Chapter 3: Tanabata

Grief is very lonely.
Prompt for this chapter was Tanabata.

The small port of Hana Island is overflowing. Skiffs, rowboats, ferries, proper ships, and of course, her own– the Ghost– are all crowded together. The flower filled ocean waves splash against their hulls as families and townspeople from all over crowd the pier.

Tashigi sits in the Crow's Nest of her ship, the sounds from below muffled to a hum. The sun had set some time ago and she could smell the heightened excitement in the air. This little island had been known for one thing, and one thing only– their annual summer Star Festival, until the War began in earnest.

Then it found itself as a refuge and information hub. But tonight, it was a place for other people to cut loose. To celebrate, to feel normal in a world undergoing immense change. She hadn't known the festival was happening until they'd arrived three days prior, but it didn't hamper her plans.

Tashigi set about sharpening Shigure, whetstone and oil by her cross legged feet. The air in her quarters was too stale, the stench of sweat, fish, and potpourri from the previous Captain still ingrained in the wooden walls. She supposed the festival was a good thing, her men could use the break before their coming hunt.

She opened the bottle of oil, pouring some onto the whetstone. The moon high above glinted off her blade, enough light to see by without lighting a lantern. She knew this process by heart anyway, preferred using her other senses instead to give Shigure her perfectly honed edge.

For three days, Tashigi had sat hunched in gross bars, around rank and sticky poker tables. Settled herself amongst the flood of men and women, pirates and merchants, brokers and arms dealers that now coated Hana Island's streets.

And this time, not one of her men objected, arguing that she would stick out like a sore thumb. Before…this had always been his job, his expertise. He could sit in a gambling rings and smoke for hours, no one batting an eye. He could blend in.

But that wasn't his job anymore. A tightness squeezed around Tashigi's throat, a dead weight in her gut. Now… Tashigi inhaled, long and deep. Closing her eyes. Shigure twinged on her lap, the wind rustled the furled sails. Ships creaked and the ocean rumbled. Laughter of children down below drifted upward. She reopened her eyes.

The information she wanted hadn't been easy to obtain. The RA's contacts only had so much to give her, their own informants sketchy and distrustful. War was like that, but well, Tashigi had her ways. And the bruises on her knuckles to prove it. Not built to be a bruiser but the role was beginning to fit her.

She angled herself properly to slide the blade back and forth over the stone, the repeating motion balancing her thoughts. Hachinosu was well known to be Blackbeard's base of operations in the New World. It was there she would find her target. Back and forth, don't press against the blade too hard.

But because everyone knew that, information on his actual operations and the movements of his commanders was much harder to dig out. This was where she excelled. Digging into those silly little details… all her efforts to be neat and orderly, to make things clear, paying off. He'd always rolled his eyes but never tried to stop her from fussing.

She pressed a little too hard and had to ease back, clenching her teeth.

Hachinosu was surrounded by tiny little islands, dinky little outposts. Defensible, and innocuous looking. Unassuming. Perfect places to conduct real, proper, pirate business. The crowd down below was getting larger. Her haki flexed outward. Children holding paper lanterns, women carefully writing their heart's desires in beautiful kanji.

The small bamboo tree in the plaza of the laboratory was covered in bits of paper of all different sizes and colors. She reached out to turn one over gently in her fingers. A wish was written in comically large letters. "To grow up and be strong like Mr. Smoker but a pirate!"

Shigure scraped along the whetstone in a jagged line. Her haki snapped back in, the reverberations of the actions of civilians down below splattering over her senses like a popped balloon.

The moon shone down ethereally on a figure on one of the benches that ringed the plaza. His hair glowed, matching the bandages still wrapped around his torso. Fewer than there had been though. Tashigi sat down gently next to him, cigar smoke greeting her by drifting upward in a little cloud. "The children seemed to enjoy the festival, don't you think? I hope their wishes come true…"

"Wishes don't happen if you don't put in the work to see it through," he grunted. She made a noncommittal noise and almost rolled her eyes. But she'd seen him place his own wish on the tree. Just like her.

"Hmm… what did you wish for Smoker-san?" she smiled at him.

His eyes flicked over, meeting her own. "Can't say or it won't happen."

Shigure dropped from her hands like she'd been struck, a yawning hole opening up inside her. The look on his face as he pushed her, disappearing in the cannonfire, sinking sinking sink-

Lanterns were being released all around her, drifting up into the sky. Now she'd never know, because he was gone gone GONE and-

Tashigi clenched her hands into fists, tucking her arms around herself, trying to breathe. It would pass, the pain would pass. It had to. She had a job to do! Her eyes burned, throat tight, holding the sob in. The RA needed her, and as long as they opposed her enemies, she would do whatever they asked of her!

Back straight soldier, inhale.

Tashigi opened her eyes and wrapped her fingers around Shigure's hilt to resume her sharpening.

On a tiny island off the coast of Hachinosu, Shiryu of the Rain was waiting for her blade.

Notes:

She's coming for you Shiryu better watch out!