"I think you should give her a middle name."
Edward watched Rida walking across the deck with Lerena in her arms, speaking softly to the girl. Marco first looked at his father, then at the woman with the child, and finally shrugged indifferently.
"Somehow I don't have a talent for names, old man."
"And yet it was you who found her, so she should receive something that will remind her of it."
Newgate leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. The sun warmed the deck, the air smelled of the ocean, the clear sky looked like an invitation to a long voyage, and the gentle splash of waves against the hull sounded almost like a symphony. Several pirates were playing cards on deck, doing absolutely nothing since early morning and drinking vodka. Marco watched them for a while and then decided he would soon chase them back to work, because the cargo hold still needed some remodeling.
Meanwhile life on board continued as usual. Marshall and Thatch were arguing about something, Fossa and Jozu were wrestling with a dozen pirates from four different divisions, and someone else was loudly describing the last voyage to Fishman Island.
"And that name is supposed to be enough, yoi? You called her Lerena and you think she'll remember who you are?" Marco asked skeptically.
"Lerena is the most beautiful name in the world, and she will remember," Edward replied calmly. "I feel a little like her father, so I will not miss meeting her from time to time." He paused briefly before adding, "Only things that do not matter remain without names, son. Give her a name that will always be connected to you."
A moment later Rida approached the mast with her head slightly lowered, and the girl stretched her hands toward Edward. When the Emperor took her into his arms she rubbed her eyes and yawned.
The noise on deck faded almost immediately, as if someone had given an order, and when Whitebeard's voice sounded again everyone listened.
"Oh? You want to take a nap before dinner, little one? Then sleep safely."
He wrapped her in his captain's coat to protect her from the wind and the sun, and Lerena fell asleep almost immediately.
"The strange thing is that a man can create such a small creature and then leave it to the mercy of fate," he continued slowly, and Rida had no doubt that the Emperor was speaking directly to her. "I cannot understand how someone could leave a child so small and fragile completely alone."
"She is not alone anymore," she dared to answer. "She has you now, you saved her. I promise she will remember that for the rest of her life."
About a week later the entire schedule on the ship had begun to revolve around the rather despotic Lerena.
She woke up early in the morning, and after breakfast Marco would carry her around the ship, sometimes catching himself discussing serious matters with the babbling child—things like loading cargo, balancing accounts, and the direction of the voyage. Later he would pass her to Edward for her midday nap, and after lunch Lerena crawled across the deck under Rida's watchful eye and quickly became the center of everyone's attention, which made her extremely happy.
During those first days the child managed to meet almost everyone aboard the mother ship, and sooner or later the matter of a second name had to appear, and it began more or less like this.
After dinner Lerena refused to go to sleep and announced it with a loud cry the moment Rida placed her in a hammock inside the cabin. She cried until the woman picked her up again, but for obvious reasons she could not explain what the problem was. She calmed down a little, but large tears still shone in her golden eyes and she continued to sniffle quietly when the babysitter finally decided to take her out on deck for a moment.
The activity of the crew usually calmed the child quickly, not to mention the gentle rocking when Edward held her in his enormous hands, but the Emperor was asleep in his cabin and Rida would never dare wake him. As for the rest of the crew, most of them had gathered in the galley that evening for a long card game, and the air inside—thick with tobacco smoke and alcohol fumes—was not exactly suitable for an eleven-month-old girl.
Rida walked along the deck of the Moby Dick, from the navigation bridge to the bow, but Lerena continued sniffling and every now and then she would start shouting as if she wanted to cry but was not quite sure whether she truly needed to.
"What is wrong, my darling? Why don't you want to sleep?" Rida asked gently, not expecting an answer from the child.
It was only the blue light that suddenly made Lerena completely silent.
She looked over Rida's shoulder and slowly leaned forward, following something descending softly from the railing toward the deck—a gentle blue flame.
"And what do we have here? You're not sleeping at this hour, yoi?"
Marco's voice carried a note of laughter, and when he stepped closer the woman noticed the hidden smile in his dark eyes. Lerena immediately stretched her arms toward him, and the pirate could not refuse.
"Again you're in a hurry and not letting Rida sleep," he teased softly while offering the child one of his fingers.
Rida watched them for a moment, uncertain whether she should speak her thoughts aloud, but she had the impression that Marco—being a little older than Thatch—might take her words seriously.
When the pirate's hand brushed against the blue flame, the little girl burst into loud laughter and stared at the light as if she had been enchanted by it, trying to grab the fire with her other hand.
"She got used to you," Rida said quietly while observing Lerena.
"And why not? After all, we are her… family now, yoi," Marco replied, watching what the child was doing.
Rida nodded and remained silent for a moment.
"But you seem to be the closest to her," she added.
Marco looked at her with curiosity.
"She goes quiet when she sees you, and when you are not around she calls out. She seems anxious when you disappear, and I am afraid that if you had not come to take her around the ship that day, she would have become hysterical."
Marco looked down at the child with undisguised pride and smiled at the words he had just heard.
"Yeah," he admitted, "she acts as if I'm supposed to watch over her, yoi."
"I think it is because of your fire."
Rida watched as little Lerena rested her head on the pirate's arm and slowly squinted her sleepy eyes, the blue glow of the flames reflecting gently on her face. She refused to release his finger and continued squeezing it with surprising determination.
"She feels safe with you, Marco."
The pirate's dark eyes flashed, and he smiled with genuine happiness. His father's words echoed in his mind, and at last he found something that perfectly expressed his connection to the child. After all, he had been the one to find her, and Edward himself had given him the right to choose her second name.
"Saphira," he said quietly, almost to himself.
Then he gave the woman a small confirming nod, led her to the cabin, and gently laid Lerena down to sleep.
And standing there beside the hammock, he felt the same quiet happiness he had felt the first time the child had grabbed his finger on the beach.