3-Suffering from happiness
After what happened and the promise the old man gave me , Armand told me that he plans on giving a ride to all of his old crewmates before eventually taking me home . I seriously did not mind his company at all , I was sceptical about staying with the pirates but after healing some of them it didn't take long for most of them to open up to me and treat me as a friend . Especially the guy who wanted to stop me from helping his friends at first but ended up being surprised by my medical expertise . He was actually an important guy from the crew , serving only under Armand , the Captain of the ship . He ,Bob, was the second in comand and he warmed up to me pretty quickly and started telling me about his adventures with his crew . He even said that the Captain had 450 million berry on his head , 'like I'm stupid enough to believe that ' , the highest bounty was Arlong having a 15 million berry bounty at that time ...
Well that's what I thought until I actually saw it . Well, damn .
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2 years time skip
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I am gowing to be 14 today and I still didn't come back to my one island . Don't misunderstand , it's me who did not want to go back . Why? Three reasons:
1- I actually grew fond of the atmosphere and feeling that the pirate life offers . Getting into drunk fights ..... well it's just me turning into a punching bag until the Old Armand intervenes.
2- I got pretty close to the Old man, He eats with me and trains me in shooting and sword-fighting . I grew some nice muscles and had a huge growth spurt eating so MUCH delicious and nutritious food here . My dark ashen hair had grown and became long enough to reach my back , so I tied it with a pony-tail like the Old man taught me . I stand to a 178 cm and my eyes that once were green got more ominous and bright (like a snake's) .
3- THE FOOOOOD! ....Uhum- sorry for that .
The ship becomes less and less crowded as the time passes . To the point where the only poeple here are me, Old Armand , Bob, the Chef Charles, and a group of 10 pirates . When I asked Bob why won't they join the others he only said "I did not manage to help the Captain achive his dream , so it is our duty to stay with him until he draws his last breath or just accomplishes his lifelong dream. But with you here , he might do it "
I was intrigued by what Bob said and started wondering what the Old man's dream was. But it's not really my place to say anything to him . Until something weird happened , the Old man started to look at me with a warm and loving gaze , but within a hint of sadness and worry hidden deep inside his eyes .
The says has flow by and I am turning 15 today . The Old man said that he would gift me something . And I'm really wondering what it could be .
For some weird reason , everybody on the ship started to look at me with sad looks on their faces , and I even overheard the Captain and Bob talking : " Captain , are you really sure about this ?" said Bob nervously , he was obviously sad .
Old Armand: " Enough of this already ! We are pirates , we killed before . A single teen more or less won't change anything !"
Surprisingly, Bob shouted back angrily : " These are two completely different , and you know it . Nobody here likes the kid more than you . And even the others know it . "
Armand: " I have come from a long way to accomplish my dream! Becoming a Shishibukai and betraying the Marine's trust for simple benefits ! How many of our brothers died ? And you want their deaths to be in vain!? "
Bob : " HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY LOYALTY AND THE DEATHS OF MY OWN COMRADES BEFORE YOUR OWN SECOND IN COMMAND!? I litterally followed you from the very beggining and swore my life for your cause !"
Armand flinched a little from what he said . Because it was true ,how could he doubt his own sworn-brother.
"haah" Bob sighed and then said " I know how much you desire immortality and we all agreed to help you , but we will never take a kid's life , it goes against our way of life . If we did it we would become the poeple you despise the most , those who profit from children's unfortunate events . And you already sensed his hidden potential right , even if you are not even a quarter of your past self in terms of strength after your fight with that Admirale Akainu . You should be able to groom him as your own kid , your dream was to finish writing that book of yours , right? Then do just that but with 'his' help." As he said that , he pointed at me hiding wich greatly suprised me and the Old man . Not looking back I ran away and locked myself up inside the cell where I first woke up. A great sadness overtaking me and making my heart ache . ' Should I escape , maybe he'll want to take my life' as I started having these ideas I suddenly felt helpless and thought 'but where will I even go' ' I have no home , the Old man gave everything ' ' a place to call home , food , but most importantly ...'
"A FAMILY! " was the first thing I heard when the door opened , revealing an old man with a marking beard and pony-tail "I always thought of you as my own son! these few years that you stayed with us on this ship , everybody treats you their own family!" I feel my aching heart calming down and a warm feeling entering it as a stream of tears make their way on my face . While gritting my teeth from the sadness I respond " EVEN IF YOU STILL WANT TO KILL ME ! I'LL GIVE YOU MY LIFE WHOLEHEARTEDLY , YOU GAVE A MEANING AND SENSE TO MY LIFE ! I SEE YOU AS FAMILY TOO, POPS! " As I said that I jump and hug to the one-armed man who started crying too .
After that, I walked with Pops (Arm) to his own cabine and he started looking through his things hurriedly . As he finds what he looked for, he handed me a wanted bounty with 450 million berry written in it . It was , as expected, Pops . and then he sat down and started narrating .