mekachu04 | I'll find it with you

kidd has already eaten his df but killer still takes him out in the ocean and teaches him how to stay calm in the water and keep his wits about him. To keep from sinking too far or too fast... To just stay calm because killer *will* come for him

He was little still, when Killer took him down to the ocean.

He'd already eaten his fruit, already knew the dangers of the sea, but Killer had insisted.

Trying to stand was hard enough but he powered through it because Killer asked him too.

Even when he bitched, Killer took the wind out of his sails with a simple, “Just trust me.”

And Kidd did.

Even if it scared the shit out of him as Killer had him lay on his back in the shallows, let the water lap his ears and he tried to keep calm as it crept toward his mouth.

But Killer was there. “Stay calm.” It was nearly an order.

Kidd wanted to bite back - Don't tell me what to do! - but if killer was giving orders, he couldn't help himself but to listen.

He couldn't hear anything but the frantic thudthudthudthud of his heart and he was sinking! Killer, he's sinking! He's going to drown!!

He's drowning!!!

But he doesn't. The salt of the sea stings when it splashes up his nose, is bitter on his lips, and he can't move anymore even if he wanted to. But he's not drowning.

“Spread out like a starfish....” Killer's hand is against the back of shoulders, but its faint. Kidd is... flouting...

Huh.

“I will always come get you. But while you wait for me,” Killer murmured to him, “you have to stay calm. Deep breathes - the air in your lungs will keep you aflout. The salt of the sea will help with your buoyancy even if you can't move.”

Killer's hand is gone and Kidd closes his eyes and breathes. Making sure to keep enough air in his lungs to keep his chest from sinking. His toes break the water surface. His arms rest only partially submerged.

“Even if you go fully under the waves, don't panic. If you can, kick off your shoes- any extra clothes that you can remove quickly, but don't waste your strength fighting it - the most important part is stay calm and spread out. I will find you, you just have to stay alive until I do.”

Just stay alive.

The first real tumble was on the Grand Line. The Grand Line was a trip in it of itself, islands with their own songs pulling Kidd ever which way, and sometimes confusing him on what to focus his magnetism on.

And then he misjudged how far the cannonballs could take him and he hit the water.

His whole body seized up and he couldn't move. Couldn't think. His body screamed at him to fight, to escape. The sea was so cold, grabbing at him like he once imaged the monsters under his bed might.

There was only one thing stronger.

Killer's voice. Stay calm. Killer will find him. Just stay alive.

He never did flout to the surface, but he was pretty sure he was drifting that way when he sensed something in the water with him.

Don't panic. It's Killer or its not, but Kidd can't worry about that. Not right now. Stay calm. Spread out. He might not be able to swim but that does not mean he's going to drown.

Killer will find him.

Killer does find him, no one hold him like Killer does. No one's hands feel like his.

Kidd's lungs are still full of water when they break the surface but he can't do much more than cough out what's already in his throat. Killer will beat him on the back until he can cough the rest up later once they're safely back on deck.

Kidd recalculates; he doesn't fall in the ocean much over the next few years but when he does....

Killer is always there.

He doesn't register the water.

He's numb. He can't move. His body moved on muscle memory, starfishing.

Stay calm, stay alive. Killer always comes.

Except Killer was right there next to him when the Damned Punk exploded in his face. With a pit weighting in his stomach, Kidd knew his partner had been too close. His laughter suddenly gone from the deck- his crew distant remarks that Killer was down too....

Don't Panic.

Everything screamed for him to hold still as he turned in the water. Killer always comes.

Stay Calm.

Except why should he always have too? Why has Kidd allowed Killer to be his protector? Why cant Kidd be the one to be the hero?

He's captain, is he not?

Killer is sinking not far from him. The gauntlets of his busted punishers weighing him down. He's still stunned from the blow from Kidd's failed attack, dazed and confused, trying to understand why he can't get his wits about him. Why he can't get to Kidd.

That damn SMILE fruit.

Kidd can't get them to the surface, he can't fight the sea that far.

But he can get to Killer.

He can reach his partner.

If nothing else... They can sink together.

If there’s peace in drowning, I’ll find it with you. THE FLOODS by WITCHZ