Chapter Text
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
" Thank you, for searching for me all this time. "
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 with desperation. Merchants and civilians opened their paths along the tight avenue to a running figure being chased by marine troops. The heat of the island almost blinding those who were curious enough to take a look at what was going on in the heart of the city.
"Someone, stop that thief!" The marine that was closer to the figure said, while holding a machine gun.
Panicking, the civilians hide behind the wood stalls where the merchants exposed their merchandises. The chaos was such that the figure managed to outwit the marines for a brief second, that was enough for the men to lose track of the shadow. The womanly figure ran away into the deep forest. Her heart beats matched her pace as she jumped and turned to avoid getting hit or falling along the dangerous ground. Her eyes easily caught the path that she was looking for and she prepared to adapt her legs to the climb. On her way up the hill, where she knew no one could find her, she stopped. Her breath unregulated and her sweat dripping down her chin. The hood still covered her face and her robe covered half the vision to the bread that she was carrying in her arms. Pressing the item against her chest, she took a deep breath. She sighed, looking into the pastel blue sky of morning and turned her piercing eyes to the beach located past the city below her. She smiled, knowing she managed to not get caught by the marines and cheering herself for starting another morning with a victory.
She was about to turn her gaze to the jungle behind her, when her eyes caught something unexpected nearing the bay of the island. Her lungs felt squished for a second and her legs started to shake in horror. She gasped, eventually, as her eyes switched from narrowed to widened. She realized that a pirate ship was coming in their direction and, for a mere second, she could feel her soul try to escape her body. As she realized that she needed to run away, her brows frowned and she sprinted her way into the woods.
✧༺♥༻∞
By the littoral of Riot, the capital of the archipelago, the pirate ship swayed it's way to the port. The fresh wind of spring played with it's black flags as the waves fought with it's keel and hull. Seagulls floated above the oddly small ship, welcoming the new arrivals to land. The fresh breeze turned into a hot wave as the ship, finally, tracked on port. The captain and his crew appreciated the sun and the clouds before making their way to land, one after another. The man wearing a straw hat stretched himself and groaned loudly.
"He's doing it again..." One of his comrades complained, from the ship's main deck.
"Don't even waste your energy, Usopp. There's no use." Sanji said standing next to him sighed.
"At least, we tracked on a spring island. This place is huge!" The tanned young man smiled. "Look at those trees, they look really old!"
"Looks like it's a good place to find fine ladies! Falling in love is always better in spring days."
From up there, the crew watched as their captain and another comrade, a reindeer, happily started to walk away into the city. The boy, dressed in red and blue, held a huge grin on his face as if nothing could ruin his humor. Although his happiness was contagious, his crew members watched him with concern. Only a woman had the bravery to scold their captain that morning.
"Luffy, be careful. Don't you dare get into trouble! Do you hear me?!" Nami yelled. "If you do, I'll make you pay for it!"
The captain stared over his shoulder and smiled as he held his arms crossed behind his neck, looking unbothered. "Sure!"
The woman sighed, looking defeated and annoyed. Behind her, a green-haired man who just woke up from a nap, headed to the end of the main deck muttering how he thought she looked like an evil witch for involving money in everything she did, even against their captain. He cracked his neck and yawned, still feeling dizzy from sleepiness.
"Did you just say something?!" She asked after hearing one of his curses directed to her.
Zoro completely ignored her and jumped from the deck to the port's stone ground, looking bored. He started to walk away, one hand inside his haramaki and the other resting over his tree katanas that were secured by his waist. Looking ahead of him, he wondered what kind of animals existed in that island and if they were worthy of fighting against him. He could feel the urge to pee as he followed the clay path but he refused to go back to the ship just yet.
"Where do you think you're going?" She asked as the blonde man kept his attentive eyes on the swordsman getting away from them.
"...For a walk." The green-haired simply answered, not bothering to look back.
She sighed in frustration. "Sanji, do me a favor."
"Everything for you, Nami!" He replied, right away, with hearts in his eyes.
"Follow Zoro and make sure he doesn't get lost."
His eye hearts turned to stone and fell apart. "Why do I need to follow that stupid moss-head?!"
"We're not here to explore. Just to find new supplies and sail to Jaya as soon as we can. We can't risk having a muscled idiot disappear for undefined time!"
"But, Nami, why does it have to be me and not Usopp?" He pointed to his other comrade that was sitting on the floor across from them.
She crossed her arms and frowned her brows. "Are you denying me a favor just now?!"
"N-No! Not at all. I was just wondering... Just wondering... I'll be back by midday like we agreed, but only because you asked me." He excused himself, falling into her trick as he jumped from the deck to the port and ran after the other male.
"You have two hours. Hurry up!"
"Sure, Nami! Wait there, you idiot!"
She sighed. "Finally, some peace."
"Navigator, what is the name of this island? I didn't seem to catch it, at first." The raven-haired woman of the crew asked as she stepped closer to the other two.
The red-headed stopped, to think for a moment. "Extravaganza Crimson... That's what says the map we stole from Alabasta."
"WHAT?"
The two women turned to the sniper of the crew, surprised by his sudden yell.
"Extravaganza Crimson..." Nami repeated. "Why? Do you know this place?"
"Oh, no! Nami, Robin... I've heard about this place and it's no good." He started to tremble and bite his nails in fear. His usual dramatic motions. "We're all gonna die!"
Nami titled her head in confusion as Robin raised a brow, already expecting something to happen. Nami knew that whenever Usopp acted like that, something suspicious was going on. Usopp was a coward, and that meant he knew when danger was on his way. Robin was starting to understand how Long Nose's mind worked.
"Calm down. Why don't you explain to us why you're acting so scared?" Robin demanded.
"Yeah... What do you mean, Usopp?" Nami gulped, knowing that whatever her comrade had to say she wouldn't like to hear it.
✧༺♥༻∞
In the city, Luffy and Chopper wandered around the busy streets of the markets. The place held a energetic wave as all kinds of tourists filled the place. Luffy smiled as he watched kids playing around and being noisy, as they should. It was hard to walk in the middle of the crowd by the center of the city, different from the previous small road they had been following to get to the capital. The small houses, of the hunters and the fishers, were replaced by enormous and colorful buildings along the streets. Luffy sighed, showing his tongue dramatically as if he was starving.
"I'm so hungry..."
"Calm down and remember what Nami said. We need to keep a low profile."
Ignoring what Chopper said, Luffy searched around with attentive eyes, but wasn't able to find any restaurant nor tavern. Only cloth markets. "We're on the wrong street... There's no food in here!" Luffy complained. Suddenly, his nose caught a delicious smell in the air. Something so satisfying that he could feel himself start to drool as his stomach ached. His feet started to move before he could think of anything else.
"I need to buy some medicine and we're supposed to explore the city a little. Before going back to Merry, I mean... Do you think Nami would let me spend some extra money on tools?" Chopper asked, getting no response. "Hey, Luffy?" Turning around, he faced the chaotic truth. "He's not here!!!"
Two roads away, Luffy ran in the direction that his nose pointed. "I bet the food I'm smelling is delicious! Finally, I'll eat some meat!"
Looking for Luffy, Chopper wondered what Nami would do to him if she found out he had lost their captain.
"I'm totally, totally screwed!" He cried to himself. Running in the direction that he believed Luffy had followed, it struck him. "Luffy is always looking for food, so he's probably looking for a restaurant, right? I don't need to go look for him, now. Yeah... I'll just do my shopping and find him in the first tavern I see. I have until midday, Nami will never know!" He smiled nervously, trying to convince himself that he was doing the right thing. His mind kept telling him it was a bad idea but he didn't listen to his intuition and followed more deep into the center of the capital, looking for medicine stalls. "Besides, if he does get in trouble in the mean time, how will I heal him if I don't have any ways of doing so?"
Luffy on the other hand, was trying to be positive about finding the delicious smell. He stopped, suddenly, by an empty road and sighed. "I completely lost track of that smell..."
He searched around, feeling unmotivated and took in the image of the sandy road and a few grayish houses along it. He could clearly see the forest behind the houses and in front of him. At west, by one end of the road, was the bay and at east was the fortress and the capital. It looked like a castle, but he was sure it was a fortress. "What do I do, now? Should I get back to Merry and hope that Nami won't be too angry?" He sweat-dropped. "No... I'll just go look for Chopper. Yes, that's the plan!" He said, raising his fist in the air with a big grin on his face.
Suddenly, the huge sound of various footsteps coming from east, caught his attention. From far, he could tell someone was being chased by marines. He was sure it was a woman, even if her black cloak covered her body and face almost completely. Her pace was incredibly fast, but she looked like she was holding back her speed. She was carrying a bag full of medicines. Luffy assumed she was just a thief. He was used to see a lot of thieves where he grew up, he was one of them at some point. When the woman started nearing him, he did nothing to stop her. It was non of his concern. He was a pirate, after all. Instead, she stopped by herself surprising him as their eyes connected and time seemed to stop for a moment. He heard the metal from her boots hit the ground fiercely as they sightly slid on the sand, causing a small curtain of dust to rise over her knees. Her hood fell from her face, revealing her good looking features. She was a tanned woman with dark brown eyes and short spiky hair of the same color. Her mouth opened and her widened eyes towards him made him title his head to the side, curiously. He stared into her eyes, trying to understand what was happening. For a moment, he thought that they'd met before but he quickly dismissed the thought because he'd never forgotten the face of anyone that he'd ever met before. She stared at him in a mix of shock and astonishment as her lungs stopped to work for a moment.
Before they could say anything to each other, the sound of a machine gun's bullet being fired made her remember the situation she was in. She was once again being persecuted by the marines, and now, they were almost reaching her. Deciding to run again, she took a last glare at the straw hat boy, that stood in the middle of the road staring back at her. Once she turned to focus on escaping, she felt euphoric as large tears started rolling down her cheeks and her cheeks reddened from the cry. A big clumsy smile spread on her face. Her body obeyed only to the instincts of someone who is used to escaping, but in her mind the only thing playing was the memory of the raven boy that she met moments ago.
"You're here..." She muttered under her breath as she pressed her lips together to hold back her crying.
Luffy stared attentively at the woman's back getting out of sight and hummed pensive. "Do I know her...?" He hummed again, trying to remember anything that could be related to her but failed. "Well, whatever! I'll just find the others." He grinned wide, though he was still thinking about the stranger from before.
"Are you Monkey D. Luffy?" Someone asked, behind his back.
"Yeah, that's me." Luffy answered, without realizing the situation he was in.
"You heard it! Get him!" Luffy turned around to find the person he was talking to. But before he could turn for complete, it was to late. He was being chased by the marines for confessing his identity. "Monkey D. Luffy, the captain of the strawhat pirates, you're being arrested for illegal entering the Extravaganza Crimson Archipelago!" Not giving him a chance to speak himself they started to fire at him. Although he knew that simple bullets weren't enough to hurt him, he started to run away, trying to not start a fight with them. He knew that Nami would be pissed off, if he did so.
"Wait, wait, wait! Guys- What did I do wrong?!" He tried to stop them but decided against it and tried to think of a way of tricking them into a big crowd where he could get out of their sight. Without realizing he was heading in the fortress direction.
✧༺♥༻∞
"I don't understand. What exactly is going on here?" Nami asked, resting her hands over her hips.
"What I just said!" Usopp exclaimed, a little louder than he intended. "We landed on a anti-pirate island!"
Robin stirred on her chair, raising a brow. "Anti-pirate...?"
Usopp ran from one side to another of the deck, searching for his binoculars. He was trying to spot any suspicious people that could be after them, since they were the only pirates that were tracked on that port. Now, he understood why the other boats started to get away from the bay, when they arrived. "This is Extravaganza Crimson, the land governed by a fanatic of Boxing. He is totally against pirates entering his territory without being invited for his official matches. They say all the men on the island that are not merchants, fishers or hunters, are forced to fight until death on his private arena in the castle. He specially likes it when all the members of the royal family are united to watch the plays. Oh, man...! What are we gonna do? The island is highly protected by the marines! If Luffy or the others screw up, we'll not be able to leave this place ever!" He explained, almost shitting himself.
Nami rested her hand on her chin and frowned her brows together. "Now, that you talk about it... I've heard about this place too. They said the prince died of a sickness and the actual ruler is not of royal blood. He just took over. If you didn't mention his fanaticism for boxing, I would never remember about him."
"I never thought we would track here. Apart from being the next land after Alabasta, many people skip this place because of their long poses that don't point them in this direction. I wonder why ours was drown here. Is it lucky or a curse?" Robin commented as she rested one of her hands on the wooden fence, that separated her from falling over the deck. The other hand falling by her hips.
Nami gulped as Usopp fake sobbed in a corner. "Curse?!"
"You see, Navigator and Long Nose, in ages this place was know to draw luck for the sailors that ported here but after the prince was overthrown the island is now the host of thousands of the souls of the unfortunate that landed here by coincidence." She picked up her cowboy hat and bag, heading for the path below them. "I think I'm going to explore and see if I find some information to keep us safe. Maybe, if there's any ruins..." She muttered the last part to herself.
"But, Robin, are you going to leave us before what I just said?" Usopp dramatized. "You're the strongest among us three... If you leave we'll be in serious danger!"
"That's right, Robin. What if someone attack us while you're gone?"
"Well, you two are strawhat pirates too... Trust your potential." She smiled and they cringed. "You can always contact me using the Den Den Mushi when you need me." The ravenette started to walk away and the two cowards sighed, frustrated that they were left alone to watch their friend Merry.
"It's almost midday... Do you think they'll be in here in time, Usopp?"
"I'd say yes, but Luffy and Zoro are with them..." Both sighed once again, feeling their hopes getting crushed.
✧༺♥༻∞
In Red Raide, the castle of Riot, two men talked alone in the royal court. The shadows prevented anyone from outside to see what was going on, since there weren't any windows in the room. One of the men, sat by the thrown and laughed to himself about something that only he understood as he was lost in his own world.
"Master, more pirates have arrived." The other man, one with dark blue long hair, said.
"Pirates, uh?" The older stirred in his place with a smirk. "TERETERETERE!" His unusual laugh echoed through the chamber. "Let them come! May the games begin. You already know what to do. Bring them to me!" He ordered.
"As you wish." The youngest bowed and grinned before leaving the chamber as the older kept laughing loudly.