YooHoo!
- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -
6. "Doctor, Doctor…
…Give me the news, I've got a, bad case of loving you!"
-Robert Palmer
When I regained consciousness (again) my eyes floated upon something entirely different to when I had first woken up- instead of a clear afternoon sky, there was now dull monochrome metal glinting back at me as I squinted through uneasy and blurred vision to get a bearing on my surroundings.
"Oh, you're awake!" I flinch at the voice; the metal surrounding this whole room reverberates each intonation of the sound, amplifying it and terrifying me into teeny tiny pieces.
"Wh-where am I?" I whisper, not wanting to raise my head up and look at the voices owner.
"You're in our submarine, in the infirmary to be precise- Captain said to bring you down here so he could check for concussion, you whacked your head pretty hard on the deck when you fainted" so I'm stuck in the contraption now… why wasn't I in it before, they're pretty stupid for kidnappers… "There was no concussion though just a nice bump on the back of your head." Like that makes me feel any better…
Sure enough, when I shuffled about a bit, I could tell I was situated on a rickety cot, a thin sterilized sheet covering the lower half of my body, and the lump on my head being irritated when I shifted my skull over the solitary thin pillow provided alongside the sheet. Sniffing the air, the room had a slight tang of iodine and that habitual clinical scent that could pluck the hair out of your nostrils.
The sound of trundling feet arouses my attention from where it was once observing the room, and my head whips to glance at this other person occupying this medical space. Lo and behold, it's the bi-coloured sunglasses wearing guy from earlier, 'Shachi' or whatever it was…
"C'mon, if you're awake you can get up; Captain wants to speak to you." I nod but I can feel my lower lip trembling, Shachi notices and his posture softens, "It's not that bad, Captains a nice guy."
Yeah, you just try and be threatened by the guy and see if you feel the same way afterwards… recalling what happened before I passed out as the 'Captain' sauntered towards me, with a blade and a talking polar bear-
"-W-What about t-t-the p-p-p-p-p-polar b-b-bear?!" I half shriek, the racket casing us to wince as it bounces off the quiet walls of the infirmary.
"Oh, you mean Bepo? He's harmless as long as you don't try anything."
You don't sound too sure…
He leads me out of the medical bay and along another dull metal corridor, nodding as we pass others dressed in similar white jumpsuits that Shachi himself is also wearing. I've noticed too, that they are also all wearing hats. Odd kind of people for kidnappers…
We stop outside of one particular room, down a deep dark hall way, isolated from all civilisations and a decent electricity supply.
Shachi knocks on the (guess what?) metal door, and a tired 'Come in' is heard from the other side. The door is pushed open, and I am shoved inside, Shachi standing behind me, I guess, so I can't make a break for it.
"You can leave us Shachi" the man himself says languidly, from where he sits with his feet propped up on a desk, crossing his arms about his chest as he reclines in his seat.
"Yes, Captain."
Nervously, my eyes flit from the door to the retreating form of Shachi, somehow wishing that he'd been told to stay. The man seemed like one presence that could keep the 'Captain' from acting drastically against me, and with him gone, I'm in deep shi-
"Take a seat, Aiko-Ya." I flinch when he says my name, but move to anyways to appease him.
Hesitantly, I scoot to a small stool placed next to his desk, folding my hands together when seated and twiddling my thumbs so that I don't have to watch him scrutinise me inch form inch.
"Do you mind if I call you Smith-Ya, Aiko seems too stuffy?"
"W-w-what do you m-mean? Shouldn't i-i-it b-be the o-o-other way r-r-round?" curse you, stutter of mine…
"Whatever do you mean, Smith-ya? Certainly this is a more informal term of address?" He seems genuinely perplexed.
"Ah, I t-think you h-have it b-b-b-backwards... Where I a-am from, o-o-our first n-n-name is f-first, and o-our s-s-surname last. S-so I'm S-S-Smith Aiko h-h-here..." I trail off nervously. Does that mean I'm near Asia then and not Somalia?
"How... Peculiar... So I was correct in addressing you as Aiko-Ya for starters?" I nod. "Hmm... Aiko Smith, I am Trafalgar Law or rather Law Trafalgar to you? I am the captain of the Heart Pirates."
P-p-p-pirates!?
"E-excuse m-m-me? Did y-you j-j-just say 'p-pirates'?" My eyes must be a wide as dinner plates; first a talking polar bear and now pirates- hat wearing pirates and a submarine!?
"I believe I did not stutter, Aiko-ya" he says humorously a self-satisfied smirk on his face. If I wasn't too busy hyperventilating I would have tried to kill him with the hypothetic laser beams in my eyes, but somehow, I seriously doubt I could do even that- the man is domineering and intimidating as hell; I feel that if I retaliated, I'd be killed for me impudence within 0.5 seconds of committing the act.
"B-b-but! P-p-pirates don't exist! They're only in story books and rare acts of terrorism! How did I end up in Somalia of all places?!" If I find out I am now an international missing child that has been spirited away with some other poor souls just for the creep sat in front of me's entertainment or benefit (depending on whether they'll pay a ransom fee or not to get me back) I think I'm going to snap…Gary you have so massive explaining to do when I get back!
... If I get back...
"Please calm down Aiko-ya, I can tell you now that pirates do exist, thrive in fact, and what is this 'Somalia' place you speak of? Is it an island on Grand Line?"
Grand... Line...? That doesn't exist on a map of Earth does it?
Oh hell no!
"... Aiko-ya?"
"Ohmyhodnoimnoteveninmyownworldanymore!" And with that I proceed to have a first rate panic attack until Captain Trafalgar Law slaps me once harshly across my left cheek. "Mother fu- ohmyg- ow!"
Yep that's going to leave a very big mark...I've got two bruises on the way now…
"Are you calm now?"
I nod sullenly, nursing an already swelling cheek.
"Can you now, in a calm and gentle decorum, as to why you were found on my submarine, and how you got there in the first place?"
I take a shaky deep breath and begin to recall the moments before I woke up in mock-Somalia.
"So what you are telling me, is that a book attacked you, you got a mark on your arm corresponding to the Jolly Roger of the heart pirates- our jolly Rodger, went to your... 'Lecture' and collapsed by a puddle then woke up on the deck of the sub and gave Shachi a fright?"
"Y-y-yes... ?" Why does that sound like a question?
"I don't believe you..." The leopard print hat he wears is now shadowing his eyes and features... He's absolutely menacing...
"Ah, here your bag…" he reaches down beside him and tosses it to me, while I'm checking the contents and placing the holdall across my body, he gives me a proposition: "I'm going to placate you, seeing as your behaviour while on board the sub has been impeccable, so I'm giving you a minute's head start. Make it to the deck and off the sub and we won't pursue, and if you don't manage to do so... Well... My operating table will have some new found company..." While he chuckles darkly, not starting the countdown as of yet, I am hurtling out of the room and up the hall, trying to recall how Shachi led me down them earlier.
Blindly turning one corner, I bump into just the person-
"Can y-y-you give me s-some h-help?! Please!?"
"-Uh- sure!" Shachi utters, surprised at my bedraggled appearance and stuttering terror, just waiting for Trafalgar Law to pop out from behind me at any given moment.
"Where's t-t-the d-deck?!" I'm grasping onto his white jumpsuit now, shaking him slightly to hurry up his answer.
"Use the door behind you- hey!"
"T-Thanks!" I'm scrambling away to twist open the latch on the door before he can even stop me. Thundering steps surge down the metal corridor behind me, while my fingers scramble to gather some leverage.
"Have you made it to the deck yet?" A dark utterance dominates the obscure hallways, just the sort of terrifying motivation I need to wrench the door open and pile up onto the deck then sprint towards the railings and oh my- he's behind me!
Runrunrunrunrunrunrunr-
Trafalgar Law, with his tall sinuous frame was made for sprinting, as he gathers little air resistance. He's easily catching up to me, and I'm ferociously running to those railings and what lies behind them with so much adrenalin fuelled gusto I can muster, but seeing as I was never athletic in my younger years and can trip over thin air, my progress is slow with my weary little legs compared to his lanky strides. The mark on my arm burns as I near the railings-
"You're quick, Aiko-ya!" Law shouts from not far behind me, but as if that petty compliment will stop me! I'm already flinging myself over those railings and falling madly into the unknown ocean below.
Their 'Jolly Roger' or whatever it was, which I so loathingly deem to be the perverse marking on my left forearm tingles when in contact with the saltwater. My body feels lighter when I plunge into cerulean depths with cornucopia of marine life, curious as to why a blue haired girl had dived into their sanctuary, and it is though as if I'm almost as if I am dissipating into the waves among the fish. It's relaxing, even if I can hear the frantic shouts of… of… the pirates above the water, incredulous as to how I have seemingly 'disappeared' and that I'd have to 'come up for breath' sometime or other- so I ignore them, stupidly releasing my held breath; eyes widening in shock at the idiotic motion- I kick my legs uselessly trying to emerge from under the currents, but my body won't move. So I am left to reverie memories of home as I sink deeper and deeper into a murky abyss.
The Dark Doctor…
The Surgeon of Death…
Captain...
Trafalgar Law.
He was sorely confused.
The man had been intrigued when Shachi had bundled into the Navigation room aboard the sub, rambling about how a girl had fallen from the sky and landed in his bucket of soapy water. His first thought was to question whether one of his crew had finally snapped under the pressure of being at sea for extended periods of time, and if he could then conduct a… experiment on the unfortunate's psychosis.
Unfortunately, when he flanked Shachi, Penguin and Bepo to the sub's deck, he was both surprised and disappointed. Shachi was indeed spouting the truth, and the young Captain would no longer have a need to investigate his subordinate's mind.
To say that effectively pissed on his bonfire would be an understatement.
And when the girl had noticed them? Had stuttered in fear before him? Had collapsed at the sight of Bepo? Well, that curiosity and a burning desire craving knowledge was rekindled.
Who was she, this girl that so seemingly fell right into their laps? His lap… Shachi and Penguin were under the delusion that she may have been an angel, but Law thought otherwise to his women-obsessed subordinates. Why would this stranger appear from nowhere and have his Jolly Roger on their arm? Discombobulated logic swirling through his mind only proceeded to aggravate his curiosity more.
When she had escaped his macabre grasp, inexplicable anger rose through his persona, and he found himself shouting at the waves and his crew as to how 'It shouldn't be hard to lose sight of a girl with blue hair' even if it had been his fault that she had evaded him in the first place.
Blue hair… not her true colour, it was white blonde at the roots…
Blue eyes… lost under her hair…
Stutter… it made him feel domineering watching her dance around his statements frightfully as though he were a ticking time bomb.
The clothes she wore… boyish and hid her tiny figure...not that he had been looking, he'd just noticed her frail physique when conducting his medical assessment on the back of her head, again, he was disappointed to find no concussion.
All in all, you could say that Trafalgar Law was completely and utterly bamboozled when it came to Aiko Smith, and she occupied his thoughts throughout the rest of the duration of their sail to Sabaody Archipelago.