"Alright, I think I'm okay now," Konan nodded, shaking her legs and bending them a few times till she felt she wouldn't fall straight up. She could feel some new wounds pulling uncomfortably at her skin causing sharp pain but she was mostly fine—save for her arms. "Let's go."
The moment they opened the door that led to the deck, a series of gasps could be heard. "Konan??!" They all started crowding her, staring her up and down and making sure she was alright.
She simply smiled, wincing when someone bumped into her shoulder. They immediately apologized so she let it go. The fact that she could feel anything at all in her arms was already a good sign because it meant she hadn't totally lost her arms.
"Konan...!" Shanks appeared, making his way through. He stopped in front of her, gauging her whole body, pausing on her bandaged arms. "I'm sorry, I was late."
Konan merely nodded, she knew he was busy preventing Kaido from coming over and causing even more of a massacre at Marineford. "I'll survive." She tried to move her arm to show she was fine, but it merely twitched, not showing any signs of wanting to move more. It would prove to be a difficult journey, but she would manage... she always had.
"I'm sure you must be hungry, so let's go and eat," Shanks offered, providing a timely distraction when he saw her stare too long at her unmoving arms.
As they all settled into their dining area, awkward pauses ensued as they weren't sure if she could even eat in her current state.
Shanks quickly offered to help her, ignoring the silent snickers that followed. "I could be your arms... temporarily?"
Konan was quick to shoot down the offer, her papers forming arms on the table and feeding her in one swift movement. Her control over them had always been chirurgical, it wasn't going to change overnight, regardless of his disappointed face.
After the night had settled in and the crew went back to their activities, Konan remained on the deck, papers sliding around her arms, moving them around as one would a puppet, stiffly and carefully.
"I tried my best to salvage what little I could," Hongo said as he came to lean beside her, "but your body will have to do the rest by itself," he spoke curtly, glancing at her bandages, "we can only help speed up the process a little, but it will all depend on you. Though I have to warn you..." he paused, not knowing best to inform her, "the healing process will be slow and arduous."
He knew she could endure it, the hardest part however... "Complete recovery will probably never be achievable, your nerves were severed in different parts of your arms, melted in some others, it's a miracle you can even feel anything."
Konan nodded, already expecting all of this to some extent. She knew what she had done to her body, no amount of miracles could heal her. Had she gone to a doctor immediately after stopping Akainu, perhaps things might have been different... but even if time rewinded, she would probably end up doing the exact same thing—save for maybe punching Teach harder.
Hongo left her alone to deal with her thoughts.
It felt strange to know she might never recover the full usage of her arms, or her fingers. While she had her papers to compensate for it, she knew that the moment her chakra reserves were depleted, she would become defenseless. It was a scary thought.
It didn't help that she had recently pissed off a lot of dangerous people.
She tried clenching her fists to no avail. Oddly enough, what bothered her most was the fact that she wouldn't be able to make Origamis anymore. The idle folding, the mindless distraction was one she rather enjoyed to take her mind off things.
The first time she had shown Luffy and his brothers her butterflies, they had been bubbling with joy and excitement... The memory seemed rather distant now as she remembered the last time she had seen them, crying, bleeding, and angry.
As she thought about her next course of action, a white dove flew straight toward her, hovering around her before settling on her shoulder. An animal she usually used for the Revolutionary Army.
"Well hello little one." The dove collapsed into pieces of paper which flew in front of her sight, black ink drawing itself in front of her sight. "Sabo..." She read the message before sighing.
He was with his brothers on Amazon Lily. And the message was clear, don't visit for now. Though it wasn't explicitly written, she could easily guess that Ace and Luffy weren't ready to face her. She trusted Sabo—and Rayleigh if his message was to be believed—to take care of the two reckless brothers.
Thus she probably would have to extend her stay at the Red Hair pirates.
"I may be injured, but I'm not totally blind yet," she commented, staring at the vast sea glistening under the sunlight.
Silent steps, then a certain Red head appeared beside her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you."
Konan hummed, not really minding his presence, "It's alright, I also wanted to thank you for everything, I would have been in a bit of trouble if you hadn't come in time." She knew inside out the methods of torture the marine had in store, and truthfully she really hadn't looked forward to that. They probably wouldn't have given her enough time to rest and escape once again.
Sengoku wasn't dumb, he probably had a good idea of how her powers worked by now, what with the excellent display she had made during the war, she had no doubt he had watched everything. Coming up with countermeasures to prevent her escape would be doable given enough time.
Shanks nodded, "Your bounty will probably increase the moment you appear again."
Konan smiled with a bit of irony, "Yeah, they will want to bury this shameful story with me." This was probably a chance they were giving her, to disappear from the limelight and they wouldn't chase the 'dead' her. But the moment she showed her face anywhere, there would be consequences. Heavy ones.
"Maybe I should retire," Konan suggested in a half-jokingly tone. It wouldn't hurt to disappear from the radars.
"I heard our ship makes an excellent vacation spot," Shanks offered with a wide grin.
"Really?" Konan laughed, "Who would even dare take a holiday on one of the four Emperors' ships?"
Shanks winced, "I don't really like that title." He shrugged his shoulders, "But you could be our first client."
She snorted, "I'm a difficult client."
"Don't worry, we can provide for everything," he offered enticingly, leaning against the rail of the boat to face her like a proper businessman—or an infatuated man.
"This is not exactly the best place to stay inconspicuous..." she mumbled with a smile, knowing he heard her crystal clear.
"We can rebrand," he proposed, ruffling his hair in a grand show of sincerity, "I could dye them."
Konan laughed at the absurd idea, "Right, maybe something like bright blue would fit." As the image appeared in her mind, her laugh deepened. She ignored the way her scars started acting up.
Shanks simply grinned with her, happy to watch her finally smile, he hated to see the somber look that she wore ever since she woke up. He knew she probably had a lot on her shoulders and if he could help lift some of them for her, he would gladly do so.