Chapter 8: Chapter 8: The Siblings & Yamato
(Third Person POV) Year:1604 Location: Wano (Onigashima)
It had been two weeks since King began training Crow, and it was safe to say that it was incredibly intense and painful for the younger Lunarian. However, the teen couldn't argue with the results as he was five times stronger than he originally was.
So far, Crow has been shot to oblivion by high-caliber weapons that could destroy large ships in a single blow. He had taken non and Haki-coated attacks from King. He did exercises with weights so heavy that he was nearly crushed under them on multiple occasions. He had been stabbed and cut in numerous areas when sparring with King.
Crow honestly thought the older man was trying to fucking kill him as his training was fucking insane! Thankfully, due to his Lunarian heritage physiology, the teen could recover from physical punishment that would outright kill most people within a few hours and could train extensively for incredibly long periods without rest, food, or water before he showed signs of exhaustion.
However, today was a rest day for the teen, so taking advantage of his day off, he went to grab a drink on the fourth floor. When he entered the establishment, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the teen. Some looked at him with curiosity, some with awe, some with lust, and some with outright hostility. However, he ignored the looks he was receiving and sat at the bar.
"You look like shit," Who's Who said bluntly.
"Really? What gave that away?" he sarcastically asked with a roll of his eyes.
The Sabercat fruit user snorted. "Smartass. So what can I get you?"
"Something alcoholic but sweet."
"One Pina Colada coming right up," he quickly made the drink and slid it toward the teen.
"Thanks, and keep them coming," Crow handed the man a generous amount of Berries.
He grinned. "You got it."
The teen took a sip of the drink and sighed with satisfaction. "That's some good shit."
"Hey, Crow!" he turns to see Ulti and Page One sitting on his left side.
"Hey," Crow greeted with a small smile before returning to his drink.
So far, Ulti, Page, and Saski are the only people he likes within the Beast Pirates besides King; everyone else was on his shit list, especially Queen. He had no idea what the fat fucks issue was with him, but he was beginning to get pissed off by his unnecessary hostility. When he got strong enough, Crow swore he'd beat the guy's ass. However, thats for another time as the teen just wanted to relax.
"Day off?" Ulti asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"Cause I was gonna ask if you wanted to hang out with me and Pay-Pay," she chirped.
Her brother groaned with annoyance. "I said to stop calling me that!"
"So, what do you say?!" she asked again, ignoring her sibling's plea.
Crow thought for a moment and shrugged. "Sure, why not?" he needed to make allies, and Ulti seemed like a perfect candidate.
Plus, he wasn't ignorant of her little crush on him, which he could use to gain her complete loyalty because, realistically, if one had to choose between their profession or loved ones, nine times out of ten, they would choose the latter. And Crow knew she was heavily family-oriented if her babying her brother was an indication of anything. So, getting her wrapped around his finger wouldn't be too hard. Besides, she was hot as fuck, so Crow might as well snatch her up even though he was still hesitant about the idea of having more than one lover.
"YAY!!" she cheered and started to drag both males out of the establishment, much to their dismay.
"My drink!" Crow yelled in horror.
"QUIT YOUR WHINING!! WE CAN MAKE YOU ANOTHER ONE AT OUR PLACE!!" Ulti shrieked.
Crow sighed.
It was going to be a long day.
(Timeskip) Location: Ulti & Page's Place
"There you go!" Ulti handed Crow a drink.
"Thanks," he took a sip of it. "Huh, this is better than Who's Who's. It looks like I'll have to get my drinks from you from now on," he joked, making the girl beam with joy.
"I wouldn't mind that~," the Oni girl said in a seductive tone, making the Lunarian smirk.
Wanting to stop the flirting before it's too late, Page chimed in. "Hey Crow, how's the training with King been going?"
Crow groaned at the mention of training. "Painful but incredibly beneficial. I'm five times stronger than I used to be," he said proudly.
"Really?" Ulti asked with an excited tone, and Crow nodded. An idea came to her mind. "Hey Crow, wanna arm wrestle me?" there was a challenging glint in her eyes.
He looked at her with a quirked eyebrow and then shrugged. "Sure, I'm down."
Ulti grinned. "Yay!" she then sat on the other side of the table. Both of them rested their elbows on the table and locked hands. "Ready to lose, pretty boy?"
Crow scoffed and smirked. "In your dreams. Ready?"
"Yeah."
"Then one, two, three!"
The two started to try and force each other's arms down, and after a few seconds, Crow slowly but surely brought her hand down to the table, winning in the contest of strength.
"Fuck!!" Ulti yelled. Page snickered at his sister's loss, which earned him her ire, and she glared daggers at him. "DON'T FUCKING LAUGH AT ME!!"
"I wasn't calm down!" he waved his hands in surrender.
"YES, YOU WERE!" she tackled and began to throttle her younger brother, much to the Lunarian's amusement. "AND DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!"
"Crow, help me!!" Page begged the older teen, and Crow took a thoughtful pose before smirking at the youngest of the trio.
"Nah, Im just gonna enjoy my drink," he replied before sipping his beverage and inwardly chucking when he saw Page's look of dismay at his "betrayal."
Once Ulti was done thrashing her younger brother around, the young Lunarian got to know the siblings, and he was pleasantly surprised to say he genuinely enjoyed their company. Sure, the two were rough around the edges, but they more than made up for that with their interesting and fun personalities.
Ulti is loud, isn't afraid to speak her mind or take what she wants, is rude, quick to anger, swears more than a sailor, is pretty childish, and is a total fucking nutcase! However, when she isn't being a total cunt which is in itself rare, the Oni girl is actually pretty nice to talk to, has a great sense of humor, is spontaneous, and, if one pays attention, is more intelligent than she looks.
Page was the less quirky and more stable of the two. Unlike his older sister, the male Oni was reasonable, polite, and somewhat sane. Well...as sane as one could when they have a sister like Ulti. Back to the main topic, Crow liked the guy even though he was less intriguing than his sister. The young Lunarian felt pity for him for having to put up with Ulti's antics and random thrashings.
The Oni siblings did most of the talking while Crow just listened and observed them. The teen did engage in conversation whenever he needed to.
However, he also discreetly pried any useful information out of them when he could and learned a lot about the Beast Pirates and how they operated, as despite being here for half a month, no one had informed him or Uta of how things worked with the Beast Pirates and the both of them were forbidden from leaving the Island for unknown reasons.
Ulti told him that the Beast Pirates follow a strength-based system where the ones with the best fighting capabilities, with Kaido ranking at the top, the All-Stars ranking second, the Flying Six ranking third, the Headliners ranked fourth, Gifters who are individuals who successfully gained powers via consuming artificial Devil Fruits, ranking fifth, the Pleasures who are individuals who failed to gain Devil Fruit powers, ranking sixth, Waiters who are individual awaiting to gain a Devil Druit ranking seventh and footsoldiers ranking eighth. She also talked about the Numbers, who are artificial giants that she had no clue where they ranked within the Crew, and there were the Marys, who were just the surveillance force.
Lower-ranking members could challenge a superior for their position. The teen saw merits in this system, but it had its flaws. Crow did agree fighting ability and power were important when being a high-ranking member of a prominent Pirate Group such as the Beast Pirates. But he also thought intelligence, adaptability, experience, and ability to lead were just as important, if not more important than the former attributes.
What if a person with barely enough brain cells became a member of the Flying Six or, worse, an All-Star? That could end disastrous for the crew, not that the teen really cared. If anything, he found that scenario amusing.
Another issue Crow saw with this system was the outright hostility among the crew, with the All-Stars and Flying Six being the greatest examples. If the crew were just having a friendly competition, thats was one thing, but it was another to see infighting happening within the crew on a daily basis.
Hell, he was attacked unprovoked on more than a few occasions, leading to dozens of people being killed or being put into critical condition. If it were up to the teen, he would've found another way for the crew to boost in ranking without having to restore to kill each other or apply more restrictions.
Regardless of how things were done, the teen knew that if he wanted to complete his own goals and ensure his family's safety, he'd have to climb up the ranks.
(Timeskip: A Few Hours Later)
"Well, I'm gonna head out."
"Aw, are you sure you can't stay a little longer?" Ulti whined and looked at Crow with puppy dog eyes.
Crow chuckled at Ulti's attempt to make him stay. "Yeah, I'm tired as shit and don't want Uta worrying about me more than she already does."
Ulti pouted and crossed her arms. "Fine...see you later."
"Aw, don't be sad now. You're too cute for that," Crow said with a smile, making Ulti's cheeks turn Pink.
"Y-You think I'm cute?" she asked shyly.
"Well, duh," he chuckled and gave her a head pat, making the Oni beam up at him. "Anyways, if you wanna hang out, just come over to our place after two pm, and I'll be down to do anything."
She perked up. "Really?!"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"YAY!!" She kissed his cheek with her mask still on. "See you tomorrow!" she then happily skipped away.
Crow placed his hand on the spot she kissed and smiled. "Yeah, see ya."
He then left the sibling's apartment.
(Timeskip)
Instead of heading home straight away, the teen decided to stroll along the mountains of Onigashima. The Lunarian went on these walks every night to clear his mind from all the events that happened that day and also because he wanted to see the moon's presence.
The teen always felt at peace under the celestial object's light. He wondered if he had a connection to it and, if so, why. Was it because of his species or something he didn't know about himself?
Before he could get too deep into his thoughts, he heard fire crackling. The teen turned to see a woman sitting at a campfire reading a journal.
She was tall, standing nearly eight feet. She had red horns that faded to orange at the bottom, long white hair that faded to aqua green and then blue the further down it goes, and large orange eyes.
She was wearing a white garment, red hakama pants, scandals, and a large purple and white nio-dasuki behind her back and a pair of handcuffs with small chains still attached to them.
Something about the woman felt... similar.
"Hey!" he called out to her, getting her attention.
She looked up from her Journal and quickly got up, looking at him warily.
"Who are you?" the woman asked cautiously and with a hint of curiosity when she spotted his wings.
"I'm Crow, you?" he asked, giving her a disarming smile.
"I'm Yamato, Kaido's son," she introduced, shocking the Lunarian.
"Ok, hold the fuck up...you're Kaido's kid?" he asked with disbelief in his tone, and she nodded reluctantly. "But you're as hot fuck!" the teen said bluntly, causing the girl to turn red.
"W-What?! Y-You think I'm hot?!" she stammered.
"Yeah, but thats not important right now. Why do you call yourself a guy?" he curiously asked while trying to wrap his mind around the fact this woman is Kaido's daughter.
Yamato seemed to brighten at the mention. "Because Kozuki Oden was a man. So I became one, too!"
What kinda logic is that?!!
"Uh, ok...who is that exactly?" he asked, and the girl's eyes gleamed with excitement.
(Timeskip: A few hours later)
After Yamato finished telling him about the tales of the man named Oden, Crow decided to get to know more about the Oni and was happily surprised by some of the information he learned.
It turns out Yamato has an incredibly strained relationship with Kaido due to his cruelty towards the people of Wano, the murder of the Kozuki family, and the murder of Oden. She wishes to defeat the Yonko so that the natives of the island can be free of her father's clutches.
He could use this information to his advantage to gain an ally, and if she's anything like her father, she's no doubt incredibly powerful.
Once he got everything from her, he told her about his situation, and Yamato was absolutely livid.
"I'm sorry that my dad forced you two into his crew," Yamato said with sympathy and anger in her voice.
Crow shrugged. "Eh, don't be. It is what it is. However, it doesn't have to be like that forever."
"What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head curiously, and Crow was silent for a moment.
He looked at her seriously. "Can I trust you?" he asked, breaking the silence.
"Of course! I would never betray your trust," she replied truthfully, and Crow could tell she wasn't lying due to his Observation-Haki
"Alright, here's the plan..."
End.
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