Not Pirates, Treasure Hunters
Part 4 of 4 in a saga
A One Piece Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah
Chapter Fourteen - She Left A Note
"Let her go, McRae!" Jones shouted as the ship drew closer.
McRae had Chisa by the shoulders. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I can't do that unless you give me what you've taken from me."
Taka sheathed her sword. "You stole from him?"
"I didn't know it was his," Jones admitted. His eyes were locked on the approaching form of his younger sister.
"So give it back. Done. I don't need to get involved at all."
"I can't."
Sakura stepped forward. "I'm sure an arrangement can be reached?"
"Indeed," McRae purred. "You give me the box. I give you the girl."
"No can do."
"Jones!" Iisopp shouted. "What are you thinking!"
"Taka. Do what you gotta do. Just get my sister on board."
Taka nodded and strolled away in the opposite direction toward the cabins. "What are you doing!" Iisopp yelled her. "We gotta save Chisa!" Taka shrugged and closed the door behind her.
"Relax, my friend. Keep McRae's attention," Jones whispered.
He wasn't happy about it, but Iisopp complied. Sakura was a bit stunned at the pair of 45 magnums the young man withdrew from his sweatshirt. "Ok, Mr. Creepypants. Give Chisa back!"
Chisa's eyes darted to the left as she caught a flash of something streaking across the water. She repressed a grin.
"For the absolute last time I will repeat myself," McRae replied with a heavy sigh. "Give me the box and you may have the girl. She's really quite a pleasant person. I'd rather not kill her."
"Oh!" Chisa gasped and went limp. She crumpled to the deck and lay motionless.
"The poor thing," McRae groaned. "Look what's happened now, you horrible boys. Don't you have any respect for…" Before he could finish berating them, he lifted his arm to protect his face and it was studded with half a dozen shuriken. Taka ran so fast, she seemed to pop into existence in front of him - only inches from his face. "Surprise!" she said with wide grin and planted a blade between his ribs. The weapon went through his body. Horrified, Taka realized that she had stabbed an after image and the man had already escaped.
"Surprise, indeed," he purred.
Iisopp holstered his guns and clung to the rail. "Taka, behind you!" he shouted. The action was moving so quickly that he barely had time to get the warning out before the scene had changed again.
McRae had an old-fashioned pistol pointed at Taka's head. He pulled the trigger.
"No! Taka!" Sakura cried as she took the bullet to the face. She fell backwards and McRae smiled sickly. When her body hit the deck, it splintered - revealing that she had swapped herself out for a nearby barrel just before he fired.
"My, my," McRae mused. "You're a talented young woman as well." He expected another attack, but when it didn't come, he turned to see what the matter was. Chisa was conspicuously missing. "What!" he cried, his voice cracking.
"Yoo-hoo! Grampa!" Chisa called from the bow of the Ferris. "Fooled you!"
Taka stood beside her and sheathed her sword. "Iisopp. You're clear to take him out."
"Ii-chan!" Chisa cried, grabbing her friend's arm. "Please don't hurt him."
"Chisa, The guy's out to kill us!"
She was resolute. She pouted at him.
Jones knew his stubborn sister well. "She must have a good reason, Iisopp. Do you think you can take out his mast from here?" he asked.
The gunner grinned. "Not with what I got on me, but with this sucker…" he said and patted a cannon mounted to the right of the bow. He had a match lit and ready. "You bet!" Expertly, Iisopp aimed and fired, blowing the mast clean off of McRae's ship.
"Yay!" Chisa cheered, jumping into his arms. "You did it, Ii-chan!"
Jones frowned. "Weigh anchor! We're outta here!"
"Wait!" McRae cried. "Come back, you good-for-nothing rapscallions!"
"Swim for it if you want the box so bad!" Iisopp thumbed his nose at the villain as they sailed away. McRae stood where he was and soon, he and Chisa's ruined ship were lost in the distance.
Chisa stopped hugging Iisopp and opened her arms to her older brother. Jones simply folded his arms and glared at her. "What are you doing here?" he said coldly.
She pouted. "I got lonely."
"Chisa, Mom and Dad didn't want you to come with us. It's too dangerous."
"I can sail better'n you can! It's not fair!"
"That's not the point! Iisopp and I have permission. You do not. Do you know how pissed off Mom's gonna be! They're probably worried sick about you!"
"I left a note," Chisa said simply.
.x.
In East Blue a few weeks before, Nami called out for her daughter. She entered the kitchen to find her husband sitting at the table eating half of a pie. "Where's Chisa?" she asked. "I haven't seen her all day."
"Oh yeah. She went out," he said between bites. "She left a note."
"Eh?" Nami asked, taking the piece of paper he handed to her.
'Mom and Dad. I went to find Nii-chan and Ii-chan. Don't be mad. Love, Chisa.'
She crumpled it and glared at her husband. A vein on her forehead popped out.
"What?" Luffy asked innocently.
.x.
Jones hung his head. "We are so dead."
Sakura looked worried. "Taka, what was this Mr. Creepypants McRae like? He seemed to have similar skills."
"He's good," she said raising her arm. "Almost got me." There was a good quarter inch of flesh grazed off of her right bicep where McRae's bullet had almost missed her. Sakura boggled, pulled a first aid kit out of nowhere and went to work on her. "I've trained in ninjutsu for a dozen years. He's not a ninja."
"Then what is he?" Iisopp asked.
"He's an Akuma no Mi user," Chisa said plainly. "Koso Koso no Mi. Makes him super sneaky." Everyone stared blankly at the newcomer. "What? I was on the boat with him for like a week!"
More to come...