A/N: I'm sorry that this is a few days late! I've just been feeling bad for the past few days, so I kinda put it off until I was feeling more motivated to. I promise I'll try harder in the future since this is all written! Again, this week an interlude and a main part. Also, I'm sorry I haven't replied to any reviews OTL.
Enjoy!
2nd Interlude
Koala carefully slinked through the streets, making sure to avoid the investigating Marines. They were being much more meticulous than usual, she noted, though it made sense considering what just transpired. They were only making sure there was no one else suspicious on their property. Anyone would.
Unfortunately, that also meant they were, though unintentionally, guarding exactly what she was trying to get her hands on. Damn them. Damn Sabo too for being busy with other things and leaving her alone to take care of this, though she couldn't really blame him. Someone had to do it, and only she and Sabo knew how to handle the thing properly. She was lucky that the carrying case Sabo designed was still where he left it after the Marines ransacked the brothers' house, though of course she had been tasked with retrieving that as well.
Koala squatted low to hide herself and carefully peered around the corner of her hiding space. She pulled back quickly, cursing under her breath. There were Marines just around the corner. Any fights would waste time and attract attention, but at this point, it seemed unavoidable.
Koala was about to round the corner to knock them out, but stopped when one Marine began speaking. She couldn't help listening.
"Thank god, it's dead."
She knew who they were talking about right away.
"Idiot. It was never alive to being with. You can't call something dead if it wasn't alive in the first place."
"Good point. What would you call it then?"
"Destroyed. Scrapped. Whatever, but now maybe it could be recycled for something useful."
Hearing the smugness in the man's voice, she just knew he was smirking. It would be nice to just punch that smirk off his face, but she continued to listen for a while longer.
"That is if they don't want to put those scraps on display. It's a nice trophy. That one guy already has a part."
That was the last straw. Luckily, the Marines weren't much of a challenge for her. She took them out easily and reached her destination.
The thing she was looking for was covered with a sheet, but surprisingly, no one was directly guarding it. She pulled it off in a single motion, not bothering to even glance at the face underneath- she had to move quickly after all. She pressed her fingers against the area where she knew the panel was, and it opened up. To her surprise, the core inside still pulsed with light, even though it should've been dull.
"He was right," Koala whispered to herself, astonished at what she was looking at. She shook her head, stopping her thoughts since she was still tight on time. Quickly, she removed the core and deposited it into the pouch Sabo gave her, leaving the scene soon after.
Once Koala deemed herself a safe enough distance away, she pulled out her phone, scrolling to her companion's name in her contacts list.
"I got it," she reported immediately.
Instead of a proper response, she heard him hum absentmindedly.
"Are you even listening?" she asked with a sigh.
"I am!" Sabo insisted from the other end. "I'm just a bit preoccupied at the moment." Papers ruffled into the microphone loudly.
"I thought you looked at the blueprints earlier," Koala sighed. "Once I get back, we'll have to start working right away, you know."
"I know! It's just taking a while. These notes really are fascinating. No wonder they called him a genius."
"That's great and all, but make sure you're actually processing it, okay? See you later."
Koala wasn't expecting someone to swing a knife towards her once she hung up the phone. Luckily, she dodged it with jump in the right direction.
"Why are you here?" the girl holding a knife asked.
"Calm down, Haruta," the person next to them hissed, but Koala could see that they too held a weapon.
"Izo, the area's off-limits. She might be a scavenger. She might've gotten to the body."
Izo? Haruta? Koala recognized those names. What were the Whitebeards doing here?
Well, whatever it was, it didn't matter. She had what she came here for.
"Don't worry," Koala answered. "I was just leaving."
"But-"
"Haruta, we need to move before the Marines come."
Stopping her protest, she glared at Koala one last time, following Izo as he walked away.
'What a strange encounter,' Koala mused. 'Whatever. I need to move as well.'
