Chapter 10: The Bored Painter

The crew converged for an emergency meeting after putting Petrea to bed. Steven stood vigil by her side, feeling responsible for not being able to heal her. The purpose was twofold: get her back to full health and to find a doctor to join the crew.

"If we can't find a doctor soon, we will all be in trouble," Nami explained. "Petrea's powers being out of control poses a big problem to the ship and to her health. It can't be good for her health flying around like that."

"Petrea was always a lightweight when it came to getting sick," Damian contributed.

Nami merely hit him. "Stop making puns! This is serious!"

The bomb-man hit his bruise. "The kid would have laughed."

"Besides, this wasn't just some cold," Sanji inhaled his cigarette. "She had a bug bite on her neck."

"That's even worse," Vivi thought about it. "She needs medicine. It might be poisonous or even just an allergic reaction..."

"Man, Vivi! You're really smart!" Luffy complimented her. "How do you know this stuff?"

"I read a lot in my spare time...and have had tutors back at the palace..." Vivi blushed.

"Ah," the men all nodded in understanding.

"Wow. Tutors," Genevieve stated. "The key to Baroque Works' downfall."

Vivi shot her a look and Genevieve looked down. "That was out of line...my bad."

"So, the question is where the next island is..." Zoro pointed out. "Our Log Pose still hasn't set and the one pretty boy over here has is set only to Alabasta."

Nami closed her eyes and put a finger to the air. Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji cocked their head in confusion. "Uh...Nami-san...what are you...?"

"A cold front is coming from the North East...we should probably be reaching a winter island in about an hour-and-a-half," she concluded. "Not too far out of the way, so we should be fine."

"...you people aren't normal, do you know that?" Damian stood there in shock.

"Says the man who can turn his spit into a bomb," Nami retorted. "I happen to be an excellent navigator, thank you very much!"

"It's decided, then?" Luffy asked everyone. "We follow Nami's instincts and hope that there is a doctor on that island?"

"Agreed!" all but Vivi said. Luffy gave her a look.

"My people are being slaughtered...and a civil war is brewing...so let's get a doctor fast already, okay?" the princess finally nodded.

Thus it was decided that the priority was to find a doctor.

*AGITR*

At Petrea's bedside, Steven stared intently at the slumbering woman. Every now and then he kept looking at his hands and curling them up. There was no question about it:

Steven felt responsible for her current condition.

"Maybe I'll try just one more time," he told himself. "Yeah, this time it will work!"

He spit on himself once more and tried to rub her forehead gently. He closed his eyes tightly and prayed with all of his might. "Please... please..."

He opened them and felt her forehead. No change. "Gah! What's the point of having healing powers if they never work when you want them to?!"

He started to pace around and finally just slumped back into the dingy chair he was sitting on before. "Well...maybe I'll try again in a few minutes. Yeah, then it will work!"

"Steven...if you...if you keep this up," a weak voice spoke to him. "You'll run out...out of saliva all together."

Steven acknowledged the former Miss Valentine and realized that his heart had melted. She looked so frail and fragile. The woman started to cough, and Steven surrounded her with a bubble so she wouldn't fly out of the room.

"Ow!" Petrea gently rubbed her forehead. "These things hurt!"

"Gah! Sorry! Sorry!" Steven panicked. "I didn't mean to hurt you more! I just didn't want you flying away!"

"Kyaha..." she started to laugh before coughing again, this time curling her hands around her head to soften the blow. "Stop worrying about me. I'll be fine! Really!"

"You don't look fine," Steven pointed out.

"Would I lie to you?" Petrea smiled.

The half-Gem made a face and Petrea's smile faltered. "...oh...Steven, I..."

"I told you already, I forgive you!" Steven put his hand on hers. "I mean, you didn't really lie to me...you just kind of bent the truth. But still, none of that matters! If you want to make it better with anyone, it should be Vivi."

"The princess?" Petrea pulled her hand away. "How can she expect to...to let everything I did just...just go?"

Steven patted her head. "You'll think of something. After all, it's getting better all the time! Me used to be angry young man! Me hiding my head in the sand," Steven sang softly, causing Petrea to chuckle a bit. "You gave me the word, I finally heard! I'm doing the best that I can! I've got to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time!"

Petrea's weak laughing cut Steven short. He started to panic again. "Gah, I don't want to over excite you!"

"How..." Petrea started before coughing again. "How is it possible that you know all these songs?"

The boy laughed. "I get by with a little help from my friends!"

"Do you now?" She smiled. "They are lucky, you know."

"Who?"

"Your friends," Petrea closed her eyes to force herself to get some rest. "They're lucky that they have..." she said as she yawned. "...you looking out for them."

The comment made Steven smile. He adjusted her blankets and watched her fall asleep, weak but in decent spirits.

Of course, it was in that moment, when Petrea had finally fallen asleep, that the ship started to shake uncontrollably as a giant shape darkened the lone window of the room.

"Wha...wha...what is happening?!" Steven freaked out. He turned to the now awake Petrea and flashed a smile. "'Scuse me! Don't leave the bed!"

The boy ran past Nami and Vivi, who had come to check on Petrea's condition, and closed the door behind them leaving a very confused and very sick Petrea to wonder just what was happening outside.

"Do...do I want to know...?"

"No," they both assured her.

*AGITR*

Genevieve was bored.

Honestly, she was a very bored individual to begin with. Recently, however, she had gotten a sense of excitement in her life. Steven had caused her to realize the gravity of her crimes, which had caused her to reconsider her stance on a lot of the morally questionable things she did in the past. Thankfully, she seemed to be somewhat accepted here on the Going Merry.

Genevieve assumed that it was due to not actually attacking the pirates like Damian and Petrea did.

She found the captain to be rather like Steven: odd, yet endearing. Unlike the cruel Mr. 3, he seemed to truly care about his crewmates. He didn't hesitate at all in letting her sail with him. The party showed that he was an animated person and that his crew was a lively bunch.

As such, she felt like the odd girl out. Still, it didn't bother her. It just gave her plenty of material to work with in her paintings.

Two such examples were the odd-looking gentleman who (just moments prior) commented on the increasingly cold weather and the random giant ship that just raised up from the sea afterwards. Obviously, the others were making a big deal about it. Genevieve, however, was too tired to react to it with more than a meager "Wow."

A giant heavyset man resembling a hippo stepped onto the ship with several of his men. They all pointed their guns at the pirates and all Genevieve could do was shake her head. 'These idiots have no idea what they are getting into.'

The hippo-man started babbling on about a "Drum Kingdom" but the young painter just started to zone out. 'I wish I brought a jacket...if this nearby island is wintery, I need to get one immediately. At this rate, my paint will freeze.'

"What's going...ahh! Guns! Don't shoot!" a familiar voice snapped her back into the here and now. 'Steven!'

"Ah, look! Another measly member of your pathetic crew! What is he? The cabin boy?" the hippo-person laughed.

"I'm Steven, the temporary musician of this crew! Who are you? Another pirate?!" Steven asked eagerly.

'Where does he get all of his energy from?' Genevieve pondered.

"You dare talk to his highness Lord Wapol?!" the man who stood on the water earlier yelled.

Then he went to hit him.

As Steven cowered for a moment, several things happened at once. Damian caught the man's hand mid hit and hurled him back at their ship. Zoro started to cut down the men pointing rifles left and right while the others engaged in a small fight. As this was going on, Genevieve, who had dodged most of the action to grab her paintbrush, looked at Luffy and saw a most terrifying sight:

Luffy truly angry.

Apparently, Steven saw the same thing and rushed over to the girl. "Genevieve, you can use your paint-things to make people do stuff, right?"

She nodded.

"I have a plan! We need to stop the fighting before somebody gets hurt really badly," he told her.

"They should have thought of that before they tried to hit you unprompted," she responded bitterly. To be truthful, she was amazed at just how angry she was getting at these random pirates. It wasn't like her...well, the old her. She thought about looking deeper into it, but she dismissed the thought since it would be too much work.

"Well, can you do something like this?" Steven asked before explaining some long winded plan that required every ounce of concentration the former Miss Goldenweek had to comprehend.

"Okay," she nodded. She started mixing her paints to create her "Colors Trap" and then walked behind the giant man-hippo, who was taunting Luffy. It was clear that he was about to get the beating of his life and, as such, she was doing him a favor.

"Colors Trap: Friendship Yellow-Green!"

The second the paint touched the man's body, his entire demeanor changed. He raised his hand and yelled "STOP, MY MEN, AT ONCE!" at the top of his lungs.

The fighting halted for a moment while the Straw Hats waited in anticipation. All eyes were on Wapol, Luffy, and her.

"Hey," she waved. "You don't want to keep fighting us anymore."

"You're right, friend!" the hippo nodded eagerly. "You are so right!"

"WHAT?!" Wapol's men yelled out in horror and confusion.

"You want to go home and rethink your life."

"When you put it that way, I really do think that's a good idea," he tapped his finger to his jaw. "My men! We don't have time for this! We must return to Drum Kingdom at once!"

"Sire...don't you think that you are being rash?" a man with an afro and facial hair yelled.

Wapol picked him up and gave him a death glare. "Are you questioning your king, Kuromarimo?!"

"You heard the king!" Kuromarimo yelled frantically. "We will continue back to the kingdom!"

As the pirates started scurrying off of the ship, Genevieve had one last idea. "Hey!"

"What's up, buddy?" Wapol called back.

"WHY IS THE KING BEING SO INFORMAL WITH THAT LITTLE GIRL?!" the Wapol Pirates yelled.

"I'm cold. Do you have any spare jackets? About...," she started to count. "Ten of them? Two in my size?"

"Sure! Sure! You heard her, men! To make up for our rudeness, we will give them our jackets!"

With increasing speed, the confused and fearful pirates provided the Straw Hats with the necessary jackets and waved goodbye. The Straw Hats just stared at each other and looked to Genevieve for an answer.

"I didn't know if you had jackets. I'm cold!" she complained.

"So you stopped our fight?" Zoro asked, clearly dejected.

"It was my idea!" Steven waved his hand. "We really don't need to fight, guys! With Genevieve's powers, we can settle things peacefully."

Zoro and Sanji shot a look to Luffy, who was still angry at Wapol for invading his ship and attacking his crew. The captain gave them a nod and walked over to Steven. "Steven, do you know what we are?"

"Pirates!"

"And do you know what pirates do?"

Steven nodded. "'Pillage and plunder and rifle and loot?'"

"Some do. Steven, not everyone is going to be as simple as that hippo-guy. You need to know that fighting is what we do," Luffy explained. "To save Vivi's country, we are going to do a lot of fighting. People are going to get hurt."

The painter watched the boy look confused and tried to struggle with the concept of it. "But...but if we can do things peacefully..."

"Could that Jasper or Peridot be stopped by doing things peacefully?" Luffy reminded him. "We aren't Gems like you, but we are warriors just the same. Are you strong enough to take a life if you needed to?"

"I...I..."

"Think about it, Steven," Luffy pointed out to him.

The boy left the deck and went straight to his cabin. The second he was out of earshot, Genevieve got to courage to walk up to the Straw Hat captain. "What was that about?"

"Hmm?"

"That was mean!" she scolded him. "He's only a young kid!"

"Aren't you only a few years apart?" Luffy asked.

"I'm more mature than he is!"

"He still needs to know the stakes," Luffy simply said. "From what he's told us, he's never fought a person before, only those Gem things. He could get hurt."

"I..." Genevieve started before the door opened again. Steven walked out, clearly trying to hide the fact that he was just crying. He came in between the two of them and stopped.

"You're right. I don't like fighting. It's bad and if it's not necessary, I don't think we should do it," Steven sniffled. "But to save Vivi's people...I know what I may have to do...but it doesn't mean I have to like it."

He closed his eyes for a moment and wiped away the last of his tears. "I need to get stronger...not even for this, but to help the Gems when I get home. Can you help me?"

Luffy then adopted his famous dumb grin and patted the kid on the back. "Anything for my nakama! First things first: we need our doctor!"

Thankfully, the trip to the next island was shorter than Genevieve expected and they reached it by the middle of the next day. That entire time, Steven had been practicing his shields with Zoro, helping him form them faster and use them for offensive strikes. The painter was in the middle of sketching Steven throwing his shield at Zoro with all of his might when they prepared to dock on the island.

Unfortunately for them, it seemed as if they would not be welcomed. Go figure.

"Stop right there, pirates!" the man who seemed to be the leader yelled to them. "You aren't welcome here! Turn right around!"

"No pirates allowed! Get away from our island!" one of the townspeople yelled.

"Can't you monsters leave us in peace?!" another cried.

The painter merely sighed. 'This was going to be predictable, wasn't it? The Straw Hats would make a plea and the town would no doubt let them...'

"Please! We have a sick person on board! We just need a doctor! A..." Vivi, who had heard the noise and came out to help, started to beg before a townsperson pulled out a gun and fired at the girl.

As the bullet grazed her arm, Genevieve's eyes widened. 'Well...THAT wasn't as predictable as...'

Her thought was interrupted by Luffy shouting at the top of his lungs "You bastards!"

The males of the crew readied themselves to begin their retaliation, including Steven, who looked conflictingly from Vivi to the villagers. However, he seemed to resolve himself to fight in her honor.

"No, Luffy!" Vivi pleaded from the floor. "The bullet only...grazed me! Think about what Steven said earlier! You don't need to resort to fighting at the first sign of trouble! What will this accomplish?! The sign of a good captain is to know whether to fight or not!"

She grabbed Luffy's leg and gave him a look. Then she yelled once more. "Please! We just need a doctor! One of our own is sick and near death! I beg you! Please help us!"

Luffy thought about it for a moment and gave a look to his crew then to the teenager bleeding out on his ship. Finally, he knelt down beside her and shouted with the same conviction "Please help us! This is all my fault! We just need a doctor!"

One by one, the pirates did the same thing, from Steven (who was relieved beyond belief) to Sanji (who was holding everything back since he was seething with rage). As she joined them, Genevieve couldn't believe the lengths the princess was going to help a woman who tried to kill her.

'This crew...I'm not going to be that bored while I'm with them, will I?'

"Very well," the head of the villagers called to them. "But we must warn you: we only have one doctor in our kingdom and she's a witch!"

'Nope...definitely not going to be that bored for a long time.'