Chapter Text
This particular morning, Ebisu Town was quiet.
The warm and dry weather of this morning was making it even harder for the inhabitants of the small village that already the little to no energy at all with their living conditions, to partake in their usual habits. But then again this was something they were used to. In warm weather they had to stay inside and do the least possible as to not get more tired and spend too much energy that they would not be able to compensate for water and food. On cold weather, they had to try to collect rainwater or even snow or ice as a way to save money and still ingest drinkable water — that is if the winds did not bring the air/smoke-streams from Udon’s factories and poisoned the air as well. As for the necessary warmth that could not be guaranteed by their thin clothing, they just had to spend time together exercising.
At all times they laughed and danced. The former samurai who denied Shogun Orochi’s legitimacy, taught the young boys how to fight, using twigs, branches, and broken wood as makeshift katana. The carpenters thought them how to be fix everyday items and most importantly how to mend the houses that were slowly breaking apart or even how to build them from scratch, using the wood from the constructions that were far too damaged.
The women thought the young girls how to mend clothing as they did not have enough cloth make kimono from the raw material. Others, like some of the men, used to be high ranking figures of the capital or some of the other regions of Wano. The ones teaching the girls manners and how to dance were former geisha, others used to be oiran. Most of their lessons of dancing, playing instruments, posture and speech tended to be erased by the time the girls spend with boys but also from them not having the necessary material to practice with or people to practice on.
As for the children, the innocent ones that brought joy to Ebisu, they spent their time anyway they could between the ones that stayed with their parents and the sickly elderly, the ones wanting to learn from those who knew the most and just playing with each other.
Nonetheless, they could not ignore death looming over them. Indiscriminately, men, women and children of all ages regularly passed away and even the regular arrivals of castaways from the Flower Capital did nothing to balance the decrease of population there. Sadly, even with the number of mouths to feed slowly diminishing, the level poverty remained the same.
Due to this unchanged fact, the actual inhabited zone of Ebisu Town kept growing smaller, with all the houses that were too old to be fixed, being abandoned, as well as the houses the people wanted to keep as a memento for those who once lived there. This was the place where all sorts of events took place, out of the gaze of everyone, in the abandoned part of Ebisu.
.
Hiding against the creaking wood of one of the houses, Moa tried to hide her laughter as she controlled her breathing. She was nervous and sweaty, and she could barely keep her grip on the pouch between her hands, the sounds of the coins hitting against each other filling the air, at the rhythm of her breathing.
“Where are ya lil’ miss?” A gruff voice asked a loud, resonating through the houses, “Let’s us her your cute laugh again!” This demand was quickly followed by laughter from said man and the other two who accompanied him. Their amusement was prolonged as they kicked down empty barrels and wooden panels stacked together against walls, while searching for the long haired, dark brunette.
Moa covered her mouth quickly, as she felt the laughter, she was repressing bubbling up. She was stressed and hangry, and the frustration only made her tremble more. The tears were burning her eyes and the strain she put on her muscles to stop smiling hurt her. “This isn’t fair!” She thought as she wiped her eyes, checking to see if was being closely followed. They certainly could find something better to do than to scare her and take the few silver coins she had with her. And if she did anything to these vile idiots, it would only cause repercussions on the villagers.
Moa had not asked for any of this. She was with the other people from Ebisu town, and they had just done the little work they had been allowed to do inside the border of the Flower Capital, but as they were leaving, someone noticed that their little group was being followed. Three men, part of the Hundred Beast Pirates under Kaido who were allowed to stroll around the capital, were laughing and making loud, rude comments as they walked behind them. Things took a turn for the worst when they started calling out for one of the women. They wanted to run. They tried to. A single gunshot was enough for them to scatter and for Moa to stop and change directions, no longer going to the center of Ebisu. She wasn’t going to go directly home but she wasn’t just giving up either.
Having run to the abandoned part of the small town, Moa only wanted to keep quiet long enough for these pirates to grow bored and leave her alone. This sort of behavior from the members of the Beast Pirates or even the samurai of Shogun Orochi were usual, but it was always annoying and scary to live through. Moa couldn’t possibly return home with them still searching for her and take the risk of these criminals tormenting the whole village.
As she heard their steps getting closer, Moa slipped through the cracked wood into the small storage house she was hiding behind. A few seconds later, she heard footsteps getting closer to where she was. “Hey guys, there are some footsteps here!”
Moa held in her breathing, hearing more people approaching. She put the pouch inside he sashes around her waist and used both hands to cover up her laughter. “Deep breaths, deep breaths…” she needed to get her feelings under control, lest she started laughing out loud and gave her position away. Not as if she had any chance now. It was only a matter of time until they found her if she didn’t move. So, the decision was done for her.
Moa pushed the door of the cabin — which broke under the strain — and ran out, just as the men saw her.
“There’s no need to run!” Said one of them, laughing as he pulled out his sword, “We just want to chat!”
“Kyahkyahkyah! It’s all for fun missy! We’re all already laughing!”
Moa ignored them as she kept running as fast as she could with her with her kimono and geta. She was sure she could not outrun them like this. “Hahahahaha! Just leave me be!”
They were shooting at her now, seemingly aiming for her legs. “Come on! Just a shot!” Yelled one of the pirates to his friends holding the guns. They were growing visibly frustrated, not managing to touch her or even come close to her.
The one holding a rifle, stopped shooting and running. Getting down on one knee, he carefully aimed, touching the woman on the leg.
Before Moa could even properly understand what had happened, she fell through the wall of a house, the coins she hand spilling from the pouch.
The pirates high-fived each other, laughing as they cut the distance between them and the laughing woman.
Moa slowly raised her upper body, ignoring her scratched hand and bleeding forearms. Her leg was throbbing, blood starting to soak through the tissue and spilling on the floor. The sound of feet on gravel was what made her raise her head to pay attention to what was happening inside the house, not expecting anyone to be there. As the person stepped out of the shadows into the light provided by the newly broken wall, Moa was able to identify a man, much taller than the average one, dressed fully in blue leather and with sharp eyes and orange hair, cut just as sharply. She was rendered speechless. For once she couldn’t even laugh and she was too surprised to even realize and be happy about it.
This time the tears spilled freely. The adrenalin spike came crashing down; the pain from the gun shot and the fear from being before this man, overwhelming.
“Where did ya crawl to ya lil’ minx?” Asked one of the pirates, walking into the dusty, abandoned house. Two steps in and he stopped, noticing the presence of another person.
“Is she still alive?” Asked the one who managed to touch her, walking in with the last one close behind. They both stopped seeing their companion was not moving or even answering. The man inside the house moves close enough for them to recognize him as one of the recently ranked Headliners, X Drake.
“D-Drake-san! What are you doing here?!” The last one who stepped in was the first one to speak, asking what they were all silently wondering.
“I should be the one asking that.” He stated narrowing his eyes and stepping closer, oppressing them with his aura without even needing to try. Moa crawled back, trying to put the most distance possible between her and all these dangerous men, with her small laughter being the only sound filling the area.
Drake looked down at her, seeing the coins she had spilled and the pitiful state she was in, with gashes on her face and hands, and bleeding from her leg and to a lesser amount, her arms. He had witnessed her violent fall and could only guess in how much pain she was in. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
None of them really knew what to say. Though he was a relatively recent addition to the crew, this man, member of the Worst Generation, had already rose to the ranks of Headliner and they knew he could and wouldn’t even hesitate to kill them if he saw fit, without consequence. Finally, one of the shaking man managed to for a sentence. “T-This woman!” He practically yelled, pointing a Moa who flinched, “She’s the devil fruit user we are searching for!”
Finally registering the words their friend said, the other two vividly nodded. “And a thief at that!” They added to make things worse for the poor woman.
Moa on the other hand, started shaking her head, trying to defend her self weakly. “No, that’s not true!” she felt as if the smile on her face would, like always, only work at her disadvantage, “I didn’t do anything!”
“Shut up!” Yelled the one who shot her, kicking her in the arm for good measure.
“Kyah! Hahaha!”
Drake sighed. This was a sadly common behavior around these poor towns. Being lower-grade citizens, no one ever held back from tormenting this weak, defenseless and rather large part of the population of Wano. It became quite a popular hobby for bored samurai and pirates, to entertain themselves with these people, whether they wanted to or not. “And you think someone having eaten a faulty SMILE would get the powers of a devil fruit?!” he asked/barked rhetorically, “Do you really think the subordinates of an Emperor of the Sea have nothing better to do than this?! And to chase a thief... Are you pirates or one of those ignorant samurai?!”
The three pirates straighten immediately. “We are pirates!” They said in unison, one of them adding a ‘sir’ for good measure. “Please forgive us!”
“Get back to work!” Barked Drake, sighing once again as they tripped over each other as they tried to run out of his sight as quickly as they could.
Now his gaze turned toward her.
Instead of being chased by bored subordinates, she left wounded, alone, with one of the greatest criminals Kaido had brought to her land.
“What do I do with you, now?”