A Clue
Part 1
Law stood at his opened closet. He ran his eyes over his shirts, wondering which one would be better for her to wear. He figured with how small she was one of his long sleeved hoodies probably wouldn't be the best for her right now. He slowly reached in for one of his dark blue, short sleeve shirts. He tugged it off the hanger then just stared at it for a while. He figured it didn't matter what shirt he picked out for her. His shirts were just going to be very large on her small body. All of their clothes were going to be small on her. Despite that he figured it would be best if she wore his clothes since he was the one she was more use to being around.
It's been two days since she gave her submission to him. So he decided to try letting her eat down in the galley for a change. She was only going to be in there with Penguin, but he still wanted some kind of clothing on her body while she walked through the sub despite the orders he had planned for the rest of the crew. Closing his closet doors, he turned and left his room to go find his subordinate. Considering it was close to lunch, he knew the man would be in the galley. But just as he got to the stairs, Shachi came running up to him.
"Captain, Archer has spotted a navy vessel in the area," Shachi said. "What are your orders? Should we attack?"
"Have they spotted us yet?" Law asked.
"I don't think so," Shachi said. "But it's only a matter of time before they do. Should I tell the crew to prepare for battle?"
"No," Law said. "I don't want to get involved in a battle with the navy right now after making progress with the girl. Have Archer submerge the ship immediately and stay underwater until the navy ship is gone."
"Aye, Captain," Shachi said, unable to hide his pleased smile.
Law sighed when Shachi ran off from him. He couldn't help but noticed that his subordinate was happy he was thinking of the girl. He shook his head. It shouldn't bother him. He's already shown concern for the girl when the pirates' attacked the sub. Shrugging it off, he headed on to the galley. The smell of beef, pepper, and boiling vegetables hit him when he reached the third level. It made his stomach rumble in hunger. While traveling with Penguin as the cook, he grew to really like the man's beef stew. It was one of Penguin's best dishes. But he knew it wouldn't be much longer before they got an actual cook for the sub. Penguin was still just their temporary cook. He's just been so use to the man cooking for them that he hasn't bothered putting much effort into looking for an official cook. Besides, Penguin never complained about having to do the cooking since the rest of the crew pitched in a lot of the time. Though he did figure that Penguin wouldn't be able to handle it if their crew kept growing. He was going to have to be on the look out for a chief that would be more accustom to cooking for a large group.
He entered into the galley to find that Penguin was mindlessly stirring the two large pots of stew. He stayed back for a while just to observe his subordinate. He knew Penguin was having second thoughts about agreeing to his orders in bring the girl down here. But he also knew that the man wouldn't go against his orders. He said, "It's going to be fine. She's still going to be under control with the chains I've instructed you to use on her."
"Aye, Captain," Penguin said, glancing at the chains he had sitting on the counter top near by. He had gotten them before coming in here to make lunch so he's been occasionally staring at them off and on for the past couple of hours. "I know that."
"Then go get her whenever you're ready. I want her to eat before the rest of the crew comes in here," Law said, handing his shirt over to the man. Just then the warning sirens alerted them to the sub's descent under the waves. "They've already put up everything that she could possibly use as a weapon up out of her reach and they're going to stay near the doors since we're going to be traveling underwater for a while. So there's nothing to worry about. Have her put this on. Also, she doesn't have to go back to her room after she eats. So why don't you take her to the rec. room for a while? The change of scenery will do her some good."
"Aye, Captain. I'll do that," Penguin said with a nod just as they both felt the sub's smooth dive under the water. "I guess I'll go get her right now. The stew's pretty much done."
Law nodded then left the room and the man with his thoughts.
Penguin stood at the stove for a few minutes longer before deciding he needed to get to his orders. So he grabbed the chain, laid it over his shoulder, and then placed his captain's shirt over the chain before heading out of the room. He trekked slower than he knew he should. He was trying to figure out how to talk to the girl and how she might react to him. Shachi had told him that he spoke to her about how he wouldn't hold a grudge against her for kicking him. And he wouldn't. He had no intention of ever holding a grudge like that on her. He just didn't know she was going to feel about him leading her around with these chains. He didn't think it was a really good idea in multiple ways. She was just a scared child. He felt like this would only cause her to be more scared of him. But he knew what his captain was doing so he didn't bring it up with him. He felt like he was going to treat her like a dog rather than a person.
"Hey, Penguin, are you okay?"
"Huh?" Penguin looked up to see Bepo looking at him with a mixed expression of curiosity and worry.
"I asked if you were all right," Bepo said. "You're walking in a daze and about walked into the wall."
"Oh," Penguin said when he saw that he was a foot away from crashing into the wall. "Yeah, I'm just a bit distracted."
"Because of the girl?" Bepo said. "The captain told us that you were taking her down to the galley to eat."
"Yeah." Penguin nodded. "I'm heading there right now."
"What are you going to do after that?" Bepo asked.
"I think I might take her to the rec. room for a while," Penguin said. "The captain said she doesn't have to go back to her room immediately."
"Maybe she'll enjoy the change of scenery," Bepo said.
"Maybe." Penguin shrugged.
"I'll let the crew know you're planning on doing that," Bepo said. "That way they'll steer clear of that room for a while. Though they might still come in there."
"That's good point," Penguin said. "The captain never did say he didn't want her around the rest of the crew."
"Maybe we shouldn't go in there at all then," Bepo said.
"Probably," Penguin said. "But it'll take a while for the crew to eat lunch and they still have others stuff to do around the sub so they probably won't even come into the rec. room while we're there."
"Some did mention that they were going to spar with each other at some point after lunch," Bepo said. "I'll still tell them you two will be in there."
"Great," Penguin said with a wave. "I better get going."
"Okay," Bepo said. "Just don't try and run into walls again."
"I won't." Penguin laughed and continued up the stairs. When he reached the main floor he peaked around to the door and found three of his crewmates were standing around just talking. Without making himself know, he continued on up to the medical bay until he reached her room. The door was still closed. He took a deep breath, released it, and reached for the doorknob.
…
The girl was laying on her right side. She had her right hand tucked up near her head while she traced the fingers of her left hand over the cool chain linking her to the bed. She knew it was coming close to lunchtime. So she knew soon the captain would be entering the room with her meal in his hands like he always did. She glanced over to the door when she heard footsteps coming up to her. When the door cracked open, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, pulling the pillows back behind her like she started to do a few days ago. She was ready to receive her meal.
But she wasn't ready for this mealtime to be different from all the times before. Instead of the captain coming in with her meal, the man known as Penguin walked in all alone and without a tray of food with him. She eyed the man while swallowing nervously. She had no idea why he was here without any food with him. Her eyes then landed on a dark blue shirt that was draped over his shoulder and a chain was sticking out from under it. She watched him walk halfway into the room before he paused and looked at her. When she felt his eyes on her, she dropped her own eyes to the bed with the occasional quick glances to see if he was coming any closer. She wrapped her arms around her body when she started to tremble.
Penguin noticed the concern pooling in her eyes. He even noticed her trembling from the distance he was at. He waited for a minute before finally speaking to her. He said, "You're going to eat down in the galley with me today. It's the captain's orders."
When he saw her nodded slightly he took that as a sign that it was okay for him to come closer. He walked closer to her but automatically paused before coming into striking distance of her feet. Her soft, timid voice barely reached his ears when she spoke to him. She said, "I… I won't k-kick you."
"Yeah," Penguin said, drawling out the word. He didn't move forward yet. He just cautiously studied her while she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. He then finally closed the remaining distance between them with soft footsteps. He held out the shirt for her. "Here you go. The captain wants you to put this on before we leave the room. I'll have to remove your cuff so you can put it on."
Her hand trembled as she reached for the item. She grabbed it and quickly pulled it and her hand away from him. Slowly, he reached for the cuff that was attached to her wrist and unlocked it. He took a few steps away from her as the cuff landed on the bed. Narrowing his hidden eyebrows, he watched her carefully to see what she would do. He relaxed when all she did slipped the shirt over her bandaged body. He couldn't help but notice that she paused with the shirt over her nose. He wondered if she noticed it smelled like the captain. He also wondered if he should tell her it was the captain's shirt or not. Law never told him not to tell her who's shirt it was but he didn't tell him to tell her either. He decided to keep quiet about it for now. It really didn't matter one way or another. He then noticed that she had slid her legs over the side of the table and was sitting there obediently waiting for him to tell her what he wanted her to do next. He said, "Oh, yeah, I have to put these chains on you now. It's another order from the captain. He still hasn't deemed you trust worthy yet. So we're still taking precautions with you."
She nodded.
"Hold out your hands."
She slowly raised her hands for him. He noticed that she flinched when he stepped closer, but she didn't lower her hands or pull away. He clamped the cuffs on her wrist, causing her arms to dip to her lap from the weight of them and the other link of the chain meant to be a leash. Tenderly, he said, "Sorry about that. I guess they are kind of heaving for someone li-uh-for someone who's underweight as you are. Come on now."
With the chain in one hand, he motioned to the door with his other, singling her to follow him. She slid off the bed, the shirt draping down almost to her knees and hung off her right shoulder, and followed him out the door without a word. While walking through the halls, she timidly scanned the area for the other men she knew were in this place with her. But no one else seemed to be around. And all the other doors in this hallway were closed so she couldn't see inside of them.
With her eyes still looking around, she didn't notice Penguin looking back at her until he spoke to her. He said, "If you're trying to find something to harm yourself, you won't find it. The crew has put everything that could be used as a possible weapon up out of your reach. Or if you're trying to fine an escape, you won't fine it either. Captain has ordered us to stay close to the exits while you're out of your room. Besides, unless you're familiar with the layout of the sub you won't be able to find your way out of here so easily. You'll run into one of us before you even come close to finding one of the exits."
Penguin studied her carefully for signs of disappointment upon hearing his words. He relaxed when she didn't show any signs of that. She just dropped her dark cloudy eyes down to the floor. He tilted his head a bit as he continued to study her before faced forward again. He wondered if he misread the situation. Maybe she wasn't trying to find something to harm herself or escape at all. Perhaps she was only trying to see if anyone else was around. He didn't look back at her until he felt the chain he was holding become taut between them. He turned to find her staring off to her left with a slightly confused, slightly concerned look in her eyes. He walked back to her to see what had caught her attention. He noticed that one of the doors to another recover room had been left open. She was staring out through a porthole at the water world around them as fish swam by. She flickered him a quick glance before looking back at the porthole. It took him a few seconds to figure out she was asking him something along the lines of 'Where exactly they were? Or why do I see water here?' He said, "I guess captain hasn't mentioned to you that we're underwater since I've been the only one to come to your room since we dove. We're in a submarine."
Her eyes flickered again to him with even more confusion. As he studied her eyes, she quickly dropped them down to the floor. While he kept studying her, he couldn't help but noticed her confusion kept growing. It was also obvious that even though she wanted to keep her eyes down she kept looking around the sub, at its walls, at the porthole. Then it finally clicked in his head. "Oh… you don't know what a submarine is, do you?"
She flinched at his words and immediately dropped her eyes back to the ground, looking like a scolded child.
"Hey, it's okay that you don't know what a submarine is. A submarine is just like a ship. The only major difference is we travel underwater a lot of the time instead of above it like other ships do. We can emerge from the water any time we want. We do also travel a lot of the time on the surface. Most of the time when we are traveling underwater is to get away from the navy and other pirates and even from storms. You're not scared, are you?"
He waited for an answer, but knew she wouldn't actually give one. She didn't have to anyway. He could tell that she was, at the very least, nervous about being underwater since she most likely has never been in a submarine before. "You don't have to be worried about being underwater. We are perfectly safe here. This is one of the best submarines ever built. And we won't let anything happen to you while you're in our care. I promise. Come on now. Let's go get something to eat. You're probably hungry by now."
He stayed patient with her while waiting for her to move again. She took one last glance at the porthole before taking a couple small, timid steps towards him. Penguin waited until she was close then continuing their way through the halls and to the stairs. While descending down to the next level, Penguin stole careful secret glances at her. He noticed she was walking closer to him now. He took that as a sign that he was right about her being afraid of being underwater. He didn't say anything to her. He just allowed her to remain as close to him as she felt like. He felt her hesitate when they passed the first and main level of the sub. They both could hear the chatter of some of the crew as they passed the level. He glanced at her. She had started shaking again but was still keeping up with him. He was glad that from the stairs they weren't able to see his crewmates and they weren't able to see them. He figured she would try to bolt away from them or curl into a scared ball again. He picked up her pace to get away from the men.
"Here we go," Penguin said, finally leading her into the galley. He guided her over to the table then motioned to a chair since his captain never said he had to hold onto the chains all the time. Besides it would be a bit difficult to get their meal while having to hold the chain. So he decided to trust her. "You can sit here. I have to set the chain down so I can get our food. I'm trusting you to not try and escape, okay?"
She gave him a light nod while obediently sitting down in the chair he pointed out. He laid the chain down on the table before stepping away from her. He kept glancing back at her while he moved around to get them their lunch. Once he had two bowls filled with the stew, he walked them over to her and placed them on the table where she was still sitting obediently right where he left her. The only movement he ever saw her do was timid glances around the room and her flinch when he got too close to her. He then said, "What would you like to drink? You're probably getting tired of drinking water all the time. How about some tea? Do you like tea?"
She didn't answer him at all. She moved her eyes back from the stove and looked down at the bowl and spoon in front of her. She lifted up her hands, spreading her wrists apart. There was about a foot length of chain in-between her hands so they weren't going to cause her problems in feeding herself.
"Have you ever tried tea before? It's okay if you haven't," Penguin said.
She lightly shook her head.
"That's okay." He walked over to the fridge and opened it. "You can try it now then. If you don't like it, I'll get you some water or something else. You're lucky though. I made this tea earlier today so it's nice and fresh. It's always best when it's freshly made."
He pulled out the pitcher then grabbed two cups and walked back over to the table. He poured the brown liquid into one cup and placed it down in front of her then poured himself a cup before sitting the pitcher down on the table and taking his own seat beside her. He watched her as she slowly lifted the cup off the table and brought it to her lips. She took a small sip of it. She gave him the impression that she liked it since she didn't snarl her nose or anything. He couldn't keep himself from smiling. He was starting to find it cute at how timidly she was being. "How about trying it with sugar? Would you like to try it like that?"
She gave a single nod after a moment of silence. He reached for the bowl of sugar sitting on the table. He lifted the lid off and dropped a small white cube into her cup. "Let's just try that for now. Too much sugar can make you sick when you're not use to it. And considering you're still a bit under weight I wouldn't want you to get sick. The captain wouldn't be happy with either of us. And we wouldn't want that, now would we?"
He smiled when her eyes lightly lit up at the taste of her sweetened tea. He turned his attention to his bowl of stew and started eating it. He ended up finishing before she did. So he poured himself some more tea while he waited patently for her to finish. Then just watched her slowly eat her meal. With anyone else he would get annoyed at them if they ate this slowly, but with her he didn't mind it one bit. He found that he was enjoying watching her eat. He didn't know why and he didn't question it.
He just continued to watch her eat while thinking about his captain's orders on the girl and what she should and shouldn't eat. With his captain's orders and list of foods he wanted her to eat, Penguin was careful to make sure he made all of her meals as nutritious as he possibly could even though she often didn't finish all of her meals. Even with the smaller meals she was getting each day. His captain still wasn't forcing her to eat more than she could handle. Luckily she was eating enough since she had put on a couple pounds since being under his captain's care.
"Are you finished?" Penguin asked when she released her spoon.
She nodded.
Penguin picked up their dishes and walked them over to the sink. He noticed there was probably a little over fourth of the stew left. And not wanting it to go to waste, he finished it for her then put the dish in the sink with his own. He walked back over to her and picked up the chain. "Captain said you don't have to immediately go back to the medical bay as long as you behave. So how about we go to the recreational room for a while? I think you'll like it in there."
She stood up.
He took that as a yes, reclaimed the chain, and led her out of the room. As they walked down the hall to the rec. room, Penguin noticed she was more relaxed this time. She wasn't walking as close to him anymore, but wasn't far away like she was when they first left the medical bay. He smiled to himself. He wanted her to trust them. And it looked like they might really be on their way to that happening.
"Here it is," Penguin announced when they came upon an open door. He led her into the room and allowed her to look around for a few minutes. There were a couple pale yellow couches, one on one wall the other on another wall, there was a round table in the middle of the room with cards scattered over it, near one of the couches was two bookshelves crammed full of books and laying around the far side of the room was exercise equipment that the crew had brought up from the training room. "You can feel free to do whatever you wish here. If you like to read, we have books for that. As you can see I'm sure. Do you like to read?"
The girl dropped her eyes to the floor and became stiff.
Penguin felt confused at her action and felt like they had taken a small step backwards. His heart sank in his chest. He didn't want that to happen. "Um, okay, you don't have to become stiff like that again. Uh… maybe it would be best if I just stopped talking now. I'm going to read since I don't have any other orders to fulfill at this time. You can join me on the couch if you want to."
Due to the chains that connected her to him, she had no choice but to follow him over to the couch near the bookshelves. She remained standing as he grabbed himself a book and sat down on the couch. She looked around the room again, unsure about what she should do. Penguin peered over the top of his book. He wondered what she was going to do before dropping his eyes back down to the pages.
She remained standing for several minutes just cautiously looked around. She then timidly sat down in one of the chairs around the nearby table when her legs started to burn. She placed her cuffed hands in her lap, causing the chain links to jingle, and sat quietly unaware that the man she was with was taking occasional glances up at her. She continued to stare down at her lap. She only took a couple glances over at the man she was with and even more glances over at the door. She wondered where everyone else was and if they were going to come into the room with them. She took another glance up at the door. Her body jumped when she found that someone was standing there this time. Her body jumped, her eyes widened, and her breathing increased upon seeing the captain standing there.
"I didn't mean to startle you," Law said, his eyes locked onto the girl as she pulled her feet up in the chair and hugged her knees.
"Do you need something, Captain?" Penguin asked when he noticed the man there. He stuck his finger in between the pages and lowered it to his lap.
"Not really," Law said. "I was just heading to the galley and decided to come see how she was doing."
"She's been doing just fine," Penguin said. "Sitting there quietly like the good little girl I know she is. And I didn't have a lick of trouble with her in the galley. She ate almost all of her food."
"That's good," Law said. He turned and walked out the door. "I'll leave her in your care for a while then. I'm going to eat lunch then go to my room to study for a while. Send someone to find me if she gets out of control."
"You got it, Captain," Penguin said. "But you don't have to worry. I know she's going to behave herself."
The girl kept hugging her knees until Law was long gone. She placed her feet back on the floor then dropped her eyes back down to her lap. She continued to stare at her lap for about five minutes then she turned her eyes to look out the porthole. She sighed softly while watching the colorful sea life swim by the window.
Penguin glanced up from his book to find the girl contently staring out the porthole. He was a bit surprised to find she looked almost content at watching the sea life swim by. She also looked comfortable in the room now. He wondered if she even remembered she was in here or if her mind was actually out in the sea with the fish. Whatever it was, he was glad she was sort of enjoying herself at the moment. He wished there was a way he could let her watch the sea life all the time in her recovery room. She must be getting really bored just sitting up there doing nothing. But since he couldn't do that he started to think about what he could do with her once she was more comfortable with him being around. Perhaps he could teach her a game of some kind? But what type of game could he play with her? Since he didn't know what she would like, he figured he could probably pick out some games he used to play as a child. There were plenty of easy card games he could teach her if she didn't know them already. He turned his attention back to his book. He could figure games out later. He really wanted to finish this book today.
It was coming up on two hours later when Penguin sensed Bepo walking through the door. His eyes drifted over to the girl and found that she was staring at the bear. From the angle she was at he couldn't tell if she was looking at him in the eyes or not. Brushing it aside, he said, "What's up, Bepo? Did you need something?"
"Nothing really." Bepo regarded the girl with a friendly smile. He blinked in confusion when her eyebrows lifted up on her forehead before she dropped her eyes back down to her lap. "I was going to practice some, but some of our crewmates are becoming very unruly in the training room." He cast the girl another quick glance before turning them back to Penguin. "It might be better if I just wait and do that later. She seems comfortable right now. I don't want to scare her with my practice since she might not like it."
"I think it'll be all right. She doesn't seem to be tensing up with you in here." Penguin placed a finger in-between the pages he was currently reading then lowered the book to his lap. He then looked at the girl. "Bepo is a martial arts master. He wants to practice his fighting moves in here since the training room is a bit of a mess right now. He'll be at the other end of the room. He has no intention of causing you harm. Is that all right?"
She only shifted in her chair in reply.
"Go ahead, Bepo," Penguin then said. "I'll keep an eye on her. If she show signs of being scared, I'll tell you to stop or just take her back to her room."
"Well, okay then." Bepo blinked a couple times. He slowly made his way passed the girl to the other end of the room. He gave her one more concerned glance before he started his practice off with slow, fluid movements. After a few moves, he looked at her again to find she was watching him curiously. He also saw no signs of fear or distress with the training that he was doing so he picked up his pace. He often looked back at her while he practiced to check on her. At one point she seemed to be nervous about something. Before he could stop or say anything to her or Penguin, she turned her eyes back to the sea life swimming by.
For the next hour and a half the three occupants of the rec. room got lost in their own activities. Penguin got pulled deep into his book, Bepo got lost in the rhythmic movements of his martial arts training, and the girl continued to stare contently out the porthole. Just then the distance mumbles of some of the crew interrupted the quiet setting and started to come closer to the room. The girl whipped her eyes over to the open door when three men walked inside of it. She watched as they walked in the room about four feet then stopped to continued their talking. She dropped her eyes to the floor but kept looking over in their direction from the corner of her eyes while her breathing slowly increased.
"Yeah, apparently the navy turned and went the other way," a man she didn't recognize said.
"Too bad," another said. "I was kinda looking forward to another fight."
"Don't get so edgy," the third said. "We have plenty of time to engage with the navy and other pirates."
Three more men then came in and gathered with the other three men staying within three feet of the door. They added to the conversation of fighting against the navy and pirates. Mentions of cannons, blood, broken bones, and other such things mixed together in her ears as her chest heaved up and down. She turned her eyes to the man reading. He seemed unaware of her discomfort and to the fact that the extra people were in the room. She pulled her feet up onto the chair and wrapped her arms around her legs, hugging them close to her chest while her breathing slowly increased towards the point of hyperventilation. Beside her body small shimmers started to appear in the room.
…
Bepo kicked, spun, and threw several punches out into the air, still unaware of the extra company that was in the room with them and making the girl very uncomfortable. He paused suddenly when his animal instincts told him that something was wrong. His fur stood on its ends while a shiver ran down his spine. He felt something like this before but only when a serious storm was about to blow in. And he knew there wasn't any storms anywhere near them. He turned his eyes slowly to look around the room to try and figure out where this feeling of danger was coming from. Nothing seemed to be out of normal. Penguin was still sitting on the couch reading his book. A few extra crewmates had wandered in at some point. Then his eyes landed on the girl. He blinked in confusion when he saw strange sparkles surrounding her. He blinked a few more times, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him or something. But when he looked again the sparkles were still there. He wasn't seeing things and his eyes weren't playing tricks on him after all. He tilted his head. "What is this? Why is the room sparkling all of a sudden? Do we have some glitter onboard or something?"
He looked around at his crewmates. None of them heard him talking. And they didn't seem to sense what he was. He then let his eyes wandered back to the only girl in the room. She was hugging her knees and casting glances over at his crewmates near the door. He couldn't figure out what it was but something about her seemed different suddenly. He tilted his head again upon realizing the feeling of an incoming storm was coming from her. But he couldn't think of a single reason for such a small timid girl to feel like a wild storm was about to blow through the sub, and while it was underwater no less. Did she possibly have a devil fruit after all? But what devil fruit could possibly create a storm? And why did he feel her devil fruit, assuming she had one, when he's never sensed a devil fruit power before?
