"What are you doing?" Usopp asks Karmen, who is standing barefoot on the bulwark with her back to the ocean and holding the ratline that goes up to the sails for balance. In her free hand she has a length of rope that she's made into an adjustable harness.
"Testing my ankle." She closes her eyes. "Be quiet, will you?" She listens more with her senses than her ears. Using Haki and reversing it are not easy to do at the same time. She stops using her reverse Haki all together to listen. Several small fish swim in the shadow of the anchor and ship. Gulls and island birds are nearby. She tunes them out until something disturbs the fish below them. As it approaches, she releases her hold on the net and kicks backwards using her right foot and dives into the water head first.
Everyone except Luffy and Robin, who are still recovering below deck, watches the water as the ripples disappear. "Isn't she still injured?" Usopp asks.
"Her right ankle is better, but her left still needs a few weeks to heal completely," Chopper says. "There was a lot of soft tissue damage."
"Should she be swimming then?" Sanji asks.
"Probably not," the reindeer admits.
"If she feels up to it, you shouldn't stop her," Zoro says. "This is probably one of her weird trainings."
"Says the guy who's nearly lifting a full ton," Usopp mutters.
"She's not coming up," Nami says.
Sanji kicks off his shoes and starts to dive in when the ship rocks as if it's being lifted from the other side. They turn around and watch a giant fish backflip over the mast. Karmen is on its back, gripping the rope harness that is now strapped through the fish's open mouth. They crash down into the ocean not far from where she had disappeared, drenching everyone.
"Is she ok on that thing?" Nami asks.
"She's a champion fish rider, right?" Usopp says. "She should be."
"It looked like she was gritting her teeth. She may be in pain," Chopper says. "Maybe we should stop her."
"Are you going to stop her?" Zoro asks him. "Last I checked you can't swim."
"Let her be," Sanji agrees. "Women hurt because they care, right?"
"What does that have to with anything?" Usopp asks.
"Nevermind." He lights a cigarette and smiles. "Is it just me or does our Karmen seem more graceful and radiant today?"
"It's not just you," Usopp agrees. As they watch Karmen, they all feel she is more physically present than they've become used to. A few wonder the reason behind this while others let it slide as her exhibiting her fish riding talents.
They watch as Karmen's fish surfaces further out, diving back in time after time and leaping high and flailing violently to try to throw her. "That thing seems aggressive," Nami observes.
"It's a Thrasher Tuna," Sanji says. "They're known for their teeth and bloodthirsty nature."
"What!" Usopp, Nami, and Chopper yell together.
"Why aren't you helping her, then?!" Usopp shouts.
"Because she has things under control," Zoro says, watching the fish leap. "She chose that fish for a reason. She hasn't fallen off once, at least above water."
"Just watch," Sanji says, pointing to where the fish lands. "If she releases her grip before she breaks the fish, she'll be torn to shreds."
"Then isn't that even more reason to go out there and help her?" Nami asks.
"We'd only get in her way," Usopp says, finally understanding. "Fish are like the waiver to her. She's the only one on the crew who can understand it and use it to her advantage. This is like her working out the controls."
The tuna leaps fifty feet in the air and Karmen presses her knee into its side and pulls the rope to make it spiral back into the water. Almost there. The water slashes at her skin as they reenter the ocean but she's used to it. She's been able to hook a rope around one of its' fins and is now working on the other side. It's too big to control the fish with her feet and her left ankle is already sore. As her lungs begin to demand air, she pulls the fish up into a sideways breach, tossing out a loop of rope as it crests out of the water and hooks the other fin.
She pulls the ropes in its mouth taunt to keep it skimming the surface as she stands and scoots foot by foot to its dorsal fin. Using it like a windsurfing sail, she holds it and leans to change the direction. The crew watches them zigzag across the water as the tuna thrashes to break her controls. Karmen ties the frontal harness to her right forearm and begins making a new loop in the excess. "Synchronize with it," she orders herself. "This is just another dance." She dials up her Haki until she can feel every muscle in the fish tensing. She's so focused on the fish that she doesn't see it head straight for another fish that is leaping out of the water.
Karmen is struck in the chest by something silver and scaly that bounces off her and back into the water. It is a small fish, but it's big enough to make her lose her balance. She falls and is drug along by the knots on her wrist. Sanji goes to jump into the water but Zoro grabs him by the collar and forces him back on deck. "Wait."
The fish spirals dizzyingly for a few minutes, but he is unable to angle himself close enough to bite her. Coughing up the whole ocean, Karmen drags herself back up with the ropes and kicks the fish's head reproachfully with her good foot. It takes her a moment to find her loop, but she manages to get ahold of the knot. She uses her Haki again, this time making sure to increase her range to include a 10 ft. radius around the fish. "Synchronize." She starts by shifting her feet to match the movement of the muscles from his tail as it slices through the water to propel them forward. She sways as one with the fish. She pushes and pulls his dorsal fin to observe how the muscles shift with the movement. When she's ready, she throws the loop in her hand out behind her and it catches the top half of his tailfin perfectly. Using her right arm to control the front of the fish and her left to control the tail like a rudder, Karmen sails the fish smoothly through the water.
Eventually, she pulls the loop on his tail over his dorsal fin and ties the excess securely to the ropes that were on her right wrist. Kneeling just behind its head, she uses all four limbs to make the fish dive and leap at her command.
"See?" Zoro says. "She's just fine."
Karmen uses the tuna to catch smaller fish for dinner. They leap over the ship to drop them on deck. When she finally reins in the fish the sky is turning a fiery orange. Using her knife, she cuts two ropes and the entire harness slides off. Karmen can tell that the tuna is going to go for one more attack, so she grabs his dorsal fin as it flips backwards. While in the air, she kicks off his back and lands on the deck, collapsing with the sharp pain that shoots through her left ankle.
Chopper runs to her with towels and fresh bandages. She rests against the mast and dries her hair as he tends to her. Sanji thanks her for the fish from the kitchen doorway where he's been cleaning them. Nami and Usopp grin widely as they barrage her with questions about fish riding, the tuna, and the harness she had made. She answers their questions with her eyes closed. After a moment, she stops them and stands. "Usopp, can I borrow your hammer?"
He pulls out his rubber mallet and hands it to her. She ties a length of the harness to the handle and spins it, waiting. "Is there something wrong?" Nami asks. Karmen shushes them and swings the hammer faster. Zoro follows her gaze out into the water. It takes a minute, but finally he sees the dark shape moving towards them.
"You're free to go and you come back for this," she sighs. "Some never learn, do they?"
Water begins to crest above the dark form and Karmen throws the hammer. It bounces off the fish's head just as it begins to breach. A goose egg forms instantly and the fish groggily sinks back into the water. Karmen returns Usopp's hammer and observes her pruny fingers. Zoro watches the dark form in the water swim away slowly. When he looks back at the secretary he has the familiar feeling that she's not entirely there. "Do you feel better?" he asks as they make their way into the dining room. He sees her eyes swing over the cots that Luffy and Robin are resting on.
"I'm not sure that's the word for it." Karmen touches her wrinkled thumb and index finger together as she sits down and Sanji places a plate in front of her. "I haven't done that in a while. I've gotten slow and I didn't get him completely. I've tamed sharks better than that tuna."
Luffy and Robin wake up long enough to eat, but go back to sleep once they're done. "How long does it usually take to break a fish?" Sanji asks, sitting across from her with his own plate.
"A fish like that should take half a day to a full one, max. Sharks can take up to two weeks. Docile fish usually take only half a day. Giant fish, whales, and Neptunians are a little trickier. You have to have the right gear or a strong bond to even get on their backs and it can take years until you trust them not to eat you."
Usopp spits his food in Zoro's face. "You've ridden a Neptunian?!" Zoro kicks his ankle and wipes himself off.
"No, but they race them in world championships. They have to have Navy warships every year because there's usually one or two that rampage."
"Fish riding is dangerous." Usopp shivers.
"People die every year," she states. "I've gotten hurt before, but never badly. I kind of wish I had at least one good scar from it. You'd show up to competitions and some of the best jockeys had puncture wound scars from bites that covered their whole torsos. A few of them were even missing limbs." No aggressive fish had ever gotten close enough to sink its teeth into her. Her father's men had made sure of that. She lost more fast fish to her security guards than she had to a broken harness. "Too bad we left Teeth behind. He would have been able to keep pace with the eels."
"Didn't he bite your shoulder?" Zoro asks.
"He scratched it, but he didn't leave a scar." Karmen pouts around her fork. "I've got one on my leg from the bounty hunter, but you can barely see it. That's something at least."
Sanji pounds his fist against the table in passionate frustration. "If that man wasn't already dead I'd hunt him down and kill him for marring your beautiful skin!"
"Are you going to hunt down Eneru, then?" Zoro asks. "That's probably going to leave a scar too." Sanji's falter is Usopp worthy.
"Please don't go chasing Logia's on my account," Karmen groans. "We've had enough trouble with them this month." Everyone looks at the two cots in the corner.
"I wonder what the natural enemy of an ice man is," Nami muses.
"One of the other three admirals is a magma man," Karmen says. "A fight between those two would be legendary."
"Two high-class marines fighting all out?" Usopp says. "I can't see that happening."
Karmen switches her Haki around to sense the sluggish blood flowing through the two sleeping people and listens to their hearts beating for a while. Sanji and Zoro sense the change in her almost immediately. They exchange a look as her presence fades again. "Don't start fighting, you two," Nami warns, misinterpreting their eye contact.
Sanji stands and gathers the empty plates. "Who would waste their energy fighting that moss-head?"
"It's not like he would even be a challenge," Zoro mutters. Electricity sparks between them as they both tense to spring at each other.
Nami punches them both. "I said don't start!" She turns her attention to the secretary. "When I was washing your hair the other day I noticed that you have a scar on your scalp. Isn't that from fish riding?"
"I didn't realize you had seen that." She touches the thin line above her right ear where her hair covers a straight, thin scar. "I don't really remember how that one happened. I got it in the wreck." Karmen's eyes grow distant for a moment as she traces the four inch line. Her fingers touch more ocean grit than scar. She yawns. "I think I'll go wash the salt out of my hair and then go to bed."
The crew watches her descend the stairs. "Is she feeling ok? I could have sworn she said she was going to bed at a decent hour," Nami says.
"She did ride a fish all day," Usopp offers.
"She scrubs this ship all day and then stays up until sunrise," Zoro counters. "Maybe her poisons are making her sick."
"I checked her new doses myself," Chopper says. "They would have made her tired when she took them this morning if that were the case. It might be stress."
"She did spend hours with Aokiji before he attacked us," Usopp says. "That would make me stressed too."
Sanji lights a cigarette and takes a slow drag. "What's going on with you, Karmen?" The question hangs in the air, unanswered.