01 - True love's first kiss

Garth started to count the times on his fingers. Then frowned when he got to eight, trying to decide whether the 9th time counted or not. "The apocalypse definitely counts as 5, but that comes much later," he mumbled.

Kizaru chuckled. "You're anything except a believer, aren't you?" He sat down by his friend's side, giving him a fond glance.

"Dean, your brother has silky beautiful hair, but no one has ever thought 'woah, that's a good looking gal right there, hmm mh' when looking at him. I can assure you" Charlie answered Dean with a grin, then tried to follow Garth's reasoning, and actually started to count herself. "I think you are forgetting about that one ghoul that tried to gnaw your leg off that one time, when we had to board an abandoned ship", she stated. "Or was that my leg."

"You're both unbelievable" Dean raised his arms, then went straight to his brother. "Hey Sammy! Ready to celebrate my come-back?"

"I believe in myself" Akainu said while raising an eyebrow. "I do believe in you, too."

"No wait, wasn't it your leg and my arm?" Garth scratched his head, a bit lost in his could.
"Well, if you're not planning on ditching me for a girl after 5 minutes, sure," Sam replied to Dean, with a smile.

"Aw, you're gonna make me blush ~" Kizaru gently elbowed his friend, before he emptied his own glass.

Charlie shook her head. "Pretty sure it was your leg and my arm", she argued. "And - what about that time that siren tried to tear your ears off. That counts, you know!"

Unknown to pretty much anyone, deep under their moving ship, creatures lurked and swam silently underneath the hull. Avant-guardes of Crowley's, which had been given the duty of spying over the newly-saved Dean Winchester. Yes, of course the news of his 'rescue' had reached the ears of the King of the Oceans himself!

"I'm not, Sammy. Definitely not" Dean sighed and patted his shoulder, before lowering his voice. "In fact, I think I need to spend a bit of time with you. Want to be sure everything is ok and to talk about my...weird come back"

"Riiight" Akainu looked at him with disbelief before finishing his glass. "Well it's late. We should go to rest"

Garth made a "uuuuh", filled with understanding. "You're right! That ghoul made herself look like some hot lady to lure us both, I remember it now!"

Sam nodded, hoping that Dean did remember a bit more about his salvation. "Sure. Do you want us to find ourself some quiet place in a tavern?"

Kizaru sighed. "You mean for more work tomorrow?" Yeaah he'd probably try to find himself a good book instead of going to bed too early. Like, 50 shades of Justice.

Charlie nodded, making a wide gesture with her hand as if to say 'See?'. "But then, that counts half, and not one. Because you had to share that one with me!"

"Far from Garth" Dean sighed while glancing at the skinny man. "He is nice but man, he is exhausting. ... And far from Kalyan. I think he wants to murder me"

"It's not like we have a choice" Akainu frowned. "Also, do you know why it's written 'Meeting with an octopus' in my agenda? Is this a joke of you I don't get?"

Garth chuckled, and raised his hand to Charlie. "High-five, sis!"

Sam held back a snort. "As always. You keep checking him out even though he's a man. I can't blame the man for feeling defensive."

"Oh. I'm the one who wrote that," Kizaru replied, with a smile. "It's time I introduced you to one of my best sources."

Charlie laughed, high-fiving Garth. Then she tucked her hands in her back pockets, squinting towards the horizon. "Well. I sure hope we will get on land soon", she sighed. "Between us - I am a bit worried. For Dean and Sam, you know", she added, nodding towards the two brothers. "This whole business has been hard on both of them."

"Listen, his hair looks more fabulous than yours" Dean said, dead serious. "I did not know it was possible and I did not know it could happen to MEN!"

"And that mystery person is.... an octopus?" Akainu repeated, intrigued and...intrigued. He was trusting Borsalino. Maybe too much. Maybe it was suspicious for him to trust him so much!!

Garth nodded gravely. "Yeah. I mean. It's like they both came back from the dead now. I would be quite weirded out in their shoes."

Sam rolled his eyes, but made no other comment. "So. Just the two of us tonight, or do you agree we bring Charlie along?"

Kizaru winked at him. "You'll understand soon, Sakazuki. Don't worry. And... be careful. The man has quite some charm." Not sure he would want to use it on the Marine, though.

Charlie hummed in agreement. "Yeah. And - well, you know how they are attached to each other. Seeing them losing one another is just- ugly." Yeah, there wasn't another word to describe it. "They go so far to save each other. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a dangerous one."

"If Charlie manages not to seduce all the women, she is of course welcome" Dean had a gentle smile as he spoke. He loved that girl as the sister he wished he'd never had.

"Is he on the good side of the law?" Akainu sighed. Well, as the unknown author of 50 shades of JUSTICE, his type of men was clear : shadow guys YET on justice side. It was important for him

Garth sighed. "Well. I sure hope they won't have to do it again any day soon anyway." He looked at the island coming near, then slapped his forehead. "Oh, right, I was supposed to check the ropes before the docking!" He ran away to go to his position, where he would probably get scolded again.

"Good," Sam replied, before he brought his fingers to his lips, and whistle to get Charlie's attention, gesturing for her to come near them. He too considered her as a sister now.

Kizaru hummed mysteriously, then laid a hand on Akainu's shoulder, as he whispered to his ear, "The world is made of more shades of grey than you'd imagine ~" THAT WAS TOTALLY A QUOTE STRAIGHT (HA!) OUT OF 50 SHADES OF JUSTICE.

Charlie snorted, shaking her head at Garth's forgetfulness. "Geez, no wonder Bobby is always after your ass!", she said out loud to him. She turned towards Sam when she heard the whistling, and wore one of her radiant smiles as she walked up to him and Dean. "Hey! What, you forgot my name, or are you trying to remind your brother how a girl is supposed to look like?", she joked, not-so-casually referring to what she by now referred to as 'the Kalyan accidents'.

"I totally know!" Dean rolled his eyes, yet he was amused. "I mean can we forgive me for that one small mistake! I'm sure you tried to hit on him once too, Charlie. Sam is just too shy to hit on people"

"......" Akainu looked at him, all troubled. "Wait...How did... where does that come from ?!"

"... I don't hit on every single woman, Dean. Unlike you, of course," Sam emphasized, hiding back a smile. "Actually Charlie, we were hoping you'd join us a bit tonight? We'd like to stay in a small number to celebrate Dean's return."

"You really should read more ~" Kizaru stood up, and took their glasses to discard them. "I could lend you a good book, if you wish. We'd have a lot to talk about!"

Charlie chuckled. "Yes, yes, alright, guilty as charged", she proclaimed, raising her hands in mock surrender. "I did try to hit on him once. Never made the same mistake ever again though, unlike you", she defended herself, gently bumping Dean's side with her elbow. She lit up when Sam mentioned celebrating. "Aw, you guys! Of course I'm in! I'd love some time to spend together. It's been a while, since we were enough at ease to do that!"

"So let's go!" Finally at bay, Dean was the first to land on the ground. A shame, though, it should have been Bobby! And I will suggest to you we move to the next stage of our story.

"...I didn't know you bought m...that book" Akainu cleared his throat. "I... i should go now." To-ta-lly embarrassed

Yes ! So actually, after a little while, Sam, Dean and Charlie had settled down in a relatively quiet tavern, where they could talk together about all the things that Dean had missed during the past year. Little did they know that an angel was actually looking for them, and had been hesitating for the past two minutes whether or not to go directly to their table or not.

"... You mean you read 50 shades of Justice too?" Kizaru was surprised, to say the least. But he almost literally beamed with a smile. "Oooooh I didn't know you were such a dirty man, Sakazuki ~"

Balthazar caught sight of his Commander's glances towards that table - and couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. Damn him, why had he decided it would have been better to follow Castiel up? This would have done nothing if not put them into some serious troubles, and nothing else. What wouldn't you do for a friend, really... "Castiel", he warned him in a whisper. "You are staring. Again. Could you stop that - no, better. We should go away from here." Balthazar's distaste for anything that put his precious ass in danger was well-known.

Charlie - being the clever, ever-observant bean she was, had noticed that man looking at them from the other side of the tavern. She guessed he was pretty handsome for being a man, even all wrapped up in that weird raincoat. She got a bit distracted from what Sam was saying, trying to figure up who exactly he was looking at. "Guys", she said in a low voice, with a smirk on her lips. "Don't look, but someone's checking us out."

"The barmaid?" Dean answered quite happily. "I noticed. Do you think she is checking on me? On you? On Kalyan behind us?" Because Kalyan was here, laughing with a good friend of his

"I'm..." Akainu could not deny that. Because he was the one who wrote that book. But he couldn't confess. Like the fact he couldn't face Borsalino, his main inspiration for one of the character. "I...did... read it, yeah"

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's comment. He did not even bother to check who Charlie was talking about, because Dean's assumptions could be a good guess. "You said you'd spend time with us, tonight," he reminded his brother.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Castiel kept staring. Then adverted his eyes from him, to look at Balthazar. "I should tell him, Balthazar. Tell them. That the apocalypse might happen again. That it's the reason why God asked me to bring him back."

Kizaru sat back on his couch, with a wide grin. "Sooo who's your favorite character, then?"