Oh my, I'm getting nervous. I could say that this chapter marks the beginning of the end, and it's making me really anxious. There will be maybe… six chapters after this one?
So far I know chapter 37 will end with a pretty big cliffhanger and I don't want to do that to you if I can help it, so if I manage to get chapter 38 ready in time, there's a good chance that I'll update twice in a month, instead of only once. That should mean… updates on May 22nd and June 5th. But we'll see – if anything comes up, I'll post the situation status on my Tumblr. There's also the issue that I'll have to binge-read several OP arcs for the last chapters, and I'm not sure I have time to do everything in a timely fashion.
I hope you're all taking care of yourselves these days, and that that despite the mess we're living through I can make your day a little bit brighter with this story. Thanks for your support!
36. The climb before the fall
(Shall we sing 'til the morning?)
Too many weeks at sea with little entertainment coupled with sudden good weather meant that the Heart Pirates were out on the deck at night to get some fresh air. It had taken them three days to cross an area with hail and thunderstorms, so when the occasion to resurface presented itself and Bepo announced that they were inside an island's magnetic field and the weather should be stable, they didn't waste a second to hound Mack and help him set up a barbecue outside.
Merry chatter filled the air as everybody passed drinks around and tried to cheat their way through a card game, which had eventually turned into a game of trying to catch the cheater red-handed until there was only one victor. After a while, it had come down to a duel between Jean Bart and Mack, and nobody was sure if they were actually playing fair and square and had just focused on taking out the competition the easiest way, or that they were that good at cheating without showing it at all.
The North Blue felt more like a distant dream with each day that passed. It had been two years and a half since Saki left her hometown with no idea if she'd even last to survive the weekend, much less where life would end up taking her. The last thing she had expected was to find a family, and, perhaps most importantly, being happy with it. It didn't hurt as much to think of her old home, anymore, even though she missed her siblings and the Old Man and she didn't know what had become of them. But the pain wasn't as raw as it had been, and little by little, it had started to become like the one she felt when she thought of the kids' parents or her own. Old scars numbed by time, progressively shifting hurt into longing and nostalgia. She was aware that this was only possible because of the people who had accompanied her along the way, whether they knew of the situation or not, and it was hard to imagine what would have become of her had they not been around and given her a place to belong. But she didn't have to worry about that, and that was the best part, wasn't it? They, and her, were on that ship to stay, and Law had told her as much. They were home, and they wanted her in it, and once again Saki thought that maybe she did deserve her epithet and was actually the luckiest motherfucker in the five seas.
Not that she'd ever tell the guys any of that out loud. They would mock her mercilessly. Worse still, last time she'd been honest about it, she had told Law that she wasn't sorry that his family died, and she wasn't going to bet on everybody else being as charitable as him if she inadvertently stuck her foot in her mouth, shoe and all, again.
Nah, it was better to keep to herself and watch them argue about how many extra aces someone had slipped into the deck when nobody else was looking. She'd just keep doing her thing, making sure they didn't run out of food, cleaning here and there and being a nag.
As she thought this with a smile on her face, she absentmindedly stuck a fingernail between the deck's floorboards and scratched out some darkened, oily coconut residue.
The poor Polar Tang was proof that not all scars were emotional, and not all of them faded completely.
All of a sudden, there was a loud whistle, and something exploded in the sky with a shower of orange sparks.
"What's that?" Jean Bart asked as he turned around to see, and Mack took advantage of that to shuffle through the deck, take out a couple of cards and stick in some of his own. "A flare?"
Close, but not quite.
The first was followed by another, and another, and at some point they realized they weren't flares at all. The Heart Pirates watched from their vantage spot as fireworks shoot off into the night sky, blossoming into luminous flowers of many colors, way before the lighthouse that signaled their proximity to an island was visible. Bepo had said they'd probably reach land at dawn, but this was something nobody had anticipated.
(Before the actual facts sunk in, there was a brief moment of alarm, because nobody was sure if a rival crew had gotten the jump on them, or they were near wreckage, or they had gone too close to a couple of ships trying to sink each other, and though the poor visibility didn't help them realize what was going on before they were all out on deck with their weapons, soon they were put aside to just hang out and enjoy the sights.)
Mack won the game, and to the people who hadn't seen his masterful maneuver, he did so fair and square, and they cheered and drank to that, because they didn't need an excuse to get drunk, but it didn't hurt to have one, either, no matter how flimsy.
Since everybody had stayed up late to watch the spectacle from afar as they approached the island, once the night crew had the Polar Tang safely docked at a port town and tucked in, nobody was in a rush to get up in the morning.
By the time Saki crawled out of bed and went to the deck to stretch her legs, the sun was in the middle of the sky, and, from their spot on the very busy docks, she could see streets bustling with people of all ages. Shouldn't kids have been at school at that hour? Coupled with the fireworks the night before, she assumed they had arrived during a holiday, and that was awesome, and something to be grateful for. The last handful of weeks at sea had been mind-numbingly boring, granted, as always, but if she had learned something during these two years, it was that she was never going to get used to not having anything to do. And when she did? It was usually running for her life, fighting for her life, or helping a friend to keep their lives. Not exactly the most fun activities she could think of.
She wasn't complaining, though. While her current life wasn't very conducive to a quiet, happy existence, the company was excellent and made every hardship worth it. But that only meant that she, naturally, also wanted to have fun with her friends and unwind every now and then, without the threat of impending doom always lurking in the back. Not that they'd had much of that as of late, though. Law's position as Shichibukai had made the seas way safer than they used to be and more boring, which harkened back to her original point.
Looking to the sides, past the docked ships, there were rocky cliffs broken by stretches of black sand, small beaches were people seemed to be hanging out next to the fishermen mending their nets.
It seemed like a nice place to unwind. Even if, strictly speaking, they were on business for their evil overlords. Even if they'd later had to go pirate hunting. But wouldn't it be good to get some intel before they launched an attack? They didn't even know if they were in town at the moment. Maybe they were the sort of people who couldn't stand merriment and street food. Yes, that sounded like an adequate excuse to leave a note in the galley saying 'be right back' and drag Marina out of bed for a girl's morning out. Afternoon. Whatever.
—
Marina wouldn't say out loud that she actually appreciated that Saki had forced her to dress like a regular person before heading out, but she did. If there was a reason boiler suits were called as such, Marina suspected it was less their intended use and more their unintended effects on the human body. Still, she didn't mind wearing it on the clock. She knew better than anyone that uniforms cultivated group spirit in a way only achievable by people embarrassed by the same awful piece of clothing.
On their stroll down one what they figured was one of the main streets, they found a pancake shop with a terrace where they stuffed themselves, and they hit a few shops both for errands and leisure. Marina had been in dire need of a new pair of boots, and Saki's newfound hobby was throwing clothes at her, even though Marina didn't end up buying anything most of the time, because she said everything looked good on her. Marina, whose idea of dressing up nicely was a pair of slacks and a plain button up shirt, wasn't sure what to make of the compliments, and at first she was confused about why this dynamic didn't make her feel like a dress up doll, which was what she felt reduced to whenever she used to go shopping with her mother. She supposed that being able to say no at any time was an important factor.
She… wasn't sure what to make of girly stuff, in general. Too many years spent surrounded by men were at fault, probably, but in the months she had been with the Heart Pirates, she'd come to appreciate the value of female company. The guys were too much at times, but she hadn't popped a stress ball in a year, and no Den Den Mushi receivers had been injured, either. It was a positive development.
Patiently waiting for Saki to finish trying on the tops she had taken into the changing room, of which no doubt she would choose the most eye-searing one, Marina wandered around the store, browsing long skirts, for a change, and idly thinking about going back to the pancake place for takeout. Mack would like the blackberry ones.
Someone bumped into her as she turned around.
"Sorry!" Said a black-haired girl with an apologetic smile that was sort of familiar, and before Marina could reply, she skipped across the aisle to get to another girl that was holding up a pink jumper.
She whispered something at her, and Marina's intention was to mind her own business when she thought she heard the first girl call the second one 'Koala', which prompted her to look back at them, but both were facing away from her, and the big hat the other girl was wearing covered most of her orange bob.
Could it be?
The two left the shop, and though Marina was aware that there had to be a few Koalas running around the Grand Line, she couldn't help her reaction. She knew who the most famous of them all was, of course. She'd given the Marines plenty of trouble while Marina was still with them.
God, she had to forget about the Marines once and for all. Being on alert 24/7 was what had wrecked her nerves in the first place, and the last thing she wanted was to pick up bad habits again.
"Done!" She heard Saki say behind her, and when she turned to look, she was already going towards Marina, showing her spoils of war. "What do you think?"
It was a loose sleeveless top that crossed over in the front. The cut was pretty. The problems were the bright yellow and orange diagonal stripes.
"I didn't expect anything less of you," Marina said.
"What's that supposed to mean? It's summery!"
It wasn't even spring yet, but they it could easily be leftovers from last year's collection. It wasn't exactly a mystery why it hadn't sold out at full price. "Nothing. You do you."
Saki hummed, sounding entirely unconvinced, when she eyed the last skirt Marina had been looking at and reached for it.
"You need to try this. No, you need to get this."
"You know I won't."
"Why do you want such long legs if you aren't going to take advantage of them? Life isn't all about high shelves, you can have fun too!" She picked up the skirt and pushed it toward Marina. "Please?"
Not for the first time in her life, Marina thought that her weakness towards cute girls would be her undoing, and caved in.
She also ended up buying it, because, her own fashion choices notwithstanding, Saki happened to have a good eye for color when it didn't involve her.
—
Saki hummed as she rinsed the last of the kitchen utensils and hung it to dry, moving onto the stove and counters. She was tone deaf in that spectacular fashion only select few people are, but that didn't mean she wasn't more than willing to share her gift with the rest of the world.
It was late afternoon and the sun would soon begin to set outside. If she left the galley clean by the time she went out, she wouldn't have to get up early the next day to do it, and being able to sleep to her heart's content meant that she could spend as much time as she wanted at the town's festival. She and Marina had learned during their afternoon incursion that the annual festivities had begun the previous night and would go on for three more days, until the end of the week, and screw the World Government, no official business was going to stop her from going out and having fun.
She had already decided she was putting on her new top and one of those short skirts she didn't get to wear much the rest of the time. It wasn't like she couldn't, since the sewer incident, she had learned that well ventilated legs weren't a priority in the life of the outlaw. She was going to take a risk that night and just hope she didn't need to cut the party short by diving in a septic tank or the like.
She did a small twirl as she changed a kitchen rag for a scourer and began to scrub, catching some movement with her peripheral vision, because of course someone had to see her at the peak moment of her solitary silliness.
"What's with the good mood?"
Law wasn't laughing or even smirking at her, which she guessed meant he had only heard her musical number and not seen the solitary dancing. She couldn't remember a time her singing had made people happy, but on occasion it had brought some to tears.
"Looking forward to tonight!" She replied. "Aren't you?"
"I suppose it's a good chance as any to stretch my legs and dig around some."
She felt her smile twitch. "Are you serious?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"I know we're technically here for work, but you can take it easy for a day. You know? Have fun? Remember what that is?"
He looked a bit annoyed, crossed his arms, and shook his head dismissively as if she'd said something so dumb it didn't merit any consideration, and attempted to leave the scene, but Saki chucked the scourer at the back of his head while he started to walk away.
His insulted expression was priceless. "What the—"
"What's up with you lately?" She asked, and realizing she sounded accusatory and maybe that wasn't the smartest course of action, she added, "Really. You're worrying us."
"'Us?'"
"Everyone. You think we haven't noticed you sulking?"
"I don't sulk," he said, sounding like a petulant child caught red-handed.
"True, you hide in your room or the sickbay for extended periods of time," she replied. "You've been like this for months. What's wrong?"
The barrage of truths seemed to hit home and indignation gave way to something she didn't know how to interpret. Embarrassment? Guilt? "Nothing's wrong. I'm just… planning ahead."
"What for?"
There was a small pause, but it seemed to stretch for minutes. "You know what."
She had a sinking feeling in her stomach when she understood what he meant, and she walked out of the galley so she could stand closer to him and could lower her voice. "Did you find out anything new?"
"It was a while ago. There was something in the letter Marina retrieved from the prince of Pavis."
But damn if he didn't make it hard for her to keep her voice down. "You've been hiding something from us for that long?!"
"I haven't—" It was so bizarre to see Law genuinely struggling to find words. "I don't have to tell you anything!"
"No, but it would be nice to give us a clue if you're going to be acting weird all the time."
For once, he seemed at a loss for replies.
"Besides, if you're making plans, that involves all of us. You're the Captain. The whole crew goes together with you."
He still didn't answer, to Saki's surprise, and he sighed.
"Law?" She tried. "You're scaring me."
That seemed to shake him out of his thoughts, and his expression morphed into something lighter, something she hadn't seen much for the last few months and that, instead of reassuring her, made Saki more wary of what was going through his head. She recognized that shift. She used to do it often, when she felt like shit and didn't want anyone to notice.
"You don't have to worry," he said with humor. "The crew's going to be fine. That's always been my priority."
"I know," she said. Even if what she really wanted to was, 'And what about you?' But she wasn't sure she wanted to hear that answer, that he could give one at all, or that she didn't already know it.
Needless to say, she didn't have the strength to fake good humor, and that attitude was met by the scourer thrown back at her face before she could react. At least she'd had the tact to throw it at his hair, but of course he had none of that. She shouldn't have expected the courtesy.
And she should have dodged that, if her haki training had done any good at all. Being distraught in battle never went well.
"Come on, finish what you have to do and let's go out. It's a waste to stay inside on a day like this." he told her with a smirk. Like it was so easy for him to put behind what they had been talking about. Like he'd rather put on a mask than tell her what he was really thinking. It hurt more than the prospect of him going out made her happy, to be honest. It hurt in a way that friends keeping secrets didn't hurt, and she wanted to stomp on that ugly feeling until it was reduced to dust and it scattered to the winds.
That didn't mean she couldn't feel hopeful, though. He needed a break. Maybe clear his head. There was always too much going on in there, and it was scary not knowing what. Maybe he'd be able to look at things from a new perspective if he could relax for a while. Maybe he'd find the will to talk. "Does that mean you're coming to the festival? Not for work?"
"I'll try, but I have to do something first. I'll be going ahead."
So maybe. Too many maybes.
She didn't badger him for a better answer, because there was no point if he wasn't offering it voluntarily. "I guess that's all I can ask for."
A wry smile appeared on his face, clearly finding some humor in her words that she wasn't privy to, and with a light shake of his head started to walk away, saying something under his breath as he turned to go.
Saki thought she heard, 'You could ask for more,' but she didn't dare press on that subject, either, preferring to go back to her stove scrubbing as she tried to keep down the color trying to rise in her cheeks.
She failed, but no one was there to notice.
—
"I wonder how long it's been since I saw you dressed like a normal person." Saki's eyes then focused on Shachi's sunglasses. "Well, almost."
"At least I have a reason to wear these. You just lack team spirit."
"I have plenty of team spirit. I also have taste."
"You don't get to say that while you're wearing that blouse."
"What's your problem with it? I got it this morning. I like it."
"That's my point!"
"Kids, are you going to bicker all night long or are you coming?" Penguin said, readjusting his cap, because of course he didn't have eyes, either, and couldn't let anybody know.
The crew had decided to forgo the uniforms to blend in for the night. Their submarine had already attracted enough attention from the locals, and they weren't going to be having much fun at the festival if they had to be paying attention at whoever approached them from behind all the time. In the time since Law had become a Shichibukai, they had learned that many people weren't as easygoing around them anymore. Other pirates were understandably on edge and either got out of their way without prompting or became more confrontational if they thought they could afford it, and regular civilians were more prone to giving them the cold shoulder. Ironically enough, it had been easier to gain a random villager's trust when they were a crew of disreputable nobodies than now that some of their faces were well known on both sides of the Grand Line, and Law's infamy, in particular, had a lot to do with it. He'd only grown more and more notorious since the fight at the human auction house in Sabaody, and newspapers had a tendency to report only the juicy bits of the incidents. The one hundred beating hearts he dropped at Marineford didn't help. Law had both the gift and curse of a flashy, weird and potentially gory power, which meant that features about him loved to talk about how many dismembered people he left on his wake. Nobody reported that they were just as easy to assemble back, but Saki wasn't going to deny that the intimidation factor came in handy every now and then. It had been hilarious to watch Marina come to terms with the facts, as her assumptions fostered by press and rumors collided with reality in front of her eyes.
Going incognito, though? It never stopped being fun, even if Law was recognized every now and then.
First and foremost, Saki, Penguin and Shachi set out to raid the food stands, and so the first part of the night was spent in a frenzy of fried chicken, caramel nuts, cheese pastries and other assorted street food until their stomachs threatened to burst and they were forced to sit down in a dank street corner because all the benches were taken, and fighting a group of local teens for a seat seemed like a bad idea for several reasons, most prominently that moving too much would spell their own doom as well as whoever's that was unfortunate enough to stand in front of them.
This was only a temporary stop, though. A little upset in the journey. Besides, the vendor nearest to them had needed to clean his cotton candy machine after the hat of an orange-haired girl was accidentally knocked into it, and gave them some leftovers instead of throwing them out. Or perhaps, in hindsight, he was actually tossing them out, because Saki was fairly certain that their ensemble looked like trash in their dingy little corner, now holding sticks of spun sugar.
"It looks like your hair, but pink," Penguin said.
Saki stared at the cotton candy with renewed interest. It was true. As soon as she let her hair get longer, instead of going downwards, it sort of… grew to the sides. Her mom used to put a lot of effort into combing it to something decently wavy, but left to its own devices it invariably went down the fluffy route. Saki couldn't be bothered to tame it, so she had kept it short since her hair maintenance became her job. Marina had suggested her that she grew it out a little, though, and Saki didn't know what had possessed her to listen. She also didn't know if she liked it, but at least she didn't feel the same urge to take a pair of scissors at it that she'd had for years. A small step for humanity but a huge one for self-acceptance, she thought.
"Why is it always pink or blue?" Saki asked, looking at the treat and trying to decide if it was safe to shove in her mouth or it was better to wait a while. "Why not green?"
"Pink's for girls and blue's for guys," Penguin replied.
"That's sexist."
"I don't make the rules."
"And your cotton candy's pink. Are you a girl?"
"They're leftovers."
"Uh-huh."
"Hey, I just pulled an answer out of my ass. It's not that deep."
"You think they could make them rainbow?"
"Wouldn't the food colorant get mixed in the machine?"
"Gross." That would become a dirty grey-greenish color. Saki would know, she had spent most of her like mixing pigments with often disastrous results, but that was what practice was for, so you didn't ink someone's sleeve puke brown.
Suddenly, Shachi made a weird sound. "Be right back." And he stood up and dashed around the corner to an unlit street.
"Weak," Penguin muttered, looking vaguely in the direction where his friend had disappeared, but not too hard, because no way he wanted to see what was actually going on.
"He paid for it, so you know he'll do his best to hold it in," Saki said, glancing briefly in the same direction before looking up again.
In the empty spaces left between the throngs of people going up and down the street, she sometimes saw one of her friends, and to the side she spied Mack and Marina trying their luck at a shooting game with a cork gun. Judging by the small mountain of trinkets next to them and the circle of children that was forming around Marina, the owner was going to be out of business very, very soon.
And then, like a flash, Saki saw something out the corner of her eye that made her heart jump, but when she looked at it, it was just regular people walking and talking without a care.
It had been a while since her mind played cruel tricks on her and she thought she saw family's faces in the middle of a crowd. She'd thought she was getting over it, but the cruel reality had to smack her right in the face with a wet scourer every now and then. She didn't welcome the low blow, so she swallowed her feelings with the cotton candy in one bite and stood up.
"Whoa."
"Enough moping," she tried to say, but the candy hadn't melted completely and it came out as, 'Mmmoffmmpffft.' She swallowed. "I'm going with Mari and Mack."
"'Kay, I'll wait for our champion. Try not to keel over."
"Watch me go."
Saki had no doubt that he actually did as she carefully made her way between the townspeople, avoiding sudden movements and accidental blows to her midriff that would inevitably end in disaster until she joined Mack's party and stood next to him. The kids around Marina were jumping excitedly and clapping every time she hit a target, and the owner of the stand had a face of a man that was torn between dashing the hopes of many young children and wondering how the hell he was going to feed his own after Mari's assault was over.
It was uncharacteristic of her. Marina was usually one of the most ethically-minded of the team.
"Did he do something to piss her off?" Saki asked Mack.
Mack's face was all indifference, but there was a tinge of pride in his tone. "He suggested she leave the gun to me when she decided to try the game."
"I hope he goes bankrupt," Saki replied immediately, because she was petty enough to wish it for real.
"So she does, by the looks of it." He glanced at Saki. "Have you been to the plaza yet?"
"Nope, I've been raiding food stands so far. Anything interesting?"
"Yeah, we followed the music and there's a band on a stage. Some of the guys were there."
"Cool, I'll check it out! Do you want to come after she's ended this whole man's career?"
"Nah, I'd rather take a walk with Mari. Neither of us is much of a dancer."
Saki chuckled darly. "That can be solved, you know."
"No, thank you, find someone else to embarrass."
"I'd ask Bepo, but he isn't around."
"I thought he went out too?"
"Yeah, with Captain. Knowing him he dragged poor Bepo out to do some reconnaissance or something like that while the locals are distracted because he's that boring and can't take a break."
Cosmic irony, of course, dictated that someone behind her replied, "Who's boring?"
Unflinchingly, Saki turned around, looked past Law and pointed at Bepo. "Did I get it right?"
"Spot on."
"That's my boy."
Bepo looked very pleased with himself until Law turned around and started to walk away. "Very well, I know when I'm not wante—"
"No, don't go!"
"Wait, don't be like that!"
Two pairs of hands – paws? – shot towards Law and grabbed him by an arm and shoulders, respectively, to keep him from leaving.
If Saki had felt any sort of urge to keep him nearby when he threatened to leave, it vanished the moment she saw the smirk on his face when she and Bepo pulled him back.
"Such a drama queen," she retorted, letting go, which Bepo didn't do immediately because maybe he wasn't convinced that he wasn't going to make a run for it anyway now that he'd made them look ridiculous, or even worse, Room himself away to retreat to the sub and be an antisocial gremlin, as usual.
"Were you really snooping around?" Mack asked.
"Not really, we went on an errand before the shops closed," Law replied. "We asked around and nobody appears to have seen our targets in town, by the way."
"So you were," was Mack's bland response.
"We're free now!" The happiness Bepo radiated could melt Saki's heart. The poor dear spent more time working than anybody when they were sailing, and if anybody in the submarine deserved a vacation, it was him.
"Have you checked out any stands yet?" She proposed. "I was thinking of going to the plaza, so we can take a look along the way if you want to."
"Fine by me," Law said.
"You smell like food," Bepo said pointedly.
"Which one?"
"Chicken and sauce?"
Saki instantly knew what he meant. "I know where to take you." Bepo smiled with excitement, so before he could take off, Saki had to stop him. "Hold on, I'm going to ask Penguin if he wants to…" She craned her neck between the multitude but found the dank little corner empty. "Huh. Maybe he went to rescue Shachi."
"Something happened?" Law asked.
"He overate." A pause. "We all did, but he lost the battle."
Law sighed like he was thinking of his own personal lost battle with his crew's idiocy. "He knows where the antiacids are."
"Yeah, I don't think we need to wait for them. Tell them where I went if they show up, okay?" Saki said to Mack, and took one last, long look at Marina and the growing pile of prizes before noticing that Bepo had caught the eye of some of the children and they looked ready to jump him, so she tried to hurry her friends along. "Let's go?"
Law hadn't been paying attention to the kids, but Bepo, well aware of the danger he was in, picked up on it instantly and set out up the street faster than anybody.
"What's the hurry?" Law asked, following after him.
"Must be the chicken," Saki replied, running to catch up to Bepo and redirect him towards his chicken skewers.
The sound of music grew progressively louder as they checked out different stands and got closer to the plaza, Bepo ate and pestered Law until he did, too, and Saki played ring toss until she got a stuffed polar bear with a bow on its head that she gave to Bepo and that looked equal parts cute and ridiculous when he picked it up. She wasn't the only to think so, because when she handed the plush to Bepo, she heard a delighted squeal behind them. As it turned out, part of the kids surrounding Marina had broken off from the main group after collecting their spoils of war and had been tailing them, or, more specifically, their navigator. Saki didn't know how to feel about being followed by a gaggle of kids. Pirates, bounty hunters, Marines, they could deal with those, but adults bullying kids was a thing frowned upon in most civilized societies, even if it was in self-defense, and they may have been pirates, but they also had standards.
After a while, and true to Mack's word, they arrived to a plaza full of people. The cafés and restaurants to the sides were full, and it looked like everybody in town who wasn't busy in the stands had gathered in front of the stage, some cheering on the musicians in the first row, and the rest of them dancing or standing around to listen to the music. It took Saki a good minute to find her crewmates having fun in the distance due to the lack of boiler suits, and during that distraction, the kids mustered up enough courage to walk up to Bepo and talk to him.
Perhaps it was because her mind had played a trick on her earlier that night and she was already thinking of it, but she was reminded of the festival that Asteria's town hall organized to commemorate the town's foundation. She had gone every year of her life that she had lived there, at first with her entire family, and little by little with less people until it was only her and Tsubaki at the night concert, because Take was still too young to be out there so late. He had cried when it got dark and they brought him home before going out again, and they'd had to promise him over and over that it wasn't that they didn't want him at the party and that they would go together when he was older, until he got tired of being upset, yawned, listened to his grandpa and went to bed, stomping all the way to his room in silent indignation. He would be thirteen now, still too young to go, but Saki would have been willing to make an exception if it meant she could see him again.
She missed them. While it didn't hurt so much to think about them now, she supposed some pains never truly went away.
She wasn't the only one who had taken a brief detour to go down memory lane, if Law's vacant expression as he looked at the plaza meant something.
"Something on your mind?"
"Nothing important." He sounded a little absent when he replied. "Just that it's been a while since I was at a celebration like this. Reminds me of North Blue."
"I was thinking about it!" She felt oddly excited by the coincidence. Maybe relieved that it wasn't just her brain being depressing and there was an actual resemblance. "We used to have a festival like this back in Asteria. Even the buildings look alike."
"Yeah. Architecture across the whole blue's pretty similar."
"You say it like you've visited the whole sea."
"It feels like it. Cora used dragged me everywhere."
"Cora?"
The moment she repeated the name, it was like whatever spell Law had been under broke, and he looked genuinely surprised when he registered Saki's question, like he hadn't realized he'd been the first to mention it and the question had caught him off guard.
"Right. I've never mentioned him by name."
"Is he a friend?"
"Yeah."
He sounded a little strangled when he said it, and Saki wasn't sure if it was a good idea to keep talking or it was best to drop the subject altogether. Law didn't have any friends outside the crew that she knew of, and neither did the others, so chances that that Cora was a friend in past tense were high. But there was something that had been nagging at her for years, since Law had told her he needed to repay a debt, and the issue had become more pressing the more time Law spent being secretive and distant, so the impulse to connect the dots overcame the good sense to keep quiet.
"Is he the person you want to re—"
But, perhaps to Law's relief, she never had the chance to finish her question.
"Saki!"
At first she didn't place the voice, not consciously, but her heart leapt at the familiar sound in an instinctual level, and she was turning around with disappointment and a pang of grief when someone tackled her, knocked the air out of her chest, and nearly made her fall backwards in the middle of the crowd.
It couldn't be.
There wasn't single possibility in the whole damn universe that she'd be so lucky as to—
"I've been dying to see you again!" The grip on Saki slackened enough for the other person to step back, and she could no longer blame her mind for playing cruel tricks on her. Tsubaki's cheeky face was right in front of hers, smiling excitedly and unable to contain her giddy giggles. "Not literally, but—oh, forget it, that was awful. How have you been? No, how are you? I already know what you've been up to!"
Was it yet another dream that she'd wake up from disappointed and crushed? It sure looked like it.
"Tsubaki," Saki said, still too shocked to react properly. "Tsubaki? Is it you?"
But in her dreams, she never seemed to be so out of herself. She was usually having fun with her, not tongue-tied, not dumbfounded. Just her with her family, like she'd seen them only five minutes ago.
"What's with the dumb face? Of course it's me!" Tsubaki, if she was really Tsubaki, replied. "I haven't changed that much, have I? Your hair's as stupid as ever, by the way."
And that one last sentence was the final giveaway that yes, only the real one, not dream-sister, could be that much of a jerk after so long.
Seeing as she had had a good trainer in the likes of Bepo, when Saki came to her senses, she enveloped her sister un a bear hug meant to crush her, let out all her sense of relief at once, and also have an excuse to shut her eyes very tight until the urge to bawl like a baby was gone.
She was alive. Tsubaki was alive and well, and that probably meant the rest of them were too, and now this was starting to sink in, what the fuck was she doing in the New World of all places?
Tsubaki protested a lot to be let go, but she didn't struggle all that much until Saki was ready to set her free and take a good look at her.
She had changed, but that was the most natural thing in the world – two years and a half were a lifetime for a kid. Her parents had been on the taller side, and so was she, with a messy pixie cut that Saki wasn't sure if it was intentional or the result of a scuffle with a pair of unsharpened scissors, and her bronze skin had gotten darker, which also made all the sense in the world if she had been at sea, but that begged the question of how did that happen, and also what really went on in Asteria, and again how had she gotten to the New World, and, and—
"You're taller than me," she accused her.
"Wow, way to make me feel unspecial," Tsubaki replied.
It was on. Maybe Saki was shorter, but she still had heels, and could jump, and her haki training had been preparing her for a moment like this. She caught Tsubaki in a headlock and started messing her hair.
"Who taught you to talk back like that?"
"Ouch, that hurts, let me go!"
"What are the magic words?"
"Screw you!"
Saki let her go with a snort and a push, and she couldn't help laughing when Tsubaki started to have a hard time fixing his hair.
"At least mine's not like this all the time," she grumbled, and Saki unconsciously reached for her slightly overgrown her. Marina's fault. Always.
"Where's Take?" She asked when Tsubaki seemed to be done with her hair. Since it was so short, there wasn't much she could do, but a few stray hairs were sticking up in key places and would stay that way until she came across a mirror or a kind soul. Saki was neither. "And the Old Man?"
Tsubaki's face fell, and for a moment Saki imagined the worst had come to pass. "Gramps saved us. He got us out of home when the fires started and stayed back to help put them out." She forced herself to smile, and knowing her like Saki did, it was painful to see. Did she give the same impression when she put on a happy face sometimes? "You know how he was. Always had a hard time leaving people behind."
"That sounds like something he'd do, yeah." Saki breathed in and out deeply, hoping it would diffuse the pressure in her chest. It helped a little. And it could have been worse. For the longest time, she didn't know what had happened to any of them. They could have all been dead for all she knew. She would have assumed they were, had it not been for Law planting the seed of doubt in her mind soon after the news came out. She breathed in again. She'd have time to think it over later, but there were still so many things she needed to know. "Does that mean Take's here too? And how are you here?"
Tsubaki snickered like she'd heard a joke Saki wasn't privy to. "We… crossed the Calm Belt. He's not here, though. He's somewhere much safer."
"How? You got into a Marine ship? Mari didn't mention anything about Marines rescuing Asteria citizens, but…"
Tsubaki's smile got kind of stuck for a brief moment, and then she put her hands on her hips and struck a proud pose. "I… kind of joined the Revolutionary Army!"
"You what?!"
Saki was so out of her depth that she barely realized that Tsubaki grew very still the moment she said that, but then she turned around with a wince right in time to be grabbed by a blur of pink and orange by the shoulders.
A girl around Saki's own age was shaking Tsubaki like a palm tree in hopes for a coconut or two to drop. And she was very, very angry. "How many times do I have to tell you that we're incognito?!"
As hilarious as Tsubaki's wobbly apology sounded, Saki didn't appreciate a lot that a stranger was shaking her sister silly. "Hey, who are you?"
It was only then that the girl paid any attention to their company, and she directed a beaming smile at them. "Oh, hi! My name's Koala! Assistant Fishman Karate instructor and officer at You-Know-Where. And you must be Saki!" She extended a hand towards her. "I've been waiting to meet you! Tsu and Take talk about you a lot."
Saki didn't know how her night was getting weirder, but it was. She glanced at a perplexed Law for a second, suddenly remembering he was there, before shaking Koala's hand. "Nothing good, I'm sure."
"A little bit of everything." And without dropping her smile, she looked at Law and said, "Are we going to have a problem here?"
"Why?" He replied, nonchalantly crossing his arms. He was good at feigning the situation hadn't caught him completely unawares. "Because I'm a Shichibukai?"
"Well, yes," she said, somehow sounding cheerful and serious at the same time. "You work for the government."
"We're here on different business."
After a brief consideration, Koala must have decided that that was enough. "That's good to know. I thought for a second that they had sent you for us. Because if Tsu had revealed—"
"Stop calling me that—"
"—our presence to an enemy and jeopardized the mission, there would have been consequences."
"I'msosorry," Tsubaki muttered very fast. "I'll take cleaning duty on the way back."
"Good," she said in a chipper tone, patting Tsubaki's back reassuringly. "So now that that's all clear, I need to ask: What are you doing here? Because there's a very good chance we're after the same people, and I'm sure we don't want to get in each other's way."
"Koala, can't you leave that for another time?" Tsubaki asked in a pleading tone. "It's a party and we just found each other. Can't it wait until tomorrow?"
Koala considered the request. "That depends." She looked at Law. "When are you jumping into action?"
"Not yet," he replied. "Our targets aren't here."
"Sounds like we are waiting for the same guys," she said with a nod. "I guess there's no harm in taking it easy."
"Great!" Tsubaki said, took Koala's hand and pulled her along. "Come with me, I want to dance!"
"With me? Your sister's right there!"
"She's next!" She replied, and flashing a grin at Saki, she yelled before joining the people dancing in the town's square, "You wait for me, there's a lot we need to talk about!"
Saki smiled back, frozen in the spot, with no idea how to react now that the whirlwind that was Tsubaki was blowing in another direction.
It was Law who broke the silence, probably to try and see if she was still responsive or he'd need to work a late shift. "That was a surprise."
"Yeah," she replied simply. There were so many thoughts running wildly in her mind that they had collapsed into a black hole that had absorbed all coherent trains of thought.
This was shock. Not the emotion, but the kind of honest to god impact that left one dissociating for a while until it wore of. Saki was so used to having brushes with death that she thought she had become immune to that. Apparently not so, but it took a stimulus other than imminent danger to prompt it.
"Are you okay?" Law asked, likely because she was too quiet.
"I should be. I should be," she repeated, "shouldn't I? But I don't know how to feel."
He seemingly didn't know what to say, either. It took him a while. "Give it time to sink in."
She hummed, and was silent for a moment. "I'm not dreaming, am I?"
"I don't think so," he replied, the corner of his mouth curling up just a little.
"That doesn't sound very convincing."
"Do you want me to pinch you?"
"No, I'm pretty sure you'd leave a bruise." She shut her eyes and rubbed them with her fingers. They were a bit wet when she stopped. And then she laughed, and she found out that she couldn't stop grinning. "She's alive. They're both alive," she said, as she watched her sister laughing and dancing with Koala. "Guess I owe you another one."
"Why do you say that?"
Saki studied his confused expression. "You don't remember what you told me?"
Law looked at her, waiting for an explanation. Perhaps he had forgotten the conversation they'd had in Qaryn, soon before leaving, but she hadn't. She had held onto that tiny piece of hope he had offered like her life had depended on it, and after all that time, it had paid off.
"It doesn't matter," she said with a blossoming good humor. "I don't know what I'd do without you, honestly."
"That makes us two. I was afraid you'd short-circuited."
"You'd never wake up again with Mack's coffee."
"And you'd do something dumb and die."
"We know each other so well."
Law chuckled, and at the same time, Saki had a bad idea.
"You know, we've stood here for long enough," she said innocently.
Law looked at her with quizzical suspicion.
"How terrible of a dancer are you?"
"I don't dance."
"That's not an answer."
"It is what it—" Law was suddenly grabbed by his left hand and pulled along, and his tone became panicked. "Saki, no, stop—"
"Come on, Captain, it's just one dance!"
"No, absolutely—"
"Don't be such a sourpuss!" She said, laughing.
In turn, he replied with a grave, "I'm going to murder you."
And Saki didn't doubt for a second that his threat was true and spoken from the heart, but it was definitely not enough to convince her to let go of his hand.
—
Bepo was fairly sure that Saki was both drunker and happier than she'd ever seen her when their group headed back to the sub for the night.
He walked by Law's side, the last two of what could have easily been a walk of shame but had taken a much more festive tone thanks to Saki's sister showing up. Bepo hadn't heard much from Saki when the incident in Asteria happened, and he hadn't wanted to ask, since he knew family matters could be touchy, and he didn't think he could help her. He didn't bring up his brother, either. Some topics were best left untouched.
But he asked Law about it, and he was given the confirmation that she had confided in him, at least, even if she had kept most of her thoughts to herself.
It was something Bepo had taken to doing, as time went by: he had found out, to his surprise, that Law had told Saki things about him that he very rarely shared, and in turn, he was sometimes privy to information she couldn't bring herself to tell the rest. Bepo didn't know what to make of it, at first. But he had noticed Saki getting nervous when he prodded her, and no matter how good he was at keeping a straight face when he wanted to, Bepo knew when Law was being evasive.
In fact, there wasn't a single distraction maneuver designed by the most brilliant strategists on the planet that could cover for his lingering gaze at Saki, happily talking to Marina at that moment, or how a small smile was drawn on his face, perhaps without his own knowledge.
And truth be told, Bepo didn't think Law was that great at concocting strategies, rather, he was a master at overthinking things, just to end up improvising when the plans fell through. Not that he was going to complain. It worked for them. But it was relevant to his train of thought.
Never in his life he imagined he'd see Law getting dragged onto a dancefloor, and if the color of his face when he was let go was a good indicator, Bepo would never bring it up because he wanted to keep his paws attached to his body.
Bepo had worried at first, about what this development might have meant. It was his job to look after Law, even if he always denied he needed a babysitter, and Saki could been a source of disruption, with her own baggage and motivations. She had been more than a little shifty, at first. But everything had worked out, so Bepo never got to have that promised talk with Saki that seemed to put her on edge for several days. He didn't think it was necessary, as long as everybody looked out for each other. And nothing had changed, save for the very silly face Law was making at the moment that only an expert eye could catch, and only happened when Law thought nobody was paying attention. But Bepo always paid attention, even if people constantly underestimated him. Even if the Marines didn't give him a real bounty, which in all honestly hurt his feelings deeper than any wound they could inflict.
But those were his little secrets to keep. As long as his friends were happy, Bepo was happy too.
—
They didn't talk business with the Revolutionaries that night, but before Tsubaki and Koala left, they gave Saki an address and asked them to meet there the next day.
It was easier said than done, to get up and be a functional human before lunch, and though the losses were many, Shachi, Penguin, Law and Saki managed to crawl out of bed in time, some of them more hungover than others. The latter, though, wasn't going to let such an ordinary setback get in her way, because her sister was back, and she would have crawled out of the depths of hell if needed to spend five extra minutes with her.
Jean Bart and Bepo had the gall to be perfectly awake by the time they filed into the mess hall, one after the other, to get their breakfast. Mack decided to stay behind, but the rest of them went out under a brilliant sun that seemed to shine stronger than usual.
"My sunglasses need sunglasses," Shachi complained as soon as he stepped outside.
There wasn't much destruction left outside from the party last night, and that was probably due to the cleaning crew Saki saw working along the town's main street. If what they'd heard was right, they had their work cut out for them for three more days. It seemed some of the stands from the night before were about to open, too, and some others were getting built at the moment.
Their group attracted some attention, but most people seemed to be too busy to pay them any mind, and eventually they arrived to their destination without any setbacks.
The address Tsubaki had given them was a that of a music shop. At least it looked like one, from the outside.
"I'll keep watch here," Jean Bart said. He would have had trouble fitting through the door, so it was convenient. "It might be a trap."
"Okay. Gives us a shout if anything happens."
"Aye, Captain."
A bell suspended above the door rang when they went in, and a girl with violet eyes and pink hair tied back with a black bow, who had been either dismantling or putting together a fiddle, looked at them curiously.
"May I help you?" She said with a polite smile.
The pirates were just confused. The shop looked as normal inside as outside. There were all kinds of string instruments sitting on the floor and hanging from the walls, flutes, clarinets and many other smaller instruments and accessories that Saki, musically inclined as she wasn't, didn't know what they were, but what caught her attention was the wall with an exposition of headphones, turntables, and a collection of those tone dials that had become popular lately. She'd been considering buying a turntable out of curiosity, but when the guys got their hands on their first tone dial they were determined to build their own, and Saki did not want to rain on their parade, so she had refrained from getting one. She didn't think she would have gotten much use out of it anyway, and that was for the best, because four months had gone by since then, and every time she mentioned the project, they acted like aunt Fern when someone asked about her articles for the local newspaper as the deadline approached: ignoring the question and removing herself from the room as soon as possible.
Penguin brought her out of her thoughts with a curious whisper as he, too, surveyed the shop. "Can you play any instruments?"
"I was so good with the tambourine the adults always had to hide it away from me."
"Sometimes the resemblance between you and Shachi is uncanny."
Law didn't let his confusion show for long, because he was the captain and it was his job to herd his very lost friends, and to his credit, he sounded very self-assured when he told the shopkeeper, "We were told to meet someone here."
The girl's smile widened the slightest bit. "Come with me," she said, waving at them to follow, and she went through the backroom's door.
Wondering where the heck they were going, the pirates followed suit, and they were led downstairs into a basement that was already occupied by a handful of other people. Tsubaki and Koala were there, along two other men they hadn't seen before. They were all sitting around a low hardwood table, the men on an armchair and an ottoman, respectively, while the women were occupied an old, expensive-looking leather sofa. The entire room was wood from the floor to the ceiling with the exception of some padding on the walls, probably intended for use as a rehearsal or recording studio originally, but judging by the furniture, the seats, the two minibars, and the secrecy of it all, Saki was getting strong speakeasy vibes.
They did have a turntable. It was playing a relaxing piano melody, one she could imagine herself drawing to, and she regretted a little bit relying on the experiments of those buffoons she called friends.
All in all, she liked the place, but the contrast of the clandestine venue and some of the most wanted criminals on the planet with her sweet little sister was enough for her instincts to kick in and urge her to drag Tsubaki out of there and send her to school.
But things had changed, Tsubaki was technically not a kid anymore, even though she suspected she'd always sort of stay as one in her eyes. She had survived two years on her own, and she was an adult who had earned her right to make her own wrong decisions.
When had Saki become the boring adult? She used to be the one whose ass needed to be watched all the time. Suddenly, Saki understood a little bit better the adults in her life.
"This is Diana, our contact in town."
Diana bowed, smiling still. "A pleasure to meet you."
Some of the pirates replied, others nodded in acknowledgement, and when Koala motioned at the free seats, Saki felt wary on instinct, but by the time she registered that there was nothing wrong with the offer and this wasn't a trap, most of the guys had sat down already, and she followed suit. The last to do so was Law, and she'd bet that was because he was more paranoid than her. It wasn't like Saki thought that they were going to be set up by Tsubaki of all people, but they could never be too careful when they involved themselves with another organization. They had learned that lesson well since Law became a Shichibukai, and these people were technically enemies.
Nobody was in the mood to fight, though. On the contrary, Koala seemed entirely genuine when she spoke, and there was no indication from Tsubaki that anything was amiss. Things would have had to change a lot for Saki not to notice that.
"Let's get straight to the point, since I'm sure there are a lot of things you'd rather be doing during a festival," she said, staring straight a Law and then at the others with an unwavering smile. "A ship is scheduled to arrive between today and tomorrow. Its cargo will be unloaded and stores in the town's warehouse district. We are here to find the warehouse and retrieve what they leave in it, and if we want to do that, they have to be able to unload the cargo, and not notice that we are waiting for them; otherwise they'll flee. They have slipped through our fingers before, so we need you to stay put until our operation is underway."
Law's eyebrows rose. "We're after a pirate crew that's supposedly been smuggling goods in this area."
"Breakneck Pirates, right? It's them."
"Why are they even called like that?" Tsubaki mumbled to herself.
"People who can't be intimidating try to sound like they are," one of the men replied.
"They're part of a larger scheme," Koala continued, ignoring her friend's exchange. "You know that, don't you?"
Law frowned just a little. "The World Government doesn't share any unnecessary details."
Koala snorted. "Of course it doesn't. Anyway, we aren't here to eliminate them – we're a small team because more people would have attracted too much attention, and the other teams depend on these guys not warning their colleagues about the Revolutionary Army. We just need the cargo."
"So we're free to do our job as long as you can do yours first, is what you're saying."
"More or less! Here's my proposal: we go in, tell you where those guys are, and while we make away with the cargo, you take care of them. You get all the credit, nobody realizes we're here and my bosses don't give me an earful when we're back. To the world, the cargo just sunk into the bay. How does it sound?"
Law considered her words before asking, "That's all you want?"
"Yup!"
"And what guarantee do we have that they won't turn tail if we wait too long and they notice we are here?"
"These people aren't afraid of Shichibukai. The World Government's been aware of their movements for a long time and let them do their thing. What's weird is that they sent you to deal with them at last. My guess is that somebody screwed up and they want to send a warning through you."
"Why not deal with the entire network if they know how it operates?"
"Because they profit from it, of course!" She exclaimed. "But that isn't important. And you'll probably get what I mean when we find the cargo. Say then, do we have a deal?"
Her posture and that of the other two men changed to something less laid-back, tenser, like they were ready to jump at a provocation, but trying to hide it. Tsubaki shifted a little in her seat, looking uncomfortable for the first time since she and Saki had reunited. It seemed like she couldn't find it in herself to agree with the implicit threat towards the Heart Pirates, and that gave Saki some peace of mind. Well, that, and the fact that she was fairly sure that they could take on them if a fight broke out. Koala herself had revealed that there weren't many of them – perhaps only the four they were looking at – and going by what they had seen so far, she was the leader of their small group.
Law's general demeanor seemed impervious to the change in atmosphere, though. He thought Koala's proposal for a while, and Saki wasn't sure if he was suspecting something, if he was trying to find the cons to a deal that sounded too good, or he was just trying to make them nervous, but at last, he spoke.
"All right," he told Koala. "We'll wait until you say so. We aren't in a hurry, anyway."
"Fantastic. That's what I thought," she said, and then clarified, "The Shichibukai as a whole seem pretty lax about following orders."
"We are still pirates, despite our status," Law replied.
"Oh, I know. I wouldn't have tried to talk to you, otherwise." And she got up and stretched a hand towards Law. "A pleasure to do business with you."
Law simply hummed noncommittally as he stood up as well and shook her hand, and the tension in the room dissipated.
"Drinks?" Tsubaki offered.
"Not for you, I hope," Saki replied right away.
Tsubaki laughed awkwardly and picked up the glass that was in front of her and that Saki had assumed it was non-alcoholic until her sister made an unsubtle effort to hide the contents with her hands.
She decided that some arguments weren't worth having.
—
Tsubaki couldn't contain her excitement when she and Saki were alone. "So you're cured? One hundred percent, honest to god not going to fall dead at any given time?"
"Healthiest I've ever been. I was even able to stop medicating a long time ago."
"That's awesome!"
"Yeah, I can't complain," she said, thinking that there was one single person responsible for this particular awesomeness. "But don't mind me, how's Take? And where did you leave him?"
"I didn't 'leave him' anywhere, he's staying at the Revolutionary Army base. We all live there when we aren't on a mission. Oh, but they never send him!" She hurried to say when she saw Saki's indignant face. "He's too young. And he isn't alone, there are always kids studying and training in Baltigo."
"Baltigo?"
Tsubaki slapped both hands on her mouth. "Shit!"
"Language."
"Like you're one to talk! Um," she said, looking guilty, "don't tell anybody I said that."
"Hmm," Saki started, ready wondering how she had survived all this time without younger siblings to torture, "what should I ask in return?"
"Saki, pleeeaaase!"
It was still too cold to swim in the sea, but that wasn't stopping a bunch of intrepid youths from practicing cliff diving. Saki could see them in the distance from the shore; small human dots that jumping one after the other into the water with loud splashes. She felt tempted to join in, but she had no idea how to do it, and knowing herself, she'd only do the hardest belly flop of her life, an accomplishment she wouldn't be able to feel proud of for long for obvious reasons. Law would be so pissed off if she got hurt doing something that dumb that she'd better not survive the fall at all. She had already spent all the luck reserves she had for the year last night when she had taken him out to dance and he hadn't lopped her head off. Objectively speaking, the possibilities of that happening had been lower than running into her sister in the New World.
Besides, it was nice down on the beach. She had split from her group after the meeting, and so had Tsubaki, and they were walking alongside the shore, sandals in hand, dragging their feet across the sand and letting the waves lap softly at them. It was the ocean at its gentlest, and despite living in it, Saki didn't get to enjoy it a lot.
"Diana says it's tradition around this time of the year," Tsubaki explained. "I was here a year ago too and wanted to try it, but Koala said she'd tie me to a tree if I so much as looked at the cliff, and Sabo laughed his ass off and said he'd like to see that, so I knew no one was gonna save me if I tried."
Some inclinations did run in the family. "You come here often?"
"Yes? No? Um." She took a quick glance behind her, like she expected her bosses to be on her trail. "I'm not supposed to talk about it, but you're already in the know, so whatevs. We've been tracing the movements of a trafficking ring, and we've had to stop by a few times. That's how Diana became an informant, or so they tell me. They met her before I was out in the field with them."
"And you like it? Working with the Revolutionary Army, I mean?"
"Are you kidding?" She said, actually surprised that she was being asked that. "I love it! It's like a dream come true!"
"Is it? I didn't know you had those sorts of aspirations."
"'Cause I didn't! It wasn't realistic, you know? I always thought I was so small and the world was crap and there was nothing I could do about it, but then I met Koala and… Look at me! I can help make a difference! We've saved people a few times, from soldiers, bandits, shipwrecks, you name it – we can go anywhere and help everywhere!"
Saki hadn't expected such a passionate, thought out response. She… had expected more superficial reasons, to be honest. Not because she thought Tsubaki was, but she'd always been the one to do things without thinking, and having such a solid reasoning made her conviction feel all the more serious.
"Is there any point to that?" Saki asked. "I mean, saving people here and there is a good thing, but there will always be people who need help. Is there an endgame?"
"Of course there is!" She replied, again, as if the answer was obvious. "We take down the World Government!"
"That's… huh. That's ambitious, if nothing else."
"You don't think we can do it, hmm?" Tsubaki said, getting in her face. "I see the doubt in your eyes, you doubter."
"Come on, can you blame—"
"You're always so cynical."
"If you think I'm cynical, you should spend five minutes talking to my captain."
Tsubaki laughed. "Is he as angry at the world as he looks all the time?"
"Yeah, but if you look closely, there's a slight difference between the annoyed frown and the happy frown."
"Happy frown, huh," Tsubaki deliberately repeated. "How can you tell? You've looked at it very closely?"
Saki shoved her away with an arm, and Tsubaki stumbled backwards. "For the love of fuck, not you too."
"Eh?" She said when she regained her balance. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing, and the answer is no."
"Hey, if people assume you're together all the time maybe it's not their fault?" She said, proving that she didn't need her earlier question asked and just wanted to rub it in. "Maybe?"
"Or maybe they're just flat wrong."
"If you say so. I thought it was weird, anyway," she conceded, but in a condescending tone that didn't ring very true. "You never liked pirates that much. By the way I noticed you fixed his hands. Good going!"
The lack of enthusiasm on Saki's part visibly confused Tsubaki. "Sort of, yeah."
"Do I want to ask?"
"Nope."
"Okay, we'll put that in the back burner." She accepted surprisingly quickly. "Why not, though? The other no."
Ah, yes, there was the reason.
"Tsubaki—"
But no efforts were enough to prevent Tsubaki from going back to the topic she didn't want her to touch on. "Don't you like him? I saw you last night. I think you like him. Have you told him?"
"I don't want to be having this conversation with you."
"But you're having it, so suck it! And what's wrong about gossiping a little? It's been ages since we saw each other. You nagged me about my crushes."
"That was different."
"It so wasn't."
"Older siblings exist to embarrass the young."
"And younger siblings exist to annoy the hell out of the older ones, so I'm well within my rights."
"I liked you better when you hadn't learned to talk. You were cute in that crib."
Tsubaki laughed at her with glee. "Look, tell me I'm completely off the mark and I'll shut up, but maybe, maybe… I'm right?" And then she dropped all pretense of subtlety to say, "Of course I'm right, I've known you for forever."
Come to think of it, Tsubaki was now, indeed, the person who had known her for the longest time in the whole wide world.
"He's a good friend, okay? That's all there is."
"You don't sound very convinced."
"Oh, I am. And there's no need to complicate everything. And he is definitely not interested."
"You can't be serious. Wait. You're serious? Because—"
"No, you don't get it, he isn't—"
"You really think he would have let you drag him out to dance if—"
"Look, kiddo, not everybody who's single is available," Saki sentenced. "He's got too many things going on, and I like our relationship as it is. Why would I try to change that? What would I even get out of it?"
Tsubaki shut up, seemingly accepting Saki's final answer.
"I don't know. I just… I've never seen you look at anybody that way."
Saki wasn't sure what to say to that.
"You're always smiling at people, but it's so hard to make you laugh for real. And you look happy happy when he's around." She looked a bit like a kicked puppy when she added, "I just want you to be happy once and for all."
"I can assure you I'm very happy with my life right now. Happiest I've been in years, in fact."
"That makes me feel better." With a sly grin, she added, "Do I have anything to do with that?"
"Don't get so cocky," Saki said, trying to mess up Tsubaki's hair and failing miserably when she moved out of reach. "I was about to say everything's all right, but this is not. You should've stayed small."
"I don't know, everything looks pretty good from this high up. Are you ever telling him?"
"Hell no, and drop it already."
"See, I even got blackmail material now!"
"Oh, yeah, and who are you going to tell, your revolutionary bosses?"
"Maybe Bepo?"
Primal fear set into Saki's whole body. "Don't you ever dare bring it up around him."
"Hmm, well…"
"Tsubaki, I'll toss you off the cliff if you don't stop being a pest."
"Three crepes for my silence."
"One."
"Two. With rainbow sprinkles."
"Deal."
Tsubaki laughed and Saki breathed easy when she left the subject alone.
"We'll prove you wrong," Tsubaki said without prompting, grinning widely as she looked at the last of the people on the cliff jump down. She was shining in the midday sun. "We'll change the world, soon. Everything's going to be all right for everyone."
"I sure hope you're right." It sounded so nice, yet so far away, and still, Tsubaki made it sound like a fact that was already stablished, like there was no other way for the cookie to crumble. Saki had never been much of an idealist, and though striving for a world free of a corrupt government wasn't something she could fault anybody for, she was worried about what it could mean to Tsubaki and Take, personally. She couldn't help her egotistic streak, when everything was said and done. She'd rather keep safe the people dear to her than sacrifice them, or herself, for an abstract higher purpose. "Just… take care when you go for it, okay?"
Tsubaki wasn't a kid anymore. She knew, and she had to act like it, but it didn't mean she had to like it. And yet, if the world she envisioned was one where kids didn't have to lose their families to war, where people like Saki's mom didn't disappear for political reasons, or where islands like Ohara and Flevance didn't get wiped out because someone at the cusp of the world decided it… what right did she have to argue against it? Tsubaki had always been a better person than her. It was something the years hadn't changed, and she was glad for it.
"Leave it to us. You'll just have to wait and see."