Sudden Encounter

John knew sailing would be hard with all the movement, heavy lifting, pushing, and pulling and other such tasks. In fact, he had the pleasure of going on a summer fishing trip with a friend and his grandfather when he was a younger man back on Earth. With this experience in mind, the last two of his three day trip to Water 7 helping aboard the merchant ship was aching, but expected and necessary for John to grow and prepare for potential hardships going forward.

Granted, the boat John sailed on was only an old sailboat, but even with three people trying to manage the sail and the boat ballasts, it was quite a struggle.

Thinking about it, it was funny how the show and manga One-Piece showed such a subdued and romanticized view of sailing when it was far more torturous on the body than can possibly be imagined. But John supposed that was the appeal of a story about an adventure, why consider the small struggles to reach the climactic moments when defeating the villain was just so cool?

However, even with the soreness from work and aching of his legs, the most tiring part of John's journey was the politics.

You see, in his desire for comfort on the ship, John decided to spend extra money so that he would have a better bed and room on the ship. This was done so he could both rest easy and have a safe, secluded place on the ship in case he needed to use his powers.

But then, he also offered to help on the ship by helping with some manual labor in hopes of increasing his Strength or Constitution a bit. This apparently ruffled some feathers.

John, in his desire for both comfort and training, did not pick up on how there was essentially two different 'classes' of people on the ship, the merchants and the workers. The merchants were the wealthy class that ate well and sold the goods while the workers ran the ship and did the labor.

So, by John deciding to buy the better room and board, he isolated himself from the workers because they thought he was a softy that didn't want to do hard work. Then, by offering to do work on the ship, he isolated himself from the merchants who could not really tell if he was rich, a hard worker, or an idiot.

Unable to determine what 'class' John was on the ship, most people tended to ignore him unless he asked for something, such as food or work.

John was barely gone from Banaro Island, and he was already missing their simple lifestyles.

Now, John was busy helping secure the cargo on the on the top deck by helping to push the large cargo containers back into place while the more experienced sailors tied them down with rope. While it was a noticeably clear trip to Water 7 with bright skies and a warm sunshine, the boat would occasionally give a violent rock and move around, causing the cargo to dislodge. Naturally, John was on the more physical but simple tasks on the boat, it was not wise to trust a non-sailor with the safety of the boat.

John supposed he was lucky the weather was not terrible and unpredictable, as he remembered Grand Line weather could be.

After finishing up with the pushing and taking a second to collect himself, he stopped to look up at the bridge of the vessel, watching three separate navigators looking around at the weather and their log poses. While the ship had a pose that pointed directly to Water 7, they also had other eternal log poses pointed at other islands that they watched to make sure their course was correct based on where they were pointed as well. A smart way to double-check their bearing since compasses did not work on the Grand Line.

John again felt respect for Nami who apparently could navigate all the way to the New World while it took three people who sailed this route for years to not get lost on a three day trip.

While continuing to watch the navigators look out to sea, they eventually settled their eyes off in the distance, and then started to pick up binoculars to look at something at the distance.

John tried to follow their gaze but could not see whatever they were looking at. Maybe there was a way he could train his vision.

He decided to ask if he could buy better eyesight from his fruit. It came back negative. Then he tried as a joke to see if he could buy one of the eyeball powers from the series Naruto. Both the power and a spare eyeball he could implant into his own eye socket came back negative. He still couldn't buy direct upgrades to himself, or items and powers from other fictions besides One Piece, and Earth items.

"Oh well," he sighed quietly to himself, "at least I tried."

Suddenly, John was pulled from his daydream as he heard some navigators calling for the head merchant to come over. After the well-dressed man came from the main cabin on the bridge where the merchants who owned the vessel resided and spoke to the navigators. Suddenly, John noticed the man donning a serious face as he started giving orders to the crew near him, and the sailors moved into action. A few moments later, John could see the sails above move and feel the ship turning.

This sparked a curious feeling in John who then started to approach the bridge, walking alongside the storage crates he recently secured. However, just as John finally got into position to really hear what the merchant was saying, he went back into the bridge cabin, leaving John to wait and see what was happening as he decided to lean on a crate.

Eventually, some of the merchants came out of the bridge cabin and started to head towards the mid-deck cabins where John paid to stay. Stopping one of the merchants who stepped close to his crate he was against, a woman dressed in fine silk, John asked "What's going on?"

The woman looked at John, rudely looking him up and down, before pouting and saying "Apparently there is a small ship ahead hoisting a white flag, looking terribly damaged. While the navigators saw no crew on the ship, we need to investigate. Everyone who can't fight is heading below-decks just in case it is a pirate trap."

Pirate trap? John supposed that made sense, a random run-down ship offering surrender but with no one aboard was a suspicious sight. At least the merchants of the ship had the right idea of being paranoid and going below-decks, John supposed any ship on the sea without some skepticism was doomed to sink.

John thanked the woman as she turned around to head down below, and John considered what he should do. The obvious choice was to head to his room for now, why risk trouble when his journey was so early? Besides, if something bad really were to happen on the ship, then John would want to fight in closer quarters in the lower decks.

His plan would be simple, buy a few guns and blast anyone who came for him. Maybe even buy some bear traps or something to snap their legs off. As an absolute last resort, John could sink the boat by selling some of the submerged hull, then buy his own tiny boat and an eternal log to complete the trip to Water 7. This was a terrible idea since he wasn't a navigator, but it was an idea just in case.

Unfortunately for John, he did not have the time to consider any more plans or move below decks, as suddenly there was a loud sound coming from the starboard of the ship, followed by a many large thuds sounding on the bridge of the ship, followed by splashes of water.

Pushing himself away from his crate to get a better look at the bridge, John saw something new in his adventure, yet something critical to the end of the Grand Line's route.

Fish-men.

There were three of them to be exact, one octopus looking one reminiscent of Hatchan from the show though seeming to be smaller in stature, and two other fish-men that seemed almost human-like in their appearance, though they had blue skin pigmentation similar to Arlong, gills, and what looked like a sharp fin on each arm.

John noticed that the two finned fish-men probably were related since they looked so similar, maybe even twins. That, and John thought that all three of them looked incredibly young. John assumed so at least, he did not know how fish-men aged.

The octopus fish-man then drew a cutlass looking sword (that John did not originally notice was on his hip) and shouted at the other two.

"I will hold off the big ones, you guys cut the ropes!"

And with that, all three fish-men flew into action, jumping off the bridge and landing on the deck. The octopus fish-man jumped the furthest, making it all the way to the entrance of the mid-decks and intercepting some of the sailors that were coming up to investigate the noise. The other two landed in front of the crates, flexing their fins and moving forward.

Unfortunately, John was in the way of one of them.

Locking eyes with fish-man in front of him, John could feel time stop around him. What was this situation? He was complaining about how no-one on the ship lied him, then about the future and now he was being attacked by pirates? The heck?

John had little time to complain though as the fish-man continued to run towards him, with incredible speed. Quite frankly, John did not know what to do, it was so sudden.

"Out of the way!" The fish-man yelled approaching John.

That's right, he had to get out of the way!

And so, right as the fish-man approached John and pulled back his right arm, preparing to slice John and get him out of the way, John attempted to dodge his right. The move was not graceful and lacked finesse, but it got John out of the way.

Mostly.

John could suddenly feel a sharp shooting pain in his left shoulder, and a wet feeling that splattered onto his lower arm. It seems while John moved to the side to dodge a direct hit, he accidentally moved slightly forward, creating a clean slice.

As such, John fell to the ground, and started to yell.

"Aw, F*CK. THE F*CK."

Upon reflection, the wound was not actually that terrible. It was a clean cut on his shoulder that could be easily cleaned up and bandaged, probably healed within a month maximum.

The problem was what this wound represented to John. Pain for the first time that was not caused by training. The fear of being in a new world. The dread of being one of the weaker people on the Grand Line. Not being confident in his ability to survive.

Not knowing what his adventure was.

All these thoughts which have been in John's mind for the past week seemed to spill out in this single moment from this one wound. His time on Banaro Island was just a warm-up, and now it was time to sink or swim.

And so, John fell to the ground clutching his shoulder, yelling so hard until it was as shrill as a scream. It was both a release of pain, as well as saying things that were unsaid.

This happened for a few seconds, and then John stopped. He dropped his arms to his sides and just looked up at the sky, suddenly silent.

Was the sky always so blue?

A shadow fell over John. He looked up and saw the fish-man over him, looking down at him. Within the fish-man's eyes, he saw a look of derision and hate, but also a bit of fear and… tiredness?

"You are in my way, human."

John was indeed in the fish-man's way. The ropes were cut from the crate, so that needed to be done was pushing it off the deck and into the sea, where presumably they could collect the spoils underwater and flee.

And John was on the ground, bleeding, and in the way of the path that the fish-man could push.

And so, the fish-man leaned closer over John, and pulled his fin back, ready to slice John open once more, and then most likely kick John out of the way.

It was in this moment that John considered his foe in front of him again, and what he just saw in his eyes. The disdain for John's weakness over a simple slash was apparent, and so was the hatred for John being human. He was aware that many humans, especially those with ties to the government were hard on their people.

But then John remembered the fear in his eyes, as well as the tiredness. Was the fear from taking a life? Living such a life that depended on taking from others? Was he tired of such a life? John suddenly felt pity for one that seemed so young, to be burdened with having to make such decisions.

This look must have shown on Johns face, because as the fish-man started to lower his fin to slice at John, he flinched a bit, and moved slightly to John's left.

And John responded by moving to his right.

The fish-man missed, leaving his fin embedded into the wooden deck. John, taking advantage of the moment lifted his hand towards the fish-man head, in an act of speed he did not know he had.

Then he spoke.

"I am so sorry, but I cannot die here."

Suddenly, John felt for his power and made a quick purchase. Within his hand appeared a pistol.

The fish-man looked at John once more, and both locked eyes.

Then John pulled the trigger, creating a sea of blood and gore in John's field of vision.

The fish-man was no more.

John lowered his hand back to the ground, laying prone on his back once more, selling the pistol to get the weight out of his hand, observing the sky once more.

"I'm sorry. I promise to see the world in your stead, so please rest in peace."

And so, John just stayed there for a bit, looking at the sky and marveling at its beautiful hues. He could hear battle still being waged on the ship, but he was not concerned about that at this moment.

After a while, the noises died down, and all was silent. Eventually, footsteps could be heard, and a shadow was cast over John once more.

"Are you okay kid?" A sailor stood over John, concern on his face. This was probably the first emotion anyone showed to him past confusion and derision this whole trip.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He got my shoulder good though, so I was just taking a moment." And at that, John cradled his arm once more, and stood up.

Looking around the ship, John saw people running around the ship, some trying to tie the cut cargo back down, and others forming two circles on the other side of the ship.

"Okay, that's good then. We were worried when we saw you on the floor, but I guess we got you all wrong, you have some fight in you after all!"

"…sure, let's go with that. What happened to the other two fish-men?"

"They fought pretty hard, tough bastards they were! After you shot yours though, they got distracted, so we gunned them down. Filthy things, fish-men."

At that, John was getting irritated. Did they not see that they were just trying to survive like they were? Maybe they did and didn't care? John didn't know, but he wasn't in the mood to think about it now.

The sailor continued "Well, that's what they get for attacking us. Even with that fake ship to get us off guard, they still ate it. Probably would have worked better if they just made it a complete surprise!"

"…yeah, sure." John was done with this conversation. "Hey, I'm going to go patch this up and rest now, that took a lot out of me."

"I hear ya, I hear ya. Hey, if you feel up to it, we are busting out some kegs tonight to celebrate a successful defense. Even if you don't want to drink you should show up, I'm sure some people would want to thank you for saving their stuff."

"...thanks, I'll think about it." With that, John started walking towards the mid-deck doors to go to his room and use his med-kit on his shoulder.

One the way, he could not help but notice that all the people on the ship looked at him different, some with acceptance, some with gratitude, and even the one merchant lady he talked to before the attack giving him a sultry smile.

None of them gave a look of apology, or of understanding of taking a person's life.

John knew all people were different everyone had different values, grew up differently, saw the world in unique ways. He did not expect everyone to feel pity for the fish-men in the way that he did.

But the fact that not a single person on the ship showed any sign of empathy with him made John a bit queasy.

So, John headed towards his room to clean up and bandage his wound, then sleep. He had a feeling that he would sleep poorly tonight, no doubt his dreams would be haunted by his first kill by a long time to come. Hell, he wasn't even really dealing with it right now after it happened, he could only imagine how hellish he will feel later.

But this was the world he lived in now, and he only hoped he could find a way to learn to live with the pain without being dulled to it.

Tomorrow he would arrive at Water 7, and while he felt anxious for what was to come and his plans, he felt confidant that the sky would be just as beautiful there as it was today.