They jumped... As if Konan could stand still. She jumped too.
Her coat billowed around her, the wind rushing through her hair. The two daredevils were reaching dangerously close to the surface before she caught them both in her arms.
She sighed heavily as she landed on the water, standing perfectly like she was on ground, "Can you both even swim?" The awkward silence and them avoiding her eyes told her all she needed to know. "You would have just sunk, together with Sabo."
Luffy sniffled loudly and raised his hand silently to point at the ship wreckage. She nodded wordlessly and ran over, ignoring the eyes she felt on her. She just hoped for their survival that Sabo was still alive, if they broke her brother's heart with their bullshit, they would have to deal with her fury.
On the boat, Smoker watched the scene with a sense of trepidation. He could feel the danger emanating from her, yet he felt the urge to test her, to fight. Just like a moth drawn to a flame, even if he knew how dangerous it could be, his instincts told him to face her.
Behind him, his subordinates were cowering, afraid of their captain's ire. The celestial dragon had arbitrarily ordered a child to be shot. Despite hating pirates, they all knew where to draw the line, and children were it.
The celestial sat on the ground could attest to it, his bubble was broken, a clear mark of a fist on his cheek. He was whining like the baby he was, threatening to report them, to have them shot, unfortunately however, no one was willing to listen to him. He had chosen the wrong group of marines. Though they usually behaved, their bottom line wasn't to be crossed. He should have done his research.
All became silent as a flurry of paper rose from Konan, thousands upon thousands of papers detached themselves from her. Like a tornado, they dived down in the water. The water became white with papers. Ace and Luffy watched agape as they leaned forward to better see the craziness of what was happening. Meanwhile, Konan looked up at the Marine ship, a silent threat hanging in the air as her gaze crossed Smoker's. Perhaps out of respect, Smoker remained still, only observing her.
A subordinate quickly brought a bounty to him and after a glance, he found himself laughing at the absurdity of it, he was willing to bet all his money that the 30,000,000 beri was estimated by some dumbass who never fought in his life. She was a crouching tiger, that bloodlust couldn't be faked.
Konan turned around suddenly as she felt a wave of Haki hit her. "Dragon..." she mumbled, slightly smiling when she saw the child in his arms. With a wave of her hand, the papers moved to form a path on top of the water and she let the two children go. Within the minute, Luffy was weeping and Ace was gritting his teeth at the sight, tears of frustration building up. Sabo's face was a mash of bloody skin, there was no doubt that it would leave an ugly scar he could never get rid of. With a glance, she saw numerous other parts equally scarred. She felt her anger rise up.
"Take care of these children for me," she said without leaving room for negotiation. "You owe them that much," she glanced at Luffy while saying that, before heading toward the waiting Marine ship. Dragon was left wondering about how much she knew.
"Now, an eye for an eye, a life for a life" she whispered while cracking her knuckles. The papers rose up in the air at her command, as Smoker watched stunned. They poked the tiger awake-they would have to pay the price. "Try to survive," she tilted her head, recognizing faces she saw barely hours ago. She snapped her finger, watching as the papers flew down and came crashing down on them.
"Fuck," Smoker swore, as he used his own devil fruit to try and protect the boat, unfortunately, he was too slow and the boat was too big so in a matter of time, the boat broke apart. "Save all you can, unit 4, take care of the celestials, unit 3, see if you can save the-" he started giving out orders, keeping an eye on Konan who stood perfectly fine on the water before disappearing from view.
The wind whistled and he jumped back just in time to avoid a high kick. He immediately took out his trusted Jitte and prepared to engage in a fight. However, her target wasn't him and he realized that too late because when he blinked again, she was standing in front of the fainted celestial dragon with a kunai raised. "If you kill him, you won't be able to deal with the repercussions!" he shouted, knowing all too well that it might cost thousands of lives. Celestials never died alone.
Konan stopped just before the kunai reached his skin. If she couldn't kill him, she could at least make his life a living hell. Without anyone noticing, a tiny butterfly flew in his clothes. She would make good use of him.
She rose up and observed the wreckage, "I hope we won't see each other again." Her body started dissipating into papers, his Jitte flying right through her. She tilted her head, seeing in his eyes the same burning desire to fight she once saw as Nanko. She felt herself smirk, as she threw her kunai at him, waving him goodbye with a hint of mischievousness rising up.
"As if," Smoker snorted, smudging the blood on his cheek away, his fire rekindled by the encounter. He wasn't satisfied with just that, he was going to make sure they would meet again.
On another part of the island, Konan appeared in a boat. "Good to see you're a man of your words, Dragon," she thanked him, looking at the infirmary where the three brothers were being nursed with varying degrees of injuries. They were all fast asleep, hugging each other save for Sabo who was too badly injured. She put the boy's hat on his bedside.
"Will he make it?" Konan asked as she softly untangled the unconscious boy's hair.
Dragon leaned against the wall, before answering, "probably, he's got good willpower." He straightened up, walking over to stand in front of her. "I didn't know you liked playing the babysitter Ko..."
Konan stiffened for a second before sighing, of course, he would recognize her. In the spur of the moment, she forgot to hide her aura.
"Got anything you want to tell me, my dear informant?" he questioned, his chin pointing to his son and the son of Rogers.
Konan looked at him silently before tilting her head in amusement, "Depends, how much are you willing to pay?"
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This chapter wasn't planned, I just woke up and saw 49,9k views. So I speedran this chapter (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)
Anyways, this is a huge milestone for me, thank you everyone for 50k views!!!
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