I want to thank you all for all the reviews and patience you've all had with this most recent chapter. I'm blown away by all the reviews the last chapter got! Rest assured, I'm already working on the next chapter I just had a hard time working out the timeline. You can expect a more regular update schedule this year! ^_^
Blood pulsed in Sunny's ears. The din of the town, the constant ring of lottery machines in the distance, the laughter of humans, it all faded away. The world was singularly a thump-thump-thump bass in behind his eardrums, and a deep trembling huff of breathing reverberating in his chest bone.
Sunny watched his own expression through the reflection in Tashigi's dinner-plate wide eyes in slow-motion as she collapsed.
He didn't have a hope of reacting until she hit the ground and Sunny was left staring upwards, past Tashigi's form, to her commanding officer.Sunny's brain futilely tried to catch up and provide him with a name. He'd faced down against this man after accidentally being hit by Ace's fire. Somehow, the marine had seemed much less intimidating then. Sunny hadn't even tried to remember his name. With the language and species barrier, somewhere along the line, Sunny had resigned himself to taking a backseat with interacting outside of the crew. He relied on the others to recognize and know people, like it didn't concern him. What did he even know about this world anyway, without the context of his crew around him? Had she said his name? He couldn't recall.
He didn't even know this man's name. His heart leapt in his throat. The marine captain's gray eyes met Sunny's with a victorious smile as his dagger pulled out of Tashigi's side, dripping in blood.
That, that had been Tashigi's captain, nakama, hadn't it? Sunny had seen horrible things before and since he'd become a Straw Hat. He'd even seen Whapol eat his own crew mate. So a captain stabbing this marine, it shouldn't have made the top ten list. His thoughts buzzed like a sandstorm between his ears. It didn't feel less; alone with only the two marines and the violent betrayal, without a viable way to escape, he couldn't convince himself that anything about this was going to be alright. His last resort, a howl for any of his crewmates that may be in range, rose in his throat like bile.
"Why don't you try to run, mouse?" The captain said, cigars held between his grit teeth.
When it came down to it, whose side was he on? He wasn't fighting the female marine anymore. She'd tried to arrest him, but she'd also been willing to let him go not a minute earlier. They weren't allies, but he couldn't bring himself to see the collapsed form as an enemy now, didn't dare tear his eyes away from the captain to check if she was breathing. It would be silly to stay if she was dead. He had no assurance he wouldn't be attacked if he ran. He couldn't fight, he couldn't run.
"Are you Baroque Works?" Sunny's voice sounded scratchy and thin to his own ears.
His sleuth was relying on him to fight for them. Weren't they?
The man didn't give him an answer, anyway.
"S-Smoker." The form laying in front of him shifted, a low groan escaping the back of her throat as she pushed back into a half-kneeling, half-laying position. Her head turned, eyes glazy as she looked into her back-stabber's face. "N-no..."
"Did you find a cute little friend, Tashigi? Looks like this will be easier than I thought," Smoker took a step forward.
"No..." Tashigi shifted face still pressed against the ground. "Captain wouldn't-" She shifted again, and this time the movement ended with a half-lunge, her now-drawn katana flashed from beneath her, slashing into her captain's leg. "You're not Captain Smoker!"
Smoker pirouetted away with surprising grace, the slash shallowly cutting his shin.
Sunny lit up in shock, jumping back, as if he were mirroring the marine captain.
Tashigi drew herself up to her hands and knees, then, stabilizing herself on the side of the fountain, stood with her off-hand cradled over the dripping wound to her side. Her sword arm leveled her weapon at the frowning man. "You should have finished it in one strike! As if I would believe he would attack me, as if I would believe if he meant to kill me, it would be such a pitiful attempt!" Blood oozed from the side of her mouth.
Smoker's grimace deepened and he stayed silent for a moment. Just when Sunny was beginning to size him up for an opening, his frown broke in the most disturbing way. A wide grin took its place. "Ah-ha~ seems this Smoker-kun has quite the interesting second-hand-man! Alright then," Smoker's hand went to his face and in an instant, Sunny was looking at a black-haired man wearing make up. "I did pick a handsome man, but it still feels best with my own face!" His hand managed to snake out and tap Tashigi's cheek and retreat in one practiced stroke before Tashigi could behand him. Another tap to his face and he was her, and she was looking in disbelief, into her own visage.
"How did-"
That had been the breaking point for the pokemon. He didn't have answers, he didn't even know if this was one of Crocodile's men or an entirely new player.
In the end, it had stopped mattering approximately thirty seconds ago. If only he could let Tashigi in on his plan.
He lit the last breath he'd taken, feeding it energy in his mouth until he cheeks puffed, smothered it, and reformed it into smoke, releasing it in a strong stream on his next exhale.
The thick smoke wasn't easy for him to see through either, but he had the advantage of knowing it was coming. The smoke where the fake Smoker had been hadn't shifted, so he must still be there. That meant he knew where the dagger was, too. Sunny pushed up where he guessed the man's leg to be and snagged his teeth on his wrist, his flailing leg nicked the blade, but he was too thankful he bitten the blade to be concerned.
Sunny knew the pressure point he was looking for, Chopper had shown him not long ago after Sunny had demonstrated that his go-to second strategy was bite like he were a munchlax at a dinner party. His small teeth found the spot between the wrist and thumb joint and bit just as hard as he could.
The holler of pain and the clang of his dagger hitting the ground was worth it, even when the limb pumped forward and backward to try and throw him off to no avail.
"Fat chance," Sunny scoffed through the side of his mouth. "You aren-EEK!" Sunny felt pressure of teeth-human teeth close around his own neck. Sunny was shocked out of his grip and dropped to the ground, horror washing over him and raising his hackles. "Y-you can't do that! A human just tried to bite me! That's disgusting!"
"Bleurgh! I just-I just bit a rat! That's disgusting!"
Sunny pulled himself out of his disbelief enough to paw around the ground until he found the dagger and throw as far away from the scuffle as he could. "Got the dagger, Marine!"
The smoke was still billowing around them, thinning just enough for the fighter's forms to be revealed again. Tashigi's blade balanced under the man's chin. The hand that had been staunching her wound moved to support her katana hand as she stared him down.
"One of Crocodile's men, I presume? You're clever, ruthless, unassuming. A higher-up then?" Her arms shook, but the point of her sword was still, pressed against softly against his skin. "Crocodile probably trusts you, to let you attack the very government that sanctions him. What are you, Mr. 3, Mr. 4? Don't think Smoker couldn't figure out the naming scheme after we apprehended Mr. 9. Your organization could take some advice from the Marines on codenames, by the way."
"I'm Mr. 2, if you must know." Mr. 2 said, as he flip kicked into the air, sending Tashigi's sword skittering away.
"Okama Claw-foot!" He still had Tashigi's face on, but that it was easy to tell which was the real one, one with a stab wound in the side, the other spinning around en pointe as if he were a prima ballerina. Tashigi had just enough time to position her sword sheath to absorb some of the blow, though Mr. 2's kick was still powerful enough to send her skidding back. She caught herself, half-standing to strike upward at the okama again, grazing his chest. Another okama kick dropped her, half-curled on her side, blood dripping from the other side of her mouth now too. With a tap of his hand, his face changed back to the now-grinning countenance of Smoker.
Then the okama aimed one, two, kicks at the fire-type, each one being dodged with inches to spare. For once, his size was giving him an advantage. He would not be an easy target in this match up.
Mr. 2's eyes shifted to the blade that had been abandoned, now positioned between the two. Sunny was the first to close the distance, and snatch up the blade in his mouth along the dull side. He poured fire into the blade and the metal responded, singing with heat from edge to hilt. Then he charged back at the okama, whose eyes widened in shock as he saw the tiny cyndaquil jumping toward him, dagger in mouth. Mr. 2 reflexively went to stop him by grabbing the proffered handle. The moment his hand closed around the handle he yelped in pain, releasing it, and Sunny whipped his head around, blade cutting into the okama's arm as he backhanded Sunny to the ground. With the impact, the dagger slipped out of his teeth and skid across the ground but it would a couple minutes before the okama would go for his weapon again.
Sunny had just pulled himself up when Mr. 2 dropped to the ground and whipped out his leg out in a circle. Well, maybe he didn't need the weapon, Sunny re-assessed as his nose smacked the cement as his legs were knocked out from under him, and flipping him once in the air before he landed. Sunny was forced to move the moment he landed as he registered a second kick coming from right above him. Get hit by that, and his chances of winning this fight tanked. He shoved forward on his front paws in a quick dash, just shrugging under the okama's calf as his heel impacted an inch behind him. Sunny was grateful that he didn't have a tail.
Mr. 2 was already starting to pull away instinctively when Sunny continued to speed into a quick attack that ended solidly between Mr. 2's legs.
Sunny learned this technique from watching Nami, and it always seemed to be a fight-stopper. Now Sunny could feel the tremor that ran up and down Mr. 2's spine as he processed what had happened to him. Sunny hopped up and latched onto one of the swans on his robe, swinging down with a vengeful double kick to his chin. The fire-type was just contemplating if he had time to ember him before Mr. 2 could muster the willpower to move again when Mr. 2 jolted, going stiff as a board. Sunny peered over Mr. 2's shoulder to see Tashigi, breathing hard, her forehead resting against Mr. 2-as-Smoker's shoulder. Had Sunny's nose not been overpowered by the smell of blood, it might have looked strangely peaceful.
"Don't...don't you dare wear Captain Smoker's face with that disgusting expression. Captain Smoker...would never smile unless he was comforting a child!"
Mr. 2's eyes widened in pain. "W-what..?" He groaned as his knees slammed on the ground. Sunny took the moment of impact to let him jump further away.
Tashigi glared coldly down at Mr. 2 as she placed her foot on his shoulder and pushed him off her sword. He fell on the ground, bleeding badly from his lower back.
Tashigi stumbled before dipping her sword in the fountain to clean the blood and re-sheathing it. Sunny prickled in fear as her cool, tired gaze landed on him again. Neither of them were in good enough condition for another fight. Sunny had been knocked around too many times and Tashigi's wound was still bleeding, if the red seeping between her fingers was any indication.
She reached into her coat, ignoring Sunny crouch and give a low growl at the movement. She pulled out a transponder snail, and placed a call which connected almost immediately.
"Master Chief Petty Officer Tashigi? Are you alright, ma'am?" The voice on the other line asked. Sunny contemplated making a run for it but he couldn't be sure Tashigi couldn't catch him.
"Fine. Have you seen Captain Smoker?"
"N-no, ma'am. Well, only when he was leaving with you after the Strawhats..."
"Nevermind. I'm at the east fountain by Arida Street, I've apprehended a bounty, I need you to detain him. Now." With that she ended the call.
Her attention shifted toward Sunny, who had tensed at the mention of a bounty. "Not you," Tashigi snapped impatiently. "I don't arrest anyone under twenty pounds...my handcuffs wouldn't fit them." She lowered herself into a crouch with a wince, pulling Mr. 2's hands behind his back as she cuffed him. "I need to find Captain Smoker now. And you need to find your crew. So you're coming with me." She rested her bloodied hand on her sheathed katana lightly. "You're gonna sniff him out for me, aren't you, doggy-san?"
Too intimidated to argue, Sunny nodded back. Going with her was easier than trying to fight her, and having a marine with him would give him a free pass with any other marines they came across, she was his best bet for now. He just had to have faith that he'd run into one of his crew sooner rather than later. In her condition, he wasn't worried that they would be able to handle her if she decided to try and arrest one of them. Still, he wasn't interested in running around acting like a prisoner until they found Luffy.
He hopped onto the side of the fountain extending out a forepaw. Tashigi, who had been checking to make sure Mr. 2 was unconscious, straightened up and stared hard at Sunny.
"We're not partners, you presumptive pirate, you're just barely not my captive."
Sunny tilted his head, futilely speaking slowly to prevent his patience from snapping. "We're on the edge of a revolution, your boss is missing, one of your warlords is staging a coup. You're bleeding all over the street and I can't read street signs let alone maps. We need to work together."
Tashigi listened to him. He had no idea what she understood, but he had only pointed out of the obvious, she was probably thinking the same things regardless. Her glare didn't soften as she reached out and took his extended paw with her thumb and forefinger, giving it a small shake. A moment passed thoughtfully. A truce between a wanted pirate and a marine. What their captains would think-the two gave a simultaneous shiver.
"Come on, before my men get here," Tashigi motioned in the opposite direction, pulling her coat over to hide her injury. Sunny hopped off the side of the fountain, bounding after the marine down the street, finally feeling that they had a chance.
Time Remaining until Baroque Works' Project Utopia: 19 minutes
Thanks for reading. Sunny and Tashigi have won their battle against Mr. 2 but things may not be going well behind the scenes... Let me know what you think!