Next chap...enjoy
Day 7
Why do I even use "Day" to mark my entries? I don't even write in this damn journal on a daily basis. Maybe I should start using "Entry" instead.
Dorry and Broggy saw us off with a hearty goodbye. We left them some rum as a parting gift and they wanted to give us meat from two Sea Kings they killed. But we couldn't fit it all on our ship and we ended up delaying our departure for the day so that we could have a big barbecue with them. They're really nice guys; I hope I'll see them again someday.
Anyway, after sailing for a period of time I could no longer bother to measure. We got to a frozen wasteland of a country called Drum. After the warm, humid atmosphere at Little Garden, the icy, arid environment of Drum was a little bit of a shock.
Something unusual happened here. When we docked our ship, we did so away from the towns so that we could avoid drawing attention to ourselves. But I guess someone on watch must have spotted us anyway. That's nothing unusual. As always, when spotted, we greeted by a group of the soldiers, still nothing unusual. What was unusual was that the King of Drum was with his soldiers.
He asked us if our intentions were peaceful or hostile. He said if peaceful, we were welcome to trade with the people as long as we didn't cause any trouble. If hostile, he assured us that there was nothing to loot in his kingdom.
I guess it is kind of nice to be able to negotiate with local authority for a change instead of the usual guns-blazing-cannons-blowing-kicking-ass scenario. Its only now, as I write this I realised why the King allowed trade with non-hostile pirates despite the World Government's strict anti-piracy stance. Drum doesn't have much to begin with, so the people have to make a living somehow.
Even if it means dealing with people like us.
Of course Captain Jones told the King that we were only here to stock up our supplies and move on and that we won't cause trouble as long as we are left alone.
So a few of us headed in to town to buy supplies.
Even with some fur coats on, this damn country still manages to make my moustache droop. It's just too damn cold. Same goes for the people here, though I can't really blame them. Who'd want to be chummy with a pirate?
After I helped Cook bring the supplies back, Goji asked me to follow him along to the bar. He told me that he wanted to see someone he hadn't seen in a long time.
The thought of rum was enticing so I agreed. The reception we got at the bar was as cold as the weather, but the rum more than made up for it. Goji and I just drank quietly while we waited for whoever the old man was waiting for.
Soon enough, we heard a weird cackle at the bar's entrance.
The people in the bar had an odd reaction to the cackle. Where they were just eyeballing us with mistrust before, they seemed to grow nervous at this newcomer. The barkeeper even told the newcomer not to break anything and just leave the bar in peace.
I got a good look at her.
She was pretty tall for a woman, almost as tall as Goji who was still around two feet shorter than me. But she looked to be about as old as Goji. But while the old man carried himself with a slight stoop, this old woman stood straight, which is kinda freaky if you consider her age, which I found out painfully later on. But what's even creepier was that she was dressed up in clothing more suited for a pretty young girl (she even had her navel exposed for crying out loud), but she somehow pulls off that witch aura. Something about her just made my skin crawl.
"Is that how you brats greet a lady?" the old woman cackled in regards to the barkeeper's request.
"How could you even call yourself a lady at your age?" the barkeeper snapped.
"Eh? You want the secret to my youth?" the old woman asked as she propped herself beside Goji.
"…never mind. Forget I said anything," the barkeeper said in exasperation.
The old woman popped open a bottle that I'd just noticed she carried with her and gulped down its contents. I couldn't help but think 'eye of a newt' as I watched her drink. Suddenly, I thought that this might be the person Goji wanted to see.
I was right.
"Kureha," said Goji without looking up. "Nice to see you haven't changed at all."
The old woman cackled. "I see that you're still a sour-faced prune, Goji."
"After fighting in five wars, you'd hardly have any reason to smile," answered Goji, scowling.
"Oh? Seeing me again is not a good reason to smile?" cackled Kureha, raising an eyebrow.
I saw something that made my jaw drop.
Goji's scowl vanished, only to be replaced by a smile. Not the sick, sadistic smile he reserves for battle. It wasn't the cynical smile we're all used to. It was a genuinely warm smile.
"You're probably the only worth smiling about to me, Kureha," said Goji in an almost tender voice that made my jaw dropped even farther.
Apparently that got Kureha's attention.
"What's the matter, brat?" she asked, cackling. "Never seen the old prune smile before?"
I shook my head to clear it before retorting: "I'm not a brat, and you ain't that young, ma'am."
The old woman's eyebrow twitched at that.
"Well aren't you the little smart-mouth?" she cackled. "What's a big kid like you with a smiley white moustache walking around with an old soldier for?"
I bristled a little at the description.
"I could ask you the same thing," I answered. "What's an old woman like you prancing around in tight clothing for?
Before I knew it, the old woman's foot crashed into my jaw and sent me flying to the floor. Before I could even blink, her foot was right at my throat, keeping me pinned down.
"I'm only 80 you little brat," she snarled. "I can still show some skin if I want to. And you should show a little respect to your elders."
I was just too stunned to respond though I'm still not sure it was because she knocked me down or the fact that she thinks 80 is still young.
She removed her foot and let me stand back up.
"You got some spirit there, brat," she cackled, taking another gulp from her bottle. "You got a name?"
I told her.
"Edward Newgate, eh?" she said, raising an eyebrow and gave me a sharp look.
I don't know why, but something about her old but still sharp eyes gave me the feeling like I was being analysed or read or…something.
"I got a feeling you're going to be someone…who's going to be somebody," she said in an almost spooky voice. "If you live long enough that is."
At this, Goji, who had been watching with mild interest, snorted.
"This kid, being somebody?" he said sceptically. "He got taken down by an old lady and you think he's going to be somebody?"
I flushed with embarrassment at the insult, but Kureha just laughed and smacked the old man on the head.
"Don't be so cynical, you old prune," she cackled before frowning. "Did you just describe me as 'an old lady'?"
Goji gave her one of those rare warm smiles that made me want to puke.
"You'll always be young to me, Kureha," he said.
Kureha cackled and took Goji by the arm. "Why don't you come and prove to me that you mean that?"
Goji's smiled widened, to my horror.
"Gladly," he said.
My jaw dropped open yet again.
Kureha noticed and gave me an evil grin.
"What we're about to do is only for mature audiences, but you can come and watch if you want to."
I took my rum and ran back to the ship as fast as I could.
My mind is still racing about what she said. I mean, what she said before she said…I mean, when she said that she had the feeling I was going to be somebody.
I've heard about people who've lived a long live normally have some sort of intuition about the future of younger people.
I wonder if she's right?
And now I've got this nasty mental image of her and Goji…
Ugh. That's just scary.
...what'cha think??
