The sounds of fishmongers hocking their wares, the clambering of heavy footsteps along the various wooden docks, and the dissatisfied grumbles of the people forced to live in an economic disaster surrounded Kureha as she tried to quickly weave through the streets of Water 7.
While the hood that she had pulled over her head felt like a bit of overkill, she could tell that Rocks had appreciated her extra attempt at subtlety before the crew had split up that morning. The purple cloak that she wore was dark enough that it didn't stand out, a feature of clothing that she normally tried to avoid so as to not take away from her radiant beauty.
While she had initially been a bit excited to come to a city this large, the reality of it was quite disappointing. While she wasn't well versed in the politics of a random city that she had never been to, Kureha was at least aware of the rivalry between the city's 7 shipping companies. As she passed by the various competing workshops, each with employees staring daggers at their rivals across the street, she could see how their toxic rivalry had poisoned their businesses.
While she had to admit that she was a bit curious about the various problems that the city was dealing with, she made a point to keep her head down and increase the pace of her walk as she approached the meeting spot that her contact had agreed to meet at.
The Den Den Mushi call she had made was a long shot, as the old friend she was meeting was one that she hadn't seen in over 40 years. However, given the crew's main mission, his vast resources were not something that she could afford to ignore. She turned down the alleyway as she had been told to do by the instructions, and began to walk down it as the various noises of the city began to quiet.
The dank and garbage filled backstreet was not exactly a picturesque environment, though she had to admit that it matched well with the rest of the grime that the city was filled with. As she made her way through it with a concentrated effort to only breathe through her mouth, the sound of a whistle broke the silence. She looked toward the sound and saw a man leaning against the alleyway's right wall, his body so hidden in the shadows that she felt like she would have walked right past him had he stayed silent.
"Long time no see, Kureha. You're looking well," the man said in a gruff voice as he slowly emerged. His top hat and 3 piece suit would have given off the aura of a fancy stranger were there not humongous brown stains all over his white collared shirt. His walk had a strange gate to it, as if his limbs weren't constructed of bones and flesh but something else entirely.
"You're looking… the same, Donald. Do you have the records we discussed?" She asked as she carefully examined the man's every movement.
"Ah, you're just as polite as ever. Don't you want to catch up at all?" He asked with a slimy tone that would have sent a shiver down her spin if she had felt at all intimidated.
"I'm in a rush, Don. Don't test my patience right now. If you have the records then hand them over, otherwise stop wasting my time," she said as her tone became continually more aggressive.
"My my, you're sitting atop such a high horse for such a nasty criminal," he said with a sudden snarl.
"What are you talking-" Kureha began to say before she was sharply cut off.
"When Rocks was spotted briefly fleeing from Spider Miles, we figured it was some random chore boy who was fishing for a promotion that reported it. But when we got a call today that he was spotted on a ship docking in Water 7, well we just had to check it out," he said with a wide stare and a menacing tone.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kureha said, her tone nonchalant but her mind already formulating an escape plan. "And who's we, you're just some back alley doctor. Do you have a team of rats working for you?" She asked sarcastically.
"Oh no Kureha, I've gone legit," he said as he removed his top hat to reveal the cap of a navy sailor. "Dr. Kureha, on the authority of the World Government, you are under arrest for the crime of conspiring with the notorious pirate captain Rocks," he said, raising his hand into the air as it transformed into a blade.
Without a word, she sprung forward and launched a kick toward Donald's face, her attack barely missing as he just ducked out of the way in time. The expression on his face immediately changed from smug to furious as his other hand transformed into a blade just as his previous one had.
"You idiot, the Dice Dice Fruit makes me a living weapon. What could a woman like you possibly do against me?!" He shouted maniacally as he sliced both of his blades toward her torso. As the metal of his arms made contact with her skin, his eyebrows raised in confusion as his attacks cut straight through without a drop of blood being spilled. Even when her torso became entirely separated from her body, all Kureha did was laugh as he continued to frantically slice, her body cleanly cut into two halves.
"Wow, Rocks will get a kick out of this later," she said to herself before detaching her right arm and slamming its fist into Donald's face, knocking him out in a single strike.