Continuing from Day 10: The Marine Navigator.
Diantha pulled her hand away from the marine officer, backing up a bit in slight suprise. I narrowed my eyes at the marine, but was also admitably suprised that the marine officer was a woman in her late twenties, also wearing the usual marine attire, but sported knee high brown boots, with her cyan blue hair tied up into a ponytail, observing us with her dark, blue eyes.
Diantha glared at the woman with genuine hate, most likely pissed off that a marine is trying to tell her what to do. But the marine's attempts were obviously not working, for Diantha didn't seem to even listen. "Like I'm gonna listen to you ya piece of-"
I pulled Diantha back behind me, startling her enough to shut her up. The Marine still eyed both of us in possible suspicion. To at least change her persepective, I said "Excuse me for my young friend here, She can be a little...Rude when it comes to strangers." putting emphasis on that certain word.
The Marine's eyes widened only a bit, but then smiled warmly "No, no, I don't have a problem with it. It's just that the other Marine officers have a problem. Usually if you had any ideas about climbing to the top, the new rule allows officers to hold you in a prison cell for as long as they see fit. I'm just gonna let you off with a warning."
If Diantha was shocked, she didn't show it, all she did was roll her eyes. "Whatever...anywho, I think it's time I went back to the smithy to check up on my...stuff. You wanna come with Ravina?"
I didn't answer at first, for some reason wanting to stay around, until I said "You go on ahead, I'll catch up with you later. But if you come across Tristan, tell him to meet at the fountain at 8:00 sharp in the night time, got it?"
Diantha nodded quickly and headed towards the other way. "And don't forget to get some supplies." I called afterwards.
The Marine officer walked to my side, crossing her arms "We have some strict rules here in loguetown, it's best to follow them...Newcomer."
I hesitantly nodded "I'll be sure to remember that. But I'm curious...what kind of strict rules do you mean, for in my opinion, all the marine rules are strict?"
She took little time to take in my question, as she finally replied "What I mean is that since we have a new marine Commander, he made some slight changes to the rules in loguetown. Like the one rule he made himself, that 'Any pirate that enters loguetown are to be immediately Arrested for tresspassing on Marine protected towns without a trial.' Also the rule about climbing the platform is considered an offense."
"...Let me guess, if any marine officer does not follow through with any rule, they are stripped of their rank or court martialed, correct?" I added.
She nodded in response. I crossed my arms at this "I don't know, it sounds like an indirect method of tyranny or monarchy to me."
The marine officer's eyes suddenly widened, looking around in worry at first, the turning back to me "Your not supposed to say stuff like that out in the open. If another marine officer was here, they would've thrown you in jail, or worse they-"
I quickly cut her off when I answered "If I'm thrown in jail for stating my observation of the situation, than it must mean that my observation is true." I then gave her an expecting kind of look when I said "Besides, if you are a marine officer that agrees with those laws, you would've put me in jail already, wouldn't you Agree?"
She looked away in defeat, but then sighed "To be honest...I personally don't like these rules, but I can't disagree or I'll be punished. Not only that, I hate the curfew law, especially the consequence. But I still can't do anything about it."
A far off padding of feet caught our attention, turning around to catch sight of two silhouettes in the distance running toward the square. One of them looked as if they were holding something in their arms. Once they got closer, I immediately recognized them. Diantha was running desperately to catch up to her brother with both blades in one hand, Tristan was running hysterically, dragging Diantha with him while cradling a big sack in his other hand.
In a slight expectation, I tilted slightly to look at what might have been chasing, what I saw was not at all suprising. A decent sized group of marines were chasing them down, though did not seem to be catching up at a fast rate. One of them even had the breath to demand "S-Stop right there!"
I slapped myself in aggravation at this, shaking my head in disappointment "I told them Not to get caught, but do they listen...NO!" I grumbled to myself.
Marion stared at the oncoming group, her eyes locked on my two crewmates as they got closer. She then called out to them and me "Follow me, I know a place!"
She sprinted toward the east wing of the town square, with my crewmates in tow. I waited until they were far enough from the scene and brought my attention to the Marines. I swung my hand out in front of me, a brilliant light forming around the extension of my arm as I said "Halo-Halo Traps!"
The Light shot out from my hand and hit their target dead center, sending the marines flying backwards while trapped in a translucent bubble. Without wasting time, I headed towards the direction where my comrades went, quickly catching up with them, but running ahead to gain on the marine officer. "Why are you helping us?"
The marine officer did not slow down, but took a moment to turn her head to answer "I have the feeling you can help me."
She went back to running as she led us to a secluded hotel at the edge of town, but far from the harbor at which we entered. She talked with the manager and brought us to a very large room, with four decent sized beds, but...one bathroom. Diantha went straight for the nearest bed, jumping on to the covers and laid herself down. Tristan walked over to the bed across from her, cradling the sack carefully in his arms, but I stayed on my feet, watching the marine as she closed the door behind us. "Might I ask again on why you helped us. Technically you'd be considered a traitor for helping Runaways get away." I said, directing the 'runaway' comment to the two siblings on the beds.
The officer leaned on the wall, then replying "In the situation the town is in, I believe I have to take matters into my own hands since no one's gonna help speak out against these immoral rules and new Commander. So, in a sense...I'm asking for your help."
For unknown reasons, the more I thought about her answer, the more I began to see holes in her explanation. "Why ask for our help? You do not know us, and not only that, but if it the situation is as bad as you say, then why ask complete strangers when you can ask someone else that might know you or also agree with you?"
She sighed deeply in frustration "Because, even if they didn't like the new rules, they wouldn't say what's on their mind or even lift a finger to go against. But you on the other hand, you spoke your mind, and was not afraid of the consequence, even if I warned you. I figured if you got guts to state the truth, I would ask you to help me."
A muffled mew brought our attention to Tristan, who only clutched the bag anxiously and smiled "Sorry, my stomach just growled is all. Nothing to worry abo-."
The bag suddenly moved, my eyes glowering at the now nervous man "Tell me Tristan...What exactly did you do to get the marines on your tail?"
His smile began to waver slightly, until his face contorted from anxious to complete defeat. "...I was looking around the West port when stumbled upon a dock side Circus. I was curious and attended the zoo they held at the end of the show. All the animals were behind bars, but one looked even more miserable than the rest. It was only a youngling and I felt really bad for it. And when the tamers began to abuse it, I... kinda gave 'em a beating and saved the little guy from further harm."
My unsatisfied expression was still plastered to my face, crossing my arms "Dare I ask...What exactly is this...'youngling'?"
He looked between me and the bag, until finally, he opened the sack and took out a large orange furball with black strips. At first, I could not identify it, but when I looked more closely, my face changed dramatically. It was a dirty and very sickly looking cat, it's form shivered from the sudden lack of warmth as it tried to twist out of his grip to return back to the enclosed bag. Tristan grabbed the empty sack and wrapped it around the cold thing, hugging it to his chest to keep it warm. "It's a Tiger cub. I figured it's mother must have died, and was left to fend for itself...Captain, I would understand why you're angry with me, but please...I would take any punishment, as long as I get to keep and care for him."
Tristan gave me a determined expression, showing he was not willing to back down without a fight. But in the end, he didn't have to even say one word. "...While I'm angry at the fact you got us in this mess, there is no punishment for doing the right thing. As long as you take care of it, I have no quarrel with you."
His expression immediately lit up, wearing a large, but relieved smile, hugging the cub while cuddling it closer to his chest "You hear that Talus, you're gonna stay with Papi Tristan!"
Behind him, Diantha snorted in response "Papi Tristan!? How come I never get to call you by such an Adorable nickname?" she asked sarcastically.
His demeanor immediately changed, from happy to cold hearted as he glared at her, Diantha glaring back defensively. "Because I'm your brother, you're supposed to call me 'Bro' ." he seethed through his teeth.
" It's not a have to is it?" Diantha snapped back.
The tension grew denser as they glared death at each other, leaving me to seperate them "Both of you stop it! If you're gonna fight now, then maybe we should turn you both in if you two won't stop your childish bickering!"
The siblings quickly snapped out of their intimidation contest, timidly sneaking back to both their beds and sat on them with pouty expressions. I turned back to the marine officer, who stayed silent the whole time we were talking, making me feel a little bad for her to see what transpired. "I apolgize for aving to witness that, but they were never like this before so it kind of took me by suprise as well."
The marine officer stared for only a moment, then stuck out her hand to me and smiled "I'm Marion Aquarios, nice to meet you."
Hesitantly, my hand met hers as I replied "...Nice to meet you too,? I'm Ravina Faust..."
She shook it slowly, still smiling "I gotta admit, I'm impressed on how you handled the situation. Most of the pirates I've seen usually like solving it at gun point or the tip of the sword, but you solved it with only a few words, and they even weren't a death related threat."
My hand retracted back to my side, observing her disturbingly "So...you already figured it out, haven't you?"
She rubbed her head, nodding "Well, the only kind of people who would act that way towards Marines, and attract their attention so easily are Pirates, so I kind of assumed you were."
I let out an interested hmm in response, staying quiet while thinking about it. "But aside from that, about the situation, the commander does alot of things to secure his position, even getting rid of those who would speak out against him. Problem is, the townspeople think he's an absolute hero because there have been no pirates here for a while." Marion said, her head hung low "Loguetown is on the verge of an economic depression, the trade with other islands have ceased because Loguetown has no items of interest on the market. The reason being is because the majority of the items of interest are obtained because of the trade bussiness we had with pirates. Now that the commander gets rid of all the pirates that come to the harbor, the town's economy is very low and the town is becoming poor. Instead of fixing the problem, the commander blames it all on the pirates. Sad thing is, everyone believes his lies, and does what ever he wants."
I felt my anger rise at this, looking away in thought. Marion sighed wistfully "If you can't help, I'd understand completely, but-"
"Who exactly is this...commander."
I growled through my teeth.
She blinked a few times at the sudden intensity of my voice, but answered "Commander. Williams Conrad."
