Boy With a Scar

Chapter 14: The Scar of the Past

Warnings: implied suicide/suicide attempt (nothing graphic).

"To a new ship and a new nakama!" Luffy shouted mirthfully, lifting his mug of rum.

"CHEERS!" the others responded eagerly, mirroring his gesture and also lifting their mugs.

The newly formed pirate crew clanged mugs together and downed their drinks, at the same time laughing joyfully. The new ship, Going Merry, was gracefully soaring through the sea, carrying the pirates to their new destination and adventures.

"Now that we have a ship and four people in total, we can raise our pirate flag!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Do you know already what our Jolly Roger will be?" Usopp asked.

The rubber boy smirked. "Of course, I do! Wait a minute, I saw some cloth and paint when I was looking around earlier." He bolted to the storage room and returned with several paint buckets and black cloth tucked under his arm. "Alright, here we go," Luffy said, laying the black flag on the floor.

Usopp, Nami, and Zoro leaned closer when the captain dipped the brush into the paint and started painting. He quickly stroked across the cloth, sticking his tongue out in great concentration. But with every line the faces of the three pirates grew more concerned.

"Maybe it's some kind of abstract art...?" Nami quietly wondered.

Luffy finished his masterpiece with a bright grin. "It's done!" he yelled proudly. "What do you think?"

His crew dumbly stared at the warped white skull with a lop-sided straw hat on its top.

"That's our mark?" Zoro asked with disbelief. "The pirate's flag is a symbol of death and terror, but this..."

"It's... uh, unique?" Usopp suggested.

The thief shrugged. "It sure is terrifying in some sense."

The captain frowned and looked at the Jolly Roger he just made. He didn't see anything bad about it. Even before he went to the sea, Luffy put a lot of thought into what kind of symbol he wanted to sail under.

"Don't worry, Luffy, this genius painter will come to your aid," the sharpshooter boasted, pointing at himself and getting several skeptical glances. "I've honed my artistic talents by drawing on the walls of people's homes for years." He urged the black-haired boy to step aside and took his place in front of the new black cloth.

After some time, the flag was finished and the liar grinned proudly. "There we go!" Usopp would have never thought that he'll leave his home village so soon. Just a day ago, he was simply a kid. As much as he boasted about being a pirate, the sharpshooter realized that it was just it—boasting. But looking at his own handiwork, a sudden apprehension that now he would sail under this Jolly Roger in pursuit of his own dream as a true pirate dawned on Usopp, causing his smile to grow even more.

"Oh, it's perfect!" Nami cheered. She was genuinely happy. The navigator really tried not to like these guys, not to get attached to them, but it was getting harder and harder to do with every passing hour. It seemed like that grinning skull with a straw hat overshadowed Arlong's mark on her shoulder, and Nami felt at ease and safe around these pirates, under this specific Jolly Roger.

"Eh, so this is our mark from now on?" the swordsman also smiled, looking at the straw-hatted skull. He still hardly believed that he really called a strange kid who popped out of nowhere his captain and became a pirate. But Zoro didn't have any regrets about his decision. He was confident about traveling next to the future Pirate King. After all, following the person whose ambition was even bigger than his own was bound to throw them into mayhem and against the strongest in this world.