Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Snow looked at the destroyed rooftop above him. The hole widened with each moment as more and more tiles fell on him and around him. He could hear the pillars supporting the house creak and the walls bent little by little. Next to him, Law coughed up the dust that entered his lungs. Getting up, Snow dusted off his cloak and picked up his umbrella.

"I told you not to stir around so much," Snow helped Law get on his feet.

"You let me go," Law replied like it was Snow's fault.

"I didn't mean to," Snow said in his defense. "Something hit me."

Snow looked around his body and quickly found a crushed seagull in his cloak. He had to remember that while flying at the highest speed he could, he had to be careful not to hit anything, especially when he was carrying someone else with his talons. That seagull fucked him up quite badly by flying into his eyes. He completely lost control in surprise and accidentally dropped Law. Well, it was his fault that he panicked and tried to hold on to Snow's talons forcefully.

"I am leaving. You deal with the damage," Law said after regaining his footing. "Meet me at the coast in three hours."

And just like that, Law teleported himself out. Snow heard countless screams and shouting. Then he heard the familiar footsteps of Marines marching in his location. Snow wasn't in the mood for a fight as his vision still spun around. He looked over around him. It didn't seem like he would be able to sneak out of the house unnoticed.

"And rather than thank me, he runs off. Ungrateful bastard."

Cracking his neck and stretching his arms, Snow jumped out of the house through the same hole he fell through. In the air, he turned his arms into wings, legs into talons, and head into a beak. As expected, the whole building was surrounded by Marines as Snow soared into the sky. As much as he wanted to play with them, he decided not to cause too much chaos this time.

Yet it seemed he was the only one who thought so. Just as he spread his wings, he was shot relentlessly by the Marines. It mattered little to Snow as the bullets bounced off him, but a sword slash didn't. Snow didn't even notice as he was brought down to the ground again. He looked at his chest, where a mark was left on his metallic skin.

"Gravedigger Snow," A soft feminine voice called him out. "You are under arrest for your crimes as a pirate.

"Well, hello there," Snow turned back to his human form as he looked up from the smooth feet and long legs to her exposed thigh with a spider tattoo. "I am Snow, and even in the skies above us, I have never seen an angel as beautiful as you."

Snow quickly blocked another sword slash with his umbrella as it pushed him back. A tall, slender woman with red lipstick, long, curly black hair that was tied back, and a mole on the right side of her face below her mouth scowled at Snow. Her expression was grim as Snow inspected that a scratch was left in his iron umbrella.

"Stop playing around," the woman said, pointing her sword at Snow. "It is your choice whether I bring you down with your head intact or not."

"I am already losing my head as I look at your large brown eyes," Snow smiled and winked at the woman. "As long as I am going down between your legs, I don't care if the rest of my body is intact or not."

"Silence, you pirate scum," Snow found a familiar face, Marine something or another; Chaz stood next to one of the most beautiful women he had ever met; she was as beautiful if not more beautiful than Reiju. And she also possessed a mature charm that Reiju didn't have. "You are talking to Vice Admiral Gion. One of the best swordswomen in Marines."

"You don't need to continue," Snow replied as he put his umbrella on his shoulder. "I am already charmed."

"Kill him," Gion replied to Snow's flirting.

Chaz, probably wanting to impress Gion, rushed first with his sabers. Snow couldn't let his old bearded guy get Gion's recognition. Her eyes should only be set on him, so using all his strength, he swung his umbrella. The sabers broke trying to block Snow's blow, and the ground cracked as Snow crushed Chaz. Looking up, Snow smiled in winked at Gion again.

Her response was to cut Snow's head off. Tilting his head, Snow let the sword pass by him as the wall behind him was cut in half. The attacks didn't stop, though. Her sword was fast and deadly as Snow twisted his body and retreated from her. Gion didn't give Snow time to retaliate at all. Even though Snow could see her attacks, with each one, it became more and more difficult to dodge them, especially when he liked to be close to her.

The speed of her attacks was already troublesome to deal with, but the power of her slash was something else. No bullet or weapon had left any mark on his umbrella, but after blocking only a few slashes from her, Snow saw scratches on his umbrella that got bigger and bigger. Snow could only imagine what would happen to him if he let her hit his body.

Even if he was still a novice when it came to fighting, he still understood what he should do and what he shouldn't. Snow knew that his swings were too wide and slow; before he could even wind up his blow, Gion would cut his arm off. But he also knew that he couldn't stay on the defensive forever, as sooner or later, Gion would find a gap and cut him apart.

He could see her sword, but his body was too slow to react to it. Marines were surrounding him, too, waiting for an order to shoot him. He was pushed further and further into a corner. Even though it wasn't a laughing matter, Snow couldn't help but chuckle. Why were all the most beautiful women in this world so strong? And why were they his enemies?

"Sorry, sweetie," Snow said as he locked his umbrella with her sword, and she wasn't losing in strength either. "But I have no other choice. I will have to use all my power, and if you aren't careful, you will lose."

"Do your worst, pirate," Gion replied, her expression never changing, making Snow like her even more.

"And I really liked your fierce, large, round, and brown eyes. I could look at them for all eternity," Snow blew a kiss at Gion before jumping back. Throwing his umbrella into the air, Snow transformed into his bird form and flew up, catching his weapon with his talons. "This ends now! Goodbye."

Snow flew out, opening his umbrella to block bullets from below him. Flying was kind of overpowered. Even if Gion's sword slashes still could reach him. He was fast and agile enough in the air to dodge them. He really had no choice but to run. That woman was as strong as him, if not stronger, and she was way more skilled than he.

"Damn, it is the second time I am running from a woman," Snow couldn't help be say to himself. "But what can I do when they are so damn scary. At least this one didn't use poison."

As lovely as Gion was, Snow decided to fly as far away as possible from her. He quickly crossed the island before he found a little village on the opposite coast, far away from where the Marines were. There were maybe fifty houses in his village. It was probably nothing but a fishing village, so Snow decided to wait for Law here.

…

"I swear, there wasn't an island where I didn't have to fight," Snow complained to an old waitress at the small dinner as he had some cookies with milk. "By the way, these cookies are amazing. Even though they are soft, they still crumble in my mouth. It would be lovely to have you on my ship as a cook."

"Oh, dear," The waitress hid her smile under her hand. "You too much for this old lady. If only you had come to me thirty years ago, when I was still a young lass wanting to see the world, I would have readily agreed. But If I left now, who would watch over my children? Even if they are all grown up, they still can't cook a meal even if their lives depended on it."

"Too bad, too bad," Snow replied, finishing the crumbs of chocolate cookies. "I will have a dozen boxes to go."

"I am afraid I could only fill up one box of them," The waitress said with a lovely and kind smile. "And I am sorry to hear that you have such a difficult journey. But it is the North Blue. War and fights never leave this sea. The peace and security the World Government promised are still out of our sight."

With a stomach full of sweets, Snow relaxed in his chair. What a lovely place he found. Now, all that was left was to wait for Law to finish finding the log pose and get him. And just like that Snow realized that he had no idea where he would get Law from. He said from the coast, but they were on the island. So, from which coast?

If he flew around the island, he was sure to be discovered quickly. After all, there were only so many big birds with metallic feathers. And he didn't think he should count on his luck to defeat Gion, that woman was too much for him to handle right now. She was way too good with her sword, and her slashes almost cut through his metallic skin.

"Here you go, dear," The waitress and the cook of the diner gave Snow a neatly packaged box of cookies. "Anything else before you go?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Snow took the box and walked out of the dinner. "Hmm, the box feels a bit heavy, and is that ticking I am hearing?"

Putting the box to his ear, he realized that he was right. He heard the tic-tac of a clock. Now, why would a box of cookies have a clock inside? Snow quickly realized why, but he was still hesitant to throw the box away, as there might be cookies inside. But even if there were any, they would be gone anyway. So, before the box blew up in his face, he threw it as far into the air as possible.

"Common, why me?" Snow moaned to the sky, where the box exploded in bright red flames, and the old lady from the dinner came out with a rifle in her hands. "Seriously? I thought you were nice."

"Sorry, dear," The old lady pointed her rifle at Snow. "I wished it wouldn't come to his. But no matter how many poisoned cookies you ate, it did not affect you."

"I hate this place," There were about a hundred or so people in this village, and every single one of them had guns pointing at Snow. "And The Grand Line was supposed to be scary. What the hell is wrong with you people?"

"Forty million is enough reason to kill even your own mother," One of the men replied to Snow.

"That is fucked up, man," Snow looked at the man with a disgusted look. "I mean, that is really fucked up."

"Yeah, that's a bit too much, Garret," The others agreed with Snow and looked disapprovingly at him.

"What do you know?" Garret defended himself. "If your mother were this bitch, you would have agreed with me."

Garret pointed his finger at the old lady of the dinner. Begrudgery, Snow had to agree with Garret, especially when she started shooting at him. She wasn't the last to open the fire, and soon, the air was filled with gunpowder. And the Marines were probably coming, too. It was time to get out, but then his stomach started to feel funny.

It seems that whatever that granny put into his cookies started to work. Snow's vision blurred as the effects of the poison took hold. He stumbled backward, feeling his muscles weaken and his thoughts grow hazy. The sound of gunfire echoed around him, but it felt distant, like it was happening on another side of the island.

"Now! Capture him," Nets were thrown at him, one after another.

With each passing moment, Snow's strength waned, and the poison seeped deeper into his veins. He tried to fight it, to muster the energy to transform into his bird form and escape, but his body refused to obey. Even thinking became hard, as he suddenly felt sleepy. Soon, he collapsed on the ground, nets restricting his movements.

"For all that bounty on your head, you are quite stupid," The granny said with a satisfied smile as she kicked Snow's head.

"Mom," Garret's voice sounded distant to Snow. "Be careful. We don't know what he could do."

Snow thought that it might be better to take a nap. The ground felt quite comfortable, and the nets provided enough cover for him to nestle in them. Then, he quickly snapped out of it. He remembered words from Doc back home. If he ever felt sleepy, he should never fall asleep as it would be the end of him. Even as his body protested, he stood up and ran.

The poison was still in his stomach, and he felt it funny there, so he put his fingers into his mouth and vomited it all out. His body was used to being weakened, so Snow quickly managed to recover, even though he still felt the lingering feeling of it in his body. Not wanting to screw with the mob chasing after him, Snow ran off to a different side of the island.

…

Snow hated this place. He just came here, and he was almost cut apart, then he was almost blown up, and then he was poisoned. Where are no decent people anymore? He cursed as he looked at the sea from the empty beach he found. So far he didn't have good experience in North Blue. If he were weaker, he would have already been dead.

"Good, you found the place," Snow turned as Law walked up to him. "Good job with distracting the Marines. I managed to snatch a log pose while they were busy looking for you. Let's go before we are found."

"Can you take out the poison from inside me?" Snow asked.

"Poison?" Law looked questionably at Snow before sighing. "I don't even want to know."

Snow will never forgive this island for what it has done to him. How can he now eat cookies without any worry? Every time he has one from now, he will think that it might be poisoned. It takes all enjoyment of eating them. Or maybe he should get used to poison. Get immunity from it, and then he could eat anything he wanted without a worry. With the plan set, Snow and Law left.

A.N. I still have so many ideas I want to write, characters to meet in this world, and so on. But with the limited time I will have, I might not be able to give any attention to this story. I might not drop it, but you have to wait at least for holidays for new chapters.