*"Auntie Iowa, they're so cuuuute! Why haven't you told me of them before?"*

That's because I never knew they'd be here too. As a matter of fact I'm still confused on their existence in Remnant of all places. But my doubts and questions on them cannot overlook the fact that the Manjuu are little helpers I cannot live easily without. I've read and watched anough Azur Lane lore to remember their roles as engineers, technicians, builders, machinery operators, tugboat crews and basically every other support role in a naval base and fleet. These little creatures are even mad enough to drive suicide boats of all things at whole fleets without an ounce of fear or hesitation. So after talking to of their incredible usefulness and harmless natures (generally) I passed my towing line to the lead tugboat and just escorted the two further in, spotting one more tugboat heading over too. Oh right, Highwind's question, cause she must have heard my Manjuu sales pitch to her captain.

"That's because I didn't know they'll be here too." I answered back, looking ahead at the silhouette of what must be a naval base now appearing from the dark and the rain. "So I've kinda forgotten about them in the first place."

*"First chance I get, I wanna ask one of them for a hug! To not hug one of them is like, illegal!"*

I took a longer look at the tugboat to my starboard, more specifically on manjuu walking along the little boat's deck. It had a cute hat on, and wearing a raincoat a bit larger than its size as it scurried about with a flag in its flippers it indeed looked very cute.

"Maybe I'll ask for a chance too..." I murmured, ignoring that I've said it through radio when Highwind's giggles came throught the line.


Our good mood though ebbed upon getting a much better look of the base. Quite frankly, it looked a few bombardments away from being a total ruin. A grand towering edifice built into the cliff, what must have been the main building still quite imposing even with the holes and craters blasted onto its sides. Going outwards on either side of it were a few more buildings similarly built into the cliff and also similarly bearing the scars of battle damage. One of them going to my left had been reduced to a large pile of rubble even. It's a miracle they're still in somewhat good condition from what I can see.

"What the hell happened here?" I breathed out, looking around as I stood on a wharf. On of three remaining ones that haven't collapsed onto the water anyway. To my right Highwind was about done getting tied down by her crew and several gangplanks are being lowered as I speak. Touching down on the wharf, the first people down were the Huntsmen pair I met yesterday. Thinking of it more, this is the first time I've seen them today. Must have sequestered themselves in their cabins or something.

"Miss Iowa." Indigo Jones greeted me first, looking around intensely at the ruined buildings unheeding of the continuing downpour. "You've led us into quite the find."

"Huh?" I asked, not understanding at first. It was Nandor Drake who answered me having come down next wearing an actual raincoat and carrying a pair of large bags.

"This place may not be from an ancient civilisation, but ruins are ruins. Something my mentor and I happen to be very well known for exploring. Not to mention the manjuu birds." He then pointed at a tugboat driven by the birds sliding into a stop on my left and tying their own boat down, with the other tugboat still making its way ahead of it. "Never in all of Remnant is there any mention of sentient bright yellow birds that could drive boats."

"And those ruins certainly hold some hidden histories yet to be known in them too, along with more of these manjuu if they led us here." Continued Indigo as he looked towards me. "Or more specifically, you."

I blinked, rather lost, until I heard chirps and looked down around my legs to see a manjuu with a white captain's hat looking up at me with what I think was a serious look, not at all dampening its cuteness, and its four fellows behind it. Huh, so they must recognize my shipgirl-ness then. It would make them all the more eager to follow me, I hope.

It was then that Highwind appeared, plopping down onto my portside main gun. "Hello everyone!" She greeted us all with a smile and a wave, bandaged legs swinging back and forth over the side. Just like me she looked barely soaked in the rain compared to the others around us. "Captain said he wants to have a meeting in his office. Him, the other heads, Iowa and I, and one of these little ones." At the end she waved at the manjuu still standing around me, the little birds waving back with brightly colored flags each and chirping, besides the one with the hat who only chirped.

"What's it about?" Indigo asked, Nandor behind him looking a bit eager to explore the ruined buildings ahead.

"Planning basically. What we'll be doing here until the storm passes like keeping the paassengers calm, fixing me up, looking around for supplies, the usual stuff." She then tapped a finger on her chin as she continued. "Then the last one is about you and me, auntie, something he's been waiting to know more about. I think that's about it."

"Oh yeah, I have kept him waiting for some time now." I recalled our conversation before I jumped from her bridge. "Well, what are we waiting for? I'm heading over first."

I then looked at the manjuu captain next to me and nod my head at him as I asked. "Highwind's captain want's to speak with you as well."

The bird took no time at all to decide, nodding immediately as it pulled out with a short chirp a sign from... behind it?

(Yes, ma'am.) It said. That wooden board is too big to fit in a backpack of some sort, where did it get it from? Manjuu hammerspace?

"Uh, where did he... she... um, it, pull that sign from?" Nandor, sharing my confusion asked aloud. The manjuu captain took a second to answer, before putting the sign back and pulling out another one.

(I don't know either.) It said. There was a moment of confused silence from everyone there.

"Huh, weird." Highwind broke it with her proclamation. I cracked a smile, finding the manjuu's cluelessness on their ability a bit funny.

"We could stand here in the rain, thinking about it for some time but I would rather not." I spoke out loud, getting a nod from everyone. Indigo spoke up next looking to me and the manjuus.

"You and Highwind go on to your meeting then. Nandor and I, meanwhile, will be spending the rest of the day exploring a bit more of Remnant's lost history. If the little birds don't mind, of course." I looked to the manjuu at his request. They'd huddled together at my look, spending some time talking to each other in with chirps before finally they separated and the manjuu captain nodded. "Chirp, chirp-chirp."

"I think that means you two can go dungeon diving, mr. Jones." Said Highwind with a thumbs up. "Can you tell me about what you find when you get back?"

"Sure, sure." He answered then started walking towards the ruins. "Tell Bernie we'll be back before midnight, come on Nandor."

"Coming sir! Ah, see you later Highwind, Iowa!" Nandor mock-saluted us with one hand before jogging to catch up with his mentor, large duffel bags in one hand. Two of the manjuu peeled off from the group crowding me and ran up to them as well, with the intent to guide them most likely. A tap on my shoulder had me looking at Highwind, cheery smile on her face as she pointed to her hull. She also has the manjuu captain now sitting beside her on my left turret.

"Can I ride your turret to the meeting room?" There wasn't any reason to not indulge her for a bit, so I shrugged with a smirk and trudged back up the gangplank.


"...tallying it all, our stocks on food can last for one more week and three days." Finished the report of the ship's purser, one Max Scharn from Vale, a brunette man wearing a smart business suit. He's also been spending the previous hours calming passengers down, explaining his slightly ruffled look.

"We're supposed to reach Channelmouth in another two days had we sailed on uninterrupted." Spoke Flint Bruno, the burly wolf faunus and head of the ship's security, hired from Menagerie. "How long did you say it would take to fix the ship, Takeyo?"

Takeyo Kai, first name Kai, hailing from a community of fortress towns in Anima's Dragon Tail archipelago. Has the typical looks of average Japanese men from Earth, but more refined in a way and the man himself more built.

"The leaks in her hull my teams can finish soon, give or take six hours of nonstop work. It's her paddlewheel that is the most serious damage, and one we cannot fix without the materials and equipment needed to do it. I'm sorry, Highwind." He's also the ship's chief engineer, and he answered Flint's question after glancing at his notepad. He turned and bowed his head apologetically to Highwind at the last part.

On her part, Highwind was seated on 's left on the rectangular table, hugging a content looking manjuu volunteer on her lap. She gave an understanding smile in Takeyo's direction as she replied. "I understand Takeyo. If anything, blame the grimm, not yourselves."

Takeyo only looked more ashamed though, guy must take his job very seriously.

The captain then spoke up, taking back control of the conversation. "Thank you Max, you and your staff do good work as always!"

"Only doing our jobs captain." He replied with a polite smile.

"Now then, onto the next topic." Opening up a new page of his notebook, took on a more serious look. "The previous day I've decided to postpone this meeting to let everybody get some rest. This morning I've given you all time to meet with your subordinates and list down any issues regarding the crew and the ship, so we can all discuss it."

He got agreements all around from everyone here. Dr. Lisana and First Officer Maxim Omm are the last two people with us here, the doctor sitting opposite of me and Maxim to my left, on the other side of mr. Scharn.

"This meeting is also to speak of our new- well, not really new as she's been with us since the very beginning. We just hadn't known until yesterday. Highwind," Now the captain sports a warm grin to the ship spirit sitting on his left, the girl herself straightening on her seat with an attentive look. "I should have done this yeaterday. As your captain I officially welcome you amongst our crew with the position of Buffer. How does that sound?"

"What?" "Huh? Oh, yeah." "Hmm." "Oh my." "Mmhmm."

"Smart." I said with wide eyes. The Brit's Royal Navy has that rank as well. Formally known as chief boatswain's mate, they're someone even captains of a ship go to for advice when operating a ship. Our US equivalent to it would be command master chief petty officer, part of the "big three" commanding a warship.

"Bu-but captain, I-I've never been to any sort of officer school or something!" Highwind protested, blush prominent on her face with her smile despite it. "Won't you get into t-trouble?"

"Leave that to me." He assured her, then turned to everyone else. "All of you as well, trust me. I'll convince the board, it's not like we can expect to hide her presence forever."

"Right, if Highwind's er, spirit is here with us, doesn't that mean other ships are the same?" Asked Maxim, looking at the ship girl.

"Yes, all my sisters are like me." She answered with a firm nod, her manjuu pillow nodding along funnily enough. I also decided to speak next, adding to her answer.

"All commissioned ships have spirits. We were born the moment a bottle is smashed on our prow." Everyone else turned to me then, no-one looking too surprised by that except for Max who looked at me weirdly. "Yeah, I'm one too. I can summon my hull if you want more proof."

"You can do that, Iowa-san?" Takeyo leaned forward on the table, his eyes flashing with eagerness. The others weren't that different from him, looking at me with varying interest as well.

"You must be a heavy cruiser then." Flint was giving me a scrutinizing look as he rubbed his stubble. "It would explain your speed of-what was it again, over thirty knots? Battleships can't go that fast, and the size of your guns? No ship smaller class of ship can carry those."

"Young Iowa told me she is a battleship actually." Before I could correct him Cpt. Bernie spoke up on my behalf, switching glances between us with both bushy eyebrows raised. "Amazing isn't it, how fast a battlewagon like her can go."

"It's in the name of my ship type, my class being under the 'fast battleship' category." I elaborated after him, a couple people writing down notes as I spoke. "Displacement just shy of sixty-k, my highest speed being actually thirty of five knots with a lighter load but right now I can only go at thirty three knots for a few hours."

"Her main guns are sixteen inches. Bigger than the ones on Vale's walls!" Highwind cheerily added with manjuu captain nodding along with her.

"Now I really want to see your hull..." The first officer's mutter wasn't quite enough for anyone to not hear it, preoccupied as he was writing down on his notepad.

"Bigger, faster and stronger than the Valiant twins." Cpt. Bernie let out a whistle. "And they were the biggest ones around during the war."

Just then a rapping sound on the table brought our attention to Dr. Lisana seated just across from me. "You can talk more of Iowa's figure later."

Her suggestive way of saying it had me blushing, and the others coughing politely or focusing on something in particular. Or in Cpt. Bernie's and Highwind's cases, they chuckled at her words and our reactions. The captain suddenly looked back at Highwind with a shocked look, opening his mouth to say something but he was cut off by the doctor.

"Iowa, seeing as you know more about... ship spirits in general. Are there any other ways to heal you girls besides some time in drydock?"

Her query brought back some of the seriousness pushed away by the lightening mood. I gave it a thought, and decided that kancolle-verse special ship baths won't work on azur-lane type shipgirls like me and Highwind. I shook my head in the negative in response.

"I don't think so, no. A girl is the ship, and the ship is the girl. You've already seen how damage to the ship-part is reflected back on the girl-part, and I'm sorry to say that repairs on the ship-part is the only way to heal us. If there's any other method out there I do not know. I'm still new to this too."

A disappointed sigh was my response from the doctor and she went to scribble notes on her pad. Chief Eng. Takeyo was doing the same, his brows furrowed in seriousness as he did so.

"There's really no other way?" Cpt. Bernie asked me with a slight pleading look on his face. I didn't like it but again I shook my head in the negative and he sighed. "Brothers, that'll be two months of drydock all the way back in Vale. Faster than if your were normal but we'll have to make it there first. Are you fine with that Highwind?"

"Mmhmm." The shipgirl nodded quickly. "At least there I can talk with any of my sisters- I have to introduce you all to my sisters! Oh, and mr. Max, didn't your granduncle used to serve in auntie Valorous? You can ask her for stories!"

"They're als- oh right, of course. I'll take you up on that Highwind." Replied the now smiling Valean. The manjuu captain also raised a sign then, the first time it joined into the discussion.

(We can help fix her.) Chirp! It then flipped the sign to show the words also written on its back. (We have an available destroyer drydock, with an eager work crew ready. They've been waiting for forever.) Chirp-chirp!

Everyone looked at it with varying shocked expressions. Anyone without even basic knowledge of the manjuus' shipbuilding capabilities would, hardly believing cute bird beings less than half the size of an average person could build a ship. The manjuu captain looked hardly able to left a sledgehammer.

But I know what they're capable of, so I was the only one smirking there.


An impressed whistle echoed around the large entrance hall of the main building. Time has dealt with any plants that used to be here judging by the empty decorative pots and only a single tattered banner hanging from the ceiling at the back of the room above a stone reception desk is the furnishing left here. But besides a few craters and the smattering of bullet holes here and there the place looks remarkably intact from the inside.

"Definitely different from that ruin up in Soaring Isles eh, Nandor?" Spoke Indigo as he eyed the various doorways that lead deeper inside. Behind him his apprentice in all exploration and huntsman matters had finished setting up they're base camp of a foldable table for new maps and notes, stacked crates of supplies and, signal amplifier to boost their communication range and strenght and a trio of racks holding the tools of their trade. Their little bird helpers were a great help in that. "What do you think of all this?"

"Looks more modern mr. Jones." The veteran heard from behind him. "I think we can ask our little friends, who may have lived here for a long time, to lead us to a sort of generator room to power some lights. Or an archive even, no way a place this big doesn't hold any records in it."

"Mmhmm." That shut door with a book symbol over there look promising... "I may have to call in Oobleck's help for this. Hate to say it, but this whole place looks way too big for us two on our own."

"But didn't he almost got us lost in that tomb the last time you invited him?" Complained Nandor as he strode up beside him. Indigo chuckled at the memory, it was a near thing then but that was two years ago. Now he just ribs the coffee addict with that memory every now and then.

"And I recall he's the one who got us out in the end. We'll need the help, my gut's telling me there's gonna be a maze here too. Somewhere underground."


A.N.- Hello hello everyone! I'm back from the examination room!

Apologies for the absence, I had to spend days studying for my college exam which happened this week. Then I had a mock test in math (shudders), oh the horror!

Anyway, hope you guys found my work ok. No action this chapter, but the next we'll be seeing Iowa's hull once again and the latest in the Indigo Jones adventures in Remnant. Query: What happens when you get a sadist to design the internal defences of a fortress-base?

There might also be some aerial Grimm flying around now that people have shown up.