Chapter 14: Chapter 13: A mob saves/kidnaps(?) a main character

Chapter 13: A mob saves/kidnaps(?) a main character

...

The rain poured heavily upon Shimotsuki village, getting wet the clothes and hair of all the people walking under it, however, none of them seemed to actually care about it as they all had blank looks on their faces, probably lost on their thoughts or too distracted by the tragedy that happened the day before to notice how the rain fell upon them.

"I heard she went to the warehouse in order to get the whetstone to sharpen her precious sword, however, after that she accidentally fell through the stairs..."

"Human life is so fragile... We don't know when will someone else die just as abruptly as her"

"We humans are nothing..."

Zoro, that was walking ahead of the group of adults talking, couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation. Still astonished by the news of his new friend dying just the day before, he had a blank look on his face while looking at the coffin that some men carried in the distance.

Not a single tear left his eyes while he was walking along with the crowd of people in the funeral, probably due to the fact that he still couldn't believe she had died, not accepting it, and believing that once he went back to the dojo he could still find her practicing her swordsmanship.

"..."

None of the people there were in the mood to continue talking, so they stayed silent and then continued walking along with the crowd of people.

After a few minutes later, the crowd finally arrived at the cemetery, where some men started digging a hole big enough to bury the coffin of Kuina while all the other people watched silently.

Koushirou was just standing there while watching the coffin, as always, was inexpressive as ever, though you could still see a glimpse of sadness in his strange closed eyes.

The rain, that somehow seemed to be also mourning for the death of Kuina, started falling heavily upon them. As the people there also started crying while seeing the coffin get buried under tons of dirt.

This time, everyone there knew... She was gone forever.

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-Sid POV

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...Uwaaah... This is so uncomfortable...

Seeing all of them crying so much while mourning for Kuina, when in reality they are just burying a dead bandit that I killed and changed its appearance to that of Kuina... It somehow makes me really uncomfortable...

Well, at least I know that Kuina is alive and that I had saved her from the bleeding she had in her head, though I doubt they will know about that anytime soon...

I looked at Zoro, who somehow still had a blank look on his face while looking at the coffin get buried, suddenly get angry and start crying while shouting in rage at the coffin.

"Dammit! We made a promise yesterday! Aren't you going to keep it?! How I am supposed to become the best swordsman if I can't compete with you?!"

Some adults, that were watching the scene with a sad expression, had to restrain Zoro so that he couldn't mess with the burying process while throwing releasing his anger.

Hmm... now I feel bad for Zoro...

Sigh, let's hope this funeral ends fast... even for me, it's being hard to maintain a straight face knowing that they are mourning the death of a bandit.

...

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A few hours later

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"I see... so you're leaving today Sid?"

"Yes Koushirou sensei, my father holidays end in just a few days more, and he has to prepare all the things for his travels as a merchant, so he needs me to help him to organize things"

"I see, I'm sorry you had to see such a tragedy just a day before you left, but either way, it still was pleasant having you as a student"

"Thank you for your guidance" I sightly bowed to him in a signal of respect, not too loud so that I didn't stand out that much like a protagonist could do by screaming and crying with unlimited gratitude for his master, and not too low so that it didn't seem like I was being shy. After that I left the dojo and started walking towards my ship, transforming into my merchant appearance right before reaching the dock.

"Oh, Mr. Harold! You finally came back" The guard that watched over my ship called me by my merchant name when he noticed my presence approaching the dock. Which was also the name of my father by the way, as I couldn't imagine a better name anyways...

"Hm, I have to thank you for watching over my ship all these days, however, this will be the last time because tomorrow I'm leaving as I need to replenish my stock and travel to other islands"

"I understand Mr. Harold, it was pleasant working with you until now"

You are reading story One Piece: To be a Power in the Depths at novel35.com

"Hehehe... Make sure that no pirate attacks this island while I'm away as I could like to visit it once again in the future"

"Yes sir!"

"Alright, see you then"

"Goodbye Mr. Harold"

After that, I boarded my ship and prepared everything for traveling tomorrow towards the next island. It was until I heard some noise coming from inside the rooms of my ship, that I remembered I had a guest.

*Click*

As I opened the door of the infirmary room, I saw a barely standing Kuina looking in my direction with an astonished expression.

"Who are you? No, first where am I? Where's my father?"

Sigh... This is going to be a hard talk...

"You could call me your doctor, since I was the one that saved you from that bleeding on your head after you fell through the stairs, and as for where you are right now, that could be my ship"

"What about my father?" Kuina glanced at me with a great amount of suspicion on her gaze.

"He doesn't know you're alive... and he won't know about it either, at least in a few years"

"What?!" Kuina backed away from me and took a syringe from her pocket before pointing it directly at me.

"Bring me back right now!"

"I don't think that's going to happen, miss Kuina"

I took a seat on a nearby chair and glanced at her with upmost seriousness while checking some papers about her condition that were inside my desk.

"I'll be honest with you miss Kuina, you shouldn't be alive right now"

"Wha-?"

"You shouldn't be alive, because you were supposed to die right after falling from the stairs in your warehouse. Probably because of your bleeding, or because the last impact with the ground could have just killed you instantly. However, as you may see, you are perfectly alive"

As I kept talking with her, my appearance soon started slowly changing from my merchant one to my original appearance.

"You are alive, because I saved you right before you could hit your head with the ground" I continued talking calmly while my body size shrunk to the size of a normal kid, my hair turned completely black, and my pupils changed into their characteristic reddish brown color. Leaving Kuina completely dumbfounded after seeing my change in appearance.

Of course, a certain grumpy expression also came back to my face and my brows suddenly started burrowed involuntarily.

"You... you're the guy that mocked me for being a girl and then ran away like a chicken after I beat you up!"

"Indeed, though that was just an act..."

"How did you do that thing just now?! How did you suddenly change your appearance like that?!"

"I ate the... uh... appearance appearance no mi...? It allows me to completely change my appearance to my liking"

"A devil fruit?!"

"Indeed" 

"Tch... and what does a kid like you want with me?"

"As I said, you were not originally supposed to survive, however, I saved you and treated your wound because of a very special reason, you see, I'm on a mission to hunt and destroy an extremely evil being with the power to turn all the seas of this world upside down. That's why I'm training myself with the goal of becoming the strongest man alive to be able to defeat that evil being. However, in order to do that I will need subordinates who help me in this mission. That's the reason I saved you, I want you to join my crew and help me kill that being"

"And why should I become your subordinate? The last time I defeated you pretty easily..."

"I remember you made a promise with Zoro, right?"

"Yeah, What about it?"

"I can teach you swordsmanship"

"You? To me? Swordsmanship? Yeah, I don't thi-"

Before she could say more, I stood up from my seat and grabbed a pencil from my desk, before using it to slash the chair I was sitting on. The chair ended up splitting in half right after I imbued the pencil with Haki, cutting through it like it was made of butter.

"Ah..." Kuina eyes widened and her mouth opened to a bizarre degree right after seeing me split in half the chair with a simple pencil.

"By the way, the name is Sid"

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