I stared at the woman chained to the wall, processing her request. She jiggled her binds, "Please?"
There wasn't really any reason not to, right? "Sure I guess I can try." I shrugged, making my way over to her.
I examined her chains as she watched me intently. They looked just as poorly maintained as my own shackles, links slightly rusted and poorly fit together. It shouldn't be too hard to pull them apart.
I looked towards Rachel who was watching me intently and nodded, "Yeah, I can probably get you out of there. There's something I need to take care of first though.'
"Hmm? What is it?" I held my own shackles up in answer and she made a noise of realization, "Oh! That makes sense."
I looked down at my binds, examining them for a moment before shrugging. They weren't quite as rusted as Rachel's but they shouldn't be too difficult to break.
I braced myself, spreading my feet apart slightly and bracing my wrists on my abs for more leverage. With a grunt of effort, I pulled them towards me and forced my hands apart. The metal around my wrists squealed as it was warped, the shackles failing to stand against my strength before there was a loud snap as they gave up altogether.
They fell on the ground with a loud clang the metal mangled beyond repair. As I twisted my wrists to get rid of the aches my actions had caused, Rachel made a noise of surprise, "Wow! You're really strong!"
I shrugged, turning towards her to get started on her chains, "It's all about leverage. I'm sure you could do it if yours weren't on separate hands."
"I don't think so." She said simply. I raised an eyebrow at her matter of fact tone. With a bounty like hers she should have been able to get these chains off no problem.
Maybe she leaned more towards the agile side of combat instead of strength? I personally didn't get it but to each their own I supposed.
"So how are you going to get my chains off?" She asked as I stepped up to her.
I cracked my fingers to prepare them, before reaching forward and grabbing the first chain, one of the ones on her legs, "I'm gonna rip them off."
"Huh?"
In one swift movement, I began to pull the chain apart incredibly hard. The metal held for a moment before snapping just like my shackles, chain links breaking and freeing Rachel's leg.
She blinked as the remnants of the chain fell to the floor, looking surprised as her leg was freed. I began working on the next restraint. This one was a bit tougher than the other one and so I actually had to put a bit of effort into it to break it. As I worked, I questioned the woman about her current predicament.
"So why do they have you chained up like this?" I broke the chain and moved onto the ones on her arms, "They've got you restrained like you're a whale fishman or something. Do they just not like you?"
Rachel grinned as both of her legs were free, bracing her boots against the wall as I began to work on the chains connected to her arms.
"Well. I maaaay have tried to bite one of them when they took my sword." She said, I raised an eyebrow, sensing that there was something she was leaving out. Her smile became more sheepish, "Twelve times." There it was.
I barked a laugh, punctuated by the snapping of iron, "Well that explains it. I'm surprised they didn't muzzle you as well."
"Heh~ They did. I bite really hard." She nodded downward, and I followed her gesture to find a gag by my boot. My eyes widened as I saw that the leather strap that was supposed to go in her mouth had been bitten clean through. That was some thick leather too, the type you make shoes out of.
"Damn. You weren't kidding." I whistled, snapping another chain. She made a pleased sound as her dominant arm was freed, immediately bringing it behind her to scratch at the itch that had been bothering her while her other braced in my shoulder to keep herself upright.
She sighed happily, "Ahh… That's the stuff. I got super bad sunburn back there and it itches like nothing else. I thought I was going to go insane if I didn't scratch it soon. Thank you so much!"
"Just one more to go." I said, tossing the half of broken chain in away.
She tilted her head to give me better access to the shackle around her neck. The shackle was especially rusted and I was pretty sure that I could just break it completely without hurting her. Just as I reached out towards it however I froze.
Rachel gave me a confused look, "What? What's wrong?"
I stared at her, "You aren't going to bite me are you?" I asked seriously.
She blinked as her brain processed my words before she began laughing uproariously. The noise echoed off the walls, high and somewhat melodic, and I grinned myself as I grabbed the her collar.
With a quick tug, it snapped in two, and Rachel immediately jumped free of the wall, the lingering chains rattling on her wrists as she spun in a happy circle.
"Freedom!" She cheered, raising her hands to the air as she twirled, "Oh how I missed you!"
"I wouldn't say you're free just yet." I commented idly, "We're still in prison after all."
She stopped in her twirl facing me, "Naw, it'll be fine! This isn't the first time I've purposely imprisoned myself in a Marine base. Though this one's pretty drab even by my standards."
I raised an eyebrow, "Drab? It's a prison cell what were you expecting?"
"I don't know, a poster or a window at least. I don't know who designed this place but they clearly need to brush up on their decorating skills." She joked.
I made a thinking face, looking around at the cell, "I don't know... Maybe they were going for a new style. Minimalist chique or something like that. Make you really use your imagination and envision what you want to see in a room."
She hummed with a serious look on her face, looking around before nodding slowly, "I can see it. I doubt it'll be too popular for the folk around here but art is subjective I suppose."
I grinned and went to crack another joke, somewhat enjoying our byplay when Rachel suddenly lit up like she remembered something, looking towards me with excited eyes, "Oh! By the way, did you give my hat to Brogy?"
I nodded, "Yeah, he got it. He was pretty easy to find. You weren't kidding when you said he was big."
She laughed, "I know right! But you wouldn't believe how good he is with his hands! He's the one who made my gun!"
"Really?" I remembered Brogy's massive hands wrapped around the pistol, making it seem tiny in comparison, "Huh. Well I guess everyone has their talents."
"Anyway, thanks for bringing him my hat! That thing's worth a ton of beri and I knew that if I brought it with me they'd probably sell it or something the moment they locked me up."
She shook her head, "Anyway that's not important! I was going to ask you a question earlier but I got interrupted. Well, I got arrested actually, but that doesn't matter! This just cinches it!"
She suddenly got real close to me, close enough that our noses were touching and I could feel her breath on my face. Her ever-present grin widened and her eyes glittered with excitement, "Do you wanna join my crew?"
I blinked, suddenly struck by the sheer similarity between this woman and a certain certifiably insane rubber teenager.
"We literally just met today." I pointed out, "As a matter of fact, this is the second conversation we've ever held."
She nodded, "Yep! But that just means we'll be able to get to know each other! That's half the fun of making new friends!"
"What's the other half?"
"Making new friends!"
I just stared at her incredulously at her simple statement. She just smiled back, completely serious.
…You know what? Fuck it, why not? This was the entire reason I had come here after all and though I hadn't really gotten to know the woman like at all, Rachel seemed cool. That, and if Brogy was a member of her crew she couldn't be all bad.
I gave the expectant woman a smile and a shrug, "Sure, why not. I'll join your crew. Not sure what position I'm fit for but I guess we can figure that out later."
She backed away from me and pumped her fist in the air, giving a loud cheer, "YEAH! That's three now, woo! Take that you crotchety old matron!"
I watched as she literally jumped up and down in excitement, shouting her joy for the world to hear doing interesting things to her breasts in the process.
It was pretty adorable and extremely fun to watch, but unfortunately I would have to put a stop to it for now.
"Not to bring you down from your little happy high," I said in amusement as I made the attempt to keep my gaze away from the woman's chest with some success, "But if we don't get out of here, that conversation means nothing. We aren't going to be able to do a lot of pirating from inside of a cell."
Rachel didn't bounce back up the next time her feet touched the ground which was only slightly disappointing. She turned towards me, "Oh don't worry about that! They should be here any time now!"
I raised an eyebrow, having a suspicion as to who she was talking about, "They?"
I nearly jumped out of my skin as a loud voice echoed throughout the base, bringing in my ears as it bounced off the cell walls, "Attention all Marine personnel! We are under attack by several rogue groups of pirates! Take up arms and prepare to defend the base! I repeat, we are under attack by pirates!"
I looked towards the entrance of our cell, watching as dozens of Marines went racing past frantically, "I'm guessing whoever you're talking about had something to do with that?"
Rachel just grinned. And then the wall behind her exploded inward, sending dust billowing into our shared cell.
I let out a startled shout, pulling my coat sleeve in front of my face as my eyes were assaulted by the dust. Beside me, I noticed Rachel did no such thing, just squinting through the debris with an expectant smile on her face.
I followed her lead, hesitantly looking through the dust towards the hole now in the wall. The sun shone through the hole, interrupted by a massive form that cast a shadow down on Rachel and I both.
Brogy's (because who else could it be?) massive body was silhouetted by the sun shining behind him. In his hands he had a massive cannon, though it was so heavily customized that it could barely be called that any more, covered in ports and segments that I instinctively knew could open up, all topped off by a handle and a trigger.
The damn thing looked more akin to a bazooka than anything that belonged on a pirate ship. I had never seen anything more beautiful.
Brogy's bearded face was curled into a smile, one that became slightly surprised as he noticed me standing next to his captain. He got over it quickly though, and grinned down at me.
"Hey there lass!" Brogy rested the cannon on his shoulder with a loud thump as he pulled his goggles up, "Do you believe me now?"
I nodded silently, staring at the absolute beauty of a weapon he was holding. Rachel giggled beside me, before practically sprinting out of the cell and towards her crewmate.
"Brogy! You're just in time! I found another person to join our crew!" Rachel bounded up to the giant, excitement all but pouring out of her. She jumped up, slinging her arms around his neck in a big hug which he returned with one arm.
"She's super strong too! She broke me out of a ton of chains back in there with just her bare hands! I've never seen anyone but you do that!" She rambled as she hopped down from her crewmate 's neck, jingling lingering chains for emphasis as she hopped back down.
Brogy didn't look surprised in the least by his captain's words in the slightest, shaking his head fondly, "I should have guessed you would. It's been a while since we found a new crewmate."
He glanced towards me and smiled, "Though considering you were in prison I guess it could be worse. "
Rachel just smiled unrepentantly as Brogy called out to me, "Well, lass? Are you just gonna stand there or are you going to join us? You're part of the crew now, lass! That means this little operation involves you too!"
I shook out of my stupor and made my way out through the hole in the wall, squinting slightly at the dust still hanging in the air. The moment I was outside the noise hit my ears, a roaring cacophony of shouts and clangs and bangs ringing through the air and my eyes widened as I took in the pure chaos that had become of the street outside the base.
Dozens of pirates were fighting the Marines who had taken up arms to defend themselves. Blades clanged and bullets flew as the two forces clashed, angry shouts and curses exchanged as each group tried to get one up on the other.
A sharp crack rang out among the chorus, and I flinched as a hole appeared in the stonework right next to my head. A glint in my peripheral vision clued me in to what was happening, and I ducked out of sight of a nearby tower that was doubtlessly holding the sniper who shot at me.
Brogy noticed what happened and looked towards the tower with an inspecting eye. After a moment, he nodded and brought his cannon down off of his shoulder pointing it in the tower's direction.
"How in the hell did you guys manage this!? This has got to be every pirate on the island!" I said, keeping my head down as I looked towards the aiming giant and his grinning captain.
"This is Kara Town!" Rachel laughed as she ducked behind a piece of stone. A bullet pinged off the side, "They should have known better than to try to tame a town that was practically made by pirates! It was just asking for a knock on the head!"
Brogy nodded, stuffing an odd looking iron ball into his weapon and taking careful aim, "Aye. It wasn't hard at all to convince the folks around here to show the Marines where they could stick it. A few words here, a stack of beri there, and we've got a good old fashion uprising on our hands!"
He pressed the trigger on his cannon and with a brilliant flash and a great big boom, the tower holding the sniper came crumbling down.
"HAHA! And down she goes!" Brogy cheered loudly as Rachel and I came out from behind our cover. The tower had been brought down to its foundation, completely destroyed, and I whistled at the destruction a single shot of Brogy's cannon had caused.
The fighting crowd paused at the sounds of destruction, several Marines looking horrified that so much destruction had been caused in an instant, but the bark of a pistol set them off again and they were back at each other's throats once more.
My eyes caught a flash of brown in the crowd and I honed in on it, spying who I recognized to be Nera flitting through the unaware Marines, twin daggers tearing through cloth and flesh alike as she made her way towards us. Cries of panic and dismay sounded from the fellows of those she attacked, but she paid them no mind as she numbly dodged any and all attacks aimed at her back with simple movement, never once breaking strids.
When she reached us, she was barely out of breath despite having cut down what must have been nearly a dozen men. She flicked the blood off of her daggers before sheathing them at her hips, turning towards Rachel.
"Captain." She nodded, reaching behind her back and retrieving something. She tossed it towards Rachel, and immediately I recognized the black tricorn hat that the woman had given me earlier that day, "I didn't find what we were looking for in the admissions office. They must have put it somewhere deeper in the base. We'll have to go in."
"That's fine. They still have my sword in lockup so we would have had to go back for it anyway." The redhead responded merrily, placing her hat snugly on her head, "Can't be Firebrand without my sword after all!"
Speaking of lockup, that reminded me, I still had to get my things. The axe was replaceable if pretty expensive, but there was no way I was leaving that map behind.
As if she suddenly noticed I was standing there, Nera turned towards me, yellow eyes narrowing as she took me in, "What are you still doing here? You can leave now."
I went to respond but was cut off by Rachel. "She's our new crew member!" The woman slung an arm around my shoulder, "Her name is… uh… actually, what is your name?"
Nera scowled, "You let her join our crew and you don't even know her name? Rachel, what the hell!?"
"You know I forget things!" The woman pouted, tilting her head to the side as a bullet whizzed by, "I can't help it!" She turned towards me, "So? What's your name?"
I chuckled, "I'm honestly surprised we could have gone so long without even asking each other's names." Rachel moved her arms in a 'what can you do' gesture, "Well I'm Irana. Irana D. Porter, nice to officially meet you I guess."
Rachel slapped me on the back, before wincing slightly at the lack of give, "There! Now I know her name so everything's fine! Say hello to our new crewmate, Irana!"
Nera looked to Brogy helplessly, and the giant just shrugged. She sighed, bringing a hand to her forehead in consternation, "Great, just what we needed. Hopefully this one doesn't-"
"HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!"
All of us turned back towards the inside of the cell to find several Marines shouting angrily at the door. They were extremely angry and the one at the front was fiddling with the cell door, seemingly having trouble getting it open.
They would figure it out soon enough though, which meant that we'd have to deal with them one way or another.
Rachel turned to Brogy and Nera, "You guys keep things going out here! Ira and I will take care of things inside!"
I raised an eyebrow. Ira?
Brogy gave his captain a nod but Nera wasn't as willing, "You can't be serious, Rachel! You literally just met her. Hell, you just learned her name! What if she decides to stab you in the back to collect your bounty or something!?"
"Nah, she wouldn't do that. We're Nakama now!" the redhead said as if that solved everything and I was once again hit with the sense of deja vu. God, please tell me she wasn't as insane as Luffy. I don't think I would survive that.
Nera groaned at her captain's words and I had a feeling this wasn't the first time something like this had happened, "Fine! But if you aren't back soon I'm coming after you." She gave me a glare, "And slitting this one's throat if she's done anything to you."
She really didn't like me, huh?
Brogy placed a hand on Nera's back "We'll watch the entrance and make sure nobody tries to follow you inside. I'd say the bulk of the Marines are out here so you two shouldn't have too much trouble inside."
Brogy reached back into his backpack and retrieved something, "But first, here Rachel." He tossed the items towards the woman who snatched them out of the air happily, revealing them to be her ornate pistol and a simple katana.
"My baby!" Rachel gave her gilded pistol a happy kiss, "I missed you so much! Just you wait, we'll reunite you with your brother in just a little bit! I'm sorry you got separated!"
Ignoring the little love session between woman and weapon, Brogy turned towards me, "And you lass, you can't exactly go in there with only your fists by your side. What kind of weapon do you use?"
I shrugged, "Something heavy preferably. I don't really have a fighting style apart from swinging at whatever's in front of me till it's gone or dead."
"Hah! A woman after my own heart!" Brogy laughed. He pulled something made of dark metal from his pack, "Here ya go. A Kanabo should do you some good. Simple enough to wield and not too big to use in some of those narrow halls."
He tossed the weapon to me and I caught it with one hand, bringing it in for inspection.
It was heavy, that was for sure. Maybe a good sixty or seventy pounds give or take. I swung it, testing the weight for a moment before nodding decisively, it wasn't my axe but it would do for now, "This'll do. I'll make sure to bring it back."
He waved me off, "It's fine. That's one of my earlier projects, just wanted to see if I could do it and it's too heavy for anyone else to use. If you break it it ain't no skin off my back. Just stay safe in there and get back quick."
I nodded at his words as I stepped forward next to Rachel who had apparently finished smooching her gun. Just as I stopped beside her, the door to the cell popped open and the Marines came rushing through, war-cries ringing through the air as they rushed towards us with weapons held aloft.
The redhead gave me a challenging grin, nodding her head to the approaching Marines as she cocked her pistol, "Bet I can get more of them than you!"
Oh? A challenge? I hadn't had a chance to actually fight this many people at once before, but there was no way I was backing down from that!
I gave her a smile that was all teeth, slamming my weapon into my palm as my blood began pumping in time with the approaching boots of our soon-to-be foes, "Oh you're on!"
Bunches of great adventures started with a good old fashion beat down. All I had to do was make sure I was the one doing the beating!
Next chapter available to Patrons
