Ang Pagkahulog Ng

(The fall of)

She is fourteen when she takes her first human kill. She's daydreamed and imagined it for quite awhile ever since that incident with Higuma, that one Mountain Bandit whose scream she still hears in the dead of night.

She's aware that, inevitably, she'll one day take a life of her own; she just hadn't expected that her first time would be this direct, this brutal, this…intimate.

She knows she has a choice: to either let this man go alive, or not. She's always had choices to pick from; however, now, after what the man had just said to the son he'd bastard and about the citizens he'd left to rot in the fiery pits of trash and wastes—she chooses the most illogical decision she's ever made in this point of her life.

Blinded by her emotions—by rage and grief and frustration—and wanting nothing to do with this sorry excuse of a human being before her, she gently places her hands on the sides of his head.

The golden crown he wears illuminates the blaze of the flames growing higher and stronger around them. She is enraptured for just a moment by the destruction she'd manage to make, before she lets her gaze inch down to meet the man's.

She neither smiles nor frowns. Her features have been carefully crafted to express nothing. Slowly, she digs her fingers into his scalp until blood's been drawn and it flows down smoothly to his neck.

"Unhand me this instant, you witch!" The man roars in her face, spittle hitting her in the cheek. "How dare you raise your hand against me, the King! I'll have you stoned for your actions!"

She blinks, nonplussed, and digs her nails just a little harder until the man assumes that she isn't just aiming to hurt him—she's planning on killing him via popping his head.

"Let me go!" The man starts to struggle, but she's got a firm grip on his head. If he struggles too much, then she might just accidentally snap his neck, which is a death that is far too messy than the one she has planned for. "You dare kill me?! The World Government will hear of this, and you'll suffer a lifetime in Impel Down before they execute you!" He screams.

"Please! Don't kill my husband!" The Queen cries out to her, alongside the Crown Prince and the First Princess. All three of them are tied up and held back by the shoulders by her Lost Children.

She ignores every one of their cries and pleas.

She can feel the energy thrumming beneath her fingers—energy so unlike the ones she's able to call forth from the Earth and from simple machinery; a one of a kind energy that can only be found in living, sentient life.

It beckons to her with a croon, take me, oh Mistress. Consume me whole and make me one with you.

She answers this man's life energy by wrapping her own life energy around his and pulling.

The man's scream is loud and torturous as his life energy surges into one, compact point. He screams, and screams, and screams; still, she doesn't stop.

Before her very eyes, she watches as the man's complexion pales, as whatever fats in his body fades until he's all skin and bones, as the man's very life disappears before her eyes.

In the span of a minute, she's managed to take his life without even spilling a single drop of blood.

Mercilessly, she fills his body with Thermos; heating it up until his skin sizzles red and he's set aflame. She holds on until his body burns, the flames licking at her skin hardly causing any damage, and waits until all that's left is dust that's carried by the wind and a glowing yellow sphere that floats before her.

She's reminded of the once royal family when she hears their sobbing and weeping from behind her. She finds herself unable to lock away the cruelness that blossoms hotly within her chest. Taking the life energy of the now deceased king, she turns to face his family members.

She meets each one of their gazes as she opens her mouth and promptly sucks in the yellow sphere until it integrates itself with the energy flowing through her veins and all that's left is nothing.

Her eyelids droop a bit, and she knows what exactly each one of them is thinking as they stare at her with wide, fearful eyes.

Monster.

She supposes she is one—has always been one, but hiding beneath her human skin like a wolf would in sheep's clothing. She sees how horrible and evil her actions are, but she's just directly showing them what they have been to the people they've left for dead.

Monster.

"Take them away with the other citizens," she tells her four companions. Only three of them do so, roughly pulling up their three prisoners until they're on their feet and pulling them away.

None of the former family struggle, too petrified to even protest or fight back.

"…Luffy?" Her only companion that remains calls out to her in a small, small voice.

She is loath to admit that he flinches when her glowing eyes meet his. She makes sure to keep her voice soft when she says, "yes?"

He is quiet for a moment, as if carefully choosing her words. After half a minute, it appears as if steel has replaced his spine for he meets her gaze as he's always done: bravely and always challengingly.

"What will we do now?" He asks, gesturing to the now burning kingdom around them.

She hums a long drawl. "We'll just have to wait until nothing's left," she says quite nonchalantly, as if she's teaching him how to mend a gaping hole in his shirt. "For now, send some of the adults to prevent the fire from spreading to the forest. We wouldn't want to burn down the entire island," she laughs without much mirth.

"…Okay." He nods resolutely at her, before he shows her his right palm.

She stares at it quite stupidly for a moment, before she realizes that he wants her to take it. Reluctantly, she slips her hand into his and allows herself to be silently led out of the burning kingdom.

She can't help but smile sadly at his maturity at such a young age.

Once they're out and in the forest, she assumes that she'll make do with the former king's energy and grow a couple trees to use for rebuilding some houses.

L. I. N. E.

AN: I am currently being overrun by plot bunnies that demand that I write scenes for future chapters instead of the scenes for the next chapter. This will just merely be a compilation of scenes or prompts that may or may not appear in the actual going ons of Strikhedonia. Any questions you may have shall be entertained by, well, me of course aha. And don'tcha worry, folks, Strikhedonia is still ongoing so pardon me for this little side project.

As to this particular scene, it's been egging me for quite some time now, and I just wanted it to be shown even if it might not appear in Strikhedonia. I'm sure you're all aware of which kingdom this scene is pertaining to; if not, tough luck.

As to why she would even do such a thing, S!Luffy has always been different from the original Luffy, and this is one path she may go down in the future if she's had enough of the corruption and decides to handle it in quite a brutal yet efficient kind of manner.

After all, without reform from the above, a revolution may as well take place from the bottom.

All hail the breaker of kingdoms.