Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The thing is-

The thing is-

They didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.

Or, well- maybe they did. But when the two options are ‘climb up a rope ladder tossed over the side of the haunted ship’ or ‘drown’, that isn’t really a choice.

Especially not with a shared dream on the line. Especially-especially not when her best friend is only in this mess with Kuina because she refused to give up on said dream, and left their home out of pure frustration, despite having next to no experience sailing on the open ocean.

So when the small skiff she and Zoro stole from the pier is half full of water already, and the waves are only surging higher the longer the storm goes on, and a huge ship with no lights or crew to be seen suddenly cuts through the darkness and throws them a line... well. It isn’t a choice.

Kuina double checks that Wado Ichimonji is still secured to her belt, grabs the soaked knapsack she packed the night before, and shoves Zoro towards the ladder flapping in the wind. The chill stiffens their fingers, and the lashing rain makes it hard to see and judge their progress, but eventually both ten year olds reach a gap in the ship’s railing and throw themselves onto the deck. Another huge wave crashes into the hull, tipping the entire vessel. Kuina slips a little; Zoro’s hand clamps down onto her wrist.

Once the steep angle settles back, the two of them scramble upright, and look around the haunted ship as best they can. And it truly does seem haunted - the helm’s wheel above does not spin wildly with the wind, while lines in the rigging adjust as if moved by invisible crew.

Kuina and Zoro cling to each other, wary, but unwilling to return to their skiff.

Abruptly, a nearby door bangs open; warm golden light spills out, a clear invitation. Hands clasped together, the children approach.

Inside the room is dry, and warm, but again deserted. Two long tables occupy the main space; past a countertop, Kuina sees cabinets, two ovens, cold storage and other items that mark the area as a kitchen. Curtains are drawn over the windows; in-between, covering much of the walls, are framed Wanted posters, featuring at least two dozen different individuals.

No- two dozen pirates.

Clusters of frames look to be snapshots in time of singular men, their faces aging, their bounties increasing. Kuina studies the nearest ones, but doesn’t recognize any of the names - perhaps unsurprising, if this is really a haunted ship, and the crew members are long dead.

Zoro tugs on their joined hands. “There’s another door.”

Sure enough, when Kuina follows his nod, she sees a second invitingly-open doorway tucked on the opposite side of the kitchen. As she and Zoro stare, a light flickers to life beyond it, brightening the dark hallway.

“...let’s dry off,” Kuina decides. “And then come back for food.”

Nodding, Zoro lets her lead the way.

Immediately past the galley, they find a door that opens into a large infirmary, ten beds lining the walls with more cabinets and a work desk at the far end. Next is a room clearly dedicated to storage, if the multiple stacked crates are anything to go by, labelled with the materials they hold.

Third try is the charm. Lights turn on in a spacious bathroom, stalls for rinsing off along one side, a deep pool in the center of the room, even a sauna entrance tucked in the corner. Kuina heads straight for the storage racks she sees, and grins when opening the first one reveals multiple stacks of soft, fluffy towels.

It only takes a few minutes for both her and Zoro to peel out of their soaked clothing, towel themselves dry, and pull on fresh garments that are only slightly damp, but by the time she’s done Kuina can feel exhaustion creeping over her. Zoro yawns as he bundles up their dripping clothes, clearly approaching the same wall.

“Food?”

“Food.”

Habit has Kuina catch her best friend’s shirt before he can make the wrong turn when they exit the bathroom, and she tows him along back in the direction of the galley. The space somehow feels even warmer when they return, as if a furnace has been turned on nearby. If nothing else, she doesn’t mind leaving her boots off, and simply padding around in socks. Under their feet, the wooden planks are dark and shiny, but don’t feel at all slippery.

Poking through a few of the cabinets turns up more cooking utensils than Kuina can name, but no food. Zoro proves victorious in that regard, when he discovers a latch that lets him slide a portion of the wall aside, revealing the pantry beyond it. Sacks of rice and flour and other staples sit on lower shelves; dried herbs hang from the ceiling, and everywhere Kuina looks inside are boxes and bins carefully labelled with all sorts of foodstuffs. Mostly empty, of course, because who needs to eat on a haunted ship, but she and Zoro manage to turn up some jars of pickled vegetables and preserved fruit. Between that, a case of smoked jerky, and the pot of rice Kuina quickly boils, they eat a small feast in short order.

And if afterwards she makes a point of putting away the food they don’t cook while Zoro washes the pot, well, it’s only polite.

Afterwards, Kuina decides they don’t need to do any further exploring just yet, but should sleep in a bed rather than on the floor. She again leads the way into the hall, to the infirmary; three swords and two knapsacks are carefully set against the wall in-between two beds closest to the door, and then Kuina and Zoro crawl under the clean sheets to sleep.

(Oro Jackson hums. She redirects the heat in her pipes from one room to another; can’t let the new children catch a cold after their ordeal is over and done with, after all.)

Kuina jerks awake at Zoro’s shout.

In the split second between when her eyes snap open and she flings herself upright, the girl sees a figure crouched over her best friend. In her haste to move, however, Kuina doesn’t see the one kneeling on her own bed, and promptly smashes her skull against another.

“Ow!”

At least, at the very least, their collision seems to hurt the intruder as much as Kuina herself. She falls back with a hiss, one hand pressed to her forehead, the other grasping blindly for Wado’s hilt.

It isn’t there. Her sword isn’t there. “Ah-ah,” a voice warns, and when Kuina peels her watering eyes back open, she gets a glimpse of a blurry blue shape. “No weapons for stowaways.”

Zoro snarls. Kuina thinks he tries to jump off his bed, only to be tripped up by the first intruder catching his legs with a laugh. “Shishishishi! Silly Sabo, they didn’t stow away! Miss Oro let them in!”

“Lu,” a third voice groans - the intruder collapsed at the foot of her bed, Kuina realizes, rubbing at his own forehead.

“She did!”

“No one let us in,” Zoro complains. He’s still on the floor, wrapped up in- something, Kuina can’t quite tell with her vision only slowly coming back into focus. “There was a ladder hanging off the side that we climbed up, and the doors opened on their own!”

“...huh,” the first voice says. Blinking rapidly, Kuina can make out a top hat, and blue coat, and both her and Zoro’s swords tucked under one arm. Annoyed by that, she kicks free of her sheets and slides off the bed, opposite where Zoro is still struggling with his giggling assailant.

“We didn’t mean to intrude,” the girl announces, borrowing every ounce of stiff patience she’s ever seen her father wield. “If the storm is over, we’ll get back in our boat and leave.”

That top hat tips to one side as its owner regards her. “What boat?”

A few minutes later, Kuina finds herself staring dumbly over the ship’s railing at empty water. The same rope ladder she and Zoro used to come aboard is neatly rolled up and lashed in place; the skiff they’d stolen to run away is nowhere in sight.

Of the three brothers who apparently live on the huge vessel, only the youngest seems happy about this development.

Ace is still scowling, occasionally prodding at the swollen bump on his forehead, a mirror to the one Kuina can feel tugging at her own skin. Sabo smiles, but it’s a sharp thing, and his eyes watch them warily after returning Wado and Zoro’s two blades. Luffy, though- Luffy is delighted by company, and insists on sharing an extra large breakfast to celebrate. Apparently, the cold storage locker that Kuina hadn’t bothered to check the night before is stuffed full of fresh fish and other kinds of meat - the brothers did a lot of hunting to stock up before leaving their home island, and the ship, which apparently is haunted in a friendly sort of way, is capable of deploying fishing nets to keep them well-supplied.

“Why did you leave?” Zoro asks, tearing into his crocodile steak with only half as much feral fervor as the brothers.

“Adventure!” Luffy crows.

“Yeah, that,” Ace huffs, though the look he exchanges with Sabo makes Kuina think there’s more to it. “Out here, we’re free, and Oro doesn’t try to tell us what to do like anyone else.”

That’s the second time they’ve mentioned- “Oro?”

“The Oro Jackson,” Sabo answers her. “The ship.”

“Miss Oro’s alive,” Luffy says, trying to grab a hunk of meat off Ace’s plate and getting smacked away. “She knew Ace’s dad, and came looking for him, and she’s way nicer than Dadan! Maybe even as much as Makino!”

Ace rolls his eyes. “No one’s as nice as Makino.” He quickly swallows the last of his breakfast to keep Luffy from stealing it, and then levels a pointed glare at Kuina and Zoro. “But Oro is nice, and she’s ours, and we’re staying away from anyone who might try to hurt her or separate us.”

...hm. Chewing slowly, Kuina considers. Zoro stays quiet, watching her, aware of which of them is better with words as well as blades. “We want to stay away from people too. At least until we’re older, and no one can try to take my sword away from me again.”

The other side of the table falls still, as all three brothers Look at her for a long moment.

Finally, Ace is the one to speak. “I guess you can stay, then-” and Luffy whoops, promptly launching himself over the empty plates to wrap up both Kuina and Zoro in a hug with his weird stretchy arms.

Adjusting to life aboard the Oro Jackson is... downright odd. Not just because of the ship herself, and the brothers already present, but simply because of how easy it is.

There’s a large room full of box-like hammocks that hang from the ceiling, most sized for normal individuals, some much larger. Ace, Sabo, and Luffy have claimed one of the biggest to share, but the rest remain up for grabs. Lockers and cubbies line the walls, blank nameplates upon them, which don’t stay blank once Kuina and Zoro each pick one to stow their spare clothes.

The decks outside are plenty large enough to stretch, and exercise, and spar; being taken on a tour by the brothers also turns up a room full of training equipment, and after that an armory. Swords of half a dozen different styles are hung upon a rack in there, either left behind by the crew or else trophies taken from defeated foes. Kuina notices Zoro eyeing a particularly elegant katana at one point, with the sort of speculative gleam in his eyes that spells trouble, but she’s too enamored with items that catch her own gaze to worry about it until later.

They’re free to set their own schedule, only really influenced by Luffy wanting the five of them to share meals together. At first, that and bed are the only times the children really occupy the same spaces, Ace and Sabo too cautious to linger while Kuina and Zoro figure out how to structure their days.

Then Luffy sits on top of the enormous egg that occupies the main deck one afternoon, cheering as the two of them spar, and it turns out his brothers have their own training regime of fifty fights a day to get stronger. That has Kuina’s respect for them creeping higher, and despite the differences in how they fight, there starts to be some bleed between the two groups: extra spectators for matches, more weights being lifted, the exhilarating experimentation of swords versus pipes...

It’s easy. It’s fun. It is at times ridiculous, when training somehow turns into playing, and Kuina finds herself caught up in glee and laughter as she chases Luffy and Zoro across the upper deck and is chased in turn by Ace and Sabo up into the rigging. It’s after one such game, when she tries to catch her breath in one of the three crow’s nests, that Kuina notices something.

The first day she and Zoro were shown around, the girl saw only one flag flying above the ship, a match to their largest sail: no pirate skull, but still a pair of crossbones, the letters ‘ASL’ painted across them. After nearly a month aboard the Oro, though, that flag is no longer alone.

Kuina stares for a long time at the flapping cloth above her, the depiction of one white sword framed by two others.

Chapter Text

“You’ve had a sword this whole time?”

“It’s not like I use it except in emergencies,” Ace grumbles, gaze locked onto the blade in his hands. “I like my pipe better.”

Kuina doesn’t bother to say what she thinks of that excuse - especially since said pipe now sits in two pieces on the other side of Oro’s deck. Honestly, after two weeks of gaining nicks and scrapes from dueling against her or Zoro (or both at once), it’s hardly a surprise the length of metal finally collided with her sword at just the right spot to slice it in half. Well- hardly a surprise to Kuina, anyway. The memory of Ace’s stupefied expression is going to make her internally giggle for a long time to come.

“And how many emergencies have given you cause to wield this?” She asks, giving the cutlass a shrewd look as Ace draws it from the black sheath. The steel is similarly dark, highlighted by a wave pattern along the sharp edge. A sensation ripples through the air, against Kuina’s skin; she can feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, but otherwise refuses to react.

In her own hand, Wado Ichimonji hums with solid, dependable warmth.

“...just two,” the boy finally grumbles, still not meeting her gaze.

Heaving a deep breath, Kuina resigns herself to a lesson rather than a spar. “Right. Let me see your stance.”

Ace looks at her blankly. Make that a beginner’s lesson.

Two nights later, Zoro comes out of the pantry with a mostly-empty sack and loudly declares it’s the last of their rice. The announcement takes Kuina by surprise; although, in hindsight, she supposes maybe it shouldn’t, not with how much Ace and Sabo and especially Luffy eat at every opportunity. She’s used to scarfing down a fair amount of food after workouts, and Zoro does the same, but somehow any one of the three brothers can devour more than the pair of them combined.

“We’ll need to restock,” Kuina says, eyeing the dry grains as her friend dumps them into the cooking pot. “And soon. Do we know where the nearest inhabited island is?”

Crouched on the floor where he can watch their slabs of steak cook in one of the ovens, Sabo hums. “Oro does, I’m sure. She seems to always know where she’s going.”

“So does Zoro, and yet-”

“I do not get lost,” the boy in question growls; when Kuina and Sabo merely snicker, he turns to stomp out of the kitchen. “I’m gonna get Ace and Luffy.”

“They’re in the armory,” Sabo calls. Zoro waves an acknowledgement, already halfway out the exterior door. “...which is not in the direction he’s headed.”

Kuina sighs. “As I said.”

The two of them share another quiet laugh, before returning to monitoring their respective parts of dinner.

Clearly, the Oro Jackson is perfectly aware of the matter of dwindling supplies, and also more than capable of providing a solution. When Kuina wakes the next morning and steps out onto the deck at dawn, yawning and ready for her first round of stretches, it’s a surprise to find they’ve docked in the night: through the surrounding mists, weak sunlight illuminates a small beach, and beyond it an equally tiny village.

The matter of her stretches falls aside, as Kuina quickly darts back down to the bunkroom, catching a still half-asleep Zoro on her way. “We’re at an island!” She shouts, bursting through the door, starling Ace mid-climb out of bed, badly enough he tumbles the rest of the way to the floor. “Come on, up! We should restock as quickly as possible and get back out to sea!”

There’s no telling how far they’ve traveled from Shimotsuki, after all, and the last thing Kuina wants or needs is news of her and Zoro making its way back home.

Sprawled where he landed, Ace groans. “Oh come on, this early? There isn’t going to be anyone awake to steal from yet-”

Kuina promptly kicks at him, forcing the eleven year old to roll away with a yelp. “We aren’t going to steal, we’re going to get some berri out of Miss Oro’s treasure room and buy supplies. And maybe a cart to get them aboard with; I’d rather not run out of rice again any time soon, so considering your appetites, that means purchasing more than the five of us can reasonably carry.”

“I dunno,” Sabo says around a yawn, rubbing at his eyes. “You and Zoro can carry a lot.”

“We lift a lot,” the green-haired boy huffs. “Still only have two hands.”

“Right.” Kuina folds her arms, and pulls out her best Stern Sensei impression. “So are you coming or not?”

“We’re coming,” Ace grumbles, rising to his feet even as he scowls. Above him, Sabo starts to climb out of the hanging bunk as well, only to pause and look back over his shoulder, and groan.

Luffy, once he’s been violently shaken awake and told to get his shoes on, at least doesn’t require convincing; he’s more than happy for an excuse to bounce around on dry land for a little while, stretching his legs in a manner both figurative and literal. In fact, the rest of them are still emerging onto the Oro’s main deck, disbursing heaps of berri between multiple bags for safekeeping, when the little boy whoops at the top of his lungs- stretches his arms to grab the far railing-

“Wait, Lu-!”

“Ah shit-”

-and catapults himself clear off the ship.

Zoro lets out a low whistle, as Luffy’s laughter fades into the morning mists, his rubber body vanishing somewhere out of sight in the direction of the village. Ace and Sabo both sigh, and really, Kuina shouldn’t laugh at the resignation on their faces, but...

“It’s not funny,” Ace hisses at her, as the four of them traipse down the Oro’s gangplank. “Last time he did this, idiot landed in the water and almost got eaten by a crocodile, again.”

Kuina, in an act of brave familiarity she probably wouldn’t have tried so much as a week ago, reaches over to pat the top of Ace’s head, several times in quick succession. He immediately bares his teeth in a snarl, and smacks her arm away, but doesn’t engage in any other violence.

If that isn’t a sign she’s making progress on the friendship front, Kuina doesn’t know what is.

In short order, they find a divot in the dirt where Luffy clearly came down and bounced. A little further on is a second one, and then the eight year old himself, eagerly talking at rapid speed to a rather bewildered looking man sitting on the ground.

“Luffy,” Sabo groans, hurrying to be the first to reach his little brother. “What have we said about landing on people?”

“Not to!” The younger boy giggles, entirely unrepentant. “But Mister Pinwheel said it’s okay! Hey, and there’s a market too! He’s gonna show us where so we can get rice and stuff!”

“Did he actually say that or did you just decide for him?”

“I offered,” the man says, his baffled expression easing as Sabo hoists Luffy up and starts brushing the dirt off him. “I take it you’re the brothers he insisted would be along in a minute.”

“Mmhm. Sorry about him crashing into you, Lu still has a lot of practicing to do.”

“That’s quite alright, young man.” Getting up himself, the man snags a hat from the ground and settles it onto his head. It definitely matches the uniform he’s wearing, other than, sure enough, an oddly out of place pinwheel sticking up from the band. “My name is Genzo, I’m the sheriff around here.”

Ace huffs, and steps close enough to grab Luffy’s ear and tug. “Figures you’d land on top of a guy who could throw your dumb ass into jail, idiot.”

“But he’s nice!” The smaller boy whines.

“Still.”

Mister Genzo’s mustache twitches, betraying the grin he must be trying to conceal. “Don’t worry, my one jail cell is meant more for the village drunk, and the odd teenage delinquent. Not children. Especially,” he adds, glancing at their satchels stuffed with money, “Ones who seem prepared to drop a fair amount of berri on my friends and neighbors. Your brother mentioned rice, specifically, but could you all use some tangerines on that, er, impressive ship?”

The sheriff leads them to a market stall still being set up by a woman smoking a cigarette and a pair of yawning girls, all of whom stare with surprise when Kuina deposits several bundles of paper currency onto their counter. “...Genzo,” the woman says, recovering first, “If this is you trying to shove some charity on me again-”

“These young people need to restock their ship, Bellemere,” he protests. “And you of all people know how valuable fresh fruit is out at sea, I’m just helping them prevent scurvy.”

Bellemere arches a pointed brow at him, hands on her hips. “Uh-huh.”

Thankfully, the money quickly vanishes behind the counter, and the woman offers to let them use her own wagon to help transport the baskets of tangerines. Kuina hears one of her daughters grumble something about ‘we just unloaded these’, but otherwise they jump in just fine to help pile up produce.

“I’m Nojiko,” the older of the pair introduces herself, “And this is Nami. What kind of ship are you sailing on?”

“A pirate ship!” Luffy calls, bouncing on top of the baskets in the wagon. Miss Bellemere’s head whips around, which makes Sabo wince, and Kuina hopes they’ll still have time to buy rice before a quick exit is called for.

“You’re on a pirate crew?” Nami asks, clearly startled, and darting a glance towards her mother. “Why aren’t you stealing supplies, then?”

“Because Kuina said so,” Ace answers with a roll of his eyes. “And besides, it’s only fair to steal from rich assholes.”

“I don’t think any kind of stealing is fair...” Nojiko shoots a look at her sister as she says this - one that Kuina recognizes, when she’s trying to drill a point into Zoro’s thick skull.

Her best friend is the next to speak, snorting as he hefts up one of the wagon’s handles opposite Ace. “What, like it’s fair for some people to waste more money and food than most of us will ever see? If they’ve got more than they can ever use and aren’t strong enough to protect it all, why shouldn’t we take what we need?”

It’s been several years since her father first brought Zoro to the dojo, but Kuina remembers how he used to act, small and half-feral and more than willing to growl at others if they came anywhere near his food during mealtimes. He doesn’t like to speak much of his time as an orphan on the streets, but the lessons learned in that time have left their mark regardless. And honestly? Kuina can’t help but agree. Those who share their good fortune by the same token buy goodwill to help safeguard themselves; cruel and greedy individuals have no such protection, and she doesn’t think it’s at all wrong if they lose that wealth to those genuinely in need of it.

After a hissed conversation with Mister Genzo, Miss Bellemere agrees to let them gather up more groceries before returning to the little harbor, even though she does spend that entire time watching sharply. Rice, vegetables, cheese and cooking oil and small barrels of fresh water make their way onto the wagon, which soon requires pushing from Kuina and Sabo as well as pulling from Ace and Zoro in order to roll along. Luffy helps by getting down off the top, and chattering away a mile a minute to distract the three locals still trailing after them.

When their berri is nearly all spent, they head towards the Oro Jackson, which causes a sharp gasp when Miss Bellemere lays eyes on her. “What the hell- where did you kids find that ship?”

“She found us!” Luffy cheers, bounding on ahead.

“Um?” Nojiko peers up at the deck. “Shouldn’t there be a crew?”

“S’just us,” Ace grunts, releasing his grip on the wagon. “Oro handles most stuff by herself.” As he says it, a cranking noise starts up, part of the ship’s hull retracting so a crane arm can swing out and lower down a wood platform. Clearly expecting it, Ace and Sabo start pulling baskets and crates off their borrowed wagon to transfer over.

Kuina joins in after her moment of surprise passes. She’d anticipated needing to carry things up the gangplank, but this will be much easier.

After a moment’s pause to look at their mother, still stunned as she stares at the Oro, Nami shrugs and helps too, Nojiko following suit. In short order, all their purchases are stacked onto the platform, which then raises up into the air and disappears back into the hull. More than likely, by the time she goes to look, Kuina will find all the supplies situated in the galley’s pantry and cold storage, ready to be put to use.

“So,” Nami says cautiously, “Are there maps on your ship?”

Luffy promptly beams, “Yeah! You wanna see?”

“Nami-”

“Yes!”

And then they’re off, Luffy pulling one of the girl’s hands as he races for the gangplank, Nojiko hurrying after them with a hasty “Hey! Wait!”

Kuina eyes Miss Bellemere, who finally seems to come back to herself. Groaning, the woman rubs at her face, before dropping her hand to glare. “Do you twerps know who used to sail that ship?”

“Yeah,” Ace growls, “But she’s ours, now. Her sails changed color and everything.”

The woman narrows her eyes at him in particular. But then she snorts, easing back, reaching into her shirt pocket for a fresh cigarette. “Guess it figures, damn Pirate King’s boat being haunted. At least you’ll know why if any marines start shooting at you.”

“Only if they see us,” Sabo grins cheekily.

“Ha.” Miss Bellemere exhales a puff of smoke, hands braced against her hips. “...my girls don’t get to play much. I’m gonna stay out here for an hour, and then if they don’t come back down, I’m coming up, got it?”

“Yes ma’am,” Kuina hastily says, stomping on Zoro’s foot before he can say something rude.

Nami is awed by the Oro’s map room, soon getting into a long conversation with Sabo about navigating and where they’ve been and where they might go in future. Once assured her sister is safe enough, Nojiko wanders the nearby corridors instead, facee lighting up when Kuina points out the armory.

“Bellemere-san’s been teaching me to shoot,” the girl says, gazing at a rack of guns, each elegant in different styles. “But she’s just got her old marine-issue rifle to use, and getting ammo for it is hard, sometimes.”

Lingering in the doorway, Ace makes a noise at the back of his throat. “None of us shoot, if you want to take some.”

Apparently less annoyed by charity than her mother, Nojiko happily helps herself to a crate of bullets and gunpowder from the room’s storage cabinets. When they head back up to the main deck at the end of their hour, Nami appears with a big round tube slung over her back, so Kuina figures Sabo decided to also be generous.

Miss Bellemere grumbles about close calls as her daughters head down the gangplank, squinting long and hard at their gifts, but she doesn’t get a chance to protest them before the Oro comes alive. The plank slides back into its usual slot, the anchor is raised, the sails fling themselves free to catch the slight wind. Long oars emerge from openings in the hull to turn the massive ship, prompting the five children aboard to hurry to the raised rear deck so they can wave goodbye.

Nami and Nojiko wave back. Miss Bellemere yells something about ‘be careful’, which is kind of her, even if unnecessary.

The Oro Jackson is more than careful and capable enough to keep the five of them safe.

(Neither Kuina nor any of the boys notice, but a third flag is raised to fly over the final crow’s nest - though it remains blank, at least for the moment.)