"You sure are a pretty little thing." I fought the urge to roll my eyes as the man in the bar eyed me like I was some slab of meat. "Thank you kindly." I replied in the most feminine voice I could muster. "Would you like another beer?" "Yes ma'am!" He held out his glass and I filled it up. I turned to walk back to my position behind the bar and nearly yelped when the man smacked my ass. I held my tongue and walked back to behind the bar, hissing out to my undercover partner, "If he slaps my ass one more time, I'm going to rip off his damn mustache." Izo just gave a tsk sound as he finished up his look, "How drunk does this man need to be before we can ask him questions?" "If I knew, we wouldn't be in this mess!" I crossed my arms before pulled on the uncomfortable tissue that had been stuffed into my bra to make my boobs more appealing. "Men are pigs." I made a disgusted face. "Also why did I have to come with you?" Izo asked me as he walked over and stopped me fiddling with the dress, "You are the only one who can pull of the woman look. Also I can't bring Ace because he would just try to kick the man's ass." "I'd kick his ass, too, if he threatened my girl while she was completely alone on a strange island." Izo commented. "I know but we need this man conscious." I stressed to Izo, "If not we won't know what he told the Navy."
"Alright. I will give it my best shot." Izo replied as he went out to take his turn being the waitress. Hopefully now we can ask this idiot our questions.
I walked out to the bar to watch Izo work. It only took a few minutes for Izo to get the man to follow him out back of the bar, where he was met with more of Whitebeard's crew standing there. Marco gave the man a smile, "Hey buddy, we just wanna talk." Izo stepped in front of the doorway to make sure the man could not escape.
He seemed to sober right up as he recognized the members. "Hey, I don't want any trouble." He looked at the ones surrounding him. "We just want a bit of information you might have." Jozu gave him a menacing look. "What kind of information?" He asked and I stepped out of the shadows, after changing out of that ridiculous outfit, "I need to know what you told the Navy that night you threatened me on Sweetfish Retreat." "Oh, you're the drunk lady that was wandering the streets!" He pointed at me as he recalled the events. "I didn't tell the Navy anything because I ain't friends with them but I did take that lovely rose ring from you. Had to show it to my boss." He chuckled a bit. "Why your boss?" Marco beat me to the punch. "Because I was very surprised to see her." He gestured to me but kept his answer vague, starting to sweat. "Me? But I have never seen you before." I look him up and down but have no recollection of ever meeting him before the drunken night. He gave me a hurt look, "Well I can't exactly blame you." "Why?" I growled out, now starting to get annoyed with this stupid man. "Just answer the question before I break your nose!" I doubled my fist. "Hey someone get control of the little bitch here." He muttered out and Jozu grabbed his arms as Marco socked him straight in the cheekbone. "You better watch your filthy mouth." The man stumbled after the hit and Jozu had let go of him. He rubbed his face before he turned to look at the group, "Alright, alright. Simmer down. I told my boss because that little lady there is his missing bride." "WHAT!?" The shout left my mouth before I could contain it. It made me sick to my stomach. He just nodded, "Would I ever lie to you?" I gave him the dumbest look I could manage, "Yes." "What kind of bride?" Jozu asked and the man shrugged, "I don't know, arranged or something. She was like sixteen? That's all I really know."

Back at the ship, I couldn't help but pace nervously. "You can't force yourself to remember, you're only going to hurt yourself." Izo watched as I turned from the way I was walking to pace back the other direction. "Also you're going to pace a hole into my floor." Thatch muttered, kind of annoyed that we all gathered in the kitchen. I tried to stand in one place, "Can you really blame me?" I held up my hands to show them all that I was shaking from my nerves. "Here," Marco walked over and sat me down at the table in the kitchen before Thatch walked over with a teacup in his hand. "Mint tea." He set the cup down in front of me. "Thanks." I grabbed the cup with both hands to force the shaking to stop as I took a very small sip of the boiling liquid. "Why don't we go over the information we have and maybe something will click." Jozu suggested as he took a seat in front of me. "Okay, what I can remember from my past starts with the rose ring on my finger, I'm talking with a friend who..." I frowned slightly, glancing down at my legs as I tried to move my dress down. "...wait a second... Thatch!" I looked up at him with widened eyes, "Do you recall the drinking contest?" "How could I forget?" He asked me with slight side eye. "Did I actually claim to have a tattoo?" I shifted in my seat as I awaited my answer. "You did." He nodded, "But where, I am not sure." I moved the hem of my dress a bit and searched my thighs. I didn't see any tattoos and then rested my elbows onto the table, resting my head on my hands. "It could possibly be on your back." Izo placed his hand on my shoulder. I grabbed the front of my dress to hold in place "Could you check for me?" Izo didn't waste a minute unzipping the back of my dress to check over my back. "You do have a tattoo, it's down on your lower back." He poked at it so I could tell where he was looking, "It seems like a very rushed job over an old scar." He stared a it a bit more before silently zipping my dress back up. "Aren't you going to tell me what it is?" I asked him as he walked over to the fridge, searching for something. The way he was so silent made me even more nervous. "Izo?" He pulled out one of the bottles of sake and just took a drink of it.
"Do you really want me to tell you?" He asked me grimly. He didn't even look in my direction. "The way you're talking..." I paused my sentence before shaking my head, "I need to know!" "That's not a tattoo." He took another swig, "That's a branding mark."
I covered my mouth after letting out a gasp of shock. I stared at Izo with widened eyes.
~Flashback~
"Where are we going (____)?" I asked as I skipped along the rock pathway. I felt super excited as I had made a new friend that liked to sail on the sea. "You'll see." They chuckled as they patted my hand that was now wrapped around their forearm. They led me to an old rusty looking silo, "I thought you would like to see this cool building." They led me inside and shut the giant door behind us as I wandered a bit farther inside, "It smells like smoke in here. Do they still use the silo?" "It's about to be in use now." They spoke gruffly and grabbed my arm roughly. "Ouch, your hurting me." I winced as they dragged me over to this fire that was being stoked by some guy. "Sometimes I am going to need to hurt you, Darling~" they whispered softly in my ear as they ripped the top of my dress.
"Hey-! What are you doing! Stop!" They shoved me down on my hands and knees, ripping the rest of my dress to expose my back. They ran a finger down my spine causing me to shiver involuntary, "You have such a smooth, clean back. Sure would be a shame if someone disfigured it." "No! Stop!" I thrashed around, trying to get away but they were stronger than me. "Hand me the brand." They held a hand out to the man stoking the fire. He pulled the long metal stick out that had a fiery red tip. I squirmed under the strong hold, clawing at the clay dirt that was underneath us. "P-please, stop!" "You know why I'm branding you?" They asked and I shook my head no rapidly. "Because I saw you hanging out with that pirate." They growled and raised the brand mark, "I will not have my bride to be whoring herself to scumbags like that!" The shriek that was pried from my lips as the hot brand made contact with my back couldn't even begin to describe the pain I was in.
~end~
"Clarity...?" Marco asked as he waved a hand in front of my face. "You okay?" I blinked several times before standing up, knocking my chair over in the process. "I-I..." I didn't have words and just left the kitchen as swiftly as I could. As I hurried down the stairs to get to Ace's room, I began to tear at the dress that I was wearing. It felt like a vice squeezing me tight, making it hard to breathe. I opened Ace's door and swiftly closed it behind me, leaning against it after finally ripping off the tight dress. I glanced at the ceiling, my vision beginning to blur as I took a few ragged breaths. Shred them. Shred them before they choke you too! My eyes focused on the newly bought dresses hanging up in Ace's closet that he never used. I immediately began to search for something to use to destroy them. Hurry! Hurry! My shaky hands found a small pocket knife in Ace's dresser and rushed to the dresses, hacking as fast as I could "I won't let them get me!"

It was hard to tell how much time had passed since my panic attack over dresses. I shredded them all into tiny pieces before sobbing uncontrollably. I couldn't tell if it was regret for the clothes or if it was because of the new memory that I had recalled. I reached back to my lower back and hesitatingly touched the brand mark on my back. I winced as if the pain only happened moments ago. I pulled my hand away and stared with shock to see blood!

~Flashback~
"How does that feel you stupid whore!" They laughed maniacally as they shoved the brand down as far as it could go.
I coughed and then heaved onto the dirt in front of me, the tears streaming down my face made it impossible to see clearly. My whole body tensed up and I scratched at the ground as the mind-numbing yet searing pain flared throughout my whole back. The room was beginning to smell like an odd scent of pork mixed with the awful scent of my burning flesh. They finally pulled the brand away from my back, "There. Now you will forever be mine." I felt so dizzy. I squinted at the wall in front of me and tried to push myself up off of the ground but my arms shook under my weight. "Here." They handed the brand back to the other man, "Clean her up will you?" "Sir, with all due respect, that isn't in my job description." The man replied as he set the brand marker aside. "I don't give a shit what your job is. Clean her up!" They barked and then walked off out of my view. The man coughed and waved his hand a bit, "That smells horrendous." He stepped over to me and grabbed my hands, "Alright lady, time to get up." "H-help me, please..." I begged him. "I ain't got no choice." He grumbled as he forced me to my feet, "Now come along." He tugged me forward by one arm but I merely collapsed. I couldn't move. My body was beginning to shut down, "It hurts..." "You're just in shock." He rolled his eyes, "Horses and cattle go through this all the time." I stared at the wall through my blurred vision as everything was slowly drifting to black.
~end~

I jolted up at the loud pounding against the door, "Clarity, you in there?" It was Marco. I wiped the sleep from my eyes, "Yes?" I glanced around to see that I had fallen sleep in Ace's closet. "We didn't see you at lunch or dinner, are you okay?" He called through the bedroom door. I slept for that long? "Uh..." I gave a weary look to the shredded dresses underneath me before standing and making my way to the door, cracking it open, "Just peachy." "You look like you've seen better days." He gave a half hearted chuckle before rubbing the back of his neck, "I know you are going through some really rough times and I just wanted to remind you that you aren't going through it alone. You have all of us to talk to if you need to." He gestured vaguely to the ship. I went to shut the door and he stopped it with his hand, "Clarity, I know we can't exactly understand the pain that you're reliving in your head but sometimes talking about it will take the weight off your chest." He gave me a pleading look through the crack in the door. "Even if you don't want to talk about it, you can still enjoy our company."