Chapter 2

"Izumi. We turned one of the storage rooms into a bedroom for you. Come, I'll show you where it is." Wire called as he walked up to her and Heat as they were talking up on deck.

"Thank you." she grinned and followed the tall man.

"It's near captain's room and one of the bathrooms." he said as he led her to it.

"Here we are." Wire smiled opening a door to a small room with a single bed, desk, chair and closet in it along with a lamp on the table.

"Thank you." she smiled walking in and dropped her bag on the bed as Sid jumped on it and flopped down.

"You can buy the stuff you may need on the next island." Wire said as she looked around.

"Okay. I like it. It's cosy." she grinned and poked a sleeping Sid.

"Let's leave him to rest." she whispered to Wire and closed the door behind them.

"So, where are you from?" he asked curiously.

"I was born in the New World but grew up here on an island called Ruby Lagoon." she said as they headed back up.

"That famous trading port near Sabaody?" he asked surprised.

"Yup." she giggled.

"How did you get all the way out here then?" he asked.

"I started travelling around just under a year ago. Seeing the world and looking for inspiration to write and living canvases to cover." she grinned.

"What do you mean?" Wire asked confused.

"I'm a writer and tattoo artist." Izumi smiled.

"That's awesome. We won't have to go to a shop anymore then. Some of the guys usually get new ones every now and then." he said grinning.

"Yeah, I just need the equipment and the inks." she chuckled.

"We can get that, just mention it to Killer or the captain." he replied.

"Got it." she said and jumped up to sit on the railing.

"Izumi." Killer called as he walked up to them.

"Hiya." she smiled at him.

"Did you meet everyone yet?" he asked.

"Yup. Pretty cool people." she grinned.

"I'm glad you like them. I came to talk to you about the cleaning rota. You have laundry duty every Wednesday, mop duty on Fridays and cleaning of the the storage rooms on Sundays." he said.

"Sure." she shrugged.

"Dinner!" came Jake's loud yell from below deck as everyone made their way to the galley.

Izumi followed Killer and Wire in and they pulled her to the biggest table, where Kidd, Heat and Jake sat at. They sat down and she took the last empty chair that was between Kidd and Heat.

"Did you get given a room yet?" Kidd asked looking at her.

"Yup. Wire already showed it to me. Sid immediately fell asleep on the bed." she said chuckling.

"What kind of foods do you like Izumi?" Jake asked smiling.

"Uhm. I eat anything really." she shrugged.

"Except for onion and kiwi." he chuckled.

"Don't remind me of my enemies. One day I will burn every single one of them until they perish, then I'd like to see them try to make me suffer." she said glaring into space with her ears sticking down, making them laugh at her strange outburst.

"You can't get rid of all of them. There's loads all over the world. It's impossible." Heat laughed.
"Nothing's impossible. They said taming a hoard of crocodiles was impossible, yet there I was best friends with them. So don't tell me about impossible." she said smirking at him.

"Yeah but you can talk to them, can't you?" Wire asked chuckling.

"That's beside the point." she waved him off and started eating.

"Yummy." she grinned.

"I'm glad you like it." Jake smiled.

"Oh yeah, Kidd. I need to buy tattooing equipment and new clothes. I kinda ran out now, all of my old ones got ripped up in the fights I got into." she said looking up at him.

"Sure. You can get some at the next island." he nodded.

"Thanks." she grinned and finished eating.

"Thank you for the food. I'm going to grab a couple of fruits for Sid. He must be hungry by now." she said and walked into the kitchen with her dirty dishes.

Cleaning them, she left it on the side and grabbed a couple of bananas and apples.

"I'll be in my room if anyone wants something." she smiled at them and walked out.

She walked back and luckily found it without any trouble. She sat down on the bed beside the still sleeping Sid and placed the fruits beside her, she then shook him gently.

"Sid wake up, time for dinner." she smiled as he opened his teal eyes.

'Hi Zumi.' he said rubbing his eyes and let out a big yawn.

"I brought you food." she grinned gesturing to it as he happily grabbed a banana and started to eat it.

'So what have you been up to?' he asked, mouth full of food.

"Talked to the crew. They're interesting." she smiled.

'That's good. Considering we're gonna have to live with them from now on.' he nodded.

She waited for him to finish eating and they took his rubbish to the kitchen, then walked up to deck.

"I feel like taking a little nap. Beating those beasts took a lot out of me." she said stretching her arms.

'You were gone for 3 days. How did you get food and did you even sleep?' Sid asked unamused.

"I cooked what I killed and I didn't sleep." she simply said and turned into a huge golden tiger.

'Are you kidding me? You haven't slept for 3 days straight?!' Sid yelled alarmed.

"It's not a big deal. I'm insomniac anyway." she chuckled in her tiger form and laid down beside the railing.

'Sleep. Now.' he said and sat down beside her, keeping watch.

Some of the crew watched her amazed. She was a beautiful creature, human or tiger.

"She's sleeping on deck?" Kidd asked annoyed as he walked passed.

"From her conversation with Sid, I take it she didn't sleep at all while she was fighting those animals. For 3 days I think Jet said." Killer explained.

"She's insane." Kidd said looking her over.

"I like insane." he grinned and walked off.

Izumi slept peacefully for at least half an hour of smooth sailing, with Sid sleeping leaned on her side.

Her ears twitched, then again, the next time she opened her eyes and sat up in her tiger form still.

"You awake? That was a quick nap." Jake commented as he was sitting outside and noticed her.

She ignored him though and stood up, hoisted herself up onto her back legs with her front paws on the railing as she looked at the sea.

"Something wrong?" Killer asked noticing her behaviour as her ears kept twitching and she scanned the water with her eyes. This drew the attention of some of the others and Sid jumped onto the railing beside her.

'What do you hear?' he asked in monkey and she only replied with a low growl and jumped off, running to the other side of the ship. She walked back and forth for a while, confusing the others.

"What's up with her?" Wire asked and glanced at Sid.

With a sigh he did some hand signs and Wire chuckled.

"It's a sea king she can hear and wants to fight it." Wire informed them.

"You can understand him?" Heat asked shocked.

"He knows sign language. I understand that." he explained as Sid grinned happy that someone other than Izumi understood him.

Suddenly a giant sea king erupted from the water and Izumi let out a loud growl. It was huge and sort of piranha like.

Before anyone could do anything, Izumi jumped at it and blinded it with her claws.

"Izumi!" some of them yelled alarmed as it went underwater, taking her with it.

In a few moments, a little ways further away, the sea seemingly blew up and the sea king appeared again, this time with a human Izumi on top of it as she was thrown back onto the deck.

She chuckled, excitedly and ran up the mast to stand on top of the crow's nest.

"The fuck are you doing?!" Kidd yelled at her.

"Fighting! What does it fucking look like?" she yelled back grinning at him.

She watched the water as the sea king disappeared below them again. Reaching out her left arm and drew back her right in the positing of holding a bow, fire appeared in her hands as it morphed into a bow and an arrow.

As soon as the sea king popped it's head out of the water, Izumi let the fire arrow go and it hit it in the other eye, burning it's eye out, making it growl in pain and attack the ship. She jumped from the crows nest and landed a kick onto it's head, using gravity and her weight to her advantage.

The sea king cried out and threw her up in the air again. This time she didn't land on deck but in it's mouth instead and it disappeared underwater.

"Izumi!" they yelled again alarmed.

Sid did some hand signs again and Wire translated it.

"He said not to worry because Izumi can look after herself." he said.

They relaxed a little and watched the water for any signs of Izumi or the sea king. Then there was a giant explosion with white flames.

"That was her, right?" Heat asked scanning the water. Finally Izumi surfaced and started to swim towards the ship in her tiger form.

With a little struggle, she managed to climb back onto the ship and shook her body to get rid of the excess water in her fur.

"That was reckless. Next time attack it from here!" Kidd growled annoyed.

"It's dead. What's the difference?" she asked.

"It ate you." he argued.

"It's not how you do it but the end result that matters." she huffed and started to walk off.

"Don't walk away from me! And turn back to human!" he yelled after her.

"No." she said glaring at him with her tiger eyes.

"And why the fuck not?" Kidd growled crossing his arms.

"I'm wet." she said.

"You were wet when you got thrown back on deck before." he said rolling his eyes.

"I don't wanna." she replied.

"I'm the captain. You do what I say." he said with a dangerous tone that made some of the guys flinch.

"Fine." she growled and shifted back as white flames surrounded her body.

As they died down, she was holding her arms over her chest and glared at Kidd unamused.

"Happy?" she asked with a bored look on her face.

"Where the hell did your top go?" he asked surprised as some of the guys made cat calls.

"It got caught on that fucker's fangs. I thought I'd spare you the sight but you insisted." she explained with a sigh. Sid walked up to her and turned to his gorilla form. He untied her cardigan from her waist and put it around her shoulders.

"Can I go now, or you wanna stare a little longer? Should I move my arms?" she asked teasingly as she lowered her arms a tiny bit, making some of them blush.

"Go get changed already!" Kidd yelled, his face flushed and stormed off.

"Heat, I got injured." she grinned at him innocently moving her arms back.

"You're terrible, you know that? Come on." he said with a sigh.

She followed along happily as they went to the infirmary.

"Sid go get her a dry set of clothes while I treat her." Heat said to Sid but he just stared at him.

"Yeah. About that . . . I ran out of clean or intact clothing now." she said blushing.

"I'll go see what I can do about it. Stay put." he sighed and walked out.

"That was funny. Did you see Kidd's face?" Izumi chuckled as Sid laughed.

'Don't push your luck though. He seems aggressive.' Sid warned her.

"You're lucky, Killer had some stuff you can borrow." Heat said walking in.

"Thank you." she smiled.

"The bathroom is just around the corner. Go change and wash the blood off your legs." he said shooing her away after he gave her the clothes.

She took a quick shower and dried her body. Looking over the clothes, she pulled a black shirt on with white polka dots, a pair of black boxer briefs and she just held the blue jeans in her arms so that Heat could treat her wounds first. She grabbed her dirty and cut up clothes as well and walked back to the infirmary.

"Sit. Let me see that." Heat said as she sat down on one of the beds and he wrapped her right shin up and re-wrapped her previous wounds as well.

"Doesn't it hurt? You never showed any sign of being in pain so far." he asked curiously as she pulled the jeans on. The leg went over her feet but she just rolled it up.

"Pain is only temporary. Something I stopped worrying about a long time ago. I guess I just got used to it." she said shrugging.

"You're amazing, you know that? I never met a woman who thinks like that." Heat said smiling.

"Thank you." she smiled back and left with Sid on her shoulder.

"Izumi. You alright?" Killer asked as he ran into her.

"Yeah. I had worse. Thanks for letting me borrow your clothes." she smiled.

"No problem." he smiled under his mask and patted her head. She sighed happily and out of curiosity, Killer started scathing behind her ear. She let her eyelids drop as soft purring sounds left her throat.

Catching herself, she snapped her eyes open and stepped away from him blushing.

"Uh. Thanks again. I'm going to sleep now." she said and ran to her room.

"Well that was interesting." he said amused, then walked off.

'You let him get too close.' Sid said unamused, sitting on the table.

"I got carried away." she said annoyed.

"Anyway. I'm going to sleep." she said taking off the shirt and jeans. She got into bed and fell asleep quite quickly. Unusually quickly actually but she was tired from 3 days of fighting and no sleep and her injuries.

. . .

Morning quickly rolled around and soon enough it was time for breakfast. Jake prepared it just how the crew liked it and they happily dug in.

"Wait. Where's Izumi? I nearly forgot she was here." Heat asked.

"Probably sleeping still." Wire said with Sid sitting on his shoulder, munching on fruit.

"Should we go wake her?" Killer asked about to stand.

"Damn woman should learn to turn up on time. I'll drag her lazy fucking ass out of bed." Kidd growled angrily and walked out of the room as the guys looked at him surprised. Sid only sighed but didn't move.

"Woman! Wake the fuck up!" Kidd yelled as he walked through the door without knocking.

He was met with the sight of Izumi standing by her bed with her back to him. She was only in the black boxer briefs Killer had lent her and she was pulling at the bandages on her left upper arm.

As he bust through the door, she looked at him curiously and for a few seconds, both just stared at each other surprised. He could clearly see the golden stripes on her back as her orange hair fell to the middle of her back messily. Realising the situation, both of them turned bet red. Izumi quickly covered her chest with her arms and Kidd turned around.

"How many fucking times will this repeat, damn it?!" he growled.

"You're the one who just barged in without knocking." she said hurriedly pulling on the shirt and jeans.

"What do you want anyway?" she asked.

"Watch how you speak to me!" he suddenly yelled turning to her with a vicious glare.

"I speak how I want. I know you're the captain but how I speak is up to me. You don't scare me nor can you force me to do what I don't want." she glared back, getting annoyed herself.

"What?" he growled, his fists clenching.

"Let's get something straight. I joined your crew because you caught my attention. I'm curious and want to get to know you and your crew. But make no mistake, I do not like being ordered around and I'm not afraid to talk back. I will respect your authority and will follow you but not if you force it on me." she said looking him in the eyes.

For a few seconds, Kidd just glared at her angrily. He never met a woman who stood up to him like this before. She was brave and had spirit, he would be lying if he said he didn't find her interesting. But he was the captain and he had a reputation to uphold.

In a flash, he had her pushed against the wall, with a hand on her throat as he glared into her eyes.

"Listen you little bitch. I don't tolerate disobedience in my crew, especially back talking from a woman. Keep this up and you will find yourself missing your head." he hissed warningly. She only stared up at him unamused, not even bothered by his grip on her throat.

"If you want respect, earn it. You will quickly learn that I'm not your average weak little girly you can push around. Push me the wrong way and I will shove back twice as hard." she growled back with her ears sticking down.

"Do you have a death wish bitch? Didn't you hear what I just said?" Kidd growled, tightening his grip. This time she was struggling to breath.

"I heard loud and clear. Don't try to control me and we will get on just fine." she said with a strangled voice but the look in her eyes portrayed that she was dead serious and dangerous. He could see that she was a wild beast, he just had to tame her. His authority on the crew and threats, obviously wasn't the way he would achieve that.

"You have guts, that's for sure. No one ever talked back to me like this or even dare glare back. Not even Killer, who's my oldest friend." he said releasing her, a little calmer now. He had to admit that her will was admirable and he had a new respect for her in this aspect so he calmed himself down.

"Earn my trust and respect, then you can do what you want. Only with moderation though." he said with a glare.

"That goes for you too. With my respect comes obedience. I'm a very loyal person and as soon as I agreed to join your crew, there was a silent promise of loyalty to the death. As a Tama, I'm very competitive and I don't listen to just anyone. You need to prove your strength and alpha status." she said crossing her arms.

"That can be done. I will tame the beast within you." he smirked, promising that.

"I'm looking forward to it. Now, what did you come here for? You had a reason right?" she asked her demeanour going back to the laid back harmless one. While she was glaring back at him, he could feel that she meant business and she would fight back if he was to attack her.

"Breakfast." he signed and turned around.

"I came to wake you up. Didn't Killer tell you the times we usually eat?" he asked walking out with her beside him.

"He mentioned it. I was just tired. Usually I wake up quite early." she replied.

"Make sure to be on time. If you miss it, there wont be any food left." he said as they walked into the galley.

"Got it." she nodded.

"What took you so long?" Killer asked, raising an eyebrow under his mask.

"He threatened me, I threatened him back. It's all cool now. We worked our shit out." Izumi said shocking them as they stared at Kidd, surprised that she was still in one piece. Knowing his temper, she shouldn't be alive right now if what she said was true. But then again, she had a strong demeanour and they could tell she was powerful.