Amidst the halcyon waters, a speedboat soundlessly approached a dormant marine ship. The waves drawn by the boat shimmered a silvery hue – reflecting the colour of the moon atop the night sky. A single silhouette of a young lad stretched across the tides, Karl had once again reverted to her normal outfit – a loose shirt and navy jeans minus the iconic marine cloak.
Anchoring her own speedboat, Karl jumped onboard swiftly and made her way to the captain's chambers which she had neglected for weeks. With a squeak of the hinges, she pushed open the door and was greeted by Lex who was unsurprisingly awake – she had phoned him using her baby den den mushi just a few hours ago to confirm the exact coordinates where he had stationed her ship.
"Welcome back lost sheep! It only took you 3 and a half weeks to find your way!" Lex's voice greeted her with feigned enthusiasm. Rolling her eyes at an all too familiar face, her face, she scrutinised Lex's disguise. It was perfect. The physical resemblance was unnerving. The seamless disguise disturbed her a little, as the realisation that she was easily replaceable sank in.
"Don't worry no one noticed a thing out of place while you were away." His words further confirmed her theory. She nodded and gestured for him to come to her desk for a report as even though it was only a few weeks, she needed to be debriefed on what had occurred in the interval.
"Engaged twice with pirate forces, no casualties. Slight damage to the main mast during one of the crossfires but it's already repaired. Resupplied for food and appliances once and the headquarters sent a letter to you." Never mind, a lot of things seemed to have occurred during her short absence.
"When did the letter arrive?" Taking particular notice towards the last part of his report, Karl questioned while massaging her scalp, already foreseeing the paperwork she had to fill out.
"Two days ago" Lex replied with a curious glance as she opened the letter and began to read its contents. It wasn't every day that a Captain received a formal letter rather than a call from the headquarters.
"Think that they're already planning on demoting you?" Lex jested, and Karl resisted the urge to either roll her eyes again or tell him to get out. Opting for the former she heard Lex complain about her poor people skills. Whatever, as long as she achieved her goal nothing else mattered. Speaking of which, her goal… She needed to work on that if she planned on ever achieving what she had initially set off for.
Eyes scanning the contents and doing a double scan again to make sure she had read it correctly Karl groaned. She was not expecting this. The fleet admiral had specifically assigned her to Alabasta – stationed to be the next marine captain after the previous charge was reported as missing. That part didn't surprise her as much as it had annoyed her since by being chained to one place it meant less chances of fighting worthy opponents. It was not the most desirable path but she would have to learn to live with it.
The next part however did surprise her. She had to collaborate with; read – investigate; a shichibukai who also happened to be in the area. Work with a pirate. Crocodile. The letter then progressed to inform her of the current situation in the country – anarchy and civil wars as well as increasing crime rates and number of bounty hunters.
Karl had a vague suspicion that they all clicked into each other, and the shichibukai's presence only served to make matters worse. It wasn't every day that a shichibukai took a prolonged holiday in a country, nor the fact that the said country elapsed into civil wars afterwards. She hadn't heard many stories about the warlord as opposed to some but that meant either he was unimportant or that he was extremely secretive. Obviously, just from his title, the first option was out which meant – he was the type of man who worked behind the scenes, hiding his tracks. The type she loathed the most. The image of a certain twisted sociopath crossed her mind for a second before she pushed the thought away. She was not facing the same person. They were different – or so she had hoped.
"So… What's the big message." Lex drawled with a more serious expression. He had probably caught on to the fact that she didn't like what she's read. He was able to decipher her constantly stern expression over the years and could tell the changes to her mood from the slightest twitch of her facial muscles. And right now, her features were stiffer than normal – aka she was anxious and displeased about something.
"We're off to Alabasta. Sengoku's orders. Stationed for an undeterminable period. Need to cooperate with the Shichibukai Crocodile while at it." Her monotoned voice echoed in the room. She appeared the same as usual, or so what any other person would've believed. Her clenched jaw, fingers that tapped irregularly against the wooden desk, and a posture rivalling that of a statue's told Lex otherwise.
"Lex, do you still have the…" Without needing to complete her request, Lex tossed her exactly what she craved. A bottle of unprescribed painkillers – something that cured her of the worst headaches she suffered and Lex always carried a bottle on him whenever he's around.
After swallowing two pills along with some water, she felt slightly tipsy but generally better – better in the sense that she no longer felt like either bashing her head on something hard or splitting her table in half. Yes, they also seemed to suppress her rather violent tendencies.
"I'm guessing Crocodile is the problem here." After a while Lex sighed and leaned onto her table.
"Who knows. Maybe I just prefer sailing the sea over being stationed in one spot. In fact, I definitely prefer that." Karl challenged back and slipped on an unusual smirk. The drug had side effects, and bringing out her less serious side; a side that was normally non-existent; was one of them.
Lex wore a slightly amused, yet concerned expression at her change of character. Shaking his head he chided,
"You should get some rest. We'll discuss matters again tomorrow morning when you're more… sober."
"Oh yeah remember to take care of the speedboat I travelled on~ I tied it to the anchor~" She chirped out at his retreating figure.
"Yeah okay, I'll get to it." And with that he left her to her own drowsiness. The soft thud of the door shutting was the last thing she heard before she slouched back against her chair and slipped into a deep slumber.
The dull thuds on the deck outside woke her from her well-needed rest. The headache which had plagued her the night before disappeared with her sleep. Taking note that the drug also caused a certain level of drowsiness in her system as another side effect and should not be taken when her body was exhausted, she got up from her chair and stretched. Although she had some quality sleep, the position was awful. Sure her chair was made from soft leather and all but it did not serve the same purpose as a bed. Grimacing a little at the state of her clothing; sticky from the salty sea breeze during her travel and crumbled from her sleep; Karl decided to push back her meeting with her crew on their change of course and took a much-postponed shower.
Feeling more refreshed, Karl proceeded on with her normal morning routine which consisted of binding her chest, dressing loosely to the marine uniform code – a suit over a dress shirt and trousers wasn't her thing, and lastly making herself some straight black coffee while brushing her teeth.
Now that her body was re-energised, she began to carefully think about her next course of actions. Sailing to Alabasta was inevitable and already much postponed since she was two days late – though she could always make some excuse and blame it on the unpredictable weather of the Grandline or pirates or both. Crocodile though… Pushing out the possibility of him being anywhere akin to her nemesis, she shook her head and decided to be a little more optimistic today. Besides, she's sure the shichibukai would try his best to stay out of her way if he was indeed hiding something by taking seemingly permanent residence in Alabasta.
Whatever he's hiding; if there was anything; he better keep it well hidden or else she would purge it before its roots even sprouted. Or she would try. With her current state, she doubted a head-on fight with a Shichibukai would be favourable to her. Her last duel with Mihawk has impacted her more than she hoped for. Which brought back the question of how should she complete her style.
Her wavering ambitions or so he kindly put it as was not the problem. Karl was sure. She had not set out for sail without considering what she was seeking. Strength, freedom, and to prove to herself and to the rest of the world that she was as strong as; if not stronger; than the most powerful swordsmen. Why though? That question lingered for a while longer in her head, and once again she felt a sudden swarm of headaches build up. She always felt like as if she had forgotten something. Something important. Crucial to her identity. But what?
Letting the thought sway in and out of her mind, Karl resolved that whatever it was – she would find out one way or another. It would just take a while to get there. But that's okay, she had plenty of time, being fixed in a country of sand and warfare with nothing but a hostile warlord.
Karl stepped out of her chambers and greeted her men like usual, as if she hadn't been absent from the ship for nearly a month, and gathered them up for the announcement. To say that her men took their stationing in Alabasta with optimism was a lie. But they didn't seem as reluctant as she had initially expected which was good news for her. After all mutiny at sea was every Captain's nightmare.
She suspected that Lex had a play in this overall positive reaction. She had heard excited mutters about the exotic women unique to the desert land and mouth-watering feasts from a few men who she had passed after the big announcement. Lex always seemed to know exactly what to say to change people's moods upon hearing unpleasant news. She really should find a chance to promote him on the next island. A request for another promotion wouldn't be that hard seeing that Alabasta screamed of crime and some well-needed order. She's sure Lex would be able to appease things here and there and would give her a chance to even out her debt.
And lastly, she needed to get a new sword. Another katana would be preferable. She was most proficient at using the slightly curved blade of a katana ever since the start of her swordsmanship. Taking out her previous katana, now damaged and no longer usable after clashing blades with Mihawk, she unsheathed it for the final time and took in the chipped edges before encasing it in its sheath, leaving it to lie in a dusty drawer.