It has been fifty-seven years since the execution of the Second Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy, and he has left a legacy in his wake so great that some say he was more legendary than the First King, Gol D. Rogers. But like the last Pirate King, at his execution, he told the world that he had again hidden the One Piece for the world to find. Many saying it was the start of the next Age of Piracy, but then, war broke out among two families: The Monkey family and the Cobra family. After four decades of bloodshed, the war finally subsided. And nineteen years later, a member of the Cobra family set out on a quest to obtain the One Piece, his name is Cobra D. Red. P.S. I wonder how many people actually read this paragraph every time.
The Shadow Queen! Blackheart Amelia Attacks!
Leaning over the wheel, Miles tried his hardest to keep the ship on a straight course as the winds buffeted him. Red and Henry lay in hammocks down below dead tired from having gone so long steering the ship. The storm had rolled in after the bravado of having a ship had died down, as if Mother Nature itself had deemed it necessary to lighten the mood. They had been caught completely off guard, Henry and Red arguing on who should be the navigator, Miles taking a nap, and Bede trying desperately to cook a meal that wouldn't cause the captain to hurl. Because since they had been running out of spices that Henry's grandfather had supplied them with, Bede had gone ahead and started trying to mix in some of the herbs from his medicine kit, with failing results. Red now spent most of his downtime after a meal leaning over the side of the boat, releasing whatever food Bede had tried to cook.
Now Bede sat on the deck below, waiting for the moment when Miles would drop, so he could take his place at the wheel. Because since the storm had started, it had gone on an unusually long time of nearly a week, dissipating at times to the point where they thought it was over, just to rear its ugly head again and force either Red or Henry back on the wheel. It took the two about two and a half days to drop from exhaustion, and force Bede and Miles to drag them into the bunks below.
Now Miles was on shift and looking out into the sea, trying to get sense of direction. Before Red had bedded down, he told Miles to keep them going in a South-Westerly direction towards the main island that Henry's grandfather had told them about. From what he had been told, they should have reached the island about three days ago, but the storm must have turned them around in circles. Miles looked down at the compass again, trying to discern the symbols past the grime, which they had tried to clean, but it seemed that the grime was inside the compass. Content that they were still going South-West, Miles fixed his eyes ahead and into the storm. They were making good time, having caught a strong wind that had the telltale flapping forward and the sail to billow out, running the ship forward. And it was exactly this that caused Miles to raise his guard, for out of the corner of his eye, he had spotted something strange – the telltale seemed to crease back, towards the direction of the wind. It only happened a moment, but that moment put Miles on edge, with one hand on his sword and the other on the wheel, he slowly scanned the ship, trying to see if anything else was off.
As he looked, he saw nothing out of the ordinary, making him believe that it had simply been a cross wind that had blown it unusually, and he turned back to his steering. As he looked out at the sea that stretched out in front of him, he faintly heard a familiar sound behind him. He furrowed his brow thinking, trying to place where he had heard the noise before, remembering he had heard it countless times over the years, and the more he thought about it, the more he began to realize what the sound was. Having heard it every time he began a fight, he had quickly become accustomed to it, letting become a background noise in his everyday life. But now, it had been brought forward again, pushed from the back of his mind, like the wind pushing the noise forward, alerting him of the presence behind him. Without needing to think, he drew his sword and spun around, meeting the dual sabers that had appeared in midair.
Leaping forward, he swiped at the air where the sabers had been, and felt nothing as his blade swung through the air. Glancing around quickly, he saw again the sabers and leaped at them, only to be dodged again. Angry now, he drew his dagger and leaped at where the sabers seemed to float. Putting the dagger at the base of the blade, he ran the dagger up the blade, sending sparks flying through the air, and shouted, "Burning Crosshairs!", leaving an 'X' made out of steam where he had swung the blades. He knew he didn't hit the target, whoever they were would've been on the ground either unconscious or in pain. Instead he looked down at his sword, and saw that the glow from the heat had died down, leaving the sword shiny and as sharp as ever, but before he could wonder again what the sword was made out of, he heard a voice coming from somewhere behind him. "Oh ho ho! The little lackey can fight."
Turning around, he saw a girl behind him, about the same age as him, and about the same height, too, although he suspected she was shorter, due to the high heeled boots. She had blood red hair that billowed in the wind behind her – which didn't make sense considering the wind was blowing from the side – white porcelain skin, and a nice rack. She wore a black trench coat over grey chest wraps, with black, skin-tight leather pants, which held the holsters for her guns and swords. Miles might have found her attractive, had it not been for the fact that she had tried to kill him with his back turned. Her most interesting feature, though, was a jagged scar that ran over her left eye, which appeared to be a milky white, indicating blindness.
She smiled at him, a cold smile that never reached her eyes, which shone with contempt for the man in front of her. "My name is Blackheart Amelia," she said, in a voice that resounded with seductive undertones, "And if it isn't apparent enough already, I'm here for your captain's head." At this, a million thoughts ran through Miles' mind, most of which being how she had found them. But instead of asking this, he asked the next obvious question, "But why us? I mean, my captain barely even has a large bounty, why of all people would you come for us?" To this, she smiled even wider, still not reaching her eyes, and replied, "Oh! Not only are you a pirate, but you're a liar – and a bad one at that," seeing the confusion on his face, she sighed, and brought out a sheet of paper, with the captain's familiar face on it, and a very large number below it, "Cobra D. Red, bounty of 20,000,000 beli. Taking him in should keep me fed… for about a week!" at her own joke, she laughed, which only put Miles more on edge. She seemed completely at ease, as if this would be a walk in the park, and that pissed Miles off. Pointing his sword at her, he replied with his challenge, "Well then, if you want him, then you're gonna have to go through me!" and with that, Miles charged forward, preparing for a sideways sweep.
She hopped backwards, avoiding the sword, but had to roll to the side to avoid the dagger that had leaped out like a scorpion's stinger to catch her in the action. As he drove her back, he felt their blades meet over and over again and knew that he outmatched her in pure fighting ability, but something was wrong. He was able from time to time get past her guard with his dagger, but instead of ending the fight, her body seemed to fade out of existence where the blade should have pierced the skin. He wasn't sure what was happening until it finally hit him. Remembering the way he had detected her presence and how her blades had seemed to float in midair, he realized that she must have eaten a devil fruit. Knowing that he had to do something to push her into the water, he hatched a desperate plan. Pulling his swords back, she stumbled, having expected an attack. Instead, Miles slammed his sword forward, using his dagger as extra leverage. Swinging her arms, Amelia slid across the deck until she slammed into the bulwark of the ship. She began to lean back, but realizing that it was sea and open air behind her, she recovered, narrowly avoiding the plummet.
Staring at her opponent, she was shocked that he had managed to last this long. Usually she was able to swiftly deal with any cannon-fodder that stood in the way of collecting her bounty, but this one obviously was different, perhaps he is the vice-captain, she thought. At that she laughed to herself, or perhaps, more appropriately, was. Finished with her thoughts, she called over to him, "Well! You certainly are tougher than I first anticipated, but that doesn't mean you'll win. Because what I lack in power, I gain in speed!" Turning into whatever her fruit made her, she billowed towards him, shouting, "Try and stop me! A force of nature!" Miles knew that he would die here and there. There was no way he could beat someone who was immune to his attacks. But despite this, he still brought up his sword, and by some sixth sense, he knew the moment to strike and he took it.
And this time, he felt the blade hit home.
Screeching in pain, Amelia flew past Miles, falling to her knees as she felt her side. Instinct had told her to move to the side and she had listened, now glad that she did, because where she felt, she could feel the open wound and blood that now leaked from it. She had avoided pain for so many years, she had almost forgotten what it had felt like, but now it all came flooding back. Slowly rising to her feet, she turned to face Miles, who ignored her, instead looking at his sword confusedly. Seeing this, she was immediately filled with rage, and grabbing her fallen swords, and ran forward at the unsuspecting Miles. She smiled as she prepared to deliver back the pain he had inflicted on her. But just as Miles was unaware of his surroundings, so was she, as she felt another jolt of pain throughout her body, as the fist launched her sliding on her back across the deck.
Gritting her teeth in pain, she began to regret going after the crew. She had been told that they were just a bunch of weaklings, a few wannabe pirates who had managed to scrape themselves up a small reputation. Instead, she lay there, injured, wondering how someone could punch so hard. Gritting her teeth, she opened her eyes and looked up at the dark figure above her. The rain had begun again sometime during the fight, and the rain rolled off the figure's wide brimmed hat, creating something like a water veil in front of his face. A clicking noise drew her attention away from his face and was shocked to see a gun, held casually pointed at her in his left hand.
Staring past the water in an icy glare, Red said in a calm, even voice, "Get off my boat." Staring up at him, she reached for her own guns, but he stopped her, saying, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. These are Sea-Prism Stone, so if you want to die that badly, then go right ahead." Hearing this, she was immediately frightened, but then became skeptical. Sea-Prism was hard to come by, and there was no way a small time pirate could get so much of the stuff. Confident, knowing that she wasn't about to be tricked, she began to rise, and hearing the gun shot, she began turning herself, but stopped as she felt the bullet bite into her hair, shredding a channel through it. As she stared up at him again, she saw a few strands of her hair flutter past her in the wind. Spinning the cylinders for a few seconds, he stopped it, pointing it at her head, "Now get off my boat, and by the way, I don't miss." Turning her nose in contempt, she faded out of existence, blowing past them and out into the night.
Miles stared at his captain, glad that he had come just in time, but a question came to mind. "How do we know she's gone? I mean, she can be anywhere right now." Smiling, Red scratched his head and chuckled, "I guess, your right, she could be anywhere!" but seeing that this put Miles back on edge, he patted him on the back, "Look, from what I saw, you did some good damage to her, Logia users aren't really used to damage, so it hurts them especially more. If she had tried to fight anymore, she probably would've died of blood loss, anyways, and she knows this. She was probably going to kill you for revenge then cut her losses and go," Red added. Miles nodded, understanding coming to him now. Making their way inside the ship and out of the storm, Red took a seat next to his four crewmembers. Bede was the one who had woken Red and Henry up, having heard the sounds of swords clashing, and now the three urged Miles to tell the story that they hadn't been a part of.
Finishing up with the story, Miles laid back in his hammock, ready to hear praise for his actions. Instead, Red got up and rubbed his hands together, saying, "Well boys pack your bags, we're going home!" Shocked, the crew looked up at Red, hoping he'd explain, which he did. "If Blackheart Amelia's on our ass, then we're pretty much screwed." Confused, Miles looked up at him, "Wait, you know who that girl is?" Looking flabbergasted, Red pretty much shouted, "Yes I know who she is! I was a bounty hunter! Did you forget that, Miles!" Hearing this Henry bolted up, even more shocked then before, shouting, "You were a bounty hun-" In unison, the three turned to Henry and said, "Long story," and turned back to Red.
"I know who she is because she's a pretty big deal in the bounty hunting world. She's nabbed several big-name pirates with bounties over 50,000,000, and even once bagged one that was worth 100,000,000!" seeing their shocked faces, Red ended his speech, saying, "So yeah, I know who she is. It's a miracle that Miles' sword is Sea-Prism stone, otherwise we'd be screwed." The only one that had remained sitting, Bede, now stood, an eyebrow cocked questioningly at Red, "So is that it then? Are we ending our journey here before it really even begins?" Turning to Bede, Red replied back, "No! I was being sarcastic!" pausing, he looked at the crew, making sure they were all clear they wouldn't be ending it there, "Look, I know that it will be difficult now, but it already has been difficult. We're not the only ones going after the One Piece, and there is a giant syndicate trying to, too. We are going to make it to the end of the Grand Line, and I know we'll make it to Raftel!" Smiling, the crew now was sure what they were in for. Cocking his head back, Red listened for a second, then made his way to the deck. It had stopped raining. Breathing in a sigh of relief, Red took this as a sign of things to come.
Big thanks to Readingandgames1995 for the OC submission! Got great plans for Amelia in the future!
