Night had settled over the cove by the time Ling and Naguri finally sat down to eat.
A small fire burned between them outside the cave, casting enough light to catch part of the unfinished ship nearby. Two fish roasted over the flames while their smell drifted through the cool night air.
After an entire day of training, Ling was more than ready to eat.
Naguri sat across from him with his pipe between his fingers, occasionally turning the fish as they cooked. Ling watched him for a while before finally asking something that had been on his mind almost since they met.
"Naguri."
"Hm?"
"Why is someone as powerful as you all the way out here in the East Blue?"
Naguri's hand paused.
He raised his pipe and took a slow pull before answering.
"I'm looking for someone, noshi."
Smoke drifted from his mouth as his eyes settled on the fire.
Ling waited, but nothing else followed.
He thought of Selene in Loguetown and quietly scoffed.
'I know exactly where to look, but I don't have the strength to go.'
His eyes returned to Naguri.
'He has the strength, but doesn't know where to look.'
The corner of Ling's mouth twitched.
'How ironic.'
Naguri glanced toward him.
Ling cleared his throat.
"So... you were a pirate, right?"
The change of subject was obvious, but Naguri didn't mention it.
"I was."
"Can you tell me how you knew Shanks?"
Naguri's expression immediately lightened.
"Oh, that brat?"
Ling blinked.
'Brat?'
Naguri chuckled and turned one of the fish.
"I met him a long time ago, noshi. He was still running around on Roger's ship back then."
Ling stared at him.
"Roger?"
Naguri raised an eyebrow.
"You know Gold Roger?"
"Of course. He's the King of the Pirates."
"Was."
Ling paused.
"...Right."
Naguri took another pull from his pipe.
"My crew challenged Roger and his men once."
Ling sat a little straighter.
"You fought the Roger Pirates?"
"We did."
Ling's eyes widened slightly.
"And?"
Naguri looked at him.
"We lost."
Ling waited, but Naguri calmly returned his attention to the fish.
"...That's it?"
"No-shi-shi-shi-shi-shi!"
Naguri laughed.
"What else do you want, noshi? We fought for three days, they beat us, and eventually my crew went our separate ways."
"You skipped almost everything."
"Most of it was fighting."
"Naguri."
The old pirate only laughed harder.
For a moment, however, his eyes remained on the flames.
By the third day, the island barely looked the same.
Trees had been torn from the ground, the earth had split beneath repeated clashes, and pieces of damaged ships littered the shore. Members of both crews were scattered across the island, still fighting wherever they could stand.
At the center of it all, Naguri and Roger collided again.
Naguri's hammer-headed staff crashed against Roger's sword, and the force of the impact tore through the ground around them. They separated almost immediately before rushing back in, their weapons meeting again while the fighting between their crews continued across the island.
It had been like this for three days.
Both men were exhausted, but neither had stopped.
Little by little, however, the voices behind Naguri began disappearing.
One member of his crew fell, then another. Farther through the trees, another clash ended, followed by the silence of one more familiar voice.
Naguri heard every one of them, but he kept fighting.
By the time the third day was nearing its end, none of his crew remained standing.
Naguri was the last one left.
His breathing came heavily as he gripped his staff with both hands. Dirt and sweat covered him, and his battered body protested when he forced himself forward again.
Roger met him head-on.
Their weapons collided once more.
Naguri held for a moment, but his strength finally gave out.
Roger broke through his guard, sending Naguri to the ground with his staff falling beside him.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Roger eventually approached.
Naguri tried to rise, but his body refused to cooperate.
"Naguri."
He opened one eye.
Roger stood several steps away. The grin he had worn through most of the battle was gone.
"Why have you been rampaging all over the Grand Line?"
Naguri's expression tightened.
Roger waited.
For a moment, only the wind moved through what remained of the trees.
Then Naguri's fist closed against the dirt.
"Why?"
His voice shook as he forced himself partly upright.
Naguri looked up at him.
"My wife and daughter were living on that island."
Roger's expression changed.
"So was the son of my closest friend."
Naguri's fingers dug into the dirt.
"The boy I promised I'd protect."
The fish crackled softly over the fire.
Naguri's eyes lowered for a moment before he reached out and turned one of them again.
"So Shanks was on Roger's ship," Ling said.
Naguri nodded.
"Along with another loud brat with a red nose."
Ling almost smiled.
'Buggy.'
"Shanks was different back then," Naguri continued. "Small. Loud. Always running around."
Ling looked toward the fire.
"So your crew split up after that?"
"Not immediately."
Naguri's answer came quieter this time.
"But eventually, yes."
There was more behind the answer, but Ling had already learned not to push.
Naguri took the fish from the fire and handed one across to him.
"Enough about me."
Ling accepted it.
Naguri settled back into his seat.
"What about you?"
Ling looked up.
"You said before that you weren't originally from around here, noshi."
Ling's fingers tightened slightly around the stick holding the fish.
For a moment, he considered how much he wanted to say.
He still wasn't going to tell Naguri where he had truly come from.
But the rest...
Ling looked into the flames.
"My family lived in another country."
Naguri waited.
"A war happened. We knew something was coming, so my parents tried to get us out before things got worse."
"We left by boat."
Naguri's expression became more serious.
"For a while, I thought we'd made it."
Ling still remembered how calm the sea had been before the wave appeared.
"A huge wave hit us."
Naguri's pipe stopped near his mouth.
"My parents put me and my sister into barrels before it reached the ship. They saved us, but we got separated."
Naguri remained quiet.
"I ended up here."
"And your sister?"
"She's alive."
Naguri's eyes shifted toward him.
Ling nodded.
"I found that out after I got to Foosha Village."
"Good."
"Yeah."
Ling looked into the fire again.
"Good."
His hand slowly closed into a fist against his knee.
"That's why I have to get stronger."
Naguri watched him.
"If I'd been strong enough back then, maybe we wouldn't have needed to leave in the first place. Maybe we never would've gotten on that ship."
Naguri took a slow pull from his pipe.
"And what exactly were you supposed to do, noshi?"
Ling looked across the fire.
"You were ten years old. What could a ten-year-old boy have done against a war?"
Ling didn't answer.
'Nothing.'
He slowly exhaled and loosened his hand.
"Back then? Nothing."
Naguri remained quiet.
"But I'm not staying like that."
Ling looked into the flames.
"I'm going to get stronger so I can protect the people precious to me."
Selene came to mind first, followed by Makino, Woop Slap, Gyoru, and everyone else waiting in Foosha Village.
"And if something ever tries to separate me from them again..."
Ling raised his eyes.
"I want to be strong enough to stop it."
Naguri held his gaze for a moment before looking back toward the fire.
"That's a difficult promise to make, noshi."
"I know."
"The sea won't care about it."
"I know."
"Neither will someone stronger than you."
Ling didn't look away.
"I know."
A faint smile appeared beneath Naguri's mustache.
"Then you've got a lot of training ahead of you, noshi."
Ling looked down at the fish in his hand.
"Yeah."
He finally took a bite.
Naguri did the same, and neither of them spoke again for a while.
The fire continued burning between them as the unfinished ship stood quietly beneath the night sky.