20 early chapters on Pátreon.com/Herd99.
-
Morning in Loguetown came soft and quiet.
Seagulls coasted low over the rooftops, their cries blending with the gentle lapping of the harbor's waves. Inside the Marine barracks, the hum of early drills echoed in the distance. Routine. Order. Predictable.
Kain hated it. But what he hated more was the fact he'd been promoted.
Yup.
He was debating whether he should have choked out the marine officer that had informed him of his promotion from Lieutenant to Captain. Too bad the kid sensed danger and hurriedly dismissed himself.
"That smokey bastard betrayed me. I oughta..." His words lost heat as he propped back on his chair.
Payback wouldn't change anything. So instead of giving Smoker a piece of his mind, Kain decided...not to.
Instead, he propped one foot on the table, the other lazily swinging and palmed his lukewarm cup of coffee. The stack of unopened mission files on top his desk was intentionally ignored as he debated whether to use a free nap pass or not.
Unfortunately, there was a knock and the door creaked open.
Tashigi entered, crisp and polished in full uniform, a clipboard tucked under one arm.
"You're not going to read those, are you?" she asked, gesturing to the stack.
"I'm thinking about it," Kain replied without moving. "Thinking very hard."
She set her clipboard down. "One of these is a requisition order. If you don't sign it, we won't have boots for the recruits next month."
Shit. The responsibilities were already here.
He groaned and finally sat up, dragging the top file toward him. "See? This is why you should've been promoted. You care about boots."
"I'm not the only onee with a new rank, Captain." she said flatly.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Not by choice, Tashigi. Smoker sold me out. Fed me to the fishes. Stabbed me in the back while smacking my face with his stupid smoke."
Tashigi didn't argue. She handed him a pen.
Grudgingly, Kain signed the form.
-
Smoker stood on the balcony of his office, watching the town wake up. His coat billowed behind him, and the ever-present cigar glowed at the corner of his mouth.
Behind him, a junior officer stood stiffly at attention.
"So," Smoker said, without turning. "The orders from HQ?"
"They've been delivered to Lieutenant— Captain Kain, sir. H- he was not particularly happy."
Smoker chuckled. "I bet he wasn't."
Back at the office, Kain was flipping through the rest of the files, making increasingly dramatic noises with each page.
"Pirate crew sighted off the east coast," he read. "Rogue Devil Fruit user harassing supply ships. Tension between bounty hunters and locals. Wow. Just wow."
He looked up at Tashigi. "When I said I wanted a promotion, I meant in sleep hours. Not this crap."
"You never actually said that," she pointed out.
"It was implied."
She smirked. "What's your plan?"
"Stall."
"Stall?"
He leaned back again, hands behind his head. "Yup. Do as little as possible. Avoid escalation. Handle the bare minimum. Maybe, just maybe, they'll forget they promoted me."
She stared at him. "That's your plan?"
Kain closed his eyes. "Plan A. If it fails, I move on to Plan Nap."
Later that day, a sleek Marine transport ship docked at Loguetown's port. It carried no flags, no blaring sirens — just a small crew and a sealed document meant only for Kain.
The courier who arrived at the office didn't say much. Just handed the folder over, saluted, and walked off with military precision.
Kain stared at the envelope like it had fangs.
"Open it," Tashigi said, curious.
"I'm debating whether burning it would count as dereliction of duty," he replied, but opened it anyway.
Inside:
(-Marine Headquarters Deployment Notice.
To: Captain Kain
Subject: Reassignment.
- Due to your demonstrated potential in leadership and combat effectiveness, Marine HQ requires your presence at Marineford to complete reassignment procedure. A ship has been sent to pick you up. Expect it to arrive in 72 hours.
-This assignment is non-negotiable.
Signed, Sengoku, Fleet Admiral.)
Kain's expression slowly crumpled.
Tashigi peered over his shoulder. "The Fleet Admiral himself? You're going up in the world, Captain."
"This is officially the worst day of my existence." he grumbled.
Tashigi tried to hide a smile. "Cheer up, you might get transferred somewhere quiet."
Kain closed the folder and stood up.
"I'm going for a walk," he said. "Maybe all the way off a cliff."
The sky over Loguetown turned cloudy the next morning, heavy with the kind of quiet that made even the seagulls tone it down. It hadn't rained yet, but the smell of it lingered in the air.
Kain sat on the rooftop of the Marine outpost, legs dangling over the ledge, a half-eaten rice ball in one hand and his coat draped lazily over the other. The orders to transfer sat folded in his coat pocket—he hadn't looked at them again since yesterday. He didn't need to.
Three days left. Seventy-two hours. And they were going fast.
Behind him, the door to the roof creaked open. He didn't bother turning.
"I figured you'd be up here," Tashigi said, walking over.
"I figured you'd figure that," Kain replied.
She stood beside him without saying anything else for a while. The wind rustled her coat. Kain munched on the rest of the rice ball, eyes on the horizon.
"Are you going to pack?" she finally asked.
"I'm thinking about it."
"You've been thinking for an hour."
"Exactly."
She rolled her eyes. "You don't want to go."
"I don't like travelling Tashigi. I get sea sick."
"That's not why."
He stayed quiet.
She continued. "You hate change. You like your slow mornings, your office naps, your dumb jokes with the bounty hunters. You like this—Loguetown."
"Maybe," he muttered.
"Then why are you leaving without fighting it?"
He sighed. "Because HQ doesn't care if I like it here. Because they saw a speech I didn't mean to give and now think I'm some symbol of reform. Because saying no means explaining things, and I'm too lazy for that."
Tashigi didn't argue. She knew that tone.
But she also knew something else.
"You're scared you might actually be good at it."
Kain blinked.
"Leadership," she said. "Being responsible. Making decisions. You're scared that if you stop pretending you don't care, people will expect it all the time."
He didn't respond. He didn't need to. She was right, and they both knew it.
Later that day, Kain walked through Loguetown like he hadn't in months. No destination. Just... walking.
Vendors called out deals. Kids played in alleys. The town was alive in its usual rough, imperfect way.
"Hey! Captain Kain!" a voice shouted from a bakery window.
He turned just enough to wave. "It's still weird hearing that."
"Want your usual?" the baker grinned, already bagging a pastry.
"Yeah, why not. One last guilt snack."
Kain returned to the Bounty Office after dark. The building was mostly quiet. Tashigi had left him a fresh pot of coffee, already poured into his chipped mug.
He sat down, looking around the place.
His chair. The leaky ceiling tile. The dent in the wall from when he accidentally used Tekkai in his sleep. Every detail familiar, every flaw comforting.
Slowly, he drifted off to sleep. All without a Nap pass.
-
The system dinged softly in his head, waking him up the next day.
[System Notification: 48 Hours Remaining Until Transfer.]
He didn't reply.
Instead, he yawned, sipped his coffee, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling.
He didn't feel dramatic. He didn't feel proud. Just an infinite well of nothing.
But deep within it, there was a steady, quiet resolve there too—like something in him was shifting, even if he didn't want it to.
He mused, "Maybe I'll bring the chair with me."