Overtime

The sun was starting to set. Iceburg guessed that most of the workers had gone home right about now. He decided to go and check the first dock just to be sure. For some reason he had a feeling that he should go there.

When he reached the place, he heard, much to his surprise, a distant sound of hammering. Who in the world was still working at this hour? Iceburg followed the sound and saw something unexpected.

His recently promoted employee was working at a feverish pace, everything else forgotten, in the middle of a big, empty dock, wearing a very concentrated expression.

Iceburg stepped closer, and that was when Paulie noticed him. He turned to look at Iceburg and smiled in his nervous way, scratching the back of his head. "Oh, Iceburg-san, I-"

"Paulie," Iceburg said in a serious tone. "What are you still doing here? Haven't you noticed that the others have already gone?" He knew that the man was sometimes a little too into his job and didn't usually notice anything else during those times.

"Yeah, I know. But I stayed to work overtime," Paulie replied, turned his back on Iceburg and picked his hammer up again.

Iceburg sighed. "Why? I know that we built the Straw hats' ship until late night, but that was an exception. You don't have to do so with everyday things, no matter how much you would feel it's your responsibility."

Paulie lowered his hammer in a defeated way. "...I'm not doing it for that," he muttered after a while.

"So why?" Iceburg asked once again. Paulie didn't answer. There was silence, in which Iceburg looked down at Paulie with a puzzled expression, and then Paulie began hammering again.

Iceburg couldn't do anything but sigh the second time. Sometimes he didn't understand Paulie at all. He could be annoyingly stubborn when he wanted. It was one of the worse things about him. Iceburg turned and started walking away. "Come by my office later, Paulie," he said wearily.

A moment later a nervous Paulie stood in Iceburg's office. His hands were tightened into fists, and Iceburg was sure that if Paulie had had a hat, he would've twisted it into bits in his hands right that moment. What Iceburg also couldn't help noticing was how stiff Paulie seemed.

"Nmaa... Now would you tell me the reason you were so late at work today?" Iceburg asked as gently as he could manage.

Paulie shifted from foot to foot and licked his lips. "Well, you see... There's this one thing I want to do...," he said slowly.

"And that thing is?"

"Well...," Paulie managed to say but couldn't think of anything else and trailed away. Iceburg saw how his face started to turn red.

Iceburg turned to look out the window, where the sun was setting under the horizon and made the office glow in orange light. "I think this is about something entirely different than work, Paulie," he said.

Paulie looked startled. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean," Iceburg said and turned back to face Paulie, "is that I've known you long enough to know when you're not behaving like you normally do. In fact, you've been acting a little weird ever since that Enies Lobby incident. You didn't even want to be promoted to vice-president at first."

Paulie avoided Iceburg's gaze as well as he could, his face completely red. It seemed like he was embarrassed.

"Paulie." It wasn't an order, more like a plea.

Paulie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Remember when you said I didn't have to do anything just because of responsibility?" he began. Iceburg nodded slowly. "I said I wasn't doing it because of that. I lied. I had a very big responsibility resting on my shoulders."

"Had?"

"Yes. At that time, that day,when you were shot, I didn't know what to do with myself. I was just unbelievably angry. I swore I'd catch the culprits with my own hands, no matter what. I didn't succeed. I didn't even realize who the real culprits were. They were right under my nose and I didn't notice! I've never forgiven myself of the fact that I couldn't protect you!" Paulie couldn't look at Iceburg in the eye, instead, he was staring at the floor. "Straw hat did take care of Lucci, but I still haven't been able to forget about it. That's why I decided I'd do anything, stay overtime, do extra things no one else would do, even die for you if it's necessary to make it all up!" Paulie had now lifted his gaze and was looking at Iceburg straight in the eyes. "I've failed you!"

What followed was a deep silence. Iceburg looked at Paulie calmly from the other side of the room. Then he walked slowly to him and, suddenly, slapped him on the cheek, hard. Paulie didn't have time to react in any way before Iceburg started to speak.

"Idiot!" he said harshly. "How stupid can you be? How did you think I'm going to blame you for that incident? You, nor anyone else, could have possibly known that the criminals were among us! No one should be blamed for that! You, Lulu and Tilestone went to Enies Lobby to fight all on your own! Do you have any idea how worried I was? All the people I loved were there! Franky, old Kokoro... and you." Iceburg's voice became gentler as he grabbed tightly on Paulie's shoulders. "And I don't want you to do any overtime work just because of me. You're the last person who needs to do anything like that. I appreciate everything you've already done. Why did you think that I promoted you in the first place?"

Paulie just stared at Iceburg in shock, and even though his hand was still on his right cheek, he didn't feel any pain. Iceburg looked back at Paulie, hands still on his shoulders. Then, without any warning, Iceburg leaned forward a bit and kissed Paulie lightly but lovingly on his forehead. It lasted only two seconds, but Paulie felt like it lasted an hour.

"Maa... I've still got paperwork to finish, so you just go home and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow's another busy day."

Paulie woke from his trance and noticed that Iceburg was already walking back to his table. "Oh... allright," he said, abashed.

"Make sure to come in time," Iceburg reminded him.

Paulie finally grinned. He opened the office door, and after saying "yeah, I'll make sure to come" he closed the door after him.

A final sound was heard through the door: "I'll come and stay overtime for you again!"

"Paulie!"