I do not own One Piece.


Prompt: Cashbox
Length: 1255
Genre: Friendship


Stop, Thief!

As she studied her snack options, Tashigi hummed softly under her breath. She eventually settled on a bitter chocolate bar filled with a sweet fruit filling. She went up to the shop's front counter and slid the proper amount of coins across the wooden surface.

"Thank you!" she said before departing. She unwrapped the chocolate and took a bite as she stepped back outside, blinking rapidly to readjust her vision to the bright sunlight.

"Stop! Thief! Somebody help!"

Her ears immediately picked up on the desperate cry for help, though it came from quite a distance away. She hastily tossed her chocolate into the nearest bin and started running towards the noise. She slipped down a couple of alleyways as a shortcut and emerged a block away from where the cries had come from.

"He went that way!" a bystander shouted, pointing down the street. "He stole money from the glassblower storekeeper!"

Tashigi whipped her head around, spotting a figure shoving people out of his way as he barrelled down the concrete. She took up pursuit, pumping her legs and taking long strides to make up the distance the criminal had gained on her.

"Halt!" she shouted. "In the name of the Marines, I order you to stand down!"

He shot a quick look over his shoulder to see a thin woman bearing down on him. He slipped a hand inside his trench coat and removed a pistol. Tashigi dove through the entryway of a shoe shop just as he pressed the trigger, the bullet lodging into an overhanging sign.

Heart pounding in her chest, Tashigi took a sharp breath before running through the shop. She wound her way past displays of leather loafers and sandals and stumbled through the back door, the bell clanging loudly before being cut off as she let the door slam shut behind her.

She was in another alleyway, trash bins, flattened boxes and pieces of litter strewn about the grimy stone. There were only shops along this street and the next one, as they were close to the harbour and this was the hot spot for visitors and crews of ships docking in the port. If she were the thief, she would go to where there was an immediate means of escape, now that he was being tailed by a Marine.

Tashigi raced down the alley and turned a corner, where she returned to the main path. She ran towards the harbour, where the glittering blue ocean opened up before her. Her eyes darted about the wooden docks, but besides crew members lugging crates of goods towards town, she didn't see her culprit.

"Excuse me," she called to the nearest sailor. "Have you seen a man come through her recently? He's thin, with a black mustache and a shaved head. Has a silver ring in his nose, carrying a metal box?"

"That'd be him, won't it?" asked the sailor in bemusement, pointing over her shoulder.

Tashigi turned to discover the man hurrying through the entrance of the docks, looking wildly around. "Thank you!" she said hastily and removed her katana from its holder. She blended into the crowd, keeping as inconspicuous as possible, eyes never leaving her target. When he turned his body away from her she pounced, swinging her katana and cutting the arm that was holding the cashbox.

He howled in pain, dropping to the ground as blood seeped from his wound. Tashigi pinned him to the ground on his side, so she could reach into the fold of his jacket and remove the pistol. "I'll take that," she said coldly. "You are under arrest."

She went to unclip the set of shackles hanging from her belt. The crook managed to muster the strength to grab the cashbox with his injured hand and rear it back to strike Tashigi. The girl noticed and rolled off at the last second, the metal missing her head by inches. It clattered to the wood with an ugly sound and the crook jumped to his feet, staggering slightly.

He charged towards the water, cradling his bleeding arm against his chest. There was a child skipping on the docks, a few feet ahead of her mother. The crook, with no pistol and in need to get the Marine off of his back, slammed into the little girl, sending her stumbling the few feet to the edge of the dock and hurtling into the water.

The mother let out a horrified scream and Tashigi, who was feet away from snagging the culprit once and for all, twisted on her heel and dove over the edge. The impact caused her glasses to slide up her head, where they got caught in the strands of her hair. Vision blurred and eyes stinging from the sea salt, Tashigi managed to make out the pink-and-yellow figure floating a little bit below her.

Tashigi swam to the girl and wrapped an arm around her. She kicked her way to the surface, hoisting the girl above the water first and she started coughing and gagging, gasping for air. Tashigi gripped the boardwalk and handed the child to her sobbing mother. A pair of strong hands wrapped around her arm and hauled her to solid ground.

"Thank you," she said, fumbling for her glasses. She slipped them over her eyes, scowling slightly at the droplets that obscured her vision. She scrubbed them away and jolted when she realized the person who had helped her was Smoker. "Captain Smoker!"

"Quite the patrol for you tonight."

"You could say that," the eighteen-year-old said, getting to her feet and offering a salute. She shifted a quick look to the child, who was being tightly embraced by her mother. Relief overcame her when it was obvious the girl was fine. "But I let the thief get away."

"Maybe. But I caught him." Smoker stood to the side and Tashigi noticed the man sprawled on the ground, unconscious. "Good control with your sword, by the way."

"Thanks," said Tashigi with a smile. "The bleeding stopped, then?"

"Ah. He'll live. Though the scumbag might wish otherwise once we hand him in for sentencing." Smoker glanced over at his partner, who was soaked through, hair and clothes plastered to her body. The pistol hung loosely at her hip. "Since when do you carry a pistol?"

"I don't. It's his."

"You activated the safety, right?"

"Yes, sir," she said immediately, knowing he would have her head if the answer was otherwise.

"All right. Let's go."

Tashigi helped him left the unconscious crook to his feet, where they started to drag him into town. "What are you doing here?" she asked curiously.

"Needed chocolate and the storeroom only had the crap kind."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you had your sweet tooth when you did. Or else he would have gotten away with the storeowner's money."

"The reason he pushed that child into the water is because he knew you would catch him, and instead of facing the consequences of his actions like a man he acted like a coward." Smoker turned to regard Tashigi and she saw the approval in his eyes. "You made the right choice and you didn't even have to think about it. You did good."

"Thank you, sir!" said Tashigi with a wide grin. "Um, I actually tried to pick up a chocolate snack earlier, but I had to get rid of it when I heard the shout for help. Can we stop by a shop so I can get another one?"