Idol - YOASOBI (Heart Pirates vers.)
Hey! Artists Can Be Strong, Too! - Opening 3
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Yuria slipped out the window as she scaled the building to reach the rooftop of The Syrup Inn. It was time to get to work.
It was pretty easy for Yuria to relocate the group of men from earlier. They were on their way to spend all the money Yuria had "foolishly" given them on booze, but were currently stopped loudly squabbling over who gets to hold the money. Fools. Why does it matter who gets to hold the money if you spend all of it on alcohol at once? That's what she would see Zoro do whenever Nami gave him spending money.
...
Okay, maybe Zoro is a terrible example to follow...
Although it was still early in the evening, due to the increasingly chilly temperatures, there were not many people outside. This worked out perfectly for Yuria as the less people there were walking about the less of chance she would be seen.
Maybe my persona should have been an assassin...no, no that would have scared Maple off. It's not like I'm actually assassinating them anyways. Thief? Nope, I wouldn't have been allowed to stay in the inn...
She slapped her cheeks lightly to regain focus when there was finally movement from the quartet of fools. Their argument must have resolved poorly as they all walked away in different directions. Judging by the stormy expressions on the other three, they hadn't received a single Beri. She had indirectly caused four friends to fall out just like that. Yuria shuddered as the power and destructive force of money was terrifying. Oh, well. Unfortunately for them, they had only made it easier for her to pick them off one-by-one.
When deciding who to go for first, she ultimately decided to go for the guy with her money before he spent it all. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, despite the snow and ice, with relative ease she followed behind the grumbling man silently. When he turned into an alleyway as a shortcut to the wherever he was going she knew that was her one chance.
Other than having her money, Yuria had a large grudge against this guy. As if to remind her, her stomach gurgled in protest. Not only had he burned Maple with it, but she hadn't been able to finish the delicious beef stew and her free drinks had been wasted because of this bastard.
The bounty hunter placed his hands behind his head as he leisurely walked whistling along the way. It had been overall a good day for him. Sure he may have lost his closest friends now, but now he had enough money to afford that engagement ring. If he included his savings, maybe he could finally quit being a bounty hunter and settle down with her.
With his mind lost in his imagination of his soon-to-be future with his beloved he wasn't prepared when a snowball hit him in the face. Before he could scream from the shock a sharp chop to the neck had him out like a light. With the money once again in her possession, Yuria dusted her hands together as she admired her handiwork. Using a few of her needles, while dissipating the rest, she had pinned the man by his clothes to the wall. Then, with her finger dipped in ink, she had doodled all over the man's face with whiskers and random markings. Hearing voices of approaching people near the alley entrance, Yuria scaled the wall to hide on a rooftop to escape.
The other three were easy to find, as while she had been dealing with their ex-friend, they had met up again and were ranting with one another about what they hated about him. As they were grouped up, it was a little harder to act, but it didn't prove too much of a challenge to Yuria who had become use to groups of three to four. The bounty hunters and Marine soldiers had begun avoiding traveling alone or in pairs due to the attacks. However, they severely underestimated one thing: knowledge about their attacker. They didn't know a single thing except that they would attack suddenly without warning, knock them out swiftly, and then steal articles of clothes, weapons, or money. They wouldn't even know it if their attacker happened to cross their paths earlier that day or not or if they were watching them currently.
After leaving the three bounty hunters without a single Beri to their names, Yuria yawned as she made her way back to the inn. She couldn't wait for a hot bath and then a full night's rest in a comfortable bed.
With a large yawn Yuria sat down at the same spot at the bar once again. It was back to it's clean and orderly appearance aside from a few scratch marks and a missing chair from the scuffle last night.
"Mornin', Ria!" Maple cheerfully greeted as she placed a plate of food in front of the tired woman. She had been so excited to sleep in a bed last night, but of course that had to be a night where she was tormented by nightmares. She had tried falling back asleep multiple times before just giving up and laying in bed watching the snow fall outside her room window. At least she had some sort of sleep when she was outside camping out in the elements where her paranoia-filled dozing didn't allow her to have dreams or nightmares.
"Morning." Yuria mumbled rubbing her eyes trying to ease the pressure behind her eyes from the sleep deprivation and the constant lull of sleep. Maple must have noticed her struggling to stay awake as she turned around before returning with a mug of something steaming. When placed down in front of her Yuria could only describe the smell as one thing: heavenly.
"You're an angel, Maple." Yuria murmured while taking a few moments to just relish in the smell of the freshly roasted coffee. With those first few sips of coffee she could already feel the caffeine rushing to wake up her tired brain.
"A youngin' like you should be getting adequate sleep if you want to live as long as me." A gruff voice grumbled and with a mouthful of scrambled eggs Yuria turned her head to see the old man from last night in the same seat. She hadn't noticed him sitting down again. Was the food here drugged or something because why did her awareness always disappear whenever she ate it?!
"Leave her alone, Gramps. You caused so much trouble for her last night!"
"Didn't I tell you to call me 'Mayor' not 'Gramps', Maple? Also my coffee is missing something."
"Gramps, you know you're not allowed to have alcohol in the morning. Weren't you just talking about your health?"
"No, I was talking about living long- not my health and since I've lived this long I think I deserve to drink whenever I want." Maple dragged a hand down her face as she sighed. There was no winning against this old man.
"Whatever, I'm not giving you any. I don't want any part of being lectured by Grandmama." Yuria noticed the older man was reading the daily newspaper with the front page was facing her. The fork in her hand fell with a clatter as Yuria stiffened. Maple jumped back with a yelp at the sudden sound.
'Fire Fist' Ace Dies
"What's wrong, Ria?" Yuria didn't respond as she clenched her fists struggling to maintain her emotions. Mayor Musu glanced at her with an uninterested expression, but noticed what she was staring at.
"Oh, today's headline. What a shame. He looks like a such a nice young lad."
"Wasn't he a pirate, Gramps?"
"So? What does that have to do with whether someone is good or not? We have bounty hunters and the 'forces of justice' causing a ruckus here in this very town. Just look at what happened last night."
"You started that, Gramps!"
"Don't you yell at me, young lady. That just proves my point since I wouldn't have been starting anything if there wasn't an issue."
Yuria wasn't listening to their bickering as she mumbled an apology for startling Maple and returned to absentmindedly eating her breakfast.
I hope Luffy is okay. How far is this island from Sabaody? Do I have to sneak on to a ship? I guess I could just steal a small boat instead...
She was unsure about being able to safely make it to Sabaody Archipelago after learning about the tight control the bounty hunters had in the name of "protection" on who entered and left the island. Sure, she had her disguise, but that at the end of the day, that was still only a disguise. If she slipped up on the boat or was recognized she had no where to go. She would have to fight and depending on how many were on the ship it could end up poorly for her.
By the time she was finished with her food, Yuria had finalized a plan for herself. She would try to leave the island either tonight or tomorrow night. It would all depend on how easy it would be for her to hijack a lone boat to sail away on. To prepare, she would need to scout the docks to find a suitable ride for herself. As for the actual sailing and navigating part, she would figure that out when she got there...
Yuria shivered underneath her trench coat as the freezing air whipped her hair about. She knew it had been snowing all night as she had been watching it outside the window, but it hadn't registered that would result in a few feet of snow that she would have to trudge forward through. She had the idea of using her shields as a foothold above the snow, but it's one thing to create a few to use as a platform or stairs and it's another to continuously dissolve and resummon them for each step. Just thinking about it made her feel tired.
As expected the docks were fairly empty due to the weather conditions as not many had a need to be near the water when the winds were as cold as they were. The only exception were the few merchants from other islands who were potentially leaving soon and a mixture of Marine soldiers and bounty hunters who guarded the area and made note of everyone either stepping off or on to the boats. There was also a clear difference in conduct as the Marine soldiers were very stern, but they were polite and professional. Meanwhile, the bounty hunters' rough ways of talking and behavior incited more than just a few fights or apprehensive glances.
Yuria continued trudging forward until her feet met the wood of the docks. They must have shoveled the snow off as soon as possible for it to be this clear. As for her scouting method, well, she was what they would call "hiding in plain sight." She didn't like or want to gamble on the possibility of messing everything up, but at this current moment she didn't really have a choice. Why else would she have been preparing for the past two weeks if not to go back to her crew? She could have stopped robbing from the bounty hunters and Marine soldiers when she had enough for her survival, but she knew how traveling on the seas worked. She would need money and since she was given a chance she would be a fool for not taking advantage of it.
She took a deep breath as she glanced around. She had changed her disguise slightly for this outing as she left the sword behind at the inn and had on a scarf and woolen hat she borrowed from Maple. At first glance now, she would just look like a local on a morning walk admiring the view or people watching. In reality, she was assessing her options as she scanned each area of the dock. Many of them were too large for her to sneak out and she wouldn't be able to properly sail it anyways as they usually needed a crew to do so. There were at least some sailing boats, but they seemed to be prepared for the winter on this island as they weren't actually moored in the water, but instead on land covered loosely with tarps. She was glad that at least they weren't chained down or anything. Her eyes then landed on a smaller boat that she would be able to easily lift into the water. She started making her way over to it to get a closer look.
"Hey, you! What are you doing?" A shout from behind her had Yuria stopping in her tracks. "That area is off limits to civilians! Everyone knows this!"
"Oh! I'm sorry, I haven't been in town for awhile, so I didn't know!" Yuria had whirled around with her hands waving frantically as she hurriedly explained to the man who was walking steadily closer until he stood in front of her. It was a Navy officer with dark orange hair wearing a long Navy-branded coat. In his gloved hands were a clipboard and pen. The man narrowed his eyes as he looked Yuria up and down. She could feel the cold sweat as he stared at her.
"It's not that cold, miss." Yuria awkwardly laughed as she played with the end of the scarf. She had the scarf covering the lower portion of her face and the woolen hat was pulled almost over her eyes.
"I get cold really easily." Yuria mumbled as she made a show of sticking her hands into her trench coat pockets. "But, I'm sorry, officer. I didn't mean to trespass."
At her shy demeanor the officer eased up and gave her a nod to acknowledge her apology.
"I apologize for yelling at you." He paused as he stared at her once again. With his eyes intensely trained on her she could see that he had forest green eyes. "To make up for it, how about I buy you a drink?"
To say Yuria was speechless was an understatement. She was absolutely floored.
"W-what?"
She wasn't a stranger to men buying her drinks after having joined the Straw Hats. Whenever they were ported at an island and they went to the bar she would often not have to fork up a single Beri- something Nami and Zoro took advantage of fully. But, having a Marine buy her a drink was something else. Not to mention he couldn't even see nighty percent of what she looked like!
He must have seen her hesitation and shock as he cleared his throat and scratched behind his ear with the gloved hand holding the pen.
"I'm sorry. It's just when you turned around...your eyes remind me of the moon and they're gorgeous."
That was all he needed? She should have asked to borrow sunglasses or something to cover her eyes, too.
"Sorry, I don't drink."
"How about coffee then?" When Yuria shook her head he must have finally gotten the hint as he looked away finally. She kinda felt bad for him as she could hear the muffled snickering from his colleagues. "Okay, I'm sorry. Have a good day, miss."
Yuria mumbled a quick apology as she hurriedly walked past him. That was enough scouting. She didn't stop her fast pace until she was out of sight of the docks.
"What?!" Maple clamped her hand over her mouth as she received some curious glances from the happy patrons. They were cashing in on the free drinks from the unlucky man who lost the bet. Maple continued in a lower voice which was thick with sadness. "You're really leaving tonight? You really can't stay longer? I thought we would be able to talk more..."
"Yeah, I have somewhere I need to be desperately." Yuria looked at her downturned lips and she could clearly feel the disappointment rolling off in waves from the blonde girl. "I promise I'll be back to visit some day...I just can't promise you when."
"Okay! Don't you dare break your promise, Ria!" Yuria didn't respond as the guilt set in even harder. Yuria had been hesitant to promise her anything since she knew the consequences of her life as a pirate. She would never know if she could die out on the seas before she had a chance to fulfill her promise, but she couldn't take Maple's sad puppy eyes any longer. It seemed to work though as the girl perked up immediately and her bright blue eyes shined brightly.
Yuria stuck a spoon of stew into her mouth and melted in happiness. At least her last meal here was her favorite: mushroom stew. She had nearly cried at the first bite because it tasted just like Sasha's and it brought back good memories. To go with it she chased it down with a mug of dark ale. She couldn't drink too much since she didn't want the alcohol to mess up her escape tonight, but that didn't mean she was going to deprive herself.
As she brought up the mug to take a sip, the doors of the inn opened up and a man stepped in while talking to his friends who hadn't entered yet.
"See! I told you they were having free drinks tonight." One of the men said to his friend behind him. The man who lost the bet covered his face in despair as his friend patted his back laughing all the way. He cheered up when his friend offered to help since he hadn't thought other people would be joining in. His friend must have mumbled something as he continued talking. "Yeah, yeah whatever. That was their own fault. Besides we're here to get you fucked up because what better way to get over a rejection than to drink! So cheer up already, Yanni."
With the mug to her lips Yuria glanced over and froze like a deer in headlights as her eyes met forest green eyes.
You got to be fucking joking with me. Oh, c'mon?!
He must have also recognized her because he stopped dead in his tracks causing the man behind him to run into him. He didn't seem to hear his friend's protests to move as he marched forward to where Yuria was. Yuria began choking on the ale as she coughed into her palm placing the mug down. Maple worriedly handed her a napkin which she used instead gratefully.
"You could have just said no..." Yuria hid her mouth with the napkin even after the coughing subsided. He may not be dressed like a Marine right now and was clearly not on duty, but that didn't mean anything to her. Though there was one thing she didn't understand: why was he so angry? She had rights to not accept his advances, so why was he so upset?
The man, Yanni, took a deep breath to calm down once he noticed his emotions getting out of hand. He was aware he had terrible anger issues which was why he joined the Navy in the first place to learn self-discipline in order to control it. Probably, not the healthiest way to manage it, but it had definitely helped in the long run.
"Sorry. Wow, I've apologized a lot haven't I? Anyways, I didn't mean to sound so upset...I've just been a little self-deprecating since I got rejected by a beautiful woman like you..." Yuria couldn't help but quirk her eyebrow upwards as he rambled on. He must have realized what he was doing as he stopped and sighed ruffling his orange hair. "You really won't give me a chance?"
"Thank you, but uhm..." Yuria choked out still hiding behind the napkin. To her horror, just as she was going to get up with the excuse to clean up in the bathroom his friend had made his way over with two drinks in his hands.
"Yanni! My man, here take this!" He shoved the mug in his hand and then placed his free hand on his shoulder. "And who is this~?"
The new guy had dark brown curly hair as he looked Yuria over. When he saw her eyes he narrowed his eyes.
"Light gray eyes...? Wait, aren't you the girl who rejected him?"
"Sirs, my friend here needs to use the bathroom." Yuria smiled at Maple behind the napkin gratefully. They reluctantly moved out of the way to let Yuria pass by as Maple returned to rushing around to clear mugs and refill drinks. She had thought she was in the clear until she felt something tug on her head. Yanni's friend had a lock of her hair loosely in his grasp.
"Hey, Nick! What are you doing?" Yanni called out to his friend and placed his hand on Nick's shoulder. Yuria had also whipped her head around in annoyance at the audacity of this man, but her annoyance was replaced with dread. Purple. It was a lock of her hair that she had apparently missed. Nick let out a whistle as he let go of her hair. It fell limply against her stiff back. He turned towards his orange-haired colleague and friend.
"Y'know, Yanni, in the most recent report from headquarters I noticed that we were told to be on high alert for purple hair and gray eyes." His eyes held Yuria's as she imperceptibly readied herself for whatever he was planning to do. She relaxed her face as best as she could hoping he was just trying to test her. She still had the napkin covering the lower portion of her face.
"Sir, if you're trying to insinuate that I'm that wanted pirate because you found a clump of hair I missed when dying it then you're mistaken. I'm well aware of my resemblance to her and I dyed my hair this color to avoid the confusion." Yuria explained as she evenly held his gaze. She wasn't expecting him to smirk at her reply.
"I was just telling my buddy about the news report. When did I mention the gender or them being a pirate?"
Yuria knew she screwed up then and there. She had been so careful, but her terrible habit of speaking without thinking sunk it's ugly fangs in once against. Nick took a step forward as Yuria took a step back.
"I-it was just an honest assumption, sir." Another step backwards.
"Why are you still holding the napkin to your face?" He took a step forward.
"Excuse me but, I really ne-" She nearly fell over when her back hit the back of a chair. She reached her hands out to steady herself, but that exposed her face. Nick held up a bounty poster he pulled from somewhere while they both comically looked back and forth to compare her face to the poster. Yuria flashed them a weak smile and gave them a wave.
"Look, boys. We can talk this out, right? It's five of you versus little ol' me..." Nick had motioned for the rest of the men and they walked over to stand by his side. Yanni had gone silent as his hands limply hung by his side. He looked conflicted as he stared at Yuria. Suddenly, a petite blonde girl appeared between her and the men with her hands on her hips.
"Excuse me! How dare you gang up on my friend in my inn? I ought to kick all of you out!" There was a fire in Maple's bright blue eyes as she stared down the man who was more than a foot taller than her. Nick didn't even flinch as he raised an eyebrow.
"Miss, do you know your "friend" is a pirate?" Yuria winced as she stared at the back of Maple's golden blonde head preparing for nothing good with her lie coming to light.
"So?" Maple uttered as she pointed at Nick's face scoldingly. "So what if she's a pirate? What gives you the right to act like hooligans?"
"H-hooligans?" Nick stuttered in shock while the other men, aside from Yanni, had their mouths falling agape. Ever since he became a Marine he had always been treated with respect, so it was quite a shock to be called a hooligan of all things.
"Maple..." Yuria murmured and the girl turned around flashing her a smile.
"I already knew that wasn't your identity the moment you told me, but I didn't care because you seemed like a genuine and kind person despite that."
She still felt the guilt that came with lying to someone so bright like the sun, but she had to admit she was deeply touched. She was touched and she knew what she needed to do. In a flash she summoned her fan and grabbed Maple holding the edge to her neck. She knew it wasn't sharp, but that didn't mean they did as she made a show of pressing it closer to Maple's neck. The girl naturally shied away which helped her false act.
"Any of you move towards me and I'll kill her!" Yuria shouted loudly which drew the attention of everyone in the bar. All of the patrons were terrified at the sight and one of them screamed. Maple's scream was muffled as Yuria placed a hand over her mouth. None of the Marine men made a move as they now had a civilian's life on their hands.
Under everyone's gaze, Yuria slowly moved backwards towards the kitchen door. Once she crossed the threshold, out of everyone's gaze, she switched to grabbing Maple's hand and ran outside. It was cold as she no longer had her trench coat on and was dressed in a simple black turtleneck and thick black pants, but she didn't care. Maple hadn't resisted as she realized on the way towards the door that Yuria didn't have any intentions of harming her. They ran down the road in the snow until Yuria was sure they wouldn't be in earshot and she would have some time. Not much time, but hopefully enough.
"Ria-"
"Yuria. My real name is Seo Yuria and I'm a Straw Hat pirate. I don't have much time to explain, but Maple I'm so, so sorry for lying to you and what I did just now. I just don't want you to be implicat-"
"I know and thank you." Yuria was speechless as she looked into her eyes that were shining in the moonlight. Maple reached out and lightly shoved her causing Yuria to stumble back some. "Now go. You already planned an escape, right?"
Yuria stared at her before whipping around running down the road, but stopped after a few feet.
"I don't break promises!" Yuria shouted towards her as she saw the Marine men's torches off in the distance coming closer. Maple raised her hand a little to show Yuria that she heard. Yuria grinned as she turned around and took off down the road again. She needed to head to the docks now before it was too late.
She was better off than when she first landed on this island as she actually had proper clothes suited for the cold underneath her cloak, but with the increasingly cold temperatures it didn't matter. Small puffs of air escaped her as she panted. She had finally made it to the part of the docks that housed the small sailing boat she saw earlier, but she wasn't the only one there.
Wearing his Marine coat once again with his hands in his coat pockets was Yanni who leaned against the very boat she planned to take. Yuria watched him wearily taking a step back, but he pulled his hands out of his pockets to show her his empty palms.
"Relax. I'm the only one here. I swear that on my honor as a Marine." He had no plans to attack her...yet. Not until she answered him.
"So, you're a pirate, huh." It was more of a statement than a question. Yuria clenched her fists as she stopped moving. "You know...I was watching you before you started walking into the restricted zone."
So that had been the reason why she had been caught so fast...
"Not in a creepy way I swear." Yanni spoke quickly as he noticed Yuria narrow her eyes at him with her frown deepening. "Is it weird to say I was drawn to you...you looked like you were desperately looking for something despite trying to seem nonchalant, I guess? I wanted to know more about you, but I didn't know how to start a conversation and so, when I saw you trespassing I saw my chance, but I was frustrated with myself and I just came off like an asshole..."
Yuria coughed to stop his rambling. So, it hadn't just been a one time thing, but rather just a habit of his to ramble. Which although as much as she appreciated that he wasn't trying to arrest her, she kinda had things to do and places to be.
"Right, sorry." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "What I wanted to ask was would you have given me a chance if I wasn't a Marine?"
"I don't know." It's not that she didn't want to think about her love life, but more like she couldn't afford to. She wanted to be able to share everything with her partner about herself, but she couldn't fathom how they would be able to handle all of her.
Yanni was unsatisfied with her vague answer, but he could tell she was simply being truthful. At least it wasn't a complete no. He knew he was getting his hopes up unnecessarily but, there was just something about her that had him wanting to know more about who she was besides being a pirate with a bounty of 100,000,000 Beri. When he had learned she was a pirate he had to admit he had been relieved. He had hoped that the reason why she turned him down was because of them technically being enemies rather than her just not liking him.
"My colleagues are still searching for you, but I didn't tell them that you could be here. Take the boat and-" Suddenly, both Yuria and Yanni were washed in a bright spotlight.
"Yanni, Yanni, Yanni." A familiar voice sardonically droned through a megaphone. "How long have we worked together? You don't like to admit it but, I know you. I'm disappointed that you chose personal affairs over your career. You were so close to another promotion as well."
Yanni had an indiscernible expression on his face as he recognized the voice of Nick.
"Go!" Yanni hissed towards Yuria who didn't have to be told twice. She hadn't trusted Yanni from the start as everything he was doing could have been an elaborate trap, but Nick proved otherwise. Yanni was clearly going to be in deep shit and she felt bad since it had been because he was helping her, but her need to get back to the Straw Hats trumped that.
Armed soldiers had appeared out of the shadows to surround them, but it wasn't an issue for Yuria as she summoned a shield in front of her as she charged towards the men. They didn't know what to do at the sudden appearance of a red wall between them and their target, so they hadn't moved at all even when Yuria was right in front of them. From there she did something similar to what she had done to Hina in Alabasta. Summoning platforms to push herself above them she then used their heads as footholds to propel herself forward. She had no need to hide her abilities now if her identity was already exposed. Except for the ones who unfortunately had been knocked over due to their use as launchpads, the others watched the girl in sheer awe. They actually didn't know that she was a Devil Fruit user as their information only went as far as the bounty poster and to keep their eyes peeled for her as the higher ups had ordered them to.
Yuria hit the ground behind them rolling as she used the momentum to break off into a sprint. She darted towards where she knew the forest was. She had to somehow lose them. Her plan to escape had ultimately failed and now she had to figure how to get off the island without being in cuffs.
She cursed the snow as she ran through the forest. She could hear the Marines steadily gaining on her. They didn't need to scour the forest for her if they could just follow her trail. She didn't even have time to hide in a tree as one of them caught sight of her ahead and pointed her out to the rest of them. With a new direction, they all focused in on her direction.
Yuria mumbled obscenities as she sped up. However, in her need for speed she wasn't careful with her surroundings and her foot caught on a tree root that had been partially buried in the snow. She was sent careening into the snowy ground which broke her fall slightly, but the pain in her ankle told her otherwise.
Yuria pushed herself up and grunted when her a throb shot through her ankle. She shook the snow off herself as she hobbled forward using the tree as her crutch. In that split second, she threw herself forward again into the snow when a net was launched where she had been previously standing.
Of course they would have seastone nets...
She scrambled to get up as fast as she could with her throbbing ankle. She sent her shields to barely slow down the seastone nets from hitting her as they melted right through them and wrapped around the trees behind her. Even then just by being grazed by the edge of a seastone net significantly weakened her as she felt herself slow down allowing some of the faster soldiers to catch up as they some appeared in the path in front of her. They were trying to sandwich her in.
Yuria veered sharply to her right to avoid them as she glanced behind her for a brief second to see...see them net their fellow soldiers? The angry shouts and panicked apologies told her everything she needed to know. Well, turns out they weren't the smartest or as coordinated as they seemed.
She could feel herself getting steadily winded as she panted trying to keep her full sprint through the snow that only slowed her down and made it harder to run through. Her surroundings had become significantly darker as the moon had been covered by the clouds. What's worse was that she could tell there was some nasty weather coming along as the wind whipped snow from the trees and the ground everywhere. A few times, she even had to dodge a clump of snow from slinging itself into her face.
Suddenly the world around took a turn as she continued to run with the frantic yells of men behind her and her foot met air. With the loss of solid ground she went sent flying forward down the slope. At the beginning of the fall she had felt her head collide with something hard which had her head throbbing and spinning, but she managed to curl herself up to prevent any more damage as she continued to roll. She had only stopped rolling when she had the wind knocked out of her when she collided with the base of a tree. Thankfully she didn't feel anything break, but her body ached severely where she had directly hit the tree. She could also feel warm sticky blood trickle down her temple as she held her hand up to it to hopefully stop the bleeding.
The distant yells from on top of the hill reminded her that she wasn't in the clear and she could barely make out within the howling wind that they knew she was down the hill. Heaving shaky breaths she managed to stand up although she almost fell over when her vision went fuzzy.
I can't give in now. I just can't. C'mon Yuria one foot in front of the other...
It would take some time for them to safely make it down the hill to where she was, but she wasn't able to travel as fast anymore when her vision blurred in and out. She soon made it out of the treeline into a clearing and without being able to use the trees as support she could only use sheer will to keep herself from passing out.
It was silent when she made it to the middle of the clearing and in her pain addled brain she noticed that too late. It wasn't good that she had lost the location of where the soldiers were. She heard multiple guns cocking from all around her. She had clearly underestimated them which had ended up being her downfall as they were far from uncoordinated. They had clearly lead her into a fully prepared trap. A spotlight from a lamp shown down on her in the midst of the dark clearing. The snow had begun to fall from the dark ominous clouds that continued to hide the moon.
"Are you going to give yourself in without a struggle, 'Dandelion' Seo Yuria?" An unknown male voice asked through a megaphone.
"What's with this 'Dandelion,' crap?!" Yuria shouted with a shuttering breath as raising her voice had sent a sharp pain through her bruised torso. A chuckle echoed through the clearing.
"That's what you've become to be known by. Are you going to give yourself in?"
Of course she wasn't. In the nineteen years she's been alive she had faced one too many situations where she was asked to give in, but did she? No, of course not. She would fight until her dying breath. So, fight she did and the battle finally begun.
Yuria made her answer clear when she summoned her needles and began taking out the weapons of those she could see. She specifically aimed for their rifles as she knew a long ranged fight would eventually reign in their favor when she tired out. With their fellow soldiers' weapons being destroyed in front of their eyes, some of them realized they didn't have much time to act as they fired at her. However, their bullets were stopped by the shield Yuria timely summoned and they ricocheted harmlessly off it. Realizing their efforts were in vain they dropped their guns as they rushed towards her with melee weapons. They were hoping that if she wasn't given breathing room then she wouldn't have time to destroy any more of their means of attack.
Their loose plan worked as Yuria switched over to her fan. She easily took down the few that came at her first and they were left unconscious in the snow as their colleagues avoided their fallen bodies to not trample on them. Yuria didn't spare them any mercy as she walked over their bodies as it was actually easier than sinking into the snow.
However, Yuria was bound to slip us as she wasn't fighting with a completely well body. When dodging a sword strike the sudden throbbing in her head and blurry vision caused her to stumble midway and the strike connected with her leg. Yuria screamed as she fell to one knee as the blood began staining her pants leg. It had only grazed her upper thigh since she had managed to dodge the worse of the blow, but it still stung furiously.
The men were relentless.
They saw that she had fallen to her knee and so they continued their assault. More blades came down on her and she managed to dodge away, but one dagger had managed to stab her deeply in her other leg- hitting bone. Shuddering at the grating sensation of the blade tip rubbing against her leg bone she pulled it out swiftly and dropped it on the ground. She knew that it wasn't wise to pull the one thing stopping the bleeding out, but the feeling of all of her nerves throughout her body tingling made her realize she had to. She didn't even have time to tie anything around the fresh stab wound when she was dodging more attacks and knocking more soldiers out. The sheer number of people continuously coming at her made her realize that they must have called for reinforcements and she soon recognized bounty hunters in the mix.
Isn't this overkill..?
She only had time to barely finish that thought as she summoned her shield to once again to block bullets. Behind the protective wall of those in melee range some bounty hunters were aiming their guns to shoot her from afar. Yuria gritted her teeth as she suddenly used her shield to shoulder charge the people in front of her breaking through the wall of people surrounding her knocking them out of the way. Her leg wounds burned and she could feel them bleeding even more from the extra force she exerted to push past them, but succeeded in what she was trying to do as she made her way to the bounty hunters with guns and either sent their weapons flying from their grasps and/or knocked them out. They didn't back down though as a few managed to nick her with knives and daggers. Nothing serious, but they only added to the cacophony of pain her body was in. They stung and they were deep enough that she could feel her clothes beginning to stick to the wounds as her blood froze with contact from the winter air and became the glue.
Holding a hand to hopefully staunch the bleeding from her legs, Yuria knew she couldn't go on like this much longer. She was littered with new wounds and she was steadily becoming lightheaded on top of the concussion she most likely had. Abruptly, she lost control of her limbs and she collapsed to her knees. Seeing more people edge closer to her, Yuria's foggy mind willed herself to get up to no avail. Her limbs wouldn't move. To Yuria this was odd as she knew her body well and she knew that she could keep going if she pushed herself despite her injuries. What had happened to her?
Hands grabbed her upper arms as they dragged her up, but she couldn't stand so they just left her legs to drag in the snow. A hand grabbed her chin and forced her to look up with bleary eyes as her cloak hood fell backwards.
"How are you liking our paralyzing poison? It costed a for- wait, I remember that cloak! You're the girl from that shitty inn!" It was the bounty hunter who had taken her money and destroyed his friendships because of it to only have it stolen back from her.
Yuria couldn't help but snicker at the sight of his face. He had clearly tried to scrub away the ink as best as he could, but it was already too late as the ink had stained his skin. Most prominently on his face were the faint whiskers. His face grew bright red as he suddenly punched her in the jaw. Yuria panted as she reeled from the sudden jolt to her head. She turned around and spat the blood in the man's face before flashing him a bloody grin.
"Thanks..for my money back...kitty cat." Yuria slurred as she maintained her devious grin struggling to focus on the man's face as the corners of her vision darkened. When she collapsed in the snow and couldn't get up she knew it was the end for her there. She had lost.
Dammit, I'm sorry everyone...
She stared down the barrel of the gun that was pointed at her head. The hand that was holding the gun trembled as it held it up.
She struggled to maintain consciousness when all the sounds around her became muffled as a dull ringing set in instead. She couldn't even hear the protests of the bounty hunters and Marines around her suggesting for the man to stop as they needed her alive. She also couldn't hear the panicked shouts and the thuds of bodies around her.
The last thing she saw before her vision faded completely was a flash of orange and white as the hands that held her up vanished and she was sent face first into the snow.
An incessant beeping greeted Yuria as she rapidly shut her eyes again when the light was too much for her. Groaning she twitched her stiff fingers as she slowly, but steadily tried sitting up.
"I would recommend laying back down in the state you're in." A male voice said to her left and she would have jumped from the shock if not for the fact that she could barely move as is. Yuria ignored the voice as she managed to sit up. What had happened to her? Where was she? She looked down at herself and saw that she wasn't clothed in anything, but she wasn't exposed as her head, limbs, and torso were wrapped tightly in bandages. The sight of her injuries had the memories of her battle on the snowy island rushing to mind. The boat. Ace. Luffy. Her breath hitched before it quickened in uneven breaths. She struggled to move her legs off the bed and cried out as she pulled on one of the bandaged wounds.
"Hey, calm down!"
"No...gott...get..." Yuria croaked out struggling to speak as her mouth was dry and it was difficult to form words. The man placed his hands on her shoulders to push her back, but she resisted all she could as she finally looked up at whoever was restraining her. She paused the briefest of seconds when her eyes met golden orbs.
Trafalgar Law.
Immediately his name came to mind as she stared up at him before she snapped out of her trance and began struggling against his hands again. With strength that neither of them expected from an injured patient, Yuria managed to push herself forward off the hospital bed, but she didn't have the strength in her legs to stand so she could only feel herself helplessly fall downwards. Strong arms caught her as they hauled her back up on to the bed before she felt a sharp sting in her arm and she managed to move her eyes to see him sticking a needle in and pressing down on the plunger injecting whatever directly into her bloodstream.
"You..bastar..." That was all Yuria got out before her eyes closed and she was out cold once again. Law stared down at the girl who had stilled once again and sighed as he withdrew the needle. Seems like he had saved quite the troublesome patient, but what did he expect from the crewmate of Straw Hat Luffy?
𐌕O 𐌁𐌄 𐌂O𐌍𐌕𐌉𐌍𐌵𐌄𐌃
»»»---------------------------------»»»
Super long chapter because I told myself I need to post yesterday and I didn't. The word count for this chapter is basically two usual chapters in one.
Also, I'm a rouge in WoW...and I pickpocket people. This was definitely not the inspiration!
Until next time,
Setsuna Adete
P.S. Should have named this chapter "Yuria pulls bitches."