Silver Raven

When we first met

“Life and death are like yin and yang, one cannot exist without the other. They are one in the same, two sides of the same coin. And the line between the two is fragile.”

 Deep in the Grand Line lay an island, or rather a series of islands. There, on that archipelago, is where I lived. Four years, it had been four years since I’d given up on pirating, but then I met him. That man who hauled me from my peaceful existence back into the realm of adventure and chaos. It had been a week before the auction house was thrown into chaos on Saboady Archipelago.

 A trio of pirates walked into the bar in which I worked, all of them males.

 “Raven, I’ve got to run a few errands. Watch over the bar for me.” Mari, the owner of the bar, had told me before walking out the front door. Mari was a plump women but also twice my height, and I am by no means short. Her mess of black hair resembled a rat’s nest and her eyes were the color of a grey shirt that had been washed a few too many times. In all honesty she looked more like a man, but no one dared tell her that. No one in those parts wanted to get on Mari’s bad side, if you did then you could consider yourself dead.

 I sighed as I walked over to the party of three. The men were already laughing and having a good time, even without the alcohol. “What can I do for you?” I asked them cheerfully, a fake smile plastered on my lips. None of them answered me right away, instead one of the men was staring at me with hearts in his eyes, literally. It made me a bit uncomfortable but I was use to men staring at me like that, that’s one of the reasons why I wore long sleeves and long skirts to work.

 “We’ll have some sake,” one of the other men responded once he realized his friend with the heart eyes wasn’t going to answer. I nodded my head and walked towards the back, grateful to get away from the strange pirates. The only other people at the bar was a group of regulars, and I wasn’t too keen on helping them either. Lately, the leader of their little gang had been trying to swoon me, but I simply shrugged him off. That didn’t settle with him awfully well so he had made various threats.

 “Hey Raven, c’mon over here!” he called out to me, slightly tipsy from the rum. I hesitantly strode over to their table, knowing that nothing good could come from this. “Why don’t you join us for a drink?” he inquired, but it was more of a command rather than a question. He forcefully grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me down into his lap. I tried pulling back, but he refused to let go. “What’s wrong? You don’t want to sit with us?” He asked, anger veins popping out of his forehead. I hated having to play the damsel in distress but if I were to actually fight him then I would be drawing too much attention to myself. I attempted to yank my arm back again, only harder. His grip slipped but he was quick to recover, but not quick enough. I had succeeded in freeing my hand but he had ripped my sleeve in the process, revealing some of my tattoos. The man slammed his fists on the table in frustration but before he could do anything more the chef, Mari’s husband, walked out of the kitchen.

 “Rider! Are you harassing my waitress again? Get out!” the chef, Jin, bellowed while swinging around his cooking knife.

 “You better watch yourself tonight,” Rider warned me before scampering off with the rest of his gang. His little threat didn’t scare me all that much except I didn’t want to get into a fight and risk the marines finding out who I was.

 “Are you alright, Ray?” Jin asked me, using my nickname. The worry in his voice was evident. He had thought of me as his child and he had been like an overprotective father.

 “That man disgusts me,” I said in between gritted teeth. He doubled over in laughter at my comment and I couldn’t help but genuinely smile at him. Jin was just as big and ugly as Mari but I loved them both as if they were family.

 “I’m glad to see that you’re alright,” he told me after his booming laughter had died down. He patted my back before disappearing into the kitchen once more. I got back to getting the pirates some sake and looked down at my torn sleeve in annoyance. It’s going to take forever to fix this, I thought. After I had three full cups of sake I walked back over to the table of pirates and sat the drinks down in front of them.

 “So, uh, Raven, what was that all about?” one of the men asked, referring to the scene which had just taken place. I was about to reply with a 'nothing important,' but a plan formulated in the head. I smirked a bit as the next words left my mouth, I hated playing the damsel but it can be useful sometimes.

 “That man has been stalking me and won’t leave me alone. Frankly I’m terrified to walk home.” I told them with fake tears in the brim of my eyes. All three men store intently at me, I was almost sure that their response would be yes. Their eyes went from my face and then down to my torn sleeve where the black ink of my tattoo spelled out the word death in cursive. I began to feel self-conscious as all three men began staring at my tattoo. The three men then looked at each other with mischievous grins on their faces, this surprised me. I was expecting them to seem perverted, but instead they seemed more like children.

 “I know someone who could escort you home,” the same man spoke again. “do you by chance have a den den mushi?” I nodded, slightly bewildered at their reactions, and pointed to the other side of the tavern. All three men rushed over there together and I tried to listen to what they were saying. The only words that I could make out were 'captian', 'emergency', and 'bar.' An hour later, around the end of my shift, a tall, lanky man walked into the bar. He nonchalantly scanned the room before striding over to the group of pirates. His face was a stony mask of indifference as he listened to the other pirates babble on. After the conversation he glared daggers into the men but never said a word. I hesitantly made my way over to the group.

 He seemed to be introverted but I didn’t see him as being anyone bad, if only I knew that he would be the man who turned my life upside down. I say that but if I had known then I might have still approached them that night.

 “What can I get for you, sir?” I asked the new man with my fake gleeful attitude. Being closer to him I could now see that he had some stubble on his chin and under his hat he had dull grey eyes that seemed to sink back in his skull. The dark lines under his eyes made him look like he hadn’t slept in days but he was still very handsom.

 “I won’t be drinking tonight, Miss.” He told me without paying much heed to my existence at all. Yep, definitely an introvert and on top of that he’s one of those people who thinks that they are better than everyone else, great. At least he’s polite. I am actually very optimistic so it’s a natural habit of mine to find people’s redeeming qualities even if they are a total jerk. I turned around to walk away from the group of pirates when one of them stopped me.

 “Wait, Raven.” The man who earlier looked at me with heart eyes called my name. “Captain, this is Raven and we promised her that you would walk her home tonight.” I couldn’t tell who was more surprised, him or me, but he was definitely angrier than me.  

 “You what?” the captain growled in annoyance. The men, save Heart eyes, shrunk back under their captain’s glare. His tone sent shivers down even my spine.

 “And that’s why you’ll never get a girlfriend,” Heart eyes joked causing a vein to pop out of the captain’s forehead.

 “C’mon, captain.” The other two whined, gaining more courage after seeing their crewmate speak.

 “Fine,” he hissed, hoping to get his subordinates to shut their mouths. Instead of finally shutting up they cheered in triumph. He adjusted his hat to where I couldn’t see his eyes but apparently his crew could because they immediately quieted down.

 “Uh, my shift ends in half an hour if that’s fine with you.” I told his nervously. Why does this man make me so nervous? The three crewmembers nodded in excitement while their captain didn’t bother to even look my way, he just simply waved his hand. I changed my mind, he doesn’t make me nervous he makes me irritated. I tried not to let his flippant actions bother me as I went to finish my rounds.