Chapter 4

Five years later…

A full-grown Haru lay still on the board of his small, one man boat, resting his head on his hands and soaking the warm sun into his skin. He smiled lightly and crossed his legs, resting his right foot on his lifted left knee. He took Fidel off and placed it over his face, so the sun would not reach his eyes. This was going to be a good day; he had set course for a bustling port island not far into Grand Line… it would be packed full of small pirate crews hoping to make a name for themselves, all of them young and strong, highly wanted, but impetuous; the perfect targets! His smile widened as he allowed his tired young body to drift into a peaceful sleep, as Beli signs danced around in his mind…

He awoke later to the unmistakable feeling of a tongue licking his face; he moved his beloved hat from his face and smiled when he saw his young, black and white Akita excitedly trying to wake him, wagging his tail, if you could call it that. He sat up slowly, wiping the slime off of his face. "Ahh… morning Pop-tart. We there yet?" The dog ran to the helm of the ship and pointed its nose forward, and sure enough, the island of Trellobi could be seen cutting an intimidating image on the horizon. Haru stood up and looked at it intently; it was a perpetually stormy place, and its inhabitants out of necessity built incredibly strong ships, and their seamen were some of the best in the world- maybe he could pick up a trick or two from one of them- and the once poor island became an instant mega-port, where people would go to buy and sell ships, and soon everyone around had one of their fine rafts. It was a big business, and the more mountainous regions of the island, where businessmen set up trading companies, began to thrive and turned into one of the most prosperous, but also one of the most corrupt places in Grand Line, while the lower portions of the island always maintained a population of hard workers, clever swindlers, and loud drunks, often the same person being all three. Of course ambitious pirate crews, at least those strong enough to get into Grand Line, all wanted a Trellobi vessel, and so pirates became some of the most faithful customers of the ship salesmen, which established a "Don't ask, don't tell" method of dealing with customers, which was often very useful, but it did allow piracy to grow at an incredible rate.

Haru stretched his arms and legs. Yep, this was going to be a great day!

Haru walked through the busy wind-beaten streets of Gelhpi square, the main plaza on the northern shore of the island; rain was pouring down in wind-torn sheets, harassing the people of the island and flooding the intricate white limestone tiles that were the floor of the entire plaza. He leaned forward to push himself onward against the oppressive winds, and Pop-tart followed close behind. He looked for a ship shop, or a tavern, or perhaps even a place to buy large quantities of goods, all popular stops with pirates, especially on such successful islands as Trellobi. Then a shady figure caught his eye; he was a tall burly man, underdressed for the cold stormy weather of the island, and obviously annoyed at this fact, wearing ragged, dirty looking garments, carrying what looked like the handle of a pistol shoved into his thick leather belt. Yep, this was a pirate; he would lead Haru straight to an entire crew, and perhaps others. He smirked as he formulated a devious plan. He began casually following the unknowing, hapless pirate, and they walked through the square to the outskirts of the island, at a port where there was a large old ship shop, selling small vessels and supplies- he would have to stop by there, they probably had good prices! - but continued on to a small, well hidden cave; Haru hid behind some bushes seconds before the pirate looked behind him to check if anyone had followed him. The pirate then entered the cave, enjoying the refuge from the rain. Haru looked forward and saw a large pirate ship docked not far from the cave; he recognized the Jolly Roger, and he smirked as his plan began to take shape. He then pet his dog cheerily.

"We're gonna make a killing today Pop-tart!"

The burly pirate walked into a large sea cave, which was only accessible during low tide; it was spacious and had a miniature lake of a pool, which held a massive, but old and ragged looking ship, bearing a jolly roger of a skull with thorns wrapped around it. "Captain Blackthorn sir, there ain't a ship on this bloody island 'at we kin afford, and there ain't nut'in else 'ere but shitty weather! I say we leave-" he spoke angrily, before he was interrupted.

"I didn't ask your opinion." A freakishly tall, well-built, scarred young man with ragged white hair, wearing an open light brown leather trench coat, revealing his muscular torso, black pants and gauntlets, and a thick leather belt holding a variety of weapons, said coldly. "I'm not leaving here without a Trellobi vessel, even if we have to steal one!" He said with unrestrained passion, getting surprised stares from all of his young crew.

"Cap'n" A young blue haired girl spoke up, "Stealing a Trellobi ship is like stealing from the devil himself! First of it can't be done, and second, if ya try, they kill ya!"

"THEN I'LL BE THE MAN THAT STEALS FROM THE DEVIL!" He yelled passionately, his eyes glowing with flames, causing his crew to look up at him in awe.

"C…CAP'N IS SO COOL!" They all yelled in unison, and he crossed his arms and smiled smugly…before the mast of his ship snapped in half and fell on top of the vessel. The entire crew looked at their old ship as their eyes popped out of their sockets, and standing on one of the poles of the mast, was a dirty, rugged looking young blond man in a tank-top, wearing a green bandana and an eye-patch, holding the flag of another pirate vessel. A disguised Haru, the afore-mentioned pirate-looking man, smiled condescendingly at the pirates.

"On behalf of captain "Red-eyes Lynch", I hereby claim all of your treasure and weapons! Surrender peacefully, and pray that my captain is feeling merciful, or suffer the consequences!" "Man I'm lucky; this guy's got a bounty of forty million! I might just make 100,000,000 beli today!" The pirates looked at him dumbly for a moment, before bursting out into raucous laughter.

"What's one little pipsqueak like you gonna do!" Blackthorn said cockily, asserting his large height and solid build. "We can take any pirate crew in grand line, and we sure as hell aren't gonna be intimidated by some shrimp like you!" Haru grimaced at the obvious barb at his somewhat short stature, "I'm not that short, am I? Well, onto business…" He thought inwardly.

"Wrong choice, now you suffer the consequences!" He said dramatically; he soon jumped off the mast and onto the cave floor as bullets began zipping by him. He rushed towards the pirates, zigzagging to avoid their bullets, and as soon as he reached the majority of them, they almost all stopped firing, afraid to hit their own comrades. They charged at him, not knowing what was about to happen to them… "OUSHI! TEKURU!" He yelled as he rushed forward, Lifting his left elbow into the air, along with dozens of pirates, throwing all of his momentum upward; while in the air, he spun around and prepared a kick. "TAKA! I-SENPU!" He yelled as he spun in the air with his right foot spinning like a hammer, creating a small whirl-wind around him that blew dozens of the pirates away.

"WHAT IS THIS GUY!" Several of the now startled pirates screamed in fear as Haru landed and ran towards the next largest group.

"RYU!" He began beating on the pirates, taking them down with a single strike each while simultaneously avoiding their attacks. He had finished the second out of five groups of pirates when the rest, after looking to their captain for guidance and seeing him steadfastly order them on, charged Haru with weapons drawn. "I hate swords…Well, I've done more than enough, moving on to faze two!" Haru turned and ran at an incredible speed towards the mouth of the cave, swinging his Jolly Roger over-head as he looked back at the pirates and taunted them. "IF THAT"S ALL YOU'VE GOT, YOU'RE AS GOOD AS DEAD! CAPTAIN LYNCH 'ILL BE HERE IN NO TIME TO TAKE YOU DOWN!" Captain Blackthorn grimaced and summoned his men back; they had no chance of catching up to him.

"Alright men, I know about this Captain Lynch, and when she comes 'round, we'll be ready, and we'll send her sorry ass back to South Blue in pieces!" He exclaimed, lifting his arm into the air for dramatic effect.

"YEAH!" His crew simultaneously agreed. "But…if she's got kids like that under her command…" He shuttered at the thought. I'm gonna need to have an easy escape route!"

A dark, battered vessel made its way to the unforgiving shores of Trellobi, the crew on it, a perfect reflection of its sad, tired condition. The pirates were large and well built, intimidating, and all looked seasoned and used to the harsh seas, but nature brings all men to their limits eventually, and this sea posed a particularly great challenge to them. Many were wounded, and trying to stay alive on their scant medical equipment and shoddy doctoring, and they had apparently been in a large fight recently; whether they one or lost, it didn't matter, they had felt the cost of battle on the open seas, and felt it deeply. They needed inspiration; they needed to know that they were going to be alright, that they wouldn't meet their fate at the bottom of some lonely sea. They needed their captain.

Captain Jackal "red-eyes" Lynch was a tall, thin, imposing woman, with sharp features and a stern, once-beautiful face that had seen to many horrors of the world to look happy again. Her hair was a deep red, and flowed over her shoulders in thick curls, her ears were adorned with several brass hoops and skull earrings, and she wore a white frilly shirt, black coat, loose black pants and high leather boots, and she carried around with her a small coffin on her back, one that might be used for a child. Her eyes shined bright red, and were said to be able to paralyze a man.

"Men, I know that we've been through hard times through this sea…" She said with restrained passion, and several of her men murmured in agreement. "But we've made it this far, think of how many have failed before reaching grand line? How many have died? We haven't, and by God I'm going to make sure that none of you do till I'm the pirate queen, and we'll have the greatest treasure there ever was! How do we find it you might ask! This! A master pose, it can read the magnetic field of any island in three days, so in no time, we'll be ahead of all those fools how're waiting years on one island for their log poses to tell them where to go, and we'll beat them all!" She yelled as she held her exquisite compass-like instrument high, as her men lifted their arms in cheer with her. She had done it, their morale was back, and she could keep going. And to think, they thought she was going to let them share one piece with her…fools.

She smirked, not out of happiness, but of some twisted pride in her own ability to manipulate these men. The cheering stopped as a dog jumped up and grabbed the master pose in its hands, before running to the edge of the boat, and looking back at them, wagging its tail, which had the blackthorn flag on it. It was Pop-tart, and he prepared to jump into the waters as the red-eye pirates merely looked at him dumbstruck. "GET THAT DOG!" Lynch yelled, as her crew set about gathering weapons and trying to catch the small Akita, who jumped off the boat and began swimming to shore. "JUMP IN AND GET THAT PIRATE DOG BEFORE HE GETS MY MASTER POSE TO THAT JACK-ASS CAPTAIN BLACKTHORN!" Her crew grunted their agreement as several of them jumped into the water, trying to catch the pup, who was now nearly at the shore and going much faster than them…

Haru was hiding in the bushes near the Blackthorn cave, making sure that no one spotted him going in there. He heard Pop-tart run into the bushes, well away from his pursuers, and patted his dog on the head quietly. "Nice goin' boy! You lost them before you ran in here, right?" He asked. His dog merely nodded in response. "Ok, now pay attention, the action is about to start!"

The "Red-eyes" pirates ran onto shore, armed to the teeth and prepared for battle.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT DANMED DOG!" Captain Lynch screamed. Before them, at the head of the sea-cave, she saw the Blackthorn pirates, preparing for battle, with captain Blackthorn in the front, cracking his knuckles. She also saw her master pose lying near one of the young pirates, who cast it aside, unsure what it was. "BLACKTHORN! I'M GOING TO SEND YOU TO HELL!"

"Geeze, that kid was right…still, she doesn't look so tough; we can take her down! And if not, I just have to run away!" he thought inwardly as he pointed his finger at the other captain. "CAPTAIN JACKAL LYNCH, YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR BREAKING MY SHIP! MEN, PREPARE FOR BATTLE!" He yelled as he pulled out two brass knuckles from his belt and slipped them over his fingers. Lynch seemed confused for a moment, but she saw a pirate crew standing between her and her precious master pose, and her men were ready for battle, and that was all she needed.

"ATTACK!"
"CHARGE!" The captains yelled in unison. Their crews dashed forward, casting away all fear of death for the promise of glory; Blackthorns crew were all young and powerful, and seemed to gain the upper hand, but Lynch's were all burly, seasoned pirates, and knew all the dirty tricks.

A massive man from Lynch's crew, wearing executioner's clothes, was swinging a massive flail, taking out several of the younger pirates; the blue haired girl ran forward, jumped over his flail, directly above where it landed, and ran across the chain at incredible speeds, before pummeling his face with a torrent of kicks, and landing softly on the ground. He was staggered, but reoriented himself and glared at her.

"DID YOU THINK THAT WOULD STOP ME!" he yelled as he lifted his fist into the air. The girl merely smiled, and hearing footsteps, the man looked behind her and saw Blackthorn, just in time to see the brass knuckles connect with his face, and then he blacked out.

"KYA!" Blackthorn yelled after his massive right swing sent the giant flying towards Lynch; he smirked, pleased with his own power, and the blue-haired girl patted him on the back.

"Nice punch captain! Nothin' beats the ole one two!"

Haru looked at the girl and smirked; "Gail Swift, wanted dead or alive for piracy, bounty of twenty million Beli. No devil fruit powers. We're gonna eat pretty good tonight Pop-tart!"

Lynch stepped away from the unconscious man who was flying towards her, and decided to enter the fray; she opened the coffin on her back, and her eyes began glowing.

"Guujin-Guujin no Sendo Kairai! (Doll doll fruit, death puppet)" She yelled, as a wooden puppet in black Japanese armor unfolded from her coffin, and pulled out a variety of weapons.

Haru grimaced at her. "Jackal "Red-eyes" Lynch, wanted dead or alive for piracy, bounty of fifty million, devil fruit powers; Guujin-Guujin no mi, she is a puppet-woman, who can manipulate anything that has part of her body on it. I'll have to be careful of that." He said quietly.

Both captains growled as they began tearing apart their opponents; Blackthorn plowed through his enemies, scattering them with powerful swings that sent them into their allies, and Lynch manipulated her puppet, which carved its way through the enemy crew, and entered the fray with her own weapons. They were a powerful, terrifying sight, tearing through deadly, seasoned warriors like they were children; these two earned their bounties.

Finally, they clashed! Blackthorn began pummeling Lynch's puppet, which simply stood, taking the beating, trying unsuccessfully to counter-attack, while Lynch sneaked up behind him and swung a thick saber at the back of his head.

"Cap'n!" Gail yelled as she flung herself between Blackthorn and Lynch's blade, attempting to block it with two armored gauntlets on her arms; she stopped the attack from reaching her captain, but the sword penetrated deep into her arms, wounding them. She gasped in pain and clenched her teeth, trying to push through the pain; Lynch growled at her and swatted her out of the way and continued attacking Blackthorn, who ducked away from her attacks, before hitting the blade of her saber with his left fist, and then swinging his right at her. She merely smiled and blocked his punch with the basket hilt of her sword, and pulled a knife out of her belt and stabbed his left arm.

"GAH!" He cried in pain, throwing his head back. He pushed his arms forward, pushing Lynch over and pulling the knife out of her grip, before pulling it out of his arm and throwing it away. He was about to finish her while she was on the ground, but her puppet lunged towards him from behind, swinging a sword and a chain.

He turned around, separated his fists and then brought them crashing back into each-other, "BAIZOU SHIRO-FUSHI! (Double white knuckle)" He said, as he created a large seismic wave that hit the puppet and sent it flying back. He smirked as his crew applauded, but cried in pain again as he heard a shot go off. He turned around to see his opponent standing, smirking with bloodlust, holding a pistol to him. He also noticed that she had a large cut on her arm, but he had more important things to focus on! He ducked out of the way of her next few shots, hoping to avoid them and close the distance. He got his chance, and stepped over the body of a fallen pirate, swinging his fist at her. She merely laughed out loud with the rest of her crew, as the pirate he stepped over, soaked in Lynch's blood, stood up and stabbed Blackthorn in the chest…

Haru's journal number three, entry four, September 2nd

"I Guess I never really finished that diagram of the different styles… Well, I've been putting it off for too long, so here we go, and here are some of the more advanced techniques too!

Taka: Means hawk, it is a powerful and fast style that relies on using your feet, and is useful against almost all enemies, especially ones with weak defense, and it seems that most people aren't used to fighting someone who just uses their feet, so they don't know what to do! Black leg Sanji must have been a genius or something…

I-senpu is the first special technique in the style Taka, it means first whirlwind, and requires you to actually rotate your kick quickly, and powerfully enough to disturb the air around you; after that, you just direct the air with other kicks. It's a simple concept, but trust me, it is not the easiest thing to learn!

Tekuru is the third special technique from the style, Oushi, and it means iron gouge. What you have to do is throw all of your momentum forward, and lift your elbow up in a sharp strike, that concentrates all of your weight and momentum onto a single point. I'm not very good at it, cause I don't have much weight to put behind it, but when you get someone like dad doing it…well, you don't wanna be on the wrong side of dad doing this technique…

Today has been a pleasant day, I'm off to Trellobi, a great island for bounty hunters, if you can survive their. I'm interested to see who shows up here, there are a couple of rookies who I've got my eye on, I'm wondering if they'll make it this far. Well, time for my nap. Writing can be so very relaxing…

Haru.

Again, sorry for the long wait, but most people don't read this… anyway, I hope you guys like this, I was trying to do an interesting, unique approach to a one piece story, set in a different perspective. Again, hope you like it, if you do, let me know, the review button is right down there!

Mime out.