Ever since I ate the Kan Kan Fruit, I never took baths. I couldn't soak myself in water for too long. Taking showers or just dumping water over my head was alright though. It just felt tingly on the skin.
So when my body hit the seawater, I knew I was in deep shit. In the water, every part of me felt weighted down. Even if I wanted to flail about in panic, I couldn't. It didn't help that I hadn't taken a gulp of air before I hit the water, so I was holding my breath. Luckily enough I closed my eyes before though, so the salt wouldn't sting my eyes.
As I sank down deeper and deeper, the gunshots and explosions of the battle above became muffled noises. My ears heard nothing but the sound of the water, and for the first time ever I wished that I didn't eat my fruit.
So this was how I was going to die, huh? Death by drowning. It sounded pretty lame in my head. 'At least let me go down in a heroic fashion,' I humourlessly thought.
Suddenly, there was movement and the muffled sound of something hitting the water. No, someone. Before I could react, this person swam towards me and grabbed my torso, then started kicking his way up.
We broke the surface of the water, and I let go of the breath I held, gasping for air. The one who rescued me didn't stop there though. He started to kick his way out of the water, and started stepping on air.
'Geppo,' I realized, then opened my eyes to look at the person carrying me. Purple was what I saw before I was dumped unceremoniously onto the deck of the Marine ship.
"Dry up the kid," Commodore Momonga barked, then jumped off back onto the Centaurius. I didn't know I was shivering, until an officer came by with a towel and encased me in it. Right now, the effects of being in seawater was still on me, and I could barely move from the spot on the deck. I pulled the towel tighter around myself as I watched the battle opposite me.
Momonga obviously swung back into action, as if he never left the fight, grabbing his sword and clashing with the pirates. I recognised the man he was fighting with to be the Captain of the pirates. He'd intercepted the pirate's sword that swung down on a marine with his own, and started pushing him back.
I looked away from them to spot Ruth kicking one of the pirates in the shin, making that man crumple down. Then he leaps away to avoid a bat that swung down on him from behind. A marine uses this opportunity to swing his own weapon at the pirate, bring him down as well.
It was easy to see that the Marines were overpowering the pirates, and the conclusion of the battle was drawing near.
"Kid," the officer who gave me the towel spoke, "You want something warm to drink?"
I was about to answer but a victorious shout was heard and we both turned our heads to see the battle again. Momonga was standing over a body, pulling out the bloodied sword that struck the man in the chest.
Everyone seemed to stop fighting then, the pirates with the dawning realization that their leader was gone, and the Marines who were assured of their victory.
"Lay down you weapons, pirates. There is no more use in fighting; your captain is dead," Momonga announces.
Clattering of weapons being dropped were heard, and the Marines on board the Centaurius started to cuff the pirates up.
"So about that drink, kid?" The officer next to me asks again.
An hour or so found me huddled in the towel(which was really cosy) and sipping on hot chocolate inside the Marine's cafeteria. I was still in wet clothes, since the rest of my clothes were on board the Centaurius. The Marines seemed awfully used to this, and I was a bit freaked out how fast they settled everything. Granted they were trained to do this, but easily bringing in the pirates and patching up bits of the Centaurius that got destroyed without batting an eye is something.
I gulped down the last bits of the hot chocolate, slightly mourning me finishing up the warm drink. The effect of seawater was still affecting me, so I was rather groggy in my movements. It had sapped most of my energy too, so my eyelids felt really heavy.
The same marine officer that got me the hot chocolate walked up to me. He'd gone to attend to his duties earlier.
"C'mon kid, let's get you back to your boat," He said to me. I set down my empty cup on the table and stood up, and gingerly peeled off the towel. The officer widened his eyes.
"Oh, you don't need to do that!" He assured me, "You'll catch a cold if you don't have that on."
I blinked in surprise, then tightened the towel around me again. The officer gestured for me to follow him and he leads me out to where a temporary bridge between the two ships was made.
As I stepped down from the bridge, there was a cry of my name and when I looked up, a flurry of yellow and pink converged on me and pulled me into a tight hug.
"Lynnnn! You're okay!" Eve wails as she hugs me tighter. I had to mentally sigh at this; she was just being dramatic.
"Missus, I uh, think you're crushing him," I hear Jerry speak up.
Eve seemed to remember she was a respectable woman of society and stops her wailing. She loosens her grip of me, but not enough so that I could escape from her. I could turn around to face everyone else, but I didn't since my face was burning up. She was treating me like a baby – you can't blame me for getting embarrassed.
I could hear conversations being had around me.
"Thank you for saving him," Charles says to who I presume to be Momonga.
"It's not a problem, just glad that the kid's alright. He may be a bit traumatized though," was Momonga's reply.
"Miss Eve, isn't Lyn heavy?" I could hear Orianna ask.
"He isn't!" Eve defends me, but I could feel her adjust her grip on me.
"Please put me down," I finally got my words out, red-faced.
"No!" She protests, but Charles suddenly butts into our conversation.
"I think young Lyn needs to change out of his wet clothes, dear," he says, sounding amused.
Eve purses her lips and huffs, "Fine."
I immediately hop out of her arms the first chance I got and scuttled away to the sleeping quarters where my clothes are.
"See? That boy's strong, Commodore. You don't need to worry too much about him." I hear Charles say to Momonga before I went out of earshot.
Once I was in dry clothes, I didn't feel as lethargic as before. I knew that coming into contact with seawater made me feel really weak, but being thrown into a large body of seawater fudging sucks. I wrap the wet clothes in the towel and headed out of the empty room to give them to someone in the laundry room.
Exhausted as I was, I still wanted to be responsible.
Glinda greets me in the room, and she frowns when she looks me over.
"Go sleep, Lyn. You've had more action than you needed to," She takes my bundle of clothes and dismisses me. I nod a thanks and headed back to the sleeping quarters. Sleep felt right at the moment. I all but crashed into the hammock and immediately drifted off to sleep.
I woke up to someone shaking me awake. I blearily opened my eyes, looking at who it was. Jerry's face greeted me.
"Yo, its dinner time. You don't wanna miss out, do you?" He tells me, and my stomach manages to growl in response. I go red as he laughs at me.
"Shuddup!" I yelled at him as I untangled myself from the hammock. He helps me down, then we walked to the cafeteria.
"So where did you go on the Marine ship? Did you see the cool stuff?" Jerry asked me as we walked.
"Just to their canteen," I sigh, "None of whatever you mean by cool stuff, Jerry."
"Hehh, that's so boring. You had the chance to explore, and you didn't?"
"I nearly drowned barely a few minutes before. Why the heck did you think I was able to go running about?"
"I didn't see it happen though? Orianna and I were stuck at the cafeteria. Man those pirates were rough."
He touches the white patch on his cheek absentmindedly as he said that. I took notice of it.
"What's with that?" I pointed the plaster out.
"Ahaha, I guess the pirates didn't like me badmouthing them, so they punched me," He laughs it off. I could tell he was lying, if the tips of his ears going red could be any indication. It wasn't worth digging deeper into though, so I didn't bother.
We arrived at the cafeteria, and the chatter that the room held died down. I found everyone staring at me and I ducked my head to avoid their eyes. Jerry nudges me.
"Hey, don't be shy, Mr. Hero," he teases.
I shot my head around to glare at him, "I didn't do anything-"
"Mr. Hero indeed!" booms the captain of the Centaurius. He approaches us and smacks me on the back. I stumble a little at the force, while the man continues to speak, "You certainly saved the young missus here!"
I went red, "It's not like it's a huge deal anyway. Anyone could've done it." I scratched my cheek with a finger, looking away.
"But the fact that you did it still remains, kiddo!" He exclaimed, lifts his mug up, beer nearly sloshing over the sides, "Three cheers for ya!"
"Hip hip, hooray!"
I was thoroughly embarrassed with the attention they gave me and I wanted to run out of the room, but Jerry grabbed my arm before I could move. He grins at me as I glare at him again. My face was absolutely burning right now and I shuffled awkwardly towards the table I've been sitting at throughout this trip.
Orianna was sat there with Ruth, grinning at me as she saw Jerry and I approach the table. There was food already there, probably thanks to her since she always helped us get our food for us when we came late to meals.
The usual chatter returned as Jerry and I sat down. The general atmosphere was joyous, as if we hadn't been attacked at all. But I could see visible aftermaths of what happened; several men on board spotted bandages on their appendages, some bruises peeking out from under clothing.
"Now that I think about it, you've saved Miss Eve twice already, didn't you?" Orianna mused. Jerry snorts.
"Three times, since the pirates barged into the Missus' room earlier when they were both in it," He tells them.
I raise my eyebrow at this. How did he know about that?
"The Marines went about poking each and every room to check for the pirates. I overheard that they found three in her room," He shrugs, answering my unsaid question.
"Three times? That's impressive, kid," Ruth says between mouthfuls of food, "But what happened the first time?"
Orianna's and Jerry's eyes lit up, and they began to retell the story of how I ended up in the Horands' care to Ruth. I, on the other hand tried to gobble up my food as quick as I could. Even though everyone else seemed to be immersed in their own food or conversation, I could feel occasional glances cast my way. Generally this made me uncomfortable.
I zoned back into the other three's conversation; they were nearly done, and after the story settled into Ruth's head, I asked, "How many days left till we reach land?"
"Hmm, cap'n says give or take three more days? Going through the Calm Belt would be faster now, since apparently the Marines got more fuel for the engines for the propellers an' stuff from the pirates' ship," Ruth answered.
"That means you guys have to hook up both ships together soon, huh?"
"Yep."
"Ehh, that's going to happen?" Orianna comments.
"I heard about it from Miss Eve."
"So it's like that huh?" Jerry laughed, and clapped my back lightly. I look at him strangely, frowning slightly. He laughs some more at my confusion.
"I hope you choke on your food," I told him.
Those three days went by fast, since there seemed to be some kind of action each day.
The first half of the first day had the crewmen on both ships hooking up the Centaurius behind the Marine ship. Everyone seemed to have something to do, from swinging ropes around, to checking harnesses, to pulling up the sails. Jerry thought it was weird that they still wanted to put up the sails, but Ruth reminded him that every bit of wind(even it was impossible) in the Calm Belt was largely needed to move the ship along.
"You don't want to be stuck in the middle with the Sea Kings, do you?"
Jerry gulped and left the conversation at that.
We started travelling through the Calm Belt after that was done. Both ships' seastone hulls kept the Sea Kings well away from us. For the majority of the time we were in there though, I found a pair of binoculars(or something that looked like it) to look for Sea Kings. Despite the rumours that said they were scary, observing them from afar didn't make them out to be so. There were so many different types too; different combinations of creatures mashed up together by the creator of this world. I was amazed at what I managed to catch glimpses of. I spent that time at the crow's nest with a notebook and pencil in hand, sketching out what I saw.
And during mealtimes, I would show the other three my drawings. They, in turn, would comment on how each one looked like. We came up with weird names for each one we saw too, and I wrote them down next to their respective drawing.
"These are pretty good," The Centuarius' captain saw the notebook while passing by our table and commented on them.
"I'm just drawing what I see," I shrugged. The captain chuckled and walked away.
Soon the second day passed, and in the morning we found ourselves in the East Blue Sea. The crewmembers were set once more into action as they unhooked the harnesses holding both boats together. The Centaurius took the lead again, and the navigators set the course of the ships to our destination – Shinsa Island.
There was more islands in East Blue than what the story depicted, and apparently this island was where Charles came from.
It was only at the dawn of the fourth day that we reached Shinsa Island. I was awake and on deck, watching the sun rise again, and on the horizon I could see the island being backlit by the sunrays.
"We've reached," I murmured, and looked at Ruth, who was sitting next to me on a cargo box. He raises an eyebrow at me when I smirked.
"So… whaddya say we go wake the whole ship up?"
That morning the every person on board the Centuarius had the rudest awakening in the past few days. Ruth and I had grabbed pots and pans from the kitchen and had gone into each room, banging our makeshift instruments together, effectively waking everyone up with the ruckus.
Of course we both got scolded afterwards by Charles, but he had an amused twinkle in his eye as he did so. I could tell he was excited to return to his home island, seeing his aura bubbling with anticipation.
We docked at the rather quiet port – it was still the early morning so not many people were awake(sans the people on board Centaurius). The men on board were already moving crates from the cargo hold to dry land. And since I'm too small to carry any of those crates, I was asked to check if anything was left behind. I popped by Eve's room, making sure she was already up by then.
"Eve," I said as I knocked on her room's door, "You up yet?"
"Yep!" I hear her answer, and I pushed the door open. She was packing away the last bits of her personal belongings, hair tied in a loose ponytail.
My mouth felt dry as I stared at her pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. She finally looks up, frowns and asks me, "Are you going to keep standing there Lyn? Come help me bring this out."
I broke out of my stupor and scratched my cheek in embarrassment, "Sorry."
I proceeded to help her lug the suitcase out and down the ship. When we hit the land, I could feel an instant difference. The trip on the ship had been rocky, so I'd slowly gotten used to its movements. Now that I was on stable dry land, with no sorts of movement under my feet, it felt awkwardly weird.
I found Charles talking to both the Centaurius' captain and Momonga as I pulled the suitcase to where the rest of the crates were. Charles spots me, and gestures for me to come over. Curiously I walked over, and he puts a hand on my shoulder when I stopped in front of him.
"Lyn's perfectly alright, as you can see here," Charles says.
"I'm glad he is," Momonga agreed.
"You should've seen him this morning, though," the captain chuckles, "Woke up all of us by banging pots and pans together, this cheeky bugger."
I supress a smile at the memory of this morning as Momonga raises an eyebrow while Charles tries not to laugh.
"So what do you want me for, sir?" I asked Charles. He nods at Momonga, who starts to speak.
"Kid, do you want to be a Marine officer when you grow up?" he asks me directly.
I widened my eyes as the man continues to speak, "You're quite brave for a child; I see potential in you to become a good Marine- "
"With all due respect sir," I couldn't help but interrupt him midway, "I'd rather not be one."
The thought of being a Marine - becoming one of the World Government's dogs… It disgusted me to no end. Sure, there may be good Marines in this world, but the handlers of them were people who were cruel to a fault. I didn't want to be controlled by them of all people. Ever since they did that to Flevance…
All three of them seemed taken aback by my aggressive tone, but Momonga recovered quickly.
"Well, it was worth a try asking, kid," he says with a smile and reaches over to ruffle my hair, "I can understand why you don't want to be one."
I didn't answer him; I couldn't trust myself to reply him without lashing out.
"Go help the others, Lyn," Charles saves me from the situation, "I think young Jerry is waiting for you."
He was, indeed waiting for me to come over to him. I briskly walked over, "Hey."
"Hey yourself. What's with the sour attitude, dude? You were cheerful not too long ago," Jerry took note of my disposition.
"It's nothing," I sigh, "I just got reminded of some bad stuff."
"Cheer up, bud! We're headed to the new place soon, you should smile a little more. Don't think too much of that bad stuff," he claps me on the back.
I shake my head in exasperation, but I couldn't help smiling at his cheery tone.
That's right. I shouldn't dwell too long in the past; nothing good would ever come out of it.
A/N: Happy New Year everyone! I know this question's been asked too many times, but I'll ask it anyway: What're your New Year resolutions? For me it's probably to draw more fanart and get fit? Haha.
One thing I'm gonna address here though. Some people asked me if I was going to include pairings into this. Well honestly? Not probably for Lyn. He gets his crushes now and then but ultimately it's a huge nahhhh on the romance part. I have my own personal ships for the canon characters though, do you guys want me to try and involve them in here? Or should I just keep this no-romance thing? Tell me what y'all think :')
Edit: Shadowcynder1830 pointed out that showers and the like won't affect DF users so I had to change it accordingly! No worries though, it won't affect the flow of the story.
As usual, thanks for the follows, favourites and reviews!