Rescuers in the Night! Crossed Swords with a Daibukai!

[Aromancer]

Lee wasn't some "bleeding heart" who showed an abundance of concern, but the boy was certainly capable of empathy. Seeing somebody suffering or in pain triggered his sympathies, as it would in anyone worthy of consideration.

"Yeah, no bounty hunter can match an Emperor in combat," Lee said to her, nodding in agreement as Yukiko mentioned how, even back in the day, she avoided the Four Emperors. Although, he supposed they wouldn't have been Emperors back then, would they? The Rocks Pirates, then. Then he smirked and leaned in. "Yet. I've got a lot of growing to do and a sword that's yet to be bested in eight hundred years! And almost all the emperors do have Devil Fruits, so once I'm strong enough, I can probably take on any of them, except maybe Shanks."

Lee had heard tell of a bounty hunter who could match a Warlord in combat, who had even once faced Mihawk himself in a sword fight and lived to tell the tale! ...But apparently, said bounty hunter had signed onto a pirate crew, so he didn't count them. And anyway, the Emperors were on another level from the Warlords.

The conversation turned to Yukiko's illness. "Couldn't you see a doctor?" He asked her reasonably. "Or is this one of those diseases where there's no cure? Or maybe you need a vet...? I don't know, what do Zoan users do when they catch something that doesn't get ordinary humans sick?"

Lee's assumption was that Yukiko was a Zoan user. It was strange for them to default to their hybrid forms, but he wasn't one to judge. The fact that she was able to maintain her form after such a prolonged exposure to the Shichishito would be cause for suspicion... if Lee had thought to question it.

"Well, I guess it's fine so long as you're good," he said, shrugging as she flexed to showcase her physical fitness. The conversation would have continued further, but the two of them arrived at their destination shortly thereafter. "Hm?" Lee pulled out the poster again. "Oh, yeah! Yeah, this is the place!"

[Fox]

Yukiko’s worry for Lee only increased when he talked about facing down the Emperors with his sword. Even if it was made from pure Kairoseki, the Emperors weren’t the sorts to be taken lightly. All of them were ridiculously fearsome. She rubbed her face to temper her anxiety. Calm down, calm down. He wasn’t running off to go fight them now. It wasn’t lost on her that he thought she was a Devil Fruit user herself. Admittedly, he could put that to the test by touching her with his sword. A Devil Fruit user wouldn’t be put off by just being around a Kairoseki weapon, after all. She was a bit curious about his sword, but as they stopped in front of their destination, Yukiko had other things to worry about.

“Hm. Suspicious,” Yukiko muttered, glancing down at the paper just to verify that this was indeed the correct place. It was a fairly nondescript manor, so much as a manor could be nondescript. Honestly, it looked a little derelict. They stood outside of gates that had been overgrown with vines. Other vines were growing on a stark white manor just behind the gates. The iron gates themselves were a little rusted. It was almost as if their mystery employer wanted to give off an impression of ruined wealth.

“Before we go in… we should probably take stock of each others’ strengths and weaknesses. Just so we can cover each other in case things go south. I’m a swordsman that uses the elements to attack. My illness makes prolonged fights difficult for me, so I usually aim to end them within the first few seconds if possible.”

Yukiko pulled her sword out from where it was hidden in the folds of her kimono. A nine-pronged sword whose blade was blue and the prongs tipped with gold. It was a showy looking sword, to be certain. Yukiko kept it as a memento of Wano, her home, even if it wasn’t really her style. She smiled at Lee. “This is the Ninestrike! Doesn’t it look similar to your own?”

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Yukiko | #f0ffff | Post Count: 9

[Aromancer]

Lee's estimation of his own capabilities was fairly realistic. The problem lied in his estimation of the abilities of the Four Emperors, each of whom was a force unto themselves, roughly equivalent to an entire nation in power. Can you blame the guy? He had never met somebody on that level, didn't know the caliber of warrior he was setting his sights towards.

But he would, soon.

Lee felt a pang of nostalgia as he stood in front of the dilapidated manor. It reminded him of his childhood home, before he and his father had been forced out of it by the loan sharks. The slightly run-down sense of old money was authentically morose, evoking the feeling of long-lost glory that he'd come to know so well.

"Is it?" He asked, when she mentioned how suspicious it was. "I've been places like this before. Seems like whoever lives here is coasting on the wealth of their ancestors. Hence the high bounty for the simple job." He waved the flyer knowledgeably.

Before they entered, Yukiko wanted them to compare abilities. Lee nodded. "Fair enough. I'm a swordsman too, but I specialize in defensive tactics. Evasive maneuvers, deflection, that sort of thing. So if it comes to a fight, I'll let you take point, and I'll try to back you up. Once you get worn down, I'll jump in and take over, cool?"

His face spread into a grin when she pulled out her sword. The nine-pronged blade seemed elegant and more ceremonial than anything else, but to be fair his Shichishito was pretty showy too. "The blue and gold looks nice. The Shichishito's green is getting a little dull, by comparison." He drew it and turned it over in his hands. "But I'll bet it's the stronger blade! Yours probably isn't seastone, yeah? It'd mess with the Devil Fruit. What's your fruit, anyhow? You mentioned something about elements; are you one of those "mythical" zoans I've heard about in stories?"

Lee had never met a mythic zoan user before, but he had heard about how Kaido could supposedly turn into a dragon, as well as a few other rumors of mythical creatures here and there. "I'd never give up the Shichishito, but if I got the opportunity to eat a fruit like that... I'd be tempted."

[Fox]

Yukiko’s ears drooped slightly when Lee admitted to having been to shady places like this before. While his analysis of the situation could and hopefully would be correct, she couldn’t help but feel that all of this was a little too good to be true. She didn’t voice her concerns to Lee, however, at least not yet, not wanting to come off as naggy or overly worrisome. Lee swiftly moved on to explain a bit about his fighting style. She nodded at his strategy. It was sound. While she recovered her stamina, Lee could fight.

Yukiko chuckled as Lee’s eyes lit up at the sight of her own sword, enjoying seeing him take pride in his own blade. Then the topic came up of Devil Fruits. Yukiko preferred to keep people in the dark about what she truly was - a Mink - and not many people knew what a Mink was in the first place. They were practically unheard of outside of the New World. Still, Lee was a good boy and her partner in this case, so he deserved to know.

“Ah…” Yukiko leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper, “This is a bit of a secret, but I’m not actually a Devil Fruit user. My people are called Minks.”

She moved away after her small confession, smiling apologetically for allowing the misunderstanding to go on for so long.

“Well! I think that about covers our plan for now. Ah, Lee, when we go in there, try to be cautious. I know it’ll probably be fine, but it doesn’t hurt to stay vigilant. When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, at least in my experience. Anyhow, shall we?”

Yukiko pushed the vine covered gate with her hand. She was met with some resistance, but it swung open with a loud groan of protest. The cobbled path to the doors of the manor was dilapidated and in various states of disarray. When Yukiko got to the doors, she found them already ajar, which set her a little on edge. Peering inside revealed a small assembly of other bounty hunters and mercenaries within. Well, at least this looked to be the right place. She turned back to look at Lee.

“Ready?”

---

Yukiko | #f0ffff | Post Count: 10

[Aromancer]

Lee's eyes widened at the revelation of Yukiko's true nature. "Oh, so you were just born like that? Awesome!" He grinned and sheathed his blade. "Well, that's a relief. I was worried my sword might be making you uncomfortable. But if you don't have a Devil Fruit, it's all good! And don't worry; your secret's safe with me!" He knew a thing or two about how important a secret could be.

As the two of them entered the courtyard, Lee was struck by the creaking of the gate. If the owner of this establishment was faking, he'd have to have been planning a ruse like this for years. Lee idly wondered to himself if there was a Devil Fruit that could accomplish something like this; some sort of "Creaky-Creaky Fruit," perhaps?

Lee shook his head. There might be a fruit like that out there, but the odds were so heavily against such a fruit belonging to their client as to be laughable. It was also possible that he was just renting out a run-down old manor, but that would be awfully expensive in and of itself; Lee doubted it would be worth the cost. Convincing himself that Yukiko was worried over nothing, he entered and joined the sizeable gathering of mercs clustered around.

As they entered, a man with broad shoulders and square features appeared from inside the manor. His coveralls and the length of straw in his mouth marked him as the groundskeeper; the state of the grounds marked him as either very lazy or very bad at his job.

"Alright, yew lot," he said, moving from merc to merc with a sheaf of papers, "The boss's hired y'all for a very important mission. Slavers've captured his daughter, y'see, and he wants her back quick-like. This here's the wanted poster for their cap'n."

Lee looked down at the document being handed out. The bounty was absurdly low, having been frozen due to his present employer's status as a Warlord, but he knew better than to assume that meant the man it was attached to was a pushover. That cocky grin, that gleaming gold tooth, those creases in his face; this was a man used to a long life of success. Any career criminal who made it to an advanced age was somebody worth taking seriously.

"Jet Lund," the man continued. "Works for the big man on the island, which is why my employer -and yours- will not be showin' y'all his face. He also will not be informing yew which of the girls on this latest shipment is his daughter; he wants 'em all freed, or ain't nunay'all gettin' paid."

Then, the groundskeeper got a kind of crafty look in his eye. "Of course, if'n yew do save all the girlies on that there ship, yew kin add two more zeroes to the end'o that bounty."

Lee raised an eyebrow. That was a... significantly better payout. The nearby murmurs told him this was likely the biggest bounty most of these men had ever seen; not surprising, if they spent most of their time here. But given the job involved drawing a Daikbukai's ire, it seemed roughly commensurate with the risk incurred.

"What do you think?" He asked Yukiko. "Noble enough for ya?"

[Fox]

Stepping into the main hall of the manor with Lee, Yukiko gripped the handle of her sword uneasily as she looked around at the other occupants. Just like her, they were sizing them up. Some smirked upon seeing a boy as young as Lee. Some stared hard at her in a way that made her more than a little uncomfortable. Mercifully, someone else was quick to steal the spotlight away from them. A broad shouldered man in overalls that resembled a groundskeeper - hopefully not with the state this place was in - spoke up and started passing out a sheaf of papers to each of them.

Yukiko immediately stiffened at the mention of slavers. Here? Could it be? Could she find her little Chi here? Yukiko chided herself for getting her hopes up. After all, it was extremely unlikely. It had been years. Slavers didn’t hold to their products that long. No, this was likely an unrelated group. And besides, the idea of her baby being passed around these sorts of unsavory people made her blood run cold. Yukiko took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. All that said, these sorts of people deserved to die. Her claws shredded the edges of the poster as she clenched it in her hands.

Her eyes snapped back up to the groundskeeper as he continued, frowning as he explained further. This would be exceptionally dangerous then. Though, the added bonus to their pay… It set off an alarm bell in Yukiko’s head. Something… didn’t feel quite right about all of this. They were going to pay all of them that ridiculous sum? Something was off. But, if even a speck of what they said about there being slavers was true, Yukiko couldn’t ignore it despite her bad feeling.

She glanced over to Lee as he asked her what she thought. Yukiko considered bringing her bad feelings up to him, but decided to keep it to herself for now. He’d likely think that she was just being paranoid or overly worrisome, and it didn’t change what they now had to do. Instead, her gaze held an unfamiliar steel to it.

“Yes.”

She turned her head to look at the groundskeeper.

“Do we have a location? Schedules? Other information? Or are we expected to gather that for ourselves?”

---

Yukiko | #f0ffff | Post Count: 11

[Aromancer]

Lee noted Yukiko's sudden alarm at the mention of slavers with some measure of confusion. Hadn't he told her earlier that this was a slaver island? Well, maybe he'd talked around it a little... or maybe she hadn't actually been listening, he thought darkly.

No, no, that wasn't fair. She had probably just had other things on her mind. At the time, he recalled she was far more concerned with the bourbon he'd been drinking; maybe her priorities were just a little out of wack. That said, now that she was confronted with a slaver crew, she seemed appropriately indignant; he was certain her heart would be in the coming mission.

"Now, let me be clear," the man said, as he finished passing around the documents, "Yer not all getting that pay; it's whoever brings Jet back, alive. If he's dead, yer gettin' the pay on the poster; if you don't git him, you don't git paid." That crafty smirk was back; the man was stirring the pot intentionally.

Sure enough, as Lee's eyes darted around, he saw the assembled bounty hunters looking at each other with a sudden suspicion. They were competition, now. Why the groundskeeper would incite this level of distrust, he wasn't sure; but his comfort with the situation was starting to be replaced with apprehension.

Yukiko seemed distrustful as well, but she was back to normal as she inquired for further details. The groundskeeper nodded in response to her question.

"Back 'o the poster," he noted, motioning for them to turn it over. On the opposite side, in a messy scrawl, was a schedule for the next shipment. It appeared as though the slaver crew would be setting off in three days with around two hundred "units." Also included was a description of a few high-ranking crewmen and the ship, along with a rough approximation of the ship's flag. It bore a vague resemblance to a marine flag, with just enough different that it would be considered legally distinct; a flag meant to signify good relations with the marines, while still being different enough to be distanced if caught.

"If'n yew need any more details, now's the time to ask," the groundskeeper said. "Yew got three days to stop the shipment and capture Jet. First man... or woman" -he gave a quick nod to Yukiko- "to bring back proof they've done the job gets the pot."

[Fox]

Ah, and now it all made sense. Yukiko bristled slightly at the mention of the pay only being for the ones who successfully brought the man on the wanted poster back. She glanced at Lee who seemed to be sizing up everyone else as a wave of suspicion and hostility rippled through the room. Damn. Her bad feelings were spot on. Ordinarily, she’d pass on a job like this. This reeked of something foul. But with slavers involved, she couldn’t afford to anymore.

When the groundskeeper mentioned that the back of the poster held the details, Yukiko didn’t bother flipping it over, instead opting to grab Lee’s hand and pull him out of the room with a good deal of speed. The groundskeeper continued speaking, capturing everyone’s attention for a brief moment, allowing Yukiko to reach the doors to the manor relatively unimpeded.

“Let’s go,” she whispered under her breath to Lee as she pushed open the door.

This caught the attention of one of the other bounty hunters who scowled and grabbed the hem of her kimono to stop her.

“Hold up, missy, you ain’t goin’ no-”

With an abrupt draw of her sword, Yukiko sliced off the bit of clothing that the man was clinging onto, freeing herself, and followed up with another horizontal slice, cutting through the heat in the air and generating a wall of ice between her and Lee and the rest of the bounty hunters.

“Run!”

Yukiko sprinted out of the manor and down the path, not stopping until she was past the mossy iron gates. She had to stop then because her body decided to destroy her with another fit of deep, painful coughs. She wiped the blood from her mouth, hopefully before Lee could see, and stood up straight, taking some slow, deep breaths.

“It’s likely a bloodbath in there now… There’ll be someone who has the idea of thinning out the competition then and there… I wanted to get us out ahead of that…”

---

Yukiko | #f0ffff | Post Count: 12

[Aromancer]

"Running, I can do!" Lee was willing to bet he was the fastest person in that courtyard, a belief he put to the test as he and Yukiko beat a hasty retreat away from the mansion. He stared in awe at the wall of ice the woman conjured behind her as she cut off the other bounty hunters' pursuit.

"Damn... you can do that? With a sword?" Evidently, he still had much to learn about swordsmanship. "You sure you don't have a devil fruit?"

Fortunately, Lee and Yukiko were quick, and it seemed the other bounty hunters were more concerned with thinning the immediately surrounding competition rather than heading off the runners. These factors meant they didn't have any pursuers as they made their way towards the docks; at least, not right away. Lee was sure that as the deadline closed in, it would be the biggest, baddest bounty hunters coming after them, the ones who had managed to survive the initial bloodbath.

"It's a sad part of being an independent operator," Lee said, looking back at the mansion with contrition. "No solidarity among bounty hunters. We're all in it for ourselves, and every other hunter is just competition for the biggest scores." He shook his head in disappointment.

"Well... speaking of." He cleared his throat and adjusted the sword on his back. "You good to keep moving, lady? We need to act fast if we're gonna take in this Jet guy before the others catch up."

[Fox]

“Lady?” Yukiko asked with a smile, “It’s Yukiko, Lee. Unless you’d like me to call you something like sugar plum gumdrop.”

She chuckled and glanced back at the manor as her heart settled back down. She didn’t want to push herself too much right now, in case she needed the extra stamina later. Fortunately, there would probably be plenty of waiting around and watching while they hunted. There always was. The nature of hunting, she supposed.

“But, yes, you’re right. Let’s get going.”

Yukiko set off at a somewhat brisk pace toward the docks, pulling out the poster and flipping it around to look at the schedule. Hm. In her experience, the slaves were likely stored somewhere nearby at this point. They were probably just provisioning the ship for the long journey ahead, considering they had extra mouths to feed. That meant that they could likely strike before the slaves were boarded onto the ship, potentially with a reduced guard while other crewmen spent time in town.

“We just need to figure out where those poor people are being held… stealthily, of course,” Yukiko muttered.

She certainly didn’t have a discreet profile. Yukiko tended to stand out wherever she went, for better or worse. Which likely meant that Lee was the better choice for that particular mission. She could probably at least learn the guard schedules and who would be where and when.

“Do you think you could find that out Lee? I’m guessing a warehouse, but there might be smugglers’ caves or secret passages. I can try to figure out their schedules, but it’ll take time. Alternatively, I could try to create a distraction?”

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Yukiko | #f0ffff | Post Count: 13

[Aromancer]

"Eugh." Lee couldn't imagine being called "sugar plum gumdrop." "Point taken. Yukiko it is." The two of them reached the docks, and Yukiko turned back to Lee to ask him to scout ahead.

"I don't think we'll need a distraction," Lee assured Yukiko with a smirk. "I can be very stealthy when I want. Watch this."

He crouched down low, then leapt into the air, the faint whisper of the word "Quetzalcoatl!" the only evidence that remained of the young bounty hunter's sudden disappearance. If Yukiko looked at a balcony at a nearby building, she would see him reappear suddenly there, checking the window inside, before zooming off to check the next one.

Even if anyone managed to spot him, they would likely just think it a trick of the light. Unless somebody with especially strong Observation Haki were around, Lee was a blur. It only took a few minutes to scout the warehouses around the docks, but the boy sadly came up empty-handed. He dashed back to Yukiko, panting with exhaustion.

"I... hah... checked out all the warehouses nearby... hah... but no luck..." he took a deep breath and straightened himself once more, albeit still a little wobbly. "...found a couple brothels, plenty of illegal goods, and more fight clubs than you'd expect... but no slaves. There was this one warehouse with all boarded-up windows, but I couldn't break in to investigate without drawing attention. We could try breaking in there-" -he pointed to a small, nondescript building a few blocks away "-or check around for caves. Any idea where to start on that front?"