The Life I Live

Summer, Love

Kid returned a little later with more bread and water. The loaf from before had left Summer's stomach in an even bigger fit than it had been in days. It grumbled loudly every so often, a shooting pain through her insides accompanying it. Kid didn't seem to notice her discomfort, but then again why should he? She had an itch on her nose again, but because her restraints had been put back on she couldn't reach it.

"We should arrive at the island first thing in the morning." Kid said. Summer nodded obediently, frowning when the redhead didn't leave immediately like always. Hands stuck in his pockets, he wandered around the darkened room aimlessly. She eyed him as he paced back and forth in front of her, never really looking in the eyes.

"What do you see in him?" He asked suddenly, turning towards her. She narrowed her eyes.

"In who?" Her voice sounded gravely from disuse and little water over the past week.

"That Surgeon bastard." He responded, rolling his eyes as if the answer were obvious.

"I already told you I'm not going-" He shook his head.

"I know what you told me before. You'll never sell out your crew, nakama, loyalty, yada yada yada. That's not what I meant." He dragged the chair over and sat himself backwards in it. He clasped his hands together and stared past her, thinking over something that Summer could only guess at.

"Why do you follow him? What does he have that makes you believe in him?"

Summer gaped at him, shocked by his submission. Kid had been nothing but gruff and tough her entire time captured. This sign of weakness, of insecurity, was startling. He was a Supernova, a cruel pirate captain who left waves of destruction in his wake. And he was asking her...a personal question?

"Umm..." She started. "He has ambition, a plan." Then she shrugged, watching as Kid shook his head.

"That it? He's ambitious?" She glanced around, as if the air around her had more answers. Nodding, she shrugged again. Kid sighed and stood back up.

"Whatever. I'll never understa-"

Boom. A loud crash came from somewhere below deck and the whole ship shook from the impact. Kid tried to keep balance while Summer's chair swayed back and forth, threatening to topple over.

A few seconds later another explosion came from above deck and the two could hear the rest of the crew screaming in anger.

"What the hell?" Kid shouted, running back through the door to see what was happening. Summer glanced nervously at the wooden walls of the hull around her. Those explosions sounded suspiciously like cannon fire, and all it would take was one stray cannon to kill her.

~~~

Kid ran up to the top deck, body tense from anger and adrenaline. Up top, the crew scrambled to their positions at the cannons. A look to his left confirmed an enemy pirate ship firing at them, slowly advancing with its black jolly roger. The design was nothing he'd ever seen: a coiled snake around a sword.

"Where the hell did they come from?" He shouted, beginning to form his metal arm. Stray cannons from the deck and some of the metal from the railings. The wood around him creaked from the attacks and he felt the ship starting to slow down from damage.

"They came from the west." Wire answered, loading a cannon all the while.

"Well, no shit dumbass!" Kid yelled, using his mechanical arm to block an incoming cannonball. Something was on fire because the air was filled with black smoke.

"Repel!" Taking the cannonball he had blocked, Kid launched it back at the ship at high speed. It hit part of the bow, not doing any major damage but hitting a few men on the deck. The ship was much closer now, and Kid could see the other pirates lining the deck with weapons drawn and raised above their heads.