Well, to begin this journey I must mention that the title of this fic came from the poem "Suicide Note" by Akeemjamal Rollins. He is a fantastic poet and I recommend that people check him out! (If you want to check him out, you can find some of his poems, such as this one, on the Youtube channel Button Poetry)

Also the standard disclaimer applies, I only own Heize and everything else is not mine~

-1-

Potential for Disaster

The ground was shaking. The walls trembled and the floor quivered. Heize skipped over various rocks littering the alleyway, dodging the clouds of dust that arose from his steps. Sneaking a glance over his shoulders, He could see the dog lunging towards him. He scampered farther from its grasp, desperately trying to avoid the dangerous fangs aiming for his tail. His collar tinkled lightly as he ran, the cool metal bouncing off his chest in rhythm with every step he took.

The dog had been chasing him ever since he may or may not have stolen the scraps laid out for it. No regrets though, a cat's gotta live somehow. His tail twitched as a pair of teeth almost shortened it, the snap of said teeth dragging him out of his musings. The beast was gradually getting closer to the appendage. Sensing his impending doom if he were to loiter, Heize picked up his pace. He ducked past the different buildings and leaped over the garbage that cluttered the ground. Luckily, Heize was used to the winding turns of the alleys. I'd been living in them ever since he escaped the shitty pet store. "Ah," he sighed, "what an exhilarating escape that had been." It was an escape filled with pirates and irate shopkeepers, a truly terrifying experience all in all.

A loud clang shot him out of his musings. Heize looked up to see a strange human with bright orange hair, a rather peculiar sight, running up and down the alleyways. She appeared to be looking for someone, if her shouting was anything to go by. She also seemed a bit annoyed as she called out to whomever she was yelling for. As the human got closer, her tone raised and became more urgent. Her urgent shouts, shifted into a sort of angry muttering, a type of anger commonly found in alleys like these. A dark aura surrounded her briefly, but Heize almost doubted that it was actually there or just his mind hallucinating it. This abrupt aura was so intense that it scared off the dog, despite being there for only a moment. Heize could relate, things never end well with an angry human, in his experience. Anger lead to yelling and yelling usually ended with pain. He quickly hid before she could notice him, fearing the orange human's wrath.

"Luffy! Where did you go?! You better not have gotten yourself into more trouble," The last part dropped off as the human adopted a nervous look.

Seeing the potential for disaster, as well as being spotted, Heize sprinted out of the alley, not before hearing others seemingly reply to her. "Hopefully she'll find that friend of hers, not that it matters much to me", He muttered softly to himself. Out in the open, He decided it was time to formulate a plan. Heize needed to get out of Loguetown, the only way to do so seemed to be to hitch-hike on a pirate ship or a navy ship.

If he were to hide on a navy ship, there would be a higher probability of the ship stopping for long times at various locations, but on the other hand, a pirate ship would travel at a faster pace. Time was of the essence, so he supposed that would seal the deal. Heize was going to hide on a pirate ship. Now it was just a matter of finding which one to choose, it was time to embrace his inner stowaway.

Running towards the dock, he figured his next course of action should be to decide which ship he was going to hide in. There were massive ships and small ships, all docked together. Strategically, he knew it would be better to look for a ship on the small size; the bigger the ship, the bigger the crew in most cases. The more crew a ship has, the greater chance for him to be seen. However too small of a ship leaves little space to hide. Ultimately, a medium-sized ship is the perfect size. Quickly scanning the dock, his eyes landed on the perfectly sized ship. It was a caravel-class ship, but not small enough where he'd be noticed right away.

Taking a brief glance towards the caravel, he judged the distance and adjusted himself to match. He launched himself into the air and landed gracefully on the railing. Dropping to the deck, he took a short tour of the ship to familiarize himself with the area. It was important to know the layout in order to sneak around at night. Coming to what seemed to be the storage room, he pulled a tarp that he had found over to a corner and made a little nest for him to hide himself in. After securing himself a place to sleep, Heize crawled over to the nearest spot he could see outside. Wide eyes caught the sight of a darkened sky with a single lightning bolt racing down to the ground. The resounding crash that echoed throughout the ship told him that the bolt had hit something. Taken by a sudden irrational fear, Heize raced back to his hiding spot. He curling under the tarp in his makeshift nest, shivering. 'I hate thunderstorms. Loud noises aren't any better. Why'd it have to rain on today of all days?' He muttered to himself. Quietly pitying himself, he slowly drifted off.

By the time Heize had awoken, he hadn't a clue as to how long he had been asleep for. Long enough, he supposed, for whatever mess had been started in the heart of Loguetown to be ended. The sound of rain slapping the deck mixed with the telltale stomps of people alerted Heize to the crew's reappearance on the ship. Finally, he was going to leave this god-awful island. No more sleeping in alleys, avoiding being seen. Finally Heize could sleep in the corner of a storage room, avoiding being seen. Hm, now that he thought about it, not much had actually changed, just the location of his hiding spot. But never mind that, finally his plan would be put in action. Everything, if it went to his calculations, would begin in the Grand Line.

And there we go! First chapter is done, even if I'm not quite satisfied with the length (I couldn't think of what else I could cram in there)

Hopefully the next chapter, will be longer, as there is more action and excitement!

Just a brief little note though, I must thank all the wonderful fic writers that inspired me to actually branch out into an OC fic. This is the first fanfic that I've written by myself, and before now I usually avoided OC-centric stories. Haha look at me now, writing something I used to say I loathed, even better is that I've got no regrets about doing so!

Next time, we'll be off to the Grand Line! - SunflowerCity