A few days ago...
"What are you doing?" asked Captain Shura to a hunched up Yahiko Myojin sitting on a desk and scribbling words on paper.
"Writing a letter to Kenshin and the others," said Yahiko. "I'll send it later when we're back on land. It helps with my seasickness. Kind of."
Shura chuckled and slapped Yahiko's back. "So now that you're a wanderer yourself, you're keeping in touch with them like I did, huh?"
"Yeah. I kind of promised... someone," he said.
"How are they doing?" she asked.
"Well, their little ankle biter is six years old now, I'm making enough in my waiter job back home to spruce up the ol' log house I'm living in. Also..."
"How about your girlfriend, Tsubame?" Shura asked with a toothy grin, and Yahiko groaned while his so-called compatriots came out from the woodwork and inched closer to hear more about his relationship status.
"Where the hell did you guys come from?" he demanded.
"Really?" said Munenori Minoe before clearing his throat and stating, "M-Mochiron! Of course you have a girlfriend! You're quite the catch!"
"Why? Were you gunning for him yourself, Girly Boy?" teased Chizuru with a wink, which made Minoe hide underneath his collar and call her a "Meanie."
"Who knew you had it in you, Yoshi-boy? I thought you were a virgin!" said the Blabby Gan.
"HEY! Lay off! It's none of your business, okay?" said Myojin while looking away from the wide grinning faces of Minoe, Gan, and Chizuru. He then hid his folded-up letter inside his vest.
The Crimson Captain guffawed. "Ah, to be young again..."
Rurouni Yahiko
A Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction Continuation Story by Chester Castañeda
The Crimson Captain, the New Kairyu, and the Sanbaka (plus Chizuru Raikouji) versus the Wokou, the ex-Kairyu, the Shanghai Mafia, and Captain Masakichi Hananuma Inoue.
Disclaimer: All characters used in this fanfic (save some others) are the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallup, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
Chapter 36: Feeling As Right As Rain
On their fourth day at sea, back inside the sleeping quarters of the Akibatsu...
The Awakened Gan nudged Yahiko Myojin's hammock with his bare, corned feet in the middle of the night. "Yo, Yoshi-boy. You awake?"
"Urg. I am now. What is it, Gan?" growled "Yoshi-boy" as he rubbed the sleep off of his eyes.
"Is it me, or did something happen between you and Patches?" came the Prescient Gan's burning question that made the Tokyo Samurai Descendant choke on his spit.
"W-What made you say that?" Yahiko asked.
"I dunno. Things seem awkward between the two of you lately. Like you're smiling at each other but you don't really mean it," said the Unusually Insightful Gan.
"No, we're not," grumbled Myojin. He then turned body away from the stinking muscleman. "We're fine as is. It's all in your imagination. Leave us alone."
After seeing what Munenori looked like without the eye patch and wig, Yahiko couldn't "unsee" it. Memories of Minoe exhibiting the same techniques and defensive prowess possessed by Kaede Morinaga, the Battousai of Speed, filled Myojin's mind.
Well, maybe Yahiko could reveal what he knew about Minoe. His insides roiled (and it wasn't just the seasickness talking) at the idea of keeping Gan in the dark, though.
However, the Son of Tokyo Samurai decided to wait and see for the time being. As the saying went, one should keep his friends close and his enemies closer.
From behind him, while the Akibatsu rolled with the waves of the Sea of Japan, Yahiko heard the "skritch" of the Unshaven Gan's stubbly beard. The hobo scratched it with his dirty fingernails in between the creaks of the huge barge they were in.
"So let's see. You two were acting all buddy-buddy back in the Oyakata's sweet-ass mansion, before Kumamoto and Samurai X showed up. We Sanbaka fought Kumamoto, I fainted, you fainted, and Patches probably fainted too. Then you went off and got stabbed by Samurai X. Now you can't even look Patches in the eye. Hmmm..."
By "Kumamoto", Gan meant "Amakusa", and by "Samurai X", he meant "Morinaga".
His eyebrows furrowed, Yahiko slowly turned his body to face the Dense yet Perceptive Gan. The thug had all the pieces of the puzzle, so Myojin hoped the moron was too dumb to put them all together to form the big picture.
The Dimwitted Gan then mused for all three seconds before asking, "In the middle of all that ruckus, did you have amorous congress with Patches?"
"...What?" asked Yahiko.
"Did you do it with...?" asked Gan while pumping his forefinger in his closed fist.
Within just as short of a time frame as the brief musings Gan underwent before making his thoughtless remark, Myojin grabbed the sakabatou and smashed it on the head of the hoodlum three times fast with a "TSUI GAMI!"
His mouth practically frothing like beer, Yahiko demanded, "HOW DID YOU EVEN COME UP WITH THAT CONCLUSION? How did you go from, 'Gee, what's with the awkwardness between you and Patches?' to 'Are you two d-doing i-it?' DAMMIT! You pervert! Lecher! Dirty old man!"
"...Doing it? So you mean you two are still going at it up until now?" asked Gan.
"WILL YOU CUT IT OUT?" said Myojin.
Yahiko hit another God Hammer on the Resilient Gan's head like it was a steel drill and he was John Henry, the American folk hero who died competing (and winning) against a steam-powered hammer.
"OW! Dude, Yoshi-boy, I was just screwing with you, man." The Lumpy Gan rubbed his throbbing skull while smiling a toothy grin. "The lady doth protest too much, though."
Yahiko began unsheathing his sword and Gan backed off, his hands up in surrender. Shaking his head to clear the ringing he heard after being hit by a blunt (albeit sheathed) reverse-edged sword, the hoodlum explained himself to the youngster.
"Calm down. All I'm saying is that you two have all the symptoms of first-time lovers," Gan said.
"WHAT?" Yahiko said while continuing drawing out his blade.
"I'm speaking from experience here! Kind of," Gan continued. "There's the awkwardness phase, the averted gazes, the inability to look each other in the eye, the unwillingness to talk to one another for too long, accidental innuendos..."
"What accidental innuendos?!" demanded a red-faced Myojin while making a footnote to himself not to include this exchange in his letters to Tsubame Sanjo and the Kamiyas. "Also, I have a girlfriend back in Tokyo! Why would I...?"
"Yeah, right. Sure you do," said the Irritating Gan with a wink.
"You saw me write letters to her and the rest of the Kamiyas on this very boat!" said Yahiko.
"...Look, let's say it's true and you cheated on your girl because you couldn't handle a long-distance relationship," said Gan, oblivious to how much Myojin's body shook. "We're all just human here. Everyone makes mistakes. No one's judging you, but face the consequences like a man."
"I'M NOT CHEATING ON ANYONE, DUMBASS! Minoe isn't even my type!" Yahiko realized something else. "Wait a minute, you think Minoe's a boy, don't you? You think I'm...!"
"He is a boy, Yoshi-boy. Not that there's anything wrong with you two, y'know..." disclaimed the Open-Minded Gan while wiping his bleeding nose.
"Don't project your perverted fantasies on me and Minoe!" screamed Myojin.
"Well, don't be so bigoted on yourself! Love is love!" said Gan. "Even I have to admit that Patches is quite the cutie pie. It's none of my business which one of you kids was wearing that bowl-cut wig while taking turns pretending to be 'Yoshiko' or 'Pachinko' that night."
"AAARRRGH! GAAAN!" exclaimed Yahiko.
"Hey! Is that your pirate impersonation? It's pretty good," praised Gan.
Myojin hammered down the Tactless Gan so much with the Tsui Gami, the hoodlum-looking pirate (or rather, vice-versa) spun around inside his hammock and ended up cocooned by it.
At the very least, Yahiko got quite a lot of practice doing the God Hammer.
Up at the railings of the Akibatsu's quarterdeck, Minoe's mind spun with all sorts of thoughts...
In particular, the unbidden memory of a shocked and bloodied Raedo Nagaoka staring back at him, mouth agape, hanging by the rails of the upper gallery of the ballroom of Tetsuo Akahori's mansion.
Minoe's mind went blank and "Kaede's" mind (presumably) took over as the scene replayed itself over and over in the former Togakudan's head.
The sultry voice inside Munenori's head laughed while mocking, 'Whose side are you on? You can forget everything in your life, but in the end, you'll always remember whom you're most loyal to.'
Of course his loyalties lay with Shogo Amakusa. He'd never betray his master, Doraku Akatsuki, either... even after their falling out and estrangement.
As long as he'd never serve as a traitor to them, then he'd be able to bear the burden of the cognitive dissonance of backstabbing most everyone except them. It still made it tough to betray people he'd otherwise be friends with were the circumstances different.
If he betrayed even the people he respected with all his heart, then he'd turn into a traitor to all through and through. He'd become someone that had no right to be trusted by anyone: A defector and turncoat to all who was loyal to no one but himself.
It didn't help that he had a literal coat he could turn inside out to look like a separate piece of clothing. Even if they were bullies to him, the Togakudan that he... she... killed deserved better than that.
"I have no idea what happened between the three of you in Akahori Manor," said Chizuru. "But the way you're behaving now kind of reminds me of someone I know back in Shinshu."
"Really?" Munenori asked. "How come?"
"She was also a bright and bubbly girl that turned sullen after... stuff happened to her," Chizuru said. "It took a while for her to recover."
Minoe felt his skin crawl, realizing exactly whom Raikouji referred to.
The man whom Kaede killed... Keisuke... also assaulted Chizuru's friend from that Shinshu restaurant where he first met Yahiko and Gan: Kyoko Sakaguchi.
He knew about this because he kept an eye on the duel between Soujiro Seta and Yahiko Myojin.
"...So did you have your happy ending with Yahiko or something?" asked Chizuru from out of the blue.
"Pardon?" asked Minoe.
Raikouji leaned over and whispered something in Minoe's ear.
The quibble of Minoe's lower lip and the moistness in his purple eyes mimed "!?" in not so many words before stuttering, "N-N-No! O-O-Of course not! H-He has a girlfriend in Tokyo! A-Also, I'm a guy...!"
Chizuru guffawed with a clap of her hands. "Nah, I'm just kidding, sweetie. Don't act so panicked, or else you'll look even guiltier than you really are."
Minoe sniffled while flailing his arms at Raikouji. "STOP BEING A MEANIE!"
Before Munenori knew it, he was surrounded by the Kamiya doppelganger's warmth and embrace. Had his eye patch and wig had fallen and had he not dyed his hair, they'd both look like Kenshin and Kenshin having a hug.
"Chi-Chizuru-chi?"
All they needed now were fireflies.
Then Raikouji promptly ruined the moment by lifting the smaller boy up and twirling him around until he got swirl-eyed in typical rurouni fashion.
"You are so adorable! If I can take you back home to Tokyo, I would in a heartbeat!"
"EEEH?" said Minoe while turning green and suppressing the urge to barf from all the spinning he and Chizuru had indulged in.
"Wow. Sorry. I... didn't mean to scare you. Are you all right?" To herself, Raikouji berated, 'Jeez, what came over me?' while she let go of Minoe. 'For a second there, I could've sworn that the vagabond was staring right back at me, acting goofy as always.'
As Minoe swayed along with the rolling waves of the Sea of Japan with spaghetti legs, Chizuru plucked his eye patch and wig out to get a better look at his face.
"WAH! CHIZURU-CHI!" squeaked Munenori. Thankfully, neither his hair dye nor the makeup he applied on his cheek to hide his scar had faded yet.
'Okay, so he's not the vagabond in disguise,' thought Chizuru with a sigh of... relief? Or perhaps disappointment? 'Then again, something else about him is bothering me. Like his voice. And the way he walks. If I didn't know better, I'd swear...!'
Raikouji placed Munenori's wig and his eye patch on him again, but the bangs of the bowl haircut wig and the poorly placed sword guard with the rope tied to it obscured his vision. This allowed Chizuru the opportunity to hug Minoe for a second time.
"W-What's the big idea...?" complained Minoe while suffocating underneath the taller Raikouji's bosom.
'Something's not right,' thought the heiress as she continued to pull and squeeze Minoe towards her. Every time she pulled in the short guy for an embrace, it felt... different from hugging a man. Not that she'd hugged a whole lot of men or anything.
The boy seemed a bit too... soft and supple for her comfort.
"We should just be friends too, Chizuru-chi," came Munenori's muffled remark while his face rested on the valley of the Raikouji daughter's chest.
Chizuru pushed Minoe at arm's length, which finally gave him the opportunity to breathe as well as straighten out his wig and eye patch. "W-What is it?"
"You're not who you're pretending to be," said Chizuru. "Are you...?"
"Hey, ya landlubbers! Watcha doin' up here so late at night? Are you two out for a romantic stroll or something?" greeted the Crimson Captain while emerging from the entry port of the main deck.
Minoe pulled away from Chizuru and straightened himself out like he was on fire and he was patting out the flames on his body while the rich girl crossed her arms and harrumphed.
Captain Shura then traveled all the way from the starboard bulwarks (the side part of the ship's waist that was above the upper deck) to the port side of the Akibatsu, where Chizuru and Minoe were having a "moment".
"You. Go batten down the hatches or something. We're talking here," dismissed Chizuru. She was in a middle of an important revelation, dammit.
"You're not actually ordering the Captain of the Kairyu around, are you?" challenged the Scourge of the Pacific with her hands on her hips.
"Last I checked, you and your Kairyu offered the real captain of this ship your services to act as bodyguards and extra helping hands against any Wokou attack. This isn't even your ship."
"You seem quite familiar with sailor talk. So how about I keelhaul you?" asked Shura.
"Bring it on, seabag," said Chizuru.
Minoe attempted to sneak off back to bed (or hammock) when Chizuru grabbed him by his collar, pulled him close, and murmured, "I know your secret," with a wink.
Raikouji then let go after seeing Munenori turn pale like an anemic. "No, that's not a threat! I...!" However, it was too late. Minoe had already fled.
Chizuru heaved a heavy exhale while she saw Munenori disappear at the corner of her eye.
"Did you two have a lover's quarrel or something?" asked the Crimson Captain.
"I don't swing that way," said Chizuru.
"...Come again?" said Shura.
"Nothing, nothing." Whoops. Chizuru almost let the cat out of the bag.
"Hey." Shura leaned over the railings of the boat herself, her arms rested lazily on the bars.
"What is it?" probed Raikouji with a raised eyebrow.
"How'd you meet the 'vagabond'?"
"Me? Um, when I first met... Kenshin, all I saw was this goofy, girly swordsman with a blunt sword and an easy smile before he saved me from terrorists called the Forces of Evil or something," related Chizuru.
Her story this time was less inspirational than before, when she told it to the villagers of Shinshu to inspire them to band together to fight the Fake Battousai Group.
"When he rescued me, I was convinced that my kidnappers were going to snap him in half like the twig that he was. Turned out I was wrong. That little guy can fight!"
Unbeknownst to the heiress, she'd already met the Fake Battousai from the Real Battousai Group.
"Did you know that he was the Battousai back then?" asked Shura.
"Not until later. And even back when I did, I didn't realize the full implications of that name," admitted Chizuru.
"Fascinating. Our stories are alike," said the Crimson Captain. "Well, you know, except the part where I was kidnapped and the Battousai had to save me. It was actually the other way around. I kidnapped him."
"Why did you kidnap him anyway?" asked Chizuru. "Are you that desperate for a husband?"
"Ha ha. Very funny." Shura turned away and bit her fingernails before murmuring something that Raikouji didn't quite catch.
"Can you speak a little louder?" said Chizuru.
"...I kidnapped Kenshin because the Kairyu doesn't kidnap women and children, plus he kinda, sorta defeated me in battle and I wanted a rematch."
Raikouji crossed her arms and stared at the pirate with an upturned nose. "Wow. Really? Your one-upmanship knows no bounds, Captain Seabag. Let me remind you that we both lost and Kenshin ultimately settled with some good-looking kendo instructor in Tokyo. They even have a son."
The Scourge of the Pacific turned her head away and cleared her throat. "Lost? Lost what? I don't know what you're talking about. It's not like I fell for some carrot-haired, effeminate swordsman or anything!" came her suspiciously specific denials.
"Are you crying, Captain Shura?"
"Ya stupid wench! Of course not! Are you? The Captain of the Kairyu never cries." As if to make a point, Shura stared at Chizuru while pulling her eyelids back with her fingers to widen her eyes.
"Well, I'm no captain of anything, but neither am I," said Raikouji. She herself did the same thing as Shura to show there were no waterworks forthcoming from her.
They afterwards giggled at themselves and the ridiculousness of their actions.
"You look like a bandanna-wearing owl!"
"You're the one to talk! I've seen tarsiers in Southeast Asia with less freaky eyes than yours."
However, then they stopped cold as Chizuru asked, "We're not trying to have a 'moment' here, are we?"
Following that exchange, Shura whistled a merry tune and made her way to the cockpit without another word, leaving the shuddering Chizuru to rub her arms for warmth while she stared at the moonless, starry sky.
'So that's who Minoe is. Now I know what's so 'off' about the guy.'
Minoe caught his breath after climbing all the way to the top of the highest mast he could find... the main mast... right below the ship's lookout point or the "crow's nest". His sword served as his grappling hook that allowed him to climb all the way up there in the first place.
Oh shit. Ohshit. Ohshitohshit. Did Chizuru find out his secret? She must've. She was all over him. Her hands were grabbing him everywhere. If Raikouji had been a man, he would've lost consciousness and have Kaede... He didn't want to think about it.
But didn't Yahiko already know? Did it really matter whether or not Gan and Chizuru knew? The only course of action if he blew his cover was either suicide or the death of everyone who knew his true identity.
However, what was Minoe's true identity anyway?
Munenori then spotted the assigned lookout for the night: The Kairyu's very own Sarujiro.
The monkey boy did his job and "looked out" through his telescope for any sign of the dreaded Wokou. Droopy-eyed and pink-eyed, his yawns became more and more frequent as the night passed by.
"What are you doing all the way up here, Eye Patch?" asked the nimble Captain Shura while resting on the net of ropes the sailors used to get from mast to mast as though she were lying comfortably on a hammock.
Munenori almost lost his grip on the reverse-edged wakizashi and fell many feet below. "Amazing. You got all the way up here by yourself? So I guess the reason why Yahiko-chi challenged you was because you really are strong."
"You won't be able to win over the respect and loyalty of men of the sea by acting like a wench or barmaid. By doing that, they'll leave you as soon as their ships cast off," said Shura, unrolling her short sleeves and flexing a bicep.
She added, "Then again, I don't feel like a woman in the least. Just as I decided to get back my womanhood five years ago, they reel me back in. Hook, line, and sinker. I had to abandon my womanhood again."
Minoe plucked out his dagger-like short sword from the main mast then leaped to the ropes where Shura lay.
"You've got quite the moves yourself. You're pretty nimble for a little guy," appraised the captain. "Just be careful where you're pointing that thing. Or else you'll really need that eye patch."
Munenori helplessly shrugged while briefly showing his blade off before sheathing it. "This is a sakaba wakizashi. The blunt side is at its front side, so it shouldn't be able to harm anyone when used normally."
"I... see. So they're making more of those reverse-edged blades, huh?" said Shura. "That's good to hear, Ken... uh, Eye Patch."
"Uh... Captain Shura-chi? Are you okay?" asked Minoe. "You look like you're burning up."
Shura felt her face flush in spite of herself. Her hunch was right. It wasn't her imagination. In a certain angle and light, this young man truly did look (and even partly act) like the Kenshin Himura she met more than half a decade ago.
She knew she didn't have a chance against Kaoru Kamiya, whom Kenshin rescued by offering himself as hostage instead of her. The cross-scarred man also wasn't at full power when he fought and defeated her (Sarujiro at the time stuck a poison needle up Himura's neck), which really hurt her pride yet impressed her at the same time.
When she found out more about Kenshin through occasional visits and correspondences to Tokyo, she eventually learned about his identity as the Battousai. This encouraged her to improve her sword skills since she at least was able to last while fighting against such an infamous manslayer.
She couldn't get Kenshin out of her mind, but she couldn't help it. Yahiko Myojin of the "Kenshingumi" was there with her on the ship. Earlier, he told her everything he knew about the Shanghai Mafia and its one-time leader, Enishi Yukishiro.
Maybe that was why she mistook Minoe for Kenshin...
Shura looked up and stared at the starry skies. "The original Kairyu had disbanded, turned rotten by members who wanted to betray our established code of honor. I blamed myself for it. I thought I was a lousy leader; that I was never fit to become a pirate in the first place."
"So what made you turn into a privateer?" Minoe asked. "What was that... um, 'thing' that Yahiko-chi kept implying that made you strong enough to become a captain again?"
Shura paused while she mulled over her answer. "I stopped caring about what other people thought or what they expected me to do. I simply did what I want. I once believed that abandoning the pirate life would lead me to become a married woman. A nurturing mother. But the man I wanted to marry already had his heart stolen by another."
The Crimson Captain had to look away after Minoe stared back at her with those eyes that reminded her of the gentle man (as opposed to gentleman) she couldn't kill with her sword when she had the chance.
She looked up at the yawning Sarujiro, who he kept nodding off. "Then I realized that these sailors... the new Kairyu... are family. I can't abandon them, and I can't abandon this way of life. They're my sons, and I am their mother. Their caretaker. There's nothing else I want to be than a pirate. Yohoho and a bottle of rum."
"Speaking of rum, are you drunk?" asked Minoe, realizing just how personal the conversation was getting the more they talked.
"Maybe. I'm just a little tipsy. But not from rum. We lost our ship, so we couldn't afford foreign goods. More like local sake," said Shura with a small hiccup.
Munenori only noticed just now that the captain had been hiccupping all that time. Drops of sweat started dribbling from the pores of Minoe's forehead. "Y-You can't drink now! We're in the middle of an ambush against the Wokou!"
"Ah, don't be so uptight! I usually drink sake by the barrel, and I still end up sober." To illustrate her point, she did a tightrope walk on the net they were on, while Sarujiro cheered her on from atop the crow's nest as soon as he spotted her.
'Tipsy my butt. Even if you can tightrope walk, you wouldn't do that if you were sober!' Minoe wiped the sweat off of her brow and grinned a crooked smile. "Wow. I don't know what it means to be a strong woman, but... you certainly are one of a kind, Captain-chi."
"I'll drink to that!" said Shura while she grabbed for her flask, which prompted Minoe to grab hold of the container before the former captain of the Kobayashi Maru became too wasted to enact her so-called roaring rampage of revenge.
Their shenanigans were then cut short by the mute Sarujiro blowing his whistle and clanging his bell as a signal of the arrival of the Wokou. The ancient pirates had taken the bait and an all-out battle at sea was about to ensue.
The cabin door swung open, and out came two of the Three Stooges, Yahiko and Gan.
"Urk. What's the big idea? What's with all the ruckus?" asked the Drowsy Gan (Yahiko "assisted" his sleep with blunt force trauma) as he emerged from the doorway and scratched his behind.
"The Wokou! The Wokou are coming!" shouted one of the Kairyu that Gan shared a drink with a couple of days ago. "Get your ass into gear, Bandanna! We're about to dye the sea red!"
Yahiko slipped his hand over the handle of the sakabatou while his muscles tensed. Back in the East Valley of Shinshushin, he had to practice how to do the Tsui Gami all over again on a forest of bamboo in a bid to relearn the devastating Dou Gami.
He hadn't done a proper Earth God since he left Akahori's Mansion in Shinshu, as though his secret technique was all a fluke. 'I'm going to prove that it's not,' he swore to himself.
Thanks to the new moon, the painted black Wokou battleship Hizoku was able to sneak right into the portside of the Akibatsu until it was too late to sound the alarm.
The multinational, multiracial, and multiethnic Wokou boarded the Akibatsu by slinging in grappling hooks with rope, ladders, and all kinds of climbing implements unto the shipping frigate.
In Sanhuehi terms, the entire front line of Wokou were composed of Blue Lanterns (the uninitiated) and 49ers (the Ordinary Members) of the Three Harmonies Society, organized by the liaison officer who was able to figure out all of Shura's tricks as captain: The former first mate of the Kairyu and present Straw Sandal of the Shanghai Mafia, Ginjo.
Ginjo was the one who figured out that the soft Kairyu Captain Shura was likelier to abandon ship and rescue as much of her crew as possible than to go down fighting with the Kobayashi Maru.
To be quite frank, he was surprised that the yellow-bellied captain even bothered to seek revenge in the first place after her first mate saved her hide and kept her from ending up inside Davy Jones's Locker.
"We claim this ship and its cargo in the name of the Three Harmonies Society!" shouted one of the Wokou after he made it all the way unto the deck.
However, the New Kairyu led by Captain Shura came prepared, the desire to exact revenge already at the back of their mind since Day One, when the Kobayashi Maru sank.
They arrived guns blazing while they used the very grappling hooks, planks, and rope ladders that connected the Hizoku to the Akibatsu as their means of transporting themselves to the "leaner yet meaner" black steamship.
Meanwhile, the Great Gan and Yahiko, the Son of Tokyo Samurai, had arrived on the scene in time to greet the first wave of armed-to-the-teeth Wokou and their pistols, rifles, sabers, knives, and swords.
With her tri-sectional staff on hand, the captain of the Kairyu herself launched her body at the climbing cyclopean pirate that was once part of her original crew six years past, driving him all the way back into the Hizoku headfirst like a railroad spike.
As for the Magnificent Gan, he cleaned house with the Wokou nearest to the ledge of the Akibatsu as he batted them off one by one like baseballs waiting to be hit with his studded metal bat.
From time to time, he'd yell out "BUNNAGE!" and "KATTOBASHI!" as he grabbed the pirates by the ankle, threw them high up the air, and walloped them with his tetsubo as though he were a Nineteenth Century Babe Ruth or Ichiro Suzuki.
It was only after the captain and about half of her crew had already boarded the Hizoku that the sailors of the Akibatsu and the remaining Kairyu (plus the Sanbaka) began kicking off gangplanks, unhooking grappling hooks, and cutting off rope ladders and bridges.
As Yahiko was about to cut a Wokou-filled rope bridge, he got shot at by multiple rifles from gunners above and below deck. Afterwards, from one mast and sail to another, several pirates swung onto ropes all the way from the main mast of the Hizoku to the quarterdeck and waist of the Akibatsu.
Some were armed with not only pistols and rifles, but also blunderbusses and carbines. It was eerie how the Wokou appeared like relics of past and present merging together. Like a wax museum come to life. Then again, they were also a combination of different cultures as well.
While Myojin peered through his cover... a stack of barrels full of lime... he found that the Wokou came with all sorts of swords too. Of many different shapes and sizes, some unidentifiable to him, like that sakabatou-looking sword that was wielded like a sickle.
One of those very swords almost cleaved Yahiko's head like a coconut had he not the presence of mind to detect the Wokou's sneak attack and do the signature cross-armed block of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu.
"HADOME!"
Ah, so that was why Shura held that little test of hers. Nothing less than people who had eyes behind their backs could make it as part of the Kairyu.
"HAWATARI!"
Myojin practically broke the pirate who ambushed him in half with a counterattack Hawatari that shoved the tip of the sakabatou's handle right into the Wokou's sternum.
"Cool sword. What's it called? Do you even speak Japanese?" Yahiko asked the choking man with a dirty mustache and olive skin.
"A scimitar. It's an Arabian sword," said someone from behind Yahiko after the same Wokou tried to stab him from behind with an asymmetrical sword bearing a wavy shape, prompting Myojin to block by unsheathing his own blade.
"This is a keris. It's Indonesian," said the pirate. "Is what you're holding a scimitar too, matey? Or a sickle? The edge is on the inside curve of your blade."
"No, this is just a katana. A blunt sword that couldn't kill," said Yahiko.
"Really? Too bad, then. I'll make you wish you had a real sword that can kill, ya yellow-bellied landlubber."
After seeing the Son of Tokyo Samurai hit the Hadome from up close, the tricky pirate with the keris ended up fencing with the wannabe samurai from a distance to avoid any aikido-like counterattacks.
This left Yahiko in dire straits. On one hand, hiding behind masts and crates were the Wokou gunners with their pistols, rifles, blunderbusses, and carbines. If he got into clear shot of those cowardly campers and snipers, they'd fill him with more holes than a sea sponge.
On the other hand, Wokou armed with knives, daggers, sabers, foils, epees, rapiers, katana, wakizashi, kodachi, scimitars, kerisses, dao, changdao, jian, piandao, hook swords, butterfly swords or shuangdao, nandao, spears, axes, bayonets, tomahawks, and many other weapons past and present were crawling out of the woodwork.
Katana Hunter Cho... the Kansai-accented, broom-haired blond member of the Juppon Gatana... would've practically salivated at the sight of so many different blades available in the Wokou arsenal.
The Wokou with a scimitar that Yahiko knocked down had recovered and was back on his feet, prompting the teenager to use his metal sheath to dual-wield and fight off two pirates at once.
Even though Myojin outclassed both amateur swordsmen with his constant use of the kaeshi or kendo riposte, the numbers game turned the tides and pushed his back against the cabin wall of the Akibatsu, with all sorts of multicultural blades flying at his face or his back.
Two swordsmen became three, then five. Soon, Yahiko was faced with soaring steel from all directions by seven crazy-ass pirates from all over Asia and beyond. What was worse was that his Morinaga-damaged shoulder screamed and throbbed from the sudden strain.
'Dammit.'
Yahiko almost had his head hacked off with a tomahawk "imported" straight from the other side of the world when multiple clangs echoed across the ship and several of the pirates were outright disarmed.
"...What?"
From behind him stood the smaller Munenori Minoe, his wig disheveled and his wakizashi version of the sakabatou reverberating from all the different types of blades he blocked in an instant. They the stood back to back while the Wokou gathered around them in droves.
'As expected of the Battousai of Speed,' thought Yahiko before he shook his head to clear it, his injured shoulder throbbing like a second heart. 'No, as expected of Minoe Munenori, the man who saved me from being chopped up to pieces by Amakusa and his Kuzu Ryu Sen.'
"Minoe."
"Y-Yes, Yahiko-chi?"
"Thanks again. I owe you one. Or maybe two. I've already lost count."
Myojin reddened as Munenori giggled. "Mochiron!" It was times like that when Yahiko wished he didn't know what he knew about Minoe.
Myojin still couldn't figure out why Minoe saved him back then and right now. Nevertheless, whether he liked it or not, he owed this Kakure Kirishitan double agent his life. Whoever the Battousai of Speed was, at least he could count on being able to trust Munenori Minoe.
Right around that moment, the combined forces of the Akibatsu sailors and the Kairyu blindsided the Wokou gunners that Yahiko was worrying about. Naturally, the crewmembers of the vessel knew the ins and outs of their own ship better than some stinking ancient pirates.
Then, from the other side of the ship right in front of Yahiko and Minoe, the Underhanded Gan hit the Wokou's swordsmen wannabes from behind with rabbit punches, shots to the temple, kicks to the testicles, and skull-crushing tetsubo strikes to the head.
Pirates weren't the only ones who could fight dirty.
"I thought you two needed some more muscle, Patches. Yoshi-boy. You two girly men need to work out more," said Gan.
"GAN! What took you so long, ya big galoot?" said Yahiko while Minoe grinned from ear-to-ear.
The three of them... Yahiko, Gan, and Minoe... had their backs against each other while a nearby grappling hook snagged the railings of the Akibatsu and brought forth even more Wokou from below the smaller Hizoku.
Meanwhile, it also rained pirates from above care of several more of the salty sea dogs swinging atop their mast and sails with ropes like monkeys on vines.
"Should I say it, or...?" asked Munenori.
Yahiko smirked without looking, furrowing his brow and focusing on the task at hand. "Yes, Minoe. The Sanbaka are back together again."
Minoe let out a small squeal at that.
Guffawing while bashing some Wokou's head in with his bat, the Guileless Gan said, "Fine, but I still hate that fucking, lame-ass name!"
"We have reinforcements. You don't stand a chance. This ship will sink, just like your other ship," said the Wokou with the keris before charging at Yahiko with a thrust that would've turned the Tokyoite, Munenori, and Gan into a shish-kebab.
Myojin grabbed the undulating blade and broke it in half with a "HADACHI!"
He then stabbed the broken piece of metal into the hem of the pirate's pants, pinning him to the floor before hitting him with a whirling upward sakabatou strike that made him go airborne and crash into an empty set of crates many yards away.
Yahiko then sensed and dodged a slash from behind (of course it was from behind) from a sakabatou-like scimitar while the dark-skinned man in Moorish attire who wielded the weapon seemingly spoke in tongues.
Unbeknownst to Yahiko, the scimitar-wielding Wokou after him said, "You're using the wrong side of your sword, idiot!" in some sort of Southeast Asian language.
Myojin unwittingly answered back through action instead of words, "No, I am using the correct side of my sword," with the sakabatou hitting a well-timed God Hammer.
The scimitar shuddered and broke apart into flying metal shards from the three quick successive strikes before the last strike hit the Wokou on the face to the point of nearly disfiguring it.
The rest of the armed pirates with their East Asian, Southeast Asian, Arabian, Indian, and European swords stood stock-still after witnessing that young boy break apart two blades in under ten seconds.
This was the opportunity Myojin had been waiting for: A chance to practice the Tsui Gami and retrace his steps into developing the Dou Gami or God on Earth. In contrast to bamboo stalks or wooden sticks, at least the Wokou could fight back.
Yahiko wiped the blood on his hand on his shirt, the wound caused by grabbing a sword and breaking it with his bare hands using the shirahadori(sword blocking) variation of the Hadome known as Hadachi.
"I don't care what kind of swords you have with you. I'll break them all apart before I break you too!"
The next swords he clashed with weren't able to break as easily, but every so often, the third sword or so shattered thanks to the "TSUI GAMI!"
Atop the Hizoku's deck, Shura herself beat the living daylights out of both her former Kairyu comrades and the Wokou they defected to with her signature three-section staff.
"GINJO! Take me to that dress-wearing, lily-livered, pox-faced blaggard, Captain Inoue! We have a score to settle!" said the "tipsy" Shura, unsheathing the chains of her battle baton and whipping the nearest ex-Kairyu and Wokou into shape.
"You dare order me around? You've already forfeited the title of Kairyu Captain as soon as you became too weak to actually even be called Kairyu, much less a captain," said Ginjo while he held aloft his mighty axe.
"You were the ones who betrayed me," said Shura before charging at Ginjo. "My father founded the Kairyu to steal from the rich and give to the poor! We were only supposed to raid the corrupt and greedy! But you all forgot that and became common sea criminals!"
The armored Ginjo blocked the wooden staff with one of his gauntlet-covered forearms (gauntlets that Yahiko identified even from afar as the same ones that Banjin Inui of Enishi's Six Comrades wore when he fought the Kenshingumi).
Yep, the Inui that was a military-looking guy with the camouflage pants, close-quarter combat skills, and his "tekko" that could actually block bullets in its thickness. This made sense, since the Wokou were working for the Shanghai Arms Dealers.
"As expected of a woman," said Ginjo with a sneer. "You're a mere wench who prostituted herself to the government by becoming a privateer! You have no right to talk! You have no right to resurrect the long-dead Kairyu! WE ARE THE KAIRYU, NOT ANY OF YOU SELLOUT PRIVATEERS!"
The Scourge of the Pacific reeled after Ginjo smashed his gauntlets into her face. The New Kairyu reacted immediately, firing their rounds and pushing back the Original Kairyu and the Wokou that they now belonged to.
"You take that back, you fundashi-wearing bastard! I can see your hideous, pockmarked ass from up here! Hide that nasty thing!" said Shura after retaliating with a smack to Ginjo's blindside.
"I'll cut your tongue and feed it to the sharks if you say another word, ya worm-riddled ballast pig!" said Ginjo.
"Get some pants before calling someone else a prostitute!" said the captain.
That last statement gave Shura an idea. Ginjo indeed was wearing a full suit of battle armor. The idiot still didn't wear pants, though. Like the Wokou of Ancient Japan, modern-day pirates were perfectly fine walking around in fundashi or loincloth.
The Crimson Captain proceeded to aim her weapon at Ginjo's exposed eye that didn't have an eye patch on it, which he predictably blocked with his tekko. She then whipped her staff downward and upward, it right into the muscle-brained dolt's testicles.
The long-haired ex-Kairyu crumpled like a wad of paper while grabbing hold of his family jewels. Y-You... bitch...!"
"You're the one who's being made a fool here, Ginjo. The only reason the Wokou and the Shanghai Mafia took you in was because they wanted to take me out. Otherwise, you'll end up thrown back into the sea, like the unwanted parts from a gutted fish that you are!"
Just as Shura was about to knock Ginjo out from inside his armor, thus turning it into his tomb while she pushed him and the heavy, metal-plated shell overboard, another multi-section staff identical to hers save for the fact that it was six-sectioned instead of three stopped her assault short as their weapons entangled one another.
As Yahiko stood amidst multiple piles of shattered swords, busted guns, and other ruined weaponry (as well as heaps of unconscious Wokou with their share of broken bones, teeth, hopes, and dreams), he saw from atop the bigger Akibatsu the last thing he expected to see down below, on the deck of the Hizoku.
"!?" Myojin's bugged-out eyes, paling complexion, and unhinged jaw said it all. He should've expected their presence since the Kairyu and the Sanbaka were fighting the Shanghai Mafia, but seeing them still took him in a loop.
"You've impressed me with your handling of that staff. However, I'm a lot better at it than you." The next thing the Crimson Captain knew, she lost her weapon, prompting her to back away and grab hold of her sword's handle.
"Who are you?" she spat while her foot felt up the floor for her own three-section stave without leaving her eyes on her new opponent.
As for Ginjo, he took the distraction as an opportunity to crawl away while the rest of the Wokou (led by his second-in-command, the rat-faced albino troll known as Gekki), covered his escape.
"GENBU!" shouted Yahiko from the Akibatsu vessel while shoving his sheath into the eye of yet another Wokou who attempted to stab him from behind. By reflex.
"To you island monkeys, I am 'Genbu'. However, in my native tongue, I am Xuan Wu," said one of the Su Shin (or in his native tongue, Si Xing, also known as Four Stars).
From behind him were the rest of his identical brothers: Quadruplet assassins and bodyguards for hire who were also the 426 (Enforcers or "Red Poles") of the Sanhuehi.
The rest of the identical Si Xing were as follows: Zhu Que (Suzaku) with the nandao or Chinese butterfly swords without the knuckle guards, Qin Long (Seiryu) with the guandao or a long pole weapon with a blade stuck on one end, and Bai Hu (Byakko) with the brass knuckles and superior hand-to-hand combat knowledge.
Myojin slapped his head and wiped his hand across his face. 'I thought those guys were fired from their jobs or something after Wu Heishin was arrested and Enishi was defeated six years ago. Shouldn't they be in jail? They're pirates now? What? Really?'
Xuan Wu paused from his attack and took a good look at Yahiko. He asked, "Wait. How do you know my name? Do I know you from somewhere, kid?"
"Yeah. I was the little boy that beat you six years ago in some island, when Yukishiro Enishi was still your boss in the Shanghai Mafia!"
Bai Hu of the Su Shin let out a gaggle of laughter while mentioning something in Mandarin to the rest of his brothers. Both Zhu Que and Qin Long followed suit, bursting out in cackles of glee, their grinning, frozen faces moving bobbing like puppet heads.
Minoe ended up beside Yahiko and asked the boy, "You know these people, Yahiko-chi?"
The Son of Tokyo Samurai paused. "Unfortunately, I do."
In Chinese-accented Japanese (intentional, so that everyone else would understand), Xuan Wu rebutted, "Oh yeah? Well, I didn't see any of you win your fights against those island monkeys either! You have no right to criticize me!"
"At least we didn't lose to a little boy!" said Zhu Que this time around while he slung his arm over Qin Long's shoulder and wiped the tears in his eyes. They had to separate, though, when Xuan Wu attacked them with his snaking wooden pole.
"Well, as far as I'm concerned, all four of you Su Shin are just sushi to me!" said Yahiko with a pun that would make even the Corny Gan shake his head at its staleness.
"We're the Si Shen now, not the Si Xing!" corrected a teary-eyed Xuan Wu after the merciless teasing of his brothers.
"...And what the hell is the difference between the Su Shen or Su Shin anyway?" asked Yahiko. "I mean, either way, it's still just you four losers fighting! Why bother with two names?"
The laughter of three of the four Si Shen stopped cold. They then stared daggers at the kid for reminding them of their humiliating losses that demoted them to Red Lanterns in the Shanghai Mafia.
"Why don't you come down here and find out?" challenged a livid Xuan Wu. "So the baby capuchin monkey has grown up into a loudmouthed orangutan! Get down here and I'll teach you a little lesson on respect and manners, my li'l sushi roll!"
Xuan Wu was just about to come up there where Yahiko was standing (by using his staff to pole-vault all the way from the Hizoku to the Akibatsu) when a three-sectioned stave knocked his six-sectioned stave off his hands, which led to him landing posterior-first on deck.
"I found my sansetsukon," said a smiling Shura to Xuan Wu, whirling her weapon around in a spiral.
As the rest of the Si Shen (not Si Xing) collapsed in side-splitting hilarity, the blushing Black Tortoise of the Four Gods snarled and whirled his multi-section sanjiegun at the Crimson Captain's sansetsukon.
However, a wooden slipper landed right on his face, along with the three-hundred-pound mass of the Flying Gan.
"G-GAN?" sputtered Yahiko as the Shocking Gan literally went over his urchin-like head. "What the hell are you doing?"
Minoe actually moved his eye patch aside to see the Leaping Gan do a flying kick at Xuan Wu. "Wow. Look at how far Gan-chi's jump went!"
"Holy shit! Bandanna! What's the big idea?" asked Captain Shura. "I don't need your help, you should've stayed up there with Yahiko and the others to make sure that the Akibatsu and its crew are safe!"
The Magnificent Gan cleaned his ear with his pinky and flicked away the yellow wax that had formed inside it while he continued to stand on Xuan Wu's head.
"I know you can take good care of yourself, Captain Shuriken. But you don't have time to waste with these clowns," said Gan. "The real scurvy dogs you're after are retreating right this very minute. Go get them."
Shura looked over Gan's shoulder in time to see Gekki escaping with Ginjo, the latter hobbling with a gimp on his leg. "You're right. Good work, matey. I believe I may have misjudged you harshly, Soba King. Please accept my apologies."
"No prob, babe. Go strut your cute li'l ass over there give 'em hell for me," said the Creepy Gan while he smacked his lips and winked at Shura, which made her regret apologizing to him.
"You're not going anywhere, privateer!" said Bai Hu while attempting to subdue the sprinting Captain Shura with a takedown and a submission maneuver. However, he had to turn his attention to Gan as a tetsubo strike nearly decapitated his bald, shiny head clean off his shoulders.
It was at that point that Xuan Wu awoke. Seeing the fight before him, he wrapped his sanjiegun on the Off-Balanced Gan's clogged feet, and kept twisted it in one direction while the hooligan's body turned the other direction.
A crack echoed around the Hizoku. The Hapless Gan ended up twisting his ankle care of a certain snake in the grass. "AAAARGH! SONOFABITCH!"
That was the signal Bai Hu was waiting for. He thusly unloaded on the thuggish brute like the gigantic slab of meat that he served as with every punch, kick, elbow, knee, and chop in his arsenal before the bandanna-wearing non-pirate tripped from his own throbbing joint.
The Distressed Gan kept himself from falling by using his iron club as a crutch of sorts in time to see all four of the Su Shen gather around him like sharks in a feeding frenzy. They'd definitely smelled blood.
Yahiko scowled. He initially thought that Su Shin/Si Xing (Four Stars) was merely another name for the Su Shen/Si Shen (Four Gods), but he now realized he was mistaken.
The Four Stars referred to when those quadruplets fought as individual fighters. He never imagined they could be four times more dangerous as the Four Gods, when they fought as an entire team. 'Those dirty, rotten, stinking bastards!'
After the Tokyo Samurai Descendant jumped to the rescue, so did Minoe. The faster of the two... no prizes on guessing which... seemingly materialized like a ghost right in front of Qin Long and Zhu Que, his wakizashi sakabatou on hand.
While Minoe divided and conquered the Si Shen in half, the Brawny Gan took the opportunity to raise his metal tetsubo over his head and telegraph his move.
He even told Bai Hu and Xuan Wu what it was called: "HAPPA!" The two avoided the move like the plague, which was easy enough seeing that, as far as they were concerned, a punch from Gan on Monday would probably take until Friday to land.
However, they made the mistake of waiting at the last moment to dodge and counterattack, because even though the strike missed them by a mile, it had a metaphorical blast radius of about a mile, thus the White Tiger and Black Tortoise ended up falling into the crater-sized hole the Street-Smart Gan made for them.
They spat Mandarin Chinese curse words drowned out by the snapping wood and billowing sawdust while all three fell to their presumable doom.
'Holy shit, Gan!' thought Yahiko with a cough.
The Wokou and the Kairyu looked at the mess and each other in silence before they altogether resumed their battle.
"Yahiko-chi, what are you waiting for? Go help Captain Shura-chi out now! I'll take care of the rest of the Su Shen," said Minoe. As Yahiko was about to protest, he added, "You know I won't be defeated by the likes of them, right?"
Myojin gulped as he grabbed his aching shoulder by reflex. He then espied a sheathed katana on Munenori's cloth belt, which he probably stole from one of the pirates that the Three Stooges annihilated earlier. 'So he's going all out, huh?'
While they talked, even more Wokou emerged from the lower decks of the Hizoku, as though the inside of the ship looked bigger than it appeared on the outside. The endless surge of pirates undulated like a sea of humanity, which explained how the Kairyu and the sunken Kobayashi Maru ended up overwhelmed by their numbers.
Yahiko still hesitated, remembering the hellacious beating that both Minoe and Soujiro went through when they had their duel. He ultimately decided to leave after Munenori barked, "GO!" while simultaneously blocking the high and low attacks of the leaping Zhu Que and his twin short swords as well as the multiple downward-angle stabs of Qin Long and his bladed pole.
Even including the crew of the Akibatsu (none of whom were fighters except a few security officers), they were outnumbered two-to-one. What was worse was that from Yahiko's experience, there were at least a dozen of the Wokou that were one-man armies like Shogo Amakusa, Kenshin Himura, Sanosuke Sagara, Enishi Yukishiro, or any of the Juppon Gatana.
'There's no way I'll let these jokers ruin Minoe's chances of beating those cheating Su Shen by himself,' Yahiko thought, readying his sword.
Besides, he'd be doing the ancient pirates a favor: Better knocked out with bruises and broken bones than from him than killed, dismembered, and possibly castrated by a berserk Kaede Morinaga.
All the while, as he broke bones and swords, Soujiro Seta's words echoed in his mind: 'The Shun Ten Satsu is about as fast as the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, even though it's not as strong and Himura-san's technique broke my sword apart. Just a little tip. Say hello to Himura-san for me.'
As far as he was concerned, the only way for him to defeat the Instant Heaven Murder was to rediscover how he did that one technique that stunned both the Ten Ken of the Juppon Gatana and the Battousai of Speed of the Battousai Group.
On the Akibatsu, the number of invading Wokou had started to increase again because the Kairyu's main offensive powerhouses... the Sanbaka and the Crimson Captain... were busy attacking the Hizoku.
'Hmmm.'
Chizuru Raikouji peered through the hole of the empty barrel she hid in while the Wokou raided the cargo ship. The musky wood and the hint of algae assaulted her nose. She didn't dare more an inch.
Indeed, wherever Kenshin Himura (or Kamiya, whatever) and his friends went, trouble followed. Anyone who had the misfortune of being a friend of the Battousai was cursed to have a tumultuous life.
Whether Kenshin followed trouble or trouble followed Kenshin was a "Which came first? The chicken or the egg?" kind of dilemma that Chizuru had no time to think about because a Wokou just saw her eyeball peer through the hole of the barrel oh my god omigod omigodomigod.
Oh wait, no. False alarm. He wasn't directly looking at her. Still, she held her breath in anticipation, hoping he wasn't in the mood for limes inside a barrel or something.
The grotesque and hairy grease ball before her scratched his balls and hiked up his pants. She definitely didn't need to see that.
'Ew, he's picking his nose now. He's like Gan. I can't believe Gan isn't a pirate. They're exactly alike! Yuck! Gross!' thought Chizuru
The one and only time Chizuru was kidnapped (then rescued) in her life (so far)? When she met Kenshin. After that, her life went on rather uneventfully while this doppelganger of hers had all sorts of misadventures with Kenshin.
Was she following Yahiko to... relieve her boredom? Was she really so shallow? Was it all worth it?
This person... Kaori or whoever... probably had her own share of kidnappings and problems, no doubt. Maybe deep down, Chizuru wished she lived the life of whomever it was that looked like her that ended up marrying the rurouni.
What made Chizuru think that following Yahiko around was a good idea again? What possessed her to travel with Himura's... Kamiya's... prodigy? Was she really this desperate for closure? Would she risk her comfy life and secure future for the sake of seeing Kenshin happily married to someone that looked like her but wasn't her?
Was the vagabond the reason why she ended up in a provincial post town like Shinshu? Well, she might've heard rumors that a friend of the Battousai had a family there. Maybe.
She then noticed that she wasn't holding her breath anymore. That she was panting way too hard and way too loudly. She backed away from her peephole, hoping that the greasy, stinky Wokou she spied on didn't see her and her inquisitive eyeball.
The top of the barrel opened up, and the sweaty bearded man licked his lips while Chizuru's skin crawled. So she poked him in the eye and made a break for it.
She might have to jump overboard, if worse came to worst.
She screamed after a hand grabbed her by the shoulder. She turned away, her eyes squeezed shut, while attempting to scratch the face of the person who seized her, but whoever it was grabbed her wrists as well, limiting her movement.
'Grandfather! Vagabond! Yahiko! Help me!'
She opened one eye to peer at her captor. She then relaxed and collapsed on her knees.
It was that monkey-like kid that was always hanging around with Shura. The Wokou that found her fell face down with a frothing mouth, sleeping in a pool of his own drool because several anesthetic darts were stuck into his neck.
Her eyes hen alighted on the young man's blow dart... straw thingy. Exhaling and moist-eyed, Chizuru hugged and kissed her rescuer until he turned pink as a peach. "I was so scared, Monkey Boy...!"
From behind them, the Wokou stirred while taking a knife hidden inside his boot...
The Woozy Gan shook his head to clear it. What happened earlier?
Oh right. He, the Pimping Gan, rescued the tough butch chick "Captain Shuriken" from the hands of the "Sushi"... or whatever it was that "Yoshi-boy" called them... and impressed her enough to make her apologize for letting her entire Kairyu crew beat him up when they first met!
That was his story, and he was sticking with it.
'Oh yeah. She totally wants me.' He nodded to himself. She indeed wanted a taste of the Soba King, the Master of Disaster, and the Lord of the Meat Bun. It felt good to have a lesbian returning to her home team due to a true man's sheer... manliness.
He tried getting up, but he winced while he turned. He looked down at his throbbing and bruised left ankle before remembering that Genbu (or whatever the Chinese name for Black Tortoise was) wrapped his multi-sectional staff at it and tugged at his foot after he missed his attempt at tearing the head of Byakko off (or whatever the Chinese name for White Tiger was) with his wild bat swing.
He and two of the quadruplet Chinese bodyguards had fallen from the deck to all the way inside the cabins of Hizoku, he realized.
"Damn. That must've been a really powerful Happa. Man, I scare even myself sometimes. Maybe I should be known as the Explosive Gan!" the Explosive Gan said. If he could give himself a pat on the back, he would've at that moment.
Next: An all-out pirate brawl in the middle of the Sea of Japan.
Masakichi Hananuma Inoue got his name from two sources. One, from Masakichi Inoue (1886-1975), who was a general in the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.
Two, from Masakichi Hananuma (1832-1895), a Japanese sculpture artist who crafted a lifelike statue of himself using 2,000 pieces of wood and the artist's own nails, teeth, and hair.
Finally, the difference between the Su Shin and Su Shen explanation in this chapter? Pure fanwank. Go read the Rurouni Kenshin manga for the original explanation.
Tayo na at makipagsapalaran,
Abdiel