Standing on a hill within a meadow of waving blue-green grass, the five-foot tall (one inch shy) woman stared across the distance and glowered at the orange-suited white polar mammal who stared right back at her. Sliding her lagoon-hazel eyes left, she took in the eight-foot tall brute who looked strong enough to demolish the hill she stood on merely by swinging his massive arm. His looks – fierce face, a thin lipped snarl showing teeth the size of her two-inch thumb, bristly stiff hair shooting into the air, calculating eyes that were locked on her - counted towards intimidation points; but she was far from being cowed into fear by large-men.
Glancing right gave the dark-chocolate haired female a view of two shorter men; both their bodies sliding into a fighting stance. Both wore their white crew jumpsuits; their pirate insignia sewn over the heart. The slightly taller man glared back at her from behind his green and red lipped hat. His partner gave his handsome smirk from underneath his own hat; a black and white cap with the word 'penguin' printed on the front.
She knew she would defeat them all and still have a decent work-out. It was their missing leader who had her concerned. The spot-sporting, nodachi-toting and very dangerous(ly sexy) pirate captain was nowhere to been seen. Which was a bit of a problem; given his unique DF power had a larger radius than when they first met. The closest hiding place was a tree sixteen feet behind her. He could be watching her from behind that tree this very instant. Given his M.O.D, she always had to keep an eye out for his trickery. He loved to use his Room Shambles on her and pluck her body parts to tease.
"Give up, miss Jiru-san." The orange-wearing polar bear broke the verbal silence and took a step forward. "I would hate for you to get hurt and end up staying with us longer."
"Tch, you would like that, wouldn't you, Bepo-chan?" The woman laughed easily with her ursine nakama of twenty-four months. "You've trained me well in martial arts, I wouldn't want you to get hurt either."
"So sorry, Miss Jiru-chan." Bepo the polar bear gave her a low, apologetic bow and looked shamed. It had taken her six months to get used to the submissive, apologetic streaks in the bear. But the two years she spent with the bear and the pirate crew had been well worth the tragic downs and euphoric ups the Mugiwara treasure hunter experienced. Two years on the day today. Of course, the exact reunion date was seven days away. She had started counting when she had been separated from Luffy, which unlike the rest of the Mugiwaras, she hadn't gone through that three days and nights Repel-flight that Kuma had done to them.
The treasure hunter of the Mugiwaras had cut short her Kuma-induced repel-trip and ended up being saved by Trafalgar Law. She had been on the brink of that notorious cosmic chance, and her fate could have gone literally ANYWHERE. With rage driving her actions, she somehow managed to use her Reiki powers to create a condensed wall of air to halt her repelled flight and landed only groves away from the fight on Shaboady Grove 14; and thus, sliced that infinite chance-choice down to two paths: being kidnapped by the blood-lusting pirate known as Eustass Kidd, or crewing with the smoking hot bad-boy Trafalgar Law.
XXXXX
Flashback:
Flying through the air as her light-induced blindness quickly healed itself, Jiru felt her body grow hot with rage. How DARE that bear bastard do this to Luffy, repelling his crew and her alike. Poor Luffy was probably worried sick about her, Zoro, Brooke, Sanji and Usoppu; all of whom the treasure hunter figured were in the same situation as her – flying through the air via Kuma's repel-power. The thought of Zoro, Usoppu, Sanji and Brooke being alive only brushed the back of her mind. She twitched as she reached out with her senses and felt another 'Kuma' energy.
She snarled and lashed out with her Reiki power, grabbing onto that energy with her own willpower. She had slammed down onto familiar ground – the white noise and Shaboady bubbles still doing their natural thing. When she had struggled to her feet, she was met with another battle.
In front of her stood a rather battered Pacifista, and behind her were two pirate crews: the Kidd and Heart pirates. Both sides looked haggard, and still fought. She, however, did not care to analyze the how, why or what of the situation and focused on her anger: the fake Kuma. Her reaction had surprised her as she lifted her arm and Reiki-formed a large sharp blade. Using that condensed air-energy blade she proceeded to slice through the cyborg's strong body and took the cyborg out of the fight. (It was later learned that she hadn't quite destroyed the cyborg, but only managed to immobilize the Pacifista; thus buying time for both pirate crews to escape. The Marines upped her bounty nonetheless, seeing how dangerous she had become.)
Her actions had awe-stunned the pirates behind her and the first one to approach her was Eustass Kidd. He ordered her to join his crew. Her anger was cooling off and the pain of her left foot was cutting through the mind-haze. The brazen red-head Super Nova was turned on by her slice and dice act and wanted that kind of temper and power under his command. Her answer would have gotten her sliced, killed or worse – she had slapped the leering pirate captain across the face – had she not been rescued by the other pirate captain.
It was Law who came to her rescue, pressing against her back as he bodily claimed her in need of medical attention. Her foot was looking quite terrible and numerous cuts, scrapes and bruises were visible on her body; bleeding sluggishly. With Law's quick, smooth words, Jiru had left the grove with her hands and head still attached.
XXXXX
To this day – two years later – she still could not fully remember that fight or explain how she managed to slice through a cyborg Pacifista.
Today, her temporary captain, the smoking hot Trafalgar Law, had concocted a stupid test she absolutely HAD to pass if he was going allow her to leave his crew and return to Shaboady to reunite with Luffy.
"HYAH!" Shachi and Penguin leapt into action, their fists of fury before them and ready to impact flesh. It seemed the test had begun.
"NYAH!" Jiru blinked and slid backwards, instantly regretting on forgetting just how quick the hulking Jean Bart could be. This WAS a serious fight after all – she had to KO at least three members of the Heart pirates.
The eight foot tall pirate lunged forward like a spilling flood and grappled her arms behind her, locking her arms into immobility. Shachi pressed his advantage and dove for her legs. It was a good call, since she was about to lift her legs onto an aura pad to gain height to flip over Jean Bart. The white-suited pirate knocked her aura pad away and wrapped his arms firmly around her lower legs. Penguin stood in front her, grinning roughly as he cocked back his fist and aimed at her stomach. However, she wasn't about to let them hammer her into a world of hurt.
Since having two years to use since agreeing with Raleigh's plan on Amazoness Island, Jiru had decided (it was more like no decision, since Trafalgar had her drugged into compliancy) to stick with the Heart Pirates and train herself to get stronger. She figured that Luffy would also accept the Dark King's idea and go off somewhere to train. The Mugiwara/Heart Treasure Hunter often thought of just how different things might have been had she not cut short her Kuma-air trip. What would her life be like if she had landed elsewhere; if Eustass Kidd had crew-pressed her?
Not allowing herself to slip into the fast-paced route of 'what-ifs', Jiru smirked at Penguin as his fist was centimeters from her stomach. Two years of training with her Reiki-Reiki Fruit and increasing her physical stamina made her just that much more dangerous. Instead of relying on her hands to guide her focus in compressing the kinetic energy in the air, she could now just give a thought and do the same thing. Which is what she did now, and Penguin's fast fist slammed into a gummy strip of KAE (kinetic air energy, pronounced kay). It wasn't that thick of a block, just the slim space between her stomach and Penguin's fist.
"EEEWWW! It's like…slime!" Penguin recoiled back in disgust; shaking his fist to expel the feeling of sliminess on his skin. "When the hell did you learn that trick!"
"Oh, about a year ago." Jiru replied flippantly. She had surprised herself by discovering that she could change the consistency of her KAE. Instead of steel-hard shields of KAE, she found she could use the Reiki energy to make squishy KAE like clouds or slime. It had taken a falling baby bird to enlighten her to its use.
Jiru had never actually used squishy KAE in battle, but figured she would save that trick for later. It was later now; and looked down at Shachi holding her feet and grinned. She willed squishy KAE at Shachi's face to knock him back away from her feet. It was like a marshmallow-covered hammer; and the handsome pirate went rolling backwards, cursing.
"Damn it, Jiru-sama, you have to hit your enemy with intent to kill! If you had been serious, my face would have been broken." Shachi shouted back at her. "You're still too soft-hearted, you wench!"
The short treasure hunter would have offered a clever or sarcastic quip back, but she was too busy focusing on Jean Bart. The once-enslaved pirate captain was threatening to suffocate her into unconsciousness. What her new nakama said was absolute truth: she would never strike to kill, it just wasn't her nature. It had been once noted by the other, less stronger Heart pirates - there were about forty or fifty other nakama – that she would lean more towards disabling the enemy than outright killing them. It didn't help that the only ones she fought were her temporary nakama – so striking to kill was still out of the question.
Using her KAE to help her brace against Jean Bart's forward pushing force, Jiru gasped as Bepo suddenly appeared and blurred his legs into kicking actions; aiming for her wide open spots: her torso, stomach and face.
Using Jean Bart's hold on her to lift her up, Jiru sat herself on a seat/pillar of KAE and tucked her now-free legs up tight against her chest. She winced as Bepo's karate kicks impacted with her KAE-armored legs, shaking her compact body. If she hadn't coated her legs in a layer of KAE, she was sure there would be bone fractures and torn muscles – and if she hadn't used her legs to cover her soft stomach, it would have been her fate to stay longer with the Heart Pirates with injuries and heal-time. Gravity overtook the bear's mid-air position; ceasing his onslaught of kicks. The polar bear dropped back to the ground and landed in a crouch, posing.
Cutting out her pillar-seat of KAE, Jiru let herself fall forward; using Jean Bart's forward-pushing inertia to roll him over her back and, with an extending column of KAE to Jean Bart's back, throw him off her. He sailed over her and flew at Penguin and Shachi feet in front of her; with luck he would land on the two and disable their movements. That was how it SHOULD have played out. Instead, Jean Bart merely fell forward…losing his balance and landing on the ground, squashing her beneath him.
"OH SNAP!" Jiru exhaled in surprise. At least she had broken his hold on her, but she was now trapped under his weight and…
"OH MY GOD! THAT IS THE FUNNIEST THING EVER!" Penguin's obnoxious laugh cut through the glade. "Are you two making out like doggies?"
"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU IDIOT!" Jiru went red in the face at Penguin's comment. "I'll kick your ass!"
"Yea, Kin-chan, I'd like to see you try!" Shachi joined his best friend in laughter. Behind Shachi, Bepo was embarrassed and red in the face, and few of the other Heart pirates pointed and threw lewd remarks at their female nakama. They had joined the clearing minutes before the fought began, all expecting a good show. Two years of being a female in an all-male crew, and the novelty still had to wear off. The crew loved to watch her in action; often placing bets and cat-calls.
As embarrassing as the situation could have turned, it appeared the fight was still on and the tell-tale tint of blue enveloped the glade. It was Law's Shamble-Room and it had engulfed them all.
"Let's play with our bodies, boys." The husky dark voice of the Surgeon drifted into her ears and Jiru's feeling of disconnection became prevalent. The weight floated off her back as she was lifted off the ground.
"Room…Shambles." Trafalgar Law stated. Her body burst apart into neat little pieces. Shachi, Penguin, Bepo and Jean Bart also flew apart at the seams.
The Golden Thief wasn't at all sure what Law-san would do with the plethora of body parts next, but she had to keep her wits about it – even if her head wasn't connected to her shoulders.
"Damn it captain, why did you scramble us too!" Penguin whined. "We were about to beat her all up!"
"Shit, yea right you ass, Pen-chan, I would have kicked you in the balls if you had punched me." Jiru hissed back. After two years, and living with tough-as-nails pirate crew with a captain whose bounty was the second highest of the Super Novae; the treasure hunter was now prone to curse like the best of them.
"Tisk, tisk, Miss Jiru-chan." Law's voice slid into her ears. "That's not a very nice thing to say to your nakama."
Her head, which had been floating aimlessly moments before, was now claimed by a tattooed hand of the Death Surgeon. It wasn't the first time he had used his power on her; nor would it be the last – she still had to hitch a ride in the Heart Pirates' ship/submarine to get back to Shaboady Groove. Law lived to tease by using his power on her and claiming pieces of her body to stimulate her senses. It was something she would never admit to enjoying, but found it oddly kinky. She had tried, once, to completely ignore him when he goaded her, but her will was weak and she always responded – verbally or physically.
"The hell, you twisted sicko pervert!" Her de-bodied head was turned in his hand to face him. "Put me back together right now, you bastard! I'm going to kick your ass."
"I ask you not to order me around, Kin-chan." The buff and strong pirate smirked as he brought her head up to his.
She had earned the pet-name, 'Kin-chan' because her bounty poster listed her as the Golden Thief; wanted for 113 million Beri. Trafalgar Law was amused by her title. For a non-assuming female as she, having such a high bounty right from the start was pure hilarity and mockery to the World Government. Having it raised to three hundred million for destroying pricy piece of government property such as a Pacifista was just ridiculous. He had yet to inform her of her bounty change; which had happened right after the Marineford War. She still figured herself as the 113 million Beri threat.
"Now I'm really mad; you are a pervert, Law." Jiru exhaled in annoyance. "I suppose I have to pull myself together and beat you up, huh?"
"That would be fairly difficult, given on how your nakama have run off your body parts." Law's smoky black eyes stared into hers. He turned her head around to view the scene he spoke of.
The bastard pirate captain had already re-assembled his other nakama. Penguin, Jean Bart, Bepo and Shachi were normal humans again and each of them had a piece of her scrambled body in their hands. The other Heart crew who gathered to watch the fight had also joined in the grab-fest, taking her feet, hands, fingers, toes, knees and segmented torso. A few of them were running towards the pine and random tree forest, leaving laughter in their wake.
"Oh great, JUST f-ing great. WHY do you torment me like this, Law? Isn't it enough to bully me; but you allow your idiots to run off with my body? That's just sick, what if they do the nasty with my parts! Allow me some dignity here, you sick shit."
"You're damn sexy when you're mad, Kin-chan." Law chuckled darkly and tossed her head up and caught it on the rebound. "This is your final test, babe. If you can't reclaim all your body parts, you're not going back to Shaboady."
"…" Jiru's head just glared at the smirking captain.
"Well?" Trafalgar asked her, his smirk growing larger, more annoying.
The pirate captain and her head stood there silently for a moment before the treasure hunter's head smirked in competition.
"Fine. Once I get my body parts back, I'm so going to cut your ass into pieces."
"You're on, babe. Show me what you've learned."