Chapter Text
They did not expect the ever docile Naitamie-Norida elephant Zunisha to attack them, it was a dire miscalculation.
Ginrummy clung onto a drifting plank, cursing her foolish captain under her breath for never thinking things through. She cursed her stupid bloodthirsty crew with permanent smiles fixed on their faces, who couldn’t complete their task properly and now they were all dead. The artificial SMILE fruit power flowing in her veins meant every second submerged in seawater as she held on to this plank was a struggle to stay afloat, with volatile ocean waves throwing her around.
She really didn’t want to die.
.
A light drizzle of acidic rain started to fall late in the night, the corrosive property capable of eating through sailcloth and wood, because New World weather enjoyed fucking over unsuspecting seafarers with endearing unpredictability.
Big Mom Pirates flagship Queen Mama Chanter had the necessary equipment to deal with that though. Charlotte Raisin as night-watch sitting on top of the cupcake crow's nest, didn’t even bother to bat an eye when the homie ship secreted a layer of high quality beeswax to coat itself in a protective edible biofilm. “Regen Anstrich, Indaco,” Raisin whispered softly, drawing his sword in the left hand to channel armament haki into a purplish shield, to shelter himself from the rain.
A faint voice shouted weakly from the sea.
The homie ship immediately directed its spotlight to starboard, and Raisin leaped down onto the gunwale to check it out.
Big Mom Pirates ship doctor Charlotte Tablet was reading a thick volume textbook, enjoying the quiet serenity of nighttime medical bay, when he heard the patter of urgent footsteps echoing down the corridors. Tablet gulped down the last mouthful of sweetened cappuccino and shut the book, recalling who was on guard duty tonight. They should still be some days away from Wano Country.
Raisin showed up at the infirmary drenched from head to toe, long hair plastered all over and suit soaked through, as if he had just been dunked into the sea. It had to be the most undignified Tablet had ever seen that young man in, and there was an unconscious woman in his arms. Scantily garbed in carmine breastplate, curly fuchsia hair, gloves and feathered coat. Tablet’s heart skipped a beat as the first thought flashing through his mind was Galette had drowned, but no, that woman was gauged to be around average human height and half meter too short to be his sister.
“Thank god you are awake, Brother Tablet,” Raisin gasped, putting the woman onto a cot. “I didn’t know the rumor that you never sleep is true.”
Tablet shook his head and gestured for his little brother to move that woman onto the floorboards instead, since cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be performed on a hard surface. Tablet checked her breathing and pulse, finding none, then proceeded to tilt her head back and pinch her nose to deliver rescue breaths. Raisin went into position, so he could start chest compressions at his older brother’s command.
It was a stressful ten minutes, before life returned to that near-drowning victim after she coughed up the excessive water from her lungs and vomited the rest from her stomach. There was a short lucid interval when the woman woke, but soon fell unconscious again due to extreme exhaustion.
Now that crisis was averted, Tablet turned to his little brother. “What happened? Who is she?”
Raisin had took off his shirt and was drying his hair with a towel. “I was on deck patrol when I saw her in the sea. The lighting was poor and I thought Sister Galette had gone overboard, so I acted on impulse,” Raisin replied sheepishly. “I don’t know who she is.”
Tablet retrieved a length of chains from the cabinet, and cuffed the mysterious woman by her left ankle to the steel framework of the rice cake bed.
“Get Brother Perospero and Sister Compote here, before you return to your lookout duty,” Tablet told his little brother. “Oh, and don’t tell Mama just yet.”
Raisin nodded, hurrying away. He needed to clean himself up before anybody else witnessed him in such state of disarray. It was fortunate this debacle happened in the night when most subordinate crew members were asleep, because Mama made him an absolute slave to PR just like his sisters Panna and Pudding, and he didn’t have the convenient ability to scrub people’s brain.
.
Perospero instantly roused to wakefulness when he perceived disturbance outside the hull. He was on alert at once, with candy syrup flowing down his amputated shoulder to solidify into a substitute arm. His little brother Raisin was balancing himself precariously atop the icing glazed windowsill, gently tapping the transparent candy panel.
“Perospero?” Compote said groggily from the next bed, sitting up as she rubbed her eyes. “What’s going on?”
“I would like to know myself, peroin~” Perospero muttered, flabbergasted, as he quickly went over to slide open the window. “What are you doing outside in the storm, Raisin? Where’s your shirt?”
“Long story,” Raisin grumbled. “I was dodging a longarm crewman because I didn’t want to be seen underdressed... that’s not the point, Brother Tablet wants me to inform you there is a suspicious individual held captive at the medical bay. Mama doesn’t know yet.”
Compote was already changing out of her silk negligee, and she threw a cotton overcoat at Perospero. Her brother caught it with practiced reflex. “We’ll be right over, dear,” Compote said.
Raisin nodded, skipping into the air and vanished from sight, presumably to return to his own resting quarters. Perospero yawned, pulling the loose coat over his nightgown. “Why would anyone be out alone in the sea in the middle of the night.”
“Well, we’ve seen weirder,” Compote replied, using an orange headband adorned with apricots and kumquats to secure her bushy cyan hair, not bothering with her usual full parfait getup. “Let’s go, Peros,” Compote said, holding open the door. They headed towards the infirmary together.
Tablet was expecting them, looking as sleep-deprived as he had always been. “Brother Peros, Sister Compote,” Tablet said, ushering the fraternal siblings into his workstation. “Raisin pulled a girl out of the sea half an hour ago. I’m thinking of moving her to the prison brig, once her condition stabled.”
Tablet provided an abbreviated rundown of the situation to his older brother, while Compote went on ahead to check the reported woman captive in the ward. Perospero was discussing the details with his little brother, when Compote suddenly let out an audible gasp of alarm, distinctively loud in the quiet medical bay. Perospero and Tablet rushed inside, wary of an unexpected enemy attack.
Compote stopped them by the doorstep, hands reaching out to grasp weakly at her older twin’s shoulder. “Peros. You won’t believe this,” Compote said. Her voice was quivering, with an odd quality of equal parts trepidation and boundless wonder. “Gin. Gin is alive.”
“What?” Perospero uttered, not expecting to hear that name at all, a child lost thirty years ago. Tablet was nonplussed, he was thirty-six and too young at the time to know of that incident.
Perospero went around his corpulent sister, needing to see for himself, when a length of fleshy whip-like appendage lashed out stretching from across the room to thrash at his face. Perospero reacted quick by configuring his candy cane, vigilant even when guard was down, to deflect that inept sneak attack. Their visitor was awake and apparently capable of mid-range offense while chained. Perospero pointed his left index finger to direct adhesive hard candy to bind that woman’s bizarrely elongated left limb, writhing like a finned snake, to instantly subdue their conceivable adversary.
“No, Peros! Don’t attack her!” Compote cried out in dismay, slapping away her brother’s raised staff.
Ginrummy wasn’t giving up after one failed attempt though, after she identified herself onboard the ship of a rivaling crew, because it was just her damned luck. Ginrummy struck next by thrusting her right arm forward, fingers fusing together to morph into the biting jaw of a serpentine knifefish with the gift of SMILE fruit curse. Compote stepped in between that woman and her brother, holding up a forearm to block the attack. Ginrummy chomped down with her right hand head, tiny teeth digging into flesh, but couldn’t bite through the Charlotte daughter’s tough iron skin.
Ginrummy growled, but she still had one secret weapon left. She would not go down without taking at least one enemy with her, so she dialed up to peak voltage. “ELECTRICUS CHARGE, MAXIMUM!!” Ginrummy shouted, unleashing the full might of her electric eel SMILE. There was a reverberated echo akin to the rumbling thunderclap.
Perospero squinted, he wasn’t anticipating that young woman to pack such destructive capability. Tablet shielded his eyes from the blinding light.
Compote’s dress was charred...
... and Ginrummy’s mouth fell open, when she realized that older woman was barely singed by her strongest technique, despite the notable scorched area surrounding her.
The teleost fish squeaked pitifully.
Perospero waved his hand, to remotely open the candy-paneled windows with his devil fruit ability, the astringent rainstorm had subsided during their indoor exchange thankfully, so he could air out the scent of burnt marshmallows. Compote possessed the highest durability among all Charlotte siblings, so he wasn’t too worried. A couple homie bagel stools escaped out into the hallway in fright.
Ginrummy on the other hand was only hoping for a quick merciful death at this point, as a lowly Beast Pirates headliner trapped among Big Mom Pirates executives. This was just unfair, that she had to keep running into foes she couldn’t defeat.
Compote noticed the despondent expression on that young woman’s face. “Oh, Gin. It’s okay, hon. I’m not mad,” Compote soothed sympathetically, walking over to hug her close. Perospero frowned, still cautious, but said nothing.
Ginrummy was scared, petrified stiff in another woman’s embrace, and very very confused.
.
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