Ocean's Rage

Log 6: A Captain's burden

The last five days had been surprisingly calm for the newest allies of the Whitebeard pirates.

Jackie and his crew were set to work, cleaning the ship and doing various work around the place. Naturally, him and Eddie had tried to get Elma and Rosa to do the cleaning, but...

"You think we're gonna go around doing the chores here because we're women?!"

And that was how Eddie and Jackie both ended up scrubbing the main deck while Elma and Rosa supervised them, with Elma occasionally kicking them for doing something or the other wrong. "Have a heart, Elma...we're exhausted! It's been almost two hours now!" Eddie cried, and she pulled his long hair in reply. Hard.

"Huh? I don't recall telling you to talk." She whispered, completely ignoring his pained whimpering. "And I don't remember telling you to stop scrubbing, either. Keep going, dammit!" She yelled at Jackie, and he scrubbed faster, his hands screaming in agony.

After almost half an hour more of this torture, Rosa finally managed to convince Elma to let them go. Jackie and Eddie stumbled downstairs, both their bodies aching.

Still, Jackie winked at Eddie. "Well, I know you like girls like her. Were you turned on by her hitting you like that?" Eddie glared at him, but didn't deny it.

As they walked towards their rooms, they saw Whitebeard sitting in the galley, eating with some of the men from his crew. The men...and one particular woman. "Hey, Jackie. Ain't that the captain of the Cotton pirates? One of the Ivory's escort crews?" Jackie looked closer, and saw that it was indeed Sue Cotton, the captain of one of the two other ships escorting Whitebeard's vessel.

She was an elegant figure, wearing a loose black top and a black, knee-length skirt. Her black rubber boots were long enough to cover her calves, and they matched perfectly with the rubber gloves she wore, of the same color. With black hair and black eyes, her pale creamy skin stood out quite a bit, making her seem like some sort of a cross between a demon and an angel.

They hadn't seen the captain of the second ship yet, but they did hear from Brice that he was a very strong captain in his own right.

Their five days on the Ivory had really softened Whitebeard to their eyes. He was a kind man, helpful and yet with a certain presence to him, something that everyone in his crew respected him for. Seeing him eating with a smile on his face, joined by his friends indiscriminately, was something Jackie found remarkable.

As captain, Jackie had been leader of a crew of 32 pirates. It was definitely a pain in the ass to make time for all of them, but he remembered every single one of them perfectly. And Whitebeard? He had almost one hundred people on the Ivory alone.

It really is amazing. I don't even know how large his total fleet is. Eddie tells me it's probably around 150 or 200 ships, but who knows? This is an Ascendant we're talking about. Jackie thought, collapsing onto the small bed in his and Eddie's room.

They had to share rooms since this wasn't exactly their ship, and were forced to sleep together (on different beds of course). Elma and Rosa slept in the room right across hallway, while he was stuck with Eddie. "I can't believe two girls are sleeping together naked in the room right in front of ours."

Eddie groaned and threw a boot at Jackie, who dodged it. "How the hell do you know they sleep naked?" Jackie scratched his head. "I mean, if guys take off their shirts to sleep because of the heat, why wouldn't girls completely undress?" Eddie turned around on his bed and marvelled his captain's stupidity. Though he did make a valid point.

"Oi, you two." They heard Elma's voice from the door, and both of them jumped in fear.

"D-Don't make us d-do any m-more chores! Please!" Jackie stuttered, waving his outstretched hands in front of him. Elma stared at him with a confused expression on her face. "I don't know what you're talking about. Did you do any chores?" She asked, an innocent smile on her face.