memoir of a forgotten pirate

I

If you are reading this, then I will be dead.

I refuse to die a nobody. To do that would be erasing everything I'd ever done— every single thing I've tried to achieve with my life. So my words— my actions— they must live on. Before this plague takes it all away.

My name is Mo Qiangxiang. The niece of Wang Yao. The apprentice of Zhiyu Moke.

And I was once part of the Pirate King's crew. There is that, I suppose. Probably the most shocking thing. And yet, I cannot bring myself to hate him.

When I was very young, a hurricane took the lives of my mother and father. I don't remember them very much. Surely I must have been happy with them, but eventually, I was taken in by my uncle.

Yao was a good man, as far as I remember. I didn't see him much— he had more than one mouth to feed when he took me in. He also had to worry about my cousin, Leon; Leon was a sweet kid when he was younger. Innocent and wide-eyed— in comparison to me, a disheveled girl who had seen the destruction of her home village and witnessed her parents' death.

I remember the first time I fought someone– a fellow kid from the village. He'd been bullying Leon, had taken his slingshot–

"Give it back," I snapped. The kid blew a raspberry at me. He wasn't much bigger than me– his growth spurt hadn't kicked in yet.

"What are you going to do?" the kid sneered. "Fucking orphan girl with no parents and no home– stay out of my way."

My blood boiled. I could barely hear my heart over the roaring in my ears.

"Sis," Leon whispered, grasping the hem of my shirt. "Come on, let's just go."

"I told you not to call me that," I snapped at him. "I'm not your sis." Leon's eyes glinted with hurt, and he blinked tears back as he cowered behind me. I turned back to the boy holding Leon's slingshot. "I'm giving you one chance. Give that back. Now."

"Or what?" the kid's voice was low. "You gonna fuck me? Is that what's going to happen? You gonna fuck me, pig?"

He didn't get to say anything else. I remembered punching him in the nose, feeling the crunch of bone against my knuckles. He doubled back, blood dripping from his nose.

"Shut the fuck up," I snarled. "I gave you one chance to be nice– and what do you do?" I threw myself at him, knocking him to the ground. I don't remember what happened much after that– just that eventually Yao pulled me off the kid after I'd knocked out several of his teeth and my own face was bruised and battered.

He dragged me home by the arm against the dirt road. My knees smarted.

"Unthinkable," I remember hearing. "What were you thinking–"

"He stole Leon's slingshot," I grumbled. "And called me a pig."

"Not another word out of you," Yao scolded. "What were you thinking, putting Leon in danger? Putting yourself in danger over what? What do you think you were proving by beating that kid?"

I couldn't answer. I had lost myself to my rage– I'd seen red.

"That's what I thought," Yao said grimly. "It wasn't worth it, was it?"

"Why do you care? You're not even my father," I snapped. I regretted it almost instantly as Yao stopped, leaning down to look me in the eye. I tried to look away, but something about the quiet fury behind his gaze made it impossible to tear my eyes away.

"Is that why you said what you said to Leon?" Yao asked. "Do you really believe yourself beholden to nothing, because you've lost everything? I'm doing my best. Leon is, too. He loves you. I love you."

I tore my gaze away, fixated on the dust patterns of the ground.

"There are some battles that aren't worth fighting," Yao said. "That was one of them. I know you're hurting, little one. I don't want to lecture you." He brought himself down to my height, holding my shoulders. He raised a hand to rub at a fresh bruise growing on my cheek. "You've not had it easy. But that doesn't mean you should throw your life away fighting every battle."

I sniffled.

"I want to go home," I admitted finally. "But I can't even do that."

"I know," Yao said softly. "I know."

***
Treasure's premise belongs to Frostfur789
This fic is meant to be read as an aside, but I'm mostly doing this for fun again LOL.