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Kaku was informed about the mission only hours before they were scheduled to depart. Although their training had prepared them to be ready at a moment’s notice, he was a little on edge, especially after he found out that both Lucci and Kalifa had known about it for days.
“You weren’t supposed to come,” Kalifa said, tossing her hair over her shoulder, “but Jyabura’s got the flu.”
Kaku offered her a slightly strained smile. “Neat, and I’m the second banana?”
She gave him a puzzled look. “I have no idea what that means.”
“They give you the details?”
“No, Lucci’s in charge. He’ll brief us.”
Kaku frowned. “Lucci?
He may have been a prodigy and certainly the most lethal of anyone in their group but until now they’d always had an adult leading their missions. However, they all suspected Lucci had been sent on high-level missions on his own, even if he hadn’t confirmed it. Who knew if they’d given him marines to order around to test his leadership skills?
“Don’t worry, he’s in a good mood since Jyabura was booted off the mission.”
If Lucci was happy, it didn’t show on his face as he joined them clad all in black, a downturned curve to his lips. He didn't utter a single word as he passed them, striding towards the ship they were to board. Kalifa shrugged and followed, her heels clacking loudly against the wooden boards of the dock.
Kaku sighed and started trailing behind them. Somehow he had a bad feeling about this.
Their ship was not a Navy vessel, that would’ve been too conspicuous and most likely would’ve chased their target off the island before even Lucci had time to do anything about it. It was the perfect cover as a merchant ship, something nobody looked at twice as it docked in the harbor.
Regardless, they waited for the cover of the night before stepping out of their cabin, mostly because Lucci had spent the day drilling his plan into their heads. And secondly—not that anyone admitted this out loud—because Lucci and Kalifa refused to wear clothes that would’ve allowed them to blend into the regular crowd in the city.
“Really? The whole crew, just the three of us?” Kaku muttered to Kalifa as he stared at the foggy shoreline.
“You think we’re not up to it?”
“Just flabbergasted they’d make this my first kill mission.”
Kaku should’ve been calm—this was what he’d been training for ever since he could remember. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen people die before, things went wrong on missions all the time and plans had to be adjusted. Kaku had no issue with death or the concept of killing someone. In theory. Except now he was expected to turn theory into practice.
“How was your first?” he asked Kalifa.
“Easy,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes. “I only had one target.”
Whereas he was expected to kill as many as possible, pulling his weight the same way Lucci and Kalifa would.
Kaku scratched his head. “Anywho, is that what you’re gonna be wearing?”
Kalifa scoffed. “Men are easily distracted. Why not exploit their weakness?”
Distracting was certainly one word for her tight shorts; he was surprised she managed to move at all, let alone as smoothly as she did.
“You should try it,” she said, shooting a look towards Lucci who was talking to their captain in a low voice.
Kaku let out a nervous chuckle. “I doubt that stuff works on Lucci.”
“He’s still a man, aren’t you?” She aimed her question at Lucci, suddenly standing right by them and looking as stone-faced as ever.
“We’re ready to go,” he said, ignoring Kalifa’s words.
Still, Kaku thought he’d seen Lucci’s eyes flicker towards him even if only for a fraction of a second.
The plan was to infiltrate the enemy ship and hide until they reached the open sea. That would eliminate the chance of any stray crewmembers escaping or worse, fetching reinforcements. At sea, they could only choose death by the waters or death by a blade.
“Why do we have to kill them?” Kaku asked in a whisper, his earlier anxiety morphing into boredom as the crew took their sweet time loading supplies instead of setting sail.
“You think they tell us such things?” Kalifa hissed back.
And, of course, they wouldn’t. It was doubtful that whoever was in charge of these things even considered CP members people because it was easier to treat them like tools that way. Yet he wished he knew, if only this once, that it was justified.
Silence, Lucci mouthed at them before raising a solitary finger to his lips and they both cowered back into their hiding places, waiting for the ship to move.
The deck was already slippery with blood when Kaku made it out into the sunlight. It was funny, as a child he’d always imagined assassins only working at night, in the cover of darkness. Things were easier to face after sundown, details blending into shadows, people’s expressions indistinguishable.
Unfortunately, the real world didn’t work like a childish fantasy. Sometimes the opportunity for a kill presented itself under the blazing noon sun, and you were forced to find your balance in a growing pool of crimson, the deck beneath your feet swaying violently as the ship fought against the waves. Forced to see the primal terror in a stranger’s eyes as Lucci ripped into their throat with his feline teeth.
Something hit Kaku in the side, knocking him across the deck, and before he had a chance to scramble to his feet, the attacker pinned him down. Kaku realized he was staring down the barrel of a gun—not exactly the way he’d imagined going but it would be quick, at least.
And then the weight toppled off him and Kalifa was there, offering him a bloody hand and pulling him to his feet. “Get it together!”
Right. He unsheathed his blades, scanning his surroundings. There were so many options, people running, hiding, looking for weapons. The surprise attack had thrown them for a loop, but if Kaku didn’t act quickly, they might have a chance to regroup.
He could’ve picked the easy way out and finished one of the poor fellows writhing on the ground, not quite dead but too injured to fight. But he could almost hear Lucci’s words in his ears, “Eliminate the strongest opponent first.” No, killing someone already halfway there would be pathetic. Cowardly.
Lucci had started with the biggest man in the crew, and Kaku would bet he was already trying to sniff out where the captain was. Kalifa looked unnaturally composed as she snapped the neck of the doctor who had rushed out to tend to the wounded. And Kaku had contributed nothing at all.
It should’ve been easy, picking a target. Everyone on this ship was going to die, after all, so his choice would, at most, afford someone else a few extra minutes of life. Ultimately, the choice was made for him when a blond man charged toward him, perhaps thinking he’d found the weak link and could turn the battle around.
His weapon of choice was a wooden mallet with a handle so short he’d have to be practically touching Kaku to get a hit in. Not very practical, he thought as he sidestepped the attack and thrust one of his blades into the man’s skull from the side before he’d even made a conscious decision about it.
Blood splattered against Kaku’s face and he paused for a second, amazed at how easily the blade had sunk in. He was meticulous about keeping his blades clean and sharp but that didn’t stop him from feeling it should’ve taken more to end a man’s life.
And then there were two more people closing in on him, forcing him to yank his blade free and prepare for the next kill. No time to think about what he’d done, not right then. Too busy hacking and slashing into everyone who was still standing on two feet, his mind blessedly blank despite the agonized screams all around him.
“That’s all of them,” Kalifa said, placing a hand on Kaku’s shoulder and causing him to swirl around and lift his blade before his mind caught up with him.
“Crap, sorry.”
“I told them you could do it,” Kalifa said, patting his cheek and leaving behind a bloody smear. “They didn’t think you were ready but look at that.”
She glanced at the dead body at Kaku’s feet, barely recognizable as a person. Kaku could feel his stomach turning at the sight and smell of so much death. He averted his eyes. Hard to believe some of that was his doing, his memory of the last hour was hazy.
Kalifa moved over to Lucci, but instead of listening in on the conversation, Kaku stepped next to the rail and promptly threw up into the sea. His legs were shaky and he let himself slide down onto the deck, realizing he was still gripping his blade, most of it covered in blood and grime. He tried to wipe it on his clothes, but it didn’t do much good since those were wet with blood as well and he only managed to spread the mess around.
Distantly, he could hear Lucci approaching, could recognize his characteristic gait even in a crowd, although here there was no need for that—this crowd would never walk again.
“They were slave traders,” Lucci said, his voice even like he hadn’t just committed the majority of the massacre.
“Huh?”
“You asked before.”
“Oh, so I did. Suppose they deserved to die,” Kaku said, curling his hand into a fist to hide the shaking.
“Of course they did.” This time Lucci’s voice was more vehement like he really believed that.
He was a great actor when he chose to put in the effort and there was no way of knowing whether he was telling the truth now. Kaku wanted to believe he wouldn’t lie to him about this. Not today.
"I froze," Kaku said, unable to meet Lucci's eyes.
It had never happened before, not on a mission or during practice.
“You did fine." Coming from Lucci, that was high praise. Especially when Kaku's potential failure would've undoubtedly reflected badly on Lucci's leadership skills as well. "It'll be easier next time."
And the thing was, Kaku could believe that. Maybe he hadn't been born to do this but he'd been built for it over his years of training. It was too late to turn back now—even if he tried they'd probably send Lucci after him and that would be the end of it.
Yeah, it could only get easier from here. He just wasn't sure if that was a good thing.