# notice: You'll see that things spoken in the local language won't be entirely in those brackets anymore. That is due to Catherine understanding single words now. And to let you see what she understands, it will be like this: "[things not understood], understood [not] understood."189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPep4I5ceu
Though when she says something herself, it will still be completely in brackets to signal she's not speaking english. I hope you get what I'm saying.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIshxPv59H4
Arriving at the craft district, we finally let the knife get coated and made our way back to grove 16. This time, I had company. I felt a lot safer that way. On top of that, I knew where I needed to go.
Ikkaku and Clione talked in a relaxed tone. I couldn't take part in the conversation yet, but I was able to understand single words at least. They talked about the archipelago, but every so often I heard mine or Law's name, which made me wonder what exactly they were talking about. I guessed it was what we were doing all the time together. Now that I thought about it, he actually spent quite a lot of time with me. Training, teaching me the language, sometimes working on the documents together even. I began to wonder if Law still had enough time doing what he'd usually do, before I suddenly appeared.
The two of them sounded quite excited, though. After listening again, I thought I heard the words 'secret mission'. Were they excited to accompany me? On my 'secret mission'? What did Law tell his crew about what we were doing?
Finally getting to grove 16, I could gather the salt from the mangrove. "A thousand crystals of pure formeth the crystal thou wilt.", I repeated the phrase in my mind. Did I really had to count a thousand tiny salt crystals? A sigh escaped me as I reluctantly yielded to the task waiting for me. I definitely did not want to be missing two crystals later. Thus, I sat down and explained the task to Ikkaku and Clione by drawing something onto the ground. They were just as happy about the task as I was.
Having returned, I was glad to be back on the submarine. Safe in my room. The scratches from my adventrue were not that bad. Law would probably like to take a look at them, but cleaning them with water should suffice for now.
I deposited the bag full of salt in a drawer. Just to be safe, I took a few more salt crystals than a thousand. After sitting on my bed for a while, I tried distracting me from my tension with music. Kizaru and the pacifista were still to arrive. I had no clue in what state the Heart Pirates would leave the archipelago, since the focus lay on the strawhats in the anime. I just hoped nobody would be heavily injured.
Over and over did I jump to the next song and back again. I couldn't decide what I wanted to hear because my mood changed quickly. I didn't expect it would make me this anxious not knowing how the crew and Law did. I had already grown attached to them a bit. I could barely communicate with them, besides Law, but still, I wished they were doing well.
"Ob sie sich zu Hause auch so viele Sorgen machen? ... Wahrscheinlich mehr." I noticed that I barely had to think about home the past two or three weeks. Law really roped me in, though even during some free minutes or on my free days, I hadn't thought about anything of the sort.
It hit me all the more now. Matching the music I began to drown in my sorrow. Curled up, I sat against my bed with wet cheeks and tired eyes.
"Is she already gone? – Can we call her back again?"
"Is she already gone? – Will she find me in the end?"
"Mama und Papa. Micha und Daniel. Elli. Lukas, Tim. They must be so worried." They are asking themselves exactly those questions, I thought. Would I ever find home again? Would I ever be able to cuddle with them again? Would I ever be able to talk with them again? To laugh with them? Would I ever see them again?
"Pain left me numb – Far too many times – To celebrate this death – I never will forget"
"Will they forget me at some point? Will I forget them at some point?"
"I don't want to forget them! They are far too dear to me! Please don't.", it was pure torture, being seperated from the ones you love like this. I couldn't visit them. It wasn't like they were on the other side of this world. They were not in this world at all. I bit my lip. Started to scratch, but stopped immediately. I missed my family and friends endlessly, but scratching wouldn't help me in any way. I didn't even really know why that crossed my mind.
"And we spoke – Oh, so many times"
"The words we never said – Are the ones I most regret"
I reminded myself of their voices one after another. Their way of laughing. The excitement when we argued.
"Is he already gone? – Can we call him back again?"
"Is he already gone? – Will I find him in the end?"
"Are they already gone? – Can we call them back again?"
"Are they already gone? – Will I find them in the end?"
I tried remembering as many special moments as possible. So many experiences, even small ones, holding so much value. Christmas with the whole family. Birthday parties. Trips with friends. Holiday memories. The times I was fooling around with my brothers. Even the day I was at the lake with my friends, just shortly before getting here, seemed so long ago. Everything seemed so far away.
"Are they already gone?"
"Are they already gone?"
"Are they already gone?"
"Will I find them in the end?"
"Will I find them in the end?"
My playlist continued playing while I continued to weigh myself in memories and sorrow. I was still sitting in front of my bed, legs pulled close, music box in front of me.
"Hurry up! The captain [wants to depart the moment] he [arrives!]"
Agitation in the shaking ship woke me from my uncomfortable sleep. My headache was stronger this time, probably due to me crying before falling asleep, I thought. I stood up, groaning, but fully awake and went for the door. A sudden quake made me loose my balance and I fell to the ground. "Ouch!"
At the door, I hesitated. "Wouldn't I just be in the way?", no, maybe I could still help somewhere, I decided and opened the door. Above all, I just couldn't do nothing.
My room was on the direct way from the ship's entrance to the infirmary. I was shocked by what I saw. Three men were brought to the infirmary, lying on stretchers. Two of the three men were badly injured. The first, Uni, bled heavily on his arm. He tried enduring his pain in vain. I couldn't recognize the second man, as his face was mostly covered in blood. There was another wound on his stomach, bleeding heavily. The third man, one of the mechanics, seemed to have a broken leg.
I stood there in the door frame, not really knowing what to do with myself, but also knowing I couldn't keep standing around there. I made my way to the infirmary. "Maybe I can help out there."
One didn't need to open the double doors to notice the chaos, that must have been roaming inside. But only after stepping inside I realized, the most important thing was still missing. A doctor. Law was not yet back on the submarine and Corel, the second doctor on the submarine, was lying on one of the beds, as I could now see. He was the man with the stomach wound. He was unconscious. The others ran around screaming at each other, trying to do something to not let his state worsen any more until Law came. Even without understanding what they were screaming I could see, they did not really know what they were doing.
One could think with the captain being a doctor, everyone of the crew knew at least first aid, but that was obviously not the case. Unsure of myself, I stepped further into the infirmary. What could I do, if I wasn't even able to find disinfectant? "I can still do first aid. Disinfected or not, the bleeding needs to be stopped.", thus, I decidedly went to the closets and took out bandages. I walked over to Uni, whose painful expression did not notice me immediately. Not until I was standing right next to him, he looked at me, surprised.
"Don't worry. I'll do something. I'll stop the bleeding.", I tried calming down the injured man a little with a determined voice. Just like Bepo calmed me down not too long ago.
"Okay. You can do this. Ganz ruhig.", my hands were shaking. I never had to do first aid. The wound on his lower arm was deep and bled heavily. But I learned how to do this, even if it was in primary school. I put my weight on his upper arm to reduce the bleeding. Uni screamed in pain. The two men, trying themselves on Corel, turned around in surprise, but did not try to stop me.
While I put on the bandage as quickly and carefully as I could, I kept talking to Uni. "Sorry, my hands are cold. I know the theory, but I've never done this before. First aid, I mean. I just hope I'm doing it right.", Uni's face was still full of pain, but it actually seemed as though he calmed down a little. Though I probably did that more to calm myself down than Uni.
"Finished.", I looked at Uni's bandaged arm proudly. Uni looked at his arm and thanked me. "[You're welcome.]", I responded.
I looked around again, I could read the signs on the bottles, as I learned the alphabet now, but I still did not understand the vocabulary. Law taught me how to get around the sabaody archipelago. Everything else had to wait. I did not know the word for 'cleaning' or alike, so I couldn't ask for disinfectant. It irritated me not being able to do any more than this.
As I looked over to Corel, it looked like the two men finished stopping his bleeding as much as possible. Both sighed in relief. Just then, Law stormed into the infirmary.
"What's [the situation?]", he asked the two men. I noticed I did not know their names. In fact, aside from Corel, I only knew the names of those appearing in the anime. Since whatever Law told them at the beginning, the crew was vary of me first. So we never really got to introduce each other. The whole language barrier frustrated me intensely, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Law was the only dictionary I could learn from. That itself was frustrating too.
"You helped?", he asked me subsequently. "I did what I could.", I replied.
"They told me you bandaged his arm, did you disinfect it?"
"No. I couldn't read which one the disinfectant flask was.", Law ordered the two men outside after my response and put on rubber gloves.
"We're going to first treat Corel-ya's abdominal trauma. Here.", Law handed me a pair of gloves.
"Wait, I'm no doctor. I only know a bit of first aid."
"So you know more than nothing. The bandage you put on Uni-ya's arm stopped the bleeding. Now put on the gloves, we don't have any time.", he did not leave any space to argue. I took the gloves and walked to the other side of the bed Corel was lying on.
"You have to tell me what to do.", Law only nodded.
Law sat down at the table in the infirmary after we finished treating all the injuries. He said he just needed to write everything down into the files. I thought I did quite well as an assistant, though I was really nervous at first.
"You should take a break as well.", I mentioned as I left through the doors.
On my way to my room, I thought about the events of the day. I didn't know how the situation on the sabaody archipelago played out. Many crew members were hurt lightly. Three badly. We already left the archipelago too. It's still a long way to our final goal. The island Law found all those documents on.
"Maybe I'll get to know how he acquired his language skills there? Hopefully there's a way back home.", after thinking about home again, I noticed how well I settled in here on the submarine. Two and a half months did I live here now. Two months away from home. "I'm afraid I will miss the submarine and the crew, once I get home."
Back in my room, I wasn't sure what to do. It wasn't really late yet. Law said I should continue working on the documents, but I wasn't feeling like it. I needed to move around. At home, I'd go for a walk. Here, my only option would be the training hall.
It didn't surprise me to see a few others here, honing their skills. They only looked who else had come. I didn't get any more attention. Everyone was busy with their own thoughts. Listening to music over headphones, I ran some laps.
# The song in this chapter is Already Gone by Disturbed189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDlOUa2uEmA
Translations:
(1) "Ob sie sich zu Hause auch so viele Sorgen machen? ... Wahrscheinlich mehr." - "Are they worried that much at home too? ... Probably more."
(2) "Mama und Papa. Micha und Daniel. Elli. Lukas, Tim. [...]" - "Mom and dad. Micha and Daniel. Elli. Lukas, Tim. [...]"
(3) "Okay. You can do this. Ganz ruhig." - "Okay. You can do this. Keep calm."189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVNVbTNBSM
