~Chapter 2: Second Chance
"Wait…What?" He used his hands to flurry his crimson hair in confusion.
Were these people trying to trick him?
August didn't know to believe them or accuse them of clawing into his skin and stripping him of ever feeling himself whole.
These bastards.
He himself had half a mind to blow a gasket and try his best to fight for himself, but his legs however, screamed otherwise.
"Is that really what happened?"
"Well yes actually that is what happened." This time it was the silent Jozu that replied, he seemed to have a strong reason to finally talking.
August took a glance at Whitebeard and then Marco. He put his arms down and sighed. He wasn't sure what to do at all.
"A more detailed explanation is that two days we were doing our thing sailing and drinking beer. Then at around dawn, a giant storm brewed that we had to take our measures against. We couldn't see anything at all, when the storm finally cleared out we found you on the top of our hull. Jozu was actually the one that found you covered in blood laying face flat." A kind Marco calmly replied to the trauma that August was feeling.
"Is that really what happened?" August couldn't believe that such a thing happened without him even knowing it at all. He couldn't remember anything about falling or getting ripped in shreds at all. It was all foreign to him.
"Yes, we took you to intensive care and the Nurses even said that you were as close to death as anyone has ever seen."
"Does that mean I will stay like this forever?" August touched his claw deep marks on his torso and closed his eyes. He clenched both arms around his legs and he felt something else.
The commanders then were silent; it wasn't supposed to be like this. He thought they were jolly pirates. Just like their Jolly Roger. The marine pulled up his pants to knee level and saw that both of his calves were bandaged and it went all the way up to high thigh.
"So it wasn't just the claw marks." His voice was toneless and almost had a negative tone, it was too depressing. He could hear the laughs and happiness seep through the room, but it was always killed before it reached his brain.
"It was actually interesting, only your legs were harmed and your hands only suffered minor blood loss from the fall. That means you have pretty thick skin Valentine." The happy Fire Fist Ace said it this time and it was interesting how August smiled at that.
He was remembering something it was almost like a memory relapse. August closed his eyes and he could see himself. He was around eight to nine years old, the same old shaggy crimson hair, but no eyepatch. He was beside a tall man with broad shoulders. The man was teaching August how to cook an omelet and had a very deep accent.
The next thing that happened was August and the man started fighting and the rebellious child even threw a punch. The old man caught it mid-swing and threw August to the ground over his body. Then a very weird conversation arrived that August couldn't follow.
"You can fight however you want August, but you can never throw a punch."
"Then how will I win Grandpa?"
"You never throw a punch, because to a cook his hands are the most important things." The old man put both of his hands together as a sign.
"So can we use our legs?"
"You can use anything as long as it doesn't break your arms. To a cook there is nothing more important." He was calm and enthralled that he had a chance to have this conversation.
August couldn't see his face, but his grandpa had a master chef hat on and had a long beard. Time seemed to skip and he could see himself training his legs and not using his arms with his Grandpa. The August he saw was valiant in his training efforts and did everything possible with his master. The last scene he saw was his legs bandaged and being iced by his Grandpa, this was his first memory that he remembered. He would treasure it.
A tear came down August's eye as he opened his eyes finding the commanders looking at him intently except Ace who was fast asleep. Nothing seemed to have changed except the fact that a few happy tears were rolling from his eye and the fast asleep Ace.
"To a cook there is nothing more important than your hands." August said with a smile, he had no problem with his legs damaged, he was a follower of his gramps teachings anyways.
Ace abruptly woke up at that moment and focused himself back on the marine; he got to the deal fast after all.
"Is that so? How do you remember that August?" Thatch asked rubbing his chin trying to guess the answer in his head. That was a usual thing to do when he said something random like that.
"I-I saw a memory."
"Is there anything else you saw?"
"I just saw a few scenes like someone flipped panels or something"
"Mmh."
"I liked it even though I didn't see all my history."
"You have no problems with that?" This time it was Marco that asked the question cutting off Thatch mid swing.
"You know? I actually like it this way, I don't have to live on the past and I can freely do whatever I wish." August's confidence grew and his real personality was showing. He was in the lime light.
Someone chuckled, it was a gruff voice. It was Whitebeard; the captain found it amusing that August liked something any regular human would hate. He was after all not any regular human at all.
"That memory showed me that I don't have to sulk on the past or what happened to me, I want to look into the future." The renewed August said struggling to stand up with the help of the wall under him. He wasn't sure what he would do know, but he was sure that he might as well stay with the pirates for a while and then decide on what to do.
"What are you going to do now?" An intrigued Ace spoke out with a smile on his lips, he never stopped smiling. Maybe that was just how he was after all.
"I am going to make a decision." August was intrigued at how timely that question was, he stayed in a pirate's custody for two to three days and he liked it. A great man once said that if you really want to do something you should do it and save yourself a look behind.
"And what will that be?" Marco asked with a dull voice, he seemed to have gone into his lazy mood and didn't want to deal with this situation anymore.
"I would like to join you. I know I am a marine, but without my past that's all behind me now. I want to live a life where I can do whatever I want and seeing how you guys have helped me, I want to repay the favor." A long explanation was needed to make sure that August got the position he wanted. He was only joining to repay the favor to them for saving his life, but he got the vibe that these pirates were good ones.
All the commanders were silent since this decision was to be made by the Captain Whitebeard and only him. That was the fair way anyways.
"Do whatever you want. Not like I care." The usual reply from Whitebeard, but secretly he liked every moment that he gets another person in his family.
"I want him!" Ace said with his ecstatic reply pretty much forcing him to join whichever division Ace commanded.
Weird Division…
"Eghh what?" August decided to play dumb so he can figure out more about the situation he landed himself in. It was the right course of action seeing as he barely knew anything about the crew he just joined.
"You will join my division!" The weirdo without a shirt said with a large smile and a hearty laugh.
"What division is that?" August asked with a smile himself. He liked it so far, personalities like that were always on his good side.
"The Second Division. You are my first recruit so remember to do well!" He seemed to have high expectations for August.
What had he gotten himself into?
August was joining the Second Division and he was the first recruit so that must mean Ace was also a new commander. During the talk that he and the commander had all the other people in the room seemed to stay silent, they were all lightly amusing at each other.
"Remember that you are no longer a marine and you are now a pirate for the Whitebeard Pirates. That means you have lost all formal rank." This time it was Marco that said this with slight amusement in his eyes.
He knew that, the eyepatched former marine knew all this and he didn't really care since he was a Lieutenant after all. He didn't have much to lose at all. It was just a rank after all.
All the commanders smiled at each other and the sake drinking Captain heaved another heavy laughter. Whitebeard was in his own world after August joined but he seemed to have caught on finally. The only person who didn't catch on was the newbie.
"Since you are stripped of all former rank you will be working in the Second Division under Ace as a cabinboy."
"I'm like I don't know 19ish; I look around six feet and have an eyepatch. HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO WORK AS A CABINBOY!" August finally caught on and didn't like it, he stomped on the ground with his right foot and even though it hurt like a bitch. He didn't care; he was only in the mood to rage.
"So? You are the new recruit and you have to work as one." This time around it was Thatch who spoke and seemed to be enjoying himself.
"Fine what do I do now?"
"You clean the deck where you fell from the sky?" Ace said with a smile, they were all enjoying torturing him. He had half a mind to kill them all, but August was changed.
"Is that it? No clean blood from the ground?" His sarcastic, rebellious nature was showing again. Even though August was injured, they were telling him to clean.
"Reminds me. Someone threw up in the front, clean that up as well." The smile that appeared on the Commanders faces irked the newbie badly.
"This is chicken shit."
Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoy the show~
I do not own One Piece.
I do own August Valentine however.
The quote that appears in this chapter is a edited Mahatma Ghandi quote.
I have decided that this will be a story that I will base off of and have some work for this so I am sure that I will get lots of chapters out.
I will try to get a chapter out everyday when I can. But I may slow down to weekly after school starts up.
So like I may be throwing a spoiler out here, but I want to make a plot as soon as possible so I need some OC's! Its pretty simple really, you need to give him a history and all that jazz, but a key point is giving him a job. This way I know exactly how to get your OC to interact with our August here. I even have a flashy template for you guys :D.
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Height:
Appearance:
Personality:
Power/Devil Fruit:
Weapon(s):
Job: (Bounty Hunter, Pirate, Marine, Civilian, Tailor, Jailbird, Crackman, etc.)
History: (Just put how you want your character to meet August if you want it a certain way)
PS: I will add a few words from the piece in the Summary from each chapter. If it doesnt change it means that I was in a major major rush.