Is This Fate or Is That a Knife in My Back?

Alabasta; Pink had only just learned the name of this place upon landing at the port town in her little dinghy. The young woman knew very little to absolutely nothing about the world and its happenings beyond the island of Amazon Lily. That was most of, if not the entire point of exiling herself. In the comparatively peaceful confines of her island, the future empress could only grow so quickly, but thrust into the wild and untamed turmoil of the world at large she had to deal with so many unfamiliar things at once she was forced to become a greater warrior or die horribly. It was borderline suicidal, but the only option she had left to protect the Kuja warriors and their laws against men crossing onto the island. She would succeed!

It was whilst nearly freezing herself to death on her voyage through Drum Island that she happened to catch a broadcast concerning a number of pirates with rather impressive bounties getting themselves involved in a televised tournament. It had immediately brought a wicked glint to her eye. If she could find and intercept one of those bastards she could take him down and almost immediately become a formidable blip on the world government’s radar!

This soon lead to the Kuja warrior attempting to do much math and navigational calculations of where she could go to more than likely find at least one of the participants, but after some trial and error Pink was finally forced to relent that she simply wasn’t cut out for such overcomplicated hocus pocus. Instead of doing this the smart way, she’d do it the gambler’s way! She’d simply sail to a location where pirates tended to frequent and wait in ambush to take one of them down on sight! She had some sort of chance for fate to smile upon her, right?

And so she now found herself strolling through the merchant-lined walkways of Nanohana. She could at least appreciate the fact that such arid, hot weather accommodated her dress much more adequately than Drum Island had even if such skimpy clothing appeared to be an odd fashion statement… Why were the women wearing so much when it was so hot?!

Though her resolve was unshakeable, Pink’s mind continued to sway toward this or that thought, especially as merchants thrust all sorts of various odds and ends in her face. It was a fateful perfume bottle thrust just under her nose that brought her the prize she desired. She took one big sniff of the aromatic concoction, crinkled her nose with an agonized face and turned a full 180 to let loose with a sneeze into her hands, only to look up and see… could that be one of the men on the television?! How fortunate!

Unfortunately, his back was turned to her and she found herself temporarily unable to make out his features to confirm her suspicions. She’d have to be crafty about this… Everyone appeared involved in their own thing and so Pink expected to be able to get away with a quick second of using her fruit powers without causing a ruckus at the surprising display. As a tourist walked close enough behind he who would become her target, Pink spawned an arm off of the tourist guy’s back, using it to poke rather insistently upon her target’s. With no one any the wiser, the arm would quickly dissipate in an airy flurry of flower petals. All she needed was a good look at his face…

Jack had been away for a while now, but it seemed about right to get back home, to his ship that is, and well the planned destination for that to be happening was Alabasta, it seemed like a nice spot, with quite a bit of possibility. It was afterall one of the more richer places in Grand Line so trade was high. To be honnest Jack was just happy to be out traveling, it had been quite the dreadfull time, all the fighting, and while he was a natural he certainly didn't like fighting all that much. It had been tough though, at time even he doubted getting out of there, but well in the end it all worked out fine.

He strolled carelessly through the streets quite oblivious to the fact that the publicity of the games had brought him on the charts, and quite alot, he had always had a decent bounty, but well besides being happy when it rose he wasn't dedicated to keep track on it. Even more so he truely didn't expect that many to have heard about the tournament let alone seen it, not others than the actual spectators at the time, afterall he just happened to stroll by so he had no idea how much influence the ruler of that island actually had.

Now Jack was strolling the street, taking stops to check out the stores happily oblivous, though he did have some intentions to his strolling, first of was making arrangements for provisions for his trip onwards, food and such. Though for a moment a store had caught his eye not for the sake of his crew, since well those arrangements where all set and done and had people take it to the ship for him, when you got a way with words a thing like that ontop of a deal isn't a hard thing to pull off. But this store had all sorts of things, decorative but interesting none the less.

He stood there starring for a few moments when suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder, he knew none of his crew had followed him, and well he doubted he'd know anyone who should be around here, atleast none that where friendly, but well he figured he'd take it as it came and simply turn to look. "Yes..?" He raised an eyebrow, catching the petals flowing in the win, standing there quite confussed, not only could he not really see anyone that could have poked him, or well none that seemed to have done so by purposs. Furthermore the flower petals where quite oddly placed, his yes moved around, more so trying to find out if there was even any flowers nearby. He sighs deeply scratching the back of his head, he was certain he had seen what he did, though he couldn't even see the petals anymore. "Must have imagined it..." He turns back to the storebuying a book and then heads to walk for the harbor.

As he turned about, Pink’s brow raised and the corner of her eye twitched. While he was definitely one of the people from the tournament she’d seen, he was also one of them that she was unable to accurately peg as either male or female. Though she was concentrating so intensely on what gender he was, she was a good enough distance away that her fairly undue staring and analyzing would go largely unnoticed.

She crossed her arms in stubborn indecision as he began to depart, contemplating leaving a fellow woman alone before finally letting out a deflating sigh and following after him, doing her best to keep at a casual stroll rather than actually appear as though she was chasing to keep him within her sight. She didn’t really have a choice when such a lucky break was walking around right there before her eyes! She had to take a shot!

Not exactly the best at playing things patient and stealthy, Pink barely concealed her presence and simply followed after him as if they were just headed for the exact same place. It would likely begin to become much more suspicious as she closed in slowly but surely until they broke from the narrow, shop-lined streets and into the more open port and yet she continued to follow after him.

This was probably just as good a place as any since it didn’t seem as though he was going to go anywhere where they might have a little private conversation. Just as his suspicion would reach its peak, Pink’s poor scouting skills would likely pay off rather than be a hindrance. Rather than what would likely be the expected encounter from behind, two of the woman’s hands would reach up from the sand brushed stones just before the wooden planks of the harbor in an attempt to grasp and bind his ankles. Even as that happened, two more would reach around from each side of his back in an attempt to grasp his wrists and yank them forcefully behind his back where they couldn’t do any harm. She wouldn’t harm him… for now.

“You have no idea how difficult it was to find you ‘Phoenix D Jack with a bounty of thirty million beli’!” The female crowed with confidence as she strolled to meet him face to face, her loincloth waving and billowing dramatically on the sea breeze with her hands confidently placed upon her hips. “This fight was way too short, but once I’ve taken you out I’ll be well on the road to making a name for myself! I’ll be recognized as a world class pirate in no time flat! It’s nothing personal really, so no hard feelings, alright?” She took this opportunity for a good, arrogant laugh. Dominating pirates like this guy would be absolute child’s play! If her luck kept on like this she'd have the position she desired within the month.

Jack would continued to walk casually smalling to people as they passed him by, he had his back pack on his shoulder, merely to carry his stuff but well it wasn't so important, though it would become mildly aparent that someone was following him, he wasn't completly sure it was more like a feeling in the gut than an actual thing he was sure of. But he figured that he couldn't go jumping on every feeling he had, then again it had been quite wise to do so in the past. So he decided on a detour, so he'd atleast not lead them to the ship and the rest of his crew, he did have some responsibility afterall, its always easier to make an escape when you aren't at the place you need to escape to.

So He changed dirrections, still going away from the shops, but would then instead be seeming to head out of the village, and as the feeling would continuesly grow, he slowed down gradually over time, trying to bait whoever is watching him to make some sort of move here, since well he didn't like the whole being watched like this, afterall he didn't know who it was, neither if it was hostile or friendly, nor if it was just a feeling in the end.

Soon though he seemed to still be lightly near the harbour but atleast not near his ship, and then he could feel something, he more could actually hear it before it happened. His legs being grabbed hold of, he stopped up, not really feeling like resisting it, by now he had gotten quite currious to who was seeking him out so badly. He casually looked down to see hands popping up from the earth, female ones at that or atleast femine. feel the same touch on his wrist, judging by the hold he knew by far now that hands weren't usually the best way of keeping hold of him, so you could say, even as his hands where yanked behind his back he felt pretty confident about the position, he had been in worse situations by now.

As the voice called out, his supicion had been confirmed as the person knew his name, he raised an eyebrow however as the person stepping before him was definetly not someone he knew. He took a moment to look the person up and down for a moment, and well it was definetly a woman, though he was pretty sure he'd remember meeting someone looking like this, quite unique. "Well I must say I'm honored wasn't aware I was being searched for" He smiled softly and carefree. As the woman continued, he chuckled lightly along side her, not really sure why it just seemed fun, and well atleast she seemed happy. "Well fair lady, you know my name and well then I beleive its only fair that I get to know yours..?" He looked plainly casual at her, you could say that he might seem to not understand the situation very well or atleast didn't have a grasp on how 'grave' it was. "And I am sorry but would you kindly let go, I'd feel better not having to hurt such delicate hands" He tilted his head smilling cutely to her.

“Weeell…” The girl trailed off momentarily, rolling her head before bringing it back full circle and continuing their conversation. “I wasn’t really looking for you in particular. Anyone from that tournament would have been a pretty good catch. Actually any of the ones with a higher bounty would have been even more of a catch than you, but beggars can’t really be choosers! You’re the pirate who’s fallen into my net and so you’ll be my stepping stone!”

“As for my name, I suppose I should let you know the name of the pirate who’s so easily bested you,” she continued, entirely positive that she’d scored a win with minimal effort. It was honestly a little disappointing, but hell if she wasn’t enjoying getting a little gloating in. “I am the great empress, Pink Viper and you’ve just become my captive!” She placed a hand to her chest in an elegant gesture, truly delving deeply into the dramatics of her very first victory since departing from her home. “…So I don’t think you’re in any sort of position to make requests!”

With little more fanfare, Pink took a step forward, winding back for a powerful punch to her prisoner’s face that would most assuredly knock his cocky ass out and score a point for her corner. Handing this guy over to the marines would be such a huge win!

Jack listened carefully, it was not like he had much better to do at the moment, he did enjoy it none the less, this woman surely was an eager one, a bit innocent if you could say that, or perhaps gullabel but well it was sorta cute then again, she had most likely not dealt with logia types before. "Nice to meet ya" He smiled carelessly clearly not thinking himself in much of a bind, or well if he was he atleast didn't know it. so he had decided to atleast let this woman finnish up with whatever she wanted to get off her chest, as it would only be mean to spoil her fun in the end. "Wasn't aware that it had gotten so widely spread, but you still noticed me huh?" He just kept smilling.

As she had refused to do as he asked he simply sighed, he kept smilling it just faded mildly though he still seemed friendly. "Well I really wish you would reconsider here..." He looked at her trying one last time to convince her, though as soon as she moved her mucles for a punch, he'd face the fact that he'd be in for quite the beating if he stayed put, so truely he kinda just hoped he wouldn't her her by hurting whats holding him. He'd then turn his arms into flames along with his legs moving out of the grasp thats holding him, ofcourse the hands holding would feel the warmth, but he'd be moving the flames away from her hands so fast that they could only recieve minor burns at best.

After getting out of her grasp, he'd quickly move aside letting her throw the punch, she'd most likely be throwing her full force into it, given the fact that he should seem unable to dodge, after the punch had been thrown he'd attempt to grab hold of her hand or wrist take her for a spin and then let her go safely, making sure she wouldn't fall or something like that. "Gloating is a very bad habbit you know, especially when you haven't won 'empress'" He smiled softly taking a step back, putting his hands down his pockets, he would atleast hope she'd quit trying to well take him on though he was prepaired for her to continue if that was her wish. His tone was playfull to say the least, still friendly. and he tried to capture a slight teasing voice when calling her empress, he thought of calling her little empress or something of the sort, but he actually didn't want to taunt her so he decided not to, as he expected her being so gullibel was only due to not knowing better.

“ATCHAAAAH!” Pink shrieked at the top of her lungs, more from surprise than any sort of extreme pain. Sure it hurt, as the furious shaking of her hands would profess once she’d recovered from her miss, but she certainly wouldn’t be suffering any extreme injuries. But still! The guy she’d been holding just caught on fire and walked right out of her grasp like she was holding air! What sort of witchcraft sorcery was this?!

She’d already been fully dedicated to her punch by the time he slipped from her grasp and moved out of the way, the young woman stumbling clumsily as she hit thin air rather than a nice, hard face. To add insult to injury he decided to take hold of her wrist and, rather than make any sort of counterattack, simply twirl her away to put distance between them after a quick, unsteady stumble on her part. Normally distance wouldn’t be such a huge deal, but this time her newfound abilities had found themselves hard countered. He’d been solid, at least for a little while. If she could just close the distance and hit him while he wasn’t all fiery and whatnot she still had a chance!

“Hmph…” And finally she quit shaking her hands, ignoring the fading pain to clench her hands back into fists and bring them up in a faux boxing stance. Rather than being upset or fearful at this turn of events she could really only smirk. “Alright, so you have some magic tricks up your sleeve and you’re not so easily defeated. Now I’m excited!” She pumped her arms with a cheerful grin, now anticipating some truly epic combat. “Don’t think I’m just going to concede victory because you know magic too!”

By this point the two of them were attracting quite a lot of attention, though that made little difference to Pink as she leapt forward, spinning to deliver a hard roundhouse that would slam the guy right in his stupid flat chest. She’d sort of put the pieces together as they interacted that he was probably male, which meant that even if he could use fancy fire powers he was still inferior to her martial prowess. She’d find a way to kick his ass!

Jack quickly realised this weren't going to be simple, then again in most cases when dealing with females simple just wasn't something that was common, but then again it made it all the more interesting, and this woman she had spirits and guts and not just a bit, while most would shake in fear of someone of high bounty she seemed to see it as a challenge, while she might seem a bit uneducated on how the world worked he could definetly see potential, he was pretty sure if this woman knew the way his fruit worked before hand then he would have been in trouble before. "Trick? Magic?" Now he was pretty certain this woman didn't really come from a highly public state of place, but well it didn't matter brutes have been seen beating up guys like Jack lots of times, so while he may seem confident on the outside, maybe even arrogant he truely wasn't he didn't want to end up with his face on the ground for such a mistake.

He took a glance around, and well he definetly didn't plan on attracting this kind of attention, then again with a woman screaming like she did it was quite hard not to stir up some commotion, he just hoped this would be over before some marines showed up. "I'd advice you to stop but I doubt thats going to happen, is it?" He quickly noted that the woman was throwing another punch, and well figured he'd atleast take her on for real, he had some honor, though he always had some trouble going all out against a woman, he would atleast not toy with her, she seemed like a prideful woman and he was not about to sully her pride.

He quickly twisted his body while taking a step to the side avoiding the bront attack to the chest, he really had some trouble here, as he truely didn't want to hurt this woman, whiole he didn't want to just continue to dodge, problem was he really didn't have any non lethal moves. So this time he'd grab onto her writst quickly pulling her forward while leaving his leg to trip her and send her to the ground, he'd try his best to well guide it so that she wouldn't get to hurt.

“Why would I stop when we’ve only just started?!” the Kuja called out with great enthusiasm as he dodged her spinning attack. “I have to win without a doubt!” Rather than fall straight into yet another trap like some sort of imbecile, Pink had actually anticipated a dodge this time, dropping low to the ground and using her momentum from the spin for a speedy leg sweep, her leg extending as she attempted to kick his own out from under him. “Quit dodging around and fight me!” she demanded.

Jack nodded softly, having figured it would be a poor attempt but atleast he will always be able to tell he tried. And as she was quick to recover this time around, it wasn't totally unexpected, someone usually learns from a mistake, and well guess it was a mistake by jack that he didn't take advantage the first time around. as the leg sweep came he merely jumped over it, it seemed at ease but well he was really only dodging since the longer he could keep this woman from figuring how logia types worked the more leverage he had in this fight.

He was quite surpriced when she suddenly screamed at him to take things a bit more seriously, then again it wasn't totally uncalled for he was going somewhat easy on her, so now he simply figures that he would simply not use the not use the extreemly lethal attacks and then make sure he took care of whatever wounds she might get. "fine then..." He took a deep breath, then went straigth forward aiming a kick at her right side of her hip, then moment tarily before either hitting, getting dodged or blocked hed simply say. "Soru..." and with that hed speed would increase and within moments he'd be behind her and the kick would be comming at her left side instead.

Pink was more than ready for such a straightforward attack, reaching out to take hold of his leg before he could even land the attack only to blink and realize that he was suddenly no longer there!

“What the-?!” she called out in alarm, unable to finish her sentence before it was interrupted by a very unladylike grunt of pain, stumbling to the side and falling into an awkward sitting position. Normally a person can at least brace for a punch or kick, but she hadn’t even been allowed that much.

Even still, it only threw her off for a split second, recovering and letting her reflexes take over as she turned and threw her arm forward at him in a punch that would obviously never make it considering she hadn’t even risen from her place sitting on her behind. However, her fruit would manifest itself once again as arm after arm sprouted to swiftly extend her reach into something that could actually have an impact if he remained where he was.

Jack didn't really feel good about it, but then again her had felt worse had he done something with fire, afterall a kick was really just something you could brush off, well his kicks where perhaps stronger than mosts though, so he hoped she could. But well she had asked for him to stop holding back so he'd do or well he'd still hold back but he'd take on the aggresive for a bit, he figured if he'd take her on for a while she'd perhaps calm down.

And as she stood up, getting ready to throw a punch well he wasn't about to let her, so in the actual movement of getting up he'd jump up sending a kick right at her chest as she would have gotten up, the range alone should have him be at safe distance, then he'd use if hitting the momentum of the kick to put on some distance. He seemed pretty focussed, his eyes never leaving the young empress not that he really wanted to eitherway, she was quite pretty. Considering she are calling herself an empress he bet she was most likely from some tribe of some sort, when that was added up with her knowledge. Though from the way she fought he could also easily tell that she'd had been able to win her combat useing strength, the punches she threw certainly didn't seem like a joke, he would most likely get pretty hurt if he was to take one of those bluntly on. He'd glance around, the crowd was picking up in size, and well image wise this wasn't even good for him, he could by far judge that this woman given the knowledge of the way the world works could easily be on par with him, but well to the bystander it would just seem like him beating up a woman.

The landed kick sent Pink skidding backward, her attempted attack dissipating into the many petals that composed its parts. That had certainly been an abysmal failure… Once she finally stopped skidding, she hobbled forward and fell to one knee, wheezing harshly for the breath that had been knocked from her lungs. The outlook of this fight was really beginning to look bleak, but there were so many things riding on this fight that she couldn’t just bow down and admit herself the inferior combatant! She’d fight until she could no longer move if she had to!

In a sudden fit of frustration at not having landed a single blow thus far, the Kuja empress tapped into the haki that she’d been trained to use from a time when she was still young, the power flowing through her body and concentrating into her fists before she released a loud, determined battle cry and used her downed position to spring straight into a fast sprint, using the renewed strength flowing through her muscles to try to move that much faster.

At this point she’d rain down blows upon her opponent in a berserker barrage, not so much aiming for any point at all so much as simply attempting to land a hit. Even dodging would only halt her long enough for her to turn and address his new position.

Jack stood ready, he wasn't quite sure just what this woman would attempt to do here, to be honnest she was proberly holding back aswell it was a common thing to do, when trying to assess someones powers, even mroe so when you're attempting to reach further, you don't really want to have to run out with your big moves on the first opponent you meet, since well the first one is hardly going to be the strongest you'll meet and Jack knows far well that he isn't the strongest, he has met and spoken to people far above his level. There was something about this situation however that bothered him, he wouldn't consider beating him for a feat that would make you rise up that fast, or well maybe it could be, then again what did he know he hadn't attempted to rise up intentionally.

His eyebrow raised up, as the woman came at him once agan, though something seemed different, though as soon as the first punch was thrown and he didn't quite dodge it it became quite aparent what had happened, taking a very slight blow to the left should, but it was mostly dodged. "interesting..." He'd start moving against it, his arms turning black fromthe haki, and then he'd begin to well simply dodge and block the attacks that are thrown at him. He smiled happily, useing the same ways of powering to keep at her level should proove that this fight would simply grow long and would most likelt eventually lead to her going down from exhaustion. "You know you've got some real spirit..." He simply start talking to her mid combat, not in a disrespect but well he figured if things would keep escalating then eventually things would get out of hand. In speed she proberly outdid him slightly, but reaction time he was most likely slightly better. So well on those parts it would be a dead end, which is why he could keep up with her on the defence. He'd take a few steps back while moving a bit backwards, then as she'd step forward to follow, he'd swipthe leg before it would touch the ground making her step quite longer, if this would proove successfull and this would cause a distraction he'd use that distraction to push her off balance and hopefully knocking her onto the ground.

And once again her attacks were deflected, though this time with the man displaying that he could use haki at the same level as her own, canceling out her more powerful blows with his own more powerful blocks whenever he chose not to continue to dodge.

“And you’re a much larger pain in my ass than I expected…” she returned his comment with a smarmy sort of comment of her own, panting lightly as she moved with as much speed and precision as she could muster in an attempt to break his defenses.

She made a quick, somewhat clumsy bunny hop as he swiped at her leg, striking his attempt to shove her away with the momentum of her fist. She didn’t fall at all, instead rather landing with grace upon her feet just as she decided to take this to the next level with a bit of a dirty trick. Two arms would sprout from his shoulders this time, though instead of going straight for the submission they did something much more innocent, instead covering his eyes and attempting to prevent him from seeing what was going on right in front of him.

With her actions sufficiently cloaked, Pink would leap off the ground and throw her leg out as she came back down, attempting to come down right on top of his head with a heel drop while he was unable to see well enough to form a proper counterattack.

The attack was cleverly dodged, or well might not be so clever as put her at a position where if he was going all out she'd be unable to dodge the flames, then again, he wasn't in particularly the mood to fry her, she had enough fiery spirit on her own, he definetly didn't want her chasing him for a while, since that could proove rather trouble as if she gets to know the world and such he could definetly be in trouble.

As soonas his vision is blocked out, he figured that his blindness wouldn't really halt her assault, so he quickly tapped into the power of haki useing Kenbunshoko Haki which allowed him to have a minor clairvoyance for a time, normally used to well see and predict things, but in this case it was merely to feel where the next attack would come from, as she would come down both his arms would move up while moving forward, sothat it would be her ankle that hits his arms as he blocked then he'd take hold of the leg if possible and push her forward, attempting to push her down onto her back, while moving along side it, in an attempt to pin her down, to be honnest if this succeeded it would most likelylook very very awkward, but he didn't really care, he had been in worse situations. "Would you be so kind as to remove the hands... unless you want to feel the heat another time? This time I wont be able to move out of your grasp however it will be surely for the warmth..." He'd speak quite seriously, while keeping her pinned, he just hoped she was flexible enough to withstand such a pin without too much harm.

“Uf!” Pink struck the ground hard on her back, once again losing the air in her lungs to a rough impact. She hadn’t actually expected him to be able to block or counter such a fast attack while blindfolded. Obviously he was much more skilled than she had given him credit for.

Before she could make a proper recovery she found herself pinned in a rather strange and yet effective position. There was really no escaping so long as he practically pinned her with her own leg. As flexible as she was it caused no harm at all, but it certainly made any further movement difficult.

Finally she sighed, letting the hands that were covering his eyes fall apart and vanish as she lay limp and defeated.

“Alright… alright. You win, I guess…” she relented dejectedly.

Jack would keep her pinned untill his vision returned, then he'd look at the situation for a moment, seeing it had gone alot better than he expected, and luckily his thoughts were correect the woman was indeed very flexible. He tilted his head and smiled at her, stepping back from her and then holding down a hand to help her up. "Sorry for going rough but well I fear if I hadn't then I wouldn't have gotten out of this very well" He smiled had her and after getting her up on her feet he'd turn around to the spectators, since one thing is suffering defeat another is having bystanders who saw stay and watch. "Nothing to see here, go one with your buisness... Now!" In case anyone would hesitate, he'd use one of the more rare voices intimidating anyone who might think about sticking around.

Jack would then face the woman again hoping she hadn't been too demoralised or held any grudge against him for doing what he did. "Now I must congratulate you, you're a very strong woman. So if you wouldn't mind I'd like to get you something to eat, you don't seem to be from around here, so I could assume you've traveled alot, so how about it?" To be frankly his still very friendly nature towards somewhat that quite recently had tried to knock him out and lock him up seemed very odd, but he allready knew it was nothing personal so therefor he had no trouble doing so.

Pink reluctantly accepted the hand up back to her feet with another low sigh, taking a moment once she was back on her feet to give her back, shoulders and bottom a quick dusting to swipe away a bit of the dirt she’d collected from their combat.

“You could have always thrown the match and helped me out… but I guess that wouldn’t have been as satisfying…” she loosed yet another sigh. She obviously wasn’t quite prepared to achieve her goals yet. She’d really only just set out not so long ago, but she could more than feel the time weighing on her with her island’s burden. She’d been defeated for now, but she certainly couldn’t just give up!

“Hey, sure! Thanks a lot!” Pink wasn’t about to turn down an offer for food once she realized the offer had been made, brightening up a bit as bitter holes were quickly patched with a pact of friendship; specifically Jack buying the meal for her. She hadn’t left with a lot of money so she’d been doing a lot of foraging and rationing. At a glance it appeared that she’d entirely forgotten about her recent loss.

Jack smiled softly to her as she had accepted the offer of food, it would seem it had been the right choice, but then again he also knew the feeling of starvation and no money to change it, it was a horrid situation, ofcourse Jack wasn't aware that this woman was close to that situation. "Well then follow me there's a nice place right down here that has some great food" He bowed lightly out of politeness and pointed in the dirrection and then would start leading them to the resturant. "I'm currious though... how would me going along with your plans have helped you..? if you don't mind me prying?" He smiled softly, walking casually along

Before long they'd reach the resturant, the smell of the food would fill the noses long before even getting there, it was quite a fancy resturant. well quality wise not as much as scenery wise this was a desert afterall so it served mostly sailors and pirates which was by all means good enough. He'd lead them to a table a gallantly as he was even pull out a chair for her, before then getting seated himself. "There we go, eat whatever you want, I am more than capable of taking care of the bill" He tilted his head and smiled, to be honnest even he found that this had gone way better than expected, but then again he wasn't about to second guess what had happened.

“Huh?” Pink glanced up in surprise as they strolled along, not expecting the subject of their fight to come up again so quickly. “Oh, well I need to take down some high bounty pirates and get noticed is all. Your bounty was pretty decent so you seemed like a good place to start. Unfortunately, it seems that I need a lot more training…” She trailed off at that, looking pensive and currently unwilling to share her full story about why she actually needed to build fame fast. He could think she was just a girl seeking a fast track to fame and glory for now. That was, if he dropped the subject, which she rather hoped he would.

Pink took in a deep whiff of the scents wafting from the restaurant as they approached, her mouth already salivating at the thought of feasting on something that wasn’t just cooked wild game and some greens. This was going to be so excellent!

She was more than prepared to seat herself when she realized that she was being assisted in the action, a look of plain confusion washing over her features as she tried to figure out why her host felt that she needed to be helped into a seat when she was clearly capable of accomplishing the action herself.

“You know, you didn’t hurt me all that bad. I can still move and everything,” she spoke up once he’d sat down himself. “I don’t want you to feel like you need to take care of me because you injured me or anything.” The only thing she could think of was that he’d felt bad after defeating her or feared he’d injured her too badly to properly function.

Jack pondered over the fact about raising infamy quickly to be honnest it was a given that anyone would want to go the easy way, then again his bounty had more or less come on his own and he'd never asked for it, he was afterall forced into piracy at a young age, that he started liking it and continued to be a pirate is another matter, but he had never been the sort to do things simply for the sake of growing his own infamy, he liked whaen it happened but he simply took things as they came.

As he had gotten seated he sat there listening carefully, he raised an eyebrow, had he really seemed like he was feeling guilty, so it was avery confussed face the woman would see what she had made her claim. "I think you're misunderstanding something..." He smiled figuring just his nature of gallant politeness might seem weird to her, so he figured he do a small explanation. "I help you to get seated out of politeness and want more than out of me thinking you need the help" He paused shortly making sure she had udnerstood there, and also to see if that was some of what had her confussed. "And I don't treat people food out of guilt, I live a pirate life had I been doing that then I'd be very poor now" He laughed softly trying to ease up the tension a bit. "No I treat you out of respect, it takes guts to even attempt what you just did" He smiles softly, then took a glance around and then held up a hand signalling to a waiter who'd come to them shortly.

While waiting for the waiter he turned back to the woman, figuring he'd perhaps attempt to get to know her better, she was strong and capable, and well she seemed to have strong goals which he admired since he had so few. "You name was Pink Viper yes? wait Empress Pink Viper?" He asked shortly vaguely remembering her announcing herself as such not that he wished to pry into that unless it was on her own accord. "I might have some advice for you, you seem to be looking for obtaining alot of bounty... well from my experience I can tell you its not something you can easily do on your own, not even by handing in other pirates... you'd more likely be known as a bounty hunter more than an infamous person... besides the Marines fear numbers of people more than those roaming around on their own" He smiled speaking very casually.

“Oh…” she took a short pause of surprise and realization at his explanation of his actions. “Well, I guess that makes a bit of sense. It’s not often that I gain someone’s respect on a first meeting; even less often when it follows a heated battle with a pirate. Pirates don’t really become pirates because they have a lot of respect for other people, ya know.”

“But yeah, you’ve got it right. Just call me Pink, though. It’s a lot easier. My standing doesn’t really make any difference at the moment. So since you appear to know so much about becoming infamous, am I to assume that this is some sort of tip?” she asked, tapping the table in mild thought. “I suppose listening to one who’s already gained some measure of infamy is a pretty good idea, huh?”

Jack nodded softly, while keeping a very friendly tone, at to begin with he had some trouble figuring out what name he should use for her. "Well I am not most pirate, far from it I beleive..." He thought about it for a moment, while he could easily be as ruthless as a Pirate "should" then he definetly was nicer than most pirates, but then again he was also no with the same kind of ambition, or perhaps you could say his reasoning behind wanting power didn't hold as much ambition as all others. "Pink it is then, and yes you could call a tip I suposse... but its more like a tip and an offer..." He paused momentarily as the waiter came down to their table. "Ahh thank you, I'll have a whatever is todays special and some nice sake to go with it, and she will have..?" He lingered looking over to Pink with a smile waiting for her to order herself and then politely thanking the waiter.

As the waiter would have gotten the things right he'd turn back to Pink and their earlier conversation. Obviously the timing had been perfect to send the mind racing so he lingered just a bit longer wanting to see if there'd be any kind of reaction. "Ahh back on topic, as I was saying an offer... you see I am a captain as you know, and I am infact searching for able men and women who'd like to join, and I wouldlove to have someone as strong not to mention beautiful as you on my crew" He smiled softly, he didn't reallt think over these things alot, most people he recruited was done this way, though ofcourse this was done by many, and with this kind of stuff he just went with his gut, and people who seemed to have great ambition could both benefit from joining as much as they grant the crew benefit themselves. That and then he found this woman intriqueing, and would be rather disappointed if this would be their perhaps last meeting.

Pink’s head canted to the side as the man named Jack explained that his tip doubled as an offer of sorts, her brow raising in curious confusion as she attempted to puzzle it out. Not only was she not exactly the best at such things as puzzles and riddles, but it was fairly difficult to believe that the person she’d just hunted down and attacked in cold blood would wish to take his potential assassin along with him for the long haul.

“Ah… uh…” The would be empress quickly began to stumble over her words as she came to the realization that they were ordering and she hadn’t even taken a look at what was being served. Her wits could obviously use a little quickening. Springing that surprise on her certainly hadn’t assisted her thought process though… “Wh-whatever the spiciest dish being served today is. I’ll take that,” she finally recovered. “And I guess I’ll take a little sake of my own.” She wasn’t all that positive what places such as this served so she was partially taking her cues from her generous host.

“…Huh…” she almost seemed taken aback by the offer, looking to him doubtfully before finally appearing to come to a final conclusion. “Well alright, but if I ever manage to surpass you I won’t hesitate to kick your ass and take your place as captain,” she plainly threatened with an innocently devious grin. “Let that be some motivation to keep the both of us reaching for further strength and ability.”