Oberon "Akahige" Grey's Story

A small ship was resting near a port in town, and was big enough to be called a ship, yet small enough to hold a small number of hands. However, there was only one man living on board so far. His name was Oberon Grey. Oberon was not the social pirate looking for fame, like several others. He simply didn't want to live by the rules set up in the world and made his own freedom. He was currently getting ready to head out, getting the supplies in the ship, making sure his eyepatch was well secured on his head, getting the sails well prepared to head out.

"Well, it'll be time to head out now. I wonder where to go next? Travel to Alabasta? Or to Drum Island?" The line denizen of his ship pondered to himself as he heard shouting and looked up and noticed the scene of the Marines trying to catch a blonde haired woman. He sighed as he decided to help her out by stalling the Marines for a brief moment.

He pulled out his Pistol and aimed at a Marine's weapon, waited for the marine to reach his range, and then fired. The shot accidentally hit the poor Marine in the foot as Oberon slapped his face with his own Palm in self ridicule before pulling out his sword and cutting the line connecting him to port. "Time to Go Blackie." He muttered to his ship.

"Hey Mates! That ship is the Black XII! It's Akahige! Wait, we can't let Sakimoto get away!! After her! Besides that guy has a small bounty of 20,000! He's not all that important a target!" The Marines began shouting in confusion before returning to their original objective. Mr. Grey couldn't care less about being called not a well renowned pirate, but he started to get peeved about his nickname.

"I do not have a Red Beard!!!!" Oberon shouted in slight anger as he went to one of his cannons, (actually his only cannon.) and prepared to fire at the Marines as a peeved warning shot for being called that idiotic title.

Karin gave a sigh of relief as her body relaxed itself as the chemicals coursed through her bloodstream and her memories receded. She'd forgotten to take her daily dose amid the chase of the bounty hunter, and nearly passed out for it. Karin carefully put the syringe back in her thigh belt and put her gauntlets back on. It had been a while since she took shore leave , and it had been interrupted by the local Marine garrison asking her to help catch a criminal. She found it amusing that the criminal the marines were chasing was a bounty hunter that had already wrecked a block in the port city.

However, the longer that Hanako Sakimoto decided to have the marines chase her and continue destroying the city as she went, the less amused Karin became. She'd already spent several hours chasing after her, and was now becoming increasingly unwilling to provide any leniency once she caught Hanako. Although Hanako was now considered a criminal since the Marines were fed up with having to apologize to the populace and compensating damages, Karin was really only planning on throwing her in the local jail for a few nights and letting the whole incident tide over. But now, after this drunken rampage, Karin was considering a much harsher punishment. Several marines had already been injured chasing the drunker woman , and there had allegedly been some townspeople who got caught up in the chase and had been rushed off to the hospital.

Stepping onto the main street out of the alleyway, Karin surveyed the situation. A group of marines had seemed to almost catch Hanako, but she ended up using her devil fruit powers to escape them--again. It would seem that the marines needed additional training with the net guns, and probably needed better tactics to contain a devil fruit user. As she started to give chase herself, she saw someone on a boat shoot one of the Marines, and then cut his mooring line. Apparently one of the marines recongized him, but decided that the hunt for the bounty hunter was more important.

" Belay that order. Prevent the ship from leaving the harbor. I'll deal with the marine shooting bastard later. And someone get help for the poor man."

The marines rushed to fufil her orders and they also started shouting at the " Red Beard" to stop or being sunk. Karin shook her head--these marines were so incompetnet compared to what she was used to working with.

" Oh well" she thought to herself " it beats having to go in for testing."

She ran ahead and quickly caught up to Hanako who was in seemingly drunken state.

" Hanako Sakimoto, you are under arrest for assault and battery, destruction of public property, and assault upon the Marines. Surrender now or be prepared to face the consequences."
With any luck Karin could convince Hanako to give up without a fight, but Karin would beat her into submission if needed. However, Karin did need to give her credit-- Hanako seemed to be fairly skilled. Maybe she could prove to be usefull....

Oberon actually glowered as the Marines were reordered to turn around and detain him. "Blackie we're gonna have to use the old wind launching tactic." He muttered to his ship as he noted the woman who he tried to help by stalling the Marines was pursued by an even stranger woman. Obviously a Noble's lap dog as he then heard the Marine's using his Given title as he glared. Pulling a baby den den mushi from his compartment he pulled the speaker to his lips.

"Now hear this. If you think your lives are worth the possible 20,000 beri reward on my head instead of an obvious high profile target, be my guest to Pursue me to the Grand Line, and then to All-Blue even. But know this; I, Captain Grey am not beholden to you Marines or the Government you serve. Any motion to attack me at this moment, I fire at Your Noble Lap Dog leader. Allow me to leave and I promise we'll settle the incident of my bad aim at your friend later. I was aiming for his weapon only." He concluded by walking to his Helm and testing the wind as he turned the ship starboard and pretended to Aim at the Noble.

"Eastward breeze....I pull this off right we'll be getting a few hours to a day's head start Black XII." He said as he moved and started to unfurl his sails, almost stark black with The white symbol 'XII'.

He returned to his original spot and spoke again. "So what will it be? Little Fish, or the Big Kahuna your leader is personally getting? One more thing: Blondie, if you manage to catch up to my ship, I guarantee you a ride to anywhere on the Grand." One baleful eye glared at the Marines as he began to feel the breeze as he aimed carefully before changing it towards the water.

"Blackie, prepare to fire."

Karin stared at Hanako and sighed. It would appear that the drunkard was also a buffoon. It didn't matter now anyways; it would be much easier to arrest her and be done with it so Karin could enjoy the rest of here well deserved break. Several marines finally caught up to Karin, and started panting.

" Well she seems to be incapacitated now. Take the standard protocol when dealing with devil fruit users."

Karin ordered as she jumped off the roof. The "Red Beard" still seemed to be yelling at the marines she told to arrest him, and was appearing to preparing to fire a cannon. She grabbed a passing a marine and asked, " Did you impound the bounty hunter's ship? "
" Y-yes ma'm!" The marine squeaked out. " Good. I'll deal with this pirate myself."

Karin scrutinized the pirate--it was true, he really was only a small fry pirate, worth only 20,000 beri. Such a paltry amount wasn't really worth dirtying her hands over. That being said, this pirate did shoot one of the marines, was already threatening to shoot her with a cannon, and called her a dog The last part had set something off, and she decided that some punishment was in order.

" Akahige, if that's your name, I urge you to reconsider your conduct and beg for forgiveness. Your measly 20,0000 beri bounty can easily be changed if that's what you desire. You've shot a marine, impeded an arrest, threatened an officer, and called me a dog. You have 10 seconds to stand down or be blown out of the water."

Karin pulled out a second vial from her thigh belt and injected it. Taking a second injection so soon wasn't healthy, and was probably
unnecessary given the opponent she was about to face, but he had struck a nerve.

While Hanako was preoccupied vainly attempting to piece her sunglasses together, her Haki alerted her to the presence of the marines approaching behind her, she, mostly on reflex, leapt out of the way and off the roof altogether, landing with surprising grace given how intoxicated she was. She looked between Karin, the increasingly large group of marines surrounding them, and out to the harbor, "ok... don't remember where i left my boat... wonder if that guy will let me hitch a ride... hope he has more sake, my buzz is dying down" she thought to herself as she glanced over at Oberon. Seeing no other real option she decided to go with that, but first was the matter of the large group of marines to deal with, which she had an idea for, "Good thing for me we're in the harbor" she thought with a grin.

She threw both her arms back, the water in the harbor began to surge as she focused her power on it, she condensed it as much as she could manage in her state, made sure it would go in the right direction, and let it go, releasing a large wave, plenty large enough to knock out or wash away the squad of marines... or rather, it would be, if Hanako' alcohol slowed mind had not left out two variables, first, Oberon's ship was between her and the water, and second, she was between the water and the marines. The wave hit Oberon's ship first, not strong enough to do any real damage as the wave was intended just against people, but more than big enough to lift and push the small vessel clean up and out of the water and onto solid ground, losing most of its power in the process, but not enough that it didn't keep going somewhat, just enough that the wave struck Hanako herself, briefly engulfing her body in sea water, as the remnants of the water splashed around them all, the bounty hunter had fallen to her side, groaning softly from the brief but powerful and lingering weakness and nausea, "t-that... w-wasn't fun..."

He raised the speaker to his lips again amused. "Raise that bounty one Beri and we'll have a problem. Negotiations are meant to make a person understand each other's supposed actions. Who ever said my real target was you?" Oberon then gawked at the incoming wave. "What the he-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAH!" The Black XII was pushed back towards another harbor where the woman was. Oberon would've crashed directly onto the harbor, or worse, solid ground if he didn't maneuver his ship to have the winds he needed fight against the push of the wave.

Oberon eyed the woman who fell to her side from the wave. "Devil fruit user? Blackie we are definitely going to have trouble on the way to Alabasta. Or was I heading for Drum Isle?" he thought as he grabbed a rope and made a swing towards the blonde haired woman. Landing on his feet he scooped the woman up with one arm and swung back to the XII.

"Okay XII, we're definitely going to use the wind launch technique given the circumstances." He muttered as he pointed his cannon at the water as the easterly breeze he anticipated started to blow with a fury. He reached his baby den den mushi again once more as he looked at the woman who antagonized him.

"You won't be blowing me out of the water, allow me to do that for you. Catch me if you can. As for what you called me I do not have a red beard, so therefore Captain Grey to my Enemies and rivals, Mr. Grey to my friends, and I am not stupid to give my first name to some government poisoned woman like you because you're not my friend." Oberon stated as he lit the fuse and wrapped one arm around the Blonde Haired Passenger before hanging onto one of the rigging. "Hang on ma'am!"

Boom!

The Black XII soared through the air for several minutes due to the recoil of the cannon as it fled the island like a mouse running from a cat. It landed like a small piece of driftwood as Oberon was laughing. "Got it at the right moment! We've probably got a few hours head start Miss, so let's focus on getting more hours away from them." He said as he walked to the helm and started steering the ship.

"Onward to the Grand Line!"

Karin was dumbstruck by the scene that had unfolded before her. Hanako had managed to launch the ship back onto the harbor, then Grey managed to shoot it back out of the island, all in a short span of time. The criminals had now managed to wreck the harbor and several blocks of the city, and Karin had nothing to show for it. She delegated clean up duty to whatever marines were still in the area and returned back to the local garrison HQ and withdrew to her room. As she was leaving , one of the marines was making idle talk now that nothing was happening and all they had to do was clean up the debris.
" Hey did you hear? They still haven't announced a third admiral. Word out is they can't find anyone qualified anyone for it. "

" Eh really? Doesn't that leave us a lot weaker?"
Karin gave a faint smile at these words. It was true that the spot was still open, but she was determined that it would be hers.

When she arrived at the garrison HQ, Karin rummaged through the bag she brought with her and pulled out a small den- den mushi and activated it.

" This is Raven asking for permission to extend leave."

There was a brief pause then a flat voice responded "Denied. Your little sojourn ends in three days. Are there any other requests?"

" I would like to request that the bounties on someone called "Akihage" Grey and Hanako Sakimoto be raised. I would also like to purse them. "

Another short pause, then " Bounties have been raised. Permission is granted to pursue, but it ends in three days."

" I understand. I would also like to request a new crew."

This time a different voice replied, " What a demanding doggie you are. Good doggies beg now, don't they? "

Karin froze in shock---she didn't expect that person to return so soon. She gritted her teeth and forced her words out, " May I please have a new crew, benefactor?" That person always wanted her to remember where she was...

" Hmmm no. You've already lost the last couple crew I gave you, so you'll need to make do by yourself or with whoever you can find for the next coming assignments. However, as always, you can grant amnesty to anyone you find useful if need be. Have fun going off on your little hunt, and don't forget your medicine!"

The den den mushi cut off leaving Karin in silence. She bit her lip and sat down on her bed. Without a crew, chasing after pirates in the Grand Line was extremely dangerous; yet she had been humiliated by those two criminals and retribution was required. Karin packed everything up in her bag and left the garrison and went out to look for her contact. After putting out word that there was a bounty on Hanako, and the bounty on Redbeard had been raised, there was a flurry of activity from bounty hunters and pirates who wanted easy pickings. One way or another, Karin would find them. She reached her own personal ship and stepped inside it. Karin smiled upon entering it--supernovas like Trafalgar Law weren't the only ones who could gather the resources needed to create a submersible . Now the hunt was on.

A

Hanako recovered from her weakness moments after Oberon's ship got going, and in addition, her mistake had the side effect of greatly sobering her up. She stood hastily and looked around, briefly confused as to what was going on, upon seeing the island shrinking in the distance, her eyes went wide as she looked back at her would be savior. "ooooo no no no you don't!" she called, with a sharp wave of her arm, the ships progress suddenly came to a jarring halt as Hanako forcibly altered the current beneath the ship, soon after the ship began making rapid progress, twice as fast as before, in reverse, right back toward the island they escaped from.

"I am NOT leaving here without my chest, do you have any idea how much cash i have in there?! i could buy a ship three times the size of this thing and still have enough left over to blow it up and rebuild it!" she exclaimed rather desperately, being far from the type to abandon several million beli despite there being a large amount of unhappy marines in the same place, not to mention all her clothes and other things being stored in the same chest she currently had on the bottom of the sea near the shore to protect it. Tthe only reason she hadn't escaped the marines much earlier was because she was too drunk to recall where she had actually sunk it and her boat, but she did now, for the most part anyway at least, and once close enough it wouldn't take too long to figure out the exact position. As they rapidly approached the shore, Hanako saw a large shadow under the water, it didn't take very much effort to figure out what it was, "Ok never seen that before... ok... no problem, let's hope i don't drown myself this time" she thought aloud.

She stopped pushing the ship and instead focused all she could, funneling a large volume of water into two small orbs, one in each palm. She leapt out of the ship over the water, and just before she touched the sea she let the water she held loose straight down, jetting herself upwards, and as she passed over the submerged ship the force of her streams pushed it deeper, the sea itself buffered the force, but still enough to roughly push it into the sea floor with enough power to frighten the occupants, even if it only lasted a moment as she passed overhead. The greedy logia landed neatly on the beach, she rushed to the ebbing and flowing tide and placed her hand into the water, "Ok gotta hurry... where are you where..." she thought as she extended her sense of touch through the water in search of her things. "BINGO!" she exclaimed as she found it, quickly working to pull her chest and boat back up, but doing so would leave her vulnerable for a precious couple of minutes, "man i hope that sub doesn't have a cannon..."

Oberon was shocked at his passenger's need to get her stuff. "You stupid twit! They'll be on top of us like bees to honey! Do you have any idea what danger you put me in saving your ass? Now no thanks to you my anonymity is going to vanish the moment my 20,000 beri below the radar bounty is going to go up! And what am I saying you're not a mere devil fruit user are you? You're the drunken..." His voice trailed off. He looked at the way Black XII was going in reverse.

"Shit, the Drunken River. I knew that a hot babe like you was too good to be true. Fine, get your stuff. But know that first port I get to you're on your own. I don't like bounty hunters on my ship." He muttered more to himself as he gripped the wheel of his ship tight. "I shouldn't have helped. My life was peaceful enough and my taste in women has mucked it completely."

As he was muttering this he noticed the large shadow as well. "Why would the Marines be after a bounty hunter? Wait...now I have to get to the Grand in another direction! My life's going down the toilet no thanks to a greedy drunken woman."

He looked to where Hanako went. "Hurry up! I'm on a tight schedule!"

Karin was surprised when the ship she was changing suddenly rushed all the way back to shore. She'd been expecting a several hour chase, maybe even days. Sometimes she wondered just how moronic the bounty hunter was. As she started surfacing the sub, she realized that she'd need to pick between arresting either Hanako or Redbeard. Without a crew, she couldn't go for both. Karin decided to gamble on the fact that Hanako would view the pirate as a friend. She surfaced right next to Redbeard's ship and leaped out of the hatch onto the ship.


" Well Redbeard, it would seem your miraculous escape plan was foiled by a drunkard. How does it feel to rescue a bounty hunter that proceeds to get you arrested? I wouldn't advise you attempt to sail or fly off again. I already have several ships closing in on my position. "

The last part wasn't technically true. There were ships patrolling the seas, but she'd been denied permission to order them to blockade the entire area off in order to prevent a single pirate from escaping. Karin figured that a pirate wouldn't really know any better, especially since he thought of her as a high ranking enough government official. Then she called out to Hanako

" Hey bounty hunter, you've made me chase you more than enough these past couple hours. If you don't surrender and turn yourself in right now, I will beat your friend here to a pulp and ensure both of you end up in Impel's Down. Wouldn't that be nice, a bounty hunter like you being sent to Impel's Down where I'm sure some of the pirates you caught are."

Karin kept a wary eye on Redbead during the entire time and had made sure to bring her blade this time. She had heard that he was a swordsmen, and until she knew how proficient he was, she didn't want to sacrifice a range advantage with her gauntlets on the off chance he was a master swordsmen. By luck, a couple marines had spotted the three of them and were starting to run down the sand dunes.

Hanako looked between her "savior", Karin, and the approaching marines as she rushed to retrieve her stuff, "man i need to find a more convenient way to hide my stuff..." she complains as she pulls the tide back and forth to drag her boat and chest to shore, upon seeing that the marines behind her had net guns, she decided to drop caution again, "Ok... still not totally sober... please don't let me drown myself" she thought, suddenly the tide pushed out greatly, only to surge back twice as hard, with a thrust of her clasped hands the incoming water split around her, she grinned at her success as the water shot upwards to knock back the soldiers behind her. Moments later her boat, which was basically a steel dingy as it was big enough at most for her and a passenger plus her chest since with her powers she didn't need sails or anything, washed ashore. "Hey marine lady, you shouldn't make threats you can't deliver on" she said with a cocky grin as she hopped onto her boat and with a burst of water was rocketing right toward Oberon's ship.

As she approached she leapt hard out of her own boat, the force of her jump sending it right back underwater, she flipped forward and extended her leg, a stream of water pouring off her foot and condensing as she aimed the water enhanced axe kick at the woman below her, "lets see how you like my water a- oh hell" she said as her haki alerted her to the incoming net, launched by a marine at the end of the docks, it wasn't a direct hit but it did catch her extended leg and waist, her power being blocked immediately as she landed hard and very ungracefully onto the deck of the ship. She struggled to get the net loose, "at least i didn't do it to myself this time..." she thought before looking up at Karin somewhat sheepishly, "uh... ok in my defense a guy at the bar groped me and for the record i'm a lot tougher when i'm sober"

Oberon sighed as the woman who was intent on hunting him down make herself known. He listened to her simple basic capture speech but he didn't let go of the helm. He simply made a small sideways glance at her as she continued by antagonizing the Drunken River and sighing in a slightly unamused manner. "Now? Really?" He asked in a flat emotionless tone as he stood there, thinking on his next move.

"She has sea stone gauntlets on, the most incredibly archaic blade I've ever seen, and vials strapped to her thigh? Most likely tranquilizers, though I could swipe one and go to a doctor who can fully analyze it.", Oberon thought to himself as he planned his next move silently. "You're strong and cunning in some retrospects. I'll give you that much, however you act like the World Government has you on a very short painful leash the way you sound around things. I don't expect a direct conflict with you now, and I fully intend on making this the most interesting chase you've had, be it short or otherwise."

He saw the Drunken river attempt to perform a sneak attack only to have her get caught by a net launched at the dock. "It seems however, if you intend to not make the hunt a long and fun game, I have no choice but to make it a long and fun game. Starting with the very rude interruption. Black XII, fire a warning shot past the Marines at the dock, use the recoil to get some speed now."

He then let go of the helm and made a quick spin at the woman, his black cloak danced in the breeze, covering his very actions in that moment as the cannon almost moved on its own and ultimately do as it was told. The cloak made its spin around it's owner to reveal he drew his sword as he made several quick cuts at the woman in front of him, some were warning cuts but one was a distracting cut so that he'd make a quick grab at a vial on her thigh belt. He then leapt to the side of the ship and held the vial out dangerously at the over the ship's edge. The ship began to move again after it took its shot due to the fact his sails were still unfurled.

"Get off my ship and you can have this back. Otherwise you remain here and be my hostage and be one vial short of whatever this junk is. But trust me, being my hostage is three levels better then the position your government has you in, as a slave to its will. Choose carefully."

Karin waved at the marines on the dock to take Hanako into custody.Now that Hanako was taken care of, she could arrest this annoying man and be able to enjoy the rest of her short break. She raised an eye at Oberon's question and replied with a tinge of annoyance, " Yes, now, really. You have wasted my time and I'll be sure you make up for it in Impel Down. "

Suddenly he told some one called "Blackie" to open fire on the marines on the dock. She snarled in shock and glanced around the ship-- she hadn't sensed anyone else on the ship. Was there someone else on the ship hiding his or her presence. Karin was about to ignite her blade when Redbeard quickly launched an attack on her. She wasn't expecting him to move so fast and attempted to parry the blows. By the time she realized that Redbeard had been aiming for her vials, it was already too late.

He went on about how about if she wanted the vial back, she'd need to become a hostage, and how it'd still be preferable than serving the World Government. Karin decided that he was really pissing her and and she pointed at her collar. " Do you really think I serve the old men in the World Government by choice? I wouldn't be wearing this if I did. Officially it just designates me as the first surviving so called 'patient ' in a drug trial, ostensibly to know what to do if I needed medical treatment. . But they are always there to remind me why."

At this point she loaded up a second vial into her syringe and contemplated injecting it. If it came to a full on fight, she was certain that she would win, although she could predict if Redbeard would survive or not. However, so many injections within a short time span wasn't going to end well.

" Even if I did decide to become your hostage, I'd be fairly ineffective for a variety of reasons. The most prevalent one would be I wouldn't survive more than three days. The second is that you assume that the old men would want to retrieve me without bodily injury. Either way, I doubt going with you would be better. Keep the vial, I'm certain you can' figure out what it is anyways."

As Karin readied for the coming fight and prepared to inject the vial's contents into her arm, she was overcome by a sudden wave of nausea and violently vomited. The vial dropped from her hand and cracked upon contact with the deck. It was at this point she realized she had grabbed the wrong ones on her way out of Lougetown. She now only had one remaining the belt and the one in Redbeard's hand. It had already been over 12 hours now, and Karin made a faint attempt to withdraw the last vial and decided against it. Fighting back another urge to vomit or pass out, and panting heavily now she sheathed her blade and raised her gaunleted fists.

" Let....us .begin..Redbeard."

Hanako looked between Oberon and Karin as she continued fruitlessly to remove the net, given it was meant to be able to hold multiple people and the entirety of it was tangled around her leg and waste, it was proving understandably uncooperative in getting off of her. "yeah don't mind me, don't hop in to help out the girl who can't even get up right now" she thought, slightly annoyed neither of them had made a single move toward her since she landed here.

When the issue with the vials and Karin's situation came up, that peaked the bounty hunters attention, "if i didn't know better..." she thought, recalling her time on a the Sabaody Archipelago, she couldn't help but think that it looked suspiciously close to a slave collar, it wasn't quite the same, lacking the chain that was normally a trigger for an explosive in case of attempted escape, but otherwise it was close. Though she didn't know for sure, judging from Karin's tone, it was clear she did not want to be serving the marines, world government, or anyone else.

Hanako formed a plan, a rather half baked one but it was better than what might occur otherwise. "Hey, marine lady... i saw you inject one of those earlier, and from how you hesitated just now... those things aren't exactly vitamins are they?" she asked, struggling to a standing position with the weight of the net on her. "I might be able to help... maybe... i control water, people are like 2/3 water right? i might be able to get whatever that is, all of it, out of your system safely, i did it once before to help an old friend, though that was only alcohol poisoning... but if i could, would you be more inclined to not let whoever "they" are order you around?" she said seriously, extending a hand toward her, which she admittedly didn't think through given the sea stone gauntlets but the gesture was what mattered after all.

Oberon watched as the girl refused both to leave his ship and get her vial, and also to refuse a chance for freedom. Then he witnessed the violent episode of sickness. He looked at the vial he had in his hand, and though he knew these were drugs, and he so badly wanted to know what sick game the world government was playing now. But he couldn't just watch a frail beautiful woman, even if she was an enemy, get sick all because of him. His eye softened its hard gaze for a few brief moments.

However, when the woman decided to continue fighting the hard gaze returned. He raised his sword in preparation for her to make the first move but the Drunken River, slightly tied up in a net, try and suggest she could help out the woman's problem. "Alcohol poisoning, and a dependency to a drug that both weakens you and keeps you alive are two different things bounty hunter. One might accidentally kill her if one wasn't careful." He stated calmly and still emotionless. "However, I won't fight someone who is weakened by sickness. If I gave you this back, or help you get it in your system, will that be considered an apology and I can resume my solitary existence?" he held the vial in question as he spoke. "If not, then if your plan is to pummel me to submission with those sea stone gloves, good luck. In your state I'd give about, three swings before you exert yourself."

He got into his ready stance again and prepared to move quickly out of the way of the blows if need be. "And for the last time, do I EVEN have a hint of facial hair? Honestly I don't know how I got glued to that nickname."

Karin gave a faint grin in spite of her situation. Even after Karin attempted to arrest her several times in the past couple hours, Hanako still expressed concern and wanted to help her.

" It's as Redb-- Grey says. This is very different from a case of alcohol poisoning. Even the scientists who made this aren't sure of all its properties and effects yet. That's why I'm still alive, and why I carry out my orders. They have the only supply of this as far as I know."

She looked our the corner of her eye and noticed that the marines were starting to withdraw, and one of them was frantically talking into a den-den mushi. If she remembered correctly, it meant that either they were very scared of these two criminals, or someone bigger was about to take over the situation. Considering how she had just raised the bounties, Karin was certain it was the latter.


" I can't go back yet. Not now. " she thought to her self. Ignoring the increasing withdrawal symptoms mounting up in her body, she started weighing her current options. The only way to directly retrieve additional drugs was to go to the research facility itself if she wanted to bypass the Gorosei and her benefactor, a facility that was on the Grand Line. Making it there by herself in a submersible would likely result in her death--she'd never attempted to make the journey alone before.

Karin made her decision and pulled off her gloves and threw them onto the deck. " I have failed in apprehending either of you several times now, and it'll likely make its way up the chain of command. However, I'm sure you've noticed that these vials are extraordinarily important and I'm running out. Even after I attempted to arrest you all several times, you still seem to be decent enough. I can get you into the Grand Line without any legal obstacles or other bounty hunters if you take me there. You can take me as a hostage if it makes you feel better. Take my syringe and inject half a vial into my arm, and for the record, the last picutre anyone had of you for the wanted posters, you did have facial hair."

After informing Grey of her decision, Karin decided that it didn't matter what happened next, as long as she didn't need to return to Marejois directly. She finally gave in to the demands of the drugs in her body and passed out.

Hanako crossed her arms and pouted a bit, while to be fair her idea hadn't exactly been the most well thought out idea she'd ever had, given how rare it was for her to make a genuine and (mostly) selfless offer, she was honestly a bit offended by how quickly both Oberon and Karin had shot her down, but she didn't dwell on it long. She walked, or rather, given the weight of the steel cable net and the effect of the sea stone pieces in it, limped, over to Oberon, grabbing the vial and returning it to Karin, "if we're stuck together then it's best we play nice, since this is your weird medicine stuff, you handle it" she said before returning to Oberon and snatching his sword, "lemme borrow this a second" she said, taking a seat, she soon managed to wedge the blade under the net and with some effort, managed to pry it loose and promptly tossed it overboard, then headed over to the front of the ship and leaned over the side, extending her arm as a watery tendril, she retrieved her chest, that she had cleverly hooked onto the anchor via its handle earlier as she leapt over onto the ship. She placed it onto the deck and returned her arm to normal as she gave Oberon his sword back.

"You two are lucky you have me here, you, miss marine lady, just have to point us in the right direction and unless it's on the opposite end of the New World, then i oughta be able to get us there in a couple days tops." she says with a rather proud grin, then turning to Karin with a more serious look, "and since you were so kind as to put a bounty on my head, you're going to do something about it when this is over, i don't do free work you know, and if i wanted to be a pirate, i would've joined a crew or something 6 years ago when i ate my devil fruit"

Oberon rolled his eye at Hanako's actions. "Don't forget whose ship your on. I'm this ship's captain. Now get us on course for the grand line. I'll take over navigation." As he said this, he took the woman who was their enemy and the vial in his arms and took her to a Cabin where he set her down on a bed and administered her medication as instructed. He set the vial and syringe on the bedside as he walked out of the cabin and looked at Hanako and acknowledged the groan of his ship.

"I know Blackie, we have guests. We haven't had that in a long while. Keep an eye on the bounty hunter though. I don't want her to be tempted to try and capture me." He muttered as he walked to the helm and gripped it tight as he handled the steering. When the woman woke, he'd have to ask her where the island she mentioned might be on the grand line. He maintained a silent taciturn mood for the moment.

" Don't worry, it'll just be a little prick."

" I"m sure you remember those ones still back in Impel's Down."

" Your heart stopped only twice this time. Progress, don't you think?"

" Good dogs beg for their treat."


Karin awoke from her memories, just like she always did. Always the painful and humiliating memories of the past. She groped around for her pocket watch and noted several hours had passed. She also noticed that she was in a bed; Grey must have carried her.

After exploring the small room, it occurred to Karin that while she had told the two that they should head for the Grand Line, she had never actually said where. Leaving her gauntlets and blade in the room, she headed outside into the open sky. It had been a while since she had been on such a small ship. Almost every voyage she was either on a large marine vessel or her submersible. Sometimes, it was good to be able to see the ocean up so close.

Karin found Grey at the helm and she leaned against the railing, looking at the ocean.

" Redb-- Grey, thank you. I am very surprised, and thankful you didn't let me die after trying to arrest you twice. I suppose I do owe you one. Also as for the island I had mentioned, it's somewhere on the Grand Line near Seabody. I don't actually remember which one, so we may need to hit a few islands within two and a half days."

Hanako hopped down from on top of the mast as Karin came out to talk to Grey, scratching the back of her head as she looked out around the open ocean surrounding them. "Of course it's around Sabaody... not like that place is dangerous at all, with all the pirate crews, bounty hunters, marines, slavers, occasional Admirals or Nobles, tons of fun there" she said with rather excessive sarcasm, of course she wasn't wrong. True, if one kept quiet and to themselves it was much safer, but for the most part if you weren't a very well known and feared pirate, a Noble, or a marine, it just plain was not a safe place, and that's still ignoring the fact that it's essentially right next door to the World Government and their center or power, or at least former center of power since Enies Lobby was destroyed thanks to a certain crew, and Marineford was now a regular base rather than Marine HQ, either way it was still less than safe.

Hanako glanced over at Karin, "You better hope they didn't give us bounties too high, otherwise laying low will be a huge pain in the ass" she said, she outstretched her arms towards either side of the ship, initially the ship slowed down, before shifting directions, "Little heads up, first, i suggest you hold onto something, second, i'm taking a shortcut through the Calm Belt, so uh... yeah just hold onto something" she warned, with a wide backwards sweep of her arms the ship shot forward at breakneck speed, if Hanako hadn't pulled up the sail before she hopped down the entire mast would likely have broken off from the wind resistance.

"Oh by the way, if something shows up, i wouldn't suggest trying to do anything, trust me, they are not the fun type"