Heavy footfalls and ragged breathing went hand-in-hand as curses followed her around every corner. It was an abysmal soundtrack she’d grown to hate more and more over the years. Being so close to capture used to send adrenaline pumping through her veins, not fear. When had her lifestyle become more like a punishment than a reward? She’d never been a very goal-oriented person to begin with, but having something to look forward to— no matter how minuscule— was definitely a positive thing. Or at least, it had been until the consequences of her actions had come to bite her in the ass. She’d thought herself strong. She’d believed herself invincible. Even with an army of vile creatures whose hearts were tainted just as black as her own, she’d been a failure. In the end, the respect she’d thought those men to have for her had been nonexistent.
And now, she was paying the price. Even after freedom had been returned to her desperate clutches, she was still fighting. Before prison, fighting had been just a game; it was nothing more than a way to pass the time. Living as a poor child had made her vicious. With no parents or relatives to speak of, she’d become bitter of those more fortunate than her. Finding and eating that fruit had probably been the best decision of her life— too bad it’d been overshadowed by all the terrible things she’d later used it for. Life after life had been taken and only when she’d had more power than any one person should, did she realize it was better to expand her horizons. It didn’t matter how rich she got, only that she continued to get richer. As long as she gotstronger, who cared how many enemies she made? Like a sickness, the need for more festered. Being corrupted by greed wasn’t so bad just as long as all her desires were satisfied! There was, however, only so much one girl could do on her own. Eventually, it had come time to move on to bigger and badder dreams. It was one thing to fight foolish men for petty cash, and another to destroylives. She wished no longer to challenge opponents, but to crush them beneath her boots. She longed to pillage entire towns and leave them burning in her wake, but for that to be a reality, she had to first build an arsenal. And what was better than going solo?
Perhaps her dead parents would’ve been proud that their little girl had become a pirate captain, living a dream they could’ve never reached as mere members of a small crew. The idea probably would’ve pleased her if not for the fact that she barely remembered the people who raised her— only the person who’d gotten them killed. It was funny just how things worked out. Her poor brother, black sheep of the family, despised the immoral life his parents lived and thought it best to sell their souls to the military. She still recalled the faces of the men who called themselves Marines, wearing triumphant smiles as they slaughtered the accused right before her very eyes. Looking back on it now, she had to laugh at how his genius plan had worked out. That boy had killed his parents and then his sister had killed him. Enough time had passed now that she could make the story into nothing more than a joke; a warning given to all those who attempted to defy her. For who would want to test a woman so heartless and cold that she would kill her own flesh and blood? If she hadn’t hesitated then, why would she hesitate with anyone else? Her enemies had called her a savage. Her crew, though clearly disloyal in the way they’d abandoned her, followed her as a monster. Long story short, she became known as the one thing every poster that bore her face held: HARPY LADY.
Myth believed it to be a feral creature with the face of a woman and features of a bird. Like the fabled beast, she too had soared through the sky and ripped apart those that stood in her way. She’d managed to make quite a name for herself in such a short period of time; however, it wasn’t as good a thing as she’d first thought it’d be. That infamy came with a heavy price— one she hadn’t been so willing to pay. People were right when they said sinners went to hell, because that’s exactly where her tainted soul had gone. Hell. It was a place, she learned, not a belief. It was crafted and built by humans, not a religious idea or a punishment after death. Hell was real and she’d seen it first hand; she’d personally experienced it. The rumors were true, but not one of them did it any real justice. The people behind those whispers could only imagine the kind of torture she’d gone through. They could only fear it. Simple words could not embody the true horror in that place. Even its name could bring a grown man to his knees. IMPEL DOWN.
Supposedly, the facility was absolutely inescapable. Which meant she shouldn’t even be running from capture right now and instead should’ve been— well, captured. And that would have been the case if not for that incident two years ago. It was the second successful break out the prison had ever had, but the first hadn’t been nearly on the same scale as this one. Hundreds of prisoners had made it out, including herself, thanks to some kid who’s face she’d yet to forget. They called him Straw Hat, but she’d never caught what his real name was. Though she didn’t bothering caring about such things, it felt almost wrong to be so ignorant. It was him she had to thank for her life, after all. By now she probably would’ve been dead in the ground— whether it be from starving in level 3 or having her insides practically cooked in level 4. Lucky for her, that was far from the case.
Except her situation right now was anything but lucky. By now the voices had caught up and she was running out of options, fast. Getting caught was absolutely out of the question, but outrunning them seemed just as impossible. She wouldn’t even think about trying to fight them, either. Her days as a captain were over and she wasn’t as stupid and careless as she’d once been. Impel Down had taught her enough common sense to keep her alive this long and she didn’t nearly have the strength she did before. Two years of living in the shadows and becoming a permanent stow away on whatever ship was readily available had left her seriously untrained. Hopefully time would allow her to fix that, but for now there were more important things to worry about. Hiding, it seemed, would be her only chance. How tragic it was that such a fearless captain had been reduced to nothing more than a cowardly rat. If she weren’t so focused on not collapsing, her ego probably would’ve been wounded.
Rounding yet another corner, Nicolette found herself stopping short at the island’s designated docks. The area was much too big to hide in, but perhaps it could offer her something better. Hitching rides was something she’d become awfully good at over the years. Why pay for a ride when you could get one for free? She’d gotten quite good at hiding too, but that wasn’t a skill one could avidly brag about with any sense of pride. Time was, however, of the essence and choosing a ship wasn’t as easy as merely picking. She’d made a couple bad decisions and the results weren’t something she wished to repeat again. Footsteps grew closer as heliotrope orbs scanned their surroundings, settling on the face of a beast painted in a color which rivaled the sun. In fact, she worried that staring too long might burn her retinas and surely she didn’t need yet another eye to become useless. Fitting the stereotypical pirate had already been taken care of, no need to go blind, right? With her choice made, Nicolette wasted no time in making her daring getaway as those footsteps reached their destination. Too bad they would never find her.
Lions were inconspicuous, weren’t they?
Heavy footfalls and ragged breathing went hand-in-hand when you live the life of a pirate. Becoming a pirate is the same as being ready to have your life end at a moment’s notice. The sea is an unforgiving place, filled with unpredictably harsh weather and monstrous creatures, with even more monstrous humans. Enemies who are blinded by their need to gain the upper hand. Bounty Hunters who would gladly bring your head ( and sometimes just your head ) in for more beri in their pockets. Marines who hunt with justice at their backs to bring an end to criminals, sometimes not caring about the casualties along the way.
It’s a place where only the strong survive.
But that isn’t all it is. It’s about adventure. It’s about dreams. It’s about living with all the freedom you have because you don’t want to leave any regrets behind. And for Luffy, that is exactly what he does. Even now, with marines on his tail shouting his epithet and declaring that he will finally meet his end. It wasn’t all fun and games, he knew just how serious things would be if they were caught, but that didn’t mean he had to face everything with a frown and a cloud over his head. Instead he threw his head back and laughed at the skies. At the silly marines who thought they could strip him of his freedom. At the world who would restlessly try to cage him and force him to obey its laws. He ran, not because he was cornered or trapped, but because he could. He was free to run as he pleased. He could keep running until he reached the sea. Back to where he belonged with his nakama. He could keep throwing his legs out in front of him because there was no worry of something blocking his path. Nothing that he couldn’t face with all of his strengths unwavering following behind him every step of the way. Some may call that foolishness. Some may only see arrogant rookies who believed themselves to be invincible. But, it didn’t matter what strangers thought because it didn’t change the truth. It didn’t change what the flag hung proudly on their ship stood for.
Never again will he run because he had no other choice. Run, because the cage was too close. Run, because the enemy was suddenly too strong, too overwhelming. He won’t allow running to be a desperate escape ever again. Because he was now stronger than that. Because the two years was to make sure that never happened again. It was hard, to spend so much time away from his crew, more time away with them than together, but it needed to be done. They couldn’t stumble around and expect to get the prize. You don’t become the best by luck. So he chooses when to run. When to fight. Because that was his freedom. And he wasn’t going to let some marines take that away from him. Not ever ( again ). Luffy runs with a wide grin and without looking back. He didn’t have any reason to, after all. He knew without having to check that his nakama was right behind him. Everything else didn’t matter. Sunny was right ahead of them now. Luffy could see the colourful ship and the familiar sunflower/lion figurehead. His grin stretched even wider, because in just a few moments they would be home. Back to where they belonged, so that they can continue sailing towards their dreams.
For some reason another group of marines were making their way to Sunny, pausing every so often as if they were searching for something. The rubber pirate didn’t bother wondering what they were searching for, if that was what they were doing. He just continued forward, with all the stealth of an elephant. Throwing a hand backwards, he allowed his rubber body to snap it forward, knocking half the marines into the water and into other ships. Now there were two groups of marines closing in on them, the ones ahead deeming that catching the infamous pirate crew was top of their agenda instead of their previous cat and mouse game. Luffy didn’t mind. He charged forward and fought even as he neared Sunny. Some of the smarter marines thought to take over the ship, much to the displeasure of Franky, but there was no way the marines could manage to take over their ship. He stretched his arms to grab onto the mast and rocketed himself on deck, knocking away a couple of marines as he went. Luckily these marines weren’t the toughest in the New World and despite the pirates being outnumbered, they could stand their ground and fight their way through. The only troubling thing might be the new wave of reinforcement coming their way. Luffy leaned forward with a hand shadowing his eyes and shouted to no one in particular with glee. “Who~a, there sure are a lot of marines headed our way!” Yet there still wasn’t any hint of worry, just the ever excitement that radiated off of him almost constantly. His shout was met with a little distress from a few of his crewmates and a lot of jubilation from the marines who were already dwindling down on numbers.
Luffy jumped down from his perch on the mast, responding to the orders Nami was directing to everyone. None of the Strawhats bothered to stop and wonder why it was the navigator giving the orders and not their captain, they long since got used to such behavior and Luffy himself never minded. It wasn’t that he would allow just anyone to make decisions for him. He was the captain and would not stand for anything less. But he also trusted his nakama. And Nami was his navigator and he trusted her with knowing the best way to get their ship to where they needed to go. So he followed her lead, as the others did, and they all worked together as a crew in a way that may have surprised anyone who saw how different and mismatched they were. Luffy knocked away some of the remaining marines who still tried to board Sunny and he felt more than saw some of his other nakama do the same. It was loud, but since when did pirates leave quietly? It was a lot more fun to travel with a lot of noise. More of a party that way! Finally all the marines where left at the harbor or in the ocean and the pirates made their way across the sea, the noise never lowering despite the fight dying down.
The main source of the noise was the captain himself who found himself at the top of Sunny’s mast again, still thrilled by their latest ‘adventure’ as he waved to the marines who were shouting at them. “What a fun town!” He laughed like he wasn’t just chased down by marines who wanted to capture him. He laughed some more as some of the marines jumped into the water in a futile attempt to keep up with the ship. Eventually the marines and the island itself was too far away to look at and Luffy jumped down onto the deck with a hand on his hat to keep it from blowing away. “Sanji! Food!” Was the first thing that left his mouth as he looked around to spot the blond. It didn’t matter that he ate enough to feed a town back at the island, he needed more after all that work he did to keep the marines away! Besides, he wasn’t able to enjoy the food to the fullest with the owner that kept trying to chase him out and demand him to pay or something. How rude, all Luffy wanted was to enjoy a meal in peace. Ah, now that he thought about it that was how the marines found him, the owner called them to get Luffy away. Well, too bad for the owner the pirate stuffed all the food he could, which was a lot considering how much his mouth was able to stretch, and ran.
He flopped and spread his arms and legs across the deck and stared up at the sky. “Sanjiiii!!!” He whined again, not even hearing if the cook answered him the first time or not. All he knew was that he didn’t get the food he asked for a moment ago so he asked ( demanded ) again, “Foooood!!!” As if to prove how much he needed the meal, his stomach growled. Loudly. He was so focused on his sadly empty stomach that it took him a while before he realized that there was another presence on their ship. Someone unfamiliar. Blinking, the whinny expression he had on a second ago was wiped away suddenly and the captain stood and looked around the ship. “Sanji, Zoro, do you sense that?” He asked in a surprisingly hushed voice, even as his eyes stopped at the storage room. He walked, seemingly without care and with confidence forever in his strides, but his guard was up. There was no telling what this person wanted on Sunny, but he wasn’t about to let them have their way if it risked any danger to his crew or the ship. He opened the door and glanced around the room, pausing slightly at the different shadows that clung to the corners before he spoke into the room as a whole in a voice that sounded partly confused and partly innocently curious, a voice that wouldn’t seem to fit a captain that had a four hundred million bounty on his head. Though there was no mistaking his aura, serious and strangely still, with just the hints of conqueror's haki seeping through. Not enough to do any damage, but this was his ship, with his nakama nearby, and he needed to be sure the other knew that.
“Are you lost?” He asked simply, tilting his strawhat out of his eyes and waiting for an answer with nothing but open interest, even as Zoro and Sanji take their relaxed but battle ready stances at his flanks.
