Troublesome Hunt!
The Beast on the Prowl!
Rosa walked through the city streets, her hood pulled up over her head, shielding her face from sight. She walked along the paved pathways with a sorrowful dragging of her feet. While she didn't blame Enma for kicking her off of the ship, she also couldn't be mad at him. Nakamas were pretty much family for some people...she knew that if she didn't trust someone, there would be no way that person would get anyway near her family, especially if one of them was as badly injured as Mikoto was.
She sighed as she thought about them while she did indeed miss them, she decided to adventure off on her own. She didn't want to rely on her family or feel as if she needed to them to constantly be by her side. She needed to be able to stand up on her own two feet and not have to worry about them! She shook her head as now she was just worrying about someone else...not only did she worry about Lily, but also her thoughts were also on the Infinity Pirates and Mikoto. And now she was becoming flustered that Enma didn't allow her to stay and see Mikoto get better! She didn't even say good-bye to him. She really felt stupid just thinking about them...she had no reason to care about pirates...and there was nothing in specific about them that made them stand out, but she worried about them nonetheless.
She shrugged off the thoughts. She'd probably run into them again eventually, it was a small world after all. Besides based off of what she had saw in the bar, she knew Mikoto wasn't going to die from a bullet to the shoulder. He seemed stronger then that. And even if he wasn't Enma seemed like a doctor who knew what he was doing, and not just going to let his nakama die. She trusted him...even if he did kick her off of the ship. She shook her head trying to remember why she was roaming the streets, she had to find Lily.
She looked up at the dark night sky and giggled nervously. She was all alone right now...she chuckled as she began to quicken her pace, she didn't want to be out and about when it got dark...or darker. The skies were already beginning to darken up as the sun began to set. She got so caught up with the problems of the Infinity Pirates, that she had completely forgotten about her own. She wanted to be done with everything before it got dark. She didn't want to be out this late...She looked around the pathway hoping to see some sort of light, like a torch...or, or, or, or, or a lantern...or some other kind of lighting device...nothing...she let out an involuntary squeak of fear.
She quickly pulled out her bag and began searching through it in a frenzied fashion. Finally she came across what she was searching so desperately for. She pulled out a book and flipped through the pages. She needed something to get her mind off of the ever looming darkness. She finally stopped at a page. Her eyes widened with panic as she looked at her book. It was too dark to read...especially for a long time. The pages were all tinted black from the lack of light. Rosa quickly stuffed the book back into her bag and started to laugh nervously...it was too dark to read...and she really, really didn't like the dark. She planned on reading to distract her from the darkness, but she can't read!
"Ke he he he he!"
Rosa was about to scream as she heard the laughter, but swallowed it. She turned around and hid behind one of the buildings. She was still uncomfortable in the dark, but something told her to hide. Finally she saw the person who let out the terrifyingly inhuman laugh. It was as far as she remembered a Shichibukai called Trevor. She let out a sigh. Shichibukais were basically pirates turned Marines, she was fine with that. She wasn't a pirate so they had no reason to chase after her. She was about to step back out to the path when she froze. Her eyes locked onto his hands. They were covered in deep red blood. She shrunk back in between the two old buildings and disappeared.
Trevor smiled as he stopped in his tracks. Rosa spun around and hid behind the building even more, shrinking away into the darkness, despite her fear of darkness at this exact moment she was even more afraid of Trevor. She shrunk away and hid herself from his view, not wishing to show herself. She had heard several stupid rumors about him like how he murdered an entire village for fun or how the Marines were always secretly plotting to kill him, but she never believed any of them. But now that she laid her own eyes on the man who the rumors were about, she believed them all. He was clearly not a kind and caring Shichibukai like they were all said to be.
Finally he spoke...not to her, god no...as far as she knew he still wasn't aware that she was here. He was probably just talking to himself, which from the rumors of his sanity...she wasn't surprised by. "Ke he he he...stupid bounty hunters and pirates...they have absolutely no idea about me. They really think I'd spare their heads simply because they bring me someone else's? Since I have no idea about how interesting this Mikoto fellow is going to be, I may...their fate all relies on whether or not this Mikoto kid satisfies my blood lust for awhile. I couldn't give a shit about whether or not they give me some third-rate pirate's head."
Rosa gasped as the mention of Mikoto's name. He was hunting down Mikoto, she had to stop him. She was about to get him and fight him, but Trevor's laugh crackled through the air once more. Rosa brought her entire body back down behind the building. She was starting to panic. There was no way she'd be able to stop Trevor, her only hope was to get to Mikoto first and tell them to anchor the ship offshore and somehow avoid Trevor.
Rosa kept her eyes on Trevor as he left heading down to the docks. Rosa let out the breath that she had been holding. She scooted out onto the path slowly and examined both direction, fearing that Trevor was trying to trick her. She paused for a moment on the path and debated about turning around and heading back to the ship, but she still wasn't sure whether or not Trevor was trying to trick her. She shrugged it off and left off heading down to the ship. She needed to warn them. Trevor seemed like the kind of guy who would've killed her the instant she let it slip that she was there.
She turned about and was about to charge down the island when she was stopped. Another man was in her way. He was a bounty hunter. She remembered seeing him at one of the bounty hunting facilities. He did a plenty good of a job. Rosa smiled and tried to sidestep him, but the bounty hunter reached out and blocked her from walking past him. She stopped and backed away, "excuse me?" she asked, "I'm trying to get through and to the docks, I'd like to get through." The annoying sound of water dripping was sounding on the path.
"Get through?" he mimicked back jokingly, but despite that his Scottish accent was still heard. He brought his sword down to his side, "if I'm not mistaken the Infinity Pirates were helped out at the bar by a certain young girl." He brought his sword back up with lightning fast precision, he brought it straight up and aimed it at Rosa's neck, he stopped short, "I have no reason to kill you, but I need you to point me in the direction of the Infinity Pirates. It could take me forever to find them...there are a lot of pirate ships in the dock. And I'm afraid I don't have a second to waste."
Rosa stepped back, "wh-wh-why?" she managed to stutter out. As far as bounties were considered Mikoto may have a nice sized one, but its still barely comparable to some pirates on this island or in the Grand Line for that matter. She looked around her, it was still dark and she could only barely pick out the lines of the buildings that stretched up and around her. She was lost and she couldn't find her way out of this. The buildings blocked off her escape route and then the man was standing in front of her, making it impossible for her to get around him. She was stunned and frozen in place and not to mention annoyed, the sound of water slowly dripping was still ringing out on the pathway.
"Why?" asked the bounty hunter, "Why! Because Trevor said he's going to kill everyone unless we give him the head of an Infinity Pirates...or any pirate with a bounty of 30 million or more. And I'm not going to die...my aim is for the head of an Infinity Pirate to hand over to him and save mine!" Rosa couldn't barely focus on him due to the insane dripping of water. It had been going on this entire conversation, what was it?
Her eyes were searching for the sound of the water drops, but couldn't find it due to the darkness that surrounded. She looked down and noticed the blood pooling near the man's foot. She looked upwards from there and saw his sword, still dripping with fresh blood. Her hand immediately shot to the hilt of her sword as she braced for a fight...a man who killed someone once is more then willing to do it again. She froze in her spot as she readied to fight him.
"Really?" asked the bounty hunter with a flourish of his hands as he brought them out and around him. "You really want to fight me? I just want to take down the Infinity Pirates. As a matter of fact what do you say if we were to team up? I mean with the two of us we'd easily be able to take them on without even breaking a sweat! What do you say? We take the heads of some more worthless pirates? We are allies, aren't we?"
Rosa barely managed a growl as she backed away and stumbled backwards trying to put more distance in between them. She didn't want to fight him, he was a bounty hunter. He was just doing his job in hunting down pirates, she couldn't be mad at him for that and, yet...she was. She was furious with him for hunting down the Infinity Pirates...was it just that he was a killer serving another killer who intended to kill someone who was injured. For some reason she doubted it. This didn't feel like the hate for some random run-of-the-mill bully...it was much more personal.
Rosa unsheathed her sword and brought it around, holding it in between her and her opponent. Rosa let out a deep breath and focused on her opponent, ignoring the suffocating darkness that was around as she brought her sword down, "we are far from allies."
"Whoa," he said with a tone of surprise as he swung his sword high up and around in the air, "anyone who isn't my ally is my enemy. So I hope you enjoyed your last moments of protecting those pirates, cause its gonna cost you."
The two of them quickly began pacing around in a circle. Their eyes never leaving their opponents, they locked their eyes on their opponent's wrists. They understood the basics of swordplay. Their opponent's wrists were an easy indicator to when and where they would slash with their sword. They both saw and heard of the bounties the other one had brought in so neither of them wanted to make a mistake, one fatal mistake would be all it would take.
The two of them set out for the center of the circle at the same exact moment. They both brought out their swords and brought them together with a loud clashing of metal. Some of the blood from the bounty hunter's blade was flung out off of it and onto Rosa's clothes. She flinched involuntarily, but held her ground regardless. There was another flash and clash of metal as they separated from each other and simultaneously backed off.
As the two highly advanced swordsmen dueled while out on the battle field in the middle of the night they were completely unaware of the two glowing yellow eyes in the shadow. They were intent on watching the two people fight and duel, the eyes locked on them as their swords clashed once more.
Scarlet Blood on the Streets
8 chapters left till the 100th chapter...spectacular? No, no, no, I don't like that. I'll figure it out soon. Anyways, this chapter focuses strictly on Rosa, so I hope you are all ready for the upcoming battle, the bounty hunters are still on the lookout for the Infinity Pirates and Ridley, Zesiro, and Mikoto are all beaten up. Only Enma, Hiro-Shu, Maria, and Sage are left to defend! How will they protect themselves from a serial killer Shichibukai, a horde of bounty hunters and pirates, and whatever other trouble finds it way into the mix?