Cartographer

Characters: Bepo. Rating: K. Warnings: None

Bepo took to navigation like he'd been born to it. As far as the other Heart Pirates knew, he may as well have been. While a compass had taken him a day to understand the concept, and a week to master, he didn't need them to know which way was which, and consequently where they should be heading.

What he couldn't do was draw a map. It was hardly a requirement for a navigator to also be a cartographer, but it was useful and Bepo despaired at his inability. Maps could only be bought (or otherwise obtained) from certain places, and in the grand scheme of things they covered very little of the seas. None of the other three could draw a map, either, despite the fact that they, too, could read maps with little trouble and (more importantly, in Bepo's opinion) had hands that could hold a pen properly.

Paws were not designed to hold pens. Bepo couldn't even make a fist with his paws – at least, not in the human idea of a 'fist' – let alone keep a grip on something as small and slippery as a pen. It was frustrating, because unlike his nakama he understood how maps were constructed, but for all their skills with a pen, no matter how much Bepo tried to describe to them what he wanted, they could never get it right.

It disappointed them, too. He could see it in the slump of their shoulders when he shook his head with a mumbled sorry, only for them to mumble sorry back and that wasn't right because his nakama didn't apologise like that – not as if they were a disappointment. They wanted to help him make the maps, so he could chart where they were and where they had been, but their individual skillsets couldn't come together in the necessary way.

Bepo didn't find a solution for well over a year after they set sail. Law had ended up banning him from touching pens eventually, after he continuously sprained his paw trying to force it into unnatural positions.

"You'll cripple yourself," he'd said firmly, taking the pen away from a crooked paw and gently rubbing some sort of balm in before lightly wrapping bandages around it. "No more pens." His response had been to cry, tears of frustration soaking into his fur uncomfortably as an uncertain Law continued to treat him.

"We'll find something that works!" Shachi had said confidently, before wilting under Law's withering gaze.

"Something that doesn't mean you hurt yourself in the process," Penguin had clarified, appeasing their doctor, who let go of the bandaged paw with clear reluctance.

The answer, in the end, had been almost laughably simple. Bepo couldn't hold a pen, but his paws were steady and he'd often shown routes on already-existing maps with a single claw dragging along the parchment.

Just because he couldn't hold a pen, didn't mean he couldn't use ink.

A small pot of black ink caught his eye one time he left the Tang – for once not on guard duty, because he'd begged Law to let him out on land, and with a hat jammed on his head to hide his race from casual observers he followed his captain around the marketplace.

In a corner, there was a calligraphy stall. The man sat, cross-legged, with parchment in front of him and a brush in his hand, and Bepo watched, mesmerised, as he dipped it in a pot of ink before sweeping strokes left clear black lines in their wake.

He didn't even stop to think, grabbing Law by the hand and dragging him over to take a closer look. His captain had protested, but wasn't strong enough to break free. Not that he protested for long, once he realised what had caught Bepo's attention so avidly.

"Could I do that?" the mink asked him quietly, and Law's lips pulled into an appreciative grin as he surveyed the artist with a gleam in his eye.

"Jii-san," he said, catching the man's attention. He probably wasn't that old, but Bepo wasn't one to question his captain's sparse attempts at manners. "Are you selling any ink?" The man frowned, glancing not so subtly towards his completed works on one side, and Law's smile hardened.

"No," he said, and Bepo watched Law's back straighten. If he'd had fur, the mink was certain his hackles would have raised. "Is what I'd normally say," he continued, "because kids usually want it for making a mess." His gaze landed on Bepo, and the mink squirmed uncomfortably. "You're the one that wants it, right? Come here."

Law tensed further, a hand reaching out to stop Bepo, but Bepo smelt no ill intent from the man, so he nudged past his captain. He jumped when a small vial of ink was pressed into his palm, almost giving the man a shock in the process.

"Thank you," Bepo said, when he realised what the man was doing, and the man shook his head with a wry smile.

"You won't be thanking me later, when you're trying to get that ink out of your fur," he said in amusement. "Now, I'm not in the business of taking money from kids, so you two run back to your ship before I decide to make my money by telling people there's a mink on this island."

Law bristled, but Bepo couldn't hear any malice in the man's voice, so he grabbed his captain's arm once more and began to haul him back to the Tang, where Penguin and Shachi were messing around on deck instead of keeping watch obediently.

"What you got there, Bepo?" Shachi asked after a moment, spotting the small container in his paw, and Bepo showed it to him.

"I'm going to draw a map!" he said and all but ran into the Tang to find some parchment. He couldn't find anything new, so he picked up one of the maps his nakama had tried and failed to draw to his specifications and flipped it over. Tip of his tongue between his teeth, he pulled the stopper from the ink pot and dipped the claw he usually used to trace routes in, coating it with the cool liquid. Paw shaking, he touched it to the paper, wincing as ink dripped off before he was ready, leaving a black spotted trail up to the start of his lines.

What he made hardly classified as a map. The lines were too thick in some places and barely there in others, and he'd ripped the parchment in more than one place when he'd added too much pressure, but Bepo couldn't help gleaming widely at the sight of the amalgamation of lines he'd produced.

He needed practice, but finally, he'd found a way to draw his own maps.

So we know that Bepo's no Nami when it comes to drawing maps, but considering his paws (which are not as flexible as some other minks', such as Carrot or Wanda), the fact that he can write and draw at all is pretty amazing. There's no way he can actually hold a pen, after all.

And not everyone is mean to poor orphaned kids. They get a break sometimes!

Thanks for reading!
Tsari