By the time the medics came, Regan had almost passed out until one of them had tapped him on the face, forcing him to remain awake.
The belt around his arm had pained him greatly, but Rose's scent had given him some modicum of comfort, allowing him to drift off into a deep slumber.
When he awoke, there were fresh bandages wrapped around his arm, drinking some of his blood eagerly. "Shit, where am I?"
"Same place you fell asleep." Morgan said, his arms folded.
Regan rubbed the sleep from his eyes, allowing for his eyes to take in the room with the vision they were accustomed to. To his surprise, Izgrim was standing by the door, his arms also folded, and a deep scowled etched upon his face.
"So you're finally awake." He said, shaking his head.
"You! Uh, Izgrim?" Regan said, scratching his neck.
"Izgrim?" Izgrim scoffed, his tone betraying his offense. "You said it as if you never knew my name in the first place. You've been acting strange today, Dantes. The hell's wrong with you?"
Morgan cocked Regan a glance, clearly amused by Izgrim's suspicion.
"You've always got a problem with me," Regan grumbled, forcing himself up from the couch, almost staggering to his knees in the process.
"A problem? Of course I've got a problem!" Izgrim shouted. "You're coddled, Dantes. You've got everything handed to you, and you don't appreciate a damn thing."
"What? The hell are you talking about." Regan moaned, struggling to move his damaged arm.
"You know what I'm talking about! Goddammit. You've got everything cut out for you. Loving mother, nice father who plans to hand down his business to you, and you've got siblings who give a damn about you!"
Oh, this guys envious.
"You think I asked for any of that?" Regan shrugged.
"No! Which is what makes it so unfair! I ha—"
Before more hateful words spewed out of Izgrim's mouth, the door flung open, and Rose came stumbling through with more bandages and gloves, her green tunic a bloodied mess.
All of that blood was from my arm!?
"Dantes! You're awake! Thank goodness," Rose said, hurrying towards him. Every smile that Rose directed towards Regan's beaming countenance brought about a dark expression on Izgrim's face, deepening with every passing second.
"Don't know why you're paying so much attention to him. He's a fool who got himself into this mess."
"Eh!?" Rose shouted. "Don't be so cruel, Izgrim! Your cousin almost died and that's all that you have to say?"
"W-well, he got himself in—"
"It's fine." Regan waved them both off, quickening to the door. "Morg—Manji, let's get a move on."
"A move on? A move on to where?" Rose said, holding Regan's good arm. It felt good to feel her touch, Regan thought. He basked in it for a moment, before remembering the training he had to undergo.
"I'm, uh, training."
"For what?" Rose inquired.
"He wants to become a pirate." Izgrim recalled, playing with a loc of his hair as he stared at Rose.
"He what!? Oh, Dantes! Is that why you've been out there in the woods so much?" Rose saddened.
"It is." Izgrim said, answering for Regan as if he had no tongue of his own. "But that won't happen, not on his fathers watch."
"What do you mean?" Morgan finally spoke up, his eyes narrowed.
"Nobody's talking to you, pirate. You defintley got him into this mess, didn't you?" Izgrim hissed.
Morgan only shrugged, his tone accentuating the indifference he felt towards Izgrim's slight. "He got himself into the mess, as you said."
"Tch, at least we agree on that. As for what I meant, well, I told your father everything, Dantes."
Shit. That man won't be too happy. A strict man he is, he'll likely try and ground me or something.
"And?" Regan said, waiting expectantly for whatever punishment his new father had conceived.
"We're being sent away for a while."
"Sent away!?" Regan exclaimed. "To where? And why are you coming along?"
"I'm keeping an eye on you asshole," Izgrim shook his head again. "We're being put on a merchants ship, we're selling your fathers booze across the north blue. It'll keep you away from the woods. Rose is coming with us, too."
"She is!?" Regan beamed, clearing his throat as if to rip away his excitement. "T-that's nice." He turned to her and saw no complaints or change in her expression, the woman was informed of this fact beforehand it seemed.
"She is. We'll need a doctor on there, who knows what might happen."
"Guess I'll be tagging along, too." Morgan said, scratching his stubble as he always did.
"Eh, who even are you?" Izgrim frowned, glaring at the transmigrater with suspicion glinting in his eyes.
"Just a pirate." Morgan chuckled.
"That much is clear. But we won't be in need of a pirate on the ship, you'll do find staying here and getting drunk." Izgrim assured.
"Now hold on," Regan began, his finger pointed up into the sky. "If we have need of doctors then we'll probably be in need of somebody like a pirate, someone who knows how to fight other pirates on the seas." He gave Morgan a wink.
"Why would we be fighting? We're merchants. We—"
"No, I agree with Dantes." Rose smiled. "Pirates are given to caprice, we could be attacked. Best we have somebody like Morgan on our side. Though, I've never seen him fight."
"This isn't for any of you to decide!" Izgrim complained.
"Thats right." Regan endorsed, sauntering to the door. "It's up to my father, isn't it? Well, let's go see him."
With that, Regan turned the doorknob and walked back outside, the brackish air filling his lungs with every breath. Regan didn't know where his own home was, and so he turned to Izgrim and waited patiently for the disgruntled boy to lead the way.
They walked in silence for a while, with Izgrim opting to be by Rose's side, making boring conversation along the way. Regan didn't feel threatened in any way, he had his methods to win Rose's heart.
"What did you mean back there by the way?" Morgan smirked, his face donning a wry smile that almost voiced some strange ability to read thoughts.
"You know what I meant," Regan replied, bringing his voice to a whisper. "I'm going to make Rose mine."
Morgan whistled at that, turning both Izgrim and Rose's heads in their direction. They gave themselves puzzled looks and then turned back to face the street ahead of them.
"How are you going to do that?" Morgan asked, his voice quiet.
"I have my ways. Let's just say I'm hoping for a random pirate ship to turn up when we're at sea."
At first it annoyed Regan knowing that he couldn't spend his time training freely in the woods, but being at sea allowed for him to progress his stats naturally. Perhaps he might meet some big-shot pirate out in the north blue, or some wandering swordsman like Mihawk, though he would likely fall by his blade at this stage.
"It's just up ahead," Morgan said, pointing at another bungalow that was the same size as Rose's home. Regan found his father standing by the door diligently, a worried look fixed upon his wizened face.
"How do you even know all this?" Regan raised a brow. "Just how long have you been on this island?"
"I've been here for weeks, drinking booze and knocking around pirates that want to do anything but drink. Boring life, eh?"
The life of a runaway. His story checks out.
"Uncle!" Izgrim shouted, waving at the man. "I brought Dantes and Rose as you asked, and the—"
"Manji?" Said Regan's father, glaring at the pirate who was standing beside his son. "What are you doing here?"
"Heard you were sending your son out to sea on a merchants ship," Morgan shrugged. "Thought I'd tag along."
"Oh, no. No, no. We can't be having that."
"What? Why not?" Regan complained.
"I want no words out of you," his father demanded, pulling on Regan's ear. "I warn you not to put yourself in danger out there and you go out and break your damn arm!? Your mother was worried sick when I told her!"
Rise chuckled as he continued pulling on Regan's ear, and Izgrim wore a triumphant smile as the boy was punished as he saw fit.
"Why can't you have me on the merchants ship?" Morgan said.
"What would we do if you weren't here? Pirates may follow rules here and there but there are those like the one you killed who step out of line. God rest Bayton's soul."
"God rest his soul," Morgan repeated, "condolences to his family. He was a good man."
"Indeed he was." Regan's father agreed. "And we'll lose more good men if you aren't here."
"So who are the men who'll be defending your ship, eh?" Morgan said.
"Three men. Three men with pistols and rifles and swords. One of them is a marksmen that should suffice. There's also the right of passage to be considered, pirates will generally leave merchant ships alone if they pay up a fee. Goods, berries, pay them and you'll leave."
"I call that cowardly." Regan said.
"Call it what you will you troublesome brat," His father bellowed, slapping him across the head. "Get inside, your mother wants to see you before you leave!"
"Before I leave!? I'm leaving today? Already!?"
"Aye," his father nodded, pulling the open door and shoving him inside. "The ship is at the docks, you'll be sailing to Rakers island first, we've got a couple buyers over there. Come back outside when your mother is done speaking, we don't have all day, but then again, maybe your mother doesn't either. So spend as much time as you can with her."
Regan was shoved into a dimly lit room, and flinched as he heard the door slam behind him. The kitchen and the living space were connected into one large room, and Regan could smell the faint tendrils of food seeping through the pots on the kitchen countertops.
To his right, where the living room was, stood a myriad of furniture; chairs, shelves, desks, sofas, and where one of the sofas was only accompanied by pillows, another one had a woman laying on it with a blanket over her frame.
She was breathing heavily, a damp towel placed over her pale head. She turned to face Regan, and reached out to him with a shivering hand that was ailed by some unknown disease.
Regan's heart thundered in his chest, and his breath came out ragged. It was too much, all too much. He was reminded of the state he was in back in the real world, where he could do nothing but blink and slurp down food from a tube.
He gave her another horrified look, and ran right back out of the bungalow.