Bab 67: Arc 7: Of Marines And Men: Part 1
Today, I faced my greatest opponent yet. Already my body, mind, and spirit felt broken. The swaying of the ship only served to remind me that I fought my foe on the seas en route to the home of the Marines, Marineford. This didn't help me, but at least it didn't give my enemy any advantage.
Ugh. Even my eyes hurt. My mask lay on the floor to my side and my I was crouched down. Maybe if I stared at it hard enough I could just win?
My focus was broken by Elizabeth's smug laughter behind me. "Ohohohohoho! A fearsome Warlord that can't even spell his own name? That must be so embarrassing for the mighty Captain Tennoh?" I turned around to look at the crippled redhead and tried my best to give her an angry look. She had my striped sleeveless vest on her lap as well as spools of cloth and some rags. In my fight with Sabo it had gotten damaged. She had offered to repair it, so now she was sailing with the rest if the crew to Marineford along with thirty men and women I sprung from the Diz-Harmony's jail cells. I gave them a choice. Stay where they were, or come with me. Of course they decided to follow me. No one wants to stay in a cell.
Right now I was doing my best to write my own name in letters instead of numbers. It wasn't going that well to be honest. Elizabeth had written how may name sounds at the top of the paper and I was doing my best to copy it in pencil. The thinking was that when I got this fancy Letter of Marque from the Marines I would have to sign for it. Wouldn't be able to do that if I can't write my own name, now could I?
So here I was in nothing but my shorts and boots on the deck of one of my many ships trying to scribble out something comprehensible and showing my progress to Elizabeth. She just kept telling me in her own smug way that I am the opposite of skilled at writing. I'm unskilled...
After a monumental struggle I finish writing what should be my name for the nth time and hold up what I believe to be my best work yet. This time it's possible that I've copied 'Tennoh' correctly! Elizabeth stops her needlework long enough to look up and see my accomplishment.
She smirks. "That's completely wrong. Not just because you're holding upside down, but because it's completely wrong. It seems that for all your innate prowess in being violent you fall flat when you need to use your head."
I crumpled up the piece of paper into a ball and threw it as hard as I could torwards the ship's mast. It made it a grand total of one foot before dropping to the ground.
In frustrating anger I howled, "Curse you gravity!"
The men nearby who heard all turned to look at me. When I returned the looks I was getting as best I could the crew immediately went back to whatever it is they were doing before.
The clinking sound of needles ceased and I turned to see Elizabeth smirking at me more intensely than she usually does. "Oh, gravity is your enemy? I guess you could say that it's... getting you down?"
I blinked, just to make sure that actually happened. Then I blinked again and rubbed my eyes, then I cleaned my ears with my fingers. Yup. That happened.
"I don't want to be on this boat any more." I say out loud and reflect on my few life choices. Was there anything I could have done in the past to prevent me from hearing that awful joke?
"Well don't leave yet. Your vest is done."
I perked up when I heard Elizabeth say that. That made that the first piece of good news I had heard all day. She handed me my vest and I gleefully grabbed it and held it up so I could get a better look at it.
My smile dropped. "You ruined it."
She had the audacity to pout. This girl had balls of seastone if she could pout after fucking up my vest this badly. "I don't know what you're talking about Tennoh. If anything, I improved it."
"It's completely covered in high quality fur now. How you managed to keep it's black and white striped pattern always going to be a mystery to me. I don't want to have to take care of a fur vest. Too much maintenance."
She scoffed. "Of course a pleb like you wouldn't understand. Fur is in this season. That means it's a vital accessory for a high profile person like a Warlord! Also your bellyaching about the upkeep of fur is nonsense. You're a Warlord, you'll have people for that."
"Okay. I can take that. But there's still one thing that makes it so you've ruined my vest." I held the hood right in front of her face and asked, "What in the name of all that shines are wolf ears doing on my hood? I can't wear this, I'd look ridiculous."
Elizabeth just blushed. "I thought the wolf ears looked cute so I sewed some on."
I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "I can't wear this. I don't remember why I can't wear this but regular people with animal features is just ridiculous. You're going to have to unattach them or something before we reach Marineford. I need a vest to wear and I can't just rip the ears off, it would ruin it."
"Land Ho! Marineford dead ahead!" Someone in the crow's nest called above me.
Elizabeth, somehow, multiplied her smugness by three-fold. Maybe she's the one with the Moa Moa Fruit and I've just been living a delusion the entire time. Wouldn't that be hilarious?
I laughed loudly as I put my vest and mask on. I could see Marine warships staffed with plenty of nervous looking men wearing white clothing and ascots shaking in their boots as they called docking instructions to my ships.
You know what? I'm okay with this. This is in fact a good way to start the day and I can live with that. At this point if things got any more embarrassing for me it would be like going against the grain of fate. That means it would be unlikely and painful.
I flipped my hood up on my vest and ignored Elizabeth's giggles. I had a paper to go and sign badly after all.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone