I

The next island in their route was a summer island, or so Law was informed. Had it been any earlier a month, he would have cringed over the news, but the lateness of the year gave him some small measure of hope in his luck.

Adjusting from North Blue's frigid weather to the Grand Line's erratic one had been hellish for the Heart Pirates; it had not boded well for the crew's health. Their first stay in a spring island alone was one riddled with hay fever, heat rashes and sore throats – an ordeal that took them a good two weeks to recover from. Autumn islands were more bearable, but even their summers were still a searing affair. Their second island had been so, and although they had grown some tolerance to the heat by then, it didn't make them feel any less wretched.

They had yet to land on a summer island in their travels, and they had all dreaded the day their log pose led them to one. But when the news was broken to them one day in the chilly month of October, their past worries seemed to be no more than the troubles of an overanxious child.

The first sign of the island was an expansive coral reef that broke the monotony of the empty deep. Sea life shifted from sea monsters masked in darkness to schools of fish and shallow sea predators. It was during their trip through the colorful fringing reef that Trafalgar Law decided that they cover the last leg of the trip on the surface.

The Heart Pirates gathered in the pilot room for the ascent. Only the pilot and his two co-pilots disturbed the crew's heavy silence. All attention was trained on the control room's screens – flickering images of the outside as seen through the eyes of strategically placed video denden mushi around their submarine.

Schools of fish were quick to veer away from their ascending ship, disappearing into the hazy gloom beyond the range of the submarine lights. Their slow rise from the depths came to a halt when they broke through the surface. The ship rocked unsteadily as it tried to retain the balance it once had underwater, but in just a few minutes, the submarine bobbed up and down in a steady rhythm with the waves.

"Who's on deck duty?"

The Heart Pirates crew stirred from inactivity and turned to the speaker. Law returned their inquiring glances from the captain's seat, absently playing with the trailing ends of his nodachi's sageo.

"Inuwashi and Michi, captain," was Penguin's prompt reply.

"Here, cap'n," the first of the two men chirped as he jumped from his seat. He smirked with half-pursed lips and tipped his orange visor to his captain before jogging out of the room.

The other was slower to respond; he eased off his chair and stretched his long limbs. Rolling wide shoulders, the man craned his neck to Law. "Need the paint job checked too, captain?" he asked with a snigger.

From across the room, the Heart Pirates engineer looked up with narrowed eyes; whether it was due to his surly nature or from lack of sleep, no one was sure. "This sea is too rough," he said. "We'll do that at port."

Michi sniggered again, as if there was something innately amusing in the reply, then stalked with careless strides to the control room door. He bowed his head to duck under the frame, but a sudden lurch of the ship had him bumping into it regardless.

"Ow." A snigger, and blithe steps walked on. The engineer sighed and muttered under his breath.

"Peace, Zatou," Law purred to his crewmate.

His first concern now covered, the captain took his nodachi from his side and strode over to the pilots, two of whom were dictating notes for the third to record. He leaned against the backrest of one of their seats and asked, "How many miles to shore?"

"If the maps from the last island were accurate, about thirty miles, south thirty degrees east, captain." The logsman's voice was a deep monotone that seemed detached from the stoic, effeminate face hidden under his white flat cap. "Though it remains to be seen whether these winds sing our tune."

"It should be closer to twenty degrees now," Bepo corrected. "But Kitsune's right, captain." He paused and looked to Law. "Should I check if the winds are in our favor?"

"Confirm our coordinates while you're at it," the captain replied.

With a quick bow, the Heart Pirates navigator hurried to his work. Law was quiet for a while, contemplating his options. "What do you think, Seiuchi?" he asked the pilot as he straightened up.

The addressed man mulled the thought over for a while, all the while glancing at the dials on the control board. "Depends on how soon you want to dock, captain. With this ocean, we'd be lucky to reach that island today with just currents and winds, even with tailwinds. The batteries are about spent too."

"Very well then, approach at ten knots," Law bid, already walking away.

"Aye, captain." The latter saluted off his striped black and yellow bandanna to the departing man.

The Heart Pirates captain arrived at the upper deck to a gust wet with drizzle and spray. The main doors had been left ajar to replenish the air supply, and through them, he could see that it was a gloomy day. Gray clouds hung low in the sky and the dark waters was a choppy seascape. It was a rough day to be out at sea, but it was a cool one – a small compensation for the unfavorable sailing conditions.

"Hiya, cap'n," Inuwashi greeted with a tip of his visor and a wide smile as Law stepped out of the main doors. "Watch'r step. Deck ain't quite dry yet."

"Calm sea out, captain," the other man on deck added through a snicker. The ship continued to bob to the surge of the waves as he spoke. Michi sniggered again after a particularly strong wave, then stalked away with swab and bucket in hand.

Law nodded to both men in silent acknowledgement of their work. He closed the short distance between the doors and the deck railings, where Bepo stood surveying the surrounding seas.

"How fares our course?" the captain inquired.

The polar bear looked up with a small start, for he had not noticed his approach. Then with a slow turn of his head to the sky, he answered, "Something's coming this way."

Law glanced askance at his crewmate's field of vision. An inky blot of an avian was flying towards them. Even from a distance, it looked unusually large; its wingspan alone seemed twice the height of an average man. A large pink bow tied around one of its legs fluttered with each slow flap of its wings.

The pirate's good mood drained from his features. A messenger from Joker, he thought as he leaned against the railings, nodachi propped up against his shoulder. This was his first message from Donquixote Doflamingo since he entered the Grand Line, and he was both surprised and excited. His latest bounty increase must have reached the Shichibukai; for him to recognize it enough to send a message, this was probably of great importance.

With a wry smile, Law addressed his navigator. "Carry on. It'll be a while before it gets here."

"Aye, aye, captain. Um… well, the wind's coming from behind us, but it's ten, fifteen degrees off our course. The undersea current we rode to here will be curving away from the island within the next twenty miles – What then, captain? Oh, uh… we could try sailing with the wind and correct our course every few miles – Seiuchi's steering? But the batteries are low? Then we should steer out of this current as soon as we can…"

When the enormous avian finally caught up to their ship, it landed in the middle of the deck, a drenched and dripping giant of a vulture. Law swept gray eyes over it, finding it more humanoid than its distant silhouette betrayed. The knowledge of its fabricated power's origin only inspired disdain in the Surgeon of Death. He made no effort to welcome it, and instead, gave a prompt order.

"Dry yourself elsewhere." He shifted his sword grip to where the sheath met the guard. "My crew's barely finished drying the deck."

The newcomer veered first its head, and then its body, to face him, stance casual and seemingly smiling through its beak. "Oh come now, little Law," it started, stretching out the fifteen feet span of its wings. Already, a puddle was forming at its feet. "Your puny little crew should be helping medry instead. These pets of yours can't possibly be more important than a messenger from Doflamingo-sama himself, eh?"

Whatever else it might have said was begrudgingly kept to itself when 'little Law' popped his blade out of its sheath. Its wings were quickly folded back to their place.

"What does Joker want?"

The vulture clicked its curved beaks together in irritation. "Arrogant brat," it muttered as it craned its neck to undo the bow at its feet, though it continued to glare at Law.

The pirate captain narrowed his eyes, watching it with a scowl that could not contain his contempt. Annoyance glinted in the messenger's dark eyes. The bow came undone with a few tugs and fell with a heavy, metallic ring onto the wooden deck. It was there for only a second, before the vulture flung it straight for the brunet's head.

A glowing blue dome burst forth over the deck, and with it came a sharp crack of leather against wood. Law stood in the heart of it, sword drawn and eyes still locked with his attacker's. A bucket had flown in from his right just moments before to catch the mass of fabric thrown at him. As he watched Bepo catch the vessel in his peripheral vision, a smirk tugged at the edges of his lips. He sheathed his blade with deliberate slowness for the insulted vulture to watch, to hold its attention long enough for a two hundred eighty pound drop kick to catch it from behind.

A squawk and a great thud rang out. The captain watched Michi wrestle the creature nearly four feet taller than him to submission as he returned to his relaxed perch against the railing. Smug triumph had taken the place of his scowl, but his mind was wary. There would be time to relax when the stranger was sent off.

"Ya okay, cap'n?" Inuwashi's worried tone invaded Law's adrenaline-clouded thoughts. "Wusn' sure 'f ah got all th' wat'r out 'fore ah kicked tha' bucket."

"I'm fine," was his reply. "Oi, Bepo. Would you mind handing me that?"

The bow offered to him was nondescript save for its weight. Law reached into his hat and retrieved a scalpel to cut its knots with. The ruined ribbon fell in a pile over the vulture man's beak, for which the avian cursed at him. A metal box lay under all the layers. This, too, was forsaken for its more important contents, and was discarded in the same fashion as the bow.

What remained in the Surgeon of Death's hands was a thick black envelope. The wax seal that secured it immediately caught his eye, for stamped on it was the Sky Demon's Jolly Roger – the ornately rimmed slashed smiley. With bated breath, Law pealed the letter open. Gray eyes skimmed through the message. The smile in the pirate's features evened out into blankness as he finished.

"Michi."

The pirate looked up from his choke hold. "Yes, captain?"

"Let him go. Inuwashi."

"Cap'n?"

"Gather the crew."

Law flipped through the rest of the sheets in his hands as his crewmates did as they were told. Only when Doflamingo's messenger was once again on his feet, his ruffled feathers being smoothed down by the same snickering man who had restrained him, did the pirate captain look at him again.

"Joker'll hear about this Law," the vulture man hissed through its beak. "You'll regret crossing me."

"After he disposes of a weakling like you, I guess," the addressed replied evenly. "Tell him I'll do the job."

A/N: I suppose it goes without saying that I do not own One Piece. I do, however, own the many fan characters that have and will appear in this fanfic. Originally a Christmas-themed one-shot, this fic will be a three-part short story that will, hopefully, be done in time for a very special day in two weeks. ;D

A link to the cover art can be found on my profile.

EDIT: A number of things have changed since I started writing this; it's become a five (sort of six) part part story. XD