Natural Enemy 2-9

Ngggh.

The silence was heavy.

It pressed down on the deck of The Crusted Crabber; the wind and gulls barely there as the ship creaked and listed from side to side. Kai stood in the center of the wreckage, swaying in time with it as red dripped down the arm that used to hold blue. 

That same arm didn't feel like his arm anymore, not after the way he’d used it. Sp-spiral Bomber… It was a stupid move, nothing he had ever even gotten under control before after years and years of trying. Ow… He’d put more power into it this time, and he’d paid for it; his arm more a bag of wet sand that had been stapled to his shoulder than anything else. 

Jesus... It hung at his side, useless and heavy; swinging like a dead vine with the motion of the ship.

Blue eyes flicked down, breath leaving his throat in a gasp as he stared at the deep purple mess that ran all the way from his elbow and down to his knuckles. The skin was swollen, tight in places where it wasn’t already bleeding free; a chunk of it like a sausage casing almost about to split.

Move.

He sent the command to his hand, trying to get his fingers to work with him. Wiggle. Twitch. Do something.

Nothing happened; no twitch, no pain, just a gray buzz of numbness that felt like someone injected raw TV static into his arm. 

Okay, Kai breathed out again, the simple thought floating through his brain like a piece of driftwood. That’s probably not good.

His eyes flicked up, taking in the disaster zone that was the deck. Like a bomb had gone off in a coral reef, it was all splintered wood, shredded rigging and broken barnacles scattered all over atop unconscious pirates in a wet, groaning, and defeated pile.

His eyes landed on the unconscious pirate he was here for, Barnacle Bill; the man lying on his back near the shattered remains of the wheel. All his armor, barnacles and all, were shattered into a million calcified shards that littered the deck.

The man looked smaller without it, soft even; just a big, unconscious sunburnt man with chest hair mixed into the giant bloody bruise on his chest.

Kai took a step forward, a grunt pushing past gritted teeth as his knees almost immediately started wobbling. Don’t fall. Do not fall.

He literally couldn’t afford not to. He still had to tie the guy up and drag his butt back to the Naruto before he recovered and woke up again to start phase two. That’d probably end with him getting turned into paste… or chowder.

Whatever.

He reached for the coil of rope hanging off his belt with his good hand, his left. Like trying to write with his foot, his off hand held the rope just as awkwardly as he expected, but Kai wasn’t going to let that stop him as he staggered over to Bill.

One step at a time.

With a grunt, he kicked the man’s boot.

Nothing; not even a shift in the way he breathed.

Six million Beri get. Kai knelt down, the sudden move enough to make his head spin, black spots blinding his vision like dancing flies. He blinked them away as best he could, one hand doing his best to loop the rope around Bill’s thick ankles. It was hard enough, a hassle as he used his teeth to pull the knot tight; fibers tasting like coconut and brine.

Just get him in the boat. Kai grunted again. Just get him in the boat and go ba-

Something blocked out the sun, a long strip of shadow falling over him and wiping out the glare from above. What?

“You need some help? Looks a lil’ heavy.”

Kai froze at the new voice, the tone smooth, clean, and nothing like a pirate grunt or a gruff marine; sounding too polished for anything like that. He looked up, eyes already squinting at the halo of sunlight directly behind them.

A man was standing on the railing of The Crusted Crabber, balancing on the narrow wood like it was a sidewalk, the grin on his face wide and eager. His hair was a bright red, long enough to stretch down his back, blue eyes beaming bright over a smile that looked like it belonged on a poster for toothpaste. 

He was older than Kai, maybe by six or seven; definitely not a teenager as he stood tall, and lean with wiry muscle poking out under a white shirt with ruffles down the chest and a long purple coat draped over his shoulders like a cape.

He hopped down, landing on the wet deck with a splash as he walked into the light. 

Kai slowly stood up, rope stil dangling from Bill’s legs as his eyes slid down to catch the two clean fine cutlasses resting easy on both sides of the man’s hips, each one shining in the sunlight. Okay…

He clutched his dead right arm against his chest with his left, trying to look bigger at the sight of this stranger. “Wh-who…” His voice came out a rasp, wrecked with gravel and spit to the point it sounded weak even as he said it. “Who are you?”

“Glad you asked, kid!” The red-haired guy smiled, brushing a speck of imaginary dust off his coat sleeve. “They call me the most daring bounty hunter to ever sail the Blues, Cutter Cain himself! Sword of the West and Future King of the West Blue Underw…” Cutter Cain tilted his head, a small laugh let loose as he looked up again. “Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet.”

Kai blinked as the man in front of him shook his head, the other set of blue eyes roaming around the deck and taking in the unconscious crew. “Messy.” Cutter Cain wrinkled his nose. “Very very messy. What, did you use a bomb? Or just throw a tantrum?”

Confusion slid into anger, Kai’s good hand tightening into a fist. “Tantrum? I took down the whole crew. 

Cain looked at Kai.

He really looked at him.

Kai didn’t miss the eyes sliding down to the gut sticking out of his ripped white t-shirt and hanging over his waistband, the bloody jean shorts and the purple useless arm hanging free at his side. 

He definitely didn’t miss the laugh that spilled out of the fancy man in front of him. It would have been better if it was a mean laugh or something like that. No, more than anything, it felt like he’d just gotten a pat-pat-pat on the head.

“You fought him?” Cain finally let his head fall forward, giving Kai another look. “Sure you did, buddy. Looks like he fought back, too.”

With another chuckle, he walked past Kai and stopped right up against the formerly-barnacled Bill, nudging the unconscious giant with the toe of his shiny black boot. “Six million Beri.” Cain let out a simple hum. “Not bad for a Tuesday. A little heavy to carry, but I brought the wi-.”

Cain’s words stopped short, the man stepping back with a blink as Kai put himself in between the other bounty hunter and the unmoving body. “I said…” Kai’s words came out a growl, anger and pain pushing him forward. “I took him down. So, he’s mine.”

A good two heads taller than Kai, Cain looked down and grinned again. “And I heard you the first time.” That voice slid out, slick and smooth. “You softened him up nicely, saved me all that trouble of getting these boots too dirty. Barnacles are such a hassle, you know?”

What the- Kai blinked at the hand that fell on his shoulder, immediately trying to shove it off as he made to push Cutter Cain away.

But trying didn’t do much when the rest of him was barely any better than his fingers. 

His legs were jelly. 

His core was empty.

And Cain’s grip might as well have been iron.

“Look at you, boy.” Cain leaned in, voice almost a whisper. “You’re barely standing and your arm is… I don’t think you can use it anymore. You think you can even drag this lump of lard back to port?”

“I can.” It wasn’t a lie. Even as beat up as he was, Kai knew he had that much left in him.

“No, you can’t.” Cain shut him down with a click of the tongue, sounding like he was simply stating a fact even as he laughed. “You’re just a kid. A kid with a broken wing. Now, go home, beach boy, and put some ice on that arm before it falls off.”

Cain shoved, the force of it barely anything.

But for Kai, right now, it was too much.

The ‘beach boy’ stumbled back, his heel catching on a piece of broken blank. With eyes wide and lungs empty, Kai hit the deck hard, a hiss leaving him immediately as he landed on the wrong arm.

White-hot pain exploded all the way up to his shoulder, screaming through the numbness, as all the nerves chose now to wake up with a vengeance.

He didn’t scream, though. 

He didn’t.

Kai refused to make a sound as he grit his teeth, curled up into a ball as tight as he could manage and bit his lip until more hot blood filled his mouth. Through the blur of pain, he saw Cain step over him, another laugh leaving the man as he grabbed the rope Kai had tied.

The red-haired hunter hauled Barnacle Bill up, struggling and grunting as he dragged the six-million-Beri man like he was a bag of laundry.

Walking to the rail, Cain tossed the rope over the side and glanced back at Kai, the teenager still gasping on the wet wood and trying not to vomit. The bounty thief flashed another perfect “four out of five dentists” smile, nothing in it reaching his eyes. “Better luck next time, beach boy. Maybe stick to the penny bounties? Or lost cats?”

With another laugh, he hopped over the rail with Bill

A few seconds later, an engine roared to life; a deep, powerful purr filling Kai’s ears as he struggled to his knees. “Wait!” Blood sputtered from his bloody lip as his voice came out as barely more than a croak. “That’s my money!”

Cain just laughed as his motorboat — a decently sized boat painted in all red — peeled away over the water.

Kai watched it go, the white wake cutting through the blue water as six million Beri tore away across the West blue, leaving him on the rotting, stinking ship as the crew started to stir.

He looked down at his arm, the pain still throbbing in a heavy, sick pulse. Beach Boy. He pushed the heat of it down — anger, humiliation, and everything else — because he had more important things to worry about. Gotta get out of here before… 

His eyes twitched as he did a quick count of the groaning bodies around him. Before they get back up. Even as strong as he was, twenty pirates on him with one arm was just bad math.

Kai stumbled over to the rail and looked down to see his orange-and-blue baby still waiting for him where he had left it. Without wasting a moment, he threw himself over.

The air held him for all of a second or two before the water swallowed him up, Kai immediately letting out a gasp underwater as the cold ocean sunk into his wounds, his core filling back up and the pain fading just a bit. Okay… okay… 

He kicked up, swimming with one arm and both legs until he found himself back in the seat of the Naruto, blinking up at the bright blue sky.

…fuck.

“Cutter Cain.” The word was a whisper, all the anger and heat he let go of swirling back to life in his gut as he saw the white wake off in the distance. I’m getting my money.

With another grunt, he leaned across the console in an awkward move, twisting his body to shove his left hand into the control port.

He pushed the water.

The Naruto roared to life.