𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ➳ 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 (one piece fanfic)

Chapter 1

She materialized in a dark alley, a few meters away from a bustling road. Walking out in her usual coat, she took in the busy market. She followed her sense of smell to a lonely stand which sold, pink clouds? Curiously standing to the side, Konan stared at the fluffy-looking clouds with hunger evident in her amber-colored eyes. Her risible cooking skills made it so for the last 5 years, she ate only burnt meat and fish. So she was quite in desperate need for change, the only problem being, she had no money. Sighing deeply, she forced herself to turn, only to be called back by a feminine voice.

"Wait! I saw you were interested in the cotton candy I sell," the seller stared at her attire before nodding to herself.

"... I don't have any money," Konan replied carefully.

When she saw Konan turn around to leave the girl immediately jumped around her stand to stand before Konan. "I can hire you! My parents own a restaurant and recently it's been busy, we could do with extra hands."

Konan silently stared at the pink-haired girl before pointedly looking at her stand, seemingly saying 'why are you here then?'.

When she saw her gaze, the girl immediately justified herself while waving her hands in the air "I'm trying to make some pocket money... and it's closed today."

"Okay, when do I start?" She did need some money. From the information her butterflies had gathered while she was training, the most efficient way to make money in this world was by fighting, either as a pirate or as a pirate hunter, but she didn't want to be spotted by the marine, she was better made for the shadows. Being a marine did cross her mind but she didn't want to be bound by this 'absolute justice' of theirs.

She slept in a room the girl – named Kay – lent her for the duration of her work. Kay's parents easily accepted her with a bit of insistence from Kay, and after checking the bounties, to not find her on them. Civilians, she learned, were wary of pirates by nature.

The next day, they lent her a simple black suit along with black trousers which 'fit her to perfection' according to Kay. Taking orders and handing out bills, she found the job quite easy, as long as she ignored the obvious lust-filled gazes or the dirty jokes sent her way. She wasn't used to this, usually, with her name only, people cowered in fear, here it wasn't the case, they only knew her as the young, weak, civilian waitress.

She stayed in Kay's restaurant for a month, before an accident happened.

Konan was out to look for ingredients that had run out in the restaurant.

Bursting through the doors of the restaurant, a dozen marines came, lead by a lieutenant – according to the color of his uniform – demanding to be served. Immediately, the rest of the clients fled, none wanting to offend a marine lieutenant.

"You! Come here." He commended as he pointed toward Kay. With trembling steps, she executed, her head held low. When his wrinkled hand fell on her butt, tears started falling freely while his hands wandered her body, her 12-years-old body. Under the laughter of the rest of the marines, she was molested, despite the desperate begging of her parents that were kneeling and powerless to stop the cries of their child.

His hands stopped on her inner thighs when they all felt the air drop frigidly. A heavy silence settled in as all heads turned to the entrance where an emotionless Konan stood, her groceries long forgotten on the ground. Kay felt a ray of hope when she saw her friend. One which soon turned into despair when she saw the marines uniform of her assailants.

A paper materialized in Konan's hand and as she threw it in the lieutenant's direction, their laughter died down when they saw the single sheet of paper cleanly cut through his wrists. As they fell in a dull thud, it finally registered in their minds. The lieutenant let out a painful scream before he fainted.

As all soldiers took out their weapons, they rushed to kill the opponent. However, no matter how much strength they put into their blades, she easily evaded their attacks, twirling between their blades and cutting their throats with equal ease, like she had done this a thousand times, and she had.

A bloodbath. That's what Kay saw. An angel dancing with death. Gone was the image of an innocent Konan that loved cotton candy. The Konan she saw was covered in blood and parts of her enemies, she was butchering them, with an impassible face. Like killing didn't mean anything to her. Kay couldn't help but think about all the times she joked around with a murderer, a merciless killer.

When the last marine soldier fell down on top of his comrade, Konan turned to face the family of three in all her bloody glory. Walking past their trembling figures, and ignoring their visible flinch, she went to her room and retrieved her stuff. As she stood at the restaurant's entrance, she finally saw the witnesses that had gathered in each corner of the streets, some faces she recognized as her clients, former clients. Pushing the bile down her throat, with her carefully polished mask, she turned around to face the family once again.

"I'm sorry, goodbye," and with those words, white wings appeared from her back and she flew away, blood still dripping from her winged body making for a sinister picture of a bloodied angel.

Jumping down when she arrived in a deserted area, Konan looked at her blood-covered hands. She couldn't escape this life it seemed.

Putting her stuff on the ground, she washed herself in the river, washing away all the fresh blood from herself.

The next day, when she looked at the journal, she found her face plastered on a Wanted Poster under the ridiculous name of Paper Angel. Her bounty was 10,000,000 Beri. 'Low enough for people to underestimate her', she immediately thought and she would keep it that way.

It was time to put the information her butterflies had gathered to good use. Gathering information had always been her thing, it came as easily as breathing for her.

Becoming an informant was easier than she thought. Under the name Ko, she gained popularity for her reliable pieces of information and her widespread network, even if nobody knew how she obtained said-information, as long as they paid good money, they could obtain any pieces of information, from the location of a missing pirate to the latest movement in the government, she had eyes everywhere. Of course, she used a henge when dealing with her clients, along with a silver mask, her signature trade-mark.