Am I… am I freaking lost?!
After swimming for what felt like an eternity, Kai came to a grim realization, he was completely lost.
Just endless blue. Not a single damn landmark in sight.
Navigate by the sun?
He'd been trying that. But chasing the sun was a fool's errand. Drift a few degrees off course and you'd never even notice you weren't swimming in a straight line. It was infuriating.
Whoever said sailing the Grand Line was easy was full of crap.
BOOM!
Scraping together the last dregs of his stamina, Kai exploded out of the water. He kicked off the air using Geppo, rocketing skyward to scan the horizon for land.
"What kind of messed up world is this?!"
Hovering hundreds of meters up, he spun around. Nothing. Not a single speck of dirt in any direction.
The One Piece world was mostly water. Aside from the Red Line, it was just a smattering of freaking islands. Breaking out of the Calm Belt had left him completely blind. He had no clue where he was, or if salvation was anywhere close.
Gravity took over. He plummeted back down, hitting the surface and floating like a dead fish, leaving his fate to the currents.
Somewhere along the way, he forced himself under to catch a snack.
"I'm gonna puke. I swear on my life, this one and the next, I am never eating sashimi again!"
He meant it. Days of raw fish had his stomach doing backflips.
But hunger wasn't the real enemy. It was the thirst.
He'd swallowed his fair share of seawater by now, and his fresh water reserves were non-existent. If he wasn't built like a tank, the salt toxicity would've shut his organs down days ago. Even so, he was running on fumes.
'Hm?'
A few hours of aimless drifting later, a miracle appeared.
A medium-sized vessel cut a slow path across the waves. No Jolly Roger. No Marine seagull. Probably just a merchant ship.
Kai didn't give a damn whose it was. He just started swimming.
"Someone's out there!"
The crew spotted the thrashing water. It wasn't a Sea King, it was a guy, making a beeline straight for them.
Before the sailors could even scramble for a rope, the water erupted. With a deafening boom, Kai vaulted out of the ocean, a geyser of seawater trailing behind him, and slammed onto the wooden deck.
That alone had hands dropping to hilts. The ship's rail was several meters above the waterline. A normal guy couldn't jump that high from a dead swim.
Then they got a good look at him. A massive, jagged slash ran down his chest, the flesh pale and bloated from the saltwater. And that was just the centerpiece. Dozens of smaller cuts and bruises painted his body.
And the pants? Black and white stripes. Anyone with half a brain recognized those.
Prison stripes!
'Was this guy an escaped convict?'
"Who the hell are you?!" the head guard barked, leveling his weapon. The tension in his voice was thick enough to cut.
Understandable. A bleeding, super-jumping guy in prison pants dropped onto your deck? You'd be on edge too.
"Me?" The man grinned, not waiting for an invitation as he collapsed right there on the deck. "Name's Kai!"
He pointed at his parched throat. "Got any water? Toss me a canteen, drop me off at the next island, and we'll call it even. Thanks!"
"..."
The crew traded bewildered looks. The audacity of this guy. Was he bluffing, or did he actually have the strength to back up that casual arrogance?
"Get the man some water and food," a voice cut through the murmurs. The captain.
You don't survive long trading on these waters without developing an eye for monsters. That gash on his chest? A weakling would be dead. Whoever this was, he was dangerous.
A sailor scrambled to bring over a pitcher and some rations.
Kai snatched the jug and chugged half of it in one breath. The rest, he dumped right over his head, shaking out his wet hair with a wild grin. "Ahhh! Back from the dead!"
"Thanks for that!" He tossed the jug aside, completely ignoring the twitchy guards, and looked straight at the captain. "By the way, where are we in the Grand Line?"
"The Grand Line?"
The captain narrowed his eyes. The injuries, the strength, the question. He must've fought his way out of some nightmare in the first half of the Line and somehow washed up here. Anyone who survived those waters was built different.
He shook his head slowly. "You're in the East Blue, son. We run routes between here and the South Blue. Never set foot in the Grand Line."
"East Blue?!"
Kai blinked, then let out a slow breath.
Talk about a plot twist. Chased like a dog by that bastard Kizaru for three straight days, blindly punching through the Calm Belt, only to wash up in the weakest sea.
Felt a bit like fate, tossing him here. But what was even in the East Blue right now?
Ace?
Not that he cared. Recruiting Fire Fist was a pipe dream anyway, the dude was way too stubborn. Plus, who knew if he was still bumming around Dawn Island or if he'd already hit the Grand Line? A hothead like him wouldn't just submit and join someone else's crew the second he set sail.
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