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She observed with cold detachment as her crew dragged the screaming boys below deck and shackled them both with Seastone in the brig.
It had taken years to find the reason Red-Haired Shanks had lost his arm. It would have taken less had the little clown spoken, but he remained adamant about not knowing anything, despite being Shank’s best friends. The clown proved to be a good punching bag, at least.
Medea endured her annoyance, as they had to stop at Sabaody. The three boys required separate cells, and their ship had already been full of merchandise.
They couldn’t overfill their cells either, as her crew had a reputation of bringing in the merchandise undamaged.
After only a day, one boy forced her to pull out her heavy duty gags, as he didn’t stop screaming and shouting. If he wouldn’t be a valuable hostage, she would have thrown him overboard long ago.
Their stay on Sabaody stretched itself, as they waited for their merchandise to sell. One woman got brought by a Celestial Dragon, and Medea smiled at the filled treasury on their ship.
With the money, she outfitted each of her subordinates with better equipment and gave their ship a makeover.
An empty ship with only four prisoners left later, the Crimson Slaughter Pirates made their way to the New World.
The information Joker had provided was still fresh, and they missed them by a few days, judging by the abandoned cigarette and fireplace.
Medea almost couldn’t sit still as they journeyed towards the next island. Her scarred face did little to make her look sane, as even her own crew avoided looking at her while she was working off her frustration.
Their lookout spotted the island and Red Force, and immediately all hands were called on deck.
The crew was already in their positions, having practiced for this confrontation for years. Their helmsmen docked at such an angle that the Red Force would have problems shooting at them. Meanwhile, their crew spread out into the docks, laying an ambush, while Medea and her officers boarded the Red Force.
Two officers of the Emperor’s crew, along with a few other members, went to intercept them. Soon Medea was focusing on the sniper of the crew, Yassop.
The sheer numbers overwhelmed him and Hongo before the rest of the crew could arrive.
Nodding in satisfaction, Medea let her crew’s doctor treat the wounded before coming up with an idea.
“Keep them alive and crucify them on their ship. I do not want them to die before their captain comes here!”
The crew, accustomed to their captain’s disturbing behaviour, began working as they retreated to the docks.
Their prisoners, still in chains, got shoved to the ground onto the wooden surface
The blue-haired clown, whose appearance was the worst of the four, seemed to be only alive out of spite. The three boys had different reactions each. Yasopp’s son shook in fright as he looked at the bloody form of his father. The boy with the strawhat was still struggling, despite having been bound by sea stone. The third one was looking murderous and feral while waiting for a chance to attack, like a predator. Were he not connected to Shanks, Medea would have adopted him as their cabin boy.
As she finished marvelling at her work, her second in command tapped her onto the arm, informing her about the incoming emperor and his remaining crew.
With a mask of calm, Medea waited until she stood just meters away from the emperor that was tightly containing his conquerors Haki.
“Red-Haired Shanks! What a pleasure to have you join us today. I come with an offer you cannot refuse!”
Which, true…in a very literal sense.
“What do you want, Red Duchess!?”
Noting her mask slipping as a few of her subordinates hit the ground from his sheer killing intent, Medea dropped it.
The maniac grin on her face looked disturbing as she readied her Haki.
“You against me! Neither crew takes part, or you can bid our prisoners goodbye, because you will only see them in the afterlife.”
The gloating seemed to take its effect, as Shank’s was gradually failing to reign in his Haki.
“You…”
“Ah, ah, ah. No cheating, Beckmann. I wonder, who will be first? Will it be the little child that worships his father? Or would you rather see him break, as said father gets hanged from his own ship? Oh, even better. Should your old captain’s son die before your protegee seeks revenge on you for his brother’s death? No! I’ll start with my little punching bag. He has served me well over the last year, though I must admit I miss getting a reaction out of him. It has been a few days since he last moved. He got so spirited when I talked about his nose. What a bummer.“
The sight of the bloodied body of Buggy the clown proved too much and caused a wave of oppressing Haki to knock out most of her crew. Even Medea needed to take a second to recover, during which Shanks buried his sword deep into her heart.
“How pathetic. One of your precious little friends’ death is enough and you drown in hatred. Embrace it! Attack me with your hate,” screamed Medea. Still very much alive.
Still impaled by the sword, Medea buried her fist into Shanks’ gut and pulled herself away from the sword.
Predicting Shanks’ next attack was futile. He was non-existing in her Haki perception, and she had to force herself to trade blow for blow instead.
The only advantage in her hands was her instant regeneration from her Devil Fruit. Although Medea spent a lot of stamina, she was also landing effective hits on her fellow redhead.
The insanity in her eyes only intensified with all the blood on her body as she submersed herself into the battle.
So much so that she detected too late that her crew had retreated, noticing only after the Fallen Angel had already left the docks behind.
They left behind the hostages as Medea attacked the Emperor, injuring his leg and retreating to fulfil her revenge.
As she readied her bloody knuckles, ready to put a hole into the clown’s body, she sensed her strength disappear as someone knocked her to the ground.
Above her, Yasopp was looking less than pleased about his son’s kidnapping as he stopped her movement with a pair of sea stone cuffs..
Medea was helpless to do anything but look murderous, unwilling to surrender.
Waking up in a damp cell was a predictable outcome, despite not being what she had hoped for. Shanks either wanted answers or revenge. Cursing her devil fruit since she was not bleeding out on the floor, Medea gazed at the captain, along with his first-mate, who had entered her new little room.
“Ah, what a pleasure. A coward and his loyal little duck. How may I help you today? I have a book that is titled Ten ways to abandon someone for you in my pocket. Though I’m sure you’re an expert.”
Ah, that felt good. For decades, she had repressed all her hate and anger, and now was the time to unleash it all.
“I do not remember seeing your ugly mug at any point in my life.” Shanks pointed out, almost playfully. The undertone of anger that was still persistent in their interaction didn’t escape Medea’s perception.
“Mocking someone for scars they created themselves,” she sneered. “How gentlemanly, you fucking traitorous piece of shit.”
Shanks looked almost pensive, but soon his laid back demeanour was back. “I think I would remember having dealings with your kind.”
The disgust that was buried beneath decades of hate shimmered to the surface as Medea started losing her mind.
“MY KIND? You arrogant asshole, stop putting your pathetic self on some moral high grounds. You aren’t better than me.” She spat out. Her voice heated as if she wanted nothing more than to scream at him until her voice gave out.
“Slavery? Genocide? That’s not something I’m known for, unlike you.”
Oh, he had done it now. Medea didn’t even try to hold back the absolute wrath she sensed brewing beneath her skin. It imploded with a wave of Conquerors Haki, as she screamed out loud. “At least I don’t leave children to die!”
Once she realised her little outburst, she shut her mouth. She cursed herself for revealing this much. Instead, she began thinking about ways to kill him as her exhaustion began catching up.
When she woke up, her cell was empty again, though Shanks came down from time to time to try speaking with her or just peer at her. She disturbed him by describing the violent deaths she had planned for him, hoping he would not return.
That hope was short-lived. He entered her cell drunk and staring at her with those sad eyes only a few days later, which made her want to rip them out and stuff them down his throat.
“Shannon, what happened to you?”
She hated how he had the gall to look at her with pity. She especially hated how she could feel a slight bit of joy in her bitter heart. “Your sister died decades ago, when you abandoned her to become a pirate.”
The fact remained. It had been over two decades since she had abandoned that name and it had died on their home island, together with her love for her brother.
Shanks, in his drunken stupor, protested, and she had to listen, since she could not move away. “I thought it was better that way! That baker couple even adopted you, since they had been asking to do so for years!”
She sneered at that half-hearted reason as she looked back at those times in disgust. “What wonderful people you left me with! One person tried to fuck me, even though I was only seven. The other scarred my face, because she was a jealous wench that couldn’t handle her husband being a pedophile.”
Even if she wanted, she couldn’t stop the words from leaving her mouth as she experienced the feeling of vicious satisfaction from at least hurting him with words.
“You, oh great emperor of the sea, have my thanks for making my life so wonderful while you lived the life you always dreamed of.”
“I plead my eternal gratefulness to the man that left me in the care of two horrible human beings, whose deaths gave me my first bounty when I was nine just months later. I thank you for having forever destroyed my dream of quietly becoming a chef and opening a restaurant. Guess what a nine-year-old had to do to survive the west blue with a bounty.”
Shanks was crying now, and she was feeling smug about his hurt expression. Her childhood hadn’t been nice to her. Though she got lucky and found protection through an underground fighting ring. But even that hadn’t been able to protect her or her innocence.
She bit her tongue, wanting never again to experience the feelings that were rising in her chest. With her devil fruit disabled, she could die of such a simple wound if given enough time. While his self-loathing occupied Shanks, Medea’s condition worsened as she started bleeding out. Even as it began dripping down her chin, she refused to acknowledge his sobs.
Shanks, who had detected her silence, froze as he saw the state of her health. Leaving a bloodied and vindictive smile on her face, Medea was close to passing out and was inching towards her death.
She should have just killed the hostages before killing as many members of his crew as possible, she lamented before she blacked out.
Captain of the Crimson Slaughter Pirates, Red Duchess Medea (Shannon), Bounty 1.623.000.000 Beli.
Wanted for arson, assassination, piracy, slavery, murder, genocide, robbery and kidnapping.
Description: A cruel Pirate Captain in the New World, who leaves the places she docks at as bloody wastelands.
Red Hair, that often blends together with the blood she gets covered with.
Current user of the Regen-Regen Fruit, which makes her regenerate wounds quickly. When awakened, she can help others regenerate.
Her once white outfit was drenched in blood so often that it became a similar colour to her hair. Those two things granted Medea her moniker.
Strategist/ Vice-Captain, Checkmate Esmeray, Bounty 442.000.000 Beli.
Wanted for piracy, murder, and slavery.
Description: A highly intelligent strategist said to rival Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Be advised. Kill her before she can get a read on her opponent’s fighting style.
First Mate, Blackout Fia, Bounty 410.900.000 Beli Beli.
Wanted for piracy, slavery, murder and arson
Doctor, Voodoo Doctor Ubel, Bounty 400.100.000 Beli.
Wanted for piracy, slavery, murder, genocide, medical malpractice and the creation of a bio weapon.
Swordsman, Cold Cut Colvin, Bounty 400.000.000 Beli.
Wanted for piracy, slavery and murder.