𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ➳ 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 (one piece fanfic)

Chapter 2

His loud steps did nothing to hide his presence, not like she couldn't sense his massive aura radiating from miles away. Stopping before a wooden door, in the dark, secluded alley, he punched through it, announcing his presence with a loud bang, "you're hard to find, Ko."

"For marines, yes," she answered with a smile as she looked up from her book, her gaze wandering down his white attire before settling on his blinding grin, "to what do I owe the honor, Hero of the Marines?"

"I'm here for you!" he shouted, his voice booming through the dark room.

"As are all those that come here," she replied calmly, not fazed by his radiating pressure.

Avoiding his haki-covered punch, she side-stepped to the opposite corner of the room, sending a glance to the crater where she once sat before closing her book "I liked that chair..."

"For selling illegal information about the Marine, I have to arrest you."

"Unfortunately, I can't let that happen," she replied smilingly before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving behind her book. Ko didn't use paper clones, they were too recognizable. She couldn't let anyone link Ko with the Paper Angel Konan.

In the forest of another island, Konan frowned at the rush of information. Ko was targeted by the marines, she would have to lay low for a while. She guessed they didn't like her sharing the blueprint of their headquarters to pirates. Well, they paid her well.

Walking down the dirt lane, she soon arrived in a peaceful village, Foosha village, where the grandson of the Hero of the Marines currently resides.

Responding easily to the villager's warm smile, Konan walked to the easiest place to gather pieces of information, a bar, namely the 'Partys Bar'.

Heading to a corner of the bar, she spared a glance to judge the clients' level, her gaze not lingering too long until she saw a little boy at the counter, eating an unreasonable amount of meat for his age.

"Good morning, what can I get you?"

Konan observed the green-haired woman, Makino, before speaking, "What do you recommend?"

"This week's menu is braised pork," the waitress cheerfully answered.

"I'll take that then."

"I'll be right back!"

As she ate her food, she was made dully aware by one of her butterfly of the arrival of Red-Haired Shanks at the dock, she already knew they were seen around the area, she didn't expect to see them that soon.

Just as she prepared to leave to avoid them, a hand grabbed her coat.

"Can you help me hide? Pretty please?" the small voice came from Garp's grandson, the one and only, Luffy.

Stifling a laugh at his attempted pout, she nodded and opened her coat, allowing him to hide beneath it, pressed against her legs.

Shortly after, the door opened with a bang and a shout, "Luffy! Come here!" Looking up, Konan let out a laugh when she saw the emblematic crimson-hair turned pink. When her gaze met his, she nodded smilingly, raising a brow as he immediately headed in her direction, his eyes directed toward her leg area. Haki. An interesting concept she had yet to research upon.

Leaning down, she whispered to the little daredevil hiding beneath her coat, "he found you." As her words fell in his ears, Luffy came out sheepishly, and stood behind Konan's back, hiding from the angry gaze of Shanks.

"It's not permanent," he mumbled before screeching as a heavy hand landed on his shoulder and dragged him away from his hiding spot. He flailed uselessly before sending a pitiful look her way, one that made her laugh at his betrayed look.

"Makino, don't give him meat for the rest of the week!" At her nod, Luffy let out a painful scream while his soul came out of his body.

Konan couldn't help but comment, "We're Sunday..." As her words registered, an ear-splitting grin appeared on his face while Shanks turned to his crew to confirm, and when he saw them already laughing their ass off on the floor, he cursed.

"Thanks, pretty lady!" he jumped up happily before sitting on the seat opposite hers.

"Konan," she introduced herself, ignoring the way some pirates tensed at the name, hands reaching for their weapons. Her bounty had grown to 30,000,000 without her doing anything but avoid Marines, and defend herself when attacked.

"I'm Luffy!"

"Glad to meet you, want some meat?" when she saw the way his eyes shone, she knew she guessed right. When she looked at him, his image overlapped with a childhood friend of hers, an orange-haired idiot with the same ear-splitting grin. Maybe that was why she didn't kill him on sight or take him hostage against his grandfather.

Seeing him heatedly nod, she pushed her unfinished plate his way, watching with amusement as he gobbled it down, his eyes darting to the pink-haired pirate behind him with a hint of fear.

"Where are you from?" he asked, food jumping from his open mouth.

"Somewhere far away and you?" she answered, ignoring the peeping ears of the pirates around her.

"I don't know, here I think?" he tilted his head to the side while scratching his head before continuing his questioning. "Are you a pirate, like Shanks?"

"I guess I could be considered one."

Ignoring her bizarre answer, he stopped eating to shout "I'm going to be one too!" before continuing his food, dutifully putting aside the vegetables to eat the meat.

"If you want to grow up strong, you have to eat the vegetables too," she remarked with a hint of a smile as she pushed the vegetables back to the center of his plate with her fork.

"Ugh," he stared at them like they were the devils' pawn, sending her one farewell look before putting them all in one go in his mouth and chewing with disgust.

"Good." She patted his ruffled black hair, a gentle smile appearing when she felt him lean in her touch. She liked the child more than his grandfather... lucky for him... after all, originally, she didn't come here just to drink...

The next day, she sat at the same table, and like before, she chatted with the black-haired child.

"How strong are you Na-chan?" he hadn't taken long to give her a nickname. When he first proposed Ko-chan, she immediately refused, feeling all the gazes on her at the name. Ko was too famous.

"Not much..." A few snorted at her answer, all the 'Red Hair Pirates' were there drinking while supervising her and Luffy. And they all knew that a 30,000,000 Beri pirate usually didn't survive past a year alone. And she did, easily so.

"It's okay, I'll protect you!" he exclaimed bravely, head held up proudly, fist against his heart, earning quite a few laughs from the veteran pirates around.

"I'm counting on you then," she replied with a grin, patting his small head. At her positive answer, he ran around the table and jumped on her lap to give her a hug, And she found that despite the humongous amount of meat he ate daily, he didn't weigh much.