Chapter 89: The story of a Heroic Mother
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While Vlad was listening to an interesting story from the mumbling of the old lady, Titania and Bonney tried to garner her attention.
"Young ladies, don't bother yourself. She is a crazy old hag, who would kick the bucket anytime soon. If not for all the good she did for the Town, and for helping so many women, over the years, she would be punished by the Mayor at our collective request."
Bonney, who didn't like the way those people were addressing and speaking to the old lady, showing clear signs of a mental illness, threw back the question at the middle-aged man who stopped from drinking his coffee, just to glare at the old lady.
"Hey, what's with this tone? Has this old lady wronged you with something?"
"Lost my wife and child because of that old hag." responded the man with clear hate in his tone, silencing Bonney from replying, shifting her attention at the old woman mumbling.
"..."
– "I've given my word, to keep it secret."
"Yeah? And hundreds of women disappeared, obviously killed, stripping away their husbands of their wives, and the children of their mothers.
Just for a bitch who couldn't keep her vagina away from a pirate's dick." commented another man, who downed his cup of coffee, leaving the shop with repulsion on his expression.
His fists tightened as if controlling his hatred.
Many other people left, who clearly suffered losses like the first one to leave, left the Coffee Shop, leaving out only a portion of the initial clientele, which turned the Coffee Master to shout at the old woman.
"Hag, if you are in the mood for ruining my own business, then I invite you out. I might have some empathy in not disturbing your mental state, since I was only a youngster 13 years ago, not married at that time, but it's not as if I am not aware of the story."
Titania and Bonney couldn't stand hearing those people complaining about the poor old woman, who began shaking uncontrollably, they placed the heels of the boots down, calling out with a serious tone.
"If any of you continues to bad-mouth this old lady, we'll break your faces. Your business will not go on the low just because this lady is staying here, drinking coffee."
"Young miss, you are an outsider to this, so don't get entangled with our problems. In the first place, it was outsiders like you who brought disturbance to our simple lives."
The old lady, who was absent-minded when hearing Bonney's and Titania's voice, standing up for her, shifted her old tired blue eyes on the girls, and with a long sigh, she remarked something coherent.
"Sigh, I had another of those episodes … Sorry, little girls, but everyone is right, having full reasons to hating me."
Getting up from her seat, she walked slowly to the Coffee Master's counter, placing some banknotes before taking her leave, shocking Titania and Bonney who didn't expect for this old lady to act so casually, as if nothing happened to her.
She flew toward Vlad who was smoking his cigar with Eleine and waving her hands to cut the heavy smoke on their corner, she couldn't help but request Vlad something that was denied.
"You've got to look at that old lady … She is sick."
"I can tell, but why should I even lift a finger?"
"Aren't you interested in the story of what happened here?"
"Not really, it should be related to Gold Roger, with him having a relationship with a woman from this island. He got executed 13 years ago, and the World Government to assure they killed off his bloodline, committed some heinous acts, resulting in some innocent lives being taken away."
The old lady who wasn't yet away from the shop stopped frozen in place as if she heard Vlad's theory that he built after placing together all the puzzle pieces that were evident to him.
She noticed his nonchalant stance while smoking his cigar, a person with a strong body and a heavy presence akin to someone she met years ago.
"Even if you know, no one can turn back time and correct their mistakes." said the old woman, gazing directly into Vlad's abyssal eyes, noticing how on his cold expression a smile perked up.
"You are right, either way, we humans are selfish beings, and judge with our feelings not rations at times."
Vlad didn't bother himself with the old woman, even ignoring the look Bonney and Titania were giving him, not caring so much about the individual called Gold Roger that he would start steering another pot and get entangled into a deeper mess.
Dealing with the withdrawal of a Princess was big enough for the Royalty to send a Vice-Admiral to stop him, and now if those Marines and the people of the World Government would hear about his interest in Gold Roger, even visiting the island of his incognito wife, would be enough to place him on their watch list.
"Will you really not do anything?"
"No, we are leaving in 3 days, without any additional mess on my head. Understood?
Stop being kind to each person you see on the street that gives an vulnerable feeling, it would come to bite you later on."
Bonney and Titania looked down, and quickly finishing their cup of coffee, they dashed toward the departed old lady, noticing her walking toward the Hospital, even entering inside, to which they followed wanting to hear the full story instead of just rumors and misleads to keep them away from the true story.
"Huh, they sure are weak when it comes to this feeling management side..." added Eleine watching the girls go off rushing to catch up to the hag.
*Sigh* "At times, I wish they could understand my reasoning. This blind kind heartedness will for sure retaliate on them, and when that moment happens, I will have my hands on the pockets and let them deal with the consequences."
"Are you willing to be co cold with them, Master?"
"Only by letting them hit their heads on the walls, will they learn and grow into women."
"And, now that we are alone … Should we go to a Hotel Room, only the two of us?"
"Haha, funny. Can't you see that I want to enjoy some time alone? Read the mood once in a while.
"I can't read the mood."
"Go ask Dalyon, he kind of learned how to read my mood."
"Why should I ask that dull, flaming chicken? He knows nothing, not even to express himself."
"Why don't you teach him? It wouldn't hurt you to spend some time with him. What's more, you might learn more about him, and find things interesting about him."
With a twisted smile on his face, Vlad crossed his arms, making Eleine get annoyed that even he, started jabbing at her for her cold-warm relationship with Dalyon.
"I'll mess you up, if you annoy me with the idea that I am interested in that flaming chicken."
"Okay, easy, take it easy. Question for you Eleine. Why did we choose to anchor in Baterilla? Ten seconds to answer."
"... Come on, don't be like this. Let's do something fun now that we are alone, not go shopping for supplies."
"And in the end? We still need to do it, otherwise, we'll starve on the sea. You might be able to get satisfaction using your unique ways, but I need food to sustain this body."
"Not bad, this is an idea in case you continue rejecting me. I'll throw the entire supplies on the sea, and I'll suck you dry."
"Bad idea. I'll place Dalyon to watch on my Cabin. And if you still manage to get past him, I'll use you as bait for the Sea Kings."
There were some guys close to Vlad's and Eleine's table who looked at the couple with awkward expressions, finding their discussion rather strange... Were they pirates?
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Seeing Eleine so close to Vlad, as she was talking using her sexy voice, a trait the large man enjoyed hearing, since the moment he allowed her to journey out, on the condition she would read his books for him.
Everything about Eleine in those close settings was seductive, from her breathing and lips touching ever so slightly on Vlad's devilish face, to her changes in expression when she would get teased by the man.
Their whispers, about how they would give a lot of money to fuck this twisted goddess, indulged Eleine even more, as she whispered in her flirtatious tone to Vlad.
"See, Master. Those men even from so far can't resist me, and yet, you remain cold to my advances.
So cruel, and I even accepted my fate to become your maid and serve you. What can't I not do, and that blonde whore from Everfall could do it?"
"Not feeling like doing it. Not yet."
"Then when?"
"When I feel like it." commented Vlad, seeing how Eleine looked with emotions in her black eyes, and even if she tried some skinship with the man.
He was unshaken, but took delight in the seductive gestures of the former high-class prostitute.
Things were getting hotter and hotter between the couple, and the ones closer to their table already suffered from boners, being forced out of the Coffee Shop because of this degenerated couple who wouldn't even mind making out in public.
Yet, Vlad didn't do anything to Eleine, it was only this hot woman, doing her demonic magic that would spellbound the simpletons.
*Cough*
"Man, there is a Hotel not far from here, take your woman and you can bang her there instead of my shop. It kills the whole vibe of the Coffee Shop with you two here."
"You heard him, cat in heat?"
"Give him some money and have him close his shop. I will not let you off, you are mine."
Vlad, stopped Eleine from what she was trying to achieve, by playing with her earlobe, slowly stopping from the sensuous scene, later on placing Eleine on her seat while he walked to the owner.
"Man, I hope you didn't get angry with me." remarked the owner who noticed Vlad approaching with an emotionless look.
"Don't worry. I went a bit overboard not spotting her. Do you sell cigars?"
"Sure, 10.000 𝔅 the pack of 10 rolls."
"Give me 3 packs."
Getting his hands on the packs of cigars, he took Eleine outside of the Coffee House moving toward the Market of the Town to the dissatisfaction of the lady at his left side holding on his arm.
"Stop trying to pull me toward the Hotel … I will not have sex with you."
"This? What a jest, I am not planning to be so easy. I'm just training myself, something I found out recently in a book and it does wonders for arm strength. However, it works only for me, don't worry, master. I will be a good girl."
"Sure, sure. You better don't make a scene with a larger audience. I didn't pay a harlot to entertain me as I go to the Market for business."
"Actually, you have one of the best Harlots in the World." commented Eleine teasingly as she extended her slender index finger pointing out a correction.
On the other hand, while Vlad and Eleine entered the Market which looked similar in style to the one in Bulge Island, with each merchant and seller having their own stalls.
In another location of Baterilla Town, specifically the Town's Hospital, two young ladies were seated facing an old woman who was wearing a doctor's clothes.
"You little girls sure are persistent and curious, but what would it do for you knowing what happened here? Would you be capable of turning time back? As the black-haired lad mentioned, we can't do anything about the spilled milk."
"No madam, we want to make you get better. I heard from Vlad that if you talk about the hardships you hold inside, you'll feel far better." said Titania who was standing on the desk of the old lady who looked slightly better than when she was in the Coffee House.
"She is right, madam. Talking out is like relieving yourself of a huge weight placed on your back." agreed Bonney, nodding to what Titania said.
"And would you believe the words of a crazy old woman like myself? Those people weren't wrong, I've grown old and sick in my head, tired of everything. Would you believe that someone like the King of the Pirates, someone famed for his ruthlessness and horrors unleashed on the people, would be just a silly young man madly in love with a young girl I watched grow?"
"I would believe it. Afterall, I've seen and heard a lot on this journey of mine."
The old lady, whose name the girls found out was Aldresia Rós looked at the pure-hearted young girls, feeling their honesty and curiosity, she did a long sigh, and agreed to share her life story with them.
"I will share this story of mine, with the only condition… That you'll learn something from it, and never make my mistakes."
"Sure, if this makes it easier for you, madam Aldresia, we promise." promised Titania, followed by Bonney who readied herself for a story that would later on bring her to tears.
Time passed, and the old madame who closed her office early, started sharing her life story, from a young girl who was born into a well-off family in Baterilla, as her family being a part of the founders of the town.
It started nicely for the woman, from a young girl who experienced life with its ups and downs, she took a hard career path, the one of a Midwife.
As she was sharing her story, from her carrying her job, there were also complications which lead to the death of the babies, which she blamed herself for not being skilled enough in helping those poor girls.
Mothers would die from the struggle of delivering children, leaving out motherless children, and she had no control over it, just guiding the soon to be mothers with her words of experience.
"I chose this path, because I learned I couldn't bear a children of mine. And, in my head at that foolish age, I wanted to be so close to the miracle of life, close to the babies and mothers, maybe in an attempt to win God's Favour and recieve a blessing, just like the Virgin Saintess."
"It never came to be, and slowly lost faith, even after trying with different men. This was my curse."
"... A curse that was broken when I found at my office door a basket where a little baby girl cried for her mother. I tried to find out any fleeing woman or person that would move out of the Hospital but there was none, and so … as fate would have it, I became a mother."
"Only a name was written on a letter inside the basket … the baby girl's name, Portgas D. Rouge."
The old woman's story took a swing for the better, leaving the girls who were crying from the misfortune of living a life knowing you couldn't become a mother, to experience the joys of a mother from Aldresia's perspective.
She watched the baby girl grow into a woman, and as time passed with her continuing her job as the Town's Midwife, there was also a time she would expect would happen, when her daughter would bring to her the boy she fell in love with.
A moment in her life that she wished she could change with everything in her powers, that day when her daughter met with the accursed pirate, Gol D. Roger.
"Indeed, little girls, that gentle girl of mine, Rouge took a liking to a bad man, and as things would have it, she would be hurt a lot by his long absence as he was on the sea most of their relationship."
"So much I would give to throw that man off the island, and never allow Rouge to meet him, because it was exactly this cursed man who took her life and many others."
The mood in the room swung back into tears, and with an additional 4 hours of stay in her office, they left only when Aldresia placed her head on the desk and drifted into the Dreamscape.
By the time they walked out from the Hospital it was dark, and both girls who were moving toward the Harbor couldn't help but continue tearing up a bit.
"Rouge died in childbirth, while her son was taken away by a man. Even after everything she sacrificed, the child remained motherless and fatherless." told Titania, as she was standing on Bonney's shoulder, using her clothes to wipe her snot and tears.
Bonney too cried a lot, being reminded of her mother and the sacrifices she had to endure to give life into her, and with this old woman's story she learned to appreciate the womanly sacrifices.
When they returned at the Harbor and noticed the lights of the Captain's Cabin and Kitchen being on, they quickly went to share the story with Vlad who was writing a report of the supplies he bought from the Market.
"Vlad, Vlad!! You will not believe what we heard from the old lady." called out Titania, as she flew straight into his hands, later on getting a warm spot into his chest area beginning to clear her eyes and nose using his white shirt.
Vlad looked at both girls who were emotionally affected, and with his handkerchief passed to Bonney, he asked them calmly without stirring them up to bowl their eyes again.
"If you girls want to tell me, sure. I will not decline it. While I write this report of mine with the supplies account, I am all ears."
Titania was the one who started the story, doing a great job in transpiring the emotions the old lady felt, while Bonney did the ending part, which still brought her to tears.
"Mhmm, so the woman those guys called a slut and whore, died like this.
Tch, tch, those peasants are truly hopeless. There's an alternative written down in the famous manuals for medicine, and yet they leave women dying in excruciating pain."
"... You baddy, even after this sad story, you are arrogantly mocking them. BAD!" said Titania, scolding Vlad as she pulled on his dense hair, getting restless until she heard his comment.
"I am saying this because, there have been developments in the medical art, even regarding child deliveries. There is the Ceasarean Delivery, that would be a safer alternative for a woman who kept her pregnancy for about two years.
God knows how she did such a feat."
{The willpower of a person is something mystical, that you who only began dabbling in this area, can't actually understand.}
'Yeah sure, what I like to understand is logic.'
Vlad made sure to give a small explanation of what the C-Section was, shifting their look to confusion, concern and understanding, but the fact a doctor had to make a cut inside the abdomen and uterus of the delivering woman frightened them.
"The patient would be under general anesthesia. So if you imagine yourself in such a scenario, know that if the doctor is skilled, your chances of surviving are high, just like the childs."
Hearing everything that Vlad just told them with regard to Rogue's story, it left them with a bitter taste in their mouth, especially in Titania's because if someone like Vlad who possessed vast knowledge about the medical arts, would for sure keep such a heroic mother alive.
While night continued with the girls filling in Vlad with various of their complaints, him giving only half an ear as he was focused on his reports, after settling them down, by midnight he heard footsteps moving in his direction, which made him stop from everything he was doing.
Seconds later, the large white-haired Lunarian walked inside his cabin holding in his hands some old photos that were in a bad shape, decaying from the humidity that affected them.
"What brings you to my office, young Dalyon?" asked Vlad, as he pressed his glasses closer to his eyes, giving the youngster a sharp look.
"Nothing much, I just found this journal and photos that might interest you. Since you are a controlling freak who likes to dig all sorts of holes to find strange information. And from what I could understand, is from a woman called Rouge."
Vlad's expression shifted into curiosity as he got up from his comfortable seat, to appear like a ghost before Dalyon and take out the journal and pictures.
"I thought you would go sightseeing around this island, instead of doing grave-robbing. Be careful so you don't get haunted by her phantom."
"I did my sightseeing from the highest point of this island, and my eyes stopped on an abandoned house that was left all by itself. There was also a grave in the front of the house, and as you can imagine from the state of that book and photos, it's been quite a long time since someone ever got there to clean around."
"I see, did you find anything else interesting on this island?"
"Not that I am aware. Is just a small place without much to offer you. However, I found a location that can be used for our battle stage."
"You want to give it a go, and see if you can beat me?" asked Vlad who walked toward his desk, opening the journal, while turning pages in a swift motion.
"Not yet."