•Black Hat•

•20•

In the end Luffy agreed with Rayleigh and the two of them, together with Jinbe traveled all the way back to Marineford. I didn't want to listen of what he would do there so I constantly hid myself in the forest and threw my blades to random objects. The night before they would leave I somehow managed once again to create a scene.

We were all sitting around the fire eating the food Hancock had brought us from the city inside the island. She would do that everyday and everyday I would only eat some bread with water. Prison's meal I called it, but it was the only thing I could swallow and keep in my stomach. That day though, Luffy seemed to be really worried about my appearance.

"Pearl... your bones are showing!" he said as he leaned closer to take a better look at my skinny ribs. Jinbe saved me the time from punching him since he did that himself. He hit Luffy on his head with his right fist and Luffy pulled back rubbing the aching spot. "But why? I'm only saying that she must eat!" Luffy whined and grabbed a piece of meat bringing it under my nose.

I held back an expression of sickness when its smell creeped inside my nostrils and shook my head from side to side, indicating that I didn't want it.

"I must I agree with him, you don't seem really healthy to me" Jinbe admitted and I shook uncomfortably in the spot I was sitting.

"Take him for example" Rayleigh said pointing at Luffy "he almost died but with the amount of meat he eats everyday his wounds have almost healed!" once again he was drinking something.

"I am full" I said, nervously patting my belly.

"Wit bead an vater?" Asked Luffy with his mouth filled.

"I didn't only eat bread and water!" I protested.

"But you did-"

I cut Jinbe off and grabbed a piece of meat like the one Luffy had previously given me. I took a bite and it really tasted good, so I continued eating much to everyone's relief. I ate three pieces of meat and four or three fruits, together with some of that hateful thing Rayleigh drank.

When I finished I leaned back on my elbows and stared at the sky, really feeling full. Luffy extended his arm and patted my belly like I had done before.

"Now you're full"

I smiled at him and then got up and vomited everything. Everything! Afterwards I collapsed on the side and woke up in the morning to find that they had left and in their place a young blonde girl was watching me as I slept. I didn't waste my time to ask her what had happened, I remembered everything with every little detail. I got up and she rushed close to me telling me that I should rest.

"I am perfectly fine, I just want to take a shower, wash this awful smell off my body!" I said not allowing her to touch me.

"If you want, I can take you to a beach close to here..." she said kindly I nodded.

We walked in a silence I ought to have broken but I didn't. I could see that she wanted to talk to me but my dead eyes scared her and prevented her from doing so. After a few minutes we arrived at a small sandy beach and without wasting a second I undressed myself completely and jumped in the sea. I felt her ready to say something and she got out her arm as if it was to catch me but when she saw me coming out of the water again she pulled it back.

"Oh you can swim?" She asked me and chuckled. "I thought you would sink like Luffy!"

"He had eaten a fruit of some kind that makes him heavy as a rock in the water" I explained as I enjoyed the feeling of the cold water on my skin.

I washed my mouth for god knows how many times until I was satisfied with the taste and its smell. I got out without telling the girl to turn around or something, imagining that she would be embarrassed. But she didn't avert her eyes. It's not like she was looking at my body with eyes filled with lust or something. She simply looked at me as if what I was doing was normal.

That made me feel ashamed when I came to the realization of how I looked. I hid my body behind my sweatpants and got ready to hide behind some bushes when she got up.

"What's wrong? Did you see a man?" She asked and got her arrows in hand.

"No" I said and she relaxed momentarily.

"Then-?"

"I look awful!" I said and took a step back.

"What? I didn't even notice whether that's true or not." She smiled and made me lower my arms. "Get dressed, in here we're all women!" She said and went to sit a bit further away.

I hastily wore my underwear, my sweatpants and tied the black thick piece of fabric around my chest. I grabbed my belt and the girl seemed to notice something.

"Would you like to come to the city with me? I might be able to find you a pair of shoes and some pants from a more... strong fabric." She said.

I looked at her clothes. They were made from an animals skin and they didn't look really stylish to me. But since I didn't have anything else to do I followed her all the way to the city.

Deep inside I feared that now that Luffy and Jinbe had gone away the Empress would pay someone to assassinate me. She seemed to be really jealous of the fact that I got to hang around with Luffy. It was as if she had a really huge crush on him. In the city the girl who introduced herself to me as Margaret stopped at a shop filled with weapons. We seemed to be looking for  the woman that lived over it though, much to my disappointment because I had spotted some really pretty knives.

"Melissa!" Margaret called and a fat woman with a round red face appeared from an opening that led to the first floor. "We came here looking for a pair of proper trousers!" She said.

We spent half an hour there looking through the clothes of poor men and women that the Kuja Pirates, the pirates of this island had captured and most likely killed. In the end I found a sapphire pair of baggy, once again pants, that were tight around the ankles and the waist but it was loose around the rest of the leg. It had many outside pockets, perfect for more blades, I thought as I wore it, throwing Law's sweatpants to the side. It also matched my eyes perfectly, Margaret commented. As for shoes I insisted on staying barefoot. I was always more silent without them. I only agreed on tying my hair up with an also green scrap of fabric.

"Why did you do that?" I asked the girl while we were returning the small bay.

"I thought it would make you happier!"