Angel of the Sea - One Piece SI
Oo-o-o-o--o-o-o
I nervously cleaned my pair of pistols and sword.
At 14 most everybody was expecting me to join in on the raids. If I hadn't made myself so strong they would likely have allowed me to live in peace, but since I was just about our strongest tribesman, I'd certainly be shunned if I didn't join in soon.
I paused as I was making sure my dials were in working order. Wyper had already taken over as the War-band leader at the tender age of 16, but even so I could still beat him more often then not during spars.
Funny, how the boy I bullied had grown up so much already...
He probably wouldn't be leaving anybody alive to fend for themselves on a successful raid.
I sucked in a deep breath.
I'm going to go kill people.
Reassembling my pistols, i glanced over them.
Built pretty much exactly like Braham's flash guns, except instead of flash dials I had Impact dials installed, effectively making each shot resemble something more like a high caliber rifle than a pistol.
… I made a lot of money off hunting beasts nobody else could.
I shook my head and stowed them on my thigh holsters, then grabbed my mediocre but effective sword and knife, putting the knife in my tanto style holster.
Standing up, I looked into my small mirror.
I wore simple getup of grey halter top and short shorts, I've never been afraid of showing a little skin.
No shoes other than my shooters, because fuck shoes.
Palming my long black bangs out of my face, I grabbed a bandoleer of grenades before exiting my hut.
Hugging my father (He's our resident farming expert) he hugged me back tightly.
"Be careful Aki, I know you're smart enough to run if needed, so there'll be no excuse if you die, alright?"
I laughed.
"Great vote of confidence dad." I said, grinning before turning to the warband.
Wiper was looking particularly pissy today. Hah, just because your older doesn't mean I can't knock you out.
"You done?" He asked, no real venom in his voice. Even Wiper wasn't going to be giving people any real shit about this kind of thing.
I nodded.
"Let's go."
O-o-o-o-o-o--o-o-oo-o-o-o--ooo-o
With one hand holding my sword and my other a pistol, I shot a man who could barely breathe in the chest.
A massive bang followed, and the man fell back, a gaping hole in his chest making me turn away, sick rising in my throat.
"Aki!" Wiper shouted urgently, and I spun my head before raising my sword to block a strike from a screaming man with curly hair.
Kicking his legs out from under him, I stabbed down into his throat with a shuddering breathe.
"This isn't Heaven, it's Hell!" Cried another blue sea dweller, before the blast of a bazooka followed. I didn't dare look at that particular section of deck.
Finally, the ship was silent.
Quickly and efficiently, the Shandia searched every bit of the ship for useful bits and bobs, meanwhile I took the chance to puke over the side.
The others gave me some space to come to terms with what I just did, until finally I was able to move about the ship and help out.
Dint find much but some useless gold. I took a nice set of bracers and simple earring studs and a bit more gold for later, but otherwise all I found were books.
Hardly worth any extol, but should be good for some entertainment.
It was only while we were leaving that I realized Wyper didn't bother scuttling the ship.
I thought about how Merry would feel, being left to drift until she rotted enough to sink, and I used some grenades to blast a hole in the hull myself.
"A small mercy to a ship's soul." I said when Wyper questioned me, which just made him snort.
O-o-o-o-o---o-o-oo--o-o-o
Over the course of the next few years I quickly adapted to killing people, as much as I may be personally horrified by the fact.
Sometimes Wyper would get this manic look in his eye, and he'd order us to raid Angel Beach or Upper Yard, but every time his ambition was tempered either by Enel's priests or, if he was particularly bored or it looked like we were going to achieve something, Enel would blast several of our number into ash.
Wyper's never ending lust for revenge despite the harm it brought to our tribe finally got to me one night…
o-oo-o-o-o-oo-o-o
At 17 I sat down next to a totem pole towards the edge of our village.
Resting an unopened bottle of wine against the bottom, I chuckled a bit at the sight.
The Shandia didn't practice burying our dead, at least not in modern times. We had been forced to become a migratory tribe, moving from place to place dictated by war or Vearth accessibility.
So, instead of graves, every fallen Shandian had their name carved into the totem pole given pride of place somewhere in our temporary village. If we had to leave and set up a new village, we would either take it with us or come back at some point to retrieve it.
I gazed down at a particular block of names.
Despite my loner tendencies, fighting together in a constant war forges unavoidable bonds.
I uncapped the wine. I'm not a drinker, but I know they were, so I poured one out for them, and hey, if the others on the totem want some, I'm not going to complain.
Leaning back and staring up at the top of the totem pole, where an ancient and worn carving of a Southbird stood, I closed my eyes
…
"Aki!" A familiar voice called.
I narrowed my eyes. Soon enough Raki came around the corner, bags in her eyes still from our last assault.
"Wyper's calling together another invasion, he's got this plan involving some Seasto- uh" Raki trailed off at my expression, as I stood up and marched right passed her.
I don't know what she's so afraid of, I mean, my fury isn't for her.
It was only as I reached the center that I heard her call out not to do something stupid.
Too late.
"WYPER!" I roared at the sight of him, and he visibly grit his teeth at the sight of me.
"Aki, why aren't you preparing?" He stated, tone cold.
I clenched my fists.
"No, no we aren't doing this again. Our Warriors aren't even properly rested and already you want to throw more of our people to die!" I screamed.
Wyper's face darkened.
"Are you challenging me, Aki?" He said, eyes dead focused.
I took a deep breath. Others have, of course, brought up concerns with Wyper before, but whenever it reached this point they always backed down.
But now, not a week after I had last seen my friends laughing and boasting about their skills, not a week after I had to burn their bodies?
"Yes." I said quietly, and the Shandians gasped around me, stepping away nervously.
Wyper's brow furrowed.
"You know what this means then, right?" He said, and I growled.
"Yes I do, now are you going to man up and face me, or are you going to continue to stand there and look angry?"
I didn't even have any weapons on me right now, but I was too angry to care.
Wyper dropped his bazooka, cracking his knuckles.
"Fine."
The Chief quickly made his way to the front of the crowd.
"Stop this madness!" He cried, but we both ignored him to charge at each other.
I started with a wild punch into his gut, sending Wyper flying into a hut and sending debris in all directions.
Shit, I'll fix that later.
Crawling of the ruined wall, Wyper used his shooters to launch himself into a wide sweeping kick, which i ducked under and stopped by grabbing his face and smashing his head into the ground, sending solid cloud flying everywhere and leaving a crater.
Wyper was still for a second, before swinging his legs and kicking me in the side of of chest, making me grunt and leg go.
Wyper got back up, blood leaking from his hair and eyes barely able to stay open, but still. he raise his arms.
Fucking-
I faked a hit, before switching to a series of light punches all over his body, until i ended it with an uppercut to send him flying yet again.
And when he got back up again, i tightened my fists.
I took a deep breath, before letting my anger go.
I need to keep our people safe.
This time I charged, him trying to guard against or dodge my attacks this time, but instead of punching or kicking him i spun around him to wrap my arms under his armpits, and proceeding to flip him over my head.
When he landed on the ground, I pinned him down so he couldn't move to attack anymore.
"Do you yield?" I asked, and he continued to struggle from beneath me.
I've always been the stronger of the two, if just because I was always training my whole life.
He awkwardly raised a bandaged hand, and my eyes narrowed. I could see the bulge of his impact dial in the wrappings.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" I asked, and he grit his teeth before dropping his arm.
"I… yield."
And with that, I was the new war-chief.
Taking my foot off and letting Wyper get to his feet, I glared at the distant speck that was Upper Yard.
"No more raids on the Skypieans, we'll stick with the blue sea ships. That is all."
I glared at Wyper.
"Is that understood?"
He grit his teeth.
"Yes"
o-o---o-o-o-o--o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It was hardly half a year later that the Strawhats were spotted approaching Heaven's gate.
I suppose it's time, then?
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A/N – Sorry for the wait, I was almost done editing the chapter before I had a burst of inspiration, and now Aki's apparently the war-chief. Funny how that happens, huh?
As it were, is the fight scene good enough?