"Sneeze, you wanted to see me?"
Kev approached Sneeze at his resting place on the side of the ship, who was still badly hurt.
"It showed up, Kev. My powers have come through."
"Are you sure? Tell me!" Kev gasped in awe.
"Well, when I had ended up at the Inferno base..."
~Flashback starts~
Sneeze was staring down a squadron of 30+ soldiers of the Inferno Corps, all pointed guns at him as he accidentally wandered into the middle of the base main floor on his way to deliver the food back to the ship.
"I don't imagine you guys will take a bargain this time around, maybe turn around for a minute?" Sneeze mocked.
"PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD AND GET DOWN!" A soldier yelled from the line.
"That just won't work..." Grinning, Sneeze leaped into the middle of the crowd with acrobatic expertise, preventing the soldiers from firing. As they slowly tightened the circle, he pulled out his daggers and assumed formation.
One soldier took a swing at Sneeze from behind with a cutlass, causing him to duck, using the momentum to leg sweep the soldier off his feet. "GET HIM!" Another yelled, as 3 more charged from all sides. Expertly moving to block and dodge attacks, Sneeze was evading, but losing energy. A slash to one soldiers gut, another to an eye, his daggers were already coated with blood of Inferno dogs. "I can do this all day!" He laughed, after a total of 5 soldiers lay bleeding out after a minute of fighting. However, as time passed, Sneeze was getting more and more exhausted, and started taking damage. A cutlass slash to his back, causing him to wince in sharp pain. Another slash just grazing between the eyes, still drawing blood. As time passed, he was getting more and more cuts and bruises, and not making moves of his own. Before he knew it, he was on his back, bleeding from everywhere. "Stand back, I'll finish him!"
Sneeze watched as a muscular figure that stood apart from the rest approached him, holding a long axe. He recognized this one as the operating commander of the outpost, the top dog.
"*Move, move*" Sneeze thought to himself. But the pain was insurmountable. "*Damn it... get up you idiot, not like this... not... like...*"
Cutting off his own thought process, his mind raced back to a couple of weeks prior, when his life was simple, still in the heart of Albaque village with his mother. The streets, the market, the Inferno raid. He remembered the view of the beach from home. The sand, the fruits, and the sun. The sun! Oh, the SUN!!!
Back in the present, only a millisecond had passed, but it felt like a lifetime of healing. A fire burned in Sneezes eyes as he lifted an arm while laying on his back, and brought it down forcefully. As his fist made contact with the concrete, a heatwave powerful enough to be mistaken as an explosion erupted from the impact, sending all of the soldiers back and burning the nearest ones to a crisp. As he rose to his feet, he spoke.
"Now... the blaze... will decide your fates." With that, it was like a second wind for Sneeze. A blast of raw, unfurnished heat shot from his fingertips and took out a crowd of soldiers, scattering them. Turning around, another blast. Laughing from pure delight, Sneeze exerted these newfound powers onto the entire floor, until there wasn't any noticeable movement. He stood there, shaking and swaying side to side as his body began to cool down. At that point, all of the pain and exhaustion came back like a truck, resulting in him passing out. Once he was down, the only survivor emerged, being the commander of the outpost, and sporting a new burn scar on most of his face.
"And, that's what happened." Sneeze explained, ending the flashback.
"That's... incredible. What's your power, then? Kev replied with curiosity.
The power I ate was the Solar Fruit. It's a paramecia that can let me use abilities that line up with the sun."
Kev breathed out, taking in the entirety of the story. "That sounds powerful, I'm excited to see you in action!"
On the other side of the ship, Shambles was navigating the seascape while Rain and Litz were chatting in the one room on the ship.
"You seem a bit tense, is everything ok?" Litz questioned compassionately.
"I'm fine, it's just... I've never been on the ocean like this. My entire life was on Rivers Crossing, and now that your friend essentially freed the entire country, I'm free to do stuff like this, heh." He giggled nervously.
"I understand. My sister does this sort of thing all the time so I've gotten used to it. Also, Sneeze is your friend too now. We're a crew, after all!" Litz exclaimed with a smile. "And since you're apart of our crew, you need to tell us something."
"Hm? what is it?" Rain asked.
"Well, your dream!" Litz proclaimed. "We all have a dream that keeps us going, and you gotta have something of your own too!"
"My dream, huh?" Rain pondered, leaning back with his arms crossed. He thought to himself about what he wanted to do now that his initial goal was behind him, and what he wanted his future to hold. After a moment of internalized conflict, he sighed and spoke up.
"The feeling of knowing my country is free from tyranny, I just can't describe it. There's something special about being a liberator that I've never known before. Furthermore, my dream is to help free every country in all 4 seas from corruption, with no exceptions.
"That's a great dream!" Litz clapped. "You're gonna get along great with Sneeze, I can already tell."
The crew of 5 met by the side of the ship, gathered around Shambles' with her map. "Ok, so we're almost at the last stop that I want to hit in this sea. We're here to get as much food as possible, because SOMEone lost all that he had at the last island." Shambles spoke sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Oh, bite me!" Sneeze shouted, but winced at the pain of moving. Shambles taunted him accordingly.
"Anyways, we're going to arrive soon. It's a country called Fillenem. Apparantly the food is top tier here, so really stuff your pockets." Shambles added.
"You're so mean Shambles... why don't we just buy a bunch of food with all the money you snagged..." Kev pouted.
"Because that's Shambles' shopping money!" She grinned, rubbing her hands together. "Look, the island is just ahead, lets get ready to dock.
The crew watched as they landed into the harbor of the Island of Fillenem, and tied the ship to the docks. "Sneeze, can you watch the ship for a bit? We won't be too long. Matter of fact, I'll leave Jojo to your company." Kev asked. Jojo climbed up onto the edge of the ship and sat with Sneeze as he agreed to stay behind and recover.
"Ok gang, we need food. Where to start..." The 4 of them looked at their surroundings. The island was very wooded and humid, and there wasn't really a town but instead buildings scattered around. A particularly large restaurant stood out from the rest, on the shore of the island of somewhat close to the docks. "Lets head there!!" Litz pointed, and they agreed.
"Well, I like the feeling of not having an army watching out for us!" Kev noted as they walked into the fancy restaurant. As they seated themselves, they heard a ruckus coming from the back of the building. Rain chuckled, "Sounds like someone's getting fired today." They all turned their heads to see the commotion.
"How may times have I told you that you have to pour the sauce after baking, not before!!" A man who appeared to be a chef of sorts shouted at another chef. "I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again, I swear!"
"It better not, or it'll be a hole in your chest! And your brothers chest!" A third Chef walked out from behind both of them, and spoke calmly. "Geez. Go easy on him, it's still his first week you know."
The head chef turned his attention to him. "First week or 10 years of experience, we can't have anything other than the best at this establishment. Wouldn't you agree, Fishy?"
"Couldn't have said it better myself, Stroggy!"
