Here's the next chap...I think you'll find a familiar character here....
Day 5
I will never, ever look down on Little Garden ever again.
This place is just filled with dinosaurs and all kinds of other beasts. I wanted some action and I got it. We wound up fighting off a bunch of raptors and a T-Rex right on our first night on the island. Captain and our swordsman, Goji had a competition to see who could kill more raptors. We ate well that night.
The next day, Goji, two other new guys and I went to explore the island. Amidst fighting the monsters and running away from some of the other bigger ones, it was sort of a bonding experience for us.
Goji is an old man who's been a swordsman from the day he was born. He was born in Grand Line but grew up in North Blue. He's bald and wears nothing on his upper body but just wears a pair of worn out slacks. One thing that's scary about him is that he's got scars all over his damn old body. There's five crisscrossing on his head, four across his left eye and one on the other. There's two right under his nose, making it look like some fleshy moustache. His chest is a patchwork of scars and his got six running in parallel on his back. His legs also has plenty, including one that looks like jagged lightning running down his right shin.
I asked him about his scars.
This was what he told me.
"I've been to all four corners of the sea, kid. I've fought in five civil wars in five different countries. I've been lost in over ten different jungles, though I've never been here before. I've been all over and the one thing I've seen that's constant no matter where you go, is that people fight. People fight each other for being different. People fight each other over women and drink. Some people fight just because they feel like it. I've fought for countless reasons: for money, in anger, in hate and to protect. These scars are my souvenirs from those battles. They remind me that after eighty years of living, humans are just fucked up. I got this scars from some of the strongest swordsmen in my day, and they were all just fucked up. They craved blood, they loved killing, they killed for money and they can't live without fighting. They were fucked up before I killed them and I'm just as fucked up for killing them."
The old man didn't say anything after that. The four of us just walked on in the forest. The other two guys were Donny and Loki. Donny was a little guy who was twitchy and scared of everything, but could run like the wind (of course, he runs away from battle so that's not really a good attribute). Loki is a quiet, tall, lean guy. He's got this midnight blue hair the he ties back in a ponytail and he's pretty sharp with a gun.
Except for Goji after his talk, the rest of us spent time talking while we were walking.
Until a volcano erupted nearby.
Donny nearly pissed in his pants and the rest of us just laughed at him.
Until we saw an incredible sight. There were two giants fighting each other. With each strike, they made the entire island shake, each step they took felled trees and all the animals fled the fury of their battle. They both fought to a stalemate and laughed. They talked for awhile before going their separate ways.
I was pumped up and wanted to meet those giants. So I ran after one of them. Goji followed me but Donny and Loki had had enough and went back to the ship.
When I caught up with the giant, he seemed amused by my enthusiasm about his fight. He introduced himself as Dorry and explained that he and the other giant, Broggy had been fighting each other for nearly four decades over the issue of whose prized prey had been bigger. Neither of them would go home to their homeland Elbaf until there was a winner. I was a bit disappointed by the reason and said so.
Dorry seemed to find this funny and laughed his ass off at me. I asked him why would he bother to fight over such a small matter for so long.
He just grinned at me and the words he said next really moved me.
"Whose kill was bigger doesn't really matter to us, kid," he said. "What matters is that we both won't back down. We're not fighting over a misunderstanding or an argument or whatever you want to call it. We're fighting for what matters to us: Our pride!"
I just thought his words over. All of a sudden, I was reminded of my fight with that punk, Roger. Our fight in Loguetown could have been avoided had one of us just backed down. But for the sake of our pride, we hadn't and we were willing to fight for it. I understood what Dorry was talking about.
Goji asked Dorry how long it would take for the Log Post to set in Little Garden. I was both alarmed and relieved when Dorry answered it would take a year. I was alarmed because it would take so long and relieved I would get to see more of Dorry and Broggy's gigantic battles.
When we both were about to leave, Dorry told us to come and visit him again. He told us it got a little lonely from time to time and he wouldn't mind the company.
I told him I would definitely be back since we had a year to spend on this island.
I'd definitely go back. There's nothing else to do other than kill dinosaurs here anyway.
Newgate out.
