Chapter Text
The sea breeze whipped and whistled against the sails and through the rigging while red eyes searched the horizon.
Everything was calm and under control but he couldn't help the tense anxiousness that coiled in his gut leaving him twitchy and irritable. Despite his best efforts to hide behind his mask it still showed in how short tempered he was with the crew.
Well … shorter than usual at least.
His captain had stormed from the ship in a winding blur of blue scales before first light only stopping long enough to leave him in command of their ship until his return.
If only he knew when that would be.
If only he knew why...
Anxiety coiled in his gut like a pit of winding snakes but he tried to quell them as best he could to keep a level head and a steady command over their crew.
Kaido was strong.
He was fierce.
And he was near invulnerable.
But that niggling fear in the back of his mind was always there. There were worse things than death or defeat in this world, he knew that better than most.
What if he'd been captured?
What if he got lost?
What if?
What if?
He tried to reassure himself within the hallowed halls of his mind and the caverns of his heart.
It had been years since his captain had gotten it into his head to let himself be intentionally captured by marines. Capture in general...That was less common now than in the past but it still happened from time to time.
And he wasn't the usual suspect for getting himself lost. Kaido wasn't the worst with directions but the great belt of sea that they called home wasn't easy to navigate even for the most experienced of sailors. Even for a dragon with mastery over the wind and sky the weather of the Grand Line could baffle the senses and lead a man astray.
He had plans for it all and back up plans for those. That was the only way he kept himself sane some days really.
But in spite of all his best efforts he still watched that horizon.
He watched and waited.
It was late in the evening that he finally saw the winding serpentine form in the distance and but moments after when the man that had been the beast finally touched down boots to the decking once more.
“Kaido.”
Suddenly it felt like he could breath again.
Nika's mercy, did he hate being in charge.