Martina took a deep breath of fresh air as soon as she got the rust crusted lock of the window open, the cold winds of the sea prickled her cheeks and washed the sleep as the salt left an aftertaste in her mouth. It was damn nice to wake up and not have to brace your legs for the inevitable fall of the ship when it cut through a wave or ignore the wet when said wave splashed upon the deck and soaked you to the bone.
Ah, but nothing beat the feeling of waking up to notifications, yes, nothing better, she thought with a smile dancing at the tip of her lips. So innocent, so very true and naïve that it made her look a child. Ever since ending up here Martina had come to enjoy the little things, to treasure every little thing dearly. And Levelling was capital among the things she treasured, the ocean blue that announced her strength could bring the music of trumpets to her ears and when it was something like her new Class? Oh. It was a concert. A parade! A Festival! And her smile bloomed to show all of her white, white teeth, like the smile of a cat preening and showing itself so that the world could bask in its greatness.
But all moments had to end, and nothing could end her joy more abruptly than her brother's mating call. That horrible screech that could deafen a banshee, that sound like files scraping at glass and his lump of a body twisting and turning and making the bed and the floor groan. She looked at it and wondered if she should have put him in a room at ground level because those boards didn't look all too happy to support his fat ass.
"You trying to take a spot in an opera or just trying to be as big a pain in the ass as you can?" she was done putting up with him, there would be no more room sharing. She should have known, they were both too old to be sharing a one but it had been so expensive to rent two. So wasteful.
"I can't wake up if I don't do this, you know it," he answered with his eyes closed and she rolled hers sky high but quickly felt her good mood coming back to her, one wave of satisfaction at a time.
"Did you level last night?" She asked, all curiosity and anticipation. Not to know what he would say but wanting to speak about her Class. Her Skill! But the big oaf didn't seem to share much of her energy as he smacked his dry mouth twice and squinted at the rafters, as if the notifications would come back to him if he called them strongly enough.
"Nothing," he sighed, "Nothing changed, not my level and not the amount of Classes I have," and with that he nestled deeper into his sheets and closed his mouth and that was it. No questions about if she had something to say, if she had levelled or something, the string of conversation ending just like that. She thought about how someone that was so damn strict with manners and such could be so fucking rude, where were his manners? He should be asking back, should be querying and returning the ball to her. That was all manners were about wasn't it? Just a way for people to share what they wanted without looking like they were bragging, a more humble way of showing off.
But it seemed he wasn't about to give her that pleasure, her tongue pressed against the inside of her cheek she looked at him until an idea struck her. If he wouldn't ask about it then she was being forced to show it, wasn't she? Martina spoke around the smile playing at her lips. "You know I earned a Class," he grunted, "and a Skill," another throaty sound came from the lump in the bed, "it's called [Commanding Presence]"
And with that said she stood ram rod straight as she let her Skill swallow her, allowed it to manifest through her as the air around became heavier and she felt her face twisting into a frown. Nicolas stirred from his bed to look at her when her heels snapped together with a smart click and then she bellowed her orders, "Get Up, Sailor!"
His response was a scene for a movie, or the army, as he ripped the sheets off his body, throwing them across the room and throwing himself up into the air with a jerk of his legs to stand at attention right next to his bed. His chest all puffed up like a duck and his chin up, all in all the perfect image of a toy soldier, and oh how she enjoyed the look of confusion morphing into annoyed resignation.
"I am [Captain] Martina now, if you didn't figure it out,"
Nicolas squinted his eyes at her before chewing away the obscenity in his mouth and answered, "you don't say,"
"Oh but I do, and I would be more than happy if you called me Captain," she tapped her chin thoughtfully before clicking her tongue sharply, "but I don't want people to forget that I am a Doctor. Your gods would weep if they found out that my efforts were overlooked, but Doctor Captain is too much of a hassle. Don't you think?"
She enjoyed every second of her revenge, how she loved to drill her brother's thick head with stupid, little things when he annoyed her. And let us not forget he made it so very easy. "But I guess I can forgive and forget that indiscretion, after all I have such a big heart. My one fault is that I have too big a heart, don't you think Nico?"
"Sure, you are all love and sweetness," she looked him in the eyes and tilted her neck a bit to the side just like Itse did, "what?" he asked as she stared and said nothing.
"I can't hear the Captain in your sentences,"
"My tongue will sour and fall before I call you that,"
"I am sure you will come around when you need me to pull a bullet off your ass,"
"I would rather take my chances with the bullet,"
[O.o]
Her head snapped back, neck taut as the muscles pulled her straight in her chair and her eyes turned wide as the plates on their table. As the thought streaked away her body relaxed and the air in her chest came out as a long-drawn sigh, tapping the fork and knife together she tried to think about how to tackle this new problem.
"We forgot to call Itse," she informed her curious brother who simply nodded and kept eating. "You have nothing to say to that?"
"No. We forgot. We call her and say we are sorry,"
"Right. And knowing Itse you don't think she is going to shoot at us all the way from Farra Island, do you?" that gave him pause. He took his time to think as he slowly cut a sausage in half and speared both cuts before pushing the whole thing into his mouth. Disgusting.
"We still are in the wrong, Sis. Even if she might shoot at us for it we just tell her,"
"Or, hear me out now, we could say we just arrived and save the drama for another day, right?" she asked hopefully, trying to get him onboard and make sure Nicolas didn't tell on her because if there was one thing he enjoyed it was being a little snitch. Just like a certain metal toothed, rainbow haired man.
"No, Martina," he spoke finally, "lies are too cheap a thing to give to family," he stared at her right in the eyes before speaking again, "and she is family, sis,"
"Well, a bullet from her isn't much of a gift either," she answered as she huffed and crossed her arms, "it's the thought that counts when giving a gift isn't it? So what's the harm?" her words were more sullen now. She had been joking about the lying but like always the slab of fat had taken it seriously, it seemed one couldn't joke around without insulting someone nowadays.
"Martina. Saving your behind isn't much of a thought, you know?"
She looked him appreciatingly from his food stuffed cheeks to his rotund and knife crowded belly, "what I know is that if you started dressing in all blacks you could pass for a priest with all your preaching,"
He raised one brow at her, "just for telling you not to lie?"
"Yes! Lies are everywhere! Everybody lies and its what makes this world turn around, its what makes it possible for people to live without killing each other. There would be fights left and right if everyone just started saying what they think of each other,"
"Maybe so, but we should always try to be better. Or at least try not to choose the easy thing to do,"
"This must be why good people die early, the fuckers must be exhausted at the end of the day,"
"Language," she flipped him the bird as it was customary, and they kept stacking their plates high as they chipped at their hunger one bite at a time. They would need the strength to deal with the storm that would be Itse. She was tired of just thinking about it.
[O.o]
"Gacha~ Moshi, moshi?" came the response from the snail as its face morphed, twisting and turning to accommodate the wrinkles around its eyes, the grey swathes of hair that started to grow upon the eyebrows that moved back to form a full wig. The word revolting wasn't enough to describe the transformation this god forsaken creatures were capable of, but as with anything that was useful Martina was ready to overlook these outward flaws they had. Mostly by looking up or in any other direction.
"Grandma!" they both called almost at the same time, a little excitement mixing with their fear of being caught and making them restless. The snail squinted as they all waited to receive a response before its eye stalks started to sway from one side to the other, slowly, familiarly, it looked like Itse took her time even when speaking to the snails.
"I am sorry but all my Grandchildren are accounted for here," the transponders mouth lifted a smidgen in a show of disgust, "the only ones left are those that forgot about me and didn't bother to call me again. Hard to call them grandchildren after that, yes?" Martina was about to sweep her face with a hand and try to erase the frustration but those fist sized blobs eyed her and if she didn't know better she would have thought Itse could see them.
"Please don't be like that. We are calling to tell you we arrived," Nicolas tried to pacify her.
"And you are only going to call when you arrive? I haven't heard a thing about you during the trip, don't know if you fought someone or if someone is hurt or married," Itse exaggerated as her snail trembled and almost fell off the table.
"It was a busy voyage, we had to make sure everything was on point three times for each detail. It was our first sea walk! We forgot, we barely slept!" Martina tried to defend them from the hag's accusations, "and how would we get married at sea? Are you wrong in the head?" her voice was almost a laugh as she thought of a little church ship coming and going marrying pirates off.
"How would I know, we had a priest in our ship and he loved marrying people. Didn't matter if they said no at the wedding, he just liked reciting the verses while they were together," Itse's impersonator smirked at that. "And don't try to lie to me, think I never washed my feet in the waves? There is nothing idler than a sailor, you could have called me at any time. Both of you, Nicolas,"
"Well, what's done is done, Grandma. Least we called you when we arrived at Schiavo, that's something right?"
"It would be if you had called me yesterday," the Den-Den murmured and they both heard that last bit. She looked at him and he nodded as they both eyed it suspiciously, Nicolas taking a seat right next to her as this little piece of information caught his fleeting attention.
They both stared at the snail as it kept its swaying eyes moving from one to the other, taking them in? Watching? Could there be a snail to do that? If that thing existed there was no doubt that a New World veteran would have no trouble in acquiring one, it would be nice to know this kind of things. Just thinking about getting her hands on some jamming and tapping Den-Dens set the idea on stone.
"What got you children so silent? Guilt bit your tongues?" Nicolas skidded over, dragging the chair without lifting his ass and making the boards shriek.
"How did you know we arrived yesterday?" it blinked slowly and uncoordinatedly, first the right eye and when the other started to close it began its ascent. It looked like a wink aborted and attempted once again with the other, disturbing little thing.
"Whatever are you on about? You are telling me that not only did you not speak to me while at sea but you also forgot to ring me when touching port?" the voice that crossed over from Farra Island was a whisper like that brought by a sword swung close to your ear, a chill ran its course up her back. Martina pushed the fright and the guilt that Itse was using to move the conversation and kept prying the old thing for her secrets.
"Don't try to turn this on us, the Den-Den caught you muttering to yourself,"
"Nonsense, you didn't call,"
"And you were tracking us!"
"No I wasn't," the swaying stopped and that was as much of a tell as any that the hag had been caught red handed. Gods, she was tracking them!
"So, if we go back to the ship and check it we won't find a weird snail that has no business being there. Right?" Martina spoke in that overly sweet voice she used when she had people to unnerve or annoy or accuse. And it worked, the transponder began to pout and complain in whispers she decided to tone down.
"Fine, I may have put a Red Den-den in one of your cabins. It was more of a reassurance for myself, can't have you children disappear and not know where the hell you were,"
"No, we understand," Nico said after seeing his sister was scratching the back of her head, not really knowing how to answer that.
"You could have asked us to take it, and we would have," Martina finished, not willing to be the ones on their back foot because no one knew what Itse could push them into if they gave her the leeway to do so.
"Maybe, maybe not. This is the kind of things you don't ask about," the snail was back to swaying its eye stalks and grinning victoriously. The hag had a power, a power sharpened and strengthened by decades of being a pain in the ass for Marines and civilians around the world, and that was the ability to madden the fuck out of her from across the sea.
Everything devolved from that point forth, they bantered and cursed and laughed, spoke about the rest of the family and said their greetings to the squirts that had arrived on the other side. They were ecstatic to talk to them it seemed, the snail had to be held down to make sure it didn't vibrate itself into the ground as the children passed the mic around and made it tremble with energy. It was nice to know they were doing so well, and it seemed like Marcelo had managed to wiggle himself into his nona's training sessions. The poor thing didn't know what he was getting into.
She smiled sadly at the transponder once they had hung up and thought of how much she missed them. Missed the late life talks with Itse, the rough housing with the twenty midgets in the house, and the scolding of Itse's son and in law. Sighing into her hand she washed away her humour with a spicy gulp of liquor, whiskey was an excellent drink for brunch, and set herself for business.
"Nico, go to the Beatriz and find us Grandma's Den-Den. We need to start asking around to get more of those,"
"You sure of that? We don't know how rare this are, we should ask Faithful for directions,"
"Where is your adventuring spirit? We have to find out things on our own, how boring would it be if we did nothing but ask for directions? We would be mediocre and dependant then," she tipped her bottle up after finishing her spiel. Truth be told she just forgot about it while speaking to the little ones, it had been too long without hearing about them.
Nicolas sighed and scratched his bald head but nodded in the end, when the door closed behind him Puma peered into the room and padded regally inside. The little ball of fur didn't enjoy being in a confined room with her brother, not enough space to run away she guessed. Feeling him clawing his way up her leg she grinned and grabbed his little head in one hand, making him mewl in indignation as she strapped her belts and readied herself for an outing. There were things to buy, lead and iron for her to make bullets and cannon balls, oil and whetstones for their knives and swords, and cloth after Nicolas stunt managed to put a concerning rip in one of the front sails. The bloody idiot almost killed her from the fright, it felt like being thrown into a storm in a fucking raft.
Checking her two knives and one revolver, she wondered if she should buy more. Perhaps another revolver or a rifle, why not both? Yes, maybe she would buy some more guns after checking the quality. Outside? Came the sharp query, it was a flash in her mind, and intrusive thought if you would like, and she looked at Puma who was sitting in front of the door. You just came in, you Goblin, she sent back at him and received a tilt of the head and a question about what a Goblin was.
Just as she was about to answer him, with a string of lies about Gobs, the tom cat was back at staring at the door. His body letting out a feeling that was walking the edge between curiosity and aggression, a blood speckled, bruised purple trickling from under his brown coat. He slowly turned his head and looked her in the eyes, Prey? He purred. She did not waste time, taking a breath and closing her eyes she allowed her Observation to expand, to take in the colours of the living. Walls blurred together as she looked from outside her body, soon she found herself in a glass box and only capable of telling were the dead pieces of wood were by the position of others. By the position of the seven outside her room.
Tricky, tricky, she sent Puma.
Prey? Hunters? He asked, conflicted. She could feel he hated the idea of being cornered, of being prey.
With care, they become prey,
The cat bared its fangs at her, trying to imitate her expression in his own bestial face. Hunt them, slowly, and they smiled at each other, all white teeth and sharp angles.
[O.o]
She wore Puma around her neck as she jumped down the roof from her room's window, her Haki was still locked on the imbeciles outside her door. They seemed to be building up the courage to storm in because the piss yellow colours of nervousness and insecurity still clung to them. They are unsure, doubting, she thought loudly so as to keep her partner updated.
Hard, guarded Prey is hard, he answered while kneading her vest with his claws.
Guarded? You have been studying it seems, you deserve a prize for it,
Yes, I do, his chest gave off the sound of a drumroll, all pleased with his self.
They were walking up the stairs now, but a few more steps and they would find the first of the seven thugs. Her right hand pulled out her revolver, the long barrel and big drum almost making it look a revolving rifle, while her left one brought with it one of her two hunting knives. A fat blade that ended in a curve point and all of that weight rested upon a strip of metal thick as a finger that curved upwards at the spine and down at the edge to form a most resilient guard.
She arrived behind them without a sound and stopped where it would be impossible to even feel her breath, and then she started thinking. How to do this? Seven men, ambushed from the back, and taken in a narrow corridor with nowhere to run. Thought like that it sounds like a porno. But the problem was still there, what to do, should she bash his head with her pommel or with her grip? Should she announce herself and add a little theatre or play assassin and end them all without a word?
Hunt? Asked her dear Caracal from besides her feet, he could never settle when there was prey to be had. Such an anxious little thing. But it was true that she was stalling, so she sighed and eyed the lads and smiled from ear to ear as she let her thoughts rest.
We hunt~
And that was all Puma needed to know, he bounded up the wall and jumped onto the back of the first man. Teeth digging viciously into his shoulder, fangs scraping bone and pain and surprise making their way out his mouth. Martina leveled her iron sight at the one right in the middle of the line just as the panic started to spread. The lead took the man in the temple, it rocked his head to the side and made him fall on the next lad just as she pushed Puma's prey to the side and used the tip of her knife to guide the barrel away from them.
It went off, a plume of smoke filled the end of the gun right before where her Haki told her the man wanted to fire. It seemed it didn't consider accidents or misfires. She punched with a finger still inside the trigger guard and heard his nose crunch against the metal, he staggered away as she ducked under a bullet. It sheared off a piece of the wall right besides her. Too close.
Kicking out she caught Broken Nose and flung him at the rest of the boys, Puma used the diversion to go for someone's leg. Claws raking bloody groves upon his calf, cloth and skin torn apart and turned into strips and strings. Then came their retaliation.
A hail of bullets came at her, Haki painted blade at the ready she parried the ones coming for her breasts and face with unwavering focus, there was simply no escaping the fact that there was not enough muscle in her teats to use Tekkai effectively. Not like she enjoyed being hit or anything, she much preferred being the one doing the hitting. Martina hardened her stomach and legs, her armour of Tekkai making the metal but a light sting on her skin. Hell, she had had cramps far worse than this.
The hail turned into a drizzle, before it became a pitiful pattering that ended shortly after. Puma had taken care of the two that she had dog piled using Broken Nose, and with that there were just three pigs left. Two stared at her, still in the hall, holding their guns and trying to squeeze that one last round that might save their lives while the third had taken one look and gone into the room. Right and Left she would call them, for they were so unremarkable she didn't think she would ever be able to remember them.
A hand caught her leg just as she was about to take a step towards them, held her ankle tight. A dead man's grip on it. She looked down and stared as Broken Nose gave her a toothless, bloody smile, lifting her knife she caught Left's stock between the guard and the blade. The wood was choked between steel and it looked like Left was choking too as he realized his ambush failed and he was close to her. So close in fact that she could have kissed him, given a lover's kiss, but she wasn't that kind of woman, so she butted him in the cheek and heard it break as he stumbled back.
Two more screams from her revolver ended the fight. One round to the chest for Right and another to the liver for the rat that had gone into their room, was more than enough to solve this peacefully.
"Is everything alright here?" Came the shy voice of the inn keeper from all the way down the hall. Martina cleaned her weapons on the back of one of the fallen and smiled sweetly at him.
"Everything's fine, just some people that were a little lost," the pudgy man blinked at her and looked at the bodies around.
"I see. So they were lost, good that you could help them," she almost laughed out loud. Almost fell over her ass at the man's attitude, there was blood and pain everywhere you looked and he thought it good? How wicked! She loved it!
"Yes, they are also glad I helped them,"
[O.o]
"What is this, Mar?" slowly drawled out her brother.
"Missing children. Found them outside our room," she answered while using the tip of her boot to prod Left's rib.
"Why were they there?" He was frowning now, his great wall of a forehead creasing.
"For the Mondo Family. Remember the guys you pummelled into each other? Well, those guys sent these guys or at least one of them did. Right?"
"Yes! Yes! It was Tero who sent us! He is one of the Young Boss' men, he said to bring the two that disrespected Mr. Coltello," Broken Nose answered in a hurry, his words falling atop each other in the rush. Should she still call him that? She had already straightened his nose, even sewed the cut in his lip, so his nose wasn't broken anymore. She shrugged and dismissed it, details, she thought, those only matter when talking about the big guys.
"So it wasn't this Young Boss that sent you, but one of his men?" Nicolas asked slowly and she sighed, the story wasn't all that convoluted. It was all the same, small men trying to piece their pride together using the means of those they worked under.
"Yes," Broken Nose answered, almost a whisper as he eyed all the knives around her brother and perhaps thinking what they were all for. And how easy it was for a mind in a dark place to make monsters out of every shadow.
"Just so we are clear, I am going out for them," she stated.
"What? No, you are not. We are taking our things and leaving this place, we aren't going to fight the mobs,"
"Nicolas, they came for me. Tried to take me while I was resting, you think I am going to let something like this pass?"
"We can walk away from all this, just take the ropes and that's it. No need to hurt anyone," he added while looking at the seven bruised bodies on their floor. No need to hurt more.
"They won't let up, they will seek us out at every other Island we go. Like a disease we need to stab it at its roots," her voice was on edge. There was no way she was leaving this place, there were unresolved matters and these matters were the kind that came to bite you once you started running from them.
"You don't know that! You are a Doctor not a Mafia Boss, so stop spouting things you saw in movies,"
"They will come," he squinted at her right at the edge of his patience, "they will come to my house the day my daughter is to be married and ask for justice," she was sure he would have ripped his hair off if he had any, "so I will take justice into my hands tonight and be done with it,"
"Gods give me strength to deal with her," he prayed as she tickled Puma under his chin while the rest of him was sprawled on her lap and bed. She saw it in his eyes, he wouldn't stop her but he also wouldn't let her go alone, and she let a triumphant little grin slip. Nothing made her happier than that sense of comfort that sat right in her heart when she knew she had her brother's support.
The Caracal watched it all play in front of him, his Mistress acting aloof and uninterested, her kin acting unwilling. All this to say Hunt!
