Running her tongue absentmindedly over her teeth, the repetitive movements of Hisoka's hands ceased for just a moment as she flipped to the next page in her book. She pushed some of her hair over her shoulder before glancing down at the fabric in her lap. She readjusted the position of her needle before smiling gently and resuming her multitasking. Her eyes were carefully scanning the pages with few illustrations, thoughtfully taking in each sentence and thinking it over. At the same time, her fingers and wrists twitched expertly over the soft, white fabric that she was embroidering. She bit down on her lip, her eyes pausing and rereading a paragraph several times. She reached up, flipping quickly back to the previous chapter, leaning closer to the page as though that would help her come to a decision.
Alone in the women's chambers, the sounds of the waves crashing against the sides of the boat and the antics of her crewmates above her accompanied her steady breathing. Hisoka shook her head, leaning back in her chair and staring up at the ceiling as her hands automatically resumed their recurring, swift activities. Sighing in contemplation, she looked down at her lap once again. The tiny twinges of frustration that were ailing her mind vanished, her antagonized gaze softening upon the multicolored flowers she was creating with her needle and thread. Her smile broke into a grin quickly and she happily returned to her book, suddenly having nothing to fret about.
Hisoka practically leaped out of her seat, emitting a soft, surprised cry when a rumbling sound shook the entire boat and placed a sudden crack in tranquil atmosphere she had been enjoying for the majority of the morning. She sat, her composure tousled as she stared at the stairs with wide eyes. Before she could complete the thought that was running through her frazzled mind, the sound returned. She shrieked again, still caught off guard. Hearing something explode far off, her breathing picked up slightly. Just as part of her mind was beginning to think of the worst possible cause of the noise, Nami opened the hatch and climbed down the stairs casually, giving Hisoka her normal greeting smile. When Hisoka didn't give her a prompt response, Nami raised a questioning eyebrow upon reaching the bottom of the stairs.
"What's going on out there?" Hisoka asked as calmly as she could. She wasn't sure if she wanted Nami to give her a response or not.
"Oh, you're worried about that?" Nami asked in a slightly teasing tone, her concerned expression relaxing. Hisoka nodded, quickly feeding off of Nami's nonchalant vibe and relaxing her tense muscles. Her stay on the Going Merry had so far resembled a carefree cruise. It was far, far from the hard life of a pirate that she had been fearfully imagining. She most certainly didn't want that to change anytime soon, but part of her mind was taut with anticipation of a sudden invasion of their ship or other aggressive confrontation. "It's just Luffy and Usopp playing with the cannons, nothing to get so worked up about."
Yet, Hisoka did not calm immediately. Cannons didn't seem like something that should be played around with so freely. "Just let it be, Hisoka," Nami advised with a soft string of laughter. Hisoka tried her best to listen to her, biting down on her cheek and trying to consume herself in her activities once again. Adjusting from her life on Happy Island to her life as the seamstress of a pirate crew wasn't just about the weather and environment. She still had much she had to train herself to tolerate. Nobody else seemed to have a problem with half of the things that got under her skin so easily.
"What are you reading now?" Nami asked curiously, walking towards her desk.
Hisoka sighed, releasing her hold on her cheek as she attempted to push the shock from her mind. Engrossing herself further in the pages and quickly speeding up her hands, she responded without looking at her company. "Trying to decide which formula is best."
"You're interested in science?" Nami questioned, her interest piqued. The entire crew was still getting to know one another, but this was just unexpected.
Hisoka laughed softly, looking over her shoulder at her friend. "No, I mean baby formulas. For their milk? There are many different options." Hisoka turned back towards her book once Nami nodded. Her voice became slightly more distant. "I think I would want to make one from scratch, though. I don't want to depend on someone else. I'll be able to supply ample amounts of everything my children need all by myself."
She heard Nami mutter something under her breath and move several things around on her desk before walking towards Hisoka. "And I suppose that while you are reading that you are also working on making me that dress?" Hisoka froze slightly, biting down on her lip before letting out a short series of nervous laughter. Nami walked around to Hisoka's side, leaning down until she was eye-level with the seated seamstress, who was staring at the fabric in her lap. "Huh?" Nami prodded with a determined expression.
Hisoka took a glance at her friend, giving her a guilty smile that made Nami sigh and rub her forehead, standing up straight. "I just finished making everyone their winter outfits," Hisoka reasoned, tightening her grip on her needle.
Nami gave Hisoka an exasperated look before shifting her weight and placing her free hand on her hip, her other holding several objects she had received from her desk. "That we didn't ask for," she argued, her lips pursing to the side.
"The colder seasons will be coming sooner or later, though," Hisoka said calmly. "I know you may be thinking that it's all so hot and warm now, but it won't be that way forever." She was happy to have years of keeping an unfazed expression on her face to help her in situations like these. "I'm not sure how dramatic the winter will be on the ocean, either." Happy Island was a place where it was generally warm all year round. It was rare to see snowfall, and in the winter many were able to get by with light jackets and thicker pants. Hisoka had no idea what to expect, and she was going to make sure that she was prepared for whatever came her way. She bravely met Nami's gaze with a sincere smile, and after a few moments of a silent challenge, Nami rolled her eyes and slumped her shoulders slightly.
"Whatever keeps you happy, Hisoka," she grumbled inaudibly. Before the seamstress could pry into what Nami was talking about, the navigator ran her fingers through her hair and asked with suspicion, "What are you working on, then?"
Hisoka's smile widened into an excited grin, not realizing how her lack of guilt for not pressing out Nami's requests as fast as a machine would was getting to the navigator so much. Happily oblivious, she held up the work of her labor after snipping the short supply of thread with her teeth and setting the needle aside to be rethreaded later. Nami examined the slightly transparent white fabric that was cut into a square that she assumed would be big enough to cover one's lap. In the left corner the intricate design of leaves and light green, sky blue, and bright yellow flowers began, stretching out into elaborate vines that looked as though they would at one point frame the entire perimeter.
"A handkerchief?" Nami questioned, vaguely remembering an older woman shouting something about one during Hisoka's departure.
Hisoka's smile brightened as she nodded energetically, staring at the fabric with wide, sparkling eyes. "Of sorts," she said. She held it out, nodding encouragingly. "Feel it." Nami petted the fabric gently, her expression morphing into one of soft surprise. She continued to stroke it gently before giving Hisoka a smile.
"It's really soft."
"M'hmm!" she declared before withdrawing the fabric and placing it back in her lap. "A baby spits up quite often, or it just makes a big mess while eating. I can wipe their faces with this until I can get them to a bath. I think I'll make a matching bib, and maybe even a tablecloth and napkins! Place setting would be nice, too… And towels! Maybe even a little apron. Oh, it would just look so cute together, don't you think?"
"Not as cute as my dress," Nami countered. Yet, Hisoka was too lost in her own dream world to respond. Nami had been slightly put off by her roommate's obsession with children at first. Hisoka was always making baby clothes or reading her baby books. She was planning every single detail out and coming up with a solution for every problem that stumbled across her mind. A while after bonding with the navigator, Hisoka even proved that, if given the chance, she would fantasize aloud for ridiculous periods of time. All the while she would be sewing or flipping through a book, as well. Her ability to multitask was one that Nami appreciated. There were several times when Nami caught herself staring at Hisoka's stomach, wondering if she truly was pregnant. She had never seen such enthusiasm about children before. Hisoka was acting like these children she was going to have to care for were right around the corner—like she was running out of time.
Nami leaned back, gazing thoughtfully at the excited expression playing on Hisoka's face. This most definitely wasn't the type of girl everyone expected the Devil Pleasure Goddess to be. Nami had personally imagined a much more provocative, trashy girl that would have surrounded herself with all the great men she had "defeated". She almost found herself admiring the girl's power at times. Yet, here she was, sitting in Nami's room, fawning over children's books and baby clothes and dreams of a perfect family. Hisoka didn't even seem to get off on the idea of having children because of the fact it would be the result of having an intimate relationship with a man, she just got off on the idea of having children, period. From what Nami had gathered, it seemed as though the only role a man played in Hisoka's dream was someone that would complete her ideal family. She was sure he was right alongside the house pets and a white picket fence.
Certainly she was far, far from what everyone expected her to be. She valued happiness more than anything, which could be considered to be somewhere in the fine print of the description of the Devil Pleasure Goddess that was wandering around, but that was all. If Hisoka's power wasn't one-of-a-kind, Nami never would have been able to convince herself that their seamstress and the rumored Devil Pleasure Goddess were the same person. Hisoka did not value sexual or physical pleasure, she valued emotional and mental pleasure. That was why Nami had eventually just brushed all of Hisoka's odd hobbies off as something that made the girl happy, though, and came to accept it all.
"Nami? Where are you going?" Hisoka asked, looking away from the needle she was rethreading when she heard her friend walking away. The orange-haired woman looked over her shoulder, meeting the girl's inquiring expression with silence for a few moments.
"I think I am going to go work on a map in the helm. You can come, if you want." Hisoka had been spending a lot of time in her room lately. She seemed to be most comfortable multitasking in silence. Whenever she did join the rest of the crew, she mostly stuck to doing one thing at a time.
With an amiable smile, Hisoka shook her head. "No, thank you. I may join you in a little while, though."
Nami nodded, continuing on her way up the stairs. "You better be working on my dress soon," she ordered. Hisoka sometimes had trouble figuring out whether or not the navigator was serious or just being playful.
Hisoka glanced at her almost-finished handkerchief out of the corner of her eyes before smiling and nodding, although Nami couldn't see her. "I promise. Thanks." Nami let out a muttering sound as a response before vanishing into the storage room, closing the hatch behind her. Hisoka listened to the female walk through the storage room and exit before she refocused on her work. She had successfully forgotten all about the terrible dread that had filled her a while earlier. Yet, it seemed as though the world wasn't done interrupting her just yet. For once she got so immersed in her book and her body was back in an autopilot mode, another abrupt sound echoed through the room and had her squealing again. "Ow," she mumbled, lifting her pricked finger into her mouth and sucking on it. That trepidation she thought she had lost returned all too quickly when she realized that that was a different sound than the cannons. It was a violent, crashing, breaking sound. A voice she didn't recognize was screaming and shouting viciously. And she was completely alone.
Her normal reaction occurred. Her heartbeat sped up, she shot to her feet, her knees began to tremble. Fretful tears threatened to fill her eyes and her hands began to sweat. What if someone was hurt? This could be serious, and for some reason, Hisoka didn't feel like she was ready for it. Her lips trembled slightly as she stared at the fabric that had fallen to the floor. Her hand left her mouth, a red fingertip shivering along with the rest of her body. Her ears were open, her mind noisily panicking. She wanted Nami to open the hatch and walk down the stairs and laugh at her for overreacting, but she had a feeling that wasn't going to happen. Her eyes darted slowly around the room. There was no place for her to put her contacts. She couldn't risk them getting damaged.
Her eyebrow twitched, feeling something overcoming her. She had to go out there and see what was going on. She took a few slow, timid steps towards the stairs, her thoughts running amuck, all of her senses fighting against one another. Questions were suddenly running through the front of her mind. What if she had to fight? What if she got hurt? What if they had weapons? What if there was more than one? And her body most certainly didn't give her common sense the reaction it was looking for. She was quickly battling to manage and rid herself of the giddy excitement that fogged her being. Trying her best to keep from grinning and laughing, Hisoka found her body unwillingly running up the stairs and flinging open the hatch. Her face was a battlefield, her expression twitching from excitement to fear. Her heart was throbbing with thrill and her gut was knotting with worry. When she pulled open the door of the storage room, exposing herself to something she equally wanted to join in on and flee frantically from, her body froze under the rush of sea air that tangled her hair.
Her eyes glued themselves to the furious man who was swinging around a sword menacingly. He caught her eyes and her hands tightened into fists, her pulse skipping erratically. The color drained from her smiling face and with a sudden gasp she resumed her breathing, feeling all of her joints tremble. No matter how she wanted to react, her entire body was restricted by unknown forces. The man shouted something at her, but Hisoka was unable to comprehend his speech. He took a step towards her, he drew back his sword. Hisoka's smile quivered.
"Emotionally distraught people say cruel things, Leeko-kun. You and everyone else on this island should know that. But everyone deserves a chance at happiness."
"I won't let our happiness be interrupted, I promise!"
The man paused in his rage, his glare on the woman before him changing slightly. Her being seemed to suddenly perk from its stoic demeanor. Hisoka's body regained the ability to move, the look in her eyes softening, her smile growing concerned. She tilted her head to the side, her eyebrows furrowing gently as she leaned towards him in a peaceful way. "Why are you unhappy?" she asked. The man tensed, tightening his grip on the sword. "I can help you," she spoke in a soft, kind way, as though he was fragile.
"Shut up!" he roared. The heart which Hisoka had ever so slightly opened to the man halted in her chest when he swung his blade towards her. A soft cry shredded through the air as quickly as his sword did when she backed up slightly into the storage room, gripping onto the door. She felt the wind that flew from the blade smack her cheeks. She fought the urge to flinch away and the desire to grin manically at him.
"There are so many people out there like those men."
"Do you really wish to hurt us, to fight?" she whispered, her voice suddenly unsteady.
The man was wearing sunglasses, but she was sure his eyes were lighting up. "Don't talk to me like that, you pirate!" He swiftly kicked towards Hisoka, and she ungracefully took several more steps backwards into the storage room. Her odd movements threatened to send her to the floor. "I'm going to kill your entire crew!" Walking back to the deck, he began to shout. "Where the hell are you, pirates!? Come out! Don't make me just face this little girl, you cowards!"
"What, what? Who are you? Why are you here playing with Hisoka?" Hearing that naively curious voice, Hisoka dashed out of the storage room, clinging to the door frame and looking up at the balcony above. When she spotted Luffy, she finally exhaled and looked back towards their company. "Hisoka, do you know him?" Luffy asked, looking down at their seamstress with questioning eyes. Hisoka parted her lips to give him a response, but the man was suddenly yelling once again.
"Shut up! It doesn't matter who I am!" He held his sword out in front of him, assuming a stance Hisoka didn't understand. The ominous scowl on his face widened, causing the tattoo on his cheek to deform. "And I'm not playing!" Hisoka let out a brief cry of alarm when the man jumped and slammed his sword at Luffy. Although Luffy jumped out of the way, part of the ship was crushed beneath the force of his weapon. "I've killed a countless number of pirates!" Sweat was dripping down his face as he once again lifted his sword. "And a lowlife pirate like you tries to kill my partner!?" He swung the sword with stunning speed, yet Luffy jumped away again, holding his hat tightly to his head. Hisoka's breathing became labored and shallow as she reached up to cover her gaping jaw. Her glistening hazel eyes watched in astonishment as the sword sliced easy through the deck, sending splinters flying all around.
"What do you mean, 'partner'?" Luffy inquired. "I don't know what's going on, and I don't care if you're Hisoka's friend." His face twisted into a look of vexation. Hisoka forgot to fill her lungs, her entire body going stiff when Luffy suddenly reached out and grabbed onto the muscular man. "But don't damage our ship!" Hisoka followed the scene with unblinking eyes as the man was suddenly crashing into the ship's railing, Luffy having thrown him backwards with tremendous force. He slid down to the floor, hitting his head in the process, his jaw hanging open, his breath knocked away from him. Luffy gazed at him from his bent-backwards pose with slightly annoyed curiosity when the man managed to force out incomprehensible speech.
"What was that?" the captain whined. He straightened, crossing his arms and glancing at Hisoka. "Do all your friends have problems with muffling their mouth before they speak like you do, Hisoka?" The seamstress didn't give him any response. She didn't even give him an acknowledging glance. She didn't move an inch. Her wide eyes were glued to the man who lied gasping on the floor. Her heart was pounding madly in her chest.
"Hey. Aren't you Johnny?"
"Who said that? Daring to call out my name so carelessly." Hisoka flinched when the man suddenly sat straight up, his eyes widening, the life returning to his face. "Zoro-aniki!"
"What, what? Hisoka, he's your friend, what's he—Hisoka?" Yet, the seamstress was gone and the storage room door was closed tightly. Luffy huffed. He was so confused.
Hisoka pressed her back tighter against the storage door, squeezing her eyes shut tightly before snapping them open. She slid down to the floor, her teeth grinding together. Feebly, her hands fell from her mouth, and she released a ridiculously wide grin. Its strength forced her eyes closed, and she allowed her head to loll back, bumping against the wooden door. Her breathing picked up, her knees trembled, her pulse sped. Soft squeals could be heard pouncing around behind her clenched teeth. When her grin finally calmed enough for her eyes to open, they were bright and swimming in ecstasy. She should have screamed at Luffy. She should have held him back. She should have objected the violence and tried to solve everything peacefully.
Her trembling lips could no longer hold back the words that she couldn't believe she was thinking. "A-Amazing…" With that one word, Hisoka let herself go, her grin doubling in size. Her vocal cords sung in amazement as she began to quake with a joy she had never before known. "Amazing. So, so… cool! So, so, so awesome!" Her giddy giggles filled the air around her, her fists pounding into the air. The aftershocks of the thrilling adrenaline rippled though her nerves, empowering her girlish shrieks. It was wrong, but Hisoka was yearning for everything she stood against. She wanted Luffy and the man to fight before her eyes, to feed this insane feeling blooming in her heart. The fact that Hisoka felt so addicted to these feelings she experienced wasn't what was shocked her the most. It was the fact that she had found such glee, such enjoyment, in drowning in this sea of exhilarating emotional fireworks that she didn't care that she thought it was wrong. She didn't care that she was letting herself go. She couldn't even remember feeling bad about it. She was just in love.
And so Hisoka sat there, trembling and grinning and trying to muffle her electrifying shrieks as her heart rattled in her chest. She felt strangely… whole. She listened for a while, hearing all of her friends chat normally amongst themselves. No fighting. She slowly crept into her chambers, securing the hatch behind her and crawling into her bed. Her teeth were still chattering, but she felt warmer than ever before. Her animated eyes were glued to the air in front of her. Her grin had finally settled into a wide smile. The second she closed her eyes, she remembered the scene, and burst into another fit of crazed, amazed squeals that had her tossing in her bed.
"Oi, Luffy! Luffy, wait! Wait!" Hearing Nami's screeches, Hisoka momentarily forgot about her obsession and sat up in her bed, staring at the hatch with uncertainty. She jumped slightly when the hatch was practically torn open and her captain ran in so quickly that he almost fell down the stairs. The sight knocked her excitement right out of her head. He was hysterically panicking, his eyes wide with frantic worry, dramatic tears in his eyes.
"L-Luffy…?" Hisoka managed to mumble before the hyper pirate was by her side, grabbing her arm roughly. "Luffy!" she repeated in a slightly rougher tone.
"Hisoka! Come on! You gotta fix this!" Luffy snapped. Before she could retort, Luffy harshly pulled her out of the bed and dragged her up the stairs with amazing speed. The seamstress grimaced, feeling her bare legs banging up against the steps that she didn't catch in the rush. "I'm coming, I'm coming! I got this, I got this!" Luffy's speech sounded as though it was one stream of made up chants. Hisoka suddenly found herself freed from his grasp and surrounded by her crew, along with the man that was attacking them earlier. Seeing the tears quickly pouring down his face, she forgot about the pain running through her calves and stared at him with compassionate concern.
Luffy, seemingly very confident of himself, pointed at Hisoka and said sternly, "Solution."
"I get it! Oh, perfect! Good idea, Luffy! Good idea!" Usopp fawned, nodding his head and clapping.
"Luffy! You idiot! Hisoka isn't a doctor!" Nami roared, her eyes afire as she reached out and hit Luffy over the head. "You just interrupted her sewing for nothing!"
"But she can fix this!" Luffy whined, cradling his head as he gave her a blameful gaze.
Ignoring the antics of her crew, Hisoka took a quick step before their sobbing enemy. "What's wrong?" she asked him. "Why are you crying? Do you need my help?"
"What can you do?" he asked frankly through his sobs and sniffles. Before Hisoka could give him a consoling response, she was suddenly back in Luffy's grasp. He yanked her over to a bed, and Hisoka's smile faltered as she gasped, staring down at an extremely sickly man. If his chest wasn't rising and falling with his forced, irregular breathing, she would have had trouble distinguishing him from a corpse.
"Not him, him!" Luffy demanded. He let go of her arm for a moment before placing a hand on the back of her head and pushing her face down until her nose almost touched the ill person. At a loss for words, Hisoka remained still and silent, her eyes wide as she breathed in the scent of limes. "So? Work, Hisoka!" Luffy demanded. "What's taking so looonnng? Look at him! She'll fix this, really, she can!" His pressure was removed when Nami dragged him off of her, barking furiously at him. Hisoka leaned backwards, placing her hands on the man's cheeks.
"S-Sir," she muttered. "What's the matter? Can you hear my voice?" The groaning man seemed to lose even more of the color in his face when he tried to respond. She felt a familiar pang echo across her heart strings. She heard a loud sigh and looked over, blinking several times to help her eyes focus. Arching her neck to look into the cup that Luffy was holding out to her, she watched the rippling water before gazing up slowly at Luffy's determined expression.
Before she could voice her question, he stated, "Nami said you have to take out your contacts first and you need water to put them in."
After a moment of confused silence, Hisoka muttered, "T-That's true…." Luffy nodded, pressing the glass closer to her. The man on the bed groaned again, and Hisoka bit her lip, looking back to him.
"You have to help him, Hisoka. Otherwise we won't feel better about what we did," Usopp pleaded. "I—I mean, uh, you're the only one that can! Hahah! He needs you! …You can do it, right? You just gotta!"
Nami sighed, growing more and more exasperated by the second. "Hisoka," she called. Hisoka gave her roommate a hopeful stare as she continued on. "Yosaku has scurvy. He'll get better, but he's in a lot of pain and he can't rest peacefully because he's so mentally distraught. We can hear him groaning and moaning all the way in the helm! These morons blew up the place where he was resting and now, well…. It would be helpful, Hisoka."
"Of course!" Hisoka said automatically, nodding quickly. She reached up, removing her contacts and placing them into the water that Luffy provided. She thanked him softly, keeping her head bowed.
"See? You found the fix to all of your problems here!" Luffy said, grinning at the crying man. "So just forget about that cannon ball thing, okay?" Nami snatched the cup from Luffy's grasp, holding it closely to her chest.
"What is she doing, Zoro-aniki?" the man begged, turning to gaze at the swordsman. "I don't want her to touch my partner!"
"Eh? She's Hisoka."
"Who's Hisoka?"
"She's Hisoka, Johnny."
"You probably know her as the Devil Pleasure Goddess."
"T-The Devil Pleasure Goddess!? But she never leaves Happy Island! Isn't she just a fairytale?"
"Nope! Hisoka's our nakama!"
"And she's gonna… To Yosaku… Wait, she can't! Hey, girl, Hisoka, Devil Pleasure Goddess, girl, stop! Don't make aniki one of your disciples!"
"Johnny! Calm down! Just sit here and watch."
"But she'll—"
"Y-Yeah…." All of the crew grew silent at the sound of the raspy whisper. They averted their gazes to their seamstress and Yosaku. Hisoka sat on the edge of the bed, caressing one of his cheeks and gazing into his eyes. He stared right back at her, a smile on his face, his entire body relaxed.
"P-Partner…"
Hisoka laughed softly when Yosaku heard the call of his close friend. "Yes, you hear that?" she said softly. She used the same voice she had been using to coax him from his panicked slumber and to ease him into a calmer state of mind while the others were arguing. "That man is your friend, right? He's here and safe, too. You don't need to worry one bit, you see? You're safe and fine now. There's nothing to worry about. You will feel all better really soon, all of this pain will go away. That's all you need to think about, I promise. Just keep looking into my eyes, that's it, that's it." Everyone watched in complete silence.
"W-Who…?"
"My name is Hisoka," she responded in a heart-warming voice. "Please, don't strain yourself to speak. We can talk all you want in the morning. If you wish, you can even look into my eyes again." Yosaku's eyelids slowly began to droop, his pale complexion flushing slightly. His breathing was rhythmic and steady. His pulse had calmed. "You must be tired after your long, long journey. Would you like to sleep and look forward to how much better you will feel in the morning?"
"That'd… be… okay…."
"Then just sleep. It's okay. Your pain will be gone really soon. Just focus on my eyes, focus on how happy you feel. Think sweet thoughts and dream peacefully, now." Within a second, the man was snoring away. Hisoka slowly placed his head back on the pillow and readjusted his blanket before standing to her feet. Her eyes stayed on the man's sleeping face.
"Awesome!" Luffy cried out. "She's our nakama! My nakama's so cool!"
"Idiot! You'll wake him up! Be quiet!"
"Is that really…?" Johnny rushed to the bedside, gazing at his partner before breaking into a grin. "He looks like he's resting so peacefully!"
"You were crying earlier." When Johnny turned around to see Hisoka, she hid her eyes in the shadows of her bangs. "Are you unhappy?"
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Johnny exclaimed, suddenly sobbing into the skirt of Hisoka's dress. "You're the best! Thank you so much!" Never revealing her eyes, Hisoka laughed and nodded, taking great pleasure in hearing his words.
A while later, Nami returned to the meeting room. Usopp looked up, asking, "Is she okay?"
"Yeah," Nami said. "Once I walked her back to our room, she put her contacts in and started working on my dress. Finally. …I don't think you should worry about Hisoka. She'll be fine." Nami plopped back into her seat, looking over her map idly. Usopp hesitated for a moment, but nodded anyway. Luffy complained under his breath about how Hisoka probably thought that they were ugly, because whenever she wasn't wearing her contacts she refused to look at them. Usopp scolded and joked with the captain at the same time.
"Was that really the Devil Pleasure Goddess?" Johnny asked, expressing extreme interest.
"You keep asking that. Her name's Hisoka, too. She won't respond if you call her that. I tried," Luffy replied, stuffing some bread into his face. "If you do it often enough, she just walks away, but at first it's like she doesn't even hear you."
"I just can't believe she joined a pirate crew…. People will be coming here to find her once word gets out. I can't imagine how big her bounty will be. If the Marines don't give her one, certainly any pirate would."
"They would be putting a price on a girl that doesn't exist," Nami said with a careless glance.
"I don't understand," Luffy said.
"Hisoka's still Hisoka. And she's right in her room," Usopp added.
"But did Hisoka match the description we came following?" Zoro asked indifferently.
"Oh," Luffy and Usopp mumbled.
"You did it too, Johnny," Nami said, turning to face their guest. "You were probably expecting Yosaku's personality to change rapidly, right? I'm sure you thought he would worship her or become addicted or whatever the stories say." Johnny nodded slowly.
"But that's not what happened," he said cautiously, thinking back on the sound of his partner's voice and the smile on his face as he slept.
"Did she even look like what you expected her to look like?" Nami inquired. Johnny quickly shook his head. "The reason she joined our crew in the first place was because she wanted to protect her island from any pirates that would come looking for her. She's a lot, lot different than what the rumors say. It's almost odd."
"Can she even do any of the stuff they say she can?"
"Yeah, we saw it."
"But she wasn't keeping any prisoners." Johnny tilted his head, gazing at the expressions on the pirates' faces individually. He paused on Zoro's before staring at the ceiling.
"As long as she can do it, it doesn't matter what she acts or looks like. People will still want her. Nobody will expect her, though! She's got some element of surprise." Zoro and Nami nodded in agreement. Luffy looked on, mainly focusing on downing his twentieth meal of the day. Usopp was slowly getting lost in his thoughts. They had a strange girl for a nakama.
Tucked away under her covers, Hisoka stared at the cup of water on her desk forlornly. She slowly closed her veiled hazel pupils, urging on slumber to the best of her ability. Feeling the plastic twirl slightly beneath her lids, she remembered how much her contacts had aggravated her when she first received them. Pushing away her memories, she prayed she would dream of happiness and other wonderful things, but her prayers weren't always answered.
"I want you to look at me every single day forever and ever, okay, Hisoka-chan? Any time of day or night! What, what, what's with that face? You showed me that nice feeling, you shouldn't take it away! That'd be just so rude. You know?"