Disclaimer: Do not own One Piece. All plot and OCs belong to Volleys-chan and I.
The Dragon Chronicles
Chapter 18 - Disclose
"For a long time I tried to manage an honesty and openness about my personal life because I'm human and I'm normal - well, semi-normal."
-Johnny Depp
"Captain Mizushima Roka is your FATHER!?"
Kaito winced at her loud declaration, irritation and rage bubbling up from inside him about the truth of the statement. "Hey, wanna scream that out again? I don't think everyone heard you the first time!" He splashed her in the face with water as he spoke.
Rei noticed the clipped tone of his voice and the obvious anger he held about it, so she forced herself to lower her tone. However, that didn't mean she was about to drop the matter, now that she knew. Still, she would hold her tongue... for the time being.
"He is your father, isn't he?" She wasn't doubting her conclusion at all, but she needed to hear Kaito say it. She stared him down, unwilling to back down despite knowing Kaito's temperament about the subject.
Kaito stared at her with hard eyes. Rei could see an internal debate raging in his mind as to whether or not he should concede. The natural leader in him wouldn't let him do so very easily. After a while, he sighed, letting the tension from his shoulders relax as he pushed back into the water. Unlike Rei who was sitting on the steps, and already out of the canal, he had yet to get out. He floated on his back, staring up at the sky as he let the water cool his temper.
"Yeah." He finally said, his voice sounded tired and defeated, as he rubbed his temples as though he had a headache. "Mizushima Roka's my old man."
Rei looked at him with great puzzlement. Who in their right mind chose to live a life like this? Always fighting to survive, always in constant danger, always cautious about who could be trusted, and always hungry... it truly was not her first choice, but then again, reconnecting with her family was also out of the question.
"Then why do you live out in the streets if your family is still alive?" Rei could not understand that particular detail. If his family wasn't dead, then why would he-
Kaito pushed himself into a more upright position so he could look her in the eyes. His mouth pulled into a deep frown as his eyes were filled with anger. "He might be my father, but that doesn't mean he's my family. My mother's dead. She was all the family I had."
"But surely Captain Mizushima would have never let you live-"
"My father isn't the issue." Kaito cut to the heart of it, swimming back to the steps that lead out of the water so he could get into Rei's face a bit. "It's his damned family that's the problem!"
Kaito seemed to have caught himself losing his temper towards her and pinched the bridge of his nose as he forced himself to calm down. He knew it wasn't her fault, but the memories still left a bitter taste in his mouth. If he could have avoided this conversation, he would have, but it was too late now. The tale had to be told.
Rei's eyes widened at that. His family. Suddenly the slightly younger boy was starting to make more sense. Kaito only continued when he knew that she had caught onto his meaning. He usually didn't confine this to anyone, but honestly, it felt damn good to admit it to someone at last.
"Yeah, that's right. Not only am I the eldest child of Mizushima Roka, I'm also his bastard child." He laughed bitterly. "My mother and he were childhood sweethearts. However, despite his love for her, grandfather never approved of her. She was a lower class citizen while they were upper class. Like that should make any difference." Kaito snarled angrily as he once again pushed back into the canal and began swimming on his back to calm down his temper enough to finish telling Rei the story behind his heritage.
"My grandfather had already arranged for him to marry a woman of high standing. However, when my father originally rejected her and informed his father of his intentions to marry my mother, Grandfather threatened him by saying he'd disown him. Father was on the verge of losing everything he had worked for and he was willing to accept that. So, my mother, knowing what she was costing him, knew she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she let him throw away his dreams. She broke off her relationship with him and moved to a different district in Water's 7 lower tier so he couldn't find her and talk her out of her decision. Mother didn't realize it until a few month later that she was pregnant with me, but it didn't stop her from living her life without my father. She worked for a good man, raised me by herself, and kept my existence from my father's ears. Her employer was always giving her things to bring home for me, like books, toys, clothes, and even tropical fruit, so it was easier than it could have been being raised by a single parent.
"My mother worked hard to keep my existence from him and the rest of his associates. She wasn't the type to ruin a marriage, even if it was nothing but a sham. He only found out about me when my mother became terminally ill, and even then, it was a shock to his system because he had shown up at our doorstep unannounced to see how she was doing and saw me. When my mother died, he did try his best to bring me into his home, treat me like his son, but his wife and his father were..." He trailed off, the wounds on his heart still ached at their rejection. "They treated me like shit, despite how hard I tried to win their approval. Never around my father, of course, but he travels so often... It wasn't hard for them to find the time away from his watchful eye to mistreat me. Tch, the bitch even got her younger sons treating me like shit... But that's what spoilt upperclass children do, mimic their wicked parents and mistreat others they see beneath them. So, after a year or so, I got sick of it, ran away, and have been on the streets ever since."
Rei stared at him, eyes full of remorse for pushing the subject. She had never experienced rejection like that. Her family, when she had been young, consisted of two loving parents, two playful sisters, and a cute baby brother. Never had she felt the sting of rejection by her own family. Yes, in a way, they were dead to her now and, yes, she knew what it was like to lose important maternal figure, but she had always had guardians, wherever she had gone, who took care of her and loved her.
"Kaito, I'm so so-"
"Save it. I don't want your pity." He cut her off, still floating on his back. He didn't look at her but she heard the quiver in his voice. He was trying to force back tears at the moment and needed time to compose himself.
"I'm not saying sorry for what happened. I won't pity you." Rei corrected him in a stern tone. "But I do apologize for forcing you to tell me."
"Forcing?" Kaito lifted his head up to look at her. His eyes were a bit red, but there were no tears. He snorted mockingly at the idea she had presented, feigning regained control. "You couldn't force me to do anything! Regardless of if you hit me, kicked me, or even shoved me into the canal."
"Then... why did you tell me?" Now Rei was confused.
Kaito shrugged. "Because you're my friend, I guess. Friends tell friends things like that, don't they?"
They were such simple words, but what Rei was given by those words was beyond simple: confirmation. Since coming to Water 7 and meeting Kaito, she had known he was the alpha of the Mizu Mizu Tribe. The group was his nest, just like how the nest was Katsumi's back on Soshi Shima. To Rei's best recollection, there had been no dragon within the nest that Katsumi considered a friend or confidant, outside her dead mate who had betrayed her trust. Even her relations with Toshi was strictly business.
So by telling her, Kaito was - perhaps unintentionally - stating that he viewed her as a friend; she knew how powerful a statement those simple words were, even if in his pig-headedness he didn't. He trusted her far beyond anything she had seen him offer to anyone else. He was giving her the right to see him, not as Kaito the leader of the Mizu Mizu Tribe, but as himself, his strengths, his flaws, and the side of him that was vulnerable and hurt. He had just bared his soul to her. He was giving her the right to claim all that a friendship allowed, but she knew, if this friendship was to truly mean anything, she would need to show him the same level of trust and consideration.
It was what friends like him and her did, after all.
"I was eight." She sighed in exhaustion, catching how his head raised a bit from the water to look at her.
"Hey, just because I decided to tell you doesn't mean you-" Kaito started. Rei lifted her hand in a silencing motion as she shook her head.
"It's what friends do." She was acknowledging his claim with her own. "And I want to tell you as best I can how I ended up here. So please, let me."
She stared at him for a moment until he finally nodded. She smiled weakly before it fell from her face and broke her gaze from his. If she was to do this, she couldn't look at him. Her throat already felt like it was tightening from the strong emotions brought forth by her memories. "It would have been the first time I had ever let the island and I was so excited. I felt like I was on top of the world." She bit her lip before it could quaver and held it between her teeth until she felt like she could continue. "Captain Mizushima was allowing my family to travel on his ship, taking us to my father's home island to visit. He was so nice and kind and I became attached to him quickly."
She chuckled weakly as she glanced at Kaito with a bittersweet smile. She could feel the tears pricking the edges of her eyes as she met his gaze. He was listening with rapt attention now, watching her intently. "He thought I was the most brilliant little thing he had ever met, right after his eldest, he once told me."
Her smile faded as she looked away from him again, shame and venomous disgust written across her face. "But then, I was stolen by pirates. And given to that vile, wretched bitch. They put me in her care and she-" She choked, trying to find the words to describe what had happened, but after a moment she could only bite her lip again and shake her head as the tears finally spilled down her face. The scars on her hands ached as she fought to suppress the memories of her abuse. She tightened her fists in her lap as she tried to regain her composure.
Kaito had finally put himself upright as he slowly swam back to the steps. He was readying to say something, maybe even try to comfort her, but she held her hand up, placing an imaginary line between what was acceptable for him to do at this moment. He understood and sat down next to her instead, listening and watching. Rei was grateful. Once she got control of her emotions again, she was able to continue her story.
"I don't know how long I was with them. It was all a blur really; I couldn't gauge time very well as a child." She laughed a bit at that. "Maybe I still can't. I didn't even know it had been six years since then until I got here... All I knew then is that I hated every moment on that ship." Rei couldn't help the small smile as she thought of what happened next. "But then, one day, there was a Marine ship that came upon the band of pirates and started to attack them. I managed somehow to squeeze myself out of the port window in the cell and swam like there was no tomorrow..." She paused as she mused on that. "I could swim back then. Believe it or not, I was a good swimmer back at home too. Best of my sisters and half of my classmates. And that day it payed off. I was halfway to the Marine's ship when I realized that the pirates had not sent a single person after me. I had tunnel-vision at that point, only able to see that Marine ship, blocking out everything else... until I heard that... that hissing sound."
She glanced up to look at Kaito as she gave him a disbelieving face. "I had found myself in the middle of the ocean with a damn Sea King." She laughed a bit, her mood improving a bit now as she continued to speak. "I thought I was a goner for sure. But then, fate intervened... I had closed my eyes expecting my life to end and suddenly I heard a bullet fired. Not a multitude of gunshot or cannon fire like when they had been laying waste to the pirates' ship, but one, single shot." Her eyes glazed over as she remembered that moment, a smile fighting its way onto her lips. "For some reason or another, probably because she was pissing him off like no tomorrow, one of the two admirals on the ship had made a deal with their prisoner, gave her a gun with a single bullet, and told her if she wanted me to be saved, to do it herself. One shot and she killed the blighter that was easily thrice the size of the Marine ship. All because there was a little girl in the water."
"Kaneko Gin." Kaito filled in the blank with the little he did know.
"Yup." She popped her 'p' a bit before she slowly shook her head in shame. "Ancestors above, I hated her the first moment I looked upon her. How could I had known at the time she had been the one to save me? I didn't and I treated her with contempt because she was a pirate and I hated pirates..."
There was a long pause as Rei fought to collect her thoughts from the myriad of memories and emotions each of them evoked from her. Kaito was kind enough not to speak, even though she could sense he was buzzing with questions.
"I couldn't see past my hate until... it had been in the middle of a storm and it had been the other admiral's idea to put me in the brig at night as a safety precaution. I didn't realize why he had done that until that night, when a man came into the brig, entered my cell and-" She winced as she remembered the touches and the fear he had invoked in her and how powerless she had felt. Tears of shame at her own powerlessness and how greatly she had misjudged the woman the next cell over. "He had his hands around my neck, and then suddenly- he just let go and I'm scrambling to the brig door to try to escape only to find it locked from the outside and I was trapped with this monster." Her fists tightened as she glared angrily at the water beyond her lap. "I was powerless to do anything but wait until this sick game of cat and mouse bored him... or so I thought. When he didn't give chase, I was scared to turn around, until I heard the sounds of choking behind me. I turned around in time to see the end of what had happened when he had let go of me and I was shocked." She smiled a bit despite herself. "His back was pressed up against the bars that separated my cell from Gin's cell and there she was, the chains of her shackles wrapped around his neck and she was choking the bastard to death." She finally looked back up at Kaito with a warm and peaceful look in her eyes. "I had never felt so safe than when I was with Gin after that. I was able to move past by biased hatred of her and I found the most wonderful woman who soothed my fears and tended to my damaged heart and brought joy back into my life with songs and stories and hugs and kisses and laughter and... and... I loved her more than I loved anything, even my own family."
"And the marines on that ship had her executed because she had protected you." Kaito recalled from the day that she had come across Gin's wanted poster.
"I mouthed off at Akainu." Rei admitted with a quiver in her voice, her eyes becoming teary again. "He lost his temper, swung at me with every intention of burning me, only for Gin to use her Kairoseki cuffs to pull him away from me and focus on her. They got in a pretty nasty fight in her cell and both admirals thought it best to read Gin her final rights then and there before she tried again. I was off the ship and on a commercial boat to Water 7 at the first opportunity that showed itself. Not even three days into the voyage, the ship was hit by Agua Laguna." She laughed bitterly at her own foul luck, now that she was recounting her tale. "I had been on the deck at the time, looking at the stars and managed to somehow keep my wits about me. It wasn't hard with all the situations I had already been put in prior to that. It had been dark and I couldn't see any debris that I could use to float on and the waves just kept pushing under and I was growing so tired of swimming. Finally, I couldn't keep it up any longer and I know I was falling unconscious at the time and all I can remember of that moment was the relief my lungs felt when I could gasp for air before slipping further unconscious." That and the heavy beating of wings.
She paused, unsure how to further explain her story without Kaito thinking her utterly insane, or at the very least a liar, so she didn't. "My savior, I called him Oji-san, was an unusual sort and he had decided I was an unusual sort what with my rare eye coloring and all, so he took me to a place he thought I'd be safe and I stayed there with the people he left me with until I came here..." She finished with a shrug, not sure how else to end her story. She hadn't even mentioned the dragons, the Atea and Devil fruit, and everything else about Soshi Shima. Honestly, she wasn't sure how to breach the subject, so she wouldn't. Not yet.
There was a long pause before Rei had the courage to look at Kaito again. She had been expecting him to be a little overwhelmed by her story, it was a pretty powerful, somewhat outrageous story, but Kaito wasn't one's stereotypical teenaged boy.
"Holy shit!" He damn near shouted, looking at her with an expression of realization and shock. "You. You're her! You're Swift Rei. Shit."
Now it was her turn to be a little freaked out. "How do you even know-"
"My father is Captain Mizushima Roka. I was living with him by then. Do you not think I wouldn't know who the hell you are after that story? Your family was devastated and- shit." He was still having a hard time processing the shock that the supposed dead girl wasn't all so dead after all.
Kaito was up pacing now that he had realized who the hell she was. Mysterious Rei suddenly became that much less mysterious and a lot more- oh, who the hell was he kidding? She was still as mysterious as ever, perhaps even more so than before. Because she was Swift Rei for crying out loud!
There were a few things he had to know though. "Why come here? Why not return to your family after all they've been through?"
Rei frowned as she looked at the canal in front of them. "I followed fate here. It led me Water 7, not Firework Island." She shrugged as she continued on. "Even if it had, I don't think I could return home to the family I left behind. That little girl they knew and loved is… well, she's long gone. It would have been like twisting the knife within their wound to return to them just so they realize how different I am and how much of me they've truly lost."
"Ok, I can understand that." He took a deep breath as he tried to continue processing her story and organizing his thoughts and questions. "It's just- shit." He was running his hand over his hair again in his dishevelment.
"So I've heard you so eloquently say several times now. Come on Kaito, I know you know how to better project your thoughts into words. You just talked Zambai out of a fight to the death and into believing I'm some sort of savage cannibal." Rei teased a bit, in much need for a lighter mood within their conversation.
It worked. Kaito looked at her with a chuckle escaping his lips before pulling them into that roguish trademark smirk of his before. He took a deep breath, slowly letting it out before he tried to talk again.
"Alright. Alright, give me a minute to think." He spoke slowly, still trying to calm down from his earlier shock. He ended up sitting next to Rei as he silently processed what she had said and what he wanted to know most about the details she had left out.
She kept quiet for the most part, nudging him every once in a while to make sure he hadn't gone into some freaky state of shock. She nearly laughed at one point when he scowled at her and shoved his shoulder into hers playfully for disrupting his line of thought. Finally, he let out another huff of air as he allowed his body to fall back against the stone pavement of the abandoned area.
"Geez, why do you have to be so damn complicated? Couldn't you just be some country bumpkin with a funny accent that stowed away on one of my dad's ships, making that the reason why you know him? Couldn't you be a little less enigmatic? You're driving me crazy!" He whined at her, throwing an arm over his eyes as he sulked pettily about all the complications this would bring to the both of them if her identity was ever discovered by the wrong people.
And the wrong people all started with his father.
"Gee, I'm so sorry my personal history is an inconvenience to you." She said snarkily as she let her body fall back as well, but purposely landing the back of her head hard against Kaito's stomach.
"Ooph." He flinched a bit at the contact, but did nothing to retaliate. "Damn straight you ought to be sorry. Especially if dear old dad figures out who you are. He'd be chasing us from sunrise to sunset if he knew!"
"Kaito, you jerk," Rei lazily whacked him with the back of one of her hands as she continued use him as her pillow. "Your connection to your father is just as much as an issue as mine. I'm surprised we were able to give him the slip with a stunt like that."
"Speaking of which," he sat up, forcing her to sit up too, "you said you could swim when you were eight. You mentioned two separate occasions of when you had to swim to stay alive. How the hell could you swim then and sink faster than a rock now?"
Rei visible winced as she gave him a sheepish look. "It's kinda embarrassing..."
"Then I promise not to laugh too hard." She whacked him harder this time, but he was mostly immune to it when he wanted to be.
When she didn't continue, Kaito sighed as he laid back down. "I promise." He groused. "I shall not use this in the future to taunt or tease you for any purpose other than legit reasons."
Rei decided that was as good as she was going to get from him. Kaito was too much of an ass (rather lovable, but an ass nonetheless) to never use it as ammunition against her. Plus, since she was being truthful, why not go the extra mile. Who knows? Fate might reward her for speaking the truth.
"When I first got to the island that Oji-san was escorting me to, the people there had a... test... of sorts. Since I was not a native of the island, I had to prove that I shared some sort of kinship with them. By passing their test, I would be accepted into their nest."
"Nest?" Kaito raised a brow at her strange wording.
"Oh, um, uh… tribe," She corrected quickly. "No interrupting. You wanna know, so shut up and listen, Kaito."
Kaito raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Fine, fine..."
"Anyways," She started again clearing her throat, "No one mentioned to me at the time that it was a test and they offered me a variety of different produce from their island. It was indicated that I could only pick two out of the bunch. And so I picked two... One I later learned was called the Atae Fruit and the second one I chose ended up being a Devil Fruit."
"Wait, wait, wait." Kaito was sitting up again as he looked at her with disbelief. "You ate a Devil Fruit to pass some sort of freaky test? Hell! You ate. A Devil Fruit. Period?!"
"Yes and I will tell you now, your word of the day- shit- does not even begin to describe the taste of a Devil Fruit."
"No shit?" Even Kaito knew he deserved to be punched in the arm for that one. Though that didn't mean it didn't hurt or that he wouldn't do it again if the opportunity was to present itself, despite his grumblings.
"I passed out shortly afterwards," Rei finished telling him. "Because apparently the Atae Fruit and the Devil Fruit I ate didn't... mix well. But on the other hand, I passed their test."
"O...kay. Well? Normally if someone told me the same story you just did, I'd say they're shittin' me." He ran a hand through his damp locks of hair as he let out a heavy sigh. "You, on the other hand… for some reason that I can't really wrap my head around… I believe it without a doubt. Seriously though, you have the weirdest luck in the world. I'd say it sucked, but on the other hand... you are a Devil Fruit user because it just happened to be a part of some messed up test on some weird island that you were taken to by some strange guy who saved your life from drowning in the storm that sank the passenger ship you were on because our annual Aqua Laguna came early that year. Your luck is weird."
Now that Kaito had pointed it out, she couldn't help but agree. Her luck was totally weird. Straight-out chaotic in essence. Yet balanced in an abstract sort of way. For every good thing that seemed to happen to her, something less than fortunate occurred as well... An invisible scale of fate.
Meh. No point overthinking it. She'd take the good times and enjoy them for what they were and she'd take the bad times the best she could and allow herself to grow from their lessons.
"So," Kaito interrupted her internal musings with a curious look in his cerulean eyes. "What's your Devil Fruit powers?"
"What? Oh ho ho ho no." Rei waved a finger in his face. "You've asked me a lot of questions! It's my turn to get a few answers!"
"What? I already told you everything! You're the one who's holding out!"
Rei clicked her tongue as she gave him a look of ire. "I have a really good question."
And it wasn't because she had just made it up to spite him. Mentioning how she couldn't swim worth a damn had reminded her of one the many questions she had originally wanted to ask Kaito after they resurfaced. It had been question 3 originally. It had been right behind 'Are you completely bat-shit nuts?' and 'where would you like to be buried after I finish killing you for that!'.
"How in the four blues can you hold your breath for so long? I nearly drowned twice because you refused to come up for air except for when I all but strangled you, but you didn't even looked phased by how long you were forced to hold your breath."
Kaito stared at her for a moment, looking somewhat confused before realization crossed his face. "Oh, yeah. That. I keep forgetting about that."
"Forgetting? Kaito, are you telling me you forget you need to breathe? I know it's normally an involuntary bodily function but-"
"No no. Not like that." He waved off her allegation, rolling his eyes. Ironically, he took a deep breath before he spoke the next statement. "I breathe just like everyone else, thank you very much. Just... not when I'm swimming underwater. Get me?" He shrugged nonchalantly at that, like it was no big deal.
"Are you telling me you don't need to come up for air when you're swimming at all?" Rei's eyes widened in incredulity.
"Yeah, uh… no." Kaito sighed, laying back as he did so. He looked bored now with her interrogating. "And before you ask- no, I didn't eat a Devil Fruit. I would have lost my ability to swim, not amplified it."
Rei didn't know why she thought to ask her next question, but it was on her lips before she could stop herself from blurting it out. "Have you ever tasted a fruit so sweet that nothing has ever compared to that first bite? Not even the sweetest of berries or richest of honey or ripest of sugarcane?"
Kaito looked at her strangely, his brows furrowed down in confusion, but he answered her nonetheless. "Yes. Once." The look she was sending his way requested that he further elucidate upon this experience of his. "I was... three? Four? Can't remember, don't care. All I know is that my mother brought it back to me from her job. Her employer had given it to her to give to me for my birthday- he had gotten it from an associate of his on one of his business trips or other. It was white, nearly, with hints of pink on the leaves that sprouted from the body of the thing. All in all, looked super girly, but so do strawberries and they taste good. So, since my mother was encouraging me to eat it, I did. Sweetest damn thing I've ever had."
When Kaito finished his recollection, he gaze turned back to Rei's wide eyed look of shock. "What?"
Now it was her turn to lose her ability to properly articulate her thoughts. "Holy Shit!"
She hopped up and was pacing just as he had not too long ago, but unlike Kaito, she was barely able to contain her excitement at her revelation.
"What? You're practically dancing! What did I do?" His face turned extremely serious as he eyed her nervously, dread pooling up in his stomach. "It was poisonous, wasn't it? It was filled with Amber Lead and I have only a few years left to live, don't I?"
"No, no." Rei couldn't help but laugh as she hopped up and down. "It's just- shit!"
"This is such a pot meet kettle moment that I am not even going to bother trying to get you to tell me WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?!" Kaito thought he was doing an excellent job of not freaking the hell out when it was so obvious that something about his recount had excited his companion far more than he thought it should.
In her excitement, Rei fell back into speaking Drako. "Ssssed trr uus dovah ssspirri rrnisss huanae."
"Let's drop the freak speak, yeah? You know when I teased you about the archaic way you spoke when you got here? Yeah, this one's worse. Before, at least I knew what you were saying."
Rei was too excited to look abash for her mistake. "You are like me! Oh, I wonder what your spirit is!" She was in his face as she stared into his eyes. "Your eyes are too blue to be anything other than Mizu! Haha! How fitting for a native of Water 7!"
"... Um, yeah. You completely lost me." He leaned back as he gave her an apprehensive look. "I will admit that you're starting to freak me out a bit. If that was the whole point, good job, mission accomplished. How about you slow down, come off your excitement high, and tell me what you are talking about!"
Rei backed off, running fingers through her short, wild hair as she forced herself to calm down. She couldn't wipe the smile off of her face though as she quickly chanted 'sorry' a few times before taking a huge breath and starting again.
"Okay, well, where to start? Okay, I got it. That test I took when I was first brought to that island; they wanted to see if I would choose the correct fruit. I knew what most of them were, but not two. Most people go for what is familiar with them because it is safe, I chose the two that were unfamiliar because of my natural instincts."
"Okay, so your instincts lead you into eating a Devil Fruit. Because you're crazy. What does that have to do with anything?" Kaito was not following her current train of thought.
"No," Rei shook her head. "The Devil Fruit was merely a bonus. What they were testing for was to see-"
"-they wanted to see if you'd eat the first fruit. The... Atae Fruit, right?" The gleam in his eyes told Rei that Kaito was catching on.
"Un," she smiled at him. "It is their people's most precious treasure. Atae means gift in their language."
"Because it awakens powers within a person, right?"
"Well, yes and no." Rei chewed on her lip as she recalled her lessons about the Atae Fruit given to her by Toshi-sensei. "Yes, it has the capacity to awaken sleeping potential within an individual, but, at the same time, not everyone can partake in the fruit without... consequences." Before Kaito could comment on that, Rei threw up her hands as she quickly continued. "But since you obviously had latent abilities awakened, you don't have to worry about such things!"
"So are you saying that if I wasn't someone who met the right - requirements - it would have been malicious to my body instead?"
"People not born of the right spirit would suffer. It is meant for those born with a dragon's spirit. And even then, those born of human descent, of human form, can only ever consume one. Any more would cause madness to descend upon the mind." Rei finished explaining the basics, allowing Kaito to ask questions he found relevant.
"Ok, so are you saying that if my mom had eaten this fruit, instead of giving it to me, she would have gone stark raving mad?"
"From what I have been told, humans were never meant to eat the fruit. Their souls are too frail for such potency. Even those who have consumed a devil fruit cannot, though they can resist the madness longer than regular humans."
"Yeah, okay." Kaito blinked as he ran his hand through his hair again as he tried to focus on what Rei was telling him. "You keep referring to these... people... are they they like you and me? One with... uhh... a dragon's spirit? Wait, just… What does that even mean anyway?"
"Well," Rei drawled as she mused on that last question first. "I was never told exactly what they meant when they referred to my spirit as one of a dragon's, but I know that they saw me as kin because of it. Dragons do not associate with any outside their own race, so by having a dragon spirit, they saw me as their own and allowed me within their nest as one of their young."
She looked at Kaito, well aware how blatantly she had dropped the bomb about the people she had been living with upon that island. She watching him with a curious look as he stared at her blankly.
"I'm sorry." He started finally. "I think I got water in my ears from earlier. I thought I heard you say that you lived with dragons."
"I did say I lived with dragons. Soshi Shima is one of the few dragon islands out there." Rei told him with a straight face.
Kaito stared at her with a blank face before shaking his head and getting up. He turned his back to Rei, and she could see his shoulders begin to move up and down, slowly at first, but speeding up rapidly. Not too long afterward, she could hear a slight chuckle before turning into the hysteric laughter of a stark raving madman. Just as quickly as it began, it ended suddenly.
"No."
"Kaito-"
"No." He turned around and pointed at her with a stern, frazzled expression. "I will believe you when you tell me that you were kidnapped, rescued, saved by a... a huge pirate icon, put on a ship that was sank by a rouge wave, tricked into eating a Devil Fruit, and all that other shit, okay? But I draw a line at…" He lost his words for a moment, and spat the last word as though it was a worse slur than those he used on a regular basis. "...Dragons! Damn, you actually had me going there for a while about that Atae Fruit thing, too! But who in their right minds sends a child to an island inhabited with dragons!"
Well, Rei knew that it would be a hard topic to breech. She was somewhat surprised he made it as far as he did with her life story before calling 'bullshit'.
"Oji-san was a dragon too." Rei thought to include.
"Bullshit! Bulllllll shit!" Kaito was pacing again. She could see the inner turmoil within him about whether or not to believe her. On one hand, she never lied about anything like this and was a practical person. But on the other hand, with how much trauma she had experienced as a child, she could have deluded herself that dragons were real.
Rei sighed as she realized what her options were to get Kaito to believe her. She chose the least revealing one. Closing her eyes, she focused her mind upon Kaito's well aware that if he had eaten an Atae Fruit, his mind would naturally be more difficult to project upon than that of a normal, open minded human. However, because he had no formal training in telepathy, his mind wasn't guarded enough to keep her out and she easily pushed past his defenses to connect to him mentally.
She could sense his body become rigid as her mind touched his, he had enough sixth sense to feel it, but what really caused a reaction from him is when she projected a few pieces of her memory- very selective, impersonal pieces- into his mind.
"That one is Katsumi-san. She's the nest's alpha." Rei spoke aloud, eliciting a sharp gasp from Kaito. She changed memories on him. "This one is Toshi-sensei. He was my teacher and one of the few dragons I was with almost daily." She then chose a different one. "Those are the dracos, the one in the front though is Akira, Katsumi's draco."
She withdrew her mind from his, waiting with great patience for his final decision on whether or not he would choose to believe her. After a few long minutes, she could hear his footsteps as he sat down next to her on the edge of the street, dangling his legs above the water of the canal.
"So," he clasped his hands together as he looked at her wearily. "You were at the part where you said you were rescued and raised by dragons."
"I thought you'd see it my way." Rei couldn't help but smile haughtily at him.
"Okay, yeah. Fine. Whatever. I may or may not have been convinced by your neat trick back there and I am willing to hear your whole argument before deciding fully whether I believe you or not." Kaito heaved out. He had such a headache from this whole thing that he really didn't care if Rei was crazy or not, but, for the sake of not wanted to believe her mad, he was willing to maintain consciousness a bit longer. Just to hear her out.
"The point was," Rei resumed, "They never told me what it meant to be born of a dragon's spirit. Just that it made us similar enough in spirit for the Atae Fruit to grant its blessing upon those like me."
"Which, I am guessing varies from person to person because if the blessings your Atae Fruit gave were anything like the blessings mine seemed to allocate to me would be worthless to you since you ate that Devil Fruit as well," Kaito finished.
"Correct." Rei nodded. "I was born with a Kasai dragon spirit, which allows me the abilities and traits of a fire dragon. You, on the other hand, were probably born with a Mizu dragon spirit, which gave you the ability to breathe underwater- among other things, no doubt."
"Traits? As in physical traits?" Kaito raised a brow to that one.
"Un, the most obvious are my eyes. All Kasai dragons have red colored eyes and red scales. All Aisu dragons have teal colored eyes and teal scales..."
"Lemme guess. All Mizu dragons have blue eyes and blue scales."
"From what I have been told, yes."
"What? Your dragon island didn't have all different kinds of dragons?"
"No. Just two. Kasai and Aisu." Rei wasn't offended by Kaito's snark. It was his defense mechanism for all things. "Dragons live with their elemental opposite. Fire and ice are, according to dragon culture, elemental opposites. There are other islands out there with different dragon types, but I lived with those pertinent to my type." She cut herself short. She could tell that Kaito wasn't ready for dragon theory about qi, elements, and other dragon lore, so she kept it as basic as she could. For now.
"Okay. Say I decide to believe everything you just told me." He said hesitantly. "And that is quite the large if; let's get that straight, okay? Now let's be honest, if you had not 'lived' this, you would be as skeptical as me. So give me a second." Kaito shot her a pointed look before she could become offended by his first statement. She frowned but nodded for him to continue. "Is there any way for you to show me... proof?"
Rei chewed on her lip as she thought about it. There was no way that she could shift any of her more dragon like appendages into being at the moment, nor did she feel like she had enough energy to spew a taroth flame or anything of the like. She physically couldn't demonstrate her own powers, but that didn't mean she didn't have something to prove that what she was saying wasn't a fabrication of her own imagination. She had just enough evidence to win Kaito over until she had enough energy to channel Qi again.
"I'm too hungry and low on energy to be able to do any of my other techniques. If my telepathy wasn't enough to convince you…." She paused for a moment as she thought of a solution. "...I think I might have just the thing to convince you," Rei told him, turning to grab the pelt that she had yet put away.
That grabbed Kaito's attention, seeing as she had never once shown him what was in the thing. He watched with great interest as she began to pull away at the layers of the pelt before two naked blades came into view.
"These were made by the dragons back on Soshi Shima as a parting gift to me. They aren't finished yet because my guardians didn't want me to use something I didn't know how to properly handle." She gently pulled the red one out and held it out for Kaito to view. "Both blades are made of dragon scales, so not only are they stronger and lighter than the best known metals to man, but they can channel Qi into their relevant element and be used as an extension of one's natural abilities."
Kaito stared at the blade before slowly holding out his hands and looking at her with an asking look in his eyes. She nodded before gently placing the blade in his hands and watched as he assessed the unfinished weapon. An idea came to her and she gently pinched the edge of her blade and allowed a weak pulse of Qi run through her fingers so that the blade would hum in response, lighting up a previously unseen design as the lines of the design began to glow a brilliant orange. It was almost like the middle of the blade was liquid magma with the simmering red scales creating a barrier around it.
The teenaged leader had a look of complete shock as he glanced up from the blade to her face and back once more. Even Rei hadn't expected the design. It reminded her of the ancient markings engraved upon some of treasure Tatsuo and Ayane slept upon and assumed it was the bladesmith's trademark upon all his works.
"Holy shit." Kaito finally found his voice again and Rei stopped channeling her Qi through the blade. She was a little tired from doing so, but knew that it had been well worth it.
"Believe me now?" Rei couldn't help but preen at his expressive reaction. It was damn near impossible to render Kaito speechless or to frazzle him, but she had been doing a remarkable job of it today.
Kaito nodded as he slowly handed her back her possession in a daze and watched numbly as she placed it back with its sibling and wrapped them back up before finally putting them back in her bag. He didn't even ask about it. He was too exhausted mentally and emotionally to learn anything more about her unique possessions.
"Yeah... I think I need some time to process this." Kaito finally spoke up. He was already getting up and heading down one of the empty streets of the area they were currently located.
"Un." Rei nodded, knowing that she had been overwhelmed at first as well, especially when she had met Oji-san for the first time. She watched him disappear further into the abandoned area before realizing something quite vital.
"Ah! Kaito-" But he was already gone. Sighing, she found a nice spot on one side of the roof of the building behind her and waited till Kaito realized his slip up.
Three hours later, Kaito returned with a 'borrowed' Yagura Bull to rescue his water-locked friend with a sheepish look upon his face and the word 'oops' on his lips. She only cuffed him lightly in the shoulder for his mistake before shoving him into the canal, again. And just because she was feeling rather petty about it, she and the Yagura Bull ditched him there to boot.
It's not like he couldn't swim or anything. Ass.
"So, tell me again how I managed to get involved in your stupid wager with Aron, Matthias, Lander, Pen, Chi, and Hisoka?" Rei groused as she stared at her chosen target.
"I- against my better judgement, mind you- bet that you were capable enough to pickpocket any target of their choosing and they chose him." Kaito shrugged.
Rei shot a dark look at him, ripping her attention away from her chosen target. "What do you mean: against your better judgement?"
"You're not the most... proficient pickpocket I've ever met," he coughed awkwardly at his own admittance, before adding in the next part with a playful tone. "But hey! When it comes to you, I do a lot of things that normally would fall under the category of going against my better judgement. In some circles, it may even be considered straight up idiocy! So cheer up, Mighty Huntress."
Rei rolled her eyes, focusing on the target once more to see if he had moved. She had somewhat hoped that he would have left the area while she had not been paying attention and make it so she didn't have to go along with this. Alas, he did not and was still admiring some shopkeeper's wares. "Are you really still having issues with that? It was nearly three weeks ago! Get over it and accept that I'm telling you the truth already, Kaito."
"Look, I have this policy about believing outrageous tales only if they can be fully proven to me. I will, by default as your friend, believe you to a point, but past that, I have to have more hardening proof than a glowing piece of metal."
"Sword." She corrected.
"Yeah, whatever. It's not a sword until it has a tsuka, tsuba, and saya," he stated almost with a tone of superiority.
"'Til then, it's a piece of scrap metal that roughly resembles a blade." He glanced at the fur pelt that she used as a carrier for her two unfinished swords. "By the way, why are you carrying that thing?"
Rei bristled as her temper shot up, not only about the remark about her parting gift being 'scrap metal', but for the question that had followed said insult. "You told me to bring it out! You said it was part of your stupid bet!"
"Right, right. I forgot. My mistake." Kaito gave her a loose, apologetic smile as he laughed under his breath. She slugged him in the arm for that, but he easily shrugged off the blow. He was use and numb to it by now.
"Okay," Kaito allowed himself to return to the matter at hand with a level of seriousness expected of him as the leader of the Mizu Mizu Tribe. "So, you know who your target right?"
Rei nodded as she studied the man once more, still having a hard time not admiring his features regardless of how long she had been watching him by now. He was tall, lean, and extraordinarily handsome. His features weren't as rough as Tatsuo and he had more gentle, refined looks than her previous large, broad, and rugged guardian. And with his kosode, hakama, and haori combination, he was obviously not a native of Water 7, his state of dress was too foreign and traditional for the more contemporary and semi-casual clothes here. Rei guessed he was probably a tourist and unaware of the city's underprivileged denizens that would see him as a viable target to pickpocket or mug.
He had long black hair that trailed down his back, but was feathered and layered so his hair wasn't all one length at the bottom. His fringes were pinned back at the moment, but could easily be long enough to get into his eyes if he let fall into his face. She was glad that he was pinning his fringes up, though, it gave others a grand view of his beautiful eyes. She had thought that Gin's eyes were unique in their golden pigment, but her quarry's were a deep, dark violet color that she never even thought existed. They contrasted beautifully with his dark hair, pale features, and dark colors of his clothes. To Rei, he was the closest of what she had seen to her idea of what a king looked like.
Sad to say, that even though he looked like he had money to spare, Rei still felt bad that she had to pickpocket him. Regardless, she owed Kaito enough to the point that she felt obligated to help him win his bet with the other boys. If only to spite those that didn't think her competent enough to succeed. Assholes.
"Any time you're ready to start, Mighty Huntress," Kaito spurred her on, amusing himself with a piece of string. Rei gave him a quick glare, promising that she would hit him later, before slowly making her way towards her target.
She was nervous for some reason. Something about this man she was about to pickpocket had her instincts all in a tizzy; she felt uneasy. It was similar to the time she first attempted to kill a predator as her meal back on Soshi Shima. If she let her guard down for a second, she had a feeling it might end about the same way now as then. She still had the scars from where the beast had managed to slash her. Rei shook her head to clear it of such thoughts before analyzing the man a bit more. Stupid. You're distracting yourself.
His coin purse was fastened to the ties of his hakama and close to his reach. He seemed aware to the weight and would know if it was suddenly removed from side almost immediately, so she was going to have to cut it off and get out of there quickly. She hoped that she knew the lay of the land better than he did, because she would probably need it to escape him since it would not take him long to realize his money missing.
She made her move after shadowing him for some time and felt comfortable that there were enough people for her to mesh with so that her presences wasn't noticed. She glanced around one more time, picking out the most favorable of exits and when they got close to the chosen alley way she would disappear into after succeeding, she finally made her move against him. Kaito had given her a small razor knife, one like he used to cut purse pouches like this one whenever he would pickpocket people.
She had it hidden within the palm of her hand and already had the razor blade prepped to use. She was hardly unaccustomed with blades, having spent years getting accustomed to her hunting knife and learning how to wield it properly. She had put a few more deep scars into her hands, but with the collection of scars she already had, it really hadn't mattered. The end result had been worth the cost, in her opinion. She felt at complete ease with blades and wasn't worried about cutting anything but her intended mark.
She moved into position and was already moving to cut the purse from the man with suddenly he grabbed her wrist with one hand, the one on the opposite side of him from where she had approached, and with his other hand, he grabbed her far shoulder and gripped it strongly, making it impossible to get away and forcing her to continue walking alongside him.
"Commendable. You waited for the correct moment, made sure that there were several convenient exits beside the one you selected as your chosen escape route, and even waited until I was in a populated enough area so I would not sense your entity among the rest of the group. You did well on hiding your razor blade and it would seem that you are not worried about harming me on accident. However, it would appear it was not due to a lack of care about my well-being, but because you are confident that you would not cut anything more than my coin purse." Now she knew why she had felt so uneasy. This man had her pegged from the moment she set her sights on him. He was aware of her presence from the beginning. And while she could sense no malice in the man, she felt in her bones that he was more than capable of ending her life swiftly and with no wasted effort should he so choose. Yet, she couldn't help but notice how deep and languid his tone was. He didn't view her as something to get worked up about. If anything, there was a hint of amusement in that relaxed tone of his. He found her attempt at pickpocketing him humorous and not as a threat. So at least there was that.
As her worry began to dissipate, his lackadaisical demeanor at her attempt was... mildly insulting. She wondered if Kaito would have succeeded if it had been him. She dared to peek up at the man's face only to blush and look away when she realized that the king like man was observing her with sharp amethyst colored eyes.
"Do you understand why you failed in your attempt to rob me?" He spoke once more and Rei felt mortified that he spoke of such things so easily where others could hear. They were still moving, but to where, she had no clue. He was probably going to take her to the law enforcement and they'd take her to the orphanage. The worry returned, slowly forming a seed of fear, but still found herself shaking her head. She had planned it all out and he had still caught her unaware. At this point, she had nothing to lose by being truthful.
"Normally I would say hubris, but in this case, your problem was not nearly so egregious. No. Ignorance. Ignorance was your downfall, young lady. You were not aware of your opponent's strengths and, in this particular case, identity or else you would have known it to be a fool's errand." He informed her with quiet confidence. "So, because you underestimated me, not because of your own excellent planning, you failed."
"O-oh..." Rei didn't know what else to say. Her mind was running a hundred different directions at once. Did Kaito know that she'd fail this miserably? Did the boys know that their target was impossible for the likes of her to pickpocket from? Why would they set her up to fail? Did they want to send her away with to the orphanage where, at the time being, she couldn't escape from? Where was Kaito?
Her mind was suddenly pulled from her thoughts when she felt the man release her shoulder and wrist. She would have bolted had he not, in that same movement, snatched up her pelt container that held her naked blades and slung them onto his own shoulder, like he had every right to do so. His movement was so nonchalant, she almost forgot that he was taking her blades, and assumed he was taking his own.
"Hey! Give that back!" She shouted at him in a panic, meeting his eyes to plead for the return of her precious possessions. Why oh why had Kaito told her to take it out if he knew her swords might be used against her like this.
"I shall not." He told her sternly but not unkindly. "This way I do not have to force you to accompany me by sheer strength. If you wish for your possessions to be returned to you, you shall accompany me willingly to our destination."
"Pl-please, sir, I'm sorry! I don't want to go to the orphanage!" Rei felt like she was going to cry at any moment due to her heightened anxiety.
The man looked down at her inquisitively. "My dear, who said anything about taking you to the orphanage? If you purposely live in the streets, there must be a legitimate reason for your evasion of that particular institution. I know nothing of you, and even less of your circumstances. Hence, I will not assume that it is for your own benefit that I must take you somewhere you so vehemently object to going." His odd verbiage twisted her mind in knots.
Rei blinked in confusion as she stopped walking, causing him to stop as well to see why she had ceased her movements. He could tell the young child was confused so he quickly grabbed hold of her opposite shoulder once more and lead her out of the moving traffic of people and further towards the side less affected by people commuting. "Are you alright, my dear?"
"You're not taking me to the orphanage? Or the law enforcement?" Rei wanted him to verbally clarify that those were not where he was leading her.
He smiled warmly, though not without losing even an inkling of his intimidating aura.
"No, child, I'm taking you to lunch!" He laughed a bit at her bewilderment and Rei couldn't help but notice how kind his eyes were and how deep and warm his laugh sounded.
"But I tried to steal from you!" She blurted out.
"And was not the reason because you are hungry? I doubt you'd steal for any other reason. My dear, I can tell you are an honest individual with no real inclination towards currency other than as a mean to survival. It's a particular talent of mine to see the hidden nature of individuals I come across."
"Usually..." Rei couldn't help but confess. "But this time... there was this bet... and... well..."
"Hm," he nodded in his understanding. "And why, pray tell, did you take this bet? You hardly look like the type to involve yourself with such frivolity as petty bets."
"It wasn't me who took the bet... I was just the subject of the bet and my... my friend, he said he believed I could do it." She looked downcast at her own conclusion. "I guess he was wrong."
The man raised a suspicious eyebrow at the mention of Rei's 'friend'. "Perhaps you are not aware of the whole story behind this bet, if there is a bet at all." The violet eyed man mused aloud for her to hear.
"What do you mean?" Rei looked at him with confusion. There was no way Kaito would send her out here to pickpocket this guy if there was no bet.
The man merely smiled at her. "Allow me treat you to lunch and I may disclose my own thoughts upon this matter afterwards."
Rei stared at him as she thought about his offer, her stomach definitely delighted at the idea of being treated to a well made meal. However, there was one thing that held her back. "I eat a lot..."
"My godson tends to eat me out of a couple thousand beli every time he visits me. I assure you, money is of no object to me, my dear." He informed her with a gentle smile.
"Well..." Rei bit her lip as she thought about it. "I guess I cannot say no, can I?"
"Not unless you wish for me to relinquish my hostages." He quickly reminded her of his thievery of her two blades with a devious wink. He laughed at her pitiful sigh of defeat and turned to head to towards their destination once more. "Come along, my young friend, it has indeed been awhile since I've had such exciting company to dine with. You certainly look like you have interesting story."
Rei followed after him, no longer with trepidation. There was a long pause as she merely allowed him to lead her and she kept to his side, feeling gravely out of place with how nice his clothes were and how tattered hers had become, regardless of how well she took care of them or how well she could mend a tear.
"If I may be so bold, would it be too much to ask you for your name?" He finally broke the silence with his honest question. He looked down at her, his face ever gentle as he explained himself further. "Sometimes I am allowed my guest's name and other times I am not. However, I find it far more pleasant to know who I am dining with. I do enjoy putting names to faces, if I were to be honest with you. Somewhat a hobby of mine!"
"Only if you promising to give yours in return." Rei told him. She was not against him knowing her name. However, she was curious about his name as well, however, she had not been sure how to ask him after her failed attempt to rob him.
"It is only proper to offer one's name in return for another."
"Then my name is Rei." She told him with a small smile. This man was as charismatic as Kaito, but twenty times more charming than the Mizu Mizu Tribe's leader.
"Rei. What a pretty name. How is it spelt?"
Rei didn't remember a lot of kanji from before her six year detour to Soshi Shima, where all she had was a book in romaji to keep her reading skills sharp with. But she did remember how her name was spelt. "'Exquisite, clever' (玲)."
"Hm! A very fitting name from what I have seen thus far." He couldn't help but smile wider as she blushed at his compliment. "Others call me Tetsuya. I call me 'me'." He said with a laugh at his own joke. Rei got the joke, but it didn't quite make it funny enough to laugh. He shrugged at her lack of reaction.
"Tetsuya..." Rei tested his name out under her breath as she tried to remember why that name sounded so familiar to her before she suddenly recalled that bit of green land that she and Kaito had once talked about on her first day on Water 7. Her eyes widened at her sudden revelation as she suddenly took a few steps back in her shock. "You're Yokoyama Tetsuya!"
"Ahhh~" He frowned slightly at her realization, his fun slightly dampened by her recognition of his name. He had wanted to surprise her with that later... Oh well. "That would be correct."
Rei stared at him in absolute dread. Not because he was frightening, but because she was horrified that Kaito had knowingly sent her to pickpocket the Yokoyama Tetsuya.
"You'll know him when you see him" She remembered Kaito telling her and damn she felt stupid for not picking it up right away that this kingly man was the great and wonderful businessman that only Iceburg-san was spoken about on par with.
The first thing Rei swore to do if- when- she got back was to show those shitty bastards, Kaito especially, why she was not to be messed with. Ever. Oh, they would be having nightmares for weeks for putting her in such an embarrassing situation with such an important man like Yokoyama-san.
"Please... please accept my dearest apologies for my transgressions against you, Yokoyama-san!" She knew she had already apologized earlier, but that was before she knew that the man was the Yokoyama Tetsuya. It had to be some sort of unspoken taboo with how well respected he was even among the poor. This was the man who brought trade and work back into Water 7 after the Puffing Tom had been completed.
"Ara?" Tetsuya looked around the area with wide eyes after she blurted that out, as if looking for someone else that she could have addressed. "Has my haha-ue or chichi-ue suddenly materialized before us?" Rei blinked in confusion.
"Uh, no..." Rei spoke slowly as she tried to understand his sudden actions and remark. "I was speaking to you... Yokoyama-san..."
"Ah~" He gave a slight pout as he redirected his attentions back on her. "Did I introduce myself as such?"
"N-no... sir."
"If I did not, then what did I introduce myself as?"
"You told me your name is Tetsuya. Yokoyama Tetsuya."
"Incorrect." He chided her softly. "I did no such thing. I informed you that my name is Tetsuya, not Yokoyama Tetsuya. That was the conclusion you were able to draw to with facts given previous to our encounter. However, since I did not introduce myself as Yokoyama Tetsuya or even as Yokoyama, I expect you to address me as what I originally established to be my name."
"But-"
"However, since I can see that it may be an issue with you, I willing to negotiate to some degree. I will accept either Tetsuya or Tetsuya-san within these circumstances, nothing more and nothing less."
"U-un," Rei stammered unsurely as she tried to process this. This man was nothing like she had expected or imagined and it caught her greatly off guard. "Alright, Tet... Tetsuya-san."
"Wonderful." He was smiling the most handsome smile, one that made her face redden slightly in response. It was hard not to be enamored by this man. He was, after all, very kingly looking and he reminded her of Gin in ways that she wouldn't dare admit out loud. Like how relaxed he was about propriety and how unpretentious he seemed to truly be about himself, despite his grand reputation.
"Now, with that issue out of the way, we shall continue forth. The place I have in mind is not too much farther and I believe you will be astounded by their menu. It has some of the finest of Water 7's native cuisine. So, what flavor is your personal preference?" He had taken to guiding her once more with a hand on her shoulder as he led her forwards. "I personally fancy sweets."
Rei still wasn't sure what to think of this situation, but decided it wasn't much stranger than all the other things that had happened to her so far. "Un. I appreciate something sweet tasting. I'm not too fond of sour things though..."
"I shall make note of it." He told her, still smiling pleasantly at her.
'Get caught pickpocketing a well known authority figure, get treated to lunch instead of getting into a vast amount of trouble.' Rei couldn't help but muse as they continued their trek.
Kaito was right. Her luck was weird.
Tsuka - Hilt or Handle
Tsuba - Hand Guard
Saya - Wooden Scabbard
Kosode - Basic Japanese Robe
Hakama - A divided or undivided skirt which resembles a wide pair of trousers
Haori - A hip- or thigh-length kimono-like jacket
Haha-ue - Mother
Chichi-ue – Father
A/N: We are so very, very grateful that you have again waited patiently for our *ahem* late update. Also, we apologize for no Omake, for it is in progress, due to writer's block. We'll update this chapter again when the Omake is completed.
So, about the chapter. Finally things are clear between both parties, allowing bonds to be strengthened and tested simultaneously. Then, there is also our newest character to be properly introduced: Tetsuya! Okay, who did not see that one coming? Lol. Like Kaito, he is to play an important role in Rei's life.
Also, depending on what's ends up happening in the next canon chapter of One Piece, we may or may not have a couple of familiar characters show up very soon within our story. If all goes well, Rei is going to have one interesting family tree.
By the way, check out Volleys-chan's promised picture on my profile page. It is fabulous.
See you in the next chapter.