The Time God Slayer

Chapter 30

"Oh my god, Marco! I didn't know you knew her! How could you not tell me your friend is a famous model?" Thatch clutched his heart in a dramatic way. "Do I mean that little to you?"

"I did tell you about her, yoi. You just didn't know that the one I talked about is famous." Marco rolled his eyes.

"You are so mean!" Thatch pouted. "No wonder you don't seem to look at any ladies. You have a little sister figure to look after!" Thatch stormed away with a pouting face.

Marco warily watched his brother walk towards the door, going toward the deck where Hikari was looking at the ocean. "What are you going to do, yoi?"

Thatch stopped and turned around with an innocent smile on his face. "I'm going to talk with Hikari and get to know her."

The disappearance of his brother through the door caused Marco to sigh and drink his cup of sake, eyeing his brothers around him drinking and getting drunk. "If I didn't have to watch over my brothers, I would've gone after him. He's not going to get into much trouble, right?..." Marco groaned, squeezing the bridge of his nose. "I'd better check on him later."

Meanwhile, Thatch was happily walking over to the model and thinking of all the different ways he could introduce himself to his brother's friend. He had been meaning to talk to her and become friends with her. She was a friend of Marco before he was there so he's curious about what Marco was like. Thatch snickered quietly. That would be great blackmail material.

Thatch walked over to the railing where Hikari was.

"Cool night, isn't it?"

"Yes. It's nice though. It's a different view from what I would normally see out in the sea."

"Indeed it is." Thatch raised his hand for a handshake. "My name's Thatch. Marco has told me about you."

Hikari shook his hand. "Nightwalker Hikari."

"Hi. I'm Lavender, nya."

Thatch jumped, startled that he heard a voice in his head. He swiveled his head around to find that there was no one on the deck. "D-did you hear a voice in your head?" He scratched his head, still looking for a person that's not there.

Hikari blinked. "I didn't."

"Oh, really? Huh. I guess I must be hearing things..." Thatch said unsurely.

"Anyway," Hikari coughed to smother a smile and changed the subject, "What did Marco say about me? Good things I hope."

"Oh, yeah, it's all good. He talked about how he enjoyed talking with you. He would say that he's happy that you're not getting into fights." Thatch chuckled. "You're feisty, aren't you? I didn't expect that. Marco wouldn't tell me about the details of the fights."

"Probably because you would bother him so much that he feels that you want to know out of mischievousness, nya?"

Thatch swiveled his head around again, not seeing anyone other than themselves. "Did you hear a voice just now?"

"No," Hikari shook her head. "Are you okay?"

"You can't be serious. I'm sure I heard a voice in my head. It ended its statement in 'nya'."

Hikari looked Thatch in the eye. "I'm sure I didn't hear any voice in my head." Hikari cocked her head. "Maybe you should turn in early. Did you drink any sake?"

Thatch blinked. "I did but I don't feel drunk." Thatch put himself in a thinking pose. "I'm pretty sure that if I were drunk, I would slur my words and won't make sense."

"I see." There was a tranquil silence before conversation resumed. They exchanged stories about Marco and Hikari's fight as a hostage/not really a victim of the Roger Pirates against the marines. Thatch was impressed at how Hikari could flip using Marco's and Shank's shoulders. He also laughed about how Hikari was wanted by a marine as an adopted daughter and about how Neinheart tried to go to Maniart Island but the locals wouldn't even let him dock. The artists, especially Kaito the photographer threw sharp knives with a crazed look in their eyes and screaming, "Not the art! You will not have her!"

It was around the time the Whitebeard Pirates in the dining room were drunk and unconscious that Marco decided to check up on Thatch. Marco is definitely not wondering what Thatch is talking about with Hikari because Thatch would definitely not tell embarrassing stories about him, especially the pranks he fell for.

When he went onto the deck, the first sound he heard was Thatch's laughter.

"Had a good chat?" Marco leaned against the railing on Hikari's other side.

"We did!" Thatch guffawed. "Right, Hikari?"

"We did."

"I didn't know Marco would so easily fall into your pranks, nya!"

"I heard that voice again! Marco, tell me you heard that! I've been hearing this voice between conversations and I want to know if it's just me. Hikari didn't hear it."

Marco wrinkled his brow. "I didn't hear it. Are you okay?"

"I...I'm not sure anymore. Maybe I should go to bed early." Thatch couldn't be crazy right? Maybe he's a sober drunk. That would be something new.

"Well, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning." Before Thatch turned around, a feline popped their head out of Hikari's sweatshirt. "Good night, nya."

Thatch gasped, eyes popping out of his head. He pointed at the feline. "It's the cat!"

Hikari's blank expression came onto her face. "Pardon?."

"The cat was the voice in my head! I don't know why you guys don't hear it but I'm sure it came from that cat! It probably ate a devil fruit!"

Marco and Hikari looked at one another.

"Hey! Don't look at me like I'm crazy! I know what I heard and the 'nya' at the end makes sense!"

Marco looked at his brother in concern. "Maybe you should go to bed now and have a nice rest."

But Thatch wasn't having it. He's sure that that cat on Hikari's shoulder spoke in his head. He's not going to be labeled crazy this time. "B-but-" He spluttered.

"Come. I'll take you to bed." Marco walked over to Thatch and gently took Thatch's arm, dragging him to Thatch's room. Marco called out to Hikari, "Have a good night! I think you can find your way to the guest room right?" At Hikari's nod, Marco nodded and dragged a protesting Thatch away.

"Have a good night, Thatch."

"What?! Now I hear your voice Hikari! How-oh my god. You pranked me! You sneaky-" Thatch's voice ended up in full blown laughter while Marco sped up in dragging his brother away to a much needed rest. Thatch wiped away his tears of laughter. "Have a good night, you two! That was a good one!" was the last sentence Hikari heard before Thatch and Marco disappeared around the corner and their voices disappeared.

"That was hilarious, Hikari! Did you see his face, nya? That's a great idea for a prank!"

"Thank you." Hikari smiled at the ocean and yawned. "Let's go to sleep."