As promised, a new chapter revamped and ready for anyone still here !
While the path to the villa wasn't wide it was a bit long. The walk was a good near 20 minutes, and it gave me some much-needed time to collect myself. I couldn't go storming into this place, like I wanted to. It would only solve one portion of the problem, the other that Patty wasn't smart enough for him to be pulling all these strings. I'd need to get the name of the person who sent him here, and the exact reason that he was here in the first place. It's be better if it was a small thing, but you don't sit in one place for 4 years if you're needed else where to maintain your goods. Patty hasn't left this island once and he knew that I had kept close tabs on him.
The voices on my way to the villa caught my attention. Jumping off the trail for a moment I made my way into the tall trees above. Trapesing across the branches with ease I made my way closer to the unknown voices. Stepping on to a tree closest to them. I carefully made my way stealthily to the branch closest to them. Taking a deep breath, I muttered the word that would take me closer to them. One foot on the branch and the other on air. Slightly thankful for the ability that I stumbled across over a year ago from a traveling pirate. Keeping myself in the foliage of the tree I knew that I wouldn't be seen. I then proceeded to do my act of spying on the mysterious people below me.
I recognized two of them instantly. The bear, Bepo, and the guy with the weird hat. A slight smile crept on my face as I watched the bear with his crew mates. For something so large and probably fluffy, he moved with some grace. They were with a man who had a hat on his head, and large letters spelling PENGUIN. The other one had dark brown hair and seemed to be the only regular looking one as he wore normal clothes instead of the orange jumpsuit. They seemed to be in a discussion about a missing companion of theirs. Crouching down into the thicker foliage I closed my eyes and listened to them. What one sense lacked another made up for, and this case I could only hope Alec's daily yelling matches with the mayor wouldn't screw it up for me.
"We've been missing Caleb-ya for some time now." That was the guy from earlier.
"Damn it, I knew I should have gone with him and Sachi to the store." No clue which one that was but he was pretty angry.
"Yes, but what I gathered from the town we need to retrieve him fast. People don't survive long up there I guess." That one was right. Patty never kept people alive for too long, something about his boss.
"Then we should get moving now." Bepo's voice went up a couple octaves showing he was scared. "Captain?"
Keeping my eyes shut, I willed my ears to listen as the other man whispered something. It was only one word and I couldn't pick up what he had said. The other men around him went deathly silent as he said it, another command came from him that I also didn't hear. A slight breeze went through the canopy where I was. Not paying any attention to I chalked it up to the drop-in pressure from earlier. Good, we needed rain soon. The town was going to dry up with the draught that was going on. Alec would do something stupid again, and I'd have to take care of him. Not something I wanted to do again, especially after the last time.
"How long are you going to stay like that?"
My eyes snapped open at the words that were spoken right in front of me. Looking up I saw the man from before looking down at me with a smirk. Jumping up from my crouched position I propelled myself backwards, keeping the four of them in my sights as I put the much-needed distance between us. Looking around the group the only one that looked dangerous was the man Alec was foolish enough to fight. However, I wasn't going to be as easy to force into a fight. While using my own abilities wasn't as taxing as it was for Alec, I still needed to keep it in moderation.
I could feel my headache coming back as I realized he took on a man who appeared to be in excellent health. Standing up I looked at them calmly, but my eyes rested on the man who seemed to be in charge. Going out on a limb I'll also say that he was the one who teleported me down here. Using some kind of ability, that was tied to the fruit he ate. His lips started to pull into a smirk, and I let my face show I wasn't impressed with his trick. Which at the very least ruled out that he was a logia fruit user.
"Who are you?" I asked in an even tone, although his stare was starting to annoy me. The smirk on his face seemed to grown more, making him seem more devilish to me. His arrogance was almost suffocating even from the new-found distance I put between me and the four in front of me. His face was familiar, but I couldn't place it. Maybe it was on one of the wanted posters on the board near the port? I tried to remember all the faces I had seen on it lately but I was drawing a blank and sighed heavily.
"You don't know who I am?" Frowning at him I shook my head. He crossed his arms over his chest. I took in the tattoos he bore as I mimicked him as I did the same. Another breeze came by only this time it seemed to caress my bare legs, my shorts only came to about mid-thigh. I didn't think much of it until it did the same around my spaghetti strapped tank top. I narrowed my eyes and looked around. I wasn't in the mood for one of these senseless games, I sure as well wasn't going to part take in it either. "Trafalgar Law, Captain of the Heart Pirates and you are?"
I followed the breeze as it came from my right, which took my attention oh so rudely from the man introducing himself. The same direction of the villa once you got around the bend up ahead. He knew we were on the path, well there went my element of surprise. This was going to be tougher than I thought it was going to be. Sighing to myself, I lightly leaned my head into my right hand. I wasn't going to get out of this without a needing a drink at the end of this. Taking a couple steps forward, the men parted so I could walk through them.
"If you want your friend back alive I suggest you come now. Patty seems to know that we are already here. It would be a waste of a trip on your end if he were to die." Lifting my right hand up to them as I walked in front of them, signaling them to follow.
I could hear them whispering behind me as we walked forward. I didn't care much to listen to what they were saying, but rather checking to see if the breeze was changing at all. I had always thought it was strange Patty didn't seem to be able to much with his abilities, or rather he had never tried to do much more than this. For someone who can track people with the wind itself, you'd think he had something else up his sleeve. Walking around the bend I saw a figure up ahead, narrowing my eyes I strained them to see who it was. Vibrant red, and purple streaked hair was what I saw first. This was where the headache was going to form straight into a migraine. I could feel my mental restraint dying out as the flamboyant man appeared in front of me.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the town hero Ana-chan." Blue painted lips pulled back to reveal sharp, white teeth. I frowned heavily as I looked at the clown in front of me. Yup, my head was starting to hurt even more, I lifted my forefingers to my temples rubbing them soothingly. The gods weren't smiling down on me, I could feel it in my bones. Whatever was happening today was a result of my own karma from years past. I should have listened more in my early teen years.
Bobby was Patty's second in command…maybe his third? I wasn't so sure anymore this place was like a revolving door of people. The clown like bandit seemed to not really fit in with the pirates that actually ran the villa. His obnoxious neon green jumpsuit made the orange ones behind me stylish. His narrow beady eyes seemed to light up when he saw them. No doubt he would want to try out the color himself. Running my hands over my face I tried not to sigh as we ran into this imbecile. The devil fruit he ate gave him the ability to turn objects into ammunition. It could be potentially a dangerous fruit, but he put it to shame treating it only as a parlor trick for his boss. I normally would entertain this guy gimmicks, but I wasn't in the mood today. Not after what Patty had done to the town folks. The damage was fixable, but there were lives lost. So, his would repent for theirs, it was only fair. And besides, who was I to stop him from getting what he deserved?
"Move it Bobby, I need to see Patty." The annoyance was coming off me now. First that panther, just had to pick me for lunch, then Alec had to pick a fight with some strange pirate. Now I had to deal with him here, while I knew he'd be in my list of people to go through I was expecting him to be at the villa. I wasn't actually expecting anyone to be on the trail other than the simple thugs he had for security. I rolled my eyes at his pained expression. "If you don't move I'll kill you this time."
He dropped the fake expression, and wore a real serious one. Looking from me to the men, and bear, behind me he looked confused. "Is this your crew?"
I was a question that I had gotten often when dealing with Patty and his thugs. First it seemed out of concern for their own safety, after a while however it turned into recruitment. I wasn't keen on joining up with people that were going to torment the local folks just because they were bored. They mentioned a larger portion was actually in the New World, however I wasn't going that far yet. I had things to keep me entertained here for the most part, so I wouldn't be leaving until I felt the call to the sea like others did. I may long for it at the moment, but I'd need a way back to that place and out of Paradise.
"No Bobby, they're not." I kept my voice calm as I tried to think of a way to either kill him or subdue him. Killing was so much easier, but I didn't want more blood on my hands than necessary. It was a habit I had ditched a little while ago, and I was determined to stick with it, for nothing other than the fact I gave my word on it. It was the whole premises of my being here in the first place. I had drawn to much attention to myself and was punished for it.
"So then are they your friends?" This idiot was asking to many questions, wasting my time. He was either a real class A idiot, or he was stalling us so we couldn't get to Patty. My eyes were practically slits as I regarded the now sweating man. "Come on Ana-chan you never travel with people. You only ever talk to like three people in town and sleep in the forest at night. I'm just curious."
Oh, he was stalling alright. This bastard only ever really cared about himself and his 'show'. Placing a hand on my hip, I drew circles in the air with the other. "Dance." His feet suddenly left the ground, and the clown started screaming in fear. A smirk made its way onto my lips as I moved him in different directions and upside down. "So, tell me what Patty is doing that made you come down here and distract me?"
"You will address him as the Young Lord! And I will never tell you!" Crossing his arms over his chest and looking away my patients snapped. I didn't have time for this, Patty was obliviously up to something and I was going to stop it. The breeze picked up again and Bobby stopped and looked in the direction of the villa. Well that decided it. Stepping to the side, I dodged a small bullet as it embedded itself into the ground my left foot had been on just a moment ago. Glaring at the dumb clown he gave me a sheepish smile like he hadn't been trying to injure me.
Looking at him gave me time to realize the shadows around me. Moving my head left, then right two more flying bullets went flying elsewhere. Gracefully moving to my left I turned so a larger one would almost collide with the clown who turned it back into a rock. At least he wasn't stupid enough to harm himself, but as I let another slip by me I realized he was. The new hole in his right shoulder was a reminder of how stupid the people I was working with were. It was a little surprising that he wasn't going to try and escape from this somehow, or do something incredibly stupid. I placed my money on option two.
"Good-bye Bobby." I walked to him in a calmly fashion. His eyes widened as he became scared for his life, we both knew I was going to end it. Finally reaching him, I put both hands on his cheeks, opening my mouth to say that last word he'd ever hear he opened his mouth.
"Wait! I'll tell you just spare me!" I arched an eye brow at his sudden co-operation. Then again potential death did that to people. He took my silence as a sign to continue. "The Young Lord, is using the port behind his villa to move some crates back to the Boss. I've heard that they are needed for some top-secret project that he is doing on an island in the New World. So top secret that the Marines don't even know that it's going on. I was sent here to give them more time so they could put it all on the ships and get it out of here before you came."
Tilting my head to the side I took in the material. That was somewhat useful information. I glanced off to the side, only snapping my head back when I saw some more suspicious objects near me. I sighed and looked at the sweating clown in front of me. "End."
Dropping my hands from his face the clown fell to the ground as I walked around his body. The ammunition around him fell to the ground as well. I would have let him live if he didn't try and blow me up with those bombs, now duds. Taking the turn around the bend I could see the villa in the near distance. Crossing my arms over my chest I shifted my weight back and forth from one leg to the other. Thinking of whether I should try to sneak in, and assassinate him so he couldn't tell others what was going on and sabotage him. On the other hand, though I could just kill every single person who gets in my way and send him into a frenzy about who it could be. Hands on my hips caused me to try and leap forward to escape their grasp. The large hands pulled back and I was suddenly pressed against a hard body.
"You're distracting my men. Please stop Ana-ya." The deep voice of Trafalgar Law invaded my ear, as he come into my very personal space. With it came this over whelming amount of heat that he seemed to produce. His warm breath on the back of my neck sent shivers down my spine. He let his grip slack just enough for me to escape from his grasp. I knew my cheeks would flush to a bright red, seeing his face made them even worse. The ever-knowing smirk he gave me irked me in certain ways, I didn't know whether to smack it off or rebut him. Turning around and stomping towards the villa I decided to just deal with at situation first before I decided how to deal with these pirates.
The guards at the door didn't even know what hit them when I came in like a hurricane. One brought down easily with a well-placed hit to his nose. Breaking the mostly cartilage piece, I shoved the stem back into his brain, he probably didn't know who had even ended his life. Whipping around to my left, I already had my clenched fist raised aiming for his temple. He may have been unconscious but I didn't care he was out of my way for the time being and that's what I needed. The deep chuckle behind me made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in a paranoid way.
Opening the doors, I walked into the grand foyer ignoring the gaudy columns made of some stone, the overly bright red carpet that stretched from the main doors to a set of doors at the far end. Other doors, and even a second floor were features in the room but I didn't care to stop and look at something that wasn't going to be standing for long. Besides the men coming through the now open doors at the end of the room caught my attention as I watched the room be tinted blue like I had seen on the beach before.
We were more than halfway through the too large entry way and I was keeping distance between myself and the pirates. I didn't want their leader putting his hands on me again, if this was part of what he was capable of. Though watching his victims fly around the blue field he had created was pretty entertaining, in a morbid way. Making my way through the double doors in front of me, I saw orange right beside me and looked up to glance at the bear. Bepo it seemed was a master at kung fu, or some other type of martial art. I didn't know much between telling the differences between them, just how to use bits and pieces of them. Smiling up at the polar bear, he grinned back down at me. Three other pairs of feet come in close behind us as we made our way to where Patty would most likely be.
The thing that caught me off guard was the fact there were no more guards in the room. This room especially should have had the most seeing as how our destination was only right ahead of us. Throwing my hand out, I signaled them to stop. Kneeling down to the floor, I felt it for vibrations. Yet another ability I had stolen from a Marine, the same one who gave me the ability to shift parts of the earth. Standing up I frowned at the fact that there wasn't any on this floor. At least in the room we stood in, so there really weren't any more people in the villa at the moment. Stationary people wouldn't be detected so if they had managed to be say sitting I wouldn't be able to detect them. Patty would be sitting on his 'throne' in his 'Throne Room'. This intermediate room I had seen once before while it was being constructed, it was the mayors house when he had lived in this location. It didn't have many of the same stone structures or fancy details like the rest of the place did.
It was unsettling to me with the lack of people. Even if Patty had the ability to move the air in almost every way he pleased he never fought himself. That's why he had henchmen who would do it for him no matter what. The damn fucker thought he could buy me with money, sneering out loud I tried my best to not laugh at the insane thought. He kept asking me each and every time I came up here for whatever reason, to join some stupid thing and each time it was a no from me. Everyone in this insane place thought they could just do as they pleased, but that was going to end today. Very simply, in fact, maybe this will be my warm up for the day. Scratch that, my exercise for the year.
"Is there a problem Ana-ya?" Ugh that voice, that velvet voice was making me sick at the moment. Turning my head to the right I saw Law out of the corner of my eye. Looking back at the door, I ignored him as I stepped closer to it. Putting my hands on it quietly I placed my right ear right against it. Trying my best to hear if there was any movement or talking on the other side. Despite my efforts though I couldn't hear anything from behind it. Sighing, I was taking my hands off when the door suddenly exploded.
Until next time my friends !