I own nothing here…
Rays of morning light filtered in through the gaps between the wooden shutters, illuminating the somewhat cramped interior of the room.
It was furnished with only the barest of necessities—a simple bed, a nightstand at the side, a bare cabinet by the door, and a wooden chest at the foot of one of the beds. Both the chest and the cabinet looked as if they had barely seen any use over the last few months with a fine collection of dust and cobwebs all over.
The accommodations were somewhat worse than Sasuke had hoped for but he had seen and experienced worse, at least the innkeeper had provided fresh sheets and towels for them to use. It was barely acceptable by his standard and a place such as this was the best option he could have taken considering he needed to remain as inconspicuous as the circumstances allowed him to be.
As a bonus though, the innkeeper had included free breakfast in their package because he felt bad for them and was concerned about the girl that he had carried in unconscious showing he was one of the few kind men that could be found in this world— a godsend in this bleak world.
Rescuing the girl had been the only path he could have chosen but his actions had brought him more trouble than what he'd bargained for. He had provoked a Celestial Dragon— one of those arrogant rulers who ruled over the world with absolute authority.
He knew that wars had been fought at the words of such nobles and entire nations were brought to their knees by their authority. History had been rewritten time and again by their whims and kings who owned mountains of gold could only look upon them with envy.
Sasuke had just provoked one of them, perhaps several. He had planned to remain as reserved as he could be during his stay in this world, but most of his plans had been laid to rest last night. But did that mean he would have taken another path when given the same choice again? Did Sasuke regret saving that girl who had begged for help with those wet eyes of hers?
Never, even if asked a thousand times again…
Sasuke casually leaned against a wall, deep in thought. His eyes were shut and no motion disturbed the serenity of his rest except for the rise and fall of his chest from breathing but he was far from asleep. In fact, he had not slept since the last night.
The platinum-haired girl he had rescued last night had been peacefully dreaming in the realms of morpheus for the most part. She had mumbled a few times in her sleep, but what was perhaps the first night of restful sleep she had had in quite some time had been uneventful otherwise.
After Sasuke had dealt with the slavers and taken everything valuable they had on them, which was not all that much by his rough estimation, he had moved some islands away to take care of the girl in case any more of them happened to come by. He had removed the chains that bound her as soon as he could— the rough iron had torn and marked her skin badly which was accentuated even more thanks to her former masters, but that had been the least of her injuries. He had not even bothered doing a full injury assessment before concluding that bringing her back to full health was beyond the powers at his disposal.
He instinctively understood what he had to do…
When Sasuke was young, he wanted to be a hero just as his brother had been — to go on grand adventures, save damsels, explore lost ruins, and make friends. But those dreams had slowly been abandoned as he grew older and saw more of the cruel world. His dreams extinguished by his painful experiences were only reignited once again through the fists of his best friend.
He could not explain the feeling that overcame his mind the moment he thought about it, a blend of deep seated longing and nostalgia that ensured that Sasuke did not hesitate even for a single moment. He instantly bit his thumb in a single practiced motion and smeared his blood across the stump that once used to be his arm. A moment later, the very space where his torn arm was supposed to be rippled…
Uzumaki Naruto was not the only one who had a prosthetic fashioned personally for him. Konoha saw him as an invaluable asset and had gone to great lengths to ensure he remained in pristine condition if only to prepare for the minute chance that they might one day need to call upon his full strength in service of the nation. Sasuke had never accepted treatment, not after what he had done.
He had decided to bear his wounds forever as a mark of shame, to forever remind himself of the sins that desecrated his honour. But would it not be even more sinful to allow such trivial emotions to stop him from saving someone?
He refused to become worse than trash. Sasuke had found his resolve even before his hands had started moving.
Konoha had once created prosthetic arms for both him and Naruto— he had refused to make use of the one created for him but even so, he knew that discarding it would be the height of impracticality.
The advantages of such a trump card were too numerous to be ignored and he would be a fool indeed to take such a decision on a whim based on emotion alone. Thus, he had the fuinjutsu division of Konoha store the prosthetic inside a suspended storage seal carved upon the stump which remained of the arm that had been ground to ashes by the infamous Rasengan of his friend during his final clash.
He had intended to use it in case of an emergency he could not resolve through his strength alone and had the seal designed to automatically activate if smeared with his blood on a certain spot using a set amount of force exerted from a predetermined angle in case of chakra exhaustion.
With a small poof of smoke, his mangled arm was replaced by a pale white limb, entirely identical to the one he had lost in all ways but one.
There was only one way to save this small woman and that was through the Hashirama Cells his prosthetic arm had been created from. Thus, Sasuke quickly bit his thumb again— the pale one this time which so resembled White Zetsu, and gently placed it on the parched mouth of the girl.
He did not need to look to know that instead of red, the blood that seeped out of his wound was pale white in colour and richer in lifeforce than any other force in his world.
Following that, all he had to do was wait for about half a day or so and watch as her wounds healed themselves.
It might have tested the patience of a normal man. But ninjas were masters of patience and he was the best among them.
In the meantime, he decided to examine the pale arm that replaced the remnants of the ugly stump usually concealed inside his long sleeves. It was created from artificial stem cells grown using the First Hokage's DNA, meant to implant upon the receiver the traits and powers of the venerated Hashirama Senju himself. Useless for almost intent and purposes in a world devoid of chakra, but extremely rich in vitality.
Enough that the fundamental lifeforce inside a single drop of blood extracted from that arm was enough to accelerate natural regeneration to an unimaginable extent, capable of curing any wound he knew of including those of the girl he had just rescued. It should've also purged all diseases from her body if she had any, so that was another thing he would not have to worry about.
But as he was slowly accustoming his natural balance to take into account his new arm, he noticed something he had not expected. Something had been brutally cut from her back some time ago, but Hashirama's cells had restored them to their full form which was aerodynamically long and black.
They were wings— each larger than her own body and darker than the night itself.
Sasuke stared at them with wonder once they had fully grown, leaving no doubt in his mind that she was a legendary Lunarian, an almost extinct race being vehemently prosecuted by the World Government.
An actual Lunarian whose ancestors had once been worshiped as gods in mortal form by the weaker races of the world and the first of her legendary kind that he had seen in this strange new world.
Sasuke remembered then that most of the female slaves were kept merely for entertainment with a few exceptions, in sharp contrast to males who were almost always forced into hard labor. Some of them were bred from a previous generation of slaves, but most were captured by poachers from their homes and then sent to their masters through the vast trade routes spread across the Grand Line.
But Sasuke had never heard even a single whisper about any Lunarian settlement, information about which was so rare that the World Government was prepared to pay a king's ransom in exchange for it.
The Lunarian had been covered in mud and grime when he had rescued her, but with her injuries healed and all the bruises and the scars gone—Sasuke could make out enough of her features to tell that she was a gorgeous teenager who appeared to be on the cusp of womanhood, so beautiful that people from his old world would have gazed at her with awe and wonder. She would have been successful as an actress or a lethal Kunoichi back home, but fate had been far too cruel to her here.
Once her physical injuries had healed completely, Sasuke concluded that it was probably best if he cleaned her up to prevent infections and to keep people from asking too many questions. The bloodstains caked all over her body were quite noticeable and could prove to be dangerous for someone who had just healed.
It took him a long time to decide how to go about accomplishing that task, mostly because he knew she would have to be naked for him to properly clean her up and the thought of it was enough to make the small part of him concealed underneath layers upon layers of masks hesitant.
Although, with the state of her ragged clothing she was almost naked anyway.
She had voluminous breasts and an equally delectable rump that was perfect for her body. Her curves were proportional to her body and he happened to find that visually pleasing— more appealing than overly and sometimes comically large assets that some men he knew preferred. Once again, Sasuke thought about those upon whom he based his evolving moral compass.
Uchiha Itachi had always been a dependable, perfect man of sacrifice and love who had always protected him without any regard for himself. He had always been Sasuke's role model and Sasuke considered him to be the epitome of shinobi, the one thing he always wanted to become and surpass. He was the one person whose approval Sasuke would always want but never obtain.
Naruto Uzumaki had always been removed from the image of a shinobi, loud and bright as he had always been. But at the same time, he was an unstoppable machine of sheer willpower and impossible tenacity who had changed the world with grit alone. He had been the one who had always chased after Sasuke, the one thing that had always been behind him and the one who had never abandoned him.
A man whom Sasuke had always chased after and the boy who had always been chasing after him. Both had changed him in ways that Sasuke would forever remain grateful for. Sasuke wondered what they would have thought of at the sight of him in such a dilemma.
Somehow, an image of a blond dope laughing loudly alongside a gloomy old brother smirking in amusement came to his mind and Sasuke cursed, he had only been looking and that was not a bad thing, right?
Especially since he needed to see to clean her up properly.
The task took longer than he cared to admit and he had tried his level best not to stare too much, avoiding no direct skin contact and ensuring that a towel remained between his hands and her body at all times. Yet he had to take a few short breaks to compose himself at times and that annoyed him more than any words could. When he had finished cleaning her body, he unclasped his trusty black cloak and methodically placed it on her.
Unfortunately, he had no female undergarments for her to use. Sasuke may consider himself a changed man, but it would be a cold day in hell before he went off buying women's underwear by himself.
And now that she was healed, cleaned, and clothed, he was simply waiting for her to wake up. He could not just leave because he needed to be there when she opened her eyes. Strange as the thought may sound, but she was his responsibility now.
Besides, even though it ended up not requiring that much trouble to free her he had spent valuable time on her all the same— and for what he had done, he was going to have her repay him with information. Knowledge about Lunarians, a variant species said to have descended from the moons, would prove to be invaluable.
The sound of a wagon or carriage passing by outside distracted Sasuke from his thoughts. He opened his lone eye, an onyx orb glancing toward the unconscious Lunarian.
She had a slender frame made even thinner by malnutrition. Her body was mostly skin and bone with some subtle muscle in between and practically no fat, the result of long hours of hard manual labor without a rest no doubt. Her masters had clearly starved her for weeks and it was a wonder that she had survived for so long. Even assuming that she began to eat properly, it would probably take some time for her to regain a healthy weight.
Though the blood from Sasuke's pale arm was capable of curing most wounds and diseases, it could not instantly repair months' worth of malnutrition.
With a sigh, he looked up at the wooden roof of the tavern they were in and wished that he had something more productive to do. Luck was on his side today because his wishes were answered when a sound snapped him from his imagination as soon as the thought entered his mind.
"Uunngghh..."
The unexpected groan snapped Sasuke out of his thoughts as his gaze landed on the girl once again. The sound had clearly come from her, was she finally waking up?
The girl moved ever so slightly, her body shivering underneath the blanket. It was more movement than she had done all night and then her head moved some more.
This was it. She was finally waking up.
Sasuke was at her side almost immediately, moving onto the edge of her bed and watching her with an intensity akin to a hidden ANBU gazing at a target walking down the street.
Her eyelids opened gradually, revealing amethyst eyes that seemed almost devoid of life save for the tiniest of sparks. It almost appeared as if she were coming back from the grave, which would be somewhat accurate given everything that had transpired. Sasuke briefly wondered whether she would have survived for long had he not intervened.
She blinked a few times. Each time movement was slow, as if she were going through the process of how to blink in her mind and was reminding herself of the action. She was clearly in the haze of having just woken up from a very deep slumber.
"You are finally awake," Sasuke stated with the gentlest sound he could muster which was not exactly comforting by any metric, considering this was not an area of his expertise.
At the sound of his voice, she slowly moved her eyes around before her gaze came to rest upon the avenger, and for a moment there was no reaction as they quietly regarded each other.
Then her eyes went from dull and sleepy to panicked and fearful in a flash, and she tried to pull the blankets further up in a vain attempt to either shield or hide herself even as she tried pushing her body away from him. Her breathing quickened as the rest of her body started to panic. Her reaction and sudden change in demeanor did not surprise Sasuke who had been prepared for it and he responded with the calmness he had been infamous for.
"Be calm," He spoke as soothingly as he could have, "There is no need to panic. I can assure you that you are safe here and that no harm would even come to you under my protection."
She said nothing and continued to watch him nervously, though she did stop trying to wriggle away from him upon hearing his words.
"I imagine, that my side of things would be quicker to explain and as much as I wish for answers perhaps it would be better for me to give them myself," Sasuke spoke, amused despite himself when he noticed how she had barely managed moved a few inches away despite all her struggles. "I was the one who rescued you."
The Lunarian blinked at him, seemingly taken aback by his straightforward behavior which was tame compared to what it had been doing during his younger days.
He brought a hand up to his chest and introduced himself, "Sasuke."
She did not know how to react at first, so she did not.
Her mind was racing even faster than her heart, which was quite the feat considering how heavy her body felt. Waking up in this strange room with an even stranger human was reason enough to feel afraid and she was definitely not inside that ship anymore Was this a new area of the ship? Or was she brought to a different place altogether owned by her master?
She tried to remember what happened and how she got here but her memory was hazy. Maybe she was sold to a new master? Was it this man? If so, then why was he being so kind to her?
He appeared wealthy going by the rich texture of his clothes and his aristocratic face which looked as if it had not seen any real hardship before. The room, though simple, was also much nicer than what she had been allowed to sleep in the cages. The human focused his almost mesmerizing gaze on her, so deep that she almost felt as if she could stare into his eyes for a day and a night and then some more.
"Can you understand me?" He said again, carefully enunciating each word as if he were talking to an old woman who was hard of hearing and she blinked.
She was not sure if he was joking or not at first, but then he repeated what he had said, speaking even slower a second time and she realized that he was serious. She did not know what to make of it. Did he really think that she could not understand what he was saying? Who was this man?
"This is rather unexpected but I think I might have to make use of pantomiming unless we figure out a better way to communicate." The man sighed to himself, his lone hand returning to its original position as he leaned backward, "She should be able to comprehend that at least..."
She could not understand it, but something at the back of her head was telling her that she could trust this strange man. It was a strange feeling, one that she had not really felt before— at least not that she could remember. It resembled a warm voice whispering in the back of her mind. Soothing. Friendly. Warm.
It might have been some sort of compulsion or perhaps it was her subconscious instincts telling her that the man before her could be trusted. She did not know what to believe. Regardless, the situation was very strange to her – a human treating her with kindness and care, speaking to her gently as if she were something more than simple property.
As if she were actually a person.
"Am..." She tentatively whispered and the man almost seemed surprised as he somehow heard her barely audible whisper which even those with the sharpest of ears might have missed.
"Am… I dead?" she finally dared to speak again, her voice soft and quiet. It had taken a lot of effort to do so, but she wanted to hear herself speak. Surprisingly to her, she sounded perfectly fine and her throat did not hurt from speaking like it usually did. It was no longer hoarse and strained, which it had been for the last several weeks from all the coughing she had been doing because she had been sick.
She found it strange to hear her real voice for the first time in a long time and it sounded almost as if a stranger were talking. For a moment she wondered if it was actually herself that had spoken or someone else entirely. Was this really what she sounded like before all of this? She could scarcely remember.
"So you can understand me," the man spoke, sounding almost as if he had expected her to promptly answer the first time he had asked. "You are fine, as well as you can be considering the situation. This wouldn't be much of an afterlife if you truly were dead."
She let his words sink in. Everything looked and felt real enough. She felt as if she was still in her own body and was not some sort of spirit or something, but she did not understand why she felt no pain in any part of her body anymore. She also no longer felt sick or weakened. Instead, she actually felt good, the best she had felt in years. If she was truly alive, then should she not still be in pain?
It occurred to her that she might have passed out on the ship and that this was all some kind of dream. She tried to remember what happened.
"I remember... a shadow..." she said, her eyes distant as the memory slowly came back to her. "It was it was dark... up above from the sky..."
She remembered more. She remembered being on the ground, numb from the overwhelming pain as usual. It was dark for a while as they dragged her back through the hard deck. Some of the men had caught her trying to run away again. Then out of nowhere, there was a dark that glared down from overhead as if the night itself had fallen from its perch in the heavens and was bearing down on them.
Then...
"Ah, I suppose that might have me," Sasuke frowned in thought, even as her eyes widened.
He did not appear to be lying, and though it did not seem believable enough given what she remembered. The men on the ship were used to violence and she had seen them undergo regular training. How had he dealt with them without any apparent injury?
She studied him with even more intensity than she had been doing before— taking a good look at the expensive clothes covering her, and the elegantly curved shape of the body that they were covering up. She then glanced at his arms and there were two of them.
She shook her head— her memory was hazy but she remembered that lone eye which was raven black and blazed intensely with unseen power all too clearly, she could not really tell anything else at the moment. The man before her had the same eyes but his sharp features and aristocratic angles had a subtle beauty that made him look even more handsome. She had not seen much of the world nor had she seen many humans, but this man was certainly the most handsome one she had ever laid eyes on as if a God had carefully sculpted his face to a certain set of beautiful specifications.
"Is there something on my face?" Sasuke asked as his frown only deepened.
Her eyes widened and she felt heat rushing to her cheeks as she quickly looked away. "N-No..." she managed to say, her voice so quiet that she almost did not hear herself.
"How are you? Are you experiencing any prominent pains?" he asked with a touch of genuine concern that was meticulously hidden behind his frown.
"I... feel okay," she replied after a few seconds. She really did, as impossible as it was to believe.
She brought her hands up and stared at them, noting that while the hard callouses remained, there were no more cuts or bruises. Two of her fingers on her left hand had been bent and broken, part of the punishment she remembered receiving last night for trying to run away but now they looked and felt perfectly fine. She moved them around and then touched them with her other hand and there really was no pain at all.
When she was on the ship, she would only be barely healed whenever her injuries got too severe. Just enough for her to be useful and productive again. Never had they deigned to fully heal her as this human had and it was strange to feel so... whole again.
"The means I used should have healed any wounds and ailments you had. However, let me know if you suddenly feel any pain." Sasuke ordered. "The method I used was not tested,"
"No pain," she whispered and gently shook her head as she glanced at him before looking away again. Then she froze. Hesitantly, she reached her hands towards her back. If he had healed all her injuries, did that mean...?
Realizing what she was trying to do, Sasuke simply watched patiently as she felt for her wings.
Sure enough, her fingers felt the full length of her wings for the first time in ages, her index fingers tapping the points of them multiple times as if testing them to see if they were real. Her eyes widened, her mouth agape for a moment before she began to sob. Tears welled up in her eyes within seconds and then streamed down her face.
Sasuke's cold eyes turned soft and he had the urge to pull her into a hug but thought better of it. She was starting to think that this really must be a dream. Why would a human be so kind to a Lunarian?
Not only was she a Lunarian, but she was also a slave. For most of her life, she had known nothing but pain and hardship at the hands of humans. She despised them just as they hated her in return. They did not think of Lunarians as anything more than dumb animals, surely not worthy of care or pity and every human she had met since the dawn of her life had only perpetuated that image.
Except for this man. This man named Sasuke.
Humans were apparently capable of being nice. Of treating others respectfully and carefully. A fact that was utterly new to her. Unless this was all an act? She could not wrap her head around it, and even though the warm feeling in the back of her mind told her to trust in him, she could not stop herself from thinking that there was a chance this was all a trick.
She was well aware of how cruel humans could be. Her previous master had played on her naivete when she was first put into service. Furthermore, she was even unsure of why this was happening and what the man before her stood to gain from it but at that specific moment, she found that did really care. For the first time in a long time, she actually felt hope and her wings...
They had been miraculously returned to her!
She truly hoped this was not just some vivid dream, because if it was, this was certainly the most pleasant dream she had ever had and she did not want to wake from it. She would rather face death than return to that living nightmare that was working on that cursed farm. After a few minutes had passed and her sobbing had died down and though she was sniffling, she tried to blink away the wetness in her eyes as she looked at the blurry figure still sitting quietly next to her.
"Th... Th... Thank..." she could not even fully say the words, but Sasuke understood. She could hardly even believe she would say that to a human after everything she had experienced with them.
"It was no big deal," Sasuke spoke and the corner of his lips twitched for a moment, not that she could really see them at the moment. It was the first time someone had thanked him so earnestly.
Something warm bubbled inside of his chest…
She attempted to wipe away the tears with the backs of her hands, succeeding only in smearing the liquid around her face some more as there was simply too much.
Reaching into his pockets, Sasuke pulled out a small piece of pristine white cloth. It was a standard shinobi handkerchief, one that was designed to also soak up as much blood and cover wounds in place of bandages. Sasuke had not needed it for quite some time but at least now it could serve some purpose. As gently as he could, he wiped away the tears from her pretty face and then proceeded to place the somewhat damp handkerchief in her hands.
"What is your name?" Sasuke asked after a moment.
Still sniffling, she bit her lip and looked at him. That warm feeling in the back of her mind grew stronger and though she was wary of it, she could not resist it. She felt herself giving in, embracing the warmth of this man who treated her so kindly.
"Ariel Dawnstar"
"Ariel— the heath of God," Sasuke softly repeated her name and nodded. He did not know why but something compelled him to further add, "That is a beautiful name. It suits you."
It took him a second to realize how disgustingly soft he sounded and he was surprised, knowing that these words would have never left his mouth under any circumstances in Konoha.
He really had been changed by both Itachi and Naruto, hadn't he?
The Lunarian's cheeks turned several shades of red as she sat there dumbly, unsure of what to say. A human had just complimented her and it was so utterly unexpected that she was having a hard time processing that it had even happened. She could not even recall the last time anyone had complimented her in a normal conversation. Come to think of it, when was the last time she had even had a normal conversation?
In less than an hour, this strange raven-eyed man had seemingly upended everything she thought she knew about humans. Before meeting him, all she knew was hatred for them. She had thought them to be violent, malevolent, and cruel creatures who looked down and spat upon all everything that was not human. Not to mention they were the aggressors and oppressors in a seemingly endless war against her race, and she rightly despised them for it.
Yet here was a human with no malevolence in his voice or actions towards her, no hint of disdain or hatred, only a polite abruptness that befuddled her. It troubled her that she now felt greatly indebted to this stranger whose motives were unknown to her, though she was not sure what to do about it.
Her hands reached up to touch her restored wings one more time, making sure they were still there. That had been his handiwork too. She briefly entertained the idea that this might be some vivid dream of wish fulfillment but then brushed that thought off as unlikely. This all felt real enough to her. And she was not about to give her imagination this much credit.
Honestly, she could not even remember the last time she even had a proper dream when sleeping and besides, there was an even better dream for her— one that she had dreamed about but only during the daytime when her mind thought so strongly about it. The thought of it darkened her eyes and brought a manic grin to her face.
In this dream she was slowly and meticulously torturing her former masters to death, watching with amusement as they pleaded for her to end their misery while she slowly stripped them of their flesh and sanity, piece by agonizingly bloody piece...
Her stomach growled, punctuating the silence that had settled between her and Sasuke, breaking her out of her dark thoughts.
"Ah, you must be hungry," Sasuke remarked. He did not wait for her to reply, standing up and making his way out of the room and leaving her alone with her confused thoughts. "I should order some food."
He had seen the slightest of grins on her face just now, however it looked a bit strange. Almost crazed even. He presumed she was thinking about her newly restored wings and left it at that but something deep inside of him, an instinct honed by countless wars told him he had seen that same grin before.
In a mirror, that is.
Separated from the reaches of banditry and savagery, a legendary island dwelled where no pirate would dare step foot upon. This was Marineford— the main headquarters of the Navy whose fleets ruled the seas.
Densely populated and mostly surrounded by fierce water currents that could crush any invasion and high retractable walls which no man had ever scaled before, the island was mostly populated by officers and their families and protected both the Sabaody Archipelago nearby and the Mary Geoise directly above on the Red Line.
Inside the main headquarters, an aged man sank into his leather-bound seat with an appreciative sigh. Massaging his even as he glanced at the piles of paperwork on his desk, the man decided to shut his eyes instead of resuming his duties.
Sengoku infamous as the Golden Buddha was a hero amongst the people, a man whose power was almost unmatched in the world. As one of the highest-ranking officials serving the world government, Sengoku had witnessed firsthand the horrors of piracy destruction that had been left in its wake.
Born with an incredible innate talent of Haki and a Devil Fruit whose powers allowed him to stand peerless amongst his generation, Sengoku knew he had the opportunity to stop those who wanted to destroy society with bloodshed and anarchy. With the help of his subordinates, which were just as famous as him if not more so such as Garp, he had been capable of standing against the malice of piracy and were perhaps the only ones who had successfully led a resistance against the Rocks Pirates, the Roger Pirates, and the Yonko. He had been awarded for his achievements alongside his shaper acumen and had been leading the navy ever since.
Sengoku sighed, he wished that someone had warned him that ruling was such a pain for he would have long joined Garp in remaining a Vice-Admiral if he knew about the suffering he would have to bear just by sorting through the stack of papers which were somehow teleported to his desk every day.
His sensitive senses caught the sound of silent footsteps walking down the hallway toward his office and he did not even have to open his eyes to see who it was. "Why haven't you dealt with this yet, Kuzan? Everyone is waiting for your response."
Admiral Kuzan better known by his epithet Aokiji did not have the appearance of one of the strongest Admirals in the entire Navy at the moment, no that would be too proper for him considering his usual shenanigans. In fact, were it not for the unseen layer of danger and the aura of power around him, one would likely mistake him for one of the lower-ranked troops serving the navy if they could not recognize who he was just through his distinct features. Long black, curly hair cut to chin length that fanned out at the tips, tanned skin, and an altogether lean, long build with a height that almost touched the three-meter mark alongside small back eyes that were staring at Sengoku's almost reproachful look in surprise.
Naturally, Kuzan did the thing most people would have done when faced with their superior's fury. He tried to retreat backward and hide from his boss's fury. "I'm sorry Fleet Admiral, what happened?"
Sengoku placed down a file on the table, his gaze icy as he watched his subordinate gulp and read the familiar title. "Why haven't you started investigating this matter yet? Do you know who exactly ordered the Navy to investigate this?"
"Well, you see…" Kuzan almost stuttered, sweating as he tried to think of his excuse for his lack of action. Ever since he had gotten the news earlier that morning during the daily meeting, the Admiral had been trying to dodge the problem and his boss together but it seemed he would have to confront both now. "Ah, yes. I was busy planning for the coming execution."
Sengoku let out a heavy sigh that made him seem much older than he appeared at the pitiful excuse, rubbing his temple lightly as he began to think. "Any order given directly by the Gorosei is a problem. This one, in particular, was a massive incident that sent shockwaves throughout the higher echelons of World Government like no other." Tired eyes glanced out of the window of his office, an unreadable expression on his face. "There's no mistaking that deliberately targeted the ships of Saint Nicholas."
"But we have better things to do than to serve the whims of some slavers." Kuzan's argument was weak, and both men knew it. He just did not wish to accept the demands of the World Nobles when he had a war to plan, which fit well with his Lazy Justice as he liked to call it "Besides, couldn't this be the work of some random raiders, rather than a conspiracy as you seem to assume."
"Do you know what that ship was transporting under the banner of a Holy Saint itself?" Sengoku almost raised his eyes, as the corners of his mustache shook, "Do you think any random raider dare would touch the ship of a Saint exactly when it was transporting a Lunarian and take only the most prized treasure while leaving everything else?!"
"Oi…" Kuzan's eyes widened slightly, as he almost reeled back in shock, "Don't tell me that a Lunarian was stolen from that ship…"
Sengoku almost did not respond, his eyes still peering out the window, locked onto something he must have seen in the distance. It was only because Kuzan had spent so much time with him that he caught the barely perceptible catch in his breath, the small tightening of his brow for a microsecond.
"Do you believe that someone is trying to sabotage the development of the Navy or trying to seal our secrets?" There was a weight to Kuzan's words, a slight sense of fear hiding behind his pressed lips. The thought of any of their most hated enemies, gaining the power of they were trying to harness was enough to make the Admiral alert.
"I don't know. The Yonko could have done it but the job was too subtle for them and it was clearly not the work of Revolutionaries seeing as everyone onboard was murdered without exception. No, there has to be someone else behind this." Sengoku turned around to face the tall Admiral, a look of urgency set on his face. "Moreover, the fact that the Gorosei itself has called for an investigation means that the outcome of this would directly impact both of us."
Kuzan sighed, he knew that he couldn't let himself get caught off guard. The Marines would make the first move. "Prepare my warship. I would personally look into this."
Sasuke tried to temper his imagination as he made his way downstairs to the main hall where he was greeted by the innkeeper who was busy tending to his bar.
Chuck was his name, the proud owner of Maiden's Adobe which was a rundown inn located at the edge of a local down that had clearly seen better days with some tables covered in dust and corners full of cobwebs. Some of the furniture in sight was damaged too and Sasuke knew he certainly could have found more appropriate accommodations had he truly wanted to, but it was good enough to serve his purposes for now.
With a worn wrinkled face that had several scars all over and grey hair, Chuck had to be pushing fifty years old if he was not already over that mark and he was the only one working at the inn, which was probably why some parts of it were falling apart. There was simply too much for him to handle on his own at his age.
His body, however, was still solidly built like that of a man at least a decade younger, maybe more. His hard muscles were likely the result of years of physical labour and exercise and Sasuke could tell from the way he moved that the man knew how to handle himself in a fight. There was no doubt that the man's physique helped him keep any unruly patrons in line. The innkeeper's scars hidden behind his sleeves were all clear evidence of a past full of conflict.
It was getting close to midday at that point and there were a only small number of people eating their meals quietly in the main hall but only the innkeeper looked up at Sasuke as he approached, his hands never stopping from their cleaning work. Apparently, the man had done it enough times that he did not even really need to look at what he was doing anymore as he continued to pick up, clean, and put things down even as he observed everything around him.
"You here for your meal ?" asked the innkeeper. His voice was rough as expected, but not aggressively so.
Sasuke nodded. "Make it two. I need to bring one for my companion as well."
Chuck grunted in acknowledgment and finally stopped cleaning for a moment, setting the towel down on the counter before disappearing through a door behind the bar that led into the kitchens. About a minute or so later, he returned with two steaming bowls of stew.
"Here you go. Made it myself."
Sasuke was not sure if that was a good thing or not, but he nodded his head and reached for the bowls even as Chuck asked.
"How is she?" The innkeeper stared straight at the shinobi, who paused at the question just as was about to turn and head back upstairs. "Your companion," he further clarified, though Sasuke thought it unnecessary since they both knew full well whom he was referring to.
He remembered the look of suspicion he garnered from the innkeeper last night when he carried the unconscious girl with him into the inn, though Sasuke figured the man was simply concerned about her. At the time, Sasuke had somehow managed to convince the man that they were traveling companions who had come from far away island and the reason why his companion was unconscious was because she had fallen asleep on his shoulders as he'd been carrying her on his back because of exhaustion.
Chuck had seemed skeptical at first, but the Lunarian sleeping peacefully so the man eventually took the avenger's word for it and gave them a room, though not without giving him a well-meaning warning to which the shinobi had responded with a grunt.
"Ariel only now woke up," he answered, deciding that putting a name to the girl would help ease any lingering suspicions the innkeeper might hold. "She's hungry and tired, but I expect her to be back on her feet soon enough."
"Good," was all the innkeeper said as he returned to his cleaning duties, apparently satisfied and no longer interested. With the conversation clearly over, Sasuke made his way back to the room and found that the platinum-haired girl had barely moved from the spot on the bed where he had left her. She visibly tensed when the door was opened, but seemed to relax a bit when she saw who it was.
Closing the door quietly behind him, Sasuke walked over with both bowls of steaming stew and placed them on the wooden stand between their beds.
Her amethyst eyes watched him the whole way as if she were a predator waiting to pounce at the right moment on some unsuspecting prey. The steaming bowls of food had not escaped her notice, and the aroma of the stew permeated the entire room fairly quickly. Perhaps it was the smell of the food or merely the sight of it that made the Lunarian's stomach grumble loudly once more. Probably both.
She glanced down at her stomach, placing a hand on it and looking slightly embarrassed at the sounds it was making.
"You should sit upright so you can eat," he ordered, hoping that said food tasted well enough to eat. He had low expectations but chefs of this world were in a class of their own and the old man had a penchant for surprising him. She shot him an odd look but said nothing as he helped her sit up. Then he took a pillow from his bed and stacked it on top of her own, allowing her back to rest against the pillows for support.
"Is that fine?" he asked, receiving a quiet nod in reply.
Sasuke sat down on the edge of the bed and reached for the first bowl of stew. He took the spoon that came with it and mixed the stew around before carefully taking a scoop out. It looked and smelled decent enough to eat. He then brought the spoonful of stew up to her mouth. It took Ariel almost a second to register what was going on, and the look of shock on her face was enough to give him pause.
"W-What are you doing?" she asked, looking at the outstretched spoonful of stew and then at Sasuke with bewilderment.
"Feeding you," he replied, voice blunt and flat as he found nothing strange about his actions. Was it really so shocking that he would try and help her eat? She had yet to recover after all.
"I can see that." Her hands gripped the blanket that covered her brown legs.
Sasuke looked at her for a moment before he carefully put the spoon back into the stew with the handle resting on the edge of the bowl. "Is something wrong?"
She did not meet his gaze as she stared down at her lap, her pale arms now crossed over her chest. How could he not understand what was wrong with this picture? Humans and Lunarians were enemies and yet here was a human caring for her, a slave, as if she were some pampered lady?
Granted, everything in the last hour or so had been an experience she would have thought impossible, even on the best of her days but this... this was too much.
"Ariel?" he prompted her after a moment, causing her to flinch a little at the sound of her name. Sasuke glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, "Have you lost your appetite?"
"No, that's... that's not it," she finally responded, and her stomach growled again as if to confirm that she was indeed hungry. The dull ache of hunger was gnawing at her stomach now that there was food so close at hand and her body was aching for her to start eating already, but a part of her hesitated. The rational side of her knew that her being spoon-fed by her human saviour was not too absurd of an event given all that had happened but her emotions were strongly surging.
"Then what is the matter? Do you not want stew?" Sasuke finally asked, "I could go get you something else if you wish for it."
Perhaps the natural diet of her kind was not the same as that of humans. Were Lunarians all vegetarian or was he overthinking it and the stew just looked bad?
"It's not that!" She was too weak to shout but she certainly tried, the variation between the volume of her small outburst and her regular voice being barely noticeable.
Sasuke was inwardly surprised at the outburst though he appeared unfazed on the surface as he continued to observe her, something was bothering her and he could not quite understand what.
"Please... just let me eat on my own. I can manage," she spoke after allowing a small moment of silence to hang between them and glancing down at her palms. She did not really want to mention why she was feeling uneasy because the more she thought about it the more shameful it seemed.
"Very well," Sasuke simply spoke, leaving it at that.
Ariel winced at the sudden heat as the bowl was pressed against her palms, but a second later her body adapted to it. She took the spoon in her right hand and with some effort was able to shakily bring it up to her mouth, dropping a bit on herself but not really caring as she gulped it down with a deep breath of satisfaction. Even though the stew itself was a simple salted broth with some meat, lettuce, and carrots, it tasted wonderful and was the perhaps best thing she had tasted in her entire life.
Sasuke spoke nothing of her stubborn tenacity. He could see that she was struggling with the spoon, her finger strength and dexterity were clearly weakened by the state of her body yet she forced herself to power through. It was the very same tenacity that kept her from giving up on this world when he had found her on that ship last night, despite all the pain and agony she must have experienced.
It did not take her long to wolf down the bowl he had given her, even bringing the whole thing up to her face and tipping the remaining contents into her waiting mouth. A few drops dribbled out from the sides of her mouth and she licked her lips in response, releasing a pleased sigh afterward.
She looked at the empty bowl with a tinge of disappointment. It was not enough to sate her hunger, but it was certainly enough to keep her from starving which was more than she could say about most of her meals.
Sasuke sighed, he was glad to see her eating and enjoying the food. He took the empty bowl from her and proceeded to give her the second bowl in his hands, at which point she once again gave him a confused look.
"Aren't you going to eat?" she asked, her voice small and quiet. It only made sense that the other bowl was his yet he had given it to her so quickly, as if he had been planning it all along.
Sasuke simply shook his head as she looked down at the new bowl of stew in her hands intently, as if looking at some precious treasure. They must not have fed her much of anything when she was on that ship, and the very thought of it irked him more than he cared to admit. "I am not hungry at the moment and you need it more than I do."
"Are you sure?"
"Hn."
"Okay then, if you really are sure..." her voice faded at the end as if she were expecting him to interrupt her and change his mind at the last second. But that did not happen and he stayed quiet.
Ariel seemed apprehensive about it, but she was also hungry enough to think too much about it and proceeded to consume the contents of the second bowl without any more questions. This time she ate slower, savoring each flavor and enjoying the feel of her hunger being truly sated for the first time in months. Her stomach was probably going to hurt from being too full for the first time in forever, but it was a pain she could certainly deal with. Usually, her stomach hurt because she did not have any food.
When she finished with another satisfied sigh, Sasuke took the bowl from her once more and stacked it on top of the other empty one on the nightstand. He then reached for the handkerchief he had given her earlier, which was lying on the bed next to her and proceeded to wipe her mouth and chin, much to her surprise.
"Thank you..." she whispered even more quietly than before even as her ears flushed red. She did not know what else to say.
"Hn" Sasuke acknowledged, before speaking once again, "You should rest, your body needs additional time to recover. I would be here right beside you."
She spoke nothing but looked downward at her hands. The nervousness on her face was not lost on him, but there was nothing more he could do for her at the moment.
"Wait…" Sasuke paused at her voice and glanced back at the girl who hesitated for a moment before repeating what she said once again with more determination this time as a thousand emotions she could neither name nor understand flowed through her amethyst eyes. "You can leave me behind if you want."
For a moment Sasuke did not reply, staring into her distressed eyes before he sighed. He understood what emotions she was experiencing at the moment, why she had just told him to abandon her here.
"Are you asking me to leave because you do not wish to stay in my presence?" Sasuke began, closing his eyes even as she glanced down at her hands. "Or have you brought this up because you are concerned about my wellbeing?"
Her eyes widened as images of fire and endless, meaningless violence flashed through her mind. Yes. Indeed, that could happen once again. In a world known for its cruelty, that could happen to her again and leave her even more scarred than before which was why she refused to involve Sasuke in all this who had only helped her selflessly without asking her for anything in return.
Seeing that she did not respond but simply clutched the blanket in her hands a bit more told Sasuke all he needed to know. He could not understand what made her care so much for his wellbeing but he was not going to leave her. Not after this…
"I appreciate your concern but I am well aware of who Saint Nicholas is and what he can do if provoked." Sasuke softly stated, but there was a resolution in his voice that could shake worlds, "But I did not rescue you with the intent to abandon you at the first sign of trouble. You would find that my resolve does not waver so easily."
"But it would not just be Nicholas who would come after me," She spoke in reply after a moment, her heart sped up even as it ached because it sounded as if he understood her as if he was aware of the sword hanging over her head. "It would be the Gorosei itself, it would be the whole world!"
"I can respect your resolve. However, I refuse to back down on this, not when it is apparent that you despise captivity as much as I do." Sasuke simply shook his head. "I refuse your refusal."
Uchiha Sasuke knew the emptiness that came with losing everything which threatened to engulf everything he knew and more, he knew it better than most could ever claim to.
He had always had a goal, be it absurd or insane, selfish, or juvenile. More importantly, he had always possessed a drive that kept him moving, an unflinching will to move on with the decisions he had made in his life. He was always certain and confident, remaining busy and occupied. But sometimes, he too felt empty when thinking about purpose.
There once existed a void deep inside of him that could not be made whole, an endless abyss trapped inside a black hole of uncertainty and discord. Sasuke had felt it when his attempts to unlock his chakra proved to be even now fruitful as they were on this day of his arrival and he had felt it when he had nothing else to occupy his time except training, training, and more training.
He knew what it was like to lose everything and suddenly be left directionless, having experienced that all too well when Itachi had murdered his clan. His mind had been reset, his dreams had been shattered and his idealistic view of life had been brutally assassinated and buried more than seven feet into the ground in which they would never see the light of day again.
Though that feeling had been momentary, a brief moment before he dedicated all his time towards his revenge and regained the vigour to buckle down and chase his goals. But in the beginning, he remembered wandering around aimlessly as if he were struck in quicksand that had been drowned in honey and tar. Moving forward in one direction and trying to get out, but being unaware of which way would lead to his freedom, and which way would lead to his own destruction.
He now knew that at those precious moments, even Naruto's usual quirky comments, or Sakura's high-pitched voice would have been a welcome change. He would have welcomed Kakashi's aloof disposition and his ever-infuriating eye smile which made the Uchiha want to rip apart the mask from his space.
Anything was better than that bloody hush, the quiet.
It was a thought he chose not to dwell on, but there was a time when once constantly returning to an empty house had become the norm for him, a house drenched in the stale smell of dried blood and putrid odour of death that no amount of perfumes or disinfectants could ever remove.
When he was seven, he had been living alone in a deserted clan compound. He lived in isolation, in a dark room with no posters and a dim light that never truly served its purpose. He was seven and he knew how scary the dark quiet could be. Over time, Sasuke ignored learned to ignore his solitude with training, training, and more training. Forced his mind to always remain occupied— in the beginning, it had been the thoughts of killing Itachi, then the notion of destroying Konoha to gain revenge, after which came his search for redemption, then his investigation of the Otsutsuki, and now his aimless search here in this world.
To wake up and suddenly lose everyone you cared about, Sasuke knew how that felt better than anyone. Perhaps that was exactly why he understood Ariel so well and perhaps that was why he knew exactly what he must do.
"That's not how it works." She denied.
"Those who break rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." There was a finality in his words as if nothing in the world would change its mind.
Ariel paused because Sasuke spoke the words as if they were a promise, just as how mothers proclaimed their love for their children and how brothers vowed to protect each other— and she wanted to believe this strange man seemed to be a manifestation of all her hopes and dreams in being. He represented things she had not yet let go of, though she probably should have a long time ago.
It was too good, and Ariel found herself being pulled into his flow for a moment.
"You're crazy," she spoke, feeling as if she had somehow betrayed himself.
"Hn." Sasuke just grunted in reply.
Seeing that Ariel would be Sasuke's first crewmate and a potential waifu— I thought it would be a shame to not write an entire chapter just for her character introduction. Overall, she is a sweet girl but can also be extremely vicious to any human not named Sasuke Uchiha.
Also, our emo boy now has an arm, I never liked Sasuke being stubborn and refusing treatment in canon. He also needs it considering he has an Admiral chasing him now and has drawn the direct ire of the world government. Can the protagonist Halo save him this time?
Anyway, I ask all of you wonderful humans to recommend me some crew members— can be anyone from anywhere, not just One Piece.
Thanks for reading.