章 18: Leaving

A flash of light met Rayleigh's sword, causing a slight vibration in his arm. He put some strength into his sword, and the light was instantly shot back with great force.

Skid. Rumble.

Mud erupted as the light reformed into a figure, its white shoes darkening as it skidded against the ground, sliding back across the grove a far distance.

When the movement stopped, Borsalino was far away, blood trailing down his torn right sleeve.

"Whew…" He lifted his right arm to his face, taking a better look. A sharp pain ran across his forearm as red darkened the yellow sleeve.

If he hadn't reacted appropriately, it would have been cut off entirely.

"How… Scary…" He said, his facial expression unchanged.

He looked up to see long blonde hair rising as a man fell elegantly from the window of the house. The man with the blade stood before him between the cold, heavy raindrops.

Borsalino's eyes widened as nascent sweat was washed away by the downpour. Some of the rain slid down his arm, enhancing the sharpness of the pain there.

"Silvers… Rayleigh…" Borsalino remarked, his eyes opening slightly.

That made sense. He had never really confronted Roger's pirates; Garp's team would always call dibs on them whenever they were sighted, and Borsalino tended to be assigned to different tasks. But from what he had heard about them and experienced just now…

He felt he was outclassed in a fair fight with Roger's right hand.

It did not matter much though.

Rayleigh smiled, "A Vice-Admiral, huh? I'm sorry, but you'll have to go back home," He swept his blade upwards lightly, and, faster than Borsalino could think, a deep, rainless fissure cut through the grove as the land shook, the tremors instantly causing the Vice-Admiral to slightly lose balance.

A sharp vertical line and a flash of silver appeared between his eyes.

Shine.

A fraction of a second before it reached him, Borsalino split his body in half, each of his halves forming into balls of bright yellow light.

Shing.

The massive blade projection passed through the gap between his halves as it continued to cut through the Grove unhindered.

One of Borsalino's halves rejoined the other as his figure reformed once more. The blade energy behind him was as strong as ever as it continued to cut through everything in its path.

The tremors from the slash shook the entire Grove. Then it passed through the central tree.

Slice! Rumble!

The tree was sliced vertically, each of its halves falling, intensifying the small earthquake.

"That… was dangerous…" Borsalino couldn't help but say as he heard the sounds and felt the tremors of devastation emerging from behind him.

He looked at the blonde-haired man who nonchalantly stood in the same spot wearing a smile of warning.

Before Rayleigh moved again, Borsalino spoke as he noticed the bitter taste of mud with his words, "I'm… not here for you… Silvers Rayleigh…"

Borsalino's initial orders were only to assess the situation and report back to Sengoku. When he had finally gotten in contact with the Admiral (after finding the correct Transponder Snail), he had been ordered to find and capture the girl of interest.

After siphoning the details from a reluctant Lieutenant Brannew, the man finally caved and revealed the girl's identity. From there, it wasn't too difficult to find her residence.

"I'm here for…" He turned his head to the window, his eyes meeting Lily's.

Lily had seen the brief but powerful exchange from the window Rayleigh had jumped out of. She stood still, her eyes fixed on that deep fissure that extended as far as she could see, and then at that enormous tree that had been cleaved through as if it were paper.

'That was… one sword strike…?' She thought as something intangible nudged her heart.

She awoke from her reverie, remembering Rayleigh's earlier words.

She had to run away. There would be more people chasing after her. Powerful people. She glanced at the marine man, meeting his eyes.

She held his gaze calmly, the burning emotions within her dissipating any fear or apprehension she may have felt.

Turning away to prepare for her departure, she left his sight and began to quickly rummage through her house.

Clang! Crash!

The sounds of battle resumed as she got ready to leave.

She wore a long black hooded raincoat on top of what she was already wearing and grabbed a knife from the kitchen for self-defense. She knew it wouldn't help much against people like the two outside, but anything was better than nothing.

Bang! Shine.

A bright yellow light shone through her window before darkening as the vibrations of a crash shook her surroundings slightly.

And lastly…

There were things she wanted to keep safe.

Her mother's letters, Her birthday gift. Shanks' Vivre Card.

That last one was in a transparent jar on her desk. Her mother had placed it inside one for fear it would get lost by crawling away. Years ago, Lily had also drawn two stick figures upon it, their prominent features being a straw hat and red hair for one, and a red nose and blue hair for the other, both wearing innocent smiles.

Over the years, Lily would occasionally watch the card change directions through the glass, wondering where the two were and what they were doing. It seemed to be crawling East at the moment.

Clang! Boom!

Another clash and tremor. Something fell and shattered in the kitchen.

She gathered all of her keepsakes, put them in a box, and hid them beneath the floorboard of her room. She hoped she would find an opportunity to come back and retrieve them later.

Creak.

She left the front door after wearing a pair of light green boots. As soon as she did…

Clang!

A sword manifested in front of her eyes, blocking a blinding ray of light from approaching her.

Lily squinted her eyes as they adjusted, looking up at the man who had protected her. Yellow light reflected from his glasses.

His back seemed so large.

He smiled an easy, casual smile and spoke, "Well, he isn't much trouble, but he is faster than me, so I have to keep him here," As he said that, the light attempted to bypass the sword, but was easily knocked away.

The light reformed back into that marine man a distance away.

"How… annoying…" Borsalino said without a change in his facial expression, his breathing slightly heavy. His suit was marred by nicks and cuts, hints of red flowing between them as the rain attempted to wash them away.

"Yeah, your fruit is pretty annoying," Rayleigh nodded. The Vice-Admiral was far faster than him, but it didn't mean much as Rayleigh's Haki was many times superior. His Observation allowed him a clear view of the future, and his Armament was leagues above the young Vice-Admiral.

Though, he did have to give the light-man some credit. He managed to avoid fatal blows and was still persevering. Rayleigh knew he couldn't let the man pass him or else he would be unable to catch up.

"Why are you… protecting her?" Borsalino asked, sounding unbothered by the pickle he had found himself in. He did not expect to meet Silvers Rayleigh today as it was supposed to have been an easy mission.

"Well… what can I say?" Rayleigh smiled and shrugged, "I can't stand by now, can I?" He then turned to Lily and said, choosing his words, careful not to trigger the girl further, "Well, there you have it. The Marines are after you for… disposing of that… Noble."

Lily simply nodded before turning away.

"Thank you…" She offered her gratitude in a whisper.

Splish. Splash. Splish. Squelch. Splash.

She ran, making her way to Grove 13.

Her eyes were hidden in the darkness of her hood, the storm, and the rain, so no one there noticed the bestial rage seething within them.

'They're after me… for… what? Killing that excuse of flesh? What about…' Her eyes became colder as the rain slid off her coat, and her boots pressed the mud in hurried strides.

Squelch. Splash. Splish.

'What about… my mother?' Red colored the whites of her pale green eyes as she gripped the handle of the knife in her hand, more tears threatening to escape her.

A long dark shadow elongated in front of her as many bullet-sized particles of light shot in her direction from behind. The ones that missed her caused small explosions in the dirt.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Mud erupted into the air all around her, causing her to lose her footing and balance.

Cling! Clang! Cling!

Directly behind her, the sound of steel rang across the Grove.

She knew she had somehow been protected again as she continued to run, unscathed.

After a while of explosions, crashes, and flashes, she made her way to a bridge, running across it and arriving at the next grove.

Splish. Splash. Splash.

She ran, the stamina she had been training for the past few years not failing her as she passed by one more Grove. Her breath was only slightly labored.

"You there! Halt!" A young marine soldier with a flashlight called as he made out the short silhouette running in the rain.

Lily ignored the man, continuing onwards.

The Marine attempted to run in front of her, but the short figure seemed like an apparition as it bypassed him seamlessly as something cold grazed gently by his side.

"Wha -" His words were cut short, a sharp pain jolting through him as he collapsed on his knees. His hand gripped his side as he looked down to see red. A deep gash had formed by his kidney.

'Way Of Cloud.'

Lily did not need to think to use the technique anymore as she inched ever closer to full mastery.

She did not pause, continuing onwards as her eyes hid behind layers of darkness.