Chapter 42: Tanks and Battle Wounds
The next morning, the crew finds Luffy and Mia out on deck, both sleeping peacefully against Kotaru. For a brief moment they wonder whether they should wake them up before deciding against it and going about their mornings. Eventually, when they do wake up, Luffy is ready to leave, yelling to Nami about adventure and setting sail, but she's quick to shut down his excitement by telling him they won't be ready to go until that afternoon.
In the meantime, there's breakfast, a trip to the town to gather Mia's sparse belongings, and lunch before they finally set off.
When the wind is in the Merry's sails and the ocean surrounds them on all sides, Luffy breathes in lungfuls of the salty air and smiles. While he loves islands - loves them with all his heart - nothing beats being on the open ocean. All he feels out here is the familiar emotions of his crew - as well as their temporary guests - and for the most part he doesn't have to worry about becoming overwhelmed. He's becoming more attuned to his crew's nuances when it comes to their emotional reactions, and he thinks he's starting to get the hang of managing such a small group's feelings again.
He's still not perfect though, and so after they've finished another delicious lunch, he goes out to the deck and sits against the mast. Criss-cross, he closes his eyes and begins regulating his breathing. He allows the clouds of emotion that surround each of his nakama to coalesce into one big amalgamation of emotion. He feels it rise in the air, drifting toward him as if it's going to enter his body, but he forces it to stop just outside of arm's reach.
Breathing deeply again, he begins the arduous task of picking out just one of the many emotions from the cloud and separating it entirely. The first he plucks out is fondness and the smokey, wispy essence of it tells him that it belongs to Sanji. Pleased, he goes to pick out another emotion. It's another pleasing one, one that warms him and makes him want to smile. He narrows it down to either joy or amusement, but the two are tricky sometimes to discern.
Ah, but there's the feeling of laughter bubbling low in his belly, and he knows-
"What are you doing Luffy?" Concentration broken, the mass of emotion breaks apart and rushes toward each of its owners until the fondness, and amusement, and concentration, and whatever else had been in the cloud spreads back out across the ship.
Blinking at the sudden disconnect, Luffy raises his gaze up to see Usopp looking down at him curiously. Mia and Kotaru are still lounging nearby and he can see that both Nami and Robin are sitting on their lounge chairs closer to the stairs leading to the upper deck. He feels that the amusement he had been about to discern had belonged to Chopper who he felt was somewhere in the kitchen with Sanji and his fondness. Zoro was the brief feeling of concentration he'd felt just as the cloud had broken apart, and the swordsman was at the back of the ship from what he could tell.
Focusing back on Usopp though, Luffy realizes he's missed whatever it was Usopp had asked.
"Huh?" He asks, knowing it had been a question.
"I was just wondering what you were doing. You almost looked like you were dreaming or something." Usopp says in interest. Since traveling with the young Captain, Usopp hadn't seen him sit still for more than a handful of minutes at a time before he exploded with pent-up energy. So to have seen Luffy sitting so still all of a sudden and not even looking bothered by the fact was curious in of itself.
"I was..." He trails off, head tilting as he tries to find a good way of explaining just what it was he was doing.
"Getting to know everyone's emotions." Luffy decides on eventually but feels that even that isn't an apt enough description of what he had been attempting to do.
In part, maybe it was exactly what he'd been doing, but he had also been trying to recognize everyone's unique signature connected with how they felt. Not only that, but he had been attempting to get better control over his abilities by singling one emotion out of many which was normally too difficult for him to do. The more people that there were, the more emotions there were to be felt, and as a result, they usually came together in the same cloud Luffy had allowed to form moments earlier. However, unlike where he had been able to pull out Sanji's fondness and Chopper's amusement, he wasn't able to do that with bigger groups of people. It was hard enough to do with just his small crew. That's not to mention the fact that it takes a lot of concentration in the first place.
So, yes, while he was trying to get to know everyone's emotions, it wasn't all he had been trying to do.
"Oh. How are you able to tell them apart?" Usopp asks, sitting down in front of Luffy and leaning forward. Luffys face scrunched up as he tried thinking of a way to explain that would be understandable to someone who had never experienced other peoples emotions like he had.
"They all feel like... you. Somehow. You feel happy, just like Nami feels happy, but your happiness is different from hers. Just like how you all have a specific smell." The effort it took to try explaining this was clear to Usopp as Luffys face began turning red, but the rubber teen didn't stop there.
"Your emotions feel... dreamlike. They're different from Zoro's who are sharp and clear. Or Chopper's who feel sweet like candy. Just like you smell different from Zoro and Chopper too. It's like... wood feels different from grass, right? Grass is softer and you can tell it apart that way. Emotions are like that too." Like before, it didn't feel like a good enough description, but there was no way to put into words how Usopp's emotions felt like those in dreams would. How the sniper's happiness felt bigger and grander and his sadness small and hidden away when compared to Zoro's who were always so present and distinguishable, like a ringing bell.
"I-... Yeah. I think I get it, actually." Usopp admits, slightly surprised to find his words to be true. Hearing this, Luffy beams, pleased that he'd managed to get his point across. He was used to Ace and Sabo being able to understand him with no effort on his part because they were there every step of the way that Luffy learned about his new abilities. But Usopp was different. He hadn't been there from the start and was new to all of this.
"Will knowing our emotions make it easier for you to not get overwhelmed by them? Because you'll feel that they aren't yours easier?" The sniper questioned next just as Chopper walked by. Hearing Usopp's question piqued the reindeer's interest and he stopped, detouring toward them instead of wherever he'd been off to.
"A little. Sometimes it doesn't matter, especially if the emotion is really strong. It overpowers the person it belonged to and I don't notice it. But it should help me with weaker emotions." Luffy told him as Chopper sat down beside Usopp.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Chopper asks hopefully while at the same time being naturally curious about Luffys abilities. Luffy was happy to have such an accepting crew and finds himself smiling and nodding.
"Ace and Sabo used to help me train with emotions all the time. Usually, they would help me get used to someone changing their emotions rapidly without it overwhelming me, but sometimes they would sit with me and feel different emotions for long periods of time so I could get used to how they felt." Thinking about all of the training he'd done with his brothers changes Luffy's bright smile to something warmer, but he shakes it off and focuses back on Usopp and Chopper.
"If you two focus on feeling emotions like happy and sad and angry I can take the time now to get used to how they feel coming from you both." He finishes, seeing and sensing that the two agree with the idea.
"Should we both feel the same thing at the same time?" Usopp asks, growing nervous now at the prospect of actively sending Luffy emotions. The last time he had tried had been when the seaside town was terrified, and he hadn't been very good at it then. Now though, things were calmer and Luffy was confident that the sniper would be able to manage it.
"Mm. It'll be easier for me if I don't get mixed signals." Luffy says with a nod before settling back into a more comfortable position and resuming his deep breathing. He listened as Chopper and Usopp determined between themselves which emotions to go through and in what order, and when they seemed to come to a decision, Luffy let his eyes slip closed and allowed himself to dive into the two streams of emotions in front of him.
Happy was the first emotion, because it was the easiest to conjure. As he had explained earlier to Usopp, he could feel the tooth-rotting tinge of sweetness that seemed to envelop Chopper's happiness, and at its side, he felt the wispy, dreamlike quality of Usopp's. He let the emotions flow in and then through him, familiarizing himself with how they felt when they were in his chest and pulling a smile onto his lips.
Once he was confident enough that he would recognize them, Luffy released the emotions and told the two as much, letting them know they could move on.
Sadness was next, and then anger, followed by embarrassment and shame, and guilt. After all of the negatives though came the amusement, the love, and then the relaxation. They cycled through the many different emotions, allowing Luffy to take them all in as long as necessary, and while there were a few times when Chopper or Usopp slipped and felt frustrated or impatient that they couldn't quite conjure the right emotion up, Luffy didn't let it bother him.
He was grateful that they'd done this much for him. The both of them had gone out of their way to check in on Luffy and offer their help without criticizing or making fun of him for not having perfect control over his abilities. It was relieving and only cemented in Luffy just how great his new nakama were.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"What are those three up to?" Nami asks, more to herself than the woman reading beside her, but aloud nonetheless. Peeking from over top her book, Robin looks over to Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper; the three sitting on the deck criss-cross with Luffy facing the two. Their eyes were closed and they all seem to be deep in concentration, and while she couldn't see Usopp and Chopper's faces due to the fact that they had their backs to her, she could see Luffy's face twisting with different emotions every so often.
"It looks as if they are meditating," Robin tells the navigator, though she believes that there was more to it than that. While she hasn't been here for long, she's come to know by now that the captain wasn't one to sit still and do nothing for long - and meditating was exclusively that.
"Luffy?" Nami asks incredulously, raising the sunglasses from her eyes to peer at the rubber man, only to find that Robin looks to be correct in her assumption.
"So he can stay in one spot." She says in amazement and more than a little annoyance. Robin makes a noncommittal hum of agreement at the navigator's statement and turns her attention back to her book, though she's not taking in much of what she's reading.
Ever since joining the Straw Hats in their travels, Robin has found Luffy to be a source of never-ending confusion. The rubber teen was an enigma - a puzzle waiting to be solved.
And Robin so desperately wants to figure him out.
However, it seems that answers are going to be slow coming - or possibly out of reach altogether. Every time she thinks she was beginning to understand him, Monkey D. Luffy would do something so entirely random and unpredictable that she finds all of her previous theories and ideas about him were false. It's as frustrating as it is exhilarating. She can't remember the last time she encountered a puzzle such as this, and while she desperately wants answers, she's just as happy not getting them at all.
Because there was just something about this hyperactive, young Captain that was captivating. It was refreshing.
Marines had been after him since he was quite young - much like herself - and as far as she could tell, it may have been for similar reasons as well. While the government wanted everyone to believe the numbered children to be demons, they had said the same of Robin, and her only crime had been knowing too much.
And so she could see a likeness in Luffy that mirrored her own life circumstances. Something about that was comforting just as it was distressing.
But not only was there the mystery of Monkey D. Luffy, there was also the mystery of the facilities. And now there were two people on this very ship who had experience being in one of the infamous facilities. Just as she could relate to Luffy, she could see herself in Mia as well. The timid child who set off on her own due to a caretaker's neglect.
Turning a page in her book to keep up the appearance of reading, Robin lets her thoughts continue to wander regarding what it was that the facility could be holding within its walls. It was clear that whatever it was, it wasn't good. It was bad enough, in fact, that the Marines would do anything to keep those who knew about it silent. Even stooping so low as to criminalize children that - from what she understood - they had kidnapped.
But what was at the crux of it all? What were the Marines doing?
"Gah! Feeling tired is hard when you're not actually tired!" Usopp's voice drags Robin out of her head and she glances back over to the three. Usopp's fallen back flat on his back dramatically while Chopper and Luffy look on. As she can only see Luffy's face, she can see that the teen is wearing an amused smile at the sniper's antics.
"Shishishi, you feel plenty tired right now!" He laughs, causing Usopp to blink a moment before breaking out into a smile of his own.
"I am, aren't I?" He asks before erupting into giggles along with Chopper.
"Idiots. All of them." Nami mutters, though even she was smiling fondly at the three.
And that was another mystery that Monkey D. Luffy held. The so-called ability to feel other people's emotions.
No one has outright told her that that was what the teen did, but after seeing for herself just how much effect other people's emotions had on Luffy, she was inclined to believe that that was exactly what it was. It could have been chalked up to perceptiveness, or even sensitivity, but for Luffy to have known the town was upset before they even set foot there for the day had been telling enough to confirm the theory. She was also inclined to believe that this allowed the teen to know when someone was lying.
The question was, in that case, where this ability came from.
He told her that his ability to detect lies was not one that came from his devil fruit. This she believed, because she really could not find any way in which rubber could correlate with lie detection. And if the lies weren't a part of his devil fruit, then the emotions most likely weren't either seeing as they were connected to the lie detection.
So was it something he was born with? She had read about people born with devil fruit-like abilities without ever having eaten a fruit. Was this one of those cases? A boy born with the ability to feel others' emotions? Or was it something more?
While she didn't know at this very moment, it was one of many mysteries she hopes to solve while traveling on the Going Merry.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Mia was content to sit off to the side with just Kotaru for company. After her nightmare last night and talking with Luffy, she felt much more at ease here on the pirate ship taking her to her new home, but that didn't mean she was willing to go and initiate conversations with anyone.
She was still a little wary of the reindeer doctor, but it was difficult to associate the cute and cuddly animal with the terrifying and mean doctors of her past. She wonders - not for the first time since meeting this strange crew of pirates - how a reindeer could be a doctor in the first place, and not only that, but walk and talk like a human. Still, she wasn't going to go up to him and ask at this very moment no matter how burning the question was.
Stroking the fur atop Kotaru's head, Mia watches out of the corner of her eye as the reindeer - Chopper - joins Luffy and the long-nosed man - Usopp - at the main mast. She doesn't know what they were up to, but it doesn't look like anything all that fun.
Turning her attention to Kotaru, Mia looks into the wolf's eyes and smiles gently at him. He was lying down with his head raised to look at Mia, and with his large build and Mia's below-average height, the two were eye to eye.
"He said I was brave, Kotaru." She whispers to the wolf, mindful of the three sitting nearby, as well as the two women lounging further away.
While Kotaru can't talk to her like Chopper can, she has come to learn the wolf's body language easily enough and can see the dip in his head to show he was listening.
"You're brave. And 11097 too. He saved us all. And he thinks I'm brave." She whispers, still disbelieving that the man she had always thought to be one of the strongest and most fearless men alive had called her brave. She doesn't think she's done anything all that brave. Unlike him and his brothers, she had sat around in her cell and allowed the doctors to do with her as they pleased, no matter if it came at the risk of her own life. She hadn't liked it, but she hadn't stopped it either.
So how was it that the word brave could be associated with her?
"I don't think I am. Not like you two." She admits softly, eyes darting to the side as she frowns. Her hand stills on the spot just between Kotaru's eyes and she sighs. She wants to be brave, like 11097 believes her to be, but how?
Her thoughts are interrupted by Kotaru's large, wet tongue licking a stripe on her cheek. Startled, she can't help but let out a peal of laughter as she pats his head again, hoping to settle him down.
"Sorry, sorry!" She laughs, and when she turns to look the wolf in the eye again she can see what looks to be a smile on his face.
"Well, I'll just have to prove him right! I'll be brave, just like he said I was." She says with determination. When Kotaru begins wagging his tail, she takes it as a sign that he was agreeing and feels her resolve deepen.
Time passes slow and easy after that as the crew all goes about their usual routines, but this time with Mia in the mix. After Luffy, Chopper and Usopp finish sitting around, Mia watches as they start up a much more energetic game of tag that she think look fun but doesn't want to insert herself into. While she was going to be brave, she wasn't quite ready to try inserting herself into situations she wasn't first invited to.
So she sits with Kotaru and watches, which she finds to be the better of the two options when Luffy suddenly stretches his arms out and launches himself at Usopp in an attempt to catch him faster. The end result of this maneuver however is that the two promptly slam into the railing and tip over it into the water.
Letting out a shout of alarm, both Mia and Kotaru jump to their feet as someone lets out a yell behind her - 'Nami,' Mia thinks distantly.
Running over to the railing, Mia and Kotaru both peek over the edge in an attempt at catching even a glimpse of the two. She's relieved when she eventually spots their heads poking above the water.
"Ah! Luffy and Usopp fell overboard!" Chopper yells before he too runs over to the railing and jumps in, surprising Mia further.
"Chopper! You can't swim!" Mia jumps in surprise at Nami's much closer voice and looks to see the woman standing at her side. From behind them, Mia was just in time to watch Zoro - who she remembers being at the back of the ship before - setting his swords down before diving in after the three.
There's the sound of a door opening behind them, and soon Sanji has joined them at the railing along with Robin. Everyone watches as Zoro grows closer to Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp until he finally reaches them and he grabs Luffy, dragging him back toward the ship. Usopp is quick to dive under the water to grab Chopper who was beginning to sink. They were all relieved when they saw him break the surface with the fury ball in hand.
"Curious," Robin murmurs quietly.
"What is it, Robin?" Nami asks, turning away from the three in the water now that they were heading back safely to look at the older woman.
"Sencho-san ate a devil fruit, correct? And yet he wasn't sinking." Robin tells the navigator with a smile that Mia can't quite identify. It's not a happy or amused smile, but it's not malicious or bad either. Not like when the doctors did a test and they liked the way it turned out. The fact that she can't identify the emotion behind such a normal and frequent expression is unsettling, but as the conversation continues she isn't able to give the odd moment much more thought.
"He-... Well, yes. You're right..." Nami admits, blinking in a slow, stunned manner as she turns back to the water to look curiously at Luffy. The four were just about back to the Merry now and Sanji was quick to drop a rope ladder over the side for them.
Dripping and panting heavily, they watch as Zoro takes off his shirt to wring it out while Luffy laughs joyously.
"Shishishi! I didn't expect that to happen!" He laughs, seeming to have a harder time of catching his breath than the other three as he sits up.
"I can't believe you took me with you!" Usopp cries out, only a little mad at the turn of events.
"And why'd you come in after us, Chopper? You can't swim either." Usopp asks, turning to the reindeer who has only just finished spitting up water.
"S-Sorry. I forgot..." The little guy says with a bashful smile as he rubs the back of his head.
"All of you are idiots!" Nami yells as she whacks both Luffy and Usopp over the head.
"Ow!" The two whine in unison, nursing the bumps on their heads while Mia watches with wide eyes.
"Nami! What was that for?"
"Why did you hit me? I was a victim here!" Nami ignores both of their whining as she crosses her arms over her chest and gives Luffy a narrow-eyed look.
"Robin made a good point, though. How come you didn't sink like Chopper did, Luffy?" She asks, disregarding their questions for one of her own.
It seems Usopp hadn't thought of this either despite having been treading water beside the rubber man only minutes earlier. They all turn to watch their captain, most curious while Chopper watches with apprehension, unsure of what Luffy was going to tell them and how it may affect him. He had read in the medical file of Luffy's resistance to water and sea stone, but he hadn't thought much of it until now.
"Oh, that's easy." He starts, his good humor falling away for a more bland expression.
"And?" Sanji prompts when Luffy doesn't continue on his own. Like everyone else, he was just as curious. He didn't know much about devil fruit users, but Zeff had told him they sank, and he'd had to save Luffy from the net Krieg had captured him with. Granted, anyone would have trouble swimming out of that, but Chopper sinking had proven the sea's effect on the cursed fruit users.
"Facility." It was a simple word, and yet it was all the answer they needed as they all nod in understanding. It was yet another thing to add to the long list regarding the facility, and while they wanted to question him further - wanted to find out just how one place could cause so many impossible changes in a person - they said nothing.
They had learned by now that they wouldn't be getting much out of him - and really, they were beginning to wonder if they even wanted to know.
"L-like... from... from the tanks?" Mia asks haltingly, as if unsure whether her question would be welcome.
It seems that the crew had all but forgotten about their visitor if their surprised looks were anything to go on. That, or they hadn't expected her to question him further, but in either case, it was the same result and Mia found herself shuffling closer to Kotaru for comfort.
Luffy said last night that she could talk as much or as little as she wanted about the facility, but having everyone's eyes on her all of a sudden was more than disconcerting and she found herself rethinking her addition to this conversation.
Looking at the rubber man though, he doesn't look angry at her for joining in. Instead, he was watching her with an almost confused expression that she wasn't sure she understood. The surrounding crew was looking between them both apprehensively with bated breaths, unsure what the response to the question would be. They had no idea what 'the tanks' were, but they didn't think they would like to find out.
Not with how ominous it sounded.
"Mm. How d'you know about the tanks, Mia?" Luffy finally asks, his voice quieter than before. He seems cautious now, but whether it was because he was wary of revealing too much to the listening crew or because of the subject matter in general, Mia didn't know. Trying not to worry, Mia shrugs slightly, hunching in further on herself as she looks this way and that.
"It was- I- They-" Trying not to worry was harder than she thought as she stutters and stops, unable to form her thoughts into a coherent sentence. Her heart was suddenly pounding and her breathing had gone heavy, much like Luffy's had been after coming out of the water.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. Remember?" Luffy's voice was as soft and gentle as Mia remembers her mother's being after Mia had returned home. Before the news was released about numbered children. Before she overheard her plotting to call the Marines. Before she had to leave her home for the second time.
"It's alright Mia. Try to take some deep breaths." This voice was higher pitched, though just as gentle as Luffy's had been, and she finds herself complying on instinct. She tries doing as suggested, tries to stop breathing so fast and heavy and instead take slower deeper breaths. She doesn't think she's very successful because her heart is still racing and her head was beginning to hurt.
"Mia. Everything is alright. You're just breathing too fast. It makes everything feel funny, right? And scary too? Try to breathe with me." It's Luffy's voice again, and she finds herself nodding despite feeling as if she's lagging behind in the conversation. Like she's only comprehending his words minutes after he's said them.
Still, she hears the sound of Luffy audibly breathing in deeply and finds herself mimicking it. It's a poor imitation of the smooth intake of breath Luffy had taken, but it's a start, and as she continues following along with the Captain's breathing she finds it becoming more natural.
"See? You're good at this!" Luffys words are encouraging and she finds herself becoming more confident in the task until she's doing it all by herself. Luffy no longer breathes deeply in demonstration, but she continues going on for a few more breaths until she feels sufficiently calm.
"S-sorry." She says, cheeks burning in shame that she had had such a reaction to such a simple question.
"What are you apologizing for?" Luffy asks with a frown and a raised eyebrow. Glancing away, Mia shrugs, not sure what to say.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You were panicked, and sometimes when we panic we can't control ourselves. It happened to me a lot too. Still does sometimes." He admits easily, which Mia finds hard to believe. She turns a wide-eyed look his way and another smile lights up on his face.
"Shishishi, it's true! Especially if I think a lot about the facility or have a really bad dream. But dreams can't hurt us and the facility is gone. We're taking you to an island where you'll be safe and you won't have to worry about anything like that happening to you ever again." The words are said with such conviction that Mia can't help but believe them. The certainty in his voice tells Mia that there is absolutely no way Luffy will be wrong about that, and so she nods, giving a small smile in return.
Looking away from Luffy, she sees that the rest of the crew has backed up a bit, giving her space, and Kotaru was resting his head at her feet, eyes peering up at her with concern shining in them.
"Kotaru was worried too. But she's alright, right Mia?" He says to Kotaru, before turning to Mia for confirmation.
"Mm!" She hums firmly, petting Kotaru's head, which makes Kotaru pleased as his tongue lolls out of his mouth and his tail begins wagging.
After such an intense moment, there's silence that follows, but Mia remembers what had triggered this all in the first place and so she turns back to Luffy. She's hesitant still, but far more confident than she had been before as she opens her mouth to speak.
"I saw them. The tanks." She says, seemingly surprising the surrounding crew as they blink at her. Luffy, however, watches her calmly which encourages her to continue.
"My... My cell. It was right across from the door to the scary room, and there was a window on the door. I saw when they- they would push you in over and over. It didn't look very fun." She admits softly. Some of the crew swallow uncomfortably, their eyes darting between Luffy and Mia as their minds conjure up different scenarios and theories of what her words mean.
"No, it wasn't. But we're strong, right?" He asks her, to which she beams and nods. Luffy smiles brightly back at her and she relaxes fully, happy once more.
"Right!" She agrees, giggling as Kotaru moves his head to lick her hand.
"So... you can swim?" Usopp asks, seeming hesitant to continue down this subject path but wanting to know more. After all, Luffy was their Captain and they needed to know whether or not his falling into the sea was a danger or not.
Luffy smiles at Mia for a second longer before turning to look over his shoulder at his patiently waiting crew. The position wasn't uncomfortable despite the twist in his neck thanks to his abilities, but he turns his body regardless so that he can see both Mia and his crew.
"No. I can tread water, but swimming is harder and takes too much energy. I can last around two minutes in the water before I start sinking." Luffy explains easily, though there's a tension in the line of his shoulders as he speaks that gives away his unease.
"Got it. So the fact that you rocketed yourself straight into the ocean was still a stupid thing to do." Zoro says in a flat tone, but it was successful in dispelling the funk that Luffy was quickly falling into.
Grinning at the swordsman, Luffy laughs cheerily, though he doesn't confirm nor deny the accusation as he stands up from the deck and places his straw hat on his head.
"Sanji! I'm hungry!" He calls out, his hand gripping his stomach as it growls.
"We just had breakfast an hour ago!" Sanji counters, annoyance flaring up in the man as he blows out a puff of smoke.
"But that was an hour ago!" Luffy whines.
"Idiot. Do something about the fact that you're dripping all over the Merry first before worrying about food." Sanji gripes but begins heading to the kitchen nonetheless.
This seems to be the cue for everyone else to disperse as well and his crew starts to scatter themselves across the Merry once more. Pleased, Luffy turns to Mia and Kotaru, eyeing them for a moment.
"See? Everything's alright. If you start panicking again though, remember to keep your breathing slow." He tells her before turning and running off to the men's room to change, leaving Mia and Kotaru alone to blink after him.
"He's a very nice man," Mia says to Kotaru, staring at the hatch Luffy had just disappeared into.
"Woof." It's a quiet huff of air more than anything, but Mia understands it's a sound of agreement all the same.
"Hopefully everyone at our new home is nice like him too."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Morning passes into afternoon and with another meal in them, the crew is sated and happy. The weather has been good and the waters calm, and Nami mentions that they're making good time due to supporting winds, dropping their travel time from a week and a half to just one week if things keep going so well.
It's so peaceful that they're almost surprised when it's interrupted by the sighting of a marine ship headed their way. Almost, because they're still pirates after all and so of course they might come across marines who want to take them down.
"You! Straw Hat Luffy! Capturing you will be my greatest achievement!" It's a boastful shout from a man who looks to be more full of ego than strength, but Luffy only finds his enthusiasm for a fight growing as he laughs heartily. His crew is standing on the deck behind him where he's balancing precariously on the railing, and while there are only a handful of them in comparison to the ship full of marines, Luffy knows that they won't have much - if any - trouble fighting them off.
"Sorry, but that's not gonna happen!" Luffy says before continuing to laugh. This only enrages the marine as he orders his men to start boarding the Merry and attack. The Straw Hat crew is just as quick to engage them before they even have the chance.
Sanji and Zoro follow after Luffy onto the opposing ship and attack everyone in sight while Robin stays behind to fight her battles from afar with her devil fruit. Nami and Usopp shriek and cling to one another when one of the marines from Sanji's battle gets kicked so hard he lands at their feet, and Chopper is running around in a mixture of fear and not knowing quite what to do.
And from the sidelines, Kotaru is growling at any marine who has the misfortune of getting too close to the wolf and his young charge. Mia is stood at Kotaru's side, feeling safe with the large animal but also nervous that someone was going to get hurt.
It seems like her worries were for naught though as the Straw Hats easily take down marine after marine. Even Nami, Usopp, and Chopper take down a few of their own when necessary.
As Mia turns to watch Luffy bouncing and stretching she can't help the awe that fills her at the sight. She, and every other child from their facility, hadn't known much about the infamous unkillable trio, but they had known they were outrageously strong. Sometimes children would whisper to those in neighboring cells and somehow, without fail, their whispers always turned to the subject of the brothers at the end of the hall who could do things no other human could do.
Like stretch. Or become fire. Or even kill people with just a single look.
The rumors spread from one child to the next, and when one gossip would die, another would pass on everything they had heard to the new arrival.
Mia had been one of those new arrivals, and the boy in the cell across from hers had always told her, every night, about how the three brothers were either superheroes or supervillains. There was debate on that subject, on whether the three used their powers for good or evil, and it had been the children's only entertainment in a world full of pain and death.
Looking at 11097 now, she knew for certain that - despite sailing under a black flag that was synonymous with evil-doing - this man was anything but bad. She doesn't know how many of the rumors she's heard are true, but there was no way someone as strong as him could be anything other than good when he had freed them all. When he was continuing to free them by helping her go somewhere safe.
She may only be 12 years old and lacking in many things such as life experience and schooling, but there was no way anyone was going to change her mind about her savior.
Lost in thought as she was, Mia didn't even notice the stray bullet from the opposite ship flying her way until it was grazing her arm, leaving a searing pain in its wake. With a cry, she grabs at her arm in both surprise and alarm and feels the tears well up as blood oozes between her fingers and runs down the length of her arm.
Having heard the young girls cry, the crew's attention all turn to her, and when they realize what happened they all fly into motion. Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy made quick work of the few standing marines while Nami and Chopper rush over to the girl and wolf. Usopp hovers a few feet away, unsure what to do, but when he sees one of the marines they had taken down trying to stand back up he was quick to sling an exploding star at them.
And from behind them all, Robin keeps her arms crossed over her chest with a frown. Her eyes and ears on the marine ship clue her in on the few marines that haven't come topside to join the fight, and so she quickly incapacitates them with her disembodied limbs.
When every last marine is defeated, the trio on the opposing ship return, heading straight for Mia.
"Are you alright, Mia?" Nami asks in worry, spotting the blood in an instant.
"Doctor! Mia needs a doctor!" Chopper cries as he also watches the blood dripping down her arm.
"That's you, Chopper!" Usopp yells in exasperation, eyebrows furrowed in worry at the wound the child had sustained. It didn't look pretty - not that any wound did - and he only hopes it isn't as bad as it looks.
"Right, it is! Ah! Mia!" Chopper yells again before calming himself enough to get to work on helping the young girl. Before he makes any moves though, he stops.
"Can I look at it?" He asks hesitantly. While he knew not everyone handled trauma in the same way - the books gifted to him on psychology from Vivi really helped a lot in his understanding of that - from what he had seen so far, Mia and Luffy had seemed to be at least similar in their triggers thus far. As a result, he felt it best to err on the side of caution and not do anything without the child's explicit consent.
This seems to be the right move too, as Mia hesitates. She takes a half step away from Chopper out of instinct, but when she glances up at Luffy and sees the man nod reassuringly despite the grim look on his face, she finds herself nodding as well.
Pleased at the response, Chopper makes sure to keep his movements slow and within clear view. Prying Mia's fingers away from her arm shows that it did in fact look worse than it actually was and he sighs in relief.
"It looks like it's only a graze. I only need to clean this up and put a bandage on it and you should be fine. It doesn't even need stitches." He says, more for the crew's sake than Mia's as the child seems unaware of what it was he was even saying. She was holding her breath as Chopper prodded the skin around the graze and her gaze seemed distant.
"That's good, right Mia?" Luffy asks, snapping the girl's attention away from herself and to the Captain instead.
"M-Mm." She agrees with a nod, still not entirely sure what she was agreeing to but trusting Luffy was right about whatever it was regardless.
"I'll go get you some water and a towel," Nami says before running off to do so.
"Usopp, can you go get my roll of bandages? They should be in my bag." Chopper requests of the sniper after acknowledging Nami's words with a nod.
"R-right! Nurse Usopp is on it!" Usopp cheers before running off as well.
"Nurse?" Zoro mutters with a raised eyebrow.
"Better than being a moss head, I suppose," Sanji answers flippantly with a shrug that only sparks Zoro's ire.
"What was that you curly-browed love cook?!" The green-haired man roars, hand gravitating instantly to the swords on his hip.
"Is the moss growing in your ears, too?" Sanji taunts, shoving his hands in his pockets and tensing the muscles in his legs.
"My, as eventful as ever it seems," Robin says behind her hand, smiling in amusement at the rowdiness of the crew that she was traveling with.
"Shishishi, you all are the best!" Luffy laughs cheerily before moving closer to Mia and leaning down to get a better look at her arm.
"Ne, Chopper, will it scar?" He asks as he watches the reindeer apply pressure with his hoof to at least attempt to slow the bleeding a little.
"It shouldn't. It really is just a minor wound." He assures, to which Luffy pouts.
"Aw. Oh well. Still, it's a battle wound, Mia!" Luffy cheers, surprising the young girl who looks at him with wide eyes.
"B-Battle wound?" She asks in confusion.
"Yeah! You know, when you get hurt fighting in a battle! It shows how tough you are!" He tells her, warming her gut and pushing away any lingering memories of the short time she'd spent in the facility.
"But I- I didn't do any fighting..." She says, not wanting to contradict the teen, but not wanting to lie either.
"Sure you did. You're a fighter, and strong too. You stayed with Kotaru and scared all the marines away with just a look!" Luffy laughs, and while she still wasn't entirely sure that was true, she was saved from responding as Nami returned with a bucket of water in hand and a towel over her arm.
"Don't go giving her ideas Luffy. And you two, stop fighting! Sanji, why don't you go make something for Mia? After the scare she's had I'm sure she could use a treat to make her feel better." Nami orders sternly.
"Of course, Nami-san~! Ms. Mia, would you prefer strawberry or blueberries in your smoothie?" He asks, to which Mia shifts uncertainly.
"U-uh... Strawberries?" She says, more in question than statement. Nodding, Sanji begins twirling away, singing something about ladies and drinks and sweets that she doesn't quite understand but finds amusing all the same.
"A bunch of brutes. All of them." Nami mutters as she sets the bucket beside Chopper and hands him the towel.
"You've lost some blood, but not enough for it to be a concern. The sugar will help though, so you should drink Sanji's smoothie." Chopper suggests kindly, showing Mia a gentle smile.
"You should be careful with this arm until it heals fully so that you don't stretch the wound." The doctor adds. Nodding in understanding, Mia listens as Luffy laughs at the prospect of relaxing and being careful with a wounded limb which Chopper retaliates by reciting everything that can go wrong with overusing a hurt limb.
As they're arguing over it, Usopp returns with the bandages in hand. Hurrying over, he gives them to Chopper and backs away to stand beside Nami and watch. Chopper carefully removes the towel he had been using to staunch the blood and instead begins wrapping the white gauze around her arm. When it's tied off tight enough to remain in place without cutting off circulation, he steps back to examine his work and grins when he finds it satisfactory.
"There. You're all set!" He tells her happily. Surprised by how easy it had all been, Mia looks from her arm to the reindeer and gives a hesitant smile back.
"Isn't he great? Chopper helped fix me up too. He's a good doctor." Luffy says, placing a hand on Mia's head.
"Complimenting me will get you nowhere you bastard!" Though the words sound harsh, the tone and body language that Chopper displays along with them tells Mia that he's actually pleased by the praise which is both confusing and amusing at the same time.
"Shishishi, see!" As if the action proves his point, Luffy nods in Chopper's direction and Mia finds her smile widening before she nods along in agreement.
"Why don't we go find something else for you to wear? I think that shirts a goner." Nami says sympathetically as she nods to the blood staining the side of the girl's shirt now.
"And when you get back I can tell you all about my own experience being shot at by an army of the undead!" Usopp boasts. Nami rolls her eyes at this while Luffy and Chopper turn to look at him with wide eyes.
"Woah, really?!"
"You're amazing Usopp!" Luffy and Chopper yell in amazement.
"That's right! I was surrounded and outnumbered, but with my trusty slingshot, there wasn't anything I couldn't handle! Undead or not, I can take anything and anyone down." He says proudly, holding out his slingshot for their perusal.
Mia, interested in the tale, hurries off with Nami who's muttering something about tall tales and idiots, but Mia doesn't pay it much mind.
She's looking forward to hearing about the long-nosed man's adventures.
Hello everyone!
Considering how stressful of a night it is tonight, I thought I would try and get this chapter up for those of you who need a little pick-me-up.
A short end note this chapter, but I'm honestly more preoccupied with the election results right now. I hope you all are doing well and taking care of your mental health during this time and I hope we see good outcomes tonight!
Thank you all as always for your support, and I'll see you with the next chapter - which will also be the end of the Konoro Arc!