Daydreams
Tashigi wondered, as did so many others if the rumours were anything to go by, if there was something more between them. Smoker, hands bound above his head, hips pinned under the woman above him, the anticipation of relinquishing control to someone else visible with every ragged breath he took flashed across Tashigi's mind. Heat bloomed in her cheeks and she looked away as Hina led her commander out the door by one of the straps on his jacket.
In which Tashigi has some thoughts.
It starts like all things, with a thought. It creeps across Tashigi's mind, encouraged by the spray of the sea that trails in rivulets down Smoker's skin. The sky is a startling blue as the waves of Paradise slam against the side of their ship, the wind whipping the sails and the deck heaving.
Yet still he stands against the elements, against the waves that splash and surge again and again. It would only take one to knock him over the side, turn him into a lead weight, gravity and the devil's curse ripping his life from his lungs.
Yet he stands there, shoving his white hair out of his face, bellowing orders. Tashigi swallows, eyes glued to the vibrating of his throat. She's a frozen piece in the onslaught of motion, and it catches his gaze. Sharp, piercing amber meets her chocolate brown and the thought explodes across her cranium, unable to be forgotten.
Is that what he would look like in the throes of passion? Powerful and unyielding, right on the edge of the abyss?
Tashigi has to look away.
The Bar, the only bar on Omi Island reeks of old beer and smoke, sticky tables and gouged floor. It's packed. Tashigi barely squeezes through the door, the noise of her men cheering and yelling "Captain-chan!" nearly knocking her off her feet. She adjusts her glasses and smiles. It's a good day. After a six month campaign, the G-5 managed to liberate a small chain of islands from a pirate fleet. A hard fought victory, one in which she even managed to retrieve a famous sword from its infamous owner.
A flurry of motion, hands and arms pushing and pulling her through the throng, plopping her at the bar and giving her a seat. She protests the special treatment, but it falls on deaf ears and she gives up. An absurdly massive mug of beer is dropped in front of her and Tashigi makes a face, trying to turn her look of trepidation into a smile.
Truthfully, she would have ordered something much smaller, but with all her men looking on and the raucous cheering that started as she brought the mug to her lips… Well, she was left with little recourse. If she wanted their respect, then she had to show them she wasn't the damn dainty flower they thought she was.
Deciding to make the whole mug last through the rest of the evening, Tashigi peered around the bar. She'd arrived late, determined to finish processing the paperwork for the pirates currently held in her brig before finally taking part in the island-wide celebration. It seemed like every square inch of the one room bar was filled with locals, nearby island visitors, and of course, her soldiers. People lured out by the allure of a Friday night and hard won peace.
Through a gap in the crowd, on the opposite end of the bar, she spotted him. The smoke from his cigars wafted above him in a thick cloud. He was looking away from her, speaking with someone. Dark hair, long like her own, and a thin strapped dress that caught the crappy bar light but made it look good. For a moment, Tashigi felt out of place with her fully buttoned up shirt and ankle length pants. She followed the slope of Smoker's muscular shoulder, jacket and coat gone. Their hands were nearly touching.
Tashigi stared. She so rarely saw him interact in such an...intimate way with a stranger. She brought the beer to her lips, the harsh taste of it hitting the back of her throat enough to make her purse her lips but it warmed the blood in her veins.
She wondered if he'd take the stranger back to their ship. Lead her through the decks, push her up against the door to his quarters. His hand sliding up her short dress, fingertips ghosting over her inner thigh, the stubble on his chin rough against the sensitive skin between neck and shoulder-
Like he knew she was looking, Smoker turned suddenly, gaze landing on her. Fierce heat surged up the back of Tashigi's neck and she gestured towards him with her massive beer. He nodded once at her, lifting his, she noted with despair, far smaller glass of alcohol.
As Smoker turned back to his partner, Tashigi gulped the rest of her beer trying to forget the way the woman's fingers had come to rest on top of his, and that he hadn't pulled away.
A few hours later, the ground lurched under Tashigi's feet, the lack of light from a moon already set made stumbling back to the ship a herculean task. The beer was heavy in her stomach as Tashigi came to a stumbling stop by the docks, finally giving in to the awful feeling inside her. Over the bile and acid and drunken angry self recrimination, a hand held her hair back, the smell of cigars strong in the air.
Tashigi wondered, as Smoker helped her back to her quarters and into her cot, where the woman had gone.
It was unbearably hot, the god forsaken summer island they were on had nights that were only slightly more tolerable than the daylight hours. But Tashigi barely noticed.
...It had been a bad day.
She leaned on the railing on the rooftop of the temporary garrison, the hot metal digging into her elbows. It had been someone's house once, with a nice view of the port city below. But now the city was a smouldering ruin and the grounds below were filled with casualties.
The air reeked of burned wood, searing metal and the sharp acrid scent of hot salt. Footsteps behind her almost made her whip around, sword in hand, but Tashigi recognized him with her haki long before she moved a muscle.
Smoker stepped up beside her, the flickering light from the lantern on the floor near their feet made him look paler than usual. Like a ghost under the smoke infested black sky. They had lost a lot of good men today, and he'd been the one who had to make those calls.
Tashigi watched him from the corner of her vision, the drawn circles under his eyes, the harsh clench of his jaw. But it was the barest tremble she saw in his hand as he lit a cigar that made her heart clench.
He needed someone. She wondered if he would drown himself in whiskey later, find someone to sink into. If he'd lose himself in the skin of another, desperate and urging, needing anything to keep the grief at bay. If his fingers would leave marks behind, a reminder for days.
Their elbows bumped, and Tashigi glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
They stayed like that for a long time.
Tashigi watched with interest as Rear Admiral Hina stalked into the office. She'd made landfall on the G-5 Base nearly an hour prior but hadn't wandered in until it was time to clock out of the office. Well, time for normal people. Or people who weren't picky about the quality of their paperwork. People who are not like Tashigi.
Smoker's office door was closed but Hina barged in without bothering to knock. A pang of envy poked Tashigi in the spine. She wished she had the balls to do that. Smoker's grumble could be heard followed by a short laugh from Hina as she dragged him out of his office.
Hina was a vision in sharp black heels that made her already long shapely legs seem even longer, and a deep cut pink halter top that emphasized her impossible curves. The smile on her red lips could shatter hearts. If looks could kill, then Hina's bodycount would put her very high on the wanted list. Tashigi envied that too.
Smoker hardly seemed to notice, but he was always like that with Hina. Hina who always dragged him to bars, to clubs, to strange underground alternative "scenes", to the opera. If there was music, then Hina was there, dragging Smoker along with her. A thing no one else seemed able to do.
Tashigi wondered, as did so many others if the rumours were anything to go by, if there was something more between them. Smoker, hands bound above his head, hips pinned below the woman above him, the anticipation of relinquishing control to someone else visible with every ragged breath he took flashed across Tashigi's mind. Heat bloomed in her cheeks and she looked away as Hina led her commander out the door by the straps on his jacket.
She gave him a small wave as he looked back towards her before the door shut.
Tashigi nearly jumped out of her skin when an unexpected figure leaped onto the deck of their warship with nothing but ocean waves as far as the eye could see. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to frighten a pretty babe like you."
Tashigi rolled her eyes. "It's good to see you Admiral Kuzan, Sir," she saluted and the far taller man made a face, the sun reflecting off his sunglasses.
"Oi, oi, I quit. No need for the formalities," he frowned but brightened as Smoker solidified next to her.
"Been a while Smoker, I should drop in more often with the way your subordinate gets prettier every time." Tashigi made a face as Kuzan winked at her.
"Your ice is blocking my ship," Smoker grumbled and began walking away as Kuzan laughed. He easily matched Smoker's stride and clapped him on the back as they made their way inside toward the Vice Admiral's quarters. Smoker was so choosy on who could touch him, and she envied the casual way Kuzan could be with him. Or maybe it wasn't casual.
Maybe Smoker preferred the company of men. Maybe he liked to be on his knees, putting his oral fixation to good use, his amber eyes hazy with need. Maybe the smell of sweat and musk and spent cock was his preferred indulgence.
Tashigi swallowed, her heart beating fast against her ribs as he glanced back at her once before disappearing, Kuzan less than a foot behind him.
It's late on a Monday night, the office is quiet except for the scratching of her pen and the light clacking of the rocks Smoker is attempting to balance on the coffee table between them.
Tashigi glances up from her clipboard, one foot tucked beneath her as the rock tower begins to tremble.
The sound of it collapsing is loud but not unpleasantly so. Smoker sighs, letting out a stream of smoke that spirals up towards the ceiling as he leans back against the couch.
He's relaxed, content. No tension in his shoulders, no irritation in his jaw. Like he always is when it's quiet in the evenings, when the two of them can focus. She admires the sculpted planes of his chest, the pretty way his wrists rest on the back of the couch.
Her heart speeds up as she wonders what climbing onto his lap would feel like. How his skin would taste under her tongue. Would the smell of cigars be all she would find, or would she discover a gentle cologne, or the simple scent of salt and a day's work? Tashigi licks her lips, biting down slightly. If he'd kiss her gently, a small smirk quirking the corner of his mouth as he rubbed his hips against hers, the friction making her shiver...
Suddenly Smoker is looking at her, the ceiling no longer of interest to him and Tashigi freezes, a criminal under the spotlight.
"Alright?" He rumbles and she nods hard enough for her glasses to fall onto the couch. He says nothing and returns to his rocks as she shoves them back onto her face.
The ancient floorboards creaked below her as Tashigi shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable. But it was hard to sleep in such a strange place after a hard day, with more difficulty on the horizon. Moonlight streamed in through the hole in the ceiling above, illuminating the abandoned bar that she and Smoker had decided to hole up in for the night.
Carefully, she rolled onto her other side, trying her hardest not to make noise. It was cold despite the coat settled over her, and the sheer amount of warmth Smoker gave off. She gazed at his back, the closest she'd been to him in quite some time. Slowly her gaze shifted to the broken window in the wall above them, fog outside rolling in and beginning to obscure the stars. The support beams of the building across the way, perhaps a store or an office at one time, cast a dark shadow on the wall behind her.
For a moment, she felt like they were the only ones alive. Just the two of them in the cold and the dark, utterly alone in this ghost of a town. A shiver raced down her spine, and she turned her attention back to the man next to her.
He rolls over and Tashigi stiffens in anticipation of being caught, but he doesn't open his eyes, still asleep. Though, she frowns, judging by the pinched look of his eyebrows and the grimace on his face, it's not a restful sleep. She wishes they were back on the ship, away from this island enshrouded in myth. Away from the pandora's box of secrets that can't be put back.
But there was no way he could stay away from a place called God Valley, and even less so when the Straw Hats are involved. Tashigi admires that more than he knows, and she wishes she could tell him. He'd hate that though.
She drinks in his face, the stubble on his chin, the sharp cut of his jaw. The scar that nearly took his eye not long after they joined the G-5. It's so rare that Tashigi gets to look at him freely. A small smile appears on her lips at the moonlight bouncing off his mussed white hair. His eyes twitch, the frown on his face deepening and Tashigi feels the urge to reach for him.
He huffs in his sleep, shoulders hunching, a low and miserable noise coming from his throat and Tashigi's heart clenches. It unnerves her. She reaches out before she can stop herself, breath catching in her throat as her cool palm lands gently on his cheek.
His eyes snap open, piercing lights in the dark. Smoker stares at her, his breathing fast while she feels like she can't breathe at all. Time grinds to a halt as his shoulders relax, and he blinks slowly at her. Her heart starts to beat once more, the sound thunder in her ears.
She wonders what it would be like to kiss him then. Brush her forehead against his, words of comfort on her tongue, in her hands as she pulls him close. How the floorboards would creak under them as she fists her hands in his hair, fire racing along her nerve endings as he covers her smaller frame with his own. Her stomach clenches, warmth pooling low in her belly.
She is still touching him, Tashigi realizes with a painful jolt. He hasn't moved away, or given her an odd look. Instead, Smoker is looking directly at her, their faces only a few scant inches apart. His warm breath brushes over her throat, the intoxicating cedar smell of his cigars and something else, ink or paper, or the way the ocean smells after a storm fills her lungs with each inhale. Fast, fast, fast flooding her blood, leaving her dizzy.
His hand comes up to cover hers, his palm warm against her cool skin and Tashigi can't hear anything over the pounding of her heartbeat as he leans into her touch, before entwining their fingers together.
And in that moment, Tashigi wonders what Smoker sees when he looks at her.
Notes:
This was written for the One Piece PinUP Zine. I love them so much.
Let me know your thoughts!
As always, thank you for reading and you can find me on twitter at buggyisbest!
