Chapter 1;
A large sailboat slid through the snakey waters of the deep blue, the calm of the day allowing the ride to be smooth, without many waves to toss and throw the ship and it's inhabitants about. The boat had been sailing for about a month now, and over the past few weeks much of the crew had been lost. A huge storm had ravaged a huge portion of the Ocean, and they had no way around it.
Down in the Bilge, Ichirou was hard at work. Working the Bilge pump to drain the excess water out of the ship, the crew had been struggling to recover the ship over the past few days, most of the men were swallowed by the sea, and the damages to the ship were slowing their progress excessively. Sails had to be interchanged, ropes had to be restrung and other things of the like. Ichirou was no pirate, and didn't know much about repairing a ship or anything of the like, but working a bilge pump wasn't much of a problem.
Once the water had been cleared out, Ichirou made his way back to the upper deck, to check on the progress of things there. Looking over to one of the crewmen he called out, "Hey! O'hara around?" he asked, the man would nod in response, "Aye he's down in his quarters, Ichirou. He been lookin fer ye." Ichirou would shake his head affirmatively and make his way down to the captains quarters, picking up toppled barrels of spices, gunpowder, and alcohol as he made his way. The ship had really been shaken up, they nearly got taken out several times throughout the storm, it was one quite the stressful time for this crew. Three sturdy knocks met the door to the Captain's chamber, "Captain? It's Ichirou." he called out through the thick wood, "Come on in, Ichirou." he heard the mans voice reply.
He would open the door and step into the room. Removing some of the bandages from his arm to wipe his face clean of mess. "You been lookin' for me? I was down in the bilge." the captain would nod, "Glad to see you're helpin out, I knew I wouldn' regret brigin' ya' round." the man chuckled dryly, obviously trying to make light of a specifically horrid situation. "We're still a few days out from our destination. I'm surprised you of all people came along this journey. You know these isles are cursed, yet ye were foolish 'nough to hop 'board my vessel." he continued on, pausing to look over some of his maps, checking to see if they were even still on their proper course to the Broken Isles.
"Well im interested to see what's bringing about the curse of the Isles, perhaps even stop it." Ichirou replied as he took a seat opposing the captains chair at his desk. "Mmm. Well lets hope we even make it to land, before we start worryin' 'bout fixin' curses and things of the like." O'hara paused for a moment, coughing a bit. "We lost our crows nest in the storm, so scouting is gon' be a bit more difficult for me men. You think you can take that up for us?" Ichirou would nod at O'hara's request, but not speaking as to let the captain finish. "Good to hear, then that's what we'll need to do first. Depending on what you can see from there will depend our next move. It's possible that we may need to drop anchor and wait for the stars to dance 'bout the sky to make sure our course is true." he continued on as he made his way from his quarters, motioning for Ichirou to follow as they made their way back to the deck of the ship. "Everything in order up here men?" he shouted out, looking around the deck at the shell of a crew that remained after the storm. "Aye cap'in. She's as good as she'll be till' we get some reel work done on 'er." his first mate replied in a depressed tone. Everyone was tired, they wanted to rest and eat real food. But there wasn't a lot of options for that at the moment.
The captain looked to Ichirou, and motioned to the broken crows nest. Ichirou would nod, running his chakra through his feet as he traveled up the mast to the broken tip, activating his byakugan as he looked out over the ocean. He had hoped perhaps he could get a glimpse of the Isles from here, but unfortunately they seemed to be at a loss. Nothing but ocean for the entirety of the 15km that Ichirou could see with his Byakugan. Deactivating his eyes he made his way back down the mast to the deck. "I hate to be the bearer, Captain. But we got nothing. Not for a long while. Just more of the deep blue." the captain sighed and stroked his beard as he though. "I hate to to do it but we've gotta drop anchor for now.. Go ahead boys lock her down." he snapped his fingers a few time and the men ran into the depths of the ship to drop the anchor as ordered.
Everyone aboard the ship fit your expectation of pirates, the captain was blackbeard-esque and all the men looked like shiphands, nothing particularly special about these individuals. And their only two destinations were the Black isles and the Shinobi world, obscurely off the coast. Not far from the land of whirpools. This was something that perplexed Ichirou, and another of the reasons that he came aboard their ship. Of course the curse of the broken isles was interesting all in it's own, but why would average pirates travel consistently to the isles like this? only time would tell, it seemed.
"I got'a give ye my apologies, Ichirou." the captain pulled Ichirou from his thoughts with words, causing him to turn his attention to the bearded man. "We've never hit a storm like that in our travels before, it makes me feel ashamed to have told ye I can get to the Isles faster than any other 'round." Ichirou waved a hand dismissively. Not to worry captain, I'm sure things will turn around for us." the two shared a small chuckle and made their way down into the kitchen of the ship, to eat whatever food had survived. To make sure that they would have the energy to maintain this massive ship over the next few days. Especially with a third of a crew.
Night fell upon the ship. The beautiful blue of the Ocean turned to a terrifying darkness that descended deeper than any pit and seemed to be a gateway to hell itself. Most of the crew were sleeping. Excluding a few of the hands that sat below the deck, drinking and conversating about their friends lost to the storm. The captain himself had been drinking with them, before coming to join Ichirou on the deck.
Ichirou stood staring off into the darkness, lost in his thoughts until the sound of the captains boots brought him back to reality. "Everything alright, Captain?" he asked, turning to face the man. "I was about to ask you the same thing, Ichirou. Ye' ain't slept in a few days." Ichirou chuckled, "Nothing to be worried about, Captain. I don't really need sleep as much as you might imagine." he turned back out to the ocean, noticing the water as it seemed to stir. "You're quite the oddity, Ichirou. Ya'know I had something I was gonna ask you, Have you ever-" the mans words were halted as a loud crashing sound rang throughout the wood of the ship, followed by the terrified scream of the crewman below the deck, "What the hell?" the captain shouted as he ran down below the deck. Ichirou meanwhile chose to look over the side of the ship, to the source of the puncture. What he saw was not what he expected, A large tentacle retracted from the boat, throwing several of the crew out into the deep. Ichirou cursed under his breath as he turned to find the captain, only to find himself having to jump back to avoid being crushed by a second mighty tentacle. Within moments a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and finally eighth tentacle would seize the boat in their graps, snapping the wood of the ship and lashing at Ichirou. He jumped and darted around the tentacles, Gathering wind chakra into the tips of his fingers to formulate a wind blade, which he would unleash upon two of the tentacles, cleaving through them both and leaving an opening through which Ichirou could move through easily. "Captain?!" he shouted, though he figured that the man was dead, everyone else seemed to be.
This would soon be proven to me the more like point as the tentacles encircled the ship, crushing it to pieces within moments as Ichirou jumped from the boat, solidifying chakra in his feet to land upon the water as a solid surface, turning to face whatever it was that had brought the ship down. Though it didn't show itself, instead it receeded into the water, dragging the remains of the ship down with it, and Ichirou assumed any of the remaining crew that had lived. Well, they were all dead now.
Ichirou looked around, Ocean for miles. Activating his Byakugan he cursed under his breath, all he could do was run across the water, toward the direction that the ship had been traveling. Hoping that it was the proper direction, that he could make his way to the isles before he ran out of chakra. He used his Byakugan to watch for any incoming threats, hoping that nothing came at him that he couldn't handle.
But whatever this thing really was, he couldn't see coming.
A tentacle burst from the water beneath him, throwing him twirling high into the sky before catching him and slamming him back down into the water, where he blacked out from the force. the last thing he remembered was peering into the darkness of the deep ocean before consciousness escaped his mind. And only blackness ensued.
In his last moments he assumed he was to die here, alone in the ocean killed by some giant Octopus or something with octopus like appendages. But this was not the case. He awoke on a beach, coughing up water as his vision returned to him blurred, he coughed and coughed for at least 10 minutes consistently before he could finally breathe again. Gasping for air over an over as he blinked and looked around, trying to get a grip on the situation. He felt for his equipment pouches, but it was all for nothing. His equipment had been lost to the ocean. He cursed through gasps as he sat on his hands and knees as his vision gradually returned. Grey clouds blotted out the sun, casting a gloom upon the lands, the ocean was black as it left the beach, for several hundred feet before turning blue once again. "Pollution?" he asked himself as he stood up shakily. Huge rocky formations littered the island he was upon, and looking in the distance he would see the black water stretch over to other islands bearing the same physical attribute as the one he was on. "The Broken Isles..."
He wiped his mouth clean of excess as he began taking steps towards a nearby cave, hoping to find some shelter from the seemingly impending rain. Whatever took that ship down, whatever took him down. Brought him here on purpose, there was more to all of this. And determination to discover the answers filled Ichirou's body as he stumbled to his destination. Collapsing in the mouth of the cave and leaning against the cold stone as the rain began to pelt the sand of the beaches.
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Topic: The Wither of the Broken Isles (Read 1348 times)