Memories of sadness

Ryou ran across the deck, and when he reached the bow of his ship, he kicked off with full leg strength. Then, he dove into the deep blue. The water's wetness soothed him. He was like a child of four and his security blanket. Ryou was always reluctant to leave the water alone. The sea was his first love, or, at least it was now.

Ryou kicked and flexed his arms in the water, propelling himself further and further away from his boat. Two hours later, when he was content, he made a U-turn and breaststroke his way back to his houseboat. He pulled himself on the boat slowly, not wanting to make it rock any more than it already was. Ryou trudged into his room, grabbed his towel, and began to dry himself off. He began with his face then moved downwards limb to limb.

When he was all dried up, Ryou stripped off his swimming trunks and pulled on a pair of jeans and a tunic. He walked out to the starboard of his boat and gazed all about him. Nothing but water everywhere. Ryou sighed. He marched over to the stern and cranked the crank for his anchor to be pulled up. Then, he let the sails down and went to the steering wheel. As he got there, he saw a news-carrying bird.

Ryou reached into his pocket and found a couple of Beri there. He tossed them at the bird and in turn, it dropped a newspaper onto the deck. He sauntered over to it and picked the news paper up. He sat down as the boat began to pick up wind. He opened the papers up and thumbed through the pages and saw nothing of interest at first, but as he got to the rear side of the newspaper, he gasped.

There was the man with the crooked nose and the scar on his left cheek. His hair was greying and balding, but he was sure of it. This man was one of the cronies of the admiral's son. His memory of him was vague, but Ryou was sure this man was there when Ryou had awakened to find the admiral's son sneering over him. Then, after, another of the admiral's son's team, who had found Ryou, told him that the man with the crooked nose had found Ryou's second son stranded in the middle of the ocean, clinging to some driftwood. Then, he had killed him.

Ryou had tried to get to the man to kill him, but he was heavily guarded at the time, so Ryou let him live. He had soon forgotten about him, but it seems that the memory of the evil crony was hiding inside Ryou's subconscious.

The captain of the 27th fleet overlooked from the second highest point of his ship, the bridge deck, his crew carrying out various tasks such as carrying supplies, staring off the distance for any possible pirate threat or they were just walking around, discussing with each other matters such as notorious pirates, devil fruits and about the Grand Line.

And what wouldn't he give to just start chasing a pirate again? He has been waiting for almost three weeks for any new bounty to show up via a bird but nonetheless it didn't. Perhaps, most of them have already given up on piracy in fear of the "Iron Mace" of the 27th Fleet. While, he was lost on his thoughts, unaware of his surroundings, what made him "wake up" was a dinstict yell of one of his subordinates.

"Ship in the horizon! Ship in the horizon!" the voice repeated and the deck was soon overflowed with curious marines who hanged from the ship's port. The captain himself made his way through the crowd by pushing everyone aside. With a stern expression on his face, he stare off the distance, before evident dissatisfaction was drawn on his face. It wasn't a pirate ship, just a little boat; a boat house or something similar.

The captain turned back and ordered with a commanding tone "Search the ship for anything suspicious". "Aye, aye, Captain!" the men nodded and signaled the ship to stop. It was pretty frequent these days that most of this ships carried suspicious stuff such as guns or swords that were sold at pirates. The captain headed towards his private cabin which lied just below the bridge deck.

As Ryou heard yelling, he stood up and looked towards the sound, but the house part of the houseboat blocked his view. He stepped around the house part and then he saw a marine ship. Ryou gritted his teeth and glared at it. He saw some marine grunts waving at him to stop the boat. He cursed under his breath. Silently, he walked over to the crank and anchored his ship.

Then, he saw some grunts lower a rowboat to the water's surface. As they made their way to him, he was tempted to bring out his 'Blades'. Quickly, he went inside his room and brought them out. He slipped them into his pocket and walked out. As he got in the doorway, he saw a man around his own size standing there. Behind him there were four others.

"You two, Arata, Isamu!" He barked. Two of the four men saluted. It seemed that this one was a higher ranked grunt. "Search inside this boat. Leave no stone unturned."

Silently, they trooped around Ryou and marched inside. Ryou breathed in deeply. Then, he exhaled. He shot dagger eyes at the remaining Marines.

"What the heck do you think you are doing?" Ryou fumed. "Get the hell off my boat."

The marine calmly observed the man in front of him. It seemed that he was considering what to say.

"I am not thinking about anything." He replied. "We are simply obeying the captain's orders."

"What is your name?" one of the other marines inquired.

"Ryou. And that's all you need to know." Retorted Ryou. "Who the heck does your captain think he is, anyways? I demand to see him this instant!"

The higher ranked marine raised an eyebrow.

"Our captain is an important man. An extremely busy man. If he says himself that he wants to meet you, then that will be when you can see him."

Ryou was about to reply, when he heard footsteps making their way towards them. He didn't even turn around to greet the marines, or attempt moving out of the way for them. He saw them shuffling past him out of the corner of his eye. When they saw the other marines, they saluted again.

"All clear, sir!" They said in unison.

"Very well. Now, Ryou, if you want to, you may join us back to our ship. However, I cannot guarantee your audience with our captain."

Ryou snorted in reply. 'As if,' He thought.

"I will follow you in my own boat, thank you very much." Said Ryou.

The marines got off of his boat and climbed into their rowboat. Ryou pulled in the anchor and maneuvered his boat to go in the direction of the marine ship. He waited until they had raised their rowboat back to the side of the ship. Then, he brought his boat to where the rope ladder had been let down. Ryou grabbed on to it and pulled himself up and up then onto the ship.

A marine knocked his cabin's door with a deafening noise that compeled the captain to stand up from his bed and head towards the door. The Iron Mace abruptly opened the door, almost slamming against the wooden wall. Obviously, he was annoyed by his subordinate's rude behaviour. Christopher hold out his hand, grabbing his uniform and pulled him inside, almost hurling him "I can hear yer knocking lad, once is enough." he said in a threatening tone with a hasty smile, glaring the subordinate "Now, what's your problem?".

The subordinate tried to maintain his temper, but bowed before his captain's intimidating aura "Captain...the...occupant of the boat...." he said and his whole body shivered with every word he said. Finally, he muster most of his courage and said "Captain, the occupant of the boat wishes to see you". The captain looked with a serious expression the marine, before letting out a cordial laugh "Then, you should have said that from the beginning! Sorry for putting you through all that trouble, my friend!". The captain wore his marine jacket and strolled towards the exit.

His eyes were fixed on a man who had just climbed the ship's ropes. The Iron Mace peered searchingly at him; he was a weathered but muscular lad, whose lack of size was filled by his redundant muscles. "EVERYONE BACK TO YOUR POSTS" the captain let out a earsplitting roar and went to meet with the man. At the same time, the main deck was becoming more and more vacant of any life presence except his and the man's.

As he reached the man, he bowed his head and said with his rich voice "Welcome aboard my ship, lad, how can I help you?".

Ryou was about to explode like an atom bomb, but something held him back. His great fury and rage cooled as he saw the man whom he thought to be the captain. Still, Ryou's right arm twitched as he tried to throw a punch. But this man's aura had an air of true justice. He wasn't a corrupt officer. But that didn't stop Ryou from being cautious.

"I just wanted to know why you set your men on my boat." He said. "And without a formal warning."

He glanced around. Most of the marines seemed to be below deck. A couple of grunts were still swabbing the deck, trying not to stare at the pair near the rope ladder. He also saw some seagulls circling above the ship. Ryou turned back to the man in front of him.

"I am just an honest tradesman," Said Ryou, staring right into the man's face. "I was doing nothing wrong. And if you suspect me of anything, err.. Pirate-y, you should know, I don't hold with that stuff."

The man listened intently to what he had to say, keeping a straight calm face at the same time. If he younger, he would ignore the man's speech and just carry on, but now, he was just an old man. When he finaly stopped talking he replied "My sincerest apologies for my behaviour, lad, but I believe you were given a warning, didn't they? A signal or something similar?" asked the captain but he already know that he was given a warning; his crew makes always sure that that happens.

"It won't last for a long..." he said and then as if something came up to his mind, he added "In the meantime, would you like to join me for a lunch, son? It is better than staying out here. They may take long sometimes to ensure the safety of the seas" he asked the honest merchant and smiled broadly.

'It's not that big of a boat...' He thought. 'And, they already searched my cabin, so they shouldn't be too long.'

He listened to the man's proposal. Lunch with the captain? Sounded like he had something to discuss with Ryou. Suddenly, there was a thunderous growl. He looked around. Then, he felt a gnawing pain in his lower torso area. Ryou was hungry. So, Ryou shrugged his shoulders and accepted.

'Where are we going to eat?' He wondered. 'Doesn't look like there's an outdoor cafe out here...'

He looked around once again. Then he thought of something important he had forgotten about. Introductions.

"I apologize. I forget my manners. My name is Ryoumichi. Call me Ryou." He stated. "And may I inquire your name, kind sir?"

He let out a cordial laugh again, like previously with his subordinate "Worry not, lad, my cabin has an outdoor balcony." he replied as he headed back towards his cabin. Without warning, he turned back and face the man "I see Ryou is your name? Well then Ryou, my name is Christopher Armstrong, you may have heard it somewhere, also known as the Iron Mace. You may call me whatever you want, lad, I don't mind" he answered his question with a calm tone and seemed to take pride as he said his own name.

He reached his private cabin and opened the door. The captain's cabin had 2 rooms; his bedroom including a luxurious bed, a wooden chest of drawers. It had two windows standing one close to each other just opposite of his bed. The other room was something similar to a bathroom, which included a wooden toilet. To the right of the windows' stood a closed wooden door. Without haste, the captain headed towards it and opened it for his guest, motioning him to enter it.

'Doubt I have, old man.' He thought rebelliously. However, he put on a calm mask. Silently, he marched inside Captain Christopher's room and trudged towards the door that the man was telling Ryou to go through. The area of the balcony was about equivalent to the captain's room's size.

Ryou saw a table set in front of him, so he made himself right at home, and sat down on a chair. He looked around as he enjoyed the comfortableness of the seat. Ryou whistled at the largeness of... everything in the captain's quarters. Normally, he wouldn't have accepted an offer like this from a marine. But, seeing as he didn't have any food in his boat, he was short on money, and that he was hungry, he didn't have much choice other than to dine with The Hated and starve to death.

"Nice place you got here, Cap'n" He said, trying to stifle the growling of his stomach with his own voice. "My li'l vessel over there has nothing like this..."

The captain joined him as well and didn't bother enjoying the view; he had already got used of it. "Pretty charming isn't it?" said the captain, agreeing with him. He walked towards his chair that stood opposite to his. He sat and removed his cap, putting it on the table, just to the right of his plate. He scratched his bald head "So, Ryou, what does a youngling like you do on such worn boat?" he calmly and intently asked the lad, hoping to know more about him.

The man has piqued Christopher's interest, not only because of his physical properties but also of his look, that of a untamed and defiant beast. An interest that has taken as far as to consider recruiting him. After all, his fleet was short-handed, but he knew that Ryou was suitable for the job of a marine. As he thought these, he tried at the same time to listen intently to his anwers and ask him more, so in the end he would make him join his crew.

"I used to have a brand new boat, but when I was twenty-six, I was attacked and it.. err, umm.. broke..."

He chose to leave out the part about his attackers being Marines. Ryou hoped Captain Christopher would suppose that Pirates had attacked him. Ryou stared at his own boat. It looked so small, so fragile, next to the massive marine ship. It looked just like an old, worn out toy sailboat that one would find in a rubbish bin.

"I am a fisherman, hunter, and a man of the sea. I even have experienced the life of a regular common farmer.

Even to Ryou, it seemed that the Marine had taken a liking to him. This was because it seemed as if he was behaving with Ryou as an uncle would treat a favourite nephew or niece. Ryou smiled unconsciously. He was beginning to like the Marine in turn. In some strange way, Ryou thought the Captain resembled himself, personality-wise.

"I understand, what would the world be without those damn pirates, huh? They murder, steal and do not hesitate to even kill one of their crew if given the chance" the captain said with an evident disgust. He turned his gaze at the sea as if he was recollecting his past memories "Tell me, son, if ye had the chance to fight these mongrels, would you accept it?" he asked Ryou intently, cutting to the chase.

"I can see that yer not satisfied with yer current situation, perhaps its time to change?" he added further, indirectly saying to him to join his crew.

Ryou narrowed his eyes. He stared hard at the man in front of him. He wondered what he could possibly mean. When it hit him, Ryou's eyes opened wide so fast, he almost pulled his eye muscles. The Captain was offering him a job as a marine officer, and he'd obviously be under Christopher.

"Tch. I don't want to be your underling. " He said angrily. "I'd rather be the lowly bottom feeder that I am than be a foolish little marine. I'd even rather live in the dump that I do then live here with y'all."

Here, Ryou nodded at his houseboat and tugged on his tunic. This was to emphasize his state of poverty. Ryou then stared at the horizon. He tried to ignore the growling of his stomach. He was going to go home, lonely and hungry. Silently, he stood up. Then, he faced out towards the ocean and jumped as high as he could. Then, he splashed into the vast waters below and returned into his own boat. Now, he marched on to the steering wheel and veered off in the opposite direction of the marine ship.