Deepest Cuts [open]

[Valkyrie]

Welcome to Kansorn Island, a place where the best parts East Blue had been squeezed into one island. It is no wonder this island is also known as Little East Blue. The weather had been excellent for the past few days and today was no different. Cool breeze was slowly turning the sails of a huge windmill, gentle waves greeted sailors and mikan plantations were getting plenty of sunshine. Townsfolk were busy with their daily lives, but as all too often happened in this little island, pirates were about to disrupt their routines. Marines rarely came here, making this the ideal playground for all sorts of troublemakers. However, this time things were bit different...

Instead of civilians, dozens of pirates were screaming and running through the streets for dear life. They were all donning a similar jolly roger in the back of their shirts, marking them as a part of some larger crew. One look behind them and the sound of booming steps were enough to tell why the group was in such a hurry. They were being chased by a giant woman donning a garb from Wano with an enormous katana hanging from her waist. If the sight alone wasn’t enough to get pirates running, the realization of who they were dealing with usually did the trick. She was one of the feared Shichibukai, a swordswoman known as Whirlwind Valkyrie.

And she wasn’t about to let these men just get away.

Valkyrie didn’t need to run to keep up with her targets. For her, it was just like leisurely a stroll. She just had to watch the buildings. Each massive step brought her closer to the escaping pirates, until she suddenly knelt down and swiped her hand near the ground. Three men were unlucky enough to get caught between her grasp. "Gotcha!" She brought the struggling humans to her face level and grinned with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "You can’t run now, you cowardly little mice!" Unfortunately, all the little guys just fainted right there, much to her noticeable dismay. Conversing with people wasn’t easy for a Shichibukai, especially not for a giant one.

Letting out a tired sigh, Valkyrie set the humans down surprisingly carefully. "Sheesh... I just wanted to ask something..." Standing up to her full height again, she focused on the remaining pirates making their way through the town. She could’ve continued her chase and caught them easily, but something told her she would only get the same reaction. It was such a pain in the ass. What the escaping pirates didn’t know was that she wasn’t here to kill them, or anyone for that matter. Today she wanted to focus on her personal goals instead of whatever the Marines came up with. For all she cared, today they could either help her of get the hell out of her way.

Today... She wanted to hear a story.

This had started like any other day. Valkyrie arrived here to weed out any troublemakers in the name of the Government. However, most of the cowardly pirates fled before she could take any real action. After a nap, she found herself craving for entertainment. Her lucky coin decided that instead of seeking for a fight, she deserved a story. It had been quite a while too since she had last heard a good one. So, she had tried to ask around if anyone knew a good storyteller around these parts, but those slack-jawed cabbage heads had completely overreacted. On any other day, she would’ve laughed about it and enjoyed the fact that her reputation preceded her.

...But today it was really getting on her nerves. If she couldn’t figure out something soon, she might toss her lucky coin again and see if it was time to clean up this place from outlaws. A little fight should prove at least somewhat entertaining.

[Emma T. Baskerville]

Emma was massaging a wrinkle that was threatening to develop in her brow, one hand busy holding a pirate over a (relatively) tall roof, the other busy attending to her appearance.

She looked down upon the swirling, chaotic mess that Little East Blue had become and sighed.

This. Fiasco. Was not going to be easy to explain to her superiors.

The pirate she was holding screamed some predictable obscenity about Emma and her family. She loosened her grip a bit, causing him to flail in a blind panic before she caught him again.

For a moment she wished she knew Geppou. A 'moon step' hanging would be a much more effective interrogation technique. Not to mention it would allow her to actually drop and catch him until he horked his guts out. Probably quite a bit of therapeutic, stress-relieving value in it too.

Not for the pirate, for her. Obviously.

People streamed below them. Not all of them were pirates. The Cipher Pol Agent wasn't entirely sure if Valkyrie was aware of the distinction, or if the giant shichibukai cared. As the briefing had pointed out, giants had pretty notorious difficulty telling humans apart at the best of times. In a crowd? Damn near impossible.

The best anyone could hope for was that the smarter civilians had stayed inside and that pirates hadn't gotten the same bright idea and followed the civilians into their homesteads to seek cover from the rampaging giant. Now this one might have been a bit more graceful than other giants, but at the end of the day, those cracks in the street were... well, basically unavoidable. Human engineering generally did not take giants into the account.

The ones that did tended to be truly important places like Marineford and the like.

And Emma was having a beast of a time trying to figure out what the shichibukai was up to. Her booming voice was, well, apparently asking for stories.

[Valkyrie]

Walking around some more, Valkyrie tried to keep her eyes on her feet. She didn’t want to accidentally squish someone. Bloodstains were hard to get off. While looking around, her gaze stopped onto one of the rooftops. Something strange was going on there. Her eyes focused on the first detail that caught her attention. "Hey, tiny chick!" The shout echoed through the whole town. Valkyrie wasn’t very good at controlling her voice.

It only took two steps for her to reach the building. Her massive frame was easily enough to cast a shadow over the whole roof. She knelt down and leaned towards the odd humans, obviously wanting to take a closer look at them. No matter how she had traveled the world and seen these busy little creatures, they never stopped amusing and amazing her. It was funny how so small bodies held so big spirits. Pity they rarely had the power to back it up. She would’ve loved to fight a human who could’ve stood up to her massive strength. Maybe she could meet someone like that someday...

Resting her arms on the roof, Valkyrie smirked playfully and carefully lifted a massive finger at them. "Are you playing some sort of game?" That’s pretty much what it looked like to her. How else would a grown man get dangled over an edge like that? Although... Now that she looked closer, the one in a suit seemed somehow special. Tilting her head thoughtfully, the Shichibukai leaned closer and stared intensely at the little blonde woman before voicing her curiosity. "Hey, haven’t I seen you somewhere before?" Perhaps she had seen those piercing eyes on a newspaper ...or a bounty poster.

However...

After a very brief moment of pondering, the giant decided that she didn’t actually care. "Nah, doesn’t matter." A mischievous grin appeared on her lips as a new, little idea popped in her head. Reaching to her cleavage, she fiddled with the bandages covering her chest for a moment and pulled out a golden coin. It was around ten times larger than what humans used. "Heads or tails?" She tried to play innocent with her question and lowered the massive coin to the woman’s level, showing both sides to her. One had a crown and the other had a skull, simple to remember. However, she wasn’t going to tell what she was going to toss for just yet.

It was a surprise.

[Emma T. Baskerville]

"Hey, tiny chick!" came the booming voice. "Are you playing some sort of game?"

Agent Baskerville sweatdropped.

So did the pirate she was holding off the edge of the roof. After a moment, she noticed his trousers getting darker at one specific location but had the good sense not to comment on this sudden development. She did hold him a little farther from herself though.

"Lord Shichibukai," she murmured, hoping the giant would not be offended if she noticed the pirate pissing himself in her presence. "We are-"

She was immediately, interrupted, perhaps she had not spoken loudly enough for her voice to reach those massive ears. "Hey, haven’t I seen you somewhere before?"

The pirate fainted dead away, apparently believing it was himself being addressed, head lolling back, froth bubbling at his lips. Agent Baskerville contemplated just dropping him then and there and soru-ing herself to general safety. She immediately quashed the thought. One did not get to a position of notoriety such as shichibukai by being inexperienced with soru-users. No doubt the giant could squash her flat if she saw fit - for whatever reason - to do so.

"Lord," she began, hesitating over which cover story to use. She supposed, in retrospect, that she should have taken a slightly less conspicuous position to carry out her work.

"Nah, doesn’t matter." A smile blossomed not only on the giant's lips, but her very words. One hand digging into her impressive... tracts of land (that were literally as large as some tracts of land) the shichibukai retrieved a golden coin. "Heads or tails?"

Agent Baskerville smiled thinly.

She was fairly certain she someone was supposed to have introduced her to the Shichibukai as the Cipher Pol-marine liaison, it was part of protocol. Had her introduction not reached the shichibukai's ears? Ara, ara, this wasn't good. Everyone that had the slightest inkling of what the Giant shichibukai was like knew what that coin meant.

But this was certainly a most interesting scenario. For a moment she let drop her stoic, business-oriented facade.

"Death is the only sure thing on these waters," she said softly. Then, louder: "Tails, milord, I choose tails."

[Valkyrie]

The Shichibukai tilted her head, trying to figure the woman out. For several times, it had seemed like the little human was about to say something, but she couldn’t really hear it. Why did they all have to whisper anyway? The difference in voices was something the giant would probably never understand. Luckily, she finally got an answer she could actually hear. "Ah, that’s great! I was getting worried that you don’t have a voice at all, but seems like you can get yourself heard when you try." It was nice for a change to find a human who wasn’t terrified of her. So the blonde woman chose tails, the image of grinning skull.

"Interesting choice!"

Standing up to her full height, Valkyrie moved her hand above the roof and set the coin over her thumb. "Alright, here’s what we are gonna do. If we get heads, I’m going to start cutting buildings open until I find a storyteller or a good fight." If the Government complained, she could’ve always just told them she had been fighting pirates. It was none of their business what she did on her free time anyway. "But if we get tails, I’ll sit still for now and let you figure out what we’ll do." As always with Valkyrie, it was a black and white choice, a gamble between utter destruction and a pleasant chat.

With just a flick, the massive coin went airborne. It reached towards the heaven before coming back down, spinning wildly all the way. Upon hitting the roof, it lifted up a fair amount of stone dust. By a small miracle, it only badly cracked the roof instead of going through. Valkyrie knelt down again, eager to see the results. Suddenly, her mouth twisted into a sly smirk. "Heh, you’re a lucky woman." A grinning skull faced the sun, marking a victory for the blonde human in this little gamble.

Valkyrie calmly took the coin and slipped it into her impromptu breast pocket. "Yup, a bet is a bet." While she tried to sound nonchalant, losing always had a certain sting that got on her nerves. However, she had never been one to complain about fair results, not in fights and not in gambling. Quickly checking her behind so she wouldn’t squish any oblivious ants, the giant sat down and crossed her legs beneath the hakama. She set her arms on the roof as if had been just a table. "Alright, I’m all ears." To prove she was serious, she even lowered her head on top of her arms in order to hear the human better.

However, Valkyrie’s curiosity quickly spurred her to ask one more question. "So, you’ve got a name, tiny chick?" She figured that hearing the name might also jog her memory on why the human seemed so familiar. Her eyes wandered onto the man she was holding. After taking a closer look, her grin widened and she lifted a finger towards him. The same curiosity actually resulted in two questions and a short snicker before she finally fell quiet. "And what’s up with mister bladder failure? Risisisi..." She would’ve been lying if she had claimed it wasn’t an amusing sight. Seeing humans panic over little details never got old. Notorious reputation really had its ups and downs.

[Emma T. Baskerville]

The conditions, though recklessly, pointlessly brutal, were to be expected of the 'Whirlwind Valkyrie,' whose name had once, perhaps more accurately, been graced with the title of 'Smiling Death'. It had been a tribute from her enemies, one still whispered in seedy taverns and grimy bars. The higher-up chose to keep the more elegant moniker when drafting her wanted poster, but the two names still existed uneasily. Agent Baskerville wasn't sure how her defection had happened, no doubt it would make for an interesting story.

Not the point though. Narrowing her gaze, she pushed the bridge of the glasses up her nose with a finger, gazing intently at the golden disc laying on her thumb.

Up the coin went.

The Cipher Pol agent watched it revolve, skull and crown switching places at a dizzying speed, quietly counting its spins. At the zenith of its ascent she smiled ever so slightly and relaxed her grip on the pirate, who might have been choking due to forces other than his own fear. Given its unusual size, even an agent with her eyesight would be able to tell what side it would land on. It was a basic exercise to train reaction time - a speed as impressive as soru would be useless without the reflexes to match.

Still, she'd been expecting the giant to catch it. When, instead, it ended up on the roof her head snapped around, brain frantically trying to come up with the number of spins - evens or odds, even or odds - then she breathed a sigh of relief: luck was on her side. Tails.

She hadn't realized the pirate's collar had twisted in her grip once more, leaving an ugly bruise across his throat as she softened her steely fingers.

Oops. At this rate she was really going to execute him accidentally.

"Heh, you’re a lucky woman," the shichibukai noted, settling down, surprisingly graceful. She placed both her hands on the roof, somehow not causing the entire thing to buckle and fall down. Perhaps the shichibukai had gotten used to man-sized structures, or perhaps the engineering was simply more robust than expected.

"So, you've got a name, tiny chick?"

"I am Agent Emma T. Baskerville of the Cipher Pol," she replied, deciding that her usual cover identity might not be the wisest idea at the moment. "And this here is self-declared Pirate Lord Howard. Though coward might suit him better, I'm afraid your presence has made him lose control of his basic biological functions. Like bladder control. And possibly life."

"Perhaps you'd like to hear his story? It is a common one, but still interesting, in its own sordid way."

[/justify]

[Valkyrie]

Hearing the name sparked a memory in Valkyrie’s mind and it was written all over her face. So this woman was one of those Government Agents. That’s where she had seen her. "Oh yeah, you are the leader of that little gang of assassins." What most would’ve called classified information was noted quite loudly. Government secrets didn’t really mean anything to her. The Shichibukai shifted her eyes back on the unconscious man. Now it made sense how such a slender human could dangle a thug over the edge like that. Well, coward did certainly fit him. "Risisi... Good one. Lord of Cowards is the perfect title for this small fry." Unsurprisingly, she had no sympathy for worthless ants.

Upon hearing the mention of a story, Valkyrie immediately leaned closer and accidentally cracked the roof further with her weight. As an experienced swordswoman, she knew exactly what kind of forces human structures could take and behaved accordingly, but when she was excited she... kind of forgot... "Did you say... story?" For once, she actually whispered carefully, not wanting to miss a single detail. Her huge eyes were twinkling with tiny stars and she smiled much like a little child. The smile widened when the Shichibukai realized she had heard right. Oh how she loved stories. It didn’t matter if they were short, ordinary or even if she had heard them before, she still wanted to hear them.

Finally, it occurred to Valkyrie as well that the building was creaking. "Oh, oops... Risisisi..." She moved her arms slightly and the ominous sound stopped immediately. Keeping her strength under control was easy enough, but it was still bothersome. Those little people really should’ve made their homes from tougher stuff, like the Marines did. She never had this problem at Marinejois. "Anyway... I would love to hear that story." She carefully lowered her head down again, staring at the woman intently. While she tried to pretend that she was a mature adult, the childish excitement in her was impossible to hide. Her twinkling eyes revealed it all.

[Emma T. Baskerville]

"Indeed," the agent said. She shook the pirate once, curious if he would wake. It would be nice to have some verification for what had up until this point been allegations.

He didn't.

Oh well.

"He was born a Lord, that much is true," she began, remembering a country beset by iron and blood. The smell had been intoxicating beyond belief - and would smell so for ages to come. Her own home island was like that, would be like that.

"Born Lord Phileas the Third, in a bucolic little kingdom in the South Blue. Raised to rule over others, he was neither particularly intelligent, nor particularly strong. He did have one sterling quality though: he was ruthless. Measures that others would not resort to, he would. Unbearable taxes, pointless terror, bullying, assassinations, violence - such was his bread and water."

"Until him and his family were overthrown. Then, penniless and quite alone, for his underlings had deserted him and any of his family with any brains had long ago moved out of the kingdom and those that hadn't had been executed by the rebels, he somehow made his way to the Grand Line and became a pirate."

She paused, choosing her words with care.

"A disreputable life, for sure, but he had never seen it that way. He was entitled to the good things in life, money, booze, women - what he didn't have he would take. And that included a reputation - Pirate Howard, a name he'd heard somewhere and hadn't realized how potent it was."

"However, two years ago, the World Government re-established peace in his Kingdom and realized he was the sole surviving heir of that dynasty. And now they want him back. So they dispatched a task force to retrieve him. Curiously, this task force included an assassin - odd, no? As choice of personnel, I mean?"

She shook her head.

"But so ends the story."

[/justify]

[Valkyrie]

This was going to be the highlight of Valkyrie’s day, no doubt. Her bothersome search for entertainment had ended surprisingly soon thanks to one of the greatest assassins alive. It was a huge surprise to hear that this poor slob was actually a Lord, but the bit of knowledge only fueled Valkyrie’s curiosity. The name of the lousy man didn’t ring any bells, but she had never really paid attention to royalty anyway. She found it hilarious how those pompous cabbage heads thought that silly clothes and fancy titles gave them power. Many of them had learned just how meaningless those things were before her katana.

Valkyrie quickly forgot about the reality and simply lost herself into the story. She could see the distant kingdom, the struggling peasants and the flowing blood. It was glorious. This was exactly why she loved stories so much. The fall of such lousy family was unsurprising, but vivid. For a brief moment, she even felt a tiny bit of pity towards the failure of a king. At least he had been a better off as pirate than as royalty. Probably.

Upon hearing about the little identity theft, Valkyrie’s mouth twisted into vicious smirk and the corner of her eye twitched. She was very tempted to grab the man and crush him under her heel. It would’ve been the only fitting execution for a worm. Stealing someone’s name and riding on their reputation was one of the most dishonorable things a mortal could do. Luckily, her indecisive nature kept her still until the Agent managed to pull her into the story again. So after all these years someone wanted that scumbag back and they sent an assassin after him. It was such a delicious plot twist. Ooh, her imagination was already going wild just thinking about it.

When the Agent brought the story to conclusion, the Shichibukai nodded respectfully and flashed a thankful smile. "Interesting. Thanks for sharing, Emma." She would have plenty to dream about during her next nap, like how that worthless coward would be executed. However, her curiosity got the better of her and she reached to give the hanging man as gentle nudge as she could. "So, what do you plan to do with the poor bastard now?" She had high hopes since CP9 wasn’t exactly a gentle little gang. Then again, this man was still alive, albeit barely, which meant someone probably wanted to keep him that way for now.

"Oh hey, let me know if you need any help with... interrogating him. I can lend a hand and squeeze him a bit. Risisisisi..."

[Emma T. Baskerville]

Agent Baskerville smiled thinly.

"I'm not sure, perhaps it's a matter of fate," she suggested, dangling the pirate away from herself as she let the shichibukai poke at the so-called pirate lord 'Howard'. If she heard any of his bones break, she certainly didn't let it show on her face.

"You still have that golden coin though... perhaps it will be able to read his fate," she paused slowly savoring that idea. "Yes, I think that will do well. Are you amenable to the idea, Lord Shichibukai?"

Taking a vial of some foul smelling substance from her pocket, she placed it under the pirate's nose and waited calmly for him to wake. When he did so, sobbing and crying and jerking his head away from the stench, she capped it with one hand and carefully placed it back in the pocket.

"Hello Phileas. Do you mind if I call you Phileas?"

""What - who -"

She continued on despite his disorientation. "You have heard of the Whirlwind Valkyrie, have you not?"

At the sight of her he nearly fainted again. Emma slapped him across the cheeks, probably more times than strictly necessary, until he spat out a: "YES, YES I KNOW OF HER."

"Excellent!" she said, beaming with false joy. "You'll have heard of her golden coin then."

She gestured towards the giant, giving her the floor.

[/justify]

[Valkyrie]

Admittedly, Valkyrie was starting to like this little woman more and more by minute. Letting fate decide was the perfect solution. "Ooh, sounds good to me!" Somehow she managed to keep most snickers under control while the Agent woke up the lousy pirate. Valkyrie dug out her beloved coin again and smirked. "I’ll make this simple so even a slow, little mouse like you can understand." She brought the coin in front of the man, showing him the side with the crown. "You live." Her smile and tone gained a chillingly vicious edge as she turned the coin around to reveal the skull side. "You die." She licked her lips in anticipation and straightened her back.

It wasn’t really a secret what result she was hoping for when the coin got launched up again.

While the spinning coin fell, the giant moved her hand to her hip, intending to let gravity do the rest like earlier. Her aim was spot on and it was clear the golden lucky charm would land on the roof again. Unfortunately, what the Shichibukai hadn’t considered was that all buildings had their limits... The coin came down all too fast and crashed straight through the roof. Cracks spread like spider webs all over the roof and a good portion of it collapsed shortly afterwards. Quite a few people screamed as the enormous chunk of gold hit the ground, followed by a shower of rubble. It took a moment for the dust to settle.

Valkyrie only had one reaction for such sudden destruction. She almost doubled over in a roar of booming, but still feminine laughter. "Riaahaahaahaahaa! They sure don’t make them like they used to!" After the worst fit of laughter passed, she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and calmed down again. Leaning over the building, she peeked down the hole and sighed. "Hey Emma, mind checking the result for me? I can’t see the coin from here." Since property damage meant nothing to her, she could’ve simply crushed the building further and picked up the coin, but as a true gambler, she didn’t want to tamper with it until the winner was clear.