Writing Prompts Archive/12/Ramen Samurai

NB: While this archives the text for reading, linking and searching, this cannot do justice to the original found here which mixes words, images and audio together.

***The lowest scum***

They were the lowest scum of the Ruby Sea. Not many universal truths reigned along the unruled waters between Othard and Hingashi, but this was something that was accepted by almost everyone. Despite their greed, the Confederacy was actually given some merit in keeping undesired foreign forces, like the Empire, at bay merely through their presence. And despite the disturbing rumors about the Garleans themselves, their influence in that corner of the world was still too small for them to be a looming worry in the minds of the common folk… even if that was about to change.

No, it was not the tax-collectors, nor the steel tyrants who were considered the lowest of the low. In those few years of relative peace, it was the few remaining pirate crews –or bands, at this point- that still roamed the Sea lose, who quickly became the archetype for “the villain”. They were the “boogeyman” for the kids, the “watched” for the watchmen and, above all, the scourge for the brave merchants that dared to cross their dominions.  They were the last vestige of the pre-confederate Ruby Sea and the golden age of piracy. Among these remaining groups of buccaneers, there was one whose name was notorious: the Jiyu no Kaze (Hingan for “Wind of Freedom”), lead by the homonymous, larger than life highlander that his dozen subordinates referred to as Kaze-san. This is the story of one of their voyages…

It was a misty winter morning aboard the creaking Kazemaru. The weather had been unusually unsavoury for the past week, making sailing difficult and leaving the crew exhausted. Even the energic Kaze-san, sitting crossed-arm in his usual spot behind the prow, seemed to be in low spirits - but no one dared so much as to whisper about it. A squalid, glasses-wearing individual approached the captain from behind and broke the silence in the vessel with a squeaking, stuttered speech.

* Hi-HI-Hidekata bringing the provisions report, sir! There’s a couple boxes of salted meat, three of dried b-b-beans… we’re all out of other vegetables and ale is scarcing… if we ration it p-p-properly, it should l-l-lasts us for at least a couple more days…

Kaze-san smirked as soon as the anxious man started speaking. His stuttering always amused him tremendously, and some even argued it was the only reason why he kept the helpless youngster around. But Kaze-san’s reaction was not the usual one. He did not interrupt Hidekata’s with his loud laughter – instead he left out but a faint chuckle, raised a hand, and with it proceeded to pat Hidekata’s back with such strength that he almost fell overboard.

* GOOD JOB, four-eyes! Now, did you hear that, you lazy watcher!? Keep those eyes open under that stupid towel of yours! You better find a good prey or you’ll be in the menu soon! BWAHAHA.

The annoying laugh reverberated in the air up to the crow’s nest.  The watcher sighed in annoyance, but didn’t respond – for a watcher only speaks when he sees something. Even when there was nothing to be seen, that particular watcher liked his position atop the ship, away from everyone and everything, his only responsibility keeping one eye open behind the monocular. Nothing else tied him to the world when he was up there. To his displeasure though, he would have to report before long. For a few minutes now, something began to become more and more clear on the horizon. He took enough time to ascertain it, till there was no doubt: it was land. Land and smoke.

The watcher jumped with grace on top of the yardarm and descended rapidly down the ratlines, almost sliding through them. He performed a last jump from a couple meters high to land next to the captain and hand him the monocle, as it was customary. Kaze-san spent a good while looking. An expectant crowd had now gathered around them. Without averting his gaze, Kaze-san shared in a loud voice:

* That’s the isle of Shimojima. Isn’t that your old home, Kou-san? Why don’t we go and say hi?

A rugged, brown-skinned Mi’qote woman, with a stern face and tired eyes, stepped forth from the crowd.

* Not like anyone would receive me, cap’ain. Me family should have moved lon’ ago. There nuffin this far north till Ryakgyr, sir, and nuffin at all beyon’ that.

A severely hunchbacked, one-eyed midlander, his face disfigured by a scar running from his left eye to his mouth, jumped atop some nearby railings and bent down to exclaim in a high-pitched voice:

* If your kitty-cats are still there, they sure know how to have fun! Look at all that smokey-smoke! It’s a party alright! I say we join them.

Kou-san retorted with a deathly stare:

* Keep your tongue inside your mouth least you lose that too, freak.

The animosity between the two was clear, and the heated exchange quickly escalated. More voices joined, clearly eager at having some long-seeked entertainment. Kaze-san listened amused for a while, without turning his gaze away from the horizon, but at length decided to quiet his crew:

* SHUT YOUR TRAPS, YOU BILGE RATS! Nezu is right, where there’s smoke there’s fire! And heavens know we’ve had enough WATER for the past days. We need foodstuffs, and we may as well take them from here… but you know how this works. Raise your hands if you wish to sleep with a Shimojiman tonight!!

The vote was a quick, loud and unanimous yes. After a few last snarky remarks transpired from the prior squabble, everyone went back to their posts and the ship gained life with a slow but constant hustle. In the misty morning, Shimojima’s silhouette only started to become visible when they were about half a mile away from it, but a peculiar odor started to give its presence away from even further - as the wind carried a familiar, yet somehow odd smell of gunpowder.

* Smells like it’s not a party after all, captain. Do you think the Confederacy is teaching a lesson, this far north? Should we really dock in here?

This was stated by a proud, grey-haired lalafell man who looked well on his sixties. Kaze looked down at his interlocutor only briefly, then his gaze went to study his crew. If they were worried by the smell, they were not commenting it nor looking especially worried about it. Even Kou-san seemed collected… even if her duties at readying the couple cannons aboard were proceeding unusually slow. At length, Kaze-san replied to his minute friend:

* Can’t be helped, quartermaster Tarotaro. Crew is eager for action, and things aren’t looking too bright if we miss this chance. I pay heed to your words, though - we’ll be cautious. Furl the sails, Yama-san! We’ll row the rest of the way.

A silent, muscled Roegadyn started to obey the order. Every other man and woman was soon rowing, and the crew’s jointed efforts saw the medium-sized vessel beached on the shore. A number of shacks were lined up at a short distance from it, with the village proper resting inland at about a mile away. By the time they set foot on land, only a couple smoke columns were still emanating from the villages, with no fire on sight.

It started to rain.

The crew was divided in two. A group formed by Kaze, Kou, Nezu, Yama, Hide and the watcher was sent to explore, while Taro and the other 5 members stayed at the ship to prepare it for sail in case of an emergency. The stage was set, and Kaze-san led the funny looking, silent squad deeper into the equally quiet island and towards the village.

The lowlives disembarked restless and wary, weapons unsheathed, and only Nezu dared to spout some trivial comments about the possibilities of pillage and plunder. It took them a couple minutes of an uneventful trip to arrive to a rather sorry excuse for a human establishment, even for fishing village standards: ten or so houses forming a circle around a dirty cobblestone plaza. The silence was foreboding. The only souls they met were a handful of old men sitting on chairs by their houses, and a little Mi’qote girl that was now emerging from one of them, throttling towards the pirates as they stepped on the plaza.

* Kou-neesan!

The silence finally broke, and it would not come back. A score of dark garbed soldiers came out of the nearby shacks and surrounded the group, pointing their strange firearms at the pirates, who were quick to raise their hands in surrender at being outnumbered twofold. One of the soldiers was quick to grab the girl and lift her in place.

Kaze-san whistled and shouted in a mocking tone:

* Now this is a proper welcoming committee! A family reunion, plenty of enthusiasm… we just have to work on the ale though. And maybe the girls. Unless some of you are, I really can’t tell…!

Not even his men reacted to the snark. At length, another voice was heard:

* We have seized their vessel, sir. They don’t seem like part of the Confederacy.

It was hard to ascertain who exactly was speaking, as every soldier wore a full-face helmet – but it was made apparent before long. The circle of soldiers broke to reveal two men, one in a more adorned version of the black garbs than the rest, and another in an equivalent uniform in white. The latter spent a few moments examining the disheveled six before speaking:

* Remind me, Decurion Lucius -  why is it that we came to this savage pond of filth?

* To serve as the advance party, sir, and carve the path for Garlemald’s glorious…

* Spare me the official discourse, Decurion. Let me put it in a less noble way, that our guests may also understand. We are the advance pest control. The ones in front of us are pests – whether they are of the species we were initially looking for, it is of no consequence…

Nezu stepped forth from the group with his head low and began to plea.

* Oh, Nezu assures you, we are the worst kind… so bad, we’re not even worth the trouble…! If you let us go, maybe we point you gents to the real Confy-baddies, yes…?

The man in white looked at Nezu with disgust:

* EW! This one actually LOOKS like a rat. Must say though, that could be a… tantalizing proposition...

His crewmates looked at Nezu in disbelief that this last-minute charade could turn things around, but were expectant of its outcome nonetheless. The man in white strolled within the circle for a while, close to his men, as if deliberating his choice. The next message was sent in a louder, less mocking tone than before, effectively issuing an order this time.

* … if we dealt with pests, that is. Don’t waste ammunition. Let them have honor for once in their lives. Let the hunt begin!

It all happened very fast from there. The whole squadron put their firearms away and began unsheathing their steel. Kaze looked back to his men. His idiotic smirk was back on his face. Nothing more was necessary to spur their men into action… or at least most of them.

Being true to his title, the watcher could only watch as the madness began to unfold. It all became a confused blurry in front of his eyes. Yama-san, a veritable paragon of strength, was sending soldiers flying with his bare arms. Nezu was quickly put down, not before claiming the ear of a careless enemy, a bloody prize he was now chewing away. Kou-san was reloading her crossbow while running to take cover into a house that could very well be her own. Hidekata was blatantly breaking the code and fleeing from battle. And Kaze-san… where was Kaze-san? He was running too… but not away. Not into the soldiers, either. He was being chased by them while running towards the little Mi’qote girl, who was now alone. He grabbed it in one swift swing of his arm, and the next thing the Watcher knew was that a live, screaming torpedo was flying towards his direction.

* CATCH IT, WATCHER!

The girl impacted on his chest like a cannonball, pushing him into the sand. He was emptied of all air on his lungs, and had to spend a few seconds of desperate inhaling till he got some of it back. Still laying down with the girl on top, he looked back to the fray. Kaze-san was in the middle of the fray now, facing 3 soldiers at once. Another couple was running towards himself. The message was clear. It was time to go.

The watcher grabbed the girl by his waist and ran like the wind towards shore. He jumped through the sand with the mastery that one would expect of one on his line of work, quickly leaving his pursuers behind despite his added weight. It wasn’t long before he spotted Hidekata pushing a rowboat into the sea, his face red from the hopeless struggle. The watcher placed the now fussing girl on the boat and helped Hide get the vessel on the water. By now the soldiers had reduced the gap between them considerably, and were readying their firearms in opposition – or perhaps in an agreed exception- to their leader’s order.

The two men rowed for their lives, while the other two began to shoot. The girl was shouting her lungs out. It all became a blur again. Bullets piercing the air nearby. The boat sinked.

The watcher woke up on a different shore. Laying prone, he managed to lift his head enough so as to look around, and saw he was between his two companions. Fragments of the most recent events started to bomb his mind. Hide and him swimming, carrying the girl in turns. The sea fierce, as if wanting to finish the job. Then a monster… an ugly green beast. Then only darkness.

His body was completely numb and void of energy. He passed out again, heavens know for how long…

-          ..ak… keo…!

Hide was clumsily shaking his body. The watcher slowly got into a kneeling position. He looked at the girl: she hadn’t moved an inch. He dragged himself through the ground to reach for her neck and check her pulse... where there was none.

-          I-I-It’s a miracle, d-d-don’t you think?. We must be the only two who made it, shi-shi-shitteru wa? Aaah, thank the k-k-k-kami! But the taichou and the rest… m-m-maybe they survived? No chance, you think? Mu-mu-muri desu ka? I think I want to quit being a k-k-kaizoku… Who’s that mu-mu-musume, by the way? Ma-ma-masaka…! She’s Kou-san’s…?

The watcher channeled all the strength he had left on his right arm, and swinged it on a violent punch towards Hide’s face to cease his half-foreign, post-traumatic ramble. The squalid one was thrown to the sand, where he started a muffled sobbing after a while. The watcher returned his attention to the girl, and attempted a chest reanimation for one, five, ten minutes…? Time did not matter anymore. But she did not come back. Nor did the rest, ever. Who was to care, in any case? After all…

They were the lowest scum of the Ruby Sea.