Wow! One chapter and it's already fairly popular. I guess I have no choice but to keep on writing. Thank you so much everybody for favouriting, following and reviewing.
FanSuperAnime - Ah very interesting. Magpie's abilities are similar to my other OCs but I am going to branch it out into something different as the story progresses. As for the masks…well, all I can say now that they are more sinister than what's on the surface.
I know I mentioned that I was going to finish one of my other stories before I start another, but I accidentally made the mistake of being completely and totally hooked on One Piece. I only recently got into it and I'm currently at the Long Ring Long Island arc. I then began to daydream on it, come up with characters, story arcs etc, etc and…well, it's like when you got a song stuck in your head and the only way of stopping it is by listening to that song. However, I will love it and cherish it like I do with my other stories. I quite like the roulette idea; I might try it out.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you will enjoy the next chapter.
Djinn -Thank you so much, I'm glad you are reviewing this story as well.
phillyitalian - Haha! I can only imagine Sanji's reaction to that joke. Thanks for reading.
Chunky Mutt - Thanks so much for telling me, the issue has been fixed now.
Eavise - Thanks for the recommendations; I'll see what I can do.
justinmll1971 - A female Trafalgar Law, huh? Hmm, I'll definitely consider it. Thank you so much for reading.
Linkonpark100 - Not quite sure if that logic is correct, but I hundred percent agree with it, haha! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter.
Guest - I will definitely elaborate and develop the power that comes with the Snatch Snatch Fruit as the story progresses as well as Magpie's backstory. Thank you for the recommendations for the harem, I'll take them into consideration.
HyenaMan - I have to agree with you there, I'm not a big fan of OP OC stories; it just gets boring knowing that they are always going to win because of their strength or because of their knowledge of what is going to happen. I like to make OCs who take on larger, smarter and stronger enemies; who are pushed to the limit of their abilities to achieve their goals and who mentally struggle with difficult decisions and question their own ethics. That's what makes a story compelling.
Thank you so much for waiting; writing so many stories isn't easy, but I do enjoy it.
nexusplayer - Huh? I never read or seen Seven Deadly Sins; I've never heard of him. I might have to look into him for inspiration now and again as well as come up with a few ideas of my own. Thank you so much for reading and for reviewing all of my stories. I'll be sure to respond to all of them when I get around to them.
Thank you all for reviewing :)
Chapter 2: The Thieving Magpie
Little Garden Island
Magpie stepped onto the bank of the river that flowed through, the ironically named, Little Garden Island. The entire piece of land was an enormous jungle; with tall trees, green bushes and shrubbery as big as a small house and grassland as far as the eye can see; there we even live volcanoes that erupt frequently somewhere in the distance. It was the home of vicious dinosaurs and there are even rumours of giants hidden somewhere.
However, Magpie did not care about the jungle, or dinosaurs or giants. He had only one mission that he needed to carry out.
His investigation to Whiskey Peak was fruitless. The only town on the island had been deserted a few days previous and there was nobody he could interrogate into giving the location of Monkey D. Luffy. The residents seemed to have left in a hurry judging by the fact that furniture and other miscellaneous items had been left behind. Magpie briefly wondered if his target was the reason for the sudden evacuation, but, after some thought, he doubted it.
He tethered his boat onto the bank, making sure it was secure before he walked straight into the jungle. Instead of using his rapier to cut through the thick foliage, he avoided it as much as he could; ducking and swerving around it smoothly and touching as little of it as possible. His second objective, beneath his main one, was to leave as little evidence as possible; he can't have anybody knowing that he or any other member of his group that glue had been here.
After a few minutes of walking, he finally stopped as he spotted tracks in the mud. Most of them were shoe prints, but one was, curiously enough, shaped like an ostrich-like talon. Not too long after that, he found some of the trees and had been cut down or broken; some of them had been burnt as if they had been near an explosion. He found traces of paint on the leaves and giant pits which looked as if something heavy had dropped onto it. Finally, he found several pools of a white substance on the leaves and on the ground, after some investigation, he found that it was wax; the same sort used in making candles.
He could tell a fight had broken out here. Who was fighting who was a mystery, but he knew that at least some of them had Devil Fruit powers. The conflict couldn't have been less than two days ago, meaning he had already missed them…but he was getting closer.
Magpie stood back up and was about to continue his investigation…when he suddenly sensed something. He turned his masked face towards where he had anchored his boat to the river bank and tilted his head in intrigue.
Somebody was on his boat.
He immediately turned back and casually walked back to the river. Meanwhile, hidden in the leaves of a palm tree above, a figure watched him with a gleeful smile on his face.
River Bank
As Magpie was away, a young girl about sixteen years old was hurriedly untying the sails of the assassin's boat. She was short, just under five foot, with dark brown hair tied into twin pigtails, fair skin, wide black eyes and pink cheeks. She wore a blue jacket with white clouds on it over a dark blue t-shirt, a pink skirt, purple and white tights and pink wide-brimmed hat. In her possession was a rucksack and a rolled-up mat as well a green duffel bag that she placed to one side on the boat as she quickly tried to get it ready to set sail.
Once the sails had been unfurled and everything was in order, she reached back to the bank to release the stake the boat was tethered to…when she suddenly noticed a shape tip of a blade pointed right at her face.
She gulped nervously and looked up to see Magpie towering over her whilst pointing his rapier at her; his white jovial mask smiling menacingly down at her. He titled his head inquisitively at her before he reached down with other hand, grabbed her by the back of her jacket's collar and lifted her up easily, causing her to squeak in fright. He raised her up until her face was at the same height as his; his hollow black eyes staring deeply in her own. He glanced down at her hands and noticed that her fingers had splotches of dry paint all over them; the same that he had found on the leaves.
'First witness has been identified,' he thought as he put away his rapier, took out the wanted poster of Luffy from his pocket and showed it to her, "Where is Monkey D. Luffy?" he demanded in his dark voice.
"A-aren't you going to a-ask me why I-I-I was stealing your boat?" she squeaked timidly.
Magpie brought her closer to his mask, "Where is Monkey D. Luffy?" he repeated with a growl.
"I-I don't know, that pirate attacked me and my family and he and his crew left me stranded on this island," she whimpered, "please, let me go. I just want to get back to my mama and papa."
The assassin noticed her eyes look over to the left over his shoulder and the jungle behind him; it was subtle and anybody would pass it off as nothing; but Magpie knew better.
She was sending out a signal for an attack.
Suddenly, he threw her to the side and dodge swiftly before a small projectile flew past his head. It landed in the water and exploded on impact, shooting water droplets into the air. He spun around, drew out his rapier and sprinted towards where he knew the shooter had come from. Three more small projectiles shot towards him, but he dodged them easily as if they were nothing; making the ground behind him explode.
He narrowed his eyes as he spotted a figure hidden in the bushes; he was about to go after him when he sensed a presence hurtling down onto his head. Magpie jumped back as somebody slammed into the ground where he had previously been. The person who had landed, seemingly without being harmed, was a young pretty slender woman in her late teens with short blond hair, fair skin and bright green eyes. She wore a yellow dress with lemon-like patten on it, a yellow and orange hat, lemon earrings and carried a bright green parasol with blue stripes.
She grinned wickedly as she saw Magpie leap back, her eyes brighten in cruel excitement, "Kyahahaha!" she laughed, "Your turn Mr. 3," she called out.
Magpie tilted her head at her in intrigue before he felt something warm wrap around his feet and lower legs. He looked down and saw a wave of white wax submerge his legs, preventing him from escaping as he was stuck to the ground. He didn't attempt to break out of it; but merely look down at it as in fascination.
'The wax samples I found earlier and the pits were made by the attackers. Two more witnesses have been identified,' he thought
"Aha! Do you like my wax trap creation," a haughty voice called out to him, "a marvellous design that combines my beautiful sculpture that shows of my strategical prowess."
The voice belonged to a scrawny man who came out of his hiding place from within the jungle; he was average-sized with black hair that was styled into the number 3, fair skin, thin, dark eyes hidden behind blue tinted glasses and a long face. He wore a blue and white striped shirt a maroon-coloured bow tie and a pair of tanned-coloured trousers. He also had a few bandages wrapped around his face as if he just been seriously been beat up in a fight.
The now named Mr. 3 smirked happily and took a deep bow, "Of course, my true genius is evident in everyone's contribution. Especially your acting talent Miss Golden Week."
The short girl stood up and brushed herself off before pulling a cracker out of her pocket and began nibbling at it, "No problem. It was kind of fun," she said in an even tone.
The last person to come out of their hiding place was a tall, dark-skinned man with black hair in spiky dreadlocks. His eyes were concealed behind sunglasses and he wore a brown trousers and trench coat with the number '5' stitched on and a pink cravat. He stalked over and sneered down at the assassin.
"Tsch. This punk managed to avoid all my bombs," he grumbled as he lifted his hand and produced a few miniature explosions in his palm, "he's a quick one, I give him that."
"Kyahahaha! Quick, but stupid. You totally fell into our trap, you…whatever you are," the blond woman said.
"I suspect that he is a wannabe Billion who is hoping for a promotion, Miss Valentine," the man with the 3 on his head said with a confident smirk, "Your hope is, unfortunately, too far out of you reach. I don't doubt that you have heard of Mr 3. My unbeatable and flawless strategic mind is quite well known."
Magpie merely stared back at him, not responding to what he said.
Mr 3 raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged it off, "Of course, we'll be taking your boat and leaving you here. I must speak to Mr Zero as soon as possible."
"Good thing you swung on by," Miss Valentine said, "I'm getting tired of the humid hell hole."
"I quite like it," Miss Golden Week admitted with a shrug before she went back to her cracker.
"Are you sure he's a Billion?" the dark-skinned man muttered, as he cocked an eyebrow at Magpie, "It's weird that the boss would send somebody low ranking to kill us of."
Mr 3 hummed and scratched his chin, "I guess you're right, Mr 5," he admitted as he stepped closer to Magpie; "so what's your number, hmm? 4? 2? Maybe even 1? Which is it?"
The assassin remained silent and simply stared eerily at him before turning his head to stare at Mr 5. Mr 3 growled in annoyance at the lack of response.
"The silent treatment, huh? Maybe you need some convincing. Mr 5 would you do the honours."
Mr 5 tutted, "Don't tell me what to do," he grumbled as he raised his right hand and formed a fist.
"Kyahahaha! Kick his ass, Mr 5!" Miss Valentines cackled in excitement.
Miss Golden Week merely watched on with a bored expression and pulled out another cracker from her pocket to nibble on.
Magpie remained calm; his hollow dark eyes darting to each member, calculating his plan of attack based on his gathered knowledge on them, 'Targets need to be subdued, but not eliminated as I still need to interrogate them,' he thought as he eyes landed on Mr 5 who was preparing to run at him, ' Mr 5 - first priority, Miss Valentine - second priority, Mr 3 - third priority and Miss Golden Week - fourth priority. Attack success probability: 95%,' he decided before he crossed his arms across his chest and pinched his thumbs and index finger together.
"Stupid punk," Mr 5 muttered as he charged at him with his fist aimed at his chest, "thinking you can take on the likes of us."
He threw his punch at him; ready to blow him up with his Devil Fruit Powers…but as soon as it landed, it felt like he had punched a brick wall and winced in pain. However, he was beyond surprised to see that his power didn't work; not even a spark came from his hand. His eyebrows shot up on surprise; he glanced up at his masked face and noticed that he didn't even flinch. Magpie tilted his head as he looked down at him before he raised his right hand and smacked his face with his back hand.
BOOOOM!
As soon as his hand collided, a large explosion erupted from Magpie's hand sending Mr 5 flying back and land painfully a few meters away.
Mr 3 jaws dropped.
Miss Valentine stopped her cackling; her eyes wide in shock.
Miss Golden Week raised her eyebrows and finally stopped eating.
The attackers looked over at the colleague lying in heap on the ground; his right cheek was swollen and singed, his sunglasses were cracked and it looked as if some of his teeth had been knocked out as well.
"W-what?" Miss Valentine said with a gulp, "he just used his Bomb Bomb Fruit against him. How did he do that?"
"Umm…wha?" Mister 3 uttered, "that's impossible."
Magpie looked down at his feet, where the wax was covering him, and used the stolen power to explode his own feet, blasting the wax it to pieces and freeing him from his prison. He crouched down and zoomed past them and into the jungle in a flash; he was so quick that their minds didn't process that he had gone for a few seconds.
"So fast," Miss Valentine muttered as she scanned the tree line for him, "Mr 5 are you alright?"
The man in questioned groaned in pain and clambered back onto his feet, rubbing the slightly burnt part of his face, "No…way," he grumbled as he felt his powers not working, "that damn punk, stole my power," he spat before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a revolver, "I'm going to gut that little-"
Schlick!
"Ah!" Mr 5 cried out as something sharp cut open his back from shoulder to shoulder, leaving a thin cut in the coat to reveal a bloodied gash.
His arms fell limp to his side and his shoulders slumped, forcing him to drop the revolver with a loud thunk.
Schlick!
Schlick!
He cried out again as he was cut twice, one on each of the back of the leg. Losing strength to keep upright, he fell to his knees and gritted his teeth in agony; he felt as if was completely immobilised. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Magpie standing to his left with a rapier in his right hand pointed downwards towards the ground; a single drop of blood dropped from the tip and fell to the ground.
"Light cuts to the upper trapezius and the hamstrings," Magpie told himself, "Result: paralysis."
Miss Valentine grimaced as she saw her partner get taken down so easily and turned to Mr 3 in mild panic, "Come on! Come up with a plan to stop him!"
"Errr…" Mr 3 hummed, still too shock to react.
"Forget it! I do it myself," the blond woman cried out before she unfurled her parasol and began to float into the air, "One kilogram! I'm going to smash you into the- hrrk!"
She gave a startled gasp as Magpie suddenly sprinted towards her, leapt ten feet into the air and grabbed her leg in one swift motion. She hardly had time to react before he pulled her down by her leg, spun around in mid-air before hurling her down to the ground. She landed hard onto her back causing her to yelp in pain, managing to form a crater in the soft ground from the impact. Magpie landed gracefully beside her as she dizzily raised her head for a few seconds before she fell back down to the ground.
"Blunt trauma to the back and head. Result: unconsciousness."
Mr 3 seemed to have snapped out of his stupor by then; he reached out his hands and produced two tendrils of melted wax from them that shot towards Magpie.
"Have a taste of my Wax Wax Fruit, you little cretin!" he yelled as the tendrils headed towards the assassin.
Seeing the wax coming at him, Magpie crossed his arms over his chest and punched both his thumb and index finger together. The tendrils stopped a mere inches away from him and froze solid; Mr 3 gasped as his hands stopped producing wax suddenly, leaving the two tendrils to fall lifeless to the ground with a soft clatter. Magpie looked towards the panicked Mr 3, who was trying to figure out what was going on with his power, and simply raised his hands up and produced two identical wax tendrils from them.
"Devil Fruit Power used against him. Result: incapacitated."
They shot towards him and the man could only yelp as they hit his chest and began to wrap around him tightly; smothering his entire body, apart from his head, in fluid wax. Magpie pointed his hand to the side and commanded the tendrils to wrap the other two fallen attackers in a wax cocoon.
He finally stopped producing the wax and shook his hands to get rid of any traces. He heard a noise behind him and, without looking around, whipped out his pistol and pointed it at Miss Golden Week, who was attempting to escape with her two bags. The teen stopped as she heard the pistol's hammer click and gulped nervously; this time it wasn't an act. She glanced over and saw him beckon with the pistol back to where she had been; she sheepishly followed his order.
With one pistol still trained on Miss Golden Week, Magpie sheathed his rapier and slowly walked up to Mr 3 who was struggling against his cocoon prison. When he saw the assassin's shadow fall over him, he began to sweat anxiously before he looked up at his sinister masked face.
"O-our apologies, dear sir," Mr 3 stammered, "We were only just…testing your skill, that's all. B-but we leaned out lesson so…y-you don't have to kill me…right?"
Magpie leaned forwards to tower over the scared man, "My mission is not to eliminate you all your colleagues. I would kill…but you are more useful to me alive than dead."
"H-how do you mean?"
Magpie reached into his pocket and showed him Luffy's wanted poster, "Where is the pirate that calls himself Monkey D. Luffy?"
Mr 3 frowned slightly in confusion, "How are you already aware of him? I only known about him for a few days; there's no way other members could-" he stopped suddenly, his eyes widening in shock, "You are not a member of Baroque Works, are you?"
'Baroque Works,' Magpie thought, taking note of the name, 'I don't know it. I must remember it; it could be useful in the future,' he decided before he showed the wanted poster to him again, "Where is Monkey D. Luffy?"
"I-I don't know. They left a couple of days ago," Mr 3 whimpered.
Magpie's hooded head cocked to the side, "Are you curious about my power? I have the power of the Snatch Snatch Fruit; it allows me to take anything from anyone within a fifty meter radius, even others' Devil Fruit powers," he put away the wanted poster and held up a hand towards his head, "I can even still memories; so either you answer me truthfully or I can take it from you," his hollow eyes glinted darkly, making Mr 3 pale, "Have you ever had your memories ripped away from your head…it's very painful."
Mr 3's gulped as he saw the hand approached, "Arabasta," he finally said, "They're heading to Arabasta."
"Arabasta is a vast land. Where in Arabasta?"
"I don't know, I swear! Please, I really don't know!"
"And his crew?"
"I don't know their names."
"What they look like will be sufficient."
"W-well, there's a girl with orange hair, I-I think she's the navigator. There's a swordsman with three swords and…and…and there's one with a long nose who is a sniper."
"Anybody else?"
"…no, no I swear."
Magpie hummed and lowered his hand to his side, "Will you be able to identify him?"
"I-I'm sorry?"
"Identify him. His appearance, his ship, his crew?"
"Y-yes…probably," Mr 3 stammered.
"Good," Magpie said with a tilt of his head, "then you are all coming with me."
Magpie's Boat
The members of Baroque Works were all below the deck of his one-man boat, chained to the hill using stone made from Seastone know to take away the powers of Devil Fruit users. Mr 3 and a recovered Mr 5 and Miss Valentine sat miserably on wooden benches across from each other while Miss Golden Week was, once again, nibbling on her cracker emotionlessly.
Magpie tightened the handcuffs around Miss Valentine before he stood up straight, turned around and climbed the stairs that headed to the upper deck.
"There is food and water in the cupboards at your feet," he informed them as he stepped onto the upper deck "if you try to escape, I will leave you to drown in the ocean."
"Hey! Can you at least give me my power back!" Miss Valentine demanded angrily, "It's not like I'm getting out of here any time soon."
Magpie stared down at her through the trapdoor that led beneath the deck, "I may have use for your Kilo Kilo Fruit. I'll keep it for now," he simply said before he closed the trapdoor hatch, plunging them into darkness.
Magpie untethered his boat from the river bank and set sailing back down the river towards open ocean and then to Arabasta.
The great kingdom of Arabasta is well known in these parts of the Grand Line; a powerful nation that thrived and prospered despite the unforgiving desert that they had made their home in. However, he had heard from intel that there was trouble in the nation, a three-year long drought had plagued Arabasta and there was no sign of it being solved anytime soon; its people were becoming angered by the day, villagers have been abandoned and lost to the sand and the royal family who ruled the land were in threat of facing a revolution.
Magpie, himself, had never been to the island before; Arabasta had close connections with the Marines and being discovered by the Marines is an immediate death sentence if the Secret Empire catch wind of it. Besides, he has never been on a mission that involved the country, so he had no reason to go. But it would seem that he has no choice; his mission was paramount; he will follow the pirate to the end of the sea if necessary.
With one hand on the helm and the other holding with an Enteral Pose that had the word 'Arabasta' inscribed on it, Magpie sailed out the estuary and into the ocean as he followed the compass needle.
Grand Line
Several hours had past and the journey across towards Arabasta had been uneventful.
The sun shone brightly down from the cloudless sky; the blue ocean lapped gently on the hull of the boat and there was a strong wind behind him to which he was thankful for. At his speed, he reckoned he would reach Arabasta's closest port by the next morning and from there he would have to continue his investigation.
Magpie was cleaning the blood of the blade of his rapier when he sensed something coming towards his general direction. He looked up and tilted his head curiously when he saw something dark block the sun for a few seconds; that something got bigger and bigger as it fell out of the sky, screaming all the way down.
"-aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The thing landed with a tremendous splash into the water a few meters away in front of his boat. He only got a glimpse of what it was; it looked human enough, but it had a hippo-like head on top of his human head. As he sailed by, he stared down curiously at where he had landed and the air bubbles rising to the surface; he then turned away with an indifferent shrug and continued sailing past.
SPLASH!
"HACK! HACK!"
At the sound of somebody coughing and sputtering, Magpie glanced back to see two wet gloved hands grabbing on to the side of his boat. The owner of the hands pulled themselves up so that their head appeared over the side.
"Hey! Don't just leave me here!" the man yelled at him angrily.
He looked to be in his late forties with a thin face and a sharp jaw made off two tin silver-coloured plates; he had beady eyes and spiky dark purple hair that stuck out underneath hooded caps made from the hide of the white Walkie, a hippo-like creature found mainly in snowy regions. He was also wearing a tin-plated armour which, of course, did nothing but way him down into the sea.
"You see a somebody fall out of the sky and you just ignore it! I could have drowned!" the man shouted.
"I was rather hoping you would," Magpie responded calmly.
"Treason!" the man shouted, "Don't you know who I am?"
"You are irrelevant to my mission. Get off my boat."
"I am Wapol, king of Drum Island, you treacherous bastard!" the man yelled at him, "And if you don't pull me up now, I will consume you and your boat with my Devil Fruit Power!"
Magpie glanced at him before he continued polishing his rapier, "You are not known to me. You are irrelevant. Get of my boat."
"Hrrk!" Wapol grunted as if the fact that somebody not knowing him was painful, "Irrelevant...he called me irrelevant," he muttered in disbelief before his eyes narrowed dangerously at him, "That's it! For treason against the king of Drum Island, you will take me back to my kingdom and I will have you executed for your crimes along with that reindeer, that girl and that straw hat pirate..."
Magpie immediately stopped his polishing and snapped his head towards Wapol, his black eyes glinting dangerously.
"...I will have your heads chopped off and then have your heads embedded on pikes and allow the animals to feast on your rotting rema- ack!"
Magpie grabbed him by the collar of his cape and pulled him to his masked face, "What was that?" he snarled as a dark aura radiated off him that made the former king tremble, "You said straw hat pirate. Do you mean Monkey D. Luffy?"
"Err..." Wapol sputtered.
The wanted appeared in Magpie's hand and he shoved it to his face, "This man. This is who you are talking about."
Wapol gulped and frowned in anger, "Why should I tell you, peasant! Let me go no-"
The assassin threw away the wanted poster before he used it to grip tightly onto Wapol's head, causing him to cry out in pain, "Your too slow in answering," he whispered in a deadly tone before he used his power to steal the king's memories.
Memories flashed in his mind of the things Wapol had seen from the earliest event to the latest. They were vague and held no context for Magpie to understand; since they were not his memories, there were no emotion behind them which is something that he couldn't take away from another person. The memories were just images appearing in his head one after another like a slideshow and he had to make sense of it all. After going through all of them, only three memories were relevant to his mission.
He saw that he was high above a stone castle on an island covered in snow, looking down at Monkey D. Luffy who was bursting out of the ceiling of the castle with his arms outstretched much longer than should be possible. This was possibility taken moments after Wapol was sent flying though the sky.
'My target seems to be strong and have some sort of Devil Fruit Power,' he noted, observing Luffy's elongated arms, 'Possibly paramecia, but more information is needed.'
He then saw that he was in front of the castle now right in front of the wooden door. Luffy was there, but there two others. One was a tall elderly woman with long greyish hair, a sharp wrinkled face and eyes covered in a pair of sunglasses. She wore a purple jacket over a short white and pink shirt, purple jeans and she had navel ring. The one person, if you could call him that, was a short brown furry animal. He stood upright on his back hooves and had round black eyes and a blue nose. He wore a pair of purple shorts and a pink brimmed top hat with a white 'X' on the front and a pair of antlers on either side of them.
Magpie frowned slightly, 'New witnesses. What is their relationship with my target?'
The last and final memory was him on board a wooden ship with a goat head for a figure head and a skull wearing a straw hat stitched onto the sails. The image was dominated by two hands, belonging to Luffy, soaring towards him as if they were going to knock him away, but he was able to see other people on the ship. One was a muscular man with short green hair, lightly tanned skin and sharp eyes; he wore a loose white shirt, dark green trousers, gold dangling earrings in his left ear and had three katana sheathed upon his hip. The other was a skinny tan skinned teenager with dark curly hair underneath a green bandanna and a thin long nose. He was wearing a pair of brown overalls, a white sash tied around his waist and a pair of sniper glasses on his head. Their image matched the description Mr. 3 told him, but he didn't recognise the other two. One was a slim, blond hair man with fair skin, curly eyebrows and had a lit cigarette in his mouth. He wore a black suit with golden buttons a blue shirt and a white tie. The last person's face was obscured by Luffy's thumb, but he could see she had a female figure wearing a white coat and blue trousers. The only woman Mr. 3 mentioned was the one with orange hair and so he could only assume that it was her.
"That should be enough," he said out loud, opening his eyes and releasing Wapol from his power.
The king was suffering the effects on having his memories stolen; his entire body had become limp and his head slumped onto the edge of his boat; his eyes had become blank and lifeless and he was foaming at the mouth. He isn't dead, but it would take him a few hours to wake him up. Magpie ignored his state and used his power to make an Eternal Pose appear in his hand which had the words 'Drum Island' inscribed on it.
'Their destination is Arabasta, but they had diverted to Drum Island for some reason,' he thought as he set the Pose down next to the one for Arabasta, 'Assuming that hadn't left already and they are heading straight to Arabasta, if I set sail to the point between the two islands, I can catch them halfway there. All I need to do is get in place and wait for a ship with a ram's head as a figurehead.'
He looked down at the Poses and saw the needles point in two separate directions, one pointed to the top left and the other to the top right. If he set sail between the two then the point where both needles either point to the left and right respectively would be the route his target would go through.
He got to the helm and turned it in the new direction, but then he spotted Wapol still holding onto the side of his boat. He stared at him for a few seconds before he reached into a compartment in the deck of his boat, pulled out a liftering and put it around the king's head and pushed him off.
"Enjoy ruling your new country...if you manage to find land, your highness," he mocked as he watched Wapol float away before turning back to his helm.
Several hours had passed since he arrived on the route where he would encounter his target; as soon as the needles of the Eternal Pose faced the other way, he took down the sails and set anchor before waiting patiently with him staring at the horizon through his spyglass. He remained this position all through the night, only stopping to check in on the members of Baroque Works ever so often or to clean his pistols.
Finally, in the early morning as a thick fog began to settle around him, he spotted a ship on the horizon. He looked through his spyglass once more and saw the white ram head figurehead and the skull and the Jolly Roger wearing a straw hat. It was an older design and certainly not the largest vessel in the Grand Line; it had three decks, one main mast with a crow nest on the top and a jib sail at the back; there was a wooden building that was acted as the galley located near the back where a grove of trees was situated upon it. It had four cannons; one on the bow underneath the figurehead, one of stern and one on both the port and starboard. The hull, keel and figurehead were painted in white, brown, and coal grey; it looked too bright and optimistic for a pirate ship.
However, there was no doubt, this has got to be their ship.
He used his oars instead of his sails to sail deeper into the fog; once he was hidden enough, he crouched down on the bow of his boat and waited for the ship to enter. An hour of waiting later, the ship sailed past him, unknowingly of his presence, and Magpie sprang into action. He grabbed a rope, with one end tethered to his boat, and leapt ten feet onto the rudder of the ship; he scaled nimbly up the back of the quarterdeck before he reached the top and tied the rope around the wooden railing that lined the ship. He swiftly leapt onto the roof of the galley, past the tangerine trees and climbed up the main mast and crouched down on its yard and waited.
He didn't have to wait for long as somebody burst out of the galley door, ran across the deck and leapt onto the figurehead excitedly.
"Yahooo! Look at all this fog!" he yelled out before looking over his shoulder, "Hey guys, wake up! You need to see this!"
Magpie cocked his head to the side as he stared down at the person he knew was Monkey D. Luffy. With his straw hat on his head and a wide stupid grin on his mouth, the pirate who was his target was a mere few meters away. Of course, he couldn't go after him now; not with his crew also on the ship.
The second person to leave the galley, albeit less enthusiastically and more sleepily than Luffy, was the long-nosed teen he saw from Wapol's memories. He groggily walked out and gave a big yawn whilst shooting the pirate a light glare.
"Can you keep the noise down, Luffy. We all just woke up."
"But Usopp look! It's fog!"
"Yeah, so what? You've seen it before."
"Wow!" a voice squeaked as a small, brown fury creature zipped past Usopp to Luffy's side, staring at the fog they were going through in awe. Magpie recognised him as well from Wapol's memories as the reindeer in the pink hat, "I've never seen fog on the ocean before! Why does it do that Luffy!?"
"I don't know," Luffy replied cheerily, "But I say we use it to play hide and seek in."
"Yeah!" the reindeer eagerly replied.
Usopp gave the two an inquisitive look, "Hide and seek? Are you guys six or something?"
Luffy grinned back at him, "Ha! I bet you're just saying that because you're not good at it. Right Chopper?" he asked, getting the reindeer to nod his furry head.
The long-nosed teen flinched at that and frowned angrily, "Hey! I have you know that I was the hide and seek champion back on my home island," he boasted proudly, "my record was six months and they only found me because I took pity on them. Oh, and don't get me started on my seeking skills. I can spot a potential hiding place from a mile away and-"
"Knock it off!" a grumpy feminine voice cried out from the galley, "You are all too loud."
Another member stepped out onto the deck, but, this time, Magpie does not recognise her from Wapol's memories. She was a beautiful, curvaceous young woman in her late teens with shoulder length orange hair, fair skin and brown eyes. She dressed quite fashionably with her floral blouse and orange skirt; she also had a log pose on her left wrist. She looked at her surroundings and squinted at the fog that the ship had submerged itself in before checking her log pose.
"We're heading in the right direction," she said as she looked up, "we just need to sail through this fog and we should be close to Arabasta."
"Cool!" Luffy cheered as he got off the figurehead, "that means we have time for breakfast. Hey Sanji! Cook something for us!"
"Alright, alright," a male voice muttered as another person stepped out onto the deck whilst igniting a cigarette, "No need to shout."
Magpie, once again, recognised the blond-haired man from Wapol's memories, the one wearing the dark suit and had curly eyebrows. Judging by Luffy's shouts, he must have been the ship's cook. He coolly looked around his surroundings with his hands shoved into his pockets, took a drag from his cigarette and blow it in the air.
"Damn, I can barely see anything," he muttered, "Maybe we should have somebody on lookout at the front in case we hit a reef or something."
"On it," Usopp said, jogging up to the bow and using his sniper glasses head gear to peer into the darkness.
"Good idea, Sanji," the orange haired girl said, "The last thing we need is to crash into something."
Sanji's cool demeanour turned 180 degrees as he began to quiver in joy with his hands clutched together and hearts appearing in his eyes, "~Anything for you, Nami-swan!~" he cooed in a lovesick manner, "~Breakfast for today is fried rice with miso soup and fried fish! I'll pour so much love into making yours!~"
The now names Nami-swan...ahem. I mean Nami, shrugged her shoulders in reply and not bothered to look back at him, "Sure, sounds nice."
"~Anything for you Nami-swan!~"
"Can I have mine with extra meat?" Luffy asked excitedly.
"I'll have mine with natto," a new voice called out from the galley.
"Be quiet!" Sanji snapped at the both of them with a cold look, "You get what you're given!" he said before he walked back into the galley.
Steeping out after he entered was the green haired swordsmen, the last character from Wapol's memories. He scratched his chin tiredly before looking around his surroundings.
"Huh," he murmured, "This looks like good weather to have a nap in."
"You just woke up," Nami exclaimed before she pointed to the bow of the ship, "Do something productive and light lanterns around the ship."
The swordmen sighed bitterly, "Fine."
He was about to head back inside when he stopped suddenly and looked up the main mast of the ship, directly at where Magpie was sitting. The assassin stood very still when he noticed the swordsmen looking up and used the wooden yard and the dense fog to keep himself hidden. The green haired man frowned and hummed curiously as if he sensed his presence and reached down to grab the hilt of one of his swords.
"Hey, Zoro! Come play with us!"
The now named Zoro snapped his head back to where Luffy and Chopper had called out to him, allowing Magpie to swiftly move to his position to the second yard on the main mast. Zoro looked back up to mast once again, but sensed that, whatever was there, was suddenly gone. He sighed and removed his hand from his sword before walking inside the galley.
"Maybe later. I've got things to do before I start training," he called out to them, much to the two's disappointment.
Magpie cocked his head to the side as he thought about all of the crew, 'Target identified: Monkey D. Luffy. Other members: Chopper, Usopp, Nami, Sanji and Zoro. Six in total; two possibly strong members while others are of unknown strength and ability. Two possible plans of attack. 1) Subdue target and take him off his ship before other members noticed. Chance of success: 60% 2) Subdue entire crew before subduing target. Chance of success: 70%'
Magpie frowned as he calculated the results. He was weary of a plan that had less than an 80% success rate. The last time he did a mission with less than 80% ended in disaster for him and almost got him terminated by the Secret Empire. The main problem was his lack of knowledge on their skills and strengths; he can hazard an estimate on Luffy and Zoro being strong, but he had little to no information on the others or any potential Devil Fruit users. After a few seconds of deliberation, he decided to go for the first plan. Although it did have a lower success rate; the chances of the crew spotting him in the fog was low and if he was caught in the process then he could make a getaway and send an anonymous call to the Marines about a pirate ship off the coast of Arabasta.
'Isolate target, subdue and escape. Recalculating success rate,' he thought as he went through the possible scenarios in his head, finally he came to a result, 'Chance of success: 80%.'
He was just about to find a way to lure Luffy to the quarterdeck of the ship when suddenly the door to the galley opened up once again. He expected it to be either the cook or the swordsmen, but he was surprised to see that it was someone else entirely. She was a beautiful young woman in her mid to late teens with long blue hair tied up in a ponytail, fair skin and pretty brown eyes; she wore a green chequered shirt and a pair of white knee-length shorts. As soon as stepped outside, she took a deep breath of fresh morning air and rubbed her eyes. Coming out of the galley behind her was large five-foot-tall duck with yellow feathers, an orange bill and wore a blue and white chullo and goggles on its head.
Magpie leaned back in shock, 'There are more members to his crew. My reconnaissance is incomplete.'
The blue haired woman approached Nami and greeted her with a friendly smile, "Good morning," she chirped happily, "How's everybody doing?"
"Morning Vivi," Nami greeted back, "We're fine. I'm glad that we moving to somewhere warmer."
"I know what you mean. As pretty as Drum Island is, I don't think I would ever get used to how cold it was. We finally got a decent night's rest, isn't that right Karoo?"
"Quack! Quack!" Karoo replied with a nod to his feathered head.
Vivi looked out at the fog that was surrounded around them and frowned in concern "Are you going to be alright navigating through this fog?"
"It should be fine. This type of thing is caused when the wind carries warm air out to sea and mixes with the cool air. That must mean we must be getting close to Arabasta. I reckon we be out of this in a few minutes or so as long as we follow the Log Pose," Nami explained.
Magpie clenched his hands into tight fists in anger, 'Incomplete reconnaissance. Two extra members identified: Vivi and Karoo,' he looked down at the giant duck and flinched as he recognised what it was, 'Super spot-billed duck identified. Origins: Arabasta. Since it is the pet to Vivi, it must mean that the member is a resident of Arabasta.'
This was bad for him.
Being spotted by a pirate wasn't a massive deal. The Marines believe that pirates are untrustworthy and so there is less danger of them believing a word they say about him. But if this woman was a resident of a kingdom that's associated with the World Government, then the confidentiality of the Secret Empire is at risk. She would tell the Marines where he was and he would compromise and promptly terminated.
'Chance of sucess...' he thought drearily, '55%.'
He could gather more information of her and see for certain if she was truly a threat, but, as Nami had said, the fog would past and he would have lost his cover. He was doomed if he acted now and doomed if he acted later.
There was nothing he could do...
...
...
...unless.
Magpie lifted his head up as he thought of another plan; a plan that could achieve all his objectives and still have his identity hidden. His hollow eyes gleamed darkly as he thought of the success rate.
"Chance of success...90%" he whispered to himself.
Ship's Galley
Sanji stood at the stove as he fried enough rice to feed the entire crew whilst preparing the miso in another pan. He hummed to himself and took another drag from his almost finished cigarette before blowing the smoke off to the side. The kitchen onboard the Going Merry was much smaller than the one he was used to; it was jammed into a corner of the galley and shared its space with a large table where they held meetings and ate, a storage place and the helm of the ship which consisted of a pole coming out of the floor that controlled the rudder. Sanji, however, didn't mind. All he needed was a stove and oven, a few cooking utensils and access to fresh ingredients.
The cook took one last puff of his cigarette before he threw out the butt of it out the port window and into the sea. With one hand, he reached into his breast pocket for another one in the pack...when he suddenly couldn't find it.
"Huh?" Sanji uttered as he rooted around the pocket trying to find it, but there was nothing there, "What the hell? I swear it was just in here," he grunted in anger, "It was a new pack as well."
He switched off the stove and stormed out of the galley to see the other members of the crew. Nami and Vivi were talking to each other on deck chairs, Luffy was sitting on the figurehead with Usopp on the bow staring in to the fog up ahead and Zoro sleeping against the side of the ship. Chopper and Karoo were down in the lower decks somewhere.
"Hey!" he called out to them, catching everyone's except for Zoro's attention, "This isn't funny! Who took them!?"
The crew blinked at him in confusion.
"Who took what?" Usopp asked.
"My cigarettes! Give them back now!" he demanded, "Luffy, is this one of your pranks!?"
The straw hat cocked his head to the side in confusion, "Huh? Why would I steal them? You can't eat cigarettes."
"Well, whoever stole them, give them back now or I ain't cooking for the rest of the journey!"
"WHAT!?" Luffy shouted in shock as the colour drained from his face. He turned to the others in panic, "Guys, we need to find them now! Otherwise, I'll starve to death!"
"No, you won't," Nami sighed, "And we didn't take them, Sanji."
"~Oh, I wasn't accusing either of you, Nami-swan, Vivi-swan!~" Sanji said before he glared at a sleeping Zoro. He marched over to him and kicked him in the side, "Wake up, moss head! What the hell did you do them."
Zoro opened one eye and glared up at him, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"My cigarettes! Give them back to me!" Sanji snarled.
The swordsmen stood to his feet and growled back at him, "Why the hell would I want them, you curly eyebrow bastard!"
"I don't know, why don't you tell me!"
Before a fight could break out between them, a small timid voice called out from the galley door, "Err...guys," everyone turned to see Chopper standing at the door with an upset look on his face, "Has anybody seen my medical bag? It's really important to me."
The other members of the crew were surprised; a missing pack of cigarettes was one thing, but an entire medical bag missing was serious. Vivi walked up to him and crouched down to his height.
"Are you sure it isn't in your quarters?" she asked kindly, "The sea was rough last night, it might have shifted to somewhere else."
He nodded sadly, "I'm sure. I checked everywhere."
"Honestly Chopper," Usopp sighed as he shrugged with his eyes closed, "You really need to pay more attention to where you leave your stuff."
He turned back to the front and reached up to grab his sniper glasses...but his hands clasped over nothing.
...
...
...
He tried to grab them again, but there was still nothing.
...
...
...
He tried again, but the result was still the same. He decided to pat his head with both hands to feel them, but all he found was his bandanna.
...
...
...
...
"WHAT THE HELL!" he yelled out, leaping to his feet and frantically searching the area, "MY SNIPER GLASSES! THEY'RE GONE!"
"What was that about paying attention to your stuff?" Sanji remarked with a raised eyebrow.
"Shut up!" Usopp cried, turning to him furiously, "This is different! They haven't left my head since Logue Town and I just used them five seconds ago. There's no way I misplaced them. Somebody must have stolen them!"
Nami sighed irritably and got to her feet, "Alright, everyone calm down. Nobody is stealing our stuff. We're out in the middle of the ocean and nobody knows out location-"
"Hey Nami," Luffy said, pointing to her wrist, "What happened to your Log Pose?"
A feeling of dread chilled the orange haired woman to her bones as soon as he said that. She slowly looked down and saw, much to her horror, that he was right; the Log Pose was gone. Her eyes widened and she screamed in horror before falling to her knees.
"NOOOOOOOOO! MY LOG POSE!" she screamed, "WHO TOOK MY LOG POSE!?"
Vivi stepped back in alarm, "Oh no. Without the Log Pose there's no way that we can get to Arabasta or anywhere. We're completely lost at sea."
"SOMEBODY STOLE FROM ME!" Nami wailed as tears rolled down her cheeks, "THIS IS HUMILATING! MY PRIDE AS A THIEF IN IN SHAMBLES!"
"Err...Nami. Get your priorities straight," Vivi deadpanned with a sweat drop.
Zoro gritted his teeth and glared at the fog around him and then up at the main mast. Earlier, he had a feeling that he was being watched and now he's convinced that his suspicions were correct.
"Damn, there's somebody out there," he muttered as he reached for one of his swords, "Everybody keep an eye on your surroundings; look out for any movement, any shadows or any-" he stopped suddenly when his hand clasped over nothing, he looked down and saw to his dismay that a two of his three katana have disappeared into thin air, "Crap. It's got me too!" he growled as he drew the last sword from his sheath, "I'm going to murder this guy!"
The crew gathered in the centre of the deck and looked out onto the foggy landscape, trying to see anybody within the thick swirling mist. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji glared at their surroundings; Nami and Vivi frowned in concentration and Usopp and Chopper were quivering in fear, holding each other tightly.
"Y-y-you d-d-d-d-d-don't th-th-think th-th-th-there are g-g-g-g-g-ghosts out th-th-there d-do y-y-you," Usopp stammered while trembled.
"G-g-g-ghosts!" Chopped squeaked in horror.
Eventually, Luffy stepped forwards with furious look on his face, "Hey! Knock it off! Come out and fight me like a man! You bastard!"
"D-d-don't antagonise th-the g-g-ghost," Usopp whispered to him.
Luffy ignored him and glowered into the white fog, "My name is Monkey D. Luffy, the captain of this ship! Return my crew's stuff or I'll kick your ass!"
Silence was the only reply. The pirates continued to stare out into the fog, hoping to find the culprit. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Vivi spotted a shadow and shot her head around toward the front of the ship. As soon as she set her sight on the dark figure, her eyes widened in fear and her throat felt dry. She began to tremble and the colour seeped away from her face as she stared up at the figure standing upon the figurehead. The others seemed to notice a startled state as they too looked as well.
He was like a phantom hidden in the shrouds of mist; a menacing shadow; a dark silhouette. His white jovial mask peeked out from under his black hood in a sinister way as he tilted it to the side as he stared back at them. A creeping panic filled their hearts as they looked upon the assassin known as Magpie; the sort that you feel when you climb up a staircase and miss the last step and for the briefest of seconds think that you are falling. He made no sound or any sort of movement as if he was enjoying the deafening silence he had inflicted upon them.
However, while the others seemed to be influence by his sudden appearance, three of them were not frightened.
"Hey! You're standing on me seat!" Luffy yelled as he reared his right arm back and tightened his hands into a fist, "Gum Gum Pistol!" he yelled as he flung his fist at him at great speeds while his arm stretched like rubber.
"Wait! Stop!" Vivi suddenly yelled, "He's a-"
But it was too late, as Luffy's fist shot towards Magpie, the assassin waited until the very last moment before he casually moved his head to the side, allowing his fist to fly past him. He then, before their eyes, stepped backwards and submerged himself in the fog and disappeared without a trace.
"GGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTT!" Usopp and Chopper screamed in terror as their eyes bulging out of their heads, "IT'S A FOG GHOST! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"
"Shut it, will ya! There's no such things as ghosts!" Nami yelled at them; although, judging by the sweat on her brow and shaky hands, she was finding it hard to come up with an explanation herself.
Vivi felt her knees go weak; she clutched her hands over her mouth and stared down at the deck in horror, "Oh no," she whimpered, "This is bad. This is really bad."
Zoro scoured his surroundings with his sword ready in his hand; trying to see any form or shadow move about in the murky scenery. That's when he felt a presence appear behind him suddenly, making him raise an eyebrow and tightly grasp the hilt of his sword. As quick as flash, Zoro spun around and swung his sword at the figure behind him at where his chest should be. However, Magpie leaned away from the attack even quicker than he could slice him before once again darting into the fog and disappearing.
"Tsch," Zoro spat, "This guy is fast. It's like he knows our every move," he muttered before turning back to the others, "Keep close together. He's using the fog to hide himself."
"We already know that, moss head," Sanji mumbled, with his hands buried in his pockets, "There's no way of predicting where he would b-"
He stopped suddenly when he saw Magpie suddenly appear in the corner of his eye. He raised his right leg up and delivered a sharp kick to where he was, but, like with Zoro, the assassin avoid his kick and darted back into the fog.
"He's provoking us," Sanji grumbled as he put his leg down and glared at where he once stood, "Treating us like we're play things."
Luffy snarled in anger, raised his head to the sky and shouted, "STOP IT! I'M GETTING TIRED OF THIS! COME OUT AND FIGHT US, YOU COWARD, SO WE CAN KICK YOUR ASS!" he yelled, but silence was his only reply. He growled and tightened his fists, "Everybody get down."
"Huh?" everybody uttered confusingly at what he said.
Luffy didn't reply and raised both his arms and faced one side of the ship, "Gum Gum GATLING!"
The crew had just managed to lie down on the floor in time before their captain began unleash dozens upon dozens of punches at the fog, punching wildly in hope to hit the assassin hidden in it. He did one side and then made his way around the ship, punching and hitting everywhere and anywhere he possibly could. After a few more seconds of this, Luffy had stopped his barrage of punches and retracted his fists to his side, breathing heavily in exhaustion. He searched the area with a frown on his face before he sighed.
"Do you think I got hi-"
Fwip!
Luffy's eyes widened in surprise as he felt his straw hat being snatched from on top of his head; the weight and feel of it disappearing in an instant. He glanced back and saw Magpie, who had managed to avoid all of his Gum Gum Gatling attack, walk behind him with his hat in his hand before he sprinted swiftly into the fog and disappeared once again, but now with his hat. Luffy felt his blood run cold at the split second that he saw the assassin with his hat; his white mask gleaming mockingly at him before he vanished. To the pirate, he didn't feel as if his possession was stolen, but rather that a part of him and who he was taken before his very eyes.
And before he, or anybody else abord the Going Merry, knew, the ship sailed out of the dense fog and into the clear ocean air.
Magpie was nowhere to be seen.
"BASTARRRRDDDD!" Luffy roared, using his Devil Fruit power to leap from the bow to the stern of the ship and glare back at the fog they exited, "TURN GOING MERRY AROUND! WE NEED TO GO AFTER HIM!"
"Are you insane!" Usopp yelled in shock, "You want to go after him!"
"HE STOLE MY HAT! WE NEED TO GET IT BACK!"
"I agree," Zoro muttered furiously, making the long-nosed teen turn to him in surprise, "That asshole just took Sandei Kitetsu and Yubashiri and I'm going to make him pay for it."
Sanji nodded in agreement, "I'm going to kick that stupid mask off his face," he muttered darkly.
"And how do you suppose we do that," Nami said with a sigh, "He took my Log Pose. We're basically dead in the water."
"Why don't you use that one?" Chopper asked, pointing his hoof at the main mast.
"That one?" Nami questioned before she turned to where he was pointing and gasped in shock.
On the mast, about head height, was a metal dagger embedded into the wood with an Eternal Post hanging from its hilt by a string. Impaled by the dagger into the mast was a small note which had the words 'Follow Me' written on it.
Nami reached up and took the Pose and inspected it, "It doesn't say where it's pointing to," she muttered, "This is obviously a trap."
"Might explain why he didn't attack us," Sanji muttered, "He wants us to play his stupid game with us."
Nami gave an annoyed sigh, "Turn the Going Merry North-East. We need to get there now."
"Wait!" Usopp cried, "You know it's a trap and you want us to be ensnared by it!?"
"That's the opposite of what you should do!" Chopper agreed.
"Not like we got a choice," Zoro sighed, "He's taken Nami's Log Pose so we don't stand a chance of reaching Arabasta or anywhere. Besides I'm not leaving my swords behind."
"Or my hat!" Luffy chimed in as he leapt over to them, "What are we waiting for? Let's go already."
Usopp gulped nervously and began to tremble, "Have I ever mentioned about my I've got called Don't-Go-Into-Traps-Set-Up-By-Ghost-itis. It's a really rare condition. Ask my doctor, he can vouch for me."
"He's not a ghost."
Vivi's soft voice cut through their conversation like a knife. They turned to her and saw that she was sitting on the deck with her back against the side whilst hugging her knees to her chest. What surprised them was the troubled expression upon her face as she stared at the ground and the distress in her eyes. They had never seen her like this before; she looked as if she had just witnessed a horrifying event.
"He's far worse," she whispered.
The Straw Hat Pirates shared a worried look and wondered was wrong. Nami slowly approached her and crouched down to her height.
"Vivi...do you know who he is?"
She shook her head, "No...not exactly. I honestly didn't think they were real. I though they're just rumours."
"Who are you talking about, Vivi?" Chopper asked in concern.
"I...once overheard it in a conference when my father was meeting with some World Government Admirals. I remember because...that was the only time he told me to leave the room," she explained, "I was curious about what was going on and so I snuck back in...I still remember the description they gave them. Long black hooded cloaks, white masks, intimidating aura...it matches. He's one of Black Feathers."
"Black Feathers?"
"They're a group of assassins who carry out espionage, sabotage productions and kill anybody no matter who they are; Marines, pirates and even government workers," she shivered a little, "After I listened in on their meeting, I recall having nightmares of them coming after me in my bed. The fact that they can be anywhere at any time without anybody knowing is...scary. They are powerful, deadly and, worst of all, they work for the Secret Empire."
The crew frowned in confusion, "Who?" Usopp finally asked.
"Good question," Vivi solemnly said, "Around two hundred years ago...well, we think so anyway, the World Government noticed that entire islands would lose contact with them. It was one at first, but then, after a few months or so, more and more began to disappear. It was as if they vanished into thin air. They would send ships over so they can find out what happened...but they never found them. Even Eternal Poses wouldn't work; they sail around for months and months and they never found them again. That's when they noticed that pirates, who had once occupied the area, were found dead on their ships. Marines would find these ships sailing away from the disappeared islands with nobody sailing it. The ones who did survive were too traumatised to tell them what happened to them and demanded that were arrested just to get away from them. All our knowledge of them came from one pirate around one hundred and fifty years ago who promptly died a few days later. He said that there were people who wore white masks like him; men, women and children, all of them were working under a leader with no name. Stealing treasure from neighbouring islands, building entire cities, working in mines and factories...he described them as if they were slaves working under one person. Finally, he described the assassination group known as the Black Feathers. He doesn't know how many there are, but they can wipe out an entire ship's crew who sailed too close to their domain in a few seconds."
"It's strange that we never heard of this before," Nami hummed, "You think that entire islands disappearing would cause a sensation."
"I think it's for that reason that the World Government has kept it top secret. Only a handful of people, including my father, know of them. Even then, it's not like the World Government are doing much effort to cover everything up. That's why it's called the Secret Empire; they don't leave traces of evidence wherever they go. Everything I told you now is everything they had learnt over two hundred years. They're desperate for any sort of information on them, no matter how insignificant."
"This is too creepy," Usopp muttered, "It almost seems impossible."
Zoro hummed thoughtfully, "The pirate told them about the Black Feathers a hundred and fifty years ago; are you saying that the man who attacked us is that old?"
"I can't say for sure," Vivi admitted with a shrug.
"Enough!" Luffy barked as he slammed his right fist into left open palm, "Who cares about all of this. I'm still going after him."
Vivi's eyes widened and looked up at him as if he suddenly grew two heads, "Are you serious!? We can't! He's too powerful!"
"So, what, I'm strong as well," Luffy countered, "I don't care about traps or secrets or anything. I want to get my hat back."
"Even if it means risking your life!?"
"I'll risk everything for my treasure," he replied seriously, "Isn't that the same for all of you? We're pirates; we're supposed to steal other people's treasure, not the other way around. Our treasure is a part of us; it's the thing that makes us pirates; it's the reason why we sail across the seas. Having something so precious to us stolen is disgraceful. I hate it! So, let's take it back!"
The Straw Hat crew frowned sadly at what he said; he was right.
Sanji patted his jacket pocket, "My cigarettes," he muttered.
"My medical bag," Chopper whispered sadly
"My sniper glasses," Usopp murmured.
"My Log Pose," Nami sighed.
"My swords," Zoro growled before he looked up with a determined look, "The captain's right. I don't care how powerful this guy is; I'm getting my stuff back."
"Agreed," the other crew members said, even Usopp and Chopper seemed eager to go back for them.
Vivi looked up at them in fear, 'Are they seriously going back for them...after everything I said.'
"Vivi," Chopper said, gaining her attention, "Everybody had one item stolen from them...what did he take from you?"
The blue haired woman blinked in surprise, "N-nothing," she answered as she checked herself over to be sure, "He didn't take anything away from me...why would he do that?"
"I don't know," Nami hummed thoughtfully, "You look a little pale. Why don't you have a rest with Karoo and we can-"
"Karoo..." Vivi suddenly interrupted, "...Karoo..." she repeated as a feeling of dread filled her and chilled her bones to the marrow, "...wait...where's Karoo?"
"He was downstairs the last I-"
She didn't wait until Chopper finished speaking and leapt to her feet and sprinted into the galley, "Karoo!" she shouted in panic, before she ran downstairs in search of the giant duck, "Karoo! Karoo! Where are you!?"
She checked men's room, the storge room, the women's room, the anchor room, everywhere; anywhere we he could possibly be. She screamed his name all though the ship, but there was never a reply. It wasn't until she searched everywhere abord the Going Merry that she realised...
...he had stolen her treasure as well.
Vivi staggered to the upper deck and up to the Straw Hat pirates with her head lowered to the floor. They saw tears fall onto the pine floor boards and her hands clutched into tight fists. Finally, she spoke.
"Let's go," she hissed, raising her head to show them her rage filled expression as tears streamed from her eyes, "Let's go after that bastard."
Uninhabited Island
Not too far away from the Going Merry, there was an island shaped like an upside-down tear drop about two miles long and a three quarters of a mile wide. No human had settled upon its sandy shores and so the lush, green forest had been allowed to grow and thrive without interference except for a few animals that feasted on it. A rocky outcrop ran across the island from the north-west to the south shores with the highest point at the centre of the island, standing at almost one hundred feet high. It was upon the peak of the outcrop, in an empty cave, that Magpie had made his camp. He had found this island a few years ago and made it as one of the many bases he had across the Grand Line in case of stormy weather that could potentially capsize his boat or if a Marine flotilla was passing by his way.
He stood at the mouth of the cave and looked out over the eastern side of the island with his spyglass; it was a great vantage point for monitoring the majority of the island and its beaches that were more favourable to disembark than the western side. He put away his spyglass and looked back at the giant duck who was still tied up. He had released the bounds around his bill so he could drink from the bowl of water and the plate of fish that he set up for him; although Karoo merely stared down at it with a suspicious look.
"Eat," he simply commanded.
The duck frowned sceptically at his food and drink before glaring up at him, "Quack! Quack! Quaaaaccckkk! Quack!"
"It's not poisoned. I caught it freshly just for you," he told Karoo, much to the animal's surprise, "After all, you are more useful to me alive than you are dead."
"Quaaack!?"
Magpie turned fully around and approached the duck and crouched down until they were face to face (or rather bill to mask), "Unless my mission changes, you will not be harmed and I will return you to your master as soon as she arrives. In fact…" he said, glancing over the cave floor where the items he stole from the crew were neatly laid out on a tablecloth, "…all of their possessions will be returned without a single scratch, dent or a smudge of dirt," he coldly whispered, making Karoo shiver in terror as his hollow eyes glinted dangerously, "All they have to do…is surrender their captain to me."
That's it for now, I hope you enjoyed it.
I decided to change some things about Magpie's Devil Fruit Powers. The main one is that he doesn't have to see the item in order to steal it, but he has to be within a hundred-meter perimeter. He still cannot steal Zoan or Logia type Devil Fruits, but he take them away for a limited time; although if he takes someone's Logia type it would have severe effects on his body depending on how powerful they are.
I've also been thinking of publishing a story of my own on Webnovel. It's kind of like a fantasy, adventure story about a group of adventures travelling their world and discovering new things. So, if anybody has experience writing on Webnovel or know of somebody who does, can you please send me a PM and tell me what your experience is with it. Thank you.
Thank you everybody and I'll see you next time :)