A commodore stands on the bow of a Navy vessel, spray flying up around her and the wind causing her clothes and hair to billow. She stands about five inches taller than Karmen with long legs and powerful shoulders. She wears her officer's coat with the collar turned up. She has her ultramarine hair in a long pixie cut with the right side shaven. A few sparse hairs are still on the back of her ear above her spiked earring, showing that she'd touched it up just earlier that morning.
Her eyes are gold with green sunflowers, with thick, winged eyeliner. They're distant as they scan the water, as if she's deep in thought. Her nose is small with a thin gold hoop ring curving around the left nostril. She has plum lipstick on her full lips that bob as she chews gum, popping it occasionally. There is a sea stone chain coiled across her torso over a purple Crimin crop top and leather pants. She has heavy black clog boots on her feet that land heavily with every step she takes.
Karmen and Pierce flutter up over the prow and sit just to her left. The secretary props one knee up on the bulwark beneath her and leans against it, lightly wrapping her hands around her ankle. "So this is Commodore Nivven Leigh. Hmm. A nose ring, huh? She must be pretty good if she's willing to wear it into battle against pirates," Karmen muses. "Half the people we run into would rip it out just to gain a momentary advantage."
"Then I appreciate you being honorable while you sit there talking about me as if I can't see you," the commodore comments, popping her gum. Her gaze stays on the ocean.
Karmen gives a small start, lifting her head a little. "Sorry, it's just… Well, that's because... most people can't see me." She wasn't using her full cloak by any means, but the amount she is using tends to keep even decent observation haki users from seeing her. This woman's abilities were definitely respectable.
"What do you mean, Sir?" one of her subordinates asks, coming up the stairs. "I didn't say a thing." The man had obviously not seen or heard Karmen and still doesn't.
The woman points at Karmen, finally giving her full attention. "I was talking to her."
Both women watch as he follows her finger and looks through Karmen. His eyebrows knit in confusion and concern. "Commodore Nivven, there's no one there." The woman's eyes widen.
"Don't worry," Karmen says. "You're not losing your mind. He just can't see me."
"Why not?" she asks, eyes narrowing on her.
"Why isn't there anyone... there?" the man asks, unsure how to respond.
Karmen smiles. "Because I'm a ghost." The visible reaction is entertaining. Nivven's eyes go wide and a chill runs through her. Her hand goes to her chain as she regains her composure. "What's the matter?" she continues. "You aren't scared of ghosts, are you?"
"Of course I'm not!" the woman snaps, obviously still shaken. "Not that I really believe you're a ghost, but why are you haunting my ship?"
"Judgement," Karmen responds casually. "When I was alive I knew a lot of crooked and corrupt marines. I wanted to see what side you were on." She smirks at her, softening her tone to almost teasing. "But I don't think anyone who admires Officer Hina as much as you do would be disreputable." She had a huge poster of the woman above her desk here on the ship and a signed poster in her desk back at the Naval base.
The woman's cheeks flush. "When did you go into my quarters?" She quickly redirects her response by adding, "Captain Hina is skilled in combat and excels in strategizing. She's sure to be promoted soon. There's nothing wrong with admiring other women who can hold their own in the Marines!"
"Sir, there's no one there," her crewman continues to insist.
"Just stop talking for a minute," she tells him.
"Tell me, Leigh," Karmen continues. "What did you decide the day you stopped using your saber?"
Her eyes widen so far that Karmen fears they'll pop out of her head. Her chin lowers and she stops chewing. "How do you know about that?"
"We dead know many things," Karmen says. "The reports say it was an accident, but that's not true, is it?"
Nivven's hand tightens on her chain.
"You know of what I speak. Your commanding officer was going to kill all those innocent people to keep the truth hidden, so you struck him down with your own hand," Karmen states. "They bought your silence with your promotion and you refused to lay a hand on a blade since. Personally, I don't feel you did anything wrong, but I still wonder about the motives behind your action. Sometimes it's hard to know if one is doing something because it is what's right or if it's for personal gain."
The story went as many did. She'd been a captain and the commodore she served under was corrupt. He took bribes from pirates to turn a blind eye. He bullied towns into paying him for protection. He threatened his subordinates and swore them to silence. She'd been a young recruit and, while talented, she was afraid to speak against her commanding officer for fear of losing her hard-earned progress. The military is a hard place for a woman, especially one so young.
One day a small group, maybe twenty villagers, decided they'd had enough. The crops were failing and they didn't have enough money to pay the next fine. Their people were growing sick and weak and they wanted to call for aid, but to do so would shine a light on the commodore's actions. He would be demoted or arrested, maybe even expelled or executed. He'd enjoyed the power and the wealth. He was willing to protect it at the cost of their lives. Leigh wasn't.
She challenged her commanding officer and killed him. Afterward, she dropped her saber and called the nearest vice-admiral, telling them everything. They'd come up with a cover story, gave aid to the town, and promoted Nivven Leigh to commodore. She was placed over a new crew who knew nothing of what happened. Kuma had heard the admirals discussing it and had passed the story on to Karmen on his next visit. It was one of the last stories he'd told her before...
In the spanning four years, Nivven had not accepted another promotion. Perhaps she still doesn't feel she'd earned the first one.
"Commodore Nivven, I really think you should speak with Doctor Jaque and get some rest," the man next to her insists.
Growing tired of his interruptions, Karmen uses her haki to sprint behind him in the time it takes for his commander to blink. "Why don't you take a little rest? Sleeping Spindle," she whispers into his ear. She pricks him in the side with her quill outside of Nivven's line of sight. His body goes slack. She catches him and guides him gently to the deck. "He'll sleep for half an hour at least."
Nivven watches as she slowly moves back to her original position, Pierce's wings shuffling slightly in response to her heightened attention. "You say you came here to pass judgment," she says, completely ignoring her unconscious subordinate. "Have you come to pass it on my actions back then? What authority do you hold to pass any kind of judgment on me?"
"I don't care about how you got here, only that you are." Karmen cocks her head in the woman's direction and tries again. "Answer me this. Are you chasing the trail of destruction at DavenGallow sites because you want to learn the truth or because you want to bury it?" There is a practiced cold edge to her voice that she hasn't used since Sabaody.
Realization pushes her eyebrows higher on her forehead. "It's you. You're the vengeful spirit." With a jerk, the weighted end of her chain falls to the deck. Her right leg sweeps back as she lowers into a fighting stance.
At the sound of the chain, Pierce's skin begins to boil. "Steady," Karmen whispers to him.
Nivven pops her gum again. "What would you do if I were corrupt?"
Karmen hums in thought. "Conjure a powerful sea spirit to destroy your ship."
She whips the chain around to straighten it out, causing Pierce's claws to scrape across the deck, gouging the wood.
"What's the matter?" Nivven asks, suddenly more confident. "Is it the sea stone?" She twirls the end, links clanking into a rhythm. "You're not a ghost at all, are you?!"
She throws the end at them and Pierce takes to the air. She swings the chain up and it catches the side of Pierce's wing. That arm reverts back into human form for a few seconds and he spirals down. Before they crash onto the deck his skin spasms and a claw shoots into Karmen's side.
She yells and he screeches in an unearthly combination. As they hit the deck, Karmen reels in pain, releasing uncontrolled haki into the air. Nivven and several distant crew members give a cry of alarm and clutch their heads, falling to their knees. Kudra's tail snakes over the bulwark and wraps around Karmen and Pierce. They're lifted into the air and pulled down into the ocean.
When the invasion of her senses stops, Nivven gets up. She can't sense any "spirits" now. She inspects the place where they'd hit. There's blood splattered across her deck. The dead don't bleed. Whatever truth she'd been talking about, Commodore Nivven Leigh is determined to find it.