𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ➳ 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 (one piece fanfic)

Chapter 13

Her gloved fingers tapped frantically against her desk as she thought back about the new marine recruit that managed to make himself noticed the very first day, Nanko, already nicknamed 'Grinning Devil' by his peers.

When a knock finally resounded throughout the room, she looked up and allowed the entrance of the one she had called for, a man in charge of the archives.

"Good evening Officer Tsuru," the marine stated as his hand went up in the usual greeting, his posture oozing with a deep respect for the famous woman. "What can I do for you?"

"Get me everything you can about our new recruit, Nanko."

"I'm on it!" he replied, bowing once again before leaving after quietly closing the door, leaving Tsuru to her thoughts.

After a good hour, the archive guardian came in, this time with a single piece of paper – far too thin to be what she thought it was...

"I searched through every file, be it pirate ones or from the Revolutionary army, I even went through the restricted files and I found only that," he said, his eyes fixed on the floor, a hint of shame shining through his voice as he put the piece of paper on her desk under her narrowed eyes.

"There can only be two reasons, one, he truly is an orphan and as his file says, has lived most of his life in the streets." He glanced up to see Tsuru frown. "Two, someone erased his file."

She kept her silence, pondering upon the matter. "You can leave," she finally waved him off, her eyes already skimming through the paper which contained the bare minimum of information – most of which she already knew. Nanko, 25, katana-wielder, an orphan.

Though one information stood out to her. 'Reason to join the marine: kill bad people.' She openly snorted, not being able to link the naive child-like reason with the bloodthirsty man she had seen the same afternoon, it was a blatant lie, he didn't even bother with coming up with a proper reason. She would have to keep an eye on him, as not just anybody knew Armament Haki but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt as twisted characters such as his weren't so rare in the marine that despite its pristine reputation held its fair share of psychos.

While she was lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the black butterfly flying outside her window, fluttering around in an almost mocking manner.

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In the empty court, underneath the sole tree, Nanko could be seen, eyes closed, swinging his black katana around, cutting leaves in halves. When he finally opened his eyes after perceiving a presence near, his trade-mark grin already on, he turned to greet the middle-aged woman observing him. "Good morning, Tsuru."

"You're early," she probed with a faint smile, nodding toward the barely visible sun getting up.

"A habit," he replied with equal ease. Konan rarely slept well, her guard was always up, not wanting an enemy to sneak up on her and slit her throat, as such, sleeping in was something she hadn't done since she was a little child.

"I see..." Tsuru trailed off, looking down to see the cleanly cut leaves, before pointing toward his katana, "Does it have a name?"

Nanko tilted his head, pondering for a bit before answering with a smirk, "Kejo."

"Good name," she commented drily before turning around and leaving, remaining unaware of the mischievous smile hanging on Nanko's lips. What a joke, and quite literally...

Konan continued training using Kejo, she had only recently started using a sword as Nanko's main weapon to cover the tracks, it allowed her to have completely different fighting styles between her personas. Like that, even if she fought the same person with different ones of her identities, there were less chances of being recognized.

Konan was proficient in kunais, and small weapons but she rarely ever used katanas as they weren't suitable for assassinations. Fortunately, the fact that her katana was made entirely of her papers helped her feel more comfortable wielding it.

With her senses heightened to their maximums, she couldn't help but jump when a shrill alarm broke her concentration, signaling the start of the day for the Marine. Before long, she could hear the heavy and numerous steps of the other trainees head in her direction, so she could only sigh before sheathing her blade back and plopping down on the dirty ground, surrounded by cut leaves.

"Wow, the Grinning Devil is already here..." "Tss look at the leaves, what a monster..." "Shh, he'll hear you!"

Inwardly shaking her head, Nanko only smirked at them, his canines glinting dangerously under the light of the sun.

He smilingly picked up a leaf and pulling his hand back threw it with deadly accuracy, his smirk widening when he saw the trail of blood fall from the superficial cut on the person's neck. "Spot on," he mumbled with an innocent grin that made the people near him take a few steps away.

With nor the time nor the will to befriend anyone there, Konan chose a fear-induced respect.

Nanko closed his eyes to recline against the tree's trunk, keeping his senses alerted, frowning slightly when he picked on a far too familiar aura coming close, together with Tsuru.

When the presence got nearer, he opened his eyes to see lo-and-behold, his favorite marine... Garp!

Konan only hoped he would be oblivious enough not to link Nanko with Ko, she didn't know if his Haki would pick up and recognize her aura as hers could. After all, it was only because she mixed her chakra-detection with her Observation Haki. With that thought, an idea came to her mind, maybe she could cloak her aura as one did with Chakra.

Not having enough time to ponder heavily on the chances of success, she immediately covered her aura, manipulating her Chakra to hide her Chakra-signature, hoping it would have the same effect.

Nanko watched with heated breathes as Garp stopped in his track, tilting his head to look around before shaking his head as if to dismiss the idea. It was successful, he thought, as he unclenched his fist, heaving a sigh of relief when he saw Garp go away without so much as a glance in his direction.

With this out of mind, Nanko's smirk widened.

After Tsuru arrived in front of the recruits, she explained what they would do.

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My country is back on lockdown but nothing changes for me, students still go to school normally... i don't know whether to cry or laugh.