Ch. 40 - Lady and the Tramp

With ukulele in hand, Calypso Blue kicked back on his own personal galley, glad to finally be free of his incompetent team. He'd ditched his snappy white suit for something more comfortable – a breezy pair of harem pants, comfy sandals, and a vest over his bare chest. His machetes rested in reach within their sheaths on the ground next to him.

He leaned in a chair against his ship's small cabin, enjoying a bit of shade against the midday sun. A recent interaction with Navy Headquarters had landed him the small, sturdy vessel. It had a sail he could easily work himself, which he currently had tied open to the pleasant, steady breeze.

'Elena my darling, why do you run?

You know that together we'll have such fun!

If you play nice, I won't have to be mean

To my sweet someone, my Heretic Queen!

He'd catch up to her quickly, he had no doubt. Alone against him, she'd have no chance.

If I had a berri for each thought of you

I'd be too rich to see this job through

But as it is, my heart seems to soar, mon

At my plans for when I see you once more, mon!

He chuckled pleasantly to himself, the tone of his song not nearly sinister enough for what he had in mind for her. Queen Helena had a lot to answer for, and he couldn't wait to take her down a few pegs.

I'll make you bow down, there's nowhere to hide

I'll tame that wild, unconquerable pride

'Elena, you're mine; it's best to behave, you.

The Hurricane's coming, and no one can save you

Speaking of a hurricane, the weather had just taken a turn. Not a storm, but the opposite. His sail fell limp. The waves around him quieted completely. Eerie and sudden stillness settled in. Calypso sat up and looked back into the direction he'd come from. Sure enough, just a few feet back he could see the normal small waves chopping in the breeze, but here he'd entered a Calm.

Good. If what he'd gathered from the Navy Captain was correct, he was on the right path.

At a flash from Calypso's badge, Captain Coby had invited the CP Agent, still dressed in his white suit, into Coby's office to discuss what the captain knew.

"Prince Cobalt," Calypso said with a charming smile, keeping any sinister intentions buried deep. He'd heard that this man was not only proficient in observation haki, but an empath at that. Whatever Calypso was feeling, he had to assume Coby sensed it. "Fancy seeing you again, mon."

"I had a feeling there was more to you than meets the eye, Calypso Blue," the captain replied, wincing as he seated himself. He rubbed at his chest, clearly still hurting after his encounter with Calypso's target. "So we were both undercover in Ilium, then? Your group actually succeeded where the Navy failed."

"Ah, but we were both fighting to protect it at the time we met, apparently," Calypso chuckled. "We both took out one of the Vice Admiral's captains to ensure Ilium's victory."

"That's right. You took out Captain Circe and turned the tide the battle."

"It weren't no trouble, Mon," Calypso shrugged modestly. "Queen 'Elena is an admirable woman. It was an honor to help her. Between you and me, I had hoped…" he paused for effect. Coby blinked at him.

"Wait, you weren't just pretending to be her suitor? You had feelings for the Queen?" he asked.

Hatred and love were both passionate. Calypso guided him with his words so he detected the passion, but hopefully didn't uncover the hate. To add an element of truth to baffle the empath further, he went on, "I…I tried to get her to run away with me, mon. I tried to save her, but someone else had her heart."

Coby smiled softly to himself at this. A romantic then?

"Anyway, you saved quite a few lives in that battle, mon. Hence your current promotion."

Coby shrugged, flushing. "I just did what felt right," he said. "Captain Adolfo was stealing a kid."

"Ah, but that same kid now has a target on her," Calypso pointed out, eyes flickering to the two wanted posters laid out on Coby's desk. He'd apparently just pulled them from the recent paper before Calypso had walked in. Helena the Heretic and Kuina du Prometheus. "I'm being sent to apprehend her, mon. Do you think it's right? Putting a bounty on a child?"

Calypso didn't care about the ethics of it so much as he cared to work past the obviously moral Captain's potential misgivings. He need information from the man. Honey over vinegar was one of Calypso's specialties.

Sure enough, Coby had a haunted look in his eyes. "I saw the child. She'd…she'd been branded…"

"And yet you fought the Sun Queen to keep her from escaping with her?" Calypso prompted. "They reported her as kidnapped, but you knew that was Queen 'Elena's daughter, right?"

Coby's jaw became a hard line. Conflicted, perhaps, or withholding something.

"It's messy when children get involved, mon," Calypso put in gently. "You didn't have a choice. I don't blame you for being torn between duty and conscience."

Coby closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead as if to say, you have no idea. The empath was an open book. Far too easy to read.

Calypso pressed it in a gentle voice. "I can't say this particular mission brings me much joy, mon, but it's got to be done." A bald faced lie, but the captain bought it. His clenched jaw and fists relaxed at least. He looked up and met Calypso's gaze as he went on. "At least if I catch them instead of a bounty hunter, I can make sure they are treated well. Particularly the kid, mon. She doesn't deserve all of this."

"What can I help you with, Agent Calypso?" Coby asked, voice steady.

"Information. You were the last person confirmed to see Helena the Heretic and her daughter. Where were they headed?"

"Surely Cipher Pol has guessed as easily as any of us," Coby replied, perplexed. "She must be trying to reach the Straw Hat Pirates. They're the only allies she has left."

"Ah, but does she know where the Thousand Sunny currently makes berth?" he asked. "We have no intel on their current whereabouts since leaving Fishman Island; presumably she doesn't know better than Cipher Pol, unless she has somehow communicated with them? Unlikely, as the mail coos and snail lines have been tapped."

"She didn't make any indication of where she was going," Coby said. "We traced her as far as one of our ships, one belonging to a man called Captain Huckleberry. No one confirmed seeing her aboard, but she apparently trashed the storage area. Looking for supplies perhaps? From there, one of the lifeboats went missing. From what we can tell, based on the side of the ship she escaped from, she's sailed into Stormwyrm territory."

Stormwyrm territory.

Calypso had never encountered stormwyrms himself, but he'd heard stories. The Calm he currently found himself in had to be a good sign he was getting closer. Of course, if there was a Calm, that meant the Stormwyrms had attacked someone in this area with a good deal of force. Perhaps they had already taken his kill.

Calypso struck the sail with able hands, easily finding his way around a sea craft. He pulled out some oars and started rowing. Though normally a ship this size would need a team of rowers to make any sort of progress, the swordsman easily pushed it through the calm waters alone.

After some time he realized he had no way of knowing the actual radius of this particular Calm. His confidence at the outset may have been unmerited. He paused in his rowing, bowed his head and tuned his Haki outward, trying to sense his prey, or any living creature for that matter.

Something just out of sight and earshot struggled in the water ahead. Curious, Calypso paddled his Galley after it. It wasn't long before he found the poor creature.

An ivory snake longer than he was tall struggled in the water. Not just any snake, one of the Kuja. Only such a serpent could swim out here for so long. Calypso recognized her instantly.

He stuck one of his paddles in the water beneath her, lifting her into the air and into his boat. So fixated was she on moving forward, her eyes squeezed shut against her fears and exhaustion, that she kept swimming, even midair as he lifted her.

"Hello there," he started, and the snake startled, finally opening her rosy eyes to look up at him. "What's a lovely Lady like you doing in a place like this, mon?"

The snake tried to rise up to meet his eyes, her tongue flickered once, and she fainted.

When Lady finally came to, her rescuer had a small catch of fish ready for her. The snake hadn't eaten since the moment she and Kuina parted two weeks ago. Though her stomach grumbled, she made no move to touch the food. She could hardly move at all, actually. Her body had suffered several broken ribs from her encounter with the Admiral who had launched her away from her best friend. Swimming for two weeks straight hadn't helped those injuries.

"Poor thing," her rescuer went on. Did Lady know him from somewhere? He smelled a bit like home, like one of the Kuja, but that couldn't be right. He was a man. Men didn't live on her island.

"You're trying to figure out if you know me," he said, and Lady blinked at him. So unfortunate that snakes didn't have the ability to form human words with their tongues. She could understand the language of humans though. "I remember you. We met in Hancock's court, though I looked different then. I imagine you recognize my scent though. You're Princess Kina's friend, right?"

Despite all her aches and pains, Lady shot upright and nodded. She regretted it and collapsed back onto the deck.

"Take it easy, little Lady," he soothed, "And eat something. You're no good to her dead, mon."

The snake's tongue flickered out, barely touching the fish in front of her. Food. She needed it desperately. But the man was also right about her recognizing his scent. She remembered him now.

"You think I'm trying to poison you?" he asked, chuckling. He had a pretty laugh. "Why would I rescue you just to do that? I can see why you wouldn't trust me though. I was a man among the Kuja, right? I tried to take your human away."

Lady narrowed her eyes at him and let out a suspicious hiss. That had been exactly what she was thinking.

"Well, suit yourself," the man said. He left the snake, taking up his own plate of fish, cooked and seasoned by the smell of it. He sat in a chair in the shade of the cabin, leaving her to warm up and regain her energy in the sunshine. Leaning back against the cabin wall, he relished his meal, washing it down with something from a hip flask before pulling out a ukulele.

There was this Lady I once knew

Prettiest snake in all the blue

Loved a little girl like her own

Now she's lost in the unknown

Lady found his voice mesmerizing. Humans who could sing or make music had always fascinated her. She had little experience with male voices, and his baritone was especially mesmerizing. She found herself hoping he'd keep going, and he did.

I hope she and I can be friends

Before our time together ends

She seems like such a nice snake

Such adventures we can make!

How could he expect them to be friends? He had tried to take her human. Ah, but his voice was so pretty…

Maybe she'd trust me if she knew

I need to find her little human, too

A child is not safe out here in pirate waters

I'll treat her like one of my own daughters

That sounded hopeful. Perhaps Lady could question him more after lunch.

Soon well fed, the snake contentedly stretched her aching ribs out in the sun to speed digestion. The man's shadow fell across her.

"Good to see you feeling better, pretty Lady," he said. "I can catch some more if you're still hungry."

Lady shook her head.

"I hope you don't mind, then, if we talk business, mon? Now that lunch is through."

He reached a hand out to her, as comfortable around her as any of the Kuja she'd known. She regarded him a moment, desperately wanting to like him after his help and pretty singing.

Well, keep your friends close and enemies closer as they say. Lady wound up his arm and around his shoulders so she and he could comfortably converse. Or so she could comfortably constrict him if she decided to. When she came around to his other shoulder he had a soft look in his pretty blue eyes. He almost seemed as if he might…

Cry?

The man blinked whatever emotion was there away, but it was still in his voice when he spoke, stroking her coils fondly. "Do you know, one of the things I looked forward to most as a child was having a snake of my own," he informed her sadly. "Like any of the Amazons, I wanted to become one of the strong and brave Kuja pirates and earn my own companion."

There was true vulnerability in his story. "I trained so hard," he murmured, almost to himself. "I mastered Haki so young and outpaced even grown fighters. I never suspected that they would reject me for something I couldn't help…"

The anger and sorrow shown clearly in his face now. The arms that held her shook. He turned his face away from hers. Lady felt so sorry for him. He was definitely of the Amazon, but also a man. She knew why they would have rejected him.

She pressed her flat head into the side of his cheek. He smiled.

"You sweet thing," he said, nuzzling her back. "Princess Kuina is so lucky to have you, mon. Or do you prefer I call her Kina?"

Lady looked right and left as if to say 'Either-Or.' Calypso smiled at her. She loved his smile.

"You share a special bond with that girl, as all of the Amazon snakes share with their humans. A Haki connection or something deeper, rightt?" Lady nodded. "Even now you can sense her." She nodded again. "Is she far?"

Lady hissed.

"I know you have no reason to trust me, mon," he informed her, "But I have been tasked with finding her. She is not safe with her mother. I'm sure you saw that first hand during your time with them."

Lady contemplated this. Kina's real mother certainly hadn't shown love the way Boa Hancock did. Hancock had let them play as much as they wanted, and Kina got every single thing she asked for. But…Kina had started to behave better and look healthier under Helena's care. She'd become easier to look after for sure. But had she been happier with her true mother?

Lady didn't blame Helena for what had happened to her human at the Saobody Opera House. She blamed herself. She should have been strong enough and smart enough to fend off those three stupid cats before the humans got involved. But at Calypso's question, Lady did ask herself for the first time if they should have been in the Opera House to begin with. If they had never left Amazon Lily, Kina never would have been hurt like she had.

But Helena had fought so hard to rescue her daughter after the fact. More than Hancock ever would have. Or would she? Hancock wouldn't have had to fight as hard because she was stronger than Helena, right? But wait, Hancock had turned Kina to stone, hadn't she? But that was Helena's fault wasn't it? She fought with the Queen of the Kuja. Was Helena a bad person?

Now thoroughly confused, Lady didn't know how to respond. For better or worse, the young snake was spared an immediate decision when Calypso turned from her suddenly, his keen blue eyes narrowed at a spot in the ocean.

"I think you should take cover, pretty Lady," he said softly. He gently lowered his arm to the floor, allowing her to slide off before retrieving his machetes. A moment later a storm cloud burst from under the water.

"Well, now, it looks like not all of you have exhausted your weather powers around her," Calypso called out to it. "I thought a Calm meant you had nothing left to draw on."

As if in response, a static bolt shot from the incongruous cloud. Lady didn't even have time to register her own danger until Calypso had jumped on top of her, shielding her from the electric shock. He'd been careful not to touch her, so though the electricity made him seize, it didn't pass into her already weakened body.

Lady let out a hiss, slithering from beneath her protector to inspect the damage. He coughed a bit of smoke, there was a smoking wound on his back, but he seemed very much alive. A strong human. She'd detected as much from his aura, but it was still a relief to see he was ok. – She put herself between him and their enemy, hissing at it. He grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back.

"None of that, pretty Lady," he chided. "I'm the one who'll be protecting you."

Despite having just been electrocuted, he grounded a stance, and threw a slash into the cloud. The creature at its center let out a screech and fell into the ocean, never to return.

Calypso sat down hard, leaning on one of his blades to keep upright as he let himself recover from the shock. Lady quickly coiled into his lap.

"Ah, there there, mon," Calypso murmured, "It'll take a lot more than that to take me down. Are you hurt at all?"

She shook her head.

"You're as brave as Salome herself," he informed her, and her little snake cheeks flushed at being compared to her royal mother. "Don't do anything stupid like that again, ok? I'd hate to see you hurt, mon."

She bobbled her head in a shrug, not willing to commit to any such thing. Calypso laughed.

"Well, we should really get out of here as quickly as possible. Any idea which way we should go to find Princess Kuina fastest? I'd hate for her to be caught out here with those things about, mon."

Lady blinked up at the man a moment, thinking. – He was strong, and where she was from, strength meant beauty. The man had protected her at his own expense, clearly he had a good heart.

At last Lady turned, and lifted her tail to point in the correct direction. In her heart she felt certain, this man would treat her Kina right, and protect her too.