Chapter 2. On the Road Again
The scowl on Smoker's face was always fun for The Beast. He was annoyed, he wanted to hit something, and worst of all she ended his "get there before she does streak". To be fair he's got way more victories under his belt than she has, knowing the layout of the town when they started their competition. Well, he could keep his victories anyway, the Black Stones call and who was she to ignore them.
She stopped her musings and returned focus on her pilfered meal, enjoying the coarseness of the dried n' salted meat combined with cheese. Wasn't much in the way of a "meal" but she was hungry. And hungry Beast was not happy Beast.
The Beast dropped the remaining hand full of meat in her mouth and leaned back using her right arm as support. She looked to the approaching Marine contingent as they began to clean up the bodies scattered about the wharf. That was totally okay as she wasn't partial to cleaning up after herself so she let the nobodies do the easy part of the job. Smoker and his clingy ankle biter walked forward ignoring the mess and approached her elevated perch.
The Beast and Smoker locked eyes as the air became tense; one held a scowl known across Loguetown and the other a jagged, toothy grin. Both waited for the other to make the first move.
They stayed like this for a moment before Smoker broke the ice.
"Beast," he addressed curtly while reaching into his jacket.
"Captain Smoker," The Beast responded in kind in her usual dried out voice.
Pulling his hand from his jacket, Smoker held a third cigar in his left hand and offered it to the beastly woman sitting above him. Said woman threw the small amount of cheese left in her hand in her mouth and swallowed before reaching and grasping the offered cigar. She held it in place as the Marine Captain lit a match and burned the tip.
With the cigar now lit The Beast brought it to her mouth and placed it in between her teeth, mindful not to bite through it.
The Beast took a few puffs before addressing the man, "Beat ya this time, Smoky."
The man growled at the nickname, "So it seems. Am I to understand that you just happened upon a pirate ship while just walking around or did someone tip you off?"
"Oh I just happened to stumble across these fine gentlemen while looking for something to eat. I saw that they had an abundance of food that they couldn't possibly eat all by themselves so I offered to take some, to 'lighten' the load so to speak." The whimsical tone of her voice did not go unnoticed by the two Marines.
"IF that's the case, why are there bodies littered all over the place?" Smoker asked with a raised eye brow not believing the woman at all.
The Beast's looked away and shrugged. She wasn't even going to attempt to lie when it came to Smoky. "What can I say? I asked nicely and that fat one in the wall hit me in the head with an axe," she gestured to Gruel, who was still stuck in the wall, "what followed was just a poor woman who acted in self defense."
Smoker's eyebrow twitched, "You're not some damsel and I doubt you didn't instigate it in some way. Regardless you defeated another pirate crew on your own again. I'd assume you'll want your reward?"
The Beast took that as a queue to jump off her perch to stand. Smoker calmly took a step back while Tashigi, not expecting the sudden movement, nearly fell over.
The grey skinned woman stood just under Smoker's chin, which was relatively tall for women in the Blues.
Looking up to meet the Captain's gaze she made her demands.
"As you can see," she gestured to the crates of food, "I got my fill for the day so I won't need your chefs to make anything as payment. No instead I'm go'na take the bounty on this crew for once."
Smoker was surprised by this declaration. He didn't show it of course, but this was the first time "The Beast of Loguetown" actually took a pirate's bounty. That led him to assume one thing.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" he asked confident in the answer she'd supply.
The Beast took the cigar out of her mouth and tapped some ash away, "Yes. I need to move on, the Black Stones are singing beyond the red wall and it's getting annoying to listen to."
The Captain gave her a look that said 'you're crazy' before he turned to look at his men cuffing and tying up the pirates scattered across the wharf and two men trying to pull free the fat one out of the wall.
"That being said, you too wouldn't know the best way off this damned rock do you?" the grey skinned woman asked dragging Smoker's attention back.
Tashigi piped up in her usual manner, "O-oh well I believe there's a ferry that goes across the calm belt without issue. I don't think they have any restrictions, other than being on a wanted poster. The next one should actually be arriving latter today."
"Well it that case glad I've been on the Marine's good side then, right Smokey?" the Beast said, suddenly up by Smoker's side and patting his chest with a mocking smile.
The Marine Captain just growled.
The source of the man's annoyance turned back to Tashigi, taking the cigar out of her mouth to tap some more ash away. "So four eyes, think you can get me a ticket onto that ship? I don't really care much for a fancy cruse or anything so no need to try and get me a deluxe suite or whatever. Hell I'd sleep in the cargo hold if it gets me to where I wanna go."
The Lieutenant was taken aback by the request. The way this woman asked for something from the Marines so casually always bewildered Tashigi. Now she wasn't of the mind that the ground the Marines walked on needed to be worshipped like some elements do, but surly they disserved some respect for keeping the world form collapsing in on itself.
Ignorant of Tashigi's internal rant, Smoker shoved her shoulder to break her from thoughts. "Lieutenant! Contact command and let them know that this woman is requesting to leave. The sooner she out of my hair the better," Smoker sneered as he looked toward the source of his growing headache, who in response just smiled.
Jumping at the sudden command, Tashigi excused herself and walked over to the Marines cleaning up the unconscious and broken bodies of the pirates. They were tying up those they could, but it seemed that most of them were in no condition to try and resist.
As this was happening the Marine Captain and The Beast locked eyes once more and waited to see who would break the ice first. Ultimately, The Beast instigated the next conversation.
"So, you gonna miss me when I'm gone?" she asked cheekily.
Smoker remained impassive and responded with, "Hardly."
"Well at least your bosses will let you get all the credit. You Marines got to maintain your special image with the masses now don't you. Hey maybe you'll get a promotion out of this hole of a harbor town."
Smoker scoffed, "I don't need exposure unlike other Marines, and I certainly don't need to take it from someone like you. You're just as bad as a pirate. The only thing keeping me from arresting you is the fact that my superiors were able to gain publicity off of your success."
That got The Beast to laugh, "Well I doubt your 'superiors' are going to let you say that a wandering vagrant was capable of beating up more pirates than the average Marine could, let alone the fact that I'm responsible for defeating entire crews by myself."
As much as he wanted to dispute her point he knew she was right. The World Government had an image it wanted to maintain for itself and letting word of a-nobody doing the Marines' job was not desirable. What's even worse was the fact that she was considerably better than many other Marine officials he'd met in the past. Although, the Blues were considered tame places when compared to the Grand Line, the East Blue even more so than the rest.
"Well regardless of what we think of our 'benevolent' rulers I think it's time we parted ways for now," the grey skinned woman said as she walked past Smoker, "I'll likely be around the market place for a while so come and find me when four eyes has my ticket off this harbor town, mkay?"
Smoker sneered as he watched her walk away scaring a Marine who hadn't noticed her pass. This woman acted like she owned everything despite only having the clothes on her back and even then it wasn't much to look at. He was all the more thankful that he could finally be rid of her.
She could be someone else's problem.
-XXXX-
Afternoon had rolled around by the time The Beast arrived at the market and still it was as noisy as she had left it. Many of the temporary venders had packed up their wares having sold all they had or simply to end their day only to be replaced by others renting out the spot. People of all classes continued to shop and browse before the day ended.
The Beast walked through, uncaring for the eyes that looked on in disgust. It was unusual to see some homeless woman walk around outside of the alleyways and many of the wealthier people scoffed all together. In their minds it was best to have the rabble stay where they belong, namely away from them.
Only problem was that The Beast was anything but some homeless vagrant and could kill everyone here easily.
Regardless, the grey skinned woman ignored all the stares opting to continue to her favorite spot just outside the market: a spot on the floor between two buildings used to store empty crates.
And she was the one who would yell at people saying that she wasn't a hobo.
Upon her arrival The Beast walked into the alley and lifted herself on top of a large crate at the back. This was her "throne" in the loosest way possible.
The crate was large enough that The Beast's legs dangled a foot away from the floor and was wide enough nearly touch either buildings to its sides. On top of it was a collection of old but plush blankets and pillows arranged in such a way that one could slouch back in relative comfort. It was quaint and provided the grey skinned woman with a place to find respite from the bustling streets of Lougetown.
Lying back against some pillows, the totally-not-homeless, woman closed her eyes, folded her arms behind her head, and relaxed away the events of today.
She would not get good sleep with her instincts crying for her to set out and find those Black Stones that dotted the great ocean. First thing to do was to wait for her ticket off this harbor town and if that didn't work sneak/steal a way out. After that, it was the simple act of free roaming the ocean until she found what she was looking for. Hopefully that entailed her memories.
Maybe when this was all done she'd come back? No. This place sucked so that's not happening.
One thing that The Beast was going to miss was the constant teasing that she got away with. Smoker was an easy man to rile up if you knew what buttons to push and watching him fume silently was always good fun, but all good things come to an end. Maybe she'd see him outside this town in the future but the chances of that were unlikely.
Still, it'd be nice to see a familiar face in the world.
Regardless of her wants and desires the beastly woman would move on like she always had. Her eyes grew heavy as she fought to keep consciousness. Sleep would be something she adored if it wasn't for the fractured nature of her memories. It was like her mind was trying to make sense of her scattered and ruined past that she had no real recollection of. Dreams were incoherent and jumbled messes and every morning The Beast would awaken with a splitting headache.
Yet, despite her protests she soon fell into slumber allowing here dreams to haunt her once more.
-XXXX-
"…."
"… can't be serious…never ending cycle…."
"You just going to G!%$#& them how powerfully the jhvh&m!"
"…sharp? Well how's…"
"…be allowed to reach…it will be the…can't be right…"
"…."
"…."
"Will you fulfill my request?"
"…# %! no !#$..."
"…"
"…"
"I WILL DRAG YOU ALL DOWN WITH ME!"
-XXXX-
Tashigi walked through the morning kissed streets of the market district looking for any sign of the grey skinned woman. With her were two marines that the Captain had insisted accompany her claiming, "Its incase she does something stupid."
She had no idea if it was for her or The Beast.
As she searched, the Lieutenant learned that trying to find this woman was remarkably harder than she thought despite her unique appearance. Neither she nor the two marines with her could find any sign of their target. It wasn't even crowded in the market yet so either this bounty hunter was either being scarce on purpose or she was somewhere else.
Tashigi really hoped that she didn't have to go hunting around the entire town, she had other stuff to do.
The three marines passed the fountain in the centre of the market doing their best to avoid the hustle and bustle of businesses. Most people avoided Tashigi out of respect and due to her two escorts with her making it easy to navigate the soon to be crowded plaza. It was when they passed by an alleyway between a bakery and an antique shop did the clumsy Lieutenant hear something.
Back tracking she looked down the dark alley and listened. A loud animalistic grow echoed from the darkness. It was loud enough to be heard easily from the mouth of the alley, but was drowned out from the commotion everywhere else.
If Tashigi was being honest with herself she was hesitant to check to see if this was the woman she sought or just some lose animal that escaped from somewhere.
…
That sounded a lot like The Beast now that she thought of it.
"Stay here," Tashigi turned and ordered to her small retinue.
"Hai," they saluted in response. Their faces were uncertain but they obeyed regardless.
The alley was heavily shaded, unusually so. Tashigi looked up to see what was blocking the sunlight and saw tapestries layered over top of each other the full length of the alley. They were strung between the two buildings like a hastily made ceiling with a few holes that allowed beams of sun light to penetrate into the darkness.
The alley itself was decently wide and allowed for some large crates to be stowed away and out of sight. The Lieutenant had to step around a few in order to continue deeper into the unreasonably dark gap in between buildings.
The animalistic snarling grew louder as she slowly approached the end and the clumsy woman's nerves began to fray slightly at the sound. Soon she arrived at the end of the alleyway where the sound was at its source and she was greeted by a pair of shoeless legs hanging off a particularly large crate.
In front of her was the sleeping form of The Beast of Lougetown and the horrendous snarling was in fact her snoring if the snot bubble coming from her nose was any indication.
Tashigi was in awe of how obnoxious this woman was and seemingly with no care for anyone else. Now all she had to do was wake her up and something told her that it wasn't going to be a pleasant experience.
Coming up to The Beast's legs, the marine pondered on how to wake her up. She wasn't sure just poking her and telling her to wake up would work or if hitting her hard in the head was the better, if suicidal, option. So she opted for the "I don't want to die early" route and pulled on one of her legs.
"E-excuse me Miss I need you to wake up," the clumsy marine spoke while pulling at one of The Beast's legs.
"Hmmm…no," was the tired response she received.
She tried again, a little more forceful this time, "I'm sorry, but I need you to wake up."
"Gurr-no," this one was a little more irritated sounding.
"You shouldn't even be sleeping here," Tashigi scolded and pulled on the leg harder, "I just need to giv-AH!"
The marine was suddenly cut off by a grey, bare foot to the face launching her back a few feet along with the clatter of her glasses.
"I said piss off!" The Beast yelled sitting up. The sleep was still in her eyes and a grumpy scowl was plastered on her face.
The marine Lieutenant's head was spinning leaving her in a daze on the floor, her glasses had been flung a ways away behind her staring at the two women in the alley. Tashigi tried to sit up despite the nauseating feeling in her head and looked at the culprit in front of her…well the big blur she could barely see amongst the darkness.
"Hey," she heard, "four eyes what are you doin' here. It's rude to wake someone up when they have nothing to do for a living."
Well The Beast knew of her now and didn't seem remotely regretful for kicking her in the face and throwing her to the ground.
This was defiantly who she was looking for alright.
But before she could deal with the grey skinned beast she needed to find her glasses. So she turned herself over and began looking.
"My glasses, I can't she without my glasses," she called whilst patting the ground.
The marine was met with only silence as she continued searching.
"Can you at least help me!" she shouted in the vague direction of the one responsible for her current predicament.
"Eh? Why should I help, you woke me up," came The Beast's rebuttal.
"You kicked me in the face!"
"I was enjoying my sleep!"
As their banter continued Tashigi located her glasses, which thankfully weren't cracked, and placed them back on her head. The woman she was meant to give a delivery to was sitting up now and glaring at her from atop the crate she was resting on. The bandages that wrapped around her body never seemed to move and her jacket was discarded to the side.
"Look, four eyes, what do you want? You Marines are usually fine with me floating around town so long as I don't mess with anything. What changed?"
Tashigi felt a spike of anger at this woman's blatant disregard of authority, but pushed it down. She gust needed to hand off the ticket across the Red Line and that was the end of it. She was still surprised that command would even authorize something like this to a civilian, regardless of how powerful she was. If the Lieutenant had to guess they likely had plans for The Beast on the other side of the great wall.
The Marine stood on her feet and pulled out an envelope, offering it to the homeless bum in front of her, "Your request for a ticket off Lougetown and into the Grand Line has been approved by local command. This contains the ticket you'll need to board a ship leaving latter today. It won't be back for another three weeks so it would be best not to miss it."
The Grey skinned woman looked at the offered envelope curiously before taking it out of Tashigi's hand and tearing it open. True to her word, inside was a paper ticket with an additional piece of paper. As it turned out it was transfer information with a Marine sigil confirming its validity.
The Beast held up the paper, showing it to Tashigi and asked, "What's this thing? I thought it was just a ticket?"
A little confused, the smaller woman adjusted her glasses and looked at the paper. "Oh this looks to be a temporary transference document."
The questioning gaze from the woman in front of her urged her to elaborate, "You need a passport to cross the Red Line and this will act as one for your trip."
"Oh, that seems silly doesn't it," The Beast replied turning the document around to look at it.
"It's necessary!" Tashigi countered.
"It's silly!" The Beast rebutted.
Tashigi refrained from dragging their back and forth further and sighed. This woman was like a child some times.
"Look," she began, "the ship leaves around noon and because you don't have any belongings-"
"Are you calling me homeless?"
"-it shouldn't be an issue."
The Beast looked over the ticket, reading the details that it would provide for her during her trip across the Red Line. Nothing glamorous but it would suffice.
"If that's all then I need to take my leave," said the smaller woman, "I have important things that require attention and I need them done."
She turned around and began to walk out of the alley when The Beast spoke, stopping her it her tracks.
"Tell your boss I want to see you both in the Grand Line in the future, alright?"
It wasn't what she said that made her stop; it was the sincerity in her words that made Tashigi pause. She turned around to look at the grey skinned woman with wide eyes.
She was still looking at the ticket and her blue and green eyes refused to meet her's. A big wide, toothy smile was stretched across her face.
"What the hell are you still in here for? Get out of my alley."
Tashigi took a moment before replying, "O-of course," and made her way out.
The two Marines that had been standing guard outside noticed her return and saluted.
"Ma'm, is everything alright?" one asked in concern at seeing his lieutenant's face.
She snapped out of her thought and sheepishly replied, "Y-yes of course. Everything's fine. Let's head back to base and inform Smoker that she took the ticket."
"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear that," the other Marine remarked.
The officer didn't say anything as they began their walk through the now busier market district.
-XXXX-
It was just past noon when the ship set to travel to the Grand Line arrived and The Beast looked on with apprehension.
From where she stood she could see the majority of the passengers that she'd have to be sailing with: rich folk.
It wasn't the fact that these were the same kind of people she'd drown in an "accident", but the implications of what's going to happen when they do cross the Red Line. This ship was asking "just plunder me now" and if there was one thing the beastly woman did remember was that the pirates of the Grand Line were a tougher breed than what she had grown accustom to in the Blues.
Not that she wouldn't welcome the challenge, the local banditry and pirate crews were beginning to become stale with only a few notable pirates standing out. Even then they weren't much to behold.
But now that the Grand Line was practically open to her now The Beast relished the opportunity to improve herself. In fact she fully expected for her ship to be immediately be raided by a group of pirates right out the door.
Her musings were cut when she made it into the line leading onto the ship. The stairs she was getting from the others in the line were of the usual sort with a dash of disgust thrown in as well. Whatever, they were nothing to her so she wouldn't bother with even acknowledging their existence.
"And you have a lovely trip. Next!" The Beast heard the ticket man address the person in front of her. His gaze landed on her and his eyes spoke of confusion.
"I'm sorry…Ma'm? But are you lost?" he said addressing her in a "kind" tone.
The beastly woman looked back at him; he was half a head shorter than herself and didn't at all look to be in the right to judge her with how weak he was.
"Yeah, don't worry pal I'm supposed to be here," she replied while handing him her ticket and the papers Four Eyes had given her. A condescending, jagged smile graced her lips.
The man hesitantly looked over the paper and ticket she gave him and then looked back at her with wide and disbelieving eyes. "I'm sorry, but this couldn't possibly be ri-" she cut him off.
"You're going to let me on because everything on that paper is right and that ticket isn't some two-bit knockoff. Otherwise your arm is going to be across the harbor and your face is going to be missing after I bite it off," The beast threatened quietly as she leaned closer to his face and displayed her teeth in a wide smile.
The man began to physically sweat as he replied, "O-o-of course Ma'm, how-w in-inconsiderate of me to assume as much from a fine woman as yourself."
His eyes screamed "Please don't eat me" much to The Beast's satisfaction.
She stood straight again and swiped the stamped ticket and paper from the man making her way onto the deck of the passenger ship.
"I hope you have a w-wonderful trip!" the ticket man called out behind her, followed by a meek, "I don't get paid enough for this."
The Beast of Lougetown, someone that the Marine garrison knew well and had (forced) personal ties with the Captain of said garrison, laughed loudly as she walked on her marry way uncaring of the looks she received.
Soon she would be across the Red Line and into the most dangerous waters of the world.
Soon the Grand Line will feel her jagged and unforgiving teeth upon its skin.
Whelp I finally got the next chapter out, amazingly.
Sorry all, work has been hell and really slowed my production rate.
So, to make up for it I made a snip-it of where I want the story to eventually end up. It's nothing final mind just an idea of how I want things to end up as. It will be just below this author's note.
At any rate, here we are: finally making our way into the Grand Line. Ain't that lovely.
Let me tell ya I plan on shaking things up in a few places and a few people. Hope your ready.
Here's that thing I promised ya
The two looked at the woman with caution as she stared back impassively. Nico Robin, the Devil Child, was on the archipelago and that meant the rest of the Straw Hats were as well.
Blink's hands clenched tight as he locked eyes with the woman who was worth 80,000,000 beli. The rumors he heard about the so called 'Devil Child' didn't do her beauty justice, if he wasn't married and a faithful man he'd swoon over her. But right now she was just a bounty, a very important one at that.
"Easy there Blinky Boy, she's off limits," The Beast said in a mocking tone, "wouldn't want to spoil your existing relationship, right?"
The bounty hunter scoffed, "As if, I already have my priorities strait. Besides, I've heard the rumors about her being manipulative, so I'm not taking any bait."
Never in his carrier would Kid Blink expect to have run into Nico Robin of all people. Her reputation for being illusive saw fit to keep her on the move and never with a group for more than a few months or a year at most. To any bounty hunter on this side of the Grand Line she was the ultimate prize.
To be seeing her in person almost felt like a dream.
"Ah, The Beast of the Line, it's a surprise to see you again," Robin spoke to Gretchen, eyes as sharp as ever.
"Speak for yourself. I was hoping I wouldn't have to see you Straw Hats after our last encounter," replied the grey skinned woman.
Robin smiled slightly and chuckled, "I can assure you the feeling's mutual. Miss Navigator was very upset when you made off with half our hold of treasure."
The Beast shrugged, "What can I say; woman's got to eat too."
Kid Blink was lost in confusion, "Wait you've met her before, and the rest of the Straw Hats?"
"Hmm, oh yeah they had something of mine, so I tailed them across some island North of Water 7. They wouldn't give it up so I had to get…creative," a vicious smile curved on her face as she spoke.
Despite the tense atmosphere, The Beast seemed completely unfazed by Robin's presence. Kid Blink on the other hand never broke eye contact with the pirate knowing full well that this woman could kill him at any moment.
"Yep, I ran with the Straw Hats for a short time," The Beast bragged whilst taking out a cigar and lighting it, "It was mostly to get to the next island, but can't say I didn't have a good time. It was when they found a piece of my head did I find it a good idea to bail."
The beastly woman took a drag from her cigar and looked to Robin once more with her blue and green eyes, her smile had turned smug.
"So, Nico Robin, what are the Straw Rats doing all the way at the end of 'Paradise'? Is that idiot captain of yours dragging you to World's End or do you all just have a death wish?"
"I can assure you that our captain is more than capable of protecting us in the New World," Robin stated without a hint of worry in her voice, "He's silly, but more than capable of taking on the whole world. Wouldn't you agree?"
The Beast just closed her eyes and smiled while shaking her head slowly, "If that's the case then you're going to find out just how brutal the world is going to be. No one makes it to the end the same," then her eyes opened and turned sinister, "And no crew makes it to the end intact."