A.N.: Happy New Year! I hope all of you got enough rest over the holidays, or for some of you, after all the family left. I'm excited about the next few chapters that will be coming out after this one. So much will be happening and I'll finally be introducing a long-awaited new character.
As for this chapter, Julimes is quickly becoming one of my favorite original Fishman characters. He's so much fun to write.
Thank you for reading. I appreciate you all! ~Knight
Julimes watches Anayah and a few other children splashing around in the still shallows with the youngest brood of ray pups. They began hatching the day before and the babies are enjoying their newfound freedom. They are diamond-shaped, palm-sized, and nearly entirely see-through in full light. The kids love them.
"Fragile, aren't they?"
He looks over and finds Camilla next to him. He'd never seen her face well beneath that cloak, and it's hard to tell if she's actually human beneath her triple layering of clothes. The fact that she's Karmen's disciple only adds to his wariness of her. "Aren't all humans?" he asks, doing his best not to sound spooked by her sudden and disturbing appearance. "Or were you referring to the rays?"
Camilla shrugs. "The same could be said for both."
"I suppose it could."
She turns to where Karmen is, sitting on the cliff, watching the play out of the corner of her eye. "Karmen has to be strong. We all look up to her. We haven't been here long, but none of us would be here if it weren't for her. She cares about us. Iona struggles with that, I think. We don't know how to deal with the fact that someone would give us a second thought, much less put themselves in danger to protect us. We were brainwashed to believe we didn't deserve anything like it. They'll- We'll adjust."
"You can't tell me I'm the only one who doesn't believe all of this," he says. "Betrayal after trust is enough to break any being under the right conditions."
"Of course there are. Did you even make it to a slave compound?" she growls. "It's just something that puts that much more pressure on Karmen. If you can't bring yourself to trust her, then trust my experience."
Julimes gives an indignant huff, but his hard demeanor is clearly softened by her statement. "Are you trying to get me involved with all this touchy-feely stuff your doctor does?" he asks. "You don't like to talk, right? Get to the point."
Camilla's dark gaze hardens on the Fishman, amplified by the shadow her hood casts over her eyes. "I'm saying that everything here has a fragile balance. If it's allowed to grow and sink in, it might stabilize into something lasting," she tells him. "Your poking around hasn't gone unnoticed. I will not tolerate anything or anyone that threatens to disrupt what Karmen is building. Contribute, or stay out of our way."
With that, the girl steps out of his line of sight, cloak fluttering behind her. When he turns to respond, he finds himself alone on the beach. He lets out another huff, frustrated, but decides to let things lie for the time being. He looks back up to the cliff just in time to see Karmen rocket off it. Mouth agape, he follows her swan dive into the ocean, slipping beneath the water with hardly a splash as the loose pebble she'd kicked up clatter down the cliff.
The sun's reflection on the still water makes it hard to track her movement, but he sees her surface a couple hundred feet out in the ocean on Parvati's back. She says something to the ray, or maybe rays, and they disappear back under the water. With a quick glance to the left and right to make sure there's no one watching, Julimes steps behind a rock and sneaks into the ocean.
It takes him a moment to realize what he's seeing. The adult rays move as a pod, sweeping in lines and rows making patterns in harmony. They dive, curl, split, and tumble in calculated maneuvers, and Karmen is right at the center of it. He can feel the slight tingle of her haki registering on the electrical sensors of his face. She releases it in careful composition. The rays are responding to her haki, following some code that he doesn't recognize.
He'd wondered what this mad woman occupied herself with on her trips out to her mission sites. Watching her running this practiced routine now makes it obvious. She spends every alone moment in the ocean training these rays to respond to the slightest signal and cue. He wonders if she ever rests, ever takes a break. It takes the dedication and drive of a general to keep this pace. Even when she's sitting still, her mind must be turning like the ocean in a storm.
She works with the rays for an hour, then dives down with only Parvati. The others move off, clearly done with the training for the time being. They continue down a rock shelf, diving deeper into the ocean where the sun filters in ribbons, the water gets an icy chill, and the water pressure becomes intense for humans. She shifts a rock, kicking up a cloud of silt. She pulls something from her pocket. From the angle she's holding it, she can't quite see what it is. Once it's secured below, she moves the rock back and Parvati flies to the surface.
Julimes moves in when he's sure she's gone. It's dark down on the shelf, but his eyes adjust quickly. He can't see the color of the rocks well, but he knows they range from a sandy tan to a deep brown. He and his crew would sometimes dive down and pick up rocks so that their good doctor could study the silt deposits. His race knows the ocean floor like the back of their hand and he barely took notice of the change in pressure.
It takes a moment for him to find the right location, but eventually he lifts the right stone. Behind the rock, there is a small display of empty glass bottles. Some seem to be condensing inside from the water's chill, but it's just air. They're small, ranging from a few inches to the length of his palm and sealed with heavy helpings of red wax. He uses his thumbnail to break the wax and uncork one, just to confirm. As the wax floats away and the cork is pulled free, a bubble rises out of the bottle and rolls across his cheek. He catches it in his webbed hand, but it's simply air. He guides it back into the upturned bottle, corks it, and returns everything to how he had found it, minus some wax.
Upon surfacing, he finds Karmen walking along the still waterline picking up the sharp barbs that the rays have shed from their tails. Perhaps she's worried about the young ones cutting their feet on them when they're done with their play. He's not too wary to admit that it's a nice thing to do, if those are her intentions. He moves on, thinking about what he'd need to report later.
He'd scoped out the communications room a few days before when both Karmen and Pierce had been otherwise occupied. They have pretty basic equipment. Short-wave CV radio, a wireless Morse Code receiver, no booster tower, no transmission disks. He's surprised they can even reach anyone outside of the Calm Belt without their collection of transponder snails. He'd snagged one to call Aladine once he'd collected enough information to report on. He had enough to probably satisfy the Fishman, but it wasn't enough to satisfy himself. There was an angle here somewhere.
He knows what Aladine will say. Keep an eye on things. Don't draw attention. Inform him if she does something that puts the "patients" in danger or if it looks like she'll betray them in any way.
Julimes can't believe that Ulah trusts her. The brand on their arms should be enough of a reason not to trust humans, but he wouldn't go against Aladine's word or act without his direct order unless it was absolutely necessary. He needed to get closer to learn the truth.
An hour later, Julimes finds Karmen in the dining hall. She's sitting at a table with her hair down instead of in what he'd figured was her signature waterfall ponytail. She has the barbs she'd collected splayed out on the table. They're two feet long, ivory-colored, serrated, and sharp. She holds one in her hand and is whittling away at the dull end, thinning it evenly up to four inches in. There are three more like it already finished.
He was hoping he'd feel more solid on his feet for this, but his mouth feels dry and his core seems to radiate with heat. He'd been producing a lot of slime since he'd been out of the ocean. It slips off his feet and leaves small pools on the tunnel floor. He'll have to clean up after he catches his breath and says his peace. At first, he'd been sure that the wooziness he felt was just a lack of sleep, but now he can't deny that he's having a hard time walking a straight line. The slime footprints behind him confirm it.
"Oh, dear," Karmen says without looking up from her whittling. "You did open the bottle, didn't you?" She sets her knife down and waggles her finger at him with a "come hither" motion. "I wasn't quite sure, but there's no denying it now. Sit down and I'll fix you up. If you trust me with a needle, that is."
He moves forward to the offered chair and sits, but still tries to look suspicious while dripping ooze down the furniture. "And what if I didn't let you stick me?" he asks out of sheer, fuzzy-brained curiosity.
She shrugs. "That would be your choice," she says. "But once you could no longer deny consent, specifically when you passed out about an hour away from dying, I would stick you anyway."
He gives a small grunt. "Doesn't sound like I have much of a choice then, do I?"
"It really is a now or later type of situation. I don't think our mutual friends would be pleased if I let you die from sheer stubbornness," she says, reaching into her pouch and retrieving a syringe already prepped with an amber liquid. She removes the cap but waits on him. "May I administer the antidote?"
"Go ahead," he says with a relenting sigh. Within seconds she's holding an empty syringe and he feels a slight burning spreading in his arm along with a tingle of haki. He's surprised that he didn't see or feel the needle stick, but tries not to show it.
"Some people don't like needles," she says in way of explanation. "By the way, I hope you've found what you've been looking for. It would be a shame to see you continue on as restlessly as you've been. That's my job. Are there any questions I can answer for you?"
So Camilla wasn't the only one who knew he'd been snooping. Or she'd snitched. No. She threatened him. She wouldn't snitch just to shank him later. "What was in those bottles that affected me?" he asks as he rubs his eyes. His vision is already beginning to clear up. "They were empty. Just air."
"Poisonous vapors," she corrects, "from beneath the island." She caps the needle and puts it in a separate pouch. "I was testing the effects of the ocean's temperature and pressure on them. Hopefully I can get some of them to condense into liquid form. They're so much easier to weaponize that way."
He raises an eyebrow at her. "More ammunition for your war?" he asks.
"Something like that," she says. "Everything I weaponize is non-lethal. It wears off after a while. The ones I'm still experimenting on aren't quite there yet, as you've found. I'm working to make it to where an antidote will kick in after a certain period of time so that I can expand. I'm close to a prototype, thanks to Tuna and Ulah. I feel like I'm close to a breakthrough with Sherryl's venom as well. She's my Desert Strawberry spider friend."
Julimes snorts. "How can you talk about deadly substances so casually?"
She gives him a half-smile. "It's my hobby. As you've discovered, I don't leave my poisons where most people can get to them and make sure those who do don't die. I'm passionate about it and it will allow me to be that much more helpful to my Captain."
"Luffy's a pretty great guy," Julimes says after a brief pause. "I didn't get to see him at all. He was still recovering from his surgery when he was with Jinbe. But what he did… He came so close and inspired so many. No one's going to forget his name."
She gives a soft chuckle. "I admit, I'm a bit jealous that you've seen him at all since Sabaody, but I'm under orders to stay away."
"You're barely mentioned in any of the stories and even less connected to the crew as far as the media's concerned," he says. "But Jinbe vouched for you and with that wall you're throwing yourself at, I can understand wanting to remain hidden."
"It helps protect more people if I don't exist," she says. "But one day, we'll all have our day to walk free in the sun."
He blinks at this, feeling a twang of nostalgia deep in his heart. "Thanks for the antidote, Karmen. I'll be sure to clean up the trail I left," he says. "I think I can help you out here on the island. I'm a blacksmith."
"A Fishman blacksmith," she says with a gleam in her eye. "I admit, you intrigue me. I gladly accept your offer. We'll section off a room with a vent to be your workstation. You can melt the chains and fishing items we recovered into whatever you feel necessary."
He gives a nod of acceptance. "I think Ulah was wanting to help too."
Her smile tweaks upward at the corner. "He actually came to me yesterday and said he'd like to teach the children how to swim. I appreciate both of your offers. They will be greatly needed."
Traitor.
"That's fine then," Julimes says. He stands and finds that his balance has returned and the other symptoms have faded. "I suppose I'd better finish my pottery project so I can build a forge."
"As you wish, dearie," Karmen says. "And if you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I'd hate to have to chase you around with needles."