Chapter 4: My Private Stalker

I'm going to end that green-haired, useless, directionally-challenged, muscle-headed man's measly existence! I thought bitterly as I was dragged backwards, away from where ever it was Zoro had run off too, hopefully he actually ran towards the cannon-fire. I took a deep breath, steadying my violent temper.

It had been quite uneventful since our arrival to the deserted town. Zoro had made some snide remark about not knowing everything when I told I had no idea where to go. I then informed him that, yes I don't know everything and that I was more directionally challenged than he was, and that was saying something. He did not appreciate that comment.

We had heard some cannon fire and Zoro had bolted forward. That's when I was kidnapped. A large, tanned hand clamped over my mouth, so I couldn't scream for help. My captors other arm had snaked under my right arm and across my chest, his firm fingers griping my left arm, preventing me from jabbing him in the kidney with my elbow.

Deciding my best bet was just to make his job that little bit more difficult, I began to squirm and wriggle, not yet using my feet to kick him. This only made him grip tighter so I quickly swung my trailing left leg back and into his shin, wrenching out of his grip simultaneously. I turned to assess my opponent. He was tall and broad, he looked as though he could bench press a bus full of Donkeys.

Generally, I would assume that all of that bulk would slow him down. But this was one piece and the rules of science do not apply in one piece. I couldn't see any weapons, though it would have been very easy for him to conceal one under his navy blue cloak.

I feel outclassed, I thought to myself as I turned to flee the pissed off weightlifter behind me. I turned around and headed in a random direction (since I couldn't remember which way I actually needed to go.) After about ten minutes of pure adrenaline-filled sprinting, I was ready to collapse. C'mon, what are you doing? You can run for ten kilometres. I scolded my body before slowing down to a quick walk.

I couldn't see the man pursuing me, but he couldn't be too far behind. Man, not eating for a week can really take its toll. I thought as a wave of nausea hit me.

"Shit!" I cursed quietly, having literally hit a brick wall in my journey. I turned and walked back down the street, hoping that the man was just as lost as I was… in a different part of the town. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be. Turning the corner, it was all I could do to not slam into the guy's broad chest. I leapt back a metre or two and we stared at each other wearily, I noticed the large, already purple bruise on the man's shin.

"You need to come with me." His deep gravelly voice stated, it was clearly not a request.

"Oh why didn't you say so before? This completely changes my feelings about going with you." I said sarcastically.

"I'm a marine." He said, pulling out an I.D Card. "My commanding officer requires your knowledge of future events in this world."

"Okay… I'll just go get my things from my boat and meet you back here." I said, edging past the marine. Like hell I'm going to help the marines. What a pack of morons.

"Ok, I'll give you half an hour."

I quickly scraped my jaw off of the pavement and trotted off to find my friends. Not the sharpest tool in the shed… I wonder if this has something to do with me being here, in this world. Now where would Luffy be?

After my half hour was up I still hadn't found either of the two boys. But I hadn't heard anymore explosions either, which means Zoro hasn't rescued the rubbery captain yet. So I kept walking, keeping my eyes and ears open, hoping to catch sight of the swordsman or at least that pet food store.

Eventually my mind wandered to the marine. How had he known that I knew future events? Was he nearby when Zoro and I had reached the harbour? But he said his commanding officer wanted me, which means the commanding officer had to be here to. If that's the case, why is Buggy running rampart?

I heard the sound of heavy feet approaching me from the left, there was a side street just a metre from where I was standing. Creeping forward quickly I peeked around the corner and as I suspected saw the muscular marine storming in my direction. His body language screamed pissed off, so I decided to tip toe back the way I came and turn down the next street. Ready to play yet another game of hide and seek.

"Stop mocking me!" I shouted at the brick wall, shaking my fist angrily, before sinking to the ground unceremoniously. Somehow, I had ended up back at the dead end I had been cornered in last time I had run from my stalker. For an indefinite amount of time (because it felt like I've been wandering for the past two hours but I doubt that) I had been, essentially, playing hide and seek.

I've always been a champion of the game, but alas, there wasn't really many places to hide. Most the houses were locked, and there wasn't really much stuff lying around outside. Lieutenant pain-in-my-arse had been right behind me the whole time, in fact he probably herded me here.

Sighing I got back to my feet, I suppose sitting around and moping won't help things. I turned my back to the offensive wall and waited, the sound of footsteps echoing from nearby. Then he was there, the hood of his cloak was pushed down, revealing his livid tanned face. He could have easily been handsome, however I personally did not find men who could probably crush me with their muscle mass alone all that appealing.

His sea green eyes were flashing, probably from rage, but I preferred to think that maybe there was some kind of creature throwing a disco party behind his eyeball. It was a far less scary thought. He stopped about ten metres in front of me.

"You lied."

No shit.

"I will take you with me using force."

"Isn't that what you were doing before?" I asked incredulously. He didn't answer, instead he began moving forward.

Ok so it's definitely rage flashing in his eyes. The street was quite narrow, and his broad shoulders took up more than half of it. I charged forward, as fast as I could. I caught a glimpse of surprise on his face before I dived under his out stretched arm, tucking myself into a ball and rolling over my shoulder. Feeling my feet hit the pavement below me I sprung to my feet and began dashing forward. On my third step my foot wouldn't leave the ground and I was brought down, my arms hitting the ground first and I felt a dull ache set into my rib cage.

I whipped my head around still trying to pull myself forward. The marines firm fingers were locked around my left ankle, he had apparently dived to grasp my leg and was now beginning to drag me back towards him. He reached for my other foot but I had already begun kicking it wildly, avoiding his grasp.

I bent my left knee, forcing the rest of my body closer to the man so I could reach his face, and aimed a strong kick for his nose. He jerked his head back but not far enough, my toes connected with his jaw. It must have hurt him quite a bit, because he let go and I was off again before I could even realise what had happened.

I heard the unmistakable sound of Buggy the Clowns cannon and realised that Zoro must have rescued Luffy. I happened to be heading straight for the column of smoke so I continued running in that direction, hoping that the pet food store was somewhere between me and wherever it was the Buggy pirates were.

I suddenly slid to a halt. A small white dog was sitting in front of a building. Really, it was just two streets away?! Have I been running in the wrong direction this whole time? I thought, feeling slightly ashamed. My thoughts were quickly interrupted when I felt something tighten around my knees. What? I was promptly jerked off of my feet and face planted the ground.

Feeling slightly dizzy I looked at whatever it was that had caused my humiliating fall. A rope. I've been lassoed! I realised, feeling insulted. Am I some kind of cow or something?! I tried to dig my fingers into the concrete my body was slowly being hauled across. Skin was being scraped from my arms and legs and I doubted I had finger pads left, after being dragged for a few metres.

Mr. Marine was keeping a fair distance between us, apparently he was sick of being kicked. I suddenly remembered the knife I had tucked into the waist band of my shorts and silently cursed myself for being so slow. Pulling the blade from its sheath I began running it against the rope…Where it did practically nothing.

"Are you serious." I shrieked at the useless blade still sawing through the rope, millimetre at a time. Where are those useless boys? Shouldn't they be here by now? I looked back at the dog food place and at the nearby streets. I was almost completely out of sight of them. "Great," I mumbled darkly. "I guess I'll just have to save myself again."

The marine was about ten metres away from me, but he was not looking at me, or paying any heed to my ramblings. I guess I'm no longer a threat then. I thought and continued sawing into the rope. I pressed the blade down with my right hand and gasped as I felt it slice through my skin. Oh my god, I haven't been… I flip the knife over and sliced through the rope without much effort. I was using the blunt side.

Hopping up I ran back to the pet food store, I'm so stupid, I should just throw myself off a building right now.

"Taylor!" A cheerful voice called out. Them… My embarrassment turned to rage when I saw the boy with a straw hat, still in his cage and the green haired swordsman lying across the ground. Deciding that it would be safer for all if I did not have a knife in hand for the moment I stormed over to Zoro's wounded figure.

"Are you alright Taylor?" Luffy asked, probably noticing my bloody knees, hands and face.

I glared at the boy half-heartedly, since he wasn't the one who let me get kidnapped by a marine, and turned to glare daggers at Zoro, who seemed to have decided bleeding all over the pavement was an acceptable course of action when dealing with an angry me.

"Where the hell did you get off to? I turned my back for a second and you got lost." He said

I clenched my fist. "You are very lucky that I have reservations about kicking an injured man while he is down." I growled. He stared at me in confusion. "I was kidnapped you dumb-arse!" I exclaimed "Some big, scary, weightlifting, marine has been chasing me around for the past two hours, trying to drag me back to his boss because I know things."

"And that'll teach you for not believing me." I said waving my hands at Zoro's injury and smirking, all of my rage had dissipated as I ranted.

"Shut-up I thought he was dead!" Zoro shouted.

"What the laughing crewmates didn't give it away?" I said kneeling besides the injured man, "you know, it'd probably be in your best interest to stop bleeding everywhere."

"Oh and why is that."

"Well most people only have a certain amount of blood in their bodies, clearly you aren't an actual person though so don't worry about it." I said.

Ugh, I hate blood. I thought as I pulled of my shirt and ripped it in half. "You owe me a shirt." I said, pressing half of the material underneath is back and the other half I pressed against the wound near his stomach.

I looked over my shoulder momentarily at the boy who was currently having his face chewed on by the little white dog. "Luffy," I sighed, "stop annoying the dog."

A/N: Sorry this took so long, word died on my computer. :/