Omake: A Ship's Captain

Klabautermann are rare on any sea. They take years to develop and grow and become strong enough to manifest. For a very long time, they were nothing more than a myth. The Era of Rocks did not allow for comradeship, did not allow for the soft emotions such as kindness and love, freedom and excitement of adventure. For a Klabautermann, the care that their crew gives to a masterpiece of wood is what makes them alive. The more the crew cares for them, the more they are able to do, the stronger they get.

What makes the rowboat that will one day be known to the world as Coddiwomple different from her brethren is that she becomes aware very early on in her journey.

The wood that shaped her into the rowboat she had been was nothing special. Regular wood from the nearby forest, crafted by the harbor master that needed more ships for fishermen to sail out with. She was crafted out of necessity, not out of love, and while she was crafted well she was by no means a masterpiece or a product of a master shipwright.

She was made about three years prior to the start of her journey, destined for a life of fishing and tethered to the docks of the island she had originated from. It was a good life for a little rowboat, and as that was her purpose she could not complain even if she had been aware back then. She was sturdy, the harbor master not wanting to build more than he had too, but she would never be able to make it out on the high seas. Not without splintering under the harsh waves and shattering in the brutal storms of the New World.

(It did not stop a tiny whisper from wanting. The little rowboat was not aware, but she always knew she wanted more out of life than fishing. Even if it meant having a short life, she wanted to see the sea outside of her bay, wanted to see other islands and shorelines. She wanted to know why some ships had happier voices, and why some had none at all.)

(Her wish would be granted three years after her conception, born out of the tragedy that would shape her little captain into a legend unheard of since ages past. And it all started with a little boy fleeing the island the little rowboat was from.)

Her sisters and brothers were smashed to pieces by cannonballs, beyond repair even if the harbor master had been alive. Their unknown, unheard, and unloved voices disappeared into the void of the world, never to be recognized as something more. (The little rowboat was afraid, so very afraid, because there was so much it wanted to do and see and she knew they would never be able to if they were silenced like their brethren.) The world cried out, a half a second before a cannonball would have destroyed the little rowboat, and a rope snapped and the tides rushed in, carrying the little rowboat far away from the massacre of wood and blood.

(Was it luck? Was it a coincidence? She might never know, but she knows she survived for a purpose.)

Being on the high seas would be a death sentence, but it would be a different one than where she would have been blown to pieces not far from her mother-shore. If she had been aware at the time, she could have taken pride in it.

Unknown to the little rowboat at the time, there was a little boy (tall enough to be mistaken for a man) at the island's cliffs who spotted her bobbing across the waves. Who saw doomed and drowned pieces of wood nailed together and first thought was hope. He would always wonder if she knew how grateful he was she survived that day. (Of course she did you silly boy. She was just as grateful that you swam out to her.)

The ship that would one day be known as Coddiwomple (nicknamed Coddi as an affection by her crew) came alive when one little boy grasped onto her side and hauled himself into her hold. Blood splattered onto his face, the little rowboat was given so much love in that instant that she gained a personality and a spirit with one smile. The little boy (Marshall. Her Captain's name is Marshall!) who just had his whole world burned to the ground and clung to the idea of surviving, of living, had more than enough love in his heart to bring a ship to life with one hand on her wood.

They didn't get long together before the world decided to throw a New World Storm at them. She wasn't able to offer him comfort when his tears finally fell, wasn't able to warn him of the oncoming storm. As much love as Marshall had in him, he was still just one person. (One mourning person.) It took most vessels years to develop a Klabautermann with multiple crewmembers giving them life. She couldn't ask him to give more, not now, not even if it would save both of their lives.

Whether it was luck or skill that allowed them to survive was unknown to them, the storm having blown them off-course and nearly capsizing the rowboat several times. Her little Captain held on tight to her, determined to weather the storm and make it through the rough waves and harsh winds. By the time the storm ended an island was coming over the edge of the horizon, and with some armwork from Captain and some urging from the little rowboat, they were able to safely make it to shore.

Captain. What an odd term she had picked up. He was though, her little Captain. She would wait for him. She did not mind sitting for years on the island of Oragno until he was old enough to set sail. Did not mind the dirt and sun that shined upon her wood because her little Capain made sure to take care of her. Grieving and learning how to live again, he came with gentle and firm hands that treated her with care. He made her more functional, gave her a mast and a sail, expanded her to get ready for their next adventure. Her captain sanded her down, varnished her wood, mended her sail and added additions so that when they next went out onto the high seas they would no longer be at the complete mercy of Mother Nature.

All the while she watched as her little Captain grew into his height, into his body, becoming smarter and more skilled, ready to take on the world. He was never really little, but now she could no longer claim him as such. He became a man when she wasn't looking, and as young as he was, she knew he would make an excellent captain.

She was ready to take him wherever he wanted to go. She couldn't wait to see new horizon lines with him.

It wasn't even a month into their journey where Marshall would run into a young Hibiscus flower who begged her Captain to join her non-existence crew.

Humans where difficult to age, especially as Marshall felt so old but was so young, but the non-rowboat (was she a dinghy now? A houseboat? Lifeboat? Tugboat? Skiff? She liked skiff – for now) knew she was young and new to these seas. She was too much of these things for her Captain to consider joining, but something about her caught Marshall's attention. Had made something in his mind perk up and take notice of her, and so she too watched this slip of a girl with a bright flower in her hair.

(It's not fair, something inside her Captain whispered. I changed it. Can't she? What did he change? He was here, with her. She couldn't imagine another path for her little boy. What could he not change? What could Hibiscus change?)

The three of them would meet a handful more times before Hibiscus gained a crew of her own, a ship of her own, (a new friend! Will they wake up one day?) and with them would come an adventure that would make her into a proper vessel for her Captain. A form that would finally make her Captain give in and give her a name, soon enough.

No longer was she a meek ship of cheap wood and additions tacked on to make her more functional. She was a proper caravel!! Sleek white wood (Angel Wood!) covered the dark bark, making her bigger and stronger, more durable on the currents that often knocked her around. (Bigger and stronger, just like her Captain, she whispered to herself.) Purpled lined her railings, her trim, and her sails were full of wind.

The shipwrights were smart enough to stay clear of her keel, leaving her heart and soul intact, a different body but the same personality.

She was there for the Queen of Spade's christening, and she wondered if they'd be awake the next time they met.

(Spoiler: they were.

That same meeting would have Queen witnessing her own christening.

Coddiwomple.

She loved it.)

Coddiwomple – to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination. It fit, as neither she nor her Captain had a real goal when they set out on their journey, nor did they ever have a set heading. They were perfectly okay with wandering by themselves on the open sea.

But as she grew older (she was four years old, after all! Seven if you counted the years she wasn't awake for!) and wiser, she also knew that this couldn't go on. Captain was fine by himself, she knew. He was a solitary creature by nature, able to live alone and didn't grow sad easily when without company. At his core he was too happy to live to ever be dragged down by the sorrows of life for too long.

That didn't mean he couldn't want someone to share his adventures with, didn't mean he didn't want someone to care about and be cared about in return. (Hibiscus was only around for so long, and had her own adventures.)

(Besides, it's what Marshall did best after all. Taking in those unwanted by the world, those too "useless" or cruel or simply too off for the rest of the world to see what Marshal so easily saw. Priceless gems and metals that didn't need polishing, just needed the ability to know they were okay broken and raw as they were. She wondered what that said about the two of them.)

Human-Eater was the first person outside of Captain and Hibiscus to step on her white-clad deck. They hauled treasures of a long-forgotten past from the blood-soaked island into her treasury and filled her with pretty coins and precious jewels, forbidden books that she knew her Captain wanted to read but couldn't because he didn't think himself strong enough. (He was right, she reluctantly admitted, but a part of her knew he would be strong enough one day. She wondered if he would ever open those books before gifting them away.)

The little lion ran around naked most of the time, eating meat and asking question about everything. It broke both of their hearts when she didn't expect an answer from Captain, but that ache soon faded as she grew more comfortable aboard the wooden vessel.

It made Coddi happy, she realized, to be able to offer a home to another person that was quickly becoming something akin to family to Marshall. That Captain wanted to share, to give a home, to someone else in need of one. It was a nice feeling, Coddi decided.

With the Human-Eater aboard and old treasures uncovered, came a decision. A decision, she admitted, she did not like, even though she was not sure why. Was it because that the cursed fruit would take away her Captain's ability to swim alongside her? Was it because she was a ship and belonged to the sea, and therefore the cursed fruit was an enemy? (But she had seen other ships who held cursed-fruit users aboard them and their vessels never seemed to mind.) Was it because Coddi knew he would come to regret his decision to give up the sea?

(It couldn't have been because of that call – the call that had shifted the cannon ball away from her tiny rowboat form and allowed her to live and meet Marshall. It couldn't be because in the back of her mind, in his mind, there was a voice telling him to wait. To ignore that fruit and every one after it. There was something more just waiting for him beyond the next horizon. Waiting for him to find it and it was just waiting for it to claim him.)

(Coddi was not sure if she wanted it to claim him.)

A thief snuck aboard her vessel and caught a glimpse of the yellow, cursed fruit. She knew her Captain would not be happy with her next decision, might even get mad at her if he ever realized what she did, but she couldn't stop following the call that had given her the opportunity to come to life.

When the thief decided to make his move for the cursed fruit, she did nothing to warn her Captain of the intruder. She did not creak her boards, or ruffle her sails. She stayed silent, willing him to forgive her for her transgression. Whatever happened next, she knew her Captain could not eat that fruit.

So the thief did instead.

Coddi… wasn't sure what to feel.

Guilty? Probably. She did inadvertently munity against her Captain, after all. Even if he would never know of it.

But no, that wasn't the reason she felt bad. At least, to a certain extent. She stands by her decision that her Captain couldn't eat that cursed fruit, but she didn't know her Thief would eat it and loose his ability to swim as well. (Something inside of her told her that was a lie. After all, why would she allow him to take the fruit if he wasn't going to eat it? Marshall could have always taken it back if he didn't.) He didn't seem too upset about it, but something was bothering him.

As an apology for accidently getting him into this situation, she hid him for the max amount of time she could before Captain eventually caught on and noticed him. And when her Thief was discovered she might have not worked as hard as she should have to turn around for her Thief's home island.

After all, her young Thief needed a home, a place to belong, and she thought no matter how mad her Captain might be with her Thief, he would always be willing to give a safe harbor to those in need.

She was right.

The day her Captain accepted he had crewmembers was not a joyful one.

It was not the private celebration she had imagined for themselves.

He came home with their Thief in his arms and a new (was it new? Or had it always been there and they never noticed?) darkness in his bones. He wanted them off this island and out onto the high seas immediately, a heading for an island with medical help as soon as possible. He rushed to her infirmary to staunch the bleeding as much as he could in the meantime.

It would have been a reasonable demand, if they had at least one more person besides her Human-Eater. She was still learning how to man the sails with help, much less by herself, and getting the hang of navigation. The fact was Human-Eater didn't know how, and needed help.

Her Human-Eater was determined not to let their Captain down though, especially when he was relying on her to get them to a place where their crewmember could heal. Captain needed to focus on keeping Thief alive long enough for them to get there.

And so when Human-Eater's back was turned, Coddi helped her as much as she could. She reached for a greater grasp on her physical form, moving her rudder on her own and pulling ropes for her sails, urging herself to go faster with every second that passed while feeling her Captain's franticness in the med-bay.

Her Captain left with their Thief, and came back with a doctor.

Well… not exactly. The doctor was already on the docks, bags at her feet in front of the gang-plank that would lead up to Coddi's deck. The second Captain caught sight of her they were arguing, against and for the doctor to come aboard. Even as the fight ran on and their voices increased in volume, Coddi could feel her Captain's resistance waning.

He never had been able to resist offering a home to those in need, no matter what his actions might suggest.

Her Doctor was skittish for a good while, unsure of her place and her new home. Coddi wanted to reassure her that her Doctor had made a good choice and that she wouldn't regret her decision, but Coddi could not speak when her crew did not listen. Not to mention that while her Captain was quite good at comforting people, Coddi herself was rather lackluster at it.

Coddi could only wait until her Captain settled her Doctor's worries.

In one of the next few stops her crew would gain a swordsman (swordswoman?) within a fifthly town that tried to take her Doctor by force. (As if Marshall would ever allow his crew to leave without their own violation. Fools, the lot of them.) She didn't talk much, the new-almost-crew that her Captain seemed to be in denial about, and spoke more in movement and action than anything else. Human-Eater and her would get along well, Coddi thought.

It was not long after Swordsman coming aboard that her crew was attacked by a threat greater than them but lesser than Marshall.

The other captain was great, greater than many of the people she had sensed on the seas and in port towns, but when compared to her Captain he was barely a blip on their radar.

If her enemy had stepped on her deck, his presence might have splintered her wood. (And just the thought of it sort of ticks her off.) But it was nothing in comparison to the damage Marshall could do to the other captain and his crew.

Whether her Captain wanted to admit to it or not, she and Marshall have always known there was something lurking beneath his skin, in the recessive of his soul, in the very cracks of his being. It could be seen in the corner of his soul-silver eyes, in the rhythm of his silent but powerful gait, could be heard in his deep, baritone voice that belayed a dragon's roar. It wasn't something that could be hidden, wasn't something he could hide, not forever, not for long.

Marshall had been careful not to acknowledge it, to not even think about it, in fear of what it could mean. Hiding a piece of himself to avoid attention from the large eyes watching the sea had been second nature to him for so long he even forgot about it.

But Coddi? Coddi knew her Captain, and if it came between unleashing the furry beneath his skin and his crew's death, it wasn't even a question of which would come out on top.

Marshall might be kind, but he is only so merciful to those who threaten his crew's lives.

When Death comes calling, not answering isn't an option.

Coddi doesn't know if she should pity the other ship or laugh at the fate of their crew.

The Swordsman joins shortly after that incident, giving her sword to their Captain in fealty. It is a good choice, Coddi knows. A man like Marshall does not betray and meets loyalty with loyalty. Her Swordsman will never fear being stabbed in the back, will never be deceived or tied down ever again as long as their Captain lives.

Somehow, a tiger is next to join. She's just as confused as her Captain is, but when he gives the command to learn how to house-train the big cat or become food for it, she can't help but be grateful.

Coddi doesn't want any urine or feces on her wood.

A town that welcomes pirates? (Are they pirates? Captain has never flown a black flag, but they are undeniably criminals. Criminals at sea, at that.) Captain comes back a few hours later with a boy flying from his grasp to land on her deck, and he barks commands at the others to watch out for the kid.

They then proceed to watch as he sets the island ablaze.

The kid watches in awe.

The first time the Coddiwomple manifests in spiritual form, no one is around to see.

There is no one around to see, because her Captain is in the infirmary, desperately trying to keep their crew alive.

Coddi doesn't know if she can ever forgive the Sugary Fruit who put her crew in such a state.

Marshall can, and probably will, because he understand the balance of life and death and has accepted all good things come to an end. (He learned it so early in life. Long before their village burned, long before Coddi came to life. He learned it on the streets with a young girl named Rebecca, who wanted a home and a family when Marshall was no longer enough. (How could he ever not be enough??))

But Coddi? Coddi cannot.

Coddi was born from Marshall's desperation, his pain and his will to live, and raised with his love and care. She has grown with her Human-Eater's free curiosity and fierce ferocity, her Thief's unflinching determination and stark loneliness, her Doctor's kind persistence and unfair discrimination. She has matured with her Swordsman's comfortable silence and violent viciousness, her Tiger's predatory smugness and animal excitement, her Poison's just cruelty and unyielding wonderment.

Marshall is her base, the core of her life and she doesn't know what she would do without him, but their crew has given her something else, something equally important.

And so, standing on her own deck in her white coat with purple trimmings, pulling ropes and untying her sails, rudder moving without thought – and so, Coddi learns the meaning of hate and the curse of love.

Her crew recovers, because they are strong and her Captain even stronger, but there are scars where there had been none before. They heal, they will heal, but that fact does little to ease her anger. They settle into her walls, allows her to protect them, and lets her rock them to sleep.

When she cannot help, when the nightmares become too much and the terror too stark, she encourages them to go to Marshall. He is the one who understands people, better than both Coddi and Human-Eater combined, and is able to settle their nerves and fears. Is able to reassure them in a way Coddi will never be able to, was never meant to. (She wishes she could, sometimes.)

Somewhere along the way, her crew manages to pick up the habit of running into the Sugary Fruit who laid them so low, who injured them and nearly killed them. They keep getting hurt, but they are never defeated like how they used to be. Never come home with as many deadly wounds as before. There are close calls, because they have chosen a dangerous life and they have to live with the threat of death at every turn, but never do they come as close to it as they did that first time.

And her Captain…

…Marshall forgives her, just like she knew he always would. Because that's who he is at the end of the day. He sees a hopeless case, someone the world has given up on, and gives them a place to belong.

The Sugary Fruit will never be a member of her crew, which she is thankful for because Coddi does not know if she could accept her if she was, but she becomes something to Marshall. He has seen something in her that allows him to claim her as important, as a loved one, and while Coddi doesn't understand it, she does accept his decision.

He's her Captain. He wouldn't put his crew in unnecessary danger.

Coddi loves her crew. She really does. They take such good care of her, cleaning the blood off her deck and railings, giving her a good paint job when needed, new sails when the old ones get too torn. They spread out over her, filling her rooms with laughter and joy and life. They make her their home, and for Coddi that is more than enough.

(She does not need to be thanked, Marshall. Never for something like this.)

On that note… while Coddi would be the first to proclaim her love for her crew, she knows they're not without their faults.

Them being moronic enough to try catching a sea monster with a regular sized fish-net, and instead of getting a sea-monster, (what would they have done? She's bigger, thanks to that makeover from that Sky Island a few months ago, but she's not looking forwards to testing her might against something that big) (she does not want to capsize, does not want her crew to drown) they get a Fishman, for example.

Idiots. The lot of them. Her Captain agrees.

He invites the Fishman onboard anyways.

And a Panda, apparently. At least he's cute.

It is on the waves of the news that shocks the world when Hibiscus calls her Captain. And with that call, something within Marshall breaks. It leaves him gasping for air he cannot inhale and crying tears that cannot be shed. (Not yet, not ever. Please, let her live, the voice of her Captain cries.) Coddi's crew does not have the same emotional connection to Marshall as she does, and so does not realize that something is terribly wrong.

She does not blame them for not realizing, but it is the first time that she curses not having a mouth, curses her crew for not being able to hear her.

His voice is so sad, devastated, and no one can hear it because her Captain has always been good at hiding. Too good.

When Marshall leaves, he leaves in a little rowboat much like she had once been. It feels like an end to their journey, one that was never supposed to end, and she cannot help but be jealous of the little rowboat underneath her Captain's feet.

What wouldn't she give to follow her Captain? Coddi feels as if this is the last time she'll ever seen him again.

(It's only right to end my journey the same way I started it.

(But you started it with me, did you not? Can we not end our journey together, Captain?))

Coddi is wrong in the fact that it was that moment where she will never see him again. She is right in the way that their journey has ended in a way she cannot comprehend.

(Something has changed in her Captain. She cannot reach it and does not know how to help. Within the few months that have passed between him getting off her deck and the time of their reunion, something within Marshall has died. Coddi does not know if her Captain will ever be the same again.)

In some ways, she wonders if it would have been easier to never see him again than to know something has come to an end.

Her crew meets her Captain on an island in the South Blue, the island's surrounding waters thick with blood and land covered in crimson. Everything is covered in red. Even Marsahll.

Marshall does not wake up. Not for a good while, but when he does – when he finally does, he aches. He aches in a way he did not after his island's destruction, in the wake of the call that drove him away from his crew. The darkness that has long-since nipped at his heels has grown darker, greater, than ever before and the weight on his board shoulders have never been heavier.

Captain loves the Hibiscus, his oath-sister, and she understand loving someone so much it hurts. (She does it, after all. She loves her Captain when he challenges the order of the world and who laughs as he's injured. She loves her crew even when they're on the brink of dying and who loves to fly through the sea as if they were born to do it on her wood.) But she is a ship, at the end of the day. She does not know how deeply it can hurt. Coddi has never known failure, has never faltered in her purpose. Coddi does not know human struggles and their pain no matter how much she connects to her crew.

Coddi loves her Captain, loves her crew, and she cannot imagine the day where she will be without them. (Because her job is to go first. Her job is either to die before them or die with them. There was never a chance of surviving past them. She did not want that chance.) But she loves them as a ship loves her crew, she cannot love as a person because she is not one. Her purpose is to carry them to the next island, her purpose is to be a home.

Coddi has never regretted loving her crew, will never regret having such amazing people love her in return, but she wishes the capability to love did not come with such great pain. Pain she could not share or take away.

They meet just once more, and the piece of him that died in the South Blue has only grown.

Coddi thought she knew, if not understood, pain. Thought she knew love as well. But when she reached out to her Captain there is a chasm that has grown in the space between them when there wasn't one before. The depth of his cracks, reaching so far down into the very abyss, are too great for a ship even as smart as the Coddiwomple to comprehend.

She knew that as a ship, she was lacking in the department of empathy, like many others. But she thought she at least had a grasp on what her crew felt, what they thought. It was too much for a ship to hold in. Coddi was a home, a place to rest, and she knew her crew loved her and she loved her crew, but she could not handle the depth of agony welling up in her Captain.

If this is how deeply humans feel, if this is how people feel, she cannot help but be grateful that she is not a person.

Marshall's darkness, (his grief, she realizes) has only grown since the last time he was aboard her. And there is nothing she or their crew can do to ease his pain.

Ships are not people, and people are not ships. People cannot be fixed with nails and wood, cannot be looked over and repaired within a few hours. They have injuries that others cannot see and battle-scars that are not shown on the skin. They are not careful with themselves, tearing their own wounds open with nothing but their minds and actions. They heal slowly, difficultly, with time being the only ointment to the bleeding gashes.

This time it is a rowboat that is no longer a rowboat, (another ship that has been touched by Marshall and loved by him, a ship that is now her sister) that leaves with him as he sets sail for his next adventure.

It is the first adventure that Marshall has without her, an adventure she cannot take him on.

Coddi does not know how to heal his pain, does not know if she would make it worse. She cannot help him, as much as she wishes she could.

A new ship for a new adventure, an adventure to heal.

(When he is gone from her view, the last thing she sees of him is his long black hair and strong shoulders.

Coddiwomple looks at the Queen of Spades, looks at her sister ship and wonders how Queen can stand the pain. Wonders if she will be strong enough to.

Queen has done one of the things ships pray never happen. Queen has lived past her captain.

Coddiwomple wonders if she would survive if she had to live beyond Marshall.

She doesn't think she would.

She hopes she never finds out.)