❛ 𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗔𝗗𝗘 ❜ ᵒⁿᵉ ᵖⁱᵉᶜᵉ

073 ▍the sky weeps

— the aftermath of war

KUROSE STEPPED ON THE BLOOD SOAKED GRASS ISLE. he knew that the call you received earlier was more than just a sos call. but he trusted you, he will trust his captain with his own life, following her until the ends of the world. but maybe not on dumb decisions, such as killing herself out of guilt for her people.

but he can't blame her; they were innocent people after all. 

he called out theo and the rest of the crew. they needed to set up a grave. this was no isle of the living anymore. no one deserves to live in an isle full of dead people.

izar and kiyo called the vice captain's name. 

there he saw his captain's body lying on the dirt. he knew she would live. she can't die, not even if she wanted to. 

with trembling hands, he pulled out his captain's two swords from her body. the two medics hurriedly covered [name]'s body, with izar carrying her back to the ship.

kurose looked up to the sky, the image of [name] riddled with bullets, dried blood all over her body, not to mention how her hair was a mess. the hair she had ever so protected was cut off, he noticed, due to how straight the edges had become.

no one wants to see that. not a year ago, this was how whitebeard died, now he sees it on his own captain.

he walked to the center of the city, not forgetting to walk over the bodies of the now-dead traitors.

it took more than just a few hours for them to finally finish burying all the victims, making it presentable to honor their lives before dying an unlawful death.  before going back to the ship. they placed little flaglets in the middle with their jolley roger along with several flowers.

no music, no yells, no cheers. only the sound of the waves could be heard throughout the deck of the night howler. 

kurose lay on a bed beside his captain's bed. the bullets were removed, and wounds were dressed. some were too deep, so some of the blood seeped through the bandages.

izar stated earlier that she lost more than a gallon of blood, so here he was donating his own blood. he felt numb, kurose doesn't know how much he could take with a captain that goes with her own decisions. 

kurose already told her long ago to stop taking all the burden, yet here she is. it became her habit, maybe. kurose is aware that growing up, she only trusted a few people; her words are filtered so that their meaning could be different from any other person.

he gritted his teeth, you are so dumb, so stubborn, so dumb! why are you so selfish! dumbass!

"kurose! stop clenching your fists!"

"o-oh.. sorry.."

thunder roared in moonlight island. it was raining cats and dogs. no person could be seen roaming the streets of the island with this kind of weather. this was an uncommon phenomenon; it rarely ever rains this hard in the island.

the island was weeping, hard, for its protector. 

its been an hour since the red force has been floating by the off shores of moonlight island. someone, or something, rather, has been stopping the red hair pirates from entering the port.

shanks tried using conqueror's haki, but it didn't work either. and if they came close to the shore, they were struck by lightning; lime juice proved that it wasn't just some normal lightning.

benn tried calling their personal den den mushi but no one was answering. benn probably prayed to every god, and even to roger's soul, that someone would answer as his chief has been antsy since they've arrived. he lowkey also prayed for you to be alive, even with a slim chance.

shanks has been walking in circles; he probably walked around the ship for more or less five times already. i know where to find you, my ass! i don't even know where she is! 

if he was dumb enough to believe in ghosts, roger's ghost is probably already aiming his cutlass at him for letting this happen. not only that, but the entity that is currently protecting the island, something has happened before. [name] has done something

"walking around isn't going to help us reach the port, chief," yasopp sweatdropped at the red head.

"but it helps me calm down!" shanks retorted.

"akagami?!" a yell reached shanks' ears. he turned behind the upcoming ship.

the wind howler was coming their way with kurose standing on the figurehead. wasting no time, shanks jumped off his ship and onto the wind howler. 

"where is she?" shanks asked, but it came more like a command that needed to be answered. 

kurose glance at his figure before looking back at the island. "you'll see her later, let's first enter the island."

"we will be entering via the port in the north!" kurose commanded, not giving shanks another look before going inside the cabin.

shanks narrowed his eyes but gave in. he jumped back to his ship as it followed the wind howler to the other port.

as they arrived in the north port, not a lightning appeared, but it was still raining heavily. 

kurose called out to shanks as the rest of them anchored their ship. "can you guys stay here at your ship for a while. izar and the others still have to check on [name]. i'll stay here with you." says kurose as he walks up the deck of the red force.

"it's alright, i understand," shanks replied, giving benn a look to which the older understood. 

 "[name] finally accepted it, huh?" shanks started, pouring the drink that benn got for them.

"yeah, last year.. the lightning barrier around the island was part of the deal. after losing so many people, she decided to secure the island while she's out." shanks nodded in understanding, handing kurose his glass of whiskey.

"why is the north port open, though?"

"it's not that open. it's just the island's graveyard is located in the north. close to the plateau, the manor, and far away from the civilians. especially since it's a graveyard, [name] didn't want it to be that suffocating, that's why. it's only accessible to us, though."

"the world is probably in shambles now, isn't it?"

"most likely. on how she looked in that newspaper. if i had not known better i would probably kill myself as well just to follow her. it's been twenty years and i still can't grasp what's going on inside [name]'s mind."

"that's understandable. i've known her since we were just children, and i still can't understand her."

"all i know is she's going to stir up a storm."

shanks laughed. yeah, that's what she's gonna do.