The Pirate, The Marine and The Bounty Hunter: East Blue Saga - Chapter 1 - Elizenor (2025)

Chapter Text

The whistling of cannonballs pierced the heavy afternoon air, with the sun beating down on two ships, side by side. One was huge, with two masts and both sails set, adorned with a giant heart and a pair of crossed bones underneath in the same horrendous dark pink. The ship rang with the yells and screams of hairy, smelly, hard-living men. They were smirking and roaring in glee, firing on the other ship, which was smaller, and less packed with crew members but all wore the same grim face of battle.

Being attacked by pirates was serious business, and while every soul from the captain to the cabin boy fought for their lives, they knew it was hopeless.

Cannonballs tore through the deck, splintering the wood and sending the fragments scattering among the crew. Guns fired and voices roared, balls sending pillars of water high into the air and then raining briny seawater over both crews.

Once the pirate ship pulled up along the other vessel, it was over.

“Take everything of value, but leave the crew to me! Let’s show them what true terror looks like,” yelled a large, solid woman.

She had curly charcoal hair and a black wide-brimmed hat bound with a magenta cloth, as well as her hands. The rest was a whole lot of pink - a fandango-coloured shirt splotched with cherry blossoms, a dark fuchsia scarf draped loosely around her neck, and a leather cloak with brass buttons donned over top. A sash of a similar tint to her shirt combined with a belt encircled her waist on the cloak that fell down her back as far as her knees, brushing against the black close-fitting trousers covering her legs.

She wielded a long iron mace like a baseball bat, a casual, ruthless smirk on her round face. A line was thrown to her and she clambered onto the rail, pushing off and flying towards the other ship.

This woman was a pirate captain known as ‘Iron Mace Alvida’, and she and her murderous crew devastated those on the smaller ship, until only three or four members, including the captain, remained alive, and the wretched survivors were dragged aboard the mighty vessel.

In the hull of Alvida’s ship, two male figures huddled together, listening to the cruel delight of the pirates above them. One pulled his knees to his chest, the scowl on his face barely visible in the gloom of the small, dark space. It was loaded with goods and supplies, the hull stacked high with boxes, sacks, crates and tea chests, full of things the pirates planned to sell and provisions for their journey.

“Another ship lost to that cow Alvida, huh? Pity. I wish she’d just drop dead already,” the first boy scoffed, voice full of cold bitterness. The other whacked him over the head, eyes darting fearfully around them.

“Shh! She’ll hear you!” The second hissed, clapping a hand over the first boy’s mouth. “Don’t say things like that. We’ll be in serious trouble!”

He pushed it down, leaning a little towards the light of the feeble candle they had lit. His long, cotton-candy pink braids tumbled over his shoulders, highlighting its fluffy, delicate texture.

“Koby, please. That old bat won’t hear us - she’s too busy destroying other people’s lives to bother with the pests she picked up two years ago. I can say what I want,” he snorted, waving his hand around in disdain. He hated every damn pirate in the crew of this ship, but he stayed, for his brother’s sake.

“I understand, but don’t be so reckless. If she does hear you, it’ll be more than just a whipping you'll get,” the second boy snapped softly, leaning forward an inch. The faint glow of the candle illuminated his hair - identical to that of his brother Kody’s, but shorter, flopping into his light blue eyes behind the large, round spectacles sitting on the bridge of his nose. The two boys, Koby and Kody were alike in almost every way, from the colour of their hair and eyes to their slim statures and slight builds, but they were complete opposites, both in personality and outlook. In reality, they were twin brothers who’d gone to sea to fulfil their dreams, although those seemed so very distant now.

“Maybe I’m so reckless because you’re such a worry-wart, overly cautious in every single way,” Kody indicated with a smirk, nudging his brother lightly with his shoulder. He was the younger twin, born two minutes after Koby and wore proudly all the monkeying around that went with being the youngest. Koby shoved him with a huff, rolling his eyes with a faint smile on his face.

“Funny, Kody. Real funny. You should become a comedian,” he snarked.

“Maybe I should,” Kody grinned. “I am pretty funny, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re not,” Koby replied dryly, enjoying the bickering he and his brother engaged in to forget the screams and cries echoing overhead. Alvida was a cruel, evil woman with a heart blacker than a mindless night. As long as she got her plunder, she didn’t care what happened or who to. She was an arrogant, greedy, insufferably ugly woman who claimed a bigger ego than most dared to. Kody hated her with his whole being. Koby despised her too, but he feared her more, thanks to all the ‘training’ she’d put them through to bend them to her will.

Sudden roars and cheers from up top thundered through the air and both boys’ hearts sank, faces falling at the sound.

“They’ve captured their prize. Those poor buggers will wish they'd perished with the others,” Kody muttered, pushing himself to his feet reluctantly.

“Come on, let’s get going, Kody. Alvida doesn’t like it when we keep her waiting,” Koby sighed, dragging his feet to the creaky wooden stairs that led up to the top deck.

“Alvida doesn’t like it when we do anything she hasn’t ordered,” Kody grumbled, following with a bucket and mop in his hands. Though the stairs should have made some sort of noise under his weight, his steps were light and swift, silent on the well-worn wood. Koby admired his little brother’s graceful ascent, his feet noisy behind him. He sped up, passing Kody and taking the mop and bucket from him with a light smile.

“Wha - hey!” Kody exclaimed, glaring at his giggling brother, although their arrival on the bright top deck burned out any enjoyment the two derived when they had the ship to themselves. Iron Mace Alvida and her crew were gathered around the four survivors, Alvida herself circling them like a shark in the water. The twins hated any and all pirates, Kody having developed a severe revulsion of them during his time with Alvida.

She’d attacked and sunk the passenger vessel the twins had been working on; they were the only survivors. Kody would have been dead by now if it wasn’t for his brother protecting him, and now they were forced to work as the ship’s cabin boys, abused and mocked, imprisoned in a dungeon made of wood, ropes and canvas. They’d been left to Alvida’s non-existent mercy, searching for escape every chance they got. Neither twin knew why she wanted to keep them, of all people. But irrespective of their different personalities, identical appearance or their widely varied reactions to their captivity, Alvida had eagerly roped them into her crew. It was work for her or die, and they weren’t ready for death just yet.

They stepped up on the deck by the door, hiding behind the ruthless crew members as they smirked and sneered at the fear on their captives’ faces.

“Where is the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro?” Alvida demanded. “Don’t deny he was on your ship.”

“H-he booked passage to Sixis Island. After that, I don’t know,” the captain stuttered, quaking on his knees. His skin was tanned, his messy white hair and beard adorning his wrinkled face, a flat cap over the mop. He spoke with a slight accent, eyes crinkled with apprehension at the giant iron club she swung about almost gracefully.

Koby couldn’t help but relate to the captain’s fear. He acted the same way around Alvida. After all the times she’d beaten them for fun or made them dance for her amusement, he didn’t know how his brother refused to back down. Kody was fully prepared to die fighting Alvida, but he … wasn’t that brave. He was the first to give in to her desires, Kody only following him because what else would his brother choose to do? He had always been that way.

“Lies!” Alvida roared, bending low towards the captain. “He must be after my bounty. Who else is worthy of his time?” She sneered arrogantly.

The old man paled, swallowing with some difficulty. Kody’s already serious face deepened. He knew that expression. Alvida wasn’t going to like the news he had, which meant he wasn’t going to live very long.

“H-he had a-a list, of pirates and their bounties,” he began.

“And of course, mine was at the top?” She pressed, eyes glaring sharply into the helpless man.

“A-actually, your name wasn’t on it,” he mumbled, his voice getting softer as he declared, basically, that Alvida wasn’t worth a bounty hunter’s time.

She straightened up, her face contorting into an ugly, furious snarl. She twisted her club so that its spiky, destructive side was face up. With a shriek of rage, Alvida raised it up and over in an arc, the final seconds of the ship captain ending with a sickening crunch.

Koby couldn’t watch the cruel scene, averting his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see the man’s gruesome death. But Kody saw it all with a stony face, eyes narrowed to slits. He watched as she bludgeoned the poor captain out of his misery, memorising every last detail of the horrifying sight. Two pirates dragged the body away to toss it overboard, now that Alvida’s turmoil was satisfied.

She glanced around her, smirking when she found what she was looking for.

“Koby, Kody, clean up this mess,” she ordered, the twins not exactly rushing quickly enough to do her bidding.

“Coming, Captain Alvida!” They called. Kody grabbed another mop before the pair pushed through the pirates to the carnage and set to work cleaning up the crimson stains left behind. Kody watched the blood wash away as they worked, the cheers and yells of the crew like background music playing in a silent world of his own.

“Who’s the most fearsome pirate on the seas?” Alvida called out to her crew, her grin overtaking her face completely, arrogance and ego clouding her vision.

“Captain Alvida!” Her pirates responded, fists and swords raised high. Their cheers resounded across the ship, loud and joyful. Supplies, cargo and valuables were hoisted off the other ship onto their own, men yelling in support of their captain as they worked. Barrels and sacks transferred from one man to the next, until everything of value had been robbed from the ship. Finally, they set fire to it, watching the tiny vessel sink with bloodthirsty crows of mirth.

“Captain Alvida!” Koby raised his voice half-heartedly with the other men, nudging his brother discreetly. Kody wore a tight scowl, mouth jammed shut. But at his brother’s beckoning gaze boring into his soul, he issued a quiet, reluctant sigh.

“Yeah,” he mumbled reluctantly, just loud enough for the ruthless woman to hear him. Alvida cackled and laughed at the empty praise, blind to the fact that the pirates only followed her for the plunder and violence she provided them with. Her pride smothered her sense of logic and reasoning, making her oblivious to the real reason anyone joined her crew. “I know, Kody, but stay quiet,” Koby whispered under his breath, working on the bloody remains next to him as the crew celebrated. Alvida ignored them after that, soaking in the attention and worship of her men, gloating and smiling as if she owned the world.

Neither twin could wait for the day they escaped from her crew, the day they broke free from their chains and ran from her ship to forge their own paths, hoping she got sick of them sooner rather than later. That was the only way they would win their freedom, Koby knowing it was all his fault. If he was a little stronger, a little braver, he would have been able to say no to the merciless Alvida, and give his brother a chance to undo the shackles she wrapped them in, but he wasn’t.

On his side, Kody wished the same thing, wished he had the weapons, the intelligence, the speed and strength to cut down the pirate captain that he should have done years ago, but he was weak. He was scrawny and small, with no proper tool to fight with and dressed in rags. He couldn’t do anything in his current state. It was one of Kody’s greatest regrets, being frail and incapable of protecting his older brother. And he vowed every day since their capture to never repeat it again.

Night fell quickly out on the open seas. The twins were kicked back down into the hold of the ship and locked in with the supplies, not that the boys minded. Kody sneered at the cheerful noise whooping up top, disgusted by just how lax the security was. No one took the first watch or supervised the tiller. The crew allowed the ship to drift in any odd direction - it was just a wonder they even knew where they were.

Being thrown into the hold meant they had time away from Alvida and her damned pirates, but Kody held the shame in his heart, the shame that came from his own failure. The boys weren’t free to rest or relax down here, what with Koby busy cleaning up Alvida’s mace while he tidied what little free space there was, sorting the goods and valuables from the provisions and booze. They worked late into the night, ignoring the smell of good food and drink forgotten in the belly of the ship.

Koby scrubbed the spikes of the mace with a toothbrush and soap, dipping it in water every so often to make sure he rid them of all the blood and grime Alvida had collected on it during the day’s raid. Kody worked with the same precision, counting, sorting and moving around the hold as necessary, a dark cloud growing over his head with every minute that passed.

“Argh!” He yelled suddenly. “I’m sick of this, Kobs. Let’s just get out of here already!” He kicked out at a crate nearby. It hurt, but he refused to show it, his time with the pirates putting him off vulnerability and other people for good.

Kody had never been the friendliest kid on their home island, but he’d had a few people to hang out with. Now, he refused to trust anyone he came across, no matter who it was.

His elder brother was a different matter entirely: Koby was his exact opposite any way he looked at the picture. He was the only one on his own side, choosing Kody over everyone else - he was also the only one who dared to scold him after he did something wrong to amuse their captors. When Koby paused his work, he looked up with a resigned sigh. He smiled wanly and shook his head, his frustration boiling inside.

“We can’t, Kody,” he responded sadly. “Alvida would get rid of everyone we love before coming after us, and she’d hunt us down until we’re both killed. Our home would be in trouble,” he added in a whisper. “And keep your voice down! It’s gone quiet up there, we don’t want to wake them up. That would be worse than us trying to escape right now.”

“Screw the pirates, Koby!” Kody retorted loudly. “I’m strong enough to take on Alvida!”
“With wooden spars as your weapon?” Koby inquired dryly. He flinched at the words. He’d hidden those pieces of wood well. How did his brother know?

“I saw you, one time, training with those late at night,” Koby confessed.

“Honestly, is that all you’ve got to say? I’ll keep it down, but we’ve got to get out of here first. If you saw me training, you know I’m strong enough to protect both of us,” Kody pleaded, desperate to earn his brother’s agreement.

“I know you are, Kody - strong enough to protect me, strong enough to take down Alvida, strong enough to prove yourself. But, you know we can’t,” Koby sighed, clutching shaking hands close to his chest.

“Why not? I can’t believe you!”
“Do you think I like this?” He snapped, fed up with his own helplessness. “Being Alvida’s punching bag, I’m tired of it, but what can we do? I don’t like it any more than you do, so stop complaining and get back to work. We’ll… we’ll be free someday,” he added softly, going back to scrubbing the bludgeon.

All the fight drained from Kody at his brother’s refusal, picking up his own work and blinking back the tears. He refused to cry, refused to show just how wound up he was about Koby’s decision. They worked in silence after that, neither one speaking a word to the other, so both heard the faint rattle coming from somewhere within the hold.

Kody froze, swiftly picking up the wooden spars he’d hid amongst the things Alvida and her crew hoarded, brandishing them protectively.

“What was that?” He hissed, the rattle continuing. He stayed tense, eyes scanning the darkness of the hold. He couldn’t place the sound, or where it came from, but he knew it was close by.

“Stay here, I’ll go check it out,” he grunted, taking a step forward.

“No.” Koby shook his head, getting to his feet. “I’ll go.”

“What? No! It’s my job to protect you, remember?” Kody protested.

“Says who?” Koby grinned, skipping deftly past him. “I’ll be right back. Wait there, okay?”

“Fine. But if you scream, Koby, I’m coming after you, regardless of what you want,” he declared, plopping himself down on a barrel as he watched his brother inching warily into the darkness, with only the mop as his protection. Kody’s sharp ears tracked his progress, so when the lid popped off a barrel, and someone leapt out of it onto Koby as his terrified cry rang throughout around the hold, he was at his throat within seconds.

The Pirate, The Marine and The Bounty Hunter: East Blue Saga - Chapter 1 - Elizenor (2025)

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