Brazen Bull. The Rack. Judas's cradle. A shiver of pleasure ran down his spine at the detailed explanations and vivid images that accompanied them. Oh, there's something delightfully satisfying about medieval torture devices, though for the life of him, Trafalgar Law could not place his finger on it. Perhaps it's the sheer ingenuity in a field where it is often neglected in place for swiftness or ease. Amateurs. There's no fun in a quick death. It's like taking the 'Dun, Dun, Dun, Dunn' out of Beethoven's fifth symphony; leaving behind a squishy mess of boring repetitiveness that no one wants to stick around for.
The manic grin that stretched his face and conveyed impure but utter bliss was however, short lived. As the sub gave a violent, vertical lurch, warning lights and sirens resonated throughout the metal interior, architecturally amplifying and echoing into every hidden crevice; especially Laws ears. If not to only add to this developing headache, said lurch also caused a certain laid-back Captain to land in a rather ungraceful heap beside his previously occupied leather office chair. With as much dignity as he could muster, the 'surgeon of death' peeled his usually handsome face of the floor, ready to gut the unfortunate bastard responsible.
With the intention of heading straight to the navigation room he quickly ascended the stairs, pausing mid-stride then changing his destination by taking a right when he saw daylight streaming innocently through the windows. Either its a god awful sunny day down on the sea floor, or someone's taken the initiative and risen the sub.
As he emerged on deck to find the majority of his crew, his dark aura grew, paralysing them stiffly in place before his voice even reached their ears.
"Could someone enlighten me to who has the gumption, no... the sheer audacity, to overide a direct order from the captain." The ice in his voice clearly audible.
"..."
"You see, I was under the impression my orders clearly stated we were to keep submerged till we reach the next island. However it seems to not be the case. Meaning either I was undoubtably wrong or someone better start talking before I remove their legs."
"Errr... Captain?"
"Is that a confession?" The glare that came with that question caused, somewhere in the west blue, a baby kitten to die.
Shachi visibly winced but remained remotely undeterred. "Cap, we didn't. She rose on her own, controls wouldn't respond when we tried to take her back down. We came to investigate and found that." What he pointed to Law almost smacked himself for not noticing it earlier; parked neatly beside the sub was a marine ship, but a ocean-liner may be a more accurate description, currently dwarfing the yellow metal tin can.
And for once in a very long time Trafalgar Law was lost for words. Although this only got worse.
After a long connecting bridge clicked and secured itself to his deck; Law nodded to Bepo to retrieve his nodachi, fully intending to show his guest how exactly he got his nickname. Leniency was not a concept he practiced regularly when fools trespass on his territory, regardless of status or power, they would all be dealt with accordingly. Though that is not to say he was careless, far from it. Sharp eyes roamed through all the situations that presented themselves, noting every speckle of information before calculating all possible scenarios and solutions and acting accordingly.
Noticing his crew shared his hostile sediments, he watched as the men readied their weapons and adjusted their stances, prepared to defend what's there's. As was he, the Captain, with the lives of the men trusted into his care. Then his jaw became just a little slack.
Instead of a burley vice admiral donned in their usual white caped getup, he spotted a girl in a blue harem dancers outfit casually walking down the steps unescorted towards his ship. Hands gripping anxiously at cool metal of the hand rail, she attempted to keep herself straight and dignified, despite the constant stumbling and tripping she was subjected to.
Immediately his eyes narrowed towards the two resident perverts of the ship; he had made it explicitly clear this is not what he wanted for his birthday. Heads were gonna roll.
Once Shachi and Penguin realised what he inferred they frantically waved their hands diffusing all blame.
"I swear we did not-"
"It's really not what it looks like."
"Shachi might of, but I certainly didn't; I'm loyal to you Cap."
"Oi, what's that for? You called the ad in those dirty magazines."
"But I hung up when I psyched myself out. I'll try again later." Penguin whispered the last bit.
He choose to ignore the rest of the argument and retrieved his weapon from the bipolar bear. As she reached the last step the girl childishly jumped the small gap onto the deck, squarely landing on two feet before dusting herself off and began walking towards the usually expressionless devil fruit user, small feet slapping roughly on the harsh deck. His eye twitched when he realised her age, there's a strict on kids policy on his ship, and she looked around 6. But if the Marines were delusional that a group of infamous pirates wouldn't hurt a child, they were sorely mistaken.
He lazily propped his nodatchi on his shoulder as he muttered the word 'room', the iconic blue dome engulfing the submarine and surrounding seas. "You have exactly 10 seconds to remove yourself from my vessel before I send you back in small pieces."
"10"
"Trafalgar Law I presume." The words attached to a squeaky, childish voice seemed to make the situation even more condescending to Law.
"9"
She moved closer to stand in front of him; a combination of costume, hair and hight obscuring most of her face. Straightening her posture and holding her head up high, she began to dictate her rehearsed speech, a poor imitation of an adult. "I have come to relay and receive an adequate answer to a proposition-"
"8"
"-from marine headquarters. We would-"
"7"
"-like to offer you and your crew-"
"6"
"-pardon and free passage-"
This was becoming tiresome. "5"
"-in exchange"
"4" He prepared his attack. After all, fair warming was given, and ignorantly dismissed.
"-for your cooperation-"
"3" 'On second thoughts, maybe I shouldn't use my abilities' he mused to himself. 'I haven't had a good experiment for a few days.'
Her voice continued regardless of interruptions. "-and acceptance-"
"2" He mentally shook his head. 'Nah, theres not enough time and Bepo's just scrubbed the last blood stains out. Besides, that look of sheer terror and morbid fascination has yet to be seen on a child's face.'
"-of the position-"
"1" Law picked his first incision; through the thorax, just above the collarbone. 'Oh, there's nothing like decapitation early in the morning.'
"-of Shichibukai." The girl remain unfazed as her head began to fly ominously through the air, whilst Law began taking chunks out of her limbs and torso. 'And I thought I'd be given a break this close to retirement.' Letting out an exasperating air of annoyance, she thought back to her orders, knowing fully well that if she came back without a satisfactory response the conditions she negotiated so hard for would be nullified.
Once finished Law scrambled her limbs in a in a intricate ball of human flesh and began walking back inside.
"I'm afraid I will have to decline your offer miss. I don't take orders from Marines especially those that fail to reach my kneecaps." Then he rose his voice to address the crew. "Men prepare to submerge, there's no more enjoyment to be had out here. The ships gone so just leave our friend on deck for the sea kings, we don't need to waste anymore time." With his back turned, the pint sized Marine fought and failed to resist the urge to stick her tongue out at his retreating figure, momentarily gleeful in her temporary, subpar revenge.
As the crew filled back in a few shot mildly sympathetic glances in her direction as the sirens began to ring signalling it's descent.
'Pirates sure are troublesome.' She thought in amusement as the arm attached to her kneecap rummaged in her small bag for something. 'Still, a damn sight more fun then nobles." She chuckled gently at her own memories as the ship began loosing altitude then proceeded to drag herself towards the railings and handcuffed herself securely.
'Well this could of turned out just a little better. Though what can you expect when you combine male pride with pirate honour.' The familiarity of her unspoken words caused past scenes to resurface painfully in her mind, removing all traces of humour from her face and replacing it with somber longing. 'Such a dangerous combination... I hope he can control it better than-' She shook her head bitterly, remembering why she here in the first place.
Feeling the cold salt water burn her thighs, her thoughts returned to the present. "This is not going to be fun..." She muttered as the water drenched her clothes, quickly rising above her head.