Chapter 3 Planning
"Wow, I've already made it to the next island…" Ann smiled at the hazy island in the distance. It had been several days since she had left Luffy behind on Dawn Island, but the weather had remained calm and clear. Good thing too, considering her small boat (could it even be considered a boat anyway? seemed more rafted like to her) wouldn't have held up on rough waters.
"Seriously, how on earth did Ace think he would get very far in something like this?" Ann paused, frowning slightly and looked at the sky in irritation. "It's only been a few days and I'm already talking to myself, great."
Finally making port a few hours later Ann casually walked through the main road of the city. It reminded her of the city in Goa, now that brought back memories, speaking of… turning sharply Ann looked back at a shop she just past continuing to walk backwards-
"Gomennasai, silly me not watching where I was-"
"How dare you touch me, do you even know who I am?" The man looked down his nose at her in disgust before brushing off his clothes and walking away muttering about the rudeness of commoners. Ann stared after him wide-eyed in bewilderment; me rude! He was the rude one. I just don't understand people. No matter, she smiled impishly, though I wish I could see his face if he ever found out that he had just paid for this commoner's food, lodgings, and other necessities. Arigatou Dadan.
She continued down the road in search of food. Mentally making note of everything she wanted to get on this island and plotting the best way to acquire them, preferably a method that took very little effort and reaped a huge reward. Thanks to her time spent with the mountain bandits Ann had a few tricks up her sleeve. She could easily pull off a big hit or despite her lack of physical strength she could take down a man twice her size. The only question was whether to steal or hunt, either way she'd need a target and information. The easiest route would then be decided based on opportunity and payout.
Turning back to the first most important item on her list Ann picked up her speed, searching for a good place to satisfy her growling stomach and gain valuable information about the island and its current occupants.
XXX
Ann sat in the back corner of the bar-like restaurant facing the door eating quietly while observing the customers, and listening to the conversations around her. At the bar sat a geeky shorthaired man drowning his sorrows and crying to the bartender about how his wife left him when she found out he was cheating on her and he didn't understand why she would just walk out on him. An older woman sat twitching near the door, an eat and run newb no doubt. Her shabby cloths, designer label, attested to recently lost money. A couple of rougher looking men in front of her were talking bounties, none of which where high enough to be worth the trouble really. But it was group of four young men sitting beside her that caught her attention.
"-widow is at it again."
"Poor sap, doesn't know what he's getting into."
"He's not from around here, though I doubt she could find a man around here that would have her."
"Hey I would totally go for her, she's a little plain but all that money makes up for it!"
"Too right, but I don't know if it would be worth it, she is the succubus widow after all."
"Won't be too long till the nobles won't take her no matter how much she's worth, she may have to start looking at us commoners."
"What husband is she on anyway six?"
"She's marrying husband number eight in the morning, want to bet on how long it'll take before he kicks it?"
"I don't think he'll last long, they seem to be killing themselves a lot faster than before, I got ten beli says he doesn't come back from the honeymoon."
"Oi, give the woman a break she has to know people are starting to wonder. She'll let him live out the month."
As the other two placed their bets, Ann turned back to her meal satisfied with her findings. A succubus widow huh, sounded interesting, first she would need to do a little reconnaissance and plan the best time for the hit. Nobles for the most part were arrogant enough to leave money laying out in the open in their homes though for the most part they liked to stay surrounded by that wealth so she wouldn't put it past the widow to take it all with her on her honeymoon. Based on the men's conversation of the 'succubus' Ann concluded that the widow was very greedy, sadistic and most likely somewhat unstable if not totally insane. No matter how odd nobles were, marrying so many rich men who mysteriously end up dead not long after was just not normal. Though how she managed to convince the men to kill themselves or, more likely in Ann's opinion, killing them in such a way as to not throw suspicion onto herself really didn't concern her all that much. Still it was something to keep in mind just in case she ran into the woman.
XXX
Finding the widows' house was no problem, everyone was gossiping about the upcoming wedding and the likely fate of the groom. Looking at the house Ann decided there had been no need to ask directions, one could easily tell this place belonged to a succubus. All of the houses in the Noble District had a similar look and feel; lavishly decorated Georgian styled two story houses with a small surrounding fenced in yard so as to separate itself from its neighbor. Though one could never imagine putting any two of the 'estates' together. True the styles where similar but the nobles here had, to Ann's way of thinking, tried to find the brightest most obnoxious decorations, flaunting their wealth and vining to stand out above the rest. Contrarily the widows' house screamed of danger. It was also done in Georgian style, but more gothic in nature, black paint accented by the swirling dark aura that pulsed from the house. The darkness so thick that even those casually passing by unconsciously took a wide berth around it, thus making the widows' house the one that stood out like a sore thumb.
Ann nonchalantly walked around the bleak house, taking in all entrances/exists, via door or window, the surrounding yard presented various hiding places behind huge shrubs and trees lining the fence to ensure privacy. The landscaping effectively isolated the residence, making it an easy mark, for those brave enough or foolish enough to enter the lair of a succubus that is. To which category Ann fell in, well guess she'd find out.
After acquiring all the information she could from the outside, Ann looked for a way to gain access to the inside. It would have been wonderful if she could find a map with the exact location of the vault but sadly nobles where a little fussy about those types of things, finding even a basic floor plan would have been a miracle. Still Ann hated going in blind, if she could find a way inside for just a quick peak, she would be happy.
XXX
Translations:
Gomennasai- I beg your pardon/excuse me
Arigatou- thank you
A/N: Sorry it took so long to post; this chapter gave me a lot of problems. It flat out refused to go the way I originally intended it to. You can't imagine how ecstatic I was when the idea for this chapter finally struck me, funny how it was a vague idea I had previously rejected for this story. But once I accepted the fact that it wasn't going away the words just flew across the page. Before I knew it the chapter was well over 1,000 words. I had wanted to have one chapter an island or so but this chapter would be entirely too long and its been forever since I updated so I decided to go ahead and post what I have. Hopefully it won't be so long before the next chapter is up.
Anyway thanks for those of you who have added this story to your Alerts/Favs.
Also thanks for my first review, RedRose777
Shiary- I make no promises… however… no wait, I can't spoil it. But I do have something special in store when it comes to-