A torrent of rain cascaded down around me as I ran through the woods. Blindly I pushed branches heavy with moss away from my face as I ran. My dark auburn hair was plastered to my back because of the rain. I couldn't remember where I was going, and I couldn't remember why I was running. But some instinct told me to run, and so I had run into the woods. Branches started falling down over head as the wind picked up, and briars from a rose bush tore into my check as I ran by, clutching my injured left wrist to my chest.
I knew I was losing blood, but I couldn't remember how I had gotten injured. I just knew that something was following me, and if I stopped it would get me. My lungs weren't getting enough oxygen into the rest of my body, I could tell by the depraved feeling that the muscles in my legs were giving me. But I couldn't stop, I had to keep running.
My bare feet splashed through the puddles, my left foot leaving fresh blood on the sharp rocks as I scrambled up the hill. Up ahead I could see the looming form of an abandoned shack. As I passed beside it's caving in roof I felt my skin crawl just as pain exploded through my chest as the shack exploded and sent a chunk of the rotten wall straight into my body. I couldn't breathe, the blast had sent me backward into the bank that I had just climbed and I was rolling down the slope in the middle of a mud slide.
I couldn't breathe. But I realized this time that it wasn't from the rubble falling over my head, it was because waves of water were pounding me back down. I kicked and clawed to the surface, but it felt like weights were attached to my body. The water got darker and darker as I fell farther underneath. Something hit me in the head, and I must have lost consciousness for only a few seconds.
But it felt like hours, because when I realized that I was out of air I also realized that the water had suddenly gotten calm around me. I kicked toward the surface, and when I broke through I gasped for air. All around me was a calm blue sea, with only a few birds flying overhead. Next to me floated a piece of the wall that had knocked me into the river. However as I looked around, I quickly noticed that there was no land around me. "What the hell!" I yelled as I pulled myself up onto the floating wall. I passed out shortly thereafter.
Penguin was on watch as we sailed across the calm sea. He glanced off the starboard side of the ship and noticed that there was a chunk of wood floating up ahead.
"Captain, there is a lady floating in the water!" a voice said from somewhere above me. I opened my eyes and was met by one hellishly bright sun. I winced and reached up to touch a giant gash in my forehead. Everything hurt in my body, and I looked at the blood coming out from where the glass and splinters were still in my arms.
"Woman over board!" A guy yelled. "Quick Bepo, bring us some rope!" he shouted. I pried my eyes open to see a giant yellow ship at least two decks tall sailing toward me. I glanced to the side and saw that I was floating on a chunk of wood still.
"Think she is still alive?" one of the crew mates asked.
"Even if she isn't we still need to examine her body to see where she came from?" another replied.
"Hey are you alive down there?" someone yelled, I creaked an eye open to see a tall lean man leaning over the rail. He had a sleepy look about him at first, with his hair tucked under a white hat that had black spots on it. He wore a yellow and black sweatshirt with a jolly roger on it.
I had the audacity to flip him off in response, which got a smirk out of him.
"Let's get her on board," the man yelled and his crew snapped to attention.
As I looked up, a guy with red hair and black sunglasses wearing a white pair of coveralls, knee high black boots and a giant red and blue cap jumped overboard. Soon another guy with short black hair that was nearly covered completely by his hat that had 'penguin' on the front jumped overboard. He was dressed just like the first guy. A white bear in an orange jump suit leaned over the rail, followed by several other guys wearing nearly the same hat and the same white coveralls.
"Hold on" the guy with the red hair yelled while he tied the rope around his waist. My body was beginning to hurt like hell, but the shock was keeping me from completely feeling the pain. I blinked at them, barely able to pick up what they were saying between the roaring in my ears and my hearts erratic beating. Soon the guy with the penguin hat wrapped his rope around me and then braced me between him and the red head. They looked up anxiously at the deck for something.
The man with the spotted hat rubbed his neat little goatee with an incredibly thoughtful look on his face. I may be delirious, but I didn't have anything to look at but the ship floating right next to me.
"Is everyone ready to pull them up?" he asked his crew.
"Yes captain!" they all shouted at once. A sudden heave lifted the three of us out of the water and slowly foot by foot up toward the rail. As we reached the rail, the giant white bear pulled me out from between the guys and set me on the awaiting stretcher.
I heard someone shout something at me but the world had already began to fade to black.
A freakishly annoying beeping sound woke me up from a nice drug induced sleep. I tried to shift and flinched, noting that my body was a mass of bandages and sores. The Iv's and various other medical bags that was helping me hung from an IV stand above my head.
"What time is it?" I asked the bear. The white bear was spaced out where he sat next to the hospital bed that I was laying in. He jumped and fell out of his chair, taking the curtain that had been closed around me with him. "Are you ok?" I asked him, bracing myself up on my left arm to peer down at him.
"S-s-s-sorry," the bear stammered and bowed to me once he got up.
"You don't have to apologize to me," I said gently, with a smile as I sat up.
"Sorry," he said again, once again sitting down. Suddenly the curtain was opened the other direction. The captain walked in wearing black slacks, a white shirt with a dark blue tie and a white lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck. His black hair was free from its hat and was standing up in short but neat spikes.
"So you are alive," he said, folding his arms across his chest and gloating. "How do you feel?" he asked with a smirk.
I stared at him for a moment before glancing back at the polar bear, whom I realized could talk and that should have been weird. "Like hell, a little slow, but better. Thank you for rescuing me," I said with a polite smile.
"Where did your wounds come from?" the man asked as he pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed.
"I don't really remember. I was running away from something when this building blew up and I went tumbling down into this river. I thought I had drowned," I said, wringing my stiff hands.
"By all means you should have. None of your injuries matched the injuries that I typically see when a building explodes. It seemed to me that someone injured you very deliberately as if not to kill you but to prolong your suffering," the doctor said.
"What do you mean?" I asked him, glancing at the bear to see if he knew anything. Bepo only shrugged.
"When I ran your blood tests, I found a high dosage of a very toxic poison coursing through your system, at a high enough level that it would have been fatal for most of my crew. Judging by the length of time that the toxin was in your blood, I would say you have built a high tolerance for poisons, seeing that its effects on you were delayed" the man said as he stroked his goatee.
"What is your name by the way?" Bepo asked as Law stood up.
"It's Katsa," I said as I scrounged to remember my own last name to add to that. I gave up when I still couldn't remember it.
"My name is Bepo, and the captain is Trafalgar Law," Bepo clarified for me.
"Do I have amnesia?" I asked as Bepo starred at me.
"It would seem so," Law said, slightly annoyed by the fact that I was taking in everything so calmly. Maybe just a little too calm for his liking. Law looked into my heterochromatic eyes, my right eye grey and my left eye blue.
"Judging by the amount of head trauma you came with, I would say it's safe to confirm the fact that you have amnesia and will likely never remember anything before today," Law said sarcastically, making me scowl back at him.
"Which brings us to the next topic. I want you to join my crew," Law said. He crossed his arms and starred me down, his grey eyes intimidating behind his reading glasses.
"No," I said instantly. Bepo flinched and stared at me. Apparently defying the captain was not something that was done a lot.
"That wasn't the request," Law said a little snarky.
"The answer is no," I repeated. "Why should I become a pirate?" I asked.
"Will you please leave us for a minute," the captain said. Bepo quietly left the room. "You don't seem to realize the situation that you are in. A young woman found in the sea, no one knows who she is or where she is from, is taken aboard by a 'wonderful' pirate doctor, and given the best treatment that can be offered. Now, you will be paying me back for this treatment, and since you aren't from here, there is no one to rescue you or tell me differently. You have two options. 1: you can join my crew and have the same rights as all of my men or 2: you can become my slave," he said with a wicked grin.
"I don't really like either option," I mumbled. "What if I refuse?" I asked him.
"I don't really expect you to become my slave, but if I have to I will find you one of those cute little slave collars and a maids outfit for you. I would rather have you just join my crew. Secondly, you can't escape the situation, your wounds are bad enough that you couldn't put up a fight if you tried, and we are out in the middle of the sea," he said, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed.
"I see, I am in a really awkward position here then," I said, rubbing the sides of my head.
"You don't seem to incredibly worried about it?" he noted, losing the faint smirk and looking intently at the small female in front of him. He was beginning to wonder just what was with this girl.
"I would rather not go back to where I came from, so with that said, I have no choice but to join your crew. Will I have to wear those white jump suits?" I asked him. He simply stared at me, having expected me not to give in for a while more apparently.
"No, I have something far better planned for you," he said and left, a look of deep worry in his eyes.
One week later…
"Hurry up Katsa!" Shachi yelled as he banged on my bedroom door.
"I'm coming, give me a minute!" I yelled back. I had just pulled on a pair of blue capris that had dark blue spots on them. I had pulled on a blue under shirt and then a yellow and black hoodie. I had just finished brushing my long hair out and had secured it with a white ribbon that had black spots on it. There was a hat that matched Law's sitting on my desk. Shachi opened the door as I started slipping on my black heels.
Shachi starred and then started snickering. "It's not funny!" I yelled at him.
"You're a very sexy version of Law," Shachi said as he cackled.
"Where did he get this!" I yelled as I pointed to my outfit. This was the female version of Law's outfit.
He grinned at me and helped me to my feet. Penguin walked into my room with a grin on his face.
"Good morning Katsa," he said while he patted my head.
"Morning Penguin, where in the hell did the Captain find this outfit?" I asked him as I pointed to the replica outfit.
"Mail order catalog," Shachi said with a grin. "He looked rather happy while he was flipping through it," he added with a smirk.
"The captain has some weird tastes," I replied while glaring at him murderously. I had found a package sitting on my bed yesterday when I had been released from the infirmary and had opened it only to find two sets of what I was wearing now, several pairs of lacy push up bras, some with clasps that hooked in the front, and a large supply of lace under wear, and a black bikini. The only thing not completely skimpy was the black shirt with the heart pirate logo on it, and the blue shorts that I slept in.
"So what are we doing today?" I asked him with a smile.
"We are first introducing you to the entire crew, then giving you a tour lead by Penguin, and then we will be seeing the captain in order to see what your tasks will be on the ship. I heard the distinct clink of my heels as the sound rebounded off of the metal around me. With the heels I was nearly as tall as Shachi, just two inches shorter. Shachi was shorter than Penguin, who was shorter than the Captain, who was over a foot shorter than Bepo.
Shachi led me down a short hall way that ended in what was the dining hall, which was attached to the kitchen. When he slid open the door, silence fell upon the hall, with all eyes turning to look up at me.
"Now everyone, I want to introduce to you our newest crewmate and the only female crewmate on board, Miss Katsa. Please take good care of her and introduce your selves one at a time," Shachi said with a grin and then gave me an encouraging shove forward.
"It's a pleasure to meet everyone, please take good care of me," I said with a bow. I was quickly surrounded by what would become my new family.