Pink Purloiner

(Two Days Later)

<i>Sorbet Kingdom, South Blue</i>

"Where's the sorbet?!" Kid shouts out as he walks through Sorbet Kingdom, disappointed by the lack of the titular desert.

Rex smiles at this, but makes sure not to forget about his primary goal in coming to this island. Namely, to find and recruit Jewelry Bonney.

While it was never confirmed that Bonney lived on Sorbet, the original manga heavily hinted towards it. Oda had stated Bonney had originated in the South Blue, not to mention her connection to Kuma, the former king of Sorbet and her disguise at the Levelly.

With that in mind, Rex had started his search for the elusive pink-haired glutton there, but had found nothing as of yet. As surprising as it was, pink hair was not uncommon in the One Piece world and Rex had a half dozen mistaken 'aha' moments.

"Look here." Killer calls Rex over, showing him a copy of the local newspaper.

'Pink Purloiner Strikes Again!'

The article talked about a series of robberies that had been happening all across Sorbet Kingdom. The strange thing was that no gold or precious gems were taken, only paper Berries and food.

The bandit had gotten their name because a marine investigator had found strands of pink hair at many of the crime scenes. On earth, that would be a slam dunk revelation, but in the One Piece world, pink hair was actually rather common.

Rex smiles, clapping Killer on the shoulder and nodding. That was surely Bonney.

Now that he had confirmed she was on the island, Rex needed a way to coax her out of hiding. Fortunately, he had a food store full of meats, grains and vegetables.

With all that, plus Rex's secret weapon, he was confident that he could capture the minx and force her to join him.

A sadistic smile spreads out onto Rex's face that causes both Kid and Killer to shiver.

Hours later, night has fallen, with Rex and his crew all sitting around a dinner table, many boxes are scattered around the table and a large metal bath tub is placed at the side of the room.

"So, I don't get how this plan gets us any closer to the Pink Purloiner?" Kid asks, curiously. "All you did was broker a few merchant deals with the locals and make an order at a bakery. That"

"Kid, Kid, Kid," Rex says with a mysterious smile, "Do you know what the best way to a woman's heart is?"

"Stab the chest!? No, the ribs, with an upwards angle? How about a back stab? Or just blowing them up!?"

"No, no, no, those are all wrong. The best way to a woman's heart is through her stomach. Well, actually, that's the second best, but we don't need to talk about the first."

"Aha, so you poisoned her!" Kid cries out, with a smug look on his face, before scrunching up his forehead.

"Is someone moving our gold?"

Kid nods.

"Good, that means she's here. Now play your parts well."

Meanwhile, in the storage hold, Bonney was dragging a large deer corpse, cursing it for being so heavy. What did this deer eat, gold?

What was worse was that the smell from the dining hall was causing Bonney's stomach to go to war with her mind, who knew that she couldn't get the food. She forced her stomach to quiet down as she continued to drag the deer, knowing it would last her for days.

"I swear Captain, I heard something down here." A voice comes, causing Bonney to freeze in place.

How had someone heard her coming? She had been careful to be extra stealthy, and they were all gorging on food.

Not having time to wonder, Bonney looked around for a possible hiding spot and leapt into a half full barrel of vegetables without a second thought. As she did this, she shrunk in midair, going from a teenager down to a small child in size, disappearing inside of the vegetables.

The next moment, Rex, Kid and a half dozen men come down into the storage room. Rex makes sure to have his men loudly cock their guns, so Bonney didn't get any ideas.

Then, rubbing the small tiger on his shoulder Rex speaks softly. "Well, Rouge? Is there anybody in here?"

Rouge leaps off of Rex's shoulder and starts bounding towards a barrel full of vegetables. Bonney, who is inside the barrel, curses the deer blood on her hands, but stays completely still, hoping Rex wouldn't look.

Rex smiles, walking towards the barrel carefully and reaching his hand in. While he considered the risk of Bonney de-aging him and holding him hostage, he was confident that Kid could immediately disable her and then dump her into the ocean.

Then, Rex pulls out the small, shivering figure, to a see an toddler Bonney, curled up into a ball.

"Papa?"

Rex puts on a look of concern, stroking Bonney's hair with care. "Poor baby, what are you doing in here? Did you sneak in when we were loading the goods at Roshwan?"

Bonney sighs internally, seeing that this merchant didn't suspect her, while making toddler noises. She hoped that the merchant would leave her in a bed so she could change back and escape.

Growl! Bonney's stomach churns in hunger.

"Wow! It looks like somebody is a very hungry widdle girl! Well, you're just in luck, we just bought a bunch of food that we can give you!" Rex says, walking away with Bonney in his arms.

Kid widens his eyes in realization of Rex's plans and cannot help but feel sorry for the small girl. Rex truly was cruel when he needed to be.

"There, there, the food's almost here." Rex says with a wide smile on his face. Then, as he passes the tub, his smile turns sadistic. "But first its bath time!"

Rex drops the small Bonney in the tub, watching her flail and struggle. Surprisingly, she doesn't turn back into whatever age she was, making Rex furrow his brow. Did he have the wrong person?

"You damned ugh bastard! What kind of ugh sadistic ugh person drowns a toddler?" Bonney says choking on the water as she flails around pointlessly.

Rex then takes a fishing line he had prepared, hooking it over a ceiling support before snaring the back of Bonney's shirt. He then reels back the line, lifting the small pink-haired child a few inches off the ground.

If it were fishing lines on earth, they would never be able to support a child. But in the One Piece world, fish were huge creatures and the lines used to catch them where much stronger. With Bonney's seawater-restrained strength, she wouldn't be able to escape them.

Still, Rex tied her up with some fishing line as added insurance. With Bonney, one could never know. She had somehow escaped the world government twice in the past and infiltrated the Levely.

"So, you're the pink purloiner. A little young, aren't you?"

"You already know all about me, so why don't we skip to what you're going to do about it. Are you going to turn me into the world government? Or keep me for your own use?" Bonney spits.

Rex is slightly confused but doesn't let this show.

"How about your real age first?" Rex says, reeling Bonney just high enough that she can use her fruit. "No shrinking on me though, ok?"

Rex's men all aim their guns in Bonnie's direction to make sure she gets the memo. Then Bonney's figure grows, going from 3 years old to mid 20s. With the inhuman thinness of women in the One Piece world, this doesn't even strain the rope.

Rex frowns.

"Too old, I want your real age." Rex says on a hunch. After all, based off of Bonney's strange relationship with Kuma, he suspected that she was, at oldest, a few years older than him.

One more change and Bonney has turned into a fifteen year old, with a large frown on her face. "This is the real me, okay!"

Rex nods. It made sense that Bonney was around four years older than she was in canon. If she was planning on hiding from the world government, she would want to make it look like she was too young to be whoever they were looking for.

"Now tell me, do you wear the nighttime cloak of Pink Purloiner?"

Bonney bites her lip, while the wording was odd, she knew what Rex meant. Still, she was worried that there was a recording device, or a marine hiding and he was using this to incriminate her. Still, considering that he had her tied up and at gunpoint, Bonnie admits to it.

"Yes, I am."

Rex smiles, before moving to the next on his list of questions. However, before he can ask it, he hears a loud bang.

"Marines! Don't move!"

Suddenly, Hina and a dozen marines' barge into the dining hall, weapons at the ready. Rex's own crew get ready to draw their own weapons, but Rex holds up his hand stopping them.

"Officer Hina, do you have any reason for trespassing on my vessel for the second time in so many days?" Rex says calmly, internally cursing Hina with every vile word in his vocabulary.

"Hina had been coming to you with some follow-up questions when she saw a pink-haired girl following you from afar. Hina followed the girl and hid on the boat, suspecting her of being the Pink Purloiner. Now that she has admitted it, Hina is now going to arrest her."

Rex clenches his jaw in anger but doesn't speak.

"What do you mean!? She was stealing on our ship, and was caught by our captain. Why are you taking her now that we've done all the work? We should be the ones to deal with her right captain?"

"Cut her down Kid. And hand her over to the marines." Rex says simply.

Kid opens his mouth in shock. He had thought Rex was planning to keep Bonney as a crewmate. Why was he turning her over?

"Oh, and Kid," Rex adds, "make sure to give Bonney back her special IRON bracelet, we wouldn't want her to lose it." He says, pulling a small iron band out of one of his pockets.

Kid smiles doing as told.

Hina then escorts Bonney away and as she disappears in the distance, Rex slams his fist into the table. Rex had always been a schemer, with an above average intellect. He was fond of making big plans and watching them fall perfectly into place. As such, having his plans disrupted irritated him.

"Kid, Killer, we've been acting too nicely lately. We are pirates and it's about time we do some pirating."

(Three Days Later)

"Commander Hina, a marine scout ship has been badly damaged by pirates! They're calling for immediate assistance!"

A marine soldier bursts into Hina's office, his clothes in disarray as he is bent over, panting.

"What, where are they!? How dare pirates attack marines in my, Hina's domain?" Hina cried out.

"I don't know ma'am! The Den Den Mushi cut out mid-call, but the last thing they reported was being boarded by the pirates, no more than 50 miles from the west coast of Sorbet."

"50 miles…" Hina repeats, scrunching her forehead. It would take a half-hour for her ship to go that far and another half hour to return. If a pirate wanted to attack Sorbet Kingdom… "Are you certain that the caller was a marine?"

"It was Lieutenant Sochi's voice and his Den Den Mushi. I've known him since we were recruits, he would never submit to pirates. If he said there was a pirate ship, there was one."

Hina clenches her fist, but decides to go, rushing out of her office, the marine soldier in tow. Neither of them realizes that the soldier's jacket has fallen on the ground, left in the office.

"Prepare my personal ship, let's move out!"

With that, forty marines all leave the base, leaving another fifty behind to guard the base and the island. Hina makes sure to survey the docks as she leaves, confirming that no ships were missing.

"You're saying that no one has left in the past hour, are you sure of that?" Hina says, shaking the port monitor eagerly.

"Yes ma'am, I swear it on my life. About an hour ago the merchants returned from a fishing trip, and since then, no ships have entered or left the docks."

Hina stares at the merchant ship menacingly, her odd feelings bubbling to their max, but she shakes her head. Even the fastest ship in the world could have made it 50 miles in a few minutes, not to mention an hour ago. It wasn't them.

Hina stomps her foot, but leaves anyway, rushing to her ship. After she is gone, the port monitor's gun floats up, bathed in a purple light, and knocks him across the back of his head.

The monitor falls unconscious without making a peep. Then, Kid, Killer and two dozen crewman all rush out from the ship. It was time to loot.

The pirates split up, with Kid leading one group to take the marine base, while Killer lead another group to loot the other marine ships in the port.

By the time Kid reaches the base, he is disturbed by how eerily calm it is. There isn't a marine in sight.

Reaching the dungeons, Kid realizes why. Every last marine in the base was in a cell, unconscious.

"Come on, you couldn't leave me a single marine?"

"Nope. Now let's go." Rex says proudly, a restrained Bonney in tow. He had found a single pair of sea stone hand cuffs in the armory, which he had used on the young devil fruit user.

"Hey! At least treat me with some delicacy! I am a lady you know!?"

"You're right. Move your lazy butt, my lady." Rex snickers before tossing Bonney to two crewmen. "Now, let's loot these suckers dry."

Meanwhile, Hina and her crew had finally reached the site of the attacked ship, only to find it completely abandoned. While there were evidently signs of attack, it seemed like the ship hadn't even put up a fight, with the cannon doors closed and not a single drop of blood on the deck.

Hina leaps to the deck, before noticing that the entire ship had been looted. She was just about to call out for survivors as she notices a slight smell of rotting food in the air. It was a scrap of meat, dropped on the ground. From its scent, it had been spoiling for at least two hours.

"It's a trick!" Hina cries out, running back to her ship. "They're attacking the Sorbet Kingdom right now!"

The marines widen their eyes in shock, but quickly turn about moving back westward to Sorbet Kingdom. However, on their way, they see a burning Marine ship, moving northward in the distance.

"Captain!"

"Ignore it!" Hina cried, knowing that this was a diversion tactic. "Full speed back to the base!"

"Captain there are marine prisoners on that ship!" One of the watchman cries out, a spyglass pressed to his eye.

"What!?" Hina cries out in shock. "Those cunning bastards! Go over and help them, Hina will stop the pirates by herself!"

Hina then grabs a small rowboat, kicks two leg holes into it, then starts swimming with all her might towards Sorbet. With her superhuman strength, the speed she moved at with this method was no slower than the marine ship, though by the time the thirty minutes are up, she was panting heavily.

Still, Hina grits her teeth as she sees the 'merchant' ship fleeing in the distance. They had dropped all pretense at this point and were proudly flying their Jolly Roger, a skull with a glowing purple crown and two swords for the cross bones.

"STOP! Marines!" Hina calls out, not expecting to be obliged.

Rex looks back at Hina with surprise. By his calculations, even if the marines had ignored the burning ship, they would have taken a few more minutes to get here. Hina must have really pushed herself to get here in time.

Unfortunately, those efforts would be meaningless, as in her current state, she wouldn't last one attack from him. Still, he wanted to make a statement.

Rex rushed into the dining hall, grabbing a tablecloth. He then moved down into the storage room retrieving four fishing lines.

"Killer, fusion." Rex says simply to which Killer obliges standing with his arms and legs out. "Helmsman, turn the ship such that we are moving in the windwards direction."

Rex envelops Killer in jacket form, as he enters his most powerful state.

"Kid, fire a cannon at the boat."

Kid grins and grabs one of the stolen cannons, aiming it directly at the boat and firing.

Hina is barely able to punch it aside, panting and heaving in fatigue. When the second cannon ball comes, she gives up on dodging it. Bending her knees deeply, Hina leaps with all her might, pulling her fist back to deliver one, full-power punch.

Rex runs across the deck, with Killer putting both hands on his scabbards. Rex then jumps up to meet Hina in the air.

Hina's fist meets one of Killer's swords and is harmlessly batted aside by the duo's combined strength. The second sword slashes a deep gash across Hina's collarbone.

Rex finishes the attack off with a drop kick on Hina's shoulder, slamming her into the water. Then as he is about to fall, a large pocket opens up in his back, out of which a makeshift parasail shoots out, with four lines attached to Rex's back.

With a gust of wind, Rex lands back on ship, detaching the parasail and sticking the landing. The crew cheers in joy with Kid grinning as they all fire their guns in the air.

"For Captain Rex!"