Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The Straw Hat Pirates decided to stop in the small island village of Reitha. The island was very beautiful, with a lot of rolling green hills, natural hot springs, great food and plenty of shops. Luffy, Chopper and Ussopp were all fighting over the last piece of meat while Robin, Nami, Zolo and Sanji discussed their current financial situation.
Luffy was about to bite Ussopp's un-proportionally large nose when they heard a mixture of yells and rapid, stampeding footsteps coming toward them. Turning, they saw a rather small girl with snow-white skin and matching hair emerged from the narrow street and turned into the entrance of the shopping center, followed closely by a mob fully grown men twice her size. Most of the men had swords, axes and even guns pointed at the small girl, but a few were ready to fight with their bare hands. Fury was etched into every face in the crowd. Suddenly, she stopped running and turned around to face the men.
"Hay girlie, you 'gonna stop runnin' and pay us what ya owe?" one of the unarmed men snarled at her, voice thick with murderous rage.
The girl smirked, taking an offensive stance. "Hell no!" she snapped, dropping her head and charging them.
The mob struck out at her at once, bullets flying through the air as blades of different sorts struck out where she was standing. The girl dodged the attacks, ducking under a new rain of bullets and steel, bringing her right foot up and striking one of the men in the chin. Doubling over backwards, she landed on her hands and spun left, knocking two of them back into the main group. The girl leapt into the air, flipping over and landing on the flat of a sword. She kicked the man attached and caught it as it spiraled through the air, twirling it through the mob with the skill of a trained assassin. Within minutes all of the men had either been disposed of or were halfway to Drum, their tails between their legs.
"Why do you think they were chasing her?" Nami asked, startled by the level of skill the girl possessed.
"Let's ask!" Luffy said enthusiastically, bounding towards her. Unfortunately for him, he failed to notice that she had assumed an offensive he was less than a foot away, her foot shot out and buried itself in his stomach.
"Who are you?" the girl asked suspiciously, removing her foot from Luffy's abdomen and looking him over critically.
"Luffy," he introduced himself cheerfully, sticking his hand out, completely unaffected by her attack. "You?"
The girl eyed him strangely. "Ruiiro," she replied caitiously, casting her eyes around the others. "Are they with you?"
"Yeah, this is my pirate crew," Luffy told her proudly. "We're the Straw Hat Pirates!"
Luffy quickly led Ruiiro to the mismatched group of pirates, pointing each member out as he introduced them.
"This is our first mate, Zolo." Luffy said, patting the swordsman's shoulder.
"Yo," Zolo called, waving. Ruiiro smiled back uncertainly.
"Nami, our navigator," he moved on, pointing to her.
"Hello there," Nami greeted, grinning.
"Hello," Ruiiro replied, her smile a little more confident.
"Sanji here is our cook," Luffy chuckled, grinning widely.
Sanji was kneeled on the floor, taking one of her hands and raising it. The next second he was out cold, a large red welt on his right cheek.
"Chopper is our doctor," he continued, lifting the medic to eye level with Ruiiro. She smiled and shook his paw.
"Ussopp, our sniper." Luffy pointed at him.
"Hello. Ruiiro, was it?" Ussopp asked, grinning.
"Ruiiro, yes," she confirmed. "It's nice to meet you."
"And lastly, our archeologist, Nico Robin."
"It's a pleasure." Robin bowed.
"The feeling's mutual," Ruiiro replied, smiling.
After the introductions were completed, Luffy returned to his stool, and Ruiiro took a seat beside him, listening to their animated bickering for a few moments before the conversation turned to the reasons for her fight.
"I killed their boss. Plain and simple," Ruiiro said easily, sipping her coffee.
"Why?" Nami asked, concerned. "What would make such a sweet girl like you do something like that?"
She sighed, putting down her coffee. "He tried to..." she hesitated, uncertainty etched into her features, obviously struggling with her reasons. "Well, he tried to rape me."
Everyone was silent after her announcement, staring into their respective drinks. Frowning, she took another drink and pushing to her feet. "Well," she sighed, glancing around at them, "it was nice meeting you all, but I should probably go."
Luffy grabbed her wrist gently, rising slowly. "Don't go," he pleaded. "Join our crew. And you're an orphan, so it won't matter anyway."
"How did you know that?" Ruiiro asked in a puzzled tone, pulling her wrist away.
"It's obvious," Robin replied simply. "You were attacked by the mafia, you fight like a master and you're dressed in tatters."
"We'll be very nice, and it's better than living on the streets. Please come with us," Chopper begged.
She sighed. "Fine," she consented, smiling in defeat. "I'll go, but... what position will I have?"
"Hmm," Luffy muttered, contemplating that for a moment. "How about assassin?
This brought a smile to Ruiiro's face, and she resumed her seat, lifting her coffee to her lips and taking a short sip.
"Sounds good."