Chapter Text
Horatia doesn’t expect much from the people of the island. She expects them to get along with each other. She expects them to follow the unofficial rules that started to form. She expects them to eventually accept each other.
But she doesn’t expect respect. She doesn’t expect acceptance for herself. But it still disappoints her each time that she’s shunned.
She tries not to let it show, the way her smile falters when she tends to the humans guests of the inn. The way that her attempts at conversations with them fall flat. How hands are pulled away from her and no one will look her in the eye. Instead, they look at her claws. At the inhuman undertones under her skin.
She tells herself that it doesn’t matter, not when she sees them at least getting along with the fishermen locals. How they’re more welcoming to them.
She wonders if it’s because she fits in the gray middle area of something human and something not. They can’t clearly define her, and so they ignore her. Unlike the fishermen, she has more human characteristics. She looks human, but just barely misses the bar. She fits into the category of something uncanny. Something unnerving. Something that feels more closely related to the nightly visitors that the locals still hide away from.
Jinbei notices it during their next visit to the island, curiously he watches as Horatia seems almost different. How her teeth are more rounded in her smile. How her nails seem shorter and less sharp. How this time, it feels almost forced. The humans still shy away from her, and ironically, the local fishermen seem uneasy with the unnatural change.
He sips at the saki, calmly, content to just observe. For now. So far, he hasn’t seen any of the humans do anything more vicious than talk about the innkeeper in hushed whispers. He hopes the behavior doesn’t escalate, too familiar with how hushed biased whispers can turn the tide into a hurricane.
It’s almost painful, and awkward, to see the way Horatia portrays herself. He prefers it if she was just herself as opposed to whatever this is supposed to be.
“Why are you doing this to yourself,” Jinbei finally asks as she settles down at the counter nearby.
She looks exhausted. As soon as the humans aren’t paying attention to her, the mask starts to slip. Teeth become sharp canines, nails turn into claws. Her eyes glow dimly, but they look tired as she glances toward Jinbei.
“Is it wrong to want to be accepted,” she finally speaks up softly, “to not want to be feared?”
Jinbei can’t fault her for that, but he does take criticism with her approach, “True acceptance won’t come if you act like that.”
She flinches, but doesn’t deny that he’s right. She fidgets with the sleeve of her shirt, biting at her bottom lip.
“True acceptance is hard to come by,” she finally speaks up, softly in disagreement, “For now, I’ll accept just not being feared.”
There’s a deep sincerity in her statement, with her own fear underlying her words. He wonders what has happened to her to make her so afraid of people being scared of her. If it has anything to do with what she’s already admitted to about her past. He doesn’t press, but feels the topic has started to shift into something uncomfortable and is unsure how to fix that feeling that passes between them.
For a moment, he wonders if it’s just the humans that she cares about accepting her. All of her focus seems more geared toward their presence and what they think. He wonders if the fishmen of the island accept her - and if they do, if it will be enough for her.
And why is it then, that when the Sun Pirates visited, she seemed more open?
“Miss Horatia, I’ve finally finished it.”
Jinbei is relieved when an older, mature fishman woman joins them at the counter. Her colors are faded, with deep set wrinkles around kind eyes as she holds out a sweater toward Horatia, a proud smile on her face. Jinbei gives the woman a brief acknowledgement, though she just gives him a firm nod in return, mostly focused on the innkeeper. Unlike the humans, this woman doesn’t flinch when Horatia’s hands graze against hers as she takes the sweater gratefully.
The feeling that had started to form between them dissipates into something warmer. The isolation that had started to sink in starts to transition into something more welcoming.
“This very kind of you, Nonnie,” Horatia speaks up softly, mindful of the older woman.
Nonnie looks at her expectedly, eying her as she takes the gift, “I think I got the measurements just right this time.”
Horatia doesn’t tell the woman that she says that every time she gives a sweater. The sweaters are really worn by anyone in the village, being ill fit and often uncomfortable. A few of the nicer locals still make a point to wear them every so often, just to see the way it makes Nonnie beam.
“I’ll make you one too, dear,” Nonnie briefly turns toward Jinbei, who immediately looks uncomfortable at the notion. “If the Sun Pirates plan on visiting regularly, it’s the least I can do to make you all welcome to the island. So long as the pirates don’t make this poor girl’s job any harder.”
There’s a pointed sternness to her statement as she grabs Horatia by the arm, protectively. It is almost comical given the older woman’s age and how much larger she is compared to Horatia. Jinbei’s eyes twinkle in amusem*nt. An orca, through and through, he thinks in bemusem*nt; the orca’s more protective nature of its family being a well defined trait in most fishmen that take after the animal.
“We will try our best,” Jinbei says in earnest.
Pleased, Nonnie becomes eager to ‘give them some privacy’ and departs with a brief hug from the innkeeper. She leaves Horatia a bit stunned, holding the sweater with a soft expression on her face.
“It seems you’re more accepted than you realize,” Jinbei says, with a bit more sternness in his voice than intended, his doubts about her prioritizing the acceptance from the humans surfacing in his tone.
“By some.” Horatia finally admits, “And I’ll admit, it’s nice that the fishmen are certainly less fearful too. But it’s like you said about true acceptance?” Horatia looks down at the sweater in her hands as they tremble, sharp claws careful of every stitch, “I’ll… work on it. Humans will take longer, but - it’s nice to know that I’m not completely alone.”
She gives him a large grin that’s too wide, with teeth that are too sharp, and for a moment, it seems like her jaw could dislodge itself, hanging on by a thread. Jinbei only gives a smile in return.
The fishmen are more accepting than the humans. It’s clear over the next two weeks that the Sun Pirates are docked; with the excuse of ship repairs, Fisher Tiger accepts this timeline knowing that his crew just want to take a break. Before they docked, they had a close call with the navy that left more of the crew members on edge.
As if Nonnie’s sweater was a catalyst to the others, fishmen on the island warm to Horatia. She’s frazzled by the sudden attention, but Jinbei is pleased that she is no longer trying to hide herself to blend in. Even if it’s caused the humans’ whispers to uptick, she seems to be less outwardly bothered by it. Good. That means that their talk did mean something, and she took it to heart. It also meant that she wasn’t vying for the humans’ acceptance, and that the apparent more welcoming fishermans' acceptance holds the same weight and value as the humans.
“She’s spooky,” a human nearby shuddered, whispering over their ale, “And all this talk of nightly visitors - I can’t tell if there are really ghosts or if this is all some scheme of hers.”
Jinbei doesn’t quite fault the human for the latter comment. But after even a full night and day on the island, he could tell that whatever is going on at night goes beyond just one person. His observation haki has been getting stronger, and he would know if it was her or anyone else that was tapping on the windows of his room, leaving foggy handprints on glass, at the inn at night.
The other human shushes their companion, a clearly distressed look on their face, “No, no no. I don’t know what is going on, but it is not her… Whatever it is, it still beats the alternative.”
Jinbei decides that it’s time to tune out of their conversation as the tone turns more somber and private. Instead, he focuses on his own companions. While Aladine is an expected guest at the counter, he is a bit surprised that they’re not alone. A fisherman, with distinct leopard shark markings and broad shoulders, leans over the counter toward Horatia who busies herself contently with the book in front of her.
“Can’t help what the humans say,” the man says casually, unbothered, “They’re not exactly at the top of the food chain. Things like them - it’s only natural that they’re going to be a little off put.”
Jinbei only starts listening mid-conversation, and while he’s not sure how it started, he doesn’t particularly know the direction it is going. He doesn’t react to the words, too used to hearing Arlong saying similar statements, but Horatia openly glares, slamming her book shut with disapproval.
“Nao,” Horatia scolds.
Nao backs off, raising his hands in a mock gesture of peace, his webbed fingers spreading, “I know, I know. But at least unlike some of the others, I know how to hold my tongue about it - at least with humans anyway. I wouldn’t have made it this far if I didn’t.”
Jinbei glances briefly at the burned brand on the man’s arm as Nao continues, “These pirates, are you sure they’re not going to stir things up with the humans? Fisher Tiger, I trust - but his crew -”
Jinbei isn’t oblivious to the way Nao looks pointedly at them before glancing toward Arlong and the others on the other side of the lobby.
“His crew are welcomed here just as much as Tiger-sama, never forget that, Nao.”
Jinbei is startled by the genuineness of her tone. She doesn’t even once look their way, and he doubts that she said it just for their sake. Nao scowls at first, but seemingly accepts her statement. His hand goes to hers on the counter, and while she doesn’t shake it off, she doesn’t seem fully comfortable with it as she raises a brow at him.
The brief gesture is intimate enough that Jinbei tries to turn his head away to mind his business.
“Just be careful,” Nao relents, his expression softening with a sigh, before leaving the counter.
Horatia shakes her head before glancing toward Jinbei and Aladine. While Aladine seems a bit more cautious, she still gives them both a shy, almost apologetic smile.
“Horatia!” Nonnie crows, “Come join us, dear! We’re just about to start a new round!”
As she gets dragged into a game of Cho-Han by Nonnie and a few of the other older fishermen, she looks toward Jinbei in a way that seems to be a plea for help.
“It seems that things are calming down,” Aladine comments lightly, following Jinbei’s gaze toward Horatia and the older women, “Perhaps we really were worried for nothing after all… I don’t know if that means I fully trust what’s going on here.”
If he fully trusts the innkeeper. Jinbei can read between the lines, but he only nods. “Trust is hard to form, but there’s potential here on the island.”
Potential for what exactly, he still hasn’t pieced together - potential for peace? Trust? For the Sun Pirates to have a place where they can finally rest or a place that holds the potential for disaster. Aladine looks over Jinbei’s shoulder before commenting dryly.
“I agree, given that Arlong can learn to hold his temper.”
He can already hear Arlong’s voice starting to raise in disagreement. He’s already gotten into a few smaller fights with the humans over the few weeks, but this argument is starting to breach into something more serious. Jinbei turns on his stool to see his brother towering over a leopard shark fishman, who snarls and bares his teeth. Nao. It seems that his sentiment about holding his tongue really did only apply to the humans, as he’s never shown any hesitation toward Arlong. Jinbei wonders if it’s because he’s more comfortable with fishmen, or given his statement about the Sun Pirates, if it is something against the Sun Pirate crew specifically.
It’s not the first fight he’s noticed between the two - though at least now he has a name put to the face. He can only assume that much like previous fights that Arlong made a comment about the humans that pushed Nao’s more reserved approach to wanting to keep any bias quiet. He keeps an eye on the two, but is otherwise more neutral himself over the fight. He’ll stop his brother if it gets too far, or if Fisher Tiger gets involved, but for now, it doesn’t seem too concerning.
He frowns when he overhears glimpses over their argument as it quickly starts to escalate, with Arlong loudly proclaiming that the innkeeper must be a whor*. It seems his brother is rather convinced that there must be a reason like that for why the fishmen of the island have started to accept her more, unable to accept the change of heart. He frowns at the comment in displeasure, but Nao takes the comment more personal as he swings his fist toward Arlong.
“Brothers, brothers,” Fisher Tiger steps in before the fist makes contact, grabbing Nao’s fists with one hand and holding Arlong back with the other, “That’s enough.”
Neither of the men are happy, scowling and chuffing as they glare at each other from around Fisher Tiger. Horatia glances over from her game with the older women, but Nonnie and the others quickly grab her attention back to the game; it becomes clear then to Jinbei that the older women were aware of the remarks being made about her from the beginning and were trying to distract her from overhearing something.
As Arlong and Nao both go their separate ways, Jinbei wonders what would have been the outcome had his captain not stepped in.
