Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hachinosu. Pirate Island.

The island where, as the name suggested, mostly pirates and criminals resided. It was a lawless place officially, as there was no Marine presence on it. At least, no Marines who were actively in service. If you went there, you were on your own.
It was ruled by pirates who had their own moral codes. If you couldn’t stick up for yourself, then you had two options; either leave or die.
It wasn’t a normal day on Hachinosu without at least three new corpses and many broken bodies.

However, on rare occasions, very rare mind you, the pirates experienced some sort of imagined peace. It could be as simple as one crew feeling a bit charitable after coming back with a ton of loot and inviting everyone for a drink, or it could be shared happiness over the defeat of a major Marine player. Something small could trigger something harmonious even.
Today was exactly one of those days.
Not only did the Rocks pirates come with treasures to the island, the Roger pirates had also arrived with just as much loot.
Both crews, for some reason, felt inclined to buy each other drinks to celebrate and invited everyone who dared to party with them to tag along. The whole island seemed to be daring enough to come, as the party only got bigger and bigger as hours went by,
Everyone seemed to get along decently well, and if serious fighting broke out, because they were pirates who craved violence, they were promptly kicked out.
This particular feast lasted days until every single person was too drunk or exhausted to continue.
After both the Rocks Pirates and the Roger Pirates finally left Hachinosu, the island could breathe again. For now at least.

Roger sat back in his captain’s cabin, almost in complete darkness. Not because he didn’t have any light. There was plenty of light shining through. The blinds did a shit job, Roger thought.
No, he sat in the darkness because of his massive hangover. He had a headache, still two days after they had left Hachinosu. Roger hadn’t had that much to drink since he was in his twenties and that seemed like a lifetime ago now.
“Uhhhh…” he groaned, feeling sorry for himself, as he reached for a glass of water that already stood on the table. Unfortunately, his trembling hand failed him and he laid down with his cheek against the cold wood, and with his arm stretched out for the glass.
He didn’t know for how long he laid there, but he had somehow managed to doze off, because he woke up from a slam on the table.
“W-wha-?!” Roger gasped as he leaned back immediately, his heart racing from the sudden jumpscare.
“It’s about time you wake up now.”
It was Rayleigh. Beautiful, blurry Rayleigh.
“What?” Roger said again as he leaned his head into the palms of his hands and yawned loudly. How long had he been out? Long enough to have his arm go numb as it tickled when he felt the blood rush through the veins again.
“Do you know how long it’s been since we sailed from Hachinosu?” Rayleigh asked, his arms folded over his chest.
Roger shook his head as he wiped his eyes. His headache persisted.
“Two days,” Rayleigh continued.
Roger could feel Rayleigh's eyes on him and he took a deep breath before he finally leaned back to get a better look at his first mate.
Still a bit blurry, but better.
“Yeah?” Roger asked, and he finally reached for the water again now that he hoped he wouldn’t fall asleep again.
Rayleigh was quick to pick up the glass and take a sip from it. He ignored Roger’s whine.
“We have a problem,” he said while he went over to the windows and quite dramatically pulled them up one by one, making Roger squint from the sudden bright light hitting his eyes. “A big problem.”
“Like what?” Roger said with a groan as he stumbled up from the chair he was sitting in. His butt was sore. How many hours had he sat there now?
“Honestly, it’s best if I just show you,” Rayleigh said and returned back to his captain. “Thirsty?”
“Yeah, I’m very-...!” Splash.
Roger blinked. Rayleigh had thrown the remaining water from the glass on him before putting it on the table and walking over to the door.
“Rayleigh, come on. I just woke up,” Roger said in a defeated voice as raised his arms a little in an annoyed gesture, but when Rayleigh didn’t apologise, he walked over to him. “Was that because I’m hungover and let you care for the crew and ship while I lay half dead, throwing up all over our bed and not speaking to anyone since we took off from Hachinosu?”
“Partly, but I just wanted you to get up,” Rayleigh said, a faint smile crossing his lips before he looked serious again. “No, this is… this could be a big issue for us if handled incorrectly.”
Roger sighed. He scratched his head before he glanced over at the mirror. He looked somewhat presentable to the crew, despite feeling like Garp’s personal boxing bag.
“Let me help you with that,” Rayleigh offered as he stroked Roger’s hair to make it look less like a crow’s nest. Roger watched him for the few seconds it took to fix whatever it was Rayleigh saw on him that needed fixing. God, that man was beautiful.
“There, come on,” Rayleigh said and walked ahead.

Some minutes later they joined Gaban down in the alcohol storage below deck. Before Roger actually saw what was going on, he wondered if someone had died or something, with the way Gaban was looking down at something obscured by barrels.
At first, Roger only saw a pair of feet, but the closer he got to Gaban, the more he saw the problem.
There was someone lying passed out on the floor, with several empty barrels lying around that had previously been filled with alcohol. This someone was one of Rocks Pirates.
“It stinks in here,” Roger grimaced and waved a hand in front of his nose. It was a terrible mix of alcohol, urine and vomit, and looking at the person on the ground, it wasn’t hard to see the source of the smell.
“One of Rocks’ newest recruits. His name is Kaido,” Rayleigh remarked.
“How do you know that?” Roger asked. He wasn’t very familiar with this person. Obviously he had seen him before, but the name had escaped him. He couldn’t exactly remember seeing Rayleigh having been around this Kaido before either.
“Newgate,” Rayleigh replied. “He told me earlier.”
Ah, of course it was Newgate.
“What do we do with him?” Gaban asked, looking over at Roger. “He must’ve snuck onto the ship during the party and then just drank himself into a stupor.”
“Eh… he’s still alive, right?” Roger asked as he leaned a bit closer. All three of them stood at a fair distance from their unconscious stowaway.
“Yeah, I’ve checked. He’s just sleeping,” Gaban said. He had come down a while before, just to check the inventory, when he had come across the giant teenager lying on the floor before immediately going over to Rayleigh to report.
Roger scratched his chin and sighed. Well, Rayleigh had really not been kidding about it being a big problem.
Thinking back, he remembered hearing Rocks mentioning something along the lines of them also leaving Hachinosu the same day but in a completely different direction. Knowing Rocks and his crew, most of them were probably also incredibly hungover and might not even be aware that they had lost one of their crew members.
This headache of his was starting to get worse.
“Let’s uh.. discuss this away from him,” Roger said as he pointed outside and left. “It smells like shit in here.”
The other two men followed suit and they ended up in one of the larger storage rooms instead, a couple of rooms away from Kaido.

“Alright! Top of my mind, we throw him overboard,” Roger said, clapping his hands together, after Gaban had closed the door behind them.
“Absolutely not! He’s a child,” Rayleigh immediately snapped, his arms crossed over his chest again.
“That’s a child? Did you see him, Ray?” Roger gestured.
“He’s fifteen. So yes, a child.”
“Rayleigh’s right,” Gaban agreed. “As much as he may not look like it, he is a teenager. A young one at that.”
What had they been feeding that kid in that case?
“Well… alright...” Roger started to think for a moment before another idea popped up in his head. “We hold him hostage and have Rocks pay us for his safe return!”
Judging by the frowning eyebrows on the other two men, Roger could quickly deduce that that hadn’t been one of his brightest ideas.
“You really think Rocks would do that? Pay for a rookie he’s pretty much just met? He’d either abandon him or straight up attack us immediately for thinking that he’d actually pay,” Rayleigh replied. “Neither option is desirable.”
“You know how it is, Roger. Last one in, first one to go when trouble is brewing,” Gaban said.
“Then let’s just drop him off at the next goddamn island we pass, I don’t know!” Roger exclaimed with a shrug.
“So we’re going to abandon him? That’s your plan?” Rayleigh asked.
Roger didn’t like the judgemental look Rayleigh had on his face. It usually was pretty sexy, just not when it was directed at Roger.
“What do you suggest then, hm?” Roger asked. “Both of you. What should I do?”
Gaban was quiet, obviously not having an answer to that.
Rayleigh sighed, before he lightly shook his head.
“We keep him on the ship for the time being. Make sure he’s fed and has a place to stay.”
“He’s one of Rocks’ crew. Our enemy!” Roger protested. “He can’t stay here.”
“You know this as well as we do, but besides Newgate, everyone in Rocks’ crew is violent and unpredictable,” Gaban chimed in, looking at Rayleigh. While he didn’t agree with just disposing of Kaido so easily, he agreed that Kaido couldn’t stay. “He may actually destroy the ship or try to kill us for keeping him here.”
“If he does, I will take care of it,” Rayleigh offered. “Let him stay with us for now, Roger. If he wants to leave when we pass an island, we’ll let him leave, but if he doesn’t, then we’re not going to kick him out. We’ll keep a lookout for Rocks, but in the meantime, we treat him fairly and as a guest, not a prisoner.”
Roger just stared at him. Not only because he looked incredibly handsome at that moment, but also because he had given him such a ludicrous option. If it was the other way around, Rocks wouldn’t hesitate to kill one of Roger’s crew, no matter how young he may be.
“I’m not so sure about that…” Gaban said as he glanced between both men.
“Roger,” Rayleigh said, looking solely at Roger since he held the reins. “I’ll take full responsibility over what may or may not happen. I just can’t let you treat a kid like some disposable pawn. You’re better than that.”
Well, when he phrased it like that, Roger would be a massive piece of shit if he didn’t do what Rayleigh had suggested.
Roger let out a defeated sigh after letting things be quiet between them all for honestly way too long.
“Fine!” he said. “Fine, alright, but don’t come to me when he’s being difficult.”
“Are you sure?” Gaban asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” Roger groaned.
Rayleigh let his crossed arms slide down and he gave Roger a pat on his arm. “Thank you.”
“You better treat me later,” Roger said as he gave Rayleigh’s butt a pat before he walked over to the door again and opened it. “But first, I guess we need to actually wake him. Gaban, go inform the rest of the crew. I want no objections from anyone, alright?”
“Of course,” Gaban said with a nod as he walked past Roger out of the room.
Roger watched his navigator go up the stairs and leave the area before he looked back at Rayleigh, who stood waiting. The judgemental look Rayleigh had had was now wiped off and he was instead giving his captain a much warmer expression.
“Ready to wake up our intruder, Ray?”
“Guest.”
“Yeah, fine, whatever. Let’s go!”

And so the two were back in the other storage room. Despite leaving the door open, the stench was quite overwhelming. While Rayleigh was looking off, Roger went and grabbed a bucket of cold water before throwing it at the passed out teenager who immediately jolted awake by the shock.
“Roger, come on. Was that necessary?” Rayleigh groaned immediately after seeing what his captain had done.
“What? That’s how you’ve woken me up several times,” Roger replied with a grin.
“Where the fuck am I?”
The new voice in the room belonged to Kaido, who had managed to roll over onto his side and he tried to sit up. He was covered in dried vomit and urine, as well as the alcohol and now water. Quite a pitiful sight.
“You’re on the Oro Jackson,” Rayleigh answered. Both he and Roger stood by the door, as it was safest for the moment.
“Oro Jackson?” Kaido mumbled as he looked around before he spotted the two men. “Wait… Roger?”
“In the flesh!” Roger waved.
“I’ll kill you!” Kaido roared as he managed to quickly stumble up on his feet. Though, he lost his balance in an instant and crashed forward. When he tried to move again, he vomited.
“Yeah, go ahead, kid. Just stink the place up even more. I think that’s exactly what this storage needs. More vomit,” Roger said as pressed the side of his hand against his nostrils.
Kaido moaned miserably after he finished emptying his stomach. He felt like shit.
“Look, you’re welcome to try and kill me later, but do yourself and me a favor and wash up first,” Roger said as he stepped out of the room, unable to stand the stench anymore. “You handle him, Ray. I need to get up on deck before I contribute to the mess here.”
“Get a bath or something ready for our guest!” Rayleigh shouted after him when Roger disappeared up the stairs. “Use the large tub!”
Kaido wiped his lips and sat up while the other man was shouting. Now that he was fully awake, he could smell everything too. “You should’ve just killed me while I was unconscious.”
“Why?” Rayleigh glanced back at the teen.
“Because I’m part of the Rocks Pirates,” Kaido replied. “I will kill every one of you.”
Rayleigh started to take a couple of careful steps closer to Kaido. Not because he was afraid of him, but because he wanted to avoid stepping into something gross, of which there was a lot of. “You can try, but it’s easier for all of us if you don’t. We suspect you wandered over here during the party and obviously drank more than you could handle before passing out. We’ve been sailing for two days already.”
“Where’s Rocks?” Kaido asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Does he know I’m gone?”
“I don’t know anything, alright?” Rayleigh responded. “We’re not going to try and kill you, Kaido. Until we’re able to contact Rocks, we want you to stay put on the ship with us.”
Kaido just scoffed. “As if I’d do that, asshole.”
“Next island is close to two days sailing from here. We’ll drop you off if you want,” Rayleigh tried, ignoring Kaido’s attitude. “I honestly doubt Rocks will come looking for you there though. It’s a small island.”
Kaido muttered something ineligible under his breath but then went silent.
“Come on, let’s get you up on your feet. Crocus can take a look at you if you need medical attention,” Rayleigh offered and placed a hand on Kaido’s shoulder, but it was immediately shrugged off.
“Don’t touch me! I can get up on my own,” Kaido snapped before he placed a hand on top of a barrel for support and heaved himself up. Now that he was conscious, he had a headache and he felt it even more standing up because of how dizzy he got.
The teenager stumbled back a little, but managed to get a somewhat steady hold of himself. Water was dripping from him before he shook his head violently, trying to get it out of his hair. He reminded Rayleigh of a wet dog. A large, wet, smelly dog.

They left the room and Kaido felt incredibly gross once he was out of there. He smelled terribly and Rayleigh ushered him to follow him.
The tub Rayleigh had been talking about belonged to their crewmates who were too big for ordinary tubs. It had to be assembled, otherwise it took up too much space.
Once assembled though, Rayleigh brought Kaido over to it.
Kaido himself had been hesitantly walking behind Rayleigh the whole time. He was certain that someone would jump him any second. He was out of his element, being on the Oro Jackson, with a crew he had barely spoken to. Though, he didn’t sense any hostility from Rayleigh. Not one bit.

The room that the now filled tub was in was steamy and Rayleigh’s glasses fogged up almost immediately. Had Roger been in there with them, he would’ve laughed.
Rayleigh just took off his glasses to wipe them clean and looked over at Kaido.
“I’ll come in with clothes and towels for you later. Just leave your clothes on the floor and we’ll take care of them.”
Kaido looked ahead from where he was standing by the door, giving off a questionable expression, as if the tub contained acid and not hot water.
“I’m going to give you some privacy. Not sure if you ever had that staying with Rocks and his crew, but here you’re allowed to have it,” Rayleigh commented. “You have my word that no one but me will come knocking.”
The large teenager stepped to the side to allow Rayleigh to leave, but he held the door open when Rayleigh was about to close it.
“Why are you being nice to me?” he asked. This was highly unusual for him. People weren’t nice to him. They just weren’t.
“Why not?” Rayleigh smiled.
“You’re stupid for not killing me when you had the chance,” Kaido said, his face serious. “You’ll regret it.”
Rayleigh just nodded before he pointed at the tub. “I’m sure we will. Now get in the bath while it’s still hot.”
Kaido let the door slide close and he turned toward the bath tub. After looking around, he decided it was safe enough. No hidden traps, weapons or enemies waiting for him to be vulnerable.
The water did seem fine too, Kaido noticed. It even had bubbles in it and a bar of soap was placed on the edge.
He first tested it out by dipping his fingers into it and while it was hot, it was nothing that would harm him. After his fingers, he dipped the whole hand in before coming to the conclusion that no, it wasn’t a death machine out to kill him.
So he got undressed completely and threw the clothes on the floor before he sat down in the tub. It honestly was amazing feeling the water against his skin, he couldn’t deny that, and he dipped under the surface. The water quickly turned murky and opaque.

“You left him there without supervision?!” Roger shrieked when Rayleigh joined him on the upper deck some time later, without Kaido.
“He’s harmless,” Rayleigh replied.
“He knocked down a building at the party!” Roger reminded him.
“It could have been you.”
Roger let out a dragged out sigh as he wrapped an arm around his first mate and pulled him close. Why was he so insufferably right all the time?
“You’re killing me here, Ray. The headache too, but mostly you,” Roger said, looking at Rayleigh with a pout. “Why do you even care about him? He would never do this for you if the roles were reversed.”
“Like I said, he's a kid, and I don't care if he wouldn't do the same to me,” Rayleigh replied as he stroked Roger's scruffy chin with a smile. “Now are you capable of not feeling jealousy when I spend time with someone other than you?”
“Yes,” Roger lied.
“You’re not,” Rayleigh replied and gave his captain a quick peck on his cheek. “I will treat you later tonight, I promise.”
He would’ve liked to treat his captain right then and there, but he had taken it upon himself to make sure a teenager washed himself, so he needed to make sure said teenager did so.
“Ah, that reminds me! He needs clothes,” Rayleigh continued and he saw Roger’s cheeky grin falter a little when the topic suddenly changed back to Kaido.
“The only people even remotely close in size would be Nozdon or Sunbell. Go ask if they’ve got any spare ones that are washed.”
“Wait, now?” Roger just groaned as he watched Rayleigh leave him again and go downstairs.

Roger was adorable when he was in this mood, Rayleigh thought to himself. He trusted Roger would do as he had told him though, so he walked over to the room he had left Kaido in and knocked.
“You doing alright in there?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Kaido answered. He was surprisingly doing very alright. The water had washed off all the filth and he felt pretty refreshed, even if he smelled like hibiscus from the soap.
“Good, I’ll be back later then,” Rayleigh said before he left again.
He went to get cleaning supplies and hot water in a bucket, as he was planning on cleaning where they had first found Kaido.
It was still a complete mess when he got there, because obviously no one else had taken it upon themselves to clean it.
“Did I ever drink this much at that age? I surely hope not,” Rayleigh mumbled to himself as he leaned over to pick up the barrels and started with the cleaning.
When he was done, some twenty minutes later, it looked better. It smelled much better too after taking a couple of whiffs. Only then did he remember that he had cleaned for a reason.
“Oh, shit, Kaido! I forgot,” Rayleigh exclaimed as he dropped it all to go check up on the teen.

When Rayleigh came back, he saw that there were towels and clothing stacked outside of the room. Roger had thankfully done what Rayleigh had asked of him.
“Can I come in?” he asked after giving the door a couple of knocks.
“Yeah,” Kaido replied again. He was by now very much done with bathing and had mostly just sat still in the tub because he didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t exactly want to get out and stand around naked.
Rayleigh slowly opened the door and peeked inside.
“Sorry for the wait,” he said and offered Kaido a faint smile. “I’ve brought you some towels and clothes you can use while we wash your other ones.”
Kaido just looked at him a bit strangely. Could this man stop being so weirdly… nice?
Rayleigh took the silence as an okay to come in and he placed everything on a footstool before he grabbed Kaido’s dirty clothes off the floor.
“I’ll let you get dressed while I take these away. Stay here and I’ll be back in a minute,”

Rayleigh went off again. He left the clothes with another member of the crew and told him to wash them up, before he returned yet again to Kaido. By the time he was back, Kaido was out of the tub, with a towel wrapped around his waist and another towel over his head while he was looking through the clothing he had been provided.
“I hope they fit. We can make adjustments,” Rayleigh said as he closed the door behind him. It wasn’t steamy at all in the room anymore so he didn’t need to wipe his glasses this time.
Kaido didn’t look at him as he grabbed the trousers to examine them. “I still don’t get why you don’t just keep me imprisoned.”
“We don’t imprison children,” Rayleigh replied.
“I’m not a child!” Kaido instantly snapped back.
Rayleigh sighed. “A teenager then. Still doesn’t make you an adult.”
“Never mattered to anyone before how old I was considered,” Kaido scoffed as he tried on the trousers. They were too wide in the waistline, but whoever had brought clothes had also included a belt, so Kaido used it to make them fit better.
Rayleigh knew very well that the world didn’t treat everyone the same. While he himself had had a relatively easy childhood, others had had far worse pasts than him. It wasn’t surprising to know that Kaido could’ve been one of them.
“Well, it matters to me and it matters to the rest of the crew here,” Rayleigh said. Most of them at least.
“Uh-huh,” Kaido mumbled, not really believing what the other man said, as he put on a pair of boots that seemed to be his size and the dark green shirt he had been handed.
His hair was still dripping, but he just violently shook his head again and scratched his hair with the towel a few times before he tossed everything on the floor.
“You must be hungry, right? Follow me and I’ll get you something,” Rayleigh said as he gestured with his head toward the door.
Kaido didn’t respond verbally, but he followed him outside and up on deck.

The sudden sunlight hitting his eyes made him squint. Kaido grimaced a little as he looked around. The Oro Jackson was a large ship. About the same size as Rocks’ ship, but tidier.
It was bright and warm from the sun and the Roger Pirates were busy. Some didn’t even seem to notice him, or straight up ignored him, but some did look at the new guy up on deck and talked amongst themselves.
There wasn't a ton of loud chatter, as it was on Rocks’ ship. Laughter and talking, yes, but not as violently. A big difference between Rocks and Roger was that on Roger’s crew, they all seemed to get along. At least, they weren’t trying to actively kill each other for sport. That counted as getting along for Kaido.
“We’re going to Roger’s cabin. I think it’s best if we want some privacy, which we do,” Rayleigh said as they walked over the wooden deck toward the captain’s cabin.
“Will he be there?” Kaido asked.
“Probably. So no trying to kill him.”
“Can’t promise that.”
“Try,” Rayleigh said as he knocked on the cabin doors. When he didn’t hear anything, he opened it up and stepped inside the must cooler room. Roger laid on the couch with a newspaper over his face.
There was an aggressive aura coming from Kaido immediately and Rayleigh gave him a look before he walked over to Roger.
“Get up, we’re going to eat,” he said as he snatched the newspaper and placed it on the side table.
“Is the big guy behind you going to behave?” Roger said as he lazily sat up and scratched his chin.
“Are you?” Rayleigh asked Roger before he gestured for Kaido to sit down at the table. He walked past them to rummage through the cabinets and brought out water and juice only for drinks, as he didn’t want any kind of alcohol available to them now.
Roger kept a steady eye on Kaido as he sat down on the other side of the table. Kaido likewise followed him with his gaze after he had been seated as well.
Rayleigh put out dishware for all three of them, as well as bread, cold cuts and cheese plus the fruit and berries he could find stored away.
“There. Eat,” he said, looking at them both. Roger immediately reached over to grab what he wanted and Kaido did as well, but they were both staring at each other as they did so.
Rayleigh tried to ignore it as he served Roger and himself water before he looked at Kaido.
"Juice or water?" he asked.
Kaido didn’t say anything.
“I asked if you wanted juice or water?” Rayleigh repeated.
“Juice,” the teenager quietly said and was then served some before Rayleigh finally sat down as well.

There was tension in the air. Everyone could feel it, but it was Rayleigh who felt it the most.
“Roger, relax,” he said. “Kaido, you too. Can’t we just enjoy a simple meal?”
“I want to kill him,” Kaido said through gritted teeth, eyes still focused on Roger.
“Yeah, you’re not the first to say that,” Roger shrugged. “Get in line.”
“If I kill you, I will earn Rocks’ respect,” Kaido continued.
Roger scoffed. “That man only respects himself. If that’s your only reason to kill me, you’ve been lied to,” he said, biting a piece of cheese. “You’ve been sailing with him for, what? A couple of months? You already want to lick his boots that badly, kid?”
“Roger, enough!” Rayleigh quickly interjected when he saw Kaido’s anger skyrocketing from the comment.
“What? I’m just telling him how I see it,” Roger replied, but in a split second he reacted to Kaido lunging at him, and quickly moved to the side to avoid it.
“So he couldn’t behave. Shocker,” Roger continued and he grabbed Kaido’s fist as it was gearing toward his face. He easily caught the other fist in his other hand and grinned while he started to squeeze his fingers hard, digging into Kaido’s skin.
“A little squirt like you have no chance in hell of defeating me! Someone surely must’ve told you that,” Roger said as he watched Kaido grimace from the pain.
Rayleigh, who had up until now only watched, decided to interfere. It was going too far now.
“Roger. Let him go,” he said sternly as he stood next to his captain.
Roger glanced at him, still with a toothy grin on his face.
“This kid thinks he can take me down! I want to prove him wrong,” he laughed.
“I’m sure you do.” Rayleigh crossed his arms over his chest. A sure sign that he was being very serious. “But there won’t be any rewards or treats waiting for you tonight if you don’t stop right now.”

Suddenly the aura in the room changed. Roger could tell by Rayleigh’s stance that he meant what he had said.
He relaxed his muscles and stepped back, allowing Kaido to stumble back with a pained whine.
“Thank you,” Rayleigh said before he turned to Kaido, but as he was about to go near him, Kaido glared at them both.
“Leave me the fuck alone!” he growled as he rushed out from the cabin.
A quick look over when Kaido stepped through the doors and out on deck made him realise that there was no land in any direction of the horizon and as he wasn’t a particularly good swimmer to start with, he decided to just climb up the net of the main mast, up to the empty lookout post at the top.
Rayleigh sighed after Kaido had left and he walked out, despite Roger’s protests.
He witnessed the teenager climb the net, and there were some crew members already about to follow him, but Rayleigh ordered them not to. It was best to just let him cool off alone up there.

By nightfall, when Rayleigh stood looking up at where Kaido sat, he was joined by Gaban.
“So… what happened back there?” Gaban asked.
“Nothing. Just two temperamental idiots going at it,” Rayleigh replied with a sigh as he took off his glasses to clean them. “Don’t think Kaido realised just how strong Roger is.”
Gaban looked up, but he could only see Kaido’s horns peek out.
“They all got to learn somehow, I guess,” he said. “You think he’s up there sulking?”
Rayleigh brought the glasses up so he saw the moon through his glasses in order to check if they were clean or not.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” he replied and put the glasses back on. “I think it just hurt his pride. Let’s just leave him for now.”
Gaban nodded and took a last look at the horns before he and Rayleigh went separate ways in.

“He’s still up there?”
Roger turned to his side in bed and faced Rayleigh. Since releasing Kaido back when he had been told to do so, Roger had got himself that little treat he had been wanting and now afterwards, they were just talking because neither of them wanted to sleep just yet.
“Probably,” Rayleigh replied as he wiped his eyes and turned to look back at Roger. “I’m sure he’ll come down eventually.”
“Want to know what I think?”
“I know what you think. You think that it’d be best if he stays up there until we’re able to contact Rocks.”
“That’s… yeah, exactly,” Roger said. “Either that, or we lock him up below deck.”
Rayleigh gave him a tired look before he let out a disapproving noise.
“Look, I just don’t want him to destroy the Oro Jackson. I don’t want him somehow managing to hurt anyone here,” Roger continued. “He may not injure me, or you for the matter, but he could possibly injure someone else if they’re not careful around him.”
“You have little faith in your crew,” Rayleigh teased. He couldn’t help it.
“You know what I mean, Ray,” Roger said as he wrapped an arm around Rayleigh and inched his way closer. “I know I talk a lot of shit about Rocks, but he doesn’t just accept anyone into his crew. All of them are strong.”
Rayleigh was quiet at first. He could tell when Roger was serious. He knew that his captain only wanted them to be safe, and him caring so passionately was one of the reasons Rayleigh was so infatuated with him.
“If, and this is a big if, he does any of that, then you can isolate him however you want,” Rayleigh reassured him. “Just trust me on this, alright?”
Roger relaxed a little and he gave him a smile. Reassurance always helped. “Should I?” he asked.
“You should, because I’m always right,” Rayleigh said and he brushed some of Roger’s hair out of his face. “Now go to sleep.”
“Only if you give me a goodnight kiss,” Roger cheekily said.
Rayleigh jokingly rolled his eyes a little before he leaned in and pressed his lips lovingly against Roger’s, kissing him for a moment before he let go. “There. Go sleep now.”

Kaido stayed up in the lookout for many hours, long into the next day. He slept most of the time, but he noticed when someone started to climb up the net. It was well after dinner time, and it was getting darker again.
He looked over the edge and saw Rayleigh climbing up with a bag over his shoulder.
“Don’t come up here!” Kaido shouted at him.
“Relax, I’m just bringing you something to eat!” Rayleigh shouted back. It was windy so they had to yell in order to hear each other at the distance they were at.
“I don’t want it!”
“You’re getting it anyway!”
“Fuck you!” Kaido yelled before he sat back against the lookout railing. He was hungry, he just didn’t want to admit it.
Rayleigh climbed the rest of the way and he peeked his head up over the edge.
“A bit of a tight fit there. We’re not used to people your size using this place,” he said as he took another few steps so he stood with his midriff pressed against the railing. “Are you really comfortable up here?”
Kaido didn’t say anything. He looked away, with his arms crossed over his chest. Very typical.
Rayleigh removed the bag and put it down on the floor. “There’s some grilled fish and mashed potatoes in here, as well as a bottle of juice and some fruit.”
“I’m not hungry,” Kaido muttered. He genuinely couldn’t grasp that Rayleigh was being nice to him. For free. There had to be a hidden agenda somewhere.
Rayleigh watched him, studying his gloomy expression. Kaido’s tough guy act didn’t really impress him. He was a big guy, taller than most. He certainly didn’t look fifteen, but his age showed when he acted this childish.
Something pulled Rayleigh’s heart strings though and he didn’t know why exactly. He just knew that he wanted to try and help him while he was on the ship.
“I’m not forcing you to eat. Do what you want with it,” Rayleigh said as he glanced out over the seas for a few seconds before looking back at the teenager. “We suspect there’s a lot of rain coming in a few hours. If you go down the stairs below this mast, and then turn right, the first room is unoccupied. You could get some proper rest there, and I’d feel much better knowing you were in there instead of up here.”
“I don’t care how you feel,” Kaido said as he looked back at the other man. He didn’t say it with much conviction though.
Rayleigh nodded. “Alright, alright,” he said. “I’m just warning you.”
When Kaido didn’t say anything else, Rayleigh took his leave. Hopefully actually being rained on would have Kaido get down, but Rayleigh wasn’t going to force him.
He bunkered down in Roger’s bed a while later, as the rain smattered against the windows. It was too loud to hear anything outside the cabin, and Roger’s snoring drowned out any other noise, so Rayleigh fell asleep without knowing whether or not Kaido had climbed down or not.
It turned out that Kaido had gone into the unoccupied room when the rain had started. There was a large mattress on the floor and a pillow, so he fell asleep on it after eating the food that Rayleigh had brought him.

Noticing the next day that the teenager had left the lookout spot, Rayleigh came over with Kaido’s washed clothes and some breakfast to where he assumed Kaido had gone.
He knocked and waited for an answer that came a few seconds later, and Rayleigh entered.
Rayleigh placed the clothes on top of a barrel and handed over the breakfast on a tray to Kaido who took it in his hands.
“I think we need to have a little talk about the rules here on the Oro Jackson,” Rayleigh said when Kaido began eating.
“Mhm,” Kaido just mumbled between the chewing.
“I’m sure you have rules on Rocks’ ship too, but we’re uh… a bit more strict,” Rayleigh continued. “First off. You’re not allowed to attack anyone here. They’re not allowed to attack you either, but they will defend themselves if you go at them. Secondly, don’t destroy any part of the ship. If you do, I’ll have you be there and fix it yourself. Thirdly, if anyone gives you trouble, you come to me, alright?”
“And what happens if I break any of those rules?” Kaido asked. He was not fond of rules. “You’ll kill me?”
Rayleigh shook his head, but he supposed he could understand why Kaido would immediately think they’d kill him for breaking rules. It was apparently what he’d been used to.
“Well…” he started. “We’ll imprison you and make sure you won’t be able to get out. I’m offering you the freedom to do what you want here on the ship while we wait for an opportunity to contact Rocks. It could take days, weeks or months. Who knows? You’re welcome to go explore the Oro Jackson if you want and just… talk to people. Might do you some good. The crew have been informed that you’re a guest here.”
“I can go wherever I want?” Kaido asked.
“Within reason,” Rayleigh replied and he poked up his glasses that had started to glide down over his nose. “And you can keep this room for now.”
Kaido nodded and he swallowed some grapes that had been on the tray. They tasted fresh, albeit cold. “You said there’s an island coming up ahead, right?” he asked.
“Yes, early tomorrow morning we’ll pass it. There’s, however, not much there. You’ll see when we get there,” Rayleigh answered as he walked back to the door. “I’ll be outside, if you want to come join me later.”

The rain that had plagued them during the night was completely gone. The sun was shining and had dried mostly every part of the ship by now. The Oro Jackson was steadily sailing over the dark blue water with seagulls flying above. It was a normal day.
Well, it had been until their guest arrived up on deck. The chatter sort of died down when Kaido stepped out, and he felt stared at.
He had put on the clothes he had been found in and left the ones he had borrowed down in his temporary room, as he wanted some sense of control. The clothes gave him a bit of himself back.
While upstairs, Kaido didn’t see Rayleigh at all, so he decided to just walk around and ignore everyone instead. He had, for some reason, received full permission to explore the ship after all. Sure, not by the captain himself, but Kaido had a sneaking suspicion that Roger listened to his vice captain more than an ordinary captain was supposed to.
During his exploration, he found where the restrooms were, where they kept laundry and other household chores as well as a bunch of storage spaces. Kaido walked through a lot of bedrooms and even found their bar area. Though, the thought of drinking was starting to make him feel a bit nauseous. He wasn’t that desperate for a drink. Yet.

Eventually he went back out again. He hadn’t spoken to anyone, but he did see the man they called Scopper Gaban standing around with a map in his hands. Kaido remembered his name, as he had seen him flirting with multiple women on Hachinosu island and Linlin had commented on it.
The thought of Linlin made him feel a bit uneasy. Had she noticed that he was gone? She had also been pretty drunk at the party the last time he remembered seeing her. She out of everyone should’ve known that he was missing though, right?
He swallowed and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut. Of course she knew. She had probably told Rocks about his absence already and they were out searching for him.

He looked ahead again and Gaban was gone. Instead he saw Roger and Rayleigh coming.
Kaido made a face and turned to walk away.
“What? No greetings to the captain of the ship?” Roger said and Rayleigh sighed internally. He loved the man, but he was often a complete idiot.
“Piss off, old man,” Kaido replied as he waved him off.
“Edgy. You say that to Rocks too?” Roger asked with a laugh.
Kaido turned to face him, fists clenched again, which Roger obviously noticed.
“I can crush those again, if you want,” he said as his eyes glanced down at Kaido’s hands and back up again.
“Roger, enough,” Rayleigh groaned. “If you don’t have anything better to say, just go.”
“Fine!” Roger threw his hands up and shrugged as he walked past the two, since Rayleigh decided to stay next to Kaido. “Go hang out with one of Rocks’ pirates instead of me.”
Rayleigh waited until Roger was further away before he glanced at Kaido.
“He’s jealous.”
“I can tell,” Kaido replied as he scratched the back of his head before he looked out over the ocean. “So… this island. I… might be waiting there for a long time if I get off there?”
Rayleigh nodded. “It’s small. Barely shows on the maps. They’ve got one long distance den-den mushi, but sometimes it doesn’t work,” he replied. “But they have shelter, they have food. You could survive there, though it might get pretty lonely.”
“I’m used to being lonely,” Kaido said.
“I don’t doubt it,” Rayleigh leaned with his back against the railing. “But you don’t have to be. If you stay, there’s also a good chance that we manage to get in touch with Rocks. We can stop at other ports, ask around. Do you know where you guys were headed after Hachinosu?”
“They never told me. Not even Linlin did.”
“Ah,” Rayleigh nodded again. “You’re… close with her?”
Kaido glanced over at Rayleigh. Why was he asking that?
“I mean, anyone could see that you two were hanging out often when we met up,” Rayleigh continued. “You were stuck to her like a bandaid.”
“She offered to help me when I first joined,” Kaido replied as he looked back out again. He supposed if they had already seen them around much, there was no point in lying.
“Did she? Awfully kind of her,” Rayleigh said. He had a hard time believing that Linlin out of all people would do that, and he wondered if she was just buttering him up to snatch him later. She had a habit of charming men and then dumping them after getting a kid out of it.
Kaido was after all different, Rayleigh thought. It wasn’t often you ran into people with horns. Large people with horns at that. It wouldn’t be surprising if she wanted to get with him because of that. Hopefully she waited in that case. Rayleigh would certainly look at her differently if she didn’t.
“She told me that she thinks of me as her younger brother,” Kaido said and Rayleigh exhaled. Well, if that were the case, then that changed his theory completely. Thank goodness.
“And you? Do you think of her as an older sister?” Rayleigh asked curiously.
That question seemed to hit something, as Kaido looked away. His cheeks warmed up. “Maybe. I don’t know. I… don’t want to talk about that.”
“Let’s drop it then,” Rayleigh said with a faint smile. Perhaps he had a crush. Rayleigh didn’t want to pry. He had had a few crushes on women older than him at that age too.
“Do you want me to leave?” he continued.
Kaido was quiet for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah,” he then said.
“I’ll do that, no problem.” Rayleigh stood up straight again. “Just call for me if you need anything.”
Kaido stood quiet at the railing as he listened to Rayleigh’s footsteps leave him before he walked the other direction.
There had to be a reason for all of this. Rayleigh must be wanting to know information Kaido had about Rocks in order to defeat him. That was the only reasonable explanation for his kindness.
It didn’t make sense otherwise.

Early the next morning, both Kaido and Rayleigh stood out on deck. The island that Rayleigh had been talking about came closer and closer in view as they stood by waiting. It was a nice morning, with warm winds and the sun on the rise.
Rayleigh glanced up at Kaido, who stood leaning over the railing, looking at the island. They had been there in silence for the last ten minutes, listening to the seagulls up in the sky, and the ship sailing on the waves.
“I’d have to call for them to drop the anchor now if we’re to stop at a reasonable distance,” Rayleigh said.
Kaido was quiet. He looked at the island and its surrounding area. Could he stay there until Rocks picked him up? If he ever did. Would Linlin want to get him? Did she even want him back on the ship? They had only known each other for a few months anyway. Maybe there was a greater chance of getting in contact with Rocks, or Linlin, while still back on Roger’s ship? They could go to other islands, other ports as Rayleigh had suggested.
“Kaido?”
“Tell me the truth,” Kaido said as he looked back at Rayleigh. “Were you being nice to me in order to get something out of it? Information, secrets? I wouldn’t be mad about it if you were. It’s what pirates do.”
Rayleigh looked at him. In a way, he felt sad that Kaido had thought of it like that. It was understandable, but it still saddened him a little.
“Logically, and with no disrespect, you’re the last person I’d use to gather information from,” Rayleigh replied honestly. “You’re the newest recruit, you’re the youngest and I doubt any of your fellow crewmates have told you anything of great value to me. Rocks probably keeps most of his ideas and schemes to himself, or shares them with a selected few. My reason for being nice to you is only because I want to.”
“People aren’t just nice to you… they want something in return,” Kaido said.
Rayleigh shook his head. “That’s not always the case. Sometimes, people just want to be kind to each other, even if they’re from rivaling pirate crews. We had that party, didn’t we? No one expected anything from the other crew.”
Kaido didn’t reply. He looked puzzled before he looked over to the island again that was by now almost passed them.
“Last call. You’ve got to tell me now if you want to stop,” Rayleigh warned when he realised that Kaido wasn’t going to say anything else.
“I think… I’d like to stay here for now,” Kaido said a few seconds later.
Rayleigh couldn’t help but to feel a bit relieved. He hadn’t wanted to drop him off here, and he was glad that Kaido seemingly didn’t want to go either.
“Hungry? Let’s get something to eat,” Rayleigh said as he gently gave Kaido’s back a pat before he walked past him, and Kaido followed him inside.

Before they knew it, three weeks had gone by.
Kaido had somewhat started to get used to life on the Oro Jackson. He had for the most part dropped his guard and Rayleigh spent a lot of time with him. He didn’t mind it, because it made Roger pissed.
Roger had an incredibly bad poker face, and would show every emotion he was going through. He would often show up just to tease or rile Kaido up and while most of the time, Kaido just insulted him back, there were times where they actually fought and Rayleigh had to break them up. Obviously Roger would’ve been the clear winner in every fight, but Rayleigh didn’t want to let it get to that point.
Surprisingly, it did seem like the fights with Roger got Kaido in a good mood. He was more willing to help out on the ship if he had first let any frustrations out on the captain than when he hadn’t.
The few times they had stopped at an island, he had left the ship for a couple of hours alone, only to return within minutes of the Roger Pirates leaving. True to their word, both Roger and Rayleigh had tried their best to get any kind of information about Rocks and his whereabouts, but had received no news.
Honestly though, it didn’t bother Rayleigh much.

“Did you ever go to school?” Rayleigh asked the teenager one day while they had lunch below deck. They had started to talk more about their private lives now, so a question like that wasn’t too personal.
“I learnt how to read and write while I was with the military growing up,” Kaido replied with a shrug.
Kaido had let it slip to Rayleigh how parts of his childhood had been, so Rayleigh was somewhat aware of how Kaido had grown up.
Rayleigh nodded. “What did you read about?”
“I don’t know. Strategies, conquests, weapons, different methods to kill,” Kaido answered.
“No books of grand adventures and fairytales, I take it?” Rayleigh said as he sipped on his glass of water.
“No.”
“Did you have any kind of.. mentor growing up? Anyone to teach you about things other than war?”
“No. Do you have a point with all these questions?” Kaido asked and he leaned back in his chair that creaked a little from his weight.
“I could teach you,” Rayleigh said, confident with a smile on his lips. “I don’t know what you and Linlin ever talked about, but I can’t imagine she offered much input with what it’s like growing up as a man.”
“I don’t need help with that,” Kaido replied. The standard answer from him.
Rayleigh chuckled. “Come on. You’re not curious why your voice sometimes cracks? Why you’re starting to get body hair in places you didn’t expect to find it? It’s called puberty. You’re growing into a man.”
“I already am one,” Kaido muttered.
“Mhm, not yet. I assume no one’s ever taught you how to shave either?” Rayleigh asked as he leaned a bit over the table. “Let me teach you. You’ve already started to grow some there above your lips”
Kaido reached up to feel. He hadn’t really noticed the new facial hair.
“It takes a certain knack to be able to shave cleanly,” Rayleigh continued. “Let’s finish our lunch and I’ll show you.”

It was mostly curiosity that made Kaido follow along. He got seated on a crate while Rayleigh fetched some shaving cream, his shaving knife, water and a mirror.
When he returned, he let Kaido hold the mirror while he started to show on himself how to shave. He didn’t shave any of his existing facial hair, only using his jaw as an example and showed the teenager exactly what direction to shave for best result.
He then showed the same thing on Kaido, and guided his hand. When they finally washed off the cream, the hair was gone.
Kaido couldn’t help but to reach up again to feel.
“Once you’ve mastered shaving, you can grow your facial hair out and style it. Make it your own,” Rayleigh said.
“Is that why you’ve kept yours like that?” Kaido asked as he pointed at the other man’s chin.
“Well, yes,” Rayleigh answered. “And because Roger loves it.”
“Would you shave it off if he didn’t like it?”
“Absolutely not!”
Rayleigh’s quick answer actually made Kaido smile and he let out a short laugh.
It was the first time Rayleigh had seen him this cheerful, and it oddly warmed his heart.

When Rayleigh came over to Roger’s cabin later that day, Roger gave him his usual pout that seemed to be normal now after Kaido was on their ship.
“I missed you,” he whined.
“You spoke to me an hour ago,” Rayleigh said.
“It was a long hour,” Roger said as he wrapped his arms around Rayleigh’s waist from behind and rested his head on the other man’s shoulder.
“Clearly,” Rayleigh said and he placed his hands over Roger’s fuzzy arms.
“Rocks is impossible to get a hold of,” Roger groaned. “Whenever I don’t want to see him, he always shows up, but when I truly need him, he’s gone.”
“Never thought I’d hear you say that you needed Rocks,” Rayleigh laughed. “Am I not enough for you anymore?”
“Don’t tease me like that!” Roger whined. “It’s serious.”
“If it makes you feel any better, we’ll be entering a large shipping port in a few days. They welcome everyone there, including pirates. If we’re lucky, there might be someone there who knows how to get in touch with your new lover,” Rayleigh replied.
“You know, I ought to kick you out of here,” Roger said and he loosened his grip a little when he felt Rayleigh turn around and wrap his arms around Roger’s neck.
“But you won’t,” Rayleigh said with a smile as he leaned in to kiss Roger.
Roger obviously couldn’t deny him a kiss and he pressed their lips together, already forgetting Rayleigh’s comments about Rocks.

After a few days, after midnight, the Oro Jackson set anchor in the port Gaban had picked out for them. They were there to restock and have some fun for a few days. After having been stuck on a ship without stepping off it for over a week, most crew members were excited to finally step onto land and do something else.
Kaido was one of them. He got off the ship and looked around a little before he walked ahead. He didn’t wait for Rayleigh or anyone else, as he just needed a break from them all.
He missed Linlin.
Kaido often thought about her, wondering what she was up to, and if she missed him too. It was frustrating not being able to talk to her.
He walked through some alleyways and somehow ended up at a bar. His size got him some attention, but it was only positive it seemed, since he was treated to several drinks by a group of impressed men. He listened to what the other patrons had to say, but most of them spoke of things he didn’t care or knew enough about. When the topic of pirates came up though, he spiked up and hoped that they would mention Rocks.
They did.
One person seemed to know more than others, but when Kaido asked where Rocks was headed, the man shut his mouth, which only angered the teenager. He did, however, sit and wait. He waited for another hour until the man left the bar and Kaido followed him.
In a dark alleyway, he attacked him and beat him bloody until the man admitted to not knowing where Rocks were at all, that he had only lied to seem more interesting to his mates.
In truth, he shouldn’t have admitted that, as that sealed his fate. Only one left that alleyway and it was Kaido.

Whatever mood he had been in earlier that day had only gotten worse after that event. He walked through another alleyway and kicked at the trashcans before he suddenly stopped. Something had caught his attention. There were a bunch of wanted posters up ahead, littering the brick walls.
Kaido went closer. Various different pirates, some he recognised and some he didn’t, were plastered on the walls. He saw Rocks. Newgate. Kyo. Then he saw her. Linlin. Her wanted poster was right there.
He stared at it for a long time before he reached out and ripped it off the wall.
“Linlin…” he mumbled to himself as he looked at the photo of her. She was smiling, showing her teeth. Someone had snapped this photograph of her while she was in battle, as blurry smoke was hinted at in the background.
He leaned over the paper and noticed drops falling onto the paper. It wasn’t raining. When his vision got blurry, he sniveled and wiped his eyes. Damn tears!
He sank down to the ground and buried his face in his hands, sobbing. “Fucking bitch!” he cried. “Come get me already!”

Kaido sat there for what felt like several hours, although it might as well have been minutes, but it was until his tears had dried up. He looked at Linlin’s face again before he folded the poster up and put it in his pockets. Inhaling harshly after he wiped snot off his face, Kaido got up on his feet and began walking back towards the Oro Jackson.
When he arrived, he noticed that he was one of the first ones to do so. Roger and Rayleigh were nowhere to be seen, so he sat down against the wall so he’d have a view over who came back to the ship.
He felt a bit dizzy from earlier, after having had several drinks, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been at that party that had got him in this situation in the first place.
The dizziness would go away eventually, he figured.
While he was sitting there, the first person to come back was actually Gaban, although he was joined by two women. All three of them seemed drunk, but when Gaban noticed Kaido sitting there, he gave him a wave before he kissed one of the women who laughed.
They went down the stairs to the deck below, and Kaido didn’t really want to imagine what they were going to do.
While sitting back and observing his surroundings, he saw multiple people come and go, though none of them were Rayleigh or Roger. Not that it mattered. He didn’t feel like talking, or fighting, with either of them.
Instead, when he saw the sun rising, he went down the stairs to get some proper sleep.

The following day, when Kaido woke up and went to the upper deck for some fresh air, he saw more of the Roger Pirates crew being back on the ship, loading and unloading crates and barrels while chatting with each other. The sun was shining again and it was hot.
Instead of helping carry crates, he was after all big enough to carry many at once, he went over and leaned against the railing at the back of the ship, looking out over the harbor for a moment.
He remembered the poster he had folded up in his pocket, and brought it out to look at it again.
“Phew, she’s quite the looker!”
Kaido almost jumped. He hadn’t heard Gaban sneak up on him at all and he instantly folded the poster again and put it back in his pocket. Unfortunately he could also feel his cheeks getting awfully much warmer than usual too.
“Aw, come on. You’re interested in her, right?” Gaban grinned as he leaned closer to Kaido. “Didn’t take you for someone who liked older women though.”
“I don’t!” Kaido quickly said as he turned his back to Gaban and began walking away from him. Sneaky ass bastard!
The older man laughed behind him as he, of course, followed along. He wasn’t going to let something like this slide. “Look, I get it. She’s hot! Having a big woman like that on your crew must be thrilling.”
Kaido groaned, but didn’t say anything. He felt embarrassed. Rayleigh hadn’t made a big thing out of the conversation they had had earlier, so why did Gaban have to?
“Don’t be like that, Kaido. If you want, I can give you some tips on how to woo a woman like her. You obviously saw me yesterday with two at the same time,” Gaban continued, stubborn to keep Kaido talking now that he finally had something to say to the teen. “Every man can be charming. Even you!”
Gaban rushed ahead and stood in front of Kaido to make him stop.
“Alright, stop, stop!” he said, holding out his hands. “Just let me give you some advice. Whether or not you act on them is out of my control, but just hear me out.”
Kaido was very close to breaking two of the rules at once on the Oro Jackson as he very much wanted to use Gaban’s head to destroy the ship in order to get away.
“You know, a woman loves when you know stuff about them they didn’t think you cared about,” Gaban said. He of course noticed Kaido’s frustration, but he kept on talking, even as Kaido started to reach for him in an attempt to grab him. He only jumped back and continued.
“They love it when you laugh at their jokes and agree with them. I bet Linlin would love it if you gave her sweet treats as a gift. That’s what I would’ve done. She seems to love the color pink too, right? Get her something pink and tell her you thought of her when you saw it.”
Despite wanting to throw him overboard, Kaido did unintentionally listen to what the navigator had to say. He snapped up some parts of it, even when he didn’t want to.
Although, eventually he had enough of Gaban’s yapping.
“Alright, I’ve listened. Now fuck off!” he groaned, trying to grab Gaban again. It was another failed attempt, as Gaban swiftly slipped to the side.
“Will do, big guy! Good talk,” he said, patting Kaido’s arm, before he walked off.
Kaido stared at him walking away. Had Gaban been the one to take responsibility for Kaido, the teen would’ve left to stay on that first little island immediately.
It was only when he was certain he saw the other man enter the captain’s cabin that Kaido allowed himself to look at the poster again.
As if she’d be interested in him even if he gave her gifts.

After days of searching, and on the final day they laid anchor at the port, Roger had finally found someone who had a reliable tip about Rocks’ whereabouts.
According to them, Rocks was planning on hitting a Marine base within a week. They didn’t know exactly which one, but they provided three possible ones.
Roger happily brought this information back to Rayleigh and together with some of the others in their crew, they tried to pinpoint which one was the most likely to be attacked.
They decided to put their money on the Marine base that had just undergone major renovations a few weeks back. An upgraded base meant more resources could be put there.
Sure, more Marine soldiers were probably patrolling the area, but those were small fry for someone like Rocks.
The other two bases were ruled out because of distance and the generally smaller size of them, as Rocks was not someone who settled for less.
If they could reach the base in time, they could let Kaido off and then continue to sail away, hopefully without any involvement in Rocks’ attack.

When everything had been loaded up on the Oro Jackson, they left and set course to the Marine base.
Rayleigh found Kaido at the front of the ship, sitting at the base of the bowsprit. He sat leaned back against the wooden wall, but did acknowledge Rayleigh coming over by turning his head to him.
“We’re headed toward Rocks now,” Rayleigh said, giving the teenager a smile as he leaned against the bowsprit.
Finally!
“Where is he?” Kaido asked. He showed Rayleigh none of the mixed emotions he was feeling. A large part of him was happy, because it meant he’d see Linlin again, but another part felt somewhat sad that this would end. That his time on the Oro Jackson was over.
“Marine base. He’s apparently set to attack it in a couple of days, so we’re going to try and catch up to him or drop you off nearby,” Rayleigh replied. He too felt a sort of mismatch of emotions about this. Obviously Kaido was one of Rocks’ crew. The dried blood on his shirt that Rayleigh had noticed was a testimony to that because it was obviously not Kaido’s, seeing as he had no injuries. He hadn’t asked about it, but something had happened back at the port while they were all out. News of a beaten dead body in an alleyway close to the ship the day after they had arrived matched up. Rayleigh supposed it could’ve been a coincidence, but he doubted it.
At the same time, having Kaido around had been interesting. They had sparred together, talked and gotten to know each other. It didn’t feel good sending him back to Rocks who, no doubt, would make Kaido worse. Linlin wasn’t a very good mentor to have either. The only person Rayleigh had any hope for was Newgate. He was brutal in his own way, but he had a different set of moral codes than the others. Something that sometimes aligned more with the Roger Pirates than Rocks.
Both Roger and Rayleigh had tried to recruit him many times, but Newgate had never accepted.
“How are you feeling?” Rayleigh continued.
“I don’t know. Excited maybe,” Kaido replied as he looked out over the ocean. He didn’t show excitement.
“You know…” Rayleigh started. There was something he needed to say, something he had thought about for a while now. “You can stay here with us. Do you want to join our crew?” He had obviously not consulted Roger.
Kaido frowned as his gaze went back to the other man and he couldn’t help but to let out a confused laugh.
“Are you serious? Not a chance in hell,” he replied and shook his head.
Rayleigh tilted his head a little to the side, still smiling.
“I am serious. I wouldn’t have asked otherwise,” he said. “Why do you want to return to Rocks?”
“Because you guys are wimps,” Kaido replied and he leaned forward a little. “It’s been a little fun, I admit, but there’s too little action going on around here. No brutal fights or violence. I want to see death!”
“Is that the only reason?” Rayleigh asked. He couldn’t help but be a little bit disappointed by the answer. He tried something else. “Do you miss her? Linlin.”
“Pff, not you too. I don’t give a fuck about your love life, Rayleigh, so don’t waste your time asking about mine,” Kaido muttered as he leaned back again, with his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. An obvious sign that he was in no mood for talking anymore.
There was the attitude again.
It really did come out more when Kaido was feeling pressed.
Rayleigh didn’t say anything else. He sighed and gave the bowsprit a tap before he left.

The rest of the days were spent mostly separate from each other. Roger was thrilled to know that Kaido soon would depart from their ship and that he’d be able to get Rayleigh all to himself again, a fact he constantly reminded both of whenever he saw them.
Kaido didn’t care. The closer they got to their destination, the more he just wanted to leave. He appreciated what Rayleigh had done for him, he really did, but he wasn’t meant to be part of their crew.

The last night before they were said to arrive, he climbed the net up to the lookout tower again, but this time it wasn’t to completely get away from people. Now he mostly just wanted to take in the views. The moon lit up the ocean and as there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky nothing obstructed the glimmering stars.
It was actually kind of beautiful.
Kaido half expected Rayleigh to come up and drop off some food for him, or at least have a chat like he had done last time, but no one showed up.
Rayleigh didn’t even go out on deck. He stayed in the captain’s cabin, planning how their delivery of Kaido would be.
While they wouldn’t mind a fight with Rocks, it was the Marine base added into it all that was troubling. Rayleigh didn’t really want to involve the Marines if Rocks decided to attack the Roger Pirates as well.
It was either that they caught up with Rocks before the Marine base, or if they anchored further away from the base and had someone take Kaido on a row boat over to a less crowded area where the Marine base was located.
The preferred method would be the row boat, as it would be the safest option and least likely to cause any unnecessary casualties.
Rayleigh already knew that he wanted to be the one to take Kaido there if they managed to get plan A to work.

Plan A ended up being what they went with, as they never managed to catch up with Rocks before he launched an attack on the base.
Explosions and alarms blared in the distance. Roger used a pair of binoculars to watch the event since they were anchored far away and he was almost buzzing with excitement.
While Rayleigh wanted to avoid getting involved, Roger on the other hand had begged all morning about wanting to get off the ship and fight Rocks. It had taken many promises and convincing to let Rayleigh deal with delivering Kaido and not get involved with anything else.
Rayleigh watched Roger pouting from up top when he got down into the boat and sat down between the oars.
“Remember what I promised you!” Rayleigh shouted at him.
“Yeah, yeah. Just go already!” Roger shouted back and waved for them to leave. He was getting very impatient now.
Kaido sat down and looked up. The ship seemed so much larger at this angle. He then looked over at Rayleigh, who had started to row.
Despite being smaller than Kaido, Rayleigh was stronger. He had no issues getting them there in a short period of time.
“I could’ve swam,” Kaido said.
“Yes, but I didn’t want you to,” Rayleigh replied. He didn’t look at Kaido as he was speaking, only glancing over his shoulder to see how far they were from shore.
“Is this you caring about me again?” Kaido asked.
“Can you let me do one singular nice thing for you without questioning me?” Rayleigh answered as he looked back at the teenager. He was more serious than not this time.
Kaido gave him a frown. “Are you expecting gratitude from me? That I’d suddenly want to join your merry little gang of clowns?”
“I don’t expect anything from you, Kaido,” Rayleigh replied. “You’ve made your feelings very clear.”

It was easier to just be an asshole. If you were one, you didn’t have to think about the fun you had with another crew. You didn’t have to imagine what another life could’ve been like. You didn’t have to care about the one person who actually saw and wanted to help you.
It was easier to end whatever semblance of friendship prematurely because it would inevitably end no matter what you did. Nothing lasted forever after all.

“Well, here we are,” Rayleigh said when the boat hit the shoreline.
Kaido sat still for a moment before he stood up and jumped off into the water. He walked past Rayleigh and over to the sand before he stopped. In front of him was the base burning, alarms blaring and loud gunshots almost drowning it all out.
Behind him was Rayleigh.
“Hey.”
Kaido looked back at the man who had been there for him for the last couple of weeks.
Rayleigh threw a small case to him that Kaido caught. It was the case that Rayleigh kept his shaving knife in. By the weight, it seemed the knife was also in there.
“The next time we see each other, we’ll be on opposite sides again. I might even have to kill you if it comes to that,” Rayleigh said. “But… I will remember this time with you fondly. It’s been fun. Honestly, I don’t want to see you going back to Rocks, but I can’t stop you.”
Kaido nodded. “Yeah…” A small part of him wanted to stay, wanted to get back on the boat and return to the Oro Jackson, but he couldn’t.
A large explosion caught his attention and he turned to look. He saw Zeus and Prometheus through the smoke, meaning a certain Linlin wasn’t far behind.
Kaido pocketed the shaving knife and he turned to Rayleigh, offering him a grin, before he ran off toward the two homies.

Rayleigh didn’t stay too long by the shore. He turned the boat around and started to row back. He didn’t see Kaido anymore and figured it was for the best.
There was a certain heaviness in his heart. He felt a bit disappointed in himself, that he couldn’t convince Kaido through his actions to switch crews.

It was silly, thinking he could've ever done something so impossible.