Chapter Twelve:
Adolescence:
The last prank Yasopp pulled on Benn dragged Kaia in punishment along with him, well she always did, but this time was different it took as much time for the sky blue color to fad from Benn's hair to stop torturing them since whenever he looked at the mirror or his reflecting on water he would snap at the two.
Kaia was at the main deck, training on the basics of swordsmanship using a wooden waster. She stood with her right and left foot across each other while the sword rose up with both hands, then she moves forward to stand on her right foot hauling the sword down, Kaia repeated the motion for hours missing lunch.
Ed brought her cup of juice that she drank in one gulp, and lucky offered some bites of his meat, which by the way was miraculous. Kaia returned to continue her practice again, her clothes were soaking sweat.
"Don't overdo it Kaia," the round shaped man said out of concern.
"That bastard is harsh on you," Ed fumed with anger clinching his hand and assuming that Benn was the one who forced her train non-stop, which was wrong.
"No Eddy he is not. I just like this training," It wasn't a lie nor the complete truth, she made sure to work out her body till the last fragment of energy on it since being exhausted help her sleep without thinking of unnecessary matters nor having nightmares "I'm sure Yasopp isn't doing any better!" She grinned 'there is nothing better than getting punished with a friend'
"He got stuck with laundry, swapping and doing dishes for two months," Lucky stated gnawing the pile of meat he was holding.
"You should stop associating with him, he'll get you killed! And by Benn nonetheless," Ed sighed remembering how many times she get sucked in the hurricane of trouble Yasopp created.
"Hehehe no harm in little fun, beside…" She rolled the wooden sword skillfully in her hand then made it stop by setting it over her shoulders, a fruit of her constant exercises "I won't stay here long enough."
The spoken words startled the two pirates, they forget that they decided to entrust Kaia to their Captain's friend before they set sail to Shine Sekai. The girl gave the feeling that she had always being there and would always be, like she is a vital part of the crew. Before Ed or Lucky could utter anything a voice captured the trio's attention,
"LAAAAND" The pirates gathered to watch the blurry stain get closer and cloudless. Kaia wasn't showing her previous curious nor excite to see the new Island, she turned her back heading inside.
Ed and lucky traded a look before the blond asked "Where are you going?"
"I'll take a quick bath then join you," Kaia beamed at the two then dashed to the bathroom.
When she finished and wore one of Shanks shirts she headed to the deck, her supposed to be a quick bath took almost one hour, by that time they reached the land and anchored. Some pirates were discussing where they were going to spend their time, others assigned to do different chores like buying food, booze, gunpowder and such.
They anchored at the main port of the island again, a privilege Yonko earn from his title. Kaia eyed the typical town, contrary to Harpy Island the houses were concrete, the ground completely paved and the tip of trees could be seen out the village. The trice a red-haired man entered her line of vision she hurried to his side then smiled "Hey Captain,"
Benn was also there, and before Shanks greet her with the same idiotic enthusiasm the grey-haired man sighed uttering,
"You want something don't you?"
Akagami noticed it too but he was going to smooth things since she was avoiding him and he wouldn't want her to end up hating him or something.
"I want to go shopping alone,"
They took their time to register the words before Benn crossed his hands over his chest vocalizing his obvious response "No way in the four blues."
"I'LL," She said glaring daggers at Benn, who said she was even asking for permission? Once her six year's old self surfaced she would be stubborn as hell.
"No you won't," The grey-haired man bent to match his eyes level with Kaia, well not just that, since in times like this he would abandoned his serious self and allow himself to be dragged by her into a childish fight.
"Why not," Akagami uttered cutting off their little quarrel, if he had to say then the look on both their faces was priceless "Promise you won't get in trouble."
While Benn frowned, a bright smile broke over her small feature then she bobbled her face up and down "I promise!" Fearing he would change his mind she rushed toward the village as fast as she could, waving her hand "Ciao."
"Kaia," She stopped at hearing her name then darted to face Akagami who throw her a small bag of bellies, she came up with the excuse of shopping and hell everyone knew she had no cash on her "Ah! T-Thanks Shanks."
Benn watched as the girl dove further in town and her small body begun to disappear within the mass of people, he rubbed the back of his neck then muttered "Yasopp won't be pleased." Not like Benn himself was pleased.
"Why is that? After all he would be released from the ship's watching duty." Akagami cocked his head faking ignorance and Benn picked up what he was implying "Got it Captain."
The red-haired pirates roamed their separated ways while Akagami and Benn headed to a bazaar their friend own, the old geezer informed them over the den-den mushi that he has something that would definitely pick their interest, he didn't precise the thing he had so it could be a devil fruit.
Once the door opened the bell resonated, the smell of dust assaulted their noises and a certain old man greeted them with a huge smile. He prepared rum anticipating their coming, and after a while of sea rumbling Benn went straight to the main point "So Felix, about the thing you have."
"Straight as always Benn," His laugh echoed over the wooden walls "unfortunately my grandson heard of your arrival and stole it, the brat want to be a marine he hated my relationship with you pirates."
This was ill-fated news since Akagami was curious about the important thing he had but they got to meet an old friend so it was fine,
"Now, now you didn't tell him about your past?" Felix was one of the notorious pirates in Roger's era and friend of the Pirate King. The old man shook his head at Akagami's question.
"Hahaha…Don't worry it's just teenage years, they are just going though complex changes."
"How do you knew captain? You yourself are still early for that." Felix laughed even more at Benn's implication and Shanks pouted his cheek subconsciously confirming what just being said. "And did you just count Kaia there?"
"Well, she's growing up." That was his only explanation for her swinging mood, being kind of independent and her dramatic change of behavior. She has no parents which mean he is her guardian for now, so it's his responsibility to help her out of this, right? He was planning to talk her about it later.
Benn face palmed seen through his captain's thought 'This time he will definitely screw up.' Felix in the other hand was curious about the new name that rolled up in the conversation.
-Achoo- despite the warm weather Kaia sneezed, maybe as the myth said someone was talking behind her back.
After a while of wandering the streets she sighed in annoyance 'There is nothing worse than being stalked.' In top of it all, he seem to be the only person who believe he is invisible since almost all the people noticed him and started mumbling under their breaths. After all what would you think of a growing man walking with spyglasses, use newspaper with holes or tree's branches to hide himself?
And buying clothes was harder than ignoring Yasopp since the prices were higher than the previous island, the money Akagami gives her would be more than enough but she wanted to use the lowest amount she could managed and return the rest. A female employee told her that marines gain a profit from everything is sold in this island in exchange of protecting it and that's of course beside their own cash, in Kaia's eyes this is nothing more than a fancy way to rob people.
In the end she managed to purchase some clothes, they were kind of cheap and simple. She changed to a white shirt, red sleeveless vest, black slim trousers and she kept her crimson boots from before, Kaia based on the image of her pirates' friends.
It was early to go back to the ship so she decided to explore the forest, she promised to stay away from problems still Yasopp was stalking her thus no fears. She walked leisurely so Yasopp won't lose sight of her, along the unknown path the birds' chipper cleared her head from all the town's noises.
Kaia reached an open space with no trees, it was a cliff on the side of the island and there was a boy playing with a paper kite. He seemed to have a whole lot of fun swinging that thing between clouds using strings,
"That's look like fun," She mumbled out loud unintentionally compelling the boy out of his little world, he pulled the paper toy and expertly caught it then shifted all his attention to the little girl.
Yasopp watched as the frowning boy approached Kaia, it took him a load of restraint to stay put behind the tree promising pain if the brat touch a single strand from her hair.
The boy was couple of inches taller than Kaia, the tiny distance between the two helped her to see his face clearly. Despite the angry glare his green eyes glowed marvelously, he had brown skin and an x mark on the bottom of his left cheek. There was another cut mark on his left eyebrow, his hair was black and short. He wore an over seized blue T-shirt, a white shorts and black scandals.
"Wanna try?" he said none gently while shoving the kite over Kaia who was startled since she was expecting him at least to yell at her with those knotted brows of his.
Hey guys how are you? Wish you are all doing fine. :)
Thank you so much for your reviews in the previous chapters and to all the lovely peoples who followed/favorited the story.
Just for making some things clear:
-Kaia is 13 y/o, she and Luffy share the same age which mean Ace didn't set sail just yet.
-She definitely going to meet Whitebeard but that after a more couple of chapters so for readers who waiting his appearance please bear with me :'(
Thanks for reading this chapter and reaching this far, feel free to review good or bad all welcomed.
