Chapter 08: At Sea (Late Winter 1505)
"Again," I ordered.
"Onee-sama," Hancock moaned. "Why do I have to participate in the drills, too? I'm the Vice-captain shouldn't I oversee them instead."
"You have to take part because you are the Vice-Captain. Everyone in a Leadership position should know exactly what it is you demand from your subordinates, and what better way is there than to experience it yourself," I lectured. "Besides, as small as our crew is, every one of us has to know exactly how to sail the ship."
"I see," Hancock said and went back to help her sisters unfold the sails of our ship. An activity I had them do the whole morning, so far I was impressed with what I was seeing, their dedication and teamwork was something many could learn from. They managed to reduce the time it took them to get it done by half in a single morning of concentrated effort.
While I had them running around on deck, I had some spiders I separated from my body weaving silk in my cabin to get them something to wear that did more than just cover their bodies but also protected them.
I didn't want to make the same mistake that nearly cost me, my whole team, twice. I learned this lection from not providing the Undersiders with Spider-silk costumes at the earliest opportunity the hard way. Furthermore, they were in dire need of clothes. Since they only had the rags they wore at the moment, onboard this ship.
I waited for them to set the sails and decided, to stop this here for the moment. With the wind starting to intensify, ending the calm, I tried to make use of by doing some drills with them.
After all, if we did this the whole day, we would never arrive anywhere. All the sailing we did yesterday, despite done under favorable conditions only brought us so far.
"Good job," I praised. "We will continue this another time. Now let's start your training."
"Training Onee-sama? But didn't we do that just now?" Hancock wondered.
"No, those were drills." I clarified. "For you to internalize every single movement required to be able to sail the ship. So that you don't have to think about what you are doing because eventually, we will get in a situation where we won't have the luxury to think; A situation in which our lives might depend on for you to be able to do all that blindfolded."
"Then what else do you want us to train," Sandersonia asked.
"To Fight obviously," I said, "didn't you all want to become strong Pirates?"
"We are going to be strong Pirates, Onee-Sama," Marigold informed us with unwavering conviction of her statement to become a reality.
"Strength is something you have to work for in order to achieve it, not something you are entitled to." I said, "which is why we are gonna train."
"Are we gonna get as strong as you Onee-Sama?" Hancock asked hopeful.
"Eventually you might," I conceded. "It depends on how far you are willing to go."
"What do we have to do?" Hancock eagerly wanted to know.
"Let's start with some push-ups," I said.
At least for now, I was holding back from telling them, what I ultimately planned to teach them. Given their readiness to do everything I asked of them, without a single complaint. To please me, their Onee-Sama, suited me just fine. And I had every intention to take full advantage of it while it lasted.
The minds of children are fickle. I fully expected them, at one point, to start to question the purpose of this training, my methods and showing off the Rokushiki techniques might be the one thing to keep them interested in it. Given my lack of prior experience with girls their age, their attention span, and how long their devotion to reach a goal would last, I thought proceeding this way to be a good idea.
After all, it wouldn't do me any good to shoot off all my ammunition at the very beginning, and seeing a demonstration of the Rokushiki when their motivation is about to hit a low point might be enough to turn it around. I just hoped the six incentives the Rokushiki was able to provide would be enough in that regard.
"How ... many ... do ... you ... want ... us ... to ... do?" Hancock inquired in between doing her push-ups.
"Keep it up until your arms feel like jelly, and you are no longer able to lift yourself from the ground," I said. "Then I want you to do knee bends until your thighs feel the same, following that sit-ups, running... and when you are done, with those exercises; you are to repeat them over and over again. Until there is not a single muscle in your body left not aching."
"Did ... you ... do ... all ... that ... to get ... so ... strong ... Onee-sama?" Sandersonia asked one word at a time whenever she reached the peak of a push-up.
"Yes" I confirmed, and I happened to eat a devil fruit, that allowed me to cheat, which probably saved me years it would have otherwise taken to get anywhere near my current strength. But that is something you didn't need to know about. At least not until you could use Geppou. I really wouldn't want to risk them to crave for a Devil Fruit, while they were unable to keep themselves from falling into the sea.
I was still on the fence on telling them about the four devil Fruits hidden under the planks, in the hidden compartment of my cabin. Let alone letting them eat any, despite there clearly being a connection between three of those fruits and the girls doing their exercises right in front of me.
Did I really trust this newly gained ability to bet the lives of those kids on it? A devil fruit wasn't something that could just be taken back. It was a life-altering event to eat one of those, and I had no idea what abilities those fruits might grant them. What if it turned out to be a useless or unwanted ability? Would they hold it against me having traded their ability to swim for what they might end up with?
A question that didn't need answering today. Even with Soru and Geppou considered as the two easier to learn techniques out of the six, it would take them weeks to get anywhere with them. Though I had to admit I was impressed with them. Their bodies were in excellent condition, stronger by quite an enormous margin compared to mine, when I first had arrived here.
Considering the headstart they had in regards to Haki. They undoubtedly would be a force to be reckoned with within a few years. I wondered how strong those Kuja Pirates were when all the children living on Amazon Lily received the same training.
If Rayleigh was to be believed, and I had no reason to doubt anything he had said, Haki users in the First Half of the grand-line were nearly unheard of. But right in front of me were three kids, being living proof that there are exceptions to every rule.
I had my fun watching them exhaust themselves and calling them out when they started to slack off or got slower. For now, it was enough to remind the girls of their goals. Telling them, `If they stop now, they will never become a strong Pirate´ was more than enough to keep them going.
I watched and spurred them on for quite some time, the wind blowing in my hair on this sunny day, the sisterly japing from my cute little fosterlings, and I started to really enjoy, to feel at home. My thoughts drifted to Lisa... I stopped them from going any further; the memory that crept its way into my thoughts immediately souring my mood.
I wasn't sure if I gave something away. Either through my face or my Aura since I was lax in reigning it in, controlling what feelings it displayed since we left Sabaody behind. For a reason unknown, Sandersonia stopped in the middle of a set of push-ups at exactly that moment my thoughts drifted and flipped herself on her back.
She gave me the strangest of looks with her cheeks reddened her breathing heavily, all the while sweating profusely. Her clothes were clinging to her skin as if she just arose from the water she took a swim in.
While she was still trying to regain her breath in order to have enough air to voice whatever it was, she wanted to share with us. Her stomach started to growl, and by this, I meant roar. It drowned out the wind and the heavy breathing of her and her sister effortlessly.
Hancock and Sandersonia, unable to suppress their laughter at their sister's plight, could no longer sustain the body tension necessary for their push-ups and joined their sister on the ground.
Marigold looked bewildered at them for a moment only to join in with them, and I couldn't hide the smirk that sneaked on my lips.
"Let's stop here for today," I said. "Why don't you all go and wash yourselves, and after you are done. Sandersonia can show us her skills as a cook and prepare a delicious meal for us? We wouldn't want any of you to go hungry, now would we?"
I threw to each of them a water flask yet again. Since I stressed how important drinking during strenuous physical activity was. They didn't hesitate, and each took a huge gulp from the flasks to quench their thirst...
"I have prepared you a bath in the cargo hold," I said.
Their joy at the end of the torturous training session only lasted till they tried to move under deck.
"I can't feel my feet," complained Sandersonia.
"Au, au, au" were the sounds Hancock made with every step she took.
The only one making their way down in silence was Marigold, but she couldn't hide the grimace her face turned into with every other step.
They took their sweet time to get themselves cleaned up, soaking in the three-barrel of seawater I had prepared in advance. The empty cargo hold was ideal for that, the only room not allocated a purpose and spacious enough to hold the barrels. Since the rest of the ship with the three rather small cabins was rather spartan in regards to free space or fulfilled another purpose like the kitchen or the toilet it was also the only room that could reasonably be used for that.
And the three cabins split made a certain sense, allowing for the day and night shift crews to have their own cabins. It would help to reduce the chance of disturbing the others during their sleep. The designers of the ship even went so far as to have them on the opposing sides of the ship. One cabin was located backboard and the other starboard only separated by the hallway the staircases lead down to.
The last cabin was being placed aft, giving its size with only one large hammock in it, clearly the one intended for the captain. The first time noticing the lack of a cot or bed I was surprised, thinking about it, it made a lot of sense given what type of ship the Sakura was. She was built to lean into the wind, which meant the ship wouldn't be horizontal most of the time. On the contrary, tilted will be her default state during travels, and no one wants to fall out of a bed mid-sleep, something a cot couldn't prevent from happening a hammock, however, could, by leaning the same way the ship did at any time.
I took advantage of their lack of vigilance and replaced their discarded clothes with the first set of spider-silk ones I finished. Weaving them kept me awake the previous night, and only during their training was I able to finish them. I had my spiders steal the rags they wore. They wouldn't be needed any longer.
It was quite funny to listen in to their chatter when they finally decided after their skin had turned pruney to emerge only to find their clothes they had strewn about the room in a straight line to the barrels missing.
"Onee-san someone stole my clothes," Marigold exclaimed surprised.
"Mine are missing, too," Hancock said.
"Who could have done this, aren't we the only ones on board?" Sandersonia wondered.
"Of course we are," Hancock reassured them "Onee-sama would know otherwise and would have taken care of any stowaway and I didn't sense anybody else onboard either."
On the one hand, the trust they obviously had in me was adorable. On the other hand, somewhat disturbing. If they kept this up, I might think of myself as a sect leader.
"What is that?" Sandersonia asked and pointed to the three bundles of clothes marked with their names lying on a small bench next to some towels.
They all approached the Bench dripping wet, leaving puddles in their wake. Sandersonia was the first to reach for a bundle of clothes with her name attached.
"Clothes" she confirmed and held them up "the fabric is so soft" she mused while caressing it with her fingers and even went as far as to bury her face in it. This served as the go-ahead for her sisters to overcome their initial reluctance and moved to touch their own bundles.
"So soft and tender" acknowledged Marigold while rubbing her cheek against the clothes in her hand.
Hancock tried her hardest to keep her dignity intact as the older sister and refused to give in to her desire to do the same. My bugs could see her eyes twitch, occasionally when she looked at her sisters snuggling with their clothes.
Hancock was more reserved in how she made her observations, acting the big sister. Nonetheless, she clearly was impressed, if her diligence and caution with which she traced the clothes were anything to go by.
"I'm never going to wear anything else in my life If I can help it." She suddenly declared only to receive passionate nods from her sisters. They took the towels and dried themselves in record time and nearly fell over themselves more than once in an attempt to put on their clothes.
I had their outfits designed with their previous ones in mind. No easy task, with all those missing pieces in those torn shreds, that at one point might have qualified for clothing. I did the only thing, they could still be used for and had my spiders throw them overboard.
I had to rely on guesswork and no small amount of imagination to reach the conclusion, that the rags I found them in, might have been qipao dresses or some variation thereof.
Of course, I made some adjustments. My first priority was the continued physical integrity of the girls, which is why I regretted not having any hard bug-shells at hand to reinforce the clothes around the vital parts of the wearer. It was something I planned to rectify at the earliest convenience. That meant, for now, the multilayer spider-silk-weave their clothes were made of had to suffice in safeguarding them.
I fashioned them after piqao dresses and made them high-collared to protect their throats and body-hugging, contrary to how they are usually designed. I made them longsleeved down to their wrists. Combined with the gloves I prepared, it would allow them to enclose the entirety of their arms in slash and piercing resistant fiber.
For completion's sake, I added pants more resembling stockings. Since they also extended over their vulnerable feet. With the difference of the fiber being a thick multi-weave more resembling to what one would use for pants. The soles were further reinforced to last a long time, even if worn without footwear.
The dresses themselves were slit up, up to their thighs in order to not impede the movement of their legs. I took great care in ensuring the hem of the dress wasn't long enough for them to accidentally step on it in a stressful situation and lose their balance or worse, trip over it.
That left only their heads unprotected; the reason for this once more was the lack of suitable materials to make anything that wouldn't just end looking like fancy headwear without any real protective-properties. Like so many other lessons, I had to learn the hard way how important a wholly enclosed helmet is. Because of this, I had every intention to have some made for all of them as soon as possible.
I already had started with another set of clothes but was determined to wait a few more days to make any more. The reason for this was two-fold. First, I wanted to observe if the clothes didn't impede them in any way to adjust the following designs to accommodate their preferences. Furthermore, I had to make sure the measurements I took of them while they slept were accurate, as it turned out it was no easy task to do so with bugs.
They thrashed around and turned constantly. In addition, I had to dodge their attempts to swat away my little crawlies while they slept. It nearly became an exercise in futility.
But since I didn't want to wake them from their more than deserved rest. Also, because I couldn't be sure of how they would have reacted to be swarmed by spiders for measurements. I thought it prudent to proceed without their knowledge, and to a lesser degree, I wanted them kept in the dark about my devil-fruit powers to avoid them becoming an issue.
For the most part, I intended to prevent them from seeking one of their own, just to be more like me. My mind wasn't made up in this regard, nor did I want to lie to them.
When they finished putting on their new attire, the girls converged. Each one of the three making up the apex of an equilateral triangle. Grim-faced, looking at each other until they all started to smirk and began chanting.
"Deadly like Cobra-Venom,
fast like a black mambas strike,
strong and unrelenting like a constrictor,
sharp like a snake Fang"
During all this, they performed a silly dance mimicking certain aspects of the behavior of snakes.
I felt a knot in my chest at seeing this, remembering a young Emma and I doing something similar, a dance we made up once upon a time to cement our friendship. I pushed those memories down before the two years of abuse I suffered at her hand had time to resurface, too. I didn't want to give them the opportunity to taint their display of genuine affection and sisterhood.
The determination to preserve not only their lives but their childlike innocence, their naivety strengthened as I watched them. Even though I knew how futile such an endeavor would be. There was just no way to succeed; this world and my old had far too much in common, and my path would undoubtedly lead me right into the heart of the darkness of this world.
When they were done with their dance Hancock asked.
"Who is gonna become a super-strong Pirate?"
"We are!"
They all yelled, which was followed up by giggling, that soon was accompanied by stomach grumbling from all of them. Awkwardly rubbing their bellies.
"We better start cooking," Hancock noted, which her sister agreed with, given their nods and made their way towards the kitchen.
Aspiring to follow in their role models footsteps was commendable. But I was sure they romanticized the life as a Pirate even more so than I had done with the life of a Hero, something I couldn't fault them for doing. After all, they were a few years younger than I had been when I first set out and should have known better.
Which, to be honest, had me in a bind. Do I correct their worldview and prepare them for the reality that awaits them, or would it be better if they experience what it was really like for themselves?
How would I have reacted, if Lisa wouldn't have soft sold me what it was like with her whole cops and robbers spiel, to diminish that being a cape was a life and death struggle most of the time.
Knowing myself, not well in the slightest, I more than likely would have gone my own separate way, without a team at my back and people who knew what they were doing. Given what I know now and what events ultimately transpired in Brockton Bay. It was not unreasonable to think I wouldn't have made it, someone or something would have gotten me sooner or later, and the list of possible culprits was a long one.
Despite my faults and the destination, my journey was gonna take me. I had to admit to myself that they would be safer and more prepared for what was to come if they stayed close to me instead of allowing them to follow their own path.
In the kitchen, Marigold took out pots and put them over the small fireplace.
"Nee-San can you light the fire?" she asked Sandersonia, who proceeded to place some logs under the pots and lighted them.
Meanwhile, Marigold started to slice vegetables and meat into small pieces, which was understood by her sister as an invitation to attempt stealing food from her in order to take the edge of their hunger. At least this was how I interpreted their hands slowly sneaking closer and closer to the food, carefully trying to avoid detection.
"Au, don't be mean." Hancock cried out when her sister stopped her attempt to spirit some food away by slapping her hand.
Perhaps hide and seek should be added to their routine, for them to get a feel for covert stuff, because this was just pathetic. They wouldn't even manage to steal a soother from a baby.
"Then don't go stealing food until it is properly cooked." Marigold chided.
"But that is gonna take forever, I'm hungry," Hancock whined. Apparently, no longer caring about her older sister role when it came to still her hunger.
"The more you interfere with my cooking, the longer it is gonna take." Marigold deadpanned.
"Moah, Mari don't be that way. Give me just a little something to last." Hancock begged.
"No, as this crews cook, food dispensation is under my purview. And you get your share when I'm done not before." Marigold had barely closed her mouth saying that. When Sandersonia coming from the other side, took advantage of the distraction Hancock provided her with and successfully stole some food and stuffed her mouth with it.
Marigold narrowed her eyes and grabbed Sandersonia and Hancock by their earlobes, and dragged them out of the kitchen. She was ignoring the protest and pleading of Hancock the whole way, whereas Sandersonia was occupied chewing the contents in her mouth, that had her look like some greedy hamster with her stuffed cheeks. Marigold closed the door behind them and returned to her task.
"That is an unfair treatment. As Vice-Captain I order you to let us back in." Hancock pleaded in front of the closed-door, hammering against it.
"Why are you so cruel to your sisters, withholding food. Don't you love us? ... Mari?" her pleading became more desperate but had no effect whatsoever. Marigold on the other side of the door ignored her completely.
A fact Hancock seemed to recognize too, her focus shifted to the sister who was banished together with her. Her eyes narrowed at the still chewing Sandersonia.
"This is all your fault, couldn't you have worked in concert with me distracting her alternating so both of us could claim some spoils?" She said angered while continuously poking the chest of her sister, who seemed to ignore her sister's rant, still occupied with chewing.
Hancock evidently became aware of the futility of what she was doing and literally tried to tear her hair out to relieve her frustration but gave it up before it could come to that and instead just stomped away frustrated.
If this was their usual behavior, then I was in for a fun ride.
Hancock marched into one of the storage rooms and started rummaging through the crates she found there. It was obvious, that she didn't do this just to still her curiosity. On the contrary, she was out on a mission and was searching for something specific.
It took her a few minutes in which the pile of items she gathered rose in height until she finally seemed to be satisfied when she found a stack of books deep down in a crate. She skimmed through it and a content grin formed on her lips.
She climbed down from shelve and refastened all the crates she opened and then took her spoils and made her way past Sandersonia, who watched this proceeding with great interest and started to follow her big sister.
They both came up on deck shortly after. Hancock placed the items on the ground near the entrance minus the book she found and approached me at the helm holding it close to her chest.
She moved to my side and presented me with the book at the end of her outstretched arms, grinning she said.
"Here Onee-Sama, for you."
With raised eyebrows, not knowing what to expect, I accepted it from her. I skimmed through it, fully suspecting the book to contain a printed story of some kind. Even a handwritten journal wouldn't have surprised me given the general technological level of this world. But seeing a completely empty book with only white, untouched, sheets of paper in it certainly was a surprise.
I closed the book and looked at her.
"It is empty," I stated.
"Of course it is," she said smirking. "Our journey has only just begun." Understanding dawned on me when she continued to explain. "It is logbook, for the captain to record all the adventures the crew is experiencing."
I didn't actually share her enthusiasm. I was never a fan of paperwork of any kind; working two years for the government just reinforced that notion.
It was probably something she thought Pirates or, to be more precise, the captain, had to do.
"I see," I remarked emotionless. Immediately, Hancock picked up on my apathy, and her smile faltered, which compelled me to add. "I will treasure it, and I will be sure to write down everything that happened to us on our journey. Thank you."
Which, as it turned out, was the right thing to say. Given by her reaction jumping up and down like a little energizer bunny.
I looked down on the book I held in my hands and sighed. Well, keeping a logbook shouldn't be so bad, and if it kept her happy, why not. Inwardly I hoped the entries would turn out to be more positive, than those my last diary was filled with.
When I looked up, Hancock had returned to her pile and with Sandersonia started to spread the items out. This was the first time I laid my own eyes on them.
She placed the color cartridges aside and flattened the cloth piece she used as an improvised pouch to carry all the items up here. She then inspected all the writing utensils she brought with her brushes and the like. When she was satisfied with what she got. She started to draw on some loose paper she placed on top of the cloth.
No longer able to keep her curiosity in check, Sandersonia probed.
"What are you doing Onee-San?"
"What do you think, imouto-chan?" Hancock mumbled absently minded focused on her task.
"Drawing?" Sandersonia wondered out loud.
"Drawing!" Hancock playfully quaked
"That's what you think I'm doing. I expected more of my imouto-chan." She continued to tease after her little outburst. "For you to recognize the importance of what I'm doing. After all, I'm about to correct an oversight that prevented us from being recognized as REAL pirates." Hancock all but declared.
Not that her words would have helped her little sister in figuring out what was going on. Her interest, on the other hand, was roused further.
Sandersonia came closer and moved behind Hancock to see what she was working on.
"Ohh!" was what she exclaimed. "Please, Onee-sama let me help you," she begged.
Wordless Hancock made some space for her sister and gave her access to her tools. Within moments, they were solely focused on what they were doing, dead to their surroundings, their hunger forgotten.
They also managed to ignore the various scents the air coming from downstairs carried with it, each one being more enticing than the last. My mouth watered at the prospect to get the first decent meal in years, because what Rayleigh called food hardly qualified as such.
Sure it sated one but so did eating paper, and there wasn't much difference between those two. He might have been a Legendary Pirate and is undoubtedly still one of the strongest men this world had to offer a cook, on the other hand, he was not.
I would have liked to boast of my ability to make better meals than he was capable of. As a consequence of my mother's death, I cooked for myself, and doing so should have taught me a thing or two about cooking. Alone out of necessity, you can only survive on frozen food for so long, until you can't stomach looking at, let alone eat it.
The problem was all my knowledge and the dozen or so dishes I was confident in preparing required ingredients the Island we were on just didn't have. The few experiments in which I tried to substitute things the Island lacked with something found on the Island turned out to be even more inedible than what Rayleigh did manage to produce, which was the reason I gave it up. Wasting the few hours of downtime I was allowed each day on this doomed to fail project.
Therefore I hardly could fault my body reacting this way, in joyful anticipation to have once more a use for my sense of taste.
I didn't have to endure the torture of only smelling the food for long. Marigold emerged a few minutes after the first attack on my senses took place with four large steaming soup bowls and a loaf of freshly baked bread carefully balanced on top of a tray.
She stopped on the last step of the stairs incredulous looking at her sisters. Both not even budging from their position on the floor.
"You could have told me that you stuffed yourself with air and no longer require food. So I wouldn't have bothered to prepare four bowls. This way and could have spared me from having to wash the two dishes not needed."
"Mari, don't you see we are occ..."
Hancock came that far with her reprimand until her brain started to process what her senses were registering.
"Food!" Hancock exclaimed and jumped on her feet. In the blink of an eye, she had raced towards her sister, nearly barreling Sandersonia and her cargo over, coming to a stop at the last possible moment. She unceremoniously reached for a Bowl and some bread. With both in hand, she returned to her place as fast as the stew in her bowl permitted.
"I'm starving!" Hancock shouted before she lifted a steaming spoon filled with the stew in the air.
I was about to open my mouth to warn her, but she gave me no time to do so and had the spoon stuffed it in her mouth before a sound could leave my lips. I could watch how her eyes started to water, and her tongue was occupied, moving the hot contents of her mouth from left to right.
I bent down and took one of the flasks standing at my feet and threw it to Hancock. Despite having trouble to keep her mouth from ending up a blistering mess, she had enough presence of mind to catch it. With some impressive swiftness, she removed the cap and took a huge gulp.
"That hit the spot!" Hancock said only to look sheepish my way. "Thank you Onee-sama."
"You really should be more careful. We don't have a doctor that could stitch you back together in case you hurt yourself," I said. "That applies to all of you."
"Hehehe, sorry I didn't think it would be that hot - no matter; Mari you did good that stew is incredible." Hancock praised while blowing air at her next overfilled spoon, not wasting a second to eat.
Sandersonia showed some wisdom by not repeating her big-sisters mistake and exercised the necessary caution by probing the heat of her food by flicking her tongue like a snake right before she put it in her mouth.
Marigold walked up to me and handed me my own plate and a few slices of bread.
"Thank you," I said. "That looks and smells really great."
I sat down cross-legged under the watchful gaze of Marigold and took my first bite of her stew after taking my time blowing at the steaming hot spoon, and I had to agree with the verdict of Hancock it really was great.
To Marigold, who was still watching me like a hawk, waiting for my assessment, I said after swallowed the contents in my mouth.
"Your sister is right, this is great. If I wouldn't have been sure before of you being the right girl for the position of our crews cook; A small taste of this and you would have convinced me of it."
She avoided my eyes and looked down at the ground while nervously shuffling with her right foot.
"T... Thank you." was her whispered response.
Oh, did she have trouble accepting praise? Or was it praise from somebody she admired?
I waited for her to sit down and for her to eat herself. But she remained standing and shuffling around. The unpleasant silence was only interrupted by the occasional eating sound of her sisters and threatened to drag on a long time. I decided to show her some mercy. She didn't deserve to be teased by her sisters for this, certainly not after conjuring up this meal.
I leaned a little her way to reduce the chance to be overheard by her sisters and whispered
"Marigold, your meal is getting cold."
She made a faint peep sound by being ripped out of her state of contemplation. She was flustered, with a pink tinge to her cheeks. Avoiding looking at me, she sat down and, with her eyes trained on her food, she started eating.
I couldn't help but inwardly smile at that situation.
For the rest of the meal, we ate in silence, all of us too occupied enjoying the sensory impressions to talk.
The portions Marigold prepared for us were big enough to fill all our bellies, even those of the children after the heavy workout I had them do. Well, the remains in the half-full pot are going to end up as our supper.
"While we are busy with digesting, let's talk about our schedule from today on."
"Schedule, Onee-sama?" Hancock wondered.
"Yes, we need a plan in place on how to split waking hours between us," I said. "We are now on the sea with Pirates roaming them, so we have to take precautions not to be raided while we are all asleep. We have to be vigilant, and at least one of us has to be awake at all times to be in a position to warn the rest of us."
They nodded their heads in understanding.
"Do you want to split us up into four shifts, each eight hours in length? Sandersonia asked.
"It would be a reasonable assumption for you to think that, if you would all be adults but since you are not. This is how we are gonna do it," I said. "You three together will be responsible for the ships twelve hours a day from six in the morning to six in the afternoon, and I will be taking care of the twelve hours at night."
"But then we won't see each other Onee-sama, you will be sleeping when we are awake and we will sleep when you are awake," Marigold stated.
"Who is gonna train and teach us?" Hancock asked.
"I am," I said.
"How?" Sandersonia inquired.
"Well, if you would allow me to finish, I was about to tell you exactly that," I said.
"Sorry, Onee-sama." Sandersonia and Hancock sheepish admitted.
"As I said before, I was so rudely interrupted," I voiced in the best impression of my mother's stern and lecturing manner I could manage "I will take the night shift; guarding you during the night and will wake you come morning. You then will proceed to train your body like we just did. You best take turns with one of you having an eye on the course and the horizon. The same applies when you bathe, cook, etc. One of you needs to be vigilant at all times. I trust our Vice-captain can handle that?"
"Of course, Onee-sama leave it to me. You won't be disappointed," Hancock declared.
"I know I won't, but that is neither an excuse for you to slack off. After all, only those that take their training seriously will get anywhere nor for you, Hancock, to think you have to handle all by yourself. If anything is happening out of the ordinary, be it a ship on the horizon, raining toads, whatever. I want you to wake me. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Onee-sama!" She promised.
I allowed my eyes to roam, and when they fell on Sandersonia and Marigold, it elicited a fervor nod from them.
"Good, that means in case nothing happened during the mornings, you will then wake me up around noon." This would allow me around six hours of sleep; Being roughly the amount I was used to. I could go without sleep, by splitting myself into two iterations.
I could then have the smaller one stay awake while the other larger part slept. By remerging, after the larger part got her good nights rest I could circumvent my need for sleep. The problem with this, I would find myself in a constant state of light sleepiness, similar to not getting a good night's rest, something that would present me with nothing more than some inconvenience and discomfort.
Still, it was not a state I would like to find myself in for a prolonged amount of time, if not absolutely necessary.
Doing it this way also had some advantages. It would distance the security blanket I was, in their eyes from them. Of course, it wouldn't be gone entirely. Nonetheless, the kids would have to make their own decisions, think things through, learn to take responsibility, which might be exactly what was needed for them to build up some trust in their own capabilities or, in Hancock's case, regain it.
Furthermore, this would allow me to train away from their prying eyes. After all, I had to get used to wielding the new sword in my possession.
"After we take our meals together, I'm gonna take over your training for the rest of the day," I continued to say.
"What will you teach us?" Sandersonia asked.
"That depends mostly on what I think you need to improve on. For a start, we will focus on the development of your Haki and see how that goes. That reminds me, we lack certain tools to do that." I said.
"In the storage room fastened on the right side, you will find a bowl about knee height with a diameter of more than a meter. Could two of you bring it up here? And could you also fetch the fine-weave fishnet lying on the desk in my cabin?" Another late night project of mine.
Sandersonia and Marigold stood up and went downstairs. I stood up and took the helm in my hands and adjusted our course to intercept the other `tool´ required for their training I sensed from miles away.
Without turning my head, I addressed the still behind me sitting Hancock.
"Care to tell me, what you and Sandersonia were doing commanding such an attention, that you even forgot your own hunger?"
"We were designing a Jolly Roger for our Pirate Crew," she proudly declared.
"A Jolly Roger," I repeated. I didn't know much about the topic. Before I found myself in this world, I never would have thought of such knowledge to worthwhile. What little I did know was, that the use here and back home greatly differed. On Bet, the Pirates only announced themselves as Pirates by raising their Pirate Flag when their intended victim was within range.
They used it as a declaration of intent, allowing the other ship the opportunity to decide on what to do, surrender, or fight. In this world, according to Rayleigh, the Jolly Roger was a matter of Pride for the Pirates, and they wouldn't even consider sailing under a false flag, not their own.
It was a stupid sentiment, why paint a target for the marines on your back if you can avoid it. I couldn't be the first one to contemplate this, which gave credence to there being a hidden meaning of some kind.
My best guess, it was about reputation and I knew exactly, since my time with the Undersiders, how important reputation could be if one happened to be on the wrong side of the law.
It was a currency more valuable than gold, and it said a lot about you.
If you can fly a Pirate Flag constantly, it carried with it certain implications for one; the most important being about your crew's strength.
"Did you settle on a design?" I wondered.
"No, I was mostly practicing. I... I have trouble coming up with a unique motive. Something that really fits, you know," she confided.
"I see," I said. I really didn't want to damp her enthusiasm. It was obvious to see how into creating an identifier for our crew she was. However much I disliked doing it, I had to.
"Hancock, I won't forbid you to pursue creating a Jolly Roger for us, our crew, but you should know it might take quite some time before we can sail under it," I said.
"Why? Aren't you a Pirate? Aren't we Pirates? A jolly roger is important without it... we are no real Pirates." Hancock attempted to make her case.
I sighed, how to best explain it to her.
"I'm aware," I said. "Tell me what would be the effects of us flying a Jolly Roger."
"We would fulfill another requirement to be real Pirates," Hancock answered.
"Go on," I prompted her. "What else?"
"We would show to the World, that this is a Pirate ship," she said.
"Exactly," I confirmed "and why might drawing attention to us be a problem?"
I didn't need to look at her to know, that her face was strained in concentration. Eyebrows narrowed, contemplating my question.
"The Marines might attack us," she offered as an explanation, unsure of her words.
"Yes, that is one of the reasons why I'm reluctant to do this," I conceded. "Another one is; that as Pirates, we might not be allowed access to every Island we come across. Both of those things will hinder our progress and inconvenience us one way or the other, but that isn't the main reason why I'm against it. Do you have an idea as to what that might be?"
After a minute in which she was unable to come up with an answer to my question, I saved her by explaining.
"When we are eventually attacked, be it from the Marines or another Pirate crew trying to establish their superiority over us, we will have to fight against them. I'm strong, I can hold my own in a fight, but can you or your sisters do the same as you are now?" I asked her.
Her response to this question was silence.
"I can take on the average Pirate crew on my own, and in the first half of the Grand-line, anything better is quite a rarity," I said. "Nonetheless, just because something doesn't occur normally doesn't mean it never will," I paused to allow that to sink in.
"Remember those two guys with the devil-fruits back on Sabaody, neither one of them, given their strength, should have been found this side of the Grand-line. Despite that, they were on this side, and against guys like them even I might find myself hard-pressed fighting them and protecting you and your sisters at the same time." I tried to caution her from the notion to think infallible.
"Do you think you and your sister could stand up to someone like that in a fight? Or that you could outrun them?" I asked her.
"No, I don't think you could," I answered the rhetoric question myself.
"So tell me," I asked. "Should I risk your and your sister's well-being by just assuming we won't run into such dangerous guys again?" I needed to drive the point home that the danger to her and her sisters was far from over.
"No." was her curt response, and she ended up pouting.
"Don't worry, if you keep training, it won't be long until I give you permission to paint our sails with the motive for our Pirate flag you came up with."
Saying those words was the first step in reconciling with her, and it also served to alleviate her souring mood.
We ended our discussion when Marigold and Sandersonia emerged from the stairs carrying the bowl in between them.
Their timing was impeccable.
"Thank you. Place it on the ground over there, next to the railing." I said.
They did as bid and put it down.
"Hancock, would you be so kind, to take over the helm? You two should take a step back if you don't want to take another, involuntary bath." I said as I moved to the bowl and relinquished control over the ship to Hancock.
I bent down and removed the spider-silk net the two had put inside from within the bowl, then proceeded to unfold it and threw it over the railing. The net was dragged alongside the ship for a few seconds until I was sure enough fish had been caught in it.
In a swift motion, I hauled it back on deck right into the bowl, thanks to my speed and the semi permeability of the net, not only the fish but a huge chunk of seawater landed in the bowl.
Sandersonia and Marigold for their own good followed my advice and escaped being splashed.
"So far so good, now please sit down," I bid them.
I had the three girls arranged around the bowl filled with those tiny fish, no bigger than a segment of a finger.
"As a first step in your Kenbunshoku Haki training, I want you to catch those fish. To do so, you sit down in front of the bowl, and with one swift motion, you try to grab one. In case you managed to catch one, you put it back in and try again. You graduate from this exercise if you can catch ten fish in succession." I explained.
"That's easy. We won't even need Haki for this," Sandersonia said.
I raised my eyebrow at that comment.
"Someone seems to be sure of herself. Why don't you go ahead demonstrate for your sisters exactly how easy this is."
"Sure, piece of cake," Sandersonia said and sat herself down cross-legged in front of the bowl. She pulled up her sleeves and then started to intently study the movement of the fish, trying to discern some pattern in their erratic changes of directions. Suddenly her flat hand shoot out, dipped into the water, closed itself before it was retracted equally fast. She proceeded to open her hand only to find it empty.
"Huh, where is the fish?" She wondered, "I was sure I had him."
Hancock and Marigold had trouble keeping their giggling contained at seeing her sister fail at, as she put it, a seemingly easy task.
Meanwhile, I asked her,
"Am I right in the assumption you struck the exact spot you saw the fish being present?"
"Of course, where else should I have attacked," she answered put off why I would even ask that.
I threw a coin into the bowel and watched it sink to the ground.
"Reach for the coin," I ordered.
She put her hand in the water and moved her fingertips at the exact spot she saw the coin lying on the ground only to find her fingers touching nothing but the bowl.
"Keep touching the ground and move your hand in a straight line closer to yourself," I directed her movement.
"I have it." she proclaimed and removed her hand from the bowl, this time with the coin in it.
"What just happened Onee-sama," Sandersonia asked curiously.
"You just witnessed an optical illusion or, more precisely, the refraction of light passing from one medium to another."
They all looked at me with mouths open as if my head was sprouting leaves, not comprehending what I just told them.
"For us in order to see something with our eyes, the object or person we are looking at has to reflect the light making contact with the surface of it and from there needs to be redirected to our eyes. This is one of the reasons why we can't see when it is dark; no light means no reflection and therefore nothing to register for our eyes."
"I see. But what has that to do with the coin not being at the spot where I saw it." Sandersonia asked impatiently.
"I was coming to that," I said. "You see, light moves slower in certain materials than it does in air, for example, water. This means when light passes from air to water and vice versa, it gets refracted. Letting it look like as if the thing you are looking at is somewhere else."
"Is there a way to prevent this from happening?" Sandersonia inquired.
"There are ways to diminish or eliminate this effect entirely. For example, if you look straight down from above the water surface to an object the refraction is non-existent. Allowing you to see the object position even though it submerged in water and while you are not."
Sandersonia was about to stand up when I placed my hand on her shoulder and stopped her.
"This exercise is not about how to circumvent the refraction and get reliable information with your sense of sight. It is about teaching you that your senses, no matter which one, can be tricked, and for you to not get overreliant on just one of them. You have to use them in concert, and this exercise is designed in such a way that you have to disregard sight. Humans most trusted sense, in order to first notice the discrepancy to what your other senses tell you and to rely on your Haki, even though your eyes tell you different." I explained.
"So with that said, I hope it became clear to you that you need to stay at the edge of the bowl no leaning over it or changing your point of view while you try to catch some fish, understood?"
"Yes, Onee-sama." All three of them said in chorus.
"Good, then see to it."
Authors Note: I'm aware, that a Cobra doesn't possess the most deadly venom of all the snakes in existence and that this title is either held by the Inland Taipan or some sea-snake. But the Boa sisters don't know/care about that.
