Sorry for the long wait~ I just wasn't satisfied with what I written... I'll just post this version or I'll never post it. XD
Thank you all who favorited/followed/reviewed. Answers to reviews are down.
And yes... I am aware that what happened in this chapter is kinda cliché, but I tried to made it a little more original and let's say.. . realistic... as realistic a One piece fanfiction can be anyway.
I woke up.
And it came with a feeling of air blowing onto my face. I could finally breathe. However to breathe I needed to get rid of a water in my lungs. Someone turned me on my side so that I could cough water out more easily.
I was alive.
Everything hurt. I felt weak and nauseous. I was wet and so cold but... I was alive. I let first tears of fall as I continued to splutter water.
Someone came.
Someone saved me.
I was alive.
I was so, so happy. Nearly dying really put everything to perspective.
With my senses slowly kicking up from their slumber I started to 'feel' around me with Haki. My sense was sloppy at best but after few seconds I had a rough image of where I was and how many people were around me.
I was on a ship - that much I could have put together even without my Haki senses, really. There was someone right beside me, rubbing my back awkwardly. Other six to eight people (I was in no state to reliably count) were surrounding us in a tight circle.
Grateful smile blossomed on my face, any shame I could feel at being seen in such a pitiful state by strangers was put into back of my mind - they were probably the ones that saved me and all I could feel at the moment was pure gratitude.
I sluggishly moved my hands to place them on the hard wood of a deck. Then even though my whole body shook from exhaustion and cold I slowly started to raise my body upright.
"Aah! Don't move yet!"
My sudden efforts flustered the person behind me and he tried to push me down to lying position. I wasn't deterred though; I wanted to properly express my gratitude. After few failed attempts I accomplished what I wanted.
With my upper body more or less upright I slowly turned around to face the one who was rubbing my back before. My sight was blurry but I saw that he was a lot bigger than me and dressed in a clothes made out of fur.
I had a lot in my mind. I had a lot I wanted to say. But words failed me in that moment, so I let my actions speak for myself.
I sprung on him (at least I guessed it was a he). He released a high pitched squeak at that and tried to wiggle out of my surprisingly strong grip. I was pretty surprised I still had so much strength in me.
Tears were now falling with more vigor as I sniffed into the fur-like clothes.
Seeing the state I was in, the poor soul stopped his wiggling. Instead he sagged in my arms and hesitantly patted my back. He probably felt sorry for me and didn't have it in him to escape my grasps.
Wave of familiarity flew through me at this awkward hug. It reminded me of the times I woke up from a bad dream and grandma was there to lull me back to sleep with a hug and lullaby. It was these memories that broke the knot on my tongue and I started to babble between loud sniffles.
"Thank you- I don't- thank you-oh god -I am alive-thank you-I just-thank you so so much- this is unbelievable- sorry for this - thankyouthankyouthankyou-"
With all my energy spent on crying and holding onto the man like my life depended on it, it really was no wonder that I fell unconscious again.
####
When I woke up next, it was in a soft bed.
I blinked few times at the unfamiliar ceiling as I thought back on what I remembered. From that I more or less gathered my situation.
Several hours probably already passed and by now they had to realize I was not on board. They probably didn't even try to look for me - guessing that I already drowned. That wasn't such a bad guess as exactly that would have happened if my saviors didn't appear in time.
I shuddered when my thoughts wandered towards my time in water.
Now that I was safe and my brain was more or less functioning my near-death hit me hard.
I was aware of dangers marine profession held, but it always was just a thought in the back of my mind, the real possibility of ME dying early was just so bizarre. I mean I didn't even take part in fights therefore how could I die? I certainly didn't expect a Mother Nature to be my downfall.
It really did show how frail a life was. Dying because of a stupid slip. But then when I think about it weren't most deaths caused because of mistakes and lapses in attention?
I scrunched my face in discomfort. I really didn't want to think about that now. Later when I was in bed ... in my bed and home - smothered in blankets, surrounded by pillows and sensing that the only person in the house was grandma in the kitchen, cooking my favorite apple pie...then maybe then would be time to have such thoughts, maybe they wouldn't be so depressing once I thought over them in peace?
'Aaaw hell. Now I was home-sick even more.'
Okay this self-pity needed to stop. Back on track and let's think about matters on hand. So, they probably deduced that I was dead and it would be just my luck that they managed to already contact grandma.
Great...
She would sooo kill me...
I needed to call her fast. The more time it will take, the more violent her wrath will be.
I hope that this ship had a Den Den Mushi... through I wasn't too hopeful. What with the small size of the ship and only seven people on board... weird. How did they survive on Grand Line with only seven people?
I tilted my head as I observed their behaviors. They were talking with each other, one of them pointing to the room I was in. They were probably deciding what to do with me.
I sighed. My head started to throb when I thought about what was to come.
The best scenario would be that they owned a Den Den Mushi and after I explained my situation to them, they let me use it and all will end well with me being fetched by some marine ship that would be near.
The worst... well there were a lot of bad ways this situation can end in.
Well hope for the best but expect worst, right?
With that in mind I slowly roused my upper body and sat upright just as the group started to move towards the room I was in. I wanted to look more... presentable if you could call me that in the attire I just noticed I was wearing.
I was clothed in pink nightgown(?) that was too loose in... chest area (What the hell?! I was not flat... so from where came this sudden feeling of defeat?!). Now I didn't have anything against pink- it was okay color I supposed, it has nothing on green but I didn't hate it like most of my female colleagues who hated anything 'girly', but let's be honest – it was not the best color to wear when you were in serious situation.
Well I supposed it still was better than if I stayed in wet clothes - I didn't need to catch a cold on top of everything else, thank you very much.
I was more or less successful in sitting - I was upright okay, just a little slouched... all etiquette principles, that were hammered into me, were screaming to straighten up, but I couldn't care less. My whole body was stiff, my muscles jelly-like and now that I thought about it I was hungry - like I could-eat-anything-that-wasn't-poisoned kind of hungry. Gosh, I hope my stomach will not let itself known when the owners of this ship arrived. That would certainly made for an awkward situation.
I checked where the group was - near but still far enough for me to mentally prepare myself.
Okay. Deep breath.
I just had to calmly explain what happened and my solution. They couldn't be bad people if they saved me...
Yes, just smile and -
The door opened.
My strained smile fell at the sight them, panic flooded my system.
Now I've never was in direct contact with pirates after that one time, but I made sure to get a good look at new bounties, just to get a picture of pirates that were roaming around the word and sometimes I caught a glimpse of the old ones in newspapers or in superior's offices.
Point is even I, who was a little disconnected from the word outside of her little bubble, could recognize Devil Child - even though she was adult now and not a child anymore.
My face lost that little color it accumulated during sleep and cold sweat started to gather at my temples.
O-okay - this... this certainly was something I didn't imagine even in my most disastrous dreams.
'And of course that isn't all...' I thought in despair when I noticed a straw-hat sitting on a head of widely smiling boy.
Of course... I had to be fished out by a rookie pirate crew we were sent to apprehend. And Nico Robin - can't let her go forgotten. Hahaha… Just my luck. I was starting to seriously question the naming sense of whoever named me - I was clearly so not fortunate.
I jerked when someone stepped forward from the assembled group. It was woman with bright orange hair and hard look in her brown eyes.
"If you don't mind, we have some questions that we want to ask, now that you woke up," her sharp tone was like a whiplash to my already frayed nerves. Without me wanting it, my bottom lip started to tremble and tears gathered at the corners of my eyes. I was so not coping with the situation I was in.
Yes, I was a marine and we were supposed to be mentally stronger than civilians, but that was only in theory. I knew a lot of people who gone mad because they couldn't handle pressure, survival's guilt, or other horrors that came with this job…. to this day I didn't know how I would fare when the time came… guess I was in the weak category, huh?
Few hours ago (or was it days, how long was I out of it?) I nearly drowned and now I will be tortured, for information that I definitely didn't know, and killed after they realized that I was useless. And just as a hope of peacefully ending this little adventure of mine appeared…
Damn it.
"Tsk. Is she gonna cry again? What a wuss."
"Shut up, marimo. Don't insult a lady!"
"Haah? I can insult anyone I want. Do you w-"
"Shut up - both of you. Now's not a time. Though I do wonder what I said to make her cry. I didn't say anything bad, did I? "
"Uh Nami... I hate to say it. But you can look quite scary sometimes."
"What was that?!"
"Eeep."
I observed the bickering group with distrust in my eyes, no longer at the verge of tears. Instead I tried to compose myself, the words of a green haired guy resonating through my head. I didn't want to be called wuss… even if it was true to some extent. That however didn't mean it was pleasant to be called that. It stung quite a lot if I was being honest.
My efforts were for naught though as somebody suddenly pushed his face RightInFrontOfMine.
I screeched and jumped back in shock/fright and in the process hit my head against the wooden wall.
"Oow," I groaned weakly and gently nursed the back of my head. My hand didn't came across any blood, so I was calmed a little, didn't mean that it didn't hurt like hell though.
"Shishishi, she is so weird," the boy who frightened me started to laugh. My cheeks reddened in embarrassment. I bowed my head to let my hair cover my tomato-red face.
Well… I already made quite clear that I was not a threat to them with this. It was better like that, I suppose… There was no need to let my nonexistent pride made this situation worse. Maybe they will let me go if I looked miserable enough? Not very probable, but one can only hope, huh?
I sighed hopelessly and turned to look at the girl that was speaking to me before.
"Um... I don't know what you want to ask, but I am only low-rank officer... so I don't have any information that could interest you... s-so can you not t-torture me? Please?" I tried to speak in a soft, polite tone but it was destroyed at the end with stutter and my words resembled more begging than anything else… hooh… Okay, this was absurd. Hold some dignity woman.
"Torture?"
"Huh? What is she talking about?'
"Is she stupid?"
"Marimo!"
"Geeez. Calm down. We will not hurt you," was the answer of a woman I was looking at. She looked exasperated, with what exactly I wasn't sure, though I wasn't too keen on finding that out. I was more interest in what she said.
They will not? Cold dread passed through me. Did... did they plan to sell me?
Seeing my panicked state she rolled her eyes but softened her glare a bit. She then walked to my left and sat herself on a chair placed beside the bed.
"And we will not do anything similar to what you seem to think," she paused to let me digest her words. They did calm me down a bit, but my distrust didn't lessen,"We just want to know why there was a marine swimming in the middle of a sea."
Oh... that made sense. I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell them - they did save me, even if their motive for doing so was still unknown to me.
"I fell from the ship I was working on..." I said softly, feeling stupid when I admited it out loud. It was pretty lame and considering that incredulousness grew on their faces, they thought so too.
"You fell..?"
The awkward silence that fell over the room after that inquiry made me feel the need to defend myself.
"Y-yeah. I was about to go down from the Crown's nest and ship suddenly jerked... The sea was all calm too, so what the hell? ... It was accident, okay? It could happen to anybody, right? Right!"
My efforts were rewarded by awkward pat on a shoulder by the long-nosed member of the pirate crew. His words of consolation didn't make me feel better, not one bit.
"Of course it could..."
Being comforted by a pirate... Oh sweet potatoes, where did I go wrong in life?!
####
After my awkward explanation silence fell over the room.
Well I say that silence has fallen, but with how noisy this bunch seemed to be, they weren't able to stay quiet for long.
Right now some of them were few steps away from bed and whispering between themselves. The boy with straw-hat was laying in the corner and... was he a reindeer? He had antlers, so probably? This was Grand Line, so that wouldn't be so surprising. Well then, the reindeer was asking me how I was feeling.
I answered truthfully, figuring that he was a doctor of the ship. I didn't stop to wonder why talking reindeer was a doctor, too tired to care. It could be easily explained with Akuma no Mi. Those fruits could cause the weirdest things.
I was feeling better than before and I figured that they wouldn't kill me so soon after fishing me out. It would be dumb to do save me and kill me the next moment. That however didn't made me any less vary of them. Quite on the contrary if I was being honest. Who ever heard about pirates saving marines and not wanting anything in return? It just didn't happen.
Therefore when the noise from the group subdued and Nico Robin stepped forward I, understandably of course, started to sweat bullets again. This was the woman who managed to evade marines since she was only, what, seven? Eight? Point was: you don't mess with this woman. At least not if you don't have a death wish.
"I understand that this is quite stressful situation for you, Miss Marine. However before we could decide what to do, we still need few things to be clarified," she paused to give me time to process her words. I nodded uncertainly, "Thank you for your co-operation. Now, to start with something that was strange from the start. It is quite a lucky coincidence that you were drowning just as we were sailing around. How can we be sure that you weren't send here to arrest us?"
I gave her a blank look. Me... arresting them? ... forgive me now as I will do something out of character here.
I snorted.
Then I broke into hysterical laughter that caused other occupants of the room to take step back and look at me as if I lost my sense.
I probably did. Really, I knew that they didn't know me personally, however they did saw how pathetic I looked just few minutes ago and surely they couldn't think that I was THAT good of an actor, to pull that off with acting. Or maybe they did. Was that what they were thinking? I probably should straighten that up or they would kill me on the spot.
Sobering up from that though, my laughter died and instead I started coughing, thanks to a poorly swallowed saliva. Blood rushed into my cheeks as I tried to get enough oxygen into my lungs. In the end I had to be hit hard on the back by the small doctor so that I don't die from not taking enough air in.
I was really giving a good first impression, wasn't I?
I fought down another blush as I certainly didn't need it now, when those pirates were waiting for my answer with amused expressions.
I took deep breath and started talking.
"Sorry for that... I just... well do you really think that somebody like me would be sent on such a mission? I think you can pretty easily see that I am not a good material for that," I nervously smiled, hoping that they indeed saw that I wasn't faking anything.
"You could very well be just an excellent actor," Nico Robin pointed out.
Well here were the doubts I was waiting for, okay. I shrugged helplessly because really what can I say to make them believe me?
"I don't really have any way to prove that am not here to arrest you... you will just have to come to your own conclusions...?"
I could burst into tears if would help? Probably not, but hey I was feeling really miserable, so it wouldn't take a lot of effort to become bawling damsel in distress. Grandma would be so mortified if she saw me now.
They exchanged looks and most of them looked deep in thought. The only exceptions were captain, who looked bored and close to running away to do something more entertaining if it wasn't for a orange-headed woman's glare that froze him on the spot and the other person was a blond haired man who had... a heart? In his one visible eye...
What the hell?
Did he have Akuma no mi? Some kind of laser eye that could sniff out a lie? Eh, probably not as next second he was hit on the head with words 'to be more serious'.
That had to hurt. I thought as I looked at the downed pirate with a bump already forming on his head. My fear of the orange-haired woman started to skyrocket (together with awe, it was pretty badass how she singlehandedly controlled the whole crew, maybe she was hidden threat, the mastermind and straw-hat was just a decoy?).
"What was your crew doing near Alabasta then? You wouldn't be send there without a reason," this time the one who spook was a guy who was in quarrel with heart-in-eye guy before. He... did look like a marimo a bit. I shouldn't probably speak it up loudly though. I wanted to live a little longer if I could help it and he looked like a guy who wouldn't hesitate to slice me in half if I angered him. And as my sense of preservation was high I decided to answer him truthfully and quickly - it wasn't that much a secret where we were headed and what was our target. And from the looks of it we were late anyway.
"Well. We were on our way to aid marines that were stationed here. I suppose... Our objective were you guys as I remember seeing the boy with straw-hat on a poster our captain had in his hand," I hesitantly added the last sentence. They could use my words against me if they so wanted. But the same could occur if I lied to them or told them only half-truth. I was not that good liar to lie in the face of my death. So truth it was.
As I expected some of them straightened at my words and narrowed their eyes.
I slowly raised my hands to show them that I was hardly a threat. I was in a bed, wearing pink T-shirt (that certainly wasn't mine, oh sweet potatoes, who changed me?!), half buried under blankets, my light brown hair were probably a mess without the rubber-band that I lost in the sea. And that was only describing outer my appearance.
I was still stiff as hell and not in any form to fight seven people. I probably wouldn't be able to defeat even one of them.
"So our capture was your goal, huh?" said green haired guy with a glare that could freeze over hell. I died a little inside at being the target of that terrifying glare.
'Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.'
Seeing my current state the heart-in-eye guy tried to kick the Marimo devil but his leg was stopped inches away by a sword.
"Don't you dare scare this young defenseless lady, you Marimo bastard! It's time to teach you some-" his proclamation was stopped when the hidden-threat (aka orange haired girl) downed both of them in one swift move.
Okay she wasn't just scary, she was downright terrifying. Maybe even more so than that Marimo devil... just maybe, she didn't look at me with such frightening glare as the devil after all.
The heart-guy... Well he did save me from a misery of being stared down by the devil so he certainly shifted from don't-go-close-to-that-creep to I-can-maybe-learn-his-name. Same with doctor and long-nosed guy. Others? Nope, even looking at them was a feat.
I noticed that now, for a change, I was closely observed by Nico Robin... can it be considered as an improvement? I... can't say yes to that.
"What are you going to do now? With us escaping your comrades and your mission clearly failed... you are in the best position to continue it. Will you try to apprehend us? I advise you speak a full truth as quite few of us can detect a lie," she said with even tone.
I gulped. Her emotionless face was unnerving. I cleared my throat to loosen the lump that formed there and turned to face the straw-hat as he was said to be captain and in situation like these it was best to speak to the person with the highest position (and I didn't want to look at Nico Robin more than I had to).
"I am not suicidal... I am aware of the fact that if I were to face you all in the combat I would by completely obliterated" not even speaking about the fact that I wasn't able to fight, "what I plan to do? It's more like what you will do. I just... want to go home..."
My voice was steady for once. I was so proud of myself that I managed to control my emotions so excellently. Though a little bit of desperation cracked into my voice at the end.
I said complete truth too… all I wanted at that moment was grandma's hug.
There was silence after I stopped speaking. I didn't dare to look away from the straw-hat's eyes. He looked like he was thinking about something. Then a smile stretched across his face.
I blinked. Did I say something funny?
"You want to go home? Sure I don't have problem with that! Where are you living? If it's nearby we can sail there!"
I blinked again. And again, for a good measure. Excuse me?
Others shared my sentiment as there were exclamations of bewilderment and eyebrows were raised.
"L-luffy are you sure? She is a marine, you know?!" squeaked long-nosed guy.
"Of course! She is weird but doesn't seem like a bad person. So we will help her!"
"I completely agree! We have to help any lady in distress!"
"Well if Mr. Captain says so..."
"Che. She doesn't seem like a threat anyway," I would have been insulted by the marimo-devil if I didn't completely agree with him.
The doctor, still standing beside me, looked hesitant. But didn't speak up his disagreement/agreement. After he saw me looking at him he offered me a nervous smile that I tried to reciprocate. He was... cute.
Then I turned my eyes at the only one who still didn't offer any insight to her stance at the captain decision.
She was rubbing her forehead and looked like she was in pain. After a while she turned her eyes upwards with resigned expression.
"Okay. Like captain said we will be your ride. But. Under three conditions," she said as she raised three of her fingers. I parted my mouth in surprise.
"First: we will kick you out at the nearest adequate island and you will have to find the way to your hometown from there on your own."
I nodded. I could call grandma once I was on a island and somebody will be dispatched to pick me up after that.
"Second: all of your weapons and other things you had on you will be confiscated until you leave. At the same time if you try something funny, that would cause any of us harm, you will be tossed out. Understand?"
I nodded quickly again, not wanting to anger her.
"And last. You will not be a freeloader. We will give you a place to sleep and food, therefore in exchange you will need to pull your weight. Of course all of your money are ours now, too."
I thought about it. If it would be only chores then I suppose...
I nodded for the last time and slowly extended my hand to her. She appeared surprised by my fast agreement, however soon enough my hand was gripped by hers and a smirk bloomed on her face.
I gulped nervously, suddenly feeling like I just signed my death warrant. She gripped my hand more tightly and pulled me closer to her.
"How are your sewing skills?" she asked, still wearing that worrisome smirk.
"Umm... sufficient?" I answered with trepidation.
"Good."
The end~
I wanted to continue with chapter, but then I decided to just end here... hope that you enjoy it nevertheless~
Also... do you want me to do fillers and all of the movies? I have one or two films I want to do, but overall I want just follow canon~
Reviews:
Dragondancer81 – Thank you for your kind review! I am sorry that you had to wait for so long.
Uberch01 – You do? That makes me happy! Though there is still a lot of things I need to improve.
kani-leek-lover- Hello! *waves back*. It was a while, wasn't it? XD Yup, I chose the name because it sounded unique enough as One piece is a little weird with names. Wow! You perfectly understood what I wanted to portray with my writing. I am glad~. Also… traumatic… I don't know about that, but the change will be slow and gradual. Of course, this is One piece and she is currently on a ship with future pirate king, so… some traumatic things are bound to happen. This story takes place just after Alabasta, thus before marineford. And yes! She was saved… as you see in this chapter, by straw-hats… Can you guess who fished her out? I indicated it a little in first chapter…
