Author: hi everyone! I'm back! It's been a rough 6.5 weeks. What with the course I was enrolled in, which was super draining, but my puppy passed away from Parvo half-way through it. It was rough but I made it through, passed my course and got promoted at my job. Hope you all like the new chapter! Also I drew some rough sketches of Ai, you can check them out on the link below:
art/One-Piece-OC-character-671384198
art/Ai-2-671389398
art/Childhood-PictureS-of-Ai-671390007
" YOU LOST HER?" Marco yelled in disbelief. " THATCH! YOU HAD ONE JOB!"
" I KNOW, MARCO! I KNOW!" Thatch said frantically gathering up his machetes.
" HOW COULD YOU LOSE HER!" Marco yelled as he pulled his boots on.
" DAMN IT! I LOOKED AWAY FOR NOT EVEN A MINUTE AND SHE WAS GONE!"
" YOU KNOW THAT'S ALL IT TAKES WITH HER, THATCH!"
" SHUT UP, I KNOW!"
" What's all the yelling about?" Izo asked sleepily, walking in all droopy eyed and scratching his chest. " I was trying to take a nap."
" Yeah!" A short, round shark fishman said cooly. His skin was a soft grey color. He had two sets of three sharp pointed teeth, one set on each side of his mouth, on each side of his neck were a set of three gills. On his neck was tattooed the number 8. He wore a white t-shirt with sky blue sleeves with the star logo for the Criminal brand and grey pants held up by a belt. A dark gray shark fin protruded from his back. " Why do you two have to be so loud?"
" SHUT UP, NAMUR!" Marco and Thatch yelled in unison.
" Thatch's stupid ass lost Ai!" Marco snapped angrily as he stormed out into the courtyard.
" WHAT!" Vista yelled worriedly.
" WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE LOST HER?" Izo yelled.
" AS IN HE CANNOT LOCATE HER!" Marco snapped. " HE TOOK HER TO THE BEACH AND THEN HE FUCKING LOST HER!"
" Calm down, Marco!" Vista said hurriedly. " It's not like he lost her on purpose!"
" HE SHOULD HAVE WATCHED HER BETTER!" Marco yelled. " HE KNOWS THAT SHE WANDERS OFF CONSTANTLY AND HE STILL DIDN'T PAY CLOSE ENOUGH ATTENTION TO HER!"
With that being said he shifted into his phoenix form and flew off in search of the small blunette.
" FUCK!" Thatch said punching the wall.
" Thatch, you need to calm down." Izo said hurriedly.
" CALM? HOW CAN I REMAIN CALM! AI WAS MY RESPONSIBILITY AND I LOST HER!"
" THATCH!" Namur yelled, his usual calm now gone. " STOP IT! Blaming yourself won't undo what has already happened! Ai has been hard to keep track of since the day she started crawling!"
" You have to calm down!" Izo repeated. " If you don't, you'll end up missing some important clue or info that could help us find her!"
" I know," Thatch sighed finally. " I know, I just-I'm just worried!"
" I know, brother." Vista said calmly, placing a comforting hand on Thatch's shoulder. " We're all worried. Just know that we're going to find her!"
" We'd better." Thatch said, his left hand now swollen. " Or I'll never forgive myself."
" Mawfaww," Ai whimpered tiredly. " I'm piwebeb. I wamma go home!"
" But we aren't done exploring yet, Ai."
" Bup me piwebeb!" Ai whimpered sadly, her round cheeks now red from the cold.
" Well here," Teach said lifting her swiftly up into his arms. " How about I carry you."
" Bup," Ai whined quietly. " I wamma go home!"
" We will soon, little sister." Teach chuckled light-heartedly, bouncing her gently in his arms. " We are just having a little adventure first."
" Whewe?" Ai whimpered sleepily, rubbing her eyes as they went.
" We are going to see some friends of mine first."
" Fwiembf?"
" Greetings, Boss!" A calm and cheery voice said. Ai looked over to see an incredibly very tall, pale and sickly looking man. He wore an off-white collared long-sleeve shirt patterned with yellow crosses and navy jumper pants and a pair of black tap dancing shoes. His most distinguishing accessories are his classic black top hat and red wooden cane. He also wore a pair of gold hoop earrings. His lips were an abnormally dark red color.
" Hello Laffitte," Teach said cheerfully.
" Who is that little miss you have with you?"
" This is Ai, the one I told you about."
" I see!" The pale man said before smiling down at Ai. " Hello little miss! My name is Laffitte!"
" I wamma go home!" Ai whimpered, hiding her face sadly.
" Don't worry, little miss." Laffitte said. " You will."
" Any sign of her?" Whitebeard asked quietly, starring out at the sea.
" No Captain." Thatch said sadly. " We can't seem to locate her anywhere. It's as if she vanished into thin air."
" We need to find her soon." Whitebeard said calmly. " The temperature is starting to drop and she's going to need to consume blood soon."
" I'm sorry, Pops!" Thatch said, head drooping in shame. " I'm so sorry!"
" For what?"
" This is all my fault!" Thatch said fearfully, tears starting to prick his eyes, his fists clenched so tight that his eyes, his fists clenched so tight that the knuckles were white. " If I had been watching her better than she would be home, safe and sound, not out there lost."
" She isn't lost, Thatch." Whitebeard said coolly.
" What do you mean?"
" She was taken by someone." Whitebeard said in an eerily calm voice. " If she were simply lost then we would have found her by now."
" Why would someone take her?"
" Ai is a female vampire, Thatch. That right there is reason enough to attempt a kidnapping." Whitebeard said cooly. " Aside from that, she is the daughter of a female vampire. Female offspring of female vampires are normally stillborn or do not survive past their first year. So her being Elia's daughter and being four years old with no health problems makes her a rarity. Many people would go to war to have her in their possession, even if she is a halfling."
" But she's a baby!"
" That just means she was easier to take once someone had learned of her existence." Whitebeard said coolly. " Ai is so innocent and she altered that would be easy pickings for someone to take."
" But she knows not to go around strangers." Thatch said in a panic. " And besides, how could they get close enough to grab her anyway?" A long silence fell over the two at his question. Whitebeard turned slowly to face his fourth division commander, his face blank.
" Has everyone been accounted for?"
" What do you mean?" Thatch asked fearfully, his face as white as his captain's mustache.
" The only people capable of getting close enough to snatch Ai are Roger's crew and our own. Roger would never tolerate one of his people taking Ai from her home. If he knew she was taken by one of his own she would have been returned by now with her kidnapper's heart in a box."
" How can we be sure?"
" The same way he would know that I would never take his son as my hostage. He is above using children for his own personal gain."
" Why do you think someone here took her?" Thatch asked warily.
" Ai wouldn't have gone with someone she didn't know." Whitebeard said. " Someone here would know about her breeding, they could also easily get close to her without us suspecting any ulterior motives or making her uneasy. She trusts us as well, she'd go anywhere with one of us without question."
" But…why?"
" Money." Whitebeard said blankly. " Nobles, slavers or even the Order would pay millions for her. The only surviving female child of a female vampire on record. They put her on display or force her to marry them or their sons. On the other hand, the Order would kill her and put her body on display."
" SHE'S JUST A BABY!"
" And they would kill her as a warning to us all." Whitebeard said angrily. " They already view us as monsters, crimes against nature. Yet a halfling like Ai, they'd see her as an abomination. Something that needs to be destroyed."
" She's just a baby…" Thatch said weakly.
" And there are evil people in the world." Whitebeard said placing a fatherly hand on Thatch's shoulder. " We will find her, Thatch. We will find her and whoever took her will pay."
" Captain," The sound of Ito's voice caused Thatch to jump in surprise. " Accountability has been taken and only one person is missing."
" And that would be?"
" Marshall D Teach."
" How can we be sure that thing is a vampire?" A middle-aged woman with her hair in a set of girlish pigtails. Her face has wrinkles, a sloping forehead, a long witch-like nose, a devilish grin, and a square jaw. She wore a striped uniform with a V-neckline. She also wore a large magenta cape, a blue pearl necklace, and a purple sash around her waist over lavender cargo-pants and black shoes.
" What do you mean, Catarina?" Thatch asked humorously.
" What I mean is, you could have just snatched some random brat from a human village, trying to pass this thing off as a vampling."
Snorting in indignation, Teach smiled down at the small blunette who was currently sitting on a small stool in the center of a run down shack. " Ai, sweetie…open your mouth and show us those pretty little fangs of yours." Fear and confusion ran through her large green eyes as she instantly covered her mouth with both hands.
" Mo!" Her muffled voice said fearfully.
" You can show us, sweetie." Teach said, his normal toothless smile still present.
" Pops faib mo fow!" Ai whimpered nervously.
" Well, I say you can." Teach said. Ai whimpered again, tears starting to prick her eyes.
" Oh for Pete's sake! Enough coddling of this brat!" Catarina yelled before grabbing Ai by her hair and jerking her backwards.
" AH!" Ai cried loudly as Catarina grabbed her lower jaw and forcing it open.
" That could have been handled better." An abnormally tall, thin man with light brown hair that hangs down to his lower neck. His eyebrows were furrowed in what looked like a saddened expression. The left lens of the black glasses he wore were a normal, rectangular eyepiece, but the right side is circular and holds what appeared to be a cross hair. He sported a large black hat, protruding out to both sides, its shape bears an uncanny resemblance to an upturned boat's hull. He wore a long black cape, under which he wears a button-up, pale lavender shirt with loose sleeves, and simple black pants, with a maroon belt with an aqua outline that goes over a small portion of his shirt. He also wore a pair of black shoes.
" Shut up, Van Augur!" Catarina snapped. " We weren't getting anywhere by coddle this little shit!"
" Well now!" A very large man with a long nose said in interest. His face appeared unshaven, and there are straight purple tattoos coming from his hairline to the corners of his eyes. His hair was long and curly gray hair, and he had a pallid look about him acting as though he is on the verge of death. He wore a black fur coat, a wide-brimmed, black beaten hat, and what appeared to be a dark white hangman's noose around his neck.
The man knelt down in-front of Ai, examining the small, delicate fangs that were now exposed. " This is quite interesting. You say her mother was a female vampire by birth?"
" Correct, Dr. Q." Teach said cheerfully. " Her mother was Elia Waters."
" I am curious to know how she survived this long." Dr. Q said with even more interest.
" It may have something to do with her father." Teach replied. " Alduin was human after all."
" Do you realize what we have here?" Van Augur said. " The only surviving second generation female vampire on record. Can you imagine the money we could get for her?"
" Tens of thousands!" Catarina said.
" Millions even." Van Augur said, eyeing Ai with interest. " To think Whitebeard was hiding this little treasure all to himself."
" More likely he was planing on using it to broker a deal with a different vampire lord." Catarina said tightening her hold on Ai's hair. " Trading this brat for an alliance of some sort."
" Stupid woman," Laffitte laughed. " Whitebeard doesn't believe in manipulating others for his own personal gain. Each and every single one of his allies is considered a member of his family."
" And?"
" He doesn't use others for his own personal gain." Laffitte said. " That is his greatest weakness."
" Mawfaww!" Ai cried tearfully. " I wamma go home!"
" God this brat is annoying!" Catarina snapped angrily.
" Quiet Catarina," Laffitte said lifting Ai gently. " You're scaring her."
" And?"
" Now, now little miss. None of that crying." Laffitte said calmly.
" Wep go!" Ai squeaked fearfully, squirming in the pale man's arms. " Mawfaww!"
" You're fine, Ai." Teach laughed before turning to Dr. Q. " She'll need to feed soon if we're going to keep her healthy enough to sell."
" I'll find an animal to kill and let her feed from." Dr. Q said.
" MAWFAWW!" Ai cried, tears now streaming down her small face. " I WAMMA GO HOWME!"
" SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Catarina yelled, raising her hand to strike the girl.
" CATARINA!" Teach yelled causing the woman to halt in her tracks. " Do not touch her."
" Then make it stop whining!" Catarina snapped, her face slightly pale.
" Ai," Teach said sternly. " You can't go home."
" Bup-"
" Father doesn't want you." Teach said blankly. " As a matter of fact, none of them want you anymore. They said you were a problem that they were just going to get rid of."
" Bup," Ai said in confusion, tears streaming down her face. " Fapf!"
" Thatch was told to take you to the sea." Teach said quietly. " And drown you."
" Bwowm?"
" To hold you under the water until you stop breathing…" Teach said, placing a hand on her head and gently ruffling her hair. " They were going to kill you but I saved you." His lips curled evilly into a smile, his jagged fangs now exposed. Taking her from Laffitte, he placed her gently on his lap, a small whimper escaping from the blunette. " They were going to kill you, little sister…but I saved you. They didn't want you…or love you anymore…but I do."
" Why mop?" Ai cried sadly. " Waf me bab?"
" Not to me, little sister." Teach said gently, stroking her cheek lightly and tilting her head to the left slightly, exposing her jugular. " You smell so good, Ai. I never noticed before with all the others around…"
" Mawfaww?"
" Boss," Laffitte said warily, his eyes growing wide. " What are you doing?"
" You smell just like peaches, little Ai." Teach said unable to control himself anymore. Before anyone could stop his, he sank his jagged fangs into the delicate flesh of her neck, wrenching a terrified scream from the small girl.
