03 | Human Beings Are Unpredictable

The numbness quivered through my arm again, rending it...painless? Even though it was for merely a few moments, I took the opening and jabbed towards Shinzo's rib cage.

"I'm stabbed!" The blonde wailed, faking falling towards his right as he clutched his side.

"You dropped your weapon," I said bluntly and nodded towards the discarded blade that lay on the floor.

Shinzo frowned, inching forward to pluck up his sword and pulled it closer to him. "I'm stabbed!" He hollered again.

"Get up," Shinji retorted, midnight-blue eyes throwing daggers at him.

"You're no fun."

Shinzo did what he said, however, pulling himself up and dropping at the unoccupied seat beside Chiko.

The masked personage didn't pay attention to him, but was rolling the Devil Fruit between his palms.

"I'm pretty sure that was Jaxson's win," Kori called and Shinzo nodded. "Next would be Chiko and Jaxson."

I swung my head towards Chiko, who only raised his head in acknowledgement. Kori smiled, clearly pleased as he kicked the chair that was jutting out under the table.

"You're adjusting well to your new names."

Kin shrugged, pressing a worn piece of cloth to the deep cut that she acquired from fighting Chiko. He hadn't been afraid to draw his blade on her, and the redhead had been flimsy with the needle-shooting device attached to her arm.

"I say I get another chance," Shinzo said, leaning back and propping his legs up on the table.

He smiled at the sight of Kori's contorted features, purposely crossing his ankles.

"Get your feet off my table, sir," Kori murmured hastily.

He shrugged before doing so, then got up from the table and poked me hard in the chest. "How about it, Teki-kun?"

"I am not longer known by that name," I said, ice creeping into my tone. "Much less have that ridiculous nickname spoken by-"

He grinned, cocking his head to the side as he peered at me. "I'm gonna go take that as a yes, so...prepare!"

I sighed- I wasn't in the mood to deal with his childish nonsense, so I rolled with it.

Shinzo came at me more vigorously then before, his blade clashing with him as I parried his attack.

"You're slow," I commented, and he swiped at my cheek before crouching, his leg flashing out to catch me underfoot.

I stumbled at the sudden attack, regaining my footing in moments as I felt a prickle in my lower leg.

Dismissing it, I kicked at the blonde, and caught a glimpse of his grin before he popped up, carefully maneuvering his way around my katana.

"Aye, aye, Jax-kun, getting wild here," he dodged another one of my slashes before I struck towards home- his heart.

"Three..."

Before my blade pierced his skin, I could hear him mutter the number under his breath. With a split-second that rested between my movement and my hesitation, Shinzo flipped his blade up and moved it from away from it with fast hands.

Is...he getting...faster? Or am I...getting slower...?

I bit back a curse, and Shinzo whirled on me with multiple kicks to the chest, my knees wobbling beneath me.

"Time's up," I heard him whisper.

When he uttered the second word, my vision went blurry, the edges tinted fuzzily with black.

"Notice it yet?" he said cheekily, locking his hands behind his head as the numbness made me lose my grip on my hilt. "I inserted the needle when I rolled- honestly, I thought you would notice more."

I glanced behind me then down at my ankles, and he was right- a small needle, about the size of a small sewing needle stuck out of the skin above my ankle, a single red band tied around the top.

"It paralyzes and numbs. Takes about thirty seconds to take place," he held up the silver device on his arm, and I could see another loaded, ready to fire.

Kori clapped, looking quite proud. "Excellent, Shinzo. You learned how to use it. "

Shinzo shrugged. "I don't like fighting with blades much- I don't like seeing blood, so the little prickers seem good to me. They're quite unpredictable, too."

"And Kin," Kori noted. "You seemed to fight more with your hands instead of the actual needle-shooter. Perhaps..."

He produced two bronze lumps (That what they looked like from my position) from the bag on the table before handing them to the redhead, who inspected them curiously.

"Bronze knuckles?"

She fit them around her fingers, flexing them and pounding them against the table. Kori bit his lip as the muffled thump was heard, and Kin brought them back to eye-level.

"Good enough," she grunted.

"Chiko, you seem to be doing quite well in the blade section. I'll leave you there with no improvements."

As usual, no response from them.

"Shinji, like Chiko, you performed quite well- however, I would rather like to know that you have two knives hidden on you if close-ranged attacks ever occur."

The black-haired adult lifted his shouldes in a careless shrug, and paid no heed to his words as he went back to watching Kin experiment with her bronze knuckles.

"You're wearing them wrong," he muttered.

Kin whirled on him, huffing red strands out of her face. "Say whatever the hell you want now while-"

Shinji stood up, his eyes flicking up to meet hers. "I'm merely stating that you're wearing them incorrectly."

He went around, pulling the knuckles from her hands and placing them back on (in apparently the correct way) before tracing a finger over one of her knuckles.

"You have a strong grip and a powerful hand. Kori was thinking ahead."

At his name, the man looked up, beads of sweat lining his forehead. "Yes, of course. Ferphina, you seemed to have adjusted well to the gun-"

"I don't want it," my sister injected, her green eyes wide. "I want something like Shinzo-kun has."

"I'm sure that can be arranged."

OoO

When dawn was just starting to creep across the sky, I was at the docks. Ferphina and I were always early risers, and we woke up at relatively the same time.

"When do ya think they're gonna come?" she chattered, her legs swinging side to side as she peered over into the murky waters.

"They'll come when they'll come, Ferphina."

She grinned, springing up and running down the wooden boards with the heavy thump-thump of her feet. "Chiko-kun's here!"

Turning my head, I could see Chiko's shadowy form approaching, a single blood-colored fruit held in his hand by his side.

"And I see Shinji-kun and Kin-chan behind him!"

Shinji and Kin reached us at the docks, and I eyed both impassively. Both had changed their looks- Kin had dyed the tips of her scarlet hair a forest green, along with a brown shirt and red pants as well as black shoes.

Shinji was similar, his hair brushed so it wasn't in his eyes and tucked into his collar, glasses perched ontop. He didn't changed much- a single black vest over his shirt was all.

"Aww, man, I'm last!"

I rolled my eyes at Shinzo's words, flicking a glance at him, then the sky. "Not really," I drawled. "But oh well, Kori's coming as well, and we'll set off."

"As Jaxson said, your boat is coming."

All our eyes turned to the mist rolling over the churning ocean and as if called by name, a ship's mast slowly peeked through the cloud of fog.

This is our beginning.

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