English Short Stories

A Few Shiny Pebbles

"And now you will show me some respect." the young pirate growled, accentuating the last word, her voice a bit lower than usual, a gravity that reflected the venom she had been storing for years in her soul.

***

Ever since she had set up foot on that ship, brought in screaming and fighting by the same woman who was now kneeling meekly in front of her, Anima had looked at the former captain with such disdain, a fervor accentuated by hearing her pleading father scream her name from the dock, begging the cruel woman to release his only child, his only family.

"we will be cruising the seas for the next year" the captain said, her blonde hair, bleached by the sun, almost becoming a frame for the sarcastic smirk on her face: "now, if you manage to gather all the money you owe me" she shook the crying girl in her grip, leading to a teary plea from the desperate father "and if SHE behaves herself, then you can get her back, and if not..." now her burning stare was all focused on Anima, "I will make sure she gets well acquainted with one of our colder, smaller cells, understood?".

It had been nine years since then, when she was a young, scared girl of fifteen. She had turned twenty-four only last week, and this had been a long time coming.

The figure in front of her was still meeting her gaze, cold blue eyes reflecting in Anima's brown ones, not deigning to lower her head in sign of defeat, and that made Anima RAGE.
She stomped her feet on the wooden floor, millimeters from Alabasta's face, the Gods know how many times the captain hadn't even tried to miss her shoulder, arm, or hand while she was the one on the ground, only missing the head because "a fainted pirate might as well be ballast, and I wouldn't waste all of the food I spent on you".

Anima smiled sadly at herself, even in victory she was more gracious than her jailer.

But the ship itself wasn't her jail anymore, was it?

In the end it took two years for the Sea Siren to go back to Greyport's docks again. They had encountered some particularly nasty currents who had set them way off course, but that had been a blessing in disguise, for they had found richer lands, unexplored, inhabited and swarming with resources, so many that even a mere kitchen maid like herself had managed to gather and hide a few shiny stones, with the intent to give them to papa at the first chance.

Her father had changed so much in two years. Tired, emaciated and weak, it was so clear by looking at him that he had worked without rest to gather the five thousands silver pieces owed to Alabasta.
Eventually he presented the money to the captain, who snagged and measured their weight by bouncing the little brown sack up and down.

"thank you my dear, I see you hadn't forgotten" she cooed in a mocking tone, and then her gaze was once again on Anima. "now as for you, my sugar...". It was time, she was finally gonna be free, a faint smile dared creep herself on her face.

Then she looked at her father.

His tan skin was now covering a very skinny body, the apparence of a man who had given everything and ate far, far too little.

When she was on the docks, just a few minutes before, she had heard rumors about her father, how he had sold their house to earn the rest of the money he needed.
Yet he looked at her with so much love, the same tenderness that mixed with pain and horror years ago when she was ripped away from him.

His heath, his life, his dignity, were only worth five thousand silvers... She had seen some crewmates pocket much more after a single expedition: jewelry, golds, the brightest and clearest pearls produced in this side of the continent. All of these richesses, tucked away the gods know where, only for the pirates to find them...

He had sold every speck of his energy for Anima. Now all that she wanted was to see him bathe in gold, because she knew how.

She didn't want to go back.

The realization dawned on her like the coldest rain on the most unforgivimg winter night, and drowned the smile on her face.
Alabasta's, on the contrary, grew wider.

She had planned this.

"you are not, as they say, leverage, anymore" she extended a hand, Ani flinched, "you are free to do whatever you please: stay on the dock here with your dad..." she brushed one of Ani's dark brown strands away from her face, as the girl stood, paralyzed "... Or come back to the ship with me, you will be able to join as a proper pirate in training now, and there's a possibility that you will be able to earn much more than the few shiny pebbles you've been hiding with such care!"

As Ani's pupils grew wider in realization, Alabasta sunk her hand in the girl's front pant pocket, grabbing a small handkerchief, from which she retrieved the stones. She knew, she had always known! Why hadn't she stopped her, why not force her to empty her pockets in front of the crew? Why not humiliate her as she had done plenty of times before?

Alabasta quietly handed the stones to Ani's stunned father.
"Here", a victorious smile on her face "she was saving these for you. "
Her saccharine tone was like bitter poison in Anima's mouth

Despite that, when Alabasta turned around, muttering "I'll see you on the ship in two days, dear" she knew Anima was coming back. No plea, no powerless screaming from her father would have kept her there.

Rip a child away from loving and warm misery, and they will cry because that love is the only thing that they know. present them with cold, shiny possibilities, and they will never want to go back.
That was Alabasta's recruiting philosophy.

***

"I took my chance."
Suddenly, anima found herself on the raining dock agajn, facing her disgraced captain, having wandered in her childhood memories for what felt like hours, but only a few seconds had passed
"and I won, Alabasta, you're no one.
Your pirates abandoned you, because they want me." in many ways she resembled her so much now, in her voice a hint of that same mockery

"Now you will be quiet, stay knelt in front of me and we will show them how much I deserve this role, how much I deserve to be captain"

Ani had now a glowing smile to her face, as the former captain finally lowered her head in defeat.
Only, if Ani had looked closer, she would have seen that Alabasta was smiling herself.

A pirate captain can be powerful, but not immortal, my dear, and since I don't have enough love or patience or hatred in me to raise a child of my own, I can at least control and mold one of the children of the ship into the figure who will rise after me, and one day, long after you've had me killed , you will learn this too.

An unheard whisper hides among the roars of the crew celebrating Anima, hugging her smaller frame and ruffling her hair energetically, as if she was still the young kitchen maid that they would tease, challenge, and laugh with.
"Long live the captain".

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Trigger warnings: violent abuse on a teen, Child labor.