Chapter 27: A Law-Less Land! Is That All You Got?

 It had been about a month since we took Sengoku's offer of becoming privatized bounty hunters. Whenever we arrived at a new island, we would radio in and take on as many bounties on the island as we could. That did not mean we were able to find them all, but we still tried. They were mostly criminals that ransacked villages, terrorized civilians, and committed actual crimes. Each of the targets earned us a pretty Berry, which made all of the crew happy with no complaints.

 The crew and I were now about a third of the way across the Grand Line path we decided to follow. It was mostly sunny with clouds scattered around as we were approaching our next island. According to a map of this region we snagged, Kit told us the next island was called Wild Westland. I remembered hearing that name from a book I read to Luffy and Ace in the past. It had stories about people in funny clothes with fringe that would ride around on horses, they would wear large hats often herding cattle, and twirled guns around. The book said that it was nearly lawless there, even though there was a small Marine base. Maybe the lack of Marine influence is what allowed people to behave how they wanted.

 I made my way over to our transponder snail. I hadn't had time to accessorize it yet, so it was still rather plain with the Marine sticker on the side of its shell. I picked up the transceiver and dialed the Marine's main bounty line. After a few "purupurupuru"s later, a receptionist picked up and said, "Marine bounty hunter line, may I have your name and location?"

 The bounty line was always straight to the point and didn't like wasting time. It made me wonder how many bounty hunter calls they get that they need to rush calls?

 "Employed Hunter Anne, and we're nearing Wild Westlands," I spoke into the receiver.

 There was a moment of shuffling paper sounds before the receptionist responded, "There are a couple of bounties near or on the island."

 The receptionist began to list off various low bounty targets as I wrote them down in the notebook we kept next to the snail. After the third name, he then mentioned a medium bounty by the name of Jesse Jay, and then a large bounty by the name of Trafalger D. Water Law and his small crew. The receptionist also listed off the petty crimes of the low and medium bounties, but they did not go into Water Law's. "Anything I should know about the high bounty?"

 "All you need to know is that he is a devil fruit user and is considered highly dangerous," the receptionist told me.

 Meaning I wasn't going to waste my time with the high bounty. I had learned that if they don't give me the specific details of a person, they either do not know the crimes of the person themselves, or they knew I wouldn't go after them, given my history of rejecting unjust orders.

 "Got it, over and out," I said, before hanging up the receiver.

 The snail closed its eyes and went back to sleep as I crossed out Water Law's name in the notebook. "Anything good," Felix asked as the crew came over while I was skimming through a large bundle of wanted posters next to the snail, as well.

 I pulled out the names that were given to me and passed them out to the crew. I held onto the high bounty poster and showed it to everyone. "The ones that were passed out are the ones we're more interested in. No powers, true criminals, and shouldn't be too difficult to get."

 "What about the one you're holding up," River asked as he passed a bounty paper to the next person.

 "I was getting there," I groaned. "They mentioned this guy should be around here, too. However, they couldn't give me anything on him, so we don't know anything about him. However, they mentioned he was a fruit user, so that makes things a little more dangerous. If we bump into him, we'll pretend he's just a random civilian or something."

 Everyone nodded in understanding, with the exception of Wynter. "I still don't get why that should stop us," Wynter began to ask. "We face the unknown nearly everyday, so what if we don't know about him? We just need to take him in for his bounty, right? Why do we need to know his past?"

 I placed a hand on my hip and realized that River, Felix's, Doc's and my experiences in the Marines never shared to the whole crew. I gave a sigh and explained, "We don't roll like that. We need to know whom we are taking in and if it is justifiable. For example, you may be able to relate somewhat to how I got my bounty. A celestial dragon wanted to make me a slave against my will, so I retaliated by using my powers to blow him away from me so that I could escape. All because I opposed a World Government noble, having fled the Marines, and having devil fruit powers, I was given a ridiculously high bounty and was hunted down like a dog. We're going to make sure we aren't taking in any innocent people with similar circumstances, if we can help it."

 Anyone could see an internal battle was going on inside Wynter's mind. He had many remarks he wanted to make, but he was holding back. "I... get what you are saying," Wynter muttered. "Although, his bounty could have us sitting pretty for quite some time. We wouldn't need to do any more side jobs and you could sail as you like. If you give the word, I will personally hunt people like him down for you and collect the reward for you without any regrets."

 I glared sharp daggers at Wynter. "Wynter, I said we do not do that," I scolded him with a hint of venom. "My word is final on that."

 There was palpable awkwardness surrounding us. It was not often that I spoke as cold as I just had, and everyone knew how serious it was when I did. While everyone was twiddling their fingers uneasily, Kit looked around from person-to-person. You could almost see a lightbulb go off in her head as she turned away from the group and dashed to the side of the Zephyr, leaping over the railing and diving into the ocean. A few of the crew yelled in shock as we all ran to the railing. 

 Kit bobbed below us and called up as the boat continued moving forward without her, "Oh no, it looks like I fell overboard. Looks like we need to stop the meeting so that I can get some help."

 I spat some profanities as River ran to drop the anchor. Once it was dropped, Zephyr slowed to a halt. Kit giggled innocently as she swam back to the ship. I used my abilities to lift Kit out of the water and back onto the deck. She shook herself off like a dog, sending water drops at all of us. There were surely other ways to break the tension, but I had to say, this was one I had not expected.

 By the time we managed to dry Kit's fur off, we had reached Wild Westlands' port. Looking out towards the island, the people were, indeed, wearing funny clothes like the book described! The men wore these large hats, denim pants with the tall and wide boots with spurs, and leather chaps I had no idea what the purpose was for. They had lassos and a pistol on their hips, ready to grab at a moment's notice. Most of the women wore what the book described as "western", as the dresses were long with puffy sleeves and made of satin.

 Not wanting to stand out too much, I opted for some black trousers, a loose white blouse, brown leather belt, some dark boots, a green plaid neckerchief and a low crown hat that sat over the braid that ran down my back. The rest of the crew also tried their best to blend in, so that the targets were none the wiser. 

 Once we all went down onto the docks below, I turned to the group and instructed, "Alright, same as always, we'll split into two groups of three with one staying behind to watch the ship. It's Chef's turn to stay behind, so we'll do the usual teams of River, Kit and Doc as one, and Felix, Wynter and me as the other. Remember, handle what you think you can, flee what you think you can't. Other than that, watch your backs and have fun exploring."

 A few "aye, ayes" later, and we split ways. 

 This place put the "wild" in Wild Westlands. As my group sauntered down the main dirt road, there was chaos at every turn, all being caused by people in similar outfits. People in red vests with a black logo of pistols and a skull on the back were train jacking, robbing a nearby bank, coach robbing, having shootouts, and a small handful were being chased by the few Marines that were stationed on the island. Even though there was a small Marine base, these were basically lawless lands.

 My group made our way to what looked like the Party Bar from Windmill Village, except with swinging doors and the word "Saloon" on top. It looked like an old wooden building, and a bunch of loud noise could be heard coming from inside. Sounded like the perfect place to get some information.

 When we entered, it was as chaotic as it sounded outside. There were people playing cards, some drinking themselves silly and shouting at each other, and a couple of girls were dancing in sexy long dresses as someone played the piano. It truly did feel like the Party Bar, and I started to feel a bit homesick. I shook my head free of those thoughts and snapped out of it.

 As the three of us made our way over to the bar counter, there was a drunken guy people were calling Bill playing cards. He was bragging about how great his hand was, but as he was, a different gruffy guy went up behind Bill and shot him in the back of the head! As he flopped onto the table, it was revealed that he had two black aces and two black eights. The people who were playing simply rolled the guy off of the table and one commented, "Now that's a dead man's hand."

 My group must have seemed mortified, because the bartender simply laughed and told us, "Don' worry 'bout that. Bill just crossed the wrong person and refused to pay back what he owed for too long. Everyone but him knew it was coming, so need to worry, strangers. Now, what can I do fer ya folks?"

 "Howdy," I greeted like I heard one of the locals do earlier, "We were just passing through, but we were wondering if you could help us out?"

 "Sure thing, how can I be of assistance," she asked as she picked up a glass to start polishing. 

 Fishing out the list of names I brought with me of the low and medium bounties, I asked if the bartender knew about any of the people I had listed off. However, once I listed the name of the medium bounty, the saloon went eerily quiet, followed by nearly all of the patrons pointing pistols towards us. Felix grew visibly tense, Wynter placed a hand on the handle of one of his knives, and I did not even flinch. The bartender gave a glare as she asked, "That depends all on who be askin'. What'cha doin' with Jesse?"

 "We're here for his capture," I bluntly said.

 From what I was told about him, he caused this island nothing but trouble. He was basically the leader of the lawlessness chaos of the island. It sounded like these people would be better off without him, and I was willing to bet on it by telling them our intentions. Some eyes widened slightly, but everyone lowered their guns and went back to what they were originally doing, with the exception of one.

 A patron seemed to be keeping an interested eye on me. He had a white hat with black speckles on it, hands that sported some tattoos and dark eyes that matched his hair, sideburns and little patch of chin hair. He was sitting at a table with a couple of people in white and a polar bear Mink in orange jumpsuit, enjoying a drink together. It then dawned on me that that was the man from the high bounty wanted poster. Trafalgar D. Water Law.

 The bartender gave a sigh and then informed us, "Ya'll best be on yer way out and off this here island. Jesse Jay's got eyes and ears everywhere, and, if ya'll ain't careful, ya'll'll get jumped before 'igh noon gets the chance to roll 'round."

 I reached into my pocket and pulled out some Berry for the bartender as a courtesy for the information, as I told them, "Thanks, but I'm sure we can take care of ourselves. We'll worry about the aftermath after taking him in."

 The high-bounty was still watching us with a smirk, so I gave a taunting wink back. He gave a snicker and gestured towards an empty chair at his table. I looked to Wynter and Felix, who had both noticed what was going on and were glaring, and said to them, "Why don't you two go ahead and ask some of the patrons what they know about Jesse Jay? I'll start by asking our friend over there."

 "Are you serious," Felix asked, sounding almost offended for some reason. Wynter, for once, nodded in agreement with Felix. "You want us to question others while you go and ask the guy that's been ogling you over this whole time?"

 "Yeah, because he looks like he has something to say," I told them with a confident grin. "It's not like you guys are leaving the room. Nothing will happen, but if it were, you'd know immediately. Now, trust your captain ang get to work!"

 The two grumbled in protest for a moment, but agreed as they went to individual tables to start asking questions. They kept their eyes on me, though, as I made my way to Trafalgar's table. The crew he had brought had been laughing at a joke one of them had said, but stopped as soon as I took the empty seat. The two in white went a little red in the face and looked like they wanted to throw a pickup line or two my way, but Law shook his head towards them. "Not the time," Water Law told them, then turned to me with a casual smile. "So, it sounded like you were interested in some local, smaller bounties. Safe to assume you're a bounty hunter, then?"

 I leaned back in the wooden chair and crossed one leg over the other, trying to look as least provocative as possible. "I guess you could say that," I said with a shrug. "Gotta earn some Berry somehow."

 Water Law placed his elbows on the table and folded his hands together while leaning his chin on top. "If you knew about the lower bounties, then you must know who I am, no," he asked as he raised an eyebrow. "There was a spark of recognition in your eye earlier when you looked our way. Yet, you didn't ask the bartender for information on us. Why not?"

 I realized that I was being gauged. Water Law was trying to see if I was a threat to him and his crew, or if they could continue what they were doing before my crew arrived to the island. "Don't worry, you're not on our list... for now," I told him as I put a hand up in defense. 

 I explained our bounty hunting style and why we were not targeting him. This caused him to start laughing. "You're telling me you aren't gunning for my bounty, only because you don't know anything about me," he recapped with a snicker at the end. "You're a strange one, you know that?"

 "Heh, if you think I'm strange, you should meet my youngest brother. He'd leave you questioning, more than anyone you've ever met. I'm still trying to figure him out," I joked. "Anyhow, it seems like the locals don't mind your presence, so that means you aren't a havoc to this island like Jesse Jay, at least. Just the mention of him put us at gun point, while you're just having a casual drink amongst them. So, do you have anything on him, Trafalgar?"

 Water Law leaned back, becoming more at ease. "It's Law," he corrected with a grin. "And sorry, I don't think I have anything that you probably don't already know. I only know that he's at the top of the lawless system here and his group gives everyone hell here. You probably saw the henchmen on the way here. Fellows in the red vests. They have a solid communications system, so you can expect the man himself to come see who's investigating him in... three, two, one..."

 As if on cue, the parlor doors swung open violently as a slender man and a few others made their way into the bar. The front man's hair was slicked back underneath a bowler hat and he had a bit of stubble on his chin. He had a more decorative red vest with the pistols on the back, meaning he was of higher rank. This was the guy we were looking for, for sure. All of the local patrons drew their guns towards Jesse Jay, but the gang of lackies he brought with him easily shot the guns out of their hands.

 "Now, who here's askin' 'bout lil' ol' me," he asked as he scanned the room. His eyes landed on the table that we were sitting at. He began to mosey on over to our table and leaned in close to my face. His breath smelled of whiskey and chew, a combination I was not to fond of. "Say, darlin', you wouldn't happen to be the missy askin' for me, would ya? Well, ya got my attention. What kind of a good time you lookin' for? Food? Money? Or... something a little more intimate?"

 Jesse attempted to take a hold of my chin, however, I swatted away his hand before he could even touch me. Law sat back and watched what was about to happen. He was intrigued to see what I planned. "Nothing like that," I told Jesse as I stared him down. "I'm just here for your bounty."

 Eyes widened at my bluntness. Felix gave a sigh as he and Wynter started to make their way over, but a lackies that followed him in pointed pistols at them, as well as at Law's small group. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," Jesse went as he wagged his finger. "What a shame, I guess yer all looks and no brain. Ya'll dare come into my town and start makin' threats? Ya'll really ain't the smartest, huh?"

 I saw Law give a sigh, having gotten dragged into this mess. I rolled my eyes as Law pushed the gun out of his face with two fingers and I retorted, "Hey, now, at least I can tell who is part of your little group. I don't even know these guys."

 "Well, alrighty then," Jesse stated as he tilted his head towards me. Let's see how much of a smart mouth ya got after yer leaving fulla holes."

 The lackies turned to me and pointed their guns my way. None of their guns nor ammo indicated being sea stone related. Wynter wanted to murder every person here, but I shook my head to stop him. I scanned directly behind me and saw no one was sitting there. Perfect. Everyone stood where they were, not moving an inch. Jesse was grinning, waiting to see some sort of reaction from me. I looked from thug to thug and asked with a cocky smirk, "Well? I'm pretty sure I still have the same number of holes, and I'm about to leave with your boss in ropes."

 Jesse's face turned red, and steam could almost be seen coming out of his ears. "I was gonna give ya chance to beg for yer life, but yer arrogance has changed my mind. Men," Jesse glared as the thugs put their fingers on the trigger. "Fire at will."

 As soon as the words left his mouth, the thugs let loose. Law and everyone else ducked out of the way, while I just sat there. Bullets whizzed by and through me and into the wall behind me. I gave a yawn to show my disinterest in what was happening and looked lazily towards the horrified shooters. Jesse grumbled and cursed as he pulled out his ridiculously oversized handgun. He held it at point-blank to my forehead and threw a string of profanities at me, before pulling the trigger. Just like all of the other bullets, it fazed right through me and through the wall behind me. I raised an eyebrow and slyly taunted, "Are you finished? Is that all you got? If so... my turn."

 I swiftly stood up and kicked up my chair. While it was in the air, I grabbed it and whacked the boss across the face with it. As the chair splintered into pieces, I used my ability to send the pieces at the goons. It erupted into chaos as the patrons scrambled out of the building and the wood pieces lodged into the goons. Wynter and Felix would stop any of the thugs from trying to flee, while I walloped on the ones still trying to shoot at me. I would use the air around me to catch some of the bullets, and I would send them right back at the shooters' knees to immobilize them. Some gave up on bullets and resorted to trying to come at me with bottles that got broken in the skirmish, but they went right through me, as well.

 Getting irritated at this point, I started to whirl the air around my fists and forearms to create my twister gauntlets. I have been improving them over time and they are now razor sharp around the outside. I used these gauntlets to box my way through the remaining thugs, knocking them out as I went and cutting them up in the process. 

   "Hold it right there," I heard Jesse demand behind me.

   Looking back, I saw that he had gotten up and was now holding the bartender hostage. I rolled my eyes and asked, "What are you doing? That's a local, so I don't know them either."

   "No, but are ya willin' to let an innocent die," Jesse threatened with a devious smirk. "It seemed like ya could have killed any of us here if ya wanted, yet ya decided to only incapacitate and immobilize all of my men and me. Now, yer gonna march right outside, get back on whatever boat ya came in on, and never return to this here island. If I see yer face 'round here again, I'll make sure to shoot every person in this town." 

   At some point while Jesse was monologuing, the air around us seemed to change. I couldn't explain it, other than it felt like I had less control of my environment. I was keeping an eye on the pistol Jesse had to the bartender's head the whole time, but when I blinked, it somehow got replaced with a banana? I took this opportunity to send a blast of air at Jesse, sending him away from the hostage.

   The bartender ran out of the saloon as I went and stood over Jesse. I glared down at him and watched his breathing pattern. "You know, you're right," I started to tell him as I was watching for an inhale. "I could have killed you all, but I didn't. I don't believe in killing unless I deem it as necessary. However, that doesn't mean I'm against excessive force..."

   As I saw him starting to breathe in, I extended my hand towards him. Focusing on the air that was going into him, I forcefully pulled it right back out. This caused temporary paralysis of the diaphragm, feeling as though he had the air knocked out of him. He was trying to gasp for any air he could get into his lung, but I did not allow him. I had used another trick to manipulated the oxygen molecules around him and moved them away from him. I referred to these two techniques as "Breath Stealer" and "Deoxygenation." 

   Here are some fun fact about oxygen and the brain: After about 30-180 seconds without oxygen to the brain, the average person will lose consciousness. After about a minute without oxygen, brain cells will begin to die. After three minutes, brain damage can start to occur as neurons start to experience severe damage. Death starts to become more of a possibility once one reaches five minutes. If the brain is still alive after ten minutes, lasting brain damage and a coma are almost inevitable. Then, after 15 minutes, survival is almost impossible. These statistics are all based on average people without any kind of breath training or supernatural abilities like devil fruits or species abilities.

   Since Mr. Jesse was a part of the statistical population, he scratched and gurgled, trying to get anything into his lungs for about a minute and a half. After that time passed, his eyes rolled back into his head as he slumped to the ground. Once he was out, I released all control of the air around him that I had and slumped into a chair near me. Wynter and Felix had been tying all of the lackies up with rope and they came over once they had finished. Felix had started tying up Jesse while Wynter whistled as if impressed. "Hey, Cap'," Wynter started to ask as he stood next to me, "why don't you use your powers like you did now more often?"

   "Because it takes too much time," I started to explain. "When targeting specific people, I have to know about the air around them. For instance, with Breath Stealer, I have to know when the person is breathing in to make it more effective. I prefer not to get that close to enemies. As for Deoxygenation, I can only affect a small area of about five by five feet. Not that great to use when there are multiple enemies."

   "Fair," Law stated, as he came over from where he had been taking cover. "Though, I'll be honest, I was surprised by how strong you were. I thought you just weren't targeting higher bounties because you knew your limits, but I guess you were telling the truth earlier."

   "Eh, I know when to back down," I told him with a shrug. "After all, you were the one that took away his gun, no?"

   Law gave a smirk. "Who knows," he said with a shrug back.

   As Felix had finished tying up the boss, two of the islands' Marines came barging through the door. "We heard that someone took down the Jesse Gang," the superior stated.

   I gave a nod as I used my ability to lift all of the gang underlings up and through them into a pile for the Marines. "Yup," I told them as Wynter picked Jesse up and threw him over his broad shoulder. "Feel free to do whatever you want with the small fries. We'll be taking Jesse to the nearest Marine island for the bounty."

   The Marines thanked us for our work, I bade Law a farewell and told him that we'd meet again somewhere on the Grand Line, and my group headed back to the Zephyr. When we got there, River's group had apprehended the lower bounties, as well. We sailed off to the nearest Marine island to cash in the bounties, and off we went again. I wondered... how was Ace doing?