#quickonthetrigger

It’d taken longer than he wanted to get Kazu up and able again, though he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted the man testing his capabilities to the fullest yet. Recovery wasn’t as easy as healed and not, and while he was pretty healed up the doctor knew that their visitor wasn’t fully operational everywhere in his body. 

A glance was given up at the mast, teal catching on natural brown wings and abnormally colorful ones. Colm had seemed fairly eager to have a friend who could understand what it was like to have a flying zoan fruit, but that wasn’t the thing their mad doctor was concerned about. It was Kazu’s return in interest that Masao could easily see for what it was, and what it wasn’t when reflected in Colm. 

It could be useful, assuming it was being used in such a way rather than in a serious way. This was an opportunity that could make or break his crewmates, and he needed to make sure the right amount of pressure was used to keep this from turning horrible. 

Steps brought him further out of his infirmary door, the slim mostly bare body going to lean against the rail. “Kazu! Can I talk to you for a minute?” His voice carried right up through the clear air, catching the attention of the navigator perched so delicately upon the mast. 

“Huh?”

Confusion swiveled the harpy’s head down to his friend and back up to his new one. “Is something wrong?” Masao needing him meant there was something wrong with Kazu’s recovery... right? Or was it better news than that?

“If you’re going to fight, you’re going to get hurt.” Her voice was cold, her foot planting onto the man’s back to send him stumbling from the shop. Seeing the retaliation coming was like watching the sun rise, and by the time the troublemaker turned around the cold steel of her pistol was pressed to the side of his head. “Don’t come back unless you learn to grow the fuck up.”

Pleased that she’d gotten her point across, when he began stammering out something she didn’t try to hear, Kato turned on her heel and let the thick door slam shut behind her. A towel was tossed to the girl still down on the floor, the blood seeping from her forehead watched until stark white hid crimson from her view.

“T-thanks.”

A hand waved dismissively in her direction. “I get a few of those every day. People like to think being in a gang gives them special rights, I just remind them it’s not true.” While it was true the status tended to scare some people into cowtowing to them, Kato didn’t think anything of it. In the end it was a label, like the ‘gently wash’ label on the occasional shirt clothes. It was a thing. A thing that didn’t matter when you stepped back and took a look.

She planted her ass right back onto the stool by her newest piece of work, taking up the needle once more. “Let me know if you see something you like, or if you want me to make something new.” Focus was already being given back to the man in the chair’s shoulder, black ink finding its way into the depths of his pores. Like many of the others who found themselves in her chair, the muscles on his arms were straining as he tried to make himself okay with the pain.

Open water, that was all the zoan could see, for miles, blood dripping from his left wing in a steady flow, he couldn't even see straight any more, vision going in and out every few moments, pain zapping up through his injured wing every time he beat it against the air, he needed to land, where was the ship... it'd been right there, then suddenly it wasn’t.

Kazu knew there was a certain jump in time between when he'd last seen his captain, and when Marines had cornered them but she'd be fine... he just... he needed to land.

He couldn't even clearly see now, a black shape below against the stark blue waters was all he saw before he dipped, unable to keep himself airborne and plummeted towards the object, his large feathered body colliding with what felt like a deck... certainly wasn’t his deck, but that landing sure as fuck hadn't helped his wing, a pained squawk escaping his beak as he tried to move... oh god where was he… whose ship was this…?

One year.

Somehow, Colm wasn't entirely sure how it was possible, one year had passed since the day Captain Sylen had plopped his ass in the center of town and vowed to stay. The child would have been lying if he'd said he hadn't expected them to give up after a few days, or a few weeks when they hadn't yet left. It was only natural. They were pirates who decided they wanted a ten year old on a whim.

But they refused to leave.

Colm came to town each week in that year, every single time expecting to no longer see the stubborn pirate. Sometimes it was even in the middle of the night, and he would sneak through the streets hoping to use not finding the man as an excuse to stop checking entirely. Never once did his plan work, not even when he tried to cheat them. 

Every night he showed up Sylen was there, sleeping in the street with that tattooed woman nearby. And even with the dark color of her eyes he could see them shining in the light of the moon, staring at him, silently telling him that she knew and she would always know. 

Today was not one of those days. Now Colm came in the middle of the afternoon, having flown over hoards of puffy sheep to peer over buildings at the group. They were a static part of the town now, something the usual townsfolk were used to the point of interacting normally. As if they weren't pirates, and more as if they were friends and neighbors. He guessed they were now.

Huffing with childish irritation he turned to fly back to the forest. He didn't care what they did and he didn't care how long they stayed, he still wasn't going to off to be a pirate just because some guy had a strong-willed whim. Wings flapped hard, propelling him through the chilly air and only vaguely registering how cold it was rapidly becoming.

Wind picked up the further he got from the top. A strong gust nearly knocked him from the sky, finally wrenching his attention from his thoughts up to the sky. Dark clouds greeted him, ominous with flashes lighting up the inside. 

Crack.

Thunder boomed overhead, shaking him to his core and sending him careening into the waiting forest at full speed. But the leaves on the mighty trees did nothing to stop the downpour from hitting him, the rain not even getting the chance to hit his wings as they disappeared from sight altogether. 

Fear struggled to take control of his mind as he plummeted from the sky, slamming him into the ground and only giving him a brief second to feel the pain of his arm. Red mingled with the heavy rain along his arm, the child pushing himself on shaking limbs that gave out on him temporarily with the help of another loud boom. 

All that he could feel was the terror of the storm. Getting any farther into the safety of the trees didn't cross his mind. Colm tucked his way in between the roots of the nearest tree, arms crossing over his head and eyes squeezing shut. Fingers clutched into short blonde strands so tight it hurt, almost as if such a thing could possibly distract him from the storm raging overhead. 

"Hey, there's a town over there!"

The exclamation caught the attention of the two females in the group easily, Aalis and Kato turning their gazes high into the sky above them where their navigator sat suspended by earthy wings. Oh good. Several days of walking in nothing but a sea of sand was beginning to get a little old. For Kato, at least. There was only so much cactus induced madness that she could handle before snapping, after all.

Alabasta. Land of the endless sand, stretching off as far as the eye could see in hills and valleys the likes of which had o compare. They hadn't really bothered to keep track of how many days they'd spent in the heat of the desert, though Colm suspected Aalis did somewhere in one of the books she'd carried with her, but he knew it felt like weeks.

"Good." The pure done in the firstmate's voice made Aalis chuckle lightly though she herself said nothing, turning her amused features on their ground-bound men instead. More accurately, on their sniper. "How far away is it? Can we make it today?" Late into the afternoon as it was, Kato wasn't overly hopeful.

Colm lowered himself with the help of soft wing flaps, bringing them close enough to not have to raise their voice or crane their necks. "Looks about a few hours away, and it's around an oasis. We mighta got a little lucky, they might have something to help us." They could only hope. If not, who knew what could happen?

Aalis nodded in lieu of Kato, giving the woman a chance to go stabilize Chelle with an iron grip. "We should probably hurry if we want to make it before dark. If we don't get there in time, we'll have to wait until morning to get help. As interesting as I suppose it would be, I don't want to see what long term exposure does to his system."