Chapter 2: The Things You Overhear

(Hello all. This is my very first published fanfic. Please feel free to leave any comments at all and have a great day.)

Disclaimer: I do not known any of the One Piece characters. This is a non-canon work of fiction.

Warning: I do realize that Kairee comes off like a Mary Sue, yes. Haha, I suppose I just ended up writing her that way. Whether that retracts from the experience or not is entirely up to the reader. I do hope you all enjoy the story, though.

….

"Oi, prisoner! Wake up!"

She cracked an eyelid open and found a wall of white in front of her. Starting and sitting up, she found a large white polar bear wearing a pair of black pants with yellow suspenders standing in front of her. He looked quite impatient, arms folded.

"Ah, um, good morning?" She assumed it was morning. She also tried not to be fazed by the sudden development of meeting a talking bear.

"Hurry up! Captain asked me to get you to the mess room, and I'm missing breakfast because of you," he bellowed.

"Oh… Okay. I'm sorry about that," she remarked, putting her sandals on.

"Hmph. Well, let's just get going."

They made their way up as the bear spoke. "Since you're new here, and you're a prisoner as well, that means you have to listen to my orders."

"Oh. Well, okay."

He stopped abruptly in his tracks as they approached the dining area's door and turned to her. "What did you say?"

"Um… Okay?" she repeated, confused.

"Do… Do you really mean that?" he asked, his expression of pleased shock.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I am a prisoner after all, like you said."

"Ah! Y-Yeah! You're under me, so there's no doubt about it." He turned back towards the direction of their destination, seemingly very self-satisfied, and they began walking again. She kinda felt sorry for him. He probably wasn't listened to a whole lot, and made a mental note to ask him plenty of questions when the opportunity arose.

Polar bear opened the mess room door and they found, as it seemed, nearly all of the crew sitting at the table, halfway through breakfast. They stopped abruptly as the pair entered the room.

"Here she is, Captain."

A lump formed in her throat as everyone fixed their eyes on her. The Captain's lazy smile slackened slightly.

"Soliss-ya, since you'll be working for us, you'll need to refer to us all properly. You've already met Bepo," he gestured to his recent escort.

"I'm the navigator," he boasted to Kairee, who was slightly surprised at this.

The Captain nodded his head slightly at the member sitting across him, who had twisted his body to look behind him. It was bandana-guy. "This is Tern." The man addressed gave an unimpressed grunt and turned back to his food.

"Beluga." Starhat, sitting at the farthest right from the Captain, gave a curt nod.

"Penguin." The Penguin-hat man to Law's right adjusted his hat.

"Puffin." The goggle-hat, sitting to Law's left and looking anxious once again, was looking across the table as if surveying the food.

"Shachi is in the control room acting as a lookout."

"And, of course, me," the Captain leaned forward in his chair, locking his fingers in front of his face, still smiling lazily. "Trafalgar Law. But you already knew that."

"Your breakfast is on the counter, you'll be eating it there. After that, you'll clean this place up. Bepo will give you further instructions afterwards."

The Captain gestured that she was dismissed from the company's presence, and she thankfully made her way to the counter, where a plate of eggs and beans, already cool, were waiting.

She ate without complaint as she heard the crewmembers rise from their chairs one by one after they'd finished their meals, chatted with each other, and eventually left the room to attend to their duties.

When she had done and was about to gather the dishes left on the table to wash them, she found Puffin was still there, saving from leftovers in the fridge. He noticed her watching and his round cheeks seemed to puff off even more, whether with embarrassment or indignation, Kairee was not quite sure.

"I'm the cook," he offered quickly as an explanation. "Sometimes the others like themselves a snack when they're taking a break, so I leave food in here." He was still holding the fridge door open, and through the space, Kairee could see an assortment of fruits on the fridge door.

As though reading her mind, Puffin's eyes darted uneasily left and right before saying, "The Captain tries to make sure we have plenty of fruits and greens in our diet. To be healthy and such." Then, very quickly, he wrapped up what he was doing and left the room, seemingly regretting providing that information on her.

She cleaned the dishes and the surfaces while left to her own thoughts. She couldn't decide whether the Captain-Doctor was better or worse than she had originally expected and thought. After she'd finished her work, she recalled that Bepo was to meet her, but realizing that she might get into trouble for wandering the ship on her own, she decided to wait in the dining area.

Thankfully, Bepo entered the room after a few minutes.

"Oi there, Kairee right?" He seemed in a much better mood than when he'd woken her up this morning.

"Ah yes, that's right."

"Alright. The Captain told me to show you around, so you better pay close attention." She followed him out the door.

They found themselves in the front part of the corridor, or at least what she assumed to be the front.

"To start," Bepo pointed at the room which they'd just left, where Kairee was unceremoniously presented in front of the whole crew. "That's the mess room- a combination of the dining room and kitchen. Puffin cooks all the meals, though some of us usually go and help him with preparing ingredients, and sometimes even taste testing." Bepo licked his lips dreamily.

"Then there's the control room- the brains of the submarine," he gestured at the door at the front of the hall, where she'd tripped in front of everyone. "It's where we monitor the surroundings for danger, maintain the ship's conditions, and chart the course." He pointed his thumb at himself. "So it's my special place, my area of expertise," he elaborated with his head in the air.

"That sound wonderful," she praised. "I never would have guessed you had such an important job."

"Oh, I see…"

'Oh crap, I said something I shouldn't have,' she realized as Bepo hung his head with a gloomy air.

'Time to change the subject,' she thought.

"Um, Bepo? Aren't you going to show me inside to, y'know, explain the mechanisms and whatnot?"

To her relief, Bepo perked back up. "Ah, the Captain said you aren't allowed inside a room unless you're ordered to clean it."

"Oh, I see…."

"Anyway," Bepo continued, pointing to the door across the mess room. "That's the Meeting room. Almost everyone goes in there when they're taking a break, so we call it the Leisure room as well."

Kairee stopped when she noticed the pairs of the metal ladders that lead up to sealed ports at the tops of the ceiling. "Do those lead outside?"

"Yeah, those lead up to the Deck Enclosure and Lookout." He narrowed his eyes at her, "Don't ever think about leaving, though. We'd all drown."

She gulped. "I hate drowning," she assured him.

The bear started down the hall as Kairee followed in his trail. "Next to the Meeting room is the Training room, where we exercise and spar with each other."

"After the Mess room, on the left, is the Infirmary and the Sick Bay. It's also where the Captain sleeps." She clamped her lips tighter, torn between praising the Captain for his dedication or pointing out that it sounded kinda creepy. Both of those things sounded disastrous to say aloud.

"Then, next to that is the Washrooms and Showers, and across that are the Crew's Quarters," he indicated two rooms to the right.

"Finally, there's the Freezer room," he indicated the large door directly in front of them.

They continued the makeshift tour down the ladders that lead to the lower level.

"Of course you know the Prisoner's Hold," he exclaimed with a joking tone.

"Ah, Bepo?"

"Hm?"

"How many prisoners and captives have you already held in there exactly? Excluding me, of course…."

"Oh?" the white bear looked up thoughtfully. "Hmm, I've lost count."

That wasn't very reassuring, she mused miserably. "Well, uh, what do you usually do to them?"

"Ah, sometimes the Captain cuts them up and throws them out to sea," Bepo answered nonchalantly. The young girl couldn't help but voice her anxiety with an "Eh?!" Bepo nodded.

She cautioned one last question. "Do you think the Captain will do that to me too?" her tone was pleading. Bepo seemed to find himself caught off-guard by this query and closed his eyes with his arms folded, looking very perplexed. "Ah well… I don't know about that…."

"But anyway, let's continue," he exclaimed with a loud voice, opening his eyes wide with resolution.

"Oi Bepo, keep it down!"

It was Tern, who had poked his head out of the right-hand room, looking tired and irritated, and closed the door back with force. Bepo hung his head again, muttering an apology, and Kairee sighed.

"That's the Mechanic's room. Beluga is the head mechanic and makes renovations or improvements to the ship, while Tern works on the maintenance."

"That," he pointed to the large iron-wrought door that somehow looked more foreboding and impressive than the rest, "leads to the Engine room. Only the mechanics, the Captain, and whoever is authorized at the time is permitted inside. It's the heart of the whole submarine that keeps it going."

"And finally, the Storage Area," he declared as he opened the left-hand door. He answered Kairee's question before she even asked it. "I'm allowed to bring you inside since most of the cleaning supplies are in here."

"Oh well," she laughed as she stepped inside. Storage was a large room filled with fishing and diving equipment, like specialized suits, fishing poles and attachment wires with pulleys that looked like they could pull things off the bottom of the sea floor. There were other various things, like rope and ladders, shovels, broken chairs, a worn out sofa with the springs sticking out, empty chests and sacks, a pile of old and torn clothes, a pair of crutches, and a folded wheelchair. The clutter wasn't that bad, she remarked internally.

A large safe-like enclosure stood in the corner. "Treasure room, where we keep our valuable cargo and gold." Bepo gestured a warning to which Kairee crossed her heart and made a pledge, and, surprisingly, Bepo nodded with a smile. She was glad to finally have a friend on the ship (as much as she could consider him her friend, anyway).

She found the cleaning supplies, consisting of a mop, a couple of brooms, a dustpan, two buckets, packets of soap and several washcloths all placed in a wooden box with a rope for a handle and carried them outside the room.

"So Bepo, what now?"

"The Captain told me you'll be cleaning the training and Leisure rooms this morning," he said, leading the way back up to the upper level. "Most of us like to train after lunch, so the Training room will probably be empty the whole morning. I'm not sure about the Leisure room, though." He stepped in the hall between the two rooms. "I have to go back to the control room now."

"Thanks a lot," she really was quite grateful for, as it seemed, Bepo looking out for her.

Bepo turned to go, but for a second, he looked back at her, as though he wanted to tell her one more thing. She had a feeling it would be about Shingle.

"You're welcome," he said finally, and left her on her own.

Kairee decided to work on the Training room first.

The room smelled strongly of sweat. A few paces from the door, the metal floor was paneled with wood, probably to give everyone a softer landing during spars.

The room was decorated sparsely, with a few cushions here and there. There were two vertical poles of hard wood that were attached to the floor near the back of the room, wrapped around their diameter with blue padding. These training targets had taken quite a bit of damage and bits of the padding were starting to come off at the edges. The middles had deep depressions on them, obviously indicating the most frequent area of impact.

She set to work sweeping the floor, then wiped the length of the floor with a wet cloth, running from one end of the room to the other barefoot. She took water from a small drinking fountain near the door. She rested a short while afterwards, and decided to throw a few punches on one of the posts to clear her head. She wondered how long she'd have to stay here as a prisoner. Surely it wasn't long til they reached the next island? Perhaps she could slip away if they hit land, though, again she was torn between staying and going, however dismal the circumstances.

She moved on to the Leisure room next. This room was more posh, outfitted by two semicircular couches set facing each other in the middle of the room, where the floor was depressed and set lower. There was also a circular wooden table in between the couches. There was a screen in here as well, similar to the one in the control room, only it was smaller and also turned off. There were two den den mushi sitting on the table, as well as a couple of empty glasses that had seemed to be filled with what smelled like alcohol and a cooler and a few more glasses and mugs under the table. There was a shelf on the wall to the side that displayed several books, which immediately drew the young girl's attention.

There was a novel that seemed to be about a hero and his bear companion (perhaps Bepo's possession), a few books on geography and navigation, books on mechanical engineering, a few cookbooks, some questionably titled books that made the young lady blush, as assortment of magazines, and even a couple on first aid, medicine and the human body.

These were the ones she decided to look through, since she was quite sure they belonged to the Captain. 'Just a peek,' she assured herself, the curiosity overwhelming her. She looked around to make sure no one was watching and retrieved an old white book from the shelf. 'Anatomy for Practical Uses' was written on the cover. She flipped through the book.

The pages were worn from use and age, colored yellow and full of scribbles from several years of reading. She thumbed through the contents, and found that the notes and annotations were written with various strokes, as though the writer had made them at different periods of time in their life, though she was quite sure that they were all by one person. She decided to skip to the back of the book and found handwriting different to what she'd seen so far. It read: 'From Ventus to Aqua. From the human body springs a well of endless potential.'

'Aqua?' she realized, 'that was what the Captain said last night when he thought I was that Shingle person….' The longer she stared at the words on the page, the more a lump formed in her throat. The handwriting looked suspiciously similar to her own.

"What are you doing?" a voice declared behind her. She jumped and turned to find Penguin holding onto the door (which she realized she hadn't closed) with one hand as though he'd just come in.

"I'm sorry," she quickly bowed, held up the books and looked to the book shelf. "I'm supposed to clean this room up but I got distracted by the books," she decided to be as honest as possible. Penguin eyed her and then the book.

"That's the Captain's. It would be best if you didn't touch that without his permission, unless you want to make him mad," he said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms. "I understand, Mr. Penguin," she placed the book back carefully.

"You better get back to work, else I'll have to report you," he said, though, she noticed, not unkindly.

"Thank you, I will," she responded, hurrying to begin dusting and wiping the shelf.

She looked back to find Penguin had gone and closed the door. She didn't dare to open the book again, but as she mulled it over in her head while mopping the floor and wiping the surfaces, she struggled to understand what she had just seen. The penmanship was different for certain letters, she realized as she tried to remember, but ultimately it did remind her of her own handwriting. Then again, there must've been thousands of people who had the same handwriting as her. Heck, she's met a bunch already. Was this all just some elaborate coincidence? She didn't know what to hope for.

She was about halfway through mopping up the entire floor when the door opened and Penguin entered the room, glass in hand. "Are you almost done?" he asked, checking the floor.

"Ah yes. Just the other half to go," she said, smiling. It was a fleeting moment, but she thought she saw Penguin flush a bit as he looked away towards the door. Law emerged from the doorway and her heart jumped.

She tried not to look guilty as he sauntered over to the books and took out the white one she had taken out several moments ago. He took it with him and sat on the couch. Leaning back, he absorbed himself in the book and Penguin sat across him, taking out the cooler and pouring himself a drink from a bottle of purple liquid, both seemingly henceforth ignoring the girl.

She decided to continue on, and once she was close to finishing, she nearly jumped when Law spoke up. "Soliss-ya."

"Y-Yes?" she stammered, heart hammering.

"Once you're done, clean these glasses in the kitchen and bring them back." He didn't look up from the book.

She wrapped up her work and almost rushed out as she picked up the used glasses and left the room. When she come back and replaced the glasses, the Captain was silent, still keeping his eyes on his book. She waited nervously a while, thinking that she might be given other instructions and hoping that she wouldn't get scolded or something.

After several moments of awkwardly standing, she decided leave the room as respectfully as possible and without a word.

"Soliss-ya."

She stopped in her tracks as she was opening the door. She turned and saw the pirate captain get on his feet. "I'll bring you back to your cell. You can give yourself a bath and wait there til you're called again."

The blood rushed out of her and then immediately flushed. What was going to happen if they were alone together?

"Captain!"

Bepo appeared in the doorway. "We need you in the control room."

She watched him carefully and saw him exhale very slowly, almost a sigh.

"Penguin?"

The man got up quickly with a start, nearly spilling some of his drink in his hand.

"I'm sorry but could you bring Soliss-ya to her room instead?" The captain took out the keys from his pocket and gave them to him.

"Ah. Oh course, captain."

The exited the room and split up, left and right, in two pairs.

She was relieved not to be left alone with Law, and Penguin seemed like he was quite civil. She couldn't tell what his hair looked like, since he always wore his 'Penguin' snow-cap, but he was nice enough when he spoke to her. She was still a bit nervous being left alone with just one man, though.

They walked through the corridors in silence, and when she reached the prisoner's hold, she quietly went inside and waited for the bars to close behind her.

"Ms. Soliss." Penguin kept the door open, as though determined to say something.

"Ah… Yes?" She began to feel a little nervous. What could he want with her?

The man hesitated for a while, then said, "Do you have any idea… No, what I mean is… What exactly is your relationship with the Captain?"

This had caught her off-guard.

"I'll answer as honestly as I can," she began a bit sadly and hesitantly. "Captain Trafalgar probably mistakes me for someone else, someone I don't know. I know of him because he has gained a reputation, but, until now, I've never met him. But I'm willing to follow what you guys order me to do, as long as I can leave this place safely."

"I see," he said after some silence, and closed the bar-door and locked it. He stopped for a while, then said. "We don't know anything about that person either. She must have been from the Captain's distant past." And, as though he'd said his peace, he left.

After she bathed, she decided to lay on her cot for a while and get some rest. Hopefully they'd be consistent and give her 3 meals a day, she thought. Despite the complete lack of natural daylight, she knew that it should be lunch time, and so she napped for a while.

She had a short dream. She and Law were standing in a completely blank space. He was gripping her forearm again, but forcefully this time, squeezing tighter and tighter. She tried to release herself but wouldn't let go, and stared at her unwaveringly, expression grave and determined. "Don't lie to me, Kaykay." The words echoed, in and out, as though travelling through water. A pounding noise grew louder and louder around her, and she watched as a giant barrel descended on top of her, growing smaller and smaller once she was trapped. She felt like she couldn't breathe, and she begged in a panic.

Then she woke.

"Miss Soliss?" she heard Penguin call anxiously, rapping on metal. After a while, she heard the metal door open and he had rushed outside her cell. "Are you alright?"

She tried to sit up, but her arm was caught between the wall and the metal chain that held the platform off the ground. She pulled herself out and got up, smiling weakly, heart still doing flips. "I'm very sorry. I fell asleep after laying down," she explained.

"You were asking for help in your sleep," his frown deepened.

"Ah yeah. I had a bad dream…. Anyway, what's up?"

He looked as though he wanted to continue the line of conversation, but thought better of it. "Time for lunch," he gestured for her to follow.

They walked in silence til they reached the mess room and the crew only looked up to their acknowledgement for a second before returning to their meal and their talk. She didn't need to be told and made her way to the kitchen counter, where veggie soup and pork chops were waiting on a lonely plate and bowl.

Listening in on their chatter, she learned that they would reach the next island in a span of two days. She didn't know whether to count that as a good thing or a bad thing….

After lunch had ended, Penguin was told to bring her back to the hold so she could continue cleaning the rest of the prison cells. Again, they said not a word to each other, but in a silence that seemed more mutually civil than antagonistic. As he locked the prison door, however, he gave a half-smile.

"Don't worry, I believe the Captain will just let you go once we reach the shore."

"Thank you," she said, hopeful. The man seemed to flush again, though she couldn't be sure, what with his hat covering half his face and the dim lighting, and he left in a bit of a hurry.

She was almost about through with the third cell when she heard speaking and realized that perhaps some of the crew might be in the other room and left a door open. She couldn't help but strain her ears as she scrubbed the cell.

"- need to repair - and exhaust." There was a clanking of tools and devices.

"Seen - Captain lately?"

"No but - doesn't matter -"

"New girl - might be - acting strange."

"She's definitely trouble. She's probably planning something. Why else did we find her in the crate?" Tern's voice rose up strong amongst the others, full of annoyance. "Ever since she's been here, the Captain's been tense. She's probably some ghost or evil sea demon that's biding its- Oi!"

She jumped, thinking she'd been caught. She heard steps, then the words "Close the door properly, idiots!" and finally the creak of a metal door closing, and heard nothing more.

After finishing all the cells and even the prison's bathroom, she lay on her cot, trying not to think about anything. About an hour went by of tranquil nothingness before she woke up to a strange feeling- the feeling of being watched.

She bolted straight, fists raised and ready, and found Law leaning on the wall opposite her, arms folded.

"Good work," he said, though his expression was cold. Her heart was bounding violently, as though the Surgeon of Death was already using his ability to rip it from her chest, and she lowered her hands.

"You seem to have a knack for cleaning, Soliss-ya," he righted himself and was already heading out. "Follow me."

He lead her upstairs, and she was relieved to be told to clean the hallway with a damp rag or mop ("Don't soak the floor") and left to herself instead of being led off somewhere secluded. The captain entered the Control room.

She filled a bucket with water and set to work wiping the hallway with a fully wrung out damp cloth, starting from the Freezer room towards the Control room. The floor wasn't as filthy as she initially believed it would be, and thankfully no one was passing through the hall.

As she neared the Meeting room, however, she found the door cracked open just a centimeter. 'People must not enjoy having to unlock those heavy doors all the time,' she mused sarcastically. She slowly inched her way towards the room, and the closer she got, the louder the voices got, and she could not stop herself from lingering near the door, listening.

"I don't mind," she heard Beluga say. "Ever since she's come around, I haven't had to do any of the cleaning."

"Well, it's easy for you all to say she's harmless," Shachi replied, "but you weren't there when the Captain brought her downstairs to the prison hold."

"What do you mean?" it was Penguin.

"She was carrying knives and daggers hidden in her sleeves and she shoes," she heard the pouring of a drink followed by a series of gulps. "I'm telling you that she's bad news. I don't trust her in the least."

"But what if she really is that girl the Captain knew?" Penguin said.

"I don't think so. She didn't know anything about it. She's probably some bounty hunter or Marine spy out for the Captain."

"She hasn't gone out of line yet though, or tried anything suspicious. Maybe she's innocent?"

Shachi scoffed. "She's probably just acting nice and obedient so she can lower our guard and then try something."

She decided she'd heard enough and went to refill the bucket in the kitchen. She wished this whole thing could be cleared up soon. She didn't like being branded, even if they did actually have good reasons for being suspicious.

Then, as she was about to leave the mess room, she was bounded back violently, and the bucket clattered empty on the floor, spilling water all over. She looked up and found Shachi, expression evolving from shock to fury, with clothes drenched from the waist down.

"I'm so so sorry-" Her apologies came out in a flurry, but it seemed he wouldn't have any of it.

"What the hell! I'm completely soaked!" he shouted.

"I'm really sorry," she tried again, sinking bak, but he took a few menacing steps towards her, seething with anger.

"Did you watch where you were going?"

"I… No… It was an accident-"

He grabbed her roughly by the sleeve and shook her.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?!"

"No! I didn't!"

"Don't lie!"

"Shachi," a voice said behind them.

The captain was standing in the doorway with hands in his pockets, and the other crew members followed suit, their faces full of surprise and confusion.

"Let her go," he said, voice hard like gravel.

"But Captain, she-"

"It's okay." He looked straight at Kairee, eyes depthless and unreadable once again. "You'll be cleaning the Lavatory and Showers tonight. No dinner." Shachi, after hearing this, promptly let go of her and walked out of the room, muttering that he needed to change.

"Clean this mess, then get to it," was the Captain's last order before he returned to the Control room. The others dispersed as well, one by one, til only Penguin and Bepo were left, watching her as she sank to her knees. Penguin went inside and for a moment she thought he would comfort her, but he took a bottle from one of the barrels, and, with a very regretful look, he left the room. Bepo hung his head, sighed, and left, too, leaving her on her own, fighting the tears that threatened to add to the water on the floor.