Captive life, day two.
Same as yesterday, waking up was miserable. No futon, not even a straw mat on the floor, just hard surface making my whole body ache. I'd wrapped myself in the blanket to sleep, so maybe it was slightly better than nothing, but... cold comfort at best.
Breakfast came the same way as yesterday. I ate, returned the dishes.
After that, it was nothing but endless boredom.
There was simply nothing to do.
I'm aware it's pretty brazen of me, being locked in a cell waiting to be sold off, but... after spending one night here, I'd gotten used to it faster than expected.
It wasn't that I didn't feel anxiety or fear. Those feelings were still there. But somehow I could hold them inside while keeping myself reasonably calm and relaxed.
Once I reached that state, I found myself thinking about the future and various things like yesterday, but... I quickly ran out of things to think about and ended up bored again.
I'll say it once more: there was nothing to do. No books to read, no room to move around. This cell had absolutely zero means of killing time.
I could do strength training or light exercise, at least.
And I did. Nothing else to do, so I kept at it until I was exhausted. Then, once I was exhausted, there was nothing to do again and I was right back to being bored.
Well, keeping my body from going soft was worthwhile in its own right.
Other than that... come to think of it, back when I was in Town, I used to spend every free moment coming up with new stories for the next Read-Aloud.
In that same vein, I let my imagination wander, constructing original stories or ones inspired by other tales. As I've said repeatedly, there was nothing else to do, so I managed to come up with quite a few.
But... having no way to write them down and record them was quietly agonizing.
All that effort thinking them up, and I'd just forget them. What a waste.
...
...Having absolutely nothing to do is more painful than you'd think.
In the end, that day I just cycled between daydreaming, strength training, and staring blankly at nothing, apart from the three meals and the body wipe-down.
***
Captive life, day three.
This day brought one change compared to the previous two.
The day before and the day before that, I'd basically been left alone except during meals and the wipe-down. But today, for some reason, the Pirate didn't leave after breakfast was over.
He just stayed in the room, watching me as if he were keeping guard. No, not "as if." He was definitely keeping guard.
When I asked why things were different today: "One of the other women we captured went and killed herself in her cell yesterday. Can't have any more Merchandise dying on us or scarring themselves up, so they put us on watch duty."
Ah, I see... so that's what happened.
To these people, we were valuable Merchandise. Well, "we," I say, but I'm the only one in this cell. Sell us at the right place, and we'd convert into a decent sum of money.
But for that, we obviously had to be alive, and in good "condition" too.
If we were skinny and unhealthy, or had scars on our faces, or had any other issues with our appearance or health, the price would plummet, or we'd become unsellable entirely.
The fact that they fed us three meals a day, that they didn't rough us up more than necessary... maybe all of that was part of their "quality control" over us.
And this new "watch duty" was the same. Meant to prevent anyone from attempting suicide out of despair for the future, or from self-harming and damaging their body.
They wanted to avoid any more "Merchandise" dying or losing value.
So from today on, it seemed a Pirate would be stationed as a Watchman around the clock. Possibly even at night. Being stared at constantly was going to make it hard to relax.
But well, no point worrying about it. It wasn't like asking them to stop would actually make them stop.
I tried not to let it bother me and started my strength training after the meal, same as yesterday.
I hooked my feet through the iron bars and did sit-ups. The chains on my handcuffs jangled with every movement, which was quietly annoying. The Pirate who'd been watching me spoke up.
"Missy, you've got some nerves for someone so small. Captured by Pirates and you're just relaxing and making yourself comfortable."
"No, I wouldn't say I'm comfortable... I've got nothing to do, so I'm just doing strength training to kill time."
"Normal people don't even get to the point of saying 'killing time' in a situation like this. Full-grown men ten, twenty years older than you, if they got captured by Pirates, they'd be shaking in their boots."
Let alone if they were being watched on top of it, he added with an amused laugh.
"You're not scared? You know you're going to be sold off, right?"
"...I am scared, and I am anxious. But dwelling on nothing but that just wears you down. By the way, Brother, are you going to be watching me all day today?"
"Yeah, I'm still the new guy, so on top of odd jobs, they stick me with stuff like this. I was thinking what a boring pain this was gonna be, but turns out I'm getting to see something pretty entertaining."
I see. So this time spent watching me was boring for him too.
On top of that, he was friendlier and easier to talk to than I'd expected. At the very least, he didn't seem like the type to be pointlessly intimidating.
If that was the case... could I pull this off?
"Um... well, if you wouldn't mind. I have a request."
"Huh?"
"I've got nothing to do and I'm bored out of my mind, so... would you keep me company and chat?"
A few hours later.
"So anyway, those two idiots kept drinking till they both passed out cold, and the next day they were so hungover they couldn't even do their watch shift properly. The Captain chewed them out something fierce."
"Oh my... well, if they'd just pulled off a big job and were riding high, maybe it's understandable?"
"If they blow through their whole cut and end up flat broke, there's no helping them. Part of it was that the barmaid at the place had a real silver tongue, too. She'd been dealing with Pirates long enough that nothing fazed her, and man, was she good at buttering people up. Though I guess I only noticed because I was watching from the side."
"Ah, so you saw the whole thing and didn't stop them."
"Of course not. Something that entertaining? Best show to go with my drinks. They even paid our tab in their drunken generosity."
"Wow, so it was deliberate. What a terrible person... oh wait, right, you're a Pirate."
"Ha ha ha! That's how it goes. Your own fault for letting your guard down."
At first he'd looked at me with a "what is this kid even saying" expression, but since he was genuinely bored himself, he went along with it in a "why not" sort of way.
We started with simple small talk, and as the conversation picked up steam, it shifted to tales of his adventures as a Pirate.
He might still be relatively new, but he'd been pirating on the Grand Line, so there was no shortage of stories to tell, and he shared all sorts of fascinating ones. This was the sea known as the Pirate Graveyard, after all. Just hearing an ordinary sailing account was enough to rival a proper adventure novel.
Way more interesting than I'd expected. What started as killing time turned into me genuinely getting drawn in.
The Pirate was enjoying himself too, getting to show off his adventure stories. And if I do say so myself, I'm a pretty decent listener, which helped him talk comfortably.
A skill I'd cultivated at drinking parties back in Town, lending an ear to the uncles' family situations and gripes over drinks. Experience in all things pays off eventually.
"Being a Pirate, do you end up in conflicts with other Pirates or getting chased by Marines?"
"Oh yeah, all the time. Those are life-or-death. But our Captain's an Ability User and tough as hell, so we haven't lost yet. And after you survive something like that, the booze tastes amazing."
"I see... have you ever encountered other Ability Users?"
"So far... nope. Well, Devil Fruit Ability Users aren't exactly a dime a dozen."
Really?
In the Original Work they popped up left and right, so I'd assumed that on the Grand Line you'd run into one practically every time you threw a stone.
"Unless you're the kind of reckless idiot who goes around sticking your neck into every piece of trouble you can find, you're not gonna bump into one that easily."
...I see. So the protagonists' faction in the Original Work was exactly that kind of reckless. Made perfect sense.
"Well, there's no profit in fighting Pirate Ships or Marines anyway, so it's best to avoid that sort of thing."
"Oh, really? Marines I get, but other Pirate Ships... I would've thought they'd have plundered treasure loaded up. Isn't that what Pirate conflicts are about?"
"If you're lucky, sure. But Pirates are all the same. The second they get money, they go on a spending spree. No concept of saving whatsoever. Right after a raid there might be good pickings, but otherwise they've got food and weapons at best. It's way easier and more profitable to just hit a village or town."
"Huh... that's educational."
"Educational how? Ha ha ha."
Even casual conversation yielded all sorts of tidbits.
Firsthand accounts really were more informative and interesting than just reading Books... even if what I was hearing was an outlaw bragging about his crimes.
"Still, Missy, you really do listen without flinching. Aren't you scared of... or rather, don't you hate me? I helped attack your town, killed a lot of people, and now I'm about to sell you off."
"Well... it'd be a lie to say I don't feel any hatred or fear at all, but... it's not like feeling that way would let me do anything about it. I'd rather not act defiant and get myself hurt for my trouble. Plus, I just really wanted something to pass the time, and my intellectual curiosity got the better of me."
"Those nerves are rolled up thicker than any kid's I've ever seen... say, Missy, how old are you?"
"I'll be 13 soon."
"Even younger than I figured..."
"Speaking of which, since we're on this topic, I'll just go ahead and ask. When you raided my town, did you make good money? I'd thought it was a reasonably prosperous place."
"...You really are something else."
The look he gave me was equal parts impressed and dumbfounded.
Well, I suppose he'd never heard of someone asking the Pirates who destroyed their town, "Did it pay well?"
"I mean, the haul was decent enough, but... for better or worse, it was clear the people there lived honest, sensible lives. There was a fair amount of money, but hardly anyone had precious metals or jewelry... luxury goods and the like."
"Well, out in a rural town like that, who would you even show off to? The only time stuff like that comes out is maybe at a Wedding, and it's not unusual for people to show up to even that in their everyday clothes."
"Makes sense... anyway, yeah, it was decent at best. But we grabbed a few people who looked like they'd sell for a high price, so that might end up being where the real money is. You're one of them, Missy."
"Ah, I see... out of curiosity, do you think I'd sell for a good price?"
"You really do ask the most outrageous things without batting an eye..."
At this point, the way the Pirate looked at me was less "fellow human" and more "exotic creature."
He looked me over again carefully, mulling it over with a drawn-out "hmm..."
"...Well, you're good-looking enough, so you'd probably fetch a decent price. If you were a bit more grown up, you might've gone for even more. But then again, a girl like you whose body is still... clean, that gets factored in too, so you'd probably still get a good price."
The Pirate said this while weaving in some rather suggestive content.
He'd even put on a deliberately wicked expression, apparently trying to tease me and make me nervous.
"Ah... so that kind of thing factors into the assessment too. Well, it's true I haven't yet, in various respects."
"..."
But he failed.
"But doesn't that mean 'experienced' women, or married women, or women who've given birth would go for a lower price?"
"...I'm reaching the point where nothing you say surprises me anymore... Yeah, that's right. Compared to a virgin, the price drops. Those tend to be older too. But since we want to sell for as much as possible, we don't bother kidnapping those types in the first place, unless they're exceptionally good-looking."
"And for the ones you do take, you feed them properly and don't mistreat them, to maintain quality. And if necessary, you post a watch like now to make sure they don't do anything stupid and damage themselves."
"You've got it all figured out, don't you. Keep being a good girl and we'll let you out of that cell with a healthy, unmarked body."
"But then I become a slave after that, right?"
"Well, yeah."
"In that case... being able to keep this body unmarked probably only lasts until then. Woe is me."
"She says it like it's nothing... doesn't even look scared... Missy, are you really a girl?"
"How rude, of course I'm a girl. ...Want to check?"
"Nah, I'm good."
Oh, is that so.
Several more hours passed after that, with lunch in between.
"...What are you two chatting away about all friendly-like?"
"Oh, shift change already? ...See ya, Missy. That was actually pretty fun."
"Bye-bye, take care!"
"...Wait, 'fun'...? Huh?"
The replacement Pirate who'd come for the shift change had a look on his face like he couldn't comprehend what he was seeing.
Ah, that was fun. I wonder if that Brother will get assigned to watch duty again.
To be continued...