Marine || One Piece [ENG]

30

The wind didn't cooperate.

The ships sailed slowly through the calm ocean. The sky was cloudless, the sun was hot on the skin. There were practically no waves.

She looked down at the water, chewing the roll in her mouth. Her arms rested on the wooden railing at the side.

"Shouldn't you be resting in your cabin?" She heard Haruka's voice and looked up, turning her head towards the girl.

"Nah. I can rest here too," she said, smiling weakly. "It's not like I know what the hell I can do here."

Haruka approached, resting her arms on the railing as well, in the same way as Leona. She tilted her head slightly to the side, her brown eyes examining Leon carefully.

"You should lie down," Haruka said, leaning slightly over the railing, turning her gaze towards the ocean. "Don't move at all," she mumbled, her cheeks puffing out slightly.

"You're exaggerating," Leona said, grinning slightly as she leaned forward to make eye contact with Haruka. "I'm alive. I'm doing well. It doesn't even hurt."

"I don't believe you," Haruka said, narrowing her eyes at Leone.

" Have I ever lied to you?" she asked cheekily, leaning forward slightly.

"Is this a trick question?" Haruka grumbled, turning her head away from Leona. "I don't agree to answer that.$

"No, seriously, I'm not lying," she drawled, leaning closer to Haruka to make eye contact with her. "You know i'm not lying. Haruka."

" It's hard for me to believe that despite these wounds, nothing hurts you" the blonde muttered, turning her head towards Leona. "But these wounds... They were so serious. I heard you there. I heard you screaming... and..."

Haruka stumbled, pursing her lips, unable to put into words everything she wanted to say.

"It's okay," Leona assured, nudging Haruka's shoulder with her arm. " It hurt then. But not anymore, Belly is a great doctor. And she gives great painkillers."

"So you're just high on drugs," Haruka huffed, nudging her shoulder back. "Go back to bed. After all, when your medications wear off, you'll roll over in pain!"

"Nahhhh," Leona snorted, leaning back slightly at the nudge, quickly retaliating, causing Haruka to have to take a step to the side to keep her balance. The blonde gasped, kneeing Leone in the thigh. "It won't be that bad. Cheer up. The great war is behind us." Leona grinned, showing no pain.

They looked into each other's eyes in silence for a moment. Haruka more annoyed and worried, squinting her eyes, Leona more amused, holding back a laugh.

They heard loud footsteps before Toru came running into view, his blond locks disheveled. They turned their heads towards him. His bright blue eyes sparkled when he saw them.

"Captain, we've connected to Law," he gasped excitedly. " They're all stable."

Leona straightened up, breaking away from the railing, moving quickly towards the bow, where the snail recorder was next to the helm.

***

"Are you kidding me?!" Ivankov and Buggy were outraged at once, being so harmonious for the first time while sailing.

This made her laugh even after the momentary surprise had passed.

"I'm serious. I only have black eyeliner," Leona said, amused, crossing her arms. "Maybe there would be some ink."

"Not my ship, so I don't have any cosmetics," Belly added indifferently, busy polishing her sword.

"Hmm, make up on a ship makes no sense to me, so when I ran out of cosmetics, I didn't buy new ones " Haruka said thoughtfully, putting her hand to her cheek. " Yes, I don't think I have anything."

The two men looked at them devastated.

"I can always give you Sunny crayons, you'll find red and blue there," Leona said, grinning, causing Belly to snort and Haruka shake her head.

"Ooooh, finally something useful," Buggy cheered up.

"These are crayons for children to draw on," Haruka informed them, causing Buggy's mood to drop dramatically.

Leona burst out laughing.

***

"It should be fine here, right?" Leona asked rhetorically, looking towards the land through the telescope.

They were sailing to Amazon Lily, stopping at a port island on the way. You could see ships standing on the quay and men bustling around. A fishing boat nearby.

"They won't have anything to complain about, it looks like a prosperous island, rich, with ships," Vincent said, standing next to him, crossing his arms. "We can throw them out here."

Their ship slowly approached the shore, and the crew dropped ropes onto the bridge. They attracted the attention of the local people with their repainted navy ship, some people quickly disappeared from the surroundings, some continued what they were doing, ignoring them. A group of onlookers had also gathered, keeping their distance from them.

The pirates they were carrying got off the ship with small bags. They talked loudly among themselves and sometimes burst into laughter. When everyone who was supposed to get off had left, Leona stepped off the deck onto the bridge.

She glanced at the locals out of the corner of her eye, mentally assessing their reactions to her. She wanted to know how people reacted to her after everything that happened, after she betrayed the Navy. They looked at her with distance, but not fear. It was hard to tell their stance towards her. It looked like they couldn't decide what to think. She thought it was a pretty good reaction.

"This is where we part ways," she said, offering her hand to Buggy, who shook it, and then shaking Ivankov's hand. "You better behave. If I find out that something happened on this island, I will be on your tails," she warned, causing indignant sighs from the pirates or amused chuckles, the latter mainly from Ivankov's subordinates.

"What, are you becoming a pirate hunter?" Buggy grumbled, grimacing.

"We'll keep an eye on them, boii" assured Ivankov, grinning.

" I'm counting on you. Take care," she said, taking a step back.

She was answered by a flurry of goodbyes from the pirates and Ivankov's subordinates. She smiled slightly.

"Someday..." Crocodile's hoarse voice said next to her, and she immediately smelled the choking smoke of his cigars. " Next time, let's drink good wine."

She sighed in amusement, shaking her head.

"It was good wine," she said, resting her hand on her hip with a wry smile.

"I wouldn't even call it wine," he said grimly, looking at her. "Get something better. I wouldn't despise Old Tawny Porto."