][Malice][ =One Piece=

:: Chapter Seven ::

 By stowing aboard a navy ship, the eight year old crimson haired girl had made it all the way to Sabaody Archipelago. She’d never imagined she’d make it so far. Her father was out there somewhere, whether it was the East Blue, South Blue, North Blue, West Blue, Grandline or the New World, he was out there and she’d find him. Due to her just stowing aboard ships it was hard to follow a particular path and often times she’d end up backtracking.

Passerby pointed at the small crimson haired child and whispered as she passed by. There was a strange dark aura around the scrawny girl, her dark piercing garnet eyes burned like fiery embers and a constant scowl remained on her cherubic face. Though she was so small, she carried a decent sized blade at her waist.

A band of slavers spotted the child and smiled to themselves at their easy prey unaware of the watchful gaze of the Dark King who’d also taken notice of the strange child. There was something oddly familiar about that blazing red hair.

“Hey, little girl, are you lost?” One of the slavers, a slob of a man with a large beer gut, wearing a stained white shirt and tattered shorts called out to the crimson haired girl.

Malice paused for a moment, she was indeed unsure of where she was heading. She’d heard that there may be a man on the island who knew the whereabouts of her father. Her heart started to race within her chest as the men drew steadily nearer. Something was wrong. There was a strange aura around the men, they couldn’t be trusted; they didn’t have good intentions.

“I’m fine.” The little girl replied curtly before resuming her pace.

“What’s the hurry, we could take you to Sabaody Park; a kid like you would just love it-.”

“I have no interest in amusement parks; I can find my way just fine, thank you.” Malice cut the man off coolly.

“Don’t get cocky, brat!” The man lunged for the small girl while retrieving a drug soaked rag from his pocket.

The petite girl flitted out of the way of his attack. “Please don’t misunderstand.” She unsheathed the wicked blade at her waist, “This isn’t for show and you’d not be the first pack of scumbags to be felled by this blade.”

The men stared at the creepy child in awe for a moment as eerie chills ran down their spines. The man who’d addressed her first forced himself to laugh it off, “Children shouldn’t play with swords.”

“Swords aren’t for playing." The little girl giggled as she vanished from sight.

“What the-.” The man began.

A crimson blur shot toward him from behind as the small child launched her attack. Every adult she’d come across in her travels had been wicked. Was there any hope for adults or did she live in a world of evil? The slavers panicked as their leader suddenly fell to his knees with a cry. His booze stained shirt now being bathed in blood.

“Boss!” The others cried frantically as vibrant scarlet blood seeped into the back of his shirt from a deep slash across his shoulder blades. “You little brat!” They turned to the crimson haired girl as she appeared before them once more.

‘BANG’

Malice winced as she felt something pierce her in the shoulder. It was strange, she didn’t feel her flesh tear nor did she feel a bullet. Her body began to feel tingly and numb. A tranquilizer gun! She frantically tried to hold onto consciousness using willpower alone to fight off the effects of the drug now coursing through her veins.