c2: Kidd
Before the soul transfer, Maud could easily withstand a bullet his body hardened through years of nen-reinforced combat, much like Uvogin shrugging off gunfire or Gon's skin after mastering Ten.
But now…
The black barrel, still and unyielding, was like the execution blade of Impel Down's Blugori hovering, final, and inescapable.
"I have no malice."
Faced with the muzzle and no time to weigh options, Maud stated his stance without hesitation.
The gun had locked onto him the moment the door creaked open, proving the wielder had detected his subtle repositioning. Observation Haki? Or just pure instinct?
In either case, his only option was to surrender any sign of hostility would be fatal. The current state of this borrowed body couldn't support even a basic feint, much less combat.
A pause.
Then came a low, rough female voice from beyond the door. "Step into the light."
"Alright."
Maud stepped into the open without protest. The barrel followed him like a shadow.
As he moved to the doorway, he finally saw the one who held his life in her hands.
A lean girl in ragged linen stood there, flintlock steady in her calloused grip.
She had choppy, boyish hair and a trio of claw-like scars etched diagonally across her face from brow to jaw, like remnants from a failed Zoan transformation or a scrape with a wild Mink warrior.
If not for her earlier voice, Maud might have mistaken her for a street-rat from Mock Town.
"I have no malice," he repeated, raising his hands slowly.
His gaze darted briefly to the burlap sack she gripped in her offhand. That sack disturbed him more than the gun it gave him the same dread as when Feitan casually opened his torture kit.
Sunny held his eyes with a flat stare. "Relax. If we wanted to off you, do you think you'd even be awake to talk?"
With that, she holstered the flintlock in one clean motion.
She knew. His earlier movement had been a defensive reflex, not a threat. If he'd meant harm, she would've pulled the trigger without blinking like a Cipher Pol agent following protocol.
Relief, cold and brief, washed over Maud.
"You're awake now. That makes this unnecessary."
Without waiting for a reply, Sunny tossed the sack at his feet.
Factoring in the trek from town, Maud had been unconscious for seven full days.
By Sol's decree, if the stranger didn't wake, his body would be "recycled" to recoup the medicine and treatment costs. No investment went to waste here.
But Maud had woken up at the eleventh hour.
He stared at the sack. His lips twitched.
"If I hadn't woken up… that sack… was for me?"
"Correct," Sunny answered bluntly. "We'd have dumped you inside and hauled you to the black market. Then you'd be diced up by some Undertaker-type and sold off. Heart, tongue, kidneys… each part a price tag."
A smile tugged at her lips, sharp and dry.
Maud said nothing.
Dismantling. Parts. Commodification.
She hadn't even flinched while saying it. The underworld here echoed the darkest rings of Hunter x Hunter's Meteor City, or Sabaody's human auction house. Same darkness, different coat.
And the earlier gunfire? Proof this was no peaceful haven. This port, or whatever it was, breathed chaos.
Sunny wasn't bluffing. But like she'd said if they'd wanted him dead, they'd have done it already.
So for now… he was safe.
Safe enough to consider testing the Hunter's Note.
"What should I call you?" Maud asked, eyes still on the burlap.
Sunny's eyes narrowed. Her grin returned, this time less hostile.
"You're pretty calm. Just call me Sunny. As for your name…" She trailed off and reached into her pocket.
From it, she pulled a bronze pocket watch.
The glinting curves and old carvings froze Maud in place.
He recognized it instantly.
It belonged to him.
Or more precisely, it belonged to the previous owner of this body his predecessor.
That watch had been taken during the pirate raid. He remembered it clearly: a tall man with brass knuckles had yanked it from the boy's neck chain while laughing.
And yet… now it was here, in Sunny's palm.
In this pirate-run, scavenger-swarmed world… how had it ended up with her?
That is to say, the people who attacked the slave boat were Sunny and her crew?
Maud processed the thought silently.
If memory served correctly, there had been two photographs embedded in the pocket watch one, a full-body image of the body's previous owner at age sixteen, complete with a slanted autograph in the lower right corner. That must've been why Sunny recognized him so easily.
The other was a family portrait… but something about it didn't sit right.
Was it a family of three or four?
A sharp pulse lanced through his skull.
Maud frowned.
Sunny, eyes lowered to the pocket watch, didn't catch his expression.
"This pocket watch is yours. But it's my trophy now," she said plainly. "Still… since we might become nakama in the future, I suppose I can reluctantly give it back to its original owner."
With a casual flick, she tossed the watch toward him.
Maud caught it, and a subtle sting ran through his fingers. He flipped open the metal cover with a metallic click.
The dial was stopped, unmoving just like the passage of his predecessor's time. Inside were the two embedded photos.
His eyes passed briefly over the full-body photo, then lingered on the family image bright, beaming faces. One, two, three…
Four.
He froze.
Hadn't it just been the predecessor and his parents?
Why was there a fourth person?
Suddenly, slivers of memory broke the surface, like Nen fragments surging back after a Zetsu lapse. The more they returned, the more the headache grew, as if a Chain Jail had bound the memories until now and was now loosening.
He slammed the watch shut, face unreadable.
Maud appreciated the new life this body had granted him his second chance. But he didn't want to be steered by lingering fragments of someone else's past.
Sunny, perceptive but uninterested, noticed the shift in his demeanor. She said coolly, "If you're smart, you'll burn the photo with your signature and give yourself a new name."
Maud looked up at her, skipping the why.
"Thanks. I'll consider it carefully."
Sunny nodded once, then her gaze flicked to the blood-stained bandage on his head. She didn't press further, instead moving straight to business. "Let's go. Sol wants to see you."
Maud had no say in the matter. Pocket watch now secured, he followed obediently behind Sunny.
They moved down the dim corridor, steps echoing softly. A narrow stairwell led them to the ground floor.
Suddenly, a loud crash resounded from ahead a wooden door being kicked open violently, smacking hard against a wall.
Sunny halted instinctively. Maud mirrored her pause, eyes narrowing.
Then came a croaky old voice, raspy like a frog-type Fishman. "Kid, you little bastard, kick my shop again and I'll rip your tendons out!"
"I'm not here to play games, old man. I brought money. Hand over Keanu's gun."
The rough reply, youthful and cocky, echoed clearly.
"No deal! I'd rather toss that gun into a junkyard than sell it to you!"
"Oh, toss it then. I'll still find it."
"Get lost!"
The heated voices came from the corridor's end clearly some kind of store.
Sunny sighed audibly, as if used to this ritual.
"Follow me," she said, picking up the pace.
Maud followed, keeping his steps quiet.
The corridor wasn't long, and they soon reached the front hall a shop of some kind.
There wasn't time to take in the layout or item stock. Maud's eyes were pulled immediately toward the center of the commotion.
There stood two figures one elderly, one young squared off like brawlers in a Jaya dive bar.
From the cadence and energy, Maud guessed the old man was likely Sol, the one Sunny mentioned. The youth brash and red-haired was probably just another hotheaded customer. Until…
Huh?
Maud's gaze stopped on the boy's vivid red spiky hair.
Then on the goggles perched lazily on his forehead.
Finally, his sharp face something disturbingly familiar.
Then, like puzzle pieces falling into place, the memory clicked.
Kid.
Maud's heart jolted.
Eustass "Captain" Kid.
The realization rolled over him with the weight of a sea king. When he'd first heard the name, it hadn't triggered anything. But now, seeing the face in person the unmistakable features from manga panels everything snapped into focus.
This really was the world of One Piece.
But the boy in front of him shorter, leaner, less scarred was still in his early days. Barely beginning his pirate life.
Not yet a notorious Supernova. Not yet the man who would challenge emperors.
A perfect target.
Maud's instincts kicked in, and he quietly logged the redhead into the Hunter's Notes the ability that allowed him to isolate and eventually eliminate prey, similar to how Kurapika had targeted the Phantom Troupe.
Because the ability had one condition:
The prey must be known. Their information must be real.
And now, seeing Kid in the flesh, that requirement was fulfilled.
Let the hunt begin.
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