It's been two years since Shogo stowed away on a cargo ship that got ransacked on its way to the main island and it's been hell every second after.
Imagine his surprise when Shogo was ripped out of his barrel and unceremoniously dumped at the feet of Mizu the Remorseless and his group of heathens.
They just so happened to have an opening on the crew that they needed filled and he has been trapped on this huge black pirate ship walled off from the outside world by a thick otherworldly white fog.
The ship remains exclusively at sea and hasn't docked nor anchored a single time since I've been here. The fog is always present as well like an impermeable shield around the entirety of the ship. Even the water around the ship is heavily shrouded from the crew above it.
Besides the bloody raids on unsuspecting cargo ships that take place on a monthly basis, none of them besides the captain and his bald right handman have really had any contact with the outside world.
The raids absolutely baffle Shogo every time because it always seems too easy. Unsuspecting victims at sea inexplicably appear next to the huge black pirate ship seemingly at our deranged captain's control.
And they never see it coming until it's too late. Shogo is the only survivor from one of those raided ships.
The lot of Mizu's crew consists of homicidal maniacs, sadists, rapists, thieves, and cannibals. No pedos are allowed though for religious reasons apparently.
The raids were the only time these deplorable savages were allowed to commit whatever heinous acts they desired.
However, as soon as everyone steps back onto the ship all that shit stops immediately. Mizu runs the most orderly pirate ship Shogo has ever heard of and it's all done with an all-encompassing fear of earning Mizu's sole undivided attention.
There are three unspoken rules Shogo follows religiously on the ship:
Do your fucking job at all costs.
No unwarranted loud noise
Stay the hell away from Mizu on News Day
The handful of crew members that I've seen Mizu butcher have broken these three parameters, for the most part. Somedays Mizu is just in a homicidal mood.
Shogo learned very quickly that any defiance will make you lose your head sooner rather than later, so he has been obediently playing his swab role silently without overstepping any boundaries.
After two years straight of sleeping in a fucking hole in the wall and being run ragged by the fucking crew every day as the ship's clean up boy or in pirate terms, a swab.
Shogo is more than ready to leave.
Basically, everybody just dumps whatever disgusting or annoying ship task they don't want to do onto the swab. Including having to feed Mizu's homicidal pets.
The worst part about it for Shogo is that the hard labor tasks are getting physically easier but harder mentally.
'All this bullshit got old ages ago.'
Shogo's mind wanders as he furiously cleans up the sick bay, he thinks about his experiences before arriving on the pirate ship.
Shogo POV
'But! I prefer it over the Kitajima Moon Temple any day of the week! At least here on this ship, I don't feel like I have a massive target on my back.'
'Fuck that shitty temple, fuck the shitty villagers, and fuck those fucking prissy ass Yuki bitches.'
'That hellhole was never a home to me. Everyone on the island was hostile toward me from the get-go.'
'I always received double the punishment, was given the smallest meal portions, was assigned the hardest chores, and was alienated by everyone.'
'At least on the ship, I am guaranteed a decent meal once a day depending on how well I complete the tasks I'm given. Also, my general presence is met with an indifference that is almost comforting compared to the nasty looks I was used to receiving at the temple.'
In my more naïve years, I always questioned why I got treated so much differently than the other children.
I thought maybe I had done something wrong for my treatment to be such a stark contrast to the other orphans.
At that point none of the adults ever really insulted me in my face but the other orphans didn't hold their tongues. It didn't take long for them to begin imitating the hostile behaviors of the adults toward me, which were as if I were a diseased wild animal.
The other kids would poke and prod at me constantly because they knew there wouldn't be any repercussions for it. Eventually, I snapped and started to fight back with my words AND fists.
It was shortly after I started retaliating, did I figure out why I had received so much unearned ire previously from the temple matrons and the villagers.
"Mountain Savage!"
"Blasphemer!"
"Dark Vagabond!"
"Northern Hell spawn!"
The name calling made it very hard to ignore that the entire adult population of the island held a prejudice against me due to my skin color resembling that of their bitter northern enemies that hailed from the Land of Mountains.
The devastating raids that rout fire and lightning all over the Land of Water over the past couple thousand years seemed to be fresh in the minds of the current inhabitants of Kitajima.
Probably because they often got the worst of the invasions given that Kitajima is the northernmost island in all of the Land of Water.
The last raid was so bad that the water daimyo of the time forced the Yuki Clan to take up residence on the island as a deterrent.
And that occurred a little less than a hundred fucking years ago! So basically, I was getting some petty leftover sore loser bullshit from those jerks! I refused to be a scapegoat for some shit that most people on the damn island weren't even alive for!
Ever since that revelation at the ripe old age of six, I made it super clear that I was done with being surrounded by fucking losers and I was leaving that godforsaken island.
I'm sure they would have all loved to see me leave anyway but since it goes against some obscure religious doctrine to allow a child to go off alone before they reach maturity, they kept taking me back to the shitty temple no matter how much I acted out in defiance.
All my previous escape attempts had ended in failure because the black-haired porcelain skinned ice ninja freaks always tracked me down and handed me back to those frigid temple priestesses.
Finally, I bribed a drunken fisherman to let me stow away on his cargo boat with some stolen money from the temple offerings box.
Maybe it was because of karma that my freedom was so short-lived.
Granted I could be dead like all the fishermen that were on that cargo boat back then, but I have the advantage of Mizu not being a fan of killing children when its avoidable at least.
It's an odd characteristic for a man who recently butchered one of his loyal crew members for accidentally spilling soup on his boot.
Honestly, I believe Mizu is secretly one of those nutcase Moon worshippers, as I have seen flashes of a crescent jewel necklace under his shirt over the past two years.
In my eyes it only adds to Mizu's already unhinged nature, which has progressively been getting worse with each bit of news we receive about the unification of Water country.
Yesterday was news day which is whenever a seahawk descends onto Mizu's outstretched arm almost randomly. Mizu proceeded to read whatever was on the paper the hawk was carrying and did not come out of his private cabin the rest of the day.
An extreme contrast from his usual reaction of loudly ranting all day about inbred morons sucking off some old conniving cyclops.
It had become an expected form of crazy that everyone including me had grown accustomed. But now this silence had the entire crew walking on eggshells. The general nervousness in the air is palpable.
I was just finishing up the disgusting task thrust upon me in the sick bay before I was yanked up by the back of shirt and carried up to the captain's quarters.
"What the fuck do ya think you're doing asswipe!"
It happened so quickly; I barely turn around enough to catch a glimpse of whoever the fuck had the balls to interrupt my chore.
Menacing pointed teeth and blotchy bluish-gray skin are the first things I notice about my captor.
My stomach freefalls into my toes. My tongue becomes coarse as all the salvia in my mouth escapes down my throat.
I am in the clutches of the most powerful man on the ship by far and I just called him an asswipe. The acidic burn of an involuntary gag singes the back of my already dry throat.