Marine || One Piece [ENG]

15

 She stood and waited for Vincent to gather the entire crew. Her eyes were closed and she had two bent fingers in her mouth, biting it lightly. She thought about what to say, how to say it.

"Leof?"

She felt a tug on her pant leg and stopped biting her hand. She held out her arms to a little girl, the youngest in her crew. The adorable little girl laughed happily, placing one hand on Leona's cheek and the other cupping her pierced lip. Her golden eyes sparkled happily.

Leona snorted in amusement and smiled.

"Sunny!"

Leona looked at Ruki who was coming. The boy was pale and bowed quickly.

"Sorry, Vice Admiral!"

"Don't be so stressed," Leona said, removing the child's hand. "Go my little one, your little brother Ruki is waiting for you, right?"

The young man's face turned beetroot.

"Luzi, Luzi!"

The boy took over the joyful girl, who immediately grabbed his hair. He looked confused at Leone, who was smiling at him.

"Take a seat, will you, sunshine?"

"Hai!"

He quickly walked away to the back of the room, steaming.

She took a deep breath and looked around the room filled with people. She ordered everyone on the ship to come forward. Youngsters, older soldiers, cooks, strategists, children, deckhands. She was so selfish. What she was about to say, what she was about to implement, she would never forgive herself for. How could she be so selfish when these people's lives and futures were in her hands?

Leona made eye contact with Vincent. One look into his confident, violet eyes calmed her doubts. The young man took confident, quick steps towards her, making his low ponytail wave slightly behind him.

"Everyone is here, Vice Admiral."

She began to slowly walk back and forth in front of the gathered people. She finally stopped, sighed softly with narrowed eyes.

She looked up and scanned everyone. She had a confident look in her eyes, she was completely serious, which didn't happen as often as you might think. She commanded respect.

"I gathered you to discuss something very important to me," she started surprisingly softly, which did not suit her attitude. "However, you don't have to agree with what I say. This is not an order. I won't force you to do anything, you will make the decision yourself, whatever you feel it should be."

She looked warmly at everyone. What she says will change everything. She didn't want to lose them so much, they were her people.

She smiled slightly, leaned on the desk behind her and began to speak in a quiet, warm voice:

"But before I get to that, I would like to thank you all. Each of you, each of you individually," she ran her eyes over their faces again, trying to remember every detail of their faces, "has an influence on who I am, on where I am. I wouldn't have come this far without you. I am very grateful to you. You are the best crew I could have ever dreamed of. Thank you for everything, I'm glad you were with me during this time. Even if it was short," as she said in the last part, she looked at the younglings who had arrived on her ship less than a month ago.

"Captain, stop it, or i'll blush," said Rick, the older man, bursting out laughing loudly, giving her a reassuring smile.

His dark hair was lightly dusted with gray, and the many wrinkles around his eyes and mouth showed that he smiled often. Still, his tanned arms were marked with scars from numerous battles.