Chapter 37

"Okay, so this isn't as bad as it looks,"

Looking pointedly at Wilde's sequined miniskirt, Rune's trailing feather boa and star-shaped sunglasses, Feral's bright blue skin, Trax's sombrero, Zarazan's lipstick, Olivia's thigh bone staff, Vertara's new tattoo and the panda, Marshall snorted in disbelief. In a voice drier than Alabasta, he said flatly, "I'm sure."

His idiots all looked away, expressions sheepish.

Letting his crew stew for awhile, finally he sighed resignedly and asked, "is anyone going to explain why there's a panda?"

Vertara piped up, wincing at Marshall's narrowed look and jerking her hand away from where she was poking her tattoo, "it was when we got separated during the flamingo riot; we stumbled into this noble's private zoo and then the kitchen exploded, so..."

"Right, say no more," Marshall sighed. "The panda's here now, so what do we do with him?"

The panda raised a paw, "I'm actually a Mink,"

Okay then.

"You got any skills?"

A thoughtful look on his furry face, the panda offered, "I'm a decent gunner?"

"Good to know but not exactly what I was looking for." The Mink's ears drooped before Marshall continued, "how are you at organizing a treasury?"

The formerly disappointed panda perked up, "I can learn!"

"Consider yourself hired."

"Yes! No more inventory duty!" Wilde cheered.

"Don't worry, I'll find you something else to do," Marshall smirked.

The thief whimpered, Trax putting a consoling paw on the teen's shoulder.

They found out a few days later that when the panda - who introduced himself as Cino - said he was a decent gunner, he meant decent by New World standards.

Staring as the flaming wreckage of the attacking pirate ship sank into the ocean, his crew congratulating Cino on the great shot, Marshall had only one thing to say.

"Since when did we have a cannon?"

It turned out that not only the Coddi have a cannon, she had a lot of cannons.

Blinking at the massive amount of firepower stored in the secondary armory that yes, included cannons, Marshall sighed. Cino was excitingly taking inventory of their munitions and he left the happy panda to it. Shaking his head, he wandered off to fix lunch.

(He'd discovered some bamboo at the back of the pantry and been briefly confused. Said confusion had lasted until he'd mentioned it and Vertara had looked shifty, muttering something about barbecue.

Yeah, he did not want to know.)

"Excuse me, what are you doing?"

Hearing the puzzlement in the Mink's voice, Marshall grunted, "training," as he ducked under Vertara's swipe and retaliated with a punch to her sternum. The cannibal went skidding back across Coddi's deck, growling and eyes bright, dangerously close to slipping into berserker mode.

Between dodging Vertara's increasingly frustrated swipes, he explained the situation to the bewildered panda. "-so we're trying to get to where Vertara has a measure of control of herself when she's like that," he concluded, Cino's eyes brightening as he nodded in understanding.

"Like Su-Long except without the moon aspect, yes? Makes sense." Tilting his head, Cino offered, "I was trained for Su-Long, if you'd like some help?"

Holding Vertara back with her jaws alarmingly close to his neck, Marshall replied, "that'd be great, thanks!"

Wham!

"Ugh...wha-?"

Grinning down at the dazed Vertara, Marshall said cheerfully, "good news! Cino here's going to be helping out with our training!"

"It's my pleasure," the panda's fuzzy ears twitched as he smiled.

Vertara blinked, looking a bit lost as she eyed her smiling captain and the equally cheerful Mink and drawled, "ooooooo-kay?"

"Fantastic! Let's start now." Marshall cackled.

Cino beamed, taking a stance with electricity crackling around his paws. "Sounds good to me! The best way to learn is by doing!"

"Wait a minute-!"

Bam!

"Davy Jones damnit!"

"Zehahaha!"

Marshall wished he could say he was surprised when Cino came to find him midway through his turn at watch a month after they recruited the Mink, but he really wasn't. Folding his arms on top of the railing, he stayed silent as the panda came up beside him and started talking, voice barely above a whisper as he told his story.

Born on Zou, oldest of six when he left and now possibly more, he'd left for adventure and to experience the outside world. For several years he'd sailed through the New World onboard a merchant ship, proving his worth as a gunner. Things were going well, the merchants not overly friendly but still accepting of a talking panda, until one day the ship was raided by pirates. Most of the crew was captured, the Mink included, and Cino was purchased by one particular noble for his private zoo, where the panda remained until Marshall's crew saved him.

(Marshall thought 'abducted' was more like it, but considering the alternative he chose to exercise some common sense and kept his mouth shut.)

"I never thought I'd be free to return to Zou again if I wanted to, not until Miss Vertara busted through the wall." Button eyes shining, Cino's voice was filled with sincerity as he said, "thank you, Captain, for saving my life."

Marshall kept looking out at the sea, concealing a smile as he replied, "you never have to thank me for that." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cino's smile widen, fuzzy face radiating happiness.

"Captain? What are you doing?"

Cracking an eye open at Olivia's confused voice, he replied, "what does it look like I'm doing?"

"It...looks like you're using Cino as a pillow?" She asked more than said.

"Exactly." He huffed, closing his eyes to return to his nap as a slightly bewildered Olivia wandered off. Law was definitely onto something with the whole using bear Minks as living pillows idea, or at least he would be. Cino was ridiculously comfy.

When he woke up an hour later, he wasn't at all surprised to find Feral occupying Cino's other side.