Shiro and Anna were greeted at the pirate’s mountaintop fortress by a
few dozen of its residents, armed to the teeth, as they descended on
the backs of some sort of large flying domesticated dinosaurs.
previous owners of the two dinosaurs were tied to the tails of the
giant creatures, making muffled sounds of panic every time they swished.
was fortunate that the men on the ground spotted the two tied-up
hostages, and slowly made the collective decision to lower their
weapons and allow Yuki and Anna to land their flying creatures. 
One of those hostages was Red John Bloodhand, and they wouldn’t take
the chance to kill him.
were in a clearing surrounded by rickety buildings made of wood from
trees below the compound.  It looked like the entire complex was a
treehouse made by kids, except on a mountain - and they had very real
and very dangerous bladed and simple projectile weapons.
need to speak with your leader.”  Yuki said plainly in a tongue
she practiced with Anna on the way over.  She hopped off of her
dinosaur without any help or having to step down, surprising the
pirates enough that they all stepped back.  Anna did the same,
surprising the pirates again.
the pirates received the translation they all laughed.  Not in a
good way either, more of a mocking laugh.  The brave and grimy
pirate said something else.
don’t need the translation.”  Yuki interrupted, noting that the
pirates were raising their weapons again.  “Anna, it looks like--”
know.”  Anna interrupted her in turn.  She raced forward,
faster than any of the pirates could take aim, and began knocking down
anyone who was sufficiently armed.
took the opportunity to grab the grimy pirate by his greasy hair and
pull his head back, exposing his neck.  Her other hand held a
blade gingerly above his windpipe.  “Hey!”  she yelled.
the other pirates realized yet another one of their deputy leaders had
been taken hostage.  That being the third, they started to worry
about the integrity of their colony, and began to stand down.
picked up on that fact, and voluntarily began explaining that all they
needed was to set up a small transmission tower, and then they would be
on their way and leave the pirates to their lives.
wasn’t listening, however.  She was watching the pirates’
faces.  She asked herself how piracy begins...with acts of sheer
brutality.  And you become a famously feared pirate by being
willing to perform acts of legendary brutality.
realization echoed in the mens’ filthy faces.  These were cold
blooded murderers who were listening to Anna and putting up with Yuki
as long as they did simply because they were two females, and it was
amusing for them to watch.
nodded in agreement and looked around.  “Yes.  They’re
surrounding us instead.  These are pirates.  We defiled their
leaders, Anna.  They mean to kill us.”  As Yuki spoke,
several of them with hidden weapons began to move faster.
see.”  Anna narrowed her eyes and said something angry and cruel
in their own language.  A few of them moved their bladed weapons,
bows and arrows, spears, and torches into the forefront and charged.
Moore’s house burned around her.  She could feel the heat of the
flames crawling up the walls, across the carpeting, and licking at her
flesh - it screamed as it melted, and her own screams echoed that as
she curled farther and farther into a corner, trying to save her own
life.
Shiro heard a scream, and it was her own.  She could still feel
the intense heat surround her, and she knelt in a tight ball, her hands
covering the back of her lowered head, and her eyes closed firmly.
purple-haired Legionnaire opened her eyes as the air rapidly cooled
around her.  She looked up at a very surprised Anna.
stood slowly, suppressing the urge to vomit as the scent of burned
flesh reached her nose.  She covered her nose firmly enough to
nearly be unable to breathe at all, but her eyes were still fully
functional enough to see the ground littered by burned and smoking
bodies of former pirates.
the ones who dared to advance had fallen.  There were still lots
more, but they were pushing against each other to keep at maximum
distance from Anna.
didn’t mean to...I didn’t want them all so scared--”  Yuki started
to say.  But then she hung her head and sighed.  “Oh
well.  What’s done is done, I guess.”
seemed to know what Yuki meant, as she lowered her eyes.  “I was
afraid,”  she insisted, sounding upset.  “I wanted to protect
you.  I...didn’t think about how I’d...feel afterward.”  She
paused as another thought occurred to her.  “Have I made you
afraid of me?”
looked around at the remaining frightened pirates.  “I suppose
today’s the day for you to learn not everything is black and
white,”  she whispered philosophically, “That good and evil aren’t
so clear cut.  Yeah, you did something quite violent...but you
also cut us a path through the red tape.”
she was speaking, she watched a man in heavy, red robes with gold
piping heading up the hill toward them, toting a gold plated walking
stick.  He had long black hair, and was clean shaven except for a
long goatee.
the man approached, he looked around at the burned men, a note of fury
in his eyes.  He finally said something that Yuki guessed would
loosely translate as asking who’s to blame for this.
thought fast.  “Tell him no one else dies as long as we are left
to our mission.  That we don’t want anything from them.”
nodded once.  He pulled out a hand made pistol, alarming
Yuki...but Anna wasn’t nervous, so she deferred to the android’s
translation skills as Blackchin spoke.
android was shaking a bit as she translated.  “He says...his men
are weak and scared, so he will agree.  But if we harm one more of
his people...he is not afraid of us, and will shoot us both dead.”
nodded again, and spit into her palm.  She clasped Blackchin’s
hand hard enough to show she was serious...and looked directly at his
eyes as she did.  In those eyes she could see a craziness and
bloodthirsty nature that made her uneasy, but she held firm.  He
then let go, and she did the same.
quickly translated Blackchin’s parting words before he started to lead
his men away.  “He says he will be watching us.”
did as asked.  Blackchin turned around for just a moment, smiled,
and said something brief.  He was laughing as he led away his men,
and they laughed with him.
figured out the translation before Anna gave it.  “He says his men
will give us nothing, and will not lift a finger to help.”  Anna
said.
suppose that’s fair.”  Yuki said with a sigh.  “Well at least
we still have the two flying dinos.  Come, Anna, we have a lot of
work to do, to build this transmitter.”