''Hey give me my money you bastard"
The barkeeper yelled at the man who was currently running at his full speed towards the edge of the town.
A loud thud soon followed as the man collided with the hooded figure.
"HEY OUTTA MY WAY!"
The man yelled at the hooded figure only to soon realize he made a big mistake.
"hey, did you said something pal?"
The man stuttered and backed away finding the hooded figure too scary to ounce upon.
"Hey my money-, ah! Aki…''
The hooded figure finally smiled finding the bar owner she owed too much to.
"geez old man, looks like your business is running well" playing with the man's money bag she threw it toward the owner of the bar and lastly looked towards the man to only found him unconscious Aki sighed and made her way towards the bar and took a seat near the table and stared at the picture that was clutched in her hands tightly secured from everyone.
Looking at the jet-black-haired girl he noticed her fully. Her usually bright red eyes were dull nowadays and a scar rested over her left eye which was as usually covered with short bangs of her and her sword and chain stick were at the back secured like always.
Suddenly he noticed the paper she had been holding in her hand. After 2 years of him knowing her, he knew that was the picture she holds very dear to her. He sighed knowing that the girl won't tell him anything. 2 years ago the girl has come and somehow saved him from the giant sea monster. He and the whole village has been in her debt. She was unbelievably strong for a girl who was as skinny as bones. He had taken it upon himself to take care of the girl for the following years she had been living with them.
The barkeeper sighed and made his way toward the bar counter and prepared her favorite food for her she always eats.
Aki looked up at the barkeeper who as usual had ignored her silence and was silently preparing a meal for her. She sighed, she knew that the old man would always respect her decisions and she appreciated the gesture too much for her good. She was planning on leaving the town soon again and she knew she had to tell the old man and the town about it. Marines were going for a raid and she knew the town would be in danger if they knew her real identity. IT wasn't that she was weak, it was just too dangerous to put the town through something they don't deserve. The townspeople were too good, they worshipped her as their savior without knowing the seeds of her past which were silently and slowly consuming her. She glanced at the wanted poster again that was currently resting in her hand. Hiding the poster in her hood she looked forward to find the owner placing down the plate of freshly cooked sea king meat.
Gulping down the saliva forming in her mouth, she swiped up the big chunk of the meat and stuffed the meat in her mouth. Soon the stocks of plates were standing on the table and she was massaging her now-filled stomach.
Ignoring the dropped jaws of some of the travelers who were new to the town she somehow took the cloth out of her cloak and wiped her mouth and sighed happily.
"Ha! Ossan, your food is the best"
Shaking his head at the girl who was now drinking her ale, the old man made his way towards the counter when suddenly the bar door opened and a bandit came in.
It was kyora, that bandit has been troubling the villagers too much.
Kyora smirked at the pin-drop silence which was initiated at the bar as soon he arrived. His men followed him as he pushed one of the men sitting on the chair who was too terrified to speak. Making his way towards the bar he gleefully smirked at the owner and suddenly frowned when he saw the stocking of the plate standing near the bar table. Looking towards the right side of the bar counter to find a cloaked figure to be happily drinking wine in his presence.
Aki sighed happily as she finished the ale. Suddenly noticing the silence initiated in the bar she looked up to find a man standing in front of her glaring rather heavily over her, and looked around the bar to find some more of the uh dressed up men? Glaring at her?
"Hey, how dare you eat like a pig in front of our captain?"
"Ah! So you want to eat too, sorry man didn't notice you there. Anyway, I'm finished you can have the seat now." Giving up a thumbs up to the bandit standing in front she took out a pouch filled with gold and kept it on the counter and as she was making her way to the door a sword made its way to her neck.
"Hey, are you kidding me? Are you making fun of me? Looks like I have to show you what happens to those who defy me. DO IT"
Aki looked up to find the goons ganging up on the old man and the sword was resting on the edge of his neck.
"Aki, get out of here, you are no match for them, he is 'Kyora the rock' with a bounty of 100 million beli-"
A crash was heard and the old man looked up to see the bandit lying on the ground near the beer shelf covered in blood, soon the uncomfortable silence followed. He looked up just to see the people staring at Aki who now was standing there glaring at the man with the blood dripping down her hand.
"Don't you dare! I'll kill you bastard"
The mere voice sent chills down the old man's body.
"Ah! Shit, my hands got dirty." Feeling everyone's shock radiate, Aki sighed, her anger got the best of her and now she was sure the villagers were going to be afraid of her, she means who in their right mind would want to keep a dangerous person like her in their arm's length, well except the pirates who always try to get in her pants and other of course navy from whom she had been running from since she was 13.
"W-W-What did you do? "
"Huh?"
Hearing the stutter behind her she turned around to find the goons losing their cool one by one and she was sure if she were to take one step closer to them they would surely piss their pants. Looking at the terrified expressions of the goon she smirked, well she already lost her cool, might as well play with these goons. Mustering up the playful menacing glare she smirked.
"You guys said something?"
Watching the goons scramble off to the door she turned around to explain the situation to the kind old man but as soon she turned around, a loud bang was heard and a loud shout of-
"MEAT!" soon followed. She turned back to look at the intruder (whose voice was a little too familiar to her), to find a silhouette of a boy with a straw hat standing in front of her, and the goons were now somehow stuck to the wall behind the door.
Her eyes widened at the sight, she obviously wasn't expecting to find him standing in front of her all in his glory laughing like he just didn't bang the door on the faces of the goons.
Eyes raking over the overall appearance of the boys, Aki finally looked up to find herself in a staring match of some sort. The big round eyes of the boy brought most of the memories, pleasant and most haunting ones and for a moment she thought she sensed something sort of a recognization in the boy's eyes.
Being the first one to look away from the eye stare she looked at the old man who brought, her out of her musings and finally realized the problem she had found herself in.
"Oi, who the hell are you? Do I know you?"
"Oi Luffy, what are you-"
The name sent tremours down her body as she forgot to breathe for a sec. She looked back at the owner and wondered how the hell she didn't sense the straw hat boy.
A few minutes ago
"ROCKET!"
A loud yell rang out through the forest as the familiar rubbery boy made his way towards the forest, jumping around the forest like a monkey. Laughing historically Luffy glanced around the forest, the forest was too familiar for his liking. It looked like the forest in his hometown but the difference was that the plants and animals were nothing compared to the ones living in the Dawn Island and Rusukaina. Looking around he found himself moving towards the clearing, swinging through the last tree he made his way out of the forest towards the town. Reaching the town he soon noticed the uncomfortable silence that was surrounding the town. As a cheerful person himself he never liked the silence, if anything else he hated it more than he can describe. The silence reminds him of the days he spent without his crew without nothing but animals and the plants surrounding the forest to accompany him and the days he had stayed awake at night when he was small to find some sort of comfort when Ace had decided to set sail. He remembered calling out his second brother's name when he was alone with her name. Shit! His thought again drifted to her.
Unconsciously he unlocked his observation haki to look over the town, to find most of the town's people's presence towards the back of the town. Sniffing the air like he was some kind of dog he noticed the faint whiff of meat and made his way toward the other side of the island where people were present.
"Luffy!" A hit soon followed over the rubber boy's head and again he wonder how did it hurt like that. The boy looked up from the ground to find his navigator standing all in her glory, her hands in her hips glaring rather hard at him while his cook and swordsman were fighting in the background.
"Ouch, why did you hit me Nami?"
"What do you mean by that, do you even know how far I have to run just to make sure you won't cause any havoc."
Looking at the captain's now pouting face, Nami sighed and looked over the now once again fighting duo of the group and also punched them on the head.
Hearing the captain's stomach growl, Nami sighed. She knew that if the captain wouldn't be fed soon he was going to go on a tantrum about how he was hungry. Being hungry herself she decided to visit the town's bar. Putting aside her uneasiness for a while, she let the captain lead the way as she knew his sense of direction if was related to meat can never go wrong.
Luffy leading the way the four of them made their way towards the town's other side.
Finally reaching the bar, the four people noticed the crowd outside the bar, the crowd surely showed that mostly all the people of the people were gathered up here like there was a show of some kind was happening there. Suddenly there was a chill in the air that made the four pirates stiff. The chill was gone as soon it came and hesitantly Nami gathered up the courage to finally ask what was happening in the bar.
"Ano, what is happening here?" Nami swallowed when suddenly all the attention from the bar was shifted towards her and the monster trio. The scared gaze of the townspeople made her uneasy feeling rise with a jolt and as sensing her easiness Zoro and Sanji shifted in front of her narrowing their gaze forgetting their verbal spat for a few minutes while silently taking one step forward toward the door when it was sure the villagers weren't going to tell them anything.
" Wait, big sis, are you going in? don't go there, bandits have taken over the bar. They are very dangerous-" the little girl who decided to speak was abruptly stopped by a woman Nami could only guess as to her mother.
Before Nami could've asked what happened, a loud crash was heard from the bar, and the sudden chill in the air froze the three of the crew member yet again, except Luffy who decided that waiting for the answers was too troublesome and pushed the door hard and made his way towards the bar with a yell of-
"MEAT!"
Nami heard Zoro curse inwardly as he followed Luffy soon coming to stop to find some people scattered near the door in a pile of what looked like mashed potatoes. Narrowing her eyes at the scene she looked forward finding Luffy in a staring match of some sort with the cloaked figure who was standing there with blood droplets falling from her hands. Putting two and two together she looked at her right side to find Sanji staring at the captain and the figure clearly understanding the situation as he lit up his cigarette and took a deep puff of it.
Suddenly the trio was focusing on their captain when he finally whispered something inaudible for everyone, but the three of them to hear-
"No way"
From the way, he sounded the three were sure that the captain knew her, or maybe he was talking about something else-
"Oi, Who the hell are you?! Do I know you?"
"Oi, Luffy what are you-?" Nami finally opened her mouth when she finally noticed her captain fingering his straw hat which he only did when he was tensed or something.
The look in the boy's eyes was something she swore she wouldn't forget throughout her whole life when the boy turned around to look at her. The sharp intake of breath beside her caused her to notice that the new lit-up cigarette was on the ground burning helplessly due to Sanji's shocked state and Zoro's hand which were on his sword's shield was now dropped to his side in shock. Looking back she found the cloaked figure standing behind her, her cloak ruffling as she made her way out of the bar without even making a sound in the least which made her wonder, how the hell did the cloaked figure even got behind her without her knowing, without even Luffy and the other duo knowing.
I'm really sorry that it took me a while to upload the chapter. It's been hard to write as I was traveling. But from now on I'll try to update as fast as I can.
HOPE YOU ENJOY THE CHAPTER!