Chapter Text
Jinbei had explained to you he wasn’t with the Sun Pirates anymore on account of joining a new crew. One lead by a man he was sure would be the next pirate king. So ironclad was his conviction that he broke age-old taboos to give him a blood transfusion when he lay battered and broken after saving Fishman Island from the attempted coup that had apparently gone down a while before you arrived.
While he wasn’t changing his mind any time soon, you couldn’t help but notice the… almost flustered look he had on his face when he began trying to describe what the crew was like. Eventually, they managed to get some down-time between their voyages and adventures to come back and visit the place you now called home, so he said he’d bring them around one by one. You thought that’d be for the best. It’d let you get to know them better and, worst-case-scenario, deal with them better.
But as you’d find out the hard way, the only folks that could deal with the Strawhats were, well, the Strawhats.
---
The captain came first. Monkey D. Luffy. And… yeah you can get why Jinbei wasn’t too enthusiastic about describing the guy.
He wasn’t a bastard at least, the girls seemed to be quite fond of him on account of his earlier heroics. The problem came from his grabby hands. Now normally if a guest was getting handsy it meant they were trying to paw at one of the dancers, not stretching their rubbery limb across half the restaurant to swipe some poor fool’s meal.
The first time you just shrugged. The third time you sighed. By the fifth you finally strode up and clamped a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at you while still chewing a massive wad of breaded fish.
“…Mph… Who’re you supposed to be?”
“Urchin.”
“Oh!” He exclaimed, eyes going bright and chewed food spilling from his mouth. You knew this guy was a pirate but even then he should’ve had better table manners. “You’re Jinbei’s Nakama!”
“Yes I am. I’m also the security around here.”
“Ah that’s great! Lotta weirdos around here, no idea why!”
“Mhm. And it’s my job to deal with them. So, boss-man, if someone stole another customers food, that’d be a little weird right?”
“Stealing food!? Like meat!?”
“Oh yeah,” you grumbled, looking at the small pile of bones in front of him. “Lots of meat.”
“What kinda weirdo steals someone else’s meat!? I’ll kick his ass!”
“Luffy?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s you. You’re the weirdo.”
“…Eh?”
“Did ya pay for any of those plates in front of you?”
“Huh? Oh, nah I just grabbed em!” He smiled. It was partially infectious but mostly you just felt like you were about to pop a blood vessel.
“Right. Okay. And where do you think they came from?”
“I dunno. Just felt around till I touched some sweet, juicy meat!” He answered before chomping into another pilfered piece. Damn, this guy really talked just like every other pervert you’d had to kick the crap out of, but you didn’t get a single lecherous vibe off of him! It was frankly baffling.
“Luffy,” you said softly, like a kindergarten teacher THIS close to cussing out the problem-child. “That was somebody else’s meat.”
“…Oooooh.”
“Yeah.”
“…”
“…”
The pair of you continued to stare at each-other in silence, until somewhere behind you came another indignant cry of “HEY!” just as Luffy’s hitherto unseen hand snapped back into view, clasped around a hunk of meat-on-the-bone. He didn’t even break eye-contact as he bit into it.
“Sho you been working here long?” He asked with a full mouth.
You brought a haki-coated fist down on his head hard enough to shake the whole block.
“DON’T JUST KEEP DOING IT DUMBASS!”
---
Next came the first mate, Zoro. He was decidedly less problematic. He observed the girls as they danced but in the same way someone might look at an aquarium, which was… a bit of a tasteless analogy when you stopped and thought about it. Point is he wasn’t leering. And he’d actually paid for his purchases instead of running up a tab. Said purchases were the café’s booze.
All of it.
Even the stuff you guys kept in storage.
And the shipment that got dropped off for your regularly scheduled delivery about mid-way through his binge.
“Dear god…” You muttered, halfway between awed and horrified as Shyarly floated by you to join in the spectacle, puffing lightly on her pipe.
“I understand I should be more concerned, but he did just pay off our expenses for a good few months.”
“What happens when he runs out?”
“Oh, I already sent Camie and her little friends to buy out every liquor store within walking distance.”
“How are we gonna afford that!?” You blanched.
“By jacking up the prices to double net-profit.”
“And you really think he’s gonna pay for all that?”
“His drinks are already a half-more expensive than they usually are right now. Good thing about inebriation is you don’t notice the little details. Like numbers being bigger than they were a few moments ago.”
“I’d… say that’s devious but I feel like he wouldn’t mind even if he wasn’t buzzed. The hell’s his liver made out of, sea-prism?”
“It’s made out of gold if you ask me. I’ll definitely be able to afford some by the end of this. Do you think I’d look good with hoops?” She turned to ask, face a little pouty.
“You’d look good in anything ma’am.”
“Smart answer.”
---
Cat Burglar Nami seems like she’ll be nice and sensible at first. She buys a fruity drink in a tall glass, gets a cozy seat, and enjoys the show. You feel comfortable enough with her that you go about tending to the other guests. Then you notice she’s not in her seat. And something in your gut just… tells you to feel out with your Haki. And you find her in the back reaching around in the safe.
“Damn, Shyarly has good taste in jewelry! None of these go with her eyes though. Let me do her a little favor.”
“Ahem.”
“Eep! Oh, uh, hey there Urchin! I was just, uh, looking for the bathroom!”
“You mean the one that’s clearly labeled with a sign the size of a toddler?”
“I’ve uh… got bad eyesight?”
“Isn’t your whole job reading tiny details on charts?”
“Well, uh… Enough about me! Let’s talk about YOUR job! I bet it’s hard taking care of this place right?”
“You wouldn’t know the half of it.” You sighed, as she sidled up beside you and wrapped her hands around your arm. The slight height difference you had on her made her look up at you with those beautiful brown eyes of hers, eyelashes fluttering. You in turn had to angle down to meet her gaze and may have gotten a glimpse at the plunging neckline of her top in the process. Even if you’re surrounded by mermaids on a daily basis it was enough to make your cheeks warm up a little.
“Awww… you sound tense. Maybe…” she sighed, suddenly a little too close for comfort especially as she pulled you in with an arm around your neck. “…If you forget about all this… I can help with that.”
Despite her undeniable beauty you weren’t entirely comfortable with this situation, particularly because it was presently happening in your boss’s office. You’d always had a harder time saying ‘no’ than most people, between the conditioning forced upon you in your youth and your desperation to please while on the Sun-Pirate crew. If someone asked something of you, provided it wasn’t too ludicrous, you agreed. And playing along with a beautiful pirate flirting with you certainly isn’t all that ludicrous. It’s something most people would jump at. But you still weren’t looking for this.
You were saved at the last minute by a hand clamping down on a shoulder, Nami freezing as your eyes went past her to see Seira holding onto her with Hiramera to her side.
“Hey, Cat-Burglar? You lost?”
“O-oh! Hey girls! Uh, gosh this is so embarrassing! You caught us trying to get some alone time~!”
“Nami?” Hiramera asked.
“Yeah?”
“Cut the shit, okay?”
“Wh-what?”
“Urchin is probably the hardest working person here, AND they’re our protector. They wouldn’t sneak off to our boss’s office and leave the front unprotected for fun with someone they barely even know.”
“What are you implying?”
“Listen, girl, we like you m’kay?” Seira cut back in. “And them falling for you isn’t too wild an idea. You’re fine, anyone with eyes can see that. But they ain’t quick about things like that. AND I distinctly remember Shyarly complaining about some missing necklaces last time you and your crew visited.”
“Well-“
“And come to think of it, I remember you disappearing halfway through the dance then too!”
Nami gulped, the two mermaids acting scarier than you had ever seen from them. People always underestimated them to be sure, but even you occasionally got surprised with how fierce they could be when it came down to it.
“So how about, you just sit down, get yourself a refill, and enjoy the show, yeah?”
“Uh… yeah, okay.”
She scampers off with a hurry, leaving you alone with your two coworkers as you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding.
“Hey.” Hiramera says as she places a hand gently over yours. “You okay?”
“It really wasn’t anything major.”
“Oh we know. If it was we’d be showing her just how hard a tail-slap feels from someone that dances for a living. But we know you like your personal space.”
“I don’t mind when it’s you.”
“Oh?” Seira quirks an eyebrow. “And what do ya mean by that, Urchin?”
“Y-you as in everyone that works here, I mean! I’ve known you all longer and you know me. A-and my uh… ‘boundaries.’”
“Did Jinbei tell them you were…”
“No. No I uh, said I’d rather bring it up myself if I had to. She doesn’t know, I don’t think she needs to. If she was acting out I’d be honest about it, I think she was just trying not to get kicked out.”
“Well good. Mero’d go ballistic if someone else started fluttering their eyelashes at you.”
“Yeah I- wait, what?”
“Let’s get back to work.”
“But-“
“Yeah, let’s.” Hiramera agrees with Seira.
“Are we seriously just brushing past that? Guys!?”
The night winds down and Nami sits and watches the show as agreed. She does seem to be genuinely enjoying it, and you don’t notice her sneaking off while you tend to a few more unpleasant guests. Right around closing you’re presently surprised to find her dumping a rather extensive wad of beri in the tip-jar for the girls. They cheer and wave her off as she walks, one or two keeping an eye on her as she saunters up to you again.
“Do I want to know where you got all that?”
“Well, I couldn’t help but notice when ya had to escort that one shouty guy out, or throw the chubby one out the door. Figured if they were gonna be such rude visitors they should at least tip well.” She says with an impish grin as she flashes two wallets with ID’s matching the pair in question.
“Hm. Thanks.”
“And uh, sorry about earlier.”
“It’s cool. You’re just doing what a cat-burglar does. And I was just doing what a guard does. No hard feelings. And hey, if you tip this well come back whenever you feel like. Girls would sure appreciate it.”
“Pretty ladies deserve pretty piles of cash, me especially!” She answers with a flourish, cringing a little as a roll of bills tumbles from one of her sleeves.
“…e-ehehe…” she nervously laughs under your withering gaze, coughing as a cloud of smoke blows down onto her. She tilts her neck to see Shyarly looming over her, looking none too pleased.
“Uh oh.”
---
The crew’s sniper, Usopp, is next. And honestly? He’s your favorite so far. He remembers to tip, he claps after every performance and means it, and his stories are pretty great.
Presently you’re listening at his table with Sora and Adele as he wraps one up, both on break after their latest set.
“…and that’s how I, Captain Usopp, overthrew a god of storms in the land of angels!”
“That really was amazing! I can’t believe there’s a whole world up there!”
“To think that there’s people with wings up above just like there’s us with our fins down beneath the waves.” Sora and Adele respectively observe.
“So, ‘captain’ Usopp, huh?” You settle on, shooting him a slight smirk.
“Oh I get everyone says that Luffy’s the captain, but that’s really just a cover! He’s the heaviest hitter, but I’m the one with all the master plans! He offered to paint the target on his own back so no one expects our traps until it’s too late! Can’t be a yonko crew without some yonko scheming, after all.”
“Ahhh… Ya think Zoro would back that story up?”
His bravado disappears in an instant, eyes going wide and breath hitching as he begins to stammer out a rebuttal.
“A-ah well you know he’s really busy these days no need to bother him with such a silly question really I-“
The table erupts into laughter, but aside from a little pouting he just takes it in stride, gulping down a bit more of his drink.
“How about you, huh?”
“Me?”
“U-huh! Heard some stories from Jinbei. Cabin boy to the only man who ever attacked Mariejois, infamous bounty-hunter that scoured new-world crews off the seas, mutineer that stole a noble’s ship right out from under him to raid an auction and follow in his footsteps. Any of that true?”
“A bit embellished, perhaps.”
He only smiles wider at that. “Hey, all the best ones are.”
You think you get what he’s aiming for here, downing the last of your glass and slapping your hands onto the table.
“Alright, let me tell you a tale one captain to another, if you’d be so kind as to listen.”
“Oh, oh! Is it the one where you saved us?”
“Or the one where you beat up that sleaze Caribou?”
“Nah. This is the story that started it all. Let me tell you a tale of the Son of the Sun, and how he lit up the dark with a bright path forward.”
The first few minutes aren’t exactly the cheeriest. Even largely glossed over, recounting the conditions in the slave-pens of the city of the world-nobles can’t ever really be something pleasant. But you’ve listened to some old coots at bars spin yarns that get the rest of the patrons invested, and sometimes ya gotta drag your listeners to rock bottom first so they can appreciate the rise to the top a little bit more. Just as the tone gets as bleak as can be, you speak those magic words.
“And then HE appeared, the fires of freedom leaping out of his heart and burning down the world that kept us locked away.”
You hardly have to exaggerate when describing Fisher Tiger throwing around Holy Knights as easily as one might toss an empty can of soda at a bin. But you do try and give it a bit of dramatic flair by using some of the fancier words you know, maybe a bit of gesticulation for good measure.
From there you go on about how he saw a child, so small and helpless that despite the history between their species he couldn’t help but grab them and spirit them away from that awful place they’d always known. How that child spent every moment of every day for the next six-odd years guided by his example and striving to meet it, exceed it even. To make the man that’d saved them proud. And how it seemed like maybe they did, whenever he punted a marine overboard or clashed against an opponent four times his size and survived.
And, finally, how he watched that man die.
The mood dips back down, not of your own volition this time. Even speaking of that day in the barest terms drags you down to a pretty dark mood, understandably. You notice Sora and Usopp sniffling out of the corner of your eye. You trail off a little, the silence almost growing uncomfortably long before you bridge the gap.
“…but where one story ends, another begins. The last embers of their late captain’s spark ignited a fire in that young escapee, one that burned hotter than the brand that transformed their mark of shame into one of pride. They struck out on their own at last, and took the grand-line by storm! Their diminished presence in the Sun Pirates meant no one managed to recognize them, so they slipped into the law and played it for their own benefit. They became the bane of slavers and raiders all, sundering dens of depravity wherever they went and giving those fiends a taste of their own medicine by dragging them all bound up to the nearest navy office for bounty after bounty!”
“What happened next!?” Usopp pleads.
“Next? Why next was the moment that changed their life forever! Next they won over a good-hearted but downtrodden crew and led them to rise up against their lardy lord! Tossing the taskmaster in the brig with tac to eat and brack to drink! From his pudgy hands he found a letter that bore a truth most foul, an auction for those damnable world nobles! With a ‘special catch’, they advertised. Like some butcher announcing a new type of steak.”
“What was it?” Sora gasped, seemingly so wrapped up she forgot she was, unfortunately, part of this story.
“Mermaids! A whole troupe of them, snatched from their home under the see and tossed into a bowl like goldfish at a carnival!”
“Were they pretty mermaids?” Adele slyly asks with waggled eyebrows.
You can’t quite meet her gaze as you answer, but you clear your throat and respond all the same.
“G-gorgeous! Stupendous! Beyond what mere words could convey, really! All the beauty of the sea embodied in each of them!”
She chuckles a little at the indirect praise, cheeks tinting just a smidge darker if you’d been looking a bit closer at the time.
“And so our clever bounty hunter spirited themselves inside, all adorned in fancy threads purloined from some poodle-haired seamstress! They crept along the shadows to the dungeons of that den of sin, and sent all the guards pearly whites flying high like stars in the sky with a flash of their fists! They kicked in those cell doors and shared that fire gifted to them all those years ago, let it burn up inside them and light up their path to freedom! But just when it was in reach, the armies of oppression marched on in!”
“No!” They cry.
“Yes! The ship was so close yet so far, their allied crew waving for their escape! They could make it, but the others never would. So they made the trade, like their hero had long ago. They fell upon those villains with ferocity and fury, all gnashing and bashing and crashing as they went! The escapees making those last few steps to safety, begging them to retreat once the last one was on board. Alas… it was too late. A slash here, a shot there, and a spear jabbed into their gut sent them flung out into the sea. The waters dragging them down into the dark, embracing them as its own child. Like it had for Fisher before.”
“Bit of a sour ending for such a hopeful story isn’t it?” Usopp pointed out.
Any answer you had died on your lips as you felt a pressure rest atop your head, two arms wrapping around your shoulders.
“Who ever said the sea’s embrace couldn’t be soft?” Lulis says from above you, your face going a little scarlet as you realize she’s using you as rest.
“H-how much of that did you hear?”
“Oh, about all of it.” Ishilly adds from beside her. You turn to notice a sizeable crowd of… just about everyone else and even some patrons looking at you.
“H-how many of you were listening!?”
“Oh,” she continues, a bit more cheekily “About all of us.”
Everyone laughs as you go beet-red, but it’s the good-natured sort of giggles. With you, not at you. Gradually everyone returns to their respective duties with a wave and perhaps some thanks for the tale, leaving you alone with the Strawhat crew-member.
“Hell of a story you have there, friend.”
“Ah, pales in comparison to the great Captain Usopps!”
“Maybe. But only because it already ended.”
“One chapter of it.” You shrug. “But that part ended happily.”
“Amen to that. But the next?”
You glanced at your friends- family, really, all around you, dancing and smiling as they worked just like they did every day. Safe because you kept them so.
“Dunno.” You sighed. “But... I’m optimistic, for once.”
The long-nosed sniper raises his glass in toast, smile wide. “To stories told!”
You meet his toast with your own. “And to legends in the making!”
Your glasses clink and you each down them in one go, slamming the cups as hard as you can onto the table without breaking anything before you get up to leave.
“Getting back to work?”
“Aye. Oh, and uh, ‘captain?’”
“Yes, captain?”
“I ain’t letting you in here unless you got a few more good stories next time you come around, you hear?”
“That’s a fair price of admission I guess. But I’ll need some sake to tell em!”
You waved him off with a laugh as you went back to your vigil, chest a little lighter than it had been in a while.
---
Sanji is uh…
“Mademoiselle! Star of the seas, gem of the blue, pearl of my eyeeee!”
He’s, uh…
“Beautiful bubble angel! Dancer of the deep!”
If you had to describe him in a sentence-
“Oh I must’ve died and gone to heaven, yet I feel more alive than ever-!”
…Way too much. That sounds about right.
As with the other Strawhats the girls, again, seem to like him. But you can’t help but think that part of that is down to them collectively being a little too kind-hearted.
They’re not innocent. Especially after the rest of them got nabbed at once like Camie had been long before you showed up, they realized how some people saw them. Not as pretty people but pretty things, to be leered at and groped by those ruled by desire. The clientele of the Mermaid Café were a far cry from the disparate nobility of the surface world, and especially those higher still that lived upon the Redline. But your necessary presence as security was proof enough that “better” didn’t always mean “good.”
Sanji is a prime example. He’s better than some of the scum you’ve had to toss out. He doesn’t pinch or paw or peck, doesn’t hoot and holler while gesticulating at the space between his legs like some sort of mating dance a bird might perform when drunk. But he’s just so overly bombastic about his adoration that it borders on a little unnerving for you, and you’re not even on the receiving end of it.
Eventually you decide enough is enough and march over to him, calling out with a gruff “Oy” to get his attention. The hearts in his eyes disappear in an instant, his demeanor shifting with startling speed to one of impatient annoyance.
“Eh, who the hell’re you supposed to be?”
“Security. I try and keep things civil here. We appreciate that you’re enjoying the show, sir, but we’ll have to ask that you do so a little more quietly please.”
“What!? And give these lovely ladies anything less than the loudest of praise they deserve? You got a screw-loose or something, shitty guard!?”
Your jaw clenched as you glared right back at him. “No, sir, but if you keep getting aggressive with me I might just have to knock a few of your own loose.”
“EHHH!? Now you’re threatening me? Oh that’s it, I’m gonna kick your ass straight to the surface and-“
“Sanji!” A voice suddenly snaps, the pair of you turning to see Ishilly angrily pouting with her hands on her hips.
“Ah, my dear! So sorry to disturb you, I was just dealing with this odious ruffian-“
“Don’t you dare lay a finger on Urchin-hanii!”
“H-h-hanii!?” he stammered, shaken both by the term of endearment and her piercing gaze.
“They saved all of us while you guys were out adventuring, so you’d better be nice to them!”
“Y-yes mademoiselle! Of course!” he bows, her gaze lingering a bit longer before she huffs and goes from a frown to a smile. She shoots a wink in your direction then gets back to her dance routine. You glance to your side to the now somewhat deflated cook.
“So… what exactly did she mean by “saving?”
You somewhat boredly regaled him with the whole fiasco at the auction house, going over all the important bits but not really bothering to make it exciting on account of still being less than pleased with him. By the end of it there’s a vein on his forehead and his fists are clenched so tight you think they might start bleeding. You shift your stance to prepare for a fight, convinced he’s about to go at you with renewed vigor, only for him to bow almost to the floor instead.
“Thank you for safeguarding them in our absence.”
“Oh, uh… yeah. Of course. It’s what any decent person would do.”
“Decent people are hard to come by these days.” He grunted as he lit up a cigarette. You were about to point out the no-smoking rule but that didn’t really apply to Shyarly or certain people she liked and you think he falls in that second category. “Nice to see chivalry’s not dead just yet.”
“Well the Knight of the Sea did help raise me.”
“Riiight. You’re Jinbei’s crewmate from way back when. I forgot about that.”
“Didn’t he send you over here to meet me?”
“I mean I was going to visit this place anyways. What man in their right mind wouldn’t?~” He swoons, glancing back over at the girls as they continue to masterfully execute their routine.
“Rrright. Buy you a drink?”
“After my rude introduction think it’d only be fair if I was the one to do that for you.”
“Tell you what, I get you liquored up, you give me some pointers in the kitchen afterwards so I can satisfy these lot come breakfast. They’re rather demanding. And they drag me awake to handle the cooking every other day even though there’s damn-near a dozen of them!”
“Well, if it’ll help these lovely ladies get some quality cooking as opposed to whatever slop you’ve been serving them-“
“Oi!”
“Then I suppose I can try my hand at teaching. Not expecting much though.”
You half-grinned, half-glared at his hidden challenge. “Try me.”
And between the burn-marks, flour-stains and exhaustion by the end of it, he most certainly did. But by tomorrow morning everyone was positively elated with some of the changes you made to the menu, so it certainly paid off. He even left you a little desert in the fridge he whipped up while you weren’t looking. You hesitantly bit into it, expecting just any other swee-
…
Holy shit.
---
Chopper felt a very odd mixture of emotions right about now.
Upon his entry into the mermaid café you’d taken one look at him, gotten all glassy eyed, then picked him up in a hug bordering on bone-crushing and kept muttering “cuuute…” into his hat. After the initial shock and indignation wore off, he found you were a remarkable hugger. He could fall asleep in that grip of yours better than his bed on the Sunny. But then there was the other emotion.
Fear.
Fear brought about by the hateful glare of no less than ten particularly jealous mermaids.
“We’re cuter…” Camie pouted, Mero trying to murder the little reindeer with her eyes beside her.
“Goddamn right.” Fillonce growled. “Why the hell does the raccoon-dog get all the PDA?”
“Because they’re a flustered mess whenever the rest of you flutter your eyelashes their way.” Shyarly hummed, swimming up behind her assembled staff. Some looked away with a flush, others puffed out their chests with pride at her words.
“Oh and uh, girls?” She continued.
“Yes ma’am?”
“It’s fifteen minutes past opening. So… GET BACK TO WORK!”
“Eep!”
They rushed off to their duties save for Adele, who neither had chores nor a shift on account of being a part of the afternoon crew and having already handled her share of helping out around the place earlier that week.
“Should I go get Urchin too?”
“Nah, leave them. The pick-me-up they're getting from cuddling that little teddy-bear with horns is definitely going to keep them on their A-game for a few weeks.”
“And if Chopper-san leaving just makes them sad?”
“Oh dear, that’d be terrible. If only they had something to cheer them up. Like, oh, I dunno, an entire building’s worth of beautiful dancing mermaids.”
“Point taken ma’am.”
---
To be honest you’re a little intimidated at the thought of meeting Nico Robin, specifically because the pair of you had actually been acquainted once before.
You were a bounty-hunter before your current life, after-all. And while she’d mostly avoided the New World in her constant flight from the reach of the World Government, she did breeze through just long enough to wind up on the same island as you, once upon a time. She might’ve been covert as she walked about, but between your haki and your intuition you spotted her a mile away.
But you didn’t try collecting the “Devil-Child’s” bounty. No, you did something different. You talked to her. She was hesitant at first, given by then your own reputation had been getting around and she likely surmised you saw her as a prime mark. But when you flashed your brand, the symbol of the Sun Pirates that those with their ears to the ground new had been burned on in place of the Celestial Dragon’s hoof so many of the crew had once been forced to bear, well, she softened up.
After all, she finally met someone else who knew how it felt to run and hide.
You’d taken her out for drinks at one of the nicer local lounges. Nothing too high-class as to burn a hole in your wallet but nice enough that you could be certain the booths would be clean and the drinks would be good quality. If anyone could use a decent night with decent drinks lord knows it’d be her.
You commiserated over your respective journeys for a time, and then, of course, your respective miseries. Hers was a carefully built façade, one she didn’t drop just for you. But it slipped ever so slightly. And past the hurt and regret you recall seeing a faint glimmer of hope that evening. Of relief that she could sit and speak with someone and know they weren’t just stalling so government agents could swarm the place.
She’d asked you, then, what your end-goal was. What form of happiness you chased. You shrugged, grunting out that you’d know it when you saw it. Sat now across from her in the mermaid café, she asked you the same question. A devilish little smile gracing her fair features.
“Look around you,” you answered. “I finally found it.”
She raised her glass in toast to that, with more vigor than the one she’d offered back then at your more lackluster response. “That’s good news.”
“Indeed. And you, Devil-Child? Have you found your reason to live?”
“Every moment of every day.”
You raised your glass to her in kind, a wide, toothy grin splitting your face.
“That is good news indeed.”
---
“Right, listen boss I get that you’re saying this new special effects setup will be super-“
“Nah nah NAH man you can’t just say it like that! With gusto! SUUUUUPAAAAH!”
“Right, that. But uh, is it safe?”
“Course’ it’s safe! Safety’s my middle name! Check this out, YEOW!”
The already vibrant mermaid café is suddenly awash in a beautiful array of laser lights, miniature explosions and thumping music you immediately started bopping your head to. The girls all cheered at the vivid display before them, quickly picking up the rhythm of the song and returning to their dancing with joyous vigor.
“Bro holy shit this is awesome!”
“See, I told ya buddy! It all turned out Suuuupaah-!”
-CLANG!- went one of the support beams of the machinery he’d set up as he flung his arms out while gesticulating. The laser projector it held tilted as the pillar pitched and listed, swiveling before firing again in the direction of the crowd.
“AAAAAAIIIIEEEE! My eye! I can’t see! OH GOD I CAN’T SEE!”
You loved Franky the moment you met him.
“We JUST settled our last lawsuit…”
But damn if he wasn’t a bit TOO much.
---
Brook…
“Sir, for the last time. Mermaids do not, in fact, wear panties! And even if they did, I WOULDN’T BE PUTTING THEM IN YOUR BONY FRIGGIN’ FINGERS YOU PERVERTED PILE OF POST-MORTEM!”
“Oh come now my friend, I’m not asking for a ton-“
“Don’t you fucking say it.”
“Just a SKELE-ton!”
“I’LL KILL YOU, YOU FLESHLESS FUCK!”
Brook.
“Yohohohohohohohoho!”
Yeah. Brook.
---
Jinbei actually visits the one day you’re off on account of the café being officially closed for maintenance. He promised to stick around long enough to visit with the whole crew tomorrow night to see an extra-special send-off performance, but for today it’s just the pair of you.
You strolled through town a bit, having to stop pretty often on account of people wanting to greet him and shake his hand and such. Most of them just ignored you, and a few husbands shot you dirty looks on account of you having booted them out for drunk and disorderly behavior before. Course, most of the time their wives clubbed em’ over the head with the nearest blunt object then shot a smile your way for checking their bad habits, so it wasn’t all bad.
When you got to the fishman district, which was marked by smaller houses (albeit better-maintained ones since the whole Hody fiasco) that’s where things simultaneously got better and worse. Better because everyone was friendlier on account of knowing the pair of you as sun pirates, the old breed back when Fisher yet steered the ship, and worse because you didn’t know how to process positive attention.
One old lady gasped and smiled all wide as you passed and waved, pleading you stop a moment as she shouted back into her home then dragged out some exhausted looking man that seemed to have just gotten back from work. His complaints died on his tongue the moment he saw the pair of you. It took a few moments but you recognized him from a raid. Which you can’t be sure, there were hundreds after all, but you’ve never really been able to forget the faces of those you saved from slavery once they show up again.
His wife came to check the commotion holding a bundle in her arms. A babbling, burbling little bundle because yeah, you’d given him a second chance and he’d gone and gotten married and had a child and let his mother move in with them to take care of her while she got old. And then that happy wife of his was pushing the bundle towards you, and a little hand reached out to grab your nose as too-pure eyes locked with your own. You should feel happy, knowing you had a hand in making all this happen. And you’re not UNhappy but you just… don’t know how to process this. That you saved someone, like you had been saved.
That maybe you weren’t a burden to the world.
That maybe the work you put in meant Fisher didn’t see you that way, at his end.
You don’t recall when the interaction tapered off and the two of you started walking again, but when Jinbei’s words roused you from your spiral you noticed you’d walked at least a few blocks off.
“So when are you having one?”
“Eh?”
“A child.”
“…I don’t follow.”
“Come now, little Urchin, I’m sure one of those girls from the café’d be happy to settle down.”
The click of understanding sends your face beet-red as you bite your lip to avoid making any strangled cries of embarrassment. The sight is still enough on its own to cause raucous belly-laughs from your older former crewmate.
“That’s not funny! That’s not funny!”
“Maybe, but your face sure is, Little Urchin!”
“Damn youuu!”
“Bwahahaha…ha…heh. But seriously, when are you giving me some grandkids?”
“JINBEI!!!”
The teasing mercifully tapers off at some point, and it’s followed by some much-needed silence until you find your way to Haachan’s Takoyaki stand. The food is delicious as always, and honestly reminiscing with three crew members at once instead of just one-on-one is a lot more enjoyable than you thought it’d be. Stories are shared over juice-boxes and skewers of deep-fried goodness before the pair of you wave your goodbyes and Haachan promises to try and make it to tomorrow’s show.
“…You know I was serious.”
“…I know.” You sigh.
“Not so much about children, of course, but at least you settling down.”
“This is the longest I’ve stayed in one place without being chained to its floor, doesn’t that count?” You shoot back a little harsher than you mean to.
“If you were relaxed, maybe.”
The response puts a sour taste in your mouth that nearly chokes you as you try and answer back.
“I can’t afford to relax.”
“You can be vigilant without being wound tight as a mouse-trap, Urchin.”
“Other people can, I can’t.” You muttered. “If I do, they get hurt.”
His strong blue hand grabbed your shoulder and pulled you tight against his chest. You didn’t fight it. But you were a little too proud to return the hug just yet.
“Your sense of duty is admirable, little Urchin… but He gave His life so you could live yours.”
Your breath hitches. He’s right, you know he’s right but only because he’s saying it right now. You can’t tell that same thing to yourself and believe it. Can’t trust that you carry on his will in a way he’d approve of even though you go at every day with everything you have in you.
“The dawn might not come in our lifetimes…” He continues, his voice the same comforting deep rumble it’s always been, like storm clouds far enough away to be admired instead of feared. “…so maybe you should make the most of what light you have, aye?”
“…A-aye sir.” You shuddered, chest feeling so loosened as to blow past ‘lighter’ and go as far as feeling downright liquified.
“We’re returning to our journeys soon. Might be long before I’m back. So I need you to promise me.” He continued, tone firming up as he turned to look you in the eye. “When I get back, you’ll accept this happiness you’ve found.”
“I’ll… try.”
“You’ll succeed.”
Fisher always said that. Whenever you weren’t sure if you could do some new task he assigned you as you learned the ways of sailing. He has to know what those words mean to you, the clever old bastard.
“I’ll succeed.”
“Good. Now come on, think we’ve got an hour or two left in our night. Lets spend it breaking open that liquor cabinet you’ve got back home toasting those no longer with us.”
“I’ll spend half that time just toasting the captain.”
“Then I’ll spend the other half doing the same.” He grins. And somehow seeing that smile on his face lets you know that maybe, just maybe, things really are finally okay.