Demons, Swords, And Other Things That Nearly Killed Me

Home Is Where The Heart Is

"Really?" He was quiet for a moment, before he thought of something to ask. "You said that you enjoy writing. What do you like to write about?"

You felt your face grow a bit hot at that. There were some things you enjoyed writing, and once you skirted out of the drafts that contained so much lemon you could make lemonade with them, you always wrote some type of romance. It usually involved tragedies, and you actually thought about his question for a hot second so that you could give him a good answer.

"Well..." Glancing around, you made sure that nobody could hear you. Even though your room had some thick walls, your screaming could usually carry. "I-I guess I'm a sucker for romance. I was writing this story about the Titanic, but not like Jack and Rose. I was supposed to publish it, but I never got around to doing it." It would've been the best queer story to ever exist.

Annan's voice wavered slightly. "Titanic...? What's that?"

"Oh, do you not know where I'm from? Do you not know about Earth??" You asked, smiling. Even going so far as to mention your home country. But... he didn't know? Oh damn, you should probably tell him that you weren't from this world, and you were kind of just here now. Inhabiting a body that belonged to a different person. Wack.

Yeah, you should probably tell him about your whole situation later. How it didn't come up before in the past three weeks, you didn't know. Probably just pure luck or Annan going along with your modern references.

But why the way he reacted to your question; you would've thought that Annan blushed with the way the sword lightly quivered. So that sophisticated side had a small crack in it? Only three weeks of knowing him and you already got him to break. Not a new record, as you made Kosai your bitch almost instantly, but you enjoyed making people blush.

It seemed like Annan became embarrassed when he didn't know something.

"No, Master, I do not." His eyes blinked at you. "Could you enlighten me, perhaps?"

"Eh... When I finally get home, I will. Not right now."

"Where is your home?"

His question hit you hard for some reason. You answered Crow Island, which of course, he had never heard of. He had probably been busy slumbering, collecting dust in that sword shop. Home... You called many places home. Home was the mansion that your family lived in. Home was where you trained with Kosai. It was here, where you slept in your room and talked with Tashigi (and sometimes) Smoker.

And when you were in the real world, your home went wherever you did. It was at a hotel. An apartment. A friend's house. You always asked, "when will we be home?"

You never really specified. Actually, you never liked specifying in the first place. Let the people be confused.

An idea popped into your head. You had never asked this question to Annan. You had asked Kosai, but he told you to shut the fuck up.

"Hm... Annan, do you have a home?"

"I... Suppose. I was not born anywhere, as I am a coalescence of hatred and souls of the damned repurposed, but in my earliest days, I resided... in the sky. There is an island in the sky, if you believe me."

"Oh shit, you mean Skypiea?" Annan's from Skypiea?! That's fucking cool.

His eyes widened. "Master (Name), you know of it?"

"Yeah! I heard stories about it. I just assume that a lot of things are real because of all the wild shit that happens here." What, did he think you were stupid or something?