Night has fallen on the small island of Whisky Peak, making the forest darker and darker. The sounds of nocturnal animals beginning to emerge from their hiding places punctuate the night with their hooting, nocturnal stridulations and rustling leaves. This calm atmosphere is not even disturbed by a silent shadow passing through the wilderness at full speed.
A man with red and black hair leaps between the roots and branches of the trees without moving a single leaf, as his footsteps gradually lead him towards the island's only town.
Behind his back, his bag shakes a little as Aoi pulls it out with an irritated note. It was half-buried under the clothes when Stella retrieved the bag. The woman, with the appearance of a man, glanced at her as he tried to crawl to her shoulder to resume his position.
"Ha no, I'm sorry but you have to stay hidden. You mustn't let anyone see you, or I'll be unmasked." She warns in her deep, masculine voice as she leaps between two trees forming a kind of vegetal arch of gnarled branches covered in green and brown moss. The snail looks at her, incensed. He didn't come with her to stay in a fucking bag.
He takes a deep breath, holds it for two seconds and screams directly into his owner's ear, who lets out a small cry of pain, placing her hand against her ear to prevent it from being abused, and nearly falling to the ground because of a root sticking out of the ground. Panicked birds flew off with shrill cries, while the surrounding fauna suddenly fell silent, plunging the forest into a deafening silence.
"Ouch! What's wrong with you?!" Aoi's eyes crinkle and he growls in displeasure. Stella wrinkles her nose at the lightning bolts she receives and finally clicks her tongue in annoyance. She hates to see her Den Dens sulking or getting angry with her.
"All right, you can stay out of the bag, but hide as soon as anyone comes near. Okay?" Den Den's eyes are still squinted, but no longer angry. He finally makes a little offended noise, turning his head away in protest at his poor living conditions.
Stella rolls her eyes at his immature behavior, but at least she escaped the worst. Because having a Den Den screaming all the time isn't exactly what you'd call discreet.
She continues to run between the trees, getting deeper and deeper into the thick vegetation that's getting darker and darker. Her hair and eyes turn green between two trees. After all, she chose this color so that bounty hunters would mistake her for the Mugiwara swordsman.
A toothy grin and predatory eyes are all that can be discerned of this shadow moving through the night-darkened forest.
The moon is high in the sky when she finally arrives at the entrance to the town, which at first glance seems quiet. The moon illuminates the city with a soft light, like a clear veil that could tear at the slightest sudden movement. Rectangular buildings of gray brick and stone stretch over a vast area, forming numerous streets and squares within. The roofs are flat and low, allowing Stella easy access with a short hop under the moonlight.
Her green eyes scanned the buildings in front of her, trying to spot potential enemies, but especially the two idiot pirates who should have been there long ago. But seeing no sign of life, she used her observation haki to scan this dangerous city.
An amused smile appears when Zoro's presence enters her field of detection. He's not in town yet, but still lost in the forest, taking detours and retracing his steps several times. But like a predator's instinct, he's gradually closing in on his prey. As for Luffy, he's already arrived, and is currently in a house eating all the provisions he can find.
Her attention is then drawn to the presence of over a hundred people gathered in the center of town, probably discussing strategy and plans of attack to capture and kill the pirates.
The shadow jumps from rooftop to rooftop until it reaches the central square, where armed men and women are gathered. They are gathered in a circle and, in the center, a man is talking animatedly.
The man in question is tall and corpulent. But what distinguishes him most from the others is his curly white hair, which gives him a noble air.
"My brothers and sisters! Pirates have brazenly landed on our shores! What shall we do?!"
"Kill them!" They all shout in chorus, brandishing their weapons skyward, blades and pistols glinting in the moonlight. The speaker nods, pleased to have succeeded in galvanizing the crowd. He holds up a poster in front of him, as high as possible so that as many people as possible can see it.
"According to the information I've been given, this is the Straw Hat crew! Their captain is Monkey D. Luffy with a bounty of 30 million Berry!" Murmurs and whispers spread through the ranks, for such a bounty is no small thing.
The man sweeps his gaze over the crowd to silence them before speaking again.
"Admittedly, he has an impressive bounty. But he's the only one with a bounty, and he only has a crew of 6. There are over a hundred of us! They don't stand a chance!" The crowd roars again. "Now go on the hunt!" In one movement, all the men and women head for the small port to board their ship, while another group heads for the forest to spread out over the island and potentially catch any pirates who are too reckless.
Stella watches them disperse, leaving only a few men in town to protect the city if any pirates manage to slip through the net.
Luffy continues to gorge himself with impunity, and Zoro... He's still lost in the forest, but a group of hunters is heading his way. A more carnivorous smile appears on her face and she quickly moves towards the swordsman to witness his fight against an entire organization.
He's had enough! He's been walking for hours in this damn forest without seeing the end of it, without meeting anyone. He walks between the branches that cling to his clothes, as if to tell him that this is not the direction he should take.
A grunt of irritation crosses his throat when his foot stumbles on a root that protrudes slightly from the ground and nearly knocks him over.
" Curse this damned forest! " He looks up at a tall, twisted tree that resembles an old man clutching a gnarled cane. "I feel like I've seen him before..." He mutters as he looks at the tree more closely, but the sound of a branch snapping immediately catches his attention.
In a single movement, he turns around and pulls Kitetsu from its scabbard, ready to slice through any danger. He barely has time to see that it's a human, before he leaps to the side to dodge a bullet that was about to go through his head.
"Shit." He ducks down to use the surrounding vegetation as protection and starts running to get a better attack position and, above all, to assess the number of enemies and their power.
"THERE'S ONE HERE! !" Shouts the gunman to the other bounty hunters nearby. "HE'S A SWORDSMAN! DON'T LET HIM GET CLOSE!"
Zoro's eyes look in all directions as the sound of many footsteps approaches him. He crouches behind a thick bush and doesn't move to assess the enemy's position.
The hunters search for the swordsman in relative silence, disturbed only by the movements they make with their hands to communicate with each other, trying to spot someone moving stealthily in the shadows.
The moon illuminates the forest with an sinister glow, as if it knew what was about to happen, casting the shadows of gnarled trees on the ground and other trees, creating black holes in the vegetation. The pirate is well aware of this, and takes advantage of the situation to stay out of sight of the growing number of hunters.
An eerie silence hangs over the forest, as the enemies search every nook and cranny. One of them approaches Marimo's hiding place, and he watches it grow closer and closer, every muscle in his body tensing with each step the enemy takes in his direction.
When the man turns his head to the left, unable to see the swordsman in front of him, Zoro reacts immediately to surprise him. The hunter doesn't have time to scream as a blade pierces his belly and he falls to the ground, spilling his blood on the fallen leaves, turning them as black as the darkest of nights. The Demon of East Blue quickly unsheathes his other two swords as his eyes glow with a predatory gleam in the half-light, an intense green mixed with blood-red flakes, bringing out the demonic aspect to which he owes his name.
" Come on! " He launches with a sneer that invades his face before he realizes it.
Some of the hunters are intimidated by his presence, but all eventually pounce on him. After all, there are so many more of them.
"KILL HIM!" Dozens of hunters pounce on him to cut him up and riddle him with bullets. But the demon had no intention of standing idly by.
In one swift movement, he slices through the first man to reach him, then runs between the trees to dodge the bullets echoing in the night. His swords become increasingly tinged with blood, splattering the surrounding vegetation. Bodies fall to the ground without a glance from their executioner, who cuts them up like bales of straw.
His mind is plunged into a kind of red fog, and he has only one desire: to kill anyone who comes near him, and to kill them with as much pain and blood as possible. After all, they're trying to kill him. He's only returning the favor.
One body, then two, then ten and finally thirty fall to the ground, while our swordsman has received only a gash to the right shoulder and one to the left leg, staining his white shirt red in addition to the blood of the men on the ground who have splattered him in their agonized rales.
Silence falls again in the forest, with only Zoro's breathing audible, along with the occasional chirp of those still alive at his feet. Blood runs down his blades and wounds. The swordsman's mind gradually clears, now that there are no more enemies in sight.
He grunts under the pain emanating from his wounds and finally lowers his weapons. But the sound of approaching footsteps immediately alerts him and he hides behind a tree, trying to calm his breathing. The red mist tries to return, but he shakes his head to keep his mind clear. The green of his eyes chases away the intrusive red.
The footsteps get closer and closer to him, without slowing down despite the bodies littering the ground. Zoro's instincts tell him that this opponent is not as weak as the others, and that he may have a hard time facing him. His hands grip the blades tighter to hold them in place, while the bandages on his hands begin to feel sticky from the hunters' blood that has soaked the tissue.
He takes a deep breath, concentrating his attention solely on his new adversary, who has stopped just a few yards from him, leaving only a tree between them.
But the stranger does something that disturbs the young man. Indeed, he starts clapping and whistling, impressed by the morbid spectacle before him.
"Fiuuuu! That's awesome! I understand where your demon title comes from." Zoro's eyebrows furrow at the familiar voice. Cautiously, he steps out from behind the tree to face the man standing quietly among the bodies, his hands now in his pockets and an amused smile on his lips.
But what disturbs Marimo the most are the green hair and the face he recognizes as his own, but with extra wrinkles. His body tenses with distrust despite the clone's relaxed, non-aggressive attitude.
"Who are you? "The smile turns wry.
"Pfff! Don't you recognize me anymore, fingerling?" The nickname makes the swordsman blink before he lets out an irritated growl as he relaxes his body.
"Ah... It's only you." He says with a hint of annoyance. He quickly understands that Stella has taken on this appearance for the sole purpose of making him react and howl with indignation, but he has no intention of playing along. A mocking smile spreads across Marimo's lips as the face of his older version frowns and pouts at his lack of reaction.
"You're no fun." She grunts before pulling something out of her pants pocket and swallowing a small white and blue capsule. "I thought you'd be the one to get the most indignant, but in the end I didn't have that pleasure, even Sanji saw the trickery easily." She returns the bottle to its place as Zoro raises an eyebrow in astonishment.
"Did the cook really make a difference? I thought he'd attack you without restraint. " He says as he begins to clean the blood from his blades, wiping them on the blue shirt of a hunter on the ground before putting them away. But his face frowns further as a thought crosses his mind. "Wait... What did you do to the cook with my appearance?!" The smile in front of him grows more carnivorous as eyes as green as his own shine with a glint the moss-head considers ominous.
"Rhoooo~ What are you thinking? When he saw the trickery, I changed my appearance, taking on an identity of my own. So don't worry, you won't get a free kick." She sings in her masculine voice before looking at one of the bounty hunters who tries to stand up, but Stella crushes her foot on his back to hold him down. "I wouldn't advise you to move, you'll bleed to death. Wait patiently until someone comes to save you." She says in a neutral voice, without letting the slightest emotion show, be it benevolence or contempt.
Zoro doesn't even take the time to glance at the man on the ground.
"I deduce that, as you were a man, he ejected you from the ship in a second." Stella's gaze turns to him as she removes her foot from the abused back.
"He tried, but you know me, I wanted to have some fun with him.~" The swordsman raises a questioning eyebrow and looks at her with suspicion.
"I guess it's another perverse trick..." He says wearily as he starts to walk in one direction, but a hand grabbing the back of his shirt stops him in his tracks.
"You know me so well.~ Otherwise, the city's that way, you little lost fish."
"Shut up! " Mutters the indignant and slightly blushing man as he dashes off in the direction indicated by the woman transformed into a man. Stella lets out a small laugh before starting to walk alongside the irritated, grumbling seaweed. But the young pirate finally frowns at what the woman has just said, pushing a branch out of the way.
"If I understand correctly... You didn't tell the cook who you really were after all?"
"No. If he learns who I really am in this masculine guise, he'll never fight me at full strength. Besides, if Nami and Usopp are talking about a vampire, don't pay any attention to them. Let's just say that things have happened and I've probably become those two's worst nightmare, and Sanji's worst enemy." She says without elaborating.
Zoro frowns.
"What have you done again? How did you get the cook to consider you his worst enemy? Did you attack Nami or something?" Stella shook her head, gesturing with her hand as she considered what to say to the swordsman.
"I didn't do anything to Nami or even Usopp, but let's just say my appearance fired their imagination. After all, they see a red-haired, red-eyed man who has tackled their cook to the ground and has visible canines. Of course, they thought I was a vampire." She said with a sneer. "You should have seen their faces!" She continues, laughing, while Zoro looks at her with a look that is anything but amused.
"Are you telling me that you traumatized some of the crew? " He asks in a rather deep voice.
Sensing that her neighbor isn't very receptive to her humor, Stella stops laughing and looks at him a little more seriously.
"'Traumatized' is a strong word. Let's just say I've shown them that there are strong opponents who can pop up anywhere. But don't worry, I'll only use this appearance to face Sanji. After all, my job is to make you all strong enough to survive on this sea. No matter if they get a little shaken up in the process, it's always better than being overconfident and dying stupidly." She finished as she passed the Marimo, stepping over a root hidden in the gloom, which Zoro would probably have taken if he hadn't seen Stella move.
The swordsman's brows are still furrowed, deep in thought. It's true that there's a lot of danger on the Grand Line, but that's no reason for her to practice a form of torture on them.
"You say that, but there's no guarantee you won't do it again." His green eyes meet his binoculars. "In my eyes, you're still an unpredictable person. Even if you seem to be helping us, there's nothing to say you won't end up manipulating us or betraying us." Stella looks at him with a neutral face before lifting her head in the direction of the moon, stopping in a small clearing. Her slightly lit face seems to seek an answer in the starry sky.
"You're right to be wary, 24 hours haven't passed yet... I have my own plans that I've been pursuing for years." She says in a whisper with something resembling melancholy or even sadness, but that face quickly disappears to make way for something far more menacing and dangerous. "So if you get in my way, I may not be very friendly." Zoro grits his teeth and clenches his fists at this hostility.
"We all have our own dreams and goals. So this threat works both ways. If, because of you, one of them has to give up their most cherished dream, I'll never forgive you!" He said harshly, growling slightly.
Every member of this crew has a dream that seems unattainable to the idiots who laugh at them. Whether it's becoming the world's greatest swordsman or mapping the entire planet. Whether it's finding a legendary, imaginary sea. Whether it's proving that even if you're a coward and a liar, you can become a true sea warrior. Or simply becoming the king of pirates.
Each member has something unique and a huge dream they're willing to do anything to see realized. No outsider, no matter how powerful, will stand in their way. Besides, does she even have a dream as big as theirs?
Stella stares at him with an inexpressive face, but Zoro can see a storm of feeling in her eyes, like a hurricane that could sweep the world in unmitigated disaster. Yet she remains stoic before letting out a sigh and running her hand through her mid-length green hair.
"I will never stop you from realizing your dreams. If I'm here, it's so that you'll become strong enough to realize them." Her hand leaves her hair and she points at the pirate. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to make it easy for you either. For now, your dreams and choices represent no obstacle or inconvenience in my life, present or future. Don't forget that I have my own life and my own goals. If by any chance you should find yourself fighting against a friend of mine or someone I particularly like. Don't be surprised if I side with him and even help him." She says seriously as Zoro clenches his jaw.
"Even if he's our worst enemy?" Stella flashes a small, almost apologetic smile.
"Even if he is your worst enemy." Marimo's green eyes crinkle with distrust.
"We've been warned, in that case!" He finished between his teeth, before walking past Stella with a quick, deeply pissed-off step. He couldn't believe he'd thought she could be part of the crew. Of course, she'd only been here a short time. But he'd accepted her as a sensei and even bowed to her! Did all this mean nothing to her? Just because she'd known someone else longer, she'd turn her back on them? That she could turn against them so easily?!
Frustration spreads through his body, anger begins to rise. He's the second-in-command of this crew! He can't leave someone on board when she could betray them at any moment.
The sound of footsteps behind him tells him that Stella is following without saying a word or trying to calm him down. And strangely enough, this makes him even angrier. Because it's as if what he'd said didn't matter, and his anger wasn't worth paying attention to.
He growls in frustration and throws a violent punch into the trunk of a large tree, which shakes under the impact, sending a few leaves flying limply to the ground. He doesn't know what to do. She's potentially a very serious threat, but on the other hand, she'll make them as strong as she is. He's under no illusions that he can do anything against her in terms of strength and technique at the moment.
Luffy believes in her, Usopp is still wary but no longer afraid, Nami is still deciding whether she can stay with them. Not to mention the Cook who has already adopted her, and not just because she's a woman.
He takes a deep breath and sighs softly to calm the blood pulsing in his ears. He needs to concentrate on what lies ahead in this city full of bounty hunters, and on finding Luffy.
He runs his hand through his hair in frustration as his head aches like needles have invaded his brain, which does nothing to calm his nerves.
After another sigh, he turns to Stella, his face closed. His twin has his arms crossed and is gently waiting for him to calm down with a neutral face. The moss-head clicks his tongue in annoyance.
"I don't have time for this, we've got to find Luffy first. I don't like the fact that he's alone in the middle of enemies." Stella blinks slowly before looking to the left, where the town lies a little further on. A small, amused smile forms on her lips.
"Luffy's fine, he's emptying it of all its provisions." The swordsman lets out a grunt of irritation before resuming his walk ahead, turning his back on Stella.
"That's not surprising coming from him, although I'm surprised he's managed to go unnoticed." Stella merely shrugs, following suit and gently tugging on his elbow to pull him back in the right direction.
"I guess when it comes to food, he's capable of a lot." She says with a malicious smile and eyes shining with amusement. This at least had the merit of making Zoro smile.
After a few minutes of redirecting the disoriented compass, they arrived at the entrance to the town, which was more or less quiet. Visibly, most of the men had returned to town when they learned that one of the pirates was in the forest and had decimated the men there.
Stella looks at her pupil, who flashes a carnivorous smile, happy to be back in action. But the presence of blood on the white shirt around the shoulder and on the pants catches the woman's attention. She grimaces as she thinks about the pain of removing the blood from the white fabric and the extra bandaging she'll have to do, hoping she won't have to chase after the Marimo.
"Be careful, don't forget you're hurt. " She receives an annoyed look and the green head starts to move away from her to fight the new opponents.
"No need to worry about that. It won't stop me beating them all." She looks at him with a neutral face, arms crossed, before letting out a sigh.
"Fine, do what you want. But I'm warning you that I won't help you, you'll be totally on your own." A wry smile answers her.
"I'm counting on it." And with a fluid movement, he turns his back on her to rush between the streets. The demon is on the hunt and the red mist is back.
Stella strolls through the streets, punctuated by the cries of bounty hunters unlucky enough to cross paths with the demon of East Blue.
She turns a corner when her observation haki tells her that someone is running in her direction. She quickly hides her body behind one of the piles of crates lying around.
With surprise, she sees Vivi pass by on the back of a giant duck. Her face reflects fear and she flees towards the port.
An explosion in front of her makes her cry out in surprise, and her duck skids to avoid being buried by the collapsing walls blocking her path. A cloud of debris and dust flies in front of them, irritating their throats and eyes. She puts her hand over her mouth, coughing violently, and her eyes sting from the dirt. Her mount quickly emerges from the cloud, but stops abruptly as she hears a voice above them.
"It's no use running away, Princess Vivi. Mr. 0 has given us a mission to capture or kill you, and that's what we're going to do." A man with frizzy hair and sunglasses, accompanied by a lemon-yellow woman with an umbrella, appeared at roof level.
Vivi's duck doesn't wait a moment to head for a new street, but it too explodes, blocking any possibility of escape. The two agents leap from the rooftops to land in front of the poor princess, who is desperately looking for a solution.
The man smiles at the girl's panic. The duck takes an attack stance, ready to fly into his feathers if they get too close to his owner.
"Surrender nicely, princess. And we won't hurt you too much." He sneers, quickly imitated by the woman accompanying him.
The blue-haired girl's face paled dangerously, the last thing she needed was to get caught. Otherwise, there will be no hope of saving her kingdom from Crocodile's madness.
The two agents move closer and closer to the girl, but the cry of a man nearby draws their attention. One of the bounty hunters runs into the street, but is cut in half as he tries to escape. The assassin appears in turn, his gleaming green and red eyes turning to the three people in the street.
"Well, well, well. Some little mice have taken refuge here." Says the wild swordsman as he approaches his new prey with a mad, murderous grin on his face. Blood drips from his blades and bursts onto the ground in little crimson splotches, leaving behind a trail of pain and death.
Sutataiga is definitely going to like him a lot. On the other hand, I don't really like his state of mind. What's that red in his eyes?
He passes in front of Stella, who has completely erased her presence so she can fully observe the scene without her getting in the way of the bloodthirsty Marimo.
"Who are you? One of the pirates who arrived here?" Asks the man with a hint of disdain, despite the predatory look and smile on his face. The lemon woman isn't as brave as she hides slightly behind her partner, perturbed by the savage face and blood-drenched blades.
Zoro stops about five meters from his opponents, blades skimming the ground as his legs gently bend and he leans forward.
"What's the point of answering a dead man?" He lunges, startling the agents in front of him. Before they can defend themselves or act, the first blade skimming the ground rises into the sky to slice the impudent man in two, and the second blade slams into the woman behind him. She shrieks in surprise as she leaps backwards and soars into the sky, out of the swordsman's reach.
The stricken man screams in pain, kneeling on the ground and clutching his severed chest to try and stop the flow of blood. But a katana blow to the temple sends him to the ground, unconscious.
Green and red eyes turn to the lemon woman in the sky. He searches for a way to reach her like an excited feline.
Miss Valentine stares wide-eyed at her partner Mr. 5, unconscious on the floor and bleeding to death, while this implacable man stares at her with predatory eyes, like a tiger watching a small bird. She swallowed, thinking hard about how to defeat this man. She could simply run away, but she knows she won't get off easy when she has to explain why she ran away from a man who doesn't even have a bounty.
"Little, little, little, come to me little canary." Chuckles the swordsman darkly, like a feline eager to pounce on small prey. Miss Valentine lets out a little cry of fear before starting to run away. Too bad if she gets punished by Mr. 0, at least she has a chance of getting away with it.
Green eyes crinkle as Zoro crouches, watching the fleeing woman.
"Where do you think you're going?" The lemon girl barely had time to look behind her before the swordsman leaped into the air, using the narrow walls of the street to pull himself up to her level.
"HAAAA!" Two swords struck her full force, causing her to lose control of her fruit due to the pain caused by the blades slicing through her flesh. She fell heavily to the ground, her mind extinguished by the pain.
Zoro lands not far from her, staring at her like a small insect he's just squashed, then his eyes slowly turn to the princess, who shakes like a leaf and turns drastically pale as a sneer appears on the man's face as he begins to approach her.
"Well, how we meet again. ~" The princess barely has time to blink before the bloodthirsty swordsman is already charging at her, blades raised behind him like the black wings of a demon, eyes and smile shining even brighter under the moonlight of this deadly night.
Vivi let out a howl of terror as Kaloo acted on instinct, trying to strike a blow at the charging enemy. But the demon is not about to let a poor little bird get in his way. With a violent punch, he hits the duck in the face, sending it flying into a wall which collapses in on itself, burying the poor bird.
The girl falls to the ground under the violence of the impact, closing her eyes, but reopens them immediately after the shock, far too worried for her feathered friend.
"KAROO!" She barely manages to right herself on her elbows when a blade lands on her throat, knocking her back to the ground. Her hazel eyes finally land on the predator holding her down with all his weight. Green and red eyes that grow redder and redder, like bloodstains in the grass. A huge, demented smile that expresses no pity, only amusement at the sight of blood already trickling down her neck. A blade reddened by the many lives it has taken and will soon take its own. A moon that shines just above her and seems to look down on them with indifference.
Helplessness, fear, anguish, despair, injustice. It's all mixed up in the tears that fall to the ground like tiny diamonds, shattering into pieces as they fall to the ground, which will soon be watered by her ruddy blood. Her face twists with terror and sadness. She's afraid for herself, she's afraid for Karoo, but she's terrified for her father, for her people and her kingdom. Is it really all going to end here? Has everything she's done really been for nothing?
"It's time to say goodbye." She feels the blade press harder and harder against her throat, penetrating deeper and deeper into her flesh. She feels her blood flowing as much as her tears. She closes her eyes so as not to see death coming.
For pity's sake! Somebody help me!
Hi everyone, it's been a while, hasn't it?
I've gone back to work after the vacations, so I'll have a little less time to devote to writing.
You may have noticed, but I've moved my story into the mature category. Because I have several ideas for scenes, but they don't fit the friendly style at all. So you've been warned, although I'm sure you suspected it from the turn of events.
I hope you still like the story, but I love all your comments, even the ones saying they don't like Stella because of her behavior, it means my character is well written.
For those of you who are paying attention, I've left clues in every chapter about Stella's past and the connections she may have with certain characters. I've written my chapters so that they have a double reading, in the sense that they're full of references that will be understandable later on.
It's a bit of a treasure hunt. It's up to you to find and solve the mystery.
On that note, I'll see you next time!