Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Cleaning duty? What the fuck-"

"Language, Cadet Bell-mère."

"What the hell are you talking about!" Bell-mère finished her sentence with a huff, arms firmly crossed over her chest.

Her current Captain, less of an authority figure and more of an old fart of a guy if you asked her, sighed, and shook his head. 

"Were you not smoking in the mess hall last night?" he asked, looking at her over the thick rims of his glasses.

"Yeah, so what? I was doing it near the door, I'm not a total dick-"

"Language."

"-head." she rolled her eyes, one hand coming up to push her long bangs out of her eyes.

"You aren't meant to be smoking at all, Cadet Bell-mère." he shook his head once again, and Bell-mère felt like this guy was being condescending somehow.

"I didn't know that!" she glared at the pot plant beside his head, hoping it would explode and that she'd be free of this god awful room soon enough.

"It was part of mandatory coursework you had to complete before you were allowed to become a Marine, Cadet Bell-mère. And that's not the only thing. Your hair-"

"Bullshit." Her glare swivelled firmly onto him instead, bangs flopping onto the other side of her head.

"-and language are another. Not to mention your… uniform." he gestured vaguely at her clothes, and she scoffed.

"It's summer! You can't expect me to go around wearing long pants." 

Her stock standard marine cadet uniform had been jazzed up a little, so sue her. It was hot, but also it was fucking boring wearing the same thing every day. Yeah, she could have quit by now, but going home and facing everyone from Cocoyashi who thought she would come crawling back? Hell to the no.

And the whole uniform wasn't even that bad! She'd sewn a hem to the best of her ability onto the now shorts, even if the thread she'd used was bright pink. The sleeves on her shirt... yeah, maybe that was a bit bad. She'd ripped them off yesterday morning because she was bored and also because the material was scratchy.

"We can arrange for you to get shorts, Cadet Bell-mère. And you will be able to wear them, and a new shirt, when you are on cleaning duty." he produced a piece of paper that had a bunch of words on it in far too small print.

"Fine." She took the paper, and squinted at it. "What's this?"

"The schedule for cleaning duty, Cadet. I expect you to follow it to the letter, and to come back to my office tonight to get your new uniform, and hand in your cigarettes." 

"Something something bathrooms, blah blah turrets- FOR THREE MONTHS?" she yelled, tearing the piece of paper as her eyes landed on the end of the schedule. "You've got to be fucking-"

"Four months, if your language doesn't improve."

"-kidding me!" The torn paper crumpled into balls in her hands. "And I'm not allowed to smoke?"

"No." his voice was dry as he slid another schedule across the desk towards her. "You will be allowed to have your hair... like that, as long as it is tied back, or slicked back. When it grows back out, there will be no additional modifications. Am I clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir." Bell-mère grit her teeth as she took the piece of paper.

"Good. I will see you back here later this evening at 19:00 sharp. You are dismissed, Cadet Bell-mère."

She wouldn't be surprised if there was actual steam coming out of her ears as she stomped back to her dormitory. The way that the other cadets were ducking out of her path, and avoiding eye contact at all costs made it pretty easy to tell. Not to say that she didn't have many friends in her class of cadets. There were a couple of guys she hung out with when they were in gun training, and her roommate was... wait. She didn't have any friends. 

Kicking the door to her dorm open with a renewed sense of annoyance, she walked in, glad to see her roommate wasn't in. She was likely off doing training, or sucking face with one of the Lieutenants on base, trying to get moved out of their shared room. God help them both if that actually happened.

Slapping the schedule onto her bedside table, she scowled.

Three months of cleaning duty for smoking, disregard for authority and the uniform code? Bullshit. The higher-ranked marines on base sometimes wore whatever the hell they wanted, and no one was making them clean out the men's changing rooms, bathrooms and eastern gun turret every night for three goddamn months!

Laying down onto the bed on top of the schedule, she raised her legs, pressing them into the bottom of the top bunk. At least they were giving her shorts. They'd probably be the men's shorts, because god forbid a lady show some ankle, and she'd have to fuck around with getting them to fit, but at least they'd be short, and she wouldn't feel like she was melting during every physical training session this summer.

She patted the pillow beneath her head, and located her secret stash of cigarettes, tucked safely into the middle of three pillow cases. Looking up at the top bunk, she pushed her feet more firmly into the mattress. It raised up against the slats of the bed frame, and her extra secret stash of cigarettes fell down into her lap. 

"Thank fucking god." she sighed. "Oh extra secret stash, what would I be without you?"

"What?" Her roommate's voice coincided with the creak of the door. "Bell, what are you doing in there?"

"JERKING OFF!" she yelled, frantically shoving the box into her bra. "AND DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Ew! Don't do shit like that in our dorm!" The door shut with a loud thump , and Bell-mère waited until the sound of hurried footsteps were far enough away that she could breathe again.

Bell-mère really hoped that she got her wish of moving dorms.

It was officially ten minutes past the time that the Captain had told Bell-mère to be in his office, and she was scrambling through the halls. It wasn't her fault she took advantage of the peace and quiet with her roommate out to have a nap, was it? She'd emptied her open box of cigarettes into a small tin for safekeeping, and had the box with one cigarette in it to hand over. 

Nearly tripping over the slight step to get into his office, she flailed her arms a little, before falling into a wall she didn't remember being there. Looking at the wall, she blinked. It was another low-ranking marine. An incredibly tall low-ranking marine. Their shaggy blonde hair was brushing the ceiling, and they looked remarkably nervous.

"Nice to see you finally joining us, Cadet Bell-mère." the Captain looked at her disapprovingly. "Your contraband, and old uniform, if you would?"

Looking to her other side, there were two more low-ranked marines. One of them had his arms firmly crossed over his chest, his hair a shock of white, while the other just looked bored, twirling her long light pink hair around her finger.

"Alright." She shrugged, and took her shirt off. It made tall blonde choke on nothing, and pink hair laugh behind her hand, but not in a bitchy way. She liked her already. White hair just still looked annoyed.

The Captain was not amused, his forehead gaining at least twenty more wrinkles as he frowned.

"Do you want to add another month onto your cleaning duty, Cadet?"

"No sir. Just don't have any other shirts." she grinned, depositing the shirt on his desk with the near empty carton of cigarettes. "I can give you my shorts as we-"

"No."

Tall blonde looked like they were about to pass out.

“Can’t we just get this started already?” White hair growled, his teeth clenched around nothing.

"Cadet Hina, would you mind grabbing a new shirt for Cadet Bell-mère out of that cupboard there?" The Captain looked tired, pinching the bridge of his nose as pink hair nodded.

"Hina can do that. What size are you?" Hina asked, almost definitely non-regulation high heels clicking across the floor as she opened the cupboard.

"I'm a medium." 

A new shirt was tossed at her head, and she caught it, slipping it on. It was obviously a second-hand uniform, but that was absolutely A-OK with her, because that just meant it was softer than the usual rigid board that she was used to.

"Alright. Now, the reason you're all here tonight." The Captain began again, and Bell-mère sighed as she leaned against the door frame, hands tucked in her pockets. "All of you have broken the rules, and this is your punishment in order to teach you some discipline and to not do this again, you'll all be working together to clean up the eastern common facilities for three months, in lieu of our regular cleaners. Petty Officer Rosinante and Cadet Smoker,"

Bell-mère had to suppress the laugh that threatened to bubble up as white hair glowered at one of the pot plants on the Captain's desk.

"You will be handling the men's changing rooms, and Cadet Bell-mère and Cadet Hina, you will be cleaning the bathrooms. Together you shall all clean the eastern gun turret and the stairs surrounding it. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Sir." "Hina understands." "Yes, Captain." "Yeah."

"Good. The supplies are outside the changing rooms, and I expect everything to be done before twenty-three hundred hours. You are dismissed." The Captain waved his hand, and Bell-mère wasted no time in walking out the door, strolling down the hallway to get back out into the courtyard, with the footsteps of the other Marines echoing behind her.

"Hina doesn't like that man." Hina scoffed as she stepped out beside Bell-mère, tossing hair over her shoulder. "What an imbecile."

"You said it Hina." White hair- Smoker, she couldn't believe his name was Smoker - grumbled, fiddling with his shirt. "Three months of cleaning for nothing."

"I haven't met either of you before." Bell-mère interrupted their conversation, looking at them closely. "Especially you. How are you another female cadet and not in the same building the other five of us live in?"

"Hina is a devil fruit user." the pink-haired cadet smirked, twirling some of her hair. "So is Smoky."

"Really?" Tall blonde blinked, and Smoker turned around to face them.

"Wait a minute, I think I know you from somewhere." he narrowed his eyes, and the tall blonde looked like they were regretting every life choice that led up to this moment, even if Smoker was half their height. "You're Admiral Sengoku's kid, right?"

"What- ahhhahaaaa noooooo ," Tall blonde laughed nervously, shuffling their ridiculously large shoes against the dirt of the courtyard. 

"How would you even know that?" Hina raised her eyebrow at Smoker, who grit his teeth together. "Are you just being a fanboy again?"

"Shut up Hina." Smoker hissed, wisps of smoke starting to float around his shoulders, phasing through his shirt. "I will smother you in your sleep!"

Hina laughed, and flipped him off, walking to the other side of the courtyard where the cleaning buckets stood in front of the eastern turret.

"You're an Admiral's kid? Aren't you supposed to be like, nepo-babied all the way up to the top by now?" Bell-mère tilted her head at the blonde, who shook his head frantically.

"No, no, I wanted to start from the bottom, like everyone else, y'know? I won't be a good Marine if I just get placed in a position of power with no experience. So, uh, Petty Officer Rosinante at your service, I guess?" Rosinante smiled awkwardly, holding his hand out.

"Bell-mère." she shook his hand firmly, and started to walk over to where Hina was attempting to pry open a bottle of soap. "So, what are you in for?"

"Smoking." Rosinante scratched at the back of his neck, staring at the ground. "And I accidentally set fire to one of the Captain's pot plants. Unrelated to the smoking thing."

"Damn. A rebel, aren'tcha?" she laughed, elbowing him playfully. "What about you, Hina, Cadet grumpy pants?"

"Smoking." Hina sighed, still struggling to open up the soap bottle. "And they said Hina's uniform wasn't correct."

"I noticed the heels. How'd you get the Captain to agree to that?" Bell-mère asked curiously, taking the bottle of the other woman to open it correctly.

"No spares." Hina smiled.

"And not because they all went missing, right?" Smoker rolled his eyes.

"There weren't any den dens, so you can't prove anything, Smoky-kun."

"Don't tell me you're here because—"

"He was caught smoking with Hina!" she laughed, and more wisps of smoke began to float around Smoker's upper body. "And he doesn't like wearing shirts, or following orders in general."

"No fucking way , " Bell-mère laughed at the other cadet's expression, passing the soap back to Hina. "Your name is Smoker, it looks like you ate a smoke devil fruit, and you're a smoker? What, were your parents psychic or did you choose your name yourself?”

"So what if I did!" Smoker snapped, and she did her best to school her expression back to neutrality. "Can we just start cleaning already?"

"Hina can't believe it either, if it helps." Hina grinned. "Hina has been roommates with him for months and it never stops being funny."

"I'm sure the next three months are going to be fun, huh, Sm-"

"I am made out of smoke, and I will suffocate you." Smoker hissed, grinding his teeth together.

"Kinky, but I'm more into women, so I'll have to decline." Bell-mère winked as she grabbed a mop. "Now, do you guys just want to work on everything at the same time? We'll get it done a lot faster."

Smoker hesitated, but grabbed another mop and marched ahead of the small group, straight into the changing rooms they were meant to be cleaning, a small trail of smoke wisps hanging in the cooling night air behind him.

"Does eating a devil fruit make you a dick as well as making you a drowning hazard?" Bell-mère turned her eyes to Hina, who shook her head firmly, making her light pink hair sway.

"Smoker-kun was just like that already, probably." she shrugged, and took the remaining mops, handing one to Rosinante. "Let's go. Hina wants to get to bed early, Hina needs her beauty sleep." With that, she strode into the changerooms after her friend, leaving Bell-mère and the tall kind-of-not-really-nepo-baby alone in the courtyard.

"Ohhhh I can just tell that this'll be a fun three months." she laughed, and Rosinante laughed along nervously as they walked into the building with the others.

"Afternoon, Bell-mère!" Rosinante smiled and waved politely from where he was cleaning one of the light fixtures near the entrance.

"You're early, don't tell me you're actually starting to put some effort into this, are you?" Smoker didn't turn around to acknowledge her from where he was crouched on the floor. He was currently attempting to use a screwdriver to pry off a blob of... something off of a locker. She didn’t want to examine it any further than that.

"Nope!" Bell-mère grinned as she jumped on the trolley full of cleaning supplies to spin herself around deeper into the changing rooms, the wheels creaking with effort as she made it come to a stop beside Hina. She was currently using her Devil Fruit powers to pick up towels that had been left behind by the people who didn't understand they needed to actually practise personal hygiene. 

"Hello Bell-mère. Hina hates this. Help Hina, please." 

They were officially one month into their cleaning punishment and Bell-mère had decided that the other cadets (and petty officer) were cool enough that they wouldn't narc on her.

"I've got something better than helping, Hina my friend!" she grinned, and Hina rolled her eyes.

"Hina would like to politely remind you that Hina is currently touching gross and sweaty towels, and Hina will throw them at you."

"You're using your Devil Fruit, right? Can't you just put everything in a cage until you're done with it?" Bell-mère raised her eyebrow as she looked at the stretched out iron bars that were protruding from Hina's sleeves.

"That would mean touching it with Hina's actual arm. Hina would rather not." Hina sniffed, her face wrinkled as she attempted to pick up another towel with the bars, almost like she was using abnormally large chopsticks.

"Whatever. Rosi! Smokey! Get back here, I've got a treeaat!" she said in a sing-song.

There was the sound of Rosinante falling over and knocking no less than one locker over, and Smoker's long suffering sigh, but both men appeared within a couple of moments.

"What is it? I was just about to get that concentrated acid off of the floor." Smoker was gripping the screwdriver with so much force, it was a miracle that it hadn't exploded into a thousand pieces at this point.

"You'll change your tune in a second, my dear friend," Bell-mère grinned, and she put her hand down her shirt, rummaging around in her bra. Rosinante's jaw dropped, turning around as her shirt was pulled down a little. Hina laughed, but went quiet as Bell-mère pulled out the things she'd been hiding in her bra. "Look what little ol' me found!"

"How did you-" Smoker blinked, and Rosinante turned back around a little now that he was sure that Bell-mère hadn't just been taking her shirt off.

"Those-"

"Yeup!" she smirked, tossing a box to Hina first. "Your cigarettes of choice! Or, cigars of choice, I guess." 

The next box almost hit Smoker's head, but he snatched it out of the air, staring at the cigar box suspiciously.

"Rosi, catch!"

Rosinante did not catch it, but it landed on his foot, which was better than nothing.

"This is the North Blue brand I smoke... How the hell did you get these?" he blinked, kneeling down to pick up the small box.

"I have my ways." she grinned, rummaging around in her bra again to pull out the lighter she had, ahem, borrowed , from a Lieutenant on base. "Now, who wants to 'clean' the turrets later? My treat."

"Hina would die for you." Hina declared, tucking the box into her shirt pockets. 

"Smokey, you'll be on 'make a bunch of smoke so no one can tell we're smoking' duty when we go, just to let you know." she winked, but Smoker didn't even snark back at her. "Wait, are you- are you crying?"

"Shut the fuck up." Smoker grunted, shoving the box of cigars into his pocket. "I think I got some of the acid in my eyes."

"Hina loves you too, Smokey-kun. Best friends forever!" the other woman laughed, shooting out a long bar of iron to wrap around him in a hug. "Get in here Rosi, Bell-mère!"

"I hate you guys." he groaned, but didn't turn into smoke and float away, so Bell-mère made sure to squeeze him extra hard when she got into the group hug. 

And if the Captain wondered where the contraband cigarettes and cigars had gone, along with around 500 berri, he didn't need to worry at all. Bell-mère had nothing to do with that at all .