A/N: Chapter 20! :D I'm glad the last chapter seemed to keep you all interested. Looks as if I've got a new reader as well! How exciting! Well, the new semester of school has started auditions are next week, and I'll probably be busy for a while, but I'll try to update at least once a week if not more whenever possible. So, here's the next chapter! Thanks everyone for the reviews and keep up the good work!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
Pirates!
No Questions Asked.
Off To Inazuma Island!
"Faith and Gonzo, whatever you woke us up for, it'd better be important," Zugai snarled in distaste as he stepped into the kitchen, Jae right behind him. He was tired, and all the smell of coffee did for him was make him hungry in his drowsy state.
"It's five in the morning Gonzo-kun," Jae pointed out. He rubbed the sleep drowsily out of his eyes. "Couldn't it wait until a more preferable hour? Say… eight?"
Gonzo looked at them seriously. The only thing he had managed to make in the amount of time it took them to get ready was the tea, which was now placed on the table Jae and Zugai took seats at. Faith sat beside him, obviously uncomfortable, obviously frightened, and obviously worried out of her mind. "No," Gonzo said firmly. "Wake your asses up, guys, we've got a situation here,"
Jae took a sip of his tea as he gazed around the table. Something wasn't right… "Hey, where are Chris-san and Aya-san?" he asked at last. Hearing those words, Zugai looked around.
"Hey, you're right… They're not here," he muttered. He looked at Faith. "Didn't you wake those bums up?" he asked playfully.
Faith looked away. "They weren't there to wake up…" she muttered. Zugai's calm, mischievous smile faded, turning into a deathly serious one. It was at that moment that Gonzo read them the note. Zugai sat there, dumbfounded for a few moments, one hand wrapped around the cup resting on the table before him. He wasn't sure how to respond.
"This is a bit troublesome, isn't it…" he muttered at last.
"Troublesome…?" Faith suddenly asked in a manner that was uncharacteristic of her calm, shy personality. "Didn't you hear him? Chris and Aya are gone. Taken by whoever this bastard is!" she stood and snatched the note from Gonzo's hand and slammed it down on the table in front of Jae and Zugai. "You think that's troublesome?" Tears threatened to slip from her eyes, glossy with the strain of holding them back.
"Faith-san, please, clam down…" Jae said hesitantly.
"Calm down?" Faith asked, turning on Jae. "You expect me to calm down when my best friend is on some island, waiting to die? You guys may not care, but I do!"
Zugai stood up as well, slamming his palms down on the table to get her attention. He stared angrily at Faith. "What the hell makes you think we don't care?" he asked. "If we all panic, we'll never get anything done! We've got to breathe, and figure out what the hell we're going to do!"
Faith faltered slightly and the fury once present in her eyes faded back into uncertainty. Zugai took a deep breath to calm himself once again and turned toward the door. "Jae, make sure we're still on course. The rest of you, get ready. We don't know what lies ahead,"
That said, he exited the kitchen, slamming the door roughly behind him.
(--)
Aya slipped back into consciousness before her eyes allowed themselves to open. While in this incapacitated state, she tried to determine her surroundings. She knew that her arms were bound behind her back, and another rope held her against a rough surface. She was in a warm place, and the cool breeze brushing by assured her that she was outside. She could feel something similar to tall grass brushing her ankles. She came to the conclusion that the object she was restrained to was a tree. A very… uncomfortable tree.
That was strange. How did she get here?. She lifted her head and looked around groggily. The afternoon sun stung her eyes. It was at least noon, judging by the position. "Where am I…?" she muttered.
"Inazuma Island," an unfamiliar voice answered. Aya's senses went onto immediate alert upon hearing it. She turned her attention toward the direction the voice came from. A blond girl was sitting in the tall grass, almost invisible due to the blond hair matching the yellow grass. A machine gun was propped in her hand, the butt resting on the surface of the rock.
"Who are you?" Aya asked uncertainly.
"Amaya Dior," the girl answered. She smiled rather mischievously when she saw Aya discreetly attempting to free herself of the bonds. "That won't work, you know. Those knots are tied extra tight."
The words didn't stop Aya from trying. She stared at the woman for several moments, and then looked around rather uncertainly. "Where's –"
"Your captain?" Amaya interrupted. "She's somewhere else. It wouldn't be much of a test if you two were in the same place, would it?"
"Test…?" Aya muttered. Amaya turned her gaze away from Aya and focused instead on the forest surrounding the large clearing. She leaned back, obviously bored once again, and began fidgeting with the machine gun in her hand.
"A test of loyalty," Amaya said after a few moments of silence. She looked up at Aya and smiled rather sadly. "You don't know how often people will abandon those they claim to love when their own lives are at stake,"
Aya stared at this girl a bit uncertainly.
(--)
"My crew isn't like that," Chris said harshly to Lance. At the same time, she'd been having the same conversation with him, though she was inside a cave, her ankles and wrists tied tightly to prevent escape. That last statement infuriated her more then she expected. "They'll be here in no time,"
"You'd better hope so," Lance said from his spot perched upon a rock. He looked rather amused at the whole situation. "Because if they don't make it in the next fifteen hours, I'm not sure if Nikolai will let you two leave this island alive,"
In an instant, unfamiliar fear welled up in Chris' gut, not because of the idea of dying, but because of the name he'd just said.. "But… you said he was gone…"
Lance gazed at her, his black eyes as blank as usual. "Well, I said that with the assumption that your crew will make it in time," he said. "But Nikolai has a tendency to show up unexpectedly. It's a shame you don't have his dagger with you. It would save a lot of trouble if you did,"
Chris swallowed the lump in her throat and put on a stony, confident expression. Lance raised a brow at her sudden change in composure. "Well, looks like someone's confident," he said.
Chris stared at him. "Of course," she said. "I've got no reason to be afraid of Nikolai. I trust my crew with my life. They'll definitely make it in time!"
Lance scoffed a laugh and looked away. "You'd better hope so, Chrisanthia," he said. "It'll ruin my reputation to make empty threats,"
"And stop calling me that!" Chris snarled. She looked around. "Where's that little devious bastard anyway?" she asked.
"I hope you're not referring to my brother," Lance said. He gazed at Chris and there was a flash of anger across his eyes. "I don't enjoy hitting women, so don't make me do so,"
"You think you scare me?" Chris asked. She lifted her chin, holding her head high. Lance's smile returned and he looked away.
"Your confidence is admirable," he said. "But I wonder, how much of it is real?"
Chris' brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?" she asked. Lance didn't look at her.
"You're constantly trying to prove yourself," he said. "Even that time on Fuschia, when you stole the dagger from Nikolai, it was to prove a point, wasn't it?" Chris tilted her head. What did this have to do with anything? "People with real confidence have no need to prove themselves," he explained.
Chris managed a smirk. "You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow it through, (1)" she said. "People with real confidence aren't afraid to show what they can do."
"We obviously have very different philosophies," Lance pointed out with a smile. Chris looked away from him at last and gazed into the darkness of the cave.
"Spare me the misery of hearing your voice, will you?" she said harshly.
"Don't expect this to be easy for them, Chris," Lance said suddenly. Chris looked back at him, eyes narrowed. Lance stood up and walked toward her. "I said I wouldn't bring them any harm," he began. Chris stiffened and clenched her fists behind her back. He bent over so he was level with her. "But that doesn't mean that I won't hire others to try and stop them,"
Chris clenched her teeth angrily and pushed her head forward, slamming her forehead into Lance's with enough force to tear the skin. The boy cried out in surprise and gripped his forehead as a small drop of blood slipped down where she'd hit. He stepped back as he removed his hand, examining the blood for a few brief moments. On Chris' own forehead, a bruise formed, with a small cut emitting a small amount of blood. "You bastard!" she shouted. "If they end up hurt, I swear I'll kill you!"
(--)
It was taking too long. Far too long. They'd already been sailing for hours; the sun was high in the sky, signaling noon, and still, they hadn't reached the island. Whoever took Chris and Aya must have had at least a few hours head start. There was a solemn silence aboard the Howling Ivory. Jae was standing at the helm, adjusting their course every so often and on occasion, fixing the angle of the sails to get the most wind. Faith had locked herself in the room. Gonzo was cooking lunch for them, (he'd insisted that despite the circumstances, he would not allow the crew to miss a meal). Zugai stood in the crow's nest, searching intently for any form of land.
It angered him to no end that two of the crew had just been taken, right under his nose, and he hadn't seen anything. What good was he as a first mate if he couldn't even keep his captain safe? His labrys, Honehakaisha, was held firmly in one hand. He rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Stupid idiot…" he muttered under his breath. "Getting yourself kidnapped… didn't I tell you not to get into any more reckless situations?"
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes in an attempt to calm his nerves. Chris was perfectly capable of taking care of herself; she'd proven that multiple times. Aya… he didn't know much about the girl, but he was fairly certain that she could hold her own. Though… if they were incapacitated, it might not be so easy. Again, his anger began to rise. "I'll tear the bastard to shreds," he snarled under his breath.
And then, Zugai saw something in the distance. He straightened up and strained his eyes to see it. It was a small boat by the looks of it. Could it be those bastards coming back? Could they have taken her in such a small ship?
"Hey!" he called down to Jae. The navigator looked up at Zugai in acknowledgement. "There's a boat coming!"
Jae turned his attention toward the ocean before him. Zugai was right. The boat was approaching, and surprisingly quickly as well. The strangest thing about this ship though was that it was moving against the wind. And there were no sails. "That's strange…" Jae mused. He looked behind them and caught sight of another boat, large enough to fit two people comfortably, being pushed by the wind. "Zugai-kun, don't look now, but there's another coming behind us,"
Zugai turned his gaze back. The other boat was approaching at roughly the same speed as the one coming in the opposite direction, but that was due to the small size and the wind pushing on the sails. Zugai saw a glint of something metal and his eyes narrowed uncertainly. What was it…?
He got the answer no more then a few moments later, when an extremely loud bang sounded. He instinctively stepped aside and a bullet embedded itself into his left shoulder. His eyes widened in surprise as pain stabbed down his arm and was knocked back a few steps from the force of the blow. He was lucky he moved; a few inches to the right and he would have been shot in the heart.
When the shock disappeared, he gripped his bleeding shoulder tightly and ducked downward. He heard a sudden, childish giggle and turned to look down below deck.
A girl who looked no older then eight due to her height (though in reality was fifteen), stood there. Her pale skin contrasted against curly, light blue hair and vibrant pink eyes. She wore a white spaghetti strap shirt and a pink skirt with lilys drawn onto it, and red high heeled shoes. She was a rather childishly cute looking girl, with the happy-go-lucky expression on her face and the brown teddy bear in her hands hugged tightly against her chest.
"Hello~" she said in a sing-song voice to Jae. "My name's Lulu! I'm here to fight you!" She blinked a few times, gazing at Jae with interest. "You know, you're really pretty!" her expression suddenly darkened. "I don't like other women,"
Jae stared at the little girl, a bit confused. "Oh, but… I'm not─" before he could finish, she aimed the teddy bears feet at Jae.
"Grizzly Stomp!" Lulu shouted. Surprisingly, the bears legs grew much larger and stretched toward him. Before he could react, the large feet slammed into his chest, knocking him backward off his feet and sending him skidding into the railing. Faith ran from the side of the cabin, where the girl's room was, and rushed toward Jae. Gonzo slammed the kitchen door open and ran out onto the deck before the girl.
"There's another!" Zugai called from above. He vaulted himself over the safety wall around the crow's nest and slid down using the rope ladder leading up. He saw the glint of the gun aimed at him again and released the ladder when he was halfway down to avoid the bullet that was fired in his direction. He landed on the ground in a crouch, using Honehakaisha as support.
"What, two of them?" Gonzo asked quickly. He looked at Zugai as he rose to his feet. "What the hell happened to your shoulder?!"
"The other one," Zugai answered. He looked at Faith and Jae. "Jae, you alright?" he called.
"I'm fune, Zugai-kun!" Jae answered. He rubbed his chest uncomfortably. It would most certainly bruise. He stepped forward, back toward Lulu and her bear. "Faith-san and I will take care of the little girl. You and Gonzo-kun get the other one!"
"We don't have time for this, guys," Faith pointed out. Zugai nodded in agreement.
"We don't have much choice either," he said. "Let's just get rid of 'em quickly and keep going! We can't afford to spend to much time on them!"
The man who shot Zugai pounced onto the deck a few moments later. He was tall, around six feet or so, and had a lanky, almost crooked physique about him. His black hair was styled in a Mohawk, and around his forehead was a black headband. He wore a brown jacket, blue pants, and black shoes, and strapped to the belt around his hips was a small bag, probably holding bullets to the two pistols holstered there.
It took Zugai a few moments to also realize that this man had fur on his body, and his eyes were a strange amber color. Two pointed ears, similar to that of an Ocelot, were upon his head. Before their eyes, he changed, becoming a normal human once again. He held a pata sword, strapped to his left hand, and holstered to the right of his neck was a kris dagger. Now that the fur was gone, Zugai could see an 'x' shaped scar on his cheek. He wondered what sort of battle gave him that wound.
"A Zoan Fruit," Gonzo pointed out with a sneer. "This may be a bit more difficult, Zugai,"
The boy nodded his acknowledgement. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you want?" The man looked hard at Zugai and Gonzo for several minutes without speaking. "Hey, I asked you a question!" Zugai snapped.
"Shut up," the man said. "Don't pester me, when I want to answer, I'll answer," It took him a few moments to decide that it was in fact a good time to state his name. "I am called Morte del Astuto, known as Manigordo," he said calmly. "I'm a bounty hunter, here to get the bounty of Cascade Gonzo and Zugai the Demon's Orthopedic,"
Zugai and Gonzo tensed and prepared to fight. "How did you know we were here?" he demanded. Manigordo shrugged absently.
"I got a tip," he said. "Now then, since it looks to me as if I've already wounded you, do you want to surrender yourselves peacefully or does this have to get dangerous?"
Zugai and Gonzo grinned at each other and then returned their gazes to the Bounty hunter. Zugai lofted Honehakaisha as Gonzo cracked his knuckles. "It's definitely going to get dangerous," they said simultaneously.
Manigordo heaved a frustraded sigh and drew a pistol with his free hand. He loaded it, faster then either of them could even see, and fired.
A/N: (1) That quote that Chris says is by Rosalynn Carter. Thought I'd give credit to it, since it's not something I made up.
Lulu is the property of Kisdota-The Freak Gamer. Manigordo is property of YolkaEd. Thanks for the submissions! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Again, I wrote it several different ways before I was satisfied .. I need to stop doing that… Well, don't forget the usual, okay! Enjoy!
SNE121