Chapter 23: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters.

Sorry, I haven't updated in such a long time. I didn't except to be so utterly distracted by uni work and other fanfiction stories.

The Marines are arriving... Dun Dun DA! ... I feel so sorry for Tashigi right now! I would probably have fared just as badly. For a person who finds it difficult to fight people with devil fruit powers, she has to be one of the bravest women in One Piece.

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Tashigi's Heart: The Hands of the Devil

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Directly ahead, the barren landscape stretched out before us still grey and dull, but dawn was approaching. A yellow-orange light started to spread across the morning sky and make the cold sand glisten like jewels or diamonds.The sand was cruel and deceiving. No one wants gold or glitter. Not now. The People in this land would give up all their gold for just a few days of rain.

Will this be just another day? When will the rain come? People are fighting over a dead land. This is the last morning many of them will see.

"I'm sorry, Sergeant Major." Lieutenant Match's voice came to my attention. "I've tried getting more information about the Straw hat's location. It was obvious that they had to have crossed the river here, but we have found no trace of them, or their ship." The tracks of the Strawhats that they had followed had altered earlier on, and it was obvious they had found a wild animal, caught it and somehow used it for transportation.

I felt my face forming into a grimace. The exhaustion of the night long ride, and past couple of days tracking through the desert was finally catching up with me. This was so frustrating.

"Sergeant Major? What do you make of the inside information about the king? And about the Baroque works?" Lieutenant Match's voice rang out. He must be having the same worries that I'm having.

"An accusation like this one only tears apart the trust the people have in their leaders and their country. It does more harm than good. I believe it most probably was a deception to encourage the people to react against the royal family." I don't know whether to believe my own words or not. But I felt better for having reassured someone else, Hopefully.

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We have finally reached the city. It had taken a lot longer than I had thought. We had supposed to be here to find the Strawhats before the war started and things got messy and out of control, but considering the noises of gun shots and clanging of swords and other such weapons throughout the city it was obvious that we have arrived very late.

We were coming through the city to find the royal guard, when we came across an unusual sight. A tall, elegant woman dressed from head to toe in white was walking towards us away from the fighting as if in a world of her own, determined that today she would get her mid-summer stroll. She also had a companion that seem a little bit worse for wear. He seemed to be leaning on her for support. What I noticed next about her was her height, then her wide brimmed hat that sheltered her eyes from the glare of the sun. But her hat didn't hide the look of danger that flashed out from the depths of her brilliant blue eyes. They were glowing with a conceited arrogance that pierced through my group demanding that we clear a way for her. I wasn't quite sure what to make of her, whether she was simply a rich girl who was daring her fate, or whether she was someone more foul.

But even if she is important, what is she wearing?! She will get serious burns if she walks around dressed like that. She has her belly showing and her chest is hardly concealed. I felt very sorry for my men in the group behind me this would probably be quite distracting.

"What impeccable timing you marines have showing up right now." The strange young woman called out. She doesn't sound like she means it.Her eyes flashed in anger and warning. "NOW! Get out of the way!" She ordered. "We are in a hurry." She pulled the man in front of her and tried to push him forward.

"No chance! Thanks to one of the soldiers, I know everything that's been going on here in Arabarna. We're not moving." I looked down at the man that was bound up and being dragged and pushed by this young woman. "That man, Do you have any idea who he is?"

"Yes, and I don't care, I'm not listening to him, you, or anyone else from the government. And I would strongly recommend that you and your men get out of my way!"

"We have no intention of giving way to you!" I answered with determination.

"Well then, you may not live much longer." The woman in the white suit answered.

The man that I had recognized as the King surprised us both by interrupting this pointless debate. "Please hold on don't worry about me! We have been warned that at four-thirty a bomb will be shot into the palace square where the fighting is going on."

What! Who would plan to kill both sides?!

"Please! You have to go stop it now!" The king Pleaded.

"That's only"... I look at my pocket watch " ...minutes from now."

"If this attack happens it will cost millions of lives."

"Right, we'll save you, then stop the attack." I answered.

The King called out something, but I didn't hear.

"Ready men!" We need to get this over with and find the bomb in the square.

"Move out of my way." She dropped the king to the ground and crossed her arms over her chest.

She yelled out an attack. "Strangle!"

I looked behind me when I heard cracking noises. There were arms coming out from my men at all types of angles. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Is she using... "A devil fruit?"

"I said I was in a hurry didn't I?" The woman glared back at us as if daring us to make another move. "Don't make me angry with you." Her threats became very real. I felt a chill come over me, as if I could feel her hate and desperation like it was a tangible thing. It clung to me as if it was my own.

"That's her!" Jotess said, "Nico Robin! I'm sure of it, I've looked up her old wanted poster because the Captain Smoker had asked me to do so. That's really her! She has a bounty. Twenty years ago the whole world was talking about her. I still remember the articles they had in the newspapers around that time. In a terrifying incident six marine warships were destroyed. They say that an eight year old girl was responsible for sinking them. The government classified her as a three degree risk, and put an incredible bounty on her head. Seventy-nine million berries. It's still an amazing sum. After that she just suddenly disappeared."

"Stop your pointless rambling!" The woman, newly revealed as the infamous Nico Robin, glared at the speaker as if he was the one at fault, and yelled. "Either move out of the way or you're all dead!"

I looked around, It's useless having this many soldiers by me, not with her power. "Sergeant! Take the men to the palace square to stop the explosion."

"But Sergeant Major!"

"JUST DO IT! There is only minutes left!" I ordered. I then turned back to Nico Robin. Maybe she had just acted out aggressively because she felt threatened by being surrounded by people she saw as the enemy. "Now! Let that man go right away!"

"I've already warned you to move." Her brilliant sapphire eyes flashed again.

It was then that I felt it. Something in the dark was reaching out to me. My skin felt cold despite the heat. Something was growing out of my skin. From my own body four hands grabbed me. Two grew from my arms and ripped my katana from my grasp and pointed it towards my throat. The other two grew out of my back and covered my nose and mouth. My neck was being forced back almost to the breaking point. This woman could break my neck if she wanted to.

I couldn't breath.

I can't Breath...

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Well I hope you are looking forward to the next one. And please do review. I love it when people do.

:D