Chapter Text
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DISCLAIMER: I WISH I OWN HUNTER X HUNTER
AD: A new contest is up! It's on Genderbending. The threads on the forums and I provided a link on my profile. :)
In the world of Maharlika, three continents existed. One was of snow, one was of sand, and the other was of water.
They were large land masses collections of islands, and they were basically isolated from one another.
It was a world of monarchy, despite its age, as it could not go further for any more progress would destroy that world. It was a world that controlled people—constantly attacking it with storms and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions—to ensure they do not take beyond what they deserve.
It was a world that was alive, and well, and striving; But at the same time it was stingy. It only selected few to be born with power to hold it close.
These people were gifted individuals, albeit not always of good heart.
They were very rare.
And all were destined for greatness.
…
CHAPTER 1: The Stirring
HONDA SEA
The skies were clear, the birds flew elegantly as the clouds floated, and the winds guided the waves with its strength. After a strapping whoosh, attention was shifted to a boat that glided gracefully across the waves. The sternpost turned once more disturbing the direction of the waters that it hit, carrying the whole weight of the ship with it.
The ship's body was large and intricately designed, its form emitting sophistication—with its woodwork and accessories—and rightfully so, being the government ship that it was...
Well, sort of.
A strong, seemingly deliberate gust of wind passed the area once more again, hitting the plain sails with force that was able to change the ship's direction. Chains were heard, clanking, and just like that the direction of the ship changed back to its original course.
Oddly, there were no overarching symbol to show the ship's distinction, but its masts were tall and imposing, with its crow's nest built matching it aesthetically. It, too, was built for comfort. It was given an area comfortable for three and accentuated by an elegant conical roof that shaded the users from the heat and rain.
Only one was using the nest, though, and at the moment she was looking very far away.
Antigone Freecs, or simply Gon, had her whole body basically resting on the sill with one hand supporting her weight and the other over her eyes to shield them from the sun's glares. She was looking into the horizon with her inhuman eyesight. She narrowed her eyes to focus her vision and slowly, her target sight became clear enough.
The first thing she saw was a black flag, with a funny picture of a skeleton and a violet hat. There is no mistake about it, Gon mused, and she quickly shifted position to face the interior of the ship.
"It's a pirate ship!"
The people below looked at her, they were three men, and one went to take a look. The other two continued playing chess.
"Ah~" A man said. He was wearing, and always had, thick cloths that covered a large part of his head and his neck; He made cones out of his palm as if they became binoculars. The girl inherited her eyesight from him, after all, albeit he had more idiosyncrasies in showing his talents.
He chuckled and looked at the two teenagers playing chess. "Oi, Kurapika!"
"Wait, Ging." Intervened blonde's playmate—Kaito, sternly. "Just one more…move." He smirked and placed his rook to target the King.
"Check."
Kurapika stared but altogether remained impassive. Ging only walked to them and watched. Kaito seemed very proud of himself—it seemed he would finally win a game against the blonde. Kurapika was losing and at this point and circumstance, most people would usually resign. But Ging knew Kurapika was not most people—so he continued to watch.
Kurapika, after a few more moves, moved his queen—to a position where she would get killed. Kaito's eyes widened and gaped at Kurapika as if he did anything crazy. He assessed the move and saw that he could take the queen in two—no three—different ways!
"You deliberately sacrificed your Queen?"
He frowned. "Are you giving up?"
"Maybe." Kurapika shrugged and Kaito only took the white Queen. Indeed, it was certain Kaito would win in two moves, but—
"Check mate."
"WHAT?" They (Ging and Kaito) leaned down as if they would see what happened more clearly. It was true. He, Kaito, was losing. Gon saw the excitement and decided to ready her backpack.
"TSK." Kaito expressed as he begrudgingly cleaned up the board (losers were the ones to clean up after). "When am I going to beat you Kurapika?!"
"Probably never." Ging answered and looked at Kurapika. "Look."
And as if a signal, Gon jumped down from the crow's nest and grabbed the intertwined ropes supporting the sails. She used the swings for momentum and grabbed another rope as she let go of the other.
A second later she was on the ground, and stood straight in front of the chess board. It was already cleaned up though so she sighed in slight disappointment. It was not like she was going to understand what it was about, anyway.
"Kurapika won again?"
"Don't remind me, kid." Kaito said and put the final piece inside the board. "Kurapika, just look as Ging instructed you to."
"Hai, hai…" The pretty-faced blonde sighed and stared. It was still far away though, so Gon decided to describe it.
"That's the flag of the Alvida pirates." Kurapika said as a matter-of-factly. "The last information about them was 6 months ago, they had around a hundred members following their female leader."
"Oh, I heard about them." Kaito nodded. "There's only one woman in that ship, and apparently she was very beautiful."
Kurapika nodded. "I heard most of her followers were following her just because of her beauty."
"Oh? I wanna see!" Ging grinned. "Change course to 10'o clock~"
The blonde nodded and after a slight scratch made by his chair, he stood up. He looked around and surveyed they'd have to make a 120 degree turn and closed his eyes. When he opened them—abruptly—his blue orbs had turned crimson. He raised up his hand as if automatically and soon sounds of chain echoed in the deck.
Chain, that was unseen prior, materialized from his arm and slowly a line formed that lead to the wheel up front the ship. The chain covered the wheel and it seemed it had always been there, controlling its movements the whole time.
Grinding metal met with Narra, and guided its movements. Apparently, the chain in its materialized form was stronger when it was practically a mere presence interacting with matter.
Only a few hand movements and the ship turned to the desired degree.
Ging, ever so feeling his captainship, ran to the masthead as it faced their desired course and pointed at the pirate ship.
"To the pirate ship!"
He yelled… as if they weren't already heading there anyway.
…
Meanwhile…
BAM!
A large mug used to be full of ale hit a sturdy table of the same wood. The mug barely held on but it did. The hand holding it wasn't any gentler though, despite its petite size—it was fairly strong.
"Oi, Baldy!" The owner shouted in her low-pitched and raspy tone of voice—totally, in normal people standards, unfitting for the highly aesthetic face that she owned. Baldy immediately went to her for her service. The flowers and hearts that surrounded him was enough to tell anyone of his infatuation with the woman.
"Hai, Alvida-sama~?" He said, rubbing is calloused hands like a maniac. He was wearing an odd armor not quite in-place relative to the other men on deck. He was wearing purely black and light-looking armor with a blood-red scarf adorning his neck.
"More."
"Hai~" He said and went to get some more ale. But, during his travels to the gallons and gallons of alcohol in the ship, the two people in the crow's nest started over-reacting and yelling some stuff.
"It's the Hunter Pirates!"
He blinked and went to take a peek. Most of the men suddenly gathered on the side of the ship where these Hunter Pirates supposedly were coming from. He almost lost his balance when the ship started tilting, but nevertheless went to join in the crowd.
For he may be a ninja—but he was a very curious ninja.
And indeed, there was a ship, a large one at that. But he, the great Ninja Hanzo, looked closely and it looked too elegant to be a pirate ship. Plus, there was something missing. "They don't even have a flag."
"Of course they don't, Newbie!" His crewmate and senior in the crew for who knew how long (he had only been there for 3 days) yelled. He was a fat man named Tompa. "They're not officially pirates. But they're pirates!"
"…ha?"
"Well they steal from pirates."
"They're the marine or something?"
"No. They attacked several government ships as well." The man said seriously. "They're a crazy bunch."
"Shouldn't pirates be more terrifying?"
"How the hell would I know what they're thinking?!"
Hanzo stared at the fuming Tompa, but ended up looking back at the ship. There was something… inherently interesting with that ship, and as terrified as the others were—He was excited.
He looked around and so barely no one was left sight-seeing with him. They were all readying the weapons and themselves. He surveyed around for the nearest guy he could find.
"Ne…"
"What?"
"Grumpy pants."
"Don't talk to me new comer! Can't you see…" He huffed. "We're preparing the canon here?"
"Doesn't mean you can't speak…"
"What the hell." The man decided to just let it go and ignore him. He continued readying the canons along with two other guys.
"Ne…" Hanzo said without moving. "Are they strong?"
Ignored
"Oiii. Don't ignore me. Are they strong?"
"…they are! Damnit." a man said impatiently.
"I hear there're less than 10 people there tho."
"There is? Why are we panicking so much then?"
Someone pushed him from behind but before he could say his mind to that guy, the man he was talking to pulled his attention back.
"That crew—they're just that strong."
Hanzo found silence in everything all of a sudden. An extremely strong group of people? He muttered to himself, and the men just decided to ignore him and continue readying themselves in an attempt of survival. It took him a long amount of seconds to get back to reality.
"I'm getting fired up—"
And BAM! "Shut up and help us here!" Tompa gritted his teeth but Hanzo was in much too good mood (and energy only for strong people deserved to see) to bother yelling at the fat man for his impertinence.
So instead, he grinned. "N'aw. I don't need canons to fight." And then, in the middle of the chaos, he started meditating and completely ignoring everyone around him.
Twitch
Twitch
Twitch Twitch Twitch
A few veins were popped.
"Teme—"
"Oi, Yoshiro, stop." Was all Tompa could huff out. "That weirdo's strong—it was why Alvida-sama asked him to come with us." He leaned down to whisper, as if he didn't want the meditating ninja not to hear. "He managed to beat 10 officers back at the port in a blink of an eye. I saw it with my own eyes."
"So you witnessed my awesomeness? How lucky you are." Hanzo said with a proud grin, and went back to ignoring them. Yoshiro's veins popped again.
"Temeeeeee—"
And he went in for an attack.
They barely even absorbed Hanzo's smirk as a second later he was already behind Yoshiro and pointing a shard object at his neck.
"When—"
"You didn't even see me coming did you."
"What's going on here?" A new voice intervened, annoyance filled with her tone. Hanzo's ears perked and flowers and hearts floated around him again.
"We were just readying ourselves, Alvida-sama~"
"OI. MEN! Stand your grounds! They're here!"
Hanzo turned and saw them. There were 4 people finally visible at their distance. There was one man on the front; He was standing on the lion masthead. The other three stood, just as proud.
Hanzo gulped. In one look he could tell: These people—they were strong. Very Strong.
Alvida quickly whipped his hand towards the enemy ship's direction, and yelled: "Fire!"
Hanzo flinched. They were firing canons at the already? He disliked the idea but the moment he watched those canons reach a few meters from them, he found himself frozen—along with everyone else in his ship.
The man from on the masthead only smirked and stared as if there was no ball of death coming directly at him. An instant later—clash!—some weird chain appeared out of nowhere effortlessly deflecting the canon a hundred feet away.
In panic, the people from the canon fired simultaneously sending a dozen more canons at the enemy ship.
One guy with hair as long as he was bald, was holding an oddly adorned scythe (he partly absorbed the fact that the guy was talking to it). Another person, he wasn't sure whether it was male or short-haired female (in either case he had a pretty face), had a long chain of metal that was just…there, and then there was a teenage girl (whom he noted was pretty cute) was just standing there but the seriousness in her eyes was very alluring.
At the second the lethal canon balls approached them, the man who now really seemed like their leader only stood there confidently—as if nothing was after their lives. The other three, though, even when they too only stood ground—moved. The movements were so quick—the long haired guy with his scythe, the androgynous blonde with his/her chain, and that girl with her powerful kick—that Hanzo was certain only he saw what they did.
Boom!
"W-What just happened?!"
"O-Our canon balls!"
"Why did the cannonballs explode so far away?!
Indeed, he was the only one who saw. He turned and not even their captain had any idea what was going on. At that moment, his bored energy of infatuation detached itself from this woman. Well, at least at the moment.
"Those three…" he said, insides full of excitement. "They deflected them."
"They what?"
Hanzo couldn't help himself at the recollection of their awesome movements—he started laughing.
"O-Oi! What are you laughing a-about?! We're up against monsters!"
"T-This is nen. Amazing!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"OI, men! Stop fooling around they're coming!" Alvida yelled. "Be ready!"
Hanzo laughed as if he had nothing to do with it. Alvida and a few others who weren't praying for their lives stared at him.
"We stand no chance."
…
A minute or so after the canons, the ship finally bumped into the other and Gon stared as she jumped to the other ship.
As expected, the moment they stepped on, they were surrounded by the men—their sharp weapons that stenched of blood pointed at them from all sides. They never moved though, in position, albeit all swords were shaking rather wildly. Soon, amongst the crowd of men with swords, they heard the sound of hard heels and apparently the men made way for the sound to reach them.
One by one the men stood aside and a clear path was made, revealing a very beautiful lady with snow white skin and long ivory wavy hair. She was wearing a large cowboy hat too and somewhat revealing yet classy clothing. Gon gaped in admiration, Ging did too since he was a normal guy in that sense, while Kaito and Kurapika had always lacked active hormones.
Gon soon found herself looking beyond the woman and saw an oddly dressed bald man lying on the barrels as if he was thrown there. He was alive and well and had barely any scratches, but he was not moving. He was just watching there and was slacking off.
Gon decided to just ignore him and look back at the woman. She was really beautiful…
"No wonder you had so many followers. You really are beautiful, Alvida-san." Her father said in his usual nonchalant tone of voice.
She laughed sardonically. "Oh, thank you." But she flickered her hand and the swords only came closer. "But don't think you're off the hook."
"Of course." Ging grinned. "But just so you know you and your crew are worth quite a fine bit of cash."
"I'm flattered." She said and glared. "Kill them."
And what sounded like a zing to Hanzo later, everyone was aghast. So was he, even when he expected something already. The men tried to stab them again—but there was no use. And they were then sure they were not imagining things. The swords wouldn't even go a millimetre deep into their skins.
He knew the power of nen was amazing—but this was just beyond expectations. Normal weapons no longer work on them. It was unbelievable.
And, in the end, Hanzo could only gape…
As the four monsters took out more than a hundred armed men without breaking a sweat.
…
"Move it!" Kaito yelled with his usual cool voice at the people already tied up. They were kind of blocking the way towards the unconscious ones they were going to tie up as well.
"Shikusooooo."
"Damn!"
And amongst the crowd, the crew's lone woman was tied up by the enemy captain. "Captain-san…" Alvida said leaning very close to Ging, using her smooth voice that would melt normal men. "Why don't we cut a deal?"
"Oh?" He grinned. "You think there's a chance I'll accept?"
"Maybe." She smiled seductively. "I'll give you 7000 gold coins if you let me go. And if you want… you can have… me."
"Ho-ho." He laughed, but Alvida found herself frozen a second later—the moment she took a glimpse of his large auburn orbs. "Really, Alvida, really?"
He leaned down so that they were only an inch apart. Alvida was losing her breath. His orbs—they suddenly seemed to mirror the depths of hell.
"People like you are the type I could kill very easily."
.
"Ging." A voice from the other side of the deck called amongst the cluttering noise that dominated the air at the moment. It was Gon. "Come here."
Alvida blinked at how quickly Ging calmed at the sound of the girl's voice. Ging sighed and stood up. He looked around for a certain long-haired man. "Kaito." He called, and when he showed up, Ging pointed at Alvida. "Watch her as well, will you?"
"No prob."
And Ging went to where his daughter was.
"What is it?" he asked and his question was answered a second later. His beautiful daughter was currently sitting seiza in front of a weirdly-dressed baldhead. He looked nonchalantly chatting with Gon and he was never quite surprised as he knew of Gon's almost pathological trusting nature.
He sighed. "So you're just travelling with them?" was the next thing he heard. He looked at the bald brat-man who stood up to greet him. Gon followed.
"What are you here for?"
"I…"
"Wait." Ging said and looked behind him. "Kurapika. Come here."
"Hmn?" the blonde asked as soon as he neared them.
"We'll interrogate him."
"Ah." The blonde replied and extended his arm, letting a short chain dangle from his palm. Kurapika and Hanzo's eyes met, and Kurapika's mouth opened as if it was customary to do so.
"Lie and you will have the same fate as they will have—life behind bars.
Hanzo gulped.
"First: Who are you?"
"My name is Hanzo of Konoha. I am a Ninja." Kurapika nodded, affirming he was telling the truth.
"What is your purpose in this ship and are you our enemy."
"There is a city I was going to. I needed to be on a ship and this one gladly took me in." He answered. "I will only be your enemy if you try and keep me from going to my destination."
"He's telling the truth."
Ging narrowed his eyes. "Where are you going, then?"
"Padioka City. I wanted to meet the royal family." Gon and Kurapika blinked—staring at Ging in the process.
"Padioka City? Wasn't that the city where you got banned in?"
"…"
"EH? You were from there?" Hanzo yelled excitedly, seriously not noticing the stares of his former board mates. "What happened?"
"None of your business, kid."
"Is that why you know Nen?"
They stared at him. Why did he know nen?
"I was tested and they found I had potential to control life force." He said proudly, answering their unvoiced questions. "It was said the royal family in Padioka could open it up."
"You don't have people like that in your place?"
"We had a dozen—but they're all priests." He shook his head in disapproval of the said priests. "But I have to train there spiritually for 2 years first. Who can wait a 2 years?!"
"I see... The Zoldycks accept skilled servants especially those with potential. You have to pass their tests though." Ging stared at him stoically. "Are you going to serve them?"
"…that was the original plan." They stared and after a gulp, he bowed fully. "I honestly didn't think I could meet people who could use it miles away from the city."
He looked at them seriously. "What I'm trying to say is:
Please teach me!"
A few minutes later, the crew was finally tied up completely with most of them still unconscious. Hanzo was called a traitor by several conscious members and he cried in apology. It was sincere—even when it never looked that way.
"I'm so sorry mates!" he yelled as he waved and slowly dramatic tears lined up his eyes (He was a bit sentimental). "But I have to do this! *sob* I'm so sorry beautiful Alvida-sama~ I'm sure a lot of people will serve you in prison! *sobs* It was fun serving you~" He waved his white handkerchief.
"Adios!"
And as he stepped out of their ship and on the equally massive adjacent one of the enemies, the flabbergasted crew could only yell:
"YOU BALD IDIOT!"
Hanzo whistled at the design of the ship. It was almost as large as the other one—but seriously, how many people actually used the ship?
"Ne, how many others are there?"
"Only two." Gon answered and smiled."My aunt and my grandmother."
"So that makes four women in the ship?" he asked, unsure, although the fact that an old woman was there also baffled him.
"Eh?"Gon tilted her head. "Only three."
Hanzo found himself looking at Kurapika. "So you're a guy?" He sighed. "Bummer."
Kurapika's eyes twitched but, as always, he managed to keep his cool. Besides, he had more important things to occupy his mind.
He looked at Ging who, as expected, had orders. "Kurapika," Ging said and stared at the other ship. Kurapika nodded and then looked at Gon. After all, he would be too busy with the other ship to stir at the same time. She grinned at him beautifully.
"I'm on it~"
He let out a deep breath for his customary meditation and held out his hand. He tuned out everything else in concentration and chains materialized from his hand. Soon, conjured metal surrounded the other ship.
"Eh? You're going to pull that ship?"
Kurapika ignored Hanzo's obvious admiration and open wonder as to why they don't just anchor the two ships together and just constantly put someone behind the wheel.
His concentration was slightly faltered by the whistle of awe from their new crewmate. But Kurapika's eyes though, started wandering, and accidentally caught Hanzo's eyes following Gon's figure.
Once again, his eyes twitched.
Kurapika frowned.
"Hanzo."
"Yes—?" The ninja paled when their eyes met. "W-What the…! Your eyes are re—"
"I don't care about the color of my eyes." He said dismissively and as if to make his point, closed his palm—making the chain on the other ship tighten. Hanzo flinched at the same time he heard a few part of the other ship getting crushed. "Look at Gon like that again and I'll crush you with my chains."
The Ninja was speechless, but managed to nod anyway. Slowly, he backed away and scurried across the deck and idiotically ran somewhere else. It was then that he heard footsteps—the footsteps of an average sized woman.
His ears perked at that thought.
"Breakfast is ready!" She yelled and soon a beautiful woman looking around his age showed herself from the rooms below. She had short hair but otherwise very feminine. He could also smell the food—the aroma was incredible!
A beautiful woman cooking wonderful meals?
Oh, how he, the great Ninja Hanzo, would love it here!
But, then—
Slash
He paled at the fact that out-of-nowhere, the tip of a scythe was already in front of his face. He whipped his head to its wielder and saw very dark eyes.
"Look at Mito like that and I'll slice you in half." Hanzo's eyes twitched.
EHHHHHHH?!
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 1
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 2: The Docks of Montague
…
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! Especially those who showed their support. xD