Serious: Aoi Pirates Chapter 1: What an incredibly stupid idea! (Open only to the Aoi Pirates)

Roku was at home. He had been talking with his grandmother all the morning about the possible properties of this plant she showed him. She said she had got it in one of her journeys, although Roku was pretty sure he had seen a similar one in the top of the mountain once, he didn't want to tell that to his beloved grandma.

His parents were working and now his grandmother was taking a shower, he just lay in the sofa of the living room, looking through the window. What a really nice day it was... he could use going out for a bit, since he had nothing to do. The sound of the water banging a body and the walls and floor of the shower stopped, the silence was extreme. You could listen to all the birds singing outside.

He approached the door of the bathroom and without knocking he said.

"Grandma...?" -and waited for an answer.

"Yes Roku?" -she answered while she hummed a song he didn't recognize.

"Umm, I was wondering if you minded if I went out for a walk."

There was a pause when she didn't make a sounds and then said:

"Of Course! Of Course! Walking is good for your body, you know I like walking." -and it was true, she LOVED walking. If she could she went to everywhere walking, that could be the reason she seemed 20 years younger that she actually was.- "WEll go out, find your friends or something... Now shoo!"

Roku laughed for himself and started to walk towards the door of the house. It was of great quality, courtesy of one of his grandmother's "lovers" many years ago, even before she was married and then later divorced. -"Bye!"- he said without looking back, opened the door and got out of the house as he closed it behind him.

The day was beautiful, like he had thought at first. He walked by a long bush of Gardenia flowers, the odor they gave off was delicious and fresh. He saw a couple of humming birds feeding on pollen from such flowers, they were great creatures. Then he saw a bed of roses in the garden of the next house... it was a great season for flowers, apparently.

After walking for some time he saw his friends in the distance... he had no idea what they were talking about, but knowing them it had to be something crazy because of the expressions in their faces.

"Hi derps!" -he said as he looked at them and grinned like an idiot, he tended to do that always.

''To be honest, I could see myself as free as a pirate, but it are mostly the acts that pirates commit that's a bit..against my principles...I mean murder and stealing?I can't do that..''.He talked the whole time while scratching the back of his head, he wasn't really good at talking to..semi-strangers? Because he already knew her name and such. He also saw her whispering something, yet it was too silent to actually make out the words.

After the small conversation he aimed his attention towards bliss.''Come on, you know me better then that! And sure a gallant knight would help you, but take in mind I will never assist in something harmful to others...On the other hand there will of-course be exceptions when we are in danger...And if we need money then there is still something like honest work!''.

He still couldn't believe she actually named him first mate..Youri should have kept in mind he was dealing with bliss.. Anything can happen when you're around bliss. ''That reminds me, who will be supposedly be the other members? Because I'm sure we aren't the whole crew..right? I mean we could get killed out there! Even if I'm with you..''. Not long after saying it there was yet another unknown stranger heading to the place. ''*sigh* I thought this was a private place...Bliss stop putting me in situations in where I have to interact with strangers! You know I'm very nervous then..Who is derp/s anyways?''

She scratched her cheek "Yeah I wouldn't do that either" She whispered, sheesh, she was whispering too much.

She continued to listen, and then...
She chuckled, so he was the...gallant knight "Oh I'm sure it will be awesome" She said it to no one in particular. He, for her, didn't seem like it...
But, they HAD found him in a weapon's store..
And he was also against everything that would harm others....
So probably he was going to do it well.

If they ever found a ship and more crew member, she didn't think anyone would comply to such an idea.

"She plans to drag anyone who she considers her friend" 'And yes, we could get killed! Sheesh, I just said that, oh wait no, I thought that! But anyway, you already accepted, so' "we're all doomed now" The last part left her lips without her realizing it.

Lucia turned to the side when he heard another strange voice, someone else was coming, she tried to recognize him and...
She could, a bit.
They had probably met before, yeah, they had, he was also one of Bliss' friends. 'But his name escapes me, ahhh, he was, uhhh, uhh... something with an R? No, No, Wth a K maybe? Aaghhh. Why now?' She looked at the person coming in, to try to recognize him.
She stared once again, except not at Youri, she stared at the newcomer now.
And then it clicked in "Roku..right?" She whispered it, more to herself than to anyone else. 'Then I guess Bliss had already showed him the place? Or maybe he was just walking by? Maybe I'll ask...No, that would be stupid!' She groaned
'Wait, Wait, Wait!!
If he is a friend of Bliss, then he's probably going to be pulled along as well
So that means..he's a future pirate companion? If he says yes, of course, if not...well' "Not like Bliss could leave him any other choice..." She said that aloud, a bit higher than intended.

Seeing as there was basically nothing intriguing happening in town, Yan thought of an idea to see his old friend Bliss Summers. Wherever she currently is. Going around the town searching for her was too time consuming, so Yan just went up to a random person and asked him where Bliss was. "Excuse me, sir. But do you by any chance know where my friend Bliss is? It's alright it you don't." The man thought for a moment before snapping his fingers and saying, "Oh yeah! I saw her and some other of her friends head towards the field over yonder."

The man pointed over in the direction where the field was after he explained where Bliss was. Yan bowed slightly to the man and began heading over to the field where Bliss was last seen headed to. Yan adjusted his backpack crate before heading towards the field. He already knew the way to the field by heart, being there many times to meditate whenever his room was deemed to noisy to meditate. After a bit of a walk, Yan finally reached the field and immediately started to look around. Then he spots a small group of people conversing under a tree where Yan usually meditates. He began to walk towards the tree. Upon closer inspection, Yan sees that the group over there consisted of Bliss and other people that Yan vaguely remembers. After walking into a safe area where the group can hear him without yelling, he said, "Greetings, Bliss and company. How are you all doing today?"

Youri laughed a little bit at lucia, after the first whispering he was a bit more used to it and was able to understand it more now. As he heard what Bliss said he was a bit annoyed she did not even care to wait for an answer, but kept it to himself. -Might as well get to know this lucia better...As it seems bliss will be explaining stuff again for the coming minutes..-.

''So Lucia, what are your personal interests?favorite animals?Favorite color?''. Youri threw the questions swiftly at her, because he became quite nervous as he saw yet another person joined. It was a little bit far-fetched for youri to stand in a group of unknown people, so he came quite nervous over.

She stared hard at Roku for a few minutes...
Until she heard Bliss talk, a bit too loud for her liking, She groaned and rolled her eyes. She was going to get a headache. '...Is she...is she turned on by the idea? Oh man...that would be so weird...'she chuckled a bit, now that she thought about it, it was quite possible.

And that got her disturbed, highly disturbed.

And then someone else entered the place, another stranger, apparently he knew Bliss, as he had just said her name, she stared at him now, wanting to reply to the greeting but too shy to do so. She stared for a while until Youri's questions broke her out of her trance. "Ah, um, That's...I like r-reading ,writing that sort of things. I like cats, I like them a lot, do you like cats? I do, a lot" She answered quite fast, too fast actually. She took a deep breath 'you're making yourself look dumb! Calm down, Calm down' But she couldn't, and so her next words came out even faster "I like purple, and green, and blue. I guess Green is my favourite" She looked sideways, towards the newcomer, and then concentrated on looking at the groud "Y-Yours? What are your perosnal interests? Wh--" 'at do you like to eat? Where do you live? Do I seem weird? Do you thi---STOP! Stopstopstopstop! You're not even telling him!' She breathed deeply again and kept staring at the ground. 'Great, now they are all going to think I'm weird! Well, I am, b-but not in that way, what if they think I'm ike Bliss? Oh no Oh no Oh no...' She hung her head and groaned.

Yan looked at the other people that he vaguely remembers and felt confused about the situation he was in. Half of the people there looked rather...displeased at his arrival. Bliss obviously knew these people, but the people didn't know each other. Yan thought while keeping his exact same smile on his never ending expression of false happiness. He then turned to Youri and asked him, "You seem rather nervous. If the fact that I'm carrying a vast array of weaponry is making you nervous, please don't be; I would never harm anyone who's a good friend of Bliss.

Yan gave off a rather charming chuckle and bowed slightly to Youri, before setting down his large backpack crate on the ground and strecthing his back vigorously. He also bowed to the three other people in the small group under the tree. Perhaps my conversational skills are inadequate so much that it makes them uncomfortable? No, that's just absolutely preposterous. Think carefully about this predicament....Think about what to say carefully.
"So....If doctors get to see you naked anyway then why do they leave the room while you change?"

Roku fixed his sight in the other two guys that were there. This was Lucia but he didn't really recognize the guy. When he looked around he didn't recognize the place where he was... How the hell had he got here anyways? He had been daydreaming and walking all around and then saw Bliss and... Well, whatever. He looked at Bliss as she saluted him. Roku rose his hand to wave at her.

She started talking about this woderful idea she had. She talked about being a pirate... an idea that just freaked out Roku at first. He looked at her, pleading with his eyes. He couldn't put his life in such a danger and he couldn't leave his family just like that just to be a pirate. Yeah, well, pirate were cool and everything, but they were just kids!

Roku was about to say that the idea was COMPLETELY crazy when he heard her say: "You can study new things and be like your grandmother while she traveled around the world! Doesn't it all sound really exciting Roku?" Roku's brain kind of stopped and the only sentence left there was... "...be like your grandmother...". It was his dream. Be a biologist like his grandmother, the retired biologist that had mostly brought him up.

He wanted to discover the secret of life... he wanted to travel around the world and study as many plants, animals and diseases as he could. Roku's eyes were sparkling like if they had glitter. It was his dream and he was going to go after it.

"It... It seems like a really great idea Bliss!" -Roku said with a smile.- "I'll go with you as long as I can study life and that stuff. That's my dream, I want to become the greatest biologist. I can also serve as a doctor to the crew for now, since I have good knowledge about that as well."

Then he thought about it... How was he going to tell his parents he wanted to leave and be a PIRATE??? That was going to be hard.

"So... How are you guys doing?"- he said as he turned around and saw Yan, which just got to the area.

A draw bridge was slowly lowered from a small ship down towards the docks of the small Aoi Island of East Blue. Not many people got down form the ship, as Aoi Island didn't have much to offer to travelers, but one person slowly walked down the bridge. He was not so tall, yet slightly stocky, and had a large backpack slung over his right shoulder. He wore a pair of Cargo pants and a red hoody, and his smudged pair of glasses shined in the sun as the short plume of black hair on his head waved in the wind. It's been a long while since the last time Chris stepped on Aoi Island, yet not a lot was different. He still recognized a lot of the surroundings and homes. Even though he was slightly happy of the fact that he got back home, his face wasn't that of a homesick 17 year old, but of a man who was ashamed of returning home empty handed.

Even though he learned a lot in his 3 year journey, Chris considered it a huge failure on his part, as he failed to accomplish his hidden goal. "Well look who's back! You a doctor yet?!" A man called from behind Chris. Turning around, Chris took about 3 second to recognize Lefty, an old fisherman who worked in the docks. Chris used to buy fish from him as a kid, and the old man didn't change at all in the time Chris was gone. "Good to see ya Lefty" Chris answered with a smile as the two shook hands. "Boy, the last time I saw you I had to bend my knees to shake hands with ya" Lefty said with a smile, showing several missing teeth. "You're probably going to see your folks huh? They really missed ya" Lefty added. Chris wasn't sure about returning home so soon, he didn't know if he was ready to see the results of his failure face to face, but instead of sharing his doubts, he just nodded and said "You bet".

After taking a fish from Lefty as a welcome home gift, Chris continued on his walk, unsure of where he should go. He wondered around town, spotting familiar faces here and there. He didn't rush home right away, even though he knew his parents were probably waiting for him. He felt like he had to take care of himself first this time. He didn't have so many friends on the island as he spent most of the few years before his departure studying in his room instead of running around. Some would say he wasted his childhood, but Chris had bigger problems than lack of fun.

Not expecting the loud, and almost heart stopping scream of joy from Bliss, Yan almost jumped out of his shoes and stumbled backwards a bit. Bliss addressed Yan and talked to him very loudly about forming a crew. A crew of what? A crew of street misfits? No, that just didn't seem like Bliss at all. Yan opened his mouth to speak, but Bliss dashed away before he could even begin to pronounce the first letter of the word in the sentence he was about to say. He sighed and shook his head. Well, even if it was a crew of street misfits, Yan would join anyways cause of his ability to never say no to any of his friends' requests.

"My, oh my....It seems like I've been dragged into something rather peculiar. Oh, my apologies! I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself to any of you yet. I am Yan Zuejin. May I ask who all of you are? Since Bliss was gone and there were people here who were also going to join this crew, Yan thought it might be a good idea to introduce himself to them and get to know the three others a bit. After all, a good relation with fellow cohorts is always a nice thing to have.

Youri was in deep thoughts for a moment and then answered.''Well I like..Sleeping I guess. And I'm not much of a cat-person, I like penguins waaay more. And my favorite colors are red and orange.''. He laughed a bit at how Lucia reacted, he didn't know what it was about, but he found it hilarious.

Then there was the weird guy saying he was getting nervous of the weapons he carried... Pff, he was a knightly knight! of-course he wasn't nervous about that! He was only a bit nervous by everyone's presence in whole.. I mean one after the other walks right into what was supposed to be a private place..
In an attempt to keep himself distracted from the rest, he aimed his attention at lucia again.'' Hmm... what do you think of this 'crew' in whole? I haven't really heard your opinion yet''

"Mmm...Penguins are nice too." She looked up at Youri when he asked the next question. "To tell you the truth...I find the idea quite fantastic, the best thing ever, I swear this will be the best experience of my life." She finished in an averly exaggerated happy tone.
Then she remembered all the people around her, she scratched her head and looked around 'ToomanypeopleToomanypeopleToomanypeople..! Wasn't this a "special, private place?" Bliss, I'm gonna kill you-'

And then she had to cover her ears because of Bliss' scream. 'That was way too' "Loud" 'WHY DO YOU THIS TO ME BLISS, WHY?!' She groaned loudly after she heard her scream, she glared at her, but apparently Bliss didn't notice, as she proceeded to run out of the place, and quite fast.

She then fell face first on the floor "Why...?" She mumbled, she had just left her in a place full of (semi)strangers. 'I'm gonna kill you the moment I find you. Believe me, I will! Slowly and painfully, you little--' She breathed as deeply as she could, she had to calm down, if not, she might just start rambling in front of strangers.

She then decided to pay attention to the people around her, as she had just heard some guy named Yan introduce himself, stared at him for a while before whispering quite fastly "I'm Lucia Aiken, nice to meet you" 'Now leave, LEAVE before I do something dumb or say something random. Also, I think doctors leave later to respect your--' "privacy" she whispered. She then blushed a bit, words were leaving her mouth randomly, 'This is baaad, what if I randomly shout an insult?' She groaned again and then looked towards Roku "And believe me I'm doing fantastic. I seriously can't wait." She smiled slightly before turning to glare al the place where Bliss had just ran through.

Chris was taken by surprise as Bliss tackled him to the ground. He dropped his bag for the sake of holding his glasses in place as he heard the familiar voice. He remembered Bliss from their earlier childhood, since in his later years he didn't really hang out with anyone, including her. "He, Hey Bliss" Chris mumbled with a smile. It was hard to deny the fact that she had changed since the last time he saw her, but she stayed the same energizer that she was when they were younger. "I've missed you too, though you're kinda squishing my lungs right now..." He joked. She didn't weight so much, but from the force of her tackle, it was obvious that she packed more punch than was apparent.

After getting up and dusting his clothes off of the dust from the ground, Chris could finally see how much Bliss changed in the time that passed. When he saw her last time she seemed like his little sister, being two years younger than him, but now when they were older, the difference wasn't so blatant. "You've changed so much" He said before picking his backpack up. Even though he pretty much neglected his friends in his last year on the island, he was glad to finally see a face that was so friendly to him, it almost made him forget everything that happened to him in the last few months.

"So..." He said, trying to start a conversation, something he never excelled at, "What have you been up to while I was gone?" He asked casually as he slung the heavy backpack over his shoulder. He needed to go see his parents eventually, but he guessed they won't mind waiting an extra five minutes while he caught up with an old childhood friend.

Red sat on a bench in the local park, he sat nicely in the shade of a big oak tree, there was a small breeze that cooled him down, making his hair move along with the wind at times, he was playing on his lute, while a few people where watching and enjoying the sound of the songs Red played the weather was good, and there hang a nice atmosphere,

Red actually liked being in the park under the shade of this big tree, he could entertain people with his music, and enjoy the good weather he loved that, his life was getting better, his last few years weren't too good he was sick a lot, and he didn't have a lot of energy to do things, now he felt quite a bit better he loved getting outside , enjoying the good weather,

Chris couldn't help but giggle as well while he watched Bliss's uncontrollable laughter, she was as silly and goofy as he remembered her. She then got up and spoke, turning his mood upside down. The mentioning of his father scratched the smile off of his face almost completely, and switched it with a serious face, the face he had on for about 3 years now. He was glad to hear his father was taken care of while he was gone, but still, the thought hurt him.

He then heard her talking about something completely different, some weird ideas about becoming pirates and what not. "Pirates?" He asked in disbelief. "You can't just decide on being a pirate" He said, taking the rational approach like he always did. "It's not all fun and giggles, it's dangerous. Pirates are criminals by definition. They're the enemies of the World Government, the very scum of the earth. They're... They're horrible, we can't be pirates" Chris said, trying to explain why this idea sounded so preposterous.

But, as he tried to explain, his face twisted in thought. For some odd reason, even he didn't find himself convincing. Something in Bliss's words made sense, in a weird way of course, but still. He did have some rotten feelings towards the World Government after they refused to supply his research with funds for such inhumane reasons, and now that he was back in the island, he couldn't really see himself getting used to its monotony once more. But more importantly, Bliss had a point: Right now, Piracy was the most obvious and effective way for him to get the funds he needed.

Deciding upon becoming a pirate was difficult for Chris rational mind. He just got home, how could he leave so soon? Can he really be a criminal, and abandon his values for his single goal? Chris wasn't into the idea right away, but it sure made a hint of sense in his mind.

Chris wasn't a guy who'd fall for the "Everything will be ok" claim that easily, but he noticed something about Bliss that caught him completely off guard. 'Are those... tears? Nice going Chris, you blew it...' He thought as he mentally punched himself. He wasn't sure what he did to upset her so much, and he wasn't sure what he needed to do in order to calm her down, but he figured that providing her with some hope that he'll join her couldn't hurt her too much.

"Uhmm... I'll tell you what" He said, trying to pretend he didn't notice the tears so he won't embarrass Bliss. "I have to go see my parents anyway, so I'll consider your offer" He said with a reassuring smile. He then gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. In his head, all hell broke loose as contrasting thoughts clashed. On one hand, becoming a pirate on a day's notice was probably a childish idea that was doomed to fail, but on the other, it might also be his best shot at getting his funds. It was a ridiculously difficult decision to make.

"My parents are probably waiting for me at home, I'll meet you back here in a few hours ok?" Chris asked, trying to use to calmest tone he could muster. Maybe his parents could help him with this decision.

Youri yawned loudly and fell on his back. '' Damn I'm getting tired.. I wish it was winter again.. I love winter..''. He dazzled a bit off but quickly sat back up again. '' Ugh, can't fall asleep..Hate falling asleep in the middle of the day..''. Although he was sitting in an active position he couldn't help but doze off a bit. '' But is it just me..Or did bliss forget about things like a ship..and money...?''. It wasn't a really a problem, just annoying knowing bliss might have forgotten to tell a part of the story because of her excitement.

Youri was pretty much completely ignoring the rest. He didn't know himself whether it was out of lack of interest or just because he couldn't talk to multiple people at once. They seemed like a weird bunch anyways... Why would a knightly knight talk to them?

Chris smiled as he took the pack of wrapped cookies. He was glad that he had something to bring for his dad, but he was happier from the fact that Bliss stopped crying. There was something about a crying girl that made his extremely uncomfortable, probably the crying part. "Thanks, I'm sure he'll like them" Chris said with a smile. The cookies smelled delicious, which reminded Chris of how badly he missed homemade food.

It was quite remarkable to see how sudden Bliss's moods changed. She went from crying to jumping around in an instant, he emotions moving faster than sound or bullets. The invitation for pancakes was tempting, as Chris didn't have any ever since he left the island. And besides, eating with a friend was way better than eating at home. "I'd love to!" He answered. "It probably won't take me too long, my parents wouldn't want me to stay at home too long" He said. He knew that his parents frowned upon the fact that he neglected his friends for studying, and that they'll love it if Chris reunited with some of his childhood friends as soon as possible. "I'll meet you in about an hour or two" He said.

He stuffed the cookie packet into his backpack before slinging it over his shoulder once again. "See you then" He said before turning around and starting to walk away. For some reason, he couldn't wait to get home and think this whole pirate thing through.

After a lot of thinking Lucia sighed and stood up, she had to go find Bliss before she did anything stupid, or bad. She dusted herself and silently left the place, ignoring everyone else, she could finally get away. She walked for a while before finally stopping to think, just where had Bliss gone? She was not predictable, so there was no way she would be easy to find, Lucia groaned and kept walking. "Bliss, you're gonna pay for making me walk..."

She walked for a while, going to all sorts of places (AKA: The park and the streets) but still couldn0t find her, so Lucia decided to just give up and go to her house, she HAD to return there sometime...With this in mind she started walking towards Bliss' house. It took her a while to find it, since she couldn't remember exactly how it looked like, but she eventually found it. She took a deep breath and...she realized the door was open. She tilted her head to the side, how weird. Maybe...
'Oh! Maybe Bliss is home and left the door open!'
Yeah, that sounded logical, and very Bliss like.
But she was still gonna knock, to tell her she was coming in. She knocked the door, opened it a bit more, passed, and closed it behind her,