Cat on Water

Chapter 8

Yoruichi sat in in Party’s Bar, nursing a bottle of sake and looking down at a map of the East Blue, frowning in contemplation. Garp had left three days ago, and she had decided to leave and to explore sooner, rather than later. The day before, she had been down to the docks in Goa Kingdom’s capital, to see if she could hitch a ride on a merchant ship.

She couldn’t. She didn’t have enough money. Luffy wouldn’t share either.

So, she then decided she would just run the distance between islands. If she stocked up on some food, she’d be fine. The Reishi in this world was thin enough she could run in water easily, and even fly, though that took a little bit more effort than it usually did.

Either way, she figured she was faster than any ship she could charter and could make a trip that usually took a day or two in a few hours. Wouldn’t even be the first time she had to run for extended periods. The Rukongai was massive after all. Weather wasn’t an issue; she could just go around it. Unless she was in the grand line, she’d be fine solo.

She thought about the stories Garp had told her about hailstones the size of mountains, ships turning 180 degrees out of nowhere.  ‘Yeah. I’d be fine here, or any of the blues really, but the Grand Line? Too much weird going on there.’

Looking back at her map, she was trying to plot a course where she could go to all the fun stuff she had heard of around, as well as get to the marine bases Garp asked her to look at. Right now, she only had a few spots she was certain she was going to. Like the Baratie. Apparently, it was the best restraint in the East Blue, and rumor had it the owner was a pirate. Or at least the employees acted like pirates. She also wanted to stop by Shimotsuki Village, where there was apparently a dojo that trained in Zanjutsu. Even though her Zanpakuto still didn’t want to come out and play, she was still a Zanjutsu master. Her clan’s style was all about the Iai, or the draw.

She still wasn’t an absolute grandmaster like Unohana was, or the captain commander. Even Zaraki was better than she was, and that guy's style was just 'hit it until it dies. If no dead, hit more.' She was much better at Hakuda anyways. That, she was a grandmaster in. She couldn’t beat a few of the older soul reapers, but that was due to sheer raw experience difference due to their comparative ages. Captain Commander  Yamamoto even said she was the most talented Hakuda practitioner he had ever seen, in one of the rare spars he had with his captains.

‘Yeah. Definitely visiting that dojo. Might be someone there willing to spar in Zanjutsu a bit. Maybe that will make Rain come out.’ She thought, thinking of how the clashing of blades would annoy her arrogant Zanpakuto.

Before she could keep thinking, she heard the doors doors to the be crash open. She groaned, putting her head in her hands. Yet another reason why she wants to leave soon.

She turned around, to look at Luffy who had plastered himself to a seat at the bar. He was holding a hog, who knows where he got that, practically jumping up and down in his seat, screaming for Makino to make “meat” out of it.

Since Garp left, Luffy had been coming down the mountain to visit her and Makino. He apparently got a bit sad up in the bandit's hideout now that Ace was gone. He had gone asking her a bunch of questions, now that she was his sole focus.

‘He even asked me if I could poop! Do I seriously need to get Garp a ‘parenting for dummies’ book?’ she raged internally at the old marine's parenting skills or lack thereof.

Yoruichi decided to go have a run around the island, to see if she could get some air. Maybe lounge around in the sun in her cat form for a bit. Those sunspots always did feel good.

She got up, rolling up the map, then walked over to Makino to give it back to her. She had loaned it to Yoruichi for her trip, but she didn’t need one. She could find her way just fine. When she got to Makino, she placed the map on the bar, next to where Luffy had still been bouncing in his seat.

Makino smiled at Yoruichi, saying “Leaving? I thought you were going to take a few more days.”

Yoruichi smiled back, and replied, “Nah, just going for a run around the place. Need some air, and a break.”

“Oh, well have fun!”

“Thanks. See ya!” Yoruichi turned and walked out of the bar, waving behind her. As she got outside, a little sigh of relief escaped her. Seems like Luffy was too distracted by the meat he brought to come talk to her.

She flash-stepped to the west, intent on heading back to the city. Maybe she could find some more information on islands, or marine bases. Or just lay in the sun.

After a bit, she crested a little hill and could see the capital. She slowed down to a leisurely pace, enjoying the sun. She walked into the city, in the general direction of the market.

‘Always the best place to learn some stuff’ Yoruichi thought. As she walked, she passed through a rundown area of the city. While in the main street, she could see people up ahead clearing out of the way of a group of 4 middle-aged men. All looked rough, scars on their faces, loaded with weapons from head to toe. Guns, swords, knives, they had it.

People looked fearful as they walked by, cowering in place when the men even looked in their general direction. Soon, the men got close enough that Yoruichi herself was the only one in the street, at least the only one not frozen from fear.

One of the men, who was to the left of her, frowned, then said to her “Hey, bitch. You gonna move or what?” he reached for a pistol strapped to his chest, probably as a threat. Yoruichi just glanced at them, sniffed, and then vanished before they could say anything else.

‘That almost ruined a nice, relaxing evening.’ Yoruichi thought, after having flash-stepped onto a nearby roof. She looked down onto the main street, one street away from the market, and watched as the people, who now she thought were probably pirates, walked deeper into the rundown section.

‘Judging from the people’s reaction, these guys are not newcomers around here. Or at least not unknown.’ She pondered, sitting down on the roof with her legs dangling off the edge. Looking at the men again she watched as they went into a side alley.

As she was kind of bored, she decided to go see what they were up to. She flash-stepped across the street and started hopping on top of the buildings along the alley. She watched them take a couple of turns, and then go into a small warehouse like building. Looking around the building for a second, she saw that multiple windows were open, in a ring right underneath the roof.

She grinned. ‘Perfect, easy way in.’

She flash-stepped to the window, then climbed in. It seemed that there was a catwalk up on top, leading around the edge of the building. She hopped down and lowered her presence to a minimum. Looking down into the area below her, she could see a lot of boxes stacked up against the walls, along with some tables, with some more men sitting at them playing cards. In one of the corners near the door the original 4 men came in, she could see some boxes overflowing with weapons.

Yoruichi looked thoughtfully down at the boxes, then at the men who all were covered in weapons.

‘Probably running a weapon smuggling ring’ she thought. She watched as one of the original 4 men, probably the leader, go into a side room. As he opened the door, she could see a flash of gold.

Yoruichi smirked, then started moving along the catwalk so she was above the side-room door. She may have just found her funds for the next while.

Right before the door closed, Yoruichi flash-stepped inside, then hopped up into an upper corner of the room, using Reishi manipulation to stay up there. Her presence was so low that she was basically invisible.

Looking around, she could see a desk with lots of papers on it, along with some gold bars. To the right of the desk, there was a safe that was already open, filled with cash notes for Beri, the currency of this world. Next to it, were cases of more money strewn about.

The man sat down at the desk, rifling through some papers. He started muttering something about ‘last run’ and ‘finally enough cash for a new ship’.

Yoruichi was almost beside herself with glee. Enough cash for a ship would set her up for at least until Garp gets back. Without hesitation, she jumped down from her corner, landing on the man’s shoulder. She peered down at the papers on his desk, genuinely curious about what he was doing. It seemed she was right. He was running a weapon smuggling ring. For almost the entirety of the east blue.

Looking closer, Yoruichi saw that some of the marine bases on the lift Garp were involved. Apparently, they were taking the supplies the Marines had been giving them, spitting up the cash for themselves, and selling the weapons to this guy for even more money. The biggest guy was a marine captain named Nezumi, the head of the 16^th Marine branch. Seemed that he was taking most of the supplies for himself, leaving the rest of the base almost empty of them.

She pulled out the notebook that Garp gave her and started writing stuff down. Once she was done, she looked back down at the guy whose shoulder she was standing on.

She then said “So, looks like you got a pretty good gig going on here, huh?”

Said guy, almost died of fright right then and there. He jumped almost as high of the ceiling, screaming his lungs out. Yoruichi, of course, jumped down from her perch before he did so.

When the guy landed, he tried to stay upright but to her, it looked like he twisted his ankle on landing.

He shakily pointed a finger at her, stuttering out “Wh-Who are you, a-a-and how did you get in here?!” His voice got stronger as he talked more, probably remembering he was the boss of this place.

Yoruichi grinned, then crossed her arms “No one of note. I’m just a friendly tourist, who just happened to wander in here. And this friendly tourist is now going to rob you blind.” Kept smiling, while turning and walking over to the safe was. She opened the Satchel, before grabbing all the money in the safe and stuffing it in.

As she was doing that, the man finally got off his ass and stood up. He then pulled out a knife, rage crossing his face. He roared, charging Yoruichi who had her back turned to him, knife outstretched. Right before he was about to stab her, she disappeared, and kicked him in the back, snapping his spine in the process. The kick ended up sending his face straight into the edge of the safe, which then broke his nose, and knocked out most of his teeth.

The man then slumped onto the ground with a groan, not getting up.

“Well, that was rude.” Yoruichi said, before getting back to stuffing money in her satchel. Right as she was about to finish, she heard the door slam open, and she turned to find 7 men standing on the other side of it, with weapons drawn.

“Well, hi gentlemen, nice of you to join us.”  She grinned at the men, giving them a little wave. “Don’t mind me, I was just leaving. You should look at that guy though; he might need some help.”

Yoruichi started walking toward the men, having finished stuffing all the money into her satchel. Before she got past the desk however, the man in the front growled “Don’t move another step, bitch. Or we’ll fill ya with holes.” He grinned threateningly. The others behind him brandished their weapons, giving growls of approval at the man’s statement.

Yoruichi stopped, raising her hands a bit. “Look guys, I don’t want trouble, I was just leaving. If you just let me get by you, you’ll never see me again.”

One guy in the back replied “Wha’ about our money then? We all sa’ ya stuff it in tha’ bag o’ yours”.

Yoruichi started looking around, acting like she was looking for a bag. These guys were probably not going to let her go.

‘Might as well leave my own way.’ She thought. She moved. She flash-stepped by all the men, but not before grabbing knives off each of them and stabbing them all in the stomachs.

She then said “Well, it was nice knowing you. See ya never!” and then left the building with another flash-step. The men turned, or at least tried to. Most of them were able to, as they were too high on adrenaline and who knows what else. Not that it mattered. They would all fall to the ground, weak from blood loss in the next few seconds anyway. Two of the men tried to follow Yoruichi out the door but didn’t make it more than a few steps. They all collapsed, no one to find them for days, when the shipment of weapons they were supposed to bring did not come.

Yoruichi walked down the road, looking at some of the new blades she had gotten. She had grabbed a bunch of throwing knives off the men. She quite liked using them, not unlike a broody, dark-haired ninja, at least for distractions.

‘These are decently made. Not as good as the stuff I could have gotten in the second division, or probably the best in this world either, but still pretty good.’ She analyzed the knives, eyes searching for any cracks or malformations in the metal. They looked small, about the length of the base of her palm to her fingertips, made from decent steel. On The handle was wrapped in cord, and right above it was a little bird stamp, like the insignia that symbolizes the marines.

‘Must be where they got them from,’ she thought ‘There were a few Marines who were selling their weapons supplies to those guys.’

Yoruichi started walking back the way she came, this time using the streets instead of the rooftops. Rooftops are for highway purposes only. When she finally got close enough to the market to hear the stall owners shouting about their wares, she stowed the knives. Two in the back sleeves she had built into her jacket, two more up her arms, finding their places in their built-in holsters with practiced ease, two more in the boots, and then the other 18 in her satchel as spares.

She spent about an hour browsing the wares. There was nothing truly of note, only your standard food items, some merchants having set up shop with their latest hauls. Store owners peddling maps, clothes, sailing materials, she even saw one guy selling weapons.

She finally got down to the docks, a little over an hour into her break time. She sat on the edge of the town proper, where it dropped off into the water. She watched as ships sailed in, sailors mulling about like busy honeybees, dragging cargo, supplies and more on and off the ships.

‘I suppose I could easily buy my way onto a ship. I got more than enough’ Yoruichi thought. She paused for a second, thinking it over.

‘Nah, much less fun that way. At least running on the water Ill be able to go swimming.’

As she sat back, watching the afternoon pass by, she could sense a presence moving around behind her. She sensed it pause, clearly feeling the surprise they felt at something. Then it started making a beeline right to her.

‘Ah, man. Thought I’d have more time than this’ Yoruichi deadpanned to herself, right as a straw-hat wearing teenager barreled into her from behind, knocking them both off the pier and into the water.

Yoruichi, as much of a cat as anyone could get, could not decide on what she was going to do to Luffy in response to this assault against feline kind. She wasn’t against taking a bath, but only when she wanted to. This was not wanting to.

Yoruichi’s thoughts raced, in the second it took to hit the water. ‘Pinball with him as the ball? Maybe. Could bounce him among the trees. Wait, he wouldn’t get hurt like that. What about stretching him out in the middle of the day, only letting him go when he fully dries out and becomes a flabby Stringbean.’

With a splash, both her and Luffy were dunked completely. The water next to the pier wasn’t that deep, only 6-7 feet, but it was still more than enough for the short woman and her slightly taller limpet to both get drenched head to toe.

Yoruichi felt something as soon as she hit the water. It felt like Reishi manipulation. It might have been the shock of the cold water, but she was almost certain of it. She was also certain that she was the only one on this planet that knew how to manipulate Reishi directly.

‘Hmm, something to investigate later.’ She looked around on top of the water for Luffy, having surfaced almost immediately. She then froze, looking down. ‘Ah. Yeah. Forgot about that little tidbit.’

Yoruichi used her spiritual sense to look through the murky water, feeling for Luffy. She found him slowly floating along the bottom of the port, slowly going out to sea. She also felt something else.

‘Looks like I don’t have to go searching for that Reishi manipulator anymore.’ She thought. She then grinned, thinking of a good way to get back at this idiot. ‘I also just found my next test subject.’ Yoruichi quickly swam down to Luffy, looking like the cat that finally caught the canary.

She grabbed Luffy by the shirt, knowing that if she grabbed anything else, he’d just stretch.

She pushed off the bottom, getting up to the top instantly. She then threw Luffy up and onto the pier, before swimming the few feet back to the docks. She jumped up, landing feet first next to the now coughing Luffy. She put her hand on her hips, glaring down at the boy.

Yoruichi then grabbed Luffy by the scruff of his neck, holding him up to her face. “You have got to be the stupidest person on this island. No, scratch that. The entire East Blue! What kind of demon possessed you to think it was an oh so great idea to basically throw yourself, and consequently me, into the water, when you know full well you drown on impact? Seriously, do you have less brain cells than Jidanbo? At least he’s a nice guy and can do his job. You....you my little new test subject are going to regret it. You understand me?” She yelled, slowly gaining volume over the course of her rant.

Luffy, who was now basically being held by the hardest grip he had ever felt, except for his Gramps, felt his body freeze. He didn’t know what ‘test subject’ meant, but it sounded worse than ‘bait’, or worse than that, ‘fish food’.

Yoruichi, who started coming up with ideas she could tort-ah, test the reishi manipulation she could feel from Luffy, started walking back toward Foosha Village, soaked child in hand.

‘Hmm, I wonder if the Devil Fruit Luffy ate has anything to do with it. He’s the only one around here, so it would explain why I didn’t feel any Reishi manipulation from anyone else.’ Yoruichi pondered, barely registering the now struggling Luffy in her left hand. She absentmindedly swung him over her shoulder, still lost in thought. ‘Ehh. I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Shouldn’t be too hard. Kisuke does this kind of stuff all the time. After that though, I’m gone. I am not dealing with this kid anymore. Honestly, I forgot how annoying they could be after not seeing Yushiro for half a century.’ Yoruichi groaned internally, thinking of all the crazy things her little brother Yushiro had done before she left the Soul Society. “Stupid little brothers.” She muttered, even though a slight, fond smile was creeping onto her face.