Hello readers! I am so sorry for the wait! But here's the next chapter of Voice!

Keith: So, what's the routine again?

FM13: Don't play dumb.

Keith: *chuckles* Fine. So, the disclaimer... Frostmoon13 doesn't own One Piece or any of the characters or major plot lines. Only her OCs.

FM13: *whispers* and the answer to the riddle from the last chapter is... The letter U.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 71

"Keep your chin up, Lucien!" I said, crossing my arms. "And don't close your eyes when you throw a punch!"

Lucien fell back on his rear with a sigh. "Wow! This is hard..." He panted, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

I smiled. "You wouldn't last five minutes training in the marines." I said. I leaned forward and helped the tired looking boy up. When it looked like he was actually paying attention, I said, "Remember, don't throw everything you have in your punches. It throws you off balance, and leaves you vulnerable to attack." I pushed his shoulders back, then, I poked him in the foot. "Also, you're walking flat footed again. Remember what I said about keeping yourself raised on the balls of your feet when you're fighting hand-to-hand. You'll have greater ease of movement."

Lucien pouted. "I know, I know, you've told me five times already."

I smirked. "Well, perhaps if you'd listen, I wouldn't have to tell you more than five times."

A look of panic crossed Lucien's eyes. "Yes! I'm sorry, Keith!"

I ruffled his hair. "Hey, no hard feelings. But, before we continue, I want you to drop and give me fifty push ups."

Lucien turned a little green around the gills, but he stood up straight and saluted. "Yes sir!"

I scanned his salute. He was leaning back too far, with his hand tilted at the wrong angle. I stepped forward and corrected his posture and twisted his hand into a proper marine salute. Then I smiled. "Okay. See if you can hold that for an hour."

Lucien's jaw dropped. His hand fell and he yelped, "What?!"

I stepped forward and placed his hand back and corrected his posture again. "That's what my commanding officer made me do for hours in order to strengthen my discipline." I laughed openly at Lucien's look of shock. "Oh, don't look so down. I'm not going to make you do that. You're not a marine, and I'm only teaching you self-defense. I'm just teasing you."

Lucien let his arm drop again, and laughed. "You're mean, Keith." He smirked, then dropped and started doing his push-ups.

I bent down and corrected his posture. "I know it's hard, but you won't improve with sloppy form."

As I watched Lucien struggle, I heard a shuffle behind me.

"Hey, Keith! Look at me! I'm all ready to face the Grand Line!"

I turned and saw Lou Ellen standing proudly in front of me. What made my heart leap into my mouth was the gun she was absently twirling around in her hand.

"Gods above, Lou Ellen!" I yelped, stopping the gun with one hand. "Where the hell did you get a gun?"

She looked up at me innocently, looking somewhat shocked at my reaction. "It was a gift from Mom. I got it for my tenth birthday." She smiled at it proudly. "I never shot it before, though! I thought you could teach me!"

I took a deep breath. "Oh, I'll teach you all right. But you're not to use it or twirl it around like that until I teach you how to use that thing and you learn it well."

Lucien sat up. "Whaaa?! You brought your gun, Lou Ellen? No fair!"

"Keep doing those push-ups, Lucien." I said, "I only counted fifteen from you so far."

Lou Ellen giggled. "Lucien got one too, but he lost it. He was so scared that he might get in trouble, that he never told Mom or Dad."

Lucien sprang up. "Hey! Shut up, Stupid Lou!" He ran forward and grabbed a handful of her hair, and pushed her over.

Lou Ellen grabbed her brother's ear and the front of his shirt, her pistol clattering to the deck. "Don't be such a baby!" She snapped.

The two of them exchanged blows for a couple of seconds.

The noise caused Koby to come running from the bow. "What's going on?!" he asked, bewildered.

"Oh, just a sibling spat." I said, bending down carefully and picking up the pistol. "They'll get tired of it eventually."

"You're not going to stop them?" Koby asked.

I shook my head. "No. Better to let them fight it out for now. They'll let off some pent-up energy." I sighed. This was totally outside my experience. Koe and I never fought like this. I figured I would step in if things got too violent. For the moment, I would just watch the spectacle.

Things got too violent fairly quickly, to my surprise. It started to look like they were going to draw blood, so I stepped in and grabbed both of them by the back of the collar. "Okay!" I said, in my best commander voice, "That's enough!"

The pair of them were still struggling, trying in vain to get out of my grip.

"Let go, Keith!" Lucien complained. "I was just starting to win!" He had a swollen lip and one of his eyes was starting to bruise.

"You wish, Lose-cien!" Lou Ellen countered. She looked a little better off, though she was developing a fairly impressive shiner to match her brother's.

I put them both down, but clouted them over the head before they could charge at each other again. "I said that's enough!" I pushed them both into a kneeling position. "Give me a break." I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose, "If you two were marine cabin crew you would have been given extra cleanup duty for a month for fighting like that. Now are we finished?"

The two kids pouted at each other for a second, but then they sighed, and said, "Yes..."

"Right." I said, stretching and pacing a couple of steps. "Lucien, I think you've got about thirty-five more push-ups to do." Before the kid could protest, I said, "Unless you can think of some better way to train."

Lucien turned bright red, and nodded.

I turned to Koby, and said, "You mind watching him so he doesn't get sloppy?"

Koby nodded. "Right. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to teach a little girl how to shoot a flintlock." I said. I turned to Lou Ellen. "Okay, Lou Ellen," I said, pulling her to her feet, "if you think that you can see properly, I'll show you how to shoot a gun."

"Okay, so there are three things you need to remember when you're going to defend yourself with a gun. And I repeat, defend yourself." I said, giving Lou Ellen a hard look. "As a civilian, there is absolutely no reason to shoot someone unless they attack you. Understand?"

Lou Ellen looked perplexed. "Why not? And I'm not a civilian, Keith. I'm a World Noble."

I sighed. "On this ship, you're a civilian. You can order me around all you like once we get you and your brother to your uncle, but for now, I have seniority. And another thing to understand is that if you're not a marine officer following orders, you shouldn't shoot anyone."

She nodded, rubbing her eyes. "I understand. It just takes a bit of getting used to. I've never even breathed the same air as other people before last week. I don't really know what's socially acceptable among the common folk yet." She sounded so sincere that I almost felt bad for taking a sharper tone with the kid.

"You and your brother are both learning very quickly." I said, ruffling her hair. "So don't get discouraged."

She smiled half-heartedly. "I'll try not to." she said.

"Good." I said, "Now, four things you need to remember before you shoot a gun: Always handle your gun as though it's loaded, even if it isn't. Two: Don't touch the trigger until you're ready to shoot. Three: Don't point your gun at anything you don't want to destroy. Four: Always be aware of what your target is and what's behind it."

Lou Ellen was staring at me wide-eyed. "Uh, right." she said, a bead of sweat trickling down her forehead. "No problem."

I chuckled. "You'll remember in time. So, for now we'll practice pointing and shooting. But there's one thing-"

"What's that?" Lou Ellen asked.

"You'll be firing blanks at first, so you don't accidentally shoot a hole in the ship or one of our crewmen."

Lou Ellen nodded, her eyes narrowing. "So, you don't mind training me too?"

I smiled. "Not at all. But can I ask why?"

She frowned. "I felt so useless on the Sabaody Archipelago. I couldn't do anything, and left everything to you and Koby and Helmeppo... I don't want to be a burden for you and the others. Even my brother is better than me in a fight."

I chuckled. "Oh, I dunno. It looked like you were winning in that fight earlier."

Her eyes lit up. "You really think so?"

"Between you and me, yes. But that'll be our secret, okay?"

She nodded.

I held out the pistol, handle pointing towards Lou Ellen. "Okay. Grab your weapon and get to work."

She took the pistol from my hand and grinned. "Yes sir!" she said, adjusting her grip on the handle. "Give the word, Commander! I'm ready!"

I laughed. "You'd make a fine marine cadet, Lou Ellen, if you could ever shake that habit of ordering your superior officer to give you an order." I poked her in the elbow. "Raise your arms a bit. And don't stand with your front facing your opponent. It only gives them more of a target."

Lou Ellen shifted her stance, and raised her pistol at the target. "Right! I'm going to master this so fast, your marine guys will be green with envy."

"That's the spirit!" I said, "I suppose..."

"So where are we headed?" Helmeppo asked, leaning over the map so far his hair fell into his eyes. "You mentioned that we would be heading into calmer waters, so sailing around Jaya is going to take a big chunk of time."

"Yes, I did say that," I replied, "and for good reason. We can't afford to be caught up in one of those knock-up streams. We wouldn't survive getting hit by one of those." How we would get to the route we would take to get around Jaya, was still up for debate, however. There was a string of inhabited islands from our present location to our destination, Reverse Mountain, that we could take. And then there was the issue of the compasses.

"We have our compass for when we navigate into the East Blue, don't we?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Helmeppo.

Helmeppo nodded. "Yeah, and I guess either Koby or I should do the navigating once we get there."

I gave him a hard look, but then I nodded. I had very little experience with compass navigation, having never sailed outside of the Grand Line. "And we'll cross that mountain when we come to it, but for now, we need to find a comparatively risk free route to take these kids on." I traced my finger over a southern channel hugging the Calm Belt, lost in thought. "This route takes us pretty close to the Calm Belt, but I've heard very little about pirate activity or dangerous phenomena in this area. We'd just have to micro-manage the rudder to keep out of the calm belt."

"Doesn't this ship have a Kairoseki hull?" Helmeppo asked, leaning on his elbows so he could see the map a little better. "Couldn't we just navigate the calm belt then?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I honestly don't trust the composition of the hull alone. And neptunians aren't stupid. I've seen a scientist's research videos on neptunian hunting habits. That, and there's no wind. It would take a lot more time. I'm not willing to risk just sailing into the Calm Belt willy-nilly. It's just trading one danger for another."

Helmeppo's eyebrows knitted together. I could almost picture the gears turning in his brain. "What about this route here? It takes us past Banaro Island, where we can stock up on supplies. Lucien has a hollow leg, and Koby says we're running out of food. We could pass this island, and take this channel here towards this island, south of Jaya. That way we're out of Jayan waters, and away from the calm belt."

I nodded. "That could work. But how did we go through most of our food in less than a fortnight?"

Helmeppo sighed and rested his elbows on the table. "Kids who grew up with a silver spoon in their mouths happen to be growing, they don't tend to be conscious of how much food they take." He didn't meet my eyes; he just stared at the map in front of him.

I blinked at Helmeppo in astonishment. I had to wonder whether or not Helmeppo was speaking from personal experience to be able to speak so seriously about this. "Okay." I sighed. "We'll stop at Banaro Island and pick up supplies, and then we'll have a crew meeting detailing food rationing on long journeys. I just hope we have enough money for this." I stood up and made my way towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Helmeppo asked.

"I've gotta steer us in Banaro's direction." I said, turning back and raising an eyebrow at my friend, "I've got the night watch tonight, so you and Koby are on bedtime duty. So you and Koby make sure that Lucien and Lou Ellen are in bed by nine." I almost laughed when I saw the colour drain from his face. "Good luck." I said, smiling and shutting the door.

"So you all remember our discussion?" I asked, as I helped Lou Ellen down the rope ladder.

"Yup!" Lou Ellen said brightly, as she smoothed the wrinkles out of her shirt. "Keep close to you and Koby, don't wander off, and don't pick fights."

I nodded. "Right." I turned to Lucien, who was examining an interesting stone on the beach, and said, "Did you get all that, Lucien, or would you rather just stay there?"

He looked up and grinned. "I heard!" he said, forcing a grin. "I was just exploring."

"Well," I said, "you can explore later. Right now we need to get food, and keep a low profile. Remember that we're not supposed to draw attention to ourselves with our small numbers."

"Right." Lucien said, his grin dropping, "Because we can't fight or fend for ourselves properly yet, and we can't risk anyone finding out who we are."

"Right." I said, "We'll set out once Koby gets down here." I called that last part as if to say 'Hint! Hint!'.

A couple of seconds later, Koby stumbled down the rope ladder, slipping on one of the lower rungs, and falling to the ground with a thud.

Lucien and Lou Ellen burst into a fit of giggles.

I raised an eyebrow at them, and walked to Koby. "Tired?" I asked, helping him to his feet.

Koby looked up at me, his expression unfocused, with huge shadows under his eyes. "You could tell?" he asked. He sounded so downtrodden.
I chuckled at the memory of him and Helmeppo trying to get the kids into bed the night before. Two hours after their set bedtime, Koby and Helmeppo had to ask me to step in. Of course the kids were still up before eight, just as energetic as ever, but Koby and Helmeppo weren't so lucky. Both of them were exhausted.

I clapped Koby on the shoulder, trying not to laugh as well. "Okay guys, let's go get some groceries."

We started off, slowly, so Koby could stumble without falling flat on his face. Lou Ellen kept a hold of Koby's arm, pulling him along occasionally.

Lucien shuffled along slightly behind us, staring at the rock in his hand.

"Hey Lucien," I called, "keep up."

He looked up and nodded. "Okay Keith!" He jogged up to us, falling into step beside me.

Finally, he looked up at me and said, "Why is it so smooth?" He held out the stone he'd been examining. It was a smooth, oblong shaped stone that comfortably fitted in the palm of my hand. It shone dully in the sun.

I turned the rock over for a second. "You found this on the shore, didn't you?"

He nodded.

"Well, it's because of the waves. The tide beats at the rock, rolls it around on the seafloor, rubbing off the rougher edges. This rock must have been in the sea a long time."

Lucien looked at it wide-eyed. "I never thought of that before. Dad just said that the rocks on the shore were smooth because the Nobles wanted it that way."

I chuckled, but I also felt uncomfortable again. How is it that children raised in that environment would one day hold power? At the same time, though, another part of me was at ease that these kids were still curious, and willing to learn. "Well, sometimes, Lucien, things happen because it's natural of the world."

We walked in silence after that, until we rounded the crest of a hill, and found ourselves in the outskirts of the town.

"Wow!" Lou Ellen exclaimed. "Cool!"

She wasn't wrong. This town has a very interesting collective architecture. The wooden buildings were constructed in a style that reminded me of towns in the old west that I used to read about when I was a kid. The entire town was built around a single wide dirt road, bordered by a few residences, but mostly offices and cafes. In the centre of town was the tallest building, with a high peaked roof and a clock ticking away on the tower: city hall.

Koby and Lou Ellen wandered over to a hitching post to gaze in awe at the big ox tied there. The ox dwarfed the both of them, but thankfully it looked like a pretty placid animal. He was just chewing his cud happily, and not taking much notice of us.

Lou Ellen was grinning from ear to ear. She pulled her pack off, and hopped onto the hitching post. She pulled her sketchbook and some paints out of her pack, and propped them precariously around her. Then she looked up at me. "Can I stay here for a while and paint it? Please?"

I furrowed my brow, thinking. There didn't seem to be any unrest in this town. It was far enough away from the sea for pirate attacks to be unlikely.

"Well, I don't see any problem with that," I said, scratching my chin. "Hey, Koby, will you stay with her here?" I fished around in my bag and pulled out a transponder snail and handed it to him. "You know the drill."

Koby took the baby transponder snail from me and nodded. "Yes sir." he said, "I'll be sure to keep an eye on her."

I smiled. "You'll be good. If she gets bored, just take her back to the ship. I'm sure Helmeppo is pretty bored alone."

Koby saluted. "You can count on me, Sir!"

I chuckled, "I'm sure I can, Seaman." I turned and took a step down the road. "C'mon, Lucien," I called, "I need some help with the groceries."

Lucien looked back at his sister for a second, then he grinned, and grabbed my arm. "Okay! Let's go, partner!"

I chuckled, and let him pull me down the road.

"That'll be two thousand and fifty berries, please, sir."

I grabbed my wallet out of my pocket, trying not to let the cheery young woman behind the cashier's counter see the small muscle under my eye twitch. This had been quite the expensive escapade. "Here you go." I said, pulling the small wad of bills out of my wallet, and handing them to the cashier.

Lucien stood silently beside me, staring at the cashier, holding a couple of sweets in his hand.

As she loaded our supplies in bags, he shuffled over to the counter, and placed the sweets down in front of her. He paused for a second, thinking. Then, he pulled me to the side. "How do I talk to her?" he whispered hoarsely.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to merchants yet. I feel like if I speak to her the way my parents taught me, you wouldn't like it. It wouldn't... be uh, right."

I raised an eyebrow. "Just talk to her the way you talk to me. That's simple enough, right?"

Lucien worried his lower lip, but he nodded. "Okay. I'll try it." He stepped back to the counter, and looked at the cashier right in her eyes. "I'd like to buy this candy." he said. "P-please." he added, somewhat clumsily at the end.

The cashier's lips quirked in a smile. She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, as if she knew, if not the whole story here, the gist of Lucien's social awkwardness. Then, she shot Lucien a genuine smile, and said, "Of course. Would you like a bag for that?"

I chuckled as Lucien stumbled through the conversation, fishing through his pocket for some money. Then, my bag started to rustle.

"Beloop beloop beloop beloop beloop! Beloop beloop beloop beloop beloop! Beloop beloop beloop beloop beloop!"

I frowned, and pulled the baby transponder snail out of my bag. I held the little critter level, and pulled the mouthpiece off the receiver. "Hello?"

The snail opened its eyes, and immediately its expression turned to one of alarm. "Keith," Koby's voice was quiet, and quivery. "we need your help. It's urgent!"

I felt my chest constrict. No! Couldn't we spend one day on an island without everything being shot to hell? "Hang on, I'll be right there! Stand your ground, Koby!"

Then snail's eyes went wide, then it went limp, and closed its eyes. The connection had been cut.

"Shit!" I swore loudly. How could I have messed up again? And this time I was ten minutes away!

I let the groceries drop to the floor. "I have to go, now." I said, not entirely sure who I was talking to.

"Keith, what'll we do?" Lucien cried. His eyes were wide with fear. He looked very young when he was scared.

"You stay here, Lucien." I said. "Keep your head down and don't do anything to draw attention to yourself." I was starting to get panicked. If Koby couldn't handle whatever it was, I would be too late. I pulled myself together just enough to turn to the cashier. "Excuse me, Miss, but will you please look out for my brother for a few minutes?"

She looked bewildered, but she nodded. "Yes, of course."

"Keith..." Lucien stepped forward and grabbed my sleeve. "I'm scared. What if something happened to Lou Ellen and Koby?"

"I know." I said. "But stay here. And remember what we talked about?"

He nodded.

I was relieved. He had remembered our new cover story. He would stick to that at least. With that, I turned and ran out the door.

I tore down the street, heedless of the people frowning at me, of the animals that spooked to the side as I passed. I had a long way to go, and if I was lucky, would make it in five minutes.

I ran the list of scenarios in my mind. What was the worst I could expect? And what could I do to deal with it. When I faced the unknown, I normally had a few well-trained soldiers at my back, or commanding me, in my younger years. I nearly tripped running up a hill, and managed to stumble into a solid run again.

As I rounded the corner to City Hall, I heard the deafening crack of a gunshot. I felt my blood turn to ice. I stumbled as I rounded the corner, and found myself standing across the square from a large group of men.

One of them was restraining Lou Ellen, grunting with the effort of keeping the struggling girl still. Another one was dragging Koby by the ankle.

Koby was unconscious, his hair matted with blood and his glasses broken.

Lou Ellen's pistol was lying on the street. It was still smoking.

Spurred by fear gripping my heart, I sprinted toward them until I was about five feet away.

The group collectively turned to me, and stared at me.

I couldn't identify any of them. One or two of them had a circular jolly roger tattooed on their biceps, but I didn't recognize it. I tried to stand up straight. Now I was faced with a choice. Should I just go full marine commander, and try to force them to let them go? Or should I keep to the facade? That would protect us in the long run. Finally, I decided to act the concerned family member role. Whatever these men thought we were, it would end a hundred times worse for us if they found out Lou Ellen is a Celestial Dragon.

"Who are you?" I said, trying to keep my voice just level enough to show that I wasn't scared, but not too level, or I might give myself away. "What do you want with her?"

"Keith!" Lou Ellen struggled against her captor's grip.

The group just stared at me for a moment, then they started laughing. It started quiet, but soon the whole crowd was laughing gutterally. Then, the crowd parted, and a tall man with lean musculature and the same jolly roger tattooed on his chest stepped forward.

He regarded me coolly. "Are you the girl's brother, boy?"

I nodded. "What do you want with her?" I repeated. "She hasn't done anything wrong. Let her go." And I looked at Koby. "What did he do to you for you to treat him like that?"

The man smiled at me. "Oh, he thought he'd play the hero." He walked up to me and stared down into my eyes. "I'd be more than happy to let them go. But I'm going to need some... persuasion."

"Oh?" I said. "We're simple travellers, what could we give you?"

The man's smile stretched. Could he tell I was lying? "Really, Son?" he said, softly. "I don't buy it. You can't fool Jaren. If you want us to release your sister, you'll have to fork over a hundred million berries, and do it quickly. So why don't you run off to your parents and get that dough for us." he turned his back. "Go on. There's a good boy."

Now he had crossed a line. Not only had he captured a girl who was my responsibility and attacked one of my best friends, he had ridiculed me, called me a nerve I had was screaming for me to not take that kind of an insult lying down. There was a too much at stake to let anything slide. Stupidly, I took a step forward.

Bang!

The loud noise was almost immediately accompanied by a force pushing me off my feet from somewhere in my midriff. Then there was nothing but the bright blue sky above, and a piercing scream. I hit the ground with a muffled thud. After a few seconds of lying on the sunbaked earth, the pain registered. It felt like someone had torn a hole in my guts, and my entire left side was on fire.

I had been shot at close range.

And that's chapter 71! If you like, drop a review! Look out for the next chapter, when Koe sails to Upper Yard once again!

Cheers,

Frosty