Dead or Alive

Words in the fog

The cigar smoke in the darkened small room was so dense that one could not recognise more of the gathered figures, than just the rough outlines of their bodies. The two shapes were facing each other silently, so that one could hear the noise trickling through the ajar door. Laughter, excited voices, soft music... the Marine Ball was already in full swing. One of the figures moved to light a new cigar and took a long puff, before it broke the tense silence.

"So it has been stolen?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Do we know already who is responsible?"

"We have a photo, Sir."

"Give it to me."

"..."

"A Woman?"

"Almost still a girl, Sir. She should be around 19 years old."

"Has she been recorded before? Do we know with whom she belongs?"

"Several thefts, sir. Cash, jewelry, every now and then food. And so far only from pirates, Sir."

"So no pirate then. Does that mean that she belongs to the revolutionaries?"

"We do not know yet, Sir. But the team is working on it. Of course, there is still the possibility that she did not even know what she was stealing there."

"That does not matter. We need these documents, no matter what the costs!"

"Document, Sir."

"Hmh?"

"Document, not documents, Sir. Strictly speaking it is nothing more than a Post-It note, Sir."

"A Post-It note? All this uprise for a Post-It note?"

"It contains very valuable formulas, Sir. It is a very important Post-It note. If pirates or God forbids the revolutionaries would get a hold of it... Dr. Vegapunk has written a report on the possible consequences."

"Unpleasant?"

"Very unpleasant, Sir."

"I see."

...

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"What are you planning to do now, Sir?"

"Do we have a name?"

"I think so, Sir."

"Good. Then proceed as we always do."

"You mean ... a bounty, Sir?"

"Yes and make sure it's a high one! She will not be allowed to take a single breath in peace from tomorrow onwards. Throw her to the wolves!"

"I will take care of it, Sir. What shall I tell the Navy why we are looking for her?"

"Depredations, arson, murder... Does it really matter? Choose what you think will work best."

"Alright, Sir."

It crackled quietly as a cigar was stubbed out. Hands were shaken. For a short moment the noise became louder as the door opened a tiny crack, but then it closed again, leaving no trace of the secret meeting other than a photo on the table.
It showed a girl, actually more a young woman. A pretty face with big brown eyes, framed by wavy orange hair. Completely unaware she looked right into the camera.

A/N: Hello there.. Me again. Im starting a new multi chapter story, One Piece this time ("It's all about the boots" is not abandoned, i will see to it, that i will upload the second chapter there soon, promise!)

Constructive Critisism is most welcome and if you notice any grammar or spelling mistakes please tell me. English is not my mothertongue and I dont have a Betareader for this.

The story is planned out so far and I ve written about four chapters for this already, still, my uploading rythym will be quite irregular I fear. This is just some kind of prologue, the real chapters will be longer, though i dunno how much. Im still learning.

Thats about it for now, I think...

So long, Mag!

PS. One Piece is owned by Eiichirō Oda, though I assume, that Luffy will claim it in the future.