The sea of Fortune -- by Sapfarah
Call me pimp all you want, you think I care? When you work on a
boat you meet all kinds of scum; pimp is even a complement. You have
no idea what the sea does to you. It's a b%tch, I'm telling you. The
people of the sea are by no means gentlemen... they don't know
manners when they lay flat before their face...
If only my old man could see me now... hah... he'd be shouting
his weak lounges like hell...
Nah, I don't regret. I'm my own man, take my own decisions and
don't have anyone to answer too.
Glad you noticed I don't /look/ like a harbour man. I take care
of my appearance. I take pride in my looks. You didn't call me a pimp
for nothing, did you?
So my appearance in a place like this calls for trouble...
only, my friend, I know how to fight...
I'd go ahead and demonstrate right now but I don't feel like.
Maybe when we get a little more off shore... I only have one pair of
nunchakus, the other... I swear that bastard Kilik stole it from me!
If I could get my hands on him, I'd...
I was taken in by his looks, I mean, wouldn't anyone? He was
and looked very young with a cheek smooth as a girl's, had that
innocent untainted look on his face, that kind of "I'm still pure and
untouched from the world" thing but when I found out he was disciple
to the Edge Master, it was too late and one pair of nunchakus was
gone. Gone!
I swear, if I had my hands on him I'd strangle his precious
throat and give an end to his life as a walking heartthrob... Eh, I
know girls fall for that innocent type, hell, I was just the same
once upon... but that won't bring my nunchaku back and I really loved
that weapon. It was almost identical to the pair I have now, only the
handles were a very dark maroon colour unlike the black ones of the
one left, with diamond shaped rivets and the chain almost chimed as I
toyed it, a little better than the one left...
I don't know. It seems like the couple is parted and now they
feel lonely apart...
Crew says that maybe Kilik has nothing to do with it, he
couldn't use nunchakus anyway, he fought with a staff in that odd
dwarpa~ dwarma~ something style, never was good with Hindu deities,
needless to say I don't believe in any gods on this world... Can't
fasten how Sophitia could worship all twelve gods of her pantheon and
all the so many more others she knew off, the knowledge alone being
enough to weight my head...
I don't care how many gods exist in the world, I only want to
find one who can tell me where the hell did my nunchaku get lost but
I don't exactly have hopes for that. Gods are known to screw up on
our expense, like that Suzano one, master of the Lightning once upon
who was said to be expelled from the celestial kingdom down to earth
as a punishment... well thanks a lot you-up-theres, so very kind of
you to utilise us as your personal hell, we appreciate, be sure! If
only I could get my hands upon a god and strangle him...
Now you know my tempers as well. Name's Maxi, nice to meet you
and I'm a man of the sea, even if I look like a pimp, thanks a lot
and my moods are a lot like those waters. Ever changing. Don't trust
me. You'd be right to. But while you're on my boat and rely on it,
just like the vessel relies on the sea, better do as I say or jump.
Don't argue with me. You'll lose.
Trust me.
This is my boat. Together we've seen more than we can tell...
Well, she's a reliable girl... and look at her curves... amazing
aren't they?
Girl and I have seen many people... we have passed many across
those tricky waters and came back safe...
If only she could talk... she could have given a better
narration of the story...
...and then again, I know it's getting boring, but she would
tell me who got my nunchakus!
Whatever, Kilik wanted to go to the other side and I agreed...
in fact I even transported him for free, you know what happened? Some
ass pirates felt like ravishing my girl and Kilik took up to kick
their ass... Well, not that I sat back and watched, I shattered a few
bones but I have to confess that had it not been for Kilik being
there on time and going into it, my boat would be long gone by and
surely that would also include...
Crap, stop whimpering about those nunchakus!!!
I'll find myself new. I'll get myself a new weapon.
It's so enervating when I act like a kid...
Crap me...
So, to make the long story short, I took Kilik across the
channel and said goodbye... halfway on my return, feeling like the
day was bright and the water calm enough to permit training while
sailing, I went to my room to find out... you guessed.
I then found out Kilik was disciple to the Edge Master... but
it was already too late. You see, it's only natural that he's the
straight suspect...
And I liked the boy...
Must be part of the sea as well. The fate. Seriously now, do
you think that this monster below us is only the flat blue surface
you see?
Oh-ho, ho! You have no freaking idea how deep it's down there!
It's a hell of a way down, I'm telling you. And you say that monster
cannot influence fortune?
You should see it when it frustrates! Then it towers way above
you and you will be lucky to know how your ship went down!
The sea is all around everywhere. It breathes and its breath
surrounds us and makes our path. It ebbs and pulls away what's ours,
it swells and brings forth what's to come. And we, ignorant or
incompetent ones just sail over it... go past it, or so we say...
because, you see, once you go over the sea, it somewhat filters you,
you know? It's as if going through an invisible cloud and that cloud
is fortune. This cloud attaches on you and may alter your life...
most time, it does.
I, ah, I have learned to live with the whims of the sea... I
even learned to enjoy them. I sit on my boat and wait to see what new
it will bring next to me. Even if sometimes it's painful, as it also
takes away~ why did you have to remind me? Just as I had gone over
it...
Yeah, anyway, well lately it has brought a lot, it has brought
to me many people who wanted to get to the other side for this reason
or the other, they didn't say... There seems to be something over
there, kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? Like, you've been there
so many times and it takes a stranger to come and tell you he knows
there's something going on over there that you don't... and the odd
is, it's not just one, it's many and they all _know_ there's
something happening over there... weird, eh? Kind of makes you
flip... 'Ne spa?'
This was supposed to be French. So I'm not exactly your learned
gentleman but still don't try to call me names. I've smashed faces
because they gave me a bad look and that b%tch with the white hair
who called herself Ivy and acted like lady-snow surely had a guardian
angel over her, or she'd make sushi for sharks! She actually had the
nerve to call me names... who, her? She who had more of an @$$e than
a face?
No, pardon me, it was impossible to see the face when she was
wearing leather stripes that merely made "throw down and screw at
instant" just a tiny bit trickier. All you could see was stomach,
legs and @$$e and even if she had her face to you, there wasn't much
to see behind a silvery-blue tuft hiding one eye, the longest of her
very short hair... So she was a nice set but who did she think she
was? I didn't even make a pass on her, she thought I did, make it she
_hoped_ I did, what exactly made her so certain I would be drooling
over her? If only she could see some of the women I went with, she'd
be rubbing her eyes and smudge the powder and the black line she wore
to a muddy blot, befitting her face...
I'm telling you she was a whore and a cheap one too. Don't tell
me to respect a lady because there is no lady in her case. Seriously
now, you must meet her to know. She'll give you that ice cold "bow at
your queen or I'll smash you under my heel you lecher" look and
you'll know. You'll want to grab her hair, smash her head upon your
knee and give her what she deserves.
No, upon my word, I wouldn't go down with her. I'm not that
desperate yet.
Have any idea what it is like to be on the sea? I'll tell you.
You don't have pretensions. Woman or man, if she's against you, you
just beat the hell out of them. Or they'll do. Survival is deeply
rooted within you... you don't get an option to it. You don't respect
anyone unless they gain your respect and for me, that's a hard thing
to do. So far very few have gained my respect, or rather something
very close to it. Taki was one of them, a female ninja who wanted to
cross to the other side... she as well. There must be something
really important on the other side. Maybe I should check out
myself...
Funny... so far, most of the people who went to the other side
were fighters...
Wait, now that I think about it, there come rumors from the
other side as well about something going on... there is no smoke
without a fire and then...
There is the Edge Master as well.
Damn, I had seen him the very night I returned from leaving
Kilik, when I embarked in the port. He was there, as if waiting for
me and he was the person I saw as I stepped down on the harbour...
I bloated with rage and still he had his damned-so-calm
imposing air and his voice sounded loud, he, argh, he submitted me to
my unclaimed fear... Damn! And he confessed that he was Kilik's
mentor, he told me so when I asked why the hell did he care whether I
had crossed a young boy named Kilik over the other side...
Don't you wish I had pestered him about my nunchaku?
Okay, I admit it makes no sense as to why Kilik would have
taken it... maybe to make me weaker, I'm a lot better with two
nunchakus...
They were my babies! I loved them and together we had a good
time! How dared anyone part me from them?
Damn, one nunchaku doesn't feel right any more!
No matter. Like I said, many weird fighters have gone over the
other side and among them, some who didn't look like fighters at
all...
...you think that maybe one of my men took the nunchakus to
disguise himself as a fighter and therefore gain access over there
and find out what's going on?
Naah, I think not...
...or maybe, well, fighters, nunchakus... maybe someone stroke
a deal with another fighter over there and traded my nunchaku to
them?
I swear, if only I can get the guy who did this to me!...
Yeah, well, like I said, some of the travellers didn't look at
all like fighters. For one there was this young girl who came with
her boyfriend or husband, the Korean couple... I don't remember the
man's name but you could tell they were Korean, it's not just the
looks but Koreans too have those three worded, sharp sounding names,
bam, bam, bam, this or that. Well the girl had a beautiful name,
Mina, matching her face, she was beautiful, she had a beaming smile
and really beautiful hair, her name even matched mine... but noooo no
no no, thanks no thanks, she wasn't for me! She was the kind of girl
you touch and then her father, brother and possibly every other male
of her family grabs your throat and tell you to marry her or else!
No, I had my share of that, thank you very much and I know those
girls at sight. They come from such a protective background it just
beams in a pure security on their face. Besides, her escort who might
have been worse than fiancee, like her brother, didn't seem like the
guy you'd like to go up against for a small reason, such as a girl.
Anyway, I had managed to exchange a few words with them, Mina
mainly who was really sweet and talkative whereas her partner who
turned out to be her fiancee was brooding all the time. I could have
assumed he was a fighter, his bearing said so, but as for the girl, I
hardly noticed her worked out hands with the distraction of her
beauty and had it not been for the zanbatoh she was carrying with
her... I thought she was holding it for her boyfriend but what
chivalrous boyfriend would allow such a delicate girl as she looked
to carry his weapons instead of sporting them by her side, then I
also noticed how her boyfriend had a weapon of his own, therefore I
realised what I was dealing with... A fighting couple then...
amazing. Heh... I sure pity this guy. I mean, being married to a
woman who can kick your ass?
This is not my business to complain of course, I'm sure they
know better to marry... unless the poor fellow 'touched' the girl and
has no marriage-escaping option...
Makes you feel like a laugh, doesn't it?
Actually you are the only one of my latest customers, if they
may be called so, well those who travel on my ship to go across that
actually shares a moment to talk with me... Even though you don't say
a lot, just about as much as Voldo, or whatever that freak was called
anyway, but he had a weird mask over his face, well, what could be
called a mask, actually stripes of iron restraining as it seemed his
mouth and his eyes; did he see at all? It couldn't help much as a
helmet, well not against skilled fighters, finding target through the
gaps was dead easy and well, a weapon wouldn't hurt much hitting upon
it, would it? Anyway, I think he was deaf or something so I gave up
talking to him after a while... You think I talk too much? I can't
tell by your expression, you seem to be listening to me... It means a
lot that you listen, actually very few people listen nowadays and the
sea... ah, you know, it's a lonely place.
But you should talk some more. Surely you too have things to
share.
Anyway, like I said, you are a pleasant change... Most of my
latest travellers have been morose and I'm tired of them. Even Kilik
was morose to some extend, well, he never cracked a smile, unlike
me... Reason enough they call me pimp, I'm a lady killer... Yeh,
really, you don't believe? Boy, I bet I've got children all over the
world out there I'll never meet... and I've only just started... but
enough about me. I was telling you about my customers, where was I?
Oh yeah, about some other morose guys I've met. I think Hwang took
the cake, oh yeah, Hwang was the name of the guy who was with the
fighting girl I told you before, remember? Mina, the little beauty
with the zanbatoh... Well, almost, as his solemnity was not at all
natural, you kind of thought he was repressed under the bold
personality of his fiancee, quite possible... do you have any idea
how far a man can go for the woman he loves?
Women... ah, what would the world be without them? And they
have to learn to fight to frighten us and declare us as completely
useless...
But you got to love them, don't you?
Anyway, Hwang might have just been dull or bleary in character
and therefore had few to say... but Mitsurugi, that was a natural
morose. You could _tell_ there was something heavy upon him, what can
I say, he looked like he had messed around with his master's wife or
something... hah, couldn't he have taken the daughter instead? I'm
telling you, I'd take the mother as well, whatever, you just wouldn't
argue with him. He was a swordsman this Mitsurugi and spend all of
the time leaning on the reef and gazing at the sea... well, over
there, you get my drift? Over there, to where everyone is going... I
wonder what it was that he was seeing, only that I never got the
chance to ask him. The only time I talked with him, we almost got
into a fight. No, I'm not challenging fights all over the place,
don't you start now! It was that Ivy b%tch, it was her fault!
Hell, she started it and called me names, she claimed my men
had tried to snatch her, who wouldn't with that thing you were
wearing, lady? I mean, picture this. A woman naked apart from a set
of polished black leather stripes barely covering her front and over
her breasts, leaving her stomach and behind to open view, closing
tightly around her neck and she had this so very smooth pale skin,
she was all legs, a really tall slim woman who eyed all with one icy
cold blue eye, she was like a snow queen and alike cold and cruel...
Well, as she said my men tried to snatch her and she had crippled a
few hands, I wasn't particularly moody and told her that she got what
she deserved and she called me a slime and stuff like I was ogling at
her and desired to have her... yeh, in your dreams, b%tch! I told her
to fuck off, that's only a bit of it and then she drew a weapon of
some sort, it appeared to be a sword but it was constructed from
tiled parts tied on the inside with a chain making it a whip on the
side... really, she walked around like a cheap whore and expected not
to be picked up?
I was about to draw my nunchakus, well, one of them by that
time, shouting verbal abuse to her and her mother, father, god and
whatever else that came to mind, seeing the ironic smile on her face
when... do you believe in the power of the spirit? They say there is
this kind of thing and it is so strong that when one looks at you,
you feel like he pokes into your body... for real, you know? Well,
that's what I felt and although there was a crowd all around me and
her as well, I felt of all that crowd the eyes of Mitsurugi looking
at me.
I don't know why he stared at me, he didn't look particularly
interested in getting up to protect a 'lady' I think he didn't like
her much either, maybe he was just curious but his stare had such
intensity it pulled me out from the contrast I was at...
I looked at him and our eyes locked. I'm telling you, it was
plainly annoying as I felt submitted by his look... as if he was
beating me down without force and yet as effectively...
I walked with the nunchaku prepared at hand right into him with
apparent intentions. The air smelled like a fight.
"You have some kind of a problem?" I said clearly approaching
him.
He was sitting with his back to the most of the ship so he
would have his precious view of the sea ahead but he was turned to me
and the riot. I came as close as right before him and yet he didn't
move a bit, he only kept his face at me and I still remember his
gaze... He looked up at me with a calm eye and yet it read of
determination to draw his sword at a blink.
"You like picking up fights, that's up to you but I advise you
not to start on me," he said in a tone unwavering but damn convincing
I'm telling you.
Surprisingly, there was no fight that night. I stood there
looking at him and read that whereas he was ready to fight if it was
necessary, he preferred to avoid at the moment. Somehow... at that
moment I shared it and nodded a couple of times and then backed away,
slowly, ever looking at him.
I don't know what it was in his mind so hefty that he was so
calm at a sea-man's challenge, we are known to be unrelenting and so
hot-blooded you know that now, don't you? Well, he acted as if I was
another swordsman with codes like him, nah, I don't have codes of
honour, like I said, I don't even have a god, am I likely to have
honour? No. But I retreated without a fight. And that was the event.
That's why I'm telling you Ivy was mighty lucky, he had just
spared her life. As I walked past her, I didn't even gift her with a
look, even though I knew she had that assertive look in her face
behind her hair... I swear though, if she had said as much as a word,
I'd throw her over the sea!
...sometimes, I regret I didn't.
We're almost there, is my story tiring you so much?
Oh well. Now you know what I have to face on every traveller I
transport. And all of them, not a word! Why doesn't anyone ever talk
to me? People from all over the world come on my boat and they tell
me nothing! And I am stuck on this route for the season, no, I'm not
going further open now, haven't you heard of the shipwrecks happening
lately? I'm not crazy yet and I love my boat. I want to stick to it
for as long as I can.
You hear that girl?
Stay with papa. Don't go. Okay?
Aah, sentimental... Cannot be helped...
Happens when you spend all your time on a place...
It's not like the land. The land is static. Whereas, the
boat... it moves. It floats. It struggles the sea with you. Whenever
you tie on a harbour you always know that you as a team have won over
one more fight over the sea... but you know that... sooner or later,
one of you or both will go down... one way or the other...
Happens with most everything, doesn't it?
Weeell, anyway... Like I was saying, you get to meet a lot of
weird people... You know who was the weirdest so far? Siegfried.
There was something about him, I don't know but... if Mitsurugi
looked sorry he looked like... very weird I'm telling you, he seemed
as if he was holding it before he would break down and cry...
...in fact, I would have sworn... he had come as close to doing
so once, when facing a huge disaster... but then he hadn't let it
go... and you know... in such cases... if you don't let go, it stays
forever on you and you know what I'm saying? Forever. It'll never let
go of you, just like you didn't release it back then and it will
continue tormenting you to the end...
But he was a nice boy, other than that. He too wanted to go to
the other side, didn't tell me why or what he was looking for... but
hey, I didn't want to bother him, I'm not the one to pry into others,
I don't want to come anywhere close to trouble, I've done fine so
far, I don't want to change it. Oh, forget, Siegfried was weird but
he was okay, he was a kind boy... he never talked too much and when
he did, he spoke silently, like a very shy kid... Weird isn't it? He
had a full grown up voice and he talked more silently than a shy
child... Pity him... Oh yeah, and he was holding this impossibly huge
sword, two edged one... Really wonder, why does everyone believe the
sword to be such a good weapon? To be honest, I couldn't use a sword
if I wanted to. I don't think I'd get used to holding a so rigid
weapon... I like the whipping motion of the nunchaku... then maybe a
sword like Ivy's turning to a whip, damn, why did you remind me of
that b%tch?
I swear, if I ever see her again, I'll smash her face! Oh if
only I see her again!...
Nevertheless... It kinda makes you wonder what's so special
about over there... Say, there's the coast, see? Look at it... you
wouldn't say it's any different than other lands you've seen, would
you? And yet you have all so many strange people wanting to go over
there and all of them... fighters...
Now that I think about it, all of them had also been morose...
think it's a coincidence?
No... they are not fooling me... I know there's something going
on there and they're not telling me... but I don't need them to tell
me anyway...
You know what? I think I know what to do. I'll go there myself
and find out. Yeah... why not? Instead of going back and forth and
all over the sea, I'll go there for sometime and see what draws those
people over there... it must be something, or I don't know why they
all rush to it... Maybe it'll keep me on land instead but then,
that's why I'm telling you, the sea leads your fortune. It placed me
right there, where I had to transport all of them and find out about
it... and looks like it's gonna be a bad weather tomorrow... I think
the big girl is saying that I should not embark for a trip to return
but rather... tie down and maybe stay over here for a while... what
do you think? Isn't it apparent?
Must leave you now, you cannot trust those morons to tie up a
ship on their own, you have to do it all by yourself... See you later
then. You'll stay around for a few days, won't you?
...why do I think that somehow you're after whatever there is
out over there?
Nooo, you don't fool me... I know you are... You won't tell me
then, will you? No matter, we'll find out together. Great, we'll get
to talk a little more, I really like your company...
Don't get lost on me, you hear? I'll see you later, on the
port. Then we can talk some more and maybe I'll get you to tell me
why so many people go over there... I'm itching now, I'm telling you!
It's gotta be something big, I mean, so many fighters...
I don't know... Do you think there's a chance I'll find a cool
pair of nunchakus?
Call me pimp all you want, you think I care? When you work on a
boat you meet all kinds of scum; pimp is even a complement. You have
no idea what the sea does to you. It's a b%tch, I'm telling you. The
people of the sea are by no means gentlemen... they don't know
manners when they lay flat before their face...
If only my old man could see me now... hah... he'd be shouting
his weak lounges like hell...
Nah, I don't regret. I'm my own man, take my own decisions and
don't have anyone to answer too.
Glad you noticed I don't /look/ like a harbour man. I take care
of my appearance. I take pride in my looks. You didn't call me a pimp
for nothing, did you?
So my appearance in a place like this calls for trouble...
only, my friend, I know how to fight...
I'd go ahead and demonstrate right now but I don't feel like.
Maybe when we get a little more off shore... I only have one pair of
nunchakus, the other... I swear that bastard Kilik stole it from me!
If I could get my hands on him, I'd...
I was taken in by his looks, I mean, wouldn't anyone? He was
and looked very young with a cheek smooth as a girl's, had that
innocent untainted look on his face, that kind of "I'm still pure and
untouched from the world" thing but when I found out he was disciple
to the Edge Master, it was too late and one pair of nunchakus was
gone. Gone!
I swear, if I had my hands on him I'd strangle his precious
throat and give an end to his life as a walking heartthrob... Eh, I
know girls fall for that innocent type, hell, I was just the same
once upon... but that won't bring my nunchaku back and I really loved
that weapon. It was almost identical to the pair I have now, only the
handles were a very dark maroon colour unlike the black ones of the
one left, with diamond shaped rivets and the chain almost chimed as I
toyed it, a little better than the one left...
I don't know. It seems like the couple is parted and now they
feel lonely apart...
Crew says that maybe Kilik has nothing to do with it, he
couldn't use nunchakus anyway, he fought with a staff in that odd
dwarpa~ dwarma~ something style, never was good with Hindu deities,
needless to say I don't believe in any gods on this world... Can't
fasten how Sophitia could worship all twelve gods of her pantheon and
all the so many more others she knew off, the knowledge alone being
enough to weight my head...
I don't care how many gods exist in the world, I only want to
find one who can tell me where the hell did my nunchaku get lost but
I don't exactly have hopes for that. Gods are known to screw up on
our expense, like that Suzano one, master of the Lightning once upon
who was said to be expelled from the celestial kingdom down to earth
as a punishment... well thanks a lot you-up-theres, so very kind of
you to utilise us as your personal hell, we appreciate, be sure! If
only I could get my hands upon a god and strangle him...
Now you know my tempers as well. Name's Maxi, nice to meet you
and I'm a man of the sea, even if I look like a pimp, thanks a lot
and my moods are a lot like those waters. Ever changing. Don't trust
me. You'd be right to. But while you're on my boat and rely on it,
just like the vessel relies on the sea, better do as I say or jump.
Don't argue with me. You'll lose.
Trust me.
This is my boat. Together we've seen more than we can tell...
Well, she's a reliable girl... and look at her curves... amazing
aren't they?
Girl and I have seen many people... we have passed many across
those tricky waters and came back safe...
If only she could talk... she could have given a better
narration of the story...
...and then again, I know it's getting boring, but she would
tell me who got my nunchakus!
Whatever, Kilik wanted to go to the other side and I agreed...
in fact I even transported him for free, you know what happened? Some
ass pirates felt like ravishing my girl and Kilik took up to kick
their ass... Well, not that I sat back and watched, I shattered a few
bones but I have to confess that had it not been for Kilik being
there on time and going into it, my boat would be long gone by and
surely that would also include...
Crap, stop whimpering about those nunchakus!!!
I'll find myself new. I'll get myself a new weapon.
It's so enervating when I act like a kid...
Crap me...
So, to make the long story short, I took Kilik across the
channel and said goodbye... halfway on my return, feeling like the
day was bright and the water calm enough to permit training while
sailing, I went to my room to find out... you guessed.
I then found out Kilik was disciple to the Edge Master... but
it was already too late. You see, it's only natural that he's the
straight suspect...
And I liked the boy...
Must be part of the sea as well. The fate. Seriously now, do
you think that this monster below us is only the flat blue surface
you see?
Oh-ho, ho! You have no freaking idea how deep it's down there!
It's a hell of a way down, I'm telling you. And you say that monster
cannot influence fortune?
You should see it when it frustrates! Then it towers way above
you and you will be lucky to know how your ship went down!
The sea is all around everywhere. It breathes and its breath
surrounds us and makes our path. It ebbs and pulls away what's ours,
it swells and brings forth what's to come. And we, ignorant or
incompetent ones just sail over it... go past it, or so we say...
because, you see, once you go over the sea, it somewhat filters you,
you know? It's as if going through an invisible cloud and that cloud
is fortune. This cloud attaches on you and may alter your life...
most time, it does.
I, ah, I have learned to live with the whims of the sea... I
even learned to enjoy them. I sit on my boat and wait to see what new
it will bring next to me. Even if sometimes it's painful, as it also
takes away~ why did you have to remind me? Just as I had gone over
it...
Yeah, anyway, well lately it has brought a lot, it has brought
to me many people who wanted to get to the other side for this reason
or the other, they didn't say... There seems to be something over
there, kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? Like, you've been there
so many times and it takes a stranger to come and tell you he knows
there's something going on over there that you don't... and the odd
is, it's not just one, it's many and they all _know_ there's
something happening over there... weird, eh? Kind of makes you
flip... 'Ne spa?'
This was supposed to be French. So I'm not exactly your learned
gentleman but still don't try to call me names. I've smashed faces
because they gave me a bad look and that b%tch with the white hair
who called herself Ivy and acted like lady-snow surely had a guardian
angel over her, or she'd make sushi for sharks! She actually had the
nerve to call me names... who, her? She who had more of an @$$e than
a face?
No, pardon me, it was impossible to see the face when she was
wearing leather stripes that merely made "throw down and screw at
instant" just a tiny bit trickier. All you could see was stomach,
legs and @$$e and even if she had her face to you, there wasn't much
to see behind a silvery-blue tuft hiding one eye, the longest of her
very short hair... So she was a nice set but who did she think she
was? I didn't even make a pass on her, she thought I did, make it she
_hoped_ I did, what exactly made her so certain I would be drooling
over her? If only she could see some of the women I went with, she'd
be rubbing her eyes and smudge the powder and the black line she wore
to a muddy blot, befitting her face...
I'm telling you she was a whore and a cheap one too. Don't tell
me to respect a lady because there is no lady in her case. Seriously
now, you must meet her to know. She'll give you that ice cold "bow at
your queen or I'll smash you under my heel you lecher" look and
you'll know. You'll want to grab her hair, smash her head upon your
knee and give her what she deserves.
No, upon my word, I wouldn't go down with her. I'm not that
desperate yet.
Have any idea what it is like to be on the sea? I'll tell you.
You don't have pretensions. Woman or man, if she's against you, you
just beat the hell out of them. Or they'll do. Survival is deeply
rooted within you... you don't get an option to it. You don't respect
anyone unless they gain your respect and for me, that's a hard thing
to do. So far very few have gained my respect, or rather something
very close to it. Taki was one of them, a female ninja who wanted to
cross to the other side... she as well. There must be something
really important on the other side. Maybe I should check out
myself...
Funny... so far, most of the people who went to the other side
were fighters...
Wait, now that I think about it, there come rumors from the
other side as well about something going on... there is no smoke
without a fire and then...
There is the Edge Master as well.
Damn, I had seen him the very night I returned from leaving
Kilik, when I embarked in the port. He was there, as if waiting for
me and he was the person I saw as I stepped down on the harbour...
I bloated with rage and still he had his damned-so-calm
imposing air and his voice sounded loud, he, argh, he submitted me to
my unclaimed fear... Damn! And he confessed that he was Kilik's
mentor, he told me so when I asked why the hell did he care whether I
had crossed a young boy named Kilik over the other side...
Don't you wish I had pestered him about my nunchaku?
Okay, I admit it makes no sense as to why Kilik would have
taken it... maybe to make me weaker, I'm a lot better with two
nunchakus...
They were my babies! I loved them and together we had a good
time! How dared anyone part me from them?
Damn, one nunchaku doesn't feel right any more!
No matter. Like I said, many weird fighters have gone over the
other side and among them, some who didn't look like fighters at
all...
...you think that maybe one of my men took the nunchakus to
disguise himself as a fighter and therefore gain access over there
and find out what's going on?
Naah, I think not...
...or maybe, well, fighters, nunchakus... maybe someone stroke
a deal with another fighter over there and traded my nunchaku to
them?
I swear, if only I can get the guy who did this to me!...
Yeah, well, like I said, some of the travellers didn't look at
all like fighters. For one there was this young girl who came with
her boyfriend or husband, the Korean couple... I don't remember the
man's name but you could tell they were Korean, it's not just the
looks but Koreans too have those three worded, sharp sounding names,
bam, bam, bam, this or that. Well the girl had a beautiful name,
Mina, matching her face, she was beautiful, she had a beaming smile
and really beautiful hair, her name even matched mine... but noooo no
no no, thanks no thanks, she wasn't for me! She was the kind of girl
you touch and then her father, brother and possibly every other male
of her family grabs your throat and tell you to marry her or else!
No, I had my share of that, thank you very much and I know those
girls at sight. They come from such a protective background it just
beams in a pure security on their face. Besides, her escort who might
have been worse than fiancee, like her brother, didn't seem like the
guy you'd like to go up against for a small reason, such as a girl.
Anyway, I had managed to exchange a few words with them, Mina
mainly who was really sweet and talkative whereas her partner who
turned out to be her fiancee was brooding all the time. I could have
assumed he was a fighter, his bearing said so, but as for the girl, I
hardly noticed her worked out hands with the distraction of her
beauty and had it not been for the zanbatoh she was carrying with
her... I thought she was holding it for her boyfriend but what
chivalrous boyfriend would allow such a delicate girl as she looked
to carry his weapons instead of sporting them by her side, then I
also noticed how her boyfriend had a weapon of his own, therefore I
realised what I was dealing with... A fighting couple then...
amazing. Heh... I sure pity this guy. I mean, being married to a
woman who can kick your ass?
This is not my business to complain of course, I'm sure they
know better to marry... unless the poor fellow 'touched' the girl and
has no marriage-escaping option...
Makes you feel like a laugh, doesn't it?
Actually you are the only one of my latest customers, if they
may be called so, well those who travel on my ship to go across that
actually shares a moment to talk with me... Even though you don't say
a lot, just about as much as Voldo, or whatever that freak was called
anyway, but he had a weird mask over his face, well, what could be
called a mask, actually stripes of iron restraining as it seemed his
mouth and his eyes; did he see at all? It couldn't help much as a
helmet, well not against skilled fighters, finding target through the
gaps was dead easy and well, a weapon wouldn't hurt much hitting upon
it, would it? Anyway, I think he was deaf or something so I gave up
talking to him after a while... You think I talk too much? I can't
tell by your expression, you seem to be listening to me... It means a
lot that you listen, actually very few people listen nowadays and the
sea... ah, you know, it's a lonely place.
But you should talk some more. Surely you too have things to
share.
Anyway, like I said, you are a pleasant change... Most of my
latest travellers have been morose and I'm tired of them. Even Kilik
was morose to some extend, well, he never cracked a smile, unlike
me... Reason enough they call me pimp, I'm a lady killer... Yeh,
really, you don't believe? Boy, I bet I've got children all over the
world out there I'll never meet... and I've only just started... but
enough about me. I was telling you about my customers, where was I?
Oh yeah, about some other morose guys I've met. I think Hwang took
the cake, oh yeah, Hwang was the name of the guy who was with the
fighting girl I told you before, remember? Mina, the little beauty
with the zanbatoh... Well, almost, as his solemnity was not at all
natural, you kind of thought he was repressed under the bold
personality of his fiancee, quite possible... do you have any idea
how far a man can go for the woman he loves?
Women... ah, what would the world be without them? And they
have to learn to fight to frighten us and declare us as completely
useless...
But you got to love them, don't you?
Anyway, Hwang might have just been dull or bleary in character
and therefore had few to say... but Mitsurugi, that was a natural
morose. You could _tell_ there was something heavy upon him, what can
I say, he looked like he had messed around with his master's wife or
something... hah, couldn't he have taken the daughter instead? I'm
telling you, I'd take the mother as well, whatever, you just wouldn't
argue with him. He was a swordsman this Mitsurugi and spend all of
the time leaning on the reef and gazing at the sea... well, over
there, you get my drift? Over there, to where everyone is going... I
wonder what it was that he was seeing, only that I never got the
chance to ask him. The only time I talked with him, we almost got
into a fight. No, I'm not challenging fights all over the place,
don't you start now! It was that Ivy b%tch, it was her fault!
Hell, she started it and called me names, she claimed my men
had tried to snatch her, who wouldn't with that thing you were
wearing, lady? I mean, picture this. A woman naked apart from a set
of polished black leather stripes barely covering her front and over
her breasts, leaving her stomach and behind to open view, closing
tightly around her neck and she had this so very smooth pale skin,
she was all legs, a really tall slim woman who eyed all with one icy
cold blue eye, she was like a snow queen and alike cold and cruel...
Well, as she said my men tried to snatch her and she had crippled a
few hands, I wasn't particularly moody and told her that she got what
she deserved and she called me a slime and stuff like I was ogling at
her and desired to have her... yeh, in your dreams, b%tch! I told her
to fuck off, that's only a bit of it and then she drew a weapon of
some sort, it appeared to be a sword but it was constructed from
tiled parts tied on the inside with a chain making it a whip on the
side... really, she walked around like a cheap whore and expected not
to be picked up?
I was about to draw my nunchakus, well, one of them by that
time, shouting verbal abuse to her and her mother, father, god and
whatever else that came to mind, seeing the ironic smile on her face
when... do you believe in the power of the spirit? They say there is
this kind of thing and it is so strong that when one looks at you,
you feel like he pokes into your body... for real, you know? Well,
that's what I felt and although there was a crowd all around me and
her as well, I felt of all that crowd the eyes of Mitsurugi looking
at me.
I don't know why he stared at me, he didn't look particularly
interested in getting up to protect a 'lady' I think he didn't like
her much either, maybe he was just curious but his stare had such
intensity it pulled me out from the contrast I was at...
I looked at him and our eyes locked. I'm telling you, it was
plainly annoying as I felt submitted by his look... as if he was
beating me down without force and yet as effectively...
I walked with the nunchaku prepared at hand right into him with
apparent intentions. The air smelled like a fight.
"You have some kind of a problem?" I said clearly approaching
him.
He was sitting with his back to the most of the ship so he
would have his precious view of the sea ahead but he was turned to me
and the riot. I came as close as right before him and yet he didn't
move a bit, he only kept his face at me and I still remember his
gaze... He looked up at me with a calm eye and yet it read of
determination to draw his sword at a blink.
"You like picking up fights, that's up to you but I advise you
not to start on me," he said in a tone unwavering but damn convincing
I'm telling you.
Surprisingly, there was no fight that night. I stood there
looking at him and read that whereas he was ready to fight if it was
necessary, he preferred to avoid at the moment. Somehow... at that
moment I shared it and nodded a couple of times and then backed away,
slowly, ever looking at him.
I don't know what it was in his mind so hefty that he was so
calm at a sea-man's challenge, we are known to be unrelenting and so
hot-blooded you know that now, don't you? Well, he acted as if I was
another swordsman with codes like him, nah, I don't have codes of
honour, like I said, I don't even have a god, am I likely to have
honour? No. But I retreated without a fight. And that was the event.
That's why I'm telling you Ivy was mighty lucky, he had just
spared her life. As I walked past her, I didn't even gift her with a
look, even though I knew she had that assertive look in her face
behind her hair... I swear though, if she had said as much as a word,
I'd throw her over the sea!
...sometimes, I regret I didn't.
We're almost there, is my story tiring you so much?
Oh well. Now you know what I have to face on every traveller I
transport. And all of them, not a word! Why doesn't anyone ever talk
to me? People from all over the world come on my boat and they tell
me nothing! And I am stuck on this route for the season, no, I'm not
going further open now, haven't you heard of the shipwrecks happening
lately? I'm not crazy yet and I love my boat. I want to stick to it
for as long as I can.
You hear that girl?
Stay with papa. Don't go. Okay?
Aah, sentimental... Cannot be helped...
Happens when you spend all your time on a place...
It's not like the land. The land is static. Whereas, the
boat... it moves. It floats. It struggles the sea with you. Whenever
you tie on a harbour you always know that you as a team have won over
one more fight over the sea... but you know that... sooner or later,
one of you or both will go down... one way or the other...
Happens with most everything, doesn't it?
Weeell, anyway... Like I was saying, you get to meet a lot of
weird people... You know who was the weirdest so far? Siegfried.
There was something about him, I don't know but... if Mitsurugi
looked sorry he looked like... very weird I'm telling you, he seemed
as if he was holding it before he would break down and cry...
...in fact, I would have sworn... he had come as close to doing
so once, when facing a huge disaster... but then he hadn't let it
go... and you know... in such cases... if you don't let go, it stays
forever on you and you know what I'm saying? Forever. It'll never let
go of you, just like you didn't release it back then and it will
continue tormenting you to the end...
But he was a nice boy, other than that. He too wanted to go to
the other side, didn't tell me why or what he was looking for... but
hey, I didn't want to bother him, I'm not the one to pry into others,
I don't want to come anywhere close to trouble, I've done fine so
far, I don't want to change it. Oh, forget, Siegfried was weird but
he was okay, he was a kind boy... he never talked too much and when
he did, he spoke silently, like a very shy kid... Weird isn't it? He
had a full grown up voice and he talked more silently than a shy
child... Pity him... Oh yeah, and he was holding this impossibly huge
sword, two edged one... Really wonder, why does everyone believe the
sword to be such a good weapon? To be honest, I couldn't use a sword
if I wanted to. I don't think I'd get used to holding a so rigid
weapon... I like the whipping motion of the nunchaku... then maybe a
sword like Ivy's turning to a whip, damn, why did you remind me of
that b%tch?
I swear, if I ever see her again, I'll smash her face! Oh if
only I see her again!...
Nevertheless... It kinda makes you wonder what's so special
about over there... Say, there's the coast, see? Look at it... you
wouldn't say it's any different than other lands you've seen, would
you? And yet you have all so many strange people wanting to go over
there and all of them... fighters...
Now that I think about it, all of them had also been morose...
think it's a coincidence?
No... they are not fooling me... I know there's something going
on there and they're not telling me... but I don't need them to tell
me anyway...
You know what? I think I know what to do. I'll go there myself
and find out. Yeah... why not? Instead of going back and forth and
all over the sea, I'll go there for sometime and see what draws those
people over there... it must be something, or I don't know why they
all rush to it... Maybe it'll keep me on land instead but then,
that's why I'm telling you, the sea leads your fortune. It placed me
right there, where I had to transport all of them and find out about
it... and looks like it's gonna be a bad weather tomorrow... I think
the big girl is saying that I should not embark for a trip to return
but rather... tie down and maybe stay over here for a while... what
do you think? Isn't it apparent?
Must leave you now, you cannot trust those morons to tie up a
ship on their own, you have to do it all by yourself... See you later
then. You'll stay around for a few days, won't you?
...why do I think that somehow you're after whatever there is
out over there?
Nooo, you don't fool me... I know you are... You won't tell me
then, will you? No matter, we'll find out together. Great, we'll get
to talk a little more, I really like your company...
Don't get lost on me, you hear? I'll see you later, on the
port. Then we can talk some more and maybe I'll get you to tell me
why so many people go over there... I'm itching now, I'm telling you!
It's gotta be something big, I mean, so many fighters...
I don't know... Do you think there's a chance I'll find a cool
pair of nunchakus?