♰ Tears of Blood ♰

♰ Prologue ♰

A girl sat in a bustling bar full of all sorts of people. In one corner, people gossiped about recent news. Another was people gobbled down on food. At the bar, men were getting drunk on sakè. The girl sighed at the barbarians around her and called to the bartender. "Bartender, may I have a cup of Earl Grey and a sandwich, please?"

"Yes, ma'am," the bartender fixed the order quickly and adroitly, "here you go." He left the girl and went to other customers.

A smile spread to the girl's face as she took a whiff of the Earl's aromatic fragrance, the sweet smell of citrus. Her mouth watered at the aroma, she reached down to her tea cup and took a sip. The tea calmed her taste buds and next longed for the turkey sandwich in front of her. The girl took a bite and within a millisecond she spit out the sandwich. It had a vulgar taste that couldn't be explained.

The girl wiped her mouth, and stood from her stool, "I'll have my ticket now." She paid her ticket and made her way out of the bar of forsaken sandwiches. As the girl was ambling down the nice, peaceful streets, she could fell a few presences stalking her every movement. In response to the stalkers behind her, she took a turn to an alley and walked into a dead end. 'Perfect,' she thought to herself.

Sickly laughter came from behind the girl, she turned around to meet four atrocious looking men, all armed with pistols and knives. On the inside the girl smirked to herself, these men had to be idiots to take her on. "May I help you?" the girl questioned the imbeciles in front her.

A scrawny middle aged man stepped forward with a knife and walked around the girl, "Yes, you can," he stopped behind the girl, "We can get us a crap load of money for your head, 'Blood Rose!'" The man whirled his knife into the girl, however, the girl suddenly vanished from sight. "Where'd she go?"

"Up here."

The man looked up to see the girl in mid air with a knife as well in between her fingers. Her eyes looked like they were aiming for a target, and they sure found one, the man's shoulder. The girl's slender white fingers threw the knife to its target, and it made a hit, as always. Blood trickled from the man's shoulder as he gripped it and fell to the ground in pain, "Get her!" He barked to his gang, they immediately went into action.

A tall, muscular man pointed a pistol at the girl, and fired a bullet towards her. The girl spun on her heel, and dodged the incoming bullet. She took her move and snuck behind the man and raised her hand to the nape of the man's neck and chopped it. a The tall man fell forward and face planted onto the ground.

Next, a medium built man swung his knife in all directions not caring who he hit as long as it was the girl. In turn, she gave the man a round house kick to the gun, the man coughed and blacked out.

The last person was a small boy who stood there shaking in terror. Smirking the girl did something that was horrifying. She wiggles her fingers by her face and said, "Boo!" The boy shrieked like a banshee and ran away towards some direction.

"Gyahaha!" The girl laughed, and she dusted her hands off. "Now, that was a nice exercise if I say so myself." The girl made her way on out of the alley and something caught her eye. It was a poster to be specific. She walked over to it and got a better look at it.

On the poster in bold letters it read, 'WANTED', and below was a picture that mirrored the girl. Same passion red hair, same white porcelain doll skin, and big, soft baby blue eyes. Beneath the poster was the name, 'Layla,' it was a beautifully name given to her by a man of wonder, and underneath the name was a impressive bounty of 250,000,000 beri.

Layla smiled to herself, and yelled in happiness, "Yes, it's gone up!" People looked at her oddly after her outburst, Layla smiled goofily and looked at another poster. Her face went solemn, as she grabbed the poster. "Monkey D. Luffy," Layla whispered softly to herself. The same hair of raven feathers, a scar under his left eye, and a signature sunny yellow straw hat with a bright red strip was all she needed to know that this was Luffy. He was a special fellow of 100,000,000 beri, who her friend had talked to her once. "Luffy, I hope we meet soon." Layla gripped the poster her hand and tucked it in her brown coat pocket. She dug her hands in her pockets and went on with her business.

Little did she know, that fate had a mess of obstacle heading her way. However, she could handle it, hopefully.