A harsh sun greeted his eyes, as Hisao soon found himself in a new location. He looked around and he seemed to be in some sort of hut the walls covered in intricate carvings which contained various designs. The entire room was completely empty, and not a trace of any living being could be seen. He could hear the sounds of peaceful waves - rushing back and forth with a gentle breeze blowing through the bamboo roof of the hut. He then turned his head over his shoulder to further check out where he was at, but he was soon greeted to a throbbing pain in his shoulder. However, despite the pain - it was tremendously better than it was better, in fact his arm felt brand new.
He remembered the night before. His boat... attacked by the emperor's ship. Hisao had been lucky to survive; after all, the emperor's ship was equipped with powerful guns and energy cannons. Hisao clenched his jaw as he reached up to his shoulder - finding it covered in blood.
'That bastard.' Hisao's attention was soon brought to a small door in the corner of the room, and with it - a familiar voice echo "Hello?" his eyes widened in surprise as he realized that the owner of that voice belonged to one of the most annoying men in the world - Matsudara. He was staring at Hisao, his eyebrows furrowing in worry as he quickly walked towards Hisao.
"You've being snoozing for a while, youngin'...", Matsudara said in a hoarse voice. Matsudara clearly looked injured too - but he seemed to be in a better state then Hisao. Hisao didn't bother to object as Matsudara inspected him. "This isn't too serious, so there shouldn't really be anything we can do here except tend to your wounds," Matsudara said as he gently pressed on Hisao's wound, causing for Hisao to groan.
"Damn you Matsudara..." Hisao said, as Matsudara laughed at him. Matsudara's laugh always had a similar cadence to his father's - for better and for worse. "Hey Matsudara?"
"Yes Captain?" Matsudara replied as he fiddled with his velvet coat looking at him expectantly.
"Can you say thanks to Ye-Hsiung..."
Matsudara glanced over to the entrance of the hut curiously before turning back towards Hisao, "No creedence for me eh? That's fine I guess."
"Hey, Ye-Hsiung was the one who helped me get on the boat yesterday...", Hisao said sternly glaring at him, "But thanks anyways..." Matsudara shrugged nonchalantly before walking towards the edge of the hut with loud footsteps and looking over at the waves of the ocean as Hisao watched the scene unfold before him. The waves crashed onto the beach, sending splashes of water in every direction as foam formed and billowed in the air. A seagull squawked in annoyance as it flew off in search of food to satisfy its hunger; a smile crept across Hisao's lips as he noticed that. It had been so long since Hisao had seen just a tranquil life fold in front of him.
"By the way... Ye-Hsiung did not save you yesterday..." Matsudara finally spoke as his attention returned back towards Hisao. "You are aware of how long you have been... um... not in the awakening, correct?"
Hisao looked at Matsudara with a squint his eyes, "What do you mean..." Matsudara scratched the side of his head as he stared at something unseen in front of him. "Ye... ye have been outta' it for five months now. You must know that... right?"
Hisao's face went pale for a moment. "... What?!" he asked, as fear filled his eyes. "Five months?! How the hell is that possible?"
Matsudara chuckled quietly, before realising Hisao's face was one filled with distraught. "It has nothing to do with time, yanno," Matsudara stated as he leaned closer to Hisao, "You... it's fine, Ye-Hsiung has kept everything under wrap."
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"Keep... everything under control!?" Hisao repeated in disbelief. "How can someone possibly keep something like this under control, even though it was already bad enough as it was?!"
"You don't need to worry about that, right? Yeh... yanno..." Matsudara paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, before he suddenly spoke again. "I thought Ye-Hsiung would be the best person for the job..."
"... What do you mean?"
"He's great at handling those type of situations and he's good in his field, so it worked out well in my mind..." Matsudara sighed. "But most importantly, he's your closest friend?
Hisao nodded in agreement, not knowing what else to reply.
"Aside from yourself, he knows more about you than anybody else on the globe, therefore he knows about your past better than others... well, take your time adjusting to here - ask Ye-Hsiung if you want to know more." Matsudara said before trailing off.
The last thing he heard was the sound of footsteps heading away from him and a shut of the door.
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After laying in his hut miserably for who knows long... Hisao figured it would be best to explore the island that his crew had rested He rose from his bed and stretched, feeling the slight pain in his left side. He winced as his chest tightened painfully, forcing him to bend over and clutch his wound before moving towards the entrance to the hut... the sunlight blinding him momentarily as he blinked a couple times After blinking the light away, his eyes were once again able to adjust to the environment, revealing a sandy island. One that was quite quaint.
It was very different from the cities he had grown up that were filled with technological advances Most of it looked untouched by the sweeps of the cybernetic revolution as the houses were made of stone bricks and the vegetation was wild. Hisao looked around trying to locate the source of the sounds. He could hear water flowing and the rustling of branches as the wind swept over the trees and bushes surrounding the village. The place appeared peaceful, almost peaceful compared to the chaos that was the city and of the unpredictable ocean he had once sailed through.
He looked around, and some of his crew staying in an almost longhouse sort of structure and decided to pay them a visit. The crew had astonished faces as he entered their building, as they gave him wide eyes.
"Captain, ya' fin-lly awake?" One of his crewmates said as Hisao grinned cheekily as he took a seat on the wooden couch that the crew members shared. After a glance across the hall, Hisao realised... this was all that was left of ship. What was once a ship filled with hundreds became on that was less than twenty.His eyes drifted to the other end of the room where a few members laid resting - the ones that managed to survive the attack that happened to their ship.
He continued his day simply exploring the new island. He realised he was at the Ryukyu Islands. This matched up with the scenery of the place, after all - Ryukyu was one of the few places that hadn't embraced laws involving cybernetic gears, and had collective rights protecting the people. It was also relatively close to where they had been attacked... it was actually surprising that they weren't ambushed during their stay here. But as he thought about it, it could also make sense considering the circumstances of course. After all, why attack islands that have very low significance.
As he continued to wander around the little settlement, he began to observe an abundance of animals and species alike. They were all brightly coloured, which appeared to be lacking in modern man's view. Birds of various shapes and sizes flitted around, pecking at anything was within reach. Hisao was overjoyed by the sight of all these birds, as well as the vivid orange tint of the sky.
Everything... it changed in an instant. A life of piracy... a life of sailing the seas... all of it was taken from him in an instant. Nearly half a year had passed... but despite that, a sense of relaxation filled Hisao's mind... a sense of relaxation that he had not felt since forever. This relaxation... this was happiness. This was... contentment.
He slowly raised himself from the ground and turned his gaze towards the sunset... and smiled...
The sky seemed to get closer and closer to night, however there was one more thing he wanted to before heading to rest that day...
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