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

Life on a submarine had its own challenges. Unlike a sailing boat, there was little fresh air to breathe, no wind and spray on their faces. The sun was a distant concept, often failing to penetrate the depths at which they glided. Their direction and advance was advocated by machinery, the low hum of the engines a constant accompaniment to everything they did, rather than sails and the wind.

Their territory was not the waves, a vast expanse of blue churned by the wind and tugged by the moon, but the currents, controlled by shifts in the seabed and rarely provoked by the weather up above. Sight-seeing, lounging on deck, and even fishing was a treat, not the norm, declared by the red light indicating the door to the outside world was sealed, trapping them inside indefinitely (until the air ran stale or their navigator complained about the heat – the latter almost always came first).

It was not a lifestyle for the light-hearted. Nor was it a lifestyle for the easily bored.

The Polar Tang was filled with many additional chambers, compared to a regular pirate ship. Excluding the vast medical areas, a must when the captain is a doctor with the Ope Ope no Mi, the library was one to rival that of the late Ohara, stuffed with books on anything and everything from medical applications (of course) and fantasy, with side stops to engineering, cooking, and even yarn work (no law-abiding tailor would willingly sew a feared jolly roger onto so many clothes and the ones on the wrong side of the law were hardly trustworthy). The control room and meeting room were embroiled into one, a corner reserved for Bepo and his navigation tools.

Bedrooms were not a communal bunk area, but several small rooms clustered together to sleep between two and four people. Law, Bepo, Jean Bart and Ikkaku were the only ones to have private rooms – the right of a captain, decency for the only woman, safety for Bepo (sharp claws and Electro made for an unnerving combination at night when nightmares struck) and practicality for Jean Bart (no room was large enough for a bunk mate to fit).

The kitchen bordered the mess room, large enough to house the whole crew with ease. Excluding the medical facilities, there were only two rooms larger. One, large and sparse, was for training. In such a generally cramped environment, it was a necessity that the crew had somewhere to keep in shape. The life of a pirate was not forgiving. The other, filled with sofas, tables and a stack of games in the corner, was the communal room.

On a regular ship, this would be the deck. When not keeping the Polar Tang moving, eating, sleeping or on watch, most of the crew would intermingle in the large room, sharing tales, jokes and drinks. A common pastime was the card games, timeless in their popularity.

They'd bet chores over a game of poker, stakes including the washing up and laundry. An amusing game of go fish would allow them to let off steam afterwards, complaining about cheating without meaning it when the wrong person was asked for a card.

In the games there was no hierarchy. Captain, first mate, newest recruit, they were all the same. It was more fun like that, leaving them to act like a family of brothers (and sister), no overbearing parents or weird uncles in sight. On a more practical level, it prevented serious fissures in an environment where getting away to cool off was more often than not impossible.

Life in a submarine was tough. But the Heart Pirates would have it no other way.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari