New Beginnings
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but I do own Draconian.
With a sharp tug, Draconian tightened the new dressing of bandages on his broken leg, at the same time locking the self made splint into place. His other bandages had started to get dirty, so he had to put on clean ones so as not to risk some kind of infection. It had been a few days since he had headed out of Arlong Park and headed towards Rogue Town, the birthplace of Gold Roger. At the moment, his ship was only minutes away from the harbor of the grand city, and he needed to do some preparation in his storeroom.
Draconian pushed himself off the ground, giving a grunt as he put weight on his broken leg. That was pretty much the main reason that he actually had to do preparation, with his broken leg he couldn't risk any chance of getting into a fight until it healed up. Before he had even come into view Draconian had taken down his Jolly Roger flag, just in case it provoked some people
into thinking the wrong thing of his little visit. He had even taken the extra precaution of covering up his dragon head with some canvas, in case some people remembered it.
Gripping his sheathed katana and using it as a walking stick, Draconian walked over to one of the wooden shelves. He pulled down what at first looked like a pile of fabric, but when he put it on became a big cloak with a hood, completely covering his body and face. Once more he set out towards another shelf in his limping steps. On top of this one was a collection of small items, little trinkets that Draconian had picked up here and there, small treasures from his childhood or just interesting things he found while at sea.
From it, he plucked out a pair of sunglasses, slipping them on to hide his eyes, of all the things that would give him away, that was the most obvious. With another slow hobble, Draconian headed over to the back of the room, near one of the corners of the dark place. As soon as he had gotten there, Draconian lifted up his katana and rested it on his shoulder, and reaching into the shadows picked out the final thing he was looking for.
It was a black cane, about three feet long, the length of it was made out of a black metal, with the bottom having a rubber attachment so as not to damage it. At the top was attached a dragon made out of regular metal, its claws resting on top of a pillar as it looked down upon a serpent which had twisted around the same exact pillar. The tail of the creature went right out, creating a place for the person wielding it to hold onto and get a firm grip.
Resting the bottom of it on the ground, Draconian gave a few practice walks, trying to get a feel for his new walking stick. He had it down with the second try, it worked a lot better than the katana had, seeing as the sheath had that curve, so it wasn't exactly great for walking. His steps were still slow, but he didn't wobble as much; so with his newfound tool, Draconian walked out of the storeroom and went into his cabin. With a flick of his wrist, he flung the katana onto his bed, making it land right next to his scimitar.
The swords were definitely one of the things that would stick out the most, not only would they be hard to find, but if people knew about him they'd probably remember what his swords looked like, and that wasn't good. He wasn't going out unprepared, however; the cane that he was using to walk had a sword of a little over two feet in length hidden in it, so in case he got into a little trouble all he had to do was give a little twist and whip it out.
Finally Draconian headed back up to the deck, the cane making a clunking noise each time it hit the wood. As he came into the fresh air, the first thing that Draconian noticed was Rogue Town itself, which at the moment was only minutes away. The buildings had a good size to them and showed nice and sharp in the sun, the many windows reflecting the sunlight in an almost beautiful way.
Draconian walked up to the dragon head, now covered in canvas, and stared out at the city before him, grand and beautiful. The birthplace of Gold Roger called out to him, the energy and excitement of the city seemed to take him in and soon he found his breaths quickening. Originally he just planned for a place to be where he could heal and stock up on supplies, but already he knew that this would be one trip he wouldn't forget.
So, after a few minutes of moving, Draconian docked his ship, not once receiving an exclaimed remark from some person or other, and with a shaky breath set up the ramp and walked down, into the streets of Rogue Town.
The first couple of days in Rouge Town were spent gathering up supplies for the ship, it had been getting low on food and Draconian needed to get some more bandages to replace the ones he used up. There were also some other items he needed that took a good while to locate, some of them so hard to find it took hours just to get one thing, such as medicines. It was especially slow going since every time he got something he would have to walk all the way back to the ship and put it in the storeroom.
The only time that he would stop when looking for supplies was when he needed a rest for his leg or when he was hungry. At night he would return to his ship and go sleep in his cabin, feeling it the safest lace he could possibly be after the sun had set.
After he had gotten all the things he needed to stock up on, the only thing that Draconian could really do was wait until his leg healed. So each day he would hobble out of his ship and go explore the streets of Rogue Town, looking at all the things the place had to offer. The shops were full of anything you could think of, many days were spent looking through them at interesting stuff. Bars and other eateries were crammed full with customers, so Draconian would usually spend about an hour or two for each of his meals outside and relaxing in the warm glow of the sun. His favorite spot to eat in the city was near a big fountain, where he would sit on the edge and eat some juicy fruit or whatnot.
One time he just spent the whole day looking at the "landmarks" of the city, like beautiful fountains or giant building. The best part, though, was when he went to the spot where Gold Roger was hanged. It didn't really look like much, a small steel tower with crisscrossing metal beams to support it, but that didn't really matter, it was what happened there that meant something. Every single day afterward he would come back to the spot and stare at the structure for about fifteen minutes, the energy he felt as he entered the city suddenly returning and making his breath quicken.
There was much entertainment that the city offered, such as a cooking contest that Draconian witnessed, that was definitely an interesting thing to watch. Feats of strength, speed, and of course drinking were also very common sights, and it took every ounce of Draconian's will to remind himself of his injury and not reveal himself.
But there was one place that, to Draconian, topped them all, even the place Gold Roger was hung, a place that almost made him feint the first time he saw it. That place was the sword and weapons shop, where blade upon blade hung from the wall, each one shining with a beautiful shine as light struck the metal surface. Each one was different and had its own characteristic, and Draconian spent hours each day studying the craftsmanship of every one. One day, the first day he found it actually, Draconian had spent from morning to nightfall looking at the swords, not even stopping for food; it had taken the owner of the store to give him a rough shake to remind him that it was night.
Through all that, Draconian's leg had been constantly healing, the skin repairing itself and the bone going back into alignment. And so, one week after setting foot on the city, Draconian's leg had completely healed, leaving behind only a soreness each time he stepped down.
Back in the storeroom, which was now completely full of food and supplies, Draconian put away his cane, cloak, and sunglasses. With his leg healed, he no longer needed to fear being attacked, since now he could attack back. His katana and scimitar were also back in their rightful places on Draconian's body, ready to be whipped out at a moment's notice.
He walked out of the storeroom, a grin on his face as he appeared on the deck of his ship. Before he went to his ramp, Draconian stepped up to the dragon head and pulled off the canvas, throwing it back onto the deck to be put away at a later time. And with steps almost as light as the air, Draconian stepped onto the plank and walked down to the shore.
The air felt good on his skin, the warmth of the sun giving a nice feeling instead of the one of stifling heat he had felt underneath the heavy cloak. Finally he was back to the original weight he walked around with, the vest light against his chest with the katana by his waist and the scimitar a reassuring weight on his back. Of course, there was a down side to going back to his original looks, if you could call it a downside.
A lot of people that passed him just treated him like they treated him yesterday, but those were the people who didn't look at him. For those people who did see him, however, the reaction was immediate. Some of them just stared at him as they passed; I mean he didn't exactly look like the usual person on the street, but others eyes would widen in fear or amazement. There were also people who went beyond that, many of them moving to another side of the road, and even a few people had actually turned right around and ran.
Draconian was guessing that there were two reasons for this kind of behavior. Either word of him had gotten around to a good amount of people, I mean he'd been at this stuff for a whole year, it's about time, or they saw his eyes, and just doing that can make a person pee his pants in fear if he knew anything about Draconian's father. He pretty much just ignored this, but he did take a mental note of it just in case some navy men happened to know something about him.
His first stop this day was at one of the produce markets, where he picked up a couple good looking apples. As he handed the woman his money, her gaze traveled up his face, taking in his eyes. Immediately she shrank away from his hand, her body shaking as she tried to get as far away from him as possible.
He knew it wouldn't be right, wouldn't be polite, but Draconian just couldn't help it as he witnessed this odd sight, and he belted out a small laugh at what just seemed funny to him. With a little flick of his wrist, he tossed the coins at the woman's feet and walked away, the people around him once again shrinking away from his body.
His next stop was the big pavilion in which the big water fountain was, standing tall and beautiful in the middle of the paved area. With a quick stride, he walked up to the edge of the fountain and sat down, a fine mist of water surrounding his body. He set down one of the apples, bringing the other one up to his mouth and taking a large bite out of it. Back at the ship he hadn't eaten any breakfast, so this was going to be his only meal till lunch time.
The apples could have easily been eaten in only a few minutes, but Draconian decided to drag it out, making it last fifteen minutes so that he could admire the nice day. As he finished off the last bite, Draconian stood back up, giving a small stretch with a groan to accompany it. The apple cores in his had ignited in fire, lasting only a few seconds only to disappear in a small puff of smoke, leaving only a pile of ashes, or whatever you get by burning apples.
His good time was short lived, however, as a shout erupted from one of the streets leading to the small pavilion. "Hey, you, stop right where you are!"
Draconian lazily turned his head over to the noise, the rest of his body in a casual stance as he looked upon a group of navy men walking towards him. He gave a small sigh of annoyance. "Damn, as soon as I show my face. Well, eyes to be precise."
The leader of the group raised his gun and pointed it at Draconian's face. "You are under arrest, do not attempt to resist or you shall be shot."
In response Draconian cocked an eyebrow and rested his left hand casually on the hilt of his katana. "And what is it exactly that I've done?"
Without even putting down the gun, the navy man shouted across the clearing. "You are wanted by navy as too much of a threat to other people."
Draconian's eyes scrunched up as he seemed to consider this, after a while of this shaking his head. "Nope, sorry but I don't really think I am."
With a signal from the leader, the rest of the men raised their guns. "Come with us please, or I promise you that we'll shoot."
A chuckle emanated from his lips. "Really? Well let's see if you can hit me." And with that, Draconian shot off to the side, fire erupting from his feet to give him extra speed. Gun shots erupted behind him, the bullets missing his skin but placing holes in the pavement.
Once he was at the edge of the pavilion, Draconian jumped off the ground, the fire at his feet lifting him up so that he landed on the roof of a building. From there he ran across the roof, jumping once he got to a gap and landing on the next building. Bullets smashed into the sides of the buildings, usually behind him, creating small explosions of dust where they hit.
Draconian just jumped from building to building, the whole time getting further and further away from the navy men, who were following his path but just couldn't keep up to his speed. The bullets hit even farther away from him, making Draconian belt out a laugh at the men's feeble attempts.
After a few more minutes, the navy men were almost out of sight, appearing to him as only dots, and he was sure that to them he was completely nothing. As he landed on the next building top, Draconian walked towards the middle of the roof and laid down, pretty much keeping him completely out of sight of the navy men.
For a while he just lay there, waiting, until finally he heard voices near the building, a loud shouting as people rushed through, obviously the navy men thinking he had kept on going. So all he did was wait until that noise had faded away, which only took a minute, and Draconian stood back up and headed back the way he had come, going the exact opposite direction of the navy men.
When he had gotten about halfway back to the pavilion, Draconian made a turn, going along another row of buildings. His pace had slowed down to a walk now that he no longer needed to actually run. As he walked along, his head looked down at the street below, the eyes counting the number of doors on the building sides.
After a while of this, Draconian came to a stop, looking down both sides of the street, making sure that no one was around. With the certainty that no one would come in the next few seconds, Draconian jumped off the roof to fall to the ground.
He hit the ground with a groan, his left leg going down to its knee in pain. Usually, he would have been able to jump down easily with no trouble, but with a leg that just recovered from being broken it was definitely no picnic. His hands clutched onto the leg, moving up and down to try and help with the small pain. "Note to self, no more jumping down from high places until leg heals."
Once the pain had died away, Draconian stood back up, giving a little stretch of the leg to try and help, and turned around. Right in front of him was the door to the weapon shop that he had gone to so often each day. With a measured step, Draconian pushed open the door and stepped into the shop.
There was rack upon rack of weapons, glass displays on tables, buckets with swords in them like umbrellas, and it was the most beautiful thing Draconian had ever seen. The only person in the place was the owner, which at the moment was standing behind one of the counters, cleaning one of the many swords.
A few days earlier, an idea struck Draconian that he just couldn't put away, an idea that had grown each day. He had decided that it was time for him to buy a dagger, it would be good for sneaky or quick attacks, and he even had an idea on how to apply his powers in a really nice way with a good dagger. So, for the last few days, his concentration had been studying all the specific daggers there were on display, trying to find one that seemed special and was in his current price range. It was actually yesterday that he had made his choice, and he just could not wait to buy it.
Draconian walked up to the counter, tapping on the glass to get the owner's attention, receiving an interested glance to show the guy was listening. With a smile, Draconian traced his finger along the glass, stopping once he had found the dagger he was looking for and pointing at it. The man put the sword away and took out a ring of keys, and still not saying a word opened up the glass case and took out the dagger. Before he gave the dagger to Draconian, the man made a gesture with his free hand, indicating that he wanted the money up front.
With a small chuckle, Draconian dug in his pocket and fished out some coins, tossing them on the glass counter so that they landed in front of the man. He gave them a scrutinizing gaze, picking up one and examining it closely. After he was satisfied they were real, the man handed Draconian the dagger, who took a hold of it with a look someone might give their child.
With the sheath on, the whole thing was about a foot and a quarter long, the ends curving a little sharply in a direction that stated it was a right handed knife, while the rest of it just had more of a gentle curve, like a katana. It was shaped like a green dragon, the spine, underside, and two small limbs near its head a kind of reddish brown color. There were no actual wings on it, the head of the beast was a bright red and it had five kind of bonelike ridges on it, one going up the middle and two on either side of it. The body twisted a little as it went down the length of the sheath, only going halfway to the right and then twisting back to the left, going completely around at the end. At the end, the tail bent backwards, going under the beast and twisting around the bottom to come back up on top of it. A snake was wrapped around its length, it looped around in front of the dragon's head, where the dragon bit into its length, and twisted back around to rest its head on top of the dragon's scales.
When opened up, it revealed a blade that was eight inches long and an inch thick. It was single edged, and the end curved gently off into a point, much like a katana would, technically making this a tanto. It was thinner and smaller than any other tantos that Draconian had seen, but that's kind of what made it special for him, other than the sheath of course. The blade shined nicely and the edge was good and sharp, he probably could have cut an orange with it just by dropping the fruit right onto the blade.
Draconian placed the tanto back into the sheath and moved it to his waist, placing it in a belt loop right below his katana. Because the snake's body looped out in front of the head, the end was wide enough so that it didn't slip out and rode easily alongside him. So, giving the owner a nod of his head to end the silent meeting, Draconian turned around and walked out the shop door.
His joyfulness at getting the new weapon didn't last, however, as he stepped out into the street, only to hear an angry shout.
"Hey, you, stop right there!"
Draconian gave an exasperated sigh and whispered a curse under his breath. He then turned around and jumped, giving a boost of fire along with the leap to lift him up to the top of the roof. This time he just ran flat out, going from roof to roof without even looking behind, not even knowing where the hell the navy men were. He didn't know where he ran, just knowing when to jump and when to run, going ahead in a reckless pace, even jumping over whole streets.
He didn't have any idea how long he had run, the only reason he had stopped was because he had realized the sound of bullets had stopped for a while. The memory of his run just seemed like a blur to him, he didn't even know if he had made a single turn during the whole thing or if he had made a hundred. His leg felt tired from all the running, especially his left, his heart was beating faster than normal, and he had to take deep breaths.
Draconian took a look around at the street below, trying to see if he could find something familiar. It was a narrow street, at the moment there wasn't really anyone in it, and the only sign of any kind of habitation was a sign hanging over a door. This was definitely someplace where Draconian hadn't been before, he would have most likely remembered it. He might as well check it out from street level, though, just in case there was anything he could recognize to his location.
With a small leap, Draconian jumped from the top of the roof he was on down to the street below. Fire erupted from the bottom of his feet, blasting towards the ground to slow his fall, making it so that his landing felt like stepping down from a stair. Nothing really looked familiar from the street level, either, the only thing in it being the door and the sign.
The sign swung a little back and forth from a gust of wind, creating a small creaking noise and drawing Draconian's attention. Written upon it was some slightly faded letters, simply labeling the place as The Gold Roger.
"Hmm, the Gold Roger, eh?" Sounded like a bar name to him, and since he knew bars pretty well he was probably right. Might as well go in, he thought, he was feeling thirsty from the run, and it did have the name of the pirate that everyone pretty much looked up to, it might be interesting.
So, with measured steps, Draconian pushed through the door, making a bell give a tinkle to signal the door opening, and walked down a small staircase to the bar. There wasn't that much light in it, but everything could be seen pretty clearly, giving a kind of cozy feeling. The actual bar was to the right of the doorway, with many round tables on the other half of the room. It wasn't really crowded, but there were a good number of people sitting in the tables, creating a soft buzzing of chatter, with a few people sitting at the bar. From what Draconian could tell, they all looked like pirates or just rough people, the only exception being the barkeep, who was a small fellow, had to stand on a stool behind the bar so that he could serve people their drinks, wrinkles covered his skin, and he was wearing a pair of glasses, very small circles and tinted a light purple.
It felt just like home.
As soon as he had entered into the room, the quite buzzing of chatter had stopped as everyone glanced towards the newcomer. This probably happened with everyone who came in; of course the reaction probably didn't happen with most people. Many of their eyes widened in a kind of shock, and almost half of them snapped their heads back to what they were originally doing, obviously not trying to catch his attention. The rest showed different signs, from shaking in fear to looking at him with challenge in their eyes. The barkeep seemed to look at him with a kind of welcoming, his eyes even showing a respect in them as they roved his body.
Almost as soon as it had started, the staring ended as everyone else looked back to continue their original discussions or card games. With a feeling of acceptance washing over him, Draconian walked over to the nearest barstool and sat down. Immediately the barkeep walked over to him, dragging the stool with him and placing it in front of Draconian's seat and standing on top of it. "So, what'll it be?"
Draconian placed his elbows on the bar to address the barkeep. "I'll just take a glass of water."
The man gave a nod and got off the stool, turning around to grab a glass and a bottle of water. He filled up the glass and placed a few ice cubes inside it, turning back around to get back up on the stool and place the drink in front of Draconian. Once he had done that, the barkeep reached below the bar and grabbed a dirty glass and started to clean it with a rag. Without even looking at him, he once more addressed Draconian. "So, what are you doing here in Rogue Town?"
Draconian took a little sniff of the liquid, making sure it was water, and satisfied took a small sip. "Just here to see the sights, I needed some relaxation time anyways, leg got a little beaten up in my last fight."
The barkeep gave a small chuckle. "Ah, didn't know Arlong had done that good a job against you."
His eyebrow cocked in a curious gesture as Draconian set down the drink. "Where'd you hear about Arlong?"
"Oh, here and there." His eyes looked back up at Draconian, giving a knowing glance, as his hands continued to clean the glass. "Word spreads pretty fast when someone has done the stuff you have, I'm guessing someone from the village nearby saw some things and told the navy when they came for Arlong. I've also heard how you beat Krieg off that one village; you're building quite a reputation for yourself."
Draconian crossed his arms and leaned back in his stool. "Well I should be, I've been doing this for a year, it's about time that word's spread about me."
Setting the glass, now clean, aside, the barkeep gave a good laugh and started to reach under the counter for something else. "Oh, word's spread quite well, probably better than you think, take a good look."
He pulled out a brown piece of paper and handed it over to Draconian, who grabbed it with a curious look. On the top was written WANTED, while in the middle was a picture of him he had taken some weeks after he had first left home. On it, he was leaning against the back of a rock; his left leg was laid flat on the ground while his right was bent up, his right arm resting on top of the knee. His left arm was resting on top of his scimitar's hilt, the sword itself sticking into the ground below. His left eye was the only one visible and was looking out to what was the sunset when the picture had been taken. Below was written DRACONIAN "DRAGON" MIHAWK, and the price below that was definitely a good amount.
Draconian gave a whistle. "Thirty-five million beli, eh? Now that's a good number."
"You got that right, kiddo, even higher than that straw hat kid everyone's been talking about."
His attention was soon drawn away from the wanted ad as Draconian heard this. He gave a curious glance toward the barkeep and turned an ear in his direction. "Straw hat kid? Who's he, I keep hearing about him but I don't really know anything, but from what I hear he sounds good."
For once, the barkeep's eyes widened. "You don't know about him? Boy, you don't get out that much, he's known pretty well, everyone's seen his wanted ad. Thirty million beli, jus five million below your own, he's the one who actually beat Arlong. I met him a while ago, he's actually the one who inspired me to start the bar over again, it had gone down in business."
"Really? Tell me about him."
"Okay, but I can't tell you everything, I've only heard so much. From what I've heard, his first major fight was with Buggy the Clown..."
Draconian was leaning over the bar like when he was a kid and listening to some of the pirate's tales, his interest peaked completely as the barkeep finished the story. "Really?"
The barkeep gave a small nod. "Yep, that's what he told me."
With a sigh, Draconian settled back down in his seat and grabbed his glass of water. He rested his other hand on his chin as he contemplated all the barkeep had just told him. "So, he headed towards the Grand Line right after leaving Rouge Town, eh?"
"That's what I just said."
A small grin grew on Draconian's lips. "Kind of interesting, from what you've told me it seems me and have should be about equal in skills, we have beaten the same pirates after all."
The barkeep gave a chuckle as he stared upon the grinning teen. "Let me guess, you're thinking about fighting this kid, aren't you?"
"It seems like it's going to be a nice fight, I need a good challenge and this seems like it should be it, I especially can't wait to face hat swordsman of his."
"Roanoa Zoro? Now that I'd pay to see."
Draconian belted out a laugh. "Thanks for the compliment. Now, I think there's only one thing for me to do about this information you've told me."
With an interesting eye, the barkeep leaned forward. "And that is...?"
Mirroring the barkeep, Draconian leaned back forward so that the two were just centimeters away. "I think it's time that I go to the Grand Line."
The barkeep belted out a good laugh and slapped Draconian on the shoulder. "I was wondering when you were going to say that! This calls for a toast!" And, getting off his stool, the barkeep grabbed two glasses and a bottle of rum and began pouring. After putting the bottle away, he placed both glasses on the counter and raised one of them up, motioning for Draconian to pick up the other. "To the Grand Line!"
With a hesitant hand, Draconian picked up the glass, but raised it as high as he could along with the barkeep. "To Gold Roger!"
The barkeep gave a laugh and continued on. "To adventures!"
"To good fights!"
"To pirates!"
"To... new beginnings!"
"To friends!" They both gave a laugh and clinked the glasses together, after which the barkeep downed the whole glass.
Draconian raised the glass before his lips, but right before taking a sip gave a whisper unheard by the barkeep. "To my father." He then took a sip of the liquid, letting it settle on his tongue before swallowing it to burn a path down his throat and put a small fuzzy feeling in his head for a few seconds.
The sound of the bell ringing alerted everyone to the door opening and had them all once more looking in the direction of the newcomers, even Draconian.
Two people came in, a man and a woman. The man was black, not deep black skin, more just a dark brown, and wore a long leather jacket, the kind that came down to your ankles, and had a red shirt underneath it. He also wore black pants and boots. His dreadlocks were black and only came down to his neck, and his face was just still, emotionless, the feeling of it heightened by the sunglasses he wore.
The woman definitely didn't seem like she belonged in a place like this. She had a face that seemed like it was always smiling, except that for now her lips were pulled down in a thin line. On her was a one piece yellow dress that came down to her knees with slices of yellow fruit designed over the whole thing. In her hands she was holding an umbrella, and on top of her head was the oddest hat Draconian had ever seen. It looked like an upside down bowl, the kind that a chef might use, deep with straight sides, except that this was yellow. Sticking underneath it was her yellow hair, which from what Draconian could see was most likely straight.
After everyone had turned away back to what they were originally doing, the two headed to the bar, finding seats in the middle of it, a good distance away from Draconian. The barkeep walked over to them and took their order, and after asking where they were from was greeted with a curt "None of your business" from the man. His voice was smooth, yet at the same time dangerous.
Once he had served them their drinks, the barkeep came back over to Draconian, who had already started to ignore the newcomers. "Odd couple."
"Eh, the world's filled with em; I figure the only one's to take notice are the one's that can offer a nice fight. So, you have any good stories to tell?"
The barkeep offered a small chuckle. "Do I? Boy, I knew Gold Roger personally, I've got some stories that would turn the ear of a deaf man."
Draconian cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Let's hear them, then."
As the conversation between Draconian and the barkeep turned to Gold Roger, the conversation between the two newcomers had just started.
"Why are we here?" he woman complained to the man sitting next to her.
"This is the most reclusive place in the city; I highly doubt anyone will take notice of us here."
"No, I mean why are we here in Rogue Town, there are too many people, someone might know about us." She leaned on the bar and started to swirl her drink in her hand.
"It's a good place to hide out, not even the boss would send people to take care of us here with all these people around."
The woman took a sip of her drink. "Oh, come on Five, just because we're not in favor with Mr. Zero doesn't mean he's going to have someone take care of us."
"Shh!" Five leaned in closer to her. "For someone who doesn't like these crowds, you're pretty willing to shout out are names, do you really want to take the risk that someone will know about Baroque Works, Ms. Valentine?"
Valentine glowered at Five. "Fine, but I still stand by my earlier statement on the boss."
"Then you obviously don't know him as well as I do, he's not exactly the type of person to set grudges aside, when he gets angry at someone for failing a mission, they're going to know it, and I don't know about you but I don't want to take the risk of knowing it."
"Why can't we just get back in his favor, that shouldn't be too hard, I bet we can easily steal some serious cash now that that Smoker person isn't in this town anymore." She gave a soft laugh that normally would have been high pitched and took another sip of her drink.
"Didn't I just say this is a place to lay low, now what don't you understand about that."
"Just chill, I bet anything we do we can do it quick enough so that no one can see it, these navy men aren't exactly the hardest of challenges to get by anyways, it was really that Smoker fellow that ran the town. Besides, all we need is just a good heist, something with a good pay that we can hand to the boss, and then all our mistakes are forgotten."
"Well I don't like it, there's too much of a chance something might happen, I'd rather just do the regular thing and take out a pirate and collect the bounty, that usually gets a good amount after a while."
Another laugh split from Valentine's lips. "Yeah, like that's going to happen, I mean where are we going to find a pirate with a bounty that..." her voice faded as soon as she looked down the bar to where the barkeep was talking to Draconian. "Five."
"I told you to shut up, now why can't you..."
"Look." Valentine raised her hand and pointed across the bar.
With an exasperated sigh, Five turned his head to where she was pointing. His eyes went wide behind his sunglasses as he looked upon the teen sitting just a few seats away from the two. It was unmistakable, that spiky hair, the vest and pants with the scale design, the two swords, and especially those hawk eyes of his. Five started to shake, his voice coming in a whisper. "Draconian Mihawk, here..." his lips started to slowly curl up in a smile as he considered the possibilities, "if we take him down we should get right back in the boss' favor, and if that doesn't do it the money will."
"Exactly what I was thinking, we hit the jackpot." Valentine leaned on the table dreamily as her mind raced with ideas. "Just imagine it, not only will we get back in the boss' favor, but he might even promote us for taking down this kid, we might even be allowed to keep the money."
"I can just hear it now, Mr. Three, maybe even Two."
"So, how bout we go and take our promotion right now?"
Five gave a nod of his head. "Let's. But don't engage him openly; let's just take him out when his back is turned."
"I like that idea."
The two got off of their stools and placed a few coins on the bar. With a casual walk, they headed over in the direction of the door, their path going to take them past Draconian.
As soon as they had even entered the bar, Draconian had paid absolutely no attention to the odd looking pair, and he still paid no attention to them now, especially since he was listening to one of the many tales of Gold Roger. The only thing he did notice was that they had gotten up, but he paid no attention to that either.
He never expected anything from the two, so it caught him completely unawares when the shout behind him came.
"Bomb Boogey!"
Because of his unawareness and how fast the attack came, there was nothing that Draconian could do to dodge it, and just as soon as he had even registered the voice he felt the impact on his back.
An explosion erupted where Draconian was sitting, sending him flying forward to crash into the shelves behind the bar. Besides sending Draconian flying, the explosion had destroyed a few stools and a section of the bar's length.
Mr. Five was standing right behind where Draconian was originally sitting, holding up his right arm with his hand in the position that suggested he had just flicked something. Standing next to him was Valentine, who had her umbrella resting on her shoulder and was giving a high pitched laugh. "Good hit, Mr. Five."
"Why, thank you Ms. Valentine." He lowered his arm and stood straight back up. "I think it's time we drag him to the navy and collect our reward."
The smoke from the explosion had finally cleared, revealing the destruction of the attack. Not only was the bar destroyed, but the shelves where Draconian had hit the wall were completely torn off. The bottles of drinks were all broken and on the ground, surrounding Draconian, who was sprawled on the ground.
"Hmm," Valentine cocked her head to the side, "you'd think he'd be better than this."
A grunt came from the ground, and Draconian's arms pushed himself back up, he then got his feet underneath him and stood back up. His arms came up and started to push the pieces of glass off his body, which was also covered in alcohol. "Don't think I'm out yet."
Both Valentine and Five took a step back in shock at Draconian, who seemed completely unaffected by the attack.
"Now," Draconian remarked after completely wiping off the glass, "I'm going to take a wild guess and say either you have some explosives on you or you've eaten Devil Fruit."
"The Bomb Bomb Fruit, yes," remarked Five.
"Good," Draconian straightened back up and crossed his arms, "it's been a complete year since I've fought someone else with Devil Fruit powers, I'd like to get some practice in."
Valentine started to wave her hands in front of her. "Hey, um, there's no reason to start a fight here."
"Oh?" Draconian cocked his head. "I think there is, I don't really take too kindly to people attacking me when my back is turned, even if they are from Baroque Works."
The sunglasses on Five's face almost slipped off, revealing his shocked eyes. "How did you...?"
Draconian threw his head back as laughter ripped through his throat, rocking his body in shakes. Just as soon as it had started, however, the laughter stopped as Draconian shot his head back down to give the two a hard look. "Let me tell you something, I grew up in a city where there was always at least one pirate docked there every single day of the year, I actually spent most of my time in a bar full of them, you don't think I hear things?"
Five had stopped shaking in shock and pushed his sunglasses back up. "Well then, it seems we're found out Ms. Valentine."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and you kept complaining it would be me who'd blow our cover."
"Now," Draconian started to crack his knuckles, "we gonna get this started or are you going to run like a couple of little pansies. Just to warn you, though, if you run away I'll just hunt you down and kick your ass."
Five and Valentine looked at each other, obviously contemplating about their options.
"Well," Valentine started off, "it is a big pay job."
"And two against one." Five looked back at Draconian. "I think we're in."
"Good, I was hoping I wouldn't have to chase you, it's just really annoying." His hands traveled to his swords.
"Wait!" The barkeep hurried from behind the bar and stood between the fighters. "You aren't doing anything in my bar; I won't allow any more damage!"
Five looked down at the barkeep with a snarl. "Get out of the way old man, or do you want me to make you?"
Draconian gave a small nod down at him. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to your bar. Come on!" With that, Draconian shot towards the door, in which the other two responded by running after him.
As soon as he was out of the bar, Draconian spun around, his right leg raised up and back, fire covering the foot.
"Dragon Sledgehammer!"
The foot swung in just as Five had appeared in the doorway, catching him unawares and smashing into the side of his head. The kick carried his head over to smash into the side of the doorway, splintering the wood from the force. Five slumped down to the ground as soon as Draconian had taken his foot off of his face.
Following right behind Five was Valentine, who lunged over Five's body towards Draconian. In response, Draconian just ducked, sending Valentine hurtling over his body to fall on the ground behind him. He then turned around and grabbed her arm, giving a pull to get her back up on her feet. After turning around once more, Draconian pulled on her arm, trying to throw her over his shoulder into the wall.
Her body didn't budge as Draconian gave a strong tug, making him strain his body in a way that just didn't feel too good. It felt like he was trying to throw an elephant, she was so damn heavy.
Her high pitched laugh came from behind him. "I've eaten the Kilo Kilo Fruit, meaning I can change my weight at will, nothing you can do will be enough to lift me."
Draconian gave a growl of annoyance. "Fine, then I'll just chop you to pieces instead." He let go of her arm and grabbed onto his swords, spinning around as he did so.
"Dragon Wings!"
Both swords whipped out and slash horizontally at Valentine, fire erupting along their lengths, only to hit empty air. Draconian's eyes snapped to the sky, where Valentine was floating right above him, her umbrella wide open. "Oh that just can't be good."
Suddenly Valentine stopped floating and started to fall, her legs tucked up against her as her body as she came down. With an agility that he had built up over the course of his life, however, Draconian was easily able to jump out of the way before she hit. The ground buckled and broke where Valentine landed, her then extreme weight hitting with a force that would have dealt Draconian some good damage.
Draconian turned his back to Valentine and started to run, his flaming swords by his side. He turned his head around and shouted back to the Valentine, who was at the moment climbing out of her little whole. "This alley's a little too narrow for my tastes, how about we tango somewhere with a little more room."
Valentine gave another laugh. "Fine by me kid, but let's just hope you can find a place like that before I fall on you." And, opening up her umbrella, she once more lowered her weight and floated up into the air, flying after Draconian.
After about a minute of running, Draconian came to another one of the wide squares. In the middle of it was a small water fountain, and there wasn't that many people around. Draconian's eyes roved the skies, searching for Valentine, and started to walk around the perimeter of the place. His eyes continually shot back to the alley he had just come from, guessing that would be the most likely place she would come from.
In reality, Valentine had landed on one of the buildings before coming to this place, obviously guessing that Draconian would look for her in the air. She took to the farther sides of the roofs as she ran to Draconian's position, staying out of his sight at all times. As soon as she came to where he was walking, Valentine waited, always ducking back a little when it looked like Draconian might turn around. Finally, when his back was completely turned, Valentine jumped off the roof right above Draconian, already increasing her weight as she did so. "So long Draconian!"
Draconian's head snapped backwards in surprise as he looked up at Valentine, who was already falling down. He jumped back, doing a back flip as he did so and just missing Valentine as she slammed into the ground right where he was previously standing. Once his body made a complete turn in the air, Draconian placed his feet against the wall and raised both swords to his shoulders. "And goodbye."
Valentine looked backwards in shock as she realized he had just dodged her, only in time to see him push off the wall and start spinning his body.
"Dragon Tornado!"
A vortex of fire erupted from the spinning blades and, because of the angles of the blades, blasted towards Valentine. It engulfed her in a wave of heat, surrounding her and searing her skin, the pain of it completely holding her to the spot. Next came Draconian, his whole body spinning, moving the flames in the vortex that they were, his swords slashing in a continual circle at blurring speed. He went right into and past Valentine, his swords putting cut after cut all over her body.
Once he went past her, Draconian's body suddenly stopped spinning, leaving him in the air with his back to Valentine. As soon as he had stopped, the fire immediately dispersed, as if a gust of wind had just slashed right through it.
"Dragon Kick!"
Draconian's right foot, now covered in flames, snapped backwards, smashing right into Valentine's chest, sending her flying backwards. The force of the hit sent her body right through the wall behind her, and from a few other noises, Draconian guessed, a few other walls after that.
With a sigh, Draconian slipped both of his swords back into their sheaths, the fires once again extinguished. "Too bad, I was hoping there'd be more of a challenge."
"Don't worry, you'll get what you wished for. Bomb Boogey!"
Draconian jumped to the side, just missing as an explosion hit where he was standing. His face snapped to one of the roofs across the small square, where Mr. Five was standing, his arm held out as he flicked out another... booger?
Once more Draconian jumped to the side as the exploding booger hit where he was just standing. "Okay, now that's just disgusting."
Mr. Five raised up his arm and started to pick his nose. "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to pick on a guy who picks his nose?" He pulled his finger out and held it up, booger poised on the tip of his finger as he held it on his thumb. "Now why don't you stay still?"
"Oh yeah, like that's ever gonna happen." Again he jumped to the side as Five flicked out another one of his explosive... things. His hand reached down to his waist and traced over his katana, but instead of pulling the sword out traveled down to his little new addition. "I think it's time I test this thing."
This time, Mr. Five raised both of his arms up and dug in both nostrils, and after a few seconds pulled out two nice sized lumps. He squeezed both of the lumps, breaking each of them into four different projectiles. Finally, he laid each finger on his hands on top of the thumb, a booger held ready in each. "Let's see you dodge this, Boogey Barrage!"
Each finger flicked, sending all eight of the explosive boogers flying towards Draconian.
Draconian whipped out his tanto, immediately lighting it up in flames as soon as it touched the air. Instead of just sticking to the blade, however, the flame lengthened out, creating a long, thin path of flame erupt from the handle of the tanto. Its length was huge, longer than that of a ship and looking as if it could keep on going, but it was as thin as the blade on his dagger.
"Dragon Whip!"
With a few flicks of his wrist, Draconian sent the long, flaming whip back and forth. The flame snapped at each of the flying explosives, not knocking them aside or destroying them as it looked like, but instead curling around each and capturing each and every one of them. Once he had successfully gotten all of them, Draconian brought the handle of the dagger above his head, making the whip snap back over his shoulder. He then brought it back down, bringing the whip back of his shoulders and swinging across the clearing, right in the direction of Five.
The whip smashed right on top of Five, bringing all eight of the boogers with it and creating a huge explosion. Smoke pretty much covered the whole building that Five was standing on, but that just because he couldn't see everything didn't mean Draconian was going to wait until it cleared. With a pull of the handle, Draconian snapped the whip back, at the same time making it wrap around whatever was near.
Just as he had predicted, the whip pulled Five out of the smoke, his legs held tightly together by the flames. Instead of just letting him go, however, Draconian swung his body up and over, making him smash into the side of a building. He swung Five's body again, sending him crashing into the side of a wall, only to come snapping back to hit yet another building.
Draconian continued to do this, only stopping when he had actually sent Five's body right through a wall.
The fire along the blade extinguished itself, and Draconian let out a sigh and started to twirl the little blade between his fingers. "There, that should take care of him." And with a little finish, stopped the dagger's twirling and slipped it back into his belt.
Another explosive projectile shot itself out of the hole in the wall, catching Draconian by surprise as it exploded right in front of him.
Five's laugh issued from the wall as he stepped out of the whole, his clothes slightly torn from the previous explosion. "Don't count me down yet, kid, I'm a lot harder to get rid of then it seems." His laugh continued, growing in pitch until he had thrown his head back, his body starting to shake.
What he hadn't noticed, though, was the smoke caused by the explosion. It wasn't just clearing like the previous times, this time it seemed to be swirling about, gathering towards the middle, along with the fire from the explosion. It was when Draconian's undamaged head poked out of the swirling smoke that Five took notice of everything, his laughing stopped.
Draconian's face was furrowed in concentration and anger, as he was really pissed off by the surprise attack. In his right hand was his scimitar, which was spinning out in front of him, not only erupted in flames but also gathering the smoke and fire around it to the center, creating a giant wheel of smoke and fire in front of Draconian.
With teeth clenched from annoyance, Draconian addressed the shocked Five. "You're really starting to get annoying, you know that? It's time that I end this, Attack Fusion..." Draconian shot forward, bringing the spinning scimitar to his side and back, wheel of smoke and fire along with it.
"Dragon Whirlwind Sweeper!"
Five never stood a chance, he was too close, there was no possible way he could have dodged Draconian, not with his skills. Even so, shock had sapped his reactions, he couldn't move, could only stand there as Draconian made his move.
Draconian swung the swirling blade, smashing the explosion fire right into Five, creating a pillar of smoke and flames where he hit. Not only, but the spinning sword slashed cut after cut into Five's body, covering him in thin small red lines. The whole attack, in itself, only lasted a second, but the effects were huge.
As soon as he was past Five, Draconian stopped the scimitar's spinning, extinguishing the flames along with it, and placed it back into the sheath. Behind him, Five slumped down to his knees, his body bent over from the pain, the leftover smoke from the attack swirling around his body.
Draconian turned around and walked out of the hole, bending down once he was next to Five to take off the bag of coins hanging from his belt. He then straightened back up and continued on to the hole in the wall where he had sent Valentine. It took him a while o walk through the debris of the wrecked walls, but he easily found the unconscious Valentine, and bending down relieved her of her own money too.
As he walked out of the hole, Draconian began counting the amount of money that the two had. It was a good amount, definitely something that would last for a good while, could even buy himself a few luxuries if he wanted to. Only a few times before was he able to get his hands on this kind of money, and that was from whole pirate crews, or at least their loot.
He walked by Five once more, giving him a look that had pathetic written all over it.
Five caught this look, and it made his blood boil; his hands clenched in fists and his teeth ground together in rage. His left hand reached across and raised up the torn remains of his right sleeve, leaving only his bare arm, which had a few good cuts over it. With a shout of rage, he pushed back up on his feet and ran towards Draconian, his bared arm up and ready to hit.
Draconian spun around and ducked, dodging as the arm sailed right over his head, kind of like a clothesline would. His right fist erupted in flames as he tucked it in to his side.
"Dragon Fist!"
The fist slammed right into Five's gut, the force of it causing a gust of wind to blow the dust around their feet away. A strangled noise came out of Five's throat, and his body finally slumped down to the ground, unconscious.
The fire gone from his fist, Draconian stood back up and started to dust off his hands. Finally, he turned back around and started to walk towards the alleyway he had come from, only to stop once more as a shout echoed from the other side of the square.
"You, stop right there!"
"God dammit!" Draconian started to run, jumping up even before he got to the wall and sending a huge blast of fire out of his feet to land right on the roof. Shouts rang out behind him, and bullets landed just around his feet, so he ran right along the side of the roof. Normally he would have kept running, but there was something he had to do.
Once in range of the Gold Roger, Draconian jumped right off the roof, slowing his fall with a blast of fire and going into a roll. As soon as he was out of the roll, Draconian jumped back up and shot right through the door of the bar. He didn't go down into the pit, but instead located the barkeep, who was cleaning up the mess behind the bar. With a quick hand, Draconian reached into his pocket and picked out one of the bags he had taken, and with a flick of his wrist tossed it over to the barkeep.
The barkeep stopped in his work as the bag landed right in front of him, and with a curious eye started to inspect it. He stopped, however, when Draconian shouted from the doorway. "That should pay for the damage to the bar! Sorry but I got to go now!"
Guessing where the bag had come from, the barkeep stopped Draconian before he could take completely off. "I thought there were two of them."
Draconian looked back. "Hey I got to make a living somehow!" A bullet hit the wood of the door frame right next to him, making him flinch. "See ya!" And with that, Draconian jumped to the roof once more and shot off, leaving a laughing barkeeper behind him.
It had taken him only a few minutes to blow off the navy men, but it had took Draconian about an hour to find his place, since during the rush he had gotten himself even more lost. After a while he was able to find the place where Gold Roger was hung, and once that was done he easily remembered the route back to the docks. So, still staying to the roofs, Draconian ran back to where his ship was docked.
Thankfully, there were no navy ships surrounding it, so they had no idea it was his, or they were just waiting to ambush him. Either way, he was lucky, because even if they were waiting for him, he could easily get away.
So, with after back up to the other side of the roof, Draconian went into a headlong charge. He jumped right off the edge of the roof, giving a blast of fire for some aid, and sailed right towards his ship. With the blast of fire he was able to easily make the ship, landing on the deck in a roll.
Once he had gotten up, Draconian headed to the side of the ship and brought up his ramp. He then sought out the rope holding the ship to the dock, which only took a few seconds, and blasted a ball of fire right where it connected with the dock, burning right through it and releasing Draconian's ship.
Immediately, navy men started to swarm the docks, just as Draconian had expected, some of them going to other ships. This sight made Draconian laugh, and with a casual walk, as if he had all the time in the world, Draconian head to the front of his ship, which was still pointed towards the docks. He raised up his hand and aimed them towards the docks and down, and immediately fire erupted along his arms and shot out. It slammed right into the water below the dock, giving his ship an extra push and enabling him to head a good distance out. Not only that, but the contact of fire and water created a wall of steam, completely blocking the navy men's view of him.
Draconian turned around, giving another laugh as he did so, and jumped to his mast, unfurling the sail in only a few seconds. He then traveled down the length of his ship, doing what he needed to do to get his ship back up to its full potential. Finally, he ended up at the back, where the steering wheel was, and gave a huge spin of it, just completely turning his ship around in about half a minute.
The wind caught the sails, leading the ship along its route, and Draconian went back to the middle of the ship. He lifted up the little trapdoor in his ship and walked down the steps, heading down to his cabin.
Just because he felt like it, Draconian lighted a few of his candles when he entered the room by giving a few flicks of his fingers. He headed right over to the pile of wanted papers his father had given him and started to rifle through.
The picture he was looking for was right at the bottom, and pictured on it was a boy, probably eighteen years old, with his left hand holding a straw hat on his head. The name on the paper said MONKEY D. LUFFY, and the price was thirty million beli, just as the barkeep had said.
"Hmm, wonder why dad put him on the bottom." He tacked the picture on his board and went back behind his desk, sitting down in his chair and placing his feet on the desk. His eyes studied the picture of the boy as his hand started to dig in his pocket, finally picking out the Grand Compass his father had given him.
"Well, Monkey D. Luffy, it seems you and I will meet in the Grand Line, I'm not sure when, but we will, that I promise." And Draconian tossed the compass in the air, catching it once it fell back down with a steely look in his eyes.
For him it was on to the Grand Line, where his adventure was really going to begin.
Sorry it took so long, but it took a while to finish the story I was writing with Anters, and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to wait till I've seen more of the Baroque Works arc or just write this chapter now. As you can see, I decided to just write it. Hopefully you liked this one, I decided to just do a quick fight scene, no reason to get big for the guys Draconian was fighting. As you can see, I decided to have this chapter kind of be the one that signifies him finally bursting into fame, so that people now know who he his. Now, there are a few things that I need to address, first of all being about the problem with his fruit. I apologize, when I started I hadn't realized there was only one of each fruit, I thought there would be more than one, I'm sorry. But don't worry, I have a great way to fix it, it'll be in the chapter that Draconian meets Portgas. Now, it seems that a lot of my reviewers, actually I think it's everyone, disagrees with me on Shanks being a Shichibukai, and are wondering where I heard this. Well, I read it on the internet, and here's the site.
www dot absoluteanime dot com slash one piece slash
Hopefully fanfiction let it through, as you can guess the dot means period, and the slash is, well you should know that. Don't stick one piece together, you'll need to put that little bottom line between them. If you have no idea what I mean, hold shift and push the key that makes the dash that goes between words, like fire-starter. And just stick it all together and you get the site. If the site didn't come up above, then I'll just email you guys, is that okay? Well, once you go to the site, there's a list of character names at the bottom that you can click on to get info about the people. Just click on Shanks and go to the bottom of his information box to the last few sentences, they say that he is one of the Shichibukai. Now, how about I stop talking and get to reviews, eh?
Tuklight: Thanks for the info on Smoker's sword, I saw this picture that someone drew and it looked like a club, I have no idea what the hell that person was thinking.
Hutchy: I don't really see it as introducing the main characters, more like just building the idea of them in Draconian's mind(or something like that). I'm not really sure about that fan club thing, tell me how to get to them, is it a C2 thing? I think I might check them out.
Lenna Hunter: Thank you, I promise that I'll keep it all up, now did your review come after reading all the chapters or just the first? I'm curious.
Resident-Evil-playa: Okay, no more coffee for you until after reviewing, seriously you're just hyper when you do this stuff. Now, in answer to your question, of course they can go through episodes without fighting, I just wanted to make a story where there's a fight in every chapter; you know, something different. I'm glad that you enjoy my story even though you have no clue as to what the hell is happening. Well, please keep reviewing, you may be crazy but I still like you.
Iwin Ulose: Don't think I didn't forget you. I'd like to apologize, I wasn't specific in what I said in the last chapter, and you misunderstood a couple things. First of all, I'm sorry, but I wasn't actually talking about my story, just the battles, and when I meant battles I don't mean the skill that I write them. What I meant was the battles in themselves were good, like if you were going to just get rid of all the writing and transform it into the television, I think the fight would be really good. Also, I have no idea why the hell I said "in fanfiction," I think I just meant the One Piece section of fanfiction, sorry about that. Now, here's where you misunderstood, unless of course you forgot, I never actually said I was better than you, I just said I thought I was one of the best. But, there is one thing that really seems odd, if I am correct it was you who said I was the best action/adventure you had ever read, so why is it you're the one pointing out this? Just curious. I hope that this doesn't cause some kind of tension between you and me, because I love your reviews, hopefully me and you can stay... whatever we were. I'll TTYL.
Okay, I'm looking forward to all your reviews. Speaking of it, I kind of miss Dollar1, now that guy was a good reviewer, I hope he hears me and reviews again. Well, I've got to go guys, next chapter will be Reverse Mountain and Misty Peak. Read and Review!