A First Mate

**Date Started:** June 30th, 2020
**Date Completed:** June 30th, 2020
**Previous Role-Play:** Two For One
**Next Role-Play:** N/A
**Users Involved:** User:Jgoesgaming
**Setting:** Paradise
**Characters Involved:**
* **Ducky Pirates:** Kazmi Anan, Alex Marsh

## Aftermath

Right after the events that occurred in Two For One, Anan grabbed his medical kit, looking to stitch up his wound. He took out a Tissue Forceps to open up the wound and allow for clear vision, scissors to cut excess thread, a needle with thread, and the needle holder.

He held the needle holder with his right ring finger and thumb and placed his middle and index finger on the long side of the needle holder. He picked up the tissue forceps and held it with his left thumb and his index finger, like a normal person would hold a pen. Using the needle holder, he grabbed the needle by its flat side.

With the tissue forceps, he exposed the skin towards the end of the right side of the wound. From inside the wound, he punctured his skin with the needle, about half a centimeter away from the wound. Using the needle holder, he pulled the needle through his skin, from the inside to the outside of the wound. Then, he crossed the thread diagonally towards the left side of the wound. He repeated these steps on the left side of the wound and continued to work his way along the wound using this method. Each time he punctured his skin, he felt a sharp, stinging pain but at least the wound would heal quicker this way. Once he was done, he performed an instrumental tie on the end of the thread and thoroughly sterilized the equipment he had used.

Even though he could’ve easily healed himself with the powers of that flower, he decided against it. He wanted to use it only when he really needed it. Besides, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

## A Plan For The Future

He thought back to what that woman had said. *Something something Haki*, *Targeting the spiritual body instead of the physical one* and there being multiple forms. It didn’t really help, as he was now more confused than he had been before he learned about it. Slightly annoyed, he checked the Eternal Pose he had stolen, noticed he’d been veering off of course, towards the left, and steered the ship an equal amount towards the right, putting him back on track.

A sudden noise, coming from above him startled him and he looked up. He saw a small gull perched on his ship’s mast, looking right at him. It cooed again, as to say “Yes, it was I, the gull you’re at looking at, that made that noise.” The gull was wearing a white hat and over its shoulder hung a small bag with newspapers and a pocket for money.

He’d heard of them before, but this was the first time he had actually seen a News Coo and as he hadn’t actually read the news since he set out to sea and was curious about what had been happening in the world, he took out some Beli to pay for it while the Coo flew straight towards him. He clicked open the small pocket in its bag and put the 0.30 Beli inside like it said on the price tag and pulled out one of the rolled-up newspapers.

While he was opening the paper, the small News Coo flew away and, just as he was about to start reading it, he saw a giant fish lunge right at it, mouth agape, clearly intending to swallow it whole. Anan perched up, threw the newspaper away, and ran towards starboard while transforming his right hand into slime. The fish, somewhat resembling a piranha was unlike anything he had ever seen but that didn’t really matter right now, what mattered was how quickly it was approaching the gull. He stretched his arm out and rotated his body to add more speed, like he was about to punch someone while reaching for the fish with a rope of slime.

Although he had managed to grab the fish, it was already too late as he could see the gull vanishing into its mouth, but Anan did not give up hope and slammed it against the mast of his ship. Due to the pain, the fish spat out the bird, along with some blood, and was flopping about, although that was probably more due to being out of the water. He lifted up the fish and threw it back into the sea before treating the seagull and cleaning the deck.

He picked up the newspaper and the Bounty Posters that had fallen out of it and went inside his cabin to read them. He was disappointed that most of the articles were about piracy, he had hoped there’d be more news from outside of the Grand Line. When he saw his own bounty, he grinned. ‘‘This plan could actually work!’’. With that flower and his bounty, he finally had a shot at saving his brother! Mere minutes ago having a bounty of S35,000,000 would’ve greatly upset him, but now, he realized it could be used to save his brother! Although executing it would be a tremendous task, it was still by far the easiest one he could come up with!

## A Beautiful Dawn

A few days later, Anan woke up as usual in his hammock, gently being rocked from left to right and back again by the unruly sea carrying his ship. The rustling sounds of the waves falling down on to each other and washing away were like a gentle lullaby, and the whispering of the winds added some pleasant background noise. The wound that that lady had managed to inflict with Haki had fully healed. On mornings like these, he wanted to forget about all of his worries and fall right back asleep. And, if it weren’t for the sudden, irregular squealing of seagulls, he might’ve been able to do just that.

‘‘Wait? Seagulls?’’ Anan jumped up and sprinted out of his cabin onto the deck of the ship. His eyes were immediately caught by the sun rising out above the sea, coloring the sky a bright orange hue, its yellow reflection stretching out over the sea’s eternal blue.

It was the most magnificent thing he had ever seen and it sucked him in completely. He stood there for at least a minute, gaping at this sight, completely trapped and bewildered by its beauty while the warm ocean breeze was caressing his skin.

After a while, he managed to snap out of it, picked up his binoculars, and walked towards the bow of the ship. Quickly, his suspicions were confirmed as he saw a stretch of land and its high mountains peaking at the horizon. The squealing reminded him of Cooper, the gull he had saved a few days earlier so he decided to check up on him. He had wrapped a bandage around his broken leg along with a stick to support it and covered the biggest wounds from the fish’s teeth with band-aids. He had been feeding him fish and although he was in no condition to fly yet, his wounds seemed to be healing well.

Several hours later, although it was still far from the evening, an eerie silence loomed over the island. It was so silent, you could even hear the faint footsteps of a shady figure slowly approaching the village’s bank. He knew nobody was around to thwart his plans, and that this was the perfect opportunity to achieve his dreams of being rich.

Even though he knew everybody should be gone, he quickly looked around, just to be sure. To his relief, he saw nobody and quietly forced the door open. While making his way towards the vault, he opened the bag he’d been carrying over his shoulder. All that was left now, was to open the vault’s door. If they hadn’t changed it yet, the code should be **1503**, the year Gol D. Roger was executed. He had been regularly visiting the bank for a while now, hoping to sneakily watch as the vault was being opened. Last week, he had finally discovered the code and was waiting for the perfect opportunity to relieve the bank of its gold.

*click*

He pushed the door open and saw there was far more gold than he’d be able to carry in one go. He couldn’t contain his excitement and hurried over to the closest pile of gold. He reached his hand out intending to shove all of it in his bag, when suddenly his arm was by punctured by several needles. He quickly retracted it as he cried out in pain. He looked behind him and saw the town’s sheriff, who had hidden himself in the vault standing next to the door.

The Sheriff mocked the robber: “Did ya really think it’d be *that* easy? Just gonna rob the bank real quick while everyone’s hiding because a pirate ship has been spotted?”

“I-I’m sorry! Please, have mercy!” The robber begged, not wanting to die so soon.

The Sheriff yelled back: “And why should I!?” As if he’d ever show mercy to such scum. The thought alone disgusted him.

“I-I’ll do whatever you want! I’m tired of living in fear, I just wanted to buy a boat so I could escape this shithole! I’m just sick of livin’ like this!”

“Good, because your life’s about to get even worse. Don’t you ever dare insult this place again.”

## An Unfriendly Encounter

Anan docked his ship in the island’s harbor and disembarked his ship. He stretched out, put his Log Pose in one of his back pockets, and started walking towards the island’s village. A short while later, he arrived. It looked like a village straight out of the Wild West. He saw a Saloon and was pretty thirsty, so he decided to enter it. To his surprise, nobody, not even the owner was there.

“Hello? Anybody here!?” he yelled. No response.

“Is this a ghost town or something?”

While he was talking with the sheriff, the robber slowly reached for his gun with his left hand. But, before he could grab it, his shoulder was struck by several needles. He let out another cry of pain and was crawling on the ground.

“Do ya think I’m stupid, or somethin’?”

“Stand up!”

It took him a while because it hurt to move his arms, but eventually, he managed to get up.

The Sheriff took his gun and cuffed him, before walking him outside.

Seconds after exiting the Bank, he heard the doors of the Saloon swing open and saw a strange, young man walking out. He definitely wasn’t from 'round here, but he didn’t exactly look like a pirate either.

“Hello!”

Anan yelled while waving at the Sheriff.

“Do you know where the other people are?”

“I have no idea.” the Sheriff lied, deciding not to take any risks.

“You’re not from 'round here, are you?”

“No, I only just got here.”
“Do you know how long it takes for a Log Pose to change on this island?”

*So he’s a pirate after all.*
The rest of his crew doesn’t seem to be with him.
I’ll take care of this robber later, this is more important.

The Sheriff created a bunch of needles from seemingly thin air and launched them at the pirate.

Purely out of reflex, Anan ducked to avoid them, even though they couldn’t hurt them. Well, they *shouldn’t* be able to and this guy didn’t seem as strong as that Marine Commodore.

While he was distracted, the Sheriff had drawn his gun and aimed it squarely at the pirate’s face.

**BANG! BANG!**

“Oi, what was that for!? What did I ever do to you!?” Anan yelled. He was surprised that someone who’d never even met hated him *that* much.

*What!? How’d he survive that?*
*I’m sure I didn’t miss!*

**BANG!**

This time, he saw it. He hadn’t missed, but the pirate’s face changed into a green, slimy substance and the bullet went straight through.

“Can you stop doing that!? I’m not going to hurt you.” Anan yelled, now visibly annoyed.

“You’re… not?”

“No, of course not!”

*No, that was impossible.*
There’s no way that this is not some trick.
Yeah, he’s going to try to get close to me and then he’ll definitely kill me.

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the increasingly loud moaning and sniveling of the robber.

Anan, now calmed down asked: “I doubt he’ll survive those wounds… Do you want me to treat him?”

This surprised the Sheriff. “You have a Doctor on your crew?” None of the other pirate crews had a Doctor by this point. They didn’t need one, this village wasn’t a threat anyway.

“I *am* a Doctor.” Anan said “And I don’t exactly have a crew yet.”

“A pirate without a crew?” The Sheriff questioned. “You don’t think you can make it on your own, do you?”

“No, of course not! I’ll get one eventually!” He retorted angrily.
“Now, do you want me to treat him or not?”

He thought about it for a while. “… Sure, I guess.”

Back at Anan’s ship, the Sheriff burst out laughing: “Your pirate ship is a duck!? Kugigigi”

“What’s wrong with that!? I like ducks! There’s nothing wrong with ducks!” He blurted out. He was visible flustered by The Sheriff’s ridicule.

“It looks ridiculous! Kugigigi” The Sheriff had a hard time stopping with laughing. “Are you going to make your enemies die of laughter!? Kugigigi”

“So what if it’s a duck!? It’s my ship, I can do whatever I want with it!” He yelled back as he stepped on board, followed by his new friend.

## Towards A Better Future!

The Sheriff waited while Anan pulled out the needles and disinfected the wounds.
After that, he applied some bandages to cover up the wounds. While he was treating the robber, he asked the Sheriff how long it would take for the log pose to change.

The Sheriff wasn’t sure either, unfortunately. “Honestly? No idea. Shouldn’t be more than a day though. None of the other pirates stuck around for more than a day.” It was still good to know though, and Anan thanked him.

After a while, he realized they hadn’t introduced themselves yet. “I’m Anan, Kazmi Anan.” he said. The sheriff replied “Name’s Alex Marsh”.

“What made you hate pirates this much?” Anan asked.

“We’re a small, basically defenseless village on the Grand Line. I think you can figure out the rest.” Marsh replied.
When he saw how Marsh reacted, Anan knew he’d asked something he shouldn’t have and was at a loss for words for while.

Finally breaking the silence, he silently responded “I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. They’re not all like that, though. I *promise* I won’t ever become like them.”

Marsh sighed and responded “Don’t bother. I won’t find out anyway.” He got up and turned around “Good luck on your adventures.” He said and walked away.

“Wait!” Anan yelled. “You could come with me.”
“We’ll defeat any pirate crew we come across and if we ever find those bastards... we’ll tear them to pieces.”

Marshal grinned and responded snarkily: “Sure, as long as you’re willing to ditch the duck the first chance we get I wouldn’t mind being the hunter for once.”

“What’s wrong with it? I like ducks!”

“I already told you, it’s ridiculous!”

“Fine. Nobody is going to take me seriously like this anyway.”
“Let’s go! Towards a better future!” Anan said, as he ran towards the anchor, ready to pull it up.

“We need to wait for the Log Pose to change and we still need to lock up this robber, you idiot!” Marsh yelled at him.
Was this really a good idea? What if he got both of them killed by being overenthusiastic? Well, it was worth a shot, because Anan’s Devil Fruit was really powerful, and it didn’t seem like he was someone who’d give up easily.

“Oh right.” Anan apologized. “I got a little too excited and completely forgot about that, *sorry*!”