"No! No! Sako! You still have to grill that fish you caught for me! You bastard! Get up! Don't stand me up!"
Barn kept screaming until...
"Oh? There's another one here? What's a little kid doing here? Haha, come here. Uncle will play a game with you. It won't hurt! Hahaha!"
Hearing the mockery and contempt in that voice, Barn thought of Sako dying in his arms. A flicker of murderous intent flashed through his vacant eyes.
"You're asking to die! Fitz!"
Fitz understood at once, swiftly taking flight from Barn's shoulder. Fitz flew behind the pirate, chirped twice, then flew up to the cabin ceiling.
Barn's Nidai Kitetsu flashed from its sheath. Eyes closed and head tilted slightly, he swung his blade toward a spot in the darkness!
"Evil Light Slash!"
A white slash shot out, instantly cutting the pirate in two. Barn did not pause, shouting, "Fitz! Let's go!"
Fitz immediately flew out of the cabin. Barn followed with his sword raised, sliding forward three times in succession. It was the Slayer's best movement skill in DNF: Triple Slash!
Fitz circled above the Rumbar Pirates' ship, chirping now and then. With every chirp, a blade flashed, and another life was taken.
Barn now looked like a blood-drenched demon god returned from hell. His silvery-white coat had turned bloodred. Like a dancer with a blade in hand, he danced a bloody waltz across the deck.
With Fitz serving as his eyes, Barn finished off Planck, the pirate locked in combat with York, with a Ground Wave Sword. Then rain began to fall.
The battle drew to a close as well.
Barn blankly "looked" up at the sky with his vacant eyes. His tears mingled with rain and blood, flowing silently down his face.
The rain stopped. With Barn's help, they had won the battle. Apart from a few badly wounded men, most had only minor injuries. Only Sako had died.
Barn knelt beside Sako's body. Everyone aboard remained silent. Brook patted Barn's shoulder, sighed, then lifted his violin and began to play "Requiem."
"One day, I too will let go, won't I? A gentle soul who loved to smile, softly gathering specks of starlight. Tears shimmering in those eyes, clear as crystal. The sunset sky, the deep blue night, every day I spent with you is etched into my heart..."
In his previous life, Barn had been nothing more than an ordinary homebody. This was his first time facing anything like this. Listening to the mournful melody, he cried again. Fitz hopped onto his shoulder once more and wiped away his tears with a wing.
York came over and crouched down. He looked at Sako's body, then at Barn, took a deep breath, and said calmly, "This is what being a pirate is like..."
York had meant to comfort him, but those words made Barn explode. Before everyone's stunned eyes, Barn punched York in the nose. York stumbled back four or five steps and landed on the deck, clutching his nose as he stared at Barn in shock.
"What do you mean, 'this is what being a pirate is like'? All I know is that my friend Sako is dead! He promised he'd grill the fish he caught himself for me tonight, and now he's dead! I'll never hear his voice again! How can you still be so calm? Weren't you his friends? If pirates are all this heartless, then I'd rather not be one!"
Tears still streamed down Barn's face as he screamed those words until his throat strained.
York opened his mouth but said nothing. Mondo quietly tended to the wounds on York's face.
Smack! Brook stopped playing his violin, walked over, and slapped Barn across the face.
"Enough, Barn!"
Seeing Barn get hit, Fitz flapped and chirped several times, then moved to peck Brook.
"Fitz, let's go!"
Seeing Barn like that, Fitz abandoned the attempt to peck Brook and flew onto Barn's head. Fitz even turned back to shake a wing curled into a fist at Brook before going into the cabin with Barn.
Everyone on deck dispersed as well.
Brook carried Sako's body away.
Before long, the mournful strains of "Requiem" rose from the ship again.
That night, Barn could not sleep. He lay in the lookout post, "looking" at the stars, while Fitz slept on his head. In truth, he could not see them. He was simply staring into space-or perhaps trying to keep his tears from falling?
Just then, he heard a low, choked sob. He sat up and searched for its source, finally tracing it to the Captain's Quarters.