Chapter 38

"You know, this is somewhat more academically interesting when I'm not the one under the knife," I muse, watching as Vinci goes poking around C's spine.

"It feels weird," my fellow ghoul complains.

"Hey, at least he used anesthetic on you. I didn't get any."

"Well, you are the big brother."

"Kahahaha...only a few days old and already you have a sharp mouth." Also only a few days and he looks like a bald Eustass Kid, but I don't mention that.

"Hmph. Let me take your mind off it, since we won't be interrupted again. Tell me about your powers."

"It's...strange. I tried to use them with other parts of my body, but it only seems to work with my left arm. And...I don't have something like big brother's tails," C says absent-mindedly. "What do you see?"

"Well, you still have the clusters that your 'brother' seems to have," Vinci says, prodding at one of the blisters among the bone and muscles of C's back with a gloved finger. "They're all as small as the undeveloped ones on your 'brother's', though. Given that your brother is over a century old and has only developed one cluster...you probably won't be able to for some time."

"Hmph. And the arm?"

"My guess, you're a Chimera. You might be built off Eustass Kid's DNA, but that's an entirely different thing from letting you use his powers. Honestly, if it was possible to clone Devil Fruit users wholesale someone would've already done it. So you get the power in the arm that already had it, but the rest of you is stock-standard ghoul. Quite interesting. It means Devil Fruit powers don't reside in DNA changes, or at least not entirely…"

I snap my fingers under his nose. "Oi, Vinci. You done looking around?"

"Oh? Oh, yes. I'll close him up now."

"Thank you," C mutters.

It's a bit disconcerting to watch as Vinci administers the counteragent to whatever he's cooked up to inhibit ghoul regeneration and C's flesh closes back up as though it was never injured. And yes, I'm aware of how hypocritical that sounds.

"So, we'll be heading into Turtle Bay in...call it a couple hours. You know the rules?" Vinci asks.

"Stick close to Kaneki and the Oni, don't fight anyone, only eat when it's dark and we won't get caught," C recites dutifully.

"Smart ghoul."

There were so many people.

C was young, he understood that well, but still, the sheer number of ships- it was something he could barely conceive of. And the people! There were hundreds of them, a cacophony of noise and scent and life that was very close to overwhelming.

But none of it smelled right. Father-Brother Kaneki was the strongest of the right-scents, the rest of the Oni-pack behind him, and the rest of the crew-pack bare traces...and then there was The Captain, who smelled...different. Powerful. And strange. No wonder Father-Brother and the crew-pack followed him so closely.

All the rest of the people here, they didn't smell like people. Only...prey.

A creak of wooden decking. A whiff of right-scents and old blood.

"You stare any harder at the docks your eyes are going to fall out," Brother said calmly.

C blinked, and Brother laughed.

"It's a joke," he said, grinning, eyes hidden behind the lenses of his mask. "Come on. We need to go get you some proper clothes. And a mask."

"Do I have to?"

"You're a ghoul, so yes. Also, masks are interesting, don't knock them."

"Hmph. I thought Mister Jack said we were short of money."

"Heh. Maybe in terms of running a pirate crew, but I've got enough laid by to be useful for smaller purchases. Long as we're careful we can get pretty much anything."

C nodded. That was good.

Ends Justified drew up to the dock, and slowly came to a halt. Following Kaneki and the Oni, C walked onto the dock- and stumbled, nearly falling. The land seemed to be shifting under his feet- what on earth?

"Huh. Guess you need to develop land legs," Brother said with a chuckle.

"Land legs?" he asked.

"Ships move. Islands don't. Well, unless something has gone horribly wrong. But you've never been on land, so it'll take a bit for your body to get used to it," Brother explained, offering him a shoulder to lean on. C didn't want to seem weak, but he leaned anyway. If you couldn't trust your own blood, you couldn't trust anyone. That he knew.

"We're going to have to look around for a spell," Brother noted. "This place isn't exactly...reputable."

A door up ahead shattered as a body went hurtling through it. The corpse- he could already tell it was dead, just from the angle of the neck- hit the ground hard.

Nobody even looked up.

C smiled. This place was interesting.

He looked around carefully as he let go of Brother's shoulder, his legs steadying with every step. A place to buy masks. Where would one be…

He pointed. "That one?" he asked.

Brother followed his gaze- and froze. "No way," he breathed. "No fucking way." He shivered. "Sure," he said flatly, smelling wary and tense. "That one works just fine."

The place, when they entered, was a riot of masks, all colors and forms, so many they seemed to blur together. It smelled very different from the outside, stale and dusty.

"What's got you on edge, boss?" Bearded-Stocky-Oni-Eka asked quietly, as the rest of the Oni looked around with interest.

"Been in a place like this before. Exactly like this, in the South Blue."

"Oh," Oni-Eka said quietly.

"Yeah."

"You've met my brother, then?" a voice said. C stared as a man stepped out from the seemingly-endless aisles of masks. He sniffed the air as he eyed the flower-covered shirt and giant feathered sash that concealed almost all of the man's features. Couldn't smell anything under the cloying scent of mothballs and cloth. Hmph. Not food, then.

"Brother?" Brother asked coldly.

"Of course. He runs a place in the South Blue. Sextuplets, we are."

"Let me guess. One for each sea," Brother said.

C somehow got the impression of a smile from the animate bundle of horrible fashion sense.

"Just so. Now, masks are your goal, one would presume. For your lesser, or for the pack entire?"

Brother gave Eka a look, and Eka tossed him his mask. Brother handed it to the...man? Man. "Can you incorporate the mechanism in these into whatever mask you make or have in stock?"

The mask vanished into the folds and coils of the gigantic feathered boa. "Easily," the owner replied. "Six for the pack, and a seventh for the…" The coils shifted, and C felt eyes on him. Weighing. Judging. "...runt of the litter," the man concluded. "And, I believe my brother sent word of you. If you would have it, I have something I was warned to keep in stock."

Brother opened his mouth. Closed it. Sighed. "Just...do whatever you do."

Somehow the pile of clashing colors clapped. "Excellent. You, runt. Follow."

C hesitated, but Brother nodded, and so he followed the thing.

"You are young, aren't you?" the thing asked. C just nodded. "Well, that simply means you have potential. A chance to be more than the...runt."

He suddenly very badly wanted to eat this person, whether they smelled like food or not.

"But that will take time. You need at least the appearance of experience and age, don't you...hmm. Yes. I think I have something in mind for you."