Lara's POV;
We arrived at our ships anchor point and both Lia and I immediately noticed that something was wrong. Nojiko needed only a few more seconds to also look as if something was wrong.
“It's good that you are back, we have a major problem,” shouted Jonny while he came running over to them. He was looking worried and concerned. His weapon wasn't in its sheath but drawn and he himself was ready to fight.
“What happened?” Asked Lia quickly. I focused a bit and felt out who was present and if any of them was wounded. Jonny and Yosaku were present. Neither of them was really wounded. Yosaku felt as if he had a small wound, but nothing that would explain Jonny's concern.
Jo, Fiara and Noa are still a few hundred meters inside the forest and on their way to us, and none of them felt even wounded. They were happy even.
Mrs Chicken Wing and Herbert are...where are they?
“Mrs Chicken Wing and Herbert are gone, as well as a lot of our stuff. Someone robbed us and kidnapped them,” summed Jonny up.
“What?” Asked Nojiko dangerously. As our navigator and treasurer, she hated it if someone touches our money without informing her. We had enough to usually buy whatever we want, but before we do we had to tell her. Finances have to be organised, or else we will have trouble, were her words.
“Yes, Inari has spotted signs of a short fight, but like, really short. And there are at least ten pairs of shoes coming in and out of the jungle. And none of those is from us. She has gone out to scout a bit. Said she would try and track them down for a later raid. Yosaku and I thought that waiting for you might be better, but she said that information about our enemy will be important.
And I had to help Yosaku with his wound and then there was the disorder. Whoever this was going through our stuff and took the most valuables.” Jonny looked as if he would continue and fall into a rant, so I stopped him by placing a hand on his arm.
“Take a deep breath and calm down. The others will arrive in a few minutes, we can sit down and you can calmly explain what you three found. Then we will either wait of catch up with Inari and get a broader picture.”
He nodded, took a deep long breath and nodded again. “Right, first things first. Could you help Yosaku? He got hit by a large tiger. The claws were strong enough to go through his Tekkai. The blood has already stemmed and I bandaged it, still, you healing him would be quicker.”
I nodded absent-mindedly and began to follow him back to the ship. Nojiko and Nami left us three shortly after boarding the ship. Nojiko was in a hurry to inspect what was gone and what not, while Nami followed. She looked as if she was in some kind of deja-vu, did that happen to the Straw Hats often? As far as I remember, yes it did. Wasn't Nami kidnapped in almost every filler arc or normal arc?
Damn, how bad did this girl have it in the canon? I mean isn't it scary to be the weakest and then get kidnapped by all these dangerous, mostly male, evil guys? Her normally friendly, sometimes even bubbly, personality looks a lot stronger now than before.
“Something on your mind?” Asked Lia, she has spotted the expression of realisation and slight respect on my face.
“Nothing important, I'll tell you later. Could you get a feel for the island? See if you can get a read on where Mrs Chicken Wing might be?” I answered, instead of telling her my newfound slight respect for Nami.
We passed through the door and into our living, slash, eating room. Yosaku was sitting on the table and had his chest bandaged. He spotted us and nodded at Jonny in thanks.
“Hey Lara, got a bit over-eager and took a scratch from a large kitty,” joked Yosaku. But the overall situation made it sound a little hollow.
“Yeah, have already heard it. Can't even take on a small pussy,” I commented back. He and Jonny laughed at the double meant joke.
“Well, take it off. Let these two girls see your chiselled chest,” I continued. Jokes like these were fairly normal between me and them. It gives me a resemblance of being male and I think they are more comfortable around me when they know that crass jokes aren't frowned upon, but rather taken and played along.
“What if you get so enticed by the sight that you forget your cute sister and only want to spend your nights with me? I can't rob little Lia of her sister,” he countered.
Lia scoffed, even the thought of something like this happening made her laugh. I instead laughed lightly and pushed the ball back. “I fear I need my cute little sister to overcome the ugly sight of your half-naked body. Seeing the rest might be too much for me.”
“Ouch, you sure you don't need any burn salve as well?” Laughed Jonny. He had sat down on a chair and was watching the exchange with a small amused smile.
Yosaku laughed loudly and began to undo the bandages. The wound itself looked as if four knives cut into and down the left side of his chest, his nipple was left intact, but a red wound was on both sides of it.
“They look kinda cool, you know this scarred badass male cool. It even missed the nipple. Do you want for me to make them scar?” I asked after a bit of inspection. The four scars were starting at the top left side of his chest and go diagonally down over the whole side.
He contemplated my offer for a moment before he shrugged.“Hmm, now that you mention it. Why not, can you also heal scars?”
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I shook my head in no. “No, scars are something I can't heal. I can regenerate limbs and would be able to heal scars in a strange way. I would have to cut you open at the same place and then heal it again.”
“Is that why both of you still have that burn mark on your back? Because healing it would hurt more than keeping it?” Asked Jonny hesitantly. I know that they at least know a bit about the history behind the Sun Pirate symbol, but not how much that applies to me and Lia.
That was a question Lia and I have sometimes spoken about. She thinks not much about the sign, I have other thoughts. “No, we keep it because it has a meaning. Those pirates that sheltered us and helped us find a home gave us a way out of being a commodity, a possession to have. We keep that mark as a symbol for out respect for their actions. Helping escaped slaves, especially ones from the World Nobles, is a death sentence for everyone. By doing so they risked their lives for us, which we return by keeping their mark on our back.” That is why I still have it, Lia does because she I don't want to cut her back open, she can't do it herself and she does not trust anyone else enough to do it for her instead.
“You think we're gonna meet those guys? I think I want to thank them, you know, just for doing what was right,” mumbled Yosaku while I finished up with the healing. Four white scars were now going down from the left top to the middle bottom of his chest.
I sat down on a chair and waited for Yosaku to put his shirt back on. The others will arrive any minute now. “I don't see why not. I don't plan on flying over the red line. Visiting Fishman Island was something Lia and I have planned since hearing stories about its beauty from Jimbei.”
“Jimbei was one of these fishman that saved you? Damn, he is a legend. One of the Warlords and a true master of their fighting style” whistled Jonny. He and Yosaku have spoken a bit to him during the feast. But mostly they bothered Rayleigh for sword fighting tips.
“Where did you hear that?” Asked Lia, I too was a little bit interested.
“He's Koala's role model. She said she wants to become as strong as him.” Ah, so it was when Koala, Hack and Sabo were on our ship. Didn't know that he had much interaction with her. I thought he wasn't her type.
From the staircase, we could hear loud curses before Nojiko and Nami came back up.“Urgh, fuck! I'm going to kill whoever did this. The money is gone, our training weapons are gone, most of our food is gone and even a few weapons in your room are gone.”
“My weapons are gone?” I asked in a dangerously silent tone. No one touches my babies without my allowance. Jonny, Yosaku and Lia winced. Taking a weapon for a few tests swings is okay, using a weapon that was for training was even appreciated, but taking a weapon from me, one that might not be finished even, was not how you make me agreeable for mercy.
However, before Nojiko could confirm or deny it, the door got pushed open and Noa, Fiara and Jo came inside. They looked dirty as if they had dug something out or worked.
“What's with the faces?” Asked Noa upon seeing us, his own smile faltered. Explanation and retelling of our day followed while all of us were seated around the table.
Jonny and Yosaku told what they have been doing with Inari, namely hunting animals. I explained about the village and their miniature war with the birds, whom we think are in some form related to Mrs Chicken Wing. And Jo told us that they had found a lot of good plants, herbs, some metal and wood.
“So Mrs Chicken Wing and Herbert are gone and we were robbed. Any idea who it might have been?” Asked Jo after listening to Jonny and Yosaku's findings.
Nami raised her hand, she was still unsure if she had any part in our decision making. “Could these pirates be at fault? That village elder said something about pirates belonging to a pirate crew named 100 Beast Pirates.”
Jo sucked a sharp breath in when he heard that name and Nojiko too looked not happy. The others also know at least the minimum about the name of that crew. “What? Is it a well-known crew?” Asked Nami, who apparently did not know.
“I'm sure it's just a small sub-branch of the real crew, but the Beast Pirates, or also known as the 100 Beast Pirates, are one of the now three Yonko crews. Kaido himself is called the strongest monster in the world,” explained Jo for her.
Nami became pale and looked frightened. “Like Crocodile?” She asked in a weak voice.
Jo barked out an amused laugh. “No, Crocodile was a Warlord. A man who stood atop the common pirate and showed the strength that many would not have or even believe to be possible. Kaido in comparison is like a god. The captains under him, and with that, I do not mean his true crew, but those who have submitted themselves to him, are all comparable to Crocodile.
I'm sure that at least a few of his real crew are as strong as an Admiral. But Kaido himself is a few leagues above that, he can threaten the World Government. The same way Whitebeard could. Now, right after the war, I am sure that he might even be able to topple the World Government if he desires so.”
“Yeah, but they took my weapons and our money,” I pressed out. The moment Inari is back with some info I will fucking murder them. Maybe they will appreciate being killed by the very same weapons they stole from.
“But how did they even get on board? I thought Mrs Chicken Wing was guarding it and don't we have some kind of defence against attackers, even when we aren't on the ship?” Asked Nojiko now.
I looked at Fiara, she and Noa were in charge of our ship. And her tasks were the defences and weapons. She fidgeted a bit and looked extremely guilty before she began to bawl and apologise. “I'm sorry, I forgot to activate the autocannons. They take a lot of heat and energy, that's why I thought it wouldn't be necessary having them activated.” Big round tears were streaming down her real eye and she was even starting to hiccup.
I patted her head softly and smiled down at her. She looked up, face red, eye puffy and nose running. “It's not your fault. We couldn't know that something would happen to Mrs Chicken Wing. We didn't know that there will be people coming. Our ship should have been safe, especially with Mrs Chicken Wing on the ship. She is a lot stronger than our defences, if something gets past her then they wouldn't have mattered anyway. The worst outcome would have been a destroyed ship. In a way, it was good that they were turned off, or else they might have destroyed the Raptor.” I patted her head once more and then looked at the others.
“What I worry about is how easily they managed to board and take our stuff. Mrs Chicken Wing might have been occupied with her husband, but she wouldn't have left a strange on the ship. Not without a massive fight.” They all nodded in agreement. Mrs Chicken Wing was a deadly guard dog, those who tried to rob us were killed by her. Often brutally even as to discourage others from trying.
“Still, what are we going to do?” Asked Yosaku the question that mattered.
“We'll have to wait for Inari, she might have been able to find out something about our thieves. Lia, how far away is she? I couldn't feel her when I last checked.”
Lia concentrated for a moment, getting a feel to the many aurae on the island and sorting out those that were not Inari. After a moment her eyes shot open again, her head snapped to me and she barely kept herself from shooting out of her chair.
“We need to hurry, Inari is wounded and is coming to us. She is being pursued by three others. They will catch up with her before she reaches the beach!” Having her short explanation finished she did jump out of her chair and run out of the room.
The rest of us was following right behind. Whoever hurt Inari, and stole my weapons, will rue this day.