Chapter 41: Mia's Strife
With Mia adequately distracting Luffy the Captain hardly felt the time pass as he waited for the Merry to be moved from the seaside town to the old dock. When she did finally arrive, however, he felt his hunger all at once and so with a loud yell of excitement he led the way to the cheery looking ship.
For a moment, Mia was stunned by the sight of the ship. She took her time examining the grinning sheep's head at the front of the ship and the large sails painted with the Straw Hats jolly roger, but when she heard Luffy call her and Kotaru's name she snapped out of it.
On the ships deck, the crew were watching her with varying expressions as they waited for her to board and for a moment she hesitated at the sight. Though many were smiling, there were some who were still unsettling or intimidating such as the bored looking swordsman or the dark haired woman who watched with hard to read features.
"Come on Mia, Sanji's made lunch!" Luffy yelled again, his smile big and wide as he held onto his hat and all but ran in place waiting for her.
Forcing the hesitation away she gave one last glance to Kotaru and nodded. As if merely awaiting the approval, the giant wolf wasted no time in jumping aboard which caused the ship to sink into the water from the force and unbalanced the crew. Mia watched with wide eyes as the ship bounced up out of the water and then crashed back down, sending water splashing everywhere. Thankfully, she shielded her face from the worst of it but the same couldn't be said for her hair or clothes.
"Shishishi! That was fun!" Luffy laughed loudly while all around him the crew were still trying to regain their footing. Using the crew's distraction to her advantage, Mia climbed up the gangplank and quickly joined Kotaru before anyone had the chance to notice.
It's not that she thought they would hurt her, but it was better to avoid giving them opportunity to do so. It would be all too easy to knock her off the gangplank and the cynical side of her said that it was a possibility despite it not being realistic.
11097 was her savior. He wouldn't hurt her.
It didn't take them long to notice she had joined them, and while some were surprised to see her, others seemed pleased that they could move on. Notably, Luffy was among them as he let out another cheer and ran over to a blanket spread out on the deck where food was laid out, ready to eat.
"We thought it would be better to eat out here considering Kotaru would be unable to fit inside the galley." The orange-haired woman - Nami - told her with a gentle smile. Blinking at the thoughtfulness, Mia followed as she led the way to the blanket with Kotaru close at her back.
It was true that there would be no way of getting Kotaru inside considering he already took up so much of the deck space as is. Still, she hadn't thought they would take her dependence on him into account and would have forced her to leave him to go eat.
She's pulled from her thoughts at the speed at which Luffy is eating, his hands darting the way and that in an attempt at grabbing whatever he could. It's something she'd never experienced before and she was unsure whether she should be joining in or not, but then Sanji was pushing a plate her way with a charming smile and before she knew it, she found herself eating with just as much gusto as Luffy was.
He hadn't been lying about how good of a chef Sanji was and it had been so long since she'd eaten cooking like this. She could hardly be blamed for her exuberance when she was used to living on charred meat and whatever fruits she could find in the forest.
Unsurprisingly, they came to the end of their meal rather quickly. As Mia was feeding a few leftover scraps to a content Kotaru, she realized that most of the attention was suddenly on her and she couldn't help but flush. Shifting uncomfortably and pushing her back into Kotaru's fur she let his bigger body envelop her. It calmed her slightly and she gave him the last bite of her sandwich in an unspoken thanks which the wolf ate happily.
"So Mia, how old are you exactly?" Nami asks, realizing that they didn't even know that much about the girl.
"Oh, I-I'm twelve," Mia answered timidly which surprised the crew - excluding Luffy - at just how young she was. Doing the math, that meant that Mia had been at least eight when she'd been in the facility.
"Where are your parents?" Chopper asks next in worry. In his mind, they would have to be nearby since Mia couldn't possibly have been out here all alone. She wasn't even a teenager yet and the town they'd found her at didn't exactly have the resources for a child to fend for themselves with.
"Not here." She answered simply despite those thoughts, confirming to the crew that she was in fact all alone.
"Not here? As in not in town or not on the island?" Nami asks gently because they are very different answers. At least if her parents were in the seaside town it would make sense as to why Mia would be in the Konoro. She was a child after all, and spooky ghost town or not, children were naturally curious and liked exploring.
However, if her parents weren't on the island at all, that would be an entirely different story.
"They're not on this island. I think they're still on my home island." Mia elaborated, not looking anywhere but the ground as she said so.
"Your home island? What are you doing here then?" Usopp asks next, just as confused as the others. Mia flushes more at all of the questions and Luffy can feel her rising unease, making it difficult to finish his one of many sandwiches.
Knowing it was only because of the unsettling feeling coming from Mia that had put him off his lunch, Luffy mourned the loss of his sandwich and fed it to Kotaru in much the same way Mia had been doing before. Only Chopper and Zoro seemed to notice his sudden lack of hunger, but neither said anything about it as they turned their attention back to Mia.
"Mia, do you remember the Moby?" Luffy asks suddenly, surprising everyone with his sudden turn in conversation. The girl looks over at him, blinking in confusion at the question before nodding slowly.
"Yeah, a little bit. It was really big right? And... and it had a cool figurehead, like a... a..." She trails off, trying to remember the details. Across from her Luffy feels the unease slip away which makes him smile.
"A whale! It was a big whale." She says at last, smiling as well as she looks to Luffy.
"Right, and Thatch made us soup." Luffy encouraged, which causes Mia to nod happily at the memory.
"Yeah! It was delicious! Like this one." Mia agrees, nodding to her empty bowl that had once held Sanji's soup. She notices that the compliment makes Sanji smile proudly at her left, relaxing her all the more.
"Luffy-" Nami was unable to finish her sentence though as Luffy barrels on ahead, bringing up more snippets of memory from Mia's short time on the Moby. The navigator had been about to chastise him, because she had been busy trying to understand where Mia's parents were. Surely Luffy would want to reunite them.
But then she realized just how at ease Mia seemed as she talked with Luffy. She was relaxed against Kotaru and no longer flushed or timid as she spoke loud and confidently, her eyes sparkling with joy. Seeing her like that now made Nami realize just how uncomfortable she'd seemed when they were asking her questions and she decided that maybe letting Luffy take the lead wasn't so awful an idea after all.
"I was one of the last to leave the Moby. You and your brothers were the only ones still there. But you ended up staying with the Whitebeards, right? You never went back to your home island?" Mia asks suddenly, drawing Nami from her thoughts. She felt a little bad about how interested she was in Luffys past when he never asked them anything about theirs, but with something as mysterious as the facility being such a big part of it it was inevitable that she - along with the rest of the crew - be a little interested.
"No, we didn't go back home like you guys. We were really hurt so we had to stay longer than the rest of the kids, and then we eventually decided to stay with the Whitebeards. We did go back to our island a little bit ago to visit though." Luffy says reassuringly when he notices that Mia was upset at the thought that they'd never gone back. His words seem to do the trick and she smiles, sadness gone entirely.
"The Whitebeards were really nice. I remember..." Trailing off suddenly, Mia's smile disappears and her eyes gain a distant look to them at whatever it was she was remembering. No one pushes her to continue as they wait patiently for the girl to collect herself.
"I remember when... when you got out. You and your brothers. Back at the... the facility." Her words stop and start in a stammer as she forces them out, her fingers drawing a pattern on the wooden deck. Knowing exactly what she's talking about, Luffy frowns as well and places his hands on his knees, allowing his fingers to fumble with the frayed edges of his shorts. He tries focusing only on Mia rather than the glances from his crew and their growing curiosity but it isn't easy.
"I remember I was scared and I didn't really know what was happening because you weren't with the doctors or anyone. I thought..." She trails off again, blinking a few times before starting again.
"I heard yelling and stuff, from the doctors. And then- then they came back with 11062, and then after that 11085. They were sleeping, but you weren't with them and you were always with them. You were gone for a while..." Luffy can feel her lingering fear as she relives those memories, but he doesn't interrupt or stop her. It's more than he's ever told his crew about the facility but he can't keep hiding things from them if he wants them to trust him, and while he's not ready to tell them everything about the facility, he'd like for them to know a little bit more about it.
"Because I was outside." Luffy puts in, reminding Mia that she wasn't back in the facility anymore. It was all too easy to recognize the look on her face as one he and his brothers had worn many times after a nightmare or flashback.
Startling at his words, Mia blinks away the fear and desperation of the past and looks up from the deck to to meet Luffy's eyes.
"Outside." She says near breathlessly as she looks up to the sky briefly and then back to him.
"Yeah, you got outside and found the Whitebeards. There was a lot of yelling and then someone kicked the door down and it made me jump. But then you came back in and I watched you run down the hall to your cell and the Whitebeards followed you." A few of his crew's eyes widen at the word cell and there are uncomfortable swallows and glances to each other, but no one says anything.
"My brothers were still asleep. I was worried about them." Luffy tells her, filling in some of the blanks she'd been unable to figure out for herself at the time.
"I was worried about 'em too." Mia admits softly, a hand moving to pet Kotaru's leg that's curled up beside her.
"After that Thatch left. The one that stayed, M... Mar..." Like with the Moby's figurehead, Mia stumbles over the name, trying to remember exactly who it was.
"Marco?" Luffy guessed, remembering that he and Thatch had been the two with him at first, and she'd already mentioned Thatch so Marco was the only one left.
"Yeah, Marco! He opened our cells and let us out. Some of the doctors came out though and tried to stop him, but he was like, really super strong! And he was blue fire too!" She says in awe of the memory as her eyes sparkled with delight.
"He fought all the doctors by himself until Thatch and the others came back. And then they opened our cells and we went to the Moby. The nurses there were really nice." Mia finishes, still petting Kotaru's leg as she did. Around her, the crew sits in silence as they try to digest the story. It doesn't answer nearly enough of their questions, but hearing about cells and Luffy's brothers coming back unconscious only painted the facility in that much more of a bad light. Whatever went on in that place, it was obvious to them that it was nothing good.
"Mia, why are you on this island and not your home island?" Luffy asks finally. It wasn't demanding and he was trying to not put so much pressure on the girl to answer his question, but he was curious as to how she'd gotten here. All alone at that.
Like all the other children from the Moby, she should have been taken to her home once she was better. So how had she gotten here?
"Well, I was at my home island." She starts cautiously before taking on a quiet, "A while ago," at the end as she shifting nervously against Kotaru.
"The people at that town - you know, the one that took us home after we were saved? - they took me back home. I was really happy to see my mom again, and all of my friends too. But then the news about children with numbers came out and everyone didn't really like me anymore after that. Not even Mom." Sadness seeps into her tone as her shoulders slump and tears well in her eyes. Kotaru curls tighter around the girl and she smiles briefly at the wolf before continuing.
"That's awful!" Nami sympathizes as the crew nods in agreement around her. Mia looks surprised by their concern but moves on quickly.
"One day someone came over and I heard them talking to Mom about calling the Marines to come get me and... I didn't want to go back. I never want to go back. Ever ever." She says fiercely, her sadness giving way to desperation at the idea of ever having to go back to the facility. Luffy knows exactly how she feels and finds himself nodding in agreement.
"So I ran away. I hid on one of the merchant's boats before any marines ever came and that's how I ended up here." She explains. A seagull cries overhead and the crew wonders how many other children with numbers are like Mia. Unable to return home because people take the Marines words as gospel.
"But why were you at Konoro town? Wouldn't it be nicer to live in the town with people?" Sanji asks curiously, which Mia shakes her head at.
"I didn't want anyone to see my number. And they would ask where my parents were and where I'd come from. When we got here, I heard the merchants talking to one of the dockworkers about Konoro Town and how it was cursed and no one goes there, so that's where I went. I met Kotaru here and he helps me find food in the forest and whenever I really need something like clothes I- uh... take them from town." She says sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.
"You take it from town?" Zoro asks with a raised eyebrow. Mia shifts guiltily at the look and fumbles with her shirt hem.
"Well, yeah. The town is scared of the curse and stuff, especially whenever they hear Kotaru. So whenever I need something really bad, like clothes or blankets, he howls and I sneak down there and get whatever I need. I don't take a lot, cause I can't carry that much, and we don't do it often cause usually I can get whatever I need here. There's lots of berries and stuff for me to eat and there's even an old well that still works." She explains, and the crew can't help but be impressed with her. While it is stealing, she clearly doesn't take more than she needs for her own survival and she does her best to provide everything else by herself. It's impressive at such a young age.
"But isn't it lonely?" Chopper asks, knowing that when he'd been abandoned by his herd the loneliness had been the worst part.
"Yeah, sometimes... But I've got Kotaru with me. Besides, people are mean. When they see my number they get scared and try and take me back to the facility." Mia tells them sadly. Hearing that, Luffy suddenly gets an idea and he smiles.
"Ne, what if we could take you to an island where they don't care about your number?" He asks her. It gets her attention immediately and she throws her head up, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Really? What about Kotaru?" She asks, holding tight to the wolf who raises his head, eyeing Luffy as if awaiting his answer too.
"He can go too," Luffy assures, much to his crew's confusion. They had no idea what Luffy had planned and so they had to hope he wasn't just getting the poor girl's hopes up over nothing.
"I... That would be..." Mia trails off, blinking a few times as she thinks about the decision.
"You really could?" She asks once more for confirmation.
"Yup." A matching smile lights up on Mia's face as she looks at Kotaru and Luffy can feel her buzzing excitement and joy at the prospect. From the crew, however, there's only confusion.
"Hold on," Luffy tells them as he stands and jogs over to the mini den den. Once he's got it and returned, he plops back down on the deck and begins dialing a number as everyone else watches in silence. The crew has an idea as to who he's calling now but, they're still uncertain as to what he's got planned still.
"Gatcha. Hello?" Luffys smile grows at the sound of Marco's voice and he holds the receiver closer.
"Marco! I've got a question!" Luffy says, getting straight to the point.
"Oh, do you now? Not even a hello, yoi?" Marco quips good-naturedly as the snail mimics the smirk the man is wearing.
"Shishishi, hi!" Luffy amends. He watches the snail roll its eye but the smirk remains all the same.
"So what's your question then?" The first Commander asks curiously, likely wondering what Luffy would be calling to ask. He'd been adamant about doing things without any help, so its natural Marco would be curious.
"I need to know where the nearest allied island is." Luffy answers easily, surprising not only the Commander but his crew as well.
"Allied island, yoi? You're not in some kind of trouble are you, Luffy? News is starting to come out already about your run-in with Crocodile, so I couldn't imagine who else you've managed to make an enemy of." Marco jokes lightly, though with a slight undercurrent of worry. Luffy only continues smiling though as he shakes his head.
"No, I'm fine. Crocodile wasn't even that tough, he just ran away a lot which was annoying." Luffy tells him with a pout. Marco hums noncommittally at that but doesn't say anything more.
"Anyway, my crew and I ran into this girl named Mia. She was in my facility and she had to leave her home island, but now she's alone and I know your islands are safe." It's an extremely abbreviated version of events, but it gets the main points through to the Commander which was all anyone could hope for when it was Luffy telling a story.
"That's good thinking on your part, Luffy, yoi. I'm sure one of our islands will take her in. Tell me where you are and I'll find the island closest to you." Marco says, the sound of footsteps clueing them into the fact that he's walking somewhere.
"Ne, Nami, what's this island called?" Luffy asks, never having gotten the name himself. Surprised, Nami jolts at suddenly being added to the conversation. A conversation with the Whitebeard pirates of all people. With the first division Commander, Marco the Phoenix.
"U-uh, Kinowaru Island. Before that it was Alabasta." She tells them nervously, trying to ignore the fact that, throughout the entire conversation, Usopp and Chopper had been clinging together in fear and she'd been close to joining them.
"Hear that, Marco?" Luffy asks as the sound of rustling paper drifts over the line.
"Yeah, yoi. In that case, it seems the nearest island would be Himara. You've been there a few times, remember Luffy?" Marco asks, to which Luffy nods. He knows for a fact that Himara was a nice island and everyone there had always been kind to him and his brothers, even after finding out about their numbers.
"I'll tell them you're on your way then, yoi," Marco says, the shuffling sound returning for a moment before changing to the sound of walking.
"Thanks, Marco! Oh, and Mia's bringing her wolf Kotaru with her. He's giant! Like pops!" Luffy says cheerily, looking over at the wolf who lolls his tongue out in a smile, looking pleased with Luffys words.
"Right. Well, I'll be sure to mention that, yoi. Goodbye, Luffy." Marco says with a shake of his head, though his smile is back.
"Shishishi, talk to you later Marco!" And with that, the snail goes back to sleep while the crew tries to release the anxious air that had all but suffocated them during the talk. Mia for her part had been at complete ease despite the crew's tension, a happy smile on her face the entire time that only grew when not only she, but Kotaru as well, had been accepted to stay on the island.
"Wait a minute, how are we supposed to get to Himara without an eternal pose?" Nami asks once she's finally gotten over her shock enough to realize what they had just committed to. She may still be new to the Grand Line and all, but she'd gotten enough of the basics down by now to know you couldn't just decide to go to a certain island without an eternal pose. Even if they knew where the island was in relation to this one, it would still be nearly impossible to get to it without one.
"We buy one," Luffy answers without hesitation much to Nami's chagrin.
"It's not as simple as just 'buying one'. Eternal poses are expensive you know and we just had to pay to restock. We didn't exactly get a reward for saving Vivi's country." Nami explains, knowing they would be running dangerously low on funds if they splurged on an eternal pose.
"Oh, then we'll just use the pirate fund," Luffy says with an unbothered shrug which earns him many confused faces.
"The pirate fund?" Sanji finally asks after a few seconds of trying to figure out what Luffy is talking about.
"Yeah. Hold on." Instead of explaining right then and there, Luffy gets up and goes down to the men's room, leaving a baffled crew and an interested Mia and Kotaru. No one has a single clue as to what Luffy is referring to but they all felt that they would get answers soon so long as they were patient. When the Captain comes back out its with a relatively small chest under his arm and a wide smile on his face.
Walking over to them, he hands the chest over to an increasingly curious Nami. After a seconds hesitation, she slowly opens the lid to see stacks of berry bills and coins filling the chest.
In an instant there are berry signs shining in her eyes.
"W-where did you get all of this?!" She asks as the rest of the crew peers over her shoulder to look into the chest as well. Luffy drops back down to the floor, still smiling, and pets Kotaru as he answers.
"Ace and Sabo and I were saving up to buy a boat when we were little. That's all the money we were able to get before we were taken to the facility. Oh, and all the money I earned on the Moby." Luffy tells them, noticing that even Mia was shuffling closer to get a peek into the box.
"It's enough for an eternal pose, right?" He asks when no one says anything. He's staring blankly at them as they all gape at the box, but finally, Nami looks away from the contents of the chest and meets Luffys eyes, hints of berry still in her eyes.
"Y-Yes. Assuming this town is selling a pose to Himara that is." She says once she's gotten herself under relative control. She pulls the necessary bills out of the box and closes it, regretfully handing it back to Luffy before standing.
"I'll head there now and look for one. Meanwhile, try not to get into any trouble. We're only here until tomorrow afternoon at the latest and I'd like for it to be a peaceful stay after everything that's happened." Nami tells them - mainly speaking to Luffy - as she starts heading off the Merry.
"I'll go with you Nami-san! We'll be needing more food now with our guests." Sanji says, noodling his way over to her. She only nods, and with one more farewell, the two leave the Merry.
"Why didn't you tell me you had money?! I would have never asked for anything from Nami!" Usopp cries once Nami is safely out of hearing distance. Turning to look at the sniper, Luffy only shrugs, laughing.
"Didn't know it was such a big deal. Shishishi, sorry!" He apologizes, though even Zoro's grumbling now as well and eyeing the chest as if it had personally offended him. Shrugging once more, Luffy picks it up and goes to return it, noticing that as he does Mia trails after him silently.
The sounds of both Zoro and Usopp lamenting their own money problems drift through the open hatch and down to the men's room as Luffy places the chest back with his belongings. With that done he turns and sees Mia poking her head through the hatch to get a better look into the room.
"So this is where you sleep then?" She asks, eyeing the hammocks. He smiles at her, moving to the ladder and climbing up as she moves out of the way.
"Yup. Nami and Robin sleep in a different room though." Luffy tells her as he walks back across the deck to Kotaru. His crew is still sitting in a half circle near the wolf and while Zoro and Usopp are muttering to each other, Chopper and Robin are watching on silently.
"I'll be sleeping there then, right?" She asks as they reach them, a hint of nervousness growing in the girl at the thought. He nods again and sits down while Mia returns to her spot with Kotaru.
"Probably." He answers shortly, wondering where this is going. He notices that her nervousness only continues increasing steadily, but she doesn't say or ask anything more so Luffy doesn't have a clue what the problem is.
Not wanting to push her, Luffy lets the moment pass and quickly gets pulled into one of Usopp's stories as the liar moves on from his conversation with Zoro. Chopper starts listening avidly as well, and then Mia too, while Robin and Zoro move away to relax elsewhere.
Slowly but surely, Mia's nervousness begins to seep away as she becomes more and more enthralled with the sniper's storytelling. She sits cross-legged, leaning towards Usopp as she hangs on to his every word. Every time she thinks she knows where the story is going, though, the man adds a new detail that throws her and makes her realize that she really has no idea how his story is going to end at all. Beside her, Chopper is equally enraptured - Luffy as well - and Usopp is clearly pleased to have his audience's full and undivided attention as he continues speaking boisterously, being sure to use big arm gestures to emphasize his words.
It's the best Mia has felt in ages, and she doesn't even realize when Nami and Sanji return to the ship, each with bags of their own. Vaguely she's aware of Nami telling them that she found a vendor selling eternal poses and at this time tomorrow they'll be sailing to Himara Island, but Mia can't find it in herself to turn away from Usopp and his stories.
Nami sighs when she notices the lack of response and goes to put the eternal pose somewhere safe while Sanji heads off to the kitchen. Robin moves from her lounge chair to join Sanji in the kitchen and when Nami comes out she takes up the chair that the archeologist vacated, but other than that, everyone remains where they are.
As time passes and dinner draws near the smell of Sanji's cooking drifts out onto the deck. By this time, Usopp's stories have petered off and Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp had gone off toward the back of the ship where Zoro was. Mia doesn't have a clue as to what they're doing, but with the distraction of Usopp's stories gone, she found that she'd much rather stay with Kotaru than go exploring the ship.
She hadn't even realized how at ease she'd been earlier until the distraction was gone. While she knew this ship was safe - for now at least - she couldn't help but feel the itching need to get away. These people knew about her number now, and while she didn't think 11097 would rat her out to the Marines, how was she to know that the rest of the crew wouldn't? They had no reason to help her, and for all they knew, she was dangerous. The Marines had said so after all, and the Marines know a lot. They're the government after all.
It's not the first time she's had these kinds of thoughts. After all, she was only 12, and when she'd been taken to the facility she'd been 8. At the time, she had had no idea what was happening to her, just that one second she'd been sleeping peacefully in her room at home and then suddenly she was on a ship being taken to the facility. No one had explained how or why she was there so she'd had to come up with conclusions of her own.
Once she'd gotten to the facility though, she thought that surely someone would explain to her what was happening. It seemed like all the adults - doctors and nurses and guards - that worked there were important, but they only ever hurt her. Not once did anyone answer any of her questions, and when 11097 and his brothers got her and all the rest of the children out she'd been positive that finally, finally, she would get some type of answer.
But that hadn't been the case either. They'd gone to the Whitebeards - of who she only had good memories of - and then after that, she was being shipped back home with strangers and other children from the facility. When she got home she thought that maybe her mom would know what had happened, but Mia hadn't been able to find it in her to ask anymore. Every time she did, she was ignored - her original captors - or hurt - the doctors and nurses and guards - or the ones she asked were just as clueless as her - the Whitebeards.
So when the news from the marines came out that there had been a mental hospital in which a whole horde of numbered children had escaped and been labeled as dangerous, she couldn't help but wonder if that really had been the case.
Was she dangerous? Was the facility really just a mental hospital that had been trying to help her? Was she actually mentally ill and everything that she thought she'd gone through had really just been one big delusion?
With the Marines being the only ones with any kind of answer, she found herself constantly questioning what was real and what was made up.
Because of that, she couldn't help but wonder whether she even deserved to be free. Maybe, if she was as dangerous as they claimed, she should turn herself in so that she didn't hurt anyone. She didn't think she was dangerous, but she also hadn't been around anyone to hurt. She'd been with the Whitebeards, but at the time she'd been too hurt to be all that dangerous. After that she'd been on another ship, and then at home, but on the ship she'd mostly stayed by herself, too scared of the strangers to try interacting with them. When she'd gotten home she'd only been there for a brief moment before she'd had to leave. After that, she'd stayed in Konoro Town, where no one lived.
So really, how was she to know how dangerous she was?
"Mia, correct?" Jumping in surprise at the sound of the woman's voice, Mia looks up from the ground to see Robin crouching down in front of her. She was a bit unsettled over the fact that the woman had managed to move entirely without Mia's knowledge, but settling against Kotaru she reminded herself that she was supposed to be safe here. Like with the Whitebeards.
"Mm." She hums, nodding her head slightly in an indication that Robin was correct. The woman continues smiling gently at her, but Mia can't help but read more in the expression. Interest, curiosity, and maybe even some sympathy. Mia held her tattooed wrist closer to her leg, as if hiding the numbers would keep the woman from remembering they were there to begin with.
From the way Robin's eyes watched the movement, Mia knew that that would never be the case.
"My name is Robin. Dinner is nearly ready and Sanji-san was wondering whether Kotaru preferred cooked or raw meat." She says genially, her smile never leaving her face.
Blinking, Mia looks toward where the kitchen was and notices that Nami is gone from the lounge chair and that the delicious smell in the air had only grown stronger. Remembering that Robin was waiting for an answer though, she turns to glance at Kotaru who has been dozing peacefully at her side, and then back to the woman.
"Um, I think he likes either?" She answers uncertainly. With an answer given, she thinks that Robin would leave. However, the woman remains and Mia can't help but feel the prickle of anxiety climbing up the back of her neck as her mind creates tens of hundreds of scenarios where Robin suddenly turns on her.
"Did you know, I'm a rather new addition to this crew," Robin says, surprising Mia with the unexpected turn in conversation.
"Yeah?" She asks, unsure what she is supposed to say to that as she watches the dark-haired woman sit down fully in front of her.
"Yes. The last island is when I joined in fact. I was- hm... should we say, working against the Straw Hats as it were." Robin tells her, only further confusing Mia as she blinks. She thinks that this means she is a bad guy, but she doesn't know if she's misconstruing the woman's words or not and as a result is only more confused than before.
"So... you were a bad guy, then?" She asks in the hopes of confirmation as she shifts against Kotaru. It causes the wolf to stir, but not wake.
"In a way, yes. I liked to think of it as working toward different goals. Mine didn't align with that of this ship's captain, and so we were enemies, for a short time." Mia nods slowly at that, glancing around the deck in hopes of seeing anyone to save her from the conversation, but they're alone.
"But you became friends, right?" She asks next, because why else would she be here? The others seemed to be fine with her here, and no one seemed angry with her. Surely if she were still a bad guy they wouldn't let her roam around as she pleased.
"It's a work in progress. Sencho-san seems to believe that I am no longer a threat. The others aren't so sure." A wicked smile appears on Robin's face for a brief moment, throwing Mia, but it's gone as quick as it appeared and the girl is unsure whether it had actually happened or not. In either case, she's even more unnerved and wants more than anything to leave the woman's presence.
"That is beside the point, however. What I mean to say, is that I was not very nice to this crew at one point, and yet they have accepted me onto this ship regardless," Unbeknownst to Mia, Robin omits the fact that not all have been so accepting.
"Those of us on this ship are pirates. We aren't friends with the government, and as such, you will be safe here with us until we get you to Himara." Robin assures. While it was a roundabout and unsettling, way of getting to this point, Mia can't help but suddenly feel more at ease now. Robin's posture is easy and open and inviting - almost reminiscent of her mother before she'd heard the news about numbered children. It calms Mia immensely and she finds herself relaxing, the tension leaving her spine and shoulders as she smiles lopsidedly to the woman.
"Mm." She agrees just as the kitchen door opens and Luffys there, beaming.
"Mia, Robin, dinners ready!" He calls down to them before running off, presumably to tell the rest of the crew.
"Shall we?" Robin asks as she stands from the deck, looking down at Mia. Nodding again, Mia stands as well. Kotaru had woken up at Luffys shout, and she pets him on the head quick before following Robin up to the kitchen.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dinner was as exciting as lunch with Luffy flinging limbs every which way in an attempt at getting more food. By the time they're all done, Mia's yawning widely and things are beginning to wind down.
"Why don't I show you where you'll be sleeping, Mia?" Nami asks with a gentle smile. Blinking tiredly, Mia nods her head slowly in acquiescence and the crew calls out a chorus of goodnights as she leaves the room.
When the two are gone and the rest of the crew are left sitting around the table - sans Sanji who is beginning the washing up - Luffy takes stock of everyone's emotions and is pleased that any tension and unease has dissipated, leaving everyone sated and calm. It's relieving after so many strong negative emotions in such a short period of time, and though it's early, Luffy finds himself thinking of heading to bed early as well.
A quiet conversation grows amongst the remaining members, everyone seeming to be just as at ease as Luffy now that the hectic morning has calmed to a peaceful night. When Nami returns, she rejoins the crew at the table, sitting back in her empty spot and adding herself to the conversation as if she hadn't been missing at all. When Sanji's done with the dishes, he joins them as well and Luffys smile widens at the easy camaraderie shared between them all.
Even Robins included, and while his crew is still weary of her, their suspicions seem to be on hold for now as Nami pulls her into their conversation by asking her relatively harmless questions.
It's nice and reminiscent of calm nights on the Moby when small groups would form to play cards under the stars or tell stories about past adventures. For a while, Luffy is content to sit and let the conversation float on along without him, the words and emotions mingling in the air and soothing him into a light doze, his head held up by his hands, elbows perched on the table. His hat has slid down enough to cover his face, shadowing it from the dim light and helping draw him that much further into sleep.
Normally, he would be wide awake right now. He would be joining in enthusiastically with the conversation and listening raptly to Usopp's tales and telling bad jokes where his punch line is mixed in with the setup. However, he hasn't had a good sleep in a few days what with all of the high emotions, and so it's no surprise that he has difficulty staying up.
He's nearly entirely dropped off when he realizes the turn in conversation and emotion, and he slowly begins to rouse again. He's suddenly unsettled and his sleepy groggy mind jumbles the emotions floating in the air for those of his own, and for a brief moment, he's sad and worried and panicked from the sudden onslaught.
Sitting up and blinking, he tries to wake up fully, tries to calm himself and force away emotions that aren't his so he can, in turn, reduce his panic as well. He takes a few breaths and rubs at his eye with the palm of his hand. It's irritating that every time he thinks things have calmed down, he lets his guard down just enough to get overwhelmed by a sudden turn of emotions, but there's not much to be done about it and so he finishes calming down.
Fixing his hat so it no longer shields his face, he blinks as his eyes adjust to the light and notices that the conversation has ended entirely and his crew is watching him hesitantly.
"Sorry. Did we wake you?" Chopper asks apologetically. Still not sure what had even happened to wake him up, Luffy looks around at his crew and tries to think back to what they were saying but draws a blank. He'd been so close to sleep that the words had become more of a buzz than anything coherent and so he hasn't got a clue.
"What were you talking about?" He asks instead of answering Chopper, curious as to what had changed everyone's mood so drastically. He also realizes, a little belatedly, that he must have spooked his crew when he woke up and vaguely has the memory of jolting upright when he'd been overwhelmed. No doubt, his crew must have been surprised at his sudden change as he had been their emotions.
"Uh, well, Mia. We were just saying how awful it must have been, for someone so young to go through so much." Nami says hesitantly. Luffy blinks a few times again, trying to process the words and new emotions, and then understands all at once. Relaxing his posture he finds that he's no longer tired after the start he'd just had.
"Oh. Mia's tough though. Like everyone else." Luffy assures them, thinking about everyone from not only his facility but the one he and his brothers had helped afterward. His crew starts to calm down at this.
"That's for sure. And it's nice that she's had Kotaru at least." Sanji agrees, looking to the door where, on the other side, Kotaru is out on the deck sleeping.
There's a round of nods and sounds of agreement at that. Luffy wonders how he might have handled the facility - and everything after - if he hadn't had his brothers and knows it wouldn't have been nearly as easy as it has been.
Which is saying a lot, because things hadn't been easy. Not in the slightest. It had been horrible and hard, but with his brothers, it had been bearable. To have not had them, he doesn't know if he would have survived.
Which only affirms his earlier words. Mia and every other kid that has had to be subjected - or is still being subjected - to facilities is tough. Tough and strong, and none of them deserve what has - or is - happening to them.
"If you don't mind my asking," Robin suddenly says, surprising a few. While the woman had joined in on their conversation, it had only ever been when someone asked her a direct question or looked to her for input on something. She had yet to ask or add anything on her own, so it's strange that she would be now.
Luffy, however, merely looks blankly at Robin, noting the curiosity within the woman that mingles with her interest. He has an idea that it's the facility that she's going to ask about because she's been interested from the start with that, but he has no clue what question she may be about to ask him.
"How is it that you knew Mia was from your facility?" She asks, which is a tamer question than he'd been expecting, and relatively an easier answer to give.
It's also a question that the crew hadn't thought of. At first, they'd assumed Luffy had recognized her, but thinking back, their Captain had looked as shocked by Mia's numbers as they had been. Thanks to Luffy, they were aware that there are multiple facilities, so how had he come to the conclusion that Mia was from the same one as his and not one of the other mysterious facilities?
"The number." He says simply, lifting his own wrist to show them his own 11097 printed neatly on the inside of it. It's not often they see the tattoo, because while it's in a relatively visible spot, it's not somewhere you're looking most times when interacting with the teen, so it's always jarring when he shows it off.
"The number? What do you mean?" Usopp asks in confusion, leaning in and looking for some tell-tale clue that would let him know how to identify one facility's number from another.
"Sabo knows more about it than I do, but each facility has a different number in the beginning. 110 is my facility, and Mia's too. I'm 11097, Ace is 11062, Sabo 11085, and Mia 11070. We helped a facility where everyone's number started with 293, and Sabo found stuff about ones that started with 670 and 351." Luffy explains, rubbing his fingers over his tattoo mindlessly as he speaks. The skin doesn't feel any different where the tattoo is compared to the rest of his wrist, but looking at it makes him feel like it should. Like it should be raised from the rest of his skin and rough to the touch.
Shaking away those thoughts he feels the piqued interest in everyone now, not just Robin.
"Don't tell Mia though." He adds as an afterthought, turning the interest to confusion.
"Why not?" Zoro asks curiously, sipping from a mug of what Luffy can smell is alcohol.
"I don't think she knows there are more facilities than just our own and she doesn't need to. She'll be safe on Pops' island." Luffy says, eyebrows furrowing as he remembers when he and his brothers first found out that there was more than one facility. It had been jarring, to believe that they were safe from their facility, only to find out there were one, two, maybe tens or hundreds of more of them scattered around the world. They had been under the false perception that all they had to worry about was being captured by the Marines and jailed, but the thought of being caught and taken back to a facility?
A shiver runs down his spine at the thought, and whether it's because his crew notices this reaction, or because they trust their captain, they only nod in understanding of his request and leave it at that.
There's a moment of silence as everyone mulls over the discussion they've just had and the revelations that went along with it, but when Usopp yawns they all remember the late hour creeping in.
"I think I'm going to turn in for the night. Usopp, don't fall asleep, you're on first watch tonight." Nami says as she gets up from her seat at the table and stretches. In answer, the sniper groans.
"I almost forgot. Zoro, switch with me!" He whines, to which the swordsman scoffs and drains the rest of his drink, slamming the mug on the table and wiping the excess liquid from his mouth.
"No way." He says shortly, standing as well and following after Nami as he heads to the men's room. Usopp groans dramatically but seems to accept his task as everyone else stands from the table.
Goodnights are called across the deck as they all split between the crow's nest, men's room, and women's room. When the hatch is closed and everyone is ensconced safely in their hammocks, Luffy lets out a heavy breath and stares up at the ceiling, hands resting on his chest.
He can feel Kotaru and Mia's muted feelings, both peaceful and dreamlike, as well as his crewmembers' softening emotions, sleep rounding the sharp edges away.
It reminds him of how tired he is, and within moments, hes out like a light.
And in what feels like only seconds, he's wide awake again with a racing heart and heaving breath.
Calming down, he mourns the loss of another night of sleep and drops out of his hammock. Some time must have passed, because Usopp is asleep in his hammock and he can feel that Robin is awake outside, having taken over the second half of the watch tonight.
Picking up on what has shocked him awake, Luffy recognizes the feelings of someone in the midst of a rather intense nightmare and makes his way to the women's room without even stopping to think about it. By the time he's stepping lightly down the stairs, he feels the nightmare startling them awake and watches as a tiny figure sits upright in bed.
"Mia." He whispers, not wanting to wake Nami. She would be mad that he was in her room, but he wasn't going to leave Mia like this.
"L-Luffy?" She asks in a timid, shaking voice.
"Come outside with me." He tells her, not leaving the steps in case she doesn't want him to crowd her. There's a moment of hesitation before Mia nods and shuffles out of the bed that shes sharing with Nami. When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, Luffy turns and heads back outside, ignoring that he can feel Robin's growing interest and curiosity. She had seen him leaving his room but she hadn't stopped him when he'd gone to the woman's room and she wasn't coming down from the crows nest either, so Luffy chose to ignore her and instead focus on Mia.
"I have nightmares a lot too." He tells her conversationally, voice a tad louder now that they're out on deck where the only one to disturb is Kotaru. Seeing as he walks right over to the wolf and sits against him though, he isn't surprised when they wake him up.
"Really?" Mia asks nervously as she sits beside him, keeping a distance between them as she settles against Kotaru's coarse fur.
"Mm. I had them almost every day for a long time. But then I started talking about them with Whiskey - a nurse on the Moby - and my brothers. And I wrote about them too. I still do. Whiskey told me to change the endings so they're happier, and it's helped a lot." He tells the girl as he settles more comfortably against Kotaru. He can feel that Mia is still panicked from her nightmare and that, while she's trying to calm down, she's seemingly having a difficult time of it.
"What do you mean?" She asks softly for clarification, not meeting Luffys eyes as she stares at the deck, one of her hands clinging to Kotaru's fur and mindlessly tugging at it.
"Like... Oh, well, one time, I had this nightmare where I was being chased. It was when we escaped and I had reached outside, but before I found Thatch and Marco. I got out of the doors of the facility, but there were a lot of doctors and guards behind me. I ran into the trees, but no matter how fast I ran or how many turns I took, they were always just about to grab me. I still had my seastone on, so I was super tired and clumsy, and I fell. I woke up right before they grabbed me and when I wrote about it I changed it so that, instead, I ran onto the road and found Thatch and Marco and they beat all the people up that were chasing me. After that, we got everyone else out of the facility and went back to the Moby, and everything was fine." He explains. Mia listens to his every word beside him, thoughtful and understanding.
"I-I... I dreamt that I was back home, with my mom, but instead of getting away and coming here the Marines came and took me back to the facility." Mia admits after a short debate within herself of whether or not she should answer.
"You forgot the part where the Marines were actually undercover pirates taking you to your new home. An island that doesn't care about your numbers." Luffy tells her with a grin that she hesitantly returns.
"Or maybe they were fairies! Like that one story!" Mia adds, perking up at the thought.
"Oh, or ninjas, 'cause ninjas are cool!" Luffy assures, striking a pose that makes Mia giggle.
Pleased that the girl's fear and anxiety has passed, Luffy settles down again, both of their laughter filling the air. When they settled down once more, Luffy looks over to the girl beside him and finds that she looks to be in relatively good health for having lived alone. He'd been upset, and even angered, to have heard that her own family was willing to turn her in, but he could see how brave and strong Mia was. She would be alright.
"Ne, Luffy?" The girl asks softly, turning to look up at him. Theres a sudden reappearance of her nervousness, though it wasn't anything as strong as it had been after her nightmare.
"Hm?" He hums in question, curious.
"Does your crew... Do they know about... about the facility?" As she speaks, Mia pulls her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly and looking to the ground as she awaits his answer. Taking a breath, Luffy tilts his head from side to side.
"Mm... Sort of. They know of it. They know it's a bad place, but they don't know why it's a bad place. Chopper - our reindeer doctor - he knows a little bit about it because he takes care of me now and my nurse from the Moby told him. So he could help me. That's it though." Luffy tells her, keeping an eye on her as well as her emotions.
"So... I shouldn't tell them anything then? What if they ask questions? What do I say?" Her nervousness grows and she's beginning to feel panicked as well, but Luffy is quick to smile and calm her.
He can understand not knowing how much to reveal and how much to keep quiet about, and while he has yet to tell his crew about the facility, he isn't going to stop Mia if she wants to do so herself. It may make things uncomfortable for him, but he was already planning on telling them everything eventually anyway. What was the difference if a few things got out before then?
"Whatever you want. You can tell them anything you want - or don't want - about the facility. If they ask anything you don't want to answer, you don't have to. If you do want to answer, you can." He reassures her. Mia looks back up at him, eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"And they... they won't get mad? If I don't tell them? Or if I do and they don't like what I tell 'em?" She asks softly, fearfully.
"They won't. If they do, you can come tell me and I'll take care of it. Promise." Luffy tells her seriously. This seems to calm Mia once more as she releases the tight hold around her legs. Seeming to sense her relaxation, Kotaru turns his head to lick at Mia's face which elicits giggles from the small girl. She pets the wolf happily a few times, the action seeming to further soothe her, and Luffy can feel his own smile returning, along with his sleepiness.
Looking up at the sky, he remembers a time long ago on the Moby, when he'd had a nightmare and Sabo had sat with him out on deck much like he was now with Mia and Kotaru.
"Did you know, the stars make pictures in the sky?" He asks Mia softly in a change of topic. He doesn't look at the girl as he says this, but he hears the shifting as she turns to look above them at the stars as well.
"Really?" She asks, to which Luffy nods and tries to remember the ones Sabo had pointed out to him. He doesn't think he gets them all, and he's not sure if 'The Meat King' had actually been one of them or not, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that it helps. It reminds not only Mia, but Luffy as well, that the stars above them are proof that they are no longer trapped underground in dark dusty cells and surrounded by malicious doctors and nurses.
They're free, and they'll do everything within their power to keep it that way.
Wow, I don't know what it was about this chapter but it took me way too long to edit it. I struggled a lot with getting the wording exactly the way I wanted it and even rewrote whole sections. I meant to get this up yesterday but had to come to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to happen.
But, it's up now and I hope you all enjoy it! We're learning more about Mia and through Mia the crew is learning more about Luffy and the facility! As I mentioned back before I dropped off the face of the Earth - again - I do have the next couple chapters written and so its only a matter of editing them and checking them over. Of course, if they're as tricky as this one was that wont be an easy task but it'll be done one way or another.
As always, thank you all for the support - especially with how unreliable I am with updates! The fact that there are still so many fans of this story after all I've put you guys through is truly amazing and I only hope that I can live up to your expectations!
Thank you all again, and I'll see you soon with the next chapter!