A Pirate's War pt 2

Sat Jan 11, 2020 2:33 pm

A week later…

The sun beamed down over the merchant district. It’s lights had been reflecting over every piece of metal there. Hiroaki had to frequently put his arms up to cover his eyes from it’s devilish rays that blurred his vision. He did his rounds around the stalls there, selling pieces of the treasure he had stolen. Slowly he accumulated a hefty fund of ryo from all of the valuables he had sold to the merchants there. He made his way to Shiro with a grin on his face. It was a grin that didn’t quite meet his eyes. His thoughts kept drifting back to Misty and the events that took place with the pirates and the bandits. ‘How in the world did I end up in the middle of all of that’, he thought. Shiro was wise and saw that something was wrong with Hiroaki the moment he set his eyes on him. “Something wrong there?”, he asked. Hiroaki didn’t let his smile drop until the old man lifted an eyebrow.

Hiroaki grabbed one of the apples the man had behind his stall and ate away at it. “Saw right through me, eh?”, he asked knowing the answer. Shiro sat there on his stool looking at Hiroaki as they had become good friends. “You know I wouldn’t be deceived when it came to something like that”, replied Shiro. Hiroaki’s smirk turned genuine this time. He was happy he had the old man there at least. “Just some thoughts that keep running into my mind…”, he trailed off. The old man tapped Hiroaki with the cane of his. “Does it got to do with a young lady? Is it miss Akihana again?”, he asked. Hiroaki shook his head. “No. No, you got it all wrong. Well, maybe not all wrong, but look.”, he said. Shiro made a big display of him looking around him, doing a whole three sixty. “Listen”, he corrected himself, “There was this pirate, only now that I think of it I don’t know if she was a pirate. She had jeopardized a bunch of people’s lives, but it seemed like it was in the name of revenge. I just….I don’t know if she was a victim or not. If she was…”, he went on.

Shiro scratched the top of his head in confusion. “The good old question of self preservation over a group of people. Morals can be tricky. They are human made after all.”, said Shiro. Hiroaki shook his head some more. He didn’t care specifically if she made a good or bad choice. He simply figured that if she had a reason for what she was doing instead of being some kind of double agent all along that maybe Misty did really have feelings for him. Hiroaki wasn’t going to share these thoughts of his with Shiro. It was too private to him and it hurt to think about much more so if he said it out loud.

Thumbing out the seeds from the apple, he ate the core of it. He chewed on the stem of the apple like you would a toothpick. “How has sales been?”, asked Hiroaki trying to change the subject. Shiro picked up on this and let the whole thing go. “They have been coming in pretty good since you started helping me out. I would appreciate if you could sell your wares through me though. We could make a hefty fund the two of us.”, he said. Hiroaki nodded. He was more than willing to do so. He knew that Shiro would not take advantage of him. “The next time I get a load of valuables, they are all yours to sell”, he proclaimed. Shiro patted Hiroaki on the back with a laugh. “Good, m’boy. Good.”, said Shiro.

Hiroaki took a quick look over all of Shiro’s things. “Not trying to rob me are ya?”, said the old man. Hiroaki laughed at this. “Me? Rob? I’d never”, he said jokingly, “Any news for me here or?”, he asked the old man. Shiro shook his head. “No. None of your friends left any messages for you of late. You never know when they might come in though”. He said the last part to try to lift Hiroaki’s mood a bit. Hiroaki was grateful for that, but the truth of the matter still stung him a bit. ‘I’m sure everyone is fine’, he thought. He waved at Shiro, ready to depart from his stall. “Oh, alright. I’ll be seeing you later, yes? Take care, Hiroaki.”, he waved back his goodbye.

Venturing down the path of the merchant district, he made his way to a stall that had a bunch of luxury rugs, drapes, and cushions. Hiroaki looked at the women, as there were three of them, that had run the stall. “See something you like?”, the oldest one asked waving her hand over her merchandise in a dramatic manner. All of the things he there looked too silky to be used as a bench cushion. “No, not in particular”, said Hiroaki. The old woman scoffed at Hiroaki. “How dare you! I sell the finest wares of cushions, curtains and rugs. I even got some spices that one of my daughters have picked up!”, she shouted. Hiroaki lifted a hand up at her, not wanting to hear it and took off. He coughed into his arm at the same time.

“Wait! Wait”, shouted the old woman, “I know what you will like. Come back”. Hiroaki turned around and went back to the old woman. “Yes, yes! Gaze your eyes on this!”, she shouted. She lifted another silk curtain with the both of her hands. Hiroaki stared at the old woman in contempt. “I’d rather not. To be honest, I’m looking for more of a cushion type ordeal. More for a bench if anything”, said Hiroaki. The old woman nodded to him rapidly. “Yes, yes. Magna!”, she called for one of her daughters. The young woman known as Magna appeared next to the old woman. The old woman keeping her eyes on Hiroaki the whole time in an unsettling manner spoke to her daughter saying, “Get me one of the cushions from the bottom of the bag, yes? Yes!” Her daughter Magna bowed and went to retrieve the cushion. Hiroaki, still chewing on the apple stem looked over at the big bag full of their wares and waited.

Magna came back with the cushion. It was pretty good quality and not made entirely of slippery silk. “I’ll buy it.”, said Hiroaki. The old woman jumped in glee. “Yes! Yes! Twenty thousand ryo is mine!”, she shouted. People started to stare at them. Hiroaki shifted his feet. He did have twenty thousand ryo, but it certainly was not hers. Additionally, he didn’t like people thinking he had twenty thousand ryo. Anyone who thought he had that much money would make an attempt to rob him. Hiroaki kept his cool, however, chewing on the stem of the apple lightly. “I don’t know whose twenty thousand ryo you’ve just obtained, but congratulations. It certainly is not mine”, he stated. The old woman narrowed her eyes at him. “Not yours? Not yours!?”, she shouted. Hiroaki coughed. “Not mine”, he agreed. She grabbed the cushion and huffed in anger.

“If twenty thousand ryo is not mine, yes? Cushion is not yours!”, she shouted. Hiroaki was amused and tired of this situation. He didn’t know that combination was possible up until now. “This much”, he said. He placed a reasonable amount of ryo on the table of the old woman’s stall. The old woman narrowed her eyes on it greedily. Her other daughter, that was not Magna, went up to her. “Mother, that is a good sum of ryo if I do say so myself”, she said. The old woman threw the cushion at Hiroaki and took the ryo. “Fine. Fine. You have. You should be thanking me”, she said. Hiroaki shook his head in disbelief. Clearly he wasn’t going to thank anyone for purchasing something at a reasonable deal. He did depart from his money.

Hiroaki took the cushion and went back to the Chunin. He headed around back to where Akihana’s bench was. He placed the cushion there and it surprisingly fit beautifully both dimension and aesthetic wise. ‘I got a real sharp eye, huh’, he thought. He looked at the wood and supplies he had sprawn about still from a week ago. He looked over his notepad and saw his scrawlings of the report he had made from his report back to the pirates. “Damn, them. I should have never been brought into their mess”, he muttered to himself. He ripped out the pages and crumbled the pieces of paper up into a ball. He threw it behind him and paid them no more attention.

“Ah, I know what I can make with these pieces of wood”, he said to himself. He cut off the long pieces and made them into shorter ones. He then nailed the piece together to make a small house, big enough for birds. ‘This will make things a little more upbeat around here. Maybe draw in some more customers for Akihana’, he thought. He painted the birdhouse a dark red. That way the birds would not mistake the side of the birdhouse for something else and crash into it. He lifted his newly made birdhouse and hung it up on the side of the restaurant. “Hiroaki?”, said a voice from behind him. Hiroaki turned around to see someone he didn’t think was possible to see again.

“Misty? That is your name right? W-Why?”, he asked. He put a hand on the hilt of his Akai Kumo katana. He did not fully trust her. Misty walked up to him, but not close enough to touch him. She held out a letter for him to take. Hiroaki took the letter looking over it. “I was mad that you had stopped the bandits from getting reinforcements against the pirates. I was hoping they would kill them. Kill Kiruazo. So… I took this letter, hoping the pirates would die in their raids, but now I figured that this was a better option.”, she said. Hiroaki read the letter while listening to her words.

The letter said:
“Dear Hiroaki,

You fool. What have you done? I know that it was you and the girl who had taken all of the treasure back at the storage house. The other Captains know it too. Only you and Missy had known of our whereabouts. You had helped us so much. Why have you gone through such great lengths to betray us at the end. You know I would have paid you for your endeavors. Instead, you have angered the Captains and caused them to unleash their rage out on the country of Fang and those encompassing the country borders.

They will find you and I am of no state to be there to aid you, my friend. Are we even friends anymore? I don’t know what has gotten into your mind to think stealing from us was a wise decision. Furthermore, what about our promise? I thought you wanted to join our ranks and sail the ocean in pursuit of the great things you could only find out at sea? Damn it, Hiroaki! Kiruazo is especially angered. That girl had brought dishonor among his group. We all run things differently as Captains and who knows how they run their group. It seems more uptight if you ask me.

You better start praying, Hiroaki. If I find you, I will have no choice, but to cut your head in the name of my crew. Yours, and Missy’s.

Sincerely,
Lorenzo”

Hiroaki looked up from the letter at Misty. “How long have you had this letter for?”, he shouted. The woman raised her hands. “For three days now. I was hoping they would come, catch you off guard and cut off your head for sabotaging my plans”, she said. Hiroaki grabbed Misty by her shirt and pulled her close to his face in anger. “I didn’t sabotage anything”, he spit. Misty looked him dead on in the eyes and unclenched his fists off of her shirt. “It sure felt that way”, she said. Hiroaki stomped back in forth in rage, trying to think of what he was to do. He was a wanted man already of course, but this was different. This was an army of pirates, close at home to him, ready to kill him at any given moment.

He stopped for a second. “Why did you come back then? Why did you give me this?”, asked Hiroaki. Misty smirked. “Finally, the right kind of questions. Let me explain it to you from the beginning…”

Flashback.

“I was a Shinobi from Kumo. A young girl who was told she had a gift for being a ninja. The man who told me this? It was a man known as Sabo. Sabo was my instructor. He had taught me everything I know. I trained mostly in Kenjutsu and soon I was able to take on people one to three. Sabo thought this was extraordinary. ‘A promising Shinobi at such a young age. I haven’t seen this in decades’, he had remarked. Well, Sabo had other plans for me than to continue to work as a Shinobi for Kumo.

One night as I was sleeping the floorboard would creak. ‘Hello?’, I would cry out. I took the blade I had from underneath my bed and readied it. I as a Shinobi knew how to take care of intruders. The shadowy figure charged at me and we locked blades. I instinctively parried each blow and struck with my sword. I slashed the figure again and again, wounding the figure in several different positions. The figure did not cry out in pain, only kept on attacking me. I did not know what other than to do except to fight on. What other than a monster would get stabbed and not yell out in pain?

Soon the shadowy figure would lay out before me. Blood was all around the flooring of my house. I turned on the light and saw that the man was none other than Sabo. ‘I commend you, my greatest creation’, he said. I cried like no other would. What had I done? I knew that it was over for me. The authorities would not allow for me to get away with the crime I had done. I ran from the village, getting all but down to the sea. That’s when I was struck over the head and taken by a pirate. He must have been taking a leak or something nearby.

I was forcibly put into Kiruazo’s crew. He rules with an ironhand and had forced me to show my skill in combat. You see I wouldn’t do it at first. I wouldn’t even do it at second. He had whipped my prowess out of me. I didn’t ever want to use these hands of mine to kill again. That was until I finally got fed up with the way I was treated. The men aboard his crew hated me. Half of them for their sexist beliefs and half of them out of jealousy for Kiruazo’s growing love of me or should I say my skill. Now, I want nothing more than that man to be dead.

The crewmen. They were the ones that started the play of words on my name. They called me ‘Missy’ as a joke. I hated it and still do. That night at the storage house, I was the one to start cheering. I wanted nothing more than a chance for the Captain to die in combat. I had it all planned. I told the bandits that I would tell them when they would attack to increase the chances of the bandits winning… But you Hiroaki, you stopped me. I took the letter in hopes of you dying and now I give it back in hopes of you killing Kiruazo for me.”

End of Flashback.

Hiroaki spit out the stem of his apple. It tasted rotten from how long it had been in his mouth for. “Why should I bother helping you?”, he asked. Misty pulled out a large sum of gold from her pockets. “Don’t think of it as you helping me. Think of it as you helping yourself. I know you got a large bundle of gold from stealing from the pirates and I applaud you for that, but there is always more.”, she said. Hiroaki looked at the birdhouse he had made which attracted some attention. A bird had flown into it checking the place out and chirped at him. The sun was still out and shining.

Thinking on the whole matter, Hiroaki realized this was a blessing in disguise. The pirates wanted him dead for the actions he committed, not Misty’s. If he had followed through with what she asked he would survive and be rich. At the same time however. ‘I’m just one man’, he thought. Misty was able to recognize the type of look he gave and said, “Look, you won’t be on your own. The townspeople gave me this money to help persuade you. They are willing to help fight back, they just need a leader. Additionally, I will grace you with my presence”. She smirked at the last part.

He swiped the money from her hands faster than she could register. “Deal”, he said. He pocketed the money and allowed her to take lead. She gave a look of horror that she no longer had the incentive in her hand, but let it go due to the fact that Hiroaki had told her to continue onward. She lead him to a group of villagers that had gathered. Off in the distance, fire could be seen spreading and screams could be heard as well. “Is this all you could find us? Just one man”, asked a villager that approached Misty. She pushed the villager aside. “This one man is all that you will need. He is tough as stone”, she implored. Hiroaki paid their conversation no mind.

The village was pretty empty besides all of the people that were in it. Hiroaki started to cut down wood and turn them into stakes. Slowly he worked to create proper defenses of the place. The villagers were watching him do it all. “Well? What are you waiting for!?”, shouted Misty. The villagers started to craft the way they had seen Hiroaki do it. One set of spikes turned into four and then eight and so on. He kept glancing at Misty to see what she was doing the whole time. Misty took to keeping an eye out on the movement of the pirates. They were on land, moving closer and closer towards them. Their plan was to scour the whole country until they made their riches back and killed Hiroaki it seemed.

“Anyone got any nails”, shouted Hiroaki. He let the villagers continue to work on putting more stakes down. A few of them stopped to go retrieve some nails, however. “Good. We can use these nails to make proper caltrops. If anyone has any grimy or poisonous things, bring them out now. We will put them on them and place them all on the field. It will slow the enemy down and if they somehow survive this battle and kill us, they will die afterwards”, said Hiroaki. The villagers nodded, crafting the caltrops and applying whatever gnarly poisons and bacteria filled things onto them.

“We’ll need all of the booze and alcohol you can get too.”, he yelled. One of the villagers looked at him. “Planning to drink us out, huh?”, she said with a tad too much wit to it. Hiroaki glared at the old woman. “No, because we are going to light those bastards on fire. Give me some hay barrels and anything flammable!”, he shouted. The old woman took off to go fetch him the supplies that were needed. Soon their defenses started to look more and more suitable to fight off the upcoming army.

Hiroaki pointed to Misty and the two of them pushed some wagons and boulders in front of the stakes. This was to give them more cover from arrows and crossbows if the pirates had any. “Get some scare crows and put them behind the defenses. We can use them to trick the enemy. I will go and search for whatever weapons that are here.”, he said. Misty nodded and went to collecting, she handed her telescope to one of the villagers. The villager reported back, “They are almost in range, hurry!”.

Going into the barns that were close by he found a number of tools that could be used as weapons. He threw them into the middle and called for people to grab them and for them to collect whatever heirloomed war weapons they might have had. While that was happening a villager gave him a piece of flint and steel. Hiroaki pocketed it and continued on. He cut the doors off of the homes and carried them to the villagers. “The best kind of shield you all will get right now”, he said. They nodded to him, saddened by this. Hiroaki took note of that.

“Everyone, listen up. Night has come with the raging army, but we are more prepared than they are. They are tired, have been for days now. They have done ten times the amount of walking and swinging than we have.” Hiroaki stopped his speech to cough, this caused a bit of worry among the villagers. Hiroaki gave up and finished with, “Do as was planned and stick them with the pointy end.” He pulled Misty close to him. “I hope you fight as good as you say”, he said to her. They took their positions behind a wagon and waited.

Kiruazo was leading the army with Mortimer right behind him. Kiruazo was covered in blood, no doubt from the villagers they had already plundered. Mortimer on the other hand, looked clean with his white hair slicked back. The other Captains must be spread out on the other side of the country or in the back of their army. Torches were being carried all across Kiruazo’s men and he himself carried a torch in hand. He wielded a giant battle axe in the other. ‘What the hell was a pirate doing with a battle axe?’, he thought. Mortimer was lugging a heavy chest in his hands that swayed with his body. It was obviously heavy and the old man’s muscles were bulging under its weight.

“Pay up, or die”, shouted Mortimer as they got closer to the village. Kiruazo did not wait for an answer. He continued down the pathway to the village. “You know. That’s the second time he has done that”, said Mortimer out loud. A villager stood up, lighting a torch and yelled, “Go to hell!”. ‘No! You damn idiot! What have you done?’, thought Hiroaki. A bolt whistled and struck the villager square on the head. The man collapsed onto the ground, the torch along with him. “Put the fire out!”, he yelled. The villagers snuffed the flame, keeping their heads down.

Kiruazo stopped right in front of the caltrops. He had not looked down to see them. “Hiroaki? Ah, Hiroaki, it is you, isn't it? Then I will assume Misty is there with you.”, he shouted. Mortimer placed the chest down and wiped his forehead. “Hiroaki, you bastard! I-I’ll -- Ah, shit. I’m tired”, huffed Mortimer. Hiroaki stayed where he was. He didn’t want to rat Misty out, but he needed to give Kiruazo the incentive to charge over their traps. “Yeah, she’s here with me, you shit”, he spit out with as much hatred he could muster. Misty kicked Hiroaki in the leg. Hiroaki stifled back a cry of pain. Kiruazo screamed and charged, his men following close behind.

The army’s scream of anger turned into a scream of wails and moans. The caltrops dug deep into their shoes and into their feet. A good score of the men gave up then and there, falling to the ground and have more spikes enter along their face screaming. “Raise the scarecrows now”, he whispered. The army of villagers raised the scarecrows, hoping to seem bigger than they were and to attract the enemies bolts and arrows away from themselves. Hiroaki took out his flint and steel and sparked a flame onto his makeshift molotov. He threw the bottle out and the whole field lit up in flames. The men screamed even more as they were not on fire.

The men that were still on their two feet could not go back as their own army blocked their way and the army behind pushed forward to aid the men who obscured a good portion of their vision. “Lift your weapons!”, shouted Hiroaki. The pirates that pushed forward were getting stabbed by the villagers from behind their defenses. A few that tried to get by got further stabbed from the spikes that were planted. Hiroaki got his sword out and did his fair share of stabbing the pirates that approached them. Overhead, the thunking of bolts and arrows piercing the scarecrows could be heard. A few screams on their side could be hard too as the villagers had started to take a few licks for themselves.

Looking out Mortimer could be seen holding what remained of the men back. He had not charged because he lost his stamina and saw what mayhem had happened on the charging forces. “DIE”, shouted a voice from above. The pirate, Kiruazo jumped off the wagon swinging his great battle axe in hand. Hiroaki dived back, kicking his feet against the wheel of the wagon. He made it just out of the battle axe’s reach. Kiruazo swung his battle axe at Hiroaki who blocked the sharp metal at the shaft with his blade. The two stayed in a struggle of strength. Kiruazo obviously had the upper hand there. Inch by inch, the battle axe came closer to Hiroaki’s throat as he laid against the ground.

Not seeing any of this happen. Mortimer called off the attack. “Let’s go back men. Kiruazo is dead anyway. He was the one who promised our treasure back and look at him now. Ah, at least we got this much”, he said lifting the treasure chest back up in his hands. “Fucking, Hiroaki. I’ll cut your damn throat if I ever see your smug face again. I’m leaving Fang, this place has nothing to gain anyway.”, he bellowed. The old man walked off with the pirates that only followed because of the money that was in the old timer’s hands. “MOR-”, screamed Kiruazo in anger of his betrayal. A cutlass dug itself deep into Kiruazo’s throat.

Kiruazo’s body fell to the ground. Misty pulled the cutlass from the pirate’s throat and flung off the blood that was on it. “Dirty pirate. I can’t believe you wanted to be one of them. Adventuring and freedom, pfft. The only thing I get about being a pirate is being drunk enough to save yourself from their smell”, said Misty. Hiroaki got himself to his own two feet as Misty did not offer a hand to him. He held his katana in hand and watched Mortimer’s army dispersed back into the darkness, the way they came. “We won! WE DID IT!”, shouted the villagers in delight.

A hand went to Hiouted the villagers in delight.

He placed a hand over his pocket where he had put the load of ryo he had acquired from Misty. It was still there and he sighed in relief. 'At least my efforts did not go to waste.', he thought. Misty dug through the dead pirate's pockets and retrieved his items. Hiroaki did not care if she grave looted. Items were meaningless to the dead. He stood there in thought of what she had said as it hit him. 'Maybe she is right. Being a pirate is nothing special. Then again, I wasn't really looking for special. Adventuring and freedom seemed like any other word, but when you really analyze the meaning behind them you realize that's all anyone could ever want.', he thought on.

'That didn't matter anymore, either way.', he thought. His ticket to a real ship and crew under his name was off the table as he lost Lorenzo's trust. Hiroaki eyed the mess that was out in front of him. The fire, the bodies. "I hope you're happy for once in your life", said Hiroaki. Misty's mouth opened slightly, then shut. She didn't have the words and Hiroaki wasn't about to let her get the chance to come up with some. He left the field and marched his way back home, his katana tapping his shoulder along the way.

Coming back to the Chunin he sat down on the bench outside and started to write a letter of his own. It went:

"Dear Lorenzo,

I knew you were not dumb enough to leave your treasure there. I had not taken anything of yours, it was never intended. If you really wanted me dead, you could have just came. So whether you were afraid of me or perhaps….my comrades, I couldn't really say. As for your letter, I thank you for the warning and give you my own if you ever threaten me again.

Sincerely,
Hiroaki"

He bit his thumb and summoned Yurei, one of his chameleons. "Deliver this to the storage house", said Hiroaki, giving the chameleon the proper directions. Watching the chameleon take off, Hiroaki would then stand up and head inside the Chunin. He would go to his appropriate room inside, where Akihana would let him and go to sleep. Misty, Mortimer, Lorenzo.. Hiroaki didn’t want to see them again, at least for a good while. In the morning, Hiroaki would pick up his shift at the Chunin.

(WC: 5002)

[exit]

Claiming:
5002/200 = 25 stats
Dance of The Crescent Moon (2500 WC req)
Aporo (2500 WC req)

Side Notes:

Sat Jan 11, 2020 3:53 pm

Approved

A Pirate's War pt 2

A Pirate's War pt 2

Re: A Pirate's War pt 2