Follow The Current

Chapter 2

It was early the next morning and Brian couldn't sleep so he left his room and stepped out on to the deck. Everyone else was still asleep so it was just him. He looked out to the sea and saw the waves were of great size. He looked to his right and saw someone paddling on a board in the water. He smiled when he saw it was Trish. The woman hadn't left his mind since he met her. She had the darkest of hair with the eyes the color of lightning. On the shoulder and arm that were her original appendage, she had a tribal tattoo all over it while the rest of caramel color skin was free of ink. She had worn khaki cargo shorts that stopped at her knees, work boots, a white cropped tank top, and a khaki short sleeved cropped jacket to protect the bolts in her arm. She was beautiful and there was just something about him that kept his interest. He has met several women who had prosthetic limbs, but it was rare a woman ever did automail because of how painful it was. Most didn't do it unless they need the full function it offered compared to a wooden or plastic prosthetic to work and such. The only reason his family's business is so successful was because they were the best of the best and the materials weren't cheap either. 

He could make her an arm though. They were going to the Iron Islands so he could get the world's best materials from there. He could make her the best arm imaginable, but chances were, he'd never see her again after they left. He sighed as he stood there and watched her surf, admiring just how skilled she was. When she went back to the beach he decided to go tinker around in his workshop for a bit. 

Scarlet woke up with Lux tangled up around her. She went to move but he tightened his grip around her. "Five more minutes," Lux grumbled. "But I can smell Pince making breakfast with some of the new spices he picked up from the market," she whined softly. It smelled amazing and she couldn't wait to try it. He chuckled and released her and she got up to get dressed. He followed suit before he left the room. "You two got any plans tonight," Dio asked once they were on the upper deck where breakfast was being served. "Don't know yet," Lux said as he sat down. "These two are leaving us to go on a date," Brian said while gesturing with a thumb at Muris and Lance. "That sounds like a great idea," Lux said while nudging Scarlet. "A little dancing sounds rather nice." 

Scarlet smiled, "If you're asking me out on a date Lux DeFlore, I know you can ask me better than that." He chuckled, "I will ask you in the best way possible. Just be on the look out." She laughed as she rolled her eyes. Brian and Pince made gagging sounds at them while Dio shook his head. "Looks like it's just the three of us night," Pince said with a smile at Dio and Brian. Dio scoffed, "Please. I don't feel like playing referee between the two of you all night long." Pince rolled his eyes, "Please, we're not that bad." Everyone looked at the two of them and Brian chuckled. "We don't always fight," Brian said. 

"When you're not fighting, you're turning everything into a contest," Lance pointed out to them. "What's wrong with that," Pince asked him. "A lot," Lance and Muris replied in unison. Brian and Pince then rolled their eyes in unison, completely disagreeing. 

"Hey Shadow Pirates," a voice called out and everyone looked over the railing and saw Trish with Pince's large order. "My order," Pince said happily before going to get it. "Have you thought on my offer," Lux asked her. "You're insane Captain," Trish said with a shake of her head. Brian perked up, "You asked her to join the crew?" Lux nodded, "Yeah. Her lightning ability is really going unused while stuck on this island." 

"I got a job to do," Trish said as Pince signed for his order. She took the board and Brian hurried off the ship, "Hey beautiful, wait up!" She turned to look at him and put a hand on her hip, "What do you want?" "If you join us, I'll make you the best arm the world has ever seen," Brian told her. "Free of charge." She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Yeah right. There is a price for everything in this world." "Honest," he said to her as she began to walk away. He followed after her, "I was thinking about it last night. We have a list of set destinations we're going too as part of our vacation and one of them is the Iron Islands. I could get the best parts imaginable to make your arm out of. We're also going to the Coral Caves where you'll be able to catch the best of waves." She eyed him then. 

He smiled, "All you have to do is join our crew." She rolled her eyes as she shook her head, "Everyone has a role on the crew. I can't do much." "Muris is only useful when it comes to carrying treasure," Brian told her. "So you don't have to have a role with us. Captain Lux doesn't ask for anyone who is useless to join his crew, so he sees you as useful for something. You just have to give it a chance." 

"I have absolutely no combat skills," she told him. "So I'm useless in a fight against marines or other pirates." "That's perfectly fine. Lance didn't have any combat skills until we taught him," Brian countered. "Believe it or not, he's one of the biggest cowards I've ever met, but he's also one of the best damn doctors I've ever met. Lux sees something in you and I'm curious to see what that is. We set sail in two days at sunrise. I hope to see you when we set sail." He then walked away and she watched him go. 

She looked at her arm, before shaking her head. She went back to work for the rest of the day. Business had been slow, Pince's sale the biggest they had all week. So her pay had taken a hit despite how much she had done for the old man. She was used to it though. She sighed as she shoved the money into her bag at the end of the night and made her way back to the shack she called her home. She stopped at her father's grave. 

She down in front of his head stone, "Hey dad." She ran a hand through her hair, "I got asked to join the Shadow Pirates yesterday. Their shipwright offered to make me a better arm than the one I have now." She looked at her arm, "And he said I don't have to pay him for it. I wish you were here to tell me what I should do." She sighed and looked out at the sea. 

She got up and went inside her shack. She had her father's old jolly roger hanging on her wall. He had sailed the seas when he was younger. He was Captain Britman of the Sea Kings. He didn't get very big, but he wasn't shooting for fame, he was shooting for adventure. When her mother got pregnant he retired to be there for the two of them. It was two years after Trish had lost her arm that her mother had gotten sick. Her father left to go find a doctor, trying to race the clock, but when he returned there wasn't much that could be done for her then. The doctor was only able to make her last moments comfortable. The doctor had decided to stay on Curry Island after that to help the people, but it was only a couple years after that when another pirate crew came and tried to take the doctor her father had brought to the island. 

This time her father and a few others put up a fight. Captain Drewel of the Acid Corals found her father to be a pest and shot him. Trish had watched as her father died, bleeding out on the ground. Since that day she had wished the Acid Corals a painful death. 

As the years went by, she accepted her life here on Curry Island. Then she read an article about the first ever female pirate who disarmed a group of marines in less than a minute. She wouldn't admit this, but Scarlet Bri was her role model. She was beautiful and strong, not afraid to give others the middle finger. Trish wanted to be strong like her. Yet here she was, too scared to even grasp the chance in front of her. 

She sighed and looked at the jolly roger of a skull with a crown. In the corner hung her father's wanted poster of a million jewels. She took it down and turned it over where she knew the message he left for her was written. 

Follow the current of dreams and see where it takes you. Never let your disability stop you from being the best you, that you can be. -Love your father.

She turned it back over, a small smile on her lips, "Thank you for everything dad."