10. Dream
A/N: Thanks to those who fav/followed the story, and all the anonymous readers! ^^
Hi! You know, I've been considering giving you some little information about Koga (favorite color, food, type of island, that kind of stuff). Would you like me to put it or no?
-FourthWallBreaker: Yeah, haha! Koga doesn't have any alcohol tolerance, at all xD And don't you worry, Koga's having doubts, but he wants to accomplish his dream (and help Luffy reach his).
-Guest: That's actually a good idea, but I don't want the crew to know too much about Koga's past (they don't know exactly why Zoro wants to become the greatest swordsman, only that he had made a promise to a friend).
Disclaimer: I own nothing of One Piece but my OC Koga and other Ocs that will appear in the future.
"WOOHOO, an island!"
Luffy, Usopp, Zoro and Nami got out from the kitchen just as Koga jumped to the deck with his stuff under one arm and the empty plate on the other. He left the logbook on the boys' room and the plate on the kitchen before joining his companions on the bow of the ship, just as the navigator was explaining something to the other boys.
"... the Legendary Treasure island." She stated.
Koga observed the island ahead. It was covered with dark thick clouds, a thunder occasionally illuminating it with a resonating noise.
"Legendary Treasure island..." Usopp mused, before realization dawned on his face. "I've heard of it before!"
"Yes, it's famous among pirates." Nami nodded. "And it has a strange rumor about it."
"Rumor?" Luffy echoed in confusion.
A mischiveous look appeared on the female's face.
"Whoever goes close to that island, faces God's anger."
A thunder immediately cracked right after she said that sinister sentence, landing just next to Merry, waves rocking it back and forth. Usopp screamed as he dropped down and held onto the railing.
"Could the legends be true?! Is this God's anger?!"
"This sounds interesting!" Luffy jumped up and down the deck, excited beyond words.
Ignoring everyone else, Koga went past his captain, arms against the railing beside the sheep-head, and squinted his bicolored eyes at the thundering island. Not that he wanted to spoil everyone's –or rather Nami's– mood, but there was something definitely weird in that island... Weird, not dangerous. Should he tell the others about it?
Nah, let them find out themselves.
'Huh. Whatever.'
Following Luffy's orders, their course shifted towards the island, Nami's face drawing a huge satisfied smile. Usopp helped Zoro with the sails, tears running down his face in terror as the thunders and lightning cracked around them.
As they finally docked in the island, only a rather dense forest greeted them. Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Zoro and Koga hopped off Merry. Once his feet touched firm ground, the chronicler looked around to assess possible dangers; when his intuition remained silent –at least, for now– he paid attention to everyone else as Nami mentioned his name.
"So, let's find this legendary treasure!" Her eyes turned like Beli, making Usopp and Koga sweatdrop at this. Luffy, of course, was blissfully oblivious at what was going on as he looked at the forest in excitement, repeating the word 'Adventure' over and over again.
He's kinda creepy.
'You're even creepier, and I'm not complaining.'
"Let's go!" Nami pointed at the forest in a heroic pose. "Koga, find the treasure with your intuition!"
"... Find it yourself, I'm not a dog." He replied, with a deadpanned expression on his face. But he led the way through the forest nonetheless, following the barely visible path. He could feel Nami's eyes on the back, sending daggers on his direction dangerously.
'I can't exactly feel any treasure around here.' The chronicler thought, before looking over his shoulder at the navigator. 'Better not tell her. She's gonna kill me if she finds out about that.'
Usopp was jumping at every weird noise the forest was making, always hiding behind a bored-looking Zoro. Luffy was beaming in excitement, of course, and Nami, though weary about her surroundings, was mentally counting the money they'd find.
"This is a strange island." Usopp's shaky voice reached Koga's ears.
"Is it?" The swordsman commented, seemingly not caring having the coward sharpshooter at his back.
"Its said that there's unimaginable treasure somewhere on this island." Nami revealed with a huge smile on her face. "Many pirates came here. But before any of them could even find the treasure, they were scared away."
Someone's watching us.
Yeah, his intuition was beginning to tingle, dragging his attention away from the crew. But for some reason, he didn't exactly feel any danger coming from the person watching them, only wariness and caution. An understandable reaction, considering they were pirates searching a legendary treasure. But then again, why wasn't he –or she– attacking them?
"Don't scare me like that!" Usopp's startled shout at Nami brought him back to the present, and Koga then realized he had continued walking while the others had stopped.
"We're not alone." He declared as he went back, hands on his pockets.
"WHAT?!"
"But..." The chronicler looked around frowning. "I don't sense any danger. Whoever this person is, he doesn't want to kill us. He's... watching. For the moment."
Just then, Zoro yawned and decided to take a nap against a tree.
"What do you think you're doing, moron?!" Usopp yelled, legs shaking violently. "You're going to upset God!"
"I don't believe in God." He muttered, sleepy already. "And besides, Koga said he doesn't feel any danger. You should trust his intuition."
Koga felt something fluttering on his stomach, something pleasant, that made him cover a smirk and a slight blush under his scarf. It helped that he was ahead of the guys.
"Well, okay, but..." Usopp looked at the back of his bicolor-eyed companion.
"Don't worry!" Luffy grinned widely, swinging an arm over Koga's shoulders and making him stop. "Koga's the best preventing dangers!"
"Shut up, you idiot." The chronicler mumbled, punching him in the head. "And I want my personal space back."
Just then, a strange animal approached them both, making them blink. It had the body of a snake, but its head was of a rabbit's. It slithered towards Koga and Luffy, hissing dangerously, and both of them cocked their heads to the side.
"A rabbit?" Luffy wondered.
"More a snake, no?" Koga crouched on the floor, curious.
Usopp then yelled at the top of his lungs, making the three of them bolt and look around in fright.
"What?! Don't scare me like that!" Nami panicked.
"I– I just wanted to dance a little to lighten up the atmosphere!" He laughed shakily.
Koga decided not to tell him about the strange dog-chicken that was approaching him from behind and was beginning to lick his hand. He smirked at how freaked out both Usopp and Nami became (yeah, he had also perceived the strange hybrid of bear and bat coming near the navigator).
"This... This is..." Nami, on top of the sharpshooter's back, looked around to notice the multiple red eyes surrounding them.
But Koga never felt any sense of danger. Why, he wondered.
"Get out of here."
"Who's there?!" Luffy yelled, looking around searching the owner of that ghostly voice.
"Get out of here!" The voice demanded once more. "I am the Guardian God of this forest. Leave immediately if you want to save your lives."
"Guardian God?" The rubber teen asked.
"He's a liar." Koga muttered to his captain, hand approaching Sankaoken's hilt. "Get out or I'll make you."
A brief silence.
"You're challenging a God?"
"I'm challenging someone who proclaimed to be a God. And I can tell you're scared. If you really were a God, you shouldn't be scared of humans like us."
"He's right..." Nami realized, eyes hardening in suspicion.
"What a weird guy." Luffy commented.
"What did you say, straw hat boy?!"
More strange hybrid animals emerged from the bushes, surrounding them. Koga's grip on Sankaoken hardened, though he absolutely despised hurting an animal... No matter how weird-looking it might look.
"All the humans that came here for the treasure, this is their form after being transformed by me!"
Usopp yelled near Koga's ear –who flinched at how noisy he was– and knelt in a praying pose, comic tears rolling down his face. "So you really are a God!"
"Dude, you're hopeless. He's a human." The chronicler rubbed his ear.
'Next time, I'll stand far far from him.' He promised to himself. 'Or else, I'll be deaf.'
A big lion-pig jumped over Luffy and bit him on the face, stretching it. The voice, as well as the rest of the animals, freaked out at this, and the rubber idiot explained he had eaten a Devil Fruit.
'So did I, but I have absolutely no intention on saying it just yet.'
"Back when you were a pirate?!" Nami suddenly exclaimed, catching the invisible voice's small slip-up.
"That's... That's not it! I'm not reminiscing the past or anything! I don't want to hear about the past!"
Koga tried to locate the voice's owner with his intuition, but there were too many animals to exactly pinpoint it. Wooden spears began lunging towards them, making Usopp, Nami and Luffy dodge them while Zoro was still sleeping– and miraculously, remained unscathed as the spears didn't reach him.
Knowing the others would be just fine without him, the blond young man decided to trust his intuition once more and disappeared among the trees, knocking out the few animals that tried to stop him with the flat end of his rusty katana. He didn't believe those were exactly "God's judgement"; well, he didn't believe in God in the first place. But better not distracting himself with theology for now.
Crouching on the floor, hiding behind the thick bushes, he distinguished a dark form watching his companions– who were currently being assaulted by giant boulders. The dark figure was surprisingly small and had a weird form too, but he knew by his voice that it was undoubtedly human; he was cursing loudly at how Luffy and the others were evading his traps, that he was controlling from his hideout.
"Don't move!" The strange figure yelled in fright, seeing something and reaching out for a gun. "I'm telling you not to move!"
BANG!
"Hey. Bullets don't work on him." Nami revealed soon afterwards.
Koga breathed in relief as no one had been injured, and moved silently behind the small weird guy, who had dropped the gun in shock and was stuttering something about all of them being monsters.
"Oi, that's not nice." The chronicler commented, making the false God jump and spin around, discovering him. "Please don't shoot at my captain again."
Just then, up close, he noticed the strange appearance of the character before him. The first he noticed was the green afro hairstyle covering the stranger's head. Then a black beard, a chubby face and a big mouth. And then, he realized why the guy was so small; his body was stuck on a treasure chest, and it had adopted its form.
While Koga was observing the false God, Luffy and the others caught up with him and also looked at him.
"A bush?" The rubber teen cocked his head to the side.
"He's a man." Koga sweatdropped, looking at his captain.
"A bushman!"
"Idiot..." Nami and Usopp muttered, the chronicler silently agreeing with them.
"I'll– I'll forgive you this time!"
Bushman tried to get away, but Luffy held the chest; the man kept running without noticing it and stretching the captain's arm. Then, he lung forwards and slammed into him, sending both of them flying and stopping a few good meters away from the remaining Straw Hat pirates, who were cringing and wishing to choke the rubbery idiot. Deciding Zoro would be fine without them –even sleeping, he managed to have enough good luck to avoid sevearl wooden spears–, the three of them went after the duo.
After checking out both of them –or, more precisely, Bushman– were okay, they brought them to a small clearing, the strange animals surrounding them and licking the man's hand. Bushman, who revealed his name was Gaimon, told them he had used the animals to scare away the pirates that were after his precious treasure.
"Are you a boxed son?" Luffy asked, stupidly and also grinning.
"Yeah, since I was little because I was a precious little master... That's not possible!" Gaimon snapped at the rubbery idot. "I can't even get out of this box. I've been stuck in it for twenty years..."
"Twenty years?" Nami exclaimed.
"You've been living alone for twenty years?" Usopp asked then.
"I wouldn't say exactly alone."
Koga's voice made them look at him, to find him surrounded by some weird animals that were sniffing him and allowing him pet them. He seemed relaxed, smirking at a small lamb-rabbit that was brave enough to lick his outstreched hand and being rewarded with a few scratches behind its ear.
"I've never seen them so easily attracted to strangers." Gaimon commented, mouth agape at the display before him.
"Animals seem to like me." He shrugged. "In a way, they're even better than most humans."
"... You're right. I wasn't alone. But still, I passed twenty years of my life in this island, away from humans. Look at how my hair and beard have grown. Even my eyebrows joined together. It's been twenty years since I last spoke with people. Do you understand my position?"
Usopp and Nami looked at him with pity and sadness written all over their faces, but Luffy and Koga remained emotionless.
"Why? Idiot." Luffy stated his opinion rather bluntly.
"Who are you calling idiot?!" Gaimon snapped at him again, rather angrily.
Koga heard bushes moving and turned his head to see Zoro emerging from them, yawning and rubbing his green head.
"What? You're all over here?" He commented lazily as he sat down.
"Even with all that commotion you could still sleep?" Nami sweatdropped, looking at the swordsman as he looked at her in confusion.
"I think he would be sleeping even in a giant storm, Nami." Koga said from his spot surrounded by the animals.
Zoro rubbed his eyes and then noticed Gaimon. He stared at him for a long time.
"What's with that?!" He yelled, falling off the rock he had been sitting on.
"Notice sooner." The navigator scolded him.
"He's a man who lives in a box." Explained Luffy in his stupid way.
"Are you a boxed son?"
Koga rolled his eyes in mild amusement as Zoro asked the same thing as his captain, with Gaimon answering exactly the same thing. It was funny, seeing how those two were so close it seemed both of them were communicating telepathically. Not that he believed in that.
Luffy rose from his spot and grabbed Gaimon by his head.
"Zoro, Koga, lend me a hand!"
Both first mate and chronicler looked at each other; the green-haired teen shrugged, and both of them also went to help his captain getting Gaimon out of his treasure chest.
"Wait wait wait!" Gaimon was panicking. "Don't do it! Stop it!"
"It's true, you can't get out." Luffy commented as the three of them let go of the bushman, who sighed in relief. "Zoro, cut the box!"
"Are you crazy?! My body has fit this treasure box perfectly! If you break the box, my body will be done for!"
"What a chatter-box." Zoro commented, letting go of his katana's hilt.
"Anyway, just who are you guys? You're nothing like other pirates that came here."
"I'm Luffy. I'm the man that will become the Pirate King. I'm going to the Grand Line to get the legendary treasure, One Piece."
Koga smiled at his captain's confidence at stating his dream. And also smirked at Gaimon's sheer surprise, mouth agape, as he looked at the black-haired teen.
"One Piece? You're not planning on going to the Grand Line, are you?"
"We even have a map." Luffy showed him the map that they took from Buggy the Clown.
"Don't underestimate it!" Gaimon exclaimed, coming out from his shock and pointing at the map, as if he was pointing at the Grand Line itself. "It's a hell's coffin. I've seen pirates coming back from the Grand Line, they were spiritless like the undead. Whether something horrible has happened to them, whether they met a terrifying monster, not one of them was able to say anything!" Luffy and the others kept watching him intensely. "Furthermore, there are so many rumors about One Piece that no one knows the truth anymore. The Great Pirate Era has lasted for more than twenty years now. One Piece is no longer a legend, but a dream within a dream."
There was a little silence after his speech, and soon afterwards, both Luffy and him were head-to-head looking at the map of the Grand Line. Neither of them were able to read maps, and that realization made them laugh together.
"Is this how pirates talk amongst themselves?" Nami sighed in annoyance. "Anyway, when we get to the Grand Line, we'll just get as much as possible and leave as soon as possible."
"I'm sure we'll find One Piece. I have good luck." Luffy grinned widely.
"Where did you get such confidence?"
"I'll definitely find it and show it to you!"
"I give up." Nami threw her hands up in defeat, while Gaimon looked at the rubbery captain.
"He'll need all that confidence in the Grand Line." Koga grimly stated, his face serious as he crouched on the ground to pet the animals again. "It'll keep him strong."
"You resemble..." Gaimon began getting their attention. "Your face is exactly like mine, like a twin!"
"Where is the resemblance?!" The navigator snapped at him.
"I knew it! That one day, our dreams would come true! We were like that from the very beginning!"
"We?" Luffy caught the plural.
"In order to find treasure, losing your life didn't matter. That passion changed my life. It was twenty years ago, back when landed on this island with my comrades as a pirate."
Gaimon began telling them about him and his crew's arrival to that island, attracted like many others by the rumors of great treasures, but even with the help of two-hundred men they couldn't find anything. In a month, they only discovered an empty treasure box, and that fact discouraged them greatly. The captain, annoyed of finding the rumors to be untrue, ordered his crew to gather at the ship and leave, but one of the crewmembers –Gaimon, ever hopeful– continued searching on a top of a cliff, always thinking on finding the legendary treasure.
When he finally reached the cliff top, he found treasure chests lying right there. Beaming in happiness, he called for his crewmates, but no one heard him. His foot slipped and he fell down the cliff, with so much disfortune that he landed just on the empty treasure box, trapping his body. Even in his current state, Gaimon managed to get to the shore in time to see the sails of the ship far on the horizon, not realizing they had left a crewmember behind on that island. At first, he was shocked and hurt, but tried to cheer himself up by thinking he had the treasure all for himself; but then, he realized that, stuck in the box, he couldn't climb the cliff up to the treasure's hideout, nor get out of the box himself.
Alone, with strange animals as only companions, he then realized that he was going to be stuck forever... In a box, and on the island.
"Ever since then, that one glance at those treasure chests hasn't left my mind. So, whenever pirates came here, I use these guys to scare them away." He petted one of the hybrids with a smile. "Those are mine!"
"That's right. They're yours." Affirmed Luffy, that had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout all the narration. Nami raised her head as in determination.
"Gaimon-san, I understand. I'll help you get that treasure."
"Really?" Gaimon asked in disbelief, and the black-haired teen nodded in assurance.
"Could it be..." Usopp muttered.
"Aren't you a thief who robs to pirates?" Luffy asked the navigator, who snapped at him.
"That's rude! Even I get emotionally moved!"
Koga pursed his lips in a thin line, unsure of what to do or say. He was almost a hundred percent convinced that there was no trace of treasure on the island, but Gaimon had been guarding it for almost twenty years. It seemed unfair to him to reveal it so happily; it'd break the poor man's heart. He decided not to tell him –or anyone in the crew– anything, resolving on helping them finding the treasure.
With the animals' help, soon the crew and Gaimon were at the cliff. The box-man was almost crying in happiness and emotion, something that made Usopp, Zoro and Nami smile at him in understanding.
"All right! Gomu gomu no... Rocket!" Luffy's arms stretched as he grabbed the edge of the cliff and rocketed up, landing on top of the cliff. Usopp cheered for him as he disappeared behind the cliff.
"So? Did you find it?" Nami yelled, urging an answer from her captain.
A few moments of silence. Neither Luffy nor the treasure appeared, making the crew wonder what he was doing up there.
"Luffy!" Usopp and the navigator called for him once again. "What's going on?"
Koga glanced to Gaimon discreetly, seeing him lose his cheeriness upon realizing something was wrong. The chronicler gulped and then looked to the side, unable to see him face-to-face.
Finally, Luffy appeared holding a treasure box. Immediately, everyone cheered up at seeing him, but Koga remained looking at the ground.
"I got them! Five treasure boxes!" Luffy yelled.
"Got... them... I can finally get my treasure! Treasure!" Gaimon cheered, as well as the animals around him. "Can you hurry and get them down here?!"
"NO!"
Everyone but the blond young man eyed him in disbelief.
"What?!"
"I don't want to give them to you!" The rubbery idiot shouted with a grin.
'He knows already.' Koga sighed inwardly and crouched on the ground to pet one of the hybrids that approached him. 'Poor Gaimon...'
"What are you saying, Luffy?!" Nami yelled at him, looking as pissed off as Usopp. "Stop joking around!"
"Hand them over, all of them! They're not yours, they're Gaimon-san's!"
"Calm down, both of you." Koga decided to say something. Both the navigator and the sharpshooter looked at him in disbelief, while Zoro only narrowed his eyes. "He's doing what is correct."
"It's fine." Gaimon's voice was trembling for the tears he was trying to retain as he smiled up to Luffy. "You're really a good boy, Straw Hat."
"What are you saying?" Nami was beyond confusion right now.
"I thought about it, even though it's hard to even think about it. There's nothing inside, isn't that right?"
Luffy approached them and sat down, all five treasure chests behind him open to reveal they were empty.
"That's right, they're empty." The captain said.
"No way. The treasure you've guarded for twenty years... is nothing but empty boxes." Nami's voice was soaked in pity and sadness for the poor ex-pirate.
"It's something that often happens with treasures. Someone takes them, but people still keep searching for it. That's the trial of pirates. Wasting your life, risking it, only to get nothing in the end. There are many pirates like that."
"That's not entirely true." Koga said softly, still petting the hybrid lamb-rabbit without looking up. "Your life isn't wasted. Your adventures trying to find that treasure, everything you went through, the people you met, the things you saw, your greetings and goodbyes, the trials you've faced and won... Every one of those memories you hold should be as cherished and revered as a real treasure, as one of gold and silver." He looked up at Gaimon with a small smile. "I think you're only wasting your life when you throw away everything you've experienced to get that treasure. You've been stuck on a box for twenty years, guarding a treasure that didn't even exist in the first place. But... Not everything is bad, isn't it?"
"Koga..." Nami muttered, looking at the chronicler as he rose to his feet, the lamb-rabbit never leaving his side.
"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed. "Don't be sad, Bushman! You got lucky we came here in the 20th year. If no one came here in a nother thirty years, you could have ended up dead."
"That guy..." Usopp seemed moved by Koga's and Luffy's attempts to cheering up the man.
"You just got sidetracked. All that's left now is One Piece. Become a pirate with us once again!"
"Straw Hat... You're inviting me..." Gaimon looked surprised at the black-haired teen. "Up until now, no one wanted to even talk to me after seeing my condition. I don't know how long has it been since I've trusted anyone. Thank you."
Nami and Usopp got emotional –of course– as Zoro simply smiled at him, with Koga imitating him.
At sunset, after reloading their ship with fruit and meat enough for the five of them to last a few days, the Straw Hat pirate crew were already on board, watching Gaimon surrounded by the hybrid animals.
"Are you sure you want to stay on this island, Bushman?" Luffy tried once more to convince him to join his crew, but the box-man simply shook his head with a smile.
"Even though there is no treasure, there are other things on this island for me to protect." He stated, making Koga grin.
"Other things?" Nami and Usopp asked in unison.
"I've lived with these guys. For twenty years, we've been together through hard and happy times." Everyone smiled at the revelation. "Now that I know there is no treasure, I feel free for the first time in twenty years. I can finally live my life the way I want to. To be honest, I began enjoying the life in the box."
"I see. That's bad. Because Bushman is so interesting." Luffy said with his characteristic grin.
"The strange creatures are your true companions, right?" Zoro asked knowingly.
"Though Bushman is the strangest one."
"Hey!" Gaimon yelled at him, before grinning once more, letting that rude remark slip up.
"Maybe there's no gold and silver treasure." Koga remarked with a hidden smile on his scarf. "But there are other kind of treasures, you know?"
"Yeah, you're right." The box-man petted the sad lamb-rabbit that had taken a liking for the chronicler of the Straw Hat crew.
The ship set sail a few minutes later. Everyone bid their goodbyes to Gaimon.
"Straw Hat... Work hard for you and me. If it's you, I'm sure you can do it. Find that legendary treasure, One Piece! Then you can buy the world!" Gaimon exclaimed with teary eyes, waving at them.
xXxThat NightxXx
Koga was writing down their adventures in the crew's logbook, under the light of the big bright moon and the soft glimmering stars, back against the railing. Gaimon was a good guy, and he was sure he would fare well in that island. He wasn't alone, after all; those animals would take good care of him.
"Nice speech you gave back there."
Having perceived her presence long before she had even got out of her cabinet, the chronicler raised his head to see Nami hovering over him, trying to read what he had written.
"I was only quoting what my grandfather told me once." Koga shrugged, putting down his pen and closing the logbook, his task already done.
"Your grandfather?" She decided to sit down at his side, and he didn't mind. As long as she didn't get too close to him, that is.
"Yeah. He told me that every memory has to be preserved and treated as a treasure, because they make us who we are. Good and bad memories, everything is important. Everything makes us unique."
"Is that why you decided to be a chronicler?" The navigator inquired.
"In a way, yeah. He inspired me to begin writing. He taught me to seek for new experiences to tell and write down in my book."
The red-haired girl looked at him. It was the first time the chronicler was willing to tell something about himself.
"Your grandfather seems quite wise." She commented softly, earning a quiet nod. "What happened to him?"
"I dunno. He's still in my homeland, as far as I know."
"Your homeland?" He didn't answer that question. "How do you know he's still alive?"
"My intuition tells me so." He shrugged.
"Does your intuition ever fail? It's not normal to rely so much in some gut feeling."
That seemed to trigger something in Koga, who turned sharply his head at her, staring at her with his bicolored eyes shining dimly in the dark. Nami realized it and gulped, wide-eyed.
"The only moment I didn't hear what you call my 'gut feeling', someone dear to me died." He snapped almost angrily, raising to his feet and carrying his logbook to the crow's nest without even looking back.
Trying to calm down, Koga breathed heavily and gazed up at the stars, quietly glimmering. His grandfather once told him that those silent lights were the dead's souls, watching over the living, like guardian angels.
'Please, watch over me, Karen.'
A/N: And that's it! Have to say, I've been quite tempted to skip this chapter and move onto Baratie's Arc, but I simply ADORE poor Gaimon and his strange animals xD But I admit that this chapter is far from satisfying me. Personally, I don't like it.
Well, next chapter, we'll move to the Baratie's Arc, and Luffy and the others will meet Johnny and Yosaku! What a pair of morons xD See ya, love you lots, please feed the angry review monster, pretty please?