Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
After this chapter the alternating points of view will not have a system/will kind of stop since the points of view converge in this chapter and the two plot points meet each other.
Also, you get some of Natsumi's back story this chapter and what this world's Fuyuki has been doing.
Natsumi lay on the grass sleeping peacefully. She usually had the calm or wild oceans to rock her to sleep but being in the grass was strangely peaceful as well.
She woke up with a deep scent in her nose, as if something was being roasted. She opened her eyes and saw Giroro across from her, roasting some sweet potatoes.
"Sweet potatoes?" she asked. They happened to be her favorite food, but she had never remembered telling Giroro about it. How had he known?
"They're my favorite food. I hope you don't mind," he told her.
"No. They're my favorite, too. I can't cook them worth a darn, though, and on the ship, it's dangerous to make fires. The boat could go up in flames," she explained.
Giroro handed her a potato. "Then treat yourself. We're not on the sea right now."
Natsumi gave a stiff nod before biting into the sweet yam. Her mouth watered from the flavor and she smiled.
Giroro grinned at how happy she looked... nothing like the fierce pirate he'd been told to fear.
"Sleep well?" he asked.
"Surprisingly, yes," she answered. "After breakfast... do you think you'll be ready to face Dororo?"
Giroro thought about it for a moment and nodded. They needed to be able to figure out if they were going after that Nishizawa heir - if there was a chance of her being alive, that was. She didn't deserve to be imprisoned against her will, and a rescue mission was honorable.
"All right." Natsumi took another bite of her potato. Soon they'd face him.
Dororo was worried as he watched the horizon. Koyuki had told him to not seek out his old friend, despite his desire to do so. He hadn't meant to offend Giroro or cause him to run off.
If only he could talk to him as easily as he did with Koyuki. But even lifetime friends weren't as important as soulmates like Koyuki.
Finally, Natsumi and Giroro approached.
"Have a good time in the forest?" Koyuki asked, glancing down at Giroro. "Is he okay?" she whispered.
"He's fine," Natsumi told her. "And I've made a decision about your request. I'll help you find the Nishizawa heiress, if she is alive and captured. It fits my needs, too. It's been on my list to track down those two other pirate lords and destroy them, to become the ruling Pirate Lord of the Sea." Being number 1 was a tough goal, but she suspected she wasn't the only one who wanted it.
"Good! I'm ready to go when you are!" Koyuki smiled.
"We both are. I'm going to right my wrongs of attempting to assassinate lady Momoka," said Dororo. "And if we get in a fight with her abductors then I will take her revenge."
Giroro frowned. There was tension between Dororo and him, despite being old friends, and so he didn't know if it would be best having him with him on the boat. But in a battle, Dororo was someone you always wanted on your side.
"You're not going to betray us and kill Natsumi, right?" Giroro hissed.
Dororo shook his head and vowed, "She is lady Koyuki's friend. I'd never harm her."
Natsumi nodded. "You'll both get passage on my ship, but I don't know if I can trust Dororo yet, so you'll have to work for your passage. Nothing comes for free."
Dororo understood. "I would love to work for you."
It wasn't long before Natsumi, her crew, Koyuki, and Dororo were all on board her ship, heading off for the open seas again.
Her crew all knew that they were going off to destroy one of the other Pirate Lords.
"The Pirate Lords... Are they tough?" Koyuki asked.
"Last time I fought one of them, he wasn't too tough," Natsumi answered. "Skilled in the strategy of battle, but I had more physical strength. He was clever, though - he managed to get away. His ship disappeared like magic."
Giroro frowned. "Magic?" That didn't sound right. Out of anyone to possess magic, pirates deserved it the least. Especially if this pirate was Natsumi's rival.
Koyuki frowned. She loved reading about spirits and magic but didn't have any of her own. If one of the Pirate Lords did, the playing field would be a lot less even.
"Magic can be remedied by honorable intentions. Fighting from the heart will beat any powers that the gods have given someone," Dororo honestly believed.
"The other Pirate Lord is new, so I don't know anything about them. And we've never crossed paths so I don't know how to find him," Natsumi explained. "Finding the one I know will be easier. He'll gravitate toward the ships that have the most money to rob them; he's like that. And then we can board his ship and attack." She laid out a map. "I already have a plan. These following ships typically carry the most riches. Their set courses stretch from..."
Giroro just looked in awe. Natsumi was really in her element.
"Now, we need someone to stay behind on my ship to defend it if he tries to attack mine." She looked among the faces in her group. "Any volunteers?"
Dororo spoke up. "You do not trust me yet. And although I'd like to right my wrongs, I will do so by guarding the ship dutifully if need be."
"Fine. Koyuki, you'll search the cabins for the Nishizawa when we board the ship," she ordered. "Giroro and I and the rest of the crew will attack."
Giroro nodded. He could get behind that plan. It would be nice to beat a Pirate Lord, like he wasn't giving into piracy just yet.
He wondered what this terrible guy was like.
The oceans were so big and vast that it took them a few days to sail to the location they expected the other Pirate Lord to be in. Hidden behind a large rock formation, they watched a gold-filled ship. Eventually a flicker of another ship appeared and members of the crew trapezed over to the boat.
It had appeared, and just like Natsumi had told them, it had previously been invisible.
"Charge!" Natsumi yelled. Her boat charged at the ship known as the Phantom, ramming into it. Cannons fired and the ship disappeared for a moment.
"No you don't! Not again! I won't get confused this time." Getting her sword ready, Natsumi hung on a rope and leaped over to what she could only put faith in herself was a ship.
Giroro's eyes widened as she fell. Suddenly, she landed on seemingly nothing. The ship revealed itself to her.
"Come on! It's real!" Natsumi beckoned her crew. Giroro nodded and swung over to the boat.
"I thought you said she was dead, Kululu," the white-haired captain growled, pulling out a dagger.
"Ku, guess she came back from the dead. Geez, she's such a thorn in our side," the Keronian by the captain's side, Kululu, muttered.
Giroro pulled out his guns.
"Where's Momoka?" Koyuki asked, pulling out her kunai knives.
A blue-haired boy by the captain's side looked confused as he looked at the three. "Wh-what are they doing here?"
"That over there, Fuyuki, is one of the three Pirate Lords - Natsumi," spoke the captain, Saburo. "Better hide while I deal with this. It's time to fight."
And Natsumi charged at him.
Giroro fought Saburo's crew valiantly. He shot many, but he kept his eyes trained on Natsumi. Natsumi fought against Saburo pretty closely, but they seemed evenly matched for the most part.
What Giroro assumed was a cabin boy hid behind a barrel, begging for Saburo to stop. Saburo didn't listen.
Giroro turned to his opponent. Was it Saburo's first mate? A Keronian like himself stood before him.
Kululu yawned. "Ku, ku, ku. Do we really have to fight? I suck at battles."
"Of course we do. I hate pirates, and being the first mate of a Pirate Lord is a crime!" Giroro hissed.
"I'm not his first mate. Just his surgeon. Ku, ku, ku. And if you hate pirates so much, why are you aiding one?" Kululu asked.
Giroro blushed. No way was he telling this guy he was Natsumi's consort.
"He's my chief consort!" Natsumi answered for him, listening into some of the conversation. Giroro turned a deeper shade of red.
"Ku, ku, ku, ku! That is gold," Kululu laughed. "I like you. You're pathetic. When Saburo beats y'all, I'll ask him to spare you so we can keep you as a prisoner."
Giroro pointed his gun at Kululu's face. "What makes you think you'll survive this encounter?"
Kululu pressed a button. Giroro froze. He couldn't move.
"Because I've booby trapped this ship with the latest technology. Ku. You're being shocked by several volts of electricity now; I doubt your nerves can move even if your willpower is extraordinary," he explained. "Really think a super genius like me would take any chances at losing?"
Giroro fell over, his legs burning. "Super genius?" Who was he facing? He closed his eyes, trying to remember the face in front of him. He had read some news articles about him, he recalled. "Kululu... the mad scientist surgeon. You create monsters!" he remembered. "But you became inexplicably popular because you were the only one in the nation who could repair the extreme damage caused by a tsunami."
"Ku. That's me! Can't believe you remembered, oh look, I'm blushing." Kululu pulled the dial a little lower. "Let me guess who you are... Oh, don't tell me you're that disgraced Keronian soldier I read about in the news! Such high hopes for you! Ku, ku, ku. Pity that you just didn't have the guts all the rest of us Keronians do."
"To be awful? Yes. I was not made to be pure evil like you. I suppose the world had high hopes for you, too, but then you left to become a pirate. I suppose we both disappointed society!" Giroro laughed.
Kululu frowned. His life as a surgeon on the inland was gone, but superficial people like his patients wasn't something he missed compared to Saburo. "Saburo's going to kill that Pirate Lord. And then we'll only have one until we're on the top."
"Natsumi will beat him. Just you wait!" Giroro insisted, still unable to move. But Kululu seemed just happy enough to mock him as he squirmed on the ground.
Saburo's dagger clashed with Natsumi's sword. Her hits had more power and force, but he was more agile, able to dodge attacks.
Fuyuki's screams and pleads weren't helping in the background, though.
"Nice to see you again, Natsumi," Saburo teased. "This time I won't flee. We're ending this once and for all."
"I agree. Too bad you couldn't accept that I'm the best pirate in the seas," said Natsumi.
"I think I'm the true Pirate Lord destined to rule the seas. I'm the one with a magical ship, after all," Saburo pointed out. "You had no idea the things I had to do to get here."
"Oh? Did you ask your daddy to buy you a ship or something? What kind of quick fix did you do to become a pirate? I bet it wasn't anything with actual work!" Natsumi screeched. Their weapons clashed again.
"And why would you say that?" Saburo asked.
"Because I remember the sea before you," she told him. "Back when neither of us ruled the sea, and the Lord of Terror reigned. I still braved the sea at that time, but you only appeared after she was gone. You just bought into the same trend as everybody else. You weren't meant to be here. I was. I was the one who worked for it."
Saburo glared. "You have no idea the sins I committed to get here. I deserve it more than you. Your blood will be the last ingredient in ensuring my position as the true Pirate Lord."
"Sins you committed? That's nothing compared to actual experience and skill. And I didn't need some stupid talisman, either," she retorted.
Saburo put his finger at his throat. How did she figure out that the talisman controlled the invisibility? She must have seen when he was fleeing last.
When he touched his throat, the talisman wasn't there.
"Looking for this?" Natsumi asked, holding up the talisman. "I snatched it from you while we were talking. Hah, you pride yourself so much on this trinket, and now it's mine."
Saburo smiled. "I knew you'd go for the treasure. A pirate always does." Natsumi's legs started bleeding. "I hit you while we were talking." She fell over as Saburo pulled his dagger to her throat. "I've conned you. I'm more clever, you see, so I win." He laughed. "You're not even that cute, so this will be easy."
He was about to plunge the dagger into Natsumi's neck but Fuyuki leaped forward, pushing him aside. "You can't!" he screamed.
"Your cabin boy has more heart than you," Natsumi noted.
Saburo tried to desperately get Fuyuki off of him. "What are you doing? I thought you agreed to help me defeat the pirate lords! And she'll kill you if she recovers. Let me kill her!"
Fuyuki shook his head adamantly. "You can't harm Natsumi!" He gestured wildly at her. "She's my sister."
Saburo paused for a moment and looked at Fuyuki in shock. His sister was one of the three Pirate Lords in this world?
Who was this kid?
Giroro looked toward them in confusion. The brother Natsumi had called out for was this guy?
"How interesting! Ku, ku, ku. This will be useful," Kululu hummed.
All of a sudden, Koyuki ran up to them. "She isn't here, Natsumi. Wrong Pirate Lord."
But Natsumi just stood there in shock until she spoke, "What the heck are you talking about? You're not my brother!"
"Yes, yes I am!" said Fuyuki.
She shook her head. "I don't have a brother."
Fuyuki's jaw dropped. That couldn't have been true. She had to have a brother! Had he never been born in this world?
Giroro tried to find his voice. "Natsumi... you do have a brother. You called out for him when you slept. This... This guy with this Pirate Lord might actually be him."
"Yeah!" Fuyuki agreed. "So please stop fighting. Saburo's my friend, and you're my sister..."
Natsumi shook her head. "You aren't my brother. I don't have one anymore. He's dead. I saw him die. So you can't be him."
"He's from a different dimension. One without pirates roaming everywhere," Saburo tried to explain. He wanted to beat Natsumi, but Fuyuki seemed so concerned with not being around. If it was really necessary, he could blackmail Natsumi into quitting her position by threatening Fuyuki.
"But... Fuyuki is dead," Natsumi said again. She looked away from the live version of her brother before her. "I was six when it happened... He's gone."
"How? How can I be dead?" He had been convinced he had brought himself to this dimension. But how could that be if he was dead? What did his dead self need?
It had been back when Natsumi's parents were still together. They had been traveling on a boat when her four-year-old brother caught an illness. She loved the sea, her father loved traveling, and her mother loved excitement.
Nobody had expected Fuyuki would hate it so much, but he was sick with a cough. Her mother held him closely. but there was nothing they could do.
"Look at the ocean, Fuyuki. It's so pretty," Natsumi told Fuyuki, holding his hand as she showed him to the edge of the ship. Fuyuki coughed.
"It is beautiful, isn't it?" Aki asked.
"And the water is so calm," Natsumi smiled. Her father hugged her and put her on his shoulders.
"O-ocean," Fuyuki mumbled, reaching out to the rails. Like a flash of light, the railing gave way and he fell into the waves.
"FUYUKI!" Aki screamed. Natsumi's father dropped her immediately.
Aki jumped into the water below to retrieve her son. The crew threw out ropes to pull her back in. Natsumi watched with fear but knowing her brother was strong.
Fuyuki... Fuyuki. You can do it! Swim! she prayed, as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Soon enough her mother was out of the water.
"Wh-where's Fuyuki?" Natsumi asked.
"Your brother... He lives with the sea now. The sea god wanted him," she sobbed. "Haru... He was already blue when I got to him. And he drowned so quickly. He didn't even float, he just fell to the depths. The water crushed him... There was nothing I could do."
Haru just cried. Natsumi wanted to comfort both her parents, but she cried too.
Her brother was gone. She had only known him for four years, but he was gone forever now. "I hope he's happy with the sea god," she cried. Aki held her daughter.
"Sure, honey," she told her, knowing that nothing had taken him. He was just dead.
Her father hadn't been able to deal with the grief. He had left them on their own to fend for themselves soon after that. He had been weak, and after the incident, Natsumi had promised she wouldn't think about Fuyuki so that she wouldn't let him tear apart her dreams and her heart like it did to her parents. Aki tried to work and provide for them, but she was so depressed. She had gotten sick and died four years later.
Her father never came back for her. Natsumi was on her own. And every night, she wondered what she had done wrong to make her family leave her.
She knew they were never coming back. She was the only one there for her now.
Now, seeing a version of Fuyuki in front of her... it hurt her too much.
Natsumi was crying. "You're not him. He drowned. He was taken by the sea god. Stop impersonating him and saying dumb things about other dimensions."
"Sis, sis, it's me. I'm not dead. I'm not your Fuyuki, but I'm a Fuyuki," he said. "Isn't that good enough?" He went up to his sister, but she swatted him away.
"Believe your brother. I've run tests while he was sleeping," Kululu told her.
"Huh?" asked Fuyuki.
"He's definitely from another dimension. Sometimes... you have to find solace that the people you care about are alive in another place."
Natsumi just cried.
Saburo relaxed. She wasn't fighting him, but they couldn't turn invisible with that talisman in her hand.
He sighed. "Tell your ship to stop shooting at us until you've sorted this out. I can't kill you until Fuyuki gives the okay. Don't want him to cry." Saburo crossed his arms. "I can't kill a person that someone's going to grieve over for all eternity."
Fuyuki smiled at him in thanks.
"I never gave Dororo orders to shoot the ship we were on, though," Natsumi said, confused.
"Hey isn't it awfully foggy?" Giroro asked. Kululu pressed a button, allowing Giroro to move. He glanced at Saburo and Fuyuki.
"SHIT!" he swore.
"They followed us. Damn, why didn't I see this?" Saburo messed with his hair frantically.
Natsumi pulled herself up to the railing to see what was shooting at them. The ship that she had heard about for so long and had never seen or encountered pulled up by the sides of theirs - Winter, the Lord of Terror's ship.
A loud-speaker blared to their ship. "It's my lucky day! But don't worry, I'm merciful. Put up a white flag if you surrender. I'll load you onto my ship take your spoils and stuff like that blah blah blah, basically want to die or be part of my crew?"
"Hey, I think those are the two other Pirate Lords, Mr. Captain," a cuter-sounding voice spoke.
"Really? You mean I ran into and beat the two other Pirate Lords?" asked the first voice. "Wow! Being a Pirate Lord is super easy and fun! Just like what I thought it would be in the story books! All right. Uhhh, put up a white flag. Guess I'm king of the ocean now. Geez, I'm so happy. Man, what a great day this turned out to be!"
Nobody could believe what they were hearing.
Reluctantly, Saburo and Natsumi's ships put up white flags. They knew they couldn't beat that ship.
"So... it's not her." Kululu looked down sadly. "But how did someone obtain her ship? It's only supposed to do her bidding..."
A ramp came down so that Saburo's and Natsumi's crews could board. They were now the Pirate Lord's prisoners.
The captain came out to green them. He didn't look anything like a Pirate besides the fact that he was snazzily dressed. He was a green Keronian with a star insignia.
"Keroro?" Giroro realized. Dororo squinted his eyes at his old friend as well.
"Yo! I win the pirate game!" Keroro smiled cheerily.
Fuyuki just stared ahead at his best friend. He was the last Pirate Lord? Why?
But he couldn't ask. They had been captured. They had lost.
And also you get Keroro. How many of you knew Keroro was the last Pirate Lord?
Please review.