The girl heaved and huffed as she finally broke through the crowd of men. She could feel less and less air filling her lungs, and her body stung with splinters and cuts, but she continued running towards the wooded area faster than her legs could take her.
She could still taste the Devil's Fruit on her tongue, and not in a good way. The mysterious black orb embellished with red swirls tasted far from what any fruit should ever taste like: the moment the flesh hit her tongue it crumbled and the flaky texture completely coated her mouth and infused her taste buds with the foul flavor. If she ever ended up eating mud mixed with wood shavings, she figured that it would taste like Devil's Fruit.
Without stopping, the girl cocked her head over her shoulder to check if her pursuers were far behind. Her eyes caught the new group of men who had joined the fray. They were large and muscular and menacing, and she had watched them take down the bandits like a trail of dominoes; she knew that if they caught her, her chances of escaping would be slim to none.
But do they know that I was the one who ate the Devil's Fruit? she wondered, After all, I haven't seen or felt any changes to my body since consuming it... She peeked once more to find that the pirates were no longer attacking the bandits; if they didn't know before, they surely did now. She nervously watched a redheaded man turn towards her and stretch an arm out from under his fur coat in her direction.
A gun can't reach this far. What's he going to do from all the way back there, shoot a laser beam? she joked to herself... but then again, she didn't want to take any chances, so she began to run back and forth in a zig-zag pattern to avoid incoming projectiles. Suddenly, the girl felt something pulling her by the arms. She watched as the guns and knives of the bandits gravitated towards the pirate's hand like a magnet, and she shakily tried to loosen the leather straps on her forearms as her large blades began to do the same. But she wasn't able to separate the metal from her body in time, as her arms buckled behind her and hauled her backwards. As she began to drag across the ground, the girl tucked her legs in towards herself as rocks and twigs and tree roots kicked up and cut into the backs of her thighs. She frantically dug her already worn-down shoes into the ground as a makeshift brake, but the closer she was dragged towards the pirate, the faster she went and the less traction her feet had to hold on to.
Finally, the girl stopped at the feet of her captor and she looked up to meet his amber gaze. His pale complexion, blazing red hair, and the demonic look on his face; she remembered it all from the wanted posters: Eustass Kidd, maybe the most vicious supernova on the Grand Line. And to his right, she identified the masked man with the long blonde locks as his First Mate, Killer, who was just as ferocious as his Captain from what she had heard. She knew that the only reason they'd be on this island was to find the Devil's Fruit, and now that they knew she took it away from them...she felt the color drain from her face as she imagined her fate.
Kidd looked down at the girl and grinned with satisfaction at the look of fear that had overcome her. But remembering that such a weakling was now in possession of such a coveted power turned his expression sour. Without releasing his magnetic hold, Kidd turned to Killer and sent him a glare that said a thousand words: his crew positioned themselves and proceeded to cut down the remaining bandits.
"Consider ending your miserable lives a favor. Dumbasses who let girl swipe a Devil's Fruit from under their noses have no right to live," he grimaced, then turned to lock eyes with his prisoner.
"And you...are you one of them?" he asked. The girl shook her head.
"Then you're a pirate?" She shook her head again, and replied cautiously:
"My name is Terrana Katame. This island is a territory of Peria, a large country a ways north of here: my homeland." She saw no reason to lie; even if she did, Katame sensed that they'd notice instantly, and there would be consequences.
"My father was something like an informant," she continued, "he spent his life trading secrets until he became a treasure trove of information. A few weeks ago, a group of pirates stopped by looking for clues regarding the Devil's Fruit... knowledge that some would kill for..." Katame shifted her eyes away and her face fell dark.
"So you sought revenge?" Killer inquired. Katame shifted around a bit before giving a reply; her arms, now forced above her head towards Kidd's magnetic palm, were growing unbearably sore.
"Yes, I wanted to make sure they'd never get a hold of their precious treasure, so I snuck on their ship and hid until they docked on this island. I didn't expect them to be defeated by the bandits, and I was captured when they looted the ship.
"So the pirates were killed and eventually you were able to escape from the bandits without it's power, so why the hell did you eat the fruit?!" Kidd snapped. Katame lifted her head and glared right back at him.
"Even if those pirates didn't take the Devil's Fruit, those bandits or some other pirates -someone just as bad- would obtain it instead. I thought that if I made this power my own... at least it'd be in good hands," she declared.
Kidd and Killer glanced at each other, knowing that they were both thinking the same thing: They couldn't tell whether the girl was gutsy or just plain stupid.
Katame's father had taught her that when dealing with someone who had the upper hand, confidence was a valuable source of power. Hoping that her bold remarks would earn her a bit of respect -and a better chance of leaving the island alive- she pressed on, trying to steady her slightly trembling voice.
"Well, are you going to kill me now? If you do, the Devil's Fruit will reappear, probably somewhere far from here...but something tells me you have better things to do than going on another wild goose chase." Maybe she could talk her way to freedom, she thought to herself.
"You have a point," Kidd replied as an amused expression swept across his face, "but that doesn't mean we can't just sell you off for a hefty sum as some noble's entertainment instead -or better yet, with that sense of justice of yours, we could hand you over to the Marines and the World Government to turn a blind eye to our movements for a while!"
He flashed a wide, toothy grin that made any hope Katame had left drain away.