Warning, this chapter includes spoilers from the Dressrosa Arc. If you are not caught up on the manga proceed with caution and read at your own risk.
Chapter Thirty: The Sea Is Restless
"And so castles made of sand fall into the sea, eventually." - Jimi Hendrix
The sick feeling in my stomach caused me to bend over, clutching at the cramping muscles and trying not to let up the apple I had just eaten. It was tasty the first time, but I doubted it would be as good the second time.
The ship rocked, and the crew that had stayed on to do their afternoon duties was yelling and I heard more cannon fire. The wall that was the right of the bed came crumbling down as a large purple tentacle slapped around and knocked books from shelves and splintered up the boards of wood that made up the quarters.
I stared in horror as the slimy limb got closer and closer to the desk, which held Ace's log pose, Ace's hat, and my book of everything, with each swing. When it reared back, I dove for the three items, and went rolling across to the other side of the room, the three things tucked in close to my chest. The tentacle thrust back in, destroying the bed to nothing but ripped sheets and a broken-in-half headboard. It reared back again, and I took this chance to fly out the bedroom door and down the hallway. I pressed myself against the wall as Jozu went barreling down; going toward my room and toward the large tentacle from whatever sea creature had attacked the docked ship.
Our three things were held close as I jogged up the stairs, pressed against the wall yet again when two of the crew went down, following Jozu while carrying a small, mobile cannon. Once the stairs were free again, I took the last half two steps at a time, heading onto the deck head first and into a war zone. My stomach still battled with my throat, and my mouth burned with the taste of half-digested food and stomach acid.
The one tentacle that had smashed my room has now multiplied into seven other tentacles, at least three of them holding some yelling pirate with a sword stabbed into the slimey flesh. Marco is flying around, half flamed, trying to distract the beast while Whitebeard figures out a way to keep it from destroying the Moby Dick more than it already has.
Ace is nowhere to be seen. I'm so used to seeing his orange hat as a marker that it's rough to pick out his head of dark hair from the other heads that are a jumbled mess running around the ship. So, instead, I look for his usual big fire show, but that too has disappeared.
"Where the hell are you, Ace?" I grumble to myself and dodge from a flying piece of wood as it's broken off the railing that surrounds the sides of the ship. The beast roars out something almost demonic, and slashes at the ship again, using one of the free tentacles not yet attacked by the crew. The docks are a mess, with cargo boxes falling into the bay and pirates running back and forth to get their unharmed ships out of harm's way.
"Faye, watch out!" Thatch yells as he goes running toward the sea king, me in his direct path. I jump aside, trying to keep out of the way but end of being pushed back in the direction I came. I barely miss Thatch running right into me, and Marco has to grab at my collar to pull me out of the way.
"You need to be below deck, Pix," he tells me, more of a command than a statement, but I give him one look.
"What 'below deck'? That thing destroyed half of my bedroom!"
He pursed his lips; his usually droopy look is now serious and unwavering.
"What is this thing doing so far from the Calm Belt?" Marco asks himself, but it's something we're all asking.
Another cannon goes off and the beast rears back most of its tentacles before crashing them down into the water around us and on what was left of the dock. A few of the crew break the bubbly surface to spit and sputter out sea water, trying to swim away from the fearsome monster that attacked us.
"I don't know, but if it continues this, then someone is gonna have to drag us out of the water before we drown."
Just as the sea king went to strike once more, also being the time that would send us all flying off the deck and into the depthless waters that drowned any Devil Fruit user, a sharp, distinct whistle cut through the air and caused the octopus to freeze in mid attack. Suddenly, he looked like a dog that had done something bad and gotten caught in the act by his owner. The octopus dropped its tentacles, splashing up sea water and moving pirates as they swam toward shore.
"Tako! What have I told you about attacking a pirate's ship, eh? We only attack Marines!"
The octopus shrunk back, trying to hide itself, but when the whistle came again, and it cringed back, falling deeper and deeper, farther and farther into the waters. The figure standing on the high-rise cliff just above the dock that had not been touched by the crazy animal stood with broad shoulders, short dark brown hair, and held a deep, commanding voice over the animal. He reminded me of a young Whitebeard, almost, from the stories that I heard about Pops from Marco and Thatch.
"Say you're sorry, Tako."
The octopus made some strange chirp-like sound, sounding extremely apologetic, and dropped into the water until he was completely disappeared from view.
"Who the hell is that?"
"How'd he do that? With just a whistle?"
"Thank god, I felt my life flash before my eyes."
I felt my face scrunch in confusion. The crew let out a simultaneous sigh of relief once the sea king had sulked back into the sea.
"Pascal, my old friend, what brings you to Davenport?" Whitebeard boisterously laughs out, seemingly shaking the ship with the volume of his voice, but in fact it was the ship settling from where the broken wood finally gave in.
"Eh, Newgate? That you, old man?"
The figure walked closer, easily jumping around the broken dock and landing almost effortlessly on the deck of the ship. The crew jumped back in surprise, the tall figure, yet the closer the figure became, the less masculine it began to look. The height was, as I figured out, due to the high clicking heels that the person wore, and while their hair was indeed extremely short for a female, her deep voice disappeared and was replaced by a very outspoken, feminine one.
"Damn, Edward, you've gotten old."
Whitebeard simply let out a laugh, one that, this time, had shaken the ship, and swept the woman into his arms. "You have not changed one bit!"
"I'm pretty sure you've gained a few more gray hairs," she huffs out, taking in deep breaths as Whitebeard embraced her against his bare, battle-scarred chest.
"And just as sarcastic as I remember too," he says, letting the woman down. She brushes off her long red floor duster, and pulls a black hat from inside of it, placing it on top of her head.
"Darby, eh," Marco greets the woman, nodding at her in acknowledgment. She grows flustered and crosses her arms over her chest.
"It's Darwin, now, Marky. Get it right."
Marco just chuckles and shakes his head. "You'll always been that annoying little ass, eh, that followed Roger around like a lost puppy."
At the sound of Roger's name I feel my muscles seize up, along with the rest of the crew, and stare at the woman in surprise. I glance around for Ace, knowing he'll want to hear whatever this woman has to say.
"Roger was my captain, Marky. He was the most powerful man in the world. What do you expect from a power hungry teenager?"
"You knew Roger?"
I swivel around trying to locate Ace's voice, and I find him standing behind the towering woman. She tilts her head to the side to look at him. There's a sack of my fresh apples at his feet, showing that he had be previously carrying it from the pantry to, hopefully, our room before 'Tako' had attacked the ship. He has his head down, dark hair shadowing his light brown eyes, and his fists are clenched at his side. Little flashes of yellow and orange flame flicker up his arms. Darby, Darwin, Pascal - whatever her name is, spins on her heels slowly before planting her feet on the deck firmly and look at Ace. The heels of her boots, the cause for her towering height, click.
"What's it to ya, punk?"
Ace begins to tremble, he's holding down what loud voice he wants to scream out in. After he had confessed of his lineage to Whitebeard, who I assumed already knew, and after so many tales of the Pirate King passing around the ship, Ace voiced just how much he loathed the man to any and every one that brought up his dark memory. He even took his mother's name because he refused to be acknowledged as being Roger's son.
"What did you know about him?"
The woman laughs obnoxiously, almost doubling back as her lungs seem to expand tenfold with the amount of air she lets out in her laugh.
"He was my captain! I know him just as well as you know old Eddie over there."
The deck is silent, and I can feel the heat radiating off Ace from ten meters away. He's fuming, and suddenly, I'm scared the worst is going to happen. I'm scared that he's going to do something drastic. (He always does something drastic when he's mad.)
"That man was a monster that deserved what he got!" Ace suddenly shouts, and the silence in back, however, the woman lowers her own head and shakes it slowly from side to side.
"Such strong words from a weak little boy." A fireball goes sailing past her head. She laughs as she dodges it, simply tilting her head to the side as a very seasoned warrior when it comes to Devil Fruit wars. "How would you feel if I talked bad of your captain? Of your Pops? Don't say such words unless you're ready to fight a war you are not ready for!"
A long silver pipe slides down into the palm of her hand just as flame encases Ace's right arm. It's as long as her leg, with still a few inches protecting the thin skin of her wrist. Ace stops, however, staring at the pipe, and then the flames dissipate as quickly as they had shown. His right hand grabs at his left bicep, right over where is name is tattooed, and then he turns and leaves the deck, going below to the half destroyed quarters. The woman huffs out a deep breath, and twirls the pipe in her hand before catching it and letting it rest over her shoulder casually, as if this is a pose she takes on daily.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say he takes after his father, but he's definitely got his mother's temper."
Whitebeard laughs, but I know of the secret she vaguely speaks out on. I look at Marco, and he nods for me to go after Ace. The woman, Pascal, is being led away by Whitebeard to the commander meeting room, asking him of any fun adventures he has been on since they last spoke, where I'm sure they will be drinking until the stars are well high in the night sky, and his nurses are tsking at him with dismay.
I've still got our things pressed tightly to my chest, but I relax my tired arms and follow after Ace. However, the woman and I cross paths, her height causing her to tower over me much like Pops and some of the crew do, which makes me feel shorter than I already am. She smiles, almost knowingly, at me. But what is it she knows?
"My, my, look at you, little beauty. You are simply glowing."
OF MEMOIRS AND MAPS
"Luffy," Faye says quietly, looking at the aged man as she rests in her bed. How long had it been since she had seen him in person? Ten years? Twenty years?
"You got old," he says bluntly, but the two laugh and he sits on the edge of her bed, his deep red captain's coat hanging off his shoulders and half-spilling onto her dirty wood floors (she was in a desperate need to clean them). His yellow shirt is left open, half tucked into his dark blue pants, showing off the many pale-pink battle scars he has acquired over the years as a pirate. The large one on his sternum is most prominent. He seems calm; however his hands play with the rim of his worn stray hat and he can't keep still. Even after forty years he still has his same hyperactivity as she remembered from when they first met.
"We both got old," Faye says, smoothing her hands over the blanket draped across her legs to keep her warm from the oncoming early-winter chill that fills the room.
"You just had a birthday."
Faye rolls her eyes and groans, but Luffy just grins, flashing off the white teeth he has yet to lose to old age.
"Don't remind me. I'm ancient now. Death is just mocking me with letting me live."
It was meant as a joke from an old, senile woman, but Luffy stops laughing and frowns. He fidgets and plays with his hat again.
"They told me it got worse."
Faye sighs, and subconsciously a hand comes up to rest on her chest while the other goes to grab his hand and hold it tight. His wild black hair had gray in it, and wrinkles pulled at his war-torn eyes, but he looked as fit as Whitebeard had before passing on. He was still young – only two years younger than Faye, but they were young for their age. Whitebeard hadn't passed until he was at least in his seventies, but he had been at war with the World Government at the time. Faye was barely a day over sixty-seven and already she was wasting away into dust.
"Even the strongest trees must bend against the wind," Faye says, almost thoughtfully, but Luffy laughs and pats the hand that holds onto his.
"And you call me old!"
"Oh shut it, you prehistoric bat. I'm surprised your head isn't cut off by now, Sir Pirate King."
Luffy had held the title for decades. She remembered hearing of his feat, first through rumors and then through the newspapers and then by himself when he found her – making it a mission of his to do so – and take care of her while she raised Anne. His adorable little niece, Anne… Luffy had been a wonderful uncle, close to the same level that Marco had been to Faye when she was young and rowdy.
"And I plan on keeping it for a few more years." He winks at her, his grin never faltering. But then the air in the room changes. Faye feels the subject change far before either person speaks a word. Luffy looks from Faye to the window not but two feet from her bed. His ship is docked just at the bottom of the hill that leads to her small cottage where she lives, overlooking the growing village of the West Blue (she says she came for the apples, but if anyone knew of her past and how to read a map, they would know it was because she would be the closest to Ace's grave without being in the middle of pirate territory).
Faye doesn't even realize she's holding her breath.
"The sea is restless," he says, not taking his old eyes away from the sparkling waters. His old crew mates, the ones that had been through everything with him, from the very beginning, were restocking the ship, making it a priority to be ready as soon as their Captain called for the sails to be set for the rolling winds.
"I know," Faye says, but it's breathy as she exhales the lungful she had been holding it. Those words, she's heard those words before... "I felt it weeks ago. Something is going to happen."
"I've had this feeling before. Right before I heard about Ace's…"
Faye winces at the old memory, still fresh as if it had just occurred moments ago, and she knows Luffy is sensitive on the subject of his late brother. Luffy finally looks to her, holding her green gaze. "Be ready, Faye. Something is coming, and I don't know if I can stop it."
Faye just squeezes his hand and nods, letting no more on the topic be spoken as she begins to tell him the stories of Mia and Acel. Happy thoughts cover the scared ones, but the darkness still peaks through.
They grow silent after almost an hour of storytelling, catching up on the lost years. Faye pulls at a bare thread from the blanket over his legs, and it gives without much effort.
"How is Sabo?"
She had met the man once, when Luffy had originally found her after becoming Pirate King. Sabo had sailed with his sworn brother, met the woman that had stolen the heart of the late flame-tamer, and when she had found out that he had eaten the resurrected Devil Fruit that had once been Ace's, Faye cried.
It was the final stone set in place that told her he was gone.
Anne was only a baby at the time, too busy chewing on the piece of ice her mother had given her to ease the pain of teething. Luffy had gathered Faye in his arms, Sabo doing the same, and the three held onto each other in what would become a very precious moment that Faye still looked back on every now and then. The warmth that Sabo gave off, though, the unnatural heat that poured out of his skin like some natural perfume of manly musk had made the woman scared to every see him again.
He was too much like Ace.
Luffy sighed, running a hand through his unkept hair. "He's off doing his own thing again. Causing trouble for the World Government, which is what he's always done, but he apparently has a death wish. He was almost caught about a month ago. He got away, of course, but they're getting closer and closer, Faye. It's only a matter of time before one of us slips up…"
With what is left of her strength, Faye musters up enough to rear her fist back and then slam it into his shoulder. The old pirate goes tumbling off her bed, now in a heap on her floor.
"That's when you go get his ass and smack some sense into him! Like hell we're going to let him get cocky and get caught."
Luffy just laughs as he rubs at the now sore spot on his shoulder, before he stands and pulls a chair up to Faye's bed side, no longer risking his safety by sitting too close by.
"Hand me that book," she says, pointing to the brown leather book that sits on the corner of her desk on the other side of the room. His hand stretches, something that has become a first nature reaction to Luffy, and he pulls the book into his lap. She doesn't immediately ask for it as he flicks through some of the pages, making note of the half-done map. She has a very accurate map of the Grandline, give or take a few islands, but the second half that should make up the New World is blank. That is, other than a few islands, such as the one they currently sit dormant at and the small one right at the entrance of the New World, and one in particular named Ynis Witrin, located in North Blue.
He moves on from the maps and goes on to the sketches and concept designs of her many creations. There's anything from hats to jackets to what had once been a dress for Anne's wedding day. Near the back, however, are old, smudged drawings that range anywhere from drawings of a snow covered beach to figures to incredible portraits.
Luffy stops on one particular and almost doesn't believe his eyes. The drawing could have been a picture that had just been freshly developed. It was the deck of the Moby Dickwith the Whitebeard crew laughing and drinking to their hearts' content. Amongst them is Whitebeard himself, who has a large gourd of ale in his hand while the other waves around in the air. Marco and Thatch and Ace stand together, leaning against the other with drunken looks. However, one face in particular makes him go fringed.
"This woman, how do you know her?" Luffy says, pushing the book into her lap and pointing to the tall woman that stands not far from Whitebeard, her own mug of ale gripped tight in her hand. Faye racks her head for the name, knowing the face looks familiar.
"That's um, oh shoot, what's her name..."
"Pascal," Luffy says, hoping it jogs some vague memory. Faye snaps her fingers.
"Right! Pascal. Darwin, I believe she's called, however Marco called her Darby… But yes, she came onto the ship one day after a Sea King attacked us while we were docked. A very interesting thing she was. She figured out I was pregnant when I didn't even know…" Faye rubs at her chin as if in deep thought. "Why do you ask?"
Luffy just grins and continues to stare at the drawing before moving onto the next one. Faye frowns, but finally Luffy answers her question.
"She's my mother."
OF MEMOIRS AND MAPS
I lean against the railing of the ship causally, using the fading light from the sunset behind me to catch the shadows and highlights of the scene before me, doing quick gesture sketches before I define the faces and movements more. My left hand scribbles across the once-black page of my book while the right slowly brings my ale to my lips. I take in a deep swallow, keeping my eyes on the drawing. I'm nowhere near the best artist on the ship, but the scene keeps the memory forever remembered. We had gotten our party, and while it was not particularly for the reason I had asked for, it was good enough for me.
Ace had been up here earlier, laughing with his brothers and crewmates, but once Pascal, the loud woman she was, moved too far from Whitebeard's side and got too close to him for comfort, Ace moved and went back under deck. It had taken me the rest of the afternoon to coax him from our half-destroyed quarters, and I knew there would be no luck in doing the same thing again.
He wouldn't explain why the loud woman caused him to act in such a way, but after I had eased his chaotic mind and forced him out of the room onto the ship's deck where the crew was dragging barrels of ale and plates of food. My sack of apples was among it. I quickly put that to rest and dragged it back into the pantry myself, refusing others to touch my precious fruit.
When I walked back out onto the deck, Ace and Marco were well into drinking their weight in beer, and I snacked on an apple as I watched them for a moment. Ace pulled me to his side as soon as I got close enough and did not dare let me go more than arm's length away from him.
"I can trust you as far as I can throw you," he once told me.
"I wouldn't be drinking that if I were you," Pascal tells me, taking it upon herself to take a seat near my propped feet, drinking swiftly from her mug. I take these few seconds to observe her, catching the small details of her face that I missed from being so far away. I quickly add them to the sketch on my lap. A small ring pierced through her nose. Three small diamonds nestled in her left ear. A long, but thin white scar goes from her left temple to her chin. She has crows feet wrinkling in the corners of her brown eyes.
"And if I were you I'd shove that opinion up your ass," I tell her without missing a beat, before swallowing a good bit from my own mug. She just chuckles and shakes her head.
"You'll be wishing you followed my advice very soon."
"And how did you come to that conclusion?"
Pascal smirks over the lip of her mug, before she places it down on the crate.
"When you puke it back up tomorrow morning along with that apple."
She nods in the direction to the apple core rolling around on the crate I sit on. I just stare blankly at her, not convinced. Pascal shakes her head and leans back, looking over the party.
"How do you change your voice?" I ask her, interested in the drastic change of deepness that she had used earlier to call the Sea King away compared to the light-heartedness of the one she speaks with now.
"What voice?" she asks, and I see her lips moving, but it sounds like Whitebeards'. "You mean this voice?" Now I hear Ace's. Truthfully, it is a bit startling to hear. "Or maybe this one?"
My fists clinch, and I stare dead on to the woman, holding back the want to slam my fist into her nose. It is my own voice that I hear this third time.
Pascal just laughs, grabbing at her diaphragm as she does.
"My dear, it is simply an advantage of my Devil Fruit power."
"So if I push you into the water, you'll drown, right?"
She gives me a very suspicious look, not amused by my "joke".
"I would be very cautious as to what you say to me, my dear."
"Another piece of opinion that you can-"
"Shove up my ass, yes, I'm very aware."
I look at her one last time before looking back at my sketch, using the last bits of daylight to shadow around some bits of her face. I'm teased with the idea of completely obscuring her figure, but hold back from it. One of the crew members goes around, lighting at lanterns hanging on different parts of the ship, bringing back the light that I needed. As I take the last swallow from my ale, basking in the tangy taste of it, I feel Pascal's eyes on me yet again.
"You really don't know, do you?" She asks slowly, clasping both of her hands around her mug. I just look at her, not wanting to waste my voice on her. Pascal just shakes her head again and goes to stand up. "The sea is a restless place, my little beauty. It is not meant for a woman and a baby. Take it from someone with the experience."
She then walks away, leaving me shocked, speechless, and scared.
Because all I can suddenly think about is Voltaire.
Darby/Darwin "Pascal" is my character. Please do not use her without my permission.
I'm very fascinated in the mystery of Luffy's mother and decided to use my creative license to create who I could see Dragon having a child with. And thus, she is born. After I finish this story, or hell, even before I finish it, I may actually write of her. Otherwise, for right now, let's just keep what information we have about her here.
Reminder: Acel is said Ah-Cee-El. Mia is around sixteen years old at this time.
And this is not the last mentioning of Sabo. Don't worry. We'll see him again quite soon. Don't. You. Worry.
Also, in response to a review I received from the last chapter, from NightHunterDeath:
This story is very personal to me, because as Faye goes through her ups and downs, I've also been going through ups and downs. (That's half the reason why it's taken me almost 5 years to write what I've written.) However, I believe that Faye is beginning to find strength because I have also begun to find strength in myself, in my writing and other things. She has a strong inner core, but a weak outer core, and she fears that if she moves the strength from inner to outer, she will become weak on the inside and easily swayed in certain aspects. This is why these next five or so chapters are going to be important on the characterization of Faye. So keep an eye out. And remember, balance is the key to life.
And I lied. I didn't edit anymore of the earlier chapters. I'll get around to it sometime. Enjoy. xx