The Devil's Child (a One Piece fanfiction)

Seagulls

G-5

Near the entrance to the New World

She walked towards his office, the only quiet place in the ship where no one else dared to go near unless it was to report regarding the matter of life and death. She fidgeted on the hilt of her katana, a nervous gesture. She sighed. It's now or never, she thought. She rapped on the door twice, then stepped back to hear his reply.

"Who's there?" a gruff male voice inquired, his voice slightly muffled by the wooden door.

"Sir, it's me" came her soft reply.

"Come in"

She turned the door knob, opening the door wide enough for her to slip inside where she was greeted with wisps of smoke. The captain was sitting on his desk, a stack of papers littered across his desk.

"What do you want?" he asked, eyes not leaving the paper he was working on.

"Smoker-san, are we really setting course to Punk Hazard?" the blue-haired righthand man, or woman rather, tentatively asked the silver haired captain.

Smoker took a whiff from his cigar, then blew up some rings of smoke. "Tashigi, I thought it was clear that we were hunting down the Strawhats? I'm sure you heard the entire conversation on the distress call." Smoker replied.

Tashigi furrowed her brows in anxiety, not knowing how the captain would react to her next statement. "Fleet Admiral Akainu-san gave us a mission before that distress call from Punk Hazard. I think you should reconsider our priorities, sir." she reasoned. She has to be found immediately! That mission should have been our priority!, she thought.

Smoker froze, his hand still clutching a pen that was halfway from touching the paper. He sighed, dropped the pen to his desk, then turned to face Tashigi. She's been tense about that mission ever since, he thought. He stared at his subordinate for a moment, thinking on how to explain to her everything without revealing his true intentions on diverting from the original mission. Then he sighed in defeat. I guess I'll just have to explain everything to my most trusted subordinate, he thought.

"We're still on the mission of hunting Tenshi down" he spoke.

A puzzled look came across Tashigi's face. "Eh? Then why aren't we investigating the last island she was sighted in?"

"Tenshi can travel through sky walk. She can skip islands. It was months ago when she was sighted. She probably is on another distant island right now. But based on the pattern of her movements, I'd say she's heading to Mariejois, which isn't the case right now. Do you know which island in the New World is closest to Mariejois?" he searched his subordinate's eyes for any signs of understanding.

Her eyes lit up in shock and realization. "Punk Hazard"

Smoker nodded in confirmation. I thought I wasn't the only one who noticed her travelling patterns, he thought.

"But sir, we'll be engaging in battle with the Strawhats, who has quite a reputation. How can we capture both the Strawhats and Tenshi at the same time?" she asked. She was confused as to why her captain seemed to be so sure about being able to catch Tenshi, when Tenshi was proven to be unbeatable in any forms of combat. Plus, Smoker was a Devil Fruit user, which was a disadvantage since Tenshi was practically a breathing kairouseki soldier.

"Vegapunk told me that the drug Ceasar had secretly injected her still hadn't finished its radioactive decay, which means she's still having what she calls her 'relapses'. She's immobilized when undergoing one." he rummaged though his papers, looking for the report on Tenshi's vitals. "Tenshi's relapses intensifies when she is near something or somewhere that she has had memories with" he quoted from the report that he was now passing to Tashigi.