Tell it to the Marines
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Chapter 9
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Benn Beckman halts his strides as he comes up on deck. There's a light drizzle calm weather for the Grand Line really. It's not even enough to start to wet his hair, not unless he's an idiot and stands outside in it for too long.
An idiot like his captain.
Shanks is stood before the railings, famous red hair practically dripping onto the damp fabric of his dark cloak. It still strange, looking at the man and knowing that the space below his left shoulder is absent, that there's no longer an arm there. It's been six months now, but Benn thinks it'll take a lifetime to get used to.
"Which one are you thinking about, Captain?" It's a valid question. Shanks' gaze is to the east, eyes warm with a light that only ever burns when his thoughts are on the Anchor and the little Sea Bird.
"Both," Shanks admits grinning sheepishly as his eyes linger on the distant horizon, "wondering what they make of each other. I can see Riskua taking to Anchor, and I think my little Gully will be good for the kid.. Just…"
"You miss them."
Benn has to admit, he misses the scrappy little brats too. Misses going to Melring every three or four months to see how Riskua's getting on, to see how far she's come in her prodigious Haki training. Misses listening to Luffy yammer on about getting taken out to sea, and then later about how he's going to be Pirate King. It's not doubt worse for Shanks, for obvious reasons.
"She'll be fine captain."
There's no question about Luffy being okay, not with his grandfather looking out for him. But Riskua's out there, and while Makino's trustworthy sorts, she's not going to be much help in a fight, not going to be able to physically protect Riskua like Benn knows everyone on this crew can manage.
"My little Sea Bird's resourceful," Shanks admits, slapping his hand against the wood of the railing and grinning wider, "she'll be fine and then next time I see her, she'll probably be better at Haki than I am."
He's got a lot of trust in his daughter, that much is evident. Benn can see why, the kid's going to go far with that attitude of hers. She might not have Shanks' magnetism, but there is a little pull of something, something that makes you pay attention beyond those unnerving eyes. Dracule Riskua is a kind person. But Benn's got a good feeling that if she's pushed to the limit when her precious people are threatened, she'll be a force to reckon with.
"Crew, let's have a party!"
"Captain?" With a devilish grin, Shanks abandons the railings, arm thrown up and gesturing to the whole girth of their new ship.
"A party, to celebrate the new chapter of Riskua's life!" Snatching up a cup of something potent from Lucky Roo, Shanks raises his glass.
"To my little Gully, and her limitless potential!"
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It's four hours into the partying when Benn remembers just why he'd been looking for his captain in the first place.
"Hey, Captain. Did you ever tell Hawk Eyes just where you were dropping Riskua off?"
"…Oh shit."
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Riskua is doing the laundry. Once again. Luffy's adventures are adorable, and it's sweet listening to him warble on about his day, but god damn did she wish he was a little more careful with his clothes. There's a reasonably bloody stain on this one, from where he nicked his side climbing a tree and dear lord how much blood is in one body? More importantly, how much blood can one little patch of fabric hold?
Riskua snarls under her breath, fingers working over the tee-shirt once again until finally, finally, the stain is gone.
Her own muscles sing with the pain of overuse and Riskua silently admits that maybe she went a bit far in her own training. Her knuckles are red raw from the few times she hadn't managed to cover them in Armament Haki before she hit a tree, and though the phrase is cliché, 'no pain, no gain' rings true. As always.
Withdrawing her hands from the water, Riskua carefully nurses them on a towel, patting lightly at the sore skin as she slowly gets to her feet. All their now clean clothes are hung up for drying, dinner is cooking in the oven, everything is a-okay. If one discounts her sensitive knuckles that is.
Flexing the fingers which appear half way to pins and needles status, Riskua makes her way out of the laundry room, or what the Dadan Bandits attempt to pass as one. There's a hamper full of dirty clothes that Riskua is not going anywhere near. At least with Luffy she knows where all those stains are from.
Grimacing, the redhead blows a strand of hair back from her face, mentally running through her checklist. Near three months into her stay here and she's finally, finally making significant progress on the Haki front. She's got a notebook -carefully hidden away from where Ace could possibly get at it for intentional damage, and hidden from where Luffy could cause some accidental destruction of property- and it's filled to the brim with ideas and observations.
There's far more to this Haki stuff than what the Marines and Pirates think, there has to be. Why would an energy held by all living things only give a minimum of two, potentially three max, options? It just seems like they discovered Observation and Armament, some lucky fellow had Conquerors, and then they called it quits. Where was the experimentation, the theories and the boundary pushers? It makes Riskua disappointed in the human race. Well, she's going to fix that in the very least.
Glass of mango juice in hand, Riskua kicks the fridge door shut, a yawn slipping out from between her lips. Her favourite beverage is sweet on the tongue, light and crisp, leaving her refreshed.
The glass shatters as it hits the floor.
It takes Riskua a moment to get through the haze that has suddenly clouded her mind -pain and pain and pride and pain- and by the time she manages it, she's already at the door. Her Observation is going haywire, the usually calm static suddenly blitzing brighter than a lightning storm.
Throwing open the door, Riskua freezes at the sight before her. It makes sense really, the only person she's spent enough time around to instinctively recognise the Haki of-inactive or not- is Luffy.
That still doesn't numb the sheer shock and horror that wraps around her as surely as a blanket of distress.
He looks awful.
There's no other way to describe it, the sloppy bandages make no real show of hiding the numerous wounds. Though making a valiant effort to reach the front door under his own power, his thin little legs were shaking all over the place, a gentle breeze away from folding under him like a cheap deck of cards.
Riskua closes the space between them faster than she has ever moved, scooping Luffy up into her arms. Observational Haki flares and she knows instinctively where to not put her hands, where it hurts the most and where she can support him best.
All the tears that her precious little Kinglet has been holding in burst free, skinny arms around her neck in an instant and snotty face burying itself into the sharp relief of her shoulder bone.
"Oh Luffy," Riskua whispers, pressing him as tightly to her as she dares into her, not even bothering to pay attention to the other two. Luffy's her first priority here, ensuring the bodged patch-job that barely passes for first aid won't damage Luffy's recovery any more. This isn't a few little nicks from traversing the jungle, these are serious wounds, wounds that if left to fest could kill. She can smell liquor on him, so someone's thought to clear the cuts at least.
"It's okay, Luffy, I've got you. I've got you."
"Tch, stop crying you baby, it doesn't hurt that much."
Luffy goes still in her arms, and Riskua knows she's just as motionless. For that mere moment, her patience strains. It stretches even further as she turns on heel, walking towards Dadan's hut. As carefully as she possibly can, Riskua places Luffy on the ratty sofa, taking his hat off so that she can pepper a kiss to his forehead.
"I'll be just a moment, Anchor." Wet dark eyes stare up at her, cheeks smeared with tears and snot dribbling down his chin. Oh boy, Luffy does not make a pretty sight at all.
"I'll be right back," she promises again, cupping the less swollen of Luffy's cheeks, thumb ever so gently stroking at the last tear to fall.
As soon as she can see the acceptance of her words sink into the boy, Riskua turns on her heels and heads back out.
Crossing the threshold, she can actually feel her patience snap as if it is a physical object.
The first one she reaches is Sabo, and it is only the fact she recognises him at the last second that has her pulling her punch. Instead of the Haki infusion, it's just a regular fist that meets his face with a satisfying crack.
Ace on the other hand, isn't so lucky.
Because god damn it, violence seems to be the only thing that'll get through to him in this moment, so it's a Haki coated blow that meets his cheek and sends him crashing back into the undergrowth, slamming into a tree.
"I don't know what the fuck Luffy ever did to you," Riskua seethes, feeling the rage swirl in the back of her throat, feeling it coat her teeth as she struggles to actually get the words out, tongue heavy and thick with emotion, "I don't know what he did but I do know it'd can't be enough to warrant those kind of injuries. I don't care who put them on him, but if it weren't you two, I'm pretty damn sure you didn't step in as soon as you could. He is a seven year old child and all he wanted was to be your friend."
She looks Ace right in the eyes, though it's quite difficult given the magnificent way the right side of his face is swelling up.
For once he seems to actually be seeing her as Dracule Riskua, not as the interloper who'd made a little burrow in his life. One of his hands is on his injured cheek; if she'd been less proficient in Haki that blow would have killed him, or caused some form of brain damage. Being able to temper just enough force, she doesn't know how she managed it with being so angry. Or maybe it's because she was so emotional that it came easier, wasn't that how Conqueror's was awakened? Something to look into later.
All she knows is she wants to beat this boy black and blue until the message gets through his thick head, but he's been hurt so much already. She refuses to add anymore to that, no matter what her instincts scream at her.
"And he's come stumbling back here in so much pain all because he wants to impress you. Though I don't know why. If I had any say in it, I wouldn't want him anywhere near you."
The dark haired boy flinches more from her words than her raised fist, and Riskua's heart just crumbles.
She can't keep this up, she really can't. Not when Ace is looking at her like all his worst fears have been realized, and maybe it's just the day he's had that's led to that face maybe it's everything hitting him at once, but guilt washes through her with all the crushing power of a tidal wave.
God damn it.
"So you better buck up and show some of that goodness Luffy sees in you. Because unlike him, I can't go by faith alone, I need a little proof if we're gonna be friends."
Unwilling to stick around and see just what kind of reaction Ace has to that, Riskua makes her way inside, pushing everything out of her mind, other than reassuring Luffy that while it might be a bit unstable right now, everything is going to be okay. She won't let it be anything otherwise.
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Holy shit, Sabo can see where Ace was coming from with his description.
His face throbs more surely than any blow he's received today and dear lord can that girl throw a punch.
Both Ace and Luffy had been open to the idea of him coming to stay at Dadan's hut, but both had forgotten to mention about the redhead demon there. Almost as if she'd sensed their approach, she'd all but flown out of the door, scooping up Luffy and the boy had just broken. He'd clung to the girl and Sabo had felt jealous zing through him.
Because where was that kind of comfort for him, back when he was Luffy's age? Back when the older nobles picked on him and his mother had just checked to make sure Sabo hadn't hurt them, never mind that he was bleeding and bruised. Where was his hug and reassurances and soft words? He doesn't begrudge Luffy for it, had seen how carefully the red head had carried him inside, the lucky kid.
Then she'd come back and delivered a smack harder than anything else he'd ever received in his life. And given his tendency to get in fights in Grey Terminal for loot, that's saying something.
Not that the punch he'd gotten seemed to have anything on the one she'd blessed Ace with.
Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if the other boy's cheekbone had broken under the force. How the hell could a girl like that punch harder than Ace?
Sabo drags his feet as he approaches the hut, quite fearful that the girl will reappear and smack him again.
She's right though, Luffy's a kid, an innocent if obnoxious one and though he needs to lose that attitude if he's going to become a pirate, throwing him so far into the deep end is bad. Real bad. The kind of beating he'd got, well Sabo's not gonna lie. If it'd have been him, he'd have cracked.
Hell, he'd probably have died from that kind of torture. Ace can call Luffy a crybaby all he wants, Sabo's got some respect for the brat.
With clammy palms, Sabo carefully pushes open the half shut door, slinking into the hallway with Ace a few steps behind him. The sight that greets him both make sense and isn't quite what he'd picture from the girl who'd just -rightfully- attacked him.
She's got Luffy's bandages off, replacing them with her own variation that already seem to be doing a better job of hiding the boy's wounds. The dark haired brat himself is gnawing on a leg of meat, clearly quite content.
"Sit down, Blondie, you're next."
Sabo really doesn't like the sound of that, but he's in no condition to try going head to head with the girl, not with only a half-battered Ace as back up. Not when she's still fresh and ready to fight.
So Sabo sits, on the same sofa as Luffy but not close enough to really be in the girl's vicinity. When she looks up again, Sabo's struck by just how correct Ace was; those eyes are alarming. Bright yellow, ringed irises, and it's not like the set of her eyes can highlight the colour pleasantly either. When she looks down and those eyes disappear behind thick lashes, she's not so terrible to look at though.
"All done, Kinglet. Eat up."
"Meat!" And then the boy's tearing into the food with a hungry that Sabo has only ever seen in his freckled friend before.
A cold something wraps around his hand and pulls his arm forwards before Sabo can react, and then the girl's removing his hastily done bandages.
"Anywhere else you're injured?" She asks, meeting his gaze and Sabo fights down a flinch.
"Forehead, ribs… Erm, I'm Sabo?" He doesn't mean for it to come out like a question, but that's how the words tumble out regardless.
And just like that, scary girl with stupidly strong punches smiles. It's warm and light and it make massive difference to just how damn nervous he feels.
"Dracule Riskua. Thank you for rescuing Luffy, even if you were a bit late to it." Her hands are soft and careful as they go about reworking his bandages with a far superior technique than what he'd managed, the only sound their soft breaths and Luffy gorging himself upon his pre-prepared dinner. It's a damn sight different to the furious girl that punched him; Luffy in pain is obviously a hot button for Dracule Riskua and Sabo makes a mental note to avoid that at all costs where possible.
The girl's knuckles are red raw, not the kind of abrasion punching two faces could result in. She trains, she has to. Sabo's never met a girl who can fight before. That's... no matter what Ace thinks of her, Sabo thinks she's pretty cool for that. He's as far away from his noble heritage as he can get; living in a bandit's hut with two scrappy orphans and a scary girl who might even be able to punch through walls. He wouldn't put it past her.
"Done," Riskua murmurs, pulling Sabo's top back down where she'd bunched it around his neck for better access at his ribs. She'd frowned when she first saw them, running her fingers over the slight ridges they make in his skin -hehe, ticklish- and then she got up and walked away.
Only to return with another bowl, though this has both vegetables and meat housed with, and it's not as piled up as Luffy's portion was.
"Eat. I wasn't expecting company so it's not a great portion, but it'll have to do." Sabo's sure as hell not complaining. The meat is still reasonably warm when he picks it up, and though there's smears of dirt on his fingers, Sabo really doesn't care right now. Very little will be capable of distracting him from this meal.
"Ace." That'll do it though.
His good friend stiffens at the address, grey meeting yellow before Riskua points to the seat between Luffy and Sabo.
"Sit."
"I ain't-"
"Ace." And there's more steel in that tone than there is in Ace's eyes.
Slowly but surely, Ace pushes off from the wall he'd been leaning against, making his way over and carefully taking his assigned seat. It's no wonder his cautious; Ace's told him all about the creepy girl with the creepy eyes, how he ruined her stuff months ago, and though he'd never explicitly said it, Sabo knows his prickly friend has been trying to drive her off. Even Sabo's not sure what to expect, but it's not a big surprise when Riskua takes a gentle hold of Ace's hand and begins unwinding the shabby bandages of his arm. It was either that or she'd slap him again.
When the other boy does try to struggle free of her grip though, Riskua doesn't hesitate to pull him onto the floor, flip him over with that monstrous strength -either Sabo's eyes are failing him or her hands turned black for a second there- and then wrestle him into a position from which she can both hold him down and work on his bandages. No matter how much Ace squirms.
It's not funny, Sabo tells himself, biting his lip in a valiant attempt to not laugh.
Beside him, Luffy isn't even trying to hide it, giggling freely. And yeah, this is nice.
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It's ten minutes later, during which Riskua has given a bowl of food to Ace as well with a single demand of 'eat' that Ace can't fight against -he's been offered food after all, and his pride may be great but right now his hunger is far greater-, that the bandits return from whatever has occupied their time.
Sabo tenses up, a brief flash of all the authority figures in his life flickering before his eyes and those damn nerves -what if father finds out I'm still alive? What if someone recognises me? What if I get dragged back there and this time there's no way out?- return like the morning sun cresting the horizon. His breathing hitches, hands shake for a moment before something slips into his palm.
Sabo stares blankly at Riskua's hand as it gives his own a gentle, reassuring squeeze before she lets go.
"Bandits, this is Sabo and he'll be staying here for now. We'll cover him for food."
There's a moment of stunned silence, the good-for-nothing hag Ace had previously described stood gaping at the front of the pack.
"What the hell is this?!" She barks, eyes zeroing in on Riskua who stands tall and proud as if she isn't making herself that much more of a target. Her chin is even tilted defiantly upwards, angled right at this brute of a woman. Sabo had no idea women could come in such mannish varieties.
"This is Sabo," Riskua replies dryly, expression flat even as one hand comes to rest on his shoulder. Why does it feel like he's the younger one out of the two of them? Riskua's shorter than him by a little bit and her face is still round with youth, rounder than his anyway. She's got to be younger than him, right?
"Sabo, I know that name. You're that good-for-nothing."
His teeth grind against one another even as he grins brightly.
"And you're the good-for-nothing hag, Dadan!"
"You little shit!"
"Anyway," Riskua snaps in, smiling slightly though the warmth she showed him earlier is gone, "we're keeping Sabo. We'll feed him and everything, just don't kick him out."
"Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?!" Dadan demands, leaning in until her eyes meet Riskua's which, props to the hag for being able to meet those uncanny eyes while in a battle of wills.
"Because everyone should have somewhere they feel safe with people they trust, who care about them. Especially a child. See you in the morning."
And then, stopping only to pluck a visibly flagging Luffy up from the sofa, Riskua offers Dadan a nod and disappears into the corridor. Sabo and Ace both watch her go, take one look at the spluttering, reddening Dadan, and then they scramble after her.
His brain is spinning, Riskua's words whipping through his mind again and again and again. Somewhere safe. With people who care. People who can be trusted.
Sabo swallows around the lump in his thirst and follows after the grumpy Ace.
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There's only two bed mats at the moment, and as Riskua and Luffy apparently share, Sabo has to risk sleeping next to Ace or it's the cold floor for him. Ace who'll be sleeping on his left side, so he doesn't have to put pressure on his Riskua-cultivated bruise.
It's really swollen up now, Ace's eye has almost closed up under the pressure. Sabo's own cheek still pulses occasionally with pain, and he can tell Riskua pulled her punch at the last second for him. Ace's clearly been getting to her much more than he first thought, judging by the impact he received.
Ace flops down onto his assigned sleeping mat, sparing a single glare for the other one which is perhaps a bit too close for Sabo to really be comfortable with.
"Brat," Ace grumbles under his breath, but shock of all shocks, it sounds almost fond. Sabo feels his own lips twitch up at the thought, because for as obnoxious as Luffy is, he does have a way of growing on you.
"How's your face?"
At that, said face falls mightily fast, Ace folding his arms across his chest and pointedly looking away. It doesn't help that the way he swings his head just gives Sabo a really good look at the monster bruise.
"Bet you didn't know she could punch that hard, huh?" Sabo chuckles, sitting himself down beside Ace and admiring the insides of the little hut. It's so much better than the tiny little 'home' he'd built himself in the Grey Terminal; he can't see any rats or flies and it doesn't smell either. While Sabo had no problem getting down and dirty, he appreciates living in a building that doesn't smell like all the trash in the world has been decaying there for a decade.
It's nice, it's much warmer as well now that winter's here. The cold really hits at night, it probably won't be long before it gets cold in the day as well, but Dawn Island's weather is a strange thing. Well, strange for an island outside the Grand Line.
"You shut up."
"I'm just saying," Sabo points out with a shrug, taking off his hat and running a hand through his hair. It's still tightly curled, maybe if he grows it out a bit it'll go back to being those manageable waves, but then his family might recognise him. That's not a risk Sabo wants to run really. Not when he's not strong enough to get away. Speaking of strong enough-
"Riskua has to train, she's pretty strong. Maybe we can join her?"
"Oh, so it's Riskua now?" There's acid in Ace's eyes as he swing around to look at him and Sabo does his damn best not to flinch.
"Come on, Ace. If we're going to be friends with Luffy, then we might as well be friends with Riskua. She seems nice… When you're not destroying her stuff." Or hurting Luffy, but that last one goes without being said.
Mulishly, Ace folds his arms tighter and looks away, before apparently thinking better of it and burrowing under the covers of his sleeping mat. Sabo takes a moment to glance at the other one, which has a tiger pelt thrown over it, before his gaze returns to Ace.
Who has thrown back the blankets and is clearly inviting him to join him, even if he's refusing to look at him.
"Thanks!" Slipping onto the mat beside his friend, Sabo acknowledges they'll probably have to get another one soon enough; he and Ace are growing boys after all. It shouldn't be too hard to find one though. Ace doesn't say anything, his back to him and facing the wall, but Sabo doesn't have a problem with it.
This, this is nice. He likes it here.
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"-and I didn't tell them where the treasure was, no matter how hard they hit me!" Luffy beams proudly up at Riskua, peering out from beneath his wet fringe. He's sat in the bathwater, and though he doesn't feel as strong as when he's out the water, it's not so bad because it's not seawater. Riskua is stood over him, clothes drenched from where he'd been splashing her with the bathwater, giggling whenever she scowled at him.
Right up until she'd dumped a bucket of the stuff over his head and began working the shampoo into his hair.
"I really wish you wouldn't have put yourself in harm's way like that, Kinglet." Luffy likes that nickname much better than 'Anchor'. It's really cool, he's got a bird name now like Riskua has, her actual name as 'skua' in it, and Luffy's not stupid. He knows that a skua is a sea bird. Riskua belongs with the sea, it's obvious. No wonder she wants to sail with him when he's older.
Grinning as more water is poured over his head, Luffy flicks his gaze up to the redhead, who's sighing again.
"Is Riskua sad?" "No, Luffy, I'm not sad. I was just really worried. I still am, those aren't just little cuts."
Her hands hover over his ouchies and Luffy has to agree. They did really hurt, but Ace hates crybabies so he couldn't cry when he wanted to. He hadn't even meant to cry on Riskua -because what if she didn't like crybabies too?- but it'd just happened. She'd pulled him into her arms and Luffy had felt safe.
Just like when Shanks saved him, he knew he could depend on Riskua. She'd helped with all his ouchies and then she'd helped Sabo and Ace too, and Luffy is so very happy to see that they're all going to be good friends.
Because an even bigger hurt has come up on Ace's face since he last saw the other boy. Maybe bruises take a while to form? Luffy can't remember how long bruises had taken to appear on him; he's been a rubberman for awhile now, he doesn't get bruises anymore which is really super cool.
"Why is Riskua not getting a bath too?"
"I'll get one after you."
"But the water'll be cold?" Why would Riskua want a cold water bath? Warm water is nice, it reminds Luffy a little less of the ocean that can now drown him. Not that he could swim before…
"I'm a girl, Kinglet. I'm suppose to bath on my own. Makino must have told you about private parts, right?"
Oh yeah, that was why Luffy wasn't allowed to run around without any clothes on. Even if he put his shirt on inside out, he's still got to wear something. Makino was really clear about that.
"So Riskua has to have a cold bath because she's a girl?"
"Well, not necessarily a cold bath, but I've got to have one separate. You really should too, the only reason I'm here is because you're injured and I don't want you to drown if you can't help yourself."
Well that makes sense, but a bath on his own would be boring. Oh, wait!
"Ace and Sabo are boys, I can bath with them!"
"If you want to," Riskua agrees and Luffy smiles, leaning into the movements of her fingers as she works the last of the shampoo from his hair.
This is nice, he likes this. He has big sister Riskua and now he has Sabo and Ace as friends and much as his body hurts, it's been a good day.
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Quick update is quick, this chapter practically wrote itself. Sabo POV any good?
Thanks for reading,
Lots of Love,
Tsume
xxx
