Hello everyone. I'm so sorry I haven't been online in over a year. However it's been a hectic and rather painful year complete with multiple jobs, broken laptops and just total confusion with regards to many relationships that I thought were good but have just ended in complete car wrecks leaving me drained, unhappy and most importantly for you guys, uninspired. Oh and Naruto is over now.
Bummer.
Anyway, I've returned and existing fics will be updated as soon as I can find the bloody memory/USB stick I saved them on!
On another note, please enjoy this here, my first One Piece fanfiction, starring our favourite Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law and his darling crew!
I need a better title too...
Warnings & Disclaimers: I own none of the characters except for my OCs. There will be several OCs, however this is in no way a romance as I find it very difficult to enjoy LawXOC fics, since they usually suck. No offence if you're into that kind of thing or even write it. I've actually read some good ones, however those OCs actually have substance. Like I hope mine will have!
"Captain, we have the next island within sights," Arno called as he steered the bright yellow submarine around a jutting coral reef, "We should be there within the hour, currents permitting."
"Do we know anything about it?" inquired Law, as he leaned against the door of the observation room, a mug of coffee clutched in a tattooed hand.
"It's called Steampunk Island, "Bepo piped up, his large white head bowed over a table strewn with his charts and a series of books, and "It has one of the biggest research facilities that is independent of the World Government. It's renowned for inventors, music and...tea."
"Nobody cares about tea," Arno snorted, causing a depressed cloud to form over the polar bear.
"I'm sorry..."
"Arno," Ling grumbled, "I've heard of Steampunk, the guy who invented the submarine lives there. For once something wasn't created and researched by Vegapunk."
Law smiled lazily at this little piece of information.
"Oh good, Shall we make a visit for some upgrades?"
The helmsman and head mechanics whooped excitedly at the prospect of improving their baby. Who better to come up with them than the man who invented it?
Once the submarine surfaced, preparing to dock, Law and Bepo stepped out onto the upper deck to inspect the new island.
What stood proudly before them was a reasonably sized city, overlooking the ocean, with grand, tall buildings and clock towers making up a majority of the skyline. A few windmills rotated lazily on top of the architecture, producing cleaner power than the plumes of smoke billowing out of the huge stacks farther to the outskirts of town.
"Aesthetics in architecture are very important here," Bepo supplied from his text books he had dug up on the island, "But it smells terrible!"
"You'll just have to get used to it," Law replied, his gun metal eyes taking in the docks, scanning for marines or other potential enemies, namely fellow pirates, since nobody on his crew had a sizable bounty yet, not even him worth forty million beris; after all this was the Grandline and that was simply pennies.
There seemed to be no significant threats amongst the throngs of well-dressed gentlemen and ladies milling around the place. Everywhere the Heart captain could see, the women were wearing corsets and skirts of varying lengths, the men wore vintage suits and many carried a cane. Barely a single head wasn't topped with a fedora, top hat or some set of goggles and those that had forgone the head dresses were women with elaborate hairstyles.
"This place is amazing!" exclaimed the younger or less travelled members of his crew. Law smirked well naturedly.
"We'll stick out like sore thumbs here," he mused, walking towards the local pub (affectionately named The Anchor and Bells), "let's find our inventor before anything else."
They proceeded towards the pub and pushed open the saloon doors to be greeted by smoky air from cigars and cigarettes. Gas lighting illuminated the space, cram packed with wooden tables and mismatching chairs. At the back of the room, was a slightly raised stage where musicians played the island's signature style of music on an old piano, fiddles, an accordion and a harmonica.
Law resisted a coughing fit as he approached the gentleman behind the well-loved mahogany bar. He was clad in an off white baggy shirt, brown waist coat and a peculiar set of magnifying lenses rested in front of his face, which caused his eyes to balloon almost comically.
"Afternoon gentlemen!" he beamed, his heavily lined mouth curling back over slightly yellowed teeth, "Come to discover the charm of Steampunk have you?"
"Naturally intrigued," Law uttered smoothly, sliding into one of the bar stools, his sword resting beside him against the bar. The Heart pirates dispersed behind him, the younger men eyeing up the pretty waitresses and the older trio Nigel, Mr Markus and Seth chose to settle in a corner booth for a quiet drink and a game of cards.
"What can I get you sir?" the old man enquired, glancing between the doctor, the polar bear and Sachi and Penguin, who had chosen to remain with Law, "Mighty young to be a captain aren't you?"
"I like to think age has little to do with one's ability to lead," Law answered, whilst scanning the bottles lined up behind the barman, "whiskey, neat if you will."
"Aye!" the barman chuckled, getting the other threes' orders before fixing the drinks together, "what brings you to Steampunk then? Other than a log pose if you don't mind my asking. Not a lot come by this route when they enter the Grandline."
Law waited until a glass of bronze liquid was set in front of him before answering.
"We're looking for a certain inventor at the moment, named Professor Cyril Wakechild, I believe. He created my submarine."
The barman's eyes suddenly twinkled behind the bottle top lenses and his head tipped back with a hearty laugh.
"Ahahahaha, old Wakechild gave that to you? It was his pride and joy! How much he charge you for it?"
"Oh quite the contrary, he lost it in a card game," Law smirked, "My crewmate Sam is a devil at poker. It seemed to be the only thing he had left after he lost all of his money."
"By the good Lord, he did look mighty sore when he came home from the North!" he chimed, not looking at all sorry, "Ah you'll be hard pushed to find him now I'm afraid, sir, he's been passed a year now."
Ah, that put a spanner in the works. Law frowned, downing his drink and staring at the empty glass thoughtfully.
"That is unfortunate," he mused, "We were hoping to speak with him about upgrading it."
The barman hummed in acknowledgment.
"I'll tell you what," he offered suddenly, "his daughter still lives here, Professor Emmeline Wakechild. She might have the old blueprints he used to build the vessel. Might come in handy to your ship wrights. She lives up on the hill to the north, in Wakechild Manor."
"Well then, I think we'll go and pay this new Professor Wakechild a visit," the Heart captain stated, with a small smile of triumph. Setting some money down on the counter, he slid out of the bar stool, motioning for Penguin, Sachi and Bepo to follow.
"I'd be careful around her if I were you," the barman called after them. Law turned back to face him with an eyebrow raised.
"Is she dangerous?" he queried, to which the old man laughed merrily, swiping the money off the counter top.
"In a manner of speaking," he replied, "she's terribly clumsy I'm afraid. Brilliant mind, if a few screws loose but the coordination is non-existent."
Law offered no reply, instead briefly informing the rest of his crew quietly of where he was headed and ordering them to either stay in the town or return to the submarine.
"You've found the professor then?" Nigel enquired; as the head mechanic of the crew, he was particularly interested in meeting the Professor.
"We've found his daughter instead, he's been dead for a year apparently," Penguin answered, detecting that Law was in no mood to talk as he walked silently towards the street outside, "She should have some blueprints apparently."
Once Nigel had finished his round of twenty questions, Penguin hurried off outside to follow his captain, best friend and polar bear. They headed further through the city, towards a steep incline. Atop the city stood several grand white brick manor houses with black wrought iron gates and small walled gardens. They overlooked the library and town hall which lead onto a beautiful city square.
"How clumsy d'you reckon someone has to be to even consider them dangerous?" Sachi mused, almost jogging to keep up with his taller crewmates.
"Who knows," Penguin replied, casually ogling the buildings with his hands stuffed in his pockets, "Heh, if she trips over you can catch her Sachi! You might actually have some luck with a lady for once!"
"Shut up Penguin!"
"Meh, now that I think about it, you couldn't catch a cold!"
"Stupid bird man!"
The manor house looked like all the others on either side; big windows, small garden, grandeous gates with bizarrely patterned metal work, decorated with cogs and coils.
The only difference between this house and the others were the several broken windows that had been boarded up, certainly bringing down the overall look of the entire street.
"Hmm, so she breaks a lot of windows," Sachi concluded, with a confident nod, his arms crossed over his chest, in an overall matter of fact demeanour.
"That's obvious," Bepo muttered.
"Shut up!" snapped the medic.
"I'm sorry!"
Law ignored the absurdity of his idiots and proceeded through the gate. The hinges squeaked in protest on his way through, prompting the attention of the bickering pirates behind him. They all approached the door, painted a rich green colour and Law grasped the brass knocker.
No sooner had he knocked the door, than a small explosion greeted them, blowing out one of the few intact windows to their right.
"Holy shit!" Penguins exclaimed, as they ducked beneath flying glass shards.
A feminine shriek was heard from inside the house, followed by a rather exasperated male voice, muttering something suspiciously like 'not again' before the door opened.
Law blinked twice when he was greeted by a man, almost as tall as he with straw like yellow hair, pale skin and a vintage suit much like the rest of the island. However, the fascinating thing about this man were his hands, two clunky, metal prosthetics; the doctor part of Law's brain instantly starting flailing in delight at the prospect of studying them. However, he snapped out of 'doctor-mode' once he saw the rather sour look on the door man's face as he glanced over the new arrivals.
"Can I help you?" he asked, clearly not interested in the answer, "You're interrupting a very important experiment!"
"Our sincerest apologies," Law uttered with a less than sincere smile, "We're looking for a Miss Emmeline Wakechild."
"That's Professor Wakechild!" the doorman snapped, "And she will be with you in a minute. Who are you?"
"I am Trafalgar Law, captain of the Heart pirates."
The doorman snorted, "Never heard of you!"
"The late Cyril Wakechild did. He gave me his submarine."
Law felt extremely satisfied at the dropped jaw of the arrogant suited man, which revealed a row of gold teeth on his bottom jaw.
"Oh that blasted contraption!" Mr Walter, you better not be harassing my bloody guests again!"
The man, now known as Walter offered a somewhat apologetic look towards the woman who appeared in the doorway; Law assumed she was the professor he was looking for.
She was rather tall, her wispy fly away red hair was pulled back in a bun and her face was covered in soot, with the exception of two perfect clean circles around her green eyes, probably thanks to the goggles that hung around her pale neck.
"Ah good day sirs, what can I do for you?" she asked with a toothy grin, also revealing a gold canine amongst her pearly whites.
Law offered his own smirk towards the woman.
"My name is Trafalgar Law," he stated once again, "my crew and I were directed to you for the blueprints of our submarine."
Professor Emmeline Wakechild blinked a few times, her face still smiling before his words sunk in. Then she frowned. Then she burst into a fit of laughter.
"So you're the sly dog who got a hold of Bumblebee!" she cackled, far too much like a pantomime witch, "Well you better come in then! Mr Walter, do bring our guests some tea!"
I decided to write a fanficiton based around one theme and that was Steampunk. I think I was inspired by a fan art or something... Anyway, I love the Heart pirates and Law, so I want this story to explore their dynamic and interactions as a crew.
I'm going to shamelessly beg for advice on writing Law, I'm mostly using his persona from Sabaody Archipelago as a reference since this story is to take place early on in the Grandline. So at the moment he is insincere, playful and a little creepy. I also think he has a good relationship with his crew, hence their willingness to wait before heading to New World and their desire to follow him.
I have made up several crew mates, as you can see. When Law is announcing to his crew that they will wait before New World, there were a total of roughly fourteen people, Jean Bart making fifteen. I have ten people, including Law as the captain and ship's doctor.
I've never had so many OCs in one fic before so I reckon managing them all will be a struggle but I have my profiles for them as I write so they will hopefully appear consistent.
I'd love some feedback and I hope you've enjoyed this first chapter.
And once again, my apologies to my Naruto fanfic readers, those fics will be updated as soon as I can get the chapters sorted...