Smooth Sailing Chapter 16: Frauce 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 16: Frauce 3

“Uuuggghhh… kill meee…” Medaka groaned from where she lay on the table in the mess hall.

“I warned you,” I said, feeling very little sympathy for the poor girl as I whipped up some breakfast the next morning. “You shouldn’t have eaten so much junk food.”

“But it was sooo gooood…” she whined, rolling around with her hands on her belly.

“At least you were able to walk back to the ship by yourself,” Jodie said, trying to find the silver lining in all of this. Eliza snorted at that.

“I’m surprised she was able to eat so much,” the blonde replied. “Where are the boys, though?”

“Still out in the town, probably dead drunk somewhere. But the three of ‘em should be back later in the afternoon,” I said.

And if they weren’t? Well, then I’d have to go find them. I’d also have to punish them afterwards, but maybe that would teach ‘em some moderation.

Once the bacon, eggs, and pancakes were finished cooking, we sat down to eat, and enjoyed the meal quite a bit. Well, Eliza, Jodie, and I did. Medaka was still suffering from gorging on carnival food.

“What are your plans for today, captain?” Jodie asked as she cut into her stack of light and fluffy pancakes.

“You can call me Alvida,” I replied. “No need to worry about being too formal when it’s just us.”

I chewed for a bit and swallowed a bite of scrambled eggs before answering. “As for what I want to do? Working on finding a use for the Seastone is a big part of it. I’d also like to see what Payree is like. Gonna combine the two by taking a little shopping trip into town.”

“In that case, Eliza and I will stay behind today,” Jodie said. “We did our shopping yesterday, so we can take our turn watching the ship.”

“Sounds good. And Medaka?” I asked, glancing at the ten-year-old.

“I-I’m just gonna lie here for a bit,” she moaned, and I rolled my eyes but nodded.

Once breakfast was done, I left the dishes to be cleaned by Eliza and Jodie, and jumped off the boat onto the pier. The weather was nice and warm, since Frauce had weather that was pleasant year-round.

Nearby, I could see the tents and stalls of Buggy’s circus. His crew was out and about cleaning up things from the mess the customers likely made and setting up for the evening. I waved at one of them, who waved back, only to get bonked on the head by another and told to hurry up and get back to work.

Chuckling to myself, I headed into the city. Like I’d seen yesterday, Payree was clean, almost obsessively so, with people walking around in the finest clothes they could afford – and more than a few were likely wearing clothes they’d borrowed money to buy.

‘This is really different compared to Nice,’ I thought, eyeing the surroundings.

Sure, Nice was a town while Payree was a city, but the sheer effort gone into making sure the latter was perfect in every possible aspect was immense, and likely cost a pretty beri. How much of the citizens’ taxes went to keeping the place clean and orderly?

‘It’s a city built by nobles and the wealthy and they wish to keep it that way,’ I thought.

Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the storefronts, looking for someplace that might sell some crafting supplies for things other than my weapons. I needed a secure place to store my Seastone knuckledusters once I finished building them, and I wanted to make it myself.

The first thing I bought was a plain wooden box. It was made of nice, sturdy oak, and I planned on adding some decoration and carvings to the lid. Plus some metal so I could craft a special puzzle lock to prevent anyone from just using a lockpick to pop it open. I also grabbed some nice blue lacquer to give the box some color.

Next were some sheets of lead. This had been harder to find, but lining the inside with lead should hopefully reduce the effect of Seastone radiation when I was carrying the box around. I knew it needed to touch my skin to be the most effective, but a little extra precaution didn’t hurt.

After that, I’d searched the marketplace for some velvet. I was going to layer some of the nice red fabric over the lead to make a cushion for the knuckledusters to rest on when I wasn’t using them. It would take a bit of effort, but I think it would work nicely.

‘What else?’ I thought to myself. ‘I’ll need something to make the knuckledusters themselves. Some leather for the grips, and good solid steel that won’t bend or deform from my strength… wonder where I can get something like around here?’

While I was distracted by my thoughts, I bumped into somebody. There was a feminine yelp, and a bunch of books and papers fell down onto the ground, along with the individual in question.

“S-sorry!” the person – a woman – stammered out after we collided.

“No, no, it was my fault,” I apologized as I held out a hand to the lady I’d knocked over.

As she took it and hauled herself back to her feet, I took a moment to check her out. She was beautiful – like most women in this world – and had blonde hair done up in a bun, and the sides of her face framed by two long bangs. She had brown eyes, although they were red and raw, and looked as if she’d been crying recently.

“Again, sorry,” the young woman muttered.

“And like I said, it was my fault,” I told her. “Alvida. Nice to meet you.”

“Moodie,” she replied quietly. She didn’t show any reaction to my name, so she might not know me, or perhaps she was too distracted by whatever was bothering her at the moment.

“Moodie? That’s your name?” I inquired, and the blonde woman nodded nervously, wondering about my reaction to it.

But I knew her, vaguely. Or of her, rather. She’d been a minor side character who’d dated Fullbody during the Baratie Arc, though it hadn’t worked out from what I recalled.

I looked at the books she’d dropped. Medical texts and tomes, and of a rather high level from what I could tell. Not that I was that aware of what was considered ‘doctorate’ level education in this world, but the sheer girth of the books made me assume they were as dry as they were educational.

“You’re a medic?” I inquired.

“Y-yes,” she whispered. “A doctor. I-in training. Or, I was…”

I nodded slowly. A doctor… I really needed one of those, didn’t I? A grin slowly slipped onto my face, which only cause Moodie to flinch back fearfully.

“Hey, girlie,” I called out to her. “I’m gonna make you a deal! If I help solve whatever problem you have that’s making you sad, then you’ll join me!”

“EH?!” Moodie gasped. “What do you mean by that?!”

“I want you to be the ship’s doctor for my crew!” I declared, pointing at her imperiously. “And I’ll beat up whatever is making you sad in order to do so!”

“You can’t!” she protested. “You can’t fight Lieutenant Fullbody!”

“Fullbody, huh?” I muttered. “This is his fault?”

I knew that man from the One Piece series. He was a Marine Lieutenant who had the nickname ‘Iron Knuckle’ for the metal piercings in his hands he used as makeshift knuckledusters, and was something of an arrogant womanizer.

“I-it was my fault,” she whispered. “B-because I laughed at him during our date…”

“Disgusting,” I sighed, shaking my head.

If I recalled, Moodie had been Marine Lieutenant Fullbody’s date to the Baratie shortly before the arrival of Don Krieg. He got his ass handed to him by Sanji though when he started acting like a wine snob.

And considering that Moodie had indeed laughed at him and taken Sanji’s side at first, the fragile ego of the Marine officer couldn’t handle that.

‘So, it seems he’s decided to be an asshat, and ruin an innocent woman’s life just because he was a weakling loser,’ I thought to myself. How pathetic.

But something felt off.

‘That’s not right,’ I thought to myself with more than a little confusion. ‘Fullbody was supposed to be dating Moodie at the same time as Luffy and the others arriving at the Baratie. But the time doesn’t match up…

The only explanation I could of was that things weren’t the same in this world… or maybe they were, and the time frame just didn’t work the way I thought it did.

‘If Sanji and the Don Krieg incident happened recently, then that means Luffy and the rest are on their way to Arlong Park,’ I thought to myself. ‘Unless things are different…’

I was confused, but decided to just ignore it. Didn’t matter to me if this world was following the timeline properly or not. I’d already made my decision to tag along with Buggy and to live my life as best I could.

‘And to do that, I need a doctor,’ I thought, looking Moodie over.

Mind made up, I reached down and grabbed her hand before pulling her to her feet. “Moodie, you and I are gonna be best friends and crewmates,” I declared, slinging an arm around her shoulder.

“E-eh?” she stammered. “B-but…”

“At least let me take you to my ship, so you can meet the others,” I cajoled. “You can make up your mind there!”

After a moment, Moodie hesitantly nodded. Perhaps if she knew we were pirates she’d be more hesitant, but since the doctor-in-training wasn’t aware, I was able to lure a new crewmate onto the Lovey Dovey.

‘Err, that sounds bad even in my head,’ I thought to myself as I brought her to my home.

Leading her to the docks, I could tell Moodie was hesitant to be in the rougher part of Payree, but she followed along all the same. Her shoulders noticeably sagged in relief when she spotted the vessel I was leading her to was decorated in hearts. After all, no pirate would have something like that, right?

“Hey, I got us some fresh meat!” I teased as I boarded the ship. “She’s a doctor!”

“In training,” Moodie protested. “And I’m still not sure I’m going to join…”

She trailed off as some of my crew came out. Hep, Pep, and Pop had returned at some point during my shopping trip, and now it was Eliza and Jodie who were gone.

“So, these are Heppoko, Peppoko, and Poppoko. They’re the helmsman, lookout, and deckhand respectively,” I informed Moodie. “Seems like Eliza and Jodie, my seamstress and gardener, are out at the moment.”

The three men nodded at her, obviously taken in by her beauty, while Moodie gave them wary looks. Understandable, of course, given the trio were very clearly rough and tumble sailors, and not the sort of people the medical student would normally interact with.

“Hey, captain!” Medaka called out.

“And this is our cabin girl, Medaka,” I said, introducing her to Moodie. I then gave the red-head a judging look. “I see you’re all better, now. Don’t eat too much junk food again tonight, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled, kicking her feet like a scolded child – which she technically was.

She then perked up as she looked at Moodie. “Who is this? She’s pretty! Is she a new crewmate?!”

“Yup! Moodie here is gonna be our ship’s doctor!” I declared.

“Awesome!” Medaka said.

“Um, I haven’t said I would,” the blonde protested. “I mean, I still have a chance to finish school here. It’s just a minor setback, everything will go back to normal soon…”

“Oh, sweetie… you’re never going to become a doctor. Not on this island, at least. Maybe not even in the East Blue at all. Not after Fullbody’s actions,” I told her apologetically. “People like him are wretches, and few institutions are willing to go to bat for a woman a Marine officer has blacklisted. His actions have ruined your chances, possibly forever.”

“That… no, that can’t be true!” Moodie claimed in disbelief.

“Afraid so,” I shrugged. “It’s not pretty, but it’s true.”

I then folded my arms across my chest. “Why don’t you see for yourself if this is true or not? We’ll be traveling to a couple other islands before eventually hitting the Grand Line. If at any point one of them has a hospital or university that will accept you despite your black mark, then you can leave. Hell, I’ll even throw in some money to help you establish yourself wherever you end up.”

I raised a finger. “However! If you can’t find such a place by the time we leave Loguetown, well… you’ll just have to stick around and be my crew’s doctor.”

“…Alright,” Moodie said slowly, nodding her head. “I’ll take that bet. There’s no way that every hospital or medical school in the East Blue would deny me just because of one insecure man!”

Giving her a pitying look I showed her around the Lovey Dovey, letting her get a look at the ship. Medaka trailed behind, helpfully providing her own commentary.

She was a bit nervous around Hep, Pep, and Pop, but they acted polite around her so there were no problems on that front. They also knew not to mess with a medic, so no worries on that front.

I led Moodie into the bedroom, which was getting a bit cramped. A fourth adult in here was pushing the limits of what the room could handle, but I let her put her stuff down and pick out one of the hammocks. We’d go pick up her luggage later, but this was fine for now. Lastly, Moodie and I went to the mess hall and I showed her around the galley.

“There’s no dedicated medical bay onboard, so we just use the mess hall for it,” I stated, pointing to the benches and table which could double as operating tables.

Moodie wrinkled her nose at the sight. “This is highly unsanitary!”

“Yeah, space is a bit limited right now. But I plan on getting a nice new ship in the Grand Line,” I claimed. “At that point we’ll have a place for your talents to really shine!”

As we talked about her duties as a doctor onboard the ship, the door opened, revealing Jodie and Eliza who had bags in their hands.

“We’re back, captain! Who’s this?” Eliza wondered when she spotted Moodie in the mess hall with me.

“Eliza, meet Moodie. She’ll be our ship’s doctor,” I introduced. “Moodie, this is Eliza. She and her lover Jodie are also part of the crew. Eliza is the tailor and Jodie is the botanist. Eliza is skilled with needle and thread and Jodie makes sure we have fresh fruit to eat out at sea.”

“Ah, pleasure to meet you,” Jodie said, offering her hand to Moodie. The two shook, and then Eliza offered her hand as well.

“A doctor, huh? That’ll be nice to have,” Eliza commented.

“I won’t be here for long,” Moodie claimed, causing the twins to look at me in confusion.

“She thinks that she can become a doctor on another island after being blacklisted by a Marine officer following a date gone wrong,” I explained, and the two sisters shot their fellow blonde a pitying look.

“Oh, honey,” Jodie said softly, mimicking the very same tone I’d used earlier. “That’s… unlikely.”

“Yeah, once word about that black mark spreads, it’s almost impossible to get rid of,” Eliza said with a wince. “Seen the same thing happen in Nagagutsu. I got on the wrong side of Prince Tritobu because I refused to be one of his ‘maids,’ and I couldn’t work anywhere on the island anymore or find customers. Had to leave entirely. I can only imagine it’s even worse with a Marine doing the blacklisting, since their reach extends far beyond just one kingdom.”

Moodie glanced between us, clearly not believing a word we were saying, but she didn’t say anything.

“Now, why don’t you familiarize yourselves with everything here,” I offered. “Or, we can go and get your stuff from your apartment. Clean it out, get your security deposit back, and so on.”

“…Alright,” Moodie said. “Let’s go.”

“Great!” I said. “Medaka, you get to come along.”

“Awww, why me?” she complained. “I was gonna do some work on my armor!”

“Because you need some exercise, and carrying some suitcases will be good enough,” I replied. She huffed a little but nodded.

“When will we be leaving, captain?” Jodie wondered as I got ready to head back into Payree.

“I’ll ask tonight,” I told her. “Probably no more than one day though.”

Getting a nod at that, we left the Lovey Dovey and Medaka and I followed Moodie back to her apartment.

She lived in a boarding house of sorts in what would, in any other city, be called the high-end district, but here in Payree was the equivalent of the lower-middle class section. It was rather lovely, and Medaka’s head was on a swivel, likely never having seen anything as fancy as this before.

“Whoa!” she gasped when we stopped in front of Moodie’s home, an art deco style building. “You live here?!”

“I rent one of several rooms alongside a number of other women, yes,” Moodie confirmed. She then frowned. “I should also see the matron here before I leave.”

Walking inside, I was greeted with tasteful gold and ivory décor and wooden panels, and the smell of potpourri.

“Madam Laufey,” Moodie called out, and a prim and proper woman with greying hair stepped out from another room at the sound of her voice.

“Yes, what is it, Moodie?” the woman who could probably serve as a governess when she wasn’t tormenting schoolchildren inquired, raising an eyebrow at my and Medaka’s presence.

“I apologize for the suddenness of it, but I am planning on leaving Frauce soon,” Moodie explained.

“About time,” the old woman huffed dismissively. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble for me after that foolish stunt of yours.”

“Foolish stunt?” Moodie demanded, taken aback.

“Arguing with the hospital’s director earlier today in such a loud manner was a mistake,” Madam Laufey replied.

“He was refusing to allow me to attend my mandatory hours for my degree!” Moodie protested. “Of course I would protest!”

“And you thought that being loud would change things?” the old matron sniffed. “What you do reflects on me as well. Frankly, I was planning on throwing you out myself, but since you’re here to withdraw anyways, that saves me the trouble of packing your things.”

Moodie spluttered at that, and I put a calming hand on her shoulder. “Told ya, Moodie. Nothing quite as petty as a Marine officer on a power trip.”

“I don’t understand! It only happened yesterday!” she protested in disbelief.

“And nothing moves quite so fast as rumors and gossip,” I added. “Now come on, let’s get your stuff. You’re better off leaving this kingdom anyways.”

“Hmph! Of course some poorly dressed streetwalker would demean Frauce,” Madam Laufey declared, giving me the stinkeye.

“Excuse you, but these pants are genuine Nyornyo Nyarmani!” I declared, pointing a finger at the purple Daisy Dukes I was wearing. “This single item is worth more than your entire outfit!”

At that, the matron scoffed in disbelief. “Try telling a more believable lie, dear!”

“Wow, what a bitch,” I declared as I urged Moodie to take us to her room, uncaring that she was still listening. “Blind too.”

“Are those really from Nyornyo Nyarmani?” Moodie asked incredulously.

“Damn straight they are! Met the crazy little Cat Mink myself! Strange the greatest clothing designer in the world is a nudist, but whatever,” I shrugged.

“What’s a nudist?” Medaka asked, trailing behind.

“Somebody who doesn’t like wearing clothes,” I replied.

“Like you?” she wondered innocently, and I snorted.

“No, not quite,” I drawled.

Moodie stifled her own laughter before taking us to her room. It was not very big, closer to the student’s dorm room I’d had in college, but it was all hers, so packing up was easy enough.

As expected of a Fraucian woman, she had a lot of clothes, the cheapest of which being from the Dosokoi Panda brand. Moodie carefully put them away as well as putting her various medical texts and supplies into some carryon bags. Photos and other keepsakes and nicknacks were

With Medaka and I helping, everything she owned was soon packed up in around two hours, leaving behind the furniture, bedsheets, and a couple other items that belonged to the boarding house or somebody else.

“You don’t have much,” Medaka commented, eyeing the two suitcases and purse.

Which was rather ironic considering she’d boarded my ship with naught but the clothes – and armor – on her back.

“I’m a medical student,” she replied, as if that explained everything. Which, to be fair, kinda did.

“If this is everything, then let’s head on out,” I said, grabbing one of the suitcases and lifting it with one hand. “Medaka, you get the other one. Moodie can carry her purse.”

Luggage distributed, we headed out of the boarding house. We only caught sight of the matron as we left, but she was content to ignore us, so we paid her the same courtesy. It was unlikely Moodie would be getting her deposit back, though, given how antagonistic the crone had been.

Arriving back at our ship, we got Moodie set up, and she was starting to warm up to us. Soon, she’d be a full-on crewmember, because no way the doctor-in-training was winning the bet. Sad, but it was true.

‘I wonder what her face will look like when she realized we fly the Jolly Roger?’ I wondered to myself, highly amused at the thought. It would certainly be interesting one way or another!