Arisa and Abduction of Nakama
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.
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The bystanders on the street watched as Devon and Sarquiss locked blades. Austin watched from his place on the street as his older brother blocked Sarquiss' large kukri blade with Water Moon. Most people would think that Devon's blue-blade of a katana couldn't hold Sarquiss' kukri.
"You're not too bad," Devon grinned, "Not very good, but not very bad either,"
Sarquiss glared at him, "You little punk! You think you're better than me?!"
"I know I am," Devon began to push him back, "I've fought strong opponents before and you aren't really on they're level,"
The blue haired man pressed forward but he was still pushed back, "Sonofabitch...!"
"Come on, Sarquiss!" the woman he was with cheered, "Teach that punk a lesson!"
"I'm trying, Lily, but he's getting lucky!" Sarquiss pushed forward again, but didn't get much headway, "First the damn Straw Hat beats Bellamy and now a kid's getting the best of me...,"
Devon blinked and paused after hearing those words muttered, "Straw Hat? Luffy's been through here?"
Sarquiss noticed the lack of defense the blonde nittoryu user had and grinned, "My turn...," he kneed Devon hard in the gut, sending the kid down to his knees. As Devon kneeled on the street, Sarquiss grinned, backed away, and began to spin his large knife.
"Okay...I'm tired of cheap shots," Devon cracked his neck and gripped Water Moon tightly, "Ittoryu...,"
Lily cheered, "Kill him, Sarquiss! Chop his head off!"
"BIG CHOP!" Sarquiss charged at Devon, at jumped into the air, spinning around with his kukri knife outward, making him look like a human buzzsaw as he flew towards him.
"Shinigami-giri!"
Everyone in the street watched as Devon ran past the oncoming pirate, dodging his spinning attack completely. They also watched as Sarquiss faltered in mid-air and hit the ground, a gash in the side of his stomach.
"Sarquiss!" Lily's jaw dropped and she watched as Devon calmly rose to his feet, sheathing his katana, "You bastard!" she ran over to Sarquiss and knelt down beside him, "Sarquiss, can you hear me? Sarquiss!"
Devon cracked his neck again as his little brother joined him, "He called himself a swordsman?" he scoffed, shaking his head, "Pathetic!"
Lily glared at him, "You bastard, you're going to pay for this! No one messes with the Bellamy Pirates and gets away with it!"
The blonde nittoryu user turned and shot a glare at her, "No one messes with me and gets away with it. I have some place to be, but...," he started to make his way to Lily, who started to look pale, "What he said about Straw Hat Luffy...tell me everything!"
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Chizuru looked back and forth from her drunken shipwright friend to the strange girl with a hockey stick. She could easily skim over her thoughts and get her answers that way, but deciding that since Azu seemed to know her, she should ask this time.
"Azu?" the navigator turned to him and pointed at the woman called Arisa, "Who is this girl?"
His red dreads swaying from side to side as he shook his head, Azu moaned, "It's a long story, Chizuru...," he moaned again, "By the Eight Gods, why me?"
Arisa hefted her hockey stick again, "How long has it been, Azu?" she asked in a smooth, yet harsh tone, "Quite a while...,"
Chizuru's eyes went a little wide, "Oh, I see, some woman you humped then dumped?"
Both Azu and Arisa nearly fell over at the choice of words she had used, "NO!"
"Ex-girlfriend?"
"HELL NO!"
"Then who?"
Azu rubbed the back of his head, looking rather nervous, "Well...hehe...she's really just an old friend from back home,"
"Old friend?" Arisa glared at him, "I'm not old, you drunken bastard! I'm still in my early twenties!"
"I never said you were so old your skin was as wrinkled as an old leathery map," Azu muttered, earning another whack upside the head, "OW! CUT IT OUT, DAMMIT!"
Chizuru cleared her throat, "I beg your pardon, Miss Arisa, but I'm confused here. You seem to know Azu, but what relationship do you have with him?"
Arisa stuffed her hockey stick into a large bag on her back, "We come from the same city, Water 7," she started, "We grew up together and then one day, he ups and leaves to train in some martial art, then he comes back and works for Iceburg and Galley-La for awhile, then he and his big ass brother leave without so much as a good bye!"
"Oh, I see," Chizuru nodded, "Azu, you seem to have a way with making women mad at you for one reason or another," she mused.
Azu scoffed and turned away, "She's probably just pissed because she missed a good-bye hump, not my fault, really-," he didn't get to finish because once again, Arisa hit him on the head, but this time with one of two baseball bats she now held in her hands.
Chizuru sweatdropped, "Well...uhm...I have an idea," she clapped her hands together, "How about we go find the others, relax and you can introduce yourself properly and tell us about you and Azu?" she offered.
Arisa eyed her warily, "Others, what others?"
"Our pirate crew," Chizuru explained, pointing to the drunken boxer who now had lumps on his head, "He's our shipwright,"
The brunette clicked her tongue and shot another glare at Azu, "You leave the job Iceburg-san gave you and you become a pirate shipwright?! Dammit, Azu, you really are an ass!"
Azu rubbed the many lumps on his head, "I had a very good reason, Arisa! An old friend needed a shipwright-,"
"Iceburg and Galley-La needed you, they needed every capable shipwright to keep Water 7 going and you leave for a pirate crew!"
"I HAD NO CHOICE!"
"BULLSHIT!"
Chizuru sighed and rubbed her temples again as she began walking down the street, They remind me so much of Axe and Niri...
Speaking of those two, they were on their own walk through Mock Town. Niri had her father's pistol strapped to her hip and Axe had his trust weapon on his back, just to be safe.
"So, this is Jaya," Niri looked around, "You really think that Devon can find anything here that relates to him and Austin?"
"If Fate has a hand in it," Axe replied, "Aniki did say that Shidyk was heading in this direction with a girl that had wings just like Devon's, and Aniki is very reliable when it comes to information. Trust me, he's an informant, that kinda stuff is his thing,"
-At that moment-
"ACHOO!"
Rayo wiped his nose with a handkerchief he had stored in his jacket, and groaned, "Not again,"
-Back in Jaya-
"You know, besides the torn up streets, buildings and-," Niri paused as a large man brushed past her, "...rude people, this place ain't so bad. I can see what Chizuru meant about it being a haven for pirates, I've seen lotsa of familiar faces from old bounty posters, but not one single Marine or Government agent," she chuckled, "If it had some improvements, and I wasn't on a crew, I'd seriously think about living here,"
"Aw, but you'd miss us on the first day," Axe teased, wrapping an arm around her head and bringing her inward, "Face it, you love everybody and wouldn't want to leave for anything,"
Niri's muffled protests emanated from his armpit as she pounded on his arm. Laughing, Axe released her and Niri gasped desperately for fresh air.
"Good god, Axe, when did you bathe last?"
"I don't remember," Axe picked his ear, "Been busy,"
"Doing what, eating our meat stash and sleeping in your hammock?"
"How'd you know?"
Niri whopped him over the head, "THAT'S ALL YOU REALLY DO WHEN WE TRAVEL, BAKA!"
The young treasure hunter rubbed the newly formed lump on his head, "Alright, alright, I get the point, Niri...geez, that hurt more than usual, you been working out?"
"What, you haven't noticed?" Niri held up her arms to show some new muscle, "I've been training with Herman for awhile, he's been teaching me some hand-to-hand combat and helping me gain some power behind these," she held up a hand and cracked her knuckles loudly, "Be careful not to piss me off, Axe...,"
Axe gulped, "I'll...be sure to keep that in mind," he turned and kept his eyes on the street, She was tough enough to hurt me before, I'd hate to see more of her new muscle...
As the two of them walked, Axe began to sense something wrong with the area. His instincts were confirmed when Niri walked closer next to him.
"We're being followed," she whispered.
Axe's ears twitched as the sound of footsteps from behind seemed to get a bit closer and closer to them, "I know, I know. Just pretend you don't see them,"
"I can't see them, I don't have eyes in the back of my head!" she hissed, elbowing him, "What do we do?"
"Try and lose them, but don't let them know we're onto them," Axe looked around and began to walk off to the side, 'That alley, let's go! Once we turn the corner, we'll bolt for it,"
"We're not gonna fight?"
"Hey, you're usually the one who wants to fight when we know what we're dealing with!" Axe shot back as he guided Niri into the alley.
As soon as the two pirates entered the alleyway, they began to walk faster towards the street on the other side of the alley. When they got about half-way there, the two of them stopped when they saw a man at the end of the alleyway. He was dressed like a type of musician Axe had heard about in his travels, and he was leaning against the wall, strumming a large guitar casually.
This can't be good... Axe grabbed Niri's arm and the two of them turned around to go back the way they came, but they saw that the other end was blocked off as well. Standing at the other end was a man with a long staff held out in front of him. The man wore a black jacket that was zipped all the way up, as well as a pair of white leather pants and a pair of black dress shoes.
"You guys looking for a fight or something?" Axe inquired, pulling his axe off his back as he looked back and forth at the two of them.
Niri slowly pulled out her pistol, "If they are, they're messing with the wrong people," she murmured.
The man with the staff yawned, "No, not really,"
"No, it's more...how do vou 'ay...bosses orders?" the guitar strumming man added as he plucked another string.
"Who are you guys, anyway?" Niri demanded, trigger finger twitching a little.
"We're part of a mercenary group called Death Root," the man with the staff said boredly, "I'm Prophet and...," he pointed to the man on the other side, "...that's Mariachi,"
Axe's eyes widened, "Damn, mercenaries...we just got done with this crap!" he cursed, remembering Monster back at Isla Cadaver and Megumi the Freelancer from Slayheim. He let his giant axe drop, but as it fell, he quickly reached down and grabbed a couple of the throwing hatchets he had strapped to his belt. He hurled one at the one known as Prophet, and just after that one left his fingertips, he whirled around and threw the other hatchet at the other mercenary. He watched as Prophet caught the throwing weapon out of mid-air and Mariachi simply deflected it with his guitar.
Wow...didn't see that coming... Axe moved for his favorite weapon, Let's try this!
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" a new voice warned.
Axe watched as a strange looking young man in brightly colored clothing jumped down in front of him. He looked the kid over: he wore a fluffy blue jacket, a pink bandanna, green cargo pants and a pair of sandals that hung at his hip. Axe couldn't help but smile at this ridiculous looking kid, "Why not?"
The kid pointed upwards, "Or my friends, Death and Kuma, will have to kill your little girlfriend,".
What? Axe quickly looked around to find Niri was gone. He looked up and his eyes widened when he saw Niri was now on the nearby rooftop, held by a woman in a black and white outfit and a white mask. At her side, was a huge bear that seemed to glare right at him.
"NIRI!" Axe snapped his head at the strangely dressed teen, "You just made a big mistake, pal!"
The teen smiled wickedly, "So, I'm guessing you're the man they call Axe, right?"
Axe nodded in silence as he slowly reached for another hatchet.
"Good, now-," the teen was interrupted suddenly and his head snapped backward. Axe had thrown one of his smaller axes and managed to nail the ass in the head, his weapon stuck inside his skull.
"Take that, you bastard," he growled.
But that wasn't the end of it. To his amazement, Axe watched as the teen's head came back up and the nameless colorful man removed the hatchet from his forehead.
"Now, that wasn't very nice," he muttered, the crack in his head closing up.
Axe stared at what was happening, "Who...are you?" he asked quietly, "What are you?"
"I'm just the boss of the mercenary group, Death Root, and you may call me Leader," the teen bowed, "I know, I know, it's cheesy...," he looked up at the woman and bear holding Niri and waved to them, "Death, Kuma! Blindfold the girl and take her to our ship's holding cell!" he ordered before looking at Prophet and Mariachi, "You two are with me. We'll be taking our other guest," he glanced at Axe, "the longer way back,"
Axe let out a loud growl as he lifted the stone weapon at his side off the ground,Shit...!
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Kilnorc: DUN DUN DUN! Looks like everyone's got something going for themselves here! What'll happen now, you may wonder? Gotta wait for the next chapter to find out!
Axe: Can't they just read Death Root?
Kilnorc: QUIET you!
On the next chapter of Homeland...
Niri: You know, if you untie me, I won't try to hurt you...
Death: -sneezes- Sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit.
Devon: Who the hell are you?!
Iron Shark: I am just a messenger for the Death Roots. We have your sniper Niri.
The Death Roots Challenge
Iron Shark: This is a test...and Jaya is your battlefield.