The Beauty Of The West

Chapter 9: Gather Information

The next day, Motochika announced we would be stopping at some kind of fortress that they had on land. They needed to have a confrence with a couple of allies.

The night before, it was like Motochika was nice and made me feel at ease with him and his pirates. Today, it was like he was a complete different person, and acted somewhat savage to me and his pirates! Something was definitely bothering him about meeting up with these so called allies.

"Avast Mateys! Prepare to drop anchor!" Motochika yelled. "Make haste!"

"Aye aye captain!" The crew yelled. I felt a little left out.

Everyone prepared to dock on land, at their fortress. Everyone had jobs to do, and I just stood there, feeling like an idiot.. When we finally docked, I could smell rotten fish just riadiating off the land. I looked around and saw sharks hanging everywhere like they were decoration. I almost wanted to throw up.

"Are you coming to meet the allies, (Y/N)?" One of the shipmates asked.

"No, I think I'm gonna stay here.." I replied,trying not to gag. I could only imagine how it would smell once I stepped off the boat.

"Do as ye please." Motochika passed us and walked ahead.

"Well, someone needs to guard the ship after all." I smiled.

"Then climb to the crow's nest! You can see everything from up there!" The shipmate pointed, then joined his crew towards the fortress.

I looked up. It wasn't a bad idea to be way up there. I could see everything without being seen by these allies. Something told me I should stay out of sight anyway so I climbed up. I immediately felt compelled to ask Motochika if I could have a job as lookout, but I wouldn't be staying long, hopefully.

I could see a man talking to Motochika, and he wore green. I was too high up to see details. Other than that, I saw another man nearby, but I knew who that was!

"That guy with the moth helmet..." I said softly to myself. I thought better if I spoke aloud. Don't judge. "He was the guy with the other guy who got pissed off because we joined the east. So...is Motochika siding with them because of Shikoku? Hmm.."

I watched as the moth guy seemed to leave the group, heading towards a path that led to a significantly smaller ship than Motochika's. Then for some reason, he stopped. He just sat there on his strange floaty thing with orbs floating around. If he looked up, he would definitely see me, so I made sure to crouch down just enough so my eyes could see him.

A few minutes later, one of the crew left the group, and ran in the direction down the same path. But he was stopped by the moth guy. They seemed to talk for a moment, then there was a bright light. The orbs hit our shipmate, and he was dead.

The murderer picked something up, and then threw it on the ground, before continuing his way to their ship.

What did I just see? Motochika's ally killed on of his men! why??

I immediately jumped down from the crow's nest, and made my way to the fallen shipmate. I had to run past everyone else to get there, but made sure I wasn't seen.

One look at his face and tears fell from my eyes. Though it had only been a day with these men, they grew on me. This one, especially. I thought back to when I was telling my story on escaping Honno-Ji. He was the one who was happiest, my "biggest fan".

With teary eyes, I picked up the crumbled up note and opened it, revealing a note from Motochika. It read,

Dear Ieyasu,
Despite all evidence leading me to believe you had murdered my fellow men in Shikoku, a few of them refuse to believe you are capable of such treachery. Therefore, I am sending one of my men with this letter to confront you. Did you, or did you not destroy Shikoku?

Motochika

"So why did he kill him?" I asked myself. Judging by the time frame between when the shipmate was approached and when he was killed, the two had spoken, so the mysterious man with the moth helmet must have known he was traveling to see Ieyasu. But if they were allies, why was he stopped?

I quietly made my way to the smaller ship, staying hidden. There was no one in sight, but better to be safe than sorry. When I was close enough, I stayed in the grass nearby and waited to see if the man in green would return--he did. He met with the other man once he got on the ship, but I could hear them talking.

"Did you take care of it, Yoshitsugu?" He asked. "There was a man headed this way to bring a note to Ieyasu."

"Motonari, just who do you take me for?" Yoshitsugu chuckled. I was sure to take note of their names.

"Good. Let's move north, and get that baffoon badger. We will need him with us when the filthy pirate finds out he was the one that attacked Shikoku."

"So is our plan still the same?"

"The plan is fool proof. There is no need to change it. Once the pirate kills Ieyasu the country is yours. Except as you know, for Chugoku."

"You needn't remind me. Let's go." The two of them continued on, but I stayed until I was sure they couldn't see me. I hurried back to Motochika's ship and boarded.

"We were starting to think you wandered off!" I was greeted by a shipmate.

"Aye. Nearly hoist anchor without ye." Motochika added, annoyed. "Just where did ye scurry off to?"

"I was just looking at the surroundings." I lied. "Its quite the place you have here, captain."

"Tis a beauty indeed." He smirked and walked off, probably to steer the ship.

I couldn't tell him. I needed more time. There had to be more to this than what I knew. Like, who was this badger, and why did he attack Shikoku? I waited a while to ask around. It would have sounded suspicious if I asked about him directly after the confrence.
________

It was night time, and I was sitting with a few of the crewmen after eating dinner. I got along so well with these men. They kept asking about my story, and just couldn't seem to hear it enough. It was flattering though.

"Shipmates, I have a question." I brought up, finally. "Who is this badger I hear about?"

"Oh him? He's nothing to worry about." One man explained. "He tried to kill Lord Hideyoshi, so Mitsunari had him locked up. His name is Kanbe Kuroda. "

I took note of that name. He was connected to Mitsunari and Lord Hideyoshi. What was his reasoning for trying to kill someone who seemed so important? I wished Sensei was there to help me figure it out.