Author's note: a lot of edge lords have been popping out in the comments these past couple of days, and I think it's finally time I had word with them.
Look people, I get. I really do. You've just finished reading Reverand Insanity, or whatever evil MC novel (Which I'm personally a fan of) and had your first taste of deep and meaningful novel that touches on philosophy, so your already edgy, teenage, hormone-addled brains have gone to overdrive, and you can't read anything lighthearted, without whining and pitching about it in the comments with your irrelevant opinions and negative comments.
You feel you're some sophisticated deep thinker, and you feel obliged to share enlightened (but sadly irrelevant) opinions with the rest of the world, but the truth is, NOBODY CARES.
Nobody cares about your opinion! That's right, no one is gonna go wow what an intelligent, deep specimen while reading your edgy comments, so get that through your thick skull, and stop wasting my time with your irrelevant preferences, unless you have something useful to say, like mentioning a plot hole or something like that.
And with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter and have a pleasant rest of your day!
........................
"I have made a mistake," I flatly remarked as I looked at my crewmates as we all gathered on the Black Pearl's deck, our ship anchored in the middle of the sea.
I have made a full recovery after several days of bed rest, and the first thing I did was gather my crewmates to own up and take responsibility for my actions, which almost cost us our lives.
"As the captain of this crew, I have failed to consider everyone's safety, allowed my own selfishness to cloud my judgment..." I added, my gaze alternating between my friends, no, my family.
"I've grown overconfident in my abilities, too used to knowing everything to consider failure or defeat," I remarked, cutting off Elly, Byron, and Laffite as they tried to say something.
"Not only did I put myself in danger, but I also put you all in harm's way as well," I said with a sigh. "And for that, I apologize," I concluded, deeply bowing my head in front of my crewmates.
I expected many things, maybe as words of blame, reproach, or even words of accusation and disappointment. But I never expected Wilson, the bastard, to suddenly punch me in the back of my head, causing me to stagger as I raised my head to glare at his smugly grinning face.
"AnD FoR tHaT, I aPoloGize," Wilson said, making the most obnoxious imitation I've ever seen in both of my lifetimes as he mockingly bowed in front of me.
I felt my eyes twitch as I felt the urge to rearrange the features of Wilson's smug face with my fist as he kept mocking me with an obnoxious expression, the others chuckling and shaking their heads.
"Do you even hear yourself?" Wilson said with a frown, having had enough of mocking me after a minute. "It's not like anyone here managed to board this ship without having to listen to you talk about the dangers of the sea and being a pirate for five hours straight," he added, snorting in disdain.
"Get it in that thick head of yours; these guys are not children for you to pamper," Wilson said, walking towards Byron and smacking him on the head for some reason, much to the confusion of the latter, who just stared at Wilson with a dumbfounded, fed up expression.
"No one here thinks you're invincible, no one thinks you're omnipotent," he added, and I turned to look at the rest, earning smiling nods as I did so.
"You're the only one who ever thought about yourself," Wilson stated, shaking his head with an exasperated expression.
"I..." I tried to say something as I looked at my comrades, getting nothing but understanding and supportive looks as they looked at me with warm smiles, feeling speechless.
"Imagine being so confused that a dumb gorilla would have to knock sense into your head out of all things..." Bob said, heaving a heavy sigh as he turned to look at Elly. "Is it already too late for us to leave this crew?" he asked with a deadpan expression.
"As late as late can be," Elly said with a chuckle, making bob heave another sigh.
"Hahaha, that's right. Imagine having a dumb gorilla knock some sense into you..." Wilson said with a loud laugh as he smacked me on the shoulder, suddenly freezing as he trailed at the end of his sentence, realizing the meaning behind these words.
"Who the hell are you calling dumb, you bastard?" Wilson exclaimed as he menacingly began walking towards Bob.
"It took you that long to realize it, didn't it?" Bob asked in a mocking tone, raising an eyebrow as vein bulged on Wilson's forehead, and he lunged towards the cook.
"Thanks, big guy..." I muttered under my breath, faintly smiling as I watched Bob and Wilson go into their usual shenanigans.
...
"Land ahoy!" I heard Elly exclaim from her spot at the top of the crow's nest, and I smiled smugly at Byron as I dropped my cards, knowing I would have lost otherwise as I walked to the Black Pearl's bow.
A week had passed since my awkward apology, and things have returned to normal for the most part, well, as normal as you can get while sailing the grand line with a crew full of misfits anyway, but you get the idea.
However, one thing did change, and it's that I felt considerably more at ease after the verbal thrashing I received, courtesy of the four-armed gorilla I call my first mate.
I decided to take a break from thinking, training, and generally worrying myself over every little detail for a while. And it just so happens that I'm looking at the best place I could that on, Jaya the most notorious and lawless gathering place for pirates we've come across so far.
Despite its reputation for being a den of thugs, pirates, and cutthroats, Jaya was, in fact, a beautiful tropical rainforest-infested spring island, as even the only town within its borders, Mock Town, was resort like in appearance.
I could already see the red tops of houses peeking from between the light green trees as the birds flew over them, only to scatter in all directions as the sound of gunfire echoed within the town.
'I wonder what will taste better, the cherry pie or the juice in that pup where Luffy met Blackbeard for the first time...?' I couldn't help but wonder, several scenes from the Jaya arc in the original anime flashing in my head.
It's the place where Luffy's dreams are put to the test for the first time as Bellamy, his crew, and several other dumbasses proceed to mock Luffy, Zoro, and Nami for looking into the sky island.
It was also during this arc that I fell in love with one piece, especially after hearing what one particular backstabbing scumbag and my favorite villain had to say about people and their dreams.
"People's dreams... never end..." I muttered under my breath, already looking forward to exploring Jaya island.