Our strands of Memories (One Piece Naruto Crossover)

Side Story: Akainu's Dilemma (The venom of love)

Love is an unnecessary emotion, Sakazuki learned that when he turned five.

To him, it is a dangerous poison that has killed his mother slowly. It drove her crazy from all the abuse that his father had inflicted on her, all the beating, the arguments, the burning scars and bloody hands . . . . .

It brought her attention from the despair reality to the bittersweet delusions as she used to shield him away from his father's beatings and drunk curses . . . .

"Why do you stay with him?" He said softly, gently applying the stolen cheap medicine on her bruised hands and bleeding back. His father luckily wasn't home so he didn't need to hide.

(Even though he burned up your body and cut your hands?)

"Because I love him." Her voice hoarse as she breathlessly whispered her love for him even though she was nearing the brink of death.

(Even though he beats you up everyday for not having money to supply his madness?)

His turned-out-to-be-pirate–father didn't even look back as he left the only woman who ever loved him and his only flesh and blood behind.

So he decided to not love anyone, saving himself from the dreadful fate that his pitiful mother had shared.

She couldn't last before he turned ten. Sakazuki hated pirates ever since.

(Then what about me?)

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By the time he turned thirteen, Sakazuki knew that attraction makes a weak willed person. Just like the teacher at his small village, the person who had been kind enough (very, very kind) to take him in. The one who he considered as his second mother as she continued to showered him with warmth and kindness, was now withering everyday as she was waiting for her long lost lover to come for her, fulfilling his promises.

He remembered who once a strong-willed, bright lady with the most lovely smile on her face, was now nothing more than a mournful widow.

"Why do you still love him?" He stared at her soulless eyes as she lost in her own thoughts and memories. The love of her life was out there, chasing some formless dreams under the black flag of bones.

"Because he is everything that I ever want in this world." Her smile was so sad and full of emotions that Sakazuki couldn't understand.

(Even though he is out there killing innocent people?)

"He is the only love of my life." 

(Even though he burnt down houses and sold out children as slavery?)

If he is everything that she ever wants, then what about her dream of becoming one of the best teachers? About all the moments that she told him she would spread knowledge throughout the world one day? Where has that bright and confident person gone?

If this feeling called 'love' and 'attraction' could destroy someone so much, then Sakazuki doesn't need them in his life.

"I don't understand." His eyes looked down expressionlessly at the pirate's corpse running cold at the moment, the blood dripping blade clutched tightly in his hand.

Perhaps that was why he pushed Borsalino away despite the boy's many attempts to become friends with him. . . .

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It took Borsalino 4 years of persistent chasing that Sakazuki finally deemed him worthy enough to waste his time on being companion. They had joined hands to make their living days better. More power to make the wandering smart enough bandits and pirates leave them alone, living the life of the street (their sprout up heights were a bonus too).

"Ehhhhh~ Joining the Marines? Is that your decision, Sakazukiiii~?" The teenager merrily kicked his pointing heel deep into the gut of a stupid pirate. Enough force to make him kiss the ground, unable to come back. He sadistically grinned on the wound of another pirate under his heel, smiling a little too bright.

The other teenager answered him with a grunt, his eyebrows turned into a full scowl when he sent a scum pirate to the wall, blood dripping from his knuckles. The sounds of cracking bones whistled in the wind. He dogged a pitiful attack from the back and brutally shattered the jaw of the last of them. Completely disregard for the damages that these bodies had to endure.

Borsalino didn't seem to mind the lack of verbal response, his years by Sakazuki's side got him used to it.

"Then I will join too. It would be fun wouldn't it neeee~?" And of course, the man wouldn't take this seriously. It would be fair to say that Sakazuki had gotten used to his friend's (way too) laid back personality. The man was often spared of his various methods to make him shut up his annoying remarks.

"Suit yourselves." was his only answer before he proceeded to drag the lifeless bodies of the defeated by the legs toward the nearby marine base in exchange for beli. Borsalino trailing right behind him, dragging the rest of them. His mind thought of everything but focused on nothing, humming a wordless song.

Sakazuki and he got accepted into the Marines on the same day.

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Life training under the flag of the World Government's military sea force was pretty basic to Sakazuki. He exercised, soaked up all the needed information good or bad, ate, then trained again, and showered and slept.

His skills for fighting came in quite naturally thanks to the early years of living a life fighting for his safety. Borsalino was doing moderately well too despite the man's consistent tries of pissing off the instructors (he found joy in it).

They quickly got the title "Monsters" attached to their names after effortlessly smashed the whole class of upper trainees without breaking a sweat. ("They were just too weak." he had said when Borsalino broke the news to him, looking painfully smug).

His hatred for pirates and outlaws alike deepened the more he learned about them as he yearned for more power and strength to put a stop to all these disgusting evils plaguing the world. The ideal of wealth, fame and freedom from those trashes nauseated him, leaving a distaste.

It is laughable how one claims to be living a life of freedom while constantly being chased by laws, leaving traces of deaths and demise. That's why he swore to eradicate all of them.

"Sa~ka~zu~ki~kunnn~ We are going for a drink, are you gonna comeee~?" Borsalino carelessly draped an arm over his shoulder, being one of the very few who could do so considering the height they own (the others were just too scared of him to do that. Who knows which way they will die?)

Sakazuki blankly stared at him for a short while, his face got grimmer as seconds passed by before decided to decline the offer. "I have other plans today." And continued to write his reports, back straight and eyes focused, completely ignoring the rubbish that Borsalino was about to spill.

 Nothing was more important to him than bringing extinction to all the evils in this world while spreading the hand of justice, so that none would shoulder the fate that his mother and teacher had shared. He had thought that this monochrome cycle of life would be with him for the rest of his time.

Until the day he met him.