Black Bone Tower Part 37

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Rinji lied beside Usagi in his own bed where Lee was also recuperating. The Catman was absolutely covered in bandages. The only spaces that weren't were his eyes, his nose, the right side of his stomach and his left leg. The rest of him was covered in some way. Ellis sat beside him and put her hand on the side of his neck and kept an eye on her watch.

Ellis: Well, I've said it once, and this certainly won't be the last time, but it's a miracle he survived.

Dala was in Jiro's bed, she was sleeping peacefully, and Ellis had already ruled out a comatose state, much to Kimi and Jana's delight. The crew was back on their ship, with a week's rations left, they had plenty of food to survive on until the next island. It was best to give their crewmates a rest. Chio had never seen the crew in such rough shape, and found it somewhat ironic that he was one of the few that left the whole ordeal relatively unscathed. He looked over at Usagi, her hair was much shorter than normal, only coming down to just above her shoulders, but otherwise, her wounds were not very serious. Lee awoke once in a while to use the bathroom, and even made his way to the kitchen once, but stayed in bed most of the time.

Jiro sat at the table in the next room along with Kimi, Nikk, Alice, and Jana. All of them leaned on the table in the middle of the floor, and gazed at the marvelous item in the center of the table. That wondrous Eternal Pose which pointed east. Even Nikk found it quite the amazing trinket. As navigator, she had no idea that she would be using one, especially one that directed them to an almost completely unknown island.

Jiro: I suppose this is as close as we're going to get to a direction. I don't know how he did it, but Rinji really defied the laws of the universe with this little feat. I'm one of the people that doubted he could do it too.

Kimi: [Looked a bit surprised that he would say that.] Well, yeah, I mean I doubt this sort of thing has even been done before. Even if it has, it was more than a million to one odds.

Nikk: Do I get to hold it?

Jiro: You are the Navigator, so yes, though once Rinji gets out of bed, he will want to hold it, perhaps even cuddle close to it while he sleeps.

They all shared a small chuckle at this, then remembered what Rinji looked like when he first got onto the ship, and that brought them all to an uncomfortable silence.

Alice: Well, there is no use frittering about in this dreadful island. When shall we be shoving off? Have we picked a date?

Jiro: Ellis says it's best to shove off when Rinji's wounds have closed up. If we get caught in a storm, the shaking could seriously damage his body and delay his healing, or even kill him.

Alice: Oh, my. [Pulled up a rice cake and took a small nibble.]

Nikk: What should we do about the two guys tied to our main mast?

Nikk referred to both Kin and Bruto, who were beaten up, and rather down-trotted to learn that it was their own crewmate, Marcus that had killed their Captain in cold-blood. Still the two of them were amazed to see that ever since the tower's roof got blown off, it propelled the entire island into a very slow roll. As soon as they got Rinji and Dala back to the ship, it started to tip completely over.

On the side of the island was a gigantic, skeletal eye socket, and soon after that, a huge row of razor-sharp teeth were visible. Evidently, the island was nothing but the skeletal remains of an ancient Seaking. Somehow, the blast from the tower shook it at its very roots, and now it was lying on its side. The Black Bone Tower was now half submerged into the sea, and would never be the subject of a tournament ever again. At least, not unless Fishmen were in the market for a venue.

Jiro: We'll decide what to do with them when we decide to cast off. I doubt we will be here much longer. Rinji is quite the fast healer, though I have never seen him in this bad of shape.

Kimi: Wow, so you guys are pretty close eh? Did you guys use the same potty training seat? [A huge smile came across her face.]

Jiro was silent for that, pushing up his sunglasses, and giving a half-hearted smile.

Jiro: That's a story for another time. For now, we should just be happy that our crew did not go the same route as the Bulldog pirates. I can't imagine what happened to the majority of their crew. We may have the only surviving members in our custody right now. The real point I have is that I don't have all of the answers. We are going to be casting off as soon as we possibly can, but now we need to rest our shoulders, and enjoy one another's company.

Jana: There is also the subject of when we will be leaving. Dala will wake up soon, and then we will have to- [Was stopped as Kimi held her hand up.]

Kimi: Shhhhh, for now, we are taking Jiro's advice and chilling for a while. I will not force her to leave as soon as she wakes up, and especially before Rinji has at least the ability to eat solid foods. We owe her that much, she trekked all the way up that damn tower with him, and she is beyond exhausted as a result.

All of the nodded, and a silence fell over them once again. That was when Jiro looked back into Rinji's room, and saw Ellis petting what fur was visible on Rinji's frail body, doing her best to make him as comfortable as she could. He took a deep breath, and then looked over at the Eternal Pose, still marveling at its very existence.

Jiro: Well, [Looked over at Kimi and extended her his open paw, she took it and shook it.] I suppose this means "welcome aboard."

--

Sion: [Stood atop the deck of the ship that kept its distance from the Panno Marie, but still kept a very close eye on it.] He looked dead. Are you sure we should not have intervened? This will mean we will need to wait until he is well enough to speak. What say you, Lady Migoto?

He looked back at the lady who finally stepped out into the morning daylight, the sun was only a few hours from being straight up above them. She took a drag on her cigarette, her cat features of her face were partially hidden with her raven black hair. She took a long drag on her smoke, and sighed in mild disappointment. She figured she shouldn't be surprised. After all, life was meant for disappointments.

Migoto: I've waited ten years for this. I will meet him at the next island anyway. That is where we planned to meet in the first place. He will live. [Turned to Sion and grinned.] My brother is stronger than that.