Crew of the Axe: Fateful Love
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.
Kilnorc: This idea was suggested by Dude of Doom, and I must admit it's interesting, so here it is. Don't worry, it's a small multi-chapter fic and a side-project.
Samuel D. Jericho sat on his knees in his prison cell, having been captured by Revolutionaries, Black Crow to be exact, chained to the wall next to his wife Melanie. Both he and Melanie were covered in filth and their own blood after their short-lived battle with Black Crow back in the West Blue. He wanted them to come with them, but they denied him and now, here they were. Jericho turned his head to his wife, a worried look in his eyes.
"How are you holding up, Melanie?" he hissed, "Still with me?"
"Yes, I am," she turned to face him, "Was wondering the same about you,"
"Heh," Jericho grinned, despite the circumstances, "Even in bad situations, we have the same thoughts on our minds,"
"Something we've acquired through all our years together," Melanie nodded and turned her head back to look at the hall outside their cell, "Sorta reminds you as our days as pirates, huh?"
"What, the near death part or being locked up in a cell?" Jericho cracked, earning a light giggle, "Yeah, it does. I'm just glad that your family isn't here to see us now,"
"If they were here, they'd help us escape!"
"If they were here, they'd all gang up on me, do God knows what and free you!"
"Why do you always go to the extreme, Jericho?"
"Maybe it's because of the threat your family gave before I married you while they gave me the tattoo on my back," Jericho muttered, "Keep her safe and if you hurt her in anyway, we'll hunt you down and kill you like the dog you are," he said in deep, gruff voice.
Melanie gave him a look, "Who was that supposed to be?"
"I dunno...Duke? Jeremiah? Who the hell knows, it's been too long since we've talked to any of them," he sighed, "You figured the least they could do was visit when Axe was born,"
"Oh yes, highly wanted men and women visiting a Marine occupied island to visit other highly wanted, thought to be dead, criminals and their newborn son," Melanie rolled her eyes, "You are so thick!"
The two former, older pirates became quiet, listening to the dull noise that came through down the hall that lay in front of their cell.
"Melanie?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you ever see this kinda thing coming when we first met? Because I sure as hell didn't,"
"Nope...did see some bad stuff though, I'll admit that,"
"Yeah, and in came in the form of y-,"
"I admit, they're rough and not exactly saints, but they're still my family, so please be very careful what you say next, dear,"
Jericho went silent for a few moments before clearing his throat, "Did not see this coming...,"
Years and Years Ago...
"I'm here, what's the mission?" a younger Melanie Cross asked her Den Den Mushi, a large, beautiful bow on her back along with a quiver of arrows. She wore a black outfit consisting of knee-high boots (not the heeled kind that could hurt while running, but the flat kind that are okay to run in), a pair of rather short shorts and a matching halter top. She wore a pair of black, bracers on her arms, a light, black traveling cloak (complete with hood), and a matching bandanna tied around her forehead, keeping her bangs out of her brown eyes. The bow she carried was beautiful and well-crafted from a piece of Adam's wood, as were her arrows, which had the addition of special arrowheads that were sharp, jagged and made out of an unknown metal.
"The mission, dear Melanie, is an informant of ours. We suspect that he is a double agent and is also working for the Samuels. Your mission: silence the informant before he makes contact with the Samuel he's supposed to meet with here today,"
Melanie frowned, "Isn't there a certain someone else who can appear, kill and disappear with a guarantee of an escape?"
"Yes, but you haven't had much time out in the field lately, Melanie, I'm giving you this as a favor,"
"Gee, thanks...,"
"Call me back when you've completed your mission," the Den Den Mushi went quiet.
Melanie sighed and pocketed the snail inside her cloak, "No matter how many times I hear it, I'll never understand why the clans have been fighting each other for so long,"
With that, Melanie hopped off the ledge of the tall building she was currently standing on, the mission on her mind as she landed on another ledge and ran, jumping when she reached the end of that ledge and jumping to another one.
-Meanwhile...-
A younger Samuel D. Jericho stretched his arms as he walked down the streets of the busy city. He and his pirate clan had just reached this island, and while they were busy getting supplies and unwinding, he was off to meet with an informant that usually gave reliable information and details regarding certain events, places, and people...such as the Cross clan.
Jericho yawned, "I'll never understand why the clans fight like they do, but I guess if they haven't stopped by now, they never will stop," he murmured, scratching the stubble on his chin. As he walked through the city, people turned and stared at him. It was either because of his bounty, his look, or even the very large sword that was strapped to his back. The sword was unique, even for a sword in the Grand Line, for it was a sword made of other swords. Confused? Simply put, Jericho's sword is a large sword made up of smaller swords that connect to each other to create the bigger sword. Separated, Jericho could have a fair amount of smaller blades at his disposal.
"Where the hell am I supposed to meet this guy?" Jericho dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.
Come to fhe marketplace of Quintor City on Carin Island. Have huge information to give, come alone!
Well, I'm on the island, and I'm in the city...so where's the marketplace? Jericho looked up from the piece of paper and saw that the road ahead of him had changed from a simple traveling lane to a street filled with shop vendors and trade goods. He looked up at a nearby sign.
Quintor City Marketplace.
"...well, that was easy," Jericho cleared his throat and crumpled the paper, "Now, to find this guy,"
The sword carrying pirate walked through the marketplace, looking for the informant. He didn't wait for long, because a short time after entering the marketplace, he caught sight of the informant. This man, though he worked with the Crosses, was reliable in the information he gave to the Samuels. Jericho walked over to him and leaned against a nearby wall, "Hello, Vaskos. What do you have for me today?"
The informant, Vaskos, was a nervous, twitchy man by nature, but it never really showed unless he was in the presence of people much stronger than him. He wrung his hands together and looked around, a paranoid look in his eyes.
"You come alone?"
"Of course, I always do," Jericho said assuringly, "My crew's back at the harbor, so I came here. What do you have to give me?"
Vaskos came closer, lowering his voice, "The Crosses...one of them found something! Something big!"
"Like what?"
"They found like a...a...some kind of prediction or something,"
"...what?"
Vaskos took a sharp breath, "One of them found a prediction regarding some things called Points. I don't know all the details, but I know enough to know that it's big and it could be trouble if the Crosses get their hands on it,"
Jericho frowned, "You said you don't know all the details, but you know some. Tell me what you do know, Vaskos,"
The informant shrugged, "I dunno if I should, I'm risking enough as it is, coming here,"
"Nothing will happen to you, Vaskos, I promise you, tell me what you know!" Jericho pleaded, "My family could be in danger here!"
Vaskos looked at him in the eye, "Al-alright, y-y-yeah, sure, I'll tell you. I was looking around the Crosses library and I came across some weird things. I don't know if they know of them, but if they do, I don't think they pay much attention or care much for them,"
"Weird things like what?"
Vaskos shrugged, "The Points prediction, I didn't see much of that, and some kinda object called...Cross,"
"Are you shitting me?"
"I can't say the first name, I can't remember it, but from what I read, it's supposed to be major! This...Cross thing...it's something old, but really dangerous! It didn't give specifics on what it looked like or what it does, but I read that it was dangerous enough that some of the original members of the Cross family destroyed it and hid the information on it somewhere in the world,"
"So, it's what, an Ancient Weapon?"
Again, Vaskos shrugged, "No friggin' clue man, I almost got caught in there, so I bolted and pretended to have gotten lost. Not a lot of people that aren't Crosses are suppsoed to be in there,"
"Is there anything else you can tell-?" Jericho was suddenly cut off as Vaskos lurched forward and grabbed his shoulders, "What the hell...?!"
Vaskos' eyes were wide as the informant tried to speak, but all that came out of his moving lips were strained gasps. Pulling himself together, Jericho saw what was wrong with Vaskos. There was a long, slender arrow with black feathers lodged in his back. Judging by the location of the arrow, he was hit in a vital area.
The informant had no chance to survive. He was already dead when Jericho looked back at him. Looking up from the corpse, Jericho tried to locate the shooter.
Gotta be a Cross! he looked ahead and soon enough, he caught sight of a hooded figure running along the roofs of the shorter buildings, carrying a bow, There you are!
-Melanie-
Hope I got him before he said anything major, I don't want to be the one responsible for the destruction of the family! Also, I don't think they'd appreciate me failing! Melanie thought as she jumped from one building to the next, Shouldn't matter though, I did my job, now I just got to call for a pick-up! she reached into her cloak, pulling out her Den Den Mushi, but before she could activate it, something knocked it out of her hand.
Coming to a complete stop, Melanie saw the Den Den Mushi fall off the building as a silvery blade lodged itself into the building just inches from her position.
Dammit, I had a feeling there'd be complications! Melanie quickly knocked an arrow into her bow and turned around, scanning the area where the blade would have come from, "Where are you, you bastard?" she whispered to herself, "Just lemme know where you are, and I'll show you that you shouldn't mess with a Cross!"
"I'm right here!" a rough voice hissed from behind before a hard boot collided with her back, knocking her into the street below.
Melanie was able to land on her feet, but she had dropped her bow in the fall. Desperate to protect herself, she pulled out a large dagger hidden in her cloak and spun around to face her attacker. Definitely one of the Samuels, she thought, He must be really good to have not only catch up on me, but catch me off guard!
"You're not very smart, are you?" Jericho asked, inserting the smaller blade from before back into his weapon, restoring it, "Bringing a knife to a swordfight,"
"I think the phrase is 'Never bring a knife to a gunfight'," Melanie smirked, "How much did that traitor Vaskos tell you?"
"Oh, like I'm going to tell you," Jericho shot back, "Where were you going in such a hurry, Cross?"
He knows who I am...smart for a Samuel! Melanie shook her head as she carefully walked around the circular area provided by the cautious, but curious group of onlookers around them, "No hurry, Samuel,"
"Oh really? You shoot a man from behind and run off like a scared jackrabbit?" Jericho wagged a finger, "Naughty girl,"
"I do what I can. So, are we going to just stand here and talk, or can I kill you already?"
"I'd love to see you try!"
As soon as those words were said, the two enemies attacked each other.
...and thus, from that point on, the Wheels of Fate were in motion.
Kilnorc: I hope that was good, folks. Believe it or not, I'm making this up as I go along...and I figured that Cross thing Axe and Kairi are racing to find and the book that Axe got from Wraith should actually be connected to the Cross family. I mean, think about it. Melanie Cross is his mother, the Cross family are interested in him and others, and the two pirates are looking for that special Cross. See, it's fate! But what IS the Cross? That, I'm afraid is classified until further notice. Sorry folks!