Freckles
chapter 13
Eli sighed lying down on the bed. The crew was now in Cocoyashi's clinic. The doctor had treated Sanji, Usopp and Luffy's minor injuries, and was now stitching Zoro up, the brave swordsman had received a large wound across his chest from his fight with Hawkeye.
Sanji had told the girl about his battle with the Shichibukai. Once she had removed all the 'shitty' 'moron' and 'stupid' from his tale, she had concluded that it must have quite amazing.
She winced seeing the doctor piecing the young man's skin with a large needle, and rolled around as the horror scene made her, to say the least, quite uncomfortable, but she could still hear the swordsman's growls and hisses. She stood up abruptly. "Come on ! Anesthetize him for frak sake !"
"Anesthesia is for sissies." Zoro said through his teeth.
Eli rolled her eyes exaggeratedly and lied down on the bed. Yeah right ! Tell me that again when you'd stop whining like a little girl... she thought burying her head under the pillow.
"Don't you have a doctor on board ?" the doctor asked.
"A doctor ? That's interesting." Luffy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "But we have to find a musician first."
"No Luffy a doctor comes first." Ace retorted wagging his finger.
"But Ace !"
"We talked about it already !"
"I got a navigator like you told me !"
"And that's good Luffy but-"
"And a cook !"
"Yeah that's important too, now you-"
"I want a musician now !" Luffy crossed his arm and stomped his foot on the ground.
"I know you do but a doctor is way more important !"
"But Aaaaaace !" Luffy cried indignantly looking at his older brother with big whiny eyes.
The other pirates looked at the argument with disbelief. Oh god he still does the face, Eli though blinking rapidly to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
Ace was silently looking at his little brother, trying to hold the stare, before sighing and patting the little boy on the head. And the face still works...
After a short and well deserved nap, Eli decided to take a shower, and since there will be a celebration tonight, she borrowed some make up from the doctor's wife to try to conceal the bruise she had on her cheek.
After getting out of the shower, she searched through her bag for clean clothes. She slipped on a dark blue shorts, and a tight white t-shirt.
The girl arranged the tools and make up on the bathroom's counter-top, before examining her ecchymosis. It was covering almost all of her cheek, and its color was kind of reddish-purplish, in any case, hard to miss.
She was about to apply some foundation cream when she heard the doorknob creak.
"DON'T COME IN I'M NAKED." she lied, not wanting to be disturbed during her delicate procedure.
But the door opened any way, Eli blinked disbelievingly.
"I knew you were bluffing." Ace said casually looking at the not naked girl.
Eli frowned at the young man. "Right... Of course..."
He laughed, putting his clean clothes on the bathroom counter-top and walked to the shower.
"Hey what are you doing ?" Eli turned around as he started undressing.
"Taking a shower."
"I'm not finished."
"I've lived for two years in a ship with 12 other crewmates and only one bathroom. Better get used to it." The water started to flow from the shower. "There was this time when-"
"Oh boy, I don't wanna hear it !" Eli cut off. She really didn't want to picture a story involving dirty pirates and only one bathroom.
At least he wasn't noisy so she could focus on her task. She applied the foundation all over her contusion but since that wasn't enough she added blush on the apples of the cheeks. Looking at her reflection the girl was a bit sad to see that all the make up had efficiently concealed the little beauty spot she had under her left eye, but not the purplishness of her bruise.
Right after the water had stopped flowing, there was a bright light coming from the shower and quickly thick steam filled the small room. The girl coughed rushing to the window ventilate the room.
"I see, you don't need towel, how convenient." she said looking outside as she heard Ace getting out of the shower. "Can you also toast bread ?"
"Yup."
"Iron clothes ?"
"Never tried that. You can turn around by the way."
"Roast chicken ?"
"Mmhmhh"
"So you can actually be useful... as a toaster and an oven." She walked to the mirror. "Hairdryer ?"
"For someone else ? Might be dangerous."
"Bed-warmer ?"
"Sure can do." he said with a wide smirk implying some other kind of bed warming.
I'm sure you do... Eli thought rolling her eyes.
She looked over her shoulder hearing the doorknob creak. "I'M NAKED DON'T COME IN."
"Ok... Hurry up then !" Zoro said before walking away.
Eli pointed the door with her thumb. "See that's how you should have reacted."
"You shouldn't be so happy, it only means he doesn't want to see you naked." Ace grabbed his toothbrush. "By the way you look like a clown."
Eli mumbled some insults looking at her reflection. She couldn't really disagree though, she hardly ever used make up, and her attempt to conceal her bruise was an epic failure. After washing her face, she decided that she'd be better off without any make up at all.
She started brushing her teeth, next to Ace. Looking at him in the mirror, she smirked seeing she was still taller than him. At least I still beat him at that, she thought.
"ELI ! ARE YOU STILL IN THERE ?" Usopp yelled behind the door.
"YES AND I'M NAKED."
"...Ok...I thought you were the fastest being in the world ! Hurry up please !"
Ace grinned. "Shee ? No one wantch to shee youu nakeg." he said with his toothbrush in his mouth.
She was starting to get pissed off by his mocking. She may not have the sexiest body in the world but she was still a girl, and no girl likes to be depreciated like that. She gave him the evil face stomping his toe with her foot.
"Oukch !"
Brushing her teeth she observed his reflection. She was amused to see he was giving off a sort of playboy vibe and seeing him combing his hair with his fingers, she couldn't help but burst out laughing, spewing toothpaste on the mirror.
"WHAK !?"
"Oh Gog !" she laughed louder tears in the corner of her eyes looking at Ace's frowning face.
After a minute she finally calmed down and cleaned the mirror. But the young man was still frowning angrily at her.
She cleared her throat and smiled at his reflection "Sorry."
A small sigh escaped his nose, but he didn't look mad anymore. After all he must have been used to this kind of treatment, it wasn't any different than three years ago when they lived together. He smiled back at her reflection before bending forward to rinse his mouth.
"I'm glad you're here Freckles." she said warmly.
He left up his head and raised a questioning eyebrow. It looked like he was about to say something but the sound of the turning doorknob interrupted him.
The pair swung around to look at the door. "I'M NAKED !" Eli said for the fourth time, apparently still wanting to test the crew's morality.
As the doorknob slowly turned back to its original position, Ace gently elbowed the girl with a satisfied look on his face which quickly morphed into confusion when they heard the doorknob move again, slower, then stopped again. The pair was looking curiously at the door, the person behind that door was manifestly facing a moral dilemma. After a few seconds of silence Ace smirked proudly pointing his toothbrush at the girl whose shoulders slumped under the weight of her utter defeat.
The door slammed open, producing a powerful gust blowing Ace and Eli's hair away.
The look on Sanji's face morphed from pervy joy to complete disappointment and quickly into anger seeing that Eli was, in fact, far from naked and, as if to deepen his misery, not alone.
The crew celebrated all night, eating, drinking, dancing with the overjoyed villagers.
When Eli woke up the next morning, well more noon that morning, she had a severe migraine, and a really bad taste in the mouth, it was something between old sock and milk that had gone bad. Walking to the kitchen she was glad to be welcomed by Sanji handing her a large plate of pancakes.
During the late breakfast most of the crew was silent, apparently they were all suffering from a serious hangover. Sticking to his colors Luffy was being annoyingly noisy which made the rest of the crew punish him with two slaps, a kick, three punches and finally a major beat down.
In the afternoon Eli decided to write about their recent adventure in her book. She strolled down Cocoyashi's main street, enjoying the nice weather, and the happy faces of the villagers.
After retrieving her book Eli took a country side road along the coastline. The scenery of the island was really similar to Fuschia, which was relaxing for the girl. Her little stroll lead her to a familiar swordsman training against his doctor's advice.
"Can I sit here ?" she asked walking to him.
The swordsman looked at the girl over his shoulder, before returning to his weightlifting.
I guess this is a yes, Eli concluded. She sat down against a tree near the young man.
Looking at him she wondered how she could bond a little with him. He seemed a bit grumpy, and focused on his training, so she was torn between her desire to get to know him and her unwillingness to bother him.
Yet she took a shot. "How did Luffy made you join the crew ?"
"He made me choose between a firing squad and becoming a pirate." Zoro replied, still focused on his weights.
"Haha, sounds like him. You start regretting your choice aren't you ?" Eli jested.
Zoro gave her a smile.
Ok, that's a beginning, she thought.
"Would you tell me how your powers work ?" the swordsman asked.
Eli pondered a minute, since the young man showed some interest in her, she wanted to give him the better answer possible. "Just like, Luffy is rubber, and Ace is fire, I am speed. I can do everything faster that anyone, think, run, see, talk, everything..." She put her book down and brought her knees to her chest. "Like you know speed is weight, speed is power, and if I were to hit this cliff with a top speed kick, I'd surely destroy it." Zoro raised an eyebrow and looked at her putting his weights down, Eli smiled seeing she had caught his attention. "But the problem is that my body is fairly weak, so I'll end up crashing my every bones in the process. So during a battle I have to dodge every attacks until I see and opening to strike, not to mention that I also have a major stamina issue, so I can't let the fight go on for too long." She sighed deeply and looked at the clear blue sky above her. "I guess I wasn't the best person possible to get the power of this fruit, if someone like you had it, he would be invincible."
Zoro stayed silent for a moment. Looking at the girl with his piercing and emotionless eyes. "If you have it, it's because you were meant to have it." he said impassively.
Eli blinked. That was sharp, simple, almost naive. The girl knew that there was no such things as coincidence in this world yet she had never applied this undeniable truth to her own situation. She smiled at him. "Thanks."
The girl stood up and walked to the swordsman. "Hey wanna train with me ?"
Zoro raised an eyebrow eyeballing the girl. "Why not." He drew his sword.
Eli eyed the sharpness of the blade, and gulped apprehensively. "Wait ! You're not actually gonna use your sword right ?"
"I'll use the back of the blade." he replied stolidity.
"Hey why don't you use one of these bamboo blades ?"
"Bamboo blades are for sissies."
Eli took a step toward the young man and rested her hand of his shoulder, he cocked an eyebrow glancing at her hand. She took a deep breath and looked gravely into his black orbs. "Let's say I'm a sissy then..."
to be continued
I forgot to ask before, do you think Eli should get a bounty, since she raided the marine ship with Ace ?
Nothing huge though...
To my reviewers : Firstly thank you, reading your reviews keeps me alive.
And I really liked the fact that you quoted the bits you liked. Thanks :)
ThexWhitexPhoenix thank you for reviewing so fast YOU'RE the best.
How did you like 'those situations I created on my own' Art-sama ? There will be some more in the next chapter too.
Be proud of your flatness iBeautifullyBroken !
I'll update soon~