9. Join
A/N: Thanks to those who fav/followed the story, and all the anonymous readers! ^^
-FourthWallBreaker: Thanks! ^^ I absolutely HATE Kuro, so cold-hearted and cruel... He wished peace, so DON'T BE A PIRATE, DAMMIT! Haha, got carried away a bit, sorry xD Don't worry, I have already GREAT PLANS about Arlong's saga... Krieg, I'm afraid Koga's not going to face him, at least not in combat. I'll leave him to Luffy. And about Haki... I wasn't planning exactly on Observation Haki, since his intuitions work better– he doesn't need to feel his enemies' kill intent all the time. I was planning on giving him Busoshoku Haki (I think it was translated as Armored Haki) to let him fight against Logia Fruit users. And obviously, Haoshoku Haki is for Luffy xD.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of One Piece but my OC Koga and other Ocs that will appear in the future.
"Well, that is a good ship."
Koga's comment went unnoticed amidst Luffy's joyful cries and Nami's exclamations of surprise and glee. Zoro didn't comment anything, but simply nodded at what the chronicler had said with a smirk on his face.
The day after they took care of Kuro's crew, the Straw Hat pirates and Usopp were taken care of by Kaya's private doctor. Fortunately, their wounds were nothing serious, so the pirates were up and around in time to enjoy a great meal– that, of course, Luffy enjoyed more than anyone else. And, while they were eating, Kaya surprised them with a visit and the promise of a gift waiting for them at the beach.
And, turned out, the "gift" was a ship. A caravel, more precisely, old-styled according to Merry –who began boasting about it proudly, as if he was talking about his own child– but pretty decent, much more than the boats they had been travelling on. A large ship, with a head of a ram, and a staysail.
"It's called Going Merry." Said Merry, smiling at the seemingly pleased pirate crew.
"Can we really have it?" Luffy looked at an equally smiling Kaya.
"I insist." She answered in confirmation.
Merry began explaining the steering system, but Nami, with a sweatdrop, decided to attend to him personally rather than relying on their idiot captain.
"I had everything you would need for a voyage loaded onto the ship." Kaya said, and then looked at Koga and handed him something. "Nami-san told me you're the crew's chronicler, so it's only fair that a pirate crew has a nice logbook. This is for you."
Frowning slightly in confusion, the bicolor-eyed young man took the package from her hands and looked down to see a large book covered in dark leather, pretty thick; in fancy letters, the front had the title 'LOGBOOK'. He opened the book to find lots of blank pages, and smiling in content, he closed it and smirked at Kaya.
"Thanks." His muttering made her smile wider. "It's about time this crew had a proper logbook."
She giggled.
"Your welcome. May it serves you well."
"I'll keep it safe."
"Thanks for going through all this trouble!" Luffy smirked.
Suddenly, a familiar yelling brought their attention to the slope.
"STOP MEEEE!" Usopp was rolling down with a huge backpack on his... well, back.
"Usopp-san!" Exclaimed the blond girl, seemingly surprised of seeing her friend like that.
"What's he doing?" Luffy asked while he and Zoro walked up into Usopp's trajectory.
"I think we should stop him." The swordsman folded his arms nonchalantly. "He'll hit the ship."
BANG!
Said and done. Both of them lifted a foot and slammed it right at Usopp's face, effectively stopping him and protecting their brand new ship. Koga smirked at it.
"Thanks..." The long-nosed boy whimpered in pain.
"No problem."
The captain and the first-mate walked off to the ship –where Nami was already waiting on. Usopp began approaching Kaya and Koga, and noticing it, the chronicler decided to bid his goodbye.
"Well, I'm off then." He said, walking to the ship and waving at her without looking back.
No answer came at him, but he didn't expect one as he climbed the side rope and hopped onto the deck, looking around in mild curiosity, his new logbook under his arm. He located his bag on the other side of the deck, on the floor, and picking it up he rummaged its content to make sure everything was still there.
"Well, safe voyage you guys!" Usopp's voice made him stop searching and go to where Luffy and Zoro were, at the Going Merry's stern. His huge backpack rested on the sand at his side and a small tiny boat was on the sea waiting for him. "Hope to see you again somewhere!"
"Why?" Luffy put his head on the rail, staring at the long-nosed boy.
"Huh, why?" Usopp blinked in surprise. "Jeez, you're really slow. We're both going to be pirates now, so we might meet on the high seas one day."
Smirking and reading his captain's intention, Koga crossed his arms as he stood across from Zoro.
"What are you saying?" Sighed said swordsman, pointing at the deck with his finger. "Hurry up and get aboard."
Usopp's confusion was written all over his face.
"We're already nakama, right?" Said Luffy.
"Wha..." Usopp stuttered, before snapping out of his shock in glee as he ran towards the ship and jumping in the air yelling, "Captain... I'm the captain!"
"No way, I'm the captain!"
My, my, another moron on board.
If only he could remember how to laugh, or even chuckle, he'd have done it. Yeah, their crew of misfits was getting larger. And, with the Captain Moron, every other crewmate they'd find in the way would be as idiot as any of them.
As they sailed off of Usopp's island waving at Merry and Kaya, Koga suddenly thought about what Luffy said earlier. Nakama. Nice word. But still, did it apply to himself? Without noticing, his face darkened as he picked up his new logbook, staring at it blankly. He wanted to be nakama, not only a crewmember, like he had been in previous pirate crews. Luffy, in spite of his stupidities, was a pretty decent captain so far, and Zoro was almost like a brother in the sense they were pretty alike; Nami, though he felt something iffy about her, seemed a good girl, and Usopp, cowardice and lies apart, was the best shaprshooter he'd ever seen. With them, the chronicler was able to relax his unwavering guard, but...
Would they do the same for him if they ever discovered what he was hiding? The blood that was covering his hands and the darkness hidden in his soul?
Shaking his head in an attempt to put aside those gloomy thoughts, Koga gathered his stuff and put it on the boys' room, on a hammoc under Zoro's. Looking down at his filthy shirt, he frowned before taking out of his sack a plaid sleeveless black shirt and putting it on, deciding to throw the other one; the shirt had the message 'Guardian Angel' above two wings. Before stepping out of the cabin, he once again took his logbook and all his notes.
Once out, he discovered the crew on the deck, with Luffy handing out mugs of sake to all the members. He turned around in time to see his chronicler closing the door behind him.
"Oh, hey, Koga!" He shouted, using his stretching arm to pass him a mug. "You're just in time! Come here!"
'Uh, I seriously doubt this is a good idea...' Koga looked down at his mug and then at his captain, who had already gathered Nami, Zoro and Usopp around him. Trying to hide the panic in his face, the chronicler positioned himself between the navigator and Luffy.
"To our new ship, and our new nakama!" The captain exclaimed, raising his mug high.
"KANPAI!" They all shouted, except Koga, as they toasted.
Zoro's mug was down almost instantly, as well as Nami's, and while Luffy and Usopp weren't that used to sake, they enjoyed it too.
"Oi, Koga, why aren't you drinking?" Exclaimed his captain, pointing at him accusingly. True enough, Koga had toasted with them, but his drink was untouched.
'Crap! Crapcrapcrapcrap!'
To everyone's surprise, the blond young man's cheeks turned a deep crimson red as he stared at them with wide eyes.
"Huh?" He stuttered, trying to hide his sudden blush with his scarf. "No, well, I..."
"Oh, is Koga really babbling?" The swordsman smirked evilly as he looked at his companion, whose eyes were about to pop out from their sockets.
"Shut up!" His menacing hiss went unnoticed.
Putting aside his mug, Luffy jumped over him, but went face-first into the deck thanks to Koga's superb intuition. But Zoro, taking advantage of his captain's distraction, flashed behind the chronicler and put his arms tightly around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides and effectively trapping him.
"Oi, Zoro!" Koga turned his head to the green-haired boy with a dangerous glare. "Hands off!"
Nami and Usopp, on the distance, were laughing their ass off as Luffy's elastic limbs surrounded his legs too.
"You too?! Damn rubbery idiot!"
"Nami!" Zoro's yell made Koga flinch in annoyance. "The sake!"
"Right!"
The navigator, still laughing, took the sake and tried to pinch Koga's nose to open his mouth, but he tried to bite her hand off, so Usopp had to help in keeping his head still from behind Zoro. After much struggling, the ginger-haired girl managed to make Koga swallow a big gulp of sake. Bicolored eyes wide in what looked shock, he glanced at his companions...
... Before his eyes shut abruptly and his head dropped forwards.
For a moment, nothing happened, and the merry laughs gradually dropped until everyone was looking at the unmoving chronicler.
"Oi, is he okay?" Usopp asked, worry tinged in his voice.
"Dunno." Luffy replied.
A soft, familiar noise suddenly went out of the blond's mouth.
"HE'S ASLEEP?!" They all shouted incredulously.
"What the hell?" Zoro shook his head as he and Luffy put the sleeping Koga against the railing, his logbook and notes at his side. "He doesn't have alcohol tolerance at all."
"He scared me for a moment." Nami sighed in relief, but then a furious tick mark appeared on her head. "I'll beat him later."
xXxFLASHBACKxXx
"Hi!"
I turn around, and amidst the rain, I distinguish a figure approaching me. The boy's around my height, black hair and light blue eyes shining merrily. He's skinny, but not as skinny as I am, and has a friendly smile on his face. Once he's closer, I notice small freckles on his rounded nose, making him look a kid.
"I'm Yuuto!" The boy exclaims as he extends his hand like a grown-up, a huge goofy smile on his face the whole time. "Ojii-san saved you two days ago, remember? You shouldn't be under this rain, you'll catch another fever."
I simply stare at him, unblinking.
"Oh, that's right! Ojii-san told me you don't know your name. He says you have ammisia, or something like that. I'm sorry."
"... It's amnesia." I finally answer, instantly attracting his attention. "Not ammisia. And I remember a few things, but not my name."
"Whatever. Hey, you're going to stay at home, right? You didn't meet my twin sister I think. Come with me, you have to meet her!"
He grabs my hand and, ignoring my protests, drags me to the Jii-san's hut. He's not home, which confuses me but not my new companion, who simply continues to drag me upstairs to a wooden door painted in green. He knocks on the door and, without waiting for an answer, opens it.
"Karen-chan, you awake?" He shouts merrily. Man, this dude sure is noisy.
A little girl's on bed, glaring outside through the window. She turns around jolting in surprise at Yuuto's sudden appearance. She's far skinny than either of us, pale as a sheet and with tired blue eyes, that has bangs under them.
"Nii-chan, you scared me! And you're soaking wet!" She exclaims, as her brother lets me go, approaches her and hugs her. She notices me standing awkwardly at the door. "Who's that?"
"He's our new big bro!" Yuuto points at me. "He's gonna live with us starting from today!"
"Huh? Oi, that's..."
"Our new bro...?" Karen mutters, looking at me with huge blue eyes, before grinning widely, catching me off-guard by how bright and happy her smile was. "I like your eyes, they're like the Bo tree's leaves when it's spring!"
I blink. She didn't freak out at my weird eyes? More than that, she complimented them?
"I'll call you Bo-nii!"
"YOU'RE NOT GONNA CALL ME WITH THAT WEIRD NICKNAME!" I shout with shark-teeth, scaring her for a moment.
"Oi, don't yell at her!" Yuuto's in front of his sister in a second, but suddenly he notices something behind me. "Oh, Ojii-san!"
I turn around. The old man from earlier's behind me. He's smiling, but I notice something's troubling him.
"Sorry, I can't keep you here, lad." He says, and all my body stiffens. Where do I go then? I have nowhere to be... "But don't worry, there's an orphanage not so far from here, and its principal agreed to take you."
"What?!" Yuuto exclaims, running to the old man. "But Ojii-san, you can't take him away!"
"Don't take Bo-nii from me!" Karen seems about to cry, and that makes my heart ache in a weird way.
"It's not a goodbye, kids. You'll see him everyday. Right?"
"Uh... Yeah, I suppose."
"So, had you think about a name for yourself?"
Oh, right. The name. But I didn't think about it. My mind's been blank almost all day.
"What about Koga?" Yuuto butts in excitedly. I frown at him, but the old man looks at his grandson smiling.
"I like that name, and you Karen?" She grins widely as she nods repeatedly.
And then he looks at me. I shrug.
"It's settled then, you're now Koga, from the Sarugaki family. Welcome to the family, Koga."
"Welcome!" Both Karen and Yuuto repeats.
"Uh... Thanks."
"And now, let's get you something dry for you before you catch another cold, Koga. You have to look good when the orphanage principal arrives."
Koga's eyes fluttered open and he groaned, rubbing his eyes.
'Never again...' He swore to himself. 'Next time I toast, it'll be with orange juice.'
BONK!
"OUCH!" A huge bump appeared on his head as the chronicler grabbed it. His poor head throbbing in pain, he glanced sideways at a shadowed figure. "What the hell, Nami? Why did you do that?"
BONK! CRASH! CLANK!
"Uhhhh..."
Koga's limp form let out a pained grunt after Nami's furious beatings, her head and fists still with tick marks.
"YOU FREAKING SCARED US, YOU MORON!" She shouted, ignoring Koga's flinch. "We thought you were dead or something! Don't do that ever again, you heard me?!"
"It was your fault for making me drink that sake!" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet but wobbling a bit, so he put a hand on the railing for support. "I would've explained it...!"
"It's done!" Luffy shouted behind the navigator, making them spin around in anger for interrupting their argument.
"WHAT'S DONE?!" They yelled in unison with ire marks on their foreheads.
"Oi, keep your voices down, you're noisy." Zoro protested, waking up from one of his naps and walking up to his captain.
"Our pirate flag! Look!"
Luffy held up a black cloth and showed his 'masterpiece'. A long silence settled between his subordinates as they glanced at his drawing, unsure of what to say.
"Please, tell me that's not what I think it is..." Koga mumbled, facepalming in frustration.
"After Usopp joined us we now have five people! So, we need our own mark!"
Seeing his captain's idiotic grin, the chronicler sighed.
"That's.. our mark?" Zoro pointed at it, mouth open a bit. Something that resembled a skull with what looked a straw hat...
"What do you think? Nice, isn't it?"
"You're asking my sincere opinion?" Koga grumbled. "It's horrible. I refuse to sail with that mark."
"Booo, you're not nice, Koga." Luffy pouted at him, but then grinned at the others, waiting for their thoughts.
"A pirate flag is supposed to be the symbol of terror and death..."
"I certainly do feel terror." Nami agreed, with a thoughtful expression on her face. "The terror of your talent."
Usopp smirked while waving his finger at the rubber-brained idiot, as if he were scolding a child.
"You should have discussed this with me first. How could you forget this genius painter?"
"Genius painter?" Luffy asked in confusion.
"I've had fifty years of experience at painting on the walls! When it comes to painting no one does it better than me!" He lied proudly, pointing at himself and making everyone sweatdrop –except the rubbery idiot, of course.
"Incredible, fifty years!"
"So, you're an old man." Zoro smirked.
"Maybe he already had five or six grandchildren." Nami also teased with a grin on her own face.
"That's even more incredible!" By then, the captain's eyes were sparkling with tiny stars.
"Hey..." Usopp mumbled.
A bit later, the long-nosed boy had finished a pirate flag... With a few modifications...
"THAT'S NOT OUR PIRATE MARK!" Luffy and Zoro shouted at him while punching the sides of his head.
After a few arguments, he finally agreed on keeping with the original idea. On the black flag, he painted a skull wearing Luffy's characteristic straw hat, and behind it the crossbones. It was certainly way better than the captain's attempt, and Koga smiled at the Straw Hat pirates' new jolly roger.
"Well, that's how it should be." Usopp said as he finished painting.
"That's really good." Nami commented with a smile.
"I like it!" Luffy also praised it.
"So this is going to be our mark from now on." Zoro commented, looking at the flag.
Koga smiled and nodded at Usopp, wordlessly thanking his hard job... and also for freeing them from Luffy's terrorific mark. Picking up his notes and logbook, he climbed up to the crow's nest as the rubber captain ordered the long-nosed boy to draw the mark also on the sails.
Settling himself on the wooden floor the best he could considering the little space he had, the chronicler put the large book on his crossed legs and opened it to the first page. He collected his notes and began writing them down on the notebook, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, ignoring Usopp's and Luffy's yellings down on the deck.
He was beginning to write down the arrival of Kuro's pirates at the long-nosed's island before he heard someone climbing up the rope ladder up to the crow's nest, and raised his head just in time to see Zoro popping his head.
"Hey." He greeted him, a plate of food on his hand, earning a nod in response. "We called for you, but I suppose you didn't hear us."
"I was busy." Koga looked down at his logbook and continued writing while the swordsman put the plate on the floor. "Thanks."
"No problem." The swordsman then noticed something. "Oi... Is that a paper airplane?"
His question made the blond glance at the side. With one of his notes, he had made a paper airplane, yes. It was a symbol, a pretty important one, that connected him to his past... and also to pretty painful memories. He shook his head as his eyes darkened a bit.
"Yeah, it is." The blond answered, before coming back to his task. "I'll bring back the plate when I finish this. Thanks again, Zoro."
"Uh, yeah. No problem."
Not knowing what else to say, the swordsman left him alone. Once he finished writing down everything –yes, including his passing-out because of the sake– Koga ate the food Zoro had brought him, leaving the meat for Luffy and finishing the vegetables, looking absentmindedly at the small airplane in his fingers.
The chronicler still remembered their song:
Little plane flying in the wind
Don't stop your voyage
On the cliff above the sea
A little kid's seeing you
And amidst the storm
Your victorious wings
Will bring you back
To me.
It was only a small part, but still, that song connected him with Yuuto, Karen and the kids from the orphanage. He had been his second-in-command, with Yuuto being his captain... But everything crumbled down. That day, everything disappeared, consumed by fire and drowned in blood. A cold, deadly claw gripped Koga's heart as he put a hand over his chest, his eyes firmly shut.
'I should've died that day instead of everyone else.' He grimly thought, his other hand unconsciously grasping Sankaoken's hilt. 'I don't have the right to live... Right, Karen?'
Silence was the only thing that answered him. Sighing deeply, Koga lifted his paper airplane and, while humming the song on his head, threw it at the wind's mercy, watching it disappear amidst the sea waves and the clouded sky. If anyone down at the deck noticed him doing that, he didn't commented it.
Once the little paper airplane vanished from his view, Koga looked at the horizon, arms resting on the rail... and saw something.
"Land ho!" He shouted, instantly calling everyone's attention.
A/N: And that's it for today! Pretty short, I know, but Gaimon's adventures will cover one of my chaps, that will be number 10! Let's keep going like this, shall we? ^^ Well, feed the evil hungry review monster! Pretty please?
