Hungry Hunter

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #1

The Professor was bunded to the East Blue. He wasn´t born there, nor was he really interested in that place itself, but someone who was very close to him died there, someone whose death wasn´t avenged yet, and so when he finished his work in the West Blue, he returned as fast as he could, together with his new ship and slightly altered crew as Sigrid, the giantess decided to stay behind on Toroa and use her blacksmithing skills to create more powerful and effective weapons for their military. Instead of her, he got over a hundred of M.A.R.I. combatants. If it was only on him, he would leave them all home, protecting his puppies, but Sarah insisted, and the Professor was helpless against the sad eyes of his fiancée.
The sheer size of their ship and crew naturally caused severe concerns among the people of a Tea Village, especially because there was already one pirate crew using their port as a temporal base. But, when only one person left the ship, a man who didn´t look like a pirate at all, they calmed down a bit.
“Isaac really knows how to pick a meeting spot…”
Gabriel muttered to himself as he entered the local inn. A small place built from stones and burnt bricks, it had a place for around fifteen, maybe twenty people, but only four pirates were occupying one of their tables now as this soon in the morning most of their crewmates were probably still sleeping, or getting through the hangover from the previous day. Even these four seemed to be preoccupied with a half-empty bottle and didn´t pay much of attention to the arriving noble.
The Professor picked a table as far from the drunken pirates as he could, waiting for a waitress. A young woman in her early twenties headed towards him with a mix of fear and confusion in her eyes. Pirates, that was something she was already used to, but a gentleman wearing a suit? She couldn´t remember when if she ever saw one during her twenty years of life.
“Ehm, what can I get for you sir?”
She tried to smile, but it was a forced gesture.
“Shame…”
Gabriel thought for himself, us otherwise she was pretty and in his mood, he could use a genuine smile.
“Coffee please and cookies if you have some.”
He responded to her attempt with a genuine smile but earned only more confusion.
“Coffee? Here?”
She asked.

[Kami-Gaz]

Alektra #1

---

The ferry had docked at Gecko Island just this morning and had unceremoniously deposited all of its passengers onto the land as its crew went into making repairs. This left a very penniless and hungry samurai essentially stranded. Since leaving on her journey to find a someone she could die for the young woman had seen a lot and spent all the money she had saved. This ferry had taken her last bit of it and due to the storm, they had to make landfall here. She was so penniless in fact that she couldn’t even afford the meals that the ferry would provide.

With a grumbling stomach Alektra wandered down the rural roads of Syrup village, stopping just outside the local post office and the notice board that was there. These things could be used to find odd jobs and get a little bit of compensation for doing them, perfect! There was only one issue. NO ONE HAD POSTED ANYTHING!

With a slight growl beneath her breath, she shifted her attention to all of the wanted posters that had been posted up. There were quite a few, maybe one or two could be on this island? She could beat them up, take their money for dinner and then cart them with her to Louge town where the Marines had a base to get the reward! A genius plan, one that was instantly springing into action as she started to pull down all of the posters and get a nice bundle of them.

The pale furred mink has a glint in her eye as she took her new plan and headed to a local café to maybe mooch a snack from someone as she organised the papers she now carried. Maybe if there was a criminal hiding out here, they would give her food in return for getting rid of them! Oh, today was just getting better and better!

A bell dinged as Alektra walked into the local in to see quite a desolate scene, people huddled over mugs as they nursed hangovers and one well dressed man sat in the corner. He was out of place for sure. Her stomach grumbled as a waitress that bore a plate of fresh cookies passed her and headed to the suited man. “Soon… I’ll have a massive plate of my own cookies.” She uttered to herself, giving more motivation to carry this plan out.

“Excuse me?” Alektra asked as she approached the bar and placed the reem of papers down onto the counter that she looked incredibly short behind. “I am looking for all of these people, have you seen any of them?” She asked, her high but determined voice matching her shorter frame.

---

Alektra: f4bcff

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #2

„Coffee? Here? And cookies?“
The waitress asked in surprise as if she wasn´t sure she heard misheard what the gentleman requested.
Trying to stay positive, Gabriel nodded with a kind smile on his face.
“Yes, is there a problem?”
She bit her lip.
“Sir…I mean this is a pub, we usually don´t offer such things here.”
The Professor sighed, reaching for his wallet. While he knew that he shouldn´t really do this, his body craved cookies and he couldn´t really leave that place, at least not until after the meeting with Isaac. So he pulled out his wallet and offered the woman something that could be considered a very generous bribe.
“Please?”
Her jaw dropped at the look of what was way more than they earned for the past day, then quickly grabbed the money and hid it in her cleavage.
“Well, my husband…I mean the cook won´t be happy about it, I am sure I can convince him, and as for coffee…I´ll send my son to ask for some, all right?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Thank you, you are a real gem.”
Pleased, by this exchange. The Professor leaned backward and waited. It took longer than usual, but that was something he could forgive them, especially, since in the end, the waitress came back with a copious number of beautiful cookies and mug filled with coffee.
“Now that´s what I call a breakfast.”
The Professor smiled, focused on these baked goodies so much, that he completely missed a tall rabbit girl, that entered the place. Who however noticed her were the hungover pirates, who suddenly became more active. While the bounty huntress was showing the wanted posters to the waitress.
“Well, check this out!”
One of the pirates laughed while getting up at his feet.
“Did you ever see something like that guys? A talking bunny! And interested in criminals!”
He laughed, while the rest of his friends got up on their feet. They didn´t look really fresh, but they were four and each of them armed with a knife, although for now, their weapons were still on their belts.
“What are you darling, some undercover marine? Because you know, you look way more like a plushie!”
This time all of them erupted in a fit of laughter, after which the leading one, a short guy with a bald head and missing teeth drew his knife.
“Are you marine sweetheart? Because I am pretty sure, our captain is on that list! Karl “The White Death” Gustafson!”
Sitting on his chair, the Professor frowned. On one hand, he barely started his first cookie and meddling himself in other people´s businesses could get him into serious trouble, on the other…he has no idea who that rabbit woman was, but she was incredibly cute and looked totally lost.
“Who said bunnies can not be puppies too?”
He muttered for himself, before addressing the pirates.
“Excuse me gentlemen, but would you be so kind and left her alone?”

[Kami-Gaz]

Alektra #2

---

The rabbit looked over to the people she had assumed were too hungover to be of any use as they climbed to their feet and started to natter like hyenas that were surrounding prey. Another chump who assumed she was a strange oddity… which to be fair in this part of the world she was. Full minks rarely ever left Zou, if the villagers of her Mink Colony were to be believed.

“Marine?” She asked quietly, softly parroting the word with a somewhat confused look to her face he carried on to call her a plushie. That caused her eyes to harden and face to harden. The cackles of the hyena mod washed over her, assuming she was nothing more than just another weak little critter.

Then the leader of this mob gave her something useful to actually work with! He gave a name of someone in the pile that was on this island. Her hardened look softened as she smiled. “Oh! He’s worth 18,000,000!” She spoke, almost bouncing in the spot with excitement.

The new voice came, the one that sounded like it was from the suited man. He was stepping up to defend her? That was so sweet of him! But entirely unnecessary. “I got this!” She said as her free hand moved with speed to grip the handle of her sheathed katana. She ducked down quickly and leaned forward as she rapidly drew the weapon free. “Iai!” She shouted as the pommel of the broken weapon hit the man in the stomach with enough force to both make him drop the knife and fling him into his goons. It was only the first half of a technique, drawing her blade with malicious intent. The broken weapon was quickly replaced as she stood tall and proud.

“Where can I find your captain?” She asked, her higher pitched voice too cute to be menacing.

---

Alektra: f4bcff

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #3

The Professor was ready to jump in at any second, but as it turned out, it was unnecessary, as the bunny girl clearly knew how to fight. Her Iai was almost flawless, and powerful enough to send the pirate flying back, knocking not only him but also his buddies that were standing behind him.
“Maybe I misjudged her?”
Gabriel asked for himself as he started to see her more like a skilled martial artist than a puppy, but this impression was immediately broken by her cute, high-pitched voice.
“No, I didn´t”
He smiled to himself, taking another cookie from his plate, hoping that these pirates will realize the difference between their skills and give up. Unfortunately, they weren´t smart enough. Well, not that she would help him in that regard.
While their boss was lying on the ground, trying to catch his breath, the three remaining pirates climbed on their feet, weapons in their hands.
“Our captain?!”
Growled one of them, a tall guy with long hair and two golden earrings in his left ear.
“Oh don´t worry sweetheart we´ll bring you to him!”
He charged forward, but before he could actually get to that unusual swordswoman and her broken sword, he planted his face to the ground after tripping over Gabriel´s leg.
“I asked you politely to let her go, please don´t let me repeat myself.”
There was a sudden shift in his tone. Where before his voice was warm and friendly, now he became hard and cold, like an unsheathed blade.
“Who the f*ck do you think you are old man?!”
Another pirate snapped, but his face turned pale when he met with Gabriel´s gaze. While not among the smartest people in the room, these guys sailed the seas for long enough to know death when they were starring into its face.
“Please, gentlemen, I promised a very good friend that I won´t cause any ruckus here, so I would suggest you to leave before this situation becomes irrefutably awkward.”
Trembling, the pirates looked at each other, before dropping their knives and running away.
Slowly shifting back to his much kinder self, the Professor sat back on his chair, looking up to invite the bunny mink to his table, but before he could say a word his eyes shifted towards the waitress who was still holding a wanted poster in her hands, trembling in fear while looking at the Professor.
“Oh no, did I scare you? I am so sorry, I didn´t…”
He tried to get up on his feet to go and calm that poor woman down, but as she noticed him moving, she dropped that piece of paper and ran. What Gabriel didn´t know was the fact, that it wasn´t Gustafson´s wanted poster she was holding, but his.

[Kami-Gaz]

Alektra #3

---

The pirate was moving closer again and Alektra was ready to draw her sword yet again, this time to a deadlier effect. The grip on her sword was tight and the leather wrappings could be heard by those of an acute ear squeaking. That same flash of deadly readiness shot through her eyes as they hardened in just an instant.

Then all of the tension left her body as the man fell forward into a fantastic face plant of monumental hilarity. It caused the mink to bust into a soft squeaking giggle, she barely caught what the other man said to them that made the pirates leave because of her laughing fit. She doubled over and held her stomach for a few moments as her barely contained laugh rocked her to her very soul. Seeing such a hard man that considered himself a badass fall in such an undignified manner was just comedy gold.

She finally stood tall and wiped a tear away as she looked between the waitress and the man… finally seeing his face for the first time. The smile she had shifted from one of mirth to a sly grin. “Excuse me mister,“ She started, her cutesy high voice still not showing any sort of malice or hatred whatsoever. “You have a really big bounty… Can you come with me to the marine base at Louge Town? ”

She looked him up and down with her eyes and saw that he looked to be quite reasonable, the way he helped her with the Pirates proved that. “I really need the money…”

---

Alektra: f4bcff

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #4

Surprised by the sudden change of behaviour of the waitress, Gabriel made these few steps, that separated him from the bar, taking a look at the paper she was holding before running away.
“Oh…”
The Professor muttered, with a mix of disappointment and genuine sadness in his voice.
“but I am actually not the bad guy…”
He sighed, letting go of his own wanted poster, to take back his seat. At the moment wiser move would be probably to leave that place, but he promised Isaac to wait there for him, and…he really wanted to finish his breakfast.
Sitting down, the Professor noticed, that the bunny girl didn´t leave and instead addressed him with a polite, yet quite strange request.
Bounty hunter…that much he already deducted from her behavior and the fact she could handle herself exceptionally well in a fight.
Sighing, the Professor raised his eyes from the remaining cookies, looking into her fluffy face. She was cute, no denying it, and looked genuinely in need, like a lost puppy desperate for something to eat and a roof over her head. Because of that, he would love to help her, the problem was…
“I am sorry, but it´s all one big misunderstanding.”
Gabriel smiled and there was no hint of lie or deception in his voice indicating that he actually believed to what he was telling.
“I mean, I know I shouldn´t kiss that marine captain, but I already apologized and even gave her flowers!”
He exclaimed, making a short pause as his memory reminded him how Captain Cottee reacted to his apology.
“Although she cut them with her sword…but it´s not my fault she was overreacting.”
Gabriel grumbled, stuffing his mouth with an exceptionally large cookie.
“Anyway, I can´t help you like this but if you need place to stay, I can offer you one.”

[Kami-Gaz]

Alektra #4

---

Hearing the man’s story about how he got his bounty and how he tried to rectify it with flowers made Alecktra smile with how funny that was. Though he had a bounty and a rather large one… if it really was a mistake then once she took him in and he cleared it all up she would be paid, and he would be a free man.

She moved to take a step forward and keep the conversation going, her hopes of convincing the man to come with her willingly still rather high. Though that comment about offering her a place to stay was really weird… how did he know she was slumming it with no money to her name? He must be very insightful.

Then her stomach rumbled, growling with the volume of a growling wolf warning off its competitor that it would not give up this prey. Her hands wrapped around her belly, and she crouched to the floor to compress her belly, to trick it into feeling as if it were fuller than it was. This was so embarrassing! She looked up and her sly grin had turned into an awkward smile, her big eyes staring up at the man and the cookies on his plate… the sugary, chocolatey cookies…

“I call for a truce! I will not try and convince you to come with me… until I finish eating one of those cookies as a downpayment for helping you clear up your bounty problem.”

---

Alektra: f4bcff

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #5

The Professor was watching Alektra with a curiosity written all over his face. From what he could see this woman was the whole package a perfect bounty hunter gifted with cute, innocent look, deadly skills and shrewd mind, that wasn´t ashamed of schemes against her opponents. So why was it that she seemed to be completely helpless and lost?
At the moment all of his instincts were screaming at him to hug her, feed her and take her with him on the Invincible Reason but there was this one nagging voice born after witnessing all that scheming and backstabbing on Toroa´s court, that was warning him against it. He had a bounty and she was a bounty hunter, it all might be just a…
Poor voice of reason was swiftly silenced when Alektra dropped on her knees with the loudest growl the Professor ever heard.
“You, are you hungry?”
He asked all precaution immediately gone as he was trying to help her on a chair, before taking a seat across the table.
“Of course you are, here take this.”
He pushed his whole plate towards her. Silencing another voice that cried over a whole plate of the most delicious cookies sacrificed for this hungry puppy. But...she was hungry and needed his help and…
“Did she really promised to help me to get rid of that bounty?”
He thought for himself, giving her enough time to fill her starving belly, before asking.
“So, how exactly would you like to clear up my bounty problem?”
Gabriel wasn´t really convinced that what she said was true, but if there was any real chance that she could really help him with his problem in a way that wouldn´t require him playing the role of World Government´s lap dog he wanted to know.

[Kami-Gaz]

Alektra #5

---

The pale furred mink did not hesitate to take the man up on his offer of cookies. Her hands were like lightning, moving with a precise hunger filled fury to grab each and every cookie. They were stuffed into her mouth and before she even finished chewing the first one the second was pushed in. Her cheeks puffed up and swelled with each new cookie. Her stomach roared in hunger and anticipation for the sugary treats.

Once the plate had been emptied the girl swallowed her prize in one big gulp. Then with eyes wide she realised her mistake, her gullet was not big enough for the prize she was trying to consume! In a flash of movement her hand grasped a glass of milk from nearby and opened her mouth to down it. With the milky goodness to go with the sweetness of the cookies Alektra felt the cookies go down and hit her stomach to quench the hungry fires of her belly.

“How will I clear up your bounty problem?” She asked, repeating the question that the wanted man had asked. “Simple!” She said with a big smile, her ears perking up and her bunny tail wiggling behind her. “We will take you to some high up official and explain how you are a good person and that the bounty on you should be dropped! No bad person would give away his food for free.” Lexi explained innocently, her hand now resting on the broken hilt as it sat in the scabbard by her side.

“If that doesn’t work… Then I’ll help you run away. But it WILL work. I can feel it. I have a good instinct for honourable good people.” Alectra insisted, a bright smile on her pale bunny face.

---

Alektra: f4bcff

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #6

If there were any doubts in Gabriel´s mind that this fluffy miracle is a puppy they were swept away as he watched her wolfing down on the remaining cookies on his plate.

She was cute, probably lost and very obviously helpless. She needed his help.

“You know if you are really that hungry I can…”

The Professor wanted to say order you more food but than he realized, that the owners of this fine establishment ran away when his bounty became public knowledge.

“I mean I can probably take you on our ship and let Hariyama cook you some proper meal.”

He finished the sentence with a more brooding tone, upset about the effect his bounty had on people.

With another sigh he listened to her plan and while he had no doubt that her cute smile could melt many hearts it also raised several concerns that didn´t allow him to accept it.

“No, that won´t work for me.”

He shook his head in disagreement.

“I mean I am more than willing to go and try to explain what actually happened again but I can´t risk to pull you down with me if things go south. If you got bounty on your head how would you continue on your path of bounty hunter?”

He was ready for some protests from her or further reasoning but sadly their conversation was interrupted by a loud crashing sound crated by someone kicking out the door.

The someone was tall and heavily muscular man, even taller than the Professor himself, with pale skin covered in red tattoos, he was bald, compensating the lack of hair with dark beard, wearing cloths made from thick leather that probably served as a simple armor and an axe.

Captain Gustafson, no doubt about it by the presence of these pirates that previously ran away.
“Hey”

The man growled

“Are you two f*cker these bounty hunters who were looking for me?”