In a town under pirate attack, I found myself battling two of them. I was stalling these two to buy time for a woman and her child, who had been here moments ago, to escape to safety outside the town. Of course, if I could, I'd take them down outright.
At first, the pirates treated me like some foolish, reckless kid. But when I launched a relentless, serious assault, narrowly dodging their blows aimed for my vitals, they realized I was genuinely trying to kill them. That's when they drew their swords and fought back in earnest.
Damn, I should have finished one of them off while they were still underestimating me...
"Damn brat! You're getting on my nerves!"
"Just stand still, or I'll fucking kill you!"
Dodging and deflecting the pirates' wild saber swings with careful footwork, I fought cautiously.
I'd managed to take down the first one because he'd underestimated me, seeing me as just a child. His carelessness had been his downfall, allowing me to finish him with a single strike.
But now that they were on their guard, breaking through their defenses would be much harder.
And facing two opponents simultaneously... Just avoiding a surprise counterattack was all I could manage.
They're weaker and slower than the Kuja warriors, but they're still strong, and dealing with two at once is rough... Besides, I need to escape quickly before the other pirates...
I fought to suppress my rising panic with reason, calmly observing the enemy's sword trajectories. Seizing the moment when their swings left them exposed, I lunged forward with my blade.
But they quickly repositioned their swords, blocking my attack with a hasty parry.
Blades clashed with a grating
giinng!
The parry was expected. I quickly retracted my sword, adjusted my stance, and switched to a thrust.
The pirate seemed surprised by my unexpected resistance, but his shock quickly turned to anger. He swung his sword in a wide, sweeping arc, aiming to knock me off my feet.
I ducked low to avoid the blow, then swung my sword in a low arc.
I'd learned in training that people react slower to attacks from below than to strikes at eye level or from above. I'd use my small size to my advantage.
My target... his legs!
My blade struck true, slicing into the leg of one of the pirates.
"Gwaaah!?"
"Tch! This little brat!"
The other pirate, enraged by his comrade's injury, raised his saber high and swung down with murderous intent.
I'd anticipated that.
A half-step to the side was all it took to evade his swing, leaving him wide open. I reset my stance and thrust my sword... straight for his throat.
Thud!
But my aim was slightly off, or perhaps the pirate had twisted away at the last moment. Instead of his throat, my sword plunged into his shoulder.
His face contorted in agony, but fury burned brighter than the pain.
"Grr...!"
His menacing glare, radiating raw anger and murderous intent, made me flinch involuntarily.
To make matters worse, I tried to leap back and create distance, but my sword wouldn't budge from his shoulder. I was trapped.
Had I struck at a bad angle? Or had the pirate tensed his muscles to lock the blade in place?
I should have dropped my sword and created some distance right then and there.
But I hesitated to abandon my weapon, reluctant to leave myself defenseless. Instead, I stubbornly tried to wrench the sword free...
As a result, I didn't notice the other pirate, the one I'd slashed moments ago, had already closed the distance.
"You little brat!"
"Gah—ah!?"
By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late.
With a sickening thud, the pirate's toe slammed into my solar plexus... my body shot away like a soccer ball, kicked with brutal force.
I crashed to the ground and rolled. Pain seared through me—both from the kick and from the impact with the ground.
Worse, the kick to my solar plexus stole my breath, making it impossible to breathe properly.
The force of the blow had knocked the sword from my hand, leaving me defenseless in the worst possible way.
Honestly, I was barely holding it together from the pain. Even if I'd kept the sword, I doubt it would have made any difference.
"Hey, you alright, partner?"
"Ouch... yeah, I'm fine. What about your leg?"
"It's nothing, just a little stiff. Tch, that brat... cheeky enough to bite me. Should've killed him."
The two pirates slowly approached. My eyes were squeezed shut from the pain, but I could hear their footsteps.
Gotta run... gotta run or I'm dead! Move, damn it, move!
I tried to crawl away, desperately pushing with my arms and legs, but they barely moved.
Then I realized something strange: the pirates weren't attacking. In fact, I couldn't even hear their footsteps anymore.
Confused, I finally managed to sit up as the pain subsided. The two pirates I'd been fighting weren't looking at me; their eyes were fixed on something behind me.
I turned around to see a bald giant standing there, easily over three meters tall. His villainous face was twisted into an angry scowl as he glared down at me. The sheer intimidation made my throat let out a weird squeak.
"Hey, what the hell are you two doing playing around with this brat?"
"S-sorry, Captain... This kid's tougher than we thought. She gave us a real hard time..."
"W-we'll tie her up right now!"
It was clear the pirates were just as terrified of this man—their captain, apparently—as I was. They scrambled to capture me, desperate not to anger him.
But now, while the two pirates were still shaken, this was my last chance. The woman and child had already escaped, so it shouldn't matter if I ran too.
Forcing my stiff body and sluggish lungs into motion, I pushed myself to my feet and bolted.
I needed to get away from both the pirates and their "Captain." My target was the entrance to a narrow alleyway deeper in this backstreet.
The alley was so cramped that even a child could barely squeeze through. An average-sized adult would have trouble passing through alone, let alone a burly pirate. There was no way they could follow me in there.
I ignored their shouts of "Hey, wait!" from behind and kept running. If I could just reach that alley, I could escape. Desperate, I ran...
But then, in the next instant...
BANG!
"Gah... h-uh...!?!"
Something slammed into my side with incredible force, hitting my ribs dead-on and sending me flying sideways.
The impact doubled me over, and I skidded across the ground.
My ribs screamed in agony, and it felt like all the air had been knocked out of my lungs. I couldn't breathe properly... It hurt too much to move.
What the hell just happened? I struggled to catch my breath, barely managing to move my eyes to see... and the answer was immediately clear.
The pirate captain. He looked completely different than before.
His entire body was covered in thick fur, and he'd doubled in size. The teeth jutting from his mouth were as sharp as a wild beast's fangs, and his face no longer resembled a human's.
This form... a gorilla? No, this is clearly...
"He's done it! Captain's 'Ape-Ape Fruit, Model: Mountain Gorilla'!"
"As always, so huge yet so fast and strong..."
Damn it... it's definitely a Zoan-type Devil Fruit...
Captain had transformed into a massive gorilla, and the way he casually flicked his arm—more like swatting away an insect than delivering a blow—told me everything. That single strike must have sent me flying.
"Gah... Hah... Ugh...!"
To make matters worse, I was so focused on the pain in my stomach that I hadn't even noticed hitting my head when I crashed to the ground. Now, a sharp pain shot through my skull, and my consciousness began to fade.
My strength still hadn't returned, and the darkness before my eyes deepened.
"Hmph, struggling with this brat? Pathetic."
"Sorry, Captain. She's quicker than we thought."
"Enough. Just haul her away. She looks decent enough—we can sell her for a good price."
"After that, quickly gather the valuables from this town."
"Understood!"
I could hear the pirates talking, but their words didn't register. It was as if the sounds were there, but my mind couldn't grasp them.
The last thing I felt was a strange sensation around my neck, like someone was grabbing me by the scruff and lifting me. Then, my consciousness sank completely into the darkness.
To be continued...