Aino Minako considered herself a pretty damn good Navy commander, all things considered. She had been eradicating pirates left and right from the seas, allowing for easier and safer travel for merchants and messengers of Queen Serenity. However, there was one thing that would cause her to grind her teeth in frustration if you brought it up: the pirate Hino Rei.

Minako had spent the past six months trying to track this infamous pirate down. She had gone down the coast lines, out in the middle of the ocean, inspected ports for days at a time with no luck. All she got were stories and rumors of a woman pirate who had long black hair and eyes that could pierce your soul. The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous Minako found it all.

To begin with, women pirates alone as leaders were rare. And she had also heard her described as 'beautiful' by some people. Every pirate Minako had made so-called friends with between them and her sword? Ugly. And non-fashionable. Also not very wise or smart given they were more often than not worn down by lack of fresh water and food.

"Commander."

Turning around, Minako was met face to face with her second in command Ace. Honestly, she found the man exasperating because he was always hitting on her and trying to get in her bed. Not to mention he tried to give commands over her when she was present and more than once she had to reprimand him. It was rather amazing she hadn't thrown him overboard yet. Maybe because he hadn't yet touched her in a way he shouldn't.

"What is it, Ace?" She didn't bother to hide the annoyance or irritation in her voice at seeing him.

"There's a fight up ahead with a merchant ship and some pirates. Should we intervene or wait for them to duke it out?"

Minako went stiff and rigid. A merchant ship? There shouldn't have been one all the way out here, there no ports anywhere nearby for efficient trading and it was a route that was usually avoided because of the excessive number of pirates. Her mind went through many possibilities, but couldn't figure out why of all places, a merchant ship was here.

"We're going in. Merchants aren't well armed enough to deal with pirates. They must be in some pretty serious trouble if they're all the way out here." Moving, she pulled on her belt that held her scimitar on one side and gun on the other. "Get close enough that we can board, but try to stay far enough away that our ship doesn't get hit by any random fire."

"Sir!" With a tap to his forehead, Ace left and the ship changed its course and worked its way towards the fight. Minako moved up above deck to inspect the scene before she had a realization at watching the fight. Merchant ships were not armed with that many cannons. This was either a trap or they had just walked into the biggest mistake possible of two different ships ready for combat.

"STOP!" She turned to the navigator but it was too late. They were already on the fight and she had to grit her teeth. Pirates pretending to be merchants, of course. It was rather intelligent, she gave them that one. However, it was almost…too intelligent for pirates. She had fought enough of them to know. They were often blood stained to begin with and displayed their skull and bones flag that was torn to shreds. The merchant ship exhibited none of that, really. Just the usual wear and tear you might see on a ship out on sea for years.

Once the ship was close enough to the fray, it was almost immediately hit by a stray cannonball that sent it rocking. Minako had to pray that she didn't go down because of a cannonball striking her on her own deck. With that thought in mind, she moved her men to action.

"Take whatever you can alive! If it's too threatening for your own life, then kill them, but keep as many alive as you can!" A firm believer in keeping as many alive for trial as he should, Minako had a policy that involved killing as few as possible. It also meant much less paperwork when she had to account for dead bodies. Also less of a smell on her ship. Dead or not, she had to take them back as proof. Not just because she needed to prove she was actually doing her job, but also to show to the other commanders that yes, she was perfectly capable of doing her job as a woman.

She watched as her men boarded the ship that fit more of the bill of a pirate ship, where plenty of hand to hand combat was already ensuing between the two ships and followed suit. Never one to just jump into a fray, she assessed the situation before her. It was clear to tell who was a pirate from the ship that didn't seem to be a merchant. They were filthy, covered in hair that hadn't been shaved, and the clothes looked more like rags than anything else. It caused a frown to tug at the edge of Minako's mouth. They didn't make for very good fighters here either, it seemed. It should have made it easier, but sometimes...it got so boring.

That was, until she analyzed the so called 'merchant' ship crew. They were as clean as one could really get out at sea, but none of them seemed...brash or really threatening. She watched as some fairly tall pirate proceeded to clock another in the face and knock him straight out. The man didn't even have his sword or gun drawn for Serenity's sake.

"Ace."

"Sir?"

"Did you catch the name of that merchant ship by chance when we came up? You know. The one that blasted us when I told you to keep us far away enough so it wouldn't happen." Her eyes darted to him, slightly narrowed. She was pissed about the hole in the side of her ship, that was clear. It would take a couple weeks to repair it which meant spending time at the Navy base and dealing with having to watch her back at every corner.

Ace fumbled a bit before he could answer at the look he got. "I-uh…Sniper or something."

"Sniper?" Minako snorted a little. "Yeah real original merchant ship name. Look I'm going to find a Captain and kick some ass a little to let some steam off. Keep an eye on the men."

"Yes, sir." Ace nodded and stepped back as Minako drew her sword out, the sun glinting off the polished surface of her scimitar. She wasn't really one for violence, but once in awhile she needed to vent off her frustrations and a hole in the side of her ship fit that bill pretty damn well.

There was always a certain look a Captain held if they were a pirate. Tricorn hat, typical of course. Long coat with some shitty tunic under it that looked torn to shreds. Sometimes she wondered if they ever bothered to read fashion magazines when they hit a port or at least look at the current style. Needless to say, grizzly and dirty was not in at the moment.

As her thoughts trailed off through her walking around on going fights, she nearly ran into someone who had just taken a pirate down. When she looked up with a frown, hand gripping her sword, she had to do a double take and felt her breath leave her for more than one reason.

Right in front of her was a woman with a tricorn hat on, but she most certainly did not have the long coat or shitty tunic. She almost looked fairly clean outside of some gunpowder on her hands and the front of her shirt as well as specks of blood on her sleeves from cutting men down. None of this, however, is what caught Minako's attention. It was the long black hair, beautiful looks, and deep violet eyes that stared back at her that caused her to come to a complete halt as her brain temporarily shut down.

If rumors were to be believed, this woman was the pirate she had spent months hunting down. And god did the phrase "eyes that could pierce your soul" become very real. She felt like suddenly every single secret she knew was being laid out in front of her just to shame her. It took a hand reaching for her collar for her to snap out of her daze and immediately take a step back and swing her sword in defense.

"All you Navy people want to do is cut a damn limb off." The woman huffed out as she held up the short sword she had just taken the man at her feet down with, which looked like it had been very well kept, which probably meant it was sharp enough to slice skin with little to no effort.

The retort came out before she could stop it. "All us Navy people want to do is make the waters safe to travel from heathens like you!"

"….Heathens? Well…I guess that's a new one." Her eyes trailed over to the ship and caught the name and she looked back at Minako. It was...startling. "You must be the commander."

If Minako was shocked, she didn't know it at this bit of information. "And if I am?"

"You'd be wise to get your little crew back together and leave before someone gets hurt or worse, dies."

There were a number of insults that were just thrown at her and Minako knew it showed on her face. Hurt? Dies? What kind of asshole…As if that wasn't offensive enough, the woman shook her head and put her sword back away and started to walk away. Did she seriously find Minako not a challenge? Oh hell no. Not on Aino Minako's pocket watch.

Stepping forward she brought her sword forward towards the back of the girls shoulder, intending on wounding her enough to hinder her ability to even wield her sword. In the moment she blinked, the short sword was against her own, pressing back. What the hell just happened?

"Perhaps you'd be wise…" Minako started, pushing hard, "to just give yourself over, Hino Rei."

Well if that was the woman's name, she didn't really react to it. All she did was draw her sword back before swinging it right back at Minako, full force. The jarring of the metal meeting felt uncomfortable as they started to face off against each other. It almost seemed like the woman was just toying with her, wasting time. She really was putting no effort into this and that made Minako grind her teeth. She was going to need some dentures if she kept doing that today, and that didn't sound very attractive or pleasant.

Silence reigned over the rest of the battle between them, swords meeting in hard clashes. The first real fight Minako had faced in at least two months minimum and it was refreshing in a way. It was a real shame she had to arrest Rei and take her back to be hung when this was just enjoyable.

Suddenly the woman paused with wide eyes and dropped her sword down, allowing Minako's sword to slice the skin at her left shoulder deep enough to spill a decent amount of blood. Confused, she stumbled back until she was grabbed and shoved into another direction behind the woman. Before she could turn around to ask what the fuck was going on, there was a loud explosion and Minako was sent flying forward and everything went black.