Many thanks to the people who reviewed chapter 7! You all were fantastic and gave me the motivation to slog through the rest of this chapter! As always, a thanks to my beta, ghostperson!
Four of Cups, reversed - Sudden awareness, choosing happiness, acceptance...
Late 1520
Oh it was good to be back.
The Akatokuro was about the size of Garp's ship the Bulldog. Not quite the size of one of the Marine battleships, but quite a bit larger than the standard. Painted a sleek black instead of the usual green and blue, with a figure head of entwined hibiscuses - one black and one red. Otherwise it matched the standard design, identifying them as Marines to everyone on the seas.
A familiar figure waited for her on deck. "Rear Admiral Noir."
She thought she'd broken him of that. Noir waved off the salute. "Cade, we've know each other for how long?"
"Seventeen years, sir."
"How many more times do I have to ask you to drop the formalities?" Noir asked, craning her neck back to eye her First Mate.
Cade's stoic expression didn't so much as twitch. "At least one more time, Rear Admiral. Shall I debrief you on the events of the past year?"
Noir nodded, listening to Cade's report as she skimmed through the file he'd put together for her. Most of the paperwork was in her Second Mate's flowing script, but while Rafi could speed through paperwork faster than a professional bureaucrat, she didn't have Cade's organizational skills. Rafi actually did most of the paperwork. Cade was the one to look it over and make corrections before filing everything. An arrangement both of them preferred. Rafi - for some strange, unfathomable reason - loved doing paperwork. Cade had a stringent filing system and became a general pain in the ass when someone messed with it. Of course, there was paperwork only Cade could fill out and sometimes Rafi couldn't wait for Cade to file her work, but for the most part their system worked so Noir let them be.
Logistics, ship maintenance, updated personnel roster and significant changes to any personnel files, significant clashes with New World pirates - Cade took her through every part of the crew and ship. He'd done a fine job in her absence. He'd make an excellent ship captain if he ever transferred from Noir's command.
Noir's eye fell on a single sheaf of paper at the back of the file, and she froze before she could crumple the entire file.
Cade didn't need to ask what she was looking at. "Several attempts to transfer Petty Officer Ten Sile were made." Noir's eye twitched. Damn buzzards. "I believe they thought they would succeed in your absence."
"I bet they did." Noir grumbled, scanning the list of names. She scowled. Several attempts her ass. There were two columns of names in Cade's neat but miniscule writing. She recognized the majority. Rear Admirals and Vice Admirals who had attempted to poach Sile from her command before. And - damn that man - Admiral Akainu.
When Noir first brought Sile into her crew, no one gave a second glance to the eleven-year-old chore boy, other than to wonder why the hell Noir would bring a chore boy along when she clashed so often with a Yonko. It wasn't until someone investigated why Noir's crew never needed new ropes that they realized Sile had a Devil Fruit.
And then everyone wanted the thirteen-year-old. The Nawa Nawa no Mi was a versatile Fruit, and Noir had not allowed Sile to forgo learning to control it. The issue Noir's colleagues and superiors had was that Noir did not have Sile fighting on the frontlines. A waste of a Devil Fruit, according to them.
Noir didn't give a damn. Not three years ago when the poaching attempts began, and sure as hell not now.
"How is he?" Noir asked.
"We won't be running out of rope any time soon." Cade replied. Still shaken then. That wasn't surprising. There had been more transfer attempts during Noir's vacation than the two years before that. Noir was more surprised that Sile was still functioning under all the stress. Sile was notorious among the crew for not handling pressure very well.
Still, Noir had better go reassure him.
Finding her young Petty Officer was a simple matter. Noir simply reached out with her Haki and searched for the aura quivering with anxiety.
Oh Sile. Cade wasn't wrong. There was a lot of rope. Noir could just make out Sile's dreadlocks over the rope coiled by the corner. The transfer attempts must have scared Sile more than Noir thought, if Sile was falling back on old coping mechanisms.
"Sile." Noir said softly. Sile's aura stuttered.
"Rear Admiral?" Sile peeked his head out from behind the large coil of rope. Noir felt like she'd been transported five years into the past, as a child with a too thin face peeked out behind a crate, curiosity and hope warring with wariness.
He hasn't been eating. Sile hadn't been this thin since before he joined the Akatokuro.
Something to mention to the cook and the doctor. Those two were an unholy terror when they set their minds to it, and no one had managed to slip out of their clutches in the fourteen years Noir had known them.
Noir crouched down so she was eye level with the sitting teen. "I'm back." She said softly. Relief loosened Sile's aura, like a rope going slack.
"You left." Sile said.
"I know." Noir said. Sile wasn't looking for an explanation, so Noir didn't bother with one. "I won't be taking another vacation for at least a couple years. And not for longer than a couple weeks if I do."
Sile fiddled with the rope in his hands. Noir made her way closer, settling down a couple feet away. Sile's shoulders were hunched in on himself, face bowed down out of sight.
"Cade told me about the transfer attempts." Noir prompted. Sile shuddered. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Sile twisted his hands around the piece of rope, unraveling it in his distress. "Admiral Akainu showed up with my transfer orders. In person. I didn't-" Sile sucked in a deep breath and held it until he stopped shaking. Noir waited patiently, taking care to keep her anger out of her expression and body language. She could blow up later. Somewhere Sile wouldn't see and think himself the cause of her ire. "I didn't think I'd be able to get out of it this time."
Noir reached out slowly and placed her hands around Sile's. "Sile," she said, holding Sile's gaze so he could be certain of her sincerity, "I promise you, the only way you'll ever leave this ship is by your request or over my dead body." It was a possibility, and Noir couldn't promise that if she died Cade would be able to hold off his superior officers like Noir had been doing for years now.
Besides, "I doubt the rest of the crew will let you go without a massive fight." Noir added. Her eyes cut to the left. "Right, Rafi?"
Too-dark shadows writhed, black ink swirling upwards to form a young woman with dark hair. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Sile. "You bet! You're our ropemaker! Akainu can go hang."
Not how Noir would have put it, but appreciated all the same from Sile's wobbly smile. "Thanks." He said, and Noir ignored the lump in his throat and the shiny quality to his eyes.
Rafi and Noir left Sile quickly after that so the teen could break down in privacy. For which Noir was thankful. She really didn't know how to deal with tears.
"He held up well." Rafi murmured. "Akainu had an escort when he hailed us. Apparently," her upper lip curled, "he was on route to deal with pirates over in West Blue. Convenient that he happened to pass our last reported vicinity and could personally order Sile's immediate transfer to his command."
Yeah, Noir called bullshit on that too.
"We couldn't exactly tell Akainu to take a swim." Rafi continued. Noir withheld a snort. Oh, but that would be so tempting. "So Cade accepted the written orders from Akainu before regretfully informing him of your standing orders to confirm all such transfer requests with Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
The younger woman smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "I didn't hear the conversation, but Akainu was most displeased when he left."
Noir was abruptly reminded of why she loved her crew. "Remind me to pick up something special for Fleet Admiral Sengoku." The man deserved it, putting up with all the idiots in Noir's absence. Noir was sorry about that, if only because of the inevitable headaches.
"Aye, aye." Rafi agreed. Of course she'd be happy about that. It meant they would make port somewhere known for excellent booze. Rafi grinned at Noir. "There were some interesting rumors going around headquarters."
Not this again. "Any rumors about my supposed pregnancy are Stupid." Noir told her Second Mate, her tone leaving no room for doubt. If Garp was behind this, Noir was going to steal the man's sake and toss his rice crackers into the ocean. Commanding officer or not.
Rafi pouted. "Aw. I wanted to see little Portgas' running around."
"Have your own damn kids."
"But imagine it!" Rafi insisted. Noir didn't have to. Dadan had shown her Ace's baby photos. Noir had a couple tucked away in her luggage. "A little girl or boy with freckles and red hair…"
Noir was not going to slam her head into the nearest horizontal surface. No matter how tempting it was. "I swear, you and Garp…" Noir growled. Why the hell did they insist on pairing her with Shanks? Nothing had ever happened between them and nothing ever would!
"I'm a Marine, not dead." Rafi told her dryly. "And Red Hair is hot. If he weren't so hung up on you, I'd totally tap that."
Noir pinched the bridge of her nose. She was going to pretend she never heard that, because she did not want those mental images in her head. "Rafi, I can't have kids with someone I'm going to kill."
Fuck that still hurt.
Rafi near screeched to a halt. "Wait, what? I thought we were arresting Red Hair!"
The greying blonde leaned against the Akatokuro's railing, feeling far older than her thirty-seven years. She didn't look at her subordinate, keeping her gaze stubbornly on the open sea. "The World Government will not be content to allow Shanks to rot in Impel Down." Noir managed after a moment. "His only future is the execution platform. It's time I stopped dancing around that fact."
Even if the World Government didn't execute Shanks, imprisonment would kill him just as surely. Shanks was a creature of freedom, of the open seas where nothing ruled over a man but Nature herself. Losing that freedom would wither Shanks' spirit. It would be a far crueler fate than the executioner's glaive.
No, if Shanks were to be imprisoned instead of executed, Noir would not arrest him. She would be merciful and kill him as a free man. It was the least she could do for her childhood friend.
"I'm sorry." Rafi said.
Noir sighed heavily. "I am too."
A moment of silence. Noir turned her face to the breeze and lost herself in the crashing waves and the calls of the albatrosses overhead.
Shanks would eventually end up on that blasted platform. It might take years. But sooner or later, if he didn't get himself killed, Shanks would slow down enough to be caught by the Marines. And Noir would watch Shanks die the same way as Roger.
The sooner Noir resigned herself to that, the better off she'd be.
Rafi leant up against the rail next to Noir. "We picked up several new crew members." She said, tone deliberately light and cheery. "They haven't learned not to bet against you yet."
Unbidden, Noir snorted. "You are a cruel, cruel woman."
Rafi grinned. "I learned from the best. Besides, the rookies have to learn sometime."
It was always fun to see the Rear Admiral clean out everyone's pockets. Well, provided you weren't the one sitting across from her at the poker table.
This was the third round of rookies. Those who'd already lost were ribbing their comrades as Noir won weeks of pay off them, all the while steadily drinking. Most would have been tipsy an hour ago, but Noir's cheeks only had a tinge of flush to them, and her gaze was still sharp.
Orion remembered being in the same position, years ago when he'd transferred to Noir's command. She'd cleaned him out of a month's worth of pay. Orion had held a grudge against the Captain for over a year before he attended another game night and watched the newest transfers - victims - suffer the same fate. Which was when everything had clicked and Orion understood.
Yes, the Rear Admiral routing her subordinates at cards was arguably unethical and an abuse of her position. Yes, someone could probably make a case for her breaking Marine protocols. Yes, it sucked losing that much in one sitting.
But it did accomplish Noir's goal of uniting the crew and giving them a common ground. Everyone on the ship had lost money to Noir, and no one had ever won enough off her to make up for it. It was like playing against the House - given enough time, you would lose more than you won, and with Noir you already started out in the red.
It set the foundation upon which trust could be built between the crew. Noir's first priority wasn't the respect of her subordinates. No, it was trust between each other. Because Noir knew the veterans respected her enough, and that the rookies would learn to trust her or eventually transfer out. Which was fine in her book. What wasn't fine was the lack of trust between comrades getting them killed.
They were hunting a Yonko. They needed to trust each other to guard their backs, because the pirates certainly weren't going to give them any slack.
Of course, Orion also had the enviable position of knowing how Noir was so damn good at cards. Few people ever figured it out. Among the crew, Orion could count on one hand those in the know, and maybe a handful of others elsewhere.
Noir had an unparalleled mastery of Observation Haki. Orion had never met another person with as fine tuned Observation as Noir. It gave her such a detailed sense of another's emotions that they might as well wear their heart on their sleeve.
Orion asked once if that counted as cheating. Noir snorted. Some people had the skill to count cards, to read body launguage and minute tells, she argued. Noir could read a person's aura. Which wasn't a yes or a no.
Cheating or not, Noir was the undisputed Queen of Cards.
Orion caught Rafi discreetly making her way over to him, sliding between the various crew members. He didn't have any skill in Haki like most of the crew, but he had a good eye. Rafi wasn't her usual cheerful self underneath the smile she wore.
He stayed silent. If Rafi wanted to talk, she would. She knew Orion would lend a listening ear.
"We're going to kill Red Hair." Rafi muttered.
That was surprising. Orion raised his brows at Rafi. Noir had been adamant about arresting Red Hair, despite the fact that killing the Yonko would be much easier. What made the Rear Admiral change her mind?
Rafi shook her head. "We're still arresting Red Hair." She let out an explosive breath. "He'll still die though, and we'll be the cause of it, no matter we won't be the ones to swing the executioner's blade."
Orion frowned. He knew that already. Was Rafi saying she hadn't?
The woman in question scowled at Orion. "Why didn't you say anything?" Because it was obvious? Rafi pinched the bridge of her nose. "Noir isn't happy about it."
His expression went from deadpan to incredulous. Noir hadn't realized they'd be bringing Red Hair in for execution? What did she think would happen? A prison sentence? Red Hair was a Yonko and former Roger pirate.
"Red Hair and Noir are childhood friends." Rafi said, and Orion froze. He had not known that.
Everyone knew Noir and Red Hair had known each other for a long time. Hell, their interactions screamed familiarity with each other. Orion thought that was from decades of clashes; that Red Hair's affection for Noir simple pirate insanity and Noir's fond exasperation her being accustomed to Red Hair's oddities. But childhood friends?
Well, shit.
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