Angel of Death Fruit
Book One: Deadline
By Dixxy Mouri
Chapter Four – March 2, Midnight
Nami stared at the space where Sanji should have been in confusion. How could he just disappear like that? She turned to Robin, who looked just as baffled as she did. "Robin. . . Sanji-kun was just here. Standing right in this spot. Right here. And now he's. . . not here. So. . . where did he go?"
"I. . . don't know," said Robin.
"My, my, that was a close call!"
Nami and Robin turned around, and the navigator's eyes widened in fear and recognition. Sanji wasn't moving, his body being supported by a strange woman with a demonic grin on her face and a form-fitting violet red dress with a slit up the center, through which the girls could see a strange tattoo that took up most of her thigh.
"I must apologize for not coming invited, darlings, but I have some business with this young man, you see," she said. She grinned, placing a hand on her hip. "And I'm afraid that I need him immediately, so if you'll excuse us we'll be heading off, now. It's nothing personal, I assure you."
Nami wasn't paying much attention to what the woman was saying so much as what the woman looked like. In particular, how familiar the woman was. "That woman. . ." said Nami. Little by little, the pieces began to fall into place, and realization dawned on her. She fell to her knees, placing her hands on her head. "You're not real!"
The woman laughed. "I feel quite real, thank you very much. I'm standing right before you, my dear – don't deny what your eyes are telling you to be true." She hefted Sanji's body over her shoulder. Robin began to take a few steps forward, but the woman held out her hand. "I would advise not getting any closer, my dearies."
"Navigator-san, do you know this woman?" Robin asked. "And who are you?"
The woman smiled. "I'm sure you've heard of me – my name is Elizabeth Stoker."
The mention of the name nearly sent Robin to the ground. "You. . . you DO exist?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "You would think that people would stop denying a person's existence once the World Government places a bounty on their head, or do people act surprised when the Demon Child is standing before them?" she asked sarcastically. "If I had a berry for every time someone has said that to me. . ."
Robin got angry. "If there are any monsters among men. . . you are one of them."
The woman frowned. "How harsh – I'm most certainly crushed."
"Harsh?" asked Nami. She looked up at the woman and glared. Even though she was scared, she was getting more angry with how aloof Elizabeth was being about the entire thing than anything else. "Robin's right – you're a MONSTER! All you do is hurt people, and for what?"
"Ooo, now that's now very nice – or correct," said Elizabeth. "I do have a handful of mercenaries and bounty hunters under my employ – I make sure they're well compensated for their services, so I haven't hurt any of them." She grinned. "A few of them are on this island to make sure your captain and the rest of your crew stays out of our business. . . but I might be willing to contend with the two of you."
Robin crossed her arms. "Elizabeth Stoker is the woman who ate the Life Life Fruit – one of the three Devil Fruits classified as an Angel of Death Fruit," she said. "Because many Devil Fruit users work for the World Government, it's not normal for them to assign a bounty simply because someone ate a Devil Fruit. But for her fruit, it's a completely different story.
"There are three Devil Fruits classified as Angel of Death Fruits, and just eating one of them is considered a crime because of how dangerous they are. Life Life, Breathe Breathe, and Love Love. All bearing names with a deceptive reality – almost all toil with the dead. The only fruit that deals with the dead that is NOT labeled as an Angel of Death fruit is the Yomi Yomi no Mi, but only because it affects just the person who ate it. In the case of the woman standing before us, her power is eternal life. . . but in order to sustain that eternal life, the price is other human lives," said Robin. "More specifically, the lives of children."
"Children? She has to KILL CHILDREN?" asked Nami.
Robin shook her head. "Not right away. She has to mark them first and then they have twelve years – twelves years without contacting anyone they knew before being marked, twelve years without telling anyone they meet that they have a mark." She turned to Sanji. "That's why Cook-san hasn't seen his family in twelve years – because he couldn't."
The night in the orange grove came back to Nami's mind, and suddenly it all made sense. Elizabeth Stoker was trying to trap Nojiko and Nami into her little tangled web – that's why Bellemere-san wouldn't have been able to see them again. Stoker would have tried to mark her and her sister, and the two of them would have been forced to wander the world – probably without even each other – for twelve lonely years. It explained so much about her childhood nightmares that Nami wasn't sure what to do with this information.
"So that's why. . . all those years ago. . . you came after me and my sister," said Nami.
Elizabeth grinned. "Ah yes, I remember you – you were one of those delicious looking little girls in the orange grove. Too bad that punk woman with the shot gun had to show up – either one of you would have done wonders for my complexion. So young and supple. . . you would have been perfect."
Nami growled at the mention of Bellemere. "How dare you insult Bellemere-san!?"
Elizabeth Stoker rolled her eyes. "As I've said before, I'm not afraid to contend with the two of you. I have no reason to kill you if you're smart and stay away – if you'd like I can even return his body to you when I'm finished with it – do what you'd like with his corpse," she said cooly.
Nami froze. "Sanji's. . . dead?" she asked.
"Not yet – he's still breathing," said Elizabeth. Sure enough, his back was slowly rising and falling – he was definitely alive. "I am required to give them a chance to get away – a task they must complete within the twelve years. They complete the task? I leave them alone and they can do as they please. But if they fail. . . they're mine." She gestured to the cook. "Your little friend here failed, and now he's mine."
The navigator shook her head. She reached under her skirt and quickly assembled her weapon and pointed the Perfect ClimaTact at Elizabeth Stoker. "I won't let you hurt my friend!"
"She can't – not for a few more days, anyways," said Robin. "If Sanji had been alone just now, she would have been able to drain him on the spot and we would have found his lifeless corpse on the ship without any explanation. But since we were here when she showed up. . . we have three days to help him complete his Mercy Task."
Elizabeth Stoker laughed and held out the arm not holding Sanji. A weasel crawled out from behind her neck. "Of course you dearies can complete our dear Sanji-kun's Mercy Task. . . if you can find him, that is." She turned to the weasel. "GLOBIN! Get us out of here – QUICKLY!"
The little weasel began to glow purple, and Nami knew it had eaten a Devi Fruit as well. She panicked and dropped her weapon, choosing to run towards Sanji instead. "Sanji-kun! SANJI-KUN!" She reached out her hand, trying to get to him.
The sound of Nami's cries were just enough to wake Sanji. He was clearly a little groggy, but he reached his hand out towards Nami anyways. "Na. . mi. . .san" he said weakly. By now, Elizabeth, Sanji, and the weasel were slightly purple and see-through as the navigator approached.
Nami took a leap and reached out towards his hand. Robin was shouting after her, unable to grab either her or Elizabeth Stoker with her Devil Fruit's power – he hands passed right through the Life Life user's body, affecting neither her nor Sanji. "Nami!" Robin cried, falling to her knees. "If you get near her you might not come back!"
Even though Robin had, for once, used Nami's name, her words fell on deaf ears. For a brief instant, Nami felt her fingertips touch Sanji's, but almost as soon as they touched, there was a burst of purple smoke, and the navigator landed on the grassy deck of the ship. She clenched her eyes shut in frustration, grasping at the grass beneath her.
"Navigator-san. . ."
"Sanji-kun. . ." Nami whispered. She gripped the grass tighter and began to scream.
Author's Notes
I realize this was a rather short chapter (but as Kago, my wonderful roommate, has put it, it works rather well this way - she compared it to a gunshot to be specific because of how quick it is), but there isn't much else I could put into this chapter. Maybe next chapter will be extra long?
Fun fact: Originally I was going to give Nami and Robin a week to find Sanji, but after getting into the story and planning out the events I realized that there were several flaws with that plan.
Elizabeth Stoker's name was derived from two sources. Her last name is a reference to Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. Her first name comes from Elizabeth Bathory, the "Blood Countess". She was a serial killer who, according to legend would bathe in the blood of her victims for youth and beauty. Wikipedia pretty much told me she didn't actually do that, but it's still an interesting story.
As compensation for the short chapter, I've got some fanart of Elizabeth Stoker, Kenji, and Sanae online. Check my profile for the links – it's deviantART, so feel free to comment on the artwork there. Here's some comments on each other pictures:
Elizabeth: I got some help on her character design from my lovely roommate, who we'll call Kago. We tried to make her look as evil as possible, and this is what we came up with – we've also decided that she probably has a different outfit every time she appears, so there might be more drawings of at least her dresses in the future. The mark on her leg is the same mark she uses as a Garnish on her victims, only this tattoo is much larger than the Garnish used on her victims. I've only drawn it a few times, so if it looks a little different each time you see it that's why. And no, that's not a typo – she's really worth ten billion berries (hey, if I was in charge of bounties I would put a lot of money on the head of an immortal serial killer who preys on children).
Kenji: I don't draw older characters that often, and I used Aimee's parents on Futurama as a reference for where to put some of the aging lines. I think he looks older, though maybe a little older than what I originally wanted. The red stain on the sword will get explained in the next chapter, and his sword is quite important, which is one reason why I put it in. There won't be too much mystery behind this character by the end of the next chapter.
The Iron Butterfly: She almost looks like she belongs in CP9 with that outfit. The black bands on her arms can be used as shields (as can the metal ring, which is a circular blade and her primary weapon). Her bounty estimate is based on how I've perceived her overall abilities, including her Devil Fruit.
All: At least some edits and all texts were added using Adobe Photoshop Elements. The majority of the coloring was done with Prismacolor markers (some things were added or edited in APE), although some of the black and the outlining was done with a Faber Castell marker.
-Dixxy