~ ... Fight Like a Pirate, Girl! ... ~
WHAM!
"Oof!" Nesi cried.
She was sent flying by a young man maybe three or four inches taller than Ace and thicker in build into a wall of excited men. They were rowdy, drinking, and throwing Nesi back into the ring with her new burly challenger. Ace and the boys were off on some looting adventure while Nesi remained on the ship to practice Ace's fighting techniques. He only taught her two, but she was relentless in mastering the new moves. They were largely mid-punches and a few upper cuts or high-crit hits. While practice was brutal since she had to go against either her captain or a crewmate, Nesi conditioned herself with either a stricter diet of seafood, vegetables, and bread or a strict warm-up routine every morning. Baragon also continued to teach her haki techniques granted to her through the mistaken devil fruit now dubbed the lizard peach, or tokagemomo. Her powers seemed to be linked to ghosts, or spirits, so Ace watched her very carefully during the nights when Baragon watched over her training. She was improving tremendously and memorized her studies quite expertly. Some of the boys joined her in her studies. Deuce and Corale stayed with her on the ship to learn how to do maintenance work and pet care, respectively. Corale took a liking to Baragon, and Deuce wanted to learn more about ship repair since Nesi patched up and cleaned the ship more efficiently.
"C'mon, Nesi! I put 200 belly down for you to win!" Deuce argued, a bottle of ale in his hand.
Making bets that she could beat the toughest fighter on the island was not part of her studies... or theirs.
"Why don't you get in here then?" Nesi argued, looking incredulously at Deuce.
The next thing she knew, she was shoved back out into the ring. She was delivering some choice blows to the bulkier man. He relied on heavier hits, so she had to learn how to dodge the worst of it and counter his attacks. Blocking them did very little since she would just barrel into the wall of men again. She did land several hits, however, much to her surprise, hence why the betting got more lucrative in this fight. Once word went around that the balding rebel was a girl, women started huddling around at a distance to avoid the rowdiness of the men that were forming the circle. Dodging a heavy blow, Nesi ducked, allowed a nameless spectator to get knocked out, and went for a tackle. The man moved further than he expected, but he picked Nesi up like she was made of pillow stuffing and flung her over his shoulder. Nesi countered this by landing on her feet and flipping him over instead, earning cheers and an increased wage for her win. Her challenger was getting angry, but she played that to her advantage. Exchanging punches for bruises and tackles for wrestling bouts, Nesi was finally brought to the ground in a chokehold. She maneuvered her body at least in part to keep airflow going through until she heard voices from the crowd belonging to a couple.
"C'mon, girl! Get up and kick his ass!" a woman cheered.
"Save it for the bedroom, mate!" a man cheered, kissing his woman's cheek. "This is for the men!"
The challenger didn't look at Nesi that way before, but, when he did get a chance to look at her and the position they were in, he took notice to Nesi's slimmer and curvier shape beneath his bulkier form and the contortion of her face in a grimace. Whether or not that provided enough of a distraction for the bald girl, no one could say. The most anyone knew was that Nesi managed to curl into a ball, turn just enough to punch again, and crawled out of the challenger's grasp. She rolled away from him to get back to her feet and return to a fighting position, but the challenger forfeited when he heard the workman's whistle sound off. He had to return to the workplace. Deuce and Corale ran up to Nesi with the victory and hugged her tightly. They won well over 200 belly now. While some gamblers didn't pay up the full amount, a win was a win in the Spades' book. Deuce collected his winnings into a sack and returned to his crewmates' sides. The couple from before was a reddish-brown haired woman dressed in the traditional white linen, pirate shirt but open in the front to show a nice amount of cleavage underneath what looked like stays. Her riding pants were tucked into her boots, and her bandana was acting as a gun holster instead of a hair accessory. Her partner was dressed like a fisherman, but he was in more casual wear like the woman. He seemed a bit older, but only by a few years, like three to five at best.
"Ya did good, little girl," the woman complimented. "Why's yer mate leavin', though?"
"Huh?" Nesi questioned, tilting her head. Baragon hopped into her arms to nip at her cuts and bruises as a show of affection and warning that she needs to heal. She painfully cuddled with her rosy friend and replied, "That man's not my mate. I was just a challenger."
"Ah, your man put you up to this?" the woman asked, pointing to Deuce who was counting the winnings.
"They're just my crewmates," Nesi answered, smiling politely and waving a hand. She then pouted and said, "No one really wants a bald girl for a mate. I don't even have eyebrows to express anything! Ouch!"
"Yer dragon's a cutie!" the woman complimented, earning a coo. Baragon allowed her to pet him before he draped himself across Nesi's shoulders. "Why don't you and yer boys join our fleet? We could use a boxer! You'll find a good mate with us."
Nesi smiled brightly before saying, "I'm already part of a crew. The captain's teaching me how to fight. I'll hold you to that mate deal in the next 10 years, though."
"Nee-san's the best of the Spades!" Corale cheered. "She cooks, she cleans, she fixes the ship, and captain's got her on bookkeeping duties. She might get her own ship so we can have a real fleet one day!"
"Oh! The captain's yer lover! Why didn't you just say that?" the man asked, slapping a hand down as if the obvious was stated.
"Alas, no, the captain doesn't like me that way," Nesi replied, chuckling. She was flattered at the idea, but she knew Ace a bit better than that. He gave no hints that he liked her and neither did she. They were fixated on their own life's goals. Nevertheless, she was happy to have met the couple. Apparently, they had their crew of lovers like them. That was actually quite romantic and sweet! Nesi then asked, "What's the name of your crew, though? I've never heard of a fleet run by lovers before. That's really cool! And unique!"
"We'll not be givin' away our government names, but you call me Moga. Short for Imogany."
"I'm this beauty's husband," the man said, kissing his wife's cheek. "You can call me Schooner."
"Moga and Schooner? Okay!" Nesi said, curtsying playfully. "I'm Nesi. Captain just calls me floor scrubber. The boys call me nee-san. I dunno what Baragon calls me."
"SQUAW!" Baragon cheered with a smile.
"I guess I'm squaw," Nesi said, cuddling her lizard friend. "I'll have to ask the captain, but I'd like to meet your fleet over dinner someday. What's it like sailing with someone you've fallen in love with?"
"Like discovering the Garden of Eden for the first time," Moga said, snuggling with Schooner. "I grew up real religious, so I had to memorize the story of Adam and Eve a lot as a kid. Meeting my Adam and living freely at his side as his equal the way it was meant to be before humanity fell has been a dream. Waking up is worthwhile no matter what time of the day it is. It's new and beautiful when he's there with me."
"You sound like my dad. Guess pirates do love with all their heart when it really means something to them," Nesi said, looking up to the sky and smiling gently at the memory of her late father.
"Your pops was a pirate, girlie?" Schooner asked, surprised at this fact.
Nesi nodded then said, "If you think that's crazy, my mom was a marine. She left the force to marry him... and he left the sea to live a regular life with her. I miss them a lot... but they taught me enough. If the boys think I'm good enough to run a ship, I'd say they have my parents to thank. Lot of what I know comes from them, the rest comes from books the captain gives me."
"We'll take you up on that dinner offer. Been a while since the crew's gotten together for mealtime," Moga said, seeing a lot of herself in Nesi. "This girl needs a fine mate! That guy from before kinda liked ya."
"Pretty sure beating his women is unattractive in my book... unless I'm just that ugly," Nesi said with tears in her eyes. "I'm gonna go bathe now. I've got bruises all over."
"We'll be in town for a while. Find us at The Broken Casque," Schooner said, waving his goodbye to the small group of Spades. Maybe he could talk the captain into handing Nesi over to them for a quick job. She made a decent wage through gambling in street fights.
"What the hell happened?" Ace questioned.
Or not...
"It was just practice, captain! I promise!" Nesi tried, pouting cutely to hopefully avoid a scolding from Ace.
She was inside of the closed-in bathing tub she built for herself after reconstructing one of the small bottom rooms of the ship into a proper bathing area. It took some serious doing and almost sunk the ship a few times, but the boys appreciated the showering room enough to start fights if they couldn't get in at a certain time. Nesi, being the only girl on board, was not sharing a spot in the bathing room with anyone. Not even Ace, who offered to turn around or guard the door! She only allowed Baragon to go as her showering partner because she cleaned him and helped him shed his old skin the way he liked. When Ace kept trying to go in with her to reassure her that she'd be fine, she got crafty and built this wide barrel with a lid that pulled back at the center hinge to open up as a small tub. It was her size, and her head could pop out through this hole she made. As ridiculous as it looked, she was comfortable being in it while Baragon played around as one of the boys showered or steamed up. Ace did fall asleep a couple times in the room because of the steam and Nesi's soaking fluid fragrances, but Baragon politely woke him up... with a nip.
Nesi tried to ask Ace several times why he was so adamant about bathing with her, but he never really gave a full answer other than just wanting to do it. He mentioned sleeping with her in the laundry room from time to time, and that serene bit of peace allowed him time to think about his next lessons for her, so he figured she'd be fine with bathing in the same space since it offered a similar calmness. When Nesi offered to simply wash his bedding with her soaking fragrances for calmer sleep, he refused.
"It's not the same!" he typically argued.
"Yes, it is! I use the same scent when the fabrics are out to dry! You just like lavender and sweet lemon!" Nesi argued back. "That's what's been helping you sleep better!"
"I sleep at random regardless. Nighttime scents mean nothing to me. Plus, it gets hot in the cabin at night. Your room's cooler!" Ace then argued.
"It's not my fault you ate the Flame Flame Fruit! Open your windows!" Nesi suggested, pointing to the one in the laundry room. "You have like four!"
"That air gets stale and muggy!" Ace argued.
"You can sleep on my hammock by the garden if I'm in the laundry room. I'm clearing not using it," Nesi would then suggest, sighing and folding a towel. "There's peppermint growing above it. That's why I made an arch with it. The peppermint can cool you down. I'll make you a tea next time."
"The boys sleep on it sometimes. They've been trimming the extra vines and stuffing it in the pillows or that window box you put in there," Ace informed, folding his arms and huffing.
"Oh, so my little garden corner is useful you're saying?" Nesi questioned, making Ace snap his head at her to growl.
"That's not what I said!" Ace would argue, earning a short laugh.
"I'll stay in the cabin with you," Nesi said, gathering her bathing items like towels and the soaking fragrances.
Ace didn't say anything, but he looked confused. When Nesi turned to him, she caught the faintest glimpse of relief in his eyes that made her lightly gasp for a moment. She knew about Ace's narcolepsy from the boys' accounts, but she only ever saw it firsthand when she did chores. Usually after he ate a big meal or if he was in the steam longer than necessary. She didn't know he crept into the laundry room at night until he verbally said it, but that did raise her suspicion that the reason he was trying to sneak into the shower room with her might've been because he was just sleepy. Much like a child would try to find the mother for comfort or a nap. It probably sounded silly to him, so he'd rather not mention it aloud.
She smirked at the innocence of the reason, even if it wasn't the case, and then continued, "Not regularly. I still want my own room. I just don't have the tools or the materials to build it, but I can hold off on that and just build one of those benches I've seen in ladies' magazines on the mainland. I think it was called a lounger. Shouldn't be hard to build. The boys might like an actual sitting area besides the kitchen or my hammock, too. I can think of building a larger one. I'll hafta see if there's enough fabric for the cushion part."
"I don't see why you couldn't just be an architect or something," Ace said, scratching his head. "Being a pirate is already in your blood."
"I can't build everything. Just garden stuff and toys. Most of what I've done has been stuff my parents taught me how to build," Nesi said, holding a hand up before putting it on her hip. "I'm taking a bath. You wait in the cabin."
"I'm the damn captain! I go where I please!" Ace argued.
Nesi dissected his words and body language for a moment before saying, "I don't know how long it'll take to build a lounger to be honest. If it's like a bench, then just a few hours. The cushions'll take the longest since we don't have stuffing. I guess if I need to do any late-night studying, I'll just stay with you on those nights. Happens more often than you think. That's how I wind up napping in the laundry room so much. If you don't mind... I stink."
With that, Ace didn't argue about it. Nesi did as promised and slept in the captain's cabin when she had to study later in the night. The narcolepsy didn't go away, but Ace did manage to sleep longer. He still kept trying to bathe with Nesi in the meantime, but it didn't last long... once she built the tub thing. After that, he was relentless in joining her in the bathing room. She didn't fight it anymore after a while. Once she was covered in her own tub, she was much more comfortable around him. Her head being the only thing visible in the tub was what disturbed him. Her scales might've been growing faster because of that! Nesi's skin started to harden and grow scaly on her neck and back as of late. Baragon didn't reply to Ace's question about him transforming Nesi into a lizard like him, but he did keep eye contact with him. It wasn't an answer, but it was a possibility. There was nothing Nesi could do about it now, so she let the scales do their thing and braced for the day that she'd wake up and be a Baragon. It didn't happen so far.
While none of this explained the obvious cuts and bruises on Nesi's face, it did explain why Ace burst into the bathing room with a displeased look on his face. He even had the added surprise of a gift of ale for the Spades from some random, smooching couple and a gift of plants and medicine from some muscle mass worth of a man blushing and looking for Nesi. Corale and Deuce were counting up their winnings from some bet and split the money already. While Ace was especially proud of Deuce for using accounting skills that Nesi must've taught him, he was not okay with a pair of swingers and some admirer with a bald girl fetish greeting him by his ship.
"What the hell were you practicing, ya scrubbing bubble!?" Ace yelled, making the ship lift out of the water with his volume.
"The moves you taught me!" Nesi replied. "I swear, that's it!"
"I'm not mad at the ale. That's cool. Keep that comin'. But why is some dude blushing and trying to find you?" Ace argued. "And why is that crazy lady giving me rubbing oils? They don't even smell right!"
"I don't know! He must've been the dude I was sparring with today! He had to forfeit to go back to work," Nesi explained. "He might have a fever or something. I'll make soup after my bath. I've got bruises everywhere, alright!"
"That doesn't explain the lady with the oils, butter ball!" Ace snapped.
"Oh, that's Moga!" Nesi replied, calming down from the screaming fit her captain was having. "She's an ally. She must be with her husband, Schooner. That's probably the ale for the dinner I offered. I wanted to ask for your permission to eat with them. Schooner's the captain of their fleet. I didn't get the name of it, but I liked them. They were nice and reminded me of my parents."
Ace stopped arguing and went deathly silent for a moment. He then said, "Open the thing."
"Le what?" Nesi questioned, growling at the thought of him opening her tub lid.
"If you're as beat up on your body as you are on your scaly mug, you might need stitches. Pop the top," Ace said, folding his arms with some concern on his face.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Nesi yelled, activating her ghostly haki.
"Oh my!" a woman's voice said. Moga had taken the liberty of sneaking into the bathing room and was blushing profusely at what was transpiring in front of her. "Look at you two! How cute!"
"WHY ARE YOU ON MY SHIP!?" Ace belted out, making the boat rattle.
While he wasn't happy with being interrupted from checking Nesi's wounds, he was actually pretty hospitable around Moga and Schooner's fleet. Nesi and a couple of cooks from the lovers' fleet were helping each other with dinner while Deuce was hosting card games and Corale was talking to folks about Baragon or Nesi's garden. A majority of her vegetation was edible, so they asked questions about it and where she got the plants from. Schooner spoke to Ace about partnering up sometime and splitting profits evenly since he took a liking to Nesi and was interested in how she and Ace had met and became crewmates. Schooner didn't ask about the relationship currently, but he could see the two were friendly and Ace was taking his role as captain more seriously as time went on. He wanted the crew to learn more about running the ship, maintaining it, how to store food and money, and other things. It was admirable work and opened Schooner up to the idea of an alliance a bit more. The muscle man from before was lingering around to talk to Nesi. While Ace was all up for the partying and drinking bits, he did get quiet and go toward the kitchen every now and then to spy on the man. He wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. If anything, he was very respectful and just wanted to apologize for rough-housing Nesi so much. When dinner was done being cooked and the chefs ate last, the muscle man did show Nesi how to properly defend and counter heavy moves. Ace took exception to that, but Schooner stopped him.
"Well, Ace, I gotta hand it to ya!" Schooner complimented with a big smile. He draped his arm across Ace's shoulders and looked to his fleet to continue, "You're a damn good captain for such a short career. I look forward to seeing you and your crew for a job sometime."
"Yay!" some of the men cheered.
While Schooner was talking, the muscle man was talking to Nesi about something before he finally gave her a small bouquet of flowers and smiled softly at her. He waved his goodbye, blowing her a kiss and making her blush, and left quietly. Ace was not cool with that at all, but Nesi didn't see that part.
Schooner, however, took immediate notice and said quietly, "You're going to make it obvious."
"Huh?" Ace questioned.
"She's not just some floor scrubber," Schooner said, narrowing his eyes but keeping the pleasant smile on his face. "You taught her well, captain. Girl can fight! Too bad you missed it. That guy that you're burning my arm about was who she was fighting earlier today. He didn't know she was a girl until I said something. That's why he came here. To apologize." Schooner dunked his arm in some water, unalarmed by Ace's fiery powers, and waited to say his next choice of words. His smile turned to something gentler, reminiscing about the day he met Moga, and he turned to his wife who was talking and joking with Nesi. He then said, "I wasn't kidding when I said I looked forward to working with you some day. You've got charisma, and you want the best for your crew, but you're not afraid to be hard on them when you have to be. You test them when you feel your trust isn't as strong as it should be. Your group is small now, but it won't be forever. I don't even think your ship will stay small forever... but there will also come a day when some of your crewmates will leave. Not because they're not loyal to you or because the sea life will get too hard, but simply because life changes. That girl's father was like all of us. Just trying to make ends meet, sees there's an opportunity as a pirate, but... he found someone on land worth leaving all of this behind for. He gave life on land another chance but took what he learned at sea and instilled it in his little girl. Are you going to be ready when your boys... or that girl... leave to do the same?"
Ace didn't say anything, but he dreaded answering that question, and that was enough for Schooner to let out a small chuckle. While the other captain didn't know in full detail about Nesi's dream, he didn't have to know how Ace felt about it now. At first, Ace didn't like the idea of her trying to make peace with the marines and pirates. That was why he pushed her away and tried to make things harder for her. But... she was so determined for this one dream to come true... She wanted this one thing so much...
A privateer.
That's what she wanted to be. The captain in him wanted her to fulfill her dreams, took pride in the fact that she was so relentless with her studies and training, and he was happy that she went so long in a hand-to-hand match with that bigger guy. Even to hear that he was a good captain was enough to make his heart sing, but... the better Nesi was getting at being a pirate, the closer she was getting to her dream. He hadn't told her about Isuka yet. He wanted to, and he hoped that she would give up being a marine to join them, but it was out of selfishness. He didn't want Nesi to go. If he could just find someone to teach her more on his ship, find someone worth staying for, be around another girl even, then he wouldn't have to face the fact that she'll be gone and into the hands of that Pieter guy sooner than he'd like. He didn't know what a privateer life looked like, what they did, how they earned money to dress as cleanly as Pieter did. He only knew that she was too resourceful, too intelligent, and too determined to stay with him. Of all his boys, she was going to be the first to leave.
"That's like asking a parent if they're ready for their child to leave. No one's ever ready for that day, no matter how much they say it," Ace replied. "But... I can find solace in the fact that she took what she learned from me to make her dreams come true."
"You definitely don't want her to do that," Schooner said, interrupting Ace's response. "I don't know what her dream is, but it's definitely a place you can't reach easily. You didn't even try to hide it! It's okay, though. It doesn't change how I feel about our alliance. If push comes to shove, we'll figure out a way for you two to meet again in the future. I hate to see friends be apart so profoundly."
"Hun! Do we have anymore lumber or fur?" Moga asked. "Boxer girl's making some benches for the ship."
"Actually, I've got an extra cannon they can take. We're allies now!" Schooner cheered, waving to his wife.
The Spades now had a cannon. It was old and looked like it would self-destruct, but it was a gift... that needed a room of its own along with the ammo to load it...
Author's Footnotes: Imogany, or Moga, is loosely based on the historical figure and American female pirate, Rachel Wall, who married a seaman named George Wall and became a notorious pirate at a young age. Not much is known about her, but she stole a decent bit of loot in her short career as a pirate by acting as a decoy flagging ships down for help. Her and her husband's fleet consisted of couples like them. Victims who gave her aid were robbed and/or mutilated in some way. Her last action as a pirate earned her the penalty under robbery, but she wanted to be tried as a pirate and was executed at age 29 by hanging. She is the last woman to be hanged in Massachusetts.