Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but OC is mine.

Chapter 5: A Saber.

The cover of night shielded them as Drake and Leanne ran cautiously around the towering base walls of the Marine fortress, avoiding the random spots of light that would dance around the ground and trees. With their background of being in the Marines, they knew that there was always a few hidden doors built into the walls, in case something or someone important needed to get out safely in an emergency.

Drake scanned the walls, using his keen senses to pin point where the hidden door was, and then he skidded to a stop, forcing Leanne to stumble with a slide into his back. He easily ignored the small bump of her body against his and found the hidden door, though he didn't know if they changed the locks yet. After his decent to piracy, he was sure all the Bases was in a flurry to change information so he had no more access Luckily for him, they hadn't gotten around to do that when he pressed the keys on the small board. The keypad was drenched in the color black to camouflage, almost invisible to the naked eye, but Drake found it more or less to his devil fruit powers, and then with a click, it slowly moved to the side, revealing the inner courtyard of the fort.

Drake examined the area cautiously, scanning over the snow covered gravel paths leading to different doors and training areas. He was in a bit of a rush, so he had to hurry and find a good entrance that would help them get further into the fort, and also to avoid confrontation with any Marines. The Navy men were perched on the walls and there were patrols as well, but he quickly noticed the large distances between patrol A and B as they past by. He and Leanne would have plenty of time to get to cover.

Then, he felt a small tug on his sleeve and he turned around to meet a worried look in Leanne's eyes. "Captain…" she drew out slowly in a soft tone. "Are we going to…kill the Marines?" she questioned him nervously, shifting back and forth on her feet.

Drake blinked and thought it over before speaking. Of course she would be nervous about killing Marines; she was once one just like himself. He knew that Leanne would need a bit more time to adapt to the new lifestyle then he would need. "Right now, no; we are out matched." he told her calmly as his eyes turned to the courtyard again.

Leanne sighed in relief, but her exhale was stopped short when Drake continued.

"But we're pirates now, Leanne. There may be a time when we have to kill Marines." He informed her emotionlessly.

Leanne moved her head up and down slowly. "Aye...Captain..." she said, and Drake could hear the uncertainty in her voice, and laced with a small hint of sadness.

Drake understood that, and he turned back around to face her, gently patting her shoulder in comfort. She would feel like this for awhile, but soon she would understand. "Come on." He ordered, and stepped through the doorway into the open with Leanne following close behind at his heels.

Thanks to his background again, he knew that each Marine fort in the North Blue had similar blueprints, the only thing different was the rooms were sometimes switched around, so just in case the enemy did get a blueprint and if their target was, say, the arsenal, they could easily end up at the office of the highest ranking officer, earning them a one way trip to the gallows. But he knew for a fact that each fort had the prisons in the deepest parts of the cold stone underground.

Drake led the way to the kitchen door first; it was easy to pin-point since there was a large green house placed near the door so the Marines would always have fresh food, well, more like the commanding officers would have fresh food. The lower ranking marines would always have the slop of what was left over; something that he truly hated. The Vice Admiral did that, the bitch. High strung on 'absolute' justice, which caused her to treat her subordinates like shit if they dared cross the wrong line. The Vice Admiral's toes must be curling into oblivion after the treason he caused, but oh well. He has his reasons and that was that.

He was surprised to find the kitchen vacant; usually the cooking staff was always there, making sure meals were prepped for worthiness and perfection for the men stationed there and also commanding officers. Maybe it was different at each marine fort, he never really stayed more than few days during his short time as a Rear Admiral. Though, this just made it easier for the two since the storage cellar led further into the pits of the base.

Pushing open the thick wooden of the pantry with all the canned and jarred foods was. He knew another passage led further down into the pits of the fortress, going into a series of tunnels that connected everything in the base, even the prison. It was an easy way to get prisoners out for hangings, especially if the Marines knew that fellow pirates were waiting at a spot for their captured mate to come out, but only to find him hanging by the ropes.

Dim, swinging lanterns swayed back and forth in the narrow and musty tunnels underneath the fortress, leading the way further down into the chilling earth of the North Blue. Drake was starting to become less cautious the further they went down since there was no sound but the soles of their feet lightly hitting the stones floors; not even a mouse scurrying across the way invaded his ears. But then the sound of heavy footsteps decided to invade his ears, bringing his senses into high alert and he grabbed Leanne by the upper arm to drag her into the first room he saw.

He hurriedly shut the thick wooden door, but still as softly as he could, then clamped a hand over her mouth when he saw her about to speak.

Leanne looked at him with confused eyes at the fact that he was standing extremely close to her with a hand over her mouth, but then her ears picked up on the footsteps on the other side of the door followed by two voices.

"Can't believe that X. Drake is a pirate now."

"Wonder why he became one in the first place."

"I know right. The man probably had the life."

"Being a Rear Admiral must have been great, who would ever want to fall from that?"

"Maybe something happen?"

"Something he didn't like? Yeah, right. Going from high ranking marine to pirate because something happened, just sounds stupid."

"Eh, you never…" the second voice faded away by then, along with the heavy footsteps.

Drake let out a soft sigh, removing his hand from Leanne's mouth and then he scanned the room: the armory. Today was just his lucky day.

He scanned over the neatly kept and polished weapons, looking each one over. He needed to have a weapon anyway, sometimes using his devil fruit powers all the time could become a bit hazardous and cause too much attention to be draw towards him. So picking up a saber, he tested the weight in his right hand, giving it a single test swing, then two. Nodding at the finely crafted sword, though it was a Marine sword, he grabbed a belt and strapped it around his waist then placed the saber in its holder.

Then his eyes glanced over to the guns. Leanne's simple flintlock, which she said was poorly taken care of, wasn't the of best pistols compared to the ones in the room. Drake's fingers finger brushed around the wood of the handle, picking the pistol up. Another flintlock, but a Queen Anne, designed with the purpose of making reloading quicker, but were expensive to produce. Not that the Marines didn't have money to spare to make sure all their equipment was the best. So this was really his lucky day, along with Leanne's.

Taking the Queen Anne in hand, along with holster, flint and bullets, Drake went back over to Leanne. "This will do you justice." He told her, handing her the belt with everything else.

Leanne removed the grimy Jackal Pirate pistol from the belt around her waist and tossed it to the ground with a small clatter, then hooked the new belt around her hips comfortably, slipping the better flintlock into place along with the flint and bullets.

"Ready?" he questioned while moving towards the door.

Leanne nodded simply and followed her captain out.

The soft clicks of their heels were the only sound being made once again, but then Drake stopped when he heard the sound of a large yawn, and he put out a hand to stop Leanne from advancing.

Looking around the corner, he saw a sleepy Marine, leaning against his rifle with heavy eyes. Turning back to look at Leanne, he gave her a signal that ordered stay put.

Leanne stepped back slightly and closer to the wall with a small nod.

Drake nodded back to her shortly before pushing away from the wall and slowly making his way to the Marine.

The Marine on guard started to shift slightly, his brows twitched as the strange sound of boots entered his ears and then he woke with a startle to see the fallen Marine X. Drake within his presence. He cowered in fear for a moment, then held up his rifle to shoot, but was too late when he felt the stinging pain of the former Marine's saber pierce the skin of his stomach.

With a sharp gasp, the Marine fell to the floor when Drake removed the blade with an emotionless stare.

It wasn't something he wanted to do, he wanted to avoid killing if possible for this mission, but the Marine knew it was him by the way the man looked at him with fear in his eyes, so he had to be silenced.

"Hey…why'd you do that?" a man spoke up with a quivering voice, and Drake turned to see five men behind bars, wearing shirts with the initials of S.C. on the fronts.

"Are you from Sea Charts? The employees that went missing?" Drake questioned them calmly.

"Yeah…" the man that spoke face turned into an angry scowl. "That bastard Old Henry had us locked up for no reason! I swear!"

"I see." Drake said smoothly and rooted through the dead marine's pockets for the keys. "Well, I'm here to get you out." He informed them, placing the newly found key into the lock, opening it with a click. "Now, if you'll follow me, we will get you out of here."

The man looked at him oddly. "We…?"

The five men had been wary about following Drake and Leanne out of the Marine fortress, and slightly afraid since they just witness the death of a Marine solider, but for some reason, seeing the woman walking calmly alongside the man with a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck relaxed them, but only a little.

They started to walk along the dark streets of the city with the smell of sea water welcoming them back to the docks, and the little shop of Sea Charts with the owner sitting on a crate and his elbows resting on his knees as his fingers tapped against his tanned cheek, waiting quietly. Then, the sound of multiple boots on the snow littered ground made him turn his head away from thought.

Jacob's eyes opened wide in shock when he saw the five missing men. "You found them!" he shouted in surprise as he jumped up from the crate and ran to the group. "Where were you all now!" he scolded his employees in a stern voice as his brows knotted together in fury.

"Sorry Boss…" a man spoke up with a small glare not directed toward the bald man. "We were in the prison because Old Henry said we stole from him."

Jacob gawked in fuming anger. "That's unbelievable! If anyone is stealing from anyone it would be him! Wait until—"

Drake coughed lightly to gain Jacob's attention before the man could go on with ranting again. "I believe that you have a promise to fulfill now."

Jacob blinked. "I was being sarcastic, you know."

Drake raised an eyebrow in small amusement. "You may have been, but didn't you say that you couldn't reopen even if your employees came back hours ago?" he challenged the bald man with the small question.

Jacob blinked again. "Ah, yes. I believe I did say that, now didn't I." he sighed out loudly. "So I guess I should be calling you Captain now, right?" he scoffed, and then turned to employees. "Well, lads, this fine gentleman said he would save you if we joined his crew, and since the store it closed for good, it looks like we have no choice in the matter."

The former employees of Sea Charts just nodded dumbly, with no job or families, they might as well go. Though, they were still cautious of the man with the scarf since he was obviously a pirate.

"So, Captain." Jacob tested the new word to his new boss. "Where is the ship?"

"We have a mini-sub that is probably underwater now." Drake answered calmly.

"Well, that's usefully." Jacob rolled his eyes. "Looks like we will have to take my charting boat, come on, follow me." He ordered them mildly in a gruff tone, trying not to offend his new captain because he men in charge could be pesky about that, and he used to be one of those men.

The small crew followed the bright, glistening head of Jacob, and Leanne swore she saw the reflection of the moon in it, to the docks where a small ship among the large towering ships with the name Old Henry carved in the sides was docked. They all filed aboard, and Leanne guessed that the men practically lived on the small charting ship, so everything was already there.

Jacob took up charge of casting away from the large port, but once the island was nothing but a dot in the distance, he turned to his new captain in curiosity. "What's your name, anyway?"

Drake turned to him slowly and unraveled the scarf that was covering his chin, showing off his scar.

The men on board froze, looking at him with wide and fearful eyes.

"I'm Pirate Captain X. Drake."

Edited:

So, since I added more detail about Leanne's gun, the flintlock, I looked up types of flintlocks I guess you could say, and that's when I came across the Queen Anne. The Queen Anne pistol was a breech-loading design which made reloading quicker, like the chapter says, and it was difficult to make them because they were expensive to produce. But since it's the marines we are talking about, I'm sure they put a lot of money into their weapons so they could easily get the best, though I'm not sure if the Queen Anne is the best, I'm only a girl who doesn't know much about guns, so if anyone disagrees with me, I'm sorry.