54. Searching the bird
A/N: Thanks to those who fav/followed the story, and all the anonymous readers ^^!
L: Ugh, now I have doubts. Should I do Koga's Arc after or before Brook's? I don't want Zoro and Luffy to be like crap in Koga's storyline Arc, they'll need all the help they can get. What to do, what to do... Any thoughts out there?
K: Just focus on finishing this arc first.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of One Piece and Soul Eater but my OC Koga and other OCs that will appear in the future.
After their enthusiastic outburst, Cricket reunited all of them outside his house. Luffy, Nami, Chopper and Usopp sat at the stumps acting as chairs, while Zoro sat behind all of them already snoring asleep. Koga and Mifune stood at either side of the entrance of the house, resting their backs against it. Angela, along with Masira and Shojo, played a bit apart from the adults, and Sanji was inside the house, probably making some food, and Robin was off somewhere.
"In this part of the ocean," Cricket pointed at the sea with a finger, "sometimes the day suddenly turns to night."
"Oh, that happened to us!" Luffy exclaimed, interrupting him, raising a hand as if he were a student. "Right, guys?"
"Yeah!" Usopp nodded, eyes wide as plates. "It turned night, and then suddenly a whole bunch of monsters appeared!"
Cricket blinked, apparently surprised of having confirmation of his story. Maybe this was the first time he had heard about other travellers having had that experience and confirming it to him.
"You even encountered the giants... Well, the reason of why the sky becomes dark all of a sudden..." He stopped to take a drag before blowing it out, "is because of the shadow of an extremely dense cloud."
That got everyone's attention.
"Wait, are you talking about a Cumulonimbus?" Nami immediately piped up, her knowledge of the weather picking up on what Cricket was insinuating. "But that's impossible, it was way darker back then than it usually happens to be because of such a cloud."
"That's because it wasn't a Cumulonimbus, but a Cumuloregalis." The man explained. "It forms high up in the sky, there are no air currents inside it and it almost never becomes a raincloud. Whenever one of these pops up in the sky, not even sunlight can pierce through it, so night quickly sets in. It's also said they never vanish, and keep floating in the sky for hundreds, even thousands of years. Think about them as petrified clouds."
Nami tilted her head, skepticism plain as day in her face as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Clouds formed without air currents? I can't possibly believe that."
"Considering the fact that we're in the Grand Line, Nami, I think you should believe that." Koga commented nonchalantly, shrugging when she turned to look at him. "I mean, I know of a place that is always daylight, and a place where sun never gets through thick clouds. The existence of the cumuloregalis are pretty much verified, let me assure you."
"So it's a mysterious huge cloud..." Luffy mused, summarizing in a dumb phrase the whole conflicting thing.
"Wooh, that's awesome!" Chopper jumped, admiration in his starry eyes.
"Get it? If Sky Island really does exist, then there's only one place where it will be!" Cricket finished.
"Let's go then! Let's climb up to this cloud! Zoro, c'mon, wake up!"
Koga smiled at the overexcited trio, who began chanting about going up at the sky as Zoro woke up at his captain's order and stood. The chronicler then shook his head as Nami got pretty tired of their stupidity and beat both Usopp and Luffy to silence. She then asked the question of the year: how exactly would they climb up there?
He never listened to Cricket's answer though, as someone tugged on his pants and found Angela with a timid look on her face. Smirking softly, he crouched before her.
"Hey there." He simply said.
To his side, he heard something about the Knock-Up Stream, but didn't pay any attention.
"Hi." She breathed deeply before smiling broadly at him. "Wanna play?"
When the chronicler looked up, he sweatdropped when he saw both Shojo and Masira in a heap, collapsed in sheer and utter exhaustion.
"Angela, you shouldn't molest people like this..." Mifune sighed at his little partner's childishness, who merely puffed out her cheeks at him before beaming at the writer.
He shrugged with a smirk before following after the girl; she giggled as she grabbed his large hand and tugged it to get away from the others. The pirate crew didn't notice them leave, but Cricket did, and Mifune even followed after them, intent on not taking Angela out of his sight.
"Mifu-chan told me you have a friend with you too, like me!" Angela almost trotted as she held his hand, making him bend his torso to keep following her. She stopped at the edge of the water and sat down, taking out her boots and dipping her feet in the water.
Koga looked over his shoulder at the impassive mercenary, who merely shrugged and avoided his sharp gaze. The blond sighed quietly before sitting cross-legged beside the little girl, who hummed a tune to herself.
"... Yeah, I have one."
The kid at first didn't say anything else, both watching the sun slowly setting in the horizon.
"Did it hurt?" She suddenly asked, her child-like tone suddenly gone.
"Huh?" He blinked, turning towards Angela, whose gaze was fixed in the horizon. Her face was an impassive mask, all traces of the joy she had felt vanished, her eyes showing a seriousness and hollowness no kid should ever show.
The young adult felt a shiver creep up his spine at that look.
"I don't even remember what happened." She lowly said, her feet splashing the water. "I only remember the pain. And the darkness. If it weren't for Mifu-chan, I would..."
Koga's hand over her hat interrupted her, and she looked up at him as he glanced up at the sky. He didn't need her to tell anymore.
"It is better if you don't remember." He smirked down at her. "Sometimes, the painful memories are better buried beneath our darkness. What's important is that you have someone to share your burden."
Angela blinked cutely, then glanced back at Mifune, who merely tilted his head to the side. She smiled broadly, nodding firmly at Koga. And her hand shot up to touch Koga's scar in the face.
Too stunned by the sudden movement, he froze as her soft fingers traced the uneven scar. No one had ever touched it, but then again, he had never let anyone near him as she was being right then. Like a flash, Angela's hand went back to her lap as she looked over at the sea once more, as if nothing had happened.
'What was that?' He thought, blinking a few times to recover from the momentary shock. It hadn't hurt, but the fact that out of the blue she had caressed the healed cut without a word had been absolutely strange.
"Where do you have your mark? I have it right here!" She exclaimed, tugging at her lace to show her Cursed mark on her wrist, barely hiding a knife injury. Koga's lips pursed at the sight and she quickly hid it at his expression.
"In my chest." He merely answered, his hand going to that place.
"How did you die?"
Koga winced.
"Angela..." Mifune warned with a stern voice.
"... I was shot in the back. Someone I cared about a lot betrayed me." The chronicler answered anyways. "My granddad saved me though. And here I am."
Angela hummed.
"You remember then. Unlike me."
"It's not a memory I like to have." He unintentionally snapped.
A short silence followed after his harsh remark, and the little girl looked down at the ground between them, her face blank once more. The blond young man fidgeted uncomfortably, even more when he noticed Mifune's seething glare at how he treated his little protege.
"I'm sorry, Angela." He murmured, his hand resting once more on her black hat. "But I really don't-"
"YOU'RE LYING!"
Usopp's sudden scream interrupted him, and the three turned to see the sniper standing with the others where they had left them. He seemed rather angry, and was pointing a finger at a rather impassive Cricket, who had his arms crossed over his broad chest. Nami and Chopper looked uneasy between the two of them, Zoro watched blankly from the side, and even Sanji and Robin were standing and witnessing the scene.
"Oi, Usopp!" Luffy protested, but the sharpshooter brushed him aside.
Worried about an incoming fight, Koga quickly stood up and strode towards the group, stopping beside Zoro.
"This Knock-Up Stream, our best chance of getting to a legendary island we don't even know the location of, is tomorrow?! And to help us get there, you're gonna refit and strengthen our ship?! That's just too good to be true! Just what the hell are you plotting?! You're the descendant of Liar Norland, right?! We can't tru-!"
BONK!
"OW!"
"Stop with your nonsense already."
Nursing an impressive-looking bump on the back of his head, the long-nosed teen turned watery eyes to his older companion, whose bicolored eyes watched him with a hint of anger and exasperation in them.
"You quickly forgot how the villagers back in your hometown treated you huh." The chronicler continued, ignoring Usopp's large eyes. "You told us no one believed you because of your constant lies, something you brought on yourself. And now look at you." He waved at Cricket, who watched the pair unmoving, still not saying anything or reacting at all. "Blaming someone for their ancestor's doings is wrong, Usopp. Cricket didn't choose to be descendant of an infamous liar. Norland's faults, whether true or not, are not his."
And after that, he turned again and went back to Zoro, his hands on his pants pockets. Usopp, the pain of his lump long gone, watched his friend walk away before gritting his teeth and glaring at the ground instead. The rest watched in silence, eyes set on either the sniper, or the writer, or even Cricket.
The silence didn't settle long, though.
"You know, Masira... He says when night sets in his territory, he can see a Cumuloregalis coming south the day after. Then, based on the five-strikes-a-month cycle, i's highly likely the stream will hit tomorrow, south from here. I'm not one-hundred-percent sure, but I know it won't be the first time if these two events come to happen simultaneously."
Cricket walked past a petrified Usopp, who still had his gaze downcast, his teeth clenching forcefully.
"I'm glad I found an insane bunch just like you. Now cool your head and let's get something to eat. I want you all well and happy as long as you're here, comrades."
Koga smirked at this. He really liked the old man. Deciding to follow his counsel, he and the rest of the crew entered the house to eat something prepared by Sanji. Not soon after, Usopp barreled his way inside, hugging the poor Cricket around the waist and sniffing, apologies raining through his mouth in an almost incomprehensible mess. At the sight, the blond chuckled, and even winked at the sniper once he glanced at him; the younger teen sent an insecure smile in return, and Koga felt glad that the situation had been cleared out.
It wasn't long before dinner-time came, and with it, a delicious meal held outside the house as per Mifune's request, who earlier protested that the house was too small to keep so many people inside. Of course, both lunch and supper turned to be absolutely chaotic, adding Shojo and Masira's wildness to the usual trio's craziness. Cricket enjoyed his sake and tried to hit on Nami, being in turn kicked by a 'slightly' jealous Sanji. Zoro also enjoyed the rum, surprisingly along Mifune, and Angela tried to read Robin's book from over her shoulder without being caught.
"'In the skull's right eye... I saw gold!'"
Koga watched Cricket stop beside Robin and spoke to her, a little tipsy from the alcohol but sounding much too coherent.
"In the middle of his tears, these were Norland's last written words: 'I saw gold in the skull's right eye.' When he said that, he was executed. Even long after I got here, I still didn't figure out what's that supposed to mean. The skull's right eye... Maybe it's the name of a city nearby, or a metaphor relating to his inevitable death... His diary ends here, then it's just some blank pages."
The chronicler smiled, remember an old quote his grandfather used to tell him...
'Even blank pages tell stories.'
"'Marytime Year 1120, May 21st. Today we arrived at Jaya. Just as I stepped out of the ship, I heard the strange cry of a bird coming from the forest and the ring of a giant, giant bell. The sound of that gigantic bell echoed through great distances like it was the sign of prosperity of a great city from the past. It's a passing sound from a prosperous civilization blossoming above the sea. For us, who lived only for a few decades, there were not enough words to describe it! We were charmed by that bell's sound!'" Cricket read after asking silently for the book from Robin.
"How beautiful... A golden bell!" Nami's eyes turned into Berri signs at the sound of 'gold'.
"Cricket-ossan, show them the bells!" Angela suddenly exclaimed, waving her arms in excitement.
Cricket actually roared in laughter before standing and getting inside the house, rummaging through his things before coming out with three small golden, shining, ornamented bells. As he barely took them from their place, their greedy navigator crawled over to grab and caress one of them, her eyes suspiciously still having their Berri-shaped eyes...
"These are ingots shaped like bells." The ex-pirate proclaimed proudly. "I found them at the bottom of the sea."
"You found them? So, the City of Gold exists after all!" Luffy theorized.
"Not necessarily, Luffy." Koga interrupted. "Gold like that, you can find it in any old ruin."
"They do, at least, prove there was a civilization around here." Robin caressed one of the bells Cricket was holding. "Ingots were created to split the gold in equal weights. That means commerce exchanges were done here."
"You're right." Cricket nodded at the archaeologist. "And about that bird's cry... Oi, Masira! Show them!"
Everyone turned their eyes to the ape-man as he proudly unwrapped an object resting in the floor beside him, revealing a shiny sculpture of a bird made entirely of gold.
"That's all we have."
"All you have? I'd live like a king with this gold." Mifune snorted, watching the gold with slightly wider eyes. "It's a wonder how those greedy bastards from Mock Town hadn't heard a word about all this. You're really lucky, Cricket."
The wide man shrugged his broad shoulders, watching with a small sweatdrop as Nami hugged the bird sculpture with tears running down her cheeks.
"The fact that they don't get near us helps. They underestimate us."
"Golden bells and birds... Are they the symbols of old Jaya?" Sanji wondered aloud as he watched his dear Nami-san squeezing the statue in happiness.
"I don't know exactly, but I assume they're examples of old decorations." The diver answered. "This one here is a South Bird, a species from here. It's got a weird cry."
Koga watched with a small smirk hidden behind his scarf how Cricket held the statue close to him. No wonder, though; he had almost drowned to get that thing out of the sea, a feat in itself.
"So this is the Mystery Bird who sounds weird when it calls?" Luffy looked at the thing in amazement, as if the sculpture would begin crying out of the blue.
"Yeah, just like it says in the logbook."
"South Birds have been used on ships since ancient times to-!" Masira explained, but stopped short in there and looked at Shojo with sweat running down their faces.
"Sho-sho, Masi-chan?" Angela waved her small hand in front of their faces.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!"
The simultaneous scream of the three scavengers made them all jump in fright, and even Mifune got his hand closer to his box of katanas searching for enemies.
"What?! What's wrong?!"
"This is bad! You guys have to get to the forest to the south!" Cricket exclaimed, pushing the ones seated upright.
"What? Why? Have you gone nuts?" Usopp retorted.
Cricket sighed, obviously trying not to smash his head. "Listen you all. Tomorrow, you'll face the Knock-Up Stream. It will hit exactly south from here. How do you think you'll get there?"
Koga frowned. That was easy, they'd just have to- Oh. Oh.
"Easy, we just turn south and head straight." The raven-haired teen picked his nose.
"In the Grand Line?" Mifune snorted. "Veer off-course but a little and you'll be lost forever. And you can't trust in your Log Pose; it indicates where an island is, not if it's south or north from anywhere."
"I get it!" Nami gasped. "We're heading south, but it's to the middle of the sea! Without any reference, we won't know where we're going to! What now, how do we found out we're doing it right?!"
Cricket explained that the South Bird had a special ability that embodied the extreme example of a sharpened sense of direction. That bird would point out exactly the way they'd have to follow, so capturing one had become their number one priority.
"Long story short: without that bird, you can't leave, and you'll waste the only chance you have of going to the Sky Island!" The man summed up everything, almost desperate at the blank looks he was receiving from the straw hat-wearing captain.
"WHAAAT?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY IT BEFOREHAND!"
"Oh, oh, I wanna help too! Mifu-chan, can we go, please~?" Angela pleaded to the stoic long-haired man.
Mifune doubted as he watched the pirates getting armed with butterfly capture nests; then he looked at his employer.
"Mind if we go, Cricket?" He asked. He had been hired as his bodyguard after all.
The chestnut-haired man took a drag of his cigarette. "Yeah, you can go. Angela will enjoy this."
"YAY!" Jumping in excitement, the kid ran over to Koga and hugged one of his legs with a huge grin. "I'm coming with you!"
The blond man chuckled and hoisted her over his shoulders, both her legs hanging at either side of his neck. Her little hands dug into his blond locks without hurting, which was a relief. Mifune chose to walk beside him, carrying his box of katanas, though the chronicler observed he glanced over his shoulder at the trio of divers that had decided to work on the Merry for their journey. As the pirates (along with Angela and Mifune) ventured inside the dark-as-pit forest, Chopper protested about him having eaten too much, Nami wondered about why they had to look for the damn bird now of all times, and Usopp stayed glued to Sanji's side in fright. The scene proved funny, when Luffy, ahead of all of them, began chanting some kind of weird song.
But still, Koga felt tense for some reason. He also had to look back at Cricket and the others to ensure they were still there before following after his crew.
"The problem is, how are we gonna find a bird of which we only know the sound of?" Usopp suddenly remarked as he looked around in fear, waiting for a monster to appear.
And that even rhymed.
"Cricket said we would understand when we actually hear the bird." Mifune commented, shrugging. Angela was skipping beside him, having grown tired of being on Koga's shoulders.
"By the way, why are you coming with us?" Zoro glanced back at the mercenary with curiosity.
He thumbed at the grinning girl, looking at everywhere with large eyes. "The damsel insisted."
And the swordsman merely chuckled in response.
"JYOH~!"
That stopped everyone in their tracks.
"THAT'S A WEIRD SOUND!"
But being the forest so big, they had absolutely no idea of where the hell that damn bird was. So, seeing as they only had four nets, they divided into four teams: Luffy and Chopper would be one; Zoro, Robin and Usopp, the second; Sanji and Nami the third; and Koga, Mifune and Angela would form the last group.
The trip was mostly silent, if the duo of men ignored Angela calling out to the 'birdie'. Both of them agreed that they were too similar, in the way that they didn't like to fill empty silence with idle (and sometimes unnecessary) chatter.
"I have to apologize in Angela's behavior." Mifune suddenly commented, one of his katanas slashing through a great centipede crawling towards them.
"Regarding what exactly?" The chronicler looked up at the higher branches.
"I know how painful a Ritual performance is for a Cursed. It's remarkable how you can remember anything at all."
Koga pursed his lips and sent a blank look at the mercenary. Angela still walked ahead, blissfully unaware of their conversation topic. For the moment.
"... You know an awful lot of Cursed stuff. For someone that isn't even a Cursed."
And Mifune glanced at him in return. But didn't answer at his obviously indirect question.
"Jyoh~!"
The three stopped in their tracks, looking around, slightly jumpy at the sudden weird sound.
"BIRDIE!" Angela cried, throwing her arms into the air in excitement.
"That doesn't sound near here." Glaring around, the mercenary commented this, the writer agreeing.
"Yeah. It actually comes from back there. Maybe we should regroup with the others, see if they had more luck than us."
Coincidentally, when the ten of them reunited once more, none of them managed to even catch a look of the South Bird. However, what they did catch were trouble, judging by the amount of bug bites and the frantic breaths most of them let out. Mifune and Koga shared a look and agreed on being lucky of having found slim to none problems in their search, unfruitful as it proved to be. Angela poked Chopper and giggled.
"We caught nothing..." Zoro was the first to talk, looking pretty winded himself.
"We saw one, but there were so much stuff coming at us we didn't catch it!" Luffy whimpered. "It was like running left and right!"
"Goddammit guys, we're ten and still can't catch a single bird? Get a grip people!" Usopp complained, earning a small hit on the head by Zoro.
"Ah~! I'm so tired, I can't run anymore!" Nami's legs didn't support her any longer as she knelt on the ground.
Angela noticed and ran to her, trying to cheer her up. "C'mon Nami-chan! You can do it!"
The navigator offered a weak smile at the girl. "Thanks Angela, but I'm pretty much beat right now..."
Just then...
"JYOH~!"
... Everyone froze.
Their heads turned to the origin of the sound, finding a big bird that resembled the statue Cricket showed them earlier. It had a pretty colorful and looked a lot like a simple toucan, except its head was almost forced to always point south.
Still, the damn bird began getting on their nerves; with a condescending attitude, it laughed at their helplessness to catch it, jumping left and right and taunting the group in his language.
"'I'm never gonna let you catch me, suckers!' He said." Chopper translated.
"Birdie is mean..." Angela whimpered, her eyes watering and one of her hands gripping Mifune's pants, who merely sighed in response.
"You came here to brag you bastard?" Usopp's hand went to his slingshot and ammunition, a tick forming on his head at the insult. "Ah you little... I'm going to take you down with one shot!"
"No need for that, Long Nose." Robin smiled, bringing her arms up to her chest. "Cuatro Fleur!"
Two arms sprouted behind the bird to hold it in place making it squeal in surprise and shock, and another two lifted it to throw it to the ground. Mifune, the one nearest to it, managed to catch it before it broke its neck.
There. Mission accomplished in five seconds. Everyone sent baffled or surprised looks at the archaeologist; she dropped her stance and smiled in return at everyone.
"I just needed to see the bird. That's it."
Angela smiled widely, small stars forming in her awe-filled eyes. "She's so cool..."
Zoro took the struggling bird from the mercenary, and the crew decided to go back to Cricket's. The mood was pretty light, with what they needed firmly secured (despite the bird threatening them to throw them all bugs) and most of them joked about how ridiculous the bird looked with its head always pointing south or celebrated about how they were going to go up to the skies.
But Koga's expression showed otherwise.
As they walked their way back, his intuition had begun, slowly but surely, to send him alarms. It began as a simple discomfort at the base of his stomach, but it steadily expanded and hurt even more the closer they got to Cricket's house. He didn't even notice when his pace quickened, surpassing everyone else (who looked at him strangely and even asked him what was wrong) and breaking into a full run when he saw the end of the forest just ahead of them.
Used to his spontaneous gut feelings, the pirate crew looked at each other and followed after him, Mifune and Angela close behind.
"Koga! What's wrong?" Nami exclaimed, struggling to keep up with his long strides.
But he didn't answer, his bicolored gaze dead ahead... and a small tendril of darkness coating his katana at his side. Unbeknownst to everyone, Mifune glared at the katana and then at the writer's back.
Once they got closer to the edge of the forest, Koga was the first one to get outside...
... And stopped in his tracks, eyes wide at the scene.
Someone had just torn apart the entire place. Cricket's house had a gaping hole in the front, as if a cannon had been shot at it, going all the way to the cardboard cutout. Inside was all turn over and messy, meaning someone broke in to search for something. Their beloved ship, the Going Merry, had its prow broken off and resting in the ground and a completely bent mast. The reinforcement Cricket, Masira and Shojo wanted to give to their ship laid snapped in two beside the clearly beaten up caravel, leaving it in an even poorer state than it had been when the crew got to Jaya in the first place.
However, that wasn't the only things that made Koga's blood boil and his vision redden. As he looked around with his breath shaky with fury, he discovered Cricket, Masira and Shojo. The first two were lying on the ground, fainted and covered in blood, while Shojo floated in the water.
"W-what happened here?"
Nami's shocked voice went unregistered in Koga's ears as he looked around, with ragged breath and eyes fuming. As Luffy flashed to Cricket's side, Usopp and Sanji scrambled over to get Shojo out of the water.
Huhuhu.
Koga felt his eyes widen, unfocused, as he half-listened Cricket apologizing to Luffy because of not being able to reinforce their ship in time.
How does it feel, shitty host? How does it feel having ignored your intuition once more and return to see your friends beaten up?
He saw Angela running to Cricket's side and cry, and Mifune coming up to him with gritted teeth. He saw Chopper applying some gauze and cleaning Masira's wounds. He saw Usopp getting Sanji to help with the mast and get it back in place. He saw Nami getting out of the destroyed house, exclaiming something about having the gold stolen.
But still, the cloud of rage filling his vision was thicker, and all those scenes went to a second plane in his mind. Right then, all he could think about was the absolute fury running through his veins and clouding his rationality.
And you know who did it, right? You're seeing it right now.
And then, the writer saw a marking on the wall. As if moved by a puppeteer, he strolled past everyone and stood before the wall. Eyeing the round, crossed out smiley face painted there in black paint.
He remembered one of Bellamy's goons brandishing that same marking.
That was his last straw.
"Scum."
The voice that came out of Koga's mouth (vicious, animal-like, purely demonic) reverberated through the entire place. The malice, the anger, the sheer evilness it held, sent everyone a shiver through their spines.
They watched Koga step away from the wall, and then saw what got him so furious.
"That's Bellamy's mark!" Nami exclaimed.
Back turned to all of them, the chronicler didn't acknowledge anyone's voices as he began walking towards Mock Town. The darkness seeping out of Sankaoken indicated the mood he was currently on; something everyone agreed.
But Mifune was the one that stood in his way. In a flash, the mercenary stepped away from the downed Cricket and blocked Koga's path. The long-haired man felt responsible for abandoning his charges (even if one of them specifically ordered him to go with the Straw Hats), but still he had enough clarity in his mind to detect the danger Koga represented right now.
And possibly, not only for Bellamy, but also his very friends.
Because of his hair, Mifune couldn't see Koga's eyes or expression; that worried him even more.
"... What are you doing?" The blond murmured, his hoarse voice flat.
Just in case, Mifune held his box closer.
"Calm down." He merely answered, assessing Koga's body and trying to detect a sneaking attack from him. "This is no good for you. Don't let your demon control you."
Sanji and Zoro frowned at this, while Luffy stood up from beside Cricket, and Nami and Usopp glanced warily at the duo. Though still concentrated in his patients, Chopper also listened to what was happening.
"... What do you know about my demon? What do you know about what's happening in my head?"
Mifune's lips tightened around his senbon, feeling the demon inside Koga stirring, urging him to kill.
He couldn't allow that.
"I already told you. Your fury is blinding you, and that lets your demon take control over your mind." His right hand slowly crept to his box of katanas, at his lack of response. "Leave this to your captain."
Soft steps behind Koga made him turn his head slightly, eyes still hidden but at least seemingly more aware of his surroundings.
"... Luffy?"
The straw-hat wearing teen stopped beside him and clapped his shoulder, eyes hidden under the brim of his treasured hat.
"It's okay, Koga." His captain gripped his shoulder tighter before letting go. "I'll take care of this."
Just like that, the red fog covering Koga's vision vanished, and he raised serious but clear bicolored eyes to watch his younger captain walk past Mifune towards Mock Town. He still felt fury inside, but the demon's voice had been suddenly muffled; he could barely hear him now, screaming profanities and trying to regain control over his host's mind.
But the spell was already broken, and so the darkness crept back inside Koga's mind's deepest part.
Mifune, though certainly relieved from not having to forcefully calm him down, couldn't believe how quickly the previously dominated Cursed had calmed down. And he only needed words from his captain. Up until now, the mercenary had never seen this before.
Luffy, despite his goofiness, was certainly something else.
"Wait... No, Luffy!" Nami exclaimed, suddenly aware of what her captain was about to do. "Don't even think about it! We have only three more hours to go!"
The teen stopped, but didn't turn around or returned.
"Robin..." The black-haired woman hummed. "If I run through the shore, can I get to the town?"
Her head tilted. "Yes, you will."
He nodded, and resumed his walk. Nami looked around and saw that no one was up to the task of stopping him from getting revenge for Cricket. The old man had protested, but Zoro quickly made him change his mind. In fact, Koga had been more than eager to carry the beating himself. She sighed; why was always she the one trying to keep order in that misfit crew?
"Three hours, Luffy. If you're not here in three hours, you'll have to live with the fact we lost the chance to go the Sky Island because of you and only you. Got it?"
And their captain cracked his knuckles menacingly.
"Don't sweat it, Nami. I'll be back before that."
xXx3 HOURS LATERxXx
"Why can't we go~?" Angela protested, about to cry out as the Straw Hat crew waited in front of their remodeled -and a bit more parched- Going Merry, Flying Model (with giant wings, a piece of armor in the front and the sheep head looking more like a chicken).
Thanks to Cricket, Masira, Shojo, Mifune and the girl, the crew had managed to get everything ready before dawn, though the sun had begun to show in the horizon. It was amazing how Chopper got them all on their feet in time; or maybe it was simply their desire to see their dream come true.
Right then, the entire crew was waiting for an awfully late captain to show up -of course. And Mifune had spent the last thirty minutes trying to convince his small 'colleague' that going to the Sky Island wasn't exactly a pacific enterprise. Still, the sound of 'adventure' had excited the girl a bit too much.
Mifune scratched his head, sighing heavily.
"We can't, Angela. And that's it. We still have to keep our promise to Cricket."
"But- but-"
Koga chuckled, crouching beside her and plopping his large hand on her hat. Since Luffy went to beat Bellamy and get Cricket's gold back, his mood had lightened considerably.
"Sorry Angela, this could be really dangerous." He said as she turned teary eyes to him.
"But all of you still go! That's not fair!"
"When you're older, you'll get to go someday, you'll see." Nami knelt down to her level and smiled sweetly at her.
"Yeah! I'll tell you the amazing stories of Usopp the Brave up there in the Sky Island!" Usopp boasted, trying to cheer up the little girl too.
Mifune sweatdropped, but mostly thanked for their attempt. He then looked over at the mismatch-eyed chronicler.
"... You should tell someone about your problems with your demon whenever you have them, Blondie." He told him, earning a blank look in return. "I can give you counsel about how to control it, but in the end, you will be the one in control of it."
"Problems?" The navigator piped up, looking between both of them.
Seeing that Mifune's completely unnecessary comment had drawn the rest of the crew's attention, he sighed and raised his scarf to his nose, getting on his feet and walking up the plank to get onboard the Merry.
"It's nothing." He loudly said.
He felt Mifune narrowing his eyes at the back of his head. His elbows rested on the railing once he got onboard, looking at the shoreline in search of Luffy, but still, from the corner of his eye, the chronicler saw the long-haired man mutter something to the crew congregated around him, and the serious expressions they got once he finished.
A lowl growl came out, his hand sweeping through his blond hair. Most likely, the merc had asked the others to watch over him and keep him in control to avoid death.
'I don't need babysitters, dammit.' He thought.
He didn't dare think of the reasons why he wanted to keep the crew away from him.
Just then, his gaze caught a familiar red-vested figure running towards them, with what looked as a giant Hercules beetle as a mount. He couldn't help but chuckle at the scene.
"Guys, Luffy's here!" He called out, and everyone turned.
"About damn time." Sanji growled, then raised his voice. "Luffy, come on, we're way past the time to go!"
And their idiot captain only laughed. "Hey guys, I caught a Hercules beetle! It took a hell of a time for me to catch this one!"
'Looks like things with Bellamy are already taken care of.' The blond smirked as he saw the sack behind him and the goofy expression on his captain's face. That always meant good news. Luffy's eyes went starry at the sight of the remodeled ship as Usopp proudly presented it.
After thanking Cricket, Mifune and Angela for their help, the pirate crew got onboard of Merry and followed Masira's and Shojo's to the sea, in search of the infamous Knock-Up-Stream. The old ex-pirate loudly thanked them for everything and made them promise they would return safely before watching them off with a smile. Angela was waving her arms over her head with tears running down her face, whereas Mifune simply watched with his stern expression still on.
Once the Merry got even further ahead, Cricket let out a puff of smoke and glanced at the merc from the corner of his eye.
"I thought you wanted him to realize who you were." He commented, his voice almost masked by Angela's yells of goodbye.
The long-haired man shrugged. "He's always been thickheaded. Still, it's been almost ten years, and we've both changed a lot since then."
"He's still the same as always though, you told me."
"Well, hard not to notice those weird eyes of his. Still, I am glad that he's okay, even if he doesn't remember me."
"Cheer up. Maybe you'll get to see him in the future."
Mifune let a wry smile appear on his face before turning his back to the sea. "Of that I'm sure."
A/N
L: Hope you liked it! And now, review answers~!
-Stargaze Valintime: Yeah, but Angela's really important, as you may know. Not everyone has a Demon Prince.
K: And though I don't like them either, The Chapel manage to keep the world safe from demons. That has to count for something.
L: Even though they're after you, Yuuto and Angela, among other people?
K: ...
L: Okay, I'll shut up. Yeah, Sky Island's gonna be a blast! I still haven't figured out how Koga's gonna fit in this arc, but meh, I'll figure something up as I go.
-Guest: Oh, now I get it! Wow you really want to overpower our dear Koga, huh. But sorry, though it's an awesome idea, Koga won't transform into any kind of semi-humanoid creature. Not because I don't like the idea, but because demons are more terrifying when they have human forms. After all, the greatest evil lies within humanity itself.
K: Wow, way to be sinister.
L: What? I'll be glum, but it's mostly true.
-King0fP0wers: Hi King! I always love when you review, whether it's long or short!
K: Hey. Well, having powers that connect me to death itself is a bit unsettling to say the least... But well, if it gives me power to help my friends, I'll use it.
L: I even started making some drafts about how Free will be introduced! But sorry, I won't spoil anything~! And yeah, I totally agree with you! Goda will always be awesome, but sometimes changing some little things don't hurt anybody. And as I said, it's not AU, but it's inevitable that some things happen differently because of Koga's inclusion to the story.
K: I didn't expect a kid in the story either, and even less being a Cursed. Author, you're cruel.
L: Oh, I know. But it has to be done. And about Mifune... Don't worry, he'll protect her, but won't be OVERprotective. Or at least not so much.
K: Stay tuned for chap 55, 'cause it'll have as many surprises as these three past chapters-
L: What are you doing?
K: ... Nothing.
-Boopadoop: I'm finally back from exams! Man that was hard.
K: Hey. It's been boring here in Author's mind.
L: Oh shush. Well, not ALL Cursed will be Soul Eater characters, sorry, but they'll surely help me out. They're mostly OC.
K: Keep it up, Boop. Nice and steady, as they say.
L: Yeah, well, I've been a fan of LOTR since I was a little kid, but I didn't like Boromir dying, so I went to FF, searched for 'Boromir-is-alive' fics and voilĂ ! There started my own wish to write my own LOTR fanfiction. Unsuccessful, considering I don't have a single clue about love lol. And Kuroko No Basuke... Well, in short, it's an anime about basketball xD I watched it waaaaaay back, but never finished it. Now I feel lazy and don't wanna finish it.
K: You just don't enjoy writing it as much as this fic, right?
L: Well, yeah.
K: Though I agree. You ARE lazy.
L: Could you at least be nice with me for once~?
-zerom1v: Well, I hope this chapter answers your question. Cricket talks about both, though in different chapters. Sorry for the confusion anyway.
K: Author tends to do that.
L: ... You're being an ass with me on purpose, are you?
-Guest-san: Hi! Yeah, well, glad I surprised you I guess xD I didn't want to make Angela suffer, I swear, but I want her to have a major role in the plot, along Mifune of course.
-Tengu Brunch: Hi, welcome! Wow, I'm so glad that you liked it so much ^^!
K: Yeah, so far, those are the only uses my Devil Fruit has. Basically, my physical abilities and psychological traits can be improved or enhanced, but not making them disappear. Though regarding the physic, I can only do it to a certain extent before my muscles tear up. If I went beyond my limits, I would be unstoppable, but at a nasty price.
L: Nice summary, Koga-kun! Well, Koga's Devil Fruit powers will lose its role since he discovered his demonic powers, but he WILL still use it to numb the pain and slightly improve his physical traits. Oh yeah, 'One Gorilla Two Gorilla' or something like that! You have good memory, I forgot about it xD
-Kin0gp0wers (2): Not yet! I just had my exams and I'm literally DYING right now until they give me my marks.
L: Well guys, hope you liked it, stay beautiful, and please feed the hungry beast!
K: See ya guys next time.
