Aka Daka
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One Way Home, Chapter 10
🕑 Added 2024-06-19 10:09:01 +0000 UTCChapter 10: The Selfishness Inside.
—OoOoO—-
For sailors, enjoying the morning after a good night's sleep on the ship was natural. Sleeping while being rocked by erratic waves was daily bread. Being greeted with fresh air mixed with the aroma of thick sea water was their friend all year round. Even if they dock and could sleep in decent accommodation, most sailors prefer to stay overnight on the ship because it was like their second home.
However, things sometimes force people to break away from their routine for a while.
"Uuh… When was the last time we got a proper, comfortable bed like this? It was in Alabasta, wasn't it?" said a girl with short orange hair stretching her body, "Even in Skypiea, we ended up just camping in the forest and spending the night on a ship without being able to enjoy their soft cloud beds."
The girl sat at a round table in a restaurant that was still connected to where they were staying. Apart from her, she was accompanied by five other figures. Three boys, one other girl, and a fawn.
"If you miss that comfortable bed, don't be stingy and let us sleep in a decent place when we dock, Nami," said a boy with messy green hair.
"What do you mean? You think staying in a place like this is cheap? Unless you pay for it with your own money, I have no problem with that," the orange girl replied.
This answer made the boy so irritated that a crossroad appeared in his temple.
"How do you think I’ve money if you always charge huge interest every time I borrow it from you?"
"What you're borrowing isn’t my money, Zoro, but our cash. So, you have to understand how the cooperative system works," the girl replied with a coy smile while sticking out her tongue without guilt.
While the two people were busy with their dispute about money, several people at the table were also busy with their own affairs.
“Sanji, I don't know why, but doesn't this meat taste better?”
The black-haired boy continued to praise all the food served in front of him with his mouth full.
"You’re right. But it's not like they use premium ingredients. It's more like there’s a secret spice that gives a strong savoury taste and enhances the taste of every element in these food ingredients."
Seeing her colleagues amazed by the delicious food served, the girl with round glasses showed a curious expression. She stuck her fork into the meat and cut it into a large slice. The girl immediately put the dish into her mouth without saying a word. She chewed slowly and carefully, ensuring that all parts of her tongue could capture the taste of what the straw-hat boy was excitedly talking about.
"How about it, Maki? The meat’s amazing, isn't it?” asked the boy.
Maki continued to taste her food with her eyebrows bent.
“I ain’t sure, but doesn't it just have a strong umami because of the MSG?”
Maki's statement made those not too interested in the conversation about food also pay attention.
“What? Me…se…jee?” Nami muttered.
'They don't know MSG? That magical white powder? Do they really don’t know?' Maki thought, a little surprised.
However, she immediately closed her eyes and corrected Nami's pronunciation.
“Not mesejee, but em-es-jii.”
Maki would wait for Nami to reply, but she thought teaching someone about pronunciation would be very troublesome. Thus, she went straight to the point of discussion.
“Correct me if I'm wrong. You only know four flavours of food, sweet, salty, sour, and bitter?”
Sanji nodded at the question. But Zoro entered into the conversation.
"Isn't there another one, like, spicy?"
“I know you're stupid, but at least fill your head with general knowledge, Marimo,” Sanji commented with disdain, “Spicy isn't the taste of food. It's actually a kind of pain. That's why your skin will feel hot if you apply the chili filling.”
Maki snorted when she saw Zoro's expression, which was about to utter words of resistance. She didn't want her beautiful morning, accompanied by delicious food, to be ruined by the bickering of these two crazy people. As such, she immediately interrupted Zoro before the boy could reply to Sanji's words.
“In my world, there’s at least one more taste in food, namely umami. Technically, it’s a distinctive savoury taste in food.”
Hearing that, Sanji raised his only visible eyebrow. As a chef, that information was quite interesting, but it also changed the teachings about gourmet for a long time.
"Isn't the savoury just another form of salty taste?"
Maki narrowed her eyes at the rebuttal. She wasn't a chef, so it was difficult to explain her explanation. However, lucky for her because Luffy suddenly chirped.
“But I don’t the delicious taste of this meat is due to the salt and pepper alone. Do you think so, Sanji?”
“That's it. You're a genius, Luffy," Maki said while snapping her fingers, "In essence, umami is the savoury taste of the amino acid glutamate which is contained in almost every food."
“Amino acids… what?” asked Sanji.
Maki had already expected that question. In fact, she wasn't that surprised to see that even someone as knowledgeable as Sanji didn't know about the amino acid glutamate. However, she was pretty surprised when Sanji only identified four basic tastes and thought that umami was only part of the salty taste.
“Well, I'm not that skilled at explaining it. What’s certain is that MSG is a magical white powder that can improve the taste of food."
Maki stabbed and cut the meat back, then put it in her mouth. She tasted it quickly and simply swallowed it. Just when Maki thought that no one would discuss the topic any further, a fawn expressed its opinion.
“But looking back, the fact that this restaurant could create the MSG thingy, there seems to be a knowledge gap between this place and other places.”
Hearing that, the girl with a ponytail and round glasses nodded slowly. On this point, it's hard to disagree.
'Water Seven is famous for their highly advanced maritime technology compared to other places. Was the discovery of MSG in this island also influenced by this? But whatever it is, just how big is the inequality in this world?' Maki thought.
Luffy didn't care about his friends' chatter since the topic of MSG came up. However, when he finished his large portion, he felt a disturbing emptiness. The future that flashed through his mind made his hands sweat slightly.
The boy turned to the blonde chef.
"Sanji, can you make this MSG?"
Hearing the question, the man's self-esteem as a chef felt slightly insulted because he didn't know how to make MSG. He never thought there’d be a secret ingredient he had never known. Sanji was reluctant to admit it, but his name as a chef would be ruined if he didn't tell the truth.
“How could I possibly do that? This is the first time I know about MSG.”
the guy said in annoyance and grunted in frustration. He then turned his attention to the otherworldy girl.
“What about you, Maki-chan? I assume this ingredient is very common in your world, right?”
Maki was silent for a while, unsure what she should say. Not only Sanji and Luffy but the entire Straw Hat group's eyes were now focused on her.
"Well, MSG in my world is mostly mass produced in factories and uses microbacteria so you’ll get pure MSG powder. But from my experience when working part time at a ramen shop, I'm sure you can make homemade MSG."
Her brain flashed back to memories of when she was broke because of Geto Suguru's actions, which made her paycheck late. At that time, Maki and her friends had to take part-time jobs to meet their daily needs. Coincidentally, she had worked on dashi, the key of broth for making ramen soup, and learned a few things from the ramen shop owner.
"Monosodium glutamate is actually found in various foods such as seaweed, tomatoes, sugar cane, cheese, onions, and such. If you want to get it, all you need to do is extract it.”
Sanji nodded slowly while pinching his chin after hearing this explanation.
“In other words, I only need to boil the ingredients for a few times to bring out the unique flavours of the ingredients. Then the boiled material is dehydrated and ground. I never thought of this method at all. But I remember old man Zeff once said about the hidden flavours in ingredients and told me to find them myself.”
Sanji wasn't sure whether the task Zeff gave him was to tell him to explore the taste of umami and MSG. But if not that, Sanji didn’t think anything else came close to the hints Zeff had given. Putting that aside, he also felt a little annoyed because Zeff made such an essential thing as his homework before he went sailing with Luffy. However, he also felt extraordinary satisfaction because his adventure led him to this discovery.
The chef's face brightened, and a big smile appeared.
“Okay, I’ve already memorised the taste of this meat. Next, I just need to make my own MSG and see what I can do.”
“Yeah!!! I can't wait for it!” Luffy shouted excitedly.
While people were talking about food, there was one person who looked disinterested and had a stiff expression on his face.
“Enough with chit-chat. We still have to think about what we’ll do about Robin," Zoro said and turned to look at Maki, "Especially for you, Maki. You joined this group because Robin promised to help you. With her running away now, what are you going to do?”
Maki swallowed the last slice of meat. She had expected the question would come up again. Even though she had explained it to Nami yesterday, that didn't mean everyone had heard the reason.
"Two things that could possibly give me clues to returning to my world can only be achieved if I continue to advance to the legendary island or attract Vegapunk's attention. Whatever it is, I'm not interested in going on an adventure with someone who’s only half-hearted. So, as long as you don't deviate from your original goal, I’ll stay on this ship.”
Robin was an important key to getting to Raftel, but that was only if she used her knowledge. Even if Robin wasn't around, with this chaotic group, Maki was sure she’d cross paths with Vegapunk one day. Even though the opportunity to go to Raftel was lost in the end due to Robin's absence, as long as Vegapunk was around, Maki was still confident in finding a way to go home.
'After all, my case is a world transfer. Seeking an approach through science sounds quite reasonable.'
At least, that was the reason Maki kept trying to hammer into her brain.
Maki never liked people with half-assed guts. Even when she helped someone, she’d only reach out her hand to the person who wanted to be helped. At first, this was utterly indiscriminate. In fact, she once hated Yuta's cowardly nature even though he was blessed with extraordinary talent.
However, Maki wasn’t a one-dimensional creature who was only guided by one moral compass. Humans would always change to become the best version of themselves as long as they live. And that also applied to Maki.
"Well, even so, even if Robin-san decides to leave, I won't believe it until I hear it from her mouth."
The memory of Robin telling about her past flashed through Maki's mind. While in Skypiea, they spent quality time learning about each other's past and worlds. And Maki could feel the sincerity of Robin's words about her dream of knowing lost history and continuing the legacy of her people who had died in the struggle.
It would be very contradictory for her if Robin were running away just like that. Or rather, she suspected that something had happened without their knowledge.
“That's why, while we wait for the new ship, I'll look for it. I'm sure Robin-san hasn't sailed from this island yet. If anything, her behaviour actually looked strange after we were slaughtered by Aokiji."
Luffy, who heard Maki's suggestion, nodded while eating the meat.
"Yeah. I won't let her leave my group without saying goodbye first," said the boy.
Luffy then stood up and climbed onto the chair. It didn't stop there. He placed one of his feet on the table. It made all the restaurant visitors' eyes turn to him.
“I've decided! We'll look for Robin after we finish ordering the ship!”
Everyone nodded in agreement with Luffy's decision. Even Zoro, who was against Robin's presence on the ship, didn’t provide any objection. However, one person, an orange-haired girl, wore an annoyed expression with her face turning red like a tomato.
“I really support your idea, but can you come down and not embarrass me? Do you realise that people are starting to look at us like barbarians?” complained Nami.
—OoOoO—
After eating breakfast with their respective dynamics, the straw hat group began to split up to look for Robin. Or at least, that was what they were supposed to do based on the common agreement. In fact, moving on from last night's events was not as easy as showing the same cheerfulness as a mask when they were having breakfast this morning.
"I didn't expect I’d find you guys on such a rooftop."
A blonde-haired boy asked a fawn and a green-haired boy. When he opened the rooftop door and stepped out, he found Zoro sitting cross-legged while leaning against the wall and Chopper, who was accompanying him.
“No, I had expected this much. Acting as if nothing happened is difficult. But I'm sure we’ve the same thoughts about not looking even more pathetic in front of Maki-chan, our new recruit.”
Even after saying that, there was no reply from either Zoro or Chopper. However, they agreed with Sanji silently. In the end, there was little pride they still had to maintain as a group.
"How about you?" Zoro asked.
Sanji didn’t directly answer the question. He took a deep drag on his cigarette and exhaled it into the sky.
“I've been looking for Robin-chan around where we parted yesterday, but I didn't get any leads.”
Sanji was a little hung up on his words, making Chopper curious.
"And then?"
“I’ll go to the harbour and the peninsula to find out if there’re any suspicious women boarding the ship for sailing.”
"Then, I'll go with you too, Sanji!" Chopper shouted with determination.
However, Sanji, who stared at him silently and didn't answer, made him impatient.
"When Robin disappeared, I was there too," Chopper said, looking down and clenching his fists, "Even though I have a keen sense of smell, I lost track of her."
Sanji closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again.
“Okay… sure.”
—OoOoO—
For some reason, Maki felt more comfortable looking for Robin alone than going as a group. She could understand there was internal discomfort after yesterday's incident. But she felt uncomfortable when she saw that people had to try to be okay. Because of that, she thought of going into seclusion temporarily until the situation improved.
"None of this would have happened if that long nose could think before speaking," complained Maki.
She understood why Ussop felt disappointed, but she’d never justify his selfish actions. It couldn’t be helped. Even before being stranded in this world, Maki was part of an organisation. Even though she had other goals and didn’t like how the higher-ups worked, the fundamental values of the Japanese Jujutsu Association didn’t conflict with her moral values.
"I agree that it's better to just leave a group if it's not in line, but not like this either, dammit," said Maki, looking up to the sky.
A flashback at the Goodwill Event last month suddenly crossed her mind.
“Even after last night's dispute, Luffy and the others still looked depressed. Was Mai also that devastated when I left her alone in the Zen'in Clan?”
The question that appeared uninvited succeeded in making Maki furrow her brows. Her feelings suddenly became mixed, and it frustrated her. She brushed her flat bangs back using her fingers.
“What's with that stupid question? If it wasn't like that, Mai wouldn't hate me that much.”
The girl from another world let out a harsh sigh. Thinking about Ussop's selfishness unconsciously made her reflect on her selfishness. It made her look like a shitty hypocrite. She initially didn't have any respect for the long-nosed man and began to open her mind wider.
"Apart from that, I tried to look for Robin-san who left selfishly, but on the other hand, I actually looked down on Ussop. I really am a pathetic bastard.”
Maki could indeed close her eyes to those trivial feelings. However, she’d hate herself if she did it.
Her feet, which had been leading her through the city, suddenly stopped, and her eyes, which she had been focusing on looking for someone, suddenly closed.
'I can be anything and do anything. I’ll become the Head Clan and create the best place for Mai. Besides, there are a lot of things I wanna do that I haven't even listed yet. But I really hate hypocritical and wishy-washy people. And if there's one thing I don't want to be, I’d really hate myself if I were someone like them.'
"I didn't expect the straw hat group to dare harm the Mayor."
A comment from a random resident snapped Maki's consciousness. Her head automatically turned to the side, and saw an old man reading a newspaper.
"Hey, what happened?" Maki asked.
The man lowered his newspaper slightly, and his eyes met Maki's.
"What?"
Maki was sure she didn't hear wrong when the man said the Straw Hat thingy. However, when she thought about it more, it was a little suspicious that she suddenly approached a strange man and asked about the topic. Maki racked her brain a little harder to avoid unwanted things.
“You mentioned the perpetrator who harmed the mayor, right? How do you know they are the Straw Hat? Has the perpetrator been caught?” Maki asked with an alibi to avoid suspicion.
"I guess you haven't read the extra edition of the local news, young miss?"
The man said while turning over a newspaper he was reading and showing it to Maki.
“The Mayor Iceburg has regained consciousness and he said the person who shot him was Nico Robin, a member of the Straw Hat. When this edition was published, the Galley-La group was reportedly hunting them."
The man took a deep breath, hoping all his annoyance would come out.
“I hope these bastards are destroyed soon. Not just Straw Hat, the Franky Family should also have been eliminated from the start.”
Maki ignored the complaint. When she saw the contents written in the newspaper, she immediately dashed away. Her mind was in chaos. Robin suddenly appearing as the shooter was one thing, but the whole Straw Hat group being poorly framed by the local media was the entire reason why her mind was racing.
'It's all nonsense. Robin-san used to be the second most important person of a mafia syndicate that successfully controlled a kingdom from behind the scenes for many years. With her profile, it really doesn't make sense if Robin-san failed to kill someone who was sleeping and instead left traces. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I feel like there are parties pulling the strings on this issue.'
Maki was busy with various speculations as she sped off somewhere. Normally, she’d regroup with other members, but there was something she wanted to confirm first.
'Only Luffy, Zoro and Robin-san have wanted posters. Technically, there’re no famous Straw Hat apart from those three. However, Nami and Ussop had previously gone with Luffy to the shipyard and the Galley-La people most likely knew their faces. Nami should be fine because right now she must be with someone else.'
Maki narrowed her eyes as she continued to speed up.
'But what about Ussop? He’s alone now. Does he know the news in the first place?'
—OoOoO—
In the corner of a peninsula was a small, dilapidated ship with a goat's head ornament on the front. The ship used to be busy with jokes and silly things from its residents. However, a very contrasting scene was visible. It was empty and uninhabited. A gloomy aura even radiated thickly. Even though the ship had been abandoned by most of its owners, there was one person who was still loyal.
“See? What can't be fixed? In less than half a day, the Going Merry was back to its original state!”
No one greeted the enthusiastic declaration, only the waves' sound answered it. However, the curly, long-nosed boy didn't care and looked at the results of his hard work with great pride.
“This way, we can sail anywhere, Going Merry. Together we’ll make Luffy and the others regret it!”
Ussop's head felt like it was in the clouds when he imagined that scene. He couldn't help but had a big smile spread across his face. The ideal future was what he dreamt of.
“Sailing anywhere with this ramshackle thing? Are you serious?"
A baritone voice sounded. It was a strange voice for Ussop. The boy quickly turned around to see who was making random comments. However, seeing the man's stature, cold sweat involuntarily oozed from his pores.
"Who are you?" Ussop asked.
"Me? Well, let's say I'm just a passer-by.”
Ussop narrowed his eyes suspiciously. The man leaning against the wall at the entrance to the ship's cabin was too suspicious to be trusted. Moreover, his face looked cruel to someone who was just passing by. Even if what he said was true, Ussop couldn't just relax his guard.
The man's physique was A slender body full of solid muscles, long black hair tied back, a moustache, and a beard left long and tapered. His all-black clothes with sunglasses hanging from his forehead gave the man a dangerous exclusive impression.
“It seems like you've just been dumped by your friends and want revenge, huh?”
Ussop frowned at the question.
“Who do you mean by wanting revenge? I'm not that pathetic.”
"Together we will make Luffy regret it," replied the man, quoting Ussop's words just now, "Didn't you just say that? If it's not revenge, what do you call it? Or are you that kind of hypocrite who doesn't want to look bad?"
“You're babbling nonsense.”
Even though he received a curt reply, the man only smiled lightly.
“Oh, I know. You must have been dumped out of your group, right? Don't worry, stories like that are commonplace in this world."
“No, that's not it. I was the one who threw them away because they betrayed me.”
“Don't worry, little buddy. A plot about a party breaking up after dumping a burden on their group, and said burden achieving great solo success, I know things like that are very popular among losers who can't help but be delusional.”
Ussop's face burned red with anger after he couldn't bear to hear the insult.
“Enough of the stupid bullshit!”
The man leaned back slightly while raising his hands in a 'stop' pose.
“Nothing personal, okay? I'm just in a bit of a bad mood because I was told to kill a loser like you. So, I want to spend a little time with you."
However, Ussop no longer cared about the man's ramblings. His right hand quickly grabbed his bullet pouch and immediately aimed his slingshot to aim at his target.
“A quick question. Between a sniper and a speedster, who do you think is faster?” said the man with a grin.
But before Ussop answered it, the man uttered a word.
“Soru.”
The man sped off at very high speed. Before Ussop had even finished preparing to shoot, he was already right before him. Ussop swiftly postponed whatever he was about to do and jumped back. However, the man changed his stance to prepare for the axe kick.
“I don't want to overdo it, but I’ve to make sure you perish.”
The man said in a low tone and sharp gaze. Simultaneously, with the axe kick, he was about to deliver, but the man muttered something.
“Rankyaku.”
The kick, which seemed to be thrust like an axe, produced an energy attack shaped like a sickle. It led quickly to Ussop.
'With that distance and speed, it's impossible for me to dodge. It looks like it could cut my body easily.'
Ussop clenched his teeth until a gurgling sound appeared. His jaw and temples seemed tense. He had lost all options, so closing his eyes tightly was the only thing he could do.
'Shit! Shit! Shit! Is this the end?'
Even though he was reluctant, he had to be prepared that his body might split into two. However, just as he had resigned himself to the worst, he felt a body pushing hard against him instead of a powerful attack that could tear him apart.
Ussop opened his eyes and saw a girl wearing glasses with her hair in a ponytail.
‘Maki?!’
Ussop widened his eyes, and his mouth dropped open at the girl's arrival. However, he grimaced again in pain when he realised that the wounds he had received yesterday were all open again and made worse by the fact that part of the side of his stomach was still exposed to the attack.
Meanwhile, Maki, who managed to save Ussop, or at least prevent the boy from receiving a fatal wound, only tilted her body diagonally so that the attack from the leg slash just passed her by.
'Who is that girl? Didn't Lucci say that this loser had been dumped by his group? Will there be other reinforcements coming?' thought the man.
Realising that things were about to get more troublesome, he tsked and glared at Ussop.
'There's no time to play around. This time I’ll put a hole in his skull.'
“Soru.”
With those words, the unknown man immediately shot towards Ussop at a speed that normal human eyes couldn’t follow. Right after he arrived in front of the long nose, he pulled his right hand back to take a stance while his index finger was raised. However, he was surprised when he saw Maki beside him. Moreover, a raw fist from the girl was only a few inches from his face.
'Shit.'
The man reflexively cancelled his attack and quickly crossed his arms. Maki's hard punch hitting his hand produced a clear impact sound. It caused the man to fall far enough to hit the railing and continue to accelerate until he fell into the sea.
Maki stared intently in the direction in which the man had fallen. However, she immediately turned her gaze to Ussop, who was unconscious.
'He lost a lot of blood because his wounds reopened. Moreover, what he just got also looked worse than I expected.'
Maki deftly. But full of caution, carrying Ussop on her back. She looked back at the ocean to make sure her opponent didn't appear again and ambushed her suddenly. Not finding any signs, Maki snorted and prepared to leave. However, before she left that place, Maki turned her gaze to the sky and shot it a gaze like a vicious hunter.
—OoOoO—
'Well, it's a shame, Lucci-kun, but it seems your attempt to reduce the Straw Hat's strength by killing the Sniper has failed. But at least, he most likely won't be able to go anywhere anytime soon in such a bad condition.'
Hiding in a special cloak in the vast blue sky, a woman observed the dynamics on the dilapidated ship. From start to finish, her attention was utterly undistracted by the slightest disturbance. Flying with a pair of bat wings and the ability of a special cloak she had, the woman was like a sky predator hiding and observing her prey.
'I heard Professor created this cloak with Germa technology enhanced by the art of camouflage from the ninjas in Wano. A cloak that reflects and refracts light to create perfect camouflage, as expected from Professor Vegapunk.'
After being satisfied admiring the creations of the person considered the most genius human being in the world, the woman returned her gaze to the peninsula beneath her.
'Putting that aside, did Zen'in Maki know I’m here? her looking at me earlier wasn't a coincidence, right?'
The woman continued to monologue without paying attention until the corners of her lips twitched and formed a mysterious smile.
'What an interesting girl.'
Making sure no one would come again, the woman lowered the height slowly. She stared at the spot where Maki threw the man away. As if her mood was disturbed, the short-cropped blonde woman snorted tiredly.
'Even though I told him which Straw Hat’s big hitters, Jyabura just ignored it. If he hadn't underestimated Maki-chan and continued to activate his Tekkai, I probably wouldn't have bothered to pull him out of the sea, right? I'm also a devil fruit user, you know?'
—To Be Continued—
Author Note: I’m really sorry for the late update. Like, really, really sorry.
I don’t have any words about this chapter. Like, my brain isn’t braining right now and I’m so tired. It’s like my neck is trying to kill me. So, I just hope you guys enjoy this chapter. See you and please stay safe.
