Swinging her sword sharply to the side to rid of the blood which clung to its blade, before sliding them back into its sheath, Karl tugged the hood further down to cover her face before leaving the scene.

It was a bad decision after all. She decided to revert back to female clothing on the way to meet him to reduce chances of being recognised as the newly appointed captain, but how could she forget – women were easily targeted in this sea and also everywhere else.

This was the fifth time, fifth, she was approached by street thugs after setting foot on the island of Ripple-wine. The thought of changing back to male attires crossed her mind once again but she resisted the temptation and carried on with her initial plans. Sometimes her stubbornness and refusal to accept her mistakes stood out as a deadly flaw even to herself.

Sighing a little at her misjudgement, Karl shook her head and strolled around the busy streets of the town famed for its wine and alcohol. That reminded her, didn't he also love drinking wine? Second to his love for his sword she believed. She chuckled as she was reminded of just how their first encounter went. Who would've known what lengths a swordsman was willing to go to when he was out of wine? The answer was letting a boy half his size get away with handling his sword.

A shrill of screams and cries brought her back from her introspection. Her workaholism really would be the death of her someday, Karl grumbled underneath her breath and strode towards the source of the panic.

If it was some ill-intended pirate siege or the like she would make sure to drill into them that they did not mess around while she was on the island. Always the pirates. And to think that she thought piracy had quelled a little just a few days ago...

As she neared, the streets became increasingly more isolated as remainders of fallen articles of clothing and handbags spoke out the terror of the fleeing people who were most likely running for their lives. Upon reaching the chaos, Karl grimaced slightly with bitter thoughts. Guns, blades, blood, splattered around the vicinity of the local pub. The metal frames on the door which undoubtedly had been intact earlier were now torn apart and dug into the concrete ground. How did they manage to do that was beyond her.

This was a perfect opportunity for her to vent out her frustrations and ease her pacing mind. The marines which were stationed on the island were summoned to the headquarters a few weeks back and thus the crime rates had been increasing. This also meant that she could do whatever she wanted without being caught red-handed by her fellow colleagues. A rare grin stretched across her features and a mysterious glint flashed across her eyes. She decided to let the nerves; which had been eating her away for the past few days in thinking about the nearing confrontation; transform into bloodlust and let loose for a moment.

Standing in the centre of the stack of broken chairs and unconscious bodies was a man with crimson hair holding onto a thing; a moving arm of steel; with a grin akin to a sadistic Cheshire cat; with nails and lips painted to the same shade of charcoal black. Karl blinked a few times before shrugging and quickly accepting the scenario which appeared to have stepped out of a gore novel. If she wasn't mistaken the venomous youth standing in front of her was Eustass Captain Kid, a pirate who had recently stepped into Grandline from the West Blue.

"Eustass Captain Kid, you are under…" Goddamnit, the lack of rest from the ongoing unease has really messed her up. She slipped up and talked as if she was still in her role as a marine captain. While she berated herself, the red-haired captain had noticed her presence and turned around.

"...Underestimating the power of the town's residents." Karl corrected her sentence and drew her sword calmly as if she totally hadn't almost blown her own cover.

"Am I now? What's a lousy girl like you going to do hn?" Her breath hitched at the insult towards her gender. It's been such a long time since she fought someone who saw her as inferior because she was a girl. Eustass' grin stretched even further as she pointed her blade in his direction and challenged stoically with clear disdain in her voice,

"I'll do enough for you to think twice before spouting rubbish in my vicinity." Her dry words clung in the muggy air and with a jolt in her steps she swiftly attacked with precision, aiming for his legs, his sides and finally his neck.

Eustass nullified each attack with the metallic arm twice her size and she was impressed at his strength. Although she was not most well known for her physical strength, her blows were heavy enough so that most would be struggling to lift their arms again after taking three consecutive hits straight on. Yet there he was standing with ease, still full of himself and grinning madly. Though it would seem that he was showing a little more acknowledgement for her seeing that he changed his pose to be more defensive and alert. A smart move she thought. Though the fact remains that she had to prove her capabilities just because she was female. The thought left a bitter after-taste in her mouth.

"A swordswomen hm? Not bad… Except for the fact you are facing against your worst nightmare." Eustass leered and brought out his metallic arm infused with countless weaponry. Karl felt an invisible force tug at her sword and gripped onto its hilt tighter. A devil fruit user? A power related to magnetic forces? In the back of her mind she berated herself for not paying closer attention to the intel gathered on her desk surrounding the pirates running loose in the first half of the Grandline. He always did say knowledge was the only thing one could depend on apart from pure skill.

Rethinking her strategies now, she decided that close-range attacks would be ill-favoured, instead she chose to keep her distance and attack using air forces generated by her blade. She had only recently discovered this technique during one of the last battles she fought under Aokiji's wing and it became the decisive factor in generating her new fighting style. She was leaning towards a midrange fighter as opposed to most swordsmen who were close-rangers.

Seeing the flash of surprise on Eustass' face was satisfying to say in the least but she was soon put on her toes again as surprise morphed into rage as attacks fired at her left and right with a deafening roar of 'REPEL!'.

The rapid fires from clustered guns, although the aim was poor, was quite a handful. Karl was reminded again of the reason why fighting an opponent armed with a gun was unfavourable for her as a swordswoman. And fighting against someone who was literally armed with an armada of weaponry was probably not the smartest move, at least not when she's deprived of Lex's support and skills. How she missed his presence. Though only in times of battle.

Just as she narrowly avoided more charging bullets, one of which tore her left arm, staining her sleeves with her own blood, she decided that playtime was over and she was going to end the battle. Unlike her fellow companions in the art of the sword who names their attacks and yells them in the midst of the battle, Karl was one of those unfortunate ones who although was blessed with commendable skills she had yet to complete her style and her attacks held no singular pattern or form. Hence she'd rather refrain from yelling out names of attacks when she had just formed them in the split of the second and was unlikely to use the same technique in the same way ever again.

So, wordlessly she steadied the sword in her hands and pointed its blade towards the up and rising pirate before unleashing several short bursts of energy into the air using her blade. The force of her successive swings was enough to cut through the finest tempered steel but with Eustass' case, it only managed to severe half of his armed hand. However, the force of the attack managed to throw him off balance as he blundered across the room and crashed into the wooden wall.

Immediately on her next move again, Karl charged forth, switching back to a close-range attack, the final blow needed if she executed it right. Using the combined force of her momentum and strength she summoned onto her arms, she aimed to impale the captain who was still recovering from her earlier attack.

Despite being in his roughened up state, Eustass still had enough drive in him to block her final blow and using his devil fruit powers chained her sword on his messed up metallic stretch. However, that only made her following course of actions even easier for her as Karl dug out a pair of sea-stone handcuffs which had been resting in one of her blouse pockets and strapped them onto the beaten up redhead. Almost immediately, the pile of weaponry and debris held up in his hands crashed onto the floor and Karl retracted her sword before it made way for the ground.

"You're a marine." He breathed out with a snarl, it was a statement, he was certain.

"That is correct." The adrenaline which was still pumping through her veins clouded her rationality and of all thing she decided to do, she chose to engage him in his little interrogation. Oh the irony, a pirate interrogating a newly promoted marine captain. The adrenaline really destroyed her self control, which would've also explained why she chose to disclose some rather confidential information afterwards.

"I'm currently in no position to arrest you as a naval officer, but killing you and leaving your body here would be a different matter." She scrutinised his expression as she revealed her plans to her prisoner expecting fear or some sort of violent reaction.

What she was met with was disturbing to say the least. Eustass Kid's previous fiery and dark expression morphed into manic laughter as he edged closer and whispered in her ear,

"Dying here in such a fashion? What a joke. I was born for great things. I will be the one to find one piece and claim Roger's title of pirate king. I will not die here in such a fashion."

The purity of the determination and strength of his words took Karl by surprise and any comment that she planned to make died in her throat. Vaguely in the back of her mind, she could hear the same words being uttered in an entirely different context. However, as soon as she caught herself thinking about those words, they escaped her, and she was once again left with a sense of emptiness.

What happened afterwards was more of a whim than charity or compassion. She left the ambitious captain in situ – drilled into the wall with the sea-stone handcuffs on one of his wrists. The streets around the pub were abandoned and no doubt so was everywhere else in proximity to the scene. He posed no threat, well at least not until his crew found him and freed him of his sole enemy – sea stone.

"The world really does need more redheads." Those were her parting words.

She had not overly butchered her duties as a marine, or so she told herself. As for Eustass Kid, who was still in a daze due to her sudden change of demeanour burned the sight of her retreating figure into his mind with the promise that the next time they meet, which he was certain they will, one of them would be on the ground unbreathing as the other part, and he was sure that he would be the one to breathe until the end.