You tried to muffle the sound of your own breathing. The slim turn of moon in the sky was the only real light, since you'd left town some hours ago. You had been trying to shake Jabra, a terribly persistent member of CP9, with limited results. He wasn't as bad as Lucci, but that terror had been on a long-term undercover mission as far as you were aware. You hadn't seen him or Kaku for a few years now.

Being an orphan with a knack for fighting, you had spent some years being trained and raised by the World Government to eventually become a part of CP9. While most everyone else had leaned into it, there was something about the whole thing that never sat well with you. You gave the bloody nightmare the slip when you were 16, and you'd survived well enough in the years since. You had honestly lasted on your own for seven years longer than you had expected.

You couldn't hear anything around you aside from the sounds of nature, and crept along slowly in the dark of the night. You were picking your way through the underbrush for an hour before you heard the ocean. You let out a small sigh of relief; Jabra were a devil fruit user, and you could lose him completely in the water.

What you saw when you got to the shoreline wasn't empty ocean, but a big mean looking ship that had been anchored into the cove. You didn't need to see much to know it was a pirate ship. There wasn't any other reason to dock at the cove when the island's busiest pier was just a little ways further by boat.

Given that the front sail had a massive flaming skull on it, you figured the pirates associated with the ship were of some renown. You don't go showing off your jolly roger like that without having the balls to back it up.

You pondered your options quickly; you could stow aboard a pirate ship you knew nothing about, steal a rowboat from the same pirate ship, swim around it, or move on to a safer stretch of beach and risk being caught by Jabra.

There was a noise in the woods behind you, and you caught the not-as-distant-as-you-wanted voice of Jabra swearing. Your options were limited, and if you hit the water now, Jabra was going to hear you. Fortunately, you were good enough at geppo to get from the shore to the ship. You couldn't sustain it over long distances, but you just needed to clear a few dozen yards and that was easy enough.

You landed on the deck of the ship and peeked back toward the shore from behind the cover of the solid railing that bordered most of the deck. You focused everything you had into watching the beach, but even after several long minutes had come and gone, you hadn't heard or seen anything further from Jabra.

You put your back to the railing and looked around the ship. It was quiet, a few crew members seemed to be sleeping further away from you, and if anyone had noticed you there hadn't yet been a commotion. You tucked your long hair into the cap you were wearing and spent a moment to make sure you weren't going to bump into any surprises.

You could go high to the crow's nest, but that seemed like a great spot to run into someone. There were several levels up from the deck, and if you could slip to the side of the ship that was the not-shore-side, then you could geppo your way up to the top of those cabin levels and hopefully stay out of the way. You considered going below deck, but if you were seen you wanted to be able to beat a hasty retreat.

Pirates were preferred over CP9 agents, but you weren't so naïve as to think pirates were all reasonable people either. You crept low, continuing to use the railing as cover, and made your way to the stern of the ship, and shifted your way to the ocean-side things. With a full ship between you and the shore you felt a lot safer. If you were seen you could just throw yourself into the ocean, and the pirates would create all the noisy cover you'd need to give Jabra the slip.

Kicking off the air again you geppo'd your way up to the "roof" of this part of the ship and knelt low. Your senses were on high alert, half expecting the lookout from the crow's nest to have noticed you by now. If he missed you slipping onto the deck though, you might be home free. If you don't see anyone get on your ship, you're not going to pay attention to movement on your ship. It was a logical, but in this case, foolish way of thinking.

There wasn't a lot of moonlight either. Visibility for the best of people was limited in these conditions. After you had gotten comfortable in your new spot, you saw light spill onto the deck as someone with a lantern started walking around. Whether he was doing a security check or a bed check wasn't your concern. You kept the light in your peripherals and looked back to the shoreline.

You nearly hissed at the silhouette of Jabra darting around the tree line. He'd almost be mistaken for a wolf, if you didn't know that such beasts didn't exist on this island. You flattened yourself in your spot and resigned yourself to stowing away aboard a pirate ship. If you could stay out of sight for the voyage to a new island, then that would be best.

And if you got caught – well, you'd have to worry about that problem later.

You'd been dodging Jabra for four days. You'd barely had enough to eat and drink and your sleep was lacking. You tried to keep your eyes open, but sleep overtook you as you realized you weren't going to be arrested by CP9 tonight. The relief settled too deeply into your bones, and you should've known better.