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Sabaody Archipelago is in peace. Or well, in as much peace as it usually enjoys, considering the frequent pirate crews terrorizing it, the slave trade which takes place within, and the Celestial Dragons’ general presence and personality.
This relative peace won’t last long, however. Before the day ends, the Archipelago will see itself thrown to chaos, overcome with human weapons known as Pacifistas as well as an admiral from the marine headquarters, but no one’s truly aware of this yet, and so it doesn’t really matter.
In this peaceful-but-not-for-long location there is a (different) incident just waiting to happen.
A cat sits on the shoulder of a man worth almost two-hundred-million berries, as he enters a restaurant. She sinks her claws onto his skin, pieces of straw filling the gaps between her paws, and yawns. The man mentions something about the cat’s presence being necessary to ensure his good luck for the day, and his crew wisely refrains from commenting further.
On the other side of said restaurant, a woman loudly demands more food be brought to her table. The waiters cower at her tone and work as fast as they can to please her, lest she unleashes her one-hundred-and-forty-million berries fury on them.
The cat doesn’t pay them much attention, content to spend her time scratching the straw that seems to be a natural part of the man’s body, until something catches her attention.
One of the waiters walks with haste towards the ever-hungry woman, bringing with him a plate of grilled fish.
This cat was raised as a stray, and is therefore well-versed in the art of speed and opportunity. Before the plate even touches the woman’s table, the cat is already there, impatient to pounce on it.
“Oi, that’s mine. Get your own, stupid cat,” the woman tells her, holding up the plate as the waiter tries to place it down on the table. The cat has never gained anything from listening to arrogant humans, so she ignores her.
The cat climbs the woman’s arms, to her enraged exclaims, and the woman isn’t fast enough in catching her before the cat manages to sink her fangs into one of the fish’s flesh, and rapidly scurry away in haste so as to not lose her prize.
Offended and scandalized shouts follow her, accompanied by threats of what the woman will do to her if she ever finds her again, but the cat seems to have the distinct impression the woman isn’t as exasperated as she claims. Almost as if stealing her food was the correct way to impress said woman.
The cat will truly never understand humans.
The cat is peacefully devouring her lifeless victim when another human seems to take interest in her. The one in question is a large man with a big cross marked onto his chest, as well as his chin.
Uninterested, the cat tries to ignore him, but the strange human (who’s wearing way too much leather for the humid and warm climate of Sabaody) approaches her instead.
“Are you lost?” he asks, crouching down next to her, in a ridiculous small voice. The cat hisses, placing a paw between the man and her food, but it only seems to endear the man even more to her. “I didn’t know Sabaody had stray cats… Must be tough, surviving on your own in such a lawless place, huh?”
The cat doesn’t care for the man’s musings, and hisses again. The lizard-smelling man doesn’t get the message, and instead brings a hand to pet her head.
“I know,” the man says, as the cat thinks of ways in which to scratch his eyes off and then run away, struggling against his hand, “you could come with me! The sea is a rough place, but you’d manage, right? We’ll feed you, and you could sleep in my bed…”
The cat glares at the man, but again, the oblivious idiot fails to notice the obvious hatred the cat is starting to hold for him.
He then takes out a marker from his pocket, still holding onto the cat’s head, and paints an X onto the fur between her ears. Oh, scratching his eyes off sounds too merciful now. The cat yearns to feed him to the fish she eats.
“There, now we match. This way people will know where to take you if you get lost,” he says with a stupid smile. “You’ll really like living on our ship, it’s more comfortable than you’d think. Oh! I should buy you a little cat bed. They sell lots of things on the market of these islands, I bet they’ll have one, and we’ll need cat food…”
“I’m about to meet with a friend soon,” the man muses, still messing with her fur. “To exchange information. His name is Coby, I bet you’ll like him. Everyone does. Do you think he’s ever had a cat? I should ask him for advice.”
His grip on her relaxes the slightest amount. The cat takes her chance.
By the time the two-hundred-twenty-two-million berry man comes out of his distracted trance, the only thing beside him are fish bones.
The cat will have her revenge. Just not today. The man’s hand smelled too much like a predator for her liking.
“Uh… Captain?” Shachi mutters.
“Set course towards the Marine Headquarters, Bepo. Make sure we don’t break the surface until we get there, the last thing we need is to get attacked right now. We’re in a hurry—”
“Captain?” he calls again.
“What, Shachi?” his Captain replies from where he’s hunched beside their navigator. “I’m busy.”
“Um.. it’s just…” he trails off, unable to find the correct words to explain the situation, and Captain looks just about ready to yell at him when Ikkaku (fortunately) interrupts him.
“We have a stowaway,” she states.
“We have a what?!” Captain pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath. “I don’t have time for this. Where is he?”
For some reason, this is the moment where Shachi’s voice decides to come back to him.
“It’s a she, actually,” he tells him, “and she’s right here.” Shachi lifts the little cat he’d been keeping behind his back so Captain can see her. Her little legs dangle in the air.
“What,” is the only response he gets.
“I think her leg’s hurt. She was limping in the hallway when me and ‘kkaku found her.”
“What,” his Captain repeats. “What’s a cat doing inside the ship?”
“She probably sneaked in while we were watching the transmission,” Ikkaku offers as she pets the little ball of fur in Shachi’s arms. She sends a meaningful look towards their Captain. “Her fur’s really soft, y’know.”
“We’re not keeping the cat, Ikkaku,” Captain glares.
“Try petting her. Just once,” Shachi insists.
“It’s almost like petting Bepo,” Ikkaku adds.
Captain opens his mouth, probably to tell them off, when the infamous cat decides she’s had enough attention for the day and turns around abruptly to scratch Shachi’s hands and break free of his hold.
“I— wha— wait— that hurts dammit, stop it—'' he mutters, unceremoniously dropping the cat and sticking his thumb inside his mouth. Ouch.
When he looks back up to his Captain, the bastard’s smirking.
“Maybe we could keep her, after all” he asks, as the traitor cat rubs against his leg.
Somehow, the look in their eyes is the exact same.