"Damien, those aren't pieces of gum! They aren't easy to make, and Cap actually uses them!"

Cassandra didn't blink as a loud retort echoed through the main hall. "Is that how he lost part of his tongue?" she asked the pirate she was sitting back-to-back with.

Alexander snorted as he passed her a pair of cards over his shoulder. "He lost it when he was crushed back home."

"Damien, stop!"

Another bang. "If you could find it in your heart to leave at least some ammo for me, that'd be great," she idly said. She caught the half-chewed bullet spat in her direction. "Why this one? Incendiary rounds are even less effective than normal rounds to you."

"These ain' labelled."

Theo stomped her foot. "You're not supposed to eat any of them! They're bullets!"

"They're fuckin' pathetic, 's what they are. 'Ow's Cap'n supposed t' do shit wit' these?"

"She doesn't feed them to people, that's for sure!"

Alexander pushed his shoulder against Cassandra's. "When do you think she'll figure out he's just trolling her?"

"Not until someone tells her."

"Yeah, probably. Aces out."

Cassandra threw her cards down. "You're cheating, aren't you?"

"From you, I'll take that as a compliment. Another round?"

"I'll quit while I'm behind," she said, climbing to her feet. "If she doesn't figure it out by the time he reaches the gas rounds, clue her in. It'd be nice not to have to vent the place."

He saluted and started building a house of cards. Cassandra was about to join most of her crew in the galley when Chief began burbling. She instead ascended to the main deck to find out what the pirates on watch wanted. Cain stood in his gleaming white armor, his spear in one hand and his battleaxe at his side, and if she couldn't see Raven, she doubted anyone else could. She glanced over the city and didn't bother hiding her relief upon seeing the round figure trundling down the docks. "Stay here."

She descended the gangplank and stopped with her thumbs hooked through her belt loops. "I'm sure you can guess how happy I am to see you, especially given the current circumstances."

Aisha glanced at the destruction behind her. "Well, I was there when you so memorably said 'swung first, shitweasels.' You were just protecting yourselves as you saw fit."

"I'm glad you see it that way." Cassandra extended her hand up the gangplank. "Come inside. We'll go over everything in there."

Aisha followed her below, nodding at Cain as they went past. Theo fell silent when they reached the main hall, so Damien quickly lost interest in her and went to the galley, ignoring Aisha as he passed. Lyn caught sight of the spherical woman when he pushed the door open, and her shout prompted the other pirates to shove their way past him. Miserie hopped onto CYCLOPS' back and peered over its shoulder.

"Hey, where do you think you're going, ass-for-brains?" Cassandra demanded. "Take us away from this fucking island. I can't wait to put it behind us."

Damien reemerged from the galley, a large hunk of meat on a bone held in one hand. He shot her an irritated look and punched his way through the main hatch, forcing Cain to close behind him.

"Okay, everyone," Cassandra said, making sure Chief was broadcasting to the pirates on watch, "you've all met Aisha Rasul. She has agreed to stay with us for a while to tutor Theo. Her contract will be renewed island by island, and she has no obligation to live with us when we're at port. She should be treated with the utmost respect - don't expect anything from Damien - and you need to listen to what she says.

"To reiterate, she is only a civilian we are employing. She has no responsibilities other than teaching. She doesn't take watch and does no chores. She will not participate in any fighting. It is our duty to protect her from any harm. Not, however, at the cost of your lives." She focused on Aisha. "We'll do our best, but my crew comes first and foremost."

Aisha nodded. "So long as you follow the contract and protect me if your lives aren't at stake."

"Obviously. For reference, Cain is the most reliable defender, hence his epithet 'the White Mountain'. You'll typically be safest near him if he's not leading the attack. Now, if you'll remember from the contract, I actually have eight crewmembers, not seven. While it would be possible for you to stay here without ever meeting our doctor, it would be detrimental to everyone if she stayed hidden the entire time. Can you promise to hide her existence as best you can outside the crew?"

"I can."

Cassandra stared at her. "If I find out you told anyone, I'll kill both you and them. Come out now."

Aisha jumped when the doctor appeared crouching on the side of the main mast. "My name is Raven. My job as doctor of the Black Glove Pirates is to keep those living aboard Dusk Pandion as healthy as possible. This includes regular check-ups as well as any necessary medical procedures and surgeries. Should you be injured, I will treat you as I would any of my crewmates. When on an island, I will either be completing tasks Cassandra has assigned me or watching over those who cannot easily defend themselves."

"She's my deadliest nakama," Cassandra said as Raven vanished. "Her protection doesn't involve de-escalation or negotiation. She ends threats completely. Don't request anything from her outside of medical issues. That said, she's also learning about relationships, and for that she needs constant interaction with all of us. If not for that, I wouldn't tell you about her at all.

"Okay, you now have the floor. Let us know what we can do to accommodate you and give you the best quality of life possible aboard my ship."

Aisha hefted her luggage. "You said I could have a separate room."

"Cain will complete the conversion of the forecastle cabin to your private quarters. You will be provided a Baby Den-Den Mushi with which to communicate with the rest of us if you don't want to leave your room."

"Good. I do not want anyone to enter without my explicit permission."

"Of course. Just so you know, we have a rather laissez-faire approach to nudity. I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, but I don't want Lyn to feel restricted from acting how she wants and Damien's definitely not going to care about your complaints."

Aisha frowned as she processed the information. "I understand. I will also need time and space for multiple periods of prayer per day."

"Not a problem. We have many different belief systems aboard this ship, and they're all respected. Anything else?"

"I'm a vegetarian, no meat of any kind. I also don't drink at all."

Cassandra smiled. "Morgan can handle that. You're not vegan?"

"Only since I moved here. I can't say I don't miss milk and eggs."

"Next island, then. You're welcome to eat with us, but Morgan can also deliver meals to you if you want. We don't have official eating times, but it's hard to avoid eating as a group when we're all stuck aboard. Is there anything else you need regarding your immediate living situation? No? Then in an orderly fashion," she made sure to catch Lyn's eye, "you can ask her any important questions. That means one at a time, and waiting for her to finish answering before asking another."

"What's your favorite food?" Lyn said immediately, fairly vibrating with excitement.

"Lentil soup."

Morgan nodded. "If you provide me with a particular recipe, I will ensure we have the supplies to make it when we reach the next island."

"How do you feel about tattoos?" Lyn continued, grinning as Alexander pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I have one. I don't plan on getting another."

"Ooh, can I see?"

"Does anyone besides Lyn have any important questions?" Cassandra asked.

"Hey!"

"Give other people a chance, amica."

Theo raised her hand. "What kinds of things will you be teaching me?"

"Based on my conversations with Cassandra, I have designed a curriculum that covers a wide variety of topics," Aisha said. "Most importantly, I hope to teach you how to learn."

The little girl frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Exactly what she said," Morgan said, his lips curved slightly upwards. "There's no use in testing you on memorized facts, so her focus will likely be on critical thinking, forming positions based on facts, and the construction of arguments. Aisha, I imagine that you will run your lesson plans past Captain, but would it be possible for me to take a look as well? I have no interest in altering anything, simply curious about what Theo will be learning."

Aisha smiled back. "Absolutely. I'll be consulting with you all to fine-tune my lessons to best help Theo out."

"How strong are you?" Theo asked.

"Very."

"No, like how much can you lift?"

Cassandra waved her hand. "Believe me when I say the answer is a lot. She won't be fighting, so specifics don't matter. Bear in mind that Damien doesn't think anything of her and only fought because she engaged him, though now I hope you appreciate how suicidal that was."

"I should also explain my Devil Fruit, the Karma Fruit. I can exchange my injuries with those of another who touches me. The extent varies on how hard I try, but it acts strangely when I use it on other Users. We were lucky my switch with you more or less went as you hoped, because any manner of things could have happened. I've had situations where the injuries got shuffled around instead of cleanly exchanged, one person got both sets of injuries, or the injuries got replicated instead of transferred."

Cassandra looked her up and down. "'More or less'?"

"When I got home, I found light burns on my skin that didn't correspond with the hits I got from Damien. I could tell because of how my clothes were singed."

She kept her face impassive as the implications of Aisha's words flooded her mind. Alexander and Morgan seemed to be thinking along similar lines judging by the occasional glance up at the helm. "Let's agree you should use your power as little as possible," she said. "Between three Users, Theo, and Damien, it seems like a lot could go wrong."

"What's your favorite musical instrument?" Lyn blurted out, unable to contain herself any longer.

"Amica, Aisha will later have all of the time in the world to answer everything on your mind, but right now, I want to focus on exchanging critical information."

"Diet, lodging, religious practices, job, Devil Fruit, Raven," Lyn ticked off on her fingers. "What other critical information is there? Cain can't even start on her room until we're far enough at sea, so she doesn't have anywhere else to go. I dunno what's on the contract, but I bet that's where most of the critical information is. Now's the perfect time to get to know her since nobody needs to do anything. So! Aisha, your favorite musical instrument?"

Cassandra rolled her eyes, walked over to Lyn, and turned around. Her girlfriend obligingly embraced her from behind and put her chin on Cassandra's shoulder. Sometimes, it didn't seem fair that Lyn could make valid points.

\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\

Aisha stretched her arms as the wide door to her new room shut behind her. Sunlight poured in through the portholes, bathing the room in a pleasant glow. The furniture all looked brand new, which made sense considering Cain's skill at woodworking. She took off her headscarf and tossed it onto her bed, where it somehow bounced a bit. She poked her bedsheets and was impressed at how tightly they were tucked. She threw herself onto her bed and was satisfied when it didn't break under her weight. She hadn't really thought Cain would be careless, and he most certainly anticipated the stress her bed would be under.

So this was it. She had thrown her lot in with criminals, something she had promised she would never do again. She had already come to terms with how unfair it was that this was the only way to improve her quality of life, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow. She pulled one of her suitcases onto the bed with her and rummaged through it until she located the picture she considered more valuable than any of her other possessions. She stared at her family, failing to ignore the sting of tears threatening to come to her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I had to. I couldn't keep living like that anymore. I won't get any more involved than I have to. Forgive me."

She kissed the glass and tucked the picture frame into her nightside dresser drawer. Several deep breaths later, she set to work unpacking. She was glad to see she had been provided with more storage space than she needed, giving her the opportunity to better personalize her living space. After looking over the room, she effortlessly moved the furniture around so she could more easily maneuver around the foremast. Her prayer mat fit neatly in the corner, and she made a mental note to ask Cain to provide a light specifically to illuminate it.

She was part way through putting her books on the bookshelf when a tentative knocking rang out. She looked towards the door, but the follow-up knocks came from a different direction. Frowning, she looked around her room until the third round of knocks identified the source as one of the portholes. Realizing the most likely explanation, she decided she didn't need to put her headscarf back on and opened the reinforced window. "How can I help you?"

"Miserie has a question that she did not want to ask when they were all talking together."

Aisha waited for the mermaid to continue before eventually prompting, "And that question is…?"

The unmistakable sound of a nerve-gathering exhalation reached her ears. "Is it okay if Aisha teaches Miserie how to read and write?"

That had absolutely not been one of the questions Aisha had been expecting. "You want me to help you become literate?"

"Yes. Miserie spent almost all of her life locked away and was never taught anything. She did not want to ask her nakama to help because she does not want them to think she is stupid, but Aisha is a teacher. Miserie is sure Aisha could tell Captain that she is working extra for Theo and get paid for the time she spends teaching Miserie. Captain is not concerned with money because a lot of her nakama can get it both legally and illegally, so Aisha can definitely ask for more without Captain asking why."

"For the record, illiteracy is nothing to be ashamed of, especially considering your life situation before now. I've known plenty of adults who learned their letters and numbers decades after they should have. Nevertheless, I understand where you're coming from. It can be hard to ask help from people whose respect you're worried about keeping. It would be my pleasure to help you out."

Aisha waited some more, then peeked out the window to see Miserie excitedly swimming in tight circles. The mermaid suddenly reemerged and grabbed on the ship to look directly into Aisha's eyes. "Thanks so much! She is so grateful! She will finally be able to read!"

Before Aisha could say anything, Miserie dropped out of sight and vanished into the ocean. Aisha blinked a few times. Even though she couldn't hear any singing, Miserie's unbridled joy still reverberated in her body. When her galvanized emotions settled down, she sat at her desk and took out her notebook. She was sorely tempted to teach Miserie for free, and only the distance she needed between herself and the pirates provided by her employment contract prevented her from doing so. She didn't want to be any closer to the crew than she needed to be, but she had seen firsthand how oppressive illiteracy could be.

She looked up when the Baby Den-Den Mushi named - as Lyn had relentlessly drilled into her head - Extra started burbling. She was somewhat but not entirely surprised to see the darkness of dusk instead of afternoon sunlight outside her windows. She dropped her pen and yawned before pushing the button. "Yes?"

"Dinner is served," Morgan informed her. "Do you want to join us or have it delivered?"

"I'll be right there." She stowed her writing supplies and used the mirror on her wardrobe to adjust her headscarf properly. She stopped in her tracks after she opened the door. She had thought she would be meeting them in the galley. She had not expected the large table on the main deck surrounded by pirates.

"Hi, hi!" Lyn chirped, gesturing with a bottle of alcohol from her position in the middle of the table.

"I did forget to inform you that we prefer to dine outside when the weather permits," Cassandra said. "The dining room tends to be more for breakfast or bad weather. Most of us feel much more comfortable enjoying each other's company beneath an open sky."

Aisha looked over the crew. Although Morgan was still putting dishes on the table, Damien was already gorging himself. Miserie had a plate near the edge of the deck and ducked down when Aisha glanced at her. "Where's Raven?" Aisha inquired.

"She doesn't eat with us," Alexander said. "Or do most activities with us. She tends not to be visible unless we ask her to be."

She refrained from asking the obvious question regarding Raven's visibility as she remembered Cassandra's earlier words. She had thought Raven was deliberately hidden to give Cassandra an unexpected edge in dangerous situations, not that she was a person who preferred isolation. Her eyes fell upon a wide chair set apart from the table. "That wasn't put there so you'd eat separately," Cassandra said. "I just didn't want to force you to sit next to anyone in particular."

Aisha hefted her seat and placed it between Alexander and Cain. She liked to think of herself as hard to rattle, but there was something unnerving about Cassandra's eyes. Her lazy posture conflicted with the piercing gaze that seemed to be reading her innermost thoughts. Aisha's unease increased as Cassandra immediately gave an ambiguous smile and turned to talk to Theo. It was one thing to read about Cassandra's exploits and converse with her, but the full realization that she would be working for the extremely dangerous pirate still left her feeling apprehensive.

It was swiftly made apparent that Cassandra wasn't the only attentive one. "You'll have to forgive her," Cain said. "She enjoys keeping those unfamiliar to her on their toes. We all had to endure it too. It's a sort of trial by fire."

"Except for Raven!" Lyn said more loudly than necessary. "In that case, Cee's the one who had to undergo trial by stabbing and poisoning and trapping and-"

"I have eight people extremely dear to me who enjoyed testing my desire to be friends with them," Cassandra explained. "I met the first six when I was a teenager, and Raven was one of them. Damien and Morgan are the other two. You might hear me use the term 'Moon Sisters' once in a while. I'm connected to six people my age who, because of our families' histories, wanted the others dead. I figured out the connection, and it took me years to get them to warm up to me. You probably won't be with us long enough to meet any of them, but they seem to have an annoying habit of stopping by without warning."

"An annoying habit of visiting their eldest Sister, the most important person in their lives," Alexander said as if talking to the morsel on his fork. "The one who gave up everything she had to protect one of them."

Aisha watched as Cassandra threw a spoon at him, and her eyebrows shot up when the spoon vanished in a splash against his forehead. "They're big girls now," Cassandra snapped good-humoredly. "They're supposed to be doing their godsdamned jobs. I'm dismembering the next one who thinks it's time for a vacation."

"Oh, sure, that'll be a piece of cake. Let's ignore the fact that of the two who haven't visited, one can turn into a giant and one basically is."

"Not to mention the fact that they can now dismember you without worry of permanent damage," Morgan pointed out.

Cassandra's eyes lit up. "Okay, I need all of you to promise me not to tell Jay I can do that. Won't he be fucking surprised when I 'accidentally' go a little bit too far!"

"I'm sorry," Aisha interrupted. "I thought you said you were the Moon Sisters."

"It rolls off the tongue better," Cassandra said. "Since being female is covered by Jay's genderfluidity, we decided 'Moon Sisters' still fit. We're an eclectic bunch, and that carried over to the composition of my crew, including the fact that some of us wish others were dead."

"Okay," Morgan interjected, "I would like to officially update my position to understanding and respecting Raven's personality as unintentionally discourteous rather than maliciously rude. Damien I just wish would stop dragging us into his messes."

No few people turned to Alexander, who pointedly ignored them for a couple seconds. "What? I have never said he doesn't provoke people. I just think there's another person who bears more responsibility for our frequent trials and tribulations."

"I'm the captain!" Cassandra protested. "It's my job to get us into deep shit and force the rest of you to sink or swim! That's literally my job description."

"I thought your job was to lead and protect us," Theo piped up.

"I don't know who gave you that idea, but they were lying out of their ass. Everything's all about me."

Aisha was surprised at how much she enjoyed the rest of her meal. It was a nice change of pace to be amid a group of people who clearly cared for each other but were more than willing to push each other's buttons for amusement. Even Damien joined in the fun once he had finished consuming more food than it seemed could fit inside him. She had also expected to withstand probing questions about her past, but while Lyn did ask a few, the others seemed less interested in her past than in their future together.

She hadn't expected Morgan would be as talented a chef as he was, having thought the food would be more simple and ordinary. Excluding Alexander, the pirates didn't seem like the types to care too much about the quality of what they ate. She was especially surprised that Morgan could make satisfying vegetarian dishes, but that was before she learned the only meat Miserie ate was shellfish. Even considering the ease with which Miserie could procure anything she wanted, Aisha suspected Morgan had had to prepare no few vegetarian meals for her.

After briefly excusing herself to pray, she returned to see Damien, Lyn, and Miserie flying about on the rigging. The more she watched, the more something seemed off. "Look closer," came the voice from above her.

"Rankest God!" she shouted, putting a hand on her heart and glaring at the captain sitting on the railing above her door.

She was somewhat mollified when Alexander smacked the back of Cassandra's head hard enough to knock her hat off. "Behave. Anyway, those four are just playing about."

While she couldn't see Raven at all, the group's movements made more sense. Without warning, the main hatch burst open, and a small figure rocketed out. There was no mistaking which pirate was inside the machine, and Aisha was taken aback when Theo started flying among the others and shooting at Damien.

"Everything's perfectly safe," Cassandra assured her. "Damien is basically bulletproof, and Theo's operating system - her biomechatronic brain functions that interact with her organic brain functions in ways I'm not even going to try to explain - prevents her weapons from firing at designated targets. It's all but impossible for her to fire at any of us but Damien, and by that I mean I'm more worried about Lyn and Miserie getting hit by meteorites than getting shot by Theo."

"So she's not firing blanks?"

Cassandra and Alexander looked at each other. "I mean, I guess she could do that too," Cassandra slowly conceded, "but Damien has more fun with live ammunition. He enjoys activities that would count as suicide for anyone else."

"Captain's just exaggerating. I mean, besides taking the full force of a Warlord's son's attack instead of deflecting it, putting his head on an actual chopping block, provoking Sea Kings, provoking Raven, ingesting poison, diving headfirst into battle without blocking attacks, letting himself get captured - in that case, Captain was going to kill him - and provoking actual Warlords, he's never put himself in danger for no reason."

Cassandra laughed. "What he said. I can't hate him for it though. I mean, every Moon Sister he's met picked fights with him too, and I love them to death."

"That's not entirely fair, since he only beat the shit out of three of them, including you. He's never beaten the fourth."

"I'm still amazed he's grown so chill around Raven considering he's never won. When she joined, they couldn't be trusted to breathe the same air without trying to kill each other. It occurs to me that I have been too vague about the fact that Raven is one of my Sisters. That's why she's on my crew despite her asocial nature; she cares about me. It's been one hell of a long road and either of them will admit it, but she and Damien actually like each other in their own bizarre ways."

"And it only took months and months of us working tirelessly to get them to this point." Alexander sighed nostalgically. "Well, get Raven to this point. Hothead just needed to get over himself and realize the difference between his skills and Raven's."

Cain carefully sat against the wall beside them and folded his hands behind his head. "What're we talking about?"

"Our dangerous dumbass duo," Cassandra said. "This guy was the first witness to Damien and Raven treating each other like nakama, even if they went right back to their idiotic behavior when we left Reichmann Island. Not that they hold the monopoly on acting like idiots."

Alexander leaned on the railing. "For example, one of us widely known for her intelligence and observational skills remained so obstinately dense and unwilling to listen to her heart that she had to be tricked into confessing her love for her current girlfriend."

"Alright, asshat," she said, pulling him over the railing into Cain's waiting hand. "I get it; those weren't my finest moments. How long are you all going to stay on my case about it?"

"It's almost like the fact that Lyn had to literally stick her tongue down your throat to make you realize how she felt about you will never not be funny."

"She did no-" Alexander and Cain laughed as she cut herself off. "Fuck you both. Hey Damien! I need you to chuck these two overboard for me!"

Cain quieted down after Cassandra propelled herself onto the rigging and sped upwards to join the fight, his lips spread in amusement. "Despite how she acts around other people, she's at heart just another young adult making her way through the world. Rather more violently than most other young adults, I admit, but it's no exaggeration to say she wouldn't be here today without us, physically and emotionally. She needs us, cares about us, and makes no effort to hide either of those two facts. That's why she's so important to us."

Aisha stared up at the pirates milling about tens of meters above her head. "I picked up on that when I visited you last week. It's one of the reasons I took this job. Everyone needs people, no matter how strong they think they are."

"Ain't that the truth," Alexander said, leaning against Cain. "That's part of being a Black Glove Pirate."