The Girl Being Hunted

Night had fallen. Much of the royal city lay in darkness as Teach made his way toward the inn.

Inside the royal palace stood a palace that served as a small side hall for the Snake King. It hadn't been remodeled to resemble a snake pit. Inside was a huge cage, with a soft bed and, on the floor, a basin of milk. Two fish lay in a bowl beside it.

A tiny figure sat inside the cage, surrounded by darkness. Lonely and isolated, she had only the moonlight streaming through the window to keep her company. She looked outside at the full moon in the sky. Its pure, bright light spilled over her, casting a faint silver glow.

As she gazed outside, she seemed to make up her mind. She jumped down from the bed and moved on all fours with the light steps of a cat. She hated the cage before her. It stopped her from wandering freely as she used to, trapping her and taking away her freedom.

Besides, she missed her friends.

With that thought in mind, she raised both hands and braced them against the edge of the cage, straining as if to pull it apart. But it didn't budge. The cage had been made far too sturdy.

Still, she didn't give up. Her small frame held astonishing strength, and the cage began to shudder. Her eyes shone with determination, their gemstone-red color strikingly bright. Her arms trembled, and thin trails of blood seeped from the cage. Gritting her teeth, she gave a soft cry. "Meow!" Her body began to change, and her hands became Cat Claws. Ever since the person who had captured her fed her a strange fruit, she seemed to have gained this ability. She had become more like the companions she used to have.

Her strength surged. Slowly, the bars of the cage began to part, widening the gap between them. At last, she stopped. She looked at the opening, then carefully squeezed through it and slipped out of the cage.

She looked at the closed door. It was firmly shut and locked. She could sense many people standing outside. They wouldn't let her escape.

Then she saw the open window, and for some reason, her heart filled with joy. She leaped lightly. The muscles in her legs were powerfully developed, giving her incredible spring. She jumped four meters high, her sharp claws digging into the wall as she climbed, pushing off again and again. In just three seconds, she had reached the window, more than ten meters above the ground.

When she looked outside, her eyes lit up. It was vast, filled with houses of every size, far more expansive than the little world she had seen before. It felt like a whole new world. But she missed home terribly. She could explore it later, if she got the chance.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, startling her where she perched on the window. Thankfully, the shot missed. Realizing she'd been spotted, she leaped from the window toward a less populated area, landing directly on the wall around the palace and sprinting outside.

A guard below thought he heard something and looked around, but saw nothing. The palace gate was shut and hadn't been opened. Instinctively, he looked up toward the window. His pupils shrank. He couldn't believe the "pet" His Highness had ordered them to guard was trying to escape.

He raised his gun and fired toward the edge of the window, not aiming at her. She was His Highness's precious pet, after all. If he hurt her and displeased His Highness, he would be the one to suffer.

He had hoped the gunshot would startle the pet back into the palace. But events didn't unfold as he'd expected. She jumped onto the wall and ran outside, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The gunshot alerted a large group of people, who hurried over. "What happened? Who told you to fire your gun? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" their captain shouted at him. "Th-there's trouble! I saw His Highness's pet escape!" the guard said hurriedly, coming to his senses as sweat poured down his face.

"What? She escaped? How? Wasn't the door shut?" The squad leader looked confused.

The guard didn't answer. He pointed upward. Following his arm with his gaze, the captain saw a window standing open.

"Damn it!" Now he understood. He shouted at the guards around him, "What are you standing around for? Hurry and go after her! Bring her back! If she gets away, it won't just be you who gets in trouble. I'll be in deep trouble too!"

"Yes, sir!" The guards ran outside to pursue the pet who had escaped.

"Open the door for me. How did she get out of the cage?" the captain asked. The two guards who had stayed behind unlocked the door. As soon as he entered, he saw that the cage was empty. He went closer and, sure enough, spotted signs of her escape. The bars at the back had been pulled apart, and blood still stained them.

"You two go after the pet. I'll inform the Snake King," the captain ordered the two guards.

As the person responsible for guarding the pet, and someone the Snake King trusted, he knew what she meant to His Highness. The Snake King had built a powerful force of assassins, but his influence was far weaker than the Tiger King's. The Kate Trading Company, established by the Kate Kingdom, was controlled by the Tiger King. He could obtain Devil Fruits more easily, and was more likely to find the particular fruit he wanted and raise a pet of his own.

This pet had been raised by the Snake King specifically for the Tiger King. On top of that, she had already eaten a Devil Fruit. It wasn't the one the Snake King wanted, but it was the one the Tiger King wanted. Together, the two things made for a perfect match.

He needed the Tiger King's help to find the Devil Fruit he wanted. In exchange, the pet was what he had to offer.

He hurried toward the Snake King's palace. The Snake King hadn't gone to bed yet. When the captain arrived outside the palace, he couldn't help trembling. The gloomy building, the silence, the damp air, and its strange smell all filled him with fear. It smelled of snakes. "Please inform His Highness the Snake King that I have an urgent report," he said to the guard at the entrance.

"Please wait." The guard nodded, opened the door slightly, and went inside.

Before long, he came back out. "His Highness will see you."

As the captain entered the palace, his heart leaped into his throat. Two pools lay on either side, home to water snakes. Countless snakes had been carved into the stone pillars, which His Highness called the Myriad Snake Pillars.

Suddenly, a snake's head lowered from above and stopped right in front of him. It stared intently at him, flicking its tongue. His face went pale with fright. In the dim light, the place didn't look like a palace at all. It was a snake pit—and, to most people, a hell.

He didn't dare look up. He had no idea how many snakes were above him, or how many were watching him. Just thinking about it terrified him. He felt like he might go mad.

Of the three princes, the eldest, the Tiger King, was the most powerful; the third, the Dragon King, was the most domineering; and the second, the Snake King, was the most terrifying. He spent so much time among snakes that he had become like one himself. The pet, too, had been raised in a different kind of environment.

At the very back stood a black throne. The second prince sat there, his face stern and his eyes cold. A giant snake, more than twenty meters long, coiled around him. It raised its head, flicked its tongue, and licked the prince's cheek. The second prince gently stroked its belly.

"Speak. What is it?" the second prince asked coldly. "Your Highness, the pet escaped," the captain said cautiously. "But I've already sent men to catch her. We should have good news soon."

The second prince's expression didn't change, but the air around him grew even colder. The captain trembled uncontrollably. He could already imagine what would happen to him. He had seen it with his own eyes many times before, and those deaths had been horrifying. He regretted coming to report it. Wouldn't it have been better to catch the pet first and tell the prince afterward?

"Your Highness, spare me! Please give me another chance. I'll bring the pet back, I promise!" He dropped to his knees and begged, tears streaming down his face.

The second prince found his posture even more repulsive. "My pets haven't eaten yet. Since you're here, you can feed them." His voice softened.

"Y-yes, I'll feed them properly. I'll make sure Your Highness is satisfied." The captain grew excited, thinking he would be allowed to live. But then hissing sounds came from all around him. As one of the second prince's men, he knew that sound very well.

It was the sound of snakes slithering. One after another, they quickly crawled toward him. Before he could react, they had climbed onto his body. Then snakes began dropping from the ceiling, landing on his head and shoulders. They coiled around him, covering his body.

Despair filled his eyes. He couldn't even speak. He had already been poisoned. The snakes bit into him, injecting venom into his body.

The second prince's cold gaze was the only response. Now the captain understood what he had meant: the prince was feeding him to his pets.

"Send someone to bring that pet back to me. Don't let anything happen to her." The second prince's voice rang through the hall and echoed. "Yes, Your Highness," a voice answered from a dark corner. Then the speaker vanished.

In the dead of night, the royal city suddenly grew lively. The palace sent out guards and squads of men. As a prince eligible to compete for the throne, he wielded frightening power and had his own guard force.

Such a commotion naturally alerted the others. Inside the eldest prince Sabre's palace, he read the news and smiled. "My little cat has escaped? Looks like Belinda wasn't up to the task."

"Should we send men after her?" someone below asked.

"No. What's mine won't get away." The eldest prince, Sabre, shook his head. Then, as if remembering something, he added, "Send someone to keep an eye on her. Don't let her die."

"Yes, Tiger King."

"Hahaha! Belinda actually let the trade goods escape. What a useless fool!" In the Dragon King's palace, the third prince Laimer burst into laughter. His massive, three-meter-tall frame exuded immense pressure.

As the strongest of the three princes in terms of his personal forces, the Dragon King, Laimer, directly controlled the kingdom's army. He had won the soldiers' recognition with his strength—not all of them, of course, but most. The Snake King and Tiger King controlled a small portion of the troops, while an elite beast force remained hidden in the shadows, beyond his control.

"Your Highness, you should still be cautious. The Snake King is not to be underestimated," someone below warned him. Laimer knew all about the deal between the Snake King and the Tiger King. He had no intention of interfering. The Devil Fruit the Tiger King, Sabre, had found earlier went missing, preventing the deal from going through. Now Belinda had caused trouble too. He found it all very amusing.

The Tiger King, Snake King, and Dragon King all understood that this was the New World. With a king on the throne, the kingdom could maintain its power, because most of its strength rested with Brady and the beast army he commanded. But if that power were lost, the country would grow much weaker and attract the attention of countless pirates.

None of them could shoulder that pressure alone. They needed the other two princes to share the burden. Only by standing together could the three of them establish themselves in the New World and maintain their status as a powerful, great nation.

That was how King Brady had divided their responsibilities as well. The eldest prince, Sabre, controlled politics and the economy; the second prince, Belinda, controlled the forces operating in the shadows; and the third prince, Laimer, controlled the army.

The commotion outside grew louder in the royal city's dark streets. Guards seemed to be chasing someone, searching everywhere. The residents were startled awake, but didn't dare go outside to investigate. They shut their doors tightly.

This showed the royal family's prestige and authority among the common people of the Kate Kingdom. The royals held absolute power, and there were no corrupt, spoiled nobles among them. The people respected and feared the royal family; they didn't hate it.

A nimble figure leaped through the narrow alleys. Blood stained her body, but her wounds quickly scabbed over. After eating that fruit, her healing ability had grown dramatically. Minor wounds healed quickly.

She looked terrified. Several times, her pursuers had nearly found her, and the area she could move through was growing smaller. Guards were everywhere, hunting her. She had been shot several times. Once they learned what she could do, the guards stopped holding back. Bullets couldn't kill her, and her wounds healed quickly.

Hunting dogs were sent out to track her scent. She could sense enemies in several directions, closing in around her.

She didn't know what to do. Suddenly, she saw a figure. Somehow, she had a feeling that he could help her.