1 CH.3
The Dark Haired Swordsman
The summer went by and the crops grew better than the year before. The pumpkin and squash were already forming shape and the beans and other plants like tomatoes and potatoes were already starting to form also when one day a ship came to dock but it wasn't Shanks's ship it was one of another crew. And for the first half of the day they rampaged throughout the town Until Andy came running to My house. I was outside in the garden tending to the plants when Andy came running around the back "Aria!" Andy yelled startling me slightly so I turned to see what was going on. Andy stood there a bit bloodied up and beaten and looked like he just run a marathon "Geez Andy what happened this time?" I asked dropping what I was doing and running over to tend to his wounds "a bar fight?" "No" replied Andy and I examined some of the cuts "Pirate crew came this morning their trashing the town, I tried to stop them but they tore up the bar and stole all the alcohol" I started to heat up in anger "how dare they try and trash my town!" I half muttered to myself angrily I then turned and entered the house when I large blue sword was hanging on the wall still in it's hilt. I grabbed it from the wall strapping it on then headed straight out past Andy toward the town. There were people screaming everywhere and pirates grabbing random girl and sexually harassing them. I quickly struck one pirate dead with out saying a word catching the attention of the crew. I spun the sword in my hand once before killing the closest pirate to me. "Who wants to play?" I asked really pissed and determined to get rid of these guys one pirate stepped up to me "now come on little miss you shouldn't be playing with sharp objects" he taunted "you might get hurt" he laughed at me so I struck him down on the spot causing the crew to go silent. One man stepped forward he was huge and carried a sword as long as his body and probably twice as heavy. "I've heard of you" he said looking me over "the girl with a blue blade...the captain will love you" I snarled at him "like hell" I said "now get out of my town before you regret it" everyone laughed but I stayed calm and the rest of the villagers ran quickly ducking inside the first building they came to watching from the windows, everyone but this one strange man who didn't seem to be part of their crew he just sat leaning against a building corner watching.
He wore a large purple hat and black jacket and jeans with a large sword bigger than this guys strapped to his back.. He had a goatee and dark hair almost like one wanted poster I saw in the bar the one of a man by the name of Mihawk the new greatest swordsman in the world. I ignored him "where's your captain?" I asked and a large man stepped through the crowd he had blonde hair and blue eyes and quite handsome but I didn't care "I'm the captain" He said "My name is Scorpion" "I'm only gonna say this once" I said "leave this town now or face the same fate as the last idiot who tried to trash my town" he withdrew his sword playing with it slightly and he walked closer to me "not a chance little miss" he said "we're going to be staying for a while" I frowned and he swung at me but I easily blocked it without any effort gaining a look of surprised from him "so you are the little girl pirates have been talking about?" he said and I looked at him weird "what are you talking about?" I asked and he laughed "rumor has it you killed a whole crew of pirates on your own to protect this little village" "so what" I said annoyed "it's my right to" he swung again and I blocked him again this time it wasn't quite so easy. He continued to swing at me and I blocked each attack till he pulled a cheap shot and kicked me hard sending my flying across the road and into a barrel of water. I laid there for a second trying
to recover but he ran over and took a swipe at me and I just barely rolled away receiving a cut to my fighting arm. I ignored it and got up standing in a defensive position as he dove at me again and I blocked it again this time he pushed with all my might and it took both my hands to hold him back but he still managed to push me back some. He quickly pulled away surprising me a bit and making me loose some of my balance and took a swipe at me but I managed to jump up and land on the side of his blade. I noticed the dark haired man still watching me but with interest now so I continued to ignore him. I flipped over the guy swing back and slicing the back of his leg making him buckle a bit but scorpion regained his composure. He suddenly swung back hard but I jumped back and he missed but the wind of the swing hit me full force in the stomach slicing deep into me and sending me flying once again across the street this time hitting the corner of a building and I laid there my head split open and my stomach bleeding badly and dizzy. Everything was a little blurry and I managed to make out the form of Scorpion standing over me just about to make a strike. I could hear the man laugh at me so I dodged the on coming sword rolling into another hard object. I stumbled to get to my feet only to meet a foot throwing me back hard into another wall -what's with the damn walls?- I thought annoyed so as he swung at me for a fatal strike I swung hard slicing his through and killing him before he could hit me. Scorpion fell forward onto his knees and with his last breath he stuck the blade deep into my side as I was just recovering my vision.
I crumpled to my knees grunting in pain closing my eyes for a moment, I could hear people around me murmuring in surprise so I opened my eyes again. The rest of the crew were collecting their dead captain and murmured in shock as I stood back up and pulled the sword from my side throwing it to my side and standing there weakly. The men then just grabbed their captain and left towards their ship again and as soon as they were out of sight again I let myself fall to my knees and clutched my side. "Unnnhhh" I grunted in pain as I heard footsteps run towards me I looked up to see Gerard running over with a worried look on his face "hey love" Gerard said "come with me" "like hell" I growled at him worried about what kind of things he'd do to me as I slept "remember what happened to the last girl who went with you? She left pregnant never knowing how it happened" I then stood up pushing his meager attempts aside "where's Sandra?" I asked the closest person to me who just happened to be Andy "what the witch doctor?" exclaimed Gerard "You'd trust her over me!" "Hell ya" I said as Andy grabbed my arm swinging it over his should then I felt my other arm lifted and looked to see the dark haired man with the sword helping me "thanks" said Andy who wasn't able to hold me with that shoulder of his being wounded and had to leave me to the stranger "which way?" the stranger asked almost like a polite command "umm" replied Andy trying to think "last house at the edge of town come on I'll show you the way" we then left with Andy leading the way "by the way I'm Andy and this is Aria" Andy said and the man just nodded "my name is Mihawk" Mihawk said causing Andy to almost trip in surprise and Mihawk just smirked slightly I could feel my legs getting weaker and my eyes didn't want to stay open. I stumbled once and Mihawk lifted me easily to my feet then a moment later everything went black and I fell unconscious.
I woke up later in a soft bed and my side felt a lot better"Sandra" I muttered with my eyes still shut "what ever it is you did it worked like magic" "I wouldn't have to if you didn't get yourself into so much trouble" came a woman's voice so I opened my eyes to see her sitting on a chair with her legs crossed. Sandra was a naturally pretty woman and a very accomplished doctor better than Gerard and with a better reputation than Gerard. She had long blond hair that
she kept tied back and blue eyes. She was skinny with long, thin, strong fingers. "Ya do me a favor?" I asked Sandra "what?" she asked probably already guessing my question but willing to listen anyways "Kill Gerard" I said "he called you a witch doctor again...damn jerk got a girl pregnant last month I didn't know her but I also heard that last week she also committed suicide because of it" Sandra frowned having already heard about this from one of her patients. "Well" said Sandra "ya no I can't do that and I don't know why but you have 2 men who waited outside for you to wake up, one hottie we all know, and another I've never seen around here before" "Sandra?" I asked "are you ever going to tell him you like him?" "Maybe later" Sandra replied laughing "we'll see" I laughed at her and pulled myself up into a sitting position. "You've been out for 3 days girl" Sandra said then I suddenly got worried about the garden "don't' worry about your plants, Andy went and took care of them for you" I let out a sigh of relief "ah what would any of us do without that boy?" I asked half laughing "always one step ahead of us" I started to swing my legs over the side then Sandra stopped me "Na ah" she said "not till tomorrow" "Sandra!!" I whined and she let out a sigh "fine then" she said with a stern look "but not without a cane then" she turned and handed one to me and I put a defiant look on my face I hated those things but the second I got to my feet I realized the reason why she said not without it. I nearly fell to the floor because my side started to hurt but I grabbed the cane and used that to balance myself. "Ok" I said "I see why I need the cane now" Sandra laughed at me and held the door as I stepped out to see Andy sitting with his head in his hands on the porch and Mihawk leaning against the wall I looked at him surprised. Andy's head spun around and he jumped up giving me a big hug "do you always have to be so reckless?" Andy asked before letting go again and I nodded half laughing "yes aniki" I teased knowing he hated it when I called him that "now stop worrying I'm fine u fool" "so you're the girl shanks told me about?" Mihawk said and my head spun towards him at the sound of that name "you know shanks?" I asked "have you seen him? How is he?" Mihawk half laughed at my sudden questions "that fool is as fine as he'll ever be." Mihawk said "he did mention to me a girl he met around these parts by the Name of Aria, a farm girl I think he described you as" I half laughed at that remembering the day we planted the seeds for my garden "so" said Sandra with a sly smirk on her face and leaning lazily against the door "even pirates talk of ya now do they?" "What people talk about me in town to?" I asked already knowing the answer "well with your record for accidents" said Sandra teasingly "and for not asking out that red head pirate who you were hanging around with last spring" I shot her a dirty look and Mihawk looked at me very much interested now as I tried to hide the flush on my face "who I hang around with is none of your concern" I said looking haughtily up at the clear late evening sky and Sandra just laughed "same as always" she said "anyways no garden work for at least 5 days!" "But Sandra!" I complained "You know I'll just end up going at it anyways" "arggg" Sandra groaned knowing I was telling the truth "fine then if you're going to work on it get someone to do all the heavy work, I'll let you take care of something like picking peas or something like that, But No More!" I smiled happy that she saw my way but I was still annoyed that I couldn't do to much "I'll help you out" Andy Offered "I have a week off of work because of renovations to the bar anyways" "thanks Andy" I said "anyways Mr Mihawk you never did tell me where Shanks is" "he's sailing the grande line" Mihawk said "he mentioned coming to visit here again sometime this fall now if you'll excuse me I have some business to tend to then I'm leaving" "ok then" I said "it was good meeting you and thanks again for the help" Mihawk then nodded and turned then walked away.
"Well I must be going again" I said "how much do I owe you this time?" "This one's on me" Sandra said "my house is still in one piece because of you so I think that's good enough" I
smiled "would you like me to walk you home?" asked Andy and I shook my head "no thanks Andy" I said "I'll be fine, I'm not going to be working on the garden till tomorrow if you'd like to know" then I started slowly on my way back to my house. As I walked I had this feeling as if someone had been following me but ignored it and entered the house locking the gate and front door till tomorrow. I walked into the kitchen and made a very large sandwich because of how hungry I was. I ate the sandwich slowly then got up and went straight to bed not bothering to get changed or anything.
The next morning I got up with my stomach bothering me some but I decided to ignore it and got changed then went down into the kitchen where I made breakfast still carrying around that cane for balance. I then went straight into the back yard to the garden to investigate on how the plants were doing. The plants looked just as good as before and most of them were ready to be harvested. -that's Andy for ya- I thought -all that talent going to waste in a bar- I went straight to the barn and started to collect some harvesting tools when Andy showed up at the door "Hey Aria" Andy said "I was expecting to see you still in the house but you didn't answer the door so I came right back here" "oh hey sorry" I said "I was checking on my plants" Andy laughed then went over and grabbed the tools from me and handed me a single bucket "you can start with the peas today" Andy said and I sighed "Sandra gave me strict instructions to keep you from doing any heavy work" I laughed at the bugger -there's no beating that girl- I thought -and she has to assign the most stubborn man in town to make sure I don't do any hard work, sheesh" I took the bucket and headed straight into the pea patch while I noticed Andy starting to cut and crop the hay for me with the large sci. When noon came we stopped for lunch, my stomach was hurting but I didn't say a word for fear that Andy might try and stop me so as soon as the dishes were done again we went straight back to work. By the end of the day Andy had managed to cut and crop half the hay field and I through slow work had managed to finish the entire pea patch and pack it up in large containers. There was enough peas for sale and myself and then some and with the hay cut there was also more than enough hay for sale and myself with plenty to spare plus more to come. For some reason the other farms didn't have quite such good fortune with their crops but I paid no mind. "Ok" Andy called over wiping the sweat off "tomorrow all that's left is the rest of this hay and the rest of your vegetables. Do you have enough containers?" "Yup" I replied "I always have extra just in case" "you're always prepared"Andy remarked "anyways you should take tomorrow off and we'll continue this the next day ok?" "But Andy!" I complained "what am I supposed to do all day?" "Rest!" Andy replied closing the barn and it's tools up for me "lots and lots of rest" I grumbled to myself not liking having nothing to do for a whole day Andy laughed at me as he left waving back to me as I returned to the house and the first thing I grabbed was the bottle of pain killers popping two into my mouth and downing it with a whole bottle of water then taking a seat at the table with the left overs of today's spaghetti I had made for lunch. I finished off the spaghetti and went upstairs to my room where I just laid on my bed, earlier today I had noticed some dark clouds on the way and It looked like there was going to be a storm tonight. So I closed my eyes and before I knew it I was asleep.