"So..." Sabaro had managed to catch Tsubaha relatively by herself. And with a bit of patting his legs so they would stop shaking. He had managed to walk up to her. Looking near her but not at her in the most mysterious way he could, Sabaro continued.
"This whole...teaming up thing." He picked up an dusty old shrine ornament. "How do I know you're capable enough?"She was definitely more capable them him. "Every member of my crew were all feared in their own right. How can I know you're worth my time?" Probably the fact that without teaming up he was basically screwed. But, he couldn't just accept the offer as much as he really wanted to get on his knees and cry in thanks for letting him team up with her. The Pirate Lord only worked with those who were powerful. Supposedly.
Throwing the ornament in the air up and down a few times, Saburo glanced at Tsubaha for a split second. But only for that long before he coughed into his hand. "H-How can you convince me. The, err, great pir-"
*Smash*
"...ate lord." He continued. Using one foot to quietly brush the shards of broken ornament on the ground to one side.
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"This is supposed be the great feared pirate lord?" Tsubaha frowned. "Fine then. I see how it is."
Tsubaha put one of her hands on her blades.
Wait.
What was she doing...?!
Saburo tensed up.
As for Tsubaha, she picked up a green leaf off of the ground. She contemplated it for a second, and let it go. It began to float towards Saburo.
Saburo swore he saw a glint of light. Regardless, the leaf continued towards him. He catches it...
It snapped cleanly in half in his fingers.
"I suppose something like that is enough to warrant you to cease teasing me then?"
Teasing? What did she mean with teasing! That wasn't just a clever party trick she just pulled on him.
"...or do you find it amusing to make me think you aren't who you actually are by acting like some clown?"
He furrowed his brows at that. Did that mean she knew he was faking it. Or thought that he was faking faking it? Maybe she thought he was faking the faking of the faking?
A pang of pain coursed through his head. This was confusing.
Sabaro leaned forward sudddenly, "I'm not teasing!" He cried at her. Before swallowing what was likely his own rising embarrassment and taking a step back.
Oh, did she think he was trying to play her like a fool. Was he? Sabaro was pretty sure you had to be convincing for that.
"And I'm no clown..." He whined quietly under his breath.
Gently letting the halved leaf float to the ground. Sabaro sucked air in through his teeth. "Anyway. That was a
neat trick you showed there." A neat and very scary trick.
"Maybe you do have some promise..." He tried not to cringe at his own words. He sounded like such a petty douche.
Aw hell, couldn't the Pirate Lord be a little more friendly? "You know, er, us pirates have a thing when a new crewmember joins." He held out a somewhat sweaty hand.
"The Sea Trust. A handshake to anchor a bond between crewmates." He was pretty sure he used enough ship terms there to make that sound somewhat real. Pirates probably had something like that anyway.
His hand stayed out, his eyes nervously darting between the ground and his own extended limb.
Tsubaha's eyes narrowed. This left Saburo to have his hand ackwardly stretched out with complete uncertainty for several seconds. She was... really looking hard at his hand. The entire situation at that moment was had this very anxious air about it.
"Your hand.... is glistening even though there isn't any water nearby. The last time that we were given any water, it was poisoned."
Oh no.
One could see where this was going.
Instead of reaching out to his hand, Tsubaha put her hand over one of her blades.
"So you came here to try to finish me off then? As expected of the Pirate King! No one would suspect you being the mastermind of the entire plot if you woke up with us and pretended to also be a victim. Quite impressive!"
"Is this also some kind of
Test, Pirate King!?"
No, no. Stop pretending this is some kind of epic tale. That entire setup is way too complicated. But, right now... with this girl about to draw her blades, maybe it was best to...
He had forgotten that the world hated him.
Slowly and very carefully he pull his hand back to his side. If one thing could be taken from this current situation. It was that Tsubaha had a very active imagination.
Sabaro very much wanted to declare that her accusation was something that firstly something he would never think of because of his moral character but also there was no way he could plan that far ahead.
But he could tell she wouldn't take that.
Sighing inwardly, Sabaro put on a smile.
"Ah, you're smarter then you look" Or dumber then you look. Or maybe just overall overly paranoid. "If one is to bring together a crew. They need to be able to discern between kindess and deceit. Yes, you did very well." Sabaro eyes fell to the floor. "On....my....test." His shoulders rised as a small exasperated laugh came out.
"But-" He held his hands up. "I had no part in the trap that we all fell into." He leaned back, his eyes going over her as if assessing her. "Just needed to make sure that could learn from past mistakes."
"As expected from the pirate king. It's no wonder you did all of those things to those helpless country folk. Plundering their treasures, dragging away their young kin in the dark of night,and taking them back onto you ship where you...."
......
That went on for about a good 5 or so minutes. And by the end of it, the sort of diabolical things that Tsubaha had just described were so terrible that it made him feel sickly. It was something so terribly surprising that he doubted that he'd ever get anyone to believe him unless he managed to get her to say it again.
There were even some words in there that Saburo didn't even actually know, but he knew it was all bad.
In the end, somehow, it sounded like there was nothing flattering Tsubaha had to say about him at all. But, she sounded like she was actually singing praise.
The Saburo that she had just described to him sounded like someone who should justifiably die a thousand horrible and horrendous deaths, each worse than the last. Not that of praise, surely.
"...Fine then, I accept that you're the Great Pirate Saburo. In light of that fact..."
SHING!
Tsubaha Mori's blades glinted in the light. They shined quite brilliantly even in the dim light. They must've been very well cared for.
"...There will be a lot of people who'll be relieved to find out you're gone. All the destruction and pain you've wrought on those people demands
payment. So... in the name of justice..."
Prepare Yourself!
That cliche'd line was exactly what she was going to say! And once she uttered it, all hell would break loose!
In that moment prior, Saburo's mind broke overlimits, as he tried to come up with a way to
smooth talk his way out of this!
"H-hang on." Sabaru's eyes seemed fixiated on her blades. What very sharp swords they were as well. The kind of well cared weapon that even Sabaro knew meant the person wielding them knew what they were doing.
She had gone on about the pirate king so long that it came to Sabaro that there were two possible reasons for this. One was that she held a deep longing love for her land and every little slight against it. In which case he was already dead.
The second possible reason was that she was secretly one of those weird creepy fangirls. Like all those people who were into that murderer who went around a few years back. That type of person that had a map on where the person had gone. What their favourite colour was and when their first tooth fell out.
It made sense now that he thought about it. She wanted to have the seemed grace of being able to have 'fought' the pirate king. Maybe after she would ask for his autograph. Or a cut of his hair. Perhaps even a vial of his sweat.
Though given her look there was a risk that she was one of those zelous fans who wanted to be the one to put him down. Or at least stab him in the knees and take care of him for the rest of his life. Sabaro resisted the urge to shiver.
"Please, put down your swords. I have no want to take a life today. Do you think you could possibly have a chance against me? You must know how I took on six of the kingdom's greatest warriors at once and held my own. No offence, but come nowhere close to those warriors"
Saburo smiled slightly, "Yet."
If she wanted to be cliche about trying to kill him. Then he would be cliche about being a legendary figure.
"I see potential. Potential to be something more then anyone could imagine. To prove everyone who doubted you wrong. That's what you want. Why you joined this tournament right?"She didn't join it not be executed that's for sure. "I can see it in your eyes" He could also see the intent to stab him. But that didn't need to be mentioned.
Saburo gently put a finger on one of her swords as he took a step closer. He slid it along, a bead of blood forming on his finger.
Ow.
"I can help achieve your dream." His eyes finally met hers. "I can be your friend, if you want." He inspected his bloodied finger casually. Rolling some blood between his fingers. Trying not to wince. "Or you can commit sucide by attacking me. That would a real shame."
Saburo had tried hard. VERY hard to diffuse the situation. He could've done something like promise to
pay back all debts by leading her to the massive treasure trove the legendary pirate king had. But, going beyond that, he tried to appeal to her ambitions. Even the desire for friendship.
It was... a gamble.
That presumed that Tsubaha was more interested in what he had to
offer than what he
had.
It seemed like it was right though.
Tsubaha's face was completely red.
"You..."
She lowered her blades, inspecting the one he had just cut his finger on.
Tsubaha began to shake. And the pressure in the room began to increase.
Ah-....
"WHO SAID YOU HAD PERMISSION TO GET YOUR BLOOD ON MY BLADE!?"
*THWACK!*
Picking himself off the floor, Saburo nursed the stinging feeling on his cheek. Looking around, he was still in the same place, albeit alone.
That was the second time he got knocked out cold in one day.
What terrible luck.
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