Chapter 2, Tory

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a room I had never seen before. I didn't panic, as I had learned long ago, that panicking never helped. Well, actually, I did spaz out once in awhile, just a little nervous breakdown. Then again, I shouldn't look at this so positively. Eh, who's going to know? Then again, again, there are some people who know things nobody knew they knew. They might even know those people know they know they know he knows. Okay, that made absolutely no sense. Well, after all the scraps I had gotten into over my years, it was possible I may not be perfectly sane. Now I sounded old, like, forty or something. And I'm 18 years old!

I couldn't really move much. I felt a lot better than before I passed out, but I was still exhausted. How long had I been out? Slowly, I sat up, and my hand shot to my shoulder as excruciating pain shot through it. I fell back into a lying position, and the pain dimmed, so I brought my hand back away from my shoulder and to my side.

I looked around more thoroughly, though slowly, and found I was hooked up to several machines, including one that connected to a breathing mask over my nose and mouth. How the freaking heck did I not notice that? And who changed my clothes? Wow, at least these pirates patched me up and didn't kill me. Wait. I'M ON THE FREAKING SHIP OF THE FREAKING WHITEBEARD PIRATES! WHAT THE FREAKING HECK! I'M GOING TO FREAKING DIE LATER ANYWAY!

Oh, well, whatever, anything could happen, and I actually did have a pretty good chance of survival. WAIT, WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING? I AM GOING TO DIE! I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! Just then the door opened, and a nurse in a rather revealing uniform, too much for my tastes, followed by a very tall and very skinny doctor. He hit the top of the doorframe with his head, hunched over, and muttered a string of curses, though I could best him. Immediately I faked sleeping, something I had mastered quite well, considering the number of times I had fallen asleep when I was younger.

Their steps grew in volume as they neared my bed. Apparently the nurse really thought I was asleep, as she didn't tell me to call off the act or anything while she pulled up the sheets. I remember once when I tried that on my swordsmanship teacher, dang, he did quite the number on me. Spanked me so hard I couldn't sit for a week. Just for trying to trick him! Course, apparently the doctor didn't fall for it.

"HEY! I KNOW YOU'RE NOT ASLEEP, SO STOP FAKING IT!" he yelled. Immediately I sat up, my ears ringing and eyes wide.

"YOU SHOULDN'T YELL EVEN IF SOMEONE PRETENDING TO BE ASLEEP!" I yelled back just as loudly, so he almost backed off, but only almost. Next he karate-chopped me in the head so I nearly fainted and a thin stream of blood came spurting out of my head.

"Really, Kanto, don't be so rough!" the nurse said. She looked very young, with shiny black hair, pale blue eyes, and a perfect complexion. But I had long learned not to judge people by their looks. Last time I failed to remember that I nearly lost an arm and my virginity. The nurse proceeded to wrap a bandage around my head, which made my headache worse (how did I not notice my headache before?).

The doctor, on the other hand, seemed rather elderly, somewhere in his early thirties, which I considered ancient. This 'Kanto' had a shock of bright red hair, and skin so dark you probably wouldn't see him if he stood in front of a tree with his eyes close. His eyes would probably give him away; as they were such an intense shade of green I glanced away from their vivid color. Why did I glance away? Well because he was getting ALL UP IN MY FACE and looking at me SO CURIOUSLY THAT IT WAS UNCOMFORTABLE FOR MY TASTES!

"DO YOU MIND!" I shrieked at him. Kanto didn't even flinch, just mumbled something intelligible, and began a whispered conversation with the nurse. I didn't even need to guess what the topic was. Okay, he really was ticking me off. I'm going to kill him; I'll rip his throat out, and his heart for good measure, wow I'm thinking weirdly, but first rip his eyes out, these sheets are soft, see how he likes that, and why not cut off a limb or two, why is the sky blue, BRAIN OVERLOAD!

I think I screamed that last part, because as I clutched my head, Kanto and the nurse both looked at me worryingly. Yeah, I have got to stop screaming out loud without intending to, wow I think I'm really insane, well maybe not that much, wow everything's starting to get blurry. Then I passed out.

"WAKE UP, YOU LAZY EYESORE!" Kanto screamed in my face as he shook me back and forth. What did I do in return to being screamed into the face? Duh, my instincts kicked in and I kicked him in the gut. Which turned out to be a bad idea as his gut was as hard as a rock. At least he let go, since he made my shoulder hurt worse for a moment. On the other hand, my foot hurt like hell, and I clutched it, glaring daggers at the not-too-gentle-doctor.

"Since it seems you're well enough to move around, how about you introduce yourself to Pops and the others?" the nurse suggested sheepishly.

"I'm not going to be killed, burned at the stake, hanged. Or anything like that, will I?" I asked warily. You can never be too cautious on a pirate ship.

"Err, no…" she replied back with an eyebrow raised. Well, that was enough of a guarantee. I was about to get up, but apparently I was too slow for Kanto. He sighed impatiently and simply hoisted me over his shoulder.

"What the, LET ME GO, you darn, um, Mud face!" and continued to curse him with every swear word I knew, along with some weird jinxes I picked up that probably didn't work one bit. Okay that was pretty childish, but instead of feeling immature I was filled with fear. Why? Well, if you looked at Kanto' face then you'll know. Looks like I shouldn't have called him that.

"You brat!" he hissed with gritted teeth and slammed me full force onto the ground. Thus, I fainted for the second time that day. When I woke up again, I found myself in the same bed, same room, and same ship. Thank whatever higher power looking down upon me that I have not yet died by murder or blood loss.

"Rise and shine, boy, you've had enough rest. It's time to meet the crew," Kanto said, startling me as I was sure I had been alone. If I managed to get away with my life, I was going to have to watch out for this guy. But, I was going to have to watch my tongue, for now at least. The nurse wasn't here, so nobody could stop this insane doctor from killing me. Not that she was much help earlier, but any assurance of not sustaining injuries, I would gladly accept.

"Hurry up, will you boy?" Kanto nagged me halfway out the door. How did he move so fast? I sighed, and hauled myself up and straight towards my doom.