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It’s a sunny day out at Marineford. Marines are buzzing around the courtyard, hoping to get their work done on time in hopes of being dismissed early.
It should be a perfect day for training yet Coby finds himself in his room. The shutters are down and there’s an ice pack on his forehead but it doesn’t get rid of the oppressive heat. Laying on the cool concrete floor barely does him any favors.
The door opens and slams shut as Helmeppo comes stomping in. “This is ridiculous.” He complains. His scowling face is flushed from the heat.
“No luck?” Coby calls out, wincing as the scars prickle.
Helmeppo huffs, sitting down next to Coby. “No. Apparently they’re out.” Coby isn’t looking at his friend but he can feel the eyeroll. “What kind of marine base doesn’t keep track of the scar cream?”
Scars are something that every marine has. It comes with the line of work.
Coby frowns. It also makes days like these uncomfortable. He can feel the scar on his forehead stretching along with his expressions.
Usually, it doesn’t bother him all that much but the heat is causing it to flare up.
“Maybe they ran out?” There’s plenty of Vice Amidrals with scars on a base as big as Marineford. People who’ve had years of battle under their belt and have the marks to prove it.
Coby is still surprised that nobody asked him where a newly inducted choreboy had gotten so many. Nowadays, they’re chalked up to him being in Garp’s division.
“Well they shouldn’t have.” Helmeppo grumbles. “Shells town never ran out of the stuff.”
“Shells town is a lot smaller.” Coby reasons. “Besides, how many injuries could you even get there? I doubt there were many pirates like Luffy who wrecked the place.”
Helmeppo scoffs, a wry smile on his face. “Oh please, as if we needed a pirate to wreck the place. Two chore boys are just as destructive.”
Coby flushes and shoots up. “That only happened once!” He argues but it’s drowned out by Helmeppo’s laughter.
Coby huffs and crosses his arms. “Nobody got hurt.” He mutters petulantly.
“Which is a miracle.” Helmeppo muses. “Most people wouldn’t survive a building falling on them.”
He leans back and takes off his visor. “Then again, they survived my father for that long so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
The room falls quiet. Coby glances at his friend. Helmeppo is staring thoughtfully at the visor as if his reflection will tell him something.
Coby shuffles closer and bumps their shoulders together. “Hey.” Helmeppo’s eyes flicker to him. “You survived him too.”
They don’t talk much about Morgan in the same way Coby doesn’t talk about Alvida. Even when the nightmares woke them up in the middle of the night.
They don’t dream of them anymore or at least not as often. They’ve seen worse things by now.
It takes a moment for Coby’s Haki to settle around Helmeppo’s shoulders.
It’s a clumsy thing and it takes him some effort, but Helmeppo relaxes and leans into it so it’s worth it.
Sometimes Coby wonders if his Haki is a scar. It doesn’t make him bleed but he remembers the Voices screaming, begging for help, for it to end.
He never heard those Voices again.
“You survived her too.” The words jolt Coby from his train of thought. Helmeppo is staring at him.
“What?”
“You survived her too.” Helmeppo repeats. “Whatever she did, you survived it. You’re here.”
Tears well up in his eyes. “We both survived.” Helmeppo sits up straighter. “And we’re going to keep on surviving to spite them.”
A wet laugh shudders Coby’s chest. “We’ll survive out of spite?”
Helmeppo nods resolutely with a weak smirk tugging at his lips. “We won’t let anyone stop us from doing what we want to do.” His eyes crinkle with wry amusement. “And if we do, we’ll just beat ‘em up!”
Coby’s shoulders shake with laughter, tears streaming down his face. “Helmeppo-” He can’t get the words out, doubling over.
“I’m serious!”
“I know!” Coby chuckles as he wipes away his tears.
The laughter of the two boys fills the room. Coby’s scar itches but he can’t find it in him to care.
The laughter slowly dies down and Coby looks at fingers and flexes them. They’re covered in small scars.
“Here.” He holds out his hand to Helmeppo. His friend raises an eyebrow but takes it. Coby points at one of the scars. “I got these back when I first started out on Alvida’s ship. The rope kept burning my hands and they never got treated.”
Helmeppo stills for a moment before his expression changes to one of indignified bafflement. “Heh? How the hell did your fingers not fall off?”
Coby sheepishly grins. “I cleaned out any infection with sea water.”
“Sea water- wh- SEA WATER MAKES IT WORSE!”
“Well I didn’t know that!”
Helmeppo huffs and drops his hand. “Idiot.” He sends a glare at Coby but it has no heat behind it as he rolls up his right sleeve. There’s a long, thin scar on the inside of his upper arm.
“I got this when my father made me practise against one of the marines with live steel.” He trails the scar with his finger. “I was twelve.”
Coby swallows the apologies threatening to spill out. “Did you win?”
Helmeppo grins and shakes his head. “He wiped the floor with me.” His gaze turns thoughtful. “Sometimes I think about what would’ve happened if I took that as a sign to take training seriously.”
Coby bites down on his lip before turning around and unzipping his jacket. He can feel Helmeppo staring at the many star shaped scars on his back.
“I sometimes think about where I would be if Luffy hadn’t been there.” His voice is hesitant, taking a moment to gather himself before continuing. “Maybe I’d still be a pirate.”
“How..” Helmeppo hesitates. “How’d you get those?” He’s quiet, as if asking will break what little courage they have.
“Alvida lives up to her name.” How many times has he been hit by that mace? “In the beginning I didn’t know running would make it worse.”
“Morgan hit me with his axe once.” Helmeppo says. Morgan, because that man would never be his father. “One of the newer recruits took pity on me and gave me first aid.”
Coby turns back to look at his friend and smiles. “I accidentally cut open my wrist with a fishing hook once.”
Helmeppo sputters. “How did you manage to do that!?”
“It got tangled around my arm and I tried to tug it off! How was I supposed to know the line wouldn’t snap?!”
“That’s ridiculous.” Helmeppo huffs but he can’t keep the grin off his face. “Those lines are meant to be strong enough to reel in fish, a bit of tugging won’t snap them!”
Coby huffs out a laugh as he trails the scar. He falls silent for a moment. “We survived all of that.” His eyes flicker to Helmeppo. “And we’ll keep on surviving.”
“Yeah.” Helmeppo’s voice is soft. “We will.”
Scars are seen as many things. They’re seen as old injuries, things people stare at whether it be for curiosity or disgust. Some see them as blemishes even though scars are inevitable when living your daily life.
They’re stories and memories, sometimes dramatic and exaggerated, the kind you come up with after spending too much time out at sea.
They stretch and pull at your skin and constantly remind you that they’re there.
But when Coby looks at his scars?
All he sees are reminders that he is alive.