Before the Mast

by arrowsandroses

As a research intern on the bottom of the food chain, Rill has no authority. As the sister of 2 danger-seeking pirates, she's learned to make peace with chaos. But as a young woman trying to appeal to the opposite sex-specifically, the most difficult man to hunt along the ocean blues-she's discovered just how hopeless romance is for someone with no concept of intimacy. SMOKERXOC

2. Chapter 1

Title: Before the Mast
Chapter: 1
Word Count: 10,606
Canon Characters: 4—surprise, surprise!
Warnings: Blood, gore, and death are included in this chapter, as well as a medical autopsy. Primarily focuses on original characters.
Location: Unnamed winter island in South Blue; unnamed island in North Blue.
Author's Note: Hi, guys! It's that time again where I halt your pleasure reading for just a moment to bring you the latest news of absolutely nothing. I suppose I wanted to touch base with a few questions! The OC, Rill, is the biological older sister of Luffy by two years, placing her at the same age of the likes of Sanji and Zoro (not that those two really come into effect here, but for reference point!) If anyone was curious, Smoker is, uh, 34. He's 15 years older than his destined love interest.

Figured I would just let that settle in while I try to regain my senses. Thank you very much to everyone currently following the story! As always, I'm thrilled by your reviews and encouragement! Nothing makes my tummy warmer than your feedback (and if you notice any mistakes, don't feel nervous about pointing them out! Mistakes are, regretfully, my forte it seems, and I don't presently have a beta reader.) I respond well to active feedback, so if it's within your ability to leave a review sharing what you did/not enjoy about this chapter, you'll forever hold my appreciation! *o*

This first chapter doesn't actually include Smoker, but it certainly sets the story in my desired direction, and I very much promise he'll appear in chapter 2! I'm excited for the level of character development I expect out of my OC, and hopefully the rest of you will enjoy it, too. I know this installment took months of fruition, but if you take a look at the word count (and that doesn't include the ridiculous size of this author's note), I actually worked hard on this! I've never written a chapter this big, and I've already accumulated over 6000 words of notes to follow as I write this story. As of right now, I can comfortably say I see the whole beginning, middle, and end! (There were also a few months I didn't touch this story at all. I can safely assure you I've already started the second chapter, so hopefully this eases some concern.)

I would also like to remind everyone that as I've added Rill into such a pivotal role, it's best to interpret this as an alternate universe. I'm always trying to follow the One Piece storyline, but of course, in canon, Luffy certainly doesn't have a sister or any significant standing with any of his biological relatives. I'm hoping you find my changes appropriate enough—and in the future, there's certain timelines I'll have to flex in order to match what I have in store. I'm probably worrying more about this than any of you, aha.

Thank you so much for your patience! Please enjoy your reading and let me know what you think! xoxo

---

"…that's a mermaid's carcass," Rill repeated to the small group for a fifth time. No one offered as little as a grunt at her reminder. One scientist even picked his nose while the other three shuddered together, their hands rubbing in rapid fashion as a cold wind rippled through their jackets. They all sat silently upon their heels, watching the striking, dead creature rotting along the shore. Rill scanned the coast, searching for the group leader, Dr. Megalodon, who had wandered back to the ship some twenty minutes earlier. She walked forward a few paces, testing if her range of sight could improve, and nearly stepped on the mermaid's bright pink hair.

"Watch it, kid!" Scout shouted. He removed his finger from his nose, pointing it in her direction. "You want to contaminate any more of this?"

"Sorry."

"THAT'S NOT HOW YOU APOLOGIZE!"

"I'm… very sorry?" she tried again. The men sighed.

"You've gotta be one of the most socially-stunted girls I've ever seen," another one piped up. Rill turned, and realized it was Odis. At least, she thought it was Odis who sported the thick brown beard—the one with blonde, braided hair was Raymond, and the bald guy had the name she never remembered. Or was the bearded man the one she couldn't remember, and the bald guy was Odis? Scout made things easiest—he sported a red crew cut and a soul patch. Rill frowned, biting her lip as she tried to go over their names again and batted her foot impatiently at the returning waves.

"No," she answered, deciding she would simply avoid titles until she could remember them all. "I just don't really see the concern," she admitted as an afterthought.

The bald one—Odis? not Odis?—abandoned the huddled group and joined her on foot. She cautiously maneuvered outside their manmade circle, as far away from the mermaid as needed and providing him with a gracious amount of room.

"The big deal is there's a dead friggen mermaid on a winter island. THAT DOESN'T JUST HAPPEN, KID."

"My name is Rill."

"I KNOW WHAT YOUR NAME IS!"

"Nevermind, nevermind," she dismissed. Her eyes flickered back towards the island's inlet, where a small figure popped into view above the white hilltop. "I see him!" she said, and pointed to the path they had all carved with their bodies only half an hour earlier. The snow drifted sparingly, but a freshly-fallen sheet covered a few centimetres above their work. She never knew the weather along the Grand Line changed so sporadically. She had read about it, surely, but it took the experience to really understand what those masses of text referred to; only the day before she had lounged on the deck, baring tiny shorts and sunglasses. Now the thought of even removing her mittens stressed her.

The men followed her index finger, fixated on the small form of Dr. Megalodon struggling with a thick, blue tarp towered over his head. Raymond and one of the possible Odis' hopped up from their ankles and rushed off to help him.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Meg!" she shouted as the small cluster grew closer. "I almost stepped on her hair!"

"YOU IDIOT, DON'T TELL HIM THAT!" the bald guy beside her shouted.

"But if I contaminated the evidence, he needs to be wary, right?"

Baldie continued glowering at her. Realizing it was possibly a hopeless battle, she fell silent until the rest of their party joined them. Dr. Meg, a man many times her age, almost sized up to her in height. His white, bearded chin reached her neck, his glossy, hazel eyes met her mouth—she liked smiling down on him during his lectures, watching all the changes in his face as he fed her mind or criticized her work. For instance, when he felt like having a bit of fun at her expense, the corners of his eyes crinkled ahead of time, giving her a good warning that she should take whatever left his mouth next with little consideration. On other occasions, like when he planned to quiz her, she noticed that his eyebrows rose dangerously high above his eyes; subtle indications weren't his forte, but they supplemented a great asset for her and her fellow intern.

Before she could raise a question, Raymond came up behind her, swatting at her pony-tail. "Quit stalling, Rull."

"You know what my name is," she shot back, right before she greeted the lead doctor. His short stature amused her yet again as he fumbled with a black kit in tow. She waited with her hands open until he finally lifted it into her arms, and quickly returned to the rest of the equipment stocked towards the inlet and away from the ocean's reach. With all of the kits properly opened, each of the six took time to remove their thick, winter coats until only their standard, obsidian windbreakers separated them from the cold. All hats and gloves were dumped into a pile, while gloves and medical masks replaced their tuques, scarves, and mittens. None of the men complained about their discomfort, and Rill tried her best to mimic their stride by swallowing all of her opinions regarding frostbite and senseless procedure.

Raymond moved around her, unfolding the tarp towards the ocean, and clicked his tongue impatiently for his comrades to hurry. The two possible Odis' glared as they trudged past her, but she batted them away with an unwavering smile. "So," she charged forward, her focus returned to Dr. Meg. "Theories and speculations?"

"Rill, I expect a better handle on habit from you! Since Hypher isn't here, why don't you take the lead today? Share your observations with us, Miss Monkey."

Rill grimaced at the uncomfortable title. "Miss Rill sounds nicer," she suggested.

"QUIT BEING FUSSY!" bearded possible Odis shouted.

This time, she sighed. "You guys are doing plenty of scolding today! …and you should really watch that tarp." Rill frowned as Raymond grappled with the edge of the tarp, his arms struggling to unfold it while his feet moved mindlessly beneath him. Twice he neared the edge of the mermaid's rotting fin, and if nearly stepping on her hair had been detrimental, surely kicking away at her pliable flesh wouldn't improve matters. "You're going to—HEY, RAYMOND, YOU'RE GOING TO STEP ON HER FIN!"

"QUIT YELLING! YOU'RE DISTRACTING ME!"

Rill's body moved faster than her thoughts. She lunged over the mermaid and wrapped her lanky frame around a toppling Raymond. Together, they slammed into the brittle, icy sand and rolled until their backs collided with the frigid, ocean waves. She immediately abandoned him, crawling carefully towards the corpse. The violet fin wavered gently in the folds of pushing water, but was unscathed by Raymond's boot. Relieved, she settled back into the sand.

"That was fortunate," she told the group.

Dr. Meg's head bounced as he guffawed into his sleeve while Raymond returned to his feet. He trampled along her widespread fingers, and when she didn't so much as blink his way, he dug his heel into her knuckles.

"You… bloody… MORON!"

"My brothers used to do that, too—your boots are really uncomfortable," she added, and finally silenced when he abandoned her fingers to enclose his fist around her neck. Rill obliged with the upheaval. Her knees bent to further assist him, and though he raised her higher than her height, she tried to keep her toes from struggling to reach the ground. "This is… really uncomfortable, too. My neck is sensitive to touch and—"

"You've been a pain in my ass since we brought you into this program!" Raymond interrupted, his voice lowered in a growl. His golden eyebrows kneaded together as he continued glaring into her. Was this his idea of intimidation, she wondered. Rill remembered Ace's vicious smile, something far more bone-chattering than a trademark scowl, but finally conceded that maybe her antics were getting too annoying.

"I am sorry. But my brothers—"

"We get it! Your brothers are helpless idiots."

Rill frowned. "That's not what I—"

"THAT'S PRETTY MUCH WHAT YOU SAY!" Scout shouted from behind her, before she could argue over another pointless detail.

She sighed. "They're just a handful. They don't listen very well—"

"—astounding that your genes carried you this far through the ages—" bald, possible Odis muttered.

"I'm sorry, Raymond! This is all still very new for me! I promise not to contaminate the evidence, and I really promise not to push you again."

A few seconds of silence passed, before his eyebrows separated again and his stare relented into a careful stern. She continued to watch his face as he lowered her back onto the beach, and when his hand left her neck, he gently tugged down on her pony-tail. "We've been doing this for a long, fucking time," he reminded her, but she appreciated the gentle appeal now added to his tone. "You need to listen more."

"Need to listen," she repeated.

"It takes more than books to get through this program. You and Hypher are the newest recruits we've had in years."

"Must read more."

"No, you idiot," Raymond admonished. "It takes skill. You need strength—"

Rill had her mouth open, ready to remind him that she possessed an almost inhuman quality of strength, but surrendered to the warning glint in his eyes. Right; need to listen more.

Raymond hesitated for a moment; she wondered if he thought perhaps she would interject and so her lips pursed together, creating a thin line along her mouth. His smile swallowed his earlier stern. "Good," he said. "Now answer the doctor; whatdya think happened here?"

The men finished unfolding the tarp while she gathered her thoughts. No one said a word to aid her, and Rill stepped away from their busying cluster, her eyes trained on the horizon. In the distance, massive glaciers towered over the ocean's surface, but no ships or living creatures breached her sight. It was too cold for even the local merchants to travel about that day.

"What about a current?" she said, drawing her gaze back to the mermaid. "The Grand Line has plenty of vicious pathways, and if this one was just a little bigger, a little stronger, it could've drawn her in and transported her to a colder section of the ocean. Where she then proceeded to freeze."

They waited for her next theory, not so much as giving her a hint as to whether this one held any merit. "Hmm… although I guess the same could be said if she simply became lost. Or if she was being hunted. The Noble ships—"

Bearded possible Odis cut her off with a warning look, and she nodded. "I mean, black market traders are always after merfolk. Are there any intrusions on her body?"

"Not presently visible," Dr. Meg answered. "I agree with your initial idea. This seems to be the work of a current. The bruises along her torso indicate she may have tried to escape it, but even the wildest roads of the sea can claim the lives of mermaids. It's very, very tragic."

"All of the currents are getting stronger," Scout said as he and Raymond photographed different angles of the corpse. "Sea levels are on the rise again; it's the same shit we've been telling them for years."

"Possibly," Dr. Meg said, "but that hardly constitutes a connection. The weather's always a bit peaky on the Grand Line, and that certainly interrupts the ocean mood outside it, too. "

"But it's not unpredictable," bald possible-Odis interrupted. "Sporadic, changeable, inconsistent at times—but not unpredictable like those morons like to think. If they'd open a ruddy textbook every now and then…" He beckoned for Rill to join him at his side and unrolled a thin sheet of clear plastic for her to gently wrap around the mermaids' tail. Together, they skirted the sheet in three or four layers, slowly making their way down towards her fins. It wasn't until she was securely restrained that the four men—with Dr. Meg and Rill training their eyes for any accidents—heaved her onto the blue tarp. Rill gazed into the mermaid's glossed, lavender eyes, haunted by the vacant smile watching back before the tarp enclosed around her.

"She didn't expect to die like this."

Scout shrugged and retrieved a cigarette from within his windbreaker. He struggled unearthing his lighter from his pocket, but eventually succeeded in lighting the flame. "Accidents of nature."

"Hypher's gonna be jealous he missed this," Baldie mused.

Rill turned towards the ocean, ignoring any steers leering her way. Her hands went to work, reorganizing the items in the open kits before sealing them shut again, all the while straining to follow their conversation.

"I never let a damn fever take me out from work," bearded possible-Odis muttered.

Raymond snorted from her left. "Didn't you get dengue fever your first week in? LIAR."

"THAT'S DIFFERENT, it was a nasty virus. Not some little flu bug."

"Coward."

"TO HELL WITH YOU, YOU FLIMSY BASTARD. ALMOST STEPPING ON A FUCKING FIN! WHAT ARE YOU—A TRAINEE? YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN THAT IDIOT!"

The two men jumped to their feet. That idiot turned back to watch their mountainous bodies crouch in a fighting stance. "Yeaaaaah, rumble! You can do it, Mr. Raymond!" she cheered.

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO TAKE HIS SIDE!"

Rill didn't have the heart to inform him she simply couldn't recall his name.

---

Back on board the ship, Rill stalled as long as she could: organizing evidence containers, offering to help gut the fish for their next meal, and even trying to engage the good doctor in solid conversation about his last sabbatical. All of her efforts failed when Raymond handed her a small basin of water, topped with a folded cloth.

"Go take care of your peer," he said.

Rill scowled into the water at her unhappy reflection. "I'm not a nurse!"

"You have three different biology degrees. Two chemistry degrees—wait, does she have the chemistry degrees?" Raymond called up to the upper deck. Scout poked his head forward.

"Yeah, and a physics one. The kid took a chem one, too, and geo."

Raymond snorted before turning back to the Rill, who's glare hardly phased his interest. "That's basically pre-med times three," he offered.

Dr. Megalodon clucked his tongue from a little table propped by the mainmast. "That's stretching it a bit."

"Out here, it's close enough," Raymond dismissed. "Wasn't her whole package pre-med?"

"So? All of you have a hundred, collectively."

"DON'T USE STUPID EXAGGERATIONS!" the bald possible Odis shouted from behind her. Rill whirled back to glare at him.

"I'm not a nurse just because I'm the only woman on board!"

"This isn't a sexist thing," bald possible Odis said. "You're his peer. This is your program, and that makes you two… brethren. You treat him. If Isamu was sick, I'd get Raymond to nurse his wounds."

Somewhere from the upper deck, the bearded Isamu snorted, but Rill rejoiced over the revealed missing name.

"Okay, Odis. Your reasoning is stupid, Odis, but I respect your stupid assessment nonetheless… Odis."

Odis angrily stalked off while Raymond deposited the basin into her unwilling arms. The water sloshed backwards, drenching her front with warm water that would quickly freeze if she didn't get to the hull in time. Rill wasn't careful as she vanished down the steps, letting the water trail in little puddles behind her. When Hypher's room—all but emptied besides the patient to thwart risk of spreading his ailment—came into view, she carelessly cupped the tub beneath one arm while her free hand reached for the knob. It pulled open before her mittened fingers even touched the brass.

Her peer was six months younger than her and a good six inches taller. Short, thick tufts of blonde hair—typically artificially spiked—lined the top of his head, leaving the impression of some sort of rebellious nature, but today it was flattened against his forehead and drenched in sweat. A small scar from his old eyebrow piercing blazed white against his tawny skin—any superfluous body modifications (usually anything except simple ear piercings and tattoos that could be easily hidden) were strictly prohibited in the program. Hypher was societally handsome, and Rill made a habit of only exchanging the most necessary of words with him.

"…hey," he croaked. She stared at his stomach, wondering above all else why it was naked. He had little freckles inked along his left side, a striking brown against his pale canvas, as though God himself painted them on as a gentle afterthought.

"Hrgh," she grunted, after counting 6 thick birthmarks. She lifted the basin towards him, willing her head to snap back and greet his stare, but her eyes remained on his stomach, noting that he was thinner than the muscled carvings she always pictured. Could it be that it was simply a result of a few days' sickness, or his natural figure?

"See anything you like?"

Hypher was chuckling before Rill fully digested his comment, and even after she wondered if it meant what she thought it did, she doubted herself for another full minute until he opened his door wider.

"You can come in and nurse me," he offered.

"No," she refused, the word rolling from her tongue swiftly as she jerked off her mittens. She stared down at her hands and closed them around the gloves, waiting until her knuckles turned white before she spoke again. "I'm not a nurse," she repeated.

"True enough. Not many nurses turn that red over a bit of skin," he chuckled. Rill turned her back to him, her hands quickly finding her cheeks and regretting the heat engulfing them. She thought of a few lies—it was stuffy, she was still overwhelmed from the expedition, his breath was terrible—and dismissed all of them.

"You don't even look that sick," she said as she turned to face him again.

Hyper shrugged. "It's just a fever," he agreed as he rinsed the cloth from the basin with only one hand. Gently, he massaged the cloth into his torso, and Rill diverted her gaze to the ceiling. How many times would someone need to jump on the flooring above her before they crashed through and pinned her to her death? Her brothers were capable of that level of destruction; she paused to ponder the condition of their house now that she wasn't there to monitor Luffy's antics. He was probably living in a tree, or at least a pile of rubble once called home.

"Subtly isn't one of your handy skills, huh?"

Rill's neck immediately jerked down. She quickly placed her mittens in separate pockets of her coat, trying to discreetly wipe away the sweat that had collected during her daydreaming. "I just need to do a few stretches," she lied. Extending one leg towards the stairs, she leaned the opposite direction, giving a half-hearted stretch while he watched her with a smile.

"Sure. Thanks for the tub," he called after her as she quickly straightened herself and walked away. Rill was already making her way towards the stairs, but she spared him another second, twitching her head in a violent jerk as she dashed up the steps. His laughter trailed behind her.

---

Three days later, Dr. Megalodon, Hypher, Odis, and Rill gathered in the examination room below the sleeping cabins to survey their specimen. Patient Lavender, as Rill had dubbed her, died from blunt force trauma to the head. The back of her skull was crushed in, the blow having punctured her brain which proceeded to hemorrhage until she bled out—Rill's earlier assessment appeared conclusive, with the blow seemingly instigated by debris trapped in the same current. They couldn't rule out the possibility of Black Market traders attacking her, but it wasn't a theory worth resting on with only minimal evidence present.

The mermaid's corpse was preserved on ice collected from the winter island, and though it wasn't to anyone's preference, they had all agreed to stay within the winter zone, if only until they finished the autopsy to determine her cause of death. The ship was limited on preservations, and if the heat surmounted too strongly, bacteria would breed and strip away the rest of her.

"We shouldn't have waited this long," Odis muttered as he hovered over Rill, who polished the medical instruments. She glanced up at him, but he only jerked his head towards Hypher, finally dressed again and donning a white medical mask.

Never one to miss attention, the youngest of the group chuckled. "I appreciate that you did. How many times in my life am I gonna get the chance to dissect a mermaid?"

"You're only observing, punk. We're not letting whatever the hell you have contaminate her."

"Not that a flu would be so harmful to her now," Rill said. She finished polishing the last scalpel, handing it off to Dr. Megalodon, who remained silent as he made his first incision directly down her torso. Rill witnessed several human autopsies while in school, but the mermaid's altered blood color—a magnificent oozing gold running down the blade—made it far more engrossing. Practices never brewed the same fascination as field work, and poor health or not, she understood the importance of Hypher standing witness.

As though trailing her thoughts, Hypher carefully maneuvered around the doctor, coming up beside her. "Next time it'll be us," he murmured by her ear, and though she didn't turn to him, she angled her head just enough for him to catch her smile.

As Dr. Meg seeded through her body, the rest of them watched silently, their ears trained on every slosh of flesh and the pencil scraping against paper from Odis' note-taking. Once her torso was cropped and pulled open, the lead doctor's eyes flickered towards the interns.

"Blood discoloration! Go!"

"Sulfhemoglobinemia?" Hypher suggested immediately.

"Unlikely," Rill said. "All of her blood is gold-coloured. Something like this… I would suggest a rare defect previously unheard of in the surface world. Possibly influenced by specific gene breeding, diet, natural selection? If she was from a remote village, it would certainly limit the gene pool. But I don't think it caused her death."

"Odis?" Dr. Meg said while his hands rummaged around her ribcage with a pair of tongs.

"Yeah, yeah. A gold star for the one who never shuts up."

Hypher nudged her side. "It's never something simple, is it? You find a human like this and it's definitely sulfhemoglobinemia."

"No, no, no. After the vegetarian Sea King? It's definitely never simple. I'm sure there's oddly coloured humans out there, too."

"HAVE YOU IDIOTS NEVER LOOKED AROUND? THERE'S PEOPLE WITH BLUE AND PINK FUCKING HAIR!"

"One of my fake moms had green hair," Rill mused aloud.

"I was a vegetarian for a couple months when I was younger," Hypher said, returning back to the subject. "I cracked after my mom brought home pepperoni pizza one night."

Rill smiled as she watched the doctor withdraw fluid from the corpse using a giant needle. "We ate anything we could find. He denies it, but I'm pretty sure Ace once brought home dog meat. But my brothers always gave me extra helpings of blueberries. If I could, I'd survive on those little blue bulbs alone."

"What? Were you raised in the jungle?"

"Daadadada… sort of, I suppose. Tropical terrain, at least. I was raised by bandits," she said.

Hypher chuckled as though she told a joke; Rill allowed him to believe so.

The two of them silenced after another warning glare from Odis, and returned their focus to the autopsy. Even in a well-equipped lab, autopsies were never a hurried process, usually amounting to several hours. In a unique case like this, with so many odd happenings (the unofficial cause of death and blood discoloration), they needed to reserve even more time to properly inspect the body. Even after all was said and done, all of her fluids would require testing that couldn't be completed until they returned to a proper government lab.

It was why, when Dr. Megalodon was withdrawing fluid from her kidneys, they hadn't expected to recognize anything on sight alone.

Odin frowned as the lead doctor held up the needle directly beneath the light. "That's Kraken Breath," he murmured.

Rill reached forward with a gloved hand, clutching a vial between her finger tips, and the doctor poured a small sample midway up the tube. She watched the aqua-tinted poison whish around, the collection of silver flakes reflecting back like shards of diamond and steel.

"Now this is incredible," Dr. Meg mused brightly, his expression unfaltering despite their unusual circumstances. "Which of you care to explain to us as to why?"

Rill gave Hyper three seconds to respond before she started rambling off. "Kraken Breath is nearly impossible to determine unless specifically searched for. You need to drain all of the internal organs, test the blood for present neurotoxins and record their stages—more often than not, Kraken Breath eludes this due to its incredible ability to quickly evaporate from the system. While there are external signs of poisoning, they share many similarities with basic biological disturbances. Honestly, we shouldn't even be able to see this, were it not for her blood discoloration and the fact she was basically kept frozen—"

"It couldn't build enough energy to evaporate," Hypher finished for her.

Odis snorted, but the corner of his mouth rose, just a smidge. Rill smiled and turned her gaze to the lead Doctor.

"Was that satisfactory?" she asked earnestly. Her grip on the vile relented as Hypher took it away and stoppered it, but the Doctor didn't answer her, only continued removing organs, placing them in separate trays for further dissection. She frowned, thinking hard of what she was missing. Kraken Breath, Kraken Breath…

"Oh."

She turned to Odis, deciding it was his fault that she missed this last key point. He shouldn't have smiled. "And mermaids are immune to it, aren't they? Fishmen and mermaids."

Dr. Meg nodded just as she turned back to him. "Well done, Rill," he congratulated. "Regardless of the levels of kraiken braeth, no amount has the competence to pollute her bloodstream or neurons. Judging by its presence, however, she may have been a carrier."

Rill frowned. "A carrier?"

"The World Government's top boy," Odis interjected. "Dr. Vegapunk's always butting his nose into every little detail the sea can offer—"

"I know! His work is the leading resource of the world's inventions and technologies. Dr. Vegapunk is the greatest contribution to the scientific community in over 500—"

"DON'T PRAISE YOUR TEACHER'S RIVALS!"

"But it's true!" Rill insisted. "Nevermind his work on the Devil's Fruit and seastone, he's revolutionized simple home comforts. My grandfather told me Den Den Mushi weren't even useful until he discovered the right wave length for communi—"

A hand emerged from behind her, its fingers securing around her lips and cutting off her means of arguing. Reluctantly, she tiled her head back and scowled at Hypher's smirk.

"You were saying?" He turned to Odis, dismissing her glare. Rill thought for a moment how she could throw him through the walls of the ship, maybe even take off one of his arms and let the blood attract a Sea King, but the anger subsided under reason: those were more suited to the abilities of her brother's. At the very least, she could be passive aggressive towards him for the rest of their internship.

"Vegapunk's facility has outsourced carriers. They bring him rare and unknown items, poisons… anything that could generate a use above, and he rewards them with funds from the Government. The man buys his work; he doesn't search for it."

"Hm shh hhhnuh mmaaay uhhh eh hurr hihihihsh!"

Hypher drummed his fingers along the top of her head, inciting her disposal of patience when she bit down on his hand. Ignoring his startled yelp, she wiped away at her mouth with her sleeve. "He's still a remarkable scientist!" she said behind her arm. "You can't just hand someone something and expect them to draw a definite conclusion. He works with all the little pieces! Honestly, if we could've purchased a seastone-trimmed ship, our journey would be far simpler."

"I'm grateful for Dr. Vegapunk's work," Dr. Megalodon nodded. She noticed the drop in his tone, led by his absent smile as he funneled the Kraken Breath from the mermaid's corpse. "However… I wouldn't idealise his accomplishments so passionately, Rill. You're young, and your enthusiasm is refreshing for our team. I believe both you and Hypher will excel here. That said… remember to make your own observations and follow your intuition. Leaning on the words of your studies will blind your judgement. Out here, you have the basic knowledge required to understand what is happening; you must then draw your own conclusions as to what causes what we sense.

"For many scientists before our time, defying what we knew in search of possibilities drew just as many inventions and discoveries. Current medicine dawned on several mistakes, for instance. Be patient. Listen to your mentors, but remember to continue questioning their teaching."

Odis rolled his eyes. "You're gonna make her worse, pops."

The young woman sucked in a deep breath before shaking her head. "I… yeah. I understand. I'm sorry, Dr. Meg." She glanced behind her at Hyper, now propped against the wall of the ship. "You deserved worse," she told him far less kindly.

Whatever Hypher's retort—likely something witty and more sardonic than she was capable—was interrupted as the ship heaved to the side, knocking everyone, including their open corpse, to the floor just as Dr. Megalodon sealed the container of Kraken Breath. Rill caught it as it flew from his grip, in harmony with her head colliding into Hypher's hips. For a moment, nobody moved. The ship teetered dangled dangerously on its side, and though Rill's head ached, she lunged forward, shoving the jar of Kraken Breath into the front of her jacket.

"C'mon!" she shouted to the others. "We need to balance or it's going to capsize!"

Dr. Meg shook his head as he reached for his glasses, separated through the middle, with one leg still trapped around his ear and the other stuck beneath Odis' boot. Odis struggled to nurse a bloody nose, and Hypher was clutching his nether-regions, which Rill refused to linger on and instead tried to pull herself up the floor.

"Well, this isn't natural," the lead doctor said.

Odis groaned. "Fucking Raymond, what the hell did he do now?"

"Probably steered us into an iceberg," Hypher said.

"Should we check for damage?" Rill inquired, still trying to crawl onto the other side of the ship. She reached for one of the steel cupboards, hanging open from the abrupt incline, and used it to leverage herself up.

Odis wiped away the blood clinging to his upper lip, accepting the wad of paper towel Rill kicked his way and twisted a few little nubs to insert up his nostril. "Let's get up on the deck," he grunted, glaring over at Hypher's smile. "It might be storming outside, so put on your damn hoods. AND QUIT LOOKING AT MY DAMN NOSE!"

It took several minutes for the group to find their bearings first. While Rill suffered no considerable damage, Odis' nose wouldn't stop bleeding, forcing him to replace the nubs every minute. Dr. Megalodon struggled to stand, usually buckling to his knees after every step, and though Hyper finally conceded and heaved the small elderly over his shoulders, Rill could still see the wince along his face as he moved. Together, they all migrated slowly, with Rill's agility placing her at the head of the group. She was the first to crawl over the wall and out the door, and after helping Odis down, the two of them worked on the doctor and Hypher. As they reached the first set of stairs, the ones that would lead them to the hull that housed their bedrooms, the ship began to descend again, this time much slower and allowing them enough time to drop to the floor and avoid any further damage. As soon as they settled, Rill shoved on her hood, disposed her latex gloves to the floor and bound up both sets of stairs, putting her mittens on just as she reached the deck.

There wasn't a storm to greet her.

Facing her was a mountainous skull, dressed by two horns and covering the bow of an even greater ship. A series of metal objects braided together in what she could only assume were by some unnatural means had knocked over their mainmast, which must've been the cause of their earlier incline, as most of the seaboard was now destroyed and the giant pole nowhere in sight. A mist settled around her, obscuring most of her extended vision, but above her head, nearly gracing the touch of clouds, she could make out the faint outline of a grinning Jolly Roger. As tall, shadowed figures emerged from the foreign vessel, she stepped back towards the quarter deck, bracing her arm along the damaged railing.

"Who are they?" she whispered. Behind her, the rest of the group was still clambering up the stairs, but Raymond, Scout, and Isamu stood above her on the quarter deck, their figures hidden from her view.

"No idea," one of the men answered, his voice too low for her to make out. "Keep your mouth shut and your head down."

She knew better this time; this wasn't their first pirate attack, and as they ventured further away from the Calm Belts, they were sure to beckon more. Rill reached for the flap of her hood, dragging it down further, stopping only when it threatened to disrupt her line of vision. Odis's bald head was emerging from below when the pirates boarded.

Even against the mist, their distinctive colors blared through the haze. The middle man sported wild red hair that arched towards the skies like flames, lined by a set of studded, blue-tinted goggles; he was only the third tallest, and yet still seemed to tower over his crew as he stepped into view. Draped across his shoulders was a thick jacket, dragging all the way to the floor and sporting a purple fur trim. Spikes dressed along his shoulders, his legs heightened by a yellow leopard print, and Rill found him to be the mix of sophistication and wild boy rocker. The other three were nowhere near casual either—at his left stood a man with hair longer than even hers, blonde and descending all the way to his knees. He adorned a blue, white-striped mask, permeated with several holes but hiding any distinguishing features. While his height probably measured up to the incredible sizes of her fellow shipmates—Raymond was somewhere around 6'5-6'6 and the rest only a little shorter than that—it was the sight of two curved blades resting loosely in his hands that triggered her swallow. Quickly darting her eyes towards the remaining two, dressed too minimally for the vicious, snowy wind promised in this area, Rill was again left for a loss of speech. Their torsos were muscled, their faces withdrawn, and while one covered his chest with an oddly-fastened corset, the other rose as the tallest of the group, certainly gracing 7 feet and donning fishnets. All seemed undisturbed by the lower temperature.

By the time they were settled in the middle of the deck, Hypher—with Dr. Meg still draped over his shoulder—and Odis were joined at her sides.

"They don't look too destructive, do they?" the red-haired pirate mused. His mouth widened into a mile-long grin, baring teeth packaged by thin, scarlet lips, and Rill thought back to creepy dolls Noble children would play with in Goa Kingdom. Beside him, Goldilocks crossed his arms and hunched his hip against the metal contraption.

"Their mast has the World Government symbol. I wouldn't reserve judgement quite yet," he said.

"You're too right."

"We don't know what you're talking about," Raymond called from above. The enemy heads all shifted upwards.

"Is that so? 'Cause we've heard about a lot of ships disappearing, a lot of pirate faces, right after spotting a small ship off of the horizon. Not just one town, too; you've been a real piece of work in South Blue. Though I guess a shitty boat like this certainly works for masking a real threat."

Somebody snorted. "Nobody's threatening anyone." Rill realized it was Scout. "Nobody's masking anything. Look, kid, we're a gov—"

The masked man moved faster than even the trained eyes of the scientists—Rill arched her neck and stumbled forward to catch sight of his blonde hair as he moved behind Scout, and even faster than she could turn her head, he was back behind his captain, as though he never moved at all. Scout was silent, his words still lingering as her mentors scrambled to piece together what happened, and then the scream wretched through the air. Scout's right hand collapsed to the floor, blood spurting across the group collected on the lower deck, enticing surprised yelps from his peers, and an even more alarming cackle from the pirate captain. Rill grimaced as the blood soaked her hood, and just as she reached to remove it, a hand firmly gripped down on her head.

"Don't you dare, honey," Odis growled.

"It's Captain Kid," the captain roared, and for a moment, Rill wondered if he was mocking them.

"Eustass Kid…" Hypher confirmed through a strained whisper as he hunched his way forward, moving slowly so as not to attract the malevolent man's attention, but just enough that he kept Rill hidden from view.

"Does that mean anything?" Rill asked him.

Hypher winced as Scout continued to moan overhead. By the sounds of the struggle, someone was trying to unsuccessfully dress his wound. "He's a new pirate coming out of South Blue. I saw his bounty in the post office the other week when we were in Sakura Town… I'm pretty certain it was 45 million berries."

Rill's eyes widened. "Forty— what? He's not even on the Grand Line yet."

"Something tells me it's his next stop. This guy's fucking insane."

"Will the two of you shut up?" Odis hissed, emerging from her other side and completely blocking her gaze as he stood beside Hypher. Rill knew it was a sweet sentiment, but it bothered her to forfeit her ability to visually track their enemy's movements. She didn't have an acute sense of hearing to rely on, nothing exceeding following conversation with the current winds and Scout's agonized sobbing, and if anyone were to creep up behind her, she'd find herself a Rill-kabob. Against their resisting jerks, the young woman shoved her face between their shoulders, her eyes sweeping back to the crew, only to find the captain's gaze lingering on her face.

Oh, dear, she thought as he began to approach them. The men standing guard of her were already tense—so much so that Dr. Meg still hadn't offered a single word, nor had Hypher moved to set him down despite how she watched his shoulders tremble under the weak weight—but Rill understood their concerns: the fate of women captured on sea never reserved a happy ending.

" Hm? What're you shuffling around—" He demanded, and Odis' elbow went into her stomach, shoving her back a few steps; Rill wanted to shout how pointless it was, but figured any attempt on her end to deepen her voice would just be laughable at best. She was taken aback by the violent thrust that sent Hypher and his stowaway over her head and onto the upper deck, their bodies clambering into at least one of the men as there were a few too many swears she didn't think belonged to the lead doctor. But Rill's eyes readied on Eustass Kid, and she tried to keep her face blank, thinking of nothing but his pale complexion and envisioning a wall of white around her. Not of his threatening reach, nor Scout's suffering, or even the mermaid's carcass ripped open and discarded to the floor only a few feet below.

"Hello," the word slipped out, eluding her intended focus. She arched her neck to properly face him, carefully crossing her arms as Kid moved in front of her. "We're scientists—we have no weapons on board, if you disregard the scalpels, but it's important to note that we never abuse our medical utensils. None of us are Devil Fruit users, and they're all simplistically weak men. Please stop hurting my friends."

Kid stared at her for an uncountable moment, his grin unwavering before he shuffled out a snort. Rill frowned as he turned away from her, moving ahead to return to his crew members. "You think I care that you're a woman? Unless you feel like fucking my crew for a night or two, I have no reason to spare you."

"I do not."

"We might even let you swim back to shore. I've never seen much point in keeping one whore on board."

"Daadadadada," Rill hummed, her brows trembling as they kneaded together. He certainly knew how to insult diplomacy. "No, thank you," she said. "I'm preferential to the current murder arrangements. Unless you feel like disappearing. I've never seen much point in entertaining those who seek senseless violence."

Odis ducked his head into his hand. "Ohhhh, Rill."

But Kid raised his arm, as though to dismiss her, even if she thought she saw his smile tighten in the corners. "If you want to kill pirates, I don't really give as shit, but I've been on this sea long enough not to take my chances."

"WE'RE NOT KILLING PIRATES!" Scout sobbed from above, and Rill tried to swallow the ache in her dry throat. Someone hushed him and his cries muffled down again.

"For the love of gold," Odis ushered under his breath.

"I really liked our last pirate better," Rill told him, maintaining a monotonous tone. He glared and moved in front of her, his elbow digging into her side as he shoved her back a second time.

"Listen, Captain Kid—" Odis paused, running his hand over his hood while Rill angled herself behind him. "Collectively, we have about 9 million berries on board. It's all yours. We're only researchers out here, we haven't been attacking anyone. You can search the ship for all I care, but there's nothing here."

"Researchers, scientists; it's like they think I give a shit," Kid mused. He laughed as he settled onto a broken piece of the deck, lazily playing with a few scraps of metal and bolts in his hand. Rill watched the levitating pieces circle around his fingers, drawing her gaze back to the massive metallic contraption anchored before her, where odd mechanics from swords to broken ship pieces held together as though supported by invisible glue. A ring slid off his finger, slipping onto the next one as though carried by an invisible string, and Rill finally dotted the connection.

"Magnets."

Odis turned back to her. "What?"

She ignored him, maintaining her gaze on the tempered captain. "He's a Devil Fruit user."

"I swear, kid, you're a little slow on the upkeep."

"My name is—"

"Killer… why don't you paint the ship? That flag's beginning to bug me. If it's them, not them… last thing we need is any more government workers in this broken world."

"Sure," the masked man answered, extending his bloody blade forward.

"PLEASE!" Odis interrupted. "We're scientists, and two of 'em are just kids. If you need someone to fight, you can stake your fight with me, but leave my students the hell alone!"

Nobody made a sound apart from Scout's choked cries, and then the entire ship erupted at once. The blonde man, Killer, leapt forward at his untraceable speed, and the spot where Odis stood before her was replaced by pieces of him by the time she finished blinking, neatly sliced and left in a pile as though waiting for preservation.

Rill recalled the training her Grandfather embedded in her from her youth, the means of survival he had forced upon her, Ace, and Luffy. She dieted on bread and water under Dadan's care for months before she grew the courage to hunt on her own. Her resources for learning were limited unless she ventured into the city to buy more, and when she wasn't strong enough, muggers would rob her on her journey back home. But she learned it all—the hunting, the cooking, the manner to protect herself because Ace and Luffy were seldom around to offer their services, and she knew her body couldn't forget a punch or a kick, even if it was all very weak, just as surely as it never forgot a book, but still her body stood and refused to move. It was stifling in her hood; her entire body trembled as sweat painted her clothes to her joints and the blood of her teachers rained down on her. Lift your leg, charge, and kick, she repeated to herself. Kick what? Charge at whom? She couldn't see him. LIFT YOUR LEG, CHARGE, AND-

When Killer stabbed her, it wasn't through the chest, nor did he swipe away her head with a clean cut, like he managed to do with Odis, or Scout's hand, Rill later learned. She suffered an injury to her stomach that only required stitches, a blood transfusion, and an adjusted meal plan while her body healed. But as the blade carved around her belly, she could have sworn it felt like her intestines were ready to pour out and rope down to the deck floor. It was why she fell onto her back. On her back, she had more control from dying. The average human had 5.5 litres of blood—considering she was taller and a little thinner, she probably had 5.2, maybe even 5.0 L available to her. Dizziness would start to settle after only losing .5 L, and that's certainly where her head was at, lolling off to the side and unable to focus on the screams ruffling around her. Between 1.3 to 1.7 L lost, hypovolemic shock would settle, and if she didn't seek medical attention and a blood transfusion, between 1.8 to 2.2L, she would die.

Rill lost focus of everything that happened as she tried to keep count of how much blood she was losing. The jar of Kraken Breath weighed down on her chest, sloshing quietly against her heart pounding wildly against it, and Rill thought of the mermaid below, drawing the same conclusion she must have as she hemorrhaged to her death: what an untimely way to die.

---

The funeral opened on a warm day, witnessed by all of the friends and loved ones Odis had claimed over his years. A woman with bright red, curly hair sobbed into a handkerchief, later revealed to Rill as Odis' widow. She never knew he married—it hadn't been a question she thought to ask. His wife and parents sat in the first row of seats, the gathering arranged on a beach and faced by a small podium with the ocean's vastness resting on the horizon. The closest of his friends—again, more names she never heard and faces never described to her—swept the first two rows. Hats removed, shoulders sagged, heads bowed in mourning—Rill spent months on a boat with him, and never knew so much as a detail about his life or the people he shared it with. She wondered if the others had better manners to learn about him outside of his academic standing; she and her colleagues, even a few who hadn't been on board that day, dressed the third row in their own set of silence, where most people stared at them and whispered of the day they were commemorating.

Rill tried not to let it bother her.

Scout lost his right hand to the pirates, as well as his left leg. He told the group later that evening that he was retiring from the program, to live the rest of his days in an inland office, far away from pirates and field work. He barely stayed for the funeral, what with the nurses insisting he return to the hospital under the supervision of his doctors who were still trying to build him proper prosthetics (which he wouldn't have the opportunity to use for at least the next eight months). Raymond, whose throat was slit and couldn't actually speak, smiled at everyone who offered him their sympathies. The medical staff promised that as long as he followed their instructions, he would certainly have his voice again by the end of the new year. He, as well as Isamu and Dr. Megalodon and the two interns, were still signed in for the duration of their commitment.

Hypher was the only one of the group who wasn't stabbed, or sliced, or maimed, or lost blood of any kind. He suffered a blow to the back of his head that left him in a three day coma with apparent memory loss and slower motor skills. He was also instructed to remain in bed and forego the funeral of his teacher, but still sat beside Rill in the third row, occasionally leaning his side against hers. It bothered her and it didn't. She tried not to think about it when the priest prattled off on Odis' life, even if none of the words settled in her ears.

Besides maybe Rill, Isamu and Dr. Megalodon suffered the least. They both received slices to the chest, but their thick clothing provided enough of a barrier that the incisions were only child-play at best. After stitching each other up, they moved onto the rest of the party, including Rill who was bleeding out of her stomach and just staring up at the sky while she awaited her death. She couldn't recall being conscious during their care, but Isamu later told her that her eyes never closed as he sewed up her stomach and injected her with someone else's blood. The shock probably rattled her memories, he'd said.

Although, if the shock wished to be effective, it could've helped her forget watching Odis get carved apart before her eyes. She couldn't get that memory out of her head. It was almost funny that her mind chose to forget something as simple as surgery when she could no longer sleep because of what she realized was Odis' sacrifice.

And Odis' death.

Not many people approached her there, and for that, she was especially grateful. Nobody needed to hear her weak explanation of a sliced stomach and a big needle in her arm. Hypher, whose head was dressed in bandages, still had his fair share, and Rill stayed beside him with each question, because he didn't smile and nod them thanks like Raymond did, nor did he brush them away by switching the subject to Odis like their remaining teachers. Hypher returned with a flat "I'm fine" followed by an apology for their loss. Then he walked away, but not far enough that Rill couldn't catch up to him (he wasn't willing to have a nurse around to monitor him; Rill tried not to let the fact that he had elected her instead bother her as much as it did).

I'm so sorry for your loss she heard many others say that day, between Isamu, Dr. Megalodon, Scout, and many strangers she never spoke to. She willed the words to leave her mouth, willing her sorry to hold more force and merit than any sorry spoken before. She sorried for how Odis lost his life in the pile of survivors, how he guided her in her studies with his own brand of tough learning and she only argued or questioned his motives. I'm so sorry for your loss she tried in her head. I'm so sorry. It sounded just as stupid and contrived as any other apology.

After the sermon that Rill paid no attention, everyone was offered a feast provided by local eateries and the opportunity to enjoy Odis' lively spirit in a more proper fashion. For this, people cried less, and gossiped or relived stories at the expense of his friends and family, rather than the collection of his damaged co-workers.

Although not intentional, Rill and Hypher sat together with Scout and Raymond and Isamu while Dr. Megalodon joined Odis' widow for a private retelling of Odis' last moments.

"I don't know why someone would want to relive that," Hypher said as they watched them some twenty yards away. Rill could still make out the tears sliding down her cheeks.

Isamu ducked his head into the bottle of a strong liquor Rill couldn't identify. "You got me, junior."

"Maybe it doesn't feel real," Rill said. She picked at the small sample of blueberries on her plate, still refusing to bring any of them to her mouth. Hypher reached forward and took one in her stead, and after that, the group fell silent again. Eventually, Isamu and Raymond returned to the buffet table, and Scout rolled his way over to the bar, much to the chagrin of his two nurses.

When Dr. Megalodon returned to the table and Odis' widow made her way to the buffet, Rill quickly excused herself with a lie that she needed the facilities. It wasn't a necessary offering; it wouldn't change how she felt, or how his wife no longer had a husband, but Rill forced her feet ahead of one another and didn't stop until she had cut in front of one of the other patrons and stood beside the curly, red-haired woman.

A horrible lump formed in her throat: her red hair reminded her of Kid's, if only from its vivacious colour. Did Odis consider that before he died?

"I'm sorry for your pain," she blurted out. Odis' wife stared at her with a startled look, her eyebrows inclined towards her head and her mouth half-opened in a question, but Rill pressed on. "I wanted to apologize for Odis sacrificing himself for us, for the crew, but that would be very dishonourable. He was my teacher… my mentor, and he protected me from a violent fate. All of us from a violent fate. He directed the focus on him so we would suffer less. So I'm sorry for not taking action to protect him, like he did for me, and I promise—I swear to you, Mrs. Odis—that I'll never hesitate again. I am so sorry for your pain."

Rill didn't hear whatever Odis' wife answered. She stopped listening after the older woman clasped down on her hand and squeezed it, as though she had any right to be comforted. She said nothing as they shared a hug, and couldn't only offer a smile before someone else stole the widow's attention. Rill noticed nothing as she walked away, dispersing the crowds with no manners until she was out of sight from everyone.

---

"You'll never get better at socializing if you hide out over here."

There wasn't any hypothesis behind the speaker—Rill recognized Hypher's breezy tone, despite the social gathering requiring at least a more solemn lace. She nudged her head in the direction she thought he approached, only for his hand to come down on her shoulder from the opposite side. She really needed to improve her listening.

"I don't handle death well," Rill admitted as he sat down beside her on the cliff's edge. She quickly fixed the skirt of her black dress to at least cover her knees.

"Really?" Hypher said. "I haven't seen you cry once. You're doing a lot better than Raymond—he used the end of my shirt as a tissue. Look—" And Hypher extended his inappropriately brightly-striped shirt beneath her nose, pointing out a specific patch seemingly more weary than the rest. Rill pushed his hand away and turned her gaze to the ocean, calm and glistening like the silver shards of Kraken Breath that she managed to save in lieu of her dead comrade.

"That's not what I meant," she murmured to deaf ears. "And if we're going to discuss social conventions, you should know that at funerals, people wear black."

Hypher smiled at her. "You gotta take into account that Odis wasn't much for uniform. I think he'd be bored if he knew we all showed up looking the same."

For this, Rill ignored him and moved along.

"What do you think about that rumour? The one Captain Kid told us: that ships were disappearing from a small crew, with hardly any debris remaining? I mean, we can look towards the obvious: currents, storms, Sea Kings, another malignant pirate crew…" she rattled off.

"I haven't given it any thought," Hypher said, dropping his light-hearted tone into something much darker. "The prick was probably making it up."

"Maybe," Rill said.

"Does it matter?"

"Absolutely. Wouldn't it be better that Odis died because of a misunderstanding, than for absolutely nothing at all?"

"You think he died for nothing? They ripped apart his body—the rest of us are lucky we're even alive. If this had been a regular crew of people, we wouldn't be. I get that you haven't spent much time out at sea, but demons like that are everywhere… Pirates care nothing for the lives of civilians. They take and act on nothing but their own selfishness."

Rill swallowed as another lump wedged behind her throat. What did that mean for someone like Ace? Or Luffy, who had turned seventeen a mere month ago and was already out at sea, likely trying to collect a crew and sail for the Grand Line. She certainly couldn't acquaint them to the likes of Kid's actions, and whatever pirates were didn't require her own deductions. She wasn't a pirate, and if she slipped into prejudiced thinking, she wouldn't have much room in the scientific world. "Maybe it was a ghost ship," she continued on from before. "Maybe a Sea King was trailing it… and it attacked those who went to inspect the ship for survivors… They've very clever..."

"It's not that important, Rill."

"It cost Odis his life! Whatever happened, whatever reason—"

"We were in the wrong place at the wrong time," Hypher insisted. "It happens out at sea. Remember that kid from the North?"

She ignored that, too. "I keep thinking I should have attacked him."

Hypher's brows arched. "You think you could've taken down that pirate? And what about his super assassin sidekick? Or the other two monstrous guys."

"No," Rill said, shaking her head. "I couldn't have defeated them. I probably couldn't even scuff their boots. But I had the means to act… to think of something rather than just stand there! They were Devil Fruit users. We could have all jumped off ship and started a means of escape that way. I would only need one good kick… just to get him off guard and then—"

"Nobody asked you to fight for us. This is an academic program, not the Marines."

"Nobody asked, and nobody fought. That's why Odis died. He protected us, and we returned it with cowardice."

Hypher sighed. The two of them settled into silence and Rill thought of getting up to leave again, though it was poor manners of him not to leave first. This had been her peaceful hiding place that he'd unceremoniously intruded with talks they clearly couldn't agree on.

"Do you think they're going to shut down the program?" she found herself asking a few minutes later as she watched Hypher scratch at his head.

"I heard Isamu and Scout talking about it," he replied. "Dr. Megalodon's trying to reason with the university. I guess if they do throw us out, we could just look around for other researchers. Hell, maybe you could see if Vegapunk's team is up to anything."

"No. Dr. Vegapunk doesn't offer internships."

"But that's your dream, isn't it? Work your way to the top and get a position alongside him?"

Rill ignored him and returned her focus to the horizon, where a sky too blue revealed that not even the heavens would weep that day. Big gulps of waves crashed along the cliff's edge, amassing splashes that sprayed along her calves, and she restrained herself from diving off the edge. She reached for her hair, unfolding it from the bun and enjoying as the black strands of hair licked her back with the help of the shore's breeze.

"That's not my dream at all," she said. She sneaked a glance at Hypher, whose eyes were already trained on her. "I want to beat him. I want to learn all on my own, and set the world on a new path. Dr. Vegapunk doesn't know it yet, but I'm his greatest rival."

She waited for him to snicker, to offer up a string of explanations as to why it was foolish or impossible, and in her wait felt the rise of her temper swelling to the surface. But Hypher leant down, bringing his hand to gently pat the top of her head.

"Alright, then," he mused, his smile never wavering. "Then I guess we're not really rivals after all, huh?"

She ducked her head away at the sight of his smile. "I'm not fighting for the permanent internship slot," she admitted. "It's all yours in the end. I need to build credit beneath Dr. Meg and then earn a viable reputation in the eyes of the World Government. I don't mind conducting my own studies… This is all very temporary."

"It's gonna take years. It's a little temporary."

"Years and years," Rill agreed. "But what I mean is: if he tries to cut one of us, I'll just volunteer to leave. I don't mind spending the rest of my life researching on my own. This program is important, and I need it to remain for the experience, but I can't look at it with a sink or swim ideology. If this opportunity is over, I'm going to find another one."

Hypher chuckled, and she ripped up a fistful of grass and threw it onto his lap. "Hey now! Just promise me that when you're running the show back at HQ, you'll have a job offer for me."

She finally returned his smile, unwilling against the rise of her lips but happy nonetheless. "Sure. I'll make you the designated nurse."

Together, they erupted into the sort of laughter that ignites your sides and spares no reason but the very simple need to pass through tragedy with fortuitous joy, and though they were far from ear-shot of any other guests, Rill and Hypher cried into their hands until their laughs stole away their breaths and their backs sank into the grassy depths of the inclined cliff, too ruined to bear their shaking howls.

Sometime later, they rejoined the others for speeches and a musical tribute to Odis. Hypher fell asleep at the table after battling with a headache; Rill discovered she had reopened two of her stiches and whisked Isamu and one of Scout's nurses to a private tent under the incessant assurances that it wasn't "what you think".

If anything, Hypher's earlier statement sported a bit of truth: it was certainly the sort of resolution that would have amused their former teacher's memory.