Trinket of Syzygy | One Piece fanfic

004.

Chapter 4: A Sealed Gem

Orion looked at the now deceased Quince. "Too bad you ended up like this. Idiots like you always die when running your mouth." As he opened the cell, he got ready to wrap up Quince. Suddenly, he stopped and for a moment, he eyed down the young man's corpse. Orion noticed that not even a single ounce of blood could be seen anywhere near his body. The flabby man couldn't help a trembling frown, stretching down his face. It didn't take long for him to find himself quivering in unbridled fear, almost as if he had never witnessed a crime scene for once in his life. He decided to direct his gaze towards the corpse's direction. To his chagrin, it somehow disappeared. Alas, a shockwave of realization struck his head. Behind him, A silhouette of a short, yet disheveled figure gradually slithered upwards, until it sprang out of the darkness. "Tada!" Quince yelled out, in his most robust tone. The lieutenant's eyes widened and looked at the boy in shock. He floundered a few steps backwards. Orion couldn't believe what he saw just now. Was it a miracle? Was it a fluke? Either way, he knew all too well that he would wind up in major trouble, lest he gets caught, failing to dispose of him this instant. "H...how are you still standing?!" The lieutenant spoke in disbelief. He felt vexed to the core. Quince chuckled "I used my cool devil fruit! But I'm pretty tired and hungry. Really could do with a good apple pie around now."

Orion was now intrigued "Devil fruit huh? Well I can't have you alive since Lady Larissa made that clear as day. Besides my life has more value than yours. I'm a hero in the navy, and you're just some dumbass kid." Orion charged at Quince ready to pummel him with his bellowing fist. "Guard pulse" Quince uses his wool to prevent the fist from reaching his flesh. Orion noticed that there were odd looking starry patterns embellishing the young lad's wool. "This motif.." He then lets out a malicious smirk, denoting that he had thought of a cruel plan "So that's how you dodged death, huh? Well I've decided. I'm gonna kill you, and seize your devil fruit. Don't know how ya got your paws on Aries, but I can't have some pedestrian keep such an arcane ability with immense potential, especially if he's right in front of me as we speak." Quince retorted with a pouty look on his face. "First of all, it's my devil fruit! And besides, you'd make an ugly ram! Secondly, who even is Aries? At this point, you're just making up random stories to make me look bad!" Orion laughs at his naïve, tactless reply "You're so dimwitted, it's almost funny! You really are unaware of how strong and rare your fruit is!"

Quince was enraged by his comments. "Power pulse!" He socks a returning hoof at Orion, dealing fatal damage. The pure wrath sends Orion to the wall. In the process, Larissa's red purse starts to shake from the effects of Quince's attack. A woman with short red hair and violet grey eyes comes out of the purse. She was wearing a red and white robe dress and looked rather beautiful. Quince started to clap. "That's such a cool magic trick!" Completely oblivious to Larissa's bag somehow fitting a human into it, Quince was his usual ignorant self. A furious Orion, picks himself up. His head was oozing with blood, and there were a fair amount of minor bruises throughout his muscular build. "You don't know what you've gotten yourself into!" He charges at Quince with full power, this was purely desperation as Quince had already won the fight. Quince lets out a kick aiming directly at his stomach. The muscular lieutenant, started to cough out several ounces of blood from this fatal blow, before his body thuds to the gravel leaving his consciousness to quickly go.

Quince then turns his attention to the woman. "Who are you magician girl?" The woman lowers her torso slightly towards Quince, "Thank you for saving me, my name is Xin Ruby. I'm a member of the notorious pirate group, the Chrysanthemum Pirates.. " "Saved you? What do you mean? You were shapeshifting the whole time, weren't you? I didn't know some people could turn into a bag like that! Hey! Do you mind teaching me some of your tricks?" Quince clasped his hands together, with two hazel, glistening orbs dotting his countenance, almost as if a dazzling pair of stars had completely supplanted his eyes. "Uh, right.. It's a long story and I would rather probe into it later. Although, you don't seem to reside in this place.. Could you be an outlander, by any chance?" She inquired, out of curiosity. Quince giggled, before providing a verbal response. "Mhm! I sailed all the way from Sunlight Village! It's not very well known though, so you probably aren't that much familiar with it, like most people." Ruby quirked a brow and smiled lopsidedly. "Oh but I do know much about it. Inconspicuous as it may be, due to its degrading economy, practically anything can be kept on our radar as long as we have our crew's navigator. For some reason, she doesn't like to be labeled as a pirate, despite being in cohorts with us for quite a long time. You'd think she'd get used to it by now, but nah. She still somehow manages to remain as pure as a dove, regardless of our attempts to rub off on her. If you ask me, it's pretty endearing." Quince's gasp escaped his lips. "Woah, really?! Man, I wish my crew had a navigator.. From the sound of it, they seem pretty talented too! You see, asides from my goal to become  the Astral King, there's this ideal crew I wanna assemble on my own first. I'm sorta hoping it would be a band of only nine members. Hiring a chef would be top priority, though. Just imagine how many apple pies you could eat. There would be unlimited batches for sure!" Ruby's shoulders perked up, as soon as she heard the title, "Astral King". "You wish to seize the eponymous title of the Starry Chronicle..?" "The Starry Chronicle..? What's that? Is that some sort of local cuisine?!" Quince's expression was laden with pure curiosity and excitement. "A local cuisine..? No! Look, I can't really tell whether you're joking or not. But if you are serious about pursuing that kind of goal, then you definitely have a long way to go. Though, I'm really hoping it is a joke given how unknowledgeable you are." Ruby snickered mildly. Nary a grain of solemnity could be discerned on her expression.