Edited: May 17, 2016

I will not hide my face

I will not fall from grace

I'll walk into the fire, baby

All my life I was afraid to die

But now I come alive inside these flames

{ The Fighter by In This Moment }

She had never been so excited to bust a drug cartel.

It was a warm evening just like any other on the exotic island she was stationed at. She had been assigned here for a case about an underground drug base about two months ago, and she was finally on the edge of shutting the operation down. Truth be told, she was more concerned with finally getting off the island rather than worrying about low lifers distributing illegal substances.

Her long, red hair swayed from side to side, dancing across the Marine insignia on the back of her coat. Her subordinates were waiting on the beach by their anchored ship, one by one they began to notice her walking towards them. Their bored faces slowly filled with excitement.

"Captain, we finally going to take action? We've been itching to kick ass for weeks now!" A subordinate called out to her, his voice laced with suspense.

"Yeah, I filled in the paperwork for the case and made a call to the higher-ups this morning, they gave us the go." She answered in a relaxed tone. At first glance one wouldn't assume she was the captain of this particular crew because out of the entire group she was one of the youngest members. However, the redhead had displayed her capabilities and talents well. She knew her strengths and she had confidence in the abilities that she had spent years building. To be quite honest, she believed that she didn't even need her crew for this mission. She could have taken this case on by herself but alas, that wasn't allowed. Apparently that wasn't part of the protocol and too dangerous. "So, what are you waiting for then?" She called out, tilting her head with a small roll of her eyes.

Roars of excitement after weeks of secrecy and camping out surged through her crew, "You heard her! Follow Captain!"

With battle soon approaching them, she tied her hair in a high ponytail to keep strands out of her face during combat. "Move out!" She ordered.

"Yes ma'am!"

A small smile danced on her lips. Although she never cared to have a crew... She couldn't deny that their loyalty and trust in her were endearing.

The sun had fallen and the moon was high in the sky when they arrived at the drug operations base. Her crew was following behind her as she approached the entrance in silence. She had to give the criminals credit for their choice of location; it was well hidden and took her a few weeks to find when she had first arrived on the island. After the discovery, it was merely observing and gathering information until she was given the orders to shut it down.

Without hesitation she kicked open the door with far too much force than to be expected from her size. A few lackeys whipped around and cocked their guns at her and her group. Her crew was just as quick to react and lifted their guns as well, both sides filled with immense tension, but no one firing.

"Omega Crew, you are under arrest for the possession, distribution, and selling of illegal substances among other crimes. I suggest you surrender and come quietly." One of the pirates grunted and readied to shoot her, but she didn't flinch. Before he could do anything, one of her own men shot the offender and he fell to the ground in a cry of pain. A smirk graced her lips. Hey, if she was going to be stuck with a crew she might as well have a good one right? "Zayleck, I'm loving the reflexes, but we'd like to get as many of them as we can alive."

The man who had shot the pirate gave her a sheepish grin, "Sorry 'bout that ma'am."

The pirates in the room snarled and glared at them. One of them shouted, "Damn Marines! Kill every last one of them! Last thing we need is Captain on our asses about this!" After the outburst, many more yells of, "Murder them! Fuckin' slaughter them!" resonated from their side.

She closed her eyes and sighed, she had no interest in the low rank scum of the operation. If their captain wasn't here then she had no reason to waste her time here either. "Guys, clean things up here for me. Arrest as many as you can, kill if you need to." Those were all the orders her subordinates needed to hear before engaging in combat with the pirates. She didn't need to waste her energy on this. The low-ranked pirates proved no match for her crew and were all placed in handcuffs before long.

As the sounds of yelling and swords clashing quieted down from both sides, she finally moved from her place at the door frame. The pirates were in cuffs on the floor for a few minutes now, and it seemed that they had finally given up thrashing around in futile effort.

"Just wait till Captain gets here! He'll slaughter ya!" One of the pirates spat at her. The snide remark caught her attention. She walked over to the pirate and stood in front of him, her smaller body looming over him from where he was lying on the floor.

She lifted a booted leg and swiftly brought it down to the side of his head, digging it into his skull. The man cried out in agony as the sole of her foot ground into his cheek.

"Oh? Your captain? And where would this captain of yours be right now?" She prodded as she continued to rub the bottom of her shoe harshly into his head.

"L-like I'd tell you, you damn bitch! Who the fuck do you think you are huh?" Unfortunately for him, gasping for air and grunting in pain weren't exactly the most fear-striking of acts.

Her voice was blunt and harsh, "I think I'm the 'bitch' who will have all your asses thrown into Impel Down." With her foot still holding the man's head down, she twisted her torso to grab a sabre from one of her soldiers. She turned and squatted down, her free hand reaching out and grabbing a bunch of the pirate's hair to lift his head. She brought the curve of the sword to his neck, "Now tell me where your captain is. You low-ranks are nothing you hear me? We can kill you whenever we want. You mean nothing. Nothing at all. Arresting you is mere mercy on our part, so if you tell me where your captain is- the guy we actually want, I'll grant you the privilege of living your pitiful life in a dingy prison cell instead of slowly severing your heard off right now." Her voice was laced with malice. She didn't have time to deal with stupid lackeys. She would pull any cheap intimidation tactics she needed to if it meant completing this mission and finally setting sail again.

The man yelped underneath her bloodthirsty gaze and sword, surrendering. "H-he's on the north beach, waiting for new shipments to arrive..." He said, words barely above a terrified whisper.

She smirked. He spilled the truth a lot faster than she had expected him to. Now that is how you intimidate and threaten someone, she thought in amusement. "Perfect." She dropped his head to the floor and she withdrew the sword from his neck. Her gaze directed toward her crew, "I'll need you to take these pirates to the east shoreline of the island. I had called another ship to take them to one of the Marine bases until the higher-ups decide what to do with them. Once all of them are handed over, you are also to guide the other marines to this base to investigate further into it. I'll go find and kick their bosses ass. Stay out of it and just follow the orders, understood?"

A "Yes ma'am!" called back in unison while her subordinates began their work, hauling the criminals up and dragging them out the door.

She had been running through the exotic forest at swift speeds, trying to reach the northern beach in time to catch the pirate crew's captain. After a couple minutes of running, the trees started to sparse out and she was met with the silhouette of a large man awaiting a quickly approaching, unnamed ship. So, she had made it just in time. She sported a wild grin as she dashed forward and charged the man from behind. What? Pirates always played unfair, why couldn't she?

He turned his head around just in time to see a fist connect with his jaw, blowing him into the shallow sea water. For a normal person the water wouldn't do much, but she was well aware that this pirate captain had a Devil Fruit ability. So with that one swift, powerful punch she had effectively knocked the man out and immobilized him if he were to regain consciousness.

She looked up to see that the ship that was once approaching the shore slowly begin to turn its course and attempt a retreat. From the corner of her eye she saw a Marine vessel come into view and target the ship dead-on, firing numerous cannonballs into it. The men on board, presumably low-life drug dealers, started jumping overboard to escape as it would sink in no time. A futile effort. Really.

She pulled out a small transponder snail from her coat and dialled the captain that had been called in for assistance.

Buru buru.. buru buru.. kachank! "Captain Friole. What is it soldier?"

Her eyebrows twitched. She wasn't just a soldier, she was a captain too... "I finished things up with the big guy. I'm on the northern shoreline, where are you? Soldier?"

"I'm heading towards their base of operations. Your subordinate, commander Zayleck is guiding me, soldier."

"I see. Well, would you call your crew and notify them to pick up the man that's lying unconscious in the water by the north shoreline? And oh, put him in some seastone cuffs. I'm counting on you to clean things up here since my job here is done. That'll be all soldier." She hung up on the call with an irritated slam of the receiver. She had nothing more to say to the man and she knew he would follow through with her requests if only to make his part in the case seem notable.

She sighed, content with her work. It had been two long months docked on the island. She liked it here and the villagers were very kind to them, but two months on land was too much for her. She loved being on the ocean far more. It was the only reason she had become a marine in the first place... She wanted to start anew and sail the seas with freedom... Becoming a marine was her best option for that. It wasn't like she could have just joined a pirate crew and became an outlaw when she was fifteen. Even though sailing the seas as a marine was a bit too regulated for her tastes, it had its perks too.

She turned on her heel and started walking towards the south side of the island where the village was. She was going to tell the kind islanders the good news.

It was well into the early hours of the morning and the village celebration was still going strong. The case had been long cleaned up and now only her and her crew remained on the island with the villagers. She smiled warmly at the sight of them dancing, singing, and drinking- her crew joining in on the fun too. The pirates on the island hadn't really been interested in the villagers when they were here; they had simply used the island as a secret base. However that didn't mean they hadn't raided the village of supplies when they ran out of stock. The poor villagers had suffered for months even before she and her crew arrived.

She was at peace, observing the happy people beaming with joy. She loved this island. Their voyage tomorrow would be bittersweet despite her desire to leave.

The party dragged on with the same amount of energy and vigour as when it started. The girl sighed and pulled the tie out of her long red locks, letting them down and releasing the tension on the roots of her hair. Ouch. She cursed internally. She stood up and began to leave, seeking to get a little sleep before they embarked in the morning.

She turned to face her crew, getting their attention with a voice loud enough to be heard over the sounds of celebration, "Soldiers we'll be setting sail in the morning! I don't care what you do, but you better be alert for tomorrow! We have a long day ahead of us." As she turned to walk away she heard a few wishes of a good night to her as well.

She supposed that when it came down to it, she actually enjoyed her crew's company.

She woke up in the hut one of the villagers had offered to her the night before. Her head throbbed and her eyelids were heavy. She definitely didn't get enough sleep last night... Rolling out of bed and stumbling to get up, the girl trudged out of the one room structure and into the bright morning sun.

Something was off. She knew most of the villagers on the island would be sleeping now considering the celebrations the night before, but it was far too quiet. Even the wind seemed to be still. Her senses told her something wasn't right, so she started running towards the core of the village on nothing more than impulse.

Her heart nearly stopped when she recognized familiar faces from infamous wanted posters. This couldn't have been happening. The revelation of who she was dealing with dawned on her, and her stomach felt like it was going to flip. She stopped running and decided that slowly approaching whilst being hidden was a better option. She saw two men talking to the head chief of the village.

"We're not interested in hurting or attacking your village. We just want to restock our supplies yoi." One of the men spoke, holding up a lazy hand in a gesture of peace. She recognized him as Marco. Marco the Phoenix, or in other words, Whitebeard's right hand man. Cool sweat started to form on her brow.

"I'm terribly sorry, but our village is very low on supplies... We've been forced to accommodate a group of pirates who were using our island and they were only arrested yesterday. Even the Marines are still here, such as how recent it still is. We're still recovering from all of it."

Idiot! She stopped breathing at that point. She concealed her presence as much as she could while her mind ran a mile a minute.

"Marines? They're still here?" The other man said with a lopsided grin. She knew his face too, it was Fire Fist Ace. Damn it! How could this have happenned to her? Two of the most wanted men in the world had showed up with their subordinates some time when she was asleep. Couldn't she get a damn break? She just dealt with a two month long mission up until yesterday! Heck, her head was still throbbing with a hangover! She tried to calm her racing heart. The Whitebeard men weren't aware that she and her crew were on the island up until now. That meant that they must have docked on the opposite shoreline somewhere. This was good. She could get her men and escape without confrontation and just report the sighting to Headquarters. She was confident and strong, but not an idiot! She wouldn't willingly involve herself in battles she knew she couldn't win, and going against all those pirates was just suicide.

She could almost feel the village chief's sweat as he spoke, "Ah, but you shouldn't cause them trouble! You can look through our forests for things you can take as food but please do not disturb the marines I beg you! They are our saviours!" The man pleaded.

"I can assure you, we're never the ones to start fights." The Second Division Commander spoke again. She could already tell she didn't like him by how smug he sounded.

"Thanks for your kindness, we'll take what we need and get out of your hair as soon as we can yoi." With that, the girl thought it would finally be her chance to get her men and high-tail it out of there, but her blood ran cold when he spoke again. "Now you, hiding behind that house all sneaky-like. Whaddya want."

No way, he sensed her? She could almost feel his gaze through the wall of the house. She steadied her breathing. No, she was not a coward. She refused to run away now that he had noticed her. She stepped out from behind the house, her glare heavy and balled up fists at her sides. Most would find her quite threatening, but her appearance only gave her a quirked eyebrow in return.

"Oh? Just a villager?" The First Commander prodded in a bored curiosity.

The village chief's eyes widened as he spotted her, "A-ah yes, don't pay her any mind, try to understand that we have been dealing with ruthless pirates for a very long time now..."

She realized that the chief was trying to protect her and she appreciated it, but it still kind of pissed her off how she was being brushed aside. She hadn't realized until then that she was still only wearing her under shirt and a pair of shorts a village girl had given to her. She thanked heaven above that she wasn't self-aware enough in the morning to have changed into her uniform. She then watched a man approach her that was quite large in both senses and was not easy on the eyes to say the least.

"Zehahaha, a village girl? She's cute." He leaned down and she could smell his revolting breath on her, "How 'bout entertaining us a bit, love?" That was all that was needed to set her off. She detested people like him.

Before either of the commanders could have interjected on the man's advances, the girl thrust a powerful punch into the man's gut, her fist sinking deep into his abdomen and knocking the air out of him. He fell to his knees, but his face wasn't the only one that was filled with shock.

"Just a village girl? Bullshit!" The man with the orange hat strode towards the scene and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, "Who're you huh?" Fiery eyes drove daggers into hers. Was he seriously mad at her? The creep had come onto her and he got what he deserved. She didn't see why Fire Fist would be so upset. She supposed that the part about him being extremely loyal and vengeful of his comrades wasn't just an assumption written down on his file.

After all the commotion, the noise had died down to even quieter than before. No one made a move to speak, awaiting what she would do.

"Scum got what he deserved, that's all."

"Who the hell are you calling scum!"

Marco took a step toward them, "Oi Ace, she's just a village-"

"Captain!"

Shit. No no no no. That didn't just happen. Her crew did not just rush onto the scene, and they did not just call her Captain, and they surely did not just aim their weapons at the Whitebeard Pirates.

The man gripping her shirt turned his face back to her, "Captain huh? So you're the captain of the marines on this island? You're not much. Never would've guessed."

The condescending words turned her glare bloodthirsty. She hated it. She hated when people would look down on her like she wasn't worth the title she earned. "Let. Go."

"I don't think so. You just hurt one of Whitebeard's men, my subordinate to be exact. You know what that means right?"

"Get bent." She spat back.

He glared at her with murderous intent of the likes she's never seen. She knew she was screwed, so she might as well go down fighting right? She couldn't face all the pirates there at once, but if she was just against one... She felt like she might be able to hold her ground in a fight- at least long enough for her crew to escape.

"Get to the ship and leave, don't look back." She addressed her subordinates while still keeping her eyes on the man in front of her. She wasn't about to get innocent lives killed over some stupid quarrel.

"But Captain-"

"That is an order! Now go! I don't want your blood on my hands! Just report the issue to one of the higher-ups when you get the chance!" She shouted. They hesitated a bit, but then rushed out of the scene, intending to follow their captain's orders like they always had.

"How noble of you." The man gripping her shirt, Fire Fist Ace, smirked down at her.

"That doesn't mean much coming from someone like you. Now, get. off. me!" She shouted as she launched a fist at his face. It connected. Hard.

He let go of her, probably from the shock, and was thrown a couple feet back from the force. "Haki?" He grunted, rubbing his cheek as he got to his feet again. "Interesting. Packs a punch." He turned his head away from her, "Marco leave this one to me, get some supplies and we'll head out."

The subtle surprised look on the man he was addressing was washed away as he replied, "Roger that. Let's go guys. Sorry Chief, but it seems our crew always manages to get into trouble when we run into the Navy. I suggest you evacuate your village people though, yoi" The girl may pack a punch, but 'Fire Fist' Ace was not someone one could compete with for that title.

The village chief looked warily at the blond pirate, but did as he was told. He resigned to the fact long ago that pirates were pirates and they would do whatever the hell they wanted no matter what the aftermath was. He just hoped that the young girl who had freed this island would be okay.

Everyone else had evacuated the village almost an hour ago and she and Fire Fist were still going at it. He was very strong that much was obvious, but she herself was a skilled user of haki. Despite her ability advantage, she couldn't get the upper hand in the fight. Not only that, but there was a point when she felt like Fire Fist was just toying with her. She knew very well he had large scale attacks that could destroy entire ships, however he had resigned to a close combat battle with her. Why? Did he find this kind of thing amusing? Was he just buying time as his crew got what they needed?

She was beginning to feel the overwhelming exhaustion weighing down on her limbs from the extensive use of haki. She was about to collapse at any moment, but she couldn't afford that fate. She still had seas to sail and the world to explore so she be damned if she died in a fight over something so stupid! Though as much as she was trying to convince herself to keep fighting, she could feel her body weighing her down.

With the last bit of her strength, she subdued the fire on his fist as it connected with her jaw. She was thrown back from the sheer physical force of the punch. Exhausted, she let the darkness cloud her vision and felt herself drifting into unconsciousness. Her last thought being that she prayed she would wake up okay. Hell, she just hoped she would wake up.

Her eyes fluttered open to a place much different than where she remembered having blacked out. The ceiling above her was made of wood and she was lying on a bed, which were things that definitely were not there before. She closed her eyes and relaxed, listening to the ocean waves outside the small port window and felt them slowly rock the ship back and forth. She lay there, still and quiet until the grogginess of sleep began to leave her body.

It was only then that she shot up out of the bed to really take in where she was. She was on a boat, definitely a boat, but it wasn't hers- she knew that much. What the hell happened after she lost? Her crew should be long gone by now, but they wouldn't have had enough time yet to report the situation... and she couldn't think of anyone else who would pick her up from the island other than the Navy. She looked down at her sprawled out limbs to see that her injuries were bandaged and treated professionally. So an ally picked her up? She was also wearing clean clothes too. A button-down denim top, probably belonging to a man since it was a few sizes too big along with the pair of capris.

She swung her still-too-sore legs over the side of the bed and saw that there were a pair of simple brown flip flops waiting for her to use. As soon as she steadied herself and was walking towards the door, it opened to reveal a face she wasn't too excited to see.

"Oh, so you woke up, that's good. I brought you food, yoi." Marco said as he entered the room holding a bowl of what looked like some sort of stew.

Her knees began to shake, threatening to give out under her. So she was on Whitebeard's ship...? Why...? Were they going to kill her? But if that was the plan, they could have killed her when she was unconscious. They also treated her injuries so... No, that didn't make any sense. Then was she a hostage? What for? That didn't make sense either though, considering they gave her clean clothes and food to eat.

She began to back away from him, fear evident on her features. She was too weak to put up a fight right now so she had no choice but to escape from here. She stumbled backwards on her shaky legs, but before she could hit the ground she was caught by something.

"You're still hurt, you shouldn't try anything. You don't have to worry'oi, I won't hurt you." He half-carried her, half-dragged her back to the bed and sat her back down on it. He turned around, picking up the bowl he had placed on a dresser with lightning fast reflexes when he had gone to catch her. He brought it to her bedside and waited for her to take it, however she kept her eyes on the floor in front of her, refusing to look at him.

"Eat."

"No."

"It's not poisoned."

"I don't care."

Irked, the man knelt down on one knee so he could look her in the face, "Eat, you have to. You've been out for two days now."

Her eyes widened, "T-two..." She felt sweat starting to form atop her brow. So she was out for that long, and they had been taking care of her...? She didn't understand at all. "Am I some sort of hostage or something?"

"If you were a hostage you'd be tied up, don't you think yoi? Not that we'd need to tie you up anyway though."

That stopped her train of thought in its tracks. So she was right earlier... but that didn't answer any of her questions.

He sighed and looked at her, "We left you on the island and were about to leave, Pops wanted to know who roughed Ace up so we brought you back to the ship, you've been out for days now. That's all yoi."

He must have known what she was thinking because that cleared up most of her thoughts. Oh God. Did Whitebeard want to kill her himself?

"Y'know, I think now would actually be a good time to see him. Everybody's out on the deck anyway'oi." He placed the stew down since she wasn't eating it, and began to grab her wrist to pull her up.

She yelped. Loudly. She wasn't the type to openly display such weak emotions, but she was desperate. The last thing she wanted was to face the man who could and was going to crush her like a bug. She swiped her hand out of the man's grip and pushed herself up against the other side of the bed, back flat against the wall.

He stared at her, a small frown on his relaxed face. He went to grab her again but she crawled out of his grasp to the other side of the bed. This little game went on for about a minute before Marco was fed up and lunged at her, grabbing her waist and throwing her over his shoulder. He started to walk out of the room all the while the girl punched his back, admittedly pretty hard for someone so weakened. It seemed that the girl still had enough strength in her to use haki.

"Stop! Please... I don't want to..." It started as a shout but died down to a whisper as she felt the nauseating feeling of defeat.

"Sorry. Pops wanted to see you, so he's gonna see you'oi."

She felt his pace slow down to a complete stop. She raised her head to look around, seeing a couple of faces that looked familiar and many that weren't, but what they all shared in common was that they all stopped what they were doing and put their full attention on her. The panic rose in her throat.

"Pops, she woke up awhile ago, you wanted to see her right?" Her stomach almost fell out of her throat when she heard those words from over her shoulder.

"Yes, place her down Marco." A bellowing voice from behind her said back in reply.

If she had ever wanted to fall into a complete breakdown of tears and sobs in her life, it would be right now. Marco placed her on the floor, facing Whitebeard. This was it. Her life was over. She froze in fear and didn't dare look up at the great Whitebeard's face. Instead of looking at the terrifyingly large man in front of her, she opted to looking around at the pirate crew. Out of the many, she spotted Ace who appeared to be bandaged from their fight, giving her a hard look. Okay, so he was still too pissed off at her. She let her gaze fall to the floor and kept it there.

The entire deck was silent as Whitebeard assessed the small figure in front of him. She didn't dare move, feeling like she would be killed if she did.

"Young girl... what is your rank in the Navy?"

What was her rank? So... he wasn't planning on killing her right away? She slowly lifted her gaze up towards him, her heart pounding against her ribs. Her lips trembled, yet his intimidating presence compelled her to answer him. "...I'm a Marine Captain... Sir." Her voice barely above a raspy whisper.

"How old are you, young girl?"

"I'm n-nineteen..."

"What is your name?" He stared at her with intent in his eyes, as if he had something calculating in his mind.

She hesitated to answer. Why did he care? Was this some sort of psychological torture he put hostages through before he killed them? Humanize them, then kill them in front of the entire crew? With her last bit of confidence which she thought was long gone, she answered.

"Sir, my name is... Akane."

A/N:

I'm currently in the process of revising older chapters one last time. My writing has changed a lot over the years and I find myself very unsatisfied with my old writing so I'm trying to update some stuff.

Remember to leave a review if you enjoyed the chapter! I love reading your comments. 3