"God damn it, where did this storm come from?" A sailor cried out as wave after wave smashed against their small ship.
As all the panicked sailors ran around like headless chickens, desperately trying to hold on to something, a chubby man with rich clothing shouted "You fools! Go tend the sails! Do something or the ship will sink and so will all my merchandise!!"
Under normal circumstances, nobody would have dared disobey the chubby man. However, under the imminent and serious threat of their ship being ravaged by the wrath of the seas, his voice didn't even register in the sailor's ears.
The sailors all conglomerated in various safer points, trying to resist the fury of the storm. Amongst one of these groups, one, in particular, stood out.
A young man stood in front of the group of sailors, his hands pointed forward and a weird barrier forming from it, covering both him and the group behind him.
Compared to the other zones, where the waves constantly threw people off the ship, whenever a wave tried to hit this part of the ship the shield stopped it. That's not to say they were unaffected by the other waves, but they were still faring much better than the others.
"Thank you, captain!", "You can do it!" The sailors inside the barrier shouted in encouragement. The young man grimaced hearing these, knowing well that although it seemed like he was doing something useful, he really wasn't.
This was proven true the moment a gigantic wave easily over 40 meters tall appeared on the horizon. At this point, even the chubby man was screaming and crying, completely unprepared to face the true nature of the sea.
Seeing this wave, the young man dropped his barrier and fell to his knees, breathing heavily and covered in sweat, but that sweat was soon washed away by a large splash of water.
"It's hopeless..." The young man lamented as the huge wave finally arrived and shattered the ship, instantly killing many of the relatively weaker sailors and passengers.
Despite his hard struggle, the young man too was soon devoured by the sea. His devil fruit made him even weaker than the others.
Just like that, yet another innocent ship was swallowed by the merciless seas, never to be heard from again... except for one member of the ship, of course.
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My body automatically coughed out all the water in my lungs, which was a lot. My eyes were burning from all the salt in them, as was my nose. My entire body was trembling, but somehow, I was alive.
I looked all around me, seeing only water. Calm water. Under me was a rather large piece of wood, which was thankfully still afloat.
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I wanted to cry. Cry about the injustice done to me. Cry about the poor fate of my companions. Cry about the cruelty of our boss. He definitely knew there was going to be a storm. He probably just wanted to get rid of that fatass without seeming suspicious.
I tried to conjure a barrier to protect me from the water, but I found myself unable to. Of course, as a devil fruit user, once wet I cannot use my powers.
All I could therefore do was huddle at the center of the raft and pray for the current to bring me somewhere... anywhere.
Soon, despite my best efforts, the exhaustion quickly set it, forcing me to blissful sleep...
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"Wake up, kiddo. Naptime is over." My eyes snapped open, my entire body hurting.
The first thing I saw was... legs. Upside down legs.
My eyes traveled up a bit before I forcefully closed them, trying to forget what I just saw.
This was not taken kindly by the owner of the legs, as I felt my body be thrown rather hard. I yelped as I landed on boiling-hot sand.
I quickly got up, patting the sand still sticking to me in an attempt to get it off. Then, someone whispered in my ears from behind me. "Is this how you thank someone who just saved you? You should be... 15? 16? Yes... you could act as excellent bait..."
I turned around as fast as I could and was met with a face right up against mine.
Beautiful golden eyes staring straight into mine, extremely long hair that almost reached the floor and a body far taller than any girl I had ever seen, it was as if I was staring at a goddess. My eyes unconsciously lowered themselves down to her breasts and I gulped hard.
As if noticing my stare, the woman raised an eyebrow and followed my eyes, landing on her own breasts. She smirked and looked back at me. "Oh? Never seen a pair of boobs before, kid? Heh, I know I'm beautiful, you're making me embarassed~"
She raised a hand over to her face in a dramatic attempt and stuck her chest out. I couldn't take any more of this and quickly took my wet coat off and tried to hand it to her. "Please, miss. Wear this..."
Before I could say anything more, a stinging sensation spread on my cheeks, and my body was thrown to the side like a doll being thrown by an angry kid.
"You have some nerves, kid. From the way you're looking, you probably just barely escaped sure death, and the first thing you worry about is some stupid clothes? Could it be all the people in this world as this stupid?" I looked at the woman with fear. I wasn't the strongest person out there, I knew that much, but as a captain of lord Kreig, I at least have enough strength to be considered pretty strong.
And yet, I was so easily slapped. I didn't even see her attack coming, and I knew she wasn't serious. What were her intentions? Where am I? Why did she save me?
"... You're so hopeless. We'll have some introductions later. For now, you seem a bit hungry." She said, pointing at my grumbling stomach. I nodded helplessly, eliciting a sigh from her.
"Alright kid. Follow me. I have some leftover chicken from those stupid fake magicians, then we can talk in a more relaxed atmosphere." She said before turning around and heading towards a small cab made of logs and held together by vines.
"W-wait!" I shouted as I chased after her.
"What now?" She turned her head towards me, obviously annoyed. "Could you please, please put on some clothes?" I begged.
She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything as she took the coat from my hands and wrapped it around herself.
I heaved a sigh of relief. Unlike what most people consider us, pirates aren't rapists. Sure, we do pillage and steal here and there, but we're mainly seeking adventure.