Demons, Swords, And Other Things That Nearly Killed Me

Yes, Sir Crocodile

   Your shoes trudged through the sand, leaving indents the further you walked. Couldn't Luffy get a hint? All you wanted to do was explore for a little bit– then you'd be back with the crew before you had to trek even further out to get to Yuba. The heat wasn't that unbearable if you walked where the gusts of winds swept through the area.

Ugh. I don't like the sand as much as I thought I would. It makes my shoes slide around and it gets in my mouth, you thought to yourself, pulling your cloak so that it covered part of your face. You put it over your mouth so no more sand would get in.

"Believe me, I don't like it either. Though it is tasty."

You had to admit, it had a satisfying crunch

Wait– No! Stop eating sand!

"I can eat whatever I want."

You could never win an argument with him. First it was "you're pronouncing the supernova rookie's names wrong" and now it was "I can eat sand if I want to". You hoped that the next mouthful of sand he ate was full of worms.

"Annan, what do you think we should do later? I don't really want to fight Crocodile."

"Perhaps aiding in the battle against the rebel army? I'm sure that some of them have some dark secrets," Annan suggested. You blankly stared down at the sword at your side. Even if you had dropped Annan into a pile of swords, you'd be able to find him in an instant. (Not only because of his bloodlust, but because he was much longer than any of your other swords. Whereas your other three were two and a half feet long, Annan was almost three feet in length. That, and his tsuba gave it away. The little holes around it reminded you of the eye tattoo you had on your chest).

"We will not be killing the revolutionaries. You know that killing is off the table."

"And maiming is still an option."

You sighed, "I can't believe you two. You're always thirsty for blood."

"And you're thirsty for people three times your age."

"Shut the hell up Kosai, you eat sand." You said, tugging your hat down a bit.

You walked past another building and realized that you were at the outskirts of the town. Or what remained of it, anyways. Turning around, you also noticed that you were much farther than you originally thought. Damn, how far had you been walking? You could barely see where the front of the town was. Your crew was nowhere in sight– and the only thing you could hear, aside from Annan's voice, was the howling winds. That, and footsteps from behind yo–

OHAUDCBCDBGHBV–

You swung your foot around– a knife sliding out in the slit between your soles. A sharp clang resonated through the air, metal meeting metal, before the knife in the heel of your shoe shattered. The broken blade fell to the sand. You almost lost your balance when you felt something hook around your ankle since you had it so high in the air already.

"Hm. You have better reactions than I thought."

Your mouth hung open. What kind of luck did you have to deserve this shit? In front of you, Crocodile stood, blocking out the sun from behind him, and casting a shadow over you. His eyes scrutinized you. Wow, that was hotter than you'd thought it would be. He had the most terrifying look on his face that you had ever seen. Absolute seriousness.