Like A Boy
Chapter 5 It Keeps Going on
"We don't think that the water caused her to lose consciousness. Like you said, she is a very good swimmer. The people also said that she was able to get out of the water but as soon as the whirlpool disappeared, she lost conscious. It isn't normal and she has been in a coma for a month now."
The man scratched the back of his head and stared at the girl who was lying in the hospital bed. She had a peaceful look on her face. As if she was just sleeping. They had a breathing device attached to her face because her breathing was too shallow. He hadn't seen the girl in a while and barely recognized her.
She had cut that long oak brown hair boy short and died it a non-natural color. The new glasses she had needed were lying on the table next to the bed in which she was in a coma.
They had gotten a call while they were in South Africa saying that their daughter was hospitalized and that they were needed. Both he and his wife left from where they were filming and came back. They didn't rush or anything. Got on a plane or two and comfortably came back to California. They found their daughter in a coma and her blissful face.
Nothing seemed wrong with her and the copper haired woman wanted to go back to filming her new movie. The graying hair of her husband kept bobbing into her mirror as she fixed her make up once again. The girl was such a troublesome child. What was her name again? Na-something, no.
It was what the nurse just said. Yes that was it. That was what they had called her. When she was still their daughter. The man started to walk to the door and she stood up and followed. The nurse didn't stop them, just let them go.
"A damn spoiled brat and making us come all the way back here." The man said as his wife wrapped an arm around his.
"It can't be helped. She was always such a problem." The woman said and they exited the large building.
I sneezed and then looked at the fishing pole in front of me. Ace was sitting next to me.
"You catching a cold?" Marco asked leaning against the railing as I rubbed my nose.
"Idiots don't catch colds." Ace retorted. I sent him a look and continued to concentrate on the water in front of me. We were getting nothing.
"Shut up." I said getting irritated. Once again one of the guys got at my stuff and found some of my tests. That had been very embarrassing. Ace was still laughing at my poor skills at the subjects. It wasn't like I failed the classes. I just didn't pass them with the highest scores.
Okay fine, I'm stupid but I can swim and he can't. That should count as something.
"Man, there is no way we can catch anything." Ace said dropping the fishing pole and leaning back utterly bored. I looked at him and sighed. This was really boring.
We had gotten food from the winter island, but we still needed more. We were a large crew and I learned fast from Ace and Teach that D's eat a lot. More than Pops sometimes. That is scary. Usually the two of them get their own table of food.
"Maybe you should go in with a harpoon and snag something." Ace said looking up at me with a grin.
"I can barely drag your sorry ass up to the surface. You expect me to be able drag a large harpoon and whatever I happen to find?" I asked looking at him as if he was nuts.
"Yes." Ace said simply. I frowned at him and went back to looking at the water.
"Ace, unlike you, I'm don't have some stupid monstrous strength." I said going back to fishing with the pole.
"Well now's a good time to train."
Before I could say anything, Ace had thrusted me into the water with the harpoon that just happened to be next to him. I'm gonna hurt whoever decided on that. The sudden throw surprised me so I had to quickly go to the surface to get air.
I gasped at the surface and looked up at Ace and Marco. Ace had a rather pleased look on his face and Marco's face was somewhat sympathetic. "I'm gonna kill you for that Ace!" I hollered up at the man. The black haired man began to laugh and I was about to head towards the ship but Marco stopped me.
"We kinda need the harpoon." He said with an 'I'm sorry' smile.
I opened my mouth but closed it and took a deep breath. I dived into the water and started to head deeper into the Grandline. Marco had said that I was probably the only person in the world who could enjoy swimming in the sea. I said I had to do it so much because of Ace having his narcoleptic fits while on the railing.
I swam deeper until I noticed the large metal beam thing stuck on a rock. I thanked Kami-sama for making it a hell of a lot easier on me. Well almost easier on me. There was still the problem with the actual weight of the thing and dragging it back up to the ship. At least my clothes weren't going to get in my way.
I stopped wearing shoes. They were getting in the way especially since I was in the water almost every day thanks to my fire friend and his inability to stay on the ship. I was wearing regular cargos similar to Ace's and I pretty much just dropped the shirt. I liked loose and baggy shirts but in the water they are very restricting so I usually go around in chest binding or a black bikini top. When you are around pirates, you learn that shame isn't something you need. Right now I'm wearing the bikini top.
I went down and stopped in front of the harpoon. Its shiny color was what made it stand out against the black rock that it was on. A small amount of chain was attached to the end. I grabbed the links closest to the harpoon so that it didn't swing and hook anything and me.
Well, not that I was going to have to worry about that. The thing was so damn heavy. I could barely even lift it up. How the hell did Ace expect me to bring it to the ship? If we hadn't weighed anchor by now the ship would be out of sight. I could feel the familiar burning feeling grow in my chest and throat and knew that I had to hurry. But damn this thing was heavy.
"She's been down there for a while." Ace said staring at the water's surface bored. Bubbles would come up every now and then a little ways off from the ship which meant she was still alive, probably.
"Maybe she's having trouble with the harpoon." Marco said looking down as well. Some of the nurses had come over and were watching the surface with them. Pops looked over at the small group but went back to drinking. If needed the girl would come up for air and then go back down again. This could be good training for her.
"Maybe she encountered a sea king." Lee said looking at the water and for her blue haired friend. Marco shrugged. It was an option. But he hoped it wasn't.
A frown formed on Ace's face as he stared down at the surface. A fair amount of bubbles had shown up at the spot where they had last seen them. He quickly backed up as something was thrown onto the ship and a hand appeared on the railing.
I took in a deep breath as water began to splash around me. I knew that the harpoon was on the ship and that I was on it too, but the chain was still attached to my ankle and that thing was still after me. I tried to grip onto the railing better but the water was trying to get me back into the ocean.
There was a high pitched scream and a few gasps. I myself was gasping but more from the lack of air and extreme fright from the sea king that was following me. I could feel a hand grab the upper part of my arm and grip hard as the water began to splash hard again. This time it wasn't the water that made me lose my grip but something large hitting me in the back. For a few seconds all I saw was white and blood began to form in my mouth. Whoever had grabbed be didn't let go and was able to drag me up on to the ship.
I was continuing to gasp for air. I could feel myself be placed against the side of the ship. I opened my eyes and saw that I was face to face with Ace. The pyro had a concerned look on his face. I lifted my arm slowly and jutted my thumb to the ocean and more water sprayed onto us.
"We're eating it." I said it in more of a demand than a question. This made Ace smile and he helped me to my feet. I was a little shaky at first but was able to keep my balance without falling on my ass.
As I did this the rather large sea king had been caught and was currently being sliced so that it could be cooked. I shook my head and water droplets went everywhere. Marco and Ace covered their faces as I did this and complained a bit. I just smiled at this.
"I told you, you could get that harpoon out. And you brought us some food." Ace said putting an arm across my shoulders.
"So I was bait?" I asked him casually. I needed to get changed.
"Yup." Ace said it with no denying in his voice. I smiled and walked to the door that led to where I slept. I could feel Ace's stare as I walked away. Usually that comment would leave him with a good sized welt in his head. I turned and stuck my tongue out at him.
"You sure you're fine?"
Lee had followed me towards my room. I didn't mind. It was either her being a good friend or because she was a nurse. I smiled and nodded. I was little shaken from the whole affair but I had decided that I would do the best I could and try not to get in anyone's way.
She followed me into my room and I opened one of the drawers in my room and pulled out a new pair of clothes. I got changed and began to dry my hair on my bed. Lee came and sat next to me.
"Ace was really worried about you when you all of a suddenly came out and were gripping onto the ship like that." She said looking at the ceiling and casually swinging her legs back and forth. I looked at her, the towel still on my head.
"What do you mean?" I asked her. I couldn't exactly remember what happened. I had seen the sea king come after me and thought of nothing but getting the hell out of there. That was what got my ankle caught. Now that I think about it, how did my foot get out of the chain?
"Well, you threw up the harpoon somehow and were clinging to the side of the ship." The woman began and I sat and listened. "Ace noticed you first because the sea king came up at the same time and covered everyone with water. Apparently you must have had a pretty desperate look because he quickly grabbed you and didn't let go."
I sat and listened trying to imagine what happened in my head. Lee kept going. "You were almost up on the railing; you had only your arms on before. The sea king decided to dive and as it did so, its tail rammed in to making you lose your grip. Ace was able to pull you up and you were barely conscious."
I slowly brought my hand to my mouth and ran across it. I looked at the towel. The water must have wiped away the blood that I had tasted earlier. Lee looked at me and I noticed her stare. I waved my hands gesturing for her to continue the story.
"Your ankle was caught in the chain but Ace was able to break it to get you out. You were breathing though it was more like gasping for air to my ears. Ace never took his eyes off of you. He seemed so relieved when you opened your eyes and made that joke about eating the sea king."
I looked at her and grinned. "That wasn't a joke." I said standing up and placing the towel on the back of the small chair in my room. "I want to eat that fish." I could hear her laugh as I walked out the made my way towards the stairs.
At dinner that night I sat with Ace and the guys like usual. Every now and then I would sit with Lee and we would talk with the nurses. Girl talk which I was getting better and better at. Maybe I shouldn't be too thrilled about that. Oh well, it felt nice.
I sat next to Ace and Thatch sat on my other side. The man was nudging me and joking about my good 'catch'. I smiled and looked at Ace.
"Thanks." I said before taking a bite of the meat.
"Huh?" Ace asked looking at me.
"I said thanks for saving me earlier." I said not looking at him. I caught Ace smiling out of the corner of my eye and something heavy grabbed on to me.
"What the…!"
"Heh, you make good bait little Princess." Ace had me in a head lock. I looked up at him questioning the name. He smiled down at me and began to laugh at the face I gave him.
"Here." Marco handed me a piece of paper from across the table. Ace had let go of my arm lock so that I could get it. On it was a picture of me.
I was sitting on a piece of wood that was floating in the water. I was smiling up at the person taking the picture and was sticking my tongue out. I recognized the wood as part of the rudder of a marine ship from a few days ago. They had come out of nowhere and Ace and I were told to deal with them.
*I like Flashbacks*
"Bet I can bet you there." Ace said to. I rolled my eyes and sat on the rail. The man looked at me confused.
"Unlike you, I can't just jump over to them. I have to swim to get to the ships." I said diving into the sea.
There were only about five ships but they had had the nerve to shoot at us. Pops being Pops said that they weren't worth all of us going over and asked Ace to see what I could do. Apparently the highest rank on the ship was a captain tanked soldier.
I swam underwater but didn't fail to notice Ace flying over head towards the ship. His flames were dancing on the waves and I laughed inwardly. The ships weren't that far since we had decided t anchor and that they got really close before firing. Not that the cannonballs did anything. Vista had easily gotten rid of them.
I took a breath as I got to the side of the ship. None of the sailors on board had noticed me. They were too busy with Pyro to notice me. Besides they probably wouldn't think that anyone other than mermen were stupid enough to swim in the Grandline. Well I am stupid enough.
I swam to the back of the ship that I was near and looked at the rudder. It was a rather large piece of wood that was securely bolted to the back of the ship. So I wasn't going to be able to unbolt it, but I could break it off. I'm not a monster in strength, but how hard could swinging a mallet at a piece of wood be?
It broke off easier than I thought it would. This however did attract attention to me. The piece of wood floated and I kicked to the opposite side of the ship from where I had come from leaving the view of the Moby Dick.
"OVER HERE!" I hollered up to the ship. Just my luck, I picked the ship with the captain. The man looked down at me and I grinned and waved back. I was sitting on the rudder casually running my feet into the water.
The captain ordered them to fire at me. I dove into the water as they fired. That had been to close. The rudder I was on splintered into thousands of pieces and I barely dodged the sinking iron balls. I broke to the surface and swung my fist at the captain.
"THAT SCARED ME STUPID MARINE!" I heard Ace laughed and turned to see him sitting on the railing of one of the other ships. The rest of them were on fire and sinking.
"Your slow Youko." He told me and I casually swam to one of the larger pieces of surviving wood. The captain was looking in between us as I easily lifted myself onto the wood.
"Well sorry, but I'm not a monster like I've been telling you. Besides, I got the rudder off and I found the captain." I said pointing to the man who was becoming red from us ignoring him.
"KILL THEM!"
Before the crew had a chance to actually do this however the ship jerked. I smiled as it began to move farther away. Soon I could see part of the Moby Dick. I waved good bye to the captain and noticed a man pointing a camera at me. I stuck my tongue out before diving in and heading towards the ship Ace was on.
"Enjoy the whirlpool." I said as I climbed up onto the burning ship. The one Ace was on wasn't going to get sucked in by the current.
"How do you know they're headed for a whirlpool?" ace asked me as the boat began to spin.
"I felt the current." I said as the ship began to spin around the gush of water. Ace smiled and high fived me before jumping in the direction of the Moby Dick. I followed.
*END ^^*
"Ocean Princess Youko, what the hell?" I asked looking at the name they had given me. Ocean Child was hard enough but now Princess. This world really seemed to have it out for me.
"Yeah, so that means you Youhime Youko." Ace said taking the bounty and laughing. I took it back and looked at it. I hadn't actually seen the price on my head.
"Sixty million beris?" I said reading it. "Is that a lot?"
"In the New World that is pretty week, but you're a rookie and it's your first bounty so I say it's pretty good." Marco said with a small smile. I looked at the poster and smiled.
"EHH!" I looked at my plate. "ACE I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU… DON'T FALL ASLEEP WHEN I'M YELLING AT YOU!"
I'm wanted now huh? This world keeps getting fun.
I really need to stop getting into teh Dr. Pepper really late at night. Though I did right this in teh afternoon... Well that was the reason behind the crack nickname. For those of you who don't know, You means Ocean and Hime means Princess. Ace was being retarded and combined them together. I didn't want to make Youko's bounty too high so sixty million worked.
Ace is beggining to worry about Youko more and I hope I didn't make her parents too much of dick heads. I really don't want Youko to turn into a Mary Sue. Also I figured that she should have some sort of fear but I can't think of any good one that could be hilarious and or beneficial. Earthquakes don't count because they just make Youko nervous. They also don't pop up at reasonable times without it seeming like ti is unnatural. So if you guys have any ideas, please tell me.
I hope it wasn't too confusing with the whole out of Youko's POV. I tried my hardest to use the lines to represent the breaks. To make it less confuing, it won't be in anyones point of view when Youko isn't around. I htink you call that third person. I suck at the grammer names. My dad wants me to tske creeative writing courses though. Well, I'll put teh real world in bold so that that is less confusing as well. See you with my next chapter uodate 3.