When she had first touched the water, the Monsoon had been – the best word for it would be standard issue. A typical Class 3 destroyer, from the Marine flag to the itchy blankets to the table in the chartroom that although looked new and sturdy, it was doomed to fall apart in about three weeks and establish itself as the bane of the future ship carpenter's life.
But she had passed plenty of water since then.
Four captains had left her, two for a watery grave at the bottom of the sea, one for bigger and better things and one for a well deserved retirement in the company of her many grandchildren. The ship had already begun to creak and moan with age when her current captain had first set foot aboard, a skinny, sickly little girl who looked like a stiff breeze would knock her over.
And again, she had passed a lot of water since then.
Glancing around the deserted deck of the Monsoon, Rear Admiral Adreen felt a chill crawling up her spine and inhaled deeply. Unfortunately, that filled her lungs with smoke and she hastily plucked the cigarette from her mouth and coughed. "Dee?" she rasped. The mast creaked ominously and she gnashed her teeth. It was actually and bright and sunny day, the blue sea sparkling merrily. How the hell did this god-damned wreck manage to give her the creeps? No wonder it was being scrapped.
"Dee?" she said again. A sniffling answered from behind the mast. Adreen took off in that direction a little faster than she would have liked, and stopped a few feet in front of it. A thick iron bar held it together because a few years ago some pirate or other had nearly torn it away at the base; most of its surface was covered in scrawlings of names, plants, crude mermaids and anchors and even a pizza. And sure enough, Dian was there, leaning against it and looking at her feet with red-rimmed eyes.
The Rear Admiral straightened herself, adding another few inches to her already daunting height; her back started to ache almost instantly. "Dee," she started. "You read the inspection report. You can't…"
"Fuck you."
"Ah. Yes. Well. I'm afraid you don't have a choice. You have to return to Marineford at once, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki was…" "Sakazuki can go fuck himself. I'm not going anywhere." "For the love of God, Dee! This ship it falling apart as it stands, you can't do anything with it! You need a new one, so you will go to Marineford and move yourself, your men and your stuff on to the Blue Dawn"! "I don't wanna!" her cousin yelled/sobbed at her, her fists clenched. Behind the thick lenses of her glasses, Dee's eyes were blazing and Adreen felt the sudden flare of haki like a dizzying blow to the back of her head, making her reel slightly. She rubbed her temples with a pained groan, her shoulders dropping into their habitual slouch. On the plus side, Dee seemed to deflate. "Bill!" she shouted. The first mate popped out of nowhere, with a glass of water to boot. The sobbing and choked sighs subsided, and an aspirin was pushed into Adreen's hand. "We're going to Marineford, Bill. We're going to…change ships." With that she left them, no second glance or a word for her cousin, who crunched the aspirin and then vanished with a flare of haki of her own. But this time nobody clutched their head in pain, because that was Vice-Admiral Dian's special little trick.
The Monsoon's sails unfolded as her deck exploded into motion and she lurched away from the Cassiopeia like a scraggly duck crippled with bad arthritis. Adreen could almost see Dian at the helm, not so much steering as leaning on the battered wheel and swaying left and right like a drunk and humming tunelessly all the while, and glaring painful death at anyone who dared to come close. Well, anyone except Bill. She sighed and lit a fresh cigarette, which she used to direct her own crew to get a move on. The sails unfurled with a snap and the sleek Cassiopeia in turn headed towards Marineford.
Fleet Admiral Sakazuki glared at the prone figure on the bed, so much so that his fist started smoking. A nurse in crisp white uniform, with shining auburn hair and clear blue eyes cleared her throat slightly and the man turned to glare at Law instead. They were in Marineford, so why couldn't they have found a proper, Marine doctor was beyond him. And that was a large part of the problem, overshadowing even the fact that the freshly-appointed Admiral Negura had tried to kill herself. Again, even. He turned towards the nurse, trying very hard to look calm but only managing to look constipated. "Well?" he asked. The woman immediately shushed him. "Admiral Negura's condition is stable now. We thought it wise to keep her under sedation until her family arrives. That would be, Vice-Admiral Dian, who is her sister, and Read Admiral Adreen, their cousin. And a Mr. Christian, another cousin. Ah, Vice Admiral Garp. So nice of you! It will do her good to see fresh flowers when she wakes up. I'll just put them in a bowl of water, shall I?" the nurse smiled slightly and took the large bouquet of peonies from him, exiting through a back door. It suddenly occurred to Sakazuki that the silence wasn't all that necessary. Trafalgar Law stood, placed the clipboard he'd been holding in its hook at the foot of the bed and left silently. Through the open door the two Marines caught a glimpse of Boa Hancock moving in to question the doctor. Garp took a seat at the foot of the bed, his large hand straightening an errant strand of chestnut hair with gentleness the Fleet Admiral hadn't thought him capable of, and an air of I-don't-want-to-talk-go-the-fuck-away that forced a rare spark of social intelligence into the Red Dog's brain and thus he swiftly left the room, if not very quietly.
The old man ignored him, or maybe he just hadn't heard. Some said that sleeping people looked peaceful, beautiful even. The woman on the bed looked, for lack of a better word, dead. Normally she was quite beautiful, but it wasn't the Boa Hancock kind, which came from regularity of feature or the exquisite shape of the bone. It was the kind that came from the play of emotion and the life which in her was like the tension that keeps a wire straight. Without the flush of nervous vitality, she was a sick person, who wouldn't get a second glance in a room with twenty others. Her face had a yellowish tinge and there were purple shadows under her eyes and around her temples. Her normally round face was drawn and haggard, the cheekbones jutting out. Her mouth was set in frown. Get off your ass and turn that frown upside down, Garp thought, feeling older than ever.
There is a lot of nothing and, they say, silence is golden. That's because it's one of the few things that can be seen, shimmering like the space dust gathering for the making of a star. Silence should not be chased away with words or screams, no matter how badly you would like one.
One good, long scream, like a banshee announcing the death of an entire world.
A scream that rips the throat apart, so everyone can see the pulsing heart lodged in the trachea so that each beat is a battle with a breath. Because that's what it would be like, living like you are dying.
That is the moment when the pain should give way to restless anger, when breaking things and crying simply would not do and you would pace and pace and pace, fingers twisting spasmodically and each sob burning the lungs.
Then the legs give.
Then you would cry, cry, and then cry some more.
But that would mean no more of the golden light of silence. Take a deep breath.
When Negura woke up, Dian and Adreen were standing by the window. Dian's lips were moving soundlessly to her song, and Adreen's fingers were twitching without her customary cigarette. In a corner, a large lump covered in a patchwork blanket snored loudly. She smiled, remembering the many sleepless nights when that snoring, muffled by several wooden walls, had been her only companion. She stood up, leaning against the headboard. The girls hurried by her side, getting ready for the what-the-fuck-were-you-thinking speech, or maybe the how-are-you-feeling-you-know-you-can-talk-to-us one, but all she wanted to do was laugh. Preferably in Sakazuki's face.
"Should we wake him up?" Adreen said.
"Not yet. How are you guys?"
Adreen looked like she would like to shake her and yell that she shouldn't be asking that, she should tell them how she was, because you tried to kill yourself you crazy bitch, but restrained herself.
"They're scrapping my ship" Dian said.
"I'm sorry, sis."
"So am I."
"It's probably for the best, you know. It's falling apart. You would have ended up at the bottom of the sea at the first storm."
"I can swim."
"Bill can't."
"Can you at least make sure it doesn't end up as firewood?"
"I'll see what I can do."
"She'll do it."
"Yeah. Let's go get some pizza, I'm starving."
"Dee's treat. She has the best cook, I've always thought, and he'll want to give the shiny new kitchen of the Blue Dawn a go."
"Won't you talk to the Fleet Admiral first?"
"Fuck'm. Wake up, Garp."
The old man snorted and shifted, but didn't wake up. "There's food involved," Negura said a little louder, to no avail. "Let him be, sis. He's been awake for two days". "I'll make up to him later with my special stew and curry fries, then. Let's go."
They ran into Sakazuki just outside the base.
"You're up, I see."
"Yes."
"We're going to have some pizza on my new ship. She hasn't eaten in a while."
"Ah, good." He didn't mention whether it was good that Dian had decided to relinquish her rotten old wreck or that Negura was well enough to want food. Adreen straightened, pulled out a cigarette and invaded his personal space. "So you see, all's well, sir" she said holding out the cancer stick. The man lit it with a flick of his finger and a grimace. "So we'll on our way. A few hours of family time, just like the doctor ordered."
"How soon will you be fit for duty?"
"Give her a break, will you?" Adreen grabbed hold of his chin, forcing him to look away from Negura and into her eyes. "These things take time."
"There is a serious disturbance on an island. I need to send an Admiral to deal with it."
"Send Borsalino, then."
"I'll send Fujitora."
"Thanks. You're a doll."
"Yeah, whatever."
The three headed for the docks with sparse conversation about various relatives and people from their village – mainly, who was getting married, who was having children and who was going to jail. They stopped in front of the hulking form of the Monsoon. Dian's shoulders tensed. She had grown up on the ship, after all (the old captain, a friend of the family, had said that the salty air would do wonders for her frail constitution). The creaking wood had seen her through violent bouts of pneumonia and fever, though that one moment when her tired lungs had been close to losing the battle and the world had flickered away into darkness. And look at you now, she seemed to say. Dian straightened her shoulders and swept her long, sandy hair back. All the battles this ship had won. All the time they had sat as a crew on its deck, battered, bleeding but alive and determined to stay that way. She burst into tears and her cousin draped her arm over her shoulders.
"Let's go," she said with finality. In respectful silence they headed towards the Blue Dawn.
Uhm. Hello. This story was prompted by too much Counter Monkey (go the Youtube and give it a watch if you love fantasy and RPG's) and my sister's unwillingness to let go of her ratty old Tokio Hotel tee. As such I created Dian with her confusion and headache-inducing haki in deference to my sister having Down syndrome. Admiral Negura is based on my own experience with depression. And the mysterious Mr. Christian is my cousin. When I outlined the character I took all his annoying traits and replaced them with some of his wife's better ones. Thus I created RoboBond. Keep reading, he'll start talking eventually.