Valery Shimmamoto
The rocking of the ship jostled the young man awake from his cot, as he slowly came too he could feel an immense amount of pain across his chest. The bandages that liked his chest were lightly stained in Scarlet. Valery winced a bit from the pain inspecting his surroundings, he seems to be in the lower decks of some ship.
His memory was a bit foggy but the pain from his body got him right up to speed. He noticed that despite losing the fight he wasn’t restrained, perhaps they no longer saw him as a threat? Surely the marines would incarcerate him for such a crime. He attempted to get onto his feet, finding success but only temporarily as his body was rather weak from blood loss. Quickly, Valery stuck to the walls of the ship. Propping himself up with the wall as he shuffled over to the cabin door. As he reached for the door he took notice of the knob shifting on its own, Indicating someone was about to enter.
“Ahh I see you’re finally awake” captain Rockaport smirked before giving Val a good strike on the top of his head
“OUCH WHADDYA DO THAT FOR!” Val replied as he clutched his head and kneeled to the ground. He could physically feel the afflicted area begin to swell up.
“YOU STUPID BRAT, DON'T EVER DREAM OF EMBARASS ME LIKE THAT AGAIN OR ILL PROPERLY CUT YOU DOWN MYSELF” the captain shouted, spit particles assaulted Valery. He was so mad it was almost as though you could see steam seeping from his ears as he shouted.
After a little bit, captain Rockaport cooled off. Seeing not much use beating the kid up more than he already is.
“By the way that Marine guy left a message for ya, he said he can’t give you that sword bsck right now because he needs it for something. But if you want you are more than welcome to try and challenge him once more but he won’t hold back next time.”
“I see…” Valery replied, letting the room fall in silence. You could visibly see his annoyance as he zoned out in thought. The guilt of failure as not only did he fail to retrieve the sword but his opponent took pity on him, it was shameful to say the least. Memories of the fight played in his head, he was unable to land a hit of any type on the man. He wasn’t even fighting at full strength yet he managed to still run circles around Val. He was far too weak and naive.
“Thank you for all your help, Captain. I’m sorry for an-“ he was stopped by the captain holding up his hand before lighting up a cigarette.
“Don’t start getting all sentimental on me now, clearly this was something important to you.” Rockaport puffed out a cloud of smoke. “There comes a time in every man’s life where they’ve got to fight for something they believe in and I saw it loud and clear that marines resolve was just stronger than yours and it showed, call It what you want but you’re lucky that he let you off with a wound instead of taking your life or letting you rot in a cell.”
Valery clenched his fist, what he was saying was true. Even while fighting it seemed as though he was always looking past him, as though something far greater was important. “Why are you telling me these, you barely know me and I caused a lot of trouble for you as well”
“So that you understand before you kick the bucket before me. I've seen a couple of fights in my day and I could tell you were clearly fighting for a cause. That resolve will get you far in this world. Don’t worry about why I am giving you advice, Us older guys are here to guide you youngsters so don’t think too hard about it.” Rockaport exclaimed before taking another puff. “We’re about to dock shortly. I’ll have one of the crew members bring you a parting meal before we go our separate ways. You can also have some of my old clothes that don’t fit anymore in that crate in the corner.” The captain replied before heading off.
What was brung to the room was more like scraps than a meal, a cold chicken leg with some rice that seemed to have gone bad. Valery sighed as his stomach growled, he begrudgingly ate food. With each bite he missed Ocean song Village more and more.
He then rummaged through the crate of clothes managing to find a plain white t-shirt and some tan trousers which happened to match the boots he had. By the time he was all set the ship was docking at the gangplank. Valery surfaced from the innards of the ship, breathing in fresh air as he laid his eyes on Kappa island.
“This is yours” Captain Rockaport replied as he handed over Valerys sword.
“Thanks for everything, captain,” Valery said before bowing his head. “Next time I see you, there’s going to be another sword attached to my hip” he exclaimed as he waved goodbye to the rest of the crew.
Now making contact with Kappa island, Valery recalled a large tavern that peaked his interest from the doc. The meal he had in the ship was a bit underwhelming, he’d need proper nutrition if he was to regain full strength.
[End of chapter 1]
