[Arc] Beating Drum - III The Consequences Of Playing Too Loud

Wind blustered through the rōnin’s kimono as he galloped through the air, his long, red, hair flowed like wildfire; held tightly in the kirin-hybrid’s grasp, his crewmates too were subjected to the cutting onslaught of wind and snow. The two onis’ thick skins were sufficient to protect them against the cold and frostburn; Nietzche was not so lucky, though the canvas of his umbrella form was sufficient to prevent the abrasion of the snow, he was still extremely cold as the crew bounded and flew across the island.

[npc=pirt]“D-d-d-doji? D-d-do you suppose we could stop somewhere and warm up? We’ve been out in the elements for a while now, and I really thought we were going to stop back in G-g-gyasta,”[/npc] The prisoner-turned-pirate spoke through chattering teeth.

The Yokai Pirate’s horned monstrosity of a captain spoke in a firm but soothing tone, “We’ll be there shortly Nietzche, I’m still getting the hang of this power, but I think I’m moving as fast as I can…”

Honestly, he wasn’t actually certain of that. He’d barely tested the limits of his powers, and he had already astounded himself, his life had already been irreversibly changed; he'd gained superhuman sorcerous power, and though it ate at him, his heart burned with the desire to defeat his old nemesis.

The kirin-hybrid stood still in the air for a moment drifting only an inch or so downwards every couple of seconds as his cloven-hoofs seemed to stand upon swirling footholds of mist; dragging his hoof along the “ground” a couple of times, Doji tensed his body into a sprinting stance mid-air, before propelling he and his crew forward with inhuman speed.

A sonic boom shot through the air above Drum, it was as though thunder was rumbling in the sky as a predecessor to some lightning strike yet to fall.

The gaggle of monsters found themselves much closer to the island’s center than they had been in a matter of moments. As they slowed to a comfortable cruising speed, and eventually came within sight of the castle, Doji and Juri’s hairdos were blown back into puffy, colorful frizzes, and Nietzche trembled in fear with a large teardrop frozen at the bottom of his eye.

“... yaha, guess not.”

Coming to the center of the island, Doji mentally compared the size of Gashadokuro, his crew's walking fortress, to the Castle of Drum; and he realized the modest scale of his accomplishments. Though he had felt like a nigh unstoppable force of nature, a king by default, of the Blues; it seemed that the Grand Line was home to greater kingdoms, greater castles, and greater machinations than his own.

In truth, the oni wanted to destroy the fortress that stood taller and mightier than his own; like a tyrannical teenager stomping upon the lovingly-crafted sandcastle of a seven-year-old.

“Oy, Asakura-sama…” Juri broke her brother’s contemplative silence, looking up at him from her perch in the crook of his strange, scaly, arm, “... I understand that you're dead set on killing the bubble-headed brat, but who's this Duke Nox guy?”

The electrical jolt that name carried with it would never leave Doji’s nervous system. The lightning sorcerer had almost put an end to the oni’s journey before it had even begun.

“He’s one of the only men I’ve met in my travels who could beat me. He barely even had to try,  he told me that I’d need to be a lot stronger before I ever met with him again…” the rōnin grit his teeth, remembering the moment of his defeat, the wound on his pride deepened as he spoke it to his comrade, “...he’s a pirate captain, he’s the only man I really considered working for before finding you guys.”

“Eh? You thought about working for someone? That seems…” Juri thought back to the moment that Doji and Skoll defiantly broke free from the dominion of Minamoto Raiko, “... completely unlike you. I can’t imagine you working under some pirate captain! You’re our captain!”

Juri’s words brought a small smile to Doji’s face, slightly alleviating the lasting sting of defeat.

“It’s strange…” Doji thought to the sound of the three-eyed man’s voice, “... he said that he wished to fulfill the dreams of his sins. If those people are his crewmates, then it seems like strong people have flocked to him; they believe in him to help realize their dreams. That’s worth respecting in itself.”

“Huh…” Juri questioned what the man who had gained her brother’s respect was like, “... so what’s his dream?”

“When I asked him, he said that his ambition was that of his crew’s,” now that Doji had actually met members of Castor’s crew, he was forced to wonder what their ambitions were; though they obviously fit in better with human society than his own crew, they still seemed like an eclectic lot.

“Weird, isn’t that supposed to be the other way around? That’s why we’re all allowed to fight you if we want to be captain of the ship, so the strongest of our dreams can rise to the top and drag everybody else up with them,” Juri pouted and slammed her fist into her palm, as though putting a stamp of approval on her own words.

“Nox is more civil than us, smarter too. Our rules work well for us, let him and his crew govern themselves.”

“What is he, a human?” Juri wrinkled her nose scornfully.

“Yaha! You know, it’s funny– I actually thought that too because he’s short like a human, but no…” Doji (vaguely) remembered Castor’s explanation of his tribe, “... he’s a member of a clan I’d never heard of, they have three eyes. Come to think of it, I think he’s still the only three-eyed person I’ve ever met.”

“Pff! How would you know, blindie?!”

“Hey, that's uncalled for!” Doji interrupted with a bit of indignation

“Wai-fu-fu-fu!...” she'd done it again, she couldn't help but laugh at her brother's peculiarities, and amongst oni the rule of the strong should have made the blind boy the runt of his litter, “... anyways, this Nox guy has three eyes? That’s pretty spooky, do the humans treat him like shit too?”

“Yeah, it seemed like some of them used to; but he’d gotten them whipped into shape when I caused trouble on his island.”

“I see~...” a mischievous smile washed across Juri’s face as she heard of the man’s fearsome reputation amongst humans, “... sounds like a cool guy~”

Finally, the Yokai Came to the Castle of Drum…

[npc=pirt]“O-k-kay, Doji, can we get inside now? If I’m out here any longer I’m going to f-f-freeze solid!”[/npc] Nietzche chattered, his canvas covered in a thin layer of ice.

“Aye. Alright Juri, you take Nietzche and head in through the front, be careful, I’m not sure what Nox has planned for us.”

“Wait, where are you going then Asakura-sama?” The blue-haired girl turned her head to one side in confusion, sometimes she really hated how unpredictable her brother was…

… this was greatly exacerbated as she felt the momentum of her brother hurling her and Nietzche through the air toward the drum-like plateau surrounding the castle.

“I’m headed for the back! I’ve decided that this castle is ugly, so I shall destroy it!” Doji stated pompously, with a dumb grin on his face.

[npc=pirt]“What would you know about ugly?”[/npc] Nietzche and Juri both shouted at their captain simultaneously.

“YOKA-KA-KA-KA-III!” The kirin-hybrid cackled as he kicked upwards from his position and leapt higher into the air, creating another thunderous blast as he flew toward the heavens.

The shockwave of the mythical beast’s ascent shattered most of the castle’s exterior windows, shards of glass cascaded into the building like a hail of daggers.

Higher and higher, the Kirin rose to the stratosphere, growing lightheaded for a moment at the increased altitude; it didn’t help that he was utterly exhilarated by the prospect of clashing his newfound sorcerous power against Castor’s; to defeat the lightning that had struck him down, and then take back the Celestial Dragon and murder the little brat. Moreover, his envy had gotten the better of him, knowing of a castle greater than his own was really pissing him off; he wanted to stomp the building out of existence.

It is said that pride cometh before the fall, and so Doji fell, plummeting like a meteor down into the Ceiling of Drum’s royal castle. The monstrosity brought his hoof down in a powerful stomp. Either every bone in Doji’s leg was about to break, or the castle was.

Those within the castle felt an unnerving calm fill the air, Otto looked upwards if he were any stronger-willed, he would have been scared; something unnatural was present, even beyond the bizarre pirates who had abducted him and his family.

Suddenly, the entire building shook; it was as though the structure had been struck with an earthquake of enormous magnitude. Those without exceptional balance were knocked to the floor, cabinets toppled over, and it was a wonder that a majority of the castle’s valuables survived the monster’s impact.

Massive chunks of the throne room ceiling began caving in toward the Celestial Dragons; however, as if by some uncanny stroke of luck, the stones seemed to fall only to the sides of these “victims” deemed ULTIMATELY GUILTY by the Model Kirin. It was quite fortunate for the Celestial Dragons that their Saintly suits and protective bubbles rendered them immune to the mythical Zoan’s flames of judgment.

With golden glowing light in his eyes, the kirin-hybrid oni floated down through the hole that he’d carved in the castle’s roof, “There, much better! Yahoo!”

The mythical beast gleefully clapped its humanoid hands together, preemptively celebrating the victory that he was sure would come. In fact– looking down beneath him, he thought it was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Cutting away the makeshift tomb that his devil had produced, Doji “freed” the youngest Celestial Dragon from his imprisonment. It seemed that the brat was barely conscious as Doji held his sword beneath the World Noble’s neck.

Some of the castle guards kneeling in the center of the room saw what was about to happen, they knew the chaos that would unfold if a Celestial Dragon was brought to harm in their kingdom’s castle. They might as well have kissed the island goodbye, in a heroic act, these men broke their bonds and charged toward the monster without a second thought.

The five valiant protectors of Drum were cut apart in the blink of an eye, their bodies bisected by a blade that was already in the process of being sheathed.

Mm, Heroism, Delicious. BUT I WANT TO TASTE THE BLOOD OF THE DRAGONS ASAKURA! KILL THEM NOW!”

Soon enough Muramasa, Doji’s internal dialogue with his accursed, blood-hungry sword, was measured as he began enacting his plan to draw Nox to him.

Doji returned back to Otto, holding his blade back beneath the young man’s neck (this time without objection from the remaining captives), “Hey buddy, I ate your fruit. The Kirin is mine now, you weak little moron. I’m gonna let you watch me use it! That’ll be fun right? I hope so, because after that I’m gonna cut your mom and dad’s heads off in front of ya! And then I’m going to burn you alive.”

Otto snapped to attention at the monster’s harrowing threat, however, the first thing that came out of the Celestial Dragon’s mouth was not a plea for mercy, not a threat of an Admiral’s intervention, no…

… the first thing Otto noted was that: [npc=wgov]“That isn’t a giraffe! What?! You’re telling me that me and my prestigious family came to this wretched icy hellhole of an island for nothing?! The KIRIN FRUIT ISN’T EVEN A GIRAFFE?! My life is over. Just put me out of my misery, oni! Do it now!”[/npc]

[npc=misc]“Otto!”[/npc] Cristine cried furiously at her son’s stupidity.

“Everything in good time. You still serve a purpose in this mortal life. In the meantime, don’t you at least want to watch the fireworks? I hear that’s a fun thing to do!”

[npc=wgov]“Hmph,”[/npc] Otto turned his head away in a huff, occasionally peeking back at the, admittedly kind of cool-looking monstrosity. The Kirin-hybrid obviously wasn’t a true giraffe (and thus lacked any of giraffes’ pure awesomeness), but it was truly something to behold; some sort of strange looking chimera, it bore the horns of a bull on either side of its head as well as a set of 7-pointed antlers growing from the creature’s forehead. Its limbs were covered in fish-like scales, and a ghostly white and black flame fluttered around its wrists and ankles. The oni’s eyebrows had grown inexplicably more regal, and combined with the creature’s glowing golden eyes, it appeared dragon-like in its divinity.

“CASTOR O. NOX! WHERE ARE YOU?! Do you remember me from back in Lvneel?! I’m back, and I did like you asked! I’m MUCH stronger now! You showed me the power of sorcery wielded alongside swordsmanship! Now I have a sorcerous technique of my own! I’ve gained the powers of a Kirin, and now I’m the Kirin Sorcerer! COME OUT, I WANT A CHANCE TO REDEEM MYSELF AGAINST THE MAN WHO DEFEATED ME!”

The bellowing of the monstrous oni echoed down throughout all the halls of the building, carrying an unnaturally clear ringing echo; the red-haired rōnin’s challenge seemed to permeate the entirety of the castle.

At this moment, pride swelled in Doji’s chest. He felt ready to face off against his old enemy, if only he had known just how far the distance still was between him and the Duke of Lvneel…

Word Count:

Though he was utterly blind, the golden-white glow in Doji's eyes still seemed to fixate on Castor, the lightning sorcerer had finally appeared. For a moment, a wide grin stretched across Doji’s face as the flames of judgment at his wrists flickered to life; he began preparing a sorcerous attack that he hoped would be able to contend with the might of the devil fruit power that Castor had once used to best him.

However, without even drawing his weapon, Castor put any hope Doji had of standing against him to rest. Doji had no idea what was going on, his entire body was instantly filled with an overwhelming sense of dread, as though he was about to die the most painful death imaginable. Any of the calming effects of the Kirin’s aura were instantly put to rest as his foe’s haki flooded the room.

Newport’s attack hit the oni as though from out of nowhere, the glow of his eyes faltered for a moment as the blind man’s eyes rolled into the back of his skull. The impact of the stegosaurus’ back-plates tore at his skin, and broke several bones in an instant; Doji coughed up a mouthful of blood from the veteran pirate’s attack.

The Muramasa no Kusanagi was sent clattering to the ground as its wielder lost hold of his weapon.

What?! No! What are you doing boy?! Pick me back up and fight!

With all of his strength, Doji tried to uphold his sword’s expectations. The faint echoing beat of the Kirin’s heart pulsated through those nearby, the glowing gold light in the monster’s eyes flickered back to life, its flesh seemed to knit itself back together…

… but the spinning onslaught of Newport’s UFO technique hit the Kirin again before he could fully recover; by the end of the stegosaurus’ salvo, Doji had been knocked out of commission, and only by the faint rising and falling of the monster’s chest could you tell that he was still alive. The oni’s oversized weapon seemed to teem with an accursed, hateful, malevolent aura that

Barely clinging to consciousness, Doji clung to consciousness and watched as Castor’s crewmates fought against Stein’s monsters; he’d only just gained the ability to see, and yet it already seemed like his vision was fading as the edge of his vision blurred. Even amongst the chaos, the rōnin still focused on the duke; he didn’t even know what the man had done to strike such terror in him, he’d never been so completely paralyzed by fear in his life before.

Despite his fear, every part of the Doji’s mind still yearned to face Nox in battle; but the dinosaur’s attack had left him broken, and he could barely move a muscle, with each tiny movement sending waves of agony coursing through his body. In addition, the oni could hardly get enough air into his large lungs to remain conscious, let alone the great bellows that he would need to fight.

As Doji sat crumpled watching the fight unfold, Juri and Nietzche made their way to the throne room. Nietzche bounced up from his handle and transformed back into his human form, clasping his hands over his mouth in horror at the chaos that surrounded him; his invincible captain laid there crumpled over top of a pile of broken stonework, the entire room was filled with rubble, wreckage, and worst of all– powerful pirates. A chill of unease ran down the man’s spine, he huddled up behind the leg of his taller and stronger compatriot as they drew near the source of the nightmarish aura; as soon as Nietzche took a peek out from behind Juri’s leg and got a look at Castor, he nearly passed out on the spot from sheer terror.

[npc=pirt]This is the guy that Doji wants to fight? We’re all gonna die![/npc] The umbrella man screamed to himself on the inside.

Juri’s hair stood on end for a moment as the air seemed to crackle with static from some unknown source of electricity, this phenomena was shortly put to an end as Lucky tranquilized Castor and spoke back to her. She had no idea who the little guy was, and was confused as to why he looked like some sort of overgrown raccoon, but at least he seemed to have the best interests of her captain in mind.

“Damn it! What happened here? Once I find out which one of you guys hurt my little bro I’m gonna kick yer ass!” The vein in Juri’s forehead bulged, and the girl rolled up her sleeve and retrieved her kanabō from her belt. It seemed as though the oni girl’s natural proclivity toward violence would be her downfall as she started angling for a fight that was far beyond anything she could hope to handle.

Nietzche’s eyes widened– even with Castor unconscious, everybody in this room was terrifying. He was in no rush to get into a fight with Ms. Jazz, let alone the looming stegosaurus man; cashing in all of the good will that he’d built with his crewmate for protecting her from the elements, the man threw himself in front of the blue-haired oni girl and pleaded with her not to get the crew into any more trouble than they were already in.

[npc=pirt]“Juri, please, I’m begging you. I work for you through rain and sleet and snow– please don’t get us all killed right here!”[/npc]

Juri grit her teeth, but reluctantly the girl lowered her weapon and held both of her hands in a small bow toward Newport, Lucky, and Jazzy, “thanks for the tip, red-raccoon dude.”

Juri grabbed Nietzche and slung the man over her shoulder before leaping into the sea of bloodshed and ruination. Even as the ceiling crumbled downwards, the blue-haired oni girl sat dutifully at her captain’s side, shattering each incoming piece of rubble into a spray of stone with her iron cudgel.

Eventually, the structure settled to a point of stability; most of the castle’s roof had been caved inwards, and much of its treasure stashes looted, but all things considered the fortress had held up against the pirates’ assault reasonably well. The two crewmates of the Yokai pirates sat alongside their captain, watching his chest gently rise and fall, laboring to breathe at all.

However, once Castor’s imposing presence was sufficiently distant, the Kirin’s heart was no longer suppressed beneath the overwhelming aura of the conqueror. Suddenly, a loud, thumping, heartbeat echoed all throughout the shattered throne room.

The kirin-hybrid’s innards began settling themselves back into place, his broken bones mended whole in a matter of moments.

“WHERE’S NOX?!” Swirling licks of black and white flame jetted out from the monster’s wrists and ankles.

The seeming “second wind” of the monster was short-lived. As quickly as he’d recovered and stood back up, Doji reverted to his normal appearance and fell unconscious. Juri and Nietzche couldn’t help but be relieved.

A while later…

The red-haired rōnin awoke to the sounds of screaming, jolting up, he thought that he’d be able to see what was going on by looking at it; but no, he’d awoken as blind as the day he was born, it was odd how quickly he’d come to rely on the new sense.

[npc=pirt]“Doji! I’m glad you’re back with us–”[/npc] Nietzche spoke nervously, before being interrupted by the sound of Juri’s fighting.

“Take this, puny human!” Doji heard the sound of his surrogate sister’s club crushing an armored knight in on himself, she sounded as though she was speaking with her mouth full; neither Doji nor Nietzche felt inclined to ask what Juri had been eating.

“Where’s Nox? Where is the Celestial Dragon? Everything is fuzzy…” Doji could hardly remember anything since the moment he’d eaten the fruit, he knew what his intentions had been in coming here, but the specifics all seemed dreamlike, “... I ate his fruit, and then we chased him here, and Castor was there? Wait– WHY WAS CASTOR O. NOX HERE?!”

[npc=pirt]“Not sure, they were talking about chasing some guy named Stein? But they left.”[/npc]

“Stein was here too?! I hate that honorless double-crossing slimeball!” The oni thought shamefully back to the moment that he had helped the bastard rob the grave of the honorable swordswoman Jules and kill the faithful guard Leonidas

“Yagh! I don’t know who we should chase after first!” Doji’s brain was frazzled trying to catch up with all of the new information.

As Juri dispatched the last of the constabulary that had come to apprehend the Yokai, she and Nietzche both grimaced at each other before looking at their blind captain; she was glad that her brother couldn’t see her face at this moment.

[npc=pirt]“Ehm. Doji. I don’t think we’re going to catch up with any of them. It’s been a few hours since you passed out…”[/npc] Nietzche tried to explain the situation gently, hoping that his captain would cope well with the information, [npc=pirt]“... I think we’ve already caused more than enough trouble here. At this point we should just grab the coal and leave this island, when we got here it looked like this Castor guy and his crew had knocked you out.”[/npc]

“I…” Doji almost seemed to recall the moment that Castor’s haki had illustrated the difference between the two, he knew his next words to be true in his heart, “... I lost?”

[npc=pirt]“I think so.”[/npc]

“I lost again…” Doji stood up from his place amongst the wreckage, picking up his Muramasa and somberly sheathing his sword; he would have to come to terms with it one way or another, he still had a long way to go before he could ever hope to challenge the strongest foes on the seas, “... damn it. Alright, yeah. Let’s go.”

Growing quiet after this last curt sentence, Doji led his crew out of Drum’s castle, and walked to the edge of the plateau-like mountain…

… he didn’t stop when he reached the edge, and if his big sister hadn’t hauled him back onto the “drum” before he’d completed his footfall, the oni would have careened off the side of the flat-topped mountain.

“What the hell?! Are you blind?!” Juri spoke as she threw the red oni on his ass.

“YES, why?” Doji was earnestly confused as to why his crewmate had thrown him.

“You were about to walk off a cliff, Asakura-sama!” The girl reached down to her captain’s hand and helped him back up to his feet.

“Oh. Uh, so we’re high up then? How are we gonna get down?”

“You tell me! You’re the one who got us up here in the first place! Can’t you just use your magical powers again?”

“Hmm…” Doji tried to use his zoan transformation, but his body felt completely exhausted as he attempted to take on the new form, “... no, not right now I don’t think.”

“Grr…” the red-eyed girl grit her teeth and turned away from her captain, “... fine! I guess I’ll just get us all out of this! I didn’t even want to get into this whole mess in the first place!”

“Yaha, sorry,” the boy spoke sheepishly and rubbed his hand on the back of his head.

In an instant, Juri cocooned her captain in string, leaving only his head exposed; unfortunately for Doji, he was still standing on the precipice of the cliff of the drum-shaped mountain.

“Can we talk about this?” Doji was pretty sure he knew where this was going, and he didn’t exactly love his big sister’s plan.

“Sure! Later!” With this, Juri kicked her captain off the cliff.

“YAAAHHH!” The oni’s scream echoed all throughout the island as he fell down off the surface of the drum.

Once it looked like the Asakura bastard was about to hit the ground, Juri tensed the string that she had tethered to the bottom of her captain’s cocoon, and his fall was put to a abrupt stop; however, this didn’t prevent Doji from crashing into several of the coniferous branches below.

“OWWW,” Doji loudly groaned from below.

“Alright Freddy, he can wait for us~” Juri beckoned that Nietzche transform into his umbrella form and tuck himself into the back of her belt. Once he had done so, Juri began rappelling down the side of the mountain using her power, and gave the old man a more pleasant ride down to the bottom.

Once the crew of the Yokai Pirates had caught up with their captain, Juri freed Doji from her string and allowed him to drop through the tree branches into the snow below.

“Wai-fu-fu-fu-fu-fuck!” Juri hated her laugh, every time she let it out was a sin against her personal dignity.

“Yoka-ka-ka-ka-iii!” Laughing up from an oni-shaped hole in the snow, Doji was quick to laugh back at his sister.

Standing up from the snow, Doji was quick to begin leading his crew in a march toward their coal…

… and his crewmates were equally quick to shout at him, and turn him around in the correct direction. He’d already gotten the crew lost once during their foray in Drum Island; it was fortunate that not everybody on the crew had a god-awful sense of direction.

It wasn’t long before the Yokai were back in Gyasta. Untouched, except a bit of snow on their tops– the crates of coal sat beneath the conifers like Twelve Days presents. But it was dull, sooty, and now perhaps slightly damp, coal; Juri and Nietzche couldn’t help but compare it to all of the beautiful treasures that had once filled their crew’s vault.

Doji wasn’t sure why his crewmates seemed so sulky and dejected as they carried the coal back to Gashadokuro, but he certainly knew why he was. He’d lost to Castor again, and he didn’t even know how it had happened; there was only one thing that he could take from his hazy recollection of his encounter with the Nox pirates, his newfound sorcery was not enough to contend with Nox.

Defeatedly returning to the mouth of their ramshackle walking fortress, the crew carried the coal up to the boiler room and fed their castle the fuel and fire that it demanded to continue its travels.

The apparatus by which the walking fortress navigated across the Grand Line was a curious one; whoever the prior occupant was had acquired quite the collection of log-poses, sitting in stacks like the pipes of an organ, poses with the names of various islands in the Grand Line were laid out in arrays.

Nietzche had familiarized himself with the restrictions of the apparatus: the islands were laid out in terms of “possible transit paths,” a pose could only be selected to for navigation by the fortress if it was directly to the top, bottom, or diagonals of the log pose of the current island. The crew had come from Little Garden, reached Drum Kingdom, and it appeared that the next three islands available to the Yokai were the following: Alabasta, Cactus, or Karakuri Island.

[npc=pirt]“Well I know that Karakuri is a winter island, so that’s out,”[/npc] Nietzche spoke grumpily.

“Seconded!” Juri chimed in, wanting to go somewhere warm and pleasant. If only she was so fortunate.

“Alright, well– I think we should build our presence in these seas, I think we should take over one of the two islands. I think I heard some of the pirates back in the crowds in Loguetown talking about Cactus, so there’s probably a lot of people there; if we want to prove ourselves amongst the other pirates of this generation and stake a claim for ourselves, I think we should do it there.”

[npc=pirt]“Alright captain, I’ll set a course…”[/npc] Nietzche operated the levers of the log cabinet, changing out the pose for Drum for that of Cactus Island, [npc=pirt]“... let’s unwind, shall we?”[/npc]

Nietzche slumped past his oni crewmates and began walking down the stairs toward the kitchen, Doji and Juri were quick to follow, and the three Yokai all slumped down defeatedly onto their dining chairs. The sound of Skoll snoring from the room below was a sole solace, at least their biggest bro hadn’t been awake to see all of them get demolished.

[npc=pirt]“Well hey, at least you’re a sorcerer now, are you happy Doji?”[/npc] Nietzche asked, hoping to see a bright side of his crew’s overwhelming defeat.

“Yeah…” Doji grimaced, “... no, not really. I’m excited, I’ll have to practice this magic to get a better grasp of it. But I still feel like I’m missing something, there’s something that separates me from the best of the best even beyond sorcery. Plus, in truth– I don’t remember much of what happened when I used the sorcery, what was I like?”

“You were more powerful and monstrous than we’d ever seen you before Doji -- being around you when you were like that, it was peaceful, it felt like we had nothing to worry about,” Juri chimed in, using her brother’s first name as she spoke with a gruff and vulnerable tone in her voice.

These words brought a gentle smile to the red-haired oni’s face, and he chuckled before replying to the blue oni, “Wyow, now I really wish I could remember what it was like.”

These words brought tears to the corner of Juri’s eyes. She felt guilty and selfish for having earlier begrudged her brother his power and his ambitions.

The gang didn’t have too much time to get emotional, as the sound of something rummaging around in the cupboards immediately drew Juri back up to her feet, “Nietzche! This is why I came to get you in the first place! We have an infestation! There is a human child somewhere in these walls. I don’t care what you have to do, just get rid of it!”

The sounds of something gnawing at stolen food from within the walls was plain to hear for all in the kitchen.

“Yaha! How’d it get in there?” Doji found the prospect of a stowaway rather amusing, he was surprised that one had managed to infiltrate his ship so quickly.

[npc=pirt]“I-I’ll do what I can?”[/npc] Nietzche stammered back to Juri, beginning to call into the walls to attempt to draw the kid out. The search was to no avail, and eventually (already spiritually defeated), the Yokai gave up on it.

The Yokai all slumped themselves on the ground in a dramatic display of defeat, falling asleep on the kitchen floor as their castle ferried them off into the night.

Mourning of the King

In old man Takeshi’s orchard, the little girls of Cocoa Weed– in a valiant collective effort– drag a man in full armor through the snow back into his home. The girls brought the old man close to the fire as quickly as they could, and attempted to wake him up, but no matter how much they called to him; it didn’t seem like Takeshi could hear them.

Tears fell down issandra’s face as she held her old friend’s hand, it was bony, brittle, and ice cold, as though all warmth in the man’s body had vacated entirely, “Takeshi, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault…” the girl pulled the old man’s helmet from his head, and began trying to remove the rest of his armor, “... please don’t die. I know you lost your fruit, but that’s no reason to die right? It’s just a thing, you still have people who really love you!”

Takeshi Kitano couldn’t hear the girl’s desperate pleas, he sat there, soul buried deeply beneath a blanket of twilight. In this dreamlike state he stood there, at the border of the Land of the Dead; there standing in all his eminent glory, Takeshi saw his captain for the first time in a long time.

“Takeshi, old buddy. Good to see you again–” before Ozymandiaz could speak much farther, he felt the embrace of his old friend throwing his arms around his shoulders.

“It’s been a long time, captain,” Takeshi spoke plainly, with tears in his eyes.

A wide smile spread across the red-haired captain’s face, “somehow it felt like you never left Takeshi, we’ve certainly toasted to you like you were here! KIRI-RI-RI-RI-RI-RI! Whether we’re alive or we’re dead, our crew never breaks apart!”

Two heavy teardrops struck down either of Takeshi’s cheeks in an instant.

“We have broken apart though Ozzy…” the swordsman spoke with a deep guilt in his voice, “... I lost your fruit. It was the last thing our crew had, and some brat managed to steal it from me and eat it. I know that this can’t be forgiven, but please know that I will never be sorry enough for allowing this to happen.”

“Ha! You think that’s what our crew had? As long as you still remember what we did together, all the kingdoms we managed to walk over, the islands we traveled, that’s what our crew really had; I’m just sad that I was too weak to see it all through to the end! If somebody ate my fruit, then I just hope they’ll be somebody who can make it there! Tell me, what was the person who ate it like?” The brightness of Ozymandiaz’s eyes stood in stark contrast to the pale, sightless orbs of the swordsman that he’d faced.

“He was a red-haired oni, he was blind, but he was still a rather competent swordsman. He seemed quite strong and he was dead set on stealing the fruit and killing a World Noble, I don’t know if he was successful– your fruit may already be back into circulation; but the kid had gumption, I’ll give him that.”

“A red-haired oni…” Ozymandiaz thought back to the legendary oni that he had heard of back in the New World, the King of Elbaf– one of the few kings who Ozymandiaz thought might be worthy of their crown, and one who he was unfortunately never able to face off against himself, “... isn’t that something? You know, if there’s anyone I trust to carry on our dream and give the true king a run for their money– it’s a red-haired oni. I wonder what the kid is gonna get up to with that power.”

“So you aren’t disappointed in my service to the crew?” Takeshi asked as he cleared the tears from his eyes.

“Of course not! Takeshi, you were the best swordsman I could have asked for! And now you’re the living memory of everything we stood for, speaking of which…”

“Takeshi, please, wake up!”

“... I think you’re keeping some houseguests waiting,” Ozymandiaz leaned back over the threshold of mortality with a wide stretching and toothy grin before allowing himself to drop back through it entirely.

Snapping back to consciousness and inhaling sharply, the old man’s eyes opened suddenly and looked around to his surroundings, his nerves settled as soon as he saw that he was surrounded by the girls rather than giant monsters or Celestial Dragons.

“Takeshi!” Lissandra threw herself around the old man’s neck, she was so happy and relieved that he was still alive.

“Lissandra! How long was I out for? Is the monster still here? Are the Celestial Dragons?”

“You had a pulse for 3 days, but we didn’t think you were going to wake up, and just now– it seemed like your pulse was going to die too! But you’re alive! One of the monsters killed the other one but…”

The ice skater was a bit selfish as she sighed and sulked before speaking her next words.

“... the one that stole your fruit destroyed the lake. I hope it won't take too long for the ice to mend. I’m not sure about the World Nobles, but we didn’t hear anything about them while you were out.”

This was sufficient to put Takeshi’s nerves at ease, smiling and sitting up, the old man smiled at the girls who had sought refuge in his home; if it hadn’t been for them, he likely would have died that day. The girls brought Takeshi a large helping of rice as well as a cup of tea to help warm his stomach now that he was awake. Though the island had been plunged into chaos, Takeshi’s home stood as a safe, warm, and secluded bastion of peace; and for the first time in a long while, Takeshi felt as though he had regained the joy of his youth, telling stories to the girls of his days as a pirate, this day he lived his first day free of the burden of protecting his crew’s “last treasure” since the fruit had sprouted in his orchard.

Aftermath

“Oh, no, no, no…” Klauss, the steward of Drum Castle picked up the shards of a broken piece of fine pottery, “... how are we going to set things to rights before our lords return?! Let alone all of the damage to the villages! This is a logistical nightmare!”

“Fear not Klauss, we have fostered a dignified and resourceful populace, I believe that if we are fast to act we may be able to mount a recovery effort in time to have things fixed before our King’s return. After all, it would hardly be reasonable to expect our lord to come home to…” Constable Conan looked at the demolished state of the castle’s ceiling, “... well, a castle without a roof.”

“It’s going to be quite the time crunch, are you sure we can do it?”

“At the very least, we have to get the castle back together– and considering the nature of the damage to the stonework, I do believe that we can have it fixed in good time. Send word to all of the local carpenters and stonemasons and have them meet us at the capital, once we’ve fixed things here we can spread out and provide aid to the villages.”

“Do you not suppose that the villagers will be a bit upset with this solution?”

“We can only hope for their understanding, particularly with the taxes we’ll need to begin levying once the King returns to build up the treasury, but for the moment perhaps we can front a reasonable payment to our masons and carpenters with whatever berri we have left and build goodwill with the common folks that way,” the Constable spoke solemnly, it was unfortunate that the arrival of the Celestial Dragons had heralded an unprecedented amount of chaos and instability for the island; but he was ultimately certain that his island’s people would be able to recover from the damage dealt by the oni Asakura Doji.

“I’ll see what funds I can procure and send word to the villages to have all of our masons and carpenters meet here,” Klauss bowed to the constable before retreating to his studies to begin writing letters to the villagers.

After a short time…

The construction workers of Drum were astounded by what they saw; but in a feat of unity and patriotism (for which the workers were compensated quite well), the masons and carpenters were able to reconstruct the castle; and a short time thereafter, they departed for Cocoa Weed to begin reconstructing houses that the “oni” had damaged.

By the time that the royals of Drum island returned, the destruction caused by the battle between the pirates and the Celestial Dragons had mostly been healed– a certain ice-skating lake was still freezing back over, and for some reason the roof of the castle’s throne room seemed to leak every now and again, but these lasting scars were the exception not the rule.

As their royals returned the steward and the constable both kneeled, happy and dutiful to serve their King. Perhaps, in spite of the warped worldview of the oni and the strange pirate who had preceded him long ago, some Kings did not need to be powerful– they only needed to preside over a peaceful land and retain the trust of their people.

Yokai Pirates: Epilogue

Fueled by its favorite soot-covered food, Gashadokuro, the walking fortress lumbered to the edge of Drum Island. The warm exhaust fumes of the mobile castle bellowed out like clouds from the top of the ship, starkly contrasted against the cold and snowy air of the winter island.

“Okay, we’re at the shore!” Doji ran up to do the one job that necessitated his role as “navigator,” slamming his hands upon an enormous lever and pulling it down to the ground with all of the strength afforded to him by his giant lineage (Skoll too, would have been capable of performing this task, had he not been asleep).

As the crew prepared to depart from Drum, everybody seemed to be in a bit better spirits. The defeated look on Doji’s face had been replaced by his typically goofy and affable appearance, and he looked particularly happy to pull one of his favorite levers.

With the lowering of the lever, the ship too, seemed to lower; and the sounds of enormous clockwork gears grinding against one another could be heard from the fortress’ chassis. Once Doji had pulled the lever all the way down, it locked into place.

“Everybody ready?!” The captain called out to all of his crewmates lucid enough to care about a bit of jarring motion.

[npc=pirt]“Aye!”[/npc]

“Aye! Aye! Asakura-sama!”

“Alright, here goes!” Doji pulled the trigger at the end of the lever, and in a sudden upward motion, it was as though the ship had jumped. The mechanisms by which such a machine was capable of leaping into the ocean were incredible in themselves, let alone the fact that the thing could actually float.

For a moment, everything seemed to float on the inside of Gashadokuro; that was of course before the inevitable splashdown…

… a massive cascading wave of water was sent careening across the nearby ocean as the castle landed in the ocean; for a moment the thing seemed to bob up and down like an unsettled buoy before eventually settling upright.

Slowly but surely, the castle began to move forward through the water toward the haunted Cactus island.

On the inside of the “boat,” Doji speaks a rallying cry calling his crewmates to their next adventure…

“Alright! Whoever is there on Cactus Island, we’re going to kick their ass! We’re not going to lose again! Once we’ve taken over the Grand Line we can set our eyes on greater ambitions…” Doji punched his fist and smiled at his crewmates as they hung out in the crew’s luxurious yet decrepit throne room, he held this smile for a moment before adopting a more serious demeanor, “... somehow, I’ll find a way to be that man’s equal– no– I’ll be stronger than Nox, someday I’ll be surpass everybody . We’re a crew, we’re the crew who will make the land of myth and monsters! I won't let you down by being too weak to see our ambitions realized!”

Doji threw his hands upwards with this proclamation, and using the power of his kirin sorcery, caused a pair of antlers to unfurl majestically from his forehead.

“Woo! When we get to Mystoria island I’m going to kick my dad’s ass!” Juri jumped up from her seat and hugged her brother around the waist.

[npc=pirt]“And when we reach the land of Wano, maybe my daughter is still alive. Either way…”[/npc] Nietzche scowled thinking of the bastard, [npc=pirt]“... we’ll find the man who took my family.”[/npc]

“We’ll see every last dream and ambition realized! I promise I’ll never let you down again!”

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