The scorching heat amidst the endless dunes wiped the men of any fantasies they might've had previously towards the country of deserts and warfare – Alabasta. Groans and complaints escaped the lips of well-trained Marines who were used to the cool breeze from the sea as they trudged on.
Karl exhaled deeply as she tugged on the sleeves, trying to cover as much of her skin as possible – sunburnt was inevitable though. The swarm of heat clustered inside her cloak combined with trails of sweat seeping down her shirt which was already drenched was borderline tolerable. But the presence of Lex drew the last straw.
"Lex. One more word from you about the likelihood of all of us dying from dehydration before we make it to the post and I'll bury you in the sand myself." She didn't even bother to hide the irritation from her voice.
"I would be scared if your voice didn't crack twice in that one sentence." Despite not drinking any liquid for the past day or so, Lex's voice was annoyingly the same as usual.
"Just shut up okay." Karl grimaced a little at her voice which was akin to that of a teenage boy who had just hit puberty.
"There there. Take it easy. You're gonna rip those melodious vocal cords that make the girls swoon every time."
Karl would've retorted that she would kill him someday if she didn't find it increasingly more difficult to just breathe normally. She wouldn't want to waste her breath any more than she had to.
"I'm so sorry Captain! It's all my fault that I've lost the map and the eternal post and now we're stuck in the middle of nowhere..." An apologetic voice rang from her left. Was he weeping? He must have some pretty impressive tear glands to be able to produce any moisture after taking in little to no water for the past day or two.
"Save those words for when we reach the base. I do not need apologies." She dismissed him with as much of a level voice as she could muster. He was undoubtedly suspicious. She should've known that something was wrong the moment her navigator fell sick without a warning when they docked at Nanohana and instead an ensign, who was stationed there, volunteered to take his place as a substitute navigator.
"Don't beat yourself up over it. It couldn't be helped." Lex stepped in to offer words of kindness to the officer. A look of gratitude towards his saviour, the ensign bowed and stepped away from the brooding captain.
Shooting a glare at her second in command, Karl went through some of the more creative roles she could torture Lex with once they reached the marine base. Perhaps assign him to a unit with only men to crush his dream of working alongside beautiful Alabasta women. That guy always got on her nerves during situations like this. He knew as well as her that something was fishy about that ensign yet he acted as if nothing was wrong. Didn't he understand that the lives of her crew were at stake here? Dehydration was lethal in a country like Alabasta. He probably didn't. Otherwise, he wouldn't be joking about the matter.
"Keep an eye on him. I'll personally interrogate him once we reach the base." With that, Karl strode past Lex and marched ahead in an attempt to scout the area for any noticeable landmarks. Somewhere in the background, Lex muttered,
"If you interrogate him, we'll never get anywhere." The words escaped Karl's ears – the heat was too much for her to be able to concentrate on anything else.
A few weeks ago, they had docked their ship on the docks of Nanohana and had restocked enough supplies to last over a week before heading off to Alabasta. It was only supposed to take a few days to reach the base, yet almost two weeks had passed but there was still no sight of Alabasta.
The map which the ensign had lost stated that Alabasta was due north-east of Nanohana and even without a compass – they could easily predict the bearings from the position of the sun. But where the hell was the goddamn capital city. The scorching sand seemed to burn into the heels of her feet as she once again trudged on another mountainous sand dune. As she reached the top, she glanced over her shoulder to ensure that her crew was still in a visible distance behind her before glaring up at the blazing sun.
Stretching her arm out towards the ball of fire which was due to sink in the far west in a few hours, she estimated the coordinates of north-west to make sure that they had been travelling on course. The sight of nearing infrastructure froze her in her tracks. An oasis she thought.
On the far end of the horizon was what appeared to be civilisation. The moment of ecstasy passed as she let out a deep exhale and fell back onto the sand. The heat numbed her senses yet she refused to get up and instead bathed in the same sunlight she had loathed a couple of minutes ago. The prospect of a fresh source of water brought a tenuous smile to her features as she spread her arms in the sand, waiting for her crew to catch up.
"Your face is red but green." Lex jested, unsuccessfully holding back a laugh, as she proceeded to apply some sort of herbal ointment to her sunburnt skin. She ignored him.
"Were you seriously sunbathing in the middle of the desert when the temperature was above 40? Hahahahaha, were you delirious or what" Clearly he wasn't about to let her off easily. Karl let out a sigh and berated herself again. Maybe she really was delirious, but Lex didn't need to know.
"I already told you. I was simply taking a short break while waiting for you lot to catch up. You were too slow." She retorted at last, hissing at little as she put too much pressure on her inflamed skin.
"Yeah yeah sure" Lex grinned waving it off casually. Clearly he wasn't buying her lies.
"Have you looked into that ensign." Deciding that it was better to steer the conversation to safer waters, Karl asked with a serious face.
"Oh him… I forgot." He smiled sheepishly as Karl fumed.
"So what the heck were you doing this whole time?!" Finally, her temper had snapped as she slammed her hand into the table, causing the bottle of ointment to fall off and shatter on the concrete floor.
"Eh, looking after you?" He answered with a nervous laugh before fleeing out of the door.
"Get back here!" She yelled while tossing a book which had been lying innocently on the table previously at Lex's fleeing figure.
They had arrived at the marine base in Alabasta yesterday with a foot in the grave already for some. Karl regretted her decision to lie vulnerably under the scorching sun the very next morning when she woke up to the burning pain on parts of her body which wasn't covered by her cloak. Her face was one of those parts. Glancing at her reflection in the bronze mirror, she grimaced slightly. Her face was covered with green blots of ointment, hiding the angry red marks underneath. Well, it's going to take a while until she greets someone with her usual face again.
"Um Captain?" Looking up with a raised brow, Karl found herself staring at Lex who had returned.
"Well, this is surprising. You've already looked into him and ready to report back to me?" She questioned while twirling a fountain pen in her hands.
"About that… It seems that he disappeared after we arrived yesterday." Blinking once to register his words, Karl looked incredulously at her second in command.
"…" For a while, they just stared at each other. Karl in disbelief and Lex looked at her apologetically. A few moments later, Karl let out a sigh and slumped back onto the chair.
"Don't beat yourself too much over it. We should've expected it." She was the captain. It's mostly her responsibility to take care of matters like this.
"I…" Lex looked like he was ready to apologise before she cut him off.
"Don't. Just bring me his enlistment profile and other files related to him."
"Understood Captain." Lex saluted and without further notice, proceeded to leave her office.
"Wait," Karl added and he turned around looking slightly confused.
"Bring me a mask. I can't go around looking like this." She ordered with a little hesitation.
"Of course, our handsome captain can't go around looking like an ogre after all." He chuckled before waving his hand and dodging another book aimed at his back. She thought he'd be a little disgruntled after realising their miscalculation, but clearly, nothing was going to change that blockhead.
Her workload had increased once more. She had only just assumed her role as the marine captain of Alabasta but already her desk was piled with paperwork and she was currently awaiting more paperwork. This wasn't exactly what she had envisioned on her way here but clearly, she was never going to escape her responsibilities as a marine.
What happened to all the mysteries and crime surrounding the desert country? She thought she'd at least be using her sword a few times a day here but clearly she assumed wrong.
Lex returned again in the afternoon with a fresh pile of documents in one arm and a small pouch in the other. Tossing her the pouch and dropping the files on her desk, he looked at her expectantly. Under his look of anticipation, she opened the pouch and stared at its contents. A mask. What she had asked for. But… Why was it decorated?
"Could you please explain why you bought me a cat-faced mask." She deadpanned after taking it out.
"Doesn't it suit you?" He asked innocently though the smirk which tugged at his lips said otherwise.
"Don't compare me to the likes of you." Tossing the mask at his face, Karl felt a bit exasperated. Why did she agree to let him board her ship again? Somehow, all of Lex's skills and virtues seemed to have escaped her as she thought about shipping him back to Aokiji.
"Hey you wound me! What's wrong with liking cats? They're a gift from God!" Lex gasped at her jab towards his adoration for the fluff balls.
After some more bickering, Lex relented and pulled out another mask he had bought and chucked it on her table.
"Fine. I knew you wouldn't appreciate my refined tastes so I bought the ugliest mask I saw." Picking up the black and silver mask, Karl nodded in approval. A silver-coloured mask with simple black swirls cutting in diagonally and a thin ribbon threading from each side. Perfect. Ignoring his remark, she pulled the mask to her face and tied a knot with the ribbon behind her head. Now she didn't need to worry about either scaring the marines or getting laughed at when she left the room.
At least one of her problems was resolved. Flipping through the files Lex had formulated she tried to configure a plan to find their missing 'ensign'.
"Are you sure that all his details were fabricated?" She questioned after reading through his report.
"Yep. I've investigated his address as well as members of his supposed family. They were all fabricated."
"Just how did he get past the Marine's background check…" She wondered out loud and rapped the surface of the table.
"That is assuming that he was indeed a marine ensign as he claimed to be."
"Now that you mentioned it… It was weird how suddenly a dozen marines popped out of nowhere when we docked…" Karl groaned, realising her mistake.
"We probably need to reinvestigate at Nanohana again," Lex added
"Just when we got here… And now we have to return to that port again…"
After confirming a few other points, she dismissed Lex and began to work through the other piles of paperwork on her desk. She vowed to complete all of them before she headed off to sleep but it was already well deep into the night yet she still has almost half of the initial amount of paperwork left to do.
"Just 10 minutes…" She told herself as she leaned her head against the table for a short nap. Her eyelids grew heavier as she blanked out. That night she dreamt of the sea. The tireless tides and the constant rocking beneath her feet. The salty sea breeze and the waters which brought with it endless adventures. And of course, she dreamt of wielding her old sword. Cutting down Mihawk and forcing him to acknowledge her strength. It was a good sleep despite the high chances that her neck and back would be sore the next morning.