Girl

Characters: Ikkaku, Heart Pirates. Rating: K. Warnings: None

When Ikkaku had joined the Heart Pirates there had been a huge celebration, led by Penguin and Shachi. The captain himself hadn't joined in the party, but she'd been reassured that he was always like that and that it was nothing personal. As he had been the one to invite her in the first place, and was at least lurking in the corner nursing a single mug of rum, she accepted it and let herself enjoy the atmosphere. The boys, as she came to refer to the rest of the crew, were apparently overjoyed to have a woman join them. It hadn't really registered when she'd first met them that there were no other females, but that hardly bothered her. She'd always got on better with boys anyway.

Being the only girl did have its advantages. The boys, this time including the captain, had banded together to empty a small store room and put in a bed and dresser, giving her her own room. She was also given first dibs on the communal bathroom, the closest the crew could get to giving her her own en suite.

That particular privilege only lasted a couple of weeks, until their first real fight since she'd joined, where some of the boys were grubbier that her. From then on the bathroom reverted to a free for all, although Uni did fashion a sign for her to flip to make sure no-one walked in on her by accident – purposeful walk-ins were punishable by her lethal martial arts, followed by an unpleasant chore assigned by the captain, the same punishment dished out whenever any crew member disrespected another. Ikkaku had been less than pleased initially, hoping she wasn't getting special treatment because she was a girl – the private room was as much as she wanted – but her captain had assured her otherwise. While he had no issues with harmless pranks, they had to be totally harmless and not at the unpleasant expense of another crewmate.

Tailoring a uniform for her also took time. The fact that they even wore a uniform – with the exception of their captain – had surprised her until she saw the bowels of the submarine. A boiler suit was a must in there and for most of the crew it was simpler to just wear them the majority of the time. Law was the only one to exclusively wear his only when he was needed there, but as his knowledge on submarines was minimal at best (apparently, he'd tried to learn but Penguin had insisted he not overload himself and just focused on being the doctor-captain and left the maintenance to the rest of them) his presence was rare.

The adaptation of one of the spares (all designed for males) took weeks if not a month before it was satisfactorily remade for her. In the meantime, she had made do with a baggy one, hiding her hair under a hat and all but masquerading as a boy, especially while on shore.

She was glad of the masquerade on Amazon Lily – while it meant she was subjected to the same unfriendly treatment as her crewmates, she preferred it to receiving special treatment and being separated from her crew. None of her nakama had commented, either too busy with Mugiwara and Jinbei, or preoccupied by the often scantily clad Kuja. The crew might be largely in their late twenties and early thirties, but she often thought they acted as though they were still hormonal teenagers. Not, she admitted, that she was much better. Perhaps that was why she fit in so well, despite being the only female.

She was asked, once, by a woman whose name she never learnt, and indeed only saw the one time, if she wished for a female crewmate. Surely it had to be lonely, being the only girl in a crew of boys? Ikkaku had simply laughed. If she desired 'girl talk', she simply collared the nearest unfortunate crewmate. At the beginning, it had been to watch them squirm – some, like Penguin and Shachi, still did even two years later – but now most of them were used to her whims.

No, she was perfectly content as it was, just her and the boys.

I'm largely holding off on writing the rest of the Heart Pirates right now because I'm hoping we'll get more canon information about them soon (Oda, pretty please?) but as Ikkaku is believed to be the only female I thought I could take a few guesses from what we've seen in the manga and SBS, and my own experiences at often being the only girl in a group of boys. The designs of the Heart Pirates we see at Amazon Lily don't really seem to fit many of the ones at Zou, from my recollections, but I'm hoping it's just a matured art style rather than half the crew being dead and replaced by new members. This is my explanation for Ikkaku's apparent absence, anyway. We'll see what happens in the Wano/Kaido arc(s), I guess.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari