Drago meets Maru: An Irritating Ecounter!!!! [Maru/Rocko]

[BlacKitten]

“It hurts,” he pressed his hand onto his chest as if he could reach out and grab his own heart. “Heavy… sinking… slow…,” his mind spoke in a monotonous tone, each word echoing inside of his head.

Ba Bum! Ba Bum! Ba Bum!

The symphony of his life sang in a low beating rhythm, almost crying in a desperate hope to cling onto some string of faith. Otherwise, it had nothing to hold onto for it to pull itself out of the deep abyss without a bottom. He knew that he was alive, yet he felt like he was dead.

A voice, speaking to him, yet could not be seen, he heard it as that was all he could do, “Maru… the boy who waited, so bored in his life, he casted away his self, lying to himself. Not bored now, are ya? Because, this isn’t boredom anymore; it’s loneliness. Welcome to reality!” He knew this voice very well because this was his own voice. Not only did his own body betray him, even his own self abandoned him, splitting off into its own abstract entity. He didn’t want to hear this voice anymore, but there was nothing to stop it. Plugging his ears wouldn’t work. In fact, he much rather hear El Drago’s silly nonsense than this dark voice.

“Oh… silly Maru, you can fight, alright! But only enough to defend yourself, that’s what martial arts were for, self-defense. Protecting yourself is all you can do; you don’t know how to project someone else. You’re too weak, unable to protect an insignificant little girl. The only friend you have is me! I cannot die; I’m you! We die together if the worst comes to be.”

“Shut up,” Maru muttered insolently at whatever inside his head.

“What a silly little power you have. You can create whatever through drawings, yet you can’t even create a single friend. Your imagination is enough to create me, and what more do you need? Everything you make is a lie! Who gave you the name, Maru? You did! You created yourself! A boy pretending to play panda, distracting yourself from that one little flaw, the inability to make it real. Isn’t it funny? That girl died while never knowing that you were actually human. It probably would have made her feel better if you have been human, but when was the last time you showed your human self?”

All he could do was listening, obediently listening to the truth that he decorated with lies.

“Time moves so slow in this funny little world, but we’re running of it. If you keep on dawdling there, you’ll die!”

“I don’t care if I die. Besides, El Drago wouldn’t kill me,” his voice made its first counterargument.

“You don’t care if you die, huh? Then by all means, DIE! But, that would mean we would lose, losing against these low-lives. If you’re so clever, then you know what to do, right?”

“Yeah…, kill everyone on this ship, along with myself,” Maru sternly stated back to his darker self. A suicide plan hatched into his head, one that was more sinister than his usual ones.

“You’ve always taken advantage of everything. Even now, you’ll take advantage of your own emotional breakdown. How typical of you…” What the voice meant was that everyone believed that Maru was under the state of melancholia, and they were right.

Regaining his sense of vision after a long time, he could finally make out the figure charging straight at him with a knife at the last second. Leaning back a bit, the motionless panda accepted the blade being swung towards his chest, enough to let it slice straight across his fur and fluff. No blood slipped out as he evaded it to let his own disguise be ripped open where a gap could be shown as his true self.

As the knife-wielding user slid by to ease his momentum, Maru gripped harshly on his own head, tugging the panda head off as it was designed to be before using it as a cushion to block the thrown bricks at him. A black haired face with an apathetic look had finally revealed itself with his tears dried up.

At the same time as his eyes rolling into a glance towards the bricks-wielding navigator, he shot out a punch straight up into the attacker’s jaw. What made it completely unexpected was that the arm used to attack came straight out of his own chest as if he had a third arm! His right panda arm dangled like a sleeve by his side, and his real human arm had come out of hiding, using the cut he received a few seconds ago to slip out. The sneaky uppercut he unleashed knocked the man off his feet, hurling the figure to crash onto the deck.

The foreign black-haired figure stood while emotionlessly glaring at his flexing fingers, “Been a while since I punched with my bare hand,” he coldly spoke out loud, still under the influence of the polarity of personalities and devoidness of emotions. 

[rocko52 (Drago)]

Despite seeing his navigator punched to the ground, Drago continued to laugh wickedly. Coughing lightly, Burt got to his feet and began to form a weird sort of stance.

“That hurt sir,” he said lazily. “Please apologize.”

Drago roared with laughter. “You aren't a panda? Then why were you even dressed as one? You’re pathetic! Now make me gold!!!”

Archer sharply turned around, flicking his knife around. The generally calm first mate cracked a slasher smile, letting his tongue fly out wildly. “DIE!!!!” He screamed, charging at Maru again.

Looking at his fellow pirate, the navigator glanced with what can only be called the faintest amount of concern. “Why does he always have to get like this, it’s quite impolite.”

As Archer ran towards the enemy with a bloodlust in his eye, the navigator randomly threw his foot into his face in sloppy motion, knocking the man out in an instant.

“BURT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?” Screamed El Drago.

Sighing, the Burt explained, “Sir we both know how it is when he gets like that. He would’ve killed that guy, and if he had done that you couldn’t have your gold, now could you?”

Thinking for a moment, the captain finally nodded, “Oh…”

Turning back towards Maru the navigator said, “Well now it’s my turn to apologize sir, usually our first mate’s a very in control individual, he just gets like that sometimes.” His eyes suddenly took on a look of deadly seriousness. “I suggest you stop fighting now however sir.” He glanced at Golass, who seemed to be staring at his bloodstained sword.

“If I was in your position, I would just give up,” he said flatly. “You’ve nowhere to go, being a devil fruit user, we outnumber you and could kill you if we wanted, and our swordsman has already killed your friend. I’d stop if I were you.” After saying that, he kind of sleep walked back towards the mast, and rested against it, snoring.

There was silence over the ship for a while. Golass was transfixed on his sword, Burt was resting easily against the mast perhaps asleep, and Drago was staring down Maru. The rest were all knocked out.

The captain cracked a wicked smile. Finally, finally! This jerk will pay for all the trouble he caused me...aaaand give me tonssss of gold too! He felt rather bad about the business with killing the girl, but it couldn’t be helped now. Besides…the panda, er, person would be making him tons of gooooolllddd now! Precious, precious gold! The most beautiful creation in all of existence, the gem of the seas. Gold was the beginning and the end, it was what he lived for! And now...now he’d have access to unlimited gold! He could almost faint.

The winds whipped at the side of the golden vessel, as the waves lapped at its side. The serenity was interrupted when Drago finally shouted, “I WIN! YOU WILL MAKE ME GOLD NOW!!!” He started to dance, almost like a small child.

It was such an odd scene, the overgrown lion of a man dancing happily, while a depressed teenager was discarding a panda suit, a weird looking man was sleeping against a mast, a bulky figure was staring intently at his bloody sword, all with bodies upon bodies of unconscious men. Despite the oddity of the scene, dead seriousness was in the air, everything resting on Maru’s next actions. Regardless of what he did though, it was clear at this point who the victor was. What had started out as yet another boring day waiting to reach an island, had now turned into a bloody battle for gold and also born out of the stupidity and temper of the captain. These were the faults of a man of such limited intellect and sight, he would go to any ends for gold and to take an eye for an eye. He was a true child of a man.

[BlacKitten]

“You want gold that badly, do you? Be careful what you wish for,” the figure spoke in confidence, yet not even he knew where that confidence came from. Perhaps, he felt relieved that he could die along with everyone else here. It didn’t matter what insults these pirates threw at him; everyone on this ship will die. The captain’s wish shall be his last wish as he will die in a happy death in his gold funeral.

No one understood his powers; he could not grant wishes. If he truly was a genie, he would have resurrected those who have died by the blood-stained hands of these worthless pieces of trash. Everything he said was a bluff, a big fat lie. And, those lies sparked the greed of an evil pirate, who was foolish enough to believe him.

“Well, then…, I better get to work! I’ll embellish this whole ship in your favorite color… which will take time,” Maru engulfed his own head with the panda’s face while retrieving his arm back inside his sleeve. If he was going to die, he might as well die looking like this.

Striding back inside, he spread his arms wide apart, stroking with two fingers are either side of the wall in the narrow hallway. Smoothly walking along the walls, he drew two parallel black lines on opposite sides, a few inches apart. Halting at the end of the hallway, he pinched his fingers together, converging the black lines into a complete shape. “Conjure,” the panda summoned the drawings slowly as they sprout perpendicular from the walls, and they halted in place, stuck onto the walls for they were not fully released from their state as a sketch. A row of gold-colored bars was the product of his actions, but were they real gold?

The ill-willed figure began entering into rooms to continue his preparations.

“Fool’s gold…,” he smirked sinisterly as he continue on drawing.

His plan to slaughter everyone, including himself, the suicide plan, what was it? Will he really die by his own hands?

[rocko52 (Drago)]

Seeing the gold spurting out of the walls caused Drago to squeal with joy. “YESSS! MORE! MORE! MORE GOLD!” He started to do an absurd little dance. All around him, his men slowly came to and got to their feet with groans. It was all over. The pitiful skirmish their captain had began was over, and it predictably ended in their favor. There was no way a little man in a panda suit could take on a whole crew and win. He had come close though, surprisingly.


Seeing as their captain was completely focused on his sudden increase in wealth, Archer took over his responsibilities and began to order the men around. He sent them about the necessary tasks, to man the sails, the helm, the hull, the cannons, and to work on repairing the ship. The men immediately set to work, having a great respect and fear for their first mate.


The ship slowly scrambled to life as it tried to resume its operations from before the panda attacked. Of course, there was a little bit of damage to repair, but that wouldn’t take long. Lazily, Burt climbed back up to his nest to continuing navigating, and slowly started to reassemble his navigating gear. After practically no time, he was completely absorbed in his navigation instruments once more, as if he had never left.


“Where are we headed Captain?” He called down, eager to set up the navigation charts.


Seeing as Drago was busy, Archer replied, “I believe Amino Island!”


“No, we’re not going there,” the captain spoke suddenly. “We don’t need to visit that place now that we’ve got all this gold. Really, I want to head to West Blue. To look for Luffy perhaps, and maybe find some more gold. I really just wanna go there, I’ve never been!” He spoke childishly.


“Well alright then,” sighed Burt. A course to the West Blue it was. That could very well take the better part of a month or two to even reach the sea, but it was the Captain’s orders, and those were final.


When the captain finally stopped admiring his new gold, he commanded several men to load the new gold in the vault, and they quickly did. This was such an amazing day! To think it had started so poorly, with a stupid panda taking his time away from finding gold, and even though some damage had been sustained, now the panda would be making him tons of gold! The thought of endless wealth filled his simple head, and he became giddy with excitement.


He decided it was time once more to head to his favorite spot from which to watch over the ship, the front. As he walked past Golass, he noticed his arm has a stab wound and was bleeding. Although he didn’t hold much care for his crew, Golass had been here for a long time, and was particularly close to the dimwitted lion-man.


“Hey Golass. when did you get injured?” He asked curiously.


Suddenly startled, the hulking swordsman said uncertainly, “Well the panda got me with one of his conjured blades earlier...it’ll be alright though, I’m sure.”


“Well make sure it heals up,” the captain started. “After all, you can’t collect gold with an injured arm!”


Grinning, the large captain continued to walk towards the front of the ship, while Golass, looked at his arm and nodded. He had kept his honor, and had used his sword for what he wanted. Over these past two years, that’s what he had been working towards, and was succeeding at more all the time. Even if it meant damaging his arm, it wasn’t honorable to kill defenseless, little girls.


He looked down the side rail, and saw the girl had been picked up by a small rowboat off in the distance. She’d be alright. Her fate didn’t matter at all to the crew anymore. Smiling to himself, the huge man, headed down below deck towards his cabin to rest his arm.


As the Golden Drago sailed through North Blue, waves of blue splashed against the recently repaired hull, and winds whipped at both the sails and the faces of the pirates. These men were pirates, willing to do mostly anything for their captain. And the one thing their captain desired most in the world was gold. To that end, they would do anything. While not a particularly bright, powerful, or significant bunch in the Age of Pirates, they were a group who lived for their Captain’s Dream, as shallow as it was.


The vessel was headed for the West Blue, and little did Maru know, this would lead to the single greatest turning point of his life. The formation of another pirate crew would be the end result of Drago’s new voyage, something that would not be in his favor at all. Not knowing any of this, the man ordered his crew onward, in the pursuit of gold. They had dealt with a problem today, and gained tons of gold. Tomorrow they would be heading to more gold. That was jsut what the Drago Pirates did.

THE END