Chapter 22: The past that never forgets(part-2)

"Finally an Island" Sanemi muttered as he spun the helm as the ship turned towards an Island. Sanemi has been sailing for days and this was the first island he could find.

'a boat wreck' Sanemi thought as he noticed parts and pieces of a boat that seemed to be crashed near the entrance of the island. With a wave of his hand, Sanemi created weaker tides as he directed the black pearl towards the shore.

Sanemi pulled down the anchor as he jumped from the boat. He slowly approached the tracks as he investigated them. The boat was beyond repair and there were a few pieces of cloth attached between the pieces of wood.

'fabric seems to be poor quality...though it could be due to the weather...considering that there is little to no mold the crash must be recent...' Sanemi thought to himself as he flared his observation haki.

"The island is bigger than I imagined..." Sanemi muttered as he entered the forest.

-------

"Haaah!!" A feminine shout came from the woods as Sanemi turned his head in that direction.

"a girl?" Sanemi murmured as he approached the place where the shout originated from. Sanemi quickly closed the distance and saw something that amazed him.

A girl with white short hair and fair skin was fighting a giant bear. The girl didn't look too much older than him perhaps around the age of 16 or 17. Sanemi watched as the girl tried to fight the bear with a makeshift spear made out of stone and a stick.

'No prior fighting experience but her will to live is admirable' Sanemi thought as he blended with the trees to observe the fight.

"Haaaaah!!!" With another yell, the girl thrust the spear towards the bear again. The spearhead was not sharp enough and was doing blunt damage at best.

"Grrraaaahhhhhh!!!!" The bear roared as he swiped his laws towards the girl. The girl ducked in time as she thrust the spear towards the ber's reproductive part.

"Guuooooaahhhhh!!" The bear roared in pain as it flinched back. Without wasting any time the girl thrust the spear towards the bear's head to kill it but the bear with a wild slash of claw sent her flying to the other side.

"I have seen enough I am satisfied" Sanemi muttered as he came out of the bushes.

"who..wh*cough* *cough* " The girl tried to stand and talk but all she could do was cough out blood. The bear on the other hand slowly was getting up.

"Can you hear me, girl? well, it doesn't matter if you can or cannot" Sanemi said as he approached the girl who was lying half-dead beside the tree trunk.

"I will give you an offer blink one if you accept it." Sanemi continued as he was standing beside her bleeding body.

"I am Sanemi and I have a dream, will you become the first member of the Oni Pirates," Sanemi asked as he stood there staring at the girl's eyes with his back towards the bear.

'I...want to...I want to live...' The girl thought to herself as she slowly blinked her eyes in response.

"Correct answer!" Sanemi exclaimed with a grin as he pulled out Alyieh( Name of the wolf's gravestone according to the poneglyph). The blade of the sword released ambers as he performed a slash with his full physical strength.

A slash made from raging flames was formed as it sliced through the bear and several landforms behind it leaving a burning and molten mess.

"now then let's get you to help now should we," Sanemi said as he carried the girl in a princess carry as he jumped towards his ship.

'First mate secure' Sanemi thought to himself as he placed the girl in one of the empty beds as he prepared some medical equipment from his storage.

'Let's see a senzu bean should be enough...although I don't know its side effect on the normal people of the world.' Sanemi thought as he added a mixture of little sugar and water made a paste-like substance by mixing it with the bean and poured it into the girl's mouth.

Sanemi sat beside the girl as he observed the wounds on the girl start to heal up. Not only that but her physique and scars too healed up.

'I see so the bean's nutrition capacity works normally' Sanemi thought to himself and then opened the inventory as he looked for some clothes for the girl.

After a few hours, the girl finally opened her eyes as she looked around in confusion. Her sight finally landed on a set of kimono that was on the chair beside her.

"Where am I...*cough* *cough*" The girl tried to talk but she was unable to as her throat was dry. The room's door opened suddenly as Sanemi walked in with a glass of water.

"you are awake," Sanemi said he passed the glass of water to the girl.

"So what's your name?" Sanemi asked he looked at the girl.

"Ro-Rosita, Mary Rosita" Rosita answered as she tried to sit straight up.

'it seems that she is still feeling some pain despite taking a senzu bean...or she is faking it' Sanemi thought to himself as he stood up.

"There are some clothes here for you, clean yourself, and then meet me at the eating area, it's the fourth door to the left of this room," Sanemi said as he stood up and left.

"that guy...he was the one who saved me..." Rosita muttered as she slowly stood up. Her eyes wandered around the whole room and finally set on the kimono set.

----------

After a few minutes of waiting Sanemi finally saw Rosita enter the dining room with the kimono he gave her. The kimono was designed for males and had designs of sea waves all over it.

"Like it?" Sanemi asked with a smile.

"hmm" Rosita nodded in agreement as she sat across Sanemi. The food was already on the table as both of them started to eat.

"From tomorrow, we will start your training, as my first mate I expect a lot of promise from you," Sanemi said as ate.

"Hmmh" Rosita again just nodded in response as both of them ate in silence.

--------

Sun raised as Sanemi set a few training dummies he made himself. The dummies were made entirely from wood he found on the island he found Alyieh.

"Now then what weapon do you prefer?" Sanemi asked as he finished setting up the last dummy and sensed Rosita coming.

"Something like the one I used against the bear..." Rosita muttered in a small voice.

"you act differently than you fight you know," Sanemi said as he stood up and dusted his hands.

"It is called a spear its one of the polearms, most believe it to be the first to be ever created by mankind," Sanemi said as he summed an iron spear from his inventory.

"I will first test how you use it and then we will take it from there. These dummies you see are made from a special type of wood, although not as tough as Adam wood it takes one of the higher places in the ranking" Sanemi said as he pointed towards the dummies.

--------

Months passed as Rosita slowly opened herself with Sanemi as both of them made thier journey to the grand line. Sanemi wanted to roam the whole world to gather a crew and wanted to start by visiting every island in the grand line.

"haaa!" Rosita yelled as she thrust her spear towards Sanemi who dodged it by turning his body. Rosita didn't stop her assault and kept on trying to strike Sanemi who skillfully dodged every thrust.

"you are becoming faster, I am impressed," Sanemi said as he dodged another thrust as he crouched to the ground and in the same motion performed a sweep kick throwing Rosita off balance making her fall.

"If this goes on you will soon become a great spear user..." Sanemi said as he held out his hand to Rosita. Rosita in response stared at the hand for a moment before letting out a small smile and accepting it.

"So...what's your dream?" Sanemi asked as he stretched a little.

"My dream?" Rosita muttered as she stared towards the skies.

'I don't know...Captain I have been wondering...why did you never ask about my past?" Rosita asked as she looked towards Sanemi.

Sanemi turned his gaze towards the clear blue skies. " I am your captain...no what you have done in the past...no matter what you will do in the future...as your captain I will bear the weight of it with you" Sanemi replied as he looked towards Rosita with a small smile.

"As for what you want...we can discover it as we go along the journey together," Sanemi said with a wide smile.

Rosita's eyes widened as a gleam of happiness appeared in them. Tears gathered as she started to sob a little.

Sanemi's smiling face changed to panic as soon as he saw Rosita sobbing. With not much experience with kids crying Sanemi did the only thing he knew about and hugged Rosita.

"uwaaaaaa" Rosita sobbed a little hard as she tightly gripped Sanemi. Tears dripped from her eyes as she refused to let go of Sanemi. Sanemi's face softened as he slowly rubbed Rosita's back.

---------

"A marine ship!" Sanemi exclaimed as he saw a marine battleship heading towards them. About a year has passed since Sanemi had taken in Rosita and both of them had a rather smooth sailing towards the Reverse Mountain.

"marines..." Rosita muttered as she stood beside Sanemi.

"Yeah...seems like a few vice admirals there," Ssanemi said as he turned the helm and the ship changed its course and headed straight for the marine ship as well.

"Captain! we are going to crash this way!" Rosita exclaimed in panic as she grabbed Sanemi's shoulder.

"We will see about that" Sanemi said as he guided the ship head first towards the marine battleship.

"Vice-admiral- Lacroix! the ship with the slave is heading straight for us!" One of the marines presented informed as he saluted.

"damn pirate scum! reroute so the damage is minimum we will strike them when we crash!" Lacroix commanded as he pulled out his guns.

"Inform rest of vice-admirals to get ready!" Lacroix commanded to a diffrent marine.

The black pearl and marine vassal rushed towards each other as a collision seemed imminent. At the last moment, the marines changed the course enough that it brushed the black pearl's left side and the marines started to rush in the ship.

"You are the Red Oni!" one of the marines yelled as the marine's had wide eyes.

"So you are the Red Oni huh? it's said that you sliced Zepher-sensei's arm and now you are guarding a world government slave!?!" Lacroix said as he approached the front line.

As as soon as those words left Lacroix's mouth, Rosita's body trembled a little but she managed to grip the spear Sanemi had given her and took a stance.

"Gonna cry?" Sanemi asked as he charged towards the marines with Rosita in tow.

Sanemi ignored most of the marines and charged straight towards the three vice-admirals. The vice-admirals too followed the suit with Lacroix in the back.

Sanemi's body slowly got covered in black scales as his body size grew a little. With no regard, he casually tackled away the two other vice-admirals and kept on charging towards Lacroix.

"Haaaaah!!!" With a loud yell, Sanemi smacked away Lcroix's bullets and smashed him back to the marine battleship.

"Lacroix-sama!!" One of the marines yelled as he saw their captain fly away. Seeing that their leaders have been defeated so easily the rest of the marines made haste as they retreated.

"Captain...I..." Rosita said as she approached Sanemi.

"Rosita...as I said you don't have to share anything with me...I choose you as my first mate and I wish to keep it that way till the end" Sanemi said with a smile as he patted Rosita's head.

-------------

'Yeah...I guess that was the time when my admiration and love for captain truly bloomed...' Rosita thought as she lay on the ground half-dead and with a hole in her chest.

'this is where we part ways...Sanemi...I wish that we meet again...in better circumstances...in a better world...perhaps where can be finally together...' With those thoughts Rosita closed her eyes, never to be opened again.