**A/N: I would like to everyone who has read and reviewed this story, even with the massive break since it was last updated. You are all amazing, I probably wouldn't be continuing with this story if it wasn't for you guys.**
Recap: At this point I kinda figured 'you know? why not.' So I launched into my story, I told them about my adventures as a pirate, being caught, going to jail, and then finally dying. Throughout the whole story they just stood there and listened quietly. Finally, when I was done there was simply silence. Then Whitebeard spoke.
"I don't know what to make of your story child." Whitebeard stood and began to pace as much as he could in the small space of the room, he seemed to be deep in thought. I really hope that he believes me, I don't want to think of what will happen to me if he doesn't believe me, he is a pirate captain, I was a pirate captain, I know what I would do with strange people that randomly showed up on my ship. They'd have a chance to state their case and then depending in whether I believed them or not they'd either be dropped off at the closest safe port, or they'd walk the plank. And while I know that I am rather strong, and a good swimmer, I won't survive if they toss me overboard. Oh god, I don't want to die again, not so soon I can still feel the noose digging into my neck, I'm not ready to d-
"Are you listening to me child?" Whitebeard's aggravated voice cut through my thoughts.
I looked at him sheepishly, truthfully I had gotten carried away in my thoughts and hadn't even realized that he had started talking. "I'm sorry sir, I got lost in my thoughts. It won't happen again," then thinking quickly I added a "sir" onto the end to show that I did respect him, hopefully that'll earn me some small leniency for not listening to him.
"Well, as I was saying, I don't know what to make of your story. While I have heard of drifters, they are incredibly rare and I myself have never met one. For all I know, you could be a marine spy, trying to infiltrate my crew and give us away to the marines."
"I'm not a marine," I hastily cut in, "I really don't know how I got here, I don't even understand how I'm still alive, I should be dead. I just want to find my way back to my home, or my world or whatever it is."
Whitebeard looked at me for a while then turned to Marco, "Well, what are your thoughts on the girl Marco?"
Marco took some time thinking over everything that I had said, he looked me over one last time before he spoke. "Well, I've never heard of drifters, but if you believe in them pops then I guess I do too." This gave me hope, perhaps I would survive this, maybe I could get home. "However, even if drifters do exist she very well could be a spy. I think we should keep an eye on her, I don't trust her, she just fell from the sky onto the deck and her story about herself has been all over the map. I don't trust her, we should get rid of her at the first island that we can."
Whitebeard nodded at Marco's assessment, he thought things over again and was just about to speak when Thatch spoke up. "Hey, just a question, but if you really died in your world then why do you want to get back there so badly? How do you know that you won't just get back there and be dead. I mean that's a possibility right?" I just looked at him questioningly, truthfully I hadn't thought about that, what if I do get back there and I'm just dead, then I'd have to deal with the afterlife… maybe this is the afterlife, maybe I am dead. "Maybe this is a second chance for you, like another shot at life, one where you don't die so quickly."
At his last remark I glared at him and was about to give him a piece of my mind. I opened my moth to respond when Whitebeard silenced me with a look.
"At this point I don't know if you are a drifter, a spy or a very unfortunate person who happened to fall from a sky island onto my ship. So, for the time being you will remain on this ship, you are to always be under the watch of Marco, Thatch or I, if you stray from our watch you will be treated like an enemy, is that clear?"
I was shocked at this, I mean sure, I'd do the same thing in his shoes, but I would not be kept as some prisoner. I had no intention of remaining on this ship very long, I wanted off. And I told him as much, "I don't think so, I will not be your prisoner, I want off this boat, drop me off at the nearest island or dock if need be, but I will not be kept here, I've been kept prisoner before, and I don't enjoy it." Immediately after saying this I knew that I had overstepped my bounds and had angered him.
"Silence child, you have no idea where you are or who I am, so I will forgive your insolence this one time, but do not forget this; you are on my ship, surrounded by my crew and all of them, including me are far stronger than you." He paused for a moment before he continued. "As I was saying, you will remain on the Moby Dick as a guest, until such time I either decide that you are not a threat and you may leave, or as a prisoner if need be. The world you claim to have come from may have been harsh and cruel, it may not have, but make no mistake this world is harsher and crueler, if you don't understand how to survive and if you make enemies at every turn you'll never get back home, nor will you ever gain anyone's trust." He paused and turned to Thatch who was standing by him and muttered something that I couldn't quite make out, Thatch nodded and left the room.
"Where is he going?"
"He has duties that he needs to take care of, he has neglected them lately in favour of watching over you. I have things to attend to as well, so for the time being Marco will watch over you, just remember, don't do anything stupid, you are a guest now, I would hate for that to change."
With that Whitebeard left the room, leaving me and the blond man named Marco in the room, the closing of the door cutting through the silence following his decision. The room quickly fell into an uncomfortable silence with Marco just staring at me, this continued on for what felt like an eternity, until finally he broke off his stare and spoke, "I don't trust you at all, but I do trust pops, so if he says you're a guest for now then you're a guest."
I nodded and waited for him to continue on with what he was saying. He seemed to be unsure of what to say next, I knew he probably wanted interrogate me more, to get better answers, answers to questions that I didn't have. Evidently he decided to wait for later for those questions and instead asked, "Are you hungry? You've been in and out for a while and I don't believe you were brought anything to eat."
I thought about what he said and realized that I was starving, I hadn't been fed much in jail and hadn't eaten since arriving here. "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry"
"Well then," He gestured for me to stand, "follow me, it's almost time for the crew to eat dinner, we'll get you some food and introduce you to the rest of the crew, or at least the crew that's on the main ship." With that he opened the door and gestured for me to walk through it.
And in that moment I felt like I was back in my world, walking towards the gallows, walking towards my fate. I would have preferred to stay in the room, but I knew I had no choice, I had to do what I was told, or who knows what would happen to me.
I need to stay alive so that I can return to my crew, I have to find a way back home. If I have to follow the orders of some people to get there then I guess I'll just have to suffer through it, but no matter what, I must return home, my crew needs a captain, and I need my ship and my crew, I needed my home back.
With this resolve in mind I took my first step forward in this new life of mine, unsure of what it will bring, and began walking out of the room, following Marco down the hallway, the sounds of raucous cheering and yelling. It seemed as if this crew was all about having a good time, perhaps it wouldn't be too different from my crew, perhaps fitting in here for the time being wouldn't be too difficult.
**A/N: I am sooooo sorry about the long wait in between chapters of this story, I'm not very good about keeping to schedules, I'm not planning on abandoning this story though, this chapter was just being difficult to write, I must have written it 4 or 5 times before I came up with this version of it, so I hope this is okay. I tried to make this chapter a bit longer of a chapter as well, so hopefully that makes up for it a little bit. **
