Chapter Text
Time flies when you are having fun. More or less anyway- Staring out into the vast scenery in front of you that made up the majority of this planet in it’s deep hue of blue, you could not help but reflect back on the past that was not completely out of reach just yet.
You lifted your hand in front of you, as if mesmerized by the scars that graced your skin there that were by now the only reminder of those rough days that were spent crawling over dirt and stone to catch even a glimpse of what could be a better life. You had it now, tight in your grasp, refusing to let it ever go again. Strangling it, really. Your eyes narrow, fist closing in on nothing.
“What’cher up to?”
A familiar tone, a deep and unforgiving bass made you lift your head to face the giant that went by the name of Wire. Not at all peaceful and as dangerous and volatile as an armed warhead, the man was sauntering closer on quiet soles and taking a spot on the barrel that was standing next to you, his hands supporting his weight on the railing.
“Just thinking.” You glance over your shoulder where you can spot the handle of your trusty weapon/shield. The metal umbrella by now had undergone two upgrades, making it truly a relict of battle. Not that you had fought in any proper fights with it. Usually it was you on the defense. “An’ ‘bout what?” Guy also couldn’t take a fucking hint, could he?
“It’s been.. what..? Three months..? I feel like I’ve been on this ship a lifetime and a half.” Wire snorted next to you, gently bumping you with his hip and craning his head down until he was borderline looming, his breath hot on your neck. “Certainly feels longer t’me too..” He muttered, a shiver going down your spine. “You act like some sort of slug sometimes, did anyone ever tell you that?”
He reeled back at the comment, his eyes squinting at you. “Not much o’ a compliment, issit?” You smiled weakly and rubbed over the railing thoughtfully. “..Bright of you..” How quick time passes on this ship. Three months ago this man scared you, he’d kick you when you said stuff he didn’t like, now? Now he barely touched you aside from the careful brush of skin on skin here and there.
“Fine, fuckin’ be like that.” Wire muttered and craned back to watch over the ocean as well. “Got ballsy as hell too, don’t remember teaching you that.” All it got from you was a snort. “You did. You really did though.” Without having to look up, you know the man will be smirking at himself in some weird, misplaced sense of pride.
“Might have..” His smirk disappeared, indicated by the change of his tone. “..Shoulda prolly done it differently though.” You knew what he was referring to. Just mentioning it brought a sharp pain in your left side where a faint bruise was still healing off. Had been something worse two months ago, too.. but time passed fast on this ship and you were more resilient than you had assumed.
“You almost apologized for it, it’s fine.”
He never said sorry. It was like he was blocked, mentally, from doing so. Shit, even Eustass had said it once in Killer’s direction, you heard it. You, yourself? You understood. It was difficult to explain but you got it. Wire showed you in different ways that he was sorry. By for example, never kicking you again since that fateful day.
With a click of your tongue you shifted around and grabbed behind you, taking hold of a smaller rod that was directly attached to the holster that kept your umbrella in place to begin and fully extend it to a fully fledged fishing rod. “Can’t believe from all th’ fuckin’ things you can do now, you stuck to fishin’.” Wire complained, turning to drape over the railing and watch you throw your lure out with a snicker.
“It’s the best activity! It feeds you and staves off boredom!” The look that got you made you feel like an insane person. You certainly felt like it from time to time.
“I got another way t’starve off boredom.” Wire supplied, next to you, suddenly feeling much closer than he had just a few moments before. You could feel the heat radiating off his massive body and the way his voice dropped an entire octave gave you a clear idea of what he meant by that. Without turning to face him you willed the warm spark in your gut away by frowning. “…”
“Aw c’mon..” You don’t reply.
“Ya nevah’ even tried it, said it yaself.” Well, he’s got you there.
“I can go all night-“ Sounds like a waste of good sleep. “-or an hour, depends on yer preferences.”
Finally you turn to give him a doubtful look, face flushed with embarrassment. “You don’t quit, do you?” The way he was so forward about it too- Then again. You had witnessed this behavior with other women as well, which made saying no somewhat easier. To say you got attached was an understatement but if you could comfort yourself with one thing it was that your weird obsession went into another direction entirely also, who from what you could tell, didn’t nearly get his tail wet as much as this guy did.
“With you? Never.” The smile he gave you was so warm and unlike him it made you blink. “..Hah.” Got you, didn’t he?
You turned to look back down at your lure, lips a tight line as you tried to not say something that would show just how nervous he made you, in case it was not painfully apparent. “..C’mon, dun’ be upset. Ya know I wouldn’t.. I mean that’s a lie I’d tap this so fuckin’ fast if ya jus’ were t’let me-“ His hand was on your back, slapping the life out of it that made you grunt. “But ‘m joking!” Yeah yeah.
You tune him out while he continues to talk and chatter.
Time passed faster and faster it felt like. Before you knew it, the day had passed with nothing happening aside from Killer ripping it on his drums so severely that the majority of the people on deck developed a manic fear of loud noises. He wasn't bad, no, not at all, but you had never heard a man rip the drums so loudly before. It was an art form. Simple as that.
You now could appreciate art. You now knew what art even was.
Like you now knew what trees were or northern lights or sunny weather that did not switch on you to turn your body into paste. Croissants, cheese, actual cows where cheese could come from but also not? You never would have thought that there were so many things that someone would be willing to try and milk. Nuts, for example.
How did you even milk a nut?
The possibilities were endless and you were in awe of what the world had become throughout the years that you had been stuck on an island for. Even before that and long after, it would evolve. Be pretty. Be grand. The thought was strangely comforting. You turned your head from where you were sitting, not having left your spot from the morning unless it was to commit yourself to a chore, only to spot Heat and Wire dicking around near the other side of the deck, some henchmen were thrown around too, littering in the quiet nothing of the sunny day that had you absolutely relaxed.
More interestingly: Eustass was sitting near the mast, seemingly.. he was fidgeting around with something that caught your interest. With a soft crack of your neck you straightened out to head over to where the man was sitting, quietly but relatively sure he would still know where you were at any given time of the day. Somehow he could always pinpoint your location just like that, as if he was reading a map.
It would be scary if it did not gift you some extra comfort. He could always find you if you were lost. You did not think a lot of crews could say that about their captain.
“You're staring.”
The rough, deep grovel of a voice made you finally zero in on your captain, who was looking over his bare shoulder, for once not donning his ridiculously huge feather coat. Even without it, he was massive though, not nearly as tall as Wire but he would probably still be able to beat the shit out of the other man.
Wire had said so himself. 'No one beats the Captain.' Something like that.
“Wanted to, uhm, see what you were up to?” Unlike with Wire, there was always an underlying anxiousness when talking to Kid. As if you still had to be careful or he would throw you overboard. By now you knew, the fear was unfounded.. but.. ah whatever. You closed the distance and planted your ass right next to his, making the man look at you in an unbothered, almost bored way.
Eustass didn't mind your company. Anymore. You knew by now. Sometime he even invited it. Not nearly as often as Wire but.. “I'm sortin' screws.” With a baffled expression you finally checked on what wa laying on the ground, finding him to be true. Screws in any and all kinds of sizes.”What for?” You picked one up, inspected it and put it back down where you found it.
“Makes finding what I need easier when I gotta rush somethin'.” He huffed, stretched his arms above his head far enough to make his shoulders pop before going back to his task. “Might as well help since you're sitting here now.” Deadpoint, an order? No. Another invitation.
You could leave.
Instead you just got comfortable as you began to help him sort through the screws after size. For a moment, you glanced up, spotting Wire giving you a weird expression that was short enough for you to almost miss it but before you could question it, Eustass spoke up next to you.
“You’ve really brought yourself into the crew.” He stated, dryly, uncaringly but something was bugging him. You glanced at him. “..I try.. anyway.” You muttered, not sure where this conversation was gonna go. “You get along with everyone. The only person on this ship who manages that is Killer.” That made you think a little, glance up, then away.
“Isn’t that because he has to? He’s the peace-keeper.” Eustass grimaced. “ I keep the peace.” In his dreams, maybe. You sorted a little faster, letting the silence speak for you. “ I keep the peace. ” Eustass repeated, a sense of urgency in his voice that actually made you smile. “Sure.” He’s staring you down and three months ago it’d have made you shit yourself.
Now it just made you slightly more nervous- “You gonna hold onto that screw much longer?” The man finally changed the subject, pointing at your hands where you still held a small screw. “Maybe.” You put it away though to continue sorting them, realizing he had never really stopped or interrupted his work.
Suddenly he bumped you with his shoulder, huffing softly and turning his head so you could feel his hot breath on your scalp, smelling his musk this up close and the oil and booze he was usually in close proximity in.
“Take your time. Could be in worse company.” He muttered, turning back to continue his work and ignoring the fact that you must have turned red like an apple and stopped moving again. Instead he scowled. “Like Harris.” He mumbled. The comment made you laugh and relax a little. “He just wants to be friends.”
“I hired him cuz’ he knows how to shoot.” Eustass rolled his shoulders. “He can make friends with literally anyone else on this fuckin’ ship.” It was almost cute. The Victoria Punk had over fifty people on board currently, being as massive as it was and seeing the captain out of all people be picky with who he associated with was humanizing in a way little people seemed to realize.
“Tell him that then.” He surged next to you, slamming his fist in an overly dramatic way that you were used to by now. “I fucking did!” You saw Wire and Heat tense slightly where they were, peering over curiously and seemingly now interested in what was going on over here.. for the full amount of five seconds when Eustass didn’t begin tearing you to shreds.
The man began rambling to you about his disdain for the man, you continued sorting screws and you felt at peace doing so. For now.
Whoever decided to start drinking was a fucking idiot in your opinion because the drunken haze spread like a wildfire that you had been trying to desperately dodge. You tried booze once and found it wasn’t yours- not to this extent. A pleasant buzz was nice and all but this was something else.
Everyone was going hampshire aside from the lookouts.
You yourself have been thrown around from spot to spot, attempting to not get trampled by the masses of singing, drunken people. Some of the women even got absolutely hammered to the point of stumbling about and you were pretty sure there were two guys doing it in the broom closet down the hall B on the left.
Right now? You were waiting on deck, near the railing as it was the place where people were the least, even in their drunken state realizing that being completely wrecked and risking falling in and drowning was probably less than ideal.
“Thereee she is!” Oh god. You turned your head to spot Eustass wandering over with a wide, warm and bubbly grin, behind him Killer and Wire but Killer didn’t seem nearly as wasted as the other two, if at all. He even held Eustass a bit straight by nudging him every now and then and gave you a friendly nod, his voice level and calm when he spoke.
“Been looking for you.” You raised your eyebrows and turned, drawing attention to the cup of solid juice in your hands. “Ya gotta be shittin’-“ Wire started but got interrupted by Killer shushing him with a lifted hand. “There’s trouble below deck and I don’t trust these two on their own when they’re like this. Can you do me a favor and keep an eye out on them? I’ll be right back.” Not a good idea at all but saying no to Killer?
He had been so kind to you.
So disappointing him was not an option. “Sure. Will do-“ Wire snatched you up by the hip and tossed you. Right up. Killer wasn’t moving to catch you despite your shriek of dismay as your juice went flying in every direction- some even got on Wire whe he caught you again, scowling. “We gettin’ y’somethin’ proper t’drink. First o’ all.”
“Like hell.” You coughed, struggling to get out of his firm grip but his massive hands had a solid grip on your thigh and your shoulder as he began to put pressure on you until you were pressed almost painfully against his broad chest. It only made you realize that this wasn’t a position you had a problem with, still, you kicked out while Killer left you in this chaos to take care of the business going on somewhere else.
Fucking Bastard.
“What do you mean?! This is a celebration and you’re not even slightly tipsy.” Eustass had grabbed a mug out of the hand of someone and swung it around a bit, spilling the contents wishy washy all over the deck. You’d have to clean this shit later. Wire was grunting when you managed to kick him in the shoulder with your leg, hooking it around the joint and beginning to clamp your leg close like a nutcracker.
By now you had gained enough muscle that you knew that had to be uncomfortable. “Lemme down!” “God damn girl-“ Wire was shaking you a little to try and pry your leg off. Eustass had begun to cackle in an ugly, unabashed manner at the scene and some henchmen had to dodge Wire as he began to awkwardly dance around with you stuck on him.
Then his arms were suddenly gone and the only thing stopping you from falling head first onto the deck was your leg, which he proceeded to grab by your thigh to finally pull you off and drop you. This time nothing saved you from the fall.
“Have it yer way, holy shit.” Wire rubbed his shoulder and Eustass was leaning against the railing, laughing so hard you were sure he was about to rupture something. You hit the wood, rolled off and got back up again. All within the span of five seconds. Your back hurt.
Eustass was trailing off. Wire in a different direction. Just like that as if a switch had been pressed. It made you struggle to really figure out what to do when it came in terms of who to go after first, ultimately picking Eustass because all you had to do to get his attention was run up after him, reel your arm back and swat the back of his head.
“Who the fuck- “ Oh shit. He turned and grabbed at you so fast you barely had any chance to dodge, barely doing so and probably only because he was absolutely hammered. Instead of trying to taunt him further to get him to follow you, instead it turned into an actual chase.
“Get back here!” The low growl to his voice send shivers down your spine as you dodged him again, barely and the result being him barreling a bunch of people that had been minding their own business.
You were running back to Wire but now or the sake of protection more than anything else. God, where was the large bastard if you needed him? This was the absolute worst. “Y/N!” Eustass bellowed somewhere behind you but that made you only run faster with a weak, desperate wheeze. What the fuck had you been thinking?
Wire was in reach and so were you apparently, before you knew it hands wrapped around your waist and you were being lifted. Your shriek was loud enough to make the drunken, massive man in front of you turn around and blink a bit dumbfounded as Eustass was walking off to the left with you.
His face morphed from drunken haze to sober so fast you were almost sure he had taken a token of sobriety or something- “No! Boss, she can’t swim!”
You got tossed. Cold, dark water. Wire cursing above you and Eustass’ voice sounding just as fucked.
What a time to be alive.
“C’mon, said I was sorry.” How long had it been? Two weeks, to your count if it was accurate in your outrage. The clothes you had worn that evening had been the first you ever bought and thanks to the salt water and the fact you couldn’t wash them properly because no one told you how to, they went in. Too small to wear now and you let everyone kno you were pissed.
Eustass broke after a week and a half. Finally apologizing after everyone told him to suck it up because with you on a strike the cooks as well as the people on cleaning duty were down a capable working force and no one liked being understaffed.
You didn’t care for the apology, you wanted your fucking sweater back.
“Y/N. He’s said it twice now.” Wire’s rough, deep and annoyed input came from the other side. At some point Eustass dragged his friend into helping him regain your forgiveness. After Killer told him to also, suck it up. Maybe he asked Wire because he thought Wire had one up on you for saving your life. Again. Dumb and Drunk.
“Great for him. Swell.” You muttered, clutching your fishing rod only a little harder to ignore the fact that in the situation you were in, you were almost sandwiched between the two masses of muscle that made both of these men. They were both pressed so close you were almost being squished.
To annoy you, pretty sure. Enough into forgiving Eustass though? Not quite. Maybe they would not be standing this close either if they knew what the side effects were of being this awfully nestled against you. Something warm was bubbling in your gut, making you press your thighs slightly against each other just so you could keep from fidgeting.
God this was the worst.
“I’m not” He grabbed your neck, his broad palm upon your skin and almost burning against it. “saying it again.” Here was the famous Eustass ‘Captain’ Kid with his famous stubbornness. Of course you knew at this point that if this rage of yours continued, he might say it a third time. By now the man’s made it clear enough that he cared the appropriate amount to be apologizing to you.
“…Then don’t.” The lure went under and with a practiced tug you pulled on the pole, reeling the line in and- nothing. Fish let go of the bait before you could catch the damn thing. Seeing the empty hook just made you more angry. God damn it. “Can you to leave? You’re ruining my mojo..”
“Stop being angry.” Eustass grunted, reaching over to his left where you put your baits and grabbing the hook at the same time to redo it properly. You couldn’t, being trapped between them. It only served to piss you off even worse than you had been already.
“Buy me new clothes then.” You deadpanned, Wire clicked his tongue next to you as if you decided to antagonize a wild bear that you were stuck in a cage with. Might as well have. Technically it made sense though, he ruined your garments, he ought to buy you new ones, yes? You never bothered to ask him. The answer seemingly obvious to you.
“Under one condition.” You blinked, Wire blinked, both of you were staring over. “..Which?” This was already more than what you thought you could get from the man. “You come with. I wanna see you in what I buy, I’m not clothing a fucking disaster.” The statement made you reel up, glad he let your neck go to rebait your lure. “Coming from you?! Who wears yellow spotted pants?! You look like a Drapoel!” There’s that hand on your neck again, dragging you away from your hobby.
“We’ll hit land in an hour, come on, gotta get ready.” Wire looked after you two in a bewildered motion of his hands but ultimately, shrugged, then trotted after the two of you.
Who would have thought that fashion was going to be something Eustass would be passionate enough about to be making you show off what you wanted to buy while still in the store.
“..Why is he here..?” You turned your head, busy with modelling a dark red sweater that you were sure Eustass loved so much because it had the same hair color of his stupid head. But that was not your problem, your problem existed in the form of Wire, who was present but at the time not paying any attention, instead he was browsing in the ladies department for pants.. And.. stuff.. Who knew.. but the man was attracting the wrong kind of attention.
Women left and right were giving him a look as if they had to worry about their children but knowing this man’s libido, it was themselves..The man could be a proper monster in the streets and in the sheets. You knew, the walls felt paper thin during the night when the ship was docked.
“He wanted to come.” Eustass was sitting down, one leg put up over the other as he was leaned back and analyzing the clothes currently on your body. His stare was melting right through the clothes. Wire only occasionally looked up, gave the generally silent thumbs up or down of either approval or disapproval and then he continued browsing.
Right now he was scrutinizing a pair of leggins though that were too small for him. Like everything in this store..
“He’s just here to make me feel stupid about this.” Eustass scoffed. “Wire hasn’t said shit about this whole thing since we left the ship.” Yeah.. You knew. The man talked surprisingly little in front of strangers or the eye of the public. Unsure why, considering that he was so large no one would try and ridicule him anyway. Right now Wire was wandering over to his captain after finding anything, signing at you.
Learning that was still spotty at best.. you didn’t remember all the signs but from what you did know you could gather the roundabout way he was telling you to suck it up. Both men being here to watch you try on these clothes oddly made you feel.. not dressed. They both had a glower on them that made your skin crawl and your guts tingle with something that wasn’t quiet fear. Maybe there was a mix of it inside of the mess but that was it.
You were so not scared of these men anymore but the feeling that they caused made you want to be..
Nursing something like a crush on either of them was the worst thing you’ve ever started doing. Nothing was such a risk to your health and future.. as this. You had been biting yourself over this topic up and down too but ultimately came to the conclusion that the safest bet would be to leave this alone. After all, no matter how much you were trying to find a solution, the easiest way was usually the best. And the easiest thing to do was to ignore these growing affections.
In any manner. Not that it was too difficult to hide it from the men, they were surprisingly tone deaf in this department. Like the mere idea of a woman holding more than something that could be done in the sheets over their heads was out of the question and Killer? The man seemed to know but just not care, which was fine by you, really.
A click of the tongue, you looked up and spotted Wire narrowing his eyes at you. He seemed to be thinking, lifting his hands and slowly signing at a speed you could decipher his language.
‘You’re pale.’
Yeah. You bet.
You’re sure anyone would be pale if faced with the possibility of their life going up in flames over some simple affection.. Then again, nothing was easy with either of them, was it? If anything, everything seemed to be getting more complicated with every breath you took.
“..I feel uncomfortable.” You muttered, having been lost in thought so deeply that it just kind of leaked right out there and as soon as it did and both men tensed, you wished you could take it back. Instead you tried to excuse it- “I mean- I just feel weird standing around like a doll, haha, we almost.. look like we’re a thing? You don’t exactly choose clothes for other people, yeah?”
Which seemed to be a proper explanation. You were sure- “And? Is that a problem? I don’t give a fuck what people think I look like.” Eustass got up, walked over and fistbumped your shoulder. “But I get it, I’ll go pay, you wait outside. I’m fuckin’ hungry.”
He left you and Wire. The man glanced around, then looked down at you with a softened expression. “..Don’t be mad. He dun’ get it.” It was ironic that he was the one telling you this. Usually it was Killer saving you from such situations and now here was Wire, offering comfort. It made you smile weakly, feeling defeated.
“I know..”
Finding a place to eat was easy peasy. Eustass was hungry and he would eat anything, same for Wire. Both men were almost preening at you going ahead and strut around with your new stuff. All three of you were the sole image of confidence if you looked it up in a word dictionary.
You looked good in new jeans and a sweater so deeply red it almost looked like someone bled all over it.
Wire and Eustass got every possible thing on the menu twice, you got a singular burger with some fries and felt good about it too. You did not put the whole restaurant out of stock like these two and you did not have to either.
“Today was good.” Eustass grunted, shoving a piece of steak into his mouth, chewing loudly and swallowing before speaking again. “We’re doing this more often.” Wire raised an eyebrow, still chewing on his steak and remained quiet. You didn’t say anything at first, already feeling slightly warm at the idea.
“Only if you two actually also buy clothes. I’m not playing dress up doll on my own.” You stated drly, taking a huge bite out of your burger and chewing it as Eustass narrowed his eyes, Wire ignoring the notion and just shrugging before signing at you. ‘I don’t care, fine.’
Eustass scoffed from his spot and crossed his arms like a toddler throwing a tantrum. “Fine. But you buy more fucking clothes than me.” Everything was a contest with this guy.. But you did not know what kind of contest this would be. A contest of kindness? You assumed he was gonna make you pay next time but his gaze may be giving you a different hint.
“Sure. I can do that.” You said after swallowing, feeling content with how this all had gone. Everything was ok. This had been tons of fun and it wasn’t even the end of it.
When Eustass said that you would be doing more shopping, he apparently meant that you would also do other things as well with, surprise, Wire tagging along. After the shopping incident, the time you spent together went on and on and on. It got more frequent, longer.. more intimate.
Right now you were lounging almost on Wire’s lap as you were reading while Eustass, Killer, Wire and Heat were invested within a game of cards. It started off harmless enough, where you also partook. Then money came into play and you gracefully ducked out of the game to avoid ending up with debt again, made that mistake once and never again.
“..Call.” Killer stated dryly, rolling his wide, muscular shoulders and causing some of his blonde mane to roll over them like waves of hair.
Everyone dropped their cards into the middle where bunches of money were piled up, for a moment there was silence but you felt Wire tense his legs and immediately bolted off of them, just in time to avoid getting kneed into the ceiling as he bolted up with a low growl. “What th’fuck!” His eyes were furrowed and with an angry scoff he tossed the rest of his cards away. “Aight, m’ done. I aint losin’ no more to you rottin’ bastards.”
“Of course Killer wins, it’s a fucking game of waiting and twiddling your thumbs.” “Patience.” Killer cut Eustass off as he took his well deserved prize. “It’s a game of patience, discipline and a poker face.” He sounded amused in the way he spoke. You patted yourself down, looking at Wire’s lap and deeming it unsafe and dropping backwards to lean against Eustass. His fluffy coat just swallowed you.
The man does not move an inch but you could feel him slightly pressing against you to make up for the additional weight on him without wasting his breath to further shit on his best friend. “Coming from the guy wearing a mask !”
The mask.
No one but Eustass or the closer friends of Killer were allowed to even mention it. You once asked about it and Killer simply told you to mind your own ‘fucking’ business in a voice so calm as if he had just told you the weather. You never asked again and that had been it, happy that the man barely held grudges to your understanding until Heat told you that Killer was as bad, even worse, with grudges.
Said it was worse that you could not tell that he was still angry. That Killer probably held grudges as long as Eustass and the man held grudges forever. Not good news but he also let you know that the chances of Killer hunting people down over asking about the helmet was null as he understood the curiosity.
Still very scary.
“You’re pissed you lost. If you had won you’d be bragging.” Killer said. Heat grumbled and just began to put the cards together as Eustass lunged over the middle of their circle so quickly you'd have hit the back of your head if the motion didn’t also send you flying right onto Killer, who caught you with broad palms and quickly tossed you to Wire before Kid made contact. Wire? Caught you right out of the air and put you right back onto his large lap, where you suddenly felt safer than anywhere else.
Killer did not even seem too bothered about it, he made a noise that was probably the closest thing you ever heard when it came to a laugh as he began to wrestle with the redhead, you stayed where you were, almost nestling against Wire as he wrapped his arms loosely around you, his head coming down onto yours. The move was probably uncomfortable, as he was so large and as assumed he did not hold the position for long.
It was fine though, you got it. The comfort the gesture brought was immense and you smiled and lounged against rock hard abs as you continued to watch as Heat tried to drag them away from one another without luck, instead just getting sucked in when Killer grabbed him by his shoulder and slammed him between Eustass and himself, only for them to tag team the poor man to keep him from getting up.
You wouldn’t wanna be Heat right now.
“But I don’t wanna catch sharks..” You mumbled confused as you peered over Kid’s shoulder as the man was fumbling around his workshop’s table to grab at screws and other possible materials he could be using to upgrade your fishing rod, yet again. You got it, he liked the way he could make it stronger and stronger but at this point it was a second weapon with how robust it was.
Once you forgot your umbrella, yes, shock, and ended up having to break someone’s legs and what did you use? The damd rod. Since then Kid’s been very on board about the whole thing, trying to find more and more things to do to make your rod multitask like a single mother on ‘Christmas.’ No clue what that was but supposedly it was a holiday celebrated on some of the islands they had visited. Not all though.
“You don’t have to!” He sounded so excited it was hard to tell him no. “But you could and isn’t that great? You can have more hooks anyway, maybe I’ll make it change size-“ He stopped mid movement. Bristling almost. “..How though..?” Please. don’t. You did not say that, no, you just huffed and began to find a place to sit so you could be comfortable for this.
He was gonna take some time.
Knowing him, this could take up to hours and he would want your input on everything he was doing constantly. So leaving would be absolutely worthless as he’d drag you back here every five seconds to show you something new he thought about.
It was kind of nice to watch him be this excited about anything tho, especially because he was usually scowling and looking everything but excited.
“I won’t have the muscle to reel in a shark.” You stated, amused, watching him process the piece of information. He turned slightly to you, looking down his sharp nose as he took in what you had said properly before he smiled. Smiled. “I’ll make it automatic then. It already has a clasp-“ “And if I’m not at the railing?” Now he was frowning, but in thought.
“..I’ll get to that.” He mumbled, turned and began to scribble on an empty blueprint. Cute. He was smiling again, appreciating the challenge you just gave him. You wondered how he was gonna get over it too. He could give it a pole to ram into the ground but it would harm the wood on deck.. Ahh, you couldn’t think of anything.
He would though. He always did find something. Kid was great like that.
“This thing must be getting heavy.” Heat admired the new fishing rod. Fishing rod 4.8 or something. It’s been remade so many times.. But always with the original as the basis. You smiled widely as you swung it around a bit. “About as heavy as my umbrella.. give or take.” It was the perfect everything. Kid was already talking about new installments though. He wanted to perfect this tool.
He planned to combine the umbrella and the rod, turn it into a multitask-tool. A real danger too. If you were to hit anyone with it right now, you would likely cause them immense damage. You would not be able to swing this tool if you did not have the muscle mass you did have either. You had to train to wield your tools and the majority of henchmen were unable to properly lift them. The crew was fine and Killer swung it about as if it was made out of feathers.
You aimed for that.
You wanted to be so strong nothing could stop you.
Wire leaned over, next to Heat and looked down at you with a content smile. He’d been doing that a lot more. Like Kid. They seemed to finally have warmed up to you. It filled you with some sense of satisfaction. You had worked a lot after all to get here, swallowed down a lot of pissy comments and all. You felt like you deserved it.
The friendship was definitely something you appreciated you had, it gave you certain perks other henchmen did not have, like this, sitting with Heat and Wire on deck and showing off your new rod that Kid had polished right into a proper tool for destruction. Fish and humans both. The hook was larger and at the bottom of it, right where the handle ended, was a tiny shell that he described as a suction dial.
If you caught something that was too much for you it would slam down with the help of an internal pole, suck onto the surface beneath you and stay steadfast without giving way. The metal of the infernal pole was flexible too so you could move around a bit with it, a handle was attached to keep it firm in your grip.
You had no fucking clue how it worked. It looked wonky at best too but ultimately it mattered none. You loved how capable it was. It was expensive, rare materials that Eustass basically tossed out of the window giving them to you. What kinda metal bent but did not break, after all. Ahhh it was great. “Imma fish.”
“Course you gonna.” Wire sounded content, nudging you. “Imma watch if you’re gud with it.” Heat just kinda had ditched you two because watching you fish for the dozenth time in a row was probably not his calling but Wire never bored of it. He seemed to be able to watch it as many times as you decided to go ahead and did it again and again. How could you not either, with a fishing rod as fine as this?
So, you got up and shifted where you sat and got up, smiling happily as you attached the clamp to the railing and threw your line out after putting a bait on the hook, the suction pole going down to stick to the deck just in case something bigger than usually bit on that larger hook that now used a piece of meat as bait.
“If I fall in you-“ “Imma pull you out, yeah.” Wire stayed seated, leaning his back against the railing and grinning relaxed. “I’m surprised you stuck to fishing out of all the possible things to get stuck on.” He said which just cause you to shrug. “Why not? It relaxes me and feeds me.” “No one eats fish as much as you on this ship.” You glanced over to where he was looking at you and tilted your head.
“..Is that a bad thing?” Wire blinked, seemingly confused for a moment before snorting and shaking his head and getting up to put his elbows against the railing and leaning over it to look over at your lure. “Naw, girl, I think it’s cute.” He sounded like he was being genuine too and it made you blink up at him. “Hah. I am cute.” You joked without meaning it as one as you turned back to watch the lure too. Wire’s smile slipped off his face when you were not looking.
“..Yeah. I think so.”
The evening was slow, in a few days you would hit land again but for now you were in safe waters and Wire decided it was upon time to teach you the law of the ocean. Swimming. If you could not swim you would drown and you did not eat a devil fruit so there was no sane reason for you not to learn.
You kind of agreed but listening to the guys hackling you from above as you sputtered and struggled to stay afloat was humiliating, your only safety net was a rope tied around your waist that Wire used to regularly pull you back up if you got too low and began to drown.
Everything hurt and your vision was blacking out from time to time.
It was difficult to not be scared, if you opened your eyes underwater your legs seemed paler than ever in the darkness below you that you knew could swallow you up and never spit you out again. It was terrifying.
“You can do it, runt!” Kid called from above as you spit out some salt water and went under again, only for Wire to tug you back up and watch you struggle. You wanted to say something nasty but did not have it in you, all your air going to not suffocating from the amount of water you were swallowing.
“Wire was nearby though, having lowered a wooden platform from beneath the deck into the water to sit on and tug the rope whenever he felt you were not coming up fast enough. Which was a lot more often as you thought it would be after almost an hour.
You didn’t even notice Killer coming down onto the platform, using the rope ladder that had been attached to the side of the ship.
Suddenly you were jerked back onto the platform, wheezing and coughing water from your lungs, barely coherent as Killer began to lay into the people watching and your trainer. “This isn’t a zoo attraction, move!” He barked. His voice was unfriendly and annoyed in a way that made Kid stop smiling and straighten out slightly as the henchmen stumbled away to get away from the situation.
Wire scoffed from where he was sitting but he looked uncomfortable. “We were just-“ “Fucking around. This may have been how you learned to swim in your backwater shithole we pulled you from-“ Wire snorted and rolled his eyes. “-but she was drowning.” Now Wire stopped grinning and looked down at you, who was still laying on the wooden platform, barely conscious from the exhaustion and the ache in your joints.
“Grab her and bring her up. I’m doing this later.” The blonde ruffled his own hair with an annoyed hiss. “Not because I don’t have enough of shit to do.” With that he grabbed the ladder and headed back up. “No more swimming today. Don’t make me come back down here a second time. I’ll tie a rope around you and make you swim behind the ship.” When Killer got to the top Eustass said little as the blonde regarded him with a few moments before speaking in a softer tone.
“This was torture, Kid. She’s a crewmate.” The redhead’s thin lips got thinner as he pressed them together and said nothing. “I know it wasn’t supposed to be, so I’m telling you two. Stop hopping around the bush and just deal with it.” He walked past his friend. “Or leave it alone. Also an option.”
You were in the infirmary, having really drank a lot more salt water than even you yourself had thought but when you kept vomiting bits of it out the peach munching doctor finally hammered you in your gut and got it over with, with an herb that made you vomit violently until nothing was left.
So you sat here and had guy after guy come in and apologize for being assholes to you. Usually leaving right after.. because Eustass was sitting at your bed and Wire was on a chair in the corner of the room, waiting with you until you could leave the infirmary. Neither had audibly apologized but this.. this was also nice.
You weren’t mad.
You finally got it. The physical difference was important. Both of them had learned to swim like this and Kid had been an excellent swimmer as a child before he ate the Metal Fruit.
The lacking communication made this experience traumatic but everything turned out alright, thanks to Killer, and you could not fault the two for not knowing better. Realizing that your limit was far below theirs was gonna strengthen your relationship with them hopefully, make it a little equal at the very least or something even though it was not something you counted on. With a pulled face you just kind of watched the two men sulk.
They said awfully little since Killer tore them a new asshole.
“..I’m ok.” You tried, again, but only got Wire to scoff and cross his arms defensively over his muscled pecs, almost making them pop a little. They were meaty enough to wanna grab them. Ok, wrong moment to be thinking like this.
“Please don’t be mad at me..” You mumbled and pulled your knees against your chest, unsure of yourself in the silence from two men who were usually bothering you whenever near you. “Shut the fuck- ” “Kid!” Wire cut his captain off before leveling you with his stern expression. “We aint mad. Killer was right, we didn’t act proper back there.”
“You wanted to show me how to swim, I get it. It’s not like you found it actually funny that I was struggling.” But the awkward silence just kind of confirmed it, they had found it funny and you technically knew it, thus establishing it. Making them think about it. You felt it was a good humbler for having done this as badly as it went down.
“Urgh.. it won’t happen again. Killer’s gonna do it.” Kid mumbled. Rubbing over his face with organic arm. “..He’ll do it properly.” he huffed.
Silence reigned once more and despite wanting to comfort them, you don’t. Feeling like it was a better thing for everyone if Wire and Eustass tasted some humility for the moment. It would only help.. hopefully.
To say some humility was gonna be helpful would be an understatement. No more dragging you around, hello asking for permission to drag you around. Never before had you felt so equal.
Though, it did little to quench your surprise when Kid asked you to hang out and you ended up in his private quarters with Wire. Him again. You were beyond confused. They acted normal but the setting was just off. Why here? You had never been allowed in here before and suddenly you were lounging on the captains bed, reading a book while Wire and Kid were discussing the properties of war.
You could vomit.
“-I guess, but wouldn’t nerve gas be more like.. dunno.. cooler? Just watch them all flump.” Wire hummed from where he was, on your left, nursing a bottle of booze. “Suit yourself. I wanna see some blunt trauma on those fucking assholes.” Kid, on your right, also nursing some sake.
“Or, maybe,” you cut in, “you let them live?” Both men needed a moment to process the idea alone before breaking into bellowing laughter, a massive hand from your left squeezing your thigh as Wire almost toppled off the bed. Kid wasn’t doing much better and you felt like an idiot.. that or a jester.
You sighed, ignoring the way both men were basically ridiculing you again and just left it at that, continuing to read before a hand ruffled your hair. “Damn it, you gonna keep going like this I’ll rupture my liver.” Kid snorted, slowly calming down as Wire giggled. “Aw please, if all that booze isn’t doing it, then she can’t either.” It made both men chuckle.
“I’m surprised it still lives like this.” You muttered, which made both men break into laughter again. Drunk, they were unbearable. This was not drunk yet but if they drank much more than this, they would be drunk and who knew what was gonna happen then. You were laying on his bed.. You wondered how it would feel..
And then you bite your tongue hard enough to make your eyes sting to drive away the familiar, warm, gut feeling as Kid leaned against you and grumbled in an amused manner. “Don’t be mad. We’re having fun, aren’t we?” And.. well, he was was right. You were having fun. Being here with them was nice. It made you remember what you had been too though.
Just to imagine.. there was a time where being this carefree would get you killed. Now here you were, living the dream. You were on a ship, travelling the world, close to friends, they were even your family.
“I think I may love this.” It finally just came right out of you. Both men broke their laughter and snickering abruptly off and Wire sat up a little. “Don’t make this weird.” He murmured but you gave him a swat. “Kick me out then. I’m about to be weird.” You replied but neither moved, paying close attention to you and what you were saying.
“I’m finally home.” It was a small statement with a huge, heavy meaning that would put a certain sense of responsibility upon them. But you meant it. Things were better now than they had ever been, your whole life.
“I don’t ever wanna go back there.” You finished being weird, then looked back into your book.
The silence was heavy on your shoulders but you felt calm. You did not think the
would toss you out for saying this and if they did, you would still understand the way they felt. Both men were being difficult whenever it came to their emotions. It was awfully difficult to get them to open up to the point of apologizing. Sometimes they never even did, no matter what they caused.
Unless you were Killer.
Kid had no issue apologizing to him.
You got that too, they were close in a way you would never understand. Their bond was something else.
“You won’t.” Kid sounded serious and when you looked up at him he was making a grim expression as if he was swearing his life to you. It made you smile and nestle into the man with a happy noise. “I know. I know I won’t. I’ll be a bother to you until the day I die!” You exclaimed, ready to just continue reading. Instead you got squeezed, making you drop your book.
Guess Wire felt excluded, for he had dropped against you, squishing you between Kid and himself and it made you laugh this time. It was almost domestic. In a way. If you closed your eyes and tuned out Kid complaining because Wire was too fucking heavy, you could even think of this as a cuddle. How very nice and comfortable.
With a grunt you pulled the rod firmly over the head of the marine that had been trying to get at you with a sword, the ugly crunch of metal cracking his skull not even making you wince. It was not your first murder and would not be your last one.
They came out of nowhere.
You never witnessed a ship which had cloaking but this one had and Killer was the first to notice it. When it was right next to the Victoria Punk. Right after the ship was flooded with massive marines that looked like they trained their whole life for this moment specifically and before anyone could count to three everyone was caught up in fighting.
You were almost mistaken for a prisoner if not for you going on the offense immediately and biting the man’s fingers off when he tried to grab you.
The sky got dark and for a moment there was the reflex of hiding, instead you looked up and saw the mass of metal gathering on the sky that was weapons and trash littering around on the Punk. Your eyes widened as the massive fist of metal hammered right through the opposing ship, ridding them of their only chance to get away.
The henchmen were howling in victory as the fell upon the marines like a pack of wolves, you among them but without the howling, too focused to not dying. You had not been in too many fights and this was new still, for the first time especially without your umbrella. You did not have the chance to grab it with the surprise attack.
Henchies and Marines alike clashed against one another and out of nowhere a hand grabbed your throat and lifted you. You were tossed across the deck, holding firmly onto your rod as you hit the ground and rolled over the bloody wood, gritting your teeth in pain and lifting your head to a marine stepping over the body of one of your friends.
It hurts like you always knew it would. Making friends just to lose them. With an angry scream you put our feet firmly on the deck, the rod in both hands as you bolted at him, dropping when he swung his sword and hammering the solid metal against his ankle first, feeling it crack under the weight and hearing the man howl above you. Yeah, that ought to hurt, you could guess. If someone were to break you ankle and then hit it a second time that was.
The man went down onto one knee, at which point you were already behind him, reeling your arms back and hitting him right onto the back of his head. It takes three times for him to be on the floor and you continued to beat him until there was nothing but paste one the floor where his head used to be.
That was not the end of it through, with a grunt you hit let your rod swing through the air to get rid of some of the brain matter, staring at it for a moment before you tore your gaze away and broke into a sprint to continue to aid your home in it’s defence.
“All in all, could have been worse, considering that they jumped us.” You were all gathered together, the crew, that was. You just joined them in their meeting and no one told you to leave like other henchmen. You guessed you were above that now in the point of their relationship with you. With a huff you continued to clean your rod but only managing to smear the blood around a bit.
You’d need proper water for this. Hot water. Later.
The voices sound far away from you, you’re moving on from what you lost, looked ahead as you always had done. There was nothing else to do. You lost buddies but that was it, you were alive. You would continue to be alive until you eventually died yourself and until then you would do your best. Stay alive longer.
You were covered in gunk and so was everyone else at this point. Still, you raised your hand. Some eyes went your way but most importantly Killer stopped talking, giving you room.
“How’d they hide like that? Wouldn’t it have been better to salvage the ship and kinna, dunno, steal that technology or whatever mumbo jumbo it is?” Kid bristled.
“First of all, we don’t have to hide from shit-“ “Valid point. If it happens again we ought to do that.” Killer cut his friend off, who fumbled and looked annoyed at being interrupted. “Like hell we have to.”
Everyone continued to bicker among them, you left the circle to breathe. Leaning against the bloodied railing and watched the henchies clean up the whole mess, tossing the marines over the railing as the ship drove away from the massacre. They were tossing the bodies of your comrades too. It.. felt fine. You were fine.
You looked down at your bloody rod. It was still dripping from the amount of guts it had to taste today.
“Y/N.” It made you flinch and turn around to see Wire stomp over, looking exhausted like everyone else. “Y’alright? This was a rough one.” Emotionally you would need to chew on this bit by bit but physically..? “I’m ok.” You stated. “I just have to get used to this. It was.. it was something.”
He nodded, looking over as some of the henchies threw out a friend, bawling like a bunch of children and you couldn’t blame them. If anyone you were actually close to.. the friends you had here being mostly superficial.. you would be bawling too. You’d bawl if Wire died, for example.
“You did definitely good for it. I was even caught off guard, bastards came right on by while I was on the fuckin’ shitter.” It made you smile weakly as you looked down at yourself. “..I need a shower. I’m covered in guts.” Wire snorted and leaned against the railing. “We could take one together.” It made you laugh this time, waving him off.
“Still not interested in a One Night Stand.” “Still don’t want one.” Eustass was noticing you two chat, shoving past Killer to invite himself. “The fuck are you two on about I can hear her fucking cackling from the mast.” “She wants to shower with us.” Your eyebrows went up with a snicker.
“No? I don’t? I said I’m not-“ “-looking for a One Night Stand, got it. Now c’mon. You still think I’d lie to you? Fine. Kid.” Wire looked like the cat that caught the canary as Eustass Kid made a face and gave Wire a look. “Now? Are you fucking with me?” “Rather do it now than never.” “We just- Fine, kiss it, fucking kiss my ass-“ He turned to you, cursing Wire out who snorted.
“Are you coming?” It was so simple, so easy but you knew better. Kid did not sleep with his henchies and he had ample opportunity with the amount of ladies on deck.
“I..” They were looking at you, expectantly. “..Yeah. Ok.”
Something told you, this would be good.