Still Alive! Sort of. School is evil, sometimes... and I'm lazy... anyways! Here's the next chapter, this ones extra long so I hope it makes up for the time it took for me to finish it. I do not own One Piece (Believe me, I've checked). Onwards and enjoy!
Another month had passed; well it was a little more than a month but meh, technicalities. I was on a ship, heading away from the West Blue and towards the Red Line. 'Mainland' I thought. A sigh escaped my lips and I turned onto my side, the small ship I was on hadn't been able to spare me a cabin, so I was sharing with the crew. They hadn't offered me a hammock so I slept on my swag, and honestly I preferred it. Having a hammock would mean being surrounded by people, and I don't think I could handle that just yet.
I had killed a man. Truly killed him, I took his life and hadn't thought twice about it… until now. I had committed murder. It didn't matter if the man had deserved or not, or what my motives were or what his motives were. The fact stood clear, plain as day, that I had killed someone. Sure, I knew that I would have to fight, and most likely take lives… but knowing and doing are two very, very, different things. I turned again, this time facing the wall. I hadn't been sleeping properly ever since that island. Sure, I slept, but those nights were filled with images of blood and lifeless eyes. Sometimes mine, sometimes his, sometimes it was a complete strangers or a character from this world, and sometimes it was people from my old world. I shuddered at the images that crossed my mind's eye even when awake.
I shifted onto my back, staring at the ceiling. I had tucked myself in a corner of the room, and continued to contemplate what I had done. I stopped crying long ago. For the first three days I had cried, and cursed and hated myself. Then I had gotten over that, telling myself that crying would do nothing to change what was already done, but while my tears and self-inflicted hate had stopped, the nightmares had not. It seemed that even though I accepted what happened, I had not accepted what I had done. I couldn't get over it. It remained in my head.
'The hard part isn't killing, it's what comes after' I thought to myself. I looked to my left, and observed the sleeping sailors in the room. Did they know they were sleeping amongst a killer? Were they killers too? I covered my eyes with one hand, and did my breathing exercises to calm me down. Now I was just being paranoid, and pessimistic.
"You must find a way, to break down this door, then you'll find yourself in a brighter world" I sang quietly, remembering the song and strangely enough it seemed relevant "We're gonna change your mind. Look inside yourself and find hate, find fear. Your life is over here" I continued to sing quietly, so quietly it was only a whisper.
Yes, I had killed a man. Yes, it could have been avoided. But what were the chances of successfully beating him without killing him? What good would have letting him live been? Yet I was filled with guilt, with shame, with a sense that this would happen again. I sat up and lent against the wall, grabbing my bag I took out the brown leather journal I had bought earlier. Taking a pen I started to write, write my thoughts and fears. What I regretted, what I didn't. I poured my soul and sorrows into the pages.
As I closed the book, I closed the door to my suffering. I felt lighter, I felt complete once more. I had killed a man, and while that wasn't okay, I was okay with it. I would have to kill again, but I would avoid it when I can, I would never enjoy killing. Winning? Yeah obviously, but never killing, I would never take pleasure in someone else's death.
This chapter of my life was over. It's about time I continued on.
Standing up, I decided to head above deck. For some reason I wasn't tired, but I ignored that and went on the deck. Taking in the early morning view, I inhaled deeply and enjoyed the cool salty air. In a few more months, my time in the Blues would be done, and I would be continuing on to the Grand Line and the New World.
I went over to the railing and sat on it, pulling up the fabric of my pants on my right leg. It had been over a month since I got my first wound in this world, besides the landslide, and this would mark my first scar since coming here. The scar was a jagged line of raised skin, at the moment the flesh was pink but I had no doubt that it would whiten soon enough. I traced the numb area, recalling the events after I had left the pit.
I couldn't believe I had forgotten about such a wound, I hadn't even limped when I had walked all the way to the hotel. Probably made me look like badass, I laughed a little at the sudden thought. When I had woken up, on the other hand… my swag and blanket had been covered in blood and my leg was on fire with pain throbbing with my heartbeat. I had thrown out the blanket and done my best to clean the swag, though it was still heavily stained. But before any of that I had snatched my first aid kit and done my best to tend to the wound, I had spent nearly an hour disinfecting it, stitching it properly and bandaging it with extra padding for the bleeding. Then I had been limping for the better half of my journey to the mainland. Even now, I still had jolts of ghost pains from the old wound. Shaking my head, I pulled the fabric over the scar and jumped back onto the deck, looking for something to do.
Going over to the rigging I climbed up to the sail and sat atop the wooden beam that kept the sail in place. It was a peaceful morning, and as people began to rise from slumber the mainland became visible from the horizon. I took a deep breath when I realised that I would be going to the South Blue next. I don't think I could avoid the soon-to-be Strawhats just yet. I hadn't seen anything in the newspapers or from my informants about any crew that fits the description that I knew by heart. I had a pretty good idea that this was before when Luffy set out and probably before Ace set out as well.
I helped out amongst the ship while we sailed towards land at full speed. Once we were on land I took my stuff, paid the captain a little extra, and left the docks and towards the laundrette. The ride here had taken ages and the only clean clothes I had left were the ones I was wearing. Once I found a place, I immediately set about washing my clothes -most of them were either black or red, so I really didn't have to worry about mixing colours- and while I waited for them to dry, I went out to a bar to enjoy a meal and a drink.
Sitting down at a seat near the window, I checked the menu before making an order. My drink came first, it wasn't alcoholic but it was sweet. The door opened, but I ignored it because there were a bunch of people coming and going. But when the chatter of the bar instantly died down, I turned to see who could possibly illicit a response like that.
Now, I consider myself someone that wouldn't openly stare at anyone, but when one of your favourite characters in One Piece walks through the door then anyone would be hard pressed not to stare. I wondered how he ended up on the mainland, because I don't remember any part where he had been on the mainland before.
'Probably got lost' I thought wryly as I watched the green haired male ignore everyone and walk over to the bartender and order something. I turned back to my meal and happily continued consuming it. I blinked when I saw a familiar green sash in my peripheral vision, looking up I swallowed and tilted my head at him.
"Mind if I sit with you?" Roronoa Zoro asked me, and I stared for another few seconds before nodding. He sat across from me, I took a sip of my drink, and I continued to stare at him. "What?" he asked finally, with no small amount of impatience.
"Just observing, I guess. I've never seen a swordsman with three swords before" I replied, though that was just a half-baked lie. I had seen him fight a bunch of times, and it was one of the most epic things ever. He smirked at me, but before a conversation could begin his food and drink came and we both returned to our respective meals.
"Hey" I said suddenly, he hummed in acknowledgment "Have you ever been disarmed?" I asked and he looked at me sharply, so I quickly amended my question "I mean, have you practiced countering disarming moves, not just by other swordsmen but by an unarmed opponent?" I said, and he gave a look that was more calculating and contemplative.
"No, I don't believe so" he gave me a grin "have you ever fought a swordsman?" he asked and I returned his grin.
"Only mediocre ones" I replied. We both finished out meals quickly and I paid for him, since he was broke, and we went to a clearing away from the village, after we picked up my clean and dry clothes. We didn't want to cause any unnecessary damage, after all. I rolled my shoulders and tested my leg, to make sure it wouldn't give out on me.
"Just so you know, I've hurt my leg and it's only just healed so I might be a bit weak on my right" he nodded his understanding and drew his blades, I took a stance and gestured for him to attack. Never in my life did I expect to run into one the Strawhats, even if they weren't in the crew yet, and couldn't help but feel excited.
Zoro came at me with a basic double cross slash; smiling at the move I avoided it by spinning to the side of him. As his arm extended out to the side to complete the failed attack, I used a few quick movements to force the sword on his left side out of his hand and into my own. I placed the broad side of the sword on his shoulder, showing that this move had the potential to be fatal. He smirked at me, and took his sword back. I nodded and jumped back for our training session to continue again.
I learned a lot as well. Zoro was kind enough to teach me some basic swordsmanship, and while I was good he commented I wouldn't be a master any time soon. I had agreed with a laugh wholeheartedly. I also learned the movements of a swordsman, and as we continued our friendly matches it had increasingly easier to analyse his movements and predict his attacks. He had learned how to counter disarming moves, both basic and advanced, so the fact we both got something out of it besides a workout was a real plus.
We also developed this cool way of communicating without words but I digress.
By the end of the day, we were both exhausted, though Zoro did his best to look as unaffected as a man who went through several punches and kicks could. I, on the other hand, had no problem collapsing to the ground with a mix between a sigh a groan. I had a few superficial cuts -they still stung- as my own lessons for when I hadn't been paying as much attention as I should have been, or when I had left one side unguarded. Although he was more forgiving around my right side, considering that I had experienced some ghost pains.
"You're really strong" he commented, leaning against a nearby tree. I breathed out a laugh, still trying to refill my body with oxygen, and waved a hand to him in thanks.
"Not nearly strong enough, but I'll get there. You pretty tough yourself, but you've got a long way to go before you beat Mihawk" I commented, and Zoro gave me a sharp glare that also held a questioning undertone, so I explained. "It's every swordsman's dream to become the best, even if it's not their immediate goal they all fancy the idea. It's obvious, though, that it is your ambition to become the best of the best. We've both got a long way to go, myself more so" I finished, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
"What is your dream?" Zoro asked, sitting down next to me. Which surprised me, but I didn't show it. I looked up at him but eventually turned my eyes back to the darkening sky. My dream was even harder to achieve, since there isn't an actual title for 'Greatest Martial Artist' or anything like that.
"To be the best fighter, the greatest martial artist, someone who can never be beaten in hand-to-hand combat" I said finally, I felt his eyes on me and heard his chuckle. I smirked at his response, and lifted my hand to lightly tap my knuckles against his arm.
I'll translate: 'I'm sure you make it, eventually' –Zoro.
'Gee, thanks, you too' –me.
Yeah… that's how we communicate, mostly.
We decided to camp out here, and go our separate ways tomorrow. I set up the tent while Zoro got firewood; I made sure at all times he was always within immediate view. He started the fire and I cooked. We shared a tent and slept the night, and half the morning, away. We packed up and said our goodbyes before parting ways, it sounds quick and uneventful but considering that Zoro has never packed a tent before it was pretty funny. As the green haired swordsman walked away I watched him walk down the road, before he suddenly took a sharp left into the forest. Away from where he originally wanted to go. I tried to hide my laughter, but it came bursting out and I spent a good minutes just standing in the middle of the road laughing. I probably looked crazy.
God, how long has it been since I laughed?
Inhaling long and slow breaths until my lungs stopped hurting, I straightened up and watched were my training companion had been. The poor man had no idea who was going to end up being his captain. Many a time I had been tempted to mention Luffy and the rest of the crew but had withheld my voice from speaking, I would have to try and avoid the others lest I do or say something stupid.
Sighing at my own thoughts, I turned away and started walking. And walking, and walking, and walking. God, no wonder people prefer to sail! Nothing ever happens on land! At least you have the prospect of a storm, or fishing, or something! Is there nothing to do on this insufferable strip of land that separates the Blues? Seriously, I might actually enjoy some bandits or something attacking me, just for something to do! Oh wait, there's no one here!
Note my sarcastic and unhappy thoughts.
I looked away from the road, and up towards the sky. I can see why people preferred the ocean compared to the land, and while the sights and smells were unique in their own right, nothing can beat the salty smell on the wind and the exhilaration of seeing something off in the distance. It could be anything! An island, a ship, a giant, a sea king, a storm, and more! Here on land, you were pretty restricted with what to expect. Trees, towns, roads, maybe a storm but beyond that… it was a constant, a dull and boring constant of never-changing normality.
My eyes followed a bird as it flew overhead, and continued to do so until it vanished beyond the tree-line to my right. I stared at the forest as I walked, I noticed the trees were tall and old, the branches thick and strong, and everything was close together, almost smothering in its closeness.
I bit my lip as a thought came to mind. I had always wanted to do it, and now that the limitations on reality were a lot looser here maybe I could. But what would it look like if I fell or couldn't even get up the tree? Shaking my head of those self-conscious and decidedly unhelpful thoughts, I took a sharp right –not unlike was Zoro had done hours earlier- and entered the forest. I stopped when I was far enough away from the road, and stood in front of a mighty tree. Its branches were high and tangled amongst its neighbours; I couldn't see the sky from here even though little streams of light seeped through the thick canopy.
Shrugging off my pack, I took a readying breath and ran at the tree. Jumping off the ground and into the air, I angled myself so my feet hit the trees trunk, and pushed off the large structure. I wasn't anywhere near reaching the lower branches, and I huffed at my lack of height –even though that was a good thirty metres that I just scaled- before landing with nary a noise.
Going at it again, I jumped high into the air, kicked off the tree and towards another one. I must have looked like an ascending, zigzagging blur to any onlooker. Finally, I got high enough to grab one of the lower branches and then proceeded to swing myself up onto it. Landing lightly, I squatted and looked down. I was at least a hundred metres up, and now that I was up here the height of these sentient plants really struck me. How old must this forest be to have grown to such amazing heights?
'Looks like the land isn't as dull as you originally thought' my mind retorted my earlier belief, and I chuckled before jumping over the edge. I didn't trust myself enough yet to fall a hundred metres and land without injury, so I did that zigzagging thing again to get down. Once I had secured my backpack onto my shoulders, I ascending into the lower branches of the tree tops and looked around.
It was so different being up here than it is to be on the forest floor. Looking up into the higher branches, my eyes caught a bird that was watching me. Perhaps it was curious as to why a human was up here in the canopy, when it had no wings to fly? I turned to the branch in front of me, only a few metres away. I tensed my legs, and like a released coil, sprung forward with a relaxed kind of familiarity with the movement.
I landed on the branch in a crouched position, still uncertain about what I was doing, but when I didn't lose my balance and didn't fall down I stood and jumped to the next branch. My pause was shorter than the last one, and my leap was more confident and less cautionary. I jumped from one branch to another and another and soon I was practically flying through the trees, my feet barely touched the platforms before I was soaring again. Going a dozen metres at a time, at least, before I kicked off a branch or a tree trunk. Sometimes I would use my hands to grab onto a branch and swing to my next destination whenever it became too enclosed to simply jump, or when I wanted to go to a higher level.
Needless to say, I had way more fun than simply walking, and I covered way more ground as well. I had a few slip ups, though, when I encountered some slippery something on the trees but I recovered quickly enough. My feet suffered a bit, as I discovered when I found a town to stay at before it got too dark.
They had become really swollen, and some parts were bleeding. I had disinfected them and wrapped them in my remaining bandages, but knew I wouldn't be doing any strenuous activity for a while. Luckily, there was a group of travelling performers that had let me tag along. It had been fun, and they had really liked my stories of my adventures, however few they were.
In return for letting me ride with them, I had to help with some basic things and give them some tea recipes. Somehow I had found myself sitting with the older women, learning how to sew and repair clothing. It had been a bit of a bazar experience, considering I wasn't exactly all about delicacy, but I had learned a lot and had gotten pretty good at it.
When my feet had gotten better, they had been sad to see me leave, but with promises to write to each other I had left them in good spirits and good health. I gave my feet a few more days rest, with boring walking, before returning to my treetop travel and cutting off days of travel time. Only this time I had regular resting intervals, and checked my feet to make sure they were handling it. A few more towns and a few more camp-outs later I was on the other side.
I looked out to the expanse of ocean that greeted me, inhaled the salty air and enjoyed the warm sand under my feet. I just stared, just took in the beautiful sight and listened to the noises around me and- ohmygodtheresacannonball!
Ducking under the projectile, I looked back as it passed overhead, and watched at it tore through sand and trees in a shattering explosion. I heard distant screams, and realised I had exited the forest not far from a town, which, it just so happened, was being attacked by pirates… great.
"A moment of peace is just too much to ask, it seems" I said irritably, like some great wrong had been done to me. After deciding that, yes, I should help this poor town, took off at high speeds towards the town. Avoiding poorly aimed cannonballs the entire way.
When I arrived at the fishing town, I looked around the pathetically small plaza –when compared to the one back at the islands it really was pathetically small- and noticed without a hint sympathy that everyone were either running around like headless chooks or completely hysterical. Even the Marines looked like they didn't know what to do, which was really sad. However, now that I looked at it with a non-condescending eye… it looked really funny.
I burst out laughing when a Marine tripped as he was running to the docks, stifling my laughter into chuckles I picked the man up by the scruff of his shirt before he could get trampled. My shoulders were still shaking, and I was struggling to keep my breathing steady, but no one could deny the broad I-am-silently-laughing-at-you grin that was stuck on my face.
"Need a little help there?" I asked when the Marine was steady. He was a good foot taller than me –no surprise there- and was darkly tanned. He looked down at me, a shocked look on his face. It took me a moment to realise he was surprised a girl had lifted him up like he barely weigh anything, my grin quickly evaporated at that. I'm a wee bit defensive about that, in case you haven't noticed.
"Uh…" the man tried to speak, and I only sighed in response. Well, since he was clearly incompetent and unable to act, it looks like I would be getting in on the action. Stepping away from him, I gave him a mock-salute and an insulting grin.
"See ya in the fight then!" I crowed before leaping onto the rooftops and taking off at high speed towards the docks. I landed in front of a group of navy soldiers, and chortled at how they all jumped and exclaimed in surprise. Standing up from my landing position, I put crossed my arms in front of me and stared out at the pirate ship. I didn't recognise it Jolly Roger, and since it was targeting a fishing village then it couldn't be very tough. So, they were more bullies than real pirates. Well, that was disappointing, but they could have a few good fighters. Maybe one would be a Devil Fruit user?
"W-who are you?" one of the Marines called out when he had recovered. I blinked before turning my head to the group of men. I had completely forgotten they were there. Turning around to face them fully I gave them a grin and put my hands on my hips.
"Call me Traveller!" I exclaimed happily, like there wasn't a pirate ship behind me and a town suffering a barrage of artillery in front of me. They all gave me deadpanned and confused looks, probably wondering where this whacko had come from. I giggled at their looks.
A large explosion popped my ears, and I felt the docks vibrate violently under my bare feet. Turning to my right, where the sound had come from, and found wood and debris falling back to where a stack of crates had been. I tilted my head, as though wondering why those crates had randomly combusted.
"Oh yeah" I said, drawing out the 'oh' as I turned to face the ship. It had gotten closer, and now I could make out the crew running about, preparing to attack. "I had forgotten about them" I said simply, I smirk found its way onto my lips. I was itching for a good fight, and I'm hoping this one will be decent enough. Funny, how quickly I can become violent. I continued to watch them, and found myself getting a bit impatient.
Seriously, how long did it take to dock the bloody ship and raid the god damn town? Not that they would get the chance. I turned to the Marines once again, and poked the one closest to me.
"Oi, don't you guys have a ship or something?" I asked plainly, he looked to me in surprise before turning his fearful eyes back towards the approaching ship.
"We only have one, and it's supposed to be out on patrol" he explained, and I bit back a laugh. He sounded like he blamed the navy ship for missing the pirates. It was only one ship, if you wanted a better line of defence then you would need more than one ship.
Suddenly the men were readying their guns, and above the screams of terror I heard the triumphant sounds of men who believe they've already won. Looking behind me, I realised with no small amount of glee that the pirates and their ship was now within jumping distance. So, without any further ado I tensed my whole body and shot forward like a bullet on steroids. I crashed through the railing and my feet skidded against the wooden floorboards of the deck. I managed to stop myself from going any further by punching the mast, of course I broke it, it creaked and cracked before slowly tilting one way and began to fall, the ropes tethered to it snapped and it crashed loudly onto the helm. Luckily the guy manning the helm had managed to jump out of the way.
No one moved, they just looked between the mast and me with amazement and shock in their eyes. At first I thought it was because I was female, but then I realised I was still in the Blues, which meant not many people had the strength I had. I smiled sheepishly and stuck my hands in the pockets of my ever-present hoodie.
"Whoops" I said lamely, my grin still in place. It was then all hell broke loose, and about time too!
Everything happened at once. Shots were fired from both sides, men swarmed around me with the intent to maim and murder, but that didn't really work out for them. Most of them were down with one punch, or kick and none of them were fast enough to actually hit, let alone hurt me. It seemed as though this would be an uninteresting endeavour, I decided with a disappointed sigh. It was then the door to the captains' chambers was violently slammed open, I looked up and saw a man that was… hairy, really, really hairy. Seriously, he had a beard, and his torso and limbs were covered in thick black strand of hair.
"What's going on?" he hollered, and his men cowered "What happened to the ship? And why hasn't the town been taken already?" he asked shrilly. I stared at him with a deadpanned expression; he wasn't very bright, apparently.
"W-we're in the process now, captain! We're just having some unexpected issues" one of the crewmembers said, giving me a pointed look. I didn't even try to look offended; I just smiled easily and clasped my hands behind my back, leaning on the balls of my heels. Looking like I didn't have a care in the world.
"A problem, is it? Huh, can't even take care of a little girl?" he asked mockingly, I continued to ignore the man and looked up as a tiny piece of debris floated down towards the deck. "Ha! I'll take care of this, step aside weaklings!" the man bellowed, and everyone on board –minus me- did exactly as he commanded. He strode towards me with loud, confident, steps and held his hand out to the side of him as though he was holding a ball.
I wasn't paying attention, I was thinking about what I should have for dinner. I was in the mood for some venison, but chicken sounded good as well. Hm… I guess if I don't find a ship to take me to the next island then I'll have-
My body moved before I registered what was happening. I dropped to the ground as something dark and round went flying towards me, it passed harmlessly overhead and crashed into the wall on the other side of the ship. What the hell? Was that a cannonball or something? I turned to see what the hell had been thrown only to see… what?
What?
A ball of spiky quills was protruding from the wall. Let me repeat this. A ball of spiky quills are protruding from the wall. So allow me to repeat my question.
What?
Soooo? How'd I do? Hope you enjoyed the writing, and the story. I understand it seemed a bit off on some bits, and I'm sorry for that. Next one should come up a little sooner.
Imma Out!