((Art by @ask-sutekinaoaldonza Story by me))
Meeting The Admirals.
The sun hadn’t even peeked over the horizon when Mitsu Murata sat up in her hammock. Her cheeks were puffed out and her eyes squinted shut as she rolled out of bed and landed on the floor. A few feet away a tiny green striped puppy was sleeping, a handkerchief tied around its neck as it snoozed away. They had recently rescued the little cutie from a group of notorious pirates, and Mitsu was all too happy to have a new little friend. Though her father disagreed with it vehemently he had eventually lost to the power of double puppy dog eyes.
She didn’t want to waste a single second today, after all, it was a very important day indeed! They were finally docking at the Marine Headquarters, and the fleet admiral himself was going to come on board. She had heard of Sengoku plenty, and once or twice even seen the other Admirals speaking with her father, but today was the day she was going to really meet them! Mitsu was determined to give a good impression, no matter what.
“Come on Marimo! Get up! Get up Marimo, it’s food time!” She ruffled the puppy’s fur and it yawned, which triggered the same response in the small child. “No! No more sleeping, we’re gonna be late if we don’t hurry!” Slowly the little puppy shuffled over to his food bowl and began to eat while Mitsu fished out the proper attire for the day.
Unfortunately, despite her pleading, the ships tailor had refused to give her a proper Marine uniform, and thus she was stuck with only a marine jacket. Mitsu was determined to make the best of it though and dug out her nicest pants, shirt, and boots to wear. She even found a new handkerchief for Marimo with the Marine logo on it, so that he could look his best too. By the time the girl and her puppy were dressed and ready for the day the rest of the crew was beginning to get up and about, the sounds of heavy footsteps echoing softly into her room. “Come on boy, let’s make sure papa’s actually awake in time for this!”
Mitsu paused just before running out the door, and came right back to grab up a rubber ducky that was still sitting in her hammock. “Sorry Freddy, I could never forget you.” Marimo barked at the door, tail wagging eagerly, now that he was awake he was almost as excited as his owner to get going. Opening the door to her room Mitsu found herself in her father’s office, crossing it quickly she entered his bedroom, where Admiral Kizaru slept sprawled out like some sort of stretched out monkey. The door made a solid bang against the wall and Marimo barked as loud as his little puppy lungs could allow him to. Kizaru only groaned and rolled over in bed. “Fiiive more minuuuttes.”
Pouting Mitsu marched right up to his bed, wound up, and threw Freddy as hard as she could right into his eye. The rubber duck landed with a ‘QUACK’ its beak hitting the girls target perfectly. Borsalino swatted the duck away and sat up squinting down at his child. “Miiitsu, if you wanted to cuddleee- “
His sentence was stopped as his child jumped on the bed, right on his knee and glared at him. “We’ve docked at headquarters! Now get up old man!” Not very many people could have smacked the Admiral on the head and gotten away with it, twice no less, but his child was one of those people. Grabbing up Freddy she hopped off the bed while her father groaned, trying to summon up his will to live after being smacked by his child first thing in the morning. Not that it was an altogether uncommon occurrence. “Get ready! I’ll make sure you have food ok! Jeeze, and I thought you were adopting me.”
Sticking her tongue out Mitsu turned around and marched out of the room, so she couldn’t see the small, proud smile that broke across her father’s face at the sight of the determined little girl. Just a few short months ago she had barely felt comfortable asking him to help when she was actually in physical pain, and now here she was, helping him of all things. Though he hated actually having to get up and take this seriously, he could manage, if only to please his child… and perhaps the thought of Akainu’s confused expression also motivated him slightly. Though only slightly.
On deck Mitsu was rushing about with the other Marine’s helping new and old recruits tie their knots properly, remember parts of the ship, and how to greet superior officers appropriately. At first many of them had protested at having a little girl help them with such things, but it was hard to fault the child when she so earnestly wanted to assist them. Especially today when chaos was raining all about, they could use all the help it was possible to get. Near the helm, Lieutenant Noot called out to the crew. “Alright! Line up men! And gods damnit try and remember your names this time!”
The boarding ramp was finally being lowered, and just at the end of the dock stood three imposing figures. From where she stood near the ramp, making a few final adjustments to the ropes tied there, Mitsu could just make them out. They stood head and shoulders above all the men around them, all of whom were beginning to line up and salute along the dock. Quickly Mitsu rushed back to the deck of the ship, where the crew had lined up in order of rank and name. Her father was still nowhere in sight.
Shaking off the worry that was starting to crawl up her spine Mitsu whistled, and Marimo came bounding over as the duo rushed to their position. The Marine’s around her didn’t even have to move much, so small was the little girl who now stood between them. Mitsu was near the end of the first line, between Casiel Mollark and Pietro Nagarkar. Now she was really nervous, her father was still nowhere to be seen and the Admirals were almost there, the entire crew was ready for this. A hand came down on her shoulder and she looked up, Pietro, with his dark skin and almost darker eyes as he smiled down at her. Taking a deep breath Mitsu nodded and pushed her shoulders back, chest out, feet together. Casiel and Pietro, along with the marine’s behind them, were all trying not to giggle at the sight of the tiny (usually hyper) child putting on such a serious expression.
Just as the admirals began boarding the ship there was a streak of light that moved from the captain’s quarters and began to coalesce in front of them. It flashed and formed and then there he was, standing as tall as the other admirals, and emerging in his usual bright yellow striped suit and amber sunglasses, her father, Admiral Kizaru. He smiled at the other admirals and gave quite possibly the laziest salute Mitsu had ever seen towards Sengoku. “Weelcome aboard gentlemen~ care for a tour?”
Admiral Aokiji yawned, the sleeping mask on his forehead dipping down slightly as he looked around. “Hate to interrupt, but we know your ship Borsalino, maybe just-”
“Yeah yeah, get on with it. Are you going to make this damn meeting take all day?” Akainu looked like he was about five seconds away from punching… well anyone really, he seemed about as angry as ever. Sengoku was the only one who seemed remotely in control of the situation, and simply stepped forward to begin the quick inspection of the crew.
All the Marine’s stood at attention immediately as the admirals walked down the line. Aokiji barely said a word, only yawning occasionally, but Akainu would actually stop and question any Marine who seemed remotely out of place or whose stance was wrong. All the while Sengoku strode past row after row of them, looking like his mind was on paperwork and more paperwork. Kizaru walked with an almost annoying spring in his step as he spoke about his crew’s stellar performance, providing some poor relief to the Marine’s that just a few seconds before had been yelled at by the red dog.
As they came to the end of the row Kizaru kept walking, but Sengoku paused, and looked down. Mitsu, while not taking up much space, did cause a slight gap between the rows of Marine’s given her size. Akainu’s eye actually twitched at the sight of the tiny child standing in line with the other Marine’s. At first Aokiji didn’t understand why they had all paused, and then he looked down, and had to clap a hand over his mouth at the sight of the saluting child. Sitting just at her side was Marimo, the striped green puppy with his Marine handkerchief tied around his neck. And right on top of his head was Freddy, the rubber duck, who somehow had not fallen off yet, Mitsu was very proud of this.
Akainu very nearly bit the cigar he was holding between his teeth in half as he bent over at the waist to get a better look at Mitsu. Years of staring down far uglier men than this, in much scarier situations, prepared the little girl well, as she simply kept staring straight ahead, never once breaking form. “Exactly why is there a child on board this ship?”
From the way he was looking at her Akainu was expecting an answer from her, so Mitsu delivered. “Sir, I serve as an assistant to Admiral Kizaru sir. I ensure that his work is properly managed as well as assisting in minor tasks around the ship sir.”
Aokiji was straining right then, clutching his stomach, and Sengoku was not much better off, his stoic expression miliseconds away from breaking. Just behind them stood Lieutenant Noot, looking entirely proud, and her father who was grinning from ear to ear. Akainu was the only person standing there who seemed to be unaffected by the tiny cute wannabe marine. “And the green dog?”
“Sir, I am training him to be a search and rescue dog, as you can see he has already made excellent progress sir.” She had a slight lisp at the end, and Mitsu realized then that one of her baby teeth was beginning to come loose. Sengoku put a hand to his mouth, trying to disguise a small laugh as a cough, while Aokiji was busy doubling over just beside him.
Akainu’s brow twitched again and a few cigar ashes fell onto the deck just in front of Mitsu. Still she didn’t move. There was venom in his voice, actual annoyance at the fact that this tiny child had so far not wavered an inch. “So, what reason do you have for the rubber duck then?”
“Sir, due to his buoyancy Fre- the rubber duck can be used to track currents when without traditional equipment. His squeak also serves as an alarm in case of emergency, and he can be a useful projectile weapon.”
Kizaru spoke up at that. “She’s not wrong, nearly took out my eye this morning.”
Aokiji finally broke, he was laughing hysterically at this point and Sengoku wasn’t far behind. Almost all of the Marine’s around Mitsu were fighting, through clenched jaws and trembling limbs, to not join in the laughter. Kizaru was glowing, quite literally, with pride and quiet laughter. Even Akainu managed his version of a laugh, a gruff scoff, at the child’s final answer. Standing back to his full height he took one look at Pietro and Casiel, and glared. “Straighten up! Both of you, follow the girls example and salute like you were trained to!”
“Sir yes sir!” The Marine’s, straightened up and saluted properly. As the Admiral’s all began to walk away, still chuckling from Mitsu’s performance, the girl felt a quick pat on her head. Akainu kept walking, but she knew it had been him, it was quick and rough, and had hurt her neck a little, but it made her feel warm. Maybe the admirals weren’t that scary, not if they could laugh like that, and certainly not if they could accept a child like her wanting to be one of them.
