Gyo-Jin Pride
Chapter Three:
Awakening
Arlong Park: Chuu watched Colonel Nezumi with a feeling of disgust. He had just gotten the information from Arlong that would lead him to the money Nami had been saving for eight years, money with which she hoped to buy the freedom of her village. For a small cut of that money, this human, no, this Nezumi is lower than a human, Chuu thought to himself, this creature is about to condemn hundreds of his own (alleged) species to slavery... for a fistful of money. Chuu had no great love for humanity, but if there was thing he hated, it was deception, lies and liars sickened him. Arlong was laughing, and Nezumi was making that squeaking noise of his, adding to his rodent-like bearing...He watched the rat-faced cretin leave Arlong Park to seize Nami's "stolen" money for the "government." He almost felt sorry for her... Almost.
Stone Island: Chuu awoke with a start to find himself in strange surroundings. He was lying in a bed, bandaged over much of his body. "Hey, Shark-Bait!" A familiar voice called out. "Ponyboy?" he turned to see the tall, gaunt figure of his boyhood friend Togorogiri standing nearby. "You look terrible!" the Tatsu said, smiling mirthlessly... he was joking to put Chuu at ease, so Chuu responded in kind. "I see you've gotten fat in your old age...chu." Chuu remarked. Togorogiri, like most Tatsu, was incredibly thin, over seven feet tall and less than one hundred and eighty pounds. It was an old joke, but they both laughed anyways.
"This must be Stone Island? Chu." Chuu stated, adding, as every proper Kisu did, the slight "chu" at the end of his sentence, tradition and manners and all that. "Yes, and just remember, you're three year older than I am!" The Seahorse Fish-Man smiled genuinely this time, he was twenty-three years old, Chuu was twenty-six. Before he'd met Arlong, Chuu and Togorogiri had swam in the same schools, making mischief , playing games, just being kids...that seemed like a long time ago now. Chuu had wanted the action and adventure of a pirate's life, Togorogiri wanted nothing of it, and refused to help Arlong with his skills honed from years of collecting and studying human navigational devices. Gyo-Jin culture prevented Arlong from forcing him to aid them, Gyo-Jin don't enslave one another...period.
An elderly human, presumably a doctor, moved to Chuu's side, checking his bandages carefully. "Who did this to you?" Togorogiri asked quietly "Who attacked you?" Chuu leaned back for a moment, trying to figure out how to tell his naive friend what had really happened. He opted for the direct approach. "No one attacked me. Chu." He said slowly, for the first time in years feeling guilt creep into his soul. "I was trying to kill him, he fought back, I lost." The humans say confession is good for the soul, he thought to himself, I wonder if it would work for us?
Togorogiri looked surprised, " Are you saying it isn't his fault, however "he" is?" It wasn't like Chuu to admit being wrong in his actions. "I swam all the way here, from the East Blue" Chuu replied "I had a lot of time to think. Chu. I think, maybe, after all I've done, I got what I deserved..."
"Nobody deserves to be set on fire!"
"All of this, Arlong's defeat, my defeat, maybe it means something. The Gyo-Jin Empire, the conquest of the humans, it wasn't meant to be...chu." His pale green eyes wore a tired look. "I'm leaving it, no, I left it, back on Kokoyashi island. I'm through. I'm quitting while I still have life left to try to start over."
"I can get you a job, with the salvage company, once you're better, and you can stay with me until you get enough for a place of your own."
"I think I'd like that."
Boulder Cove, Stone Island: Togorogiri climbed aboard his home, The Tatsu , an old yacht he'd salvaged from the reef around Boulder Cove and restored , turning it into home that could double as a boat when needed. Right now it was beached high on the black sands of the narrow, rocky beach. Skitter, his giant pet slater, scurried across the rocks searching for prey in the tide pools. "Skitter" was actually any one of a number of giant slaters living on or around the rocks, he called them all "Skitter", and fed them whenever they came aboard his ship. They were very useful, devouring algae, barnacles and anything else that tried to lay claim to his home. But right now his mind was on Chuu. He wanted to believe that Chuu had given up piracy for good, he knew the man was sincere, but that didn't mean he couldn't be drawn back in by old 'friends" and the promise of money and power the Jolly Roger offered anyone foolish enough to try his luck with the brutal, and often short, life of a pirate. Most pirates he had met in his life were unhappy, Bellamy the Hyena, famous throughout the Grand Line, had once lighted ashore with his crew for supplies and drink. The man's almost constant laughter had no joy in it, none at all, only bitterness...There had been others, Roshio, Whitebeard, Kitsune, every pirate he'd met, even Arlong himself, seemed to be hiding a deep sense of bitterness at the world, certain that they could never be free of the Jolly Roger, of the life of hunting and being hunted. He went below deck and began to straighten up one of the cargo holds he'd converted into a bedroom, hoping that Chuu would be strong enough to break free.
To be continued...
