One Piece: A Taste for Trouble! [HIATUS]

Chapter 4: What's a Nekomata?

"Where did you get that?"

Utano turned around to glance at the captain who was a little ways behind her, his eyes glued to her long-sword which she always took out and placed on the side every time she trained. She put on her traditional hat, it's circumference hiding her face and shoulders in shadow. Despite only knowing the man for half a day, she knew she could trust him. If he really was on that ship when Gold Roger was still alive, then it perhaps wasn't surprising that he had seen her other katana somewhere else before. She analysed him carefully as he approached the ancient weapon but never touched it. Yes, she could trust this pirate. She could always kill him if she had been wrong, right?

". . .It was my father's." She didn't face him when she said it, and busied herself with putting away her chokutō and adjusting her kimono.

She could feel his stare on her back, burning holes through her.

"Your father's?" He repeated, dumbfounded.

"Yes. That's what I said right?" She scowled. So slow, she thought.

"And I assume that that's his hat too." It didn't sound like a question, more of a statement.

Utano only nodded, then pushed herself up on to the side of the ship so that she was sat directly facing him. "So what of it, tomato-top."

Shanks hummed in thought, choosing to lean on the wood just a few inches from her. He stared out at the mysterious horizon, nostalgia making him appear distant. For once, the man wasn't smiling.

"Tiger, if I recall correctly. So you're, what. . . his kid? You're Tiger D.-" she cut him off.

"Mhm. That's his name," she huffed.

"Oooh~ I see I see!" Cheered the captain, slapping the teen on the back which made her grunt. "Well, Utano-san, you at least have his eyes! How is that old tomcat doing? He disappeared for more than twenty years! Hahahaha! To think that man had a daughter?!"

Utano blinked at him. "You speak as though you were good friends."

The red head sweat dropped but he was still beaming. "Well . . . I wouldn't say 'friends'. That old man was the bane of my existence. Every time we met with the rest of his crew -," he shuddered, reliving a horrid memory. "I remember there were only a couple of people amongst the Golden Glory pirates who I got along well with. After all, them and the Roger pirates were rivals."

There was a comfortable silence between the two. It felt that they could stay that way for the rest of the night but Utano wasn't one for sentimentalities.

"Yeah. Dad always told us stories. He missed the sea and the ways of a pirates life."

"Us?"

"Oh... me and my little brother." Utano's expression relaxed. "He must be seven by now," she murmured.

Shanks looked up at her, a mixture of emotions swimming in his eyes. "A son too then. Utano . . . How long have you been at sea?"

The girl leaned on one hand, head tilted as she thought about his question. "I'd say a little over two years already. I've been traveling around West and South Blue all this time so really I haven't yet strayed that far from Nekoshima."

"Nekoshima? So that's where he is? All this time and he's been back in his homeland?!" The man seemed especially surprised at this.

Utano flinched and cursed in her head. She hadn't meant to reveal that much information. She wasn't sure if it was anything valuable to Shanks but in the short time that she'd been hopping from island to island and country to country, she had quickly learned that if ever the Marines got a lead to where one of the scattered Golden Glory pirates had gone into hiding to, it would only spell trouble for her and her plans. Tired, Utano put away her larger katana and had been about to leave to a quieter place on the ship and get some sleep but the captain still had questions for her.