"Where the Hell is He..." Was what Noir had said.
Where the hell he was was on the edge of town, still sprinting as fast as he could. Kirk wasn't sure if he was spotted on the way here, but he was sure he was. At least no one was immediately on his trail.
His legs felt like jelly at this point and his lungs ached and were on fire. He would've died on the way here if he tried to run with the giller, even when it was only at the medium setting.
The marsh wet lands squished beneath his feet as he'd gone from the dry flat fields, feeling the mud against his feet made him cringe internally. He was always a man about staying clean, at least presentable, but now, that was out of the window. He had to go, and quick!
He couldn't cut straight past the walls, he'd have to take a fish hook curve through the island to avoid the active patrols in the nearby palm tree forest. He'd seen then dozens of times as a kid, and it burned like a flame in his mind, reminded him and influencing him to go another path.
Crossing a river that wiped the mud from his feet, he slipped! Falling harshly against the yellow green grass of the forest. His breath wheeze, even with his fishmen genetics, it was like fire in his throat. Hand digging into the dirt before instinctually they reached to his back, clawing hard at his smooth inked skin.
"Barnum...Barnum..." He clenched his teeth, nails digging deep into his skin hard enough that blood drawing from it. He wanted to get rid of that mural of betrayal. "Barnum...Barnum, Barnum, Barnum!"
He quietly screamed to himself as he scraped his nails at his flesh, digging deep into them. Even if he wanted to get all of his skin off, it was too much for his hands to do.
*
Kirk His family grew up poor, nearly dirt poor, as long as he could remember. He wasn’t jealous though, not one bit. He was happy with his loved ones, and he already knew that one day, he would be the richest map maker one day. It had always been his dream to chart the world after discovering the wonder of maps and navigation, even saving up the coins he rarely came across to buy things like paper, pens, random maps, and books on how to chart. Kirk was just so excited to be able to treat his mother and sister one day.
He was only 11 when Barnum came. He and Oliko had been put under the floor boards as their mother was ready to defend their house. Gunshots had been filling the air for minutes at that point, and she could see from their house that they were going house to house.
There was no where to go. The docks were blocked, and if they were going to search the forest, they'd certainly be punished.
The first time, Kirk and Oliko weren't spotted, and their Mother, Ceilia, was able to only pay a small fee for herself instead of the hefty family fee. She worked tirelessly to get the 250,000 a month. She was lucky that there were those in Coco that could help pay for others, but indirectly.
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Ceilia started to get more and more stressed out. She drank more. Started to get a temper with Kirk and Oliko. It got bad, but there were still those moments of care that made up for it.
They'd gotten into a routine by then. Every month, the two kids would go under the house. Wait for Barnum to Leave. And Occasionally take humans or fishmen to work on the Construction of his 'Shark Base Compound' .
That was until one day, Their mother had forgotten to hide away Kirks maps and Drawings.
"What?! It's 250,000, on the Berry! Exactly as you wanted!"
"Yeah, it is." He leaned his large body and Beanie covered head against the wall. He wasn't wearing the typical Tropical wear, now a simple zip up jacket.
"But, I have a feeling you've been lying to me." He cupped her face, the two Children peaking through the then gaps in the floor board.
"You said you were alone, but those hands of yours aren't that of a Cartographer." He said grasping the papers harshly before throwing them back down to scatter across the ground.
"No! Put them down!" She screamed as suddenly the two children were pulled from below the ground moments later. Both of them tears in their eyes as they sobbed.
The man known as Archer had to hold them both in his arms as they were forced to watch as their mother was pushed to the Grass in behind the house, like a dog or rabid animal. Barnums hands wrapped around her throat. It was like nothing at all as he loomed over her like a mountain, easily cracking her neck like a handful of straw.
Her Body was thrown to the ocean after that. And neither of them were ever able to find her body after that. Perhaps. For the best instead of finding mangled corpse.
After that. Kirk was fancied by Barnum for his Drawings. Forced to become their Cartographer.
Locked into a room in the 6 story compound to slave away at drawing sea bed charts, maps of surrounding seas, islands, regions, all at different states.
With some quick, desperate thinking, the boy struck a deal with the pirate captain. He offered to buy the village back from him for 350 million berries. This included the soon to be slaves. Intrigued, the Captain agreed, but with the compromise of holding onto Oliko and the other slaves to make sure he would come back for them and the village, and until Kirk was to hand over the berries, the captain would keep control over the island.
"Buhahaha! You've got spunk little guppy! I'll give you that. But, I gotta make sure that everyone knows that you belong to me...And only me!"
The sting of the needle being hammered into him was like a red hot iron. It took hours for the mural of Barnums Jolly Roger to be inked across his spine and back. It was like he'd been branded, or had been bitten by the mans very maw.