Chapter 31

"Bwoooo…"

"Captain?" I ask faintly.

"Yes, Kaneki?"

"That is an extremely large whale."

"Yes it is."

"With a horrendously-drawn Jolly Roger on it."

"I noticed that as well."

We look at each other, and grin at the same time.

"I love this ocean," we announce simultaneously.

"STOP ADMIRING THE BEASTY AND HELP GET US AWAY FROM ITS JAWS, DAMMIT!" Herman shouts from the quarterdeck.

BWOOOO!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU OVERGROWN PILE OF BLUBBER!"

Laboon's eye focuses on our ship for a moment.

"Herman, you fucking idiot," I say flatly.

"BWOOOOOO!"

"We're all gonna die!" Eka says with a laugh, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. The rest of the oni laugh with him as Laboon somehow vanishes into the waters of the Twin Capes, revealing…

"That is a very large shipwreck," I mutter, taking a cigarette from Eka.

"Herman! Bring us to the island! Looks like there's survivors," Vinci orders, shading his eyes.

"Aye, captain," Herman says, in a much more subdued tone of voice.

Ends Justified creeps towards the bulk of the wreck and the nearby lighthouse.

I light a cigarette, sit back, and try to let go of the massive adrenaline rush Reverse Mountain put me through. It's a pity- presumably people like Cross got to see the world laid out before them when they hit the summit...but I was too busy holding on to the rail and cursing every deity I could think of for putting me on that hell-mountain.

Wait a sec…

"Bwooo…"

"Easy, big fella," I mutter as Laboon's bulk begins to tower off our port side. "Not gonna give him any trouble, just want to help."

"Bwoooo…"

The whale lowers himself in the water, just enough for his eye to watch us. The crew seems to collectively shiver.

"Oh, come on," Jack says. "It's an Island Whale. They aren't hostile unless you start trouble with them. Smart buggers, too."

I blink at him. He shrugs. "I can have hobbies, too."

Ends Justified's keel grates on sand, and Vinci nods. "Look."

That's a lot of bodies. One's moving. The others aren't.

I recognize the moving one, bent over one of those still forms, and I nod to Vinci. "We going to help?"

"Of course. Jack."

"Aye?"

"Get the crew moving, check the ship over for any damage. Didn't much like how rough the way up was. Me and Kaneki will deal with this."

"Understood, captain."

We hit the sand, and approach Crocus, who seems more focused on his patient than us. The man's back is to us as he kneels in front of an unconscious or dead man, obscuring both his patient and his face from view...but not hiding that ridiculous flower-shaped hairdo.

"If you're here to fight, it will not go well for you," he growls, not looking up.

"Not our interest, old man," Vinci says. "I'm a doctor. Got supplies, too, if you need them."

There's a pause, and I see one of Crocus's hands vanish into the black bag laid next to him in the sand before pulling out a very large syringe. "Get over here, boy," he growls. "Need an extra pair of hands for this." Vinci nods to me and walks over, frowning as he does so. I don't draw any closer, instead looking back over the wreck and the bodies. The ship had been big- a lot bigger than our own, some great bluff-bowed galleon...probably had been what killed it, running down Reverse Mountain at such a speed that the vessel couldn't take the strain.

The cigarette clouds the smell, but not nearly enough.

"Please…"

I follow the sound, and wince as I come on someone who's still alive. And, judging from the size of the spar through his gut, beyond even Vinci's skill to heal. I kneel down beside the poor bastard, and unhook my canteen from my belt before using my coat to support the man's head. He looks like a classical pirate, big red coat and hat and all.

He coughs. "Water...please…"

I manage to trickle some into his mouth, and he smiles. "Was not...expecting this…" he wheezes. "Tell me...did we..?"

"Make it over the Red Line? You did. Paid a price for it."

"My crew…?"

"Dead, from the looks of it."

"And me dying...heh. It was...not to be, then." He stops, taking deep breaths. "I had...so much to do…what is your name?"

"Yoshimura Kaneki."

"Kaneki...I am Morgan Piers...would you do a dying man...one last kindness?"

"If need be."

"Make it quick."

I nod. "Morgan Piers...I give you mercy."

My tail flashes in the sunlight, and I close the man's eyes.

I suddenly feel a pressing need to be elsewhere.

"I will be honest," Vinci said as he clutched the mug of tea Crocus had offered. "I am amazed he's still alive."

"That one man...he's hanging on...and much tougher than the rest of that crew, rest their souls," Crocus said gravely. "Damned young fools." He gave Vinci a look over his glasses that nearly made him quail. "Quite like your own crew. Don't think I didn't notice your first mate's nature...or where your crew started putting the bodies. Is it only him?"

This old man knew what- how? Vinci nodded slowly.

"He sane?"

"As much as our sort can be," Vinci said. "How did you know?"

"Isn't the first time I've seen his kind. Or fought them. Roger had a hand in their destruction, after all."

"Roger," he managed to squeak. "Gold Roger. You...you sailed with the Pirate King?"

Crocus nodded. "Had to leave lighthouse duty to another young fool while I did, but he...made refusing very difficult, in his own way." He sighed. "Normally I'd be winding you poor rookies up, but it seems in poor taste after, well…"

Vinci shrugged. "It's how it is. Least we saved one...though I don't like the look of him. Worse than the trauma of the wreck's happened to him."

Crocus glanced at the cot where they'd laid the poor bastard down after making sure that he wouldn't die right that second. "Agreed, though I'm not sure what sort of toxin was used on him."

"I have a few options, even if we don't know," Vinci offered.

Crocus's mouth thinned. "Derived from your first mate?"

"Not in quantities enough to matter," Vinci said.

"I don't like it...but I doubt he'll live without your intervention." Crocus nodded. "Do whatever it takes, brat."

Vinci grinned. "Ordering me around, now?"

"Bah, you know what I mean. Now go get whatever tools you need, I'll keep an eye on him."

Vinci got to his feet. "Sure thing, old man. And I'll be sure to ask about what you know right after."

"After One Piece?"

"After knowledge...and I may be wrong, but Roger didn't seem the sort to bury mere gold and jewels at the ends of the earth."

Crocus smiled. "You might be right in that, brat. You might be right, indeed."

First there was nothing, a sweet, numb embrace.

And then there was pain, setting every single nerve and vein in his body on fire.

There was nothing again as his mind recoiled from that agony.

This cycle repeated several times. Until...

"Okay, try it again, this time with the red syringe," a voice said, piercing the numbness in a way that for once didn't bring the immeasurable agony everything had caused since he'd been poisoned.

The numbness vanished, but this time there was no pain. He felt...good. Great, even.

He opened his eyes.

A man with black sclerae and red irises was looking at him.

He closed them again, took a few deep breaths, and reopened them.

Nope, still there. And now there was some guy who looked like he'd fallen onto several very sharp objects face-first.

Wasn't his life wonderful?

He swallowed, and coughed. "So...I'm alive after all," he muttered. "Could I...get some water?"

Scarface provided a canteen, which he took small sips from- wasn't his first time dealing with dehydration.

The scarred man smiled. "Welcome back to the land of the living. What's your name?"

"It's Gin."