Whitebeard? Ha!

"This is so exciting!" One of the many villagers called out in joy. More quickly joined in.

"I know! I can't believe it!"

"Whitebeard is so amazing!" A man shook the newspaper that he held in his hand.

"How many islands does this mean Whitebeard has under his protection?"

"I've lost count!

"Hundreds! It has to be!"

"Well, it's good timing! We can add this to the celebration!"

"Cheers for Whitebeard!"

"Whitebeard! Whitebeard! Whitebeard!"

Cara scowled as the crowd cried out the emperor's name. Multiple tankards tapped together in toasts. The cheers got louder. She slammed the heel of her boot into the barrel she was sitting on. "Shut up, morons. Whitebeard is not that great."

"Come on, Cara!" Ami walked over with a plate of food in each hand. She held out one to her friend. "Whitebeard is amazing. He's so strong and protective of his family."

Cara rolled her eyes. Waving away the plate she said, "That bastard doesn't know what family is."

Ami sighed. "Not this again. Come on, Cara. If it weren't for Whitebeard this place would have been over run with pirates."

"This place is always being run over by pirates." Cara knitted her brow, thinking of how many pirates had come to this island in hopes of laying claim to Whitebeard's fortune. What people didn't understand was there was no fortune here. Yes, Whitebeard sent this island money, but it was nowhere near as much as people believed. The living legend only sent enough money to keep the island comfortable. "All because they believe that man has left some fortune here."

"That's true." Ami cocked her head, her long black hair fell off her shoulder. "But we have plenty of his subordinates here to protect us from those guys."

Cara moved her eyes out to the crowds. She spotted several of Whitebeard's subordinates celebrating amongst the crowd.

"Lighten up and have some fun." Ami offered the food again. "We're celebrating our freedom here. If it weren't for Whitebeard this island wouldn't be here. And we'd most likely have never been born."

"Now wouldn't that have been a tragedy," Cara mumbled to herself as she slipped off the barrel. Shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans, she walked towards the edge of town. "I'm not hungry. I'm going for a walk."

"Fine. But stay away from the abandon areas!" Ami called out to her. "You know your mom hates it when you go there! It's not safe!"

"Yeah, yeah." Cara waved her hand.

The cheers and music of the festival gradually faded from Cara's ears as she got out of the town. Before long she entered into the trees that helped hide the village from newcomers. The celebratory sounds had vanished at that point. Cara's shoulders relaxed. It was in that moment did she realize how tense she had become.

Why did her home island have to celebrate Whitebeard at every turn? So what if he saved this island? So what if he was an emperor? So what if he was one of the strongest in the entire world? He was still a man. One single man who hardly visited his home island. And when he did he spent most of his time drinking sake with his sons. He gave very little attention to anyone else.

Cara often wondered why he came back to this island at all. There was no need for it. Yes, the emperor supplied money to keep the island alive, but most of the time it was brought by one of his commanders and their ships. He should stay away.

Cara kicked a rock. It pinged off a tree before disappearing into a bush. How she wished that rock was Whitebeard's head. She would love to give him a good swift kick.

She continued to kick rocks when they crossed her path. Each one she envisioned Whitebeard. Each one received a strong kick from her before disappearing from her sight. She snorted at the irony. The rocks were like Whitebeard. He would occasionally show up then disappear for another adventure on the sea.

An eerie howl of wind pulled her attention. Shadows, of all shapes and sizes, were cast everywhere before her. Behind them was a colorful smear of reds, oranges, and purples. She blinked. Without intending to she had walked all the way to the abandoned village that slept near the beach.

Cara knew she shouldn't be at this place as it was unprotected. Another snort escaped her. Unprotected. Though she had no idea when this part of the island had been abandoned she knew Whitebeard advised the people who lived on the island to stay away from this area. He didn't want any of his family to get attacked by other pirates looking for his alleged treasure.

"Stupid jerk." Cara continued to walk passed the crumbled buildings. "You're not going to pretend your my father and tell me what to do."

A breeze lifted bumps upon Cara's skin. She should have brought a sleeves with her. When would she learn? After wandering into this area of the island multiple times, and staying long after the sun had set, one would think she would be smart enough to tie a coat or long sleeve shirt around her waist to wear. But nope. During the warm months her shirts were always sleeveless.

Part of her knew she should turn around and go home. Many times she had gotten a cold from having bare shoulders near the beach at night. But the stubborn side of her rejected the idea. The village would be celebrating Whitebeard long into the night. She didn't want to hear it again. Or at least not until the most rowdy had drunk themselves into a stupor.

Digging her hands farther into her pockets, she hugged her arms to her sides and continued walking towards the shore.

Suddenly, the hairs of her arms and neck stood up. A vision of a club swinging at her head came to her. She dropped. Pushing on her hands she kicked both feet upward, catching a man on the chin. A tooth, accompanied by blood, arched through the air.

Clapping filled the air. "Bravo."

Cara's eyes snapped to the voice at her left. A man with greasy brown hair and beard stepped out of the shadow of a former two story house.

"I didn't expect you to react so fast." The man grinned, revealing several missing teeth.

Cara glanced at the man she knocked out. He was thin, stringy blonde hair wrapped with a dingy orange bandana, and wearing a thick leather belt around his waist. She looked back to the other man. He also wore a thick leather belt with a sword on each hip. Both men wore multiple leather straps on their arms. "Who are you? You two aren't from this island."

"Correct." The man walked over and inspected his fallen companion. "We are not from this island."

A shiver ran up Cara's spine when he looked up at her with a leering grin. "Why are you here? And don't tell me it's for some fortune you think that bastard Whitebeard left here because he didn't. There is no fortune."

The man licked his lips. "Oh, I figured as much. But that's not why we're here."

Cara cocked an eyebrow. Someone willingly came to Whitebeard's home island but not for a phantom fortune? "So what do you want?"

"You."

"Me?"

The man nodded. "Well, honestly, we didn't come here specifically for you, but any one of Whitebeard's daughters will do."

Care gritted her teeth, darted forward, and slammed her fist into the man's nose. Bones cracked under the pressure. "Don't call me that bastard's daughter!"

The man's head snapped back.

Cara followed the punch with a kick to the man's gut. More bones cracked and snapped.

"You witch!"

A dark shadow fell over Cara. She ducked as a sword swung at her head. She kicked the man's feet out from underneath him. She sidestepped the jut of a bo staff then back flipped over two men kicking at her.

"So the child has observation haki," the voice continued. "But it doesn't matter. You're going to pay for what you did to our captain."

"You okay, Cap?" a fourth man asked.

The captain coughed then grunted in pain. He wheezed in pain as he spoke "Fine. Get her shackled and on the ship and leave the note. We have to get out of here before Whitebeard's forces notice we're here."

"Aye, Captain!"

Cara rolled her eyes. "As much as I want to get away from this island, I'm not going anywhere with you creeps."

"You don't have much choice, girly."

Cara tensed as more pirates stepped out from the shadows. Lifting her fists she eyed as many of the pirates as she could. They charged at her. She sidestepped a punch, jumped two swords, punched, kicked, and tripped several of the pirates.

Two of the pirates, two feet taller than all of the rest of them, with bulging muscles and matching outfits charged at her.

Between the swings of fists, the size of her head, Cara tried to look for an opening. Unfortunately, she hadn't had much training in dealing with men that were ten times her size. Suddenly something pinched her upper arm. The pirates stopped attacking. Confusion flitted through her senses until she looked down at her arm. A small dart was sticking out of her skin.

The dart split into two pieces. No it wasn't the dart. It was her vision. Her vision had split into two.

Cara cursed under her breath. She had been so focused on the two men she had been fighting that she gave another an opening to drug her. Her knees buckled then collided with the ground. She attempted to stand up, but four hands grabbed her arms.

Cara willed her body to rebel, attack before they could take her. It didn't listen. The poison rushed through her system. She wondered if someone on this crew was a master with poisons or if they had bought it from someone.

Either way it didn't matter. Cara had no way of knowing what was used to make the poison. Even if she did she didn't have anything to make an antidote. She was their prisoner.

The two holding her dragged her through the abandoned village. With each step darkness closed in on her senses. The cold wind vanished. Dark clouds gathered in her eyes, obstructing her vision. She spotted a gray blur sitting a few yards off the beach.

A ship? It had to be. They wanted to ransom her to Whitebeard. They would take her away from Sphinx to do that.

Well, at least she wasn't going to have to listen to anymore of the celebration of Whitebeard. And maybe, if she got lucky, she could escape from these guys and sail off to some an island that didn't celebrate the emperor. She wouldn't have to hear about him at all.

Then her world went black.