Chapter 28: Celebration and Departures
Once word of Arlong's defeat spread across the island, the island wide party commenced loudly with great cheer, with Cocoyashi Village being the first to start up the three-day long party.
Large bonfires being lit, instruments brought out and played with mixed reception, people drinking and feasting to their hearts' content. Not one person could be seen not celebrating their new freedom with great gusto, many with tears of relief.
After everyone had gotten their wounds all patched up, with some of us needing stitches including me, we all got swept up in the festivities along with the Straw Hat Pirates.
Everyone could be seen celebrating alongside the villagers, with Luffy munching on food, Usopp deciding to sing some made up songs, Sanji flirting with the various women around.
I wasn't all too fond of festivities, so I sat down at some corner to slowly chow down on some party food. Sen, Kris and Gin agreed with me, joining with me in looking over the crazy party happening.
Though the fishman didn't join them for other reasons, mostly due to the stares the villagers were giving him whenever he walked past them.
Gord was nowhere to be found, but there's no doubt he was enjoying the party just the same.
"They sure can throw a party." Sen noted as he chugged his fifth mug of ale.
"They had been oppressed and exploited by a money-grubbing tyrant for years." I pointed out to him, "This party is probably to make up for all those lost time."
"And this is, what, the third night in a row now?" Gin mused, "How are none of them passing out right now?"
"Enthusiasm and pure caffeine?" I suggested.
"I think I saw someone spike the drinks with something."
"Pft!?"
Kris's comment had Gin spitting out the ale he was drinking; Sen just looked down at his mug, before taking another cautious sip. "Huh, whatever it is, I can't taste the difference. Whoever made this must be quite skilled."
"And you didn't bother to tell us until now, WHY!?" Gin cried.
"No one seemed to be suffering from any side effects from it." Kris stated, "Only from the exhaustion of partying for two nights straight."
I rolled my eyes at his blunt words before taking a bite of my raw ham melon. I had wondered what this would taste like when it was mentioned offhand in the manga, and now I know.
Sweet with a hint of savoury, something I wouldn't have tasted before coming to this world.
"Ah!" I turned my head around to see Luffy staring at me with a half eaten leg of meat in his mouth among several in his hands, "Hey, Rein! What was that you just ate?"
"Raw ham melon? It's raw ham on top of some melon."
"Yeah! Where did you get it?"
"Somewhere around the party? I just picked it up randomly."
"Then I'll go find it!"
The Straw Hat pirate captain immediately ran off into the crowd, not caring if he bumped into other people in his rush.
"…How much is he planning on eating…?" Gin wondered.
"Who can say?" I shrugged my shoulders. If there was one thing I was quite sure of, it would be that Luffy's appetite was pretty much bottomless. "Hopefully the supplies will hold until we reach Temasek."
"I'm kind of regretting not stealing the marine vessel now…"
When we got back to Cocoyashi Village, I was surprised that the Marine battleship at the port was gone with Gord, Sen and Gin all sitting about; Nezumi and his men were all gone as well.
Apparently, when Sen and Gin went to the ship to ask for help, the marines immediately saw through the former pirate's disguise and tried to apprehend him. Sen, being Sen, put a quick stop to that via beating down all of them with extreme ease. They then decided to regroup with us at the tangerine orchard to tell us what happened, where they encountered Gord with the tied up Nezumi.
After getting the full picture from Gord, they grabbed the corrupt marine officer and threw him back on his ship, before Sen quite literally threw them far away from the island to be set adrift.
Of course, no one besides the ones who had seen Sen's might believed that was true. Who could blame them? Sen didn't appear to be capable of that.
But thanks to that, we had no other options than asking Luffy yet again for a ride back to Temasek, which he nonchalantly agreed to. Zoro looked miffed about it, but said nothing. Usopp didn't seem on board with it either, considering that Kris would be on board as well.
Sanji, on the other hand, looked to be excited to have another girl on board, even if it would be for a short time.
Nami doesn't seem to know of our arrangement yet, but I guessed she would be uncomfortable traveling with a fishman of all people. Hopefully, she would be able to hold back her hate for this trip.
"Well, I'm getting a refill."
"More spiked drinks?"
"Hey, if no one is keeling over from it, then it must be harmless."
Gin groaned at Sen's words before following him to get a refill of his spilled drink. Seeing my plate was empty, I decided to get some more.
Since we're not going anywhere, might as well eat as much as I could.
"Want me to get you something, Kris?"
"Some of that Raw Ham Melon would be nice."
"RAW HAM MELON! WHERE ARE YOU!?"
Gord quickly moved aside as Luffy ran past him back down the hill towards the partying town below. His eyebrow raised at the running pirate, curious as to why he was out there, before just shrugging it off as one of his quirky traits and carried on walking.
A couple moments later, he arrived at a makeshift grave, with a wooden cross as a tombstone. In front of it was the scarred village chief; Genzo looking at him with surprise.
"First the kid, and now you?" He groaned, "What do you want?"
"Is that Bellemere's grave?"
"Oh? How did you know that?"
"I'd asked her daughters." Gord stated as he placed down a couple of wild flowers, "Sorry for the lack of proper offerings."
"Eh, it's fine." He scoffed, "That little troublemaker should be glad to have another offering."
"Haha, I see. So she was a problem child before joining the marines."
"…Were you acquainted with Bellemere?"
"Me and her were once part of the same company in the marines." Gord explained, "She was crude, undisciplined, everything the marines were not. But she is one heck of a soldier. Couldn't tell you how many times she saved our butts in a pinch. The last time we talked was before we got transferred to different bases."
"Were you two…?"
"Hah, as if. If anything, she isn't the type to date a co-worker." The bald cook told him, "But I would be lying if I said that I didn't have a crush for her once upon a time."
"I see. To think that little troublemaker actually got an admirer…" Genzo chuckled.
"If it is no trouble… Could you tell me how she died? Of course, if it is too hard for you, then…"
"No, no, it's fine. You'll be surprised how fast people moved on from grief."
The scarred village chief took a sip from the bottle of whiskey he had on hand, "…she wasn't exactly the richest person in the village, so when Arlong and his gang of monsters came, she could barely pay for her family's lives. Instead, she paid for her girls and got herself killed for them."
"That dumbass, at least try to lie to damn pirates…!"
"That, we can agree."
The two shared a laugh at the memory. Genzo offered his bottle to Gord who gladly accepted and took a long drink from it.
"Mind telling me about her in the marines?" The scarred village chief asked.
"Oh, most definitely. In exchange, tell me all her embarrassing childhood stories."
Those two shared stories of their late friend late into the night, bonding over the memories.
The celebration eventually died away, as everyone had gotten the cheer out of their system; with some in more ways than one.
Anyways, we all boarded the Going Merry along with many supplies for the journey up ahead, with many of the villagers coming to see us off. Kris decided to wait underwater next to the ship to avoid freaking Nami out when she eventually gets here.
"Where is Nami, anyways?" Usopp asked after the two Bounty Hunters said their farewells to us.
"What is taking that girl so long?" Gin wondered.
"The same with Sanji, I guess?" Gord pointed out, "She is leaving her hometown that just got liberated from a tyrant."
"Maybe she is not coming after all?" Zoro suggested, "She could have chosen to stay behind in the village to make up for lost time."
"WHAT!? Nami is not coming!?" Sanji cried.
"Hey, Rein! I searched all over the party and never found that Raw Ham Melon you had!" Luffy told me.
"I told you I just found it somewhere." I pointed out, "You could have just asked Sanji to make some for you."
"Not the point here!" The blonde cook shouted at me, "Without Nami here, I've lost 99.99% of my reason to board this ship!"
"Does the All-Blue mean that little to you…?" Sen asked.
"Of course, I want to find it! The beautiful Nami was just a bigger priority!"
"Ah, so you think with your dick. Duly noted."
"SET SAIL!"
Nami's loud voice boomed across the skies, just as I saw her running down the slope towards us. Everyone was confused by her sudden command, but the Straw Hat Pirates decided to trust in herand moved to do as she said.
"What is she up to…?" Gin wondered.
"Who can say?" Gord noted as a sly grin appeared on his face, "But she is definitely Bellemere's kid…"
As the ship began to set off, and as the villagers tried to stop Nami so they could say a proper farewell to her, the redhead girl ducked under most of them and leaped onto the ship.
She then lifted up her shirt, and a pile of freshly picked wallets dropped out onto the planks.
With a cheeky grin, she turned to her fellow villagers, "Take care, everyone~!"
"YOU ROTTEN LITTLE THIEF!"
I let loose an amused sigh as Sen started laughing at the mass pickpocketing we just witnessed. Yup, she's definitely the cat burglar the fans of the series know her for.
The villagers all immediately started throwing insults at her as they demanded their money back. It, however, soon turned to farewells, grateful thank-yous and wishes for safe journeys ahead.
"Hey kid!" Genzo called out, "Remember what we agreed on!"
Luffy said nothing in return, deciding to just give him a thumbs-up in reply.
"Goodbye everyone!" Nami called out happily, "I'm heading out now!"
With that last cheerful goodbye, we fully took off towards the vast ocean.
"So, you agreed to escorting them without even consulting me…?"
"Sorry, but captain's orders and all that."
Nami let loose a sigh at Zoro's nonchalant reply as Luffy laughed in the background, while we awkwardly stood in front of her. She then turned to us, "So. How much are you willing to pay for the escort?"
"Don't you have plenty from stealing your village dry?" Usopp asked.
"I refused to work for free!"
"Right, right…"
"You can discuss the price with our captain when we get back to Temasek." Gord told her, "Though be warned, she doesn't take kindly to people trying to bargain with her."
"Heh, then she'd never met me." Nami chuckled, "But still, Temasek? That's the base of the East Traders, isn't it? You guys worked for them?"
"Our ship is, yeah."
"East Traders? What's that?" Luffy asked.
"You seriously don't know about them?" Zoro noted in astonishment, "They are this massive trading company that had the monopoly to most of the sea trades in the East Blue."
"Even I know about them. And I literally live in the middle of nowhere." Usopp pointed out, "From what I'd heard, they also boast a fleet on par with Don Krieg's own pirate armada."
"Eh…"
"Yeah, that part is way over exaggerated." Gord chuckled, "It's just most of our trading vessels have a decent amount of cannons on board. Though with how many ships we have, that exaggeration might hold some water."
"More like it is true…" I noted to myself.
From what I've heard, each department had at least several dozens of trading ships under their command; each of them outfitted with the similar armaments as the Silver Fang. If we recalled all the ships, we would have somewhat a decently-sized armed fleet.
Though it was a far cry from the armada that was the Don Krieg Pirates.
"Hm, judging by the cloud patterns and the sea currents… we should reach there in about four days or so." Nami told us.
"That's good to hear." Gord noted, "Once again, we will be in your care until then—"
"Oh, no. You guys aren't freeloading on us. You guys are going to help out as well."
"…Ah, sure no problem."
We shrugged our shoulders at the unsurprising demand from her. Well, since they were willing to escort us, the least we could do was help out around the ship.
"Actually, I want to clarify something first." Zoro noted as pointed at Gin, "You. You're that pirate, aren't you? The one that brought his captain to Baratie to take it over?"
"Wait, you're right! I knew he looked familiar! He is that pirate that served Don Krieg!" Usopp cried, "What is a guy like him doing with them!?"
"Ah! I… well…"
"It's a long story, but the main thing is that he is no longer part of the Krieg Pirates." I told him, "In fact, I want to invite him aboard our ship."
"EH!? Are you sure that's a good idea!?"
"I have the same thought myself…" Gord sighed, "But considering what had occured, it might be best for the crew."
"Ah…"
That's right. Me and Gord had openly assaulted and possibly killed a bunch of marines and a Major. Even if we didn't get wanted posters for it, we would definitely get arrested for it.
Gord might be looking to get Gin as a replacement for me.
"Hm… well, it doesn't really concern me. I just wanted to be sure." Zoro stated as he gave out a yawn, "I'll be taking a nap. If you guys need me, give me a call."
As the swordsman walked off to the back of the Going Merry, we were given the run down on the ship's workings and our place in their somewhat vague schedule.
We later introduced Kris to Nami, who despite her grievances, allowed him on board.
I couldn't get enough of the daily shenanigans of the Straw Hat Pirates. It was a true joy to see them just doing their routines when they weren't involved in some incident, something the manga would only show snippets of.
Zoro had a daily morning schedule of weight training with some sword practice, followed by an after meal nap. After that, he would either head for his lookout duty or work on maintaining his sword. Sen had dragged him to spar with me once, and it led to me getting my ass kicked. And he was using only one sword.
Nami would be often seen standing at the railings looking up and checking the weather. If not, she would be either holed up in the cabin or taking care of her tangerine trees. Though whenever Kris was on board, she actively tried not to get close to him; which was understandable, considering what she had been through with fishmen.
Sanji had taken his role of being the crew's cook pretty seriously, with him almost always in the kitchen preparing the next meal or afternoon snacks, and always making sure his captain didn't eat all the supplies within the first day. And as expected of his perverted gentlemen ways, he would often be extra nice with Nami and me. Gord had decided to help him out and ended up exchanging recipes with each other.
When he was not on duty, Usopp would be experimenting with a toy chemistry set of all things; though in hindsight it shouldn't be that surprising considering the various types of pellets he would pull out to shoot with. If he was not, then he would be either messing around with the cannon at the back or be messing around with his captain.
And speaking of the captain, Luffy was a bit of a wild child. And I was being nice with that description.
He would be randomly hanging around all over the ship at weird places, and would be either bothering his crew to ease his boredom or just sitting by the goat shaped bow. It would be both a joy and an annoyance to encounter, as he would mostly end up getting up in your business whether you wanted him to or not.
All in all, a pretty chaotic crew that acted more like a group of like-minded individuals than a proper seafaring crew.
"I'm surprised they haven't been destroyed by other pirates yet…" Gin had told me that when he saw their dynamic.
Either way, we made ourselves home on the ship and would be tasked to help out with the more mundane chores like cleaning the deck, lowering and raising the anchor and so on.
We spent the days sailing in relative peace.
But after a couple of days of sailing the seas, it eventually comes to an abrupt end.
"Hm? Hey, there's something going on at the port side!" Usopp told us from the crow's nest.
We quickly stopped whatever we were doing and looked over the railings to see what the long nosed sniper had seen.
"Wait, that's the Silver Fang!"
Gord's observation was most definitely right. I recognised those 'fangs' anywhere. However, I was shocked at the scene that was unfolding in front of me.
"Is it being attacked!?"
"And losing, horribly."
Sen's observation was right. Even without a binoculars or heightened sight, I could tell that its body had freshly made holes courtesy of the cannonballs fired by the attacking vessel; a vassal bearing the ever familiar skull and crossbones. The sails looked ripped and parts of its iconic 'fangs' were blown off; with the sea around it bursting with explosions after explosions, each coming ever closer to its hull.
At this rate, they would no doubt get sunk sooner than later.
"We have to go save them!" Gord shouted.
"On it! Kris, let's go!"
I immediately went half-dragon and took the skies just as Kris dived into the waters; we both immediately sped towards the Silver Fang as fast as we could. I had even prepared to draw Nanashi.
Though our actions seemed to be of waste, as a black ball shot past me and crashed right into the pirate ship's hull, before somehow exploding into a shower of seawater and wooden splinters.
"…was that Sen's doing?" Kris asked.
"Who else could one-shot a frigate with a cannonball?" I pointed out with a groan, "Well, let's check up on them."
With a few quick flaps of my wings, I arrived and landed on the Silver Fang's deck. Immediately, Lee ran up to me, "Rein! Y-You're back!"
"And just in time, from the looks of it…"
When I took the time to look around, I was left shocked to see how bad things were.
Most of them looked exhausted beyond belief, like they hadn't slept for days. The fighters among the crew were lying on the decks and heavily injured, with some covered head to toe with bloodied bandages and one looked to be missing an eye. The deck itself looked to be a mess as well, with holes dotted about along with empty crates and barrels littered all over the place.
"That's the understatement of the year, literally…" Lee heavily sighed, "But I'm glad you finally made it back. Where are the others?"
"They're on the way. Speaking of which, can your get Silvia? There's kind of an issue of payment for escorting that we need her to—L-Lee…!?"
I wasn't expecting Lee to start sobbing all of a sudden. What's going on!?
"Lee, go lie down." Justin limped up to us with a bandaged foot and gently patted his shoulder, "You'll collapsed if you don't rest."
"I-I'll be fine…!" He told her, "I can't rest yet… the crew—"
"You will do us no good if you just drop. Get some sleep. Silvia wouldn't want that for you."
"…fine."
Lee grumbled as he walked towards the cabin and slammed the doors shut behind him. Justin then turned to me, "Good to see you well, Rein."
"Justin, what the heck happened? What the fuck happened when we were gone!?"
"…It's a very long story." She sighed, "But to get to the gist of it…"
"Temasek had been invaded."
…
To be continued…
Sorry for the long wait. I wasn't expecting to take this long to write out this chapter, even with the whole COVID shitstorm that just resurfaced (no thanks to a certain country…).
Also, I ended up writing out another new fic, this time on Danmachi; it is called Thunder Valkyrie! It is still has only two chapters out, so take a gander if you want to.
So, yeah. Looks like there's trouble brewing, and right after the whole Arlong Arc. Looks like Rein wouldn't be resting anytime soon.
With that, I thank you all for reading this!