A/N: Hi guys! Sorry I disappeared without a trace there. I'm back from NaNoWriMo again! Yup! - I didn't get 50,000 this year, but I did write 30,000. And yes, I chose to do Helena's Aeneid for my NaNo this year. So for the next couple of months, I should have weekly updates for you! Woot!
Hope it's not too wordy and convoluted. I'm doing minor edits before publishing, but it being NaNo, the goal is word count, which means it gets out of control sometimes.
Anyway, enjoy!
Ch. 24 – Unemployment
"You're sure there is nothing more we can do for you, sis?" Hancock asked, surprisingly still polite after their week at sea. The two leaders couldn't be more unalike, and yet with Hancock's insisting on calling her Sis, an awkward bond had formed.
Helena stood facing the Snake Princess aboard the Kuja's ship, preparing to descend the gangplank onto the striped shore with Kuina in tow. She nodded to Hancock's question. "I can't ask more than you've already done," she said.
Kuina sniffled. "Want Yady."
"No," Helena insisted firmly. "Your snake cannot come with us."
Kuina's former pet snake, whom she had dubbed Lady, wound its way across Hancock's shoulders to gaze at them sadly…if a reptile could have a sad gaze at least. "You're sure? She is the strong, warrior offspring of my own Salome. I am sure she can prove useful to you."
Helena gave another firm shake of her head. Snakes were almost as icky as bugs, and she was determined to leave this particular one behind. Kuina didn't need any more reminders of the shameless life she would forever covet on Amazon Lily.
"Well, if you insist," Hancock shrugged, beautiful in her non-chalance as always. At least she had started listening to Helena's requests with regard to Kuina now. It had allowed her to put a stop to at least some of the pampering. "I thought you might have asked for a coat at least to avoid the stares of prying men ashore."
Helena looked down at her attire, shocked that she'd grown so accustomed to it. "By Athena, yes! Please! If you have something I can cover up with…"
Hancock snapped her fingers, and one of the kuja pirates approached, holding two folded coats of fine fur. One was clearly for Kuina, as it was not half the size of the larger. Helena quickly bundled her daughter in it, then covered herself.
"I suppose I can also return these to you now," Hancock said with another snap of her fingers. Another pirate appeared holding her swords. For all Hancock's pretended niceness, she was no idiot. She knew Helena didn't exactly trust her, and so had kept her blades as a precaution."
"You are a five-sword-style swordsmen, yes? And yet, two of your swords are broken. I have taken the liberty of acquiring replacements for you."
Helena didn't correct her. Her blade count upon entering Amazon Lily had been three intact and two broken if she included the one Mihawk had shattered throwing her into the island. But with her eyes on the replacements Hancock had in mind, Helena wasn't about to argue otherwise.
"These are beautiful," she said, taking one of the new long, thin rapier in hand and admiring its sheath. It was of a flexible bronze metal, covered in fine, snake filigree. Clearly the work of a true artist, it was still nothing to the blade itself. Helena drew it reverently, listening to its song on the metal casing as it came free.
The blade, wicked as a fang, gleamed pure white in the morning sunlight, a thin line of excellent steel.
"They were crafted by a technique known only on Maiden Isle," Hancock said, taking the other blade, which still stood in its sheath. She bent it into a coil, hardly straining with the effort though it did require some strength. "It is so fine it can bend easily. The sheaths can be worn as belts or jewelry, but the blade will always come out straight when drawn."
She held the hilt toward Helena, who pulled it free. Sure enough it came out straight, just like the other blade she still held.
"This is incredible craftsmenship," Helena remarked. "Thank you. I will treasure these blades."
"Treasure them as you treasure our sisterhood," Hancock insisted.
Helena smiled awkwardly. She was pretty sure said sisterhood wasn't a thing, but etiquette dictated she didn't say as much. Especially not after such hospitality.
She wrapped the two sheaths about her waist, where they gleamed like jeweled belts around her worn naval. Then she took the remaining sword she'd won on Gloom Island and strapped it to her side, opposite her dagger.
"Shall we toss the broken blades?" Hancock asked.
"No," Helena said, retrieving her mother's broken sword and strapping its sheath to her back. "Well, at least no this one."
When she had everything situated, she inclined her head toward the Snake Princess and took her leave, thanking her again for her hospitality. Kuina ran forward and hugged Hancock about the legs, all sniffles and tears:
"I miss you," she insisted.
Hancock ruffed her curls. "Farewell, Kina, my precious niece. Always remember that you are beholden to none. True beauty bows to no one."
Helena didn't know whether she liked this advice, or if Kuina even understood it. Then again, maybe it did have a nice message to it. The child beamed and took a step to go, then turned back to wave up at her once foster mother with a heart-meltingly brave smile. "Bye bye, Hammock. Be good!"
Hancock flushed. "Restrain me sisters! Restrain me!" she cried suddenly, grabbing her leg as it twitched. "I can kick a kitten or a baby seal, and you will all forgive me. But not Kina! Never Kina! If I kick her, I shan't forgive myself!"
Marigold and Sandersonia quickly jumped in to hold their sister back.
"Sorry, she…has this thing about kicking cute things," Mari explained.
"And Kina is the cutest thing any of us have ever seen," Sonia added.
Helena just nodded, pulling Kuina out of the danger zone. They had had to provide this explanation to her a few times on their journey. Apparently, Hancock didn't just like to kick cute things out of spite; she simply couldn't help herself.
"Someone bring me a floppy-eared bunny! Quickly! I must vent this energy!"
Soon a bunny went sailing through the sky. They had had to keep a few on hand ever since Kuina came around. With her cuteness rage now abated, Hancock turned to give them a proper send off:
"Farewell, Sun Queen," she said regally. "Keep my precious niece safe."
Helena nodded. "Farewell, Snake Princess. And thank you again for your hospitality. Kuina, for the last time, you can't bring Lady!"
She tugged her daughter away from the snake, ignoring her screams of protest. The snake hissed in rage, and Hancock trod on the tip of its tail to keep it from slithering after the little princess. Soon Helena stood at the bottom of the gangplank, her feet just touching striped ground when Hancock couldn't seem to contain herself.
"Say hello to my sweet Luffy for me, Sis!" she squealed.
Helena waved at her awkwardly. "I will," she promised.
Despite Sanji's insistence that his hands were sacred and could not be risked with a hammer and nails, Franky shanghaied his help to fix the wall. Not that the cook had to do much. Franky could move with impressive speed, and soon had a temporary fix up so that Helena could continue her story uninterrupted by the rain, or pounding hammers.
"Where was I? Ah, yes, Saobody Archipelago. That's where Hancock dropped me off."
"Saobody?" Zoro asked, "Why there?"
Helena paused and looked at him, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Well, I couldn't ask her to take me through the dangers of crossing the Red Line, could I? I'd already exhausted her hospitality…and my tolerance of her insanity."
"The Red Line?" Zoro prompted.
"Obviously," she replied, then facepalmed. "I haven't mentioned where I was going? Sorry, I thought it was obvious. I was trying to reach you."
Zoro didn't say anything to that. Helena let out a sigh:
"With the Nursemaids out of commission and Kuina in my care, it was up to me to finish carrying out Code Black. Black for her father's bandana, or perhaps for his Jolly Roger." She looked up at Luffy, who was still awake and sopping wet, "Code Black meant getting Kuina to the Thousand Sunny. It meant there was nowhere else left for her."
Her gaze slid back to her husband, whose expression remained stoic:
"Zoro, I know we said that a pirate ship was no place for a child, but…"
"But now it's the only place for her," he finished, and the rest of the crew murmured their agreement.
"I'm glad you all have taken to the idea of having her on board so readily," she continued apologetically, "I never would have thought to burden you like this unless it was absolutely necessary."
"Burden?" Zoro snapped, affronted, "She's my daughter. She's no more a burden to me than she is to you."
"You say that," Helena insisted, "But a child at sea, a child in a battle, will be a danger to you all. Especially a child as adventurous as Kuina. Not to mention having a team of assassins after her. – I know this isn't an ideal situation for you, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise."
"Cipher Pol is nothing we haven't faced before," Sanji pointed out, then turned googly eyes on Robin, "Right, Robin-chwan?"
She chuckled and nodded.
"Ow! I can child proof the Sunny, no problem!" Franky put in, holding up the hammer he still had clutched in the smaller pair of hands. "And she's going to love the slide!"
"We've already handled her in battle," Usopp added, "We can figure out other, better ways to keep her safe in the future."
"Like keep her inside," Zoro grumbled under his breath, and Usopp let out a guilty chuckle.
"Yes, but…" Helena started, but Luffy cut her off.
"She's an official member of the crew already," he said, crossing his arms over his chest as though this settled everything.
"Is she now?" Helena chuckled
"Yup. She's not going anywhere," Luffy insisted.
Helena allowed herself a smile. "Well, I supposed that's for the best." She sighed, "What a world we live in, where a child is safer on a pirate ship than living in a palace."
"What a world indeed," Robin murmured.
Zoro glanced her way, but then focused again on his wife. "Why didn't you just write to me?" he asked. "We had that loophole in the provisos! I could have done something to help."
"Like what? Travel backward over the red line?" Nami put in, and Zoro shot her a glare.
"The mail is controlled by the Government, remember?" Helena pointed out, "I know they can't keep tabs on all of it, but with Cipher Pol on our tails I didn't think I could safely send any sort of message out."
"You'd think something would have shown up in the news," Luffy pouted.
The others all nodded at him, remembering the message he'd managed to send them through the front page. Zoro smirked. – He was still convinced it had been Rayleigh's idea, but Luffy still seemed to take personal pride in its success.
"Oh, they were keeping Kuina good and secret," Helena said. "They let the news drop a hint of her on Amazon Lily to lure me out of hiding, but once I escaped with Kuina they didn't even put out a wanted poster for her. I had been starting to wonder why the government never mentioned her in the news, even when her existence was discovered."
"Was it because of her patronage?" Zoro asked. "They seemed pretty keen on ignoring the fact that you married a pirate."
"I think that was just out of spite," Helena chuckled, "Anyway, I should have realized that even without the general public keeping an eye out for her, I should have been more cautious. Rayleigh tried to warn me when I reached out to him at Saobody, but I was too prideful to accept his help…"
"You can't let people know that she's your daughter," Rayleigh insisted. They sat at the bar of Shakky's place, where the bartender herself listened in on the conversation, cleaning the typical glass with the typical white cloth. "In fact, you shouldn't let her be seen with you."
Helena placed a protective hand over Kuina, "Why not?"
"Is it not obvious, Roronoa-Chan?" Shakky put in. Helena thought it charming that the bartender had given her that nickname. She'd never considered taking on Zoro's surname before meeting Shakky, but she liked the sound of it. "If anyone figures out who you are, then they will figure out who she is. The world at large doesn't know you have a daughter."
"And when they do, the world at large will want her," Rayleigh agreed.
"The government knows I have her," Helena insisted.
"The military branch of the government knows," Rayleigh pointed out after taking a swig of some brandy Shakky had put out for him. "And the secret service. But they've been keeping it from the papers, most likely to keep it off the radar of the general public."
Helena cocked her head. "Why…?"
"World Nobles aren't the only ones crooked enough to try to marry her for her power, are they?" Rayleigh went on. "And even if they don't know about the God Powers, if they know who you are, she'd make easy bait for your capture."
Helena gritted her teeth at this.
"At least leave Kuina here while you're looking for work," Rayleigh suggested. "She'll be safe with us."
Helena shook her head. "No," she insisted. "I'm not letting Kuina out of my sight until I get her safely to her father."
Rayleigh laughed heartily. "So you'll trust us with this but not her?" he asked, holding up Helena's crown.
"Are you really comparing the worth of my child to that thing?" Helena clipped back, holding her chin up in a show of regal disdain.
Shakky shot him the ghost of a smirk, while he just laughed heartily over his own faux pas. Helena didn't smile, however.
She had approached them hoping they could help her find a buyer for the crown. She knew it would be difficult to sell, given it was on her wanted poster for the world to see. The couple had agreed to search through their contacts for a cut of the profits should they find a buyer, and Helena trusted them enough to leave it with them.
Finding a job was the fall back in case they couldn't sell it. Helena needed to buy passage into the New World. She couldn't possibly expect to go unnoticed on a government sanctioned Bondola over the Red Line. Rayleigh and Shakky agreed that her best bet would be to pay one of the more reputable pirate crews to take her through Fish Man Island on a coated ship.
"Where I go, Kuina goes," Helena said stoutly. "It's not a matter of trust. It's a matter of stewardship."
Shakky lit up a cigarette, her calm demeanor betraying nothing of anxiety otherwise. She changed the subject, realizing they wouldn't win this debate: "You'll need a disguise if you are to avoid capture."
"I look nothing like my poster now," Helena pointed out, tapping the poster, which lay between them on the bar.
Helena had taken on quite the impressive tan since the time the photograph had been taken. Not to mention that her once golden hair had now gone completely white and had grown shaggy and tasteless. She also had a scar on her temple and upper cheek where Akainu had backhanded her; nothing disfiguring, but it was distinct enough to alter her appearance to the casual observer.
"Unless someone actually knows me, I should be able to escape notice," she reasoned. "And I'll be sure to keep my head down around the navy."
Of course, there was always Cipher Pol to worry about. Particularly with Diddy's power. Helena couldn't afford to bury her head in the sand now, though. She would have to be cautious, but some risks had to be taken in order to proceed on their journey.
"Stay out of the public eye," Rayleigh warned. "You can't afford to take on anything too flashy."
"What kind of job do you think I'll be taking?" Helena chuckled. "A showgirl?"
"Have you ever looked for a job before?" Rayleigh asked bluntly.
"No, but I've run a country," Helena reminded him. "I'm not concerned about my resume. Anyway, how hard can it be?"
Very hard. Very very hard.
Particularly with her two-year-old daughter in tow.
It didn't help that she was still dressed like a tramp. She'd kept the cloak wrapped around her as best she could, but her potential employers couldn't help but catch a glimpse. She really needed new clothes. She didn't want to beg any more help off of Shakky and Rayleigh though. Once she started earning money, she could buy herself and Kuina more suitable attire.
She'd aimed her focus at the middle-class types of jobs, making a point to avoid the more lawless of the groves. As the sun started to set on her fruitless efforts, she had started to realize that she might not have the luxury of being picky. She wasn't sure she wanted to turn to criminal work, particularly not with Kuina's big brown eyes taking in every choice she made, but with Helena's fighting skill set she might find success there.
Anyway, Kuina was tired and hungry. Perhaps they should make another stop at Shakky's for some food.
Cradling her fussy, sleepy daughter against her, Helena set a course for the bar only to stop short when she heard strains of familiar music. Music from her country! Her toes started tapping of their own accord and before she even realized what her ears had registered, she found herself standing in front of a street performance.
Ballerinas in gauzy, artistic versions of chitons whirled in the street to variations of traditional Iliad tunes, played on a violin. One even wore four swords strapped to her person, and a great golden laurel crown. Helena recognized her as Marie Pavlova; the dancer who had played Odette when Zoro had taken her to the ballet on their second honeymoon. Said dancer was extraordinarily skilled, and lauded the Grand Line over for her perfect pointe work. She danced with two of the four swords in hand, letting them flash in the setting sun.
The music helped to calm Kuina some, and she fell asleep peacefully against her mother's shoulder. Soon the dance came to a close, and the gathered crowd applauded generously.
"Come one, come all, to see a new and original ballet!" the man playing the violin called out with gusto. He wore a white powdered wig, had a face twice as long as seemed reasonable, and lips so pursed he might have been sucking on a lemon. "The Fall of the Sun Queen! With music by yours truly! The one and only Bachtoven Mochavsky!"
He tossed a bundle of flyers to the crowd, who grabbed them with the busy-ness of ants to a crumbled cookie, leaving the street completely clean. Helena snatched at one before it fell to the ground. Marie's face gazed tragically into the middle distance from the glossy page, her dark hair wreathed in a broken laurel crown.
Helena raised her brows. Someone had made a ballet about her? Given her admiration of the art form, Helena might have felt giddy about it if it weren't portraying the biggest failure of her life. Lost in thought, she stared at the flyer until long after the crowd had dissipated.
"Something about it makes one stop and pause, yes?" Someone asked.
Helena looked up to see a tall, bespectacled man gazing at the parchment in her hand. He wore his jett black hair combed into cat ear shapes, with a bit of whitness bleached into the tips. There was something feline about his whiskers too – a thin mustache split into three strands on either side of his nose. Three cats crawled about his person: a calico on his shoulder, a purplish grey clinging to his pantleg, and an orange settled on his head.
"Such a beautiful and yet tragic tale, nya. And the choreography is perfection."
"I wouldn't say perfection," Helena admitted.
"Oh?" the man stiffened. "And why wouldn't you say that?"
"Their attempts to incorporate Iliad dancing into this particular number were almost laughable. The choreographer has clearly never been to Ilium."
The man pursed his lips. "You're talking to him."
"Oh…" Helena smirked at the awkward situation, but was well assured in her statement, and so didn't back down. "Well, was I right?"
"I have not been to Ilium, no," he admitted, bating at the purple cat trying to climb his leg. "But I once attended a workshop on Iliad dancing, nya. It was taught by a pair of dance masters who lived there before its tragic fall."
"Gloriadne and Robertus?" Helena guessed. "They'd be appalled. How many lessons did they teach?"
"Just the one," he admitted again, relocating the purple cat to his arms. He petted it, and it purred contentedly. "Anyway, how do you know all this, nya? Are you from there?"
Helena stiffened. How could she have let her guard drop so easily? It had been a long day.
"No," she lied. "My daughter and I are of the Kuja. I have done my share of traveling, however, and spent some time in Ilium before its fall."
This answer seemed to satisfy the cat man. "My attempts weren't meant to be authentic, more of a nod to the culture, nya," he insisted, still looking affronted. "This is, after all, a ballet."
"Even so," Helena went on. "I don't know the name of the move, but when your lead goes up onto her toes like this…" Barefoot, she balanced on the tip of her toe as she'd seen the dancer do. Still clutching the sleeping Kuina in one arm, she lifted her other, "And then spins," she whirled around on one toe, "If you want to add a bit of Iliad flare you should have her throw in double beats with her foot like so," she tapped a toe above the knee of her standing leg, "Or perhaps add a jump and a flutter of the foot here…"
She went on for about a minute like this, with the choreographer and his three cats staring at her, flabbergasted. For a moment, Helena became lost in her culture, and when she came to her senses, she stopped short.
"My apologies," she said to their wide-eyed stares, "I'm sure very few will notice or care about the differences…"
"That was incredible, nya!" the man spluttered, the cats meowing something that sounded like agreement. "Madam, you just danced en pointe barefoot. Are you a dancer by chance?"
Helena shook her head. "Ah, no. I am a warrior, sir. As I said, I come from Amazon Lily."
"A warrior," he said, "That explains the scars."
Helena willed her cheeks not to flush and drew her cloak tighter around her. She'd just pranced around half naked in the street just now! What was she thinking?! Cursed Amazon fashion.
"And what brings a kuja warrior such as yourself so far from Maiden Isle, nya?" he went on, cocking his head.
"I decided to strike out on my own to find a better life for my daughter," Helena replied. "Piracy, even that sanctioned by the government, is no life for a child. Unfortunately, I didn't plan my next move when I left Hancock's crew. I am struggling to find honest work."
"Come work for the Ballet!" the man cried, prancing in excitement now, dislodging all three of his cats. Well, except the orange, which had dug her claws into the hard-gelled points of her master's hair, and let out a number of yowls as she flapped about like a piece of laundry in the wind. "You could be my assistant choreographer, nya! I could even provide lodging for you and your daughter within the Saobody Opera House!"
Helena fixed her gaze on him, and his prancing came to a close, much to the ginger cat's relief. "What would my wages be?"
Kuina's stomach rumbled loudly, waking the child, who immediately burst into tears.
"Why don't we discuss that over dinner, nya?" the man insisted reaching a hand out to her. "Louis Balanchine XIII, at your service."
Helena smiled. "Call me Yelene."