Seeing the World

Episode 1

Honestly, getting attacked by pirates right now is really the least of my problems. Falling into the ocean doesn't sound awful and it's not like I can't just swim away after they destroy my ship. I'll miss my ship though, so letting it get blown up by a couple of cannons is a no go for me. Sighing, I stood up from the rail I was leaning on to think about my options. I'm low on food, pretty sure the hull has a leak and now there's marines, not to mention I'm completely lost in the East Blue.

"Guess it can't be helped, I'll have to get out and push", I grumble to myself preparing to jump out of my small boat and push it. My oars went the way of the dodo a long, long time ago and I had never seen a need to replace them until now. The sea was cold as I leaped in and I shivered internally.

Can't give up now, they'll destroy my baby, I think to myself and swim towards the back of my small ship I had affectionately named, Miria. Placing my hands on the wet wood of Miria, I decide I'll pretend this is a new way for me to train. Pushing your own ship through the East Blue seemed a little backwards to me, but the cannon fire falling down around my ship convinced me that it was well worth it.

***

I can not believe I seriously just pushed my boat into a whirlpool, how could I have so dumb? After all that work to keep it safe from the marines and I just shove it into a boat killer. Without any time to sit and think about just how truely dumb I am, I swam towards a neighboring ship I had noticed out of the corner of my eye. The sea was cold and I was just beginning to slow down when I finally reached what looked like a recreational cruise ship, judging by the lack of cannon windows on the sides of the ship and the soft band music playing from the inside of the ship.

Climbing very carefully up the ladder on the side of the ship, I made my way on board and began to wander around and acquaint myself with my new surroundings. It was nothing like my old ship, partially because it was huge compared to my previous home but mostly because it looked completely untouched by wear and tear. The crew of this ship had taken great lengths to keep this ship in tip top shape and I could see why when I reached a door that, when I opened it, led to a large room filled with finely dressed people.

Not really my scene and seeing as how the loose green shirt I was wearing along with my shorts and boots were all soaked, I'd still out like a sore thumb in that crowd. Carefully, I closed the door and continued wandering around, a new goal in mind, food. From the lookout's area I could hear crew members shouting to each other about finding a barrel in the water that they figured was full of beer. A glass of beer sounded so nice right now but food first and then maybe I could have a drink. Thinking one of the crew could point me to the food storage area I walked toward the noise and eventually ran into two guys leaning over the railing, pulling up what looked to be an especially heavy barrel.

"Need any help there guys?", I asked hoping that starting out calm would get me where I needed to go faster.

"Oh nah, miss", one of the men said, looking up at me. I smiled and tried my best not to look like a half drown rat. I was sure my smile didn't help but to my surprise the man smiled back with kind eyes and asked if I needed any help. With a shrug I mentioned needing some food and the sailor pointed me towards a door and said, "Down the stairs and to the right", I nodded and said thank you before turning away, still damp and moved to open the door.

I found the food storage room with relative ease, still a little surprised the sailor I had run into even told me where to find it but I guess he wasn't paid in food so it probably didn't matter much to him who ate what. Sitting down on the floor by a bag labeled fruits, I opened it and found it was filled with apples. Good enough for me and started in on an apple when my stomach grumbled in hunger. It was peaceful for a while and I found time to reflect on the day. I'd miss Miria and the safety she brought me when I left my island. She'd been a good ship that had carried me faithfully for the months I'd been out on the open ocean. What made it worse was that while I wanted to blame pushing it into a whirlpool on the marines, for once they weren't to blame for something terrible happening, this time it was all me. A tear slid down my face, the soft sound of it hitting the wooden floor below me reminded me where I was and who my parents raised me to be. I shook my head trying to jar myself back into reality and picked up another apple to eat.