One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Misrepresented and Misunderstood ❯ Hindsight is a Wonderful Thing ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Recap: Tashigi was having a rotten day, what with memories of Zoro making an idiot of her fresh in her mind, and her captain being such an emotional retard.
 
 
Chapter 3 - Hindsight is a Wonderful Thing
 
Smoker angrily marched back in the direction of his own quarters, trying to clear his mind. After a prolonged radio communication with Captain Hina, he felt ready to kill something, and decided it would be in the best interest of his crew if he concealed himself into his own room until he had calmed down. Kicking open his door, he began looking about desperately for something that ought to afford him some peace, smiling as he finally located it.
 
“Do not disturb,” he read aloud from the small wooden sign, happily hanging it onto the door handle before slamming the door shut.
 
Grabbing up his newspaper, Smoker headed towards his desk, the memory of Hina's overly girly voice, dripping with condescension, fading in his mind already. Smoker dropped himself into his chair, propping his booted feet onto his desk and lit a cigar, drawing on it deeply before opening out his newspaper with a sigh to commence reading. Skimming through most of the contents of the newspaper, Smoker strategically sought out any mention of Loguetown, deciding that since he had abandoned his post there, he ought to at least keep himself abreast with any goings-on. Hina, of course, had been quick to remind him that he ought to have returned to his post by now. Hina who was so self-righteous, and never did any wrong herself, he thought bitterly.
 
Trying to push the memories of the model marine captain from his mind, Smoker tried to concentrate on what he was reading, trying to calm himself. He did not have long before afternoon drills, and he did not want to attend them feeling as snippy as he did right then. Focussing his attention on an article about a group of bandits who had raided a street market in Loguetown, Smoker finally found himself becoming suitably distracted from his own concerns: until he suddenly heard someone banging at his door. Groaning in despair, he opened his mouth to ask if the idiot daring to disturb his peace could even read - after all, the sign outside his door ought to have been blatant enough - but something about the urgency of the banging made him a little concerned.
 
“Go away,” he growled, speaking to allow the person to know that he was in his quarters, but also to reinforce what the “do not disturb” sign on the door suggested: he wanted to be left alone.
 
Peeking over the top of his newspaper expectantly, Smoker sighed in relief when it appeared that the person had given up their efforts, returning to his article.
 
“Sir, I brought you some tea, Sir!”
 
Smoker jerked in his seat at the suddenness of Tashigi's voice outside of the door as she began banging at his door again. He pulled a face at the door, willing her to go away; she really was the very last person Smoker needed or even wanted to see right at that moment. Hiding behind his newspaper, he began mouthing the words “please go away” to himself, hoping that she would somehow get the message; but apparently she once more had something pressing on her mind, as a moment later, she barged into the room regardless. Smoker heard her walk halfway into his room before she stopped. He waited for her to say or do something, but she remained perfectly silent. Containing a sigh, Smoker pulled down the corners of his newspaper, looking over the top of the pages at her. She was standing stiffly in the middle of the room with a tray containing a teapot and two tea cups and saucers in front of herself, her face as intense as ever. As he met her eyes she smiled tightly at him, the gesture only affirming his beliefs that she had something on her mind, something he rather suspected he did not want to hear.
 
“Tashigi,” he greeted her under his breath as he lifted the newspaper up again, blocking her out of his view.
 
“I brought tea Sir,” she said.
 
“Leave it on my desk,” Smoker tried, hoping that she would take the hint.
 
Although, Smoker thought darkly, if the girl could not even respect a “do not disturb” sign on her captain's door, there was probably little hope of dissuading her now.
 
“I thought perhaps we could have a cup of tea together, Sir,” she said, a hint of emotion creeping into her voice.
 
“Hm,” Smoker grunted, trying to ignore the pang of guilt he felt.
 
It was not that he was trying to reject her it was simply that he just really could not face talking business and politics after such a bitter conversation with Hina. And politics and business were all Tashigi ever spoke to him about. Of course, he was her captain, she was his responsibility - but sometimes he did wonder if the girl ever thought of anything but work and swords. Obviously she did think of other things, he reminded himself, since her clumsiness and general ditzy behaviour was indicative of a girl who was a bit of a dreamer. She was so young and determined, but often totally clueless. He could sense that she was worrying over something, but decided that whatever it was, he could make it up to her later. After all, it would do her no harm to learn to curb her emotions a little and carry herself more like a marine of the navy.
 
Turning the page in the paper, Smoker heard Tashigi start towards him, her second footstep followed by a series of bumping noises and an almighty crash of smashing crockery. His already raw nerves shattered at last, Smoker began fighting against his newspaper to see what had happened.
 
“What is wrong with you girl?” he demanded. “How many times do I have to tell you? Put your glasses on!”
 
“I am wearing my glasses!” Tashigi snapped back.
 
Smoker met her eyes, staring at her blankly for a moment. Her face was red - whether from embarrassment at her predicament or simply from frustration he could not be sure. She still had that determined look sparkling in her dark eyes her lips pressed tightly together, her jaw squared. She was so young, and worked so hard, but sometimes Smoker found it difficult to take the girl entirely seriously; after all, she had just tripped on her own parasol, the item she had brought to the morning roll call with her, claiming it to be a legendary sword.
 
“That's yours, by the way,” he told her, pointing at the parasol before hiding his grin behind his newspaper.
 
It was cruel to laugh at her, but he did find her lack of grace one of her most endearing qualities. She wanted so badly to succeed in the male dominated world of the naval marines, and she was an excellent swordsman and officer - but underneath it all, she was still a terribly clumsy, dizzy little girl, too often ruled by her emotions. Smoker knew that he was often a little harsh on her, but he always hoped that she understood why he had to be so; he wanted her to succeed just as much as she herself did, and he knew that it was his job as her commanding officer to motivate her as best he could.
 
However, Smoker's grin vanished as he heard her make a small, sad noise that almost sounded as though she was on the point of tears.
 
“Are you alright?” he asked her quietly, frowning as he awaited her answer.
 
“Sir?” she responded softly.
 
“Are you hurt?” he asked her, inwardly kicking himself for not considering that she had just shattered a lot of china and spilt boiling water everywhere, meaning there was quite a good chance that she had in fact injured herself somehow.
 
“Um…” she said shakily.
 
Smoker waited for her to continue, listening carefully as she began hurriedly swiping the broken fragments back onto the tray and grabbed up her parasol. Smoker sharply folded his newspaper over, fixing his eyes onto her as she stood, ignoring the small gasp of surprise she let out as their eyes met.
 
“E-excuse me,” she said weakly, bowing her head and turning on her heel.
 
Smoker shook his head in despair, pushing back his chair and dropping his newspaper to his desk. He watched her scurry to the door, where she began to panic over how to open the door whilst balancing a tray of broken crockery and a parasol. Stepping out from behind his desk, Smoker marched over to help her out, stopping short as he spotted a red mark on her left hand. Grabbing her wrist and lifting her hand closer to his face to inspect the wound, he was relieved to see that it was nothing more than a scorch-mark, but equally angered with himself for not affording her the attention she had sought earlier.
 
“You should put this is some cold water,” he advised her, looking down at her.
 
“Thank you Sir, I will,” she replied blankly, looking back up at him, a slightly awkward look on her face.
 
“And next time…” he said slowly, biting back his own emotions before continuing. “Be more careful!”
 
“I'll try Sir,” Tashigi politely replied.
 
Smoker held her wrist for a moment longer, looking her over thoughtfully. He wanted to take her to the crew's medic himself, but he did not want her to ever think that he was being soft with her just because she was a woman. He believed in her as a marine, and he wanted her to have confidence in his faith in her. He reluctantly released her, alarmed by just how quickly she shot out of his room. He sighed, looking down at the “do not disturb” sign, which was swinging gently over the door handle. Even with her glasses on she had failed to notice it. Lowering his eyes further, he saw her parasol still lying at his feet. With a small smile he bent down to retrieve it, stepping out into the hallway; but Tashigi had long disappeared from sight.
 
“Strange girl,” Smoker muttered, closing the door again with a sigh.
 
Silently deciding that her pride had probably been hurt worse than her skin, Smoker returned to his desk, casually fingering through a pile of wanted posters on his desk. The two key posters in his collection were of course Straw-Hat Luffy at 100 million and Roronoa Zoro at 60 million. Interesting, Smoker thought to himself, that Tashigi had some sort of grudge against the swordsman Zoro. She had spoken about it more times than Smoker cared to recall; but he still did not know why she got so riled up over the mention of the name Zoro. She had said something about one of Zoro's swords, but Smoker had been more concerned by the fact that every time they discussed Zoro or the Straw-Hat Pirates, Tashigi instantly began blushing and became all flustered and unable to string together a coherent sentence.
 
Of all the officers Smoker had ever overseen, Tashigi was the last one he had ever expected to lose to a pirate.
 
Of course, it was not unheard of. In fact, Smoker thought bitterly, it was all too common a problem in the navy, and typically affected only the finest of female officers. Something about the charm of the forbidden bad boy pirate always managed to lure the women from their posts as officers and from their better senses. Tashigi was young and painfully naïve, she knew little of what her own male colleagues did in their spare time, let alone what a pirate got up to. Smoker had witnessed it time and time again, and he was growing increasingly concerned at how quickly Tashigi appeared to be following the pattern of previous female officers who let a foolish moment of passion over-rule their own common sense.
 
Smoker could not question Tashigi's decision to allow the Straw-Hat Pirates to go free in Arabasta - he had done the exact same thing himself only hours earlier - but he did have a strong suspicion that her motivations had been related to her feelings for one young, scarred, green-haired swordsman. And Smoker's mounting anger towards Zoro was only amplified by the fact that he was, sickeningly, indebted to the man. After all, Zoro had saved his life in Arabasta, dragging him from what had almost become his watery grave. After demanding a reason for his actions, the arrogant swordsman had merely spouted the excuse that he had been following orders from his own captain, even though he himself felt that Smoker ought to have been left to drown. Allowing Zoro, Luffy and the others to escape really was the very least Smoker could have done, since without their assistance, he would surely have died. But letting them go still did not truly repay the debt Smoker felt he owed Zoro.
 
He realised that he should not have left Tashigi in charge in Arabasta - in fact, he should not have left her at all, since when she had returned to him, she had acquired a severe injury to one leg that she had refused to explain, despite Smoker's concerns. He should have worked harder to stop the Straw-Hat Pirates in Loguetown - but if he had stopped them then, who would have saved Arabasta?
 
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, Smoker thought bitterly. So many things that could have been said or done differently, so many mistakes that seemed so obvious afterwards.
 
Smoker miserably picked up his newspaper, barely able to focus on the words, much less read or make any sense of them. The sooner he caught up to the Straw-Hat Pirates and brought them to justice, the sooner he could clear his mind and attempt to return to a normal routine, Smoker told himself.
 
 
Next Chapter: The Going Merry docks on an island to allow Luffy to complete his all-important mission to find a musician, but the marines are hot on the heels of the Straw-Hat Pirates. Chapter 4 - If You Only Knew.