seaofvollyballs-blog

[seaofvollyballs-blog]

There were 6 Legendary. One Crew.

“Tell me it again! Please! Please! Please!” Hinata begged so egregiously that it was a wonder he could breathe. He clung to Asahi’s arm as he was set into the hammock for bed. The boy was the newest member of the Karasuno crew and as such he had yet to calm down from the big adventure endorphins. Asahi knew it was his job to settle in the youngsters before he’d join the others above deck for another Captain’s meeting. Daichi would surely not stand for any noise below deck and Asahi would get the brunt of blame. He couldn’t handle that. The responsibility, it was just so overwhelming. He could hear Noya cackling over his failures. “please! Please! PLEASE OH PLEAAAAASE!”

Asahi tried to quell him by putting a hand to his lips and shushing. Hinata was so much like Noya had been when Asahi had started onboard. That guy never stopped talking but in this case Asahi knew Hinata only saw the ship, the crew, and the action with big starstruck eyes. “Ok, ok, please just settle down. OK?” Asahi pretty much begged and Hinata bit his lower lip to bounce up and down eagerly. Asahi noted the two other new members were already laying in their respective hammocks and seemingly uninterested in them entirely.

If he didn’t quiet down Hinata he’d bother his fellow crewmates no doubt. And then Daichi…Oh no no no. “Okay, okay, Hinata. W-what do you want me to t-tell you?” just the thought of Daichi’s rage or even Suga’s punch with that beaming face…It made him shiver.

“The Legends! Tell me about the Legends again!”

“Again?” Scoffed Tsukishima from his hammock. The young blonde man was the third most recent crew member and surprisingly the second tallest crew member. He only just beat Daichi and didn’t reach Asahi but it seemed to bring Suga great glee regardless. Tsukushima stuck out not only because of his height but because of the spectacles he had kept on his face. He was apparently from a relatively wealthy family and so his desire to go to sea didn’t seem to have anything to do with gold. “That shitty ass story is so overtold it’s not even remotely true anymore.”

“Hehehe, you tell him Tsukki.” Yamaguchi the other new member, a shorter plain brunette was always trailing along beside Tsukushima and neither seemed to be able to be separated. It reminded Asahi of Suga and Daichi in the beginning.

“Pathetic…” Tsukki murmured to himself but it made Yamaguchi giggle.

Asahi turned down to look at Hinata who sat curled in his hammock looking truly dejected. Asahi knew that look. He’d worn it over half of his life as a crewmate. Things were never easy for Asahi Azumane. His mother had never wanted this life for him. It would only make him like his father. A man who says he’ll love you forever and leaves when the surf pulls him. Asahi couldn’t understand a spoiled kid like Tsukushima. He couldn’t understand his motivations but Hinata’s face, that expression…

“Very good, The Legends….how did that go…hmmm…” immediately Hinata perked up, eyes brimming with the same bright orange color of his spiky hair.

“There were 6 Legendary Pirates! One Legendary Crew!” Hinata recites from heart waving his arms about the hammock so it flips with him in it. Surprisingly he manages to stay upright as the hammock just swings back around and he looks up at Asahi whose kneeling next to him with eagerness.

“One legendary crew..yes…” Asahi shut his eyes remembering the story that all pirates tell to new crew members. It’s a tale but it is also a warning, a whole truth and yet a story unlike any other.

There were 6 Legendary Pirates. One Legendary Crew.

Together they were undefeatable. They were the ones the Jolly Rodger fought and lost against it. The Navy’s finest armada frigate torn to pieces by the Legendary 6. Piracy which had been on it’s deathbed was able to flourish once more and under the new guise of brotherhood and international democracy.

The 6 were permitted their own ships, their own time and their own reaches of the sea. Naturally this peace which was born under the rivalry and destruction of the Jolly Rodger could not be held without it.

The 6 turned on each other. Their brotherhood sunk to the pits of Davy Jones’s locker with the Jolly Rodger.

The sea undivided once more, free and open.

“And C-c-c-C-C-CAPTAIN SAWAMURA!” Hinata stuttered out clenching and unclenching his fists in front of him as Asahi paused to think of how to best phrase the next part.

The 6 Legendary Pirates are now 6 still quite legendary captains.

Daichi Sawamura, the Crow; the Legendary Carpenter of Karasuno the Northeastern Iwate Sea.

Kuroo Tetsuro, the Cat; the Legendary Quartermaster of Nekoma the Central Edo Divide.

Terushima Yuji, the Tiger; the Legendary Rigger of Johzenji the East Miyagi Coast.

Bokuto Kotaro, the Owl; the Legendary Boatswain of Fukurodani the North Kanto Region.

Wakatoshi Ushijima, the Hawk; the Legendary MasterGunner of Shiratorizawa the South Sendai.

Oikawa Tooru, the Crown; the Legendary Captain of Aoba Johsai the West Osaka Reef.

With every name, every title Hinata’s eyes grew wider and wider. He leaned more and more forward. Asahi smiled back at him but he himself could recall all their faces with each title. The feelings of complete loss, the images of their fleet sinking as their flags flew high. And Daichi…Daichi always picking them back up afterward. Fixing them back together…

“Then there was a 7th.” Tsukushima mutters and Asahi doesn’t need to look behind him to know the boy isn’t even looking in their direction. “The 7th is always the problem…it’s just uneven after all.” He chuckles and that makes the waves pummeling into the sides of KARASUNO sound all the louder. They all let the boat sway with them in it’s belly and Tsukushima speaks again, “what was his name? Snake Captain?” Below him Yamaguchi has fallen asleep, his faint snoring can be heard as his hand dangles off the side of his hammock.

Asahi sits still and stiff while Hinata looks between them both, eyes blinking and at a loss. He wants a hero story…unfortunately this one has little heroes in the present day version of it. Asahi decides to ignore Tsukushima for the young man who asked for the story.

 When our Captain, Daichi Sawamura was just a young lad like yourself he lived in a small town on the mainland. His parents had been carpentars and their parents before him. All of them were kind and strong although their hands were withered, tattered and worn from the generations of work. Sawamura pushed himself to make his parents proud. He worked day in and out under his grandfather and father, trying to learn the tricks of trade. Still every day he would find a ache in his chest and no amount of work or time could fill it. One day Daichi’s grandmother fell and with no one to cook or shop Daichi had to miss a day of work to fish. His mother had always loved to fish and so they had all the fixings. She’d unfortunately passed in childbirth but it wasn’t such a rare thing in that time. Daichi grew up with his grandmother and loved her as he would his mother. He wanted to catch her the best fish but naturally he was untalented. He failed no matter how hard he sat there, no matter how much bait he used to catch a fish.

“Why?” he asked himself staring at the sun as it slowly set below the horizon and the water rose up to lap at his feet, “Why won’t you let me help her?” he just wanted one measly fish. Was that so much to ask?

That night he wouldn’t go home no matter how dark it got, or how cold. He tried and tried but still no fish came. When the sun rose once again he saw a group of crows had managed to sneak their way into his bait while he nodded off from exhaustion. He jumped to his feet and tried to shush them away. They cawed and flocked about him, starving themselves they began to peck at him. He swatted and shouted with ferocity so great the sea pulled back from the shore and shriveled into itself.

The crows were unafraid. They brazenly circled him in amazing number and in that moment Daichi thought he’d meet his mother. Then as soon as the black curving wings encircled him, they were just…gone. The only things left at his feet were a grand amount of sparse black feathers and…

A flopping fish.

 “BULLSHIT.” Tsukushima snarled and Asahi held up his hand, not looking over his shoulder at the punk. He watched Hinata who beamed slowly at first only to slowly tilt his head to one side thinking about this.

“W-what did he do then?” Hinata asked.

 He brought the fish home of course. He brought it right to the stove where it was cooked and prepared for his grandmother. She ate well and began to regain her strength. Meanwhile his grandfather had worked far too late into the night doing the work Daichi would have done. He collapsed from exhaustion.

By the time Daichi came to find him it was too late. His grandfather had gone to meet his mother.

Daichi felt so horrible he worked day in and day out from then with no distractions. His grandmother grew weaker but she managed to keep them all fed. Still her spirit seemed to fade the more his grandfather was gone.

“Daichi dear?” she asked one day, “When are you going to meet a nice girl and fall in love?” it was such a typical grandmotherly thing to ask he never thought twice about it.

“Why…haven’t I met one already Gran?” his charm and wit was never lost on her and she brimmed with love for him.

“Dear, you’re working yourself to hard…your grandfather wouldn’t want this. Go. Please. Have a day to yourself.”

“But father doesn’t-“ Daichi tried to argue.

“Of course he does, Dear.” She squeezed his hand and Daichi swallowed his nerve. “How do you think he met your mother and had you?” Daichi looked down, somber and ashamed. Had that been so good? Had he really brought them such good? All this death…all this emptiness…and no food on the table. Daichi’s father had always said that what mattered was what was in front of you. Only solid evidence of success could prove your worth. It was a tough fact but it was strong and true. Daichi wanted to be both those things so badly. Grandmother always knew what he was thinking and so she gently touched his cheek, her black piercing eyes peering into his. Daichi had always wanted to be more like his mother and she apparently was the spitting image of Grandma. He only had light brown eyes like his father and short ruffled dark brown hair. “You must spread your wings dear. Life can not be lived in a tiny room doing the same thing over and over.”

“Gran…” Daichi hushed her, pulling away from her hand. He’d regret it later. He’d miss it.

 “You might want to stop with the death and dying. I don’t think the baby crow can handle it.” Snickered Tsukushima. Asahi would have hushed him but Hinata’s eyes were watery and his bottom lip was wobbling a little as he listened.

Asahi sighed and tried to linger a little less on the depressing bits. This was after all why Suga called him ‘DEPRESSING GOATEE’.

“You okay, Hinata?” Asahi asked gently trying to not push to much.

Hinata nodded and in a faint very audible whisper he asked again, “What happened?” Tsukushima snickered from his hammock. Yamaguchi snored and rolled over.

 So Daichi took his Grandmother’s advice. His father became angry with him. He said terrible things to Daichi before he left. Things he’d come to regret. Things Daichi would never repeat to anyone else. Even now. Daichi went out for his day free of duty. Unsure of what to do with himself he wandered…and his legs naturally led him to the seashore where he had fished before.

This time there was another fishermen there but he was apparently a young man from Sendai near the Aoba Castle. He smiled gently at Daichi as he approached him and yet spoke little as they both stood their before the sea. “What might you be doing here then?”

“I was thinking I might fish.” The young man answered him and his charming good looks seemed to hide something behind his smile. Daichi noted the dangling silver earring, a tree with flocking branches that formed into a crown at it’s top.

“Here?” Daichi asked, frowning. The young man has said he was from Sendai. Surely there was plenty of fish in such a populated area.

“Hahaha….ok, yes, you caught me.” Chuckled the young man putting his hands behind his back as he teetered a bit back and forth on his heels. “I’ve heard wonderful stories about this village.” The strange young man covered his mouth and chuckled a bit at the shocked look on Daichi’s face. “I guess they can’t be true based on that look on your face…”

“W-what rumors?” murmured Hinata. He seemingly was getting more and more lost.

Tsukushima sighed and adjusted the spectacles on his nose, “How do you not even know that much? Didn’t you grow up in the same Kirimai village as Karasuno’s Captain?”

Hinata pouted, “Well yeah. But like…outside of it. I wasn’t born here.”

Tsukushima snorted.

“Neither was he.” Asahi corrected Tsukushima who finally rolled over and ignored them both, clearly annoyed with that notion.

“Sooooooooo-” Hinata urged Asahi on, looking intently. “What did the strange guy do? Was he another captain?”

Asahi smiled.

He wasn’t just any captain. He was the Legendary captain, Oikawa Tooru. The one strong enough to lead and know the entirety of every Legendry’s abilities all the way down to their greatest flaws. A fearsome friend and foe.

Hinata whispered squealed.

Oikawa told Daichi he’d come to his village seeking out a siren. A woman of immense beauty who had taken sailors and pirates alike from their ships and used their beauty and song to serenade them to the deep.

Daichi had of course never heard of such a thing. He told Oikawa as much. The people in the village were not beautiful. They were all simple, like him and had no real money. Then Oikawa asked.

“Has anyone died suddenly or abruptly around you?” the question took Daichi by surprise both because Oikawa was not smiling when he looked directly at him. It was like he knew, his eyes the same color as the clearest tropical waves he’d only ever seen in pictures. Daichi honestly wondered then if the man in front of him was the very siren he spoke of. He made Daichi feel weak and small. Everything he’d ever been afraid to feel.

“Yes, there has…” Daichi answered him back and in that moment a flock of crows flew low and from their beaks they dropped a slew of fish at his and Oikawa’s feet. The moment passed and Oikawa leaned down and picked a fish up by it’s tail as it flopped desperately in his grasp. Oikawa twisted his nose in disgust before looking at Daichi.

“Friends of yours?” Daichi wasn’t sure what he meant. The fish? The crows? Then they came back. They circled right back around and again dropped another multitude at fish overhead. Many over Oikawa who covered his head and shrieked in disgust.

“THE HELL! STOP IT!” he shouted as the cawing and flocking of feather reminded Daichi of his last trip here. Before…grandfather had…

The circling of crows flapping and pecking at Oikawa, reaching for his earring all stopped as once again Daichi’s voice boomed, “ENOUGH!” and even the sea shrunk back in fear. The crows broke apart, the fish flopped and gasped for air at his feet. Oikawa slowly looked up at him and with a sneer spoke carefully.

“my, my…you’re the siren’s son, aren’t you?”

Asahi opened his mouth to continue but there was stomping coming down the hold and soon enough Suga ducked below his silver hair and quizzical expression made Hinata shyly cover his face in his hammock. “Oi, oi! Meetings started twenty minutes ago…Put’em down and let’s get a move on.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll be right there.” Asahi stammered but the Karasuno’s Quartermaster just sighed indignantly at them and passed below deck to approach Asahi and Hinata. Tsukushima made no movement, Asahi just assumed he was either asleep or pretending.

Suga looked at Hinata with a patient sad smile, he’d had a soft spot for the boy ever since they’d ventured ashore to pick him up. “Shoyo, it’s time for you to sleep. Big day tomorrow of cleaning decks and rigging.”

“I can go to the NEST?” Hinata asked once again very hopefully.

“You know that’s Noya’s job…” Suga waggled a finger at him but smiled anyway, “We will see.” With that Hinata rolled over and closed his eyes. Asahi stared at Suga with an open mouth in shock. WHAT was he made out of? Only Suga.

Of course that’s why he was Quartermaster. The one member of every crew that was responsible for the crew and it’s well being. A lot of people underestimated that position because it was often over shadowed by the Captain position. Still no one would ever think twice about Suga being anything else. He was perfection at the job and when it was beside Daichi, well…in all honesty Asahi couldn’t count his blessings fast enough.

Suga motioned widely to the above deck and Asahi pulled himself away from the hammocks. Hinata probably would ask again tomorrow night anyway. Asahi followed Suga above deck and noted how dark it had gotten. The sea seemed to be a little more calm as distantly the storm they’d passed through ragged on.

“We still headed for Korea?” Asahi asked curiously. The navigating was once his job but since the third year had passed for the last new crew members and Ennoshita had been trained under Asahi for navigation. He took up a great deal of time preparing travels now. When Asahi was needed Ennoshita found him but overall it was more of a passing retirement.

Suga hummed gently to himself and nodded in answer as they moved along the deck. By the cannons stood Tanaka, always on guard. His shaved head and the few tattoos he had sprawled right along his right cheek up to his eyes made him stand out somehow even more. Well besides the fact he was always shirtless. Even when it was freezing outside Tanaka found a way to keep his shirt off. “Meetin ain’t over yet?” Tanaka raised a eyebrow in amusement as they passed.

“Not yet!” sang song’d Suga as they moved by. Tanaka yawned widely and stared out at sea. Asahi noted the cannons farther down the way were being cleaned out by Hisashi and Narita. Those two had started with Ennoshita and now they were more focused on improving equipment and following Tanaka around like the cabin boys they started as.

Asahi followed Suga into the Captain’s Quarters, every stem of it decorated in the orange and black regalia of the Karasuno crow. Their captain’s emblem. Daichi sat at his desk, eyes staring down at two pieces of parchment that had two different black daggers planted into them. Asahi knew what that meant. They were deciding the next voyage, right here- right now.

Suga gently closed the door behind him and Daichi looked up quickly to see them both. “Ah, Asahi, good.” He motioned for Asahi to approach quickly and take the seat between Noya and Ennoshita. He did so quickly.

The black drapes Suga went to behind Daichi and collectively untied them, the orange binding around them unfurling to reveal a crow raising it’s wings up and tilting it’s head to the sea. Suga then moved to stand beside Daichi, hand on the back of his chair as Asahi’s eyes fell to the two pieces of parchments.

“I’m telling you the voyage to Hokkaido would provide us a chance to resupply. We’re running low on rations plus we have to regroup before we can take on another fight.” Ennoshita, ever the enthusiast for common sense pushed this idea, pointing to the right parchment. Meanwhile Noya pried Daichi’s attention to his paper.

“It’s a HUGE CACHE, Dai-chan! We’d get a TON of loot and you know THAT would really make the crew’s day. PLUS we could really use a new adventure.”

Daichi made no movement in either direction. He just looked down at the papers and seemed to consider them both equally. Suga leaned down and murmured something in Daichi’s ear directly. Daichi just nodded and looked up to meet Asahi’s eyes. Asahi flinched, disliking the immediate attention.

“What do you think Asahi?” a democracy, that was what Daichi had always pledged to them. Ever since he’d become captain he swore that leadership was a matter of teamwork and teamwork was a matter of evidence. It was how it worked when the going got tough. How they held together. Everyone mattered. “Asahi?” Daichi repeated, more demanding this time.

Asahi let out a long winded sigh and looked down at the two pages, “Y-y…you know I don’t like….ma-making this kind of deci…decision…”

Suga snickered behind a hand while turning away from the table. He’d known for sure Asahi would react this way. Daichi looked less impressed, “Asahi…you are a valuable member of this crew. I need you to at least give a little insight-“

“Sir,” Ennoshita tried to speak up then, “If I may-“

Daichi held up his hand instantly silencing him. “No, Ennoshita as much as I value your opinion I have heard it. Now it is time I trust your superior. If only he’ll speak up.”

Asahi avoided Daichi’s preening gaze while Suga crossed his arms and shut his eyes waiting as well. These two….Asahi swore he wouldn’t be where he was without them, in so many ways.

“I guess….I guess I should….” Asahi murmured looking between the two papers. He felt them all watching him. Noya practically preening at the idea that Asahi would choose his. Meanwhile Ennoshita kept looking wistfully that his plan would be picked. Oh god…oh no…..the…the pressure…the…

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Asahi took off out of that chair so fast it clattered underneath him as he flew out the captain’s quarters.

Suga burst into laughter and Daichi sighed while handing over a pouch of gold, “Told you he wouldn’t pick, pay up!”

“Again…” grumbled Daichi.

“He kind of looked at my plan, yeah?” Noya turned to Ennoshita who just shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Why was his mentor like this? WHY?