Haruta admired cool people.
Not people that thought they were cool, like landbound thugs, marines and rookie pirates who tried to take Oyaji's head. No, Haruta admired real cool pirates, like her new brothers, and her new father. They were really cool. And to Haruta at age twelve there was no one cooler in the entire world than her big brother Marco. Of course, some people liked to claim that he wasn't really her brother, beacuse they weren't really related by blood, but her new family had completely boycotted the idea of family having anything to do with blood, something which Haruta supported fully.
Marco was cool, she knew that much, but she wanted to figure out exactly what made him cool, because for all that she admired him she didn't know that yet. She decided to begin with asking Thatch, because there was no one who spent as much time with Marco as him.
"Hey, Thatch," she said, swinging her legs from where she sat on the railing next to her unnecessarily tall brother, "How come Marco is so cool?" she asked.
"Hm?" Thatch looked up from the knots he was making, he frowned, "Y'know, I've never really thought about it." He said, looking slightly bemused at his own response, "I guess it's because he's so strong, you can always count on Big Brother Marco to have your back." He nodded at himself, seemingly happy with his own answer.
"Don't ever tell him I said that, though!" he exclaims. Haruta grins mischievously and opens her mouth widely. That she wants an answer to her question doesn't mean that she can't tease Thatch, because he's fun to mess with.
"Don't you dare, squirt!" Thatch said, slamming a hand over her mouth, effectively stopping her. She probably wouldn't have said anyways, she knows the value of blackmail material already, but it's soooo fun to see the expressions Thatch made when his mouth ran away from him.
She licked his hand, causing him to draw it back, complaining loudly. She stuck her tongue out at him and hopped down from the high railing.
"Thanks, Thatch-y~" she chirped, skipping away.
"Yeah yeah," he said, waving a hand, then, "HEY! Aren't I cool too?!" he shouted, "HARUTA?" Haruta just cackled.
Thatch's answer was good, she'd admit, but she felt like there was more than just being a super brother that made Marco cool, so she endeavoured on a quest to find Izo, because he was very observant and would surely have noticed things Marco hadn't.
"Izo~!" she called when she found him in the mess hall, directing some of his division members to different corners of the room, which for some reason was covered floor to ceiling in what might've been potato and leek soup. Good, Haruta thought, if the soup was on the ceiling it meant it wouldn't be served for supper, which suited her just fine as she despised leek even more than most other twelve year olds, pirate or not.
"Izo, I have a question," Haruta stated when she reached her beautiful brother.
"Is that so, Little One?" Izo asked, looking down at her. Usually Haruta hated being called 'little' but it was okay when Izo did it, because he didn't do it to tease her about her height or her age, but rather did it in an affectionate way, the way she used to dream about when she lived on the street and wished she had a sibling just like all the other kids.
"Yep."
Izo surveyed the mess hall for a moment and then said;
"Tris, go check on Rob, would you, dear? He always seems to get lost on the way to the cleaning cupboard," Izo said to one of his division members that seemed to be a bit lost about what to do. Their sister smiled and left with a nod and a 'Sure, Commander', seemingly relieved to be escaping the mess, if only for a few minutes.
"There," Izo said, "Now, what did you want to ask me?" he asked, motioning Haruta over to a table and taking a place at a carefully chosen spot of the bench that wasn't dirtied by soup. Izo was very beautiful, everyone knew that, but staying beautiful - and most of all, clean - took work, work that Haruta herself never had cared much for.
She put a foot on the bench, making a 'squelch' sound when her boot landed in a puddle of soup and used it as a ledge to push herself up to seat herself on top of the table. She didn't bring her feet up, because she knew Izo wouldn't like that, but no one ever argued when she sat on tables otherwise. She liked sitting on tables, it made her feel tall.
"What is it that makes Marco so cool?" Haruta asked, and her expression must've been funny or something because Izo gave her an amused smile.
"Why are you asking?" he asked.
"'Cause I can't figure it out!" she answered, throwing her arms up, "He's mysterious sometimes."
Izo smiled, "Maybe that's it? Mysteries are often 'cool'." He said, "He's the one that's been with Oyaji the longest and no one but Oyaji and Marco himself really knows how he joined and what his life was like before that. That kind of mystery can be very cool."
"Hmm, that's not it," Haruta decided, it was true that Marco could be cool because he was mysterious, but not because she didn't know anything about his past. It was something else.
"No? Then maybe it's because he's very strong and a good big brother?" Izo suggested.
"Thatch already said that," Haruta said, "he's right, but I think there's something more." She said stubbornly, crossing her arms.
"How about you ask Jozu, Little One?" Izo suggested, "He's been with the crew almost as long as Marco has."
"Mm, yeah, I'll do that!" Haruta jumped to her feet and then down from the bench.
"Thanks, Izo!" she called over her shoulder as she ran off. She caught a brief glance of her brother's horrified face aimed at her feet, and looked down at the floor, spotting a line of footprints in her trail. She grinned, oh what joy it was to cause trouble without even meaning to.
She found Jozu on the quarterdeck by the wheel, turning it ever so slightly now and then when Namur yelled something about degrees and directions from inside the Navigator Room.
"Jozu?" she said, looking up at her extremely big brother. Said man diverted his steadfast gaze from the horizon and looked down at her.
"Do you know why Marco is so cool?" she asked, tilting her head. Jozu seemed to think over her question for a few beats, turning his gaze back to the sea and nudging the wheel at Namur's command.
"He's always calm," he said at last, which was kinda funny, because Jozu was a very calm guy too, "he never loses his cool unless someone's been seriously hurt, and he's still cool then because he beats up the enemies faster than anyone else would've been able to, to take care of whoever is down." Haruta hadn't been in any major battles with the crew yet, only scuffles with marines and rookies, but she had once seen one of her brothers get cut down by a pirate who had a secret trick up his sleeve and managed to ambush her brother from the back. Marco had been there, killing the enemy and catching their brother before he even hit the deck. Jozu made a good point, she conceded, nodding.
"You could ask Oyaji, no one's known Marco longer than Oyaji," Jozu said.
"Good idea!" she said, "Thanks, Jozu!" she called, skipping off towards the main deck and The Chair.
"Hey, Oyaji, I've gotta question for ya," Haruta said, bouncing up to her father's feet.
"That so, brat?" Oyaji said, scooping her up with one huge hand and disposing her on his knee.
"Mmhm! Jozu said you've known Marco the longest out of everyone, which I knew already, but that means that you should know why he's cool," she stated.
"Should I?" Oyaji looked amused. Haruta nodded vigorously.
"Let me tell you something, my child," he said. Haruta leaned in eagerly, Oyaji always had something interesting to say, despite being so old - maybe becuase he was so old?
"The only one who can know why you think something about someone is yourself," he confided.
Haruta frowned. What Oyaji was saying made sense. WHy hadn't she thought of that?
"Huh," she uttered.
"Gurararara," Oyaji chuckled, raising a tankard of booze to his lips and taking a big gulp.
"Hey, can I get watch?" Haruta asked, out of the blue. She had some stuff to think about, and she had found the crowsnest an exceptional place to do so.
"It's not your turn, brat," Oyaji said, looking amused, "but I'm sure Marco wouldn't mind the company." Haruta considered this for a moment before getting to her feet, standing on her father's ginormous knee.
"Yeah! See ya later, Oyaji!" she called, jumping all the way down to the deck and running for the rigging, her father's chuckling following after her.
She climbed the rigging quickly and easily. She loved climbing on things, whether it be Vista's back, a tree, or the rigging, it was yet another thing that made her feel tall.
The crow's nest most commonly used for holding watch was the one at the very top of the main mast, where one had the best view. Some of her siblings used the ones a bit closer to the deck, usually because they were afraid of heights of something, but she knew Marco always used the top nest, when he wasn't flying in his phoenix form that was.
He was right now, she noticed upon reaching the nest, which was empty. She settled down on the bench and looked out over the nice view of the sea her seat presented. It didn't take long for the big blue phoenix that was Marco to perch on the railing next to her, crooning.
"Hi, Marco," she said, reaching out to stroke his wing. It was a strange sensation, the feeling of feathers that weren't quite there, instead morphing into his bright blue flames that tickled rather than burned. Marco crooned back and leaned into her hand. Haruta had learned that he quite liked being petted when he was in bird form, though he didn't let all that many people know that, because he had a reputation to uphold as a fearsome pirate, and fearsome pirates didn't like to be petted. Haruta was allowed to know though, which made her happy.
Maybe it was his phoenix form that made Marco so cool? Haruta mused. The way he used his wings and his talons in a fight were certainly cool, and so was his ability to fly. But what Thatch had said was also true; Marco was really cool because he was their strong big brother, but he was also cool because he was so calm, like Jozu had said, and a bit because he was mysterious, like Izo said. Maybe he was cool for all those reasons? She thought.
Then she perked up, drawn from her thoughts by a sight in the horizon.
"A ship!" she exclaimed. Beside her Marco transformed into his usual human self.
"You've got good eyes, yoi," he said to her, giving her a quick smile before leaning over the railing of the crow's nest and calling.
"Ship ho, yoi!" most of the guys down on deck turned to take a look at the ship themselves. It was still too far away for Haruta to make out what colours it was flying, but Marco squinted at it for a moment before declaring;
"Marines!" The others started talking down on deck and a few guys went to fetch the others below deck.
"Let's head down, yoi," Marco said, motioning for Haruta to follow when he started climbing down. When they were down Marco remained standing on the railing, where one tended to end up when climbing down the rigging.
He exchanged a look with Oyaji, who nodded, and then started shouting orders about who would board the ship and who would hold the defense if the marines decided to attack - which they probably would, because they were stupid like that.
Haruta was happy to hear that the divison she belonged to - the Twelfth Division, which obviously was the best division - was on the offensive team, which meant that she would get to board the marine vessel.
The ship was approaching quickly, bearing with it white-clad losers and some afternoon activity. Haruta looked at Marco out of the corner of her eye and noticed that his tongue was sticking out of the corner of his mouth. Not in the weird way that Smelly Alan from the upper streets used to, but in a cool way, that made it look like he was anticipating spilling marine blood - which may well be true. Haruta decided right there that Marco looked very cool when he did that.
She was one of the first to jump across the gap between the two ships and indulge in a fight, with her tongue was sticking out of the corner of her mouth all the while.
~Fin~
AN: Haruta needs more love, and so does Marco, so here's a fic concerning why they both seem to have a habit of sticking out their tongues. According to my headcanon Haruta adores her brothers - even though they can be annoying - and she unconciously emulates Marco's tongue-thing because he's one of her role models.
Please take note of the fact that none of the Whitebeards deny that Marco is cool, they just roll with it because Haruta is their sister and Marco is their brother and obviously he's cool.
In this she has only just joined the crew some months to a year ago, and I know it seems really young to be a pirate at that age, but I feel like Haruta would join them young, still being very young but having made it to Commander level when we meet her - ehm him - at Marineford. Before that she was a street kid, surviving on her own by stealing (I'm sure writing a lot about street kids lately, huh?).
And yes, I'm aware that Haruta has been confirmed as a man, but I still haven't wrapped my head around that, so there you have it. Frankly I don't give a crap what Odacchi says about it because I refuse to believe that every single one of the 1600+ Whitebeard Pirates is a man.
Feedback is greatly appreciated!
Thanks for reading!