Chapter Text
“Ladies and gentleman. I called you all here for an urgent matter.”
Magnus sat down with his Marine peers around a round table. His face was stern but absolute in his conviction. Within this circle was Spruce, Bradley, Kai, Nurse, Raj, Powder, Yokan, Quackington and Scourge. The meeting took place underneath an inconspicuous building.
“Over the last few weeks, there has been a situation within our ranks. A situation that cannot be avoided or ignored any longer.” Magnus pounded his fist onto the table. “An issue that must be resolved.” He stood up with upmost urgency. “And that issue is Taiga’s love life.”
He spoke those words as if he was ready for a prolonged battle. Magnus then tore off his shirt to reveal a new red shirt underneath. That shirt said “TaiScar 4 life”. “As the Shipwright of TaiScar, let this meeting on neutral grounds begin.” Magnus sat back down to allow the next speaker a turn.
Nurse wearing a blue TaiDemu bracelet around her wrist was next to speak in her usual calm almost surgical manner. “We are here to discuss, decide and determine who will develop a romantic relationship with Taiga.” Pressing a switch, a snail woke up and emitted a picture of a happy Taiga giving a thumbs up. “Months ago, it seemed incredulous, even laughable, that this man would ever find true love. But we as a group have learned and seen firsthand his potential for personal growth when given a chance.” She pointed towards Yokan. “For example, thanks to our friend Yokan, Taiga can now cook a delicious egg and is quite talented in other egg-based meals.”
“Made the perfect egg.” Yokan chimed in with a thumbs up. “Quick learner.”
“It was a damn good egg.” Kai also added, remembering the taste and how it was so delicious it allowed him to ignore a temporary craving for human flesh.
Nurse nodded in affirmation. “Precisely. And I can say from personal experience that Demure is a very mediocre cook. Two years ago, I tried out a casserole made by my youngest Sister. It was burnt and still raw in the middle. And I take pride in being an honest woman. So after trying it I made my opinion known.” She shook her head in partial regret. “My precious Sister cried that day.”
“Harsh.” Spruce spoke up. “But fair. And to be honest myself, Scarla is awful at cooking herself. One time she tried to make fried fish for Magnus and I and she didn’t remove the fish guts.” Both he and Magnus felt more nauseous just thinking about eating fish intestines. “Both of us pretty much puked our guts out.”
“So cooking lessons for all three of them.” Yokan was concocting a plan in her mind. “That could work.”
It was Raj’s turn to speak up. “If I recall, Captain Damian did order Noble, whoishisclone, to begin teaching Taiga and Scarla how to read.”
Magnus nodded in acknowledgment. “Scarla can read a bit and spell her name and stuff. But she kinda sucks at it. Not her fault though.” Magnus saw firsthand her life before he met her. Her now dead captors didn’t want to educate “livestock” like her. “So they’ll be seeing one another a lot over the next good while.”
Nurse knew Magnus’s ship had something of an advantage at the moment. She needed to think quick as The Love Doctor of the TaiDemu ship. But Nurse was a genius. “Well that may be true Scarla will be in contact with Taiga for extended periods of time. But when it comes to battling against the scourge of piracy, Demure would make an ideal teammate for Taiga.” She took out a small list of possible collaborative combo abilities she and the other TaiDemu shippers made together. “Her turning enemy forces around for Taiga to gain the advantage in the fight for example. Or if Taiga is near her when using her powers, he will be difficult to see as well. And—”
Magnus cut her off. “I got two words for ya Ms. Medic. Double. Sweaters.” Magnus held two fingers up. “That duplicating fruit is the trump card. Because sharing. Is. Caring.”
Nurse would have to come up with a retort for that one. But later. There was still a secret underground meeting to be had. “In any case, it is time for the weekly update of our betting pool of ten thousand berries each.” She quickly wrote on a clipboard. “As always I am Team TaiDemu. I wish for my little sister to be happy. And though I may not fully see what she sees in him, I understand her reasoning more and more by the week.” She passed the clipboard to Magnus.
“Team TaiScar.” He scribbled his vote in. “No ifs, ands or buts.” He passed it to Lieutenant Spruce next.
“TaiScar as well.” He wrote his answer. “It just reminds me of those stories where the two love interests first have that rocky first meeting but over the course of the book thanks to adventure and antics gradually fall in love.” I’m a sucker for that trope.
Scourge was next to sign. “TaiDemu. The pairing reminds me of the Spiral Fox Manga. Where the hero Nabito is a loud mouthed ninja who is shunned by most in his village. But one of the few exceptions was a reclusive girl named Hina who—“
“There is no need to delve into a plot synopsis Scourge." Nurse calmly reminded her fellow shipper. She recalled when the Nabito: The Final novel came out and Demure gushed about it for weeks. It was honestly pretty annoying.
Up next was Lieutenant Commander Powder. “I guess I’m TaiDemu because frankly I find her to be a lovely gentle soul who deserves to be happy.” He wrote his name and passed the clipboard to Raj. “Also thank you guys for inviting me to this event. It’s the one weekly social activity I can have with how busy I am.”
Raj mulled his pick a bit more than the rest. But knowing that this decision was more important to Taiga than to himself, he made a choice. “My vote goes to TaiScar.” He only explained his decision to himself.
With what admittedly little he knew of the redhead, she reminded him of his late wife in temperament. Heck,Taiga and Scarla somehow had a better first meeting. That first impression ended in his future wife slapping him across the face. But things worked out over time and they ended up happily married. And it was some of the happiest years of his life with his wife and daughters. That was until that fateful day the Myth Pirates arrived.
“Raj! Earth to Raj!” Kai snapper his fingers to get the bunny man’s attention. “You good?”
Raj shook the memories out of his head for now. “Um-uh yes! Was just…here you go!” He passed the clipboard to Kai next.
Kai tapped the pen onto the board to contemplate his answer. But he knew how cringe Taiga could be and that he could very well screw up big time. “Sorry guys, but I have to go with the Neither option.”
“Boo! Boo on you!” Bradley called out with a thumbs down. Others booed a bit a well.
Magnus huffed. “If you’re going to have zero faith in the guy, why are you even here?”
“The jackpot if I win.” That and Joy insisted he join and tell her what goes on. He recalled that Joy wasn’t very comfortable having a group of individuals meet up to orchestrate the romantic lives of other people. But he wasn’t going to tell these guys that. “Also I translate for Quackington.”
Quackington wrote in his vote with gusto. “Quack quack.” He pointed to Taiga’s picture. “Quack quack quack.” He held out two of his feathery fingers while writing in the two main ship options on the clipboard. “Quack quack quaaaaaack.” He wiggled his ducky eyebrows a little suggestively. “Quack quackquack quack quack quack QUACK!” He gave a quacking laugh afterwards.
“Damn.” Kai may have heard some of the most steamy sentences that ever graced his ears. “Well, he’s voting for the Both option.” What Kai just heard would have increased the content rating of this story if it was translated.
Nurse and Magnus looked at one another for a moment to comprehend the idea of Taiga, Demure and Scarla entering a polyamorous relationship. Magnus couldn’t help but laugh at the idea and Nurse just shook her head as if she heard the silliest story.
“That’s a funny joke, duck man! Get a load of this guy!” Magnus elbowed Spruce a bit, perhaps a bit too hard. “We believe the guy’s an underdog but we don’t have THAT much faith in him.” He pounded the table a bit more as he continued to chortle.
Nurse crossed her arms. “I find that to be an unrealistic conclusion. But I will not stop your vote.” She could vaguely tell what was quacked out was pretty obscene and she didn’t exactly appreciate it.
“It’s my turn now.” Bradley signed on with Quackington. “I’m voting for both Demure and Scarla too.” Gallon Bay was a pretty open place when it came to relationships. And romances between three or more partners were far from unheard of. “I see no downside. If I’m wrong, whatever. If I’m right, I get money and good for all three of them.”
“Understandable.” Nurse acknowledged the fishman’s reasoning. At least a better explanation than Quackington. She motioned for Bradley to pass the clipboard to the final member of this group. “It is your turn to write your vote Yokan. Who will you being shipping this week? Or have you finally made up your mind?”
Yokan contemplated her decision. Not long ago she witnessed Taiga’s apology to Scarla and how they interacted. But not long after she saw that Demure was so cute trying to essentially tell Taiga she was he was healthy again. “Tough choice, tough as nails choice.”
She looked around the room. The votes were three for TaiDemu, three for TaiScar. The same amount of votes, which was good to hear. Even chances. Then there was one vote for Neither and two for Both. She had way more faith than Kai at least but not as much a Bradley or Quackington. But she noticed that the current votes were an odd number. She’d make it an even one. So she made her decision.
“I have decided not to vote.” Yokan announced. “I am both TaiScar and TaiDemu and I’m proud of it.” She stood up tall. “And I don’t place bets when it comes to matters of the heart.” She pointed towards the sky, her long armed outstretched. “So I will do everything in my power to give both women not only a fair chance for Taiga’s heart, but to make sure the center of this love triangle strives to reach his greatest potential!”
Magnus was curious what Yokan had planned. “So you're playing both sides huh? Can respect that.”
Nurse was more matter of fact. “So you will not be betting at this moment?”
“Not right now Nurse.” Yokan answered with the confidence of a Vice Admiral. “I’m going to make our little pog champ’s love life as evenly split as possible.” She transformed into a small house cat. “Now I have to go. I need to help others find true love.” She jumped out the window to begin her mission.
Pog champ? What the Hell does that mean? Magnus dismissed the cat girls terminology. He opened the meeting and now he will close it. “Okay. So now that the votes are settled, time to finish this weekly meeting of the ships. Let the Taigabowl continue forth!”
With a small applause, the shipping cabal soon wrapped up its meeting and parted ways for the night.
Demure was sitting at one of the beachside benches as she wrote down notes for the next chapter of her Carmine Moon fanfic War For The Scarlet Stones. It was the big final war scene and she needed to have her main cast all have dynamic action scenes during these next few chapters. Alas, it was easier to write about passionate throes than choreographed fights for one’s life.
“Well, maybe if I have Princess Rumeed lead her werewolf troop towards High Priest Sobek Scalesoul, I can have Sister Malignant handle General Mamba and…hm?” Demure pondered who else the heroine’s big sister figure can fight that would make the chapter more meaningful. “Maybe Hunter Lord Orthus? The Sacred Sinner? The Kinslayer? Big Bolt? I have a lot of villains still.”
As she was pondering who fights who in her story, she heard some footsteps. Looking up, she saw the one and only Taiga. He seemed to have been grabbing some stationary and folders from the base’s office area. She could also tell he seemed a bit more nervous than usual. As if he has some important event coming soon.
Demure willed herself to move closer, wondering what he was up to. Maybe getting some paperwork for Damian maybe?
Taiga seemed to have heard her footsteps and turned to see her. “Oh hey Demure. What are you up to?”
Demure kept her notebook close to her as she softley spoke. “J-just writing some notes for a…story.” She scooted towards him, though avoiding eye contact. “It’s about vampires and werewolves.” Why did I say that? What if he thinks it’s dorky?
But he seemed intrigued. “Monster fights? Sounds cool. Fighting monsters is always fun.” He spoke for the two of them. “Especially when me and the others were in the Myth Pirates Monsterslam! It was hype and we creamed them.”
Realizing this could be an actual conversation now, Demure inquired more. “Myth Pirates? I heard they were a really scary crew.” She knew a story about them she can speak about to him. “Like this one time this Sphinx Zoan representative of the Myth Pirates visited Acryllic Island to try and recruit Malice.”
“What’s a Sphinx?”
“It’s like a lioness with the head of a woman and wings of a falcon. She had sharp teeth too.” Demure tried to be as thorough as possible to give a proper description, assuming Kane never told him much about mythical creatures. “And she had some strange power about riddles.”
“Riddles?” Taiga questioned. “That’s a weird power.”
“It was from what I heard. I was on the other side of the island with Ninny.” Demure admitted. “I was still not a full Mafia member yet. So I wasn’t allowed to help.” She liked that she could casually talk about her gangster life. Most guys would think she was a psycho. But not him. “But supposedly she gave a riddle and if you did not answer it correctly within a certain amount of time, she got full control over you.”
Taiga seemed enthralled by this anecdote. “How did your Sisters win? Bet Malice wrecked her shit.”
Malice. Demure paused for a moment as she reminisced about her beloved Big Sis. But she quickly jogged her memory for every detail she could recall. “I think the riddle was ‘What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon and three in the evening?’” She shook her head. “She honestly must have looked down on my Sisters because every—” She remembered Kane refused to educate his sons. “I-I mean many people already know the answer to that riddle”
Demure can see him try to think what the answer could be, but he was quick to give up. She honestly couldn’t blame him. Kane didn’t want a weapon that could think.
“Man, I give up. What’s the answer?”
“You got it.”
“Huh?”
“The answer is Man.” Though unintentional, Demure was happy for him. “Babies crawl on all fours, an adult walks on two legs and the elderly uses a walking stick, which is the third leg in the riddle. Congratulations.” She gave him a small thumbs up.
Taiga seemed pretty thrilled he got it right. But he then began to think over stuff. “Wait, why does the riddle assume every old guy uses a cane? I see many in wheelchairs. And noon time is so short, why—“
“I-it’s a silly little riddle.” Demure insisted, trying to not get him to overthink it. “Not worth thinking that hard about.” She got back onto her main story about the Sphinx Zoan. “What mattered most that day was that Nurse got the riddle correct and Malice defeated the Myth Pirate.” Demure reminisced about how cool Big Sis was. “Then she took the invader off the island by boat, and the Sphinx was never seen again.”
“The Sphinx is dead, isn't she?” Taiga asked the obvious.
Demure did nothing to hide that fact. “Yeah. Mafia style execution.” She knew the Sphinx’s remains were at the bottom of the sea with a pair of cement shoes.
With the crap he’s seen, Taiga wasn’t too shaken by a dead Myth Pirate. “Grisly. But me and my squad mates killed the whole crew. So I can’t really judge.”
“Yeah.” Demure just had some kind of revelation. I just had a full conversation with Taiga. One where we both talked. She needed to keep the momentum going somehow. “Monsters battling one another is always fun.” She felt herself begin to blush again. “A-and if you want…maybe later I can read you some of my story.” I’d likely have to skip a couple scenes. “I think you…umm?” She was losing that confidence real quick. “Find it nice.” What if he finds my writing cringey? I need to divert this. “Though I imagine you’d maybe prefer Spiderboy though.” She remembered him always getting excited when she read him some comics and showed him the pictures.
Taiga perked up at the mention of his favorite hero. “Oh-ho-ho yeah! Best hero ever! And he’s real! Well kinda pretty much! Have you met Scourge?” Demure shook her head. "He has web slinging powers. Even does that thing with his hands when he shoots webs.” He mimed shooting webs from his wrists.
“Oh. He seems nice.”
“Most definitely.” Taiga went on. “He and his girlfriend were also former assassins that also tried to kill my squad but then got beat up and then joined the Marines. But other than that he’s great.”
Demure was starting to see a pattern of Branch 101 hiring people who once tried to kill them. “W-well at least he found his MJ.”
“I guess Lur is kinda his Maya Janice.” Taiga scrunched his brain to see any similarities, which there pretty much was none. “MJ did always seem to be your favorite character to read about.”
This was making Demure’s day, if not week. Oh my god! We’re talking so much today! “Y-yeah. I know it’s a little girly. But I really adore her confidence, how much she truly loves Perry and his Spiderboy identity equally. And her red hair is just-”
“Hey Taiga!” A feminine voice called out. “Where’d you find that stationary crap?”
Demure watched as a woman she never saw before exit the building and approach. She was a fellow marine around her age and had striking short red hair. She also had an aura of both care-free and confidence in her step. And though the shy blue-haired girl didn’t want to admit it, this redhead was absolutely gorgeous. Way more stunning than her. And with how Taiga smiled as she walked over, she could tell he felt an attraction towards her.
The redhead pointed to Taiga. “Where’d you find all that writing crap? I’ve been looking and looking.” She noticed the bashful girl. “Oh hey! Didn’t see you. You new?” She playfully elbowed Taiga. “Word of advice, careful around Mr. Rizzler here. Total flirt alert with him.” She offered a hand to shake. “Name’s Scarla. You?”
“Uh huh.” Demure was still wondering where this Scarla girl came from. But she petitely offered her hand as she spoke much more quietly than before. “Demure.”
“Well actually, me and Demure already know one another.” Taiga tried to make it clear. “But she recently became a marine.”
“Oh. I see.” Scarla wrapped an arm around Demure’s shoulders. “Lemme guess, he hit on you first meeting too?” She made a small chuckle. “Or were you one of those supposed exes like Joy or something?”
Demure saw Taiga almost cringe a bit, almost as if he somewhat regretted referring to any of the Sisters in that way. “Well no, we never dated or anything. Not that I ever dated any of them I’m pretty sure. You’d probably have avoided me like the plague if it wasn’t for the whole ‘my dad owed them money’ thing right?”
That’s not true.
“I mean sometimes Demure would read stories to me. But I can’t really read and maybe she just felt bad for me.”
I don’t pity you.
“I mean I know I can be pretty obnoxious and hard to like. But back then I must've been soooo annoying. Always calling her cute or beautiful and being a weird simp. Like shit if I was in your shoes Demure, I would’ve barfed.”
You made me feel beautiful.
Taiga let out a small sigh. “But to just get it out of the way. I’m sorry if I was ever weird or creepy or if I ever bothered you. Even if I technically never referred to you as an ex or anything.” He offered a hand to shake. “We can still be friends or something right?”
Demure felt her heart sink and even shatter a bit. It was as if he was course correcting his attitude so much he viewed anything he did with her in the past as stupid or weird. Like as if he thought she didn’t want to be there with him if she had a choice. Like as if Demure only saw him as a nuisance. Like he thought a part of her possibly even hated him. But she decided to extend her hand out to shake, if even to just show she was not fully adverse to physical contact with him.
“Yeah…friends…or something.” She maintained eye contact with neither of them as she shook her crush’s hand.
“Real deep in the melodrama huh?” Scarla laughed a bit, taking Taiga’s apology as over dramatic. “You should write a screenplay. You know…once we both learn to read and write.” She just remembered. “Oh yeah, speaking of that, can you pass me your school supplies?”
Demure was nearly staring off into space in shock at the idea that Taiga thought she only was around him out of some sense of pity. She watched blankly as Taiga passed this Scarla lady his paper, pens and folders. Demure witnessed the redhead create an exact duplicate for each object passed to her. After a minute or two, she looked as if she was ready to head back to school as well.
Though Demure was doing everything to remain composed, she did choose to ask a question.
“W-why do you both want all this writing stuff?”
Taiga answered her, oblivious to the change in Demure’s tone. “Yeah Damian got sick of me being illiterate. So he’s making me learn to read.” He attempted to change the sore subject. “But did you see what Scarla can do? She can make two of anything.”
“I noticed.” This new girl having an insanely versatile power way cooler than her own wasn’t exactly helping Demure’s self esteem at the moment.
“Similar story for me but Spruce.” Scarla added. “That Noble clone guy will be teaching us how to read and write during the weekdays when not on Marine missions.” It felt like the closest thing Scarla could imagine school would be like. And she could tell Taiga felt the same.
“For…for how long?” Demure asked meekly. Though she was happy Taiga was trying to better himself, she’d be lying if the idea of him hanging out with a red-haired beauty for much of the day five days a week wouldn’t concern her.
Scarla gave a polite answer, not noticing her discomfort. “Maybe for the summer time at a minimum.” She turned to to Taiga to tease him. “So Tiger, you’re not gonna try to flunk so you can hang out with me more right?” Taiga laughed along with her. “Just busting your chops.”
All summer…with a sexy redhead by your side? And she calls you Tiger?
Demure couldn’t hold it in much longer. She knew she felt the pangs of jealousy for this new woman in Taiga’s life. And it made her feel small, pathetic even. Especially when Taiga almost seemed as if he saw himself as being an annoyance to her for all this time. She tried to maintain her composure but knew that she needed to leave now. So Demure gave a small bow to both of them.
“I’m rooting for you Taiga and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance Scarla.” She felt herself getting more and more emotional. “But I have to go. I promised Ninny something.”
Taiga and Scarla watched as the shy blue-haired maiden hastily walked around the corner at a quick pace. Once she was fully gone, Scarla turned to her fellow classmate.
“She seemed nice.” Scarla teased him. “I can see why you used to crush hard on her. Got that ‘super cute shy girl’ thing down to an art form.”
“Demure is one Taigatastic woman.” He replied as they both started to head to where Noble was waiting for them. “But she deserves somebody better than me.”
Scarla gave a small shrug. “I dunno. I think you’ve been underselling yourself lately. There’s an appeal to super hopeless guys like you.”
“Really?” That felt nice coming from Scarla. “Glad to hear that. Shocked there would be any appeal.”
“You’d be surprised what appeals to a woman.”
“I…I guess?” Taiga just felt confused.
The minute Demure felt that she was far away enough from Taiga and his new redhead companion, she began to bolt it to her room. She used her Shy Shy Fruit to try and make sure nobody saw her run back to her room emotionally distraught. She needed to be alone.
Once she headed to her sleeping quarters she hastily shut the door behind her and headed straight to Ninny’s punching bag (which Demure had taped a picture of Kane Kibbleton’s face on). She needed to let off steam on that bastard’s smug grin.
“So I finally have some kind of meaningful conversation with him.” She started punching Kane’s picture. “Taiga was happy to see me, into what we were talking about, wanted to hang out more. It felt perfect!” She punched that picture like it owed her berries. “But then this…this Scarla girl just comes out of nowhere and I feel like I’m back to square one!” She started venting out her jealousy as she pounded Kane’s face. “And she’s more confident than me, braver than me, funnier than me, has a cooler devil fruit than me, is prettier than me!” Tears were welling up in her eyes. “And I bet SCARLA wouldn’t have a stupid tantrum if another girl got in the way of the man of her dreams!” She began to pace as she let out her frustrations on a picture of the man she hated most.
“Scarla wouldn’t be venting to a punching bag with a picture of a father who ruined their own son’s life taped onto it! Scarla wouldn’t be this coward who can’t tell Taiga what’s on her mind or how she feels! Scarla would be able to look him in the eye too!”
She looked at Kane’s arrogant smile staring back at her. With all the frustration in her heart, she full-on head butted the punching bag hard enough it fell off its chain and onto the floor. As she huffed and panted with sweat on her brow, Demure didn’t feel better at all. She plopped onto her bed and let out a muffled scream into her pillow. She then proceeded to sob as she lamented her insecurities and saw herself as a joke for feeling this way.
She missed Malice too. Malice would have helped her feel strong or tell her to woman up and do what needs to be done. Maybe even criticize her lightly about her taste in men. But she couldn’t do that because she was turned into the very thing that kill her parents. Starved, trapped in armor with only her thoughts before being mercy killed. On this very island Bailey and Damian sent Big Sis to. But she isn’t allowed to even be mad at them or blame the two because “They didn’t know” or “You should be blaming Gus and Jeopard”. Sometimes it felt as if they were meant to just pretend to act as if Bailey or Damian did nothing wrong. Maybe if they did anything different, Malice would still be alive. Hell, maybe even a Commodore or a Rear Admiral.
All these new Marine duties, Malice’s death being swept under the rug, this Scarla girl being better than her, how Taiga seemed to have gotten this weird idea Demure disliked being around him and how far away she was from Acryllic Island. It was just so, so much.
As she cried, she did not notice Yokan as a cat climbing up to her window. Yokan considered tapping on the window to be let in and ask what’s wrong. But perhaps it was better that she allow Demure to let out her emotions and check up on her later. She had a hunch why she was crying.
I feel Demure may need help more than Scarla right now. And not just for Taiga stuff.