Chapter 68: The Hero of Dreams
Master4thWall Note: Back after a hectic few months. You can expect regular updates from now on!
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There was a saying.
"You will always be a villain in someone else's story. But the funny part is... you will seldom have any idea what the story is."
It was one of Hashirama's master favorites. Arlong the Saw, a minor villain of this grand story, filled the saying quite nicely.
The fishmen went down to their knees, their will broke when Arlong's disfigured and gruesome body fell to the ground. They watched the scene with wide eyes, in slow motion, as Nami huffed and looked down at Arlong's body with disbelief.
In a war between two countries, if an enemy were to kill a group of your soldiers, you will see him as a disgusting villainous bastard. However, by his people, he would be a hero who will go down the pages of history.
"He is..."
Nojiko muttered softly from afar, gulping.
"He is dead."
Arlong was dead. His body had a huge hole in it. His chest was gone, and so was his heart. The tyrant had died an animal's death.
"T-this bastard!"
Nami who was shakily grinning at the start of the battle, slowly growing more nervous over the battle, finally broke. Her tears drowned her cheeks and she ran at the dead body, fist clenched and ready to plow.
"H-Hey, Nami! He is already dead- don't do it!"
The octopus that was Hatchan yelled from his kneeling position. Sadly, he didn't have the strength to pick himself up and stop her.
Nami didn't stop rushing at Arlong. Thankfully, the flying Hashirama finally decided to come down from the sky. His green wings fluttered in the air, leaves falling like feathers, as he stepped behind her and grabbed her by the hand.
"Don't. You have had your revenge."
"You? How are you- No, that's not important. Let me go! I am not d-"
"Shut up. Now."
Hashirama had always been in the sky. The fruit didn't fall from the clouds, did it? He, who was Clone-rama-2, had been watching the battle happen from the sky after Clone-rama-1 vanished.
As a human, Hashirama should by default oppose Arlong. At least, that's what most people would say. Yet he couldn't help but admire the brave fishman who didn't move away from the exploding bombs, in fear of hurting his comrades. No matter how villainous a man was, it was respectable when he cared for his people.
After all, villainy by definition is never evil. Arlong was never truly a villain, was he? Hashirama didn't think so.
"...."
Nami hesitated, her teary orange eyes focused on him. A second later, she bit her lip and looked away.
Before she could do any other thing, her eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness.
Hashirama caught her from falling, his hand around her waist before he quickly changed his grip on her hips. Her ribs were broken. Many of them. The punch Arlong gave her was devastating. She might die if she wasn't seen by a doctor soon.
Thankfully, Hashirama was something of a doctor himself.
Hashirama sighed aloud and looked around. "Tie the fishmen up. Use the heaviest chains you have. Look for chains in their own den, in Arlong's Park, if you guys don't have enough at home."
Hashirama snapped his finger and the root of the palm tree that was loose around the fishmen suddenly tightened again.
"I don't have enough energy to keep it active, so be quick about it."
The villagers were still in shock from Arlong's death. They couldn't believe all their suffering had just ended, so suddenly and so quickly. Some hugged each other and cried, while some held back their tears.
Genzo was one of the latter ones, and he quickly ordered some of his people to do as Hashirama had said.
Hashirama began to walk away, with Nami gently resting on his arms, as Nojiko joined him from behind, sniffing and wiping her eyes as they walked to their home.
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Earlier, Clone-rama-1 had created this clone with three days' worth of chakra. Half a day had already passed from the morning to this evening. Now he had just enough to make do's with Nami.
"Lay her down. Gently."
Hashirama said as he laid Nami down with Nojiko's help. They softly put her on the hard bed and put her head on a pillow.
"Lift her shirt up for me."
Hashirama said while Nojiko hesitated. His eyes looked at her and she realized there was no reason to be stupid. She lifted Nami's shirt up her abdomen, revealing her midriff, and winced at the purple wound. The broken bones on her ribs were clear. Thankfully, nothing was punctured.
Hashirama brought his hands together and rubbed his palms. He did it slowly as the pace increased. Nojiko noticed green leaves of different kinds popping up on his palms, and dissolving into fine goo. A minute later, Hashirama leaned down and put the green cream over her abdomen.
"...Is this going to be enough?"
Nojiko asked worriedly, but Hashirama didn't answer her. He put his palms on Nami's green abdomen, and then his palms gently lit up with a circular light around them.
"Ah."
"I'm healing her."
The green cream would increase the effect of the healing. If the main was here, he wouldn't have needed it since he had enough chakra to bulldoze through the process. But he had to do this as a clone with little chakra.
Nojiko watched as the twisted things poking Nami's skin from below started to go down. The sound of bones cracking and connecting with each other wasn't that pleasing to hear.
Nami's expression twisted as she slept, her lips crooked in pain, while Nojiko grabbed her hand gently.
The process lasted for nearly two minutes until Hashirama was finally done. The treatment was a success.
"That's awesome."
Nojiko smiled at Hashirama.
"I- Thank you. Thank you for all the things you did for us today."
Hashirama wiped his hand with a nearby towel and gave her a hurt look.
"Yeah, sure. You were just planning to use me. How heartbreaking."
"Ohh..."
"I'm messing with you."
Hashirama gave her a smile and waved it off. He didn't really mind that; they didn't have any bad intentions. Rather, they were about to warn him about Arlong so that he could leave.
Hashirama sat down on a stool near Nami's bed. Nojiko gently cleared her throat, blushing a little, and sat down on another stool.
"Your personality changes quick."
She said while looking at him, sitting on the stool with her arms touching the wood between her legs.
"Is that a common pirate thing?"
Hashirama chuckled. "It's a common human thing. It's natural for humans to act more relaxed when there is no threat. It helps that I'm chatting with a beauty, too."
"You know, what's up with the flirting? I heard you flirted with Nami first. Then she said you 'changed targets' at me. Shouldn't you be a little more loyal? It's not charming when a man isn't loyal."
"Really?"
Hashirama blinked and smiled at her. She opened her mouth and then closed it. Her hand instinctively started playing with her hair, as her eyes looked to the side.
"Well... I mean, isn't that normal? Or is it different from where you're from? Anyway, we small island girls don't find it charming."
"Aha, that makes sense. Isn't it quite common for kings to have multiple wives? What are your thoughts on that?"
Nojiko once again opened her mouth and closed it. Sighing, she shook her head.
"You know what, let's change the topic. Can we talk about why you came here in the first place? Was it to hunt Arlong? I don't think that's the case, personally. Otherwise, you wouldn't have taken the risk with Nami and defeated him all by yourself. Ah, right, you vanished back then. How did you come back?"
Her barrage of questions sounded like a little puppy barking softly. Hashirama smiled and pointed at his back. The wings that were made of leaves were still there. He didn't make them fall this time, since that'd be a waste of chakra. Now, they were folded onto his back.
"My power is called Wood Release. I can make wood stuff. Tree stuff. I run on energy. That me earlier ran out of energy and vanished. Luckily, he had a backup which was me. Nami would have been safe even if she couldn't have defeated Arlong. But I wanted her to defeat him, which she did."
"As for why I am here..."
Hashirama hesitated before sighing.
"Trees show me dreams. Things that they are seeing, or have seen before. Your tangerine garden in the backyard saw the death of your mom, Bellemere. Years later, I got to see that memory due to my power. It's like it was calling for me... to help you all. I know I may sound crazy, but hey, I have wings made of leaves coming out of my back right now."
"...."
Nojiko stared at him.
She stared quite blankly, with very few emotions on her face.
But soon afterward, she reached out a hand to her face and wiped one corner of her eyes. It was wet.
That seemed to be the breaking sign as she started to sob, her expressions crooked, and her wrists rubbing her eyelids.
"Hey, hey, you all right?"
"I- uhm..."
Hashirama got up and walked over to her. He didn't hesitate as he hugged her side, and she pushed her face into his body.
"You don't know what this means to me... to Nami. It's like God sent us the hero that we dreamed of. That hope that someone will come to save us died years ago, but for it to come true now... I- I don't know. It feels weird."
Hashirama hugged her while she cried in his arms. Her arms wrapped around his waist, and she cried on his stomach since she was sitting.
"It's all right. It's already all right. Arlong is gone, and the fishmen will receive their appropriate punishment."
Hashirama hugged her, as she hugged him. The sobbing slowly calmed down and she gently pushed him back.
"Sniff- sorry about that, I tried but couldn't help myself. I hope I didn't ruin the expensive clothes."
"I wouldn't have hugged you if I cared for clothes, come on."
Hashirama patted her back and gave her a small laugh. She was cute.
"Uhm..."
Then, both of them noticed the twitch of Nami's eyelids. They turned to look at the bed and noted Nami slowly peeking her eyes.
She looked at the ceiling, and then around the room.
Her eyes locked on the duo, who were quite close even though they were not hugging anymore.
Nami's eyes gently focused on his face. Hashirama looked at her drowsy orange eyes that slowly regained focus. Slowly, she gave him a wide smile.
"Thank you."
Saying so, Nami broke into a sobbing mess as well.
Nojiko giggled and moved to her, her eyes teary too, as she hugged her sister and rubbed her cheeks together.
Hashirama just stood in the corner and rubbed the back of his head. He felt like she would hop on his ship with a word, but that feeling may not last long.
She was a stubborn girl; who knew what she wished to do with the other surviving fishmen after she had already bloodied her hands once.
One of the things Hashirama hated about being a hero, was that he was not a hero, and so people who assume he is one would soon have beefy opinions about himself when they learn more about who he was.
Until the main arrived, it was going to be a long, awkward night.
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