Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.
On an undisclosed location somewhere on the Grand Line, an event was about to occur. This particular event is the skipping stone in the lake, from which the ripples of destiny move forth.
Two fresh recruits for the village militia were sitting in the office of one of the most feared men on the sea. His name was Jack Aguila, one of the Shichibukai-candidates. He was on a competitive race for the official title of Shichibukai after a falling out with the former and his superiors with another candidate. Jack sat opposite the two nervous faces, staring them down with his former-167 million-berry bounty stare.
The two, a male and female, had recently arrived with a group of others to the Grand Line in hopes to reinforce the World Government's efforts at keeping away pirates. The island in question was a well know bastion for pirates and, worse yet, Revolutionary scum. Jack sat at his desk, twiddling his fingers, and then slammed his hands to the desk to raise him with dramatic flair. The two young people jumped in their seats.
"So," he began in a suspicious tone, "what are your names?"
The two looked at each other, afraid to take their eyes off of him. There he stood, with a razor sharp stare (and nose) connected to a very demanding and serious face. Slicked back dirt blond hair, an elegant black button-down suit over a white shirt and a velvet sheet cloth down his chest. His pants exaggerated his size, with vertical white stripes running up black slacks, ending at the bottom with heeled dress shoes.
He wasn't as tall or as muscular as any other trained marine or militiamen there, but his overall presence was very threatening. In addition to his overall vampiric façade, he sported fangs and often wore a cape with a hood during the day. The stories that were told of him were what made him a Shichibukai-to-be. It has been said that this man single-handedly killed an entire city of Revolutionary affiliates in one night, never making a sound.
"I'm Harm" the young man stated, trying in vain to choke back his fear.
"I'm Maria," the girl said quickly, as if she had made some mistake.
The fearsome man took his eyes away and paced behind them to a curtained window. He drew back the curtain very slightly and peered out, then closed it again and paced back to his desk chair. Very slowly, he sat down, and addressed the two in a grave tone.
"I assume you know what this village is infamous for harboring from time to time?" They both nodded slowly, not noticing how much they were both shaking. Jack turned around in his swiveling chair to face the wall, then leaned back to look up at the ceiling.
"The World Government is very strict with their control laws on this kind of crime. Any person found affiliating with the revolting traitors must be eliminated as swiftly as possible." He turned back quickly, slammed his hands on the desk again, and jumped up to his feet. "The world cannot contain such vile people! No one must stand by and watch as the balance of the world's power is shifted so rapidly into oblivion!"
It was now that the two initiates grew calm, even attentive and thoughtful to his accusations. They straightened up in their chairs and met his gaze with affirmation.
"That is why I believe, more than anything, we should strive to obliterate the true scourge of the world!" he was now yelling, fist raised in the air and shaking with excitement.
The couple looked just as excited. Grins formed on their serious faces, wide and toothy grins. They looked up at him with tilted down heads, still nervous of making direct contact with such a powerful man.
"Now answer me!" He stepped up onto his desk with one leg and onto the chair behind him with the other. "Will you fight with me to rid our world of this unending menace?"
The two glared with evil stares straight past the eager man. The wall behind him began to slowly bulge out an amorphous shape. He still had not noticed the presence in the room.
"Will you fight with me!?" The shape took more form, that of a phantasm with outstretched arm over his own head, and other arm placed on the wall to pull the rest of its body out.
"CAN YOU FIGHT!?" The figure was clear now, and Jack had just noticed the presence from the reflection in the couple's eyes. From there he could see the faint image of a man with a knife in hand, seemingly melding out from the wall itself. He turned his head with great effort, then kicked back his legs to jump out of the way. By less than a hair's breadth he had managed to dodge the swing of the assassin's blade. The kick sent him tumbling next to the door of the room.
"Damn," an exasperated voice said, sighing to relieve the stress, "I missed." A man stood on the floor in front of the desk now, with leather 'socks' tied around his feet and tattered slacks around his legs. His torso was fully exposed, as was the bladed knuckle-guard in his clenched hand. His black hair with streaks of silver was parted to diagonally cut across his face, framing him with a nearly painted look of apathy and half-open eyes. His left eyebrow had two silver piercings running through it at the left end of the eyebrow.
Jack growled and stood up, staring at the now retreating initiates. Then he refocused on the killer that nearly got him reach behind his back and pull out his hand, which was bearing another blade across a clenched fist.
"Who the hell are you?" Jack asked with great anger. Slowly, the assassin raised both his hands in front of his face, crossing them so the tips of the blades were nearly touching. Then, without warning, he jumped forward with hands raised overhead. Jack dodged yet again, but barely. When he rolled to a stop, he felt a slight sensation on his right cheek. He raised his hand to rub away what he knew was there, blood.
"My name," the assassin spoke, "means nothing to a dead man." He charged again, but was countered at the last second by Jack stabbing forward with outstretched fingers. His hand went straight through his target, with his talon-like nails jutting out in uniformity. There was no blood, no pain, nothing. The assassin lowered his arms and turned his face down to meet with Jack's speechless expression. Jack's arm was simply passing through the body, without any marks or blood at the point of impact.
"Meld Meld Fruit, grants the ability to phase through any solid surface unharmed," he leaned down next to his target's ear and whispered, "that includes people, too." He threw up his arm to attempt another stab at the target's widely exposed back, but was countered again.
Jack drew out his hand and jumped back a safe distance away from the range of the other's arm. Feeling less and less secure by the second but still reached for a gun in his desk. He aimed hastily at his enemy and fired. The assassin was thrown backwards and dropped to the floor. Jack panted and smiled, then put the gun on his desk and straightened his neckerchief. Having relaxed considerably, he walked over to the pair still in the room with a maniacally murderous look in his eyes.
"You thought you could get away with it, didn't you?" he said through his sneer. The two were just barely at the door when a sweeping kick from the terrifying man sent Harm plowing into Maria, then both into a bookcase. He walked calmly over, staring at his prey like cornered mice awaiting a cat's final approach.
"Let me inform you about life here on the Grand Line for you Revolutionary scum-bags." His approach was discontinued by a chilled sensation just next to his head. Before he could even wipe away his smile, he ducked to the floor. Maria ran out the door, carrying Harm, as Jack turned around crouching to face his assassin yet again. This time, a jagged edged blade was sticking out of his foot, which he had swung directly at Jack's head. Jack growled with animosity.
"Like I said," the assassin said, kicking his leg in an arc over his head before stomping it to the floor, "any solid surface." He punched out both his arms and resumed his previous pose, while Jack still snarled deeply at the assassin. He staggered himself up to stand.
"You won't get away with this, you pirate scum!" Jack shouted.
"Whoever said I was a pirate?" The assassin replied calmly.
To be continued…