As it is custom in this island, an old man is in the harbor, tending to a little boat he seems to have been taking care of for quite a while. It is nothing but a simple boat, but the man still smiles when seeing it. He takes off whatever sticks to it after being in that same dock for God knows how many years, cleans its inside and repairs whatever needs to be repaired during storms and whatnot. Even so, the little boat, though it is far from new, still seems good, and able to sail as many seas as it may need in the future. After a while, the old man finally seems satisifed with his work and turns around to go to his house.

And just then, a single girl with blonde hair and yellow eyes, wearing a large white blouse and a pair of black shorts, appears in the horizon, paddling furiously through the sea. Her raft is slowly sinking as the ropes start coming undone. The girl seems to be in quite a hurry as well, almost as if she wasn't able to swim. Of course, no one would guess at first sight that the girl actually has the powers of a Devil Fruit, rendering her unable to swim. "Nonononononononodon'tsinkdon'tsinkdon'tsink!!" The girl begs her raft not to let her drown. The old man, upon seeing her, returns to the shore, looking quite worried. When Emeri spots him there, she seems to have seen the hope at the end of dispair. "You there! Please help me! I'll, hng, I dunno, give you something! Just help me! Sinking like this would just be shameful!"

"Y-Yes, grab a hold of this, little girl!" The old man throws a life saver near the raft of the girl.

"HOW IS THIS GONNA HELP ME YOU STUPID IDIOT GEEZER!" Emeri lashes out, but even then, the old man seems calm.

"Leave your raft there girl and grab a hold of that life saver! It is as much as I can do, little girl!" He shouts at her. Emeri, after hesitating a bit, finally nods, even though she doesn't seem to agree with the old man's decision of merely throwing a life saver to her. He should have gone in his own boat and help her, instead of being such a cheapstake. Emeri jumps and grabs unto the life saver, even though she does feel a bit desperate being with half of her body in the sea. The old man starts pulling her to the shore and the raft finally becomes undone and sinks to the bottom of the sea, or well, not exactly, as some of the logs still stay afloat, but not enough neither near enough for Emeri to have been able to survive that.

With a relieved sigh, the girl finally reaches the shore, breathing heavily and seemingly exhausted. "Thanks.... thanks, grandpa." And even then, the old man is already walking into the city. "Hey! Are you really going to leave me here?!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Come 'ere, if yer gonna help someone, you might as well go all the way with it. Let's go get something for ye to eat, little girl."

"I am not only a little girl! I am a pirate! But I'm not going to turn down a meal when someone offers me one. Let's go, old man." The girl follows happily after the elderly man.

---

Time later, the girl is now eating in a little bar. In front of her, there is a dish filled with meat and a lot of side dishes, like salad and whatnot. Even if she seems to be minding her manners like a true lady, it doesn't take out the fact that standing beside her is a pile of dishes that has just been cleaned out by the same girl.

"You eat quite a lot, gal." The old man says, from behind the counter. "Are you sure yer a pirate though? You don't seem like it at all."

Cleaning her mouth carefully with a napkin, the girl seems to have finished and leaves the knife and fork she had been using until now. After letting out a relieved sigh, the girl turns to the old man. "I'm not gonna pay any of this, just so you know." She says, nonchalantly and with a big smile on her face. The old man only nods, seemingly already knowning that that would be the case.

"If you had any money, I'm plenty sure you wouldn't be travelling by raft." The old man laughs a bit, his laugh being hoarse and sickly, as he starts coughing a bit after laughing. Emeri seems a bit flustered and takes a sip out of the tankard in front of her.

"Anyways, I just started my journey, so it can't be helped. In any case, don't you think that pretty boat in the shore shouldn't just be in the dock? I mean, there are so many things to do out there and-!" Of course, she was trying to talk the old man into letting her use the boat she saw at the shore, but before she could finish or before the old man could answer, a large group of people enter through the door, most of them being men. They start taking some of the seats all across the bar and soon, the bar has already filled out with just some chairs being free for the taking. Luckily enough, they didn't seem to notice Emeri.

The owner seems to be in quite a frenzy, tending to all of their orders. Emeri seems to be enjoying the drink inside her tankard at the time too, before someone suddenly sits in front of her with quite a loud motion and stomping on the ground.

"Good evening, missy. It seems you are here alone. You wouldn't mind some company...." More and more men start gathering around her. "Right?" The old man seems to be worried about her, but at the same time, does not do anything to help her at all, seemingly scared of the men. What Emeri didn't know, of course, was that those men were all part of a group of notorious bandits in Dynamo Isla. The Dynamic Group, as they call themselves, of course having the worst kind of naming sense, none at all.

"Please leave. You are an eyesore." She says, smiling at them. The one that seems to be the leader, stands up, seemingly furious.

"What was that?! You seem to be damn confident of yourself you perfect idiot!" The man unsheathes his sword.

The girl seems to be in quite a pinch, and the old man can just whisper under his breath. "Damn fool! She's going to get herself killed... There's a limit to how much of a blockhead one can be!" He silently prays that someone will help her, anyone brave enough to stand up against a group of notorious bandits.

His reasons for being in West Blue? ...Well, he didn't know himself, other than a vague letter about his fortune being found in Dynamo City.

The day had started off well enough. He had, that previous night, took a ride on a caravan heading towards Dynamo City, seeing as he had some business to take care of there. Nothing much, but his previous sensei's friend...An old woman that owned a small, humble tea-shop somewhere in the Island itself, had sent him a letter back in South Blue, to come meet her. The caravan was filled with a bunch of cowardly fools, only interested in going to each island and basically begging for others to take their wares...and then, they would, once again, continue to the next island. The Captain, a short, pudgy man with a fake eyepatch, had only accepted once he had noticed the swordsman's leanly muscular disposition, and his obviously shined and sharpened swords. And so, he had spent the rest of that night sleeping and eating to his heart's content, in the crow's nest because he tended to enjoy being on high-grounds. Either that, or over the railing.

However, entering the Island was a bit of a problem. A few shabby-looking men had blocked out the harbour at around 3 AM that morning, and when they tried to park, a few things happened. The ship was boarded, the Captain had to pay the gang a few barrels of salt and spices, and throughout it all, the swordsman was asleep in the crow's nest, unknown to the few gangsters. After the boat was parked, The Captain, raged at the swordsman doing absolutely nothing to help them, attempted to kick the swordsman out. The swordsman that was multiple heads taller, a Hell of a lot muscular, and easily more handsome. Yeah...it didn't work, but mostly because he genuinely felt a bit of sympathy for the tearful captain and his merry band of dimwits, the swordsman decided to leave anyways - he could mooch off of another caravan or something.

That's how he found himself in this bar. The old woman was a gypsy and fortune teller, and she had told him that sometime that day, an event would happen to kindle his focus so that he could advance in his goal of being a master swordsman - she said that it was going to be in a tavern. This was one of the few taverns in the Island. He knew that, to advance, he would need to fight stronger opponents; everyone he had faced prior to this was weak. Strong by the average man's standard, but to him? Weak. He needed to fight and defeat every single swordsman, one by one...every single pirate, one by one. He needed to be the best.

From his shady corner in the back of the bar, the white-haired swordsman propped up his feet, eyes closed and an eyebrow twitching as a multitude of gang members entered the bar; they had the same clothing and style of the bandits that had got him kicked out of his last caravan trip. Whatever...he had something to do; they wouldn't bother him, he wouldn't bother them-

"What was that?! You seem to be damn confident of yourself you perfect idiot!"

The sound of a sword unsheathing...was all he needed.

Civilians stared as the young swordsman slowly stood, eyes still closed as he began to walk towards the scene, hands in his pockets. As he got within arms-reach of the two, he turned towards the man with the unsheathed sword...and his eyes opened, revealing dark golden irises, glaring fiercly at the man. The bandit took a step back in slight fear, before bolstering his courage and swinging his sword through the air.

"Aye, idiot, unless you wan-"

"Save the bullshit." Tsukihime and Benihime were both blurs before they were, once more, sheathed in under a second. A minor pause, and then the man's sword slowly fell into a dozen diced metal pieces. "I hate clowns like you, picking on little girls." Before another second could pass, the leader found his face smashed in from a boot embedded into his nose. The man was blasted backwards, screaming as his body folded into the wall and blasted straight through in a hail of splinters.

Ryuhei glanced back at the girl, a small smirk on his face. "I'd run if I were you, kid." He began to slowly grin as the bandits around them began to refocus, recovering from their shock. Both of his katanas were in his hands, Benihime in his left, and Tsukihime in his right. Beni was held in a reverse grip, while Tsuki was held normally - the stance completed by Ryuhei tensing his muscles and lowering his body a tad.

The old man sat by the window, chugging a tankard of something reeking of ocean water and booze. Lovely, lovely grog. Rather than brooding in the corner like some childish adventure hero, he was laughing and singing with a few of the other old salts who'd found their way here by the window. The bounty of that table would have been enough to send most marines running for their money. The scene from the corner-skulking man and the girl drew a new batch of laughter.

"Looks like he's yer knight in shinin' armor, lassie! Comin' to the rescue of a little girl! Aye, so big and brave, startin' barfights over a girl insulting a man!"

Another long chug, he continued laughing at the ongoing dramatacism.

"Tip yer hat and bend yer knee, laddie! Let her know you'll kill these men who've said barely three words ta ya to protect her from the consequences of her actions! GWAAAAAHAHA!"

Emeri was about to do something about the rude customers herself when another guy came and started cutting people up. Yeah, an skilled swordsman no doubt, but it still seemed... wrong to interfere in a fight just because and like that. The guy seemed to think that Emeri couldn't take care of herself. And then there was the old guy in the bar that made the girl blush like crazy. Yeah, she needed no knight in shining armor. She was her OWN knight in shining armor. "Huh... I see, I see. So, you think I need someone saving me? Don't make me laugh!"

Disappearing in a blur, Emeri advanced forward, making some of the civilians admire in awe her stunning speed. "Oto Dash!" Emeri said, after getting herself in front of one of the goons wiht a wide smirk in her face. "You guys lack so much delicacy. You don't deserve to be treated nicely." The girl said, before punching the first guy at super sonic speed and throwing him against the wall, effectively making him dig into it and leave his sillhoute there. And then, before anymore of them could even react to what she had done, she threw herself to the ground and supported herself on the ground, before using her legs at super sonic speed yet again and kicking two of the other goons standing behind her. They also flew quite some distance, but this time, one crashed against a table and broke it and the other against a chair, also breaking it.

With that done, the girl spun around still supporting herself on the ground and then finally brought her legs down to ground level. Running a hand by her hair, Emeri decided to jump over a table and look down on all of the idiots. "Now, how about you all just calm down a bit. It is not like you stand a chance against the Queen of Pirates right here." With that said, every civilian in the bar seemed to be a bit shocked at her sudden statement.... Before breaking into a fit of laughter that filled the bar.

Things like 'Did you hear this idiot?', 'She can't really be thinking she can become the King of Pirates, 'Not with so many dangerous rookies lulling around!' Yes, all of them were pretty insulting. Emeri's face became red as a tomato the moment they started laughing.

"Heh, even if you laugh right now, soon enough, you'll be begging in your knees once you see I am really the Pirate Queen!" Emeri says back to them, before turning to the swordsman. "And you! Why did you have to interfere like that? Didn't you see I had the situation under control?" Calming herself down, she finally looks back at Ryuhei with a smile in her face. "Or what, would you like to go at it with me?"

Hm...this was surprising.

And he her thought that he had to save some little damsel in distress. Ryuhei had simply watched with a raised eyebrow and a growing smirk as the girl seemed to blur forward at a speed that his sharp eyes easily matched, kicking a goon before kicking another two, breaking quite a bit of furniture in the old tavern. An old man at the back seemed to guffaw about something or another, talking about Ryuhei preparing to kill these men for no reason; which only made his smirk grow into a grin. Just as he was about to laugh at the old timer and say some really hurtful words, he was cut off by the girl leaping onto the table and declaring her future as the 'Pirate Queen'. Amongst the other goons and civilians, Ryuhei merely watched, his grin disappearing into his normal frown when she turned her attention to him. Did he want to have a go at her?

A quick glance over her form showed him that no, he didn't want to have a go at her. There was no fear in the statement; he didn't want to fight her...because disappointing fights were, well, disappointing. She wouldn't further his goal of becoming the world's greatest swordsman...she most-likely had no skills as a swordsman, and although she took care of herself, she didn't have the physique of a physically astounding warrior, either. She was probably one of the people who relied on their Devil Fruits to save their day...a pity, really. However...he was in a fired-up move, and had been really looking forward to fighting the goons all around him. Maybe...No. He wouldn't raise a sword against someone weaker, if there was no fun in it. No challenge.

"Not worth it." He stated dismissively, waving one hand. His golden eyes peered deeply at her form. "What are you...twelve? Fifteen? Ten?" Although it was hard to tell with his cold, deep voice, there was an ounce of honest curiosity. Obviously, the swordsman was incredibly lost when it came to knowing someone's age.

"OH! OH! NOW THEY LACK DELICACY, SAYS THE GIRL TOSSIN' EM THROUGH WALLS!"

He went to take another swig of grog, before spewing it out at the mention of the phrase "queen of the pirates" and continuing to laugh his ass off.

"GWAAAAAHAHAHA! LASSIE, PIRATES DON'T BOW TO NO KING OR QUEEN IN THIS AGE! AND CERTAINLY NOT ONE THAT'S SO COWARDLY THEY NEED A DEVIL FRUIT TO SURVIVE IN THE DRUNKEN DEMON!"

The man stood up, shaking his head. His laughter died down as he grabbed the full bottle of alcohol in one hand, and a baseball bat in the other. He slung the bat over his shoulder before turning a hateful glare, full of the disappointment of a man seeing everything wrong with the new generation infesting the livelihood he held so dear, to the self-proclaimed pirate queen.

"Aaaaah, piracy's gone downhill since my day it seems. All you brats runnin' about, talkin' about KING OF THE PIRATES this and I'M SO COOL I HAVE A MAGIC BANANA that. In my day, ye got by on yer wits, yer muscle, and yer reputation. But it looks like sellin' yer pirate's soul to the devil and forsakin' the sea's embrace fer power is enough to make some brats these days think they're hot shit. Thinks that lets them call themselves a pirate. In my day?"

In the blink of an eye, a fork flew over to the wall, quivering over an old wanted poster. Strikeout Worches, a bounty of 54,000,000- For piracy, sinking a marine vessel, burglarizing a Marine Captain's house, the theft of cargo totaling 30,000 tons, and shaving a Marine Captain's prize showdog. The pirate adjusted his hat and headed for the door.

"In my day ye had to WORK to be worthy of sayin' that."

Both guys seemed to be hugely understimating her. Devil Fruit or not, Emeri was still a damn fine pirate!..... probably. Even so, the comment from the swordsman pissed her off a bit. How could someone just not see that she was already eighteen?! "What was that!? Can't you see I am 18, you idiotic monkey!" Yeah, she was losing her cool. The guy didn't want to fight her and instead tried insulting her. Yeah, she should play it smooth here. She turned to the swordsman yet again, making her hair move around elgantly with her own elegant moves. "But even then, I cannot blame you for being scared of me. You may need swords, but I don't need such things. My, if it weren't because I ate a Devil Fruit by accident, I could still be able to drag you around the ground as it is proper for someone of YOUR class."

Emeri jumped off the table. She was now full and out of here. Of course, she couldn't just let the comments of the old timer slide. He was part of the past age, and certainly a big asset for her in coming fights. She approached him with a smile. Even if he was saying all of those things and whatnot about devil fruits, he was certainly someone with some experience in the seas all ready. Perfect, just what Emeri needed. With another smirk, and pointing at him Emeri said what she needed to say. "You are a a real pain in anyone's bottom, old man. I like you. Even if you couldn't get a Devil Fruit in your time, I'm sure you are still real powerful. Why don't you become part of my crew?" She smiled at him.

Of course, the bandits wouldn't just stay down while she had a talk with the old timer. Once the guy swinged his sword down to get her, Emeri decided to not let it go through her and instead use the guy's momentum against him. She avoided the slashing motion of the guy's sword, moved into the inside of the guy's guard and then punched him right on his stomach. It was a subtle move that still damaged the guy badly, making him fall to his knees. "W-What? How? She didn't even use her Devil Fruit powers....?"

"Hehe, good enough right?" She turned to the old man. "Anyhow, I'm off to steal some boat to get to the next island. I need to get to the Grand Line as soon as possible. I need someone seasoned like you helping me out. You DO wish to see the seas one more time before dying right?" Emeri arrogantly smirked at him. She also turned to the swordsman and glared at him a bit, before smiling. She was trying to provoke him, in one way or the other. She would also like to have someone like that in her crew, someone aside from her that could fight. Just, she may need to educate the little monkey. "And the monkey swordsman over there.... Well, just come too. It'll be fun."

"...You want ta be queen o' the pirates."

Worches pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing.

"An' ya don't even have a boat. Do Devil Fruits cause brain damage, lass? Is that why ya came into the Drunken Demon an' started insulting the local hoodlums?"

He shook his head, following the girl out, taking the bottle with him.

"If ye be a true laggard, I'd be a whoreson fer talkin' down of ya. Can't let ya go stickin' dubloons up yer nose or jumpin in' the water because ye see a pretty fish, so I guess I HAVE to come along."

Okay...this isn't what he wanted. Ryuhei watched, his face carefully devoid of emotions, and his eyes narrowed as the old man seemed to talk in an annoying accent that he honestly couldn't understand. Drunken demon....the tavern. Laggard? He honestly had no clue at all, and he didn't know what a whoreson was either. Dubloons meant butt, which she could somehow stick up her nose...and apparently the girl was stupid enough to jump in the water after a fish, despite, rather blatantly, being a Devil Fruit user. However, none of that mattered at this point...because apparently he was a monkey swordsman. Feeling a headache coming on, the swordsman reached up, massaging his temples. Forget this. He wasn't going to join a ship with a mental old man and an arrogant little brat-

Just as he was about to turn around and walk out without another word, the same small old woman that he had met earlier...was sitting by the door, on the floor. She pointed at the brat and mouthed something...it was a bit hard to understand, due to her lack of teeth, but he could barely make out the words 'Fortune and destiny'. With a snort, Ryuhei turned back around, his dark golden eyes narrowed as he glanced over the brat's form. She...she was the ticket to his destiny? Going with her, would spur along his fortune and help him in his quest to become the world's strongest swordsman? A large, sharp-toothed grin formed on his face, Ryuhei's golden eyes seeming to glow crimson. "Okay, little girl," He began slowly, "It'll be fun." There was a mocking tone behind his deep voice, but before she could say anything, the demonic glow disappeared, and Ryuhei crossed his arms over his chest, his face returning to it's intimidating scowl.