Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.
"HEY! LADY! I don't suppose you got something to say to me, eh?" A gruff, newly bruised pirate yelled at Araly's friend. This was the pirate who was caught hoarding food, and was promptly beaten by the others for it.
"Yes, I do." The elegent lady said. She picked up a cup full of sweet-smelling tea, took a long sip and then set it down with a brief sigh. "Your grammar is atrocious." The pirates snarled monstrously and pulled out a saber, pointing it straight at the insulting woman.
"You little wench. Watch your mouth! Now apologize and I'll let you off easy." The lady glared derisively at him, her stare chilling the very air around her. Araly tried to scoot away discretely, but backed up against something. She turned to meet the devious stares of an encroaching pirate mob.
Araly turned back around nervously and slumped herself against her unwavering comrade. The iron resolve in this fantastically elegant lady startled and fascinated Araly, as she tried to do the same. It was hard to look so tough when you were shaking so visibly.
"Please stay your weapons a moment," the woman said as she rose up to her feet, "I'm sure we can talk this all out." Her hands rustled slightly from inside her kimono sleeves. The pirate threatening her caught this quickly and repositioned his sword at her arms.
"What's in there?" The lady stared at the floor. "Take it out slow, and give it to me." The woman complied, much to Araly's fear. She drew out a knife, still in the sheath, and handed it to the pirate, who chuckled evily in turn.
"You can't pull a fast one on me, sweetheart…" His eyes traveled down, following the path his sword was making along her kimono, as he licked his lips with a smug grin. Araly could swear that under the throaty breathing of these huddled men she could hear something burning.
"Now," the pirate grinned as he pulled open the woman's robes at the chest, "about that apology." He pulled at the elegant kimono, revealing a leather chest wrap around the woman's bosom. She glared up with a smirk through her eyelashes and snapped her fingers at her side.
Suddenly, an explosion followed from the knife in the pirate's hand. The knife had, apparently, exploded, as the room was filling quickly with black smoke. Araly was stunned, thinking how the hell she got into this mess, when something grabbed her by the waist.
"See ya, boys." The elegant lady whipped off her kimono in front of herself and Araly. The coughing pirate swiped it away, where nothing stood behind it.
Araly was breathing hard, now in the clear air in the neighboring, empty building. She looked up at her captor, only seeing her rescuer instead. Skin-tight black stocking ending with soft black boots, a black leather vest that seemed to grow out of a heavily armed belt that snuggly hugged around the woman's hips. She turned, revealing the fishnets that ran up and down her arms and into the black gloves on her hands. Her face was even covered by a black mask connected to her black shirt.
"Yet another close one," the elegant lady mused. Araly's mouth dropped open as she pulled off her mask to reveal her beautiful face yet again. "You must be some kind of good luck charm, sweety." Araly stuttered, then collected herself and shot up to her feet. After a few seconds of stumbling over her panicked words, she finally managed to edge out a single question.
"Who are you?" She asked loudly. The lady stared at her for a moment, then chuckled and patted her on the head.
"I," she began, bending slightly as she stood to emphasize her greater assets, "am Lady Kaede Kurenai." She raised the index and middle finger of her hand in front of her face and winked, "Kunoichi of the Ninpo Pirates." Araly stared with shock and repeated the last words slowly.
"Ninpo…Pirates?"
Outside the open tavern wall was a young man in ragged clothing, surrounded by a group of angry and vicious looking pirates. His face was obscured by his soaking wet hat and muffler. Bard strained himself to recognize the young man, as he was sure he saw him before.
"That guy's gonna get killed!" Rezland bluntly yelled. "We gotta save him." As Rezland was ready to rush out, Bard put his arm out to stop him.
"Let him fight." Bard said flatly. His face, for once, was seriously observing the scene. Rezland moved back then broke out into a full rush to the ladder that led to the rooms. Zan observed this interaction for a moment before redirecting his attention outside.
Without any warning or movement whatsoever, four of the pirates collapsed forward, dropping their weapons to the wooden ground. The young man's head shifted down slightly before the remaining pirates started rushing forward at him. With swords held high over their heads, they swung wildly when they closed in.
The nimble young man leapt up and over the wild swings, sidestepped the downward strokes and ducked the swinging fists. He jumped up suddenly onto a pirate's face and kicked off, flying high into the air. His hand flew out powerfully and his ragged clothes were pulled off his body, revealing pitch-black apparel underneath. His face was obscured except for a streak of flesh where his eyes and a patch of hair was displayed.
He crossed his arms, pulling at something on his shoulders, then swung them forward. A short storm of kunai knives rained down on the unprepared pirates. Several more dropped to the ground in pain, others were lucky enough to either block or dodge the knives. In an instant the man was on the ground again and rushing the pirates from across the thoroughfare. His body was barely parallel to the ground, with one hand in front of his face with index and middle fingers extended upwards.
In a sudden blur, his body was floating in midair as his legs disappeared into faint images. Three more pirates flew backwards and skidded across the ground. The young man punched the remaining pirates with open palms, letting them get close enough to strike then striking back. A few more kicks and powerful blows later, the man was surrounded by no one. Only two very scared and shaking pirates were left with swords just barely in hands, but they decided to live another day and ran off.
With a sigh, the man positioned his fingers in front of his face and vanished in a puff of smoke. Zan gaped at the spectacle he had just seen. He looked up at the tall man to his side to gauge his reaction as well. Bard's mouth was open wide and drooling with excitement, and his eyes were sparkling brightly.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Bard shouted with his hands clenched in excitement.
"Thank you." A voice said from behind. Everyone in the tavern turned at once to see the dripping-wet man clad in tight black clothing perched on his toes atop the bar. He raised his hand and pulled back his black mask to reveal the face of a young man. Zan recognized his fearsome air instantly. Bard took a short step forward and faced his with a huge grin.
"Hey! Are you some kind of ninja or something?" Zan sank his shoulders at the sheer bluntness of this question.
"Yeah. I'm a Ninja." The man replied honestly. Zan glared at him with an 'are you being serious' look and spoke up.
"I think what he meant was, who are you?" The ninja in question, who Bard was admiring with low squeals, turned to the assassin. He stood up and jumped down to the ground, flipping in mid-air for effect. He stared straight into Bard's eyes, still shimmering, and smirked.
"What's your name, kid?" Bard perked up, considering to himself why someone who looked so young was calling him 'kid'.
"B-Bard D. Samekawa…and you?" Zan tried to stare them both down at once compelled to see how this idiotic display would end.
"I'm Sasuke Hayato, Captain of the Ninpo Pirates." Bard smiled widely at him, Zan looked curiously at him, and Rezland finally returned with his large weapon strapped to his back in its cloth. He waved to the group of three once his feet met ground and walked over casually. The patrons were all speechless.
"So then," the gruff man wearing a suit with iron bars running vertically from his collar to his waist, "they've started moving." The man was staring out a window that overlooked the courtyard in front of the Tall Mast Tavern where his task force of bounty hunters had just fallen defeated by a single man.
A Den Den Mushi started ringing beside him. He picked up the reciever and brought it to his mouth.
"Yes?" he asked over the line. The snail responded, gruffly, to the conversation on the other end.
"Good news, sir. The island's fog is within sight of the ship. We'll be there within the hour."
"How many?"
"We could only manage to bring four warships, sir. I hope that will be enough."
The gruff man smiled evilly under the veil of darkness that crowded the room.
"Yes, that should be plenty." He hung up the receiver and the snail clicked off. "They may take every action they like, but the end result will not change." He stood up and walked towards the door opposite the window her was watching from.
"This island will fall, for our sire himself."
He exited the room with loud, iron footsteps as the shadows shifted in his absence. A window opened and shut silently, and a huge black shadow slithered across the buildings and into the back alleys.
