I opened my eyes once more to find myself in a dark room. Before I started to panic, I noticed a wide window letting the breeze in; the stars twinkled and shone through the tree branches partly covering the night sky. My gaze shifted to the wooden door left slightly ajar, probably by some careless nurse. I could hear a loud and raucous party going on downstairs. Testing my muscles, I found none of them to be sore and most of my wounds had been healed and it was as if nothing had happened to me- the only thing that convinced me that nothing had been a dream was a scar that started from above my right breast and ended halfway up my neck.
I strained my eyes against the darkness, looking for my boots or something to wear on my feet- and found a pair of navy blue slippers that fit me well enough to walk around in. And then, I made my way to through the door and down a flight of steps that lead me to a door not unlike the one I had just gone through. This one I had a little trouble opening. At my third attempt, I finally managed to push it all the way open; it hit the wall with a *bang* and I found that what had been blocking my way was a drunken man smiling as if he had won the lottery.
A pretty white-haired lady came up to me, smiling "Hello there, so you're finally awake. You sure had us worried, sleeping for a straight week like that." Before I could reply, an elderly man appeared from behind her holding a half-empty tankard "So there you are!" he hiccupped and laughed "Mira-chan! Let's get this girlie a drink!" He gestured to me with his tankard, spilling some of its contents onto the floor. "Master, I told you not to have another drinking contest with Cana!" she scolded him "Nonsense! I feel *hic* just fine! Hey, Cana! I ain't gonna lose to a brat like you again! Bwahaha!" He laughed again, screaming at a wooden post "You're in way over your head, old man!" a woman with long, brown hair sporting a blue bikini top and brown pants laughed, enjoying her victory. "Oh my." The white-haired lady giggled "Well, you must be hungry. I'll get you a meal- oh, and Lucy told me to introduce you to her once you woke up." She looked at me expectantly "Oh, I'm Karin." She smiled and laughed again "I'm Mirajane. Lucy and her friends are sitting at that table." She pointed toward a booth occupied by 5 people and two... cats.
"Ah, hello!" the girl with blonde hair whom I presumed to be Lucy greeted me "How are you feeling? Hey, Natsu Move over." She spoke to the pink-haired boy who was arguing with a blue-haired one. I sat down in front of Lucy and recognised the two other girls as the ones who chased me earlier. "Why did you run away from us right after helping me then?" Lucy asked, snapping me out of my recollections. "I thought you might turn me in." I shrugged. She cocked her head to one side in confusion "Eh? Turn you in?" "Are you some kind of fugitive?" the red-haired woman questioned me "Something like that." I met her piercing gaze "Which is why I hardly associate with people I know nothing of. Unless they're like me." I continued. "What do you mean by that? Who are you exactly?" the blue-haired young man asked. I sighed, I couldn't believe that I was about to tell these people my identity "I am Karin. Captain of the ship Aqua Raven with a bounty of 300 million on her head. A pirate." I introduced myself as formally as I knew how to.
"EHH?" the people at the booth jumped "You must be really strong to have a bounty that high on your head!" the pink-haired boy grinned fiercely "Fight me!" "Natsu-san, she hasn't fully healed yet!" the blue-haired girl tried to stop him. "Nah, I don't mind. Let's take it outside." I smirked.
We faced off in front of the building; most of the partygoers had moved outside to watch. "Natsu's fighting the new girl." "She's pretty cute." "Does she know what she's up against?" I heard these whispers from the crowd that had gathered. "Let's start now! Whoever gets pushed out of the ring loses." Natsu's hands lit up in flames "A logia type, huh..." I thought to myself. "Aaaaaaaah!" he ran toward me, fire in his fists intensifying. I drew water from a young tree behind me, making it wither and explode from lack of moisture and getting a few gasps of astonishment from the crowd. I directed the water toward Natsu, freezing the ground below him solid. He slipped and landed on his shoulder as his flames melted the ice. "So she uses water magic!" I heard Lucy exclaim; Natsu whipped his head toward me and light surrounded his feet "Karyuu no Houko!" he spat out flames much stronger than the ones he had used earlier. Quickly, I let the ground underneath my feet collapse and I escaped into it, sealing the hole again quickly. Above, I could hear panicked voices "Natsu, you killed her!" "What the hell-" and laughed quietly to myself. I could sense his body right above me and kicked hard, intending to send him flying.
"Gwah!" he dodged in the nick of time, but I managed to clip his arm. Surprised cries from the crowd filled the air and turned into cheers "She's an earth mage too?" Erza asked. "Heh. Not bad." Natsu held his left arm and winced in pain. He ran toward me once more, aiming for my gut. I jumped as high as I could, using the air around me to direct my landing a few feet away from him. "Kazaana!" I yelled as strong winds burst through my palms that were aimed at Natsu, sending him flying then stumbling out of the ring. The crowd was silent for a moment, then burst out in cheers and loud woots. Mirajane came up to me "Your dinner is ready." She smiled "Thank you." I nodded and walked toward Natsu "You're pretty strong." I held out my hand "Thanks for the battle." He took my hand and grinned "So, you're a pretty nice guy after all!" we all returned to the building.
"Explain to me how you are able to use three different types of magic." Erza said back at the booth after I finished eating. "I was born with the ability to use them. People just assume I ate some sort of super devil fruit or something."
"Devil Fruit?"
"If you eat it, your gain the power of the demon residing in it. It's supposedly extremely rare and people would pay a fortune for one of them. They come from only one tree in the whole world and only on of each fruit can exist at a time."
"That' amazing! I've never heard of it, though." Lucy's eyes widened
"That's strange." I mumbled "Anyway, I need to get back to my-" I stopped short
"Your?" Wendy asked
"Nothing. But please, tell me what island this is called."
"Island?"
"Aren't we on the Grand Line?" I asked
"What's that?" Gray raised his eyebrow
"Wait... where am I exactly?"
Karin: Soooo, there you have it. Chapter 2! I thought I should post both at once for you guys.
Erza: Who are you speaking to?
Natsu: She calls it 'The readers'
Happy: Is that some kind of fish?
Karin: It's not!
Lucy: You'll get used to it.
Karin: *sigh*
Gray: Don't sigh like that, it attracts bad luck.
