"Pin." The judge's voice echoed across the halls. "I, Judge Guilles, in the name of the World Government and the Marines alike, find you guilty of possession and distribution of the illegal substance LSD." He paused both to breath and to raise a small piece of paper to his narrow glasses. "Under circumstances out of our control, you cannot be sent to Impel Down. For pleading your guilt, the government has allowed you a choice."
Pin looked up from her lap, confused. The government wasn't an entity that often gave ground, especially not to criminals. She swallowed.
"You may serve a life of slavery with other petty criminals, mining seastone and iron ore," the Judge raised one hand. "Or give your life to the government and join the Marines." Then he raised the other.
Her voice was caught in her throat. She went to speak but her voice cracked, "can I-... Can I think about it?"
"You may have ten minutes." The judge nodded, folding his hands over his blue robe.
'Ten minutes to choose the rest of my life, oh boy.' Pin nibbled her lip. She weighed things out; on one hand she would be stuck in chains doing dirty work in a chain gang. On the other, she'd be stuck on a ship doing government work. Neither option would ever allow her to be free again. But worse than that, it was a life sentence.
"Five minutes."
Pin, nervous and weak from her handcuffs, tried to think of what to do. The only upside of being a Marine would be freedom from chains. On the bad side though, she would never have the respect of others because of her slip up. But if there was a light anywhere, it was with them.
"I'll… I'll be a Marine." Pin quivered, looking at the judge.
The gavel rang through the hall.
"Why do I always get stuck with the renos?" Pin was standing board straight, as she'd been told to do, and watching the pink haired woman pace around the area. "This makes me angry. Hina angry."
"That's the way it is. You're one of the last captains here. Smoker flat refused since he's being transferred to the G-5, and I'm not taking her because… I don't want to." The large man grumped, his hand in a box of cookies.
The woman tugged a glove off her hand, revealing recently done nails. She took the cigarette from her mouth and stomped it out. With a little flourish, she snapped the file from the man's hands and leafed through it.
"A drug mule? You want me to take a drug mule? She'll have my men addicted. Hina refuses!"
"HA! That's the fun part about doing this," the man laughed, mouth spraying crumbs everywhere. "You can't refuse. She's all yours Hina!"
"Damn you, Garp."
With a hearty laugh full of crumbs and a firm slap on Pin's back that almost sent her sprawling, Monkey D. Garp left for the long haul. Which brought the smoldering anger from Hina directly down on Pin.
"Name." She demanded.
"Pin"
"Good. Answer fast, be quiet. I don't want any trouble. Hina hate insubordination." She lit another cigarette before continuing. "Call me Captain."
"Yes ma'am." Pin swallowed dryly. She felt stiff in the position she had been holding, and the new clothes weren't helping.
"Hina annoyed. Come on."
Following a short distance behind Captain Hina, Pin tugged at the tight neck of her marine uniform. It was fairly warm, and the shirt was pressed new, making it inflexible and uncomfortable. The saving grace was that she was in shorts instead of pants. Captain Hina was in a magenta pantsuit with gold trim, but she looked completely unbothered by the weather.
Down the hill from where Garp had united them was a ship, barely moving in the harbor. The top said said 'Hina' in large bold letters, and below that was the gull of the marine insignia. Disappointment slammed into Pin's stomach like a hammer.
"We're sailing for the New World. You better be ready." Hina stated, pulling her gloves back on.
"Yes, ma'am." Pin replied, looking down at her foreign boots. All her old clothes had been taken away and replaced with the same uniform.
As much as she wanted to run away, she knew there was no chance of getting anywhere. With her first step on the ship, Pin felt the last of her freedom pulling away. Forever a Marine, until death. The people on the ship already seemed to be mostly male, and doing busy-work type jobs.
As the descended into the ship proper, Pin received more than a few looks from the working crew. Most of them were confused, some hungry, and some looked as if they could watch a murder without a care.
"I'm handing you off to Jango and Fullbody until you get the basic life down. They love Hina, they won't bother you." Captain Hina sounded less than thrilled with her second sentence. None the less, she opened a door, behind which the smells of food poured out of.
"Nyah, smells good…" One of the men mumbled from behind them, followed by a chorus of agreement.
"Ironfist! Hypnotist!" Hina barked, putting her hands on her hips.
Not wasting even a second, two men screeched to a halt in front of Hina, one knee bowed each and hands over their chests.
"Hina-sama! Do you need me?" One asked. Pin noted the prominent scar on his face quickly.
"Or perhaps me?" The other sighed. This one was wearing flashy heart-shaped glasses.
"Hina has a job for you." Captain Hina began, stomping out another cigarette on the floor. A no-name marine quickly scooped the ash up and disappeared. "This is Pin." she said, with a point to Pin. "She's an ex-drug mule. Watch her. She better have it all down by the end of the week, or Hina will be upset. Got it?"
"Of course, Hina-sama!" The scarfaced man raised his hand in salute.
"Anything for you, Hina-sama!" The other did the same.
"Good. Now get back to work." Captain Hina left the room without ceremony, slamming the door behind her.
That left Pin and her new acquaintances standing amongst the smells and sounds of the kitchen. She looked around nervously, giving a short nod. "I'm Pin." She said, mouth dry.
"Double Ironfist Fullbody." The scarfaced man announced, slapping a fist into his open palm.
"And Jango! The hypnotist." The other did a quick spin and a flourish, which is when Pin realized she did not have the energy to keep up with the two of them at the moment.
"We're just starting the cook's dishes for him, I think he could use another set of hands." Fullbody toyed, tapping a finger on his chin. "Come on."
Pin ended up spending two hours cleaning pots and pans and trays. She didn't have supper, not until much later until the rest of the crew, with the others she had been scrubbing with. She hoped this would not be one of her regular duties.
A lot of the other's at the table with her seemed… wary. It was likely it had already spread that she had been caught trafficking drugs. She sat between two young men, but neither of them spoke up. Conversation went on around her.
She was given a bunk between two others, with not even enough headspace to sit up in and a drawer at her feet. All night, her upstairs bunkmate let his arm hang off the side of the bed, while her downstairs snored with his mouth open. Pin had rather forgotten the displeasure of being outnumbered severely by men.
The next morning she was found by Jango and Fullbody again, at breakfast. Which was some kind of oatmeal. In a way she was thankful the two had swept in to find her; most of the other marines were keeping distance.
"Sleep alright?" Fullbody asked, with a grin. He had seen her bunkmates and already knew the answer. "You'll get used to it."
"Ready to get crazy baby? Got a lotta work today!" Jango laughed, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
Pin sighed, leaning on her hand while she ate. "You guys don't gotta do this. I can figure it out."
"No can do. Hina-sama herself assigned us to this. No way we can back out." Fullbody tutted, looking dreamily at nothing. He swooned, "when she sees how well I did she'll finally love me!"
"Nah, baby! It'll be me!" Jango raved, gesturing to himself theatrically.
Pin groaned, finishing breakfast. "Next time I'm picking slavery."