprised.”

“I know, I did not announce I was coming. I apologize for that.” She said cordially, squeezing his hands back before retreating. 

“No need. Did you travel alone? The seas are getting more unsafe by the day I fear, hopefully you were accompanied, I don’t see an escort for you.”

“I did not come alone, technically. But I was safe. I’m on a sabbatical, I suppose you didn’t hear.” 

Cardinal Joseph's face twisted in surprise, “I did not. I imagine it has to do with this place, no?”

“I’ve been plagued by night terrors, by everything that happened. I needed time away and fate has brought me back here.” 

“I should have written to you.” He sighed, “I have felt it as well, the darkness, I have been on edge since.”

Sabine shuddered, “Can I have access to the archives? There is something on my mind I need to look into while it’s fresh.”

“Of course, the Deacon at the gates leading down should let you through without issue. I’ll have a room set up for you at the Delphine and then I’ll join you.”

Sabine thanked the heavens above that Cardinal Joseph had been here upon her arrival, he was more open than most Cardinals were. And he’d experienced the horrors she had first hand as well, he’d understand the urgency.

She had a hunch, yes. She had swirling thoughts that went every which way, catapulting hoping its aim was spot on. But in actuality, she didn’t know where she’d begin once staring at the shelves of books. 

The Archives were expansive, being one of the largest libraries in all the seas. While not open to the general public, exceptions could be made for important families or members of the Marines. Sabine had no issues gaining access. As she descended the spiraling stone staircase below ground level, her chest tightened. 

A grand room with opulent chandeliers that appeared hundreds of years old swung from every inch of the ceiling for light. 

It felt like years had gone by from the last time she’d entered this room. Memories, flashes of herself galavanting about without burdens went by. Recognizing the paintings, remembering the numbering of the books, it did not give her a sense of familiarity. Instead she felt bear, vulnerable to a prying presence as she floated towards a desk in the center. Multitudes of cavernous halls branched off from the primary room, many of them behind lock and key, probably harder to gain access. The rumors that ancient artifacts from the Father himself lied down here for protection, same with other great saints or nuns or priests alike. Some even said actual bodies sit entombed. 

“Good afternoon,” Sabine said softly as she approached the nun who served as the librarian. She remembered that scowling face, “I was wondering if there is any literature on devil fruit and our faith? If there’s correlation between someone’s power and demonic sightings, or possession.”

“You again.” The elderly Sister huffed, “Good to see your healthy Sister. Now, sections 124000B and 124000C are the only areas that might have information. I think you’re best asking around or checking past persons to see if a devil fruit user could even have the power to possess someone.”

“I see.”

“I’m ancient, I really don’t care why you’re here dear. But don’t go around causing doubt in anyone’s head. If people start to think the very foes of our religion aren’t caused from hell to defeat the Father but rather Devil Fruits? Hmph.”

“Devil is quite literally in the word-”

“Nosy. I remember you had to learn every piece of information ever published on our city and people last year.” She tsk’d. 

A lightbulb went off in Sabine’s head, “There is rarely proof of a true possession- it’s normally hysteria or mental-”

“Just go to the sections.”

Sabine was reeling. Whirring as she took slow steps to where the nun pointed. She thought her head would combust at any moment, the sudden and rather anti-Father thoughts assaulting her felt they’d cause her to combust. Like moving in slow motion, seemingly understanding that there was no reasoning behind the job they completed last year. There couldn’t have been a demon!

When Cardinal Joseph met Sabine at a table where she’d spread out dozens of books, there were tears falling down her cheeks. Her hands shaking when she showed him the book she currently read. 

That section she’d been pointed to was discarded in the back, years of dust corroding at the bindings, the books themselves feeling like they’d turn to ash upon touching.

Sickening. Her heart thumped, blood rushing painfully that her vision dulled. 

In the end she knew Faith was personal, most of the time a person's way to believe in something after death. A comfort, not to be used as fact or to create policies off of. Nobody should be forced to believe in something that did not make sense to them, but hadn’t that been what she was forced to do?

There was a high overlap in demonic sightings and a devil fruit bearer who’d wreaked some sort of havoc. Three hundred years ago a man was able to control others like they were puppets to do their bidding, the church swooped in to perform an exorcism on him and release those under his control. Then they killed him. Demon problem solved. 

This was bigger than her. There was a devil fruit user on this Island that was using the fear of the Father to turn people mad, turn them to take their own lives. She was certain of it. And furthermore certain that her time here last year had actually been futile. 

Sabine did the only thing she could think to do, and that was run, even as the Cardinal called out to her. 

-

She’d run until her legs could no more, and in what direction she’d gone, she wasn’t sure. She was no longer in the part of the city she knew well. Her heart beat in her chest to where she’d thought it’d burst out her ribcage. The pain shooting up her feet to her thighs was practically paralyzing, there was no physical training at Mana Monastery. Her lungs ached for reprieve as she continued to walk, they struggled to intake air as she heaved with her face bright red. 

In the distance, stood a building that her gaze was drawn to. 

From its entrance was a group of Marines, looking as if they’d just got off shift. Sabine suddenly remembered the Islands proximity to Loguetown, that the marine base here had plenty of run off in ships and men. 

She involuntarily moved forward. Heavy scent of the sea in the distance coaxed its way into her mind, the saltiness making her eyes burn. Pain. All this wretched place brought her was physical and mental anguish, no parts of the city allowing her to feel sanctity.

The inside of the Marine Base felt more like an office, plain walls with dozens of cabinets sitting behind a wall of glass. Poster of Wanted Pirates haphazardly taped to the plaster, which she cringed at the one with Luffy’s face, clearly on newer paper compared to others.  

She must have been standing there looking like a fish out of water, especially in her unusual gear, when a young officer at the counter called out to her. 

“May I help you, Sister?” The marine stared at her intently, primarily puzzled to see a young woman in a habit she assumed. 

For a split second she stuttered, mind blank before deciding what she wanted to do. She strode to the counter trying to seem strong in her decision, one that seemed insane. 

“Is there a communication device I can use? There is someone I need to contact, but I don’t know how to.”

“Are they in the Marines?” 

“Sort of?” Sabine’s brows furrowed for a second. She learned closer to the marine across the counter as to not be overheard, “His name is Mihawk and I believe he kind of works for the Marines.”

“K-Kind of? Mihawk… The Warlord? What does a nun have to do with him?” He looked at her as if she were mad. But when Sabine showed no signs of letting up, that it wasn't a joke, the marine cleared his throat, “You aren’t kidding.”

“No. Tell him it’s Sister Mary Sabine.”

“One second.”

One second apparently meant one hour. One hour she stood still as if she were a statue, unwavering in her request in case anyone doubted. She didn’t assume it was easy to reach him, perhaps this desk worker needed permission or fine someone who knew how to dial him. To quench her tightening chest her eyes flared along the tile floors, counting the cracks, studying the grout that had seen better days. 

Eventually the marine returned, rather pale compared to when she’d arrived. He did not meet her eyes, but dialed on the transponder snail. His voice wavered as he spoke, 

“Hello- Yes, this is Marine Lee speaking on behalf of Angelica Island. I have a nun who requests to speak to you….. Yes, that is her name, Sister Mary then Sabine? Okay…. I will put her on.”

Sabine took the device from him, holding it to her ear with trembling fingers. Her stomach churned with vigorous nerves, and excitement to hear his voice. For a split second she wondered if this was ridiculous, if she should have thought this through rather than acting on a whim.

“Hello.” She spoke, kicking herself for sounding uncertain. 

“My dear, what a pleasant surprise. It’s only been a month, no?” The sound of his voice made her heart jump, made a shiver of pleasure run down her spine. An involuntary smile came over her as her core burned. 

“Yes, I know. My apologies but I need assistance, and I can’t ask it of my crew to help. I thought I could handle it alone but…” She rambled, “I thought of you suddenly.” 

“Are you in danger?”

“I- don’t know. It’s a long story I will have to tell you about in person. I…” She swallowed hard and it appeared even through the phone Mihawk knew she needed a minute. “I have a history on this island, we were only stopping for supplies but I couldn’t leave, not when fate brought me back. I told Nami I would contact her when I finished my business.”

He was quiet for a moment before he hummed, “Very well, I’ll come to you and we’ll sort out this business of yours. Where will you be?”

“Hotel Delphine, I’ll tell the owner I am waiting for you. He’ll show you to my room.”

“I will see you in two days time, do not get yourself hurt in the meantime.” And with those words the line went dead from his end. 

Sabine handed the device back to the marine, thanking him profusely before leaving with an overly ecstatic grin. As if she were floating on cloud nine, the fact she’d be seeing Mihawk whittled away at the fear that pushed her to reach out.  

The cool breeze against her skin as she stepped out into the setting sun, the air smelled heavy of cinnamon and fresh bread. She let it guide her to a small shop along the cobbled roads nestled back into a cranny. 

She took the moments of clarity in the dark clouds that hung over her head to make a plan. She was not suited for this! Having to think through things past when her prayers were, or what she’d do during her hour of free time. Or even what was being made for meals.

First she’d grab food at this adorable bakery, then she’d go to her room the Cardinal would have set up at the Hotel in the upper part of the city- Then? She wasn’t sure. Perhaps writing down her thoughts for Mihawk to properly explain the innocuous history would be good. Then, all at once the reality that she’d see Mihawk in two days hit her. 

-

posted: july 14 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Seven, Sweet Nothings

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Masterlist

-

As thunder rumbled through the island, rain pelted the roofs of the city’s buildings with such force it sounded like a hail storm. Distant jolts of lightning lit up the sky in a dance of fraught intensity between each quickly occuring strike. A sweet yet pungent odor of petrichor wafted through the air as the rain disturbed the ground, the trees, the odoriferous molecules that encapsulated everything that made up the sleeping city.

But one stirred amongst the early hours, before dawn could break through the dark clouds. Sabine flinched in her sleep, a whimper left her lips, brows furrowed as her dream caused her restlessness. Sweat beaded along her hairline as a more complete cry came passed her lips, legs beginning to quiver under the quilt that did little to release the overwhelming heat she absorbed in.

As if one with a flash of lightning, Sabine awoke with a gasp as the sky glitter a blinding white. Hand over her heart as she heaved, glancing along what her eyes could make out in the dark. Her fingers ran along her skin, felt the fabric of her night gown, pinched at her legs just to make sure she was truly awake. To feel that she was present in this moment surrounded by the dense pattering of raindrops that sounded like an onslaught against the window panes. 

Overwhelmed with the memories of her nightmare, choking from the heat that consumed her, she flung herself out of bed racing to the bathroom. She flinched at the sound of the door slamming but couldn’t be bothered. Crumbling to a heap on the tile floor she mewled at the coolness against her reddened skin. Splaying her palms flat, Sabine let her tears flow freely as she felt everything. The tightening of her chest in anxiety as her heart thumped wildly. The mixing temperatures of her body made her go lightheaded. And the pounding behind her temple from the pathetic tears she couldn’t stop. 

Her cries woke him instantly from the daze his body had been in the second she went to the bathroom. A worried demeanor along his features, stomach twisting at the thought of her pain. Mihawk was attuned to her now; Every breath, step, or quirk he’d memorized and could acquaint them with an emotion. How she cracked her knuckles when bored, shoved a fingernail behind another to cause pain when stressed, or how her cheeks would grow pink when embarrassed. But it didn’t stop him from second guessing how to react to each emotion she cycled through, not wanting to overstep any boundaries or pry too hard. 

The sound of her sobs made him feel like he was being gutted from the inside out. Like a knife pierced his chest, twisting and slicing him open so he knew he couldn’t stay pliant on his cot.

A sharp knock against the door dragged Sabine back to reality of the bathroom floor where her tears welled into mini pools. 

“Sabine.”

Oh no no, she panicked. He couldn’t see her like this! She thought she was quick to barricade herself into the bathroom so he couldn’t hear her. But she guessed nothing ever got past him. 

“May I come in?” Mihawk’s drowsy voice spoke again.

‘No’ sat on the tip of her tongue out of embarrassment, but more than anything did she want him by her side. 

“Yes.” She eventually croaked out, resituating herself on the floor so she sat against one of the walls. Wiping at her face, she knew she must look ridiculous and ugly. 

Mihawk said nothing of how she looked, nor did she see any pity in his eyes. He simply took the empty space beside her against the bathroom wall, his much bigger form causing her to squish into him. His warmth was different that the suffocating one she woke up with, his was inviting and comforting and she subconsciously moved closer. 

They sat there in silence for a bit. Sabine wasn’t sure exactly how long, but one of his hands took one of hers into it and his thumb dragged along her skin. The monotonous motion grounded her as she focused on the pleasant electricity that shot up her arm from his touch. How it was a light in the darkness that currently surrounded her. 

“Mihawk.. I’m sorry, I woke you.” Sabine sniffled. The only place she couldn’t bring herself to look was his eyes, perhaps scared what she’d see. No one at the Monastery would speak it, but she knew her night terrors annoyed them more than anything. An inconvenience. And Sabine couldn’t fathom being one to him. 

“Don’t apologize my dear, I don’t mind. Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you.” 

“Nightmare?”

“Mhmm, guess you and the hotel guests are lucky I haven’t shrieked like a damn banshee yet.” A joking tone passed her lips with a huff and that frankly surprised her. It would take her hours to come down from these nighttime episodes. Especially since it’d been weeks since she had a proper one even without the screaming. 

His lips quirked up as he stared straight at the sink, “I suppose we are.”

It felt bold to move even closer, to try to force herself into Mihawk’s hold. But for some reason she did so, nuzzled her head into his shirt as if she were a child needing comfort. Her actions with him were awkward and uncertain, her lack of experience and sheltered nature rather apparent. The scent of soapy rose water that swirled in the bathroom from all her constant soaks, seeped up into her head. She tried to focus on that instead of the gloom that threatened to spill out again. 

When Mihawk shifted her so she lounged in his lap, head in the crook of his neck, she thought she’d simply pass out. Her hairs stood straight up on her body as tingling contentment spread throughout her. Mind racing, yet racing because of his musk and his touch and not the dark figure from her dreams. 

“You’re safe here,” Mihawk whispered into her hair, “At least with me you are. While dreams may terrorize us, they don’t follow us into the real world once we wake up.”

She nodded.

“Would you like to talk about it?” 

“Maybe.”

“Take your time.” 

Squeezing her eyes shut as she buried her face deeper into him as if she could disappear, inhaling his natural masculine scent that was truly intoxicating to her. There were thoughts at the forefront of her mind she wanted to spew, and maybe now from her heightened pulse and stress riddled body she’d be able to say them. In this moment of vulnerability she felt doubt and anger, a mix of regret and melancholy. She had no idea how to wade through it, her body simply wanted to thrash and scream as its way to handle the boiling fervor within her. 

“I- Why me? Why sit here with me?” Her voice cracked, “Aren’t I pathetic? I’ve dragged you into a mess with no proof of my claims besides a newly dead person. Isn’t it all my fault? You must think I’m mental.”

“I don’t think of you as a crazy woman if that’s what you’re saying. Sure this work has been boring compared to being at sea, taking on pirates and doing the marine’s biddings. Can you imagine me scouring libraries for information on my foes?”

That made her spit out a laugh, surprised by the sudden thought of Mihawk having to find information from an archive rather than utilizing his sword against a foe. It was a good point he made that eased the clawing from within her ribs that he hated each day with her, in secret. 

“But I don’t mind,” He continued, “I didn’t expect to have time with you like this. Selfishly, I’m glad I get to be the one to assist you, that you thought of calling.” 

“We’ve learned a lot about each other, you’re still a mystery though, little up there in age,” A poor attempt at teasing, “And we don’t hate each other after sharing a space and I'm glad for that as well.”

“That is also true.” 

Mihawk wiped the tears along her cheekbone, a gentle look on his face as he carefully studied her. She looked just as beautiful as ever, even with splotchy red eyes and cheeks, with a sniffly nose that attempted to stop snot from running. The glassiness of her eyes told a story of deeper sadness in them, that there were still dangerous thoughts lingering inside. And Mihawk wanted all of it for himself to know, wanted to take any burden off of her as a man like him could never feel the weight of it. 

Delicate, so tiny and breakable, he thought of her time and time again. All he wanted was to wrap Sabine up from the evils that plagued her. Yet with odds stacked harshly against her as she waded through the waters at night unable to see, she still fought. Admirable, even if misguided from a desolate life of experience. 

“Mihawk.” Her voice back to that of on the verge of tears, “I can’t go back to my Monastery. I will die if I do, it’s sucking my soul dry.”

There were no proper words to say in response. Nothing besides a simple hum, to tell her he was listening and understood. He was not the person to give advice, to console her on such a personal matter she needed to solve herself. And it seemed she was surprised she said it, or maybe it was a surprise that she felt lighter. He saw it. How Sabine physically relaxed as if she shared a dark secret pent up for years, finally able to tell another. 

“I thought this life was what I wanted. But right now as I sit here with every bone in my body wanting to scream and hurt myself to feel something- I know I had to adapt. I had to want to be a nun or else I wouldn’t have survived.” Sabine sighed, “How can that be? Can there be Stockholm syndrome for a whole religion rather than a captor? A whole place? I’ve kept it in because to say such words is blasphemous yet I felt it while with Luffy everyday, the excitement to get out of bed and talk to others.”

Sabine faltered, tears fresh once again as she stared into his eyes, 

“I pushed it all down! Let time morph into one. I can barely recount time or know what year something took place! Isolated and going through the motions I was a shell and now I dread my sabbatical ending.”

Her body was like a furnace upon him, while goosebumps littered up her arms and legs, so Mihawk assumed it was him burning. A tight, clawing sensation within him that felt like he was being ripped open made its home in his chest. He knew he needed to keep his head on straight, best not to touch her anymore than the situation their bodies were in now. How she perched on his lap, he wanted to touch her body for himself to know she existed in this moment all for him. He wanted her to feel alright amidst her disheartening confession, which when had he ever wanted that for anyone?

“Ease my mind Sabine, tell me I’m not corrupting the thoughts that will need to make your decision at the end of this sabbatical. I am not religious, sometimes I say things that may be unfair to you, I cannot give good advice, I have to bite my tongue.”

“I told… I had to make myself a promise that I wouldn’t let you play a part in my decision. And you weren’t. But that was before I actually knew you, how can I not think of you? After what? Two weeks and how with each passing moment we grow closer! But I can promise you that nothing you say affects my beliefs, or would cause me to suddenly become faithless. I’ve had men come in and spew disgusting, hateful things at me that honestly- are probably true about the church, but it didn’t change my mind. I’m the only one who can affect my own beliefs, analyze and pick them apart. I let myself stifle things I never believed in as a child so I could survive, this sabbatical thrusted me from that dark blanket I was under. You affect my decisions because of the emotions I feel for you; nothing you say can make me leave the church if I knew I wanted to stay.”

Mihawk took one of her hands into his own, “It seems you have admitted much to yourself you could never say before, and I admire that, you shouldn’t discount the bravery it took. But let's get you back to bed my dear, rest and think on it all again when you’ve eaten and are properly awake.”

“Thank you, Mihawk.” She whispered as her head pulsed from sleep exhaustion and her tears, nodding at his words that brought her comfort. She liked how intently he listened, how he was mature about her outburst not making her feel childish or stupid. 

As Mihawk helped her weak form into her bed, she vowed to herself that tomorrow she’d tell him about the deacon. The one she thought was the man she’d love, only to be hellbent on destroying her. 

-

An apology was on the tip of her tongue, feeling heavy with shame and nerves as she attempted to steel herself. Replays of the early morning hours as she sat in tears in the bathroom while he consoled her, played over and over. Mortified. The only word that described the embarrassing turmoil of fluttering butterflies in her chest, how with each movement he made, her innards lurched. 

Sabine wanted him to see her better sides, as unreasonable as it was. Wanted to carefully craft what he saw so as not to see her as weak or disgusting. Yet this had all been a mess up until now. Incompetence swirled around her actions and ideas on how to fix this, how to fix this damn island, and what to do about her decision. Any facades she’d been able to build up or believe in were gone. 

She did not regret the things she said. She regretted how it all came out, sitting there in his arms crying with snot running down her face. How unladylike! Horrified with herself, convinced he hated her now, that he was judging her as they went on with their new morning routine.

“Mihawk.” Sabine finally said, a slight itch in her throat as she coughed in discomfort. They paired well in silence, it could be comfortable between them without needing conversation. 

“Hmm?”

“I-” She stopped for a second, “I apologize for last night, well technically earlier this morning.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” Mihawk responded without missing a beat. 

“But I did- to burden you…”

“You’re no burden.” 

Frustration bubbled up into her chest and throat, unable to formulate the words to describe her feelings; it took all her strength to stop an involuntary fit that tried to come over her. She stood next to her bed, rocking on the balls of her feet as Mihawk sat at the window, a book in hand. But he closed it to focus on her, arms crossing along his broad chest. 

She pressed her palms into her brow, pushing to try to stifle the swirling thoughts and pain. Their age difference was noticeable to her as her responses to stress were to cry, shut down, barely speak in complete sentences! More embarrassment fueled her fire thinking how he must look down on her insecure childish behavior, even if she’d once prided herself on the elegance she carried. 

“I am struggling.” Her legs buckled and she fell to the bed, sighing as she slouched sitting on the edge of it, “I don’t want someone else to die, but I can’t stop thinking about the Monastery.”

“Can I ask- if your loyalty or faith in your religion and its teachings, or is it in the Monastery as you feel you owe it your life?”

For a second it didn’t register as her head cocked to the side, Sabine frowning as she replayed what he said again. Oh. 

“That’s… An interesting question, one I can’t answer right now, one I’ve never even considered.”

There were a plentiful number of women she loved back on the island, from her roommates whether present or past, to younger girls to mentor, to even the matriarchs that once scared her as a teenager. With peers her age she’d experienced growth with highs and lows of the isolation of dedicating yourself to the Father at an unusual age. And it was the older nuns that taught her how to cook, to sew, to plant gardens of herbs and vegetables, how to do basic numbers and understand complex texts. In a way, Sabine wasn’t there for the religion due to her own beliefs, but because life landed her there without a second thought. 

A cruel wave of nostalgia came over her as she recalled happier memories. But how much longer would they last upon her return now that she has experienced the world? Before, she’d been an isolated girl who never left her town or journeys were strictly supervised by religious leaders. She’d never be able to remain silent there now, to go with the flow simply because she knew no better. 

It made her sick to think about as a longing, an anger replaced those bittersweet feelings. A heavy unease settled in her stomach as a sour note took its place in her mouth. 

His heavy footsteps on the floorboards made her stomach lurch with excitement as her eyes followed him. Waiting. He sat beside her, the mattress dipping due to his larger size. 

“I mentioned a deacon in my note a few weeks ago, he’s why I got sent on the job last year per my head being in the clouds. Matriarch said that. This whole thing is turning into some sappy emotional journey,” She shook her head as amusement flittered through her words, “I want to tell you about him, how I think he started my disillusionment with the Father.”  

-

posted: july 29 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996 let me know if you wanna be added!

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter One, Evening Glow

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

note, added a small playlist to the background chapter,, and added a pinterest board link in the ‘background’ chapter so just wanted to link it here xx

Masterlist

-

Sabine swore she'd never felt fear until the day darkness drowned her senses— that with faith, everything happened as it was meant to. But now, she isn't quite sure what to feel anymore amidst her constant drowning. Waking in the night drenched in sweat, gasping for air as the thin paled fingers of mother night clasped around her neck. All to lay frigid, stare up at the ceiling in hopes the visions, the memories of that trip, would leave her be. Because peace was never known since her mother's death and her sentencing to the monastery, Sabine knew that much. 

Forced to adapt to survive, even whilst serving for faith she wholeheartedly loved, believed in. 

A bright smile clad her lips as she studied the patrons of Baratie's bar. Such an unusual, loud place, different from anywhere she'd have found herself prior to joining Luffy. Never a reason to drink. Never a reason to willingly be with drunken patrons- primarily men unable to keep their hands to themselves. Music rang incessantly in her ears as it shook her to the core, vibrations from the wooden bar humming against her forearms. A glass of wine sat primarily untouched in front of her, every few minutes she'd be forcing herself to take a sip, too proud to admit the taste made her sick. 

Sabine can't help but laugh as she kept Usopp in the corner of her gaze, his dancing (stumbling) form kept her grounded. At least she could focus on something other than her strong wine and the conversation back at the table between Nami and Zoro. The music was fun. The atmosphere was relaxing enough to forget about Luffy stuck with dish duty— but not relaxing enough for her to forget about oaths and promises, temporary vows alike. Late nights of internal conversations on how she'd never be such a heathen to wear dresses showing ankles or being one of the girls who drank straight from the bottle. Rigid expectations from a father who'd do anything to hold the women close to him down... yet Sabine, as regressed into her younger traumatized self as she was in the moment, was able to enjoy the craziness. That maybe self hatred towards the ideas propagandized in her mind, were simply scare tactics keeping her from the world. 

Because Sabine was becoming anew! Cocooning herself up and waiting for her grand reveal to blossom like a butterfly with wings of crystal. Mind and body. 

The guilt thrusted upon her shoulders was unfair. Because serving the Father didn't mean starving herself or praying half the day. She could still be as dedicated with a wine glass in hand showing some skin than as a nun- what mattered was how she morally lived. Right? So Sabine picked the glass up with determination and tilted it back. 

While her face contorted in displeasure from the taste, a figure had been watching her from across Baratie's bar. A man with golden eyes had looked upon her the second he arrived and he knew she'd be the only one worth seeing for the rest of time. Finding a smile peak on his lips as she struggled to even sip her wine, was adoring. How her long locks, large doe eyes, porcelain skin with the smile of an angel accentuated her- willed him to walk to her and forget the reason he was in the floating fish restaurant. 

"Too strong little one?"

The sudden voice from behind made her flinch, a tremble in her hand almost causing her to drop the glass.

Sabine looked to her right, only to be met with intense golden irises peering down at her. A soft gasp escaped her lips as the air was ripped right from her throat, "Y-Yeah, could say that." was all she mustered to say with a hesitant tone. 

His aura was... strong. Like a swirling energy of raw power and skill that could only be sufficed by golden rays and the burgundy of blood. For not even the strongest of pirates that pleaded mercy at the monastery's temple could match this man. Sabine could tell that from being in his bubble alone. And with the fabric of her dress brushing along that of his coat, it was almost as if their skin was touching instead. She swallowed hard- bile begrudgingly going down from the sudden tightening of her chest. 

"Allow me," Their fingers brushed up against one another as he took the wine glass, bringing it to his lips. His eyes never left hers as the maroon liquid went past his lips, "Hm, dry, too bitter for someone who I imagine has no drinking experience."

"Ah you got me there. That obvious? I didn't know what to order, it sounded fancy." 

Sabine watched him whilst a sneaky blush crept up on every inch of her skin. With a simple flick of the man's wrist, the bartender pranced over to take the order like a fire lit under his ass, "Mm, a late harvest white, something sickeningly sweet this one would enjoy." 

"Oh! Sir you really needn't," Sabine countered in a feeble attempt to stop the bartender.

He raised a brow, as he placed berry on the bar top, "No bother. If this were somewhere I frequented I could give a recommendation. But suppose this will have to do," And as he finished speaking, the bartender returned with a freshly popped bottle, pouring it into the glass as he swirled in short movements.

The whole scenario felt like a strange case of deja vu, a fluttering in her chest as she carefully took a sip of the white wine. Burning up from the heavy gaze watching, she found resolve in the cooler liquid that made her taste buds jump for joy. The sweet nectar of peach- or maybe apricot- then the tang of the fact it was wine, had been exactly what she needed. Her head buzzed like taking a quick drag of a cigarette, which practically dragged her back to the hidden grounds of the monastery where her teen self traipsed to smoke. Sabine couldn't stop the involuntary smile that upturned her lips. 

With an appreciative nod she spoke, "Thank you," Nervously she leaned the glass towards him, "Would you like to try it?"

He indulged in her worlds. The pink still rising from her neck to her cheeks enamored him. And how she naturally moved in so their clothed arms brushed.

"Not of my taste but perfect for you."

The soft dulcet of his manly voice made her stomach flutter as her eyes glued to his frame, studying every inch before embarrassment hit. To elude temptation she looked away, the imprint of his shirtless chest etching its way into her brain. A stranger having such pull over her made her knees weaken.

"And your name?"

"Sabine.”

"You do intrigue me." he said bluntly with a slight chuckle, "my name is Mihawk, dear."

"Well I should be introducing myself as Sister Mary Sabine, my truest apologies." Sabine blushed, out of awkwardness bringing the glass to her lips as to shake off the way he made her feel. Though the same glass his lips had touched moments prior. Temptation lived in this world she knew all too well, and she hoped admitting her place in the sisterhood would alleviate her from the butterflies in her chest. 

"Oh?" A thick brow raised at her, his golden eyes looking her up and down, "A Sister drinking?"

"I've only taken my temporary vows.." Her voice grew soft as the sweet liquid burned her throat in a delicious way, "I'm on a sabbatical."

Even as a Warlord, a pirate, Mihawk liked to consider himself a gentleman in some respects. A man able to see intricacies behind people's eyes, "We all have our pasts, don't we?"

"Yeah, could say that," She shuffled her feet in place before changing the topic, "And you- you bear crosses... are you a man of faith?" Pursing her lips, her eyes flickered to the cross that sat on his bare chest. To her it glittered amongst surroundings that she deemed dull compared to him. 

"I am not. My faith lies in my sword. In myself."

"You don't look like a marine." The words spilled from her tongue, figuring a man traipsing with such a weapon had to have worked for the government. He didn't 'scream' pirate by any means either. 

"Because I am not."

"Was going to say, didn't think they issued new uniforms as showy as that," Sabine attempted to joke but he showed no reaction towards it, just a simple twitch of his top lip as if he were stifling a response. 

Sabine looked towards her friends, mainly blocked by the crowds of other patrons, feeling a wave of emotion wash over her. A numbing comfort settling in her mind that kept her eyes from flickering over. The feelings were difficult to discern for a second. Her mind flashes to a time when a man brazenly hit on her even when she kept trying to leave. This was different. As suddenly even drunk Usopp seemed to fall down her list of current importance. 

"Can I ask—" Mihawk began as he felt his heart clench, "What you're doing out here, with no signs of your vows evident? Regardless of being temporary."

"Hard hitting questions right from the start.." She shrugged, chin ducking from his intimate gaze to take a long sip of the clear liquid, "It's complicated. I'm on sabbatical to figure out what I want. It's been eight years and I still haven't taken my permanent vows. That's the short response, one I'm okay to share." 

He nodded, "I see. So you find yourself at an establishment like this?"

"Guess so. We just stumbled upon this place- the crew I'm traveling with. A good bunch and a break from the sea was needed."

"You're not traveling with pirates, are you?" 

"Not exactly, maybe self proclaimed ones, I'll have to see for myself. They're all lovely. I'm older than them though, yet it seems they have more experience than I." Sabine drawled out, a slight slurring forming with her words as her mind buzzed, "So, what 'bout you?"

"A lofty question."

"I told you about me!" Sabine countered with a teasing grin, pushing up on her tip-toes only to be leveled with the cross on his chest. So she craned her neck up, able to taste the alcohol on his breath. She relished, for a second, in how his eyes twitched wider before he regained composure. Mihawk was warm against the slight wind that made her shiver, enough so she kept getting subconsciously closer. 

"Suppose you did, little dove," What to tell her? For once Mihawk wanted to make a good lasting impression, one that'd have her reeling in awe in the morning, not fearful, "I'm sure you've met some of the worst our society has to offer, no?"

"You could say that. You're one of them- is that what you're saying?" 

"Precisely." 

"You.. don't feel like them,"

"No?" 

They shifted, Mihawk caught the shutter of her body, how the showing skin erupted in goose bumps. He moved so he blocked her from the wind, which blocked her from the outside, so her attention lived upon him. 

"No." Sabine frowned, "But maybe I'm not the best judge of character. I've had men cry at my feet begging for forgiveness, going on about the people they've killed or stolen from, raped. And not just adversaries engaging in similar behavior- women and children too. simply because they're bored. What do pirates gain going on land to destroy villages? Pirates should stick to the seas... Oh." she swallowed hard realizing how much the alcohol was getting to her, "That all spilled out, I apologize. But I don't always think pirates are bad now, I understand the want for freedom and collateral not meaning much. Our world isn't as black and white as I always assumed, something my quick time away has shown me." 

"If you really are traveling with some, you're in for a rude awakening Sister. Don't be hypocritical," Perhaps it was the alcohol, but she swore there was a teasing tone to his words, "But maybe you've always known our world isn't so straight laced." 

"Hm, I guess the intricacies of pirating slips me at times." She hummed with a flash of her mothers murder by pirates ingraining in her brain, only to be zapped away as Mihawk's voice dragged her from going down that road, "And maybe you're right on the second point too, don't know."

"You have much to experience it seems."

"Yep, five months left.." Sabine lamented before she snapped back to the hectic bar of Baratie, the music echoing in her head. With a semi panicked look, she blinked furiously with tingling extremities. But as soon as her eyes meet Mihawk again, she's drawn right back to his orbit, "Wait! I interrupted you, tell me about yourself. I'm not super interesting."

"I find you interesting dear, don't discredit yourself. But I'll put it simply, I'm a former pirate." Not a lie. But not the entire truth. 

"Mmm, well if you're anything like the crew I'm with, maybe you're not too bad." She internally cringed at her words, like it was a bad attempt at flirting.

"You shouldn't be so trusting." Mihawk tsk'd with a clicking of his tongue. 

"Then I should ask you to leave me be, mysterious man with a gigantic sword." Innocently she brushed stray hairs from her face behind her ear, giggling as she kept eye contact with him. Watching her made his loins burn as he swallowed hard. 

Mihawk made her eyes glitter like the galaxies holding trillions of stars. How her lips began to stain from different wines, yet never once did her bashful grin falter. And he perceived it all. Easily recognizing her reactions towards him, yet the warlord couldn't see his own. Mihawk looked ridiculous in that sense. The Tips of his ears were red. Body tense as his fingers inched towards her. Oh how their sanity was nothing as auras pulled them together like a tractor beam. 

'As if they were meant to meet,' a simple ridiculous thought swirling in both their clouded minds. 

Sabine was a giggling mess after another few glasses, and Mihawk hadn't meant to drink this much on a job commissioned by the marines. He wasn't a weak man by any means, but Sabine was doing things to him he didn't know how to work through. As she giggled on talking about herself and stories, attempting to draw out information from him, he slowly began to memorize every centimeter and crevice of her. The most beautiful woman in all the seas, while Mihawk didn't like wrenches thrown in his plans... and Sabine was a giant wrench at that... he was barreling down the tracks of no return. 

Was he weak? Was time without a bounty as a warlord finally catching up? Mihawk wondered if he was losing his touch, that this nun was a sign of that. Almost humorous he'd be enchanted by a woman that'd eventually be married to the Father.

"I'm being so serious!" She giggled all cute with a scrunch of her nose and dilated pupils. Her hand moved to his left bicep, as he'd taken a new spot beside her sometime during their long conversation. Newly empty tiny glasses from flights as the two tried Baratie's sets of wines, "It's totally going to work."

"It is not, dear. You're ridiculous,"

"M-mm," She shook her head with a happy go lucky grin, "You're too stiff! Like Sister Cecelia, I swear to you, she's been there a hundred years." 

"Oh? And don't you want to be that ancient nun who still walks the halls of the temple?" A teasing quip left his tongue,

"Very funny! Suppose we all end that way in one respect.”

The look in his eyes, the feeling of his fingers sent shivers down her spine. Was he acting? Was this one of those situations of a man just trying to get her into bed? No, she was sure in Mihawk simply being curious. The mysterious, large man with a larger than life sword. Her heart hammered in her ribcage feeling as if it was about to burst as she searched his golden irises. She knew when people lied. She knew the false senses of redemption and pleas to be forgiven. She knew how to spot a bad man in her monastery the second one walked through the doors. And she found none of that within him. Pacifistic eyes that had a fire behind them. A man with goals, power, intelligence. Was she being dramatic? Too enchanted by her intimate encounter with him? Was it the alcohol? How warm he made her feel with a cloak of protection? Strange how her core and chest burned for him as he flagged down the waiter to order her a water, swaying with the smallest of grin on her lips. 

"You'll be thankful for this tomorrow," he said with a knowing tone bringing the glass to her mouth, carefully tilting it back to watch it go past her red lips. 

Taking the glass from him as she drank the water, the cooling liquid soothing her throat and warm body. Helped her flustered self cool off, "Thank you, you're too kind. Is there any way I could pay you back? For tonight."

"Meeting you was more than enough- especially for a man like me. You deserve peace of mind, little dove." 

Sabine nodded, over analyzing his words— peace of mind. She did deserve that in life, in the upcoming decision that was slowly creeping up with time. His words meant more than he'd know, even as a stranger. 

"Thank you," She slurred, feeling misty eyed. The alcohol was making her emotional, all that wine settling in as she felt dizzied. 'She would be an emotional drunk', she thought to herself as her lips quivered. 

And for a second Mihawk reached out to trace along her jawline, but a drunken familiar boy's voice broke the trance. 

Sabine's head snapped in the direction of Usopp, where he sat spread out on a barstool, beer in hand. She grimaced stumbling forward his way as he drunkenly droned on of his bravery and pirating antics- when it hadn't been the case. Half lidded eyes as he swung about his beer with a loose grip had her practically hopping over to him and away from Mihawk. 

"And then they aimed their biggest, baddest cannons at us. But I wasn't scared, being that I'm the best shot in the East Blue. So I fired at 'em." He slurred as he imitated an explosion, "And again." More hand signals, "And again. Boom, boom, boom. Down goes their yard. Marines dead in the water. All thanks to the great Captain Usopp."

"So you're the captain?" Mihawk showed interest, veering back to Sabine's side as she approached the drunk boy. 

"Um.." Sabine coughed as she sent a look towards Usopp, one he was oblivious to. 

"But I did distract them so that Luffy, who's, like, the official captain, could bounce that ball back. Boom."

"Usopp," She slurred, grabbing at his coat jacket, "Let's quiet down..."

"You know him?" Mihawk turned his attention back to Sabine. Oh how luck appeared to be on his side! An angel in his midst- a stunning woman of poise and intellect, happened to be connected to his person of interest. 

"I- do," She spoke hesitantly, eyeing the two, trying to decipher what was going on. She was reeling from confusion and helplessness. 

"I would like to meet this- Luffy." Mihawk turned back to Usopp. 

"Okay," Usopp shrugged like it was the most normal thing, "Hell come meet the rest of our crew!"

"Usopp!" She whisper-yelled his way, "You've drank far too much,"

"But so have you!" Usopp laughed back, waving her off as he led Mihawk towards a table where two straw hats sat.

"What in the.." Sabine grumbled to herself wondering how this had escalated. She sauntered behind the pair, squinting as she moved amongst a dancing crowd bumping into shoulders. 

"Guys, meet my new best friend. What did you say your name was again?" Usopp cocked his head as they'd reached their destination, looking like a squash-able ant besides Mihawk, who carried an emotionless look. 

"Which one of you is Monkey D. Luffy?" Mihawk interrupted, not bothering for niceties. 

"Who wants to know?" Nami countered, body language becoming tense and alert. 

"You're Dracule Mihawk." An ominous silence took over as Zoro stood, eyes growing dark as his hand went right to the hilts of his swords. 

"I have business with your captain. If you know what's good for you, you'll hand him over."

"We don't know anyone named Luffy. Right, Zoro?" Nami said, "Zoro?"

"I've been following your career since I was a child. It's an honor to finally meet you, sir."

"Thank you."

Career? Sabine looked to Mihawk then to Zoro, attempting to understand what was going on. Zoro looked up to a former pirate? Then she realized she hadn't the slightest clue who she'd spent over an hour with at the bar. Her stomach dropped. 

"Which is why it pains me to inform you that tomorrow... you're going to die." The moss-haired crew mate said with determination. 

"Wait, what?" Sabine exclaimed, stepping towards them, "Zoro!"

"I, Roronoa Zoro, challenge you to a duel to the death."

"I've never heard of you." Mihawk tilted his head of curiosity turning to face Zoro, yellowed eyes brimming from underneath his hat. 

"They call me the Demon Pirate Hunter. But my lifelong dream is to best you in single combat and become the greatest swordsman in the world."

"You're serious." Mihawk replied with an almost amused tone.

"Accept my challenge. You'll see how serious I am."

"Very well. Tomorrow at dawn. And when I'm done with you, pirate hunter, I'll take your captain." And it was his final words before gallivanting off. The music of Baratie is still bumping through the restaurant, yet not encompassing the group's mood. 

"What the hell did you just do?" Nami yelled, furious. 

Yet Sabine stood sobered up and flabbergasted, watching Mihawk leave without a second look her way. Her mouth felt dry as a desert, stomach on the floor from mixed emotions. It happened so fast and she hadn't a second to comprehend it fully as her heart hammered in her ribs. 

Zoro was going to die. Nami made it very apparent as everyone met back on the ship with Luffy- frustrated pleas and opinions filling the air.

Within the moments of him declaring a duel, Sabine found out who Dracule Mihawk was. A warlord. The strongest swordsman. 

Sabine hugged her arms to her chest as she only listened, gaze on the floor. Regardless of her heavy eyelids and the grogginess from having been drunk, then forcibly sober. Shaken as she felt the ghostly simple touches from Mihawk on her, that still had chills racing down her spine. 

"You okay?" Nami whispered to her as they left to their shared quarters. 

"Ask me tomorrow, afterwards."

Nami nodded, yet the knowledge of her coming exit loomed over her and her alone.

Sabine felt guilty as she laid in her bed staring at the ceiling, wondering if Mihawk was as taken with her as she was with him. Especially since he'd be dueling Zoro in the morning. She couldn't stop thinking if his heart belonged to someone else.. that crazy giddy infatuation from first meeting someone with endless possibilities without responsibility. For Sabine had crushes as a young girl like any other. She'd fallen in love with a young un-vowed priest in a whirlwind, forbidden love affair after he stole her first kiss... but this was tantalizing. Nothing like it as she smiled to herself feeling like a giddy school girl once more. 

That night as she drifted off, she let herself indulge in daydreams about Mihawk, knowing tomorrow would be the final time she'd get to lay eyes upon him. Then she'd be back to reality. 

-

posted: oct 22 2023

edited: july 12 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Two, Seeing Red

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Masterlist

-

Her fingers trembled as they ran along the dusty ensemble from the bottom of her trunk. What possessed her that morning to pull the once forgotten fabric out was beyond her. Her habit felt like it weighed a ton as her hand desperately patted the ivory dressings to get wrinkles out, letting woolen fabric rhetorically burn her skin. Like words were printed out in bold that made her grow ill- duty. 

Nami had left, bag in hand. As Sabine awoke with heavy eyes just before sunrise, she'd seen the girl sneaking out on tiptoes and hushed whispers— Nami's actions only further cemented the danger of the upcoming situation as Sabine couldn't stop her. 

For a moment Sabine doesn't recognize herself as she glances in a passing mirror. Was she putting on her habit out of her duty as a nun? As the oldest person on the ship? Towards the fact Zoro might not survive? Or that she truly felt her faith guiding her to remain strong? 

Questions. They swirled. Hurled at her as she dressed for the coming duel, as if it were a mournful occasion. Ringing. High pitched vibrations lived in her ear canals as she exited the quarters of the ship, feeling the morning sun bore upon her clothed figure. 

Maybe she'd always been too emotional— too empathetic for her own good letting those around her will her very life. Maybe it was how years of sermons and tears made her heart lurch closer to The Father as her empath state grew impressionable and easily moved. So it explained the tears that misted her eyes. Explained how her fingers fidgeted and welcomed the pain as her nails dug into part of her skin. She cared for Zoro in a short matter of time, cared for the entirety of the Straw Hats like the nurturing nature of the burdened oldest sister. 

Oh seeing him again in all his glory- it took her breath away. His proud stance with the larger than life sword on his back. Mihawk stood on the other side of the dock, making her heart skip with anticipation as they drew closer. A stratus field of tension, of a tractor beam like air— one whirlwind pushing her feet forward as her fingers went numb. The sound of footsteps on the wood reverberated like the boom of soldiers marching. 

Sabine placed herself behind Luffy and Usopp, with a false hope their bodies would protect her from his gaze. Because his golden eyes were glued to her, uncaring towards the boy he'd be dueling as he only agreed to duel him to see Sabine once more. Chills went down her spine as she let her mind retreat into itself, to black out the coming bloodshed. The scene around her soon blurred from the sound of Zoro's swords unsheathed...

The azure sky above was fitted with puffy white clouds- the sea calm in contrast to the blood that seeped onto Baratie's front dock. How Nami and Usopp raced behind their captain to Zoro's side. How Luffy's cries for their bloodied crew mate to live were deafening. And how Sabine stood firm as if stuck in cement, fingers turning white from the grip on her rosary. 

Her heart hammered in her chest. Blood rushed to her head, blurring her vision with black spots. And an incessant ringing echoed in her ears. 

Time felt frozen as she watched him glide to her, his heavy footsteps creaking on the dock. Closer. And closer. She couldn't move, not with the way tears pricked her waterline and bile rose in her throat. Eyes flickering between the two swordsman as a frigid breeze of alarm made her entire body shiver. 

"My dear," Mihawk spoke calmly, as if he hadn't just struck down Zoro in a battle he needn't break a sweat. Only inches from her, Mihawk removed his hat, holding it over his heart as his mouth ran dry. His eyes ate her petite figure up and his stomach lurched from how her beauty struck him. Everything from last night came rushing back and if he'd known a simple conversation would be life changing, he'd have never let her walk away. 

Sabine opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She craned to look up at him. In daylight she was captivated by him. Last night, at the bar, hadn't done him justice. How the air was robbed from her lungs as all she could do was shake her head hearing his timbre voice, "Why.."

Mihawk had no answer as he re-situated his hat back upon his head, then running a hand to brush along her headpiece down to her veil. She flinched in return as his large fingers caressed her shoulder, "Sister Mary Sabine, last night you changed my trajectory for better and for worse. And I'm a man who knows what he wants, then gets it."

"I don't understand," She squeaked out, their surroundings fading. Yells of her friends as they carried Zoro to the boat, how she should have been with them tossed to the back of her mind. The panicked looks as they saw how close Mihawk was to Sabine, someone with no ability to fight an enemy off. But trust was left that Mihawk had no business with a nun as they carried the green haired swordsman out of sight. She was alone- with him.

Mihawk showed no change in emotion, only an unsettling and uncommon softness to his gaze, "However I am not cruel. I understand your situation, so I'll tell you this- after your sabbatical I will come find you. And I'll respect either decision you make, but I plan to make you mine if you choose to leave the sisterhood."

An inhuman gasp stifled in her throat, her eyes widened, "M-Mihawk."

In a slick motion, Mihawk removed the thick cross branded (Mihawk centric branded) ring he adorned. Suddenly grasping her dainty wrist he forced the piece of jewelry into her palm, "So a piece of me is with you. Think of me until we meet again in many months time, little one."

"You can't- you can't just say that! You- Zoro might die because of you!" Anger finally bubbled over. Sabine snapped from her trance as her fist tightened around the ring, she took a step closer to him before he could turn away.

"You felt it last night, no?"

His question took her aback. Just as quick as she found the confidence to get mad, it subsided as her shoulders dropped. Because she felt it. She'd told herself last night as she laid in bed tipsy from the wine, that if that was how true love felt, she'd never want anyone else. She'd want him. But that was before Zoro challenged him- Before Zoro was struck down with such ease. 

"Answer me my dove," 

"Yes.. I did," She whispered as tears brimmed her eyes, "I felt it. But- you're a warlord of the sea- one of the strongest- it doesn't matter what I felt." Words stumbling one over the other as she struggled to articulate the emotions swirling within her, "Walk away."

"Oh? You really want me to?" A low chuckle from the deep of his throat tickled her ears. Mihawk felt amused from the deflation of her chest, the whirlpool of fervor in her eyes as she shuffled in place. 

"I-" The ring weighed down her hand. It felt hot as a branding iron fresh out the charcoal, dropping to her side as her nails dug into the skin, "Don't know."

The sudden feeling of his fingertips tracing along her jaw, thumb stroking her cheekbone- made her mind go fuzzy. Subconsciously they drew closer. Eyes connected with neither able to break away, further imprinting each other into permanent association. 

"I don't know you." Sabine mumbled as her loins burned, a dizzying heat creeping up her skin. A lightheadedness began to prod at her as a thick hand grasped her shoulder to steady her. 

Suddenly, Mihawk swooped down and pressed a light yet chaste kiss on her forehead. The heat of her skin numbing as he pulled away to ardently beam down at her, masking any inch of excitement from Sabine to see, keeping it for himself to feel. 

A shuddered breath left Sabine's lips, eyes closing as a shiver blew through her extremities from the electricity colliding with her. Every nerve on fire, lightning striking over and over just from the ghostly feeling lingering on her forehead. A cruel twisting awake in her stomach that had her nauseas and on cloud nine all at once, a feathery painful tickle inside her skull as she lulled in place. 

"Take care of yourself Sabine, until next time." Mihawk bade a gentle goodbye- as much of one as he was capable of. 

"But.." Sabine whimpered, forced to stare at the large sword strapped to his back as he turned away. She wanted to chase after him, to flag him down and shove the ring back onto his finger. Yet all she could do was stand there dumbfounded, gaze soon downcast to stare at the jewelry in her hand. A gorgeous gold ring with intricate designs, well worn too. 

"How will you find me?" But Mihawk was too far to hear her question, confusion replacing her shocked self. 

Silence. Then lurching waves knocked anchored boats against the dock to and fro. Then scattered voices dragged her back to back to reality as all her senses kicked back in. Salty seawater air, thick, coating her insides to where it suffocated her breaths as her chest rose and fell shakily. 

Sabine struggled as she shoved the ring into her under-dress's pocket. The sudden emptiness in her hand was momentous in a way she couldn't comprehend the weight it would bear on her.

Wherever her feet took her she went. Stumbling over the dock as her heart raced, gasping for breath as she pushed through a door into Baratie. Needed to get away. Needed to breathe air that Mihawk hadn't. The ring left an imprint, her palm red and indented with a thick circle at the center. 

Crumpling to her knees inside a lone hallway meant for staff of the floating restaurant. Back flush against a plank wall with peeling forest green wallpaper, water damage causing it to bubble at dingy corners. The world felt as if she were viewing it from another person the way her thoughts raced, making her vision streak as heavy tears began to fall. Head fell to her hands. Deep breaths. Guilt wracking her. Sabine wanted to think about Zoro and how she should be by his side offering a prayer. Selfishness, something no good nun was supposed to have, was taking over. 

"I cast this circle of flowers round, in calling for a love meant for me, to find me."

She hadn't thought of that night in about three years, not since the unruly Deacon traipsed through her life. While it'd all been fun and games at sixteen- a harmless little game that now had come back to haunt her for the second time. 

Flashes of a scene— four giggling girls with stolen communion wine, special flowers scattered on the tiled floor. 

"Forever will my true love bind,"

Sabine felt an intense pounding in her chest, as if her heart was about to beat out her ribcage and splinter the thin bones through her skin. Death would have been kinder for the poor girl, a sobbing trembling mess. 

Oh she'd done it now. More specifically her sixteen year old self had. It was foolish to think the chicken scratch chant they found in an old book was anything but real. Because with an existence of devil fruits and sea monsters, was anything too far out the realm of existence? 

Tears continued to slide down her cheeks as she sucked ragged breaths in. Sabine knew what this was. It was obvious. Not a ridiculous love at first sight story, Mihawk was her person as she'd set the stage for him to find her all those years ago. He had to be! Or else she believed too firmly in sudden happenings of the butterfly effect. All this was, was sudden infatuation, an ironic suddenness happening during her sabbatical. Of course. 

Sabine's fingers shook as she went to grip her rosary, head bent down as her lips moved but with no words escaping. 

-

posted : oct 26 2023

edited: july 12 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Six, Mad Woman

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Note: idk how i feel about this chapter but just wanted to get the story moving

Masterlist

-

Inky black tentacles swarmed her limp body. A heavy fog wafted through her nostrils, past her lips and through her ears swirling her mind into a dark haze. It felt like something large laid itself on her, she wanted to scream, to thrash, to do anything other than lay there. She tried to scream. Nothing came. Fingers unmovable at her side. Bells tolled in the background. Once. Twice. Three times. An ache resurfaced. An incomprehensible densely packed knot twisted within her chest, pushing on her lungs as a choked intake of air turned perilous– 

Sabine shook her head, pushing back the unwanted intrusion in her head. She forced herself to smile, not wanting to tell Mihawk of her nightmare from last night that still haunted her six hours later. He’d probably notice any odd changes in her behavior, he seemed so pleased when she reported sleeping through the night. Though if she woke, he’d have too- nobody was ever safe from her night terrors it seemed. It would only be a matter of time before he saw that vulnerable side of her…

Sitting across from him as they ate a late lunch, Sabine began to think about how he’d once been nothing but a stranger at a bar. Then the man who’d dueled Zoro, only to say to her upon parting she’d be his. And now Sabine didn’t even consider him a stranger, which probably made no sense considering- The man was a vicious killer, a warlord, yet he treated her with the utmost respect and care. 

And there was something about it all.

Sabine couldn’t quite place her finger on it, but she trusted him. Deep in her gut, in her heart, and in her mind. He drew her in, like an overpowered rip current that refused to let her swim back ashore. As if fate itself intervened for them to meet. The butterfly effect of it all had managed to change her life- one day a girl separated from home, then a nun exorcizing a supposed demon that would cause her nightmares, which led to a sabbatical, leading Luffy, which led to Mihawk. It was absurd.

“So,” She hummed, “What do you think?”

They’d paid the marine base a visit after breakfast, sat and combed through reports from last year and then the last month. All while an onslaught of marines came to see if the rumors were true, that the strongest swordsman was actually in their base. The two were an unusual pair to look at, an infamous pirate and a nun. 

Upon reading said reports and piecing them together with information from Sabine, Mihawk understood what was going on. Blaringly so. He didn’t need to see the church’s archive reports or to read the books Sabine talked of. A devil fruit user was at large on the island experimenting on the population, the pattern was evident and he’d be damned to admit an actual demon was doing this. But Sabine wasn’t catching on as quickly as he had. 

“I believe you have a devil fruit user on your hands. No exorcism would have helped.” Mihawk wanted to be gentle in this unusual process, it was becoming more clear how much real world experiences the young woman lacked. Her education was what the church had deemed acceptable, to her everyone deep down had good intentions or else the ideas of salvation would be shattered. But he sees it; the wavering of those feelings, her disdain at times, and Mihawk wonders how much Sabine had faked over the years in order to be a good nun.

She nodded, trying to push down the guilt that would resurface. Instead she focused on his handsome features, his beard and thick brows, sharp and masculine that made a rush of tepid liquid roll through her. 

“But how? I understand it but- I know what I saw, can a devil fruit cause such a thing?”

“Probably. The woman you saw back then touched you, correct?”

“Yes, it felt like touching any other person, not an apparition while it could move like one.” Sabine shivered. A sudden chill down her spine as she remembered the brutal feeling of that wretched monster’s claw-like grip on her wrist. How it’d held her so tight there was a mark afterwards for weeks. Only Sister Sienna’s homemade salve helped it heal.

“Hm, I see.”

“What?” She inquired, anxiety riddling her as he blocked her from seeing any changes of his facial features, “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I think this is beyond the scope of your abilities.”

“Huh?”

Mihawk pushed his food around his plate with his fork before setting it down, “I don’t know why your church foolishly sent two people to investigate demonic activity before going to the marines. I don’t want you to get hurt, so let me handle this from here.”

“But… Why? This seems beneath you, it has nothing to do with the sea.”

“If I handle this, would you trust that the danger here is gone for good?”

“Yes.”

“If it ends your nightmares that’s good enough of a reason for me to handle it.”

“Please let me help still. I promise I’ll listen to whatever you say! I know this city well, I’ve met the families of those impacted last year they could help. We only figured the connections of everyone to be religious, perhaps they came into contact with the devil fruit user-demon-person another way. Same knitting group maybe?”

Mihawk couldn’t stifle an amused smile or the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, “Maybe.” He let out a defeated sigh and she knew she’d won, “I guess we’ll be playing detective. This is not my forte.”

“Well I appreciate it more than you know. I can go and deal with all the people, everyone’s scared the moment they look at you.” She giggled, calmness taking over the fear she’d had. Her heart swelled. If it weren’t for the table between them she would have thrown her arms around him to thank him through an unbreakable hug. The fact he was doing this for her, was mind boggling, absolutely solidified the growing fondness for him she had.

“I will stay by your side regardless.”

“Are you sure?” Another skip in her heartbeat from his words. 

“Yes, I will not let you gallivant around this city blind, you’d foolishly get yourself killed.”

“I see that now and I agree. Sure scary ghosts I can handle, but a person? No. Don’t rely on me in a fight.”

“Would never dream of it my dear.” Any smile she got out of him she’d treasure. Her fingers tingle with nerves as they want to reach out and grab his own.

They continued eating in a comfortable silence. Sabine kept her gaze low as her face burned, her stomach painfully fluttering due to those gold eyes that made her feel intrusive emotions. How her body had yet to cool down from how close in his orbit she’d been. They’d slept in the same room for god's sake! She recounted each of his words, how protective they’d been, him wanting her out of harm's way. How this was probably child’s play yet he entertained it for her, took it as seriously as she was.

“I would like to go visit Cardinal Joseph if you don’t mind, to fill him in.”

Mihawk nodded, “Finish up and we’ll go.” 

The pair walked side by side through the weaving streets, looking like the most unusual of pairs. A large man with an even larger sword. And a nun. 

But none of that mattered. Sabine felt secure walking inches from him, their arms occasionally brushing, her body a pleasant warm with humming emotion. The air smelled faint of the salty ocean water that wafted up from the port. Slowly a faint scent of tangy iron and the raunchy human smell of the crowd that had gathered. It made her heart skip a beat as she choked in a breath. Faint murmurs in a rounded opening below the few storied buildings that looked right out of a story book. 

Mihawk felt like an anchor for her as her chest tightened suddenly, the familiarity of certain buildings that brought back a litany of memories once she saw through the crowd. Her steps slowed. From beyond the masses of people, a cascade of string lights that led to a door that reverberated through her entirety. The red paint. The floral arrangements that grew along the cracking bricks. And a man so vibrantly out in front with gaudy clothes and a jeweled scepter- him. 

She knew his name instantly. DiPont Giorgio. The wrench in their plans last year. How loudly he spewed his feelings of the church and how they couldn’t get a handle on the demonic deaths. Whatever popular story was the news for the day or weeks, he latched onto it and milked it. He made grand spectacles of issues just to turn them on those most impacted, all while wearing that giddy smile. Other’s pain brought him pleasure. 

Mihawk noticed the change in her body language; how she tensed up, a fist clenched, legs locked in place, and her eyes fixed so that they stared past the crowd. He inspected every face and body his golden eyes could see, upon seeing the man dressed as a jester, he assumed that was the point of her sudden behavior. 

He pulled her to the side. 

The two alone in a side alley, him pressing her to a building’s side. He brushed a hand along her hair, feeling her clammy skin as sweat beaded along her hairline. She shivered as his fingers prodded into the sensitive skin going down her neck then pulling at the constricting neckline of her clothes. 

“Breathe, dear.”

Sabine shook her head furiously. 

“Breathe. In then out.” The sound of his voice lulled into her brain, scraping and whirling until it could pull her out her trance. Her pupils returned to a normal size, lashes fluttering as she looked at Mihawk like she was seeing him for the first time, “There we are.”

“Mi..hawk.” She whimpered. A cascade of frigid sentiments made her extremities numb. 

“Tell me what’s upset you. Is it the man that drew the crowd?”

Nodding, her lips parted, then closed only to open again. She sucked in a shaky breath, “Yes.”

If looks could kill- the way his fingers flexed and shoulders straightened, Mihawk immediately honed in on the man as his aura began to bubble. To boil over into the world of anger, into a fiery red over the fact a single person could cause Sabine such discontent. A surge of impulsiveness, a feeling he rarely felt or indulged in or bothered with, consumed him. Anything that disturbed him on the sea or in the way was worthy of him unsheathing a blade, but in this situation he couldn’t understand why he wanted to cut down that jester of a man. How a hand subconsciously went to unsheath Yoru, Mihawk stopped himself. 

Sabine’s fingers had curled into his coat as she stared up at him with watering eyes. It took all his strength not to pick her up and whisk her away until those tears were no more. Yet years of intense training and discipline went wayward in the moment as his pulse hiked and skin tingled warm. Instead he brought a hand up to her face, stroking a thumb along her cheekbone as she’d calmed down due to his lapsed moment of judgment. He felt guilty.

“Who is he?”

“Giorgio. He’s a wretched man.” Sabine sighed, “Takes joy in toying with others. Will latch on to someone suffering just to make some berry.”

“Ah, I’m guessing he was an unwanted presence last year?”

“Yes.”

Mihawk could feel the negativity that whipped around this man, Giorgio. Through his toothy grins and erratic hands waving about, there was something unnatural in how he spewed nonsense that riled up the crowd. 

“What’s he saying?” She asked meekly, tugging on his coat to regain his attention. 

“I’m not sure, would you like to move closer? I can go on my own-”

“No! Don’t leave me.”

Fear. Mihawk could smell it reek off her, the patheticness along her features tugging at his heart strings. He wanted to, selfishly, believe her words were meant for him alone and not for the reason she didn’t want to be left aside. He wondered if she’d cling to anyone like this in her vulnerable state as her tinier body began to shake.

“I never could explain it, he gave me the creeps. Which I know isn’t a punishable offense. Cardinal Joseph simply found him annoying whereas, I have a gut feeling he’s just… scum. Again nothing to be done, he always knew when to stay away and not engage in our work.” 

Mihawk watched as her fright turned into something else as she rambled about the man, he assumed it was annoyance glimmering in her eyes. She huffed, smoothing down her skirt with her hands as a way to regain composure. A little shake of her shoulders and arms, another huff, and she was walking past him. 

“Sabine.” He clasped a hand on her shoulder and tugged her back. A gasp left her lips as another one of his hands clamped on her waist, “Do not leave my side, just like I promised not to leave yours.”

A protectiveness surged through him. He wouldn’t let her get past him, he’d keep her by his side whether or not by force. This place brought her pain and he was growing sick of sudden reminders everything seemed to give her. On top of the fact, this was all a mess, he’d rather be on the sea fighting an entire armada than this slow give and take work that should be up to a paper pusher.

His lips hovering just along an ear made her heart thump painfully in her chest. Her bold confidence simmered like a snap of a twig, “Sorry, I don’t know what got into me… I don’t want him to see me, even though I have choice words for him. He used to seek us out, taunt us, he’d touch my hair or tug at my habit. A disrespectful man with no boundaries or shame.”

“Then let’s go, especially before I do something regrettable.” Mihawk said under his breath, a dangerous tone seeping from his words. His grip on her tightened.

“Yes, let's.” A chill ran down Sabine’s spine at the thought of the things Mihawk could do to Giorgio. Not that she wished death upon anyone, but that man had karma coming to him one of these days, perhaps it would be fitting for it to come from a man aligned with her. 

They went along the outskirts of all the noise, heading down the road that would lead to the church where they’d find Cardinal Joseph. And then make a plan to pinpoint how to find the devil fruit user. Simple- Sabine highly doubted that would be the case. She squeezed Mihawk’s bicep that she clung to. 

But Sabine couldn’t help herself as she went to strain her neck turning around. From that glance alone, her eyes connected with his. Giorgio, still mid preaching, gave her a twisted smile. An intoxicating, ambergris musk invaded her nostrils and her surroundings went null as Mihawk kept them moving forward, her footsteps more an inebriated march as they clunked against the cobbled streets.

The remaining day was that of following the motions. 

Then it turned into a week, then another. 

A grueling death had shut the Island down, trying to leave would have been futile. Sabine and Cardinal Joseph had investigated the perimeter of the murder, checked the victims belongings for anything that matched- and it did. 

Over a year ago, the demon had left burnt and flipped crossed over the victims, whose eyes were black as night and limbs gaping, mushy, cold. 

And there, a body with a similar modus operandi laid at her feet. 

Sabine had fallen to her knees due to the note beside the cross, the sound of her hitting the floor spurred Mihawk into the room to aid her. She still couldn’t fathom why he stayed at her side, didn’t mock her for her inability in this area of work, in her lack of understanding about the world they lived in. How dutifully he explained things to her over the last few weeks and answered all her questions. She selfishly loved how he hovered, how they grew closer while the island was going up in flames. 

‘Come get me!’

The written words taunted her. She wanted to rip the note up, throw it into a fireplace and watch it burn along with her bubbling feelings of failure.

Oh how wrong had the church been. Even if this wasn’t someone who’d eaten a devil fruit, the powers and natures of this world were immense. So much was still unknown. But demons couldn’t write! More proof this was a human or creature doing this! That ridiculous exorcism and belief in faith had been futile, foolish, stupid, hasty, and it made her want to scream. To cry. To bleed. To slam her head into a wall or throw herself out the window much like a victim had last year too. Sabine thought of that nun, her body splattered on the ground and how the decay of her flesh melded into the dying grass. For the first time she believed her faith was a facade she’d forced on herself.

Sabine thought that her life had been a waste, that if she’d been more competent, able to think for herself- this person wouldn’t have died. 

-

posted: july 24 2024

taglist: @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996 let me know if you wanna be added!

[hhighkey]

Decode // Background

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

note, here’s the background/intro! since mihawk won the poll! (cross posted on other sites as well)

Masterlist

-

I. Fifteen years old when she was ripped from her mother's arms as she was dragged away. Her father stood motionless in the corner with a bag of money in hand, not enough to pay for the three of them. The pirates laughed. Laughed how he wasn't man enough to take his wife's place, to leave a young lady without a mother. How young Sabine cried and screamed, wallowed as she followed them outside. No pleas to them nor the Father would be heard as her mother was thrown to the ground. The woman yelled at her daughter to look away. Pop. An incessant ringing deafened her as she dropped to her knees, eyesight blurry on the limp body of her mother. A pat on her head. Pirate's cruel laughter reverberated through the air as her life came crashing down. 

Not long after did Sabine find herself on a big boat with luggage at her side. A nervous bubbling in her stomach made her feel sick, knowing where her father was pushing her off to. The Monastery was beautiful- large and expansive old castle with dimmed white bricks. Ivy climbing the walls and up kept gardens littered all about. While faith had been all she had to for years- she accepted her temporary vows with disdain in her blood as doubt pricked her mind. 

II. Eight long years passed, and she'd yet to give herself to the Father- to take her permanent vows. The judging glances and murmurs burned, on how she still adorned the white veil after so many years of service. 

Service. Her faith wavered. Rosary clutched in hand as the winds shrieked through the shattered stained glass of the church's nave. Pews splintered and smashed against walls. Flickering candles around her. Tears streamed her cheeks as the ghastly figure stalked around her as she chanted prayer after prayer. Her body shook. Chills up and down her spine. Red stained the tiled floors of the bishop she'd arrived with. Alone. Scared. Only a light guiding her as she rehearsed everything she remembered. Its black eyes and cursed lips screamed as it dissolved and churned. The small music box vibrated as the raven colored smoke succumbed to the words of the Father. Blood trickled from Sabine's eyes as she heaved, palms on the floor covered in broken glass that left her with bloodied cuts. 

III. Every night was the same. Her sisters gathered around her shaking her calling her name, telling her it was okay as she screamed and writhed. The same figure haunted her dreams. Sabine eventually found the strength to request leave- a sabbatical- so there she sat in a cardinal's office with her plea. And it was heard. How her community looked up to her with awe that an un-vowed nun could keep such a demon at bay- that it made sense how she needed time. But Sabine needed to breathe. She needed to leave the monastery to experience a life she once had before her mother's death. Yearned for seeing girls her age laughing and drinking, wearing dresses she only dreamed of owning, dreaming of marriage to someone who loved her. For faith saw her through and she thanked Him everyday but, she could serve him as herself. Not with the restrictions. This sabbatical she prayed would show her what she truly wanted. 

IV. Gecko Island took longer to reach than she'd have expected. But Syrup Village made it worthwhile. The bustling town, the fresh air- the knowing that she had all the time in the world ahead of her (a year really). A chance to start anew to learn her heart's desire. Sabine felt lighter without her habit on and without the eyes that always stared at a young nun passing through a town. As if she was a two headed monster. A cool breeze fluttered her hair as a yelling carried within ear shot, "Pirates are coming!" 

V. "You should join my crew, find the answers to your doubts. Maybe along the way realize you have a dream whether it be with those church people, with us or.. I don't know!" At first she laughed. Her- a pirate? Pirates changed her life for the worse so it'd been a ridiculous thing for Luffy to say. Yet Luffy's smile was enough to win her over, how could anyone say no to him? And as she saw what those straw hat pirates did for Kaya and she wondered, maybe pirates could change her life for better, or maybe she was desperate. With six months left on her sabbatical and Luffy's oath to bring her back to the monastery in time, Sabine felt genuine excitement for the first time in years as she boarded the Going Merry. 

-

playlist

01. all around me― flyleaf 02. lacy― olivia rodrigo 03. like a prayer― madonna 04. slut!― taylor swift 05. roslyn― st vincent & bon iver 06. i caught myself― paramore 07. judas― lady gaga 08. holy (til you let me go)― rina sawayama 09. turning page― sleeping at last

-

Character Moodboards—

PINTEREST BOARD

Oakes Sabine

sister mary sabine

-

Dracule Mihawk

strongest swordsman in the world

posted : oct 14 2023

edited: july 12 2024

taglist :

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Eight, Something Real

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

note, ok this is a short chapter

Masterlist

-

THREE YEARS AGO

He looked at her like nobody, especially no man, had ever before. His eyes swirled with a darkness she could only pinpoint as desire, and it drew her right in. Though any attention would have done so, the only men she knew was her father and the regulars who needed to confess sins each holy day. 

She didn’t know better. If only she had the tools to understand each touch or word spoken of false sincerity, she’d have kept more dignity than she’d have cared to share. 

Deacon Percy, who was vying to be a priest, would be staying at the Monastery a few months, along with an unnamed Cardinal, and small entourage for business too classified for lowly nuns. Sabine and the rest of her Sisters knew for men to be allowed to stay upon their grounds outside of prayer and confession- it was for good reason. Never would such temptation freely walk the halls.

So when Percy looked at her like she was the vast sky and all its glittering stars, like he’d drop everything to be with her- Sabine knew it was fate. It had to be! The silly ritual she performed years ago was legit! 

Nights sneaking about under the different cycles of moons. 

Meetings behind stairwells and in the emptied kitchens. Him taking her along the grounds, past the cemetery, chasing her about as she giggled in glee safe from prying ears. 

He talked as if he knew, saw, and understood the entire world. A glimmer in his eyes as he told her stories of great religious feats he’d seen, of masterful care towards the needy he sought out to bring to the world. Her innocence was to his advantage, open ears he could manipulate with ease as she had not taken permanent vows. 

He thought Sabine to be the most beautiful woman ever, his own version of Virgin Thais in a sense. The lost girl at sea to the mercy of the Father.

Percy would wonder how to make her his loyal follower, how if he could transfix her permanently, perhaps she could bring others along with her. His own little coven of nuns. The great Father must have had this in mind the whole time!

He took Sabine’s first kiss. 

But it took a turn when he tried to take her virginity, one night under the full moon, where the white moonflower bloomed. Where the dense waft of seawater met the rocky shores of the Monastery, under a large willow tree past the gates down a gravel path. 

“I- No. Kissing is one thing.” Sabine glowered at him after she’d shoved him back. She readjusted her habit that he’d tried to shed from her skin. 

Red blared in her mind, in her vision. The last couple meetings her stomach had been churning with all the wrong feelings, this only reaffirmed her gut instincts. Anger and sadness swirled in her, her blood feeling thick as it coursed painfully inside her veins. Bubbling resentment threatened to boil out from her at him. 

“You should feel ashamed.” She crossed her arms as she stared down at Percy, having gained feet between where he still sat. 

“Sabine, we’ll be as one, it will be okay. I love you, you know that.”

The words were on the tip of her tongue. She was a fool! He’d used her! Nights of losing sleep, of doubt gnawing at her, of tears in the washroom, a loss of appetite. And oh how her Sisters knew something was wrong, trying to carefully help her escape his orbit. But a man who loved her would not make her choose or feel pressure, make a laughing stock of her as she stood there with tears cascading down her cheeks. 

“Do not talk to me again.” And she was off, racing back up the path, past the gates and inside the Monastery. Breathing heavy through her sobs as she collapsed in her bed, shaking and cold, doing her best to not wake her roommate. 

It was a dance afterwards, to avoid him.

At night she’d lay awake regretting everything, remembering how his fingers would go too low for comfort. How he’d tease and beg, try to see how far she’d let him go. But swept up in the grand gestures and beautiful words, and the ritual. And eventually she spilled to the matriarch, spilled it all as she cried begging for forgiveness. Told how he played her like a fiddle until it all clicked when he attempted to force off her clothes. He knew exactly what he was doing. Knew exactly who to choose- the girl who didn’t truly believe, just needed the sisterhood to survive. Which Sabine hadn’t realized it at the time. 

So close to taking her permanent vows yet she couldn’t do it. At the altar, only steps away she turned and fled. Three days later Deacon Percy was gone, his room cleared out and rumors swept the foreboding, empty stone halls that he had become one with the sea. All Sabine was left with was to piece herself back together. And those pieces as they fit back into the puzzle of herself- they did not conform to who she’d been. Percy’s words about how he viewed their religion as easy to mold, as everyone being fools to think it real- they stuck with her. She didn’t want to be a pawn. But she didn’t want to use others. Sabine wanted to live by her own code!

-

PRESENT

One with the sea- Mihawk can only assume the Deacon was dead, bones at the bottom of the ocean muddled within the sand, or swept to some distant shores. It would be a fitting end in a world that was ruled by the ocean. 

And if he wasn’t dead well… Mihawk considered hunting him down to the very ends of this earth to make sure he was.

The wetness that lined her lashes, the solemn look as she told the story. His heart ached as she talked of her foolishness, that she shouldn’t have been so blind. It wasn’t her fault, he wanted to tell her. 

“I will say the three years since?” Sabine sighed (the only part of the story she left out to Mihawk was that of the ritual), “I think I’ve had the most growth, more understanding of the world and myself than at any point up to then. I hope you don’t see me as naive, it’s embarrassing to tell.”

“I don’t see you as such.” He responded. Words of comfort stayed on his tongue, not his specialty. 

At one point Sabine had gotten up from the bed to pace as she told her story. Finally she stopped flitting and sat beside Mihawk once again. A nervous wreck, butterflies swarming her stomach as her cheeks grew pink. Suddenly hyper aware of how close to her he was. In her personal bubble, she could smell his cologne and feel the warmth that radiated off him. 

She scooched closer, their legs just touching. Her hand grabbed one of his, a sudden move that made his eyes widen ever so slightly. How she gripped two of his thick fingers, clearly the wheels in her head turned as she thought. Face heating up more. He watched her with a curious look, letting her take the lead. 

Sabine deserved to be in the main seat of her life, the navigator of her own ship. She did not deserve manipulation using her religion and her vulnerable position without family and money to fall back onto. She was intelligent while still believing wholeheartedly in good, a trait lost upon many. Lost upon himself, as if he’d never once believed in good or been good.

Her actions are awkward. But he let her go forth with them under a careful guise as he watched, feeling burned alive by her touch. Mihawk’s heart hammered in his chest as her touch shot electricity down his nerves. 

But he would not let her continue. Not like this, not yet at least. Not even as she touched along his jaw tracing his facial hair. And not as her lips parted. 

“Don’t, my dear.” He whispered softly, no intentions to hurt her.

But the hurt flashed across her features.

“Not yet. Let me explain,” Mihawk tucked a free piece of her hair behind her ear, “I won’t use you like he did, not when you’re vulnerable after telling me that important part of your past. You need a clear head, need to have me in the background when you make your choices. Don’t feel obliged just because I listened to you, have helped you.” 

“You want to wait, to see what I decide?”

“Yes. I still do.”

“Thank you… Though, throwing myself out the window seems like a good plan right now.” She sighed, a semi mortified smile plastered on her lips as she fell back onto the bed. Shaking her head as she stared up at the plastered ceiling, not feeling bad but good? 

He couldn’t help but laugh, “Don’t be too embarrassed, I don’t want you regretting anything still.” 

“Oh I’m embarrassed. But, suppose it’s good we can already laugh about it.” 

“I suppose so. I respect you’re still a nun, that you’re on a sabbatical right now. I won’t cross your boundaries whether you know they’re there or not. And I won’t feed the fire that is in your religious confusion.”

As if he could steal her heart anymore than he already had! A true gentleman, even if he was a pirate by nature. You couldn’t convince her otherwise. She felt warm and fuzzy inside, like her heart was going to burst. An ache to reach out to touch him again, feel the connection of their skin as their nerves would alight in voltaic sparks. 

“I’m thankful I met you. Who would have thought?” She grinned. 

His words helped her in more ways than one. Because she hadn’t thought of her situation as religious confusion. She let herself believe in a demon rather than critically thinking about it, to let herself sink in it so she’d drown rather than admit her struggling feelings. Her doubt. But Sabine also knew more than ever she wanted Mihawk. 

-

posted: august 19 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996

[hhighkey]

Decode // PREVIEW!!

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: generally will be mature

Story Will Contain: age gap, OC is an unspecified religious nun who is on sabbatical (full fic would give detail), trauma, violence, eventual smut, possessive / protective behavior etc etc

notes, hi!!! so there’s a preview of a fic i’m working on! i’m in the middle of deciding between focusing on this story or my shanks fic. let me know if anyone wants to be added to this story’s taglist

Masterlist , vote which fic i should focus on here

-

…

The azure sky above was fitted with puffy white clouds- the sea calm in contrast to the blood that seeped onto Baratie's front dock. How Nami and Usopp raced behind their captain to Zoro's side. How Luffy's cries for their bloodied crew mate to live, were deafening. And how Sabine stood firm as if stuck in cement, fingers turning white from the grip on her rosary.

Her heart hammered in her chest. Blood rushed to her head blurring her vision with black spots. And an incessant ringing echoed in her ears.

Time felt frozen as she watched him glide to her, his heavy footsteps creaking on the dock. Closer. And closer. She couldn't move, not with the way tears pricked her waterline and bile rose in her throat. Eyes flickering between the two swordsman as a frigid breeze of alarm made her entire body shiver.

"My dear," Mihawk spoke calmly, as if he hadn't just struck down Zoro in a battle he needn't break a sweat. Only inches from her, Mihawk removed his hat, holding it over his heart as his mouth ran dry. His eyes ate her petit figure up and his stomach lurched from how her beauty struck him. Everything from last night came rushing back and if he'd known a simple conversation would be life changing, he'd have not let her walk away.

Sabine opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She craned to look up at him. In daylight she was captivated by him. Last night, at the bar, hadn't done him justice. How the air was robbed from her lungs as all she could do was shake her head, "why.."

Mihawk had no answer as he re-situated his hat back upon his head, then running a hand to brush along her headpiece down to her veil. She flinched in return as his large fingers caressed her shoulder, "Sister Mary Sabine, last night you changed my trajectory for better and for worse. And I'm a man who knows what he wants, then gets it."

"I don't understand," she squeaked out, their surroundings blocking out. Yells of her friends as they carried Zoro to the boat, how she should have been with them tossed to the back of her mind. The panicked looks as they saw how close Mihawk was to Sabine, someone with no ability to fight an enemy off. But trust was left that Mihawk had no business with a nun as they carried the green haired swordsman out of sight. She was alone- with him.

Mihawk showed no change in emotion, only an unsettling and uncommon softness to his gaze, "however I am not cruel. I understand your situation, so I'll tell you this- after your sabbatical I will come find you. And I'll respect either decision you make, but I plan to make you mine if you choose to leave the sisterhood."

An inhuman gasp stifled in her throat, her eyes widened by his wild proclamation, "M-Mihawk."

In a slick motion, Mihawk removed the thick cross branded (Mihawk branded) ring he adorned. Suddenly grasping her dainty wrist he forced the piece of jewelry into her palm, "so a piece of me is with you always. Think of me until we meet again in many months time, little one."

"You can't- you can't just say that! You- Zoro might die because of you!" Anger finally bubbled over. Sabine snapped from her trance as her fist tightened around the ring, she took a step closer to him before he could turn away.

"You felt it last night, no?"

His question took her aback. Just as quick as she found a confidence to get mad, it subsided as her shoulders dropped. Because she felt it. She'd told herself last night as she laid in bed tipsy from the wine, that if that was how true love felt, she'd never want anyone else. She'd want him.

…

-

side note— there’d be a background and chapter 1 prior to this (this would be in ch 2) so if there’s some confusion that’s why lol this is like from the middle of the chapter

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Twelve, Bloodied Angel

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Masterlist

-

There wasn’t much else to see in the dilapidated manor Giorgio was keeping her in. If you didn’t include the damned torture basement. 

Sabine had carefully, and woefully, tread along each hallway and into more rooms. Abandoned and dirty. Dust scattered in the air, she found herself struggling to breathe more often than not. Drifting along like a ghost, puffy red eyes and a spinning mind that caused her to feel like everything was moving in slow motion. She found a surprisingly workable kitchen and off that was the only place with life. Properly insulated walls, a clean bed and bathroom. It must have been Giorgio’s room, and surprisingly the puppet allowed her to clamor through it, rifle through his drawers. Nothing of individuality about him that gave her insight into him, no ammunition she could use to help herself. 

The dread of every creak, every scatter of mice along the floor causing her to panic- it was taking its toll. Once more she found herself growing tired, as if waiting with each chime of a clocktower that counted down to her coming doom. Like he was playing a sick game with her mental state, forcing her to wonder, to second guess, to keep her on her toes. An anxious ball formed in her chest, and oh how it pulsed and throbbed, made her feel like her body was crumbling in on itself. 

One place yet to explore. Stairs going up. Of course, she thought. Stairs down led to a room filled with death so she could only imagine what stairs upwards led to. Almost humorous to her, in the messed up sense of things, a faint chuckle leaving her lips as she began to take the stairs. Her legs screaming for reprieve from all the wandering and crouching, and reaching she’d done today in the name of escape. 

Sabine ran out of steam to yell at Giorgio's devil fruit powered puppet almost an hour ago. All the wine bottles shattered proved such. At this point it was like an obsessive pet that won’t leave your side, just… with more ability to bite. It still startled her, each time she caught sight of its black eyes and grueling teeth, claws. 

Cobwebs lined the way up to the attic, faint lights flickered above as she continued on. Inching closer and closer, a static noise rumbling at the back of her head. She almost expected something to jump out with each passing moment since she’d awoken. Expected herself to walk into an unfortunate situation that resolved in her doom. If only she’d had a weapon. 

A door at the end of the hall, its white paint in ghastly contrast to the darkness of the attic. The paint was chipping away and nail marks scratched along the lower foot. Like each door she’d come to before Savine cringed as she grasped the handle, said a prayer and thrusted it open. 

“Wha-” 

Wide eyed Sabine stared at the girl on the ground in the corner of the room, a chain around her ankle. A heap of blankets at her side, a makeshift table with water, and what might have been a bathroom door to the left. The attic had no windows, the air was musty and reeked of bodily odors. 

“Oh no,” The girl stammered, “Well fuck.”

Sabine hurried to the girl’s side after the initial shock, grasping hold of the chain even as her vision went blurry for a moment, “Are you okay?”

But the girl didn’t respond, because in the light she could now see the puppet. Her mouth dropped open, shell shocked at the gruesomeness that hovered in the doorway, its aura plentiful, heavy as it made the air murky like turning a fresh pond muddy. Sabine looked over to see it and she shuddered. 

“He.. Really wants to torture you making it look like that.” The girl grimaced looking at Sabine, “For me he made it look like a regular man.” 

Sabine swallowed hard, “How long have you…”

“Been here? Few weeks maybe, but with you arriving?” She sighed, collapsing back against the wall, more annoyed than anything, “Got a few days.”

Her voice was caught in her throat, unsure how to speak to the other captive. Too much casualness in her body language and in her lack of fear that from Sabine’s experience with confessions, was of someone who’s given up. 

“Few days?”

“My name’s Eve.” Eve, who had similar hair to Sabine’s, gave Sabine a half hearted smile, “There was another girl when he brought me here, her name was Angelina. After two days he took her, so remember my name, please. I don’t even have it in myself to care right now.” She closed her eyes, resting her head into her palms. 

“I’m Sabine.” What could she say as dread filled her? Sabine raced to find the right words, so she could only whisper out her name to Eve instead. 

Solemn silence amongst the harsh wind that whipped tree branches against the manor’s attic. Miniscule noises of scratching and chittering that probably belonged to creatures trapped in the decaying attic and roof. 

Sabine faltered. She wanted to fix this, to busy herself with something that’d make her useful. She knew not how to sit and spend time with herself, she always needed guidance. And as she stumbled to her knees it hit her full force, realization that for years she’d not lived her life with autonomy. Always staying within bounds, the rules, reliance on another. 

Nothing would sway her for the time being, the sudden urge to break out the fine lines she stayed between. That door to the left did open to a bathroom, small and dirty. It angered her, that Giorgio would force women to live without dignity for their finals weeks to days. As she shuffled about going through the desolate drawers and bottles in hopes of finding anything- in the back of the cabinet, where the sinks pipes were- was a canister. A canister of metal, a glint to it with signs of rust along one side. She picked it up, feeling its weight in her hands, it had some liquid in it. 

Eve watched Sabine rustle around with a look of determination, a woman on a warpath as she came back to inspect the chains. 

“What are you doing?” She hissed.

Sabine shook her head as her fingers danced along the cold of the chains. Closer to where the chain met with the ankle cuff, there was discolor. And discolor, whether it was rust or due to strain, didn’t that mean that section could be weaker? One tug then two. The part nailed to the wall did not move an inch. 

“Hold on.”

Grabbing the canister Sabine had a thought, one she did not have the mental stability to properly think through. She knew not of physics or thermodynamics of objects, nor if it was in the realm of possibility to break a chain. Or if she were strong enough. 

It was the painful blossoming of guilt and throbbing to do something right, that pushed her forward. She needed to help, needed to try or else Sabine swore she’d never sleep at night again. Like a final promise to herself that helping Eve would fulfill her promises to herself, that this had been her purpose, and she could walk away from the Church with her head held high. 

With a deep breath, Sabine raised her arms above her head as she gripped the top part of the canister. Her aim was at the part of the chain she pulled taut. With all her might and the help of gravity, she struck. And again. Eve realized, tried to pull on the chain so it would not move when Sabine continued to try. 

“Hit this part,” Eve turned the chain link so it was on its side rather than flat, a slight difference but the options were limited. Hope the canister would connect just right. She really hoped so, especially as her arms burned and screamed in pain. Harder and harder to raise them. 

A chink in the chain, a chip of the metal laying beside them. The two stared at each other in awe through the vibrating tiredness that worked its way up. 

The puppet hadn’t moved, Sabine made sure to watch it with each blow. Perhaps it would not deem freeing Eve as a reason to come alive. Then maybe the two could buy more time, think of something, or at least find Eve something to eat. 

“It doesn’t seem to care?” Sabine whispered, gathering her bearings through the blaze in her arm muscles. 

The second a loud crack went down as the canister hit the chain link splitting it, the puppet reacted like it was called to life. As if encoded to react upon unacceptable behavior it roared to solidify and grow with frightening antagonism. 

Air swirling with darkness, bloodlust seemed to seep through the floorboards. Like in slow motion watching the demon come at them while they stared, frozen. Limbs chilled in place, so shocked that Sabine thinks she iced over completely. Canister foregone, kneeling on her knees with her mouth agape and eyes widened. It was the newly freed Eve that had the gall to act. 

“Sabine, go.” Eve tried to push at her; tried to push her to stand up on her feet, but it was too late. 

A heavy gust of grayed air, thick dust particles concentrated on the air at the puppet’s hand and it formed a butcher’s knife. Glistening, horror came over Sabine as she realized it wouldn’t be a mirage like the thing she’d chucked wine bottles through earlier. The puppet was once more the physical version of the demon she knew. Its eyes no longer empty, filled with a vicious hunger of a predator who hadn’t had a meal in days Its body language tense and engaging as it edged closer, playing with its food- her. 

Sure, Sabine had been questioning her faith a whole bunch the last year plus. Even prior little flitting feelings would arise; she'd have to shove back down for the sake of survival in the Sisterhood. But right now, if there was ever a moment she quite frankly did not believe and everything preached about the Father was a load of bullshit– it was this moment. Because if that figure above truly loved her, this wouldn’t have been happening. There wouldn’t be people like Giorgio who tortured for fun. Children wouldn’t be harmed. And it suddenly seemed so clear as Sabine put herself in front of Eve in a protective manner…

The knife plunged into her abdomen as she shielded the emaciated girl, then shoved aside by the now lively puppet. A startling scream sounded beside her, then a sickening crunch as Eve’s arm bent the wrong way, her bone sticking right out like a snapped twig. 

Sabine tried to call out for her but her vision went spotty. Intense contractions of shooting pain traveled to each extremity of her limbs. Head dizzied by the extraordinary ache in a way she’d never experienced before, along with a heated rush of something liquid. 

It descended upon them in a way meant to mock. The wide, sharp toothed smile beaming atop them, was unsettling and cruel. It made her stomach lurch, her brain flicker in overstimulation before she could let out a screech. Hands out straight as if it would shield her or push the demon away, but it did nothing, not as its icy fingers grazed along Sabine’s tear streaked cheek. 

Sabine shivered, whimpered and closed her eyes as it continued to touch her. It was clearer now that its own actions seem to resemble how Giorgio held himself, that he’d be the type to play with his food before eating it. That he’d touch her through the inhuman puppet to make her body recoil in discomfort. 

Her eyes wrenched open as the touch disappeared, she heaved through the expansion of pain at her abdomen that began to stretch along her whole body. 

The room seemed to spark alive in a multitude of different colors before the puppet began to fall apart, a vortex of black inky shadows seeming to become one with the air in the attic room. Swirling. Gone. Sabine almost didn’t believe her eyes, nor how the air seemed to feel pounds lighter and easier to breathe in. Was it invisible? Would it come through the floorboards or walls next? Through the pain at her side she tried to steele herself through it, to keep herself steady as her consciousness wavered.

“It means.. He’s summoned it.” Eve blanched, her face pallid and eyes dull. 

“W-What?” Sabine asked, trying to keep consciousness as she stared down at the hilt of the knife. Her hands ghosted along her skin as blood trickled from the wound, clouded debating thoughts as her pointer finger trailed down, numb at her side.

“Don’t… Pull it.” 

“Eve?”

Sabine couldn’t move from where she sat disoriented, not as Eve’s head lolled back against the floor with a thump, not as the blood pounded in her ears, and not as her toes began to lose feelings. Blood pooled beneath Eve’s broken arm. Sabine tried calling out to her, tried to reach her with the very tips of her fingers. But Sabine felt herself start to go. A numbing gray took over her as she slid down against the wall in a final bid to keep herself from bleeding out. 

More tears as her chest constricted in panic. She’d wished for a different ending. Wished she got to see more of the world, meet more people, just… be something more. A sob escaped her lips, with a final jagged breath as she cried thinking about all the people she wouldn’t be able to bid goodbye.

-

“Where is she?” Mihawk’s voice was frighteningly low, steady as Yoru blocked the man from moving- at the neck.

Giorgio, a bloodied and beaten mess, stared at him from down on his knees like a scared doe, blubbering nonsense as he begged for his life. He was a coward. A coward in his foolish confidence that left him the second Mihawk unsheathed Yoru. A coward in how he fought, instantly needing to call upon his short lived devil fruit powers that allowed him to create a puppet-like creature from air to fight. And as he laid his eyes upon a demonic-like figure that mimicked a member of the church, Mihawk knew that was the face behind Sabine’s nightmares. 

“Who?” Giorgio hacked up bloody mucus as he still tried to play coy, as if it was one last stand. But his body was broken, he was in no situation to bargain.

“You took something of mine, someone who belongs to me, and you’ve done god knows what to her… I’ve used up all my patience on your pathetic sniveling. Where. Is. She?” Mihawk hissed, the blade cutting further into the man’s neck. A fresh rush of blood dripped down his front.

“My home.” 

“And where is that?” Annoyance fluttered through him at a great speed. He needed the clutching and twisting within his chest to cease. 

“Meadow.. Lane,” Giorgio sputtered, the color beginning to leave his face from the wounds Mihawk had left during their short duel. If you could even call it one, “Outside the… Eastern gates, hidden.”

Not needing him anymore, his blade struck. A clean cut. Giorgio’s body fell to the ground, limp, with an empty thud. 

Within an hour of finding the hotel room empty, Mihawk had begun his search for Sabine. He went to the Cardinal she trusted, then informed the marines of everything he discovered. When looking at the mess that took hold of this island with impatience and blinding anger, Mihawk would get the answers he needed. People were more willing to share information without a smiling, encouraging nun standing there which stopped him from dishing out any pain. A sharp-eyed Warlord would have anyone shaking, spilling information from their tongues just to see him leave. The longest part of the night into the morning was tracking down Giorgio, as not many knew him enough to truly remember him, only off rumors. Mihawk realized something was very wrong after a tavern keeper told him of other missing women he’d not heard of prior. 

He made his way to the Eastern Gates of the city, mixtures of exhaustion and adrenaline swirled through him, licking at his heels as he pressed forward. The foliage was dark green, dense and the ground still dewey with the scent of after rain. Less upkeep towards this area was clear, splintering fences and overturned rocky paths, branches wild and untamed; it was as if a completely new island. Mihawk followed his senses, walking along a muddied path through a thicket with pieces seemingly carved out from years of usage. A secret passage of sorts, stomped weeds and brown grass that led him deeper into the wilderness. 

Until a dilapidated manor came into view. Weathered brick walls slowly dilapidated with time, glass missing from windows. Parts of the roof were beginning to sag. Vines crawled up and expanded along the surface, like veins underneath the skin. There was nothing inviting about the looming building that appeared abandoned, no signs of life, aside from dots of light deep within he could just make out. 

Giorgio was dead, there’d be no overhanging dread of someone with devil fruit abilities to worry about. And he had moments at most before the Marines came, tipping them off was probably his best path as a Warlord. Let them clean up this mess, he’d grab Sabine and go. 

Finding Sabine was the priority. Mihawk had already come to the conclusion she always would be. He’s anxious to get to her, blood coursing through him feeling thick, like he’d explode from the pent up emotions. Emotions he wasn’t used to. Murderous intent had lived within him, but killing Girogio hadn’t ended it, and stepping through the main doors of the manor didn’t either. Desperation to lay his eyes on her, hear her voice, feel her touch. 

Mihawk systematically began to search, the sound of his heavy boots on the rickety floorboards as loud as a gunshot. His stomach was a churning mess, lurching up into his throat as more time passed. The heavy scent of wine wafted on the stale air, shards of colored glass littering the ground of a grand room, Mihawk’s hands clenched at the sight of two wine glasses untouched. Sabine’s aura was unmistakable amidst a heavy fog of disarray and fear. An unsettling feeling took form in him, the foundations of this place screamed out not in fear but in melancholy. Hollowness. 

As he ascended splintering steps, Mihawk felt his throat tighten, mouth going dry. He continued with careful steps, though doubtful of another advisory waiting behind any corners. The end of the tiny hall in the attic called out to him. Urged him forward. And he complied. 

Brows downturned as he considered unsheathing Yoru. The door was half ajar, the stench of iron and blood clear. It made his stomach sink to the floor. Blood nor death had ever bothered him before, however as he thought of Sabine? He wouldn't be able to handle that. Not with her.

He stilled upon pushing open the door, air stolen from his lungs. A deathlike nausea bubbled from his gut to his throat as his golden eyes narrowed in on Sabine. A small pool of blood lay beneath her, her clothes deep with red from the stab wound in her side. His chest lurched with despair, like claws sinking into him imagining the worse as he rushed to her side. 

Sabine’s breaths were shallow. But nonetheless they were there, and that allowed Mihawk to keep his composure. Already did his skin crawl with the impulse to take his anger out elsewhere, the lack of control an unusual thing for him to feel or to have and it made him panic; yet on the outside he still appeared to be his apathetic self. 

Her lips were drained of color much like the rest of her skin. Eyes moved beneath the lids as she was clearly stuck in an REM state of dreaming, or nightmares. Hair splayed with no care but around her as if it were a halo, her a sleeping angel even with dried, caked blood maiming her. Mihawk’s heart thumped crazily at the sight of her, her unending beauty even at a moment like this. The faintest of whines from his throat escaped, Mihawk never wanted to see her like this, nor feel how life drained from her. 

“Look what you’ve gotten yourself into. I lose you for no more than a day.” Mihawk cooed under his breath, a finger stroking along her paling cheek before picking her up bridal style. Cradling her limp body against his chase, breathing in her scent as if it would cure the unsettled anxiousness within him. That having her in his orbit would make him whole, back in control, make his purposes set straight again.

He did not care that her blood permeated into his clothes. He also did not care for the other girl passed out beside Sabine, he’d let the Marines handle her. And the rest of this manor. Mihawk’s job was done- getting Sabine back, now he needed a doctor. 

Mihawk let his worries run wild as he took Sabine from that wretched place, leaving behind the reek of death and loss, the thick air that set out to choke. Left behind the dust that stained furniture black and the mold that blotted along the plastered wallpapers. He let himself worry for her health like a mother hen as she began to shiver even with his body heat, the glint of the blade taunting him from her abdomen. Taunting him by letting them know he failed to keep her safe. So he let himself imagine her dying, losing her before he properly had her, how it would wreck him. Because he deserved that if she did die. It wasn’t until he placed her in the care of a doctor did he let his intrusive, darkly rampant thoughts cease. And then he waited. 

-

posted: august 29 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996 let me know if u wanna be added !

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Eleven, Scarlet Haze

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Note, gets sorta graphic / grotesque at the end just a warning

Masterlist

-

The balcony doors were open when he returned, rain water pooling along the hardwood, the curtains whipping about as wind shrieked. That was the first sign that had him on alert and reaching for Yoru. His heart was in his throat with each creak of the floor as he moved into the room, closing the door sounding like a gunshot amidst the silent tension.

The second sign- Sabine was not anywhere to greet him with her beaming face and welcoming presence. So his fingers gripped the hilt of his sword a smidge tighter, he stalked towards the closed bathroom door. 

A splotch of blood in the bathroom; fresh on the tile. But there was no other presence outside the permanent aura of himself and Sabine twisted up within this hotel room. He could only breathe in and smell them. 

This wasn’t perpetrated by someone who lacked skill after all. Purposely left traces of their aura on the bodies to see who could close in on them, gleeful to watch and see if they could get caught. And they managed to throw Mihawk off his usual game, to pursue down the streets towards what he believed would be a clue to the devil fruit user. He’d let his guard down because he assumed this to be trivial, a waste of his time if it weren’t for Sabine’s insistence for answers.

Was this all a ploy to get their grubby hands on Sabine? Mihawk had to see it from each angle, needed to think logically rather than allow the clawing anger within him to take over. His veins threatened to burst from the molten lava that seemed to flow within them, pulsing and goading him to implode. Every fiber of his being alive with pure, agonizing emotions over Sabine being taken, snatched from the careful bubble of protection he’d built up around her. The thought of her being hurt! The fact he hadn’t been there to protect her! It gnawed at him. Made him want to scream until he could no longer; made him want to destroy, to throw everything in his path until it splintered into finite pieces.  

He’d seen it for himself, how the victims began to look like Sabine. He’d read the reports, how victims were of random gender and race until her return. In his mind it was no coincidence anymore, he never should have let her out his sight, not even in the confines of a hotel patronized by church-folk. 

Mihawk needed to think. Needed a clear head. A minute of silence, as he sat on the edge of the bed leaving Yoru leaned on the side. Prodding at his forehead to ease the dull ache forming from the anxiety that flitted his nerves, coursing like painful electric sparks. 

A single name flashed in his mind. Red lettered and large, clear as day through the cacophony of all his screaming thoughts. Giorgio. 

While he did not know if that man was capable of this, he was the only person Mihawk knew Sabine held disdain for on this island. He’d been a nuisance during the initial investigation, per her words. That there was something within Sabine telling her to stray far away from him, Mihawk had seen it that day when a crowd gathered to listen to Giorgio’s ridiculous preaching. He saw the fear in her even if she could not explain what it was she was fearful for. 

Mihawk’s whole being ached for Sabine. Everything had begun a jumbled dissonance of feelings and actions upon meeting her. Sleepless nights and endless worrying during the day. A constant gnawing in his chest, the constricting around his lungs until he’d heard her voice over the transponder snail. When he saw her in weeks after Baratie, it was like all his solemnity and distress evaporated. 

He revered her. He’d worship the ground she walked for as long as she’d let him, for as long as she chose him. But he could not, would not ask her to choose him at the end of her sabbatical. Even when that one choice dictated how the rest of his life would go. For Mihawk was prepared to lose her, to live with the harrowing thoughts and void-like emotions. To wander the seas living with her ghost until the day Zoro would likely surpass him, then perhaps he’d be at peace. 

The fury that began to seep its way into him. How dare someone think they could get away with taking the woman he loved away, under the guise of a kidnapping from the blood in the bathroom. They’d feel the full brunt of his abilities as the strongest swordsman in the world. He won’t spare them. He’ll destroy whatever it is they love, whatever life they built around them, then he’d prolong their suffering to know the depths of how he felt. Mihawk felt as if he was dying. That he’d drop any second from how his heart wrenched and extremities shook. 

Love. A sentiment he was not all too familiar with. And he’d just admitted to loving Sabine! A girl who held strong faith in her morals, in her actions, fierce in how she carried herself whether she believed that or not. An open book for him to read, simply because she allowed him to. Sabine held all the stars in the universe for all he was concerned with. His luck to have met her, the luck to breathe the same air as her. It’s daunting. It weighs on his shoulders. But he does not want it any other way, the pressure is also lovely and worth fighting through. 

His fingers flex. He rolls his shoulders back. Head raised with dangerous certainty in his eyes. With Yoru on his back, none of his strength would be kept at bay. Even if it destroyed this whole damn city just to get Sabine back in his arms, safe again.

-

Sabine woke up in the same fetal position she’d passed out in on the cold floor. It took her a second to acclimate from her grogginess, from the pain, but it caused her stomach to sink upon realizing she hadn’t been in a dream. It was not a dream when Giorgio took her, or tied her to the bed, or offered her wine, or even when he called upon the puppet in the shape of her demon. Fuck. A shriek had left her as she flinched, terror as cold as ice coursing through her that had her stumbling backwards. 

But it did not move, only its eyes to follow her like it was a shell, a mannequin. 

Legs felt like jello as she tried to walk. Numb and buzzing with tiredness that almost hurt, shooting through her as if it needed her to stay awake. Because she had to. She could not afford to fall asleep again, not alone with this creature, not with the threat of Giorgio coming back at any moment. Her sense of time is out of sync, worse than before.

As she moved out of the primary room with the fireplace, couch and wine, the thing followed her. Chills go down her spine at how languidly it walked, awkward and inhuman. It was uncanny how it didn’t scare her the same as last year. A person can change in a year. Sabine liked to think she had, and for the better. She believed she was stronger. More capable, that she wouldn’t fall apart so easily. Perhaps she had something to prove for her failures that only seemed to stack up like the bodies had, or she’d gone through such a metamorphosis since joining Luffy’s crew she couldn’t go back.

A dim hallway, at the end was a downward spiral staircase. No more windows in the brick walls, just flickering lanterns that seemed to die the more she walked. With each step was another to match a few feet back. A presence she can’t shake, it made her tremble, made her pulse continue to race. Fear tickling her mind with intrusive thoughts imagining the worst. Imagining it striking her from the back, its inky tendrils wrapping around her to choke her, to bite into her flesh and drain her of life.

And as she reached the top of the stairs, darkness seeming like it went miles into the ground, she grew nauseas. 

An intense gravitational-like pull urged her to continue, to make the descent. Even as the hairs on the back of her neck stood tall, the demon breathing down her neck. Strained gasps of air left her, limbs tingling- she took the plunge. Without thinking she shattered the invisible wall between her and those depths, treading down to the first step. From hollow to being swarmed with chaotic ardor, prickly vines blossomed in her ribcage, cutting and bleeding her from within. 

Each step down, the heavier the air felt. Thick and swarming with a metallic musk and a pungent smell of chemicals trying to mask the stench. It reminded her of the morgue. Of the crime scenes. There’d be no turning back, but dread filled her as she could only imagine what awaited her. Imagination ran wild in the dark. Expecting to find medical tables with gruesome bodies atop, or a torture room with outdated tools and old blood staining the floors and walls. 

Sabine used the wall to help guide her, never releasing her palm from its harsh material. Careful as she felt with her foot, trying to judge the distance to each step or (hopefully) coming landing in the dark. Pitch black. Her eyes were not adjusting. Static filled her ears. She retched. Nose burned from the fumes, it was more than death, it was more rotten and old. 

A light shone feet away. She finally reached the bottom. 

Red drag marks caked the ground, the walls scratched up with thin bloody lines of fingers that tried to grab hold. 

Sabine gasped, clamping a hand over her mouth as she heaved, as she began to cry. She couldn’t stop the tears and she couldn’t stop how her feet moved onwards. There was no need to look behind her, Giorgio’s puppet stayed feet back still. It did little to comfort her, but she realized it wasn’t the monster she had to fear. Giorgio was the monster. 

Because only true evil reveled in a room closed off from the world, splatters of blood along the walls. A square, grim room that reeked of rust and rotting meat. A table that held medical tools, all shiny and silver, the only clean objects present. 

The girl’s body had already begun to decompose. Her face contorted in horror, mouth agape with missing teeth, and eyes bulging from the sockets. She must have been screaming, pleading for her life. For her eyes told the story of the pain she endured up until her life was taken. Colorless and putrid. The maroon of blood mixed with dirt and sweat was the only remaining color splayed out on her skin. Brown locks tangled and cut, coated with the dried muck.

The basement too bar below the surface should have been cold, but Sabine was burning alive. Sweat brimmed at her hair line as her chest and stomach constricted, there was nothing left to vomit but she dry heaved all the same. Her face burned from the pressure of forcing liquids up, temple feeling like it was stabbed over and over. Tears slipped down as she regurgitated, gagging and nauseating. Sabine swayed as she straightened, eyes glassy and far away. 

She stumbled forward and the damage on the girl became more evident. Missing fingernails. Fingers twisted in the wrong directions, knuckles broken. Strange marks cut deep into her skin. Her feet looked wrong. As if binded, as if twisted at the ankle too far. 

“No…” She whispered, realization coming over. This girl looked like her. From the brown eyes to dark brown hair, to the pale skin and elegant cheekbones. A slim nose and similar build in stature. Sabine saw herself staring back in that twisted look, one she didn’t deserve to die with. 

Sabine cried as her fingers quivered, jutting out just hovering over the deceased girl; bawling as she touched the clammy flesh, closing the eyes. Rest easy. And Sabine whimpered as if in pain as she moved the jaw to close, waiting for any sign of life or something to jump out. The girl now looked as if she was asleep. No more bugging eyes in fear or mouth agape in terror. 

Sabine sunk to the ground in the heap blubbering and shaking her head in disbelief, praying, praying that she'd open her eyes and be elsewhere. Prayed for strength. Prayed for the girl on the table. Prayed that she wouldn’t end up there next. 

It was some time before Sabine could pick herself up off the floor. Hunched over and vibrating, weak as she sludged back down the hall into the dark, then slowly ascended the stairs. Guilt wracked her, to leave that poor girl to decompose in that dingy room all alone. But Sabine needed to get out, needed distance, and a far off voice told her there was more to see.

But an amalgam of bellowing thoughts echoed in her head like an alarm clock that couldn’t be turned off. 

Giorgio didn’t just use his abilities to murder people in public for show, but he did it behind the scenes too. Some type of psychopathic sadist, a torturer who practiced in private, found joy in the dissection and agony of another. He played the part of a harmless yet annoying jester so well, never could she have imagined this. The skeletons in his closet. 

The wine called to her as she stumbled, head spinning back into the main room. Dizzied, she sauntered over, using the couch to steady herself. Breaths in, then out. Then again. She could still smell the death; still see the girl’s body laid out. The sight engrained in Sabine so wickedly, she knew it’d be what would keep her up at night now.

She wouldn’t let herself give into the temptation of the red liquid, not as she could smell the bitterness from the open bottles. 

“Go away!” She screeched, whirling on her heels to face the puppet. Frustrated, she began to toss what she could at it. Pillows from the couch, to the wine bottles. They did nothing as they shattered on the ground or flew right through it. How? Sabine knew it was a physical entity, from when it had killed that bishop and all its victims. Throwing another bottle that just nicked its hand it went through to the wall. Wine splattered. An angry wail left her, “Why are you doing this? Just kill me!”

No reaction nor response, just staring right through her. 

She huffed feeling trapped; this was going to be a long day, night, week, however long she’d be stuck here. Sabine twirled, gazing at all her options as there was only one thing to do- explore this place under a watchful and dark gaze, while waiting until either Mihawk came or Giorgio did first.

-

posted: august 23 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996 let me know if you wanna be added!

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Decode // Chapter Ten, Red Wine

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Note, meh about this chapter but also tried to flesh out the explanation of what happened of her job over a year ago hope it makes sense

Masterlist

-

When Sabine came to, a cold dread washed over her, chills racing down her spine. With numbing drowsiness still prevalent, she tried to move but she was groggy, her attempt to sit up cut off as a harsh feeling around her wrists burned. Haze. Then a panic jolted inside her, cutting through the heavy fog. She tugged. Nothing. She yanked again with all the might she could muster while her heart hammered against her ribs. But with her hands above her head as she lay on a wooden table, attempts would be futile. 

Craning her head up, neck sore, she glanced around through blurry eyes, a plain room all that met her. Blank walls, dresser in the corner, and a lone window. It was open and a cold draft leaked in, Sabine shivered as she fitfully tried to free herself ignoring each gnawing pang. God everything hurt, she couldn’t pinpoint where it originated, feeling like death all over. Head pounded. Sides tender with sharp pain. And legs throbbing, slow to move as she tried to kick them. 

The rope rubbed excruciatingly against her skin. She gasped trying to make leeway. Trying to get at least one wrist hand. But tears pricked her eyes and high pitched, hoarse whimpers passed her lips as the twine burned as it left her raw, a warmth trickling down her wrists that stung. 

“I wouldn’t do that.”

She blinked furiously, trying to make out the figure amongst the blinding light that closed in on her. Trying to place the voice, its familiarity taunted her. It scratched the back of her head, light and feathery, a kind of pain that traveled down her spine as if paralyzing her from how hard she strained. 

“See, you’ve managed to hurt yourself already.” The voice tsk’d. 

Giorgio. His name splayed red in her vision, the letters etched out, Flashes of him in her mind, from the first time they met to when she saw him out on the street the other week.

A burst of hate bubbled and spewed out her chest, causing her to tug at her binds once again, “Fucking hell.”

“A nun shouldn’t say such things.”

Her eyes widened as cold realization sparked. Another rush of memories, this time of decaying, dead bodies amongst a fitfull of books and research. An onslaught of spinning thoughts that screamed at her to put the pieces of the puzzle together. 

“Wait.”

“Oh I can see it- the answer’s on the tip of your pretty little tongue.” Giorgio spoke with glee, a twisted grin on his lips.

“Are you- behind all this?” 

He moved closer causing her to spasm, yanking at her binds once again with pitiful desperation. The rope burn only increased, only made her wrists inflamed and red. Sensitive. Exposed. Even the air caused them to sting much to her chagrin who found herself in a precarious situation. Stuck. Vulnerable. All with a man she despised who was more than a clown who reveled in harassing others. She thought him truly harmless past that, not a murderer. Not the demon who haunted her dreams!

“I was shocked to see you with the great Dracule Mihawk, yes I know who he is. How’d you get him to come along on your pathetic adventure?” 

“That’s none of your business.” She whimpered. Tears flowed free and she cursed herself for it. 

“But it is. I’m supposed to be having my fun. Yet a Warlord of the Sea prances on in! Do you know who accompanies you?” His stern eyes stared at her with blazing fire. She wished she could shrink into nothingness, “Do you realize how strong he is? What he’s capable of?”

She shook her head as she began to sob between her teeth. She tried to fight it, “N-No.”

“There aren't many in our world that are more powerful than him.” 

Ghastly words. Sent numbing shocks of electricity down her spine, down her nerves from her head to her toes. Blood rushed to her head, feeling beginning to go null in her hands. 

“Then he’ll kill you.”

“Yes. But I’ll have the fun I’m missing out on by killing, with you!”

“Explain the demon. How?” She demanded as if she were in a place to, trying to wrap her head around how his scheme was possible.

“Artistic touch.” Giorgio’s eyes raked over her, a glint in them, “Let's get you up, figured tying you up would send a message. Don’t try to run, girl.” 

As if she could with the lack of feeling in all her extremities. How her vision pulsed from the throbbing behind her temple. Bile churned in her gut. Nausea rose in her throat as he helped her to sit up after undoing the binds. Sabine immediately cradled her wrists trying to shy away from him, trying not to hurl as his hands felt her up. Disgusting fingers prodded at her sides, at her arms, feeling the strands of her hairs.  

“If I’m being honest, I’m terrified. It took days of planning to get it right, to lead him away convincingly it had to be perfect. A man like him sees through weakness. I’m all tired from it. I need rest, my heart hasn’t stopped racing.” 

“Please- let me go.” She begged, already reduced to her fear and her instincts to appeal to him. To at least try and convince him to change his mind. She could only imagine the litany of ideas he had in his head towards her. 

“No no. You know I’m behind the killings.”

“You ate a devil fruit, right?” 

“Mhmm. I’m glad you’re not stupid to believe it was really a demon.” 

“How… it was a nun… it-”

“I can pray upon what people fear, bring it into physical reality. Use it as a puppet. You religious folk are just easy, easy to guess what you fear deep down. Watching you lot fight my puppet with prayers? Oh! I couldn’t help but play along, leading you to think that cheap music box was its source? Brilliant on my part.”

Giorgio pulled her to her feet and as she collapsed he caught her. Steadying her, he held her waist as they began to walk out the room. Legs felt like marshmallows. Like she’d spent months out on the sea finally to come back ashore. Head whirling, she must have hit it when she went unconscious in that bathroom. The memories of how she’d turned to come face to face with the “nun demon” upon turning around, made her cringe. And his touch as they walked down a dark brick hallway was like being thrown under violent waves, only to be held down. The man behind her nightmares. Behind her self doubt. The reason she went on sabbatical- now led her to an unknown location as her wrists continued to bleed. Had kidnapped her! Tied her up!

Sabine’s body goes lax as she became lightheaded, she stumbled and folded in half. Giorgio cackled as she puked, emptying her stomach contents and then bile. Spewed jokes as she coughed up nothing, gagging and face turning red. Eyes bloodshot. Snot running down. 

“You…” She straightened, stumbling as she lasered in on him, “Let us think we helped.”

“Yep.”

“And while you protested against the church during our investigation?”

“Right again. I would have done it again too if you came back with more priests, with that cardinal who works in the archive. Instead you brought a Warlord.”

Her life felt like a lie. Were all her beliefs turning to be false? She didn’t want to be a nun, conformed to survive. She struggled due to what she believed to be a demon. All the while her subconscious told her it wasn’t over. And a man was behind it. A simple, small man who tried to stain the church for fun. The reason behind her sabbatical felt like a lie, one big slap in the face. 

Dizzying, she went to step back, only to be wanked forward. He dragged her by her arm, uncaring for her cries as the raw skin of her wrists burned.

Where was she? Half rotted floorboards. Crumbling walls. Shards of glass below empty windows. Outdated furniture with layers of dust. As if she were transported to an earlier time period, or in the matriarch’s room with her horrid taste in decor. The air was thick with after rain, sweet and earthy and it invaded her senses as she remembered it was raining when he took her.

An open space, a collapsing fireplace that’d seen better years, a centerpiece of the room. An upholstered maroon couch in front of it. A hardwood table far too low to the ground held a litany of alcoholic bottles, from half drunk to empty, to full. It left a sour note in her mouth as he forced her to stumble towards the couch, then waved his arm in a grand gesture as if an open invitation to sit. 

Which she accepted, not as gracefully as she intended, her limbs still stiff as she moved. How her grown tangled up in her legs before she plopped to the couch, eyes refusing to leave Giorgio’s body, just in case. Looking for any sign of movement as her heart was beating steadily in her throat. Was this a trap? 

The silence between them was excruciating. Unknowns swirling violently, as Giorgio padded to the wine as if he were playing ‘the good host.’ Two glasses sit pliant. Purposefully, she knows. 

It took a minute, a gruelingly slow one, for him to uncork a new bottle. The deep red wine poured into the glasses filling them halfway. Taking them up into his hands, he swirled them just so before handing one off to her. Sabine would not drink it. The smell was pungent as it wafted up to her nose, causing her to gag. 

Shrinking into the furthest corner of the couch she was able, she watched him sit on the other end. How he drank the wine, far too fast as half went down with ease. He looked conflicted, she saw it in the midst of the fanatically far away look he held. Ideas bloomed while her body ached, forced to tell herself not to give out. Not to give in to how her wrists felt they’d fall off any second, or how her vision swayed every few seconds. 

A solemn look washed over Giorgio. Morose eyes, staring through the half empty glass as if he was somewhere else. Sabine squirmed as she watched from her chair, studied him then studied her surroundings. Even though he seemed distracted, lost in thought she didn’t want to try anything. There was something peculiar going on, her chest tightening and mouth feeling dryer than usual. Her eyes flitted to the bottle of wine then to the glass beside her. Temptation. She steeled herself; if the Sisterhood had taught her anything was how to refuse such, how to live with nothing even if she wanted everything. 

“Do you know what wine symbolizes?” Giorgio finally broke the pregnant silence in the room that felt it would burst from the building pressure. 

She shook her head as a befuddled guise crossed her face. He talked to hear his own voice or to get a rise out of her, Sabine had to remind herself. And what did such symbolization have to do with this? 

“Red wine is supposed to be the blood of the Father, correct? So it could mean love, wisdom, light? But some believe it to be death, like myself with its bitter taste. I think it fits the deep red color well, like it really is blood. White wine is probably for all that spiritual goodness bullshit, it's easier to get down.” 

How he looked at his glass, eyes glazed as if he were far away, it was haunting. His lips twitched. And for the first time, Sabine knows she’s gazing upon true evil. And she thought she’d been around it before. But this thing in front of her… Made her quake. 

“What… are you trying to say?” Her voice wavered, she tried to keep it steady. Careful. 

“You’re a Sister, no? I’m confessing my thoughts to you.”

“Normally that’d take place in a church.” Sabine didn’t intend for her tone to come across as harsh, but it did. 

“The location shouldn’t matter.” He huffed, “You won’t be able to out smart me, dear, I know what you’re trying to do.”

Dear. The affectionate term off his tongue did not fill her with butterflies like when Mihawk said it. Instead it made her feel dirty, as if coated with thick layers of ash as her stomach churned. 

“I’m not trying anything.” She murmured, focusing back on the wine glass in her hand. Watching the small sloshes of the liquid as she tries to keep her hand stable. It was starting to feel like dozens of pounds, she wanted to be rid of it.

His head fell to one side, “Are you not going to drink any?”

“I’m not.”

“Pity. Hand it over.” He motioned for her, holding his arm out taut as he leaned forward. As if they were two friends sharing a drink and having a chat.

They aren’t hanging out- he had no right to act so casual! Not while she’s teetering on the edge of a full breakdown, of going comatose from the stress picking her apart. 

She watched with disgust as he knocked it back with a long gulp, not bothering to hide her contempt. His teeth stained maroon as he grinned, swirling the remainder of her wine. There was not enough room between them. Sabine wished to disappear into the old couch, let it swallow her up to save her from the discomfort and anxiety that plagued her. 

“Why did you return? I never minded you last year, you were polite, clearly not an idiot like the rest of those church folk we deal with on a daily basis in this city.”

“I’m..” She cleared her throat, her heart feeling as if it skipped a beat. She wasn’t sure what to say or how to go about it. He was a tea kettle sitting over a fire, any moment he could begin his shrieking and boil over, “Here by chance. The crew I was with stopped for supplies, I couldn’t bring myself to go with them.”

“I see, I can fill in the rest. You’re just investigating on your own. But how did you meet the Warlord? I doubt he’s a patron of your church.”

“By chance as well.” 

“By chance.” He made a retching noise, tongue out before continuing, “Boring. I’ve been watching you, because by the Father intrigued me last time you were on this Isle. I couldn’t get you out of my head, wondered if you noticed everyone I started killing resembled you?”

She went rigid, the breath stolen from right out her lungs. 

“I suppose not.” He shrugged, “No matter, I’ll tell you anyway… I dreamed of you like I’m sure my demon I created to taunt the church haunted you. I really jazzed up the dead, unnerving nun shape for it. I promised myself if you ever came back, I’d take you. I hoped you would, you seemed like the type who wouldn’t let things go even with the doctored finish that night with your prayers. I’m glad I was right.”

As if the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees she began to shiver, a frigid breeze wrapped around her. It licked from her exposed ankles up to the skin of her neck. Goosebumps swarmed all over her skin. 

“Take me?” It was barely above a whisper.

“Well I don’t know if I want to kill you or keep you. Never figured that part out.”

“We only met a few times, never savory encounters.” She stammered, words tripping over one another unable to keep up with the speed her brain was processing at. Thinking about every time they’d been in the other’s presence, she could count them on one finger! And never had she taken away something pleasant from those interactions, just a gut feeling that there was something wrong with the man. Unsettling. A troublemaker at least. No wonder she couldn’t sleep at night, convinced danger was still amuck.

“Doesn’t matter. You left your impression on me, much like the strange minx who did a decade ago that I almost ruined myself for. Whole story, I won’t tell. But I’m a man who becomes obsessed, all my boundaries and senses blur as one. I blame the devil fruit, really. A puppet master only knows manipulation, that fucked with my head, who cares if I cannot swim? It’s exhausting to pilot a shell while having to pilot myself.”

Sabine wanted to ask why he was telling her all of that; why he would spill his rambling thoughts that felt like a monologue of sorts. Spilling every idea, all his plans out haphazardly. Whether to disarm her or not. She also wondered if he didn't realize it, that if being in her premise allowed him to lower walls. People trusted nuns- in the sense they’ll tell them their dirtiest secrets. He had to be confessing or using her as an outlet for his guilt, she told herself. 

“Then don’t.”

“Hmm?” 

She reiterated, “You said it’s tiring using your devil fruit ability, so don’t use it.”

His face cracked into glee, a hideous cackle falling from his lips. He laughed from the depths of his belly so hard he fell forward from where he sat, soon wiping at his eyes. 

As he howled in entertainment from her suggestion, frustration grew in her chest. 

This was ridiculous! 

Sabine rose with suddennes. Giorgio immediately stopped his mocking hysterics, how quick his face could morph into an emotion on the opposite end of the spectrum. A vexed look crossed him, a brow raising, watching her. He watched how she brushed off her dress with a huff, stared him dead in the eyes and turned to walk away. 

“And where do you think you’re going?” He stood. 

“I’m not tied up anymore, you’re being punitive, I’m leaving.”

“You’re not my guest! You’re a prisoner.”

“I didn’t realize prisoners got offered wine.” Waking up tied to a table had worn on her in a way she hadn’t realized until now. Her body ached, screamed for proper sleep in a proper bed. She had no patience to spare with this game of his, she wasn’t thinking straight either. If she were she would have known not to test a killer the way she was, ignorant and childish it could have appeared. But all Sabine wanted was to escape his perimeter and this wretched building that felt it was caving in. 

And she ached for Mihawk. But perhaps that ache, that knowledge of him caused her to be reckless. Caused her to try to stand up to leave. Because she knew he’d come for her, it’d be any minute now, especially since she wasn’t sure how long since Giorgio had taken her. Her trust in Mihawk ran so deep that she dared this stunt, when perhaps she would have played along better to observe and plot. Exhaustion was wearing her down like thousands of pounds sat upon her shoulders. 

A shadow moved in one of the doorways, a quick flash, yet Sabine just caught it. 

She seized. Planted in her spot as Giorgio stalked towards her, like she was his prey. A sudden awareness that they were not alone, that another pair of eyes watched her. Darkness she knew all too well. Darkness that followed her since last year, plagued her in the night. Tendrils of pitch black that would choke her, claws that would sink into her, death. 

She watched a figure form from the dust that surrounded them. A small tornado like vortex that imbued a slimy like gook she recognized from the victim’s bodies. It morphed, grotesque like until it mirrored that of a person. 

Her stomach dropped. A strangled cry choked out as she cried out into her hands, pupils large and shaking with distress. 

There it stood; with its black eyes and blood red lips. The monster of her nightmares in front of her, standing lax like the puppet it was. It did not have the same vicious movements as it was void, null and it continued to shatter what she once believed. 

“Remember the broken pews? The broken stained glass? Strong winds? All party tricks I can whip up, creating puppets starts quite the wind storm.” 

“I’m going to be sick.” She gagged, feeling dizzy as she swayed. 

Pain shot up her legs as she sank to the floor, knees scuffing against the hard floor. Pulsating in her head, surroundings were hazed and littered with black dots. 

Footsteps sounded, then appeared in front of her. Sabine didn’t have the will to look up as the floorboards creaked and he crouched down. No will to jerk away as he used his pointer finger to force her chin up. Gazes connected like a lightning rod and it sent jolts down her spine, she swallowed hard to not throw up. 

“I have plans. Be good and stay, huh? Your friend will watch over you for me, so wander all you want but you won’t get to leave leave.” 

Under the watchful stare of what she once thought to be a demon, Sabine stayed in that spot. She stared at her wrists, at the ugly marks that maimed her skin. That still throbbed from layers of the epidermis being removed from the ropes, beads of fresh blood and dried that had trickled down. 

She’d pull herself together, she just needed a minute, a minute with the evil in the room. A minute to wallow and think, then she’d look around. Right? Yeah, it sounded like a good idea. And as her body thumped to the ground, she’d finally get some well needed rest. 

-

posted: august 22 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Nine, Hard Times

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Masterlist

-

A noxious fume whirled up her nose and through her brain, burning as it imprinted itself to her very core. Bile stuck in her throat as she stared at the far wall, wanting to ignore what was taking place in the corner. Rigor mortis had barely kicked in when she heard the news from an out of breath Cardinal Joseph who raced to the hotel to inform her. And by the time Mihawk convinced her it would help to look over the body- the woman had been dead for four hours. 

She’d been entranced staring at it, transported back to the sights of each from the past. Victims of her incompetence, she felt. 

The sight of a dead body made Sabine’s stomach churn, yet something about it cleaned and in the morgue struck her more. The woman looked as if she were only sleeping. Yet the gouges and a black goo that seemed to engrave itself into her skin told otherwise. No matter which chemicals or the amount of scrubbing would have cleaned it from the deceased’s skin. 

“What are you looking for again?” Sabine was impatient, moreso disgusted and needed out of the room that reeked of chemicals and death. Heaviness weighing down her chest as her eyes burned, water lined her lashes as she continued to look away. Anywhere other than the body. A woman who looked around Sabine’s age, dark hair and full lips much like her own. 

“Traces of… aura. You continue to dream of black morphable darkness, like these burn marks on her. Peculiar.” Mihawk answered. 

“Aura?”

“Someone who can use haki, spiritual energy, will leave traces if inexperienced or sloppy.” 

“Is that limited to devil fruit users?”

“No.”

Mihawk steered Sabine out, a clicking of his tongue to garner her attention from the room. He saw how her eyes glossed over the second they entered, distraught as she looked over the victim. Getting her out and somewhere lighter was of top priority to him, her discomfort made him uncomfortable. A tugging within him. A clawing against his chest at the thought of Sabine laying on the table in the morgue. He saw the similarity. And oh did Mihawk feel how his body went taut as he saw how the woman mirrored Sabine, from the hair to the porcelain skin and build. Too many connections that led back to the woman he’d claimed, that she may have not yet seen, that he didn't want her to see.

Mihawk, in that moment, swore to himself that nothing would ever happen to her. He’d keep her by his side, cared for and protected, almost unaware of a threat. Even if it wasn’t viable. It wasn’t. He realized he couldn’t do so, she’d never be able to step away from this. The intensity in her eyes he knew all too well, Sabine would get answers one way or another, this had plagued her for too long. 

They walked side by side out the funeral home, onto the half empty street under a dim light that flickered against the pink sky, a litany of darkening clouds taking over the horizon. Sabine was nervous, nervous about the fact she looked like the woman who laid on the slab. Nervous because this was never something she would have been able to handle.

“Can you use haki?” Sabine inquired, remembering he’d mentioned the unknown word. The term was new to her, but she barely knew about devil fruits prior to meeting Luffy. Or that a pirate could be good. So she wanted to know as much as she could about Mihawk.

“Yes.”

With her curiosity glaringly obvious, he tried to explain the concept to her. Pieces of Mihawk wanted to hide from her the reality of who he was or what he was capable of. That his own experiences with such power within him were all he could properly tell her. Or that of past opponents. 

But Sabine had seen the lowest of society through the years. Had felt terror from a man beside her that such heavy dark clouds followed and relief only came once she was out of his peripheries. So she could not judge as he sailed the seas of his own accord waiting for someone to best him, not torturing and killing innocents who had nothing to do with his life goals. 

Sabine listened intently as he talked of haki, of times out on the sea, small explanations of how he came to be the strongest swordsman. His words settled something within her. As if finding solace with him as if she were home. How he’d offered his arm to her to grasp onto as they walked. Leading her from larger groups he knew would spike her anxiety. 

“What will happen if we don’t find him? Or if we do?” 

“If we don’t? I’m not sure, I’m not able to stay forever, eventually I’ll get a call from the Marines for a job they need handled.”

“I understand, technically I don’t have forever either.” Her heart hurt at that. A reminder she’d be taken from Mihawk soon, but also that more people could die if her little investigation failed.

“If we find him? He’ll die.” 

“It’s a strange feeling, to not care what happens to the assailant.” 

“Not very becoming of a nun, hmm?” The corner of his lip twitched up. 

“Oh well.” She said with a light taunt to her tone. Oh! It felt so scandalous to think that way. To know for certainty she didn’t care if someone died, that they deserved it. Such bullshit to think everyone could be saved, especially if they commit atrocious crimes with little remorse. 

The sky began to rumble above. It grew darker. A chill blew through the alleys, using the buildings to create a slight wind tunnel. Her hair whipped about, her having to try to tame it with her hands, discontent with strands contorting her view. 

“Come. We’re close to the hotel, we’ll have a late dinner there instead.” 

Sabine called out that it looked like it was about to rain. But her voice was lost in the shrieking wind, more thundering roars above. A split second flash of light. Tonight would be quite a storm, she thought as street lights flickered on through the darkening skies. 

He led her with ease through scattering crowds, people yelling about as they tried to board up shops and homes. Mothers calling for their kids to come inside. Squawking of groups of birds fleeing. A heavy presence falling over the sprawling city that almost felt more like a maze at times.

His hand on her arm grounded her though. She trusted him far too much. She didn’t bother to watch her step, trusting him to guide her safely. Trusting he had her best interest in mind. And time again he proved he did, the hotel’s sign coming into view. He held the door for her ushering in her, a wall of heat meeting them. 

Standing inside the foyer, a clattering could be heard outside, the wind managing to pick up even more. Patio chairs from a nearby cafe launched into the air, sporadically circling every which way that the poor worker couldn’t catch onto. Windows and structures groaned from the pressure change, a sweet musk reeking inside that signaled coming rain. 

Sabine was out of breath, a giggle sounding from the depths of her chest. She felt ridiculous, as if aware their actions the last few weeks were turning futile. If they continued on this path any longer she might not have any dignity left to face Mihawk with, to return from her sabbatical with. 

“Seriously Mihawk, you can tell me this is all a wild goose chase. We don’t have any leads, just more bodies.”

He sighed as he glanced at her tense body language. Her lack of patience didn’t surprise him but he’d need her eventually to see there may not be anything they can do, “I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“It wouldn’t be your fault. Neither of us are exactly… detectives.” 

“No one is perceptive in this town it seems. Normally, a few coins gets you answers.”

“It’s a religious city. I think you’re used to shoddy places with pirates.” She poked fun at him, her fingers casually grazing his coat, eyes transfixed by his cross.

“Perhaps. Though they make for more interesting times, and better information. If another old lady tells me she thinks she saw a sketchy dark man--” 

“Is it normally easy to find someone?” Sabine snickered, cutting him off, he didn’t need to finish that sentence. It’d probably be crude. 

“Yes. I had no issues finding Luffy at Baratie. Painstakingly easy.” 

“Luffy doesn’t try to hide, that’s for sure. Not in his nature.” Sabine outstretched her arms as she released his coat, muscles twitching as she relaxed, “Zoro recovered well, you never asked.”

“I had no doubts.” He moved between her and the main entrance of the hotel lobby, unsure why. But he let his large figure cover her from the street. Faint chatter from the front desk lost on him in comparison to the mess outside. A potted flower flung by with a crash, soil going everywhere onto the cobblestones. 

“Hm. I’m not sure how I feel about his goal, realizing now that besting you means killing you, or dying in the process. How about you call a draw? Or no fighting to kill? I can’t fathom one of you… being gone.” 

“That isn’t how it works, my dear. I am thrilled to see what he becomes, I have a feeling he’ll be great. Much better than me if he continues on.” 

She scowled at his words, “We’ll get to that at a later date I suppose.” She’d figure something out, even toss herself in between them if she must. They’d have to stop their duel if she stood in the paths of their blades! 

Mihawk smiled to himself at that. At a later date. Consciously or not, she was thinking of the future, one that seemed to involve him, “I suppose we will.” 

A sudden change in his demeanor, his yellow eyes focusing on movement outside. His brows furrowed as his attention was elsewhere. A strange sensation. Chills down his spine. A gut feeling that called for him to investigate, someone or something was close.

“Stay, go up to the room.”

“Huh? What’s wrong?” She asked, hushed. Fear struck inside her as she tried to look around without drawing attention to them. She clung to his arm, tugging at him to keep him there, but his mind was elsewhere.

He shot her a look causing her to shy away, understanding this moment was not for questions. Though pleas still lodged themselves in her throat, wishing to be freed. Sabine steeled herself and let him leave, then marched her way up the staircase to her room, afraid if she looked back or faltered that she’d disobey him. 

Nothing seemed amiss as the door slammed behind her, her back flush to it as she took jagged breaths. Chest rapidly rising and falling as she lulled her head back, staring up at the ceiling resting against the wood. She tried to urge her worries downwards, to lock them away, curse them for bubbling up. Bile rose in her throat. Swallowing did little. She felt heavy, limbs thickened and burdened as she slowly crept through the hotel room. 

It was a larger suite, a sitting room looking outside expansive windows where she first saw Mihawk when he arrived. Adjacent to the bed she slept upon. A strange separation between the doorway then to the bathroom. Enough so it made her pulse spike, not able to see every crevice to know she was truly alone. 

The floorboards creak with each careful step, Sabine grimacing at each note that blared when she attempted to gently move. Because her heartbeat should have calmed by now to signal she was safe. The hairs that stood tall on the back of her neck should have relaxed. Whispers licked the back of her ears. Stringy whips that swept about her, a force that urged her to move forward. Voices she did not recognize, like breathy gasps that did not seem in the same room, yet within her at the same time.

Stepping behind a wall that would look over the main room, she saw no windows open. The curtains lifeless. The covers of the bed how she made them that morning. Her clothes still folded in her bags. Had she left her hairbrush out here? She carefully touched its handle, frowning as she tried to remember. Static electricity shocked her, she pulled her hand away with distaste. A bitter taste of smoked wood like a forest filled her senses, a haze to the air- 

Sabine jumped as a boom of thunder reverberated. She grasped the side table, feeling foolish due to her unfounded fear. Swallowing her paranoia, she grabbed her brush to head to the bathroom, content thinking she must have misplaced it this morning. This morning had been hectic finding out about the body, how taken aback she was when Mihawk wanted to go to the morgue. Flustered. That’s all. A hairbrush cannot move itself. 

Guard down, she made her way to the bathroom. A soft pattering of rain began to trickle down, hitting the window panes, tap tap tap. Of comforting sorts as her stomach still coiled into knots, hoping Mihawk would come back soon as she closed the bathroom door behind her.

With glassy eyes, she pouted at herself. Hairbrush then placed on the sink’s counter, where she swore she’d left it that morning. She prodded her fingers against her cheeks, then against her brows, critical thoughts dancing in her brain. Sabine who had been at the Monastery was sullen, a sickly beauty if you could call it that. In these months she’d been able to flourish, she supposed. Life to her eyes, pink in her cheeks compared to a yellow tint from being inside all day. A heavy sigh left her as her face crumbled down to her hands. Huffing she leaned down, elbows on the counter and breathing heavy into her palms that shielded her eyesight. Feeling morose suddenly, wishing Mihawk was with her or that she’d followed him outside. 

The air went frigid, almost dead as if all life had been sucked out. Warm and dense. Sabine choked in a breath, eyes shooting open panicked understanding there hadn't been enough air. A sudden comprehension that she was not alone. She dared not look up, but when she did there was nothing in the mirror beside her reflection. She officially could not breathe as suffocation was all she felt in its place. Alarm bells went off. 

When she spun around to flee the room with her consciousness just intact, she stopped in terror. Feet glued in place. Her mind short circuited at the figure blocking the door. It hadn’t been in the mirror! A familiar sick grin, pale skin, those monster-like teeth, all in the shape of what she knew well. She couldn’t scream. The stagnant air swallowed her whole. 

Sabine’s body thumped to the ground. 

-

posted: august 20 2024

taglist : @zzbloody-animezz @honeybeezgobzzzzz @mythical-goth @iraaiitz @moonmaiden1996

[hhighkey]

Decode // Chapter Five, Close Quarters

Dracule Mihawk (opla) x OC (female)

Rating: mature

Story Contains: live action characters, related and non-related one piece plots, unspecified religion, OC is a nun on sabbatical, trauma, violence, age gap (40 v 23), insecurities and self doubts, possessive / protective behavior, kidnapping, true loves, eventual smut

Note: i got noooo idea if demons exist in one piece and didn’t appear so off some searches so gonna chalk it up to powers from a devil fruit. also think I really like this chapter??

Masterlist

-

Ocean waves lulled onto the beach as the sun reached its peak, whilst two ships tied and anchored at a makeshift dock. Lounging near the entrance of the sea cave was a company of pirates, ones that belonged to the Red Force. On proud display was that of Luffy’s wanted poster, with alcohol passed around. 

Mihawk eyed his red-haired ‘friend’ warily, finding himself without the want to finish off whatever ale was tossed to him. 

The joy- pride- whatever it was he didn’t quite care, was evident on the crew. Though he’d imagined if the Luffy he met was anything like that as a child, sure the boy would have made a lasting impression. But his mind was elsewhere.

It was coming up to a month since he’d first lay eyes on the woman his heart now belonged to. Perhaps distance truly did make the heart fonder in this case. His memory raced to remind himself of every inch he’d taken in, from her delicate fingers, to supple skin and breathtaking beauty. He wanted to own every part of her, to know every intimate detail of her past, and to understand the inner workings of her mind. Anything to do with her up to the air she breathed he wanted part in. 

It was a sickening line of thought, truly it twisted and burned his chest inside that he’d thought he’d implode at times. But Sabine pulled him into her orbit, dug her innocent little claws in, and he’d be a fool to resist. 

His mind constantly drifted to her from time sailing on the sea, amidst a job, and even before he fell asleep. He wondered what she was up to and where, if she were safe, if she thought about him. He let himself obsessively obsess over someone he met twice, truly knew nothing about and now had to wait for them to make a life changing decision in months time. Setting himself up for failure surely, but high risk brings high reward, he understood that well enough. 

"You usually got your panties in a bunch Hawkeyes- but this is extra.” Shanks stared at Mihawk knowingly as he knocked back his drink. 

"What are you talking about?” Mihawk quipped back, tone biting with a hint of exasperation. 

"Haven't touched your drink."

Mihawk glanced down at the open bottle, liquid slowly warming in his grasp from nursing it, "Please elaborate on your nonsensical ramblings."

Shanks grinned as he took a swig of mead, "I know that face. Only one thing causes men of our stature to look so grim."

"Don't compare us-"

"A girl."

"Fucks sake." Mihawk decided he was done, he’d take no further questions from the red haired imbecile of a pirate. He sat his drink down in the sand uncaring as it tipped, spilling out the amber liquid. He only got a few feet away. 

 "Where's your ring?" Shanks smirked, only having to ask one simple question and Mihawk would know he was beat, knowing how to prod all the right areas to tick Mihawk off.

Mihawk stopped and turned with a fire in his eyes, “Don’t pry in places you have no business.”

“Oh come on,” He laughed drunkenly, “You don’t just give that out!”

It did not matter- the intricacies of what the ring symbolized to Mihawk. Or it shouldn’t have mattered to Shanks who found far too much enjoyment out of his discomfort.

“Don’t use that night, what- a decade ago when I drunkenly told you about what it meant- against me.”

“Yeah yeah.” Shanks waved a hand dismissively, his smirk growing larger by the second. A few of his crew were beginning to listen in, “Come on, a man as distrusting as you wouldn’t give something so precious to a stranger! Or maybe… you did?” 

“Like you know anything about it.” 

Not needing to push anymore, the red haired man shrugged, “Tell me about her.”

“No.”

“I’ll never bother you again!” 

“Liar.”

“Just one thing then you can go. She a pirate? Marine? A sweet girl you saved from an evil pirate?”

Mihawk sighed, ran a handle along the fabric of his jacket then stared right into the depths of Shanks’s soul. 

“She’s a nun.”

The beach went utterly silent. It sounded like even the entirety of the ocean and its inhabitants, and even the air went silent too. Then a booming chorus of loud shouts and laughter drowned the silence out. 

“She’s traveling with Luffy.”

At the mention of Luffy the crew died down again, ears strained to listen.

“What’s he doing with a nun?” Yasopp called over. 

Mihawk would indulge him one more time and wanted to set a record straight before Shanks could say anything about him being a cradle robber, “She’s much older than him by the way, but she’s on sabbatical and he wants to show her the damned world before she goes back. With that strange boy she’s sure to get a show.”

Shanks laughed, “Sounds about Luffy. Pfft well, guess ole’ Mihawk here is gonna have to become a priest! Or celibate the rest of his life, good luck man, you’ll be in my prayers.” And he raised his beer up emphasizing the last word, toasting to Mihawk's ‘doom.’

It was the sudden noise of the little transponder snail he kept safely tucked away that finally gave Mihawk a reason to leave.

Annoyance riddled every bone in his body until the Marine on the other end said a nun wanted to talk to him. It felt like he’d been doused in cold water, fear striking through him at what that could mean. But when he heard her voice, it calmed something inside him. Without a doubt in his mind he’d head to Angelica Island to see her, to aid her in whatever venture she needed him for. It didn’t matter. It could be as simple as needing him to reach an item off a high shelf. Because getting to lay eyes, possibly a hand on her after a month would make it worth it. The two days to get there though would test his patience. 

-

Sabine stilled, suddenly deathly aware of the new presence in her room as she opened the door wishing she hadn’t gone out from the way sweat dripped down her nape. Dread pooled in her stomach like molten lava, her pulse hiked the second she stepped onto the premises. Hairs on the back of her neck stood straight, her instincts screaming at her to turn around. But as her gaze caught the figure lounging beside the window with its sheer curtains blowing about in the wind- a surreal calmness washed over her. Her knees buckled but she caught herself on the door frame as her cheeks burned red.

“Mihawk.”

There he sat in all his glory. He wore a simple cream shirt half unbuttoned, his coat and hat lay haphazardly on the bed. And the giant sword leaned resting against a far wall. The sight of him made her stomach churn, made her chest flitter so painfully she desperately wanted to be closer to him. 

“Sabine, dear.”

“You came.” She regained her senses as she shut the door behind her, her back pressed against the wood as she watched him. Watched him in awe as he sat across the room. Awed at the fact he hadn’t lied about his intentions to help her.

“Of course. You called.” 

He said those words so casually, but it makes her burn inside. Like it was the most obvious thing on the planet to him, while she’d been stressing. Sabine called, so of course Mihawk came to her as if she were his light in the depths of the darkest ocean calling to him.

Her head spun from the noxious fumes of the jasmine candle she’d left lit since the morning as she slowly inched forward. And how it swirled with the scents coming in from the window- every sense of hers blazing in sharp awareness. Everything zoomed in on Mihawk who straightened in the loveseat, his pupils dilating as he watched her movements and every breath like it’d be the last.

Sabine took a shuddering breath in as she stood an arms length away from him now, her heart lurching as he stood. Towering over her, enormous and all powerful. Consuming her as she rocked on her feet in a trance as it took every ounce of her not to reach out and touch him. The intrusive need to graze her fingers up the front of his shirt, feel the chiseled muscle that lies underneath and his radiating warmth. 

Biting her lip, she looked away wishing she could hurl into a ball and hide.

“Hi.” She squeaked out, “I didn’t know you were here. See, I’d gone for a walk, was too anxious waiting around cooped up in here.”

“I would have been earlier, but I ran into some difficulties.”

“Oh! Is everything okay?” 

“Yes.”

Unsure what to say she simply nodded, his level tone told her not to push further. Her room felt like a flurry of nerves consumed it raking along her skin, soft whispers scraping at the back of mind as she tried to calm herself. Nervous about how to behave around him. Nervous on what to even say. Nervous about if she looked presentable! All her practiced words she’d recited over and over since the sun went up, were flown right out the open window beside her. Mind filled with mush. 

A soft chuckle emanated past his lips as he delicately touched the side of her arm, careful to not scare her, to test the waters. 

“Little dove, why don’t you tell me what’s going on? Start from the beginning.” 

She nodded appreciating the directness as it gave her something to do, “Y-Yeah, one second.”

A thick notebook laid at her bedside, one she’d scribbled in all night trying to clearly navigate her thoughts. The story was long, possibly confusing, and frankly she didn’t know where to begin when she finally sat down to write. To write the thoughts she kept locked away inside felt like a personal betrayal of some sorts, that telling paper before an actual person was wrong. 

“I wasn’t sure how much you needed to know, it was almost therapeutic writing it all down, I don’t know if I’ve told anyone it all before.” She leafed through the pages, embarrassment leaking through. Intimate thoughts, intimate details written that she’d let him see because at this point she was desperate. Or she wanted him to. That if he was claiming to want her, then he needed to know her before following through.

Remembering his words of sweet possession, revering attention made her stomach lurch and flutter. A beast roaring inside her she’d never felt until Mihawk. How it blazed and consumed her thoughts with him, with daydreams and a childish obsession a girl holds when she’s young. Because she didn’t know him!

Shaking her head to force herself out of a heedless spiral, she went and handed him the notebook. 

“I’d rather not have to speak any of it.” 

Sabine sat on the edge of the bed, watching him. She chewed on her bottom lip, feeling sick and unable to tear her eyes off him as he began reading. The only reason she told Luffy and the crew a few days ago about the gist of her past, was the heat of the moment. Sabine would have needed a whole bottle of wine to even consider talking about the whole story. 

To a pirate of his status, power, it probably meant nothing, Mihawk may think she was weak or overdramatic. But this was her life, she knew nothing else than her confined and confusing existence. 

Mihawk’s golden eyes read every word she’d written, even the ones she crossed out, with an acute concentration. 

‘I was 15 when father made me leave home. I don’t know if it was bad luck, but I believe it was him who brought the pirate to our doorstep. I believe he paid him to take me to the Monastery, then to kill mother. I still remember how the pirate laughed, calling father weak for not taking mother’s place but I think it was all part of his plot. What pirate takes a girl and drops her off at a Monastery? Few months before, father had become a fanatic over religion, believing we’d all been living in sin and needed to be a better family. I think he went crazy. Who knows- I surely don’t, but I wish mother took his place and I was never sent away.

Out of the 8 years I spent at the Monastery, which I could write a whole novel on the things that took place but wouldn’t know where to begin, I only left the isle once. Last year I came to Angelica Island, this one, with a Bishop because the matriarchs believed I needed a break. I found myself in a precarious position three years ago, a deacon had pried his way into my life in an inappropriate manner (I will not further explain as he’d inconsequential now). I’d always forced myself to believe I was doing a service through my work of prayer and confession, all the strict schedules and confining education- all for this wretched island to flush it all away. I genuinely believed there was a demon here causing people to take their lives violently, drawing them to insanity, that it needed to be sent back to hell. I believed it, I mean I saw the lady with the black eyes, I saw all the dark swirls, saw the blood she left, and felt her claw like nails on me. How was it not real? Even the marines had no leads. But the man she supposedly possessed who was showing strange behavior, I had to be the one to finish the exorcism as it killed the Bishop. All the terror stopped. I thought it was done!

I went back to the Monastery and for months I woke in fits of screams and horrible nightmares. I’d feel her choking grasp, couldn’t be in the dark, I was jumpy, changed. I always thought I was a fairly level headed person, liking to follow directions even if I hated it. Thought I could be a role model, a good nun, but over the last 8 years I could never take my permanent vows while most have over the years. So now I find myself here once again after feeling the most free and light since the start of my sabbatical. I don’t want to be here but clearly it drew me back for a reason, out of all the possibilities of islands to stop, why this one? I couldn’t leave with the crew when they planned to after a few days, I had to stay. I went to the archive in the religious sector of the town, met with the cardinal I trust who had helped last year. After meeting Luffy and finding out about devil fruits, these wild magical powers, I felt something gnaw at me. In long forgotten books are articles, journal entries, timelines of correlation in demonic activity and someone who’s eaten a devil fruit. I mean- I couldn’t imagine the matriarch seeing Luffy stretch out and not think he was possessed! And someone who could have those powers to possess or use ghosts, turn into that thing- wouldn’t that be more plausible? 

I’m ranting, I know, but it’s making me doubt even more. I feel guilty. I don’t think there’d ever been a demon. Just powers and violent happenings from someone with abilities that we don’t understand. The church is good at fear mongering I’ve noticed and all it takes is someone who has a strong opinion and is loud, people do crazy things out of fear. I think there is an actual person behind all this- Mihawk if you are reading, that is why I called you.’

Mihawk closed the notebook, humming to himself before he looked at Sabine. His eyes provided her with an unspoken understanding or support, she at least liked to think so. While normally able to tell when judgment existed within someone from the different sorts of people she had to spend time with due to the state of her occupation- with Mihawk that was different. She cared what he thought of her, far too much than she wanted to admit for only having been around him twice. Now three times. 

“I see. I think there is a plausible possibility of your hunch being correct. Much about devil fruits we don’t understand, or the type of powers they can give or even how they are activated. But you are not talking to a man of faith, I would rather believe in a realistic answer.”

“I’m glad you don’t think this is all foolish.” She straightened, heart thumping.

“I will look into it myself, from a less religious aspect however. A person behind this would be more logical, but I want to see reports from last year and logs from your time.” 

“That makes sense, we could get that information from Cardinal Joseph tomorrow, he’s very good in secretarial duties.”

“Have you asked the marines if there are suspicious reports of deaths lately? Or sightings?”

“No…” 

“The cardinal you mentioned, has he noticed anything strange within the community?”

“Yes and no.” Sabine flushed, ears red in embarrassment as she shifted, “We’ve been meeting, pouring through books but most aren’t helpful. I have notes further in my notebook. While nothing has happened like a year ago, he says he has felt unnerved. Said he’d been considering writing to me to see if I was doing okay, or felt the same, that maybe we were wrong.” 

He was thinking and she was waiting for him to plunge the knife in that she was ridiculous, and a fool to call him for this. It did not come. 

“You said you’ve felt light on your sabbatical, freer since you’d joined the church, whether you only meant to imply it innocently. I want you to feel that way once again.”

“So you’ll help?” She asks more excitedly than intended. Her body language changed and he enjoyed watching how her pupils expanded, shoulders relaxed, and a smile pulled at her lips.

“Yes.” Only for her. 

A weight released off her, one she hadn’t realized was there until that moment. The look she gave him was genuine, filled with thanks as she took a breath able to suck in air more than the airy gasps she’d been surviving off. 

It was late afternoon, almost evening but Sabine could have slept until morning. A small crash in adrenaline, she fell back onto the bed, her legs hanging off where her knees hinged. 

“Such a relief you’re here.” She rubbed her eyes as she stared at the ceiling.

The floorboards creaked under his heavy steps, she couldn’t see them but his eyes dominated along her form. He stopped at the sight of a necklace chain that hadn’t been there before. It sat below her garments. 

“Sit up,” His smooth voice tickled the back of her mind and she immediately obeyed. She pushed herself up on her forearms and gazed up at him with half lidded eyes. 

Closer. His legs just brushed against her knees. She held her breath, the sound of pumping blood decimated within her head as all other noise went silent. 

Mihawk had to lean down to reach her neck, where he looped a finger under the chain to pull it out from under her garbs. 

“I see you’ve been wearing my ring.”

“Yes.” She blushed furiously, her tongue darting across her lower lip, “It doesn’t fit any of my fingers though.”

“I do not doubt that.��� It pleased him greatly to see her not only with it, treasuring it, but wearing it. It stroked the possessive tendencies that suddenly surged through him, the sudden emotions it wracked through his nerves and climbed under his skin, “How often does it get to grace this chain around your neck?”

Sabine stilled, breath caught before she admitted under her breath, “Everyday.”

His lips quirked and an impulsive thought popped into his mind. He quickly said, “I should go,” as he dropped the ring so it fell back to her chest, needing to move. He barely got a few strides away. 

“No- Stay in here. Or maybe they could move us to a room with double beds? I can’t be here alone at night anymore, I wake up crying like there’s a presence over me.” Sabine’s bottom lip jutted out, a plea falling from her lips as panic surged through her, “If you’re here I’ll feel safer. I only ask for genuine reasons, nothing nefarious I swear.”

“I know, don’t fret.” He reassured, but mainly reassuring himself that staying in the same room as her was a good idea. 

No matter how patient and strict of a man he was in training or in battle- in life, she suddenly changed that. Sabine was honest, that was clear of her character even when he first met her at Baratie. Mother-like in a sense, clearly conscious of others and her surroundings. Precious. Easy to break- something he’d never allow to happen. 

“Alright. I’ll go ask for a cot, how about that?” That pleased her greatly that she didn’t come off like a desperate woman doing this to bed him. Though she couldn’t blame anyone for trying, even her own thoughts betrayed her as she’d graze along his pale skin and corded muscle, a chest and abdomen so thick and defined it didn’t matter it was covered by a shirt. And without his long coat on she could see his powerful thighs straining against the material, making her wonder just how much of his life was dedicated to the art of his sword. 

“You will take the bed, I will take the cot.” Mihawk added sternly, though she saw through that as nothing more than banter. She smiled, nodding before skipping out the room. He was moments away from telling her not to leave his sight, but he shut his mouth and let her run her little errand. 

As nightfall fell over the city on Angelica Island, Sabine methodically locked every window making sure to stuff spare linens so no draft could sneak its way in. A habit she’d had for years. A distrust for people perhaps, or surroundings, or that she’d spent years shivering in her bed as a girl. And the Monastery was nothing if not a wretched old place with a frigid draft that had Sabine always on the lookout for extra blankets. 

Mihawk watched her with fond curiosity, teasing words dancing on his tongue that he wouldn’t yet speak. Her movements were frantic, though it was clear she didn’t see the behavior as worrisome. She kept checking the locks and he itched to tell her to sit, to relax. But this moment gave him the perfect chance to learn more about her, to study her and put it to memory. 

“You’re not cold are you?” She asked him, huffing from the amount of times she’d paced the room. 

“I’m not.” He thought carefully, “It’s late, you should rest.”

She nodded, “Mhmm, yeah. I haven’t been sleeping much lately.”

“I can tell.”

“You see, besides my weeklong job here last year, I hadn’t slept in a room by myself in years. I’ve always had roommates at the Monastery and on the ship I room with Nami. With others in the room I have to force my brain to sleep so as to not bug the other person. Alone, it’s unsettling, I don’t like it.” She said quickly, tripping over her words as she tried to explain. 

Mihawk stood from the lounge chair, “You- sit on the bed. You’re making me anxious watching you flit around.”

Sabine shivered under his commanding gaze as he sat on her bed, patting the spot beside him. She pushed her messy hair back behind her ears and as she sat she smoothed down her nightgown, suddenly very aware how thin the material was. Suddenly filled with shame to be wearing such a thing around him as an unmarried woman, self consciousness making her stomach twist tight. 

His large fingers comb thoughtfully through her hair, carefully feeling the way each strange felt between his fingers. The softness of her brown locks, a faint smell of soapy lilac wafting from it. 

Dutifully he began to part her long hair into three sections, basking in the way her skin would erupt in goosebumps as he ghosted along it as he worked. 

Taken aback she quickly asked, “You can braid hair?” 

“It’s not difficult. And now you won’t have a bird's nest come morning.” 

“Should I be offended by that?” She teased, loving the way his fingers felt as they stroked along her nape and braided the strands. 

“No. Now tell me why you obsessively check locks, shove cloth into cracks, then check again and again.” 

“Why?” Heart amiss as it pounded in her chest, she felt dumb asking why but her mind was slowly turning to much as his fingers worked. She’d never thought a man would braid her hair, nonetheless a warlord of the sea. 

“I want to know everything about you. What makes you tick. Anything or anyone who’s caused you damage whether emotional or physical. What colors do you prefer? Do you prefer sweet or salty food?”

“Will you tell me all the things there is to know about you too?”

“Yes. Anything I ask I would be willing to answer in return. Do you have a hair tie?”

“Nightstand. And you don’t seem very open... In general.”

“I am not.” He leaned to grasp the black band, carefully looping it around the end of the braid leaving about two inches.

“Why did you become a pirate?” She shifted upon his completion, instinctively feeling her head and hair. Facing him now she was as pink as the evening sky while he was an impenetrable wall as he watched her. 

“What do you consider a pirate to be? In your own words.”

“I dunno, someone who travels by ship that is against the world government, steals and murders I guess? A pirate seems to be someone who wants the One Piece at this point, Gold Roger really changed everything.”

Mihawk hummed, thinking over her words, “I don’t particularly care for the antics of it all, I especially do not care to terrorize islands of people to rule over like some. I care about my pride of being the world’s greatest swordsman, besting foes as I please, and one day hopefully meet the one who will surpass me. My occupation as a warlord helps keep the marines out of my way, they’re a nuisance at best.”

“You’re a lone wolf.” She tried to tease again but a sudden yawn came over her as sleep began to drag her down. 

“I don’t talk about my past or my reasoning for most decisions with anyone, but I wanted to return the favor as you allowed me to read your notebook.”

“I hope it wasn’t too intimate?”

“No, it allowed me insight into you, I hope I’ve done the same. Now have you finished your nighttime routine or is there more to do?”

“Yes, it’s done.” Her chest swelled even as her eyelids grew heavy. 

“Then lay down, I will stay up until you fall asleep.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me questions?” Sabine inquired as he helped her get underneath the covers. A tingling sense of safety washed over her from how delicately he treated her. Like a precious treasure the way he tucked her in, hand smoothing the wrinkles of the blanket over her form. 

“Not tonight. Sleep, tomorrow we’ll speak with the marines.”

“Alright, fun.”

Her words soon slurred together as she attempted to chat his ear off about unintelligible nonsense he simply hummed responses to. She was nervous, he could practically feel the way her pulse hitched as he got close, or how her pupils would dilate. The extra time between responses as she was overthinking her own words. 

He glanced around, only the dim light of the lamp beside him illuminating the room, she’d insisted he leave it on. There were no words to describe Sabine’s beauty in his eyes. In the month since he’d seen her he’d recount her face in his memory, but being able to see each detail, was like seeing her for the first time again. And she was still stealing his heart like she had the moment he eyed her from across the bar. 

Mihawk settled onto the cot that night, careful to be silent so as not to wake Sabine. He’d be damned if he were to ruin her first night of peaceful sleep now that she felt safe. Safe. She wanted his presence. She could have called back Luffy and co, but wanted him. The fact of it quenched the fire within him that wanted to claim her as his own, knowing that while he was still very much a stranger, he gave her solitude. 

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posted: july 18 2024

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