-ANSWERS TO HER QUESTION -
The straw hats left Yuba and were heading towards Katorea. Suddenly Luffy stopped and sat down on the sand.
"Luffy! What are you doing?!" Usopp asked.
" What's wrong, Luffy-san?" Vivi asked while stopping as well.
"I quit," he said blatantly.
"Huh?" Everyone said in confusion expect for Kei.
Vivi-"Luffy-san, What do you mean?!"
"If we don't go back to Katorea and stop the revolt, millions of citizens here are gonna clash and things will get ugly quick! This is for Vivi-chan!! Let's go!" Sanji said and tried to pull Luffy, But he was pushed aside by him.
"That's boring"
"SAY WHAT?!!" Sanji said angrily.
"Vivi. I wanna kick Crocodile's ass!" Luffy said anger monitoring on his face.
"If we stop the rebellion, will that stop Crocodile? Besides we won't be able to do anything in Katorea anyway." The brim of Luffy's hat shaded his eyes.
"T-That's...!!" Vivi tried saying but couldn't come up with anything. She knew he was right.
"You want it so nobody dies in this fight. None of the citizens, and none of us!! don't you think that's too soft-hearted?" Luffy asked seriously.
Vivi clenched her fists in anger.
"What's wrong with thinking that?!!" She asked.
"People die"
Was the only things that Luffy said.
Suddenly, Vivi raised her fists and punched Luffy square on the face.
"Stop saying that!! Say that again and I'll make you pay!! The rebel army, the royal army, and the people of this kingdom haven't done anything wrong!! So why do people have to die when it's all crocodile's fault!!" Vivi exclaimed while shaking her head as if trying to shake the thoughts away.
Suddenly, Luffy got up from his place and launched towards Vivi. He punched her back in the face
"THEN WHY ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR LIFE IN LINE?!!" Vivi tackled Luffy and started punching him.
"Then what should I be putting on the line?! I don't have-" Luffy grabbed her wrists and stood up.
"At least try putting all of our lives on line together! AREN'T WE FRIENDS!!" Luffy yelled furiously.
Vivi looked at him with wide eyes and slowly tears started to fall from her eyes. Slowly sobs started to come from her and she cried out all the frustration that had been on her mind. All the tears that she wanted to let out but couldn't because of her responsibility to save the kingdom were now rapidly coming out. She had been strong for too long.
Nami slowly went towards her and hugged her as a sign of consolation.
"Everyone. Luffy-san is exactly right! I've made up my mind now.
Let's go where Crocodile is!!"
She said with determination in her eyes. A smiled formed on the strawhats faces at what she said.
"YEAH!"
________________
"So this is Rainbase!" Luffy said while looking at the town in front of him.
"By the way, does the Baroque knows we are in this country now." Zoro asked.
"Most likely" Nami answered.
" So what?!" Luffy asked with a huff.
"They know what we look like. We can't do much while we are in Rainbase." Usopp said tried to explain.
"WHY NOT?!"
"If we get spotted first Crocodile can deal with us in all kinds of ways"
"COME OUT!! CROCODILE!!" Luffy said not listening to Usopp.
"Give up Usopp. It's no use" Kei said.
"In any case, no matter who we run into, I'll protect Nami-san, Vivi-chan, and Kei-chan! You girls can call me a prince!" Sanji said with sparkles around him.
"Prince" said Zoro.
" DON'T MAKE ME KICK YOUR ASS!" Sanji yelled furiously.
They soon reached the town. Luffy and Usopp dashed towards the town to get water while others rested in a shaded area. Chopper went to take a leak while others waited for them.
__________
As they were resting, they suddenly heard some noises.
"The Navy is chasing them again,!" Sanji said while looking towards the street. Luffy and Usopp were running towards them with barrels in their hand but they were being chased by the Navy.
"No way!! So why are they running this way?!!" Nami said in a panic.
Kei and others picked their things and started running. They had no choice but to leave without the blue-nosed reindeer.
"Catch them for sure this time!!" One of the marines said.
The strawhats kept running through the streets while all the citizens were starring at them.
"Do you see that alligator roof building ahead?! That's the casino Crocodile runs.......Raindinners!!" Vivi said while pointing at a tall building ahead of them.
"It'd be best if we split" Sanji suggested.
"ALRIGHT! SEE YOU LATER!!" Luffy said while jumping in the air. He landed on the roof of a building nearby safely.
Kei, Sanji, Usopp, and Nami turned right while the others turned left. As Kei was running, she took another right while Sanji, Nami, and Usopp continued running forward. They didn't see her change direction as she was behind them but Kei could still see the Navy following her. She turned back and crouched dowm while placing her palm on the ground.
"VINE FLEXURE!"
Soon, green vines started to come out of the ground and crawl up on the body of the marines. It twisted them in every way possible and the marines were now lying on the ground defeated . Kei took this chance and continued running. She saw an alley towards her left which was empty and entered.
She took many turns and when she could no longer see the Navy, she stopped to take a break. No one was around her and there was silence.
She was not going to go to the rainbase. Who would go there when they know they are gonna get caught? Definitely not Kei. But if Luffy and others don't get caught, they wouldn't know the real reason why Crocodile wants to take over this country. That's why stopping them wasn't an option according to Kei. She started walking through the alley.
I'm gonna go search for Sanji and Chopper since they are the only ones that are out there.
" Long time no see."
She suddenly heard someone say. The woman looked up because that's where she heard the voice come from. Someone was there, sitting on the roof of the building. But Kei couldn't see who it was because the building was tall.
She squinted her eyes to have a clear look but still couldn't see who it was, since the sun rays were hitting her eyes. In her view, the figure just looked like a black shadow.
Did he just say 'Long time no see'?
Is it someone I know?
But Kei immediately dismissed the thoughts, since she knew almost no one other than her crewmates. She suspiciously narrowed her eyes at the figure. The voice sounded like a male voice. Even though he just said 'Long time no see', his voice didn't hold any emotions. It was cold and formal. Not hearing a response from Kei, he speaks up again.
"I see you have been running a lot for a while now."
Kei furrowed my eyebrows at this. She hated to admit it, but it was true.
"Do I know you?"
She asked in confusion. He stood up from his place and suddenly jumped down from the building. She looked at him with a little surprise because he landed safely a few distances away from her .
How is he fine? That building was tall, so no normal human being could do that. Is it one of the Baroque works? But they wouldn't look at me and say 'Long time no see'....
Kei could finally see him properly. It was a young man with fair skin along with long silvery white hair, which was tied into a low ponytail. Cyan eyes which held no emotions.
"You don't know me but I've known you for a very long time." he said with a stoic face.
"That's........." Kei started, furrowing her eyebrows even more at the unknown visitor.
".....Creepy. Are you a stalker?" A disgusted look formed on her face.
"I do no such things." he said instantly in a monotone.
"Maybe the next thing I say will give you a hint as to who I'm." he said while closing his eyes. There was silence for a few seconds.
"I've been sent by Dr. Kuromiya to bring you back." When he opened his eyes, there was a rather firm look in them. The mild confusion was clear on Kei's face, but her eyebrows soon raised in realization.
"Oh, you mean that crazy scientist. So you are one of his lackeys, huh? It's been a while since he sent someone."
She said while bumping her first into the plan of her other hand. In all this fuss about Alabasta, she had forgotten about him. A sigh escaped the silver haired guy's mouth.
"I guess you won't come with me willingly."
Kei scoffed at this. His eyes were looking at her as if he was looking through her soul, though Kei refused to look away or be intimidated while still maintaining her calm posture.
"You guessed it right."
His hand reached for the side of his waist and it was now when Kei realized he had a belt around his waist. He removed daggers from it and held them in both of his hands. The blade of the daggers had the same size as the palms of her hand.
"I have been ordered to bring you back and I'll do it even if I had to cut your limbs."
Kei looked at the blades, thinking that she can dodge them if she just transforms into leaves.
"Try it, if you can." she said taking a fighting stance as well.
She looked at him, waiting for him to do something and not being the one to attack first. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Though Kei didn't get time to react because in the next second he was instantly in front of her. Her eyes eyes widened in shock.
"WHA-?!!"
Though, she was not able to say more or contemplate what just happened as she immediately a slight stabbing feeling on the right side of her stomach. She looked down in disbelief to see that it was one of his daggers that had stabbed her.
Kei stumbled back a little and clutched her stomach. She gritted her teeth in pain but she could say that it was not deep and it had slightly grazed her.
Since not the whole blade was shoved in her abdomen, the pain was bearable. She looked down at her hands and saw blood on her palms. Thankfully, it was not a lot.
"You thought I can't land a hit on you, didn't you?" She heard him say and turned her gaze back towards him.
"Let me tell you something. One of these has sea prism stones in them. These are made by Dr. Kuromiya, so your powers won't work." he said while lifting his daggers in front of him.
Looks like he had done his part of research and had come prepared. He took out a white cloth from his pocket and wiped the blood that had stained the dagger and a small trail of blood was even dropping down on the floor from blade like it was nothing.
Not sparring even a single second after he was done wiping, he immediately launched himself towards Kei again, with his daggers ready.
His right dagger came for her again but this time Kei dodged it by bending back. The dagger slicing through the air, just inches away in front of her face. But that didn't stop him from attacking. He continued to attack her from both of his daggers.
Not only that but he was fast and flexible. He kept exchanging the daggers in both of his hands with every slash, because of which, Kei could no longer say which one had the sea stone in them. She had no option but to dodge both of them.
He was too fast, Kei was surprised that she was still able to dodge them. She didn't even have a chance to attack back and was on full defense.
Shit! This is bad! I am not good in short-range fights. I have to think of something fast!
She thought as she kept stepping backwards with every attack he did in an attempt to dodge the weapon. If this kept going on, Kei would lose.
" What's the matter? Why don't you fight back? I know your body can do better than that." he said still attacking her, without stopping. Which only confused Kei.
Suddenly, her leg tripped a bit and it caught her off guard. 'Great, what timing I have.....
She cursed in anger and frustration. "Looks like this is where it ends." He said and Kei saw his dagger coming for her face. Her eyes widened, it was too fast and she can't dodge him. It's was going to slash her.
But suddenly instead of feeling pain, something came in front of her. She could only see black. Kei backed her head a bit and it took her a while to realize that someone was standing in front of her.
"Huh?...."
She looked up to see similar short brown hair.
It's that guy. As I thought, it was him that I saw in the market last time.
Kei thought remember the time she saw a familiar figure walking through the market. It was the guy who helped her escape the laboratory. Kei stared at his back which was faced against her.
"Yo,"
She heard him say to the other guy. She tilted her head so that she could see in front of him.
"I didn't expect to see you here so soon, Ren." the white-haired guy said.
So his name is Ren.
Kei thought but she didn't fail in noticing how he said ' didn't expect to see you here so soon '. Meaning he was expecting to see Ren at some point. The silver-haired had backed up a bit.
Kei noticed that blood was now dripping from the right hand of the guy called Ren. Her eyebrows raised high in mild shock.
This guy.....did he stop the dagger with his hand?
"As I thought, you were the one who helped her escape the last time. I don't know why you did it but I want you to get out of my way." the white haired guy said with a grim tone, though his face was still stoic.
"Sorry, but I can't let you do as you please. And you know exactly why I'm doing this, Daiki." Ren said with a cold tone.
Though his words seem to have no effect on Daiki. "This all wouldn't have happened if you had done what we told you to."
Kei didn't understand a thing they were talking about but one thing she was able to figure out was that these both had some history.
"If you'll get in my way, I'll have to fight you too." Daiki said while lifting his daggers again.
"Sure. That's what I'm here for you know." Ren said and lifted his hand which was dripping with blood.
Suddenly, the blood around his palm moved. Kei looked at it with surprise as the blood started gathering to gather around his palm. It looked as if he was manipulating them as he wanted. Soon, it had taken the form of a long crimson red sword. He swung the blade in front of him and immediately charged towards the other guy.
The clanking of metal reached Kei's ears when the crimson sword made of blood and Daiki's daggers clashed. Even though it was made of something in liquid stated , the sword still looked tough and strong.
They moved back but immediately started attacking again. Daiki was attacking with the same speed he was using before but Ren was faster than him. His attacks were swifter and more powerful.
Even though he kept swiping his daggers, it was like Ren could easily tell the difference between them. They were so fast that Kei couldn't keep up with their attacks. He was in full offense, which caused the guy, Daiki to keep backing up. It was as if the tables had turned.
Ren was dodging the dagger with sea stone easily while he was dealing the other one with his sword. This kept going on, when Ren suddenly found an opening and with all his might he swung his sword.
This caused one of Daiki's dagger to drop to the ground. The silver haired looked at his fallen dagger and then moved his gaze back at Ren.
"This time I lose. But you know you can't keep doing this forever." Daiki picked up his dagger and jumped on the roof of the building. Soon, they could no longer see him. The sword in Ren's hand slowly formed back to liquid state. Though, the scar of the slash was still there on his palm, it looked like the bleeding had stopped.
So..... that's why the name bloodslayer....
"I finally got to meet you again." she said. There was silence for a few seconds as Ren still stood there with his back to her and said nothing. He then tilted his head back to look at her and a smile formed on his face.
"Well, well , looks like you've got a few questions ~" He asked with a grin. Kei was a little taken back by his sudden change of tone.
"Uh..yeah... Not a few but a lot." Her voice came out awkward.
"I know what you want to ask." Ren tucked his hands into the pocket of his long black coat. Kei found it weird that he would wear a coat in such a hot weather but she didn't really wanted to question it.
"Then what are you waiting for? Tell me." Ren had now started walking towards her.
" You wanna know about Dr. Kuromiya, right? Let me tell you this, he used to work for the government before and was a well-known scientist. But because of some reasons, he got banned from doing any experiments."
"What reasons?" Kei asked with narrowed eyes. Ren leaned sideways against the wall beside him while he crossed his arms across his chest. "Do you really wanna know about it?"
Kei's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at this, "What do you mean?"
"I had already told you last time that this was something you wouldn't wanna get yourself involved in. It would be better for you if you just kept running." The corner of Kei's lips tugs down, forming a frown.
"Do you think I'm interested in keeping running and being chased while not knowing for what reasons. I'm the one who's gonna decide whether I want to get involved, not you."
She said with a firmness in her voice as if she was not gonna change her decision while she crossed her arms across her chest. Even though he did help her, she didn't want a stranger to decide what she was going to do. Ren stayed silent for a second and just looked at her, finding for resistance but found none in her face.
"It was because he was someone who would do anything to make his experiments successful. The government soon got the information that he would abduct normal citizens and use them as laboratory rats".
Sounds like a typical villain scientist.
"He had one belief that he wanted to prove to the world no matter what. And that is the existence of the other world. But you can guess that no one believed him."
There was a pause for a second. It was as if he was contemplating something. Choosing his words carefully while thinking what all to disclose. It made Kei irritated because she wanted to know everything there is to this whole situation. She thought that at some point the information could be useful in future.
"That's why after many failed attempts, when one of them succeed, he was really happy. And that experiments result was none other than you. He wanted to use you as proof of that. But you ran away. " He said while pointing a finger towards her.
"Wow, what a surprise." Kei said not really surprised because she had already guessed half of them long ago. It was clear that the scientist wanted something that only Kei had but she had come into this world with nothing but her existence.
"If he did show you to the government, either way, it would be bad for you. You can never expect good things from them. Proving the existence of another dimension would be a huge development in scientific world and you are the only proof of that. If the government or Dr. Kuromiya gets their hands on you, you might just become another lab rat for them. "
The atmosphere was tense now, Kei really didn't know what to say. She still had a lot of questions to ask, but didn't know which to ask first.
"Keeping that aside, do you know you have a bounty on your head." Ren said changing the subject.
It took a while for her brain to understand what he said but when she did, her eyes went wide in shock,"What.....?"
"And have you realized that body is not yours?" He said again.
This time she decided to stay silent.
"Looks like you somewhat had an idea about it, because it would be too stupid to not notice such a thing." he said while walking towards her again. His hand reached for his pocket and he removed something from it.
"Here." he said while showing a bounty poster to her. "Have a look"
Kei immediately snatched it from his hands. Her eyes widened more when she saw a pic of her in the poster but it had a different name on it.
ALIVE OR DEAD
VINCENT ROSE
70,000,000 BERRIES'
Was written under the picture of her.
"Vincent Rose?" Kei said with narrowed eyes.
"Vincent Rose is the name of the girl to whom that body belongs." He said while pointing towards Kei.
"Only your soul came into this world, your body didn't. Your soul was just sent to a dead body." He said the things she had realized long ago.
"By putting your soul to a dead body, not only did he succeed in resurrecting dead people but he also proved the existence of the other world. He wants to use you to get his position back in the Government too."
Now that was something Kei didn't expect to hear. "Vincent Rose was one of the people who used to work for him." Ren continued.
Kei looked at the poster, taking in all the information she got just now. She wanted to question as why the government would accept someone who abducts citizens for experiments but at the same time she didn't because it wouldn't be a surprise to her if they named those experiments as a sacrifice for so called future benefits.
"By the way." he said again which caused Kei to turn her gaze away from the poster to him.
"You suck at using your powers."
" Huh?" An irk mark appeared on her head.
"I mean, I went through the trouble to give you the devil fruit but in the end, I had to save you." He shrugged his shoulders but there was smug tone in his voice.
"Well, I didn't really ask for your help." she said in annoyance.
"Now, now~ is that something you should say to someone who saved your life twice? You should be thanking me since I was just trying to save a helpless person ~~"
He continued with a sly smirk. It looked as if the seriousness that he had just a few minutes ago had disappeared into thin air.
The number of tick marks on her forehead increased. Being helped was different but being called helpless was something that Kei didn't like at all. Even though he did help her a few minutes ago, right now she just wants to bury him alive. She crumbled the poster in her hand a bit.
"I was going to thank you but I've changed my mind." Kei said in a straightforward manner.
"Aww~ don't say that~."
"Your annoying."
"I've heard that a lot. Well, I should get going, I have other things to do." He turned his back to her, but looked back at her over his shoulder. "And weren't you going to go somewhere?"
At this Kei looked at him in confusion, but soon her eyes widened. "Shit! I was going to go search for Sanji and Chopper. I totally forgot about them." She said while looking down and smacking her forehead with her palm.
When she looked up, Ren was already gone. "Huh? He's gone......
Well, I hope I never meet him again." She shrugged her shoulders casually.
He looked like the type of guy who is always annoying and is difficult to be with. Even though, this was only the second time they meet, Kei was already annoyed. She didn't think much about it and turned to leave but looked down at her injury.
" I have to do something about this."She removed a cloth from her bag and tied it tightly around the injury, under her robe so that it's not visible.
"I'll deal with this later. For now, this is enough." saying that to herself, she started running towards the Rainbase.
__________
Sanji had already gotten rid of all the Navy and was heading towards where Rainbase is. As he was walking, something in the wall nearby caught his eyes. He looked at it and his eyes widened.
"This...!!"
_________________
The blond cook was now in front of the Rainbase but he didn't enter since he saw Crocodile's men keeping guard outside the building. He removed his lighter from his pocket and burnt the tip of the cigarette near his mouth.
"What do you think happened to others?" Chopper who was standing beside him asked.
"Who knows." the blonde said while sucking on his cigarette.
"Sanji, Chopper." they heard and turned to see Kei walking towards them.
Kei walked towards Sanji and Chopper when she finally found them.
"Kei-chan! You were out here too?" Sanji asked in surprise.
"Yeah...I didn't get a chance to go." she said while scratching the back of her head.
She went beside Sanji and turned her gaze towards the Rainbase. She saw many people keeping a watch outside the building. They were probably the 'millions', the ones they could deal easily with.
Kei felt Sanji starring at her and looked at him. He was looking at her with a conflicted expression, as if he wanted to ask her something but couldn't.
"Sanji?"
Kei called out. This caused him to snap out of his thought.
"Is there something you want to say to me?" Kei asked with a raised eyebrow. He thought about it for a second and stayed silent as if mulling on her words but then smiled.
"No! it's nothing!"
He said and looked towards the building. Kei didn't think much about it and did the same.
"What should we do now?" Chopper asked.
"They probably have been caught." Sanji said. He was looking towards the building thinking about what to do.
"You have a plan, right?"
Kei suddenly asked while turning to the blonde cook beside her.
At this, he looked at her in shock, as if he was surprised that she guessed what was in his mind. A smirk slowly formed on his face.
"I actually do have one".
_______________
It didn't take long for the three to finish off the millions.
Sanji went towards one of them and checked his pockets.
"Here it is!"
He said while removing a mini-transponder snail from it.
He picked up the guy from the collar.
"Do as I say if you don't wanna up becoming minced meat." he said threatening him with a glare.
"Y-yes!!" The guy sluttered in fear, not wanting this to be his last day.
_____
*Puru Puru Puru Puru, Puru Puru Puru Puru* they heard the ring go from the transponder snail.
"What?"
They heard a feminine voice say from the other side. Kei immediately knew who's voice it was.
" Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?" Sanji asked.
"Yes, I hear you. You are a million, yes ?"
"Hey, does this thing work? I've never used a mini-transponder sail before." Sanji asked the guy beside him.
"Yes, everything is fine. You can talk just as you are." He said.
"What do you want?"
"Hurry up and state your business!! What happened?!" Another deep voice came.
"Oh, I've heard that voice before." Sanji said recognizing it. Even Kei did.
"Heya, you've called the damn restaurant."
"The damn restaurant?"
"Oh, it sounds like you remember me. That's great."
"Just who are you?"
"Me? I'm........Mr. Prince"
There silence for a second on the other side of the line.
"I see. Where are you?"
"Afraid I can't say that! I'm not so stupid to give up information easily. Unlike you Mr.0"
"PRINCE HELP!!
COME! RESCUE ME MR.PRINCE!!" They could hear Usopp and Luffy yell.
A low chuckle left from Sanji." Looks like my crew is right by your side. In that case, I'm gonna-" Kei immediately got the signal and pulled the trigger of the gun.
*BAAM*
Sanji gave the snail to the guy beside them, who was beaten into a pulp.
"Troublesome bastard! Hello? We've caught him! What should we do with him?"
"Where are you?"
"In front of the gate of Raindinners!"
With that, he ended the call.
"I gotta say your brain works better than anyone in our crew." Kei told Sanji.
"Ehh~ are you telling me, you love me Kei-chwaaan~~!?!" He said with heart in his eyes.
"No."
"Look Chopper, his friends are starting to crowd around again in the same place we were just running wild." Sanji said while pointing in front of the Rain dinners .
"Mm-hmm. Next, it's whatever I can manage." Chopper who was now wearing Sanji's clothes said.
"That's right. We are counting on you"
"It's a good thing I didn't let that Mr.2 copy my face." Kei said.
And with that Sanji and Kei started heading towards the rain base while Chopper went in the opposite direction.
TO BE CONTINUED.