The next couple of hours on Whitebeard's ship were rough for Briar, seeing as she got lost after walking for a few minutes. Why did this ship have to be so big? It didn't help that as soon as she walked up to somebody to ask for help they avoided her like she had the plague. It wasn't like she wanted to be here. "You lost, yoi?" Someone whispered into her ear. Briar jumped a little as she turned around to see Marco standing behind her with a smirk on his stupid pineapple-looking face.
"I'm not lost. I'm just looking around." She scoffed, but Marco didn't seem to buy it. "C'mon, yoi. Oyaji asked me to show you around." Seeing no reason not to, she followed behind Marco.
The first stop was the kitchen, which was busy with multiple cooks running around as Thatch gave out various instructions. "Hey, Thatch!" Marco shouted, grabbing Thatch's attention. Thatch walked over to them with a great big smile. Who in the world would want to style their hair in a pompadour? Apparently, this guy would. "Hey Marco. I see you're giving the Marine a tour of the ship?"
Marco nodded with his hand around her back to keep her from running off. "Yep. I decided to show her the kitchen first, yoi."
Thatch walked toward the counter behind them and grabbed a thick, bright blue binder. He opened up the binder to a blank page. He glanced at her. "That reminds me, before I forget. You have any allergies I should know about, Marine?"
Briar shrugged her shoulders. "I don't have any allergies that I'm aware of."
Thatch nodded his head before closing the binder, placing it back on the counter. Why did he want to know her allergies? So he could find out ways to kill her by poisoning her or something. Who was this guy? All she knew was that he had to be one of the Commanders as he was on the deck earlier and that his name was Thatch. She looked at Marco, hoping he would explain things.
"Briar, this is Thatch. He's the fourth Division Commander and the head cook." Marco introduced. Briar nodded as she processed this information.
"Nice to meet you Briar!" Thatch said with a smile as he put his hand in front of her. "I hope you enjoy your stay here."
Briar paused for a few moments as she looked at his hand before she decided to be at least polite and shook his hand with an awkward smile. She could not recall the last time someone looked so happy to see her. If it was fake she couldn't tell. "Nice to meet you too, Thatch." She noticed Thatch frown as soon as his skin touched hers. Oh god, here we go again.
"Jeez you're cold. Your skin is almost as cold as ice." Thatch started blowing on his cold hand, trying to warm it up. "If you want I could make you something hot. Tea or a bowl of soup, maybe." But Briar only shook her head no as she looked down. She suddenly felt tired of talking.
Marco and Thatch talked for a few more minutes as Briar just looked around the kitchen before Marco and Briar bid their goodbyes before continuing on with their tour. Surprisingly the rest of the tour went extremely well. Marco showed the girl all the nooks and crannies of the ship as he thoroughly explained what everything was and what it was for. Which Briar greatly appreciated. They stopped in what looked like a regular bedroom. The room included a small bed, with a dresser and nightstand. She also noticed it came with its own personal bathroom. "Well this is the last stop of the tour, yoi." Marco announced. "This will be your room for the remaining two months and dinner will be in a couple of hours. Myself and the rest of the commanders sleeping quarters are right along this hallway. You'll be able to tell which room belongs to which commander by the number printed on the door. Any questions, yoi?"
Briar shook her head, not having questions to ask him. "Dinner won't start for another few hours. I'll see you there then, yoi." and with that Briar was left alone in her new room.
She noticed that her backpack was sitting on the bed. Her cheeks turned red as she realized that they had to have gone through her bag which also stored her clothes, to get all of the treasure out and see if she had any weapons stored in her bag. Her eyes widened as she ran towards her bag. Please still be there, she thought to herself. She quickly opened her bag and sighed in relief when she saw her wood carving tools were still inside her bag. Seeing as there was nothing else to do before dinner, she flopped onto the bed. To the former Marine's surprise, her new bed was actually comfortable. She layed on her side as she sighed. Since I'll be here for a while, might as well make myself comfortable she thought as she closed her eyes.
"Get up and fight already!" Akainu sneered as he stood in front of Briar who was looking up at him from the floor, wiping the blood from her face with her hand. "How are you going to be a strong Marine if you're still this weak." He turned his back toward her and walked to the other side of the training room. It was just the two of them in the huge room. The training room was just another form of Hell with its all white walls. The only source of color in the room was the exercise equipment in the corner and the dried blood splattered onto walls and floor which nobody bothered to clean. This was where the Admiral or Vice-Admiral or whoever was in charge at the time would take you to train you one on one if they thought you were slacking.
Briar glared at the man as she struggled to stand up on shaking legs. Her Marine uniform was in tatters. Her body was in undeniable pain as she could feel the bruises starting to form. She yelped as Akainu was suddenly in front of her, aiming a magma-covered fist right for her face. She just barely countered it with her arms crossed in front of her face, both covered in Armament Haki as she tried to dig her feet into the floor to keep them from sliding. But Akainu was just too strong as she was sent flying onto the hard-wooden floor.
She winced as she sat up and as soon as she tried to stand back up, only to land back onto the ground again as her pained and tired body couldn't support her weight at the moment. Briar could tell Akainu was not happy with her progress as he would tell her every time he saw her that she was weak. Why couldn't he see that she was trying her very best? Why was he never happy with her? Why couldn't Vice-Admiral Garp train her instead? She actually liked Vice-Admiral Garp's training practices as he was the only one who treated her like an actual human being instead of some weapon to be used. What had she done to deserve this?
"For the last time just use your Devil Fruit powers. You're a Logia!" Akainu shouted as he walked toward the girl, the magma still covering his arms. " Logia's are supposed to be one the most inferior of Devil Fruits but you are a disgrace!"
Please, stop, Briar begged inside her head as she could feel the tears fall down her cheeks. Please have mercy, I'll get stronger. Please just stop. She curled up into a ball as she clenched her eyes shut and covered her ears to tone out Akainu's shouting but it didn't work as she could still hear his harsh words. Can anyone please get me out of here? Anyone. I don't want to do this anymore. Please, I just wanna go home.
"You're a disgrace as both a Logia Devil Fruit user and as a Marine. You'll never
amount to anything in this world!"
Can anyone please save me!
Briar's eyes snapped open as she immediately sat straight up.. She tucked some loose strands of her hair behind her ear, panting as she tried to catch her breath. Out of all the things, why did she have to dream of that now? She was only eleven years old when that memory took place. She wished she could just forget everything that happened to her but she knew these memories would continue to haunt her no matter how hard she tried to suppress them. She jumped a little when the door opened.
Briar looked up to see Marco walk into her room without a care in the world. Couldn't pirates at least have some sort of human decency? "You could've least knocked." She shrieked, completely forgetting the trauma-inducing memory.
Marco shrugged his shoulders with a grin. "Wouldn't be the first time I've seen a female's body before." He smirked only for Briar to snarl at him. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I came to get you for dinner, yoi. Figured you would end up getting lost on your own." He chuckled as he raised his hands up in an surrendering gesture. The bastard was not sorry at all.
Briar was seriously starting to regret her decision at this point. She got off the bed and walked past him. Might as well get something to eat at least. "I could've got there fine on my own. I don't need help from a pirate."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Miss Marine, yoi." Marco snorted as he walked beside her.
"My name is Briar!"
"Sure it is, yoi."
These two months could not come fast enough.