Chapter Text
“Hey look! That’s GF Soldiers!!” an old man told his neighbor.
“Getting drunk and partying in the daytime? They’re so obnoxious” the woman chimed in.
The sound of footsteps suddenly stopped, and the sound owner approached the nervous villagers.
“Do you have a problem?!!” One of the G5 soldiers snaps, “This island is safe from pirates who are worth over 100 million berries because we obnoxious soldiers are going around like this for you people. Don’t you think so?! Huh!”
“We deserve a little break, don’t we?” another soldier butts in.
“ W-well… “ both of the villagers panicking.
“G5!!”
Suddenly a voice booms out of nowhere, and all of them freeze on the spot.
“Back to the ship! We are called back to the headquarter!”
“Yes, Smo-Yan!!!”
And then all of the G5 soldiers running, when Vice Admiral Smoker ordered them with a stern tone like that, nobody stupid enough to argue.
---
“What’s the code?” a soldier with a slash scar on his chin whispers to his comrade behind him.
“Turbine Chronicle,” His comrade whispered back after making sure they are alone.
They are hidden in a secluded corner of a warehouse, alone, but if anyone looks at their fidgety behavior, you’d think they were up to no good, something criminal. The soldier with a scar carefully slides a piece of paper and his partner quickly snatches it from his hand. Discreetly he opens the paper, scanning the contents, and then takes a lighter from his pocket to burn the paper.
“Is it accurate?” He asks, “What do you mean by that!?” His friend sounds offended, “ Of course I always have the most accurate news!”
“Good..good…” He smirks, “Prepare a betting pool. I’ll make sure everyone joins this time.”
He leaves their hiding place after making sure that nobody was around, whistling an off-tone tune “ I’ll have to let the others know that Commodore Yarisugi is getting dumped by a girl.”
---
The commotion can be heard from the yard, soldiers running around, screaming unintelligibly, dust flying everywhere not unlike there was an enemy attack the Naval basecamp. Shui Kao, a brute with a bald head and tilted tie, one of the few G5 soldiers from Unit 01 who has some common sense, running to the center of the yard. He drags along a man in a white coat, easily identified as one of their doctors. The doctor, a man in his middle age, spots a body in their midst and gasps.
“Captain Tashigi” He exclaims as he immediately kneels beside her prone form. He checks her vital signs and looks for any sign of injury.“What the hell is happening here?”
What he receives are too many simultaneous answers, overlapping one another until he can’t make any word from it. He has enough.
“SHUT UP!!!!” His howl manages to make all the soldiers stop in their mid-sentence.
He growls “Now, YOU!!” he points to Shui Kao, “What’s happened with Captain Tashigi?”
Shui Kao, a big man he is, cowers in front of their head medics. “ W-w-we doesn’t know why s-s-she suddenly fainted when supervising the new cadet’s practice sword fighting,” he stutters.
Doctor Akito squints his eyes, switching his attention to Tashigi, and gives them orders.“You two! Get me a stretcher from the clinic! And all of you, GET LOST!! IF I SEE ANY OF YOU STILL HOVERING AROUND HERE, I'LL MAKE SURE YOUR VISIT TO THE CLINIC WILL NOT BE ENJOYABLE!!"
"Eh….." all of the soldiers chorus dramatically. The doctor’s threat succeeds in making them scatter; just in time too. A blonde man, with an immaculate jacket and neatly combed hair, appears. He looks at the doctor when he picks Tashigi up and places her to the stretcher that arrives.
“Is she okay?” His expression didn’t show anything when he addresses the doctor.
“Nothing that I could find at the moment, Commodore Asuka.” He answers. “I’ll take her to the clinic now.” He signs the two soldiers to take Tashigi to the clinic and hears Commodore Asuka orders the soldiers in the yard to continue their training. Looks like the soldiers already have a substitute supervisor now.
---
“How could you not know what happened with Captain-chan!” a brunette man accuses the man in front of him.
“Oh.. don’t you dare to talk to me like that!” The said man affronted.
“You just have to get information from the clinic! How hard could it be!?” another brute with a tilted hat, also throw his complaint.
“HOW HARD?? HOW HARD, DID YOU SAY???” Yoshi, the brunette soldier from Unit 02 G5 Division, the so-called ‘rumor master’, screeches, “YOU KNOW DOCTOR AKITO IS A CREEPY OLD MAN! HE SAID IF HE SAW ME ONCE MORE NEAR HIS CLINIC, THAT HE WOULD PERSONALLY MAKE SURE THAT I WOULD NEVER GET AN ANAESTHETIC WHEN I MUST HAVE SURGERY!!”
“YOU JUST NEED TO BE MORE DISCREET, STUPID!!”
“OH, LET ME SHOW YOU WHO IS THE STUPID ONE!!”
They jump apart at the sudden bang. The sound of a broken table ceases their fight. They turn their head to the source of the sound only to find Shui Kao gritting his teeth, with a clenched fist and red eyes showing his fury.
“Enough of this stupidity!!” He growls, loud enough to be heard in the silent room. They were in a secluded warehouse, with all of the units of the G5 division sent their representatives.
There are two soldiers hidden in front of the entrance, standing guard, and will warn them if there are any of their superiors passing through. It is an important meeting, with the wellbeing of their beloved Captain Tashigi at stake, but they are engrossed in their petty squabble. And it has to be his duty, as a representative from Unit 01 where Captain-chan currently served, to make sure this meeting goes as smoothly as possible and they can help Captain-chan later.
“Kazu!” he addresses a representative from Unit 05, “What did you find about Captain Chan?”
Kazu, a skinny man, and wearing black glasses, stands proud of the attention. With an air of importance, he reports his finding,
“I’ve been tailing Captain chan this past three days.”
He begins, “It was so worrying when I saw her so pale and she looked so fragile at that moment. I saw her only toying with her food, not even eating it and she looked paler and resisted to vomiting. She didn’t touch her coffee too. You know how she always drinks her coffee and never skips breakfast.”
“Pale? Are you sure your eyes didn’t deceive you?” Mokun, a representative from Unit 03 interrupts Kazu.
“I saw her scaring a new cadet because he mistakenly gave her the wrong book. I never saw Captain chan that scary.” He shudders to remember that incident.
“What the hell are you talking about?” It’s now Honudin from Unit 04 protests, “She was crying yesterday just because she accidentally tripped and dropped a bucket of water on me. She repeatedly asked me for forgiveness although I’ve said it was fine, no harm done. She is too kind for her own good.”
“She positively looked like she was glowing two days ago” Moropia, a soldier from units 06 adds, he doesn’t want to look like he is slacking in his report. “I was bypassing her in the hall last night, she looks so happy that I felt like she was glowing. She was so pretty last night,” He sighs dreamily.
Shui Kao frowns, he doesn’t like all of the news that he’s hearing. Everything so bewildering and contradictory. Something needs to be done, as soon as possible.
He looks at his comrades who start bickering once again.
“The Doc said she is fine” He informs them, “ Just need more rest.”
They all look at him strangely.
“The Doc gives you information about Captain chan?” They ask, disbelief clear in their eyes.
“I have my own way” Shui Kao answers cryptically, of course, he doesn’t want his comrades to know what he did to have that information.
“But we really need to know more and fast. A couple of days ago when I was at her office to tell her that Smo-yan called her, she was smiling and looked so happy while watching a piece of paper. But she put it in her drawer abruptly when she noticed I was there”
The silence in that warehouse is worrying, considering quiet and G5 never mentioned together.
“We need to know what is in that paper. I have a hunch that paper will let us know what happens with her.”
“Wait a minute Shui Kao!!” Kazu cuts in, “ Are you telling us that we have to break into Captain Chan’s office?”
“WE HAVE NO OTHER WAY!!” Shui Kao yells. “I know it is very risky if our superiors know about what we will do, worse if Smo-Yan knows about this. He will kill us for sure.” He looks around the people in that room, “So, are you ready for this and the consequences or not?”
His comrades look to one another. Oh, they will be in big trouble for this. They know it. But their name as an elite team of gossips is questioned by all soldiers of G5 because they didn’t have valid info about the wellbeing of Captain Tashigi albeit they have complete almost all of the personal information of said captain. This time, they have to do this high-risk mission.
“Alright,” Moropia answers for all of them “ What is the plan?”
---
Kazu is chosen as the person who will sneak in Captain Tashigi’s office, due to his skill for picking a lock. if he didn’t join the navy, he definitely would have been a professional thief. When his comrades distract Captain-chan and lead her away from the office, he expertly opens the locked door and goes inside.
Kazu goes straight to her desk. All her documents and personal belonging are neatly arranged. Opening the desk’s drawer, he uses a pin to open the lock. After several attempts and drawers, something finally catches his eyes.
A little picture, only 5x5 cms long, but it stops his heart for a moment. With trembling hands, he looks at the picture carefully. His body feels cold, his blood is freezing, and he will stay that way if not for the sound coming from inside of his clothes and breaking his stupor. His body and his brain don’t know what to do or think or how to act at the moment.
“Kazu, have you got it?” Mokun’s voice can be heard from the baby Den Den Mushi.
“Yes, I have,” Kazu whispers back.
“Quick, get out of there. Captain-chan is heading there!”
Trying desperately to calm his nerve, Kazu places the picture back in the drawer, locks all of the drawers, and silently exits the office, running as fast as he can to the predetermined place. He does it just in time because when he turns a corner, Captain Tashigi is seen walking towards her office.
Out of breath, body shaking from the adrenalin rush, he finds the others, immediately he is bombarded with many questions from his partners in crime.
"How is it? What did you find? You didn’t encounter anyone else, right?”
He raises his right hand to halt their questions, busy catching his breath.
“ I have found it,” Kazu says at last after he rights himself. All of them giving him their undivided attention makes him gulps nervously.
“I’ve found a picture,” he shuddered when remembers it,
“Picture? What picture??” Shui Kao approaches him,
“Is it a picture of a man?” Honudin starts shaking him,
“Does she already has a boyfriend?” Kazu states with a disbelief expression,
“Oh no!! No..No...No..!!! It is so much worse!!!” Kasu says
“Worse? What is worse than Captain chan having a boyfriend?” Moropia inquires,
”I’ve found an ultrasound picture!!” Kazu yells,
He slaps his forehead when his comrades only look at him confused, clearly doesn’t understand what he said.
“It means Captain Chan is pregnant you stupid oafs!!” Kazu explains with a choked voice.
“WHAATTTTT????” They cry hysterically.
“CAPTAIN CHAN IS PREGNANT?!”
How could they miss it? All of the symptoms, when they think about it, were signs for her being pregnant.
“Captain chaaaaannnn…..” They wail, tears streaming down their eyes.
“What must we do noooow?” Sobbing, they seem can’t accept the fact that it turns out their beloved captain already has a lover without them knowing.
“We couldn’t do anything about it,” As always, Shui Kao is their warranty for having the most common sense. “We tell the other, but remember, this is super-secret information. Our superiors, especially Smo-Yan can’t know about this.”
Reluctantly they agree, for Captain chan’s sake.
With the chaos that ensued after that day the rumor spread came the million berri question.
WHO THE HELL IS THE FATHER??