Episode One: Run Girlie Run! Saved by Criminals?
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Breathing harsh, drumming heartbeat sounding heavily in the ears of the victim fleeing away. Feet pounded the sand and purple hair slapped through the wind like small little whips lashing through the air. Pant, pant. Huff, huff. Each breath was a struggle to escape. From who and why, you may ask. Bandits. That's who. They traveled down from the high mountains and were terrorizing the small village that hid within the South Blue waters. T'was a small little village named Yegrald, built to do a simple job of crop and animal farming as well as the occasional trading of sorts. Enough about that, back to the point. Who's running yer probably wonderin'? It's a young lass, under the name of Adaline Emmerson, not but the age of eight running for her life from the bandits terrorizing her town. Ye see, a couple decided they wanted to have fun chasing the little eccentric girl around, she had vibrant hair that was hard to hide and easy to chase, and apparently they took great joy in tormenting her. Thus, here she was, fleeing for her very existence.
Why… Why're ye doing this? What'd we do to ye all? Thoughts raced through her mind as she struggled to understand what was happening. Her feet stumbled and she fell face first into the sand, her hair splaying out like poison spilling across the white grains beneath it. A gun fired and shot into the ground beside her and suddenly her thin arms jerked forward and she was running again, scrambling in frantic anguish. "S-somebody!" Her feet were hitting the ground, stinging with each slam of her foot, her hands would occasionally grab sand as she stumbled, and she'd fling it backwards as she ran on. "Please, help me! … Please!" She would cry out in sheer desperation, seeing a ship in the not so distant waters, her cries directed to that ship.
No one was around close enough, no one within range to hear her cries. She was at least a mile from her village now, having run so far away trying to outrun her pursuers with her meager little legs. But her strength was fading, and her stamina was, at this point, quite exhausted. Stumbling more, tripping over air it seemed, her attackers would sneer in satisfaction behind her before a hand grabbed up a fistful of her vibrant hair, hoisting her up into the air where her legs weakly dangled down. "A…anyone…" She whimpered, tears forming in her eyes as she forced a scowl to her face, being spun to look into the disgusting gazes of the bandit who had picked her up.
He was a well-muscled man, wearing a scruffy bandana with a dingy looking white shirt and sand colored pants. His leather shoes were scuffed with sand and in his hand he held a short blade on a broad hilt, holding the blade up at her his sneer grew wider. "Do ya know what w' do to lil' girlies like ya who run away?" He snickered.
Fearing to answer she merely sniffled but glared meekly at him. "I'm not scared of ye!" She defiantly stated in the strongest voice she could muster, still sounding like a wet kitten crying for help none the less.
A blade pressed closer to her neck before suddenly stopping and lifting, cutting clear from the bottom of her right eyebrow to cross over her nose in a diagonal fashion and end at the bottom of her left cheekbone. "We cut ya up and bury ya alive!" His grin grew wider, if that was even possible at this point and he yanked her up higher, holding the blade closer. "Look, we even brought ye a buddy to eternally rest with, eh?" He sneered, and jerked her so she could see over his shoulder, although by now she had blood streaming down in front of her right eye and dripping past her lips.
The other bandit, stood behind the first one. This bandit had a little boy with scruffy brown hair and meek black eyes overflowing with tears, he looked barely old enough to be maybe six years of age. The sound of his wailing tore through the air, now quite apparent in its existence as before she hadn't fully noticed him being there. It was her next door neighbor, Joey.
All he did was cry, and cry, and cry, and soon enough Adaline's tears spilled from her eyes, blossoming from the creases in her eyes, beginning to cry as well before she stubbornly turned her gaze back to the man holding her. "Ye…ye…yer all scum!" She cried out, angry they'd grab another innocent kid and harm him too when she was their target, her voice shook through the smug atmosphere and suddenly the expressions changed on the bandits. "You're dead, girlie." The first bandit snarled in a low tone, raising his knife again, preparing to bash it across her already bloodied face.
"Not so fast…" Someone's deep voice rang out. Through her bloodied eye all she could see was a flash of blonde, and purple, and suddenly the sound of crackling fire. Blue flames roared past her and her bandit to the man behind her holding Joey. A cry of pain sounded and a weak but clear itie sound of pain was hidden within the wails the boy let loose when he hit the ground, too stunned to run away.
The bandits never had time to question who it was, but she heard the hiss leave bandit number one's lips before he got a foot laced in flames kicked into his chest and he too was knocked out cold as she fell to the ground.
The last word she heard on that fateful day, let loose by a bandit who was being knocked out, and the last thing she saw was a black flag flying above a ship, a cross of purple bones with a skull donning a white mustache like beard. Letting the word imprint to her memory, her mind fogging from blood-loss, drifting into unconsciousness. "Pirates…"
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Author's Note: If yer wondering who she was saved by and what in bloody hells I'm writing, it's a One Piece fanfiction with minimal encounter of the canon characters and with Oda's characters, and we're following the adventures of my own crew and characters, and the pirates she was saved by was the Whitebeard pirates, and the First Commander Marco saved her. Why he was there, probably docked for some supplies or something, why he helped her, well who knows? Anyway, don't forget to give me some feedback, tell me if ye didn't like something, or think I could've improved anything, I'd love to hear from ye all. ^.^;
~Cat.
Ps, I know it could be longer but mind you, I like the cliffhanger. I'll keep trying to improve my length of my pages though.