Chapter 8: Dusty's Fight For Freedom, Part One

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece

Devon looked around, bored out of his skull while Austin sat quietly next to him reading a manga comic. He drummed his fingers against the log they were on with his left hand while he tapped his sword with his right hand. Austin looked up at him, a somewhat annoyed look on his face.

The blonde swordsman looked back at him, "Well if you have something better for me to do, little bro, I'd love to know what it is...," he said quietly. Austin closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. Devon crossed his arms, "What?"

Austin shrugged.

His older brother shook his head, "Uh uh...what?" he demanded. Austin leaned back, and yanked the Sword Collecting Guide from Devon's back pocket and wopped him over the head with it.

"So that's how you want it to go down, eh? C'MERE!"

Before Austin could jump out of the way, his older brother tackled him to the ground and started giving him non-stop noogies. Austin tried to kick him away as he laughed, but Devon had a good hold on him.

"Do you give?" Devon asked over his brother's laughter. Austin nodded rapidly and Devon stopped the torment. With a happy sigh, Devon planted himself back on the log, "That'll learn ya!". When his little brother didn't respond, Devon looked back to where Austin was still sitting, "Something up, Austin?" he asked.

His little brother nodded and pointed to a distant cliff to the right. Devon looked ahead and raised an eyebrow. For awhile now, Austin had always been able to detect something that didn't feel right, or at least felt good.

Devon threw him his bag and stood up, hand on his blade, "Let's go see what's over there then...,". The old man in the hut watched them walk down the pathway, "HEY!" he yelled, leaning out of the window, "Aren't you gonna stay and wait!".

Kirsty walked around her clinic, a few of her patient's charts in her arms. This was how it went most of the time: she'd see how her previous patients were doing, some new ones would come in, either little ones in need of bandages or shots, or elderly people who broke something while trying to do something.

She passed by some empty beds and walked up to a couple of young boys who had large bandages on. Kirsty looked at their charts and shook her head, "Ok...from what it says here...you two...rolled down a rocky hill. Now, may I ask, WHY you did that?" she asked, putting her spare hand on her hip.

The boy with less bandages glared and pointed at his friend, "He bet me 100 Beli that I couldn't beat him in a race!" he hissed. His friend shoved him, "Bite me, asshole! I was just jokin' around, then you get all serious and then I have to do it!" he snapped.

Kirsty gave them a disapproving look for the cursing, "Now why, did you have to do it?" she asked him. The boy stuck his chin high in the air, "For my Honor!" he said proudly. Kirsty sighed and shook her head, "Honestly...I swear, most of the boys in this village usually get into fights or study, not dare each other to roll down a rocky hill!".

She crossed something off their charts and checked the bandages. "Well...your cuts are covered, and the swelling of your bruises have gone down. You can go now...just be more careful!" she advised. The boys nodded and walked by her.

"You think those pirates are still there?"

"Maybe...,"

Kirsty looked over her shoulder, "Pirates? What are you two talking about?" she asked them. The two boys looked at each other, than back at her, "We saw 'em after we rolled down the hill, pirate boat and everything!".

She walked over to them and knelt down to their eye level, "Really now?" she asked. These kids have got a lot of imagination... she thought smiling. The less bandaged kid nodded, "Yep! They really looked cool...one had a lot of tattoos and there was this girl that looked like a fox,".

Her eyes widened, "Fox girl?".

The boys nodded. Kirsty looked over her shoulder to one of her assitants, "Watch the clinic for me awhile, Amelia...I'm taking a break!". She then turned to the boys, "Show me where you saw them...," she whispered.

Dmitri walked along the ship as his crewmates made preparations to shove off. He opened a door and met the glaring eyes of Dusty, who was locked in a large cage, her arms and legs tied. Smirking, he walked over to the cage and knelt down, "You put me and my men through a rough time over the past few months, Little Fox. We had to break away from the main fleet and had to come back to the East Blue to find you...," he said, brushing Dusty's hair with his hand.

Dusty growled and jerked away, "You're gonna be sorry you did this, Dmitri. When I tell Porche, she's gonna tell Oyabin, then he's gonna toss you overboard to the Sea Kings!" she spat, glaring at him. Her captor chuckled and leaned forward, grabbing her chin and pulled her close, "Not really, my dear. You see...I'm breaking away from the Silver Foxes...away from Foxy. I'm gonna start my own crew, using the men I got with me to serve under my command!"

The fox-eared girl's eyes widened, "Then if you're gonna do that, you don't need to send me back to Oyabin...so why am I here?" she asked. Dmitri's grin grew, "Well...being a Captain does have it's strains. You're gonna be right there, on the bed, willing and waiting for me...your Master, Little Fox," he explained.

"Your a sick bastard, Dmitri...,"

The tattooed man nodded, "Yeah, I guess I am. But you have no choice, Dusty...either you be with me...or you're goin' for a swim, and last I checked, that's a big no-no for you,".

Before Dusty could retort, one of the crewmembers came running inside, a look of both panic on his face, "BOSS!".

Dmitri growled, rolled his eyes, and slowly turned to face him, "WHAT?" he snarled. The pirate pointed the way he came, "It's the Demon!" he yelped. Dusty's ears perked up at the word while Dmitri walked up to his follower, "Is he alone?" he asked slowly.

"He's got a kid...but other than that, he's by himself!" the priate reported. Dmitri's grin returned, "Good...kill him and not only do we get the bounty, but we get a new cabin boy. Are the others just standing around or are they actually fighting him?".

"Uh...they're too scared to go against him...,"

"WHAT! You get out there and tell them that if they don't fight, they'll meet the wrong end of my spear!" Dmitri roared. The pirate nodded and ran back the way he came while Dmitri walked to a large cabinet and pulled out his oddly-tipped spear.

He looked at Dusty and winked at her, "I'm gonna go have some fun, Little Fox, then I'll come back and have some more fun...,"

Devon and Austin stood on the docked pirate ship as the crew began to surround them, making comments as they did so.

"Demon boy don't look so bad...,"

"Yeah...they probably shoulda called him the Pussycat,"

The blond swordsman looked down at Austin who was slowly putting on a oversized pair of blood red gloves. "You sure you don't wanna sit this out, Bro?" he asked. Austin slowly nodded as he adjusted the gloves.

Smiling, Devon took the sword from his belt and gripped it tightly in his hands, "Ok...who wants some?" he asked. The crowd answered by yelling at the top of their lungs and running towards them. Devon easily leapt over the first wave and landed between them and the second wave.

The first wave of his attackers looked in surprise while the second wave came at Devon in full force. He knelt down one knee and held his sword out, flat side up.

Just as they were about to slice and dice him, Devon looked up at them, his eyes filled with a very dark look, and a wicked grin to go with it.

"Tanketetsu!" (1)

Devon swung his blade, but didn't strike the pirates at all. He missed. The men just stood there silently. One by one, blood gushed from multiple gashes on each of their bodies and they fell to the deck.

"Holy...,"

"...shit,"

The remaining men looked at him with chills on their spines. One of them slowly walked up to him, hands in sign of peace, "Um...we didn't mean it...," he said in a pleading voice. Devon glanced at him and a second later, his blade was pointing upward instead of to the side.

The pleading pirate's eyes went wide before he slowly split into two pieces. Devon watched this and spat at the divided remains, "Too fuckin' bad...,"

"BOSS!"

Dammit, I'm gonna kill these idiots... the tattooed spear-man thought as he pulled the rag covering from his spear tip, "What...is...it...now?" he asked through gritted teeth.

The messenger started making blabbering noises and pointed to the door. Dmitri raised an eyebrow and slowly walked to the open door.

"What in the name of...,"

What he saw was a deck full of either dead bodies, or bloody body parts and organs lying around in pools of the red liquid. He looked ahead to see the swordsman who was responsible for it and scowled, "Sonofabitch...,".

Devon cut down a duo of attackers with ease, staining his blade and his clothes with their blood. "Feh...buncha weaklings...," he muttered to himself. He looked around and saw Austin toss away a decaptitated head.

"Find anything good?" he called out.

Austin shook his head.

"The gloves still workin' for ya?"

He nodded.

"Good...keep it up!" he said with a nod.

Sensing something, Devon turned back to see the same man from the day before, holding his spear over his shoulder.

"I tell ya, Demon...you're pretty good. You took down most of my men in less than five minutes. How's about you come work for me? I tell ya, the pay is very fine...," Dmitri offered, hefting his weapon.

Devon cracked his neck, "I don't work for cowards," he said harshly. Dmitri chuckled, and took his spear in both hands, "I guess this means we can't be friends then...,"

"I guess not...,"

Meanwhile, Dusty moved around, trying to get the ropes off herself. "When I get outta here...Dmitri is gonna get his ass handed to him so badly...," she swore as she edged her way to one side of her prison.

"Just...need...to...get my claws out...," she strained as she flexed her fingers, waiting for the sign that the tools she needed were there.

A loud crackling sound made her smile, "There we go...,". Using the bars, she steadied her arms and began to cut through the rope. As she did, she glanced around and her eyes landed on something that made her very happy. It was a pair of scythe blades. Not like the usual scythe that the Grim Reaper carried around, but more like long nunchuka with curved blades at the end, and minus the chains.

As soon as she cut away the ropes that bound her legs and arms, Dusty angled herself against the front of the cage and wiggled her arm out.

"Time for the old locksmith to get to work...,"

Not only did she use her claws for cutting rope, she used them to picklock all sorts of things...like cages. She ran her middle finger along until she found the keyhole and inserted her nail.

"C'mon...no, that's not it...," she murmured as she turned her finger around, looking for the right mechanism.

Click

Dusty smiled as wide as she could, "BINGO!" she cried. With a loud creak, the cage door was opened and Dusty crawled out and stretched. "MAN, that feels great...," she sighed happily as she cracked her joints.

Time to kick a certain traitor's ass... she thought as she collected the scythes and walkd to the door.

Kilnorc: Whew...long one, eh? Well i hope you enjoyed it.

On the next piece of One Piece: Crew of the Axe

Dusty's free and is about to exact revenge for all the treatment she was given. Can Devon hold his own against Dmitri, or will the Demon fall by the spear?

Dusty's Fight for Freedom, Part Two!

(1) This attack, if I remember right, is an attack used by Odin in the Final Fantasy series. I don't own that of course, but I thought that would be a fitting move for Devon. That attack usually kills all in one swipe, as you've witnessed earlier in the chappy.

Ja ne!