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The crew eyed Maka as she stepped on the ship, but quickly removed their skeptical looks as they saw their captain follow her on board.
"What are you scallywags sittin' around for! Back to your stations! Prepare the ship to leave port!" Maka stifled a laugh at the drastic change in Soul Eater's dialect as he addressed his men. He is a pirate, after all.
She gazed around the magnificent boat. The dark wooden mast and deck shined like they were cleaned regularly. The sails billowed in the wind, the sun peering out from under them. She briefly pondered why the sails were plain white, rather than the classic black skull and crossbone pirate flag, until Soul caught her glance and explained. "We have to remain inconspicuous in ports such as Mideel if we want to avoid being hanged."
As Maka turned back to the captain, she noticed he was still carrying her sack. She motioned for him to hand it over, but he gruffly shook his head. "I'll be taking care of the treasure first. I'll give your belongings back to you later." He paused, giving Maka an odd look. He seemed almost sympathetic. "Good luck, Maka."
Then in a much louder voice he bellowed, "Alright, lass! Tis your first day aboard the Shi no Fune, so you got to show us what you're worth! Swab the deck! When you're done with that, I'll be givin' ya yer next orders." Maka cocked her head to the side slightly. He was talking to her, right? He'd not mentioned working on the ship before…Come to think of it, Maka had never cleaned anything in her life. She figured she'd catch on well enough. How hard could it be to clean a deck?
An hour later, her arms and legs told her exactly how hard it was to clean a deck. She had to get in between cracks and scrub off dirt that seemed determined to make her sweat.
Needless to say, after she finished, she was both immensely proud and dreadfully tired. She shuffled up to Soul Eater and declared, "I've finished, captain!" He looked at her skeptically. "Aye, Kid! Com'ere a second!"
Maka watched a man with peculiar black and white striped hair saunter up to them at the wheel. He carried an uppity air about him, and his clothes were remarkably clean for a pirate, Maka thought.
He reached them and asked in a high voice as strange as his hair, "What is it, Captain?"
"Check the deck! Is it clean enough?" The man named Kid scoffed before turning and sauntering back to the deck. He kneeled down and peered at it, smirking slightly. He walked back and gave his assessment. "Captain, I'd have whoever swabbed this deck do it again tenfold, and then give them bilge duty for trying to pass that wreck off as clean."
Maka opened her mouth in astonishment. She had done her best! Did she not get credit for that, even? She knew Soul Eater had to chastise him for being so rude, and then tell her she could rest. Perhaps eat some breakfast? Instead, he turned to her, nodding.
"You heard the man! Do it again! And again after that, until you can see your reflection on the surface!"
"It's wood." Maka said through gritted teeth.
He paid her comment no attention, continuing, "After you're done with that, Patty will show ya how to clean the bilge!" He barked a very hostile laugh before shooing her off. Maka could have screamed. Where was the kind man who rescued her from her castle? Surely this wasn't him. But if there was one thing Maka was, it was determined. She had too much pride to sit and whine about her aches and pains now- she had a deck to re-clean. Without a word, she stepped back down and bent to vigorously clean the floor once more.
In forty minutes, she had gone through the entire thing. Not only had she sped up her process, she was much more meticulous this time, so that the deck seemed to sparkle. Not even Kid could complain. When Soul Eater called him back to check, he sounded almost defeated when he announced it was up to standard. Maka sighed in relief.
"Now," Soul pointed out at a girl who was sitting on the opposite side of the boat. Maka gawked at her. She couldn't have been older than ten years old; what was she doing on a pirate ship? "Go talk to Patty about cleaning the bilge." He didn't even give her praise for her cleaning job thus far. She growled at him and stormed off to the opposite end of the boat. Cleaning this 'bilge' couldn't be so bad, right? Not if a little girl could handle it.
Boy was she wrong.
"Come on, ya filthy bilge rat! Hurry it up!" The girl named Patty laughed maniacally and swung her bucket madly around, making Maka do all the work as she waded through the bilge water like it was a waterpark. Maka had never met a stranger girl. She also didn't have time to think about it much, as she was shoveling the filthy water, mixed with debris and feces and the occasional dead rat, into a small metal bucket and carrying it up some stairs to an area of the ship she could dump it. She didn't know how long she'd been at this, but her spoiled body was not happy. Every time she so much as thought about slowing down, however, Patty gave her an evil smile and she did not want to know what that led to.
After what felt like an eternity of filling her bucket, she nearly collapsed in the waste. Patty laughed but Maka couldn't, just could not move anymore. She was sweating and tired and hungry. Patty said, "Whatsa matter, lass? You hot?" Maka turned and nodded just in time to have a bucket full of bilge dumped on her. She stared in shock as Patty continued laughing hysterically. She wanted to scream like a little girl, but she knew that wouldn't get her anywhere. Damn you, Soul Eater! You knew what you put me up to! Why me?!
Instead of finding the albino man and smacking him senseless like she wanted to, she picked her bucket back up and resumed her cleaning. Kid and others gave her a curious look when she reappeared, covered in bilge, looking like a drowned cat, but she set her face determinedly. There was no way she was going to cry or give up, if that was what Soul Eater had planned. She was on this ship, and she wasn't going back.
A few hours later, she had gotten nearly all the water out of the bilge and Patty gave her a pleased grin. "Nice work, matey!" Her attitude seemed to shift from crazed boss to friend in an instant. Maka shook her head and headed back to Soul Eater for her next duty. Clearly, she didn't realize her legs shaking and stars appearing in her vision from dehydration and being over-worked. She was climbing up the stairs to the wheel, where Soul Eater talked to a companion about where they were sailing. And then the world fuzzed out and the ground caught her fall.
The first thought she had when she awoke was, Shit! He's gonna kick me off his ship for sure! She sat up and looked at her surroundings. She appeared to be on one of the hammocks for the crew. It was dark, the dim light of some lanterns casting an eerie glow on the room. Clearly, she had slept into the night. The rest of the crew lay around her, snoring away. Maka noticed a plate of food left by her bed- a piece of salted beef, some form of potato and a biscuit. There was also a tall mug of water. She scarfed down the meal, hardly noticing the taste, and drank the entire glass before leaving the sleeping quarters and heading back to the main deck.
She had slept through the afternoon and evening, so now she felt wide awake. She took some time to gaze out at the moon reflected on the ocean, before deciding she needed to make up for passing out like a wimp earlier. She got the supplies she needed and cleaned the deck, which had picked up some dirt already throughout the day. She finished it much faster than previously, so she decided to clean other parts of the ship, too. She wiped down the masts, railing, even the wheel. By the time she was finished, the sun was peaking over the surface of the water and some of the crew were up and about. They all looked thoroughly impressed with her handiwork. One lady, tall with a gorgeous figure and long black hair tyed up came up to Maka with a timid smile.
"Hi, I'm Tsubaki. The ship looks great- did you do this all alone?" Maka was relieved to meet a seemingly normal person on this ship.
"Hi Tsubaki, I'm Maka. Yeah, I felt pretty stupid after passing out yesterday, so I thought I should do something to redeem myself…"
"Oh, how nice of you. I'm sure you weren't prepared for the hard labor; None of us were. But you'll grow used to it. I checked out your head while you were sleeping, by the way…You didn't seem to have any bumps but if you feel odd today, feel free to let me know?"
"Are you the doctor of this ship, or something?" Maka asked curiously.
"Hardly. I know a bit of medical stuff, is all. Closest to a doctor you'll get on a ship like this, I suppose. I also cook the food. You got yours last night, right?"
"Yes, thank you for that. I was starving. And dehydrated, most likely."
Tsubaki seemed like a really nice person. Maka hoped they could be good friends in the future.
"If you need help in the future, don't hesitate to ask. I've got to prepare the meals for today now, so if you'll excuse me…" With a wave and smile, Tsubaki headed back down the stairs she came from, her yellow dress swishing behind her.
Throughout the day, Maka was given various orders by a still-evil Captain Soul Eater. It was like he wanted her to exhaust herself again. And after learning how to adjust the sails, (she got to personally put up the coveted pirate sail, which she felt honored to do) navigate the wheel and endless amounts of other hard labor, she seemed on the verge of a similar fate from the day before. By the time she had finished everything she was ordered, it was well into the night and the rest of the crew were in their hammocks. She lay down on the deck and stared up at the clear sky. She had noticed today that more and more of the crew talked to her- it was like they had accepted her into their group. She dozed off with a content smile on her face.
"Tired, ay?" Maka jumped at the voice, since it came from right outside her ear. She peered next to her to find Soul Eater laying down beside her. He had put her sack down in between them- she had completely forgotten she had it. She gave him a steely glare.
"Need something else cleaned, Captain?"
He laughed softly. "You can call me Soul, Maka. There's no one else around."
"Oh, so that's how it is!" She sat up and glared down at him. "You can treat me like a human when your buddies aren't around, but as soon as they're watching you throw me around like dirt."
He looked at her for a minute. "Is that really what you think this is?"
She threw her hands up in exasperation. "What else would it be!"
He sighed. "Maka, you don't know how pirates are. We base everything off of actions, not words. I knew my crew would only accept you if you proved you were as hard-working as I knew you'd be. They wouldn't have believed you if you'd just told them, or even if I did." He paused and smiled up at her proudly. "But you did prove yourself, Maka. They love you. Tsubaki especially."
When he put it like that, it almost made sense. And the thought of Tsubaki softened her up.
"So…" Maka cleared her throat. "You don't hate me."
Soul chuckled. "Not at all. I'm rather picky when it comes to who I put on my ship. But I'm glad I chose you."
When he gazed at her like that, his ruby eyes seemed to melt and Maka's heart kicked up a few beats. She changed the subject.
"So where are we headed, Captain? You never divulged that information to me."
"Ah, that I didn't." He sat up, too. "We're heading to Tortuga. You're gonna see how crazy pirates can be."
Maka didn't know whether to be terrified or thrilled.
Woohooo chapter 3. I'm trying my best to update every day for you lovelies who reviewed!
Um, not a lot to say here today. School sucked, if anyone cares.
Please review to let me know what you think! Your feedback means the world to me.
As always, thanks for reviewing!