Nexus HWR 1.3 Okumura Rin:
On the deck of the Thousand Sunny, over a dozen people were enjoying the nice day out on the open water of the Great Ocean. It was a warm enough day that Nami and Juvia were out in bikinis, while Robin and Kairi covered up a little more having tank tops and short shorts on. Some of the boys had gone swimming on multiple occasions and then had to rush to keep up with the sailing ship heading east across the sea. Franky stood at the helm of the ship and was giving a lesson on sailing to some of their new crew members. Gray, Kirito, and Rin were all paying attention as he explained how the steering system worked, along with some of the Thousand Sunny's special features.
At the stern of the ship, two young boys stood behind the tangerine grove. They looked out over the water behind their ship, and neither one of them spoke. The coast of Awul was gone, not even a line on the horizon for them to gaze back at. All they could see was open water for a hundred miles. For Dash, he was thinking about his family: his father, his mother, and his sister. Ever since Violet found me, I've been with my family. I know I sounded really confident when I told them I was going, but can I really handle a long adventure away from them? At least Riku and Ben are with me again, he thought and glanced to his right where the slightly taller boy was also looking to the west.
Gwen, I didn't want you to come, but I, but I didn't think I would miss you already. Ben put his elbows on the back railing and he held his chin in his hands. If only we had cell phones. But then we would need satellites, not to mention people who would want to work at a cell phone store! I don't understand how anyone could even consider a boring job like that on a crazy world like this. Then again, Metropolis was full of people with strange jobs. There were also people with cool jobs though, like those animal cops who helped save Gwen… Gwen. His mind went full circle and he was back to his original sad thoughts.
The two boys were at the back of the ship, so they did not see it coming like the rest of the crew. Everyone on the front half of the ship looked out in the direction they were sailing where huge black clouds seemed to come out of nowhere. The temperature dropped ten degrees in minutes and a fast breeze picked up while the waves started to get choppier. Nami threw on a jacket and stepped up to the railing just outside the kitchen, "Everyone get ready! Pull in the sails. Franky, starboard twenty degrees…"
Ben and Dash heard the shouting after a little and they noticed it was getting cold as well. The two of them turned and jogged to the front of the ship only to see the clouds almost upon them. "Storm's almost here. It's gonna be a big one!" Nami called out, though she kept her voice steady like she had navigated through a hundred times worse than this before and come out fine.
"You kids should get inside," Usopp told the two of them as he ran past. "If Nami says it's going to be big, then expect a lot worse than what you're imagining." He was telling them to get inside for their safety, but to them it looked like he was the scared one.
Up in the crow's nest, Goku stepped out of the training room with a sweaty appearance, and a few burn marks on his face and clothes. He looked out towards the storm and said, "Whew, looks like the water's about to get choppy." He hopped off the crow's nest and down to the grass where the others were rushing about. "Hey Luffy," Goku called over to the pirate captain who just ran out of the kitchen with a chunk of meat in hand. "Could I do anything to help?" he asked the captain whose ship he was traveling on.
Luffy looked down at the spiky haired martial artist. "Ask Nami," he suggested, considering he normally just followed her directions during a storm. Luffy heard Nami call out his name and he jogged off to follow her instructions.
Meanwhile, Goku smiled and said, "I know that one." He looked around and spotted the orange haired woman whose name he remembered. He lifted off the ground and flew past the kid with spiky white hair, and the black haired teen with a sword on his back. Goku didn't remember people's names easily, so though they had been traveling together for a few days now, he still only knew about half the crew's names.
Nami turned to yell over to Franky to change course again as the wind shifted. When she turned, she came face to face with the smiling Saiyan man. He had flown over and landed just as she turned, but to her it looked like he just appeared behind her. "G-Goku," she said in surprise. His face was wet but it hadn't started raining yet, so she realized it was sweat pretty fast. Why is he training all the time? "C-Can I help you?" she asked the muscular man in an orange fighting gi, his usual attire.
"Huh?" Goku asked. "I was going to ask you that," he said confusedly.
"Oh um," Nami realized he was waiting for instructions just like the rest of the crew members. "Could you, help Usopp pull in the sails?" She asked, making it sound like a request that would be totally fine if he said no to.
"Okay," the spiky haired man replied. He turned around and hesitated, "Um, which one is Usopp?"
"The guy with a long nose," Nami replied.
"Haha," Goku laughed as he saw the one she was talking about. "Okay then." He lifted off the ground and flew over to the long-nosed pirate who jumped at his sudden arrival.
Nami let out a deep breath as Goku flew off. Geez, why am I so tense around him? She was sweating a little and she wiped it away with her arm. The truth was, it was a little unnerving having the Saiyan aboard their ship. They had seen Son Goku's power in Metropolis. They all knew how much stronger he was than the rest of them. The only one she thought could come close, was Timmy. She could handle Timmy though. He could be the strongest, smartest, most powerful twelve year old on the planet, but he was still just a twelve year old. Having him on their ship was easy; she liked acting like a mother anyway. With a grown man like Goku, she felt like she was standing in the presence of a God sometimes. When any of the Saiyans looked serious she felt nervous, even the young one Gohan. She thought about the promise Gohan made to Luthor back in Metropolis and shivered.
A raindrop came out of the air and landed right on the bridge of Nami's nose. The navigator shook her head a few times to clear her head and focus on the storm that was upon them.
Everyone listened to Nami's orders, rushing around the ship and preparing it for the storm. When it began, it started off hard. There were about ten seconds from the first raindrop to the point where it was raining buckets. People ran inside if their jobs were done, while Franky put on a big red rain jacket and pulled his hood up on as he continued to steer. Nami stood in front of the door to the cabin, wearing a yellow poncho, and continued calling out directions to the shipwright who acted as the helmsman.
A few people did not head inside as the storm picked up. Goku flew up high in the sky and continued his training while further away from the ship in order to be able to use more power without fear of damaging the Sunny Go. Dash and Ben did not go in either. The two of them were away from their families for the first time, and the thought of a storm on the open water excited them. This was their first storm on a voyage that would cross an ocean bigger than any on their own worlds.
The two of them ran up to the very front of the ship and leaned over the railing. Franky chuckled a few times from behind them where he continued to steer. We've got our own cabin boys now, he thought with another laugh. Really strong cabin boys, he added as he looked at the kids who fought against Luthor while he had stayed in the background. He felt a gust of wind that seemed different from the normals gusts hitting him, and the cyborg lifted his head to look up in the sky. Far above him, just beneath the black clouds, Son Goku was punching and kicking around in the air while powered up in his base form. He fired a dozen yellow balls of light around him, and they all shot back in at the same time.
Ben, Dash, and Franky all gasped as the balls collided with Goku in a huge explosion that rocked the ship. When the explosion faded, Goku was standing in the middle of it with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking perfectly fine. "Franky! Pay attention," Nami yelled to the shipwright who missed her orders and let their ship get rocked by a pretty big wave.
"Whoops, sorry Nami," the brightly colored cyborg called out. He put both hands back on the wheel and kept steering, though his mind was still on the insane person in the air who tested his durability by attacking himself. No wonder he's so strong.
Dash and Ben watched Goku fly around for a little more, but the Saiyan soon vanished into a low-flying cloud and they lost sight of him. It was hard looking up anyway with the rain pelting down at their faces, so they looked back down and over the choppy water in front of them. They stared out into the far east towards whatever their next destination might be. Apparently there were a lot of islands between the two largest continents on the planet, so they would be making a few stops before reaching Aebrith.
"Hey, I think I'm going to head inside," Dash said after a little. He looked up to his right at Ben's face, "You coming?"
"Hmm," Ben hummed, "in a bit."
"'Kay," Dash replied, then turned and vanished in a blur. The child raced around the deck and right past Nami who gasped as the blur stopped short next to her. Dash opened up the door and went into the cabin while Nami growled in annoyance that there were too many monsters on this ship.
The other boy who stayed at the bow kept staring into the distance. Somewhere out there, Luthor is hiding. If I find him… rrg, I guess I won't be able to do anything. My strongest aliens couldn't take him down. Well, I do have over nine thousand aliens I have never used on this thing. He looked down at his left wrist and the Omnitrix. His arms were crossed on the railing and he slumped a little as he looked at his watch. I doubt it though. None of my aliens have been strong enough for some of the enemies I've faced. Even my friends, I'm sure I couldn't beat a few of them even as Way Big, or Saiyan Ben. It's so frustrating. I want to get revenge on Luthor, but Gohan has such a better chance of doing so.
Ben's fists clenched while he stood there. He felt something near him and looked around, but besides the rain, he saw nothing. He looked back at Franky who flashed him a smile, and looked farther back to where he could faintly see Nami holding up a pair of binoculars. He turned back ahead when he figured it was nothing, and his mind wandered back to the same subject. I couldn't beat Luthor, even though, he's the one who killed Grandpa. He made Grandpa choke on his blood, then blew him up so I couldn't even bury him. The thoughts that usually made him sad, were only making him angry now. Now Gwen's all alone. I know I was being selfish by leaving, but we can't be kids forever. Still, she would at least have Grandpa, if it weren't for that bastard Luthor!
It's all his fault! And I wasn't strong enough! Do you want to be? YES! I want to be stronger. If only I was faster, stronger, I could have beaten him! But, I'm just a human, and I can't do it! What if you were more than human? What? I will make you stronger. Wait- arrgghh. What the, Hell- hehehehehe…
Franky stood at the helm of the Thousand Sunny. He had his huge metal hands gripping the wheel, but his eyes drifted away from the sea he was watching to look back at the boy at the railing instead. Ben had his hands gripping the railing tightly on both sides of him. His entire body was shaking, and the boy's wet brown hair started blowing around. "Hey, kid," Franky called up.
"Keep her steady," Nami called from behind Franky, but the cyborg barely heard her. He was far too preoccupied dropping his jaw at the figure in front of him who turned with a maniacal look on his face.
Ben's teeth were sharpening, and his lips curled out showing his teeth extending out from his gums. His green irises were shrinking into small pupils that looked back at Franky with the gaze of an insane person. The cyborg released the wheel and took a step back, "Hey, are you-" The kid's body erupted in a ball of green flames and he tilted his head up in the sky and started cackling.
Inside the ship's cabin, two figures jumped up from their seats near each other. Timmy's eyes snapped towards the door, and he whispered, "Ben?"
Another figure was already running towards the door. It was the black haired teen who Timmy brought on board right before they left. Okumura Rin sprinted at the door and threw it open, while a bunch of others chased after him, wondering why he looked so serious. "Oi, what's happening?" Natsu yelled as he ran outside after Rin.
"Ahh!" Nami screamed. The others who ran outside looked down to the grassy area of the deck where Nami fell to the ground. She had started going up front since Franky let go of the wheel and they were shaking worse than before, but she saw what it was that made Franky lose sight of his duties and she panicked. She scooted back across the floor as Franky slammed on the grass in front of her.
"Franky!" Luffy shouted as he saw his cyborg drop. He jumped over the railing and down to the grass deck, lifting up his fists and glaring at the front deck where the cyborg just fell down from. A figure walked up to the edge of the front deck and looked down at Luffy with a crazy grin of razor sharp teeth in his mouth. The pirate was at a loss for words at the sight of the person in front of him.
Natsu and the others were running forward as well, but they all froze and stared up at the crazy figure in shock. He stood there engulfed in an aura of light green flames. His brown hair was blowing around and steam came off of him from the rain pouring down. "HEHEHEHE," Ben cackled as he looked down at the group of people before him. His flames flared out and he bared his teeth at them, "What's wrong everyone? It's me, Ben!" He continued cackling after he shouted it and then jumped up to stand on the railing. He held his hands out in front of him and a few of the others noticed the sharp claws replacing his normal fingernails.
"Ben!" Natsu yelled up at the kid. "What the Hell are you doing?!"
"That isn't Ben," Luffy stated angrily as he stared at the flaming figure. "Who are you?!"
"Aw, you don't even recognize your friend anymore?" Ben asked, making a deep frown that could not mask his actual mocking tone.
Natsu looked closer up at his friend from Pao, and his eyes widened. He heard a voice next to him and spun to see Gray staring up at Ben in disdain. "You see it don't you Natsu?" Gray asked, his eyes narrowed right at Ben's left shoulder.
"What the Hell is it?" Natsu asked.
"A demon," Gray replied, and a few of the others heard him too.
"Awww," the child looking at them moaned. "That's no fun, you already know what I am. That ruins everything!" Ben lifted his head and cackled, "Not really!" He looked down and his eyes looked dangerous as he clashed his claws together. He dropped down so he was on the grass deck with the others. "I am Abraxas. The Demon of Lies." He chuckled at their shocked reactions, "Or am I?" He laughed even harder and then charged at the pirate in front of him who had his straw hat tied around his neck so it hung behind his back.
Luffy clenched his teeth and pulled a fist back. "Whoa whoa!" The demon yelled as it raced at Luffy, "You don't want to hurt dear Ben would you?"
The rubberman froze and the others didn't know what to do. They were cornered. Abraxas used that moment's hesitation and reached Luffy, bringing down his claws at the pirate. A loud clang echoed around the ship and everyone looked over to Luffy who they thought was about to get slashed. Standing in front of Luffy, with a sheathed sword held up in both hands, pressing against the kid's claws, was Okumura Rin. Rin pushed hard with his sheath and knocked the demon back. The boy's eyes were darkened, and he continued to stand in between Luffy and Ben with his eyes shadowed over by his soaking wet hair.
"What are we supposed to do against him?" Nami exclaimed.
"I do not wish to hurt Ben-san," Juvia said worriedly.
Gray grimaced and muttered loudly, "I'm sorry, but I don't know how to perform an exorcism. This is a high-class demon."
Kirito looked over in surprise, then cursed himself for that. Why wouldn't exorcisms be real on this world? Everything is real. He shook his head and walked forward while looking over at Ben. "We have to restrain him."
"You think you can restrain me?" Abraxas laughed, and his green flames erupted around him again. He swung both arms forward and lines of green fire rose on the grass trapping the Straw Hats and their friends between two walls of fire. The demon with full possession over the boy he found smirked at the scared expressions of the people in front of him. He lifted up off the ground, floating into the air a little with a wide smirk of sharp teeth that unnerved the crew members down below.
Timmy frowned deeply, If Wanda were here, I could have wished the possession to be over. He shook his head, No, I need to come up with ideas that don't involve Wanda anymore. Think!
"What do we do?" Sanji asked his captain as he stood in front of Nami and Kairi near the back of the group.
"We could torture the demon," Killua suggested. "Beat it until it begs us to let it release Ben."
The suggestion made a few of them shiver, and they knew it was not because of the rain. "That's too cruel," Nami said, trying to protect the child.
"Do you have any ideas?" Killua asked the woman.
"We will stop Ben some other way," Riku stated. He glared up at the demon holding Ben hostage, the red hands on Ben's shoulders that looked almost translucent, the creepy eyes of the boy the demon was puppeteering.
"Hey, Abraxas or whatever your name is," someone spoke up and they all looked to the front of their group where Rin was still standing in front of Luffy. Rin looked up and Abraxas-Ben looked down at him. The teenager did not have any fear on his expression, though he looked really, really pissed off. Rin lifted up his sheath horizontally in front of his face and grabbed the hilt with one hand. He pulled one side away from the other and the blade caught on fire as soon as he started pulling it out of his sheath. The flames were strange though; they were bright blue. Not only did his sword catch on fire, but his entire body surrounded in a blue, flaming aura. On the front of his head, up above his forehead in his black hair, two solid balls of blue flames burned brighter than the rest of the translucent aura around him. Rin snapped his head up and snarled with a mouth full of sharpened teeth, "Release him."
"Ahh!" the demon in the sky shouted and backed away a little. "I know you!" The green flames were faltering and the entire crew stared at Rin oddly, then even stranger as the flaming boy lifted off the ground and flew up at Ben, slashing in front of him so that his blue flames flew off his sword. Kirito stared at Rin in shock as when he fought the teen before they left Metropolis Rin had never taken his sword out of his sheath and shown his full powers. Rin slashed a massive amount of blue flames that raced towards the boy in front of him. Careful to only burn the demon. Rin breathed deeply and focused his flames. "AAHHEEEESSHHhh," Ben screamed and the others looked up at Rin in shock as he lit Ben on fire with the blue flames.
"Ben!" Dash yelled, and was about to sprint forward but another voice called out first.
"Wait, look!" Sora pointed up at Ben who was surrounded by a huge slash of blue flames. "The demon's hands are letting go!"
"What hands?" Luffy asked in confusion.
Natsu looked at Luffy for a second, then looked around and realized that the pirate captain was not the only one confused. Gray spoke to his friend, "Demons are similar to shinigami. Remember how we were the only ones in Fairy Tail who could see them?"
"Yeah, you said you have to be around them often, right?" Natsu asked, while still watching the demon's hands lose their grip on Ben.
"Yeah, that's one way, or," Gray faded off and looked back at Riku and Sora who seemed to have been able to see the demon as well. He turned to Natsu, and then whispered in a grim tone, "People who have died before can see them too."
"AHH!" a voice screamed, sounding like the same one Ben was using a minute ago. Only now, the boy in the sky was dropping down, his eyes closed. Dash sprinted forward, jumped up, and caught Ben in midair. He dropped back down, then looked up in the sky where Rin was facing something in the air.
Only a few of them were able to hear the demon as it kept yelling. "I had no idea you were on this ship. Satan-sama will be so pleased to hear this," Abraxas yelled over at Rin. The Demon of Lies was panting and glaring over at Rin angrily. He was a short, pudgy demon, with red skin and a sword held in its armpit. It had pointy ears and the face of a deceiver.
A few of the people able to see the demon felt the urge to ask, 'Satan?!' Rin started shouting first though, and he roared, "I won't let you!" He shot forward and swung his sword, the same moment the other demon was unsheathing his to attack with. Rin slammed his sword into his opponent's, right as Abraxas covered in green flames. The smaller demon pressed against Rin for a few seconds, but Rin finished with his slash anyway and sent the other demon flying off the front of the ship and down into the water. A huge splash lifted up that made much of the crew confused as to what was going on. The Sunny shook around and Sanji ran to regain control of the helm, considering the downpour was still going on, and now they had to deal with a crazed demon on top of it.
"RAA!" Rin yelled as the other demon shot up out of the water. He charged across the sky and cut back and forth at the smaller demon who couldn't keep up with him. "I'm an Exorcist!" He yelled at the smaller demon who spun away from a sword slash and tried cutting back himself.
"An exorcist?" Gray whispered. The ice mage took a step forward and muttered, "Looks more like a demon himself."
"Your father wants all demons to report any news about his children," the red demon chided as he leapt backwards through the air over the water. He was panting and tried to keep some distance to save himself from the teenager who was getting angrier by the second, and whose blue flames were getting brighter each second as well. Rin's tail popped out of his pants and only a few of his friends were able to see that as they watched the two off the side of the ship.
Gray stared at the tail, "He is a demon," he whispered. Natsu turned to his friend who only he heard, then spun and faced back up as Rin shot across the sky even faster than before.
"I know where your brother is!" The demon yelled as Rin came close. Rin stopped in mid-slash, and Abraxas took that to his advantage, flying forward and cutting across Rin's chest with a slash of green flames that sent Rin flying over the ship and across the sky. "Oh wait, that was a LIE!" Abraxas looked down at the ship below him and cackled again. "Who will I possess next?" He asked, knowing that a few of them were able to see him.
"Excuse me," a man's voice spoke right behind the demon. The small, red form spun around, and came face-to-chest with an extremely muscular body that was not hidden at all by the orange gi the man was wearing. Goku put his hand forward into the face of the demonic creature in front of him, "Sorry about this." A yellow light glowed on Goku's hand, as the creature started to lean backwards. His glowing hand burst into a yellow beam fifty feet in radius that incinerated the demon in under a second, as Goku did not want the creature, no matter how evil, to suffer. The drenched Saiyan dropped back to the deck right as Rin came back, staring at him in shock. The boy with blue flames was panting, his mouth in a snarl with a look in his eyes of an animal. "It's okay," Goku told the younger man, "he is gone."
Rin saw the beam, and he did not feel the other demon's presence any longer, but he was still angry. He wanted to be the one who defeated the demon. His flames raged around him for a few seconds, then he noticed Nami, Dash, and a couple of the others staring at him with looks of fear. He clenched his eyes shut and his sword trembled in his hand. He shot over to his sheath and slid his sword, Kurikara, back into it. His blue flames went out and his black hair fell flat down to his head, starting to get wet again. He turned around, putting his sheathed demon-killing sword back on his back. "Got it," he said and flashed a toothy grin at the people behind him.
"I think I got it," Goku said as he landed down next to Rin. "Still, you did a great job. I would have let you finish if he didn't try going for another possession." Rin turned to Goku who was surprisingly familiar with demons. "But to think, I never knew you were a demon." Rin sweatdropped as the Saiyan said it out loud nonchalantly while he was in the middle of thinking of a way to lie about what just happened.
"A demon?!" half the crew shouted at once.
"Not really," Rin said, scratching his head while the rain kept coming down hard on them. "I'm only half."
"Oh, just like Gohan's only half Saiyan," Natsu said.
"Who?" Rin asked, tilting his head to the side.
"My son," Goku explained to the boy next to him. "My wife was human."
"Huh," Rin stated, surprised that this was not as surprising for some of them as it was for others.
"You know," Franky began as Usopp helped him to his feet. "I never really knew, what is a Saiyan?" He looked over at Goku, "I heard all about you guys for years now, but-"
"They're aliens!" Natsu exclaimed, glad he knew the answer to this one.
"Really? Whoa!" Luffy shouted.
Killua sweat-dropped. "Aren't we all aliens?" He asked them. The others looked at him and he continued, "None of us were born on this planet, right?"
"Sure, I guess," Natsu replied, kind of annoyed. "But Goku isn't human."
Rin looked at Goku while the others talked about demons and Saiyans and crazy stuff like that. No one really cared. I thought it would be weird, or that people might think differently about me since I'm half-demon. My friends back home did, but none of these people care. He started smiling and looked back around at the group of people standing in the rain with him. I like these guys!
Long after Goku destroyed Abraxas and the day was finally over, Rin stepped out of the cabin of the Thousand Sunny and stretched his arms up in the air. It was dark and they had just eaten a great dinner an hour before but he could still taste it in his mouth. He could never get used to having such great cooking for every meal considering the way he had been living for most of his time on Nexus.
He stepped out on the deck while stretching and yawned a loud yawn. Rin looked at the front of the ship and saw Franky up there steering, but Nami was walking over and she called to him that he could drop anchor for the night. There were some islands up ahead with shallow waters near them that she would have to carefully navigate around so she would rather they wait until day to keep moving. A few others got to work helping slow the Sunny and bring her to rest for the night, and Rin was about to jump down to offer his help.
Before he could jump however, he heard a voice on his left side. "Tell me what you're doing here." Rin darted his eyes left first and then turned himself completely and saw a man with black hair standing there glaring back at him. The man was someone he recognized from the ship but one he did not think he had talked to before.
"What's it to you?" Rin asked, putting his hands in his pockets and looking at the older boy in annoyance. He narrowed his eyebrows as the look this other man was giving him was more than just anger, it was a look of hate.
Gray took a step closer to Rin and he spoke in a calm, but accusatory voice, "The others may think it's great that you're part demon, but I know what all demons have in common." The ice mage's voice was cold and he took another step closer to the younger boy, the temperature around them lowering as he did. "Every demon on this world answers to the same man. I doubt half-demons are different. So why did he send you with us? Is Satan trying to take Goku's body for-"
Rin stepped towards Gray so there was less than two feet between their faces. "I do not," he seethed through clenched teeth, "work for that bastard."
Gray could hear the resentment, the hate in Rin's own voice when talking about Satan and his own facial expression softened a little. Rin stepped forward and to Gray's side, and as he walked past he growled, "I am the one who's going to kill him."
A/N Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Rin was only a minor character in the first Saga of Nexus, but with his brother taken by Mephisto and Amaimon, and Satan as one of the main antagonists, you can be sure he's going to be an MC for Saga numero dos. Abraxas the Demon of Lies is an actual demon that I looked up for use, so continuing the trend of not having any original characters in this story. Leave a review telling me what you thought of the chapter, questions about the story, or predictions you may have for the future of Nexus! 'Till next time!