Dinner was certainly not a quiet affair. Katherine learned quickly to protect her plate from Luffy, after a startled gasp that nearly had her choke on her food.
"What in the Line?" she managed to swallow and wave Nami's hand away from patting her back. "How do you stretch so much?"
"I ate the gum-gum fruit and now I'm a rubber man." He grabbed his cheek and pulled, demonstrating. Katherine looked horrified and amused at the same time. "Here, try it!" he stretched across the table and held his face in front of hers. Nevermind that he was three seats away.
"I'm...I'm fine, thanks." Katherine leaned back, dropping her hands to her lap. Luffy seemed a little disheartened, but a smile soon returned to his face as he stole another few fries from her plate.
Her iced tea was a success, except for Franky and Zoro, who claimed they preferred cola and beer, respectively. A plan formed in her head. Maybe she could run back to the platform and get some supplies before the morning.
After dinner, she took her plate to the sink and grabbed the sponge, but it was soon snatched from her hand.
"I'd never ask for you to do that!" Sanji gently bumped her hip with his and she quickly stepped away. Katherine seemed at a loss, looking at the dishes, then up at him.
"But you cooked." Was all she could say.
"Don't worry about it." He smiled at her. Katherine hesitated for a moment, but smiled at him and left the kitchen.
The crew was trickling to their rooms, so she decided to go back to the cavern's platform to try and get some of her belongings from her family's tent. She silently walked past the tents, trying to make her way in the dark. The only sources of light were some lanterns inside the tents and on the decks of the ships. It was bright enough for her to make her way to her family's tent and quietly walk around to the corner where she had left her things.
Katherine knelt and gingerly lifted the tent wall, sighing in relief when she immediately found her belongings. Pulling the two bags to her and lowering the cloth, she stood and shouldered the straps.
It was bright enough to walk back to the Thousand Sunny, but not enough to see the three men creep up behind her.
Zoro was on guard tonight, and had seen Katherine walking back to the cavern platform. 'Probably to say goodbye to that elderly couple.' He thought. The wind had died down enough for him to hear the pitter-patter of the rain that still insisted on falling, even after such a storm. It was peaceful, even though he couldn't look at the sky from inside the cavern, something he liked to do to pass the time and organize his thoughts.
A noise made him snap back to reality and tilt his head to listen. A scuffle seemed to be coming from the cavern platform. Squinting his eye against the darkness, he managed to make out three shadows carrying a struggling shape. Zoro widened his eye in shock and dashed out of the ship as soon as he realized what was going to happen. He yelled at them to stop, but was a second too late as a splash was heard and the other three shadows scattered upon seeing him. Without thinking twice, Zoro jumped head-first into the water, searching blindly in the dark. A light shone from above, illuminating the water, murky from the rain, just enough for him to see a person struggling against their bonds and sinking rapidly. A few strokes, and he wrapped his arm around a small body, kicking his feet and reaching for the water surface.
The light was coming from the Thousand Sunny, Franky had woken with his yell and turned on the searchlight. Zoro grabbed onto the lifebuoy, letting the cyborg pull him and his still struggling rescuee to safety.
"Stop wriggling!" He grunted. His plea reached deaf ears, so he just tightened his arm around the small body and waited until they were on deck and he could see clearly in the light. The person had a cloth bag over their head, hence the struggling. He quickly untied it from around their neck and yanked the bag off, raising his eyebrows in surprise at seeing their newest crewmember coughing and blinking in the light. "What happened?"
Her struggling wasn't lessening, so he let her go and sat up, reaching for her wrists to untie them. They were bound with the straps of a bag, heavy with water and whatever else was in it.
"What's going on?" Their noise had woken up the rest of the crew. Nami's expression immediately darkened upon seeing Katherine untying her ankles. The rest of the crew soon connected the dots and silence spread over the deck. Luffy was the only one still rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Ah? Katherine, you should wait until it's light to go swimming." He looked around at the silence pressing down on them, broken only by Katherine's coughs and attempts at taking deep, calming breaths. Chopper hurried to his room, grabbing some things and skidding down the slide to wrap a blanket around Katherine's shoulders. She flinched at the contact, but kept quiet.
Zoro tsked and stood, making his way to the plank connecting the Thousand Sunny and the stone platform. Luffy had finally caught up to the situation and bounded after his first mate. Katherine made to follow and stop them, a scared look on her face, but she flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Recoiling from the touch and looking back, she saw Nami plastering a fake smile on her face.
"Sanji-kun!" She called as she straightened the blanket on Katherine's shoulders. "Can you make something warm?" Nami gently took Katherine's hand and led her away. "Come on, you need a hot shower and some sleep."
"What abou-" Katherine looked back at the dark platform. A scuffle could already be heard.
"Listen here." Nami spoke lowly to Katherine as they climbed the stairs to the bathroom. "Luffy invited you to join our crew. That means you're Nakama now. The boys will be back soon. You don't have to worry anymore." Katherine wasn't convinced, but let Nami lead her to the spacious bathroom. She showed Katherine how to work the dials and stepped outside, but continued humming and commenting about the weather. Katherine was grateful for the company and support, even though she was unused to it. She took a quick shower, finally having stopped trembling and wrapped herself tightly in a towel.
"Jozo-san, I brought you some spare clothes." She recognized the tall dark-headed woman's voice from the other side of the door. "Sen'i-san will bring it to you."
Katherine panicked and pulled at the towel to cover her bruises, but the little reindeer was already inside with a pile of folded clothes and a little medical bag. His eyes snapped to her thighs, then her arms and neck, narrowing his eyes at the bruises. He could clearly see her discomfort and shame.
"Don't worry Katherine. I'm a doctor and I respect doctor-patient confidentiality. I'd like to examine you. May I?" Katherine blinked back tears. She was unused to being taken care of, having people give a shit. Plus, the doctor was too cute. She sat on a stool he pointed to and lowered her head, letting her wet hair fall on the side of her face. "I need you to tell me what happened." He saw her start shivering again. "Please, take your time. I'm going to apply some salve on your bruises."
Chopper had to convince Katherine to drop the towel, gently coaxing her. He was proud of his professionalism when he swallowed a gasp at the scars on her back. The bruise around her neck had been a great shock to him already, but there were old and recent scarring crisscrossing her back. His paw didn't shake as he spread salve on some bruises and bandaged a lone cut down her side. It didn't need stitches, but he did have to properly clean it and found two tiny shards of beige ceramic in the cut. Her story made his lip wobble, and he swore to himself that he would heal her body, mind and soul as best he could.
Robin was leaning on the wall next to the door and Nami was sitting on the top step as they listened to her quietly sob between explanations. Nami was hiding her face in her knees, hugging her own legs in an attempt to muffle her own sniffles. Robin, usually stoic, had a deep frown etched on her forehead, her hands gripping her elbows tightly.
Jozo-san = Miss Brewer
Sen'i-san = Mr. Shipdoctor