Strawberry Gold
A Crossover Yaoi Fanfiction Novel
Bleach
and
JoJo's Bizarre Adventures
Giorno Giovanna/Ichigo Kurosaki
Beverly L. Anderson and SapphireTou
Rated M
Chapter One
The Gold Experience and the Strawberry
"Why am I awake?" was the first, simple thought that ran through Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi's mind as his eyes fluttered open and he found himself staring up at his daughter and assistant Nemu outside the cover of the cryogenic chamber.
"The levels of nanotechnological upheaval have reached homeostasis, father," Nemu commented as she opened the chamber to let him sit up and rub his eyes.
"Ugh, about time. How long has it been?" he asked.
"Team alpha awoke on the surface approximately twenty years ago and have been integrating with the new local populations, but the total time in cryo-freeze for us has been two hundred sixty-eight years, seven months, and sixteen days," she responded as she handed him a yukata.
Mayuri nodded solemnly as he slipped into the vibrantly colored garment. "And the status of Seireitei?" he asked as he moved to look over the instruments.
"We are still settled at optimal atmospheric altitude to get readings from the entire globe. Nanite levels are down to acceptable levels, and the turmoil they caused has returned to normal. Much of the planet has been overgrown and native populations that were encased in the underground cities have grown into different cultures. We also seem to have a few mutations caused in those born on the planet, Captain Urahara and his team call them Arrancar, as they all seem to be marked by a large, black circular mark on their bodies at some place."
Mayuri brought up the communication link to the surface. Immediately, the screen was filled with the blond haired, eccentric captain of the ground level team.
"Mayuri! Good to see you up! Seems things have gotten interesting in your long sleep. Over two hundred years means things have changed a lot, but some things have stayed the same. We survived, and so did your favorite rival- Speedwagon Foundation is still around down here," Kisuke Urahara informed him, adjusting the white and green bucket hat on his head and smiling.
"Ugh, really. Why couldn't they just die out?" Mayuri growled and pushed his blue hair out of his eyes. It had gotten longer at some point, he couldn't remember when exactly.
"Well, they ran damage control and actually kept panic among the underground populations somewhat down. Though we do have some problems down here, especially among the seafaring folks we've been seeing. Seems like Japan got lucky, and it is actually one of the more habitable areas on the surface world. It looks like Japan, the coastal areas of China, the area of Europe around the Mediterranean Sea, and the southern portion of Africa have habitation zones. The rest…well, there were some mutations," Urahara said with a smirk.
Mayuri narrowed his eyes. "Yes, these altered humans, the Arrancar?"
"Ah, not just that. That's actually what the problem with the uninhabitable zones is. It isn't lack of resources, there are plenty of those, but animals and plants have mutated under your nanites. They are larger, fiercer, and roaming wildly among most the world. The habitation zones are all near coastlines and are surrounding some of the larger bunkers that the Shinigami Foundation built. Speedwagon Foundation has culled some of the areas, but there are unknown animals and plants in there. Then there's the Wandenreich," Urahara said with a deeper sigh. Mayuri snorted and Urahara continued. "Humans with a wish to undo everything we did. They want to reclaim our technological legacy. Deadly people. The other humans we're aware of that are a problem are out of Italy near that habitation zone. A lot of artifacts washed our direction during the storms we caused, and several large-scale salvage ships have been sent here to find technology to rebuild with."
"Any technology still on the surface is useless," Mayuri dismissed with a wave of his hand.
"Not if they have people to put it back together. Don't forget, innovation didn't die, just most of the old Earth. Well, we're alive so that is something," Urahara sighed and glanced behind him.
"We saved the world, so why do you act like we murdered someone?" Mayuri was growing tired of the act Urahara was putting on.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi of the Shinigami Foundation, nearly two hundred seventy years ago, had an idea on how to fix their dying planet. He designed nanites that could be released into the atmosphere that would repair the damage global warming and other manmade disasters had caused. Their rival, the Speedwagon Foundation, had opposed the mission, but in the end the United Nations had sided with the Shinigami Foundation and the nanites were released. Luckily, they listened to the Speedwagon Foundation's warnings and had built underground bunkers in case things went bad. And bad they had gone. Storms raged over the changing planet, and the surface quickly became uninhabitable. Shinigami Foundation, which was based on a technologically advanced city designed to fly, had gone up and above, leaving the alpha team in a secret underground bunker to wake every fifty or so years and check for habitability of the surface. Now, after two hundred seventy years, things had changed much. Everything on the surface was overgrown and in need of rebuilding from the ground up.
"We destroyed the world to fix it." Urahara sighed and then shook his head. "Either way, Karakura and Morioh are well underway. My team and a large contingent from the bunker have taken up residence in Karakura, and Morioh is mostly Speedwagon's people."
Mayuri snorted again. "Speedwagon. At least the old codger is dead by now."
"But the Foundation is strong, and it took the lead in many of the bunker communities, so you will have to show some respect. Oh, I regret to inform you that we believe the United Nations bunker was destroyed. We can't contact eastern Europe at all. It seems like there was a massive earthquake in the region the specialized bunker was located. Most of that area is underwater, and there is a new mountain range where England should be."
"Just as well, the UN was a hassle to deal with," Mayuri muttered.
"They gave leadership, which now we have to do as well as Speedwagon's people. Uh there is one other group to be wary of, and you'll want to send division eleven people with anyone that comes down because of them. They're called the Fomori and we're not sure what they are yet. We haven't caught one and they take their dead when there is a clash, but they're primal and barely what you would call human. Some sort of de-evolution or something might have taken place there." Urahara paused. "I think that's all I have for you at the moment, but just make sure you bring plenty of muscle. Swords work best down here, as you get into close combat quickly if you fight. One of the times I'm glad that Yama-Jii always insisted that we learn the old ways…"
"Indeed," Mayuri said as he downed a cup of coffee Nemu had put down. "Whatever it is, we'll face it. Captain Zaraki will be happy that there will be fighting at least. I'll have a team in Karakura by tomorrow."
"Mayuri, you haven't even woken them. Give them a day or two to come out of cryo for Kami's sake," Urahara grumbled as he tapped off the feed.
Mayuri supposed he should. He turned and typed in the command that was awaken all of Seireitei. He supposed that the Rukongai had grown while they slept too. There had been a lot of people living on the outer edges around the heart of the Seireitei before it was closed up.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Finding "treasures" on the coast had been one of Ichigo Kurosaki's favorite things to do over the last few years. Having been born into the new world that they now lived in, Ichigo didn't remember anything else in order to miss it. He was twenty years old this year, having been born almost immediately after his father had exited cryo-stasis and saved his mother from a beast that was trying to kill her. A thankful woman turned into a dutiful wife and mother, and despite their quick, whirlwind romance, they had been happy together. He had two sisters four years younger than he was, and despite his mother dying when he was nine after being attacked by another monstrous creature, his family was everything to him.
Fascinated by the stories his father told of the "old days", it was no wonder that Ichigo had a fondness for memorabilia of the past. He searched for treasures to take back and show his father since he knew what most the things he found was.
They lived in Karakura, but the best location for finding treasures on the coastal region was closer to the other coastal city that had been built—Morioh. He had met an interesting couple along that area, a man named Jotaro Kujo and his husband Kakyoin. Together they had a son, named Jouta, which was where Ichigo found out about the "thirds" or males that were capable of child-bearing due to some mutation caused by the nanites. Ichigo knew everything that had occurred, of course, being the child of one of the Shinigami Foundation's major people. Well, his father was retired now, and the town doctor for Karakura. Ichigo knew that his own physiology was different, though. His father had warned him no matter what, he wasn't to allow anyone from the Shinigami or Speedwagon Foundations run tests on him. It was essential, but his father refused to explain why exactly it was. He hoped to find out soon, but he'd really had more on his mind with helping raise Karin and Yuzu, his twin sisters, and finding treasures to take back.
Ichigo's expeditions had been successful. So far, they had managed to put in communication between the two cities and managed to get electricity through wind turbines and some water turbines to the cities. Ichigo's discoveries had helped with that.
Today, he was knee deep in the ocean when he heard someone scream. He looked up and around and saw a woman come tearing out of the wood near him. She was wearing a skirt, boots, a crop top, and had bright pink hair cut short on her head. She looked frightened. Ichigo didn't hesitate; he ran right for her to see if he could help.
"No, you idiot, run!" she screamed and Ichigo stopped, seeing her face twist and the world went black with a flash of pain behind him.
Some time later he woke up on what he knew to be ship.
"Look, he woke up, Tiziano," came a voice.
Ichigo blinked and found himself looking up at man with striking blue eyes and hair nearly the same color as Ichigo's orange locks with a black hat. He was lying on his back and he could tell his arms were bound against his back, one on top of the other and tied from wrist to elbow. What had he just gotten into. What kind of name was Tiziano anyway? It didn't sound Japanese. This guy, and the girl from a moment ago were speaking accented tradetongue. Well, Ichigo knew it was English, but it had been called tradetongue in the most recent years as they began encountering people from other parts of the world.
"Who are you? Why…?" Ichigo asked and turned his head to see another man standing behind the girl with pink hair. This one had longish hair that was gray in color and much darker skintone than the other one.
"Tiziano is my name, and my friend is Squalo. You're on our small boat, the Clash. You have the misfortune of having been there when we found Miss Trish here. Now, you belong to Diavolo. The Devil of Italy," he said with smirk.
"Who?" Ichigo asked and tried to move, but found his knees were also bound together. There was no way he was getting up from here.
"These Japanese, they don't understand Diavolo yet," Squalo muttered. "You'll all come under his rule soon enough."
"Look, my father is with the Shinigami Foundation, I'm sure we can work…" Ichigo began but Tiziano snorted and kicked him in the ribs soundly, setting him to coughing in pain.
"Shut up. I don't care about these Foundations. You belong to Diavolo. Squalo, grab the branding iron. We don't want him to forget who he belongs to, now do we?" he commented and Ichigo looked at the girl with tearing eyes. Branding iron?
A few minutes later, he'd been drug to sit up and the back of his shirt pulled down to reveal the nape of his neck. He struggled a bit but ended up being punched for his efforts before one of them pressed a searing hot iron to his neck while the other held him still. He passed out before they removed it, the pain becoming overwhelming before he could imagine it would.
Waking up again, he found himself lying on his belly on the ship. The two men weren't near him so he turned his head painfully to look around. It was a small ship, but obviously made for long distance travel. The two men were the only ones on the ship and they now were talking at the helm. The girl was nearby.
"Hey," he whispered to her. "Why do they want you?"
She looked at him and sighed, her arms crossed over her chest. "My father is Diavolo. He wants me dead, by his own hands, so he can rid himself of any family connections that would hinder him. I'm his one great mistake," she answered with a sigh. "I'm sorry you got mixed up into this. Maybe you'll end up with a good family or something."
"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked with a frown.
"She means that brand on your neck marks you as belonging to Diavolo. You're a slave of his ownership, and you can't run anywhere on this world without being returned to Italy and to him," Tiziano explained as he came back toward him. "You may be lucky, get bought by some nice family who needs a farm hand. Or you could get very unlucky and get bought by some pervert who wants a sex toy to abuse."
Ichigo's eyes widened at the thought. "Your part of the world has slavery?"
"Well, depends on what part you mean," snorted Squalo as he grabbed Ichigo by the hair and tipped his head back. "Huh, as pretty as his face is, I'm voting on the perverts getting hold of him."
Tiziano smirked. "Yeah, always a shame to waste a pretty face, but you never know. Some high-class bitch may need a stud to service her, too," he muttered. "Either way, you're done for. Any escaped slave has a bounty on their head when not owned by someone. So, you escape, you might hide for a while, until someone finds you, then you're going to be found out by someone and drug back home and then…well. Escaped slaves aren't treated kindly. You'll wish for something so mundane as a perverted abuser."
"You're the worst, all of you and my father too!" Trish screamed as they laughed at their two prisoners. "At least Dio doesn't abuse his slaves…" She muttered the last as she looked away from them. Ichigo caught the glare she was given at the words. Now, Ichigo had another name to put with these people. Dio.
"Shut up, we're already a day out of Japan. Crazy bitch took us on a run," Squalo murmured as he headed back to the helm. "But grabbing her and a slave boy? We're going to be treated like kings by the boss when we get home."
"Whenever that is," Tiziano muttered. "First we get back to the King Crimson, put this boy with the rest, and see what's happening with the alliances out here in this pit."
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
"Narancia, what do you see up there?" Giorno Giovanna asked from the deck of the Gold Experience, a large salvage rig nearing the coast of Japan. They were perhaps four days from the coast of Japan now.
"Ah, shit, Giorno, you ain't gonna believe this…" the short, dark haired man in the crow's nest said as he peered into the distance with his enhanced spyglass. Narancia Ghirga was the best long-distance viewer that any of them had ever met, and he was an excellent look out in every sense of the word.
Giorno sighed, running a hand over his blond curls above his forehead. "Now what?"
"There's a boat, the Clash." There was no mistaking the silver boat with the painted shark face on the front.
"Shit!" came Panacotta Fugo's voice as he walked up. "What the hell is that pair doing out here?"
"Only one reason for them to be here," Giorno said with a sigh. "The boss's daughter. They're after her just like we are. They couldn't have come out this far alone; that means King Crimson is here close. We must avoid them at all cost."
Bruno Buccellati, the captain of their boat, came up and looked at them. He shook his black hair out of his face, and sighed. "Tiziano and Squalo. Which way are they headed?" he asked.
"Back this way," Narancia said from above. "That means…?"
"They got what they came for. They found the boss's daughter already," Giorno said with a frown, turning toward Bruno with a careful eye. Leone Abbacchio, blue eyes scanning the horizon for the ship that was too far out yet to see, walked up and listened as the others spoke. He put his hands in his pockets and stared into the distance.
"What does that mean?" Fugo asked, turning his own dark eyes on the others.
"We take her back. We know that the boss is just going to kill her," came the voice of their other main member, Guido Mista. He adjusted his blue and white hat over his dark hair and eyed the others.
"But if we go after them, we break with the rest of the gang for good. How can we survive without the boss's backing?" Fugo asked, starting to get a little nervous at what they were talking about doing.
Bruno sighed and looked at him. "Fugo, you know when we set out on this trip that it was to find Trish and keep her alive. We broke with the gang when we took off on our own. We'll be fine. Passione hasn't expanded toward Japan yet. We just have to salvage here for ourselves and find a new party interested in the things we find."
"Besides, you're going to let some girl get murdered just because she's related to the boss?" Mista said with a snarl as he pulled his gun and began to load it. "I can't do that."
"So, what are we doing, then?" Giorno said as the boat became clearer on the horizon to the naked eye.
"Take the girl back and kill those two," Bruno said as he headed back to the helm.
Giorno couldn't argue with that. It was really the only course of action they had open to them now. If they wanted to save Trish, they had to kill the only two people who knew where she was.
On the Clash, the Gold Experience's presence had already been detected. Tiziano glared through his own spyglass at the other boat.
"Who is it?" Squalo asked from the helm. "Are they turning this way?"
"Gold Experience, Bruno Buccellati's ship. I heard he was going independent, but why is he this far out? Could they be following the girl's trail too?" Tiziano asked no one in particular as he watched the other ship turn into an intercept course. "Damn, we've been spotted, and they're coming toward us. Full speed, Squalo, let's try and outrun them."
"In this shit boat?" Squalo exclaimed and snorted with dismissal. "They've got us. And there's more of them than there are of us. We're done for," he continued as he tried to get more speed out of the smaller, and slightly more agile boat. "Buccellati was a capo when he got that salvage boat. That thing is probably all sorts of tricked out by now. He's had that thing for three years already!"
"Just try to outrun them," Tiziano said with a sigh as he stared at his two passengers. The boy was asleep, probably due to the branding still. Trish was watching him with those piercing eyes and taking in every little detail. He'd never seen the boss, no one had, but he had a feeling that his gaze might look something like this girl's.
The sea is unforgiving, and when one ship is so severely outgunned as the Clash was, they had no choice but to attempt escape. However, the Gold Experience was well outfitted and a full salvage boat. Unladen with salvage, the ship moved uncharacteristically fast, and quickly caught up with the smaller Clash. The battle between them was not much of one since Mista had uncanny ability with his pistols. Despite being too far out to make a shot for most, Mista managed to take out both Tiziano and Squalo, dropping them both off the boat into the ocean. The next hour was panic filled as they wrangled the now unmanned Clash and tried to avoid letting the two bound passengers slide into the stormy surf. After another tense hour of work, they had pulled both Trish and the other bound young man into the Gold Experience.
"Thank you, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," the orange haired boy spoke to them.
Bruno and Giorno took point with communicating with their new arrivals, even though the others had a lot of curiosity. After a round of introductions, they took Trish and Ichigo down to the mess area to sit them down and try and figure out their plan.
Giorno was walking behind Ichigo as they came down and noticed the mark under his hairline. He stopped him and pushed his hair up as the other man fussed at him for being held on the stair.
"Damn," Giorno muttered as he shoved Ichigo a bit to get him going. Things just got more complicated.
"Bruno, he's marked. They branded him," Giorno said as Ichigo sat down by Trish and glared at Giorno. Giorno then went over to him and started checking him over. "And beat the hell out of, did you antagonize them on purpose?"
Ichigo winced as Giorno pulled his arms up and began to feel around his ribs. "They said things to Trish. I couldn't be quiet, ow…" Ichigo muttered as he winced.
Giorno sighed, glad he kept his med kit in the kitchen. "Well, I'll have you fixed up as much as I can," he explained as he retrieved the box from beside a storage cabinet and returned.
Bruno sighed and shook his head. "I've got a branded slave and the daughter of the Devil of Italy on my boat now. I suppose it fits with the rest of this mismatched crew. After all, Narancia's an ex-slave."
Ichigo looked up at that. "Ex-slave?"
"Diavolo's slaves aren't often treated well, and sometimes they're considered damaged goods. They have their brand cut off and they're thrown out, usually to the Fomori," Bruno explained. At the confused look that Ichigo got, Bruno continued. "The Fomori used to be human, but they're wild people now, if you can even call them people. Fugo rescued Narancia, who you haven't met yet. He bought him as he was about to be thrown away to those monsters in rough shape. Narancia was abused and his eye infected. He never got full use of the eye back, but his other one works better than most. He's usually up in the crow's nest. That's a long story, though, and not what you need to know at the moment about your situation."
"What exactly is my situation? I just want to go home…my father will be worried about me, and…" Ichigo began.
"That's not possible." Bruno's words were sharp and left no room for that option. "You will have to wait to return until we're sure it is safe for you to go back."
"What? Why not? Just take me home!" Ichigo winced as Giorno began to wrap tape around his wounded ribs.
"You can't go home as long as the King Crimson is nearby. You'll be picked up again with that brand on your neck. You're safest on the move. Your family is safest with you on the move. The men on that ship, they won't mind collateral damage to get back Diavolo's property," Giorno explained as he finished wrapping the young man's ribs. "A kid like you wouldn't last long with them."
"I'm not a kid," Ichigo huffed. "I'm twenty, thank you."
"You're a kid compared to the rest of us with experience under our belts," Giorno snapped back at him as he tipped his head back to look at a bad bruising around his face and eye.
"Who is this guy anyway?" Ichigo whined despite apparently trying not to.
Bruno nodded slowly. "Diavolo owns part of Italy. There are others in the area who have taken hold of the lands that are habitable as well. Diavolo's Italy is run more like a mafia than a government, and none of us see it lasting for very much longer. There is only so long that a place can be run without real government. The nobles in the area rule in his stead, while he reaps the benefits of being their ruler. They are creatures of decadence and only want to satisfy their own desires." Bruno stopped and glanced at Giorno. "In contrast, another man named Dio has taken hold of other areas like Egypt and areas to the east of Italy. While he's no good man, he at least is a capable ruler of the lands, and he has sons…" Giorno looked up at Bruno's pause.
"I have nothing to say on him," Giorno said as he bandaged Ichigo's left eye. "My father is not my concern. Not like I've ever actually met the man."
Bruno smirked, expecting no less from Giorno about his estranged father. "Now, you, what happened with you getting wrapped up in this?"
Ichigo blinked, feeling odd with his eye covered like this now. "Ah, I actually find treasures, er, relics from the past days. I search the shores and see what I can find and take back to my father and others in the Shinigami Foundation."
"Foundations, we've heard of those," Bruno said with a sigh. "They rule out here, don't they?"
Ichigo nodded. "I guess you could say that. There's no real rulership, but we have a couple towns and we have these Fomori you talk about, and the Arrancar which some of the researchers keep trying to capture, but my father says they should be left alone. Um, my pop is a doctor, but he doesn't work for the Shinigami anymore, he just helps people in our town, Karakura. He's been investigating the changes to people born since emergence."
"Emergence?" Giorno asked as he progressed to wrapping up what seemed to be a badly sprained wrist on Ichigo's left arm.
"What we all call coming out of the bunkers. I was born afterward, but my father was in cryogenic freeze until about twenty years ago. My mother was born in the underground, though," Ichigo explained, grimacing as Giorno finished wrapping his arm up and sat down across from him.
"Interesting how different you see this 'emergence' than others," Bruno commented. "We call it the Opening, and it was a time of constant strife among most people. I was born before the Opening, by a couple years, and it was a miracle my family got out of there with all our lives intact. I suppose that you having the Foundations to organize things helped," Bruno mused.
"It wasn't perfect. The Wandenreich are still a problem that are being dealt with." Ichigo looked up suddenly when the room went silent. "What?"
"Interesting you mention them," Giorno said with a cautious glance. "They have been to Italy and Diavolo is attempting to ally with them."
"My mother…" Ichigo began and then paused. "Um, my mother was one of them. She abandoned them before she met my father. That…that was why she met him. She was living in the wilds, running from her past with them, and was attacked by a wandering beast. Pop saved her." Ichigo paused and almost felt tears again for some reason. Why, he didn't know. "She died when I was nine during another attack by a monstrous beast."
"Alright, you and Trish stay put, I'll be right back. Here," Bruno spoke as he handed both of them a piece of fruit. It perhaps had been apples at one time but with all the changes, they were twice the size of the original fruit and carried a subtle tartness that was pleasant now.
Giorno walked up the stairs with Bruno and stopped at the top. "What do you think?" Bruno asked.
"I don't think he's lying. I say we head toward the island and get him off our boat as soon as we can," Giorno muttered, glancing down the stairs as he heard Ichigo and Trish talking softly. "There's something about him I don't like. We need to put him off and back with his family."
