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I can feel the ship being tossed around on the waves, I can see the unsecured crates being tossed aside as if they were empty. With how scarcely they feed me they might as well be.
I stand, pulling the thin blanket they gave me around my arms. I'm not cold, it's a soothing feeling being wrapped up. I cant see out the porthole, I’m too short. Maybe this is the height of all children, I wouldn’t know.
I feel my stomach twist. When was the last time I ate? Would that even matter soon? If I ask for food they’ll ignore me, plus with how the ship is being tossed I doubt they could hear me.
I drop back down onto my cot, keeping my blanket around my arms. The nuns who raised me would tell me to pray, god will provide. I don’t think god can hear me. Even if he could, why would he listen to me, a nameless orphan trapped on a pirate ship. No one else does.
A sharp crack sends me bolting up and out of my thoughts, this could be bad. A snapping sound on a ship can mean many things, all being something breaking. I try again to peer out of the porthole, jumping this time, all I can see is wood- shit. I do my best to run over to the hatch, banging at it.
“Help!” I scream, praying that someone would hear me. The wood out the window could be another ship, maybe they can save me. “Help!” Nothing, I can hear the sounds of scrambling above me, maybe they’re fighting. I’ll be okay if that's the case, I can just sleep. That must have been what the sound was. I turn to retreat back to my cot when a loud bang sounds. I feel my heart drop in terror, ocean water is flooding in. I can't swim.
“Help! I can't swim! Help me! Please!” I scream, pounding on the hatch. I feel my face heat up, tears pushing at my eyes. I can't cry, this isn't the time for tears. I have to keep yelling, keep banging, keep from falling into the rising water. No one can hear me. I’m going to die.
The hatch opens, a scruffy looking man with red hair peers down at me. He wasn’t one of the pirates that kidnapped me. “Oh shit. Hey kid.” He says, his voice soothing to my ears, he wasn't yelling at me. Anything is better than yelling at me.
“Are you a pirate?” I ask, not wanting to repeat this experience. He laughs, a bright smile on his face.
“Don’t worry kid, I don’t make it a habit to kidnap kids.” I know it's a joke, it isn't funny. “Come on kid, let's get you back to my ship. We can chat then,” he says, holding a hand out for me. I look behind me to the swiftly flooding haul and take his hand. The man leads me through the ship, I keep my eyes focused on the floor in front of me, I see bodies lifeless on the floor in my periphery. I don’t look. I keep my eyes on my feet even as we cross a long plank over the water, admittedly my hand tightens around the man.
I look up as my feet land on solid wood. There's a small group of men standing around chatting and laughing, like they hadn't just decimated a ship.
“What's your name kid?” The man asks softly, letting go of my hand. I blink up at him for a moment.
“I dont have one. The nuns said that god would name me in time. But their god obviously hates me.” I say, I notice how the man's eyes darken for a moment, a slight hint of anger in the expression.
“Thats- what do you want to be called?” He asks, softer this time. I simply shrug.
“A name is something for others to call me, it's not something I can choose.” The man frowns.
“Okay… well you gotta pick something kid- wait, how old even are you.” He asks, kneeling down to my level.
“Uh- I don't know. I was six when the pirates took me- i don’t know how long-“ I say, trying to think back, everything is fuzzy however. The man’s face darkens again. I think about words I like. A proper name would never be right, names are something parents give to their children. My parents had abandoned me. “Leviathan. Can my name be Leviathan?” I ask softly. The man looks slightly surprised.
“Uh- sure kid, it's your name, you do know that a Leviathan is a giant sea monster or whatever,” he asks. I nod simply.
“And God destroyed them, as they were seen as a threat to his creation,” I nod. The man laughs, messing up my hair.
“I like you kid, now, let's get you to the Doc. Wanna make sure you won't die on me,” the man grins, standing up. He puts his hand on my shoulder and guides me to a stairwell leading into the ship. The room he takes me to smells sharp, too clean. Like the clinic at the orphanage, I didn't like the clinic. The nuns there liked to poke me with sharp things.
The red haired man returns with a tall blonde man, he looks over me for a moment, obviously surprised.
“Hello little one, I’m the ship's doctor, Hongo,” he says with a smile, “what's your name?”
“Leviathan,” I say softly, trying to look up at him, but he’s tall, and looking that far up hurts my neck. The red haired man looks at the blonde man with a more serious look.
“I need to talk to Ben, are you good to keep an eye on the kid for a sec?” his eyes settled on me for a second before moving again. “Just ask the kid questions for now, I’ll send Yassop in, he's got a kid, right?” the red haired man says, heading to the door.
“Yeah, I’ll shout if anything is wrong,” the blonde assures, the red haired man nods and walks out of the room. A slight pit grows in my stomach, I don’t want to be left alone. The blonde man turns back to me, “so, Leviathan, that's a unique name,” he starts with a gentle smile on his face.
“The red haired man said I needed a name,” I say. The man just nods.
“Do you know how old you are?”
“I was six when the other pirates took me,” the man just blinked as if shocked.
“How long were you with them?” he asks, with a frown.
“I dunno. It was a long time,” I shrug, I let my eyes wander the room some more, wood painted white to mimic a proper clinic, polished metal counter, probably cold. I don't want to look at the man, how his eyes look at me with pity, how he frowns. “My birthday is in the winter, it was springtime.” I say softly, trying to help the man gauge.
“It's spring now,” he frowns, “so let's say you're sevenish.” He writes that down on a paper, a knock sounds at the door. Another tall man comes in. His skin the color of the ship's wood, his hair the color of straw. His nose is strangely long.
“Hey, Shanks- that is a child,” the man says, eyes widening upon seeing me, “where did we acquire a child? Don't Shanks have a hard rule against children on the ship?” The man frowns, speaking twenty miles a minute.
“Yeah, this is Leviathan, she was on the ship,” the other man, Hongo, says gesturing to me. His words are slightly clipped at the end, he's being careful with the words, not saying pirates. Were they pirates? I had assumes because they took me, but I may have been wrong.
“Oh. Okay then, why am I here?” The long nosed man asks, sitting on the cot across from me.
“You have a son, no? Shanks thought you would be a good help watching the kid,” Hongo says flatly, long nose just rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, and Ussop was a babe the last time I saw him. I have no experience with actual children,” he frowns. Hongo just rolls his eyes and turns back to me.
“Leviathan, this is Yassop, he's probably going to be watching you,” the man says softly. I just nod, not really knowing what to say. “Okay then, let’s finish this check-up.”
Hongo says I’m mal-nurished. I had to ask what that meant, apparently it means I didn’t get enough food. I also have eye problems, something about not being able to see well.
The red haired man comes in again, declaring that the ship was changing course. He messed up my hair, reading the things the doctor had written down.
“So I’m hearing Lucky needs to make an extra special dinner?” He grins, his eyes give away slight worry. Pirates or not, they really cared. It's a nice change of pace.
I spent three months on the Red Force, the ship of the Red Haired Pirates. They like to have parties and are all really nice. Lucky let me help in the kitchen and Yassop taught me how to throw knives, much to everyone's dismay. He also told me about his son, he sounded rather sad.
Eventually the ship approaches a small forested island. We dock at a village filled with spinning houses- Ben told me they were called Windmills.
Shanks said that I couldn’t stay with them, he had a rule or something against children on the Red Force. He brought me to the island where his boy lives. Shanks had to explain that the boy wasn’t actually his, just an orphan he cared about. I thought that was stupid, he seemed to really care about this Luffy kid.
As excited as I am to have a home again, or at least solid ground to live on, the port is loud. People are yelling to be heard over the din. The noise is scary, I haven’t been around this much noise ever. I still want to help out though, so I run around helping pick up little things. I know it's not actually anything they need help with, but grabbing small, empty boxes and putting them on the dock makes me feel useful.
After a while, I hear happy calls, I make my way over to Shanks, curious to know what's going on. There's a boy around my size, unruly hair and tanned, he's looking at Shanks like he hung the sun. This is probably Luffy. I walk over to say hi, but the boy has stormed off.
I walk over to the red haired man, slower now, sad that the boy had run off before I could say hi.
“I’ll prove it! I am ready to be a pirate!” A small boy shouts, I look over to the area the sound came from. The boy I assume to be Luffy is standing on the figurehead, holding what looks to be a small knife. I watch in abject horror as he brings the knife up and makes a slice right under his eyes. What the hell? This boy is a moron!