Chapter 1
To the naive marine still reading this in hopes of finding information to use against my crew, let's just say you won't be entirely disappointed.
But let me warn you that my nostalgic musings are far from short and sweet, and the information you seek may come in the form of the many mundane activities of a low ranking pirate. With that in mind, let us start this chapter from the beginning.
For the beginning is always a good place to start.
"New hopefuls this way please!"
Ginger haired and sporting his signature blue and red cap, Shachi eagerly directed the line of people to where their submarine was anchored with a gleeful grin on his face. He had been positively tickled pink to find a small crowd of around twenty potential recruits waiting on the docks when he'd woken at the crack of dawn.
"Oi Penguin!" he bellowed, once they all in place, waiting until a head wearing a familiar black hat peeked over the side of the submarine, squinting down at him with a half-asleep reply of 'what?' "Get Captain and Bepo! We got new recruits!"
"No kidding? We only slipped the notice to the innkeeper yesterday." Penguin said, blinking the sleep out of his eyes and finally noticing their visitors. "I'll be damned. Be right with you Shachi!"
Shachi turned back to the curiously waiting group with a toothy smile. Which only grew wider when he caught the majority looking impressed as they appraised the submarine before them. He allowed them a minute or so before bringing his hands together.
"Well then!" All twenty something heads turned to attention at the sound of his clap, one especially curious individual having to run back from where they had taken a few steps back in order to take in the whole vessel."I'm Shachi, one of the mechanics of this fine piece of submarine you're currently looking at! The other guy just then was Penguin, the other mechanic. It's practically impossible to forget his name since he wears it on his head. And you're all gathered here to be our possible future crewmates!"
"Emphasis is made on the word possible. You'll have to go through the preliminary interrogation and the trial period before you can become one of us." Penguin piped in, having just returned to join his comrade on the docks."Captain and his 'first mate' will be joining us shortly, so... last chance to look presentable guys."
Immediately, they all started patting themselves down self-consciously, smoothing unruly hair and straightening wrinkles in their clothes. None of them were dressed to impress, and it was expected as no one with the money to afford fancy clothing would want to join a pirate crew. Shachi scanned their crowd from behind his shades, picking out those who had potential and mentally assigning possible roles they could fill in the crew. One in particular, caught his eye. He discreetly nudged his crew mate in the ribs.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing Penguin?"
"If you mean the drop dead gorgeous beauty with the red hair, then hell yes." Penguin replied in equally hushed tones, voice almost as squeal at the end of his sentence, unable to contain his excitement. Both blushed, elbowing eachother repeatedly while small giggles occasionally escaped them. Said beauty then met their gaze with an indifferent stare that had them shivering.
"An ice queen..." Penguin murmured, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, suddenly overcome with emotion.
"Those eyes are such a lovely shade of silver..." said Shachi with a longing sigh. "Oh man! I do hope Captain lets her on the crew!"
"She is a pretty one isn't she?" a new voice cut in, sounding from right behind the duo. The two immediately sobered, backs stiffening at the sudden weight of tattooed arms casually resting across their shoulders.
"Captain! We were actually just discussing how she uh, looks like a great potential musician for our crew. Right Penguin?" the ginger haired mechanic quickly looked to his partner for back-up, doing his damn best to ignore their captain's presence between them and his 'first mate' gnawing at their boots.
"Right! Of course!" Penguin confirmed while nodding frantically. Their captain hummed, clearly sceptical, and both winced when the pressure on their shoulders increased.
"A musician? You think she can play music with that sword of hers? You know, the one strapped to her back?" he inquired innocently. Cold sweat broke out above their brows.
"Well would you look at that! It must've slipped our notice Captain!" Shachi babbled, hastily changing his approach. "But you do agree that she is rather pretty eh? So maybe we could let her on the crew-"
A sharp twist of the ear had them both yelping in surprise, effectively cutting off the mechanic's rambling. They leapt away from eachother to gingerly nurse their injuries, inadvertently allowing a path for their captain to walk past, his 'first mate' following faithfully at his heels.
"You shouldn't lie to your captain Shachi, Penguin." he said with a slow smile. "Plus, if she wants to qualify for my crew, she needs to be more than just a pretty face."
"Aye Captain." they echoed obediently, though neither looked very repentant. More focused on trying to the catch the eye of the beauty once more.
"Alright listen up." he finally addressed the crowd of awaiting recruits, easily directing their curious looks away from the uniform-wearing polar bear at his feet to himself. "I'm Trafalgar Law, Captain of the Heart Pirates. Some of you may have heard of me, some of you may have not. There are a few things I am going to make clear to you, and if you want to have any chance of making it on my crew, you'll listen."
A few shifted nervously, others immediately straightened to attention, Shachi and Penguin included, both adopting a more professional attitude. They knew that when the captain used that tone of voice, the time for joking around was over.
"First of all, let's start with something easier to digest. During the course of your trial, and I don't care if you make it on the crew or not, you will be working under me. Which means I'm your captain and you'll address me as such." he looked them each in the eye, a misleadingly pleasant smile on his face. Most cowed, some remained unwavering, it was the latter he kept in mind. "And as your captain, my word is law. Anything I say goes. You do not think when I tell you to do something, you do it."
Shachi couldn't help the snicker that escaped him at the unintentional pun. The look his captain shot him told him that he would be regretting it by the end of the day.
"You will be assigned one of my crew members to work under, you will be expected to defer to them and do everything they tell you to do." he held up a hand the moment he spotted the first affronted expression. "Before you all get self-righteous, let me remind you that they are my crewmates, and they've been working with me much longer than you have. I'm not asking you to get along with them, I'm telling you to work with them. They're the experienced professionals not you, right now you are nothing of note to me."
He paused, when he turned to find the two teary eyed and emotional.
"No matter how they act sometimes." he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Keep these things in mind, then maybe you'll find a place on the Heart Pirates with these crazy idiots. Now let's get on to the interviews and your introductions."
Now I know what you're thinking. A bit of a pompous ass ain't he? Laying down all these rules and calling us nobodies before we had even set foot on the ship. I think most of us were thinking along the same lines. First impressions are strong after all, but they're often wrong. Back I sure hadn't seen the captain I'd willingly followed down to the depths of Davy Jones Locker if commanded.
Anyways, after that, the 'interrogations' went underway. I say interrogation, because even if the questions were simple enough, name, age, what we could contribute to the crew, his demeanour throughout remained detached, calculating and analytical. Answers all began with and ended with 'captain'. No one had wanted to risk their chances, as recruiting pirate ships rarely came by this area of North Blue after all.
Among the many modest and tamer introductions of sailors and fishermen, there were a few more memorable that stayed with me that day, even now. One in particular...
I'm laughing now, but it was actually a rather terrifying experience.
Shachi immediately perked up when his captain moved down the line once more. He immediately started rapidly elbowing his fellow mechanic in the ribs.
"Penguin! Penguin! It's the lass!" he whispered, barely able to contain his excitement. Penguin on the other, was completely solemn, fingers crossed and head tipped to the heavens.
"Pleasepleasepleaseplease let captain accept her." he prayed, expression one of utmost seriousness. The captain could practically feel their stares boring into his back, and it took a great effort not to shake his head at how desperate they seemed. He would be having a chat with them later about mixing business with pleasure.
"So your name is Scarlett?"
"Yes."
He glanced up from his clipboard, eyes flashing briefly. Shachi and Penguin tensed.
"Yes, Captain." he reminded sharply, and she dipped her head in some semblance of apology. "Any notable skills you would like to contribute, Miss Scarlett?"
"I'm proficient at wielding a sword."
"How proficient?"
"I've cut down at least one hundred swordsmen with this sword, so I'd say proficient enough Captain." she smirked.
"She's fierce too~!" Shachi remarked, dramatically falling back into his partner's arms.
"I wouldn't mind dying by her hands..." Penguin giggled, red dusting his cheeks.
Their captain hummed, jotting down the new information.
"And which position in the crew are you aiming for Miss Scarlett?"
At this, the redhead grinned fiercely.
"First Mate."
He looked rather amused with the answer.
"I'm sorry but I already have a first mate." he informed, inclining his head towards the left. She frowned, following the gesture to the polar bear at his feet. "Bepo."
A hush fell over the crowd as the redhead's face slowly turned an unhealthy shade of puce.
"What?!"
"I believe you heard me quite clearly Miss Scarlett."
"You expect me to accept that this pet outranks me?!" her sword was drawn in her anger, pointed at the said 'pet'. "I will not obey the orders of a mere animal!"
Shachi and Penguin visibly winced as their captain's eyes abruptly grew frigid. A second later onlooking crowd flinched when the woman was sent flying off the docks with a brutal kick to the stomach.
"And this is why we can't have nice things Penguin." Shachi sighed, watching the woman surface spluttering from the water with an expression of disappointment. His partner remained silent, impassively staring down the redhead as she quickly swam back to the docks.
The moment she tried to pull herself up, a boot-clad foot descended upon her hand, heel digging none-too gently onto her fingers. She cried out in pain, staring up now with fearful eyes as his silhouette loomed over her. Aura oppressive.
"Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett." his smile was sharp, all teeth. "I've counted a grand total of three mistakes you have made in my presence in the past minute."
He held up one finger. One.
"You insulted a trusted crewmate of mine. My first mate nonetheless."
A second followed. Two.
"You then dared to point your sword at one of my own."
Three.
"And finally." he cocked his head, voice deadly quiet. "You made the mistake of thinking that I need you, when it's quite the opposite. You need me. Unfortunately for you, you are nothing to me Miss Scarlett."
He held her gaze, letting his words hang for a moment longer and nonchalantly left her trembling in the water.
"Who's next?"
Let me take this opportunity to clear up any possible misunderstandings. The lass by the name of Scarlett is not by any means me. Check the front of this book again, remember how it says Husky?
I guess you thought it was going to be her nickname later. But what part of that drop dead beauty would warrant the nickname Husky? Surely not the silver eyes.
She didn't do the doggy paddle in the water either.
No, I wasn't Scarlett. I was the soul unfortunate enough to be next in line.
Remember what I said about first impressions? Well second impressions are much worse. After witnessing that spectacle, I was sure that not only was the captain a demanding man, he was also a terrifying man. Even with the fuzzy, spotted hat.
So you'll have to excuse me if I was a bit of a suck-up. Roger knew that I didn't want to be the next one drowning.
"I'm not going to lie to you, I'm not in the best of moods after that." he told the scruffy looking, stiff as a board recruit in front of him. "So let's just skip the formalities about name and age alright?"
"Of course capt'n." was the immediate answer after one look at the still-shaking redhead dragging herself away from the docks.
"Good." he flipped a new page on his clipboard, staring down at the sheet with pencil tapping rhythmically. "Now there's only really one thing that I really pay attention in these interviews, and that's what you can contribute. So tell me, what can you do for me?"
"I'll make you King capt'n."
The tapping paused, he looked up to regard the recruit with a glimmer of interest in his eyes.
"You'll make me King?" he repeated, eyebrows rising. There was a low whistle from behind, most likely one of his mechanics.
"Aye capt'n."
"And how in the four blues are you going to accomplish that?"
This time, it was the brunette who paused, though only briefly to give a small shrug.
"By keeping the ship, well submarine in tip-top condition at all times capt'n, so you won't have to worry 'bout dirt bringing any humiliation to your respectable reputation." they didn't stop there, looking incredibly serious about the matter. "I'll also make sure to tidy up and keep any collateral damage to manageable levels, clean up after any messes that'll inevitably be left in the grand scheme of things, to allow you to continue making exceptional decisions for this crew."
By the time the recruit finished speaking, he was grinning down at them in undisguised mirth.
"Respectable reputation." he muttered with a shake of his head. " Exceptional decisions. I don't know who taught you to smooth-talk like that, but it's made my day."
"Anytime capt'n." they replied unsurely, slightly bewildered by his sudden change of mood.
"Preferred way of fighting? If any at all."
"Well, I've got my knife and flintlock capt'n."
"Any good with them?"
"I'm decent with'em capt'n."
"I think I already know the position you're looking at but, just to be sure..."
"Janitor capt'n."
He chuckled darkly.
"I don't think anyone has ever applied for the position of janitor willingly. Believe me, it's been said by my crew that it's possibly the worst option available."
"Cleaning is the one thing I'm confident of capt'n."
"Then the best of luck to you." he handed the clip board to the recruit, pointing back to where the rest of the recruits and the mechanics were waiting. "Take this to the two over there. They'll be taking over while I set up the medical room."
"Aye capt'n."
"I like you!" Shachi declared, as soon as the recruit approached them. "You're weird!"
That was the first ever thing that Shachi said to me.
Charming one ain't he?
At the time, the rather back-handed compliment had me unsure of what to say in return but thankfully they were used to people being unable to keep up with them. From there, they had started questioning me left and right about my choice of being a janitor.
"Who would ever want to willingly become janitor?"
"You know that you're not just going to be cleaning dirt and dust right?"
"At what age did you realise your dream of wanting to clean things?"
Before I was given the chance to answer any, they had already moved onto their many complaints about their own intriguing experiences.
"This one time I was on cleaning duty, I found some sick, sick, shit down in the storage."
"I really do wish Captain would not leave the things he did in the medical facility after his little operations."
"I swear it was still flopping around!"
"Really puts me off dinner sometimes."
Their woes had provided ample entertainment for the strangely long walk onto the submarine. Some of the stories had even gotten a laugh out of the surliest looking of recruits. But the moment they started to get all depressed about how there were yet again no female recruits, I had felt compelled to interject.
I thought their reactions had been just a tad overboard. I'm not pulling your leg when I say the whole group had stopped just to stare. A bit insulting.
"Yeah right, pull the other one." Shachi snorted in disbelief, before openly gaping at the brunette's miffed expression. "Oh you're not kidding!"
"You're a girl?"
All nineteen backed up Penguin's single statement. The one recruit blinked, and took a wary step back, not liking the sudden attention at all. Shachi wouldn't have any of it and lunged at them, holding them down by the shoulders as Penguin sidled over to take a closer inspection.
"Your hair could be mistaken for a guy's." he commented, but his partner immediately jumped at a sudden discovery.
"No wait Penguin! Not entirely! Hair's tied up back here!" Shachi jabbed a finger towards the base of their neck.
"That's the tiniest ponytail I've ever seen." Penguin scoffed, "Are you sure you even need it?"
"Well, I look slightly less scruffy with it." was the hesitant reply.
"And you're what we get in place of that red-haired beauty?"
A poke to the nose. A look of disgruntlement.
"Suppose it's better than nothing right?"
"Barely." the ginger haired mechanic sniffed, obviously disappointed.
"I'm sorry I'm no red-haired beauty." the brunet apologised, face carefully solemn. "And for ruinin' your dreams."
They each slung an arm around the recruit's shoulder, continuing to steer them and the rest of the group onwards.
"Captain was right. You are a smooth-talking little scallywag aren't you?" Shachi said, "But you know, your voice is rather low for a lass."
"Husky even." Penguin added. Shachi perked up.
"Now that's a good one! Husky!" he exclaimed, "What do you think Penguin?"
His crewmate hummed in thought.
"Matches the eyes. Huskies have blue eyes."
"Kind of matches the hair too! Though it's a dark brown instead of black."
"Huskies can be brown can't they?"
"True!" Shachi nodded sagely. "So matches the eyes and matches the hair! I am a genius."
"Hey, I was the one who brought it up first." Penguin protested.
"What are you two talkin' about?" the recruit asked curiously.
The two looked at each other and grinned.
"It's settled, your name is Husky from now on." Shachi pointed a finger at each of the recruits around sternly. "And if I hear any of you lads calling Husky anything else, there'll be consequences."
"Aye aye." they all echoed.
And the so deal was set. I would be known by Husky the rest of my life. My first and my last nickname.
When I die, I'm expecting to have Husky carved into my tombstone.
Of course I won't be dying anytime soon. I don't want to be leaving this world with only a few meagre pages of my legacy.
That wouldn't do at all.
A/N And that's chapter one, thanks for reading!
*FLINTLOCK- A general term for early firearms that used the striking of a flint against steel to cause sparks that would ignite gunpowder to discharge bullets. In this case, FLINTLOCK refers to a pistol.