Chapter 2- A Woman and Her Vow

"Well? Are you going to explain yourself?"

The woman stood there, confident and strong. She was certainly beautiful and her hair flowed down across her face. Hozuro was stunned for a moment, but regained his composure.

"Yes. I want my money. You stole my bounty-"

Hozuro was cut off by a tugging at his short sleeve shirt. He looked down at his side to see a small child rubbing their eyes, looking up at him. The child spoke up.

"Who are you mister?"

The child was in tattered clothes and didn't have shoes. His hair was slightly kept, though it had obviously been a moment since he had his last haircut. It dropped slightly over his large, brown eyes which looked heavy indicating him being tired. It was early in the morning. Hozuro put a webbed hand on his head, his red scales glistening a bit.

"I'm Hozuro. Go ahead and go lay back down kid. I'm sorry I bothered you."

The child left Hozuro and the woman to themselves and rejoined his friends, a group of children who were now naturally waking up. Hozuro began scanning the area realizing that much of the original items in the church had been taken out and replaced with beds. A few rows of them, each with a small chest underneath, presumably to hold stuff.

Beyond the beds there was an area of floor littered with toys, all of them ragged in some way. He sighed, realizing what this was now. And why she took the money. He would turn back to her and begin speaking once more.

"I'm sorry miss- Wait. I don't know your name."

She sighed, calm coming over her. She could see he was a good guy, just a little too inexperienced with the world. She could tell he was young. Younger than her most certainly. She began walking towards the back, where someone would give a sermon and where it seemed a lot of books were. She gestured for Hozuro to follow, and so he did.

She stepped onto the stage and stopped in front of a chest, opening it to reveal a small amount of money inside, now joined by the bag of berries she just obtained.

"My name is Luna. I run this orphanage by myself, and as such must also pay for the exorbitant rent by myself. I'm only 17, and because of my dad many refuse to deal with me. It also probably doesn't help that the kids here are all escaped slaves, which means if the marines would come around and prove that, this place would be shut down instantly."

Hozuro listened intently, cringing a bit when he heard the part about them being slaves. He let out a deep breath, looking around at the kids. He only began to feel worse about chasing her down to here. He looked back to Luna, who was now staring at him, awaiting a response.

"I see. I apologize for my actions. I had no idea."

"Good. Now tell me, why are you a bounty hunter? You seem even younger than I am."

Hozuro took a deep breath, deciding how much he would tell her. He did only just meet her.

"My parents were on a trip when their ship was raided by pirates. No one made it out alive. I want to avenge them."

Luna took this into careful consideration. A revenge quest. Those are pretty common, though you never get used to hearing it. A kid out on the sea just looking to defeat pirates.

"Well, do you know who did it?"

"Nope. Me and my brother vowed to kill every pirate in the ocean in order to accomplish this."

This was a big shock to Luna. Every pirate. This would include the seven pirate lords as well, the ones who made up the rules of conduct for pirates. Not to mention, many other pirates who are very strong, and near the same level as the pirate lords.

"Oh really? You do realize who you have basically declared war against?"

"I know. What about you?"

Luna took a deep breath, deciding to wait to start speaking. She needed to collect herself.

"My father was a bounty hunter. He used to always protect this town from pirates, but one day he just up and left. And never came back. I felt abandoned. The town hated me for some reason, because of something he did. So I kept myself away, and eventually opened up this orphanage after taking in a few runaway slave kids. Now here I am, doing what I can to make money and keep the orphanage running."

Luna began writing in a book, presumably keeping track of finances. She let out a heavy sigh and rested her head on her hand. She then looked at Hozuro and gestured toward the main floor where kids were all running around and playing.

"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. Unless you have somewhere to be, of course."

Hozuro gave her a simple nod, thanking her before walking off and taking a look around the church. He saw that there were quite a few beds, but five of them seemed to be empty. No one staying in them. Yet at least. The oldest kid here could only have been 12 at most. He looked over into the large open play area and saw four kids playing around, likely pretend. It intrigued him so he kept watching, only to find out they were playing pirate. The biggest kid was laughing maniacally, hands in the air like he was on the verge of winning.

"Ha ha ha. I told you puny admirals that you couldn't stop me. Not with all of my strength. Now, I'm going to kill all three of you, starting with you Orange Snake."

The kid on the far right stood up a bit taller, acting like he was quite damaged. He began to speak.

"Ironskull, you won't defeat us. We three admirals will bring you down and end your reign of terror or my name isn't Green Lion!"

The other two stood up with him, raising their fists.

"And don't forget about me, Black Cat."

"Me neither, Orange Snake."

All three of the kids playing pirate reared back their fists, screaming almost in unison.

"Ultimate Admiral Combination Attack!"

They each charged at the big kid, bringing him down as he wailed in a fake agony.

"Noooo! Foiled again!"

Hozuro chuckled a bit, entertained by the kids. They really do have amazing imaginations. He moved along, seeing the other kids playing different games, or chilling out, or just going to Luna for attention. She took care of them, usually just asking for food, before rejoining Hozuro.

"Seems I don't have enough for this month. And the payment is due tomorrow. I don't know what to do. All of these kids are relying on me."

Hozuro saw Luna begin to tear up. She was freaking out, unsure of what to do. She couldn't let it happen. And Hozuro felt bad. He searched through his clothes, finding whatever he could.

"How much are you short?"

"500,000 berries."

Hozuro would feel defeated at that point. He had only 100. He couldn't help. There must be something they can do. A bounty nearby. Something. Then, the church would get rocked with a cannonball, drawing Hozuro and Luna outside only to see a pirate ship coming waving a flag that had a bunny skull with fangs on the bottom approaching the port.

~End of Chapter 2