Going to the end of Paradise is kinda hard to do, especially when you don't have Log Pose in hand.
Flying over the Red Line is technically doable, said Takao. So we did, but I'm not doing that again. Not until we're off to Sky Island later in the future because my heart needs a rest after all of the excitement.
But after that, we still decided to board ships (pirates and/or marines) as stowaways. In pirate ships, we're sneaky and stole their shits, selling their weapons and treasures, while being forward to marines by using puppy dog eyes I learned from the best (aka Luffy) to let me come abroad until the next island and stealing their shit at the end too, but mostly their foods.
Sometimes we fly from one island to another, but the weather is too unpredictable, and I don't want to risk both of our safety so we decided to take the safe route.
I test out my new weapon to mess with the Marines as 'Garu' sometimes, but I mostly just control it remotely to deal with them before I reveal myself and join the fun. They're harder to deal with compared to the East Blue's, considering they have at least 3 DF users in the group, but my weapon is practically anti-DF users, so everything is balanced.
Eventually, the news of the genocide back in a certain East Blue island's Marine base spread around, but no news on how corrupt that certain base is, obviously. But not only that, I got myself a bounty! Or 'Garu' did, but eh.
Hm, 50 million Berries? Seems overkill, but they did the same to Robin, so not exactly farfetched of them.
And still, no one bats an eye when I'm out during the day. I can hide my new weapon too, so even more hidden than before.
Trying out the potentials of my weapon is pretty fun too. But controlling it remotely while doing something needs a lot of practice in the subconscious mind, so I usually practice it while writing letters for Luffy and Ace or while reading. Just simple movements like making it float or stand up can be quite hard to do.
I try to find out how big or how small I can make it, but that never really ends well. Big size; it ends up so big it covers the entire island and kinda reaches a neighboring island, and we immediately hightailed from there. Small size; it ends up so small that I can barely see it and apparently got blown over by the wind, but luckily Takao can feel it until I remember that I can make it normal sized again, like a dumbass.
And for weight, I have no idea how to do it, as I don't think I need to, considering I can control it without drawbacks on how it weighs anyway.
Sometimes I wonder if there are any drawbacks of me controlling the weapon, but nope. I feel fine as ever. Other than headaches from trying to control it subconsciously, nothing really happened.
Which makes it even more suspicious on what the fuck that 'Being A' get from this.
Still, I'm kinda grateful for the weapon(s) though. Makes everything easier to deal with.
Sitting on my spear as I watch the Marine base in the air and swinging my legs, observing the ones that are on night duty outside. I can kinda 'hear' there are around…10 people, and 6 of them are alone, others are in pairs. The rest of them are sleeping or patrolling inside.
I grin behind my mask as I command my spear to approach the alone ones. Silently dropping off behind the marine while subconsciously commanding my weapon to get the other one nearby, I bump the marine behind his knees, making him yelp that he quickly grabs on the railing and turn around to see me, while I can 'see' that my weapon did the same to the other marine.
"Garu—!"
I quickly give him a punch in his stomach, making him grunt in pain as he curls down to clutch his gut while I quickly retreat in glee. My weapon did the same as I climbed on the railings and jumped off, my weapon immediately homing back under my feet to be my foothold as I used it to jump to the other marines.
The sudden outburst of the previous marine seems to alarm the others as the siren is blaring and they all suddenly gather around me, including the previously sleeping 'voices', but no matter. Calling my spear into my hands, I put on my stance and chuckle.
"Many versus 1, aren't you being unfair? I'm just a child, y'know?" I ask as I observe each of their expressions. Fear, awe, serious, nervous, annoyed. They're so easy to read.
"Silence, 'Birdmask' Garu! Just turn yourself in peacefully and make everything easy for us." One of them, seemingly a high-ranking one, orders. I sigh in return in annoyance.
"It's not 'Birdmask', it's 'Dragon Hunter'. Get it right, you idiots!" I yell out as I thrust my spear into him. He dodges to the side, so my attack only grazes his side, so I quickly push my spear into his wound and throw him into the others like a bowling ball knocking the pins.
I huff as I slam my spear down, "Listen up! It's 'Dragon Hunter', because I'm the one that will hunt down those Celestial Dragons until the end of time. They stole someone precious to me, and their blood in my hands will be the only suitable apology for that. So burn it into your brains, you pea brains!" I exclaim out angrily as I put on my stance again.
"G-get them!"
As they all jump at me, I command my spear to grow huge and I use it to knock them all off to the side. Jumping onto it as we float up into the air, pure fury fills me and slowly boils over. I'm not planning to destroy this base to the ground, but I need to give some examples for the others, so they get my epithet right.
Making the spear big enough for me to get the whole base in one go, I jump off of my spear as Takao immediately swoops in to get me and flies with quite a distance from my weapon. I can 'hear' and 'feel' the panic the marines exude out from below, but no matter.
Bringing my hand up for a few seconds before bringing it down, commanding the spear to strike down into the base as I watch it getting destroyed before something blows up from inside the base, destroying it even more as I notice a few of the 'voices' fade away, while the others are very loudly panicking.
I make the spear turn into key-sized as it comes back to my hand, watching the destruction blankly and I turn away.
"Let's go, Takao. We're done here." I tell him and he silently nods as we fly off.
We drop by to our temporary hideout to grab our things before we're off to the next island. The weather is nice tonight, so we can just fly off by ourselves without the fear of the weather killing us. Looking up at the half-moon, my mind drifts off and thinking about Sabo.
I wonder where he is right now. Is he alive? Is he eating well? Is he training well? Is he healthy? Does he make new friends? Or maybe learn new things?
Sometimes, I dream of him and the other two, back in the forest and hunting for dinner, smiling and laughing with no care of the heavy weight on his shoulders.
I hope wherever he is, he's still smiling as brightly as the full moon at night.
XXX
It takes around two months for us to finally reach Sabaody Archipelago. Obviously, we take both unconventional and conventional routes, but at least we're here now!
Bubbles floating all over the island, the tall stripy mangroves with roots as the 'islands', and sunlight fill in through the gaps of the mangroves lighting over the bubbles and make it glint beautifully as it glides up into the air.
Truly, I would see this place as an amusement park of imagination coming alive, if there are no slave traders and the haughty dragons around lurking, and discrimination against the Fish-men and Merfolks are still thick here. It's nauseating.
Still, it's a beautiful place to visit. It's just a shame that something dark can happen in bright daylight.
Which is happening right now, with the bounty-hunters surrounding me.
Looking at them, I can feel their sick sense of humor and joy, along with lust.
Disgusting.
I'm not in the mood as I'm saving up my stamina to deal with the dragons later, so I'm on standby as Takao deals with them all in his Garuda form. He never gets enough spotlights, so I let him take it this time.
I wore my mask on and had my spear out, so that's mostly why they're hunting me. Leaning on my spear as I watch Takao dealing with the lousy bounty-hunters, I can feel someone with the intent to kill around 5 meters in the distance, possibly with a gun aiming at me.
Commanding only the keris to go get the gunner, I make the staff thicken as the bullet gets caught on the staff before the keris stabs him in the chest. Homing back to combine back with the staff as the staff returns to normal, I grab it and slam it down to the ground at the same time as Takao finishes the last guy and takes steps back.
I approach the one that's still conscious enough and grab him by his shirt collar so he's on eye-level with me.
"Mind telling me the way to Grove 13? I gotta pay someone a visit." I ask calmly, and the man sneers at me.
"And if I don't? What will you do, little girl?" He replies before he screams out in pain as I stab his calf.
"I'll put more holes in you, if that's what you want." I threaten calmly, and his eyes fill up with tears of pain and fear.
"O-Okay! Okay! It's over there!" He meekly replies as he points in one direction. I didn't turn to check as I kept my eyes on him, detecting ill-intent from him. In result, I deepen the stab and he screeches out.
"Don't try to fool me." I growl in warning and he yelps in fear and pain.
"I'm sorry! I-It's over there! I-I swear this time!" He says as he points in the other direction and I feel that he's telling the truth, so I pull out my spear from him and throw him aside to look at Takao, ignoring the pitiful cries from the guy.
"Welp, let's go. We need to give that old man a visit and give him some news." I tell Takao as I swing my spear to clean out the blood and sheath it closed, before hopping on it and floats off toward Grove 13 with Takao following behind.
Apparently I'm in Grove 21, so going to Grove 13 is taking quite some time. I play around with the bubbles that float around and turn one into a floating bag so Takao can take a rest inside while attaching it to my spear.
Speaking of, I need to give my weapons a name. After all, giving it a name means giving it a purpose and a soul. I wonder what I should name these two.
I would name my keris 'Kerispatih' because it's kinda funny to have a cameo, but I don't even listen to that particular band…
Eh, I'll think about it later.
Right now, I'll focus on finding 'Shakky's Rip-off Bar' and meet old man Rayleigh, if he's even in the bar at all.
After dealing with more bounty hunters, we finally reach Grove 13 with blood splatters all over me. Fucking hell, what's with all of these bounty hunters after my ass for every 10 minutes?! Give me a break!
Ugh, I need a good, warm bath after all of these shits and a set of new clothes. I've been stealing clothes all this time, so I can treat myself to a little fashion shopping and a haircut after this.
And finally, finally, I arrive at my destination! Fuck, I need a drink! I'm so thirsty! Water!
Standing in front of the bar and putting my key-sized spear into my pocket, I can hear people inside until the door suddenly bursts open. I quickly step to the side as something flung past me and I look back as it rolls down. Oh, it's a person. A pirate, maybe?
"Oh hello. It's nice to finally meet you, little Garu," I turn back and see the familiar lady with black bob cut hair and a lit cigarette between her fingers. Shakuyaku. "To what do I owe to this rare visit?" She asks with a mysterious smile.
"Hello! I was just wondering if old man Rayleigh is here." I reply, and she hums in return.
"Hmm, unfortunately he's not home right now. He's been away for 2 months now." Shakky replies, "May I ask why do you want to meet him?"
"I don't mind, but I'd rather not say it outside. Can't risk my brother's safety." I answer and I can see her eyes glint in curiosity as she smiles.
"Well, I suppose we can talk inside, if that's what you want?" She offers as she steps aside to open the path into her bar, "Unfortunately I cannot sell you alcohols." She adds as me and Takao enter the bar and she closes the door behind her.
"That's okay. I don't like it anyway. And Takao is a bird. He has a special diet." I reply as I climb up on the stool and sit down while Takao perches on the one next to me. Sitting on a stool reminds me of 'Party's Bar'. I miss Makino.
"So," Shakky starts as she walks behind the counter to look at me, "what's your business to meet Ray-san, 'Dragon Hunter, Garu'?" Ooh! She got my epithet right! I like her already.
"Oh, I just wanna tell him that his former captain's son is my brother. But unfortunately he's not here, so I guess I need to find him first before I can go back home." I tell her calmly. I can feel her surprise by that, but she hides her facial expression well before she smiles as she taps her cigarette to the ashtray.
"Hm, yes, unfortunately he's been away for 2 months. I don't know where he is or when he will be home." Shakky tells me apologetically.
"It's okay. I kinda figured that out. I guess he's probably selling himself to the auction again?" I point it out and she chuckles in return.
"Possibly." She replies calmly. Hm, I guess that's my next quest then.
"Okay, I'll go get him home. It's a nice day to slay the dragon and rescue the princess, after all. Nyeheheh!" I laugh as I hop off the stool, "Takao, you stay here and I'll slay the dragons for you too, okay? Can't have people knowing you in broad daylight!" I tell him and he nods in return.
Turning to Shakky, I see that she's watching me in interest but staying silent. "Do you have some ideas on where I should start my hunt?" I ask her and she hums in thought.
"I suppose you can start at Grove 1. There's a newly opened one, and they have visited that one a few times now." Shakky answers as she takes a drag of her cigarette before blowing it out to the air, "I heard today's main attraction is a giant, so there's a chance that they'll be there."
"Any particular ones I should be aware of?"
"Let's see…" Shakky drags another in and blows it up. I cringe a bit at the smell, but thankfully I'm masked, so she can't see my face. "I suppose the Roswald family will be the frequent ones, but maybe the Jalmack family will come for a visit this time around." She replies and I clench my teeth instinctively.
Jalmack.
The one that shot Sabo.
Hearing that, I smile at her, "Okay. Thanks for the info, lady! I'll pay for the info with money after I go grab old man Rayleigh. I put Takao in your hands as a warrant until I bring him back home. You both can talk to each other if you want. Takao, I give you permission to tell her shits unless it's something embarrassing about me. Wish me luck!"
"Have a safe hunt." Shakky bids with a wave of her hand and a smile, while Takao is looking at me silently with worry.
I wave back at her as I take my key-sized spear from my pocket, commanding it to return normal-sized as I exit the bar and hop on it before we're off to the auction in Grove 1, both me and my weapon thrumming in anticipation to deal with the one that shot Sabo down.
Well, if it's not him, I can still have my fun hunting my first dragon.
(Posted on May 6th, 2022)
