A/N: And so we wrap up Amazon Lily. There's a lot of telling and less showing in this chapter, but I figured it was more important to skip forward than to dwell on, say, Calypso's origin story. He'd like to think he's a lot more interesting than he is. ;)
I wanted to say a few chapter's back, that scene with Marguerite and Helena talking in the prison came from a real life moment. I remember looking in the mirror after a shower some few weeks after giving birth to my second child, and seeing my stretch marks. For the first time my knee-jerk reaction wasn't to sigh or feel self conscious about them. I saw them and honest to goodness my first thought was, "Wow, those scars look hard core. I'm like Helena!"
I intended for Helena to become a mother long before I had even met my husband. (The whole odyssey story required that my Odysseus archetype, aka Zoro, have a kid). That her journey has somewhat mirrored my own actually happened by chance. However, I'm pleased to note that it has been therapeutic to have a warrior mother in my ethos to remind me that scars tell a story, and that story is a part of who I am.
Of course, being a mother has also helped inspire how I approach Helena's motherhood, not just the other way around. - and I tell you what, the terrible twos are a real thing. So's the "threenager" stage. Help. :'(
Ch. 23 – Motherhood
"So there are two more agents we need to watch for?" Usopp asked, voice quivering.
"A bird zoan, model Kestrel, and a teleporter named Dimitri," Nami put in, nodding. She'd written down a list, and looked over it with an anxious crease between her brows. "And Diddy now has a devil fruit power. With Bags, that makes eight total agents, and over half of them have devil fruits."
"There could be more," Helena admitted. "Those are just the ones I know about."
Robin nodded. "Cipher Pol teams don't always deploy all of their members in one place."
"As we are well aware," Usopp said with a shudder. "I'm curious to know why Cipher Pol sent this Calypso guy to Amazon Lily to capture you, when there are plenty of female members on his team."
"It's because he knew the area," Helena said, "He grew up there."
Several looks of shock met this pronouncement. Helena smirked, "Grandma Nyon, Hancock's self-appointed advisor, told me all about it as I helped them search out any more Cipher Pol agents. Apparently, Calypso's mother, Dance decided to hide the fact that he was a boy. She named him Blue as a secret nod to who he was"
"So, she dressed him up as a girl as a kid," Sanji put in with a shudder, a traumatized look passing over his face. "Poor guy."
"Given the style of clothes on Amazon Lily, poor guy indeed. Not that he'd have known much different, having grown up there," Helena explained with a nod, "Though they tell me it's this incident that sparked the trend of walking around in panties instead of skirts and pants. Their scant clothes are in part to prevent men from hiding among them successfully."
"Panties?" Brook asked, perking up.
Helena ignored him. "Nyon said that at around age twelve he was discovered. The Empress at the time gave the order to have him executed, and his mother with him for having tried to hide his identity. He and his mother fled the island and no one had heard anything of them since. "
"Guess all this explains why he's such a woman hater," Zoro observed. "And where he learned to use haki."
"From what I could pick up, his strength quickly surpassed some of the most skilled, adult fighters there. He was well versed with haki at a young age, and obviously proficient with pretending to be something he wasn't. I can only presume he fell in with the World Government at some point, and they snapped him right up."
Helena paused, then back tracked. "– well, he's pretty bad at pretending to be a woman I guess. As a boy he could pretend to be a girl, but as he grew up, he apparently exuded so much masculine energy he couldn't keep it contained. – at least according to Nyon, that's why he was caught. It wasn't any sort of wardrobe malfunction or slip up, it just became obvious by his aura alone."
Zoro rolled his eyes. "I believe it."
"So Nyon told you all this while you were searching out Cipher Pol Agents?" Robin asked, bringing the topic back to the list Nami had compiled. "Did you find any more there?"
Helena shook her head. "I think they were pulled as soon as the government realized that Calypso and Diddy had been exposed."
"Did Hancock at least reward you for your efforts?" Nami asked hopefully.
"Ah, not really," Helena chuckled. "She tried to have me executed again."
"Seriously?" the crew cried.
"Seriously." Helena replied.
Helena stared at the Snake Princess, for a moment at a loss for words.
"You seem confused," Hancock observed sadistically, "What part of your complete lack of usefulness don't you understand? You have failed to turn up any Cipher Pol agents, so I see no reason to acquit you."
"I proved that Calypso at least was Cipher Pol, and I drew out his accomplice from the crowd," Helena chuffed.
"You proved that there was a male kidnapper disguised among us, not necessarily that he or his accomplice was Cipher Pol," Hancock pointed out.
Helena stood flabbergasted before Hancock's court, having just returned with Grandma Nyon to report that any remaining Cipher Pol agents must have been pulled, or at least the ones that Helena would recognize. Cipher Pol had failed in their mission to capture herself and her daughter, and clearly had no real reason to stay.
"Your Majesty, this is ridiculous!" Nyon cried. "You only want her executed because you want her husband! You know she's telling the truth."
"Hmph, well, out of respect for him, I'll allow you one final chance at your life," Hancock said. Helena noticed that she didn't even attempt to deny wanting to kill her to get another go at her husband. "Kina, come here."
Kuina had been playing with her little snake friend, allowing it to chase her about the courtroom. She'd shouted with laughter, oblivious to the serious adult conversation going on. Helena had tried to stem this display at first, in part nervous about the snake, but Hancock had stonewalled any attempt to call the child to order, saying 'Kina' could do whatever she pleased.
Hancock had to call her name two more time before she would listen. As Helena remembered, Kuina used to be far more obedient. At last she came to stand between the two women, clutching her fox plush as her snake circled about her playfully.
"We will allow Kina to choose," Hancock proclaimed. "If she chooses you, I'll allow you to leave together, and even provide means for your travel. If she chooses me, I'll have you executed on the spot.
"Kina," she bent down so she could look at Kuina at eye level. "Who would you like to be your mother?"
Helena could hardly believe what she was hearing. It took all the courtly composure she possessed to keep her jaw from dropping. She was so flabbergasted in fact that she lost all retort and just stared as her daughter's brow furrowed in confusion.
"That my mama," Kuina said, pointing to Helena.
Helena breathed a sigh of relief.
"I didn't ask who your mama is," Hancock explained, "I asked who you would like her to be. Remember, here you can do whatever you like. Eat as many cookies as you like. Stay up past bedtime. – here, no one can make you do anything."
"Are you seriously trying to bribe my two-year-old?" Helena asked flatly.
"Hammock be my mama?" Kuina asked Helena.
"No." Helena said emphatically, looking her in the eyes the way she always did when she wanted desperately for her to learn or do the right thing.
"Yes," Hancock wheedled, drawing the child's gaze. "Come here, Kina, and you can stay by my side forever."
A look came over Kuina's face; the same look that had frozen on her features when she had turned to stone. The viper had charmed her yet again.
She toddled over to Hancock's side, her new pet slithering in her wake. She took Hancock's hand and hid behind her leg from Helena's reproachful stare. Murmurs swept through the court. Helena's jaw clenched inside her mouth.
Hancock burst into a beautiful peel of laughter at her triumph. "Not like that, Kina," she insisted, pointing a finger at Helena, "You must show her your absolute disdain. Like this!" she bent over backward, looking down so hard that her nose pointed straight into the air. She pointed a mocking finger at Helena, perfectly resplendent in her triumph.
And Kuina mimicked her.
With a hand on her hip and her finger pointed toward her mother, the little princess perfectly matched Hancock's pose of ultimate disdain. The court burst into peals of delighted, derisive laughter.
Helena sighed.
She had kept a straight face through it all, but now she allowed a hint of anger to furrow her brow.
"Boa Hancock," she said in a quiet voice, and yet somehow the intensity of her tone quieted everyone in the room, "You go too far."
"Bind her," Hancock said, all smiles as she snapped her fingers.
At the signal, the two black snakes that had bound Helena earlier slithered into view. Helena hardly spared them a glance before she had raised her hard-won dagger and cut them both in two. Without pause she walked with even steps toward her still deriding daughter, lifted a foot and toe-pinched the little scamp right on the cheek.
"That is NOT how a true princess behaves," she said sternly as Kuina squealed in pain. "What would your Father say?"
"Owie owie owie! Hammock, help!"
"We've taught you better than this," Helena went on, gaze still on her daughter, though she pointed her sea prism dagger warningly in Hancock's direction. "Come on, Kuina. We're going."
She scooped her daughter up and threw her over one shoulder, then turned to leave as the court stared on in a stunned silence.
Naturally Hancock wouldn't take this sitting down.
"Where do you think you're going?" she cried in shock.
Helena kept walking, ignoring the childish woman, and Kuina, who had launched into a full blown tantrum from her shoulder.
Hancock's guards quickly shut the doors, blocking Helena's way with snake bows drawn.
"Did you think we would just let you waltz out of here?" Hancock demanded over Kuina's unintelligible screeching. "Even if you managed to get out of the palace, you couldn't sail off of this island without help!"
Helena paused, flipping her dagger once around her hand, weighing her next move. She would build a raft or commandeer a ship. She could handle the sea kings, provided she was well enough. But getting away from Hancock would be a trick.
"You aren't strong enough to protect her," Hancock insisted. "You've already failed her. You're not fit to be called her mother!"
"I'm not fit?" Helena exclaimed, turning to glance over her unoccupied shoulder at Hancock. "Just a month in your care, and you've almost undone years of hard work. If I leave her here, she'll turn into a vain, selfish brat like you! Oof! Kuina! Stop that!"
Her daughter had just kicked her in the chest. Helena retaliated with a swift swat to her daughter's behind.
"Ha!" Hancock tossed her hair. "Vain, selfish, but strong enough to protect my own people. So you'd really rather she turn out weak and useless, like you?"
"I won't allow you to use her," Helena replied firmly, turning back to face the guards blocking her way.
Their eyes widened, and they each loosed an arrow. Helena swayed her head one way and then the other, dodging the shafts with ease. The guards then dove aside as, gripping Kuina tightly, the Sun Queen drew her dagger and threw a slash that blew completely through the throne room doors.
"I won't allow you take Luffy's daughter from me!" Hancock boomed. The wave of haki pulsing off of her silenced everyone, even the tantruming Kuina. "Pistol Kiss!"
"Luffy's…?" Helena started, but she couldn't finish the thought. She had to turn quickly to knock aside the luminous, flying heart with her dagger.
The court all stared at Hancock with perfect admiration. Hancock stared at Helena with candid disdain. And Helena stared back at her with a look of utmost confusion on her face.
"This isn't Luffy's child," she said after a pregnant pause. "Her father is Roronoa Zoro, Luffy's first mate."
Hancock's mouth dropped open. "You're telling me you cheated on my precious Luffy with his closest friend?" she cried, rage burning so intensely within her that waves of heat lifted her hair.
"No!" Helena spluttered. Her lip twitched repeatedly, torqueing her already non-plussed expression. "I'm married to Roronoa Zoro!"
"You said you were married to Luffy!" Hancock insisted.
"You asked if Luffy married me!" Helena shot back. "He did! He was the Captain of the Going Merry! Zoro and I had the wedding aboard his ship, so he married us!"
Hancock's rage faltered. Her hair stopped flaring. Her eyes shone vulnerably from her face. "So…you're…not married to Luffy?" she asked meekly.
"No." Helena repeated emphatically. "And Kuina is not his child."
Glittering tears spilled from the Empress' eyes. The façade of rage finally dissolved completely, revealing the grief and hurt driving it all. Hancock collapsed back onto Salome, her hands pressed to her eyes.
"Sister!" Marigold and Sandersonia called at once!
"Princess!" her subjects cried, swooning once more at their empress' beauty:
"She's so beautiful, even in sorrow!"
"Such perfect tears!"
"Sadness is so becoming on her!"
"I'm not sad," Hancock said, sitting upright and letting the tears continue to spill down her face. "I'm just so, so happy. Luffy still loves me."
"He never said that!" Sonia reminded her, but Hancock feigned deafness.
"…he is still my tried and true husband!"
"You're not married to him," Marigold attempted.
"And that makes us practically sisters!" Hancock cried, clapping her hands and jumping to her feet as she turned her joyful, wet gaze back on Helena. "Since Luffy and Zoro are practically brothers!"
The Sun Queen had blinked at her in complete shock throughout this display. "I…guess…so," she stammered, trying to get her bearings.
"Well don't just stand there!" Hancock snapped at her subjects, "We must have a feast in my new sister's honor! And to honor my niece!"
Helena held up a hand, "That's really not necessary…" she started.
"And then I shall personally escort them on their journey," she insisted.
Well, Helena wasn't about to argue with that.
"Luffy, your girlfriend is nuts," Zoro observed to the sleeping form of his captain.
"She's not his girlfrie…" Helena started, but Sanji cut her off:
"No, she said she was his WIFE!" he seethed.
"No, I don't think that's right either…" Helena attempted again, but Sanji had already lowered an angry foot down on Luffy's head:
"How could you keep the most beautiful woman in the world to yourself!" the cook shrieked in agony, "You could have at the very least invited her to join the crew!"
"At least tell us the color of her panties!" Brook put in, egging on the ensuing beating.
Helena facepalmed at the mayhem to follow. Luffy soon awoke to unwarranted bumps and bruises, but before he could ask what was going on, Sanji had kicked him through a wall, over the deck, and completely overboard into the still ocean below.
He stared after his handiwork, teeth still grinding, when Franky picked him up by the scruff of the neck.
"Ow! Don't take your rage out on the Sunny!" he growled.
"What about Luffy?" Nami asked, her hands clutched to her face in shcok.
"The Cook tossed him, I say the Cook should go get him," Zoro pointed out, grinning.
"Couldn't agree more," Franky said with a wicked grin, his big hands closing around Sanji's struggling form. "Go get the Captain! And then you're helping me fix this wall!"
He wound up for the pitch, then launched Sanji over the side while the others looked on in satisfaction.
"Never a dull moment," Helena chuckled.
"You have no idea," Zoro chortled. He turned an affectionate smile back on her, catching her off guard.
"What?" she asked self-consciously.
The others had all gotten up to watch Sanji swim back to the ship with Luffy in tow. It allowed Helena and Zoro a small moment of privacy:
"You did well," he said. "Standing up to Hancock like that."
He knew Helena had her own share of insecurities, but he'd always admired how readily she recognized her weaknesses for what they were, and combated them accordingly. In this instance, she didn't allow Hancock, or even Kuina's derision to keep her from doing what needed to be done.
Her expression grew unexpectedly serious at his words, however. "Zoro, don't tell me that my successes in this story have made you forget the outcome."
His smile faltered, remembering the jolt he'd felt upon discovering the scar on Kuina's back.
"Kuina will never recover from my mistakes," she reminded him. "And I don't intend to forget it. Nor should you."
He didn't say as much, but he was starting to think he'd misjudged Helena's culpability in the matter. One of the weaknesses Helena didn't recognize in herself was the overwhelming load of guilt she managed to carry for other people's sins. Sometimes she struggled to see through it to the heart of things.
"Anyway, there is a reason Kuina chose Hancock and not me," she went on, looking him steadily in the face. "Remember, I kept her locked away and raised by nursemaids while I tried to run a kingdom. I don't know that I could have done any differently, but though Hancock would have been terrible for her, I am a far cry from being the mother Kuina deserves."
Her gaze was so intense. She said everything so matter-of-factly, one might think she spoke of someone other than herself. Zoro knew her better than that though. He knew she felt, and meant, every word.
"Now's your chance to work on that then," he responded, his tone light in an attempt to bolster her. "Here on the Sunny you can spend more time with her, you know."
Helena sighed. "Yes, I suppose I can," she said, but she dropped his gaze, glancing off to her left.