Cursed Warriors

On her walls lied the of dozens, no hundreds of wanted criminals throughout the. Some of the most fearsome beasts the world has ever known stared at her, day in and day out. It was kind of a quirk of her's developed through her previous occupation; bounty hunting. It allowed her to visualize her target and mentally prepare herself to slaughter each and every one of them.

Days following the release of the March 25th, 1576 New Coo Nakano Takeko found herself updating her wall with new wanted posters. "Be it today or in the upcoming decade, I will kill all you..." she thought to herself, replacing many of her old posters with newer ones. Upon picking up another poster, she had noticed a new face would be joining her collection. "Scum like you are even worse. A king who does not serve his people is not worthy of the position. Frederick Barbarossa, your days are numbered."

And she meant those words. In the upcoming days, Takeko dedicated her time to locating the infamous giant. While his bounty was not large by her standards, it was rare to acquire a bounty exceeding one-hundred million for his crime; especially with no reference to his combat powers. In the eyes of most bounty hunters, Barbarossa is probably a fish not even worth fighting for as his bounty probably did not truly correlate to his skill. But to Takeko, the amount was insignificant. She had a feeling if this beast was not put to rest, he'd only bring about more chaos.

Through her skills she attained during his days navigating through the sea alone along with the expendable resources of the and, it would not take long for Takeko to catch onto Barbarossa's scent. Like wolf stalking a lamb, she patiently waited her time. Following him back to, Barbarossa's destination eventually became very clear:.

Eventually reaching the island herself, Takeko had the crew remain at sea as she knew they'd be no match for a beast of his proportions. "Don't let the ship sink while I'm gone." she commanded, before leaping off the ship. But rather than summoning a loud splash, Takeko gently landed on the surface of the sea, standing tall as if it were solid ground.

"So this is the power of the Ninja Arts. The ability to walk on the sea?!?" one of her subordinates noted, completely blown away by her exceptional skill. But the fact remained aloof to the young soldier as her talent as a ninja had nothing to do with the former. It was a product of her unique uniform; a custom Marine-designed. The power to travel through any surface with no restraint was at her disposal.

Crossing the sea, Takeko slowly drew closer to the island. "I can sense him...he's here!" she whispered, placing her strong hand on the hilt of her blade. Yet, despite her sudden eagerness to rush onwards, she continued at the same pace but from now on with her guard on high alert.