[Peridot]

The injured marine nodded at the admiral’s request to bring her to Vice Admiral Coby. She didn’t know if the admiral was on to her or not, but one way or another she’d get the secret message to him. Carina had no clue what Jango’s dying message was, nor why Coby would need to see it of all things. The fact that she was delivering messages for a confirmed ex-pirate was concerning, but it was Jango’s last request so she needed to make the effort.

Then, the admiral continued with his questions. “Thank you, sir. I can stay awake long enough to answer your questions or take care of anything urgent, though.” She hoped to stay awake long enough to get to eat a proper dinner instead of whatever snacks they had on reserve in the medical ward. Otherwise, she’d wake up positively starving.

“How they feel about me as a person? Hmnn, I couldn’t say for sure. They either like me because I’m useful and trying too hard or they hate me because I’m useful, dangerous and trying too hard. My associates at the clinic like me while the other Seaman Apprentices don’t. Not really an in-between option here. I’ve got a Devil Fruit and on top of that I’m the daughter of an infamous pirate, so I’m not going to win a popularity contest any time soon.” She continued onto the next question, “Well, others are either afraid or respectful of my special abilities. Again, no in-between option. On the one hand, I can refill supplies, clean floors pretty quickly…make alcohol… and other practical applications.” She admitted the alcohol part a little reluctantly, as the ability to make alcohol could be (and on occasion had been) misused by fellow seaman dissatisfied with their current alcohol ration and desperate enough to trust her.

“On the other hand though, I could probably kill someone in the nastiest ways with a handshake and not have them figure out until several hours later. Skills like that make people understandably nervous.” Carina shrugged, “It seems worse to hide what I can do, though.”

“Well, I don’t have much more than stories to use to compare myself to other people with special abilities,” Carina began as she assumed that the admiral meant her Devil Fruit powers, “but umn… I’m interested in seeing just how far I can go with these powers! It’s a little difficult to safely practice with. In addition to studying, I’ve been practicing either in abandoned rooms or in a few controlled fights. Practicing fights used to be a pain when I was just starting, and even now not many people will help me practice without a medical team standing by. That fight was the first one where I’ve had to use lethal force, but just in that fight alone, I’ve already gotten some ideas. I need to learn how to make more poison at a time then I currently can, then maybe I can try to practice controlling it.”

Her thoughts went to the few rumors she had heard about Magellan when he was asking her to make some comparison and she inwardly grimaced. Is he comparing me to Vice Warden Magellan? Because if I have to choose between having multiple rooms’ worth of incredibly potent poison and not having ten hour long diarrhea… Wow, the man was really dedicated.

“I think my abilities are more…” She paused trying to explain how knowledge and abilities she was using by a mixture of instinct and reflex worked. “uhh, well compared to Magellan more gas than goop. It’s easier for me to make toxic gas than to secrete a lot of liquid poison at once. I haven’t practiced it as much because that can be dangerous, and I get a bit dehydrated doing that after a certain point. I guess I’ve been focusing on diversity of poisons over quantity.” It was a bit of a relief to be able to talk to someone who seemed genuinely interested on her discoveries about her abilities and the current extent of her powers.

“I seem to be able to make any type of toxin I want to as long as it naturally comes from some kind of animal, and that’s why medical training was so important. I had to either taste a sample of a known poison or use repeated experiments to identify which poison is which by it’s effects. Interestingly enough, no matter what type of poison I make it always come out in some shade of purple. Now I’ve gotten to the point where I’m pretty precise about which one I’m using so I’d like to try combining poisons sometime. Like you mentioned, Jango stood through it because it’s hard to find one single poison that does everything.” She took a breath, it had been a while since she had ever talked this long but she was more than just a little proud of her Devil Fruit.

“If I had to classify poisons, I would divide them into categories of permeability, lethality and speed. Acid is corrosive and goes through almost everything quickly, but one touch doesn’t normally kill someone unless it lands on a vital organ or something. The neurotoxin I was using was able to penetrate through skin and was lethal as long as you get hit with enough, but it didn’t act very quickly. It’s a bit dosage dependent and I haven’t tested my really lethal stuff on humans so… mistakes happen? I’m hoping that combining poisons will make them a bit more dangerous. Eating poisonous or toxic things makes my poisons stronger, and if I eat an unnatural poison then I can make that type for a day as well… but it also makes me really sick.”

Carina then stopped to take a breath, “Sorry, sir if I started to ramble there. I haven’t really talked to anybody about my Devil Fruit before. Umn… I can make multiple types, I’d like to practice combining them and I’d also like to practice controlling poison I’ve already made. I’ve heard of some crazy things other ability users can do. ”

[Peridot]

“One Devil Fruit User can cause that much damage?” Carina asked with surprise when the admiral came in and spoke about the tremors. She had assumed that they were having a series of earthquakes so the news that a single person could have a force exceeding that of a natural disaster came as a surprise. I wonder how long someone has to train to get like that….

Then the admiral began to ask for more details on who she was, and what she could do. He had a look of worry in his eyes as he glanced over at her injuries as though something wasn’t quite right. Her wounds were light, maybe too light but she didn’t really understand why something like that would concern the admiral. Did he think she was a spy planted by Jango? Or that she had gotten a jump on the Rear Admiral? Carina wasn’t entirely sure what the admiral wanted from her but decided to respond as truthfully as possible. She wouldn’t lie unless there was something clear to gain and she had evidence to back it up. Applicable to what?

“Hmmn… killing or capturing pirates alive is my main skill, sir. I also have medical knowledge. I’m…” Carina paused for a moment, a trace of embarrassment crossing her face, “actually studying under the nurses and physicians here on normal days. It’s useful knowledge for my Devil Fruit so I just ended up training to be a ship’s medic.” And don’t think they won’t give me hell for freaking out about getting stitches, later. I just hope I didn’t say anything weird that they can use against me while I was out.

“Otherwise, I don’t have any other applicable skills except then I learn pretty quickly and I’m adaptable.” She jolted slightly as the table she was sitting on slanted and shook during a particularly strong tremor.

“Well until he kicked me in the shin and tried to bash my head in with a mop and a shovel,” Carina remarked and then decided to become more serious since such a weird question suggested that the admiral wanted a serious answer, “Rear Admiral Jango was giving me an interview at the request of one of his friends who had just arrived on the base. He was respectful but concerned during the whole process and then the alarms went off. He told me that he once had been a pirate, and now the past was catching up to him.” Carina paused for a moment, “I kind of expected him to try using me as a hostage or something, but he wanted a fight.”

Her face creased into a serious frown, “It’s weird…he probably could have killed me and escaped if he wanted to, or asked me for a cleaner death if he just wanted to die. I think he wanted to die fighting, but didn’t want to live a life on the run.” Carina tilted her head back slightly to think about whether she had any more information to give the admiral when she remembered something important. Her eyes widened with realization and she glanced warily at the admiral, wondering whether she should tell him about the second of Jango’s requests or not. Jango hadn’t been clear about whether her message was supposed to be kept a secret or not, and she wasn’t sure whether the admiral would try and take the small slip of paper still secreted in her pants’ pocket. There wasn’t really a way of casually mentioning the vice admiral’s name either that she could think of without it sounding incredibly suspicious. Well, here goes nothing.

“Umn, he was a bit concerned about Vice Admiral Koby though. He was asking me to check up on him when the alarm sounded.”

[Peridot]

The admiral’s words gave Carina some food for thought, despite how muddled her thought process currently was. Was the discipline and restraint of Devil Fruit Users due to natural selection or happenstance? How many nameless people died from being unable to fully utilize their abilities or by accidentally drowning?
Carina allowed herself to be led into the medical ward where one of the nurses approached her immediately with a look of concern on his face. Carina’s heart skipped a slight beat at the admiral’s mention of her promotion, and she broke into a pleased grin before getting ushered by the nurse into an area of the medic ward divided by a thin curtain for treatment of her injuries and a quick diagnostic.

A bright light was shone in Carina’s eyes by the first nurse as another bustled in with a box filled with bandages, antibiotic gel and suturing supplies to work on the bloody cut Jango had made on her arm. After much fussing and prodding at the nasty blue-purple bruise snaked around the young marine’s shin, the nurses finished their examination. A third nurse came in to hear what was the problem and then left again to go inform the admiral.

“So, did I win?” Carina asked with a slightly out of it grin.

“Well, your injuries aren’t life-threatening. You’re lucky your leg wasn’t broken in that fight. That cut will need stitches, but that’s not too much of a problem,” the male nurse informed Carina with a winning smile which faltered when she returned the smile with a look of worry that she tried and failed to disguise. The second nurse subtly moved to prevent the seventeen year old from attempting to bolt out of the medic ward, and tightened her grip on the injured arm.

The nurse explaining Carina’s injuries adjusted his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose and checked the clipboard with Carina’s medical record and frowned, “Oh. Your Devil Fruit…” He glanced back with an apologetic grimace, “Well, regardless of whether anesthesia affects you, you’ll still need to get those stitches. Sorry about that.” He knew that Carina was responsible for making most of the base’s anesthesia, but it looked like Devil Fruit Powers had some serious disadvantages as well. “It looks like you have a slight concussion, but nothing that a good night’s sleep and taking it easy for the rest of the day won’t fix. Come back if you start feeling dizzy or unusual though.” He walked over to a drawer containing medical supplies and pulled out an ice pack and handed it to Carina to place over the large bump on her head. “Hold that there, would you?”

“Yeah, okay. I did win though, right? ‘m not as bad as the other guy, am I?”

“Umn.. yeah. You killed the Rear— I mean…Jango, remember?” The nurse reminded, attempting to be patient as he forced the girl’s hand closed around the ice pack and maneuvered it over her goose egg.

“Oh. Yes, I did. Just making sure he’s still dead. He could have gotten better.”

The nurse gave Carina a kind of slightly exasperated look, noticing the confused and slightly zonked out look on Carina’s face, the nurse turned to the other nurse currently dabbing antibiotics onto the arm wound. “Might as well do it now, when she’s half-out of it.” He grabbed the injured arm and steadied it so that Carina’s pained twitches and struggles wouldn’t mess up the stitches.

Soon, the girl was all bandaged up and it seemed like the pain of getting ten stitches to close up her arm worked well to clear out the foggy haziness she was experiencing from the concussion. She was responding more quickly and she was now speaking coherently. The bump on her head was still a bit swollen, but starting to go down and it didn’t hurt nearly as much either.

The nurse pulled back the curtain now that the surgery was over with and then went to go give his report to the admiral.

[Peridot]

Carina’s nodded slightly when the admiral promised to reward her for dispatching former Rear Admiral Jango.The action was difficult and sent her head spinning slightly. She closed her eyes, partly in relief that she had been victorious after all, and also to try and reduce her headache. Carina didn’t need to see the expression on the admiral’s face to pick up on his anger when he ordered the other marines to bring medical. The clattering of booted feet on the floor signaled that the men were obeying his order. Oh thank goodness. I’m not sure how much longer I can go on for.

She obligingly took his hand and followed the admiral as best as she could, hopeful that they were headed towards the medical ward and grateful that she didn’t need to navigate the hallways entirely by herself in such a disoriented and dizzy state. Carina leaned some of her weight on the admiral to make it easier for herself to walk.Her body was feeling heavier than normal from a combination of her exhaustion and sore leg. By the way he had scooped up the dead corpse of Jango, she guessed that he would be coming with them to medical.

“Aye, sir,” she responded in a slightly wavering voice thick with blood and exhaustion, “I ate the Doku Doku no Mi and now I’m a Poison Human. I can make and control any type of poison.” As if realizing something, Carina added, “I’m safe to touch right now, though.” She didn’t want the admiral to start worrying about himself or the medics accidentally getting poisoned.

[Peridot]

Carina watched Jango as he fell to the ground and breathed his last words before descending into a convulsive, epileptic fit. His last words hadn’t been lost on her. Even with the pounding of her own heartbeat and pain throbbing in her head, she still heard Jango’s last words. “Thank you,” she replied solemnly. To others it might seem as though she was thanking him for complimenting her courage. She meant it for the chance he was giving her. I promise, Jango. One day, I’ll sail the Grand Line and become an Admiral. Then, his death throes began as the man twitched helplessly on the ground.

She had seen this happen many times with fish, bugs or the odd rodent she had been able to catch in her room, but never had she observed the effects of her poison on a living human being before. The horrifying, gruesome sight was mesmerizing and she couldn’t bring herself to look away. Then, her first boss and her first real opponent died with a shuddering breath and the reek of death.

This left the young seventeen year old wondering what to do next. Just how should she show respect for the body of a worthy opponent? Should she close his eyes? Throw something over his body? Use acid to dissolve his flesh? Cremation? She hadn’t bothered to ask what he wanted done with his body, but she was too weak to conjure up a corrosive enough acid to dissolve Jango’s body. In fact, it was taking most of her energy just to maintain her coating of poison so she stopped and allowed the lavender mixture of neurotoxin to disappear. Whatever she ended up doing, Carina did need his head to bring to the admiral who ordered his death in the first place.

The stomach acid and digestive cocktail rising up from the cadaver’s throat was pretty disgusting to look at no which ways about it. She didn’t want Janjo remembered like that, no matter what happened to his body so Carina bent down and wiped away the fluid spilling out with her hand since most of her white marine shirt was now covered in blood. The girl then began to glance around looking for the sword she had tossed aside during the fight so she could commence with the beheading. She spotted the sword and trudged over to it, limping from her heavily bruised leg, reeking of blood and vomit, and feeling exhausted and drained now that the fight was over. Carina licked the cocktail of digestive enzymes and gastric acid off of her fingers so she at least wouldn’t continue to smell like vomit when she presented her war trophy. Tasty~! She managed to drag the sword over to the body when a splintering crack filled the air and someone tore off the door to the supply closet and entered the tiny room.

At first Carina bristled, thinking that one of the marines was coming in to steal her kill and victory but relaxed upon seeing that it was the admiral. Uggh, I’m exhausted and starving. Thank goodness I don’t have to go looking for him. She raised one unsteady, blood covered hand to point at her temple in a salute, still struggling through the pain now that her adrenaline was starting to settle down. Her voice though polite, lacked its usual enthusiasm. Still, she managed to scrape together enough energy to eke out an insincere, cheery smile of a young recruit.

“Thank you for noticing, sir.”

[Peridot]

Finally, Jango dropped the chakram and engaged her in hand to hand combat. For a moment, Carina had been worried that she would be slammed into the walls or ceiling. The former Rear Admiral blocked her kick and then tried to strike at her head injury. The young marine saw the attack coming and reflexively used her free arm to block the incoming strike. For a moment, she gave a confident grin at the successful block before her face fell as she saw the end of a shovel hurtling toward her face.

A metallic clunking noise sounded as the blunt weapon made contact with the side of her head and sent Carina flying, where she crashed into the wall. While Jango shouted angrily at the spectators, she pulled herself up onto her feet, struggling to keep down the ringing noise echoing in her ears and the throbbing pain in her temple that pulsed in time with her heartbeats. She wasn’t sure if the slightly blurry vision was from having to blink to try to keep the blood from running into her eyes or the head injuries. Everything was pain, but she had to keep going. Both Jango and her audience were waiting for the finishing blow.

She spun around to avoid the first slice and then hopped backwards to avoid the second. Meanwhile, the marines were all in an uproar shouting and bellowing back at Jango at why they were too afraid to fight the pirate themselves. ‘Typical, worthless, weaklings,’ Carina thought, agreeing with Jango, ‘You’re so afraid of dying that you aren’t willing to live.’ Even if she hadn’t known that Jango was planning to lose, she still would have dismantled the door with her bare hands to get a chance to fight the notorious pirate.

“IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO HELP, THEN SHUT THE HELL UP!” Carina shouted at the top of her lungs, and sending an earnest death glare to all of the marines behind the door.

“RANK DOESN’T MATTER! THERE’S ONLY THE WEAK AND THE STRONG. POWER AND THOSE TOO WEAK TO SEEK IT!” The shouting made Carina realize that the coppery tang in her mouth was the taste of blood. The young marine spat out the blood onto the floor before rushing forward at Jango in a fury. It doesn’t matter if you’re my Rear Admiral or a pirate outlaw. Your strength makes you a hundred times more worthy than these buffoons. You don’t deserve to be killed by them. She grasped for her sword and lashed out with a series of rapid sword thrusts. She was exhausted and injured, her breath coming out ragged and her nose and mouth were filled with the scent and taste of blood, but the rush of the fight and the chance to prove herself gave her enough energy to carry on. “MY NAME IS CARINA SKYLARK!” She roared.

Carina followed up the sword thrusts with another rush to try and throw a series of jabs at the man’s face and get too close in Jango’s range to allow him to use the full length of the shovel effectively. “I’M THE DAUGHTER OF WAR!” She coupled this attack with a sweep aimed at his legs to try and knock him off balance. “AND I REFUSE TO LIVE A LIFE OF COWARDICE!”

[Peridot]

Her thrown sword was snagged by the pendulum and yanked aside seemingly harmlessly to Carina’s dismay as he leaped backwards to avoid her sword strike. Carina’s own sword was hurled back at her and grazed her side with a shallow nick when she swerved to dodge. Then the entire room seemed to collapse when Jango tugged on a support beam, bringing down boxes of cleaning supplies and tools used by the marine custodians. A plastic bucket made a dull clattering noise when it struck Carina neatly on the right side of her head, and then a box Jango punched at her burst when it collided with the arms she brought up to try and shield herself from any attacks. The box opened with a flood of bolts and screws, spreading the tiny round pieces about on the floor of the supply closet. A monkey wrench also got pushed towards her while she was knocked off balance by the screws and collided nicely on one side of her forehead creating a small bleeding cut and a large swollen bump. “Oww!” She hissed with pain and surprise.

The girl blinked angrily as blood trickled from the cut down towards her eyes and along the side of her face. That last attack only served to make her even angrier and the girl ground her teeth with frustration at the both humiliating yet effective attack. Without letting up, Jango flung his pendulum directly towards the girl. Carina instinctively ducked while thrusting her remaining sword straight up, to catch the middle of the chakram again. The girl would then retaliate with another poison bullet although she was starting to get a bit tired from using her Devil Fruit Powers so much.

Carina kept a tight grip on her sword. She knew that she wasn’t strong enough to snag Jango’s chakram away from him, and didn’t bother engaging in a game of tug of war with the grown man. Instead, the girl took the opportunity to rush forward and aim a kick at her pirate opponent. If he would yank at the string to pull the chakram back or tried to snag her sword away, she’d hold onto it and let herself get towed along rather than release his weapon.

[Peridot]

To Carina’s dismay, Jango smashed the chair against the ceiling of the supply closet, sword and all. The wooden furniture shattered and began to rain down large jagged splinters. She yelped and dodged out of the way, not fancying getting pieces of wood stuck in her arms if she tried to shield her head from the attack. The weapon continued to slice off the top of the door before returning to Jango. Marines peeped in to watch the battle before Jango kicked the table against the door.

Far from laughing at Jango’s choice of weapon ( a mop, really?) something went dark in Carina’s eyes with the knowledge that their battle now had an audience. She gripped the fallen sword and then grabbed the second sword freed from the damaged chair. Her body was still dripping with noxious neurotoxin, and she dripped her poisonous secretions over the new sword.

“You’re not getting away, Jango.” Carina growled out as she lifted the sword in her right hand up at a diagonal angle to block the incoming mop swing. There remained a sword in her left arm so she decided to go for a surprise attack and hurl the blade at her adversary, putting a little torque in her wrist as she launched the weapon so it spun slightly, splattering droplets of toxin as it flew. It looks cool, but I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with two swords, Carina confessed to herself, glad to be rid of the weapon since the second sword was heavier than it looked. She used her newly freed left hand to grip the hilt of the sword blocking Jango’s attack.

Carina let out an angered shout, “This time you’re going to pay for your crimes as a pirate!” With the strengthened grip on her sword, Carina lunged forward with a broad slash sweeping diagonally from the upper left downward.

[Peridot]

The tip of Carina’s sword bounced harmlessly off the surface of the desk when Jango yanked it up to create a makeshift wall between him and her. She clenched her teeth angrily when she realized that the impromptu shield blocked any direct line of sight between him and her. She expected him to then jump over the wall to get to her and aimed her poisonous bubbles upward to block out that mode of transport when a leg with a booted foot swept around underneath the desk to score a hit on her leg. There wasn’t a cracking or splitting sound that suggested any of her bones were broken, but the dull pain assured Carina that the blow would be blue, purple and all sorts of sickly bruise colored the next day if she survived. Well, he was the Rear Admiral for a reason, she thought to herself, noting that Jango could have easily broken her leg if he had wanted to. It proved he really was powerful to be able to show restraint in the midst of combat like that. I really need to find a way to make this poison corrosive. Shame he’s not wearing shorts.

Jango followed up the attack with a sneaky tug of his chakram. Carina saw the glint of steel flash as the sharp disk whirled around the edge of the desk towards her arm. If she dodged, there would be nothing stopping him from continuing to chase her around the room with that weapon. Instead of throwing herself bodily out of pendulum’s flight path, Carina twisted around to grab the string controlling the chakram as it passed. The incredibly sharp pendulum nicked Carina’s arm as it passed. A modest amount of blood spurted out of the wound, mixed with her poisonous coating and either splattered onto the disc weapon or dripped onto the floor in a seething, frothing slurry of toxic sludge. As soon as she felt the injury, Carina grabbed at the string with her left hand to try and keep the pendulum in place briefly while she gave another jab with her sword. This time, intending to stab straight into the middle of the sharp chakram ring and use the sword blade and hilt to pin the weapon in place to the chair.

The marines were banging on the door trying to get in, but Carina would have none of it and neither did it look like Jango would. He deserved a good death in a one on one battle, not being mobbed in a small room. Plus, they’ll steal all my glory! He asked ME to kill him, so I’m the only one who gets to do it! Jango shifted to stand in front of the door, and Carina could just bet that the marines outside were going wild now that they could see the shadow of his feet from beneath the crack in the door. Carina grabbed an edge of the fallen desk and flung it over in Jango’s direction, releasing a flurry of poisonous bubbles immediately after. The desk itself wasn’t an incredibly serious attack, but it hid the path of her bubbles from sight, and got the darn thing out of the way if she needed to run around and dodge. If Jango dodged the attack and let it keep flying, then the extra weight of the desk would serve as an extra barricade if the marines did try to knock the door down.

She wouldn’t look to see whether the attack hit, and instead used the opportunity to rush for the second sword sent clattering to the ground when Jango first up-ended the table. She’d need it to fend off any further attacks or to try and cut the chakram string.

[Peridot]

Carina watched anxiously when the Rear Admiral scrawled something down on a small slip of paper he took from his sleeve without a word to her about whether she got the promotion or not. The running noises from outside the supply closet continued to increase in frequency and intensity as people rushed about in response to whatever the alarms were about. The way the paper was folded prevented her from sneaking a peek at what he was writing to her immense frustration.

Then Jango took a deep breath as he detailed the conditions of her promotion. Yes! The name of Krieg is rising up in the world. Haha! She took the piece of paper and slipped it in one of the pockets of her navy pants before sealing the pocket with a small zipper to make sure it wouldn’t fall out as she rushed through the halls. The girl startled slightly, her eyes growing wide as Jango took out a large armament of weaponry and set them on the table with the soft clank of metal upon table surface before detailing his second set of instructions.

For a moment she didn’t quite understand what he was asking of her, nor why he would. The thought of willingly letting yourself be killed and by a Seaman Apprentice of all things bewildered her. At first, she was convinced it was some sort of complicated trick or trap but then the Rear Admiral began to explain in further detail. Carina listened in stunned silence as she found out that the Rear Admiral of the marine base had actually been a pirate at one point. It seemed that there was no mercy among the Marines for pirates, even if they had essentially redeemed themselves. The only question was: had he joined the Marines before the rise of Nomikomu or not? Rear Admiral Jango, no, I can’t think of him like that any more. He’s just Jango now, Carina corrected herself, had a certain amount of steady pride and resolve as he spoke. This was what he had wanted, and he was clearly ready for her.

The young marine took a deep breath trying to let all of this soak in before swallowing to force the lump in her throat back down to her stomach before speaking. “A-Alright, then. If that’s what you want, sir. It was a pleasure working under you.” The girl studied the weapons left on the desk. There were swords and pistols and an odd pendant like chakram blade which she had no clue how one would go about using it. If that’s how it’s going to be, I better at least give him a decent fight to send him off.

She grabbed for one of the swords left on the table. A clean cut will be useful for taking off his head. Better make sure not to burn his face off though, she thought pragmatically to herself as she rose from her seat in the chair and shifted into a ready stance. There was no more being polite and obedient any more, now it was time for battle.

“Doku Doku no Acid Armor,” Carina muttered under her breath as she began to perspire profusely, coating her body and clothing in a frothy, lavender ooze of batrachotoxin. The poison she chose was a potent neurotoxin capable of permeating through human skin. One touch would lead to paralysis and cardiac arrest within 10 minutes.

Once her body was suitably coated in armor, Carina fondly stroked the back of her borrowed sword and wiped off some of the poison onto the tip of the blade. Her preparations complete, Carina turned to face Jango and hardened her expression into a serious one. He had mentioned he would put up a fight, so she didn’t think that scoring a kill would be easy. “You won’t feel any pain,” she commented in a solemn voice. Using a paralytic toxin could be considered merciful. If that’s what he wanted to think, Carina would certainly let him. In reality it was one of the few poisons able to permeate the skin without potentially marring his facial features for identification. He’s not my superior officer any more, just a pirate I have to kill. I’ll have to kill many, many people as a marine. You can do this, Carina. Don’t show any weakness.

For a brief moment, the young marine did not move. Carina took a deep breath and began to start to form the beginning of one of her ranged Poison Gas Bullets. If Jango wasn’t going to attack until she pulled the first move, then she’d take the time to prepare. Another pause, and then without any preamble Carina lunged across the desk and jabbed at the pirate’s torso in front of her with the tip of her sword. If he blocked that attack like she fully expected he would, then she would follow up the attack with a Poison Gas Bullet aimed higher at his face and then another sword thrust aimed lower, hoping to catch him off guard.

She wasn’t naive enough to believe that her limited sword skills would be enough to dispatch the Rear Admiral.Instead, she would rely on the constant stream of neurotoxin dripping down the length of her blade, her Poison Gas Bullets and the closed cramped space of the supply closet to slow Jango down enough to get the job done.

[Peridot]

Carina did wince at the obnoxious sounds coming from the room behind her. The wood would be terribly scratched and scuffed for whoever next held that office. The thud of books made her face twitch into a slightly satisfied smile at the thought of the annoying, whiny officer having to pick up all of the fallen books. She turned the near smirk into a gracious smile at Captain Bedros’ words though. “Not at all, thank you very much and good luck on your fishing expedition!” She called back as he left. It was nice to see that not all civilians and sailors resented the Marines. He had been very kind, compliant with Marine bureaucracy and good to her plus he shared her love for the Grand Line. What a swell guy.

Now that the fishing captain was gone, and her job complete, Rear Admiral Jango commanded her full attention. Carina followed Jango into the secluded room, noticing that the door was locked behind her with a slight flash of worry. Is it to keep people from coming in and interrupting or to keep me from getting out!? She put some effort into quashing that concern though and focusing on the questions. The young lady then sat down in the chair, hands in her lap and ankles crossed as she fidgeted with anxious apprehension. The Rear Admiral could be very scary and intimidating when he wanted to be, and she wasn’t sure if it was his position of authority, the fact that she was now locked in the room with him or the serious expression on his face. Did he take all interviews and promotions this seriously!?

“I think I’m qualified for a promotion because…” She took a moment to structure her argument before continuing, “I don’t slack off, I have an unblemished record and I’m more efficient than the other Seaman Apprentices. If I have the time to stay on top of basic Marine PT, work as an assistant under the base physicians and perform basic duties around the base then I think I’d be better put to use in a higher position. Frankly, I think it’s a waste to keep me at the level of an apprentice. Even without my Devil Fruit abilities, I am very useful so it would be worthwhile to get serious training and preparation in case I’m ever needed on a battleship. Also, out of a mess-hall filled with marines, I’m the only one who got off her butt to run the registration papers.”

She finished and took a few breaths while Jango asked his next question. She guessed she was hoping for some immediate feedback, but it seemed like he wanted to get each answer before passing a verdict. The second question was the one she was dreading. Now, how to put a good spin on this and not outright lie?

“Well, not too well to be perfectly honest. The majority of the crew don’t feel at ease with me. Possibly because of my Devil Fruit powers or because I work harder than them. It might very well be because of both.” They think my powers are revolting…and they’re right. But I can’t say that.

“Still,” Carina continued, “even if they don’t show me the same level of camaraderie as the other apprentices, they do treat me with respect for my skills and knowledge in our training. I can beat any of them in a one on one match, and that gives me their respect, not friendship. I’m a match for them even without my poison in CQC and that spooks them.

“The chefs like me though,” because I eat all of the spoiled food they normally have to throw out, “and the physicians who I study under are kind towards me and appreciative of my help. I am positive that they would vouch for me if you asked about my progress and work ethic.”

A series of alarms sounded during the interview to Carina’s dismay. Seriously!? Pirates have to attack right when I’m trying to get a promotion!? Of all the luck! Luckily it seemed like the Rear Admiral wasn’t going to call off her interview just because of the attack. She had been worried about getting him distracted and having her chance for promotion lost in the general uproar.

“What kind of idiot pirate crew attacks a Marine base in broad daylight?” Carina wondered out loud, before noticing that the admiral looked far more nervous than he should be. Something was wrong, and people were sprinting and rushing through the halls. She half expected gold crazed pirates to try and break the door down any minute now. Maybe it’s a good thing he locked the door.

[Peridot]

Carina let out a soft sigh and crossed her arms in front of her torso, the very picture of impatience as she sensed the office worker was about to launch into a depressing pity-party. Her steel grey eyes focused in on the stamp in the marine’s hand and the gap between the ink-covered rubber and Captain Bedros’ registration papers. The man began sighing sadly and muttering to himself about how much of a hassle it was that Captain Bedros kept entering the Grand Line and returning. Throughout his whole speech, Carina stared at the stamp as though she could run the papers through more quickly with the power of her mind. I almost feel bad for this guy. He really wants to go back out at sea. She was convinced that he was jealous of Captain Bedros for being able to come and go as he pleases. Oh well, it’s his fault he screwed up.

Carina’s heart raced as soon as it looked like the man was finally going to stamp the piece of paper so she could leave him and his depressing atmosphere. Once the act was done, she felt like cheering but managed to keep herself together professionally. For a moment it looked as though the simple act of stamping had ripped through the cheap piece of paper. The ink had bled through to the back, but at least the sheet itself seemed to be still intact. Carina obliged the forlorn looking marine and took Captain Bedros’ stamped papers, taking a brief moment to blow on the ink and make sure it dried fully before gathering them up and evening up the edges so they made a fairly neat handful.

The young marine turned on her heels to go leave and let Bedros continue his fishing expedition in peace. She was about to leave when the thought of the marine officer lying with his head down on the desk, looking like the abject image of despair gave Carina pause. If I’m going to be working with this guy, I guess I should try to get along with him for now?

“Hey. Take some pride in your work, why don’t you? It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you’re the best at it.” Carina scolded now that she had the papers securely in hand. This guy gave marines everywhere a bad name, not to mention it was sickening to be near some one who let their emotions control them like that. With that, the young marine headed out the door.

“If you’re already giving up, then it’s all over,” Carina commented in a cheerful, upbeat tone before exiting and leaving the office.

Outside of the door, Captain Bedros and Rear Admiral Jango were still standing around, smiling at each other as if one of them had just told a joke or something. She didn’t pretend to understand what was going on, it was clear their relationship went way back. The girl walked over to Captain Bedros and handed him the stamped and approved papers.

“Here you are. Everything checked out so you should be all cleared to enter the Grand Line.”

[Peridot]

“Aye, aye.” Carina replied to Captain Bedros with her confident and optimistic grin. Becoming a good Marine shouldn’t be too hard, since she certainly had no intention of being a bad Marine like whoever had just got demoted. The girl was very curious about what the officer had done to get demoted but wasn’t curious enough to question the head honcho of the base about it. I’ll find out sooner or later, I suppose now that I’m being sent into the lion’s den.

Immediately after the Rear Admiral gave her a solemn warning about whoever was waiting inside, Carina gave a smile and a salute, “Alright then, I’ll go get those papers checked over, sir!” before heading over to the door of the office. The girl schooled her cheerfully determined expression into a neutral, calm expression. For angry or depressed people, seeing someone overtly happy could easily set them off since misery loves company. She grasped the handle and eased the door open neither slowly enough to show that she was anxious at all about the warning, but not as exuberantly as she normally would. The last thing she wanted was to fling the door open and cause a bunch of cracks in the wall or worse, hit someone.

Once she got a few steps inside the door, Carina casually approached the officer within. “Hello there, I have some papers that need to be checked for a ship licensed for umn.. Captain Bedros something something Yahto.”

If Bedros really entered the Grand Line every two weeks or so, then hopefully the procedure would be routine and not cause too much of a fuss. Still, she decided to wait to give the office the vehicle registration papers to check until she was sure he wouldn’t tear them up or do anything crazy like that. Please just act like a professional and do your job. /em> Carina thought to herself, hoping that the Rear Admiral was just going overboard with his warnings.

[Peridot]

“Woah, thank you, sir! Ask anything you like,”

Carina replied still elated the the thought that the Rear Admiral was taking his acquaintance’s suggestion seriously. Then, Jango turned and asked Bedros whether he wanted to sit in on the interview, but he politely declined. This action raised Carina’s opinion of the captain even more, and she couldn’t help but nod to herself in a satisfied manner. That’s how it should be. Getting an opportunity is one thing, but I need to pass this interview and earn my promotion on my own strength. The last thing she wanted to be was some spoiled fop who got his promotions through bribery or nepotism, relying on someone else for her authority and power.

Sensing that their ways would part soon once Jango mentioned the interview in a nearby private room, Carina made sure to give her thanks to the caring man for his kindness in recognizing her potential and vouching to the Rear Admiral for her, all the while looking past the fact that she had eaten a Devil Fruit! She had no way of knowing how long the interview would go on for, and there was a chance he might leave before she got back.

“Captain Bedros, thank you! No matter how the interview goes, I, Carina Krieg Skylark, won’t forget this chance you gave me!” The young marine refused to remain in people’s debts, and she was certain that sooner or later she would find a way to be able to repay the kind elderly man.

[Peridot]

There was something about Bedros’ names that bugged her though.Who has three middle names, anyway? She couldn’t remember hearing a name that long before, yet somehow it rang a bell. She blushed slightly at the compliment of how pretty she was and murmured an embarrassed “Thank You” at being called pretty.

With the Rear Admiral’s appearance, suddenly the mystery of how Captain Bedros Udell Gavril Garrison Yahto had so much influence with the Marine guard at the dock. He clearly had a close relationship with the Rear Admiral, so not wonder! She herself had seen the Rear Admiral from afar only a handful of times during her time at the base during important ceremonies and such. It was a mystery to her how the two men knew each other but it was plain that they went way back. She was just wondering whether she should excuse herself to make her exit and leave the men to talk while she handled the paperwork when Bedros mentioned her to Rear Admiral Jango, and suggested giving her a promotion to her the young marine’s delight.

“Why yes, I would!” Carina cheerfully replied, not missing a beat. She wasn’t one to pass up on any opportunity if it was handed right to her, nor was she too shy or prideful to blatantly admit what she wanted. She’d try whatever worked. The marine smiled at Bedros before venturing a gaze at Jango’s face too see his reaction and response.