Fallen Angels (2023), Wong Kar-wai / Unknown, Pinterest / Lady Bird (2017), Greta Gerwig / The Bear (2022-), Christopher Storer / I Know the End, Phoebe Bridgers / Princess Mononoke (1997), Hayao Miyazaki

☠    Bite the hand that beats you ✷ Apex Predator.

... I'll rewrite this whole life, and this time there will be so much love.
                                           You won't be able to see beyond it.

—    Backwards,
Warsan Shire

Them     "You're wanted for 10 million."
Sora             That's all?

[...]

        I. Why chase a loose dog that has nowhere to go? It is guaranteed to come back with its tail between its legs.

        Sora [believes she] will be the exception.

        It is a circumstance of cause and effect. Her life, her disappearance, and her eventual return.

        Cause: there is a noose around Sora's neck. Some days, it loosen, and some days, it tightens. 

        Other days, when she's been good, it's not even on. Sora doesn't know anything about it though. She's told one thing but believes the other because it's the ultimate tipping point that determines her survival. Panopticon's tower, right? The mere possibility she is being watched is enough for Sora to act as if she is being watched. The power of suggestion, Sora tells herself. Remind her never to doubt it again. So, even when it's gone, it's never really gone. Sora's neck burns a little red, she itches at the marks left behind, and if you're thinking about it all the time, is it ever really off? The answer is an anti-climatic no. 

        Effect: High standards lead to high expectations. Sora will claw her way out even if it means a bleeding trail behind her. She'll turn from a chained dog into a violent one but at least she got out.

        Ultimately, Sora knows she is not an angry person. She may yell, and she may seethe. She may kick in the face, spit, and do everything in spite, but Sora knows herself to not be angry. Congested is more in her vocabulary. Somehow, she thinks, there can be two people that exist inside her. A Sora that lives for her family, and a Sora that will do everything to be their undoing. But when she sees herself, it's a cracked mirror. Two becomes one, and Sora fades into herself. It's a terrible truth to discover that she cannot exist with only half of herself. What she sees isn't anything worth looking at. She finds everything ugly and familiar girl left in her wake, and it makes her sick to the stomach that she could turn into something like that so fast and at the hands of people so unworthy. 

        Give her a chance, she wants to plead. Sora's great revelation comes after she decides she's had enough. It's a direct causation that welds itself like a brand as she limps away from the house she called home. Give her a chance to figure herself out. Give her the time she's lost to put the pieces together of who she can be without them. Whether it's the crutch or the hammer that broke her leg, Sora wants to find out.

        It's a month in and not any different, Sora knows she can't be any exception. She cries; she fumes; she gets over it. 

        II. But burn down a forest, and it will regrow.

        Her name is carried in her encumbered bag at the very bottom where everything can sit on it, so it may just rot. Now, it's in her dreams where she can ignore like everyone does. Eventually, through every town and port, she passes by, posters of her face begin to fill the boards, next to the pirates and bounties. Missing, wanted alive for ten million. Is it twisted to say she feels a little warm inside to see her face on a wanted poster? Is it even worse to say her heart twists when she sees it's for ten million? And only that? It's a good slap in the face, reminds her of where she is.

        In wake of taking that poster, tearing it to pieces, and balling it up, Sora decides this: she is no runaway.

        That would mean she had something to go back to, but there was nothing left for her. Sora looks to the sky and the sun, on this pirate ship she stowed away on, and she sees so much more for her there.

Sora Daywing ✷ HAN SO HEE
☠                THE NORTH STAR

i. "What is a home if not the first place you learn to run from?"

[ ... ]

RORONOA ZORO ✷ Mackenyu Arata
☠                         PIRATE HUNTER

ii. And all of my devotion turns violent.

&&&. 

Clio Daywing ✷ SEO YE JI

JIHO DAYWING ✷ Woo Do-hwan

Nashi Daywing ✷ JEON JONG-SEO

KEUN DAYWING ✷ Byeon Woo-Seok

✷ Extended Cast,

Luffy D. Monkey     Iñaki Godoy
Nami     Emily Rudd
Usopp     Jacob Gibson
Sanji Vinsmoke    Taz Skylar
Koby       Morgan Davies
Monkey D. Garp     Vincent Regan

More to be added.

✷

        ☠  All the graphics are made by me with resources I've found in various places (Pinterest, Tumblr, Google, etc). I do not any of the resources I use. The PSDs used are 'PSD 111' by 'julella' and 'PSD 102' by 'sttoneds' on Deviantart. Please do not take credit for, steal, claim these graphics in any way. If you take major inspiration from any of these graphics please PM for permission.

        ☠    Apex Predator contains many difficult topics that may be difficult for readers. Watch out for blood & gore, vivid descriptions of death and violence, mental illness, PTSD, abuse, and terrible family dynamics. If there is anything else that may be triggering that I did not add, please don't hesitate to tell me.

        ☠   I do not own One Piece. This includes manga, anime, or live-action or anything affiliated. I do however own Sora, her character, and everything added into this book that was not previously included.

        ☠   HEY GUYSS ❗️❗️❗️ I'm on a roll with publishing fics lately. I've had this in my drafts for a while now. I rewatched One Piece so many times. Like the chokehold that show had on me. I don't care how silly and campy it was I love it so much. And I love Zoro even more. Giggling, kicking my feet at the thought of him. And since I'm an middle school anime kid at heart, I couldn't help myself... 

                    ✷ I can't reveal too much obviously. The element of surprise and mystery is my number one writer's tool. But Sora is a mystery waiting to be unsolved. She buries down all her backstory and trauma because who doesn't??? Just like all the straw hat pirates come on. She got the memo, don't worry. But even if she's hardened and reluctant to share her past, I still really wanted to have a character that spoke her mind, told jokes, and tried her very hardest to keep the bests parts of herself still prominent even after running from her terrible home even if she's trying to figure out what those parts are without the presence of her family. A lot of the traits she embellishes because she's trying to create a whole new sense of self away from her family so bare with her she's trying. She has a great affinity for the color pink, any and all clothes, and you won't see her repeating the same outfit if she can help it.

                    ✷ Zoro and her are interesting because they really get on each others nerves. None of them obviously see their alliance permanent and yet they begin to grow on each other. I'm a sucker for a strangers-to friends-to almost lovers-to mad at each other-to ??? trope. Sorry but friends to lovers done right is so, SO good especially when mixed in with found family. Which is another thing. Her and the straw hat pirates have my heart!! The eventual development of them all realizing their own dreams and sticking together is so heartwarming and a perfect place for Sora. There will be an AU arc regarding her whole backstory that will come, and I'm very excited for it!! Hope you guys enjoy this! Happy reading!!

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