This is the one-shot request of 31esser. The prompt was "Red-Leg vs Katie." Since we don't know much about how tough Zeff is, I had to wing it on this one. Also, I hope I didn't write him as being OOC (I tried not to, but I don't know if I succeeded).
This one-shot takes place about 15 years before the beginning of "Who Is She?" It also contains information relevant to the main story.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Katie is my OC.
"Captain! There's a boat further down the shore!" announced one of the crewmates of Red-Leg Zeff. The captain glanced over at him. Then he looked down the shoreline from the deck of his own ship. Just as he said, there was an object sitting on the water, far enough away that its features were indistinguishable.
"What kind of boat? Who was on it?" Zeff inquired the crewmate.
"It's a small one, like a fishing boat. The cabin looks like it can only house maybe 2 people. I didn't get on it to look, but it seems like no one was around. They must have gone into the forest," he said, pointing at the forest that sat about 100 yards from where they were on the shore.
"Then you can go ahead and raid the boat for any valuable, although I doubt that you'll find much of anything. And don't steal any food!" ordered Zeff.
"Yes sir!" Since the fishing boat was small, only two of the Cook Pirates went to scavenge any treasure they might find. Zeff went back to issuing orders to the rest of his crew. Mostly, he was dividing them into groups to find food, fresh water, or to stay on the ship.
By the time he had stepped foot onto the sandy shore himself, two bodies, one with a large gash on his side and the other with a gash going diagonally across his back, where thrown onto the ground next to him. They were his crewmates, and both of them were still alive, if the groaning in pain was any indicator.
"Just what the hell do you want with my ship?" asked a harsh voice. Zeff looked up to see a woman in her late twenties. She had her thick, long, wavy black hair tied back in a high ponytail with her bangs cut at eyebrow level. She wore a long-sleeved green blouse, jeans, and boots with a slight heel. Around her neck was a compass. In her right hand was a saber, blood dripping off of it into the sand.
She gave Zeff an annoyed stare, waiting for him to answer. However, his horrified crewmates interrupted the conversation.
"What did you do to them?"
"Do you have any idea who you're messing with?" The woman huffed, irritated.
"As much as I hate it when people try to break into my cabin to steal from me, I don't have time to waste on any of you. Just back off and you all get to keep both your lives and your limbs," she said, turning back around to her boat.
"Wait! You can't expect us to just let you be on your way after that!" yelled another Cook Pirate. He was on Zeff's right and had his rifle aimed at the woman walking away.
"Don't, you fool!" shouted Zeff, kicking the gun away. It was too late, though. A shot was fired at her. However, she spun on her heel, turning out of the line of fire. The bullet hit the compass she wore as it flew up from the spin. The woman's eyes widened as the glass shattered.
She caught the broken instrument before it landed back on her chest. The Cook Pirates watched as she stood there examining the compass silently. Finally, her grip tightened around it as she yanked it forward, breaking the chain around her neck.
"All right. Fine. If you want a fight so bad, I'll give it to you," she said with dangerous undertones. She threw the broken compass to the side as she raised her saber. Zeff stepped forward.
"Hold it!" he said. The woman raised an eyebrow at him, but she didn't relax her stance.
"I understand that it is usually unwise to pick a fight with someone like you, but don't think that I'll just stand by and let you take your rage out on my crew!" he said. The woman frowned.
"So you're saying that you'll fight me on their behalf?" she asked.
"Yes. And whether or not I win, you must promise to not strike out at them after you're done with me. Is that a deal, Speed Demon Morani Katie?" She lowered her sword slightly, staring at Zeff curiously.
"So you know who I am. And you're still willing to fight me head on?" she asked.
"Is that a yes to my deal?" asked Zeff, ignoring her question. Katie was silent for a moment as she studied Zeff.
"What's your name, pirate?" she asked.
"I am Zeff, Captain of the Cook Pirates," he answered.
"Red-Leg? I see . . . I've heard a bit about you," she said, almost sounding a little impressed, "In that case, if you're as powerful as I heard, it would be an insult if I didn't take this fight seriously." When Zeff still didn't say anything, she crouched down with her sword-arm outstretched in front of her.
"It's a deal. I won't harm your crew, no matter the outcome," she promised.
"Good." Zeff immediately jumped up and aimed to kick her from above. Katie blocked the kick with her sword. The ground around her caved from the pressure of the attack, but she still stood in her crouched, defensive position, holding him off. They stayed locked like that until she managed to throw him off.
"I have to say, your strength is definitely impressive," she praised as she stood taller.
"It's impressive that you managed to block me without a dent on your weapon," he said.
"I wouldn't still have it if it couldn't take that much," she said, "If I were you, I'd avoid blinking as much as possible." No sooner after she'd said that, she was suddenly right in front of him, swinging down. Zeff blocked the attack at the last minute with his foot. The sword deflected off of him, but Katie spun around as she crouched. This time, she was aiming to slash at him from below. Zeff lowered his foot down just in time to stop the sword's momentum. They held that position for a moment until Zeff managed to force the sword down onto the ground. Then he aimed to kick Katie with his other foot. Katie ducked. Once the leg had passed her, she lunged forward and pushed him off the blade. Zeff staggered away, unbalanced, as Katie jumped back.
"Why don't you use your hands? It would have been a lot easier to strike me during that last attack," she said.
"I'm a chef. I can't cook if I don't protect my hands," he said simply.
"Ah, yes. I heard that your cooking is excellent. Maybe I should add to the deal that you cook me one of your meals if I win," she pondered out loud.
"It'd be hard to get a dead man to cook, wouldn't it?" said Zeff. Katie vanished and reappeared right behind him. Zeff turned around, his leg up for a kick. He was met with a kick from Katie, their legs locking in midair.
"You seem to have a decent kick," commented Zeff. Katie smirked as they disengaged.
"You can't run as fast as me without getting a lot of leg strength first," she said, "Although, I don't specialize in those attacks. It'd be a pain if one of my legs broke."
"So the Speed Demon protects her legs like I protect my hands?" he mused.
"I guess you could say that. Just not to the same extent as you." They exchanged a few more blows, both of them countering the other's strength each time. The Cook Pirates watched in awe as the fight kept escalating.
It was a while into the fight when there were a few more craters in the ground from Zeff's kicks that the Cook Captain noticed that Katie was starting to breathe a little heavily.
"Are you getting exhausted? I thought someone who could maintain that speed would have more stamina than that," he said.
"Please, as if I could be worn out that easily," she scoffed, standing taller. Zeff eyed her critically.
"Tell me, Morani, I've heard a lot of stories about your speed, but I haven't seen anything you've thrown at me that matches those stories. Are they nothing more than exaggerations?" he asked. Katie bristled, and looked like she was about to retort when she closed her mouth and took a deep breath.
". . . I can't say, since I don't know what you've heard, but I have been holding back a bit," she admitted.
"Why's that? I thought you didn't want to insult me?" he asked.
"I don't," she said, "But, since you were so ready to put your life on the line for your crewmates, I wanted to give you a fighting chance instead of immediately shutting you down. Like I do with a lot of idiots who challenge me. Plus, I wanted to gauge your strength first. However . . ." She pointed her saber at him, her expression resolved.
"This has gone on long enough. You're definitely a tough one. So, I will let you see what my full speed is like. If you can still fight me off, then you're better than I gave you credit for."
"So show me, then," challenged Zeff. He tensed as he quickly side-stepped the saber being thrust at him . . . from behind. The blade cut his side, and he saw a tree in the forest in front of him get hit, as though it was stabbed through. He turned to see Katie already making another swing. He barely got out of the way in time before the slash cut through the ground for several yards. He made another kick at her only to be struck from the side. The cut was now a deep gash, and leaking a lot of blood.
Katie kicked him down into the sand before he could recover. As he tried to sit up, a foot found its way to his throat and held him down. Zeff saw the sunlight glint off the point of the saber before Katie made one more thrust at him.
The Cook Pirates gasped, fearing the worst for their captain. It wasn't until they saw that Katie had stuck her blade into the sand barely an inch from his head did they start breathing again.
Katie stared down at Zeff as he started to choke. Finally, she relieved the pressure from his throat and pulled back the sword.
"I guess this means that you owe me a meal," she said casually, pulling out a tissue from one of her jeans' pockets to clean her blade.
"You say you win, and yet I'm alive," he coughed.
"Who said that a victory has to end in someone's death?" she asked him in the same casual tone. She sheathed her sword at her hip before offering Zeff her hand.
". . . From the reputation you've gained for yourself, I had hardly guessed you to be the type of person to help up a challenger," he said.
"Do you want me to help you up or not? Because I can just as easily stop feeling this generous," she said, annoyed. Zeff smirked as he took her hand.
"So, you have any specific requests?"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"So, what brings the Speed Demon out of the Grand Line? I imagine that a sea as tamed as the East Blue would be a bit boring for someone like you," said Zeff. He, his crew, and Katie were all enjoying a fine meal of ravioli stuffed with cheese.
Katie rolled her eyes at his comment.
"If you must know, I'm on my way to visit a friend of mine. And it's imperative that I get going as soon as possible," she said after swallowing a mouthful of food.
"Why the rush? It's not like your friend is in trouble, are they?" asked Zeff. Katie paused with her fork halfway to her mouth. She was silent for a moment before looking away and lowering her fork. Zeff frowned at the sudden change in attitude.
"Selena . . . her health was always such a frail thing. The last time she called me, she said she had a bad case of pneumonia and urged me to come see her," she said quietly. Zeff watched as Katie became stoic.
"I see . . . That is unfortunate. So you're going to say goodbye?" he asked, jumping straight to the obvious point.
"Not if I can help it," scoffed Katie, her eyes now alight with determination, "I was staying with a doctor friend of mine when I got the call a few days ago. She's a crazy old bat, but I never doubt her when it comes to medicine. I managed to get her to give me something that would help Selena get better. I'm only one day away from her island. With any luck, she'll still be there when I arrive."
"Must be a good friend of yours. But if her health is so delicate, then she might not last too long with the latest flu that was going around on certain islands here," said Zeff.
"She'll hang on. She has to," said Katie, "She has a child under her care and no one else to hand her off to. She might get sick a lot, but she won't die that easily now that she can finally call herself a mother."
"A child?" inquired Zeff. Katie nodded.
"A five-year-old girl. She tells me about her every time she calls me. She's very . . . proud of her." Zeff frowned at the troubled expression on Katie's face.
"She's also going to have a son, soon. So she can't die off now. Not with a newborn in the picture," explained Katie.
"You say that there is no one to take the girl. Is there no father in the picture?" asked Zeff. Katie scoffed.
"Her bastard of an exe ran out a long time ago. What Selena doesn't know is that he now has trouble walking due to broken kneecaps."
"I wonder why that is?" asked Zeff rhetorically. Katie rolled her eyes at him.
"What about you? You've retired from pirating, and have been staying under the radar for quite some time now," pointed out Zeff. Katie stared at him like he had gone crazy.
"As if. I hate kids. Besides, those kids would be better off learning how to fend for themselves than to be seen associated with me," she said adamantly.
"So you say, but a five-year-old would hardly know how to survive on their own. A newborn is completely dependent on others. Children that young need someone to act as a mother," said Zeff.
"And they're going to keep the mother they have," said Katie, with a tone of finality and glaring at Zeff, "I just need to figure out what to do since one of you dumbasses broke my only compass." She waved her arm around to gesture to the crew in general, and her anger from before was being renewed.
Zeff raised a hand, motioning her to calm down.
"There's no need for the hostility. We have a spare compass. I'm willing to hand it over to help you out," he said. Katie eyed him suspiciously.
"Why's that? Aren't you sore about how I could have killed you?" she asked.
"Nope. Rather, I have a better idea of how much more I'll have to prepare before heading out for the Grand Line myself because of this. So I want to thank you," he said. Katie nodded after a moment.
"Don't judge entirely off of me, though. There's a lot of rough people and climates that could give me a tough challenge any day," she said.
"I'll be sure to remember that. Now, finish your food," he ordered.
"I'm fine. I like to take that compass and go now," she said. Zeff bopped her on the head with his foot before she could get up.
"If there's one rule I go by, it's that nobody on my ship wastes food. Now finish your plate!" he ordered. She glared at him.
"I swear, you sound as much of a nag as Kureha," she muttered under her breath.
If you can guess who the children are, you can probably guess what happened after this scene, assuming that you have read "Who Is She?"
So, what do you guys think? About both the fight and the information relevant to the main story?
Please leave a review telling me what you think!