Title: On the Ocean Blue
Written By: NikoArtagnan
Genre: Fantasy/Friendship/Adventure
Rating: T, will eventually go to M
Summary: An outcast from Earth is flung headfirst into a hostile, unforgiving world, and finds themselves tagging along with a very particular crew of misfit pirates, and the boy who wants to be the King of them all. But this isn't the world of One Piece you thought you knew, and there are terrible things lurking in the shadows...
Chapter-Specific Warnings: Foul language, graphic violence, implied past rape/sexual assault, non-graphic past torture
Author's Notes: I've changed the summary of the story to better reflect the actual story and the main character. *shrugs*
ALSO...APPARENTLY MADISON OHIO ISN'T A FICTIONAL PLACE. WHOOPS. *sweats nervously*
Chapter One:
Excerpts from the Journal of...
DATE: January 12th, 2012
MY LOCATION: Lewis Family Home
PLACE: Madison, Ohio
My therapist tells me I should write in a journal.
I try to tell her that the thoughts in my mind are so chaotic that I can't order them down properly and that they often degenerate into stories and poems and ideas, but she just smiles at me when I do. And then she pats my leg and says in her 'smug therapist' voice that I have to follow the court's orders, and the judge went nice on me before, but in my next hearing it could very well go differently if I didn't have her approval.
Condescending bitch.
Mom tells me I should use it when I feel I should, and leave it at that. Mom fought the hardest to get me therapy, after what happened. She fought the hardest to get me some sort of justice, after everything and all. She's the one who helped me start my revenge, though I don't think she ever thought it would go this far.
Anyway…maybe I should introduce myself before I get too much into it. Alex told me that's what I should do when I start a new journal when I told him about it at the hospital.
Well then…I'm Kelly Lewis. I'm eighteen years old and I graduated from Central Way High School four months ago. I'm about 5"10 in a pair of sneakers, and I weigh about 260. I use to weigh 290. Yay for weight loss. And dance lessons.
I have black hair that I keep short around my head, because it's a pain in the ass to deal with it long and I have the attention span of a water flea. My skin is pale and my complexion clear – much to the envy of my high school peers, because I never dealt with acne or pimples. It still makes me laugh.
I have dark green eyes that quite a few people say are my only attractive feature. Those guys can all go fuck themselves, IMHO. I wear glasses, but they make me look nice, or so I'm told. I usually only need them for reading, which is even nicer.
I like comfortable clothes. Who cares if sometimes people mistake me for a guy in them? I don't. I like comfort, not something supposedly 'chic' that will leave my feet and body aching for hours after. Fashion is like God's way of saying "I really hate women".
…Mom tells me I could have a promising career in the art of 'Being a Grouchy Old Man'. Dad laughs like a hyena whenever she does, and so does Alex.
They may have a point.
~KL
DATE: October 9th, 2012
MY LOCATION: Outside Alamo General Hospital
PLACE: Senna, Ohio
They tried to tell me to apologize to him. Forced me to come to this godforsaken place so that little fuck could bask in the fact that I had to apologize to the douche who raped my best friend, beat me nearly unconscious, and posted pictures of her rape everywhere.
He was conscious when I came in, though his parents were sure to tell me beforehand that he would never walk again. That the colleges were refusing to let him in, even with all of their money. That people mocked and scorned and hated him. That he would never ever play football ever again.
LE GASP! My eyes filled with tears and I fell before his bed, weeping hysterically. "Oh, Daniel, I'm so sorry for having caused you this hurt! Please, let me make it up to you, whatever I can do-"
Actually, no.
I didn't say anything to him, as my lawyer and my mom followed me into the room, his parents standing on either side of his bed. I looked at him, bandaged up and swollen, watching me with eyes that had once seemed so beautiful, and I smiled. I really smiled at him. It felt so easy, to be honest.
I could feel a sense of relief from Mr. and Mrs. Sampson, Daniel's parents, and from my lawyer. My mom was smart, though. She knew I wasn't smiling for the reasons the other adults thought.
I looked at Daniel, at the boy who'd beaten me senseless. The boy who would have raped me if he hadn't been forced to leave because his parents were expecting him home. The boy who left me for dead in a park so I had to crawl a painstaking three miles to a road to get help. The boy who'd gone on to rape my best friend because no one believed that a good ole 'American Boy' would ever do such a crime and ignored me. The boy who'd tried to rape another girl, if I hadn't intervened and beaten him senseless. The boy who would have gotten off Scott-free, if I hadn't worked my ass off to make sure everyone knew just what he had done.
I looked at Daniel, and began to speak, still smiling.
"Eat shit and die, you fucking rapist. I hope you get run over by a fucking truck, and God pimp-slaps you straight to hell, you little piece of shit. You don't deserve anything ever good in your life, and I wish, oh God, how I wish I'd killed you. But death is too good for the likes of you. Enjoy life as a cripple, bitch."
I smiled at my lawyer and my mom, and said as sweetly as I could, in the ensuing shocked silence, "I think I'm done here."
It was worth it.
Dad gave a hundred bucks when we got home. XD
~KL
DATE: May 31st, 2013
MY LOCATION: Home
PLACE: Madison, Ohio
I'm on house arrest, officially. After I'm done with half a year of house arrest, I'll have to do thirty days of community service. Mom went to lay down went we got home, tired beyond belief. Dad just smiled approvingly when I told him about what had happened at the court and how I stayed calm.
It's a relief to us all, after all the press – both good and bad – we've been getting. Mom made a couple a press conferences, to explain why I'd done it. I wrote a letter and everything. Tried not to be too bitter. That was hard.
Anyway, the judge was a nice guy. He likes me and went very easy on me, my lawyer said with a relieved smile. I know he didn't like Daniel, after the crippled bitch caused an uproar at the hearing, yelling awful obscenities at Beth and me and at Erin, the girl I saved.
I'd kept my temper. And it paid off big time. Daniel Sampson's going to jail – he'll be kept in solitary for a while. It's only half a year, but the judge forced the Sampsons to pay half a mil to Morgan and myself both, and he'll have to go through two years of mandatory community service, then another three years of mandatory anger management classes.
Abigail Torres – Erin's mother – came up to us as we left the courthouse, and hugged me tight, while the cameras of the reporters flashed and nearly blinded me.
"Thank you for saving my daughter. Thank you so much."
That beat any other reward hands down. I couldn't keep that fuck from touching Beth, but I saved her daughter. At least I did that much.
Alex called today.
He wanted my opinion about where he should take Beth out to dinner. He told me, if Beth consented to dating him – or, as he put it "being courted' – in a few months, we should consider double dating. I told him I wasn't dating anyone nor would anyone want to date the girl who'd put the 'All-American High School Football Star' in the hospital.
He laughed at me and then asked quite innocently if I was taking Erin out for her birthday.
I am, but I don't see the point. Erin's a good friend, and while she's got a healthy case of Hero-Worship going on for me, we're slowly becoming great friends. There's nothing going on there.
…I think.
~KL
DATE: December 31st, 2013
MY LOCATION: Home
PLACE: Madison, Ohio
Jesus Christ, what a year this has been. I'm so glad it's over.
Beth's doing so much better. She laughs, nowadays. Her mom told me that she'll more than likely be able to have children in the future, and I'm so glad. Beth wants kids, I know that.
She spends a lot of time she's not with me with Alex. He treats her right, like a princess, just like she deserves. He doesn't push for anything she doesn't want to do. And he doesn't blame her.
Erin and I spent hours online, Skyping. She comes over a lot. She also kissed me. On the cheek. But there was something soft and warm in her eyes that made me feel all mooshy-gooshy inside. I asked her to give me some time to think about and she smiled and nodded. I never thought about my sexual orientation before. Jesus Christ. I mean, I like guys, I know that. Guys arouse me. And there was Lien, too...but that whole mess, I didn't think it meant anything.
Do...do I like women, too?
Whoooo boy.
…
Anyway, Mom and Dad went to a fancy restaurant in Cincinnati to celebrate New Year's. I convinced them I'd be fine.
Tomorrow I'm going to Beth's for a sleepover. One Piece marathon, for the win!
I've got my bag all
DATE:
MY LOCATION:
PLACE:
OH GOD, OH GOD, OH MY FUCKING GOD WHAT THE HELL WHERE THE HELL AM I?!
DATE: I DON'T KNOW
MY LOCATION: I DON'T KNOW
PLACE: SOME ISLAND? JESUS I DON'T KNOW!
It's like I've wandered straight into a nightmare. I finally managed to find a place to hide from the maniacs chasing me. I don't know how long I have, but holy shit, I've got to get off this godforsaken island.
I'll make this quick, then. The roof was literally ripped off my house, and a fucking tornado reached in and scooped me out. I managed to grab my bag and my journal before I went flying into it. I was tossed and turned for hours, before I landed here. I managed to piss off some local crazies who fucking DRINK BLOOD, and I've been on the run ever since.
I also seem to have shrunk a considerable amount. Did I fucking de-age or something? Jesus, I haven't been in this good of a shape since I was nine. Oh God, am I nine? WTF?!
Oh, and another thing…WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!
Shit, they're coming, I'll write later if I ca
DATE: It's winter, I think
LOCATION: Sadsen Isle
PLACE: North Blue… yeah, you read that right.
How long have I been running? Gods, I don't know.
I finally managed to get some time to sit down and think and write in my journal without worrying about whether or not I'll be killed, but I'm not sure how long it'll last. Those crazies from the first island I landed on have been hunting me like dogs. I think I finally managed to throw them.
I wasn't always so lucky. They managed to grab me twice. Brought me to their castle.
I don't want to talk about what happened there. It wasn't fun. I still wake up from the nightmares, when I can manage to get some sleep.
I also have magic, apparently. Nearly gave me a heart attack when I was escaping from those blood-sucking freaks of nature's Castle of Horrors and I fried at least six of them with a blast of fucking lightning. Hurt like hell afterwards.
I've been experimenting, and it seems my powers – so weird to be saying that – are based around the four elements: air, water, fire, and earth. I'm doing pretty well with water, but the others are giving me considerable trouble. Aaagh, I need a chance to sit down and really see what I'm capable of. Fuck that, I need a real teacher. Are there teachers who teach magic here?
…Jesus Christ, what am I saying? It's the world of One Piece, I'd be surprised if they didn't.
I have magic. I have magic and I'm in the world of One Piece. It's like all my childhood and teenaged dreams have come true at once, but I sort of wish it hadn't required my nearly being murdered over twenty times for it to happen.
I'm in the world of One Piece. It sucks so far (blood-sucking demons and unspeakable torture, FTW…not), but I can't help the excitement I feel. Any fan would.
But most of the excitement is buried under guilt, terror, and a bone-deep sort of exhaustion that's been with me for weeks. But I can't let it take me down. I have to keep moving, keep fighting, and keep living.
I can't think about my family or my friends. If I did, I'd collapse. The homesickness takes more out of me than even the fatigue.
But if I'm right about my magic, my ticket home lies there. So all I have to do is survive and learn more about my magic, develop it further and further until it is strong enough to get me home. In that tornado that brought me here, I felt something just like my magic.
As I write these words, I know I could make my own tornadoes…in time. I just have to survive that long.
I sit in the shade of a building, in a city that belches smoke and whose residents won't notice another poor beggar sitting in the shadows. I feel like I can't breathe, but that's probably because of all the smoke. This place certainly isn't doing my asthma any good.
But I'm vain enough to appreciate what the past year on the run and the subsequent fighting for my life has done for my figure. Not only am I a lot skinnier, but I'm muscled as all get out. It's pretty nice.
And few people are stupid enough to bother a girl who looks like she could knock them out with one hand. Not that most anyone's going to be bothering me. I've been picking up fighting skills left and right. I've been taking lessons with anyone and everyone who'll have me, though I'm anxious to find a Rokushiki scroll. I master that shit, and no one will fuck with me. CP9, bitches.
There's a black cat sleeping on my lap, purring silently and soothingly, the way cats have about them when they deign to show affection to someone. He's been my only friend for the past year, when I rescued him from getting thrown into a cooking pot and got shot in reward. I decided to call him Gin-Aido, for his silver eyes. Gin for short.
He speaks. Only in short bursts, but he speaks. He tells me in a couple of months, when I'm stronger, he'll be able to talk more. And he'll be able to teach me more about my magic! He's a wee bit sarcastic, but he has a dead-pan sense of humor that very nearly matches mine. It's absolutely hilarious. And he's a great guide. He was the familiar of a master sorcerer, who threw him away, and he wanted to stay with me.
I've no idea why he wants to be with me, but it's nice having a friend.
~KL
DATE: May, I think
MY LOCATION: A Place called Toratega
PLACE: South Blue
I've been on the run for two years.
Gin's been teaching me about who I am, which is something called a Magus. Apparently, I have the blood of the Magi in my veins (I wanted to make a Labyrinth of Magic joke, but it didn't seem the time), and I have it pretty strongly, too. Gin says I must have it from both sides of my family in equally strong doses, and that it probably comes from my parents. Gin's also been pretty tight-lipped about where he thinks the bulk of my powers comes from beyond that, because he tells me I shouldn't have this many Daemons after me. Not as an untrained Magus.
I'll have to ask Mom when I get home, because I'm pretty sure I don't have any super-powered folks in my lineage. And I'm fairly certain my parents aren't either. I mean, my mom's a divorce lawyer and my dad's a businessman/chef. I'm pretty sure they can't do magic.
Apparently, those demons have been hunting me because the magic in my blood is so strong it could give them eternal life or some shit.
Oh look, a Black Bird reference. It's pretty fucking horrifying when it's actually true. Christ Almighty would those fucks try and rape me? Dear God.
I've been running and trying to learn and trying real hard not to die, leapfrogging all over the islands with my magic, though I can't enter the Grand Line.
I haven't had two seconds to think straight. Those things – Daemons, they call themselves, the fucking "nobility of the Makai" – have been hunting me for all this time. And they're not the only ones hunting me. I've been pretty low-profile most of the time, but it seems like when humans discover who I am – or better yet, what my blood does – they go a little crazy, trying to capture me to drain my blood. Apparently my blood can do a great deal of things – heal the badly injured, bring a field of crops to flourishing life for years, and create beautifully enchanting jewels when frozen.
It's pretty fucking horrifying, because along with those admittedly cool things (which humans are NEVER content with, ungrateful bastards) I found something terrifying out on one of the last islands I was on, which was that, as the crazy old lady who kidnapped me said, "the issue of your body will possess the powers of the Magi, and give strength and honor to your husband's family."
Which means all the crazy humans want to rape me and force me to bear their or their son's children.
On that island, it was the first time I ever killed a human. I killed multiple humans. I had to do it. I was protecting myself. I had to protect myself. I couldn't just take their memories like I'd always done. That wouldn't have worked.
Humanity is ugly, I realized. You can't trust humans. Not with their greed and avarice. They'd all bleed me dry to further their own gains. But then again, this is the world with the horrible Tenryubito, wide-spread slavery, the corrupt World Government, and pirates who rule the seas.
Man, I knew humanity was horrible before, why is this so surprising to me now?
…Maybe it's because I was never really exposed to it, beyond what happened to me and my friends by that raping Neanderthal. I mean, I saw the burnings, the bigotry, the hate, the wars, and the desolation on the TV, but I was never really exposed to it like I have been here. I've never lived in poverty before. Here, poverty was inevitable, because I had no money, no knowledge of how the money system even worked, despite my near-religious devotion to the series. It was only my knowledge of the series that kept me from getting too freaked out by the weirdo, physics-defying aspects of this place.
Anyway, I finally managed to find some solace on an island protected by enormous tigers. I thought I was going to die on my little sail boat, chased by those godforsaken monsters who've been hunting me for the past year, but I managed to rustle up a Jump (a teleport, essentially) to take me and Gin to a safe place, which apparently was this island.
I thought the tigers – and their many brethren who wander this island – would have eaten me, but they greeted me like I was an old and dear friend of theirs.
This'll be a good place to rest. Gin says the tigers will protect me.
The tigers – at least, the two Guardian ones, they are called Arashi and Tega – can speak. They tell me that they will protect me, but I can stay here for only three years before the demons will find me. Three years to learn from the immense libraries deep within the mansions the tigers took me to in the middle of the island.
I can do it, though. Mom says I have the determination of the Devil when I really put my mind to something.
I will get home.
I can do this.
~KL
DATE: Arashi says it's winter, though it still feels just as hot and muggy as it ever was.
LOCATION: Toratega Island Mansion, my study
PLACE: South Blue
It's winter, but it still feels hot and humid here. I think my magic has burned away all of my asthma, because it's not bothering me as much. I don't need my glasses for anything but reading, and even that's slowly disappearing. A year has passed.
And I've been training.
My repertoire of spells has grown. There are hundreds of things I can now do with the magic boiling in my veins. My control over water is growing day by day, and so is my control over air, but fire, earth, and their respective spells are still beyond me.
Gin is a fucking slave driver. That little shit apparently knows fucking Rokushiki, and has been, in his words, "whipping my lazy ass into shape", before he'll teach me. He gets the tigers to chase me around every goddamned morning, and then he has me do weight lifting until I pass out. Then it's another race around the island before dinner. I train my magic every moment in between.
I don't want to think about my family. God, do they think I'm dead?
Gin says he's not the have-all, know-all on magic. Once I gain a basic knowledge of all four elements and their spells, I'll have surpassed his knowledge. I know he's worried about me getting rid of him like his last (shitty) master did, but Gin's my friend. I won't leave him.
And besides, he still needs to teach me Rokushiki.
…I haven't really thought about the strangeness of this all. I mean, Good God, I'm on an island inhabited by talking tigers, practicing my magic, aided by my talking black cat, who's going to teach me Rokushiki, in the middle of an ocean that I had thought was FICTIONAL.
But the thing is…It doesn't seem strange. At all.
Practicing my magic, learning how to fight, talking with animals – it feels as natural as breathing. I like it. I really like it. I'm not so angry anymore. My temper doesn't randomly explode. I'm not so bitter as I was. I don't feel like I'm holding the world on my shoulders in terms of what I feel, if that makes any sense. This place feels as much like home as my real home ever did.
I know most of the tigers on the island by name now, and they welcome me with open arms, when they aren't chasing me around the island. I don't have to worry about if I say something wrong or do something wrong they'll get offended or never speak to me again or things will get uncomfortable.
Sure, I've had a few breakdowns. But that was mostly about…
...
Damn it, stop tearing up. I'm fucking stronger than this.
I'll get home to them. I just have to learn how. My magic holds the key to getting home, though I haven't read anything in the thousands of books I managed to pour over. But there are still plenty of books left.
And this is the world of One Piece.
I'll find a way to get home. And I'll get stronger in the process.
...
…I feel like the theme for 'Team America' should be playing now. LOLOLOL, wow I'm dumb…
Ah well, time for bed.
~KL
DATE: Spring! God, it feels nice. Wait…why is it that winter is still hot but spring isn't? The hell?
MY LOCATION: Toratega, like usual
PLACE: The Grand Ole Mangrove Tree I found.
Lunchtime, woot.
Gin insisted I eat outside, as the day was so good. Arashi took me to this enormous mangrove on the outskirts of the island, and I ate lunch there with the tigers from the local tribe milling underneath. I know they're allies of mine, but they're still wild animals. Not going to risk climbing down there and hanging out.
I'm doing so much better in my studies. My repertoire is increasing day by day.
I haven't blown myself up in ages! XD
I'm slowly starting to master water. Air's coming along fine too. Minor control of earth. I still suck at fire. Fuck.
Gin tells me I expect too much out of myself. I tell him I want to fry those fucking demons into next week if they ever come near me.
Fire would be the perfect weapon against those maniacs. But since that bolt of lightning I conjured up early on, fire's been extremely difficult and near impossible for me to use.
I don't have much longer. Gin usually gives me a half hour after lunch before he begins bitching again.
But I can feel the difference in my body. I'm goddamn strong, now.
THOUGH THAT STUPID FUCK STILL HASN'T TAUGHT ME ANY ROKUSHIKI ARRRRRRGH.
~KL
DATE: Man, I don't know. I think it's winter? Who the fuck knows anymore.
MY LOCATION: Toratega
PLACE: The Mansion
The tigers tell me I leave tomorrow. The demons know I'm here. I must pack and be ready to leave at noon. Gin sits on my lap, calming my trembling. The fear I thought I'd left behind when I came to this island and managed to leave behind those monsters has returned in force.
I know I'm strong. I know I can fight like mad. I'm starting to learn Rokushiki – fucking finally – and I mastered water and air and their respective spells. Earth and fire – being so fundamentally different to the elements I know - will take me some time, though.
But I'm scared. There, I said it.
Jesus Christ, I haven't been this scared since I was at that park, fighting to stay alive after that little fuck beat me almost to death.
I don't want to die.
Journal, this may be the last time I write in you for a while. I've been somewhat diligent about writing here on Toratega, but something tells me that will have to stop until I find a place to hide. Tega has asked me to take her runt daughter with me, and I've agreed. A beautiful little tiger cub, orange and white and black. Tega let me name her. Shere Khan. She'll be fucking King of the Tigers. I don't care if she's a girl. Gin says she will be a good familiar for me.
Anyway, it's back to the hunt, Kelly.
But this time, the hunted can fight back.
~KL
DATE: Mina told me it's March 29th.
MY LOCATION: Aratuck Island, Mina's Ramen Shop
PLACE: East Blue
I managed to find an island where the monsters couldn't find me. The people welcomed me with open arms, cheering on "The Most Exalted Magus". Fucking strange, but hey, I'd rather have adoration than fangs at my neck.
They gave me a house on top of the hill, away from the village proper. Apparently it once belonged to a Magus! I couldn't fucking believe my luck.
They'd fully stocked it once they'd learned I wanted to stay. There was a feast beforehand, a grand one, then a gorgeous lady called Mina took me up there. I nearly passed out with exhaustion.
The next day, I met with the Elders, who granted my request to stay a while on the island. They only requested that I give a drop of blood to the soil once a month. Hell, I can do that.
Mina's smiling at me again. Jesus, she's beautiful. Long, luscious blonde hair that falls in her face, a warm, smoky voice, a killer bod, and one hell of a brain between her ears. She's been catching me up to date on everything going on in the world proper. She found out I loved to draw and has been encouraging me to do more. Bought me drawing stuff and everything. Been
I've never had anyone look at me the way she is. Hell, I've never had anyone even regard me with the remotest bit of attraction – sexual or otherwise.
Except Erin, but I'm pretty sure that was just Hero-worship.
But then again, I'm pretty toned and fucking hot now, so perhaps it's not too surprising.
…Actually, yes it is. Jesus, have you seen that woman?
Fuck it, I don't care if she just feels pity for the new girl or awe at my being a Magus. If she invites me out on a date or to her bed, I'm going to accept.
Jesus Christ, I feel like my face is on fire. Is that what they mean by 'bedroom eyes'?
Hoo boy.
…Gin's laughing at me again.
~KL
DATE: May 1st, still don't know the year.
MY LOCATION: Aratuck Island, my house
PLACE: East Blue
It's my birthday. I've outgrown my original age, I can tell. I'm pretty sure I'm 19, now.
Mina's in my bed, dead to the world. I look back at her as I write this, and I can't stop smiling. Good God, she's beautiful.
We've been together for a year-ish. We don't get any grief from the people of this island. It feels nice. I mean, we get some grumbles and stuff, but nothing like the vitriolic hate we'd get from people back home.
She moved in two months ago. She moved in and she's the best goddamned assistant I could ever find.
It's my job, now, to help out with problems people have. To help them out with magics and spells and whatnot. Sort of like the witches did on 'Kiki's Delivery Service'.
It's tons of fun.
But I haven't really thought about going home.
I look back at Mina and something twists in my gut at the thought of leaving her.
She's so bright and beautiful. She smiles and rubs my back and cooks me food, and sings like a fucking siren. We have the greatest of arguments, and the make-up sex is fabulous. Hell, sex with Mina is just pretty damned awesome.
I've never been the greatest fan of sex, back on Earth. It's tiresome and kinda painful, and I've done it with men and women. The only person I ever really enjoyed it with was Lien, but that was awkward in itself, as it was our respective first times. And considering how that all ended up…
But with Mina?
I feel loved. I laugh when we're together, and I've never done that before. I didn't think it was possible to feel so much, and to be able to give so much in return. We made love, as cliché as that sounds. She saw me - saw all of me - and said I was beautiful.
Christ, I'm so in love with this woman it hurts.
A knock at the door. I wonder if it's the Elder's messenger. I know they wanted to talk to me about something.
They've been pretty odd. Looking at me strange. So have the villagers. Asking me why I don't give more of my blood.
It's getting strange, here. Need to be on my guard. Gin and Shere can now use my magic to grow to adult forms. I now can feel them in my heart, and Gin tells me he can feel me in his, and so can Shere. Gin tells me that the two of them have become my familiars. I'm becoming a proper Magus, he said.
Gin's also convinced me to be ready to leave at any time. I have a sack that the former Magus left behind, and it's a sack of Infinity. I thought I would cry when I found it. It's so amazing, and Gin says that a Sack is every Magus's best friend.
Everything essential I have stuffed into it. It never leaves my side.
It would be so easy to let my guard down.
But I can't. Not even in this slice of paradise I've found.
~KL
DATE:
MY LOCATION: A cruise ship traveling to Loguetown
PLACE: East Blue
Oh God.
Oh God.
I still feel her blood on my hands. The pain, the fear, the terror.
I never even got to tell her I loved her.
They tied me up. Whipped me raw. A whip for each villager. They'd get the blood from it, the Elders said. Blood to cure all ills. Then they would bleed me dry. Aratuck would prosper for centuries, they told me. It was a sacrifice for the greater good. They caged Gin and Shere, who screamed for me, and told me they would be eaten. Their corpses, after I died. Food for their families.
They whipped me. Over, and over, and over again. The villagers crowded below, howling like dogs. A thrashing mob. Laughing and pointing and cheering with every strike of the whip.
Then Mina…
Oh God, Mina.
I woke up four days later on a cruise ship. The captain told me he fished me, Gin, and Shere from the water. We had been surrounded by wreckage, and he assumed we had been the survivors of a crash.
I affected amnesia, and bargained with the captain to pay him a great deal in return for him taking me to Loguetown without putting me on the guest register. From Loguetown I can head to the Grand Line. Gin tells me I should be fairly safe from the Daemons there. That means all I'll have to worry about are the humans.
Hoo-rah.
We stopped on an island, and I was left alone for the night. I drank myself into a stupor. It rained.
Days later, as I sit here, on the bed in the tiny little cabin I've been allotted, with Gin in his big panther form so I can rest my still aching back against his warm side, Shere draped over my feet, as big as she could be in this tiny place, I look at the newspaper on of the cabin boys had brought me, my Infinity bag resting against my hip. It survived too.
In big letters, the newspaper's headline reads: "ARATUCK ISLAND WIPED OFF THE MAP, NO SURVIVORS"
I'm so tired. I've been crying off and on for the past three days. The grief and hatred in me seem to consume me. The guilt for all the lives lost is pretty big too, even though they wanted to kill me. But mostly I mourn for Mina.
Gin tells me that one of the books I took from the old Magus's house will teach me how to create limiters for myself. I'm not sure I should, to be honest.
Are all humans like the ones on Aratuck?
I can't help but look at every human who passes with suspicion. My mind is always, always, always thinking about ways to neutralize and eliminate the potential threats I see around me. I don't speak to other people. I don't like being touched.
I wasn't exactly the most trusting person at home. But now I find I can only trust the animals around me. And of course, my most loyal friends, Gin and Shere Khan.
I think I know now why Fisher Tiger hated humans so much.
I don't blame him, to be honest.
Because once who've been exposed to the very worst of humanity, it's hard to keep your faith in its "inherent goodness".
Gin tells me to sleep. Shere rumbles her agreement by my feet.
I think I will.
I'm so damned tired.
~KL