The Gunslinger & the Salaryman: A Love Story for the Ages

Chapter 1: It All Started with a Kidapping

     Rokuro Okajima was your typical, everyday 25-year old Japanese salaryman. Average height, dark hair, he frequently wore dress pants, with a short sleeved, white dress shirt and a green necktie. He was from a fairly respectable family, but he had failed to pass his entrance exams on the first try, so they lowered their expectations of him. Because of this, they hardly paid him any real attention. Still, day in and day out, he put his nose to the grindstone, working the corporate rat race at Asahi Industries. He did as he told, he bowed when he needed to, spoke when he had to, kissed as much ass as was required to eventually live the comfortable life that years of slaving away would grant him. Then one day, to most anyway, it all went to shit. But, to Rokuro Okajima, it was the beginning of his rebirth. Not that he was happy with the outcome starting out...

     On what seemed to be just another day for him, Rokuro was going along with his department chief, Mr. Kageyama, to the Southeast Asian Sea for what seemed to be a routine job; it was not. Their ship was ambushed by a PT Boat. He was being held at gunpoint by two people. One was a tall, muscular man, African American, bald head, sporting a goatee, wearing military fatigues and round sunglasses so dark you couldn't see his eyes. His name was Dutch (last name unknown), captain of the PT Boat, christened The Black Lagoon. The second, a young Chinese American woman clad in daisy dukes, combat boots, and a small, black tank top exposing her midriff. She had long, burgundy hair, amber brown eyes, a large tribal tattoo on her right forearm and was wielding a custom handgun. Her name was Rebecca Lee, known by most Revy, feared by all as Two Hands. The other member of the crew was Benny, but he was their tech guy, so he didn't leave the boat. He was tall, broad shouldered, in shape, had long blonde hair (usually in a ponytail), and wore thin lensed glasses and Hawaiian shirts.

     "All right, Mr. Japanese, I'll ask you one more time," she began, her gun pointing directly at him. "The package you got from the Asahi Industry headquarters in Tokyo - the one you're in charge of until you hand it over to the chief in Borneo - this is it, right?"
Rokuro didn't know what to make of this situation. On the one hand, he had guns pointed at him with no idea what was really going on. On the other, this woman was the most enchanting creature he'd ever seen. Not that he was gonna tell her that with fear of getting shot. The command in her voice, the fire in her eye, and her AMAZING body! He may have been being held at gunpoint, but he was still a healthy young man with eyes! Everyone on board was more than willing to cooperate.

     "We're going to live..." Rokuro sighed with relief. He could now go back to Japan, and even have a crazy anecdote to tell at work.

     "Why are you looking so relaxed?" Revy asked, in her usual aggressive tone. "You're gonna tag along with us. Dumbass."
     "You're joking. You're joking, right?" he asked in disbelief.

     The Lagoon Company specialized primarily in shipping. While they had legal jobs, more often they dealt with more illegal activities. Revy figured she and her coworkers could get ransom out of the timid little Japanese man. What she hadn't planned on (besides having no way of contacting the company), was that Asahi Industries was willing to let their lowly employee die (at least, that's what the reports would state). With no other options, Rokuro Okajima (given the new name, Rock, by Dutch) joined the Lagoon Company, acting as their translator (as he could speak various languages), plus he was a bit more diplomatic than the volatile Revy.

     They resided in the port city of Roanapur, located in Southeast Thailand. It was a modern-day version of the Old West, no real laws to speak of, other than your basic criminal codes. While there was local law enforcement, they weren't what you'd call big on enforcing the laws (if the price was right anyway). The two main powers of the city were factions of the Russian Mafia and the Chinese Triads, plus smaller factions who if they dared cross either would regret it.

     Things didn't start out smoothly for Rock (given the circumstances), and while they would get better (to some degree), his life was from this point on was a whirlwind of pirates, assassins, gangsters, and whole barrage of other messed up shit. For Rock though, his biggest obstacle was Revy; their views on the world didn't exactly match. They were from very different worlds, and had very different life experiences (not that Rock knew much of the details of Revy's past). But, they did find some mutual bonding, mainly binge drinking Bacardi at first. Rock came to see Revy as the person who opened his eyes to the world, taking him out of the drudgery of mundane paper pushing and ass kissing. From this grew a somewhat mutual respect, that one could even call friendship. Revy may have been annoyed by Rock and his goody goody bullshit (as she saw it), but in the time they'd been partners she was now gonna make sure nobody hurt him (besides herself). Plus, he had proven at times that he could go to a darker place then anyone in this crime ridden city thought possible. After a good few adventures together, Rock was certain that he didn't want anyone hurting Revy either...