Chapter 2: Horrible Revelation
"We are so sorry!" The members of the Alvida Pirates knelt in seiza in front of Khoras, who looked at them in exasperation.
In the end, no beating had been necessary. As soon as they saw their captain fall, all of them had surrendered without shame.
The Beyonder's gaze turned to the boy, who seemed to be more afraid than the others, and yet there was a hint of relief in his posture.
Khoras was not only a fisherman; he had also actively participated in selling the fish he caught, so he had an eye for certain subtle behaviors. Therefore, he had no problem analyzing all these guys who seemed to behave as if they were in a cartoon.
He sighed.
"You, the boy over there." He nodded to the pink-haired boy. "You happen to have a map in one of these huts?"
The boy seemed to become more frightened as he saw them heading his way.
"S-S-Sir, there's a map on the ship, sir," he replied while shaking in fear.
'Ship?' Khoras' gaze turned to the sea and, indeed, he could make out a rather impressive ship in the distance... or it would be if it wasn't pink. 'H-How the hell did these clowns get such a ship? Don't tell me they're really successful pirates?'
His mind wandered to his small fishing boat that he had spent the savings of several years of risking his life on.
He shook off those thoughts as quickly as he could so as not to get too depressed.
"Okay, is there a boat so we can get to the ship? I want you to come with me," he asked the boy again in a flat voice.
The latter quickly nodded his head, not wanting to displease the scary man who had defeated Alvida in one blow. He stood up and pointed in a direction.
"T-The boat is at the dock, over here."
Khoras nodded and followed him, not giving another glance to the pirates who were still kneeling and shaking.
The pink-haired boy led him a few meters, and they quickly arrived at a small dock, which could fit maybe three or four medium-sized boats.
"T-That was amazing, sir! Are you a pirate?" the boy asked a little suspiciously, although he seemed to gain confidence out of nowhere. "My name is Koby. What is yours? Surely someone like you is not unknown!"
Khoras glanced at him out of the corner of his eye as they both climbed into a boat.
"A pirate? Of course not. I'm just a sailor. Damn, what do you all have with this pirate thing?" he snapped at him. "My name is Khoras. I fell into the sea and appeared on this island full of crazy people in some way that I still don't understand."
The boy named Koby seemed to back off a little seeing that he looked angry.
"Oh, so you're not a pirate?" he seemed to warm up to the idea. "Those Alvida Pirates demons captured me unintentionally one day and have had me enslaved ever since."
Khoras was surprised, then narrowed his eyes.
'Tsk, enslaving a child like that nowadays, they have no morals. Maybe I should have beaten them up after all...' he thought, though he didn't say anything.
"M-Mister Khoras, do you think I can join the Marines one day? How can I become as strong as you?" Koby continued with the questions.
His excitement growing this time, Khoras realized that this seemed to be quite a big ambition of the boy.
"The Marines? You mean the military?" he questioned doubtfully. "Well, I don't think being strong like me is really necessary for that. You'll definitely have to get in shape, though…"
"The military...?" Koby tilted his head in confusion, causing Khoras to wonder if there was some misunderstanding about it.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the brief chat had been enough for them to reach the ship, which was quite imposing, like one of those old caravels that are so pretty… only this one was pink.
Feeling happy for a moment, he hurried to disembark.
"Ah, Mister Khoras, I'm afraid the map we have only covers a good chunk of the East Blue," Koby explained. "The navigator was drawing as we explored places."
Khoras paused for a moment.
"East Blue? What is that?" he questioned, although for some reason it seemed like that name sounded familiar to him. Perhaps it had stuck with him from some internet article or something?
Koby was surprised.
"Haven't you heard of the East Blue? It's one of the four great seas." He scratched the back of his head, incredulous.
"Four great seas... What part of the Atlantic is that?" Khoras felt a bad feeling forming in his heart, and he turned to look directly at the boy.
"Uh… I'm not sure? As far as I know, the East Blue is the sea that is northeast of the Grand Line."
'Grand Line...' Lightning struck Khoras, though this time it was figuratively.
He had heard of the Grand Line. He knew it was an important place in a major manga called One Piece, the place where most of the events took place.
'Pirates, Marines, Grand Line... no, how can such a thing be?' Khoras' thoughts went crazy.
However, he had already received supernatural powers from a novel that was supposedly fiction, and as that old quote said, 'Once you reject the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.'
"Shit, fuck, how can something like that be?" he questioned himself to no one but himself.
Koby looked at him worriedly. "Sir?"
Khoras felt many emotions at the same time, although the strongest was despair at the thought that he would never see his friends or his mother again… his mother, who would be left alone in poverty.
His fists clenched, scaring the child who was watching him.
"M-Mister Khoras!" he called out once more with concern.
Koby looked at him instantly, and realizing what was happening, he forced himself to calm down.
'No, I can't allow something like that to happen. I must find a way back to my world.' Khoras sighed. 'It can't be impossible. If there is a way in, there must be a way back.'
He held on tightly to this idea.
It wasn't that a journey through a fantasy world didn't excite him, but that excitement was overshadowed by everything he had left behind. Mainly, those people who had taken care of him as a child and who always gave him their unconditional love, despite the difficulties. He couldn't allow himself to abandon his mother to fate. She was already a little older; she didn't have as much strength or energy as when he was a child.
An unwavering resolve flashed in his eyes.
"Koby." He called the boy.
"Yes?" The aforementioned looked at him curiously, after seeing that he had calmed down.
"You want to escape from those pirates, right?" he asked him, to which Koby nodded vehemently. "Okay, then I propose a deal. I come from a small town, and it's my first time traveling in the outside world, so I suspect I'm lacking quite a bit of common knowledge."
Koby nodded. He had noticed that Khoras was acting a bit strange from the first moment; this would explain everything.
Khoras was glad that something like this made sense in the boy's mind.
"I'd like you to accompany me to an island where I can stock up a bit for the trip. What's the closest island with a Navy base?"
Koby's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "It's definitely Shells Town, sir! Captain Morgan is in charge of the base!"
Khoras nodded to himself. "Okay, we'll head there in that case. I guess we can take this ship."
The potion had also increased his already decent knowledge of ship navigation, so he could now be considered an amazing navigator. He would have no problem controlling the ship.
"W-Wait, sir." Koby was quick to stop him as he started to head for the anchor. "We can't use this boat. The Marines will stop us if we show up on a pirate ship!"
Khoras stopped. "Hm, that's right. In that case, we'll have to use the boat." He pointed at the tiny boat they had used to get to the ship, in all seriousness.
Koby laughed. "Haha, you're quite funny, sir. Even Gold Roger himself wouldn't think of traveling in… such…" His laughter died, though, as he saw Khoras grab him like a sack of potatoes and simply climb back into the small boat. "Sir? You're joking, right? Sir??"
---------------
As always, tell me if you find any mistake, it's GPT's mistake not mine laa.