Mission 36: The past always catches up.

[Farris (Kuro)]

The soft breeze ruffled the leaves of the the high tree tops. This was the first time Farris had been to this Island but already she was enjoying it with it's lush forests and tree top villages. It was quiet a beautiful site, and though it wasn't particularly dark, she found it gave some inspiration for new music.

There was a small pub in one of the larger trees where Farris decided to settle and work out the notes of her music with the aid of her Violin. A bottle of rum sat on the table next to a glass but the bluenette was far too absorbed in her song making to touch the bottle for the moment. "Hmmm, no... that isn't the right note ether..." She sighed after a moment of giving it a few tries. The muse was there but perhaps the time wasn't right for this song... maybe it needed something still.

Farris picked up the bottle of Rum, placing her violin down for the time being to enjoy a little drink, when she spotted it. A wanted poster in the corner of the bar. It was hers. The world hadn't forgotten her yet it seemed. Most pirates would be proud of their first bounty... not Farris. She had gotten it for helping a man that was her friend escape the marines. She just wanted to travel and become the best musician, she'd never really considered herself as an outlaw until her and Lucci rescued Kaku that day. It had also been the first time Farris had met one of Kaku's Nakama. It all seemed like a dream now...

But that bounty was going to be trouble, especially if anyone saw it and her. The dark clad musician placed down a few beri for the drink before picking up both the Violin and the bottle and heading for the exit. It was time to leave before trouble came to make her life a living hell... again. "Damnit Kaku!" She cursed under her breath.

[BlacKitten]

Placidly, the current of water acted as the commander of the medium-sized vessel that held a very small amount of individuals, barely even qualifying to be called a crew. There was no one on board with the title of a captain. In its old times at the North Blue, this simplistically designed ship used to carry its pirate flag, holding a group of reputable pirates whose journey came to a young end. With the symbol of the skull and crossbones long since been removed, young travelers, who had taken down the previous owners of this vessel, now board this ship that aided them in crossing the Reverse Mountain and ultimately making it to the infamous Grand Line. Their time in these parts of the seas was still premature, but with the newly given Log Pose, their destination was dictated by this needle in a glass orb.

Of all the islands he had stepped foot on, the youth had never encountered one of this small in size. Composed of greenery, this little one seemed to have a civilization built entirely off of treehouses, each little wooden hut situated at various levels of large branches among the myriad of oak trees that stood throughout the forest. Everything appeared primitive, but it was brimming with creativity with how bridges linked between each building.

At the very base of the island on ground level was the port where the newcomers anchored their vessel by the shores. A dark figure stood at the edge of the deck, leaping off from that point, dropping several meters before landing firmly on both feet. Violet eyes rose to glance at the intriguing system at how this peculiar civilization functioned.

“Pluto! Trust fall!” A girl chirped from above before making the same big jump as her brother.

“HUH?” His eyes of violet hues widened while looking above his head. The two words of trust fall sounded like something very reckless that couldn’t possibly end well. If he didn’t brace himself, his little sister may get hurt, but on the other hand, catching her at her accelerating speed would be like getting hit by a human cannon. “W-wait a minute!!!” A heavy force smashed into him with the impact knocking him off his feet and falling back. Collapsing to the wooden platform, he laid flat with the girl clinging onto him from above.

“Mmm!” Rebecca’s cheek pressed against the boy’s vest as she lied there without even trying to get up.

None of her usual, embracing tackle hugs had ever been as painful as this one. The black-haired youth had to recover from the world suddenly flipping on its side along with a sudden weight being pressed against his chest that hindered him from sitting up. Why you do this to me?

[Farris (Kuro)]

The dark clad woman managed to make it out of the bar without incident. She upturned her collar as if that would help hide her appearance from anyone that might come after her. It was a hopeless gesture... but it wasn't like Kaku or Lucci were around to bail her out if she got in over her head. She had no Nakama to speak of. She could have gone with Kaku back then, but she'd have weighed him down. He and that Lucci guy were much stronger than her and she'd seen that first hand back in Impel down. Lucci hadn't pulled any punches and made it clear that she was more or less a hinderance, but she had been helpful enough in identifying the group that brought Kaku in back then.

Now she had wished that she had listened to the man with the pigeon and stayed out of it. Slinging her Violin into a case on her back, Farris heard some commotion below as she headed for the docks. She kept her head down to try to keep attention off herself. She needed to find a ship, keep moving. That would be the smart thing to do.

There weren't a lot of ships docked to day, and the crew she sailed with earlier had already departed. There was a ship that she recognized as being from North Blue. It was almost nostalgic seeing it here, but perhaps it was just what she needed to get out to sea? She was about to go greet the crew (if you could call it that) when there was a large shadow that fell over her and the click of a cocking pistol at her back. "Redrum Farris, I presume?" Said a gruff male voice from behind her. "Damn you Kaku...." Farris muttered under her breath before decking the large man and starting to make a run for it. A gun was fired, grazing her shoulder, but she did not stop. Fuck her life, why did these things always seem to happen?

[BlacKitten]

Crawling back to standing on his feet, the ebony-haired adolescent brushed off any dust that stuck onto his clothes by whipping his hand downwards. With all the times in the past that involved being affectionately slammed into by his energetic little sister; he no longer held any form of strong emotion towards her actions. “Let’s go,” he pouted before striding towards the inland, leading the way while knowing little of where to go. Being in a forest, it felt as if his surroundings should be quiet and devoid of human beings, leaving nothing but nature. But, the people here had taken advantage of the trees, using them as support for their shelters, even having bridges acting as pathways, leaving the earthy ground down below almost unused.

They had very little business here on this particular island. Their supplies were plentiful, but sailing the seas for too long had its effect. To finally walk on a surface that didn’t wobble and sway with the tides, their sense of balance felt almost weird after adapting to the constant change of tilt. Rebecca caught up, pacing next to her brother who she often kept at close proximity in her eyes. To her, the idea of treehouses being the norm strongly sparked her childish imagination, but it wasn’t long before a sudden burst of sound echoed through the air from fall away.

Immediately alarmed by the distinctive sound of a gunshot, Pluto darted his eyes towards the source of sound, readying all of his limbs to react to any incoming projectiles. His sister froze stiff, a response that was unfavorable for a fighter. She still relied a lot on her brother when the time of danger springs up unexpectedly.
“Hmmm,” The boy relaxed a bit when he sensed that the assault wasn’t directly aimed at him. From the sound of it, the shot came from a much higher elevation from far above. Such a peaceful looking island didn’t seem like suitable for hostility; something must have happened.

“Pluto, should we investigate?” the younger one asked uncertainly. Without knowing the circumstances, this didn’t involve them, but they couldn’t shrug this off and feel safe if they simply ignored it.

In order to reach such heights, there were primitive-looking elevators along certain trunks. However such technology worked, he sprinted towards one, accompanied by his sister from behind. Upon standing on the platform, the portion of ground beneath them rose up, being heaved by several strands. Their destination was towards the level above them.

[Farris (Kuro)]

On the level above, Farris was waiting at the very lift that was bringing up the young man and his sibling. The bluenette clutched at her shoulder were the bullet had grazed her. It wasn't bad, but it was bleeding and stung pretty bad. Not to mention it ruined her awesome coat and tailors were not cheap. She could hear the heavy boot steps coming closer, and she cursed inwardly. Could this lift not go any faster?

She was gonna have her head on a pike at some marine base at these point! And all because some bounty hunter wanted a few beri! She wasn't even worth that much!... well, not compared to most other criminals with a price on their head. "Tick tock, Tick Tock, Redrum. Your time has come..." Came the familiar gruff voice. He sounded angry now of course, and Farris had given him a reason to be with that little move a moment ago.

The musician looked over at the approaching hunter. He was a big man, easily 8 feet tall and burly with arms the size of tree trunks. He had long brown unruly hair and a handlebar mustache with thin beady eyes and a bulbous nose. He was dressed in a simple vest brick red and brown pants with big black boots. his build was stout, almost like an oversized dwarf and he was wider and thicker than he was tall. He held a pistol in one hand and a large rifle on his back.

"No one gets away from Grizzly bear Rudolf! Bounty Hunter Supreme!" He said letting out a loud gaffing laugh before taking aim at Farris again and opening fire just as the lift reached the tree tops. "Get down!" Farris warned those inside as she ducked herself to avoid the bullet and rushed into the lift. "Down! Down!" She cried moving to the lifts controls to try to get the lift to go down as fast as possible.

[BlacKitten]

On the higher level, there was cyan-haired woman who has been watching them long enough for Pluto to have sinking suspicion that he was going to be involved. His head tilted upwards, scrutinizing on her appearance that was becoming clearer in detail as the distance between them shortened every second. He heard a deep voice of an adult male, introducing himself as Grizzly Bear Rudolf, a bounty hunter. As someone who has captured wanted criminals in the past, he had never heard of such name before. This mainly was due to all of his captures being from North Blue; the difficulty in the Grand Line was likely a completely different level.

While a bounty hunter shouldn’t be an enemy to him, being pointed at by a firearm made him stay on guard. The barrel was aimed towards the woman, but if that man misses his mark, it would fly towards his general direction. Just when siblings had arrived on a new elevation, the blue-haired woman gave them a quick and urgent warning followed by the sound of a gunshot. Raising his arm in defense, the boy cladded in dark accurately judged the trajectory of the bullet before it left the weapon in the man’s hand. In a split second, he felt an indirect sharp, penetrating force on his forearm. The bullet deflected off of the metallic surface of his forearm protector at an angle. Ducking takes too much effort.

Rebecca blinked in bewilderment as she heard a small clash from her brother who seemed to have bounced the bullet off course. She couldn’t see the bullet in itself, making it all the more astounding in how he could have reacted to such a small, fast-moving projectile. Perhaps more importantly, who was this woman who was being chased?

It felt counterproductive when the woman made the lift go back down after already reaching his destination. This drama played out so fast that all he could do was just stand there, watching things play out. If he’s a bounty hunter and is chasing her down, then this woman likely has a bounty on her head. Come to think of it, this is my first time witnessing a bounty hunter in action. Although… if we’re stuck on this elevator, it makes us sitting ducks for him to shoot at us.

He rose an eyebrow in disbelief that this woman could be a wanted criminal, expecting those with bounties to at least live up to their reputation in being fearsome. But, this woman couldn't even handle this weakling of a bounty hunter and was in the process of running away. Was the sword that she possesses nothing but for show? Because a swordsman would try to get close to the opponent to get within range, not run away and be in the enemy's range.