Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

XXXxxxXX

Ending up on a ship in the Oceans of a new place wasn't so bad. Ruby could see this turning into a vacation. There was free food, and lots of new yummy sweets, she could deal. (After Yang's and her father's various attempts of family trips and near deaths she's got this). Sure, there were some goons trying to beat her up, but that's normal. That Roman Torch(whatisit) tried to kill her, and Blake still thinks she angry about Adam (she's okay, alright! She just wants to chop off a leg or something, okay!?), but all in all a nice break from fighting.

Still, if these strange people could speak American, they'd be getting somewhere!

XXxxxxXX

“I’m Ruby Rose, who are you mister?”

Marco stared at her. “You don’t know?”

“...Should I?”

Marco ignored the laughter coming from the captain’s chair. Even hiding behind Pop’s chair wasn’t going to save Thatch.

XXxxxxXX

“So Rose what’s your favorite foods?” Thatch said sliding some vegetables into a large stew pan.

Ruby blinked and perked up. “Strawberries! But I really like sweets.”

“Any dislikes?”

“...Weiss’s cooking...?”

Thatch nodded, and then paused as he finally realized what Ruby said. “Who? Wait, what?”

"My friend Weiss destroyed the dorm kitchen, watching a cake for me.” Ruby said, curling into herself. She looked so depressed that Thatch rushed to comfort her. Obviously whoever this Weiss person was, was very important to Rose.

“It’s okay. He must really miss you too.” Thatch tried, waving his hands in slow, gentle motions. Apparently there were a lot of things you really shouldn’t talk to Rose about--- and why was Rose staring at him like that?

Ruby started at him, over her hands now looking utterly confused. She wasn’t the only one. “Weiss is a girl and she’s not dead. My cake died.”

....

“Wait, so you’re upset about a cake?!”

XXxxxxxXX

“Question Mr. Whitebeard!” Ruby said hopping up and down, and waving her hand.

Whitebeard grinned at her, enjoying the flustered look some of his other sons and daughters had at her actions. No matter how much the young child went through the lessons on feminine behavior, Rose never seemed to change.

Her stubbornness to remain so active in a short skirt was slowly driving the crew crazy, the most vocal being Bay, Izo, and surprisingly Marco. Even as he looked at her, he could see his other sons out on deck quickly turning in different directions.

“What is it child?”

Ruby stopped jumping and tilted her head, a thoughtful look on her face. “I’ve wondered this a while, but why does everyone call me Rose?” She asked pouting.

Whitebeard blinked, confused. Around him he could see the confusion in his son’s faces. Marco who had stepped through the door focused on Rose, hard and scary looking. Ruby Rose hadn’t been lying, Bay had assured him, but she was a trained fighter.

“Is that not your name?”

Ruby nodded. “Yep. But its my last name. And its strange. Only my teachers used to call me Rose.”

Marco and Whitebeard both connected the dots.

“Is Rose not your given name? And Ruby your family name, yoi?” Marco said handing the papers in his hand to Whitebeard. The old man would get to them later.

Ruby blinked, looking a little dazed. “Family name?” She smiled. “Nope! My family’s name is Xiao Long, but my father and I agreed to use mom’s name so my last name’s Rose. Xiao Long’s my middle name.”

Marco nodded. “That..makes sense. So Ruby is actually your given name then, yoi?”

Ruby nodded. Then blinked when something occurred to her. “So its the other way around here?”

The nods she received seemed to make her happier. “So then my name would be Rose Xiao Long Ruby then?” Her eyes sparked. “That’s so cool!” She said hopping again.

Marco signed feeling the beginning of a headache forming.

“You are such a mother hen.” Thatch teased him.

Marco glared. “Run, yoi.”

XXxxxxXX

Chapter Text

When Ruby felt warmth around her, and the scent of clean linen, she sat up, rubbing at her eyes. She was in some sort of hospital she assumed from the lines on beds and the white wall dividers.

There was no one immediately in the room and besides the small pain in her arm--there was an IV attached (she gently removed it) she gathered up the remainder of her clothes (someone had removed her hood ) and slowly started to put them on. She could tell her ribs were still tender, but her aura would naturally take care of it before the end of the day.

Getting to her feet, she reattached the brace with Cresent Rose to her side and walked out.

She was kind of hungry.

(Meeting Room)

"Her ribs were nearly crushed and she had seven hairline fractures in her left arm and two in her right leg, as well as a number of bruises and... questionable scars. There's a likelihood that she could be a slave, or mercenary but it's difficult to say. " Bay said finishing her report.

"Did she have anything to identify herself with, yoi?" Marco asked watching his brothers, some upset, some outraged, and some cautious.

The New World was a dangerous place to pick up a drowning girl, but even if she with the Marines, Marco was confident that they could subdue her.

"Besides the strange rose logo found on all her clothes, she had two pouches on her. One was a metal device of some kind that I couldn't open and a small purse with some small papers. I couldn't find anything else, not even a single Beli."

"That's unusual." Thatch noted. "Maybe a survivor from a destroyed ship? "

"Possibly, but her wounds seemed to be caused by some sort of animal rather then something to do with the weather...." Bay pointed out. "Regardless, I don't predict her waking up for a few days. For now, I've wrapped her injuries and started her on an IV in case of infection...That concludes my report---"

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The sound of hurried knocking at the Meeting Room's door, made everyone turn.

"Enter. " Whitebeard commanded.

A young man, nervous, and fidgety entered. " The girl we fished from the ocean..."

Bay frowned. "What about her?"

"She's woken up--"

"What you doing mister? " Another unfamiliar voice said accented and curious.

The Whitebeard Pirates watched as the small girl, pecked in and stood in front of them.

She curtsied (just like Weiss taught her) and smiled brightly head bowed.

"It's nice to meet you. Mister said everyone saved me."

She said head still bowed. She heard shifting all around her, and was tempted to look up to see what the noise was, but didn't move even though she really, REALLY wanted to. ("Remember Ruby a true lady never does anything without paying attention to the people around. Wait until someone shows appreciation, then stand.") Her legs were starting to get a little stiff but still she didn't move. The shifting ended and then there was silence, but no one said anything still.

She hoped someone did something soon. The position was awkward to keep, especially as Cresent Rose, heavier then her was starting to weight her down.

A face came into her line of sight and gently, calmly smiled at her. The man was taller, bending over so he could communicate with her, and he had the most strange hair style she had ever seen, hair in rolled line, but she smiled back as best she could. It probably looked pained, but it was the best she could do considering the pressure on both her legs and her ribs, but it was something. Really she was trying.

"You don't have to bow. Come on." The man said gently, motioning for her to stand up.

Ruby nodded, and stood, a little too quickly, as she almost toppled over. The man jumped forward, trying to catch her, but he need not have bothered, because Ruby regained her footing, and started to fix the creases on her clothes, trying to look presentable. She could be mature.

Take that Weiss.

Smiling, she blinked when she noticed the rather heavy air in the room. A group of older women started surrounding her. One of them took her arm and started feeling her pulse, before barking out orders to the rest, presumably more medical staff as several of them rushed around gathering supplies. The men sitting behind them on high chairs watched all this with angry eyes and Ruby could almost feel the happiness drain out of her as she saw how angry they were.

She messed up the curtsy, didn't she?

She could feel tears in the corner of her eyes, but fought hard to ensure that none left her eyes. There was no reason to screw this up any worst. She's got to be mature. Deep breaths. In. Out. In. She's cool. She's got this. Really. She does.

The women around her started freaking out, and without so much as word, picked her up and put her on a bed cart, they got from somewhere random.

She wasn't going to be put in timeout or something, was she?!

How badly did she mess this up?

She opened her mouth to ask, but everyone seemed to ignore her, shouting orders to everyone else. A few of the other women were literally pushing people out of the way, and throwing things like chairs and tables to the walls as they wheeled her off. Ruby hoped is they didn't throw her overboard. (She's on a ship right? That's why the room was so wobbly. She wasn't that hurt badly. The room was not literally tilting. She refused to believe it.) She'd get at least one meal before being thrown off, right?

Her thoughts went foggy as a small pinch of pain on her arm, had her looking down.

IV, again.

Darn.

She was really looking forward to eating something.

(Back in Meeting Room)

"I seriously doubt, that child is with the Marines." Izo said as the nurses wheeled her off. "Her manners were far too refined--" The manners were a little rather unusual considering they were on a pirate ship, and only a few stubborn crew members even felt the need, or even the energy to act like civil people and not the rough and tumble people the posters made them out to be.

"A little too much," Thatch said running a hand through his hair and returning to his seat. "She was literally in pain, and she was still bowing." The image would stay with him for a long time. The way she tried so stubbornly to smile through her pain, as if it was normal. He had a broken bone only once while he was a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, and it hurt like hell, yet here was a child standing, and bowing with far more severe injuries as if it didn't matter.

"And she didn't seem to recognize who we were either." Vista pointed out. "She looked like she was going to cry after she got up from the bowing, but tried not to..." He didn't finished what he was saying, but it was there hanging in the silence. No one looked particularly surprised by the theory, likely because many of the other commanders had probably at the same line of as he didn't but it was still heartbreaking.

"If she was a slave," Marco started. "I don't think she was a normal one, yoi." He eyes were still glue to the spot where the young girl had stood, bowing to a group of the most fear pirates in the world without fear. "She moved quietly, and her clothes were nicer then any I've seen." He looked to Izo for the last part, as clothes were more Izo's forte, then his.

"They were." Izo agreed. "The fabrics were particularly noteworthy, considering the cut was at least as expensive a plain kimono. If had to take a guess." He added, estimating, but even then he might be wrong, considering some portions of the outfit on the girl were made of some sort of metal he had never seen before.

"Maybe, something from Machina?" Rakuyo guessed thinking back to the rather dark cut of her clothes. "I've seen something like it there I think. It could be where she's from originally."

Marco nodded, arms crossed. "Possibly. Machina's never been to close to the World Government, yoi." He pointed out, remembering the last time Marine ship had tried to rest anchor there. The Marines were only just able to escape while their lives, after the people descended on them.

"A slave fighter, maybe?" Jozu threw in. "The Tennryubito tend to have some sick habits."

Whitebeard frowned. "Whose to say. Fisher Tiger never to say exactly what he witnessed in the camps." He said thinking back to look in the Jinbe's eyes when he retold the tale of his captain.

The crew nodded, and slowly separated to return to their posts. There was still much to do.

Chapter Text

Recently a number of my fanfiction have been reported for abuse, and a number of them locked. I have appealed but my faith and trust in this site has severely been destroyed. I have written on this achive for a number of years, and now I don't feel comfortable writing in it. In light of this I am going to take a hiatus and consider my options and whether I will move to another site. When I come to a new decision I will post again. I apologize to everyone for this turn of events.

Sincerely, WWC 9/24/19

February 21, 2020

I'm Back and Writing Again!

Sorry for the late reply! So after much thought and thinking everyone decided to continue posting here, but just in case anything happens you can find most (we're still adding some of the fanfiction) on tumblr, just look for Wild Card Writing.

Thank you, everyone, for all your support, you really made a difference!!!

Wild Card Writing