Natural Enemy 2-11

The air in Last Resort was thick enough in the air, the way it clung to Kai’s skin like a thick wool sweater. It wasn't just the humidity, which was thick enough to drink, but the specific, gritty weight of having six million Beri snatched out of his hand by a guy with ruffles on his shirt.

Cutter Cain.

Kai moved through the market stalls, not looking at the dried fish or the baskets of weird purple fruit. No, he had a mission in mind and a target with it, all of it coming from a grudge that was currently burning a hole in his gut as it swirled around like a whirlpool.

Grudge aside, he had priorities first if he was going to do anything at all. Fuel. Food. Ammo.

So, of course, the supply shop came first.

"Five canisters of freshwater." He dropped Beri on the counter, the small pile of gold coins clinking loud in the quiet shop. The clerk didn’t bother to blink his lazy eye as he slid the plastic containers across the counter, swiping the money back into the till.

Next, the grocer. "Pork jerky. Dried mango. And as many tangerines as I can get with this." Kai dropped another small pile of Gold Beri on the counter, the man behind the counter immediately nodding and taking his pay. Auntie Loa had told him all about how important citrus fruits were on the ocean, especially if he wanted to keep his teeth. 

Kai liked his teeth.

As soon as they came out, Kai shoved the supplies into his backpack, canvas straining at the seams.

He jogged back to the docks, black sandals slapping against the hot stone. The Naruto was waiting, bobbing in the slip as he tossed the supplies. One by one, he locked them up in all the containers the skiff had.

Soon enough, everything was green and everything was ready.

Now for the hard part. Kai made his way down the pier, blue eyes scanning the faces of the sun-beaten sailors as they made their way off a freshly-docked ship.

"Hey, you guys see a big ship come through? Captain named Beula?"

One of them, an old fisherman mending a net, flinched so hard he dropped his needle with a hiss. "Don't say that name, boy.” He made a sign with three fingers, pushing it out and away from his chest. "Bad luck. The White Pearl’s a curse on these waters."

"Where?" Kai pressed, leaning forward as the fisherman leaned back and away. "Where'd the curse go, then?"

"Toward the Trade Route.” The fisherman pointed a shaking finger over to the northwest. “Saw 'em hit a spice runner yesterday. Left it burning. Just... burning."

Kai nodded. "North-west, got it. Thanks, old man."

He moved to the next group, eyeing a couple of dockworkers unloading crates.

"The White Pearl? Yeah, we saw her." One guy grunted as he wiped sweat off his forehead with a dirty rag. "Big white ship, damn near a floating fortress. Beast was headed toward the Twin Capes."

Twin Capes. Kai ran through the map of the West Blue in his head. That’s where all the merchant ships go through. At least if they were heading towards the northern islands around Forya. If Beula was heading there, she was looking for a raid. Gotcha.

He beat feet, backpack barely slowing him down as he ran back to the Naruto. His plan was simple enough, and everything he’d heard told him that this couldn’t be that much harder than Barnacle Bill. Fishmen are just humans that live underwater with fish parts, right? At least, that’s what everybody said… in nicer words, at least. 

Most people just called them animals and monsters, though.

Either way, all he had to do was go out and find this Fishman captain lady, beat her through her blubber, and get his money back. 

And his pride. 

Mostly the pride. But definitely the money.

As Kai reached the end of the pier, he slammed to a stop at the sight of a ship pulling out of port not too far from the main dock. It was a sloop; sleek, heavy, and painted a flashy aggressive red that Kai swore he recognized.

No way. He watched the sloop cut through the harbor, bow carving its way through the waves faster than any windship had the right to be this close to land. 

"Whose boat is that?" He reached out and grabbed the arm of a woman walking past, fingers digging into bare skin before he even realized what he just did.

"Hey! Watch the merchandise!"

She jerked her arm away, rubbing the spot, and Kai turned to look at her.

The apology on his lips fell away to nowhere as he stared at the blonde in front of him, the woman very very blonde. Holy…

That long hair fell over a hefty chest barely contained by what looked to be a rather tight pink bandana. Blue eyes glared at him, gaze narrowed under a set of heavy lashes.

Then she followed his still pointing finger out onto the dock.

The glare vanished, expression softening into butter all of a sudden. “Ohhh~” A sigh slid free as a single finger touched the dreamy smile on her lips. "That's Cutie Cain's ship, little boy. The Wave Cutter."

"Cutie Cain?" He parroted the name, every part of his face scrunched up like he’d just bitten into a lemon. "Seriously?"

"You mean Cutter Cain.” Another woman walked up, shorter, darker and nursing a cigarette as she blinked over at Kai with enough eyeliner to paint a ship’s hull. “He’s a bounty hunter, not a boy band member.”

"Yeah, what'd I say?" The blonde flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Cutie. Cutter. Whatever. He's rich."

Kai didn't hear the rest, already leaving the two barely-dressed women far behind as he ran to the docks.

The Wave Cutter.

The name burned in his brain; as much a taunt as anything else the bounty thief had said. It was obvious what was going on. Cain’s going for Beula. Everyone knew where she was and she clearly wasn’t trying to hide. Why did I think he wouldn’t try? Stupidstupidstupid.

Kai hit the Naruto at a dead sprint, vaulting over the side and landing in his seat with a thud that rocked the little skiff.

He didn't bother untying the ropes properly, just yanking the release knot free. Ropes pulled in, he shoved his right hand into the control port and cool water rushed up his arm, meeting the surging blood under his skin.

Go! The teenager poured his will into the intake, the water in the engine churning as it pressurized and exploded out the back in a jet of white foam.

The Naruto leaped forward.

It shot out of the slip like a cork from a bottle, the sudden acceleration enough to pin Kai back in his seat as his lungs fought for breath. He whipped the wheel around with his left hand, banking hard in a sharp white arc.

A sheet of bitterly cold saltwater sprayed up, drenching a fisherman enjoying a smoke at the end of the pier.

"Sorry!" 

Kai didn’t look back as he gunned it toward the open sea.

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

The open ocean didn't care about you.

It didn’t care about bounties.

It didn’t care about grudges. 

It didn’t care at all.

Anything else but wetness and chaos had nothing to do with it and it made sure you remembered that.

Barely a half hour later as they left the island chain behind in the distance, the weather turned and the ocean decided to speak its language. The bright late afternoon sky went from a friendly, postcard blue to a shade of purple Kai was very familiar with, clouds scraping heavy and low with dark bellies heavy with rain.

The wind picked up quick after that, howling gales ripping the top of waves and throwing them right in Kai’s face like hail. Great. Just great.

Kai hunched low in the seat, squinting against the stinging spray with his bucket hat pulled down tight. Water dripped off the brim, the rhythm steady and annoying as he tried to focus.

A good distance ahead, the Wave Cutter was struggling.

Its sails fought the wind, the ship tacking back and forth as it did its best to catch the gale of the storm without capsizing. Already, it was leaning heavily to one side, the rail dangerously close to the white capes, only to snap back up with a groan as the crew adjusted the sails.

It looked exhausting.

Kai grinned through the salt in his teeth. Sucks to be you, Cutie Cain.

He didn’t have to worry about that, though. As much as the Naruto was a ship, it was also a glorified surfboard with an engine. 

Simply put, his baby boy didn't fight the wind.

It rode the water.

Massive swells rolled in like moving mountains, the deep heavy pull of the current and tide in his bones as he pushed the Naruto up the face of a thirty-foot wave. The engine whined as he pushed water out the ports, a low scream leaving the boat as it fought gravity. The skiff climbed, vertical, noise pointing right up at the angry clouds.

Then he crested, launching higher as the skiff cleared the water.

For a second, a set of blue eyes stared straight up at the black sky, the world as weightless as he was as the storm raged and refused to touch him.

Then he dropped. “Whooooooohooooooohoooooohooooo!”

He rode the back of the wave down, surfing tons of moving water. Kai kept cackling, speed and force tearing it out of him as the Naruto accelerated. So much gravity and momentum combined together to turn the little skiff into an orange missile.

Barely seconds later, Kai was right next to the Wave Cutter.

His eyes flicked right to see Cutie Cain on the deck, perfect hair plastered to his skull from the downpour. The bounty thief struggled with the helm, teeth gritted and arms straining as his purple coat flapped behind him like a dying bird. “Yo, Cain!”

The redhead looked over to see the orange streak streaking down the wave face, Kai right there next to him as he flashed a peace sign.

It was petty. It was childish. Yeah, but it felt amazing.

He didn’t have much time to enjoy it though, not as the Naruto hit another wave with a bone-jarring slam, spray exploding in a white curtain that wiped his vision for a second. Kai grunted, teeth clacking together hard enough to hurt as he blinked his eyes free of spray.

No matter what, he kept his hand locked in the port, his other white-knuckling the wheel. Sure, he was wet and freezing, skin both numb and raw as the rain tore into him; body scrubbed raw from salt and spray. 

But he was winning.

Cutting corners that would flip a sloop, he was ignoring the same wind that was pushing Cain sideways even as the storm grew worse. Rain completely sideways now, sharp as needles, thunder boomed overhead hard enough to shake Kai’s teeth. Lightning flashed, blasting the seascape in stark white like an old horror movie.

Just keep moving. Just keep surfing.

Kai blinked, a shaking hand letting go of the wheel for a second to wipe his eyes. He nearly regretted it as lightning chose that moment to flash. “Holy sh-!”

The curse was a ghost as the lightning did its job and cast the world in full-bright for a split second, illuminating something Kai hadn’t even seen with the spray in his face.

A ship.

No, a monster.

In the storm, and in the heart of the rain, sat a vessel that made the Crusted Crabber look like an abandoned dinghy. The pale behemoth was heavy and menacing, the white wood so polished the entire thing looked carved from bone.

The White Pearl.

It was locked beside another ship, a merchant transport that looked almost as small as his own skiff next to the pirate vessel. Grappling hooks were thrown across the gap, biting into the smaller ship’s rail as figures swarmed across, at least a dozen dark shapes already mid-raid.

Kai’s heart hammered against his ribs. Found you.

He glanced back.

Through the sheets of rain, he saw the red sails of the Wave Cutter. Cain had seen it too. The sloop was coming about, leaning hard, desperate to catch the wind to close the distance.

Too slow, ruffles. Too slow.

Kai pushed more water into the engine as the Naruto surged forward, leaping from the top of a wave toward the white monster in the distance.

Thar she blows…