Despite his best efforts, Captain Nezumi had been unable to stop his ship from being sunk.
He could have guessed it would turn out that way from the moment he'd decided to jump out of that window. Cheapshot Cherry wasn't the kind of pirate he could handle, and if she was bragging to his face about what she was going to do, then there was no reasonable expectation that he could change the result.
"Lieutenant Commander Loronzo, give me a report on the damages," Nezumi sighed as he addressed his vice captain. He'd worked with the man for years now. He was competent, wasn't overly ambitious, and knew when and how to keep his mouth shut; the perfect subordinate for a captain like Nezumi.
"Ship's done for. No point in dredging it up with that many holes in it. Thankfully, no one died. How that happened, I couldn't say," Loronzo summed up.
Nezumi knew how; because Cheapshot decided not to kill any of them. That was the one and only reason they were all still alive, and she wanted him to know that.
"Alright. I'm going to need you to keep this quiet, because the last thing we need right now are a bunch of desertions," Nezumi warned, waiting for Loronzo to nod his understanding. "Cheapshot Cherry approached me in the guise of a marine whilst I was meeting with the Lord Regent. The fool knew from the start that she was involved and deliberately concealed that information. She told me exactly what she was going to do in the form of an after-action report, and then she did it."
Loronzo's eyes had gone as wide as dinner plates.
"Tell me, did we manage to save our long range den den mushi?" Nezumi asked.
"No, sir," Loronzo said, then frowned. "It actually went missing just before the attack. I was searching for it when it all started."
"Of course it did," Nezumi sighed. She'd spare the damned snail too, just to rub it in.
"Alright, you go see if you can get us transport off this miserable island, discreetly, and I'll see about contacting headquarters," Nezumi ordered. "Hopefully we can get out of here before that crazy bitch decides to toy with us some more."
Loronzo snapped a salute and walked away at a brisk pace. Nezumi could trust him not to draw attention to himself, as he was almost as good at skulking as Nezumi himself was.
Nezumi set about his own task. He knew that the Lord Regent had a long distance den den mushi, but that simply wasn't an option. Cheapshot would anticipate him wanting to use that, and had probably already stolen it for that exact reason. If he did go to check on the off chance that she hadn't, then he'd likely fall right into a trap that, at best, would make him look like an idiot.
*rumble*
Why was it suddenly so dark?
Nezumi looked up to see an extremely localized thunderstorm brewing directly over his head.
He wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what this was. He turned directly for the nearest alley and started to run.
A flash of red hair on a woman stepping out from the other side cause him to abruptly change strategy and-
*crash*
-smash straight through the window of one of the neighboring buildings.
"Where do you- Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Cat Burglar Nami said, at first in a teasing toe, then outraged. He was already assessing the layout of the small grocery when she continued, "What the hell is with you and jumping through windows?! Face me like a rat backed into a corner!"
As if. Nezumi had been keeping up with the Straw Hats ever since they beat Arlong half to death. For a little while, the thought that they'd come looking for him for revenge had kept him up at night. He'd thought he was safe after they started making waves in the Grand Line. Surely they wouldn't come all the way back to little ol' East Blue just for little ol' him…
A mistaken assumption, clearly. He should have kept his guard up, even if it was making his hair go prematurely grey while stressing over it.
The backdoor was too obvious. Go out another window? Maybe as a last resort…
"You!" Nezumi hissed in a stage whisper, hoping he wouldn't be overheard.
A tottering old man behind a cash register only just noticed him. He'd been on the verge of falling asleep in his chair when Nezumi started marching towards him.
"What? Oh, is there something you need?" the old man asked.
"Is there a way out of here besides the front and back doors?" Nezumi questioned, speaking quickly.
The old man blinked at him slowly. "Huh? Well, there's the roof, I suppose. You could use it to-"
Nezumi didn't wait for him to finish. The roof was perfect. There's no way that the thieving cat would expect him to get closer to her thunder storm. He'd run along the rooftops until he found another way down. Clean escape.
He raced up the stairs, his footsteps near completely silent. He opened the door at the top swiftly and quietly, stepping through to quickly get his bearings before-
"Wow. Nami said you'd go for the roof, and here you are," an unfamiliar voice spoke behind him.
He spun around and backed away from the new woman sitting cross-legged atop the rooftop doors bulkhead. Her hair was a vibrant pink and her sole visible eyebrow was curled at the end.
"Vinsmoke Reiju," Nezumi recalled her name.
"Just Reiju is fine. Sanji doesn't use our surname either," Reiju hopped down to stand between him and the door. "So, are you going to fight, or surrender to your fate?"
He could tell immediately that she wanted him to put up a fight, however pointless it would be. He was only a captain in the backwater of the weakest sea; he couldn't contend with the likes of her, who was famous even outside her sea of origin.
At the same time, surrender wasn't a good option, either. He didn't know what torment was planned for him, but he wouldn't take it quietly.
The storm rumbled ominously overhead as his thoughts raced for a solution.
*tooootle toooot*
A haunting melody, played upon a flute interrupted the standoff. Nezumi found that his body was seized, his muscles forcibly tensed against his will. Then, his body began to march towards the edge of the roof all on its own.
"What are you doing to me?!" Nezumi cried out in shock.
However, Reiju seemed just as surprised as he was by this development. She started to move towards him, but the flute grew louder and more insistent and she stumbled.
He toppled over the edge, screaming all the way to his presumed death.
He did not find hard stone at the end of his fall, though. In fact, his landing was unexpectedly soft?
And it was moving.
He fell upon a swarm of writhing rats, filthy pests from the dankest corner of this wretched country.
"Help!" Nezumi cried out, just before the moving bed of rats dumped him down a storm drain and his world turned to darkness.