Lights and Shadows

Pirates

Rain had fallen. Daylight clouded by the grey overcast, the unknown ship looming closer. Mala looked up at Von who, brow furrowed, glared at the ships ceiling where men made ready to contact the mystery ship. A cannon shot was sounded as, to Von's guess, a signal to stop.
"Von?"
"Shush, I'm listening," he spoke a whisper barely heard as yet another cannon shot fired. "Pirates would have fired back by now, even if it is just to hail them." Mala was now still as she too looked up, her eyes wide. What was going on up above was as grey as the weather.

Borsalino tapped his fingers on the railings as he awaited some kind of response. None came. He shot up so he was right next to Rye as he trained his telescope closer to the ship. On deck of the opposing ship, none could be seen; no life, no movement.
"It's... deserted Sir," exclaimed Rye, his telescope shining here and there. "The flag is torn by the wheel, which is spinning on its own. I think their rudder is bust Sir."
"A ghost ship?"
"By looks of it." Rye was about to hand the telescope to the Admiral but instead, offered it to thin air as his light was now visible right next to the torn flag.
"Sir!" Rye shouted but was answered promptly with a raise of the hand. Lifting the flag, blood was soaked in it and the wheel had splinters. But there was no sign that this ship was blasted with cannon fire.

The Admiral stood with his hands in his pocket, the grey began to part and sun rays penetrated through them. Just at that time, a figure dropped behind him with a thump; a corpse. Looking up, he saw ripped rope, tangled and bloodied.
"The... pirates... they took, the captain... " The corpse spoke.
"Oh, you're still alive," he said.
"Please... plea..." his eyes went blank.
"Hmm. " feeling his pulse he was quite surprised, he was breathing still. Upon inspection, his chest was torn like a ravage beast had been set loose on him, his face was contorted, obviously in pain, despite how numb he would have felt the last few seconds of his conciousnous. Whatever it was, was dangerous. He saw no wounds on his hands and he was unarmed; an empty sheath spoke for itself, that he was a swordsman. He was taken care of swiftly.

"Sir, let me. " a flaming fox landed next to him.
"Doctor, " he nodded. " Save him as you always do, Fox. "
Smiling upon the obvious nickname, he grabbed him gently and leaped back to the ship, which was quite a fair way away.
"Don't be so careless, Fox. You're a devil fruit eater. " the flames vanished as he was already heading below his own decks.
The sun was now bright, but it didn't sway the tension in the air. The Admiral went below decks, one man lay dead but he seemed like he had no damage to him.
*Strange* the admiral thought.

༺ ༺༺༻༻ ༻

"Captain, don't be such a fool, you're crew's dead. You have nothing or no one to go back to. So, you may as well tell us. " A mysterious figure eating at some meat, roughly spoke. The venomous words that had been spat at him earlier, the pirates were sure the Captain would be afraid enough to start talking then.
"Screw... you. "
"Oh for God's sake. " the figure kicked the lost Captain. "I know you were there the day we raided that town. We know you were friends with that pathetic swine of a man. He had it. You KNOW WHAT I WANT SO TELL ME! " A laugh was the response. That annoyed the pirate even more, a twitch in the temple showing and teeth grinding, audible to the pirate's partner who, sighing, brought a knife the the Captain's throat, silencing his chuckle.
"You're testing my patience, you pig. "
"Since when did you ever have any? "
"Hpmh. Take him to the cells. No food for a week. No in fact, you can just starve. "
"So be it. "

༺ ༺༺༻༻ ༻

Captain Gale had received a signal from the head ship to come on board, so not a second later was a small boat set in the waters to take the man over. He came aboard, a concerned look on his face. He certainly has aged over the years but the lines present on his face, weren't that of age, but the evidence of smiling a lot.
"He's the only survivor. " he caught one of the men mumble as he got on board, the excitement that filled the air for the first few seconds suddenly turned to worry.
"Kizaru-san doesn't look too happy. " one of the men suddenly sighed.
"Probably worried about the new girl. "
"Poor girl, must be worried sick. " the Captain spoke quietly to himself. His gaze shifted to that of Kizaru who was speaking to some marines. He looked up momentarily before nodding to the men.
"Yes sir! " they all said in unison. With that they went about their duties.
"It seems the pirates have their captain hostage, Borton. "
"What are they doing. " he grumbled. "You called me over? "
"Yes. I need to discuss something with you. "

While Kizaru was still aboard the merchant ship and while the survivor was in Fox's hands, he had awoke yet again, managing to say that he saw their pirate captain's face. Upon Kizaru's return after the inspection, one of Fox's assistants passed on the news.
"That is why I brought you here. They may be the same pirates as those who attacked Cyremala's home town. " he leaned onto his desk, his elbows resting on the surface of still unfinished paperwork. " I need more than just her confirmation, plus the fact her mind is fragile at the moment. "
"Of course. In fact, his bounty is still ongoing but it's not changed for a long time simply because he went cold. "
It was true. The reason why Kizaru, and perhaps other marines, didn't know much about these pirates, were because they suddenly disappeared. They weren't as infamous either so they decided to call it a cold case. Borton explained this.
"They went off the map. " he sighed, his mind was wavering over the pirates, his grumbling stomach and Cyremala. The latter stormed in immediately.

"Cyremala? " Borton looked astonished as she entered, her face planted right onto the floorboards. "BAAAHAHAHAAH! " She got up right away, her face red not just because she hurt herself, but because of embarrassment. Borton's laugh made her even more ashamed and she scratched her head, a smile nervously painted on her lips.
"You're in a fine mood now. " Kizaru smiled.
"Von fed me. "
"Ah. " he replied, rolling his eyes.
"Eavesdropping is very naughty, Cyremala. " Kizaru spoke again, his expression indifferent.
"I-I ... Just happened to over hear.... I... " she sighed. "I can do it. "

Not only had he the strength to live such a terrible attack, but he became conscious way earlier that what was expected. But still, it took him a good couple of hours to wake up.
"Expected you singing in two days, considering your condition. " Fox chirped as he checked the wounds of the fallen man.
"I've always been stubborn, " he exclaimed, wincing as the doctor checked his waist, were the gash that had fell him was now stitched. "You said I was going to be questioned by a couple of people? "
Fox nodded. "Yup, you just let me know when you're ready. "
"I'm ready now. "
"Ok then, you're all good and with that, I'll go let them know. " before leaving, he gave the wounded man a mug of water to get him hydrated. He sighed as he glugged down the whole of it.

Fox had gone by the time the man had finished it, he wiped his mouth as he waited to be questioned. Looking around the room, he saw it was fairly big, expected. If there was a clash of some sort, the doctor would have no time to get his patients into other rooms, so this had to be big enough to accommodate if things went sour. But, he guessed that this probably wasn't the only room for a doctor to play in his or her field. The room was decorated with surgical items and of medicine. There were two small tables and two surgical beds, not including the one he was in. The walls were white but no carpet adorned the floor, just the floorboards which began to creak as Fox returned, with three others behind him.

It had been a few seconds of Fox explaining that they shouldn't push him, for although how he quickly recovered, that didn't mean he was so eager to be able to give out information. He could pass out again at any given time.
"So go easy, OK? " Fox didn't wait for a response. Turning to him, he nodded.
"I'll be fine. " he looked at the three as they came up to his side, Fox taking a seat at his desk he somehow neglected to notice.
"So, what's your name? " Kizaru shot a glare as Cyremala asked. "You're too slow to ask, Borcie. "
"Child. "
"Ahem! " Borton interrupted them both.
"Graham, Miss. "
"This is Cyremala, Captain Borton Gale. " he placed his hands behind them in turn as he spoke their names.
"Please, Borton will be fine. " he interrupted yet again.
"And I'm Admiral Kizaru. "
"Pleasure. " he looked at the admiral. " What do you want to know? "
"You told the doctor here that you saw the Captain of the pirates. " Fox hummed in confirmation, still looking at some kind of medicine he was working with. He looked down, puzzled.
"It's alright, take your time to remember. " Borton said calmly.

"The Captain, was a girl. " he finally stated and that made Cyremala instantly tense. She didn't like what she had heard and Borsalino had noticed.
"What did she look like? " the captain prompted.
"She was small, with brown hair. Dark tanned skin. "
"R-really? "
Graham looked at the girl as she gulped the question out. "Yeah. But, she had a strange air about her. A strange aura. I, couldn't really understand it, but if felt like there was, someone else there. She, didn't feel right. "
Cyremala was looking down, her eyes shut. Borsalino knew who she was thinking about, he knew this didn't bode well. What Graham was talking about made little sense, but as far as he and the others knew, her friend who betrayed her, was involved again. Without questioning why she began to walk out, he turned back to Graham for further questioning. Tears were streaming, from her heart.