Chapter 2 - Tanto Island

They watched as the marine ship drew steadily closer, being pulled along by the oars that extended from the hull. As Hitomi tried to think if she'd done anything wrong recently Tatsu was already telling the straw-hats that the log-pose wouldn't have been affected by this islands weak magnetic field and that they could have whatever remained of the fish.

"Cho, come on, we're leaving." he said sternly

She frowned at him "Why? We can take the fuckers" she pointed out

Already walking towards their boat, he turned so he was walking backwards "Which part of 'low profile' isn't getting through to you?" he asked, sounding slightly patronising Muttering curse-words towards her brother, she rose and followed him. Still walking backwards, Tatsu spoke to the straw-hats "We'd stay to help but... we're not in the best situation at the moment" he apologised

Although he didn't completely understand what he meant, Luffy nodded. "Wait, what do you mean? Why are you keeping a low profile?" questioned the ever-curious Nami, who was probably wondering on some level if she could scam any money from them. Tatsu just smiled and, in one fluid leap, he boarded their boat; which, seemingly on it's own, raised it's sail and moved out of the shallow waters, then set off round the island at a speed that just didn't seem possible due to the lack of wind and the fact the no one seemed to be rowing. But there was no time to think about any of that when the Marine ship fired the first cannon, which would of hit the group full force had Luffy not knocked it off course.

~S~

Now fully dressed, Hitomi sat on the edge of the boat, looking back at the island. She could see the pirates and the Marines exchanging cannon blasts, but the pirates were at a great disadvantage. Not only were they stuck in shallow waters until the wind picked up, but they didn't seem to have that much fire-power compared to the Marines, and even if they did manage to get into deeper waters, they weren't going anywhere for a while. Checking cautiously over her shoulder, she secured both her guns in their holsters, Tatsu was preoccupied with steering so if she wasn't gone too long... "Don't even think about it" he warned. She glared at him, her temper instantly snapping.

"Just becuase you're an arse doesn't mean everyone else is"

He turned to face her, not rising to the insult "We have to keep a low profile" he reminded her

"Well fuck you and fuck your 'low profile'! I'm gonna help, and if your gonna be a dick, go do it on your own, cause I'm sick of your fucking loner attitude!" with that she left him, hopping across the water using Geppou; she was there in seconds. Tatsu sighed and slumped down onto the deck, he'd always known that they wouldn't be able to stay undercover for this long anyway, so might as well go with a bang. He turned the boat and steered it back to the two ships.

~S~

Sanji looked up and watched as the purple haired girl span artfully over him. She was now wearing baggy camouflage cargo-pants, a white top and a cropped denim jacket with the sleeves rolled up, and a yellow neckerchief, tied round her waist was a dark hoodie; he caught a glimpse of what might of been a gun holster beneath the hoodie. "Mellorine~!" he cried joyously, kicking several Marines in the face at the same time.

Noticing him, she winked playfully and he melted on the spot. Her leg extended as she neared the ground and she kicked a marine in the back of the head, knocking him flying so he knocked out several of his comrades. Still in midair, she spun again, knocking another marine flying, with the same results. Almost weightlessly she landed on deck, kind of reminding Sanji of a cat. As she sprung back upright - having landed in a crouching position - her elbow cracked into a Marine's jaw and she span, giving a upper-cut to his ribs before swiftly turning, falling back on one hand and striking her legs up in the air. "Rankyaku" she said, as a sharp blade of highly compressed air shot out from the end of her legs. The white blades of compressed air cut a gaping hole in the deck, and several marines falling through it.

Sanji gawked, she was using the same techniques that those CP9 agents used. Frankly he didn't care at the moment, he was just glad that she was on their side.

Hitomi grinned when she heard the distinct 'wooshing' sound that could only accompany one person and she quickly Geppou-ed off the marines ship and onto the straw-hats, grabbing Sanji and Zoro by the scruff of their necks as she did. While she landed softly on deck, the two guys landed with a harsh 'ooft'. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?" yelled Zoro angrily

"Don't yell at Hitomi-chan!" Sanji yelled back at them, but she wasn't listening to either of them, she was waving Luffy over. Reluctantly he listened.

"Wha~t?" he whined "I was having fun!" Thankfully, the marine ship was too big to anchor in the shallower waters, so they were safe as long as Zoro and Sanji kept the cannon balls away from the ship.

"We're getting out of here, hold onto something" she warned, getting a tight grip on the railing.

At first they didn't notice it, but a red and purple blur was moving through mid-air towards the ship. Suddenly the sails raised. "Kyozetsu supēsu!" yelled a man's voice, one the more intelligent team mates recognised. Some kind of field exploded over the back of the ship and they fired forwards, as if Coup de Burst had been activated - but they didn't even have enough Cola for Franky at the moment so it couldn't be. Everyone clung on for dear life as they rocketed forward, Chopper and Usopp screaming in terror and Luffy simply loving every minuet of it.

Eventually the boat stilled in the water, and people could finnaly relax, though it felt like forever, they'd only been traveling for a few seconds. There was an island not to far ahead of them and it clearly wasn't the one they'd been at before. It was a huge, mountainous island with thick forests and snow.

Suddenly, Tatsu was stood with them; he was now wearing purple skinny jeans with battered military-style boots and a plain long-sleeved top with an open navy shirt "Oi," he said, slightly breathlessly to Nami, he waved her over and gently grabbed her arm with the log-pose on it, then comparing it to the one that was on his own wrist - made of some kind of blue metal. "It's fine, we were going in the same direction anyway" he said, bracing his hands on his knees and hanging his head in exhaustion.

"Are you okay?" asked Chopper cautiously, being the first to notice the sweat that had broken out on his forehead.

"Yeah, this ship's just a bit heavier than Biscuit" he said, the strain of keeping himself upright showing in his voice

"No way!" cried Usopp "You carried Sunny?"

"Don't be daft... it would be more accurate to say I pushed it" now he'd finally caught his breath, Tatsu could stand upright, but he was still a little pale and there were small beads of sweat on his forehead, which he quickly wiped away. "I don't think a wind we pick up for a while, but this is as far as I could take you - sorry."

"It's cool red-bro!" said Franky "You were suuuuu-paaa!"

While Franky, Chopper, Usopp and Luffy marveled at how 'cool' Tatsu, Hitomi watched him scrutinisingly, which wasn't missed by Robin. "Kunoichi-san?"

"Say, does your crew have a doctor?" she asked, Robin didn't say anything, but Hitomi clearly assumed yes "And if you came across someone who was seriously ill, that wasn't on your crew, would they still treat them?"

"Yes, probably"

"Oh, that's good then" she decided, before tapping her brother on the shoulder. When he turned, she grabbed his shoulder tightly and stabbed two fingers into his stomach, just below his rib-cage. Frozen, Tatsu stayed doubled over her hand, her hand shifted and blood spattered out his mouth; then she withdrew her hand and he dropped to the ground, unconscious. And sounding surprisingly calm, she spoke, "I hate to call the favour so early, but seeing as he saved your lives I think you could save his don't you?" she said directly to Chopper, ignoring the horrified looks of the rest of the crew - excluding Luffy and Zoro, who seemed to understand and recognise the look on her face.

"B-b-b-b-b-y-y-you-you...?" stammered Chopper

"He's a dick, thinks he's too smart to get ill, but he's been like this for the past three islands we docked at, and that's like" she counted on her fingers "Two months or something. Think you could do anything?"

Unsure, Chopper looked at Luffy, who - glancing away from Hitomi - nodded. "Okay" He murmured, before changing into his Heavy-Point and picking up Tatsu carefully, carrying him to the infirmary quickly.

"Awesome dude" she said as he jogged away "Now how're-" she froze, a look of bored annoyance on her face. She sighed; before vaulting over the side of the ship shouting "Drop it you fucker!" The crew ran to the side of the ship to see what she was going on about.

The blue boat - looking worse than ever - was bobbing in the water, the sails were now down; but that wasn't the only thing. A man - a Marine - was stood on deck, talking on a mini Den-den-Mushi. He instantly stopped talking as he saw Hitomi vault over the side of the ship, and he was going to be crushed by her unless he moved out the way quickly. Instead of moving, he drew his sword and stood intending to cut her in half.

Moving so quickly anyone barely saw it, she reached underneath her hoodie at the back and pulled out two katana - Only Zoro knew that the slightly shorter of the two was a Kodachi, while the longer was a Wakizashi. She sliced one blade down the length of his sword and twisted it out his hand, tossing it effortlessly into the water and kicking the mini-Mushi along with it. Holding the Wakizashi at the back of his neck and the point of the Kodachi to his throat, she pinned him against the side with her knee. "Yo dumb-ass, D'ya know how quickly ya'd die if I slit ya throat in half?" as much as he could without cutting his own throat on the blade, he shook his head "Me neither," she grinned "but I wanna find out." He gulped "So ya' gonna tell me who's ya' captain and I'll let ya' live?"

He considered it for a moment, looking from the deadly sharp blade into her equally deadly eyes. He gulped, looking nervous, then he grinned "Dappi semi" he said confidently and he disappeared; aside from his marine shirt, which dropped to the ground. Slightly stunned, she sheathed her swords again "Damn it all" she muttered.

~S~

Having listed all Tatsu's symptoms and deciding that there was no imminent threat to his life, Chopper flicked through his books, specifically at the ones he'd acquired most recently, looking for any sicknesses with all these symptoms as he couldn't name one off the top of his head. Then he turned the page.

'Nana-nichi no shi' read the title, and all the symptoms were there too. Death in seven days is what it translated to, but hadn't Hitomi said...? "That's like two months or something?" Two months, he'd had this for two months and he was still alive. And as if the title wasn't clear enough, it said in the very first paragraph 'Anyone who contracts this disease has a maximum of seven days to live and must be treated within the first three days else death is near immanant' Chopper froze for a moment and continued to read 'Seven-Day Island is the prime source of this disease and is transferred by cross-blood-contamination, so overall very difficult to contract. There are only two ways it can be treated: one is in its early stages and through blood-purification herbs, the second is in the later stages and through the method of blood-purification.' A shiver shot down Chopper's spine, the method it listed here was a practically medieval method for blood purifiaction, surely there was a better method?

~S~

Patiently, Hitomi lay on the grass deck, watching clouds drift slowly overhead. A light wind had picked up and they were drifting slowly and steadily towards the island. She sighed heavily, if Tatsu was still sick by the time they got to the island then their chances of winning the Tanto Island competitions were fucked, cause you had to be in pairs.