meet the doc : Ikkaku
2024-08-01 15:28![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Summary: After the Raid on Onigashima, Ikkaku - Sole woman of the Heart Pirates - takes it upon herself to check on the other women that fought in the Raid. It was an olive branch most accepted. She's got one group left on her self-imposed list and she was not prepared.
the original title of this one was "expect this one - everybody lives" because at this point i had written nearly nothing but essentially murdering the Kidd Pirates as a collective. I'm not sure this one will ever get around to the point of why it was started in the first because Heat went and hijacked chapter two and derailed my thought process.
"What do you want?" Already at his wits end, Kidd had no patience to deal with Trafalgar's underlings, snarling at the woman in her boiler suit as she stood in the doorway of the shelter he's wrangled his people into.
He'd already had Strawhat's little reindeer steal Killer away - Pomp and Bubblegum following along with him - and while he knew the decision to stay behind was the correct one, he also did not like that his crew was getting separated again. While the Kidd Pirates were more than capable of patching themselves up most of the time, the hell that was Wano had finally caught up to his first mate; most of his crew was already coughing away from the smoke inhalation and the near downing that had followed, but Killer's crushed ribs couldn't take the abuse. Struggling to catch his breath, the faux-fruit had decided it'd played nicely long enough, and the laughing had started back up. Unable to breathe, concussed to hell, literally stabbed in the back with his fight with Hawkins... Killer had hurled once and then promptly passed out, and Kidd knew then it was time to surrender his partner to better hands.
And begrudgingly, he did trust Strawhat at least to not fuck his people over, even if he didn't extend that confidence in the man's crew.
None of that trust with his nakama extended to Trafalgar. And it certainly did not extend to the uniformed minions that followed after the man. North and South had the Red Line and Grand Line breaking them up, ne'er the two should mix. Kidd didn't know anything about the crew or their ways, and he did not want this woman here.
He wanted her to leave, and he wanted Pomp and Bubblegum to bring Killer back.
He wanted to get off this fucking island and leave Trafalgar and Strawhat far behind him before they too inevitably joined the list of people who'd fucked Kidd over.
Not many woman sailed alone on a ship full of men, so Kidd will give her that. And she did not seem to care for his growing tantrum at all. "With the state your vice captain is in, I can't image your crew is all hunky dory. They've been on Wano for a while - 'm just hear to check up on a couple of them."
"What the fuck do you know about Killer!?" It was equal parts angry that anyone was talking about his partner, the fact that the Heart's doctor had clearly gotten involved in his first mates care not just the Chop-Doc, fear that Killer was in a bad enough way to have needed Trafalgar to get involved in the first place, and frustration that the more control he thought he was getting on things the more it looked like it was slipping from his grasp. "You think I can't take care of my people?! We don't need you here!"
It was probably true. right?
She looked at him, face clearly stating that No. She didn't think he could Captain his crew, and Kidd towered over her - his haki subconsciously cracking at the edges. She had the good sense to at least look uneasy, to look like she agreed that maybe there was some overstepping going on. But Trafalgar might have three of his people right now, and Kidd wasn't stupid enough that he thought smearing the Heart underling wouldn't end up with his own in worse straights.
"Go. Away." He warned.
"Your crew was prisoners here in Wano, yeah?" she tried again, this time softening her face so it was more she was stating a fact, than the accusatory edge she'd been wearing. "Prisoners to a group of assholes that certainly took liberties with your first mate on what lengths they could take with hostages. I imagine the terms were less, Follow orders or we'll hurt someone, and more, We're going to hurt them, follow orders or will kill them too."
Yeah, that... that was pretty fair assumption to make. Kidd had done his best not to give them excuses, even if he certainly wasn't going to play their game. He'd wrapped too many new injuries once he and Killer had escaped Udon together, but he'd been more worried about Killer's mental health at the time, and hadn't asked too many questions. They'd done more to his partner than just convince him to eat that fruit. Kidd would be stupid to deny it. They'd done more to his crew then sent them to labor camps too, even if that didn't come with it's own set of risks.
Seeing that she had his attention, Ikkaku touched his arm hesitantly - "Captain Kidd, I come from a crew of doctors. We're not going to just look away when people are hurting. Whatever your hangups with my Captain, or Captain Strawhat, that gets left at the door. I'm not here to judge your capabilities as a Captain. I'm sorry I implied otherwise. I'm just here to touch base, make sure no injuries got missed because no one thought they're were bad enough to mention. Some of the others will probably do the same over the next few days, you're just going to have to deal with it."
He still didn't let her pass, but he hadn't shrugged her away either. She noted how tired he looked, under all that anger. It was a lot to shoulder alone for any man, and the captain was only 23 after all.
"Your crew has a notorious reputation," she continued, "and to uphold that, it wouldn't surprise me for some of them to try and brush off what happen to them over the last few months. With the state of their first mate, it may be less bravado and more thinking that because Mr. Killer was hurt so badly, that they have nothing to complain about themselves. Even their time as prisoners aside, I understand they followed you into Raid on Onigashima- which, from what I heard, spent a good deal of time burning while you were inside. And that in an effort to put out the fires, some of your crew got caught up in the flooding that followed. What might just feel like a small cough could be early signs of significance lung damage. We have the means to heal a lot of that right now, before it gets worse."
"Just you then."
"For right now -," she started.
"No. If they need more help, we'll come to you. I don't want a bunch of strangers inside with my people." He turned away, moving to let her inside before he seemed to rethink his plan. "Or one other, if you need. That'd be okay. You don't have to come in alone."
There was some kind of olive branch being offered there, but Ikkaku wasn't sure what it meant. The door way was clear, but he wasn't only not blocking it, but not rushing her inside. "Do.. do you think I need a chaperon or something? Someone to hold my hand? I'm an adult, I don't need a minder."
"I didn't say you did, I just don't want you to feel like I'm trying to separate you from your crew or something?" His tone took a questioning edge, like he wasn't sure how to word his intentions.
On the one hand, for a pirate with a reputation like Eustass Kidd's to imply he didn't want this strange woman to feel like she had to go anywhere by herself with him was... weirdly refreshing. Especially when that 'anywhere' was into the belly of his recently commandeered den, filled with men of equally questionable reputations.
"I'm sure you will all be on your best behavior," she quipped.
"Still don't have to go alone," he muttered back, but seemed ready to drop it. The remark more the knee jerk need to have the last word.
Well, she wasn't going to give him it. "My crew might not have your reputation, but we're not so helpless we still need to use a buddy system." Never mind that they did often pair up when going out, but that was their choice as much as it was her choice to come alone today.
An entirely new side to the man was reveled to her in that moment as he looked insulted that she was mocking the buddy system, "The fuck is wrong with the buddy system?"
"Wait... what?"
"Does... does Trafalgar really send you all off alone? What the hell is wrong with him...."
This conversation took a turn she hadn't prepared for, "What, no. We stay on the Tang mostly!" She wisely kept her month shut on the fact that while Captain Law did not, it was exactly how Captain Luffy ran his ship as far as the Hearts had been able to tell. Granted... Her captain did have a habit as of late of wandering off on his own.... She was pretty sure that was still Strawhat's bad influence.
"Sending you off fucking alone, i autta kick his ass just for that," Kidd was still grumbling, heading inside. She could only follow in bewilderment. She just did not understand the other pirates of her generation.
The walls of the home they'd claimed for themselves had been pushed away or pulled down completely, only the support beams left to block anyone's line of sight from the door. The largest of the three crews, the Kidd Pirates easily filled the open area. From any point in the room you could see the whole of the crew loitering around. With other mixed groups - her crew being the glaring omission as she was the only woman - Ikkaku has used to the women tending to sequester themselves off to one side with little intermingling. The Strawhats had certainly followed this pattern, and when Miss Nami and Miss Robin had been on the Tang, they'd easily roped her into their group of two. Sometimes where partners where involved, they'd set up between the two groups. She was expecting the same here, only to be surprised when the break down of groups was vaguely height based it seemed.
She could see Kidd's buddy system in play in real time, the shorter of the crew set up with the tallest, until the mix of averages met in the middle. At the entrance, the other two power hitters for the Kidd Pirates - Heat and Wire - had quieted first to regard her and their Captain. Even siting, Wire was nearly taller than her, and she couldn't help but stare when she met his gaze head on.
"Alright mo theaghlach!" Kidd bellowed, the casual din of the room falling quiet as the crew gave him the floor. "This nice lady here has swung by for a heart-to-heart. Don't give her a reason to get that prick of a Captain of hers to our place, hear?"
A round of good-natured cheers rose up, most going back to their own things.
"Boss?" Wire inquired, looking over to the man in question.
"Like I said, Doc here's just doing some check up. I guess if you avoid the doctor long though, they start making house calls."
It seemed to satisfy him, and Heat asked he question next, "Does an dotair need us to set up a little private room or are they just mingling?" It seemed that he knew enough to agree with her being there. Her heart sank at that.
"We'll set something up," Wire offered easily, and the two men rose. And boy, Wire was tall! Heat towered over her as it was, but he easily towered over all of them. The two busied themselves pulling some of the walls back out from where they'd been stored, as Captain Kidd lead her to the first group chatting.
"Doc here - "
"Ikakku"
"Doc Ikkaku here's just gonna chat right now. Heat and Wire are gonna set up a privacy booth so you can talk more open with her in there. Just play nice, share your toys, don't start any hair pulling until then yeah?"
In other words, no shop talk yet. Ikkaku could respect that. Instead she made the rounds, getting names and ages in her notes when she could. Baffling a few could only tell her things like, "well, I've been with Captain for 4 years and I was with so-and-so-Ikkaku-had-no-idea-who-that-was for about 6 years and I was at least 13 by then I bet, so... I dunno. 20?" and while it was not only unhelpful, it was also not correct mathematically. Other outstanding answers she got were "I was 6 when Roger died? I know that much" and "I think I was born in December" - with nothing else.
And until she could ask more personal questions, she legitimately did not know if Dive was 10 or 30, the tiny odd woman out seeming to be the third member of every pair up, before eventually settling on sitting on Kidd's shoulders as he divided up rations on the other side of the room; he didn't even seem to notice her. All Ikkaku was told was "That's Dive. She does bite. You'll probably want a Tetanus shot if she does." Ikkaku wasn't so sure that that part was just a joke.
A cup of hot tea - compliments of the people of Wano - made it into her hand at one point, and a woman named Quincy had taken her notepad in time for Captain Kidd to hand out hot soup bowls to the group she was talking too. She was baffled when he offered her one, "I'm good."
A few eyebrows went up, but Kidd only asked back calmly, "Allergies?"
"No, I just..."
"Then you eat." and then moved on to dishing out for the next member of his crew.
"Food's usually Killer-san's job" Quincy explained, still holding Ikkaku's notebook, though she had tucked it carefully under the hot bowl her Captain handed off. "Captain lacks some of his... tack. But its been that way even before the gangs merged. If you're here, you eat with everyone else. Doesn't matter if you're part of the family or not. For all of Wano's posh, it seems like the good people of the city's manners doesn't extend that far."
That had not been Ikkaku's experience on this island, but she also could acknowledge that she'd not been separated out and imprisoned either. She made a mental note about malnutrition being a possibility for them all. Meals with broth like this one was a good start, nutrients more easy absorbed and would need less energy to break down in the body.
She took a sip of the broth. It was good.
