'Thoughts'

flashback

"talking"

The blonde girl sighed deeply and dipped the mop back into the water bucket.
She had already been a guest aboard this vessel for a whole month.

Guest…

'Yeah sure…' she snorted '…as I wanted to be rescued by them!'

With another unhappy sound she thought back at how it had happened that she joined the marines anyway.

Midori stared dumfounded at Garp -yes, Garp.
This couldn't be real, this had to be a dream, and probably she was in a coma or something like that. Not even her crazy brain could come up with this!

"Girl?"

The blonde snapped back from her shocked state and directed her attention back at the marine in front of her. She blinked stupidly at his expecting gaze.

Her hand made slowly, ever so slowly, its way up her arm, when it reached its destination, it pinched the arm. Hard.
Midori twitched in pain, but nothing changed.

Shit…

Now it was official… She was not dreaming…

The middle-aged looked irritated because of her strange behavior, before he burst into laughter.

"Bwahahahaha….it's not often that I fish such strange half-drowned girls out of the ocean.", he said still laughing.

The blonde couldn't help but smile. He was just like she had imagined him to be in real life.

"So what's your name?"

"Midori", she answered immediately.

"So Midori, because of the terrible storm…"

'Why does he know of the storm?'

"…I assume your ship wrecked and so you have to stay with us for a while…"

'Do I have a choice…?'

"…Hmm…. You'll have to work for us…"

'Okay, fin…. Wait…WHAT?'

"… So now that's discussed. I'll get somebody to show you your sleeping place. You also need new close!"

He smiled brightly at her completely ignoring her obvious discomfort.

'HELLO?' Her mind screamed. 'I am not getting asked?'

Garp still ignored and simply left the room. He apparently thought that everything had been made clear. What he said, was going to be her future.
Aah… What great prospects.

Wait…

Midori sucked in her breath.

No….NOOO!

'I AM OFFICIALLY A MARINE NOW!… oh fuck, why does it always happen to me?'

Ignoring her tired body she rolled on her belly and screamed with all her might into her pillow. Maybe not the quietest way to release her frustration about her situation, but the closest thing she could do.
Not that she really could do anything.
She was alone in a world she never thought could be real and the worst thing was that she didn't know if her friends were alive. Garp hadn't mentioned any other castaways on the ship.
By this thought her screaming turned into sobs and sobs into a breakdown.

Even for this normally proud and strong girl was the thought to have lost her friends not bearable.

Later- it was already dark outside- she couldn't tell anymore how long she had laid the crying until no tears were left. Now she just felt empty and alone, but giving up already?

No, that wasn't like her. She would find her friends, dead or alive- though she didn't think about the first choice much- and she would find a way back. One way or another.

Until then her origin and her goals would be tugged away inside her mind, for nobody else to know.

Didn't shipwrecking eventually cause amnesia?

Well, she would find out how gullible the marines were. Hopefully gullible enough to let it slip…

With red, puffy eyes and sigh on her lips she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

From today that night is now dated back two weeks. Her usual good mood had come back by now, most of it at least, and she hadn't really thought about her friends. Not that she had had the time, to begin with.

Every single day she cleaned the deck from the morning until the late evening and after that she was too tired to care about anything. Although, she wasn't sure, if it was good or bad that she had to scrub the deck every single day, but on the other hand she was too busy to care about her worries and she had, at least, something to do unlike other people…

She even assumed that she had to e the only one who was busy or even did something useful at all, if you considered that the only thing that happened from time to time was a soldier taking a nap on the rail and falling into the water.
Quite a funny side, the blonde had to admit, but a marine looking like drowned dog didn't erase the problem of being in the wrong world. She sighed coming to halt with her scrubbing. It took all her willpower not to act on her crazy feelings inside which wisely told her to grab the sponge throw it at the next best marine and scream. Loud.

Not very smart, but definitely a very fulfilling thing to do.

If Garp would mind a little freak-out? She could also drown herself in the water bucket! Maybe Midori should ask him for his consent…
Would probably be a very stupid idea, typically this stuck-up marines and their absolute justice. She groaned inwardly. She couldn't help but dislike the marines, not because they were unfair or mean to her, but because she simply was a free spirit and all this rules were nothing she could live with for a longer period.
Another Sigh. Hopefully they would reach land soon and the girl could get off this vessel and then she would start searching for her friends, if nothing got in between, that is.

A sudden call interrupted her crazy thinking and made her heartbeat fasten.

"PIRATESHIP AHEAD!"

This couldn't be! She was going to meet real pirates! Holy shit! But whom…?

"IT'S WHITEBEARD!"

These words made her heart pound inside her chest and the beat sounded like drums in her ears. This…wow… plainly wow. She was going to meet the Whitebeard pirates, her favorite crew apart from the Strawhats. Oh god. A wide grin spread across her face.

"Everybody to the arms! Midori to me!"

Garp's demanding sounding face broke her out of her daydream.
Still grinning like an idiot the blonde girl walked over to him.

"I want you to hide and watch. There's nothing you can do and I'd rather not put your life in the line."

Either he overlooked her good mood on purpose or he plainly was oblivious of such things. Maybe both… Ah… Well, where have we been? Ah, right. Midori was supposed to hide, nothing she was very fond of doing, but unfortunately she sucked at handling every kind of weapon and she could be as good as she wanted in material arts. She had no good chances against a group of experienced pirates and she was admittedly not that bad or weak. One the other hand she couldn't even measure them up and she was not suicidal enough to try on a wing and a prayer.

So hiding it was…

She barely found shelter behind a group of barrels, before a jolt went through the ship carrying several marines off their feet. Midori instantly grabbed one of the barrels hardly staying on her feet.

Two boarding hooks had buried themselves in the deck and were pulling the ship towards the Moby Dick. This, though, was slightly problematic.

On the one hand the girl wanted to watch the fight out of interest and worry- those marines were only humans after all- and on the other hand it would be wisely not to get killed. She was stuck in a marine outfit after all.

The inner discussion of 'Shall I watch or not?' was cut short, though, as the first of Whitebeard's 'sons' entered the ship. A split second later she vanished behind the barrels. She wasn't going to strain the luck that had prevented the pirates from spotting her.

Seemed like the marines weren't that lucky, they were outnumbered and it looked more than bad for them…

Nevertheless, Midori couldn't help but feel respect for the Marines, when they fought with so much determination not willing to give up. She had to confess that she was amazed by their iron will. Why couldn't the people in her world be like that, huh?
Everything would be much better, if they were.

She was so engrossed in watching the fight that she didn't recognize the man behind me.

"How cowardly, to hide while your comrades are fighting."

Dark eyes widened in horror and the girl swung around. The pirate watches her with disgust and she couldn't help, but feel guilty. She really has been acting like a coward.

In a flash he lunged at her with his sword. The blade cut through the barrel like butter. Midori watched with a mix of aw and shock, as the barrel crumbled to the floor.

The blonde had never in her life jumped to her feet that fast.

Lucky her, because the second attack wasn't long in coming and so she did the only thing, she could do; she blocked the sword with kick. Before her opponent was able to recover from his surprised state, another kick in the face pushed him away and made him see stars.

However, she didn't have time to relax, since the hair on her neck already rose in bad premonition.
She was proved right, as a dark shadow fell over her.

With an impressive speed Midori did handstand spinning her body so that her feet barrels were able to block the pirate's two Katanas. He stared at her disbelievingly. Ignoring her own astonishment she used another spinning kick to hit him in the stomach. The man felt to the floor knocked out for the moment.

Midori's heart raced and her vision spun.

'What did just do?.. I-I knocked some pirates out…What the hell?...'

She had never fought against such strong opponents and she just won?
This couldn't be real! It was far too easy!

The girl turned helplessly and instantly froze.

Many marines were spread over the floor unconscious and, unfortunately, laid the attention of all idle pirates on her. Oh damn…

Swallowing the lump in her throat and desperately trying to suppress the heat on her cheeks. A blush was the last thing she needed right now!

Slowly she looked around, hasty movements would only set them on alert and there was slight difference between two man attacking you and whole bunch of them doing it….

A moment later her eyes widened, when blue orbs locked with black ones. For a second she stopped breathing. She knew this man, no doubt about that, but… he was… younger.

Marco, the phoenix.

He was starring at her with his usual bored gaze or so it seemed, but there was something in his eyes she couldn't identify. Whatever it was it made her back away from him. She shivered. His gaze was just… unnerving.

A blink later it happened, her heart sat out.

Marco must have been just as transfixed with her like she was with him, since he hadn't seen the attack coming either. A marine had charged at him from behind and Marco hadn't recognized it.

To her astonishment he made no sound, as he fell over the rail hitting the see shortly after.

'No…. NO!'

Her body reacted faster than her mind and she was already falling before she realized her actions. More or less gracefully she divided into the sea, just in time it seemed.

She didn't dwell on thought long, though.

His body sunk fast. Too fast.

'Don't you dare, man!'

Midori used all her power to speed forward and, indeed, she was capable of grabbing him. Under great effort both of them surfaced. Marco coughed.
Midori breathed in relieve, and then Marco's weight pushed her back down. Did she ever mention that she hated to swallow up seawater?

"She rescued him!"

This functioned like a wake-up call for Midori and she would have groaned in frustration over her rash actions, if she would not have had to choke, then. This still didn't erase the fact that Midori, a temporary marine, had just rescued the first division commandant of Whitebeard.

Oh…. Damn it….

What the heck had gotten into her?

Okay… She had always liked Marco, he even was one of her favored characters in One Piece, but this… this was just a very, very stupid action. She couldn't help it. Now his life was in her hands and that meant swimming faster towards the Moby Dick, before her strength would leave her once for all.

Like she had had a choice in the first place, to rescue a pirate! There was no way back; only the way forward was left.

She couldn't do more than hope that they would rescue her along with Marco. With steady strokes Midori brought Marco and herself closer to big whale-like ship blocking the noises of the retrieving marine ship out. All the commands that were screamed- by Garp probably- and the drumming of boots on a wooden floor, all this didn't count to her right now. She had to stay alive.

Finally she reached Moby Dick and immediately a lifebelt crashed into water right next to them, yet she didn't look upwards. She rather busied herself with getting Marco into the lifebelt. It really wasn't as easy as it sounded.

A minute later it was done, Marco was safely hanging in the lifebelt. Uncertainly the blonde's hand rested on the rope connected with the lifebelt. She couldn't help herself, she was simply far too nervous. Midori's heartbeat sounded incredible loud in her ears.

Slowly the rope became taut.

Then it happened. Midori's body gave in after it had already achieved more than ever before. Her hand slipped down until she was barely gripping at the lifebelt. Her forehead sunk tiredly against the lifebelt and she breathed in deep.

The last thing she saw and felt before everything went black, was a pair of blue eyes and a soft hand gripping hers.