The McPuffin Part 14

The McPuffin Part 14

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I smiled as the Patch approached Gin Mirieniu, I could see the two figures at the dock as we approached, relatively small but one with a shock of blue hair.

So, no, I wasn't some magical shonen hero capable of attracting heroes from everywhere. A sads. Still, it was good to see my friends again. The Patch was coming in for supplies again, Captain Billy knew of some event going on that meant that all of the merchant ships were going about in the area, we were going to be around Gin-Mirieniu a lot more than normal.

It'd be nice to at least play at having normal friends who didn't murder people. That'd be greeaaaaat.

Also silly, I loved my momma and the crew and they weren't horrible people but this was a nice change of pace.

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"Ugh!" Makoto threw the newspaper away, and Ami and I looked up at her in curiosity.

The three of us were in Makoto's room in the compound that she now lived in. Ami had to study some before she was allowed to play and I was taking the opportunity to catch up on some of my reading beside her. Makoto had taken to reading a cookbook initially but had moved on to the newspaper. While Ami and Makoto both had on a blouse and skirt, with Ami's noticeably fancier than Makoto's, I was in a simple shirt and pants.

I shared a glance with my blue haired friend who shrugged slightly. So I opened my big mouth and asked, "What is it?"

"Pirates. Just... they hit one of the nearby islands." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, muttering under her breath, "I hate pirates..." My heart ached and I looked away. Even if I didn't consider myself a pirate, I was part of the crew of them. And even if it was irrational, I felt responsible. Freaking emotions. "They just destroy and break and hurt and take, no love or justice in them at all."

'Don't sugarcoat it, tell us how you really feel.' I mentally snarked over the ache in my chest, setting the book into my lap. While the larger, brown haired girl sat against one wall, Ami and I sat together on the other just a few feet away, all three of us gathered at the corner.

"I wish all pirates would just die," Makoto said with the conviction and frustration and hurt of a ten year old.

I said nothing, I didn't want to advertise that I was part of a pirate crew even if it wasn't by choice. While I had a pretty good feeling it wouldn't make her hate me if I told the truth, I also didn't want to have to tell her that and the fight and isolation that would ensue…

To my surprise, Ami spoke up, "Not every pirate is horrible, some are just fighting for their islands, like the Shichibukai Jinbei."

"I bet he still takes from people and kills though." Makoto grumbled, her arms tightening across her chest.

"Ah... well... yes," Ami admittedly softly.

"Tch, whatever," Makoto stood, "I'm going outside to play. Catch up when you're done studying."

I watched her go sadly for a moment. I was going to have to tell her eventually, but lord did I not want to… and how much she was hurt…

Warm arms wrapped around my shoulders and I suddenly found myself hugged to Ami's chest. I blinked a few times in confusion before looking up at her, "Ami?"

"It's okay," she said softly, "She doesn't hate you, she's just hurting."

A small sound of disbelief escaped me and I looked away, leaning into Ami's embrace, accepting the comfort. After a moment I said, "I never told you either, y'know."

She giggled, "Jacob, I've known you for years, of course I knew. I'm surprised she hasn't figured it out yet." I sighed, placing a hand on Ami's forearm and giving it a small squeeze, though she continued before I could find the words I wanted to say, "… you need to tell her though."

"I know, I was just thinking that…" I said softly as one of her hands came up to mess with my spiky brown mess of hair, "I'm not looking forward to it is all."

"You're not like other pirates, and the Eyepatch Pirates aren't really that bad," Ami pointed out. And while she was right, I couldn't help but fixate on something.

I tilted my head back to look up at her, "Okay, I can get how you knew I was part of a pirate crew, but how'd you know what group?"

"Once I figured out you were a pirate, I looked up your name and cross referenced that with old descriptions and bounty posters as well as the members of your crew I'd seen personally." She said proudly, as if that were a simple task in a world without internet or even collected stores of knowledge.

"… you're crazy smart, you know that right?"

Ami smiled, ruffling my hair as she hugged me, "I try."

I couldn't help but smile, "Hey, that's my line."

She tweaked my ear, "I learned it from you."

"Tcheheheh…" I grinned just a bit before my smile melted into a more melancholy one, "… I'll tell her before I leave this visit, but after she's calmed down from this."

"Good."

-oOo-​

I yawned just a bit as I scratched my chin, walking towards the washroom attached to the 'barracks'. Ugh, couldn't sleep. What day was it…? Ugh, right, we were en route to the other side of the island to follow the lead that Jaime and I had found. It'd take a few days given the currents and the winds, but we'd be there soon.

My stomach was grumbling as I pushed open the door and slipped into the washroom, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I'd stayed up too late working on the brooch of Bonney's and now I'd be better off just staying up till the next day was over. I stopped at the sink, pulling my lighter from my belt and lighting the candle beside it before flicking it closed and back into its pouch.

"Oh wow… I have not been paying attention…" I muttered softly, a tired and bemused smile finding its way onto my face at my bedraggled appearance. My spiky hair had fallen over my forehead during my sleep and there was a mess of scruff had appeared along my jawline. Hadn't shaved in a day or two and it'd entirely gotten away from me.

Turning on the water briefly after closing the drain, I got a pool of water in the sink and splashed some water on my face. A quick bit of effort had my hair swept back away from my forehead once more… it was starting to get long on me, getting closer to looking like Archer than like Zoro… but Tilting my head up and to the side some, I turned my skin and fingernails into steel… but not my hair. Moving the candle with one hand, I did something I'd seen in the movie Hancock, shaving with the razor blades of fingernails against my metal skin.

It didn't take long for me to grow stubble, and I could rock an actual beard in about a week or two, but between the scar on the underside of my chin and genetics, it was too patchy to look good. Too bad there wasn't laser hair removal, wouldn't mind just getting rid of the beard entirely now that I had the scar.

A flick of my fingers sent hair and water into the drain and I turned my head from side to side, trying to make sure I hadn't missed a spot. My fingers trailed across the scar at my temple and I paused, slowly tracing the length from my ear to the corner of my eye… a scar following the line of a high rimmed glasses… I stared at my reflection for a long moment.

'What am I doing…?'

The thought came nearly out of nowhere, almost like a punch to the gut, the memory of the scar sending a cascade of half remembered things through my head and heart. With a shuddering breath, I let my head fall forward and my forehead press against the mirror as I supported myself with hands on either side of the sink, fighting back the sudden urge to tear up.

'I'm a pirate.Why.' My eyes felt hot and wet as I closed them, a cool trail tracing down my cheeks and I thudded my forehead against the mirror once in frustration with myself,'The people I grew up with are dead. I was doing all of this for them. I fought for them, stole for them, killed for them… and now that entire reason is gone… why am I doing this all again…?'

What did I want? Knowledge. Happiness for myself and others. To have fun. To fucking kill Onigumo. To protect those closest to me… but… the people close to me were gone…

The answer was obvious: Because even if they weren't my family, I did care about the Bonney Pirates. I didn't want them to be hurt and I'd fight to protect them if I had to, I'd kill to protect them, to avoid the risk of them dying from infection as I'd seen before… and so long as I could limit the damage caused, I'd steal as well.

The Bonney Pirates weren't that bad honestly, especially given their preference for subtlety and avoiding direct conflict. They weren't the Strawhat pirates (who I still hadn't heard anything about yet), but no pirates I'd ever met in reality were like that. So long as the Bonney Pirates kept the stealing at least mostly focused on the warlords and other pirates, I could stick with them in mostly good conscience.

… and there was a better chance for me to run into Onigumo while out as a pirate than laying low on Gin Mirieniu.

I stared at my reflection, deep set green eyes that looked gray in this limited light, a beauty mark on my left cheekbone, the scar that stretched from temple to temple across my eyes, short, spiky brown hair and a good sized forehead, a scar on the underside of my jaw. Without a particular expression, there was a slight downturn to my lips.

I looked like a pirate.

And now… now I had a chance to not be a pirate. A resigned but amused smile crossed my face,'Well, not just yet. I've got to go to the end of the Grand Line to get off it unless I get an Eternal Pose for the Reverse Mountain or steal a Marine ship…'

It was a bit frustrating. The Calm Belts on either side of the Grand Line prevented anyone other than the Marines with their special ships from entering or leaving the Grand Line except where the Grand Line met the Red Line, the single true continent our planet had, and it stretched around the planet perpendicular to the Grand Line. And in order to travel through the Grand Line you either needed a Log Pose, which would take you in one direction in certain routes, or an Eternal Pose to a specific island, so I was stuck on the Grand Line until I got to the end of it.

With a small sigh, I wiped the tears from my eyes before splashing water on my face to ensure there were no remnants from my shaving.

There was a soft gurgling grown from my stomach, voicing its displeasure at the lack of food in the past few hours, "Alright alright… give me a minute, I've got to get to the kitchen…"

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I paused briefly on the steps leading up from the sleeping quarters to the kitchen, hearing the sounds of eating in the kitchen. Remembering what ship I was on, I continued with a small smile. Despite the darkness of the ship and the slow rocking of it in the waves, I could still see Bonney's shock of pink hair in the dim starlight filtering through the windows to the kitchen.

Her back was to me from this angle, several plates of food arranged before her she dug in, almost off of her chair as she dug in. While I was used to seeing this during the day, it was a bit unusual to see it at night. "Hey," I said with a small smile, one that broadened when she nearly jumped out of her skin.

She jerked to look at me, purple eyes wide in the dark and surprise, her words muffled by the mouthful of food, "Ff'ori'a!"

"Tcheh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you." I said somewhere between amusement and actual apology, walking past my captain and to the main refrigerator, opening it up as I asked, "Couldn't sleep?"

"Nng…" I could hear Bonney settle back into her chair as she grunted, and I grabbed one of the bits of leftover pizza that she hadn't grabbed just yet. She audibly swallowed before speaking, "No."

I turned around with my pizza in hand, walking back towards the table, but I paused, a small frown appearing on my face. Even in the dim light filtering through the two circular windows of the kitchen something was obviously off.

Bonney's eyes were red.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked softly as I came around to her side of the table. She shot a small glare at me even as she took a bite out of the half eaten pizza slice. My lips pressed into a thin line as I kicked a chair over beside her and sat down, "Oh don't give me that."

For a moment, I thought she was going to snap at me, but then she looked away with a grunt, chewing. I didn't press, but nor did I leave, sitting beside her and waiting as I ate my own slice of pizza. She hadn't talked about what she'd seen or done on her own expedition over the past few days while we'd waited for everyone else to return, but it hadn't seemed like it was all that bad… Softly I asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

'… well that was blunt.' I thought with a trace of amusement even as she dug into the mounds of food before her determinedly. But I was determined too, I just needed a method of 'attack'. A direct question would just make her defensive obviously, so… come at it from the side? Or at least get her to relax first…

Swallowing my bite of pizza, I leaned back in my chair beside her, "Hey," she shot me a small warning glare, but I continued, "Why'd you choose to be a pirate?"

That threw her off and she blinked a few times before her eyes narrowed, pizza in hand, "Why'd you?"

I grinned, "I asked first."

She slugged me in the arm and I chuckled before tilting my head back to look at the ceiling, "Honestly? I never thought of doing anything else… not in a long time. I was born into this, literally, born on a pirate ship, the first mate helped deliver me." I reminisced on stories I'd been told as my eyes unfocused, "I never really wanted to be a pirate… I just wanted to protect my family. Without that reason, I'm going to be getting out of it when we get to the end of Paradise."

She shot a glance at me and I shrugged at the implied question, "I told you I'd stick with you, and so long as you don't do psycho shit, I'll stick to that. It's not like there's any way out of the Grand Line except at the ends anyways, unless you work with the Marines."

Bonney's gaze returned to the slice of pizza in her hands as she chewed slowly before swallowing. The kitchen was dark and quiet, only the soft creaking of the ship and the distant sound of the waves against the hull.

On the Gothic Islands, I could have gotten away, I could have just left, but… I honestly hadn't thought about it at all. It had never occurred to me at the time to just stop being a pirate, I'd lived this for… god… almost fifteen years now consciously. I was a pirate. It was just… a fact to me at this point, had been for years. And now, with that reason, my family, gone… I had an opportunity to get out.

… well, okay, I didn't have an opportunity to get out of this right now. I don't think I'd be able to find a ship on the island while it was in the middle of a civil war like this. And honestly, it'd be a dick move to ditch the Bonney Pirates at this stage.

My Captain started to reach for another piece of pizza and I gave her a little shove with my elbow, saying teasingly, "Come on, your turn."

"And why should I tell you?" she almost growled in the half-light from the moons filtering through the windows.

I resisted the urge to sigh at her defensiveness. It wasn't completely unexpected, but something was obviously wrong and damnit, Ididcare about her. I chewed my lip briefly before taking a shot in the dark. Reaching into my vest, I pulled the finally refurbished brooch from the pocket I'd put it in and set it before her, "Because family talks to one another."

The young woman stiffened, eyes darting to it before she snarled at me, hissing out, "Who told you?!"

I leaned away just a bit, raising my eyebrows but saying calmly, "I guessed…? It's what made sense, that it was something from or about your family…"

Nearly throwing the remains of her slice of pizza back onto one of the plates on the table, she snatched up the brooch, almost hurriedly examining it, seeming to relax once she ascertained that it was in good condition. Better than good if I said so myself. Though I was curious what had sparked that reaction, she had let me work on it the past few days... With a little sigh of relief, she leaned back into her chair and chewed her lip. Shooting a little glare at me before turning back to the brooch, she sighed, "Promise not to laugh?

I held up the hand not holding my slice of pizza as I vowed, "I'll only laugh if it's really, really silly."

So she slugged me in the shoulder.

"Tcheheheh…" I chuckled even as she snorted in amusement, the young woman stifling a smile with her glare. But she still stared down at the brooch she held in her lap, and I gently bumped her bicep with my forearm to get her attention, giving her a reassuring smile, "But seriously, I promise. No laughing."

Holding my gaze to ascertain my seriousness, I smiled a bit wider. Satisfied, she turned away, looking at the brooch in her hands.

Inhaling deeply, she let the breath out as a sigh before starting, the words coming slowly at first, almost hesitantly, "This… it was my grandma's. I didn't know her too long before she passed away from old wounds, but it passed to my mother… and now to me." She turned the gold embossed lapis lazuli over in her hands, "My grandma and mom were both active at different parts of the Golden Age of Piracy that the Pirate King started…"

Saying nothing, I brought my slice of pizza up and took another bite as she continued.

"It's supposed to be a painting of my grandpa on that side…" she said, tilting the picture at the center of the brooch towards me and glancing my way before looking back to it. I knew what it was since I'd been working on it the past few days, it was a portion of a man's face, angular with sharp cheekbones and rich brown eyes. His eyebrows were subtle and blond, and in the edge you could see long, wavy, platinum blond hair.

"I… when my mom…" Bonney bit her lip, taking a breath in through her nose before blowing it out in a sigh, hands tightening on the brooch, "I grew up on stories about my grandma and mom's adventures. And… okay, Ialwaysate a lot, alright?" I raised an eyebrow at her in confusion and she scowled a bit before admitting, "I was hungry."

"You shay 'at 'ike it's a huge reve'ation." I said around the pizza crust in my mouth.

So she slugged me in the shoulder. Again. But this time I rolled my eyes and shoved her, "Woman, I was starving on that island before you arrived, I do get it. I'm just saying it's not some super huge revelation. Metabolisms like ours suck."

She frowned almost petulantly, making me grin, "You don't eat nearly as much as I do."

"Tchah! No," I admitted freely. Even exempting my much better table manners the woman beside me in the dim light of the moons ate far more than I did. "But I do eat more per body mass than anyone else on the ship."

Bonney snorted, rolling her eyes, "It's not the same."

"In what way?" Purple eyes glared at me and I held up my hands in surrender, "I'm honestly asking! I don't know."

The pink haired woman held the glare for a moment, almost daring me to crack, but I was being honest here. So after a moment she sighed, wrapping an arm around her stomach as she stared at the brooch in her other hand, "My mom left me some money she'd saved up from her pirating days, but I couldn't actually make enough to feed myself, I was going through it too quick." Her hand tightened on the brooch as she said softly, her voice rising in intensity as she went on, "I was hungry all the time, it felt like someone was trying to dig my stomach out with a pasta fork… my stomach ached and nobody gave any sort of shit… they just wanted to know what I could give them in return for fucking scraps."

Bonney grit her teeth for a moment before sighing, the tension and anger seeming to vent out of her with it like a release valve, leaving her half slumped in the chair, "I grew up hearing about my grandmother and mother's adventures, I didn't want to be hungry any more, and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with this stupid noble that wanted to use me."

I grimaced at that and her tone as she said it, "Oh, that bit of delightfulness."

"Yeah," she said with a small snort as she shifted, pocketing the brooch, "Bastard thought that just because my mom was gone I'd come running to him."

"Oh wonderful," I snarked with an eyeroll, crossing my arms on the table and laying my head on them, looking over at her, "Local asshole right? Because I'd expect a much higher bounty if you'd told a World Noble to fuck right off."

She smiled a bit, leaning back in her chair and kicking her feet up, planting them on the table, "Heh… yeah… local asshole…"

The pink haired woman stared up at the ceiling as I struggled to find something to say. But whatever I was going to say fled my brain as I saw the small smile on her face fade, and a tear start to roll down her cheek before she brushed it away, hiding it in the motion of brushing her hair behind her ear.

Wordlessly, I reached out and put a hand on her bare calf. She shot me a small glare, but I met her gaze steadily, and after a moment she looked away, arms wrapping around her stomach, "I… never really got to know my grandma. Barely remember her outside of stories. She was really strong…" trailing off, Bonney stared at the tabletop, piled high with plates, both with and without food, her bare heel pushing one of the plates away from the edge of the table.

"I never got to meet my grandparents," I offered with a melancholy smile to fill the silence. And I hadn't met them in this life, after having a full set in my previous one, "My mom's side was dead before I was born and my dad's disowned him."

Bonney let out a little amused snort, tilting her head back, her hair falling off the back of the chair as she balanced it on its back legs. She'd put on her shorts to come eat, but she hadn't even put on her suspenders when coming from her bed to the kitchen. I pulled my hand back from her calf, tucking it beneath my head resting on the table.

After a moment of staring up at the ceiling, she asked without turning, "What was your dad like?"

"Never really met him." I said with a shrug, awkward as it was with my head pillowed on my forearms, "He was dead before I was even born."

She grunted, squirming some in the chair to settle her balance a bit better, "Probably better than an asshole."

"So long as the other parent is good, yeah," I admitted, remembering more than a few friends in my past life that had horrible parents of one or the other kind, "Your dad I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, mom kicked his ass to the curb," she said with a small grin, drumming her fingers against her bare stomach. But the grin slowly faded as she looked up at the ceiling, her toes scrunching up as she re-crossed her ankles atop the table and swallowed. She bit her lip, chewing on it for a moment before her arms tightened around her waist and she looked away, saying in a small voice, "My mom died two years ago today."

My heart ached at the thought, remembering my own mother and momma both, gone. I pushed myself upright once more, reaching out to lay my hand on her calf as comfortingly as I could manage.

Her eyes flicked back at me, almost daring me to say something. But I had nothing to say. The silence stretched on before she demanded, "What, no apologies or pity?"

I shook my head, "No… nothing I could say could make it better. And I don't have anything to apologize for." Purple eyes as hard as flint bore into my own green ones, and the words were gentle as I said, "Any more than you have to apologize for my momma being gone."

Bonney's eyes widened for just a moment before her gaze softened and she looked away, her hands clenching at her elbows, "… right." I gave her calf a comforting squeeze, and she glanced back at me, to which I smiled just a bit. She took a slow breath before letting her head tilt back, looking up at the ceiling and biting her bottom lip, her eyes blinking a few times as a few tears slid down her cheeks. The trails of the tears glistened in the dim starlight of the dark room, and softly, she whispered, "I miss my mom."

A few hot tears escaped my eyes, and softly I replied, "… yeah… I miss mine too... it doesn't get any easier."

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The McPuffin End