It was a sunny day just as any other.
Lying on top of a patch of grass and receiving the warmth of sunlight, the teal-haired boy was found snoring, as evident from the snot bubble that inflated and shrank atop his nose, repeatedly.
"Big Bro Ethan!!"
Then, a voice was shouted from a distance. Hearing the shout through the gentle wind, the teal-haired boy, named Ethan, opened his eyes.
There was a kid, one who appeared to be the mini-me of Ethan due to sharing multiple similar traits such the hair colour and facial appearance, was found running at him.
"Mom says it's time for the lunch—eh? Hello?"
Upon stopping in front of Ethan, the kid waved his hand. However, Ethan didn't respond.
The kid then realized,
"You're still sleeping?!"
The snot bubble didn't disappear. Though his eyes opened, Ethan was still deep asleep.
Sighing, the kid leaned and yelled at Ethan's ear,
"W—"
or he tried to, before a hand was clasped onto his mouth, preventing him from doing so.
"...Really?"
Ethan, awake all of a sudden, muttered while yawning,
"Why must you yell so loudly?"
Moving back and escaping from Ethan's hand, the kid stomped his foot out of frustration.
"...You did the thing again."
"What thing?"
"That future reading thing!! I didn't even get to shout!!"
"...Eh?"
Blinking his eyes as he sat up, Ethan scratched the back of his head. Then humming in thought, he eventually mumbled while placing his hand below his chin,
"Are you sure about that?"
"What do you mean 'are you sure'?!"
"Maybe it isn't that I somehow saw the future, but rather, you were seeing the past."
"Urghh, there it is again!!"
The kid huffed,
"Quit joking with me!! I'm too old to fall for that anymore!!"
"Haha."
Ruffling the kid's head as he stood up, Ethan chuckled,
"Alright then, Bobby. Let's go."
He then walked, only for the kid, who was watching as Ethan departed, to deadpan,
"...You're going in the opposite direction."
"Oh."
__________
Sloth Town of the South Blue was an island located at the edge of the sea, rarely visited by anyone.
Not only was the island itself tiny, but with the exclusion of its rich soil suitable enough to set up a farm, there was no resource to exploit.
Perhaps, one could say, that Sloth Town was one of the most peaceful among the entire world.
"Yo, uncle Issho!"
As Ethan and Bobby waved at a swordsman with a buzz cut as they walked by.
Said swordsman turned his head to their way and revealed his closed eyes that had the gruesome scars atop their lids.
"Good afternoon to the two of you."
Issho nodded in a respectful manner.
Bobby reflected Isshos's action, while Ethan simply picked his nose with his pinky,
"Geez, acting cool again, aren't you?"
"Show some more respect, big bro!!!"
Bobby yelled.
"He's, you know, a samurai!!! Like super cool!!!"
In response, Ethan plainly remarked,
"I think you should show some more respect to me instead, kiddo."
"I will if you decide to be more cool!!!"
"Define cool."
"Samurai!!! Robot!!! Uh, heroes, you know!!!"
"Lol."
Issho, watching the interaction of two brothers, sweatdropped.
"It seems that you two are as lively as ever."
"Besides,"
Pointing his thumb at Issho, Ethan stated,
"What samurai? Haven't you seen before? Uncle's weaker than me."
"Shut up!!! That's just cuz uncle Issho went easy on you!!!"
To that, Issho shook his head in response,
"I'm ashamed to admit, but it is true, Bobby..."
He unconsciously gulped and his grip over his sword tightened as he reflected on the first time he met Ethan,
"Huh? What? You cut your own eyes? What the fuck? Why?"
It started as a simple argument, which developed into a fight.
Issho, losing himself to an impulse, swung his sword, or tried to.
He couldn't swing his blade. His instinct, back then, told him that if he were to unsheathe his sword...
...nothing but a death would await him.
And then, the fight ended with a light tap of Ethan's fist on his temple.
"I win."
"You, Ethan, are the greatest mystery to me."
Issho, shaking his head, eventually pointed his finger at a wooden house nearby,
"Nonetheless, it seems that right now isn't the best time for you to chit chat with me."
"YOU TWO!!! HURRY UP!!!"
There was a monstrous roar, one that caused Ethan and Bobby to yelp.
"R-Right. Later then, uncle!"
Waving their hands, they hurriedly ran back into their house, leaving Issho by himself.
"...How is it that a family as average as that give a birth to someone like him, I wonder."
He couldn't help but mumble,
"Ethan. If he were to sail out..."
__________
"""HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"""
Ethan blinked as his family loudly exclaimed, with a huge cake laid in front of them.
"Wait, it's my birthday today?"
Bobby immediately slumped and sighed,
"Figures."
Their father, named Lodger, laughed loudly as he tapped Ethan's back.
"Haha, it's your 17th birthday today, Ethan! Isn't that nice?"
Their mother, named Rauge, grinned while shoving Ethan toward the cake,
"Blow the candles and make a wish!"
"A wish? Hmm..."
Ethan hummed briefly before blowing the candles. He then said,
"I want a girlfriend."
"Ehh..."
Bobby muttered,
"That's lame, bro..."
"Hahahaha!"
Lodger laughed,
"Unfortunately, that ain't happening anytime soon! After all, everyone else except for you two are already the grown adults like us!"
"...True."
Ethan then proposed,
"Then you know what? How about I go on an adventure? I'll find one there."
"Adventure?"
Lodger raised an eyebrow, before shaking his head,
"Not recommended! From what I read on the news, there exists an organization called the World Government that rules over the seas! If you sail without their permit, you'll be branded as a criminal, a pirate!"
"Why?"
"Who knows?"
To Ethan's question, Lodger shrugged. From the side, Rauge then spoke,
"It's because they are petty assholes!!"
Bobby yelled to that,
"Watch your words, mom!!"
"Oops, my bad!"
Ignoring them, Ethan furrowed his brows,
"But anyhow, that makes no sense. It's not like they own the seas, right?"
"True, but still! It's not a safe idea to—"
"I've decided!"
Ethan, grinning, proclaimed as he held his arms wide out,
"Mom, dad, Bobby! I'll become a pirate and bring a girlfriend!"
Bobby squinted his eyes,
"Are you crazy?!"
On the other hand, Lodger and Rauge froze before they turned to look at one another in a pale expression,
"...Dear lord... what have we done?"
"If Ethan goes out and ends up destroying something, won't they file the bills on us?"
"So that's what you two are worried of?!!"
From the side, Bobby fell comically, which the other three ignored.
In nothing but seriousness, Lodger gazed at Ethan, who looked back at him plainly.
Eventually, Lodger grabbed Ethan by the shoulders and stated,
"Ethan, my boy. From now on, you are not my son—"
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!!"
but wasn't able to finish his words as Rauge, at the next moment, smashed a fist onto his head.
__________
Some time passed since the lunch.
Whistling a tune, Ethan was currently found sitting at the edge of an island with a fishing rod in his hands.
And amazingly, there were hundreds of fish that were piled up by his right, forming a mountain that would make anyone shocked.
"...Hm?"
Ethan then paused as he saw from the horizon, the appearance of one ship that was sailing toward the island.
"A skull flag?"
Ethan did read once, that the skulls were the symbols of pirates.
"So they are the pirates."
Feeling his heart jolt from an excitement, he stood up. Dropping the fishing rod, he them stormed off toward the shore.
And upon reaching it, he found that Issho managed to reach the site before him.
"...Ethan?"
Issho asked questioningly,
"What are you doing here?'
"I saw the pirate ship coming. Isn't that also the reason why you're here?"
Ethan simply pointed at the horizon, and Issho shook his head in an amazement,
"...Of course. If I can sense it, there is no way that you won't be able to..."
"Yeah."
Then, the two of them fell silent. They waited for a while, before Ethan muttered,
"How come it's taking forever for them to arrive?"
"...Perhaps it isn't that they are slow, but that you found them far too quickly."
Then, they waited for a while more.
And finally,
"Land ho!!!"
The pirate ship arrived to the shore, and the pirates, shouting in a joy, laughed as the gurgled the rum.
"Ugh, what the hell?!"
And Ethan, frowning, held his nose,
"What is this stench?!"
"...Blood, sweat, and much more."
As if used to the stench, Issho answered as he drew the sword,
"Simply put, they didn't shower for weeks, probably."
"Damn!"
As Ethan groaned, Issho walked forward and confronted the pirates,
"To what business have you folks come on this island? State your business."
"Ah?"
One of the pirates looked at Issho, before bursting out in a laughter,
"Tecloteclotecloteclo!! State your business? Tecloteclotecloteclo!!"
"...Is that supposed to be a laugh?"
Ethan muttered from the back,
"What a weird one!"
The pirate grew a tickmark and froze briefly as he heard Ethan's comment, but eventually fretted it off.
Looking at issho smugly, he spoke,
"To raid this town. What else?"
Leaning in, he flicked Issho's nose,
"And what are you going to do, old man? Play a samurai on us—"
"Gahh, how are you so calm, uncle Issho?"
Taking a step back, Ethan coughed as he waved his hand in an attempt to blow away the stench,
"His mouth!! It's so smelly that it's reaching all the way here!!"
"FUCKER!!!!"
Unable to tolerate Ethan's behaviour any further, the pirate outraged.
"DIE!!!!!"
Revealing his cutlass, he ran toward Ethan without any control, impulsively.
"...Oh, boy."
Sighing, Issho's sword-holding arm dropped loose.
And the pirate swung his cutlass—
CLANG!
—only for the blade to be blocked by Ethan's index.
"...What is this supposed to be?"
Raising an eyebrow, Ethan flicked the blade. Upon doing so, the blade immediately shattered into million pieces of fine grain, much to the pirate's disbelief.
"U-Uh,"
The pirate, at the loss of word, stuttered. Then, walking up from the trance, he hurriedly backed off before yelling,
"F-FIRE!!! BOMB THIS KID!!!"
The pirates felt that something was going wrong. But nonetheless, they complied. Lighting up the fuses on the cannons, they fired the cannonballs.
"Huh?"
Ethan blinked as the cannonballs flew toward him, and,
BOOM!
they simultaneously exploded in front of him, giving a rise to the dust.
"D-Did..."
The pirate muttered,
"Did we get him?"
"A-Achoo!"
The sound of a sneeze was a heard. Subsequently, Ethan, completely unscathed, walked out of the dust while rubbing his nose,
"Ugh, I think some sand went into my nose..."
Nonetheless, he walked toward the pirate who swung the cutlass at him just before and proceeded to speak,
"Hey."
"Y-Yes...?"
Ethan spoke with a mischievous grin, and the pirate stuttered while sweating profusely.
'T-This guy... is crazy...!'
The pirates realized, of how big of a mistake that they made.
"You see, I plan of being a pirate."
"""...Eh?"""
Everyone, be it the pirates or Issho, stopped.
"So, I decided to become the captain of you people. Any problem?"
There was a silence.
Ethan tilted his head in a confusion.
And the pirates, perceiving his action as a threat, immediately yelped,
"""W-Welcome aboard, captain!!!"""
"Nice!"
Ethan then ordered,
"Then, first of all, freaking wash yourselves, you dirty assholes!!!"
"""Y-Yes!!!"""
And as this scene unfolded, Issho, at the back, found his lips quivering and his entire body shaking,
'T-This... this can't be real...'
He was in a stage of a denial.