#Hindi-Urdu is just the Subcontinental version of Protestants v Catholics and provided no one dies I'm on the sidelines of both w/popcorn

[nehswritesstuffs]

Inherited Will, Destiny of the Age, Graveyard of Ambition and Dreams - Part 6

Huh, could’ve sworn this was posted already. Oh well. I have plenty of notes at the end of this one, so please be sure to check them out!

Part 1 on [tumblr] - [FFN] - [AO3] 

Prior chapter on [tumblr] - [FFN] - [AO3]

Priorities; a crew meeting and a potentially close call [bad future!One Piece AU]

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It had been a full day since the Straw Hat Pirates had put the Conomi Islands to their backs. The entire crew was above deck and enjoying the weather, the peaceful atmosphere cut short by Kappa loudly clapping his hands from his position over by the mast.

“Alright!” he shouted, getting everyone else’s attention. “We need to have a crew meeting!”

“What do you mean?” Rika asked. She bounced her way over to where Kappa was standing with a chalkboard—where in the hell did he get that?—and sat down on the deck. The others cautiously edged their way over, not entirely sure where the navigator was going with this.

“Recruitment,” he stated.

“There’s six of us and this ship is small,” Tamanegi noted. “Shouldn’t we worry about that later, when we have a proper ship?”

“Wrong: we need to figure out now what we need to be looking for in the future as far as people to stay away from, as well as people we need to recruit,” Kappa explained. “We already have some good core components of a crew, but we’re missing some key elements if we want to survive on the Grand Line.”

“Such as…?” Piiman asked. He and Tamanegi quickly shared a look—shouldn’t a crew meeting be something called by the captain…?

“We need a dedicated cook, for one, because if last night is any indication of where we’re at, then I am not choking down more of your lethal cooking than should be necessary,” Kappa replied, not even looking from where he was writing on the chalkboard. Piiman shrugged at that—couldn’t argue there.

“Well, what else…?”

“Only the coolest will do,” Rika insisted, “like someone on the run from a powerful pirate crew! Or someone who can predict my every move in a fight! Or an aloof swordsman with a mysterious past!”

“Will you hold on for just one minute?!” Kappa griped. He turned around and showed the list he had written. “Okay, so far, we’ve got some roles already filled. We’ve got a captain, while I’m a navigator and helmsman, Manni’s a decent shot, Kalyv is the lookout, Nin is a decent combatant for when things get rough, a wall of meat at the very least…” He stared at Tamanegi and furrowed his brow. “What the fuck do you do again?”

“I’m the chronicler. The records-keeper.”

“Bozorge Sandora, you are fucking useless, aren’t you?” Kappa and Tamanegi exchanged death glares before the former continued. “Anyhow, any decent crew needs to have a couple things that we don’t: a cook, a doctor, and probably a shipwright… or at least someone who can do some repair work around the place…”

“I want a mascot,” Rika stated. Her eyes then went wide. “Can we get a pet?!”

“No,” the other crew members said in unison.

“Anyhow,” Kappa continued, “we need to recruit at least a few very specific people if we’re going to make this grand-scale venture work.”

“I can do repairs around the ship for now,” Piiman offered. “My uncle was a carpenter and I learned a bit from him before he died. Soon as someone better comes along, I don’t mind giving it up.”

“See…?” Kappa told Rika, gesturing towards Piiman. “He’s sensible.” He looked at the others and cold realization washed over him. “I’m the oldest one here, aren’t I?”

“I guess…?” Ninjin shrugged. “Why does that matter?” Kappa smacked his forehead.

“How in the hell did I turn into the responsible older one yet again?” he grumbled.

“Would you rather the one who wants a mascot be the responsible eldest crewmate?” Tamanegi deadpanned.

“The one who wants the mascot is the captain, which is a fact I’m learning to ignore the further we get away from that part of the conversation.” He rubbed his forehead, knowing that there was a headache coming on—it was all his fault for calling the meeting to order. “No animals unless they pull their weight somehow, no kids.”

“You can’t say that,” Rika said. “You don’t know what’s out there.”

“We can’t go picking up every single stray,” he pointed out. “We need to be reasonable about this.”

“I am being reasonable—you’re being a spoil-sport.”

“What’s being reasonable is asking: do any of you four know a language other than Eastern?”

The rest of the ship aside from Chabo and Tamanegi blinked at him.

“I was in a position to learn the rest of the Blue Languages, Ryugua, and Celestial,” Tamanegi bragged. Chabo and Kappa looked at him with raised eyebrows.

»Why didn’t you tell us earlier?« Chabo asked in the Ryugua language.

»We might have a better shot if you know those, plus Celestial, of all things.« Kappa looked at Tamanegi and frowned. »Are we speaking too fast? Are you a bit rusty?«

Tamanegi grinned and replied, »Yes give goo ma.«

The other two glanced at one another, then both stared at him.

<Then how is your Paradi?> Kappa asked, switching languages again. Tamanegi looked blankly at him. <If you know the Blue Languages as you claim, then Paradi should be simpler to say and understand.>

“Go easy on him, Kakkun,” Chabo smirked in Eastern. “He’s a multilingual mute.”

“Hey!” Tamanegi protested.

⌠⌠He’s a pain in my side,⌡⌡ Kappa scowled, switching languages for a third time. ⌠⌠He can’t say shit. Probably semi-learned to read off a novel he had copies of in multiple languages and nothing practical…⌡⌡

“You said Paradi,” Piiman noted. “Nin knows some Paradi. His sister taught him.” Now that caught Kappa’s attention.

“Your sister used to sail the Grand Line?” he asked.

“My sister was a Marine cadet when she was alive,” Ninjin admitted with a shrug. “We used it when she was home to talk without our parents knowing. It’s been a long time. I don’t remember much.”

“You’ll all eventually catch at least a little Paradi while you’re traveling, since it’s just a spoken creole, or mix, of the Blue Languages,” Chabo assured, “but I think branching out our language capabilities will need to be a priority. We can pick up some texts and phrasebooks in Logue Town to read on our downtime.”

“Most people on the Grand Line will speak Paradi, but we’ll need to get a head start on a few others if we want to land on islands and not make a fuss and drag unwanted attention to ourselves,” Kappa stated. “We’ll need some knowledge of possibly Dressrosan, Tottoese, Scorchistani, Faldese, Morgaro, Guanha, more of you to learn Ryugua…”

“That’s a lot,” Rika huffed. “They wanted us to learn Celestial in school, but it was hard. No one ever got far unless they were weird eggheads.”

“When it comes to Celestial, I don’t blame you,” Kappa deadpanned. “Still… we’re seafaring folk who are comically under-prepared. The only reason I’ve got much of our course is because we stole it from Arlong Park; not having more than Ryugua, a single Blue, and a minor Paradise language firmly under our belts is reckless. Interpreters aren’t cheap and we’ve got… how much again…?”

“In beri or in lint balls?” Tamanegi quipped.

⌠⌠We are the poorest fucking pirates to ever sail these seas,⌡⌡ Kappa realized aloud. He stared at Chabo, almost in shock. ⌠⌠It’s a goddamned pleasure cruise to them.⌡⌡

⌠⌠It’s not…⌡⌡

⌠⌠We’re in over our fucking heads.⌡⌡

“…and what language is that?” Tamanegi asked. “You never told us.” Kappa exhaled heavily—of course.

“Alabastian—it’s what I grew up speaking until I was about eleven.”

“Where’s that? Alabastia?” Ninjin wondered.

“Alabasta—it’s about halfway through the first part of the Grand Line. My guess is that Guanha is the main language right now. Possibly Western. Depends on what’s going on there at the moment.”

“Why would it change like that? Why don’t you know?”

“Do you know what a ‘prestige language’ is? No, you don’t—basically, a lot of upper class and city people were not using Alabastian in their daily lives by the time I left, most using Western and some Guanha. The royal family knew the native language and used it frequently, though. Actually, the princess’s Alabastian was one of the most lovely and assuring tones I can remember having ever heard.”

“How do you know all this?” Tamanegi asked, brow furrowing. “This isn’t the kind of thing you just know about while hiding in a shack in the East.”

“My 'amú taught me a lot while we were traveling together,” Kappa frowned. “He… he and I loved Alabasta, just in different ways. I didn’t know both of our emotions came from the same place until after we had to leave.”

“Why did you leave?”

“Tam, enough,” Rika warned. “I don’t care about where we’ve all been—all I care about is that we’re going forward, together. Kappa’s part of that now.”

“You only wanted him because he’s been on the Grand Line.”

“Yeah, and I said enough.” She glanced over at Kappa, who seemed to be observing the situation more than anything. “I still want a pet and a mascot, you know.”

“We’re not getting either.”

“Can’t blame me for trying.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The meeting had ended soon after, with the crew dispersing to their varying preferred posts. Chabo climbed up the rigging and settled himself in the crow’s nest. He was prepared to be up there for a few hours at the very least, watching the horizon for anything that might be a threat, a welcome change, worth investigating, or anything in between.

“Hey, think this thing can handle one more?” He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Piiman was hanging half in the crow’s nest, looking as though he desperately needed to hide. Chabo nodded, gesturing with his head for the other man to complete the climb. “Thanks—I don’t know what I’d do if I got caught in Tam’s crosshairs right now.”

“He and Kakkun are not going to get on very well, are they?” Chabo chuckled.

“That’s an understatement.”

“If it helps: Kakkun is a good guy once he’s comfortable with you. It just… takes a bit. I get the feeling Tam’s the same way; that he only is nice to you because you’ve known one another long enough.”

“Tam… he, Nin, and I are brothers. Not blood brothers, but still brothers… and even I’m not entirely immune to his moods all the time.”

“Then I guess we should probably make ourselves at home up here.”

“At least until they realize where we’re both hiding,” Piiman smirked. He and Chabo nodded at one another and began their watch.

Cowards had to stick together, after all.

Thus, they continued their watch, keeping an eye on the decks below as well as the horizon. They waited and waited, watching carefully. An outcropping of rocks was soon visible, which they relayed the position of to Kappa, not hearing anything else from their crewmates until Rika appeared over the side of the crow’s nest with a basket in her hand.

“Nin’s turn to cook tonight,” she said cheerily. She remained draped over the short wall while she put down the basket and uncovered it—two bowls filled with a simple meal of noodles and sauce. “It’s good enough that even Kappa likes it.”

“When we were kids, Nin wanted to open a tavern, so he was the only one of us to get any instruction in a kitchen,” Piiman said. He took his bowl out and began slurping up the noodles. “It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to make him better than Tam and I, anyhow.”

“Kappa wants to make it so the two of them cook until we’ve got a real one handy,” Rika said. She then noticed that Chabo was staring over her shoulder, noodles half-hanging out from his mouth. “What’s wrong…?” He inhaled the rest of his noodles, placing the bowl in the basket.

“There’s a ship,” he said warily. He accepted a spyglass from Piiman and made a low, disapproving noise. “Krieg.”

“Oh…” The other two looked in the same direction and saw that the ship was much bigger than theirs, if perspective wasn’t throwing them off, not to mention was well-populated and armed to the masts. Piiman swallowed hard, almost choking on his noodles.

“I’m gonna see if Kappa can get us to those rocks so we can hide there,” Rika decided. “They don’t seem to have seen us yet.”

“That’s the advantage of them being so much bigger,” Piiman shivered. He and Chabo watched as Rika dropped back down to the main deck and pointed out the ship on the horizon to Kappa and Ninjin. Soon as the navigator saw the hulking behemoth, he silently gestured for all hands on deck…

…and if they weren’t quiet about it, he was going to wring their necks.

Quickly, everyone got going and they hurried the ship over to the rocks, hiding behind them the best they could. Soon as they were out of sight, they dropped anchor and pulled up the sail, securing it in the rigging.

“So, what, are we just going to try to look abandoned?” Piiman asked as they all went underdeck. “They might still want to see what’s leftover.”

“We’re too small for them to want to bother with us unless they think there’s still people here,” Kappa frowned. “They’d have to be very desperate to want to do that.”

“How desperate?” Tamanegi wondered.

“Sail-into-Cocoyasi-to-treatise-with-Arlong levels,” Chabo replied. Kappa nodded for confirmation. “I’ll go back into the crow’s nest and keep watch until they’ve passed.”

“Be careful, and that’s an order,” Rika said firmly. He gave her a nod before going back up to the deck, leaving his crewmates out of sight. Everyone below deck huddled quietly, waiting for Chabo to return. Instead, after some tense waiting, they heard him shout in Alabastian.

“Khvahsh myknm!”

“What’d he say?” Ninjin wondered. Kappa shrugged.

“‘No problem’—it’s the first thing he picked up in Alabastian, so it’s our code for when the coast is clear.” He climbed the ladder to go above deck again and saw Chabo climbing down from the crow’s nest. “Didn’t come after us?”

“Either they didn’t see us or they didn’t think us worth it—no matter what, we’re good.”

“No, we’re not good,” Rika frowned. She climbed a bit of the rigging and looked out over the water, trying to see where the ship was, if it was still within sight at all. “We don’t need Krieg ruining our chances before we even get to Logue Town.”

“I thought his waters were more towards the north,” Tamanegi frowned. “That ship had to cross Buggy’s territory to get here.” His face blanched in horror. “You don’t think they’re trying to move around in the void left by Arlong and Morgan do you?”

“Oh, I can guarantee it,” Kappa said. “The sooner I can get this pile of firewood to Logue Town, the better off we’ll be in the long-run. We don’t need to attract the attention of all the remaining Bosses.”

“That would be very bad,” Ninjin agreed.

“Let them go to war,” Rika scoffed. “We have better things to do than get caught up in whatever they’re gearing up for—the Grand Line makes them look like nothing, right Kappa?”

“Ha, yeah, it’d be a shame to let ourselves die here because of one of those morons.” Kappa looked in the direction of Logue Town, checking the position with his compass. “It’s so close I can almost taste it.”

“Then bring us there,” Rika grinned, “and let’s put this shitty Sea behind us.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A/N: Okay, so here’s where I start explaining myself as far as which languages are which. We’ve established that Eastern is English, but what about some of the others I’ve been throwing around? Kappa’s native Alabastian is being represented with transliterated Persian! I am 1000% relying on a translation site for that and am open to any input more experienced than mine. Ryugua, or the indigenous tongue of Fishfolk and Merfolk both is represented by Scots Gaelic, which is one of the languages I actually do have a passing knowledge of, and I’m actively trying to get better in. Remember that, now. We’ll get into many of the other languages mentioned much later, but for the time being, I’ll at least give up that Western/Algharbii is Arabic, Northern/Nord is French, and Southern/Dakshin is Hindi-Urdu (which, for the purpose of what I need for this fic, is being treated as one large unit instead of what essentially is two sociopolitical-religious-cultural-dependent linguistic fractions of the same base, because I am not going to even pretend I have a stake in that fight). This means that Paradi/Paradis, the piratical creole of these four, is a goddamned fucking mess. *sobs quietly, becomes puddle* I run so much through translators while still trying to make educated guesses best I can, especially for the things I do have some recognition in (to whatever degree that might be). Most of the languages will in-fic share writing systems--more on that later.

Also, the only real new translation I have in this chapter is Bozorge Sandora, which is roughly “Great/Mighty Sandora”, mostly because Kappa needs to swear more.