Chapter 22
The wind was chilly and the air smelled faintly of pine. She was thankful Newgate had told her to wear something warm, because this was much colder than she'd liked.
It snowed in Mt. Columbo every year during winter. The temperature drops to below zero, and the wind would be sharp and cold enough to slice through skin on a bad snow storm. Mt. Columbo was a tough place, and Dadan had known this since she was a child. She'd grown up with these conditions, yet there were just some things she would never get used to.
When it snowed, everything froze to sleep and death in the dense jungle, but around those times, she rarely goes out and only let the brats and the bandits out to hunt for provisions. Even when she had all the body fat, she rarely went outside because it was too cold for her. Instead, she sits by the fire of the hideout, keeps it lit, keeps the hut warm and guards the fire before it dies and the wood stocks run out.
She grumbles to herself that she knows her weaknesses, and the cold is one of them. Yet there was a force that pushes her to go out to meet the captain of the large vessel they were sailing on. At first, she credited it to fear. Fear that Newgate really would kill her as punishment for disobeying Captain's orders. Then she thought that wasn't it.
Newgate was her friend… A good person, if not a friend. After all, who was she to say Newgate was a friend? He's much too good for the likes of her. Just as she'd say Garp was her rival, no one would believe she'd punched the guy for being an idiot multiple times before in the past, even before he became a marine. She was a mere bandit in comparison to them. They were men who's names were known throughout the world. Legends, and soon to be legends in Ace and Luffy's cases. Still, she tells herself, it's knowing they're special to her that counts. This was enough.
And when her feet took her to the figurehead, he was there. Looking out the ocean with a large sake bottle and wearing nothing but his captain's coat over his shoulders.
"Newgate! Fucking' get a shirt on will ya!" Her greeting. "It's freezing! You'll get sick with a stupid cold you stupid man!" She berates as she takes one blanket from her shoulder to cover a measly portion of his chest, (comically small) after climbing a set of stairs to get closer to the man's shoulder. The blanket was not nearly enough to give him any semblance of protection from the cold. And in return, he laughs. "Gurarara!"
She holds herself back from smothering him with weak punches to the arm. "I'm serious Newgate. Get a fucking shirt on!"
"Oh, is it because you get flustered when you see my body?"
"Pfft," she rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, "As if." Although, her scolding softens into a sigh of acceptance. This guy just keeps on putting his health at risk. No wonder the nurses and doctors are worked to the bone.
"It's cold." She says instead. "I don't want either of us getting sick with a stupid cold old man. And if anything, you're actually grossing me out, perv."
"Ouch, Dadan, that actually hurts. I take great pains to maintain a body like this." He flexes an arm, still very much muscle and a little bit of skin hanging. "And it takes more than this to make me sick." He follows.
"Only idiots say that before they get sick." She counters.
"Then I shall drink sake to warm me up." He shakes the jug in his hands. Dadan's eyes widen. Surprised he was showing that out in the open. "Marco let me have it, just this once…" He explains. "I thought I should share my spoils with you, since you share your spoils with me all the time… Call it a sign of good will." He opens the bottle and lets her have the first sip. "I hope you don't mind sharing."
"I ain't no priss." She takes a swig from the bottle. "This is good stuff." She says, instantly feeling warm from that one mouthful.
"Oh it is. It's from my secret stash, you could call it." He takes the bottle from the railing between them where she placed it.
"I'm guessing this is not so much of a secret."
"Yeah. I usually make Thatch hide my stuff, but he's been -occupied." By Marco's monitoring, he fails to say. Newgate takes a swig from the bottle. "I didn't tell Marco, but I guess he figured out my conspirator was Thatch."
"Well, I'm not telling ya' my supplier, if that's what yer' tyin' ta get outta me."
"I would never," he feigns shock and innocence. "-but it's Thatch isn't it?" He speculates as he gives her the bottle when she extends her hand.
"Nope." Dadan answers with a swig. "-and I ain't telling."
"Keep your secrets then, woman." He takes the bottle from her hand.
"Oh, I plan to." She smiles. Silence follows, the wind blows colder, and Dadan decides to cross her arms, preserving her heat from the cold. Well, it seems three (two now) thick blankets weren't enough to stave off the cold from a winter island.
Newgate notices and decided to make it warmer for his friend, he shields her from the wind with his body and presses his arm just a little closer around her. Dadan looks a lot smaller, practically being blanketed by Newgate's larger form.
She sighs comfortably, feeling the heat from Newgate at her back instead of the chill.
"Dadan, you know, Ace was just worried about you-" He starts.
Dadan pouts, holding back a groan. They'd have to talk about it eventually, and now was a good time, or so he thinks.
"I know that already…" She whines. How does she explain it- What's happening between them. It's always so easy to ruin everything. One moment they were good, the next they were fighting! One minute they were working for the safety of their family, the next they were threatening to split it up to placate themselves. How could she explain the roller coaster she calls their relationship? How could she explain the feelings she's going though?
"It hurts when I realized there could have been much in common between us." She starts. Newgate thinks, there is a lot in common between you both. So much, I could make a list. She stares out in the ocean instead, watching the waves and the occasional patch of ice drifting away.
"Bandits loot caravans and anything on land, and pirates like you and Ace loot ships and galleons and heck, even we loot our rival gangs." She sights more comparisons while Newgate listens, patiently and attentively.
"We both fight, more than often dirty; and your ship is as dear to us as our base or hide out. More than once, I saw Ace use a move we bandits taught him in the jungle, and we're glad he uses it here with the ropes and the planks. We're both crooks, and the World Government wants us dead. There's a lot more.
We have so much in common and yet… it's not… enough" She pauses, looks to his understanding gaze. It was something she appreciated about Newgate. He was patient, he doesn't judge after seeing something, even if it's before his eyes. He actually talks to people, tries and tries to understand them. He was a perfect listener. He would be a perfect father for any child out there- especially a brat like Ace who has all the anger and hate in his heart. He hurts everyone he loves, he's just! Oh, he's still waiting.
"He said he wasn't a bandit and I get that… but being on this ship and fighting on a ship with him and you guys… Sometimes I wonder the difference." She laments, Newgate hums with her, a gruff sounding thing that she'd have associated with a wild animal. It reminded her of Pochi, her stray that… now that she thinks about it, she didn't know if he'd managed to save himself. -Another memory she'd cry about tonight.
"I know Ace worries about me now, but that's because -I think, he only sees me as strong when I'm on a mountain. When I'm surrounded by my bandits, and not here with him. It's like there's a line I can't cross because every time I do something more "pirate" than "bandit", Ace wouldn't let me."
"Maybe that's because you've been making him believe you've turned weak and helpless."
"He knows what I mean when I say shit." Dadan defends. Granted, she had complained a few times how everything was heavier than she remembered. Or how skinny she was, and how cold she felt all the time.
"I figured-" She starts, looks at her hands and grimaces. "I'd be stronger by now. Ace has grown stronger on sea." Compared to her. She ate a devil fruit, can't even use it and lost her strength until all she had were 2 of her bandits out of the 20 she'd called her own. "While I'm practically reduced to… to this." She gestures to herself. She takes her hand and wraps it around her bicep. "My hands can wrap around my bicep Newgate. I look like a shrimp compared to when I was a bandit boss."
"But you're still a bandit boss." Dadan rolls her eyes. "You still have your two bandits, and they believe in you. They still call you their boss."
"They're my family Newgate. I protect my own." She says. "Anyone can do that." -You do that, and you're a pirate remains unsaid.
"You still fight like a bandit." He comments instead. She snorts.
"And what, take the men down by whacking their knobby knees?" She mocks herself, "I used to swing a club as large as your arm, and knock down 10 men in one swing. What happened today was pathetic."
"I thought you did well."
"For a weakling" She adds. "All I did was swing a stick and fall on my ass. Heck, Dogra was the one who took that bastard down, not me!" She takes the bottle from his hand. He pouts, noticing he skipped his turn to drink.
"Well, I used to be able to swing my bicento, and three hundred people would go flying, simply by the force of my swing…" Newgate tells. "We're not getting younger Dadan."
"No. You're just growing old. I ate a fruit and turned weak." She drank sourly. While thinking, she may be getting old, but she was still younger than Newgate… and that 19- about 20 years counts for something, right?
"You're not weak." He says, but stops. She'll just keep putting herself down, and the cycle will continue. He'll need to change his wording, change his approach.
"You controlled the situation after the brats lost their captain. You prevented them from lashing out on you by showing them who you are and what you can do." He looks at her and tells her with all the honesty he could conjure. "You were amazing."
Dadan was taken off guard. Newgate smiles as he notices the red on her tanned skin. He laughs, loud and happy. Dadan feels the rumble of his laughter behind her. An oddly comforting feeling. Still she worries. He was getting colder too, and later his laughter turns into a hacking cough.
"Geeze Newgate. You're getting cold!" She tries to warm him up by rubbing her hands on his arm. She notices it was cold too. "Here, drink some sake ya' stupid man. When I said idiots who go out without a shirt get colds, I mean to say you're an idiot and you'll die by getting a cold."
He takes the sake and drinks it. Finishes it till the last drop went down his throat.
He slams the bottle down on the rail. "See, I feel better already." He wipes his mouth with his arm and smiles at her irritated look.
He says before he drops to the floor with a loud thud! His body starts to produce smoke and steam. He withers on the floor, having difficulty breathing, tugging at his chest as he tries to take in air.
"Newgate!" Dadan screams as she gets on her knees, still hesitant to touch him as he convulses.
The loud thud and her scream alerted the watchman on duty, and a few of the nurses and crew peaks out of the doors. "POPS!" They all scream as they make their way to the figurehead.
"HELP! HELP! I NEED-"
Marco lands above her on the railing where the bottle sat. The bottle crushed under his talons, the blue flames of his wings fierce and threatening. His eyes, like an eagle who looks at his prey. Dangerous- she thought, as he stared her down. Gone was the lazy drawl of his voice, and instantly she understood why he was the First Mate. With a venomous voice that could be poison, he hisses,
"What have you done?"
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I AM SOOO SORRY THIS IS SUUUPER LATE. I got busy -Realy really busy and I'm still floating on clouds and stuff and grieving for my cat and working happily in my job. I'm an emotional mess right now.
But here's to answer commentsL
Guest: Oh, Marco has issues. Which I will explain in like the next chapter.
Thank you all for liking and faving and reading.