The Portrait of Pirate F

Chapter 10: A New Arrival

Len's POV
I was reading a book-the same book I had mentioned earlier-in my new room.

Headquarters? Office? Who cares, honestly?

I was around eight chapters in. Before I finished reading the page I was on, there was a knock on my door.

I looked up from the book. I placed a bookmark in there and got up from my desk, then walked towards the door and opened it.

It was Piko.

That was when I remembered that he had said something about becoming a pirate. I didn't think he was actually serious about it.

Then again, I'm sure DEX, Gakupo, and OLIVER thought the same thing.

But I thought it was a joke, so I made sure by asking him one question:

"What are you doing here, Piko?"

"The guys were teasing me again and I just got tired of it all. I also had a conversation with Rin before I got here, but she didn't let me follow her. Gakupo suggested that I should be a pirate earlier, so here I am!" Piko said as he looked up at me.

I remembered that too. But wasn't it a joke?

"Are you sure it wasn't a joke? I'm pretty sure it was." I said.

"I don't know, Len, but all I know is that I want the teasing to stop." Piko said.

I crossed my arms. He was absolutely serious.

"So....you want to be part of my crew, huh?" I asked as I looked down at the boy.

Piko started looking around.

"....Do you even have a crew?" He asked.

"Probably, but I have no idea. Maybe not." I said as I shrugged.

Then I turned around.

"You know what? Forget that. You're officially a pirate now. No initiation needed." I said as I walked back to my desk and picked up the book I had been reading earlier.

"Really?!" Piko asked, still standing in the doorway. I could see a look of excitement on his face.

"Yup." I said as I began to finish reading the page I was on earlier.

"Yes! But why?" He asked.

"Well, Piko, I know that the other boys always cause you distress in some way, so here you won't have to worry about it." I said, eyes glued to the book.

Piko's eyes lit up as he smiled, but then he lowered his head.

"Think they'll miss me?" He asked.

"I don't know, Piko. Maybe they won't. It's not my place to say if they'll miss you or they won't miss you." I said.

"I guess you're right. So when do we start sailing seas and fighting good guys?" Piko asked as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

I looked up from my book with a raised brow.

"Slow down, little man. I don't even know what we'll do as pirates." I said as I returned my eyes to the page of my book I had been reading.

"So then what will we do?" Piko asked.

"Like I already said, I don't know. Read a book or something. I might end up figuring out something for us to do later besides reading." I said.

Piko sighed, but ended up looking through my bookshelf anyway.

Eventually, he found a book that he seemed interested in. He pulled it down and started to read it. I was on chapter nine of my book now.
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It had been a while after we had both read our books. I was on chapter 13 of the book I had been reading and I was really enjoying it, but I decided to see how Piko was doing.