"Damn it, Killer. Leave some for the rest of us." At the comment, Killer turned back to look at his grumbling crew, expression hidden behind the striped blue and white full head helmet. He didn't bother to respond but did sheathe his scythes. This had been their fifth ambush since they left the coating shipyard, and it was not going to be the last.
At the rate they were coming at, Killer wouldn't be surprised if they make it another ten minutes without being stopped by another hunter. The crew would definitely get their fill of fights. The question was whether there would be any thrill in those fight.
They were more than weak.
A flash of heat and light caused the shadows around them to move and Killer sighed at the pained cries from voices he didn't recognize nor care about. It hadn't even been ten minutes.
"Isn't there anyone stronger here?" Kid shouted out in frustration. This time Heat had gotten them first. Why did all of them go down after the first attack? Isn't this supposed to be the final stop before the New World, the spot where only the strong can arrive and the truly strong to continue on?
"...damn... it.." The hunter cursed, barely hanging onto consciousness. The Kid Pirates ignored their pained cough. They were too weak to for them to even bother finishing them off. His partner seeming to be holding on better than him. "T-their strength is... insane!"
It took almost all the strength the hunter had left to nod in agreement at his partner's words. "... I-I told you...a... 300 million bounty... was too high!"
"... there are so many big bounties here on these islands right now... we just need to get to one..."
Kid halted suddenly in his tracks at the barely whispered words causing his crew to almost crash into him. He turned back towards the fallen hunters, a shit-eating grin on his face. "Oi," He called, stomping back towards the two who were suddenly wishing that they were actually unconscious. Kid squat down next to them. "Who else is on this island?"
In Grove 30, near the shopping district, stood a small group of unusual patrons. Most of them were dressed in beige boiler suits, though the one that stood out the most was the walking polar bear. That alone would have been attention grabbing enough, but as if it wasn't, he was also the only one dressed in an orange suit.
"Captain!" The bear shouted suddenly, and the Bon Chari shop owner almost tripped on his way back from getting the vehicle attachment to the bubble. The owner snapped his head around towards the two hat-wearing males beside him, none of them seem the slightly bit bothered by the suddenly speaking animal. He followed their gaze towards the taller male walking towards them, a large sword hung lazily over his shoulder. "Captain, can we buy one? It's only ten thousand beli! Look Shachi is floating!"
"So, it seems." Law said. Shachi's pedaled around them while Penguin grabbed the vehicle attachment from the still shocked shop owner and stuck it inside the bubble. "It doesn't seem like these would work outside of these islands though."
"Oh, that's a shame." The shop keeper turned towards the depressed bear, unbelieving at how quick he was to resign.
"We'll just rent them." Penguin said before the shop owner could say anything else to entice them. He fished out the beris from his pocket, pausing for a second. "Captain, do you want to rent one too?" He asked.
"I'll walk." Law answered.
"If Captain's walking then I am too!" Bepo added and Penguin nodded and paid the man 1000 belis for the two bon charis.
Despite having rented the vehicles used to for travelling around faster, Shachi and Penguin kept to the pace of their Captain. The two of the chatting excitedly about the different places they should stop by around the island. "We can explore after we find a coating mechanic." Law reminded and the two agreed with a quick 'Aye, Captain'.
Penguin pulled out a map of the island from inside the bubble, flattening it across his lap. "The coating shipyard is located in the 50 Groves zone. We can cut through to there if we keep going through the Groves in the 10s." He glanced up at the grove next to them. The numbers 18 painted in white clear on the root. "We should start heading east." He added and glanced back at the map and frowned. "The Marine Headquarters are in zone 60."
"What?" Shachi shouted, pedaling next to his buddy and peaking over at the map as well. He frowned too, slightly nervous. "That's really close... Captain, what should we do?"
"We'll find a coating mechanic in the north side of shipyards." Law replied simply at the same time that Bepo leaped forward, blocking an incoming attack with a kick.
"Captain!" Shachi and Penguin shouted, jumping off their vehicles and rushing to their Captain's side. The three of them stood around their captain, stances ready as they stared at the red staff wielding attacker with long sideburns and pointed hair. "Are you... a monkey?" They eyed the thin tail trailing from his backsides.
"I am the leader of the Coffee Monkeys!" He announced proudly and as if on cue, more bodies stepped out from their hiding spots in between the roots and tree trunks. Each of them sprouting a similar brown and green jersey jacket, red staff and monkey tails.
"They really are monkeys." Shachi pounded his fist into his palm, while Penguin turned towards their furry friend. "Do you think they're part of the Mink Tribe too?"
"You're pretty relaxed for someone who is about to be kidnapped!" Their leader grinned as his subordinates jumped the group. "Get the bear! He's part of the Mink Tribe!"
Shachi and Penguin snapped their head towards their furry friend. They're after you?
"Bepo." Law called and the bear turned away from the incoming attack at the call. "Stand back." He ordered as he stepped out from behind the large bear's shadow.
"Aye, aye, Captain!" With that the bear took a back seat and a blue film spread out dividing the space between him and his captain. In moments, the kidnapping monkeys were left in a panic as their body parts were chopped off and left to float around and sticking to whatever they touched next.
"I thought... we could get him..." The leader muttered in defeat. His hands automatically went to hold his hanging head, though neither of the appendages were attached or nearby. He ended up grabbing another monkey's tail who screeched at the sudden touch. "...I thought that with his bounty it was doable..." While the Coffee Monkeys were a formidable group, but after their last delivery of a giant, they have been struggling, especially now with the several high bounties on the islands. They've been taking blow after blow to their pride.
They had decided to target low this time. To help with their self-esteem.
Bepo's bounty was only 500 beris
It was just a bonus that Minks sold more than humans in a human shop.
"Hey Bepo!" Penguin called, waving a sheet of paper that had fallen out of one of the monkey's jacket. The sheet of paper was a strange one with beri prices listed next to each race. "Look here, it says a Mink is worth at least 700 hundred thousand beris."
"Oi, that's a lot more than his bounty!" Shachi chimed in. He patted the furry bear on his back. "See it's the bounty that's wrong." He reassured, remembering how when his wanted poster came out with their Captain, the differences in value was like a canyon.
"Captain's worth Market Price!" Bepo announced with great pride welling in his chest. "I wonder how much Market Price is." The other two simply laughed at the innocent bear's response. Here they were trying to cheer up the bear who could only think of their Captain.
Law lowered the last piece of the Coffee Monkeys he had been playing with, but his didn't undo his room. "How long are you just going to watch," He called out and his crew straightened at the change in tone. All attention directed towards their left.
Standing on one of the roots was a man tall man with golden hair that reached all the way down to his hips. Stretched out triangular tattoos marred his face just above red eyes focused on the purple cards spread out before him.
"That's Basil Hawkins!" Penguin informed with a scowl. The man is one of the rookie pirates that had been wreaking havoc across the first half of the Grand Line like they were. Except—Penguin lowered his stance—his bounty was higher than their captains.
"Worry not." Hawkins said, eyes still focused on the tarot cards before him. "There is no conflict written in the cards for us." He declared much to the confusion of the pirates before him, except for Law who in turn started to dissipate his room. He paused though, the blue dome but a small semi-circle underneath his palm. His steel eyes meeting Hawkins' red ones. "For I see the loom of trouble upon your near future."
Law rested his blade against his shoulder and leered at the other pirates. "Meaning?"
"Didn't you hear our Captain? We won't be fighting!" One of the Hakwins Pirates shouted, easily agitated but Hawkins simply ignored the hotheadedness of his crew. "Be careful not to misplace anything of importance or you'll find yourself forced into an unfavourable situation."
Law looked utterly bored and unaffected by the vague premonition, scowling at Hawkins before turning away. He carves his own destiny. "Which way?" He called after his crew.
"... Why are all of the supernovas so strange?" A Coffee Monkey member asked in a hush whisper towards the ear next to his head as the pirates turned to leave. They were thankful to the break that the Hawkins Pirates had given them. It allowed them time to calm down, especially after realizing that they were perfectly fine and alive despite being chopped up. "Do you think it's a requirement?"
"They were known as supernovas because of their bounties exceeding 100 million!" Their leader corrected with a snap. Where was the focus on education and knowledge of their targets that he had been trying to drill into them? "Now someone bring me my body! It's over there, the piece that's flopping like a fish!"
The monkeys grew rowdy as some tried to, unsuccessfully, twist their body pieces to see where their leader was directing their attention to, while others complained that they were unable to move. Slowly, the Coffee Monkeys tried to gather their fallen pieces to piece themselves back together.
"Hey, that fortune the blonde guy was saying..." One of the members started, mumbling around a leg that he was holding with his mouth and following the slight cries of pain to find the owner. He spat out the leg next to the face attached to a root. "Do you think he's talking about her?"
The face of one of their eldest and wisest member twisted half in thought and half in disgust at the slobbery mess of his thigh. "You understood that weird premonition?"
"Nope, but I figured if there's a hunter capable of catching one of the eleven supernovas then it'll definitely be her."
Murmurs rose around the busy open patio shops and restaurants around Grove 24. The sun high in the sky directly above. It was noon meaning it was peak lunch traffic for pirates, hunters and other unlawful folks came for their meals. Including one huntress who seemed to have garnered more attention than she had originally thought.
Where's that glutton Bonney? She thought with slight annoyance. The Bonney Pirates had docked earlier that morning and she had timed her meals in hopes that their Captain would live up to her nomenclature of Big Eater and come directly towards the islands' restaurant hub in the lawless zones. Bonney's unruly eating habits would help diverge some of the attention off her. She scowled, associating Bonney's lack of presence with the only other item that all pirates needed to get past and into the New World. She had underestimated the pirates' need to find a coating mechanic to get off the island.
"Who do you think is her target?" Another hunter group whispered, and the huntress rolled her eyes at the volume. Do they think she honestly can't hear them with how loud they were talking?
"Probably one of the supernovas. They all have such high bounties." The other responded back as he picked his ear only to jab it painfully in when his buddy whacked him. "Of course, but which one? It'll be trouble if we're targeting the same one."
"Why does it matter? They're all free game." Another whack. "Are you dumb?! Whoever she targets becomes untouchable!" At the glare that the woman shot them, the two shushed, scurrying away, meals half eaten, and bill paid in full.
Red eyes followed the two scrawny hunters and the scowl that had been resting on his face turned up. "Oi, who is that?" He questioned, glaring down at the poor hunter who had attempted to capture them last. They decided to keep him as a tour guide and information source and so far, he's proving himself quite useful.
The hunter lifted his tired face, trying to see under the swollen lump on his eyelid at whoever that the Captain of the Kid Pirates was referring to. His eyes caught the blood red scarf and wavy purple hair and widened. "S-She's b-back?!" He squawked, arms jerking at the hard grip holding his collar back, heels digging into the ground. "Why now?" He questioned, watching the woman as she sipped a cup of hot chocolate. The huntress had been dormant for the last four months and because of it ever other group, whether they be hunters or slave traders or kidnappers, had been flourishing in her absence. Why was she back now of all times, when the island was full of high bounties... he paused, glancing up at the pirates holding him captive.
Ah. He blanked. That's right. The island was full of high bounties.
Kid scowled at the lanky hunter, patience wearing thin. His hand went towards the dagger strapped against his chest in warning.
"T-that's 'Bloody Boa' Charlotte, a notorious and self-serving bounty hunter." He spat the name harshly despite the fear that coursed through his being at the threat from the redhead. He cursed mentally, wondering why he even bothered to try to go off against the highest bounty of the eleven Supernovas. He should have picked someone with a lower bounty! Ah, he recalled, the Kid Pirates was the first ones he stumbled across.
"Once she picks a target, she won't stop at nothing to get her target." Sounded typical to the pirates. "She will attack anyone pirate or hunter if they get in her way of her hunt. Because of that she's hated by basically every other hunter and kidnapper group on the island."
"Is that why she's alone?" The hostile eyes towards the only person sitting alone in the whole grove.
"Not exactly... Groups had approached her to a job together or even just for protection, but she sneered at the idea of working together with someone and walk off. Those who pursued her a second time gets beaten up."
He sized up the thin woman, red eyes resting slightly at the heavy leather that bound every inch of hands and arms, all the way to her shoulders. What is up with those gloves? "Then why haven't you guys taken her out?" Kid questioned, bored of the story already. She was sitting her own. If they were to band together, then it shouldn't be hard to take out one person. They did have a common enemy and goal.
The hunter hung his head, staring at the ground bitter at the memories. "We've tried that..." he admitted begrudgingly. They had done that when she first came five years ago and disrupted their system. His fists clenched at the shame and anger that flooded through his system. Kid's lips split into a fiendish grin at the next words. "Against every hunter and kidnapper group, we didn't even manage to touch her."
The Kid Pirates snapped their head towards the lone huntress. In other words—
"Fortunately, she only targets one prey at a time." He sighed not realizing that none of the Kid Pirates were paying any attention to him anymore. Too busy reminiscing on her words that day as she stood before their piles of bodies, red scarf slithering against her shoulders with the wind's breeze: Stay out of my way and there won't be trouble. She didn't even mean to fight them that day when they ambushed her. Apparently, she was in the middle of a hunt, and they simply got in the way.
Kid pushed forward faster, the ground giving way easily underneath the pressure as he shot himself towards the unsuspecting huntress. In other words—
She is strong.