"Why are you still following us?" Smoker grunted before dumping the pirates who he had disarmed earlier to his men.
"Well, it would've gone against my honour if I were to leave without fulfilling my part of the deal." She was irritated as well. Every single pirate that they had run into were beaten up by Smoker before she even had the chance to draw her sword. She did promise that she would assist them in capturing pirates during their trip together so it was only fair that she kept her words. If only Smoker didn't beat her to it every single time...
"Smoker-san it's alright isn't it? Lex-san is only trying to help," Tashigi added. Although the two hardly talked to each other during the journey to Rain Base, with Tashigi busy cleaning up after Smoker and Karl spending all her time meditating and refining her swordsmanship, they held a mutual understanding and got along surprisingly well.
"Whatever, just don't get in my way." He walked off with Tashigi trailing behind him closely. As if she would get in his way. During the week or so she avoided him at every chance she had. She didn't want to involve herself needlessly while Smoker was around – she wasn't sure if her cover would be blown or not.
But to think she arrived at Rain Base this soon...
Walking up and down the streets, she studied the bustling town around her. Rain Base appeared to be a typical mercenary town with its crowded streets and overfilled casinos. She had overheard Crocodile's name a couple of times along the way, though it was always spoken with fondness and admiration. So normal citizens could look up to pirates? It was news to her.
However, she didn't manage to catch a single word on the actual topic she was looking into – Baroque Works. Did Lex's captives lie about Rain Base being the main operation point for the criminal organisation? Before she could entertain the thought further, a loud crash behind her drew her attention.
"Wait up, Mugiwara!" Smoker's voice roared from the corner of the street as a young boy raced towards her. Straw-hat? Wasn't that the up and rising pirate from East Blue? She was briefed on all pirates whose bounties exceeded 20 million. Those who were in her jurisdiction were pinned on the corkboard in the Captain's room, and the Mugiwara boy happened to be one of them.
Analysing the situation in the split of a second, Karl realised what she had to do. This was it. She could finally part with Smoker's crew without tainting her honour. It seemed like Smoker needed some help with this one.
Drawing her sword, Karl swung at the fleeing youth. He barely dodged out of the way before she charged at him again. He didn't seem particularly strong, why was the logia user having a hard time with him?
The boy's following actions answered her unvoiced question. His arms stretched like a rubber band before grabbing onto the railing of a building and rocketed himself away. So fast! A devil fruit user huh?
She darted after the boy and called out to Smoker,
"Captain Smoker, consider my promise fulfilled when I bring the pirate to you." At her words, Smoker's scowl deepened.
"I don't need your assistance," he spat before activating his devil fruit powers and drawing in onto the Straw-hat boy. Seeing that he was about to escape from the corner of a building, Karl unleashed short bursts of energy with her sword and cut through the air, slicing the building in half.
The raven-haired boy yelped and dashed off in another direction while Smoker yelled at her for doing unneeded things. Ignoring his comment, she secured her grip on her sword before running after the two.
Cutting through the path where the Straw-hat youth had run off to, Karl sped down the dusty streets towards the crossway. She was a few seconds too late as the boy who seemed to be made out of rubber sprinted past her and down another street with Smoker at his tails.
This wouldn't do… She would lose them sooner or later with the awkward way the streets were arranged in this town. The tall walls disabled her from gaining a clear view of the paths to take.
Eying the layout of the buildings around her, she scouted the area for elevated structures. With a whirl of wind in her steps, Karl leapt onto the top of a building and used height as leverage to pinpoint the two devil fruit users who were skiting all over the place.
There. A flash of red and white caught her eyes as the chase had advanced further towards the centre of Rain Base.
With the obstruction of turning streets and narrow paths out of the way, she pushed her speed to the limit and raced atop of houses, leaping from building to building. Somewhere along the line, the numbers had multiplied. Instead of the one boy whom Smoker had been chasing earlier, now there were four.
She was too far away to gain a clear view of the other three's faces, but from their body language towards the straw-hat boy, they were most likely comrades.
As she drew closer to the five of them, the pirates seemed to have made up their minds on where they would run off to. Compared to their previous random movements, darting down one street to the next, they now were moving collectively towards one specific building. The Rain Dinners.
From what she remembered reading from her report, the place was owned by none other than the Shichibukai, Crocodile, himself. Why were they going there? They couldn't possibly have gotten a sudden urge to gamble their money or buy some hearty meals while being chased by a marine right? Were they working for Crocodile? Seeking refuge?
All these questioned swirled in her head as she jumped down from the rooftop and landed next to the casino. She supposed she should apprehend the pirates before they made their way into the casino where a Shichibukai could be waiting inside.
As the group approached she launched several attacks with her sword. She was surprised at their sharp intuition towards danger as they all darted out of the way of the attack by a margin. She briefly wondered why Smoker chose to avoid the attack as well when he could've transformed into smoke, and let the attack pass through him, successfully scaring the shit out of the pirates…
A ring of curses was thrown at her as they neared. She was about to launch another attack when the sight of a certain flash of white froze her in her tracks.
Resting against the side of a green-haired swordsman was a katana with a traditional, stunning pure-white samegawa wrapped around a grey tsuka hilt.
Beads of sweat formed around her forehead as once again she felt that pang of daunting familiarity which she hadn't experienced in years befall her senses. The last time she remembered was when she was plagued with nightmares about a ceremonious bestowal of a sword as a kid. The nightmares had quelled as she aged, but the ominous feeling stayed with her all these years.
This feeling which had been brought forth again drove her to near insanity. It was as if she recognised the presence of the sword. This was coming from someone who switched katanas so often that all her past swords blurred in her memories with time. Besides swords did not possess a presence. The wielder recognised their swords through its touch, its glint, or its sound when unsheathed – not from some vague concept such as a presence.
Still warped in her thoughts, she barely registered the group she had been chasing as they breezed past her side into the casino.
It's probably the soil here, she concluded. These uncanny feelings and thoughts had started to arise again ever since she landed on Alabasta. Maybe the frequency here generated some phenomenal chemicals which tricked her mind.
Shaking her head, accepting the rather forced explanation, Karl carried on with her earlier mission.
Right, the white katana. No! Forget the sword, she was supposed to catch the fleeing pirates in Smoker's stead. Though… Eyeing the trail of smoke and debris scattered along the path the group had come from, she wondered if Smoker realised how much damage he had indirectly caused the town in his rummage with the pirates.
He probably didn't care, much less realise the destruction in his track. The broken entrance door of the casino, as well as the outraged voices echoing from within the facility, further proved her speculations. Well since the pirates were already trapped inside with Smoker close in their trail… She guessed that she would repay her debts in a different manner.
And with that decision, she approached the curious crowds, who were overlooking the casino and wondering which nutcase barged into a Shichibukai's terrace, and explained in Smoker's stead.
When they informed her that government officials weren't allowed inside, it raised some alarm bells in her head. But, seeing how the situation could not be helped otherwise, she proceeded to tell the guards and other onlookers that there was no need for concern. Captain Smoker was merely passing through the terrace to capture some lawless pirates.
It took some time but ultimately they accepted her explanation, though halfway through she had switched to intimidation by releasing some authoritative aura and half withdrawing her sheathed sword. If her explanation didn't convince them to back off, the gleam in her sword and unspoken promise of bloodshed sure did.
Seeing how fear worked rather well in her favour, she noted it down and thought of ways in which she could elicit fear in Lex – surely it would lessen if not put an end to his tireless remarks...
Handing them the Den Den Mushi number of the team in charge of finances, she asked them to bill the repair work to the marine base in Alabasta.
Hopefully cleaning up after his mess was a satisfactory way of repaying the favour. It was the greatest dishonour for a swordsman to leave debts unpaid – or so she had learnt at the age of 10 from the man who's now named the greatest.
"Mmph… Let me go!", an exasperated voice muffled. The cry was a good hundred or two away from the busy entrance of the casino. It would have undoubtedly escaped the ears of all else who were present but it was just audible enough for her due to the long hours of training she had spent on honing her senses.
Closing her eyes and concentrating on the source of that cry, she focused on the shuffles of footsteps, rushed except for one set which suggested recalcitrant defiance. It was located on the other side of the casino, and from the squeak of the door hinges, she assumed that they had entered the building.
Sighing inwardly, she made an educated guess – a kidnapping. She tried to recall if Alabasta was on the abnormally long list of islands infamous for human tracking, but unfortunately, it didn't ring a bell.
Normally, kidnapping would've been out of her jurisdiction but… She supposed turning a blind eye to things like this was also on the dishonour list for a swordsman. And thus, after muttering a rushed apology to the affected individuals in Smoker's stead, she disappeared around the corner.
It didn't take long until she found the doorway in which she heard the footsteps disappear off to. It was an unused entrance, a backdoor, she supposed, which led into the casino. Eying the rusty knob and a clear sign which had the words 'DO NOT ENTER' printed in bold, Karl opened the door slightly before walking in.
There was a long flight of stairs which permeated from the entrance down to unknown darkness beneath the building. Shifting the weight in her steps, she made sure to tread down in silence and adjusted her eyes to the murky surroundings.
It took a good ten minutes before she reached the end of the staircase. In front of her stood another door. This one was well maintained and more elaborate than the door she passed through prior. Leaning against the cool surface, she could vaguely hear voices emerging from the other side.
The silver lock which had secured the entrance prior had been removed and brushed to the side. It appeared that the earlier group had not been expecting any visitors to arrive after them. Well too bad for them, she was here to ruin their plans.
And thus without further hesitance, she kicked open the door with the blunt heel of her leather boots. The doors slammed to the side and light entered her vision, replacing the silent darkness.
What greeted her was a combination of all her conflicting problems. A blue-haired girl was currently restrained by a composed woman. Princess Vivi; who had vanished two years ago, and Nico Robin; who has a bounty of 79 million, respectively. Beside them was a man who sat leaned back in his plush seat. He was none other than the Shichibukai Crocodile himself.
To their right was a tank which hosted an array of ravenous alligators. To the left was a cage, holding the very group who had rushed into the casino earlier. The runaway pirates and Smoker. But the one thing which caught her attention the most was once again that pearl white katana which rested in the hands of a certain swordsman.
The absurdity of the situation combined with her uncanny attraction to an otherwise inconspicuous piece of metal created a spontaneous mind blank. So she stood, still as a statue, eyes unblinking, as everything seemingly froze.
In fact, things did freeze, albeit for a mere few seconds before Crocodile snapped out of it and demanded Miss All Sunday to capture the intruder. Only when her wrists met the cold clasp of cuffs and her body thrown into the cage along with the rest did she register her predicament.
Trapped. In a cell. With a temperamental marine captain, a goofy looking pirate wearing a straw hat, a wimpy kid who at least tried to look tough in face of conceivable danger, a frowning girl who looked at her as if she had lost her mind, a sleeping swordsman who carried three katanas and wore a Haramaki on his head, and lastly the white katana which indirectly caused this current situation. Great. There's so much potential in this arrangement.
First thing's first though. She stalked up to the snoring swordsman and reached for the sword which had plagued her mind with questions.
"What are you doing?" A rough hand grabbed her arm, halting her movement. The glow which had previously shrouded the katana dulled before extinguishing into thin air. The spell had been broken. What she was so close to uncovering had, once again, slipped through her fingers by a mere inch.