text; un: sai

[daimeinashi]

[Sai hasn't entirely worked out how to use this whole magic jewelry network thing yet, but the thought-typing is relatively straightforward enough. So:]

is it truly wise to be rescuing the qorral ?
should a significant number of them perish, it will be far easier to complete our secondary mission of stopping the mining efforts

Comments

[daimeinashi]

[That is so many exclamation points. The sad thing is he can practically picture that whole tirade being said verbally, by a certain other shonen protagonist that doesn't happen to be here. It's weird how this response is the one that makes him ache, just a little.]

please explain, luffy-san
how does that make the most sense?

[nishishi]

[He's going to remind you a lot of a certain blonde-haired disaster as time goes on. Sorry, Sai.]

because u dont just let people get hurt for no reason!!!
no matter who u are or who they are
people are people
everyone has someone who cares about them
if u let them get hurt then someone is going to miss them
if u dont do something to help and u just watch as people get hurt then u may as well be hurting them yourself

everyone has dreams they want to follow and lives they wanna live
letting them die just cause its not your concern is cruel
so protecting as many as u can is the right thing to do
even if its difficult!!!!

[daimeinashi]

[It's incredible. He's been having pointlessly circular arguments with just about everyone, trying to understand where the disconnect was. Why everyone was so angry about something that seemed only practical to him.

And here, Luffy's done it, in mere 2 comments.]

oh

[Oh. It's not consciously sent, the magitek picking up on his thoughts, on the moment of understanding. Sai is still a very long way from being able to appreciate human lives in the abstract, but if there's one thing he's come to understand the value of, it's friendship. Someone is going to miss them.

Suddenly, it makes sense. There's still parts of the picture he doesn't have--the hows and the whys of those bonds of friendship, the questions about their very nature that had troubled him enough to disobey an order for the first time in his life to begin with--but he has the fragments of an outline.

People care about their friends. Like Naruto, they're willing to throw away their lives to protect them. Instead of struggling with the abstract, he's able to fill in concrete roles. Naruto wants to save Sasuke from having his body stolen by Orochimaru, wants to bring him back to the village. If Sasuke died before Naruto could do so, he would be upset. People protect others because the would not want their own friends to die, in some kind of peculiar transitive property of bonds.]

i see
very well then
i will assist

[nishishi]

[As most things, Luffy has really no good idea of what exactly he just did for Sai, throwing out words that he felt were right and just being himself over all--who knew it was exactly what the Ninja needed to hear.

Either way, his shoulders hike up in a smile as Sai not only seems to understand, but he agrees to assist, too. He's almost sparkling at the turnabout.]

u would be a HUGE help
we can go together to do stuff too if u want, its better when you fight in a team u kno???

that way we can protect each other

[daimeinashi]

[bro u rly need to stop with the intense Naruto vibes you're giving off. it's an odd sort of nostalgic ache that comment brings up; teamwork is a particularly meaningful comment to him nowadays, though some part of him wants to reject the idea of truly forming a team with anyone else, when he was already a part of Team Kakashi. Audentes was one thing, and not of his own choosing, but...

That way we can protect each other.

("Do you know what the word 'friend' means?"

"It's not pleasant to fight while looking after someone who can't even keep himself in check. I just worked with the success of the mission in mind.")

---

("You've still got about six months...and since three's better than two, and I'm pretty strong as it is...)

He understands better, now, what teamwork means. And when Luffy puts it to him like that--his heart has changed too much, for him to refuse like he might have, once.]

if that is what you wish, luffy-san

[A pause.]

ah, perhaps i should simply call you luffy, if we are to be working together as teammates

[His book said you should take initiative to drop honorifics to get closer to people, after all....]

[nishishi]

[Sorry, man. Shounen protags were just too powerful when it came to this sort of stuff. He's still grinning like mad on the other line, feeling successful in getting his new friend to realise the difference between letting people get hurt and what it meant to save them.

A nod of his head that Sai won't see, and a loud laugh.]

that IS what i wish! i bet we would do great together u kno??

teammates sounds great
and yeah thats a good idea too
just call me luffy and ill just call you sai!

[You called him just 'Sai' before this, Luffy.]

[daimeinashi]

luffy it is, then
you already called me sai, though

[did you think he wouldn't comment.

...but, as much as a text can seem kind of amused, it is. Some unacknowledged part of him thinks it would be interesting, if this man and Naruto were to meet. He thinks it is something he might like to see, someday.]

[nishishi]

yea but now its official
a lotta people use these -sans and -kun things when talking 2 me i always wonder if i should do it too

but it seems like a lotta work and i like your name without it so its just fine!!!

[He really did think Sai wasn't going to comment. But that's just turning out how this guy was, wasn't it. Weird, but in enough ways to keep him interesting. He's happy enough to have made a new friend.]

[daimeinashi]

it is a form of respect where i am from
but i have read that one should take the initiative to drop them if you wish to lower emotional barriers with others

[nishishi]

oh!!!!

[Give him a second. Calculating.]

shishishi

that means you want to be friends, right
to get rid of emotional whatnots

because if thats what you mean then you bet we're friends!

[daimeinashi]

ah...that is what you meant when you suggested working as teammates, correct?

[Sai is uh, very new to the concept of "wanting" things. He'd rather avoid overstepping if that's not what Luffy meant originally. Excuse the turtle of awkwardness over here.]

[nishishi]

well yeah
friends should always work together, that's just common sense dont u think

its more fun to do things together than alone
or with a stranger
because the stranger might turn out to be some jerk u want nothin 2 do with

[daimeinashi]

[w...ait, are you suggesting they were already friends before you even? asked him?? he needs to confirm that rq.]

do you mean you had considered me a friend beforehand?

[bro. bro you've been living in the same room with him for like two weeks. that's more time than you've spent in close quarters with Team Kakashi.]

[nishishi]

[Oh, Sai.]

yea obviously
i considered us friends the day we met up on the train
why do u think i invited u to stay in the room with me and my nakama?

because sai's my friend, too!

[Seriously it's taken you this long?]

[daimeinashi]

ah
i assumed it was to save on costs for the room

[his brain runs on practicality here ok]