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"Hey, this is actually pretty cool!"
Rayleigh knew he shouldn't rise to the bait, but he did anyway, looking over at the young redhead's shout. Shanks and Buggy were going through the spoils from their latest bout with the marines. Shanks was holding the object of his exclamation aloft.
"I thought you wanted to learn the sword," he said, eyeing the battle axe warily. The boy didn't know the first thing about handling such a weapon, if the clumsy way he gripped it was any indication.
"I do, but don't you think it would be good for me to learn how to fight with other weapons, too?" he asked.
"Sure, but you should probably focus on one at a time, don't you think?"
Shanks shrugged, swinging the axe back down. Buggy had paused in sifting through the gold to watch him in amusement. Shanks grinned and swung the axe back and forth at imagined enemies.
"Watch it," Rayleigh cautioned. "You're gonna take an arm off or somethin'."
"I'm not gonna lose an arm," Shanks retorted, unworried. "See, I'm in complete control of-WAH!"
He swung his arm in a large, hacking arc as he spoke, and at its zenith the handle slipped out of his hand and flipped through the air, right at Buggy's head.
Time slowed down for a moment as the blade flipped with a phwip, phwip, phwip at the other apprentice. Buggy's eyes and mouth widened as it came down, piercing straight into his forehead.
Rayleigh was sure his heart stopped.
For an eternity the axe hung there, sticking into the boys flesh.
Then Buggy fell with a thump against the grass.
His head split in two, and the young pirate sat up, still in half like a piece of string cheese.
Wind stirred the leaves.
Then the two apprentices collapsed into laughter, unable to contain themselves. "You should've seen your face, Ray-san!" cried Buggy gleefully, and Shanks nodded in agreement, wiping moisture from the corner of his eye.
Rayleigh was not amused.
"OW!"
"OW!"
He stood over the two, arms crossed, while they whimpered and clutched their heads.
"You two are idiots!" he snapped. "Don't go scaring people like that!"
"Ugh… damn it…"
"Yes, Ray-san…"
He kicked both their rumps, causing them to jump to their feet.
"You morons are on barnacle scrapping duty for the next three months!" he barked, sending them scrambling back for the ship. "And don't you DARE try that stunt on Captain! You'll probably give him a damn heart attack!"
He watched them take off, shaking his head. "'Bout gave me a heart attack," he murmured.
The gold and other loot was taken back to the ship.
The axe, however, was left right where it had fallen.