"I-if it's too much trouble . . . you can j-just drop me off at the next island you dock at." I told them. I didn't want to impose, especially on the great Whitebeard. Though I had a feeling that if he didn't want me to be here that I wouldn't be here.
Again he let out a laugh. But I didn't understand what was so funny about what I had just said. "Any children of a child of mine is always welcome."
At those words Ace let loose another loud whoop of happiness as he literally jumped with joy with an excited punch to the sky. He did all that with the biggest smile I had seen yet plastered on his freckled face.
Marco just had enough time to ruffle my hair and say "Welcome to the family." Before my wrist was grabbed in a familiar grasp and I was dragged off.
Behind me I could hear Whitebeard chuckling with the lightly muttered words. "Damn kids."
"Ok so you have to listen to everyone because you're a newbie. But I'll introduce you to the division commanders."
"How many are there?" I asked hoping that there weren't many. I wasn't very social and people always get insulted when I mess up their names and now I was dealing with pirates, very dangerous, well known and wanted pirates.
"Sixteen. But you already know Marco- he's the first division commander. And you know me, I'm the second. So next is Jozu, who is the third division commander." With that I was eagerly dragged throughout the ship.
As Ace searched for whoever Jozu was he talked a mile a minute throwing in an occasional 'oh we just passed the. . .' I was pulled down below deck and he continued talking excitedly as we searched for whoever this guy was.
However after failing to find the guy below the deck we reemerged and low and behold I was dragged over to a large tanned and rather intimidating man. His arms were crossed and he wasn't exactly smiling.
"Aaah Jozu there you are. I thought you had decided to play hide and seek for a moment there." Ace said with a familiar tone while scratching the back of his head.
In truth it didn't look as if the guy had moved for a while, meaning that Ace hadn't noticed him sitting there.
"Well Jozu, Willow. Willow, Jozu."
I offered a wave unsure if I should hold out my hand or not and he offered a wordless nod. But it wasn't as though we had time for anything else like conversation or 'hello' because I was pulled away.
Before I knew it I was stopped and introduced to somebody named Thatch who instantly grabbed my hand and began saying it was nice to meet me. I tried to keep up, trying not to get hung up on the differences between him and Jozu. But I failed and in the end Ace had to step in.
"Ace you're being extremely rude for not offering to find the poor girl dry clothing. I'm sure we could scrounge up something."
"I-I'm fine really Mr. Thatch." I tried to stop the two of them from baking a big deal out of it.
But with that they began discussing whose clothes they could steal, which ones would look the best on me and who was least likely to notice until I was actually wearing the clothing. And any time I tried to cut in, to tell them that I was fine, they wouldn't listen to me. Finally they came to the conclusion that I should be clothed in the nurse's outfit.
At first I agreed but that was only because I hadn't noticed that there were any nurses on the deck. But after seeing the little pink dresses and the leopard printed boots that went up to past their knees. I'd break my neck in shoes like that. And they did it with such ease. I blatantly refused to wear something like that.
"Why not? It's just temporary." Thatch asked watching me with amusement as I took a step back, away from them, distancing myself just a bit.
"It will look cute on you." Ace tried to convince me.
But I shook my head. No. I didn't think I was supposed to look cute on a pirate ship. Not unless cute was a new kind of weapon I don't think pirates and cute mix, not now not ever.
And then someone walked out onto the deck wearing a purple kimono. So I pointed at them and asked, "What about her? Why don't I ask her about letting me borrow a kimono?"
Ace and Thatch looked from me to the black haired person then at each other. They remained absolutely silent for a few seconds before they burst out laughing only after they failed to contain the chuckles they had tried to conceal by wavering straight faces. While Ace fell back and to the deck, Thatch used one of the masts to support himself with one arm as the other clutched his stomach.
"I-I-I-I-Izo." They finally managed to stutter out a name. "Is a guy." Thatch informed me and instantly I did a double take.
"And h-he's the sixteenth . . . d-division commander." Ace added as he managed to stand up and wipe his tears, still not completely done laughing at my mistake.
"I'm sorry. I-I'll go apologize."
But before I could get to walking my shoulder was grabbed and Ace said, "No. No need to tell him. It'll be another one of our secrets alright?" After getting me to nod he grabbed my near completely purple wrist saying, "Good." Even as I was pulled over to the guy I had just called a girl. "Yo Izo." He called waving excitedly at the guy who glanced at me before regarding Ace warily, as if he thought that he was up to something.
"What do you want?" He even sounded really suspicious, which made me wonder exactly what Ace had done to make him so weary.
"Just two things." Ace announced holding up two fingers before briefly introducing me and Izo.
"And the second thing?" He asked somehow knowing that the first was an introduction.
"One of your kimonos."
The rather pale guy rolled his eyes and said 'I suppose' obviously none too thrilled about loaning it to me.
"Thank you Mr. Izo. I will return it when my clothing is dry."
I didn't get to hear his response because I was dragged off by Ace once again. I was pulled into someone's room. "That's the closet." He pointed at a door across the room.
So I slowly went over to it and got out one of the garments before quietly closing the door. I didn't want to know how he knew where Izo's closet was.
"Uh . . . Ace." I said noticing how he wasn't turning away, covering his eyes or making an effort to leave the room. And he just hummed at me in response. "I need to change."
"Uh-huh."
He wasn't getting it. "Please get out."
"Wha-oh. . . oooh. Don't worry it's nothing I haven't seen many times before."
I frowned. That was not the response that I had been expecting. I had been expecting something like 'ok' and then him getting out so that I could change into the kimono and out of my clothing. "I'm sure but please. I'd rather you not watch me change."
"Oh ok. But I got a real quick question before I do." He paused, waiting for my ok but when he realized that I was waiting for him to continue he did exactly that. "Are you still mad at me? I mean we didn't exactly leave each other on the best foot." He reached up and scratched the back of his head.
"Mad?" I had to think about why I'd be mad at him. But once I got it I let out a little chuckle. Mad, Ace thought that I had been mad when I had run off so abruptly. "I was never mad Ace. I-I was just scared. I mean the things I was thinking, what I was doing, you saw what I was doing to him- I was intending to let him live and suffer." I shook my head. "I mean I know it was your fire but I was directing it for the most part."
"I would have killed him with or without you telling me to do so."
I nodded well aware of the fact. But there was something different about him killing someone and me using him to kill someone. "I know but . . . I-I made him suffer-"
"He deserved it Willow. And besides letting him live wouldn't have been a smart choice."
"I know." It was one of the reasons that I had told Ace to kill him before running off. I hadn't wanted to see him do the job.
"Sooooo are we-"
"Yes. Now get out." I grabbed him by the shoulders, twisted him around and walked him out of Izo's room. I changed as quickly as I could; peeling off the wet clothing that clung to my drying skin. I opened the door and took a step out, only for my foot to catch on the hem of the kimono and send me flying forwards. I fell into Ace and surprisingly enough he stumbled back and his feet got tangled up and he went crashing to the floor.
-Ace-
We lay there in the middle of the hallway with wet clothing strew all around us because Willow had thrown her arms up when she had tripped.
Between the two of us I gathered my bearings first and quickly grabbed the front of Izo's kimono and pulled it closed despite my previous comment, and said, "We need to get you a belt." She could not go wearing it as open as Izo did.
"You mean sash?" Willow asked her face bright cherry red as she tried to scramble off of me but only succeeded in tangling herself up and landing in the space besides me.
"Yeah that too." I rolled over had had far more success in getting to my feet then she had and offered her a hand. She accepted it without question unlike last few times I had offered her a hand.
So after a bit of searching we finally found something to keep the front of the purple kimono closed for Willow, who kept tripping over the too long hem, apologizing and blushing. It was kind of cute when she was all flustered and red in the face, and certainly hard not to laugh at.
After that little problem was fixed I introduced her to the rest of the division commanders in numerical order.
"Ace." She said as I began showing her important parts and rooms of the ship.
"What?" I asked continuing along.
"Your grip is really tight. It's starting to hurt."
"Oh. Sorry." I looked down at my hand to see that I did indeed have a hold of her wrist. Wait why was it all black and bruised and purple!? Had I done that to her?! I had forgotten that I had even had ahold of her wrist. Oh well. I loosened my grip but didn't release her wrist.
"Thanks but um . . . I sincerely apologize but I'm never going to remember any of their names."
"It's ok, you're a newbie. You'll learn." I easily dismissed it. Forgetting names wasn't going to kill anyone. And it wasn't like anyone was going to take her head for it. Besides the girl had only been on the ship for a few hours at the most. And I suppose she might be overwhelmed by everything and everyone. "Oh hey, why did you get chased out of town?" I asked remembering the mob of people gathering at the docks as I watched her swim for her life towards the ship.
"Because I went into town to do a few errands and then eat but after I ordered everyone swarmed and tried to get me."
"Everyone? And you escaped?" Well obviously she had escaped because she was here but I was still surprised. If everyone jumped her and she escaped then that meant that she had to have fought right? Or maybe everyone wasn't a lot of people.
"D-don't look so surprised." She muttered looking away from me, unhooking her hair from behind her ear and blocking her face from view.
Reaching towards her I re tucked the hair behind her ear grumbling, "Stop doing that." Hair isn't a shield and shouldn't be used as such.
"Sorry."
"And the apologizing."
"Sorry." She muttered and I hung my head. Seeing this action she said, "I did it again. I'm sorry." Her eyes widened and she was about to apologize for the previous apology but I clamped my hand over her mouth and said,
"So how did you get out if everyone swarmed you?"
"Well those punches you showed me came in handy as did all of that dining and dashing. When I was little my mom discouraged fighting as much as my dad but she always said to use your mouth, as in bite and scream a lot. . . .So I . . . I uh bit a few people. And my dad he'd always say use your knees and elbows and stuff. So I did that too. After that . . . well I improvised and ran like a bat out of you know where-"
"Hell?" I asked. Did she have problems cursing? Even saying hell? Hell wasn't that bad of a word and she was currently referring to the place so I didn't quite see the bid deal.
She nodded. "And then they chased me all around town and then I accidentally went towards the docks and it was more or less a life or death situation."
Man I really wish I could have been there to watch this, to watch such a shy and reserved for the most part person such as Willow fight. I clapped her on the back. "That's one step in the right direction." At least she could somewhat get herself out of a situation with normal civilians.
"Hey Ace." Someone called from behind me. Turning around I saw Marco. "Have you shown her the barracks yet?
I shook my head. "We were heading towards the galley."
Marco rolled his eyes at me. Honestly he should've known. "Well take a detour to Myra's room." I must have given him a blank look because he sighed and said, "That one room that's always locked."
"The one between our rooms?" I asked. I didn't particularly care about the room but I was certainly curious about it and why Willow got to stay in it.
"Yeah kick down the door if you have to. I think that would be the best place for her. Unless of course she wants to be around more females then show her the nurse's quarters or see if Cole will take her in."
I nodded and before we began heading for that room I looked at Willow to see her looking between the two of us with this confused expression on her face. Letting out a chuckle I grabbed her wrist and began heading to the barracks part of the ship.
"There might also be some more fitting clothing for her as well." Marco said before I could get too far.
I gave him a backwards wave to show that I had heard him. "You like your seclusion right?" I asked figuring the last place she wanted was the nurse's quarters. She mutely nodded. "So you'll be fine alone right?"
Again she nodded and I considered telling her to be more talkative and vocal but figured that would be a waste of breath. So I said the next thing that came to mind. "I mean you won't be alone. Marco's room is on one side and mine is on the other. Also the division commander's quarters are in numerical order down the hallway. Marco's, mine, Jozu's, Thatch's and so on until Izo's room which is that last one."
I explained to her and with that and a few moments of silence we came to the door. I tried it already knowing that it was locked from the inside. "I think we have to kick it down. Alright Willow, kick it down." I told her.
Her head snapped my direction and she asked, "E-excise me?" while giving me this sharp disbelieving look.
I nodded. "Yeah. Just put your foot up like so," I demonstrated how she should do it because there was no doubt in my mind that little ol Willow had never kicked down a door or climbed a fence or had done anything like that before. Then I added, "Then just kick in."
"Like that?" She asked lightly doing exactly as I had showed her. After getting my nod of approval she repeated the action but harder, with a lot more force but not enough to actually do any damage to or open it.
"Try again." I encouraged her when the first kick didn't send it flying in. So she obeyed me and tried again a few times. After several attempts I told Willow that I'd do it. But even then I had to take several tries before finally succeeding in kicking the door in.
However I ended up exerting a bit too much force and when the now splintered door flew in loud, rather bad sounding crashes, thumps and bangs followed as well as this concerned look from Willow.
Laughing I ruffled her hair and said, "Oops. That'll be fixed by time you're ready to sleep." Whenever that was.
She didn't look too convinced as she hesitantly stepped into the dark room. Dim light filtered through a thickly covered in dust porthole. My hand felt around the wall near the doorframe in hopes of finding the light switch and shedding some light into the room. Of course if that didn't work then I had a backup plan. Fortunately- or maybe it was unfortunate, I can't tell- I did find the light and when I flipped the switch the light flicked on but stayed on.
Well there was the reason that it had been so hard to kick down the door. It had been the over turned bed and the dresser that had slammed into the wall had cracked a bit but was still usable. The room itself was dusty, like it hadn't been touched in forever. There were footprints behind us, showing where we had already stepped and where he hadn't yet touched.
"Looks like you have a bit of cleaning to do. I'll go get you a bucket and a scrubby." I said.
If the door had been locked and barricaded how the hell had that blasted woman gotten out of this room? The only other exit was the round porthole and it didn't open. It could probably be broken but that would be pretty hard since the glass was pretty hard. But the problem with that theory was that the glass was unbroken, it was filthy but there wasn't a single crack on its surface. So again I wondered how she had gotten out.
"O-ok." She muttered.
"I'll see what kind of new bedding that I can scrounge up." I said turning to go and get that stuff but at the door I turned around and asked, "Are you sure you want to do all of this work? You can just bunk with Cole or the nurses."
She looked up form something on a still in tack, not affected from the break in, desk. "Yeah it's fine. I mean I'll have to get used to working right? Plus it's nothing compared to rebuilding a stone wall. It's just a bit of dusting and scrubbing. I can handle that much."
"I suppose since you're a newbie and all . . . But are you sure you want to start working before you have to?"
"Ace, it's my room someone's gotta clean it. And if I don't who will?"
"True but . . . are you sure?" This was her last chance to back out, to get out of having to clean this room. I know that if I had the option I wouldn't do it, not unless i absolutely had to.
Willow let out a small chuckle. "Are you trying to get me out of doing all of this work?"
"Of course! No need to do more then you have to."
"Well I have to clean this room."
"Well you don't have to." I informed her emphasizing the word have because she had other options, several ways of escaping the work.
"I'm aware but could you please go get me that bucket and scrubby?"
"Fine fine fine if you want to do work I'll be back." And with that I left the room to get the cleaning supplies . . . wherever those were.
I usually avoided cleaning whenever I could; faked narcoleptic attacks helped a lot. And why do it when you could get newbies or the lower crew members do it? Especially when there was food to be eaten, naps to be taken and narcoleptic –fake or real- attacks to conveniently have.
-Willow-
I didn't really have any qualms about cleaning the room that would be mine all mine. I didn't mind especially when it got me out of sharing quarters and when it was something to keep me occupied for a bit, out of the pirate's sights minds and ways.
As I waited for Ace to return I examined the room. It was about the size of my bedroom back in the forest. The bed was in the middle of the room and the dresser was a bit damaged because of Ace but it still held clothes. One drawer had fallen out and the top one was spilling clothing form it. So I decided that I'd start there.
I folded the spilled garments and put them back in their respective drawers, shirts in one, undergarments in another, pants in a different one and other things in the bottom. I took the remaining drawers out and moved it out of the just barely bed sized space and then slid the bed there. It was a perfect match. I put the drawers back into the dresser after I put that against the wall.
Straightening I looked around to see if there was anything else I could do while waiting for Ace to return. There was nothing but I was kind of afraid to venture out. I had witnessed Ace's strength and I had a feeling that almost every time I had witnessed it he had been playing.
I began pacing around the room, leaving footprints as if the thick dingy dust was pure freshly lain snow. I came to a stop in front of the desk bolted to the floor with an old antique mirror resting against the wall against it. On the top was a piece of yellowed paper. On either side were oddly shaped things that had been stabbed into the wood.
They looked like weapons. They looked like circles that had been cut in half and then those halves were scooted over so that they formed a handle and four curved, claw like points that stabbed into the paper and the desk. One of the points was longer than the other three. The lengthened crescent had a wrap around it so that the other appeared to be a hand guard.
Through the thick dust I was able to just barely make out the words printed in quick scrawled writing. And those words spelled out F-l-i-p o-v-e-r. So with a bit of difficulty I managed to pull the things out of the wood of the desk and freed that paper so that I could listen to the instructions and flipped it over.
I had to read the first few lines several times over. And even then I couldn't believe what I was reading. I felt as though I shouldn't be reading it but I couldn't help it.
The first line apologized about the broken window that must have been fixed from the outside. Then there was an apology to Marco about not working out and some age difference. There was also an apology about leaving the crew, her wonderful family, for some young Marine vice admiral, in whom she couldn't help but have fallen for during their many clashes with the Marines.
"Here ya go Willow." Ace voice cheerily said shattering my thoughts. Upon hearing his voice I slammed the paper down onto the desk face down and whipped towards him my heart pounding loudly in the middle of my throat.
His brow furrowed and he cocked his head to the side giving me this confused look. "You ok?" He took a step towards me.
"Uh . . . Yeah- yeah fine. Thanks for the stuff." i said stepping towards him and away from the desk so he wouldn't get the chance to see it or read it.
"Oh. No problem." He grinned widely and said, "The bedding's outside the door when you're ready or whenever it's needed. If it goes missing come and get me."
Why would bedding to missing? I wondered. Who the heck would want to snatch bedding?
"Also if you need anything you can always find and ask Marco, Pops, myself or any of the division commanders."
I nodded but I knew that I wasn't going to any of the other division commanders or Whitebeard if I needed help. I might go to Marco, after all I had a note that was around twenty five years late to deliver.
"I wouldn't trust anyone else to honestly tell you what you need to know." Ace told me.
With another silent nod I went over to the bucket at the door and knelt down next to it before fishing the scrubby out of it.
First I'd fix up the floors and then what I could reach of the walls and when I was done with that I'd clean all of the furniture. I expected Ace to leave, to find something to do or to go to the kitchen to get some food but then again maybe that's what had taken him so long to get the stuff.
But what I expected and what he did was two different things. He perched on the dirty bed and began talking to either me or himself, I couldn't quite tell. "We'll also get this bed bolted to the floor so you don't go sliding around in the middle of the night while you're sleeping in it." He let out a laugh as though he found the idea a little more than just amusing. "Damn woman, looks like she tried to bolt the bed in front of the door. No wonder no one got in there for so long."
There was a pause where I was supposed to contribute to the conversation he was trying to start up but I didn't quite know what to say. Usually when that happens it's best to keep my mouth shut and let them either drop the conversation or to let them continue on with the mild disappointment that I had nothing to say to them.
"So you sure got quite the surprise today didn't you?" I nodded with a quiet yeah.
Actually I had gotten quite a few surprises today and it wasn't even over yet. This morning when I had woken up I would have never imagined that I wouldn't be going to sleep in my own bed, that I'd be on a pirate ship and that I'd have not only learned a bit about my parents but also had the chance to meet the great and powerful Whitebeard.
Again Ace laughed. "So your dad was a vice admiral huh. Is that why you didn't want to talk about him before?"
"I didn't know." I honestly told him. "I thought it was a game. He was always vice admiral Tristan and my mom was always the Blue Blur. It was an ongoing game throughout my childhood. To me it was nothing more, nothing less. But it's still rather painful to bring up with the both of them gone. So why didn't you want to talk about your dad?" I asked more or less returning the question.
We lapsed into silence and I thought that he wasn't going to answer but eventually he did.
"It doesn't matter. Pops is my only father."
"It won't change my opinion about you." I tried to get who his real father had been out of him assuming he even knew. Maybe Ace didn't want to tell me because he didn't want to admit that he didn't know.
"Trust me it really doesn't make any difference whether you now it to not. But I'll tell you if you guess correctly."
"Ace." I couldn't help but whine. I wasn't that good at guessing and where would I even start?
"Don't wanna guess do you?" He let out a laugh. "Then I guess you don't want the answer. That's just a shame Willow."
When I paused and looked up at him I saw that he was smiling almost cheekily at me. "So what were you like as a child?"
That was kind of random. I thought. But I decided that I should answer him. There was no harm in telling him, plus it was something to do besides absent mindedly scrub the floors.
"Well you see I was more outgoing, more fun and open. But you know . . . things, they happen and change people."
"Like parent's deaths." He said as if reading my mind.
I nodded and changed the subject of the conversation to him and quickly asked, "So what about you? What were you like as a child?"
"I got into a lot of fights. I was quite . . . rude I suppose, until I had discovered that Shanks for saving my little brothers life. Then Makino helped me with that. I was- still am- quite . . . protective I guess you could say. If anyone dares to insult or harm the few people I actually care about for in this world there will be hell to pay."
From his tone I didn't doubt a single word. But I couldn't help but smile at the last bit. It was kind of cute to be honest. "I see." Was all I offered him.
Why did him and Luffy seem to know everyone important? First Ace and Whitebeard and now Luffy and The Red Haired Shanks. Dear lord!
"So how old are you Ace?" I randomly asked figuring that we were just randomly asking each other random questions. Plus I was afraid that if the impending silence wasn't filled that it would creep in and things would get a bit uncomfortable again.
"Between the ages of seventeen and twenty one." Was all he offered me. But he didn't fail to return the question.
"Same thing." I told him with a playful smile, revealing no more or less about my age then he had.
"No fair." Ace pouted like Luffy did when he didn't get his way with his lips stuck out.
"Sorry. So have you always gone around shirtless?" I asked. Not that it was bothering me I was just wondering. I wondered how much trouble it had gotten him into and I don't mean no shirt no shoes no service kind of trouble.
The rest of the day continued on like this.
I would clean, we would talk and constantly members of the Whitebeard crew would stop by, stick their heads in just to see the newbie they had already heard wild tales of, of a wild rescue courtesy of Marco. They would say hi- in more or less words- occasionally introduce themselves, converse a bit with Ace and then go about their piratey business.
And just like when I was collecting rocks for my wall, I found that I not only really enjoyed Ace's company but I was thankful for it.
"Don't you have other things you gotta be doing?" I asked standing up and stretching, finally done with the floor and what I could reach of the walls from my hands and knees.
"Nah." He said. Ace had a few of his sleep attacks during his stay but when he woke up again the conversation continued as though nothing had happened, as though there had been no pause, which I found rather amusing to be honest.
"Do you have better things to do then watch me work?" I tried, standing on my tiptoes to reach as high as I could of the wall. But it wasn't working very well.
"Nah." He stood too and stretched as well. Besides what's the point? Dinner's about to be served and after dinner I'll introduce you to more people alright?" There was that excited light in his eyes dancing dangerously.
I shook my head. "I-I'd rather not. Maybe- maybe we could find some art supplies?" Was that too much to ask for on a pirate ship? I had left all of mine behind and even if I hadn't it would have been ruined anyway.
"Oh, hey let's go get your clothes and toss Izo's clothes into the wash for him." I didn't get the chance to argue because I was dragged away, willing or not.
I had just barely slipped into my white skirt, sandals- yes they had thrown those into the dryer as well- and blue tank top with swirling white designs on it when some kind of bell rang, the door of the washroom was flung open and I was dragged out of the room behind Ace, who was actually running, his eyes lit up as he happily exclaimed, "Dinner!" As I was dragged behind him he explained how we could eat whenever but dinner was the only meal that was served at a certain time.
Unfortunately after slipping into the galley I lost track of him. So I just followed the flow of people and got my food. But that was just the first challenge. Now holding my plate of food I faced another challenge, where the heck was I supposed to sit? Most of the already sitting, talking, eating and drinking people looked quite unapproachable and I couldn't find Thatch, Marco or Ace for the life of me.
"Yo girlie!" A voice shouted, catching my attention. When I looked towards the voice I couldn't find its owner. "Yeah you. Come over here." And with that I sighted a waving hand that brought my attention to a woman with two very heavily tatted arms. When we made eye contact she gestured for me over to her somehow empty table.
So slowly I headed that way figuring that I had nothing to lose. Tentatively I took a seat.
"So what's the big idea?" she instantly snapped at me.
I looked up at her but didn't answer.
The woman had blonde hair that was cropped close to her head, which reminded me a bit of peach fuzz but a bit thicker. And in the middle was a bunch of hair that if spiked would make a bad-ass looking Mohawk. That strip of hair was wildly dyed with unnamable hues of purple and pink. Her face was sharp and narrow. She had a nose piercing and many ear piercings on one ear. Her skin was lightly tanned and her eyes a deep brown and narrowed at me.
She was wearing a red and black plaid shirt over a black tank top and she appeared to be pretty normal compared to some of the people that filled the galley.
"Are you sure you're not lost?" I shook my head. I wouldn't be here even if I were lost. "Look missy, if you're not lost and you're in fact a newbie you need to revamp your wardrobe."
"What's wrong with this?" I asked looking down at myself. Trust it wasn't as hard and edgy as her style was but I didn't see what was so wrong with it.
"Normally nothing. It's not my cup of ale but you're now on a pirate ship. You will be fighting and running for your life. Not only will those clothes snag but no one will be able to take you seriously in that little miss innocent garb you've got on now. You're currently a bloody piece of steak in infested waters."
"Oh." I was about to apologize but the woman didn't let me.
"But don't worry. I'll help you. Newbies tend to come in groups, like the Spade Pirates did. But I can tell you didn't. So you'll need a friend. Plus if you haven't noticed Pops sons outnumber his daughters half to one. I'm Nichole but the crew either calls me Cole or Nikki." And with those words she held a leather gloved hand over the table for me to shake.
I have to admit I was quite taken aback by the action.
"I-I'm Willow." I said lightly taking her hand and shaking it. Like my dad she had an iron grip and nearly crushed mine in hers.
At those words she hung her head with a heavy sigh. When she looked up she said, "Of course it is. I'm going to call you one of the following, Kiddo, missy or girlie."
"W-what's wrong with my name?" First my clothing and now my name. I could change the first of the two but not my name
"It's too soft. If I were a marine I'd think that you were a captive. Seriously girlie, you need to toughen up a bit. If not literally then just your look. Us girls have gotta stick together so when we're done I'll fix you up alright?"
"Um . . . o-ok." I really didn't think that I had an option. Plus she didn't seem as bad as she had initially seemed.
"So which division are you under?"
"Um . . ."
"Who did you come here with? Who brought you here?" She released another heavy sigh.
"Ace."
"Ah cool." She looked around me and shouted, "Yo Fire Fist give me a light!" As she shouted those words she reached under the table and pulled out a cigarette and put it to her lips. But when nothing happened she chuckled and pulled out a silver rectangular lighter and lit it herself. After taking a long drag she said, "He's out cold. Wanna join me on the deck?"
Again I don't think that I had much of a choice so quietly I followed her leaving my half-finished food there on the table, not entirely sure what to do with it.
Once out there she strolled over to the rail of the deck and leaned against it with her elbows and after blowing out a long stream of smoke she asked, "So how did Fire Fist pick up someone like you?"
I didn't know if I should be insulted or not. "Long story." I tried hoping that I wouldn't have to explain it all to her.
Cole flipped open the top of a tin box fastened to the waistband of her pants and examined it before saying, "Trust me we have time. I mean I know 'bad guys' attract good girls and whatever but you're totally out of your element here."
"I got chased out of town because of a few things that we had done." I offered the bare minimal.
"Things like what?"
"Dine and dashing. I also sortta mutilated someone with his help."
She chuckled quietly. "Fire Fist doesn't need help mutilating people." I didn't even know how to respond to that and I guess that she saw that because she continued on. "So how exactly did that work?"
"Well he- it's not of your business." I managed. "But I grabbed Ace's wrists and he let me direct his fire that's all. So what do you do on the ship?" I didn't bother being discreet about my want to change the subject of our conversation. It was best if I forgot about that part of that otherwise flawless night. The entire night itself was not worth forgetting, just the burned still moving, moaning and begging for release from the suffering I had brought down on him, the burned, hardly recognizable as human on the beach was worth forgetting though.
"I can take a hint. But I'm the tattoo artist. I mark people as Pop's. I welcome them to the family and put his mark on their bodies." Her tone was cool and nonchalant but the little smile that only turned up the corners of her mouth showed that she was rather proud of her job.
"You're an artist?"
"Yeah. What about you?" Maybe she had caught the excitement in my voice or maybe she had caught up on another hint that I might have dropped.
"I paint or draw, just not on flesh." I muttered. There was no way in heck that I'd be able to do it on people's flesh.
"Cool." After flicking the still glowing but into the ocean she turned around and rested her back against the rail and looked at me. "Since you're not bunkin' with me where exactly are you bunking? Not with the nurses right?" I shook my head. "Good. They come and go so often that it'll make your pretty little head spin. I'm quite sure Pops wouldn't let you bunk with the rest of the crew you being a girl and all. Oh and just a quick side note, don't let all of the big boys intimidate you and don't hide behind people either- namely Fire Fist." When she was that I wasn't going to say anything on the matter she let out a light short sigh. "You're going to have to talk, to learn to speak up you know that girlie."
"Sorry."
"And only apologize when you need to." There was a pause. "So where are you bunking then?"
"Between Marco's and Ace's rooms." I told her.
Her eyes lit up with curiosity but Cole herself maintained her cool as she spoke. "Really? Show me."
And with that we went to my room. Turns out the door had been replaced, put back on its hinges and replaced. The bed had also been bolted to the floor during my absence.
"Cool the room came stocked with great clothes." She said pulling some things out of the drawers that she had instantly began rummaging though. "Look just wear this stuff and you'll be good. Ditch the skirt and innocent look a.s.a.p." And with a wave over her shoulder before walking out.
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A/N: In comparison to usual this is a super long chapter . . . and there's not really much action but there will be next chapter (just a bit). But I hoped you enjoyed it anyway.
Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.