"That should do it," Winston says, wiping sweat onto the sleeve of his shirt as he steps back to examine his work. They had just placed the final door in the cave system. They had spent a week cutting and treating wood from trees that had been felled in the recent storm. Karmen had been surprised that it could rain in the Calm Belt, and it had been an irregular storm, but she supposes clouds can drift and form wherever they please, even if there is no wind to move them. The rain had fallen straight down with nothing to disturb the droplets and the lightning had been persistent in its attack on the island. To be honest she felt a little targeted, but she knows the thought is slightly irrational. She'd never spent any length of time in the Calm Belt when she was younger, so it is feasible that she doesn't know what kind of weather, if any, to expect in a place like this. Storms certainly are rare, but not impossible… apparently. Nami could probably explain it.

The lightning-provided trees had made perfect materials for sectioning off the cave system. Part of her wonders if this is bad for the overall environment of the caves so they make sure there are drainage trenches and small slots in each door to ensure animal and moisture movement is unobstructed. That is, for all except three doors.

"And you made me a key?" Karmen asks.

"The only key," Winston states, handing it over. The key fits easily into the lock and turns smoothly. "My big brother taught me how to do that."

"You have a plethora of skills. I'll have to thank your family for not keeping trade secrets someday," Karmen says. She pushes the doors open to reveal an elaborate chemistry desk surrounded by rows and rows of empty shelves that still smell of wood shavings. There is a vent hood in the center of the room that has a multiple layers of filtration before the other end hidden in a tree high above the island's surface. "And this room is completely air tight from down here?"

"As requested," he answers.

"You're such a dear."

-What are you going to put in here?- Camilla signs.

-I thought you said you would try speaking more around these two.- Karmen signs back. At least she's wearing the new outfit Winston had made her. Karmen had delivered it to her as promised just this morning. It's a simple purple tunic with black pants and a braided charcoal leather belt to match her new boots. The fabric is thin but the sleeves are long and the neckline concealing. Though she'd signed a few comments about them being rather plain Karmen hadn't heard any actual complaints about the outfit, which she interprets to mean they're more comfortable than expected.

-I don't feel like it at the moment.-

-When do you think you will be?-

-Give me a month.-

Karmen sighs. "Would one word phrases be too much of a start? I don't want the men to feel left out."

Camilla steps forward to enter the room but Winston is still standing in front of the threshold. She considers him for a moment, minding the hammer he has held against his hip. "Move." Karmen clears her throat. Camilla's shoulders slump in agitation. "Please."

Winston gives her a nod and steps aside, ushering her path with his hand. When she'd passed he gives Karmen a hopeful shrug. "It's a start."

"This will make a perfect workshop," Karmen says, deciding to let it rest for now. "Thank you all for your hard work." She begins unpacking her bag. She'd kept all of her supplies in it, always ready to rush off at any moment. She hadn't liked the idea of leaving her weapons lying around where anyone could find them. She doesn't want to carry everything around with her all the time and with new arrivals expected she didn't want any… accidents. And then there's the fact that she plans to fill up every inch of these shelves. She's itching to travel again and her quills hadn't stabbed anything other than that bolt of silk and a straw and wood target in the large cavern half a mile underground.

"I'll need to make an excursion or two to stock it properly, but this is a great start." She frowns at the low levels of her bottles. "I think it would be best to grow some plants here. I'll make good use of that garden we sectioned off. I think we'd best keep access to that area very restricted. The only people who will have keys are those of us in this room.

Everyone looks shocked. "You're giving her a key?" Pierce asks, pointing a thumb at Camilla. For once, she doesn't seem prepared to argue.

"I don't see any of you elbow deep in the gardens every day," Karmen says.

"That's because Camilla's always in the garden," Pierce says. "And she follows your example and threatens to stab us when you aren't around."

Karmen raises an eyebrow at Camilla who rolls her eyes and throws up her hands. -And?- Karmen sighs.

"We've talked about this. You can only threaten people when they do something to warrant it."

-It's my space.-

"It's everybody's food. You can't claim all the food. You've even got your own room," Karmen says.

-It's not the same.-

"Camilla, we're going to have people on this island in a matter of weeks. Some of them will need to help out in the gardens. It's just how it's going to have to be to provide for everyone. You're going to have to share your space eventually," she says.

-You can't.- The girl looks flighty at best, on the verge of panicky. She'd used violence as a barrier between her and other people and now her wall has a demolition notice.

"It's a necessity," she says. "I'm sorry but I can't change what is inevitable."

"You can't!" Everything afterwards happens so quickly that Winston and Saaresto don't have time to react. Fueled by emotion, Camilla's fist flies up, aimed for Karmen's nose. Milliseconds later something black and leathery from Pierce's direction flies up, aimed at her wrist. Karmen synchronizes and steps in between them, blocking both attacks at once with her hands, a sea prism feather dart is held against Pierce. He'd visibly weakened, but managed to stay standing. A dark shadow crosses her face and her fingers lightly dig into their skin. Pierce's transformation disappears instantly, leaving his plain hand behind. Camilla looks with a shocked horror between her hand, Karmen, and Pierce. Her breathing grows ragged and she takes a few steps back. "I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean…"

Karmen releases them both and unhooks the Whisht Room key from her belt. "Go downstairs and wait for me," she says, firmly pressing it into her hand before letting go. The girl turns and runs from the room. Karmen instantly turns to Pierce. "You idiot! You aren't recovered enough for that yet!" She scans him with her Haki, scrutinizes the color of his pale face, checks the perspiration on his skin.

"Instinct," is his only explanation. "It was just my arm. I'm ok."

Karmen's hand forms into fist and she beats it hard against his chest. "Law isn't here to fix you again!" she yells. "If you tear open your spleen you'll die!" She draws back to hit him again but he catches her wrist gently.

"I'll be more careful, Mistress," he promises softly. "I'm sorry for worrying you." He wraps his free arm around her and draws her into his bandaged torso.

She lays her forehead against him and takes deep breaths until she's calm. "Thank you for trying to defend me. I do appreciate the effort," she says, discretely drying her eyes.

"I overreacted," he admits. "I'll apologize to her later today when she's ready."

Karmen backs up and nods. "I think that'll be for the best," she says. "I'll go talk to her." She leaves them standing in her workroom and follows a winding path that descends into a private corner of the island where the second set of completely sealed double-doors stand, now slightly ajar. They'd named this room the Whisht, or hush, because once the doors are closed no one can hear what's being said on the other side. Karmen doesn't hesitate to push them open and close them firmly behind her. The room's stone walls are smooth and lead up to a small crack that acts as a simple air vent that does not take away from the soundproof quality of the enclosed space. At the moment the room is bare other than a few pillows Winston had made. Camilla is a crumpled ball against the far wall, hands in her hair and breathing heavily. She flinches as Karmen moves in and sits on a pillow beside her, remaining quiet.

"Are you going to make me leave?" she asks.

"Why would I do that?" Karmen responds, keeping her tone inquisitive while not portraying a specific emotion.

"I attacked you," she says. "Pierce transformed because of me." She curls up tighter. "He's not hurt is he?"

"You're concerned about someone you don't even like?" Part of her realizes that using this tone makes her sound like a viper. It could lull a person into a false sense of security before a strike. Her Secretary voice.

"You like him," she says. "Just because I don't doesn't mean I don't see how important he is to you and how hard you've worked to keep him healthy. If I caused him to harm himself then you'd hate me."

Karmen considers it. Many people had harmed Pierce over the years, but she didn't hate them specifically for that. Pierce can defend himself on any given day. "You were scared," she says. "Though what you did was impulsive and wrong, you realized your mistake. That is what I find important." She puts her hand on Camilla's head like Kuma used to do to her. "Pierce is fine. He's sorry too." She takes her hand back and lays it on her own knee. "Now tell me about the gardens." Camilla swallows and lowers her head. "Does it have something to do with why you talk to yourself when you think you're alone in there?"

Camilla flinches. "You know about that?"

"Sometimes I like to be alone too," Karmen says. "And the caves echo." When Karmen can't sleep and she doesn't want to wake Pierce, who had taken to sleeping at odd hours of the day, she fades and walks the caves alone. She does her best thinking by herself. Sometimes she goes outside and climbs a tree. The thinner air in high places reminds her of her time spent sleeping in the crow's nest back on Sunny. Other times she checks the progressing growth of her apple tree. There's a little sapling that's quickly growing and healthy, but it may be a bush. She hopes it's an apple tree. Camilla would probably know, but this is something she wants to keep and tend by herself.

Most often she thinks about Luffy's message. The picture in the paper had been simple to decode. The captain wanted them to all grow stronger over the next two years and return to Sabaody. If she was to join the crew in the New World she'd have to tie up all her loose ends here on this side of the Grand Line, and this requires a lot of planning. She doesn't want to worry the others quite yet, so she does most of her panning alone and informs them on her decisions once she has a plan that doesn't require sacrifice and death. Every now and then on one of these jaunts she passes by or through the gardens and tends to find Camilla there speaking to the plants. Now that the War Room is set up, the third completely sealed room, she probably won't pace the caves as much.

Camilla wraps her arms around her knees and presses her cheek to her wrist as she looks away. "I buried Jade in the garden."

"Your sister?"

She nods. "I know her body isn't here, but when I talk to the plants it's like I'm talking to her. I don't expect you to understand."

Karmen exhales. "I've told you a little about my life before I became a pirate. I had a butler who was a Revolutionary spy. He was found out and killed right before I escaped. Pierce buried him at the edge of the vineyard under a tree where he wouldn't be disturbed. I can never go back to that island to honor his memory, so some days I sit by the ocean and talk to him. It's not strange to speak to the dead, especially those whom we were close to and who died violent deaths."

"Why the ocean?" she asks.

"Godwin was the man who taught me how to ride fish," Karmen says. "He was like a father to me and every time I needed to get away he would take me to the ocean. We'd stay there for hours trying to catch and ride the most dangerous thing we could find before the guards felt it was too dangerous and tried to kill it. Some of my favorite memories with Godwin involve the ocean."

"You say his name in your sleep a lot," Camilla says. "You fell asleep at the table and started mumbling. Everyone looked sad when you said it but I didn't feel like talking, so I didn't ask about him. Pierce held your hand until you stopped."

Karmen gives a half smile and rubs the back of her neck. "Yeah. I have a bad habit of doing that."

"If other people come to the island and they work in the garden, I won't be able to talk to Jade."

"There is one way," Karmen says, giving her a pointed look.

Camilla looks back blankly, then gasps. "You're serious? You'll teach me?"

Karmen nods. She stands and moves two pillows into the center of the room. She sits cross-legged on one and Camilla scrambles forward to sit beside her. They both face the door. "I know meditation isn't your favorite thing in the world, but let's give it a try. Close your eyes," Karmen says. "Remember the times when he came for you and the feeling you had when you wished you could just disappear." She senses Camilla grabbing fistfuls of fabric at her knees. "Just the emotion, nothing else. Focus on your heartbeat, your breathing, and the very function of your body. The blood pulsing through your veins, the electricity running through your soul, the core of your being. When you've found it, draw it into yourself. Ball it up and bury it. Meld it with your surroundings."

Camilla sits very quietly for several minutes. "Can you describe that in a less vague way please?" Karmen chuckles, but Camilla can't hear her. "Karmen?" She opens her eye and glances to where she was sitting, eyes seeking, but not tracking anything.

"It's a form of Observation Haki," Karmen says from the girl's other side, making her jump. She can't help but play with her a little. "You can see me up to a three quarter fade. Use that same ability, but pull it into yourself. It's a concept of perception. Nothing actually happens to you. You're still there. You still make noise. You still command a presence, but you make everyone around you perceive otherwise. Make them think that you aren't even there."

"You make it sound easy." She groans and leans over her knees. "How long did it take you to learn this?"

"I began developing it when I was twelve," Karmen admits. "Despite my upbringing I lived a protected life. No one was allowed to touch me, but it doesn't mean they didn't try. Ikaika tried to break my mind in every way he could imagine. I hated the way his business partners stared at me, so I found a way to make it harder for them, and Pierce made me hard to approach."

"So you and him," she begins. "Have you… you know."

Karmen blushes to the tips of her ears. "Kudra, Camilla! I-… I- no." She sits back down and covers her burning cheeks with her hands. "To be honest I've never even kissed anyone. Not a full on, actual kiss."

"Really?" she asks. "I thought for sure… I mean, the way he is around you…"

When Karmen thinks of all the romantic things that had been done for her growing up only images of greasy old men with wandering hands comes to mind. She sees piles of love letters, bad love poems, roomfuls of flowers, chocolates, clothing, jewelry, and other gifts. All in all, the idea of romance revolts her to no end and it seems to show on her face.

"Wow," Camilla says. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"I'm not really the romantic type," she says. "Pierce and I have been together since we were children. We're partners. I trust him with my life."

"You haven't even been on a date?" she asks. "Gone to a café? Seen a play? Had a picnic? Gone to a theme park? I mean, I was a slave and I still snuck out to hang with guys every now and then."

Karmen blinks. "Well, I have been to an amusement park with a man a time or two."

"Pierce?"

Kamren shakes her head. "Someone from my crew," she says. "I used to go there with a friend. He saw my nostalgia and accompanied me."

"He won you that stingray plushy in your room, didn't he?" she asks with a sly smile on her face.

"What of it?" Karmen says, blank-faced and confused.

Camilla chuckles. "You don't have a romantic bone in your body." She wraps her arms around her legs. "I like that about you."

"Thanks… I think," Karmen says, leaning back on her hands. Not particularly having an interest in the subject, she changes it. "Keep practicing. You'll get it eventually." Camilla groans and Karmen laughs. "Just think. If you learn how to do this, you wouldn't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to. They won't even know you're there."

Inspired, Camilla closes her eyes and concentrates. Karmen lies down on her pillow and closes her eyes. After a minute Camilla opens one of hers. "I'm training and you're taking a nap?" she asks.

"Let's just say it's a technique I picked up from a crew mate," she says with a content smile. "And I'm training too. Reverse Observation Haki is all about perception," she says, thinking of her Second Soul technique. "In theory I can use it for more than making myself disappear."

"That sounds pretty cool," Camilla says, picking up on the thought process as Karmen makes a Secretary-shaped ball of Haki on the ceiling. "Can you teach me that too?"

Karmen chuckles. "Make yourself disappear first, dearie. That'll give me some time to figure out if expanding on this is even possible."

They stay like this for hours, eyes closed and minds focused. When they emerge both women are sweating and tired, so it isn't until she steps on wood shavings that Karmen realizes someone is outside the door. Pierce. Had he tried to claw his way in? No. Pierce is sitting against the wall, half asleep. The tunnel floor surrounding him is littered with woodworking tools. "I hope you don't mind," he says with a bit of a yawn. "I got bored."

Karmen pushes the doors shut to find an elaborate carving of herself riding a breaching Parvati out of the ocean and into a ray of sunshine, leaving dark clouds behind them. She swears the waves are formed of hundreds of tiny paw prints. Behind her a dozen people of all nationalities sit on the back of stingrays, celebrating and leaping. The picture is framed with broken chains stabbed through with quills and being choked out by flowers that Karmen knows from experience are toxic. The image covers both doors from floor to ceiling with a firm border framing them.

"You carved all of this while we were in there?" Camilla asks.

"She speaks," he says in surprise.

"Don't get used to it."

Karmen rubs her hand over the carving. It hasn't been sanded but the jagged edges are beautifully placed. He even put the three rows of spines into Parvati's back. "Pierce, this is amazing. For a blind man you really have an eye for detail," she says. "Where did you learn how to do this?" To her knowledge he'd never taken up woodworking on Valcour.

"There are loads of blind artists, just so you know. Most more talented than I." Pierce smiles down at his bare feet. "Godwin would give me lessons when you and Willow were out shopping," he says. "I never really had a chance to make anything then. I figured I'd see if I remembered what he taught me. I've missed him a lot lately." He gives Camilla a small wave. "Sorry about earlier. I was out of line."

"Me too," she says, regressing to her short responses. Two words instead of one, an improvement.

Karmen runs her hand over the carving again, a lump forming in her throat. What Winston's brothers had taught him, he had taught Godwin and Godwin had taught Pierce. "I can feel him in the passion you put into the image. You honor his memory," she says. "He would be happy to know that you were so attentive."

Camilla looks between the door and Pierce a few times, then kicks a curling piece of wood. –Is he going to clean this up?-

Karmen pushes a few tools aside and sits next to Pierce, eyes suddenly heavy. "If it concerns you then you can use it as mulch for the gardens," she says. "If not, then it can stay there until we wake up."

Camilla locks the doors and returns the key to Karmen. Before Karmen closes her eyes she reaches into her pocket and hands her something wrapped in cloth. "What's this?"

Karmen yawns and snuggles into Pierce's shoulder. "Your garden key, of course. I told you you'd get one," she says. "If you can't master the reverse Haki, you can still be alone in the poison garden."

Camilla holds the key tightly and tucks her chin slightly. –Thank you.- She signs around it. Karmen smiles and closes her eyes to sleep.