Chapter five: What makes a true devil?
Inside a small bar in the outskirts of the edge town, two drunken men chatted about a rumour going around. It was about a weird kid going around asking strange questions about Gold Roger and beating the shit out of people for insulting him. Was he another pirate king fan? There were a few crazy idiots who looked up to that notorious pirate.
" Wait wait, what was the question the kid asked again?" the shorter of the two inquired with a mocking tone.
" What would you do if Gold Roger had a child? Was it?"
" oh, I will kill that devil's child and save us the trouble." His bulky companion responded with gusto. In his drunken haze, he saw himself as a hero ridding the world of the villainous legacy of the pirate king.
Unspoken to them, the child of rumour stood a few feet behind them. Tears burned the child's eyes and his heartfelt heavy with emotions. It hurt so bad for his existence to be dismissed cruelly just for who his father was, not for what he is. Did he deserve to be born? Does his parentage define him?
Before he could retaliate, a crushing sound stopped the drunken men's laughter. A patron of the bar had smashed their alcohol bottle on the bulky man's head. A scream soon followed at the broken shreds dug into his head.
" you talk shit…...for someone so we...ak." The patron staggered in their drunken daze. They wore an oversized ratty coat that looked to have been once a vibrant red but now it looked more like muddy brown. Their face was hidden under a long frizzy black mane that hid their entire face.
" What the hell man? Why did you do this? Are you trying to kill me?" Despite his large build, the bulky man wasn't much of a fighter.
" A grown…. man is boasting about killing a kid…." the stranger's voice sounded clearer and rather feminine as they sober up. " death …"
" You are a woman ?!" The short man exclaimed. Now that his opponent was a woman the bulky man regained his courage.
He approached her and spoke in a patronizing tone. " I understand you women might sympathize with killing a child but that is no ordinary child. They are the spawn of the devil."
The woman took a step towards the bulky man with the pungent smell of alcohol surrounding her. She drunkenly stumbled but quickly regained her balance
" you tal...k shit for someone -hiccup- so weak."
" If you think Roger was a devil. then you had never felt the terror of a devil before ..." her voice took a more threatening tone. " in front of a true devil. " she raised her head revealing a predatory gaze. " you would wish for death." The man, irritated with women, used his entire weight to push her. Her body flew crashing into her table and breaking several empty bottles of alcohol. The sudden rush of adrenaline and pain was enough for her to entirely sober up. The women groaned in irritation. She finally managed to get drunk only to sober up by some asshole. Why were they fighting again? Her memories were slightly hazy but she remembered the man said something bad about Roger's son. Personally, she didn't really care enough for someone insulting that man. There was something in the man's words that opened an old wound. People determining whether an innocent child lives or dies are reminded of her own miserable past.
" A devil doesn't deserve to live." These words echoed in her mind like an old curse. with a groan, she brushed the broken glass off her clothes and removed hair out of her face revealing a pair of demonic eyes. How can someone so weak hit her? she must have really been out of it. The sake the red-headed brat gave her was surprisingly strong.
She looked at the man with an annoyed gaze. Was it worth continuing that argument? There was no reason to fight that man. She was about to pay for her drinks and leave when something caught her eye. A child with a familiar face holds back tears of frustration. Oh, that was a surprise. So that must be Roger's son? What is he doing here in east blue? Wasn't his mother from the south blue? Now the man's words rubbed an old wound for hers but she was too old to be fighting over such nonsense, however, these words clearly hurt the child's heart. Don't fight a pointless fight was her current motto, however, was it useless to defend a child's right to live?
" Said that Roger's son is a devil, right? How naive? kid, let me show what a true devil looks like." She quickly approached the man and before anyone could react red smoke exuded from her palms and surrounded the two men knocking them out cold.
" Sweet dreams," she whispered with a sadistic smile. The two men had horrified expressions etched on their faces.
She turned to the bar's owner who was shaking in fear. " They should be up in an hour or so." She took out the men's wallets. " Here you go, you should pay for damages and my drinks." She handed the owner enough money before pocketing the rest of the money and leaving the dinghy bar. the guard would probably come soon and she didn't want any more trouble. This accident would make it difficult to come back to the edge of town. Where is she going to get her drinks now? Her cellier is almost empty. Wait, wasn't there a small bar in a village near the island shore? It was a bit far away but it would be better than dealing with guards of the Goa Kingdom.
She was walking through the grey terminal lost in thought. That child is still following her. He might be Roger's son, but she had no reason to interact with him. She stopped dealing with humans long ago. She tried to lose him in the forest near Mt. Colubo but he was surprisingly persistent.
Ace thought he was being sneaky following the strange women. She was the first person beside Garp to defend his right to live although her reaction was far more intense than Garp said. As a marine Garp couldn't openly defend the pirate king and his bias didn't exactly assure Ace about his right to live. He followed the woman out of curiosity but he wasn't sure how to approach her. The fact she knocked two men without lifting a finger put him on edge. He was confident in a physical brawl but he wasn't sure he could fight that strange red smoke with his pipe. when the woman suddenly stopped in the forest and her gaze immediately went to Ace's hidden spot. Ace's body tensed and his grip on his pipe tightened.
The women chuckled. " What are you planning on doing with a rusty pipe?" Ace wasn't the type to run from confrontations and despite his fear, he jumped from bushes bravely facing her. She slowly approached him and instinctively took a step back.
" No need to be afraid. I don't harm children." She put on a tired smile. On a closer look, the kid looked quite young.
" I am not afraid." he stubbornly denied, however, his tense body said otherwise.
She sighed. " My name is Akura. what is yours?"
He hesitated to answer, but his curiosity got the better of him. " Ace."
Her expression immediately changed as she tried to stifle a laugh. Her reaction annoyed him. What was so funny?
She tried to regain her composure but an amused smile was firmly painted on her lips. She had doubts about the kid being Roger's son. He looked a lot like Roger as a child. Not many would notice it of course. Most people remember Roger as the infamous pirate king. She would probably be one of the very few people who remembered him as a snotty nosy brat.
" Sorry, I don't mean to offend you….. I just recalled something amusing…. can I ask why you are following me, Ace?" She had a rough idea of why he would follow her.
Ace scowl lessened at her apology. Did he just follow a dangerous stranger out of pure curiosity? it was such a stupid thing.
" I…" he stuttered. man, that was embarrassing. How should he ask about Roger without giving anything away? Like him going around asking about Roger's son wasn't a red flag in the first place. Under the pressure, he asked the same thing he always asked.
" Do you think Gold Roger's child deserves to live? …." She was the first person beside Garp who didn't curse his existence. It is a question that haunted him his entire life.
Akura frowned. " What a stupid question?! " She hated when humans detected the lives of others. It was the same back then in her hometown when those children attempted to kill her for her monstrous appearance. Every person has the right to live and die by their own choices, not by their blood.
Instinctively she argues the cruciality of such a question but would her own opinion weigh much against countless others? From what happened at the bar and the kid's desperation to ask such a question. She could assume he rarely if ever got a positive response. After a few seconds of silence, she came to a response to his question. She took off her dusty coat and tried to tame her messy hair in a ponytail. red mist surrounded her head and back before revealing her inhuman appearance a pair of long and jagged horns and big red feathered wings. One of her horns with broken at the tip.
Ace tensed the moment he saw the red mist remembering what happened to the bar's customers. the instant he saw the horns and wings he almost dropped his pipe in surprise. He was used to seeing Midway Forest's monsters however he was still a resident of the blues unused to the bizarre nature of the grandline and the world outside this little island. He didn't know about the sky, people or mermaids or fishermen. Akura was his first with another race. At first, he was shocked but it was more about the red mist than her appearance. Seeing his sceptical expression at her horns she chuckled.
" They are real. see." She bent down and showed him the top of her head. The horns were truly growing out of her skull. Ace, who used to hunt animals, immediately recognized that the horns were actual bones, not just a decoration.
" Now as you can see I am not really human…. I don't have the same blood as regular humans. Do you think I deserve to live, child?"
Her question caught him off guard. he was used to asking that question to everyone that he never thought he would have to answer it himself. His first instinct was to say yes. deemed someone to die because they don't look like you seemed incredibly foolish and unfair.
"... But I am…. the pirate king is.." he wanted to say it was different. His father was executed for his crimes while she was just born different.
" It all comes to blood, doesn't it. If the child only crime is being born something he had no hand in it sound pretty stupid doesn't it? " People could be extremely cruel when the matter doesn't concern him.
" But Roger was the devil." Ace felt flustered. Why was he arguing with her? She wasn't like Garp who told him to search for the answer himself. She was blunt and she certainly related to his own situation.
She scoffed before bursting into a giggling fit. " Roger a Devil? Man, humans sure forget the past quickly. There is only one devil in this world and that is me." A menacing smile blustered on her face. " Roger is just a pirate who found something that no one shouldn't and became a public enemy no. one. a true devil would cause havoc and burn everything to the ground. A devil will raise hell and make people tremble at the sound of their name"
The six-year-old dumbly stared at the madwoman with fascination. He had no idea back then what she meant by a true devil. As a child, he thought it sounded cool. It was only when his death drew near that he knew how demonic that woman really was. A person who had their world uprooted and had nothing to lose was truly terrifying. That was the start of an odd relationship between a devil and a devil's child.