Chapter 13: Firearms and Consequences
"So, you were also sent here like us, huh? After meeting that queer man at that queer corridor", Oda said with a wry grin as he narrowed his eyes. The deep creases in his skin deepening. Abe realising the sudden change in tone quit his previous antics, he returned to his calm composure.
"Yes. One day, all of a sudden, I was there. And that man opened a door, and I was sent here, to this world and a Drifter", Abe said. "So I understood the role that was upon me. I wasn't meant to live in Kyoto, contemplating the stars and finding pleasure with my magical creations. I was meant to live here to defeat the Offscourings, which I also call as 'Ends'".
"Oh, you're talking about that huge man and that fire woman", Oda said in realisation, he took a look around them as the few flamed areas were starting to die down. "You call them 'Ends' eh? We had some tough time with them", as well as a near death experience for Yoichi if you guys hadn't shown up he thought but he kept silent.
"Did you take care of that woman", Oda said as he turned to Takeko. She shrugged and pointed to Toyohisa.
"Yes. I threw her into the well and gave her a head-butt", Toyohisa said answering for Takeko whose eyes were laced with boredom as she realised that all the horse-riders were probably dead and sill probably writhing around in pain from their wounds if they were lucky. The fun had been taken away, and now there was nothing to do.
"Y-you didn't kill her?!" Olmine suddenly shouted in surprise, Takeko cringed slightly at the girl's yelling. She slowly edged away from the girl and placed herself next to Oda.
"T-that's not good!" Abe exclaimed in shock, "Where is this well?!" He asked. As soon as Takeko pointed in the direction is which the well was at Abe and Olmine was gone. The Drifters just looked at each other for a moment in surprise but soon followed behind them to see what all the fuss was about.
"…No sign of her", Oda said as he crouched next to the well peering down. The well wasn't very deep in the first place so she could've climbed out quite easily.
"So, she ran away? A tough woman indeed", Toyohisa said not really caring though. Besides even if she did run away the next time Takeko would finish her off herself. He was just about to walk away but Abe's voice called him back in retaliation.
"That's not the point! Why?! Why haven't you killed her?! She's one of those 'Ends'! We must kill them all!" Abe said angrily, his voice rising every second. Was this man a buffoon? Why would he do something as stupid as that?
"Killing a woman brings no honour at all. Instead, it brings only shame", Toyohisa said dully, his eyes expressing distaste. He turned his eyes at the monk, not changing one bit in expression.
"This is not the time for that! Men or women we must kill every Offscouring!" Abe said with a passion, there was a limit on how stupid a person could get. He was also on the verge of getting into a verbal argument with the red clad man.
"I don't care about what you must or what you mustn't. I never kill a woman. This is MY rule and I WILL abide by it", Toyohisa said in a hard voice, it was steady and there was a commanding presence that everyone seemed to feel. "We are not pawns of that man in the corridor. We are human beings. Therefore I will do what I think I must do".
'I see, so this is how a 'samurai' thinks. We had none of their likes in the Heian Era. Minions who follow their own, strange code all the Path of the Warrior. That is their strength. And perhaps that's why they were called here. But all Offscourings shall be killed. We must kill them before it's too late! No matter if they are women or children! No matter how tragic their past is!'
"Takeko, weren't you the one fighting her? What happened?" Oda said turning his attention to the black-haired girl. Did she perhaps leave it up to Toyohisa because she was lazy, no. It couldn't be because of a stupid reason like that. She much too initiative than that, or was it perhaps her natural nature to serve others. He was sure that Toyohisa had realised it too, she did everything without being asked and whatever they asked of her she never questioned. She was the perfect aide. but Oda withheld some knowledge he had gained from being a daimyo for so long. These sort of people were also not to be trusted, but he had an inkling that this was just the way she was.
"I simply let Toyo deal with", she said her eyes drifting off towards the forest. As if she saw the fleeting glint of silver armour of the Offscouring.
"Great master", Olmine said calling their attention. "That old man in that carriage. Who would be that man…?" She indicated towards a horse-drawn carriage which held three men, two of which were evidently from Westerners. The third was a decrepit man who evidently had a few loose screws in his head, he was mumbling in a strange language in which only he understood.
"His name is Hannibal Barca. He's a Drifter too. He spends most of the time in stupor now. His mental state got really worse these last few days. Maybe an advanced stage of senility", Abe said in a sombre tone.
She took notice that Abe had finished talking and their group of people were starting to wander away to their own business, she let out another tired yawn. 'I need water and some painkillers', she thought tiredly. Now seeing that the night was slowly disappearing with the dawn approaching her eyes could finally have some rest, the bright flashes of fire in the pitch lack of night really hurt her sensitive eyes. Although her lack of sleep could also contribute to the fact her eyes looked blood-shot. She took note that Toyohisa had disappeared somewhere, the decrepit Drifter was also no-where to be seen. Oda was also seemed enraptured with a strange weapon which two other Drifters had brought with them.
"Takeko, come over here! Check this out!" Oda called her over signalling her to come by his side. She let out a tired huff and heaved herself off of the crumbling stone wall and ambled comfortably to the warlord.
"What, what do you want, Nobu?" Takeko said tiredly as she leaned down, putting her hands on her knees for support. Oda was almost tempted to fondle her breast but remembered that Takeko could easily slice off his hand without any sort of remorse.
"What do you think this is?" He said holding up a small cylindrical shell which was a brassy colour, Takeko took it from his hand and inspected it for herself. It looked familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it, she sniffed it and immediately drew her nose away from the shell. She narrowed her eyes.
"A sort of 'case' for a 'cartridge'", Takeko said slowly, although she had never seen such a case before, made completely of metal. "But I have never seen one made out of metal before", she said with a rather perturbed expression, she looked up to see the two Western men with furrowed eyebrows. From what era were they taken from; she thought dimly.
"'Case'? 'Cartridge'?" Oda said curiously as he got up, Takeko also straightened herself out. He looked at her as she continued to inspect the shell, every now and then comparing it to her own rifle's bullets.
"Hey pops, you never heard of it? Oh, sorry, forgot that you are from another era", the western man with the moustache said. Butch took a quick glance at the oriental maiden, his curiosity kindled. He heard that Asian women were supposed to be the household type, so why did this Asian woman, 'Takeko' have a rifle and spear-thingy attached to her back as well as having the knowledge of guns?
"You pack the bullet, gunpowder and the primer into the case. That makes the 'cartridge' that goes into the firearm and when the hammer strikes the butt of the cartridge, the primer goes 'boom!' And there you have your shot", Butch took out his own hand-gun and fired two shots into the air. The resounding bang echoed through the sun kissed landscape, Takeko widened her eyes, the two shots he did were done so quickly. There was no wait time for the flint to light.
Takeko herself was amazed and astounded by this gun but she was also very afraid of it, if such weapons existed in the future than wars would have even more casualties and definitely more deaths. Considering that surviving a gun shot was a slim probability already but with such a weapon, how much bloodshed would there be. She narrowed her eyes in revulsion, however Oda who was by her side had very different thoughts.
"S-so…what about that thing that killed that big guy? It's a weapon that shoots one bullet after another, right?" Oda said pointing to a huge gun with a barrel so huge that it could've been mistaken for a cannon, his hand trembling at the revelation of such firearms existing.
"It's called a 'Gatling gun'. Turn the hand crank and you can fire as much as you want. Though we have ran out of bullets, so it's pretty much useless now", Butch said with a sigh, he really did like that gun. Takeko who had not been there to see the firearm in use went over to the carriage to see what all the fuss was about. She ran her fingers along the cold metal barrels, relishing the smooth touch and metallic finish. She had seen a familiar weapon before, but not so well developed, she surmised that these men were perhaps a century ahead of time from her time. Give or take a couple decades.
"A 'Gatling gun', eh?" Takeko said slowly as she ran her fingers along the nuts and screws of the firearm, didn't seem much like a gun, but more of a small cannon. "Nobu?"
"You know, I'm feeling quite like an idiot", Oda said with a dark expression, "If you have these weapons, you won't need to do what I did. More than that, the battlefield itself will change.
"Large battalions clustered together will be killed in the blink of an eye. No need for rows of riflemen. They should be dispersed in strategic points. I-I, I want these sooo badly! I want these no matter what it takes!" Oda said with a wicked grin etched across his face. Takeko narrowed her eyes and bit her long a little, drawing out a little blood.
"Highly unlikely to have them, I'm afraid", Abe said intervening with his running thoughts, "I did examine as well. The guns, cases and the Gatling, but couldn't figure out how they are made. I showed them to many blacksmiths. The metallurgy in this world is not advanced enough to produce them. No wonder, since all these come from a future way too distant".
"To begin with, I don't even know what this 'gunpowder' is made of. Kid and Butch are experts in shooting, but they don't know how to make the things they shoot", Abe continued with furrowed brows.
"No need to worry about gunpowder. We are making it right now", Oda said bluntly with a wry grin.
"No kidding! Hahaha!" Butch said with a huge grin, at this rate they would all be ready for a full-on war. Takeko bit her lip in irritancy, Butch took note of this as he eyed the woman. He wasn't really big in Asian women but he had to admit that Takeko was a looker. Takeko caught him looking at her with some interest and almost scowled, she didn't have good memories of white men but she knew not judge based on looks.
"You are really 'queer'. I've seen many Drifters with many different weapons but your actions may change this world in its entirety", Abe said standing tall with his hands on his hips.
"So, now we need only the primer", Kid said dully.
"And what's that 'primer' stuff?" Oda asked.
"The thing that goes in the butt of the cartridge. Hit it, blow it", Butch said using a shell as a reference.
"I believe that the 'primer' is not gunpowder, but rather a concoction of something else. We are trying to figure it out too, but…" Abe said slowly.
"Hey, aren't you a scholar?" Oda said with a deadpanned expression. "Do something!"
"My field of specialisation is the divination and magic arts. This is more fitting to an alchemist or an herbalist", Abe said with a bead of sweat rolling down his face. He hoped the same thing wouldn't happen with Toyohisa.
"Nobu", Takeko called out to the elder man. Oda turned his attention to the woman, "Are you that this is the right thing to do. We are speeding up the natural processes of this world. Outsiders we are, are we not to let the natural state of things flow as is?" Takeko said with a accusing eyes. Oda thought for a moment. Her words had weight but regardless he would continue to push forward.
"We are not here by choice, we are fighting a war with monsters. And if there is any war I will be participating or orchestrating I will not be on the losing side. I refuse. Besides this world will probably discover this in several hundred years, we are simply speeding up the processes", he said with a manis grin as he beckoned to come closer. "You, as well are part of this madness. You can no longer back away from it but do not worry I will not let my dirtiness taint you. Just be yourself", he laughed as he turned towards the sound of carriages.
Takeko narrowed her eyes, she felt like a child being berated and she didn't like it. She had an urge to smack him just like Toyohisa but she simply walked away. Indeed she was already part of this madness, but she was far from tainted. She was already knee-deep in blood as is so it was impossible for her to come of out of this clean.
The sound of a nearing horse-drawn carriage took the Drifters attention as a voice called to Abe. "Great master, I brought the 'sulphur' you are talking about", the man who was steering the carriage said. He too was wearing strange clothing with similar designs to Olmine's and Abe's.
"Shem! What happened?!" Abe said in surprise, but expecting his apprentice to be here.
"Olmine asked HQ to bring sulphur here, but this stinks very bad...why would you want this?" He answered obediently, he covered his nose, trying to block out the stench.
"Oh, so she did get it for me. Good job Olminipples. As a reward, I'll fondle your breasts later on", Oda said with a vindictive grin. "And now…We have everything we need. Now we go for the 'dwarves'!"
Sigh, funny fact, before I wrote this fanfiction I considered many possibilities for my OC. I wanted the OC to be female and oriental so I did a few months research on who would be the best real-life person that should be in the fanfiction. The top three were Hua Mulan, Tomoe Gozen and Oichi (Oda's younger sister), but none of them made the cut. Maybe I'll make another fanfiction featuring them instead Takeko, actually no. Too much effort, I'm incredibly lazy.
There's also the fear that since this manga is still ongoing Hirano might actually add the Takeko to the story and then I'm screwed. Got no idea if the chance is big or not, but if he does add Takeko to his manga as a Drifter, you can kiss this fanfic goodbye.
Edit: 12/10/16. Hi from future me