[74] Next Stop? (1)
Chapter 74: Next Stop? (1)
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The strings of the guitar slapped against his finger and chords of music went flying everywhere. The song, Martılar (Edis), adapted the shape of the guitar and his fingers moved like the wind to perform the right note.
Robin walked out of the inner cabins and rubbed her eyes, the morning suns a little blinding to her. An expression of awe was presented in her face as she stared down at Hashirama who was sitting against the border of the deck and playing a guitar.
His eyes were closed, and a smile so soft was on his face that Robin nearly lost herself within it. Robin supposed that’s how he looked when happy, given what had happened last night. She was happy for him and Vivi, too.
His slow chords kept her in awe for a long minute, until a splash of blood came flying to her face.
“Uh…”
Turning her head to the side, she saw the massacre that was happening to the side. The ship was already in the Calm Belt by the time she was up, it seemed, and sea kings were attacking them. However, none of them could even reach near the deck.
Three serpentine heads fought against the sea kings, made out of wood with a rough skin texture as they tore the sea kings apart with their jaws.
If a common pirate saw this, they might even mistake the Sail of Ohara as the ship of Kuja Pirates, since they had a similar outer look – with two large snakes at the front of the ship, keeping it safe from sea kings. However, these three serpentine heads were not mere snakes – they were wooden dragons.
“What a sight.”
Robin wiped the blood that had come flying from her cheeks, and silently applauded the scene in her head. The background music of the guitar only made this all the more interesting of a sight.
* * *
“Yawhn… Ugh, what are you doing here so early in the morning?”
Mikita yawned and growled while shooting Hashirama a look. What the hell was he doing in the kitchen?
Seeing Hashirama not answer her, and only focusing on the thing he was cooking, Mikita deadpanned.
“You look good in an apron, but can you go away? I will have t0 brew tea for everyone.”
“How about you shut the fuck up and use another stove? It’s not like this is the only one.”
“Tch. Can’t you be less rude?”
Hashirama was a little annoyed at her, and was about to instinctively retort sarcastically at her question. However, he bit his tongue and held himself back. Shaking his annoyance off, he smiled softly.
“Good idea, I will try.”
“….”
Mikita gave him a suspicious look before she moved to the other stove and started brewing tea. Midway through, her eyes couldn’t help but focus on the thing he was cooking. Mikita raised an eyebrow and went ‘huh?’.
“Why do you need a cook when you can cook that well?”
“I am not a master at cooking. Did you hear my clone playing guitar? I am not a master at music, either. I just know a few certain things.”
Hashirama explained slowly, finishing the dish by putting toppings on top of the bowl of ramen.
As he was leaning down and topping the ramen, he continued speaking.
“I am decent with a sword, a spear, knives, shields… guns, and whatnot. While I am ‘Jack of All Trades, Master of None’ in most things, I am a ‘Jack of All Trades, and Master of Them Too’ when it comes to weapons. Since that man deemed weapons important, while cooking and guitar skills were seen as just mere tools for entertainment.”
Entertainment to gauge his target’s attention so that he could smoothly proceed with his missions.
Though in truth, his weapons mastery wasn’t shit in this world. For example, swordsmanship obviously fell short compared to the big shot sword users. He supposed a veteran in a normal world was naturally not someone that important in this world of supernatural powers.
Mikita stared at the side of his face, a strange confusion visible in her pupils.
“Who is ‘that man’?”
“Nobody, forget it.”
Hashirama finished the toppings and stood straight up, turning to her and smiling brightly.
“Sorry for disturbing your sleep, by the way. I suppose it was hard to relax when the sounds of claps and moans were so loud.”
“…Self-aware, huh.”
Mikita decided to ignore the earlier topic, and shrugged, waving her hair with one hand.
“It’s okay. I did accept her earlier, didn’t I? Weeks ago. I was wondering what was keeping you from bending her over for so long, but I guess you just wanted it to be natural.”
Although she said she was okay, she didn’t exactly look happy. It was natural for a woman to not be happy, knowing her man fucked another girl just a few yards away from her. Still, by now, she knew both of them loved each other – and it would only be her loss if she tried to keep him to herself.
“Yeah. It helped that I kissed her in the Ferris Wheel yesterday.”
Mikita went ‘uh-huh’ and focused on her tea, suggesting she didn’t want to listen to him talk about it.
“Hey,”
He called and she just replied with a ‘What?’ without turning around.
“What date is it today?”
“…14th Feb?”
It had been 12 days since Hashirama left Alabasta. Today was a special day for all couples in this world, and Hashirama regretted that this day didn’t happen yesterday, in the park. However, it was unironically more special for Mikita, though she didn’t even know herself.
Hashirama grabbed her hand and pulled her, causing her to turn around. In his other hand, a rose grew out of his palm and he pushed it towards her.
“Wanna be my valentine for today, Miss Valentine?”
Mikita paused and blushed a little. She didn’t get affected by this sort of affection, but this felt different. Hesitating, she finally released a breath and accepted the rose, a smile blooming on her face.
“What a corny bastard.”
Putting the stem of the rose on her lip, causing the thorns to make her bleed, she leaned over and rubbed the blood on his lip.
“But you said it, you’re my corny bastard for today.”
Mikita pushed him against the wall, blaming her feminine mind for falling for his tricks, admitting how good he was at making girls feel special, a feeling overshadowing her fear of being the second choice.
Mikita kissed him like a barbarian, with the taste of blood assaulting both their mouths, and continued making out until the rest of the group was up.
* * *
If Mikita heard him and Vivi, it wasn’t unnatural that the others heard them too. Robin kept a normal expression, not surprising such a thing had happened given their chemistry, as she drank tea and read the morning newspaper.
Mikita sat beside her and also drank tea, making small chats with her. In the meantime, Vivi was sitting a bit far from them, being fed by Hashirama’s hands while wearing a massive blush.
“C-couldn’t you have gone easy? I can’t walk properly…”
She whispered to him while maintaining eye contact. Unlike what some might expect, she didn’t regret doing what she did – even if she was drunk. She was rather happy it had happened, though she wouldn’t say it out loud.
“I will try to go easy next time. Now, ahh.”
“…Ahh.”
With her blush hardening, as she went ‘ahh’ and opened her mouth to eat ramen, Vivi felt her heart starting to race.
‘Next time’ – he said it so shamelessly! Vivi looked away and was grateful they were sitting a bit far from the rest of the group, and whispering, otherwise she would have died of embarrassment.
“You… don’t have to go easy… I am strong.”
However, despite her complaints – did she want him to go easy? She did not. So she made that clear, avoiding eye contact, as Hashirama just smiled and continued feeding her. It was a happy day for him.
“I… I, I will go check the navigation.”
Suddenly, the newest crewmate, Nami, got up with a weird expression and walked away quickly. She had been silently sitting beside Robin and Mikita until now, wearing a weird expression, and the entire group had an idea what it was about.
It didn’t feel good knowing your crush fucked a girl last night, and now seeing him take care of her like a spoiled baby. She would most likely get over him now, or at least try to do that.
“Anyway,”
Hashirama looked away from the fleeing Nami, and looked at Vivi.
“Stop being a child and finish quickly, I need to hold a meeting with you all.”
Vivi scoffed but she did start eating faster, though she was still being fed. Later, while traveling the Calm Belt and letting the three dragon heads take care of any occasional attacks, the group sat down as Hashirama explained the next course for their crew.
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