A New Journey

Chapter 6: Not That Bad

"White Blow!"

You easily slice through his arm of smoke with your scythe. For minutes now, the fight was going nowhere. Greatly injuring him (someone who you guess had a high position) would bring too much attention. In an attempt to flee, you slash the ground, the sand making a natural smokescreen.

Luffy and his crew should have gotten away by now.

You jump to the roof of a building but before you could reach it, a puff of smoke dragged you back to the ground, almost making you land face-first.

"Running away?"

"More like a strategic retreat. Stop wasting my time, Smoke-man." You sigh. Another attack came your way, making you swipe your fan to counter it. "How pointless."

The navy's eye twitched. Pointless?

"White Launcher!" Half of Smoke-man's body turns into smoke, charging directly at you with his Jitte.

Couldn't he be more creative with his attack names?

Assembling your two fans, you twirled the scythe in your hand, swinging it an inch before the Navy's face. You gather strength in your arms to perform a continuous series of maneuvers. He immediately stopped his approach when you showed no sign of stopping your attacks, carefully blocking your every strike. The sound of clashing metal graced your ears, the following contact being louder than the last.

Quickly, you step back, letting the navy breathe for a split second before dashing forward with your scythe in your left hand. The slight flicker of his eyes to your weapon gives you the opening to serve a solid right hook to his face, making him stumble for balance.

You inspected the blush red on your knuckles with a satisfied hiss, "It's been a while since I've punched somebody in the face," A groan bubbles from Smoke-man's throat, still recovering from the blow. He stood still as you threw a dagger straight to the side of his face in quick progression, another cut adorning his cheek.

You smirk, "Grazie."

This time, you successfully disappear into the rooftops. After aimlessly wandering for a good amount of time, you finally spot a familiar blob of hair. You needed to get to Vivi but there was a man and a woman you didn't recognize beside her. Instead, you get as close as possible to them.

"Pell!"

"He was the kingdom's greatest warrior?" The woman asks mockingly. Her voice was familiar. You rocked your head for any recent memories before finally matching the voice to the one you heard when you were at that cafe.

Vivi remained planted on the ground, looking at the fallen man. He must be an ally.

"Let us go. Our boss and your friends are waiting inside a prison in Raindinners."

Boss? Prison? Did the Straw Hats get caught?

You snap out of your thoughts when the woman begins dragging Vivi to, you assume, Raindinners. She mentioned her boss earlier so they must be waiting inside as well. You couldn't do anything but follow them from a distance for the time being.

You arrived at an odd-looking pyramid with vivid greens and yellows and an even more unusual statue of an animal sitting at the very top of the building. Following the woman inside the building, you stopped once they reached a door and waited for the last second before entering the closing door right behind the woman's back.

Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice you when you hid behind a pillar.

"Crocodile!" Vivi yelled, confirming your hunch from earlier.