Kinda late with a update here. Still don't know what I'm doing here, but worth a shot I suppose.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, but OCs are mine.
Chapter 8: Can't be a First-mate.
Drake tapped the pencil against the paperwork he was examining with a nod of approval.
Jacob was living up to his reputation of being one of the best navigators out there; he was even better then most of the navigators he had working under him in the Marines. Jacob was able to map out a course to the Calm Belt; he even got a course that would get the ship to the Grand Line. Though, Jacob was beyond the word skeptically about the idea and was rather in a state of are-you-crazy-we-will-be-killed-in-a-heart-beat-if-we-go-there panic that caused the navigator to sweat buckets from his bald head to the floor.
Drake had waited a few minutes, which was thirty minutes approximately, for Jacob to calm down to the point where he was only breath heavily with wide eyes, but had enough focus to pay attention and Drake was able to start explaining the Kairouseki Stone. The stone was placed on the bottom of all warships because it gave off the same energy as the sea, so if a Sea Kings swim under the ships, they wouldn't notice them.
That calmed Jacob down for the time being, but then the question came up about if a Sea King were to surface and see them, and he went on to say that the Sea Kings would see them then.
Drake just nodded.
Then Jacob went into another panic attack.
Drake just shook his head and ordered him to make a route that would get them through the Calm Belt after he calmed down.
So now, about three hours after he ordered his navigator to make him the charts, he was now looking over them, and was pleased with the turn out. They should be able to get through the Calm Belt and into the Grand Line with no problem. Well, if no Sea Kings decide to surface, that is, but that would be a fifty-fifty chance. Maybe.
"Captain!" A pounding at his door and the sharp call of his name made Drake alert that something was wrong.
"What is it?" He called back to the question, starting to rise from his seat, but then the door slammed open, revealing a very upset crew member dragging a very confused Leanne in by her arm.
Drake scowled at the way Leanne was being handled, but then he saw that one crew member turned out to be two, ten, and then all of them, crowding at his doorway with knitted brows from under their floppy feathered hats. That made him sit back down in his chair with a deep frown.
This was not going to be good.
"Captain," The crew member lowered his voice slightly in respect, but still flaming with anger. "I'm sorry, but I can't take orders from her." He shook the hand that was holding Leanne's arm.
Drake just blinked. "What do you mean?" he knew what it was though; it had to do with Leanne being his first mate. Since she was the first to join his crew, it made sense. Though, it had been a problem back when it was just Jacob and his employees. For some reason they had trouble with just having something asked of them from her. Now he had a whole crew not liking the idea of Leanne not being his first mate.
Like he thought: this was not going to be good.
"We just can't take orders from her. I don't mean to be sexist or anything like that, but it's not something I'm used to." The crew member explained, straighten his posture. "I just don't think she can be a first mate!"
"First-mate…" Leanne blinked, and looked between her mate that was squeezing her arm and then to her captain. "I didn't know I was the first mate…"
"That's because you aren't the first mate." Drake stated, feeling the pain of saying that, but there would be a riot on his ship and in his crew since all of them didn't want Leanne to be the first mate. So, he had to please the masses and make the right choice, though he didn't like it one bit. "The first mate needs to be someone who can give orders firmly, Leanne. That's why Carter is the first mate since he knows these men and has been a first mate."
"Oh." The crew member blinked in surprise and quickly let go of Leanne's arm. "Sorry 'bout that." He rubbed the back of his neck bashfully with a weak smile. "Captain." He bowed his head and slowly back out the room in the mass of other shame worthy looking men that were guilty of slight harassment of Leanne since they thought she was the first-mate.
"Leanne." Drake called to her as she was starting to walk out with the rest of his crew.
Leanne stopped and turned halfway on her heel so she was looking over her shoulder with a questioning look.
"I'm sorry."
Leanne just smiled lightly. "Not your fault. It was only a misunderstanding, right?"
Drake was silent; his lips pressed in a thin line of thought, and forced a small nod of his head.
Leanne smiled at him once more then turned back on her heel towards the door, closing the door behind her.
When Drake heard the small click, he slouched in his seat, and tapped the pencil still in his hands against the sea charts on his desk with a sigh. Lying wasn't a good habit for him to get into with Leanne, pirate or not. He had done it one to many times in the Marines, too.
Jacob knew something was up, and no, it didn't have to do with the whole the-crew-thinks-that-Leanne-can't-be-first-mate thing...well actually yes it did, because he was pretty sure that Drake's first mate was Leanne, even if Drake didn't say anything. So why did Drake say that Carter was the first mate? Not that Jacob had anything against Carter, but he was a rather…emotional man, a bit more emotional then any man should be. Though, he was the first mate of the former Feathered Doves, so maybe Drake was just going a new route because a majority of his crew knew Carter and would take orders from him, and Leanne was a bit…frail in some ways. She could never order the crew around when she could barely ask them to do something. It would never work, and Drake must have seen that, but then why did he plan to make her his first mate? Only one way to find out.
"Leanne." Jacob said, walking up to her where she was leaning against the railing. "Can I talk to you about something."
Leanne looked over at him, glancing at the moon reflecting on his bald head for a second before turning her full attention on him. "Yeah, what is it?"
"Did Captain ever talk to you about being the first mate?"
Leanne blinked repeatedly, finding the question to be odd. "No, why?" she eyed the navigator curiously.
"Because I thought you were the first mate since you were the first to join. That's usually how it goes." He explained.
"Well, I guess." She shrugged, closing her eyes for a moment before reopening them to look at the dark horizon of night on the sea. "But I'm not the best with giving orders." She admitted sheepishly.
"True," Jacob nodded in agreement. "But, you know, some people aren't just born with the skills to take charge, you need to learn. Like I had to learn to be the boss of my shop."
"So, you're saying I should have been the first mate, even if I can't give orders well because I could have learned how to?" She asked, tilting her head to the side to look at him in thought. "But the rest of the crew didn't want me to."
"Maybe, but they're men, they can suck it up." Jacob grunted, crossing his arms over his chest.
"But they looked as if they wanted to riot if I was first mate…" Leanne looked down at the railing as he fingers tapped against them.
"Just shows how mature they all are." Jacob rolled his eyes in annoyance. "But I was pretty sure Captain wanted you to be his first mate."
"But—"
"Did anything happen with you and Captain?" Jacob cut her off and looked at her with a curious brow raised.
Leanne looked at him with an equally curious look. "What do you mean?"
"Like, does Captain like you or something?"
Leanne's face twisted into shock, her eyebrows shooting up to her hair line, her eyes growing wide to the size of saucers and cheeks the coloring of flaming hot coal. "What!" She stuttered nervously. "Me and Captain? Like that? No!" She shook her head back and forth frantically, making her long brown hair whip around. "Nothing like that has ever happened between us, ever! Not even back in the Marines! The Vice Admiral would never allow that!"
Jacob leaned away from her hair going wild, and gave her an odd look. So, Leanne must haven't thought about it that way before based on the way she was acting, but still, Jacob wondered how Drake felt about it all.