IGNITION
Chapter Nine
Concentration, he thought, his head throbbing painfully as he exerted his will, Concentration, it's all... about... Concentration. Don't lose it, can't lose it... Concentrate...
It was a very warm and balmy morning, they had finally passed the outer edges of a Magnetic Field and Kai could detect the ever so slight scent of sulphur and rotting vegetation on the wind. They were close to Little Garden now but he couldn't afford to pay attention to that, he had to concentrate.
Slowly, ever so delicately and carefully, in front of Carue and Usopp's wide awe filled eyes, the water in the mug in front of him threaded upwards into the air, twisting and braiding together until a single flower was in front of them, made of water and with a short puff of air... froze.
Head throbbing abominably, Kai smiled and lifted the ice-lily from the mug showing it fully to both Usopp and the Arabastian spot-billed duck, glancing over his shoulder he chuckled and flicked the flower away where it landed in Nami's drink. Much to Sanji's annoyance as Usopp and Carue applauded the dark haired male.
Up in the crow's nest, Zoro shook his head and smirked slightly as Sanji flailed and shouted at Kai who merely lounged on the deck and smirked at him while Vivi and Nami exclaimed over the ice-lily and Luffy took the opportunity to steal some of the treats the idiot Love Cook had made for the girls. A typical afternoon on the Going Merry and certainly more enjoyable than the days when he would wonder from town to town, island to island as a bounty hunter simply to get some food and improve his skills with a blade. The training had definitely been helping, he had already noticed an improvement in the speed and strength of his strikes, of course he had also noticed an increased ability to dodge and block those strikes in Kai so they were obviously both improving at a frightening rate – at least according to Nami.
Glancing up, he frowned at the dark blue-green-grey splotch on the horizon; digging out the telescope they tended to keep up there, he put it to his eye and adjusted the focus lazily.
A small circular island with two large white structures that looked a little like mountains filled his scope – a small thin ribbon of smoke rising into the air and dissipating in the wind.
"Island up ahead!" he called, if only because the classic 'land ho' was annoying and a bit gay.
Kai chuckled from his position perched on one of the Merry's railings, Little Garden, while possessing one of the cuter names a place in the Grand Line could, was anything but. Primordial jungles and monsters the size of ships, Sea Kings born on land and fly in the sky, Nami and Usopp were terrified and Luffy, as predicted, was excited to the point of glittering.
It was all rather amusing.
They were such kids, Kai decided watching as the more sensible members of the crew opted to stay on ship, and Luffy demanded a Bento Box to take with him as he explored the island.
"Will there be enough for us?" Kai asked nodding to Vivi who was stood beside him looking intrigued. Sanji, always eager to feed pretty girls, was more than happy to comply – even if he did tell Kai his would be smaller and made up of leftovers. The green eyed male merely shrugged and chuckled, he expected no less and to be honest, the leftovers Sanji made may as well have been served in a 4-star restaurant if he was perfectly honest. If he got hungry at any point well, Dory and Brogy were always up for a hog roast and he didn't doubt that Luffy would quite happily devour the majority of whatever dinosaur they hunted.
Two Bento-boxes in a bag strapped to his back, a drink for Carue around the avian's neck and a backpack of MEAT for Luffy and the group were saying their goodbyes, "Don't worry, I'll keep them out of trouble," Kai called over to the crew with a broad grin that somehow did very little to put them at ease. If anything, they had learned that Kai was just as adventurous and reckless as Luffy when he was excited, he was just smarter about it, which inevitably caused some... interesting moments – like that time when he managed to hogtie Luffy to the mast using his own arms.
Kai laughed as he jumped over a fallen tree-log, keeping pace with Luffy and Carue as they thundered across the ground.
"Tag, you're it," the green eyed Pirate suddenly announced, slapping Carue on the leg before racing off.
And thus the game began.
Scaling the neck of a Euhelopus(1) was perhaps not one of his brightest ideas, but it was one of the more amusing ones, Kai decided as he landed on Dory's elbow, the Giant having just beheaded the creature to save Luffy who hadn't been able to jump away quickly enough to avoid getting chomped.
The Giant was about as cheerful as the last time Kai saw him though they hadn't spoken to one another, he and his friend Brogy were hard at it fighting. Mihawk had brought him to Little Garden to watch one of their legendary bouts so he could understand the honour the Elbaf Giants held and just why they were respected around the world, even by him.
Lunch was a merry affair; both he and Luffy had traded their Bento to Dory for a joint of the Dinosaur meat – which Kai literally had to fight Luffy for a decent amount of. His head wasn't going to thank him for using his ability to weaken Devil Fruit users but his stomach was certainly thankful enough as he jealously guarded his chunk of meat from Luffy's rubber arms.
"Watch, Vivi," Kai told the young Princess from his spot perched atop a tree – he had retreated to save his meat from Luffy as the distance would give him ample time to manoeuvre away from the grasping rubber limbs. "Elbaf Warriors are the best in the world, to see a Duel is a rare treat. This isn't about death, it's about life," he explained green eyes watching the two giants clash, gripping the tree he was perched in tightly as the ground trembled with the force of their blows. "For a hundred years they have clashed like this, and they will continue to fight for another hundred, this fight... This is everything that they stand for, for life, for friendship, for peace and ultimately, for pride."
"But its murder!" the Princess shouted, appalled.
Kai shook his head, "No. It's pride, something very different and even more powerful," he explained tearing a chunk of meat from the lump in his hands, casually slapping Luffy's hand as the Pirate attempted to steal the joint away.
The Princess merely shook her head, obviously not understanding. Kai just shrugged, she would understand eventually.
Pride was just as dangerous as a sword in the wrong hands.
"They will be part of my Special Service set," chuckle, "Save for this one. Mr 0 has requested her brought to him alive, just in case."
Giggle, "Leverage?"
"I would assume so, despite knowing of his identity Mr 0 has decided that... this one required more delicate handling, hence my presence here. Recent information has informed us that if her family noticed any damage, our plans would be ruined in a most... messy and painful way."
Grumble, "We could have captured her ourselves."
"And the embarrassment of your defeat in Whiskey Peak was simply a ruse to lure them into a false sense of security, I assume?"
Sitting down on the grass, Kai sighed a soft puff of warm air as he placed a hand on Dory's jaw.
While he personally had begun to feel a little better, the thumping in his head wasn't quite so bad anymore now that he'd eaten something and had a drink. It happened everytime he used his power for something too finicky or large, if he smacked a Logia user with his power, a brief contact, nothing too much, just a short burst of undeniable physical force, he would feel nothing. If he tried something too big – like creating ice structures or making waves – his head would ache, then throb, then pound and eventually cripple him with pain. There had been only the one incident where he pushed himself too hard, did something... unpleasant with his power to a group of Pirates, he ended up collapsing and falling into a coma for two days. Mihawk had already been in the process of taking him to one of the Doctors he knew when Kai had woken, bleary eyed and not really remembering what had happened. But he'd remembered later after a nice long nap and something hot to eat.
He was, unfortunately, one of the only ones in the clearing who was feeling alright.
Dory was unconscious with internal injuries and some severe abdominal bruising from Luffy's Rubber-Rocket attack and the explosive ale he'd just drank, Vivi looked to be quite stressed, possibly on the verge of a panic attack by the pallor of her skin and Carue... Carue had fled, probably from fear.
"Who? Who could have done this?" Luffy raged, growling, huffing and puffing in frustration and anger.
Kai shook his head, "Anyone Luffy, Brogy and Dory were once very well known and very powerful Pirates in their time. Their Bounty is still active, at 100,000,000 Belli a head. 200,000,000 together. There are very few Pirates and even fewer Marines who wouldn't try for it if they thought they could succeed," he explained sadly hand still resting on Dory's rough skin, he felt cool to the touch. Most Giants did to be honest, their hearts beat at half the rate of a human's because of their massive size, their blood was cooler and their hearts larger, it made them superior combatants compared to most humans but it also made them somewhat more susceptible to disease and other complications from bad food and hygiene.
Vivi shook her head, "But who would be on this island?" she asked.
Kai's lips pursed as he turned away, he didn't want to answer that one, to him it was fairly obvious but then again he had been looking under the bed for the boogie monster his whole life. Reading eight meanings into every sentence and planning three escape routes from every ship, house and hotel he'd ever set foot in. Expecting the worst, seeing chains and links of things best left alone, best not thought of was what he did. Mihawk called him morbid, Kai just said he was a realist, Mihawk had nodded and told him yes he was a realist and thus morbid. Kai had tried to slip him hallucinogenic mushrooms again but he got caught and – rather humiliatingly – spanked by the older pirate, Kai shaved his lip ferret off for that and promptly legged it to the nearest dock and boarded a ship to some remote island. It took Mihawk a month to find him again and by that point Kai had pretty much every bandit and Yakuza on the island terrified at the mere mention of his name. The swordsman was torn between hilarity, fury and pride when he found out, he still gave his little brother a right kick up the bum when he caught up though. That had been less than dignified – but definitely not as bad as the spanking.
Vivi was still looking expectantly at him, he sighed, "Baroque Works," he reminded her flatly, watching as the blood drained from her face and her limbs seized up. Luffy was predictably infuriated, loudly vowing to track down Crocodile and beat him into a smear, unlikely, he was a Logia type, at the moment Kai was the only one capable of facing him and actually doing him some harm. Hence why he was practising with his ability more often lately, ignoring the vicious headaches it gave him, he needed to get over it, needed to get better and faster and stronger if he was to have a hope in hell of defeating Crocodile.
"B-but..." she stuttered weakly.
Kai shrugged a shoulder, "That isn't what matters right now. Dory is," he affirmed narrowing green eyes on the Princess who jerked, shamefaced at thinking of herself when someone was possibly dying in front of her.
"Oi, Kai, can you fix him?" Luffy asked kneeling beside the older male.
The twenty-year-old shook his head, "No. These are internal injuries, blunt force trauma, burns, distending of the bowls and stomach, not to mention shock, broken bones and god knows what that explosion did to the lining of his stomach, digestive acid is probably seeping out and attacking his other organs. Chances are... he will die of mass organ failure, if shock doesn't set in first," he explained grimly, watching as Vivi's face went positively white and Luffy went red with rage. "We need to keep him warm if we're going to have even a slight chance of keeping him alive. Giants have a lower body temperature than us naturally so we have to make things as hot as possible for him. Luffy go and gather some firewood, Vivi – "
The dark haired male froze as the volcano burst again, roaring into the sky again and again and again, erupting repeatedly and Kai twitched as he felt the muscles under his hand shift.
"Dory!" he shouted as the Giant heaved himself onto his hands and knees, "Dory, please! Hold still! At least let us treat your stomach injury before the Duel! Brogy would understand! He would want to fight you at your best! Winning now wouldn't be hon – "
The Giant wasn't listening, he batted Kai aside perhaps rougher than he would have anyone else but the fact remained that Kai went sailing past Luffy and Vivi, hitting the ground hard and bouncing into the forest with a yelp.
Crashing through several trees, he finally got his feet under him and skidded to a stop, feet digging into the ground leaving deep gouges in the earth. Clutching at his ribs, the Pirate sank to his knees and groaned, spitting blood to the side, he wasn't made of rubber and he hadn't had a chance to set up a Tekkai before he had been sent flying, the impact had prevented him from tensing his muscles enough to protect him. Now he was paying the price.
He was going to be sore for days.
"Swear to Leviathan, I'm going to spike their fucking food with Magic Mushrooms," he growled, vision wavering slightly as he pushed himself to his feet, gripping a near-by tree to steady himself before blinking blearily at the sight of a familiar face not too far ahead. "Oh, Zoro, I thought you stayed on the ship?" he asked staggering toward the swordsman before pausing and frowning.
Why wasn't he moving?
Or speaking?
The air was thick and heavy.
He couldn't move his feet – or his hands for that matter.
His whole body throbbed painfully.
Green eyes flickered open, or as best they could in the current circumstances, the white mist was somewhat problematic and... was that Brogy-san? And Zoro? What on earth?
"Mr 3, the pretty Lady's awake," a curiously flat little girl's voice announced as Kai attempted to shift himself into a sitting position only to find it quite impossible with his hands glued together behind his back and his legs equally stuck together with... it looked like candle wax.
"Ah! Namikaze-san, the so called Demon of the Sea has awakened," a nasally voice exclaimed, sadistic glee practically dripping from his tone.
A rough hand gripped at his hair and Kai found himself being hauled to his feet from the ground, vision swimming slightly before sharpening to the sight of his crewmates stood on what looked like a massive cake with a spinning pumpkin on fire above them. One of the stranger sights Kai had seen in his life in the Grand Line but far from the strangest. The man with his hair tied into a number three shape with the tip of it on fire was another oddity but after meeting some of the other odd people around the Grand Line he wasn't really all that odd in comparison.
The number-three guy was eyeing him up and down before smirking, "I did wonder why Mr 0 wanted to keep you alive so much over the Princess. Surely her family's cooperation in his current endeavours would be so much more useful, but you... O-hohohoh, a little digging, a bit of unearthing and what a gem. Ties to the Yonkou in the New World, allied with Shichibukai, a friend in almost every port and village on the Grand Line," he listed watching as Kai's face darkened and those green-green eyes narrowed, sharpening on his face, piercing him in a fashion that the famed Mihawk was known for. This was most certainly the Swordsman's rumoured younger sibling. Galdino(2) had always believed that Mihawk's rumoured younger sibling was male from the stories that swept along the Grand Line, but meeting this person face to face, it was blatantly obvious that this creature, beautiful but sharp and almost animalistic in her features, was clearly a woman. A woman who looked alarmingly akin to that of the Shichibukai Boa Hancock. Perhaps this was not Mihawk's younger sister, but in fact his daughter? His daughter with Boa Hancock, the Snake Princess? The ages would match up; the Pirate Princess vanished for a time between the ages of 12 to 16. "Not to mention your Gift," he refrained from cackling as the woman paled and growled at him.
"Gift?" Miss Valentine demanded frowning, an unusual expression on the usually jovial woman's face.
"Oh yes," Mr 3 declared, "A most unusual Gift. Not only the ability to reject Devil Fruit Powers and control the water around him, but one to tame and control Sea Kings."
"I cannot control them! And nor would I want to!" Kai snapped.
"Oi, ossan," Zoro grunted at the Giant while Kai snapped and snarled at the Baroque Works agents, "You can still move, right? I can move too," he admitted eyeing the Giant before thumbing a Katana from it's sheath, "Feel like killing these guys with me?" he asked gleefully, mouth curling into a feral grin as he unsheathed a second blade.
Startling everyone out of their conversations.
Kai couldn't help but long to go over there and crack Zoro over the head, cutting off his own feet? Good grief, why must every solution to a simple problem be so drastic for him? And what the hell? Brogy was going to join in!
"IM GUNNA KICK YOUR ASSES!"
And there went Luffy, completely missing them entirely as he flew to the otherside of the clearing.
Typical.
Why did he join this crew again?
Ah yes, he was terminally stupid, or insane, it was hard to tell these days.
This is what Kai got for trying to help.
"Why you – bitch! Kyandoru jaketsu!" Kai grunted as he found himself being flung backwards in a thick torrent of wax.
He hit the ground hard, his already battered body slumping weakly as the wax restraints forced his head down to the ground as it solidified over the back of his back and knees, pinning him in place flat on the ground, unable to move – or bite him again.
While everyone's attention was on Luffy, Kai had attempted to help his Captain in what little way he could by rocking onto his feet and then launching himself at Mr 3, sinking his teeth into the Candleman's ankle successfully distracting him but apparently not long enough for Luffy to get an attack in before Kai found himself being restrained face down.
"Someone is going to die for this," he growled under his breath, squirming as best he could with the Candle Lock's on his feet and hands and the cuffs on his neck and knees.
What was this? Some cheap B-rated harem-slave pornography play from Akasango Island?(3)
He could feel the heat from the flames from where he was but... no matter how much be squirmed, the Wax remained rock hard and his body just hurt too much to muster up any kind of sizeable power – he could tell that he was pretty badly bruised from his encounter with Dory.
He could hear the commotion but apart from spotting a fireball that looked remarkably like Zoro shoot past, he couldn't see anything through his hair or from the angle at which he had been restrained.
He twitched when he heard what was undoubtedly a sniffle coming from Brogy.
A sniffle that turned into a sob and then into full on bawling wails.
He twitched and squirmed that little bit more rapidly when he felt the grass begin to dampen.
"O-Oi! Guys! Little help here!" he called as the grass became sodden, "OI!" he shouted as the water level rose to the point were he had to turn his head into a rather painful angle to prevent it from getting up his nose or in his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, hold still," the familiar gruff tones of the person who was now officially his favourite swordsman in the whole world!
"OW! OW OW! Zoro! Ow my neck!" the smaller male yelped as a pair of calloused hands tried to lift him up, unmindful of the wax band at the back of his neck.
"Hmm, you're well and truly stuck, aren't you?" the green haired male mused slowly.
"Drowning as well," Kai added scornfully, squirming irritably from his position, "That wax stuff is tied up in my hair too, just cut it off and yank it out of the ground," he stated with a huff, head splashing down into the puddle of tears.
"You sure?" Zoro asked doubtfully, was that actually a note of concern in his voice? Nah, his ears were playing tricks on him – though if they really wanted to play a cool trick they could block out Brogy's wailing.
Kai blew a wet strand of hair from his face, "Yes, it'll grow back tomorrow anyway," he grunted, feeling the swordsman's hands gathering up the long mess of black strands and then gently sliding a blade – he was using the Kitetsu to cut his hair? - against the back of his neck and pulling up. Kai remained perfectly still as he felt the change in the weight of his head and the chill that invaded the back of his neck, a bare moment later he was holding his breath and pressing down against the earth as Zoro finally wrenched the Wax bar out of the earth. The twelve inch prongs bringing with them a hail of dirt and grass roots, not to mention the majority of Kai's hair, some of it still attached.
Kai lifted his head, gasping for air as Brogy's tears drenched his front.
"Thanks," he muttered sitting up as best he could with his hands, feet and knees still bound. The look on Zoro's face was... interesting to say the least. A mixture of alarmed, confused and... he couldn't name that one, he couldn't recognise it. "What?" he demanded, slightly self conscious he already felt entirely too top-light without his hair and now he was more aware than ever that he probably looked like someone's kid sister desperately hoping for puberty to kick in.
"Ah, nothing. Hold your arms out," the swordsman ordered, giving the Kitetsu a slight wave to get his meaning across.
Kai huffed but did as he was told – anything was better than being stuck in this undignified position.
The look on Sanji's face when he saw Kai's new haircut just made him all the more self conscious about the change in his appearance.
"Look, would you guys stop looking at me like that?" he growled, "It'll grow back by tomorrow, anyway."
Negatives aside, it looked as though Dory was a lot hardier than Kai had been expecting, the internal injuries from the exploding Ale seemed to have been minor, even that blow he took from Brogy had simply knocked him unconscious instead of killing him like everyone had assumed. Kai could only shake his head and swipe one of the rice crackers while Usopp and Luffy wrestled, his whole body was still very sore and the bruises were a lovely purplish green colour that splashed across his body in great big swaths from where he hit the ground and then slammed through trees. Thankfully the wax restraints hadn't left anything like a rope burn – he'd had more experience than he would ever admit to when it came to rope burn.
Sanji had even gotten a hold of an Eternal Pose to Arabasta.
"See for yourself! Mine is much bigger!" Zoro snarled.
"Just look at it! My Lizard wins!" the blond Cook sneered pointing down at the carcasses they were stood upon.
Kai sighed from where he was sitting gingerly on a barrel, the moment they got to open sea – and passed the Island Eater – he was going to grab a long hot bath and deal with those bruises. After he got Luffy and Sanji to help him pin Zoro down so he could stitch those horrid slices in his ankles up.
He pretty much tuned out the whole argument until he heard someone call his name, "Eh? Say again?" he asked, peering at the two owlishly.
"You can tell my Rhino is way bigger can't you!" Zoro exclaimed pointing down at the two bodies.
Kai sighed, "In terms of weight, yes Zoro, your Triceratops wins. In terms of meat that can be used, Sanji's Rex wins. In terms of difficulty to kill, you win and in terms of sheer danger Sanji wins," he listed tiredly, "You both win and you both lose. Now slice and dice the bitches and get on board already. You need your ankles sewn up and I want a bath afterwards," he added giving Zoro a familiar piercing glare – absently the swordsman wondered if Kai was related to Hawk Eyes before brushing the idea off as ridiculous.
The two men only hopped to when Nami roared at them to get a move on, again proving that behind every powerful man was a terrifying woman.
Catching Zoro to stitch his ankles up was a task in and of itself.
Thankfully though, Kai had a few very willing volunteers to help him pin the swordsman down.
Luffy thought it would be great fun and threw himself into the task, Sanji was up for anything that would humiliate Zoro – Kai could have sworn he overheard Vivi and Nami refer to the two as squabbling brothers amidst a flurry of giggles – and Usopp looked a little ill at the thought of the green haired male walking around on feet that he had attempted to cut off and only gotten half way through with.
So in all, Zoro found himself belly down on the deck with Sanji sat on his shoulders, Usopp and Luffy holding down each arm and Kai sat on the back of his legs stabbing him with needles while Vivi, Nami and Carue looked on in amusement as the green haired swordsman snarled through gritted teeth and tried to throw them all off.
"Oh stop being such a baby!" Kai snapped, "You can take cutting them open but you can't handle getting sewn back up?" he demanded disbelievingly before stabbing his big toe with the needle, smirking at the yelp the swordsman choked out, "Consider this Pain Tolerance training," he teased before sewing up the last inch of skin.
Zoro growled out a number of rather vile curse words that had Usopp turning pink while Sanji and Luffy started to laugh, Kai merely snorted as he bandaged him up.
"I most likely am a bastard if what little memories I have of my childhood suggest," he told the East Blue native, stabbing his toe with the needle again. "But you don't need to tell everyone about it now, do you?" he asked sweetly amidst the laughter of the other boys. "You're all done now anyway," he stated nudging Sanji with an elbow, "You can let him up now guys."
Still chortling, Luffy and Usopp released the swordsman as Sanji got to his feet, Kai a little slower due to how sore he was – which probably attributed to his capture.
It took all of a split second.
Kai squeaked as he found tanned arms promptly lifting him up and then throwing him overboard.
"DAMNIT RORONOA!"
SPLASH
Next time Kai had to play doctor to that bastard, he was employing the Mihawk Method – get him stoned and tie him down, when you're done, draw on his face in markers and take lots of pictures for future blackmail.
"Two thousand, six hundred and three. Two thousand, six hundred and four. Two thousand, six hundred and five. Two thousand, six hundred and six," Zoro grunted hefting the massive weights up and down, moving carefully on his bandaged ankles – after pulling himself back on board Kai had given him some very sharp words in regards to opening up the stitches again. Zoro didn't catch all of them, his mind kind of wondered off after the word 'spanking' was mentioned, he tuned in just in time to hear the threat of castration though and nodded swiftly.
"Here," he glanced up from his Obsessive Compulsive Training to see the small plate of snacks being held out by the object of his thoughts, "Sanji made food and you've been working out for a while. You need the energy," the dark haired male pointed out, still looking exceptionally strange and disturbingly young with his new choppy cut short hair, several longer strands falling haphazardly around his face and snaking down his neck.
Zoro grunted and nodded to the railings where the older male simply rolled his eyes and set them down before sitting down as well.
"If you won't rest you'll do yourself a mischief, Zoro. Too much training can be a negative, you know," he pointed out carefully.
"If I'd been able to cut through that Wax," Zoro panted as he hefted the ridiculously huge and heavy weights again, "I wouldn't have... held everyone back!" he grit out, "I'm weak... I must become stronger!" he grunted, sweat dripping from his hair as Kai watched and nibbled on one of the fancies Sanji had made, fighting not to roll his eyes, "Until I can slash through stuff like that Wax in any stance!"
Kai blew a strand of hair from his face, "Alright," he agreed softly enough, when a Swordsman got it into his or her head to get to that next level, nothing short of knocking them unconscious or hog tying them was going to stop them from training until they either tore every muscle and ground their bones to dust or reached that next level. "Just... Take a break when you reach that point alright? It's not fun when you train yourself to the point of damage, my brother nearly killed me with training and it took me over two months to recover."
Zoro glanced at him, "Your brother a swordsman?" he asked curiously, he'd been getting that feeling from what Kai let slip about the man, he must have been one hell of a swordsman if Kai's current skill level was anything to go by.
He nodded, "Yes, they both are. Niisama and Aniki," Aniki of course being Shanks, "Back when they were younger they had this rivalry that echoed throughout the Grand Line every time they clashed swords," he explained smiling fondly, "They don't fight so much these days, Aniki's more interested in getting shit-faced and having a good time while Niisama usually ends up either working or falling face first into some cleavage at a ratty brothel somewhere," he chuckled waving a hand.
Zoro snorted, "Know from experience, do you?" he grunted hefting the weights again.
Kai gave him a wry grin, "I know pretty much every prostitute by name this side of the Grand Line, at least, the decent ones you need to pay over six figures to get in bed with anyway," he admitted scratching at his hair.
"And you're a virgin?" Zoro asked sceptically.
The dark haired male snorted, "Those girls are actually the best information gatherers I've ever met. They had a lot more to teach me than techniques in the sack – though they did try to tell me about those too," he admitted with a fond snort, "Akitsuki-chan even totted out diagrams, I think Niisama tipped her 30,000,000 Belli just for that alone," he admitted laughing.
Zoro snorted as he worked the weights, he had to admit, Kai's brother certainly sounded like an interesting character, a lot like what he remembered of his father too(4).
"Everyone, come quick!" the pair looked up sharply at Vivi's yell, "There's trouble!"
"Why? What's wrong, Vivi?" Luffy demanded his voice muffled with food as Kai hopped off the railings and made his way to the main deck, Zoro setting his weights down and following close behind.
"Nami-san's come down with a high fever!" the aqua haired Princess exclaimed.
"NAMI-SAN HAS WHAT!"
(1) Euhelopus, a breed of long necked Dinosaur that matched the one Luffy was bouncing around on in the Manga –
(2) Galdino – Mr 3's real name, all the Baroque Works characters have real names. All the male Officer Agents are numbers while the women are named after holidays, each member is paired off in a way that compliments their abilities. Like Miss Goldenweek and Mr 3, they're an Art Duo. Not sure about what Miss Valentine and Mr 5 are about but meh.
(3) Akasango – Crimson Coral, the name of an island that Kai is acquainted with through Mihawk and his... escapades. Well known for having a seedy underbelly that pretty much puts Sabaody to shame, anything can be bought or found within her Black Markets. Original island. Might be explored in later chapters. ;D
(4) Zoro's father – Well he had to have come from somewhere. Obviously an OC, might be explored in later chapters.
Whew, this chapter – while being the shortest so far – actually took the longest to write. XDD Ironic huh? The date is... March 13th 2010 as I write this. Currently in bed with a busted foot – Kick boxing accident, split the skin between my toes half a cm deep and can't actually walk, watch me
Again, special thanks to my ever lovely beta Stalker of Stories – go and give her love!
Araceil
Foot is fine now 8)