Chapter 15

The Log Pose only needed a day to adjust to their next destination, but the Blackstar Crew decided to stay a couple of more days on the Foolshout Island.

During their time there, they explored the entire island, hunted some wild beasts to fill up their food supply, and mostly spent the day in Training.

On their last day on the Island, they encountered some trouble, which they calmly dealt with.

Emboldened after being informed of their peaceful presence on the Island, some Bounty Hunters thought of them as easy targets, wanting to take their ship for themselves. Their strength was not even enough to make them interested in the fight, but Sin only called out the names of Kuina and Hachi to deal with them.

Kuina was quite confident but soon found herself hard-pressed against two Bounty Hunters, who were fighting her with Swords. Her ability with the sword was indeed better, but she was up against two people who were adamant about killing her. Both had been through quite some battles in their lives, and their teamwork was almost flawless.

Hachi had a relatively better time in his fight. It was not an easy one as he was alone against five people who could fight, but he managed to pull through a win, sustaining only some minor injuries. He wanted to go help Kuina, who had several cuts on her body by then, but Sin stopped him from doing such.

The dark blue-haired girl was so consumed in the fight that her mind did not register the pain of her burning cuts. It was all thanks to the adrenaline in her veins that numbed it, helping her stay focused on winning. And she now had an upper hand as she grew familiar with their fighting style, countering them and holding her own, but then something happened that made her lose all her focus.

Kuina did not intend to do it, but in her desire to win the battle, and not give in to the tiredness that was slowly creeping in, her eyes saw red and she ended up burying her blade in the neck of her opponent. Having never taken a life before, her mind went blank as soon as she retracted her sword, and did not even try to move away from the fountain of blood that rained on her face.

She stood frozen in her place, not knowing that a sword approached her neck, intending to decapitate her.

*Bang*

The sound of a gunshot shook her mind back to reality, and then she heard a body drop on the ground with a thud. Her heart tightened immediately when she realised that she lost the battle, and nearly lost her life.

Sin had over and over emphasised in their lessons that losing focus in the battle could lead to one's demise, and she had just committed that cardinal mistake. A mistake she thought she would never make as she had been trained and raised with the same teachings by her father since she was a child. But the reality was that her first life-and-death duel was her loss, and she could not bring herself to look at the crew or even say thanks to Sin for saving her life. She was just so ashamed of herself.

"You need to clean up yourself and treat your wounds." Sin reminded her and put the Pistol back in the holster. He then returned to what he had been doing before they were interrupted by these Bounty Hunters. "Check." He called out after making a move with his Bishop, and Robin replied by making a pawn move a step forward, putting it in harm's way, and freeing her King.

The two of them resumed their game of chess as if nothing had happened, and soon the rest of the crew resumed their activities as well.

Kuina's heart calmed down a lot as she had been expecting to be reprimanded after her blunder. But at the same time, it made her feel uncomfortable that no one was saying anything to her. And other than Nami and Nojiko, who seemed worried, no one else paid attention to her.

She did as asked and returned to her room on the Black Pearl to clean herself up and treat the injuries she had received. There was nothing too serious, just flesh wounds. And after Law came over to give her a check-up, Nojiko helped her bandage them after applying the ointments.

Even if she had seen the rest of the Crew kill people before, seen Sin annihilate the two Pirate Crews at the Twin Capes, taking a life with her own hands was not something she could have ever been prepared for. It was not the same as witnessing others kill, and it was a sensation that haunted your mind. But the more she thought about it, the more excuses her mind conjured up, and the more numb she grew.

The crew did not approach her to inquire about her well-being and gave her the personal space she needed to sort out her thoughts.

"I am sorry." Kuina lowered her head and said to the Crew when she arrived in the dining room for their dinner.

"About what exactly?" Sin sipped on the wine and asked, boring his cold-grey eyes in her.

"For losing my focus in the battle." She raised her head and looked him in the eyes. "It won't happen again." She vowed to herself and promised him.

"It better not. Of course, if you don't cherish your life, feel free to make such mistakes." Hancock smiled at her.

"Sit." Sin ordered her to take her seat at the table, and then they started with their dinner, discussing the plans for tomorrow.

Early next morning, the Black Pearl set sail to its next destination in the Grandline. This time, they did not know where the Log Pose was taking them and had no idea how many days they would keep sailing for, but the crew was ready for the antics of the Evil Sea, having slowly gotten a little used to it.

In the following days, Hachi and Kuina worked their socks off to get better at fighting. The octopus Fishman, who prided himself in his natural strength, ended up broken and bruised several times at hands of Bonney in hand-to-hand combat.

What was scary was that she did not even use her Armament Haki. It was her pure physical strength that even surpassed a Fishman like him, and she had playfully told him that she was going easy on him, which had scared him a little.

Hatchan improved a lot, but he did not show any signs of Armament Haki. But rather than being disappointed about it, he was more determined to one day get hold of it. He always kept the lesson Sin had given him on his mind, and it helped fuel his desire to get better.

"Haki is all about a person's willpower. If your will waivers, and you give up, you are doomed."

Kuina kept pushing herself to her limits. She was no longer practising her sword form as she had done all her life but used her sword to battle against Sin with the only goal of landing a hit on him, but it was an impossible task with her current ability.

He always used his Dagger against her to humiliate her, and one evening, right before the sunset, he nearly cut off all of her clothes, leaving her with only the last layers hiding her privates from his eyes. But she did not stop fighting and continued with the battle, which ended up with her dropping down to her knees, drained of all her strength. And it was then that all the embarrassment washed over her.

Kuina was relieved that he had not cut off the last of her clothes as well, and luckily for her, they usually battled on the Stern-castle Deck, where no one else was around at this time to see her in her shameful state. But her heart now bore a grudge against him, and she vowed to one day get back at him for this humiliation.

Sin only mocked her further after she voiced out her conviction, saying that such a day would never come.

The rage in her heart threatened to burst out, but she could not do anything more than stomp her foot on the deck and turn around to leave silently.

"That's my coat." Sin called out when he saw her pick his coat from the railing and wear it to hide her body, but Kuina paid no attention to him and left for her room to take a bath and get changed.

The next day, late in the morning, after six days of sailing, the Black Pearl arrived at its destination. And the trouble was already waiting for them there.